Graphic Policy Radio

Discussing the Game of Thrones S8 Premiere with uniquely qualified experts: Steven Attewell is the founder of Race for the Iron Throne, which covers A Song of Ice and Fire chapter-by-chapter from a historical and political angle. In addition to two published collections of the chapter-by-chapter essays, Steven is also the author of "Kings, Hands, and City-States," an collection of essays focusing...

In the 1940s this hero's comics outsold Superman and his movie debut sure is better than the recent Superman movies. We discuss the film, the comics that inspired it and, the City of Brotherly Love that it's set in. My guests are: Anthony Otero: a two time novelist and a contributor to The Puerto Rico Strong Anthology. He is also a member of the #BlackComicsChat podcast. Berry Grass has lived in r...

Writer Cecil Castelluccidiscusses how Jack Kirby's Fourth World Saga powers her new comics series The Female Furies. Female Furies depicts Big Barda's own feminist awakening on the hell planet Apocalypse--a world so much like our own. Cecil Castellucciis the award winning and New York Times Bestselling author of books and graphic novels for young adults including Shade, The Changing Girl, Boy Proo...

Without his left wing politics Green Arrow is just Batman! Our guests this episode certainly know, having just finished a three-issue run on Green Arrow to close out the series. That's right, our guests are comics most dynamic duo. The New Blue and Gold: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly. Jackson and Collin are screenwriters and New York Times Bestselling comic book creators, known for Joyride, Gotha...

Jay Edidin is half of the podcast Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men ("because it's about time someone did"). He writes comics, short fiction, and narrative nonfiction; and edits comics, transmedia, and genre fiction. Jay was named comicbook.com's 2017 Comics Person of the Year for his investigative coverage of harassment issues at D.C. Comics and his work to foster diversity and inclusion in comics...

Captain Marvel merits a conversation that can celebrate it's feminism and anti-Imperialist themes while criticizing its Air Force propaganda packaging. Queer subtext? 90s throwbacks? We've got you covered: Chelsea Manning is Captain Marvel! How we're shapeshifters (Elana's essay about feeling like a Skrull for Wired.com )Monica is the hero"Top Gun is why I almost enlisted, Don't Ask Don't Tell is...

DC's new high concept streaming TV series is based on the cult classic comics. The show is exclusively available on DC's streaming platform DC Universe. Is the show good? Is it worth subscribing to the platform? We discuss the service and the show's first two episodes in depth (first part is spoiler-free). We also geek out on the brilliant comics that inspired it all and when or how to read them....

"I wanted to be the Adam Hughes of Guys" - Artist Nick Robles discusses drawing wings and tails, the makings of a good pin-up and other professional advice. Nick Robles is a freelance artist from southern Louisiana.  Self-taught, he works with digital art as his main medium. He's been published by BOOM!, IDW, BLACK CROWN, VAULT, DARK HORSE and continues to grow that list with a love for art and cr...

Robot means laborer. O Human Star, is a webcomic about a trans robot, the humans who made her and the complex world of robotics and human development they all live in. I interviewed series creator Blue Delliquanti.  Blue is the creator of the Prism Award-winning webcomic O Human Star. Blue is also the co-creator of the graphic novel Meal (with Soleil Ho) and The 'Stan (with David Axe and Kevin Kno...

Brilliant queer television for all ages. Steven Universe is "The First Time I've Seen Someone Like Myself on Television"Queer family will heal societyWhite Diamond's White Hegemony Neoliberalism is brittle, a false fusionGuests try to convince Elana to watch a mecha anime?  Ethan Gould is a visual artist and project developer living in Brooklyn. He is a graduate of the Visual Narrative MFA program...

"I write professional fan fiction. We get paid to do it" Leah Williams is an American writer originally from Oxford, Mississippi. She writes comics for Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, and more. Her debut novel was a YA Fantasy book titled The Alchemy of Being Fourteen and she is currently writing its sequel, The Divinity of Hitting Fifteen. Leah has also written nonfiction articles...

Punisher Season 2 is coming so at the recommendation of our guest, I finally decided to cover Marvel Netflix The Punisher Season 1. Sean T. Collins is the co-editor of the comics and art anthology Mirror Mirror II and a critic for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Decider and many other publications. Can two leftists enjoy a TV show about a character beloved by the "alt-right"? Yes. Stay...

From comics for kids to adults-only graphic novels, from superheroes-- Marvel, DC, Valiant and Lion Forge-- to creator-owned Twisted Romance, from slice of life to horror, we read A LOT of comics in 2018. Here are some our favorites!  Bilal Shelby is a non-binary writer who focuses on queerness in historical and speculative fiction.   Alex K Cossa is a contributor to Graphic Policy, a lover of Val...

