Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

Writer/artist Declan Shalvey joins the show to talk about his rather considerable mix of projects. Shalvey discusses his busy dance card, the value of time, putting out fires, why he wanted to work on Mystique, cool versus good, writing and drawing an X-Book, what Mystique started with, how he's handling the character, how Old Dog Operations came together, what it's about, the creators of the project, what's next for Old Dog, the Thundercats explosion, becoming a licensed guy, the stigma around those titles, what he's missing, and more, before we close with a conversation about John Cassaday.

Writer/artist Caitlin Yarsky joins the show to talk about her upcoming Dark Horse Comics series Living Hell and what goes into soloing a comics project. Yarsky discusses her current slate, working on Black Hammer, how she engages with comics, influences outside of comics, overthinking art, the origins of Living Hell, the appeal of folklore and mythology, domestic life, writing for yourself, the different levels of ideas, the hook of the book, pulling from real life, her process, working with Dark Horse, the business side of comics, the Portland art community, and more.

Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick joins the show to talk about her upcoming Dark Horse Comics series FML and everything that comes with it. DeConnick discusses current stress levels, the origins of FML, its evolution, the glory of David López, FML's visual styles, her collaboration with López, building from her own life, FML's personal nature, embracing the pandemic, finding humor in the nightmare, relearning creator-owned, marketing comics, Dark Horse's fit, figuring out next steps, the human side of creation, and more.

Artist Chris Samnee joins the show to talk about Batman and Robin: Year One and how he does what he does. Samnee discusses how he works, his collaboration with Mark Waid, its evolution, learning about how he wants to work, managing multiple titles at once, the RC Coda experience, how Batman and Robin: Year One came together, what it's all about, the pressure of this project, how his own taste has guided the project, the joy of drawing Batman, working with Mat Lopes, tackling The Last Halloween, Mark Chiarello, the importance of always learning, and more.

Artist Dustin Nguyen joins the show to talk about his career and his upcoming crowdfunded art book, The Art of Descender. Nguyen discusses convention life, what he's working on these days, working with other publishers, his early days as an artist, figuring out your art, the impact of influences, watercolors, breaking in, learning on the job, his Wildstorm experience, comfort's place in his career, working with Jeff Lemire, the origins of The Art of Descender, what's going into the book, his pencils, how he decided what to include, crowdfunding, how the role of an artist has changed, what keeps him excited about art and comics, and more.

IDW Associate Editor Jake Williams and Assistant Editor Nicolas Niño join the show to talk about their roles in the editorial ecosystem and their journeys in comics. The pair discusses the daily life of an editor, how editorial works, being roommates and co-workers, how different their roles are, drawing in new readers, how they got into comics, the value of big, bold takes, carrying that into their editorial work, why they wanted to work in comics, breaking in, finding your angle on properties, figuring out the job, their favorite part of the work, cover artists they'd like to work, a project they nailed, the new TMNT era, what has them excited about comics, hair choices, and more.

Writer/artist Dustin Weaver joins the show to chat about his career, path in comics, and his work on Image Comics releases like Paklis and 1949. Weaver discusses his night owl nature, maintaining a schedule, following whims, embracing himself, revisiting old work in Paklis, when he first got into comics, how his interest in the medium has evolved, being creatively autobiographical, his Wildstorm internship, what he learned at Marvel, the origins of Paklis, doing his own thing, existing on multiple sides, how he decides what to include, his creative process, writing but not drawing, continuing to evolve, and more.

Writer/artist Michael Walsh joins the show to talk about his incredibly busy workload on titles like Universal Monsters: Frankenstein, The Sacred Damned, and Nullhunter. Walsh discusses his full dance card, drawing Magic the Gathering cards, how that Frankenstein book came together, eliciting emotions, the looming shadow of its history, double page spreads, The Horizon Experiment, the twists of The Sacred Damned, the horror shift, Nullhunter's origins, why he's not drawing it, its visuals, pairing interests together, balancing wants and needs as a creator, the world of Magic the Gathering, managing an increasingly busy life, and more.

The Beat's Heidi MacDonald returns to the podcast to talk about Penguin Random House's acquisition of BOOM! Studios and our expectations for San Diego Comic Con. MacDonald discusses the big PRH/BOOM! news, why the former may have wanted to acquire the latter, the big news ahead of San Diego Comic Con, where things are right now, DSTLRY's big move, how SDCC is shaping up, how unique SDCC is relative to other conventions, the big plans The Beat has for the event, her upcoming daily TV show, celebrating 20 years of The Beat, the evolution of comic cons, what keeps her excited about The Beat, and more. There are two corrections from the podcast. First, Filip Sablik's title at BOOM! Studios was actually President of Publishing & Marketing, not Sales & Marketing as I stated in the episode. Second, while Tiny Onion does a lot of design and production work for DSTLRY, Emma Price, Erika Schnatz, Jared K. Fletcher, Francesco Francavilla, and Lee Garbett have also done design work on a variety of individual titles and logos.

Writer/aritst Christian Ward joins the show to talk about his new art book, Many Worlds - The Art of Christian Ward - Volume One and his series at DSTLRY, Spectregraph. Ward discusses how his schedule works, leaning into momentum, idea generation, his crowdfunding emotions, the origins of his art book and why he wanted to do it, figuring out what to include in it, revisiting his work, what guides his art, his approach to Spectregraph, thinking out visuals, the appeal of horror, writing for himself, how the role of an artist has changed, and more.