Author Archives: Elana Levin

Our Flag Means Death Season 2: Queer Pirates Return

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Who lives to tell the tale of our favorite queer pirate romance/comedy? OFMD returned for a second (and final?) season on HBO Max. Linda Codega, journalist (and sailor!)  joins me to discuss:

  • What’s up with Blackbeard tourism IRL?
  • Is Buttons a sea druid?
  • Can we make Calypso’s Birthday the new queer Halloween?
  • The pirate polycule? 
  • Why we really need season 3!

Linda H. Codega is an award-winning entertainment journalist who has written about science fiction and fantasy media for over five years. They were previously a staff writer for io9 where they covered film, television, books, and analog games. Much of their work covers a mix of tabletop roleplaying games, pop culture, fandom, and queer intersections. 

Subscribe to their newsletter: https://clickbaiter.substack.com/ 

Listen to my pirate history deep dive for season 1, including a spoiler-free intro to the series.  https://bit.ly/OFMDpod 

Linda’s coverage of the season 2 finale

My article, Our Flag Means Death Takes Queering History to New Depths

Fan activism https://ofmd-crew.com/ 

Graphic Policy Radio: X-Men and the MLK Legacy Roundtable

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One of our most listened to episodes of Graphic Policy Radio discussed the X-Men and their use as an allegory of the civil rights, it covered the series throughout its many incarnations and writers. The discussion also veered into the depiction of minorities in “comic” entertainment and Marvel’s continuity. In honor of MLK Day, we present that podcast discussion.

Guests joining in on the conversation were:

  • Steve Attewell – A political & union activist, Steve holds a PhD in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the founder and writer of Race for the Iron Throne as well as The Realignment Project
  • David Brothers – David works for a comics publisher, blogs about stuff at 4thletter.net, & tweets about everything at @hermanos. Find his life story at iamdavidbrothers.com.
  • Gene Demby – Gene Demby is an American writer and journalist & the lead blogger for NPR’s Code Switch team.
  • Emma Houxbois – Emma is a queer blogger for hire out of Vancouver, BC most recently attached to Girls Read Comics. Follow her @emmahouxbois
  • Kendra James – a blogger who writes on race, comics, television & more for Racialicious, follow her @wriglied

You can listen to the archive above or go here and download it for on the go.

Spencer Ackerman: Amanda Waller’s Kissinger-Sized Victory in Waller Vs Wildstorm

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“Power doesn’t shatter on impact with journalism,” – Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Spencer Ackerman.

Ackerman returns to talk about the thrilling conclusion of his DC comics debut, Waller Vs. Wildstorm, the role of journalism in social movements, blogging antiwar protests, why Tim Drake is the best Robin, and share some of his favorite Wildstorm comics. 

For a spoiler-free introduction to the Waller Vs. Wildstorm miniseries, listen to our conversation back in March. Waller Vs. Wildstorm is Spencer’s DC Comics Black Label mini series with co-writer Evan Narcisse, artist Jesús Merino, and color artist Michael Atiyeh. It’s jawdroppingly good, even if you don’t know Wildstorm. It’s full of politics, espionage and Deathstroke on a jetski. This is an extremely Graphic Policy Radio series…

Keep up with Spencers Journalism at https://foreverwars.ghost.io/ 

Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award winning national security reporter and a new columnist for The Nation. His book, REIGN OF TERROR: HOW THE 9/11 ERA DESTABILIZED AMERICA AND PRODUCED TRUMP, won an American Book Award and was rated a 2021 book of the year by the Washington Post, the New York Times and the PBS NewsHour.

The Chromatic Fantasy: Trans Love, The Devils, and Mel Brooks with comics artist H.A.

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“like a medieval manuscript full of demon sex…’ but also written by an anime Mel Brooks.” – H.A‘s stunning graphic novel is all this and more. H.A joins me to talk about his debut graphic novel, The Chromatic Fantasy available from Silver Sprocket Press. 

About the book:

Jules is a trans man trapped in his life as a nun. The devil that the convent guards against offers him a deal to escape: an illicit tryst and lifelong possession. Jules takes the deal, and begins his new life as a criminal who’s impervious to harm. He soon meets Casper, another trans man and a poetic thief, and together they steal, lie, and cheat their way through bewildering adventures, and develop feelings for each other along the way. But as Jules and Casper’s relationship deepens, so does the devil’s jealous grasp…

A gorgeously drawn graphic novel reminiscent of stained glass and illuminated manuscripts, telling a story of queer transmasc romance, daring adventure, and (literally) fighting your demons. 

Keep up with HA https://retrospring.net/@dirtcup_art  
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Erica Henderson and Alex de Campi on Parasocial, their new graphic novel

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A fading genre actor and an obsessed fan meet. It’s not Misery at all, it’s Parasocial, the latest graphic novel from the twisted minds of Erica Henderson and Alex de Campi! Parasocial is this creative team’s newest collaboration since their critically acclaimed Dracula, Motherf–r! both published by Image Comics. 

