Zero Episode - Why Are We Doing This
Chris and Steven explain why they embarked on this insane - but rewarding - endeavor.
SHOW NOTES:
1:05 — Why we are doing this show.
5:02 - Experimentation in mainstream comics in the 80s, specifically Jenette Kahn’s extraordinary, game-changing reign as Publisher of DC Comics.
6:44 - Why the 80s were such a halcyon period to read comics and how the more obscure books from that era must be reckoned with today — again, why this show exists!
9:10 - DC’s insanely transgressive horror anthology, WASTELAND, courtesy of John Ostrander, the legendary Del Close, Don Simpson, David Lloyd, and others.
10:56 - Paul Chadwick’s CONCRETE from Dark Horse Comics, and once acclaimed works that somehow slip between the cracks of modern collective memory.
12:05 - Marvel, Ron Perelman, Heroes Reborn, and the birth of the modern comics mainstream as corporate IP farm, first and foremost.
13:37 - Epic Comics, Epic Illustrated, Dreadstar, Alien Legion, Groo the Wanderer, Akira.
16:00 - Skreemer, Vigilante, Grendel, and our Raison d'être. Also: Chris’ love of big French words and the types of comics that inspired us.
17:59: Mr. Monster and revisiting the indie comics of our youth to see how well they hold up (spoiler: still dope); why these works deserve to be reckoned with — the magnificent Trevor Von Eeden, Pete Milligan, etc.
19:43 - The list of comic books we want to cover - Scout, Hawkworld, Aztec Ace, Brought to Light, Coyote, BWS’ Storyteller, Wise Son: the White Wolf, the Light & Darkness War, Mars, American Flagg, THE SHADOW (Mike Kaluta, Howard Chaykin, Andy Helfer, Bill Sienkiewicz, Marshall Rogers, Baker).
23:10 - The pre-Vertigo era, Vertigo, AMERICAN CENTURY by Chaykin, Tischman, and Laming; Black Kiss and the transgressive works of Howard Chaykin.
28:00 - Tim Vigil and David Quinn’s FAUST: “If you’re not offending somebody with your work, you’re not doing it right.”
29:52 - The difference between mainstream comics then and now — the devolution of American genre comics. IP management versus creative stewardship — the work of Steve Englehart, Cary Bates and Carmine Infantino’s insane TRIAL OF THE FLASH, Ann Nocenti, JRJR, and Al Williamson’s DAREDEVIL. Today, Marvel and DC Comics feel like product; back then, at their best, they were zany expressions of quirky creators given actual creative freedom.
33:15 - Illustrating the preceding point, Chris discusses The Mighty Thor, Beta Ray Bill, and the brilliant Walt Simonson.
35:56 - “Do you remember when First was publishing Lone Wolf & Cub?” reflections on the early days of US manga comics translation — Mai the Psychic Girl and the Legend of Kamui, Eclipse Comics, etc.. 
37:00 - Epic Illustrated and Heavy Metal Magazine.
38:30 - Why we feel deeply committed to the cause of this show: remembering and celebrating iconoclastic comics (featuring discussions of the great Tim Truman and his ouevre: GRIMJACK, SCOUT, HAWKWORLD, WILDERNESS). Reckoning with great old comics and WHY IT MATTERS.
43:53 - Our idiosycratic definition of “The Bronze Age.”