Alexis Sanchez is the creator and co-founder of Latinx Geeks, an online community for latinxs who love all things geeky and pop culture. She is a student by day and geek fangirl by night. Bill Scurry is a filmmaker and podcaster living New York, with his wife and cat. He's the co-host of the "I Don't Get It Podcast," a frequent contributor to "Wrong Reel" and he's the founder and proprietor of Ame...

Miles Morales' feature film debut is breaking boundaries and winning accolades. Join us for a conversation about: This most comic book of all comic book movies"It's like Obama's 8 years"The superpower of invisibility vs hypervisibilityMiles' charter school (waiting for Spider-Man not Waiting for Superman)Why did we wait so long for a brown Spider-Man?"Black Panther meets The Power-Puff Girls" Osva...

She-ra is Netflix new cartoon is a diverse, queer feminist re-envisioning of a cartoon from the 80s. It's by showrunner Noelle Stevenson of Nimoa comics fame and we LOVE it. Joining Elana to talk about it are: Mey Rude is a queer, fat, trans Latina, a writer, a tastemaker and a lover of nerds. She lives in LA and you can find her writing at Autostraddle, Remezcla, them.us and other places. On Twit...

DIE is a pitch-black fantasy published by Image Comics where a group of forty-something adults have to deal with the returning unearthly horror they barely survived as teenage role-players. If Kieron's in a rush, he describes it as "Goth Jumanji." That only captures a sliver of what you'll find in oversized debut issue—where fantasy gets all too real. I got two interview two of the biggest talents...

Daredevil was Born Again in Season 3 of the Netflix series. From brown-washing the FBI to NY pizza history, questionable journalism to plot significant Abstract Art and, Catholic Symbolism as far as your radar can sense. Who better to talk about it all than Pulitzer Award winner Spencer Ackerman, Senior National Security Correspondent for The Daily Beast (and lifelong New Yorker). Stay till the en...

The politics and place of Stan Lee, as told by two self admitted Jack Kirby Jacobins trying to find a balance in a tale of conflict and legends. Stan Lee and: Being Jewish The creative process Civil RightsThe Vietnam WarThe lawsuitsThe digressionsAnd screwing over Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko I'm joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman, a senior national security correspondent a...

We survived the election to bring you in-depth analysis of the Season 7 Finale. Join us for a look at the season's themes, Empire Strikes Back vs Barbarella (only one of them has Terence Stamp playing Dildano) and a whole lot of Guild of Calamitous Intent ritual borrowed from the Masons. Steven explains who the fuck is Saphrax (and also who's Hank & Dean's mom!) and we get into the twin's psycholo...

Batman: Secret Files #1 features comics writer and critic Cheryl Lynn Eaton's debut Batman story! She joins us to talk about her comics and critical writing about DC, Wildstorm and the latest Marvel Netflix series. A New York metropolitan native (now safely nestled in the outskirts of Atlanta), Cheryl Lynn Eaton has contributed to pop-culture sites as a columnist and reporter, held court as founde...

Things get Freudian, Jungian and John Carpenter-ian in the penultimate episode of Venture Bros Season 7. Join @Elana_Brooklyn and @StevenAttewell on a journey up the Hudson River to a real life secret island castle and meet the Villian With 1,000 References. We play Myth Busters about such topics as lawn darts and "chelation". So listen to the podcast here, on Graphic Policy Radio's iTunes  or fin...

Come for the long game Venture Bros. lore, stay for the explanation of Curtis Sliwa & the Guardian Angels. Which far fetched as it sounds, is a real thing. Our podcast examines the themes of The Venture Bros show and all of its cultural and historical references. In this episode Steven Attewell and Elana Levin draw on their knowledge of NY, pop culture and discuss significant themes this season. L...

This week's episode, The Unicorn in Captivity is a perfect illustration of why we do this podcast: it is rich with Christ symbolism and Kubrick references. The episode is named after and significantly features one of a series of High Renaissance unicorn tapestries I just so happen to have studied, set in NY's none-more-goth museum, The Cloisters. This is the Venture Bros. podcast for people who wa...

Ramon Villalobos is a professional comic artist living in Stockton California. He's worked on books for Marvel such as Nighthawk, Secret Wars:E is for Extinction, America, among others and now Border Town (co created with Eric M. Esquivel) for Vertigo Comics. "When a crack in the border between worlds releases an army of monsters from Mexican folklore, the residents of Devil's Fork, AZ, blame the...