Mon, 17 November 2008 Top 10 is back! The Wildstorm series is two issues into the new
story arc, written by Zander Cannon and drawn by Gene Ha. On this edition of Word Balloon, Gene runs down many behind
the scenes design details, of Top 10's characters, plus we'll take a detailed look at a preview page of issue #3, and the various easter eggs in the scenes depicted.
Comparing the writing styles of the series creator, and current
writer,
Gene reminds readers that Zander Cannon was providing layouts and inks for the first twelve issues of Top 10, and was Moore's artist on the follow up Smax mini series. "I think Zander isn't quite as gritty or innovative as Alan was,
but I think he's actually a bit better with dialog. Alan usually described his action in the dialog, whereas Zander trusted me enough to draw the action clearly enough. now watch Alan going to find out about this, and will hate me (laughs)." Ha says Moore has been briefed on the direction of season two.
"It would killed us to find out that Alan hated what we were
doing
continuing the series. Zander sent him a detailed description of the plot we were doing, but never heard back. ...but i called him after I started drawing it, and he said he really liked what Zander had sent him." When asked where Officers Smax and Toybox were in the new story,
Gene assures readers they will be back, later in the series. Ha is on board for the first story arc and then has a secret
Vertigo
project coming up. Gene also shows us an interesting convention sketch motif he likes
to experiment with. He gets a writer to describe a single image story scene, and Gene will bring it to life. To see an example he did with Kurt Busiek, and the page from issue 3, head to www.wordballoon.com Comments[0] |
Fri, 7 November 2008  On this edition of the word balloon podcast, writer Marty Pasko discusses his work, writing the text of The DC Vault from Running Press.
Like last year's Marvel Vault, The Museum In A Book, features a history of
the company, incredible art, and wonderful replicas of DC merchandise, from Jr
Justice Society decoders, and membership certificates, to promotional tie-ins,
plus cover roughs, ashcan issues, an all-star artist jam poster with work from
Bob Kane, to Carmine Infantino to Dave Gibbons numerous sketches and memos from
the kill list of the original Crisis On Infinite Earths, to Mike Carlin's plot
diagram for the Death Of Superman. Comments[1] |
Tue, 4 November 2008  Jeph goes into behind the scenes details of his upcoming
Buffy the vampire slayer story, which ties into the ideas of the aborted Buffy animated series. As ultimatum begins this week we wrap up our current
Loeb report, where Jeph discusses more detail of the ultimates vol 3, the Ultimate Captain America annual which gives the origin of the ult universe Black Panther. We also take the wayback machine to the marvel writer's summit that spawned civil war , and hear Jeph's version of how Mark Millar's story came to life. Comments[0] |
Thu, 30 October 2008  On this edition of the word balloon podcast, we present another
conversation with DC writer, Gail Simone. She
answers fan questions that were posted at the word balloon forums about her
current books Wonder Woman,
Secret Six, and Welcome To
Tranquility, her former works like The All New Atom, Birds Of Prey, and Marvel works like Gus Beezer and
Agent X/Deadpool.
We also get writing tips from Gail, and hints at some future
projects.
Some highlights from the session include...
Would Gail ever write a huge DC wide event?
"I actually have a huge crossover pitch in that's been approved
we pushed it back because I need to concentrate on wonder woman and the secret six launch. It's a story I feel needs to be addressed." Gail considered making the schizophrenic Rose/Thorn a member
of the Secret Six. She wrote the first 2 drafts of the upcoming Wonder Woman
animated DVD feature.. Despite being billed as a Grant
Morrison inspired idea , Gail had more ground floor influence and say on
the new Atom.
"I love Grant Morrison, but the truth is that for the All New Atom we both
had individual Atom pitches in, each revolving around the idea of a weird
(Ivy) town.
Grant created the Panda character, and the first story featured in the
Brave
New World One shot.... and it was agreed that Ryan Choi would be Asian,
but I created his Hong Kong background, and (all the rest) ... I love weird
science stories, 1950's B-movie Sci-Fi films, and HP Lovecraft stuff .That book was way up my alley, but
people don't realize that, because it's so different from what I did on Birds Of
Prey." Comments[0] |
Wed, 22 October 2008  In this episode of Word Balloon, we check in with the legendary artist/writer Howard Chaykin.We talk about his solo created 44 page one shot for December,Captain America, Theater Of War, America First 1956. A take on the Origin and career of the Commie Smasher 1950's Cap. “It’s me doing the 50’s, which I haven’t done in awhile. Nick Fury plays a large part in the book, as the voice of reason…and we deal a lot with 50’s iconography, and the conflict between godless communisim and godless capitalisim (laughs). I’m doing a very right wing version of Cap, and it’s a challenge.” He gives us a behind the scenes view of Squadron Supreme , his current Marvel monthly, illustrated by Marco Turini. Chaykin also talked about his collaboration with Garth Ennis on The Phantom Eagle, his wrap up working on Punisher War Journal , the 2006-2007 Blade series with Marc Guggenhiem and we go back and forth, through the usual maze of 20th century pop culture references . Will we see a new Chaykin adult style story in a MAX Book? “My next major project for Marvel , but I can’t tell you more than that right now. I’m champing at the bit to do it" Comments[0] |
Mon, 20 October 2008  This time we talk to artist writer Tim seeley, who's creator owned series Hack Slash is nominated for Best Comic Book Series this Tuesday on Spike TV's Scream Awards .During this moment of mnaistream awareness and acceptance, the book is in the midst of a crossover with The Re-Animator Film Series. Seeley arranged the crossover with the film's producer and rights holder Brian Yunza. However, as discussed in this press release, the book has fallen into a property dispute with a seperate company called Re-Animator LLC, forcing issues #16 & 17 to seek alternative distribution away from Diamond. Tim discusses the basics of this puhlic domain dispute , and explains how fans and comic retailers can order the book's final 2 chapters. We also talk about Tim's new run on Marvel's New Exiles series debuting on #14 with writer Chris Claremont in November. Comments[0] |
Tue, 14 October 2008 On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, writer Gail Simone takes us on
a tour of Secret Six, the all villain team of misfits that got immediate fan
acceptance from their debut in the Infinite Crisis tie-in series Villains
United.
We talk about the team's beginnings, a look at the core team members, and
some hints at upcoming plot points for the series.
Simone says Six fans can expect the team to face insurmountable odds and
foes of both sides of the DC. " You'll see (The Six) take on half the DCU
villains , JLAers, and in an upcoming arc they get on the bad side of Wonder
Woman." Also in the plans, a flashback look at each team members life, before
joining the Six.
Says a grateful Simone, "Thanks to all the fans who are supporting this
book, I've had so much good response from it...I really do love writing these
disturbing characters ." Comments[0] |
Thu, 9 October 2008  In this edition of Word Balloon we turn the show over to UK podcasters
David Montieth and Barry Nugent, The Geek Syndicate. For a one of a kind comics forum they were proud to moderate.
.
In this special celebrity panel, recorded live last weekend at the
Birmingham International Comics Show 2008, the Geek Syndicate guys are joined by four UK comics titans. Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) , Doug Braithwaite (Justice), Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI-13) and Mark Buckingham (Fables) discuss how UK comic professionals have invaded the US and what their impact has been. We also discover the differences working in both the US and the UK as a comic professional and what it takes to break into the US market. visit the geeks website http://geeksyndicate.wordpress.com/ Comments[0] |
Tue, 7 October 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast , we talk about all things
Watchmen, with the legendary co-creator, artist Dave Gibbons. We discuss the Watchmen Motion Comic, which has released
it's
2nd issue at Itunes and Amazon Video On Demand. Gibbons has another motion comic in the works, an adaptation of his Batman: Black and White story, The Black And White Bandit. Dave also tells us about his upcoming book, Watching The
Watchmen
to be released Oct 21st, and his take on the 2009 Zach Snyder film. We also ask Dave about his recent conversations with his friend and
collaborator writer Alan Moore, who has been very public concerning his negative
feelings about the Watchmen film.
Plus we discuss behind the scenes details about his 2006 Vertigo graphic
novel, The Originals, the 1985 Superman Annual
(#11) he and Moore created, For The Man Who Has Everything, and
his upcoming John Constantine story in Hellblazer #250. Comments[0] |
Fri, 3 October 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, The Loeb Report returns.
Marvel Writer and Heroes Co-Executive Producer Jeph Loeb is back, taking
questions from Word Balloon listeners about his books HULK , Ultimates Vol 3,
Captain America White and the coming event ULIMATUM. We also discuss the new
season of NBC's action series Heroes , and make time to tease Ed Brubaker and
Robert Kirkman .
