Indefensible Ink

On this week’s episode of Indefensible Ink, it’s the first-ever edition of "Defensible Ink," whereby one of your hosts tries to defend a comic that’s been ignored or dismissed and make the case that it’s actually good. In this episode, Ryan and Justin explore a boyhood favorite of Ryan’s, Image Comics’ WildC.A.T.s from 1992: a series that, like many of its Image Comics brethren, was seen as flashy art slapped on a mediocre story and characters. Does the Jim Lee-drawn miniseries and its tales of superheroes and secret alien invasions still hold up? Or did pretty art and nostalgia mask a real C.A.T.-astrophe? (We’re pretty sure no one has used this pun in the last six months to describe a pop culture work.)

Also covered in this episode: Justin and Ryan try to figure out the Vice President’s enumerated powers, Ryan reveals his potential stripper name, questionable ’90s ponytails, and a simpler time when your political career could be ended by misspelling “potato.”

Discussed in this issue: WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams #1-4 (1992).

Contents:

• 00:00 - Cold open: What are the lyrics to the WildC.A.T.s theme song?
• 03:48 - Theme and intro
• 05:25 - Background: Jim Lee and WildStorm
• 12:53 - Issue #1
• 29:04 - Issue #2
• 41:54 - Issue #3
• 53:30 - Issue #4
• 1:01:16 - Analysis
• 1:14:59 - Canon Fodder
• 1:20:17 - Recommendations
• 1:26:53 - Closing

In today’s episode of Indefensible Ink, your hosts discuss Marvel’s 2003 failed attempt to revive romance comics and/or troll Spider-Man fans: Trouble, or, The Fantabulous Sexual Emancipation of One Aunt May. Was having a thirtysomething Scottish guy write a story ostensibly aimed at American teen girls an amazing idea or merely a spectacular idea? Is Trouble the canonical origin of Peter Parker? Can Justin and Ryan contain their seething contempt for this storyline and give it a fair shake?

Also in this episode: the strange origin of Mary Jane’s famous catchphrase, way too much information about Uncle Ben and Aunt May’s sex lives, and proper disposal of your issues of Trouble.

Discussed: Trouble #1-5 (2003-04).

Contents:

• 00:00 - Content warning
• 00:55 - Theme and intro
• 02:40 - Background: A Troubled history
• 07:14 - Issue #1
• 19:12 - Issue #2
• 27:57 - Issue #3
• 34:28 - Issue #4
• 41:06 - Issue #5
• 47:49 - Analysis
• 1:01:15 - Canon Fodder
• 1:09:30 - Recommendations
• 1:17:35 - Closing

POW! ZAP! SNOOGANS! Filmmaker Kevin Smith has written a Batman comic, and he's enlisted Walt "Tell 'Em, Steve-Dave!" Flanagan to draw it and the sound-effects-spouting assassin known as Onomatopoeia to play the villain. In this episode, Ryan and Justin check out Batman: Cacophony while also reflecting on Kevin Smith's career and what his films have meant to them.

Also in this episode, your hosts come to grips with the ethics of allowing the Joker to die, the problematic villainy of Maxie Zeus, owning one's own prudishness, and Batman's ill-advised attempt to turn a Hebrew blessing into a catchphrase. 

Discussed: Batman: Cacophony #1-3 (2008-2009)

Contents:

• 0:00 - Personal history with Kevin Smith (I)
• 1:45 - Theme and intro
• 2:37 - Kevin Smith overview
• 8:33 - Issue #1
• 22:41 - Issue #2
• 33:58 - Issue #3
• 45:24 - Analysis and reflections on Kevin Smith
• 1:02:57 - Canon Fodder
• 1:10:43 - Personal history with Kevin Smith (II)
• 1:13:28 - Recommendations
• 1:19:20 - Conclusion

In today’s episode, Ryan and Justin explore the ambitious male-warrior-reincarnated-in-a-female-superhero-body series, 1993’s Mantra. Does the series live up to the promise of its intriguing premise? Does it subvert the "tough guy" and “bad girl” stereotypes of ’90s comics or wallow in them?

Your hosts attempt to get to the bottom of these questions as they discuss these topics and more, including the Malibu Comics Ultraverse, questionably lavish magic shop galas, the challenge of living up to your supervillain nickname, evil hippies, groomzillas, and baffling in-universe pornography.

Discussed in this episode: Mantra, #1-5 (1993).

