The Comics Canon

What was all that stuff about "incursions" in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness? The answer lies in these first six issues (plus one) of Jonathan Hickman's run on New Avengers, drawn by the incomparable Steve Epting (and Mike Deodato), published by Marvel Comics!

Black Panther calls on the clandestine cabal known as the Illuminati to help confront a menace that threatens the entire multiverse: Alternate universes are colliding into each other with Earth as the focal point! And the only options are to let both universes die, or destroy one Earth so that both universes can live!

Can this covert conclave prevent disaster while keeping their consciences intact? And can they survive that Crisis on Infinite Earths known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• AVX: Avengers vs. X-Men
• Black Swan, Pilates instructor
• Reed Richards gives the best PowerPoint presentations
• War of the Realms
• Three Thousands Years of Longing
• We need to make Blade: Pig in the City happen
• Thor: Love and Thunder
• Avengers: The Gatherers Saga

Join us in two weeks as our two-parter continues with New Avengers Vol. 4: A Perfect World!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

In this episode, we cram for the Aug. 18 release of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+ by reviewing the case of She-Hulk: Single Green Female, collecting issues 1-6 of the Marvel Comics series by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo and Paul Pelletier. (We also throw in issues 7-8 pro bono!)

Everyone's favorite green-skinned lawyer-slash-superhero is offered the job of a lifetime, only to find that it's not exactly what it seems! As she deals with trials and tribulations including a surly teenager and a superpowered prison break, the jade jurist must come to grips with an opponent more fearsome than any jury ... her alter ego, Jennifer Walters!

Can our avenging attorney win a summary judgment from that living tribunal known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• The behind-the-scenes origin of She-Hulk
• Some thoughts on the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
• She-Hulk (2014): Law and Disorder
• The Sandman on Netflix
• Supernatural Law
• Thor: The Goddess of Thunder

Join us in two weeks as we discuss New Avengers (2013) Vol. 1: Everything Dies!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

(Explicit content warning: A swear word slips through.)

A couple of Americans on a road trip find themselves caught in a summer snowstorm and are forced to seek shelter in a bigger-on-the-inside inn peopled with faerie folk, a centaur and other strange customers in The Sandman Vol. 8: World's End by Neil Gaiman and a host of artists, published by Vertigo/DC Comics!

Our assemblage of travelers from diverse worlds and time periods waits out a "reality storm" by swapping stories about dreaming cities, sea monsters, a boy president and other wonders -- until they witness a heavenly funeral procession of ominous import!

Can these Canterbury-inspired tales score a reservation at that Restaurant at the End of the Universe known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• Verisimilitude in Snoopy vs. the Red Baron
• Douglas Adams and Clive Barker
• (Super) Power to the People
• A Canterbury Tale
• Drowning on Dry Land
• Highlander
• FFast Times in Comic Book Editing on Kickstarter
• The Nazz on Indiegogo

Join us in two weeks as we switch gears for a date with She-Hulk: Single Green Female!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

In this episode, we get ready for the Aug. 5 debut of Netflix's The Sandman with the latest in our ongoing series of Sandman arcs, this time discussing Vol. 7: Brief Lives published by Vertigo/DC Comics! The Lord of Dreams, recovering from a painful breakup, agrees to help his younger sister, Delirium, search for their missing brother, the embodiment of Destruction. But what Dream sees as a harmless diversion soon turns deadly, claiming the lives of mortals and immortal beings alike!

Can our mismatched siblings find Destruction before death (or Death) finds them? And can this stirring meditation on mortality gain entrance to that temple of Delight and Delirium known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• Dream and Delirium: buddy cops
• What is Delirium's job, exactly?
• What's the deal with Tiffany?
• The offhand cruelty of The Endless
• Cerebus: High Society and Church and State
• Tasha Robinson's interview with Dave Sim for the AV Club
• Filth & Grammar

Join us in two weeks as our ongoing Sandman series continues with World's End!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

In this episode, we look ahead to the July 29 debut of Paper Girls on Amazon Prime with a look at Paper Girls Vol. 1, collecting the first five issues of the comics series by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, published by Image Comics!

