Deadpool & Wolverine Review: Ha Ha, Nothing Matters

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

Review by Curt Holman

Marvel Studios

How many times can you break the fourth wall before the whole house collapses? Deadpool & Wolverine puts that idea to the test, putting more winky asides, in-jokes and knowing references than you imagine could fit in a 128-minute run time.

Let me say at the top that I laughed frequently and enthusiastically throughout Deadpool & Wolverine, so the jokes certainly worked for me. But I also lost patience with it many, many times, leaving me ambivalent about the R-rated superhero comedy.

As established in Ryan Reynolds’ previous Deadpool movies, the titular character’s shtick-in-trade is profane jokes about superhero franchises and their obsessive audiences: Deadpool was mocking both Wolverine and actor Hugh Jackman within minutes of his first appearance in 2016. But the Deadpool movies are all part of a zillion-dollar IP enterprise, so the “outrageous” comedy never gets in the way of the commerce. Continue reading →

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Episode 213: The Boys Vol. 1 – The Name of the Game

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

This episode contains explicit language and talk of sexual assault.

On this episode, we take a butcher’s at the book that begat the critically acclaimed streaming series The Boys—specifically, The Name of the Game, collecting the first six issues of The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, originally published by WildStorm Productions and later collected by Dynamite Entertainment!

When Hughie Campbell’s girlfriend is killed during a superpowered battle, he’s recruited by Billy the Butcher to join The Boys, a CIA-sanctioned squad of humans tasked with monitoring the superhero community and acting when they step out of line. Meanwhile, Annie January, aka Starlight, achieves her lifelong dream of joining the world’s premier superteam, The Seven—only to find that the world’s greatest heroes are corrupt, narcissistic, cruel … and worse. And Hughie quickly learns that his new gig isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, either.

Can these two innocents navigate this unpleasant new world without losing their souls? And can this book filled with sex, graphic violence and gross-out gags survive a meeting with that Human Resources department known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

  • A Comics Canon news break
  • We need to talk about that hamster …
  • A discussion of The Boys on Amazon Prime Video
  • Garth Ennis’ Red Team
  • The Mighty

Join us in two weeks as we begin a discussion of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta!

Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!

And as always, thanks for listening!

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Episode 212: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Who Is Scorpio?

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

We’re back with a look at everyone’s favorite gruff, eyepatch-wearing super-spy (non-Samuel L. Jackson division) as seen in 1968’s Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, 2, 3 and 5, published by Marvel Comics!

Writer and artist Jim Steranko injects a dose of modern psychedelic and pop-art imagery and a strong sense of design into these four issues, creating a surreal visual experience the influence of which is still being felt in comics pages today.

The stories those images tell, on the other hand …

 

Can this tough-talking, shirt-shucking, gun-toting fireball of a secret agent stop a mad scientist from destroying the world, solve a ghostly mystery on the Scottish moors and uncover the identity his mysterious nemesis Scorpio? And can Marvel’s answer to the 1960s spy craze join the elite ranks of that Impossible Missions Force known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

  • Hey, what happened to that rocket sled?
  • There’s something familiar about this Centurius guy
  • Nick Fury Explains It All
  • Queen & Country: Operation Broken Ground and Operation Morningstar
  • Danger: Diabolik
  • Velvet Vol. 1: Before the Living End
  • Duck Soup
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls

Join us in two weeks as we discuss The Boys Vol. 1: The Name of the Game!

Until then:
Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise!
Rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Send us an email!
Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!

And as always, thanks for listening!

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Canonical Rewind: Deadpool – With Great Power Comes Great Coincidence

Posted on June 19, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

Due to a family emergency, we weren’t able to get together and record a new episode for this week. So here’s an encore presentation of our Deadpool episode, With Great Power Comes Great Coincidence from May 2018. Please enjoy, and we hope to be back with you again in two weeks!

 

 

 

 

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Episode 211: Here

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel Here takes place in one location—the corner of a living room in a house in what is probably Perth Amboy, New Jersey—over the course of billions of years, from 300,000,500,000 B.C. to the far-off year 22,175.

In between, we see slivers of events both dramatic and mundane, catching glimpses of ordinary lives and extraordinary creatures, and watch as small moments echo and comment on each other across the decades and centuries.

 

It’s a fascinating work that makes use of the comics medium in original and inventive ways, a seemingly unfilmable book that’s somehow being adapted into a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, directed by Robert Zemeckis, for release later this year. But is that enough to score a ticket to that Land That Time Forgot known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 210: Uncanny X-Men – The Brood Saga

Posted on May 22, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

On this episode, we use the popularity of the first season of X-Men 97 as an excuse to tackle a story we’ve long had our eyes on: The Brood Saga from Uncanny X-Men #162-167 by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith, published by Marvel Comics!

The X-Men have been captured by the Brood (a race of nasty winged aliens) and implanted with eggs—when they hatch, the X-Men will transform into superpowered Brood queens!

Can our beloved mutants (and their friend Carol Danvers) escape these evil ETs and save a race of space whales before turning into Brood 2.0?

And can this spacefaring superhero saga make landfall on that forbidden planet known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 209: Flung Out of Space

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

Mild parental advisory warning: The b-word is used once or twice.

On this episode, the recent launch of the series “Ripley” on Netflix gives us a reason to discuss Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer, published by Surely/Abrams ComicArts!

When we meet the future author of “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” she’s struggling to overcome her attraction to women and escape her job as a writer of comic-book stories—a job she hates. While freelancing for a pre-Marvel Comics Stan Lee to pay for a psychiatrist to “cure” her, she falls for Virginia, a member of her therapy group who helps inspire her to write “The Price of Salt,” which would become a landmark of queer literature.

Can a deeply conflicted Pat overcome her disdain for comics (spoiler: no) and herself? And will this moving graphic novel earn its way into that exclusive speakeasy known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:
 Continue reading →

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Quizzical Canonical 5: Word Balloons

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

One of our co-hosts is quarantined at home, so we’ve decided to postpone our next proper episode until we can be together in person!

Meanwhile, Curt surprises Kevin with a pop quiz on quotes from books we’ve covered on the podcast. How good is Kevin’s recall? (Spoiler: It’s bad! Very, very bad!)

 

 

 

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Episode 208: Return of The Dark Knight Returns Part 2

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

Content warning (death by suicide)

Our reexamination of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns continues! How good IS this story, really? Will things go differently than they did in our fourth episode way back in 2016, allowing this universally acclaimed 1986 miniseries to avoid nuclear winter and score a ticket to that David Endocrine Show studio audience known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:
 Continue reading →

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Episode 207: Return of The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

Explicit (a few swears scattered throughout) and content warning (brief mentions of death by suicide and attempted sexual assault)

This isn’t a podcast—it’s an operating table, and we’re the surgeons!

This time, we revisit one of our most controversial episodes (okay, pretty much our only “controversial” episode) with the first installment of a two-part, in-depth reexamination of Frank Miller’s 1986 landmark miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns!

Does this paradigm-shifting, game-changing series hold up to scrutiny nearly 40 years since its publication? And what are its chances of finally gaining entry into that Home for the Emotionally Troubled known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:
 Continue reading →

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