Some quotes and tidbits from Part 1
On the true identity of the Red HULK ? " The clues (to his identity) are
all there."
After the Frank Cho/Art Adams arc, Ed McGuiness will be back on an story
featuring the original 4 Defenders (Hulk, Dr. Strange, Namor and The Silver
Surfer) versus the startling team-up of Red Hulk Tigershark,Baron Mordo and
Terrax known as "The Offenders" ."6 months from now just like Red hulk, all
everyone will be talking about will be The Offenders."
On Heroes- Jeph has written the final chapter of the Villains arc
which was being shot last week .Former Smallville and Battlestar Galactica producer Mark Verheiden has joined the Heroes writers staff, and is writing episode 15.. Heroes producer Jesse Alexander is doing a one shot Sgt Nick Fury
WW2 story drawn by John Paul Leon called Shotgun Opera. In the Ultimate Universe, Loeb is writing the Ult Captain America
Annual , which will explain why Cap was posing as The Black Panther in Ultimates 3.0. He is also writing the Ultimate Hulk story, which tells what happened to Zarda after she left the Supreme Power Universe. While Mark Millar is returning to the Ultimate Universe with Ultimate Avengers, Jeph will be writing a series called New Ultimates with a cast to be determined from the outcome of Ultimatum Comments[0] |
Thu, 2 October 2008  Writer Jon Hickman joins us to discuss his innovative styles of design and narrative. We preview his upcoming Marvel project Secret Warriors, co written by Brian Michael Bendis . Col. Nick Fury and the new super powered recruits he's assembled for the Secret Invasion, will represent a a moodus operandi that has a different purpose than the standard way SHIELD stories were told in the past.Says Hickman, "(With Fury, your talking about the oldest living clandestant operative in the world. He's not a 'read and react guy'...Secret Warriors is not going to be about a random number of spy incidents, and calamitous adventures... The book is about setting goals and achieving them for a greater purpose . We will be interacting with major (Marvel U) events and be active participants... we just won't be caught 'on camera'." In addition, we discuss his Image books Red Mass For Mars, Trans Human and Pax Romana , plus his Top Cow Pilot season entry, The Core. Comments[0] |
Fri, 26 September 2008 On this edition of the word balloon podcast, we speak with writer Joshua Fialkov. We'll talk about his top cow books Cyblade and his pilot season story Alibi, his new western contribution in Image Comics Anthology Outlaw Territory, and his new Dark Horse mini series The Cleaners. Josh has been busy writing vampire stories. From wrapping up his run on Vampirella, to adaptating the first two Dark-Hunter vampire novels by bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon, Night Pleasures and Night Embrace in manga-style for Dabel Brothers Publishing. We also talk about Josh's new video work online as head writer for the next chapter in the lonely girl 15 online conspiracy suspense drama the resistance. Says Fialkov, "The show is shot cinema verte style... The story revolves around the idea that the Fountain Of Youth is in the blood of tagreted girls, and the secret organization is trying to bleed it out of these women... If you want to see the future of entertainment, check out this show." You can watch all the chapters here, http://www.lg15.com/theresistance/ Comments[0] |
Fri, 19 September 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, writer Jeff Parkeris back to discuss his newest projects for Marvel. This week saw the debut of The Age Of The Sentry mini series. Jeff talks about fleshing out the chzaracter's silver age past, and the direction the character will take in the future. We also get more information on he coming October battle between The Hulk and The Monster Of Frankenstein, and next years debut of the ongoing Agents Of Atlas series. Plus some background on Giant X-Men First Class, and hints at a new direction for the First Class series. We also discuss his book of Alex Toth letters called Dear John, and the status of his creator owned property The Interman . Comments[0] |
Thu, 11 September 2008  Welcome To My Delerium. FE-mailers and message board posters have asked how many character voices can I do, and why don't I do more on my podcast (honest, they have).Here's a few. From my radio archives, some quick celeb parodies and animated voices from my repertoire. Comments[1] |
Mon, 8 September 2008  Comments[0] |
Fri, 5 September 2008  Comments[0] |
Thu, 4 September 2008  Comments[1] |
Wed, 3 September 2008  ok, now he'll talk...
On this episode of the Word Balloon podcast, we wrap up our conversation with Brad Meltzer, who tells all about the inspirations for his latest novel, The Book Of Lies . Brad discusses the soundtrack specially created for the book, and talks about the pseudo docu-video about The Book Of Lies, featuring Brian K Vaughn, Joss Whedon, and Christopher Hitchens , among others. We go deeper into Brad's theories that writer Jerry Siegel conceived the idea of a bulletproof man called Superman, after the murder of his father in 1932. We also talk at length about Brad's goal to save the Siegel Birthplace via his auction website Comments[0] |
Mon, 1 September 2008  Comments[0] |
Fri, 29 August 2008  On this episode of the Word Balloon podcast,Artist Tony Akins discusses his work on Jack Of Fables, plus his upcoming story in House Of Mystery #6. We also talk about his involvement in a gallery show in Chicago at the Diane Tanios gallery running through this Saturday. http://dianetaniosgallery.com/ The art showing also features sequential art from Gene Ha(Top 10) Elisabeth Belliveau, Alex Wald, and Jeff Zwirek Comments[0] |
Wed, 27 August 2008  Sorry, author Brad Meltzer has nothing to say about his upcoming novel, The Book Of Lies, in stores Tuesday Sept 2nd from Grand Central Publishing.But he'll tell us all we want to know about his one-shot from DC comics, DC UNIVERSE-Last Will and Testament, His Eisner winning issue of JLA#11, and his upcoming arc on Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight from Dark Horse Comics In addition there's a new Meltzer TV rock 'n roll drama in the works set in the late 1960's ,and a little theory Brad has, that Jerry Siegel 's dad's 1932 murder was the inspiration for Superman. However after a fierce off-air argument, Brad did promise to return to Word Balloon next week, to discuss The Book Of Lies. Comments[0] |
Wed, 20 August 2008  (Photo courtesy Of Marvel.com)In his viral video and on a recent Word Balloon podcast, Robert Kirkman started an open dialog call to fellow creators.His "Mission Statement" was a call to writers and artists to weigh the advantages of making creator owned comics versus making corporate comics working for DC or Marvel. Creators have written blogs message board threads and have been interviewed on podcasts and websites giving their perspective on the issues Kirkman addressed. Marvel writer Brian Bendis made his views known in a still to be released new edition of The Bendis Tapes. Well we're not stupid, this is the subject of the moment, so we present this interesting conversation where Bendis discussesthe points of Kirkman's view. The full Bendis Tapes will be presentedin the days ahead, but for now, here's another great discussion from Word Balloon. Comments[0] |
Thu, 14 August 2008  On this edition of the word balloon podcast, host John Siuntresengages in a friendly debate with writer Robert Kirkman. Yesterday, Kirkman released a video message explaining some of his reasons for leaving Marvel Comics, and becoming a partner at Image Comics. He's decided to focus on his creator owned original books, like Invincible, The Astounding Wolfman , and The Walking Dead. Beyond that the video is a call to arms for fellow creators to focus soley on their original stories, instead of the licesened work from the big 2 comic book companies, Marvel and DC. He explains further, that DC and Marvel should gear their main titles and stories on the younger end of the comic reading audience and should leave more mature stories to smaller publishers. He's calling on the industry as a whole to come together and figure out a new publishing strategy for the entire business. Kirkman came to Word Balloon to expand on some of these ideas. Comments[0] |
Wed, 13 August 2008  The Writer Artist is back to talk about creator owned projects, like The Legion Of The Supernatural from IDW, Gigantic from dark Horse, and the Sci-Fi adventure series Fear Agent, but Rick has hit the big 2 comic companies at full force.We discuss his work on Marvel's Punisher War Journal, and DC's Booster Gold. Comments[0] |
Fri, 8 August 2008  The DC artist is back with behind the scenes but spoiler free insightto 2 of 2009's big story events. Flash Rebirth, featuring the return of Barry Allen, and Green Lantern The Blackest Night both penned by Geoff Johns, with hero and villian designs from Ethan. Comments[0] |
Wed, 6 August 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, host John Siuntres sits
down with DC artist Don Kramer. They go through Don's career path from
his early days at Caliber Comics through his work on Dr Fate, JSA and
Batman, collaborating with writers like Geoff Johns, James Robinson and
Paul Dini.They also go in depth, discussing his current work on Nightwing with writer Peter Tomasi . Today they start a new arc in issue #147, featuring a confrontation between Dick Grayson and Harvey (Two-Face) Dent. Two face is the one Batman Rouge that has always shown contempt for Dick, going back to his early days as Robin. "Dick hates Harvey, he doesn't feel the guilt that Batman does about him, and we'll see that right away in part 1." says Kramer. We also revisit classic stories that Kramer has drawn, like the Black Reign arc in JSA that explored the hero/villain dichotomy of Black Adam. "He's the anti-hero, a Superman, with Punisher's mentality. A lot of fans can understand his motivations and sympathize with his point of view, that's what makes the best kind of villain." And Detective #826,Slay Ride, featuring the solo story of The Joker holding Robin (Tim Drake) bound, gagged and at gunpoint, as they drive through Gotham in a Black SUV. Two characters, one setting. "When I got the script I read it, and became giddy. I just made sure I didn't screw it up. Seriously, I'm very proud of my work on that particular story." Comments[0] |
Sat, 2 August 2008  From January 2006 A real pleasure talking to the man who co-created Nexus with Steve
Rude, no to mention The Badger, the post crisis Wally West-Flash stories
for DC,and over 5 years of The Punisher for Marvel.
