Original Air Date
- June 20, 2024
Part 1 Begins
Hero Song (2:54)
- “Best at Loving You” by Michael Franti & Spearhead
Superhero Smash: Season II (2:00)
- You’re listening to Superhero Smash: Season II!
- Featuring the best in Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore
- Focusing on current superhero movies and popular culture events
- I’m your host, Dr. Gian Pagnucci, a.k.a. The New Professor X
- Playing great music about superheroes as well as music that is featured in superhero movies and shows
- Also talking about comic book history and heroism
- But no matter what cool stuff I discuss, you don’t have to worry because this is a NO SPOILERS show!
- Contact me, the new Professor X, via email: SuperheroSmash2024@gmail.com
Opening Credits Song (1:00)
- I saw Michael Franti and his band in Pittsburgh last summer and they put one one amazing show
- While that opening song might seem romantic, Franti has said it is about a father’s love for their child, in his case his young son Taj
- His music is upbeat, positive, and has a perfect summertime vibe, like a Jimmy Buffet for today, so check him out
Audio Episode Theme: A Juneteenth Superhero Smash (1:00)
- Yesterday was Juneteenth, a federal holiday in honor of the emancipation of slaves in America
- In honor of that holiday, I’ll be celebrating some of our greatest black superheroes: Luke Cage and the Black Panther
- I’ll also tell you more about the origin of the Juneteenth holiday a little later in the show, so stay tuned
- And I want to thank loyal listener Dr. Joseph Croskey of PennWest University for that I do this special Juneteenth Superhero Smash on black superheroes
- I always like to begin Superhero Smash with an instrumental hero theme, and today I just have to open with some Black Panther music
- Interestingly, the soundtrack f0r the original Black Panther film was written and performed by rapper Kendrick Lamar
- I’ll get to a couple of his songs later in the show, but for now, here’s the opening theme to the Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever
Superhero Theme Music (1:17)
- “Black Panther” from Wakanda Remixed by Ludwig Goransson and featuring Ame Kora
- From Wakanda Remixed
A Lesson on Language (5:00)
- Since Superhero Smash is an educational and FUN show, let me take a moment to talk about the Juneteenth holiday and some terminology
- Juneteenth is an important day to remind us of the long fight it took to free black people from slavery in the United States
- While the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, many black people in the United States were still under slavery in the southern states
- In fact, it took another year and a half for the slaves to be freed
- On June 19 in 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and declared that the final 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree
- This day came to be known as Juneteenth
- As an English professor, I’m always keenly aware of the importance of the language we use
- There are a number of terms people use when talking about race
- One of the more preferred terms is “BIPOC” which stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
- However, I know that this term is not known by everyone
- People had been using the term “African American” for some time, but that term can be problematic since it assumes a person’s birthplace or ancestry is tied to Africa which is not necessarily the case
- “African American” had replaced the term “negro” which is of course no longer used
- And while I will not use the “n-word” which was long used as a racial slur, it is worth noting that many people especially artists like Kendrik Lamar, have reclaimed that term, though it must be used with care and respect
- The PRX Exchange is public radio’s largest broadcasting distribution marketplace
- They have a very helpful article called “A Guide to Broadcast Obscenities and Issuing Content Advisories” in which they discuss what you can say on air and what must be bleeped
- WIUP FM 90.1, and all radio stations, actually broadcast on a seven-second delay to allow for bleeping out obscenities
- Also helpful is comedian George Carlin’s “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” (WARNING: NOT FOR KIDS!)
- I won’t be playing any of that, but it is hilarious
- It’s great to listen to if you’ve never heard it
- And worth listening to again if you have
- I’ve linked it to my website, but since Superhero Smash is a family-friendly show, parents should preview it first to decide if they want their kids listening to it
- I don’t want some kid getting called to the principal’s office tomorrow and blaming Superhero Smash!
- All of that leads me to choosing to use the word “black” to talk about the superheroes featured on today’s Superhero Smash
- The bottom line is to use language with respect and awareness and, if you are unsure what to say, ask the person what term they feel fits them
- It’s also always better for us to think of people as individuals not categories as much as possible
- And this makes for a good moment to play “Black Panther” by Kendrick
- And I’ll note that I will be playing the clean version of this song since Apple Music has a lot of songs by Kendrick that are explicit
- Like many rappers, Kendrick does a lot of language play in his music which you’ll hear in this song
Superhero Song 1 (2:11)
- “Black Panther” Kendrick Lamar
Part 1 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 2 Begins (@15 minutes)
Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Featuring the best superhero music and comic book lore in the MCU, the DCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash2024@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans!
- Let me give a shout out to a new listener, Andrea Campbell who is joining the staff of IUP’s newly minted College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Service
- Andrea is taking over for Debbie Bacco who is retiring and will be sadly missed
- Welcome to Andrea and best wishes, Debbie!
