Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

On this week's special anniversary episode of Off Panel, friend of the show Brandon Burpee joins for a head-to-head question off where we talk everything comics from the past, present and future. Topics discussed include who won each decade for superhero comics - Marvel or DC, favorite comic anniversary gimmicks, what we'd do to get OG Wolverine back, how to help people who want to get into comics, favorite Off Panel guests, how social media impacts our buying habits, LaVar Ball-ing our favorite comics, Marvel's biggest problem right now, what we'd like to see from Legacy, the tradewaiting experience, the divisiveness of fandom, the state of the X-Men books, and more.

On this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Christopher Sebela joins the show to talk his currently being Kickstarted comic, Short Order Crooks. He talks the Kickstarter experience, what Short Order Crooks is all about, the origin of the project, the value of Two Headed Press, how the Kickstarter developed, how the crew on the book came together, the difficulty of creating Kickstarter rewards, whether he can be the same on for-hire jobs as creator-owned, the amount of food based research he did, what he'd sell at his own food cart, secondary revenue streams for comic creators, his recent experience working in retail, and more.

On this week's episode of Off Panel, The Ringer writer Jason Concepcion joins the show to talk Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the 2017 slate of comic book movies. Concepcion talks Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (spoiler alert like crazy!) (00:51s), whether Guardians feels disconnected from the rest of the  Marvel universe (4:55), the stingers (8:27), what worked in the movie (12:34), whether it had the best Stan Lee cameo (14:53), what didn't work (16:37), then Guardians talk (and the spoilers ends) as we talk the comic movie Mount Rushmore (22:10), hype levels for 2017's remaining comic movies (25:30), the advent of rated R comic book movies (42:09), the state of the X-Men movies (47:00), Inhumans as a TV show (49:30), why comic adaptations work and video game adaptations don't (53:45), before closing with five questions about Concepcion (59:00).

On this week's bonus episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Peter Wartman joins the show to talk his webcomic Stonebreaker. Wartman discusses his path to comics, the comic that unlocked the medium for him, the influence of video game designer Fumito Ueda, how his webcomics Over the Wall and Stonebreaker developed, his art process, the evolution of his art, the impact of being colorblind on his art, the architecture of Stonebreaker, how webcomics have changed since he started, balancing comics and a day job, the Minneapolis comic book scene, and more. Also, in case you missed it, Off Panel now has a Patreon. Support the show at Patreon.com/OffPanel and get fun rewards while unlocking bonus episodes each month.

On this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Mark Russell joins the show to talk his approach and work on comics like The Flintstones and Prez. He talks what he was doing before comics, how he was hired by DC, whether his approach might be different from other comic writers because of his lack of a comic background, his guiding principles for developing comics, the comic book learning curve, working with DC editorial, why he took The Flintstones gig, finding a new take on the classic cartoon, giving non-human characters humanity, collaborating on sequentials with Steve Pugh and Ben Caldwell, what he has in store for his Snagglepuss book, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Mike Norton joins the show to talk his epic workload in recent years. Norton talks what his life has been like since he wrapped Battlepug and Revival, how he balanced multiple projects at once, what he learned most from his recent workload, managing workflow, what he took away from his creator-owned work, studio life, the emotions of ending Revival, whether long runs by a single creative team are dying out, how the role of the comic artist has evolved, the changing landscape of comics, webcomics, the response to his webcomic Lil' Donnie, before coming to a close with five questions about Norton himself. One quick note: I fully botched the money Check, Please! generated on Kickstarter. It wasn't $2.5 million, it was $400,000. Still a lot of money!

In this week's episode of Off Panel, artist Jen Bartel joins the show to talk about breaking into comics. She talks about her art background, the pros and cons of art school, her path to the world of comics, the importance of just making art, the power of the internet and social media, her advice for people looking to break in, why she's focused on covers over sequential art, the reason she prefers inking and coloring over the problem solving part of art, her affinity for neon colors, merchandising, valuing your work monetarily, before the podcast closes with five questions about Bartel herself.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Hannah Blumenreich joins the show to talk her fan comic Spidey Zine and her work on Amazing Spider-Man #25. She talks her experience in art school, what her first foray into comics was, how she has seen her art grow as she's moved along, the origin story of Spidey Zine, the power of fan comics, the personhood of superheroes, what her process is, the restrictions of publishing on Twitter, making her way into working on Spider-Man for Marvel, how working with Jordan Gibson, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles changed things for her, and what's next for her, before closing with five random questions about her.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Jim Rugg joins the show to talk his upcoming one-shot with writer Brian Maruca, Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special. He talks the origin story of Street Angel, why it's his home base book, how his art has evolved over the years, whether he thinks he has a core art style, why he likes to adventure with the format of comics so much, why he brought Street Angel to Image, the Pittsburgh comic scene, and more.

In this week's episode of Off Panel, cartoonist Kyle Starks joins the show to talk his new comic at Image, Rock Candy Mountain. Starks discusses what appealed to him about the hobo treasure hunt genre, the tropes of rail travel, researching hobo culture, when the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" came into play, world building, the realities of hobo life, the language in the book, the impact of colorist Chris Schweizer and designer Dylan Todd, overcoming the perceptions of his "cartoony" art style, his process for bringing an issue to life, before the episode comes to a close with serious basketball talk starting around the 52 minute mark.