He’s Still “The Only Bear On The C.I.A. Death List!” COMICS! Sometimes SHAKO! Speaks!

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Posted by: John Kane on December 10, 2012

Categories: Interviews , Reviews

Rejoice fans of quality reviews! For to celebrate the release of the SHAKO! TPB collection I decided not to review it. For a start I won’t have any money until Christmas is over. And I’m talking there about the first Christmas after MiracleBoy leaves home in about 2025. No, I decided to do something else instead to celebrate this momentous occasion. What follows is not entirely sane but then again what is, my American friends, what is?!?

Creator vs. Critic #2– Abhay interviews Mark Sable re: Mat Brinkman’s MULTIFORCE

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 29, 2011

Categories: Interviews

WOLVES AND MOOSE!  THE RATTLESNAKE AND THE MONGOOSE!  COMIC CREATORS AND COMIC CRITICS! NATURAL ENEMIES ENGAGED IN A TERRIFYING DANCE OF DEATH.  BUT UNLIKE THE LAMBADA, THIS DANCE IS NOT FORBIDDEN, FOR THIS DANCE IS CALLED… CREATOR VS. CRITIC In the CREATOR corner, hailing from the mean streets of Hollywood, California– Mark Sable… author of GROUNDED, HAZED, TWO FACE YEAR ONE, CYBORG,TEEN TITANS: COLD CASE, WHAT IF SPIDER-MAN OH WAIT ALL THE JOKES ABHAY CAN THINK OF SEEM KIND OF RACIST NOW, FEARLESS, RIFT RAIDERS, and/or his latest book from Image Comics, GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES with Paul Azaceta (POTTER’S FIELD, SHI: SHOWDOWN IN BONERTOWN).  In the CRITIC corner, Abhay, author of such controversial  internet facebook status updates as “Iron Man Is Talking All Weird  in FEAR ITSELF“,…  Read More…

Creator vs. Critic– Abhay interviews Mark Sable about SECRET AVENGERS Issues #1 to #5

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on March 22, 2011

Categories: Interviews

COMIC CREATORS! COMIC CRITICS! NATURAL ENEMIES SINCE THE VERY DAWN OF TIME! An enmity forged in the fires of Malice! Born to hate, living to die, dying to love, but loving to fury– a fight that can only end one way: in the squared octagon. A SQUARED OCTAGON MADE UP OF LENGTHY BLOCKS OF DULL TEXT THAT WE CALL… CREATOR VS. CRITIC.   In the CREATOR corner, hailing from the mean streets of Hollywood, California– Mark Sable… author of GROUNDED, HAZED, TWO FACE YEAR ONE, CYBORG, TEEN TITANS: COLD CASE, WHAT IF SPIDER-MAN DID SOMETHING OR ANOTHER THAT I’M SURE WAS VERY INTERESTING, FEARLESS, and/or RIFT RAIDERS. Mark’s next book is GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES from Image Comics, with Paul Azaceta…  Read More…

An Interview with Donald Glut, by Abhay

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on March 31, 2010

Categories: Interviews

I noticed a promotional campaign for a vampire novel the other day:  PULP 2.0 Press, a pulp-fiction company, was promoting the re-release of BROTHER BLOOD, a “Blaxploitation” vampire novel written in 1969, set on Los Angeles’s Sunset Strip.  The author’s name– Donald Glut– rang a bell; sounded familiar.  Much later, I realized that I had seen his name any number of times in the last couple years, looking through the great old Warren magazines like EERIE for which he wrote extensively.  Some of you may also recognize his name from the novelization of the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Mr. Glut was gracious enough to agree to an interview.  I had intended this interview to concern his career in the comics, seeing…  Read More…

Every Band Has A Burrito Blade Who Loves Them: Part III of Jeff’s Talk with Adam Knave

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on April 9, 2009

Categories: Interviews

Part the last of my talk with Adam Knave, covering his webcomic, influences, and the ‘speed of ludicrous.’ My thanks to Mr. Knave for taking the time to talk to me, and all of you for taking the time to read it (or suffer through it in silence, depending). More jibbity-jab after the jump. JL: So how long have you been doing comics then between this and…I’m assuming you’re pretty new to it between this and Legend of the Burrito Blade and the other webcomic whose name has dodged me [Things Wrong With Me]… AK: I’ve only really been doing this for, good lord, probably less than a year, writing comics? JL: That is not a very long period of…  Read More…

Happiness Is A Warm Popgun: Part II of Jeff’s Talk with Adam Knave

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on April 8, 2009

Categories: Interviews

Yesterday was the first part of my interview with writer/editor Adam Knave, wherein I did a terrible job of getting him to talk about the third volume of Popgun, out today. Today, I do a slightly better job, and although I’m still meager with the art, it doesn’t look quite as tiny. The interview should conclude tomorrow, with discussion about Knave’s webcomic and influences. Part II is after the jump. JL: Anything else you want to add about Popgun? AK: It’s awesome and you should buy it? It’s funny; my mother is mostly an editor and also a writer. My father was a writer first and would occasionally edit. And I grew up self-identifying—I’m not like one of those kids…  Read More…

