Speech Bubble

Hey, Fan Persons! In another installment of our Comics on Comics series, Steve Kerzner is the creative force and executive producer behind the big personality that is Ed the Sock. Children of the 1990s to mid 2000s will remember Ed as the acerbic and outspoken puppet hosting programs on MuchMusic like Fromage - his annual take down of pop culture and Ed and Red's Night Party, his late-night show with co-host and co-creator Liana K on CityTV. Steve comes to Speech Bubble to let his geek flag fly, revealing that his house is decked out with all kinds of comic book memorabilia and his wedding band is the jewel encrusted crest of his favourite hero – Superman. He talks about the opportunity Ed gave him to meet his heroes including Stan Lee – who he pitched a comic about his superhuman childhood cleaning lady. We also talk about why, for him, DC heroes are heroes thanks to the purity of their morality and why the moral ambiguity of the largely failed DCEU doesn't work for him. Plus, here the true story of how Tri

Recorded live over breakfast at the Halibut House in Burlington, Ontario Canada, Keith Grachow is an independent comic artist whose credits include Concrete Martians, Saltwater, Polybius Dream and the independent children's book series Up in the Sky written by his mom Amy. Exposed to comics and graphic design at a very young age, he didn't start embracing his artistic side until the final year of high school. He talks about overcoming his hangups and fear around doing comics professionally and what it took to fully commit. Though he'd joined Bright Anvil Studios, it wasn't until he moved to Japan that his desire to do comics kicked into high gear. He also talks about letting go of the dream of working for DC and Marvel and what it takes to finance his indie work. Plus, he talks about what it's like working with his mom and with a 13-year-old on a comic called Weapon Warriors. Oh, and he loves craft beer! Keith Grachow's Website Keith Grachow's Facebook @keith_grachow (Instagram)) @kgrachow (Twitter) Orde

Born in Toronto, grew up in Oshawa and now living in Kelowna, B.C., Marvel writer Ed Brisson (Old Man Logan, Iron Fist) regales us with his 18-year odyssey trying to break into comics. Even after he seemingly broke in with The Comeback for Image Comics, there was still a period where he was being rent-evicted from his home in Vancouver, all his comics work had basically dried up and he was mere moments away from taking on a full-time job before Marvel offered him a solo title starring the Daredevil villain Bullseye. Thankfully he hasn't looked back since, but his harrowing experience with Vancouver real estate inspired the Vancouver-centric noir, The Violent, which exposes the seedy underbelly of a city on many top ten destination lists. Recorded on location from The Pan Pacific Hotel during Fan Expo Vancouver, Brisson discusses the pressure of taking over Old Man Logan from Jeff Lemire and what speaks to him about an older Wolverine. He also talks about how his dad's position as a karate teacher and Shaw Bro

D.A. Bishop returns to Speech Bubble from his basemment studio in Pickering, Ontario to promote his groundbreaking co-creation with writer Kevin Joseph, Morte published by Source Point Press – a silent one-shot comic starring a man who is presumably the last human on earth in a post-apocalyptic future living out his days performing a seemingly monotonous but necessary task. In this short episode, Aaron and David debate who is more important in the production of a silent comic – the writer or the artist? They briefly discuss other occurrences of silent comics in the mainstream industry before dissecting how Bishop became involved in Morte and where an idea that's such a profound meditation on what it means to be human came from. @Renerd www.renerd.com Source Point Press Bishop's Facebok Fanpage Rogues Portal's Advanced Review of Morte

Malcolm Derikx aka Miike and Todd Sullivan met as classmates at Ty Templeton's Comic Book Bootcamp. Both fans of old gangster movies and noir, they always wanted to work together, but other projects got in the way. Malcolm helped found the Toronto Comics Anthology and Hogtown Horror and Todd was teaching animation as a former animator on Tiny Toon Adventures and Darkwing Duck. Eventually they did come together for a gangster romp called Tommy Gun Banshee featuring an assassin named Nicky who is haunted by a whaling banshee who can only be drowned out by the Rat-tat-tat of his Tommy Gun. The two come to Speech Bubble to pimp their Kickstarter for the project and geek out over how war always seems to spawn a criminal element throughout history. Tommy Gun Banshee Kickstarter @MiikeSomething @ToddSullivanArt artoftoddsullivan.blogspot.ca Toronto Comics Anthology Hogtown Horror

