SiDEBAR - COMICS, ART & POP CULTURE

Podcast Episode 171 :: JAMES TUCKER

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Hey, when it's good, it's good. You gotta give it up. And that's exactly what I had to do with Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and The Bold.

When I first heard that there was gonna be a new, new Batman animated TV show, I was like, "First of all, it's gonna have huge shoes to fill coming behind the incredible Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. And second, the tone is gonna be that campy, over-the-top Dick Sprang vibe? That's gonna suck."

Of course, I was dead wrong. And I told James Tucker, the producer of Batman: The Brave and The Bold, as much in my interview with him. Thing is, he said the potential Silver Age campiness was partially why he agreed to help develop the project in the first place.

Apparently, the 1950's era DC comic book of the same name was one of James' very first comics as a kid. It was geek providence that he got offered the chance to bring some of that flavor to animated life. When Sam Register approached him with the idea a few years ago, James says he liked the fact that this cartoon incarnation of Batman would be very different from Batman: The Animated Series.

I knew Tucker's name and face from the behind-the-scenes extras on my other Warner Bros. animated DVDs. Superman, Justice League, Batman Beyond — he worked on all of them— either in the art department, or as he did on BTBaTB, as a producer.

And he mentions in our talk that he learned much of the craft of producing under the wing of animator extraordinaire, Bruce Timm. Timm, along with Alan Burnett, Glen Murakami, Paul Dini, and Michael Jelenic, are just a few of the talented collaborators that James has worked with since he got his start at Warner Bros. Animation.

Batman: The Brave and The Bold debuted back in November of 2008, and the series just ended with its triumphant final episode on August 1, 2011. It was a delightful show that captured all the adventure and whimsy of those old Silver Age comics without ever slavishly paying homage to them. Tucker and crew cleverly pulled classic elements together, and then pushed them through a modern day filter — thus, making their show very much its own thing. Well done, folks!

- SWAiN

**It's just me asking the questions on this one, but I had a ball. Hope you dig it.

Podcast Episode 151: LAUREN MONTGOMERY

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"Patience, young grasshopper." That's what Master Po said years ago. And he was right, too.

I came to know director and storyboard artist Lauren Montgomery's work through our mutual friend, Eric Canete. She and Eric are buds and her name came up, I believe, when we interviewed him back in 2008. I started looking around, found her blog and became an instant fan.

Hit the button and fast forward to February of 2009 at the New York Comic Con. Dwight and I are in an auditorium teeming with geeky fans. We're all waiting for Lauren, Bruce Timm, Michael Jelenic and Gregory Noveck to take the stage.

The convention is holding a panel discussion and a screening of the then, newly animated Wonder Woman movie (Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion). Lauren directed it, Bruce produced it, Michael wrote the script and Gregory is a Senior VP of Creative over at DC. There's maybe 2000 people in the room. It's nuts!

Anyway, the panel goes off without a hitch and audience members get to ask a pant load of questions. As you'll hear in the interview, one question in particular that Lauren answered, elicited an excited shout from one lone fan. Hmmm...

Oh, and Wonder Woman was fantastic! If you haven't seen it, you should. Outstanding job by all. It might be my favorite of Montgomery's films.

She went on to direct Green Lantern: First Flight, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. All for Warner Brothers' direct-to-DVD line and all, equally as good.

Well, after two years of pursuing her, she finally agreed to come on the show for a chat. Finally. Way to show and prove, grasshopper!

What a bright star, she is. What a cool person she turned out to be (seriously). And with the kind of excitement Lauren's generated thus far, I can only imagine what goodness lies ahead from her.

(Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and Batman Year One, but don't tell anybody I told ya).

- SWAiN

**Below are the box covers for Crisis, First Flight and Superman Doomsday, her first crack at directing for a feature.

 

This is a Supergirl image Lauren did that I just love! I got it from her blog, This Sucks, Not Yo' Mama's Blog.

 

Her rendition of Harley Quinn. You can just hear that annoyingly cute voice, can't you?

A cover Lauren did for an issue of Avatar. Niiice!

