Indefensible Ink

Indefensible Ink has ended, but retro comics enthusiast and Jim Shooter apologist Justin Zyduck is not done podcasting. Check out this preview of his new show, co-hosted by recurring Indefensible Ink guest Jim Cannon: THE IRON AGE OF COMICS, a critical re-evaluation of comic books from about 1985 to 2000… including, of course, the boom and bust of the '90s! Go beyond the chromium covers and grim 'n' gritty cliches for a deeper look at one of the most divisive periods in comics history. (This episode, minus the opening introduction and with the addition of different theme music, will be bonus Episode #0 of The Iron Age of Comics on its own dedicated feed once the new podcast debuts on January 4.)

Part two of a conversation with original co-host Ryan McClure about continuity and canon in superhero comics. This episode covers cross-media adaptations and how they affect continuity, the concept of headcanon, and what should we do about this whole continuity/canon mess anyway? Also discussed in this episode: how Grant Morrison may have ended “the Marvel Universe,” the Claremont/Byrne Star-Lord and why he can't be Chris Pratt, the Big Two writer who says continuity is the devil, and scenes from Justin's protest against the term "Infinity Stones."

Our look at the two-year-long “Nightwing Gets Amnesia” storyline concludes as Justin and guest Jim Cannon get to the bottom of a sinister brainwashing scheme by the Court of Owls that ultimately results in the creation of…”Dickyboy”?! Plus wrap-up and speculation on how DC might have been able to make a halfway decent story out of Dick Grayson losing his memory. Also discussed in this episode: Blüdhaven’s thematically named bar and tavern scene, which of the Legion of Substitute Nightwings is the “Kenny” of the team, and Red Condor: The Sensational Character Find of NEVER.

There were dozens of TV shows trying to replicate the success of Friends in the late '90s, but only one of them was trying to do so with superheroes. If you're wondering how they could have made a Justice League movie on a television budget at the end of last century, the answer is "very inexpensively" and "with M*A*S*H's David Ogden Stiers in green makeup." Justin discusses the failed pilot of for a Justice League of America pseudo-sitcom and why it was doomed to be what celebrated comics writer Mark Waid may or may not have called "80 minutes of my life I'll never get back." Also discussed in this episode: An overview of the '90s superhero adaptation landscape, the sinister charm of Special Guest Star Miguel Ferrer, and the viability of the voice of the Cryptkeeper as a romantic lead.

In part two of an examination of superheroes and the so-called "code against killing," Justin and Jim discuss how Hawkeye typifies a change of attitudes about lethal force in the genre, how Wolverine's natural tendency towards bezerker rage has made him the unlikely moral center of the X-Men, how the Punisher might break the Marvel Universe from a couple different angles, and how antiheroes entertain us despite being reprehensible people. All of this leads into the titular question of why Batman will never kill the Joker...and why the escalating stakes of superhero comics have forced us to consider this question in the first place. ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: Justin's reservations about a certain element of his beloved Steve Englehart West Coast Avengers run, Jim's favorite issue of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles, how to better allocate Wonder Man and Tigra as Avengers resources, and those wonderful giant props in old Gotham City.

The lead story of 1982's Superman #372 might look a little old-fashioned next to the cutting-edge superhero storytelling of Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, Miller's Daredevil, or the Wolfman-Perez New Teen Titans, but readers raved about the brain-bending plot twist in Cary Bates and Curt Swan's "Superman's History-Changing Mission!" What did comics fans see in this seemingly illogical Superman adventure? We're going back in time 40 years (and the Man of Steel is going back a bit further still) to investigate the curious charms of the Bronze Age Pre-Crisis Superman and the writer they called "Mr. Surprise"! Also covered in this episode: The perfect drink to compliment global blackmail, more uses for super-ventrioloquism, Superman's CIA contact, and humble advice to the head honchos at NASA. PLUS: Following up from the previous episode on LJN's Uncanny X-Men video game for the NES, Justin learns that the Sega Genesis had its own X-Men adventure with a counterintuitive secret to getting to the final level.

