Xtinction Agenda

Red alert! Red Alert! James and James are talking viruses, they're talking Detectives, Inc. , they're talking Batmanga , they're talking regional politics, and they're talking cream corn.  "I won't let you take them from me! I won't!" "I won't ."

James and James talk Jim Starlin, George Perez, and Ron Lim in The Infinity Gauntlet (1991). Afterwards, we heedlessly consider the sexy (?) romp that is Gen13 #7. "Bitchbitchbitchbitchbitchbitchbitch bitchbitchbitch bitchbitchbitch"

James and James continue to follow up on their own suggestions, reading from Garth Ennis' and John McCrea's Hitman . Then: ChuckWatch, with Batman: Vengeance of Bane . "This is a freakin' nightmare! What's happenin' here?!"

VERY EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING! James and James talk Chester Brown's Ed the Happy Clown. The word 'penis' is used liberally. There is much talk of feces. Following that: a review of Conan the Ba r barian #5. "I don't hate you. Stop crying."

BONUS EPISODE James and James review some books hot off the press: Tartarus #1, Hickman's X-Men #1-6, and Grant Morrison's The Green Lantern Season 2 #1. "We depart to fight the Ultrawar."

James and James take some time to appreciate and (mostly) criticize Alex Ross' and Mark Waid's Kingdom Come miniseries. Then, they dip into Uncanny X-Men #310.  "... but we have the fire of youth on our side."

James and James take a seriously deep dive into Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's E is for Extinction and Morrison and Silvestri's Here Comes Tomorrow . One of us is ill but you'd never know it! "The future will belong to mass-produced biological conformity."

James and James visit the old black and white TMNT issues, near the end of Eastman and Laird's original run. "Perhaps a crane strike... HERE."

James continues his half-assed and poorly-planned look back at North American comics circa 1980, using Warren Publishing's Vampirella #84 as his starting point. "In a disco no one can hear you scream!"

It's all lead up to this, Xtinction Agenda's first (and only?) quarterly elimination tournament. Tournament of Firsts!!! Supreme #1 vs. Union #1  WildC.A.Ts #1 vs. Bloodstrike #1 Youngblood #1 vs. Pitt #1 Savage Dragon v2 #1 vs. Team Youngblood #1 Spawn #1 vs. Prophet #1 Stormwatch #1 vs. Cyberforce v2 #1 Shadowhawk #1 vs. Brigade #1 Freakforce #1 vs. The Maxx #1 Which ones will advance to the sem...

James and special guest Chris D. take a close look at Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol #35-50 (1990-1991). "I let him think about that for a while."

James and James finally get down to talking about Claremont and Byrne's X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga . And it ain't pretty. Then, in a bid to cleanse themselves of middle class fantasies gone awry, they review Percy and Cassara's X-Force #3 (2019). "This is where old discos go to die."

In this New Year, James and James dig deep into ChuckWatch with Batman: Contagion , learning about the horrors of 'the clench' and about the various ways of dispersing a crowd. Then, to get their life back together, they check in on the Main Man Lobo, in Giffen, Grant, and Bisley's Lobo #1 (Nov. 1990).  There is no cure.

This Christmas, James and James visit Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross in Astro City: Confession , where they are confronted with possibly the best Robin story that was ever put to paper. Then, in an effort to better understand Mark Waid, they head on over to Classics Corner, where Jim Shooter and Curt Swan present them with Adventure Comics #369-370 (1968). We mispronounce the villain's...

The first installment of The History of Comics in 1980 discusses the birth of 'groundlevel' comics, focusing Mike Friedrich's sci-fi/fantasy anthology Star*Reach (1974-1979), which published its last issue forty years ago this month.

James and James talk Peter David in his political comedic mode, looking at X-Factor #71-75 (1991), and in his pastoral-sentimental mode in Star Trek Annual #3 (1988). Larry Stroman dazzles at the same time that he confuses, while Curt Swan shows what has been and always will be the G.O.A.T. Let's go, Scotty. Now.

In this episode, James and James return to Peter Milligan and Mike and Laura Allred's X-Statix #1-5 (2002). It's pretty amazing. Then, just for fun, they read a story that James recommended to James: a three-part story entitled Red Glass that ran in Superman #56, Adventures of Superman #479, and Action Comics #666. Our greatest enemy...is cynicism.

Triple feature: Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's epic Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 1 - The Assassin's Road , followed by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One , topped off with James (Christopher Priest) Owsley and Mark Bright's Spider-Man vs. Wolverine: High Tide . Wall-to-wall classics. Many things to discuss. This story is one answer to this mystery.  

James and James have have returned from the past/future, having averted a disastrous post-apocalyptic scenario by discussing Jonathan Hickman's House of X (2019) #1-6 and Powers of X (2019) #1-6. Our two heroes were successful.  The space-time continuum has returned to its regularly scheduled podcast! It's not a dream if it's real.

In this brief episode, James reviews a recent work of Chuck Dixon.

This time 'round, James and James are confronted with the poorly-designed Ord of Breakworld, and the otherwise charming script of Joss Whedon in Astonishing X-Men (2004) #1-6. Cassady is, for the most part, on point, even if this book heralds another decade of worthless X-Men stories. Then, they trek on over to 'general culture,' and an episode from the second season of Millennium , "Somehow, Sata...

In this episode James and James take a first-time trip to Belle Reve to visit with Ostrander and McDonell's 1987 Suicide Squad . They discover that it is amazing. Then, having thoroughly enjoyed the exploits of Waller, Flag, and co., the two intrepid adventurers then find themselves in the mountains of Calgary and the back alleys of Tokyo, as they return to... Wolverine #1. It's pretty okay. Night...

James and James find themselves confronted with the aftermath of 'no more mutants,' as Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine try to destroy an entire franchise with X-Men: Deadly Genesis (2006) # 1-6. Then, with their trusty web shooters, they swing on over to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's surprisingly provocative Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #3, 9, 13, and 15. It's all about power and responsibility folks.

In this episode, our brave hosts James and James take a long deep look at the abyss called Spawn (1992) #1-12. The abyss stares back, revealing itself to be Todd MacFarlane himself! Then, as a palette cleanser, we move on to learn about the serious dangers of the 'Dust over in Daredevil #183-184.

This week James and James take a gander at Mark Millar's Ultimate X-Men (2001) #1-6. Then, moving from one toxic cesspool into the next, they dive into Chuck Dixon's Team 7 (1994) #1-4. Looks like Craven sold us out again.