Comics Rot Your Brain! cover art

Comics Rot Your Brain!

Comics Rot Your Brain!

By: Steven Bagatourian & Christopher Derrick
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COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) & Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss favorite books, runs, and creators.

The Bronze Age is — for us — the greatest era in comics history. This time period was defined by a weird rift in the fabric of spacetime that allowed an industry in flux to reimagine what was possible. We all remember the eye-popping results: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, WATCHMEN, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, LOVE & ROCKETS, MAUS, etc.

…But what of the lesser-known gems of this era: THRILLER, GRIMJACK, NEXUS, CONCRETE, MR. MONSTER, SCOUT, STRAY TOASTERS, and so many others!? These comics and their creators blazed radical new trails that changed the course of comics forever but often are left out of today’s discourse.

COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! exists to celebrate and reckon with the extraordinary legacy of 1980s American comics — all of it.

Join us!

© 2025 Comics Rot Your Brain!
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Episodes
  • The Most Influential Superhero You've Never Heard Of | Milligan & McCarthy's PARADAX!
    Sep 6 2025

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxONuw60a0sJXul6nw7-lmlyjgB-lkn5C&si=KOQWYJLqYpDi04O2

    In this solo episode, Steven excavates the tomb of the ‘80s most obscure proto-influencer/superhero, the weirdo wonder himself, that achingly irreverent NYC hipster super dude… PARADAX! (STRANGE DAYS #1 - 3, Eclipse Comics, 1984).

    COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) and Christopher Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

    Support Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/ComicsRotYourBrain

    The Most Influential Superhero You've Never Heard Of | Milligan & McCarthy's PARADAX!

    🎙️ Show Notes ✨

    #comics #comicbooks #bronzeagecomics

    Drop us a line!

    Support the show


    + Check out our YouTube channel to get a look at some of the fantastic art featured in our episodes. Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

    + We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain

    + For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE




    ©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!







    #comicbooks #comics #graphicnovel

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 32 mins
  • ALIEN LEGION (Epic Comics, 1984) Footsloggers, Soldiers Of Fortune, Priests, Poets, Killers And Cads
    Jul 26 2025

    COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions).

    In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age of comics.

    Steven and Chris enlist in Epic Comics' ALIEN LEGION (1984), created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Frank Cirocco. Later issues are drawn by Larry Stroman and Randy Emberlin.

    SHOW NOTES

    00:00 - Opening pitch

    OO:52 - Theme song

    01:06 - Intro to the remarkable ALIEN LEGION

    12:10 - How the floppies differ from the collected trade editions, in regard to THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE-style entries provided for the main legionnaires

    14:26 - Issue One, "Survival of the Fittest!" Zelenetz and Cirocco’s specific way of approaching this sprawling space opera

    28:15 - Issues Two: "Blind Trust!"

    40:26 - Allusions to LOST — Did that classic TV series draw inspiration for its “bottle episodes” and their solo character flashback structures from ALIEN LEGION?

    51:53 - Torqa Dun & Jugger Grimrod as sketchy legionnaires in the Wolverine and Punisher mold

    59:55 - A detour into the challenges of creator-owned comics

    1:18:00 - Issue Three, "Last Gamble!” and its Back-up Story

    01:31:07 - Era of post-decompressed storytelling and Frank Cirocco’s exquisitely-designed cover art

    01:36:27 - Issue Four: "The Killing Zone!” - the big Torie Montroc’s solo issue

    01:57:55 - Issue 6: “Operation Nerve Center!” - The character of alien soldier, Dirge, and his all-too-human battle with an addiction to a performance-enhancing drug

    01:41:24 - The use of thought balloons as an essential window into the deepest vulnerabilities of our traumatized cosmic battalion. “Soldiers in this insane crucible of battle.”

    02:06:28 - Impostor syndrome in ALIEN LEGION -- the neurotic, inadequate, deeply insecure messes who are our main players, along with the increasingly expansive cast of characters in this world

    02:25:18 - Issue 12: “Hollow Harvest!” The arrival of the great Larry Stroman brings a distinctly new visual flair to the book and some awesomely stylized hair!

    02:43:21 - Issue 13: “Moonlilies for Cora Cora!” = FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON

    03:07:22 - Issue 14: “Reprise!” - the devastating next chapter

    03:19:51 - Issue 15: “The Official Death of Jugger Grimrod!” The title says it all.

    03:34:11 - Issue 16: “Demons!” - Intro of Tamara, the first woman legionnaire

    03:48:25 - Travis Charest & Larry Stroman both drawing DARKSTARS for DC! Discussion of Charest’s early work -- WILDCATS w/ Alan Moore and METABARONS

    03:59:30 - You can tell every genre of story as a war story.

    04:00:45 - ALIEN LEGION as the ultimate, hyper-compressed metaphor for life. “We’re all in the

    Drop us a line!

    Support the show


    + Check out our YouTube channel to get a look at some of the fantastic art featured in our episodes. Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

    + We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain

    + For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE




    ©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!







    #comicbooks #comics #graphicnovel

    Show More Show Less
    4 hrs and 3 mins
  • LOST FORGOTTEN What’s The Deal With Frank Miller’s First Solo ELEKTRA Story
    Jul 13 2025

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxONuw60a0sJXul6nw7-lmlyjgB-lkn5C&si=KOQWYJLqYpDi04O2

    In a solo episode, Chris looks at Frank Miller's first published Elektra solo adventure, working for an on-the-run Nazi, in a story called "Cobra" that appeared in BIZARRE ADVENTURES #28 (Marvel Comics, 1981), a black-and-white anthology comics magazine.

    COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) and Christopher Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

    Support Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/ComicsRotYourBrain

    🎙️ Show Notes ✨

    00:00 - Intro - where and when this 14-page story appeared
    01:09 - Theme song
    04:34 - Read-thru of “Cobra”
    20:11 - Miller's masterful use of Duotone
    44:10 - Miller as a controversial creator

    #comics #comicbooks #frankmiller #elektra #bronzeagecomics

    Drop us a line!

    Support the show


    + Check out our YouTube channel to get a look at some of the fantastic art featured in our episodes. Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

    + We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain

    + For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE




    ©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!







    #comicbooks #comics #graphicnovel

    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
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