Former Toronto Comics Anthology and current Chapterhouse Publishing editor Allison O'Toole returns to Speech Bubble with a groundbreaking new project. Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women features an all-female and non-binary cast of comic creators telling monster stories from their own perspectives. Following in the footsteps of other recent comic anthologies written and drawn from a minority point-of-view, Wayward is still something the mainstream comic industry has never seen, much less attempted, at a time when new readers are hungering for something more. Allison brings her assistant editor and former Marvel intern Margot Blankier and contributor Lorena Loaiza to the studio and the three discuss their love of The Gothic, why work like this is needed now and has already proven profitable and how this anthology widens the definition of monster to those who are already perceived that way by society. The Wayward Sisters Kickstarter is live until Nov. 10, 2017. The episode is sponsored by Hairy Ta

Robb Mirsky was working the checkout at a liquor store when David Craig showed up in his line wearing a Chester Brown t-shirt. The two bonded and Robb invited David to the next Toronto Comic Jam. Taking place the last Tuesday of every month, the jam happens in the back of the Cameron House bar where participants are expected to grab a page and finish the next panel of the night's various half-started comics. At the end of the night, the pages are collected and that month's issue is published. It was on one of those nights when Robb and David met James Spencer. The three vibe so well at the Jam they decide to recreate the magic with Read More Comix – a series of surrealist humour comics reminiscent of the underground comix of the 1960s by Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, Kim Deitch and Trina Robbins. At Speech Bubble, the three talk about their individual styles and why they work so well together before promoting their latest sequential experiment, the bookmark sized Tiny Comix. This episode is sponsored by Hai

Stephanie Cooke cut her teeth in the comics industry as one of several hosts on one of the original comic book podcasts – Talking Comics. From there, she was able to work behind-the-scenes at many comic conventions, eventually becoming the personal assistant of some of the biggest names in the industry. Now, she has struck out on her own as the founder and editor-in-chief of Rogues Portal a pop culture review and commentary website. A writer in her own right, her work has appeared in the Toronto Comics Anthology, The Secret Loves of Geek Girls and more recently, Mark Millar's Millarworld Anthology 2017 and the upcoming Blocked and Wayward Sisters Anthologies. In this conversation we discuss how she takes much of her inspiration for her work from her own life and what it was like working with Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsmen: The Secret Service, Wanted) and his team. @hellocookie @RoguesPortal www.roguesportal.com Millarworld 2017 The Secret Loves of Geek Girls Wayward Sisters Blocked Talking Comics Pod

Last episode we talked to artist Gibson Quarter and this one features his Quid Pro Quo collaborator and fellow RAID studiomate -- writer Anthony Falcone. Anthony has written everything from novels to screenplays, but he is perhaps best known as the writer of the Northguard comic book for Canadian publisher Chapterhouse. Find out how original Northguard co-creator Mark Shainblum passed down the writing chores of the newly rebooted series to Anthony and how integrated the hero into the Chapterhouse Universe. Then we discuss what it's really like to work at RAID and the new studio anthology RAID.ONE where Anthony also collaborated with Marcus To (Nightwing, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Ramon Perez (Jim Henson's Tale of Sand) on some original stories he has big plans for. Finally, we discuss his first novel Comic Con-men, its planned sequel and the true keys to his prodigious productivity. After you listen to our conversation, don't forget to check out Anthony's own writing podcast, Storybeater with fellow Chapte

Another member of the RAID Studio graces the Never Sleeps Network Studio in promotion of the group's RAID.One anthology featuring original work from celebrated artists Francis Manapul, Ramon Perez and this man, Gibson Quarter. Gibson's name may not be as familiar yet in North America because a lot of his work is published in Europe. On this episode, Gibson describes how his love for the work of famed Scottish comic artist Frank Quitely lead to him breaking into the European comic market working for Quitely's first publisher and then later signing comics beside him at the Glasgow Comicon. Though Gibson loves that he's known in Europe, he reveals that having published work only available across the pond has hurt his career stateside a little bit. Still he perseveres, supplying covers and interiors for some issues of Canadian hero, Auroraman, Frogman #3: The Death of Frogman and working as the co-creator of The Organ Grinder, a character that first appeared in the independent anthology series Undertow published

