It’s Dick Tracy! With Writer Alex Segura

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 not destiny is also true about midi-chlorian countsBeing choosy about trans narrativesDepicting war in a family-friendly showAmbiguously ethnic Jedi cultural practicesProject Necromancer, Sniper Clone X2 and the rest of the show's conspiracies"the intrinsic lesbian desire to have Asajj Ventress in every show."  If you missed it, Holly and I covered Bad Batch Seasons 1 and 2 here: https://graphicpolicy.com/2023/04/27/star-wars-the-bad-batch-an-animated-dirty-dozen-of-space-dads/

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." Your hosts, Elana Levin and Steven Attewell, Phd. explore The Venture Bros show as a historian and an art history geek. We break-down the themes and references present from cinema, histotry and pop culture. While Steven is a Professor of US history. Elana has a BA in Studied Warhol A Lot (which came in handy for episode 6). Expect more then 15 minutes of famous references.  * * * *  Learn more about Steven Attewell: https://graphicpolicy.com/2024/04/11/steven-attewell-the-maester-of-fandom/ The Venture Bros Podcast archives https://graphicpolicy.com/the-venture-bros-podcast/  Steven's blog: https://racefortheironthrone.wordpress.com/ 

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 and Madonna!  How is Dick Tracy like Riverdale? What are our dreams of a James Ellroy-verse? Whether you’re a Dick Tracy newbie, noir nerd or mostly know Segura from his popular runs on Poe Dameron, Spiderverse tales or his newest X-Men comics, don’t miss out!  The new Dick Tracy comic book series is co-written by Michael Morecci with art by Chantal Aimee Osman and Geraldo Borges, colors by Mark Englehart, lettering by Jim Campbell and published by Madcave Studios. Keep tabs on https://www.alexsegura.com/   

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://racefortheironthrone.wordpress.com/ A People's History of the Marvel Universe - https://graphicpolicy.com/category/history/peoples-history-of-the-marvel-universe/ You can read the obit I wrote here - https://graphicpolicy.com/2024/04/11/steven-attewell-the-maester-of-fandom/ The Venture Bros Podcast https://graphicpolicy.com/the-venture-bros-podcast/  His Game of Thrones Vblogs with Scott Erik Kaufman (which are also available as podcasts under Lawyers Guns and Money Podcast) 

“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 significant design choices. Learn about real world political parallels both past and VERY present, developments in evolutionary science, queer themes and crop tops. This episode opens with 9 minutes of spoiler free discussion till and then a spoiler-filled look at episodes 1 and 2. Read Steven's blog https://racefortheironthrone.tumblr.com/  and his A People's History of the Marvel Universe https://graphicpolicy.com/author/stevenattewell/  And our classic roundtable in which civil rights history experts prove that no, Professor X is not MLK Jr. MLK Jr was far more radical and visionary. https://bit.ly/MLKencore

Film Noir has been a cultural touchstone for nearly a century, and Deep Space Nine revels in it in season 2 episode 8. In "Necessary Evil" we flashback to Odo and Kira's very uncute meet-cute during the Occupation. Join us as we discuss Sarah Daniel Rasher’s favourite DS9 episode, unpacking all of its references and allusions while tackling some of its hard hitting substance. From Ferengi Casablanca and the mystery of Kira’s ponytail to Odo’s multitudes and the difference between a murder and a "casualty", this episode demands a rewatch whether you're new to noir or a buff like Sarah and I. Because after all: it’s the stuff that podcasts are made of….     

"Everything you're doing is a perfectly logical way to save your own life" Horror author and cultural critic Jude Ellison S. Doyle returns to the podcast to talk about his new comic book series, The Neighbors with art byLetizia Cadonici and Alessandro Santoro.  A queer family moves to a small town in this tale of folk horror published by Boom Studios. The comic is rich with Celtic mythology. It wrestles with heartbreaking realities we face today —especially for trans and disabled readers. Our conversation ranges from the what makes a horror story resonate to the power of reassessing your own writing, while not trying to twist yourself for bad faith readers. Subscribe to Jude's excellent newsletter https://jude-doyle.ghost.io/ Get The Neighbors! https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Neighbors-The/Jude-Ellison-S-Doyle/9781608861071  

Jadzia Dax is a woman in science, a member of a structurally gender fluid species, and a batleth swinging badass. She has one of the best coming out as trans scenes. She's lived many lives and she’s the emotional glue that holds the crew together. Dax is a beloved Star Trek Deep Space Nine character and she shares a name (and more) with a fanastic writer who joins as our guest: Jadzia Axelrod is the GLAAD award nominated comics writer of Galaxy: The Prettiest Star and Hawkgirl for DC Comics. She's the writer ofThe DC Book of Pride for DK, as well as The Battle of Blood and Ink for Tor. Obviously we needed to have Jadzia on to talk about Jadzia. You can listen to Jadzia talk about Galaxy and Hawkgirl on Graphic Policy Radio here: https://graphicpolicy.com/2023/02/21/creator-jadzia-axelrod-on-galaxy-the-prettiest-star-for-dc-comics Follow Jadzia here https://www.jaredaxelrod.com/ and as PlanetX on the socials https://twitter.com/planetx     

Who lives to tell the tale of our favorite queer pirate romance/comedy? OFMD returned for a second (and final?) season on HBO Max. Linda Codega, journalist (and sailor!)  joins me to discuss: What’s up with Blackbeard tourism IRL?Is Buttons a sea druid?Can we make Calypso’s Birthday the new queer Halloween?The pirate polycule? Why we really need season 3! Linda H. Codega is an award-winning entertainment journalist who has written about science fiction and fantasy media for over five years. They were previously a staff writer for io9 where they covered film, television, books, and analog games. Much of their work covers a mix of tabletop roleplaying games, pop culture, fandom, and queer intersections.  Subscribe to their newsletter: https://clickbaiter.substack.com/  Listen to my pirate history deep dive for season 1, including a spoiler-free intro to the series.  https://bit.ly/OFMDpod  Linda’s coverage of the season 2 finale https://gizmodo.com/our-flag-means-death-s2-finale-izzy-hands-death-fandom-1850978817 My article, Our Flag Means Death Takes Queering History to New Depths https://www.wired.com/story/our-flag-means-death-season-2-queering-history/  Fan activism https://ofmd-crew.com/ 

"Power doesn't shatter on impact with journalism," - Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Spencer Ackerman. Ackerman returns to talk about the thrilling conclusion of his DC comics debut, Waller Vs. Wildstorm, the role of journalism in social movements, blogging antiwar protests, why Tim Drake is the best Robin, and share some of his favorite Wildstorm comics.  For a spoiler-free introduction to the Waller Vs. Wildstorm miniseries, listen to our conversation back in March https://bit.ly/WallerVs.  Waller Vs. Wildstorm is Spencer's DC Comics Black Label mini series with co-writer Evan Narcisse, artist Jesús Merino, and color artist Michael Atiyeh. It's jawdroppingly good, even if you don't know Wildstorm. It's full of politics, espionage and Deathstroke on a jetski. This is an extremely Graphic Policy Radio series... Keep up with Spencers Journalism at https://foreverwars.ghost.io/  Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award winning national security reporter and a new columnist for The Nation. His book, REIGN OF TERROR: HOW THE 9/11 ERA DESTABILIZED AMERICA AND PRODUCED TRUMP, won an American Book Award and was rated a 2021 book of the year by the Washington Post, the New York Times and the PBS NewsHour.