Study Group Radio: Process Party

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.

Theme music by Brandon White. Bandcamp/FB

Episodes:

• Episode 01 – Vanessa Davis – Your hosts break the ice, cartoonist Shanna Matuszak talks this week’s comics, and guest Vanessa Davis talks about two Formative Works: 100 Demons by Lynda Barry & Charlotte: Life or Theater by Charlotte Salomon.
• Episode 02 – Elijah Brubaker – Mike tells us all about his experiences cosplaying at the New York Comic Con. Zack chats with Shanna Matuszak about this week’s new releases. Then Elijah Brubaker (Reich, Jezebel) joins us on the party floor to talk about his process and also, Nth Man!
• Episode 03 – Derf – Derf  joins us to talk about his career from the heyday of the alternative weekly newspaper, to finding a new creative lease on life as a graphic novelist. Shanna Matuzak talks this week’s comics, and Mike & Zack discuss cartoonists and literary agents: threat or menace?

• Episode 04 – Matt Furie – Mike & Zack introduce a special episode – Illustrator & cartoonist Matt Furie interviewed by Justin “Scrappers” Morrison, recorded at this year’s 2016 Linework NW festival in Portland, OR.
  What follows is a great chat about Pepe the frog, creativity, parenting, and Aquaman. Shanna’s in Japan, so no Weekly comics segment. #savepepe!
• Episode 05 – Julia Gfrörer – Zack and Mike chat with Black is the Color and Laid Waste cartoonist, Julia Gfrorer in this wide-ranging episode. We discuss foundational works of Julia’s, including work by Ivan Brunetti, Al Columbia, Tony Millionaire, and Chris Ware.
• Episode 06 – Stunned Confusion / CAB & Short Run Reports – Just the two of us reeling over the election, mainly. We also talk about attending CAB & Short Run before the world got weird(er) & crazy(er).

• Episode 07 – Malachi Ward – Malachi joins us on the party floor to talk about comic collaborations and hard science fiction. His new book, Ancestor, created with Matt Sheean has recently come out through Image after being serialized in Emma Rios & Brandon Graham’s Island magazine. Also: Mike & Zack talk Patreon & Shanna is back from Japan and ready to report on her travels.
• Episode 08 – Tom Kaczynski –  We’re talking to Uncivilized Books/ODOD publisher & talented cartoonist Tom Kaczynski. Topics include nostalgia, Polish comics, kickstarters, publishing and more. Plus: Everyone is sick! There are some sniffles. And: New comics chat with Shanna, including a discussion of Highbone Theater and the return of Saxophone Man!
• Episode 09 – Rina Ayuyang – Welcome cartoonist & Yam Books publisher Rina Ayuyang! We talk pens, musicals, sketchbooks, publishing and podcasting. A new segment called “Breaking The Ice” is debuted, Zack teases a fan-fiction project, and Mike has a brand new webcomic to announce!

• Episode 10 – Jason Lutes – Jason Lutes (Jar of Fools, Houdini: The Handcuff King (drawn by Nick Bertozzi), The Fall (written by Ed Brubaker), & his long-running Berlin) is here in ONE FROM THE VAULTS! Mike interviewed Jason in 2011 for a previous podcast, but is presented here with a slightly different edit. They discuss Berlin, CCS, his interest in gaming, particularly role-playing games, and the ways in which such things influence storytelling and world-building.  PLUS: Mike comes clean about his Kevin Smith fandom, and Zack and Shanna talk new (& very old) comics!
• Episode 11 – Simon Hanselmann – Mike & Zack (aka “The Party Boys”) welcome Simon Hanselmann (with appearances by his wife & Fantagraphics publicist Jacq Cohen who was also on hand) to the Party Floor! They talk his new 2Dcloud book DRONE v2, drugs, absent friends, music, & truth (zone). Mike & Zack also discuss the Doctor Strange movie, kickstarter, & publishing strategy.
• Episode 12 – Best of 2016! – Mike & Zack haven’t read as much as they’d have liked this year, but they succumb to societal pressure and break down their favorite books of 2016! Plus: Guest reviews from Josh Bayer, Sarah Glidden, Jim Rugg, Kris Mukai, Box Brown, Gina Wynbrandt, Joe McCulloch,  Josh Simmons, Leela Corman, Chris Pitzer, Sophia Foster-Dimino, Sammy Harkham, & Sarah Horrocks!

• Episode 13 – Looking Forward! –  In this episode, we’re all a little wiped out from the holidays and our big “Best of” episode last time, so The Party Boys take a minute to take stock of 2016 & look forward to 2017. Plus! Shanna returns to talk Red Red Rock & Black Widow #9 with Zack in the New Comics Roundup!
• Episode 14 – Toshio Maeda! – The boys are joined by guest critic Joe McCulloch! He brings the context to our larger discussion of the work of Urotsukidoji & Demon Beast Invasion creator Toshio Maeda. We also have a live recording of the trailblazing erotic mangaka’s talk with Tim Goodyear at Floating World Comics last month. It’s a funny, loopy chat we thought our listeners would enjoy. PLUS: Mike & Zack check in with a Progress Report on their 2017 creative goals!
• Episode 14.5 – Bonus Episode: Teenaged Memedream! –  The boys, spurred on by an internet meme, take a spontaneous trip down memory lane and talk about some of their most influential comics read while enduring their teenage years. Important questions like: Who shoplifted comics from the B.Dalton? Is The Death & Return/Reign of the Supermen better than Love & Rockets? And what’s better: Inferno or Acts of Vengeance? This episode explains a lot about your hosts, whether they like it or not!

