At the intersection of Carl Barks and Akira Kurosawa, you’ll find Usagi Yojimbo, a longrunning indie comic about a rabbit ronin in 17th-century Japan. Creator Stan Sakai deftly balances somber meditations on honor and often surprising violence with funny animals and gentle humor, drawing on influences ranging from extensive historical research into traditional swordmaking techniques to Audrey Hepburn movies caught on afternoon TV. We dive into a big chunk of this series (already in progress, as it turns out) and discuss how despite its very specific cultural milieu, the universal themes and plots found in the stories (and the appealing nature of the art) makes this comic instantly accessible.

In this episode, we get two epic storylines back to back. First, in “Dead Heat,” the Lightning Brigade faces the evil Savitar, who treats superspeed like a religion and has an army of ninjas to back him up. Next, “Race Against Time” finds Wally West lost in the future while a new Flash protects Keystone City (and makes time with Linda Park). But we’re less enthused about these stories than earlier highlights like “The Return of Barry Allen” and “Terminal Velocity.” Was writer Mark Waid starting to be stretched a little too thin as he ascended to the ranks of industry superstar, or are your humble hosts just running out of gas? Or maybe there’s just something funny about this Savitar guy…

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What if every superhero and pulp fiction universe was condensed down into one universe, which was also the Wildstorm Universe? The Planetary team uncovers the secret history of their world and, in the process, performs a metatextual analysis on genre comics. But to what end? With one fan of the series and one hater on board, we debate whether Planetary restores a sense of wonder to superheroes and has anything insightful to say about them, or whether it’s just more guys with powers vying for control of the universe while making snarky comments to each other. We’ll also gush over John Cassaday and Laura Martin’s art, discuss the difference between pastiche and archetypes, and consider how the comics industry evolved over the course of the series’ highly delayed run.

This episode was recorded before John Cassaday’s passing. A brief introduction at the top of the show, recorded more recently, contextualizes how we ultimately decided to release this episode.

This episode also discusses allegations about Warren Ellis and the question of whether to revisit his work at all surrounding those allegations. For more information, we recommend reading SoManyOfUs.com.

It’s another big everything-changes-forever epic as Mark Waid hits “Terminal Velocity.” The discovery of the Speed Force as the source of superspeed in the DC Universe is transforming Wally West emotionally and physically, and his future with Linda Park is at stake. True love conquers all (sorry for the spoiler), but they won’t necessarily live happily ever as they have to pick up the pieces after the fairytale ending. We’ll discuss Wally’s often-frustrating tendency to keep his loved ones in the dark and debate whether it matters that the villain of the piece is a bit generic. Because comic fans need to rank things, we’ll also weigh in on whether “Terminal Velocity” or “The Return of Barry Allen” is the highlight of the run. All this plus Mirror Master and some kind of Lovecraftian monster, too!

Discussed in this episode: Flash #0 and 95-105, plus Flash Annual #8 (1996).

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It’s the part of the run you’ve been waiting for: Buddy Baker can see you! And Grant Morrison can talk to you, too. We’ve seen Animal Man establish his superhero cred, straighten out his origin, and become an animal-rights activist. Now, in issues #18-26 closing out Morrison’s run, the very nature of his fictional reality is at stake as our hero also deals with the ultimate personal tragedy. In this episode, we interrogate the series’ interrogation of “the realistic superhero comic,” think about the limits of cathartic violence in fiction, explore Comic Book Limbo, and ask what the relationship is between the Grant Morrison who appears in issue #26 and the Grant Morrison who wrote issue #26. Strap in for some metatextual pontification (and some laughs as always).

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Professor Zoom has been defeated, Wally West has regained his top speed and put aside his insecurities about living up to Barry Allen’s legacy, and Mark Waid’s Flash is now a comic book to watch as 1993 turns into 1994. As rookie penciler Mike Wieringo comes aboard as new regular artist, Waid teams Wally up with Nightwing and Starfire (and his ex-girlfriend), puts the Flash on trial, and hints at the secret source of superspeed. We also meet breakout character Bart Allen, soon to be known as Impulse! We’ll guide you through a chunk of issues that may not contain any six-issue epics, but it puts Wally on the path to maturity and makes his relationship with Linda Park into the focus of the series.

Discussed in this episode: Flash #80-94

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A small preview of our discussion of Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier and how you can get the rest by supporting us at patreon.com/ironageofcomics.