The question all comic fans have wrestled with their whole lives! Which member of The Defenders is the best Defender!? We take five, uh, famous Defenders — The Silver Surfer! Hellcat! Nighthawk! Moondragon! Valkyrie! — and pit them against each other in some very essential Defenders challenges! How convincingly would the Silver Surfer pretend to be…

It’s POWER RECORDS week on Zero Issues, where we listen to not one, b…

A week late, but worth the wait! As we enter a weird summer movie season in a year with few superhero movies, at least by 21st century standards, we feel compelled to discuss the untapped cinematic potential of comic series NOT based on DC or Marvel characters! So listen along as we stunt-cast the future stars of indie-comic movies! Just imagine… T…

The first season of Xmen 97 is OVER!!! And WOW, was it sumpin, huh?! …

This Week, for our annual We Put Up a Mother’s Day Episode a Week or More Late spectacular, we’re thinking about some moms that haven’t really gotten the spotlight. What’s The Question’s relationship with his …

Hey, let’s put all that structure aside for an episode, and just relax by the fire and have a friendly chat about comics. Doesn’t that sound nice? We discuss comic runs that just didn’t do right by their character or concept: Merk compares the new wave of Conan comics from Titan coming off Conan being a friggin’ Avenger over at Marvel, Kyle mourns …

OH MAN!! X-Men 97 continues and we talk episodes 5-7. OH THAT EPISODE…

Meanwhile, at a different while! This week, we’re talking about our favourite comics that take places with familiar characters in unfamiliar times. Just what happens when super heroes start showing up hundreds…

Comics and movies! Movies and comics! Superheroes from comics and movies have been entrenched in pop culture as a mainstay for quite a while now (some say too long). But what about the superhero movies that AR…

To us, our listeners! X-Men ’97’s first season is about halfway over and there’s been a lot to discuss. So let’s do that! We dig into the first four episodes of the nostalgic revival cartoon, and while we all enjoyed it, we have some very different takes on the show. How well does it adapt the comics’ extensive, and often lengthy, source material i…

It’s monday newsday! And this week is…well… it’s been a week. Ed Pisk…

It’s an all-Easter Dramatic Read triple feature! Uh, sort of? If the Easter Bunny and/or Jesus Christ appear, we say it counts. So join us as we bring the printed page to audio life! First up, “Big” Ethel Muggs learns how to go from boy-crazy to Van-Jesus-crazy in an Al Hartley licensed Archie tale from Spire Christian Comics! A somehow code-approv…

We’ve got a real Beast Wars situation on our hands! Okay, so maybe not a *real* Beast Wars situation, what with the no Transformers to speak of, but more of a lower case beast wars situation. These beasts, they be a-warrin’! This week, March Madness returns with an animal-themed twist! Who’s going to be king of the jungle? It’s going to be better t…

It’s time for another LIGHTNING ROUND! Featuring multiple concise but electric mini-segments! No attention span required! Kyle challenges us to pit randomly-selected comic characters against each other in battle with weapons, in a completely original segment we’re calling, uh, SUPAR FITES: “Fellow Chucker” Alfred vs. “Bird Master” Skin! Vandal Sava…

Indie comic creator interview!! Writer Dennis Robinson joins us and discusses his latest chapter of LYCAN:SOLOMON’S ODYSSEY! A gripping tale of the origin of the werewolf! We discuss his Kickstarter for chapte…

This week on a completely unplanned and very loosey goosey episode, we go over what Henry Cavill could possibly do in the MCU (and boy, there are options!), revisiting the first X-Men movie (which came out 24 goddamned years ago. Wow.) and its sequels, Beast and Wonder Man’s wonderful reunion, and Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Did you know that there’s…

We were gonna do an episode on drugs for episode #420, but then we… aw, you know the song. This week we discuss drugs in comics, the comic characters who likely partake, the wild and weird fictional drugs, Does the Avengers party-animal Beast cover the weed stank in his fur with patchouli? Do Thor and Jarvis share war stories over bong hits? Which …

