Indefensible Ink

Superheroes don't kill supervillains...except for the ones who do. But it's a conceit of the genre that even if some heroes cross this line, they at least acknowledge the line exists. In this episode, regular host Justin Zyduck takes a break from critiquing specific comics to discussing the trope of the "code against killing" with returning guest Jim Cannon. They discuss the origins and general reasons for this rule of thumb—both philosophical and practical—and about Superman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and Captain America specifically. 

ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: The legal ramifications of Indiana Jones' activities, a definition of "kindergarten morality" by former Marvel honcho Bill Jemas, John Byrne's storytelling hand grenades, the trial of the Flash, and Xena: Warrior Princess.

The lead story of 1982's Superman #372 might look a little old-fashioned next to the cutting-edge superhero storytelling of Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, Miller's Daredevil, or the Wolfman-Perez New Teen Titans, but readers raved about the brain-bending plot twist in Cary Bates and Curt Swan's "Superman's History-Changing Mission!" What did comics fans see in this seemingly illogical Superman adventure? We're going back in time 40 years (and the Man of Steel is going back a bit further still) to investigate the curious charms of the Bronze Age Pre-Crisis Superman and the writer they called "Mr. Surprise"!

Also covered in this episode: The perfect drink to compliment global blackmail, more uses for super-ventrioloquism, Superman's CIA contact, and humble advice to the head honchos at NASA.

PLUS: Following up from the previous episode on LJN's Uncanny X-Men video game for the NES, Justin learns that the Sega Genesis had its own X-Men adventure with a counterintuitive secret to getting to the final level.

Has anyone ever done a podcast on...complaining about a video game? Probably not, in which case it pleases Indefensible Ink to break new ground and discuss 1989's Uncanny X-Men for the Nintendo Entertainment System, released by the notorious game publisher LJN. Regular host Justin Zyduck welcomes his brother Zach as a guest to discuss a punishingly difficult and frustrating game from their childhood that nonetheless has some pretty cool music. YouTube playthroughs seem to attest that it's possible to beat this game, but this episode reveals the unfair roadblocks the developers put in the player's way.

Also discussed in this episode: Saving the space whales and how the X-Men's attempted sacrifice once made Justin tear up in the middle of traffic, how Cyclops' optic blasts work, how to identify Paul Smith drawings in instruction booklets, multiple invocations of the semi-forgotten NES game StarTropics, a bold proposal for a Superman video game, and what it would take for a digital character to be less popular than MS Office mascot Clippy.

AS PROMISED: A link in the show notes to the music for the NES Silver Surfer game: https://youtu.be/ZQlLl2j5THQ

SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY: Zach's cat, River Phoenix

Everybody knows an accident caused Captain America to spend decades in suspended animation after World War II. What this book presupposes is…maybe the U.S. Government froze him on purpose? But if that’s the high concept behind “Ice” by Chuck Austen (with John Ney Reiber) and Jae Lee, why is the comic mostly about a guy with an alien robot hand trying to test Cap’s sense of morality? By request, host Justin uncovers the complicated history of the post-9/11 Marvel Knights Captain America run on the way to defrosting this controversial (but ultimately inconsequential) storyline.

Also covered in this episode: failed attempts at winning enemies to your point of view via hallucinogens, the irrationality of amphibious love interests, and the most conspicuous anagram in the history of superhero comics.

In the year 2000, the comic book Captain Marvel belonged to Genis-Vell, a novice superhero trying to to live up to his father's name and keep up the momentum gained by his appearances in the popular Avengers Forever series. But series writer Peter David may have been more interested in chronicling the sitcom antics of Genis' odd-couple partner, longtime Hulk supporting character Rick Jones. David and artist ChrisCross' Captain Marvel (vol. 4) is fondly remembered by fans as a great series cut down in its prime, but does it hold up? Genis is headed back to comic store shelves this month in a new miniseries, and to mark the occasion, regular host Justin Zyduck and guest Jim Cannon revisit the original. 

Also discussed in this episode: PAD's possible similarities with Garth Merenghi, an unnecessarily elaborate scheme involving the Wendigo, a potshot at Wild Wild West that's taken on a strange resonance 22 years later, angling for Tom Brevoort's job, and the unsettling possibility that Bill Jemas might have been right about this series all along.

Remembering the New Coke of Superman storylines 25 years later, when a desperate DC Comics tried to get people excited about the Man of Steel again by giving him new powers and a '90s X-Men-style costume. But can absolute mastery of the electromagnetic spectrum counteract event fatigue, a flagging comics industry, and a morass of subplots? Indefensible Ink takes a look back at the "Triangle Era" of Superman books and offers an opinion about why depowering the character isn't the quick fix people assume it will be.

Also discussed in this episode: the benefits of super-USB-drive fingers vs. invulnerable toes, a thinly veiled Rush Limbaugh whining that his co-workers don't like him, and strategies for playing Connect Four with small children.

BONUS: Where is Metropolis? Where is Gotham City, for that matter? Justin takes a look at the implications of the DC Universe having three New York Cities and considers a possible solution.

We will not see his like again.

Today, many comics artists work completely digitally, but in 1988, creating a comic book using a computer was a noteworthy novelty. Is Mike Saenz's cyberpunk thriller Iron Man: Crash--billed on its cover as "The First Computer-Generated Graphic Novel"--just a gimmick, or is there a story behind the low-rez bitmaps? And if there is a story...is it any good? Justin takes a look at what could either be described as "The Dark Knight Returns, but for Iron Man" or as "Popular Mechanics, crossed with Tales of Suspense." Along the way, this episode attempts to examine anti-Japanese xenophobia in American media of the '80s and also--improbably--contains spoilers for Hercule Poirot's character arc in Kenneth Branagh's Death of the Nile.

Also discussed in this episode: naked sauna days, undercover robots at the post office, and the possible re-exposure of Pentagon secrets that have been buried for 30 years. 

BONUS: Who are the creators of Venom? It's a tangled web of what constitutes "creation" and when, but Justin offers his perspective. 

Comic book titles don't get much bloodier than Youngblood: Bloodsport...but there's even more types of bodily fluids to worry about in this unfinished miniseries by Mark Millar and Rob Liefeld! What happens when you let a then-up-and-coming Scottish provocateur off the leash and turn him loose on an excitable artist's flagship team? Your host Justin grimaces through some more immature and tasteless nonsense from these goofballs so you don't have to.

WARNING: Some reptition of salty language and sexual content. Also discussed in this episode: supper club decorum, every generation's belief that its celebrities are the worst, an extremely questionable attempt at doing an accent, and Stan Lee's least prestigious cameo.

BONUS: What exactly constitutes a character's "first appearance"? Inspired by a recent blog discovery (remember blogs?), Justin shares some instances where the answer to this question is more of a matter of philosophy than simple publishing dates.

So many podcasts have already weighed in on Matt Reeves' The Batman, but only Indefensible Ink asks the most important question of all: Is the Penguin in this film actually penguin-y enough to merit the name? Host Justin Zyduck welcomes back his recurring guest and brother, Zach, to discuss what they liked about this film and whether a lifetime of monklike dedication to the field of Batman Studies has ruined Justin's ability to enjoy it even further.