On this week’s Comics Syllabus podcast, researcher, teacher, and podcaster Grace Gipson joins Paul to talk about “Black Panther: World of Wakanda” by Roxane Gay, Yona Harvey, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alitha Martinez, and others, and “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” by Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, Natacha Bustos, and others from Marvel Comics. We’re really excited to have Grace (on Twitter @GBreezy20 ) as a guest, and she talks about her comics origins, her research, and her podcasting on the #BlackComicsChat team. Then, Grace and Paul explore her approach to these portrayal of black female characters in current Marvel comics, and we dig into the significance of Lunella Lafayette (Moon Girl) and Ayo and Aneka, the protagonists of “World of Wakanda.”
[audio: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/334703364-twoplai-007-moon-girl-and-world-of-wakanda-with-grace-gipson-plus-michelle-white-on-nonfiction-comics.mp3]Or download the podcast episode here.
But first, in the opening “General Ed” segment, we’d proud to introduce “The Non-Fiction Section” with Michelle White, Multiversity contributor and lifeblood of the “Keep It Real” column that looks at reality-based comics and graphic novels. Michelle offers a wide-ranging list of three non-fiction comics recommendations for us, “Feynman” by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick (First Second), “The Green River Killer” by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case (Dark Horse), and “The Influencing Machine” by Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld (WW Norton).
I’m Paul, and I’m inviting you to join us for another episode of The Comics Syllabus, a comics analysis podcast. Our mantra is, we read widely and we dig deep. Each week, we choose one work from a wide breadth of current and classic comics, including superhero fare, comics from independent publishers and small presses, global comics, newspaper strip archives, and various collected editions. We spend time digging deep into the work from various perspectives, sometimes in actual live conversation with others, sometimes with just me on a mic surrounded by a pile of comics studies and academic books. It’s like a comics seminar, where the only prerequisite is that you love comics.
You can find the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud, or copy this RSS feed to your podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:235183739/sounds.rss
or find archives for this podcast (previously named “Study Comics with Paul”) here: http://studycomics.club/
A rating, review, or star on whatever podcast source would help make the world a slightly better place. (No, Really!)
Follow Paul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwoPlai It’s the only place on earth he stays under 140 characters.
Thanks for listening!
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Grace Gipson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gbreezy20
Black Comics Chat: http://twitter.com/blackcomicschat
Michelle White’s Work on Multiversity
Oversight: I failed to mention in my conversation with Grace Gipson about black women superheroes my intellectual debt to Dr. Deborah Whaley for understanding topics we discuss, which you can check out here: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/interviews/deborah-e-whaley-interview/ and in her book, “Black Women in Sequence” (U of Washington Press).
IMAGES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
Note: Following images are from “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” written by Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare and drawn by Natacha Bustos with Tamra Bonvillain on colors and Travis Lanham on letters.
Constructing STEM, Constructing Self (from “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” #9)
Moon Girl Goes Devil Dinosaur (from “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” #12)
Little Help from Hulking Friends (from “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” #13)
Note: Following images are from “Black Panther: World of Wakanda” written by Roxane Gay (with contributions from Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yona Harvey) and drawn by Alitha Martinez with Rachelle Rosenberg on colors and Joe Sabino on letters.
Challenging T’Challa (From “Black Panther: World of Wakanda” #4)
Let’s Hear it for New York (From “Black Panther: World of Wakanda” #3) (Not consecutive pages)
The Key to Freedom (From “Black Panther: World of Wakanda” #5)
