Category Archives: Graphic Policy Radio

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/

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.

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