Got a burning question for The Comics Canon? Submit a question for our upcoming Ask Us Anything episode, airing Wednesday, March 4! Send us an email at [email protected] or hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky no later than Friday, February 27!

After 10 years and 250 episodes of rendering judgment on the greatest comic book stories of yesterday and today, we decided it's finally time to record an episode for newcomers to the podcast – or to comics themselves!

In this super-accessible jumping-on point, we walk listeners through a typical episode of The Comics Canon and offer our recommendations for anyone interested in exploring comics, broken into 10 helpful categories:

Comics for Kids Comics for All Ages YA/Young Adult Comics Memoirs Humor Comics Crime Comics Horror Comics Superhero Comics Cosmic Comics and the 800-pound gorilla of superhero graphic novels: Watchmen!

Also in This Episode!

· What ARE comics, anyway?

· Who we are and how we came to be

· The creative comics boom of the 1980s

· "Your son is hooked on Micronauts."

· The one book we'd hand to anyone interested in the comics medium

Join us in two weeks for the second in our two-part anniversary series, as we answer questions from listeners, look ahead to possible future episodes and discuss … The State of The Canon!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

On this milestone episode, we tackle our white whale of show subjects: Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud's fascinating and thought-provoking exploration of the comics medium, how it works, and what it can do – told in the comics format!

Join us as we ask the burning questions:

What ARE comics, anyway? How long has this particular form of communication been around? (Hint: Longer than you think!) How many different ways can it illustrate the passage of time or the concept of movement? What are the six steps of the creative process? How far down a nerd rabbit hole can Curt and Kevin go? (Pretty far!)

And will this landmark textbook make the grade and go the head of that comics classroom known as … The Comics Canon?

Also in This Episode!

· You mean this ISN'T what Scott McCloud looks like?

· Ooh, bar graphs!

· Inconsistent bullies are the worst kind of bullies

· Reinventing Comics

· The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s: An Exploration, by Paul Cornell

Join us in two weeks as we mark our 10-year anniversary with "The Gateway Episode" – highlighting comics and graphic novels for newcomers to the comics medium!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

On this episode, we celebrate our 10th anniversary -- and gear up for our 250th episode -- with a discussion of Zot! The Earth Stories! Specifically, Zot! #28-36 from 1989-1991, written and drawn by Scott McCloud, originally published by Eclipse Comics!

The high-flying teen superhero Zot zips merrily along in a bright, shiny and cool retro-futuristic version of our world, cheerful and carefree – so what happens when he ends up stranded on OUR Earth? Mostly, he cedes the stage to his not-quite-girlfriend Jenny and her high school friends, most of whom get a moment to share the spotlight in these touching stories filled with warmth, humor and heart while deftly dealing with topics including coming out, racism and teen sex.

Can Zot's relentless optimism remain intact after he experiences crime on our world? Can he convince Jenny not to turn her back on Earth? And can these stories ascend to that World of Tomorrow known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Horton's utterly ridiculous career goal

· Optimax vs. Cyclops

· Zot's best moment

· 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and its comic-book connection

· Fortune and Glory: The Musical

Join us in two weeks as we discuss a book we've talked about tackling since Day One: Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

On this episode, we welcome writer, actor and friend of the show Michael Owl, host of The Origin Story Podcast, as we dive into one of the best-reviewed graphic novels of 2025: Drome by Jesse Lonergan!

This imaginative epic combines a visually dazzling creation myth with an action-packed fantasy adventure, as the blue-skinned demigoddess Blue attempts to impose order on a chaotic world, opposed by the violent one-eyed warlord Patch, each acting as proxies for remote gods. Folding in elements from such sources as the Bible, Greek mythology and classic fantasy, it feels both familiar and aggressively new as Lonergan plays with the comic-book format in fun and creative ways.

But is all of that enough for Drome to survive the judgment of that pantheon of deities and demigods known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

· Chekhov's Night Bull

· Star Trek The Next Generation: Darmok

· Santa, When the Claus Fell

· There There by Tommy Orange

· Slugfest: Inside the Epic 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC, by Reed Tucker

Subscribe to Michael's Substack

Join us in two weeks as we ramp up to our special 250xth episode with a look at The Earth Stories (issues #28-36) of Scott McCloud's Zot!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

(Mild explicit warning: a swear word is used.)

Curt and Kevin give themselves an end-of-year break with another quiz episode! And this time, it's a quiz exchange! Kevin tests Curt's knowledge of past Christmas-themed episodes, while Curt grills Kevin on … his own show notes!

We'll be back in two weeks with a look at one of the best-reviewed graphic novels of 2025, Jesse Lonergan's Drome!

For our last full-size episode of 2025, we wrap up our All My Xs miniseries on Marvel Comics' X-Men franchise with one of the big crossover events of the Jonathan Hickman era – The Hellfire Gala!

