Process Party – Episode 21 – Jason Latour!

Study Group Comics has a podcast! Join hosts Zack Soto (Secret Voice, Power Button) & Mike Dawson (Rules For Dating My Daughter, Troop 142) as they discuss their own creative processes, comic art, family life, and a ton of other stuff.
Each episode finds a new guest from the world of comics joining Mike & Zack for an in depth conversation, and occasional guest segments from their pals around the world. Subscribe via iTunes,  or a podcatcher of your choice, or via the embedded audio in the posts themselves.  (Yes, all those links below are Amazon Affiliate links that kick a little bit our way if you click through to buy them. Mea Culpa)  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

This episode: Jason Latour!

Let’s give a big Process Party welcome to cartoonist Jason Latour!  Jason is the Eisner Award winning co-creator of the Image comic Southern Bastards with Jason Aaron (vols 1,2,3 & 4 available now). Jason co-writes, draws & colors Southern Bastards, but he’s also been collaborating extensively as just the writer on books for Marvel, including Wolverine & The X-Men (vol 1 & 2), The Winter Soldier, & the wildly popular Spider Gwen (vols 0,1,&2).  He’s also illustrated a wide variety of things including the Mignola-verse title Sledgehammer 44, the Vertigo Crime graphic novel Noche Roja written by Simon Oliver, and an adaptation of the Django Unchained screenplay by Quentin Tarantino.

 We kick things off with a brief fantasia about the Marvel Bullpen of our dreams, which leads easily into a examination of a “typical day” in Jason’s life as a freelance creator with his hands in multiple projects, in a variety of roles. Juggling projects and modes under deadline in order to keep the trains running on time sounds like a lot of work! The creative dynamics of his upcoming collaboration with Ivan Brandon & Greg Hinkle, Black Cloud gets discussed.

Also: The allure of Hollywood (Southern Bastards has been optioned for an FX TV show), Jason’s path from being predominantly a freelance artist to being a freelance writer more often than not, the genesis of Southern Bastards, the evolution of his drawing style, and the enviable problem of turning down offers for work.  We get into the nitty gritty of Jason’s collaborations with Jason Aaron & Chris Brunner, putting yourself into the work even when you’re working in genre, and Jason and Zack commune a bit over each having long-delayed projects that they’re working to finish, as well as their identities as Southerners. There’s even some honest to god football talk between Mike & Jason (while Zack quietly amuses himself)!

Collaborations: Loose Ends with Chris Brunner & Rico Renzi, Untold Tales of Punisher MAX with Connor Willumsen & James Campbell, & Spider-Gwen with Robbi Rodriguez & Renzi (click to enlarge)

BUT FIRST: Mike tries to get Process Party rebranded, we talk about Mike’s new comic (up on The Nib today!),  Zack has had to adjust his 5 Year Plan (see episode 18) slightly to line up with a collaborator’s schedule, and Mike admits hesitantly that he’s ready to try (lengthy pause..) collaboration (ew!). Look at us, growing and changing over time! Just like real people. And we rhapsodize about Jason Latour’s trees:

Look at those trees! Dude can draw some fuckin’ nature.

Episode 21 – Jason Latour! – The co-creator of Southern Bastards, Loose Ends and Spider-Gwen joins us on the party floor. We get deep into the creative life of a writer-artist juggling several projects at once, putting yourself into genre work, the genesis of Southern Bastards, the return of Loose Ends, and dive deep into what it means to truly collaborate with other artists in a multitude of ways. Plus: Mike & Zack talk their new collabs, we see the return of the 5 Year Plan, and mike tries to rebrand PP as a “Comics Salon” (it doesn’t fly).

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