After being serialized in Heavy Metal magazine, this dystopian bio-punk comic was published as a beautiful book in 2010... and hardly anyone is talking about it now. We discuss the creators' intentions and hopes for the story, along with Heavy Metal's history, and Christian's youthful memories of Singapore.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Track it down from here:

Fluorescent Black

Sources

• https://www.zonanegativa.com/fluorescent-black-an-interview-with-m-f-wilson-and-nathan-fox/

• https://variety.com/2007/film/news/imagi-plotting-fluorescent-black-1117975671/?jwsource=cl

• https://comicattack.net/ddwddnf/

• https://livefromthedmz-blog.tumblr.com/post/18558447254/nathan-fox-interview

• https://vimeo.com/mfwilson

• https://www.comicbox.com/index.php/news-english/fluorescent-black-the-graphic-novel/ (review with full Heavy Metal press release text)

• https://readrant.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/review-fluorescent-black/

• “A Challenge to Gene Theory, a Tougher Look at Biotech,” New York Times, July 1, 2007

• Waldby, C. (2009). Singapore Biopolis: Bare Life in the City-State. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal, 3(2–3), 367–383. https://doi.org/10.1215/s12280-009-9089-2

• https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-history-of-cyberpunk-comics/

• Transhumanism - Francis Fukuyama

This 2020 novel by Native American author Stephen Graham Jones mixes literary explorations of indigenous peoples' identity with slasher-film tropes, making it his first novel with mainstream success. Did Jones change something about his writing to get there, or did the literary world catch up to him? We discuss how history, symbols, and context fit into his project while asking, "Why did the literary establishment like this so much?"

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

The Only Good Indians

Sources:

• https://blackfeetnation.com/

• https://blog.nativehope.org/native-american-animals-the-elk-a-protector-and-relative

• https://academic.oup.com/isle/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/isle/isad056/7255951?redirectedFrom=fulltext

• https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/stephen-graham-jones-the-only-good-indians-interview/

• https://ew.com/books/2019/08/08/only-good-indians-preview/

• https://www.npr.org/2020/07/29/896840079/in-his-new-book-stephen-graham-jones-explores-the-idea-of-good-indians

• https://www.npr.org/2020/07/16/891433693/grief-and-guilt-spawn-horrors-in-the-only-good-indians

• https://www.jstor.org/stable/541345

• https://journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/transmotion/article/view/266/900

• https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-07-15/the-only-good-indians-by-stephen-graham-jones-review

• https://blog.nativehope.org/native-american-animals-the-elk-a-protector-and-relative

• https://filmobsessive.com/film/film-news/film-interviews/interview-stephen-graham-jones-a-discussion-on-lost-highway-and-mapping-the-interior/

• ERIC GARY ANDERSON, et al. “Demon Theory for Beginners, or The Intertextual Badlands of Stephen Graham Jones.” Postindian Aesthetics, University of Arizona Press, 2022, pp. 165-, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2c3k193.24.

• Washuta, Elissa and Warburton, Theresa. Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2019.

• Schaak, Hogan D. "Bleeding All over the Shelves and Tracking It Out into the World: Theorizing Horror in the Indigenous North American Novels The Only Good Indians and Empire of Wild." Studies in the Fantastic, vol. 15, 2023, p. 94-126.

Christian and Charlie have a couple things to say.

This 2015 comic series is an attempt to tell "the ultimate H.P. Lovecraft" story, so we dive deep into the cold, clinical research process behind it. We also discuss this story's relationship with sexual violence, racism, American mythology, capitalism and... comic book fandom.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Providence

Additional Resources:

• Interview: Alan Moore on Providence, Jerusalem, League and more – Part 1
• All About Alienation: Alan Moore On Lovecraft And Providence
• Alan Moore Heralds Providence: ‘It’s Time To Go For A Reappraisal Of Lovecraft’
• H.P. Moorecraft: On the Ending of Providence
• PROVIDENCE Artist JACEN BURROWS On His Long Collaboration With Alan Moore, Adapting LOVECRAFT, More
• Providence: Lovecraft, Sexual Violence, and the Body of the Other
• The Road To Providence
• Innsmouth Gold: Providence Sales Data
• American Dread: Alan Moore and the Racism of H. P. Lovecraft
• Pickman’s Apprentice: An Appreciation of Jacen Burrows

Thanks to our Co-producer Miriam Meaney for this week's topic!