Contents:

• 0:00 - Theme and intro
• 1:30 - What was the Ultraverse?
• 6:37 - Issue #1
• 30:17 - Issue #2
• 46:30 - Issue #3
• 58:40 - Issue #4
• 1:12:32 - Issue #5
• 1:28:39 - Analysis
• 1:39:52 - Canon Fodder
• 1:49:16 - Recommendations
• 1:54:32 - Closing

As 2019 draws to a close, Ryan and Justin reflect on just how much time they've wasted reading and talking about bad comics. And to commemorate the occasion, they waste another 86 minutes on the highs and lows (but mostly lows) of Indefensible Ink's first year. 

This episode's agenda:

• Dubious awards given out in fields such as "Most Wasted Potential" and "Least Bad Comic." What will Ryan and Justin single out as the Worst Comic they read in 2019?
• A high-level discussion about offensively bad comics vs. merely boring ones, art and how it can elevate the worst stories, and which creator's brain we'd most like to pick in an interview.
• A double-length round of Canon Fodder to determine the winner of 2019's trivia sensation.

Hey, remember that time Nightcrawler's dad showed up and claimed to be the Biblical Satan? And this dude Azazel claimed that Nightcrawler is descended from a line of demon-like mutants and the Angel is descended from a line of angelic ones? In this episode, Ryan and Justin lead you through "The Draco," a six-issue Uncanny X-Men arc by Chuck Austen, Philip Tan, et al. 

Also covered in this episode: a game of "Fill in Your Own X-Jet," how to distinguish the difference between anti-mutant bigotry and a sensible fear of men with terrifying metal skull masks, Alpha Flight's absolute garbage armor, super-social scientists, and the complications of categorizing the various demons and devils of the Marvel Universe.

Discussed: Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #429-434 (2003)

Hope you're in the mood for some hard-boiled tough-guy nonsense, because in this episode, Ryan and Justin discuss Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane's Spawn-Batman from 1994. With only the barest of plots to get in the way of killer cyborgs and back-alley brawling, prepare to hear the story of how a very special friendship began as your hosts attempt to answer the question: how seriously is Miller taking any of this?

Also covered in this episode: Spawn and Batman's 16-bit trash talk, more on the allure of green slime to the children of the '90s, a proposal for the manufacture of bootleg dolls of the cutest li'l Batman you ever saw, and how to make Spawn's mask vanish. (HINT: hit him in the kidneys.)

Discussed: Spawn-Batman (1994)

On this week’s episode of Indefensible Ink, Ryan and Justin get belatedly spooky by discussing the horror comic featuring the band KISS, KISS: Psycho Circus! Enter a world where the founding members of the classic rock act are otherworldly, supernatural beings of vengeance traveling with the titular sinister carnival, meting out questionably ironic punishments and spelling trouble for abusers, murderers, and those who only want to rock and roll part of the night.

Covered in this episode: Ryan is easily impressed by big words, the real horror is a world without KISS, someone decided to use all the fonts, the rare "Reverse-Seal," and a polite request for more depictions of animal cruelty.

Content Warning: The comics discussed in this episode contain scenes of domestic abuse of a teenager.

Discussed: KISS: Psycho Circus, #1-3 (1997).

In today’s episode of Indefensible Ink, Ryan and Justin join forces to cover a 1970s issue of Marvel Team-Up starring none other than Spidey and Captain America! In this special “minisode,” your hosts recount a would-be rollicking adventure in which ole Webhead and Cap take on the forces of AIM and second-rate villain the Grey Gargoyle, while Nick Fury occasionally berates someone.

Also: chemistry is apparently rocket science, Justin feels some Midwestern pride, and possibly the most half-assed “heroes escape from a deathtrap” scene in comics history. Plus: the debut of a new segment on bizarre and goofy comics trivia, Canon Fodder!

Discussed in this issue: Marvel Team-Up Volume 1, #13 (1973).

In this episode, Ryan and Justin discuss The Kingdom, the mostly forgotten sequel (or "sequel") to DC Comics' universally acclaimed miniseries Kingdom Come. Was this storyline unjustly dismissed due to the daunting challenge of living up to its predecessor? Or was there good reason it was cast into the bargain bins of history? Find out!

Also covered: Ryan missed some crucial science lessons in school, why you shouldn't chat with Batman while your wife is giving birth, and Justin proposes a controversial political platform.

Discussed in this episode: The Kingdom #1, The Kingdom: Planet Krypton #1, The Kingdom #2 (1998).