ShortBox and ShortBox Comics Fair's Zainab Akhtar join the podcast this week to talk about her journey in comics, the recent closure of ShortBox, and what's next for the Comics Fair. Akhtar discuss how things have changed since ShortBox closed, the different roles of a publisher, ShortBox's evolution, the amount of work connected to it, the path to closing, how ShortBox Comics Fair came to be, the variety of comics in the Fair, Fair comics versus ShortBox comics, production value, the...

Writer Murewa Ayodele and artist Dotun Akande joins the show to talk about their careers, collaboration, and current Oni Press series, Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods. Ayodele and Akande discuss the launch of their new book, figuring out who and what to listen to, how they became comic readers, their influences, their path to comics, computer science, print versus digital, Akande's path to becoming an artist, how Akogun came to be, their own take on gods, the oversized nature of the book, the...

Inklore's Editorial Director Rebecca "Tay" Taylor joins the show to talk about her career and what's going on at Inklore, the imprint at Penguin Random House that's publishing manga, manhwa, manhua, webcomics, and graphic novels. Taylor discusses what editorial really is, how Inklore fits her, where things were when she started in comics, Nightwing, her path to comics, previous roles in comics, editing single issues versus graphic novels, what Inklore is, its audience, the global aspect of...

Cartoonist Katie Cook joins the show to talk about her career and her recently released graphic novel, Nothing Special Vol. 1: Through the Elder Woods. Cook discusses recent challenges, her early comics, the importance of newspaper comics, the art school experience, the environment when her career started, the origins of Gronk, My Little Pony's impact on her career, how her career evolved, Nothing Special's origins, getting used to the Webtoon format, how she works, converting it to print,...

Writer Kieron Gillen returns to the show to talk about the end of his time at Marvel and the beginning of the next creator-owned phase of his career. Gillen discusses finishing his Marvel run, the language of comics, how he's changed over this stretch, ending a story he didn't start, closing Krakoa out, the data pages, favorites and challenges from his time at Marvel, the X-Office, the con experience, The Power Fantasy's arrival, responding to your collaborators, research, pop comics, what...

IDW's Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier joins the show to talk about his career and his work on the Artist's Editions program. Dunbier discusses the upcoming Batman: Year One Artist's Edition, the story behind the Artist's Edition, his time as an original art dealer, his path to WildStorm, his role there, that stretch at WildStorm, the origins of DC's Absolute Editions, his role at IDW, the first years of the Artist's Edition program, how he decides what to feature, digital art's impact,...

Writer Brian Michael Bendis joins the podcast to talk about his current Dark Horse Comics series Masterpiece and this moment in time for his career. Bendis discusses focusing on his own work, being a night person, collaboration and collaborators, the longevity of his relationships, how Masterpiece came together, going anti-cliche, simplifying the work, building projects for collaborators, his adeptness at writing young characters, getting out of scenes, decompression, the evolution of comics,...

Comic Book Herald's Dave Buesing joins the show to discuss the past, present, and future of the X-Men. Buesing discusses what Comic Book Herald is all about, the importance of helping people find where to start, how the experience has shifted his views on comics, our takes on the Krakoa Era, how it'll be viewed in retrospect, our expectations for the Tom Brevoort Era of the X-Men, and more, before we get into our X-Men Fantasy Draft, during which we both cast the comics we predict will be...

Cartoonist Kazu Kibuishi joins the show to explore his journey to completing his Scholastic Graphix series, Amulet. Kibuishi discuss the early days of Amulet, the time between its conception and launch, the evolution of comics, how much Amulet changed over its creation, being flexible, the initial response to the series, how the final volume changed, his creative process, the importance of accessibility, pushing yourself, giving characters a moment, the reality behind Amulet's villain, Emily...

Writer Pornsak Pichetshote and artist Jesse Lonergan join the show to discuss their collaboration on the upcoming Man's Best at BOOM! Studios. Pichetshote and Lonergan discuss how they got together, Lonergan's greatness, Pichetshote's editorial background, learning from collaboration, finding different ways to do one thing, how they work together, the personal nature of Man's Best, its character designs, making pets the leads, the challenges that presents, working with BOOM!, promoting the...

Writer/artist Chip Zdarsky returns to the show to talk about his wider world of projects and the story behind those. Zdarsky discusses his schedule, collaboration, the wonder of Jorge Jimenez, ten years of Sex Criminals, the legacy of books, his journey as a creator, what Batman means, Newburn's position, that title's backups, Avengers Twilight's long journey to release, connections in superhero comics, Marco Checchetto's greatness, taking on major characters, finding different angles, the...

Polygon's Entertainment Editor Susana Polo returns to the show to chat about the recent removal of the journalism Eisner Award and some of the things we've been thinking about of late in comics but haven't had a chance to write about. Polo discusses article creation, balancing needs, the Eisner Awards changes, its impact on the comics journalism space, whats affecting that broader area, interview approaches, her love of Poison Ivy, that character's fandom, Dark Horse Comics' hot streak, the...

