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! |
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. |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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.php |
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 . |
Sun, 1 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. |
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The Comic Book Creator's Interview Show
Hosted By John Siuntres
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