Episode 16 – Saga Vol. 1

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

Saga vol 1In this episode, Curt and Kevin set off in search of the Rocketship Forest, tiptoe past the gunpowder fields and try to evade the withering gaze of Lying Cat as they discuss Saga, Vol. 1, collecting the first six issues of the hit Image Comics title by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

Newlyweds Alana and Marko are on the run, desperate to escape an ongoing interstellar war and raise their newborn baby girl in peace. But their respective homeworlds have other ideas, dispatching a lovesick bounty hunter and an aristocratic robot to the planet Cleave find the happy couple—and terminate them with extreme prejudice!

Is the chronicle of these star-crossed lovebirds doomed to end before it even has a chance to begin? Or can these crazy kids and their new ghostly babysitter escape this wretched mudball and ensure that their narrative lives on in that fabled tome of immortal epics known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode:

Join us in two weeks as we venture to the troubled land of Wakanda to discuss Ta-Nehisi Coates’ comics debut, Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet!

Until then, please rate us on iTunes, send us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, and we may read your comments in an upcoming episode. And as always, thanks for listening!

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Episode 15 – The Sandman: Season of Mists

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

SOM3In this episode, Curt and Kevin drift off to that eternal, amorphous realm of the subconscious known as The Dreaming (with a brief stopover in Hell) as they try to interpret the fantastical goings-on in The Sandman: Season of Mists, collecting issues 21-28 of the DC/Vertigo title The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and various artists.

Morpheus, the lord of Dreams, pays a long-overdue visit to Hell to right a past wrong, only to find the place empty. Turns out Lucifer, the first of the fallen, no longer wants to be warden of the wicked, and hands Morpheus the key to his domain of the damned.

Will the dumbstruck dream king fall prey to the scheming gods, demons and otherworldly entities who’ve converged on the Dreaming with devious designs on Hell? Or can he rid himself of this bestial burden and close on a dream home in that fanciful realm of imagination known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode:
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Episode 14 – The Vision: Little Worse Than a Man

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

VisionIn this episode, Curt and Kevin visit a seemingly idyllic Washington, D.C. suburb to pull back the curtain and expose the insecurities and instability corrupting the source code of one modern American family as they run some diagnostic tests on The Vision: Little Worse Than a Man, collecting issues 1-6 of Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s acclaimed Marvel comic, The Vision.

In his ongoing quest to be human, the android Avenger has created his own version of a perfect suburban family unit. But when a supervillain with ties to the Vision’s past drops by unannounced, he sets off a sequence of events that threatens not just this humanoid household, but the entire world!

Will the Vision hit the “delete” button to protect his computerized clan from a world that mistrusts and fears them? Or can everyone’s favorite synthezoid sentinel save the day and gain acceptance into that exclusive gated community known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode:
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Episode 13 – Batman: The Killing Joke

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

KillingjokeIn this episode, Curt and Kevin return to Gotham City and put on their Dark Knight Detective caps to sift through labored puns, fun-house felonies and other offenses as they consider the strange case of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s highly acclaimed 1998 DC Comics graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke!

But first, they take a quick detour to the black-and-white days of 1951 for a very different look at the origin of Killing Joke antagonist the Joker! Listen to our heroes match wits with the Caped Crusader and his Boy Wonder as they try to crack the conundrum of The Man Behind the Red Hood!

Will our dynamic duo sentence the Joker to rot behind the imposing gates of Arkham Asylum? Or will the Clown Prince of Crime find himself laughing all the way to that big score known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 12 – Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

FunHomeBookCoverIn this episode, Curt and Kevin put aside their capes and cowls to discuss a different kind of comic book story: Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.

In sketching a portrait of her life growing up in a small Pennsylvania town, Bechdel examines her complicated relationship with her father, Bruce, a funeral home director and high school teacher whose passion for restoring the family’s Victorian-era home underscores his emotional distance from his wife and children.

When Alison comes out to her parents as a lesbian, she soon comes to learn of her father’s own homosexuality, which lands him in legal trouble and perhaps even contributes to his sudden death at the age of 44, which Bechdel considers to be a suicide.

Can Alison come to terms with her father’s death, his past, and his detached relationship with her? And can her award-winning memoir make its own way in the world, to that obsessively decorated “fun home” known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode:
 Continue reading →

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Comics Onscreen – 2016 Halftime Report

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Kevin Moreau
Deadpool Movie

20th Century Fox

In this episode, Curt and Kevin take a break from talking about comic book stories, and instead talk about … TV and movie adaptations of comic book stories from the first half of 2016! How did these series and films reflect their source material? And more importantly—were they any good?

