Call For Comments: What’s Happening to Comics Retail (and most other retail), in a pandemic?

From Wayne: For awhile now we’ve talked about doing an episode where we discuss the changing face of comic book retail. I have believed for some time that the retail side industry has been going through a seismic change. The last change of any real magnitude was the introduction of the Direct Market in the…

e103. Birds of Prey and the Fantaboulous Deconstruction of one VoxPopcast

All across the world, everyone is trapped in their homes riding out the COVID-19 pandemic. Movie cineplexes are shut down. Sports, Concerts and other Events are being cancelled. TV shows are running out of new episodes. Just this week, we learned that comic books are going to stop shipping. We’re running out of pop culture.…

e100. Hollywood vs. FanCasting

Think about your favorite book, video game, or comic. Who do you think should play the protagonist in the movie? Chances are you have a pretty good idea. Chances are also that if someone already has adapted your favorite character into a film, they didn’t pick your perfect choice. Maybe it turned out great, maybe…

e99. Pseudo-Academic Content: Listener Discretion is Advised

We live in a content driven world: Movies, Books, Music, TV, Comics, Video Games, and even Podcasts. “Content is king!” or so they say. But of course, different types of content are appropriate for different audiences. Anyone who has watched a movie in the last several decades knows that they have ratings, that is, a…

Call For Comments: Fan Casting Adaptations

From Mav: Once upon a time, back when magazines used to be a thing, Wizard magazine used to have a semi-regular feature where they’d take a theoretical movie property that was being adapted — either one that was rumored to be in preproduction, or something that they just thought it would be fun — and they’d…

Call for Comments: Content Ratings and Parental Ratings Guides

From Mav: I’ve gotten into a couple conversations recently with different people about movie ratings. Not the kind of whether they’re good and bad… stars… thumbs up and down and all that. I mean MPAA ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17… or at least here in the United States, that’s what they are. Curiously, it…

e97. Fictional & Celebrity Crushes

Happy (Belated) Valentines Day! You know what that means? It means time to do a “very special episode” where we somehow try to tie in the holiday concept to the kinds of stuff we normally do. Academic cultural analysis of popular culture… but with beer! Last year we talked about the “shipping” and the secret…

e96. Mask Theory

In the 21st century, when we think of masks, we think of superheroes. But the idea of superheroes as a concept is only about a century old. Masks have been around forever. They have a long history in theatre, professional wrestling and costume balls. Beyond that they have a cultural tradition that dates back to…

Call for Comments: Fictional and Celebrity Crushes

From Mav: Last year we did a special Valentine’s Day show about romantic shipping in our favorite fictional universes. It was so great celebrating Valentine’s Day by explaining to everyone in final decisive detail exactly how I am 100% positive that Hermoine and Harry totally absolutely and without a doubt totally “did it” behind the…

Call For Comments: Mask Theory

From Mav: Back when we started the podcast we made a list of stuff we thought we might want to talk about one day. One of the things that was on both my list and Wayne’s was doing a show on “mask theory.” It’s a topic that we both have an interest in because of……