Tag: interviews

Smash Pages Q&A | William Potter + Philip Bond on ‘Geezer’

The Britpop washouts known as Geezer return to Kickstarter for a second issue.

As grunge took over the American rock music scene in the 1990s, the United Kingdom had its own musical movement — Britpop, a style of alternative rock made famous by bands like Oasis, Pulp, Blur, Elastica and CUD.

William Potter, the bassist for CUD, would go on to become a writer and editor, writing puzzle books, non-fiction, magazines and comics. While Potter was living the life of a musician in the 1990s, artist Philip Bond was drawing comics like Tank Girl, Kill Your Boyfriend, Shade the Changing Man and more.

And now the two of them have teamed up on a new comic series, Geezer, which tells the story of a fictional band during Britpop’s heyday. Published by Off Register Press and edited by Vertigo alumni Shelly Bond, the first issue was published following a successful Kickstarter campaign.

And now Potter and Bond are back for an encore. Geezer #2 is currently up on Kickstarter, having already doubled its initial goal. Potter and Bond were kind enough to answer some questions I had about their plans for the series, revisiting the 1990s music scene and more.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Matt Kindt on ‘Hairball,’ Flux House, ‘BRZRKR’ and more

The award-winning creator discusses several of his recent projects, the success of his collaboration with Keanu Reeves, working with Jean-Denis Pendanx and more.

Over the years he’s been working in comics, Matt Kindt has proven not only to be highly prolific, but also one of comic’s most creative minds, particularly when it comes to things like story structure and design. From his early work on Pistolwhip and Super Spy to more recent projects like MIND MGMT, Kindt has always been one to push the boundaries on comics, their format and how to make them more interesting.

Over the last year or so, Kindt has been involved in two high-profile projects — BRZRKR, a best-selling project at BOOM! Studios spearheaded by actor Keanu Reeves, and the launch of Flux House, Kindt’s own imprint at Dark Horse Comics. While the former has brought him possibility more attention than just about anything else he’s worked on, the latter has given him the opportunity to be even more creative in areas outside his typical domain.

I caught up with Kindt to discuss his recent projects, including Hairball, which kicks off this week, as well as his approach to running his own imprint and how the design of a book or comic impacts the experience of reading it.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Che Grayson + Kelsey Ramsay on ‘Dark Spaces: Good Deeds’

The co-creators of the new title from Scott Snyder’s new imprint at IDW discuss how they came to comics, their approach to the story and more.

Last summer, after the release of Dark Spaces: Wildfire, IDW announced that writer Scott Snyder would curate a series of comics under the “Dark Spaces” label, written and drawn by different creators. They also announced the second title from the imprint, Dark Spaces: Good Deeds by writer Che Grayson and artist Kelsey Ramsay.

When the announcement was made, Snyder said his intent with the line was to “champion up-and-coming talent,” but “up-and-coming” may not apply to Grayson and Ramsay for long, based on what I’ve seen in the first issue. Together they’ve created a compelling “Southern Gothic” horror tale that draws as much from real-world fears as it does from the supernatural. I caught up with the writer and artist to talk about how it all came together, their approach to the story and more.

The first issue will arrive in stores on May 17.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Eric Nguyen + Scott Burman on ‘White Savior’

The co-creators of the new title from Dark Horse Comics discuss how they came to comics, their inspiration for the story and their approach to humor in the comic.

Any fan of Western pop culture over the last 100 years or so is probably familiar with the “white savior” trope — that’s when Tom Cruise or Matt Damon, for example, show up in Japan or China or anywhere else in the world to rescue non-white people.

The solicitation text for the new comic, White Savior, describes it pretty well: An ancient prophecy foretold of an outsider that would save the peaceful village of Inoki from an unstoppable army–a man who would confuse the people at first with his unconventional ways, but lead them to the light.

But what happens when the savior doesn’t live up to the hype, and is, instead, a drunken idiot? That’s the premise of the new comic by Eric Nguyen and Scott Burman. The duo co-wrote it, while Nguyen and colorist Iwan Joko Triyono provided the art. While Burman is new to comics, Nguyen is a veteran, having drawn everything from Batman to Old Man Logan to Halo. He’s also the co-creator of both Strange Girl and Gigantic, in addition to White Savior.

