Inkstuds

This interview has been a long time coming. Gilbert Hernandez is one of the greatest living comic creators. His work in Love and Rockets has ranged from horrifying to heart breaking to meditative to anywhere in between. His latest work is the Blubber series from Fantagraphics . It’s a frightnening horror show not for the light heart or for someone lacking of sense of humour. The latest Love...

UK comics artist Simon Moreton joined me to chat about his new book from Uncivilized Books, Plans We Made . Simon has a really beautiful minimal style of story telling that works really nicely. Simon’s other work can be found in his Smoo mini comics. If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon .

This week we’re joined by Vancouver comic artist Morgan Jeske to talk about his life, process, movies and comic work. Morgan is known for his work on Change, published by Image Comics, and his self published work Disappearing Town and ●●●● Vol. I . He also co-hosts a film podcast called Travis Bickle on the Riviera . His newest work ●●●● Vol. 2 feels like a fantastic meanderi...

Leslie Stein joined me to talk about her latest book from Fantagraphics, Bright Eyed at Midnight . Leslie has been very active with new work being posted on her blog and Vice comics. Leslie’s work is a colourful balance of touching personal work mixed with an extremely joyful palette. Her style has been evolving and developing into an amazing discontructed way, boiling her work into essentia...

Blaise Larmee joined me to talk about some of the new work he has been involved with from 2d Cloud. Most recently, Blaise edited the Mirror Mirror anthology which is part of 2d Cloud’s current Kickstarter efforts. It’s a fantastic anthology/art book, exploring the more conceptual end of comics right now. UPDATE Jan 2018 – Since posting this interview nearly 2 years ago, 2d Cloud...

This is Inkstuds Radio and I’m David Brothers, a two-time Eisner Award co-loser. I used to run 4thletter!, the internet’s most popular comics blog that also focused on wrestling, movies, music, Venom, and the black condition. I did Inkstuds Spotlight a few years back, taking a look at the world of comics from a variety of different perspectives, and Robin Inkstuds, the proprietor of th...

This week Meredith Gran, the Ignatz Award winning creator of long-running webcomic Octopus Pie , joins us to talk about her creative history and process as well as the release of Octopus Pie in trade form from Image Comics , out  February 26th . Meredith is one of my absolute favorite cartoonists and I consider her a huge creative pillar both in webcomics and the medium in general. She is constan...

It’s the Return of Derf . Derf’s latest book is Trashed, a look at his time as a garbage man, mixed with a look at the trash industry. A really interesting look at how we process garbage and the life of a garbage man. If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon .

In a moment of rash impulsiveness last year that he’s surely regretted ever since, Robin asked whether I’d be interested in guest-hosting some episodes for Inkstuds. We bandied about names and one of the first we settled on was Michael DeForge. Michael’s been interviewed on Inkstuds twice previously -in 2010, and then 2012, and Robin’s hope was that my approach would be d...

Jonathan Chandler joined me to talk about his new book from Breakdown Press, Another Blue World . He also has work out from Landfill Editions and the upcoming Decadence anthology. Jon’s work is a weird exploration of sci-fi anxieties fueled by drugs, sex and navigating the unknown. Very natural feeling stuff. If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds...

Benjamin Marra joined me to talk about his latest books. I had Ben on many years ago, so it was great to catch up and see how things have changed and what’s going on with his comics. His most recent book is Terror Assaulter: O.M.W.O.T. from fantagraphics. It’s an extreme visceral work that has some major punch to it. He’s trying to some new weird ways of straight forward story te...

I was joined by UK cartoonist, Sean Azzopardi to talk about his comics work. Sean has a range of different work ranging from genre series Necessary Monsters for the renewed First comics to his wandering autobio work like in Rain on Glass and Twelve Hour Shift, which I especially enjoyed for how he was able to explore the world around himself with an interesting compelling distance. If you like t...

Jane Mai joined me to talk about her new books, Soft from Peow and See You Next Tuesday from Koyama . Jane’s new books are very different but both great. See You Next Tuesday is a natural extension of her previous book from Koyama, Sunday In The Park With Boys. Really funny personal revealing sketchbook and off the cuff comics. Soft is more of a fleshed out contained story exploring the high...

