We’re back, baby! Just in time for the March 4 release of The Batman, we discuss Batman Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, published by DC Comics! Following on the heels of 1986’s acclaimed The Dark Knight Returns and DC’s post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, this four-part origin story (originally published in Batman #404-407) is steeped in the hard-boiled atmospherics of pulp, noir and gritty 70s crime flicks. Will grizzled police detective Jim Gordon prevail against Gotham Cit...
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr 17 min
(Content warning: Sexual assault) Our two-parter on comics legend George Perez continues with a look at The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, published by Marvel Comics! Eisner Award-winning writer Peter David brings a light touch to this alternate-future tale set in the appropriately named Dystopia, where a warlord known as The Maestro rules with an iron fist. A band of rebels travels to the past (and our present) to bring back the one “studly” who can take down the Maestro—the Hulk! Oh, and d...
Feb 02, 2022•1 hr 2 min
(Content warning: Sexual assault) In the first of a two-part series on George Perez, we discuss one of his most famous runs as a creator, the 1987 reboot of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman! Spinning out of the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths (also drawn by Perez), the series redefined the character in ways that are still felt today, from the comics to the recent Wonder Woman movies. And as plotter as well as penciller, Perez was the driving creative force behind these changes. These groundbreaking c...
Jan 18, 2022•1 hr 21 min
In N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell’s Far Sector (from DC Comics’ Young Animal imprint), Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein is assigned to the City Enduring, a sprawling megalopolis of some 20 billion souls at the far end of space, where she becomes embroiled in a twisty plot involving politics, corruption and murder. Can this timely sci-fi thriller, with its scenes of voter suppression and peace officers firing on protestors, blast off to that galaxy far, far away known as ... The Comics Canon...
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Larfleeze Navidad! Just in time for the holidays, we unwrap not one but TWO tales featuring everyone’s ... favorite? ... DC Comics ring-slinger, Larfleeze, with a look at Green Lantern Vol 4 #39-42 and Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special! First, Hal Jordan struggles to wield the blue light of hope as he and the rest of the space cops in the Green Lantern Corps face off against the menacing (and somewhat comical) Larfleeze, wielder of the orange light of greed! Next, in a lighthearted chan...
Dec 22, 2021•58 min
Author and podcaster Douglas Wolk ( Reading Comics ; Voice of Latveria ) joins us to discuss his excellent new book, All of the Marvels , which examines the Marvel Universe as one single connected narrative that unfolds over six decades and 27,000+ issues. We also look at a pivotal moment in Marvel Comics history from three different vantage points: Avengers (1963) #16, Thunderbolts (1997) #9 and Avengers (2016) #1.1! Issues Addressed in This Episode: The surprising central character of the Marv...
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr 2 min
In an exclusive deleted scene from last week’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? discussion, Curt surprises Kevin with a pop quiz covering the first 150 episodes of The Comics Canon!
Dec 01, 2021•11 min
In 1986, after decades of sneering supervillains, mad scientists and interplanetary despots, the Man of Steel was finally confronted with a foe even he couldn’t defeat—an editorially mandated reboot! But before he could fly off into the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths sunset, he’d have to deal with deadly new versions of some of his classic foes in the two-part farewell Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, courtesy of superstar writer Alan Moore, quintessential Superman artist Curt Swan and...
Nov 24, 2021•1 hr 11 min
In anticipation of the eagerly awaited Spider-Man: No Way Home, we look back at one of the most universally reviled stories in comics history: 2007’s Spider-Man: One More Day by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada, published by Marvel Comics! Quesada, then Marvel’s editor in chief, wanted to reset everyone’s favorite wisecracking wall-crawler and magically undo his longstanding marriage to Mary Jane Watson. So of course what better way to return Spidey to his roots than to ... shoot Aunt May ...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 14 min
(Content warning: Lots of people get buried alive.) Greetings, boos and ghouls! Gather ‘round the campfire as the Curtkeeper and Kevin From the Black Lagoon wrap up The Tomb of the Crypt, their miniseries on horror comics, with a handpicked selection of spooky stories from EC Comics’ Tales From the Crypt! Join us as we dig up The Curse of the Full Moon, The Maestro’s Hand, Ghost Ship, The Hungry Grave, A Fatal Caper, A Shocking Way to Die, and The Thing From the Grave, from The EC Archives: Tale...
