Jonathan Chandler joined me to talk about his new book from Breakdown Press, Another Blue World. He also has work out from Landfill Editions and the upcoming Decadence anthology. Jon’s work is a weird exploration of sci-fi anxieties fueled by drugs, sex and navigating the unknown. Very natural feeling stuff.
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Benjamin Marra joined me to talk about his latest books. I had Ben on many years ago, so it was great to catch up and see how things have changed and what’s going on with his comics. His most recent book is Terror Assaulter: O.M.W.O.T. from fantagraphics. It’s an extreme visceral work that has some major punch to it. He’s trying to some new weird ways of straight forward story telling in it. I really liked it a lot. His other new work from Sacred Prism is the brightly coloured Blades and Lazers collection. It’s got monsters, tough guys and some great battling. I totally dig it. well worth checking out.
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I was joined by UK cartoonist, Sean Azzopardi to talk about his comics work. Sean has a range of different work ranging from genre series Necessary Monsters for the renewed First comics to his wandering autobio work like in Rain on Glass and Twelve Hour Shift, which I especially enjoyed for how he was able to explore the world around himself with an interesting compelling distance.
If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon.
Jane Mai joined me to talk about her new books, Soft from Peow and See You Next Tuesday from Koyama. Jane’s new books are very different but both great. See You Next Tuesday is a natural extension of her previous book from Koyama, Sunday In The Park With Boys. Really funny personal revealing sketchbook and off the cuff comics. Soft is more of a fleshed out contained story exploring the high drama and despair of teen romance.
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New Zealand cartoonist, Ant Sang, joined me to talk about his work in comics. Specifically we discussed the release of his classic work, Dharma Punks. Collecting the series he put out in the early 2000s, Dharma Punks is a fantastic look at passing through adolescent, reconciling nihilism and coming out at the end. I really liked this book and am happy to talk to Ant about it. More recently, he took his work into a different direction with the book Shaolin Burning.
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Drawing by Noah Van Sciver. Inkstuds has been on longer than he has been doing Blammo…
When I first started doing the Inkstuds 10 years ago. I had a whole other concept in mind. Inkstuds happened because it was the right time and right place. My friend Robin Fisher was moving to Montreal after hosting the Onomatopoeia show at CiTR for many years with the help of folks like Colin Upton, Donald King and Robin Konstabaris. She would go on to continue that for a number years at CJLO.
I had just left a really terrible job and was going to university to hope to never do a job like that again. So I had free time and there was a gap at the radio station for a show about comics. I had listened to CiTR as a stubborn teen seeking decent music in a city dominated by something called the FOX. I talked to Colin about continuing and we recorded a demo of us talking about the latest issue of World War 3 illustrated. It wasn’t great, but it filled the airwaves. At first, the show was intended to be just us talking about our fav comics with guests and occasional interviews. I grew to quickly hate that format. I don’t like filling the silence with nasely voice when there were far more interesting folks to talk to. We lucked out by having Seth as our first interview. Colin and I recorded that before the first show even aired. Somehow I was able to convince Drawn and Quarterly that it was a good idea.
Jen Vaugh and Al Columbia taken during one of many inkstuds roadtrips
Things on the show changed very quickly. As I was getting more familiar with what modern comics were like, the more interested I was in talking to folks actively making new work. I had worked in a comic store as a teen and that informed a lot of my knowledge when i first started the show. my preferred books were anything by Alan Moore and a bunch of vertigo things. That changed really quickly while doing the Inkstuds.
Me and Bougie in Times Square.
I went to SPX in 2006, joined by Robin Bougie who was tabling his books and making a killing when security wasn’t trying to cover his comics and zines with a tarp because it was too filthy. That show was a major revelation of just how much stuff was out there. Some folks were aware of the studs at the show, since there was only a handful of comics podcasts at that point. I spent most of weekend palling around with new favorite person Philip Barrett, who was already super familiar with everything and was a good man to have leading you around a room. I got to meet some really great folks that weekend.
photo stolen from Scott McCloud. I was so young once.
Since then Inkstuds has gone on to grow in leaps and bounds. The show has seen me interview well over 500 different cartoonists. When IÂ started the show, people joked with me about how long I could do this and still have new guests. That seems impossible now. Even in the last 3 years, North American comics have shifted dramatically. I am honestly struggling hard to stay on top of it.
TCAF many years ago with me, Pope, Graham and Hiti (we miss you Sam)
That’s one of the reasons you are seeing guests hosts on the studs lately. I am less interested in inkstuds being unitary institution and more excited about it being a source for interesting conversations with cartoonists. So far we have seen Katie Skelly and Sloane Leong join in, but expect more folks to come on, as well as those great peeps doing more interviews too. I should mention other past guest and cohosts like Colin Upton, Donald King, Robin Bougie, Robert Dayton, Jordyn Bochon, Kliph Nesteroff, Leonard Wong and a bunch more folks that I am completely forgetting about.
stolen from http://www.ttdila.com/2014/04/so-pen-ward-bryan-lee-omalley-and-jaime.html
Also big thanks to main bud, Brandon Graham who takes a break from his own busy cartooning career to join me behind the mic. Having Brandon take part has been amazing and providing some much needed energy when IÂ have been feeling particularly lagging behind is infectious enthusiasm.
Frank Santoro`s photo
Inkstuds isn’t going anywhere. There are still a lot of folks that I really want to interview as well as folks that i hope to provide the space for, for them to be able to do interviews.
If you like the studs and want to see more, consider supporting the patreon or just listen, comment, review, whatever. I could say a lot more about the history of the studs or whatever, but it`s not about me, it`s about the content. That`s on purpose. There`s a reason you don`t see my name plastered over everything that there is to do with Inkstuds. Which is probably terrible branding.
Harrow County artist Tyler Crook joined me to talk about his comics work. Tyler has been making some fantastic series with writer Cullen Bunn. Tyler also worked on a lengthy run of BPRD and Bad Blood both also for Dark Horse. Tyler first got notice for his art on the Petrograd graphic novel. He has been churning out some refined work really quickly. I am excited by his stuff and to see where he goes with it.
If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon.
I caught up with Gene Luen Yang to chat about work while he was in Vancouver for a writers festival. Gene’s latest work is Secret Coders illustrated by Mike Holmes and Shadow Hero with artist Sonny Liew. Gene has been actively putting out a wide range of comics capturing the young adult market. Starting with American Born Chinese, Gene has deftly exploring sensitive topics in a way that hit’s close to home for his young readers. Gene was one of the best in his field and i was very happy to get the chance to catch up with him.
If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon.
This week we’re talking to Iasmin Omar Ata who has recently finished their first longform webcomic MIS(H)ADRA. It is a meticulous exploration of the life of Isaac, a young epileptic Arab-American. It follows him as he comes to grips with his disability and attempts to move through an often inhospitable, insensitive and troublingly ignorant world. Iasmin has a unique visual voice and an intimately perceptive way of delivering a story.
You can find MIS(H)ADRA and more of Iasmins work here
If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon. Special thanks to Sloane for hosting this episode.
I caught up with Meags Fitzgerald while she was in Vancouver to talk about her books from Conundrum Press. Her latest book, Long Red Hair just came out a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great book looking at personal identity. Her other book is Photobooth, an immense illustrated immersive comic on the history of the photobooth. Meags is a great Canadian talent quickly creating some stellar work.
If you like this podcast and want to hear more, please consider supporting Inkstuds on Patreon.
