The Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Podcast

Join Anna, Mav, and Andrew plus special guest Lisa , Nocturne's BFF and co-host of the Nightcrawler-centric Simply Amazing podcast, to talk Kurt/Wanda, Wanda/Vision, histories of fandom, Wolverine & the X-Men, Nightscrawlers, Talia Josephine Wagner, Dave Cockrum's saucy stash, Real Housewives, “Age of X-Man,” Earth-2182, Exiles, roleplaying games, Days of Our Lives, Chuck Austen dramas, and maybe,...

The sages foretold: lo, there will come a story, told in three parts, in which jokes are stale and motives are baffling. Nobody likes it; nobody wanted it. Yet it exists. And thus, Anna, Mav, and Andrew must discuss it. But the sages also foretold a savior: a shining beacon of righteous insight destined to cleave "The Promethium Exchange" in twain, and create from the sum of these parts something...

We're (still!) back and so's our first returning guest, Dr. Michael Hancock , talking what makes a bad comic re: Excalibur #36, "Xs and Os!" It's a teamup/throwdown with Silver Sable and the Outlaws, featuring dubious understandings of civil rights, Rachel's sexuality, and nuclear power (it involves clones and monsters, right?). We didn't love this comic as much as Brian Braddock loves nuclear pow...

We're back! And debating the merits of punchable problems in Excalibur #35, "Heartbreaker," with comics scholar Dr. Jocelyn Sakal Froese ! With their help, we apply a graphic medicine framework to an issue in which a kidnapped girl and a despair-hungry demon named—naturally—D'Spayre force Rachel to revisit her defining trauma (again), with some new and not-always-welcome twists, including the firs...

Well, this is it. The end of "Girls' School from Heck" and the Claremont era of Excalibur. But we're going out with a bang and our pom-poms raised high, as Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Dr. Julia Round , an expert in all things gothic and girls' comics, to talk exploitation vs character growth plus memories, hopes, and regrets in Excalibur #34, "School Spirit." In which the Fenris Twins prov...

This week, Anna, Mav, and Andrew are going back to school (again) with Excalibur #33, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” part two of “Girls’ School from Heck!” And now that we’re here, talking leather, lingerie, kung fu, jelly donuts, and why Kitty’s always mad at hot girls with artist extraordinaire Valentine M. Smith —we may never want to leave. Plus, Kurt spends a bunch of pages wearing a speedo. We talk...

A little late for "Back to School" but just in time for the comics studies + girlhood studies + Excalibur matchup of your dreams, it's Anna, Mav, and Andrew discussing Excalibur #32, "Someone Will Die for This!" with comics scholar Dr. Charlotte Johanne Fabricius ! We're bringing our A-game (and our very best penmanship) to the opening salvo of the "Girls' School from Heck" storyline, talking aim...

Don't let the title fool you—some men are islands, and those islands claim Krakoa as a father and have sworn revenge on Nightcrawler! That's right—it's time to talk Kurt Wagner vs Vega-Superior, The Son of Krakoa! And also, the X-Men...??? Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by superhero scholar John Darowski to talk adventure story tropes, Kurt's investment in problematic fantasies, and the multilay...

Sink your teeth into an early Halloween spectacular as vampire expert Dr. Cait Coker, editor of The Global Vampire , joins Anna, Mav, and Andrew to talk Excalibur #30, “‘Twas a Dark and Stormy Night,” in which Meggan's got new fangs and birthday boy Alistaire forgets Kurt's always had them. We talk gender, sexuality, magic, and—yes!—vampires, sorting through the significance of Meggan biting Kurt,...

It's a dreamy pod-friends reunion as the multitalented Wayne Wise , co-founder and co-host of VoxPopcast , joins Anna, Mav, and Andrew to say "weird" a dozen plus times about Excalibur #29, "Dream a Little Dream," in which the dreams are nightmares and the nightmares involve anthropomorphic horse assemblages with very human breasts. It's not the Excalibur + Power Pack crossover of our dreams, but...

There's a reason they say you can't go home again—because sometimes, the crowd at your old college bar doesn't remember you, and your girlfriend has to shapeshift into your twin brother and shotgun a pint to convince the locals you're not a "sissy." All of which can only mean one thing—Anna, Mav, and Andrew are talking about Excalibur #28, "The Night They Tore Down the Gilded Lady" with specialist...

In this episode, Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Connor Goldsmith , literary agent and host of the Cerebro podcast , to talk films inside comic books inside famous film studios in Excalibur #27, “Reel People.” We talk through some common Excalibur themes, including sex and gender transformations, reality-warping, and self-reflexivity, and debate good and bad marriages—between Excalibur and Lar...

In this episode, Anna, Mav, and Andrew recruit author Darby Harn to help them make sense of some less-than-stellar storytelling in Excalibur #26, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” It’s another Higgins/Lim joint, and while the art’s a bit better, the writing’s a bit worse, recycling multiple past and present traumas. But we still find plenty to talk about, exploring different interpretations of Rach...

