Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Daniel Warren Johnson joins the podcast to talk about his art and Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. Johnson discusses how his career has changed since Extremity, the elevating nature of telling your own stories, how life drives adaptation, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth as a palate cleanser, why Dead Earth was the right next step, finding a new angle for the chara...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Sam Humphries joins the show to talk about Dial H for Hero. Humphries discusses how the different parts of his career impact him as a storyteller, touring his personal history of comics in Dial H, the style shifting of the book, its origins, Joe Quinones' fit on the book, the importance of legacy, experimentation in storytelling, the title's unique 8th i...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Jonathan Hickman joins the show to talk about his rather notable relaunch of the X-Men. Hickman discusses how he's doing post House of X and Powers of X, uniting the X-Men fans, the cohesion of the line, the state of the X-Men, how this whole project came together, the collaborative nature of these books, how being an X-Men fan changed the experience of...

In another episode of Off Panel recorded at New York Comic Con, artist Rosemary Valero-O'Connell joins the show to talk about the graphic novel she did with Mariko Tamaki, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me. Valero-O'Connell discusses her notably good few weeks, balancing drawing Laura Dean with going to college, the important of working on this book for her, bringing characters to life, her lov...

In a special episode of Off Panel recorded at New York Comic Con 2019, writer Brian K. Vaughan joins the podcast to talk about his approach to comics and more. Vaughan discusses writing for non-comic readers, how creator-owned helps with that, Fiona Staples' glory, capitalizing on the freedoms his success provides him, how he changes his writing depending on his collaborator, coming full circle wi...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Dave Baker joins the show to talk about his Kickstarter for his comic with Alexis Ziritt, Night Hunters, and what drives him as a creator. Baker discusses the NYCC experience, his different interests as a creator, existing in different sides of comics at once, his love of Todd McFarlane, charting his own path, the story behind Night Hunters, working...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, The Beat's Heidi MacDonald returns to the podcast for a bit of a New York Comic Con precap and check-in on the world of comics. MacDonald discusses her view on cons, the celebrity circuit, how that scene is changing, how The Beat works, adjusting to the new media landscape, the state of comics right now, New York Times bringing the best selling graphic books ba...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Matt Kindt joins the podcast to talk about his career and the upcoming Folklords at BOOM! Studios. Kindt discusses his early comic beginnings, art school, his desire to learn new things, the origins of Folklords, Matt Smith's greatness, the idea of quests, fighting boredom, HEK Studio, his mech story in the upcoming HEK Treasury, his love of Ninjak,...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, comics critic and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou returns to the show to chat about his Eisner winning comics magazine, PanelxPanel. Otsmane-Elhaou discusses the Eisner win, how he manages the magazine, where its feature comics come from, comics marketing, the PxP redesign, the advantages of doing a paid PDF instead of a website, the upcoming PxP pocket books, t...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, retailer Brian Hibbs returns to the podcast to talk about how the year is going for his two San Francisco comic shops, Comix Experience and Comix Experience Outpost. Hibbs discusses the impact of House of X and Powers of X, their weekly nature, the limit to the ceiling of those titles, what could have been done to reach that ceiling, Once & Future and print...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, my pal Brandon Burpee joins me for a little something different, as we did a House of X and Powers of X focused episode themed after ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. What does that mean? Each topic is timed, as we discuss our feelings on the titles overall, our opinion on the Moira retcon, what we think Moira's sixth life was, the data pages, the MVP of the titl...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, the writer and artist of Pumpkinheads, Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks, join the podcast to chat about their new graphic novel. The pair discusses what they liked about each other's work before working together, why these characters spoke to them, Deja's greatness, whether this was the first comic Rainbow wrote, their visit to a pumpkin patch in Nebraska, c...