Comm in Ten: Why Superheroes Are Worth Studying

Pop culture is never just pop culture. The stories we tell about who's strong, who's worth saving, and what counts as power say a lot about us. You just have to know where to look. Superhero research is one of those places. In this episode, Dr. Adam Tyma flips the script and lets us study him for a change. He takes comics and capes seriously, and he'll tell you exactly why that's real work. Dr. Tyma works in critical media studies. That means he digs into film, TV, and video games to figure out what they're quietly teaching us. And his range is wild. He's written on Alien, Blade Runner, and Buffy. He's co-editing a Marvel book for Bloomsbury that covers everything from a postcolonial take on Black Panther to Logan as a story about getting older and facing the end. He also runs a TikTok series, the Media Literacy Survival Guide, with short weekly takes on who owns the media, the First Amendment, and whatever's blowing up in the news. His whole thing is that good media users are smart consumers and smart creators, both at once. We get into the heroes he loves, Thor and Daredevil, how a kid's obsession turned into a career, and what superheroes can teach us about communication once you really pay attention. Watch on YouTube, listen on major podcast platforms, and subscribe to Comm in Ten. Once a Maverick, always a Maverick. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UNOSchoolofComm Listen anywhere: https://mavradio.fm/podcasts From the UNO School of Communication: https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-communication-fine-arts-and-media/communication/index.php