SiDEBAR - COMICS, ART & POP CULTURE

Podcast Episode 173 :: HOWARD CHAYKIN Revealed

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Howard V. Chaykin.

Comic book writer/artist. Illustrator. TV writer/producer. And eternal digressionist. OK, I made that last one up, but it aptly applies. He’s quite the talker.

I’ve been a fan of Chaykin’s ever since I was a teenager. I met him in person briefly at a comic book convention here in Atlanta back in the 1980s. He was there with his then-wife, and it was during the apex of American Flagg! fever. I didn’t really talk to him. I just sort of stood back and watched him interact with fans. He was gregarious, very professional, and very direct. The exact impression of him I had gotten from his print interviews.

Before that con, I had just started following his work after having read several of his graphic novels: The Stars My Destination, Empire, The Swords of Heaven, The Flowers of Hell. All of them were full color, mixed media, and very sophisticated stuff. Some of the first works of their kind here in America.

I proceeded to pick up loads of his comics later on (though I wasn’t a Star Wars guy, per se). I did, however, become a complete fiend for Flagg!, The Shadow, Blackhawk, and so on.

Going back to Howard’s interviews for a minute — as a kid — I'm pretty sure I read them all. At that particular time in my youth, I found him to be a fascinating figure in comics. And not just because of the material he was working on. As a person, he seemed to be well read, had an acerbic wit, and was opinionated as all get out (I related strongly to that last one).

Plus, from where I sat, Chaykin came off like an adult. Once he stepped up as writer and artist on his stuff, it became glaringly apparent that he wasn't guided by a 14 year-old's idea of heroism and benevolence. His work was layered with themes like politics, sex, death, betrayal, and guilt. And usually at the center of it all, was a protagonist with questionable motives and feet of clay (just like in real life). This was completely diametric to my pals and I who, back then, well — we were still very much into punching and saving the day!

The other thing about his interviews that intrigued me were these little tidbits he would drop. Things about himself, his background and his profession that he never really expounded upon much until recently. Chaykin has always been a good soldier when it comes to promoting projects (an aspect of his professionalism that I’m sure his publishers adore). Yet I’m quite certain his comments in print have gotten him as much buzz as the work he creates.

And that’s why we chose to call this interview Revealed. The goal wasn’t to be sensational or provocative — in fact, not at all. We genuinely love Howard’s stuff, but were curious if the perception that many fans may have of him is at all accurate or justified. And frankly, he surprised us.

After nearly four decades in the business, you won't find a smarter writer or more graphic designer of the comic page than Howard Chaykin. However, the meat of our discussion with him today reveals more about his background, the person he is, and more importantly, the professional that he is. I, myself, find those things almost as interesting as the stories he tells. And I hope you do too.

- SWAiN

Podcast Episode 164: Dragon*Con Panel featuring MIKE GRELL

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American Flagg, The Rocketeer, Jon Sable Freelance. Those were just a few of the titles I cut my teeth on as a young comics reader. Amongst many others, they were indicative of the new wave of American comic books in the early 1980s. There was a palpable excitement in the air as scores of great books hit the shelves.

New things were also going down behind the scenes. Royalties and incentives were finally being paid for the first time ever. Independent publishers began wooing seasoned creators away from the Big Two with opportunities to tell the types of stories they'd always wanted to tell. And one of those creators was Mike Grell. 

I actually found Mike (or maybe he found me) in the mid '70s on The Warlord at DC Comics. Warlord was a Verne-esque tale about a modern-day Air Force pilot "lost in a lost world". I was also quite fond of Mike's work on Legion of Super-Heroes from a few years earlier. Super-powered teens in the 30th century? What was not to like?!

Later, I was floored to find out those Legion stories had been written by a then-teenage Jim Shooter (he started writing them when he was twelve). To paraphrase Mike from today's panel audio, Legion of Super-Heroes was a book aimed at young readers that was being written by (at the time) a very young reader.

After Warlord and Legion, I pretty much checked out everything the guy did — the aforementioned Jon Sable, Starslayer, Green Arrow - The Longbow Hunters and even some of his rare Marvel work.

Moving forward, our hometown convention, Dragon*Con, brought Mike to Atlanta this year as a special guest. I had the pleasure of moderating a panel with him. Grell was funny and in great spirits, and the crowd was full of enthusiastic fans.

