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Greg welcomes comics historian/curator Paul Gravett back to the show to discuss his QUEER AS COMICS exhibit at the newly opened Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in London. Paul goes deep into not only the exhibit's Tom of Finland origins, but the origin of the Centre as well. He spotlights forgotten cartoonist Barb Kutzner, one of the queer artists this show is finally getting proper recognition for. He talks broadly about comics as a queer medium, neither this nor that, as well as where the show's title came from (it's not where you think!). Paul lays out his curated approach designed to invite unprepared visitors, and its survey of queer comics with a UK emphasis while including wider work; he highlights how comics' hybrid, often self-published nature has enabled queer expression, from Tom of Finland onward. They discuss feedback, exhibition design choices that let visitors handle select comics, and the important role of the advisory board in making the show what it is. From there the discussion goes to Tove Jansson, one of Paul's other perpetual interests and someone with their own important place in queer comics, and Windsor McCay, before shifting to Paul's own background in comics. Greg gets the man with no nostalgia, no loyalties, and no limits to at least indulge in a little retrospection on their own career. How ESCAPE Magazine helped build a community of 'indivisualists' and what advice he has for a Paul Gravett of 2026 looking to follow his example. All that, plus some Bill Sienkiewicz fanboy-ing, an ARE YOU BEING SERVED explanation, and more! [This episode is number 843 in a series.]     CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 07:36 - Quentin Blake and Illustration and Tom of Finland 10:33 - Finding a New Home 14:28 - What's in a Name? 17:07 - Comics as a Queer Medium 21:48 - Curating Tone and Access 25:58 - Finding the Lost Barb Kutzner 33:46 - It Takes a Village: The Advisory Board and Scope 44:19 - Windsor McCay's Earliest Drawing 47:06 - Tove Jansson 53:32 - ESCAPE Magazine and UK Comics Finding Their Place 1:00:37 - Building a Comics Community 1:06:31 - Anthology Craft and Flow 1:09:07 - Indivisuality and Influence 1:15:27 - Comics for These Times 1:20:45 - Questioning Manga and Markets 1:22:31 - Knowledge in the Aggregate 1:26:42 - Outro

Aditya Bidikar came onto the show to talk about the first issue of his mainstream comics writing debut, In Your Skin, from Image Comics. Now that the Bollywood body horror identity and parasociality exploration In Your Skin has reached its conclusion, writer Aditya Bidikar is back to talk about the story as a whole, free to spoil as necessary to get to the heart of what he was going for...and he brought backup: Som, his Mumbai-based artist & collaborator who brought In Your Skin to life. While he has worked primarily in film, animation, and VFX, SOM has done comics work before, most notably with Philip Kennedy Johnson on BOOM!'s Crocodile Black. But In Your Skin doesn't read like a book from early in someone's career. It reads as a work of confidence from all sides, and this episode peels back a layer (or three) on its life and legacy. [This episode is number 842 in a series.]     CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro   08:22 - Serialization and Reader Confusion  14:55 - Coffee Shop Sketching Method 19:31 - Key Poses 25:23 - Coloring Collaboration 29:39 - The Physics of Skin 34:31 - Unlocking the POV 37:34 - The Epiphany 40:38 - Issue 4 Reveal 48:38 - The End Mirroring The Beginning 53:34 - Where Reader Sympathy Lies 58:23 - The Dude Playing The Dude Playing The Other Dude 01:03:26 - Realism and Art Influences 01:06:44 - Decisions and Options  01:12:56 - That Last Page 01:17:40 - The Necessity of Hope? 01:26:11 - Outro

Sierra Barnes returns to the show to discuss the next collection of her antifascist fairy tale webcomic Hans Vogel is Dead. She details her webcomic-to-print workflow, frequently intense production pace, delays, and outlining Volume 3 amid uncertainty about the publisher. Things hinted at in the 2023 interview are now discussed openly, including a major theme Sierra has literally been waiting years to be asked about! The conversation also explores horror as catharsis, comics versus prose from a writer's standpoint, the role of perception and animal imagery connecting to Nazi dehumanization tactics, and just what might be sitting on Sierra's creator bookshelf to the right of Hans Vogel v3 a few years from now.. [This episode is number 841 in a series.] CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 06:51 – Pitching at SPX 15:07 – Horror Humor and Anxiety 18:40 – Is Horror Practical 28:56 – History Research and Truth 32:34 – Keeping It Fresh 43:09 – Folklore Disguises Perception 48:16 – Fairy Tales and Fascism 52:32 – Hunting Lodge Horrors 58:30 – Kobolds and Klabautermann 01:05:05 – Working with Writers 01:15:07 – Future Projects and Prose 01:19:52 – Outro

