Podcast 46 - Comics Continuity (Where To Start With Marvel and DC)

Do you want to get started reading the lycra-clad adventures that Marvel and DC peddle, but you're put off by the huge gnarled continuity that has built up over the best part of a century? Batman, X-Men, Superman - all have accreted a vast mythology full of plot holes, reboots, crises many and various, but fear not - we're here to help with some surefire techniques to get you past the initial confusion, and to make sure you find the good stuff. Thanks to Tom Howard on Twitter for the setup.

Leap straight to the 1 hour, 1 minute mark if it's just that that you're after, or stick around for: plenty of new things! A series of crimes done in Dave's house! An introduction to homebrewing! Haikus! The secret history of nutmeg! Who could want more? It's a bumper episode!

We covered:

• Check Please! - Ngozi Ukazu
• Fires Above Hyperion - Patrick Atangan
• Descender -  Jeff Lemire & Justin Nguyen
• Aama - Frederick Peeters
• Paper Girls - Brian K Vaughan & Cliff Chiang
• Space Dumplins - Craig Thompson & Dave Stewart
• Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky
• The Fifth Beatle - Vivek Tiwary, Andrew C Robinson
• Nathaniel's Nutmeg - Giles Milton

The suggestions for starting points:

• All-Star Superman - Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
• Batman: Year One - Frank Miller & David Mazucchelli
• The Ultimates - Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
• Astonishing X-Men - Joss Whedon & John Cassidy
• FF - Matt Fraction & Mike Allred
• She-Hulk - Dan Slott, Various
• Hawkeye - Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth
• Moon Knight - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• DC: The New Frontier - Darwyn Cooke
• Daredevil - Brian Michael Bendis, various artists
• Spider-Man: Blue - Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale

Even Batman knows Cyclops is a dick.

Podcast 39 - Shame Revisited

We return, having read those classics of the comics canon that we had shamefully missed out on, deliver our reports, and discuss whether a critical canon is even a useful thing.

Also: find out our thoughts on whether or not we'd shelter Nazi war criminals! What happens when there should be a human femur in a box but then you can't find femurs? Drinking with Tom Paulin! Other things!

We read:

• The Unwritten: Apocalypse - Mike Carey and Peter Gross
• Chainmail Bikini - Hazel Newlevant, Various

Our shame books were:

• Black Hole - Charles Burns
• Love & Rockets - Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez
• Maus - Art Spiegelman
• The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller
• Ghost World - Daniel Clowes
• Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth - Chris Ware

Podcast Special: Daredevil

With Daredevil on screens courtesy of Netflix, we take a look at the convoluted history of the character and pick out the must-read comics. Also: superheroes in gritty crime drama - can they have their cape and eat it too? BOOM

So then, welcome to a timely (by our standards) and compact (by our standards) guide to The Man Without Fear. We talked about:

• Daredevil: The Man Without Fear - Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.
• Daredevil: Born Again - Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
• Daredevil By Frank Miller & Klaus Janson Volume 1 - Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
• Daredevil By Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev - Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Various
• Daredevil By Brubaker & Lark Ultimate Collection 1 - Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark

Podcast Episode 27 - Violence (For Real This Time)

Comics have always been violent, and while early comics broadly focussed on Hitler getting punched on the jaw or lovesick cats being pelted with bricks, extreme violence has gone through peaks and troughs and sparked the odd moral panic along the way. We look at how violence is portrayed in comics, and where it works and doesn't.

This week we talked about:

• Southern Bastards - Jason Aaron & Jason Latour
• Wytches: Issue 0 (free) | Issue 1 - Scott Snyder & Jock
• The Motherless Oven - Rob Davis
• Essex County - Jeff Lemire
• Blacksad: Amarillo - Juan Díaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido
• Resident Alien - Paul Hogan & Steve Parkhouse
• Exit Wounds - Rutu Modan
• Kate Beaton's Beat Poets
• Batman: Odyssey | AKA Neal Adams' crazy Batman | Brilliant coverage of that insane comic
• We3 - Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
• Flex Mentallo - Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
• V for Vendetta - Alan Moore & David Lloyd
• Punisher - Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
• Crossed - Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows
• Preacher - Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
• The Boys - Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson
• 300 - Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
• Three - Kieron Gillen & Ryan Kelly

It's a bra, yeah, but like it's also crabs

This is a bra made of crabs, so now you've seen it too. [wwm_survey id="1"]

Podcast Episode 17 - Crime

CRIME IS EVERYWHERE. Well, there's a bit. There's a lot in comics too! We take a detailed forensic look at some of our favourite pulp and noir comics, talk about some real life crimes that may or may not have happened. They're pretty exciting crimes! Plus the usual filth and nonsense.

Comics we covered in this episode:

• Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
• Zombo by Al Ewing and Henry Flint
• Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
• Parker by Darwyn Cooke, adapted from Donald Westlake
• Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips
• Mass Effect: Redemption by Various
• Blacksad by Juanjo Guarnido and Juan Diaz Canales
• Britten & Brulightly by Hannah Berry
• Batman ‘66 by Various
• East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta
• Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios and Jordie Bellaire
• Whiteout by Ed Rucka and Steve Lieber
• Lumberjanes by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson and Brooke A. Allen
• Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
• Thief of Thieves by Robert Kirkman, Nick Spencer and Shawn Martinbrough
• Top 10 - Alan Moore and Gene Ha
• Gotham Central - Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark
• Identity Crisis - Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales and Michael Bair
• Sin City - Frank Miller
• Stumptown - Ed Rucka and Matthew SouthWorth

The Wilkinson Lewis family:

• Yes Hive Overlord
• Music!