All of the above was covered in the sit-down, but we also got an ear full on the writer-artist's background, how he broke into the business, and the scoop on his latest project, The Pilgrim (with writer, Mark Ryan). Good times.

Thanks to Mike for his candor and humor, thanks to the crowd for being all kinds of awesome, and thanks to the promoters of Dragon*Con for having me as a moderator.

- SWAiN

**The picture of Grell above was borrowed from maggiethompson.com. Thank you, Maggie.

Podcast Episode 159: Tying Up "Loose Ends" with JASON LATOUR

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Lately, I've become a huge fan of crime fiction in comics. I'm lovin' me some Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and Scalped by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guerra. And it looks like Loose Ends, the new 4-issue limited series from 12 Gauge Comics, is on its way to joining those gully ranks.

Written by Jason Latour, and illustrated by artist Chris Brunner and colorist Rico Renzi (aka the Kickstand Kids), Loose Ends delivers big time. So, why not have the writer and co-creator of the book on to chat about career and his new project, right?

Though coming into his own as a writer, you'll probably know Jason best as an artist whose star is fast on the rise. His partial resume is listed below with more to come, but by all means, please pick up Loose Ends #1 (out right now). It's Southern-fried crime noir, but it's served up scattered, smothered and covered — just the way we like it!

Chris and Rico, Latour's collaborators, are doing some of the best work of their careers on the art and Jason's dialogue in the script is dead on.

As alluded to above, the story takes place in the Dirty South with specific mentions of some Atlanta landmarks. And since the entire SiDEBAR crew lives in the metro Atlanta area, we've figuratively met these characters before and literally been to several of these places (... no, we weren't slangin' in "the trap").

In the interview, we get some background on Jason's upbringing, how he broke into comics, how he almost broke out (ha), and how Noche Roja, an OGN from Vertigo's recently departed "Crime Noir" line, turned it all around for him.

Hats off to JLa and the Kickstand Kids for putting it down with their first creator-owned book. A lot of people in comics talk about doing one, and while Ends was a long time coming, they did it.

Nuff respect, fellas.

- SWAiN

Jason's partial resume: Battle Pope, The Expatriate, Pop Gun, Daredevil B&W, Wolverine, Noche Roja, Captain America and Loose Ends.

 

  

I've loved this classic Spidey image that Jason did from day one!

 

Podcast Episode 147: JAIME HERNANDEZ

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I had the good fortune of meeting Jaime Hernandez at my first comic convention, HeroesCon, in June 2006. He and his brothers, Gilbert and Mario, were at the same table and I was awestruck. I'm pretty sure I came across as a big goof, stammering something about, "You're awesome..." and loving their work as they signed my books.

Cut forward to almost five years later and I have the good fortune of speaking with Jaime again, albeit in a more composed manner. Barely.

The guys and I chatted with him from his home in Southern California about all things Love and Rockets and beyond. We touched upon his childhood love of comics, early influences from cartoonists such as his older brothers, Alex Toth and Bob Bolling of the classic Lil Archie series, his love of dialogue, the spirit of 'Do-It-Yourself' in comics, the recent art book 'The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death' by Todd Hignite and much more.

I am wont to say that Jaime is probably one of comics' greatest open secrets. Universally acknowledged as a godfather of alternative comics (in my eyes), it is surprising that many people have never given Love & Rockets a try.

With the entirety of Jaime's work in print by Fantagraphics Press and the aforementioned art book, there has never been a better time to discover his work. You'll come for the superb draftsmanship and nuance of his art, but you'll be come back for the mature storytelling with Maggie, Hopey, Ray, Vivian the Frogmouth and the rest of the gang                                                                 of Hoppers.

- ADRiAN

**Click here for a scan of the signature and free Maggie sketch by Jaime in my copy of the 'Ghost of Hoppers' hardcover from HeroesCon 2006

Podcast Episode 143: An Interview with KLAUS JANSON - The Inker Without Fear

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Okay, that isn't just a play on words from Klaus' days working on Daredevil (who is the real man without fear, by the way). It's a heartfelt statement from us about what he brings to the game as an inker and a finisher.

Over his 30 year career, he's embellished a plethora of pencilers and always brings out the best in them. From Sal Buscema to Gil Kane to Frank Miller to John Romita, Jr, Klaus Janson continues to rise to the challenge and make it all good.

