Tim talks with the members of Studio Revolver in Atlanta, some of whom are have done work for Cartoon Network and storyboarded TV commercials. Not beginners, these are folks who are accomplished and in demand.
So why’d they decide to make their own Web comics? Isn’t that how artists try to make names for themselves? Time times are a-changin’…
Irene Strychalski’s “Shaman Child”
Stephanie Gladden’s “Girls of Monster Paradise”
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Having grown up with feet planted firmly on both sides of the Pacific, Aya Rothwell has always been observant of cultural differences, and this shows up in her comics. Who else would do a comic about a human visitor to an alien world, with the biggest conflict being that the human keeps getting the aliens’ names mixed up?
Aya also fills us in on using watercolors in her comics, her journey to comics via the worlds of biology and film, and more.
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It’s been a long time coming, but a fair number of teachers in mainstream American education are finally recognizing that what the comics medium brings to the table can be just as meaty and challenging as the best prose novels. This week we meet Juan Mah y Busch, an Associate Professor at Loyola Marymount University. Juan teaches comics like Frank Miller’s 300 and Anders Nilsen’s Dogs and Water not in special “comics appreciation” courses, but alongside novels like Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” to make other points about cultural history.
How do fellow faculty and administrators react to comics in the classroom? Do students have any trouble with the concept? Why can comics often be better for teaching cultural history than most other media? That and more in this episode!
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While the phrase “’90s comics” tends to elicit some eyerolls nowadays — Foil covers! X-men with huge guns and lots of pouches! — there was still some good comics work done in that era. What was it like to be in the business back then? Joe St.Pierre drew some Spider-man Clone Saga-related comics, so let’s ask him! (See his Marvel covers here)
St.Pierre’s work for Marvel back then springboarded him to storyboarding and commercial art gigs, but (naturally) he still loves doing comics. For the past few years he’s been publishing his Web comic The Liberaider through his site AstronautInk, and now he has launched a Kickstarter project to publish a hardcover edition. This week he talks with Tim about that and more.
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There are numerous ways in which you may have encountered Ted Rall‘s work. In addition to his political cartoons, he’s taken on a variety of other formats and other media: comics journalism (in central Asia, including Afghanistan), newspaper columns, radio, graphic novels, and MAD Magazine work.
While his political views are left-of-center, his tendency to question Democrats as well as Republicans has brought pushback from some on the left. Whether his target is a Republican, a Democrat, or another political cartoonist, Rall pulls no punches.
In this episode, he talks with Tim about his philosophy of political cartooning, filing comics from a war zone, why his editors at MAD just don’t “get” his character Fantabulaman, and much more.
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Tim Across America, part ten! The finish line of Tim’s trip is Los Angeles, home of our friend Dale Wilson, of BuyIndieComics and DWAP Productions. Dale hooks us up with Robert Roach, comics creator and Hollywood storyboarder. He fills us in on ways that storyboarding is much different from comics, and also talks about the importance of getting the details in your story right — regardless of medium.
For the Southern California edition of Ask a Retailer, a talk with Howard Chen at Legacy Comics and Cards in Glendale. Unlike most of the other Tim Across America retailers, Legacy still has plenty of manga on the shelves. But to what extent are those books flying off the shelves?
Finally, Tim and Dale are joined by Stephenny Godfrey (“Panorama”, “Two Buses”) and Richard Hamilton (“Return of the Super Pimps”, “Miserable Dastards”) to discuss the L.A. comics community and revisit a topic from the Chicago episode: should you make a comic as a step toward getting your story on film?
Also, don’t miss Griffin the Dog in his podcast debut!
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Tim Across America, part nine! When it comes to Big Two comics these days, there’s a lot to complain about. Marvel characters changed to look like the actors who play them in movies; nearly the entire DC line subsumed into a grim-and-gritty muck. And yet… we still like some of these books! Superior Spider-man, anyone?
In a cafe in Berkeley, California, Tim discusses this and more with three past guests who all live in the East Bay area, but had never previously met: Deb Aoki, John Roberson, and Jason McNamara! Conversation also swung to whether Image can eclipse the Big Two, comparison of black and white comics vs. color, doing a Kickstarter project for your comic vs. doing print-on-demand, and more!
Jason’s Kickstarter page for The Rattler
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Tim Across America, part 7! Gordon McAlpin has put in more than a decade on the popular Web comic Multiplex, about kids who work at a movie theater — a concept he had originally thought was stupid! What changed his mind? How has he successfully funded two Kickstarter projects to print books of his comic? He talks with Tim about this in a Minneapolis restaurant, as well as using Patreon for funding, his tools for making the strip, and the good and bad points of letting your characters age.
Plus, a clip from Tim’s appearance on the KFAI Minneapolis radio program True Brit!
DCP In Touch: Read Ian’s full comments about R. Crumb
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Tim Across America, part six! Having worked in mainstream American comics for three decades now, Dan Jurgens has seen a lot of change. The number of publishers, the type and amount of fan interaction (thanks to the Internet), the method of comics distribution, and the way the Big Two search for new talent have all changed greatly in that time. And, the Big Two now actually discourage the creation of new characters. Why? This week, Jurgens reflects on those changes — some good, some bad — in a talk with Tim.
He also discusses his work on Superman and Thor, how technology has helped film steal some of comics’ storytelling edge, and more.
Also, in the Minneapolis edition of Ask a Retailer, Tim talks to Paul Miller at Comic Book College!
AND, our new feature DCP In Touch, and a talk with Kumar and Mulele about their successful Kickstarter project!
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Tim Across America pt 5! In Minneapolis, Tim visits the studio of Zander Cannon, author of Heck (discussed in episode 381) and layout artist for Alan Moore’s Top Ten and Smax. He talks with Tim about developing Heck, working with Alan Moore, whether going to San Diego is all that essential for a newbie to the comics business, and — Hey, Kevin Cannon’s your brother, right?!?
Big Time Attic (Zander and Kevin’s studio)
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