On this episode, the upcoming Superman movie has us in a Justice League frame of mind, which is as good an excuse as any to discuss the classic Tower of Babel storyline, as collected in JLA #43-46 by Mark Waid, Howard Porter and Steve Scott, and JLA Secret Files #3, by Dan Curtis Johnson and Pablo Raimondi, published by DC Comics! Batman’s longtime nemesis Ra’s al Ghul unleashes a plan to cull the world’s population, and to ensure his success he proactively incapacitates the members of the Justi...
Jul 09, 2025•1 hr 22 min
On this episode, we’re getting ready for the July 11 big-screen debut of Krypto the Super-Dog in James Gunn’s Superman with a look at the Silver Age origins of Krypto and his fellow members of the Legion of Super-Pets, as collected in Tails of the Super-Pets, published by DC Comics! First, Superboy is reacquainted with his childhood pet and uses him to gaslight Lana Lang in “The Super-Dog From Krypton!” Then, Superbaby, the Toddler of Steel, butts heads with another denizen of his former homewor...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 33 min
On this episode, we discuss a Swamp Thing story that we’re surprised didn’t qualify for our recently wrapped We’re With the Banned miniseries on banned and challenged comics -- Rite of Spring from Saga of the Swamp Thing #34, as well as its sequel, Windfall from Saga of the Swamp Thing #43, by Alan Moore and various artists, published by DC Comics! First up, Abigail Cable finally professes her love for our sentient vegetable man. And in lieu of sexytimes, he offers her communion via a bite of on...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 15 min
We’re With the Banned, our miniseries on banned and challenged graphic novels, concludes (at least for now) with a stop at Daniel Clowes’ Ice Haven, a “narraglyphic picto-assemblage” published by Pantheon Books! A collection of comic strips covering a variety of styles and perspectives, this peek behind the curtain of suburban America introduces us to an absorbing cast of characters including bitter would-be poet Random Wilder, lovesick teen Violet Van Der Platz, her young stepbrother Charles, c...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 19 min
We’re afraid you’ll have to wait another week for our episode on Daniel Clowes’ Ice Haven. But that doesn’t mean you’ll have to wait a whole week to hear Curt and Kevin talk at length about comics. In fact, you can hear them render judgment on some fun comic-book stories of yesteryear this very day! Confused? Kevin’s here to explain.
May 21, 2025•2 min
On this episode, We’re With the Banned, our miniseries on banned and challenged graphic novels, takes on the most banned book of the past several years – Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, published by Lion Forge Comics/Oni Press! We discuss some fairly personal topics and fumble a bit (although not as much as we may have feared) with the author’s preferred pronouns (e, em, and eir) as we discuss Kobabe’s account of eir struggles with gender dysphoria and other issues on the road to identif...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 29 min
We’re With the Banned, our miniseries on challenged comics and graphic novels, rolls on with a discussion of Yusei Matsui’s manga Assassination Classroom Vol. 1: Time for Assassination, published by Viz Media! Consider this a big ol’ content warning, as this charming and bizarre story contains many scenes of attempted murder inside a school, as the underachieving students of classroom 3-E are charged with assassinating their teacher! Oh, and that teacher, Koro Sensei, just happens to be a tentac...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Content warning: Sexual assault, cruelty to animals In this episode, We’re With the Banned, our miniseries on banned or challenged comics and graphic novels, continues with a discussion of Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon, published by Vertigo/DC Comics! Based on a true story, this absorbing graphic novel follows four lions who escape from the Baghdad Zoo following a bombing by American forces in April of 2003. Filled with smart dialogue, sharp characterization and rousing...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 17 min
In this episode, we kick off We’re With the Banned – a miniseries on banned or challenged comics and graphic novels – with a discussion of This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, published by First Second Books! In this delightful, finely detailed coming-of-age story, friends Rose and Windy contend with their impending adolescence during a summer beach trip, set against a pair of contrasting conflicts revolving around pregnancy, communication and depression. Will Rose get over her c...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 23 min
In this episode, blind lawyer Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, is behind bars – but so are Hammerhead, the Kingpin, and a host of other hardened criminals in 2006’s The Devil in Cell Block D, by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, published by Marvel Comics! When someone close to him suffers a grisly fate, a spiraling Matt Murdock is bent on revenge! And if that weren’t bad enough, Bullseye and the Punisher join the fun as simmering tensions come to a boil, resulting in an all-out riot! Who is the mysteri...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 31 min
