Going into the 2024 US presidential election, a group of close to 50 comic book creators got together and put out the STOP PROJECT 2025 webcomic -- a non-fiction anthology that broke down the 900-page conservative wishlist that was Project 2025's MANDATE FOR LEADERSHIP into understandable chunks and readers know what they were really voting for if they supported it, or why they needed to vote against it if they didn't. Organized by Scott Dunbier and Steve Lieber, contributors included folks like Jen Van Meter, Lila Sturgis, Gene Ha, Cully Hamner, Greg Pak, Matt Fraction, Mark Russell, Sarah Ryan, Zoe Tennant, Rick Veitch, Greg Rucka, and more.

Unfortunately, the comic's goal of stopping Project 2025 was not successful, but there are lessons to be learned from it, and today's episode has two guests (political scientist/pollster Dan Cassino and comics writer/STOP PROJECT 2025 contributor Greg Pak) to help Greg and listeners do exactly that.

[This episode is number 838 in a series.]

00:00 – Intro 01:00 – Preface 09:35 – Project 2025 Explained 14:04 – A Crisis of Information 25:36 – Comics as Instructions 28:11 – AI and Apathy Atrophy 31:08 – Action Absorbs Anxiety 37:20 – The Zine Tradition 40:40 – Four Page Storycraft 45:38 – Comics Community and Comics in the Community 50:57 – Outro

Readers go to the comic shop to get their comics, but the road those comics take from the creator's drawing tables to the shops has changed a lot in the last 100 years or so. Greg talked with documentary filmmaker Wes Eastin back in February about the comic shop/retailer side of things, but today he's flipping the dial and going to the creative side because this episode features two members of the POWER PULP Comics Collective and Distribution -- CEO Chris Anderson and cartoonist Corinne Halbert --and dives right in to how Power Pulp is their growing answer to the question every creator has to face in their career: "How do I get my work out there?"

Josh Dysart returns to the show for a third time to talk about his newest miniseries from Bad Idea, The Hab. Created with David Lapham, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jacob Phillips, colorists Matt Hollingsworth and Crabtree, and letterer Simon Bowland, and printed on old school newsprint-esque paper, The Hab shows us all what happens when a billionaire and his circle of family and staff survive a nuclear holocaust in his high-tech bunker…only to find a worse fate waiting for him.

Find out about this something-for-everyone horror story fits in today's climate, where billionaire Tuttle Barrows sits on the continuum of characters from his career to this point, horror's necessity as a genre, how all these production pieces fit together, why letterers should be valued more across the board, and what Hong Kong action pillar gets another off-the-cuff watch guide from Josh himself.

[This episode is number 836 in a series.]

00:00 – Intro 04:25 – From Bad Idea to The Hab 18:36 – The Bad Idea Dilemma 24:29 – Lettering & Post Production 32:42 – Pitching The Hab 34:18 – Why Horror Now 37:34 – Comics Horror vs Prose Horror 41:47 – Satire and Tuttle Barrows 46:41 – Catharsis vs Horror 50:20 – Humanizing The Villains 56:33 – Why Harada Doesn't Work Anymore 01:04:07 – Comics For Peace Fallout 01:07:44 – John Woo Starter Guide 01:17:29 – Hollywood vs Hong Kong 01:23:18 – Outro

[This episode is a remastered version of number 664 in a series, originally released on April 30, 2020.] The last time writer Josh Dysart was on the show, back in 2017, the conversation focused on his run as ongoing writer for Swamp Thing. But for this deep-dive talk, the topics range from his latest book with TKO Studios (Goodnight Paradise), his Eisner-nominated work on Vertigo's Unknown Soldier, his relationship with both books' artist Alberto Ponticelli, how much fear and panic is a part of his work process then and now, why new publisher Bad Idea is actually a good idea, traveling the world, and why Jackie Chan is such a comfort in these trying times!

00:00 - Intro 06:45 - Freelance life in lockdown 09:41 - Joining TKO Studios 11:54 - Goodnight Paradise 28:42 - Enlisting the Unknown Soldier 37:04 - Fear-driven craft 40:16 - Working with Alberto Ponticelli 47:51 - Guest artists and authenticity 53:05 - Real-world inspirations 58:48 - Could the war have continued? 01:05:26 - Vertigo's creative wave 01:12:53 - Why Bad Idea works 01:14:26 - Comics For Peace Pakistan 01:18:25 - Mentorship and travel 01:21:33 - Jackie Chan essentials 01:26:05 - Hong Kong action DNA 01:36:53 - Art as conversation 01:37:34 - Outro

Today's episode has Greg chatting with Sydney Halpern, a historical sociologist from the University of Chicago who has written extensively about twentieth-century American medical institutions and biomedical science, including 2021's Dangerous Medicine: The Story Behind Human Experiments with Hepatitis, and Trigvy Faste, an Associate Professor in the Department of Product Design at the University of Oregon, as well as an illustrator and designer in his own right.