When four 12-year-old girls join forces to deliver the Cleveland Preserver on the dark pre-dawn morning of Nov. 1, 1988, they find themselves riding their bikes straight into a nightmare of terrifying pterodactyl creatures, menacing, armored "old-timers," and time-traveling, tech-scavenging teenagers! Can our preteen paper-slingers keep their idyllic suburb from meeting its final deadline? And can they finish their rounds in time to make that extra-special edition known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• "Stranger Things" and the Kids on Bikes genre
• Writing for the trade and the "Lost" mystery box
• The Hood: Blood From Stones.
• Gary Larson's The Far Side
• Yellowjackets on Showtime
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount Plus
• Super 8

Join us in two weeks as we get ready for the Aug. 5 debut of The Sandman on Netflix with the next installment of our Sandman read-through, Brief Lives! (And you can prepare for the show with our episodes on Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll's House!)

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

In this episode, we wrap up our True Stories miniseries on nonfiction and autobiographical comics with a look at Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, published by Drawn & Quarterly!

Writer and artist Chester Brown (Yummy Fur) chronicles the career of Riel, the Canadian political leader and freedom fighter, in a flat, dispassionate style that holds the reader at arm's length, blunting some of the story's natural drama. The result is nonetheless a fascinating portrait of an important figure in Canadian history. But is that enough to gain entry into that House of Commons known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• The return of The Quizzical Canonical (Canadian bands edition)!
• Mr. X by Dean Motter
• The Revolutions podcast
• 2 versions of 1 song about Louis Riel
• We Stand on Guard
• Steve Skroce

Join us in two weeks as we review Paper Girls Vol. 1!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

After a brief pause, our True Stories miniseries returns with Joe Sacco's The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo, published by Drawn and Quarterly!

Part character study, part history lesson, The Fixer examines the bloody Bosnian War of the 1990s, mainly through the character of Neven, a former soldier who spins eyebrow-raising tales of his own exploits while shepherding journalist Sacco through a recovering Sarajevo at the tail end of the conflict.

Exactly how much of what Neven says can be trusted? And can this account of life during wartime plant its flag in that No Man's Land known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• Hanging out with your pot dealer
• Neven's ridiculously cinematic backstory
• Is this really two different books?
• Fax From Sarajevo: A Story of Survival
• The espionage novels of Alan Furst
• War's End: Profiles From Bosnia 1995-96

Join us in two weeks as our True Stories miniseries concludes with Chester Brown's Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

In this episode, we take a short break from our current True Stories miniseries for a look at Thor: The God Butcher by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, published by Marvel Comics!

This five-issue story kicks off writer Jason Aaron's epic run of Thor stories, and provides some inspiration for this summer's Thor: Love and Thunder. Hurtling back and forth through time between the 9th century, the present and the far, far future, this ambitious tale pits the Odinson against Gorr, the titular god butcher, whose name and occupation sport a very extreme 90s vibe!

Will Marvel's God of Thunder prevail against this cosmic serial killer? And can he survive his time on that butcher's block known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

• Does Thor have more "good" stories than other Marvel characters?
• Reconciling Thor's mythological and superhero roots
• Cosmic Home of the Cronut!
• Thor #126-130
• New Avengers (2013) Vol. 1: Everything Dies
• Grendel, Kentucky
• Daredevil (2019) Vol. 1: Know Fear
• Curt makes a shocking revelation

Join us in two weeks as our True Stories miniseries returns with Joe Sacco's The Fixer!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

(Content warning: Slavery, rape, and execution)

True Stories continues with a spirited discussion of Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez.

This captivating graphic novel from 2021 follows Rebecca Hall's efforts to shed light on the unheralded role of Black women in slave uprisings in the early 18th century and the institutional obstacles she faced along the way. Aided by the inventive artwork of Hugo Martinez, she gives voice to women who sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom.

In This Episode:

• Treason against the state
• Spoiler alert for Toni Morrison's "Beloved"
• The evolution of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade
• Louis Riel by Chester Brown
• Atlanta Season 3 Episode 4: "The Big Payback"
• Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds

Join us in two weeks as we take a short break from our True Stories miniseries with a look at Thor: The God Butcher!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!

True Stories, our series on autobiographical and nonfiction comics, continues with Lynda Barry's emphatically punctuated One! Hundred! Demons!

This collection of vignettes finds the acclaimed cartoonist grappling with such demons as a horrible boyfriend, teenage regrets, a difficult mother, a bad acid trip and the 2000 presidential election.

The results are alternately charming, hilarious, melancholy, insightful and heartbreaking. But are they good enough to score a landslide victory at that ballot box known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode!

• The eagerly anticipated return of Kevin's Secret Shame!
• Snuffy Smith cosplay
• Lynda Barry invents doomscrolling!
• The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine
• Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood
• Giant Days Vol. 1

Join us in two weeks as True Stories continues with Rebecca Hall's Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts!

Until then: Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

And as always, thanks for listening!