The guys behind this podcast certainly believe it…
At 13th Dimension, we use four basic “Ages” to define comics’ eras: the Golden Age began in 1938 (or earlier); the Silver Age began in 1956 (starting with Showcase #4); the Bronze Age began in 1970; and, the Modern Age began in 1986, though in each case there’s some overlap. Some collectors and historians use the terms Dark Age, Copper Age and Iron Age to define the earlier parts of the Modern Age. None of have been universally adopted, however, so we tend to stay away from them.
But maybe we’re wrong. Certainly, the comics of 1987 can be quite different from those produced today. And the ’90s was a period that pretty much stands on its own.
In any event, there’s a podcast called The Iron Age of Comics, which covers 1985 to 2000, and here’s 13th Dimension contributor Jason Czernich with his 13 favorite episodes that, in sum, certainly make the argument that the Iron Age was definitely a thing. — Dan
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By JASON CZERNICH
In early 2023, Justin Zyduck and Jim Cannon first streamed their signature podcast, The Iron Age of Comics, which, in their words is: “A critical re-evaluation of comic books from about 1985 to 2000… including, of course, the boom and bust of the ’90s! Go beyond the chromium covers and grim ‘n’ gritty cliches for a deeper look at one of the most divisive periods in comics history. (Justin and Jim) share context, commentary, and a few laughs on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.”
I have been tuning in since the first episode and have been a loyal listener ever since. The main appeal for me is that it covers the era where my comic book habit was at its height. Recently, I spoke with Justin and Jim over email to get some of their thoughts behind my 13 favorite Iron Age episodes and what went into selecting the subject matter for each one. Here they are, in chronological order:
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1. Episode #0: Defining the Iron Age/Crisis, Dark Knight, & Watchmen, 1/4/23 (Listen/Listen)
Justin: I personally love podcasts with introductory episodes that lay out a mission statement and let you get to know where the hosts are coming from, but not everyone does, so we broke ours off into a “zero issue” that people could skip or come back to later.
DC Comics pulled off an astonishing reinvention via the 1985-87 hat trick of Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Dark Knight Returns, and Watchmen. These three books are the obvious starting point for a podcast about comics from around this time, but we didn’t want to blow through all these white whales right away. Talking about them as a collective let us discuss their influence on the next decade and a half of comics and save the deep dives for later.
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2. Batman: Year One, 4/19/23 (Listen)
Jim: While Justin went into our first dozen or so episodes thinking about the breadth of the period we were going to talk about, and some of the pivotal moments that occurred during it, I was thinking about the highlights. With the big three off the table, covered briefly in our inaugural episode, I pitched Batman: Year One as a story we had to cover as soon as possible. It’s one of the key books of 1986, one of the key books of the Iron Age, and one of the key books of the Batman mythos at this point.
Note from Jason: Jim Cannon is a friend of mine from the late ’90s and he is also one of the toughest critics you will ever meet when it comes to comics. This episode shows a different side of Jim where he actually “gushes” over something for once. As I realized back when I first knew him, it’s worth taking a look (or another look) if Jim recommends it.
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3. Elektra: Assassin, 7/19/23 (Listen)
Jim: There were two factors involved here: In the first place, I have a definite DC bias and I wanted to do more Marvel material, but using Marvel material I already had access to. And a friend had given me the issues of Elektra: Assassin years before but I’d never read it, having had no real interest in the subject matter. This seemed like a two birds, one stone situation. I was delightfully surprised at how much goofy fun Elektra: Assassin turned out to be.
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4. Ghost World, 2/21/24 (Listen)
Justin: I love Ghost World, but I wasn’t sure if we should do an episode on it at first. The “ages of comics” framework is a very superhero-centered way of looking at American comic books; trends and patterns in the indie/alternative comics sphere aren’t necessarily reflective of whatever was going on with Batman at the moment, you know? But changes to publishing and distribution in the Iron Age opened up huge opportunities for comics creators like Daniel Clowes to find an audience outside of working for DC and Marvel, so we decided it’s relevant after all. Purely statistically, this is one of our least-listened-to episodes because it’s a departure from the usual pow-zap action stuff, but I think we had a great time vicariously reliving our awkward teenage years through this comic!
Note from Jason: I like all kinds of comics and was very happy to see Iron Age cover a non-mainstream graphic novel.
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5. Batman: The Animated Series, 5/15/24 (Listen)
Justin: There are lots of great podcasts about comic book movies and TV shows, so we tend to save those things for bonus episodes and focus on the comics themselves in the main feed. But BTAS is so influential and so unanimously beloved among fans (particularly those of us who grew up with this show) that we made an exception. We may have to rebrand this episode “Disc One” or something and dip back into our DVDs and streaming services for future episodes…
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6. Weapon X, 7/17/24 (Listen)
Justin: This is truly one of the most glorious and bizarre comics Marvel’s ever published. By rights, a story establishing the secret origin of Wolverine should have been a sales-driven, corporately mandated, editorially coordinated crossover event, so it almost feels like Barry Windsor-Smith got away with something in writing and drawing this auteurist horror story for an anthology title like Marvel Comics Presents. It’s not actually designed to give us a tidy Official Handbook-ready summary of Logan’s biography. (It resisted our attempts to even straightforwardly summarize the plot!) The Weapon X serial gives us a sense of the trauma beneath Wolverine’s tough-guy bluster without robbing readers of the alluring mysteries surrounding the character. That’s why it’s the only Wolverine origin that will ever satisfy everyone!
