Words & Pictures travels north to Bellingham, Washington, to visit Canadian comics and animation wizard Michel Gagne, whose work runs the gamut from the abstract jazz-inspired film Sensology to concept design for Disney and Pixar. 

Gagne's bewildering take on the Dark Knight for DC Comics (Batman: Spore) infuriated traditional superhero fans, and his recently unveiled project Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet breaks the mold for computer-based gaming.  Recorded with the kind assistance of KUGS-FM Western Washington University.

S.W. Conser asks Chicago political consultant Don Rose what listeners can expect from the new Obama administration.  Chicago's rich mix of rough-and-tumble precinct politics, racial and ethnic ferment, and grassroots activism on urban and human rights issues has deeply influenced Obama's political career to date.  A longtime champion of progressive causes and candidates, Rose mentored Obama's chief campaign strategist (now senior advisor) David Axelrod, and has butted heads with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Stop-motion animator Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) spent more than three years bringing the Neil Gaiman story Coraline to the big screen.  On the eve of Coraline's world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival, Selick sits down with S.W. Conser to talk about art, commerce, and the future of hand-crafted animation.

Who was the real Che Guevara?  Idealist?  Revolutionary economist?  Media icon?  In the wake of anniversary celebrations and Hollywood blockbusters, Words & Pictures poses the question to Spain Rodriguez, author of Che: A Graphic Biography, during his appearance at the Wordstock literary festival.  Himself an icon of the alternative comics scene, Spain has been an outlaw biker, political correspondent, and creator in the 1960's of the first underground comics tabloid, Zodiac Mindwarp, for the East Village Other.