Inkstuds

Last year I joined the board of Directors for the Vancouver Comic Art Festival. It’s been really fun getting more involved in supporting local events and comics happening. The first event we did outside of the regular festival, was this talk with Anna Haifisch , Olivier Schrauwen and Marian Churchland . We did the event in the new theatre in the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library. M...

Leif Goldberg joined me to talk about his new book from 2dcloud, Lost In The Fun Zone . We also cover a range of work including his time in Fort Thunder, recent mini comics, yearly calendars and animation. Leif makes some really great fun and inspiring work.

This week, I was joined by writer John Harris Dunning to discuss his latest book, Tumult, created with artist Michael Kennedy. Dunning has been really active in the UK comics scene, most notably, the Comics Unmasked exhibition in 2014 at the British Library. One of the largest shows of its kind in the UK at that point.

I have been a fan of Peter Bagge’s for longer than I can remember, and he was also one of my earliest guests on the show, so it’s always great to catch up with him. Peter was in Vancouver last month for the big Fan Expo convention, I took advantage of that time to sneak an interview in. It was supposed to be spotlight panel at the convention, but we didn’t think anyone was there...

I like catching up with Noah Van Sciver every couple of years. He’s constantly creating new work that gets better and better. His latest, like within the last 6 months, is the memoir, One Dirty Tree from Uncivilized, Fante Bukowski book 3 and Constant Companion from Fantagraphics and Blammo 10 from Kilgore books . All fantastic comics.

Guest ‘stud Kit Brash is here with the first in a run of talks with some of the dedicated folks who organise independent comics shows in North America. Seattle’s Short Run Comix & Arts Festival is in its eighth year of free entry, and happening this week in its regular home underneath the Space Needle. Hundreds of exhibitors cram shoulder to shoulder into the Fisher Pavilion, with...

Writer/Artist team of Sam Maggs and Jenn Woodall joined me to talk about their new book, Girl Squads . It’s a history book documenting different ways women have worked together in supporting each other through collective and supportive actions. It’s a fun read.

Keren Katz is my guest this week. She joins me to talk about her work in a wide variety of anthologies, including her collective in Israel and the recent Now series from Fantagraphics. Her graphic novel, The Academic Hour, published by Secret Acres , is an amazing playful journey, full colour and life. I quite enjoyed it.

With a new relaunch of the printed edition of the Comics Journal coming in the new year, I sat down with editors Kristy Valenti and RJ Casey about what to expect in issue 303 of the Comics Journal and some of the long terms plans with the format, differentiating it from the website.

Victoria based cartoonist, Lisa Maas, joined me to talk about her debut graphic novel, Forward . It’s a really effective look at recovering from loss and how to move on and make connections. it’s a very personal work that holds a lot of heart.

Today I interviewed Sloane Leong . Sloane is no stranger to the Inkstuds, helping out with many excellent guest interviews in the past. Sloane’s latest work is Prism Stalker which comes out in the first collection from Image comics next month. Sloane is a really interested and thoughtful creator, making work that challenges and subverts genre tropes.

I had the pleasure of talking with Paul Kirchner about his work. It’s a really great conversation that covers a lot of breadth. His most recent release is collection of a range of his comics work called Awaiting the Collapse. French publisher, Tanibis, released it both in French and English. You can also find editions collecting his great the bus comic strip that was featured in the powerful...

Nate Powell joined me to talk about his new book, Come Again. His first personal/solo work after the extremely powerful March series with John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, Come Again is a really fantastic book that continues his tradition of thoughtful important work.

Fiona Smyth has been making great important comics for the past 30 plus years and most of them can be found in the recent collection from Koyama Press, Somnambulance . It’s an amazing way to get a deep understanding of one of Canada’s important pioneering small press cartoonists. Her work is radical, engaging and vibrant. I am really happy to have had the time to talk to Fiona about he...

Comics writer, Mariko Tamaki joined me to discuss her latest comic works. She has been really active, writing on a number of new works including Supergirl: Being Super, Lumberjanes Book series, She-Hulk and much more. She also was a part of the Luisa book from Humanoids, supporting extensively on the translation work.

Tommi Parrish joined me to talk about their latest book from Fantagraphics, The Lie and How We Told It . It’s a really fantastic book about people, relationships and finding our place. I really loved this book, same with their previous work, Perfect Hair from 2D Cloud .

Image stolen from Spit and a half – http://www.spitandahalf.com/product/the-warlok-story-by-max-clotfelter/ After many years of reading and enjoying his mini-comics, I finally sat down with Max Clotfelte r to talk about his wide ranging of works. Max’s main series of odd shaped minis is Snake Meat Comics. Max has an amazing style of Southern post underground dystopia. The best place to...

Elijah Brubaker joined me to talk about his eisner nominated graphic novel, The Story of Jezebel . A very funny take on the book of Elijah in the bible. He’s a really great cartoonist and when i saw this book was coming out, i was super excited, as i really loved his Wilhelm Reich series for Sparkplug.

Eddie Campbell is one of my favorite guests to talk comics with. For the occasion of his new book, The Goat Getters , we got caught up the comings and going of early 20th century sports cartooning. It’s an amazingly researched story of early comics told with Eddie’s great story telling chops. He’s passionate about comics and that comes through brightly with this book. Eddie also...

Chris Reynolds joined me to talk about his book, The New World, from New York Review Books. It’s an amazing collection of work that he had done from about 1985 – 1992. Edited and designed by Seth, Reynolds work holds a really unique place that fits well on the shelf sitting next to Beto’s more introspective works. I really enjoyed this collection, like pretty much every other com...

Eric Reynolds has spent his entire adult life at Fantagraphics, starting as an intern and returning to work as an ace reporter, news editor, Hate inker, marketing muckamuck, and even, occasionally, cartoonist. These days his jack-of-all-tradesness has seen him clamber to the broad title of Associate Publisher, and he’s currently editing his third major anthology series for the company. Dirty...

Last Fall, I moderated a panel at FanExpo in Vancouver featuring Ken Steacy, Paul Chadwick and Gerhard. The theme was legends of indie comics. I just used that as an excuse to have a fun conversation with some memorable voices in comics. Paul Chadwick is probably most known for his work on creator owned series Concrete and his latest book, Best Wishes, a collaboration with publisher Mike Richardso...

Zach Hazard Vaupen joined me to talk about his new book from Retrofit, Combed Clap of Thunder. Zach’s other work includes Pearlescent Gray posted on Study Group. I really enjoyed Zach’s book. He’s come into his own with these 2 most recent works. He’s got a great style at evoking horror and near future existentialism. If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please c...

Chris Ware joined me to chat about his new book from Rizzoli, Monograph. I have been a huge fan of Chris’s for a number of years. When I get a new book by him, I inhale it right away. In preparation for this interview, I reread the majority of his work, and got new perspectives and insights. Monograph is a really fantastic document in understanding Chris Ware and how his work is created. I&#...

This week I was joined by the creative team behind Shade the Changing Girl from Young Animal/DC Comics. Cecil Castellucci , the writer behind the book, has been very active on a number if different fronts with new works like Soupy Leaves Home (with Jose Pimienta), The Plain Janes (with Jim Rugg), Year of the Beasts (with Nate Powell) and the novel, Don’t Cosplay with My Heart. Marley Zarcone...