The Comics Canon The Comics Canon

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!
 

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 night of the soul as he’s pursued by the deadly ninja clan known as the Hand!
Will Logan’s new friend Yukio stop trying to make “Gotcha!” happen? Can Logan redeem himself, defeat his enemies and regain Mariko’s love? And can this miniseries fight its way ino that House of Flying Daggers known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         There sure are a lot of ninja in 1980s Japan
·         Does the Hand recruit from Cobra?
·         Avengers: The Impossible City
·         Shōgun
·         X-Men Epic Collection: The Fate of the Phoenix
·         Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Anthology
·         Curt’s appearance on The Origin Story Podcast
Join us in two weeks as we revisit our most controversial episode with a FRESH NEW LOOK at Batman: 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!

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 machine? And can father and son survive their harrowing journey along that Road to Perdition known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         “I’m Ogami Itto, and this is Jackass!”
·         Daigoro’s tricked-out baby cart
·         The return of everyone’s vampire-slaying pig!
·         Dune: Part Two
·         Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1
·         House of R on the Lone Wolf and Cub trope
Join us in two weeks as we discuss the 1982 Wolverine miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller!
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!

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 Ben and Alicia’s honeymoon, with a little help from Alicia’s father, the pernicious Puppet Master!
Is this really our last episode discussing these Marvelous melees? (Who knows?) Can the Thing keep the Immortal Hulk from endangering an entire seaside resort before he reverts back to all-too-human Ben Grimm? And can either of them prevail against that titanic tag team known as ... The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
·         Kevin responds to Curt’s song from last episode
·         We talk about whether we should talk about Cerebus
·         Curt’s article on the ends of Bone and Cerebus
·         Point of Origin from Fantastic Four Vol. 6, issues 14-19
·         Do A Powerbomb
·         The Thing Vol. 1 #6, “Mindscape”
 
 
Join us in two weeks as we make a long-overdue return to the world of manga to discuss Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1: The Assassin’s Road!
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!