On this episode, we use the popularity of the first season of X-Men 97 as an excuse to tackle a story we’ve long had our eyes on: The Brood Saga from Uncanny X-Men #162-167 by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith, published by Marvel Comics! The X-Men have been captured by the Brood (a race of nasty winged aliens) and implanted with eggs—when they hatch, the X-Men will transform into superpowered Brood queens! Can our beloved mutants (and their friend Carol Danvers) escape these evil ETs...
May 22, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Mild parental advisory warning: The b-word is used once or twice. On this episode, the recent launch of the series “Ripley” on Netflix gives us a reason to discuss Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer, published by Surely/Abrams ComicArts! When we meet the future author of “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” she’s struggling to overcome her attraction to women and escape her job as a writer of comic-book stories—a job she hates. ...
May 08, 2024•1 hr 23 min
One of our co-hosts is quarantined at home, so we’ve decided to postpone our next proper episode until we can be together in person! Meanwhile, Curt surprises Kevin with a pop quiz on quotes from books we’ve covered on the podcast. How good is Kevin’s recall? (Spoiler: It’s bad! Very, very bad!)
Apr 24, 2024•24 min
Content warning (death by suicide) Our reexamination of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns continues! How good IS this story, really? Will things go differently than they did in our fourth episode way back in 2016, allowing this universally acclaimed 1986 miniseries to avoid nuclear winter and score a ticket to that David Endocrine Show studio audience known as ... The Comics Canon? In This Episode: · The only Bartleby the Scrivener reference you’ll hear in a comics podcast this week...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Explicit (a few swears scattered throughout) and content warning (brief mentions of death by suicide and attempted sexual assault) This isn’t a podcast—it’s an operating table, and we’re the surgeons! This time, we revisit one of our most controversial episodes (okay, pretty much our only “controversial” episode) with the first installment of a two-part, in-depth reexamination of Frank Miller’s 1986 landmark miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns! Does this paradigm-shifting, game-changing s...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 18 min
On this episode, it’s the return of “Miller March,” featuring a month of Frank Miller comics! First up is the 1982 miniseries Wolverine by Chris Claremont and the aforementioned Mr. Miller, published by Marvel Comics! The very first comic series to feature Wolverine’s name in the title takes Logan to Japan, where his lady love Mariko has entered into an abusive marriage arranged by her father, the crime lord Shingen. His heart broken by Mariko, humiliated by Shingen, Logan spirals into a dark ni...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr 15 min
On this episode, we take a long-overdue look at one of the most influential manga of the last 50 years: Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima! Specifically, selected stories from Vol. 1: The Assassin’s Road, as published by Dark Horse Manga! Who is this taciturn assassin known as Lone Wolf and Cub? Why does he push his young son across feudal Japan in a wooden baby carriage with a banner that reads “Son for Hire, Sword for Hire?” How did he get to be such a proficient killing machin...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Our two-part look at Hulk/Thing fights wraps up with a look at one of the twosome’s more recent titanic tussles in Fantastic Four Vol. 6, issues 12 and 13, by Dan Slott and Sean Izaakse, published by Marvel Comics! But first, because this episode drops on Valentine’s Day, we discuss the wedding of Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four Vol. 6 issue 5, most notably the story “4-Minute Warning” by Dan Slott and Aaron Kuder! Then it’s time for the main event, as the Immortal Hulk interrupts...
Feb 14, 2024•1 hr 8 min
In this episode, IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME as we kick off a two-part look at one of Marvel Comics’ most storied traditions: epic slugfests between the Hulk and the Thing! Specifically, the first two face-offs between these fearsome foes in Fantastic Four #12 and #25-26, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby! First, everyone’s on their worst behavior as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross enlists the FF’s aid in subduing the Hulk, who’s accused of sabotaging a military experiment! Then, with his teammates sideli...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Content warning: Mentions of suicide; general gaslighting, psychological domestic abuse. In this episode, we look back at one of the best-reviewed books of 2023: A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll, published by First Second! Shy, awkward Abby is newly married to widowed dentist David and adjusting to domestic life with him and his pre-teen daughter Crystal. But David’s stories about his past wife, Sheila, don’t add up. And there’s more to Abby than meets the eye, as well – as becomes apparent...
