Episode 248: Drome
The Comics Canon
On this episode, we welcome writer, actor and friend of the show Michael Owl, host of , as we dive into one of the best-reviewed graphic novels of 2025: Drome by Jesse Lonergan! This imaginative epic combines a visually dazzling creation myth with an action-packed fantasy adventure, as the blue-skinned demigoddess Blue attempts to impose order on a chaotic world, opposed by the violent one-eyed warlord Patch, each acting as proxies for remote gods. Folding in elements from such sources as the Bible, Greek mythology and classic fantasy, it feels both familiar and aggressively new as Lonergan...
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Quizzical Canonical 7: 2 Quizzical, 2 Canonical
The Comics Canon
(Mild explicit warning: a swear word is used.) Curt and Kevin give themselves an end-of-year break with another quiz episode! And this time, it’s a quiz exchange! Kevin tests Curt’s knowledge of past Christmas-themed episodes, while Curt grills Kevin on … his own show notes! We’ll be back in two weeks with a look at one of the best-reviewed graphic novels of 2025, Jesse Lonergan’s Drome!
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Episode 247: The Hellfire Gala
The Comics Canon
For our last full-size episode of 2025, we wrap up our All My Xs miniseries on Marvel Comics’ X-Men franchise with one of the big crossover events of the Jonathan Hickman era – The Hellfire Gala! makes its debut on the world stage with one hell of a coming-out party, filled with celebrity guests, fantastic costumes, behind-the-scenes intrigue and a truly out-of-this-world fireworks display! Can Emma Frost keep this star-studded affair on the rails? What’s with Beast’s heel turn? What the heck is Charles Xavier wearing? And can this story get past the velvet rope and into that...
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Episode 246: The Wedding of Northstar
The Comics Canon
All My Xs, our decade-by-decade exploration of the X-Men, crashes the first gay wedding of a Marvel Comics superhero in 2012’s Astonishing X-Men #51, by Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins! But first, we take a detour 1992 as Northstar becomes the first Marvel character to come out as gay in Alpha Flight #106, by Scott Lobdell and Mark Pacella! (And even better, we’re introduced to that most valuable piece of IP, Major Mapleleaf!) Can a well-intentioned Very Special Issue of Alpha Flight survive a collision with the “extreme” art and storytelling trend of the 1990s? And can everyone’s...
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Episode 245: The Alpha Flight Episode
The Comics Canon
All My Xs, our miniseries on Marvel Comics’ X-Men, takes a little detour to introduce the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight in 1979’s Uncanny X-Men #120-#121 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and 1983’s Alpha Flight #1 by John Byrne! First, the Canadian government wants Wolverine back – and if his friends in the X-Men get in the way, well, too bad for them! Next, Alpha Flight gets their own ongoing title, just in time to lose their government funding! And to make matters worse, they still have to deal with the gargantuan menace of Tundra! Can the X-Men stop a group of government...
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Episode 244: The Closet
The Comics Canon
Halloween is right around the corner, so we’re temporarily hitting pause on All My Xs (again) to revive our horror series Tomb of the Crypt and discuss The Closet, by James Tynion IV, Gavin Fullerton and Chris O’Halloran, published by Image Comics! Things aren’t going particularly well for Thom. He and his wife Maggie are packing for a cross-country, and his son Jamie keeps talking about a monster in his bedroom closet. If only the kid would give this monster thing a rest – they’re going to be in Portland in a week, and that closet will be a continent away! Problem solved, right?...
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Episode 243: New X-Men – E Is for Extinction
The Comics Canon
Superstar writer Grant Morrison updates the X-Men for the 21st century as All My Xs, our decade-by-decade miniseries on Marvel’s mega-popular mutant franchise, continues with a discussion of E Is for Extinction – specifically, New X-Men issues #114-117 and #121 – by Morrison, Frank Quitely and Ethan Van Sciver, published by Marvel Comics! It’s not a shock that the writer behind Vertigo’s The Invisibles would remake the X-Men into a cooler-than-thou team of leather-jacketed badasses. But what might come as a surprise is just how over-the-top dark and edgy this book gets – and...
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Episode 242: Weapon X
The Comics Canon
After , All My Xs, our decade-by-decade look at Marvel’s X-Men franchise, returns with 1991’s Weapon X, written and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith! Originally serialized in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84, this Wolverine story largely focuses on three members of the shadowy Weapon X program, which captures a scrappy loner named Logan, gives him an adamantium skeleton and claws, and turns him into a ruthless killing machine. Will the evil Professor, along with Dr. Cornelius and Carol Hines, suffer any consequences for what they’ve done? What’s the deal with that twist, anyway? And can...
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Episode 241: A Contract With God (With Elliott Kalan)
The Comics Canon
Content warning: Sexual assault, pedophilia On this episode, we welcome co-host, current Harley Quinn writer and former The Daily Show With Jon Stewart head writer Elliott Kalan for a discussion of the 1978 graphic novel A Contract With God, written and illustrated by Will Eisner! This collection of standalone stories, centered around a fictional tenement building in the Bronx, finds Eisner (perhaps best known as the creator of ) drawing on his own life to examine the relationship between man and God and the Jewish-American experience in 1930s New York. Can Frimme Hersh, filled with grief...
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Episode 240: X-Men – God Loves, Man Kills
The Comics Canon
Content warning: Gun violence, including against children Our decade-by-decade miniseries on the X-Men, All My Xs, reaches the 80s with a look at the 1982 standalone graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson, published by Marvel Comics! The X-Men have faced evil mutants, sinister aliens and even a sentient island, but they may be up against their toughest opponent yet: a white-haired televangelist! The Reverend William Stryker doesn’t just preach hatred of mutants to his millions of followers – he also employs a paramilitary strike force known as the...
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In this episode, We’re With the Banned, our miniseries on banned or challenged comics and graphic novels, continues with a discussion of Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon, published by Vertigo/DC Comics!
Based on a true story, this absorbing graphic novel follows four lions who escape from the Baghdad Zoo following a bombing by American forces in April of 2003. Filled with smart dialogue, sharp characterization and rousing action, it quickly makes you forget you’re reading a book about talking animals as it draws you into its vividly realized world and makes you care for its four protagonists.
Will Noor, Zill, Safa and Ali find food and safety on the deserted, shell-shocked streets of Baghdad? And will they at last roam free in that heavenly habitat known as … The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
· Curt’s no good, very bad day
· Why don’t more people talk about Brian K. Vaughan?
· Why has this book been challenged? It’s not because of the Iraq War
· Three Kings
· Four Lions
· The New Gods by Ram V. and Evan Cagle
J Join us in two weeks as We’re With the Banned continues with a discussion of Assassination Classroom Vol. 1 by Yusei Matsui!
Until then:
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And as always, thanks for listening!