Just a couple a guys sittin' around talkin' about whatever—comics, Cons, people, porn, Tijuana...

We're kidding, we'll be serious now.

We had never heard of Sal Abbinanti before checking out one of his appearances on Comic Geek Speak a few years ago. We laughed our asses off for sure and thought, who is this guy..?! Later we found out about Atomika, Mercury Comics, Buzz and everything else.

He told us in today's interview that the first time he went on CGS to promote Atomika, he didn't like how pretentious he sounded, so he came back and kept it real. He talked about everything under the sun and just had some fun. You know, like guys do.

Well, it worked and the rest is podcast history. Sal's sense of humor is infamous! If you have sensitive ears, this ain't the one for you—trust.

All that aside, we do think he's a decent guy, and Atomika is a comic worthy of your attention. The concept is extremely interesting, the hero's design is iconic beyond words, and Sal gets the best of the best in this business to do covers for him. For this blog entry, we've featured the most recent ones by Travis Charest, Darwyn Cooke and Glenn Fabry! 

Since indie titles do have to promote, promote, promote, we caught up with Abbinanti on the 'AtomikaisinPreviewsagainsoletsgetthewordout' Tour. He's been humpin'-to-please trying to let everybody know what and where the book is, and we ain't mad at him. We wish him well.

Not much serious talk inside, folks, but hey, it is what it is. Sal kept us in literal stitches, as he has many times before on CGS, so it's all good!

Atomika at Mercury Comics

A little theme music for those that couldn't be with us.

See ya next year!

~ S & D

Doing it all is a rare trait in American comics. Doing it all and doing it well is even rarer. And that's exactly how illustrator Josh Middleton has made a name for himself.

He started his career as a young artist back in the late '90s at CrossGen, the Tampa-based comic book publisher. He and a bunch of creators signed on for what looked like a bold new direction in the making of comics—and it was.

After relocating to Florida from Pennysylvania, Josh worked on their title Meridian and fans ate it up. But it wasn't long before things went South (pun intended), and he and others decided to part ways with the maverick company.

Post CrossGen, Josh pubbed a creator-owned project called Sky Between Branches with a European company, Com.X. The preview issue of the book, got the attention of Joe Quesada at Marvel and he asked Middleton to collaborate with him on a little something called NYX.

That book was, of course, a huge hit and from there Josh worked on Superman/Shazam First Thunder over at DC. He's also done a ton of covers over the last few years for titles like New Mutants, American Virgin, Vixen and Supergirl.

As implied earlier, this guy is somewhat of a white tiger. He's one of few comic artists living here in the States who handles all the art chores himself. Every bit. You tend to see more of that sort of thing in places like Europe, so it makes him a rare breed on this soil.

In the interview, we cover some background, the 'dark days in Tampa' (HIGH-larious), many of the projects mentioned above, and just why he decided to take the reins and do it all himself.

Plus, Josh gives us the inside scoop on his recent book cover illustrations for Tor and Scholastic, and tells some funny stories about his recent experiences in Hollywood.

Middleton's Site

Once again, we here at SiDEBAR must confess to being late to the party. We really just became acquainted with Brad Holland's work in the last three years or so. Well, actually for me (Swain), that's not accurate. You see, my father had a rather sizable Playboy collection and I used to sneak them out to ogle all the interesting artwork (never cared much for the articles). Anyway...

Brad's been a 'creator of images' (that's a nice safe title) for almost four decades now and he's still going strong. In our opinion, his career and contributions to the art community are marked by several events.

One, his work for the earlier referenced Playboy Magazine. A gig he got when he was in his 20's and his big break, some would say.

Two, his terrific pieces published on the Op-Ed page of the NY Times in the mid '70s. The page's editor was the late Harrison Salisbury, a noted author himself and Pulitzer Prize winner.

And three, his tireless efforts in the area of preserving creative copyrights for intellectual properties. Brad's one of the founding members of the Illustrators Partnership of America, and he's been a vocal opponent of things like the Orphan Works Bill from day one. 

Prolific is a word often given to describe Holland's output of art over the years, but it's horribly understating. A rough tally of his body of illustrations falls somewhere in the, ohh...7000 range! That's a good 'guestimate' from the man himself and a staggering one, to say the least.

Our talk with him ended up being everything we strive for in a podcast—interesting, funny, informative, honest and insightful. If you hear Dwight and I being curiously silent during the conversation (it doesn't happen often, so cherish it), it's because we were listening.

And absorbing. And digesting.

You see, Brad's an extremely well read guy and we didn't even wanna pretend we could hang. We decided to adopt a boxer's philosophy—we stayed on our toes, but stayed out of the way! After all, it's not often that these two art nerds get to hear a fella like Brad Holland tell his story. We didn't wanna miss a thing.

His Site

A great vid about Brad

The BBALM

**Our thanks to Brad for making some time to chat with us—it was surreal (he'll get that).

Also, many thanks to Jason Manley at ConceptArt.org, Richard Solomon and Bryan Beus for their help in facilitating his appearance on the show. It was invaluable.

Picture provided by Jonathan Twingley.

Tomm is an awesome artist I discovered last year on a fill-in issue of Moon Knight. I dug his work, did some googling and found out he's been doing his thing off and on since the early '90s. Well, kill the off 'cause it's definitely on now. His art on Marvel's new Daredevil Noir mini-series will turn some heads—and with good reason.

Knowing a little about the guy's backstory makes his work all the more interesting. Tomm got into comics at the tender age of 17, worked for several major publishers, made great money, lost his way, then left the business to find it.

Along his journey, he did storyboards for commercials, animated TV shows, movies like The Mummy and The Watcher, and music videos like Aaron Carter's 'How I Beat Shaq' (sadly, we forgot to ask him about that one).

After some years away, he was lured back to his first love in 2003 by Vertigo, to work on a vampire mini-series called Blood & Water. Blood introduced comic fans to a brand new Coker. Tomm's drawing had matured and become much stronger. He was spotting blacks like crazy and his images were grittier and more realistically rendered.

He followed that series up with things like The Monolith for DC, an issue of The Ride for 12-Gauge (sweet), and covers for Exiles and Agents of Atlas over at Marvel. It was all good!

And you can put his current project, Daredevil Noir, up there as well. Written by Alexander Irvine, Noir is a DD story told 'Elseworld' style with a serious crime fiction overtone. Issue #1 is out now and I'm feelin' it big time. Go pick it up!

Now, the other thing about Tomm that I haven't mentioned is, he's a movie director. He made a feature film back in 2007 called Catacombs with his friend, screenwriter David Elliot. It stars the lovely Shannyn Sossamon and pop singer Pink, and it's a horror picture of sorts, set under the streets of Paris.

Tomm rocked it for his directorial debut and while the movie's completion had its hurdles, it's definitely worth checking out (look for the director's cut).

We cover all of the above and more in our very candid talk with this Renaissance Man. Plus, he shares lots of cool stories about comics, art, filmmaking and just...life in general. Hope you enjoy!

**A special shout of thanks to David Elliott for his unplanned appearance on this episode.

This is Part II of our interview with Adam and he's still crackin' us up! We were rolling! But in between the laughs, he still dropped lots of gold nuggets as far as art and illustration go.

For those who're unfamiliar with his work (all two of you), this is an excellent opportunity to hear from an artist's artist. A guy who's admirers include, not only comic fans and art collectors, but his peers as well.

We start this second half off discussing his killer line of comicquettes for Sideshow Collectibles, then ease into some Star Wars talk. Adam is a huge fan of the franchise and so is Dwight. I must confess to being slightly anemic on the subject, so I kept my mouth shut!

Anyway, those two mix it up like Luke and Vadar in Empire, only no one loses an arm (ha!).

After that, we get into topics like commissions and eBay flipping, Hughes' recent work for Playboy Magazine, and of course, the infamous 'All-Star' question.

Adam was the best and we thank him much for hanging out with us. He, like many of our other guests, was awesome to put up with me and Dwight's shenanigans!

There are guys who can draw and then there are guys who can DRAW. And after those guys, there are these other guys who can DRAW women—damn well, I might add! That's Adam Hughes.

Adam falls in a long line of illustrators who create exceptionally beautiful images of the fairer sex—Gil Elvgren, George Petty, Vargas, Dave Stevens. And we put him right up there with all those folks! The grace and expression he's able to capture in the female form is masterful. Not many artists see it...the way he sees it.

Dwight and I have known Adam in passing pretty much since he moved to Atlanta from New Jersey. He was one of the early members of a local art collective, Gaijin Studios and I believe, that's where I first met him.

I was visiting Gaijin (The Honeycomb Hideout) with a buddy back in 1994 and wandered into his space as if invited in.

"Hey, who's that?"

"Umm, Power Girl."

"Wow, you draw pretty good, man!"

"Umm...thanks."

**curious look on his face**

Later, after my 'genius' moment, I went out and bought his runs on Maze Agency, JLA, Legionaires and a pant load of covers (sorry about the visual).

