e66. Fandom Petitions

Did you hear about the thing a couple weeks ago where a Christian watchdog group started a petition to get Netflix to cancel the hit TV show Good Omens because Satan, and the internet got a big huge laugh out of it, because that show isn’t even on Netflix? That was great. But it makes…

e51. So What Is Subculture Anyway?

We’ve been talking a lot about subcultures on our last couple of episodes. And the terms comes up a lot on the internet — usually negatively — to refer to everything from hipsters and punks and goths and geeks to Republicans and Democrats to Christians and Muslims to … uh… MAGA hat wearers. Often if…

Call For Comments: The (super)Power of Fashion and Symbols

From Mav: In one of my favorite recent comics, Batman #37 by Tom King, Batman and Superman are discussing the crests on their shirts. Superman tells Batman that S on his isn’t really an S. It’s a Kryptonian symbol and it stands for hope. Batman responds that “the bat stands for a bat.” I love…

Call For Comments: But Baby is it really cold outside? Is it really?

From Mav: It’s the winter holiday season… that means lots of thing for pop culture: It means Christmas movies (which we already have a Call For Comments up for). It means endless consumerism, it means FoxNew turning to discussions on the War On Christmas. It means pumpkin spice everything. And it means Christmas carols… lots…

Episode 20: Monster Mash

“The Monster” and “The Monster Hunter” may be among the oldest figures in popular culture. It is the most basic of stories. Some great evil is threatening the community. Someone go kill it! It is a theme that has played out in countless books, movies, tv shows, comics and video games. The monster is a…

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?…

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…

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: Biography, History, Memoir, and Chutz-POW

Wayne Here: This week we’re going to engage in a little shameless self-promotion, or at least I am. A few years ago I was asked to participate in a comic book project. The Pittsburgh Holocaust Center was looking for a new way to teach Holocaust studies. Rather than talk about the horror and tragedy they…

Episode 4: Losing My Religiosity?

Never argue about politics or religion on the internet! Well, really, they’re the same thing. But so are arguments about atheism. And comics. And sports. And movies. And unix text editors. It’s not really religion; it’s religiosity! Wayne and Mav are joined by Danny Anderson of The Sectarian Review Podcast to discuss the way in…