Comics Are Great! 78 – Cartoon Appeal with Chris Giarrusso

Designing characters with appeal, G-Man, writing from life, and more!

It’s hard enough to learn how to draw, but things get even dicier when we start talking about what it takes to create appeal. Fortunately I’m joined by Chris Giarrusso of the eminently appealing G-Man series and Dave Carter of the University of Michigan comics and video game Library. Together we discuss how using kid logic, exploring character choices, and trusting your voice are essential elements to creating a story with appeal.

We’ve also got another round of book recommendations with Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• G-Man vol. 3 is out now!
• The Kids Read Comics pre-conference: Comics, Collections, and the Common Core, June 21!
• The Kids’ Comics Revolution Awards, where kids vote on their favorite comics
• The Stuff Said podcast (episodes 1 and 2 feature an in-depth interview with Chris)
• Silver Age Comics
• Comic Strip Syndication
• All the things you can’t do in animation
• Thor
• Dan Mishkin
• Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog
• Delilah Dirk
• The Oatmeal
• XKCD
• Cyanide and Happiness
• Paul Giamatti

Chris’ G-Man commercial (a great parody of the infamous Rob Liefeld Levi’s commercial)

Book Recommendations:

• Justice League Unlimited, Vol 1
• Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
• Ghandi: a Manga Biography
• Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales
• Pandemonium
• Will and Whit
• The Mighty Skullboy Army

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 77 – Action and Comedy with Tony Cliff and the Houghton Brothers!

Chris Houghton! Shane Houghton! Tony Cliff! And more!

How do you design awesome action sequences? What’s the secret to writing scenes that make the audience roar with laughter? I know I couldn’t answer these questions on my own, so I’m grateful to be joined by the perfect roundtable for the job: Tony Cliff, author of the soon-to-be-released Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, and Chris and Shane Houghton of Bongo’s Simpsons Comics, Adventure Time comics, and Reed Gunther! Together we explore why understanding character is so crucial to comedy, and why understanding movement is so crucial to action.

We’ve also got another round of book recommendations with Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• Cosplay
• Nickelodeon Animation
• Disney Animation
• The Illusion of Life
• The Animator’s Survival Kit
• Scott McCloud: Blood in the Gutter
• Scott Adams
• Stalactites and Stalagmites
• Lajos Egri
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation
• Brandon Dayton
• John Carter
• Invisible Ink
• LA Story
• Wreck-It Ralph
• Rejected Comics by Chris and Shane Houghton
• The video trailer for the Kairos BD

Chris and Shane make a deal with the devil!

Book Recommendations:

• Stargazing Dog
• Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
• Hilda and the Bird Parade
• The Doug TenNapel Sketchbook
• Chris Schweizer’s Sketchbook
• Not My Bag
• Snow Crash

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 76 – Bringing the Gods to Life with George O’Connor

He-Man! Zeus! Posedion! Olympians rule! George O’Connor, and more!

What better medium than comics to capture the majesty and mayhem of Greek Mythology? Especially in the hands of celebrated cartoonist George O’Connor, creator of The Olympians series from First Second books. Together we talk about kid logic, how an author must get to the heart of their characters, and how the poetry of a visual medium like comics can be utilized to express larger-than-life (yet true-to-life) ideas.

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• King Randor
• The mini-comics that came packaged with He-Man figures
• Olympians: About the Gods
• Clawful
• Wun-Dar
• Walter Simonson’s Thor Omnibus
• Volstagg
• Heracles
• Theseus
• Major Bludd
• Prince Valiant
• The “Shut up and take my money!” image
• The Superego podcast
• Superego studies G.I. Joe
• Dungeon
• Love and Rockets
• The Comics Journal interview with George, where you can find out more about The Thunderers!

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 75 – Editing Graphic Novels with Calista Brill

Editing, writing, graphic novels, First Second Books, and more!

I’m excited to talk with Calista Brill, Senior Editor at First Second Books, about the entire process of developing and publishing a graphic novel. What does a good pitch look like? What qualities are editors looking for in a graphic novel proposal? Once the book is acquired, what happens then? How does the editor/author partnership work?