NEWSTIME!!! GET YA NEWS!!! There’s lots going on, so strap in! Sad, Great and a few floating in between. The sad passing of comics great Paul Neary, as well as the tragic news of a crew member of the upcoming …

Why buy Crom when you can rent Crom? This and MANY other Crom puns await you as we listen to a remarkably civilized sounding Power Records ’45 called Conan the Thunder Dust! All that AND Merk talks about some …

Aqua, man! I mean Aquaman. I mean, y’know, Aquaman! My man! This week, we’re offering you four fishtastic Aquaman segments. First, we review Aquman: The Lost Kingdom, which is certainly a movie! Some of us even liked it! Kinda! Then, we head into the Fixatorium to try and come up with new, inventive takes on Mr. Arthur Curry, King of Atlantis, frie…

Whoa, look at all this news! What if… Marvel used their “What If…” brand for Aliens comics… and also gave us the Paul Reiser / Phil Noto crossover we’ve all long dreamed of? Right?? If you’re an X-Fan who would like Hank McCoy to be more of a fun Beast and less of an evil genocidal monster Beast, your wish may come true! Madame Web is hitting theat…

This week we’re taking a look at the career, impact, legacy, and most importantly STORIES of the one and only Jim Steranko! An innovator, a showman, a living legend, and one that’s no stranger to controversy (let’s be real, controversies, plural) who has left a permanent impact on comics as an art form. So let’s talk a bit about the man, his life, …

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s series Criminal has been given a seri…

Happy January the 10th! This week, we’re talking about what we want in the world of comics this year. They aren’t big asks! We simply request that maybe the Big Two don’t turn everything into an event, tell sm…

2023 is almost over! And while many of us may feel it was a pretty crummy year, a lot of good stuff happened too! And as is our usual custom, we’re gonna talk all about ’em! Bad Space! Conan! My Adventures With Superman! The Many Deaths of Laila Starr! Dead Romans! Do a Powerbomb! Space Usagi! Nightwing! Godzilla vs. Justice League! Godzilla Minus …

It’s Bry’s birthday! To celebrate, Merk and Kyle recount Bry’s origin story. Kung Fu Reptiles! Secret brothers! Alien origins! Teen sidekicks! So much stuff that we didn’t know, but hey, we will now! Also, a B…

Oh no, I missed mean ol’ Professor Xavier’s class last week, and now we’re all stuck in detention! And he’s forcing the whole class to judge his original five students against each other by some very scientific criteria: Powers! Fighting skill! Teamwork! Good roommate qualities! Teenage angst! Hanging a wall photo! Hosting a Canadian talk show a la…

It’s CELERY SLAM 3!!! The super popular and not at all made up by us annual event between Halloween & Christmas when characters associated with each of those holidays go head to head in a battle of … celery… o…

Robert Kirkman spilled a big ol’ pile of beans this week, but were these beans prefried? The writer revealed in an interview that Steven Yuen has been cast as The Sentry in the upcoming Thunderbolts film, but I feel like we all have kinda known that since February. Speaking of casting news/rumors/the blurry line between the two, rumor has it that P…

If you thought putting three Marvels in one movie was a feat, this podcast has like seven times as many Marvels! Comics have a long history of using and re-using the name “Captain Marvel” for a wide variety of entirely separate characters — and in occasionally legally-dubious ways — so let’s talk about ‘em! From the original Fawcett Comics “Shazam!…

It’s Kyle’s birthday so Bry & Merk decide to FINALLY reveal his secret origin! Hear about Baby Beard Kyle! Ol’ hickory eyes Lees they called him. Hear about his crime fighting career as Sneeze Lees and his sid…

