Study Group Radio: Process Party

Welcome autobiographical cartoonist and noted hand letterer Dustin Harbin to the party floor! We talk about the Doug Wright awards, hosting a Canadian awards show when you're an American from the South, and his recent longform diary comic story Small Enough, which found some acclaim on the internet. We enjoyed this meditation on the convention circuit, social awkwardness, depression, family ties, and big trees that make you cry, so we talk to dustin at length about the story. But First: Zack's on a California Vacation! Mike's about to go to Cape Cod and pretend to be a seal!

We talk to the cartoonist of Theth & Raw Power (Retrofit) who is also the driving force behind All Time Comics (Fantagraphics), a wild and wooly throwback to the heady days of 1970-80's mainstream comics made by some of the top talents in modern art comics. We get into the ATC books, Josh's personal work, career path, teaching philosophies, and more! Plus: Josh gets down with a Formative Works segment! Agony, American Splendor, and Mark Grunewald's Captain America are all discussed in detail. AND: We launched our Patreon! So we talk about that.

Please welcome to the Party Floor the creator of the political sci-fi romance comic TITAN, co-founder of the Linework NW comic fest, and designer at large, Francois Vigneault! We cover a lot of ground in this big chat, from Francois' comics & publishing history, involvement with Study Group Comics, and his thoughts on genre, with a detour into some writing & cinema discussions, the politics of Titan, how the world has changed since Francois started the book, and the value of polemic in 2017. PLUS! The comics internet is aflame with talk of "can you make valuable work after the ripe old age of 30?" The question was roundly mocked before spurring on a lot of actual interesting conversation online, which Mike & Zack both summarize and engage in a bit of their own pontification.

We welcome Katie Skelly (Nurse Nurse, My Pretty Vampire) to the party floor! Katie talks about the end of her long running podcast Trash Twins (w/Sarah Horrocks), her love of genre, trash culture, and other unsavory things. Her new book is her most ambitious to date and we get into color theory, narrative abstraction, serialization, and more. Plus! We all go off the rails a bit to do some light gossiping. Also: Mike has the flu and Zack throws a children's birthday party! An exciting episode!

We sit down with the legendary John Porcellino, creator of King Cat Comics and one man comics distro under the Spit And A Half banner. King Cat is one of the longest continually published mini comics in existence, with 77 issues since 1989! John just dropped the new issue, which is full of John's great brand of animal stories. He also just published a collection of Jenny Zervakis' mini comics called Strange Growths, and we talk about her work and what drove this inveterate self-publisher to become a publisher of other artists. PLUS: Mike and Zack talk about Delaware Punch! Progress with projects! And a VANCAF scene report!

Mike & Zack spend a bit of time this week wondering about where the best places are to publish webcomics these days. Spurred on by the recent controversy over popular webcomics portal Taptastic and their magically updating terms of service. We talk a little about various places to look at webcomics like Stela, Taptastic, Tumblr, Study Group, and how these portals differ from just hosting your own website. It's a pretty free wheeling conversation about the topic, so get ready for some serious jibba jabba!

We meet with the Comics Reporter himself! Tom Spurgeon comes to the party floor to talk the recent Fantagraphics oral history "We Told You So: Comics As Art." It's a book we loved digging into and Tom brings a wealth of behind the scenes magic to the story OF THE STORY (of the story?), very high concept this is. We also cover Tom's work at CXC and the future of The Comics Reporter! PLUS: Mike & Zack talk about their bedtimes!

This week at The Process Party, we’ve got comics educator, editor and scholar Bill Kartalopoulos and cartoonist and publisher Austin English here for a conversation about the graphic novels Patience by Daniel Clowes, Peplum by Blutch, and Superboy #104, published by DC Comics, in April 1963. Some interesting contrasts and comparisons are made. It’s a fun chat with two very smart and engaging people from comics.

We join our pal Julia Wertz to talk her new book Tenements, Towers & Trash, working for the New Yorker, moving cross country, her experiences at the MacDowell Colony and Short Run Trailer Blaze residencies, growing to love other people’s kids, the differences between working with “big publishers” vs comics publishers, and more! But First: Mike & Zack talk comics community, tumblr likes as currency, and daydream about the Marvel & DC bullpens of the 1970s!

We talk to Keith about his new book Jake The Fake, moving to the south, homeschooling, why representation in media matters, get into the nuts and bolts of what it's like to be a daily strip cartoonist while juggling the production responsibilities for his new book series. PLUS: Mike & Zack wax poetic about that mostly absent feeling of a single issue comic release feeling like an honest to god event.