• Episode 15 – Leela Corman! – This week, we welcome talented illustrator, cartoonist & belly dancer Leela Corman! She’s the author of the graphic novel Unterzakhn (Schocken) & the recent short story collection We All Wish For Deadly Force (Retrofit). We have a spirited discussion about her upcoming work, making short comics vs longform comics, and generational trauma, among other things.
• Episode 16 – Noah Van Sciver! This week, we welcome Noah Van Sciver to the party floor! We talk Blammo #9, listed by many (including this podcast) as one of the best books of the year, post-project depression, Fantagraphics, coming up hungry, Patreon, and what’s next for Noah. Formative Works Eightball #11 & 16 are discussed. Also, Mike & Zack alternate talking trash & rhapsodizing about Noah; and Shanna & Zack break out Dad’s Weekend, The Goddamned, Southern Bastards, & 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank on New Comics Roundup!
• Episode 17 – Mardou! – We welcome the excellent Mardou to the Party Floor. She’s the author of the 2015 Revival House Press release Sky in Stereo, and is currently working on a sequel volume.  We dig into Mardou’s writing method, get the scoop on her next comics project, talk drugs, religion, self-care, generational ambivalence, postulating about 9-panel grids – this episode has it all! PLUS: Mike in Atlanta! Zack at the hospital! AND: Shanna talks She Wolf vol 1, On Topics #2, & Island #14 on New Comics Roundup.

• Episode 18: Joey Alison Sayers! –  The hilarious author of Just So You Know, Thingpart, and prolific contributor at The Nib joins us on the party floor! We talk parenting, twitter, Mad Magazine, webcomics, taking breaks when you’re not feeling it, dive into Joey’s career & her thoughts on humor comics. PLUS: Mike & Zack talk about 5 year plans, agents, & those infuriating prodigies!
• Episode 19 – Rich Tommaso! – This week, we talk to Rich Tommaso about all things She Wolf! One of the coolest current Image Comics series, She Wolf is a hallucinatory take on the werewolf genre that has led to some of Rich’s most impressive visuals and elliptical narratives yet. Plus: Zack & Mike talk “the canon” in comics history, Will Eisner, & The Joe Kubert School.
• Episode 20 – Recent Reads! –  Mike & Zack take an “us” day and chat about some recent comics reads. Last Man vols 1 & 2 by Balak, Michaël Sanlaville, Bastien Vivès, Beauty by Hubert & Kerascoet, “Black History” by David Heatley, and Captain America #344 by Mark Gruenwald & Kieron Dwyer.

• 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).
• Episode 22 – Joe Decie! England’s own Joe Decie joins us on the party floor to chat about his forthcoming book from Jonathan Cape, Collecting Sticks. We talk about why he made the switch from short-form to long-form work, family vacations, and Brexit. Joe fills us in on how making the shift from a part-time to full-time artist has affected his ability to do DIY jobs around the house, and he confesses he’d never go to a campout in his town for fear of a gang of yobbos coming around to kick the tent down. Plus: Zack reports From the Road, on his way back from ECCC in Seattle, and lets us know how that all went down.
• Episode 23 – Eleanor Davis! – The renowned illustrator and cartoonist Eleanor Davis joins us to talk about her new books You & A Bike & A Road, and Libby’s Dad! Illustration work, bike tours across the country, politics, keeping in contact with art directors, short story vs graphic novel writing, politics and more are all discussed in this great conversation with one of the best current comics creators around. PLUS! The return of Shanna! She and Zack talk the end of ISLAND, her new job, PULP magazine, LOGAN, and James Stanton’s new comic. AND! Mike and Zack are absolutely RUINED by Daylight Savings Time, and we chat about Mike’s new comic over at the Nib.

• Episode 24 – Julia Gfrörer & Sean T. Collins! – Julia & Sean join us to talk about Mirror Mirror 2, the upcoming horror/pornography anthology they’re editing for 2Dcloud. We cover the intersection of horror and sex, editing for the first time, collaboration, Goth music & capturing a mood via curation, and we dive deep into both Julia and Sean’s contributions to the book, as well as wax fannish over several of the contributors to Mirror Mirror 2. ALSO: Mike & Zack talk about comic book layouts and how and why you might do them when making comics. PLUS: Mike comes to a conclusion!
• Episode 25 – Hazel Newlevant! Welcome to the Party Floor Hazel Newlevant, editor of Chain Mail Bikini, co-editor of the upcoming Comics For Choice, and author of If This Be Sin, No Ivy League, & the upcoming Sugar Town. We talk editing anthologies, abortion rights, her early life and experiences as a home schooled kid, dating, stepping out on her own, queer visibility, polyamory, fake news, and the ethics of including others as characters in her story. PLUS: Mike & Zack talk the week’s creative progress, make dumb jokes about being old, and revisit where they’re at with their own personal Struggles With Layouts. *sob!*
• Episode 26 – Mike & Zack 5: No Guests, No Masters!  Happy half birthday to us! It’s our 6 month anniversary, and we celebrate by talking all kinds of Jibba Jabba! Zack’s new comic, Mike’s Dad Problems, creative blocks vs procrastination, new brush pens, posting instagram videos, feeling good about your work, mike’s crab hand, and cartoonists we wish were still cartooning are just some of the topics at hand this time.

• Episode 27 – Simon Roy! Welcome the creator of Habitat, Tiger Lung & Jan’s Atomic Heart, and artist/co-writer of Prophet, Simon Roy! We cover Simon’s career from college years to post-Prophet success, and his interest in barbarian comics, anthropology, science fiction, barbarians, and more barbarians! PLUS: Zack’s sudden turn into autobiography, Notebook Weakness, Mike’s famous actor friends, making comics “just for fun”, and having life experience vs wanting to make “Great Art”!
• EPISODE 28 – Jason Shiga! – We talk to the  author of Meanwhile, Bookhunter, Empire State, Fleep, and Demon about math, parenthood, action, books-as-computers, cliffhangers, living in France and more. Plus: Zack juggles projects! Mike’s got a new comic on the Nib! And we talk computer coloring and sound like a couple of idiots.
• EPISODE 29 – Keith Knight! –  We talk to Keith about his new book Jake The Fake, moving to the south, homeschooling, why representation in media matters, get into the nuts and bolts of what it’s like to be a daily strip cartoonist while juggling the production responsibilities for his new book series. PLUS: Mike & Zack wax poetic about that mostly absent feeling of a single issue comic release feeling like an honest to god event.