Dwight says his conversion took place upon seeing Hughes' short, but sweet stint on Dark Horse's Ghost series.

About ten years ago, Adam stopped doing sequentials and became a cover artist exclusively. This wasn't by choice. Many of his clients began to only comission him for cover work. We, like the rest of his fans, started feenin' for more gorgeous interiors, but happily made due with his many Wonder Woman, Catwoman and Tomb Raider covers.

Now, one of the things that makes today's interview so special is, it's Part I of a II-Parter. We had a long, fruitful conversation with the man and lots of cool stuff came out of it, so we decided to break it in half.

The other thing is—he had us in stitches! Adam has a serious wit and he's quick with it, too! I'm sure many of his fans don't get to see that side of him, so brace yourselves. We had a blast hanging out with the guy and we hope you enjoy listening in!

Just Say AH!

We've been fortunate to have a few firsts on SiDEBAR and today's episode is no exception. Francis Vallejo is still technically a student at Ringling, but shows such incredible promise, we invited him on for a chat.

He's a painter with a penchant for oils and he sights some pretty heavy weight influences: Norman Rockwell, Ilya Repin, Nicolai Fechin, Dean Cornwell, James Jean. We can't argue with his taste—at all!

Francis came to our attention like so many others do. People started singing his praises and his name began popping up everywhere. We visited his site and after snooping a bit, we too, joined the chorus! This young man has skill and vision beyond his years.

In our talk with him, he discusses his old stomping grounds in Detroit, his intense love of art and Hip Hop, a superstar teacher and mentor of his, George Pratt, and recent projects he's contributed to like Totoro and Microvisions.

Graduation is in May, but before he jumps right into the professional ranks, looks like Vallejo will be studying abroad for a while—in Saint-Petersburg, Russia at the Repin Academy (wow, do your thing, sir)!

We wish Francis the absolute best over in Saint-Pete and in all of his future endeavors. He's a cool kid who's star is certainly on the rise.

**For this episode, we played snippets of the following songs: Lupe Fiasco's Superstar, Dead Prez' Hip Hop, Eminem's Stan, Kanye West's Through the Wire, Beanie Siegel's Rock the Mic and Ch-Check It Out by The Beastie Boys.

Some days podcasting is so much fun, we'd almost do it for free.

(Hold up...we ARE doing it for free!) **stops to call his agent**

Well, I'm sure if food and shelter weren't such a looming factor, DC might be able to get Dustin Nguyen to draw Batman for free. Might! The guy has such a thing for that character and we ain't mad at him—he draws the hell out of some Batman!

He's been the regular artist on Detective Comics for a year now, alongside his faithful collaborators, writer Paul Dini and inker Derek Fridolfs. Those three have been putting it down on that book from day one and I for one, dig it!

I was a Dini fan from his awesome work in animation with Bruce Timm. And Derek and Dustin have been an art team going back to their early Jet days at Wildstorm.

A quick moment to gush, if I may. Nguyen's covers for Detective, especially the super-gorgeous watercolor ones he's been doing lately, are like whoa! We have a saying here down South that I must apply—"Dude put his foot in those damn covers!" Don't worry, it's a compliment.

In our chat with him, we discuss his beginnings in Georgia, before planting roots in California, the industrial design work he did prior to getting into comics, some fun times at Wildstorm Studios, and a few titles he's worked on like Wildcats 3.0 and Manifest Eternity.

Also covered is his new Batman series—Streets of Gotham, friends and mentors like Eric Canete, Sean Murphy and Jim Lee, and a couple of personal projects he's got cookin', too.

Never a dull moment hangin' with Mr. Dustin Nguyen. He's got energy for days and I for one, am jealous!

**And post-interview congrats to Dustin for Batman: Heart of Hush hitting #2 on the NY Times Best Sellers List for graphic novels.

This one's sorta NSFW, kids, so don't play yourself at the Joe Job.

We talked to Bob about coming on the show when we ran into him at the NYCC and had no idea how uncensored it would get. Not that he's all about the filthy language or anything (notice I said all). But colorful adjectives aside, he was very candid and very, very open about his life and career. The guy laid it out there.

Backing things up a bit, our connection to the man, of course, goes back to his stellar runs on Iron Man in the '80s with writer David Michelinie. I read those books as a 17 year old kid and loved 'em! Iron Man had everything I wanted in a comic—over the top fight scenes, cool characters, fun stories, drama! It was just the best!

Later on, I ended up checking out his Hercules mini-series and a few of the titles he worked on over at Valiant Comics. And I must admit to being a little less familiar with the Valiant stuff, as my fascination with girls at the time began to emerge (boo-yow).

After Stan Lee, Layton's name is probably the next one to pop up if you're talking about Iron Man. He and David's contributions to the character are indelible, and their "Demon in a Bottle" storyline truly broke new ground during the Bronze Age.

We get into all that in the interview with him and thankfully, a few more goodies too! Like his early days in Indianapolis, being an apprentice to the late Wally Wood, how he and Michelinie got the job working on Iron Man, and his persona back then as a flashy dresser (dude, looked like a straight pimp!).

He also shares a few fond memories from his Valiant days, describes his departure and return to comics, and tells us about all the stuff he's got comin' up.

This one was a hoot and indeed uncensored, but in Bob's own words, "I've always tried desperately to keep one foot in the real world."

Bob's Site

An artist friend of ours once referred to Tommy Lee as "Boss Player" and I guess we can we can see why. Even though the guy is way laid back and approachable, you can just tell he's got some cool stuff goin' on behind the scenes. And he does—trust! But more on that later...

I first got hip to Tommy back when he and Rick Veitch did that Question series for DC in 2005. His lines had all this crazy energy and charisma to 'em. I remember looking at those bold ass gestures and thinking, "Man, this guy has no fear!" Plus, he colored the book too, which also stood out to me.

We ended up meeting him and the rest of The BLVD Studio at a Heroes Con in Charlotte the next year. All super nice guys, by the way, and all major talents in their own rights.

After The Question, Edwards worked on Bullet Points, What If, covers for Daredevil, and 1985 with writer Mark Millar. All over at Marvel. As a matter of fact, most of his mainstream comic book work since '05 has been for Marvel. Hmm...

Beyond comics, his name is also a staple in the movie world. He's contributed to the style guides on a couple of films you may have heard of: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Men in Black II, Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

Not to mention, he's doing concept art for a Hughes Brothers picture that's in production right now. Here's a teaser for you—there's an Oscar-winner in the lead role who's a huge star. Now, that's what we call makin' moves!

We cover that project, his craft, Star Wars, conventions and comic shops, and everything else we could in the time we had with TLE. Hope you enjoy this special extended episode and we'll see ya next time!

TLE's Site

**For this one, we played snippets of the following: Will Smith's "Men In Black", Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California", Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It", "Duel of Fates" from Star Wars and Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild".

My first real connection with John Paul's art was at a Heroes Con back in 2006, I think. I had, of course, seen his epic work on Marvel's Earth X series, but up until then, was more a casual fan. That weekend, we met all the guys from The BLVD Studio and Dwight picked up their three sketchbooks (all of which are great, by the way).

Later that night, we attended the Art Auction which is always one of the high points of the convention. I'm standing in front of the original art display, floored by this one killer Wolverine piece, and I can tell this guy next to me is feelin' the same way (it was the hotness).

We go back and forth for a minute, then I look up and realize the guy is Tony Harris---the artist from Ex-Machina! Tony is pretty amazing himself and apparently, a big Leon fan (later that year, JP ended up doing an Ex-Mach Halloween special). You just never know... 

The man's vitals are these: he was born in NYC, but makes his home in Miami. He started working professionally at the age of 16 doing stuff for TSR's Dungeons & Dragons magazine. He graduated from SVA with a bachelors degree in fine art. He's a member of The BLVD Studio with four other exceptional artists---Sean Chen, Bernard Chang, Trevor Goring and Tommy Lee Edwards. He created licensing artwork for the mega-hit film Batman Begins and also contributed to the Superman Returns style guide.

And he rocked it on all of the following comic titles: Tom Strong, Wintermen, Midnighter, Scalped, both Ex-Machina specials and DMZ. 

I've been a staunch JP fan ever since that time in Charlotte (isn't it obvious?). In my almost never humble opinion, you'd be hard pressed to find a bolder, more dramatic storyteller working in comics today. Leon's approach is near-cinematic, to quote a friend of mine, and I can't front---I'm lovin' every frame of it.

Oh, and he's famous on YouTube, too!    

JP's Site

We're stoked that we finally got to speak to Joao (pronounced "Joo-whoa"). He's been on our radar as someone to check for for a good minute. I know I've been visiting his site for at least eight months---long before the Fables announcement was made.

To be perfectly honest, when we talked to Jon Foster way back when, I remember Dwight and me asking him about Ruas. We were thumbing through Spectrum 14, right before Jon's interview, and got curious if he knew Joao. Jon said he didn't, but agreed that the man's work was impressive. More SiDEBAR serendipity (whoopee!).