 

And some old sketchbook pages also grabbed from her blog. I really dig seeing this kinda stuff.

 

Podcast Episode 130: LOIS VAN BAARLE - Animator and Illustrator

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Click here to discuss this show.  

The Internet is an interesting thing. Without it, you wouldn't know what a podcast was. Nor would you be able to subscribe to a blog. And for that matter, none of us outside of Holland might have ever heard of a talented animator and illustrator named Lois van Baarle (roughly pronounced van Barr-luh).

To be honest, and this is Swain speaking here, I can't remember how I stumbled upon her work. Maybe through Drawn, maybe a link on another artist's website. Either way, her stuff is killer.

At first, I thought Lois was mostly an animator, but once I saw Trichrome Blue, I could see she's more than that.

She's an artist.

Not in the "I draw and I paint" kind of way. She's that as well. I mean in the "I have something to say, I have a story to tell" kind of way. And she does, truly.

By the way, my daughter was completely transfixed watching Blue for the first time. Absorbing all the beaufiful, haunting elements in it, she asked a lot of questions (kids know when it's good).

We've blogged about van Baarle's work twice before on this site, so we're running out of things to say about her without giving away some of the interview. And that's not gonna happen.

What we will reveal here is, she lives in the Netherlands where she was born. She's lived in other places around the world like Indonesia, the U.S. and France. She went to school in Belgium for a while, but recently graduated from The Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) in Holland. And her future is as bright as can be.

Going back to the pros and cons of the Internet for a minute, thank God for VOIPs. Mobile phones are tricky little bastards when you go international and this interview almost didn't happen because of that oversight. Luckily it did though 'cause we were mad ready for Lois. And we hope you are, too.

Take care and thanks for listening.

Podcast Ep. 119: JAKE PARKER and Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher

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Jake Parker is a talented artist friend of ours with a new children's book out. It's called Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher, it's pubbed by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic Books, and we dig it thoroughly. He kindly sent us a copy to preview before our interview with him and it's full of high adventure, sci-fi fun and life lessons.

And even though it's a kid's book, Jake doesn't skimp at all on things like cool tech and alien character designs. The look and feel of Missile's world is pretty funky.

We ran Parker down at his home in Connecticut and talked to him about The Star Crusher project, his background as an animator with Blue Sky Studios, his work on the film Horton Hears a Who and the whole thing. It was good stuff!

Check Jake out at his site and blog below.

Agent 44 Site

Agent 44 Blog

**For this episode, we played Ramblin' Man by Lemon Jelly, an excellent tune, folks.

And we make no apologies for the pic of Jake and his Spartan friend raging (ha).

Ep. 111: A Sketchy Interview featuring Artist PETER DE SÈVE

Okay, this time we really tried to color inside the lines, so to speak. We got the opportunity to interview a lauded and respected illustrator, Peter de Sève, and wanted to play it sorta serious.

I mean, this guy has been doing it for over 25 years, right? He's painted covers for The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report—you know, the big ones.

He illustrated one of Mark Twain's short stories called A Murder, A Mystery and A Marriage back in 2002—that's serious stuff.

Now granted, he did work on all three of the Ice Age movies, but that was as a character designer. He wasn't writing gags or jokes.

Anyways, about a minute into our conversation with him, Peter had us cracking up big time. So much so, we had to join in (any old excuse will do, I suppose).

All kidding aside, de Sève is a major talent and it was a lotta fun speaking with him. We caught up with him at his home studio in Brooklyn, NY and chatted about the new Spectrum Exhibit that just opened there, digital prints vs. original paintings, working in animation and his two new projects.

Peter just released his first ever hardcover artbook, a monograph called A Sketchy Past - The Art of Peter de Sève. We blogged about it recently and with good reason. It's filled to the brim with resplendence and chronicles his art and career beautifully.

He also has a children's book coming out that he illustrated called The Duchess of Whimsy, written by his wife Randall de Sève. Randall's written two other kid's books, but this is the first time she and Peter have worked together.

We had a blast, as always, and outside of his having some fun with us too, Peter is a brilliant artist. A thinking man's artist, we like to say. And we need more of his kind out there doing it—that's for sure.