The Cross-Time Caper is still over... or is it? Resolution careens into crisis into conversations about both as Anna, Mav, and Andrew welcome author and critic Steve Sellers of Omen Comics and Comic Crusaders to talk loose threads and cosmic consequences in Excalibur #25, "Guess Who's Coming for Phoenix?" (Spoiler: it's Galactus!) When we're not getting lost in an extended rumination on the neglec...

Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by professor, poet, literary and cultural critic, and friend-to-all-mutants Dr. Stephanie Burt to celebrate the not-so-epic conclusion of the Cross-Time Caper, plus Kitty turning 15 (again). We all swoon hard for an issue in which Kitty goes glam, Rachel becomes Kitty, Meggan becomes Kurt, and Brian... is just kinda there? We also bring to bear multiple gazes on th...

Here comes the Judge Dredd homage you've been waiting for, with Scott Weatherly , editor of the recent anthology Judging Dredd , joining Anna, Mav, and Andrew to talk all things Mega-City One-inspired in Excalibur #23, "Here Comes the Judge." Defying the fascist rule of the Justicers, everyone finds something to do—and someone to love—in a jam-packed issue featuring action, heartbreak, comedy, and...

Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Dr. Safiyya Hosein , whose research focuses on representations of Muslim and Arab characters in superhero comics, to talk about those very things in Excalibur #22, "Shadows Triumphant?" When we're not working our way through deeply problematic Orientalist stereotypes and caricatures related to supervillain Amahl Farouk/Shadow King, we're doing a whole lotta grip...

Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Dr. Martin Zeller-Jacques to tackle Excalibur #21, "Crusader X," which Mav describes as "definitely, technically a comic." The players and pencils are new, but the plot is intentionally—though not always enjoyably—familiar, as we revisit Rachel revisiting her trauma (again) in an issue that restages the Dark Phoenix Saga with new masterminds (but also the same o...

It's out with the Claremont/Davis, in with the Higgins/Lim with Excalibur #20, “The Eye of the Beholder,” a flashback issue we’re charitably describing as “What If Excalibur was Set in the Silver Age?” Literature professor and recovering Gambit fan Dr. Asha Jeffers joins Anna, Mav, and Andrew to talk villains of the week, a suffusion of thought bubbles, Meggan’s hairy elbows, Kitty and Rachel’s wi...

We've pulled the strings of reality to create another epic podcast team-up as Justin and Alicia of The X-Wife Podcast join Anna, Mav, and Andrew to talk Excalibur #19, "Madripoor Knights!" But the team-ups don't end there! Chris Claremont teams up with celebrated penciler Rick Leonardi, Jamie Braddock teams up with Jamie Braddock, Kurt teams up with the Dirty Angels, Rachel teams up with Meggan, a...

In this episode, manga scholar Dr. Mimi Okabe steers Anna, Mav, and Andrew through the mecha/shōjo/shōnen (?) inspired Excalibur #18, “Wild Wild Wheels!” Featuring cars, cars, and more cars plus a dirty pair of Adam Warren homages speeding through a world that worships racing, including star race car driver Jamie Braddock. We discuss the politics of intercultural exchange, historical interconnecti...

In this episode, Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Liz Large of ComicsXF to ride a “Warlord”-inspired hangover straight into a never-ending bacchanalian party, discussing drinking, dancing, and dueling in Excalibur #17, “From the Crucible—A Captain?” When we’re not unpacking what might be the series’ most explicit sex scene (featuring none other than Alistaire Stuart), we work through the re-tra...

Some people say you shouldn’t go full Nightcrawler. The GGW pod disagrees. Especially Anna, Kurt Wagner’s (Unofficial) PR Manager, who’s hoping he’ll be hiring her in an official capacity after this episode on the sword and sorcery extravaganza that is Excalibur #16, "Warlord." Comics scholar Dr. Keith Friedlander falls from the sky onto the deck of our sleek pirate corsair to talk swashbuckling,...

In this episode, Dazzler stan and all-around X-Men aficionado Dr. Nicholas Miller joins Anna, Mav, and Andrew to talk serious political allegories and equally serious gender play in Excalibur #15, "Technet: Impossible Missions!" We work through conflicted feelings about an affecting but messy story invoking imperialism & apartheid before fully embracing the rainbow of possibilities ignited by Bria...

In this episode, we laugh, we cry, we over-intellectualize the self-reflexivity of itty-bitty X-Men on the run from the spineless dictator of a reality TV-based hellscape. Which can only mean one thing: we’re talking about “Mojo Mayhem,” the second Excalibur special and the first to co-star Sugah, Wolvie, Lil Dazzler, Lil Havok, Shower, Lil Longshot, Colossusus, and Psychilde—otherwise known as th...