If you’re a fan of geek media, you likely noticed two important things from Marvel Studios last week. One was the long-awaited release of Deadpool & Wolverine. The second was the San Diego Comicon surprise that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to take on the role of Dr. Doom.…
Category: Literature
e329. Biographies, Blockbusters, And Biden! What a Week!
It’s been a hell of a week. Ok, let’s face it… it’s been a hell of a summer. This is a pop culture show and so we try to stay current on what’s happening, but the world has been moving so fast that we have been trouble keeping up, so on this week’s show, Mav…
e327. Decoding Literary Criticism: From BookTok to Shakespeare
Recently an 18year old college student who calls herself alisha not alihsha posted a vlog where she argues in favor of what she calls “being a hater” in her video essay “Booktok, brainrot, and why it’s okay to be a hater” Somehow she went viral and became the topic of conversation for a bit on…
e325. So You Have To Write a Prospectus? Now What Is It, Exactly? (and can an ointment clear it up?)
One of the best parts about being an academic is that you “get summers off.” One of the worst parts of being an academic is “your off days are just a time to do more homework.” That’s where Monica is, as she is currently knee deep in trying to write her PhD prospectus. But that…
Call For Comments: BookTok thinks I have a PhD in being a hater?
From Katya: I was recently watching a Twitch stream with Cozy K when my favorite thing happened: people discussing literary criticism in the wild. This NEVER happens. Cozy K and her chat, affectionately called the Poopies, were discussing “Booktok, brainrot, and why it’s okay to be a hater” by alisha not alihsha on YouTube. She…
e322. 4 Killer Out-of-the-Box X-men Movie Pitches for the MCU
It’s somehow been five years since Disney’s acquisition of Fox and the impending promise therein of having the X-men added into the MCU. While we have … let’s just say feelings… about the idea of a single global megacorportation essentially owning the movie landscape in the US, that is perhaps a show for another day.…
e320. Adrenaline and Affection: Exploring the Action Romance Genre
What do you do if you’re in couple that was designed on an 80s sitcom so you have extremely traditional gender roles of a feminine partner who loves lovey dovey chick flicks and a masculine partner violent ‘splosiony dude movies. You go to an action romance of course! So it turns out that we don’t…
e319. X-men ’97 Revisited: Superheroes, Sacrifices, & Saturday Mornings
There’s an argument that the current wave of superhero dominated content that pervades popular media doesn’t begin with the MCU but with X-men the Animated Series, a cartoon that ran from 1992-1997 and is a formative touchstone for many millennial viewers who have come of age today. This argument may be somewhat backed up by…
e313. PCA2024: Adapting X-Men
On this week’s special epsiode we take one last look at this year’s Popular Culture Association conference in Chicago with a look at papers from one of the panels in the Comics Studies group. Mav is joined by Joseph and John Darowski who will be appearing with him in the upcoming book Adapting X-men from…
e312. PCA2024: The AfterParty
Six years ago, this show was birthed out of the aftermath of PCA2018, the annual conference for the Popular Culture Association. As is tradition, we’ve once again returned there. PCA2024 was last week in Chicago, IL and Mav attended. On this episode, he is joined by fellow conference attendees and friends of the show Nicole…