Graphic Policy Radio

NY's 1st Socialist State Senator in 100 years, get's the graphic novel treatment in Sofia Warren's new graphic memoir -- Radical: My Year With a Socialist Senator.  New York, Socialism, community organizng and COMICS are near the top of my list of interests so I'm excited to have cartoonist Sofia Warren on the show to talk about her book. Reading this graphic memoir might make you feel a little mo...

DC Comics Pride Month anthology features an all ace creative team telling a story of now canonically ace Green Arrow, Connor Hawke! Artists/Writers Ro Stein and Ted Brandt join me to discuss their work. Also, for Marvel Voices Pride they’ve co-created Shela Sexton (Escapade) and Morgan Red, Marvel's newest trans woman and transmasc nb mutants respectively. We'll hear about Ted and Ro's background...

Neal Adams was a giant: from his art to his fight for artists' rights we'll talk about his legacy and work. This roundtable is for Neal Adams newbies and experts alike. You'll even hear some new personal stories about Adams' unique status as The Dad of Comics. Joining me are: Bryan Stratton is a writer, digital consultant, and co-host of the Marvel by the Month podcast, which covers each month of...

"A diagnosis should set somebody free. It should be a descriptor, not a definition" - Emmett Hobbes. Royale: The Prussian Blue is a Lupin III-meets-Pan’s Labyrinth caper. A renowned white-hat burglar stumbles into London’s supernatural underbelly to win his target back from an untouchable (and mysterious) art collector. It's a very queer and extremely well crafted heist comic that truly stands out...

Deep Space Nine's handling of religion is unique in Star Trek. While other Trek treats faith with skepticism and suspicion, DS9 depicts a variety of religious characters who explore faith in their own ways.  Our guest: Anthony Oliveira is a National Magazine award and GLAAD award-winning author (his comics "My Drag Brunch with Loki" and “X:Men Early Thaw” are queer Marvels). His graphic novel, Apo...

"[Blackbeard] is presenting as a queer character, not just within our time, but within his own time" - Tea Fougner. "It's historical fiction about pirates if the executive producers were all tumbler users" - Cayden Mak. Pirate Tea and First Mate Cayden Mak have boarded the show to talk about Taika Waititi and David Jenkins' glorious new show on HBO, Our Flag Means Death. It's a queer pirate romcom...

Embrace the Neo-Claremontism and "warped Mutant Catholicism" as writer Kieron Gillen returns to X-Men comics as the writer of Immortal X-Men with artists Lucas Werneck & David Curiel. He's revisiting Mr. Sinister and Hope Summers, two characters he's left an indellible mark on, who have new prominance in the Krakoan Era of X-Men. There's politics, backstabbing and of course music.  Here's his...

Comics critic Harry Kassen guides a jounrney through the many phases of Moon Knight's Marvel comics series from 1975 through today -- just in time for his big Disney + TV debut. Moon Knight isn't just a source of absurdist memes -- he reflects changes in the comics medium. We'll look at some of the best runs of Moon Knight with an especially close look at comics art legend Bill Sienkiewicz who's s...

Anthony Award-winning writer Alex Segura talks about his new book Secret Identity, a rollicking literary mystery set in the world of comics. The book combines comics and prose for a vivid1975 NYC featuring new protagist, writer Carmen Valdez. We discuss our shared love of the noir genre and his time writing Archie meeting The Ramones and Blondie and other delights.  Check out the book https://us.m...

James Gunn's HBO series Peacemaker picks up where The Suicide Squad left off. It features D-List DC superheroes, 80s glam metal, beating up the KKK, maintaining The Security State and having a gender crisis. My guests: Jamelle Bouie is a columnist for the New York Times Opinion section. unCLEAR and Present Danger podcast. Spencer Ackerman is a journalist and author of REIGN OF TERROR: How The 9/11...

Down & Out on M'arzz and Atlantis to cover Young Justice Season 4, episodes 1-13 which aired on HBO. "A PowerPoint being given in pocket dimension" - Hub "That was the moment I added [Onyx] to my Mood Board." - Dr. Khaliden Nas Guests: Dr. Khaliden Nas is a writer & researcher with a PhD in Media and Culture Studies from the University of Sussex. His work explores the realities of queer su...

"I wanted to defend the reputation of Silver Age X-Men."  - Steven Attewell, Phd. Our favoriate historian is back to talk about his essay series, The People's History of The Marvel Universe -- where he looks at how real world politics and history are refelcted in classic comics. Read it: https://graphicpolicy.com/category/history/peoples-history-of-the-marvel-universe/?order=asc Our conversation c...

