There's this funny thing that happens with TV shows. Because of the nature of human actors, TV shows are the one type of serialized media where a natural change to the series might be FORCED to occur because forces outside of the narrative require the change of the narrative. That is to say that in a comic book, the Spider-man can go on from issue to issue as long as Marvel wants him to be. If the writers decide to replace Peter Parker with Ben Reilly or Miles Morales that is for storyline reasons and they can change it back whenever they want. But on TV, actors die or move on to other roles. There are contract disputes. People age out of roles. There are budgetary considerations. There are any...
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Excalibur #17: “From the Crucible–A Captain?”
Excalibur #17 “From the Crucible – A Captain?” Writer: Chris Clarement Pencils: Alan Davis Inks: Paul Neary Colors: Nelson Yomtov Letters: Jade Moede Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: December 1989 In this episode, Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Liz Large of ComicsXF to ride a “Warlord”-inspired hangover straight into a never-ending bacchanalian…
e167. Considering the Fanboy Gaze
After last week’s primer on the male gaze, we wanted to spend some time thinking about the ways in which it could be complicated. What happens when we try to apply those concepts to characters not normally considered “male gazey”? What happens when a presumed male viewer is asked to identify with a female characters?…
Excalibur #16: “Warlord”
Excalibur #16 “Warlord” Writer: Chris Claremont Penciler: Alan Davis Inks: Paul Neary Colours: Glynis Oliver and Mike Rockwitz Letters: Tom Orzechowski Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: December 1989 Some people say you shouldn’t go full Nightcrawler. The GGW pod disagrees. Especially Anna, Kurt Wagner’s (Unofficial) PR Manager, who’s hoping he’ll be hiring her in…
Call For Comments: Why Are There Still Superhero Costumes?
From Mav (with Monica Geraffo): This is going to be about superheroes and fashion. But it’s not going to seem like it at first and there are a billion concepts that I want to tie together, so bear with me. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise at this point that I love superheroes. I love…
Excalibur #15: “Technet: Impossible Missions!”
Excalibur #15 “Impossible Missions!” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Alan Davis Inks: Paul Neary Colours: Gylnis Oliver Letters: Tom Orzechowski and Michael Heisler Editing: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: November 1989 In this episode, Dazzler stan and all-around X-Men aficionado Dr. Nicholas Miller joins Anna, Mav, and Andrew to talk serious political allegories and equally serious…
Call for Comments: She’s Not Like Other Girls! Introducing the Fanboy Gaze
From Mav (with Matt Linton): We’ve talked a lot on our show about Laura Mulvey’s theory of the “the male gaze”. In short, the male gaze describes the tendency of narratives to position female characters primarily as objects of desire to be consumed by male protagonists and readers. It argues that regardless of the reader’s…
Call for Comments: The Male Gaze and its Discontents
From Katya: This week we’re revisiting the Male Gaze. I know we’ve been here before but we have a string of guests coming up offering their own spin on various “gazes” and related subjects so we thought it was worth a revisit. (If you’d like to check out our previous conversations, check out some of…
e165. PCA-2021 Recap
It’s the PCA-2021 recap show! In many ways, Popular Culture Association(PCA) national conference is responsible for this show. One of the things we’ve always strived for is to have the kind of wide variety of cultural scholarship that is found there as well as the open and inclusive vibe and ideology that the organization and…
“Mojo Mayhem”
“Mojo Mayhem” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Arthur Adams Inks: Terry Austin & Bob Wiacek Colours: Glynis Oliver Letters: Tom Orzechowski and Jade Moede Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: December 1989 In this episode, we laugh, we cry, we over-intellectualize the self-reflexivity of itty-bitty X-Men on the run from the spineless dictator of a reality…