Episode 176 – A Very Batman Christmas Episode

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

Content warning: suicidal ideation.

In this episode, we celebrate the holidays with a collection of Christmas stories featuring that most Christmas-y of superheroes: Batman!

First up is “The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!” from Justice League of America #110, in which the World’s Greatest Detective and a holiday assortment of Justice Leaguers face off against … The Key! (What is this guy’s whole deal, anyway?)

 

Next is “The Silent Night of the Batman” from Batman #219, in which the Caped Crusader spends Christmas Eve in dogged pursuit of … Christmas carols!

Speaking of Christmas Carols, we finish up with Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Noël, which finds a curmudgeonly Dark Knight visited by visions of the past, present and future!

Can this trio of tales join the ranks of those superlative stocking stuffers known as … The Comics Canon?

Discussed In This Episode:
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Episode 175 – Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Snowbirds Don’t Fly (With Marvel by the Month)

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

Content warning: racism, drug abuse, death by overdose.

Bryan Stratton and Robb Milne from the Marvel by the Month podcast return to discuss a pair of pioneering DC comics stories: No Evil Shall Escape My Sight! from Green Lantern #76, and the Snowbirds Don’t Fly two-parter from issues #85-86, by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams!

1970’s GL/GA #76 kicked off a run of socially conscious comics that found straight-laced space cop Hal Jordan and liberal archer Oliver Queen confronting such hot-button issues as racism, the environment, and government treatment of Native Americans in ways the superhero genre hadn’t seen before.

This unprecedented run arguably reached its peak with Snowbirds Don’t Fly, which unflinchingly addressed the issue of teen drug abuse (just one month after Marvel’s take on the topic in Amazing Spider-Man)!

These comics were inarguably groundbreaking, but are they hard-hitting enough to warrant inclusion in that After-School Special known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

  • “Only there’s skins you never bothered with—the black skins!”
  • Similarities to Amazing Spider-Man #96-98
  • The Question, by O’Neil and Denys Cowan
  • The introduction of Green Lantern John Stewart
  • Hard Looks: The Adapted Stories of Andrew Vachss
  • The Vigilante, as seen in Peacemaker
  • Runaways from New Teen Titans #26-27

Join us in two weeks as we get into the holiday spirit with a collection of Christmas comics featuring the Caped Crusader!

Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

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Quizzical Canonical: Roll the Bones

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

That’s right, it’s the return of everyone’s favorite comics-themed quiz with the weird name! Following last week’s episode on Bone: The Great Cow Race, Kevin tests Curt’s knowledge of bone-themed comics characters (and other, only nominally related topics).

 

In This Mini-Episode!

  • 1972’s The Ruling Class
  • Two actors who’ve played the same MCU character
  • The late, (somewhat) lamented Sleepy Hollow
  • We Hate Movies’ Skeleton League (link is NSFW)

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Episode 174 – Bone Vol. 2: The Great Cow Race

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

In this episode, we return to a fantastic world of dragons, princesses and stupid, stupid rat creatures with Bone: The Great Cow Race, written and drawn by Jeff Smith, published by Cartoon Books and Scholastic!

Things get fast and furious when Phoney Bone attempts to fix the annual cow competition of the title with a little help from a certain “mystery cow.” Meanwhile, a lovelorn Fone Bone races for his life, pursued by the mysterious rat creatures! And what’s behind Thorn’s disturbing dreams about a cavern full of dragons?

Can Phoney and Smiley Bone defeat defending champion Gran’ma Ben? And can this charming tale cross the finish line on that fast track to glory known as … The Comics Canon?

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In This Episode:

  • Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche
  • What’s the deal with this cow race, exactly?
  • Sign PEN America’s petition to protest Missouri book bans
  • Dope by Sara Gran
  • RASL by Jeff Smith
  • The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal
  • Finding Batman by Kevin Conroy and J. Bone
  • Curt’s favorite Kevin Conroy moment

Join us in two weeks as we discuss the Green Lantern/Green Arrow anti-drug story Snowbirds Don’t Fly by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams!

Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

 

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Episode 173 – City of Glass

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

Content warning: Suicide, mental illness and explicit language (one F-word).

Film noir and hardboiled crime fiction get refracted through a postmodern lens in Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli’s adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass! A mysterious late-night phone call leads mystery novelist Daniel Quinn to assume the identity of private detective Paul Auster and investigate a case whose bizarre patterns and revelations cause Quinn to confront unanswerable questions about the nature of existence itself!