Mike indulges my walk with him down memory lane, plus talks about The Night Club from Image and The Hook from Big Head
Press.Comments[0] |
Wed, 30 July 2008  On This edition of the Word Balloon Podcast, host catches up with writer Chuck Dixon, who despite his sudden release last month from DC has plenty of new projects in current and future release.We talk about his deal with Cartoon Network, which has green lit production of a live action film adaptation of his IDW creator owned teen time traveler story, The Vanishers. We also discuss the current Wildstorm series Storming Paradise with artist Butch Guice . This alternate WW2 epic answers the question "What if the atomic bomb failed , and the Allied Forces had to invade Japan ? In a lighter WW2 vein, Chuck also talks about Abe Simpson and his Fighting Hellfish who star in his latest effort for The Simpson's Comic Book, with art chores by Dan Spiegel. Comments[0] |
Thu, 24 July 2008 
Today a conversation with Eisner nominated artst Dean Haspeil. You may know Dean from his many
collaborations with Original graphic novel, the quitter. But he also does
his share of mainstream hero stories, like a new X-Men First Class story for
their Halloween issue with Jeff Parker. In September Dean and Jonathon release the OGN, The Alchohoic from Vertigo, and a children’s project Mo and Jo Fighting Together Forever a collaboration with underground comics legend Jay Liynch for Raw Jr’s Toon Books. You can find the stoires at the following urls.... Billy Dogma Immortal http://www.act-i-vate.com/21.comic http://www.act-i-vate.com/22.comic http://www.zudacomics.com/street_code http://www.smithmag.net/nextdoorneighbor/ http://www.toon-books.com/book_mojo_about.php Comments[0] |
Mon, 21 July 2008  From 2005 This conversation with Dark Horse Editor Diana Schutz, illustrates the kind of big deals announced and sometimes made in the wee hours of the san diego comicon.Schutz tells the behind the scenes story of how DH secured the rights to Micheal Chabon's creation The Escapist , first seen in his pulitzer prize winning novel about the golden age of comics, THE AMAZAING ADVENTURES OF KAVELIER AND CLAY. We also cover her work editing such masters as Stan Sakai, Jeff Smith and Harlan Ellison. Plus we look at her work with Frank Miller and Will Eisner, including the conversation novel Eisner Miller . Comments[0] |
Mon, 14 July 2008  On this edition of Word Balloon, we take a moment to reflect on the art and life of Michael Turner with his friend and collaborator Jeph Loeb . Turner was the co-creator of Witchblade for Top Cow, and went on to create two books Fathom and Soulfire that became the foundation of his own company Aspen Comics.Jeph helped Mike script his first arc of Soulfire, and chose Mike to be the artist on the Superman-Batman story, The Girl From Krypton, which re-introduced Supergirl to the DCU. We talk about the work they did, the planned projects that didn’t happen, and Mike’s friendship with Jeph’s son Sam, who passed away from the same type of cancer . According to Jeph , Sam found solace and strength through conversations with Mike and his example in dealing with the treatments for their shared illness. Loeb also previews the return of Heroes, with a look at the webisode story debuting this week at NBC.COM He also shares some information on what he has cooking in Marvel's Ultimate Universe, in the current series Ultimates Vol 3, and the upcoming event Ultimatum. Comments[0] |
Fri, 11 July 2008  A Flashback episode from 2006. Kurt Busiek talked about his plans to reboot Aquaman, his "Up Up and Away" Superman post Infinite Crisis arc co-written with Geoff Johns, his Wildstorm WW1 fantasy series Arrowsmith, and gets into the nitty gritty of Astro CityComments[0] |
Mon, 7 July 2008  On this edition of the word balloon podcast, host John Siuntres takes us inside the press junket for Batman:Gotham Knight,. The anime DVD is in stores today, created to support next week's feature release of the Christopher Nolan Film, Batman:The Dark Knight. You'll hear in depth, (but spoiler free) interviews with several of the DVD's writers and producers, including some names very familiar to comic fans. Executive Producer Bruce Timm (Batman The Animated Series/Justice League Unlimited) first time animation screenwriters (and longtime comic book scribes ) Greg Rucka (Gotham Central) and Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) , Film Composer Christopher Drake, writer/producer Alan Burnett (Batman: The Animated Series/Batman Beyond) and the former Academy Award Nominee (A History Of Violence) screenwriter Josh Olson . They talk about the unique collaboration between themselves and their Japanese animation partners in creating these 6 unique takes on Gotham's Guardian,. Timm and Burnett discuss the big differences in making the WB cartoons versus these short films. Beyond the DVD talk, Azzarello discusses his upcoming Joker Graphic Novel With Lee Bermejo , Timm and Burnett discuss their future animation plans, and Rucka talks about the Gotham Central Hardcovers coming from DC in the fall. Comments[1] |
Sat, 5 July 2008 The 2nd half of my floor interviews from last weekend Wizard Chgo show. Marvel Editor Bill Roseman and artist Mike Perkins, who give the lowdown on the next Stephen King Marvel adaptation starting in September, The Stand. Comments[0] |
Wed, 2 July 2008  With apologies to Dan Jurgens, the real masters of the Tangent Universe are Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. The idea was to come on and talk about their collaboration on The Uncanny X-Men, and talk about their solo books, like Captain America, Daredevil, The Invincible Iron Man , Thor: Secret Invasion, etc. What followed was an incredibly random discussion, where more names are dropped than Disco Stu used , trying to get into Studio 54. The conversation begins with a look at the Mort Weisinger edited Superman era, but that dovetailed into lots of talk about Brubaker's noir book from ICON Criminal We review Indy 4, but that boils down to a George Lucas film analysis. A look at British TV becomes an appreciation of HBO shows and Jonathan Ames, then we go back to comics with what Fraction has cooking in Thor Secret Invasion. and what Brubaker isn't doing in SI, but is "letting Bendis do" with the New Captain America. More on the details of Uncanny X-Men #500, and a special appreciation for the falsely rumored works of Alex Raymond and Steve Ditko Comments[0] |
Mon, 30 June 2008  Brian Bendis Dan DiDio, and many others are interviewed in this report from the covention floor of the Wizard World Chicago weekend. DiDio talks about Final Crisis, and the recent ttemps DC has made to reinvent heroes with familiar names. Bendis discusses Nick Fury, Secret Warriors, and many other plans, in a location where no comics podcast has dared to go before. Plus a nice mix of mainsteam and indie creatrors all straight form Artists Alley .
