Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

Cartoonist Andrew MacLean joins the show to talk about one of my favorite books, his Image Comics title Head Lopper. Maclean shares how the book came together, the quarterly format and doing things his way, his hyper DIY mentality, the Mike Mignola connection and influence, his creative process, making a good villain and action sequence, holding things back from readers, and more.

Writer Jim Zub joins the show this week to talk his brand new Image title that launches this week, Glitterbomb. Zub talks what Glitterbomb is all about, the horror of the reality of the story, how he works out hard storytelling beats, the amazing that is artist Djibril Morissette, how this book differs from the rest of his work, the motives of the book's lead, building hype without spoiling your o...

Writer Kieron Gillen joins the show to talk a whole lot about The Wicked + The Divine, his Image comic with frequent collaborator Jamie McKelvie. The conversation actually starts with a bit about Darth Vader, before jumping into the concept of the faux cartoonist, how that idea has moved in Marvel and DC, how Team WicDiv works together, the importance of arc titles and taking risks, their Imperial...

Writer Joshua Williamson (The Flash, Nailbiter, Birthright) comes back to the show for a special episode, as he walks listeners through the experience of developing, announcing, launching, promoting and maintaining a comic. They talk about the genesis of his upcoming book Vertigo book Frostbite with Jason Shawn Alexander, how it ended up at Vertigo, how he and his collaborators like artist Jason S...

This week's Off Panel welcomes AV Club comic critic Oliver Sava back to the show to talk big changes at DC and Marvel as well as everything else that's going on in comics. David and Oliver talk the constant non-change change at Marvel and DC, why Rebirth is working and why it isn't, Marvel's season model and its impact, the appeal of Valiant Comics in today's era, digital coloring and art, the imp...

On the originally scheduled return episode of Off Panel, Oni Press Senior Editor Charlie Chu joins the show to talk his role and work on books like Kaijumax, Heartthrob and The Sixth Gun. Chu talks about how he got into comics, how his role differs books to book, his many hats in comics, balancing tone, working off reader expectations, comics and the current period of disruption, diversity in comi...

The Ringer's Jason Concepcion joins the show this week to talk about the pros and cons of the latest DC Entertainment movie - Suicide Squad. They talk how the movie reflects David Ayer's world view, its perceived badness versus actual badness, Jared Leto's Joker performance, where DC's movie universe stands, the potential impact of Geoff Johns on it, the movie's troubled development, Zack Snyder,...

On this week's Off Panel, Marvel editor Wil Moss guests on the show to talk about his work and experience in the world of editorial. They talk his expansive list of titles, how those books came together, his approach to casting the titles he works on, the excellence of Squirrel Girl, how difficult it is to peg The Vision with a single genre, the freedom he gives creators he works with, how he got...

On this week's episode of Off Panel, the owner of Big Bang Comics in Dublin, Ireland - John Hendrick - joins the show to talk comics and the world of retail. In a reversal, the show starts with five random questions about Sabretooth, Ireland, drinks of choice and more, before diving into the retail world. The pair talks Big Bang's recent move last year, what makes the retail world so rewarding, co...

It's a big one, everybody. This week is Off Panel's double-sized holofoil, acetate edition 50th episode (with a Gambit hologram on the cover), and David's longest tenured comic friend Brandon Burpee joins the show to talk about a little bit of everything. They talk their favorite anniversary comics, what made them so awesome, why they went away, their thoughts on Captain America: Civil War, Geoff...

Today digital comics service ComiXology made a major announcement: ComiXology Unlimited is here, offering a wide variety of comics for $5.99 a month. Lots of information was getting out there and the conversation was all over the place, but what's real wasn't necessarily. So to change that, we got on the phone with ComiXology's CEO and co-founder David Steinberger to talk about Unlimited, why they...

Nick Dragotta, the artist and co-creator of East of West and one of the people behind the new comic creator grant Creators for Creators, joins the show this week to talk about what he's up to these days. Dragotta talks about the genesis of Creators for Creators, what the appeal of the project was for him, how East of West came together, how putting together a creator-owned book helped keep him in...