Long Lost Hero: Lion Man–The Birth of the Black Superhero (6:00)
- I usually do my Long Lost Hero feature later in the show, but today I want to do it early today to talk about the birth of the Black Superhero
- The website Nerdist has an interesting article about the first black superhero: Lion Man
- “The Brief History of Lion Man, The First Black Superhero”
- According to Nerdist, “In 1947, a Black journalist named Orrin Cromwell Evans was working for the Philadelphia Record, an all-white publication, as a general news writer when the news producer shuttered. Needless to say, there were things Evans wanted to write about, specifically racial inequality, that he could not do. So, Evans created his own space to use comics as a medium for telling stories about Black experiences. He teamed with two former Record editors, Harry T. Saylor and Bill Driscoll, to found All-Negro Comics, Inc. In June 1947, they published All-Negro Comics #1. The 48-page book with a color cover and anthology of stories featured a range of characters, including Lion Man.”
- Lion Man had a costume like Tarzan’s which was just a red loincloth
- He was a scientist who was sent by the United Nations Magic Mountain, somewhere in Africa’s Gold Coast region, to keep people from stealing the uranium found there
- In a letter to readers in the first issue, Evans talked with great pride about his publishing effort
- “Dear Readers: This is the first issue of All-Negro Comics, jam-packed with fast action, African adventure, good clean humor and fantasy. Every brush stroke and pen line in the drawings on these pages are by Negro artists… This publication is another milestone in the splendid history of Negro journalism. All-Negro Comics will not only give Negro artists an opportunity gainfully to use their talents, but it will glorify Negro historical achievements.”
- Lion Man fought and defeated a lot of white antagonists but sadly was himself defeated by racist white distributors who blocked Evans from purchasing the newsprint he needed to publish a second issue of All-Negro Comics
Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book (1:00)
- Lion Man first appeared All-Negro Comics #1
- Publication Date: June 1947
- Written by Orinn Evans
- Penciled by John Terrell and George J. Evans, Jr., Orinn’s brother
- Value on eBay $35,000 (CGC graded 7.0 on a 10 point scale)
Superhero Song 2 (2:51)
- “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” by Jason Weaver, Rowan Atkinson, & Laura Williams
- Lion Man’s adventures take place in Africa
- And I do have a loyal listener from Africa, a king like Black Panther: Simba the Lion
- When I talked about Black Panther in Audio Issue #8 of Superhero Smash, Simba emailed me at SuperheroSmash2024@gmail.com to ask if I would play this next song, one of his personal favorites
- So here comes “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” for King T’Challa, a.k.a. the Black Panther, and King Simba
- The voice of Zazu the hornbill bird was played by Rowan Atkinson, famed Mr. Bean actor
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The Impact of Black Panther (3:00)
- The Black Panther was a phenomenal hit!
- The film earned $1.3 billion
- It’s $200 million budget was a record for Marvel at the time, and Marvel studio head Kevin Feige said ““It’s a big story that deserves to be told in a big way, for all of the cultural and political reasons that people talk about,” as Feige told the online entertainment website Vulture for the article “Why Marvel Spent More Getting Black Panther Just Right”
- It was the highest grossing film ever featuring actors of color
- Playing King T’Challa who possessed the powers of the Black Panther was a tour de force by actor Chadwick Boseman who sadly passed away in 2020 after a four year battle with colon cancer (R.I.P.)
- The film received a Best Picture nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
- Tre Johnson, in the Vox article said, “the film Black Panther is in many ways a love letter to black culture. Africa has traditionally been an unsophisticated bit player in American media, often portrayed as backward, savage, and chaotic in everything from news coverage to films. It’s a portrayal that has left little room for other interpretations, which is why Black Panther’s vision of Wakanda as a bustling metropolis of vibranium-powered futuristic skyscrapers, racing trains, and soaring spaceships feels so refreshing.”
- Vibranium is a special metal that was used to make Captain America’s invulnerable shield, among other things.
- Black Panther received 7 Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, and won 3 Oscars, including for Best Original Score by Goransson, which I just featured at the start of the show
- It was a travesty, though, that Chadwick Boseman did not win a posthumous Best Actor Academy Award when he was nominated for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
- But the strength, majesty, and grace that Boseman brought to the icon role of Black Panther will be remembered for years to come
- I also want to give a shout out to my friend and former doctoral student, Dr. Darius Cuerton
- Darius is English professor at Anne Arundel Community College and he once played the role of Black Panther in a play we performed at the Conference on College Composition and Communication
- The play was titled “The Avengers Save Higher Education” where the Avengers quit being superheroes and become English teacher instead, assuming that might be easier
- I played Captain America and Darius and I were joined by an all star team of other IUP alumni and graduate students as various Avengers heroes
- Which is the perfect segue way to play Kendrick’s “All the Stars”
Superhero Song 3 (3:52)
- “All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA
Part 2 Ends (@32 minutes)
Part 3 Begins (@32 minutes)
Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Featuring the best superhero music and comic book lore in the MCU, the DCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash2024@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans!
