racefortheironthrone:

Surprisingly, given Marvel and D.C’s relationship to literary realism, D.C has tended to be less metaphorical in its politics than Marvel with the way that the X-Men have born the burden of representation of those kind of elements. For example, the Denny O'Neil/Neil Adams run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow was known for being a “social statement” comic:

However, my good friend @elanabrooklyn wouldn’t let me get away with not addressing the one major part of D.C that does truck with progressive metaphor - the Fourth World. In addition to individual characters and groups of characters serving as metaphors - Scott Free symbolizes Freedom, the Forever People are hippies, Funky Flashman is Stan Lee - there’s a huge amount of metaphorical critique of everything from industrial capitalism to reactionary charismatic movements.

elanabrooklyn:

What are the politics of the series? 

This looks like a job for: Chingy Le Gay is a writer, comedian, advice columnist, and critically acclaimed ex-girlfriend. Her work focuses on queer dating, pop culture, and her weird sex life and can be found at Out Magazine, Jezebel, Them, and Autostraddle. https://twitter.com/TheGayChingy

 Steven Attewell writes about the intersection of history, politics, and pop culture in The People’s History of the Marvel Universe for Graphic Policy, and at https://racefortheironthrone.tumblr.com/ (where he’s been covering HoX/PoX issue-by-issue). In his day job, he teaches public policy at CUNY’s School for Labor and Urban Studies. 

Also: 

• Comparing AOC and Krakoa 
• ‘No it’s not a cult!‘ 
• Who gets to tell big stories in comics 
• Mutant Social Reproduction in the Marxist sense & the sexy sense
•  Free All Political Prisoners! 
• ‘My medication is an endless supply of Charles Xaviers’
•  'Emma/Jean is Top for Top’

 As always, hosted by  me https://twitter.com/Elana_Brooklyn

Listen to the podcast here, @graphicpolicy on itunes, soundcloud, spotify etc (should pop up in the morning on those platforms)

Also I decided to make the floor plan in X-Men 1 just a little clearer for everyone: 

eep forgot to tag @racefortheironthrone. If you aren’t reading his detailed posts about HoXPox what are you doing?!? So glad he came on as a guest. 

What are the politics of the series? 

This looks like a job for: Chingy Le Gay is a writer, comedian, advice columnist, and critically acclaimed ex-girlfriend. Her work focuses on queer dating, pop culture, and her weird sex life and can be found at Out Magazine, Jezebel, Them, and Autostraddle. https://twitter.com/TheGayChingy

 Steven Attewell writes about the intersection of history, politics, and pop culture in The People’s History of the Marvel Universe for Graphic Policy, and at https://racefortheironthrone.tumblr.com/ (where he’s been covering HoX/PoX issue-by-issue). In his day job, he teaches public policy at CUNY’s School for Labor and Urban Studies. 

Also: 

• Comparing AOC and Krakoa 
• ‘No it’s not a cult!' 
• Who gets to tell big stories in comics 
• Mutant Social Reproduction in the Marxist sense & the sexy sense
•  Free All Political Prisoners! 
• 'My medication is an endless supply of Charles Xaviers’
•  'Emma/Jean is Top for Top’

 As always, hosted by  me https://twitter.com/Elana_Brooklyn

Listen to the podcast here, @graphicpolicy on itunes, soundcloud, spotify etc (should pop up in the morning on those platforms)

Also I decided to make the floor plan in X-Men 1 just a little clearer for everyone: 

racefortheironthrone:

elanabrooklyn:

racefortheironthrone:

1. Vulcan is weird and comes from a really bad comic, but the answer is that he was raised by the Shi'ar (space bird jerks).
2. Teen!Cable is like that because he was introduced in a weird and not very well-received comic, the gist of which is that he killed his older self for being a bad TimeCop and somehow brought Cyclops back from the dad. But that latter part suggests that getting to be a kid with a family is big for him.
3. It’s hard to say b/c sliding time scale and Jean dying and getting resurrected a bunch makes the question really philosophical (are we talking how old her mind is, how old this body is, etc.). My best guess, since she graduated college, is somewhere in her mid-20s.
4. Editorial and head writer disagree about whether Cyclops is in his late 20s or mid-30s.
5. There isn’t, really. Between the Sinister Secrets, the belly-rub panel, and the Summer House floor plan, it’s pretty clear that this is a poly triad where everyone is very, very comfortable with one another…and presumably Jean has used her telekinesis to deal with any snoring problems. 
6. As for how Hickman got away with it, I think he found a very narrow sweet spot which is somewhat above subtext but not so immediately obvious that editorial catches it in time.

Re 5 & 6: There really is a phenomenon where straight male writers get a lot of more leeway in writing non-heteronormative stories and queer characters. We saw what Marvel did to Sina Grace (an actual queer writer). Meanwhile Hickman gets to do this with three of the most famous X-men. 

Al Ewing and Kibblesmith get to write a clearly genderfluid Loki. And bless them for it! They should! But only straight writers are being given that leeway. 

Also re 5&6, it must be the corner of the internet I hang out in that I haven’t seen a soul try to convince themselves that the polycule is strictly heterosexual. I say that knowing that IRL there are thruples like that are. But no one is staking that claim here. Only getting their steak over cooked due to their boyfriend’s overzealous weird kid. 

