123 episodes
CEREBRO Connor Goldsmith
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4.8 • 16 Ratings
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CEREBRO is a podcast about Marvel's Merry Mutants, the Uncanny X-Men, hosted by Connor Goldsmith. Each episode highlights one character. Tune in for a deep exploration of the 58-year history of this enduring, revolutionary franchise!
www.cerebrocast.com
www.patreon.com/cerebrocast
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Episode 109: Arcade (feat. Annalise Bissa)
In Episode 109 of CEREBRO, Connor and Marvel editor Annalise Bissa hunt the most dangerous game with the arrogant Arcade! Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, spoiled brat Arcade never really grew up, instead becoming a whimsical assassin and creating Murderworld, a grisly amusement park of death.
The CEREBRO character file on Arcade begins at 58:02, after some hopefully soothing conversation about the new From the Ashes X-Men relaunch taking place this summer.
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Steven Attewell, featured in Episode 97 on Sebastian Shaw, who recently died of cancer. Steven was an essential part of the CEREBRO community and wrote in wonderful questions for nearly every single episode, including this one.
(Content Advisory: Arcade's story includes child abuse, domestic violence, and torture.)
You can support CEREBRO on Patreon!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands -
Episode 108: Hepzibah (feat. Jordan Blok) — Part Two: Skunk, Interrupted
In the GALAXY-SIZE Episode 108 of CEREBRO, Connor and fan favorite guest Jordan Blok arm up for bird season with the marvelous Mam'selle Hepzibah! Created by Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont, Hepzibah is the femme fatale of the Starjammers, the Shi'ar galaxy's most notorious space pirates and freedom fighters. An escaped slave who dedicated her life to rebellion against her former oppressors in the Imperium, Hepzibah is also the paramour of Corsair, Christopher Summers — long-lost father to Cyclops, Havok, and another guy it later turns out.
Also, she's a skunk person. She's Cyclops's sexy skunk alien stepmother. This is Connor and Jordan's nine hour skunkstravaganza.
This is Part Two! Start with Part One, or check out Patreon for the complete Extended Skunkery Mix.
(Content Advisory: Hepzibah's story includes racism, slavery, genocide, sexual violence, torture, and a lot of other very heavy stuff.)
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands -
Episode 108: Hepzibah (feat. Jordan Blok) — Part One: Stepmutha Has Arrived
In the GALAXY-SIZE Episode 108 of CEREBRO, Connor and fan favorite guest Jordan Blok arm up for bird season with the marvelous Mam'selle Hepzibah! Created by Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont, Hepzibah is the femme fatale of the Starjammers, the Shi'ar galaxy's most notorious space pirates and freedom fighters. An escaped slave who dedicated her life to rebellion against her former oppressors in the Imperium, Hepzibah is also the paramour of Corsair, Christopher Summers — long-lost father to Cyclops, Havok, and another guy it later turns out.
Also, she's a skunk person. She's Cyclops's sexy skunk alien stepmother. This is Connor and Jordan's nine hour skunkstravaganza.
The CEREBRO character file on Hepzibah begins at 1:36:46.
This is Part One of Two. You can check out Patreon for the complete Extended Skunkery Mix.
(Content Advisory: Hepzibah's story includes racism, slavery, genocide, sexual violence, torture, and a lot of other very heavy stuff.)
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands -
Episode 107: Candra (feat. Kat Driscoll)
In Episode 107 of CEREBRO, Connor and Kat Driscoll offer up their tithes to the capricious Candra! Created by Howard Mackie and Lee Weeks, Candra of the Floating Spires is one of the Externals, part of a secret coterie of immortal mutants who have shaped world politics for hundreds of years. As the Benefactress of the Thieves' and Assassins' Guilds of New Orleans, Candra has been a notable foe to Gambit and Storm in particular.
She's fun! She lives in a jewel.
The CEREBRO character file on Candra begins at 1:52:05.
(Content Advisory: Candra's story includes child abuse, and features the general bad vibes one might expect of a centuries-old French imperialist.)
