The Comics Canon

Content warning: Sexual assault It's finally happened! After 10 years and more than 250 episodes, we finally get around to discussing the elephant (or, rather, the aardvark) in the room: Dave Sim's 300-issue magnum opus, Cerebus! And to help us grapple with the weight of one of the longest-running, most creative and most controversial comics in the history of the medium, we're joined by longtime friend of the show Bryan Stratton of Marvel by the Month! Self-published by Sim's Aardvark-Vanaheim, Cerebus paved the way for many other independent comics creators to self-publish their work. And its ambitious, experimental approach to comics storytelling expanded the artistic possibilities of the medium, as it grew from a parody of swords-and-sorcery comics into a complex, sprawling saga that would take on politics, religion, and other weighty issues. But while there's a lot to recommend Cerebus, there's also a lot to give potential new readers pause—namely, Sim's contentious, divisive views on women, which ultimately begin to exert greater and greater influence over the series itself. As the Will Eisner Comic Awards prepare to induct Sim (among other creators, including Gerry Conway and Rick Veitch) into its Hall of Fame at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, we take the opportunity to dive into this massive work, touching on topics including: What exactly IS Cerebus? Our personal histories with Cerebus The detailed background artwork of Gerhard The "Walking on the Moon" arc and the Cerebus creation myth Would we recommend that you read Cerebus? We also share suggestions for other long-running, impactful series (in comics and otherwise) you might enjoy. For further reading on the subject of Cerebus, we recommend: Tom Ewing's great and insightful blog Aard Labour Curt's 2004 Slate article on the endings of Cerebus and Bone The Onion A.V. Club's notorious 2004 interview with Dave Sim Join us in two weeks as we return to our regular format with a look at Sex Criminals Vol. 1: One Weird Trick, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!

In this episode, we kick off a two-part look at a book we've had our eyes on for some time with a discussion of Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons, Book 1, by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Jiminez, published by DC Black Label! Phil Jiminez makes the artistic statement of his career to date with a visually arresting first issue that explores how and why the Greek goddesses (with the notable exception of Hera, Queen of the Olympians) come to create the Amazons, a race of women sworn to find and rescue women enslaved and mistreated by men. Will Zeus redress the wrongs done to women by men throughout history? (Don't hold your breath.) Will Hippolyta escape a band of brutish brigands determined to cut out her tongue? What happened to that little baby girl she sent down the river? And will these maids of might prevail in that Fight Club known as … The Comics Canon? In This Episode: Some complete random nonsense Zeus, God of Manspreading Shaq at the Parthenon The Incandescent by Emily Tesh Swamp Thing 1989 #1 Join us in two weeks as we continue our two-parter with Books 2 and 3, featuring art by Gene Ha and Nicola Scott! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!

For our last full-size episode of 2025, we wrap up our All My Xs miniseries on Marvel Comics' X-Men franchise with one of the big crossover events of the Jonathan Hickman era – The Hellfire Gala! The mutant nation of Krakoa makes its debut on the world stage with one hell of a coming-out party, filled with celebrity guests, fantastic costumes, behind-the-scenes intrigue and a truly out-of-this-world fireworks display! Can Emma Frost keep this star-studded affair on the rails? What's with Beast's heel turn? What the heck is Charles Xavier wearing? And can this story get past the velvet rope and into that social event of the season known as … The Comics Canon? In This Episode: · The Tom Stoppard of superhero comics · A truly baffling cameo · Great artists steal · Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy · Pluribus on Apple TV · The Mighty Nein on Amazon Prime Join us in two weeks – on Christmas Eve – for a fun mini-episode! Then, on Jan. 7, we discuss one of the best-reviewed books of 2025: Drome by Jesse Lonergan! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!