My wife Amber Harper joins the show to chat about the medium from the viewpoint of a fan of comic movies and anime who doesn't read comics, before digging into three comics she read just for the show. Harper discusses her comic history, her perception of comics, how challenging comics feel to a non-reader, the comic shop experience, an unfortunate Thor read, what she appreciates about adaptations, why those appeal over comics, her take on the first volume of Runaways, its fit as a Marvel...

Cartoonist Nate Powell joins the show to talk about his career and upcoming graphic novel, Fall Through. Powell discusses promoting comics, the social media environment, his love of the X-Men, how his varying interests affect him as a cartoonist, the overlap between comics and music, Swallow Me Whole's position in his career, March's impact, the big emotions of Fall Through, the universal nature of youth, the pandemic and Haim's impact on the book, Diamond Mine, his band Soophie Nun Squad,...

Retailer Patrick Brower returns to the show to talk about the year for his shop, Chicago's Challengers Comics + Conversation. Brower discusses the holiday season, his comics retail podcast, promoting comics, how the year was and its progression, product vs. process, excitement levels, what's working, building other paths, in-store sales versus online, what hasn't been working, the reasons things are a struggle, what customers are saying, awareness of titles, the conversation about the direct...

Cartoonist Lucie Bryon joins the show to talk about her career in comics and her ShortBox Comics Fair comic (and my comic of the year), Ocean. Bryon discusses her recent trip to Japan, France's relationship with comics, her gateway into comics, why manga works so well for her, her art school experience, expressing herself through comics, learning from her own work, the origins of Ocean, finding the universal in specificity, the colors of the comic, finding answers in the work, the book's...

In a special, year-end episode of Off Panel, friend of the show Brandon Burpee returns to chat about the year in comics before we count down our 20 favorite comics of the year. We discuss the year in comics, Brandon's disconnect from the larger conversation, the perils of being overinformed, deciding what to read, how the Big Two are doing, the end of Krakoa, the Ultimate Universe's return, honorable mentions for our faves of the year, our top 20 comics of the year, and more. Bonus! By...

In a special year end episode of Off Panel, we look at the defining themes of 2023 in comics with the help of Books with Pictures' Katie Pryde, The Beat's Heidi MacDonald, and writer/artist Jamal Igle. Up first is Pryde (1:10), who talks about this unusual time in comics retail, what started us on this path, the exhaustion in the space, where it's manifesting itself, the metadata situation, how Books with Pictures is adjusting to it, and more. After that is MacDonald (30:01), who discusses...

Writer Si Spurrier joins the show to talk about his dense workload of late on comics like The Flash, the Uncanny Spider-Man, Damn Them All, and more. Spurrier discusses this busy stretch, testing boundaries, the yes/no conundrum, balance within the chaos, finding his way into superheroes, delivering the necessary story, his contrarian nature, tie-ins, the X-Office, jumping on points, how his different flavors of writing impact each other, data pages, the difficulty of Damn Them All, the...

Writer/artist Skottie Young joins the show to talk about this moment in time in his career. Young discusses being a writer (but kind of not an artist) right now, storytelling, figuring out how to write, Twig's position in his career, the moment he finds himself in, not drawing interiors, Boy at the End, expectation paralysis, Stupid Fresh Mess, sustaining your career, finding new ways to excite fans, Oz's position in his career, building trust, his newsletter, the power of community, what has...

Writer Alex de Campi joins the podcast to talk about her career in comics and her recent slate of Image releases, including Parasocial, Bad Karma, and Scrapper. de Campi discusses being both a writer and letterer, the fluidity of creation, collaboration, having a day job, finding collaborators, Hell's Kitchen Movie Club and Bad Karma, the importance of research, how her experiences have affected her as a storyteller, her love of trying new things, anthologies, being herself, keeping things...

Retailer Bruno Batista from Dublin's Big Bang Comics joins to talk about his path to Big Bang and what he's seeing at the shop and beyond. Batista discusses daily variance in comics retail, how Big Bang's online store changed things, how he ended up in Ireland, the evolution of Big Bang, staying ahead of trends, the year in the shop, working with libraries, their product mix, changing customer behavior, quality as a sales point, Transformers and the Energon Universe, Jonathan Hickman's...

Skybound's Brand Manager - Editorial Morgan Perry joins the podcast to chat about her path in comics, her current role, and the world of promoting comics. Perry discusses her role at Skybound, the complexity of comics marketing, the broader Skybound ecosystem, her first comic, accessibility, working at Earth 2 Comics, manga and comics, her time at BOOM!, its rise, managing fanbases, the Energon Universe, the big takeaway from its reception, what's missing from comic marketing, building hype,...

Cartoonist Juni Ba joins the podcast to chat about his two new graphic novels, Mobilis and The Unlikely Story of Felix and Macabber. Ba discusses looking back on already finished projects, the origin of Mobilis, the similarities between his two latest books, project sequencing, the evolution of his storytelling, his sketchbooks, the appeal of Captain Nemo, the book's lead, the nature of its ending, character designs, Mobilis' oversized nature, the roots of Felix and Macabber, working with...