The Corner Box

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Eisner Awards namesake, Dave Baker, joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock to talk about the Eisner Awards’ decision to drop categories, the history of the awards, how social media has changed the consumption of news, and Dave’s ventures through a Star Trek fanfic - all while wearing clothes.   Timestamp Segments ·       [01:05] Eisner’s drop...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Murphey Luedke joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock to talk about David’s Spider Boy collecting mission, what it means to be a collector, how to do Kickstarter, David’s secret Gargoyles Kickstarter campaign, the audiences on Kickstarter, and how Manga has become the main competitor to Western comics.   Timestamp Segments ·       [00:59] Dav...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, comic book legend, Paul Kupperberg, joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock to talk about worthless original art, how Paul got into DC offices at the age of 16, his books Direct Comments, Direct Conversations, and Direct Creativity, his encounters with Neal Adams, how the industry has evolved during Paul’s 50-year career, why Vigilante ended t...

Episode Summary It's our 25th issue! And that means a special, over-sized edition! On this episode of The Corner Box, Eisner-nominated Dave Baker, returns to join hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock to talk about their Top 5 comics from 2023, featuring In Summer, Roaming, Deadpool Badder Blood, Every Love Story is a Ghost Story, Monica, Spider-Boy, Dwellings, Death of Power, Acting Class, H...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, former VP of Global Publishing at Hasbro, Michael Kelly, joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock talk about how Michael helped Hasbro get deep into original comic book content creation, the great success of My Little Pony, the truth about working with licensors, why GI Joe and Transformers were moved to Skybound, and the heartwarming story of...

Episode Summary On today’s episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock talk about the difficulty of comic book collecting today, The War, John’s new book: Signa, David’s new book: Super Kaiju Rock-N-Roller Derby Fun Time Go!, building new mythologies versus building on existing mythologies, and how people can get their hands on these comic books.   Timestamp Segments ·       [...

Episode Summary On today’s episode of The Corner Box, Chris Eliopoulos, joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock for part two this two-part conversation to talk about the decline of the comic book industry, how manga and anima have dominated the markets, why continuity has made comic books too complex, the struggle of getting more mainstream readers, how the TikTok era changed entertainment con...

Episode Summary On today’s episode of The Corner Box, Chris Eliopoulos joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock in this two-part conversation to talk about Chris’s internship at Marvel, how he made more money than most as a letterer, how lettering can make or break a comic book, writing the ‘Ordinary People’ series of books, and how ‘A Little Emotional’ came about. Part 2 of this conversation o...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Chris Ryall joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock to talk about Chris’s introduction to Faust, how our formative years create the comics we like, how easy it is to simply get into comics, the upcoming Might Marvel calendar book, the great artworks from the early Marvel calendars, and Chris teases some of his upcoming projects. Timestamp Segm...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Scott Dunbier joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock in part 2 of this conversation about Scott’s prolific collection of Artist Editions, the list of creators who should be in the Hall of Fame, how he goes about curating Artist Editions, and his Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds project.   Timestamp Segments ·       [01:31] Rip Kirby vs Flash Gordon....

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Scott Dunbier joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock in part 1 of this conversation about Scott’s career from Wildstorm to DC, doing European tours, how he met Jack Kirby, having extensive knowledge of comic art, and having both good art and good writing to create the perfect comic. Stick around for part 2 of The Corner Box vs Scott Dunbier....

On today’s episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock get together to talk about all things Groo the Wanderer. They talk about Groo’s 41-year run, comics that get overlooked, some notable appearances in Groo’s 200 issues, some of the hidden messages, and the missed opportunity of a Groo TV show.   Timestamp Segments ·       [05:24] What is Groo? ·       [10:43] 41 years of Gr...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock get into part two of this conversation around licensed comics. They talk about Skybound’s treatment of Transformers, whether or not GI Joe and Transformers will mix well, the revivals of Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy in the modern comic world, Nintendo’s weird licensing, and how to get started with licenses.   T...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock get into this first part of the conversation around licensed comics. They talk about the new Spider Boy comics, why David watches Rob Liefeld slap his butt on Whatnot, John’s experience working with Stephen King, David’s DreamWorks license, what it’s like to work with licensors, what makes a good license, the...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Dave Baker joins John Barber and David Hedgecock for part two of this conversation to talk about the bifurcation of the comic market, the Halloween Boy action figure toy lines, the Halloween Boy and Monster Force team-up, Dracula’s interesting history, and how Cher would’ve changed Terminator. Timestamp Segments ·       [01:14] Forest Hills Bootle...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, Eisner Award Nominee, Dave Baker, joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock in this two-part conversation to talk about why we shouldn’t mix alcohol and Whatnot, the Earl Mac Rauch experience, the toxic tropes in legendary comics, the truth about ‘making it’ in comics, the path in comics vs other artistic media, and the ever-shifting age categor...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, David forgets the name of the podcast, and they talk about the hot mess that is the St George comic, how great Zoe Thorogood’s venture into Hack/Slash is, some new comics that have been making waves, John’s excessive investment in Babysitters Club, David’s rare George Perez find, the Image/Ghost Machine announcement, and the four Ghost Machine sha...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock talk about the enduring issue of getting non-comics readers to become comics readers, how comic books could be used as assets, when comics are adapted for the big screens, how DC and Marvel have effectively curated different materials for mass consumption, facing the challenge of dwindling readership, the lack...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, veteran comic writer Ron Marz joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock in part two of The Corner Box vs Ron Marz to talk about working on DC vs Marvel, introducing Kyle Rayner, writing an effective character death, and Ron plugs his upcoming work to the vast podcast audience. Timestamp Segments ·       [01:01] DC vs Marvel. ·       [09:42] Ron’...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, veteran comic writer Ron Marz joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock in this two-part episode to talk about Ron’s introduction to comics in his life, getting his start with Jim Starlin, his experience as a comic writer working on Diablo 4, how the comic book industry has changed over the years, the truth about the CrossGen compound, and how R...

On this episode of The Corner Box, Megan Brown joins hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock to talk about David’s first comic book script after decades in the industry, everyone’s writing processes, writing issues at breakneck speeds, working with artists, how to compel readers to continue reading, and serving the role of an editor.  Timestamp Segments ·       [01:33] David has written a comic book...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock talk about David’s surprise unboxing, when they first encountered Bone, how self-publishing has changed since the 90s, how Jeff Smith and Bone altered the course of the industry, and how Bone became an “all-ages” adult comic.   Timestamp Segments ·       [00:45] David’s unboxing surprise. ·       [09:24] Jeff...

Episode Summary On this episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock talk about the weird things seen in Blackhawk, John’s experience of attending the Eisners without David, Zoe Thorogood’s It’s Lonely at the Center of the Earth , David’s newfound appreciation for X-Men, the game-changing Issue 107, Wolverine’s costume redesign, and why there’s nothing greater than comic books....

Episode Summary On today’s episode of The Corner Box, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock, are joined by veteran comic artist, Paul Pelletier, to talk about how CrossGen’s collapse was the best thing for Marvel, how Paul became a comic fanatic, when Paul realized he’d made it, what he was doing before comics, and his dream to scratch the Spiderman itch.   Timestamp Segments ·       [01:07] Paul’...

Episode Summary On today’s episode of The Corner Box, dedicated to Charlie and Pinto, hosts John Barber and David Hedgecock talk about some long-awaited comic book comebacks, the history of Speedball, they reimagine Speedball in the modern world, John digs into the moral issues in Spider-Man Annual #22, and David shares some fun tidbits about Speedball: The Masked Marvel! Timestamp Segments ·     ...