Since his start in the comic book business back in the '70s, Klaus has worked on literally thousands of pages of comic art. He's either drawn or inked nearly every character in both the Marvel and DC universes—and is still going strong.

In 2008, along with writer Mark Millar and penciler Romita Jr, he helped launch the very successful Kick-Ass mini-series through Marvel's Icon imprint. And between Kick-Ass, Spider-man, Punisher War Zone and now, Avengers, many Marvel editors consider Klaus to be the JRJR inker.

We spoke to Janson for the first time on this very podcast about a year ago when he generously agreed to take part in an Alex Toth tribute we were doing (he himself being a big fan of Toth). I hit him up then about coming back on for his own proper interview, and with schedules slowing down for the holidays, we thought now was a perfect time (Christmas with Klaus).

One of the things that makes him such an interesting guy to talk to, other than his staying power, is his versatility. He's best known as an inker, of course, but he's also a penciler (most inkers are), a colorist and an occasional comic book writer.

And in recent years, he's added a few more notches to his belt—author and teacher! He's written two books on creating comics—2001's The DC Comics Guide to Penciling Comics and 2003's The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics. Both great reads and both great resources for budding artists.

And to his teaching at SVA (The School of Visual Arts) in New York City, Klaus says it's been one of the real highpoints of his career (as fate would have it, he himself is a self-taught artist).

Stan Lee said, "With great power comes great responsibility". Klaus, with his drawing and inking, has already shown 30 plus years of great power. By sharing his knowledge and experience of this medium with young minds, he's now showing his responsibility, too. And he's to be applauded for that.

- SWAIN

Podcast Ep. 116: WebComic Creator JAY POTTS and His 'World of Hurt'

Dwight and I met Jay Potts at this year's Heroes Con and knew we would one day chat with him. Well, one day is today, folks. Jay writes and draws a strip called World of Hurt and it's the Internet's #1 Blaxploitation WebComic.

For those who're either too young to remember or from outside the States, blaxploitation is a colloquialism that describes a certain period in American filmmaking during the '70s. It was the first time ever that black actors were cast as the leads in "mainstream" action, adventure, crime and horror movies.

Some were good and some were bad** like anything else, but overall, this era is celebrated for its spirit, dynamic characters and powerful realism.

We spoke to Jay from a secret location in Columbia, SC and talked about his background, his goals and intentions with World of Hurt, merging blaxploitation film sensibilities with a weekly comicstrip and we end things with some movie and TV talk.

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**The use of the word bad in this blog entry is not meant to denote bad meaning good, but bad meaning baaad (ha)!

Also, we played several snippets of music on this epsiode. In order, they are: Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye, Superfly by Curtis Mayfield, The theme from Shaft by Isaac Hayes, Freddie's Dead again by Curtis and The theme from The Equalizer composed by Stewart Copeland.

 

Ep. 114: Spinning the Chamber with STUDIO REVOLVER

"Man...who are these guys?" Glad you asked that question, 'Nation. We'll tell ya.

Studio Revolver is a diverse collective of artists and creative types who share studio space here in Atlanta. We've known most of them, some in passing, some more personally, for forever. They're all good people, very talented and very focused on combining their individual strengths to make the whole stronger.

Other than talent, one of the things that makes Revolver unique is how many members there are. They're nine deep, folks—nine. That's a baseball team! They can kick the asses of any other studio you know just based on numbers (kidding—JOKES).

Seriously, we were destined to chat with them at some point, and now seemed like as good a time as any for us to do it. Plus, they just moved into their spacious new spot about a year ago.

The studio roll call is as follows: Casey Edwards (artist and graphic designer), John Tyler Christopher (artist and graphic designer), Tariq Hassan (artist and graphic designer), Tom Feister (artist and inker), Kevin Stokes (artist and inker), Jason Pearson (writer and artist), Georges Jeanty (artist and illustrator), Dexter Vines (artist and inker) and Bernard "Shay" Shepard (graphic designer and inker).

In the interview, they all kinda give a brief mention as to what they do and what they've done that you might know.

**Note to listeners: Studio Revolver didn't start out as a complete Sausage Party. We know there's been at least one female member (we met her). However, this industry tends to be full of dudes, so whatareyagonnado?

We caught up with the fellas late one Friday night at their lair, which is located right in the heart of downtown Atlanta. And yes, hilarity did ensue.

