e293. Soundtracks, Scores & Race in the Superhero Film

(Note: Previously a corrupted version of the audio of this file was uploaded. This was due to a mistake in the mix that has now been corrected to the best of our abilities. Therefore, we are reuploading this week’s episode. Our apologies for the earlier issues.) You always know it’s a great episode when the…

e292. Monstrous Women and the Horror Gaze

On this week’s not exactly Halloween special episode, Mav, Wayne and Monica are joined by returning guests Dr. Michael Chemers and Dr. Samantha Langsdale, two experts in the field of monster studies to talk about their recent conference at the Center for Monster Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. Sam and Mike share…

e291. Fables, Fanfic and Fair Using the Public Domain

On this week’s episode we explore the complex topic of public domain publishing by tackling the recent controversy surrounding comic book author Bill Willingham, creator of Fables. After a long battle over ownership with DC Comics, Willingham recently announced that he was releasing the intellectual property of Fables into the public domain so that anyone…

e290. Figuring Out Fall & Analyzing Autumn

Fall may be the weirdest season for pop culture. Think about it, we have celebrations based around the winter holidays… not just Christmas… but the whole season is just full of movies and media celebrating the very concept of winter. Summer is much the same. We have summer blockbusters and beach reads. We have the…

e289. Superman in Cleveland

Did you know it’s Superman’s 85th Anniversary? You might have. Did you know that he was created in Cleveland? Maybe. And if you didn’t know these things, well, it is and he was. And in celebration, the city of Cleveland has been running a series of events for the last several weeks which led up…

e288. Games4SocialImpact 2023

Last year, we had a very special episode where Mav attended the University of Pittsburgh’s Games4SocialImpact game jam event as a judge and mentor. Well, that was so much fun that he decided to do it again. So, on this week’s show you get to hear Mav interview several of his students about their process…

e287. We Made This! Why We Love DIY!

Do you like to knit? Paint? Build stuff? Sew? Bake? Garden? Work on your own car? Maybe you don’t do any of those things, but chances are you have some kind of craft type thing that you enjoy which frankly, you could probably pay someone to do, but really you just enjoy doing it yourself.…

e286. The Legend of Harley Quinn

On last week’s episode, we delved into the world of classic literary character Hercule Poirot and his cultural significance across multiple iterations. This week, we go in the exact opposite direction. Recorded at the exact same time as last week’s show, Wayne and Mav are joined by returning guest Andrew Deman and first time guest,…

e285. The Legend of Hercule Poirot

Some fandoms just claw their way into pop culture and steadily grow. Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot may have never been the largest pop culture figure, but he’s been in the zeitgeist for more than 100 years. While not as well known as Sherlock Holmes, he’s arguably just as important to the mystery genre and arguably…

e284. Making the Band of Theseus

How many members of a musical band need to present to make the band the band. Is it different if a member dies than it is if a member simply quits or is kicked out? If a band splits exactly in two, are both halfs still the band or does one half become the band…