(Originally published on January 26, 2023) Sierra Barnes is a cartoonist whose work combines such varied influences as history, folk lore, mythology, fascism, anti-fascism, war, and foxes that might not actually be foxes. Her webcomic exploration of these topics, HANS VOGEL IS DEAD, was just announced as having its first volume of strips collected with updated content by the folks over at Dark Horse Comics. She uses her degrees in History and German Studies, as well as an MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts, to bring to every page Hans Vogel's death to life.  Greg sits down with Sierra to talk about the long road in getting Hans Vogel out of her head and on to the screen and page, the differences between mythology, folklore, and history, how she learned to stop worrying and love the art of lettering comics, what tales scarred her for life, her take on the age-old question "Walt Disney: Threat or Menace?", and much more! [This episode is number 787 in a series.] CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 02:56 - HANS VOGEL Pitch 07:31 - HELLBOY and Influences 08:59 - History vs Art Origins 16:41 - Folklore vs Mythology 24:41 - Germany Identity and Propaganda 31:29 - Valkyries and Wagner Revenge 32:39 - Research Into Storytelling 35:31 - Workflow and Deadlines 42:40 - Digital Meets Traditional 43:23 - Pencils vs Inks 47:28 - Lettering as Storytelling 56:11 - Why Comics Fit History 01:02:59 - Walt Disney: Threat or Menace?  01:08:53 - Roasting History Movies  01:18:01 - Outro

One of the benefits of doing a show for as long as I've done this is not only meeting and talking to new folks, but checking back in with previous guests to see what they've been up to since we last talked. Today's episode is one of the catching up variety. My guest was last on the show back in April of 2022 for his miniseries, Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton, with collaborator, fellow cartoonist, and studio mate Kyle Starks. Do yourself a favor and check that out if you haven't done so already because it was, and still is, a hoot to listen to. He is a multiple Eisner, YALSA, and Stumptown Award-nominated cartoonist. He has also been, at one time or another, according to the internet, takes a deep breath, a hotel manager, movie theater projectionist, martial arts instructor, set builder, church music leader, process server, bartender, sixth grade social studies teacher, janitor, speakeasy proprietor, video store clerk, field hand, deckhand, kids TV puppeteer, muralist, kickboxer, pancake mix factory line worker, and, dramatic breath, a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design, teaching narrative theory, comics theory, and character environmental design. His published works include The Crogan Adventures graphic novel series from Oni Press, the nonfiction graphic novels The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery, and Maker Comics' Fix a Car! with an exclamation point at the end, and other collaborations with the aforementioned Kyle Starks, including a shockingly good Mars Attacks miniseries. At the end of his last appearance on this show, he mentioned just starting on pencils for a comic he was intending to serialize called Outlaw's Apprentice. And it's that comic and the Kickstarter campaign for its first volume that brings Chris Schweitzer back on the show today. [This episode is number 840 in a series.]     CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro   05:50 – Series Pitch and Setting 10:12 – Legacy and Creative Stakes 14:50 – Appalachia as Foundation 19:16 – Character Craft and Monologues 24:35 – Lessons from Crogan  34:06 – Tools Paper Sizes and Materials 37:27 – Serialization Feedback and Editing 47:24 – Art Style Shifts  56:12 – Why Swords Fascinate  01:03:02 – Ethics Of Violence  01:16:53 – Libraries And Access  01:23:20 – Outro

