Classic Comics Cavalcade

In part one of our three-part celebration of the great comics historian Bill Schelly, Bill's close friends Gary Groth of Fantagraphics Books and John Lustig of Last Kiss join Jason to reminisce about Bill, sharing stories about Bill's interesting life and happy late career. We discuss Bill's outstanding writing, his strong motivations to do his work, his unique life and approach to the world, and how neither Gary nor John ever heard Bill use profanity.

This is one of my favorite episodes I've ever done of this show. Gary, John and I agreed this was a wonderful chance to celebrate Bill's life, a kind of wake in which we had a chance to trade stories and share our sorrow. I sincerely hope you enjoy it as well.

Editor and writer Gideon Marcus joins Jason to talk about two fascinating science fiction projects: Rediscovery, his new collection of science fiction by women, and Galactic Journey, a website which explores the world of pop culture from 55 years ago. Jason is an excited contributor to Galactic Journey and reader of Rediscovery, and enjoys talking about these passion projects with him. It's a fun conversation which covers some very interesting ground about an important corner of science fiction history. We hope you enjoy it

Welcome to the first episode of the Classic Comics Cavalcade Book Club, as Keith Silva and Daniel Elkin join Jason for an in-depth discussion of a fascinating graphic novel sure to become a classic, Upgrade Soul by Ezra Clayton Daniels. It's fair to say that Daniel, Keith and Jason found the book to be fascinating, and they spend an interesting hour discussing it before they move to the exciting announcement by Daniel of his new Fieldmouse Press, a collaboration with some of his friends devoted to bringing some great indie comics to life.

Every once in a while you get to meet one of your heroes and they turn out to be even more wonderful than you expected. Lynn Johnston is one of the great newspaper cartoonists of her era. The creator of the classic "For Better or For Worse:", a most delightful and humanistic strip, joined me for a most delightful and humanistic chat which left me smiling for hours after we spoke. I don't want to spoil this at all but suffice it to say that Lynn was one of my favorite interview subjects ever.

David Heath Jr. was a legend among the fanzine and small press movement of the 1970s and early 1980s. In his long-running sci-fi fanzine No Sex (as in "All Violence and No Sex"), Dave published stories, comics and art by some of the greatest young talents of the time, including a very young Daniel Clowes and Jaime Hernandez. Dave was a fascinating character and a larger than life figure for many of us at the time, a bug, burly, Army Captain who loved to hang out with his friends and draw Vaughn Bodē-style spaceships and aliens. We recorded this chat about ten years ago and planned to do many more but weren't able to get any more done before he sadly passed away. I had to share this with my listeners because it's one of my favorite interviews I've done.

One of the highlights for me at this year's Washington State Summer Con was a chance to see Chris Claremont as the subject of a panel and to ask him a question during the panel. Of course, Claremont being the consummate storyteller that he is, he couldn't stop telling interesting stories and sharing speculation and comment about subjects like the X-Men movies, the MCU, the X-Men in comics, his beloved series Sovereign Seven, the time Spider-Man met John Belushi and much more. It's a delightful hour of mostly Claremont free-associating -- and thoroughly entertaining the crowd who watched it.

Terry Moore is one of the greatest indie cartoonists around. His work on series such as Strangers in Paradise, Echo, Rachel Rising and Motor Girl is consistently entertaining: smart, powerful and incisive. My interview with him fit all those adjectives, along with a healthy dose of interesting reflection. Moore was an interesting and honest interviewee, and I think that makes this half-hour interview a compelling listen.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to talk with Jerry Robinson, legendary creator of the Joker as well as many other iconic comics and comic characters. Though he was in his eighties, Robinson was sharp and spellbinding, bringing to life stories from comics history that my co-interviewer Alex Rodrik and I thought were fascinating. Listening back on it now I'm struck by the man's incisive memory and his delight in telling stories. This may be my favorite episode of Classic Comics Cavalcade so far, and after listening to it you might agree with that assessment.

Bob Burden is one of the most idiosyncratic comics creators of all time. Jason interviewed Bob at the 2011 SDCC and had a great time listening to Bob's unique plans for his oddball roster of comics. 

I had the chance to eat breakfast with Jon Bogdanove, one of the legendary artists responsible for the death of Superman, at San Diego Comic Con 2013. Jon and his family and friends shared stories about that legendary tale, as well as discussing the circus roots of many superheroes, his deep love for Jack Kirby, and the pleasures of getting outdoors while living in LA. Though the Kickstarter project we discuss didn't get funded, the behind the scenes story of its ideas are fascinating and make for interesting listening.