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.
In the last episode recorded at this year's Emerald City ComiCon, colorist and writer Jordie Bellaire joins the show to talk her new book at Image Comics, Redlands. She talks the experience of announcing Redlands, how announcements differ between personal projects and for-hire jobs, what Redlands is all about, what made Vanesa del Rey the perfect partner for the book, how del Rey changed the book, how Bellaire's color brain influences he writer brain, why she wanted to add being a writer to her busy schedule, how she ended up in Ireland after living in Florida, why the rep of colorists has improved in recent years, and more.
In the second episode of Off Panel from Emerald City ComiCon, the Oscar nominated writer of Arrival as well as the writer of the upcoming Secret Weapons at Valiant Comics, Eric Heisserer, joins the show. Heisserer talks his comic book origin story, the difference between screenwriting and working on comics, partnering with Raul Allen and Patricia Martin, what appealed to him about the Valiant universe, bringing Secret Weapons back, why Livewire is such a fascinating character to him, how writing film scripts differs from writing comics, humanizing island of misfit toys characters, why he loves writing comics so much, what compelled him to write Arrival, his reactions to Amy Adams not getting nominated and the Oscar mixup on Best Picture, and more.
In this week's episode of Off Panel, Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson joins the show in a special episode from Emerald City ComiCon. Stephenson talks Image's move to Portland, why there wasn't an Image Expo this year, the big announcements from ECCC, diversity in comics, finding different ways to tell stories in the medium, the devaluation of single issues, managing a publisher in uncertain times, the influx of variants at Image during its 25th anniversary, what he's most proud of from 25 years of Image, how it's changed the most since its launch, how Image's staff has helped drive its growth, and more.
In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Daniel Kibblesmith joins the show to talk his new comic, Valiant High. Kibblesmith discusses his comic book origin story, whether he needed to dig into Valiant's history for the project, finding the right roles for each character, whether you can go too far in lampooning characters, the differences between writing for TV versus for comics, whether writing comics is a breath of fresh air given his day job, the impact of this presidency on late night, his long term view on writing comics, and more.