• Episode 30 – Julia Wertz! – We join our pal Julia Wertz to talk her new book Tenements, Towers & Trash, working for the New Yorker, moving cross country, her experiences at the MacDowell Colony and Short Run Trailer Blaze residencies, growing to love other people’s kids, the differences between working with “big publishers” vs comics publishers, and more! But First: Mike & Zack talk comics community, tumblr likes as currency, and daydream about the Marvel & DC bullpens of the 1970s!

• Episode 31 –  Bill Kartalopoulos & Austin English! This week at The Process Party, we’ve got comics educator, editor
  and scholar Bill Kartalopoulos and cartoonist and publisher Austin English here for a conversation about the graphic novels Patience by Daniel Clowes, Peplum by Blutch, and Superboy #104, published by DC Comics, in April 1963. Some interesting contrasts and comparisons are made. It’€™s a fun chat with two very smart and engaging people from comics.

• Episode 32 – Tom Spurgeon! – We meet with the Comics Reporter himself! Tom Spurgeon comes to the party floor to talk the recent Fantagraphics oral history “We Told You So: Comics As Art.” It’s a book we loved digging into and Tom brings a wealth of behind the scenes magic to the story OF THE STORY (of the story?), very high concept this is. We also cover Tom’s work at CXC and the future of The Comics Reporter! PLUS: Mike & Zack talk about their bedtimes!

• Episode 33 – Publishing Webcomics!(?) – Mike & Zack spend a bit of time this week wondering about where the best places are to publish webcomics these days. Spurred on by the recent controversy over popular webcomics portal Taptastic and their magically updating terms of service. We talk a little about various places to look at webcomics like Stela, Taptastic, Tumblr, Study Group, and how these portals differ from just hosting your own website. It’s a pretty free wheeling conversation about the topic, so get ready for some serious jibba jabba!
• Episode 34 – John Porcellino! – We sit down with the legendary John Porcellino, creator of King Cat Comics and one man comics distro under the Spit And A Half banner. King Cat is one of the longest continually published mini comics in existence, with 77 issues since 1989! John just dropped the new issue, which is full of John’s great brand of animal stories. He also just published a collection of Jenny Zervakis’ mini comics called Strange Growths, and we talk about her work and what drove this inveterate self-publisher to become a publisher of other artists. PLUS: Mike and Zack talk about Delaware Punch! Progress with projects! And a VANCAF scene report!
• Episode 35 – Katie Skelly! – We welcome Katie Skelly (Nurse Nurse, My Pretty Vampire) to the party floor! Katie talks about the end of her long running podcast Trash Twins (w/Sarah Horrocks), her love of genre, trash culture, and other unsavory things. Her new book is her most ambitious to date and we get into color theory, narrative abstraction, serialization, and more. Plus! We all go off the rails a bit to do some light gossiping. Also: Mike has the flu and Zack throws a children’s birthday party! An exciting episode!

• Episode 36 – Francois Vigneault! – Please welcome to the Party Floor the creator of the political sci-fi romance comic TITAN, co-founder of the Linework NW comic fest, and designer at large, Francois Vigneault!  We cover a lot of ground in this big chat, from Francois’ comics & publishing history, involvement with Study Group Comics, and his thoughts on genre, with a detour into some writing & cinema discussions, the politics of Titan, how the world has changed since Francois started the book, and the value of polemic in 2017. PLUS! The comics internet is aflame with talk of “can you make valuable work after the ripe old age of 30?” The question was roundly mocked before spurring on a lot of actual interesting conversation online, which Mike & Zack both summarize and engage in a bit of their own pontification.
• Episode 37 – Josh Bayer! – We talk to the cartoonist of Theth & Raw Power (Retrofit) who is also the driving force behind All Time Comics (Fantagraphics), a wild and wooly throwback to the heady days of 1970-80’s mainstream comics made by some of the top talents in modern art comics. We get into the ATC books, Josh’s personal work, career path, teaching philosophies, and more! Plus: Josh gets down with a Formative Works segment! Agony, American Splendor, and Mark Grunewald’s Captain America are all discussed in detail. AND: We launched our Patreon! So we talk about that.
• Episode 38 – Dustin Harbin – Welcome autobiographical cartoonist and noted hand letterer Dustin Harbin to the party floor! We talk about the Doug Wright awards, hosting a Canadian awards show when you’re an American from the South, and his recent long form diary comic story Small Enough, which found some acclaim on the internet. We enjoyed this meditation on the convention circuit, social awkwardness, depression, family ties, and big trees that make you cry, so we talk to Dustin at length about the story. But First: Zack’s on a California Vacation! Mike’s about to go to Cape Cod and pretend to be a seal!

• Episode 39 – Alex Robinson – It’s a bit of an Ink Panthers reunion as we welcome Mike’s old podcast chucklebuddy (and creator of Box Office Poison, Tricked, Too Cool To Be Forgotten, Lower Regions, & Our Expanding Universe) Alex Robinson! Mike & Alex rekindle their old jibba jabba vibe while talking about Alex’s current (& wildly successful) podcast Star Wars Minute. No holds are barred as we talk about the recent attempt at re-serializing BoP in color, and Alex’s current long term project Cosmic Saga. There’s a lengthy digression into “stuff that sucks to draw” spurred on by Alex’s new rule that Cosmic Saga should be (gasp!) “fun to draw.”
• Episode 40: PHASE 2! What’s Phase 2, you ask? Well, it’s not much, really. We just got to joking around about being relaxed from our respective recent vacations. Anyway, WELCOME TO PHASE 2! This episode is actually One From The Vaults. Way back in April 2015, Mike and Zack recorded a conversation in the glorious, unspoiled past to talk about one of the biggest superhero comics of the 1990s: Kingdom Come by Mark Waid & Alex Ross. This was a fun back-and-forth, and is in many ways a proto-Process Party! BUT FIRST: Mike & Zack catch up after their travels, get excited about Patreon goals, talk about movie habits (& touch on Spider-Man: Homecoming), and have a Democratic Minute!
• Episode 41- Eric Haven! – We delve deep into Eric’s creative process, from writing to drawing, to final product. His new book Vague Tales is a fairly surreal bit of near-automatic writing and Eric details the way it all came together. We also talk about his general cartooning career path, as well as his time as a producer on the tv show Mythbusters for many years. There’s also a decent bit of political chit chat, as we get into his recent short piece The Resister. The past is the future and the future is the past in this great talk with a visionary creator! But First: Mike & Zack get a bunch of business taken care of, talk current events (Spills! Thrills!) and Zack has a new/old webcomic up on Study Group.