Their book, Infected for Science, coming out May 26th from Graphic Mundi, looks at religious pacifist David Miller and a group of conscientious objectors who took on an extraordinary mission during World War II: signing up for government-sponsored medical experiments that intentionally infected them with hepatitis to help scientists understand a disease that was sickening American soldiers fighting on the front lines. It also looks at the project's aftermath and legacy almost 80 years later.

[This episode is number 835 in a series.]

00:00 - Intro 01:22 - Discovering the Archives 03:45 - Trygve Finds Comics Again 05:33 - Meeting Through Comics Class 07:31 - Comics Influences and Models 08:34 - Trygve Comic Origins 12:30 - Building Dual Timeline Story 15:15 - Miller Cartoons Tone 18:56 - Art Style and Accent Color 23:14 - Publisher Pitch and Feedback 28:38 - Page Design and Lettering 31:03 - Seamless Reading Flow 32:12 - Internal Logic Design 33:08 - Dance With Death Spread 38:12 - Creative Nonfiction Boundaries 38:54 - Ethics And Compensation 42:51 - Who Gets Harmed 45:58 - Why Comics Worked 49:14 - Collaboration And Outreach 52:52 - Moral Complexity And Empathy 59:17 - Outro

J. Marshall Smith is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator based in Baltimore (making us de facto neighbors) who came up through the disciplines of painting and printmaking before finding his way to comics. And that background shows, because his work doesn't look like it comes from someone who learned to draw from comics, but rather from someone who developed a way of looking at things and then figuring out what comics could do with that. He's built his readership carefully and honestly – self-publishing collections of comics and art through Kickstarter, mailing drawings to his Patreon supporters, teaching, tabling at festivals, doing the quiet unglamorous work of caretaking that relationship between creator and audience. He recently tabled at the MoCCA festival in New York, launching a new collaborative comic called The Vanishing Man with illustrator Katherine Lams – about running into your bad ex in a nursing home, about frailty and memory and what we do and don't owe each other. But it's the topic of his debut graphic novel Testament, published by Bulgilhan Press (think bull-gee-lan) and available now, that brings him to the show today. Testament follows an android caretaker – designation: Testament – designed to tend to the members of the Order of the Abundant Grace of the Cosmic Christ during their monastic and scholarly existence studying a distant planet. As the all-female Order dwindles and only one Sister remains, Testament is left to reckon with faith, grief, memory, and the prospect of immortality in a solitary but spiritual infinity.

[This episode is number 834 in a series.]

00:00 – Intro 01:59 – MoCCA Festival Recap 03:35 – The Vanishing Man Collaboration 09:53 – Teaching Life And Time 11:51 – An Unprecious Art Philosophy 16:25 – Designing Testament Faces 29:04 – Origins And Faith Questions 36:40 – What's In A Name? 41:59 – Faith and Science 52:22 – Designing the Plots 01:02:31 – Revisiting the Setting 01:05:00 – What's Next Projects 01:07:37 – Freelance Life 01:28:21 – Outro

Aditya Bidikar, back on the show after 4 years, is a man of letters in the most literal sense. In the more than a decade he has been plying the lettering trade, he has worked with every major North American comics publisher and formed strong collaborations with several groups of creators, none more so than with writer Ram V and artist Anand K. In the words of Multiversity Comics alum and SKTCHD guru David Harper, it is a career consisting of "all bangers". But he is on the show today to talk about IN YOUR SKIN, his first major work as a comics writer. IN YOUR SKIN, with artist SOM and colorist Francesco Segala for Image Comics and Tiny Onion and released on April 22nd, combines Bollywood culture with body horror and erotic fiction. The solicitation also name-checks David Cronenberg and THE SUBSTANCE. We would throw in some Scorsese and Satoshi Kon as well, but… we will get into that. Aditya is at a fairly unique point in comics: a first-time comics writer with years of experience making comics, a letterer making his own words fit onto the page of his own story, a perennial collaborator stepping into a lead role…however you want to look at it, this is a fascinating time to be Aditya Bidikar, and today's chat dives into just why that is the case.

[This episode is number 833 in a series.]

00:00 - Intro 05:42 – Bollywood & Dance 17:19 – Influences and PERFECT BLUE 18:12 – Male Gaze and Patriarchy 24:19 – Wanting to Be vs Be With 29:13 – Parasocial Horror and Identity 38:07 – Writing Sympathy for Priyanka 42:13 – Drama First Genre Second 45:11 – Priyanka Redefined 47:10 – Script as Blueprint 51:02 – Rewriting to the Finale 53:04 – Ownership and Fingerprints 54:29– The Showrunner Mindset 01:04:28 – Personal Stakes and Finishing 01:10:11 – Lettering and Burnout 01:12:55 – Finding Theme While Writing 01:18:06 – Stories Not Essays 01:21:18 – Outro

[This episode is a remastered version of number 776 in a series, originally released on April 21, 2022.] Now you can hear the second half of the two-part chat Greg had with letterers extraordinaire Aditya Bidikar and John Workman!

