Continuity and Canon – Part One

Hey, have you heard Indefensible Ink is over and there's a NEW PODCAST in town? Subscribe to THE IRON AGE OF COMICS now on your podcasting app of choice for future updates! Follow @ironageofcomics on Twitter and Instagram!  From 1985 to 1987, DC released three groundbreaking series that kicked off the Iron Age and changed comics forever: Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, and Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. We’ll eventually do a deep dive on each one in turn, but our debut episode takes a high-level look at these three books as a collective phenomenon and examines the impact they had on the next 15 years of comics up through to today.

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.)

It's the final episode of Indefensible Ink! And what could be a more appropriate topic to cover than something called Final Crisis? Justin discusses Grant Morrison's divisive 2008 crossover event and why its title and marketing may have led to a chilly reception from many fans.  PLUS: An introduction to a new podcast! Stay subscribed to the Indefensible Ink feed for a preview, coming soon...

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."

Original co-host Ryan McClure returns for the first of a two-part discussion about continuity and canon in superhero comics: the benefits, the downsides, and drilling down into what makes comics different from other longrunning narratives in other media. Also discussed in this episode: the many Atlantises (Atlanti?) of the pre-Crisis DC Universe, the Spider-Man-to-dinosaurs pipeline, and the wonders of Marvel Saga.

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.

Plenty of superheroes go through an amnesia storyline or two in their careers, but Dick Grayson spent around 25 entire issues of his Nightwing series from 2019-2020 with memory loss and a new identity as a cab driver named Ric. Justin taps Nightwing fan supreme Jim Cannon to explain why Dick Grayson is so beloved both in-universe and among comics fans and to discuss whether this meandering storyline had any higher purpose than trying to put an end to jokes about his first name. Also discussed in this episode: racist episodes of Star Trek, the questionable relevancy of supervillains named after Soviet institutions, and turkey dinners vs. robot dinosaurs.

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.  

Here it is, the comic so controversial it made George Clooney drop out of playing Nick Fury in movies and got Marvel publisher Bill Jemas fired! Or at least, that's what people say about Fury, Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson's six-issue limited series from 2001 published by Marvel's mature-readers MAX imprint. Justin takes a look at the story behind the splashy headline and why it might be wise to bring a bit of skepticism--or at least a sense of perspective--to this juicy rumor. This episode is labeled Explicit because...well, it's a Garth Ennis comic, it kind of has to be, right?  Also discussed in this episode: How to use a parental advisory to market your comic books, Francis Fukuyama and Star Trek VI, and Stan Lee actually says something negative in public about a Marvel comic.

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.