Oct 26, 2021•1 hr 18 min
(Content warning: This story contains references to rape by deception and incest.) Our horror-comics miniseries The Tomb of the Crypt continues with Swamp Thing: Love and Death—specifically, Swamp Thing Vol. 2 issues #29-31 and Swamp Thing Annual #2 by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and others, published by DC Comics! Swamp Thing’s nemesis, the evil scientist/warlock Anton Arcane, returns from the dead in one of the most horrific revelations in mainstream superhero comics—making 198...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 27 min
The Tomb of the Crypt, our miniseries on horror comics, continues with a look at 2018’s acclaimed Infidel by Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell, published by Image Comics! Described as a haunted house story for the 21st century, this five-issue series explores issues of bigotry, xenophobia and racism as Aisha and Medina, two young women of color, move into an apartment building where a bomb built by a Muslim tenant detonated a few months earlier—and soon find themselves confronting a terrify...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 16 min
(Content warning: Body horror and a couple of anatomical references) We kick off The Tomb of the Crypt, a miniseries on horror comics, with our very first manga title—Umuzaki: Spiral Into Horror by Junji Ito, published by Viz Media! In this chilling tale that Nerdist referred to as “the Watchmen of horror manga,” a small Japanese town becomes plagued by ... spirals. This everyday shape begins showing up in increasingly unsettling ways: A spiral-shaped scar on a girl’s forehead grows in size unti...
Sep 15, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Because YOU (well, one of you, at least) asked for it, we finally get around to discussing All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant, published by DC Comics! Superman is dying, his cells flooded with solar radiation thanks to his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. But before he goes, Kal-El has a few things to scratch off his to-do list. This acclaimed 12-issue series combines fun Silver Age concepts and a contemporary sensibility to distill the Man of Steel to his essence and exp...
Aug 31, 2021•1 hr 20 min
In anticipation of the Nov. 5 debut of the Eternals movie, we take a look at The Eternals issues 1-7, published by Marvel Comics! A few years after defecting to the Distinguished Competition to create the ambitious Fourth World saga, Jack Kirby returned to the House of Ideas, where he set to work on ... another ambitious cosmic epic! Drawing inspiration from Erich von Däniken’s mega-successful Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past , he conjured a tale of humanity’s sibling races: ...
Aug 18, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Alonso Duralde , the hardest working man in podcasting (Maximum Film, Breakfast All Day, the Linoleum Knife family of podcasts) returns as we prepare for the Aug. 11 launch of What If...? on Disney+ by gazing upon the alternate realities of Marvel Comics’ What If! First published in 1977, this anthology series explores what might have happened had key moments in Marvel continuity happened a little differently: What if Bullseye Had Not Killed Elektra? What if the Original Marvel Bullpen Became th...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 18 min
In this episode, our Myth Takes miniseries concludes with a story that combines the mythic grandeur of America’s pastime with Jewish folklore—The Golem’s Mighty Swing by James Sturm, published by Drawn & Quarterly! In the early 1920s, money problems force a traveling Jewish baseball team to agree to a promoter’s plan to increase ticket sales: Henry Bell, a Black player pretending to be Jewish, will take the field as a golem, an animated creature from Jewish legend! When racial tensions come ...
Jul 20, 2021•1 hr 13 min
In this episode, an actual Greek myth gets retconned as Myth Takes, our miniseries on comics and mythology, rolls on with a discussion of three stories from the Sandman collection Fables & Reflections—specifically, Thermidor, The Song of Orpheus and Ramadan! You may be familiar with the myth of Orpheus, the balladeer who journeyed to the underworld to retrieve his lady love Eurydice. But you might have skipped class the day they covered the fact that Orpheus was the son of Morpheus, the Lord...
Jul 07, 2021•1 hr 12 min
(Explicit warning: A couple of swear words are used.) In this episode, Myth Takes, our series on comics and mythology and folklore, continues with The Sandman: A Game of You, collecting issues 32-37 of The Sandman, published by DC/Vertigo Comics! Atlanta actress and friend of the show Jennifer Lee returns for a lively discussion that goes deep into Sandman lore as we get into this 30-year-old story arc that offers an incredibly timely take on the issue of trans identity. Can Barbie save the Land...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 7 min
In this episode, we follow up the anthropomorphic samurai of Usagi Yojimbo with a menagerie of talking animals as Myth Takes, our miniseries on comics and mythology, takes a slight detour into fairy tale territory with a discussion of Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm, published by Vertigo/DC Comics! In Bill Willingham’s long-running series Fables, the characters from all your favorite childhood tales have been driven from their homes by the mysterious Adversary and are living under the radar in New Yo...
