Xtinction Agenda

James and James find themselves suffering from that typical Parker luck as they thwip on down into J. Michael Straczynski and J. Romita Jr.'s run on Amazing Spider-Man. One James loves it. One James hates it. Who is right?! "I've been away too long. It's started."

Adam, James, and James dunk themselves into the first installment of Luc Besson's Taken franchise. You're going to need a special set of skills to take this one in folks. Locker room talk abounds. "Are you focused yet?"

James and James explore the byways of Mark Waid's extensive bibliography. What does America's Greatest Hack get up to when he thinks he's contributing to literature? Prepare to feel ambivalent! Or offended! Dealer's choice. Today! Potter's Field (2007) and the well-meaning but ultimately baffling Strange Fruit (2015) "Now... imagine the might that man could bring to the levee."

What's the worst thing that you've ever done? For Chris and James, its almost having failed for a third time to talk about Percy Bysshe Shelley in relation to The Invisibles . We got cut off last time. The dirty Outer Church tried to suppress our golden truths. What we have to say, they'd never understand.  

Chris and James return from India, charged with a new mission and a new insight. We pilot a jet fighter straight into enlightenment. But it all goes horribly wrong when The Outer Church cuts off our transmission. Technical difficulties? Yes! Utter defeat? No! Enjoy 2/3 of our discourse. We will do better in the future.

James and James talk the team up of Azzarello and Bermejo, from Deathblow to Batdick. Who are these strange men? And what have they been doing behind our backs all the long years? The answers will SHOCK you. "Oxymoron"

Chris, James, and James, in the spirit of October, engage this week with some spooky material. First up: Johnny the Homicidal Mania c! Does it hold up to the scrutiny of our wise old eyes? FIND OUT! And then... a journey into the dark heart of ungovernable Detroit. Is The Crow the greatest superhero movie of all? Spoilers: it is. "Well shit on me."

I am sorry. Punish me. Punish me for being a human. Teach me to obey. Send me running to get you milk. I'll buy your milk for you and feed it to you. With a straw. You'll never get better milk than that. Pervert. Why would you ask me to do that? Please stop. Please. Read Ewing and Bennett's Immortal Hulk . Today.

James and James continue with their inadvertent Warren Ellis Appreciation Society. None of this should be taken as an endorsement of Ellis himself. It's just that we like Batman. And we like Bryan Hitch. And when Hitch and Ellis get together, there is a special sauce which goes well with many fine foods. Oh yeah,  and it is not a vp70z. That was stupid. "People buy these and put them in their home...

Adam, James, and James sit 'round the campfire and tell stories about LA in the year 2019. Oil refineries as far as the eye can see. We fail to discuss in any way the film's oriental style , but what do you expect? We're fucking savages over here. Careening toward extinction. "Do you like our owl?"

Chris and James bring it all crashing down in a crescendo of analysis and good humour. Do you dare to brave the waters of our discourse?! "This is how human fears look like, rising and condensing on the inside surface of the holographic membrane."

Chris and James are bigger than Hollywood this week. Their machinations have germinated in the soil of time. And now they are bursting forth into 3D space, ready to make friends with death. "Interesting request"

James and James reach back to a simpler time, when doc martins were cool and nerd culture was only just beginning to claw its dirty way into the mainstream. Give yourself over to it. Kevin Smith. Clerks (1994). Then THRILL! at a late period Smith entry: Batman: The Widening Gyre (2009) "There's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?"

James and James fight for freedom against those who dream of tyranny, saving the people of Earth from themselves, all while a mystery of intergalactic proportions unveils itself before us like a beautiful woman in a white dress. A brief discourse on the topic of Michael Bay. "Never mourn the past, young warrior. Thanks to you, our race survives"

In Search of The Terminator - Part Four Adam, James, and James look back to the movie that made sci-fi epics into box office magic: George Lucas' Star Wars . And while at no point whatsoever do we ever get around to talking about The Terminator in relation to this film, it is strongly implied that we meant to. "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Chris and James get some R&R and manifest a demon or two as they prepare themselves for the explosive finale of Volume 2 of The Invisibles . "It made me sick and sent me mad for a month."

In this episode: the triumphant trio takes on in a tempestuous tango of torture, the origin, the start of it all: Crossed , Volume 1. It's a banger, if you have the stomach for it. "You could even call it moral courage--"

James and James answer the most important question of our times: billionaires, threat or menace?!! And then after about 14 minutes of that, they get into some Warren Ellis Avatar work-- Black Summer (2007-2008). "I'm not a good liberal like you and John."

Chris, James, and James explore some post-apocalyptic landscapes imagined in the earliest of the 1980s. They find anxieties over computers and robots, blown-out-of-proportion fears regarding oil shortages, and the ever-present threat of the rampaging homosexual gang. What does it all have to do with The Terminator ? Find out! "Looks like I got some gasoline..."

James and James dive into a newly returned library. Resting on the periphery? A little something Avatar Press liked to call Crossed: Badlands #1-3 and #25-28. Stand to. "We don't get to be in that story. All we get's the crossed."

Adam, James, and James are back in the saddle. Talkin' The Driver (1978). Stripped down. Spare. Clean. Dark like an alley that never ends. Get in. "Guy with your attitude? Doesn't carry a gun? Stupid. Very stupid." PS: One of the James has crap audio this round. Very sorry.

Chris and James ask themselves the immortal question: who are they? Are they who they think they are? Or who they want them to be? Or who they think that they want them to think that they are? Or something deeper??? They also talk about 'American Death Camp: Part Two'. "That disgust, that shame... that's the ecstasy of abaddon."

Chris, James, and James follow Robert E. Howard's Conan in short story form, reading The Tower of the Elephant (1933) and then in illustrated magazine form, reading Marvel's Savage Sword of Conan #2 (1974). "BUSCEMA: I remember the first time Alcala inked my Conan. I went up to Marvel and ran into one of the editors-Len Wein, or who's the other guy-Marv Wolfman-in the hallway, and he said, [excite...

James and James get back to their roots after a bit of a series of cock ups. Today: an audio commentary for G.I. Joe: The Animated Movie (1987). Michael Bell has the best voice next to Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. If you don't count Burgess Meredith. Or Orson Welles. "What's that bow-wow doing here?"

Chris and James get back to what is important: Doug Moench. It's been a while, so we thought that we'd dip into one of Doug's signature works: Moon Knight . We find the usual mix of hilarious disappointment. What makes this time different, however, is the righteous art of Bill Sienkiewicz. That ain't bad. That ain't bad at aaall. "Over fifty bucks in his wallet and he wanted more?!"