Things discussed in this non-canonical, somewhat spoiler-y installment include Deadpool’s skewering of superhero movie tropes, the lighthearted romp that was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the evolutionary dead end that was X-Men: Apocalypse, and the rock -’em sock-’em bonanza that was Captain America: Civil War.

But wait! There’s more! We also weigh in on the disappointing second season of Continue reading →

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Episode 11 – DC: The New Frontier

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

DC_New_Frontier_Vol_1_TPIn this episode, Curt and Kevin pay tribute to the late Darwyn Cooke, whose death from cancer on May 14, 2016, shocked and saddened the comics community, with an in-depth discussion of his award-winning 2004 masterwork, DC: The New Frontier.

Cooke’s six-volume saga, spanning the 15-year period from the end of World War II to the dawn of the 1960s, finds DC heroes old and new coming to terms with a rapidly changing world, touching on topics as varied as McCarthyism, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the civil rights movement, the space race and the Cold War.

When a menace surfaces unlike any they’ve ever faced,  can Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and other heroes from DC’s Golden and Silver Ages rise to challenge the unknown, usher in a new era of optimism, and conquer that final frontier known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode:

Darwyn Cooke, 1962-2016

The Incredibles

Watchmen

The Right Stuff

Our favorite individual panels from DC: The New Frontier (especially this one)

The Spirit

Richard Stark’s Parker, Vol. 1: The Hunter

Join us in two weeks for a special non-canonical episode looking back at TV and film comics adaptations for the first half of 2016!

Until then, please rate us on iTunes, send us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, and we may read your comments in an upcoming episode. And as always, thanks for listening!

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X-Men: Apocalypse Finds Venerable Mutant Franchise Running on Fumes

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

Review by Curt Holman

Apocalypse Fox

20th Century Fox

“Mutation – it is the key to our evolution,” announced Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier in the introductory monologue of 2000’s X-Men. As a film franchise, the X-Men movies have evolved in fits and starts. The first took the major step of bringing Marvel superheroes to the big screen (after Marvel’s warm-up with Blade in 1998), paving the way for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and the blockbusting, inescapable Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Director Bryan Singer improved significantly on the first outing with X2: X-Men United, which featured sharper characterization, better jokes and more exciting set pieces. After some significant missteps, the series made a comeback with the prequel X-Men: First Class, and then ingeniously brought the casts together with the time-travel epic X-Men Days of Future Past. And earlier this year, Deadpool became a colossal hit by ramping up the violence, raunchiness and self-deprecating comedy.

But as the ninth movie in this particular continuity, X-Men: Apocalypse suggests this dynamic has exhausted itself: There’s just not a lot of meat left on those adamantium bones. Continue reading →

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Episode 10 – Uncanny X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

Dark PhoenixIn this episode, Curt and Kevin embark on a dazzling journey from the stuffy confines of an exclusive NewYork club to the famed “blue area” of the moon (the No. 1 lunar tourist attraction!) as they struggle to decide the fate of Uncanny X-Men issues 132-137: The Dark Phoenix Saga!

The Hellfire Club, a cabal of wealthy, power-hungry Hamilton cosplayers, mentally manipulate Jean Grey, aka the godlike Phoenix, to help them capture her fellow X-Men. But in doing so, they unwillingly unleash a force of cosmic destruction—the Dark Phoenix, who promptly snacks on a star and earns the wrath of a mighty intergalactic empire.

Will this Black Angel destroy the man she loves, her teammates, and possibly the entire universe? Or can our band of merry mutants win the day and cement their spot in the fiery firmament of funnybooks known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 9 – The Death of Captain America

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Kevin Moreau

Death of CapIn this episode, Curt and Kevin don their best star-spangled finery and strap on their shootin’ irons as they take on the awesome responsibility of discussing Captain America vol. 5, issues 25-36; the first 12 issues of The Death of Captain America.

In the aftermath of Civil War, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is gunned down in front of a stunned nation—the first volley in a diabolical plot by the dastardly Red Skull, who really, really hates America! It’s up to Cap’s former sidekick, Bucky Barnes, to save the day—while atoning for his past as the brainwashed Soviet assassin Winter Soldier.

Have the Red Skull and his criminal cronies written freedom’s obituary? Or can Bucky Cap, Sharon Carter, the Falcon and the Black Widow march onward into that sweet land of liberty known as … The Comics Canon?

Things Discussed in This Episode:
 Continue reading →

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