"To what extent can you throw a person away?" - Dr. Holly Schaeffer-Raymond on Darth Maul.

Maul – Shadow Lord, the latest Star Wars animated series on Disney+ is stunning. It hits topics like raising kids amidst fascism, cycles of abuse, and it's even got Weird Little Guys. Resident Star Wars expert Holly Schaeffer-Raymond returns to the podcast. She's a writer and professor at Temple University. She's the author of Mall is Lost (2018) and Maul is Lost (2023) and featured in the Lambda nominated We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetic.

Visit   hollyraymond.carrd.co for more.

Hear our Bad Batch Season 3 episode https://bit.ly/BadB3

Spoilers for the Darth Maul TV series begins around minute 13.

" It's not so much that Mayor Fisk is like [Former NYC Mayor] Eric Adams, it's that Eric Adams is a comic book character," -- John Leavitt is a writer and cartoonist who works with the DSA Upper-Manhattan Bronx chapter and a published Marvel author with Strange Tales Volume One.

I've been involved in New York politics for over 20 years and I'm a lifelong Daredevil reader so I was thrilled to geek out about this Disney + season him.

Listen to Graphic Policy's episode on Daredevil Born Again Season 1.

Checkout John Leavitt's work at leavittalone.com/

Follow John on Bluesky: leavittalone.bsky.social

Follow me: levin.bsky.social

Join DSA (which is a more effective means of winning social change than fighting ninjas)

Marvel Disney's recent TV series is about a struggling actor and I have the perfect guest to discuss it with me: filmmaker, life-long Los Angelino, and Marvel comics fan Brandon Wilson. Wonder Man is delightful and we've got a lot say about the show's portrayals of LA, Simon Wilson's existence as a Black Haitian-American actor, the prison industrial complex, queer readings and more. You don't need to know about Wonder Man to enjoy the show but Brandon gives us the download on Simon Wilson's comics history.

Plus: the parallels with Midnight Cowboy run deeper than you think!

Spoilers marked at 20 min in.

• Follow Brandon on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/geniusbastard.bsky.social
• On RogerEbert.com https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/brandon-david-wilson
• Read on Hammer to Nail https://www.hammertonail.com/author/brandonwilson/
• Donate to https://haitianbridgealliance.org/
• Donate to Black Alliance for Just Immigration https://baji.org/

I'm Levin on Bluesky — https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social

The Real fantasy of Peacemaker is getting your friends to agree to listen to your favorite bands---and them like them.

Journalist Arturo Garcia joins me for season 2 of James Gunn's HBO series Peacemaker staring John Cena.

The first 15 minutes of this episode are spoiler free.

In this episode:

• How Peacemaker fits in to Cena's Body of Work
• More than you wanted to know about the band Nelson (and MTV)
• How this series fits into DC comics and the DCEU's future
• How well does Peacemaker handle it's heavy political parallels?

Follow Arturo Garcia on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/aboynamedart.bsky.social

Cancel Spotify https://spotifyunwrapped.net/ Social Media toolkit https://app.sosha.ai/toolkit/spotify-ice-trump-fascism-7980

Follow me on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social

Don't miss our episode about season 1 with Jamelle Bouie, Spencer Ackerman and Cayden Mak. https://graphicpolicy.com/2022/03/11/peacemaker-with-jamelle-bouie-spencer-ackerman-cayden-mak/

The need for solidarity with Palestinians and Jewish Americans reconning with the historical myths we've been fed–– James Gunn's new Superman movie really went there and did it superbly. Who better to process it with than Rafael Shimoff and Shoshana Brown, the hosts of Beyond the  Pale, radio's home for NY's Jewish left!

But first an update from Project Fulcrum, Get Free's Star Wars fan organizing campaign striking a blow against censorship.

Listen to Beyond the Pale on WBAI or online https://wbai.org/program.php?program=461

I co-wrote about Project Fulcrum and the Disney campaign for WagingNonViolence.org : Why fandom organizing is a powerful strategy for movement building

Read Zach Rabiroff on DC pulling Red Hood. https://www.tcj.com/horror-it-girl-gretchen-felker-martin-on-dc-pulling-red-hood-after-charlie-kirk-comments-i-had-no-regrets/

Catch up Project Fulcrum Andor coverage here Part 1 https://bit.ly/AndorInOurWorld

Part 2 https://bit.ly/AndorFinale

Join Project Fulcrum https://www.getfreetogether.org/project-fulcrum

Murderbot is a queer space opera with a sense of humor and a bone to pick with corporate power. You can stream it on Apple TV Join myself and Sarah Daniel Rasher, who co-hosts our Deep Space Nine podcast, for a look at the new TV series based on a series of novelas by Martha Wells.

The first 13 minutes of our show are fully spoiler-free.

Audiobook of All Systems Red on Everand: https://www.everand.com/audiobook/633755086/All-Systems-Red

Realizing Sanctuary Moon is a soap opera

Follow Elana on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/levin.bsky.social

Sarah Daniel Rasher on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/rasher.bsky.social

Daredevil returns to tangle with Mayor Fisk, a villain with shocking parallels to Andrew Cuomo: the real life disgraced former Governor of NY who is now running to be Mayor of NYC! Our real election ends June 24 and New Yorkers need a better outcome than the election in the Disney+ TV Series.

I'm joined by Janos Martin, a former candidate for Manhattan District Attorney and an expert on criminal justice reform. We discuss how the show depicts the criminal justice system, the political culture of NYC and what lessons we can learn from Kingpin's appeal to voters that can help us dissuade voters from supporting Cuomo.

I even explain Ranked Choice Voting. Rank ANYONE but Cuomo!

Find my ballot guide jfrej.org/ballot

Find your polling place and election details: https://vote.nyc/

Subscribe to Janos' newsletter https://janosmarton.substack.com/

"No one can do this alone" Cassian Andor Season 2

That's why we've got Project Fulcrum, where Star Wars fans are uniting with movement organizers to connect the stories on screen with the real history and theory of antifascist movements.

In this episode we cover the second half of Andor season 2, with returning guests Anthony Vidal Torres from Project Fulcrum at Get Free, and Charles Lencher of Organizing 2.0.

Join Project Fulcrum: a Star Wars fan activism campaign fighting for freedom and equality in a country not so far away: https://www.getfreetogether.org/project-fulcrum

Listen to Andor Season 2 part 1 https://bit.ly/andoractivismpod

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

Follow Get Free https://www.instagram.com/getfree_mvmt

FULL SPOILERS to follow.