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Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Riverdale' and Teen Soaps
For decades, Archie comics represented the wholesome, sweet-faced American teenager in none of his or her actual complexity. But reflecting some of the recent changes that have come about in the...
View ArticleMuslim Comics Search For Solidarity, Not Just Laugh
Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid and Atheer Yacoub join us to talk about comedy, religion, and politics, and about their evolving roles as Muslim comics in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency. Dean...
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'The LEGO Batman Movie' Drags The Caped Crusader Out Of The Shadows (Again)
Sunrise, sunset: light into darkness, darkness into light.This perpetual cycling through archetypal phases of yin and yang, light slapstick and dour melodrama, is what lends Batman his unique...
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Long-Buried Secrets, Scampering Dreams And A Cat That Talks: 'Eartha'
Cathy Malkasian creates fantastic worlds out of her proprietary blend of melancholy and dream-logic, and peoples them with characters who are all too dully, achingly human. Her landscapes and...
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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Diversity In Comics And 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
Our team is just back from a wonderful live show in Chicago — thank you all for coming! — with W. Kamau Bell as our special guest and Sam Sanders in our fourth chair. (Both were wonderful.) We'll have...
View ArticleCrafting the Diverse Universe of Marvel's 'Black Panther'
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. Over the past decade, perhaps no two buzzwords have dominated the entertainment industry more than superheroes and diversity. The resurgence...
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A Guide To Free Comic Book Day 2017: The Don't-Misses And The Near-Misses
This year, Free Comic Book Day turns sixteen years old.The good news: It can drive itself to swim practice now!The bad news: When you ask it to drive its younger siblings Record Store Day and...
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Column: How bringing comics into the classroom made me love teaching again
Social studies teacher Tim Smyth, Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania, gearing up for Teacher Appreciation Week. Photo taken by Donovan Kennedy with editing by Gordy MichieMost teachers...
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Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Wonder Woman' And The Tony Awards
This week, now that more of you have had a chance to see it, we're finally getting around to talking about the critical and commercial success that is Wonder Woman. Petra Mayer of NPR Books joins us to...
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Meet the wonder women behind a new generation of superheroes
“Who Are the New Superwomen of the Universe” panel at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., ahead of Awesome Con 2017. From left to right, moderator Emily Whitten, Carolyn...
View ArticleFrom A Midwest Town To A Parallel Universe In 'Dear Cyborgs'
Eugene Limjoins us to discuss his novel Dear Cyborgs. The novel begins in a small Midwestern town, with two Asian American boys who become friends over their mutual love of comic books. Meanwhile, in...
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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Pop Culture Summer Stories And 'Playing House'
This week's show starts off with a segment from our recent live show at the Bell House in Brooklyn, in which we talked about some of the ways pop culture has intersected with our summers and our summer...
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Origin-al Sin: What Hollywood Must Learn From 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'
Long, long ago, when the Earth was new and ichthyosaurs swam the turbid seas, Iron Man 2 arrived in theaters. [Ed. Note — Simmer down. It was 2010.]It was, most agreed, a disappointment, compared with...
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He's Big, He's Blue, And Now, He's Bingeable: 'The Tick' Returns
Say this much for The Tick: He comes with some serious, baked-innerd-cred. Writer Ben Edlund created him back in 1986 to be the mascot of a Massachusetts comic book store.Since then, his bumbling...
View ArticleEnemies: A History Of Bad Blood [Full Episode]
Across generations, Americans have seen foes turn to friends and allies to enemies. So, as negotiations are in the works for a nuclear deal with Iran and to resume formal diplomatic relations with...
View ArticleEnemies: A History Of Bad Blood [Full Episode]
Across generations, Americans have seen foes turn to friends and allies to enemies. So, as negotiations are in the works for a nuclear deal with Iran and to resume formal diplomatic relations with...
View ArticleExploring The Decades-Long Struggle Between DC And Marvel
DC and Marvel Comics have stood as the two titans of the comic book industry for more than 50 years and, like a superhero squaring off against his nemesis, the two have spent much of that time battling...