Dwight and I have to thank 'em for letting us bring our new fangled set-up into their space. It was a lotta fun and we had a great time as always. Thanks, guys!

**For this episode, how could we not play snippets of Revolver by Rage Against the Machine? I mean, c'mon?

In the pic above are just a few of the guys. Left to right, top to bottom: Kevin, Dexter, Jason, Casey, Tom and Georges.

Go here for their personal websites: John Tyler Christopher, Casey Edwards, Tom Feister, Tariq Hassan, Georges Jeanty, Kevin Stokes and Dexter Vines.

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Ep. 106: Surrogates Creator ROBERT VENDITTI Comes to SiDEBAR

Once again, my man Dwight brings something cool to the show. Nothing new, right?

About six months back, he stumbled across a soon-to-be-released movie called Surrogates and got intrigued. It was an action-thriller set in the future that dealt with robots and murder, so it was an easy sell (we're both big sci-fi heads).

After snooping a bit, he found out the film was based on a limited series comic that Top Shelf had put out in 2006. He also found out the writer of the series, Robert Venditti, was living right here in Atlanta.

Dwight shot me a link to the trailer—I kinda dug it. We both scooped up the trade, LOVED IT, and that began the hunt for Robert.

After some bush beating and a helping hand (thanks, Barron), we eventually found him and carved out a date to chat.

Our interview with Rob covers how he broke into the business working in the mailroom at Top Shelf, writing the comic and linking up with artist Brett Weldele and the wily beast that is Hollywood.

We also discuss how the idea for the story developed, the new sequel Flesh & Bone and some upcoming projects he's got simmering on the stove.

As to the film, Surrogates opens nationwide on Friday, September 25th. It stars Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames and Rosamund Pike with direction by Jonathan Mostow.

We wish Venditti, the movie and everyone involved the best with this project. The Surrogates explores some pretty provocative ideas way beyond the science fiction elements on the surface. We can't wait to see what they do with 'em on the big screen.

Rob's blog

**For this episode, we went classic. We played a snippet of Styx's Mr. Roboto!

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Ep. 100: GEORGE PRATT and the Mississippi Blues

'See You in Hell, George Pratt' was our other choice for a title, but we thought better of it!

This is Part II with the man and we start it off with some process stuff for Wolverine Netsuke and Batman Harvest Breed, then move right into his work with Illustration Academy at Ringling.

We were told by our friend, Francis Vallejo, to ask George about some of the practical jokes he's pulled at IA in the past—and we did (oh boy).

The end of this episode, however, is no joke. Pratt takes us on a wild ride with him through the Mississippi Delta as he regales us with stories from his documentary and book about the Blues. 'See You in Hell, Blind Boy - A Tale of the Blues' is not just an award-winning film. It started out as a book he was working on and folks...it's the real deal.

Hearing him describe his journey to find out about great Blues men like Jack Owens and Mississippi John Hurt will blow your mind. It really is a testament to how wonderful a storyteller he is. If Dwight and I sound a little shell-shocked at the end, it's 'cause we were. We had no idea that, we too, were going on a journey.

Our thanks to George for hanging out with us so long. D and I asked a lot of questions and he was very giving of his time. He was a real sweetheart.

**For this episode, we played snippets of the following songs: Robert Johnson's Crossroad Blues and Jack Owens' Good Morning Little School Girl.

Oh, and happy 100th episode to us!

George's Site

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Ep. 99: I Remember GEORGE PRATT

Hey all, Swain here. I met George Pratt many moon ago at a Dragon Con here in Atlanta. Probably '94 or '95.

I was a huge fan of the guy and he was in attendance at the show with several other awesome painters. It was him, Jeff Jones, Mike Kaluta, Kent Williams and I think, Jon J. Muth (I know, I know).

George was doing these cool b&w commissions with this marker pen back in those days (lots of Batman, as I recall). After he'd finish the basic idea, he would dab his finger on his tongue and smear the drawing in places to get that terrific effect he gets. It was all that!

I walked up to his table, babbled on for a minute or two about Impressionism and Expressionism (they're the same thing, right?), and he just politely smiled and listened. He was very kind to me.

(Oh, and it's not like it would go any better if I saw him at a convention today—I'm just 13 years older.)

