Category Archives: Graphic Policy Radio

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/

The Cartoonist Cooperative: Cartoonists of the World, Unite!

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#ComicsBrokeMe but organizing is the answer! The comics industry harms the artists, writers and editors who make the art we love. Building collective power is the strategy powerful enough to win. The Cartoonist Cooperative is a new vehicle for doing just that! I’m joined by one of this new organization’s founding members, Joan Zahra Dark, to talk about the organization’s goals and how readers can support it. We also talk about some cool very queer comics with gay robots and what not. 

Learn more about the Cartoonist Cooperative  https://cartoonist.coop/

Read about Ian McGinty, may his memory be a blessing and a revolution. https://www.comicsbeat.com/artist-ian-mcginty-has-passed-away-at-age-38/

Keep up with Joan online here– https://www.instagram.com/whoaitsjoan

Justice Warriors with cartoonists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson

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Possibly the most political comic on the stands, Justice Warriors is a brutal, hilarious and ornately drawn new satirical comic about policing, power and AI in the dystopian Bubble City. Join series co-creators Ben Clarkson and Matt Bors as we talk about their first trade paperback published by Ahoy Comics.

Matt Bors is a cartoonist, writer, editor, and the founder of The Nib. He was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his political cartoons in 2012 and 2020  His cartoons were collected in the book We Should Improve Society Somewhat. 

Ben Clarkson is an artist, animator, filmmaker and writer based in Montreal. His work has appeared on Adult Swim, Time.com and been featured in GQ. Justice Warriors is his first comic series. 

I want to credit Justice Warriors colorist Felipe Sobriero for his work too.

Petition on algorithmic justice I mentioned.

Star Wars The Bad Batch: An Animated Dirty Dozen of Space Dads

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Star Wars newest animated series is both fascinating and frustrating. Dig into the Bad Batch’s big questions with guest Dr. Holly Schaeffer-Raymond.

The Bad Batch reflects on the rise of fascism, biology as destiny and social programing. This episode’s first 20 minutes are spoiler-free to help you decide if you want to watch. 

Then join us for:

  • What the show has to say about about workers’ rights.
  • Is Rhea Pearlman’s Cid a Yoda? 
  • Why Omega is a good kid character.
  • Can 3D animation be good, actually?

Dr. Holly Schaeffer-Raymond is an adjunct professor of English who holds an MFA in Poetry and a PhD in English at Temple University, where she also teaches. She’s the author of two poetry collections, Mall is Lost and Heaven’s Wish to Destroy All Minds, and has been included in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics and The Bedfellows Little Black Book. Her writing about comics has appeared on Shelfdust, and her writing about poetry has appeared at The Poetry Project, The Volta, and elsewhere.

Visit https://unwhitewashthebadbatch.carrd.co/ for perspective on white washing in the series and actions to take.

Cartoon of “Sheev” is by Holly herself.

Waller vs. Wildstorm: Spencer Ackerman’s DC Comics Debut

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“How the carceral state seeks to manipulate and dispose of its rogues, its dregs, its captives and put them to deniable use by intelligence agencies… It would be malpractice of me, for what I cover, if I wasn’t interested in that!” – Spencer Ackerman, co-writer of Waller vs Wildstorm for DC Comics and award winning national security journalist.

Spencer Ackerman discusses his debut comic, a Year One look at the career of future Suicide Squad boss Amanda Waller. His miniseries, with co-writer Evan Narcisse, artist Jesús Merino, and color artist Michael Atiyeh weaves together Wildstorm and DC Comics espionage lore through the lens of Cold War geopolitics–as only they can.

First 43 minutes of this episode are spoiler free. 

Be sure to subscribe to Spencer Ackerman’s newsletter https://foreverwars.ghost.io/ where he shares thoughts about this series as well as reporting and essays that “chronicle, investigate and interrogate the continuities, departures and permutations of the War on Terror.”

That gorgeous cover in the preview is by Jorge Fornes.

1/6 : A What If? comic about The Insurrection

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What if the attack on the US Capitol succeeded?
1/6 is a 4 part comics series written by Alan Jenkins and Gan Golan and illustrated by Will Rosado. Prof. Jenkins and Golan joined me on the podcast to talk about their comic which combines comics journalism, speculative fiction and activism. 

Drawing on real-life events, 1/6 travels the road that led from back-room meetings, white supremacist rallies, and the Four Seasons Landscaping parking lot to a violent attack on the Capitol that left several Americans dead and shook our nation to its core. It imagines a world in which the events of that day turned out very differently. Through a diverse cast of characters 1/6 builds towards a story of how we might organize and fight for democracy.

Buy the comic AND check out their forthcoming action guide – http://onesixcomics.com/ 

Creator Jadzia Axelrod on Galaxy The Prettiest Star for DC Comics

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“Being normal was never going to save me,” says Galaxy the trans space princess protagonist of GLAAD Award Nominated graphic novel Galaxy: The Prettiest Star. “That’s my ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ moment. That’s [Galaxy’s] superhero moment,” says co-creator, writer Jadzia Axelrod.

Jadzia is the author of Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, a new YA graphic novel illustrated by Jess Taylor and published by DC Comics. Jadzia joins us to talk about creating this new trans (and not just metaphorically trans) superheroine, her creative process, some DC Comics queer history, why David Bowie works in a contemporary graphic novel and Hawkgirl’s favorite football team.

“Taylor Barzelay has the perfect life. Good looks, good grades, a starting position on the basketball team, a loving family, even an adorable corgi. Every day in Taylor’s life is perfect. And every day is torture.

Taylor is actually the Galaxy Crowned, an alien princess from the planet Cyandii, and one of the few survivors of an intergalactic war. For six long, painful years, Taylor has accepted her duty to remain in hiding as a boy on Earth.

That all changes when Taylor meets Metropolis girl Katherine “call me Kat” Silverberg, whose confidence is electrifying. Suddenly, Taylor no longer wants to hide, even if exposing her true identity could attract her greatest enemies. From the charming and brilliant mind behind the popular podcast The Voice of Free Planet X, Jadzia Axelrod, and with stunningly colorful artwork by Jess Taylor comes the story of a girl in hiding who must face her fears to see herself as others see her: the prettiest star.”

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