n this CRYB! SPOTLIGHT, Chris and Steven discuss DC Comics' batshit-crazy SKREEMER (1988). This proto-Vertigo classic blends noir, cyberpunk, and family tragedy in a retro gangster apocalyptic fable created by Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins, and Steve Dillion. A science fiction comic that makes A CLOCKWORK ORANGE look G-rated.

This clip was taken from our full-length SKREEMER episode:

https://youtu.be/gfcvYF0aCd0?si=E5H1E0EfawK1tM17.

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

+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ComicsRotYourBrain

🎙️ SHOW NOTES

Drop us a line!

+ 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

This week is a CRYB Spotlight episode on Marvel/Epic Comics' ALIEN LEGION, published in 1984, created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Frank Cirocco. This clip is taken from our epic (so to speak) deep dive into ALIEN LEGION (see earlier episodes).

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.

ALIEN LEGION | The Ultimate SciFi War Story/Space Opera - "Humanity" Explored in Thought Balloons

SHOW NOTES
00:00 - Theme song
00:15 - Intro to ALIEN LEGION
00:53 - The legionnaire Skobb signs his own death warrant
01:02 - Zelenetz's brilliance as a writer
01:32 - The cost of making selfish, all-too-human choices
03:31 - Thought balloons in comics
05:11 - Exploring the legionnaires' fears and insecurities
07:30 - The inner monologue during a War Story
08:45 - Blending pathos and politics
09:02 - Tell every story in a war film
10:25 - The ultimate metaphor for life

Drop us a line!

+ 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

Steven and Chris discuss acclaimed graphic designer Dean Motter's science fiction opus, MISTER X (Vortex Comics, 1984); the first four issues were written & drawn by Los Bros Hernandez (Mario, Gilbert, and Jamie) of LOVE & ROCKETS fame and colored by Paul Rivoche.

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 Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

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

MISTER X | Art Deco Retro Futurism SciFi Mystery Noir and Flying Cars

🎙️ SHOW NOTES see below💥

Copyright © 2025 Comics Rot Your Brain

#graphicnovel #scifi #comicbooks

Drop us a line!

+ 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

In this solo episode, Steven takes a wild trip into the breathtaking visual world of legendary and visionary Filipino artist, Alex Niño, as seen in the unfortunately named graphic novel, SPACE CLUSTERS (DC Comics, 1986).

Comics Rot Your Brain! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few noteworthy exceptions). Screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

Moebius, Druillet, & ALEX NIÑO - This Visionary Genius Is One of the Greatest Comics Artists Ever!

• We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: / comicsrotyourbrain
  
  
• The Blerd It Out show on Alex Niño mentioned in this episode from Adrian Johnson @ Inazuma Studios:
  
  

• Blerd It Out! - Episode 4: Alex Nino

Drop us a line!

+ 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

Chris discusses Howard Chaykin's MONARK STARSTALKER single-issue scifi story from the ultra-cool try-out book, Marvel Premiere.

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 Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

Support Our Patreon - / comicsrotyourbrain

Fantagraphics is finally collecting Chaykin's early Marvel Comics work - https://a.co/d/dkKaCM3

Chaykin's STARS, MY DESTINATION adaptation - https://a.co/d/07teTGn

Chaykin's AMERICAN FLAGG! - https://a.co/d/dayB529

0:00 Music & Intro
0:59 Plug for Marvel’s upcoming collection of early Howard Chaykin work
1:13 What is Marvel Premiere?
2:41 Who is Howard Chaykin?
3:42 Diving into Monark Starstalker

Drop us a line!

+ 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

In the final episode of Season One, Steven and Chris reveal their own secret origins on how and why they came to discover the world of comics in their youth... way back in the '80s!

Drop us a line!

+ 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

Chris and Steven put on their jet-packs and blast into issues one thru 10 of the wondrous sci-fi idea-bomb that is Scott McCloud’s ZOT! (Eclipse Comics, 1984), a slam-bang collision between the widescreen imaginations of Osamu Tezuka and Jack Kirby. Prepare yourself for iconic heroes and villains, heady philosophy, and rich humanism… Much like ZOT! itself, this episode’s got it all and it ought to, folks — it’s almost six freakin’ hours!

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

Support Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/comicsrotyourbrain

Drop us a line!

+ 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

In this episode, Chris -- in his first one-shot solo episode -- discusses the fan favorite scifi adventure comic ATARI FORCE (1984), written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. A special projects DC Comics' series took inspiration for the legendary Atari 2600 video game console.

+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/comicsrotyourbrain

Comics Rot Your Brain! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few noteworthy exceptions). Screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

⏱ SHOW NOTES

00:00 Theme song
01:10 The origins of the Atari Force comic.
01:45 What does ATARI Force stand for?
02:23 Who were the original members?
02:59 The 80s SciFi staple - Mankind has crippled Earth
3:30 Pop Culture Minute of the Time
06:15 The main characters of ATARI Force
06:37 Discussing Issue One
13:09 Introducing the Nameless Villain
16:24 Kidnapping Bade harkens back to TransAtlantic Slave Trade
18:21 Praising Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez's Art
29:16 Discussing Issue Two
34:!5 Poignant Moment for Tempest
36:09 Introducing Martin Champion from the original team
39:46 Ciritique of First Mate on Slave Ship
44:10 Dart's background and how is shapes her internal conflict
49:00 The First Fact File
50:53 Gerry Conway explains how he got involved with Atari Force
53:16 Discussing Issue Three
1:01:10 Lamenting No TPB for Atari Force
1:03:14 Pining Over Lost Art of Thought Balloons
1:13:30 Andy Helfer's Confesson
1:18:14 Wrap Up Discussion


©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!

Drop us a line!

+ 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