If Crying in the Book Club listeners know one thing about the hosts, it's probably their complicated history with comic book writer extraordinaire Brian K Vaughan. We covered his graphic novel Pride of Baghdad in episode 4, and his name has recurred throughout this show. You may know him for iconic works like Y: The Last Man or Saga, but this episode we take on... well, let's call it a hidden gem: Ex Machina.Given how large post-9/11 American politics loom over the creation of this book, a significant portion of the discussion is devoted to how BKV portrays issues like gay marriage, marijuana legalization, and the Iraq War. They also discuss the attempt to integrate superhero mythology into a world otherwise identical to our own, and the pitfalls therein. Next, on Crying in the Book Club: The inaugural month of RunaMay begins! We're going back to the BKV well with his original 18 issues of the now-iconic Marvel series. Our theme music was composed by our wonderful friend Gwyn. You can find their work on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/hopefullynotbadlib.Our podcast art was done by everyone's favorite co-host Emily.Follow us on Twitter:@cryingbookclub@mtdewliker@empandanada@alexhandziuk