Hazel Newlevant is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist known for creating and editing comics about queer history, bisexuality, polyamory, and reproductive rights. Their cartoonist CV highlights start off with the Xeric Grant-funded mini comic Ci Vediamo in 2012 and the Prism Comics Grant-funded biography of Harlem Renaissance blues singer Gladis Bentley called If This Be Sin in 2013.They decided to branch out into anthology editing in 2016 with Chainmail Bikini, which collected experiences of female and nonbinary gamers in a male-dominated space. The success of that led them to keep a foot in both worlds moving forward. The anthology side racked up co-editing titles like 2017's Comics for Choice, 2019's Puerto Rico Strong, and 2024's Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans. Back on the strictly cartoonist side, they put out the 2017 graphic novella Sugar Town and the 2019 graphic novel No Ivy League. This body of work over the first decade of their career, give or take, has earned them the Ignatz Award, the Eisner Award, and the GLAAD Media Award. But that is all prelude to their new book, released last month, which brings them here today. Queer and How We Got Here: A (Personal) History blends the creator's personal history with their growing understanding of the larger landscape of queer identity THAT history is unfolding in. By sharing both parts of that journey equally in such a clear and effective narrative, they have made a book that belongs in every library, bookstore, and home. [This episode is number 838 in a series.]   CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 04:36 – Queer History or Personal History - Which Came First? 07:03 – Choosing The Moments 11:44 – Who This Book Is For  20:02 – Identity Categories and History 25:51 – Color Palette Choices 29:05 – Workflow and Archival Process 33:05 – Outlining and Structuring the Puzzle  43:04 – Outro

Going into the 2024 US presidential election, a group of close to 50 comic book creators got together and put out the STOP PROJECT 2025 webcomic -- a non-fiction anthology that broke down the 900-page conservative wishlist that was Project 2025's MANDATE FOR LEADERSHIP into understandable chunks and readers know what they were really voting for if they supported it, or why they needed to vote against it if they didn't. Organized by Scott Dunbier and Steve Lieber, contributors included folks like Jen Van Meter, Lila Sturgis, Gene Ha, Cully Hamner, Greg Pak, Matt Fraction, Mark Russell, Sarah Ryan, Zoe Tennant, Rick Veitch, Greg Rucka, and more. Unfortunately, the comic's goal of stopping Project 2025 was not successful, but there are lessons to be learned from it, and today's episode has two guests (political scientist/pollster Dan Cassino and comics writer/STOP PROJECT 2025 contributor Greg Pak) to help Greg and listeners do exactly that. [This episode is number 838 in a series.]   CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 01:00 – Preface 09:35 – Project 2025 Explained  14:04 – A Crisis of Information  25:36 – Comics as Instructions 28:11 – AI and Apathy Atrophy 31:08 – Action Absorbs Anxiety 37:20 – The Zine Tradition 40:40 – Four Page Storycraft 45:38 – Comics Community and Comics in the Community 50:57 – Outro

Readers go to the comic shop to get their comics, but the road those comics take from the creator's drawing tables to the shops has changed a lot in the last 100 years or so. Greg talked with documentary filmmaker Wes Eastin back in February about the comic shop/retailer side of things, but today he's flipping the dial and going to the creative side because this episode features two members of the POWER PULP Comics Collective and Distribution -- CEO Chris Anderson and cartoonist Corinne Halbert --and dives right in to how Power Pulp is their growing answer to the question every creator has to face in their career: "How do I get my work out there?"

Josh Dysart returns to the show for a third time to talk about his newest miniseries from Bad Idea, The Hab. Created with David Lapham, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jacob Phillips, colorists Matt Hollingsworth and Crabtree, and letterer Simon Bowland, and printed on old school newsprint-esque paper, The Hab shows us all what happens when a billionaire and his circle of family and staff survive a nuclear holocaust in his high-tech bunker…only to find a worse fate waiting for him. Find out about this something-for-everyone horror story fits in today's climate, where billionaire Tuttle Barrows sits on the continuum of characters from his career to this point, horror's necessity as a genre, how all these production pieces fit together, why letterers should be valued more across the board, and what Hong Kong action pillar gets another off-the-cuff watch guide from Josh himself. [This episode is number 836 in a series.]     CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 04:25 – From Bad Idea to The Hab 18:36 – The Bad Idea Dilemma 24:29 – Lettering & Post Production 32:42 – Pitching The Hab 34:18 – Why Horror Now 37:34 – Comics Horror vs Prose Horror 41:47 – Satire and Tuttle Barrows 46:41 – Catharsis vs Horror 50:20 – Humanizing The Villains 56:33 – Why Harada Doesn't Work Anymore 01:04:07 – Comics For Peace Fallout 01:07:44 – John Woo Starter Guide 01:17:29 – Hollywood vs Hong Kong 01:23:18 – Outro

