Interview – Page 28 – Deconstructing Comics

#227 dharbin.com, and Developing Your Own Style

Tim and Mulele set out to review dharbin.com, but “the gold of the site” is hidden. Mulele explains where to find Dustin Harbin’s best work.

Then an interview with (former) Tokyo resident Ed Siemienkowicz and a discussion of how to develop your own style. Tim continues to struggle with this as he is paid (!) (by an English school) to do some illustrations.

Finally, Mulele has a few words about WordPress plugin ComicPress, and why he’s switching to InkBlot — er, no, sorry, Webcomic 2.1

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#226 Hey, Managers! Comics!

Comics are being used increasingly to get messages across visually, even those aimed at the business world.

Doug Jackson, a Tokyo-based business consultant, was involved in adapting Patrick Lencioni’s “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” into a “manga version.” He talks to Tim about the challenges he faced in turning Lencioni’s “business fable” into a comics script, and the potential for using sequential art as a teaching tool.

Grant Brownrigg of Grantland.net sells usage rights to his business-themed comic strips and one-panel cartoons through the site, for use in everything from newsletters to presentations. He tells Tim about how the business started in 1984 and how it has evolved.

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#223 Electronic Comics

Comics are increasingly read as bits and bytes, on PCs and handheld devices.

Blank creators Brothers of the Silence are publishing the comic in Flash on their site, and as image files on Facebook and several other sites. “Brothers” Ian LeWinter and Don Richmond talk about creating the comic and promoting it via social media sites.

Dale Wilson of DWAP Productions, making his second appearance on this podcast, discusses the ways his company is getting its traditional paper product out in handheld device formats.

Remember “Yon Kuma”? Tim and Mulele reviewed it a year ago. It’s now called “Bear Beater Bunyan,” and it’s an iPhone app. Artist Jorge Munoz talks about the path he and writer Josh Hechinger followed in making the comic available for handhelds.

“Bear Beater Bunyan” is just one of many comics available from Robotcomics.net. Robot Comics Deputy Director Dave Baxter fills us in on the state of the growing comics market for handhelds and how Robot does what it does.

Finally, Tim and Mulele review some of Robot’s output.

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#220 Guamics!

If you think the area where you live is too isolated and lacks a comics scene, consider the Pacific island of Guam: Fewer than 200,000 people, only about half of whom use the Internet. Few comics outlets, and a small selection. And even ordering online can be problematic. Tim visited Guam recently and spoke with Carlo Cariño (creator of Its a Big Island) and Roland Miranda, political cartoonist for the Pacific Daily News (see his work here and here). They discussed their creative work and the difficulties of being an island-based artist.

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#214 We get interviewed!

Tim and Mulele are joined by Mike Kloran, a Deconstructing Comics listener and artist based in northern Japan. Creating educational comics is discussed, and Mike interviews Tim and Mulele. Also, what are Mike’s thoughts on this podcast itself?

Then Tim and Mulele discuss two books by Ken Dahl, “Welcome to the Dahl House” and “Monsters”.

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#211 Stephenny Godfrey and “Panorama”

Steph Godfrey, of San Francisco by way of Perth, Australia, recently made a comic called Panorama, based on a dream she had and how it affected her life. Tim talks to Steph about the background of the comic, and then reviews it with Mulele.

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#210 Jillian Tamaki

Skim is a coming-of-age graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki, and drawn by her cousin Jillian Tamaki. Jillian works primarily in the field of illustration; how does she find that different from drawing a comic? Is it wrong to say that a comic is “illustrated”? She also discusses her perhaps unorthodox collaboration with Mariko on Skim, and reviews of the book that see meanings in it that were completely unintentional, in this interview.

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#209 Darrin Bell

12/7/09 Darrin Bell

Darrin Bell, creator of the strip Candorville, talks about dealing with the expectations of a newspaper audience (and the thought processes of newspaper editors), the dynamic between characters Lamont and Susan, why he published his new book, Katrina’s Ghost, via Lulu, and, by the way, what’s up with the vampires?!