**Psst! He also has a tutorial DVD coming out through our friends at Massive Black—imagine that, gang!

Peter's Blog (that's right, blog)

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Ep. 110: 'Bravo for ALEX TOTH' - Celebrating the Life and Art of a Comics Legend (Part II)

Thanks for coming back for Part II of our tribute to Alex Toth. Alex was a giant in the comics and animation fields and deserves all the accolades we can give him.

This second half features more audio from creators who either knew Alex personally or just loved his work from afar. They all speak honestly and straight from the heart, and it's really great stuff.

Also in the mix today is Toth's eldest son, Eric Toth. I contacted Eric through the TothFans.com site and he kindly agreed to join us and chat about his Dad.

Speaking of joining us, the official Roll Call for this one goes a little somethin' like this: Jim Amash, George Pratt, Michael Oeming, Toby Cypress, Steve Rude, Darwyn Cooke, Mark Chiarello and again, Alex's son Eric.

Our many, many thanks to all of these guys for participating in this tribute. It was a labor of love for us to work on and we had the best time! 

**We played lots and lots of terrific music between Parts I and II. Here are the performers and song titles in order of appearance: Bob Dylan's Things Have Changed (Alex's Theme), Glenn Miller's In the Mood, The Theme from Space Ghost, Colin Hay's I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You, Neil Young's Old Man, Dave Mason's We Just Disagree and Norah Jones' Peace.

All of these, with the exception of the Space Ghost theme, are available for purchase on-line through Amazon and other music sites.

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Ep. 109: 'Bravo for ALEX TOTH' - Celebrating the Life and Art of a Comics Legend

Hey everybody, it's me, Swain.

I'm pretty sure my first exposure to Alex Toth was during his Warren days. My father was a butcher for 35 years and worked for a grocery store chain in Chicago called Del Farms. I remember sitting in the isles at Del, on the floor, thumbing through Creepy and Eerie—and loving them. Maybe later, I picked up some Silver Age DC stuff by Alex.

One that I clearly recall is that Flash/Atom story from Action Comics where Flash gets tied down like Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels (...wow). After that, it was Hot Wheels, a 'war' story called Dirty Job and by the time I saw Death Flies the Haunted Sky, I was all in—my conversion was complete!

His animation work for TV shows like Johnny Quest, Space Ghost and Super Friends, I didn't pick up on until a little later. Bravo for Adventure, Torpedo 1936 and his collected Zorro stuff, I didn't read until way later.

In my teens, I bought The Black Hood published by Red Circle because of their distinctive covers and guess who did them? Alex Toth. He also wrote and drew a back-up story in those books featuring this noirish character called The Fox—and it was EXCELLENT!

Keep in mind, folks, at that point in the '80s, Alex must have been close to 60 years old. Still kicking ass like nobody's business! Quoting my friend, Mark Chiarello, Alex actually got better as he got older. He and Will Eisner both had some odd wiring in their DNAs that made them even more awesome as they aged (I know that's poor grammar, but it feels accurate). We should all hope for the same, by the way.

When I proposed doing this tribute to Toth, Dwight and I didn't have a clue what it would turn into. Almost nobody we approached said no. Right away, it went from let's chat with a few creators—to let's do a two-parter. Apparently, I wasn't the only rude little kid sitting on the floor in the market reading comics and such. Thank God.

The Roll Call for Part I of our celebration of the life and art of Alex Toth is as follows: Klaus Janson, John Paul Leon, John Hitchcock, Howard Chaykin, Tim Sale, Paul Pope and Rubén Procopio. All of these guys are either friends, fans or peers of Toth's—and in some cases, all three. Either way, they were great for agreeing to take part in this. We thank them.

Look for Part II of 'Bravo for Alex Toth' soon and we thank you all as well—for listening.

