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Wake up, get dressed! It's the Big Roman Muradov Episode! This one is guest-edited and guest-produced by the guest himself and filled with aural wonders. Roman is a brilliant and accomplished illustrator and cartoonist, author of (In a Sense) Lost and Found (Nobrow), Jacob Bladders and the State of the Art (Uncivilized), Resident Lover (Kuš) Vanishing Act (Fantagraphics), On Doing Nothing (Chronicle), and many other works. Roman's new and in-progress comics -- Terrible Father, Foghorn, and All the Living (Fantagraphics) -- provide the vehicle for our doomed quest for truth across the corpses of legions of writers, artists, musicians and thinkers. Innocence and cruelty! Artifice and sincerity! Free indirect style for comics! Repetition! Repetition! Repetition! This episode is not titled "Pretty, Ugly, Stupid, Smart." The Horse Scene Theme Song is performed by the apparently ingenious Dory Bavarsky. Additional soundy stuff by Roman Muradov as noted, and occasional xylophone by past guest and great person Tana Oshima. Thank you as always to the show's beloved regular producer Jason Butler.   Links Roman's website Roman's substack Roman's instagram Two Librans podcast Dory Bavarsky's website Miami Review of Comics's instagram Jason Butler's instagram

Today I am joined by the great Kevin Huizenga, author of graphic novels such as The River at Night, Curses, The Wild Kingdom and Gloriana (all published by Drawn & Quarterly), the ongoing series Fielder, and many other comics and zines. Kevin's work often tackles zones of human experience rarely touched in comics, such as consciousness, the nature of time, and other Big Questions of Philosophy. (One of Kevin's most affecting stories is about a theologian writing an essay.) We get into the impulse and process behind this kind of work. We also discuss the trouble with interviews, the uses of a cartoon avatar, and much more. Grateful to Kevin for his thoughtful answers.  And grateful as always for Jason Butler for producing the episode.   Links Kevin's website Kevin's patreon Kevin's instagram Miami Review of Comics on instagram Drew's patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

Today my guest is New York cartoonist Elizabeth Bethea, whose comics include Book of Daze and Francis Bacon (Domino Books), All Killer No Filler, and Forlorn Toreador. She's also appeared in anthologies like Peep and Crease.  Elizabeth is one of the great comics poets, and I loved learning about how she composes her work over time through daily writing. We also get into Elizabeth's hometown of New Orleans, her recent forays into digital cartooning, the love life of Susan Sontag, the dreaminess of still lifes, pictureless poems, and more! Thank you to Jason Butler for producing the episode!   Links E.A. Bethea's website EA Bethea on instagram Miami Review of Comics on instagram Drew's patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

Buckle up, gentle listener, for a whirlwind tour of the comic art (and life & times) of Lummi Island's Golden Boy, Brooklyn's Hottest Dad, and Art Comics' Secret Weapon, Matthew Thurber! Matthew is the author of 1-800-MICE, Infomaniacs (Picturebox), Art Comic, Mr. Colostomy (Drawn and Quarterly), Vector Hugo, Pirates of the Condominium -- and most recently Looking for the Cat, an ongoing series published by Neoglyphic Media. We begin with Looking for the Cat, set in Matthew's childhood home of Lummi Island, and then travel back in time to the twilight of the George W. Bush era, when 1-800-MICE was being conceived. From there we move through two decades of Matthew's oeuvre, and recirculate, Finnegans-Wake-like, to his latest work. Along the way we get into life as a young NYC art handler, the heady days of Picturebox, the writing of Thomas Pynchon and Raymond Roussel, Children of Men, stories with and without endings, making comics in quarantine, and making comics when your baby was just born and you've lost your cat. Grateful to Matthew for spending so much time with me revisiting all this work! It was a lot of fun. Thanks to Jason Butler for producing the episode!   Links Matthew's website Matthew's instagram Miami Review of Comics on instagram Drew's patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

I am joined today by the brilliant and hilarious Sam Szabo, author of Momix Presents: DADIX (Cram Books), Enlightened Transsexual Comics (Silver Sprocket), Girl Hell and lots more. Sam and I talk about the intersection of memoir and gags in her work, being a briefcase kid exposed to boomer esoterica in Mad Magazine, the crutch and the ecstacy of fourth-wall breaking, the sublime banality of cousins, and so on. I had a ton of fun chatting with Sam, and look forward to all the new stuff she's cooking up. Thank you to our beloved producer Jason Butler!   Links Sam's shop Sam's instagram Sam's patreon Miami Review of Comics on instagram Drew's patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

