Study Group Radio: Process Party

The hilarious author of Just So You Know, Thingpart, and prolific contributor at The Nib joins us on the party floor! We talk parenting, twitter, Mad Magazine, webcomics, taking breaks when you're not feeling it, dive into Joey's career & her thoughts on humor comics. PLUS: Mike & Zack talk about 5 year plans, agents, & those infuriating prodigies!

We welcome the excellent Mardou to the Party Floor. She's the author of the 2015 Revival House Press release Sky in Stereo, and is currently working on a sequel volume. We dig into Mardou's writing method, get the scoop on her next comics project, talk drugs, religion, self-care, generational ambivalence, postulating about 9-panel grids, this episode has it all! PLUS: Mike in Atlanta! Zack at the hospital! AND: Shanna talks She Wolf vol 1, On Topics #2, & Island #14 on New Comics Roundup.

This week, we welcome Noah Van Sciver to the party floor! We talk Blammo #9, listed by many (including this podcast) as one of the best books of the year, post-project depression, Fantagraphics, coming up hungry, Patreon, and what's next for Noah. Formative Works Eightball #11 & 16 are discussed. Also, Mike & Zack alternate talking trash & rhapsodizing about Noah; and Shanna & Zack break out Dad's Weekend, The Goddamned, Southern Bastards, & 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank on New Comics Roundup!

This week, we welcome talented illustrator, cartoonist & belly dancer Leela Corman! She's the author of the graphic novel Unterzakhn (Schocken) & the recent short story collection We All Wish For Deadly Force (Retrofit). We have a spirited discussion about her upcoming work, making short comics vs longform comics, and generational trauma, among other things.

BONUS EPISODE! The boys, spurred on by an internet meme, take a spontaneous trip down memory lane and talk about some of their most influential comics read while enduring their teenage years. Important questions like: Who shoplifted comics from the B.Dalton? Is The Death & Return/Reign of the Supermen better than Love & Rockets? And what's better: Inferno or Acts of Vengeance? This episode explains a lot about your hosts, whether they like it or not!

The Party Boys are joined by guest critic Joe McCulloch! He brings the context to our larger discussion of the work of Urotsukidoji & Demon Beast Invasion creator Toshio Maeda. We also have a live recording of the trailblazing erotic mangaka's talk with Tim Goodyear at Floating World Comics last month. It's a funny, loopy chat we thought our listeners would enjoy. PLUS: Mike & Zack check in with a Progress Report on their 2017 creative goals!

In this episode, we're all a little wiped out from the holidays and our big "Best of" episode last time, so The Party Boys take a minute to take stock of 2016 & look forward to 2017. Plus! Shanna returns to talk Red Red Rock & Black Widow #9 with Zack in the New Comics Roundup!

Mike & Zack haven't read as much as they'd have liked this year, but they succumb to societal pressure and break down their favorite books of 2016! Plus: Guest reviews from Josh Bayer, Sarah Glidden, Jim Rugg, Kris Mukai, Box Brown, Gina Wyndbrandt, Joe McCulloch, Josh Simmons, Leela Corman, Chris Pitzer, Sophia Foster-Dimino, Sammy Harkham, & Sarah Horrocks!

Mike & Zack (aka "The Party Boys") welcome Simon Hanselmann (with appearances by his wife & Fantagraphics publicist Jacq Cohen who was also on hand) to the Party Floor! They talk his new 2Dcloud book DRONE v2, drugs, absent friends, music, & truth (zone). Mike & Zack also discuss the Doctor Strange movie, kickstarter, & publishing strategy.

Jason Lutes (Jar of Fools, Houdini: The Handcuff King (drawn by Nick Bertozzi), The Fall (written by Ed Brubaker), & his long-running Berlin) is here in ONE FROM THE VAULTS! Mike interviewed Jason in 2011 for a previous podcast, but is presented here with a slightly different edit. They discuss Berlin, CCS, his interest in gaming, particularly role-playing games, and the ways in which such things influence storytelling and world-building. PLUS: Mike comes clean about his Kevin Smith fandom, and Zack and Shanna talk new (& very old) comics!

Welcome cartoonist & Yam Books publisher Rina Ayuyang! We talk pens, musicals, sketchbooks, publishing and podcasting. A new segment called "Breaking The Ice" is debuted, Zack teases a fan-fiction project, and Mike has a brand new webcomic to announce!

We're talking to Uncivilized Books/ODOD publisher & talented cartoonist Tom Kaczynski. Topics include nostalgia, Polish comics, kickstarters, publishing and more. Plus: Everyone is sick! There are some sniffles. And: New comics chat with Shanna, including a discussion of Highbone Theater and the return of Saxaphone Man!

Malachi Ward joins us on the party floor to talk about comic collaborations and hard science fiction. His new book Ancestor, created with Matt Sheean has recently come out through Image after being serialized in Emma Rios & Brandon Graham's Island magazine. Also: Mike & Zack talk Patreon & Shanna is back from Japan and ready to report on her travels.

No guest this episode, as Zack and Mike spent the portion of the week usually reserved for recording interviews for the podcast reeling into the abyss of existential despair. A little chat about the New Normal, and then a trip down memory lane to the distant past, just over one week ago when Zack attended the Short Run festival in Seattle and Mike tabled at Comic Arts Brooklyn. Oh, it was a simpler time...

Zack and Mike chat with Black is the Color and Laid Waste cartoonist, Julia Gfrorer in this wide-ranging episode. We discuss foundational works of Julia's, including work by Ivan Brunetti, Al Columbia, Tony Millionaire, and Chris Ware. Plus! Zack has a hangover in the beginning from celebrating his birthday. Happy birthday Zack!

Mike & Zack introduce a special episode - Illustrator & cartoonist Matt Furie interviewed by Justin "Scrappers" Morrison, recorded at this year's 2016 Linework NW festival in Portland, OR. What follows is a great chat about Pepe the frog, creativity, parenting, and Aquaman. Shanna's in Japan, so no Weekly comics segment (but FYI that Dark Horse Moebius collection finally came out and it's pretty cool!) #savepepe!

Derf Backderf joins us on the party floor to chat about his graphic novels Trashed and My Friend Dahmer, his alt weekly comic, The City, and his ongoing webcomic, The Baron of Prospect Ave. We also hear about his recent trip to the CXC convention, and the My Friend Dahmer movie, currently in production. Plus! Shanna Matuszak is here to talk new comic releases, and the fellows get to chatting about their literary agent hopes and dreams.

Mike and Zack are back, with episode 2 of the Process Party Podcast! Mike tells us all about his experiences cosplaying at the New York Comic Con. Zack chats with Shanna Matuszak about this week's new releases. Then Elijah Brubaker (Reich, Jezebel) joins us on the party floor to talk about his process and also, Nth Man!

Episode 01 – Vanessa Davis – Your hosts Zack Soto & Mike Dawson break the ice, cartoonist Shanna Matuszak talks this week’s comics, and guest Vanessa Davis talks about two Formative Works: 100 Demons by Lynda Barry & Charlotte: Life or Theater by Charlotte Salomon.