Jun 08, 2021•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, Myth Takes, our miniseries on comics and mythology, continues with a look at Stan Sakai’s Eisner Award-winning Grasscutter saga from Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 3, issues #13-22, published by Dark Horse Comics! Usagi Yojimbo, Sakai’s long-running series featuring rabbit ronin Miyamoto Usagi, draws from Japanese history and folklore to create a fully realized world populated by anthropomorphic rabbits, cats, bears and other animals, all rendered in Sakai’s detailed yet accessible art styl...
May 25, 2021•1 hr 8 min
In this episode, Myth Takes, our miniseries on comics and mythology, continues with a discussion of everyone’s favorite teenage God of Chaos, Kid Loki, in Journey Into Mystery: Fear Itself (specifically, Journey Into Mystery issues #622-626 and #628-629) by Keiron Gillen, Doug Braithwaite and Whilce Portacio, published by Marvel Comics! When Cul the Serpent, God of Fear and brother of Odin the All-Father, threatens the Nine Realms in the 2011 crossover event Fear Itself, a newly reincarnated Lok...
May 12, 2021•1 hr 7 min
In this episode, we kick off Myth Takes, a miniseries on the intersection of comics and mythology, with a book in which an A-list superhero gets a mythological upgrade: Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Blood, by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, published by DC Comics! This companion piece of sorts to our previous Wonder Woman episode explores the character’s reboot as part of the 2011 New 52 relaunch of DC titles—a reboot that takes the Greek mythology that’s always been a part of her world and moves it fr...
Apr 28, 2021•59 min
Content warning: Depictions of wartime violence and PTSD symptoms are discussed. In this episode, we discuss one of the most acclaimed storylines from the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip Doonesbury, as collected in The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time and The War Within: One More Step at a Time, published by Andrews McMeel! These strips follow the physical and emotional ordeal of long-running character B.D., who loses his leg (and his signature helmet) while serving in the Iraq War. After u...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Podcaster Alonso Duralde (Linoleum Knife, Who Shot Ya?, Breakfast All Day, A Film and A Movie) returns to discuss Justice League International by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire, published by DC Comics! Debuting in 1987, Justice League International came out of the gate with a light and often absurd tone that bucked the “grim and gritty” trend of the late 80s, with Batman and a roster of B- and C-list trading zingers as often as they engaged in fisticuffs. This risky move, coming ...
Mar 30, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Debuting as a webcomic in 2012, Nimona became an Eisner Award-winning sensation after its publication as a graphic novel in 2015. Noelle Stevenson’s tale of a playful shapeshifter who turns out to be something more was even on its way to an animated adaptation until the closing of Blue Sky Studios last month left that project’s future in doubt. We may not ever get to see that feature film, but we can get answers to these burning questions: Can Nimona overcome her dark side and her deep desire fo...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Combining corporate intrigue, James Bond-style espionage and more than a hint of social relevance, it’s perhaps the defining Iron Man storyline—and arguably informs Robert Downey Jr.’s mega-popular portrayal of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In this episode, we strap on the jet skates to discuss Demon in a Bottle—specifically, The Invincible Iron Man issues #123-128, by David Michelinie, John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton, published by Marvel Comics! As the pressures of being a bill...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 27 min
In this episode, we load up our rucksacks and make a long-overdue trip to the world of bande dessinées —and one of the most popular comics characters of the 20th century—with a look at Tintin in Tibet by Hergé! When Tintin learns of a plane crash in the Himalayas, a dreamlike vision convinces him that his friend Chang has somehow survived the crash. Joined by his faithful dog Snowy and the irascible Captain Haddock, Tintin travels to Tibet, determined to rescue his friend against impossible odds...
Feb 17, 2021•1 hr 4 min
In this episode, we’re joined by Bryan Stratton and Robb Milne of the Marvel by the Month podcast to complete our first podcast crossover (you can hear the first part here)—and to discuss Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, published by Marvel Comics! Just when things are looking up for the Peter Parker of Earth-1610, life comes crashing down around him. His arch-nemesis Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, has escaped from S.H.I.E.L.D. with a ha...
Feb 03, 2021•1 hr 36 min
We celebrate our fifth anniversary by finally tackling a seminal work by one of the biggest names in comics: Smile by Raina Telgemeier, published by Scholastic/Graphix! In this Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir, sixth-grader Raina suffers a dental injury that upends her entire world, kicking off a years-long succession of visits to various “odontists” involving surgery, braces, headgear and a retainer with fake teeth attached. And as if all that weren’t enough, she also has to deal with middle...
Jan 20, 2021•1 hr 8 min