Both Nguyen and Burman were kind enough to answer a few questions about White Savior, their approach to the humor in it and why it is also a time travel story. The first issue is available now from Dark Horse Comics.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Cavan Scott + Nick Brokenshire set sail for ‘Dead Seas’

The creative duo talks about their new title for IDW Originals, their influences and how to design the perfect ghost.

After working together on projects like the all-ages Star Wars: Return to Vader’s Castle title, Cavan Scott and Nick Brokenshire continue their partnership with Dead Seas, a six-issue miniseries that was announced earlier this year as part of the first wave of titles from IDW Publishing’s new Originals line.

Dead Seas merges horror, science fiction, action and corporate greed in a story about a convict-turned-reluctant-hero, who finds himself trapped with guards, pirates and his fellow convicts on a prison ship filled with ghosts. Scott and Brokenshire hit the familiar tropes from each genre while at the same time taking a unique approach to the subject matter, particularly regarding how the ghosts appear on our plane. If the rest of the series is as fun as the first issue, we’re all in for a treat.

The first issue arrives in stores Dec. 21, and Scott and Brokenshire were kind enough to answer a few questions about it.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Rich Koslowski on ‘F.A.R.M. System’

The creator of ‘Three Fingers’ and ‘The King’ returns with a new graphic novel from Top Shelf in November.

Rich Koslowski is best known by some as the creator of Three Fingers, The List and The King, three graphic novels released in the 2000s that showed off not only his creativity and wit, but also his skill as an artist. Others know him as the creator of The 3 Geeks, which later became Geeksville and was published by Image Comics. And still others likely know him from his long-running work at Archie Comics, where he has drawn or inked everyone from Jughead to Sonic the Hedgehog to the rock band KISS, among many others.

It’s been several years now since we’ve seen him write and draw an original graphic novel, but he’s back at Top Shelf with a new project, F.A.R.M. System, which arrives in stores Nov. 8. Like Three Fingers and The King, it’s a satire that mashes together the world of superheroes with baseball farm teams, as new heroes vie for spots in the Big Leagues.

Koslowski was kind enough to answer some questions about the project, his love of baseball and what else he has in the works.

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Canadian comic creator festival returns today with new vigor

Canadian-made comics are celebrated at the Panel One Comic Creator Festival.

In an era of Hollywood-infested comic cons, the Panel One Comic Creator Festival in Calgary, Alberta offers a show that puts all the attention on comic creators in Canada. I spoke with Joey Gruszecki, President of Panel One.

What is Panel One?

Panel One is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Canadian comic book creators and artists at all stages of professional development, from hobbyists to professionals. In addition to our various programming and community building activities throughout the year, our primary focus is on the annual Panel One Comic Creator Festival. 

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Smash Pages Q&A | Mike Dawson

The creator of ‘Troop 142,’ ‘Angie Bongiolatti’ and more discusses the second book in his ‘The Fifth Quarter’ series.

Mike Dawson is the Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist of books including Freddie & Me, Troop 142 and Angie Bongiolatti. He’s a comics essayist whose work has been in Slate, The Nib and many other publications, some of which were collected into his 2016 book Rules for Dating My Daughter. Dawson also contributed a comic to the Rutgers University Press anthology New Jersey Fan Club.

Recently he’s been making The Fifth Quarter, a series of middle grade graphic novels about basketball – something which he admits came as a shock to him, having hated sports when he was younger, but having come to appreciate the game when his daughter started playing. The second book in the series, Hard Court, is out now from First Second Books, and I spoke with Dawson about the series, what it has in common with his earlier books, and finding a way to make personal work.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Noah Van Sciver

The critically acclaimed cartoonist discusses his two latest projects, ‘Joseph Smith and the Mormons’ and ‘As a Cartoonist.’

Noah Van Sciver has always been a prolific cartoonist. This summer he released two new books, which represent the best work he’s done so far in his career.