[This episode is a remastered version of number 664 in a series, originally released on April 30, 2020.] The last time writer Josh Dysart was on the show, back in 2017, the conversation focused on his run as ongoing writer for Swamp Thing. But for this deep-dive talk, the topics range from his latest book with TKO Studios (Goodnight Paradise), his Eisner-nominated work on Vertigo's Unknown Soldier, his relationship with both books' artist Alberto Ponticelli, how much fear and panic is a part of his work process then and now, why new publisher Bad Idea is actually a good idea, traveling the world, and why Jackie Chan is such a comfort in these trying times!   CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 06:45 - Freelance life in lockdown 09:41 - Joining TKO Studios 11:54 - Goodnight Paradise 28:42 - Enlisting the Unknown Soldier 37:04 - Fear-driven craft 40:16 - Working with Alberto Ponticelli 47:51 - Guest artists and authenticity 53:05 - Real-world inspirations 58:48 - Could the war have continued? 01:05:26 - Vertigo's creative wave 01:12:53 - Why Bad Idea works 01:14:26 - Comics For Peace Pakistan 01:18:25 - Mentorship and travel 01:21:33 - Jackie Chan essentials 01:26:05 - Hong Kong action DNA 01:36:53 - Art as conversation 01:37:34 - Outro

Today's episode has Greg chatting with Sydney Halpern, a historical sociologist from the University of Chicago who has written extensively about twentieth-century American medical institutions and biomedical science, including 2021's Dangerous Medicine: The Story Behind Human Experiments with Hepatitis, and Trigvy Faste, an Associate Professor in the Department of Product Design at the University of Oregon, as well as an illustrator and designer in his own right. Their book, Infected for Science, coming out May 26th from Graphic Mundi, looks at religious pacifist David Miller and a group of conscientious objectors who took on an extraordinary mission during World War II: signing up for government-sponsored medical experiments that intentionally infected them with hepatitis to help scientists understand a disease that was sickening American soldiers fighting on the front lines. It also looks at the project's aftermath and legacy almost 80 years later.  [This episode is number 835 in a series.]  CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro  01:22 - Discovering the Archives  03:45 - Trygve Finds Comics Again  05:33 - Meeting Through Comics Class  07:31 - Comics Influences and Models  08:34 - Trygve Comic Origins  12:30 - Building Dual Timeline Story  15:15 - Miller Cartoons Tone  18:56 - Art Style and Accent Color  23:14 - Publisher Pitch and Feedback  28:38 - Page Design and Lettering  31:03 - Seamless Reading Flow  32:12 - Internal Logic Design  33:08 - Dance With Death Spread  38:12 - Creative Nonfiction Boundaries  38:54 - Ethics And Compensation  42:51 - Who Gets Harmed  45:58 - Why Comics Worked  49:14 - Collaboration And Outreach  52:52 - Moral Complexity And Empathy  59:17 - Outro

J. Marshall Smith is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator based in Baltimore (making us de facto neighbors) who came up through the disciplines of painting and printmaking before finding his way to comics. And that background shows, because his work doesn't look like it comes from someone who learned to draw from comics, but rather from someone who developed a way of looking at things and then figuring out what comics could do with that. He's built his readership carefully and honestly – self-publishing collections of comics and art through Kickstarter, mailing drawings to his Patreon supporters, teaching, tabling at festivals, doing the quiet unglamorous work of caretaking that relationship between creator and audience. He recently tabled at the MoCCA festival in New York, launching a new collaborative comic called The Vanishing Man with illustrator Katherine Lams – about running into your bad ex in a nursing home, about frailty and memory and what we do and don't owe each other. But it's the topic of his debut graphic novel Testament, published by Bulgilhan Press (think bull-gee-lan) and available now, that brings him to the show today. Testament follows an android caretaker – designation: Testament – designed to tend to the members of the Order of the Abundant Grace of the Cosmic Christ during their monastic and scholarly existence studying a distant planet. As the all-female Order dwindles and only one Sister remains, Testament is left to reckon with faith, grief, memory, and the prospect of immortality in a solitary but spiritual infinity. [This episode is number 834 in a series.]  CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 01:59 – MoCCA Festival Recap 03:35 – The Vanishing Man Collaboration 09:53 – Teaching Life And Time 11:51 – An Unprecious Art Philosophy 16:25 – Designing Testament Faces 29:04 – Origins And Faith Questions 36:40 – What's In A Name? 41:59 – Faith and Science 52:22 – Designing the Plots 01:02:31 – Revisiting the Setting 01:05:00 – What's Next Projects 01:07:37 – Freelance Life 01:28:21 – Outro

