Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

Writer/artist Rob Guillory guests this week, as we chat about his shifting approach and newly launched BOOM! series Mosely. Guillory discusses his many hats as a creator, what he's learned from recent projects, how he's pushing his career, adding writing to the mix, Farmhand's evolution, how autobiographical his work has become, Mosely's origins, the visuals of the book, tech commentary, the impor...

Retailer Patrick Brower joins the show to chat about the year at his comic shop, Challengers Comics + Conversation, and the state of the direct market. Brower discusses the year at Challengers, the flip side of success, the weird vibes today, time costs, the difficulty of handselling, what moved the needle this year, the impact of economic uncertainty, what isn't working, the retailer conversation...

Artist Liana Kangas returns to the show to discuss their busy past few years and their new BOOM! series, Know Your Station. Kangas discusses how they manage their extreme levels of busy, what goes into being a creator, balancing today and tomorrow, cover work, the Zestworld experience, the state of social media, returning to conventions, Trve Kvlt at IDW, whether that series was their baby, the st...

Writer Kieron Gillen joins Off Panel to discuss his big year on A.X.E.: Judgment Day, Immortal X-Men, Once & Future, and beyond. Gillen discusses his writing schedule, balancing responsibilities, Judgment Day's position for him, his approach to superhero stories, the fluidity of storytelling, "gets" in superhero comics, the X-Office, the surprising nature of Judgment Day, writing tie-ins, Syne the...

My pal Brandon Burpee returns to Off Panel this week for our eighth annual end of the year countdown episode. Burpee joins me to discuss the year in comics, the value of surprise, what surprised this year, the appeal of minis, superhero takes, the overwhelming amount of Batman, the year in event comics, the state of the X-Men, our honorable mentions, and more, before we close by counting down our...

In a special, year end episode of Off Panel, we look at the defining themes of 2022 in comics with the help of Big Bang Comics' Bruno Batista, The Beat's Heidi MacDonald, and Vault Comics' Damian Wassel. Up first is Batista (1:10), who talks about the number of comics in the direct market with no clear audience, how widespread this issue is, how focused this issue is, how much this issue has worse...

Writer Jason Aaron joins Off Panel this week to talk about what he's been up to this year, namely, his new BOOM! series Once Upon a Time at the End of the World. Aaron discusses where things are headed for him, being at the culmination of something, the development of Once Upon a Time, the appeal of limited series, the three pronged nature of the story, its two leads, how they evolved, why the boo...

Popverse's Deputy Editor Tiffany Babb joins Off Panel this week to talk about the story behind that comics and pop culture website. Babb discusses what a day at Popverse is like, her comics and comics criticism origins, seriality in comics, differentiating Popverse, moving from criticism to journalism, balancing content, her role at Popverse, content development, how memberships impact approach, l...

Writer Ed Brubaker returns to Off Panel this week to talk about his latest projects and the larger comic industry. Brubaker discusses revisiting your own work as an adaptation, his Panel Syndicate series Friday, his nemesis, digital vs. print, the greatness of Marcos Martin, the flexibility of the idea, Friday Fitzhugh, the Reckless series, finding more story as he works, readers following creativ...

Writer/artist Alex Ross joins Off Panel this week to talk about his latest graphic novel Fantastic Four: Full Circle. Ross discusses the origins of that project, the appeal of the idea, what it built from, the draw of the Fantastic Four, getting their voices right, how time changed the project, the shadow of Marvels and Kingdom Come, his visual approach to the book, testing his art, covers versus...

Writer and cartoonist Chip Zdarsky joins Off Panel this week to chat about his vast slate of current projects. Zdarsky discusses his Substack's impact on his promotional approach, the origins of Public Domain, the idea of genres, tackling creator rights...while working for DC and Marvel, blending character and story, getting back to drawing an ongoing series, the power of no, his newsletter, the d...

Writer Kyle Starks joins Off Panel this week to chat about his Skybound horror series, I Hate This Place. Starks discusses I Hate This Place's origins, the subjectivity of horror and comedy, confronting realities, connecting with readers, comedy as a four letter word, the haunted ranch angle, the title's two leads, its backup comic strips, the greatness of Dante Howitzer, Artyom Topilin's art, the...