**Lots of people to acknowledge here, so grab a sandwich.

Mark Chiarello (O Captain), your greatness is only exceeded by your tiredness (ha)—many thanks, brother! TothFans.com for being such a great resource. Alex's son Eric for chatting with two art nerds he's never met before (Eric will be featured on Part II). Rubén Procopio for his candor, his help and his answering machine message—thank you, my talented friend. Paul Gravett of The Guardian (I shamelessly pillaged and personalized his brilliant Toth obit from June of 2006)—my apologies, but thank you, sir. Adrian Johnson for his enthusiasm and encouragement. And last, but most of all, my man Dwight, for supporting me on this 'vanity project'. Thanks, sibling!

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Ep. 74: Animator MARK BEHM on Day Jobs and Nightwork

I first started trading emails with Mark Behm (pronounced like "beam") after seeing his artbook, Nightwork, advertised on the Brandstudio Press website. The excerpts from it were amazing, so I started looking around for an official site on the artist. Lo and behold, there was one—and a blog!

I visited a few times and eventually sent a note, which is how Mark and I became Internet-acquainted. The funny thing was, he mentioned in one of our exchanges that he was already a listener to SiDEBAR, and really enjoyed the show. Needless to say, I was thrown—that doesn't happen often! Sitting in a basement, speaking into a microphone to somebody on the telephone...well. After a while, you start feeling like you're the only one who knows you're doing it!

Anyway, back to our guest. As I said earlier, he's an amazing artist and versatile as all get out. His blog is rife with gorgeous painted images, character designs, 3D stuff and some kick-ass life drawing studies. Mark told us during our talk that he thinks his interests are too diverse, but Dwight and I, of course, love the variety! You get to see something different every time you drop by his site.

Behm recently left his gig at Dreamworks and made the switch to Valve, a video game company out of Washington state. But if you're curious about his past filmwork, he was a part of the creative teams that brought you Madagascar 2, Shrek the Third, Robots and The Ant Bully. In the interview, he pulls back the curtain on Mad 2 and gives us a little peek into the challenges of working on a huge, animation project.

We also chat a good bit about his dad who was an artist as well, growing up loving Star Wars, DrawerGeeks! and how you've gotta make time to do your own stuff—even if it's at night.

Check Mark out at his sketchblog and pick up a copy of Nightwork too!

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Ep. 68: Back for the First Time...RAGNAR!

The title of this interview is a reference to the man's first appearance on the show last year—an episode we lost! The audio crashed, the back-up was never found, it was ugly... But hey, today we've been given a second chance at greatness and greatness we deliver!

Ragnar is not only one of our favorite creators, he's also one of our favorite people. A wonderfully knowledgeable guy, a student of his craft, a committed family man and often seen wearing...what? The colors in his palette! Do tell! Plus, he's just a super nice guy. His response to the aforementioned lost episode was, "No worries, I understand completely" (and just so you know, we were worried as hell).

To us, as long as Steranko and Prince aren't in the room, he's the coolest guy around with one name. We met him in person for the first time at this year's ACE and for the convention, he brought with him a mucho smaller version of his Comic-Con set-up. It was all really quite neat. Books, prints, mugs, chimps, skate decks—again, just neat stuff. He sat in on about three panels that weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed his presence as a guest.

Now, the work. Ragnar's done tons of work in animation, but will tell you himself that a good bit of it, you may never see. His clients over the years have included companies like Warner Bros, Disney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. However, with the nature of animation and the film business in general, projects often start off one way and end up somewhere else by the time they finally come out. And that's especially true for Development, which is the area he's contributed to the most.

What you can see though and plenty of it, are his own creations! Books like Chromaphile, Vernaculis, Kings of the Road and the newly released Symptomatica! All of them fantastic and all get the high SiDEBAR Seal-of-Approval (which means dick, but go buy 'em anyway, they're hot)!

Our conversation with him stays pretty loose since we all sorta know each other, but we do get to some key items. Big City being one, Symptomatica being another, and the latters being his upcoming all-ages book and where he got his name. Beyond that, the rest is just filler—but it's some damn good filler (ha)!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles" in honor of Dwight's timely reference.

Little Cartoons

Symptomatica Blog

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Ep. 56: The Second Coming of ERIC CANETE

There's an old saying about youth being wasted on the young that's so true, it's scary. Just ask artist, Eric Canete, he'll tell you. The reference to rebirth in the title of his interview should give you a clue as to where he's been, and also—where he's going.