You can support CEREBRO on Patreon!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands -
Bonus Episode: Sky Masters (feat. The Jack Kirby Museum)
Happy New Year, Zalagang!
Today, for a special interview, Director Rand Hoppe and President Tom Kraft of the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center join the show to talk about their new crowdfunding project at Zoop: a hardcover collection of Jack Kirby and Wally Wood's full-color Sunday strips for Sky Masters of the Space Force (with writer Dave Wood).
A syndicated newspaper strip that launched in 1958, shortly after Sputnik 1 launched the space race in earnest, Sky Masters imagines the near future of the American space program.
Regular CEREBRO programming will resume soon. In the meanwhile, you can support the podcast on Patreon!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands -
Episode 106: Laurie Collins (feat. Alex Abad-Santos)
In Episode 106 of CEREBRO, Connor and returning guest Alex Abad-Santos just want to be popular with Laurie Collins, the wilting Wallflower! Created by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, and Keron Grant as one of the new students in the 2003 relaunch of New Mutants, which evolved into New X-Men: Academy X, Laurie is a shy and reserved teenage girl terrified of social contact because her mutant pheromones make her feel like a predator. An interesting arc takes shape as she develops more control over her powers, but sadly she's swiftly killed off when the writing team changes in 2005.
But now, thanks to Krakoa, she's back!
The CEREBRO character file on Wallflower begins at 49:15.
(Content Advisory: Laurie's story hinges on the premise of sexual violence through mind control. This episode also discusses at length the student-teacher romance plot at the core of New Mutants vol. 2.)
You can support CEREBRO on Patreon!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Customer Reviews
Fun for Fans and First Timers alike.
I listen because I love to hear a queer perspective on the X-men but this is far more than that.
As someone who is slightly more than a casual fan of X-men and comics alike this has taught me so much about the x-men I never knew (reading Storm as queer still surprises me in a good way) but it also has introduced me to characters I’d never have been interested in before (who knew Colossus was more than just a pile of muscled steel).
It’s entertaining, fun and thoughtful (the beast and magneto episodes were amazing).
The episodes look long but that time flies by. Thank you for dedicating so much time to something that brings me and many others a lot of joy.
Could do with being more concise but I really enjoy it
3.5
I love that this podcast introduces a lot of these X-Men to new readers in as thorough a way as you can. But even with the many skips over pieces of history with Connor going “don’t worry about that”, it can get a bit tedious. Especially for characters who get tied up in plot cul de sacs that aren’t really addressed ever again or are reset almost immediately.
It’s not that bad for a lot of episodes. But it’s noticeable when listening to stories from the same team, like New Mutants or X-Factor. It’s a lot of retread ground. But I do love the stories focused on obscure mutants in teams often ignored, like Meggan from Excalibur. Since so much of it is new and left-of-the-dial.
Also, personally my favourite part of the podcast is the letters segment. I feel like it would do the show better if, for characters in stories that have been thoroughly covered, they didn’t need to be as thorough and got to extend discussions. Since I am craving more insight of the X-Men from a queer lens. I think that is the podcasts biggest asset, since so many of these mutants are full of queer subtext and marvel discussions online can feel drowned out by cishet fans that just don’t get it.
Meggan was the episode I mentioned, and I feel that was the most compelling. I think because her history is very focused and her powers are compelling to analyze. But even there, I would have loved more analysis of her powers from a queer and specifically a trans lens.
I think only getting to cover a character once each is a great idea but it also means it limits discussion of them. I personally feel like there could be a special series for tying up loose ends maybe by discussing iconic teams? Like covering the original first class, or New Mutants, or X-Force after finishing the iconic members of those. Where you can have a broader discussion of relationships with those teams and your ideal makeup of them and their future, as well as dedicate more time to audience discussion. Idk it’s an idea
Solid but long winded
This a podcast has great content buried within. The author and friends tend to loose track quickly and episodes blow out leaving you bored before they get to what you came for. On the plus side some sharp well argued opinions and good insights and research.