And not to glaze over the important stuff---yes, he is the new Fables cover artist. Yes, he's awesome. And yes, YES, we got the inside scoop on the road he traveled to get to this point.

We titled this one "introducing" for a reason. Even though Joao's done a few interviews in the last year, we feel especially proud to be his first podcast. We think an art literate show, such as ours, is the best place for fans to hear this hot new artist in his own words.

As to this blog entry---sorry folks, but we're not gonna reveal one single thing about him here. WE WANT YOU TO LISTEN IN! C'mon, now...

What we will give up is that he lives in Brazil, he's 28 years old, he's an excellent choice for the Vertigo gig---and that's all!

Oh yeah, and his English is about ten times better than our Portuguese. That part, I'm sure, is no surprise (ha).

Adeus!

**Two things: We wanna thank Pamela Mullin at DC Publicity for hooking us up with Joao---she really looked out!

Also, for this episode, we played "Hush" by Jellyfish and "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Jay-Z.

 

 

Joao's Site

It's always fun when you get to holler at a personal fav. A creator who, whether they're on a huge mainstream title or a smaller, lesser known one, you'd still buy their stuff anyway. 'Cause they're just that damn good!

Well, if you haven't had the pleasure, let me introduce you to one of my favs—Mr. Ryan Sook!

Ryan is an artist who's name comes up on all his peer's Top 5 lists. And they all say the same things about him. "He's a superb draftsman", "A beautiful renderer", "Ryan Sook has talent for sheezy". Okay, I added that last one, but I swear the others are quote, unquote!

I've been on Sook's trail ever since I discovered his Seven Soldiers: Zatanna run with Grant Morrison. From there, I hunted down X-Factor, The Spectre and Hawkman, plus his covers for Friday the 13th, Birds of Prey and Countdown.

While his most recent job is a short story in Final Crisis: Resist, most of Ryan's time is spent working in DC's Licensing Branch. He helps create the images that end up on a lot of their games and merch. As a matter of fact, he told us that over the last year of doing license work, he's had the good fortunate to ink the great Jose Luiz Garcia-Lopez—another DC licensing vet! How cool is that?!

In the interview, we get into how his career began, his past on titles like Zatanna and X-Factor, his approach to creating comic covers, and dealing with "moving deadlines".

We also chat him up about his Dad who's a graphic designer, his friendship with Mike Mignola and DC Art Director Mark Chiarello, and his brand new sketchbook Preliminati.

Ryan's Site

We'll try and keep this one short and sweet. This is our panel audio from the New York Comic Con last month and it was all about being a pro. Lots of great back and forth from the audience, much knowledge was imparted, and of course, a few laughs were had.

Our featured panelists were Paolo Rivera and Eric Canete, and you know both these dudes from Marvel's Mythos, Spiderman, The End League and Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin—so don't front! They were awesome to sit in and help D and I out, and we thank them profusely.

Speaking of profuse thanks, we need to direct some of that to a few other special people:

First up, Peter Tatara and Kim Mueller of the NYCC staff. Those two folks and everyone else at the show were extraordinarily nice to us and we thank 'em for having us.

Also, big ups to Madame Xanadu artist, Amy Reeder-Hadley and Haunted Tank writer, Frank Marraffino for stopping by and saying hello. Vertigo in the house!

And without a doubt, much love to Sarah Jane Sapang and Ron Salas, artists, friends and listeners of the podcast. They too were kind enough to come through and support us.

**Pic provided by comic writer and friend, Jon Tsuei—'preciate it, "Sway"! Snippet provided by Madonna.

It was bound to happen. The film is mere days away and we decided to sit down and chop up Moore and Gibbons' landmark series in the best way we knew how—by bringin' in some help!

We took it back to Titan Games & Comics, since we had so much fun there the last time, and joining us in the 'round:

Adrian J. aka Inazuma Tiger, a friend and up-and-coming artist who frequently posts on our message board. He was with us the first time we hung out at Titans.

Christian Sager, a local comic writer we've gotten to know over the last year. Sager has two creator-owned properties he's currently launching: Border Crossings and Partial Invasive. You can take a look at the former here.

And finally, Titans Store Manager and passionate comics fan, Mike Loewnau. I've known Mike for several years and figured he'd bring up some awesome points about the series (he did). Plus, he kindly let us crash his place again, so many thanks to him!

Actually, we wanna thank all three of these fellas for jumpin' in the fray with us and offering up their opinions. They rocked it!

**For this special Watchmen episode, we played snippets of Smashing Pumpkins' The End is the Beginning is the End.

JP's name has been comin' up on this show since literally day one. He's an accomplished artist and illustrator who's resume includes companies like Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games, Bantam, Tor and Warner Books. Dwight got a chance to meet him at the ConceptArt Workshop in San Francisco, back in '05, and became an overnight fan. When he got back, D regaled me with tales of huge 3x5 foot canvases, live painting demos and lots of oohing and aahing!

Needless to say, it was only gonna be a matter of time before we reached out to JP and extended the offer of a podcast chat—and here we are.

While he has an extensive background in illustration, book covers to be precise, Targete's current title is Art Director at Ignition Florida. His job, he tells us, is to set the look and tone of a video game, then guide the visuals through all the various stages to completion. Outside of his AD position at Ignition, JP says he still picks up freelance gigs, but laments that there's only so much time in the day to get it all done (we feel you, sir).

Also covered in our conversation is his relationship with his Dad, who's an architect, JP's days painting romance book covers (Fabio!), some stories about the life of an illustrator, and a description of the term he calls "Dark Fantasy".

Our thanks to the man for takin' a minute to hang out with us. We had an excellent time!

**Another thank you goes out to our buddy, Chuck Harper, for submitting some questions for JP through our message board. Go, Chuck!

J.P.'s Site

A month or so ago, we took a page out of the CGS playbook and set up a call-in event for listeners and forum members. It turned out awesome and we got to hear from many of the "voices" on our msg board for the very first time.

Also, a few people who regularly check out the show that we've never heard from, hit us up as well. It was the coolest!

We're gonna try and do it at least twice a year, but for this inaugural event, we wanna say thanks to everyone who gave us a shout—Mpol, lightbombmike, Jake Ekiss, MarkCalifornia, Chuck, Charlie, Steve E. Wonders, Inazuma Tiger, ChrisCandide and Musashi! 'Preciate you all much!

**For this episode, we played several snippets of music randomly and for your pleasure: "Request Line" by Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three, "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode, "Pick It Up" by Poison Clan and "Hello" by Lionel Ritchie.

Also, big apologies for being so late with getting this out. Life reared its ugly head...

...then let me take a bite! That was MJ back in the day before his...umm...troubles.

The New York Comic Con was a sold out success (yeah, that's right, SOLD OUT) and Dwight and I, as your two resident art nerds, are happy to have been a part of it. We owe all of our participation to our friend, artist Paolo Rivera, and also to Peter Tatara and Kim Mueller of the NYCC staff. Everyone working for the show was awesome, gracious and helpful as all get out.

We moderated a panel called The Do's and Dont's of Being a Comics Professional which, by the way, turned out beautifully. Very well attended, lots of good information imparted and we didn't come off like complete idiots (notice I said complete).

Our panelists were, of course, Paolo and also another friend, Eric Canete, who from now on shall be referred to as "Our Hero". Our Hero stepped in at the last minute, joined Paolo as a speaker, and they both rocked the house with their insight and honesty. The crowd asked a ton of questions and those two guys did their thing. We thank them much...

To hear a quickie audio recap of the weekend's events (a B-side, if you will), click here. To check out our flickr set from the Con, click here. Otherwise, we again wanna thank the NYCC for having us and we're lookin' forward to next year—and Chi-town (ya-yuhh)!

"Change in life is inevitable. My advice to you—embrace it and move on." - R. Hardy

Man, what a statement of truth that is. For some, probably a painful one. For artist, Jason Shawn Alexander, change has served him and his art, pretty damn well.

We first became acquainted with my man's work through rather odd and circuitous means. Dwight bought the Dark Horse mini-series, The Secret, just because he dug the covers. Me, well I was a big Gotham Central fan, scooped up the two issues Jason did with Ed Brubaker, and thought, "Hmm, nice, but who's this dude?" Three months ago, a forum member named MarkCalifornia posted a link to Jason's blog on the board, raving about the teaser images from his upcoming Dead Irons book.

And most recently, I stumbled across his official website through a series of links, went nuts going through his gallery goodness, then realized he was the same guy from all of the above. We're so sharp here at the 'Bar...

The fast-forwarded version of JSA's bio goes like this: born in Iowa, raised in Tennessee and self-pubbed after high school before doing Empty Zone at Sirius Entertainment. Moved to North Carolina, hung out with George Pratt and Kent Williams, took up traditional painting and he's been extra awesome ever since! Oh yeah, and he now lives in Los Angeles.

To be serious for a minute (not Sirius), we used the word evolution in the title 'cause that's what truly transpired along Jason's journey. His growth and maturity from his younger days is absolutely undeniable and it was moving to hear him speak honestly about his desire to just be more.

