MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

Once again, the Making Comics crew invades Wondercon and this year’s raid was pretty epic. Ok, maybe epic is overstating things and perhaps overused but it sure as heck felt that way. Why did it feel that way? Because this year we not only had our standard Gutter Talk panel but we partnered up with high school students from the Graphic Novel Project at High Tech High in Chula Vista, CA, too. To put the proverbial cherry on top, we even had a table in a prime location on the floor.

If you’re not familiar with the Graphic Novel Project, it’s an after school student volunteer program that is designed to teach students the ins and outs of making a comic, from conceptualization to production to even the business side of marketing and selling the product. What made it really special was that the students got to participate in this year’s Gutter Talk panel. Imagine being a 15 year old student sitting up on stage at one of the more major comic conventions in the country and talking about yourself and the work you put into the project. Those opportunities don’t come along all that often and as you’ll hear in this episode, the students understand this.

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam narrates the way through the various topics. On the panel along with the students is the Making Comics CEO and head elf, Patrick Yurick, his wife and our education guru, Kay Flewelling, and the student mentor and Making Comics editor-in-chief Kevin Cullen. We cover a wide range of topics from an artist’s diet to the transformation from a single comic into a collection of comics to how and why the group shrank from thirteen students to five. And no, it wasn’t because they ate the weak ones.

Click the image below to see a photo gallery from the con:

Here is the powerpoint used during the presentation:

We presented student testimonials from the “How To Make A Comic Book” massive open online course during the panel presentation. Here is the final cut of the student presentations:

Here are the full videos from each of the students in the MOOC:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

In society, the word “expert” is bandied about way too much. Rarely do you find the person it is referencing is actually an expert, someone with a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of a particular subject or skill. And, if humility is in play, that person wouldn’t call themselves an expert, either. Then there are nerds, or those that are highly focused on a particular subject or skill, and boy, do they seem to be everywhere. Most nerds would think they are experts but any expert would say they’re not.

In today’s Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by one of the leading experts- uh, nerds- no, great minds in the field of writing about and analyzing comics, Glen Weldon. He has written several books about comics already, including “Superman: The Unauthorized Biography,” so we’re pretty sure he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. It also helps that he’s a weekly contributor to NPR’s Monkey See about all things comics and pop-culture.

A majority of the ground covered by Adam and Glen in this Gutter Talk episode has to do with Glen’s book that was recently published by Simon and Schuster called “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture.” Topics included whether or not there actually is a singular Batman or if everyone’s Batman is the right Batman, as well as how nerd-dom has simply become part of the current culture, sports included. Who knew Adam was into sports cosplay?

As a side note, if you happen to be at Wondercon the weekend this episode drops, please be sure to check out the Making Comics Graphic Novel Project table at DL-56. To top it off, we have a panel on Saturday at 11am in room 515A. Don’t miss it! But if you do, no worries. The panel will be released as a podcast in April.

Glen’s Links:

NPR Bio (@ghweldon)

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of the Nerd Culture

More books by Glen

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

We here at Making Comics take pride in the type of things we present to you, the artist and comic creator, from the articles to the tutorials to even our amazing Underdog community. The same goes for the guests we are lucky enough to get on the Gutter Talk podcast. Every guest we’ve had on the podcast and also the panels we’ve had at conventions has been a treat and an honor to have on the show. We really consider ourselves extremely lucky to be able to gain insight and knowledge on how they perform and perfect their craft. This Gutter Talk episode continues that rich tradition in a major way.

In today’s episode, Adam is joined by Graham Annable, the co-director of the Academy Award nominated movie, The Boxtrolls, as well as the amazing animator and artist behind Grickle. One of the more gracious guests we’ve had on the Gutter Talk podcast, the conversations were open windows into Graham’s thought processes as not just the great artist he is but also what it takes to be a director, even if a co-director, on a major stop-motion picture.

The topics ranged from the difficulties and processes of what it’s like to be an effects artist on such an intricate movie (18 months to do a sub-two minute ballroom dance scene?!) to finding the time to create the Grickle shorts while still maintaining a happy, healthy family. It’s not easy but it appears Graham has found his groove. And yet he still manages to find ways to challenge himself within the craft of creating extraordinary art.

Graham’s Links:

Graham’s site (@grickle)

YouTube Grickle page

Grickle books

The Boxtrolls

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

The ultimate goal of Making Comics Worldwide and our website is to provide an extensive educational resource for those that want to, simply put, make comics. These individuals range not just in age, from pre-teens to adults, but also in experience, from those who are just starting out to those that are looking to learn something new to help push their artistic process and ventures to new levels. We even have the testimonials to prove how useful and effective the articles on our site have been to artists.

Still, we strive to do more for the artistic community than just post articles online. It’s why we have the Underdog community and these Gutter Talk podcasts. Now we have, in conjunction with Coursera and also the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that is video based in nature. You can find that course by clicking here.

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam sits down with the Making Comics Worldwide enigmatic, benevolent, and oft-times well-dressed leader to discuss the How To Make a Comics MOOC more in depth. In this talk Adam and Patrick give you an idea of how the course came about, the struggles and joys of putting the course together, and what we at Making Comics Worldwide hope you get out of it. In other words, when you’re big and famous for your art, remember the little people.

How to Make a Comic MOOC

Our Links:

Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

The Making Comics Worldwide headquarters is located in beautiful San Diego. Saying the Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast took a winter break seems somewhat ridiculous, mostly because winter does not really exist in San Diego. Still, that’s exactly what happened and now the podcast is back. Well, sort of.

In this episode, we return to the Coffee Table Comics podcast, the new-ish podcast by artist and creator Jason Brubaker. If you’re not familiar with his work, you really should be. He has put out such work as reMIND and his most current comic Sithrah. This particular episode is the second half of a fantastic conversation between Jason and his guests. On the show is Gutter Talk alumni, Daniel Warren Johnson, the creator of the stupendous comic Space Mullet, and also Royden Lepp, the creator of another amazing comic called Rust.

Their Links:

Jason’s Patreon site (@Jason_Brubaker)

Sithrah

reMIND

Daniel’s site (@danielwarrenart)

Space-Mullet

Royden’s site (@RoydenLepp)

Rust

Our Links:

Twitter

Facebook

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)