Many artists look back on the work they did at age nineteen and cringe, but Matt Wagner keeps returning to Grendel, expanding and refining his youthful enthusiasms into an exploration of the nature of evil. Today, Grendel is a sprawling multigenerational saga that can be challenging to get into (and it was for one of your hosts), so we start at the beginning with the first link in the chain: a child prodigy who grows up to be the toast of Manhattan society as bestselling author Hunter Rose and master of the East Coast underworld as assassin-turned-crimelord Grendel. We’ll examine how the character evolved with Wagner’s maturing writing and art, ably assisted by some of the greatest comic book artists the Iron Age had to offer, and try to get to the bottom of “criminal chic” and the allure of the villain in popular fiction.

We veer just a bit outside the strict confines of our 15-year Iron Age to read Dark Horse Comics’ Grendel Omnibus Vol. 1: Hunter Rose, which contains The Devil by the Deed, the Black, White and Red and Red, White and Black short story collections, Behold the Devil, and other assorted material.

Grendel's money is ill-gotten, but we merely ask for donations: patreon.com/ironageofcomics

In our continuing series on the early years of Kyle Rayner, our hero squares off against Fatality, a spacefaring warrior woman who wants to crush the Green Lantern Corps (even though Hal Jordan has mostly done the job already). Kyle also gets a new roommate with a connection to the GL legacy, introduces his girlfriend to his mom, gets trapped in a painting, and deals with a troubled friend who was indirectly responsible for Kyle getting the ring in the first place. Featuring team-ups with Green Arrow Connor Hawke, Superboy Kon-El, Deadman, and Kyle’s new JLA teammate J’Onn J’Onzz the Martian Manhunter.

Discussed in this episode: Green Lantern #83-94 and Annual #6 (1997), plus crossover issues of Green Arrow and Superboy.

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Some people think Mike Hodges' 1980 Flash Gordon movie is cheesy trash and hate it; others think it's over-the-top hilarious and enjoy it. But some weirdos truly LOVE this exercise in tonal whiplash, and your humble hosts are two such men. We'll talk about the film as an adaptation of both the original Alex Raymond source material and the Buster Crabbe serials, and how it proudly defies Star Wars' revisionist sci-fi aesthetic. But we'll also try to dig underneath the spectacle to expose the genuinely rousing humanistic heroism at this movie's core. Plus: more beloved character actors than you'll know what to do with!

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When Marvel let their license to produce Star Wars comics lapse in 1986, Return of the Jedi was three years in the rear-view mirror and it seemed possible there would never be any further installments in the franchise. But Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy’s 1991 miniseries Dark Empire would begin Dark Horse Comics’ 23-year run of Star Wars comics and help launch the Expanded Universe. Set six years after the Battle of Endor, Dark Empire sees Luke Skywalker tempted to the Dark Side by the newly revived Emperor, Han Solo and Leia Organa fleeing bounty hunters, and a new Imperial doomsday weapon threatening the galaxy. We’ll look at the long and rocky development of the series, how involved (or not) Lucasfilm was in the story, and how it compares to its prose sister project, Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy.

This is the only podcast where you can hear two grown men arguing (politely) about Star Wars!

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It looks like Kyle Rayner and Donna Troy have broken up. In an effort to avoid both the consequences of his own self-sabotage and improve his approach to being Green Lantern, Kyle decides to go on a cross-country trip to seek advice from Batman, Captain Marvel, and Wonder Woman. He’ll also stand with Adam Strange and the Darkstars against Darkseid’s secret son and seek his own long-lost father with the help of new Green Arrow Connor Hawke. If that’s not enough superhero guest stars, wait till you see who shows up to Hal Jordan’s funeral!

Discussed in this episode: Green Lantern #71-82 and Annual #5 (1996), plus crossover issues of Green Arrow.

Take The Dirty Dozen, populate with supervillains and obscure DC characters, and plug them into Mission: Impossible-style plots. This is the recipe that John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell used to launch Suicide Squad, a series that takes place in the same mainstream post-Crisis DC Universe inhabited by Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, but takes a very different look at the place of superhumans in it, while also casting a suspicious eye on Cold War-era U.S. interventionism. We’ll discuss how Ostrander spun this series out of little more than a name recycled from the Silver Age, his working method with McDonnell, and one of this run’s most enduring legacies in the DCU: Amanda Waller.

WARNING: Does not contain Harley Quinn (despite what some trade paperback covers may suggest).

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In our continuing series on the Iron Age Green Lantern, twentysomething ‘90s dude Kyle Rayner gets a new girlfriend (Donna Troy, formerly known as Wonder Girl, currently serving as a Darkstar), goes on a space adventure with his teammates in the Titans, meets Iron Age Flash Wally West and former Corpsman John Stewart, and is tempted to make a deal with the (literal) devil. But his biggest challenges will be confronting Major Force (the man who killed his previous girlfriend) and justifying his stewardship of the Green Lantern legacy when Hal Jordan returns and demands the ring back. And if he survives all that…he just might screw things up with Donna.

Discussed in this episode: Green Lantern #59-70 and Annual #4 (1995), plus crossover issues of Guy Gardner: Warrior, New Titans, Darkstars, and Damage.

Still bummed that Kraven the Hunter’s solo film career failed to launch? We ease the pain with a look at the celebrated 1987 storyline by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck that made the character’s reputation in the first place. “Fearful Symmetry” (later known as “Kraven’s Last Hunt”) is an unusually dark and generally atypical adventure for Aunt May’s favorite nephew, but it speaks to the central appeal of the hero and remains one of the most celebrated Spider-Man stories of all time. We’ll look at the genesis of this story as a Wonder Man pitch, DeMatteis’ love of Russian literature and interest in making Peter Parker’s recent marriage add some emotional heft to the proceedings, and Zeck’s moody and cinematic storytelling. Plus, don’t miss the podcast’s first (and probably last) edition of “Poetry Corner”!

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