Aditya Bidikar, back on the show after 4 years, is a man of letters in the most literal sense.  In the more than a decade he has been plying the lettering trade, he has worked with every major North American comics publisher and formed strong collaborations with several groups of creators, none more so than with writer Ram V and artist Anand K.  In the words of Multiversity Comics alum and SKTCHD guru David Harper, it is a career consisting of "all bangers".  But he is on the show today to talk about IN YOUR SKIN, his first major work as a comics writer.  IN YOUR SKIN, with artist SOM and colorist Francesco Segala for Image Comics and Tiny Onion and released on April 22nd, combines Bollywood culture with body horror and erotic fiction. The solicitation also name-checks David Cronenberg and THE SUBSTANCE. We  would throw in some Scorsese and Satoshi Kon as well, but… we will get into that. Aditya is at a fairly unique point in comics: a first-time comics writer with years of experience making comics, a letterer making his own words fit onto the page of his own story, a perennial collaborator stepping into a lead role…however you want to look at it, this is a fascinating time to be Aditya Bidikar, and today's chat dives into just why that is the case. [This episode is number 833 in a series.]  CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 05:42 – Bollywood & Dance 17:19 – Influences and PERFECT BLUE  18:12 – Male Gaze and Patriarchy 24:19 – Wanting to Be vs Be With 29:13 – Parasocial Horror and Identity 38:07 – Writing Sympathy for Priyanka 42:13 – Drama First Genre Second 45:11 – Priyanka Redefined 47:10 – Script as Blueprint 51:02 – Rewriting to the Finale 53:04 – Ownership and Fingerprints 54:29– The Showrunner Mindset 01:04:28 – Personal Stakes and Finishing 01:10:11 – Lettering and Burnout 01:12:55 – Finding Theme While Writing 01:18:06 – Stories Not Essays 01:21:18 – Outro

[This episode is a remastered version of number 776 in a series, originally released on April 21, 2022.] Now you can hear the second half of the two-part chat Greg had with letterers extraordinaire Aditya Bidikar and John Workman!  The shop talk continues, as well as thoughts on more recent work like John's take on the HBOMax Doom Patrol series (after lettering almost the entire Morrison run back in the day) and Aditya's review of Barry Windsor-Smith's Monsters!        CHAPTERS   00:00 – Intro 02:32 – Workman's Monsters? 04:25 – Joining Shutter 05:31 – Balloon Shapes Craft 07:11 – Little Nemo Tribute 10:39 – Redoing Pages Lessons 13:37 – Art Size Shrink Era 19:09 – Pens And Markers 22:45 – Workload And Ethics 27:52 – Doom Patrol-ing 31:42 – Fanzines To Pros 33:26 – Chasing Perfect Letterforms 34:47 – Orzechowski X-Men Mastery 36:56 – Hand Lettering Magic 37:24 – Learning On The Page 38:23 – Barry Windsor Smith's Monsters 43:59 – Restoring Classic Colors 48:01 – Relettering Marvel History 50:36 – Design Roles In Comics 53:33 – Cover Lettering And Logos 55:57 – Upcoming Projects Roundup 58:29 – 3D Models And Built Sets 1:01:01 – Outro

[This episode is a remastered version of number 775 in a series, originally released on April 14, 2022.] Today's show has two of the best letterers in comics on for a two-part chat about their craft: Multiversity Comics's 2021 Favorite Letterer winner Aditya Bidikar and legendary letterer/cartoonist John Workman! The generation gap evaporates immediately as the two fellows start talking about digital vs analog approaches, collaboration amongst a creative team, visible vs invisible lettering, being the responsible one in the group, artist integration, and much more!      CHAPTERS   03:44 - Learning the Craft 05:47 - Breaking Panel Borders 12:12 - Digital vs Analog 15:28 - Balloon Shapes Simplified 19:26 - Sound Effects Secrets 26:51 - Hybrid Workflow Talk 34:31 - Gaspar Saladino and Logo Tales 37:42 - Finding Your Own Style 40:18 - Precision vs Personality 42:44 - Organic Letterforms 44:32 - Analog Imperfection 45:42 - Blue and Green Workflow 48:59 - iPad Hand Lettering 52:47 - Color and Production 57:16 - Print Quality Pitfalls 58:33 - Lettering Pet Peeves 01:01:54 - Remembering John Paul Leon 01:06:59 - Sound Effects as Art 01:12:12 - Cover Logos in Motion 01:15:01 - Career Balance Advice 01:18:07 - Learn Every Craft 01:20:51 - Reader First Revisions 01:21:20 - Working with Demanding Writers 01:28:42 - Outro