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Charlie Adlard joins the podcast for a chat about ending The Walking Dead and what comes next for him. Adlard shares why exactly The Walking Dead ended, ending with issue #193, the surprise ending, his emotions related to it, the pressures of an endless deadline, the power of inking, having longevity on a project, the freedom The Walking Dead provided, t...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Cliff Chiang returns to the podcast to chat about ending Paper Girls. Chiang discusses how much they had sketched out from the jump, the callbacks in the finale, telling a long running story in 2019, building a community, the look of the covers, Jared K. Fletcher's impact, Matt Wilson's secret power, those two being co-creators rather than hired guns, th...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Phillip Sevy joins the show to talk about his new series Triage and his unique path to comics. Sevy discusses his foundational comic pieces, what made him want to draw comics, how his comics nostalgia fed into Triage, what he learned as a SCAD student, the Top Cow Talent Hunt, the impact Tomb Raider had on him, the story behind Triage, the value of r...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, designer Tom Muller joins to walk us through his work on the X-Men relaunch in House of X and beyond. Muller discusses how much of his workload is comics, how he decides which projects to take on, when he came onboard for the X-Men books, how his initial "X" is carrying throughout the books, the initial wave of X-Men logos, how he and line maestro Jonathan Hick...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Steve Lieber joins to chat about his new series, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and his position as a trusted mentor in the comic book world. Lieber discusses the attention paid to Jimmy Olsen, the title's development, DC's reaction to the book's oddness, how he and writer Matt Fraction collaborate on the title, the importance of pie, his Jimmy Olsen memorie...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, The AV Club's Oliver Sava returns for our annual chat about the state of superheroes. Sava discusses where superhero comics are right now, DC's big changes, Marvel and DC's current architects, Bendis killing it on DC, Immortal Hulk, the coming Hickman era on the X-Men, Tom Taylor's greatness, recent moves by creators, house styles in art, The Joker and Harley Q...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, comic retailer and the founder of ComicHub, Stu Colson, joins to talk about ComicHub - a hybrid point of sale and marketing solutions systems (of a sort) and why he decided to create this potentially game changing new system for comic shops. Colson discusses how he got into comics retail, the differences between American and New Zealand shops, what exactly Comi...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Brenna Thummler joins the show to talk about her path to comics and her graphic novel, Sheets. Thummler discusses her education and pre-comics plans, her original desire to not work in comics, what finally connected her to comics, illustration as storytelling, her first comic experience, her approach as a comics outsider, the development of Sheets, l...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Christopher Sebela joins to talk about his writing on titles like Test and Crowded. Sebela discusses his recent efforts to take weekends for himself, getting out of the house on dog walks, his project notebooks, how they help his process, putting himself into his work, working at a test marketing firm, what his Test pitch is, its origins, what's next for...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, retailer Jacob Sareli joins to talk about his shop Comikaza, the first comic shop ever in Israel. Sareli discusses how he got into comics, the Israel comics scene, how he ended up taking over Comikaza, how the shop has evolved, what's working for his shop, the impact of manga and kids comics, how the past couple years have been, what he'd like to see more of, w...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Michael Walsh joins the podcast to talk about his work and the upcoming Black Hammer/Justice League: Hammer of Justice! Walsh discusses his fantastic author photo, finding a balance between his desires as an artist, the types of stories he's worked on, his experience on Secret Avengers, photo reference, adapting The Last Jedi, reflecting on his work, wor...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, the CCO & Editor-in-Chief and CEO & Publisher of Vault Comics - Adrian and Damian Wassel - join the podcast to talk about the world of Vault. The Wassels discuss how they decided their roles, why comics, why sci-fi and fantasy are their brand, what makes a Vault comic, where Myriad - their YA imprint - fits in their efforts, their perspective on the larger comi...

In this week's episode of Off Panel, Andrea Demonakos joins the podcast to talk about the world of merchandising and White Squirrel, her company that's designed to help artists sell their products online. Demonakos discusses Toronto's part in her comic background, her varying roles in the comics and how they helped her better understand that world, running Vancouver Comic Arts Festival, the origin...