The Origins of Black Superheroes (2:00)
- I mentioned that my friend Dr. Joseph Croskey asked me to do this special Superhero Smash episode on black superheroes
- He told me I had to talk about a group of new black superheroes that were created in the 1990’s by Milestone Media
- Chris Gavaler writes a blog called The Patron Saint of Superheroes
- He has a very interesting article about black superheroes called “Black in the 80s” which includes some discussion of Mileston Media
- Gavaler also talks about the significance of DC’s black superhero Cyborg
- Comics Studies scholar Davis remarks that artist George Perez gave Cyborg a white metal costume which exposed parts of his skin, a problematic tradition in comics. Davis says that costume reminds “the reader that [Cyborg] is more than just a mere robot” while “reinforcing the double consciousness that he embodies” as a black character (2015: 209)
- Cyborg is a great character, so I will feature him next
Superhero Song #4 (1:38)
- “Go” from Teen Titans Go! To the Movies by the whole Teen Titans Go! Cast: Greg Cipes (Beast Boy), Scott Menville (Robin), Khary Payton (Cyborg), Tara Strong (Raven), & Hynden Walch (Starfire)
Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics (5:00)
- In his article, Gavaler talks about the significance of the Milestone Media superheroes as being minority-owned
- He says, “In 1993 Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan created Milestone Media with Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle. Jim Owsley was originally involved, but left before the founding. Unlike other independent comics companies, minority-owned and otherwise, Milestone partnered with DC in order to secure wide distribution while also maintaining creative and legal control of its properties. Both the Milestone and the DC logos appeared on all covers. Milestone launched four titles in its first month: HARDWARE, BLOOD SYNDICATE, ICON, and STATIC, all written or co-written by McDuffie, with three more titles to follow in 1994″
- Milestone Media’s line of comics were set in a fictional “Dakotaverse,” with the history and geography of Dakota being fetaured in the stories
- McDuffie also revived Monica Rambeau as the black Captain Marvel
- She was featured in the recent Marvels movie
- McDuffie also rebooted Deathlok, a cyborg super-solider for Marvel
- Deathlock actually quotes from W.E.B. DuBois’ famous book The Souls of Black Folks in the final issue of of McDuffie’s run on the title
- McDuffie did such groundbreaking work that that the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics was named in his honor beginning in 2015
- When the award was first dedicated, Marvel creator Matt Wayne called McDuffie “the first African-American to create a Marvel comic” and, more importantly, a creator who “challenged our worldview, but so subtly that we could ignore it and watch the explosions, if that’s all we wanted”
- I’ll finish this brief history of some of the black superheroes by talking for a moment about the comic book Tribe
- Tribe is about a team of black superheroes in Brooklyn, NY
- I met the creators of Tribe, Todd Johnson and Larry Stroman, at 3 Rivers Comicon a few weeks ago
- I’ll be doing an interview with them for Superhero Smash later this summer
- Tribe is published by Image Comics and is the all-time best selling African American comic by independent creators
- Tribe sold over 1 million copies
- Stay tuned for a future Superhero Smash with the creators of Tribe
Part 3 Ends (@42 minutes)
Part 4 Begins (@42 minutes)
Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Featuring the best superhero music and comic book lore in the MCU, the DCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash2024@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans!
Romantic Interlude (1:00)
- I have just enough time to talk about the love story between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage
- In the Netflix shows, they do develop a kind of troubled relationship
- In the comics, they eventually get married
- Both are great shows, so let’s start with the Jessica Jones theme
Romantic Luke Cage & Jessica Jones Song 1 (1:09)
- “Jessica Jones Main Title” by Sean Callery
- Jessica Jones is played by Krysten Ritter
- Jones is a hard drinking, hard hitting, beautiful, and deeply troubled character
- She resents having superpowers, but nevertheless uses her powers to do good while running her private detective agency, Alias Investigations
- When she meets Luke Cage who is working as a bartender, sparks fly as they are drawn to each other partly because they are both super strong (in another NOT for kids episode!)
Romantic Luke Cage & Jessica Jones Song 2 (4:45)
- “I Put a Spell on You” by Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
- Featured in Season 2 of Luke Cage
Romantic Luke Cage & Jessica Jones Song 3 (2:12)
- “Bulletproof Love” by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad and featuring Method Man
- Luke Cage is played by Mike Colter
A Super PSA (Public Service Announcement 1:00)
- Before I go, I want to mention that I met filmmaker Hezreel Robertson at 3 Rivers Comicon
- He has a film about black superheroes that will be premiering at the August Wilson Center African Cultural Center in Pittsburgh
- I’ll be featuring Hezreel talking about his film in another episode of Superhero Smash later this summer
Superhero Smash To Be Continued Next Issue (2:00)
- Not quite the Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel
- Next week I’ll be gone to a conference
- Sadly, that does mean no Superhero Smash next week, but be back here in 2 weeks for more excitement!
- Contact me, the new Professor X, via email: SuperheroSmash2024@gmail.com
- And always remember: “You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do what’s right when someone needs your help.”–Gian Pagnucci
End Credits Song (2:04)
- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” by Jared Moreno & ORCH
- Featuring one of my all-time favorite black superheroes, the Miles Morales Spider-Man
- Miles hanging out upside down above New York City with Spider Gwen
Part 4 Ends (@60 minutes)