Cartoonist Gale Galligan joins Off Panel for an extended chat about their work and their just released graphic novel, Freestyle. Galligan discusses the intersection of drawing and comics as a youth, the impact of comic strips and manga, what they learned from working with Raina Telgemeier, The Baby-Sitters Club club, the appeal of shorter comics, blending emotions, how Freestyle evolved at Scholas...

Writer Marjorie Liu joins the show for a career-spanning chat with a slight focus on her latest graphic novel, The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night. Liu discusses time traveling in writing, never being off the clock, her early days as a writer, the appeal of comics, her path to comics, the collaborative nature of comics, partnering with Sana Takeda, Sana's malleability, world-building, the origins...

Marvel's Senior VP of Publishing and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort joins Off Panel for an expansive chat about his career at Marvel. Brevoort discusses his email newsletter, his internship at Marvel, working with artists, his time in Special Projects, transitioning into editorial, editorial when Image was started, when things turned post-bankruptcy, sticking around in the Marvel Heroes office, The...

The Beat's Heidi MacDonald joins Off Panel for a chat about the return of conventions and where the comics industry is right now. MacDonald discusses how cons are ramping up, how they're performing after much time off, the value of conventions for websites, the importance of comic sites, how they're valued, comic book distribution, the health of single issues, finding new paths, AI art, where thin...

Writer Ed Brisson returns to the show to dive deep into our mutual love, and his current writing of the Marvel series, Predator. Brisson discusses his recent promotional road trip, his Predator origin story, blending horror and action, dialing back the Predator, the origins of this title, the dos and don'ts of Predators, inverting the concept, the flexibility of the idea, Kev Walker's impact, revi...

Artist Ryan Stegman joins the show the week his new Image series Vanish debuts, as we talk about that title's development and more. Stegman discusses his love of Wizard and Image growing up, the pursuit of cool, antiheroes, doing his own thing, planning Vanish, his approach to design, how the KLC Press Substack changed Vanish, the value of editors, why he doesn't ink himself, his growth as an arti...

Comics journalist Oliver Sava returns to Off Panel, as it's once again time for our annual Superhero State of the Union! In this episode, we discuss how we're feeling about superheroes right now, the current events (meaning Judgment Day and Dark Crisis), Amazing Spider-Man's current quality, John Romita, Jr., the current Venom run, where the X-Men line is, the curious spot for The Avengers side of...

Cartoonist Wes Craig joins Off Panel for a conversation about his upcoming Image series, Kaya. Craig discusses the ending of Deadly Class, balancing projects, the biggest things he learned during that project, the origins of Kaya, the power of narration, how Kaya developed, the title's main characters, changing flavors, writing and drawing the series, the learning curve of soloing the series, his...

The Three Worlds/Three Moons crew of Mike Del Mundo, Jonathan Hickman, and Mike Huddleston join Off Panel for a chat at this year's Emerald City Comic Con about their Substack-based concept universe. The 3W3M crew discusses the first year of the experience, how different it feels, live creation, what guides their decision making, letting the work speak for itself, crediting themselves as 3W3M, bei...

Friend of the show Brandon Burpee returns Off Panel for a rare discussion oriented on...comic book adaptations? Burpee discusses the greatness of the new Marvel Legends Maggott toy, his affinity for the character, our current feelings about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU fatigue, hype levels about the recent announcements at San Diego Comic Con, thoughts on the multiverse, how the X-Men could...

Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks joins Off Panel to chat about her past few years and her upcoming graphic novel, Ride On. Hicks discusses revisiting works, the origins of Ride On, her desire to slow down, the power of no, horse books, her process, fandom as a skeleton key, tapping into your inner fan, developing the book's cast, improvements in her art, character acting, Kelly Fitzpatrick's colors, wr...

Cartoonist Tyler Crook joins Off Panel to chat about his career and current Dark Horse series, The Lonesome Hunters. Crook discusses his comic and art origins, influences, his time in video games, tackling Petrograd, following Guy Davis on B.P.R.D., the origins of Lonesome Hunters, the relationship at the core of the story, narration, emotions over plot, magpies as villains, writing as an artist,...

Cartoonist Declan Shalvey joins Off Panel to talk about what he's been up to and his upcoming Image series, Old Dog. Shalvey discusses embracing different models, the nature of the market, the origins of Old Dog, production value, why he wanted to tell his own story, spy details, pushing yourself, soloing the series, promoting your work, the title's lead, finding a balance in your career, and more...