Comics A-Z Podcast

K is for Katy Keene - America's Pin-Up and Fashion Icon In the history of American comic books, some characters became famous by fighting crime, others by making readers laugh, and still others by representing the everyday dreams of young readers. Katy Keene occupied a distinctive place among them. She was a fashion model, aspiring actress, singer, romantic heroine, and glamorous young woman whose...

J is for James Bond - The Spy Who Conquered Comics The history of Bond comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels offers a fascinating look at the evolution of the comics business itself. It encompasses the British newspaper tradition, American comic-book publishing, the influence of Hollywood, the emergence of licensed entertainment properties, and the changing standards of violence, sexuality...

I is for Ibis the Invincible - Magic, Myth, and the Golden Age of Comics Among the more successful of the less-remembered characters of the Golden Age of Comics was Ibis the Invincible, a magical adventurer published by Fawcett Comics beginning in 1940. He was not simply another Superman imitation. Ibis belonged to an older tradition of supernatural heroes that included comic-strip magician Mandra...

H is for Burne Hogarth - From Tarzan to Teacher Few artists in the history of the American newspaper comic strip approached their subject with the combination of theatricality, anatomical precision, classical training, and sheer visual energy possessed by Burne Hogarth. For millions of readers, Hogarth's name became inseparable from Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs's legendary jungle hero. Yet Hogarth...

G is for Gold Key Comics - The Leader in Licensed Comics Gold Key Comics occupies a fascinating place in American comic-book history. It was neither the largest superhero publisher of its era nor the most aggressively experimental. It did not produce a continuous succession of characters as culturally dominant as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or the Fantastic Four. Yet for millions of American chi...

F is for Flash Gordon: Alex Raymond and the Legacy of a Science-Fiction Icon Long before Star Wars, before Star Trek, before modern superhero comics transformed outer space into a familiar fictional landscape, there was Flash Gordon: the handsome Earthman rocketing across the cosmos, the beautiful Dale Arden at his side, the brilliant and sometimes dangerously obsessive Dr. Hans Zarkov behind them...

E is for E-Man - An Independent Hero for Many Publishers E-Man's history is inseparable from the history of independent comics. E-Man began at Charlton, returned through First Comics in the 1980s, was revived by Comico and Alpha Productions in the 1990s, appeared in later independent publications including Digital Webbing Press, and eventually returned to Charlton-related publishing. The character...

D is for Doonesbury - The comic strip that changed everything Few American comic strips have changed as dramatically as their country changed around them. Peanuts transformed the newspaper strip into a vehicle for introspection; The Far Side expanded its possibilities for surreal humor; Calvin and Hobbes demonstrated the expressive range of the medium. But Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury accomplished s...

C is for Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family - The World’s Mightiest Mortal There was a time, difficult to imagine today, when Superman was not unquestionably the most successful superhero in American popular culture. Batman was still a relatively young character. Wonder Woman had only recently arrived. Marvel Comics did not yet exist in its modern form. One of the most commercially successful co...

B is for Blondie - America's First Family of the Comic Strip Beginning life as the adventures of a carefree flapper during the Jazz Age, it evolved into perhaps the definitive portrait of the American suburban family. For nearly a century readers have watched Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead navigate marriage, parenthood, careers, neighbors, and the everyday absurdities of modern life. Recommended rea...

A is for The Avengers - How The Avengers Assembled What began in 1963 as a simple idea—bringing Marvel’s most popular heroes together into one team book—eventually became the centerpiece of Marvel Comics, the foundation of the most successful film franchise in history, and one of the defining myths of modern popular culture. The Avengers transformed from a comic-book experiment into a global brand...

Z is for Zines -The Origins of Comic Book Fandom Long before online message boards, social media debates, convention livestreams, podcasts, YouTube essays, or even dedicated comic-book shops, comic-book fandom existed through the mail. It was a culture built out of typewriters, mimeograph machines, spirit duplicators, staplers, envelopes, and obsessive enthusiasm. The engine of that culture was th...

Y is for The Yellow Kid - The Birth of The American Comic Strip Although later comic icons such as Superman, Mickey Mouse, and Charlie Brown would become more globally recognizable, The Yellow Kid occupies a singular historical position: it stands at the point where cartooning, mass media, urban culture, advertising, and serialized storytelling converged into what would become the comic strip indu...

