Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Karl Kerschl joins to talk about his currently being Kickstarted webcomic The Abominable Charles Christopher. Kerschl discusses Kickstarter stress levels, crowd-funding as a discoverability tool, Seinfeld, what Charles Christopher is about, its personal nature, the pacing of the comic, how format impacts the series, changes he made in the past year,...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer/artist Declan Shalvey joins to talk about his new series Time Before Time. Shalvey discusses working on art interiors, his schedule turning upside down, rethinking his path, managing creator-owned projects, Sasha Head's design, releasing Bog Bodies during the pandemic, Immortal Hulk Flatline, Time Before Time, the co-writing experience, writing for ongoi...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Kyle Starks joins me to chat about the upcoming The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton. Starks discusses how the last year has been, adjusting to the new world order, how conventions open things up for him, expanding genres, the difficulty of funny comics, the origins of Trigger Keaton, partnering with Chris Schweizer, the cast and process of the book,...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Ed Brubaker returns to talk about his recent work in Friend of the Devil and Friday. Brubaker discusses how Friend of the Devil is doing, the graphic novel switch, Dad comics, how formats influence his writing, taking time for character, building Reckless, its position as a culmination of his work with Sean Phillips, showcasing character skills, the impo...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Erica Schultz joins to chat about her career and the currently being Kickstarted The Deadliest Bouquet. Schultz discusses her path to comics, agency life, the appeal of the medium, what an Erica Schultz comic is, the importance of the hustle, her different roles, the impact of a good editor, The Deadliest Bouquet, the three sisters of the book, the creat...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Elsa Charretier joins to chat about her new YouTube channel and Image Comics series November. Charretier discusses her curiosity, delivering good looking products, the origins of and plan behind her YouTube channel, content plans, how she sees comics, launching with the right subjects, whether she's looking to reframe her career, protecting yourself, her...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Christopher Cantwell joins to chat about writing comics like Doctor Doom, Iron Man, and the upcoming The Blue Flame at Vault. Cantwell discusses why he decided to get into comics, his starting point for comics and TV, the feedback loop of comics, planning across mediums, how writing comics changed his relationship with them, managing continuity, B-list c...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Gerry Duggan joins to chat about his work in the X-Office. Duggan discusses his recent run of news, Cable's ending, the story they're telling, finite stories vs. ongoings, writing for different artists, the X-Men line as a glacier, the joyfulness of the X-Office, Russell Dauterman's design game, Marauders and continuity, the X-Men vote, the new X-Men tea...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Frank Quitely joins to chat about his art and career. Quitely discusses keeping his pseudonym, why he went the illustration route originally, the impact of influences, being an influence himself, working with Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, why Flex Mentallo was such a challenge, having an outsider perspective, reinventing the X-Men, his Sandman short, i...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, retailer Jenn Haines joins to talk about her shop The Dragon and being the President of comics retail trade organization ComicsPro. Haines discusses the origins of her shop's name, how The Dragon came to be, investing in the future of comics, her shop's product mix, the pandemic's impact, becoming ComicsPro's President, the Marvel/Penguin Random House deal, the...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Ram V joins the show to talk about his approach to writing, Swamp Thing, and the upcoming The Many Deaths of Laila Starr. Ram discusses his engineering background, how that affects his writing, being beholden to comics, curiosity, the impact of collaborators, why Swamp Thing stands out, freedom of story, how his Swamp Thing story came together, genres, t...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer - as well as the Co-President of Archie Comics - Alex Segura joins the podcast to talk about his currently being Kickstarted graphic novel The Dusk and Archie's progressive nature. Segura discusses the last year for him, how the pandemic affected his thinking, the origins of The Dusk, rethinking superheroes, all-ages comics, the team on the book, the app...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Rodney Barnes joins to talk about getting into comics after a career in TV and his work in Killadelphia at Image Comics. Barnes discusses why he got into comics, his love of Neal Adams, grounded stories, the connective nature of comics, the origins of Killadelphia, marrying ideas, the trauma of vampires, learning comics, the title's procedural nature, cr...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Andy Schmidt joins to talk about his career and work on the new Crime Syndicate mini-series at DC. Schmidt discusses all of his different roles in comics, how he decided to enter the fray, learning comics on the fly, the projects he learned the most from, writing comics, what happened with Generations, the appeal of working with DC, how Crime Syndicate c...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Joëlle Jones joins to chat about her career and work on Future State: Wonder Woman and the upcoming Wonder Girl. Jones discusses how she decided to become a comic artist, her love of art, what spoke to her about comic art, how she became interested in writing, figuring that world out, the influence of just doing the work, the DC Talent Development Wo...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Vita Ayala joins the show to chat about New Mutants and the world of the X-Men. Ayala discusses the video conference era, X-Men origins, learnings from Prisoner X, answering questions in the work, how their New Mutants run came together, what's up with the kids, the New Mutants as teachers, the greatness of Rod Reis, the vibe of the book, X of Swords, sy...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, author Abraham Riesman joins to chat about his new book, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee. Riesman discusses the pre-release response to the book, Stan Lee and Marvel's inseparability, what appealed to him about the project, Lee's relationship with his own life, the research process, the most interesting character from the process, the ambiguity of...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Chris Samnee joins to chat about his work on books like Fire Power and the upcoming Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters. Samnee discusses his post-Marvel time, why he went the directions he did, Fire Power's origins, looking back on his art, the appeal of simplicity, where Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters came from, working with his wife Laura, the im...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, ComicsXF's Zack Jenkins joins me for a chat about the state of comic sites and his site's recent rebrand. Jenkins discusses the origins of the site, how it evolved, the power of rankings, researching the comic site landscape, finding new angles on content, letting writers do their thing, differentiating yourself, merging comic sites, the X-Men election, and mor...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, Polygon's Comics Editor Susana Polo joins to chat about five things we're each watching for in comics in 20201. Polo discusses her comic book origin story, how The Mary Sue came together, her approach at Polygon, what's coming for DC, format changes, the box office schedule, digital's future, Mariko Tamaki on Detective Comics, Saga's return, convention reinvent...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Zander Cannon joins to chat about his Oni Press series, Kaijumax. Cannon discusses working from home, how the state of the world has affected his storytelling brain, Kaijumax's evolution, empathy in storytelling, what he's learned from the series, its season model, kaiju as proxies, the type of kaiju he'd be, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, retailer Patrick Brower returns to the show to chat about the year that was for his shop, Challengers Comics + Conversation in Chicago. Brower discusses his own year, what happened with Challengers' second shop, the year for the store overall, the volume of comics being released, new tactics, the need to change, explosive Wednesdays, new readers and disappearin...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, the writer of my comic of the year - Ryan North - joins to share the story behind his adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. North discusses his own history with the story, its impact on him, his reaction to the idea of adapting it, its fit as a comic book, the experience of adapting it, wham lines, the genius of Albert Monteys, the timing of its re...

In this week's end of the year episode of Off Panel, my pal Brandon Burpee returns to the show for a chat about the year that was in comics. Brandon and I discuss how our years were, the year in comics, how the way we engage with media is shifting, X of Swords, the best current fit for Maggott, the Hill House line's viability, horror comics, and more, before we dive into the countdown of our respe...

In this week's special episode of Off Panel, we look at the defining themes of 2020 in comics with the help of Random House Graphic's Publishing Director Gina Gagliano, Third Eye Comics' Steve Anderson, and The Beat's Heidi MacDonald. Up first is Gagliano (1:15), who talks about a year of revolutionary change, the year's impact on promoting and publishing comics, how the book market was affected,...