You may know Bob Wiacek's name from the many other artists he's worked with: Carmine Infantino, Paul Smith, John Byrne, past guest June Brigman, past guest Walt Simonson, John Romita Jr., and past guest Bob Layton. But Bob's a legend in his own right as acknowledged by his recently received Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award for lifetime achievement in the art of inking. Just like there'd be no Jordan without Pippen, Wiacek's inks enhanced the work every penciller he worked with, from an Infantino Star Wars run in the early 80s, to Alpha Flight and launching the Sensational She-Hulk with Byrne, to one of his favorites: a two-year run with Brigman on Power Pack. The guy's a consummate professional, and he spills all the ink for the Dollar Bin Bandits.

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Despite having worked (written and/or illustrated) for most of the major comic publishers, Kevin VanHook is probably best known for his work at Valiant in the early 90s. He co-created Bloodshot, and contributed to books like The Visitor, Eternal Warrior, and Solar: Man of the Atom, among many others. But comics are only part of his career. Kevin also has a successful film career, working as a writer, director, producer, and visual effects artist and supervisor. He's worked on Daredevil, I, Robot, and Miss Congeniality, to name a few. His 2008 documentary on make-up effects includes interviews with make-up legends Rob Bottin and Dick Smith, as well as John Carpenter and George A. Romero. His most recent comics work was with DC, writing Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves and an Oracle mini-series. This is a fun one, ladies and gents -- enjoy!
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If you liked this podcast, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And tell your friends!

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Best known for co-creating the Black series of comics, Kwanza Osajyefo began his comics journey at Marvel, where he worked with Bandit Mike and past guest John Roberts (ComiXology) in the early 2000s. From there, he moved to DC, where he co-founded and managed the digital comics imprint and contest, Zuda. After a brief stint at DC headquarters in California (where he continued in the realm of digital comics), Kwanza hooked up with a team of creators and Black Mask Studios to develop his Kickstarter-funded Black universe, which was based on the premise: what if only black people had superpowers? He's now expanded from the initial mini-series into other stories set in the Black world, including the most recent series, White. It's quite the quirky comics career, and Kwanza tells us all about how it came together.

Follow Kwanza on his website, kwanzaosajyefo.com, or @kwanzer on Twitter and Instagram.

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Are you ready for some more Oren Only action? This time, our solo star goes head to head with artist Howard Bender. Howard started his comics career as a production artist and letterer, both with Marvel and DC. He moved into full pencils with "Dial H for Hero" backups  in The New Adventures of Superboy, and illustrated quite a few Superman stories for Action Comics. He's also known for his work on Archie Comics and for his caricatures. He is not known as the inspiration for Bender on Futurama. Where did you hear that?!

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The man behind one of the most enduring independent characters of all time, Captain Canuck, brings his maple leaves to the Dollar Bin Bandits! That's right, Richard Comely joins Oren and special guest host Sean McMillan to reflect on the genesis of our super neighbor to the north. The Captain made his debut in 1975 and became an immediate sensation, with the first issue outselling all other comic books in Canada that year. Comely stuck with the character through thick and thin, publishing Captain Canuck comics sporadically in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. If you love any iteration of the red and white defender of all things Canadian, this is the episode for you!

You can follow Richard on Facebook or at comelyart.com.

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Joe and Mike remember the comics work and careers of three all-time greats that left us in recent months. We dig into Neal Adams' defining art on Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow, as he brought a healthy dose of realism to our four-color friends. We talk about our personal favorites within George Perez's huge body of work, appreciating the expressive detail he brought to The New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earth (among others). And finally, we tip our hats to Tim Sale, a painterly artist who's deep dives on characters like Batman, Superman, Hulk, Spider-Man, and Daredevil will forever be seared in our mind's eye. RIP, and thanks for all the beautiful imagery you left behind.

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It's the stuff of legend. Barbara Randall Kesel writes a 10-page letter to Dick Giordano, DC's head honcho in the 80s, explaining why the publisher was failing both its female character and readers. Next thing you know, she's offered a writing gig (taking on a Batgirl backup feature in Detective Comics) and enters the male-dominated comics industry as a new voice for equality. She goes on to become an editor at DC, co-writing, with then-husband Karl Kesel, a Hawk & Dove miniseries that was one of artist Rob Liefeld's first major projects. Hopping around publishers, she helped Dark Horse establish their superhero universe with Comics' Greatest World, took a turn at Image with WildC.A.T.s and Savant Garde, and joined GrossGen, where she wrote and edited several titles, including Meridian. She's even mastered licensed comics, with stints on My Little Pony, Ghost Whisperer, and Legends of the Dark Crystal. Barbara is an outspoken critic of sexism in comics, and she's seen her share of marginalization throughout her career. She gets into all of it this episode, so sit up and listen closely: you might even learn something!

You can follow Barbara on Facebook (facebook.com/brkesel) and Twitter @barbarakesel.

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Once an editor at DC and Dark Horse, Michael Eury is now a historian and promoter of the comic book medium and pop culture in general. Since 2003, he's edited Back Issue! (TwoMorrows Publishing), a magazine dedicated to the comics of the 1970s through today. He's also published a number of books, including ones dedicated to Captain Action, Dick Giordano, Krypton, and the Justice League. Mike gets into it all with the Bandits, and you, lucky listener, get one heck of a bonus episode with someone who knows comics better than almost anyone! Give a listen, won't ya?

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Dan Brereton is an artists' artist. Skilled as much with a paint brush as a pencil, he broke onto the comics scene via Eclipse Comics and the Black Terror limited series. He then hooked up with DC, where he brought his painterly style to titles like Batman: Thrillkiller, Superman and Batman: Legends of the World's Finest, and JLA: Seven Caskets. He's perhaps best known for his own series, The Nocturnals, a team book that originally started at Malibu Comics. Dan's work has appeared outside of comics as well, including TV shows, video games, and album covers, most notably for Rob Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe.

For all Dan's sites and info, check out his link tree here.

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If you liked this podcast, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And tell your friends!

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Transformers! Transformers, Transformers, Transformers. If you don't like where this is going, abandon ship now, because our guest today has been associated with Transformers comics for over 30 years. That's right, it's the British Bob Budiansky: Simon Furman! Simon was already working on a Transformers comics for Marvel UK, when Bob (the original writer and developer of the Transformers characters) chose him to take over the main US title. Simon expanded the Transformers mythos from there, developing an origin story that involved Primus and Unicron. He would continue to write Transformers on and off for every publisher that had the license, including Dreamwave and IDW. Did you know he also created and wrote the original Death's Head book for Marvel? Well, now you do. Some might say Simon is "more than meets the eye."

Check out his creator owned series To the Death here: to-the-death.com.

Follow Simon on Facebook and Twitter @SimonFurman3.

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Check out a video version of this episode on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/dollarbinbandits.

If you liked this podcast, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And tell your friends!

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