Dwight and I chatted with him from his LA studio about all of the above and well, everything else in between. It's a pretty full conversation and definitely gives you some insight into the mind of one Jason Shawn Alexander.

Be warned though, once inside—there's an awful lot of single malt Scotch (ha)!

Forum member and friend, Inazuma Tiger (a.k.a. Adrian), is an Atlanta resident like us and Dwight and I hit him up to join us for a little roundtable chit-chat. He used to work for a local comic shop called The Comic Company and many of the geeks in our circle used to frequent that fine establishment. It was a fun place and Dick Schwartz, the man who owned and operated it, was a good guy. Dick has since retired, closed Comic Company, and somehow, someway we ran into Adrian several years later—on our msg board! How's that for serendipity!

So who knows? Maybe the whole comic shop connection explains why the three of us ended up meeting at Titan Games & Comics in Duluth, GA. I've been a Titan customer since I was sixteen, have a pretty good rapport with all the managers (Chuck and Mike especially) and gave 'em a call to see what the haps. Beth was there that day, said no problemo, as long as she could be out the door by 7PM. We said cool and it was on!

Our conversation took place right by the front door of the store, but surprisingly, it wasn't that noisy. Eric was there too helping Beth run things, and he and she both jump in from time to time.

We nerded out for about 90 minutes that night and had an awesome time doing it! Many thanks to Beth and Eric for graciously allowing us to hang out. Titan is great and if you're ever in their neck of the woods—spend lots of money!

You know his work and you love it! All those covers for Rush City, Batman and Scalped. His interior pages for The Losers, Faker and Green Arrow: Year One. His early stuff on Judge Dredd and Lenny Zero. You love it all and if you say you don't—it's 'cause you haven't seen 'em yet (ha)!

Jock, like a lot of European artists working in mainstream American comics, is kicking much ass and taking names. His style is so gritty and edgey, his compositions so well staged—he can't help but stand out from the crowd. You won't find too many artists today making better use of negative space than he does.

My first exposure to his art was in the Green Arrow series mentioned above, a book he did with his frequent collaborator, Andy Diggle. I must admit, after one look, I was hooked and immediately went out and grabbed, ohh...EVERYTHING ELSE HE'S DONE! And I haven't looked back!

Dwight and I caught up with the Scottish-born artist at his studio in Totnes, England and tried to get him to spill the beans about everything. Turns out, there were no beans to spill! He's just a regular guy, who's the coolest of the cool, and he's got crazy skills behind the drawing board (works for us).

In our chat, we find out how he got the nickname Jock, how he ended up as the cover artist on Jason Aaron's Scalped and some inside scoop on the progress of The Losers movie, which is in production. He also tells us about his new Hellblazer graphic novel, his taste in movies (bad '70s horror flix) and we toss in a few famous names for good measure: actor and director, Peter Berg and talented pop singer, Christina Aguilera.

OK, so maybe there were a few beans.

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Beck's "Loser" in honor of Jock and Andy's project going to the big screen.

Jock's Site

We wrote about this event back in the fall of 2008 and word has it, it was a big success. In light of that news, we thought it would be cool to have one of the founders on, Pat Wilshire, to discuss the show's inaugural year and future plans. Pat and his wife Jeannie seem to have started something really special in their hometown of Altoona, PA, and we're super excited that he took some time out to talk with us.

As we mentioned in that other blog post, IlluXCon was designed to be more of an illustration "symposium", not a convention. The goal, as Pat describes it, was to create an intimate mingling bewteen artists, students, collectors and anyone else with a desire to learn about and celebrate, art. Membership (yes, that's right) would be limited to maximize the one on one time for not only the attendees, but also for the guests. This is the kinda show where an artist who wants to hear a lecture from a peer, can get up from their table—and go hear it! Kinda neat!

Last year's guest list, well—it was a doozie! Boris Valejo, Julie Bell, Stephen Hickman, John Jude Palencar, Ian Miller, Dave Dorman, Justin Sweet, Michael Whelan and Greg Hildebrandt were some of the stellar names that were on-site that November weekend. And from what we hear, most of 'em will be returning in 2009.

In the interview with Pat, he gives us the lowdown on his background as an original art collector with The llustration Exchange, why he and Jeannie started IlluXCon, some of the challenges they had making it happen, and how bright the days ahead look like for this awesome event.

**For the first episode of the New Year, we played a snippet U2's kick ass song!

IlluXCon Site

Let's see, what can we tell you about our friend, Frank Stockton? He lives in NYC, although he was born in California. He's a recent art school grad, but already has a huge list of high-profile clients. He just moved into his new place in Greenwich Village and he's friends with the equally amazing James Jean and Jillian Tamaki. Oh yeah, and he was sick as a dog the night Obama won (you'll have to hear him tell that story).

I found Frank's site like I find many sites—trolling the Internet in the wee hours (kinda like I'm doing right now). He wrote an entry called "Growing Pains" that was linked on Drawn!, and it was all about inspiration and influences. Not just creative influences, but people who've influenced his perspective on the business of art as well (Charles Schultz, Walt Disney, Todd McFarlane). I immediately loved his work and found his words to be thoughtful and honest—so it was on! After a few polite back and forths, Frank kindly agreed to come on and chat with Dwight and I.

In the interview, he talks about his background, attending Art Center in Passadena, comic books, his competitive nature, sex museums (yeah, you heard me), the election results and the eternal debate: art vs. commerce.

And just to set the record straight, to us, he's the one and only Frank Stockton. It seems he comes from a long line of Stocktons and one of them wrote the famous short story, "The Lady, or the Tiger?". Go figger!

**For this episode with Frank, we played snippets of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" and "I Wanna Sex You Up" by the aptly named, Color Me Badd.

Welcome back for Part II with writer and illustrator Mark Schultz—the man from PA!

This time Mark, Dwight and I are joined in the interview by our friend and forum member, Atomic 99...sort of. We posted a note on the SiDEBAR msg board about Mark's upcoming appearance, and 99 dropped a bunch of hot questions for him. So today, in spirit, he holds down the forth mic!

Topics covered in this second half are: black & white vs. color, writing prose for Flash: Stop Motion, rewriting scripts for Lucasfilm, art agents or the lack thereof, web presence (...or the lack thereof), "Hey guys, I can't hear you anymore!", Storms at Sea, Various Drawings #4 and small towns in rural Pennsylvania.

There's more than that in this here podcast, but you'll have to tune in to hear it!

Our sincerest thanks to Mark for chatting with us so long and being so gracious. Also, it would behoove you to pick up Storms and VD #4 when they come out—Mr. Schultz NEVER disappoints!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Jamie Cullum's All at Sea, and for two reasons: in honor of Mark's new project and us still being all over the place!

The tagline for this episode isn't just a bunch of innocent hyperbole. We started off with some very creator-appropriate questions for our interview with writer and artist Mark Schultz—and ended up throwing 'em out the window! Once we got on the phone with him, the three of us connected, the "Conversation Muse" took over, and let's just say we happily followed its lead!

Don't get us wrong, there's tons of insight in there about the man. His opinions on music, art, comics, storytelling, capitolism, life—they're all present. We just didn't take the road most traveled to get to them. Call it, the scenic route—how 'bout that?

In all seriousness, Mark does confirm much of what you've probably heard about him. He's a brilliant and astute creator, talented beyond belief, a gentleman, and a genuinely fun guy to chat with. We ended up keeping things very informal and down-to-earth, and that we think, makes it all the more revealing.

Two of Mr. Schultz's current projects did however get official coverage in the upcoming Part II. The first being his soon-to-be released illustrated novella, Storms at Sea. The second, another Various Drawings book. This one will be number four in the series (yes!) and both will be pubbed by his longtime publisher and friend, John Flesk.

Below is an image from Storms and at a glance, it looks a little like Key Largo, with a healthy dose of sci-fi thrown in for good measure. Not sure if that's what it is, but either way, we wait impatently for it.

 

**As implied above, this is only Part I with Mark, so look for Part II in a few days.

I first started trading emails with Mark Behm (pronounced like "beam") after seeing his artbook, Nightwork, advertised on the Brandstudio Press website. The excerpts from it were amazing, so I started looking around for an official site on the artist. Lo and behold, there was one—and a blog!

I visited a few times and eventually sent a note, which is how Mark and I became Internet-acquainted. The funny thing was, he mentioned in one of our exchanges that he was already a listener to SiDEBAR, and really enjoyed the show. Needless to say, I was thrown—that doesn't happen often! Sitting in a basement, speaking into a microphone to somebody on the telephone...well. After a while, you start feeling like you're the only one who knows you're doing it!

Anyway, back to our guest. As I said earlier, Mark's an amazing artist and versatile as all get out. His blog is rife with gorgeous painted images, character designs, 3D stuff and some kick-ass life drawing studies. He feels like he's interested in a few too many things, but Dwight and I, of course, love the variety! You get to see something different every time you drop by his site.