 

Can Quinn hold onto his sanity and find refuge in that Naked City known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:
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Episode 172 – Swamp Thing: American Gothic (Part 1)

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

(Content warning: References to suicide and hate crime)

What better way to round out the spook-tacular month of October than with a werewolf, ghosts, zombies, a serial killer and underwater vampires? All that and the debut of everyone’s favorite Sting impersonator in the first half of Alan Moore’s ambitious American Gothic storyline from The Saga of The Swamp Thing (issues 37-42 and 44-45), published by DC Comics!

Everyone’s favorite muck monster travels across the U.S. encountering an unsettling series of supernatural horrors. But are they all part of a larger, more sinister design? Can Swamp Thing trust his new colleague, the manipulative John Constantine? And can these terrifying tales scare their way into that American Horror Story known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 171 – Hellboy: The Corpse (and Other Stories)

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

It’s October, and that means it’s once again time to scare up some spook-tacular horror and supernatural comics! We kick things off with a return to the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy – specifically, the fan-favorite story The Corpse, as well as two other done-in-one tales: The Chained Coffin and A Christmas Underground!

Can everyone’s favorite half-demonic monster hunter bury the corpse of Tam O’Clannie in time to rescue a young girl kidnapped by faerie folk? Can he survive zombies, a rat-demon and … his own demon dad? And can these fun stories, steeped in folklore and striking visuals, measure up to that Right Hand of Doom known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 170 – JSA: Black Reign

Posted on September 28, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

In this episode, we look ahead to the Oct. 21 release of Black Adam with a look at the JSA/Hawkman crossover event Black Reign, written by Geoff Johns and published by DC Comics!

The powerful villain-turned-antihero Black Adam and a few superpowered friends invade the nation of Khandaq, Black Adam’s homeland, to overthrow its malevolent dictator, spurring a counter-invasion by Black Adam’s many, many former teammates in the Justice Society of America. But things quickly go wrong for the JSA, who are forced to question whether they have the right to intervene in another country’s affairs.

Does this six-part storyline satisfy as both superhero slugfest and thinly veiled commentary on the Iraq War? And can it win over the hearts and minds of that four-color coalition known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

  • Our appearance last week on Marvel by the Month
  • The history of the JSA
  • Not THAT Hector and Lyta Hall
  • A spoiler for Alan Moore’s Miracleman
  • Poisoned Chalice: The Extremely Long and Incredibly Complex Story of Marvelman
  • Strange Adventures

Join us in two weeks as we get into the spooky spirit of Halloween season with a look at Hellboy: The Corpse!

Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

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Episode 169 – New Avengers (2013) Vol. 4: A Perfect World

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

We wrap up our selective two-part look back on Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers, as the Illuminati—the secret syndicate featuring Black Panther, Iron Man, the Sub-Mariner and other heavy hitters—are finally confronted with an impossible decision: to destroy an alternate Earth or watch their own world die!

Can our conflicted cabal figure out a solution before going toe-to-toe with the Justice League—we mean the Squadron Supreme—we mean the Great Society, the greatest heroes of Earth 4,290,001? And can they possibly win that war of the worlds known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:
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Episode 168 – New Avengers (2013) Vol. 1: Everything Dies

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Kevin Moreau

What was all that stuff about “incursions” in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness? The answer lies in these first six issues (plus one) of Jonathan Hickman’s run on New Avengers, drawn by the incomparable Steve Epting (and Mike Deodato), published by Marvel Comics!

Black Panther calls on the clandestine cabal known as the Illuminati to help confront a menace that threatens the entire multiverse: Alternate universes are colliding into each other with Earth as the focal point! And the only options are to let both universes die, or destroy one Earth so that both universes can live!

Can this covert conclave prevent disaster while keeping their consciences intact? And can they survive that Crisis on Infinite Earths known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

  • AVX: Avengers vs. X-Men
  • Black Swan, Pilates instructor
  • Reed Richards gives the best PowerPoint presentations
  • War of the Realms
  • Three Thousands Years of Longing
  • We need to make Blade: Pig in the City happen
  • Thor: Love and Thunder
  • Avengers: The Gatherers Saga

Join us in two weeks as our two-parter continues with New Avengers Vol. 4: A Perfect World!

Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

Listen Now

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