• Episode 42 – Carta Monir! This episode we welcome cartoonist & podcaster Carta Monir! Carta is the author of several short comics and the recent 2Dcloud release Secure Connect. Carta talks her writing process, Tomb Raider, family stories, drawing perfectly vs drawing real, her book Secure Connect, 24 hour comics, therapy depicting the fragmented nature of internal thought processes, how technology changes us, and more! But First: Mike & Zack (sort of) debate using shortcuts in art!
• Episode 43 – Gina Wynbrandt! This week the party is joined by the hilarious author of Someone Please Have Sex With Me, Gina Wynbrandt! Gina lays it down on a variety of topics including Justin Beiber, dating, getting derailed after finishing a book, her art style & her writing process. But First: Mike & Zack talk about derailments of their own! Post-project derailment, apathy, depression, and laziness. You know, the usual!
• Episode 44- Darryl Ayo – We welcome comics critic and cartoonist Darryl Ayo to the party floor this week. Darryl is the author of Little Garden, an ongoing comic strip (or series of one-pagers) about mythological creatures that live in a more or less idyllic world. We talk criticism, twitter, the genesis of Comics Cube, Little Garden past and future, and evolving platforms for both comics and talking about comics. It’s a fun talk with the Ignatz award winning cartoonist! But first! Mike & Zack recommend a podcast, and talk coincidence in comics vs real life.

• Episode 45- Sammy Harkham! Welcome Kramer’s Ergot honcho and creator of the ongoing series Crickets, Sammy Harkham! We spend most of our time talking his serialized graphic novel Blood Of The Virgin, an ode to LA and C movie houses in the 1970s. But We don’t stop there, and cover all kinds of stuff including the need for a comics magazine of record, writing techniques, the importance work spaces, and even a couple SCOOPS! This episode is one for the books!
• Episode 46 – Juliacks! Welcome to the party floor transmedia artist and cartoonist, Juliacks! The author of Swell, Invisible Forces, and Codas, among others – Juliacks has a brand new book called Architecture of An Atom, out now from 2dcloud (currently kickstarting this and others from their upcoming line of books). AoaA isn’t just a graphic novel, it’s also a movie! And an installation! We talk about how all these pieces fit together. We also talk artist’s residencies, being a bi-continental artist, and more. But First: Mike & Zack talk SPX (Zack’s going) and the Ignatz awards (Mike’s nominated), and Juggalos (they’re marching that weekend).
• Episode 47 – Jim Rugg! Please welcome to the party floor, the excellent Jim Rugg! Jim is of course the co-creator of Street Angel and Afrodesiac, as well as artist on The Plain Janes, the Guild, and more. He’s also a fine designer & curator of not just his own books but multiple zines and magazines. After a lengthy hiatus, Jim & co-creator Brian Maruca are producing a series of new, full color Street Angel hardcover albums through Image Comics. We get into the return of Street Angel, formatting considerations and all, but first we do a brief recap of Jim’s long career in the trenches. From there, it’s on to a variety of topics such as Clowes’ Death Ray, favorite drawing tools, Jim’s old and much missed podcasting days, and pro-wrestling and comics!

• Episode 48 – Jeff Smith!  –  We had the pleasure of hosting Jeff Smith on the party floor this week. He’s the author of indy comic turned kid’s lit publishing juggernaut Bone, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, RASL, and Tuki: Save The Humans (currently in progress). He’s also a co-founder and organizer of the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (aka CXC) festival.  We get right into his work on TUKI, including the tough decision to pull the book from both online & print serialization when he realized it wasn’t quite working the way he wanted it to. Jeff’s back hard at work on a revised and refocused version of TUKI, and we talk about the stylistic choices, inspirations, and goals involved along the way. His role as a driving force behind CXC is touched on, and we get the secret origin of the fest itself! Indeed, there’s a lot in the way of history lesson this episode, as Jeff talks about the origin of the species, the genesis of BONE, his experiences with Will Eisner, the Billy Ireland Library, and the comics scene of the 1990s. Plus: RASL! Writing! The Importance of improvisation! Editing! Just when is a book “done!” And more!
• Episode 49 – Memory Lane: A Process Party Potpourri! This one’s a Mike & Zack episode, all Jibba, no Jabba! Ok, actually there’s plenty of Jabba. Mike talks about feeling a bit nervous about an upcoming comic featuring some of his local politicians, Zack has a new short comic up on Study Group and discusses what goes into collecting serialized work into a satisfying book experience, specifically in relation to his long running Secret Voice series. We also talk Rose City Comic-Con, which Zack just got back from, and the coming week’s show SPX. Unofficial episode producer Tom Spurgeon provides multiple questions for us to riff on, which mainly sends us down to a little place we like to call Memory Lane. We *may* spend some time talking about that time we elbowed a famous cartoonist in the head, as well as the immortal Warriors of Plasm. It’s a real Process Party Potpourri!
• Episode 50 – Jesse Moynihan! It’s our big 50th episode blowout! Welcome cartoonist and animator Jesse Moynihan. He’s the author of The Backwards Folding Mirror and the consciousness-expanding Forming series. He was also a key part of the first 5 seasons of the Adventure Time cartoon, and currently working on pitching several of his own cartoon ideas to publishers. We get into all of that and more – From animation writing, to the origins of Forming, tantric sex workshops, airbrush theory, tarot, and what it’s like to see your art become part of a genuine worldwide phenomenon. Plus: Zack calls in from SPX! and more!

