The Comics Canon The Comics Canon

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 use of the comics medium in original and inventive ways, a seemingly unfilmable book that’s somehow being adapted into a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, directed by Robert Zemeckis, for release later this year. But is that enough to score a ticket to that Land That Time Forgot known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         An unlikely Forrest Gump sequel
·         Hey, it’s Ben Franklin!
·         The Reversible Man by Alan Moore and Mike White
·         Evil Season 4
·         Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud
·         Flash Gordon by Dan Schkade
 
Join us in two weeks as we discuss Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Who Is Scorpio? by Jim Steranko!
Until then:
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And as always, thanks for listening!

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 and save a race of space whales before turning into Brood 2.0? And can this spacefaring superhero saga make landfall on that forbidden planet known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         The 10 basic X-Men plots
·         Are convoluted X-Men stories a feature or a bug?
·         The influence of Alien on the Brood
·         Kitty Pryde is a great character
·         Chris Claremont’s Phoenix obsession
·         Curt has issues with the New Mutants
·         Immortal Hulk Vol. 10: Of Hell and Of Death
·         Sugar on Apple TV+
Join us in two weeks as we shift gears to discuss the graphic novel Here by Richard McGuire!
Until then:
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And as always, thanks for listening!

 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. While freelancing for a pre-Marvel Comics Stan Lee to pay for a psychiatrist to “cure” her, she falls for Virginia, a member of her therapy group who helps inspire her to write “The Price of Salt,” which would become a landmark of queer literature.
Can a deeply conflicted Pat overcome her disdain for comics (spoiler: no) and herself? And will this moving graphic novel earn its way into that exclusive speakeasy known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         What if Patricia Highsmith worked in a comic book store?
·         Which previous episode should we “redo” next?
·         Ripley on Netflix
·         Vulture: Is Tom Ripley Gay?
·         Love Lies Bleeding
·         Fallout
·         Carol
·         Spider-Man and the X-Men
 Join us in two weeks as we discuss Uncanny X-Men #162-167, better known as the Brood Saga!
Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!
·       And as always, thanks for listening!

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!)

 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!
·         What’s the deal with the flying bomber Garbage Pail Kids?
·         The 99% Invisible Power Broker Book Club
·         Robert Caro’s The Path to Power
·         Douglas Wolk’s Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean
·         Some Fantastic Four movie talk
Join us in two weeks as we discuss Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer!
Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!
And as always, thanks for listening!

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 series hold up to scrutiny nearly 40 years since its publication? And what are its chances of finally gaining entry into that Home for the Emotionally Troubled known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg
·         Buy-ins you have to make when reading a Batman comic
·         What’s the deal with the Mutant gang?
·         Curt gets something off his chest
·         Late Night With the Devil
·         Aard Labor, Tom Ewing’s breakdown of Cerebus, on Freaky Trigger
·         Christine by Stephen King
·         The unique terror of calling girls back in the landline era
Join us in two weeks as we conclude this two-part look back and once again render judgment on The Dark Knight Returns!
Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!
And as always, thanks for listening!