The VoxPopcast

The antihero… just like the hero… except he can kill. Wait… heroes kill too now. In fact they always have. Well maybe it’s that the antihero swears… Actually, heroes swear… The post e31. Heroes, Villains & Antiheroes appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Way back in August we recorded our first Monster Mash episode where we discussed the place of the Monster and the Monster Hunter in popular culture. That was a great… The post e30. Monster Mash 2: Breaking Twilight appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

“In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can… The post Episode 29: Sexy Halloween appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

What’s your favorite scary movie, listener? Well, chances are if the answer isn’t something super obvious and popular, Mav probably hasn’t seen it. That said, he’s fascinated with the basic… The post Episode 28: Slashers and Final Girls appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

In 1967, literary critic and semiotician Roland Barthes wrote an essay called “La mort de l’auteur” that is in many ways foundational for the field of literary studies. It describes… The post Episode 27: La Mort de l’Auteur appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Last week David Reddish, a former writer for Sesame Street, announced that he’d always thought of Bert and Ernie as gay… and the internet exploded. Some people were happy… some people… The post Episode 26: The Secret Lives of Puppets appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Just about any parent in American who has a five year old girl knows about the Disney Princesses. Between Frozen, Tangled, Moana, and the others, the “House of Mouse” has… The post Episode 25: Sex and the Disney Princess appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

At best, “genre fiction” often seems to be taken as synonymous with “popular” or “exciting”. At worse, it is often used a pejorative meaning “low brow” or “garbage”. But what… The post Episode 24: Genre in General appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

When everyone knows that you are a comics geek, it turns out people ask you quite often “so what should I be reading?” When your job is literally “be a… The post Episode 23: Comic Studies-301: Course Syllabus appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

A couple of weeks ago, a protest at the University of North Carolina resulted in the toppling of “Silent Sam” a statue that stands at the university to commemorate Civil… The post Episode 22: Monuments and Memories appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

If you live in the United States, then it’s almost football season. Even if you’re the kind of non-fan that likes to unaffectionately refer to it as “sports ball” you’re… The post Episode 21: Sports, Patriotism, and Social Justice appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

“The Monster” and “The Monster Hunter” may be among the oldest figures in popular culture. It is the most basic of stories. Some great evil is threatening the community. Someone… The post Episode 20: Monster Mash appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

It’s pretty well accepted in contemporary geek culture that “representation matters.” At least, it’s accepted by everyone except for the evil corners of the internet that we don’t really care… The post Episode 19: Cosplayers of Color appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

If you happened to see a mid-tier 1980s cartoon superheroine get a costume update that was less objectifyingly sexy for a modern day reboot of the series in the last… The post Episode 18: She-Ra and the Male Gaze appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Wayne loves music. Do you love music? Yeah, we get it, everyone loves music. But Wayne really loves music! Why is that? Why do we connect so strongly with music,… The post Episode 17: Music, the Soundtrack of our Lives appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Way back on episode 3, Mav, Katya and Abby discussed violence in video games and the conversation segued into talking about video games with sex in them. We promised to… The post Episode 16: Sex in Video Games appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Remember that one fight in the Matrix that kicked ass? Wait, those all kicked ass. What about that fight in Kill Bill that kicked ass? Actually those all kicked ass… The post Episode 15: Cinematic Violence & the Impossible Body appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

This week, the United States of America (or what currently passes for it) celebrated it’s birthday. Of course, if you’re a longtime geeky comic book fan, you might also know… The post Episode 14: Captain America – Patriotism & Nationalism appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Some stories are timeless: Homer’s Odyssey, the legends of Hercules and King Arthur, the fairy tale of Snow White. These are stories that have been repeated so often that everyone… The post Episode 13: Mythic Reboots appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Dear Mr. Vernon, It was the summer of 2018 and it was the best year of our life. We spent that summer podcasting with… (you know, it’s really hard to… The post Episode 12: The Coming & Going of the Coming of Age appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

As great as internet is for creating a safe place for people to enjoy all manner of geeky hobbies, there’s a dark side of fandom. From Gamergate to 4chan, there… The post Episode 11: Toxic Offenders & the Dark Side of Fandom appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

To some the world of fan fiction is the ridiculous hobby of geeks. To others it is a massive repository of erotica and pornography. But to many, it is a… The post Episode 10: Sex, Gender & FanFic appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Today we change focus and discuss something a little more serious than most of our topics. Mav is away on vacation this week, so Wayne is joined by Marcel Walker… The post Episode 9: Chutz-Pow! Superheroes of the Holocaust appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Earlier this month Duke University appeared in the news amid a minor controversy where a school administrator was offended by the rap music playing in a campus coffee shop and… The post Episode 8: Academia & Viral Social Justice appeared first on The VoxPopcast .

Live from 3 Rivers Comicon! Comic book conventions began in 1960s as small specialized gatherings of science fiction fans clubs who met to trade magazines. Over the past several decades… The post Episode 7: Comic Con Culture appeared first on The VoxPopcast .