Comments[0] |
Thu, 19 June 2008  The writing team behind Uncanny X-men join me in a 3 way talk , about their coming x-plans, plus we go in depth on Iron Fist, Iron Man, Captain America, Daredevil, Punisher War Journal , and more! Comments[0] |
Tue, 17 June 2008  From 2006, my two part interview with writer Chuck Austen. Frankly, the villification of this writer by some comic book fans was to me, one of the ugliest and insensitive attacks I've ever seen, and illustrates the point made by Joe Quessada, when he says, "Sometimes fans treat our fictional charcters like real people, and treat real people working for us, like they were made of paper." Personally, I can name a lot of Austen stories I've enjoyed, like his work on the weekly Marvel Max Series War Machine, his run writing Superman on Action Comics, drawing Miracleman for Alan Moore, Elektra for Brian Bendis, and his animation work for many season on King of the Hill, and his co-creation Tripping The Rift. We cover all that and more in this interview. Thanks Chuck. Comments[0] |
Fri, 13 June 2008  In this episode of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres chats with Marc Andreyko, the writer and creator of the current Manhunter in the DCU, Kate Spencer. After a long time off, Issue #31 is out and serves as a great jumping on point for new readers, including an opening 2 page sequence that tells you all you need to know about the unconventional Ms. Spencer. Comments[1] |
Wed, 11 June 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, host John Siuntres He also previews the next steps in Wolverine Origins, including the coming crossover with X-Men Legacy Dark Deceptions co-written with Mike Carey Comments[0] |
Sun, 8 June 2008  In anticipation of his Word Balloon return this week, , we repost this June 2005 talk with Marc Andreyko, who's Manhunter was just getting started at DC. We discuss his creation of Kate Spencer, and also talk about his work on Casefiles Sam & Twitch, and look closely at his collaboration with brian Bendis on the graphic crime novel Torso, which followed the post Chicago career of Elliot Ness as saftey inspector of Cleveland in the 1930's. Comments[0] |
Fri, 6 June 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, a preview of a classic western showdown, and a web comic historic look back at the real life conflicts from the summer of 1968. Word Balloon host John Siuntres chats with the creative team behind "The Cisco Kid Vs Wyatt Earp", writer Len Kody and Artist Eric J. The story from Moonstone Books has a unique twist. Moonstone will release two books featuring the Cisco/Wyatt encounter, but each will feature one cowboy's perspective. The Wyatt Earp version was writtenby Chuck Dixon and drawn by Enrique Villigan. Both issues are due later this month. Len discusses his take on the O Henry anti-hero Cisco, who bears no resemblance to the smiling hero of the early 1950's TV show, portrayed by Duncan Renaldo.As Kody explains "In the original short story, Cisco became a bad man, due to a broken heart. In addition to the Earp encounter, my story flashes back to an earlier time, that shows what led Cisco down the wrong path." Cisco Kid Artist Eric J discusses his western influences and contributions to the story,and discuss some current and future projects. A Xenescope Grimm Fairy Tale take on "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" written by Raven Gregory, and a soon to be released "Worlds Of Dungeons and Dragons" story, from Devils Due. Kody also talks about the launch of a new web comic depicting the events that led up to the infamous Chicago riots during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Chicago 1968 is a weekly Web Comic, written by Kody and drawn by newcomer Jenny Frison. Kody describes the story as a documentary style comic, a dramatic presentation of historical facts."There's no zombies hiding out, or any "high concept" twist." He researched the history, trying to capture the tone of the times, by investigating all perspectives,including one personal connection to the event. "My Grandfather was a Chicago police captain sent to the Conrad Hilton hotel during the infamous 19 minutes of video tape shown that wed night, when the police, in a very rough fashion, arrested a whole bunch of hippies yippies and others. He had his own perspective on how things happened, and of course some of the protesters who were involved wrote about their own perspectives, plus the way the history books have portrayed it. The whole subject fascinated me." "The point of view my story is a Chicago centric take, showing how the police and the leaders of Chicago had their pride on the line to host the Democratic Convention, and guys like Mayor Richard J Daley were not going to be swayed by a protesting mob. Not to say that I'm defending the police, they definitely went too far. My political views are with the hippies. The irony is, if I were around then I would've been protesting with Abbie Hoffman, and likely be arrested by my grandfather. It was a very daunting task to understand where everyone was coming from during this historic happening." You can read the first pages of the web comic now, at http://www.webcomicsnation.com/lenkody/chicago1968/series.phpComments[0] |
Tue, 3 June 2008  On this episode of Word balloon, host John Siuntres sits down with The Dude, Artist Steve Rude, who discusses his return to the worlds of Nexus and The Moth, in his self published line of books, Rude Dude Comics. As The Dude himself says. "I think back at that 10 period of nothing when all the (Nexus fans) kept writing us... there were so many more stories to tell. Internally I kept saying ot myself, "this is not right, I have to use all skills I've accumulated my experience and clout to comeback to these characters , and bloody well keep going with them...The people who buy (Nexus) have expectations that every time they purchase something and know what (Baron and Rude) are capable of, they had better not let you down, and that's what's in my mind when I'm drawing Nexus.You're not going to feel horrible when you read my books, you will feel excited and elated and you'll want to see more." The current plan is to finish the Nexus return arc, Space Opera, then release the new Moth arc. "You oughta see what (writer) Gary Martin has planned. It's nuts!" In the interview, Rude discusses how he and writer Mike Baron got together to create Nexus for Capital City Comics, the early influences of Jack Kirby, and Alex Toth on his work, and his view of the 1980's direct market compared to today's comic book landscape. In addition to new stories revolving around his co created new characters Oragami and The Silencer , Rude also wants to bring back romance stories and his own spin on horror, in his upcoming anthology book, Amazing Dude Tales . Comments[0] |
Mon, 2 June 2008  Working In Sports Talk Radio afforded me the chance to meet some amazing celebs. It was an honor to become aquaintences with Budd Schulberg, the screenwriter/author who created that classic Marlon Brando monologue "I could've been a contender. I could've been sombody, instead of a bum." from the 1954 film On The Waterfront. I met Budd as I covered the sport of boxing, and would frequently engage in conversations about the deacdes of fights he covered for newspapers and magazines. Being the film buff that I am, I'd also get the occasional courage to talk about his lengthy career working on so many of the seminal films of the 1950's. Here's a portion of my 2002 interview with Budd, as we discuss a few of his great films, including Humphrey Bogart's last picture, The Harder They Fall, and the cult classic view of the power of mass media pundits, A Face In the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith. Comments[0] |
Thu, 29 May 2008  From December 2005, writer Gerard jones discusses his biook MEN OF TOMORROW , a thoughrough history of the comic book industry from it's golden age 10 cent beginnings to the blockbuster film adaptations of today. We also discuss his comic book work on Batman, The Shadow, The Trouble With Girls, and More Comments[0] |
Sat, 24 May 2008  From Nov 17th, 2005. My first conversation with Jeph Loeb was conducted via car phone, as Jeph dropped his daughter off for school, and drove to work, writing at the time for the TV series LOST. The interview came at a crossroads point in Loeb's life, having lost his son Sam earlier that year. He had also just left the Smallville writing staff, and was wrapping up his DC comics work, to begin his still current work at Marvel. We discuss his work on Superman-Batman, prepping The Ultimates, and how his own personal experiences made him feel ready to explore the characters of LOST . We also discuss his Challenngers Of the Unknown mini series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and comparing the DC and Marvel Universes. Comments[0] |
Wed, 21 May 2008  Re-posting This 2006 interview for Newsarama's Flashback Friday
THE ACTION ADVENTURE ARTIST WHO BROUGHT NEW LIFE TO SHANG-CHI, BATMAN, AND JAMES BOND ,TALKS ABOUT HIS REMARKABLE CAREER. FROM HIS EARLY YEARS AT MARVEL , TO HIS ORIGINAL CREATIONS FOR DC ECLIPSE AND ACCLAIM. PAUL'S WORK FEATURED SEXY WOMEN, TOUGH GUYS, AND THE KIND OF GADGETS WE ALL DREAMED OF OWNING. WE'LL TALK ABOUT PAST ORIGINAL WORKS, LIKE SABRE, ONE OF THE CANDIDATES FOR THE DIRECT MARKET'S FIRST GRAPHIC NOVEL, SLASH MARAUD, AND THE GRACKLE . PLUS HIS RECENT WORK WITH JIMMY PALMIOTTI ON THE PUNISHER AND CATWOMAN, JSA CLASSIFIED, AND JONAH HEX. Comments[0] |
Mon, 19 May 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, host John Siuntres catches up with writer Mark Waid. Among the subjects covered, they discuss his coming 1 year anniversary as Editor In Chief of Boom Studio's comic book line, the status of Boom's comic book plans for Farscape and The Godfather . They also discuss Mark's upcoming J Jonah Jameson arc on Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man, his wrap up as writer of DC's Brave and Bold, series, and a general discussion of the current DC universe. From the Resurrection of Barry Allen, to a comparison of the hero legacies fulfilled by characters Wally West (The Flash) and Dick Grayson (Nightwing) . Comments[0] |