• Episode 51 – SPX Scene Report! It’s SPX time! One of the best & funnest alt-comics festivals, the Small Press Expo 2017 has come and gone, and Zack was there with his recording device to prove it. With short interviews from Celine Loup, Rob Clough, Chuck Foresman, Daniel Spottswood, Nathan Fox, Melissa Mendes, Kyle Bravo, Vincent Stall aka King Mini, Francois Vigneault, Mardou, Jess Fink, Glynnis Fawkes, & Shannon Wheeler!
• Episode 52 – Christopher Sebela! Please welcome to the party floor Christopher Sebela, writer and co-creator of Welcome Back, Heartthrob, High Crimes, among many others. Chris talks about his adventures at the Clown Motel, freelance writing, collaboration, work for hire and working within constraints, long-gestating projects, writing Harley Quinn, and more!
• Episode 53 – One Year of Process Party! Join us for a Very Special Episode of Process Party: It’s our Birthday! (aww) Mike and Zack got together and posted the first episode 1 year ago this week, and forgive us but we get a little misty thinking about it. That doesn’t mean we spend the whole episode patting ourselves on the back, but we do take the opportunity to have a bit of the patented jibba jabba you know and hopefully love. We also took some questions from our listeners to spice things up this time! Topics include: Whither Shanna? Cover Design (is hard), Leaf Peeping, Comics Infrastructure, Inktober, Academia, How we should totally have a TV show, “mean” criticism, The Real World Season 3, Being Grateful, and much more!

• Episode 53.5 – Jim Rugg & Caitlin McGurk discussing Dan Clowes’ Death Ray! It’s a special THROWBACK episode! Mike had a stomach bug that precluded us from recording this week, so we’re posting an old conversation between Mike, Jim Rugg & Caitlin McGurk discussing Dan Clowes’ Death Ray. It originally appeared on Mike’s old podcast TCJ Talkies. A new regular episode will be up later this week, but for now enjoy this discussion about teenage friendships in the work of Dan Clowes, his use of color and full-bleed layouts, and also a photo of him Mike once saw where he’s sitting at what looks like a giant novelty sized drawing board.
• Episode 54 – Karl Stevens! Please welcome Karl Stevens, author of Failure & his upcoming book from Retrofit Comics, The Winner. We talked class war, drawing from life, sobriety, collaboration, and more. Also, Mike and Zack talk about the change of Editorial at TCJ, economics, and unions!
• Episode 55 – Tillie Walden! This week, Tillie Walden joins us on the party floor! Tillie is the author of the books The End of Summer, I Love This Part, A City Inside, and the newly released memoir Spinning. She’s also recently completed an extended webcomic narrative in On A Sunbeam. We talk fiction vs autobio, writing and drawing process, her compulsion to work, career thus far, CCS, subtweeting, trauma, memory, the cruelty of teenagers, and of course a little bit about ice skating. Mike also details his time at the PULP Culture Comic Art Festival in Vermont last week.

• Episode 56 – Sarah Horrocks! Sarah Horrocks returns! We last spoke to cartoonist and critic Sarah Horrocks in our “Best of 2016” episode, and she’s back for a full length interview. She’s got a new ongoing serial called GORO that she’s releasing in print and digital formats, and we dive deep into that. Sarah goes in depth on her goals there, as well as digging into her writing and drawing process, philosophy of pacing both within a story and a page, mark making vs legibility, and staying true to the emotional content of the work over traditional styles of representation. We cover some of her big influences, like Bill Sienkeiwicz, Guido Crepax and Alberto Breccia. Sarah is also a respected critic of comics and cinema, and we talk about how that informs her work as a cartoonist. But First: Zack returns from Short Run with a convention report, and the Party Boys have some news about important changes to the Patreon that mean more content more often.
• Episode 57 – Short Run 2017! This week: Dispatches from the show floor at Short Run 2017! Zack attended this always excellent show and got short interviews with Fiona Avocado, Jason T Miles, Fran Lopez, Anna Vo, Kevin Uehlein, Kelly-Sue Deconnick, Patrick Keck, & Cole Johnson. A good time was had by all! If you missed Short Run, catch the vibe now by proxy.
• Episode 58 – Jason Thompson & Jumana Al Hashal! Jason Thompson and Jumana Al Hashal are a husband/wife cartoonist & project manager duo who have turned to collaborative game design. Their first game, Mangaka, was a pictionary-esque take on the Japanese comics industry, and their new game Cartooner looks to both skewer and explore the US version of the comics art form. We talk about the game, of course, but we also get into what it’s like to collaborate with your significant other, getting “civilians” excited to draw comics, the mechanics of getting your game (or comic) out there in the world, and of course Manga. Jason is the author of Manga: The Complete Guide & was an editor at the US version of Shonen Jump, among other things. The life of a manga editor is something we haven’t had the opportunity to get into before, so we found that to be pretty interesting & maybe you will too. But First!  Mike & Zack talk about their history with non-video gaming & RPGs before getting into their SECRET ORIGINS! As in, key moments of their path to becoming cartoonists. SECRETS REVEALED: Early influences (John Byrne, really. It’s just John Byrne), first comics, Predator, first collaborations, and how meeting their first real life professional cartoonists (Eric Vincent for Zack & Evan Dorkin for Mike) crystallized something they may or may not have already known: Cartooning was a potentially depressing but also exciting thing that they too could do!