Behm just recently left his gig at Dreamworks and made the switch to Valve, a video game company out of Washington state. But if you're curious about his filmwork past, he was a part of the creative teams that brought you Madagascar 2, Shrek the Third, Robots and The Ant Bully. In the interview, he pulls back the curtain on Mad 2 and gives us a little peek into the challenges of working on a huge, animation project.

We also talk a good bit about his dad who was an artist as well, growing up loving Star Wars, DrawerGeeks! and how you've got to make time to do your own stuff—even if it's at night.

Check Mark out at his sketchblog and pick up a copy of Nightwork too!

Nathan Massengill is a friend of ours and it's been a long time coming getting him on the show.  We met him at the first Atlanta Comics Expo back in 2007, and consider ourselves fortunate to have done so.  The three of us struck up a conversation at an ACE after party and I think we were all shocked—it wasn't the same old party chit-chat!  Nathan dropped some serious knowledge on Dwight and I that evening and I guess we haven't stopped talking since.

While he's an excellent all-around artist and painter (folks, he can paint), Nathan's professional weapons of choice are usually pen and brush. Inking, I'm sure, allows him the time to be on many more projects than full art chores ever would.  You can witness his mighty brushwork on a ton of titles too: Wonder Girl, Indiana Jones, Marvel Adventures, Batman, Deadpool, Tellos, Vampirella Strikes...

And let us not forget, NAM (his nickname) recently joined the art team that brings you JSA every month—pencils by Dale Eaglesham and covers by Alex Ross!

For the interview, we convened at Casa de Massengill, grabbed some chips and dip, looked at some original artwork and just had a good time.  The conversation includes a lot of Nathan's musings on the comics industry as a whole, the craft of inking and what he thinks is the future for his chosen profession.  We also chat him up about his background, his time as a student at the Joe Kubert School of Art and his interactions with legendary names like Joe Kubert and Neal Adams.

People, believe us when we say, the title of this episode is no joke.  The talented Mr. Massengill is an extremely observant guy and he has a real gift for communicating.  Click here to read his FAQs on inking (awesome!) and click below to hear the man himself speak.

**The Robin & Crew image was drawn by the late Mike Wieringo and inked by Nathan.  The annataZ piece however...is all Nathan. He sent it out as his X-mas card last year (ho, ho, ho)!

NAM's Place

 

 

OK, obnoxious title aside, this is another roundtable talk Dwight and I had about the size of the comic book buying audience.  The nickname was birthed out of a few discussions we had over the course of a week and when we got together, we just turned the recorder on and continued.

Of course, it's not literally shrinking (is it?).  But the idea being younger readers and just plain old new readers are needed to breathe some life into "this thing of ours".  The median age for the average person reading comics keeps going up and getting more decrepit—and that ain't good!  In order for things to stay interesting and relevant, we need new eyeballs and fresh ideas. Not the same gimmicks and events.

What can the publishers do? What can fans do? What can anyone do to address the problem?  This subject has, of course, been discussed in other places, by people more informed than we are, but we thought we'd weigh in on it too.  You won't find any real answers here (whaaat?), but it sure as hell was fun to chat about!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "My Friends"—because that's what you are (smile).

Celebrity is a funny thing. When you meet people who fall in the category, they're usually either just like you thought they'd be, or nothing like what you thought they'd be. Phil Morris..well, he was both. Let me explain.

As an actor, Phil is versatile. He can do dramatic things like Law & Order and CSI, but still show great comedic timing for Seinfeld and Wanda at Large. He's quick to flex his geek muscles for stuff like Star Trek: Voyager and of course, Smallville. Plus, he's one hell of a voice actor on cartoons like The Secret Saturdays, Legion of Super Heroes and The PJs!

So, when I met him on the floor of Dragon Con, our hometown convention, I didn't know what to expect. What I got in those ten minutes we chatted though, was a little of everything mentioned above. He was warm, approachable, funny, genuine—and a real fan too! Naturally, I asked him about coming on SiDEBAR, he said "absolutely, I'd love to", and told me how to get in touch with his agent. I was on the phone with said agent two days later and here we are.

Our conversation with Morris covered much about his career, including noted roles as attorney Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld and J'onn J'onzz a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter on Smallville (that's the correct spelling of J'onn's name, by the way). We also talked about his voice acting work, his enormous comic collection (100,000 of 'em—who knew?) and some family stuff. Phil's sister Iona Morris is a terrific actor and so was his dad, the late Greg Morris. Greg set the bar way high as Barney Collier on the original Mission Impossible TV show and was one of the first black male leads on prime time.

Going back to Phil's versatility, he's also writing a book about African-American images in the Action/Adventure genres entitled BAW-BAM (Black Action Woman-Black Action Man). And he'll be appearing on-line in a hilarious new web series starring the Sklar Brothers called Back on Topps. Go here to laugh your butt off at the pilot!

Our thanks to the actor for coming on the show and sharing with us. As geeks, we definitely look forward to more of his appearances on Smallville and just plain old more! Hey Phil...much respect.

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Sly & The Family Stone's "Family Affair"—'cause it is!

OK, don't let this guy fool you. Yes, he's talented. Yes, he's a kick-ass concept artist. And yes, he's quite humble about all of those things. But he's tellin' tales out of school when he says he's not funny—that's a lie! In his bio, he confesses to having done stand-up before and we're not surprised. He was a hoot and we had the best time with him! Alright, on to more serious matters...

Cloverfield and the upcoming Avatar, Watchmen, Star Trek, Tron and Piranha 3-D all have one thing in common—concept designer and artist, Neville Page. Neville is another in a long line of talented folks my bud Dwight keeps finding and bringing to the SiDEBAR mics. And I'm not mad at him for doing so! Most people don't know who the designers are on films (or anything else for that matter) because designers almost never get the spotlight. Almost. Today, that's gonna change, especially for one Mr. Page.

I won't spoil much here about his background 'cause frankly, it's too interesting. You definitely need to listen to the show though to get the fullness therein (trust!). Let's just say his life as a regular guy—was hardly regular! He was born in Great Britain, grew up in Chicago, moved to California as a teen, and spent a few years pursuing a whole other career in the entertainment biz (OK, I can't hold back...go here).

After a few years of waiting tables, Neville realized this other career pursuit wasn't working out and enrolled at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. It was there he met his best friend and future business partner, Scott Robertson. They struck a bond and after graduation, started a consultancy firm together. They also started teaching at Art Center and both still do to this day.

Our interview with this guy is full of laughs and mad cool stories. I mean, stuff like being in the Swiss Riviera and discovering a school for girls right down the road. Getting off the phone with James Cameron while driving to a meeting in Hollywood about Cloverfield. Names like J. J. Abrams, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana and Ralph McQuarrie popping up everywhere. And let's not forget the lovely Zoe Saldana (...sorry, I couldn't resist).

We wanna thank Neville for bringing not only his perspective and insights to the show, but also his good humor. He was awesome!

**The title of this interview is a reference to all those pesky Non-Disclosure Agreements (bah!). And in honor of Neville's R&B past, we played some of DeBarge's "I Like It".

Love is a great word to apply to our conversation with Cathy and Arnie Fenner, the dynamic duo that brings you Spectrum. Here's why. We love Spectrum. Cathy and Arnie love doing the series. We loved talking to them about doing it. They, we're quite sure, love each other! We could go on and on with this brilliance, but the real point to be made is—they love art. A lot. And their passion and commitment to it will once again be shared with all in the latest installment of Spectrum—15!

When the Fenners first got the idea to do the book back in the early '90s, there wasn't a very high esteem for fantastic art and illustration. One might even say a fantasy artist was the bastard child of the art family. And that's a real shame. Think about how much great art in the past was never given its due because some snooty art director or editor didn't like fairies and magic. Oh well, it's clear lots of people like 'em now (see: Harry Potter, see: Lord of the Rings, see: Pirates of the Caribbean, see...).

Over the years, the Spectrum books have gotten bigger, the categories more varied and the content more spectacular! I think it's fair to say Spectrum is "the" place to showcase your work if you wanna be amongst the best. And the cool part about that is, anyone can get in. Well...provided the jury selects you. But the goal of the series is to feature the work first, not your resume. Be ye novice or seasoned pro, everyone can submit. Of course, the cream will always rise to the top, as they say.

In our conversation with 'em, we also touch on the Fenners background and some of their other ventures. They've put together books on some of the greatest artists of our time—Frank Frazetta, Robert McGinnis, Jeff Jones, Jon Foster. The work in progress we're waiting impatiently for is Brush with Passion, a tome dedicated to the life and work of the late Dave Stevens. I believe this one was started before Dave died and I'm sure it'll be a poignant punctuation on his stellar career. What an awesome artist...

To quote a good friend of ours, "Cathy and Arnie are some of my favorite peeps". Dwight and I couldn't agree more. They were warm, friendly, informative, funny and excited. Excited about art and illustration and all of the wonder there in. We count ourselves fortunate to have had them on the show, and also, to have them as new friends.

Thanks, folks—here's to next year and 16!

