“Do you think this Eric Frankenstein is into crypto?” “This Frankenstein probably invented crypto” “Frank-coin?”

National security journalist Nicholas Slayton joins me to talk about James Gunn's DC animated series for HBO, Creature Commandoes. We've got gothic horror, geopolitics and an impressive soundtrack. This episode opens with a spoiler-free conversation on whether the show is worth your time before diving in for a conversation about those who the law does not protect, disability metaphors and more.

Nicholas Slayton is a Los Angeles-based journalist covering the "panic beat" --- inequality, war, climate change and protests. He's currently a Contributing Editor at Task & Purpose and has bylines in the New Republic, American Prospect and Motherboard.

Follow Nicholas on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/nslayton.bsky.social

Subscribe to his newsletter; Let's Do The Panic Again

Follow ME on bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social

 

A Team-Up with Referential Podcast's Dr. Khaliden Nas to talk through our feelings about the state of X-Men comics. The first half, taped in September covers the Fall of X and the end of the X-Men's 'First Krakoan Age'. In December we met again to talk about the state of the X-Office and relaunched slate of X-Men comics under the 'From The Ashes' banner. 

Follow me on Bluesky - @Levin

In This Episode:

• Fall of X (also hear my earlier coverage of here) * From the Ashes (Spoilers starts at 47:46) * Kieron Gillen & Lucas Werneck Immortal X-Men, X-Men: Forever & Rise of the Powers of X * Gerry Duggan and Russel Daughterman's Fall of the House of X, Hellfire Gala 3
• Invincible Iron Man & Uncanny Avengers * Al Ewing & Luciano Vecchio Resurrection of Magneto & X-Men: Red * Si Spurrier’s X-Men Blue: Origins * Jonathan Hickman * Gail Simone & David Marquez Uncanny X-Men * Jed McKay & Ryan Stegman X-Men * Jackson Lanzing / Collin Kelly & Francesco Mortarino NYX * Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero Exceptional X-Men * Solos! * No, we will NOT call Ide "Temper" * Democracy in the 2nd Krakoan Age * The End of Hope [Summers] * Kate Pryde and the gates as bi metaphor revisited
• Reading Warden Ellis * Remembering Dr. Moira MacTaggart * Assimilation Or Unity
• Marvel not understanding why Hydra!Cap failed but Gerry Duggan makes the best of it * #XSpoilers and fandom meta One more time, Krakoans. For the children!

 

We’ve been forced to migrate podcast hosting platforms. You might need to resubscribe to the pod at a new RSS feed. If you don’t see new episodes in February visit https://graphicpolicy.com/category/podcasts/graphic-policy-radio/  to find the new podcast feed. 

Is Tony Stark a comrade? Spencer Ackerman, award winning national security journalist and author of the book “Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump”, brings his knowledge of geopolitics, corporate power, and deep Iron Man lore to writing the new Iron Man series. 

This podcast is for folks new to the character as well as long time fans. We open with an overview of why I loved this series and a discussion of Spencer’s inspirations before delving into spoilers of the first three outstanding issues.

We’ve got: 

Busting anti-union thugsBoardroom WarfareFeats of engineeringSurvivor guilt 

And some amazing pulls for bad guys that will please Iron fans and X-Men fans alike. 

Follow Spencer on Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/attackerman.bsky.social

Spencer’s Newsletter: https://www.forever-wars.com/

Elana Levin https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social 

And always visit https://graphicpolicy.com/ for comics news.

Is Tony Stark a comrade? Spencer Ackerman, award winning national security journalist and author of the book "Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump”, brings his knowledge of geopolitics, corporate power, and deep Iron Man lore to writing the new Iron Man series. 

 

This podcast is for folks new to the character as well as long time fans. We open with an overview of why I loved this series and a discussion of Spencer’s inspirations before delving into spoilers of the first three outstanding issues.

We’ve got: 

• Busting anti-union thugs

• Boardroom Warfare

• Feats of engineering

• Survivor guilt 

 

And some amazing pulls for bad guys that will please Iron fans and X-Men fans alike. 

 

Follow Spencer on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/attackerman.bsky.social

Spencer’s Newsletter: https://www.forever-wars.com/ 

Elana Levin https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social 

 

“I love that Star Trek continues to change and adapt. And that includes an animated comedy show,” John Arminio.  Film critic and lifelong Trekkie John Arminio joins me to say farewell to Lower Decks, the animated Star Trek series we've grown to love.   We open with a spoiler-free conversation about how this show won us over. You’ll have plenty of warning before we enter a full spoilers, in depth conversation about the series’ final season.  Listen to John speaking about Voyager on Mission Log, the Official Podcast of the Roddenberry Foundation.https://www.missionlogpodcast.com/1159-2/  Listen to his film podcast Popcorn Eschaton https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zebras-in-america/id1220264878  Read his comics reviews and metal memes at https://www.instagram.com/quasarsniffer/  Join me on Bluesky @ Levin https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social And stay tuned for an upcoming episode of Deep Space Dive where cohost Sarah Daniel Rasher and I will discuss the Lower Decks/Deep Space Nine crossover episode.