I think you’re quite right. 

Re: seeing the poly, I do think it’s down to what corners of the internet one hangs out in. X-Men twitter has had their collective eye on this for a while, whereas you see a lot more resistance on, say, Reddit to it being poly. Ditto for the throuple being non-hetero as well.  (I do know some folks on X-twitter were hoping that Wolverine’s bedroom be in the middle rather than on one of the ends, just to drive the point home.)

As with most of X-twitter, I think it’s pretty dispositive that not only do they have adjoining bedrooms, but those bedrooms are connected by open corridors, which suggests a very different set of boundaries than doors. 

I kind of want to know what the heterosexual freakouts on reddit are. Like what could they even say?

I actually did think Logan’s room was in the middle but I guess that’s a railroad apartment too far for Hickman. Ho hum.

Speaking of:

two more questions:

7. Can we dare hope that Rachel’s butch mullet returns?

8. Does Corsair even have an earth name and does anyone use it?

racefortheironthrone:

1. Vulcan is weird and comes from a really bad comic, but the answer is that he was raised by the Shi'ar (space bird jerks).
2. Teen!Cable is like that because he was introduced in a weird and not very well-received comic, the gist of which is that he killed his older self for being a bad TimeCop and somehow brought Cyclops back from the dad. But that latter part suggests that getting to be a kid with a family is big for him.
3. It’s hard to say b/c sliding time scale and Jean dying and getting resurrected a bunch makes the question really philosophical (are we talking how old her mind is, how old this body is, etc.). My best guess, since she graduated college, is somewhere in her mid-20s.
4. Editorial and head writer disagree about whether Cyclops is in his late 20s or mid-30s.
5. There isn’t, really. Between the Sinister Secrets, the belly-rub panel, and the Summer House floor plan, it’s pretty clear that this is a poly triad where everyone is very, very comfortable with one another…and presumably Jean has used her telekinesis to deal with any snoring problems. 
6. As for how Hickman got away with it, I think he found a very narrow sweet spot which is somewhat above subtext but not so immediately obvious that editorial catches it in time.

Re 5 & 6: There really is a phenomenon where straight male writers get a lot of more leeway in writing non-heteronormative stories and queer characters. We saw what Marvel did to Sina Grace (an actual queer writer). Meanwhile Hickman gets to do this with three of the most famous X-men. 

Al Ewing and Kibblesmith get to write a clearly genderfluid Loki. And bless them for it! They should! But only straight writers are being given that leeway. 

Also re 5&6, it must be the corner of the internet I hang out in that I haven’t seen a soul try to convince themselves that the polycule is strictly heterosexual. I say that knowing that IRL there are thruples like that are. But no one is staking that claim here. Only getting their steak over cooked due to their boyfriend’s overzealous weird kid. 

elanabrooklyn:

racefortheironthrone:

TALKING GAME OF THRONES, SEASON 8 EPISODE 6 ON GRAPHIC POLICY RADIO

For those of you who haven’t gotten their fill of talking about the finale of Game of Thrones, I made an appearance over at Graphic Policy Radio with Elana Levin, Dothraki expert Tihi Hayslett, and Shakespeare-ologist Sarah Rasher. Check it out!

I’m so honored to have you on the show for this! Folks can get the episode on iTunes searching for @graphicpolicy radio and soon on soundcloud etc. 

Was not expecting someone to go Full Tankie but I’m glad it happened. And I shared some Edmure Tully thoughts that I think book readers will appreciate. But here’s our perfect meme of Show!Edmure

70sscifiart:

Jim Burns

racefortheironthrone:

TALKING GAME OF THRONES, SEASON 8 EPISODE 6 ON GRAPHIC POLICY RADIO

For those of you who haven’t gotten their fill of talking about the finale of Game of Thrones, I made an appearance over at Graphic Policy Radio with Elana Levin, Dothraki expert Tihi Hayslett, and Shakespeare-ologist Sarah Rasher. Check it out!

I’m so honored to have you on the show for this! Folks can get the episode on iTunes searching for @graphicpolicy radio and soon on soundcloud etc. 

Was not expecting someone to go Full Tankie but I’m glad it happened. And I shared some Edmure Tully thoughts that I think book readers will appreciate. But here’s our perfect meme of Show!Edmure

yourplayersaidwhat:

“You killed their wizard!” DM  

“Is it because I made him fall into the water? Or because of the arrow I shot through his head?” Me  

“What do you think?” DM  

“Well did that make the flesh Golums stop?” Me 

“No” DM 

“and my tentacles are still grappling the pirates?“ Our only slightly evil wizard 

“Yes. The humans are dead and the snake people are grappled” DM 

“By snake people do you mean millennials?” our friend in the other room 

“No, I mean snake people” DM 

Finally! My submission has been accepted!

I still laugh thinking about Trevor saying “what do YOU think”.

On this episode with guests @teaberryblue & filmmaker Brandon Wilson:

• “I want families to be reunited and a sense of normalcy to be restored to the world.”
• Our Infinity War episode was staggeringly prescient
• FDR hands it off to the Afrofuturists
• The gayest thing was Carol’s hair
• “ I would very much like to hear your panelists discuss the concept of “America’s ass” as it relates to the super-soldier serum, bodily autonomy, and conceptions of identification versus ownership.”
• Read CK Stewart on fatphobia