Fri, 16 May 2008  In this episode of the Word Balloon podcast , host John Siuntres continues his conversation with writer Matt Fraction, with a spoiler filled examination of Matt's creator owned Image series Casanova which finishes its 2ND arc, "Where In Time Is Casanova?", with this week's issue #14. Then, Fraction and Siuntres shift to free-form mode as random subjects fly back and forth. They discuss the comics direct market, creators like Jack Kirby and Steve Gerber , Filmmakers John Huston and Orson Welles, and Fraction's glee, over buying the Dean Martin Variety Show DVD set. Comments[1] |
Mon, 12 May 2008  More from the 2008 New York Comicon . Quick sitdowns with Kyle Baker , writer/artist of the Image War story Special Forces , Jonathon Ames writer of the new Vertigo graphic novel, The Alcoholic, Erik Larsen, Publisher of Image Comics, and the mastermind behind the revival of public domain heroes and comic book titles "The Next Issue Project". Mike Richardson, the Publisher Of dark Horse comcis, talks about Buffy, Hellboy, and the way DHP handles franchise properties. And more from Walt Simonson, writer of DC/Wildstorm's World Of Warcraft , who gives us an update of what projects his wife (writer and fan favorite) Louise Simonson is doing these days. Comments[0] |
Fri, 9 May 2008  Matt Fraction and Word Balloon host John Siuntres have a last call conversation about the books he's wrapping up, and the ones that are just beginning. From this week's debut of The Invincible Iron Man, to his wrap ups of The Order and The Immortal Iron Fist, from co-writing the Uncanny X-men with Ed Brubaker, to wrapping up the current arc of his Image creator owned book Casanova. During the conversation Fraction said there is an eventual end in sight for his run on Punisher War Journal, after which he'll turn the book over to his pal, and current co-writer Rick Remender. Fraction discussed the road ahead, starting with the current Jigsaw arc. "We're at payoff time for Punisher... I knew coming this book I knew right away if you're going to make your stand on Punisher do the ultimate Jigsaw story... Working with Rick Remender has been a dream and has made the book sicker and more damaged and explosive than I ever thought. If we could make a punisher movie, it would be this story." "After the Jigsaw arc, there's a little secret invasion tie-in and then an arc called King Frank...the Jigsaw arc and King Frank story is where my bruns been leading to from the beginning.After "King Frank" I'll step aside, and just let Rick tear it up. That's the plan, things might change, but that's the plan." Some other highlights from the audio interview... On The Invincible Iron Man, Fraction was pleased that the book ended up matching so well with the film, so new readers can jump on. "I had no advanced script to work from so it was me trying to write the type of iron man comic that I hoped would fit with the tone of the film." On bringing the threat of young Ezekiel Stane from the Order to the first IM story arc . "I wanted to bring a Stane character back to the marvel universe as soon as I heard that Jeff Bridges was playing Obediah Stane in the film. That's when I created Stane's son." On the possibility of members of The Order possibly showing up in the new Iron man book "I don't what the etiquette is bring back characters from your canceled comic, but love Henry and Tony talking together so I imagine Henry will show up soon." On wrapping up his run on Iron Fist, " The idea of leaving really scared me so I Knew it was the right thing to do. Ed was leaving after this arc, David just had a kid, so he has to dial back forawhile...it was just sort of "why are we staying?" You know, if they Clash had quit after London Calling they'd be the greatest band of all-time... So rather than be thought of as the guy who ruined Iron Fist, after Brubaker left, I thought it was time to go."#15 is another one shot look back at an earlier Iron Fist, Bi Fang Wen during the first England-India Opium War, and #16 is called "Happy Birthday Danny" which will be our swan song" On co-writing the the X-Men with Brubaker "Ed and I have put together this 25 issue super arc, and we're switching off on stories. #500 we did together,then I'm doing 501- 503, then Ed will come back on #504." "There isn't a core x- team, but (instead) a very big ensemble. So characters will come in when we need them... The Mutants have adopted San Francisco as their new home, and are sending the word out, that all Mutants are welcomed by the city." On writing Cyclops "Scott has always been the moral center of the book and When the book of the X-Men is finally closed, it'll be pretty clear it was Scott's story. Xavier's dream is over, it's now Scott's dream and the future of mutant kind is on the line. We're having to see Scott as a man of faith, who has to put his beliefs and actions in ways he never had to before...it's one thing when he made decisions as the team's leader, he's now leading the whole Mutant race, and lives with the idea that "Every decision I make affects the survival of our species." On wrapping up the current Casanova arc with next week's issue #14 "I think (this arc) is the best story I've ever written. Everything is revealed,some people live, some people die, and everyone has to pay the piper." Comments[3] |
Thu, 8 May 2008  Celebrating The Sucsess Of the Iron Man film, we bring back highlights form two great interviews that featured landmark stories of Ol' Shellhead . First up, Dave Michelinie discusses his classic run with artist Bob Layton, on the Iron Mna arc Demon In A Bottle . Then Chuck Austen Discusses his classic Max Black and White Iron man tale from an alternate universe War Machine . Comments[0] |
Mon, 5 May 2008  In this edition of Word Balloon Host John Siuntres interviews master artist P Craig Russell, who's hard at work on adapting Neil Gaiman's Sandman story, The Dream Hunters into a mini series to be released by Vertigo in the fall. They discuss Craig's longtime collaborations with Gaiman, including the details behind the landmark issue Sandman #50. They also discuss Craig's early days at Marvel, and talk about his work on Doctor Strange and the Kilraven War Of the Worlds series with Don McGreggor , his operatic adaptations that began in the pages of his direct market series form Eclipse Comics Night Music , to his work on Batman, Conan Elric, and Hellboy. Russell is no stranger to the Internet. Fans can follow the progress of his current work in a series of video podcasts at his website www.pcraigrussell.net produced by Craig's pal Wayne Allan Harold of the www.lurid.com community . Comments[0] |
Fri, 2 May 2008  On this edition of Word Balloon Host John Siuntres tackles the question, "How do comic books get sold as film properties?" For the answer, we turn to Film producer and Radical Comics Publisher Barry Levine.Levine has had an interesting path to comic books that started when he was a successful rock album photographer, to years as a music supervisor of films like Driving Miss Daisy, Die Hard With A Vengeance, Judge Dredd and Street Fighter. Levine eventually became a film producer on Detroit Rock City and has shepherded comic book properties to production deals on books like Rex Mundi, and Damn Nation. Barry explains the process, and tells us why you can't \just walk into a studio meeting with a comic book, and get a film commitment. Radical Comics new line of titles debut this month, starting with an art book preview being given away as part of Saturday's free comic book day. We'll talk about the two radical comics debuting this month for only 1 dollar,Caliber the King Arthur in the old west saga, and Hercules featuring a very different take on the mythological hero. Plus Barry gives us his 2008 game plan for Radical Comics. Comments[0] |
Mon, 28 April 2008  On this episode, Word Balloon's coverage of the NYCC. Most of my work that weekend was done for video interviews, and this is really a sampler of the 32 interviews I ended up doing. I brought my field recorders, expecting to do as many audio talks as video, but things got so busy and productive on the video side that I never had timne to do more audio. I did speak to the favs from the bronze age who still do great work today, Len Wein Marty Pasko and Walt Simonson all together and you'll hear that, along with Gail Simone, Grant Morrison, Dan DiDio, Lou Ferrigno, Ethan Van Sciver, Irwin Hassen, Tony Moore Jeremy Love, Mike Oeming, Brian Glass,Jamahl Ingle Jeremy Haun and Billy Tucci. I'm presenting the full audio of Grant and Gail's talks. The other's will be seen in their entierty eventually at www.newsarama.com , and www.pulpsecret.com just click on their NY comicon
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Thu, 24 April 2008  From Dec 2005, The man who redefined the DCU. The man who smacked the camp out of Batman, and made him the dark knight badass once again. The man who had Superman fight Muhammad Ali...and Supes actualy lost the battle! Legendary artist Neal Adams actually tolerated my silly questions for over 90 minutes, and was ready to give me even more time!!!! Listen , as Neal brings us tales from the early days of Comics Bronze Age. You'll hear about his Green Lantern-Green Arrow run with Denny O'Neil, The Deadman Saga, and many behind the scenes stories of the Dc Offices of the 1960's & 70's. Neal also goes in depth on his scientific theories about an expanding earth, and answers the obvious question, how does an un-accredited science enthusiast pitch his theory, when the conventional science world refuses to listen? Comments[1] |
Mon, 21 April 2008 Just back form the New York Comicon, where I did a bunch of video interviews with the guys from pulp sceret. Thanks again to Pete Alex Justin, Scott and the whole video crew. who were very gracious sharing their mic and camera time with your truly. Had The chance to talk with Grant Morrison, Lou Ferrigno, Tony Moore Mike Oeming, Irwin Hassen, and more! check them out here. Friday Coverage http://www.pulpsecret.com/the-stack/episode/STK_20080419 Saturday Coverage http://www.pulpsecret.com/the-stack/episode/STK_20080420 Sunday Coverage Category: podcasts -- posted at: 7:35 PM Comments[0] |
Tue, 15 April 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, host John Siuntres chats with Andrea Romano, the casting and voice director for Warner Animation, who's been directing the dialog sessions for TV shows like The Boondocks, Sponge Bob, and all of the DC superhero projects, including the Batman, Superman and Justice League films and TV series. You'll get behind the scenes details about the upcoming Batman Gotham Knight DVD, the highly successful Justice League The New Frontier, and next Fall's new series Batman The Brave And Bold. Andrea also talks about casting Kevin Conroy for the original Batman animated series, and answers the perennial fan question "Why doesn't Conroy play Batman in every Warner Bros lamination project?" Plus fascinating voice over stories about Brooke Shields (New Frontier's Carol Ferris) David Boreanaz (Hal Jordan) Phil Morris (John Stewart) and many other stars . Comments[0] |