X is for X-Men - A Tale of Two Super Teams The X‑Men occupy a singular place in American popular culture, a franchise whose longevity and resonance stem not only from its colorful characters and superhero spectacle but from its deep engagement with the social anxieties, political tensions, and cultural transformations of the last six decades. Their story begins in 1963, in the cramped offices of M...

W is for Wonder Woman - The Amazonian Goddess Next Door Since her debut in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941, Wonder Woman has stood as one of the “trinity” of DC superheroes, alongside Superman and Batman, yet her origins, themes, and cultural mission have always been radically different. Wonder Woman was conceived not merely as a crimefighter or adventurer but as a political, psychological, an...

V is for Vampirella - Pin-up to Superhero Today we trace the creation and evolution of Vampirella from her origins in 1969 through her decades of reinvention, exploring the corporate history that shaped her, the creative figures who defined her, the social and cultural forces that influenced her reception. In doing so, it reveals how a figure initially conceived as a tongue‑in‑cheek horror hostess...

U is for Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud Explains It All! When Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art was first published in 1993, it arrived as something of a paradox: a comic book that sought to explain what comics are, how they function, and why they matter. Created by Scott McCloud, the work occupies a singular place in both comics history and media theory. It is at once a manifesto, a t...

T is for Teen Titans - Sidekicks Unite! From their origins in the 1960s Silver Age of comics to their reinvention in the 1980s and their subsequent expansion across television, film, and digital media, the Teen Titans have functioned as both a reflection of generational anxieties and a proving ground for new storytelling approaches within DC Comics. Recommended reading list for this episode: New T...

S is for Spider-Man - With Great Power...you probably know the rest Since his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962, Spider‑Man has become not merely a superhero but a modern myth — a figure whose struggles, triumphs, and moral dilemmas have mirrored the anxieties and aspirations of generations. His creation sits at the intersection of two towering creative forces, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko,...

R is for The Rocketeer - Jet Packs, Nazis, & Betty Dave Stevens remains one of the most distinctive figures in modern comic art history. His career defies conventional metrics of success: he produced relatively little work yet achieved enduring influence. Through The Rocketeer, Stevens created more than a character—he created a visual language. His fusion of nostalgia, technical mastery, and p...

Q is for The Question - From Ditko to DC Comics Among the pantheon of American comic-book heroes, few characters embody the ideological convictions of their creator as thoroughly as The Question, introduced by Steve Ditko in 1967 for Charlton Comics. Where most superheroes are collaborative constructions—shaped by editors, writers, artists, and decades of reinterpretation—The Question stands as a...

P is for Peanuts - A Boy and his Dog who are all of us Charles Schulz's Peanuts is a masterpiece of American art—a work of humor, melancholy, philosophy, and beauty. It captures the essence of being human: the struggle to belong, the fear of failure, the hope for connection, and the courage to keep trying. Featured biography - Charles Schulz. Recommended reading list for this episode: Schulz and P...

O is for the Outlaw Kid - Marvel Comic's Western Titles Marvel’s Western comics are more than relics of a bygone era. They are foundational texts in the history of the company. They shaped the careers of key creators, sustained the publisher through lean years, and introduced storytelling techniques that would later define the Marvel Universe. Featured biographies Doug Wildey & Dick Ayers COMI...

N is for Namor, the Sub-Mariner - Prince of Atlantis and the 1st Anti-Hero Debuting in 1939, Namor is not only among the earliest costumed heroes in American comics, but he also closely coincided with archetypal figures such as Superman, Batman, and Captain America. Most importantly, he represents one of the earliest examples of a morally complex antihero in comics—an aristocratic warrior who is a...

M is for MAD Magazine - What, Me, Worry? For more than half a century, MAD Magazine was not merely a humor publication. It was an attitude, a worldview, a survival guide for young readers navigating a confusing modern world filled with advertising lies, political hypocrisy, corporate doublespeak, and pop-culture absurdity. If Superman stood for idealism and Reader’s Digest stood for earnest uplift...