Back like the Phoenix

Ever wondered how comics mirror the complexities of our political landscape? Join me, Michael Holmes, as I return to the Superhero Politics Podcast after a year of life-changing transitions that kept me away but also reshaped my perspectives. From being re-elected as the city council member for Ward 6 to establishing HMA Consulting Group LLC, I’ve embarked on a journey that blends the worlds of politics and entrepreneurship. Marvel and DC are facing seismic shifts, and there's a new battle on the U.S. political stage with Kamala Harris taking on Donald Trump. Less than 20 days remain until the election and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Listen in as we explore these developments and reflect on how they echo through the pages of our favorite comics. 

Balancing public duties with personal milestones, like becoming an empty nester, has been a learning experience. Fueled by an entrepreneurial spirit, stepping away from corporate America to launch my own company has been both daunting and thrilling. Through my adventures, I’ve found that comics offer more than just entertainment—they unite us and inspire action. As I reignite the podcast, I want to thank you for being part of this journey. With a fresh slate of episodes on the horizon, I invite you to explore how superhero narratives continue to resonate with political themes. Your support has been invaluable, and I’m excited to share what's next as we rise, much like the Phoenix, to embrace the power of storytelling.

Transcript

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Superhero Politics Podcast Returns

Speaker 1 0:28

That's right , folks . It is me , michael Holmes , host of Superhero Politics Podcast . I know you guys are wondering where has this guy been . It's been over a year since he dropped any new content and you guys have just been out there in limbo and purgatory , and I apologize , but I've got a very good reason .

Speaker 1 0:48

I've had a lot going on in the last year , so this was really a hiatus for the podcast . We're getting back in the swing of things . It's just really a lot going on in my personal life , and so I had to make some very difficult decisions about what I had to prioritize . Unfortunately , one of the things that I had to put aside for time's sake is I don't know how much time I spent here with you guys on the podcast , but hey , wasn't going into retirement . We had a great launch in 2020 and we've been going strong through 2023 . We knew that we were going to come back . Today is just me being here with you guys saying I'm back . We're going to return to the great content that you guys got used to , that you guys were continuing to email and write about . But today I just wanted to say I'm back and let you guys know where I've been , what I've been up to and how the landscape of my personal life , professional life , political life have all has changed since the last time I got a chance to record . So we're going to start at the beginning here . And so you guys know I'm an elected official .

Speaker 1 1:54

Back in 2023 , in November , I was up for re-election . I don't know if I told you guys the story of my first election , how it came down to a single vote . This time was not as close . I was able to win with 60% of the vote to be re-elected as the city council member for Ward 6 in my city . I was also elected by that council to serve as mayor pro tem , which has kept me extremely busy on behalf of the city During that time . In 2023 , I launched my own company and so I founded HMA Consulting Group LLC . You can find us on the web wwwhmaconsultinggroupcom . I left corporate America to found my own company and we've had a lot going on . I just wanted to come back and say to you guys that there are a great deal of love that I have for you guys and the response to the podcast . As you can see here , I am wearing the official merch of the Superhero Politics podcast coming very soon . That's another thing we were working on designing to make sure that you guys are able to join in and be part of the family , as you guys are able to wear our podcast . Let's talk about it Now .

Speaker 1 3:09

Obviously , there's a lot going on in the comic book world as well as the political world . Since the last time we were together , marvel has hit some rough patches and DC has tried to reform itself under James Gunn and had some really rough outings . We have a lot of things happening in the Gaza Strip the atrocity of October 7th , where Hamas attacked Israel , and a catastrophic loss of life there . We've seen the sitting president of the United States , who was running for re-election , step aside , and his vice president is now the candidate , kamala Harris is facing Donald Trump , and we are less than 20 days out now . The candidate , kamala Harris is facing Donald Trump , and we are less than 20 days out from the election . We're less than 20 days out before we decide who's going to be our president . Either we're going to have a president serve non-consecutive terms , which we haven't had in 100 years , or we're going to have our first female president of the United States , and that is a big deal , and there's so much more to talk about .

Speaker 1 4:15

As we dig into the parallels between comic books and politics . The undercurrent of this political lifestyle that we live is permeating our comics and how we read comics , how we view comics , how we watch comic book movies , how comics are written , we see the wave of diversity and now the backlash to diversity . We're seeing more iterations of our comic book heroes coming to the forefront and we're seeing new versions , everything from the absolute Superman , batman and Wonder Woman I mean the new formations of that . We've seen a new Justice League forming around Nightwing . We're watching more characters in Marvel come forward . There's talks of a blue Marvel film . There's talks of the new Avengers , the Captain America Brave New World is coming out . That trailer was amazing , introducing Red Hulk , and so there's a lot of stuff going on , but politics is intertwined in all that .

