It’s simply a matter of timing that Imaginary Worlds didn’t make it onto my Podcast Pusher: Best of 2015 list, because it certainly has become one of my favorite podcasts ever. Imaginary Worlds is a must-listen for comic book nerds and science fiction enthusiasts that I first encountered when the show was featured as a takeover episode of 99% Invisible, another fave.

The host, Eric Molinksy, is a sci-fi fanboy, artist, and comic aficionado. The format of the podcast is mostly very smart interviews with creatives involved in comics or science fiction writers about a topic that Molinksy has thoroughly researched. A couple of weeks ago, he released an episode called Imagining Wonder Woman. I can’t recall if Molinksy identifies as a feminist on the show at all, but I identify a lot with his take on the world. This particular episode was a queer sex-positive nerd’s dream.

I had no idea that Wonder Woman’s mixed success in comic books, TV shows, and other mediums is due to the nature of her origin story and specifically, the fact that her origins are heavily influenced by feminist utopian fiction where other superhero stories were more influenced by mainstream science fiction. (I’ll take the liberty to say that it’s likely that she was a female lead that played the largest role in DC’s failure to properly fund and license her over the years, but her origin no doubt contributed.) But Wonder Woman was not simply conceived as a female version of already popular heroes like Superman and Batman. Her creator, William Marston was not a writer, comic book geek, or sci-fi reader, but was influenced by the women he spent his time with.

Marston was actually psychologist and inventor in a polyamorous relationship with his wife, Elizabeth and another woman, Olive Byrne — both of whom he heavily borrowed from in his portrayal of Princess Diana of Themyscira. He chose to reflect enlightened utopian ideals in the pages of the book, with the endless help of one of his students, Marjorie Huntley.  She may have also been part of this poly-family and largely goes without recognition for her contribution to the work. On covers and in the pages, Wonder Woman was often represented as tied up and bound which, while considered scandalous by some, was a reflection of the women’s rights movement’s oft-used imagery of women shedding their bindings and fighting their oppressors. While this was Marston’s public intention, Marston was also a personal fan of BDSM in the bedroom.

A lot of the research for this episode comes from The Secret History of Wonder Woman, by author Jill Lepore, whom Molinksy spoke with for the episode. Her book is on my list for reading later this year.

My second favorite episode of Imaginary Worlds is from last February called Being Batman (For Now). It’s an interview with Scott Snyder, a comic book writer most known for penning the current books: Detective Comics, Batman, Batman: Eternal — a few books and storylines of which I’m a big fan.

Snyder had the challenge of keeping his childhood hero (and one of the most well-known fictional characters ever) fresh, human and original. He chose to put a lot of himself into the heroes he was writing and has received much critical acclaim and is in great favor with Batman fans like myself.

I definitely have Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice on the brain, and these two episode are helping to keep me hyped as I await its release later this month. Molinksy’s show doesn’t just focus on comic book heroes, but dives into to any imaginary world within popular culture. Some of my other favorite episodes are Slave Leia, Han Shot Solo,  and Inside the Snow Globe, where Molinksy looks into the “unified theory” of television — started by writer and producer Tom Fantana (St. Elseware, among many other things) who loved crossovers so much and left such a legacy that many of our favorite TV shows since the 1980s may have all occurred in the same universe (or multiverse).

As always, I’m always up for a suggestion for a new podcast to listen to, especially anything covering queer topics, superheroes or design. Leave a note in the comments.