In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Jeff Lemire joins the show to talk about his work on titles like Black Hammer and Gideon Falls. Lemire discusses his organizational abilities, what getting ahead with your writing offers you, a day in his life, studio space, his connection to rural locations, Black Hammer's connection to his love of comics, the divide between independent and superhero comics, how Black Hammer evolved, his collaborators, expanding its universe, the appeal of horror,...
Nov 19, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 182
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer and inker Jimmy Palmiotti joins for a deep dive discussion about the creation of the Marvel Knights imprint for its 20th anniversary. Palmiotti shares where he was before Marvel Knights started, personal branding, how the project came together, why Daredevil was their #1 draft pick, Marvel vs. DC, going for realism, Frank Castle punching a polar bear, why Marvel Knights focused on standalone stories, whether he considered sticking around at Marvel like...
Nov 12, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 181
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer and comics newcomer Mat Groom joins the show to discuss his background and new Image series, Self/Made. Groom discusses when he first got int storytelling, regional comics, his comic making origin story, comic writers coming from other fields, his day job and its impact on his writing, the comic difficulties of living in Australia, Self/Made, his collaborators Eduardo Ferigato and Marcelo Costa, the difficulty in talking about his series, what inspired...
Nov 05, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 180
In this week's episode of Off Panel, comics retailer Brian Hibbs returns to the show to check in about the world of comic book shops. Hibbs discusses how his shops are doing this year, Saga's area of impact, the kids comic explosion, DC's weird year, the Walmart Giants, Black Label, Marvel's short sightedness, Image's recent volume of titles, the longevity of the print market, whether he's going to keep his second shop open, whether comics could become a graphic novel only industry, and more....
Oct 29, 2018•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 179
In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Sanford Greene joins the podcast to discuss his art and his upcoming Image Comics series, Bitter Root. Greene talks about the influence of cartoons on his art, what stood out to him about comics when was younger, the impact of youth, whether he always knew he wanted to draw comics, the impact of artists like Toth and J.C. Leyendecker, becoming a Voltron of influences, getting into artists you disliked in your youth, Bitter Root's origins, the setting o...
Oct 22, 2018•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 178
In this week's episode of Off Panel, The Beat's Heidi MacDonald joins the podcast to talk about New York Comic Con and recent happenings in the comic world. MacDonald discusses the NYCC experience, her favorite announcements from the con, the publisher boom, what's happening at DC, Bendis's fit, the Batman Damned controversy, the rare double Telgemeier, the Chuck Wendig news, the C.B. Cebulski era at Marvel, Ike Perlmutter's influence, industry doom and gloom, and more.
Oct 15, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 177
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Brenden Fletcher joins the show to talk the comic industry and his Image series with artist Karl Kerschl, Isola. Fletcher discusses what he was doing before comics, the language of fandom, the musicality of language, how Gotham Academy and Batgirl came together, why he co-writes so often, balancing abstraction with narrative, fitting the comic marketplace, the impact of continuity, the first volume's cover, long distance collaboration, the Motor Crush ...
Oct 08, 2018•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 176
In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist John McCrea joins the show to talk his career and new Image series, Dead Rabbit. McCrea discusses how he and writer Garth Ennis met, how he got into comics, learning art, how his style shifted over the years, getting away with things on Hitman, the greatness of Dogwelder, his fondness of Section Eight, how Hitman affected him and his career, the origins of Dead Rabbit, Gerry Duggan's writing, the Image Expo reveal, character design, his style for Dead ...
Oct 01, 2018•54 min•Season 1Ep. 175
In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Ramon Villalobos joins the show to talk his art and new Vertigo Comics series, Border Town. Villalobos discusses the Marvel movies, non-comics influences, learning about art, making something 100% his, Border Town, how it came together, the appeal of teen stories, his process, creating character through art, Tamra Bonvillain's colors, the response to the book, how he's promoted it, Comicsgate, his shoe game, and more, before closing with five questions...
Sep 24, 2018•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 174
In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks joins to talk her work and latest graphic novel, The Divided Earth. Hicks discusses her 19 years in comics, how her skills have evolved, key influences, the power of silence, The Nameless City trilogy, what she learned from that experience, creating empathy, long-term planning, Jordie Bellaire's impact, what she gives herself breathers between projects, working with Rainbow Rowell, selling humor, her upcoming schedule, working on A...