Aaron journeys to Inkwell's End, the home and studio of Canadian award-winning cartoonist Seth (Palookaville, Clyde Fans, It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken, Wimbledon Green, George Sprott) in Guelph, Ontario Canada. In doing so, he steps into a time-warp and a space Seth best describes as, “post war-kitsch.” Think your grandma's house if the furniture was still pristine, the radio still worked and toys from the early 20th century lined the walls. It's all just another aspect of the extremely well-crafted and curated personal brand that is Seth – a man who consciously harkens back to a certain formality in the way he dresses and conducts himself. Seth reveals how his love of this early 20th century aesthetic is rooted in his relationship with his older parents. He also discusses what it was like to not like who he was as a young person and consciously build a new identity for himself. Then, what he went through training others to accept that new identity. Even now he struggles with being an attention seeker

Inspired by Robert Crumb, Crad Kilodney, Art Spiegelman, Seth and other alternative cartoonists, Chester Brown uses his autobiographical comics work to confront issues that he's currently wrestling with or make him uncomfortable. Whether it was the use of scatological humour in Ed the Happy Clown, his relationship with women and his own mother in I Never Liked You or his journey to becoming a John in Paying For It, it's easier for him to unpack his own hang ups when they're made public. Brown talks about how he initially broke into comics with the self-published Yummy Fur, why his art style owes a lot to Harold Gray, the man who behind the Little Orphan Annie comic strip and why being a John makes him more comfortable than being a boyfriend, even though his current arrangement isn't all that different from the traditional relationship he's trying to avoid. Plus, Brown teaches Aaron how he deals with negative self-talk and criticism of his work. Chester Brown's Patreon Drawn and Quarterly (Chester's Publishe

The Beguiling Books & Art is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2017, so Aaron welcomes its current owner Peter Birkemoe and outgoing shop manager and current Toronto Comic Art Festival artistic director Christopher Butcher. Together they trace the shop's history from its beginnings on Harbord Street to its current status as Toronto's destination for independent comics. We discuss how both Chris and Peter grew to mostly detest mainstream superhero comics in favour of the more intellectual and independent fare, before discussing the evolution of the Toronto Comics Art Festival from a small comic convention in the Honest Ed's store parking lot to a showcase of comic art from around the world at the Toronto Reference Library. This conversation finds The Beguiling in a state of transition, as they just moved from their long time location in Toronto's Mirvish Village to a new location on College Street. If that weren't enough, Chris is leaving his post as store manager to become Viz Media's man in Canada. Nee

Alfonso Espinos was born and raised in Mexico where, over 20 years ago, he launched Studio Comix Press to self-publish The Night Spike, a cartoon, superhero parody comic. It could've just been another obscure Spanish-language imprint, but then he met his wife and moved to Kitchener, Ontario where things got a lot more challenging. The jokes in The Night Spike didn't immediately properly translate from Spanish to English, so he sat watching Canada's Comedy Network for hours taking notes just to understand Canada's sense of humour. His drive did not end there. Most comic creators rest on one successful comic, but now there's 12 being published under the Studio Comix Press banner. Espinos didn't rest on his laurels there either. He prints comics for fellow creators, including some non-Cerebus work from Dave Sim, produces educational colouring and activity books for children and will soon open a comic shop selling only Canadian independent comics. How does he do it all? Listen and find out. This episode is spons

Andrew Thomas lucked out. Just as his indie comic Post-Human (kind of Inspector Gadget meets film noir) was disintegrating because of creative differences with the writer, the Northern Ontario Comicon in Timmins, Ontario contacted him about developing an ongoing superhero series featuring its mascot – an anthropomorphic lion in medieval garb named Auric of the Great White North. The local media latched on to the hero they could finally call their own and the title has been a hit ever since -- already on issue three and having made multiple printings of the prior issue zero mini comic. Meanwhile, as a talented and fast letterer, he soon found himself lettering all the comics printed by Chapterhouse Publishing, including Captain Canuck, Northguard, Freelance, The Pitiful Human-Lizard and Agents of P.A.C.T. to name a few. He even gets to illustrate a variant cover or two for them now and then (not a bad gig). We talk about all of it, as well as why it's so important to spread comic book culture through small to