• Episode 59 – Sarah Glidden! Sarah Glidden is the author of How To Understand Israel in 60 Days Or Less, multiple short form comics, and her newest book Rolling Blackouts. Rolling Blackouts is about Sarah’s travels through Syria and Iraq with a group of reporters, and what she learns about those places, the people that live in them, and the fundamental philosophies and processes of journalism. We talk about her travels, her writing and editing process, journalism vs fiction, and her larger goals as a cartoonist. But First: Mike & Zack talk about adapting someone else’s essays into comics form, and the pitfalls therein. We also give some accidental branded content for our speaker systems.
• Episode 60 – Comics Journalism with Joe Sacco, Sophie Yanow & Iona Fox! Recorded live at the PULP Culture Comics Arts Festival & Symposium on October 21st in Burlington Vermont, this Comics Journalism roundtable brings Joe Sacco, Sophie Yanow, Iona Fox and the Party Boy himself, Mike Dawson to the stage to talk about their work specifically through the lens of journalism. Moderated by Andy Kolovos, and featuring James Kochalka and Glynnis Fawkes, this was a fun conversational chat, that was very illuminating. Thank you to the organizers of the PULP festival for bringing these cartoonists to Vermont and putting on such a great show.
• Episode 61 – Jeffrey Brown! From stories about boners, loneliness and bad sex to kids comics and the Star Wars universe – That’s one heck of a career trajectory! We get into it with Jeffrey Brown, author of Clumsy, Unlikely, Darth Vader & Son/Vader’s Little Princess/Goodnight Darth Vader, the Jedi Academy series, and his new series for kids Lucy & Andy Neanderthal (among many many more)!  PLUS: Zack & Mike talk about the recent problems with Patreon’s fairly random fee restructuring, what that means for creators, and what options we all might have going forward.

• Episode 62 – (Our) Year In Review! 2017, what a year! What a horrible, beautiful year. Mike & Zack take a look back at the year in review on a personal and professional level (ie we don’t spend a ton of time griping about Trump). We look back at our goals and expectations for the year, assess how we met or didn’t meet those goals, do a final page count for the year, talk about our strategies and how we might change the way we work in the future. What does 2018 hold for your humble hosts? Plus: who’s inspired us in 2017? Zack drops a minor scoop in the middle of the episode, we discuss what the biggest comics news of 2017 was, and predict what’s to come. Our last episode of 2017 before we come back from the holidays, and it’s a good one.
• Episode 63 – The Best Comics of 2017! We’re back from the holiday with our second annual Best Of roundup! Find out what our favorite books of the year were, and enjoy discussions with Sarah Horrocks, Austin English, Jason T Miles, Keren Katz, Sloane Leong, Eric Grissom, Ed Luce, Carta Monir, & Sammy Harkham as they detail their picks. Books discussed include Golden Kamuy, Alienation, The Interview, Anti-Gone, Doom Patrol, Shit & Piss, Diana’s Electric Tongue, Variations, Pretending Is Lying, Street Angel, You & a Bike & a Road, Tarantula, Octopus Pie, Yours, Zanardi, and more!
• Episode 64: Jason T. Miles! This week on Process Party, we talk to Profanity Hill impresario, Fantagraphics Editor, and cartoonist Jason T. Miles! Jason joined Zack a couple weeks ago to talk about Zanardi for our Best of 2017 episode, and they ended up having a long ramblin’ conversation before they even got to talk about that book. So here we have their chat, which dives fairly deep into the inspirations and themes of his new series EIGHTY-SIX. Topics covered include Masculinity (Toxic or otherwise), Sobriety, COPRA, Marvel trading cards, Comic shops in the 80s & 90s, Zanadu Comics in Seattle in 2018, The Death of Superman, the art of tidying up, Self-loathing, raising the next generations, and the comics of the black and white glut.

• Episode 65: Whit Taylor!  We welcome cartoonist, public health educator, and Comics For Choice Co-Editor Whit Taylor to the party floor! We get into the themes of her new collection Ghost Stories right off the bat, talking about trauma, comics as therapy, and switching up your approach between stories. Whit delves in to the Boston comics scene, what it’s like to work (& pitch) for the New Yorker, the sustainability of comics fest culture, and more! PLUS: Mike has Cintiq troubles: He forgot how to draw on paper! And Zack starts a new comic on instagram, and the boys talk about photo reference in autobio, and some honest to god NIB TALK!
• Episode 66: Ink Panthers Live! That’s right-It’s a blast from the past when Mike’s old podcast, Ink Panthers gets together to yuk it up live on stage at DiNK Denver! Alex Robinson & the Desert Panther Tony Consiglio join Mike to talk comics and other stuff in the far off world of Denver CO, 2014! Plus, in the modern world, learn about Mike’s exciting trip to Scotland (hint: HAGGIS!)
• Episode 67: Michel Fiffe! This episode we welcome COPRA mastermind Michel Fiffe! His self-published comic quickly caught the indy-comics world on fire, capturing the minds of the Wednesday Warriors who mainline superhero comics, as well as the artcomix wonks, panel flow fiends and mark-making fetishists from the “other” side of the tracks. Bergen Street Comics stepped in to produce the collections and get the word out past the limited reach of the issues, and the rest is history. Michel’s currently working in full on “COPRA Mode” on a 3 issue mini series for Rob Liefeld, detailing some lost history of one of his lesser known Extreme Studios creations, in BLOODSTRIKE: BRUTALISTS. We talk about that, the genesis of COPRA, his brief time writing for Marvel, some of his favorite creators, his working process, comics theory, and much much more in this lively chat. Plus: Mike & Zack debate what makes a ‘zine, and talk a little about ye olde internet harassment.  