All My Xs, our miniseries on Marvel Comics' X-Men, takes a little detour to introduce the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight in 1979's Uncanny X-Men #120-#121 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and 1983's Alpha Flight #1 by John Byrne! First, the Canadian government wants Wolverine back – and if his friends in the X-Men get in the way, well, too bad for them! Next, Alpha Flight gets their own ongoing title, just in time to lose their government funding! And to make matters worse, they still have to deal with the gargantuan menace of Tundra! Can the X-Men stop a group of government agents from forcibly detaining one of their own citizens? Can Curt and Kevin keep from saying "eh" every other sentence? And can Canada's premier team of heroes take off to that Great White North known as … The Comics Canon? In This Episode: · Curt makes a correction – and recounts a dream · Why Alpha Flight are better than the Avengers · Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas: Revised & Updated Edition · Final Destination Bloodlines · X-Men #106 · Alpha Flight #16 · Uncanny X-Men #118-119 Join us in two weeks as we look at the wedding of Northstar in Astonishing X-Men #51 (and his official coming out in Alpha Flight #106)! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!

Superstar writer Grant Morrison updates the X-Men for the 21st century as All My Xs, our decade-by-decade miniseries on Marvel's mega-popular mutant franchise, continues with a discussion of E Is for Extinction – specifically, New X-Men issues #114-117 and #121 – by Morrison, Frank Quitely and Ethan Van Sciver, published by Marvel Comics! It's not a shock that the writer behind Vertigo's The Invisibles would remake the X-Men into a cooler-than-thou team of leather-jacketed badasses. But what might come as a surprise is just how over-the-top dark and edgy this book gets – and that's before an intriguing new villain slaughters an island nation of several million mutants! What is the terrible secret linking Cassandra Nova to Professor X? Does E really stand for "edgelord"? And can the coolest-looking teachers at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning break into that invitation-only faculty lounge known as … The Comics Canon? In This Episode: · Curt wonders what "lost in the sauce" means · Grant Morrison's X-Men manifesto · The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale, by John Klassen · Uncanny X-Men #159 and 160 Join us in two weeks as we mark the spookiest time of the year with a look at The Closet, by James Tynion IV and Gavin Fullerton! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!

Content warning: Sexual assault, pedophilia On this episode, we welcome The Flop House podcast co-host, current Harley Quinn writer and former The Daily Show With Jon Stewart head writer Elliott Kalan for a discussion of the 1978 graphic novel A Contract With God, written and illustrated by Will Eisner! This collection of standalone stories, centered around a fictional tenement building in the Bronx, finds Eisner (perhaps best known as the creator of The Spirit) drawing on his own life to examine the relationship between man and God and the Jewish-American experience in 1930s New York. Can Frimme Hersh, filled with grief and rage following the death of his adopted daughter, draft an unbreakable compact with the Almighty? And can this groundbreaking work enter into a legally binding covenant with that higher authority known as … The Comics Canon? In This Episode: · The Tenement Museum · Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Destructive Comics · Sadie Mouse Wrecks the House · Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense Join us in two weeks as All My Xs resumes with a look at Wolverine: Weapon X by Barry Windsor-Smith! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!

All My Xs, our decade-by-decade miniseries on Marvel's merry mutant franchise, rolls into the 1970s with a look at The Phoenix Saga from X-Men #101, 104-105 and 107-108, published by Marvel Comics! Superstar writer Chris Claremont starts coming into his own in these issues, which introduce the Phoenix, reestablish Magneto as the X-Men's primary big bad, and inject a healthy dose of space opera (and more than a few Star Trek shoutouts) into this once-moribund title! And if that weren't enough, artist extraordinaire Dave Cockrum hands the book off to blockbuster artist John Byrne, kicking off one of the most impactful writer-artist runs in comics history! Join us as we ask the burning questions: Do you think this Phoenix character will catch on? What's the deal with Eric the Red's costume? And can these pulse-pounding issues survive an encounter with that M'Kraan Crystal known as … the Comics Canon? In This Episode: · Sean Cassidy, 70s pop superstar · Spoiler alert for 1986's X-Factor #1 · Star Wars and The Phoenix Saga: a timeline · Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 0: Warzones! and Vol. 1: Berzerker · A specific moment from the first season of X-Men 97 · "No More Critics" from Matt Goldberg's Commentary Track newsletter · Imperial #1 · Kevin's shocking confession about Fantastic Four: First Steps Join us in two weeks as we forge ahead into the 1980s and the X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills! Until then:Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!