This 1964 collection of short science fiction stories shows a writer in conflict with his own genre in the wake of horrible family tragedy. We discuss Ballard's interest in psychological inner space and speculative fiction to better understand his role in the history of literature.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• J. G. Ballard on Amazon

Additional Resources:

• The New Science Fiction
• Strange fiction
• A brief survey of the short story part 26: JG Ballard
• Four Stories: "The Drowned Giant" by J.G. Ballard | Weird Fiction Review
• 'The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard' - Los Angeles Times
• The Catastrophist The haunting science fiction of J.G. Ballard
  
• Ballard, James Graham (1930–2009)
• BOOKS Remembering J.G. Ballard's Science Fiction Legacy
• JG Ballard: Extreme Metaphor: A Crash Course In The Fiction Of JG Ballard
• The Corner of Lovecraft and Ballard
• J. G. Ballard, The Art of Fiction No. 85
• Wilson DH. J. G. Ballard. Urbana: University of Illinois Press; 2017.

This long-form essay by one of the hosts of On the Media argues that our current sociopolitical conflicts stem from a dissolution of facts and reality. We look at Gladstone's manifesto for producing her radio show to unpack her project here, while considering her advice for bolstering our own personal realities.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• The Trouble With Reality

Additional Resources:

• The Facts Must Matter: On “The Trouble with Reality”
• Gladstone's Book Answers The Question: What Ails Our Democracy?
• Q&A: Brooke Gladstone on the media, Trump, and truth
• Brooke Gladstone
• 'On The Media's' Brooke Gladstone on 'The Trouble with Reality'
• Interview: Journalist Brooke Gladstone And 'The Trouble With Reality'
• On The Media’s Brooke Gladstone on the redefinition of truth in the Trump era
• Journalist Brooke Gladstone Explains The 'Trouble With Reality'

This movie had a tumultuous production, with constant fighting between writer Paddy Chayefsky and director Ken Russell. We discuss how their conflict influenced the end product... and the studios paying their bills. We also wonder if this movie unintentionally captures what we now refer to as toxic masculinity.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Altered States (film)
• Altered States (book)

Additional Resources:

• Felperin, L. (2011). Russell pics marked by raw passion. Variety, 425(4), 7.
• Corliss, R. (1980). Invasion Of The Mind Snatcher. Time, 116(26), 58.
• Lanza, J. (2007). Phallic Frenzy : Ken Russell and His Films (Vol. 1st ed). Chicago, Ill: Independent Publishers Group.
• AT THE MOVIES; Ken Russell on 'Altered States' controversy.
• From Altered States to Altered Titles: A Close Analysis of the Title Sequence to Ken Russell's Altered States (1981)
• What We Mean When We Say, “Toxic Masculinity”

This British comedy series is a deconstruction of humor in a jazz-like improvisation. We discuss Lee's persona, the BBC's decision-making process and the fine lines between self-absorption, art and masturbation. In fact, we take a masturbation metaphor way too far. So brace yourselves.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, Series 3
• The Thick of It
• Travel Man
• Nanette
• Review
• The Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project
• How I Escaped My Certain Fate
• Something to Take the Edge Off

Additional Resources:

• Who says you can't do jokes about religion on the BBC?
• Stewart Lee returns in 'Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'
• Stewart Lee Live Review: If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One
• Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle roars back with more deceptive deadpanning
• ‘Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle’: Daring You To Like It
• Why I walked out of a Stewart Lee gig
• Where are the Thinkers? Stewart Lee in conversation with Neil Jackson for Post-Nearly Press