With one foot in the world of DuckTales and another in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, Jeff Smith’s Bone is so confident and assured from its very first issue that it seems to have arrived fully formed, but it was actually the result of years of refinement. Syndicates balked at Smith’s creative vision for a four-panel comic strip version of Bone, but their loss was comic books’ gain, as the series became an indie darling in single issues and eventually blazed a trail for today’s YA graphic novel market. In this episode, we take a look at the first collection—Out from Boneville—learn about Smith’s surprising creative influences, and discuss what made Bone a true “all-ages” comic beloved by kids, librarians, and old-school comics fans alike.

Anything goes on a fifth Wednesday, so in this episode, Justin and Jim look back at a blast from their pasts — Kevin Smith's comics-reference-heavy 1995 movie Mallrats — but arrive at somewhat different assessments about how it plays today. Along the way, they discuss what it meant to name-drop Wolverine in a Hollywood motion picture back in the '90s, the comics-style shared universe Smith's films existed in, the implications of the Stan Lee cameo, Jeremy London and Jason Lee's differing approaches to performing non-naturalistic dialogue, and much more.

BWA-HA-HA! Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatties may not have originally set out to turn DC’s signature superteam into a workplace sitcom, but with artist Kevin Maguire they produced a screwball series still treasured by fans. With a roster assembled largely out of desperation and a constantly shifting status quo, Justice League International reinterpreted how the superhero would be perceived in a post-Crisis, post-Watchmen comics landscape by leaning into the absurdity instead of making its subject grimmer and grittier.

The story of a faux Justice League who seize control of the United States with the best of intentions only to be undone by the resulting ethical nightmares, Squadron Supreme is sometimes called “Marvel’s Watchmen”: a 12-issue series examining the impact of superheroes on society and deconstructing the genre. But Mark Gruenwald’s magnum opus is a very different work in terms of tone and execution, as Gruenwald embraced the traditional comic book tropes and storytelling devices that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons deliberately eschewed. We look at Squadron Supreme both in comparison with Watchmen and on its own merits to discuss how best to appreciate this series today.

Our continued deep dive into the comic book that defined the Iron Age begins with a lengthy appreciation of Dave Gibbons’ art and storytelling, then gets into the weeds talking about the novel’s themes, worldbuilding, and its legacy of superhero deconstructionism. We’ll also discuss the ownership dispute over the rights to Watchmen, and the various adaptations, sequels, and prequels that exist today because of that ownership dispute. Unorthodox opinions abound, and your hosts may have to resolve their disagreements with pistols at dawn before it’s all over!

What’s left to say about Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ novel Watchmen? Plenty, as it turns out! In our first of two episodes on the subject, we talk about the changes in the larger comics industry that needed to be in place for Watchmen to exist, consider the degree to which the series relies (or doesn’t) on the Charlton Action Heroes for inspiration, and finally do a deep dive on the major characters and what drives them. Jim and Justin may disagree about how well Watchmen holds up today, but several assumptions about this book will be challenged in any event!

This fifth Wednesday, the Iron Age boys throw a bit of a curveball by taking a look at an obscure fantasy series from the early 1980s! Designed to serve what was perceived as an untapped audience for Marvel and entice toy manufacturers to create a line of licensed tie-in action figures, The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior throws a few curveballs of its own with a somewhat conceptually abstract central conflict and an antagonist who's more of a victim of circumstance than your standard unambiguous bad guy. We discuss the comic, the toys, and the Marvel Universe guest stars (who never again mentioned their adventures on Crystar's planet)!

Artist Mike Mignola made his first foray into creator-owned work with Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, a 1994 miniseries for Dark Horse’s Legend imprint. In time, Mignola would be responsible for every aspect of Hellboy’s adventures, turning him and the B.R.P.D into a miniature comic book industry, but for this initial story, Mignola turned to Iron Age stalwart John Byrne to help with the scripting. We’ll talk about Mignola and his cohorts in the Legend imprint, the horror and pulp influences that went into this series, and the historical Rasputin before discussing how Hellboy took Hollywood.

When up-and-coming writer Joe Kelly got the keys to Deadpool’s first solo series, he subverted fan expectations by downplaying the character’s connections to the larger X-franchise. Similarly, he decided to fulfill the constant requests for the Merc with a Mouth to team-up with Spider-Man in a way nobody expected. We take a look at the innovative, Forrest Gump-inspired techniques used to insert a time-traveling Deadpool into a semi-obscure issue of Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr. and discuss whether this oversized issue’s jokes about Norman Osborn’s weird hair and Gwen Stacy hold up today.

Forget whatever you think you know about Hawkman! Tim Truman’s 1989 prestige format miniseries Hawkworld drew from inspirations including cop shows, Vietnam War movies, and The Count of Monte Cristo to update the winged warrior’s Silver Age origin for a grittier, more grounded era. The result is a science fiction adventure offering a critique of imperialism and class inequality that resonates just as strongly today. We’ll also dig into the confusing tangle of Hawkman’s post-Crisis continuity, but rest assured that Hawkworld itself won’t require you to be an expert in Thanagarian lore before or since.