Skottie Young returns to the show this week, as the superstar cartoonist comes on to talk about his Image series, I Hate Fairyland. In this episode, Skottie talks his love of being a cartoonist, how he approaches creating the book, the value of figuring out the best way to tell his story on the fly, the importance of humor books staying nimble, the pros and cons of being young forever, how much of...

In the final episode of Off Panel from this year's Emerald City ComiCon, the co-creators of the upcoming Isola from Image Comics and part of the team behind DC's Gotham Academy - Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl - talk their creative partnership and what their new book is all about. They talk their longtime friendship, mutual interests, how they work together, how Isola's been developed,where ins...

In this week's special episode from Emerald City ComiCon, artist Wes Craig joins the show to talk about his art and work on Deadly Class at Image Comics with Rick Remender. He talks about the convention experience, how he and Remender bring the book to life, his process, his personal connection to the story, character acting, the way he brings motion onto the page, the difference between his appro...

In another Emerald City ComiCon edition of Off Panel, colorists Matt Wilson (The Wicked + The Divine, Black Widow) and Nathan Fairbairn (Wonder Woman: Earth One, the upcoming Lake of Fire) join the show to talk about the world of comic coloring. They talk the impact of being a colorist, how they got into that line of work, their breaking in stories, how many books they can handle at one time, how...

In this week's first podcast from Emerald City ComiCon, artist Fiona Staples joins the show to talk her art. Staples talks about what first made her want to work on comics for a living, how she first made her way into the industry, the disconnect between Saga's success and what she does, her process and how she works, the mad science of creating Saga with Brian K. Vaughan, character acting, how wo...

In another special edition podcast recorded at Emerald City ComiCon, writer Joshua Williamson joins the show to talk his work on books like Nailbiter, Birthright and the upcoming rebirth of The Flash. He talks about his path to comics, how he develops his own stories, what he's done to prepare for defining a new era of The Flash, his epic Flash reread, how Batman Returns helped him get into comics...

On the first special podcast recorded at Emerald City ComiCon this year, we have a quick chat with artist Mitch Gerads. We talk about how he first got into comics, how his design background impacts his art, why The Sheriff of Babylon is such an important project to him, how working with writer Tom King is such a great fit, how coloring himself changes his work, and much more. Give it a listen to l...

Jonathan Hickman guests on Off Panel this week to talk about his current and upcoming Image books - East of West and The Black Monday Murders. The conversation starts with a discussion about East of West, his comic with artist Nick Dragotta, looking at how that book developed, how the two of them work together, how far out Hickman plans, how his background in other fields impacts his writing, worl...

Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks guests on this week's episode of Off Panel, as she joins the show to talk her new graphic novel, The Nameless City. She talks her insanely busy schedule, the long build to the release of the book, how it developed, why she wanted to create a trilogy of stories, visual storytelling, bringing action sequences to life, the diversity of her story, embracing fantasy elements...

This week's Off Panel is a rare double feature, as Christopher Sebela and Robert Wilson IV, the creative team behind the upcoming Heartthrob at Oni Press, join the show to talk their upcoming book. The pair talks how the book first came together, their creative process, Fleetwood Mac's fit on the book, researching the era of the book (and watching heart transplant YouTube videos), what they did to...

The team over at DC Entertainment is having a big weekend, so Brandon Burpee joins the show to break down all of the happenings. Things kick off with a discussion about today's Rebirth announcement, our initial thoughts, what books we're buying for sure, what's got them hyped, what doesn't, and then things get into the main event: a spoiler-filled discussion about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justic...

Sina Grace, the hyphenate cartoonist behind the art of The Li'l Depressed Boy, the graphic novel Self-Obsessed and the star/writer behind a webseries based off that GN (which started yesterday!), joins the show this week to talk what's going on with him. They talk the webseries, how it came together, what the inspiration was for it, whether or not he got to diva up for it, the music of the series...

Kate Leth, writer of Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat and Vampirella, joins the show this week to talk her work and the growing community of women who work in retail shops that she founded - The Valkyries. Leth talks how busy she's gotten these days, why she wanted to make that Hellcat a book anyone could enjoy, how comics have been changing recently, the freedom Marvel's given her on the book, how the ch...