Fri, 11 April 2008  Yes another flashback episodce from 2006. John talks with the Man who created Crisis On Infinite Earths and Nova, brought new life to the undead in Tomb Of Dracula , Devised the revitalizations of Dick Grayson, Wally West, and the other New Teen Titans , and made major impacts on so many other Marvel and DC characters. We look back at Marv's time at Warren publishing, when he edited and wrote for Vampirella, Creepy and Erie , Editing Marvel's black and white magazines from Crazy to Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu, his time in the 1970's Marvel bullpen and breathing life back into DC on The New Teen Titans with George Perez. You'll hear Marv's views on publisher-wide event books, "story-decompression" , and his genuine pride in the Teen Titans animated series. Marv also "previews" his 2006 work on The Infinite Crisis Annual, The Teens Titans annual and collaborating with Geoff Johns. Yes a re-run, but a damn fine conversation. Comments[0] |
Thu, 10 April 2008  FROM 2006: THE MODERN MASTER OF TWO FISTED ACTION DISCUSSES HIS IDW SERIES COBB: OFF THE LEASH , FEATURING DYNAMIC ART BY EDUARDO BARETTO. PLUS HIS RUNS ON GUY GARDNER WARRIOR, CATWOMAN, THE BLACK TERROR, AND THE WILDCAT MINI SERIES . WE ALSO TALK ABOUT BEAU'S DAYS IN TOUGHMAN COMPETITIONS, SOME GREAT B-MOVIE DVD RECCOMENDATIONS, AND A SHELVED WONDER WOMAN PROJECT THAT BEAU WANTS DC COMICS TO RECONSIDER Comments[0] |
Tue, 8 April 2008 On This edition of the Word Balloon podcast, host John Siuntres catches up with DC artist Mike Norton. The guy's been busy, taking over the pencil duties on Green Arrow/Black Canary from Cliff Chiang, starting with this week's issue #7. We'll also get a behind the scenes look at some new books on the way this month and beyond... Mike talks about drawing this month's Blue Beetle all Spanish issue #26, written by Jai Nitz , and he's drawn three weeks of back up stories, in the upcoming DC weekly,Trinity, collaborating with the legendary veteran Jerry Ordway. He also talks about wrappingThe All New Atom, and reflects about working with writer Gail Simone, His work on Metamorpho Year One with Dan Jurgens, and The Image Book Loaded Bible 3 written by Tim Seely, and drawn by Norton and Chris Johnson . Norton is a podcaster too. He co-host's the CrankCast with artist Chris Crank. Norton Crank and Siuntres participated in last year's 24 hr comic podcast with many other comic book artists and podcasters. John and Mike discuss the prospects of attempting another 24 hr marathon show. Comments[0] |
Tue, 1 April 2008  From 2005 With the return of television's best Sci-Fi show this friday, we look back at this 2006 interview with co-exec producer Mark Verheiden. Key episodes that Mark wrote are discussed including the amazing first season cliffhanger. Mark also discussees about the seasons he wrote for Smallville. Even more hollywood talk involves Mark's work as the co-creator behind Timecop, screenwriter of Jim Carrey's adaptation of The Mask, and he announces the start of working with Bruce Campbell on the 2007 film, My Name is Bruce. We also cover Mark's great comic book work for Dark Horse, including his 1980's subersive action parody, The American , and his DC work on Superman, The Phantom, and Superman-Batman. Comments[0] |
Fri, 28 March 2008  On This edition of Word Balloon Writers Christina Weir and Nunzio De Fillipis join host John Siuntres to discuss their Oni prequel to the film Jumper drawn by their longtime collaborator Brian Hurtt . They also talk about their mainstream work on Checkmate, Wonder Woman, Detective Comics New Mutants, plus their television adventures writing for the HBO series ARLI$$. You'll hear about their work at DC and Marvel, including some interesting pitch stories invvolving Iron Man and Zatanna that truly illustrate the process and journey all writers go through to get their plots heard by editors . De Fillipis is also about to start his third semester teaching a comic book script-writing introduction course at the UCLA extention. In the discussion,you'll hear a lot about his teaching approach and how he tackles the prospect of organizing ideas into a cohesive plot and story. If you're in the LA area, you can find course information here... www.uclaextension.edu in the english dept, course #409.2 Some news from the interview. The JUMPER DVD will include an additional animated story written by the duo, and drawn by Hurtt that further explores the character of David and his Mother. The final volumes of Destiny's Hand and Amazing Age of Luna are coming from Seven Seas . They are also writing a romantic comedy film for the Oxygen Network. The sequel to Past Lives "All Saints Day" is coming from Oni in late 2008, or early 2009. Comments[0] |
Thu, 27 March 2008  A WB classic from 2005 Walter Simonson looks back at his classic work. From Thor The Frog and the creation of Beta Ray Bill, to Orion and The New Gods. From his collaborations with Martin Pasko to put the bronze age spin on Dr Fate, to reviving Manhunter with Archie Goowdwin. We talk about the Fantastic Four, his spin on X-Factor co-plotted with his wife Louise , to working on the Marvel Star Wars comic at that awkward time between The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi. Tales of wonder, from a true master. Comments[0] |
Fri, 21 March 2008  On This edition of Word Balloon Writer-Artist-Letterer Richard Starkings of Comicraft pulls away the curtain and talks about his collaborators. Like Kurt Busiek J Scott Campbell , Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, Tom Scioli, the guys at Comiccraft , and the many artists that are helping him put out the cult favorite animal noir-series from Image Elephantmen. Starkings talks about his early days at Marvel UK and the lessons learned that he took to start the Comicraft company, and he discusses the importance of graphic design when creating a comic. Comments[1] |
Wed, 19 March 2008  Does the world prefer a kinder, gentler Batman, or the grim brooding type. Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers created the 1970's Batman: Dark Detective arc, which became in part the basis for the 1987 Batman film. Word Balloon Podcast Host John Siuntres continues his spring cleaning of the WB podcast archives, and presents this 2005 conversation with writer Steve Englehart. As the new Batman film gets closer, and Ed Brubaker continues to make headlines with his run on Captain America , the tining seemed right to re-post this talk with Englehart who put his mark in the same heroes in the 1970's. First they discuss Englehart and Marshall Rogers signature Batman story Dark Detective: The Laughing Fish and it's 2005 sequel Dark Detective 2 . Then they look at the 1973 Captain America Secret Empire Arc. A controversial story, whose villain appeared to be the then sitting president Richard Nixon. Finally, they talk about Steve's runs on The Defenders, Avengers , creating Night-Man for Malibu comics, and his creator owned character for Eclipse comics, Coyote . Comments[0] |
Wed, 19 March 2008  Today on the Word Balloon Podcast Host John Siuntres and writer/editor Ron Marz discusses the concept of the legacy hero character in comic books. You'll hear Marz compare his Green Lantern , Kyle Rayner toDani Baptiste, one of the current holders of the Witchblade for Top Cow The conversation begins with an in depth look at Witchblade #116, which is a launching point for new readers, as Sara Pezzini and Dani share the power of the Witchblade. Marz discusses some hints in regards to the future of the series, and his current collaborator artist Stjepan Sejic. Marz also discusses his duties as an editor at Virgin Comics over-seeing their Shakti line of books, including Devi, Ramayan Reloaded, and The Sadhu. They also look back at Ron's years at writing for the star wars books at Dark Horse, his time at Crossgen, working on Scion with JIm Cheung, The Path with Bart Sears, and Sojourn with Greg Land. Future plans for Marz include In May, a new mini series for Virgin called Depak Chopra's BEYOND, an adaptation of a screenplay Chopra wrote. Also the Devi/Witchblade crossover. In addition to the regular Witchblade series (where Ron is committed til at least issue #150) , he'll write this summer's Top Cow crossover mini series Broken Trinity. Later on this year for Dark Horse he will get back to his co-creator owned Samurai Heaven and Earth vol 3 with artist Luke Ross, and another mini series Pantheon City with Canadian artist Clement Sauve. Comments[0] |
Fri, 14 March 2008  On this edition of the Word Balloon Podcast, Host John Siuntres welcomes back writer Jay Faerber who discusses his unique spin on super hero books. The conversation revolves around Jay's 3 current hero books all from Image Comics... Dynamo 5 the story of 5 illegitimate super powered offspring of a iconic but flawed super-dad. Nobel Causes Jay's super-powered soap opera which returns advancing the story and characters 5 years into the future ,causes new relationships, romances and conflicts for Doc Nobel and his family of heroes and villains. Plus, his new 5 part mini series out in May Gemini, which Jay describes as a "Manchurian candidate"-hypnotically programmed hero, who by day is unaware of his hyper-powered alter ego, and the spy team that has programmed him, and guides him. Comments[0] |
Mon, 10 March 2008  From 2005, a conversation with the Man Who Paints With Pencils. We discuss Gene's 50 plus years in the business, that includes meroies of the 1960's Marvel Bullpen. He recounts working on charcters like Daredevil, Captain America, The Sub Mariner,and Dracula. We also discuss his stints at DC in the 1950's (as Adam Austin) and the 1980's on Batman Wonder Woman, and Nathaniel Dusk. Gene discuss his film influences , his attention to detail when it comes to cars, cities, and objects. Plus he talks about collaborations with Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman, Don McGregor and others. Comments[0] |