Speaker 1 5:17

So as we continue to think about comics , we also have to apply that to what we think and know about the world . Folks say I read comics to get away from politics , and I'm like . Reading is fundamental , because there's no way that you can read comics and get away from politics . As we think about these intersections and something that we've talked about now for the last three plus years is we are Americans and we are a global . We're Americans , but we're also part of a global community . One of the things that unites us is our love for the comic book genre , and that overcomes a lot of things , guys . That overcomes our religious differences . That overcomes our socioeconomic differences . That overcomes our racial differences . That overcomes our geography . Some of the great things that I've experienced in conducting this podcast is the response that I've gotten from around the world . Being able to look and see that your podcast has been downloaded from places that you've seen on the map or , unfortunately for myself , that I've been able to travel from Russia to Eastern Europe , to South America , has been great , yeah .

Speaker 1 6:34

So let's talk about the election a little bit . Let's talk about my election . I told you , guys , I would let you know where I've been , what I've been doing and how everything went Of 2023 , that I was gonna seekelection and , like I said earlier , running for election , running for office , is not easy . I know you see millions of political ads and I know you can't watch anything without seeing an ad from a particular candidate , whether it's Harris or Trump or whatever it may be . You can't really escape them . Political season is what it is . If you're watching football , grey's Anatomy or whatever it is be , you can't really escape them . Political season is what it is . If you're watching football , grey's Anatomy or whatever it is that you're watching Superman and Lois , you're going to see political acts . So I decided to run for re-election in 2023 . And thank God , there's not a super long election cycle . So you file for election or re-election in July and the election is in November . You've got a few months to do that and you do the whole political circuit thing , like you go to forums , you speak at places , all this stuff .

Transitioning From Politics to Entrepreneurship

Speaker 1 7:36

It's really different being an incumbent versus being a challenger or an insurgent , which is someone who is seeking to unseat that incumbent . Prior to this , in 2019 , I was the insurgent candidate . I was the guy who was seeking to unseat the incumbent . Now I was on the other side . I was the guy in office in the seat and I had a challenger who decided that they wanted to run to lead the district . That's democracy . We love it , we need it . It needs to go forward unencumbered , and so wasn't upset about the challenge at all . I thought it was good . One of the reasons why I ran in my district is that my predecessor had run unopposed Nobody just bothered to do it and I was able to run the first election and win , and then I was able to file in 2023 and ultimately won that race by about 20 points . It was a safe election , good turnout . It was a good Democratic election . So during that time got reelected in 2023 .

Speaker 1 8:44

I was able to then look at what we were doing here in the city and see all the cool stuff . I was the chair of our branding rebrand project here that's gotten international acclaim . I've been able to lead our city in public speaking , doing a state of the city address . I've also been able to parlay that into national opportunities , potentially leading a national task force on economic development or race and equity studies . So all these things have been happening as a result of my election win in 2023 .

Speaker 1 9:22

That's why I've been so busy , because I've been traveling all over the place . My schedule has been ultra packed . I've had speaking engagements on the weekends and stuff like that Normally , when I would have a chance to come back and be with you guys to record . That's consumed my time . My family is also part of that calculation . We just celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary . My oldest she is a junior in college and doing exceedingly well . My youngest , cameron , is a senior in high school and going off to college next year . We'll be empty nesters . They take up so much of your energy because they're preparing to become adults .

Speaker 1 9:59

I had to take a step back and I said I've got all this public responsibility and a personal responsibility , but there was something else burning that I wanted to accomplish , and I always had the entrepreneurial spirit , which is why I started this podcast and why it was so easy for me to jump into this . I like to create . I'm a creative at heart . This is another outlet for me to share how I think , how I feel , how my mind processes , how I create things with other folks . It gives me a chance to express myself in a way that other opportunities don't .

Speaker 1 10:34

In politics , you have to be very measured . You have to watch what you say . You have to understand the audience that you're with . You have to make sure that your message is consistent . All of these things go in to working in politics , and so even in business , like you , have certain kind of decorum that is essential to being successful .

