Supercontext: an autopsy of media

With a comparison of their staff rosters, we try imagining a television show that idolizes the White House today, the way The West Wing did in 1999. Believe it or not, Aaron Sorkin's fantasy of public service let some people admire civics again.

As long-time listeners know, one of our hosts is moving across the country, and our production schedule has been disrupted.

To ease the transition, this week's Supercontext is a shortened, totally subjective chat about what media we have been consuming and enjoying.

If anything caught your interest, please consider buying through our Amazon links below to support the show!

PROSE

• Newsletters: Warren Ellis, Unladylike, Hot Pod, Jim Gibbons, Ken Lowery, Live Wire
• Men in the Off Hours

AUDIO

• Jimmywine Majestic
• Until Your Heart Stops

COMICS

• Shiver
• Juni Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu
• The Coldest City

TV

• Hap and Leonard
• Legion
• Halt and Catch Fire

MOVIES

• Alien: Covenant
• Atomic Blonde

This graphic novel, by one of the elder statesmen of comics, pushed the medium into new formats, genres and methods of distribution. We discuss how Eisner used a very personal tragedy to create it, as well as its unique representation of Jewish American identity.

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

• A Contract With God
• The Spirit
• Comics and Sequential Art
• Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative
• Hubert Selby, Jr.

Additional Resources:

• Eisner's A Contract with God Is the First Graphic Novel. By: Plummer, Marguerite R., Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013
• The 'God' father
• THE ANATOMY OF EXPRESSION: WILL EISNER AND ‘A CONTRACT WITH GOD’
• Scott McCloud’s Introduction to Will Eisner’s A Contract With God — the Centennial Edition
• Royal, D. P. (2011). Sequential Sketches of Ethnic Identity: Will Eisner's "A Contract with God" as Graphic Cycle. College Literature, 38(3), 150-167.

This crime novel follows a wandering problem-solver who always wins. We discuss why these books are so immensely popular and the vicarious consolation we get out of the hero, his nobility and his alienation.

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

• The Killing Floor
• Servant of the Shard
• The Authority Vol 1 (featuring Midnighter)
• Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism
• Lucas Davenport series
• The Equalizer

Additional Resources:

• The Official Website of Lee Child and Jack Reacher FAQ
• LEE CHILD: THE EMOTIONAL CONTRACT OF JACK REACHER
• How Jack Reacher Was Built
• Why I love Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels
• The Curious Case of Lee Child

"It's important to have a spirit animal who's an actual person," is this episode's pull quote. We discuss the making of Iggy Pop's album "The Idiot," David Bowie's role in its production, and how narratives can change music listening experiences.

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