A version of this review appears in print on March 24, 2016, on page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: One Action Hero, Molded by Time, Directors and Fans.
All Things Considered March 23, 2016
http://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471603073/the-many-masks-of-batman-in-caped-crusadeJason Heller
The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture 
Taped on location at the Small Press Expo! Producer/Host Ulysses E. Campbell talks with ComiXology co-founder John D. Roberts and vice president of marketing Chip Mosher about the services of the premier purveyor of digital comics! John and Chip share why SPX is important, comment on the rise of digital comics and the ComiXology Submit portal that allows cartoonists access to the larger marketplace.
On Tues March 22, I will be giving a lecture at George Washington University on Ferdowsi's epic Persian Poem, The Shahnameh and its use in popular culture and media.
Copies of the book, Shahnameh For Kids will also be available.
This is a free event, open to the everyone but seating is limited so please RSVP below
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 18 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/03/18/the-simpsons-predicted-a-trump-presidency-16-years-ago-tomorrow-the-writer-explains-why/Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 16 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/03/16/gene-luen-yang-took-on-superman-today-the-writer-exits-with-a-ripped-new-creative-muscle/'Daredevil' actress grows into her Netflix character, even as she braces for dark turns ahead
By David Betancourt
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 15 2016
This 'Daredevil' actress used her karate skills to play one of TV's toughest characters
By David Betancourt
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 16 2016
How Charlie Cox works faster, harder, tougher for the new season of Netflix's 'Daredevil'
By David Betancourt
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 17 2016
From Elektra to the Punisher: Our 5 takeaways from today's striking new season of Netflix's 'Daredevil'
By David Betancourt
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 18 2016
A witty, intelligent cultural history from NPR book critic Glen Weldon explains Batman's rises and falls throughout the ages—and what his story tells us about ourselves.
Since his creation, Batman has been many things: a two-fisted detective; a planet-hopping gadabout; a campy Pop-art sensation; a pointy-eared master spy; and a grim and gritty ninja of the urban night. For more than three quarters of a century, he has cycled from a figure of darkness to one of lightness and back again; he's a bat-shaped Rorschach inkblot who takes on the various meanings our changing culture projects onto him. How we perceive Batman's character, whether he's delivering dire threats in a raspy Christian Bale growl or trading blithely homoerotic double-entendres with partner Robin on the comics page, speaks to who we are and how we wish to be seen by the world. It's this endlessly mutable quality that has made him so enduring.
And it's Batman's fundamental nerdiness—his gadgets, his obsession, his oath, even his lack of superpowers—that uniquely resonates with his fans who feel a fiercely protective love for the character. Today, fueled by the internet, that breed of passion for elements of popular culture is everywhere. Which is what makes Batman the perfect lens through which to understand geek culture, its current popularity, and social significance.
In The Caped Crusade, with humor and insight, Glen Weldon, book critic for NPR and author of Superman: The Unauthorized Biography, lays out Batman's seventy-eight-year cultural history and shows how he has helped make us who we are today and why his legacy remains so strong.
Glen Weldon will be in conversationwith Linda Holmes, host and editor of NPR's Monkey See blog.
GEM Gives Scoop Alice in Wonderland Exhibit Preview
Scoop March 18 2016
http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1012?ArticleID=176338
Inspired by the Japanese art of kamishibai, or "paper theater," this wordless story is meant to inspire a performance. A boy and girl are cruelly teasing animals in a forest when a frightened bird takes flight. The children give chase up a mountainside and find themselves confronted by a mystical man who has feathers emerging from his clothing. With a flash like lightning, the children are transformed—into monkeys. Eventually captured by humans, they receive some of the cruel treatment they had earlier perpetrated themselves. In keeping with kamishibai tradition, this tale contains a lesson for young readers to discover as they turn the pages. Ages 5 – 8