Sun, 2 March 2008  In the episode of Word balloon, host John Siuntres presents a conversation with one of the great stars of the brozne age, Grell's work goes back to the 1970's on titles like the Legion Of Superheroes and Batman, but you have to include his own creations like The Warlord and his revamp of DC's Green Arrow which began with The Longbow Hunters in 1986. Grell went to Pacific and later First Comics creating works like Starslayer and Jon Sable, Freelance. Grell is midway through a new Sable story, Grell has another story in the works with Mark Ryan called The Pilgrim, Other future projects for Grell may include a return to his charcter Travis Morgan, The Warlord."I'm working on a DC proposal for a new Warlord story... we'll see." His also has two novels in the works, one featuring Sable, the other Savage Empire, which is sword and sandals epic based on an original comic strip idea of Grell's, about an archeologist who time travels back to Atlantis. Comments[1] |
Fri, 22 February 2008  On this episode of word balloon, host John siuntres moderates a panel of creators who talk about how they broke into comics. The group of writers and artist represent a good cross section of genres and companies, that span mainstream and independent tastes. B Clay Moore (76 Hawaiian Dick, Superman Confidential) Art Baltazar (Tiny Titans, Patrick The Wolf Boy) Matt Kindt (Super-Spy, Pistol Whip) Andy Runton (Owly), and Christian Slade (Korgi) Comments[0] |
Tue, 19 February 2008  From January's FX International Con, host John Siuntres conducted this panel featuring four of the Kansas City Studio's members, B Clay Moore , Jeremy Haun, Jason Latour and Seth Peck. They all discuss forming their studio, and give their view of the comics industry, as they all begin to straddle the worlds of indie creator owned projects, and mainstream work from the big two.
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Tue, 5 February 2008  Word Balloon's coverage of the FX con continues with a panel exploring the Whedonverse. Three actors from the various Joss whedon fantasy tv shows. From Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Nicholas Brandon who played Zander, Elizabeth Rohm, Kate from Angel, and Serena Sotherlyn from Law and Order.Nathan Fillion currently playing Adam mayfair some cast news from the panel... Fillion will be the voice of Steve Trevor in the upcoming DC direct to video Wonder Woman animated film, with his Waitress co-star Keri Russell as the AmazonSuperhero, and the indie film Trucker Rohm's 2007 series Big Shots was cancelled by ABC, but she'll co-star Brendan has two films in post production, The Portal, and Blood On The Highway. Then the show switches to the FX con floor, featuring interviews with Gene Ha (Top 10) Freddie Williams (The Flash, Robin) Derrick Fish (Dandy & Company) and Shannon Chenoworth (The Line, Supersonic). Comments[0] |
Fri, 1 February 2008  On this edition of word balloon, host John Siuntres moderated this panel at the FX International Convention about the art of painting in comics, with three of it's best practitioners. dan Brereton (Iron fist Annual, Batman ThrillKiller ,The Nocturnals ) Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Sandman, The Invisibles) and Phil Noto (Birds Of Prey, Infinite Horizon, Beautiful Killer) . They talk about what influences led to their styles and choice to paint, upcomming projects, and past works. Comments[0] |
Wed, 30 January 2008  In this SPOILER FILLED edition of Word Balloon, Captain America writer Ed Brubaker sat down with host John Siuntres and went through the details of the new issue #34, featuring the debut of the New cap. If you haven't read the issue yet and don't want the details spoiled, stay away until you do... But then come back, because they also discuss the release of Criminal Vol 3 LAWLESS from Icon, Ed's creator owned crime comic drawn by Sean Phillips. Some Criminal info disclosed by Bru... The next few issues will be a series of one shot stories featuring minor characters from previous arcs. The article/essays in CRIMINAL's future issues will include an appreciation of EC Comics legendary CRIME SUSPENSE STORIES artist Johnny Craig by Brubaker and Max Allan Collins,. Crime novelist Duane Swierczynski will do an article, and an interview with writer Charles Ardai, the editor of HARD CASE CRIME novels. Comments[0] |
Tue, 29 January 2008  This week, the Word Balloon podcast will feature coverage from the FX International Convention, held last weekend in Orlando, Fl. Word Balloon host John Siuntres moderated this panel, featuring the two Vertigo writers. Brian Azzarello talks in depth about his ongoing work on 100 Bullets, Loveless, and reflects on past works like Doctor Thirteen, Lex Luthor Man Of Steel, and the differences between writing for the DCU and Vertigo. Brian Wood gives background and details about the work he puts into DMZ and Northlanders , plus he talks about his indie books Demo, and Local. Two private writers who usually hate live interviews slowly open, up and provide an hour of insightful views.
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Tue, 22 January 2008  Today's Word balloon podcast finds Host John Siuntres in conversation with writer Matt Fraction. They discuss Fraction's Marvel work on Punisher War Journal, The Immortal Iron Fist and his one shot specials, including the sixth issue of Young Avengers Presents, and a special featuring Thor and the Asgard Gods. Fraction also talked about the cancellation of his new team book The Order, drawn by Barry Kittson. Some quotes from Fraction on The Order, which ends with issue #10... "The writing was on the wall... but Marvel was very gracious letting us get off the stage the way we wanted to...it was a great opportunity working with Barry (Kitson), and I can't wait to work with him again." Here are some other highlights from the audio interview ... On Punisher War Journal. "We're going to get serious again with The Punisher The Kraven-Rhino-Vulture fun time arc is over... We're doing two one shots to lead into the jigsaw arc, Howard Chaykin will be doing the art... Punisher War Journal #16 is hands down my favorite comic he's done since he came back to comics...and he's sticking around for the Jigsaw/Lady Punisher arc, so I couldn't be happier." Matt is writing the 6Th Young Avengers Presents book. "It's about The Hawkeyes, Clint Barton and Kate Bishop, and will be drawn by Alan Davis. We finally get to see what happens when Hawkeyes collide." Fraction's upcoming Thor special... "These are Tales of Asgard... the cool thing about Ragnarok is there are survivors after the Apocalypse and the cycle continues until the next Ragnarok... the stories explore the different eras of the Norse pantheon ...We'll see what Asgard looks like in the past and the future and what it means to be Thor Odin and Loki these different eras. I hate elves on horseback. They put me to sleep. ...If you're like me and you hate Tolkien but love Frank Frazetta heavy metal album covers, then this is the Thor for you...Leave your D 20 at home, Nerdo, this is a different kind of Thor." The Immortal Iron Fist "The New Special will feature more adventures of Orson Randall The Iron fist of the 1920's & 1930's and the Confederates of The Curious... my god, I get to work with Russ Heath, I wrote a "Cowgirls at war" tribute sequence to his1970's National Lampoon work, and he delivered... Nick Dragota and Mike Allred are doing pages for it too, it's outstanding." On Casanova "The current arc ("When Is Casanova Quinn") goes to #14. Fabio (Moon) is just starting #13 and says it's the best script I've ever given him. #13 is cool because Casanova finally does show up, but in flashback scenes only.We'll see these scenes replayed but extended, and from a different perspective than the first time." Comments[1] |
Fri, 18 January 2008  Word Balloon Host John Siuntres continues to ask Marvel writer Jeph Loeb questions provided by the podcast's listeners. In this wrap up to The Loeb Report, Jeph looks back at past projects like Heroes Reborn and his relationship with Rob Liefeld, Batman-Hush, and some unused ideas for All Star Batman and Robin. Here are some transcribed highlights... The Wolverine arc with Simone Bianci was meant to put an end to Sabertooth's killing spree. "I feel like when a villain takes that many lives it diminishes the heroes because of the continued rampage...it was my intention to try to figure out their relationship, and once you try to define something there will be some people who will disagree with it, and some who say, "oh that's cool." That story isn't done it was supposed to be 12 parts but there was no way with Simone's schedule to get it done,...it is my hope that we will get together to do the last six, and there may be surprises so people will understand the first six a whole lot better." Why return to onslaught reborn? "The reason we all did O.R. was because Marvel offered me a chance to make a substantial contribution to my son's scholarship fund. Rob and Sam had a special relationship. He enjoyed poking fun at Rob and saying "So people actually like your art?" When I knew Rob was doing it, I was on on board." On Bringing Jason Todd back in Hush "Nobody liked Jason they thought it was the worst idea in the world to bring him back for the story. it was my feeling that he had been forgotten. I didn't intended to bring Jason fully back... dead is dead as far as I was concerned, but it was my idea to leave his body missing at the end of the story." The future of NBC's Heroes stories "The focus on the older generation of heroes (Linderman's group) will continue. WHEN depends on when the WGA strike gets settled. Volume 3 is called Villains and will begin with the next episode. I think season three will be outrageous and bombastic. There's no doubt we'll be back to work in June, but (the strike) is an important issue. " Will Jeph be working with Michael Turner and the aspen crew again? "Yes, and there's a major announcement forth coming." Comments[0] |
Thu, 17 January 2008  Part two of our conversation with Jeph Loeb. Some highlights from both parts... Who will the Red Hulk face? The cast we see in issue one with be the group we initally follow. In particular,"Leonard Sampson will be seen as an FBI profiler Ed McGuiness has a long list of Marvel Heroes he wants the Red Hulk We want to be on this book forever, which for me is like 25 issues. "The book was never intended to be called HULK RED...It is by people's estimation other than my own, it's a take on "the hulk" that hasn't been done before.I don't claim that, I just think Ed and I are telling a very fun Hulk story."