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/

The title of this interview is a reference to the man's first appearance on the show last year—an episode we lost! The audio crashed, the back-up was never found, it was ugly... But hey, today we've been given a second chance at greatness and greatness we deliver!

Ragnar is not only one of our favorite creators, he's also one of our favorite people. A wonderfully knowledgeable guy, a student of his craft, a committed family man and often seen wearing...what? The colors in his palette! Do tell! Plus, he's just a super nice guy. His response to the aforementioned lost episode was, "No worries, I understand completely" (and just so you know, we were worried as hell).

To us, as long as Steranko and Prince aren't in the room, he's the coolest guy around with one name. We met him in person for the first time at this year's ACE and for the convention, he brought with him a mucho smaller version of his Comic-Con set-up. It was all really quite neat. Books, prints, mugs, chimps, skate decks—again, just neat stuff. He sat in on about three panels that weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed his presence as a guest.

Now, the work. Ragnar's done tons of work in animation, but will tell you himself that a good bit of it, you may never see. His clients over the years have included companies like Warner Bros, Disney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. However, with the nature of animation and the film business in general, projects often start off one way and end up somewhere else by the time they finally come out. And that's especially true for Development, which is the area he's contributed to the most.

What you can see though and plenty of it, are his own creations! Books like Chromaphile, Vernaculis, Kings of the Road and the newly released Symptomatica! All of them fantastic and all get the high SiDEBAR Seal-of-Approval (which means dick, but go buy 'em anyway, they're hot)!

Our conversation stays pretty loose with Ragnar since we all sorta know each other, but we do get to some key items. Big City being one, Symptomatica being another, and the latters being his upcoming all-ages book and where he got his name. Beyond that, the rest is just filler—but it's some damn good filler (ha)!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles" in honor of Dwight's timely reference.

http://www.littlecartoons.com/

http://symptomatica.blogspot.com/

Artist. Writer. Illustrator. Painter. Legend.

All of these in their own way describe Bernie Wrightson and his esteem amongst fandom and the art community at large. Not many artists have had the kind of impact and influence that he's had over the last 35 years. Friends of his like Mike Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith or Jeff Jones can maybe relate, but that's probably about it.

Bernie was in our fair city recently as a guest of Dragon Con and spent his Labor Day weekend greeting fans, selling prints, signing things, and being an all-around wonderful guest. For me, even though he was super kind and gracious, it was still a little hard to not be intimidated. I started to think about, ohh...Swamp Thing and those incredible House of Mystery covers. Or The Studio and dare I say it—Frankenstein! I mean, c'mon...this was the first guy to draw Batman with the long ears, for Pete's sake! That's enough to bring the nervous fanboy out of anyone...

Mrs. Wrightson (Liz we were told to call her) was our facilitator with the man and she too was just as nice as could be. Trust when I say, Bernie had droves of people lining up at his tables, but Liz still managed to carve out some time for the three of us to sit down. And for that, Dwight and I are grateful.

Our chat was relatively short (for us, that is), but chocked full of interesting stories and tidbits. We realize Bernie gets asked to do things all the time and tried to honor the few minutes we had to spend with him. After all, he's given us so much over the years through his fantastic art and stories. And you know what? He's still givin'. 

Thanks, Bernie!

http://www.wrightsonart.com/

Labor Day came and went, and once again Dragon Con held the biggest party downtown Atlanta has ever seen. Just like in previous years, it left in its wake a great time had by all 35,000 attendees and some awesome convention audio for us (yaaay)!

Dwight and I did panel moderating at the big show and we're stoked to be able to bring one of 'em to you now. It's all about traditional painters and features some really cool guys. Here's the Tale of the Tape:

JEFF PRESTON - Illustrator, designer, educator and banjo player. The subject matter in Jeff's commercial work has often been an eclectic mix of classic horror, fantasy and religious imagery. At his busiest, he's painted over 300 illustrations in a single year, many of those for Christian groups. Preston's a proud member of The Society of Illustrators and his painting of Uncle Creepy, a character made famous by Warren Publishing in the mid '60s, will be showcased in the new Spectrum 15—due out in October.

BRIAN STELFREEZE- Painter, illustrator, comic artist and wearer of hats. Brian makes his home right here in Atlanta where he co-founded his base, Gaijin Studios. Shadow of the Bat, Domino, Fallen Angel and many a 12 Gauge comic have been adorned with his images, and he too is a molder of young minds. He teaches a workshop in watercolor painting in conjunction with a life drawing class Gaijin offers every Tuesday and Thursday night. Brian is also the art director for the aforementioned 12 Gauge Comics.

JOE JUSKO - Painter, illustrator and former NY cop (listen to the podcast, he'll tell you). Joe is a New York City native and sold his first cover painting to Heavy Metal Magazine at the tender age of 17. His spectacular run as the cover artist for The Savage Sword of Conan is well chronicled and he's worked for almost every major publisher of comics, fantasy and science fiction. Joe's the winner of many awards including the Wizard Fan Award, the Golden Lion and the Chesley. He too is a member of The Society of Illustrators.

MARK TEXIERA - Painter, illustrator, comic artist and not a wearer of shoes..! Known to many as Tex, Mark is also a New Yorker and attended the famous Art & Design High School, and eventually SVA. He worked for Neal Adams' Continuity Associates during the '80s handling art chores on the book Megalith and doing commercial assignments for companies like Salem and Marlboro. Tex's own clients over the years have included New York Magazine, Scholastic Books, Def Jam Records, Marvel, DC and Wizards of the Coast.

Well, that's about it, folks, pound for pound a terrific group of panelists! Our thanks to Dragon Con for having us and to the guests and attendees for hangin' out. 'Twas much fun and we hope you too enjoy!

If you've never seen The Death of Captain Marvel, go get a copy. If you've never read an Adam Warlock story, go read one. And if you've never heard of Vanth Dreadstar...well, you're about to!

All three are great and all are the handiwork of one Jim Starlin, a writer and artist who's career goes back to the late '70s and is still going strong. Jim's been called the guy who put the space in space opera and with good reason—he does it and does it very well, thank you (see: Rann-Thanagar Holy War currently from DC)!

Starlin came into popularity back in the day while drawing Captain Marvel for Marvel Comics. He eventually ended up writing the book as well, including Mar-vel's death in 1982. Also to his credit, he reinterpreted a rather undefined Lee/Kirby charcater named Warlock (formally "Him"), created Vanth Dreadstar and the Metamorphosis Odyssey for Epic and explained to the world how the hell Nick Fury stays so young looking after all these years!

If you go to Jim's Wikipedia page , it also mentions things like Batman A Death in the Family which featured the demise of the second Robin, Death of the New Gods, all the Infinity books and tons more.

Dwight and I have always loved his work and consider Starlin to be one of the preeminent writer/artists of his generation. During the '80s, he and guys like Howard Chaykin, Mike Grell and Matt Wagner rocked at both disciplines and it made for some fun and smart comics.

In our conversation, we get into as many nooks and crannies as time will allow. We cover how he started writing comics in the first place, the creation of Thanos and Mongol, his view of the industry after 30 years and a few more goodies.

http://www.starlin.com/

OK, how's that for a rallying call?

Bobby Chiu (pronounced "Choo") has been referred to as the new Walt Disney by some and that may not be much of an exaggeration. He's full of...well, imagination, has vision for days and does seem to embody Walt's whole philosophy of moving forward. In just a short few years, he's graduated from the ranks of hired artist, and gone on to CEO and Educator. And he's still a pretty young dude (whoa)!

Dwight was an admirer of Chiu's work from afar, while I had only seen a few things here and there. That is, until we ran into Bobby and artist Kei Acedera at this year's Heroes Con in Charlotte. They had an exhibitor booth set up for Imaginism Studios, their home base, and had mad lines all weekend. A listener and friend of the show named Chuck Harper prompted me to go by and check 'em out, and I was blown away! All their books and prints featured these really cool and interesting looking characters—it was all that!

Later that night, at the hotel bar, Bobby came over to Dwight, myself, Chuck and his buddy Beau, and chatted with us for like two hours—solid! Didn't really know us from Adam, but felt our enthusiasm and joined in with his own. The next day, I went back by their booth to thank him and he and Kei kindly gave me a copy of their sketchbook, Water Worlds.

As people go, Bob is the exact right mix of talent and complete lack of pretension. He's as regular a guy as you'll find, but obviously has an immense gift.

Speaking of gifts! His gift recently put him on a fantastic Hollywood project with a very famous director, and he talks about it early in the interview. We also get into Schoolism, the whole subway sketching phenomenon and some of his philosophies about drawing and life.

So relax, breathe deep, exhale yourself some Chiuism—and be prepared to be converted!

http://www.imaginismstudios.com/

Of course, this is going up a little late, but hey, we tried. Actually, there was a freak accident with some mylar bags we won't go into here...

Dragon Con is indeed the big show for the Southeast and truth be told, it's the second largest pop culture convention in the country. The craziness goes down every year on Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, GA and draws in about 30,000 frenzied fans of all kinds. Comics, fantasy, sci-fi, Star Wars, Star Trek, actors, animation, anime, games, toys, costumes, clothing, pop art, vinyl—you name it, it's there!