Joseph Smith and the Mormons, which is out now from Abrams, is a project Van Sciver has been working on for more than a decade. To say that it’s Van Sciver’s best book, which I believe, is to sell it short, because the book is also the most ambitious project that Van Sciver has attempted. The book looks at the life of Smith and, without captions or word balloons, manages to convey so much information as it charts the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s an incredible work of cartooning and of history.

His other book is As a Cartoonist, a collection of short comics published by Fantagraphics, which were made in the same period, and share a number of concerns and approaches. Both books are deeply personal in different ways. I’ve talked with Van Sciver a few times over the years, and I was thrilled to be able to talk with him about these two books.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Stephen Graham Jones on ‘Earthdivers’

The award-winning horror writer and university professor talks about his new IDW Originals title, the differences between writing comics and prose, and teaching ‘Secret Wars.’

Stephen Graham Jones has written an extensive library of novels and prose stories, bringing home the Locus Award, four Bram Stoker Awards, two Shirley Jackson Awards, the LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction and a whole lot more. His novels, like The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw, tend to fall into what could be described as the literary horror genre, usually with a dose of sharp social commentary as well. When he’s not writing, he’s teaching creative writing, literature, pop culture and other subjects at the University of Colorado.

Or, he might be reading comics.

photo by Gary Isaacs

Jones is an old-school 1980s comics fan who discovered the medium in the time of Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars, and his love for them has only grown since. He not only teaches about them at the university level, but he’s also started writing them. His latest project is Earthdivers, a miniseries set to kick off Oct. 5 as part of IDW’s Originals line, beautifully drawn by the incomparable Davide Gianfelice. The time travel story focuses on four Indigenous survivors in a post-apocalyptic United States who embark on a mission to save the world: by sending one of them back in time to kill Christopher Columbus and prevent the creation of America.

Jones was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about the new series, as well as talk about some of his favorite comics to teach.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Faith Erin Hicks

The creator of ‘Friends with Boys,’ ‘The Nameless City’ trilogy and more discusses her latest graphic novel from First Second, ‘Ride On.’

Faith Erin Hicks is the Eisner Award-winning writer and artist of a long string of comics and graphic novels. From books like Friends with Boys and The War at Ellsmere, to her webcomics like The Adventures of Superhero Girl, to her collaborations like Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong and Brain Camp, Hicks is masterful at telling stories that are about small moments, subtle changes in relationships, the ways that life often plays out in ways that are funny and relatable. She has a touch for dialogue, but it’s in depicting those small moments that become important that she’s masterful.

More recently, Hicks spent years writing and drawing the epic fantasy trilogy The Nameless City. In the years since, Hicks wrote a novel (Comics Will Break Your Heart), drew a graphic novel written by Rainbow Rowell (Pumpkinheads) and has written a series of Avatar: The Last Airbender comics. Her new book, which she wrote and drew, is Ride On. Out this week from First Second Books, it’s a book about horses and horse girls, but it’s also about growing up, about how we change, and how it can be a difficult and sometimes painful process. Funny and relatable, Ride On is one of Hicks’ best works, and she was kind enough to answer a few questions.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Taki Soma on ‘Sleeping While Standing’

The artist of ‘Rapture,’ ‘The After Realm,’ ‘Sinergy’ and more discusses her deeply personal new graphic novel, her creative process and more.

Taki Soma is a writer, artist and colorist best known for comics like Rapture, The After Realm, Sinergy, Bitch Planet, The Old Guard: Tales Through Time and many others. But her new book Sleeping While Standing, which is out now from Avery Hill Publishing, is a departure from what she’s done previously.

A collection of stories four pages or less, it’s a deeply personal work, as Soma explores her father’s suicide, moving to Minnesota as a child and her complicated relationship with her mother, among other events in her life. It also looks at the horrifying way she learned that she has MS, features laugh-out-loud stories about pets and children, and shows her deep and complex storytelling skills.

It’s an incredible work by a talented creator, and Soma was kind enough to talk about why she made the book, her creative process and why she makes comics.

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