Inside the Kingdom

David Reddick has spent his career drawing characters people already love while creating worlds of his own.

On this episode of Inside the Kingdom, David joins us to talk about Intelligent Life, Legend of Bill, and his work on Blondie. We get into his early ambitions as a cartoonist, the advice he received from Charles Schulz, nearly 15 years working on Garfield, his years with Star Trek, and the challenge of balancing original work with some of the most recognizable characters in comics.

It’s a conversation about character, comedy, craft, legacy, and what keeps a cartoonist drawing after all these years.

Read David’s work on Comics Kingdom and subscribe to Inside the Kingdom for more conversations with the creators behind the comics.

Three penguins moved to the wrong side of the planet nearly twenty years ago.

They've been trying to make sense of us ever since.

Arctic Circle creator Alex Hallatt joins Inside the Kingdom to talk cartooning, climate change, science, AI and finding humor in a world that keeps supplying new material.

Read Artic Circle on Comics Kingdom: https://comicskingdom.com/arctic-circle

Tony Lopes has spent more than two decades finding the funny in absolutely everything: cavemen, office life, technology, death, animals, human behavior, and the occasional idea that should probably have stayed on the back of a receipt.

On this episode of Inside the Kingdom, we welcome the creator of Insanity Streak, the acclaimed single-panel comic with no permanent cast, no fixed setting, and seemingly no limit to where a joke can go next. Tony talks about building a cartooning career through persistence, drawing daily since 2000, the freedom and terror of the blank panel, and why a great gag has to work before the reader has even finished looking at it.

We also get into his life in Australian cartooning, his record-setting 15 Stanley Awards, how the strip travels across countries and cultures, and the strange thrill of making people laugh one panel at a time.

Read Insanity Streak daily on Comics Kingdom.

This week on Inside the Kingdom, we’re joined by John Kovaleski, creator of Daddy Daze.

John talks about the real-life inspiration behind Paul and Angus, the humor of modern parenting, the role of co-parenting in the strip, and how one little word, “Ba,” became one of the most expressive voices in comics.

It’s a funny and thoughtful conversation about fatherhood, family, and finding comic strip magic in everyday life.

This week on Inside the Kingdom, we sit down with cartoonist Mike Smith, the longtime editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Sun and the creator of Gearhead Gertie on Comics Kingdom.

Mike has spent decades turning politics, culture, and daily absurdity into sharp, readable cartoons. But alongside his editorial work, he’s also built a very different kind of comic world through Gertie, a NASCAR-obsessed character whose love of racing is less of a hobby and more of a full-contact lifestyle.

In this episode, we talk about Mike’s path into cartooning, what makes a strong editorial cartoon work, how he shifts between political commentary and character-driven humor, and why sports fandom is such fertile ground for comedy. We’ll also get into Las Vegas as a sports town, the Golden Knights, NASCAR culture, reader reactions, and the strange joy of drawing people who are absolutely certain they are right.

https://comicskingdom.com/gearhead-gertie

For Father’s Day, Inside the Kingdom gathers a few King Features editors for a relaxed roundtable about dads, father figures, family strips, and the comic characters who have shaped the way we think about family life.

From classic newspaper dads to the everyday chaos of parenting, mentoring, grandparenting, and trying your best in three or four panels, this conversation looks at what comics have always done so well: finding something funny, familiar, and surprisingly tender in the small moments.

We talk about favorite comic strip fathers, family rituals around the funny pages, Father’s Day tropes, and the characters who remind us that comics have always been a place where big feelings can sneak in through little jokes.

Read many of the comics discussed in this episode on Comics Kingdom:
https://comicskingdom.com/

Join the Comics Kingdom community on Discord:
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Comics Kingdom has a Discord now. This episode walks through why we built it, what’s inside, and how readers can join the conversation.

Join here: discord.gg/appQys6v2z

What happens when a Viking ends up in a modern workplace?

Stephen Webster joins Inside the Kingdom to talk about The Saga of Brann Bjornson, a strip that blends fantasy, family life, and office culture into something that feels strangely real.

Stephen’s path to comics isn’t typical. He grew up in Iowa, moved to Russia, studied art in the Arctic, worked in gaming, and eventually built a world where dragons run companies and trolls handle IT.

In this episode, we get into where Brann came from, how the strip evolved, and what it takes to build a world that works both as a daily comic and a long-form story.

Timestamps:

00:00 Cold Open

01:00 Intro

02:00 From Iowa to the Arctic

06:00 Building Brann’s World

10:00 Art Style & Format

14:00 From Personal Project to King Features

18:00 Storytelling & What’s Next

22:00 Lightning Round

Read the strip:

https://comicskingdom.com/the-saga-of-brann-bjornson

Follow Stephen:

https://www.instagram.com/stepneal

One cartoonist. Three daily comic strips. More than 40 years without missing a beat.

Bill Holbrook joins Inside the Kingdom to talk about building and sustaining On the Fastrack, Safe Havens, and Kevin and Kell — all at the same time.

From early days meeting Charles Schulz, to launching one of the first webcomics in 1995, to evolving a daycare strip into full-on sci-fi, Bill’s career doesn’t follow the usual rules.

We get into how his strips changed over time, how he manages the workload, and what keeps him coming back to the drawing board every day.

Timestamps:

00:00 Cold Open

01:00 Intro

02:30 Early Life & Meeting Schulz

07:00 On the Fastrack

12:00 Safe Havens

17:00 Kevin and Kell

22:00 The Process

26:00 Lightning Round

Read On the Fastrack:

https://comicskingdom.com/on-the-fastrack

Read Safe Havens:

https://comicskingdom.com/safe-havens

Read Kevin and Kell:

https://kevinandkell.com

Cartoonist Vaughan Tomlinson joins Inside the Kingdom to talk about Oddly Enough, his understated, offbeat strip that finds humor in the everyday.

We explore his approach to comic timing, visual storytelling, and the art of saying more with less. It’s a thoughtful look at how the smallest moments can land the biggest laughs.

Part of the Comics Kingdom network, where comics are the history of happy.

Check out Oddly Enough
Follow Vaughn on Instagram