Jan 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min
In this not-so-mini mini-episode, we look back on the last episodes, each ranking our 10 favorites. How many titles did we agree on? We also discuss Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the Transformers movies, the current state of the Big Two publishers, comic strips, some things we’d like to cover in the coming year, and a possible reconsideration of one of our most controversial decisions! Plus: Curt opens a present live on-air! Join us in two weeks as we resume our regular programming with a look a...
Jan 03, 2024•42 min
Just in time for Christmas, Emmy-winning writer (and co-host of The Flop House ) Dan McCoy joins us to unwrap a trio of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories by the late, great Carl Barks! In “Only a Poor Old Man,” Uncle Scrooge’s first full-length adventure, everyone’s favorite spats-wearing billionaire fights to protect his fortune from the Beagle Boys in a rollicking heist tale! In “Luck of the North,” Donald drags his nephews to rescue his insufferable cousin Gladstone Gander in a madcap, Ti...
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 29 min
It’s our bicentennial episode, and we celebrate by going back to 1976 for a momentous match-up between comics’ two most popular characters: Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, published by DC and Marvel Comics! This first-ever inter-company crossover event finds the Man of Steel and Ol’ Web-Head going toe-to-toe (of course) before joining forces to combat the combined threat of criminal masterminds Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus! Can the Man of Tomorrow and your F...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 30 min
Happy Bonesgiving! In this episode, we celebrate our favorite(?) holiday with another excursion into the world of Bone, this time skipping ahead to Bone Vol. 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border, written and drawn by Jeff Smith, published by Cartoon Books and Scholastic! Fone Bone and Smiley Bone are separated from the rest of the book’s main cast, attempting to set an adorable baby rat creature free into the wild, when they run afoul of the menacing mountain lion Roque Ja, who plans to tur...
Nov 22, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Content warning: sexual abuse and implied sexual assault In this episode, friend of the show and John Constantine authority Tracy Tanoff joins us in unpacking a defining moment in the life and career of everyone’s favorite street-level mage (and con man) with a discussion of John Constantine, Hellblazer #11: Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come, by Jamie Delano, Richard Piers Rayner and Mark Buckingham, published by DC Comics! 10 years before the cataclysmic events of American Gothic, a young Jo...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 3 min
One year (almost to the day) since we discussed the first half of American Gothic, we round out the scare-iffic month of October with a look at the final five issues (Swamp Thing #46-50) of this groundbreaking storyline by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and others, published by DC Comics! First, Swamp Thing and John Constantine rub elbows with DC’s superhero elite in the midst of the Crisis on Infinite Earths! Then things really get cooking, with a shocking revelation in the Amazon rainforest, a n...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 24 min
Wait, where’s Swamp Thing: American Gothic, Part Two? Well, Curt and Kevin weren’t feeling so well this week, so they decided to take it easy and record a short mini-episode on the comics-related film and TV adaptations of the year so far. (Except, of course, it turned out to be not so short after all.) Mild spoilers abound as Curt (and occasionally Kevin) opines on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Flash, Secret...
Oct 11, 2023•50 min
(Note:You may just ever-so-faintly hear a neighbor's barking dog occasionally adding his two cents in the background for the first half or so of the episode.) A perennial Spider-Man foe gets a horror-monster makeover (and our Spidey Super Stories miniseries concludes) with 2010’s Shed from Amazing Spider-Man #630-633, by Zeb Wells, Chris Bachalo and Emma Rios, published by Marvel Comics! After a long struggle, scientist Curt Connors loses control of his scaly alter-ego, the Lizard, who’s clearly...
Sep 27, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Despite popular demand, our recurring comics-themed quiz returns! This time, Curt surprises Kevin with a pop quiz on everyone’s favorite unstoppable X-Men villain, following last week’s episode on Amazing Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut!
Sep 18, 2023•7 min
In this episode, we swing back into our Spidey Super Stories miniseries with a pair of acclaimed Spider-Man tales from the early 80s: The two-part Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut from Amazing Spider-Man #229-230, and The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man, from Amazing Spider-Man #248! First, everyone’s favorite wall-crawler races to stop the X-Men villain Juggernaut from kidnapping the psychic Madame Web, only to find that such a task is easier said than done as the relentless behemoth leaves a trail ...
Sep 13, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Media critic Matt Goldberg returns as we temporarily pause our Spidey Super-Stories miniseries to discuss the unstoppable cultural phenomenon known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a look at the book that started it all—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (and also #2) by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird! Before the seven different movies (including the well-received new “Mutant Mayhem”), the animated series, the video games and the action figures, there was just a self-published black-and-whit...