Thom Trainor is our good buddy and he's the Comics Director for the show. We thought it'd be cool to bring him on and chat up this year's D*C, and maybe talk a bit about 2009 as well. Our conversation with him ended up being a short one, but I think we covered a lot of the bases and got a few laughs out of it too.

One aside, Thom couldn't mention during the interview some of the names lined up for next year, but we can give you a few of 'em now—Mike Mignola, Darwyn Cooke, Humberto Ramos and Dan Brereton! Pretty sweet!

http://www.dragoncon.org/

Andrew Robinson creates great art. Period. We've known it for a while now and we think you should, too. Just take a look at his beautiful covers for Starman and Hawkman, or check out the cowboy-noir storytelling in his own book, Dusty Star. Clearly greatness abounds in the guy's work.

The question that's always boggled my mind though (and I'm an easy boggler)—is why can't I see more? I love everything he puts out, but I'm greedy. Why can't I get a monthly book and covers? Hell, some trading cards and a yearly art book?! Hmm...

In our interview with Andrew, we get a clue as to why he doesn't always do more. Or at least, a partial clue. It's not because he doesn't want to, that would be silly. And it's not because he's slow, although he openly admits to having missed a deadline or two. I won't divulge the clue here, but you'll know it when you hear it. And the worst part about it for me was, after hearing it—I was frustrated more! In a perfect world, all my favorite creators, like Robinson, would be left alone to do what they do best...create. And they'd be well paid for doing so (ahh, what a world that would be—naivete, I love you)!

In the last 15 years, my man Andrew has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, Upper Deck, Wizards of the Coast and more. He created Dusty Star (his baby), started a fine art career out in California and recently took the leap into music. That's right, he's written some lyrics for a band project called Space Junkies (Hey, Suki).

I kinda hesitate to use the word phenom (although I just did), but the guy draws like Bridgeman, paints like Loomis, tells stories like De Palma and always leaves you wanting more. And more is what I want—dammit!

I kid. From where I sit, you don't have to look far to see the greatness in Andrew Robinson's work. Just open your eyes, it's right there.

http://www.nextexitproductions.net/index.html

http://www.nextexitcomics.blogspot.com/

We started to title this "Keeping Up with the Jones", but thought better of it...

Back in 1988, artist Kelley Jones got people's attention when he started doing Deadman stories in Action Comics Weekly. The way he interpreted the character was completely different from how he'd been done in the past. It was quite odd at the time.

Up until then, Neal Adams' version was considered the most popular, but even Neal's was still fairly conventional. Kelley took Deadman and drew him all skeletal and emaciated—turned in on himself, he likes to call it. It was a brave experiment that absolutely worked. Fans (and editors) began clamouring for more as they realized they had something and someone, special on their hands.

Jones went on to shake things up on Neil Gaiman's Sandman, another Deadman project with Mike Baron ("Love After Death") and many a Batman graphic novel with his long-time collaborator Doug Moench. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the man's three year stint doing the monthly Batman series with Moench and inker John Beatty (over 36 issues in a row, I believe).

In our talk with Lil' Kel, we cover all of the above, his passion for the comics medium, some talented friends like Sam Keith, Marshall Rogers and Steve Niles, and of course his recent return to Batman with Niles on Gotham After Midnight.

Before we go though, allow Dwight and I to end things with something cryptic. There's a special reunion that takes place on this one, but you'll have to tune in to find out what that is! It's worth it, we promise. Embarrassing as hell, but worth it!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Peter Gabriel's Red Rain in honor of Kelley's first Batman project with Doug.

Some people are born to do it all. Or at least it seems that way! They can do so many things well, it comes off more like destiny than determination. Artist and illustrator Stephan Martiniere is certainly perceived to be one of those people. In his 25 year career, he's had his hand in nearly everything—animation, illustration, comics, TV, film and he's currently the Creative Visual Director for Midway Games Chicago. So you can add video games to his resume too (yeah, yeah, I know that's not exactly everything, but it's damn close).

Our introduction to this uber-talent's work came through very familiar channels. We're Spectrum guys and Stephan's work has been featured in the anthology several years in a row now. All of it awesome and most of it from his book covers for Tor Books (good lookin' out, Ms. Gallo). When you see the man's images, brace yourself, because you'll lose your mind—seriously! His dazzling city and spacescapes, and his far off worlds are so fantastic yet so familiar all at the same time. It may indeed be science fiction, but man, does it feel real to geeks like us!

Speaking of real, the accolades he's received from industry peers is absolutely real. Spectrum, Hugo, Thea, Chesley and many others have all honored Martiniere over the years with awards for his artistic excellence. They all know he's the mack man. And we do too, for that matter! That's why we shot him an email asking him to slum a bit by coming on the show for an interview. He accepted the invitation saying something about "never having done a podcast before and it might be fun." [Note to audience: We have no proof, but we suspect ours may be his last podcast—so listen in while you can!]

The conversation with him covers much, but just like the intro to this text, not everything. Dwight and I thought we had the best chance of not embarrassing ourselves by keeping it simple. So we got some stories from Stephan's art school days, a little concept design and illustration talk in there, nerded out on video games for a minute, and ended it with the good stuff. What is the good stuff, you ask? Hmm..? Well, you'll have to tune in and find out, now won't you?

**For this episode with the gentleman artist, we played a snippet of Sting's Send Your Love. The lyric about sending your love into the distant dawn just seemed so appropriate. [Also, as is my luck (Swain), I was very sick while recording this and you can hear me gently hacking in the background—my apologies!]

http://www.martiniere.com/

One of the people we looked forward to meeting and talking with at this year's Heroes Con was artist Guy Davis. Guy has been on our radar since the early 90's when he was penciling Vertigo's Sandman Mystery Theatre, and continues to be with his work on BPRD for Dark Horse. We can't help it—we tend to like guys (pun intended) who handle darker subject matters well, and he definitely does.

With a style that focuses on storytelling, mood and feel, Guy's able to convey a lot in his stories with his deceptively simple line work. To quote his friend George Pratt, "Everyone he applies his pen to breathes, and the hardness of life shows on their faces and in the slump of their shoulders. They're real people". We couldn't agree more.

Guy has been holding it down on BPRD for a few years now with the book's creator, Mike Mignola and writer John Arcudi. And hey, you have to give him credit—any artist with the guts (or balls) to jump on a bunch of characters designed by Mignola himself, must have the goods. Mike is renowned for his graphic style and beautifully bizarre images, and Davis picks up the ball running every month and scores—big time!

Hailing from the great state of Michigan, we talk a little about his roots with Arrow Comics, Caliber Comics and his first creator-owned book Baker Street, co-written with Gary Reed. We also get into his collaboration with Matt Wagner on Sandman Mystery Theatre, his current BPRD arc "The Warning", and a hint about the next installment in Guy's own book, The Marquis from Oni Press. As a matter of fact, there may be some Marquis news announced at San Diego, but don't tell anyone we told you.

Our thanks to Guy for chatting with us and being....well, such a good guy (pun intended...again!).

**For this epsiode, we played a snippet of Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street for obvious reasons.

http://www.guydavisartworks.com/

When we started SiDEBAR back in 2007, it was just me and Dwight sitting around talking...together...no guests. Somewhere along the way we got some convention interviews, then a couple of really great local artists and friends came on with us, Dexter Vines and Brian Stelfreeze. We've known both of 'em a good while and they were mad cool to holler at us.

Finally, we ended up on the doorstep of one Mr. Shane Glines, another awfully nice and talented individual. He was our very first phone interview and we've pretty much been on the phone ever since.

Well, as life often dictates, there are times when you need to go back to basics. Back to the neighborhood. We've always wanted the show to be a clubhouse for us and listeners and guests to hang out and talk comics, art, TV, movies, big boy books, whatever. So here we go...

This was a conversation we recorded at Dwight's crib and it begins with some painter talk, goes into a short commentary on the new Hulk movie and Wanted (Dwight had just seen both—on the same day), and kinda ends up with me trashing the last three Star Wars movies. As you'll hear, I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan in the world and he absolutely is. It's all fairly innocent and hopefully entertaining, so try not to be bored to tears (I said try).

And fear not, 'Nation—more interviews to come!

**On this episode, we played snippets of two songs: The Producers' Back to Basics and I Against I by Massive Attack ft. Mos Def.

Since his first appearance in Tales of Suspense back in 1963, Iron Man has always been a big fan favorite. His initial success was always credited to the creative team that originally launched him—Stan Lee, Don Heck and Larry Lieber. With the recent release of the hit Marvel Studios motion picture, we think a few more names will forever be attached to this character—director Jon Favreau, actor Robert Downey, Jr, and talented artist and designer Adi Granov.

Once Adi got his hands on ol' Shellhead, the look of the hero and the sales of his comics were never the same—in the best way! Adi's redesigns made Iron Man's armor sleek, functional, tech-savvy and just plain kick-ass! So much so, that Jon Favreau eventually brought him on with the design team for the film, to make Iron Man really come off for the big screen (thank you, Jon!).

