We’re back from a week off with our first of two ghastly Halloween episodes! This week, we welcome the writer of Dear Dracula and Masks and Mobsters, Josh Williamson! He’ll talk with us about the process of making Dear Dracula into a Cartoon Network special, vampires gaolore, where the idea for Masks and Mobsters originated and, of course, the creation of the Craftsman Technician! Plus, Chris’ full New York Comic-Con report!
This week we welcome the writer of The Manhattan Projects and soon-to-be-writer of Avengers, Jonathan Hickman to the show! We talk with him at length about the euphoric experience that was MorrisonCon, and just a little bit about Avengers and just how many times a month that book is going to be hitting shelves. Plus, we insult a child!
Our pal and the co-host of the Comics Alternative podcast, Dr. Andrew Kunka is our guest this week! We’ll talk about his research into racism in comics, what he considers alternative comics, what comic is worse than Justice League, what he’d like to do with a Blackhawks title, and much more! Plus, Matt and Chris both celebrate big life events!
While Matt’s off gettin’ hitched, we’re queuing up this special bronus episode where we answer your listener questions! Hear our definitions of “high concept,” about our favorite and least favorite runs of Avengers/JLA/Legion, a meandering response about power pop, and much more! Plus, background noise! (Deal with it.)
The Rundown
Music used: The Nerves, “Letter to G”
Shameless Self Promotion
You can get Matt’s book, The Supervillain Handbook, here!
This week, we’re welcoming ComicsAlliance Editor-in-chief Joe Hughes to the show! We’ll talk with him about how he went from being a comics fan to a comic shop employee to a DC assistant editor to editor of a comics news site! Plus, we’ll hear about what he has in store for Chris in the near future, the time he met Mark Hamill, just what an assistant editor does, and much more! And since we won’t be doing full shows the next couple weeks, we’re super-sized!
The writer of Valiant’s new Archer and Armstrong series, Fred Van Lente, joins us for this weeks show! We talk to him about the response he’s gotten to his politically charged comic, how he likes his reputation as a history comics guy, how Armstrong is kind of like Marvel’s Hercules (and Archer is nothing like Amadeus Cho), what other Valiant titles his book might cross over with, and much more! Plus, a particularly lyrical reading from the pages of Thrasher magazine!
Bill Willingham, the writer of Fables and its associated spinoff titles, formerly of Shadowpact, Robin and JSA, and soon to be of a new MonkeyBrain Comics title, joins us this week! Hear all about the new Fabletown and Beyond Convention in Minnesota next March, just what exactly happened with Stephanie Brown, his favorite classic movies and much more! Plus, a report from Chris about his trip to Summerslam!
The cartoonist behind the new Friends With Boys, Zombies Calling and Demonology 101, Faith Erin Hicks, is our guest this week! We’ll talk to her about the differences between Web and print comics, winning over people suffering from zombie overkill, what adding a ghost to a story is all about, Scooby-Doo, whether volleyball is more popular in Canada, and much more! Plus, Matt tells a story about when he was a bad comic shop customer!
Our guest this week is our old pal and writer of Monkeybrain Comics’ brand new Wander, Kevin Church! Get ready for a lot of discussion of that comic’s fantasy setting and formatting for digital plus some talk about 1970s cinema, watching Star Treks, and a rundown of Kevin’s favorite comic runs! Plus, Matt and Chris share some video-store memories from their youths.
This week we welcome the writer of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comics, Ian Flynn! We chat with him about what it’s like dealing with…zealous fandoms, whether he’s any good at Mega Man video games, why you should be into the Sonic comics, working with licensed properties and much more! Plus, we take a listener question about a particularly angry comic-shop customer from Chris’ store-employee days!