A mere 16 years after the Kingpin learns Daredevil’s secret identity in Frank Miller’s Born Again, that secret becomes front page news in 2002’s Out, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, published by Marvel Comics! Returning to his indie crime-comic roots, Bendis puts attorney Matt Murdock through the wringer in this compelling story grounded in street-level atmosphere by artist Maleev and colorist Matt Hollingsworth. Is gaslighting your friends and loved ones okay if it means you can put on...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 27 min
Our six-episode, six-decade overview of the Thunderbolts and the Masters of Evil comes to a close (for now, at least) as we discuss two time-hopping tales from 2011 and 2012: The Great Escape from Thunderbolts #163-165 and Like Lightning from #172-174, published by Marvel Comics! Following the events of the Fear Itself crossover event, most of the Thunderbolts manage to escape their prison home, only to end up in World War II Austria, side-by-side with Captain America and Prince Namor, fighting ...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 22 min
Our decade-by-decade series on Marvel Comics’ Thunderbolts rolls into the 21st century as we discuss Burning Down the House, collecting Thunderbolts #126-129 and #132 by Andy Diggle and Roberto de la Torre, published by Marvel Comics! After saving the Earth from the Skrulls’ Secret Invasion, Thunderbolts director (and Green Goblin) Norman Osborn is headed for bigger and better things … but not before he turns the Thunderbolts against each other on his way out the door! Then, it’s high-flying may...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 14 min
In this episode, we look back at one of the best-reviewed graphic novels of 2024: Final Cut by Charles Burns! When Brian, a shy, socially awkward artist, meets Laurie, the soon-to-be star of his new amateur sci-fi horror movie, she quickly becomes his muse, sharing space in his drawings and his mind with the film’s giant, pod-spewing aliens. Like him, Laurie is an outsider, wrestling with her own inner demons. But as his obsession with her grows, his grasp on his mental health weakens. This vivi...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 18 min
You read that right – it’s time for another installment of our recurring comics-themed quiz! As we briefly pause our miniseries on Marvel Comics’ Thunderbolts, Kevin grills Curt with a series of questions loosely related to the theme of comics villains turned heroes! We’ll be back in two weeks with a look at one of the best-reviewed graphic novels of 2024, Charles Burns’ Final Cut! Then on Jan. 29 we return to the Thunderbolts with a look at 2007’s Faith in Monsters arc by Warren Ellis and Mike ...
Jan 01, 2025•25 min
THE WAIT IS OVER! Our decade-by-decade series on Marvel Comics’ Thunderbolts continues as we finally discuss Thunderbolts (1997) issues #1-4 and the Thunderbolts 97 Annual, by Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, Vince Russell and a host of others! In the aftermath of the deadly Onslaught event (hey, you guys remember Onslaught?), the world is shaken by the apparent deaths of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four! But there’s a new superhero team in town … the Thunderbolts! Who are these mysterious do-gooder...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 24 min
In this episode, our-decade-by-decade series on Marvel’s Thunderbolts (NOT the Thunderbirds, as Kevin erroneously calls them in the intro) continues as we discuss The Avengers: Under Siege – specifically, The Avengers #273-277 by Roger Stern and John Buscema! Helmut Zemo, the son of one of Captain America’s greatest enemies, and a waaay -overstuffed Masters of Evil take over Avengers Mansion and begin systematically taking down Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Hercules, the Prince of Power, lies at dea...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Content warning: suicide In this episode, our-decade-by-decade series on the Thunderbolts intersects with one of the biggest political scandals of all time as we discuss Secret Empire and the short-lived career of Nomad, as brought to us by Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema and Frank Robbins, published by Marvel Comics! First, the shadow of Watergate looms large over Captain America and the Falcon #174-176, as the Sentinel of Liberty and his partner-in-crimefighting take on the sinister Secret Empire...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 29 min
In this episode, we kick off a decades-spanning series focusing on the hot new superhero team of 1997: the Thunderbolts! And we begin with some early Avengers issues introducing Captain America’s arch-nemesis Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil! But first, we begin with Avengers #4, in which the Sentinel of Liberty himself is fished out of the North Sea and joins the Marvel Universe! Then it’s on to Avengers #6, in which Baron Zemo enlists the Black Knight, the Mysterious Melter and Radioactive M...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 22 min
In this episode, we relax our usual format a bit as Bryan Stratton, Robb Milne and Jamie Wenger from the Marvel by the Month podcast join us to discuss (and assign ratings to) some iconic -- and less-than-iconic -- Jack Kirby monsters from before Marvel's superhero era! Monsters discussed in this episode: · Diablo, the Demon From the Fifth Dimension! (Tales of Suspense #9, 1959) · Taboo, the Thing From the Murky Swamp! (Strange Tales #75, 1960) · Groot, the Monster From Planet X! (Tales to Aston...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 44 min