Eric got his professional start working in animation when he was just a 17 year old kid, not even out of high school yet. He did "ghost work" for a guy on shows like X-Men and EXO Squad, and eventually got a regular in-house gig on Phantom 2040. When 2040 ended, he got an offer from Peter Chung to come up to San Fransisco and work on a little show called Aeon Flux. You may have heard of it...

While he was fortunate enough to get started young, Canete says his early days were not without their stumbling blocks. The Cliff Notes version of his past could go like this: he worked in animation for a while, left under pretty bad circumstances for his first love—comics, had a good time in comics, but really wasn't prepared for that world either, and finally got back to animation with hopes of rebuilding his reputation. And rebuild it he did!

Since 2002, E's done storyboards, backgrounds and designs for shows like He-Man, Justice League, Teen Titans, The Batman and Legion of Super-Heroes. His full-time day job is with Cartoon Network on the re-launched Ben 10 and he still does the occasional awesome comic book job at night. Check out his Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin series for Marvel with those funky, art deco covers (the hotness!). And after Comic Con, be on the lookout for Eric's upcoming run on The End League for Dark Horse with writer Rick Remender (more hotness!).

This L.A. native's story is an interesting one for a couple of reasons. One, he went back and repaired bridges that he himself burned. Not everyone does that. And two, he's had the support of many a superstar mentor and cheerleader along the way. Names like Peter Chung, Dustin Nguyen, Bruce Timm, Dave Johnson, Mark Chiarello, Skottie Young and Glen Murakami popped up often during the conversation.

In addition to all of the above, Dwight and I also get some insights into Eric's approach to storytelling, the origin behind his blog Discard, and the 4-1-1 on how he started doing those glorious 90 minute sketches of his.

Here's to a cool interview with an even cooler person—thanks, E!

http://kahnehteh.blogspot.com/

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Ep. 45: ACE Audio VI - The Wonder of It All ft. MIKE KUNKEL, ANDY RUNTON and RAGNAR

This is the last of our ACE panel audio and it's entitled, The Wonder of It All, unleashing imagination with a personal touch. It was all about expressing something different by reaching down inside yourself and these three panelists are certainly qualified to speak on that subject.

First up is Mike Kunkel, an artist, writer and animator who's done work for companies like Sony, Disney, Universal and Pixar. Mike also runs his own company, The Astonish Factory, where he produces all ages books like The Land of Sokmunster and his Eisner award-winning Herobear and the Kid. Herobear is the story of a boy named Tyler and his pet polar bear, and the lessons they learn on their journey together.

Kunkel's been a champion of kid-friendly reading for some time now and he's well known for his mantra, "Remember your childhood...and pass it on".

Next in line is Andy Runton. Andy is an Atlanta native and the writer and artist behind his own award- winning creation, Owly. Owly tells the tale of a lonely, yet friendly little owl  who many say could be Runton's alter-ego. Published by Top Shelf, Owly won an Ignatz award in 2006 for Best New Series and an Eisner for Best Publication for a Younger Audience. Double honors and well deserved! 

Andy works full-time on his graphic novels and every year he produces a new chapter in this wonderful little bird's adventures.

Then there's our good friend, artist, writer and character designer, Ragnar. Brandon Ragnar Johnson has an extensive background in animation like Mike and he too has some great all ages books you can find through Baby Tattoo Publishing. Got Your Nose and Izzy's Very Important Job are two special projects he created and dedicated to two of his children (a third is in the works now for his youngest son).

Back in '06, Ragnar wrote and drew a love letter to his time of traveling abroad called Kings of the Road. Celebrating if you will, hobo culture, Kings is a beautifully crafted book for older audiences.

