Dollar Bin Bandits

In this special Dollar Bin Bandits roundtable episode, legendary Marvel editors  Tom DeFalco, Terry Kavanagh,  and  Ralph Macchio  return to reflect on their shared history shaping Marvel Comics during some of its most influential eras. The trio swap behind-the-scenes stories about editorial life, breaking in new creators, and steering major characters and events, while offering candid insights in...

In a lively episode, we're joined by veteran actor  Julian Glover  to dig into his legendary film career. Julian reflects on how he first fell for stories and characters as a kid, and then traced his path from British theater to iconic roles in  The Empire Strikes Back ,  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ,  For Your Eyes Only ,  Game of Thrones , and more. He shares funny behind-the-scenes anecd...

We sit down with legendary artist  Geof Darrow  to discuss the new Dark Horse collection,  The Shaolin Cowboy: Beginning of the End Results--21 Years of Blood, Sweat, and Chainsaws HC , celebrating over two decades of his hyper-detailed, Eisner Award-winning series about an unnamed former Shaolin monk wandering with his talking mule. Geof shares how the series was inspired by Kung Fu, Kurosawa's ...

Today we welcome back  Tom Marvelli , head of  Another Door Comics , to discuss his newest project,  Apparition Metempsychosis: Book One – The Moment of Sin , the first installment of a supernatural thriller trilogy. Tom shares details about this all-new story that explores the world of Michael Landry, a mercenary whose life is mystically saved after a mission but who returns consumed by overwhelm...

Today, we sit down with prolific artist Scott Koblish , who entered comics through Marvel’s Romita Raiders program  and built a 15-year inking career before transitioning to penciling in 2008. Scott talks about his work on hundreds of comics across Marvel, DC, Image, and more, including his acclaimed six-year run on Deadpool and the Guinness World Record–breaking Deadpool #27 cover. We also get in...

We wrap up our miniseries on Bloomsbury’s Marvel Age of Comics books with a deep dive into returning guest Chris Ryall’s take on Daredevil: Born Again . Chris walks us through what pulled him toward revisiting the Miller–Mazzucchelli classic and why the arc’s themes of identity, faith, and total breakdown still hit so hard. He sheds light on the creative partnership behind the original story, digs...

We welcome back Stuart Moore to discuss his new Marvel Age of Comics book, Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic . Stuart explores Doctor Strange's first ten years from his 1963 debut through the early '70s, examining how the Steve Ditko/Stan Lee stories' trippy, philosophical approach influenced 1960s counterculture , and how that counterculture in turn shaped the minds of later creators like St...

Kicking off our Marvel Age of Comics miniseries, we talk with writer and historian Paul Cornell, about his career and new book, Marvel Age of Comics: The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s , which explores how Marvel’s flagship heroes evolved against a decade defined by social upheaval, cultural reinvention, and boundary-pushing storytelling. Cornell first talks about his Doctor Who writing and work in...

We sit down with Emilio Velez Jr. , the award-winning writer and illustrator behind The Dodgeball Teens . Emilio shares his journey from overcoming a cognitive learning disability and defying expectations to pursuing his passion for comics in the last decade. With his mother’s support and years of hard work, he transformed his dream into reality—creating twelve issues and a graphic novel—while spr...

In today's episode, comic book writer and artist Andy Lanning reflects on his path into the industry, the creative influences that shaped him, and the long-running partnership with Dan Abnett that redefined Marvel’s cosmic universe through Annihilation , Nova , and Guardians of the Galaxy . He discusses the surprising longevity of their cosmic stories, his personal connections to characters like S...

Today, we welcome six-time New York Times bestselling comics writer Fred Van Lente to discuss his career, starting with Action Philosophers , moving throughhis acclaimed Marvel and Valiant work, and focusing on his ambitious new project The Future is ****** . We get into his early work with Platinum Studios, Marvel titles like Marvel Zombies and his acclaimed Incredible Hercules run with Greg Pak,...

Today we've got writer and publisher Dennis Mallonee , who moved from CalTech economics to #comics by pitching story ideas to Bill Mantlo and helping develop the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe with Rick Hoberg. Dennis recounts launching The Champions at a 1985 SDCC panel, first publishing through Eclipse, and then forming his own imprint that evolved into Heroic Publishing . We dig into...