Today we are joined by brilliant cartoonists and confirmed Luddites Sophie Franz and Daria Tessler to talk about the joys and sorrows of analog artmaking! Through the magic of technology we fear and abhor, Soph and Daria were able to zap in from Portland, Oregon and join me on a grand tour of the world of analog tools, from pencil and ballpoint pen to gouache, collage, silkscreen, and more. Thank you for listening and hope you enjoy this last episode of 2025!  Thanks as always to producer & sound engineer Jason Butler for helping us get TWO episodes out this month, holy cow, look at us go, love you all. Links Soph's website Soph's instagram Daria's website Daria's instagram Miami Review of Comics on instagram Drew's patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

In his ongoing comic, Reel Politik, Nathan Gelgud harnesses the daily gag strip to explore cinema through the lens of radical politics (or radical politics through the lens of cinema??). The strip is peopled with a goofy but determined cast of characters hell-bent on fomenting Marxist-Leninist revolution by whatever means are available to them, having turned a small-town theater into a radical cell. The first collection of the strip has recently been released by Drawn & Quarterly. In this episode, Nathan and I talk about his relationship to film and politics, and how these became the main focus of his comics-making. We also dive into essay-comics, Godard, sci-fi, the joys of a daily comic practice, and Nathan's revulsion at the word "practice." Thanks as ever to Jason Butler, our heroic producer & sound engineer! Links Nathan's website Nathan's instagram Reel Politik at D&Q Miami Review of Comics on instagram Drew's free patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

This past spring, cartoonist Katie Lane had two books come out right at the same time: Single Camera Sitcom (Comics Blogger Books) and Girls Gone Wild #1 (2DCloud). In both works, Katie explores the struggles at the heart of our most intimate relationships and choices, with wit and sensitivity and candor. But the first thing the reader is likely to notice is the extreme visual shift from one book to the next. Single Camera Sitcom, composed between 2019 and 2022, relies on bright digital collage and a variety of textual levels to tell a post-college picaresque. Girls Gone Wild #1, composed in 2025, unspools its more claustrophobic stories in spidery text and inky figure drawings. It was a pleasure to have Katie on to chat about both of these works, how they were made, and what inspired such a radical change in her approach to cartooning. Thanks as always to Jason Butler for producing the episode! And thanks to Katie's friend Walter for providing the theme from Single Camera Sitcom, which you can hear at the end of the episode.    Links Single Camera Sitcom at Comics Blogger Girls Gone Wild #1 at 2DCloud Katie's instagram Katie's shop Piece ft. Katie and Angela Fanche at TCJ Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's free patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

What's the relationship between comics and folk tales? Are cartoon characters and folkloric figures made of the same eternal shape-shifting goop? And what happens when they show up at different historical moments ... in the English Midlands, say? Today's guest, Michael Kennedy, is the author of Milk White Steed, a grandly ambitious collection of comics that explores history and narrative genre with equal fervor, making it the perfect springboard to have a good ol' think on all these questions and more. Thank you to Jason Butler, as always, for producing this episode. Xylophone outro by Roman Muradov X Tana Oshima -- thx frens! (Our wholesome intro music lives to fight another day.)   Links Michael Kennedy website Michael Kennedy instagram Milk White Steed at D+Q Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's free patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

It's Sammy Harkham Day at the Miami Review of Comics! In this marathon episode, Sammy and I dive deep into long form vs. short form comic-making -- epic graphic novels, standalone one-pagers, and everything in between.  We talk Kramers Ergot, Blood of the Virgin, and the past and future of Crickets! Will the next issue of Crickets be 48 one-pagers?! Listen to find out! A few apologies: First, despite my note early in the episode that we would be switching up the intro music, we have not, in fact, found or created a replacement track, so, despite Roman Muradov's best efforts to the contrary, we are all stuck with this "wholesome jingle" redolent of a "millennial retirement home" for at least one more month. It seems my millennial laziness has conquered my millennial fear of not pleasing all the people all the time (not to mention, of being twee). C'est la guerre! I also royally f****d up my recounting of Steven Weissman's Obama gag. Obama does not say "Charlie Brown is Jewish"; he says "Charlie Brown is a Jew." Which makes all the difference in the world, of course. So much for being lodged in my mind! OK, enough self-flagellation. Thank you, Sammy, thank you, Jason! Enjoy!   Links Sammy's online shop Sammy's instagram Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's free patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

