Interview
Articles
“I Wanted to Create a World”: An Interview with Lane Milburn
Lane Milburn’s newest graphic novel Lure sees the cartoonist making a departure from his previous work. In this conversation, he goes into how those changes came to be, the different kinds of non-comics work he takes on to support himself, and the dark business of “graphic recording”.
“Outside Our Sad Little Country, They Can Actually Achieve Something”: An Interview with Łukasz Kowalczuk
Łukasz Kowalczuk returned to making comics as an adult, fueled by memories of slime, a love of 80s licensed properties and role playing games. Since then, he’s translated Prison Pit, organized conventions and increased the world supply of neon-colored Polish comics by a healthy margin!
Speaking Out of the Silence: A Conversation with Dash Shaw about Discipline
In this conversation between Dash Shaw and Greg Hunter which took place earlier this month via Brooklyn’s Community Bookstore, Shaw discusses the background to his latest graphic novel Discipline, how his own Quaker upbringing informed its depictions of silence, and the real world Civil War letters that birthed the project.
“Life Is Weird and Wild and You Never Know”: An Interview with Steve Lafler
In this sprawling conversation, we catch up with Steve Lafler’s time making music in Mexico, raising children in houses laden with autobiographical comics, his return to the States and his most recent work, powered by Kickstarter support.
“Whatever The Image Is, It’s Gotta Fit”: An Interview With Hurk
Joe Decie catches up with cartoonist Hurk just as Avery Hill prepares the release of his “crime caper” graphic novel, Jinx Freeze. Has Hurk forgiven the Trix rabbit? What are his favorite parts of making comics? How seriously should one take people who wish to be taken seriously? The answers to these questions, and more, are only to be found here.
“Are You Glad You Did It?”: An Interview with Douglas Wolk
Now that he’s on the other side of reading every single Marvel comic ever published, Douglas Wolk is catching up with Laura Hudson on whether that was (or was not) a good idea, what sort of lessons that etched into his subculture, and laying down some dogma for future cultural archaeologists to grapple with.
Fresh Air: Comics in Dialogue at the Arab Comics Initiative
Comics maker, academic and convention curator Lina Ghaibeh speaks with TCJ about how political upheaval, COVID-19 and the ongoing impact of the devastating Port of Beirut explosion in 2020 has failed to stop the Arab Comics Initiative upcoming festival, which opens in Beirut this week.
“I Wanted To Try Something New”: A Conversation with Simon Moreton
Cartoonist Warren Craghead and cartoonist Simon Moreton discuss Moreton’s latest creation, WHERE?, the projects and work method that brought it to fruition, and how Simon manages such a prodigious output.
The Nate Powell Interview
In this expansive interview, Nate Powell describes the experience of working with Congressman John Lewis and writer Andrew Aydin on the widely popular March trilogy, his most recent non-fiction comics work Save It For Later, and how his work and parenting has been informed and changed by the American political climate of the last four years.
“Systemic Change Is What Really Matters”: An Interview with Bill Campbell
Publisher, editor and writer Bill Campbell talks with Ian Thomas about his new graphic novel with Bizhan Khodabandeh,The Day The Klan Came To Town, the historical riot that inspired it, the unfortunate yet obvious parallels to today’s white supremacy, and the future of his own Rosarium Publishing.
Bruce Canwell: A Conversation With a Comics Historian
Catching up with one of the prime movers behind the Library of American Comics, compilers of over 200 books of classic American comic strips – with more to come.
“It’s Unfortunate That So Many Cartoonists Talk About Structure As If It Were Something Desirable”: An Interview With Beatrix Urkowitz
Cartoonist Beatrix Urkowitz catches up with Sara Lautman about stepping out against the strangles of structure, the beauty and supportive community that she’s found in comics, and the hassles and expectations around “originality”.
“I Showed Way More Dedication To Comics Than I Ever Did To My School Work”: An Interview with Juni Ba
Juni Ba speaks with Tiffany Babb about discovering comics as a child in Senegal, what makes Sonic The Hedgehog perfect, the usefulness of Marvel Comics for learning a foreign language, and how all of that leads to his new book, Djeliya, from TKO Studios.
Inside Chartwell Manor: a Chat with Glenn Head
Mark catches up with Glenn Head, whose recent memoir Chartwell Manor touches upon trauma, Satan, sex and the other horrors of youth–with a healthy dose of the kind of honesty found in the underground comics that lit his creative fire.
“If The Marks Are Perfect, How Can You Relate To Them?”: An Interview with Gareth Brookes
Gareth Brookes may be responsible for the first comic about historical medieval plagues that was inspired by a real life Drake related Tik Tok craze, and if he’s not, he’s certainly responsible for the first one to be made utilizing pyrography. Joe Decie catches up with the cartoonist about why Brookes keeps attacking the page…and whether he can even stop himself at this point.
“I’m Trying To Capture That Certain Energy”: Eddie Raymond, on Working with Strangers
Sitting down with the founder of Strangers, one of a prominent new wave of zine editors with a hand in small-press comics publishing and distribution.
“Don’t Overthink It!”: Walter Scott & Michael DeForge, Chatting Online
The two young Canadian comics veterans, in conversation. Topics include the performance of being alive while online, the usefulness of multiple creative outlets, and expectation management.
“I’ve Been Jokerfied In The Same Way That A Lot Of People Have”: An Interview with Max Huffman
Gearing up for the Adhouse release of his Cover Not Final, cartoonist Max Huffman catches up with Andrew Neal about growing up and past your influences, figuring out how to manage jokes in a pandemic scarred artform, and how to use Chick tracts AND Michael Mann as inspiration devices.
Ben Sears on Young Shadow and Hating The Police
A profile of Ben Sears, author of the new kid superhero graphic novel Young Shadow – an all-ages comic with a healthy distrust of authority.
“I Have Been Using My Platform To Tell Our Stories Since I Started In Comics”: An Interview with Bianca Xunise
The Ignatz-winning cartoonist and Six Chix contributor sets the record straight in a wide-ranging discussion of vision, editors, comedy, and telling the story.
“There’s No Sugar Coating The Nightmare”: An Interview With Zara Slattery
Zara Slattery talks about how she took her experience in a coma (and her husband’s diary he wrote while she lay in it) and turned it into a comic, the mythology that informed its narrative, and the thick-skinned life she’s lived since the experience.
“I Felt An Urgency The Publishing Industry Did Not Share”: Michael Mark Cohen and Cartooning Capitalism
When he couldn’t find a publisher for the radical cartoons of the early 20th Century, Michael Mark Cohen took to the internet. The result, Cartooning Capitalism, remains a one-stop history and engagement lesson in the power of cartooning, and the power that cartooning depicts.
The Frank Thorne Interview
CW: This post contains explicit, drawn pornographic images. In this conversation from The Comics Journal #280 (January 2007), Frank Thorne talks about a cartooning career that ultimately spanned more than 60 years. He worked in genres such as SF, sword and sorcery and history on comic books and strips — most notably, on Marvel’s Red Sonja title — before following his bliss.
“We Don’t Owe Anything To Anyone”: An Interview with Ana Galvañ
Spanish cartoonist Ana Galvañ catches up with us about her next wildly colorful comic, coming to English later this year, and what got’s her excited coming next from Spain’s zine & collective scene.