Today we sit down with legendary cartoonist Gilbert Hernandez , who was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2017, to discuss his newest Love and Rockets book, Lovers and Haters . First, we explore the early years of L&R , and how Gilbert and his brothers, Jaime and Mario, created a world unlike any other in comics. We talk about Gilbert's Palomar saga as well as his standalone graphic no...

Today, we welcome veteran animation writer and story editor Stan Berkowitz to discuss his career spanning decades of superhero animation. Stan shares his experiences working on the DC Animated Universe including Superman: The Animated Series , The New Batman Adventures , and Batman Beyond , where he served as series story editor. He also worked on shows like Static Shock , Justice League , and Jus...

We sit down with writer Stephanie Williams as the second issue of her debut creator-owned comic Roots of Madness launches today through Ignition Press . Stephanie discusses the cosmic horror series loosely inspired by Madame C.J. Walker that combines alternate history with the supernatural, illustrated by artist Letizia Cadonici. We also get into her previous projects like Nubia: Queen of the Amaz...

Bandit Mike sits down with friend, ex-boss, and veteran comic book editor Ben Abernathy to explore his vast editorial career. From breaking in at Dark Horse in 1998 through stops at DC and Marvel , his editorial work at Wildstorm and pioneering DC Digital projects before becoming EIC and founder at Madefire in 2012, we get into it all! We discuss his return to DC where he became Group Editor of th...

One of our favorite cartoonists returns, as Jamar Nicholas gets back in the hot seat! He's giving us a preview of the next book in his popular Leon series, which is still in the works and doesn't have a name yet. We get into all the details, exploring Jamar's approaches to character development and creating stories for kids. As always, you can follow him on his site, jamarnicholas.weebly.com , on...

Today is Pop Mhan Day on the Dollar Bin Bandits! Pop, who was born in Thailand, broke into comics under Jim Lee at Wildstorm Productions in San Diego, and then really broke out on SpyBoy with writer Peter David. Since then, his extensive career included stops at Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and other publishers with titles including Batgirl , Robin , Bionicles , and World of Warcraft . Pop shares how h...

Today we welcome legendary comics writer Joe Kelly to explore his remarkable career! We get into the joint Marvel/NYU Stan-Hattan Project that gave him his start, his redefining run on Deadpool , his acclaimed Spider-Man work, and his time on Uncanny X-Men and Action Comics . Joe reflects on co-founding Man of Action Studios and creating the global phenomenon Ben 10 , how he balances solo comics w...

We sit down with veteran comics artist Howard Simpson (who also works under the pen name Poppy ) to explore his diverse career that began after earning his BFA from Tyler School of Arts and working as a commercial artist during the 1980s for major clients including Action News, Bantam Books, Sony, and various Fortune 500 companies. Howard shares his transition from commercial work and fanzine cont...

Acclaimed comics writer Mike Carey joins the show to take us through his remarkable career! While working as a teacher for 15 years, Mike began breaking into comics with heavy metal biographies and 2000 AD stories, before moving into mainstream with a Lucifer miniseries that unexpectedly became a critically lauded 75-issue run! We dive into his Marvel work on a slew of Ultimate titles and a length...

In today's exclusive interview, we sit down with legendary creator Rick Veitch to discuss the groundbreaking NYCC 2025 announcement that has Swamp Thing fans celebrating after more than three decades! Rick shares how it came to be that DC will finally publish Swamp Thing #88 as part of a Swamp Thing 1989 miniseries, completing his epic run that was abruptly halted when DC refused to publish a stor...

Franco 's back on the pod! And he's talking his latest collaboration with Art Baltazar on the hilarious Flash Gordon Adventures! series from Papercutz and Mad Cave Studios. Franco shares his approach to bringing a fun, all-ages take on the classic Flash Gordon property, exploring he and Art balance humor with sci-fi action to make the legendary space hero accessible to young readers. We dive into...

Today we welcome Duncan Rouleau to discuss his remarkable career spanning comics and animation, from discovering comics as a young reader to breaking into the big leagues in the 90s with Venom: The Hunted and working with Larry Hama on various X-books. Duncan shares the origin story of co-founding Man of Action with Steve Seagle, Joe Kelly, and Joe Casey, discussing his unique perspective as the o...

Today we welcome veteran comic book journalist and publicity agent Rik Offenberger to explore his multifaceted career, where he started as a retailer before transitioning to writing for Comics Buyer's Guide in 1992 and pioneering Internet-based comics journalism. Rik discusses his work as interviewer and senior feature editor at Silver Bullet Comic Books (now Comics Bulletin ) and his interviews f...