We talk about:

  • What makes a horror story deeply scary 
  • Who is Luke Indiana and the power of pseudonyms
  • The economics of fandom and genre celebrity
  • 95% of fandom is a wonderful transformative force, it’s the other 5%….
  • The power and perils of fandom and social media
  • “A color scheme for the lies they tell themselves and a color scheme for the lies they tell other people”
  • Dracula
  • Making fan art of your art
  • And the Medici family’s sexy bible fan art

Erica Henderson is a NY Times best selling and Eisner award winning artist and writer. You’ve read Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Her latest is Danger and Other Unknown Risks. Buy her merch https://ericafails.threadless.com/ 

Alex de Campi is a writer of best selling horror/thrillers. Eisner-nominated for Bad Girls and Twisted Romance. She’s a returning guest on my show– listen to her talk about Dracula MF- https://bit.ly/alexdcVV

X-Men: The Fall of X with Spencer Ackerman and Kaetun Khlynne

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Krakoa will never not exist. Will never not be an aspiration and an option. — Spencer Ackerman

And do I have some news for Sebastian Shaw about civil forfeiture. — Kaetun Khlynne

A journalist and a physicist join me to talk about The Fall of X, the 2023 summer X-Men comics event about the fall of Krakoa, the mutant homeland. The first part of the episode is spoiler free. We are very clear when we go on to spoilers. We discuss series including: The Hellfire Gala, Immortal X-Men, X-Men, X-Men Red, Uncanny Avengers, Dark X-Men, Alpha Flight, Realm of X, and Jean Grey: Flames of Fear.

Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award winning national security reporter and a new columnist for The Nation. His book, REIGN OF TERROR: HOW THE 9/11 ERA DESTABILIZED AMERICA AND PRODUCED TRUMP, won an American Book Award and was rated a 2021 book of the year by the Washington Post, the New York Times and the PBS NewsHour. Along with Evan Narcisse, he’s the co-writer of the new DC/Black Label miniseries WALLER VS WILDSTORM with artist Jesús Merino and color artist Michael Atiyeh. Spencer was on my show to talk about his comic.  

Fan & Physicist out of Austrlia, Kaetun Khlynne was on Cerebro Podcast to talk about Gateway and Manifold, two of the Indigenous Australian X-Men. Kaetun leads an eyeopening explanation Aboriginal culture and resistance to genocide in Australia and Rwanda. Listen

My Marauders focused episode 3 years ago.

All Tomorrow’s Parties: A Velvet Underground Graphic Novel by Koren Shadmi

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The Velvet Underground didn’t sell many records at first but everyone who bought one went out and started a band*– and now YOU can read a graphic novel about the Velvets!

I interview cartoonist Koren Shadmi about his new graphic novel, All Tomorrow’s Parties: The Velvet Underground Story. His book is about the formation and dissolution of one of our favorite bands, and one of the most important rock bands of all time.

Eisner-nominated Koren Shadmi joins me to talk about The Velvet Underground’s importance, why we love them and his process in making this new work of music history in comics form.

Koren Shadmi is an American-Israeli, Award-winning illustrator and cartoonist. He studied illustration at The School of Visual Arts in New York where he now teaches. His books have been published internationally and include The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television, and most recently Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula. All Tomorrow’s Parties is published by Humanoids https://www.humanoids.com/y_catalog/book/id/1359

*I am paraphrasing the great Brian Eno on this.

https://www.korenshadmi.com/

The Venture Bros. Show Series Finale: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart

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Pop culture and history experts Elana Levin and Historian Steven Attewell host a close watch of the Venture Bros series finale, “Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.” We’ll guide you through its numerous references and themes–  from NYC geography to 60’s B movies to 80s New Wave music… so much 80s synthpop…. in this series finale! 

This is the 20th anniversary of the Venture Bros show and our seventh year doing a Venture Bros podcast. Listen to past coverage here https://bit.ly/VbrosPod or on this playlist https://bit.ly/vbroscast 

The striking entertainment unions gave us the all-clear to do this podcast. Here are some ways to support the Writers and Actors on strike that we shared on the show. 

Donate: https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

DSA Snacklist for picketlines https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/the-snacklist-support-striking-workers 

Show support at a picketline near you:
https://www.wgacontract2023.org/
https://www.sagaftrastrike.org/

Reading bonus: ROB BASE & DJ E-Z ROCK, “IT TAKES TWO” essay http://marchxness.com/fadness80s-championship/ 

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with a comics writer & movement organizers

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“many singular people who feel alone, but together are at least feeling alone together” – Felicia T. Perez, Narrative Strategist and Zoe Tunnell, the co-creator of the comic Blade Maidens and official explainer of trans metaphor Gwen Stacy  join me to discuss the latest animated Spider-Man movie, featuring Miles Morales, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 

Covering:

Diverse spidersonas, migrant roots, ‘have you considered not being a cop?’, and why Spider Punk doesn’t listen to the Sex Pistols. 

Plus: PAY YOUR DAMN ARTISTS.

Check out Felicia T. Perez narrative strategy, arts and activism projects at https://www.feliciaperez.com/ 

Zoe Tunnell is a trans lesbian writer and co-creator of Blade Maidens a queer fantasy adventure comic that’s online for free but is being published in print with Dark Horse. And she has other new comics projects!

Read https://www.blademaidens.com and read the CNN interview with Zoe https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/11/entertainment/spider-verse-gwen-stacy-trans-cec/index.html 

Support the Entertainment Strikes! 

Support the Writers Strike! https://www.wgacontract2023.org/take-action/stand-with-writers

SAG-AFTRA Strike updates https://www.sagaftrastrike.org/ 

Donate to support workers impacted by the strikes https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

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