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Fans love to argue about Batman, so why can so many of us agree that Batman: The Animated Series is one of the best interpretations of the character and his world in any medium? We don’t think it’s just the nostalgia talking! We’ll look at a selection of episodes from the first part of the series to illustrate how Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and the production team inclusively cherry-picked the best of multiple eras and multiple interpretations of Batman to create a show that was sophisticated and dramatic enough for an older audience but exciting and dynamic enough for the younger crowd. 

Discussed in this episode: “On Leather Wings,” “Two-Face (Parts I and II),” “Heart of Ice,” “Beware the Gray Ghost,” “Feat of Clay (Parts I and II),” “Joker’s Favor,” “Fear of Victory,” and “Appointment in Crime Alley”

Milestone Media’s Icon has a pretty punchy elevator pitch: “What if Superman was a Black Republican?” But with stories by Dwayne McDuffie and pencils by M.D. “Doc” Bright (both now sadly no longer with us), this book goes to some interesting and unexpected places. For one thing, this Supermanalogue has a sidekick: a teenage girl named Rocket who is arguably the real protagonist of the book and whose struggles and issues are the most complex and heartfelt that the book explores. We discuss how McDuffie and Bright tackle teen pregnancy in an honest and conscientious way through Rocket and examine racial identity and privilege through the title character, acknowledging there are no easy answers for any of the questions being raised.

Neil Gaiman’s complete reinvention of DC’s trademark on The Sandman is inarguably one of the most influential comics of the Iron Age…so why haven’t we talked about it much yet? And why are we starting with the storyline that’s popularly considered “Volume 2” of the series? We’re focusing on the collection that introduced The Sandman to the bookshelf market (which originally included the landmark “The Sound of Her Wings” story) and marked an evolution in the comic from a horror reimagining in the vein of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing to a showcase for Gaiman’s brand of dark fantasy and his love of the world of stories. We’ll also touch on how the series introduced character types not seen in other comics of the time, whether it matters or not that a big part of the story hinges on plotlines from Roy Thomas’ Infinity Inc., and how The Sandman went on to give birth to the Vertigo imprint.

While many early offerings from Image Comics were deliberately designed to appeal to their popular artists’ existing fanbases, Erik Larsen took a different approach, reviving a character he created at his kitchen table while making homemade comics with his friends as a child. And 32 years later, Larsen still stands apart from his compatriots as the only Image founder still regularly writing and drawing his original creation: The Savage Dragon. In this episode, we talk about Larsen’s influences and early career, how the series marries Bronze Age-style soap-opera subplotting to a distinctly Iron Age attitude and self-awareness, and why sometimes over-the-top violence and superhero silliness can be as true an expression of an artist’s creative freedom as anything else you’ll find in the comic book medium.