In this episode, we kick off a month of horror-themed comics with a look at Tatsuki Fujimoto’s incredibly popular manga Chainsaw Man, a fresh and creative mixture of body horror, supernatural devil creatures, superhero-adjacent action and 80s boob comedy! In these chapters from Chainsaw Man volumes 1 and 2, we meet Denji, a down-on-his-luck teen whose body fuses with Pochita, a devil in the form of an adorable dog with a chainsaw sticking out from its head. Denji gains the ability to sprout chai...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 24 min
With Joker: Folie à Deux rolling into theaters next, the time seems right to dive into Batman’s most famous nemesis, the Joker, with a trio of stories highlighting different, pre-Dark Knight Returns iterations of the Clown Prince of Crime! First up is “The Man Who Wrote the Joker’s Jokes” from 1951’s Batman #67, in which everyone’s favorite mass murderer seeks a gag writer! Then, in 1976’s The Joker #7, a scientific accident gifts the Joker with Lex Luthor’s intellect, and Luthor with the Joker’...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr 24 min
In this episode, we take a long-overdue look at one of the most acclaimed crimefighters in comics history, Will Eisner’s The Spirit! Published in its own special insert in Sunday newspapers in the 1940s and early 50s, The Spirit featured seven- and eight-page stories about a masked hero in a suit and tie who helped the police of Central City fight criminal masterminds, underworld figures and slinky femmes fatales. Initially influenced by the pulps, The Spirit soon became known for short stories ...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 33 min
In this episode, we conclude our three-part look at V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, as collected by Vertigo/DC Comics! V disables Norsefire’s surveillance apparatus, nudging the citizens of London toward revolution. Rose Almond takes action. Schemes are hatched as Helen Heyer and Peter Creedy vie to take control of the government. Detective Finch takes a bad trip. And Evey prepares to fulfill her destiny. As society collapses, will any of our players get a happy ending? And will th...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 11 min
In this episode, we continue our three-part look at V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, as collected by Vertigo/DC Comics! Abandoned by V on the streets of London, Evey Hammond knows a brief moment of happiness before she’s captured, tortured and interrogated about her role in V’s crimes. Rose, widow of the late Derek Almond, suffers a series of humiliations. Meanwhile, V's body count grows as he issues an ultimatum to the people of London. Can Evey hold on to that last little inch of ...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 19 min
In this episode, for … oh, no particular reason … we kick off a three-part look at the classic graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, collected by DC Comics! Originally published in serial form in the British anthology magazine Warrior, this dystopian fantasy follows the anarchist vigilante known only as V, clad in a creepy Guy Fawkes mask, who’s hell-bent on taking revenge on the staffers of a post-war “resettlement camp!” This mysterious, magnetic revolutionary rescues a 1...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 19 min
This episode contains explicit language and talk of sexual assault. On this episode, we take a butcher’s at the book that begat the critically acclaimed streaming series The Boys—specifically, The Name of the Game, collecting the first six issues of The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, originally published by WildStorm Productions and later collected by Dynamite Entertainment! When Hughie Campbell’s girlfriend is killed during a superpowered battle, he’s recruited by Billy the Butcher t...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 22 min
We’re back with a look at everyone’s favorite gruff, eyepatch-wearing super-spy (non-Samuel L. Jackson division) as seen in 1968’s Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, 2, 3 and 5, published by Marvel Comics! Writer and artist Jim Steranko injects a dose of modern psychedelic and pop-art imagery and a strong sense of design into these four issues, creating a surreal visual experience the influence of which is still being felt in comics pages today. The stories those images tell, on the other hand...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Due to a family emergency, we weren’t able to get together and record a new episode for this week. So here’s an encore presentation of our Deadpool episode, With Great Power Comes Great Coincidence from May 2018. Please enjoy, and we hope to be back with you again in two weeks!
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel Here takes place in one location—the corner of a living room in a house in what is probably Perth Amboy, New Jersey—over the course of billions of years, from 300,000,500,000 B.C. to the far-off year 22,175. In between, we see slivers of events both dramatic and mundane, catching glimpses of ordinary lives and extraordinary creatures, and watch as small moments echo and comment on each other across the decades and centuries. It's a fascinating work that makes...
Jun 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min