As a younger man, seeing George's brilliant work on Enemy Ace: War Idyll and Wolverine Netsuke, made me wanna pick up a brush and paint . And I did. I never got very good at it, mind you, but he inspired me.

And I guess he's still inspiring others today. He's been teaching art, off and on, for the last 15 years at schools like The Pratt Institute (where he studied), The Kubert School, The School of Visual Arts, and now at Ringling in Sarasota (lucky kids those Floridians).

To have him come on SiDEBAR with Dwight and I is pretty special stuff. His art has always spoken to me beyond just my interest in comics. It provokes me. It illuminates me. It makes me think. That, to me, is art's purpose.

To be honest, his killer covers for Marvel Comics Presents and Detective Comics from years ago—all made me wanna find out more about fine art. From his work, I probably bumped into Gustav Klimt and Munch. Go figger.

This is only Part I with George, but it's full of goodness. The man is a storyteller. He tells us about his background growing up in Texas, about meeting and hanging out with one of his idols, Mike Kaluta, working on his first big graphic novel, Enemy Ace, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

He's a friend of a friend (thank you, Francis), and I have to say it brought me full circle to babble on with him again for this here podcast. I guess not much has changed in 13 years, huh?

George's Site

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Ep. 94: 'Keep Saying AH!' - More with Us and ADAM HUGHES

This is Part II of our interview with Adam and he's still crackin' us up! We were rolling! But in between the laughs, he still dropped lots of gold nuggets as far as art and illustration go.

For those who're unfamiliar with his work (all two of you), this is an excellent opportunity to hear from an artist's artist. A guy who's admirers include, not only comic fans and art collectors, but his peers as well.

We start this second half off discussing his killer line of comicquettes for Sideshow Collectibles, then ease into some Star Wars talk. Adam is a huge fan of the franchise and so is Dwight. I must confess to being slightly anemic on the subject, so I kept my mouth shut!

Anyway, those two mix it up like Luke and Vadar in Empire, only no one loses an arm (ha!).

After that, we get into topics like commissions and eBay flipping, Hughes' recent work for Playboy Magazine, and of course, the infamous 'All-Star' question.

Adam was the best and we thank him much for hanging out with us. He, like many of our other guests, was awesome to put up with me and Dwight's shenanigans!

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Ep. 93: 'Just Say AH!' - SiDEBAR Interviews ADAM HUGHES

There are guys who can draw and then there are guys who can DRAW. And after those guys, there are these other guys who can DRAW women—damn well, I might add! That's Adam Hughes.

Adam falls in a long line of illustrators who create exceptionally beautiful images of the fairer sex—Gil Elvgren, George Petty, Vargas, Dave Stevens. And we put him right up there with all those folks! The grace and expression he's able to capture in the female form is masterful. Not many artists see it...the way he sees it.

Dwight and I have known Adam in passing pretty much since he moved to Atlanta from New Jersey. He was one of the early members of a local art collective, Gaijin Studios and I believe, that's where I first met him.

I was visiting Gaijin (The Honeycomb Hideout) with a buddy back in 1994 and wandered into his space as if invited in.

"Hey, who's that?"

"Umm, Power Girl."

"Wow, you draw pretty good, man!"

"Umm...thanks."

**curious look on his face**

Later, after my 'genius' moment, I went out and bought his runs on Maze Agency, JLA, Legionaires and a pant load of covers (sorry about the visual).

Dwight says his conversion took place upon seeing Hughes' short, but sweet stint on Dark Horse's Ghost series.

About ten years ago, Adam stopped doing sequentials and became a cover artist exclusively. This wasn't by choice. Many of his clients began to only comission him for cover work. We, like the rest of his fans, started feenin' for more gorgeous interiors, but happily made due with his many Wonder Woman, Catwoman and Tomb Raider pieces.

Now, one of the things that makes today's interview so special is, it's Part I of a II-Parter. We had a long, fruitful conversation with the man and lots of cool stuff came out of it, so we decided to break it in half.

The other thing is—he had us in stitches! Adam has a serious wit and he's quick with it, too! I'm sure many of his fans don't get to see that side of him, so brace yourselves. We had a blast hanging out with the guy and we hope you enjoy listening in!

Just Say AH!

**Many thanks to Ms. Allison Sohn for her help in facilitating Adam's appearance on SiDEBAR. It was invaluable.

And for this episode, we played snippets of The Tubes' She's a Beauty. Hey, the three of us are '80s kids—what did you expect?!