It’s a really fun and instructive conversation with one of the people responsible for the terrific changes happening in the comics publishing landscape.

We’re also joined by Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of book talks!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Thien Pham
• Dave Roman
• Tony Cliff
• Calista’s blog post “When to Give Up”
• Dave Roman’s blog post “Before You Give Up…Try Changing It Up”
• Gina Gagliano’s blog post on “Publishing vs Kickstarter”
• Gina’s appearance on CAG 65 – Behind the Scenes of Publishing
• Astronaut Academy Day and the Astronaut Academy Pre-Order Event

Book recommendations:

• Astronaut Academy
• Prime Baby
• Sketch Monsters: Escape of the Scribbles
• Reed Gunther
• Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
• I Kill Giants
• Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
• Sumo
• Relish
• Primates
• Jerusalem
• Odd Duck
• Robot Dreams
• Sweaterweather
• Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes
• A Bride’s Story

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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KCR! 08 – Working for Peanuts

Peanuts! Snoopy! Charlie Brown! Alexis Fajardo, and more!

Happiness is…a new episode of the Kids’ Comics Revolution!

Many of us have daydreamed about working on a book featuring characters we grew up with. It’s a dream job, right?

Be careful what you wish for, because now you’re now the caretaker of a creator’s legacy that’s loved by millions. How do you create new works that respect the legacy without falling into an endless reiteration of old ideas?

We talk with Alexis Fajardo about the new Peanuts comic books published by Boom Studios. He explains how he and his team combine creative sweat and exhaustive research to live up to the responsibility of making new stories featuring Charlie Brown and all of Charles Schultz’s iconic characters.

Book Recommendations:

• The Far Side
• Too Short for the Court

Comics and Artists mentioned:

• “Molly and the Bear” by Bob Scott
• “Jane’s World” by Paige Braddock
• “It’s Tokyo, Charlie Brown” by Vicki Scott and Paige Braddock

Audio hosting and production provided by the Ann Arbor District Library.

Theme music by Harry and the Potters.

Follow Jerzy, Dave, and Alexis on Twitter!

Comics Are Great! 74 – Every Moment is the Moment of Truth with Thien Pham

Mini-Comics, Sumo, Tumblr Comics, Thien Pham, and more!

This time we discover that Sumo wrestling can be a metaphor for the creative life thanks to the work of Thien Pham, author of Sumo from First Second Books. Together we explore how the philosophy of “every moment is the moment of truth” applies to just diving in and making comics, and how a methodology might distract one from the task at hand or drain some of the life out of one’s work.

We also get a scoop on Thien’s new webcomic, Please, Don’t Give Up!

We’re joined at the end by Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of book recommendations.

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• Oubapo
• Comics Are Great! episode 23
• Thien’s videos on the KQED YouTube channel
• Video trailer for Sumo
• Level Up
• The Thien Pham Fan Club
• Nick Abadzis
• Mini-Comics Day
• Gene Yang
• Jason Shiga
• Alternate Press Expo
• Raina Telgemeier
• Mark Kistler (and his appearance on CAG!)
• Goodbye, Chunky Rice

Comics and Book Recommendations:

• Ichiro
• Cardboard
• Tina’s Mouth
• Cat’s Cradle
• Knock, Knock!

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 73 – Finding Your Knitting with Kris Straub

Finding your venue, loving parody, Broodhollow, Kris Straub, and more!

Stick to your knitting. Specialize. Find your niche. Operate in your wheelhouse. And a zillion other clichés that get thrown around. It’s been accepted as common wisdom that one should find the one thing they have some talent in and pursue that to the end. And even if this is true (though we’re not saying it is), how does one even go about finding the precise knitting to which they should be sticking?

We’re fortunate to be joined this time by Kris Straub, the author behind Starslip, Chainsawsuit, Broodhollow, the Webcomics Weekly podcast, and more for a discussion on finding the proper venue for your work once you’ve tackled that tricky business of finding your voice.

And Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library returns for another round of great book talks!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• Kris’s 2012 in review blog post
• The Daily Bruin
• How to Make Webcomics
• Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job
• Bardin the Superrealist
• Rich Uncle Pennybags
• Evolution of Snoopy
• Electric Light Orchestra
• Tweet Me Harder
• Ichor Falls
• F Chords
• Scott Kurtz
• Brad Guigar
• Dave Kellett
• The guy who “chose poorly” in Indiana Jones 3
• Cargo Cults
• Know Your Meme
• Voltron
• Christopher Guest
• The Returners
• the Machine of Death game

Comics and Book Recommendations:

• The Little Prince
• Glitter Kiss
• Zed: A Cosmic Tale
• The New Deadwardians
• The Starslip Collection
• Knife Thrower

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Thunder Punch Daily 148 – Respecting the Work

We often look back on our old work and groan. Why is this? Is it humble to talk our old work down, even when someone is responding to it positively? What changes when we approach our body of work (big or small) with a sense of respect?

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Joan Didion on Self Respect (via Brainpickings)
• Rob Paulsen’s Talkin’ Toons podcast
• Thunder Punch Extra 1 <– tip the show, get a show!

(or just use this button below)

Thunder Punch Extra #1 – Flipping Weakness

Music for this show is by Eliott Drozd.
Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing and IndyPlanet Digital

Voiceover by Tara Platt

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Comics Are Great! 72 – Living Well On Less with C. Spike Trotman and Laurianne Uy

Finances, Poorcraft, Polterguys, Mini-Comics, and more!

The hard fact of it is, few people make a ton of money at this comics jazz. And while we’ve talked about creating various streams of income in past shows, we’ve yet to talk about how to get more out of less of our financial resources!

We’re joined this episode by C. Spike Trotman, author of Poorcraft: The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less, for a talk on facing the inevitable cruelties of managing one’s finances. We also have in-studio guests Laurianne Uy and Dave Carter who provide some tips and tools to help you make a budget and stick to it!

And Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library returns for another round of great book talks!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• North Face Jackets
• WonderSwan
• Charlton Comics
• Comics on Kickstarter
• Seth Godin
• Jason Brubaker’s Making Comics podcast
• The “1000 True Fans” premise
• Ann Arbor Transportation Authority
• Vegan with a Vengeance
• Mint
• Outright
• Tuition.io
• Roth IRA
• Gumroad
• One Receipt
• Spike’s Adventure Time cover
• Ryan Estrada, who is working on the sequel to Poorcraft
• Opencart
• Comixology
• Ooku
• Mini-Comics Day at the Duderstadt
• Chick Tracts
• Factsheet Five

Comics and Book Recommendations:

• Bakuman
• Das Loot
• Pug Davis
• The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal
• Gunnerkrigg Court
• Charlie’s War and Charlie’s War, Vol 1
• Smut Peddler
• Templar, AZ
• Aw Yeah, Comics
• Polterguys

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 71 – Spongebob and Podcasting with Gregg Schigiel

Spongebob, work-for-hire, the importance of comics podcasting, and more!

We’re thrilled to have Gregg Schigiel, the artist behind many of the ever-present images of Spongebob Squarepants in comics and on products, for a talk on working on a beloved children’s character. Is it all fame and candy-eating, or is there a certain work ethic that goes into working on such a highly-visible property?

We also talk about Gregg’s excellent Stuff Said podcast and the thoughts behind it. What does it take to make a podcast, and how do you know if you’re ready to dive into this medium?

Note: This episode is part of a 3-episode crossover between Gregg’s show, the Kids’ Comics Revolution! podcast, and Comics Are Great! You can check out Part 1 on KCR!, featuring a talk on the power of superhero stories, Part 2 on Stuff Said, featuring an interview with me, and conclude with this very episode.

We’re joined at the end by Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library for some more book recommendations!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• The Marvel Bullpen
• Spongebob Comics #1
• Joe Staton
• James Kochalka
• Bill Morrison
• Floyd Gottfredson
• Carl Barks
• Jack Kirby
• The Marvel Comics Bankruptcy
• Elementals
• Gregg’s Stand Up Comics
• Bullseye (podcast)
• WTF Podcast
• Cats with glasses

Comics Recommendations:

• Legends of Zita the Spacegirl
• The Antler Boy and Other Stories
• Astronaut Academy
• Far Arden
• The Mighty Skullboy Army
• G-Man

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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