From Mav: Fun fact, this show has its origins in two places. One is geeky conversations that I have had with Wayne in the comic book shop he works in and we eventually said “we should make a show out of this.” We’ve told that story before. The other is in conversations that I had…
Category: Literature
Episode 14: Captain America – Patriotism & Nationalism
This week, the United States of America (or what currently passes for it) celebrated it’s birthday. Of course, if you’re a longtime geeky comic book fan, you might also know that July 4th is also the birthday of Steve Rogers, Captain America. Abby certainly does! And because she is essentially a human encyclopedia of geeky…
Call for Comments: The Captain America Birthday Special
From Abby: The Fourth of July is nearly upon us and so that means it’s time to discuss Captain America because it’s his birthday. In the late 1930s and early 1940s there were plenty of Star-Spangled heroes running around in comics, but we don’t hear much about American Ace or Mr. America these days. And…
Episode 13: Mythic Reboots
Some stories are timeless: Homer’s Odyssey, the legends of Hercules and King Arthur, the fairy tale of Snow White. These are stories that have been repeated so often that everyone knows them. They are part of the cultural consciousness. So, if that is the case, why do we feel the need to keep repeating them?…
Episode 12: The Coming & Going of the Coming of Age
Dear Mr. Vernon, It was the summer of 2018 and it was the best year of our life. We spent that summer podcasting with… (you know, it’s really hard to get the effect of a voiceover narration in text. Oh well. Just pretend that was in the voice of a middle aged Daniel Stern looking…
Call For Comments: Mythic Reboots and Adaptations
From Mav: One of my favorite comic book characters when I was a kid was The Mighty Thor. One of the reasons Thor fascinated me was because he was entrenched in mythology outside of the comics. To me, it was cool being able to read a story by Walt Simonson and then later pull out…
Call for Comments: Generation X and Coming of Age Movies
From Mav: If you know me, you know I love movies. It’s one of the reasons I do this. If you know me, then you might also know that maybe my favorite movie last year was Lady Bird (I even wrote a review about it… cheap plug for my other site). Wayne watched it recently and we…
Episode 10: Sex, Gender & FanFic
To some the world of fan fiction is the ridiculous hobby of geeks. To others it is a massive repository of erotica and pornography. But to many, it is a safe haven for Othered communities that have been kept from the mainstream — a place where they can be given a chance to express and…
Episode 9: Chutz-Pow! Superheroes of the Holocaust
Today we change focus and discuss something a little more serious than most of our topics. Mav is away on vacation this week, so Wayne is joined by Marcel Walker of the Holocaust Center in Pittsburgh, PA and Rochel Gasson of Duquesne University to discuss a very important and personal project that Wayne and Marcel…
Call for Comments: Cosplayers of Color
August 5, 2018
From Mav: Usually we try to mix topics on our show up from week to week; one week generally has very little to do with whatever happened the week before. This week is a little different, but only slightly. Last week, while I was prepping the Call for Comments for the She-Ra and Male Gaze/Superheroine…