New Zealand cartoonist, Ant Sang , joined me to talk about his work in comics. Specifically we discussed the release of his classic work, Dharma Punks . Collecting the series he put out in the early 2000s, Dharma Punks is a fantastic look at passing through adolescent, reconciling nihilism and coming out at the end. I really liked this book and am happy to talk to Ant about it. More recently, he...

Harrow County artist Tyler Crook joined me to talk about his comics work. Tyler has been making some fantastic series with writer Cullen Bunn. Tyler also worked on a lengthy run of BPRD and Bad Blood both also for Dark Horse. Tyler first got notice for his art on the Petrograd graphic novel. He has been churning out some refined work really quickly. I am excited by his stuff and to see where he go...

I caught up with Gene Luen Yang to chat about work while he was in Vancouver for a writers festival. Gene’s latest work is Secret Coders illustrated by Mike Holmes and Shadow Hero with artist Sonny Liew . Gene has been actively putting out a wide range of comics capturing the young adult market. Starting with American Born Chinese, Gene has deftly exploring sensitive topics in a way that h...

This week we’re talking to Iasmin Omar Ata who has recently finished their first longform webcomic MIS(H)ADRA. It is a meticulous exploration of the life of Isaac, a young epileptic Arab-American. It follows him as he comes to grips with his disability and attempts to move through an often inhospitable, insensitive and troublingly ignorant world. Iasmin has a unique visual voice and an inti...

I caught up with Meags Fitzgerald while she was in Vancouver to talk about her books from Conundrum Press. Her latest book, Long Red Hair just came out a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great book looking at personal identity. Her other book is Photobooth, an immense illustrated immersive comic on the history of the photobooth. Meags is a great Canadian talent quickly creating some stellar work....

St Louis cartoonist, Mardou , joined me to talk about her Sky in Stereo collection from Revival House press. Mardou’s work can also be found featured in the new film, The Missing Girl . If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon .

Image courtesy of Colin Upton. Taken in 1991. “Dennis Eichhorn at Misfit Lit, a major show of underground/Indie comics in Seattle’s Coco Gallery curated by the folks at Fantagraphics in 1991. As far as I know it was one of the first comic art shows of it’s kind. This was when Seattle was the place to be for comic artists, when comics wasn’t so much a business as a cause.&#8...

Antoine Cossé joined me to discuss his new works. Over the past couple of years, Antoine has released a good amount of really strong comics work. From British publisher Breakdown Press, he has the book Mutiny Bay as well as smaller works Nwai and Showtime. Retrofit/Big Planet put out the one shot Harold last year. I really like Antoine’s work and looking forward to see where he goes with i...

I caught up with Portland cartoonist, Jason Overby . I have been a big of his work for quite a while and really happy to see a nice book of it collected. Being Being is published by Gridlords and well worth hunting for. Jason has a really unique voice in comics and is worth investigating.

It has been a couple of years since I had done a critics roundtable. I took break partially because Comics Are Burning In Hell does a great job of podcasting comics critics. I was somehow able to convince The Comics Reporter’s very own, Tom Spurgeon and the great voice in comics podcasting, Joe McCulloch to return. This time we were joined by Zainab Akhtar , the head boss of Comics and Cola...

This special episode of Inkstuds is hosted by Katie Skelly. Because of the support through the Inkstuds Patreon , I am able to bring on some excellent guests hosts. I am really happy to have Katie taking part. I am a big fan of both Katie’s work and her guest for this week, Liz Suburbia . Liz’s new book is a collection of her long running webcomic, Sacred Heart. Published by Fantagraph...

Glenn Head ‘s new book, Chicago is an excellent first big release from one of the greats in comics. Glenn has been producing fine work under titles likes Avenue D and Guttersnipe as well as editing the excellent anthologies Hotwire Comix and Snake Eyes (co-edited with Kaz). Glenn was a child of underground comix. Coming to age in the 1970s, feeding on the work of generation before him. His l...