View ArticleFighting For The Dream of Economic Justice
Coming up on today's show:There is a new effort underway to renew Dr. Martin Luther King’s campaign against poverty. On this holiday honoring the late civil rights icon, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis,...
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The Long Evolution of Black Comics
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segmentOn this Martin Luther King Jr. day, we turn to comics, in particular black comics. The 6th Annual Black Comic Book Festival took place over the...
View ArticleAfter 'Black Panther': Roxane Gay on What's Still Missing From the Marvel...
Marvel's “Black Panther” comes out this Friday, and the buzz surrounding it has reached a fever pitch. After 17 films, the studio is finally releasing a movie headlined solely by a black superhero.The...
View ArticleLeslie Jamison on Addiction, Remembering the Golden Age of Comics, Howard...
Leslie Jamison discusses her memoir, The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath. As part of our Change-Makers Series, Father Jim O’Shea, Efrain Hernandez and Shawn Moody talk about Reconnect...
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Here's What You Need To Know About Infinity Stones Before The New Avengers...
Call them the Mighty Marvel Movie MacGuffins. They're the glittery objects that drove the plots of several individual Marvel movies and that collectively shaped the direction the entire Marvel...
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Man Of Steel, Belted: 'Action Comics #1000' And The Return Of A Super-Accessory
It's not about the numbering.You'll be hearing a lot this week about the publishing milestone DC Comics' Action Comics has achieved, with the publication of issue #1000, on shelves (physical and...
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OK, Let's Talk About The Ending Of 'Avengers: Infinity War'
This post contains extensive spoilers for the ending of Avengers: Infinity War. If you do not wish to be spoiled, read no further.....I don't trust you.You're reading this, but you haven't seen...
View ArticleThe Joys & Challenges of Being a Female Comedian
Comedians Veronica Mosey, Agunda Okeyo and Pat Brown discuss the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the challenges and joys of being a female comedian.This segment is guest hosted by...
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Getting Your Laughs Where You Can In The Wide World Of Stand-Up
How's your week going so far?That well, huh? We understand.Over on our show, Pop Culture Happy Hour, we recently spent an episode talking all about comedy specials, which play a unique role for us in...
View ArticleNever Meet Your (Super) Heroes
There’s a new battlefield in the culture wars: comic books. The alt-right now has gotten in the business, led by a buxom, Confederate flag-waving superhero named Rebel and a white vigilante who turns...
View ArticleStan Lee talks about his creations in 1970
In 1970 Stan Lee sat down with New York Magazine's Lindsy and Lawrence Van Gelder on WNYC to talk about his super heroes as real people in a real world with real world problems, super powers aside....
View Article'Captain Marvel', 'Special', 'Hail Satan', 'Oklahoma', 'Believed', Gothamist
Comic book and television writer Kelly Sue DeConnick joins us to discusses her work on the female-led superhero film “Captain Marvel.”Ryan O'Connell joins us to talk about “Special,” the Netflix series...
View ArticleWriting 'Captain Marvel'
Comic book and television writer Kelly Sue DeConnickjoins us to discusses her work on the female-led superhero film “Captain Marvel.”
View ArticleA High State of Agitation
After accusations that he mischaracterized the Mueller investigation’s findings, Attorney General William Barr blames the media for muddling the story. This week, On the Media dissects Barr’s...
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A Grotesque Look At Antisemitism ... Through Comics
Last weekend's horrific attack at a synagogue in Poway, California was just the latest expression of the heightened climate of antisemitism and far-right hatred in the United States. However, instead...
View ArticleWho's Your Mama - Pt 1 "#Waffle Woke"
Comic Jen Kober tells the story of the mother she never expected to find, on a journey she never expected to take. Performed live at The Paramount in Oakland. Music composed by Bells Atlas. Season 10...
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Ms. Marvel: The Jersey City Superhero Who Made Good
Even in Marvel Comics, New Jersey rarely gets a break. As much as New York City can overshadow its neighbors across the Hudson in real life, just imagine also factoring in dozens of superheroes who...
