Steven and Chris tackle the mind-bending space opera "superhero," NEXUS (1981, 1983), created by Mike Baron and Steve "The Dude" Rude.

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


SHOW NOTES

00:30 - Steven & Chris introduce NEXUS

05:25 - How we each first encountered NEXUS

15:41 - A detailed overview of the absurdly engaging high-wire act that forms the crux of NEXUS

27:40 - “If you’re writing fiction, you need to read NEXUS.” The series’ place in the American comics canon

28:39 - “...NEXUS feels like my platonic ideal of pure comics. Something that you can scarcely imagine existing in another medium without being dramatically changed or bastardized in order to dumb it down for some so-called 'mass audience'...”

36:04 - “...Neither fish nor fowl...” The elusive nature of NEXUS

48:39 - THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco; THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov; IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER by Italo Calvino

1:00:30 - NEXUS’s stylish synthesis of Alex Toth, SPACE GHOST, and Jack Kirby... “...Mashing up elements that are clearly the individual passions of Baron and Rude... a crackling, kinetic mix.” In the words of Harlan Ellison: “It glows with originality.”

1:02:51 - The crossover with Mike Baron’s other First Comics title, THE BADGER

1:06:27 - The once-in-a-lifetime radiance of Steve Rude. “There’s nothing he can’t draw... That’s what’s f'd up.”

01:11:04 - “...These are alien landscapes, alien ships, alien clothing... Steve Rude …has lived in these worlds… a master class in comic book art."

1:12:14 - The subtlety, grace, and beauty of Rude’s art — a barrier-to-entry for some?

01:20:55 - The unbelievable alien physics of Steve Rude’s intergalactic alien architecture

01:29:55 - NEXUS as the apex of ongoing creator-owned comics

01:33:11 - Why you need to read NEXUS in the original floppy single issues: a rollicking letter column, “WHAT IT IS!” ...Discussion of Harlan Ellison’s hilarious exchange with Mike Baron

01:43:00 - The act of genius-level wholesale invention that is NEXUS, as opposed to WATCHMEN and SANDMAN

01:45:53 - A last fraught exchange from NEXUS’s letter column

01:49:46 - “...One of the greatest ongoing comics of all time -- and it isn't even close."


+ Visit https://www.ComicsRotYourBrain.com to get a look at some of the fantastic art discussed in our episodes and 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: https://christopherderrick.substack.com/




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