Whole lotta news this week, so let’s get into it! There’s a new Spider-Man swinging his way onto the pages of your comics, and this one’s married, just like you nerds have been crying about for the last ten years! Well, okay, not exactly like you’ve been crying about, but close enough for you. DC launched a new imprint, DC Compact, with the goal of…

This week, Bry and Merk wake up in a strange room, chained together. That’s right, they got Saw’d! And the only way out is to answer trivia questions. Will they live, will they die, will they be stung by many bees? The answers to these and many other questions, this week! But before any of that happens, Merk has his own sadistic game of DVR: Date, …

Halloween is almost here! And to celebrate the spookiest of seasons, Bry invites Kyle & Merk to a surprise party at… the local arcade that closed years ago!? What’s going on here? But there’s no time to ask questions, because a grim discovery in the laser tag arena traps our hosts in an eerie mystery that they’ll have to choose their own path to so…

Scary dramatic read time!! The boys read and act out ‘Nightmare Merch…

Starting off the news for this week, we’re very sad to report that Keith Giffen, of Bwahaha Justice League International fame, among co-creating Lobo, Rocket Raccoon, and Ambush Bug, has passed away at the age…

Batman was right that one time, the Justice League can shove it! This week, we’re talking about characters who leave super hero teams: why do they do it, how long do they stay gone, and are they right to leave…

I dunno if it’s just us or the entire movie-watching public, but is there a case of the blahs going around? Martin Scorsese says comic-book movies are Ruining Cinema — and what if he’s right? Join us for a thoughtful (but funny!) conversation that digs into the history of Hollywood boom-and-bust cycles, the nature of art within commerce, and why th…

Oct 2, 2023 newsflash time! It’s the writer’s strike! It’s AI comics! It’s Wall-E or is it Dall-E or is it Dali? We dunno. We talk content creators and Dan Didio’s interesting rant on corporations and the hull…

What do Paste Pot Pete, Keep on Truckin’, James Spader, a spooky classy underground cavern and Charlie Chicken Johansson Berger have in common? They’re all in our crazy MAD LIB STORYTIME episode! With the SAG-…

We’re off to the city! This week, we’re taking a look at some of the cities that super heroes call home. It’s kinda weird that so many of them are Something City, right? Which one would be the safest to live in for your average person, which one is the hardest on criminals, and just what ocean is Atlantis in, anyway? All these questions answered, a…

Bill Willingham stuns the world — and especially DC Comics — by declaring that Fables is now in the public domain! Y’know, beyond all the parts that already were. That’s right, it’s creator vs. publisher once again, but this time the creator chose “asymmetrical warfare” (his words). We go through Willingham’s allegations toward DC, DC’s official re…

Indie Comics!!! New indie comics!! We at Zero Issues LOVE indie stuff ( I know, I know, we talk about the big 2 a LOT) and we love indie creators and crowdfunding too! So this week we’re chatting with Brandon …

400! That’s way more than some Frank Miller book! To celebrate making…

We’re back together! No, really. We are. The boys are back together in the same room for the first time after zoom recording for a LONG time. So what do we have planned? um…. nothing. We’re just gonna get toge…

It’s time once again for the POWER! The power of Power Records, of course! They were comics that came with a record of a performance of the same comic, and they sure were something. This time we’re listening and riffing along to 1975’s “Alien Creatures” starring Superman! Jimmy Olsen hot-boxes with Dr. Tripper in the observatory, Clark Kent whizzes…

Whole lotta sequels going on! This week, we’ve got Basic Instinct 2 (or is it 2.5? 3? 2.Now?) Last Ronin 2, some cool TMNT DLC, talkin’ ’bout the Scott Pilgrim re-adaptation, and maybe even more! Lotsa news*! …

What’s THIS? A surprise third Classic Zero Issues episode? Well, since a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode has hit theatres, why not enjoy this 2020 episode celebrating the first-ever TMNT film?? Personally, we recommend it. Here’s the original write-up: 30 years ago, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was unleashed on the world…