Category Archives: Graphic Policy Radio

X-Men ’97 Episodes 3-6: Non-passing Mutants ACT Up

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Covering the X-Men ’97 TV series, episodes 3-6: Fire Made Flesh, Motendo, Lifedeath and Remember It with my Deep Space Dive co-host, education research consultant and former Shakespeare professor Sarah Daniel Rasher.

We’ve got:

  • 90’s politics explained 
  • The love rhombus is really a hexagon
  • Every day the Shi’ar are Thinking About The Roman Empire 
  • What makes a good Inferno
  • Suggestions for the X-Men’s PR strategy
  • Nobinary people having Morph feelings
  • References you might have missed

Don’t miss my conversation with the late Steven Attewell about the series first two episodes.

Star Wars the Bad Batch 3 & Tales of the Empire: Get animated with Holly Raymond

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Space dads, space witches, and redemption arcs abound in the final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch and in the Tales of the Empire animated miniseries. 

Holly Raymond Phd, the poetess, professor, and reader of All The Star Wars Ever has returned to share her insights on these animated Star Wars shows on Disney +

We cover a lot of ground in this spoiler-filled episode:

  • Animation styles
  • Biology is not destiny is also true about midi-chlorian counts
  • Being choosy about trans narratives
  • Depicting war in a family-friendly show
  • Ambiguously ethnic Jedi cultural practices
  • Project Necromancer, Sniper Clone X2 and the rest of the show’s conspiracies
  • “the intrinsic lesbian desire to have Asajj Ventress in every show.” 

If you missed it, Holly and I covered Bad Batch Seasons 1 and 2 here.

The Venture Bros. Remastered: Season 6 Episodes 5 & 6: Of Tanks & Warhol

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This is an audio remastered version of an episode of The Venture Bros podcast originally recorded in 2016. One way we’re memorializing my late friend and co-host Steven Attewell is by improving the audio quality of the earliest episodes of our podcast.

Here’s a favorite episode with new improved sound.

* * * * * *

Season 6 of the Venture Brothers: “Tanks for Nothing” and “It Happening One Night.”

Your hosts, Elana Levin and Steven Attewell, Phd. explore The Venture Bros show as a historian and an art history geek. We break-down the themes and references present from cinema, histotry and pop culture. While Steven is a Professor of US history. Elana has a BA in Studied Warhol A Lot (which came in handy for episode 6).

Expect more then 15 minutes of famous references. 

* * * * 
Learn more about Steven Attewell: https://graphicpolicy.com/2024/04/11/steven-attewell-the-maester-of-fandom/

The Venture Bros Podcast archives https://graphicpolicy.com/the-venture-bros-podcast/ 

Steven’s blog: https://racefortheironthrone.wordpress.com/ 

It’s Dick Tracy! With Writer Alex Segura

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Award winning mystery writer Alex Segura is co-launching hardboiled 1930’s detective Dick Tracy’s latest incarnation. We discuss Chester Gould’s iconic comic detective from Dick Tracy’s roots in the funny pages, the character’s surprising sci-fi twists to Segura’s new comic book series. We even touch on Warren Beatty’s underrated 1990 movie adaptation that featured Steven Sondheim musical numbers and Madonna! 

How is Dick Tracy like Riverdale? What are our dreams of a James Ellroy-verse? Whether you’re a Dick Tracy newbie, noir nerd or mostly know Segura from his popular runs on Poe Dameron, Spiderverse tales or his newest X-Men comics, don’t miss out! 

The new Dick Tracy comic book series is co-written by Michael Moreci with art by Chantal Aimee Osman and Geraldo Borges, colors by Mark Englehart, lettering by Jim Campbell and published by Madcave Studios.

Keep tabs on https://www.alexsegura.com/

A Memorial for Steven Attewell Phd, The Maester of Fandom

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One of my greatest friends and frequent collaborator Steven Attewell has died. Here are some thoughts about his work and his history that I wanted to share with the fan community. 

You can make donations in his honor to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Fund
https://wokerorganizing.org/  

Maester Steven’s Legendary Tumblr: Race for the Iron Throne
https://racefortheironthrone.tumblr.com/ 
https://racefortheironthrone.wordpress.com

A People’s History of the Marvel Universe
https://graphicpolicy.com/category/history/peoples-history-of-the-marvel-universe/

You can read the obit I wrote here
https://graphicpolicy.com/2024/04/11/steven-attewell-the-maester-of-fandom/

The Venture Bros Podcast
https://graphicpolicy.com/the-venture-bros-podcast/ 

His Game of Thrones Vblogs with Scott Erik Kaufman (which are also available as podcasts under Lawyers Guns and Money Podcast) 

X-Men ’97 Premiere! Getting Animated with Steven Attewell Phd.

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“Do not make me let you down” – Magneto 

From Henry Gyrich and the Great Replacement Theory to anti-mutant medical discrimination here’s our conversation about the debut of the new X-Men ’97 animated TV series. 

Steven Attewell brings a historian’s perspective to X-Men ’97 — the exciting revival of the animated X-Men show of our youth. We do a deep dive into the show’s impressive politics and significant design choices. Learn about real world political parallels both past and VERY present, developments in evolutionary science, queer themes and crop tops. This episode opens with 9 minutes of spoiler free discussion till and then a spoiler-filled look at episodes 1 and 2.

Read Steven’s blog and his A People’s History of the Marvel Universe  and our classic roundtable in which civil rights history experts prove that no, Professor X is not MLK Jr. MLK Jr was far more radical and visionary. 

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.

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

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