The Iron Age boys reflect on another year of reading classic comics and three years since launching the podcast by answering YOUR questions! (Assuming you sent them in, that is to say.)

Discussed in this episode:

• Current reads
• Underappreciated Iron Age creators
• Fashion trends of the Iron Age
• Comics we don’t want to revisit
• Missed opportunities
• Non-Iron Age comics with Iron Age flavor
• Cursing and podcast editing
• Dick Tracy and the British 20th century
• Marvel trading cards
• Creator pronunciations
• Most representative American comics
• The Iron Age outside the U.S.
• Which comic book universe we want to live in
• Growth and change vs. “the permanent Act II”
• When are you going to cover __________?
• Transition to video?
• The origin of the podcast
• Are we critics?
• What we learned in 2025

Keep the show going through 2026 and beyond by becoming a supporter at patreon.com/ironageofcomics

Jim and Justin are know-it-all comics guys normally, but in this episode they’ll enter unfamiliar territory for them: the 22nd century milieu of brutal supercop Judge Dredd…as well as the longrunning weekly comic 2000 AD and the British comics industry in general! The epic “Necropolis” storyline might seem like an unusual entry point to Dredd: genres clash as the sci-fi dystopia of Mega-City One is attacked by the supernatural horrors of the Dark Judges, and the title character doesn’t even appear for much of the story; Dredd has exiled himself to the wastelands of the Cursed Earth, leaving a younger, less experienced genetic duplicate to carry his name and badge. Will our intrepid podcasting Yankees be hopelessly befuddled by this arc’s British sensibilities and satire, or will the thrillpower writing of John Wagner and the gritty inks and paints of artist Carlos Ezquerra cross the cultural divide?

Discussed in this episode: Judge Dredd strips from 2000 AD progs 674-699

(Do not adjust the rabbit ears on your podcatcher app; sound quality in this episode is suboptimal due to a recording issue. It’s probably the Sisters of Death’s fault.)

Become a supporter of The Iron Age of Comics at patreon.com/ironageofcomics. It’s not just a good idea; IT’S THE LAW!

When Bryan Hitch took over as artist on WildStorm’s low-selling StormWatch title, writer Warren Ellis was inspired to ditch most of the characters and reinvent the book from the ground up. The resulting series, The Authority, pointed the way to the future of mainstream comic books and stands as one of the milestones marking the end of the Iron Age. It’s an important and influential comic, so we’ve invited writer and podcaster Cameron Kunzelman (last heard on our X-Men: The Animated Series episode) back to read the entire Ellis and Hitch run with us. We discuss the advent of “widescreen comics” and what it means for comic books as a medium to adopt a more cinematic storytelling language; the transition from StormWatch’s murky politics to the ends-justify-the-means justice of the Authority; and how the run attempts to comment on and close the book on the genre fiction of the 20th century.

CONTENT WARNINGS: The plot and story contents of this series prompt discussions of racism, terrorism, colonialism, genocide, sexual violence, and related topics. We also talk at great length about toxic and manipulative patterns of behavior from writer Warren Ellis, as extensively detailed by his accusers at SoManyOfUs.com.

Visit RangedTouch.com to listen to the podcasts Cameron co-hosts. You can also check out his book Everything Is Permitted on the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise here:

https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517914943/everything-is-permitted/

Support the Iron Age of Comics and get access to bonus content at patreon.com/ironageofcomics