Pretty Much Pop #72: Comic Book Supremacy w/ Fred Van Lente

As scribe for Marvel and his own Evil Twin Comics, Fred has a lot of ideas to bring to Mark, Erica, and Brian about both non-fiction comics and what people normally think of. Adding pictures helps readers retain information, and the low budgets involved with comics mean that there's really no whimsicality limit. We discuss playing in the Marvel sandbox, the role of humor,  Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #63: Superhero Ethics (and The Boys) w/ Travis Smith

Is there no end to the seemingly endless fascination with superhero media? Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by Travis, who teaches political philosophy at Concordia) to discuss. Travis sees their resonance as a matter of metaphor: How can we do more with the abilities we have? His book Superhero Ethics matches up heroes like Batman vs. Spider-Man for ethical comparison: Both  Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #56: Black + Nerd = BLERD w/ Anthony LeBlanc

The Interim Executive Producer of The Second City joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to discuss the scope of black nerd-dom: what nerdy properties provide to those who feel “othered,” using sci-fi to talk about race, Black Panther and other heroes, afrofuturism, black anime fans, Star Trek, Key & Peele, Get Out vs. Us, and more. A few articles you might enjoy: “Blerd Defined”  Continue Reading …