The mutant nation of Krakoa makes its debut on the world stage with one hell of a coming-out party, filled with celebrity guests, fantastic costumes, behind-the-scenes intrigue and a truly out-of-this-world fireworks display!

Can Emma Frost keep this star-studded affair on the rails? What's with Beast's heel turn? What the heck is Charles Xavier wearing? And can this story get past the velvet rope and into that social event of the season known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· The Tom Stoppard of superhero comics

· A truly baffling cameo

· Great artists steal

· Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy

· Pluribus on Apple TV

· The Mighty Nein on Amazon Prime

Join us in two weeks – on Christmas Eve – for a fun mini-episode! Then, on Jan. 7, we discuss one of the best-reviewed books of 2025: Drome by Jesse Lonergan!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

All My Xs, our decade-by-decade exploration of the X-Men, crashes the first gay wedding of a Marvel Comics superhero in 2012's Astonishing X-Men #51, by Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins!

But first, we take a detour 1992 as Northstar becomes the first Marvel character to come out as gay in Alpha Flight #106, by Scott Lobdell and Mark Pacella! (And even better, we're introduced to that most valuable piece of IP, Major Mapleleaf!)

Can a well-intentioned Very Special Issue of Alpha Flight survive a collision with the "extreme" art and storytelling trend of the 1990s? And can everyone's favorite mutant Olympian turned Canadian superhero survive a run-in with that Big Fat Geek Wedding known as … The Comics Canon?

Recommended in This Episode:

· Batman: Dark Victory

· Death by Lightning

· Wynd Vol. 1: The Flight of the Prince

· Damage Control Vol. 1

Join us in two weeks as All My Xs finally reaches the 2020s with a look at the event of the season … the Hellfire Gala!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

All My Xs, our miniseries on Marvel Comics' X-Men, takes a little detour to introduce the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight in 1979's Uncanny X-Men #120-#121 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and 1983's Alpha Flight #1 by John Byrne!

First, the Canadian government wants Wolverine back – and if his friends in the X-Men get in the way, well, too bad for them!

Next, Alpha Flight gets their own ongoing title, just in time to lose their government funding! And to make matters worse, they still have to deal with the gargantuan menace of Tundra!

Can the X-Men stop a group of government agents from forcibly detaining one of their own citizens? Can Curt and Kevin keep from saying "eh" every other sentence? And can Canada's premier team of heroes take off to that Great White North known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Curt makes a correction – and recounts a dream

· Why Alpha Flight are better than the Avengers

· Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas: Revised & Updated Edition

· Final Destination Bloodlines

· X-Men #106

· Alpha Flight #16

· Uncanny X-Men #118-119

Join us in two weeks as we look at the wedding of Northstar in Astonishing X-Men #51 (and his official coming out in Alpha Flight #106)!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

Halloween is right around the corner, so we're temporarily hitting pause on All My Xs (again) to revive our horror series Tomb of the Crypt and discuss The Closet, by James Tynion IV, Gavin Fullerton and Chris O'Halloran, published by Image Comics!

Things aren't going particularly well for Thom. He and his wife Maggie are packing for a cross-country, and his son Jamie keeps talking about a monster in his bedroom closet. If only the kid would give this monster thing a rest – they're going to be in Portland in a week, and that closet will be a continent away! Problem solved, right? … Right?

Can Maggie cut him some slack for not throwing out a box of souvenirs from the woman he cheated on her with? Can Jamie really leave his closet monster behind? And can this three-issue story make it intact to that cabin in the woods known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Casey Kasem's famous meltdown

· This guy, right?

· Curt and Kevin's spooky-themed song recommendations

Join us in two weeks as we return to All My Xs by taking a step back to the 1980s for Uncanny X-Men #120-121 and John Byrne's Alpha Flight #1!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!

Superstar writer Grant Morrison updates the X-Men for the 21st century as All My Xs, our decade-by-decade miniseries on Marvel's mega-popular mutant franchise, continues with a discussion of E Is for Extinction – specifically, New X-Men issues #114-117 and #121 – by Morrison, Frank Quitely and Ethan Van Sciver, published by Marvel Comics!

It's not a shock that the writer behind Vertigo's The Invisibles would remake the X-Men into a cooler-than-thou team of leather-jacketed badasses. But what might come as a surprise is just how over-the-top dark and edgy this book gets – and that's before an intriguing new villain slaughters an island nation of several million mutants!

What is the terrible secret linking Cassandra Nova to Professor X? Does E really stand for "edgelord"? And can the coolest-looking teachers at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning break into that invitation-only faculty lounge known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Curt wonders what "lost in the sauce" means

· Grant Morrison's X-Men manifesto

· The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale, by John Klassen

· Uncanny X-Men #159 and 160

Join us in two weeks as we mark the spookiest time of the year with a look at The Closet, by James Tynion IV and Gavin Fullerton!

Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!