On possible future Marvel Color books with artist Tim Sale . "Nothing can happen until Tim's exclusive deal with DC ends. Marvel could have kept doing them without us, but I'm glad they didn't. " "We have an idea about Capt America White... The idea behind the color books is the hero losing an important early love of his life. In Cap's case I have a story but it doesn't involve Sharon or Peggy (Carter). I can see an Iron Man Yellow story, if I could convince Tim. " On the Ultimates Vol 3 Why kill the Scarlet Witch instead of Pietro? "I think Wanda is the glue that holds Pietro together, and I do not I can put together any version of this team I wanted to. My version of Hawkeye is the next step in terms of where Mark and Brian were going, that this guy was losing his grip on reality and here he is, to the point where now he won't let anyone see his face. I'm having a blast with the Ultimate Black Panther...you have no idea On The Ultimates Vol 4 I think Ultimates Vol2 #6 which is the Defenders story was the best story That is the basis for Ultimates 4, and who will draw that, I'm not sure cause my original artist is having too much fun drawing a red monster. The Spider-Man story Loeb and J Scott Campbell are working on takes place in current brand new day continuity.
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Wed, 16 January 2008 Writer Jeph Loeb is a fan of the Bendis Tapes, and after hearing the last session, he wanted to take questions from WB listeners . What follows is a funny discussion that covers Jeph's current books like HULK with Ed McGuiness and THE ULTIMATES Vol 3 with Joe Madureira, but also reaches back to loeb's early Marvel days, his classic takes on Superman & Batman, his film and TV work, and much more. Comments[0] |
Fri, 11 January 2008  In this edition of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres dicusses 52 Aftermath, The Crime Bible with it's writer Greg Rucka . The mystery continues the personal journey of the new Question , former Gotham City Cop Rene Montoya , but also focuses on the book itself, complete with pages from the crime bible itself. In an earlier article at Newsarama http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=137919&highlight=rucka We discovered a dossier The Question is using to assembles clues to locate the crime bible. Greg talks about the creation of these clues , and further locations to more viral info that enhances the story behind the book. We also talk about Checkmate the DCU spy series , Quuen And Country, and his latest novel Patriot Acts, featuring Atticus Kodiak. Finally Greg discusses his future including the decision to end his exclusive contract with DC, but why he'll contnue writing comics for the company. Comments[2] |
Fri, 4 January 2008 it's time for the comclusion of the Bendis tapes. more info frokm Brian Michael bendis about secret invasion, the avengers books ultimate spider-man and more. Plus a new wrinkle which leads to the next episode of the podcast Comments[0] |
Fri, 28 December 2007  Time again for another Word Balloon edition of The Bendis Tapes. Host John Siuntres and Marvel Comics scribe Brian Michael Bendis answer fan question from his Jinxworld.com message board. Among the subjects covered they discuss the recent Marvel Creator Retreat,some tidbits about the upcoming Secret Invasion storyline, and many plots questions involving Powers, Daredevil-End Of Days, Ultimate Spider-Man, and the two Avengers books. Here are some highlights from part 1... Bendis has two Hollywood projects he's due to start once the WGA strike ends, He can't talk about them until after the strike is settled. Could Powers continue after the death of either Christian Walker or Deana Pilgrim? "Sure. How do you know I haven't (written) that already?" Don't speculate that the Hood's group of villains in new avengers books represents Bendis new take on the "Masters Of Evil". That story is still coming. There will be rotating artists on New and Mighty Avengers due to the nature and pacing of the Secret Invasion story. this will allow a bunch of artists to jump on the books who's schedule would only allow one or two issues. After that there will be a regular artist on New Avengers , and a suprising announcement about Mighty Avengers Secret Invasion will deal with The Hand's reaction to their being led by the Skrull/Elektra, and we'll see more of the Infinity gem in Black Bolt's possession (a dangling plot line from The Illuminati Mini Series) What does the future hold for Quicksilver ? "He was a big topic of the last Marvel retreat... in fact a vote was put about his future as a character, so you'll be seeing a lot of him." Daredevil: End Of Days has been delayed due to artists David Mack and Klaus Janson getting other front burner projects that have to take priority, but work continues on the DD story. "I've seen pages and they're gorgeous." The Bendis Alex Maleve Spider-Woman book starts "The moment Secret Invasion ends." Bendis defended his story choice of having Wolverine confront Spider-Woman in the shower. In New Avengers #36 "Wolverine would wait till she's in the shower, at her most vulnerable...plus Jessica & Logan have had an intimate relationship in the past...I know nudity and sex makes people uncomfortable, but I don't care...It's never done cheaply (by Bendis)." If Bendis's voice is raspy it was due to his loud disagreements with Jeph Loeb at the Marvel retreat. "When we're yelling we're like it's the end of civilization...Sometimes the argument brings out better ideas for both of us, but it's really like Joe putting two pit-bulls in the same room..." (Siuntres says "That story is truly one of the funniest creator anecdotes I've heard since starting the Word Balloon podcast") Comments[0] |
Thu, 27 December 2007 
On this Holiday Edition of Wordballoon, host John Siuntres has a conversation with artist Mike Hawthorne . They discuss his work on The Un-Men from Vertigo, written by John Whalen .
They also talk about Mike's past collaborations with Ivan Brandon, Jeff Amano and Greg Rucka On Ruule & Queen and Country Comments[0] |
Mon, 10 December 2007  On This episode of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres tries to get us through the withdrawls of the first Monday, without a new NBC HEROES episode. The show's Co-Executive Producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander join John for a look back at Vol 2, and what the future may hold for the show, the story and its characters, as the WGA strike rolls on. They also talk about HEROES: SAVING CHARLIE, the new original novel due in stores Dec. 26th. The Show was taped live at The Empathic Treehouse, the writing office shared by Jeph Loeb, and other comic book writers, like Geoff Johns, Brian K Vaughn and Allan Heinberg. There may be a few cameo surprises from Loeb's office mates. Comments[0] |
Mon, 3 December 2007  On this episode of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres talks with writer Chuck Dixon about his return to thr frontlines of DC's writing staff, and his current books Batman and The Outsiders, and Robin. We discuss the changes Chuck faces coming back to familiar Bat characters in the post 52 DCU , and the creative challenge covering newer heroes and villians he'd never touched. We'll also discuss some non- DC Dixon work coming up, including a new golden age Airboy story in the works for Moonstone Books. Comments[2] |
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The Comic Creator's Interview Show
Hosted By John Siuntres
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