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Ep. 90: 'The Man Behind the Iron Mask' - An Interview with the One and Only BOB LAYTON

This one's sorta NSFW, kids, so don't play yourself at the Joe Job.

We talked to Bob about coming on the show when we ran into him at the NYCC and had no idea how uncensored it would get. Not that he's all about the filthy language or anything (notice I said all). But colorful adjectives aside, he was very candid and very, very open about his life and career. The guy laid it out there.

Backing things up a bit, our connection to the man, of course, goes back to his stellar runs on Iron Man in the '80s with writer David Michelinie. I read those books as a 17 year old kid and loved 'em! Iron Man had everything I wanted in a comic—over the top fight scenes, cool characters, fun stories, drama! It was just the best!

Later on, I ended up checking out his Hercules mini-series and a few of the titles he worked on over at Valiant Comics. And I must admit to being a little less familiar with the Valiant stuff, as my fascination with girls at the time began to emerge (boo-yow).

After Stan Lee, Layton's name is probably the next one that comes up if you're talking about Iron Man. He and David's contributions to the character are indelible, and their "Demon in a Bottle" storyline truly broke new ground during the Bronze Age.

We get into all that in the interview with him and thankfully, a few more goodies too! Like his early days in Indianapolis, being an apprentice to the late Wally Wood, how he and Michelinie got the job working on Iron Man, and his persona back then as a flashy dresser (dude, looked like a straight pimp!).

He also shares a few fond memories from his Valiant days, describes his departure and return to comics, and tells us about all the stuff he's got comin' up.

This one was a hoot and indeed uncensored, but in Bob's own words, "I've always tried desperately to keep one foot in the real world."

We agree—that's the way to do it!

Bob's Site

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Ep. 76: Showing Our Xenozoic Age... More with Us and MARK SCHULTZ

Welcome back for Part II with writer and illustrator Mark Schultz—the man from PA!

This time Mark, Dwight and I are joined in the interview by our friend and forum member, Atomic 99...sort of. We posted a note on the SiDEBAR msg board about Mark's upcoming appearance, and 99 dropped a bunch of hot questions for him. So today, in spirit, he holds down the forth mic!

Topics covered in this second half are: black & white vs. color, writing prose for Flash: Stop Motion, rewriting scripts for Lucasfilm, art agents or the lack thereof, web presence (...or the lack thereof), "Hey guys, I can't hear you anymore!", Storms at Sea, Various Drawings #4 and small towns in rural Pennsylvania.

There's more than that in this here podcast, but you'll have to tune in to hear it!

Our sincerest thanks to Mark for chatting with us so long and being so gracious. Also, it would behoove you to pick up Storms and VD #4 when they come out—Mr. Schultz NEVER disappoints!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Jamie Cullum's All at Sea, and for two reasons: in honor of Mark's new project and us still being all over the place!

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Ep. 75: SiDEBAR Talks to MARK SCHULTZ (and it's an exploration of subject matter not commonly "heard")

The tagline for this episode isn't just a bunch of innocent hyperbole. We started off with some very creator-appropriate questions for our interview with writer and artist Mark Schultz—and ended up throwing 'em out the window! Once we got on the phone with him, the three of us connected, the "Conversation Muse" took over, and let's just say we happily followed its lead!

Don't get us wrong, there's tons of insight in there about the man. His opinions on music, art, comics, storytelling, capitolism, life—they're all present. We just didn't take the road most traveled to get to them. Call it, the scenic route—how 'bout that?

In all seriousness, Mark does confirm much of what you've probably heard about him. He's a brilliant and astute creator, talented beyond belief, a gentleman, and a genuinely fun guy to chat with. We ended up keeping things very informal and down-to-earth, and that we think, makes it all the more revealing.

Two of Mr. Schultz's current projects did however get official coverage in the upcoming Part II. The first being his soon-to-be released illustrated novella, Storms at Sea. The second, another Various Drawings book. This one will be number four in the series (yes!) and both will be pubbed by his longtime publisher and friend, John Fleskes.

Below is an image from Storms and at a glance, it looks a little like Key Largo, with a healthy dose of sci-fi thrown in for good measure. Not sure if that's what it is, but either way, we wait impatently for it.