We became fans of Granov's art like the rest of the...well, fanboys. In 2004, as a cover artist, he put his special magic on many a Marvel character and fandom lost its mind! Nova, She-Hulk, FF, New Avengers, Inhumans and the Silver Surfer were just a few of the titles that year to recieve "Granovision". In '05, his covers and interiors for the Extremis series with collaborator Warren Ellis were a slam dunk. We thought "Hey, this guy is bringing the funk!" 

We chatted with the Bosnian-born artist at his home in the U.K. and got the skinny on his background working for Nintendo, his adventures at the 2007 Comic Con and being a big fish in the gargantuan pond of Hollywood.

**In the interview, Adi mentions meeting the great special effects wizard, Stan Winston, who passed away after this was recorded. We too are big fans of Stan's work and are saddened by his passing. He was a real pioneer and visionary, and he will be missed.

http://www.adigranov.net/news.php

There's an old saying about youth being wasted on the young that's so true, it's scary. Just ask artist, Eric Canete, he'll tell you. The reference to rebirth in the title of his interview should give you a clue as to where he's been, and also—where he's going.

Eric got his professional start working in animation when he was just a 17 year old kid, not even out of high school yet. He did "ghost work" for a guy on shows like X-Men and EXO Squad, and eventually got a regular in-house gig on Phantom 2040. When 2040 ended, he got an offer from Peter Chung in San Fransisco to come up and work on a little show called Aeon Flux. You may have heard of it...

While he was fortunate enough to get started young, Canete says his early days were not without their stumbling blocks. The Cliff Notes version of his past could go like this: he worked in animation for a while, left under pretty bad circumstances for his first love—comics, had a good time in comics, but really wasn't prepared for that world either, and finally got back to animation with hopes of rebuilding his reputation. And rebuild it he did!

Since 2002, E's done storyboards, backgrounds and designs for shows like He-Man, Justice League, Teen Titans, The Batman and Legion of Super-Heroes. His full-time day job is with Cartoon Network on the re-launched Ben 10 and he still does the occasional awesome comic book job at night. Check out his Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin series for Marvel with those funky, art deco covers (the hotness!). And after Comic Con, be on the lookout for Eric's upcoming run on The End League for Dark Horse with writer Rick Remender (more hotness!).

This L.A. native's story is an interesting one for a couple of reasons. One, he went back and repaired bridges that he himself burned. Not everyone does that. And two, he's had the support of many a superstar mentor and cheerleader along the way. Names like Peter Chung, Dustin Nguyen, Bruce Timm, Dave Johnson, Mark Chiarello, Skottie Young and Glen Murakami popped up often during the conversation.

In addition to all of the above, Dwight and I also get some insights into Eric's approach to storytelling, the origin behind his blog Discard, and the 4-1-1 on how he started doing those glorious 90 minute sketches of his.

Here's to a cool interview with an even cooler person—thanks, E!

http://kahnehteh.blogspot.com/

Greetings, mystery lovers, and welcome back for Act II with writer and artist, Matt Wagner!

As the curtain goes up, we find our hero, Matt, still in a perilous stand-off with The Diabolical Siblings! Watch and listen, as he's coerced into confess his love of pulp and traditional flavor, his lack of love for too much continuity and a few secrets from his Sandman Mystery Theatre days.

"Herr Wagner, vee haff vays off makink you taaalk!"

He also lays out for the villianous duo the tale of Comico's demise and how it ended up affecting his ownership of Grendel. Plus a funny, but touching story about collaborating with one of his heroes—the late, great Harvey Kurtzman.

OK, that was cheesy enough, but all in good fun. Many thanks to Matt for coming on with us today and being such a cool guest!

Take a bow, Matt!

http://www.mattwagnercomics.com/

We've had a lot of guests on this show over these last 18 months and they've all been pretty great. Every once in a while though, it's a real treat for us to chat with one who has undeniable gravitas. With a career spanning over 25 years in the comics biz, Matt Wagner joined us on the esteemed SiDEBAR microphones and brought just that!

Where do you really start with a guy like Matt? Mage, Grendel, Batman, The Demon, Sandman Mystery Theatre—it's all good. Let's just say we jumped in at the deep end with the guy and did our best to keep heads above water.

He's the quintessential writer and artist in our opinion, from the very beginning, establishing himself with creator-owned projects (he's not new to this, boys and girls). His start with Comico is well chronicled, so we won't go into it here. His present and his past work with DC are also equally well known. Currently, he has two irons in the fire—Zorro for Dynamite Comics, in stores now, and Vertigo's upcoming Madame Xanadu, due out June 25th. Plus, he's in the midst of a Grendel run for Dark Horse, that started late last year to commemorate the character's own 25th anniversary (damn Matt, slow down!).

As mentioned above, Wagner is a man of many talents and he rocks at all of 'em. As a writer, it's terrific seeing him collaborate with great artists like Francesco Francavilla on Zorro and Amy Hadley on Madame Xanadu. As both the artist and writer, it's even more exciting watching him get back to Grendel and Hunter Rose after a 10 year hiatus from the series.

We had a great time talking with Matt and he was nice enough to put up with our nonsense. Do yourselves a favor and check out his many projects wherever you can find 'em—they really are all good. And look for his appearance at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, June 20-22. The Con has a terrific guest list this year and by far, he's one of their heavy hitters!

**This is only Part I with Matt and for it, we played a snippet of Santana's incendiary Black Magic Woman. In honor of Matt's new...umm, madame.

http://www.mattwagnercomics.com/

Back in April, we were joined on the show by exciting, young newcomer to mainstream comics, artist Amy Reeder Hadley. She's collaborating with critically acclaimed writer and artist himself, Matt Wagner, on Vertigo's upcoming Madame Xanadu re-launch. This native Coloradoan graciously took some time out one sunny afternoon to chat with us.

Amy got her professional start in comics by winning Tokyopop's "Rising Stars in Manga" competition in 2002. Shortly thereafter, she wrote and drew an OEL manga series for them called Fool's Gold. Gold is the story of an artsy high school student named Penny and her social revolution against jerky boys and conformity.

Hadley's editor on the book, Brandon Montclare, eventually left Tokyopop and took a job up at DC working with Bob Schreck. When Scheck moved over to Vertigo and the Madame Xanadu opportunity arose, Brandon reached out to his former T'pop creator. The rest is...well, you know.

Our conversation with Amy covers much of the above and a whole lot more, so do check it out. She's a super person with a very different story to tell.

Oh yeah, and she can SING too!

Madame Xanadu hits stores June 25th.

**For this episode, we played a small portion of Ryan Adams' Amy for obvious reasons.

http://www.tentopet.com/

We're back and this is Part II with our buddy, comic artist, Skottie Young. Still awesome, still unrestrained and still all over the place, this conversation was a blast (...sorry)! We hope you have as much fun listening in as we did running our mouths—enjoy!

** For Part II with Skottie, we played a snippet of David Ryan Harris' Change 'cause it is good for you.

http://skottieyoung.blogspot.com/

Let me start by saying Dwight and I have friends, we have buddies and we have acquaintances in this here industry. But there are some people who, over the last year, have become much more like family to us. Mr. Skottie Young is one of them.

And he's not just family, we're also big fans of the guy's work too. He's an incredible artist with an edgy and raw style, and he wraps it up nicely in this great design sense. Allow me to steal a quote about him that I read on-line once. The blogger said "Skottie's work, like that of Katie Cook's, impresses me because of the obvious fun that he has while drawing. It's in everything he does". I tend to agree. I don't get the feeling he labors over his artwork like so much "render porn", but instead, tries to have a good time with it. Go look at his run on New X-Men or any of his covers—you'll see it.

And quite honestly, I thought dude's covers were crazy good before I even knew who he was. Being a fan of other podcasts, when he joined my beloved Around Comics as a regular, I was like "Who the..?" Then I checked out his site and was like "Oh." Then when I saw he was responsible for the Cable & Deadpool covers I'd been secretly digging, I was like "Oh, damn!"

We met Skottie exactly a year ago at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC. We gave him a business card on a humbug, told him how much we liked AC and asked him to check out our podcast. He was polite and gracious enough, and that was that. After the Con, I emailed him and asked him again to listen in when he had time—he finally did. Since then, he's sent us a dozen or so very nice notes about our show, telling us how much he likes it and offering his help in any way. There's usually cursing involved too, but we got used to that...

Oh yeah, and he told everybody he knew to check us out! We got more emails and comments than a little bit from people who said Skottie Young told them about SiDEBAR. And that crossed the line for Dwight and I. We couldn't go back to just friends or acquaintances or even fellow podcasters with the guy at that point. For us, it's been family and brothers ever since—and that's the way we'll keep it.

**This is only Part I with Skottie 2 Hottie, and for it, we played a snippet of Public Enemy's Brothers Gonna Work It Out.

http://skottieyoung.blogspot.com/