Interview
Articles
Galactic Quest
Zach heads down South for this installment of Retail Therapy to check in with Kyle Puttkammer, who has been surviving and thriving with two Galactic Quest direct market comic book stores for decades. Optimism? He’s got some!
“Storytelling Is Controlling The Emotions You Want To Evoke”: An Interview with Deena Mohamed, artist of Shubeik Lubeik
Author and essayist ML Kejera chats with Deena Mohamed, who recently translated her own graphic novel series Shubeik Lubeik, a new take on the tales of djinn, into English for an all-in-one collection from Pantheon.
“Nobody Gets Into Comics to Get Rich”: Joe Quesada on Movies, Marvel, and the Future of Comics
Former Marvel head honcho & inveterate Batman illustrator Joe Quesada is neck deep in another dream career: movie director. In addition to talking about his short film FLY, he talks to us about times he wishes he hadn’t talked to the press, and questions why so many in the comics industry always seem obsessed with the comics industry ending.
“It’s Going To Take However Long It’s Going To Take”: An Interview With John Vasquez Mejias
Alex Dueben sits down with self-publishing veteran John Vasquez Mejias, whose 2020 book The Puerto Rican War one of the standout small-press comics of recent years… and he’s got much more going on.
“It Evolved Over A Long Period Of Time”: George Wylesol on 2120
Author meets translator as artist George Wylesol chats with Valerio Stivè, who adapted Wylesol’s acclaimed nonlinear graphic novel 2120 into Italian – but readers everywhere will find much of interest here.
“It’s A Miracle That This Book Even Exists”: An Interview With Gale Galligan
Gale Galligan catches up with Gina Gagliano about a lot of things—their yo-yo and dance-focused book Freestyle, what it’s like adapting The Baby-Sitters Club, travelogues and diary comics, how seriously Jon Arbuckle is taking his craft—but at no point do the two discuss having alliterative initials. We’ll get you next time!
Dialogue Balloons: Cartoonists From Brazil
Jason Novak’s new column, Dialogue Balloons, begins with a trip down South…to Brazil, to discuss the scene, the comics, the politics and more with seven of Brazil’s finest cartoonists!
The Kevin O’Neill Interview
We are pleased to present Douglas Wolk’s 2010 interview with Kevin O’Neill (1953-2022), one of the titans of the past 50 years of UK comic art.
“You Can’t Have Me Talking About D-Man”: An Interview With Kyle Starks
Kyle Starks went from a bucket list item to Kickstarter success followed by widespread adoration from the Rick and Morty community: but what he really wants to talk about is what you’ve all got wrong about D-Man.
An Interview With Blexbolex
In this never before published interview, two highly original and wildly imaginative bookmakers discuss the book as object, “the trouble and magic” of childhood, and the word associations that create the underlying structure of Blexbolex’s stories.
“The Closer They Come To Being Finished The More Compromised They Become”: An Interview with Duncan Fegredo
In this sprawling conversation, artist Duncan Fegredo describes his early work in British comics, the beginnings of his American career at Vertigo with Peter Milligan, and what it was like to take over the reins of Hellboy.
“My Purpose Is Simply To Tell People’s Stories”: A Visit with Igort, and a Look at His New Ukrainian Notebook
Valerio Stivé pays a visit to a living legend of Italian alternative comics, for a discussion of his recent “Notebooks” of personal stories from Ukraine and Russia – and a special preview of his next book, on the 2022 invasion.
“We All Are Frustrated Artists”: An Interview With David F. Walker
It’s time to catch up with Eisner-winning comics writer David F. Walker, whose work encompasses new DC superheroes, classic Marvel team-ups, Shaft, successful crowdfunding campaigns, and a fascination with auteurs.
“One Of The Things They Definitely Are Is Queer”: An Interview With Rachel Pollack
World Fantasy Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award winning novelist Rachel Pollack talks with Alex about her influential work writing Vertigo’s Doom Patrol, a life spent in love with Tarot, and what motivated a still-recent return to comics writing.
The 1982 Neal Adams Interview
In this 1982 interview, Neal Adams talks about working for Marvel and DC, a comics guild, creator’s rights, his auteur film effort, and more.
“I’ve Started Getting An Idea Of What Comics Are About”: An Interview With Ken Niimura
Ken Niiumara talks with Alex Dueben about his recently published Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy with Yen Press, which sees the cartoonist delivering a fresh take on centuries-old Japanese folktales.
“But You Get Up Again. And Then You Get Up Again. And Again.”: The Liam Sharp Interview
In this extensive interview, cartoonist, creator and innovator Liam Sharp discusses his sprawling career drawing superheroes, creating businesses, writing novels, supporting a family, embracing the struggle, representing his hometown, and much, much more. Yes, more than that.
“If I Could, I’d Completely Redraw It”: An Interview With Chaz Truog
While “Animal Man” may be the first title you think of when his name comes up, Chaz Truog’s career has gone much further than one fondly remembered DC comic. In this conversation, he talks about time spent in the monthly trenches with Coyote, his groundbreaking work on Leonardo Da Vinci in Chiaroscuro and his latest, the violent medieval epic, The Passion of Sergius & Bacchus.
The Hunt Emerson Interview
In this interview, which originally ran in TCJ #198 in 1997, British cartoonist Hunt Emerson (Phenomenocomix, Firkin, Calculus Cat, Casanova’s Last Stand) talks about his relationship to the American underground and European comics scenes, adapting classic literature, music, Fortean philosophy, and much more.
“I Really Am an Underground Cartoonist”: Talking to Rick Veitch
Over the last few years, Rick Veitch has utilized a host of publishing tools to bring his older work back to print, and to return to those series as well. Jason Bergman caught up with him about his dreams, his super-heroes, and which major publisher is still frightened by his work.
“I’m A Citizen Of Gay America”: An Interview With Eric Orner
Eric Orner is one of the only former U.S. Congressional aides who can lay claim to a long-running comic strip and time spent in the Disney trenches. Today, he’s talking to Alex Dueben about how that history helped inform Smahtguy, his biography of the iconic and iconoclastic Barney Frank, one of the first gay and out congressmen and a front-line defender of civil rights.
“The Main Motivation Has Been Paying The Rent”: An Interview With Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson catches up with TCJ’s Tasha Lowe-Newsome about his experience with cancer, COVID, and Kickstarting comics, following the successful campaign to print Phenomenomix. In so doing, he also talks about his work in Kenya, his time in bands, and the work he’s produced due to his unwillingness to turn down a gig.
Catching Up With Mark Schultz
Mark Schultz talks about his journey from comics, to comics that are turned into television shows and Sega CD games, to taking over the adventures of Prince Valiant… while the whole time, Xenozoic Tales remains in the background, ready to take the spotlight once more.
“I Really Wasn’t Considering The Reader At All”: A Conversation With Ariel Bordeaux
Cartoonist Ariel Bourdeaux catches up with Alex Dueben about her path through comics, from Raisin Pie to Patreon dailies, and all the way up to Clutter, her new work of autobiography with Fieldmouse Press.