**As implied above, this is only Part I with Mark, so look for Part II in a few days.

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Ep. 65: Infinity and Beyond - A Chat with JIM STARLIN

If you've never seen The Death of Captain Marvel, go get a copy. If you've never read an Adam Warlock story, go read one. And if you've never heard of Vanth Dreadstar...well, you're about to!

All three are great and all are the handiwork of one Jim Starlin, a writer and artist who's career goes back 30 plus years and is still going strong. Jim's been called the guy who put the space in space opera and with good reason—he does it and does it very well, thank you (see: Rann-Thanagar Holy War from DC)!

Starlin came into popularity back in the '70s while drawing Captain Marvel for Marvel Comics. He ended up writing the book as well, including Mar-vel's eventual death in 1982. Also to his credit, he redefined a rather vague Lee/Kirby charcater named Warlock (formally "Him"), created Vanth Dreadstar and the Metamorphosis Odyssey for Epic and explained to the world how the hell Nick Fury stays so young looking after all these years!

If you go to Jim's Wikipedia page , it also mentions things like Batman A Death in the Family which featured the demise of the second Robin, Death of the New Gods, all the Infinity books and tons more.

Dwight and I have always loved his work and consider Starlin to be one of the preeminent writer/artists of his generation. During the '80s, he and guys like Howard Chaykin, Mike Grell and Matt Wagner rocked at both disciplines and it made for some fun and smart comics.

In our conversation, we get into as many nooks and crannies as time will allow. We cover how he keeps things fresh after all these years, his work on Warlock and the creation of Thanos, his opinions on comics as an industry and a medium, and some funny stories about Dreadstar and Shang-Chi.

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Steve Miller's The Joker because Jim too speaks of the "Pompatus of love!"

http://www.starlin.com/

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Ep. 55: Act II - The MATT WAGNER Mystery Theatre...Continues!

Greetings, mystery lovers, and welcome back for Act II with writer and artist, Matt Wagner!

As the curtain goes up, we find our hero, Matt, still in a perilous stand-off with The Diabolical Siblings! Watch and listen, as he's coerced into confessing his love of pulp and traditional flavor, his lack of love for too much continuity and a few secrets from his Sandman Mystery Theatre days.

"Herr Wagner, vee haff vays off makink you taaalk!"

He also lays out for the villianous duo the tale of Comico's demise and how it ended up affecting his ownership of Grendel. Plus a funny, but touching story about collaborating with one of his heroes—the late, great Harvey Kurtzman.

OK, that was cheesy enough, but all in good fun. Many thanks to Matt for coming on with us today and being such a cool guest!

Take a bow, Matt!

** A slight correction: the quote about writers and continuity in this episode came from Marv Wolfman, not Chris Claremont. Sorry, guys!

http://www.mattwagnercomics.com/

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Ep. 54: MATT WAGNER on Magic, Masked Men and Madame Xanadu

We've had a lot of guests on this show over these last 18 months and they've all been pretty great. Every once in a while though, it's a real treat for us to chat with one who has undeniable gravitas. With a career spanning over 25 years in the comics biz, Matt Wagner joined us on the esteemed SiDEBAR microphones and brought just that!

Where do you really start with a guy like Matt? Mage, Grendel, Batman, The Demon, Sandman Mystery Theatre—it's all good. Let's just say we jumped in at the deep end with the guy and did our best to keep heads above water.

He's the quintessential writer and artist in our opinion, from the very beginning, establishing himself with creator-owned projects (he's not new to this, boys and girls). His start with Comico is well chronicled, so we won't go into it here. His present and his past work with DC are also equally well known. Currently, he has two irons in the fire—Zorro for Dynamite Comics, in stores now, and Vertigo's upcoming Madame Xanadu, due out June 25th. Plus, he's in the midst of a Grendel run for Dark Horse, that started late last year to commemorate the character's own 25th anniversary (damn Matt, slow down!).

As mentioned above, Wagner is a man of many talents and he rocks at all of 'em. As a writer, it's terrific seeing him collaborate with great artists like Francesco Francavilla on Zorro and Amy Hadley on Madame Xanadu. As both the artist and writer, it's even more exciting watching him get back to Grendel and Hunter Rose after a 10 year hiatus from the series.