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7. Grendel: Hunter Rose, 5/21/25 (Listen)
Jim: My first encounter with Grendel was via Warchild in the mid-’90s and I instantly fell in love, but finding the back matter wasn’t terribly easy back then. Fast-forward to the present, when the promise of an unfulfilled Netflix series prompted Dark Horse to collect the entire saga in six beautiful omnibuses. Not only was Matt Wagner’s tour de force accessible, but it was perfect fodder for the podcast. Another example of something neither of us had read before turning out to be really, really good.
Note from Jason: I would really love to hear their thoughts on the Batman/Grendel crossovers, wouldn’t you?
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8. Astro City: Life in the Big City, 9/17/25 (Listen)
Justin: I’m a guy who loves to know how the sausage is made, so I enjoy researching the behind-the-scenes aspects of these comics. I almost overdid it here when I found a lengthy Comics Journal interview where Kurt Busiek explains the initial development of the series at length, but when I looked at my notes and realized I had essentially just rewritten the article, I pulled back and tried to put the focus back where it probably belongs: on the comics themselves. I really felt the pressure to give this comic its due — obviously, it’s a popular and well-regarded series, but it deserves the same level of analysis and thought that Watchmen or anything else in that league does.
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9. Fifth Week Bonus: Mike Mignola’s Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Jim: We are always looking for something fun to do in our Fifth Week Bonus episodes, and we’re both big fans of Mike Mignola and Dracula, so this was a natural fit. We actually decided on this many months in advance, because we also like to do appropriately themed material in October. That this book essentially turned out to be Topps Comics’ flagship title was icing on the cake.
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10. Judge Dredd: Necropolis, 12/3/25 (Listen)
Jim: This episode is more straightforward than most: A listener wrote in asking that we cover some Judge Dredd. I solicited recommendations from people and Necropolis is the story we ended up doing because of that. It seems like an odd choice at first, beginning very much in media res, but I think that actually ended up working to our benefit. We were thrown into the deep end and had to catch our bearing, which I hope made for a fun episode, even if the audio quality was not up to our usual standard.
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11. Iron Mail: Listener Q&A, 12/17/25 (Listen)
Justin: It was pointed out to us after the fact that a much better episode title would have been “The Iron Q&Age of Comics.” We initially thought this would be a quick one to do for the end of the year when a lot of podcasts take a break for the holidays, but it expanded when we got a good mixture of fun things to talk about and opportunities to really reflect after three years. I always genuinely enjoy hearing podcasters talk about their thought process and goals — why they spend hours making notes and recording and editing and posting their voices into an already crowded sea of internet commentary. But if that sounds too pretentious, we also goofed around talking about trading cards and which fictional universe would be the best one to live in.
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12. Fifth Week Bonus #13: The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, Vol. 1, 12/31/25
Jim: This episode came out of another listener suggestion, this one from Jason Czernich himself! It was such an interesting idea, largely because while the volume was published in 1988, all of the stories in it predate 1985, our proposed beginning of the Iron Age. At the same time, these were all stories that seemed important to the creators during our proscribed period, and also we both really enjoy this volume. But that’s why it ended up being a Fifth Week Bonus episode, as it didn’t really fit into our main feed. As a side note, I had actually misplaced my copy of The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Vol. 1 (I have since recovered it) and had to do the episode mostly from memory. I did supplement with notes I’d made for a different project many years ago.
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13. 1986 Year In Review, 1/7/26 (Listen)
Justin: Everyone (including us!) talks so much about 1986 being this miracle year in the comics industry that it can become like Woodstock, where the legend built up around it eclipses the actual event. But when you read articles in the fan press of the time, it becomes clear that people were noticing change was in the air even while they were in the middle of it all. Digging through everything published that year demythologized the whole 1986 phenomenon a bit by putting it into context and thinking about how these things happened.
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You can find these episodes and more at The Iron Age of Comics on Spotify. And you can find Fifth Week Bonus episodes here if you are a Patreon subscriber, which is only $2 a month.
Happy listening and tell Justin and Jim that 13th Dimension sent ya!
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MORE
— 1986: Comics’ Watershed Year — 40 YEARS LATER. Click here.
— From DARK KNIGHT to DAREDEVIL: 13 Reasons 1986 Was FRANK MILLER’s Year. Click here.
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JASON CZERNICH was born smack dab in the middle of the Bronze Age of Comics. Early memories of Power Records and other Batman merchandise, as well as watching reruns of the 1966 Batman series on TV38 in Boston, imprinted on him heavily. Today, he lives and works as a clinical social worker in central Massachusetts with his wife, child, cat, and beloved French bulldog.
