Quarantined Comics

We conclude X-MONTH, with one of the latest and greatest X-Sagas - Jonathan Hickman's HOUSE OF X / POWERS OF X (HoX PoX). Beyond being all about the infographics and Mutant West Wing / C-Span, HoX PoX was actually TWO concurrent mini-series from 2019 - to once again attempt a fresh take for not just the X-Men, but ALL of Marvel's merry mutants. More than a reset or reboot - HoX PoX was mor...

dedicated to the one and only Auntie Pinky.

The hiring of Joss Whedon to launch of Astonishing X-Men in 2004 was an interesting move by Marvel for a lot of reasons. This was Marvel’s 2ND attempt to reinvigorate the X-Men, after Grant Morrison, who we just spent some time talking about. The run almost feels like a counter-argument to much of what Morrison set up - and Marvel wanted to disavvow. This was not the first time a TV/film writer ha...

In 2001, superstar writer Grant Morrison took the X-Men on a wild ride. By this point, the X-Men had become an unwieldy mess, with an overstocked roster and convoluted lore. Morrison reinvigorated the characters by focusing on what made the X-Men so unique in the first place: unlike other superheroes, the X-Men are hated and feared by the people they save. With every conflict stemming from that pr...

In 1991, Marvel superstar artist Jim Lee launched a fresh new vision for the X-Men. 30(!) years later, does it hold up? Well... Admittedly, there's a lot of stuff here that doesn't work at all, but Jim Lee's early-nineties X-Men run is still a fascinating time capsule of superheroes then, and how much they've changed now that they've become mainstream.

For 4 UNCANNY weeks in (mostly) September, we're binging some of the X-Men's MODERN greats (to see if they hold up). What could go wrong? 8/28: Mutant Genesis (Jim Lee) 9/4: New X-Men (Grant Morrison) 9/11: Astonishing X-Men (Joss Whedon) 9/18: House of X / Powers of X (Jonathan Hickman)

Matt Fraction & David Aha's HAWKEYE run from 2015 is a fun - often funny - character-driven romp, with beautiful, minimalist sepia art - and features more than just a LOT of Eastern European gangsters saying BRO. It features not one, but TWO Hawkeyes. You may know Hawkeye, aka Clint Barton, as the avenging archer from some very popular movies. But while this is just about a guy with a bow...

Are you into Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis? Well, they derived a lot of inspiration from Bryan Talbot's multiverse epic The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, which we're picking apart in this episode. Guest-host Adam Boretz, an editor at The Millions and Publishers Weekly, swings by to share his take and lecture us about nachos in the 80s (among other things). How...

I know, I should've written a description for this episode. But this week, I am just so. Damned. Tired.

Some (Raman) have called SAGA “How I Met Your Mother in space" But SAGA is actually one of the best current books on the stands (on hiatus) - has won LOTS of awards, and has ACTUALLY been described as Star Wars meets Game of Thrones meets Romeo & Juliet. SAGA is the story of a husband and wife, Alana and Marko, from embittered and long-warring planets, on the run from the law of both side...

Emil Ferris' debut graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is at once whimsical and horrific, dreamlike and grounded in harsh realities. It's like nothing you've ever read before.

Marvelman originated as a Captain Marvel knockoff (Billy, not Carol) and had a whole bunch of cheerful childlike adventures. Then legendary writer Alan Moore had a go at the character, and nothing was ever the same again. Chandler Klang Smith, author of The Sky Is Yours, drops in to offer her two cents on the subversion of common superhero tropes and how Marvelman often feels like an early explora...

Mike Allred takes us on a rock-and-roll journey across space and time when an alien crashlands on Earth and finds himself commingling with the likes of Little Richard, the Beatles, and Bowie. Cameo appearance by God. Special Guest: Paresh Jha.