Speaker 1 10:55

For the past 25 years , I have worked in corporate America . For those of you who listen , who work in corporate America . It's a grind right . You're always under deadlines and pressures on behalf of a corporate entity and it's tough because you don't control any of that . You don't see it . You don't necessarily have the ability to affect change or decisions that come when you are a leader . And even though in my position in corporate America , I was a leader right , I was corporate training manager , so I had a lot of responsibility for the development of employees but still I'm not making the decisions on how to go forward . And I always wanted that . I always wanted to be a business owner . I always wanted to control my own time . Once I got reelected , I realized what my public responsibilities was going to be . I looked at what my professional responsibilities were and I was like , hey , these don't match , these don't line up public role , and I knew I couldn't do that with someone else controlling my time . I made the decision to move forward and started my company .

Speaker 1 12:08

In March of 2023 , I filed to incorporate my company , hma Consulting Group LLC . We are a premier learning group . We believe in learning , leadership and change . We help our clients manage all of those aspects of their business , because you have to have leadership in order to have a successful business , your people have to learn and grow with new technology and trends , and you also have to manage change . In my education and corporate life , I've gained the ability to execute those aspects of business . So I wanted to see if I could do it on my own . Take that leap , step off and see if I could fly and if I plummet , you know if my abilities of flight had kicked in . So I wanted to see that and so we started out and I can report that things have gone really well in the first year . So really , you know I don't even count 2023 , because that was a planning year , right that was really laying the groundwork , getting everything together paperwork , marketing , building , reaching out to clients . We were incorporated in 2023 , but we didn't start actually business until 2024 , in January . So it's been a great month , 10 and a half months , just really excited about where the business is going .

Speaker 1 13:34

But it has taken up a lot of time . Normally , when I would be recording episodes , like I'm doing right now , that's been replaced by making pitches to companies , doing social media , advertising , marketing and meeting the deadlines of my clients . And so the funny , the joke is for a lot of folks who are business owners and entrepreneurs that the joke is that I traded my nine to five for 24 seven , and that has been super . That has been extremely true because some mornings my alarm goes off at 4.30 and my plan is to get up and go to the gym to get started on my day , but as I get up , something clicks in my head oh man , you really need to do this . Instead of going to the gym , I'm sitting in my office on my computer working . That starts that early .

Speaker 1 14:22

It has been super joyful because to see something grow , to see something build . The growth over the first couple of years was outstanding . We are gaining listeners and followers and seeing our YouTube channel grow from 12 followers to now over 1,400 , to watch our TikTok grow from nothing to now almost 1,800 followers . And I know you're saying well , 1,800 , that's nothing . There are people with a billion followers yes , they are , but we are very specific content . We are very , very specific when it comes to what we do . We're not necessarily expecting us to be everyone's cup of tea the fact that we have growth in those areas and folks don't get me wrong , there's a lot of things that I think we could be doing to grow faster .

Speaker 1 15:14

But with growth comes demand , and I just spent the last 20 plus minutes telling you about all the things going on in my life . Spent the last 20 plus minutes telling you about all the things going on in my life and how important to prioritize that is . I know that if we grow to 10,000 , 20,000 , 30,000 , 50,000 , or 10X of that followers or subscribers or listeners then the demand is going to be there , and so I know I don't want to necessarily say that I don't want to meet the demand of our listeners , but I also want to say that there's a balance that I have to strike between the other phases of my life and you guys are extremely , which is why I'm coming here today explaining to you guys where I've been and what I've been doing . I hope you guys can find it in your hearts to re-engage and listen and what I've been doing . I hope you guys can find it in your hearts to re-engage and listen . Thank you for all the downloads of the old episodes To look up and still see that episodes are being listened to , downloaded and folks are clicking on some of our old episodes .

Speaker 1 16:13

Like I said , we haven't recorded since August of last year and that's been a joy to see , folks are still interested in what we're doing here at Superhero Politics Podcast

Returning With Superhero Politics Podcast

Speaker 1 16:23

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Speaker 1 16:23

There are a lot of things that are going on in the comic world , and so I wanted to just come out here briefly to say thank you , guys for staying with us and being part of the Superhero Politics Podcast family . We'll be back here in the next week or so with actual superhero politics podcast content . In the meantime , if you want to check out my company , you can find us at wwwhmaconsultinggroupcom . If you want to know more about what we're doing , please take a listen , take a look and see if there's a way that we can help you or your business . We're dedicated to that , and so I thank you for listening . I thank you for being part of the Superhero Politics family and until next time , like I said , just like the Phoenix , I have risen and I'm back . Thank you , appreciate you , love you and be on the lookout for new episodes in the next few weeks . Until next time , remember that you don't have to be superhuman to be a superhuman . Thank you , it's Michael Holmes , superhero Politics Podcast .