12 years of podcasting & I finally did an episode about Art Spiegelman's Maus. Guests Ethan Heitner is a cartoonist who lives in New York City. among other things. Most recently he helped edit the 51st issue of the radical political comix anthology World War 3 Illustrated, available now from AK Press and subtitled "The World We Are Fighting For." Leo Ferguson is the Director of Strategic Proje...

"Hola" from Wonder Woman's corner of comics where I interview Stephanie Williams, co-writer of Nubia and the Amazons. Yes, Wonder Woman had a Black twin sister at one point in DC comics canon and now she's the star of her own series. Updated from her 1973 origins "Nubia becomes queen of Themyscira, but the new title also brings challenges. With the unexpected arrival of new Amazons, our hero is fo...

Hawk-guy John Arminio guests host our discussion of the iconic Hawkeye comics series created by Matt Fraction and David Aja AND the new Hawkeye TV series on Disney+. With Arminio are guests Scott Thorough and Kat Overland. They also get into how to create a comic that has a real sense of place, what New York smells like, Clint Barton's terrible personal life, and Kate Bishop's LA vacation with......

Attention Bajoran Workers: This is Now a Gul Dukat Podcast. Gul Dukat is more than a scenery-chewing space lizard war criminal who looks like Mitt Romney - he’s Star Trek's most complex villian. Talking about Dukat means talking about colonialism, fragile masculinity, and the interplay between mental health and morality. And Deep Space Dive is a Star Trek Deep Space Nine podcast all about topics l...

“I hate to spoil a good evil overlord narrative but… “ - Brandon Wilson. Because our take on Marvel's The Eternals isn't a refernedum on diverisity in corporate movies (dear lord can you imagine if it freaking was?! ) Joiin us for a nuanced analysis of the movie.  Filmmaker Brandon David Wilson returns to talk about The Eternals from his perspective as a filmmaker, lecturer and lifelong Marvel com...

“I’m thrilled that the book got you laid” - Tina Horn author of SFSX (Safe Sex). Tina Horn returns to talk about her sci-fi sex rebel comic book series. Writer TINA HORN and artist G Romero-Johnson's SFSX (SAFE SEX) Terms of Service is a cyberpunk thriller graphic novel. "After their previous adventures in sex, love, and torture left them separated and traumatized, the Dirty Mind heroes must face...

Comic book retailers give advice on buying the right gift -- from games to toys to books-- for your friends and family while supoorting local comics businesses. Hear their tips on the things that are far better to buy at a LCBS than anywhere else. "A great gift is a gift that a person won’t by for themselves. No one would buy a 100-sided die for themselves but they wouldn’t mind owning one "-  Dim...

Doom Patrol Season 3 asks some big questions about the purpose art and the purpose of a time machine. Lux Alptraum is a writer and podcast host whose smart commentary has been featured in a wide variety of outlets including The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and Hustler. She’s tackled the thorny topics of leaked celebrity sex tapes and public apologies as the host of the second second season New Yo...

“When [Jack Kirby] came back to Marvel he was making Kirby comics, he was not making Marvel comics. And we’re the richer for it” -Rand Hoppe, Jack Kirby Museum Jack Kirby’s 1977 comics series is a witty psychedelic saga about the Day of Judgement. Join Eternals experts for a look at Kirby's underrated series historical context. Plus hear which other Eternals series we enjoy (and which you can skip...

"Engaging with my demonic sea-monster tendencies has made me a lot healthier just as a dude" - Jude Doyle. I'm joined by award-winning journalist, opinon writer, comics fan--now horror comic author Jude Ellison S. Doyle to talk about his new series Maw.  A provocative five-issue horror series by Doyle (Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power) and artist...

"We’re ALL ambassadors." -  RafaelShimunov. Artist and organizer Rafael Shimunov’s family ofBukharian Jewishrefugees from Uzbekistan learned English by watching Star Trek. Raf’s read on Worf as a fellow Jew of color is eye opening. We talk all things Worf, but especially about his depiction as a Jewish person of color, directly within Star Trek’s coding of his background and metaphorically as an i...

DC comics new Jewish teen girl superhero and activist is fighting to save a VERY Lower East Side Gotham neighborhood from gentrification. Of course I had to have the co-creator of this new character, Whistle, on my podcast-- New York Times Best Selling author E. Lockhart!  Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero, is a young adult graphic novel from DC written by New York Times best-selling author E. Lockh...

If Corto Maltese is Cuba is Starro is the Embargo? Or is it Nicaragua and Project Starfish is the CIA drug smuggling? Join journalists / DC comics nerds Spencer Ackerman (Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump) and Arturo Garcia (TruthOrFiction) as we talk about James Gunn's new uber violent political satire movie based on some of my favorite comics. Buy Spencer'...