The discussion in this one was pretty open and honest, and offered some real encouragement to creators who may be thinking of telling their story. And like all the other panels at ACE, it was a lotta fun for us to be a part of. Our thanks once again to the guests, attendees and promoters of the Atlanta Comics Expo for putting up with us—we had a blast, you guys!

http://www.theastonishfactory.com/ 

http://www.andyrunton.com/

http://www.littlecartoons.com/

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Ep. 42: ACE Audio V - "If You Want It Done Right..." ft. MIKE KUNKEL

Hey All, welcome back for Part V of our ACE panel audio, this time featuring writer, artist, and storyteller, Mike Kunkel. The title of the panel suggests getting it right by doing it yourself and Mike does that all too well. He's known as the creator of the Eisner award-winning, Herobear and the Kid, but some don't know he's also the publisher for the book too. 

His company, The Astonish Factory, was established in 1999 to serve as an umbrella for all of his projects. No matter what the medium—comics, books, toys, TV or film, Astonish will usher those properties into the marketplace. That way Mike can stay hands on with every aspect of the process and nothing gets lost in translation.

In the panel, Kunkel discusses his beginnings in the creator-owned world and some of the challenges of self-publishing. He also shares his thoughts on juggling business and family, and the joys of creating for yourself.

This was a short one, but there were lots of great questions from the attendees and a wealth of information dropped by Mike, too. And our thanks to him for holding it down all by himself. Two of the other panelists got the convention flu and couldn't be there, so Mike braved it alone. We were well served!

http://www.theastonishfactory.com/

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Ep. 39: ACE Audio II - Character Design ft. SANFORD GREENE, STEPHANIE GLADDEN, RAGNAR and DEREK YANIGER

There's more where this came from! Today, we present another panel recorded in early February at ACE, the Atlanta Comics Expo. This one's called Character Design and it's full of info and insights on the subject from our four great panelists!

First up is Sanford Greene, penciler for DC’s Wonder Girl mini-series and the new Method Man/Wu Tang graphic novel. Sanford's done designs for companies like Sony Animation, Hasbro, SEGA and Nickelodeon, and was a member of the collective known as Artxilla Studios.

Then there's Stephanie Gladden, a wonderful character artist and designer who currently works for Cartoon Network. She's drawn tons of licensed characters like Ren & Stimpy, The Power Puff Girls and The Simpsons, but you may know her as the creator of Hopster's Tracks for Bongo Comics.

Next is Ragnar, a designer and illustrator who's done development work for people like Disney, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. Ragnar's also a writer and he directed a five minute short film for Disney based on one of his own all-ages books, Got Your Nose.

And finally, Derek Yaniger, an artist with a delightfully retro style who's done work for Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network, and event shows like Tiki Oasis and The Wild Weekend. You can also see his art featured in magazines like Atomic Barracuda and Car Kulture Deluxe. 

This was an eclectic blend of backgrounds and perspectives and I (Swain) really appreciate everyone's candor. The discussion includes topics like working on established characters vs. working in development, trying to stay on model, pleasing a client (or not!) and responding to the Bat-Phone. I had a blast moderating this panel, folks and this time I even remembered to introduce everyone (yaay)!

http://www.sanfordgreene.com/

http://www.stephaniegladden.com/

http://www.littlecartoons.com/

http://www.derekart.com/

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Ep. 38: ACE Audio I - Digital Visions ft. RAGNAR, TONY SHASTEEN, BRIAN STELFREEZE and JIM BURNS

Dwight and I attended the Atlanta Comics Expo in February and had the pleasure of moderating some panels for the show. This is the first of several portions of ACE audio we'll be posting over the next week..and it's a good one! We call it Digital Visions and it focused on digital tools, the interface and how today's artists use them.

Our panelists were Ragnar, a California based artist and illustrator with a background in character design and animation. Ragnar has a tremendous following for his beautiful prints and art books, and his work's been featured in the prestigious pages of Spectrum.

Then, there's Tony Shasteen, a talented illustrator with a commercial background, but who many comics fans know from 12 Gauge's, Occult Crimes Task Force. He's had work in Spectrum as well and Tony's a new member of Gaijin Studios.

Next is Brian Stelfreeze, an artist and painter you know from his terrific Shadow of the Bat and Fallen Angel covers for DC Comics. He's the art director for 12 Gauge and a founding member of Gaijin.

