Comics Are Great!

Zita the Spacegirl! Superman! Writing heroes, and more! I’m joined by Ben Hatke, author of the Zita the Spacegirl graphic novels, for a talk on writing Really, Really Good Guys (and Gals). Together we discuss the appeal of a character who has an inner sense of what is right, the perils of writing ultra-powerful characters, […]

Broxo! Star Wars! Zack Giallongo, and more! Most of us love to talk about our influences. They’re often the reason we decided to get into this cartooning game. We’re influenced by things that evoke a strong emotional reaction in us. But how does our approach to our work change when we search out and broaden […]

Video games in libraries, what cartoonists can learn from video games, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_LCraRNerA We’ve all heard the dig: a book starts with a map, and many readers immediately tune out. But there are plenty of stories about the excitement gamers felt when opening up the big Zelda or Metroid map in Nintendo Power Magazine. […]

Horror! Thrillers! Bera the One Headed Troll, Nightmare Pro Wrestling, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVPDe3H9B8A How do you make a horror story in a static medium like comics? What are the tricks to building dread and suspense? And how does visual style contribute to creating images that are unsettling or frightening? I’m joined by cartoonists Jon David […]

Missile Mouse! Orc Wars! Jake Parker, Kohl Glass, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=amzYhWwofgA There is so much to learn and master in making comics. Drawing, design, composition, pacing, color, and sound all stand ready to bewilder us as we try to communicate our ideas and stories. And while intense work and study in our medium is often […]

Elsewhere Chronicles! Bande dessinée! Famous Shoes! Nicolas Bannister, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTULuIxG-M What are the secrets to designing a world that your readers will believe in? How do you compose panels that communicate tone, tension, blocking, and character? If the “camera” in comics can be anywhere, how do you navigate the nearly infinite choices to create moments that […]

Working for money vs. working on spec, Ryan Estrada, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV9YJUh8VsA Is there anything wrong with agreeing to do some work for free? After all, it might catch on with the Internet, and you can cash in later. And this is the webcomics model, after all! You put out consistent and professional-quality work for […]

Character Design! Delilah Dirk! Tony Cliff, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFqQv8saTKA Comics may be a static medium, but the best cartoonist create an illusion of movement so convincing we’ll often forget that we, the readers, are creating the movement in our minds. How do they do they pull off this trick? And what’s the “secret” to writing […]

Crowdfunding! Kickstarter! Self-Publishing! Getting the Word Out! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJquIvm1rwg Hooray! Thanks to services Kickstarter and Indiegogo, we finally have a mechanism to fund our dream project! But is it as easy as just asking your friends or audience to support your thing? It sounds like a lot of work. And how do you avoid annoying everyone […]

Copyright! Public Domain! Fair Use, and More! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu31d8Jx5KI What is the benefit of working with public domain characters and stories? Is it just fun to play in “someone’s sandbox,” or is there a larger cultural benefit to authors building on and expanding the works of those who came before? What might happen if more creative […]

Superheroes! Batman! Superman! Dean Trippe! Dan Mishkin, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJwfPCQK3eQ Over the past years we’ve seen more and more summer blockbusters featuring superhero characters and stories. Are they just fashionable again, or is there something to these kinds of stories that connects us to them? What characterizes an effective superhero story? I’m grateful to be […]

Pacific Rim! Jaegers! Kaiju! Dave Roman! and Spoilers! I’m joined by Dave Roman for a talk on how the author’s analytic eye affects his or her enjoyment of media. What happens when you can’t stop picking at story when reading a book or watching a film? Besides making you insufferable at parties, are there any […]

Designing characters with appeal, G-Man, writing from life, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MRbB5tkYs0 It’s hard enough to learn how to draw, but things get even dicier when we start talking about what it takes to create appeal. Fortunately I’m joined by Chris Giarrusso of the eminently appealing G-Man series and Dave Carter of the University of Michigan […]

Chris Houghton! Shane Houghton! Tony Cliff! And more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlGWrGYj7co How do you design awesome action sequences? What’s the secret to writing scenes that make the audience roar with laughter? I know I couldn’t answer these questions on my own, so I’m grateful to be joined by the perfect roundtable for the job: Tony Cliff, author […]

He-Man! Zeus! Posedion! Olympians rule! George O’Connor, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W7VJZ5PW1s What better medium than comics to capture the majesty and mayhem of Greek Mythology? Especially in the hands of celebrated cartoonist George O’Connor, creator of The Olympians series from First Second books. Together we talk about kid logic, how an author must get to the heart […]

Editing, writing, graphic novels, First Second Books, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=R10AAaL7zKc I’m excited to talk with Calista Brill, Senior Editor at First Second Books, about the entire process of developing and publishing a graphic novel. What does a good pitch look like? What qualities are editors looking for in a graphic novel proposal? Once the book […]

Mini-Comics, Sumo, Tumblr Comics, Thien Pham, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5uYdsO0jI This time we discover that Sumo wrestling can be a metaphor for the creative life thanks to the work of Thien Pham, author of Sumo from First Second Books. Together we explore how the philosophy of “every moment is the moment of truth” applies to just […]

Finding your venue, loving parody, Broodhollow, Kris Straub, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvrE75Cv5kQ Stick to your knitting. Specialize. Find your niche. Operate in your wheelhouse. And a zillion other clichés that get thrown around. It’s been accepted as common wisdom that one should find the one thing they have some talent in and pursue that to the […]

Finances, Poorcraft, Polterguys, Mini-Comics, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNn3bKSHu8Q The hard fact of it is, few people make a ton of money at this comics jazz. And while we’ve talked about creating various streams of income in past shows, we’ve yet to talk about how to get more out of less of our financial resources! We’re joined […]

Spongebob, work-for-hire, the importance of comics podcasting, and more! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSR9RzdRqfg We’re thrilled to have Gregg Schigiel, the artist behind many of the ever-present images of Spongebob Squarepants in comics and on products, for a talk on working on a beloved children’s character. Is it all fame and candy-eating, or is there a certain work ethic […]