Aug 30, 2023•1 hr 6 min
In this episode, Spidey Super Stories swings into a different gear as we examine yet another version of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler with a look at Ultimate Spider-Man: Learning Curve, with a special emphasis on issue 13, Confessions, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, published by Marvel Comics! We discuss the ways in which the Ultimate Universe Peter Parker and his supporting characters differ from their Marvel Universe counterparts, the sharp contrast between this title and Spider-M...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Bryan Stratton and Robb Milne from the Marvel by the Month podcast join once again us as Spidey Super Stories continues with a look at The Superior Spider-Man: My Own Worst Enemy, collecting The Superior Spider-Man (2013) issues 1-5 by Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman and Giuseppe Camuncoli, published by Marvel Comics! Doctor Otto Octavius, one of Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies, is in control of the wall-crawler’s body! And he’s vowed to be a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker ever was, utilizing his te...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 30 min
We kick off Spidey Super Stories, a series dedicated to everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Spider-Man, with a look at “Spider-Man No More!” from Amazing Spider-Man #50, along with two early clashes with the Kingpin in #51-52 and #69, by Stan Lee and John Romita, published by Marvel Comics! Fed up with a public that hates and fears him, Spider-Man hangs up his web-shooters to devote more time to his studies, his social life and his sickly Aunt May (not necessarily in that order) ... just as a myste...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr 5 min
In this episode, we wrap up our two-parter on The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones, with a look at issues 64-69, published by Vertigo/DC Comics! Lyta Hall and the Furies descend on The Dreaming, intent on destroying the dream realm and killing the Dream King. Various characters meet untimely ends, while others move on to new locales and one steps into a new role. Can Morpheus defeat the Erinyes and save The Dreaming? And can he make his way past those dream warriors who stand guard at the gates o...
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr 6 min
In this episode, our series-within-a-series on The Sandman begins winding down as we kick off a two-parter on Vol. 9, The Kindly Ones, discussing issues 57-63, published by Vertigo/DC Comics! When her young son Daniel is abducted, Lyta Hall embarks on a quest to find the trio of goddesses known as the Furies and exact revenge on the being she holds responsible: Morpheus, the Dream King! Meanwhile, we revisit some old friends as this rich fantasy epic moves inexorably toward its violent endgame. ...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min
On this episode, we look ahead to the June 16 release of The Flash with a little story that established the concept of the multiverse as a canonical part of superhero comics: “The Flash of Two Worlds” from The Flash # 123, by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, published by DC Comics! Performing for children at a fundraiser, the Flash (Barry Allen) vibrates at super speed and finds himself on another Earth! And it turns out this world is home to ... The Flash (Jay Garrick), whose “fictional” expl...
Jun 07, 2023•59 min
On this episode, just in time for the May 24 debut of American Born Chinese on Disney+, we take a look at, well, American Born Chinese, written and drawn by Gene Luen Yang, published by First Second! This award-winning graphic novel moves between three characters: The Monkey King, a deity who chafes at being called a monkey; Jin Wang, a child of Chinese immigrants who sees his heritage as an obstacle as he falls in love with an American classmate; and Danny, a typical American teenager whose eff...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min
It’s one of the few superhero deaths that has managed to stick over the intervening decades. And it ties up Adam Warlock’s Magus Saga with a tidy bow. On this episode, we revisit Marvel Comics’ first-ever “graphic novel,” Jim Starlin’s The Death of Captain Marvel! He’s fought countless Earth villains and cosmic bad guys, but the man named Mar-Vell finally confronts a foe he can’t defeat: cancer. As the greatest minds on Earth and Titan work tirelessly to find a cure, one of the universe’s mighti...
May 10, 2023•53 min
On this episode, we wrap up our two-parter on Marvel’s cosmic messiah, Adam Warlock, with a look at two stories that close the loop on Jim Starlin’s classic Magus Saga: Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2, published by Marvel Comics! In “The Final Threat,” Warlock, Captain Marvel, Moondragon and the Avengers are all that stands between Earth and an alien armada as Warlock’s onetime ally, Thanos, attempts to use the power of the soul gems to extinguish all the stars in the heavens!...
Apr 26, 2023•56 min