We Like the Guns, The Guns That Go Pop: Part I of Jeff’s Talk with Adam Knave.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on April 7, 2009

Categories: Interviews

Adam Knave is an assistant editor for the third volume of Popgun, out this Wednesday. He’s also a writer of prose and a webcomic writer, and from what I can tell he works his ass off. Other writers and artists have projects they describe as “boot camp,” for example, but Knave, along with artist Renato Pastor and editor Lauren Vogelbaum, are planning their webcomic to be a five year boot camp, one in which they’re already significantly ahead of what they have posted. I’m still learning the interviewer ropes so I apologize for the awkward breaks and pacing in the interview–I tried to keep this first part short then realized it was in fact too short. Part one is behind…  Read More…

Strangeways, Here We Come: Part 2 of A Talk With Matt Maxwell

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on November 14, 2008

Categories: Interviews

Yesterday, in Part One of ‘Jeff Lester Talks Too Much,’ I occasionally let Strangeways writer Matt Maxwell get a word in edgewise, and talk about his book Strangeways: Murder Moon, the current serialization of the second book, Strangeways: The Thirsty, on Blog@Newsarama, and writing for comics. Today, in Part Two, Matt talks about writing for comics, rewriting, self-editing, bad comics that are awesome, and awesome comics that are awesome. Like Part One, I talk too much, and the article should be cut into more than two parts. But I wanted to make sure this all went up before the weekend and not lose the momentum. Behind the jump: Part Two. JL: So, Strangeways. Where is it going, generally? The first…  Read More…

Strangeways, Here We Come: Part 1 of A Talk With Matt Maxwell

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on November 13, 2008

Categories: Interviews

I like Matt Maxwell. He strikes me as a good egg. He’s a little on the Eeyore-ish side of things–a bit dour, almost glum, without seeming unfriendly–which I also like. And when I finally sat down and read Strangeways: Murder Moon, the OGN that Matt wrote and published, I liked it, too. It wasn’t perfect, but I thought not only did it avoid a lot of rookie mistakes, it had a definite tone of voice to it–an understated one, which isn’t what one would expect to find in a horror western. Anyways. About a week-and-a-half ago, on the morning of APE, I sat down with Matt in a dim sum restaurant and tried to interview him about the evolution of…  Read More…

INTERVIEW: Abhay interviewed Ed Laroche, creator of ALMIGHTY.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 8, 2008

Categories: Interviews

ALMIGHTY is a 140-page self-published comic book created by Mr. Ed Laroche (with lettering by Jaymes Reed) that I purchased on a whim off the internet, based on the recommendation of a blog entry by comedian Patton Oswalt. It’s a straightforward post-apocalyptic action comic. Here is the back cover text in its entirety: “A girl has been abducted and a killer hired to find her and bring her home.” For a self-published comic by an unknown that I purchased off the internet, it exceeded my (low) expectations. I don’t think the main character’s arc is entirely earned, but I thought the action scenes were surprisingly accomplished. The book’s best action set piece is a 20 page sequence involving the main…  Read More…

My Dinner With Brill, Episode #1: Outrage is the New Fun?

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 13, 2008

Categories: Interviews

I always enjoy talking with Ian Brill–he inevitably brings a new angle on topics I’m considering–so when he asked if I’d be interested in doing a chat on fans and fun, I was more than game. I’d love to do more of these with him (although, don’t worry, first I’ll try to figure out how to run the “hide post behind jump” trick that commenters have pointed us toward recently), so let us know if that suits your fancy. IAN BRILL: Mark Waid has said in a CBR interview that “‘fun’ is a death word in comics these days.” I’m beginning to understand what he means by that. Seeing the reaction to One More Day, which I don’t want to…  Read More…

Abhay Says: "Here’s Part Two of a Review of Runoff, and Part Two of an Interview with Runoff creator Tom Manning"

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 22, 2007

Categories: Interviews , Reviews

This is part two of a two-part review of Runoff, a graphic novel created by Tom Manning that’s been published by OddGod Press and was created over the course of the last 8-ish years; plus part two of a bonus interview with Mr. Manning is featured at the end of the review. It was suggested to me last week in the comment section (thank you!) that I begin this week by noting the following: Guillermo Del Toro (director of Pan’s Labyrinth, the Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, etc.) is a fan of the comic, has in some capacity expressed “interest” in Runoff’s cinematic potential, and provided the following quote for the back of the third “Chapter”: “Tom Manning has created a world…  Read More…

Hi, I’m Abhay; Here’s Part One of a Review of Runoff, and Part One of an Interview with Runoff creator Tom Manning

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 12, 2007

Categories: Interviews , Reviews

Hello. This is part one of a review of Runoff, a horror-comedy, funny-animal, monster, all-ages gore comic mash-up from Tom Manning, published by OddGod Press. Runoff is comprised in its entirety (beginning, middle and end) of three “Chapters” — softbound graphic novels running 144 to 176 pages each. In total, roughly 456 pages of black and white comics (eventually plus greytones), drawn over the course of ~8 years. The book is set in a small, isolated town somewhere in the Pacific Northwest named Range, and the central mystery of the book is as follows: Range has been afflicted by a condition where people can enter into Range from the outside world but no one in Range can leave. Small towns…  Read More…