Xtinction Agenda

Chris, James, and James renewed their passport. The flight for Dream Country leaves anon. And although the journey may be short, our intrepid explorers vow to wander among the byways and corridors and cul de sacs of this furtive realm. There are mysteries and secrets to unearth. Open a page. Start the adventure. "A beautiful child. Most pleasant. Will I meet him?"

This week, Chris, James, and James march merrily along into a murderous multitude of serial killers and mask our faces with our mitts as the machinations of Desire unfold! That's right! We're back at it with Neil's Gaiman's The Sandman. Pierce the veil of haunted sleep with us. Dream a little dream. "Like every true citadel since time began, the Threshold is inhabited."

James and James cap off this year's Avatar August with a return to the man from the Thames Delta himself: Warren Ellis. Steampunk Sherlock Holmes? Check. Cast off ideas from Planetary ? Check. Half-baked ideas drawn from popular science websites? Check. It's a perfect storm. Get your galoshes and brew your tea. "But once you've heard the song of a spaceship, you'd never be anything but a royal nav...

Chris, James, and James continue with Avatar August. In 2014 and 2015, Alan Moore (you may have heard of him) took some time out of his busy Northampton schedule to dig deep into his ongoing concerns about global ecological and civilizational collapse. The result was Crossed +100 #1-6. We decode the lingo, unlock the keys of meaning, and otherwise pull this thing apart, showing our esteemed collea...

Chris, James, and James kick off this year's Avatar August with yet another look into the mind of Garth Ennis. Ever seen Alien ? Event Horizon ? Ever find yourself worried about Body Snatchers ? How about all three? Drop out of warp, quick! We've encountered something: Caliban . "...the implications are enormous. And simultaneously, meaningless unless we survive."  

James and James take stock of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a franchise, talking very briefly about Sophie Campbell's recent teen-friendly work on the series and then looking in-depth at some classics of the past. Most of all, however, they satisfy their lust for the old ultraviolence reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Body Count . Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley, there are no sweeter name...

Chris and James discover the raw power of what it means to be a boy in love with another boy. And also what it means to be a Japanese girl. Sorta. We also learn how to suck blood through our finger tips...? And sometimes we forget to reflect light off of our pale, immortal, puerile bodies. Never ever, however, do we fail to reflect at length on the first volume of Fantagraphics' collected edition...

Only those who are worthy may imbibe our mighty discourse! If yee be so worthy, mayhaps yee may find thy person in the buxom company of fine maidens such as James and James may be. Pour your mead! Man your steed! And prepare thyself for cosmic battle most fierce! Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic kill it in Thor: God of Thunder #1-12 (2013) "life will still find a way."

Chris, James, and James finally press the button. They finally take the plunge. They finally begin that long, dark journey into night. Tonight we finally get down to talking about the Dream Weaver himself, the Sandman. We are going to eat the entire thing. Watch us gorge on the first collected edition, Preludes and Nocturnes . Can we hold it down? Find out! "She's realized the real problem with st...

Poetry corner! James has been thinking some more about the way that 19C English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley is depicted and used in Grant Morrison's The Invisibles . Bereft of other, more exciting content, he presents to you now a half-baked rendition of his conclusions. "Many a green isle needs must be In the deep wide sea of Misery"    

Post hoc ergo propter hoc . The podcast that literally broke the Canadian internet! Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy deliver a fine soup of pop violence and exploitation. Chris and James weather the storm as best one can. "Woman that rocket of yours -- 'cause fun-time's gon' be launched early today."

Adam pops 'round for a small chat about a wee movie by the name of Universal Soldier . What we lack in preparation and synergy we more than make up for in enjoyment. So enjoy us! If you can... "They're eight seconds behind schedule."  

Chris, James, and James descend right down into the heart of misery itself. Do you trust the government? Should you? Should you when you know that we brought those Nazi scientists over and authorized them to perform secret experiments on the poor ruined body of an abuse victim? When we KNOW that that evil seeps everyday into our homes and into our bodies, destroying love? This isn't just any funny...

Who are these down-and-out characters? What do their disappearances mean? Their abused childhoods? What nihilism drives them to violence? To self destruction? To eating their own flesh ? Tadao Tsuge answers all such questions. Chris and James just need to visit with Drawn and Quarterly's edition of Trash Market . "The steam engine, in the end, was just a steam engine."

Nothing better than a themed episode, is there? Not for us there isn't! Our minds are oiled up. Our thoughts tighter than a young Jane Fonda's ass. You want to know about Killer Croc, greatest Batman villain of them all ? Well, look no further than this fine podcast my friend. Sit down. Let James and James tell you the tale... "So how do you like my sense of humor?"

By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth and the slithering spirits of the Vishanti, it's a Doctor Strange themed episode of the Xtinction Agenda! Watch Brian K. Vaughan slip on a banana peel in Doctor Strange: The Oath . Then thrill(!) at the unholy union of speed and LSD that is Steve Englehart's and Gene Colan's mid-70s stint on Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts . "Don't you ever get wise?"

Chris, James, and James plumb the depths of human sexuality. 'Nuff said.

Oh George, we knew yee. We knew yee to be the greatest of the 1970s/1980s team superhero comic book artists. Yee who were worthy of illustrating such luminaries as Thor and Captain America, such villains as Deathstroke and Brainiac, such clowns as Beast Boy (and Beast), such vixens as Starfire and Wonder Woman. We knew yee. Tonight, James and James honour the passing of George Perez with a look at...

James wanted to tell James that Tom King is worth a look, even if he done went and turned trash nowadays. Towards this end, he convinced his colleague to jump into some Vision comics. Both of them got a lot more than they had expected! "So first, I pray that there is a God."

Chris and James have lived a life of great shame. Eating dinner disgusted them. The burden of respect hung heavy on their shoulders. And the Great Father that is Nation held them down like a perverted man servant. But now, although disqualified from humanity itself, they have vomited their misfortunes into a psychedelic hell. Today: Junji Ito's manga adaptation of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human . "...

Chris, James, and James visit Westerburg High School and see what the Heathers are up to. Their cruelties are a pleasure to behold. Like dropping in on teenage Cenobites. Open the box. Come inside. "Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling."

Well, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, can you? James and James explore this notion through the opening gambit of Brian Michael Bendis' and David Finch's first attempt at an Avengers story back in the heyday of 2004. Back when there was no love and no meaning and nothing meant anything. Back when Bendis was king. "You have a thing for her?" "I really do"

James and James slake their eldritch thirst with some Morbius: The Living Vampire comics. But first, before they can do that, it's important that they talk about Spider-Man movies as well. Just for a little bit. It helps to warm the blood and get us ready for the utterly negligent and poorly constructed Morbius comics series of 2013. We genuinely hope that someone got fired for this. "I--I don't k...

Chris, James, and James utterly savage this week's subject matter. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis and all these CRIMINALS need to be thrown in the slammer with Hellary Klinton and Racist Grandpa. If we had paid for this comic we would have burned all comics shops down to the ground . But we didn't pay for this comic. Not in any material sense anyway. Only in the spiritual sense. In the sense that only...

James and James return to the topic of the Ole Canucklehead. Larry Hama wrote a good chunk of these Wolverine comics when we were but wee lads. We go back to see what that might have done to our undeveloped minds. Marc Silvestri does not disappoint. "We are beyond fear, beyond hope and beyond pain..."