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.

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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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Support the show and get a PDF comic!
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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!

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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.

Follow Jerzy and Gregg on Twitter!
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Comics Are Great! 70 – Skype Author Visits with Stephen McCranie

Author visits, marketing your book, Mal and Chad, and more!

Whether you’re self-publishing or working with a publisher, a cold hard reality we cartoonists face is getting the word out about your book. This time I’m joined by author Stephen McCranie for a discussion on how he used a special promotion on his site offering free Skype visits to schools to inspire kids and help spread awareness of his graphic novels.

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

• Mal & Chad: Food Fight!
• Colby Sharp on Twitter
• Kids’ Comics Revolution! episdoe 6
• Willie Loman
• Skype in the Classroom
• Stephen’s Skype lessons
• Google Forms
• Manga Studio
• We Transfer
• Doodle Alley
• The AADL Summer Game

Comics Recommendations:

• Poopy Claws
• Dirty Candy
• The Nao of Brown
• Gail Simone’s Batgirl
• Secret Science Alliance
• Doraemon
• Astronaut Academy
• Cooking Up Comics

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.

Follow Jerzy and Stephen on Twitter!
Find us on Google+

Subscribe through iTunes
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Thunder Punch Daily 147 – Avoiding Urgency

TPD returns with some thoughts on writing in the medium that works for you and how urgency can be the inspiration killer!

Links mentioned:

• The Lean Into Art Cast with David Seah
• Young-ha Kim’s Ted talk: Be An Artist, Right Now!
• David Seah

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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KCR! 07 – Superheroes with Gregg Schigiel

Spider-Man! Avengers! Hulk Smash! Stuff Said, and more!

For a long time superheroes were synonymous with kids’ comics. Many of us fell in love with the medium through the genre. But why are superheroes so compelling? Is it wish fulfillment? Do they operate as modern mythology? Or is it as simple as the joy of watching big muscley characters punch and blast each other?

We sort it out with the help of Gregg Shigiel of the Stuff Said podcast, as well as some other kids who lend their thoughts with more book talks on their favorite superheros old and new.

Book Recommendations:

• Avengers vs X-Men
• Maximum Ride
• X-Babies: Stars Reborn
• The Mighty Skullboy
• The Intrepid Escapegoat
• Defenders
• Tiny Titans
• Superman Family Adventures
• The Olympians
• Superman and Human Torch I’m With Stupid

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

Theme music by Harry and the Potters. This episode also featured the songs We Are Superheroes by Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine , (We Wear) Capes by Uncle Monsterface, and Super Hero Me by Let’s Audio.

Follow Jerzy, Dave, and Gregg on Twitter!

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