e106. COVID-19 & the Death of the Comic Shop

We live in strange times. Obviously, the number one problem right now is that we’re in the middle of a global pandemic that has ground the WHOLE DAMN PLANET to a halt. This is a big problem for everyone in and of itself. As the whole world is basically under “stay at home” orders (or…

Call For Comments: What’s Happening to Comics Retail (and most other retail), in a pandemic?

From Wayne: For awhile now we’ve talked about doing an episode where we discuss the changing face of comic book retail. I have believed for some time that the retail side industry has been going through a seismic change. The last change of any real magnitude was the introduction of the Direct Market in the…

e96. Mask Theory

In the 21st century, when we think of masks, we think of superheroes. But the idea of superheroes as a concept is only about a century old. Masks have been around forever. They have a long history in theatre, professional wrestling and costume balls. Beyond that they have a cultural tradition that dates back to…

e93. Golden Age of Comics

If you’re at least a casual comic book fan you probably know the terms Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age and Modern Age. If you’re a massive comic geek, you probably even know when those ages are. But why do they exist? What’s the relevance of splitting things up like that? What the cultural relevance…

Call For Comments: The Golden Age of Comics

From Mav: Now that we’re done with all of the end of the year and beginning of the year stuff it’s time to get back to business as usual on VoxPopcast. One of the things that always surprises me about our show is that we do comparatively little with comics given that it is theoretically…

e84. Comics, Sci-Fi, Fantasy: What is Geek Culture?

Live from MAC Charity Con 2019. Comic book conventions stopped being about comic books a long time ago. In fact, the comic book subculture stopped being about comics a long time ago. Today, it’s more “geek culture” and it includes comics, sci-fi, fantasy, role-playing games, and many other things. But somehow, there are many pop…

Call for Comments: Kickstarter and Popular Culture

Hannah: Kickstarter, the crowdfunding site whose “mission is to help bring creative projects to life,” turned ten in April. You may know Kickstarter for enabling the Veronica Mars movie to happen. Or you may know it if you’ve played games one of the many Jane Austen games it helped launch (Marrying Mr. Darcy, Polite Society,…

e70. Does Pop Culture Matter?

Live from Wizard World Pittsburgh! Shows like ours and… well, a lot of the rest of the internet are hopelessly devoted to popular culture: Comic books, movies, music, video games, sports, TV. All of the stuff that sophisticated people will tell you is rotting your brain and wasting your life. We like to think we’re…

Call for Comments: How do you read?

From Wayne: I’m a reader. I read a lot. I learned to read early from comics and children’s books and have never really stopped. Books have been my most constant companions and best friends. I grew up in a very rural place, with few opportunities. We never lived in poverty, but we also never really…

Call For Comments: Does Pop Culture Matter? (LIVE show at Wizard World Pittsburgh)

From Mav: Well, this is kind of exciting. We’ve been invited to do a live panel at Wizard World Pittsburgh this week. We’ll be joining together with our good friend Danny Anderson of the Sectarian Review to talk about why pop culture matters on Sunday, July 28th at 12:30 in room 315 at the Wizard…