Welcome to the Miami Review of Comics' Mailbag Extravaganza! In this seventh episode of the show, producer Jason Butler joined me to read some listener mail and answer your most urgent concerns. Past guests also chimed in to reveal their answers to the question: "Has a drawing you made ever frightened you?" In the back half we are joined by the wonderful Alex Laird for a chat about the way the indie comics landscape has changed in the last decade. And I shout out a few comics that were sent in to me. To those who were kind enough to send me PDFs of their comics -- I'm sorry, I'm a bad reader of digital comics. It's not you, it's me. I mention at the end that Michael Kennedy will be our next guest, but unfortunately we had to reschedule! I'm hoping to have Michael on very soon, though.  Keep your ears peeled for a very special xylophone solo!   Links Alex Laird's website Alex Laird's instagram Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's (free) patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

Saul Steinberg? Sure, he's the GOAT. But does Steinberg really mean anything to us in 2025? Even those of us who love him may find it hard to articulate what exactly he was up to. Today, the Miami Review of Comics is joined by cartoonist, publisher, distributor & polemicist(!) Austin English to help unpack Steinberg's legacy.  Our jumping-off point is Austin's forthcoming essay on All in Line, a New York Review reprint of Steinberg's debut book of drawings. From there we get into Steinberg's evolution from a clever illustrator to a world class artist, putting his work in conversation with gag cartoonists like Peter Arno and Gahan Wilson and painters like Philip Guston and the Chicago Imagists. George Herriman, too, joins the party.  Had a ton of fun talking to Austin and learned a lot. Will link to his essay once it appears on TCJ.com! Thanks as always to the show's wonderful producer Jason Butler.   Links Austin's Saul Steinberg essay at TCJ Domino Books Austin's website Austin's instagram All In Line by Saul Steinberg The Labyrinth by Saul Steinberg Poor Richard by Philip Guston Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's (free) patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

How do you get your comics to the people? Distros and shows! Neil Brideau knows distros and shows. A founding member of the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) and the Chicago Zine Fest, as well as the owner and operator of Radiator Comics (a distro and publisher), Neil has built his life around helping cartoonists find readers and find one another. He is also our guest today! The episode was extra special because Neil and I got to talk face-to-face here in Miami. Topics include Quimby's Bookstore, Dylan Williams, having and not having collaborators, the Small Business Administration's SCORE program, wishing to clone oneself, and more. Neil also shares some practical advice to cartoonists trying to navigate the world of distros, as well as to folks dreaming of starting a distro or show of their own. Thanks to Jason Butler for producing our program! Links Radiator Comics website Radiator Comics instagram Neil's website Quimby's Bookstore Small Business Administration SCORE Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's (free) patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

In the comics medium's ongoing quest for respectability, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of so-called literary comics: buttoned up, digestible, "realistic" -- comic strips cosplaying as New Yorker stories.    Today's guest, Tana Oshima, explodes any ideas a reader might have about what a literary comic can or should look like. By day, Tana is an accomplished Japanese-to-Spanish literary translator, whose credits include books by Yu Miri, Hiroko Oyamada, Yuko Tsushima, and Nobel-prize winner Yasunari Kawabata. By night, she has produced (in English) a slew of playful, inventive comic books, a form that she considers her playground.   Join us as we discuss drawing vs. writing, the joys of b******t literature, the mouths of Francis Bacon, our liberation from perfectionism, and much else. Hear me mangle some fairly simple Spanish phrases, and even read a few passages from Tana's work!   Links: Tana's shop Tana's instagram Interviews with Francis Bacon Today I Wrote Nothing by Daniil Kharms Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's (free) patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram

On the show's third episode, Jesse McManus joins the Miami Review of Comics to talk about his ongoing romance with The Two Kinds of Cartooning: yes, comics and animation. Join us as we explore Nicktoons and Robert Breer, onion cutting and Muybridging, impossible books, comic strip physics, working out one's own scam, and much more! You can email the show at [email protected] Thanks as always to our amazing producer Jason Butler!   Links: Jesse's website Jesse's instagram Bouy Boy (Jesse's student film) Nil's Pottery Lifechild (Jesse's student film) A Man and His Dog Out for Air (Robert Breer film) Miami Review of Comics instagram Drew's instagram Drew's (free) patreon Jason Butler's website Jason Butler's instagram