• Episode 68: Listener Questions! Never let it be said that the Party Boys aren’t giving back to our faithful Party Animals- you had questions you needed answered, and we did our best! This episode, we opened up the mailbag and answered a plethora of listener queries. Embarrassing things we grew out of, Moving on, Circling back, Favorite fictional Zack & Mikes, Thumbnailing theory, Dream collaborators, has Mike ever seen an Anime, the difference between manga & comics, and much much more! This one is for fans of questions posed and then answered.
• Episode 69: Lauren Weinstein! Please welcome very normel person Lauren Weinstein to the party floor! That’s Normel Person, the incisive, hilarious, and often haunting weekly strip that’s been running in The Village Voice, not a horrible typo. Lauren is also the author of Goddess of War, Girl Stories, & Inside Vineyland. We talk about transforming our modern existential malaise into art, mass shootings, parenting tips, and more! Plus: Mike & Zack are very very tired, and Zack is going to ECCC this weekend.
• Episode 70: ECCC! We’re back (again)! Mike went to Hawaii, got crazy jetlag, and Zack went to Emerald City Comicon, and got con-lag. But now we’re more or less back to normal. First up, the boys talk about their various adventures and generally knock the rust and dust off their talking machines. ECCC turned out to be a bit of a roller coaster, and Mike may not have wanted to come back from his island paradise, but here we are, none the worse for wear. Happily, we also return with ECCC interviews with Doc Shaner (Future Quest, Superman), Chris Roberson (iZombie, Hellboy & The BPRD), Dan Schkade (The Spirit)0 & Jeff Parker (Future Quest, Batman ’66)!

• Episode 71: Box Brown! Please welcome Box Brown, founder of Retrofit Comics and the author of Is This Guy For Real: The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, Tetris: The Games People Play, Andre The Giant: Life & Legend, & many many more! We talk Andy Kaufman, fiction vs biography, childhood heroes, and lots and lots of wrestling talk! Plus: Mike took sleepy pills before they recorded! Cry for help or just bad idea? And: Zack talks reducing clutter, and his own personal JLA.
• Episode 72: Sloane Leong! Please welcome creator of the new Image series Prism Stalker and the upcoming :01 book A Map To The Sun, Sloane Leong! Sloane and the boys discuss Prism Stalker at length and in depth. Sci-Fi, colonialism, gender representation, comics creation  workflow, writing and drawing process talk, this one has it all! Plus: Changes are afoot at the Patreon, Mike is continuously getting surprised by his kid’s school schedules, and Zack reads a pertinent passage from Tips From Top Cartoonists (1982, Don Christensen) with some advice that both of us wish we’d learned earlier in life.
•  Episode 73: Ready Process One! Woo hoo! The Party Boys are back with another full-on jibba-jabba episode. First up: what’s the deal with the Patreon? Well, we take just a minute or two to lay out the new status quo there, but it’s only a short jump from there to talkin’ ’bout trains (real and otherwise), making fun of Ready Player One (spoiler warnings, sort of), nerd culture, Zack is super close to being done inking his book, the two talk about what that feels like, kickstarter nerves, the New Jersey congressional race, our leftist leanings, mammal trivia, and social media coping mechanisms!

• Episode 74: Keren Katz! This week we return with a great chat with Israeli cartoonist Keren Katz! Keren has had (and continues to have) a very interesting life and pathway to comics.Her first book The Academic Hour was recently published by Secret Acres. Learn about her early days as a dancer, obsession with flying, being an eternal student, art school days, to her current jet setting life as a cartoonist & performer. Who are: The Katz Sisters?! What is her connection to a deceased/never living metafictional Israeli poet? And much more! Plus: Mike did too much yoga!
•  Episode 75: Josh Simmons! Cartoonist Josh Simmons (author of Jessica Farm, House, Black River, The Furry Trap, and his new collection of short stories and collaborations Flayed Corpse) is one of our favorite creators of modern horror comics fiction. He stopped by the party floor to discuss things that make us uneasy, societal collapse, personal boundaries, and reassessing older work through the viewpoint of the person you are now. He’s been spending a lot of time working with other cartoonists, as collected in Flayed Corpse, but also on the upcoming season of All-Time Comics, which we talk about as well as his general thoughts on collaboration and the specific logistics of working with other cartoonists. Plus: It’s Spring in Portland! Zack derails Mike’s story by talking about grilling and being excited to launch the Secret Voice Kickstarter.
• Episode 76: Michael Kupperman! Welcome the creator of Snake N’ Bacon’s Cartoon Cabaret, Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Mark Twain’s Autobiography, & his new memoir All The Answers–Michael Kupperman! Joel Kupperman was an early child star who met wild fame early in life as a “Quiz Kid,” but that fame haunted him much of his life. Michael tells all about his new book, and about growing up with a formerly famous dad. What was it like moving into memoir from absurdist humor strips? And of course plenty of process talk about the making of the book. PLUS: Big jibba jabba segment, because Mike was Nominated for an Eisner (! Best Webcomic), and Zack’s Kickstarter is LIVE! (and a bit of not super spoilery Infinity War chit chat at the end)

