422 - FCF: Sandman Mystery Theatre - Book One (feat. Vickie Willis Navarra)

Gobbledygeek

For the penultimate Gobbledygeek of the year, Paul and Arlo return to an institution they dropped like a bad habit at the start of the pandemic: the Four-Color Flashback! Vickie Willis Navarra, board member of the Comics and Popular Arts Conference at DragonCon, joins the boys to discuss Sandman Mystery Theatre: Book One. Matt Wagner’s resurrection of DC’s Golden Age hero Wesley Dodds, with art by Guy Davis, John Watkiss, R.G. Taylor, and David Hornung, explores the dark dreams of 1938 New York. The gang discusses the art’s sketchy, shadowy noir qualities; Vickie interrupts her praise of Dian Belmont long enough to wonder if Dian falls into the “exceptional female” trope; Paul and Arlo ponder the series’ connection to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman; and more.

NEXT: season 11 comes to a close with a Geek Challenge featuring Thunderheart and Dead Man.

BREAKDOWN

00:00:35 - Intro / Guest

00:11:50 - Main Topic

01:54:34 - Outro / Next

LINKS

• V.E.W. Navarra: Writing All The Things

• Reading Joss Whedon, edited by Rhonda V.. Wilcox, Tanya R. Cochran, Cynthea Masson, and David Lavery

• At Home in the Whedonverse: Essays on Domestic Place, Space and Life, edited by Juliette C. Kitchens
• Geek Rock: An Exploration of Music and Subculture, edited by Alex DiBlasi and Victoria Willis
• Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor, edited by Thomas M. Kitts and Nick Baxter-Moore

MUSIC

• “Begin the Beguine” by Artie Shaw (1938)
• “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams” by Bing Crosby (1938)

GOBBLEDYCARES

• Support Black Lives Matter and find anti-racism resources: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
• Help teachers and classrooms in need: https://www.donorschoose.org/
• Do your part to remove the burden of medical debt for individuals, families, and veterans: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/
• Register to vote: https://vote.gov/