Graphic Policy Radio

"To what extent can you throw a person away?" - Dr. Holly Schaeffer-Raymond on Darth Maul.  Maul – Shadow Lord, the latest Star Wars animated series on Disney+ is stunning. It hits topics like raising kids amidst fascism, cycles of abuse, and it's even got Weird Little Guys.  Resident Star Wars expert Holly Schaeffer-Raymond returns to the podcast. She's a writer and professor at Temple University...

" It's not so much that Mayor Fisk is like [Former NYC Mayor] Eric Adams, it's that Eric Adams is a comic book character," -- John Leavitt is a writer and cartoonist who works with the DSA Upper-Manhattan Bronx chapter and a published Marvel author with Strange Tales Volume One.  I've been involved in New York politics for over 20 years and I'm a lifelong Daredevil reader so I was thrilled to geek...

Marvel Disney's recent TV series is about a struggling actor and I have the perfect guest to discuss it with me: filmmaker, life-long Los Angelino, and Marvel comics fan Brandon Wilson. Wonder Man is delightful and we've got a lot say about the show's portrayals of LA, Simon Williams's existence as a Black Haitian-American actor, the prison industrial complex, queer readings and more. You don't ne...

The Real fantasy of Peacemaker is getting your friends to agree to listen to your favorite bands---and them like them. Journalist Arturo Garcia joins me for season 2 of James Gunn's HBO series Peacemaker staring John Cena. The first 15 minutes of this episode are spoiler free. In this episode: How Peacemaker fits in to Cena's Body of Work More than you wanted to know about the band Nelson (and MTV...

The need for solidarity with Palestinians and Jewish Americans reconning with the historical myths we've been fed–– James Gunn's new Superman movie really went there and did it superbly. Who better to process it with than Rafael Shimoff and Shoshana Brown, the hosts of Beyond the  Pale, radio's home for NY's Jewish left! But first an update from Project Fulcrum, Get Free's Star Wars fan organizing...

Murderbot is a queer space opera with a sense of humor and a bone to pick with corporate power. You can stream it on Apple TV Join myself and Sarah Daniel Rasher, who co-hosts our  Deep Space Nine podcast , for a look at the new TV series based on a series of novelas by Martha Wells. The first 13 minutes of our show are fully spoiler-free. Audiobook of All Systems Red on Everand: https://www.evera...

Daredevil returns to tangle with Mayor Fisk, a villain with shocking parallels to Andrew Cuomo: the real life disgraced former Governor of NY who is now running to be Mayor of NYC! Our real election ends June 24 and New Yorkers need a better outcome than the election in the Disney+ TV Series.  I'm joined by Janos Martin , a former candidate for Manhattan District Attorney and an expert on criminal...

"No one can do this alone" Cassian Andor Season 2 That's why we've got Project Fulcrum, where Star Wars fans are uniting with movement organizers to connect the stories on screen with the real history and theory of antifascist movements.  In this episode we cover the second half of Andor season 2, with returning guests Anthony Vidal Torres from Project Fulcrum at Get Free, and Charles Lencher of O...

"The Empire cannot win. You'll never feel right unless you are doing what you can to stop them." Andor season 2. Bridging the gap between Star Wars' Andor and the real life history and theory of antifascist movements, organizer Anthony Vidal Torres from the Get Free movement and critic Klaudia Amenábar join me to cover the first two arcs of Andor season 2.  Join Project Fulcrum : a Star Wars fan a...

"Do you think this Eric Frankenstein is into crypto?" "This Frankenstein probably invented crypto" "Frank-coin?" National security journalist Nicholas Slayton joins me to talk about James Gunn's DC animated series for HBO, Creature Commandoes. We've got gothic horror, geopolitics and an impressive soundtrack. This episode opens with a spoiler-free conversation on whether the show is worth your tim...

A Team-Up with Referential Podcast 's Dr. Khaliden Nas to talk through our feelings about the state of X-Men comics. The first half, taped in September covers the Fall of X and the end of the X-Men's 'First Krakoan Age'. In December we met again to talk about the state of the X-Office and relaunched slate of X-Men comics under the 'From The Ashes' banner.  Follow me on Bluesky - @Levin In This Epi...

Is Tony Stark a comrade? Spencer Ackerman, award winning national security journalist and author of the book "Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump", brings his knowledge of geopolitics, corporate power, and deep Iron Man lore to writing the new Iron Man series.    This podcast is for folks new to the character as well as long time fans. We open with an overview...

"I love that Star Trek continues to change and adapt. And that includes an animated comedy show," John Arminio.  Film critic and lifelong Trekkie John Arminio joins me to say farewell to Lower Decks, the animated Star Trek series we've grown to love.   We open with a spoiler-free conversation about how this show won us over. You'll have plenty of warning before we enter a full spoilers, in depth c...

"Batman spends more time fighting the cops than helping them" - Leslie Lee III "The most corrupt Gotham Police Department of any Batman media" -- Me...and I am here for that!  Animated Batman is some of the best Batman. Does this new series from legends like Paul Dini, Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka deliver? Leslie Lee III of the leftist culture podcast Sruggle Session returns to talk about Batman Caped...

"less about, China versus America..what he really believes is the power of community".  Award winning co-creator of The Good Asian, sak Pichetshote returns to talk about his visonary new project for Image Comics: a series of five one-shot comic books titled The Horizon Experiment. Each has a unique creative team inventing an original protagonist from a marginalized background set in genres such as...

"The philosophy that leads to AI is the same philosophy as 19th Century imperialism and colonialism," Kieron Gillen. Writer Kieron Gillen returns to reflect on the end of his time contributing to the X-Men's First Krakoan Age and the start of The Power Fantasy, his new series with Caspar Wijngaard for Image Comics.  Subscribe to Kieron's delightful newsletter (especially if you're into TTRPGs) htt...

"Alex Ross' work is really like outstanding community theater" - Steve Darnall and Alex Ross join me to talk about the rerelease of their groundbreaking policital graphic novel, Uncle Sam as well as Alex's Fantastic Four: Full Circle.  "Timed for this year's election, UNCLE SAM by Steve Darnall and Alex Ross makes its return after nearly a decade of being out of print. It's a vibrant, hallucinator...

"I really want to protect my ability to keep making my gay little comics. That's the important thing to me."- Cartoonist Hazel Newlevant makes art that shows us how to protect our future and understand our past. Whether its their new anthology Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans or their free zine, What's Up With Covid and How to Protect Yourself 2024 Edition (featuring advanc...

"Mr. Sinister is obsessed with genetic purity and then this disaster bi bowling league shows up and stomps his ass," - Artist and Art Director Ethan Gould joins us to talk about the finale arc of Disney's X-Men '97 animated series. Episodes: Bright Eyes - Tolerance Is Extinction.  We go deep on Bastian and Operation Zero Tolerance in the animated series and comics. The original 1992 animated serie...

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 hexagonEvery day the Shi'ar are Thinking About The Roman Empire What makes a good InfernoSuggestions for the X-Men's PR...

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 stylesBiology is n...

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."...

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...

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://workerorganizing.org/  Maester Steven's Legendary Tumblr: Race for the Iron Throne https://racefortheironthrone.tumblr.com/  https:/...

"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 sign...