• Episode 77: Alex Degen! The one and only Twitter Funny Man Alex Degen has joined us on the party floor! Perhaps you didn’t know that in addition to being  funny on the internet, he’s also a wicked awesome cartoonist with multiple ineffable books and mini comics out there in the world? The author of Area CC, Mighty Star, and his new book Soft X-Ray/Mindhunters talks to us about all kinds of stuff, from his time as a youthful layabout, formative schooling and world travels, connections to the Magic Schoolbus empire, and a look into the life of a literary translator. Where did the genesis for his new full color book come from, lots of jokes, and more!  Plus: Zack’s driving around in a car in the opening, that’s weird! Also: The Secret Voice Kickstarter is fully backed and there’s still plenty of time to back it!
• Episode 78: Dustin Weaver! Please welcome Dustin Weaver to the party floor! Dustin is the co-creator of the recent S.H.I.E.L.D. series with writer Jonathan Hickman, and writer/artist on multiple other Marvel comics, as well as some stints on TMNT & Star Wars properties. We definitely talk about all of that stuff, and do a deep dive on his time at Marvel in particular. Mike & Zack have a lot of questions about how the sausage gets made! But the main reason we’re here is to talk about his recent one-man anthology at Image Comics, Paklis. Standing relatively apart from the mainstream comics world where he made his mark, Weaver took his name recognition to Image to pursue more personal material. Dream comics sit side-by-side with space opera and surrealist experiments, and rough hewn sketchiness gives way to meticulous sci-fi set pieces, often in the space of a single page. What’s up with Paklis? Learn about Dustin’s first meeting with Jim Lee! Why was SHIELD so damn late? And much much more! Also: Mike Has a new comic on the Nib that made Zack kinda sad! And the Secret Voice Kickstarter is fully backed and met it’s hardcover stretch goal!
• Episode 79: Columbus Scene Report! It’s an all Jibba-Jabba Extravaganza! Mike & Zack have had a few very busy weeks and catch up in this episode. Zack’s Kickstarter is over (thank god)! Mike has a new comic coming out soon! That guy Mike was stumping for in New Jersey lost the race!  And Zack went to Columbus, OH! A large part of the episode is dedicated to a Columbus scene report of sorts, as it’s quietly becoming one of the great American cartooning cities! What’s up with the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum? Is it really as mind-blinding as everyone says? Yes, it is! It was amazing. Also: Zack’s brush with greatness, in a special patented Embarrassing Story! All that & more.

• Episode 80: Shop Talk! It’s another Jibba Jabba episode: Mike returns from Iceland, Zack returns from the wilds of Kickstarter anxiety and printing deadlines, and our Party Floor creaks back into gear! Lots of discussion about what it means to actually finish a big project, transitioning from GO GO GO mode to “what now?” mode, and much more.
• Episode 81: Kickliy! We’re back to talk to Kickliy about his new Western graphic novel PERDY! You may know Kickliy from his series Musnet, or his work that was published under the name Sam Hiti. All of it is great, and we were excited to talk to him. We got into the reason for his name change, his time spent in France recuperating from a serious accident, and his triumphant return to comics. Lots of painting and drawing philosophy, working through blocks small and large, and how he ended up becoming an American cartoonist with a French Publisher. Behind the scenes process talk about making both PERDY & Musnet, including his thoughts on making all ages comics AND decidedly not all ages comics. This is a good one! PS: We’re going to be at SPX this weekend! Come see PROCESS PARTY LIVE with Josh Cotter on Sunday, and pick up Zack’s NEW BOOK, The Secret Voice Vol 1 at Tables L-12/L-13!!!
• Episode 82: Josh Cotter, LIVE from SPX! It’s our first ever PROCESS PARTY LIVE! The kind folks at SPX were nice enough to set us up in conversation with one of our favorite people and cartoonists, Joshua Cotter. Josh first came to everyone’s attention with the Skyscrapers of the Midwest series in the early 00’s, which he followed up with Driven By Lemons and his current project, the massive (7 book!) series Nod Away. Nod Away is nominally a science fiction book to start, but it’s already quite clear that the scope will be much wider as the book progresses. We cover Josh’s whole career up to this point, his writing process, the role of comics as therapy, living in the woods, getting optioned by HBO, and much much more! Plus, Mike & Zack give their personal rundowns of the SPX experience at the top of the show..

• Episode 83: CXC Rundown with Mark Siegel & Nate Powell!
  We’re back this time with a nice long chat between Zack & First Second head honcho/5 Worlds co-creator Mark Siegel that was recorded at the panel they did on Saturday morning at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus last month, as well as a short but meaty show floor chat with Swallow Me Whole, MARCH, and Come Again cartoonist Nate Powell. PLUS! CXC show report, lots of personal good news and catching up from the Party Boys. Go read Mike’s new comic at the Nib, and buy a copy of Zack’s new book from him at Short Run, CAB & CALA before he goes into hibernation mode for the winter!
• Episode 84: Year In Review 2019/1986! The Dark Knight of Podcasts Returns! What? Yes. Hi! Here we are again, quite randomly. Mike & Zack talk comics, life, editing, auteur theory, productivity, carpal tunnel, digital drawing, early graphic novels, reading comics on the iPad, Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns, and Tom Spurgeon’s recent passing.
• Episode 85: Howard Cruse & TMNT! Mike Dawson & Zack Soto are back with the final episode of 2019, talking about Howard Cruse, Stuck Rubber Baby, creative constraints, dense pages, classical patronage, Eastman & Laird, TMNT, Tundra & The Xeric Foundation, and people who phase “upwards” out of comics into being rich & busy (instead of quitting in futility like we always assumed we would).

• Episode 86: Tom Kaczynski on Silver Surfer ’87 2020, here we come! First new pod of the year and first guest in the new format! Hosts Mike Dawson and Zack Soto take stock on the new year before welcoming Tom Kaczynski to talk about the strange wonder of Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers’ Silver Surfer run from 1987. We cover a lot of ground—from plot points to comics history, distribution wars, the intersection of mainstream and indy comics, metaphysics, the cosmology of the Marvel Universe and much much more!!

Like the podcast? Want to help out with our costs?

PS: DON’T FORGET! We’ve finally launched our super cool Process Party Patreon! If you enjoy the pod and want to help support us in what we do, now is your chance to kick in. There’s a few reward tiers available, including the low low $1/month, but if you subscribe at the $3/month level, you will get access to an exclusive Patreon-only weekly podcast feed! That’s a whole extra podcast for less than 1$/episode of the main feed!

If the main Process Party podcast is like being in the mix chatting with cartoonists at a convention party, Process Party: Real Talk is the afterparty, when the walls come down and the real talk, advice and gossip flow freely!  Every week we ask our guests to impart a little *extra* bit of wisdom, some nuts & bolts how-to info or philosophy, and of course a heavy dose of every cartoonist’s number one concern: GETTING PAID IN COMICS! These minisodes contain exclusive content not included in the regular podcast!

You can also use our fancy Amazon Link when shopping the the US, UK or Canada!