Marvelous! Or, the Death of Cinema

A critical, tongue-in-cheek look at the bleak landscape of the modern IP-driven Hollywood blockbuster. Hosted by Tyrell James (@DiscourseStwo), Nicole Veneto (RIP @kuntsuragi) and Cole (@Netscape_Black). Audio production by Miguel Tahni. Cover art by Zoe Woolley (@probablyademon). Banner by Johanna (@Why_I_Am_Art).
Discord: https://discord.gg/7vRmbRJDgs
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/marvelousdeath
Episodes
Episodes
Friday Apr 21, 2023
Thor Ragnarok, or Taika This Movie and Shove It
Friday Apr 21, 2023
Friday Apr 21, 2023
On this episode Stu and Cole bully Nicole for enjoying things. Cole tells us about Thor and Hulk in comics, and how the MCU films have sold them both short. We discuss how a film that seems to want to be so whimsical and colorful seems to fall so flat, and how director Taika Waititi seems totally apathetic towards if not contemptuous of fantasy and science fiction: The small-minded and unimaginative cynicism that deflates the wonder and spectacle from Marvel's adaptations of it's more cosmic and psychedelic material. Also everything is on a green screen and half the cast are clearly never on set at the same time.
Thank you for listening! Please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing to our Patreon where you can enjoy special bonus content, exclusive Discord community events, and have your name added to our Credits Page. Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow @MarvelousDeath for updates.
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Turtle Penis! (w/ Andy) [BONUS]
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
In this special bonus episode, Andy from Those Good Old Fashioned Values joins the pod to walk us through a retrospective on the formative years of this generation spanning cartoon franchise, its origin in independent comics, and a discussion of the surprisingly well-crafted and endearingly corny 1990 live action film. But first, Nicole makes a horrifying discovery about Turtle biology.
Check out Andy's Twitch and listen to TGOFV!
Thank you for listening! Please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing to our Patreon where you can enjoy special bonus content, exclusive Discord community events, and have your name added to our Credits Page. Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow @MarvelousDeath for updates.
Thursday Apr 06, 2023
Logan, or Children of X-Men
Thursday Apr 06, 2023
Thursday Apr 06, 2023
What if they made a comic-book movie... for grown ups? It's Logan! It's Wolverine! Remember Wolverine? He's old and sad. He says fuck. He chops dudes arms off. Professor X says swears and poops his pants. Everybody dies in the grim dark future of six years from now. We liked it ok, it's good but not as good as you remember, but we get to enjoy some great performances, fun gore, and discuss just what it means to make a 'mature' superhero story.
Thank you for listening! Please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing to our Patreon where you can enjoy special bonus content, exclusive Discord community events, and have your name added to our Credits Page. Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow @MarvelousDeath for updates.
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Wonder Woman, or Waiting for Godot (To Learn How to Act)
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Nicole reckons with her cringe girlboss past, Stu spergs about how badly they got WWI wrong, new permanent third mic Cole has some wild shit to tell you about Wonder Woman comics lore. How could you take something as wild as a demigoddess created by a Freudian bdsm polycule and turn it into this bland rehash of First Avenger? How could you take a solid cast of stars and character actors and force them into orbit around the dead cold star that is animate mannequin Gal Gadot? Why did people like this movie? All this and much more on Marvelous!
Thank you for listening! Please consider subscribing to our Patreon where you can enjoy special bonus content, exclusive Discord community events, and have your name added to our Credits Page. Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow @MarvelousDeath for updates.
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
Spider-Man: Homecoming, or Peter Parker Custody Battle
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
Cole (@java_jigga) returns once again to help us out with Spidey's grand foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and Disney shareholders' wallets), Spider-Man: Homecoming. After a prolonged and ugly custody battle, Sony begrudgingly offered Marvel Studios to share parental rights over their little baby cash cow, and the result is yet another genre pastiche with the visual tactility of a Verizon commercial.
Thank you for listening! Please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing to our Patreon where you can enjoy special bonus content, exclusive Discord community events, and have your name added to our Credits Page. Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow @MarvelousDeath for updates.
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
Spiderman, A People’s History (feat. Cole) [Part 2 of 2]
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
Spiderman expert Cole returns to take us from the close of the 1980s Bronze Age of Comics and into the modern day, with the rise and fall of independent comics, 'adult' subjects, edginess, Marvel's bankruptcy, and the decline of mainstream American comics in the 21st century through the lens of Marvel's flagship webhead. This is the second part of a two part series. Next time, we'll be watching Spiderman: Homecoming - as the friendly neighborhood arachnid is assimilated into the Disney-Marvel Machine.
Click here to check out Cole's twitch stream and other things!
Subscribe to our Patreon and come hang out in our Discord.
Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow us at @MarvelousDeath for updates! Thank you for listening!
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
Spiderman, A People’s History (feat. Cole) [Part 1 of 2]
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
Noted comics scholar Cole (@java_jigga) joins us to discuss the History of Spiderman as a character and brand, from his origins in the 1960s, through major lore moments, changes in creative staff, behind the scenes shenanigans, and the long weird history of licensed spin-offs, including a Japanese live-action series from the 1970s that had a formative role in the tokusatsu/sentai genre of television that begat series like Kamen Rider and Power Rangers. Along the way we learn about the long-history of exploitation of artists and writers, the origins of the crossover shared-universe and multiverse approach as a marketing gimmick, and in the process sketch a general history of superheroes and comic books from the post-war period to the today.
This is the first part of a two part episode, which carries us roughly up to the 1980s. Part two will drop later this month, followed by an episode on Spiderman: Homecoming. An additional off the cuff conversation between Nicole and Cole (aka Ni/Cole) will also be available soon on our Patreon.
Click here to check out Cole's twitch stream and other things!
Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow us at @MarvelousDeath for updates! Thank you for listening!
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, or Oedipal Phallic Power
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
We ring in the new year and year two of the podcast not adrift in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but somewhere a long time ago in a galaxy far far away (but still owned by the Walt Disney corporation).
The Force Awakens: woke SJW propaganda, the Walt Disney Company's hollow retread of A New Hope, a Lacanian manifesto in white men's fragile masculinity, or a JJ Abrams puzzlebox that's all set up and no pay off? Stu and Nicole take a break from capeshit to talk about gay ass space wizards and how delusional everyone was in 2015/2016. Plus, Nicole does some intellectual self-mutilation as by revisiting her award-winning psychoanalytic essay on The Force Awakens. It really was selected as the best essay of 2018.
Rate, review, subscribe to our Patreon and join our Discord Community! Special extra thanks to producer Miguel, who had to slog extra hard through technical issues for this one!
Production by Miguel Tanhi. Art by Zoe Woolley. Follow us at @MarvelousDeath for updates! Thank you for listening and supporting the show!