Did you know it’s Superman’s 85th Anniversary? You might have. Did you know that he was created in Cleveland? Maybe. And if you didn’t know these things, well, it is and he was. And in celebration, the city of Cleveland has been running a series of events for the last several weeks which led up…
Tag: comics
e286. The Legend of Harley Quinn
On last week’s episode, we delved into the world of classic literary character Hercule Poirot and his cultural significance across multiple iterations. This week, we go in the exact opposite direction. Recorded at the exact same time as last week’s show, Wayne and Mav are joined by returning guest Andrew Deman and first time guest,…
Call For Comments: So How About That Harley Quinn?
From Mav: So I want to talk about Harley Quinn. Why? Because I think she has a very interesting and near unique (maybe along with Deadpool) place in current superhero fandom. I’ve had this ongoing conversation with Wayne about the difficulty in creating major new comic characters for the Big Two (Marvel and DC) in…
CFC: No Country For Old Men
From Wayne: I had been noticing a trend in a lot of recent media that hadn’t really fully formed in my mind until a couple of weeks ago when we recorded our Indiana Jones episode. Dial of Destiny was very much a movie about an old man, facing the ravages of time. Indy is o…
e272. Why Are So Many Superhero Adaptations So Very, Very, Bad?
There certainly are a lot of superheroes adaptations. In fact, some people would say there’s too many. And yet, they just keep coming and coming. In fact, one of them, The Flash, is bombing at the box office right now, all while Across Spider-verse is getting constant acclaim? What makes a superhero adaptation good and…
Call From Comments: Thoughts on Adapting Superheroes
(From Mav: This is a guest blog for an upcoming episode. We’re recording it soon, so give us your thoughts really quick! Take it away, John!) From John: Like most genres, adaptation has been the key to the superhero’s popularity and longevity, spreading across multiple media to capture as wide an audience as possible. While the…
e262. Hey! So, How Do Museums Work?
We have probably mentioned on previous episodes that Monica worked at a museum. We’ve also mentioned once or twice that Wayne was on the board of a museum. And really, one would assume that anyone who listens to this show has probably been to a museum or two at some point in their lives. Probably…
e261. PCA2023 After Dark!
After two years being held virtually, and a cancelled conference in 2020, the Popular Culture Association returned to in person conferences for PCA2023. There were some good notes (Mav won a major award for his doctoral dissertation) and some bad notes (Mav ended up catching COVID during the trip) but along the way there was…
e254. A Primer On the Ages of Comics
If you’re a long time comic book fan, you’ve probably used the terms “Golden Age”, “Silver Age”, “Bronze Age” and “Modern Age” to talk about different periods in comic publishing history. You probably don’t really think about what they mean most of the time, but you do have a vague distinction in your mind. For…
Call For Comments: The Ages of Comics and Superheroes
From Mav: Several years ago when I was doing my oral comps (PhD exams) I was asked a question about the evolution of comics. I don’t remember the exact question anymore. What I do remember is that one of my committee members stopped me and said “you always say that… the ages of comics. What…