And last up is Jim Burns, the creator behind books like Detached and Daemon Process and a comic artist who works completely in the digital realm. Jim does a weekly web and newspaper comic called Grumbles and he also does work for local publisher, Terminus Media.

All the guys were candid, insightful and full of opinions, and the panel was a lot of fun to be a part of. My thanks to ACE for having me and to the panelists for participating.

**This episode features a small snippet of Roger & Zapp's Computer Love 'cause it's all about the digital love, baby. And a shout out to John Burns for supplying the group image!

http://www.littlecartoons.com/

http://www.theillustrator.com/

http://www.gaijinstudios.com/

http://www.jamesburnsdesign.com/comics/index.html

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Ep. 35: Mettle Men - SiDEBAR Talks to SCOTT MORSE

We met an old friend of Scott Morse's recently who called him prolific and we couldn't agree more. Scott is an outstanding artist with a brilliant sense of design and never seems to run out of ideas. He's like the Ryan Adams of the art world--he puts out a half a dozen projects a year all while holding down a full-time job at Pixar. Impressive!

We first became aware of Scott through his one-shot, Batman: Room Full of Strangers and Plastic Man run for DC, then we quickly went nuts. Soulwind, Volcanic Revolver, The Barefoot Serpent, Spaghetti Western, the Elektra mini-series and his recent tome of "fast art", Scrap Mettle are all terrific. In 2008, he offers three new Magic Pickle books, a bio book featuring a certain tiger and another Ancient Book too, this time it's Sex & Science.

Our chat with Morse runs the gamut from his recent trip to Italy, growing up in California and going to CalArts, working in animation and just how he gets it all done. Plus, some family talk, a few tips on dealing with publishers and a little bit about his favorite uncle. We had fun chopping it up with Scott; he's an amazing talent who never stops and he's also a really good guy. Check him out everywhere!

http://scottmorse.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Pickle-Planet-Grapes/dp/0439879965/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203919927&sr=1-18

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Ep. 21: Don't Hate on the Potentate - More with DAVE JOHNSON

We're back with the second half of our conversation with artist and designer, Dave Johnson. In the discussion, we cover Dave's first time meeting the great Jim Steranko, the best San Diego Comic Con of his life and his work for Stan Lee Media and Bruce Timm. Plus, we're blessed with a few minutes of passion from The Potentate himself.

http://www.devilpig.com/

**Part II with Dave features a small portion of Brand New Immortals' Kalifornia in honor of the young man going west—and loving it.

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Ep. 20: DAVE JOHNSON is Armed and Disgruntled

And so it is! We first got acquainted with Dave Johnson back in the early 90's right after he'd broken into comics and joined Gaijin Studios. He was working on Super Patriot at the time, soon moved to Rome, GA (…on purpose!) and then eventually to Los Angeles to work in animation. Since then, he's been on a lot of amazing projects like Batman Beyond, JLA, Ben 10 and Legion of Super Heroes. Plus, he's the only cover artist for the Eisner award winning 100 Bullets series for Vertigo. As a creator and an artist, Dave's a super talented guy, but he's also a funny guy with an irreverent sense of humor...so, umm...be warned.

http://www.devilpig.com/

**This is Part I with Dave and it features a snippet of Van Halen's Running with the Devil 'cause the devil really did go down to Georgia.

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Ep. 15: The Retro Guy - A Chat with SHANE GLINES

It's always fun to talk to an artist's artist and that's what Shane Glines is. Ask any of his peers and they'll rave about the terrific work he did with Bruce Timm at Warner Bros. and what an amazing gift he has. Sexy cartoon girls, crazy villains, stylish layouts, sexy cartoon girls...sorry, I'm being redundant. Anyway, we reached out to Shane through his labor of love, Cartoon Retro, a site he started three years ago to showcase and preserve, if you will, the artists and animation of a gone era. In our talk, we get into Shane's first animation gig at Spumco, the clubhouse spirit shared by the creators on the Batman, Superman and JLA TV shows, UFO and a little bit of mind over what matters. It was great chatting with him and we hope to do it again real soon...thanks, Shane!

www.cartoonretro.com/
www.lulu.com/content/298507

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