View ArticleFull Bio: Lady Bird Johnson, Gary Panter's 'Jimbo,' The Poetry of Ross Gay...
For the second installment in this edition of our "Full Bio" series, Julia Sweig joins us to discuss the Kennedy assassination and how it lead to the Johnsons' ascent to the highest office. Sweig is...
View ArticleAlison Bechdel & 'The Secret to Superhuman Strength'
[REBROADCAST FROM MAY 6, 20201] Cartoonist Alison Bechdel joins us to discuss her new graphic memoir, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, about her lifelong obsession with exercise. This segment is...
View ArticleNew LGBTQ+ Storylines in Classic Superhero Franchises
With the announcement that Superman's son will be bisexual in an upcoming comic, Glen Weldon, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, joins to talk about comic culture, and the recent trend of writing...
View ArticleAn Epic Journey Through 60 Years of Marvel Comics
Following our conversation about LGBTQ+ and other representation in comic books, we'll look at the Marvel universe, and the interconnected world that's built between the speech bubbles of dozens of...
View Article'Six,' LGBTQ+ Superhero Storylines, A New Book on 'All of the Marvels,'...
The British musical “Six” was set to open in March 2020… and then Broadway was shut down. Now the pop musical, which tells the story of the six wives of King Henry VIII, has finally opened. Stars...
View ArticleNeil Gaiman on the Power of Fantasy in our Lives
Neil Gaiman, one of the great fantasy writers of our time, first started writing his comic series “The Sandman” in the nineteen-eightiess. Decades later, a TV adaptation is a huge hit on Netflix,...
View ArticleNeil Gaiman on the Power of Fantasy in our Lives
Neil Gaiman, one of the great fantasy writers of our time, first started writing his comic series “The Sandman” in the nineteen-eightiess. Decades later, a TV adaptation is a huge hit on Netflix,...
View ArticleWho's Your Mama - Pt 1 "#Waffle Woke"
Comic Jen Kober tells the story of the mother she never expected to find, on a journey she never expected to take. Performed live at The Paramount in Oakland. Music composed by Bells Atlas. Season 10...
View ArticleBest of Graphic Memoirs in 2022: Steve Martin and Harry Bliss Capture...
[REBROADCAST FROM November 15, 2022] The legendary comedian Steve Martin has teamed up again with cartoonist Harry Bliss on a graphic memoir calledNumber One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other...
View ArticleComedian Paula Poundstone, NY Times Film Critic A.O. Scott Transfers to Book...
For transcripts, see individual segment pages.Comedian Paula Poundstone is back on the road, with shows at Sacred Heart Community Theatre in Fairfield, CT on March 9, and Bergen Performing Arts Center...
View ArticleBarbara Brandon-Croft, History-Making Cartoonist
Cartoonist Barbara Brandon-Croft made history in 1991 as the first Black woman to have a nationally syndicated comic strip in the mainstream press. Her series, "Where I'm Coming From," ran through...
View ArticleThe Schomburg's 'SchomCom 2023' Black Comic Book Festival
The Schomburg Center's Black Comic Book Festival returns in person for the first time since 2020! Each year, this event offers participants the opportunity to meet established and up-and-coming comic...
View ArticleJohn Romita Jr. remembers his father, legendary comic book artist John Romita...
One of the preeminent artists from the so-called “Silver Age of Comics” passed away this week. John Romita Sr. was 93 years old and he was a New Yorker, born and raised – just like Spider-Man, the...
View ArticleThe delightfully silly science comics of Rosemary Mosco
Have you ever wondered what a Great Blue Heron would write in a love letter to a potential mate? Or what the moons of Mars think of themselves? These are the scenes that nature cartoonist Rosemary...
View ArticleA New Thai Comic Book Cookbook (Food for Thought)
To reconnect with her Thai identity, Belgium-based cartoonist Christina De Witte started virtual Thai language classes during the pandemic where she met Mallika Kauppinen, a native Thai speaker,...
View Article'Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse' profiles the cartoonist of 'Maus'
'Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse' profiles the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who crafted the classic Holocaust memoir 'Maus.' Filmmakers Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin use Spiegelman's career...
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