The shop talk continues, as well as thoughts on more recent work like John's take on the HBOMax Doom Patrol series (after lettering almost the entire Morrison run back in the day) and Aditya's review of Barry Windsor-Smith's Monsters!

00:00 – Intro 02:32 – Workman's Monsters? 04:25 – Joining Shutter 05:31 – Balloon Shapes Craft 07:11 – Little Nemo Tribute 10:39 – Redoing Pages Lessons 13:37 – Art Size Shrink Era 19:09 – Pens And Markers 22:45 – Workload And Ethics 27:52 – Doom Patrol-ing 31:42 – Fanzines To Pros 33:26 – Chasing Perfect Letterforms 34:47 – Orzechowski X-Men Mastery 36:56 – Hand Lettering Magic 37:24 – Learning On The Page 38:23 – Barry Windsor Smith's Monsters 43:59 – Restoring Classic Colors 48:01 – Relettering Marvel History 50:36 – Design Roles In Comics 53:33 – Cover Lettering And Logos 55:57 – Upcoming Projects Roundup 58:29 – 3D Models And Built Sets 1:01:01 – Outro

[This episode is a remastered version of number 775 in a series, originally released on April 14, 2022.] Today's show has two of the best letterers in comics on for a two-part chat about their craft: Multiversity Comics's 2021 Favorite Letterer winner Aditya Bidikar and legendary letterer/cartoonist John Workman!

The generation gap evaporates immediately as the two fellows start talking about digital vs analog approaches, collaboration amongst a creative team, visible vs invisible lettering, being the responsible one in the group, artist integration, and much more!

03:44 - Learning the Craft 05:47 - Breaking Panel Borders 12:12 - Digital vs Analog 15:28 - Balloon Shapes Simplified 19:26 - Sound Effects Secrets 26:51 - Hybrid Workflow Talk 34:31 - Gaspar Saladino and Logo Tales 37:42 - Finding Your Own Style 40:18 - Precision vs Personality 42:44 - Organic Letterforms 44:32 - Analog Imperfection 45:42 - Blue and Green Workflow 48:59 - iPad Hand Lettering 52:47 - Color and Production 57:16 - Print Quality Pitfalls 58:33 - Lettering Pet Peeves 01:01:54 - Remembering John Paul Leon 01:06:59 - Sound Effects as Art 01:12:12 - Cover Logos in Motion 01:15:01 - Career Balance Advice 01:18:07 - Learn Every Craft 01:20:51 - Reader First Revisions 01:21:20 - Working with Demanding Writers 01:28:42 - Outro

In part two of their discussion, Steve Bissette lays out the late-1980s self-publishing moment after his run on Swamp Thing, tracing how Dave Sim's Mid-Ohio Con outreach and critique of corporate profit flows led Bissette and John Totleben to launching the horror anthology Taboo and all points in-between: the Cerebus/Diamond Distribution "phone book" controversy, the Puma Blues fallout, the Creator Summits and the Bill of Rights that came from them. From there to topic focuses on Taboo itself and the creative pitfalls he had to navigate to get out even the short run that eventually saw print. The topic of comics as creative protest, then and now, is brought up and run through its paces: what would something like Mad Love's Aargh! look like today? Where does ego sit in the publisher's toolbox? The importance of creatives learning business before the business teaches it to them is just one of the threads in this back-half of the epic Steve Bissette conversation!

[This episode is number 832 in a series.]

00:00 - Intro 04:41 - Meeting Dave Sim at Mid-Ohio 05:44 - The Inverted Pyramid Lesson 09:40 - Collaboration Complications 11:55 - Launching The October Project 14:11 - Diamond vs the Cerebus Phone Books 20:17 - Taboo Goes Independent 21:29 - Creator Summits and Bill of Rights 27:52 - Modern Contracts and Creator Traps 36:12 - Promotion Is Still on You 40:41 - Curating Disturbing Horror 45:34 - Taboo Shock Factor 46:35 - Rick Grimes Defense 47:48 - Lost Girls Risks 48:58 - From Hell Origins 49:51 - Eddie Campbell Choice 52:49 - Cover Art Rivalry 55:14 - Midwife Ego Lesson 58:35 - Aargh! and Activist Comics 59:59 - Sticks and Stones Fallout 01:04:20 - Anthology Survival Advice 01:12:33 - Budgets Page Rates 01:20:49 - Business Truths Teaching 01:23:10 - Huckster Hat Plug 01:26:45 - Outro