We had a great time talking with Matt and he was nice enough to put up with our nonsense. Do yourselves a favor and check out his many projects wherever you can find 'em—they really are all good. And look for his appearance at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, June 20-22. The Con has a terrific guest list this year and by far, he's one of their heavy hitters!

**This is only Part I with Matt and for it, we played a snippet of Santana's incendiary Black Magic Woman. In honor of Matt's new...umm, madame.

http://www.mattwagnercomics.com/

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 52: Still in the Clutches of the Blast Tyrant - More with SKOTTIE YOUNG

We're back and this is Part II with our buddy, comic artist, Skottie Young. Still awesome, still unrestrained and still all over the place, this conversation was a blast (...sorry)! We hope you all have as much fun listening in as we did running our mouths—enjoy!

** For Part II with Skottie, we played a snippet of David Ryan Harris' Change, because it is good for you.

http://skottieyoung.blogspot.com/

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 51: Brothers Gonna Work It Out - SKOTTIE YOUNG Finally Comes to SiDEBAR

Let me start by saying Dwight and I have friends, we have buddies and we have acquaintances in this here industry. But there are some people who, over the last year, have become much more like family to us. Mr. Skottie Young is one of them.

And he's not just family, we're also big fans of the guy's work too. He's an incredible artist with an edgy and raw style, and he wraps it up nicely in this great design sense. Allow me to steal a quote about him that I read on-line once. The blogger said "Skottie's work, like that of Katie Cook's, impresses me because of the obvious fun that he has while drawing. It's in everything he does". I tend to agree. I don't get the feeling he labors over his artwork like so much "render porn", but instead, tries to have a good time with it. Go look at his run on New X-Men or any of his covers—you'll see it.

And quite honestly, I thought dude's covers were crazy good before I even knew who he was. Being a fan of other podcasts, when he joined my beloved Around Comics as a regular, I was like "Who the..?" Then I checked out his site and was like "Oh." Then when I saw he was responsible for the Cable & Deadpool covers I'd been secretly digging, I was like "Oh, damn!"

We met Skottie exactly a year ago at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC. We gave him a business card on a humbug, told him how much we liked AC and asked him to check out our podcast. He was polite and gracious enough, and that was that. After the Con, I emailed him and asked him again to listen in when he had time—he finally did. Since then, he's sent us a dozen or so very nice notes about our show, telling us how much he likes it and offering his help in any way. There's usually cursing involved too, but we got used to that...

Oh yeah, and he told everybody he knew to check us out! We got more emails and comments than a little bit from people who said Skottie Young told them about SiDEBAR. And that crossed the line for Dwight and I. We couldn't go back to just friends or acquaintances or even fellow podcasters with the guy at that point. For us, it's been family and brothers ever since—and that's the way we'll keep it.

**This is only Part I with Skottie 2 Hottie, and for it, we played a snippet of Public Enemy's Brothers Gonna Work It Out.

http://skottieyoung.blogspot.com/

Click here to download the show.

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/

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 41: ACE Audio IV - World Wide Web Comics ft. GINA BIGGS and GREG CARTER

The World Wide Web has become an integral part of our daily lives. In many ways, it challenges the standards of what art and commerce were and forces us all to recognize the profound effect of what is and what's coming. A shift is occurring where the creative playing field is being leveled and everyone must log on to be a player or get left behind.

Gina Biggs of the Strawberry Comics line and Greg Carter of UpDown Studios have taken up the challenge of web comics and understand the rules of surviving and thriving in this new frontier. They both attended the Atlanta Comics Expo in February and I (Dwight) had the pleasure of moderating a panel with them on this very subject.

Gina spoke to us about her successful endeavors with the all-female comics group, Strawberry Comics. Her current works include Erstwhile, an adaptation of "hidden gems" from the writings of The Brothers Grimm and Red String, a coming-of-age story about a teenager named Mirahu Ogawa.

Greg discussed his own UpDown Studios, an on-line collective of creators and artists who work in different media types and formats. UpDown's members not only represent comics, but photography, painting and fine arts. The studio also serves as a publishing imprint for the group on titles like Abandon: Borrowed Tale and Tombstone Sword Slinger.

In the panel, both these trailblazers cover much about their own projects and their growing industry. Included are some of the ins and outs on promoting and marketing, how to keep expenses down, effective site designs and some costly mistakes new web creators can avoid.

http://www.strawberrycomics.com/

http://www.updownstudio.com/

Click here to download the show.