It’s a discussion on walking the line when making comics for young people, as I’m joined by Mark Mariano. We talk about the difference between thrilling and shocking an audience, the value in being explicit with your story’s messages, and developing an inner barometer to measure whether your story moments are appropriate for kids.

We’re joined at the end by Eli Neiburger of the Ann Arbor District Library, who shares a few more thoughts on the subject and provides some terrific book recommendations!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

* Definition of a “Dirty Jerz”

* Happyloo

* Flabbergast

* Hot Dog! Magazine

* Spooky the Ghost

* Shawn Robare’s Branded in the 80s

* G.I. Joe PSAs

* Garbage Pail Kids (and more)

* The Clone Wars cartoon

* Adventure Time

* Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer

* Word Girl

* Kickstarter

* Issuu

* Unwinnable.com

* 24-Hour Comics Day

* Scott McCloud’s 24-Hour comics

* Google Plus

* My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

* Ulotrichous

* Wild Pig Con

* New York Comic Con

* Miami Book Fair

* Treasure Quest at AADL

Book recommendations for this episode:

* Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, Vol. 3: The Birthday of the Infanta

* Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night…

* The Fatal Bullet: The Assassination of President James A. Garfield (A Treasury of Victorian Murder)

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