Everybody knows an accident caused Captain America to spend decades in suspended animation after World War II. What this book presupposes is…maybe the U.S. Government froze him on purpose? But if that’s the high concept behind “Ice” by Chuck Austen (with John Ney Reiber) and Jae Lee, why is the comic mostly about a guy with an alien robot hand trying to test Cap’s sense of morality? By request, host Justin uncovers the complicated history of the post-9/11 Marvel Knights Captain America run on the way to defrosting this controversial (but ultimately inconsequential) storyline. Also covered in this episode: failed attempts at winning enemies to your point of view via hallucinogens, the irrationality of amphibious love interests, and the most conspicuous anagram in the history of superhero comics.

Remembering the New Coke of Superman storylines 25 years later, when a desperate DC Comics tried to get people excited about the Man of Steel again by giving him new powers and a '90s X-Men-style costume. But can absolute mastery of the electromagnetic spectrum counteract event fatigue, a flagging comics industry, and a morass of subplots? Indefensible Ink takes a look back at the "Triangle Era" of Superman books and offers an opinion about why depowering the character isn't the quick fix people assume it will be. Also discussed in this episode: the benefits of super-USB-drive fingers vs. invulnerable toes, a thinly veiled Rush Limbaugh whining that his co-workers don't like him, and strategies for playing Connect Four with small children. BONUS: Where is Metropolis? Where is Gotham City, for that matter? Justin takes a look at the implications of the DC Universe having three New York Cities and considers a possible solution.

Today, many comics artists work completely digitally, but in 1988, creating a comic book using a computer was a noteworthy novelty. Is Mike Saenz's cyberpunk thriller Iron Man: Crash--billed on its cover as "The First Computer-Generated Graphic Novel"--just a gimmick, or is there a story behind the low-rez bitmaps? And if there is a story...is it any good? Justin takes a look at what could either be described as "The Dark Knight Returns, but for Iron Man" or as "Popular Mechanics, crossed with Tales of Suspense." Along the way, this episode attempts to examine anti-Japanese xenophobia in American media of the '80s and also--improbably--contains spoilers for Hercule Poirot's character arc in Kenneth Branagh's Death of the Nile. Also discussed in this episode: naked sauna days, undercover robots at the post office, and the possible re-exposure of Pentagon secrets that have been buried for 30 years. BONUS: Who are the creators of Venom? It's a tangled web of what constitutes "creation" and when, but Justin offers his perspective.

So many podcasts have already weighed in on Matt Reeves' The Batman, but only Indefensible Ink asks the most important question of all: Is the Penguin in this film actually penguin-y enough to merit the name? Host Justin Zyduck welcomes back his recurring guest and brother, Zach, to discuss what they liked about this film and whether a lifetime of monklike dedication to the field of Batman Studies has ruined Justin's ability to enjoy it even further.

Indefensible Ink is back in a new format, and to mark the occasion, we'll look at the time Peter Parker went through a soft-reboot of his own in Spider-Man: Chapter One. John Byrne took a swing at trying to redefine the web-spinner's origin story for the late '90s without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so why did his carefully chosen changes leave readers either icily indifferent or hot with rage? Returning host Justin compares two nearly contemporary Spidey-origins to shine a spider-signal light on Chapter One's shortcomings. Also discussed in this episode: the Chameleon's employment history, hairstyles of the rich and criminal, the dancing baby GIF as pinnacle of human achievement to that time, and the social and economic implausibility of teenagers attending a Rolling Stones concert.

It's the end of an era at Indefensible Ink, and to mark the occasion, Ryan and Justin have reconvened one last time to tackle a topic they've had their eye on since the podcast began nearly three years ago: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Frank Miller's controversial turn-of-the-century followup to his legendary Batman epic The Dark Knight Returns. Is DKSA's crass social commentary and political nihilism sincere or satirical? Does it matter? Your hosts wrestle with a very challenging comic to try to determine what, if anything, we are supposed to take from it. And Indefensible Ink will, quite literally, never be the same again! An important announcement about the future of the podcast leads this episode. Discussed: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1-3 (2001-02)