We talk to the author of Meanwhile, Bookhunter, Empire State, Fleep, and Demon about math, parenthood, action, books-as-computers, cliffhangers, living in France and more. Plus: Zack juggles projects! Mike's got a new comic on the Nib! And we talk computer coloring and sound like a couple of idiots.

Welcome the creator of Habitat, Tiger Lung & Jan's Atomic Heart, and artist/co-writer of Prophet, Simon Roy! We cover Simon's career from college years to post-Prophet success, and his interest in barbarian comics, anthropology, science fiction, barbarians, and more barbarians! PLUS: Zack's sudden turn into autobiography, Notebook Weakness, Mike's famous actor friends, making comics "just for fun", and having life experience vs wanting to make "Great Art"!

Episode 26 - Mike & Zack 5: No Guests, No Masters! Happy half birthday to us! It's our 6 month anniversary, and we celebrate by talking all kinds of Jibba Jabba! Zack's new comic, Mike's Dad Problems, creative blocks vs procrastination, new brush pens, posting instagram videos, feeling good about your work, mike's crab hand, and cartoonists we wish were still cartooning are just some of the topics at hand this time.

Welcome to the Party Floor Hazel Newlevant, editor of Chain Mail Bikini, co-editor of the upcoming Comics For Choice, and author of If This Be Sin, No Ivy League, & the upcoming Sugar Town. We talk editing anthologies, abortion rights, her early life and experiences as a home schooled kid, dating, stepping out on her own, queer visibility, polyamory, fake news, and the ethics of including others as characters in her story. PLUS: Mike & Zack talk the week's creative progress, make dumb jokes about being old, and revisit where they're at with their own personal Struggles With Layouts. *sob!*

Julia & Sean join us to talk about Mirror Mirror 2, the upcoming horror/pornography anthology they're editing for 2Dcloud. We cover the intersection of horror and sex, editing for the first time, collaboration, Goth music & capturing a mood via curation, and we dive deep into both Julia and Sean's contributions to the book, as well as wax fannish over several of the contributors to Mirror Mirror 2. ALSO: Mike & Zack talk about comic book layouts and how and why you might do them when making comics. PLUS: Mike comes to a conclusion!

The renowned illustrator and cartoonist Eleanor Davis joins us to talk about her new books You & A Bike & A Road, and Libby's Dad. Illustration work, bike tours across the country, politics, keeping in contact with art directors, short story vs graphic novel writing, politics and more are all discussed in this great conversation with one of the best current comics creators around. PLUS! The return of Shanna! She and Zack talk the end of ISLAND, her new job, PULP magazine, LOGAN, and James Stanton's new comic. AND! Mike and Zack are absolutely RUINED by Daylight Savings Time, and we chat about Mike's new comic over at the Nib.

England's own Joe Decie joins us on the party floor to chat about his forthcoming book from Jonathan Cape, Collecting Sticks. We talk about why he made the switch from short-form to long-form work, family vacations, and Brexit. Joe fills us in on how making the shift from a part-time to full-time artist has affected his ability to do DIY jobs around the house, and he confesses he'd never go to a campout in his town for fear of a gang of yobbos coming around to kick the tent down. Plus: Zack reports From the Road, on his way back from ECCC in Seattle, and let's us know how that all went down.

The co-creator of Southern Bastards, Loose Ends and Spider-Gwen joins us on the party floor. We get deep into the creative life of a writer-artist juggling several projects at once, putting yourself into genre work, the genesis of Southern Bastards, the return of Loose Ends, and dive deep into what it means to truly collaborate with other artists in a multitude of ways. Plus: Mike & Zack talk their new collabs, we see the return of the 5 Year Plan, and mike tries to rebrand PP as a "Comics Salon" (it doesn't fly).

Mike & Zack take an "us" day and chat about some recent comics reads. Last Man vols 1 & 2 by Balak, Michaël Sanlaville, Bastien Vivès, Beauty by Hubert & Kerascoet, "Black History" by David Heatley, and Captain America #344 by Mark Gruenwald & Kieron Dwyer.

This week, we talk to Rich Tommaso about all things She Wolf! One of the coolest current Image Comics series, She Wolf is a hallucinatory take on the werewolf genre that has led to some of Rich's most impressive visuals and elliptical narratives yet. Plus: Zack & Mike talk "the canon" in comics history, Will Eisner, & The Joe Kubert School.