Sep 17, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 173
In this week's special edition of Off Panel, creators Declan Shalvey and Stephen Mooney and retailers Bruno Batista and John Hendrick join the show in a live podcast recording from Dublin's preeminent comic shop, Big Bang Comics. In the episode, we discuss how creators, retailers and journalists can work together to give comics a bright future, how promoting comics is changing, what comics are today, whether artists can consider the industry as a whole while working, what artists can do to work ...
Sep 10, 2018•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 172
In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Jason Howard joins the show to talk his art and upcoming Image series with Warren Ellis, Cemetery Beach. Howard discusses his time studying graphic design, how that influences his art, his path to comics and focus on creator-owned work, the origins of Cemetery Beach, its appeal, world building, the power of his sketchbook, why things click with Warren Ellis, how he works, character acting, his colors, cover design, Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark, and mor...
Aug 27, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 171
In this week's episode of Off Panel, editor and writer Alejandro Arbona joins the show to talk his path to comics and his current work as a freelance editor on books like Lazarus, The Old Guard and Black Magick. Arbona discusses his time at Wizard Magazine, interviewing Alan Moore, how he got to Marvel, how he approaches editing, Lazarus's new format breaks down, working with Warren Simons, Fantastic Four: Isla de la Muerte, chupacabras, why he's still editing comics, the differences between edi...
Aug 20, 2018•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 170
In this week's episode of Off Panel, colorist Rico Renzi (Spider-Gwen, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) joins the show to talk his work. Renzi discusses his time in a ska band, how that world influenced his art, what led him to coloring comics, how his take on colors developed, his time as the creative director at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find and HeroesCon, the art of arranging people at cons, how his shop experience changed his understanding of comics, going full time as a colorist, his approach to ...
Aug 13, 2018•58 min•Season 1Ep. 169
In this week's episode of Off Panel, BOOM! Studios senior editor Dafna Pleban joins the show to talk her role as an editor. Pleban discusses her comic book origin story, 90s teen heroes, her time in comic shops, how she started at BOOM!, what her job as a senior editor entails, how the order cycle impacts her, Wild's End, how complete that book felt, the mix of titles she edits, editing licensed books, casting comics, and more, before closing with five questions about Dafna Pleban, the person....
Aug 06, 2018•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 168
In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Daniel Warren Johnson returns to the show to talk the end of Extremity and the story behind his new comic, Murder Falcon. Johnson discusses his recent San Diego Comic Con experience, whether his cons have changed since Extremity, the personal connection people had with the book, the power of story, what he did after he wrapped that project, the key takeaways from tackling Extremity, the origins of Murder Falcon, putting so much of himself in a book...
Jul 30, 2018•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 167
In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Nathan Fox joins the show to talk his art and work on his new Image series, The Weatherman. Fox discusses what attracted him to art and storytelling first, his path to becoming a working artist, his approach to art, some of his earliest influences, the street art influence, why he took a break from comic interiors, whether he wanted his own project to build, the story behind The Weatherman, world building, his art process, character acting, the first i...
Jul 23, 2018•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 166
In this week's episode of Off Panel, Skybound Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Business Development, Shawn Kirkham, joins the show to discuss their stealth launch of the new comic series from Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn and Rus Wooton, Die!Die!Die!, and everything his job includes at Skybound. Kirkham discusses fancy titles, the origins of Die!Die!Die!, why they wanted to release a comic without any advance warning, the upside of doing a comic that way, ...
Jul 16, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 165
In this week's episode of Off Panel, former writer, artist and Marvel editor joins the show to talk his career, the Transformers, and more. Budiansky discusses having his life dramatized in The Toys That Made Us, the origins of The Transformers (and his part in it), how he ended up at Marvel, whether he viewed comics as a career at the time, what Marvel was like in the 80s, Mark Gruenwald, how he started writing The Transformers, his approach on the book, why he left it, whether his relationship...
Jul 09, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 164
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Al Ewing joins the show to talk about his new series, the Immortal Hulk. Ewing discusses his background as a comic reader, the strips hew grew up on, his Marvel background and love of the Hulk, Peter David's Hulk, how the idea for the Immortal Hulk came together, the Banner/Hulk dichotomy, Joe Bennett's impact on the book, how they're handling the art on the book, his writing approach, consecutive double page spreads, borrowing from other creators, usi...
