Just because a story is full of tropes doesn’t mean it’s bad. Consider Demon Archives, by Daniel Sharp and Sebastian Piriz. Postapocalyptic future? Check. Members of a troop being picked off one by one, by an unknown enemy? Check. A.I. who may or may not be on the heroes’ side? Check.
And yet, much of it moves along quite nicely, including an exciting battle scene. Still, certain questions remain to be answered. Tim and Mulele weigh the pluses and minuses.
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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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This week, the comic that shows there’s definitely an “I” in “Immune system”! In Biowars, the body’s defenses against disease appear as egotistical, infighting super heroes. And… very nice art, and… Hmm, something missing here. Tim and Mulele give this comic a proper physical.
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Irya is a boy in a unidentified country. His brother has just left, saying he’s going to “farm”. Then, Irya moves rocks by telekinesis. Wait, what? Tim and Mulele discuss Bits Fair, a Web comic that’s basically good, but could use some tweaking — in terms of the writing, and other things as well…
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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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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 eight! Comics journalism (a.k.a. “graphic journalism”, and other names) has been gradually making a place for itself within the larger journalism world (and the comics world) for the past 20 years or so. Just as Tim was heading to San Francisco, a group of Bay Area journalists on Meetup.com was preparing to hold panel discussion featuring three comics journalists: Dan Archer, Susie Cagle, and Andy Warner. This week, we present that panel discussion in its entirety!
Also, in a special Ask a Retailer, Tim talks to Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience!
More photos after the jump…
Continue reading #398 Comics Journalism Panel
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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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| Brian Crowley, Tim Seeley, and Onrie Kompan |
Tim Across America pt 3! Visiting Chicago, Tim links up with some local comics people, including a couple we’ve heard from before, for a wide-ranging discussion. Topics include: Public perception of comics and comics readers in the US; interactions between US comics and manga; reasons not to use comics as a stepping stone to getting your movie made; living with the creative impulse; the relative lack of diverse voices in American comics; and more.
The panel:
Also: Tim talks to Shanna Wallace at the Edgewater location of Chicago’s Graham Crackers Comics!
Photos below the jump…
Continue reading #393 Chicago Drink and Draw
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