e347. Jack vs. Jack: The Jack Off

Yes, we know the world is on fire, but that’s just going to be our status quo for the next several months. And it’s Thanksgiving week and we wanted to do something fun. So we decided this week we’d play a fun little game that we borrowed from our friends over at the Protagonist Podcast.…

e346: Over the Rainbow: Examining Wicked, Oz, and their Cultural Impact

Did you know there was a movie adaptation of the film Wicked released this week? If not then we assume you must not see any commercials or advertisements in your life ever, because the marketing is PERSISTENT. And by all accounts it’s doing fairly well at the box office. That’s to be expected; the play…

Call for Comments: Wicked and the Wonderful (?) World of OZ

From Hannah: In our next show, we’re tackling populism, propaganda, and resistance — through Wicked (the film, the musical, the book series) and its source material the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. The world of Oz has always been political (especially in terms of American politics) since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz first appeared…

e345. Superpowers, Sex, and Science with Diana McCallum

For a show that was originally created in a comic book shop, we do surprisingly few episodes about comic books. Today is an opportunity to fix that. A few weeks ago, Mav was contacted by a publishing agent and asked if we could interview the author of a book that was all about comic book…

e342. Creepy Dolls and the Freudian Uncanny

Happy Halloween! As has been our tradition, we wanted to make sure we marked the season with a special episode or two highlighting the concepts of horror. On today’s episode, Mav, Wayne and Monica are joined by friend of the show and Director of University of California at Santa Cruz’s Center for Monster Studies, Michael…

e340. Reimagining Dracula: a Conversation with Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones

It’s October and we’re well into spooky season and like every year we like to spend that time diving into some of the more horror based pop culture we can find. A few years ago, we did an episode all about the varying film adaptations of Dracula and noted that Dracula himself was perhaps one…

e338. Fandom and Identity: The Evolution of Beloved Characters

What does it mean to be a fan of a character? There have been millions of different interpretations of Batman and the character of Wolverine as he appears in Marvel comics films bears surprisingly little in common with his original comic book impetus. In this episode, Mav and Wayne Wise are joined by guests recent…

e337. Umm… So, is this like a Reboot?!? Or Something?

A couple weeks ago, Mav was watching a football game and he saw a commercial for a new TV show, Rescue: HI-Surf. It appeared to be an action procedural about lifeguards. As he watched it, he was entranced, but couldn’t help thinking to himself “isn’t this just Baywatch?” But alas, the show seemed to want…

e336. So, Why Pop Culture?

In all the years we’ve been doing this show we’ve worked under a very basic assumption: Everyone involved as a host, guest, or listener presumes that the pseudo academic discussion of popular culture (with drinking and swearing) is an important activity. We certainly feel that way, and chances are if you’re a regular listener you…

e335. Prequels Unraveled: Stitching Gaps or Snagging Cash?

In today’s nostalgia driven, franchise driven, pop culture world sequels are obviously big business. But what do we do when sequels become too boring (and we can’t get the original cast of a film back)? Prequels are obviously the answer. But why? Is there any value to prequels or are they nothing more than shameless…