As the co-creator of Bitch Planet, comic artist Valentine De Landro gets to explore intersectional feminism and build a world representing all kinds of women of all kinds of races, minorities and body types, a far cry from his days as an African-Canadian comic fan when he didn't often see himself represented and had to tolerate a spate of heroes with “Black” in front of their name. We talk about that awkwardness and the eerie way Bitch Planet's second arc began to allude to Hilary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election without really meaning to. While De Landro thanks fans for their overwhelming support of the series and the way they've created a family in the comic book's back matter, we openly wonder whether society is really as woke as it purports to be with incidents like the shooting of Philandro Castile still happening at an alarming frequency. This episode sponsored by Hairy Tarantula. @val_delandro (Twitter) @val_delandro (Instagram) Valentine's Website Bitch Planet's website Th

Sarafin is the writer and artist behind the independent webcomic and graphic novel series Asylum Squad. The fictional story is very loosely inspired by Sarafin’s own experiences during a year an in-patient facility where she was receiving treatment for mental illness and follows four teenage patients drafted into an experimental drug trial that allows them to battle their inner demons like a psychiatric Justice League. This episode delves into what lead to Sarafin being institutionalized and why she began her comic as an outlet for what she was experiencing. We also explain the Mad Pride movement and why Sara considers herself a mad-identified person as an unintentional celebrity within that community. You will also learn why those who’ve gone through the mental health system often have a problem with Bell Let’s Talk Day – a mental health awareness day and fundraiser spearheaded by one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies. This episode is sponsored by Hairy Tarantula. @Asylum_Squad The Asylum Sq

We all remember the original 1967 Spider-Man cartoon (you know the one with the catchy theme song) but did you know that all the dialogue for the series was recorded in Toronto and Paul Soles, the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, is not only still around, but still acting at 86-years-young as the star of the new CBC Comedy web series, My 90-year-old Roommate? The legend comes by to spill secrets from the production of Spider-Man, including the fact that the voice acting company for all the original Marvel cartoons – Spider-Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Marvel Superheroes and more – was originally put together during the production of the Rankin/Bass stop-motion animation classic Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer where Paul starred as Hermey the Elf. Fast forward into the 2000s and Paul inadvertently found himself a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to a live-action bit part in 2008's The Incredible Hulk and a prior relationship with star Edward Norton. This episode of Speech Bubble is sp

As regular listeners to this podcast will know, it’s no secret that our host is a huge Sandman fan and works in a Sandman reference in almost every episode. So when he heard Nicholas Brown and Evan Henderson were making a 35-minute fan film adapting Sandman #6: “24 Hours” called Sandman: 24-hour Diner, Aaron had to have them on the show. The film screens on June 25, 2017 at 7 p.m. at Toronto’s Royal Cinema. Then, at midnight, it will be released on Vimeo for the whole world to see. This episode of Speech Bubble serves as a primer for the movie, with behind-the-scenes tidbits, cool on set anecdotes and the story of how the film got made, as only the filmmakers can bring it to you. Plus, learn about Evan’s weird connection to Neil Gaiman and why Ken Lashley (X-Men Prime) was an early mentor to him. This episode sponsored by Hairy Tarantula. Sandman: 24-Hour Diner Trailer BlogTO’s Sandman: 24-Hour Diner Screening Announcement Sandman: 24-Hour Diner Official Facebook Page Sandman #6 "24 Hours" Digital Comic

Nug Nahrgang’s success as an award-winning sketch comedian and improviser seems like a series of stumbled upon happenstances. First, Nug accidentally got himself hired at Second City, then he somehow scored an audition for Saturday Night Live! He scored memorable bit parts in The Love Guru with Mike Meyers and Owning Mahowny with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, both at a time when he was sure his scenes would be left on the cutting room floor. Nug has managed to meet Vince McMahon, and William Shatner, and improvise on stage with legends like Colin Mocherie, Catherine O’Hara, and Martin Short. Through it all, his status as a dyed-in-the-wool comic book and sci-fi geek have served him well. He puts together the Illusionoid podcast with fellow improvisers Paul Bates and Lee Smart. Illusionoid is a completely improvised old-timey sci-fi radio play that operates with nothing but the episode title as a suggestion. Nug and the Illusionoid gang will be performing at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema as part of a live