Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

Christina Merkler, the co-owner of Lunar Distribution, Discount Comic Book Service (or DCBS), and InStockTrades, joins the show to talk about a strange year for comic book distribution and a good year for the retail side. Merkler discusses Thanksgiving and related takes, the year for her, Diamond Comic Distributors' bankruptcy, compressing timelines, figuring things out, big changes this year, balancing sides of her businesses, the...

Writer and cartoonist Gene Luen Yang joins the podcast to talk about his comics life and his upcoming run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yang discusses his daily life, his upcoming graphic novel, Overrated, embracing change, advocating for comics, its impact on his own work, having different inputs, his project that impacted him the most, collaborations and collaborators, Superman Smashes the Klan, figuring out which for-hire pro...

Writer Grant Morrison joins the podcast to talk about this week's DC/Marvel: Batman/Deadpool and their views on life and comics. Morrison discusses the rekindled flame of writing comics, how they approach writing, the importance of new experiences, making yourself a laboratory, pushing the medium thinking visually, learning from collaborators, doing what feels right, why Batman/Deadpool was the move, how it came together, preferred...

Writer Kieron Gillen joins the podcast to talk about his current Image comics The Power Fantasy and Die: Loaded and everything that's going into them. Gillen discusses FOC vs. release, Die's longevity as an idea, staying in love with comics, the emotional side of the commercial part of the job, how he thinks of his comics, the direction of Die: Loaded, why Die returned, the approach to its story, Stephanie Hans' impact, comic RPGs,...

Cartoonist Erica Henderson joins the podcast to talk about her past few years and her work on Harley and Ivy: Life and Crimes at DC. Henderson discusses her whim based processes, writing Erica vs. drawing Erica, what she can do while working, recent learnings, the way she thinks of pages, things she needed to do in Harley and Ivy, how she approaches projects, single issues vs. graphic novels, bringing Harley and Ivy to life, their ...

Recorded live at New York Comic Con, artists Hayden Sherman, Rachael Stott, and Russell Dauterman and cartoonist Trung Le Nguyen joined the podcast to talk about why they love comics, with each happening in individual segments. Up first, Sherman (1:22) discusses what fuels their love, controlling the read, what unlocked comics, artist's artists, where influences come from, how making comics impacts reading them, and more. Then Stot...

DC Executive Editor Chris Conroy, who works on the Absolute, Black Label, and Vertigo lines at the publisher, joins the podcast to talk about the newly returned Vertigo Comics line. Conroy discusses his Vertigo background, how it changed his reading habits, what led to Vertigo's return, adding clarity to how things work, the evergreen side of DC, the team behind Vertigo, its strategy to creative teams, how they built the line, its ...

Artist Doc Shaner joins the podcast to talk about his life and career in comics. Shaner discusses working from home, his schedule, the impact of comic strips, wanting to be a cartoonist, Buddy Cops, showing a different side of yourself, getting into comics themselves, his music brain, drawing for yourself, developing your style, Comic Twart, which project he learned the most from, working with friends, New Champion of Shazam, the S...

Podcasters Badr Milligan (The Short Box Podcast) and Chris Hacker (The Oblivion Bar podcast) join the show to talk about the comic podcasting world and our upcoming panel at NYCC before we fantasy draft seven hyperspecific things we love about comics. Milligan and Hacker discuss how podcasting has ruined our brains, podcast living, our upcoming panel at NYCC, and more, before we fantasy draft hyperspecific things we love about comi...

David Brothers and Nick Dragotta join the show to talk about their collaboration on the upcoming Good Devils: Don't Play Fair with Evil. Brothers and Dragotta discuss the FOC experience, promoting comics, how they met, the Creators for Creators grant, how David started writing comics, why they wanted to work together, helping others, the influences of Good Devils, how they work together, how opportunities shaped the story, why they...

Cartoonist John Allison joins the show to talk about where he's at right now in his comics career. Allison discusses finding things for himself, managing freelance living, how he's feeling about comics and the industry, where he fits, being an influencer, going the graphic novel route, how he figures out which projects to take on, writing vs. writing and drawing, how his reads impact his work, Hirayasumi, the types of projects he p...

Cartoonist Ngozi Ukazu joins the show to talk about her upcoming graphic novels, Flip from First Second and Orion at DC Comics. Ukazu discusses book tour living, finding time for yourself, figuring out next steps, growing as a cartoonist, managing your workload, writing for others, the importance of having creative work outside comics, Flip's origins, autobiographical challenges, the body swap at the core of it, different types of ...

Writer Brian K. Vaughan joins the show to talk about his work on comics like Saga and the upcoming Spectators, both of which are at Image Comics. Vaughan discusses the state of the world's impact on his writing, navigating his own emotions, how lasting relationships change collaborations, how much of his world is comics, Spectators' evolving covers, the approach to Spectators, writing a graphic novel, the book's origins, Niko Henri...

Comics critic Oliver Sava joins the show for the eighth annual Superhero State of the Union, as we dive deep into worlds of DC, Marvel, and beyond. Sava and I discuss our overall takes on superhero comics, corporate synergy, what's leading to DC's success, editorial vision, art as proof of concept, the Absolute line, hero families, Big Two digest editions, the DC/Marvel crossovers, where Marvel is, the lack of energy in the line, t...

Writer Ed Brubaker joins the show to talk about Criminal the show and the comic, particularly the latter and its new graphic novel release The Knives. Brubaker discusses showrunning the Criminal show, getting back to his roots, surprises from the experience, having two versions of Criminal in his head, adapting his own work, how present he is in The Knives, why they returned to Criminal, the different narratives in the book, the na...

Cartoonist Jesse Lonergan joins the show to talk about his current mix of projects and his just released graphic novel, DROME. Lonergan discusses managing workflow, the roots of DROME, pushing your approach, the book's title, its archetypal nature and cast, who he is versus what he does, his fit in comics, what he cares about the most, simple machines, outside influences, working with writers, figuring out the Mignolaverse, the imp...

Artist Nicole Goux joins the show to talk about her career and her upcoming graphic novel, This Place Kills Me. Goux discusses the other parts of the job, how far ahead she's working, the importance of mixing it up, drawing digitally, her relationship with drawing, when comics entered the picture, figuring out what she wanted to do, convention life, how different projects and publishers feel, opportunity cost, age bands, the origin...

Writer Mariko Tamaki joins the show to talk about her career and her upcoming graphic novel, This Place Kills Me. Tamaki discusses what she works to, the value of editors, her own editing at Surely Books, learning from artistic partners, the wide world of comics, getting into comics, the biggest things she's learned, different approaches for different formats, collaborative processes, giving artists space, attribution, the origins ...

Writer/artist Kyle Starks joins the show to talk about where he's at these days and his upcoming slate of projects. Starks discusses the merits of San Diego Comic Con, his approach to cons, his past few years, comics marketing, back catalog releases, how the moment feels for original comics, Where Monsters Lie's next phase, not letting stories go, Kickstarters, diversifying how you're viewed, Devil on my Shoulder's intensity, what ...