Jul 02, 2018•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 163
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer and DC Comics legend Paul Levitz joins the show to talk his career and latest trade paperback, Brooklyn Blood. Levitz discusses his comics journalism background, what comics were like when he joined DC, comic book pro poker night, Jenette Kahn's impact, his time writing the Legion of Super-Heroes, his self-created position at DC, the development of the modern DC creator contract, the direct market, the development of the trade paperback and its market,...
Jun 25, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 162
In this week's episode of Off Panel, The AV Club's resident comic critic Oliver Sava returns to the show for a deep dive into the state of the superhero union. We discuss how we feel about superhero comics in general today, Geoff Johns' big move out of DC Entertainment, what he's liking and not liking at DC right now, The Killing Zone, Bendis's start at DC, Young Animal ending, DC's love of imprints, Vertigo's relaunch, where Marvel is at, Ta-Nahisi Coates' work on Black Panther, the titles we'r...
Jun 18, 2018•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 161
In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Vera Brosgol joins the show for the first time to talk her latest graphic novel Be Prepared and her work overall. Brosgol discusses her recent book tour, the experience of visiting schools, solely focusing on being a graphic novelist, the difficulty of writing, how she works, revisiting her past in her work, going the memoir route, the impact working in animation for Laika Studios had on her comic work, working with first second, her approach to la...
Jun 11, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 160
In this week's episode of Off Panel, it's a special Power Rankings episode with cartoonist John Allison of Giant Days and Bad Machinery fame, who joins the show to rank a few of his favorite things. Allison discusses his favorite characters of his own, why writing is easier for him than art, favorite colloquialisms, his love of television, the MCU, favorite elements of old superhero comics, science fiction stories, Death's Head II, his characters he's most similar to, bizarre, modern things he t...
Jun 04, 2018•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 159
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Greg Rucka joins the show to talk Lazarus and its big format and schedule change. Rucka discusses why that change was necessary, the varying ways you can handle delays, how he figured out solutions, how it changes his job, artist Michael Lark's subtle skills, the impact the format change will have, Eric Trautmann's low-key MVP nature on the title, whether today's market is more conducive to atypical comic approaches, balancing workloads, his relationsh...
May 28, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 158
In the second episode of two on Off Panel this week, artist Leslie Hung joins the show to talk Snotgirl and her art. Hung discusses the TCAF experience, art school, the magic of comics, how she and Snotgirl collaborator Bryan Lee O'Malley teamed up and created Snotgirl, fashion bloggers, social media stars, the learning curve on making comics, her art process, the colors in the book, creating the looks of the cast, character acting, her understanding of the cast, her podcast Salt & Honey, an...
May 23, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 157
In this week's first episode of two on Off Panel, cartoonist Bryan Lee O'Malley joins the show to talk his Image Comics series Snotgirl and his career making comics. He discusses what stood out to him about his collaborator on Snotgirl, Leslie Hung, where the idea for the book came from, the impact of Los Angeles had on the book, fashion bloggers and social media curation, whether he feels like part of the online conversation, the Warren Ellis Forums, allergies, the improvisational nature of mon...
May 21, 2018•57 min•Season 1Ep. 156
In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Russell Dauterman joins the show to talk his art and recently completed run on The Mighty Thor. Dauterman discusses how he celebrated The Mighty Thor concluding, the experience of tackling such a long run, his character design background, designing the cast of Thor, differentiating Jane Foster and Jane Thor, his art process, photo reference, working with Matt Wilson, page layouts, the power of continuity, having a long run under his belt, and more, bef...
May 14, 2018•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 155
In this week's episode of Off Panel, editor Will Dennis joins the show to talk his role in comics, specifically on the upcoming anthology comic, Where We Live. Dennis discusses the role of an editor, what drives the projects he takes on, the importance of trust, Will Dennis books, the Vertigo brand, Scalped, Vertigo's incredible run of cover artists, what he's doing on Where We Live, how working in comics changes your relationship with them, how the project has come together, the unexpected help...
May 07, 2018•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 154
In this week's episode of Off Panel, comic shop owner (and Free Comic Book Day creator) Joe Field joins the show to talk FCBD and the world of retail. Field discusses Free Comic Book Day, the power of the day, the unique environment that led to the day, growth of interest, converting FCBD customers into regular customers, the power of events, how his shop has evolved in its 30 years, what 2017 was like for his shop, the year so far, the state of Marvel, DC making moves, Action Comics #1000, the ...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 153