"Batman spends more time fighting the cops than helping them" - Leslie Lee III "The most corrupt Gotham Police Department of any Batman media" -- Me...and I am here for that!  Animated Batman is some of the best Batman. Does this new series from legends like Paul Dini, Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka deliver? Leslie Lee III of the leftist culture podcast Sruggle Session returns to talk about Batman Caped Crusader's aesthetics, politics and reinventions.  Looking for ways to volunteer this election? There's https://keyboards.forkamala.fyi/  for keyboard warrior and I'm happy to connect folks to virtual phone banking or text banking opportunities --especialy ones supporting grassroots orgs, fighting voter suppression or working on local races. You an ping me https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social or even (for this purpose) https://x.com/Elana_Brooklyn  We all can do something to fight facism (even if you're reading this after the election).

"less about, China versus America..what he really believes is the power of community".  Award winning co-creator of The Good Asian, sak Pichetshote returns to talk about his visonary new project for Image Comics: a series of five one-shot comic books titled The Horizon Experiment. Each has a unique creative team inventing an original protagonist from a marginalized background set in genres such as horror or espionage, or inspired by icons like Indiana Jones or John Constantine. Pichetshote's entry in the series, The Manchurian, is more than a James Bond who "just so happens to be Chinese"- he is a spy whose identity is core to the narrative. There's also Finders/Keepers from Vita Ayala and Skyler Partridge in which a Boricua archaeologist returns an artifact from a museum to the people from whom it was stolen. The Manchurian, with artists Terry and Rachel Dodson is out now as is The Sacred Damned and more on the way from creative teams that bridge comics, literature, film and television.  Here's my 2021 convo about The Good Asian with sak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgihttps://graphicpolicy.com/2021/05/18/the-good-asian-comic-with-creators-sak-pichetshote-and-alexandre-tefenkgi/

“The philosophy that leads to AI is the same philosophy as 19th Century imperialism and colonialism,” Kieron Gillen. Writer Kieron Gillen returns to reflect on the end of his time contributing to the X-Men's First Krakoan Age and the start of The Power Fantasy, his new series with Caspar Wijngaard for Image Comics.  Subscribe to Kieron's delightful newsletter (especially if you're into TTRPGs) https://buttondown.com/KieronGillen ICYMI Kieron and I spoke about the start of Immortal X-Men back in 2022  https://bit.ly/ImmortalX  We spoke about his previous comic with Casper, Peter Canon Thunderbolt in 2021 https://bit.ly/DieCanon  He's one of my favorite guests (and favorite writers) so you'll enjoy these!  Psst hang out with cool comics folks on BlueSky -- I'm @ Levin https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social  Kieron is @KieronGillen https://bsky.app/profile/kierongillen.bsky.social

"Alex Ross' work is really like outstanding community theater” - Steve Darnall and Alex Ross join me to talk about the rerelease of their groundbreaking policital graphic novel, Uncle Sam as well as Alex's Fantastic Four: Full Circle.  "Timed for this year’s election, UNCLE SAM by Steve Darnall and Alex Ross makes its return after nearly a decade of being out of print. It's a vibrant, hallucinatory tour of modern America—the story of a star–spangled, ragged vagrant named Sam who is guided by the voices in his head and his own fractured memories. Absorbed by history–traveling visions of America’s dark past, Uncle Sam struggles to remember his true identity and piece together the scattered clues of his own experiences in this deep and thoughtful look at America’s checkered past." Alex Ross studied illustration at the American Academy of Art, then honed his craft as a storyboard artist before entering the comics field. His miniseries Marvels opened a wider acceptance for painted comics. In 1996 he produced the equally successful Kingdom Come for DC Comics. Ross is the writer/artist of the award winning Fantastic Four: Full Circle. Steve Darnall first worked with Alex Ross on the Human Torch story that served as the inspiration for the award-winning 1993 series Marvels. Steve served as a consultant on the movie Being the Ricardos and Ken Burns’s documentary Country Music. He is also the editor of Nostalgia Digest magazine, and the host of two weekly radio shows dedicated to the golden age of radio. Nostalgia Digest https://www.nostalgiadigest.com/

"I really want to protect my ability to keep making my gay little comics. That's the important thing to me."- Cartoonist Hazel Newlevant makes art that shows us how to protect our future and understand our past. Whether its their new anthology Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans or their free zine, What's Up With Covid and How to Protect Yourself 2024 Edition (featuring advanced safety tips!) their work combines personal narative, diligent research, and charming art.  Visit https://newlevant.com/  Get a copy of the free zine https://newlevant.com/covidzine My video on how to get your mask to fit you better https://bit.ly/BendNoseWire Take action against mask bans and more -- https://covidadvocacyny.org/