Interview – Page 9 – Deconstructing Comics

#593 Reading “Nancy”, plus “Cat and Mouse”!

How to Read Nancy

A comic strip gag can be a deceptively simple thing. Once you take it apart — “deconstruct” it, one might say — you find that it actually has many moving parts.

Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden‘s How to Read “Nancy” takes a close look at each of those parts — as well as arguing persuasively for Bushmiller’s underrated artistic chops, and giving us some comic-strip history as well. Tim and Patrick review.

Cat and Mouse

PLUS: Roland Mann, Dean Zachary, and Kevin Gallegly join Tim to talk about the return of Cat and Mouse!

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#590 Chris Stevens and “Once Upon a Time Machine”

Chris Stevens, a comics writer and editor who has co-edited two volumes of the anthology series Once Upon a Time Machine (the second volume is newly released) talks with Koom about Frank Miller’s work, Chris’ time with Philadelphia indy publisher Locust Moon, income inequality among comics creators, and of course, some of the stories he’s edited for the anthologies.

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#589 Dorman, Mackie, and McCrea at Toronto Comicon

This week, three interviews that Koom got at Toronto Comicon, in a special two-hour episode!

Dave Dorman is best known for his Star Wars art, as well as other fantasy work, and even some Batman. Here he talks about being one of the first students at the Kubert School, and the lasting friendships he made there with other now-famous names, and about his approach to painting, including doing likenesses.

Howard Mackie entered Marvel in 1984 as an editor, and eventually became the writer on such characters as Ghost Rider, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. He talks about that transition, working with the guys who would later form Image Comics, and what he’s done since leaving Marvel.

John McCrea is best known for his work with Garth Ennis on such works as Troubled Souls, Hitman, and Section 8. What’s it like working with Garth? Why should you avoid doing work that goes against your publisher’s expectations? Why did he set out to do a different kind of comics than the type he’s seemingly best suited for?

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#587 Science in a comic: Dialogue about “The Dialogues”

This is the story of a very unusual project: a 250-page comic showing people talking about science. Not your cup of tea? Actually, the seeming lack of overlap between “comics people” and “science people” is part of this story. It was one reason this book took nearly two decades from inception to publication.

In this episode, Ryan Haupt joins Tim to review this book, called The Dialogues; then, the book’s author, USC physics professor Clifford V. Johnson, explains the arduous journey of this book, which explains a topic that’s poorly understood by the public via a medium that’s also poorly understood by the public.

Also including some actual science talk, including Ryan’s recommendations for other non-fiction comics about science!

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#586 Flirting with death, and recovering your life

This week Koom interviews Prabal Purkayastha, author of Flirting with Death, about how he tried to use the structure of a comic to communicate music, and how his next project is just the opposite of this one.

Then, what would you do if you found yourself on a park bench along a city street, and you knew where you were but you didn’t know who you were? Your home, friends, family, job, all forgotten. Tim and Eugenia review the French graphic novel Blank Slate, by Boulet and Penelope Bagieu, in which a young woman in Paris encounters exactly this problem.

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#585 The Phantom’s surprising reach

The Phantom was introduced by Lee Falk in 1936, and appeared in comic books and funny pages for decades. Now comes a new book by Kevin Patrick, The Phantom Unmasked: America’s First Superhero.

In this episode, Kevin Patrick tells Emmet about the character’s global popularity, especially in Sweden, Australia, and India — and how “The Ghost that Walks” made his first appearance in all three countries in the same unlikely way. Why did the setting change in the early years from an urban situation to a jungle? What does it say about the situation in the former British colonies, especially in Africa? Why is the Phantom that Emmet remembers considered “wrong” by fans? All this and more.

Attend the upcoming CANVAS Sequential Art Meetup on Comics & Visual Storytelling in Tokyo on February 15 at 7 pm, featuring Raul Trevino, and this podcast’s own Mulele Jarvis and Tim Young!

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#583 CAT 2017, and Bryan Lee O’Malley!

Comic Art Tokyo

Tim attended CAT 2017 on November 25, with job one being a talk with Scott Pilgrim and Seconds creator Bryan Lee O’Malley! O’Malley answers some lingering questions from those books, and discusses the inconsistent censoring of cursing in Snotgirl, giving characters body language, why autobio comics are so popular, and what, if anything, he would change about his published work.

Tim also talked with a couple of other creators (many of the denizens of Artist’s Alley were the same ones we met at Kaigai Manga Festa in the past two episodes) and covered a workshop on Risograph Printing presented by Natalie Andrewson, Ryan Cecil Smith, and Grame McNee.

Also in this episode, we’ll hear from CAT co-organizer Adam Pasion about how this year’s event went, and lessons learned for next year.

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#582 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 2

Comitia/Kaigai Manga Festa sign

This week, part two of the Kaigai Manga Festa 2017 roundup, recorded in Tokyo on November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight.

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#581 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 1

Comitia/Kaigai Manga Festa sign

It’s time for another Kaigai Manga Festa roundup! This year’s international comics festival in Tokyo was held on November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight, alongside the Comitia festival as always. Tim caught up with some familiar faces and met some new ones as well!

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#580 Nicole Georges and a “bad dog”

Fetch - Beija!

This week, Nicole Georges talks about her latest book, Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home. Was her dog Beija really such a difficult dog, or was it all in Nicole’s mind? Also the prevalence of autobio comics, the public perception of comics in general, where the zine scene is today, and much more.

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