Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

Cartoonist Gene Luen Yang joins Off Panel to chat about his work and his upcoming graphic novel, Dragon Hoops. Yang discusses what made him fall in love with comics, his love of telling stories, the development of Dragon Hoops, whether he resisted making a basketball book considering his (previous) distaste of the sport, telling a story set in the real world, the secret identities of athletes, figuring out the structure of the book, the inclusion of basketball history, handling real people in real time, how his relationship with basketball changed, what he learned about himself and storytelling over the experience, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer and filmmaker Darcy Van Poelgeest joins the show to share the story behind the making of his Image Comics series, Little Bird. Van Poelgeest discusses why he wanted to make a comic, why Little Bird was a natural fit as a comic, its long gestation period, partnering with artist Ian Bertram, the book's creative team, the comic book creative process, how lettering affects pace, the title's origins, its path to Image, why it became a hardcover first, the importance of design, the crash course of his first comics experience, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, the co-owner of Chicago's Challengers Comics + Conversation comic shops, Patrick Brower, joins to chat about 2019 in comics retail. Brower discusses their opening of a second shop, what goes into opening a store, the state of comics retail relative to when Challengers first opened, the rise of the mini-series, what's working for them, differentiating titles today, how the year was for them, risk aversion, figuring out what customers want, second issues, how BOOM! Studios is handling things, whether he'd like more experimentation from comic publishers, the in-store comics conversation, whether he still loves comics, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, comics marketer David Hyde from Superfan Promotions joins the show. Hyde discusses his background with comics, the things that make us love them, what he learned from working in book stores and at book publishers, the learning curve of promoting comics, his time at DC, the New 52 experience, why he decided to start Superfan promotions (which arrives at 29:50 and begins the marketing talk), paying attention to marketing outside of comics, connecting viewers of comics media to the comics themselves, the important parts of comics marketing, the news cycle, whether the old standards of comics marketing still work, the comics marketing playbook, what can be learned from House of X and Powers of X, whether comics marketing is limited by the distribution model, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Jen Wang joins the podcast to chat about her career, craft and latest graphic novel, Stargazing. Wang discusses her Twitter handle, what her webcomics experience taught her about making comics, her art process, the importance of community, how her work has evolved, the origins of Stargazing, the universality of stories, working on a middle grade book, putting herself in the story, not coloring herself on Stargazing, giving herself breaks, keeping momentum going, Comic Arts LA, Alaska Robotics Mini-Con, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Matthew Rosenberg returns to the show to chat about writing and Hawkeye: Freefall. Rosenberg discusses how things change when you're writing a comic where you know what's coming next, his X-Men run, taking risks in stories, managing reader expectations, patience in storytelling, the origins of Hawkeye: Freefall, standing out from previous with the character, what makes a good Hawkeye comic to him, finding new angles with existing characters, why The Hood and Ronin are in Hawkeye, Otto Schmidt's art, the appeal of shorter stories, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Jeff Loveness joins the show to chat about comedy and writing and his BOOM! series Strange Skies Over East Berlin. Loveness discusses his comic origins, how reading comics affected his comedy and storytelling, why he chooses to write comics, how situation changes the way we engage with stories, how comedy prepared him for comics, the origins of Strange Skies Over East Berlin, the impact of his collaborators, the title's amazing covers, learning to write comics, the loss of privacy, balancing comedy and drama, and more. Note: Jeff's audio quality starts a little low, but it picks up a couple minutes in.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, my pal Brandon Burpee returns to the podcast for a year in review episode. We discuss the year that was, the impact having good X-Men comics has on us as readers, how much we engage with comic sites, how our reading habits are changing, the honorable mentions for the year that was, before we dive into counting down our 20 favorite comics of the year.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Gerry Duggan joins the show for a deep dive discussion about Marauders. Duggan shares his X-Men origin story, what makes Kate Pryde so great, how Marauders came together, the X-Men writers room, the energy of the book, its playbook, how the X-Titles got their casts, his thoughts on the whole cast, political vs. character decisions, balancing fandom with story needs, planning long-term for a title and the line, whether we're at Peak Fanboy Gerry Duggan, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer/artist Jonathan Luna joins the show for a special podcast in Anchorage, Alaska about his new series 20XX. Luna discusses the influence of growing up outside the US, how he started making his own comics, the development of his style, why he went black and white on 20XX, the cost of art, the origins of 20XX, why Alaska for its setting, how the contrasts in his stories come together, the implication of the title, the technology of the future, why he decided to create a short story made entirely by him, and more.