e441. In Blackest Night: a Deep Dive into the World of Lanterns

Are you watching Lanterns? Ratings and critical response imply that you very well might be. Which is why we’re talking about ti again. If you’re wondering “wait, didn’t you do this before?” Well, yes and no! We did have an episode about the Green Lanterns a few weeks ago where we talked about the history…

e437. In Brightest Day: The History and Popularity of Green Lantern

Every once in a while an adaptation property really surprises us by capturing the cultural zeitgeist far more than its source material would imply that it should. That seems to be the case with the TV show Lanterns. For comic book fans, this always looked interesting — an unlikely buddy cop period drama in the…

e435. Zines! Where Art Meets Activism

Let’s talk about zines! Why? Because in many ways, they are one of the oldest and most revered artifacts of grassroots pop culture. Also, it turns out that pretty much the entire cadre of VoxPopcast hosts has a history with them. So, on this week’s episode, Mav, Hannah, Wayne, Katya and Maybe get together to…

e433. Spider-Man: Masks, Myths, and Media

Spider-Man, Spider-Man does whatever a spider can… So if you’re the kind of person who listens to this show, you no doubt know that a new Spider-man movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Probably many of the podcasts you listen to are even talking about it. Well, we don’t want to spoil it, so rather than…

e430. Tyrant: Dinosaurs and the Evolution of Indie Comics

To a lot of people “comics” seems to mean superheroes. So much that “comic book movies” is the term that we sometimes use for what should properly be called “superhero movies”. This makes sense, given the stranglehold that DC and Marvel comics have had over the American comic publishing industry for nearly a century. However,…

e429. Out of this World: Alien Archetypes in Pop Culture

Aliens are one of the most enduring concepts in popular culture. It makes sense really. If we know there are other planets then it stands to reason that we might wonder what’s on them. There’s no shortage of books, films, TV shows and video games that explore this. So it’s kind of weird that we…

e428. The Supergirl Legacy: The Evolution of the Maid of Might

If you pay attention to the weekly pop-culture media landscape you might be aware that a new Supergirl movie released the weekend before this episode. It performed… somewhat underwhelmingly at the box office. It also had mixed reviews. But is that fair? On this episode Mav, Wayne and Hannah welcome returning guest, comics scholar Anna…

e426. Narrative & Technology (& Narrative) Syllabus Special

A few weeks ago, Mav was talking with friend of the show Joe Darowski about a new class Joe is teaching at Bringham Young University called “Technology & Narrative”. Joe asked if Mav had any suggestions for the course since it seemed up his alley. Well, as it turns out, Mav regularly teaches a course…

e418. PCA Roundtable: Enjoying the Art of Immoral Artists: An Ethical and Aesthetic Dilemma

It’s that time of year again! If you’re a long time listener to the show then you probably know about PCA already. PCA is acronym for both the Popular Culture Association and their annual convention that in many ways is part of the genesis of the show. Last year all of the cohosts attended, but…

e408. Wonder Woman: Boundaries, Bondage, and Breakthroughs

Wonder Woman is almost certainly one of the most enduring characters in all of pop culture. She’s certainly the most famous female superhero of all time. But we would argue that she’s significant even beyond that. Why? Well, let’s talk about it. On this week’s show Mav, Wayne and Monica are joined by returning guest…