Episode 218: The Joker Episode

Posted on September 25, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

With Joker: Folie à Deux rolling into theaters next, the time seems right to dive into Batman’s most famous nemesis, the Joker, with a trio of stories highlighting different, pre-Dark Knight Returns iterations of the Clown Prince of Crime!

First up is “The Man Who Wrote the Joker’s Jokes” from 1951’s Batman #67, in which everyone’s favorite mass murderer seeks a gag writer!

Then, in 1976’s The Joker #7, a scientific accident gifts the Joker with Lex Luthor’s intellect, and Luthor with the Joker’s madness!

Last but not least, we switch gears with 1978’s “The Laughing Fish” and “Sign of the Joker,” from Detective Comics #475-476, featuring one of the Ace of Knaves’ most bizarre schemes yet!

Can the Grand Mogul of Mountebanks win the day against Batman, Lex Luthor, and the Gotham City Copyright Commission? And do these stories have what it takes to win over the crowd at that Ha-Hacienda known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 217: Will Eisner’s The Spirit

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

In this episode, we take a long-overdue look at one of the most acclaimed crimefighters in comics history, Will Eisner’s The Spirit!

Published in its own special insert in Sunday newspapers in the 1940s and early 50s, The Spirit featured seven- and eight-page stories about a masked hero in a suit and tie who helped the police of Central City fight criminal masterminds, underworld figures and slinky femmes fatales. Initially influenced by the pulps, The Spirit soon became known for short stories that showcased Eisner’s genre-defying imagination and visual invention—stories in which the Spirit himself often wasn’t even the main character!

Starting with the 1940’s “The Origin of the Spirit,” we dive into eight tales that demonstrate the wide range of this influential comic. But does The Spirit have what it takes to kick back in that tastefully appointed crypt known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode: Continue reading →

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Episode 216: V for Vendetta Book 3: The Land of Do-As-You-Please

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

In this episode, we conclude our three-part look at V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, as collected by Vertigo/DC Comics!

V disables Norsefire’s surveillance apparatus, nudging the citizens of London toward revolution. Rose Almond takes action. Schemes are hatched as Helen Heyer and Peter Creedy vie to take control of the government. Detective Finch takes a bad trip. And Evey prepares to fulfill her destiny.

As society collapses, will any of our players get a happy ending? And will they finally step into the spotlight of that vicious cabaret known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:  Continue reading →

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Episode 215: V for Vendetta Book 2: This Vicious Cabaret

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

In this episode, we continue our three-part look at V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, as collected by Vertigo/DC Comics!

Abandoned by V on the streets of London, Evey Hammond knows a brief moment of happiness before she’s captured, tortured and interrogated about her role in V’s crimes. Rose, widow of the late Derek Almond, suffers a series of humiliations.

Meanwhile, V’s body count grows as he issues an ultimatum to the people of London.

Can Evey hold on to that last little inch of herself, even if it costs her her life? And can our cast of characters make it past the bouncer into that Kitty Kat Keller known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

Join us in two weeks as our three-part series concludes with Book 3: The Land of Do-As-You-Please!

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 214: V for Vendetta Book 1: Europe After the Reign

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Kevin Moreau

In this episode, for … oh, no particular reason … we kick off a three-part look at the classic graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, collected by DC Comics!

Originally published in serial form in the British anthology magazine Warrior, this dystopian fantasy follows the anarchist vigilante known only as V, clad in a creepy Guy Fawkes mask, who’s hell-bent on taking revenge on the staffers of a post-war “resettlement camp!”

This mysterious, magnetic revolutionary rescues a 16-year-old would-be sex worker named Evey from a horrible fate at the hands of the nation’s secret police, and soon enlists her in his one-man war to bring down the fascist British state!

But is there more to the strangely powerful V than first appears? (Spoiler alert: Yes!) And can he hope to silence that Voice of Fate known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

  • The scourge of … THE BEATNIKS!
  • Pynchon, V? Really?
  • Maybe we shouldn’t have given the guy in Room V so much freedom…
  • The Abominable Dr. Phibes
  • Kite Man: Hell Yeah!

Join us in two weeks as we roll merrily along with Book 2: This Vicious Cabaret!

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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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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