Robots From Tomorrow!

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

Joana Mosi is an award-winning Portuguese cartoonist whose work is only recently becoming available in English. And that timing matters — because until Pow Pow Press started publishing her books, The Mongoose and now Physical Education, internationally, there was basically no way for English-language readers to come across it unless they happened to be at the right European festival at the right time.

She is part of the growing Lisbon comics scene in Portugal. Paul Gravett called her previous book, The Mongoose, a "formally experimental yet powerful affecting narrative" She draws, she writes, she teaches. Physical Education has already been published in Portugal and was the first-ever graphic novel to be a National Illustration Award of Portugal Highlight Book, but is getting its English language release through Pow Pow Press on May 5th. The work is fictional yet emotionally true, centered on detachment, expressed through sparse characterization, missing facial features, and flexible page design.

[This episode is number 831 in a series.]

00:00 – Intro 01:54 – Portugal's Comics Scene 04:38 – Found in Translation 07:17 – Revisiting Finished Books 10:50 – Finding Pow Pow Press 12:42 – Going Global via Festivals 18:35 – Style Shift and Critiques 25:32 – Comics Lessons 31:16 – Teaching With Empathy 32:43 – Letting Students Fail 33:55 – Reaching Out To Mentors 35:34 – Fiction vs Autobiography 39:20 – Drawing Detachment 44:41 – Color Choices 45:40 – Motifs And Mundanity 48:20 – Page Layout Decisions 53:21 – Process 55:57 – Getting Feedback 01:01:58 – Outro

Reading today's guest's interviews, listening to his podcasts, and looking at his resume, already packed with highlights at a relatively young age, it becomes clear that he does not shy away from conflict or controversial opinions because he does the research to back up his words. He leans into the smart side of smart-ass and we're all much better for it. This Tucson-native has already been a banker, bill collector, marketing manager, jazz festival co-organizer, pizza delivery guy, radio DJ, stand-up comedian, and Director of Operations at Top Cow Productions.

But it's the jobs of journalist and comics writer that we are probably going to focus on the most in today's chat, because that, to me, is where he has really come into his own.

He's worked with J Gonzo on La Voz de Mayo, a graphic novel about his activist great-grandfather who helped Arizonan Native American tribes gain federal recognition and save their land from being taken over for freeway construction.

He was commissioned by the New York City Public Schools to work on comic about Dolores Huerta and her work organizing and unionizing farm workers in California

He's been writing the daily syndicated newspaper comic strip Gil Thorpe since 2022, only the fourth writer in the strip's 67-year history.

He's contributed to comics benefit anthologies like The Good Fight and Where We Live.

He's written for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and IDW.

He's written an epic fantasy story with a Mesoamerican base rather than the traditional European one called Helm Greycastle from Image Comics. "What if Middle Earth had a southside?" That's him.

And on top of all that, he's the Los Angeles chapter president of the National Cartoonist Society.

But today he's here to talk about his latest work from Image Comics, a Chicano noir story set in Los Angeles during the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 and centered around the Sleepy Lagoon murder. Drawn by Gil Thorpe collaborator Rachel Merrill, Death to Pachuco follows private eye Ricky Tellez as he tries to get justice for his client in a town where that is in short supply on a good day. The trade paperback collection of the series was released on March 18th, and you can read the entire first issue over at imagecomics.com.

Writer Henry Barajas may end the first issue with the line "Now's not a good time to be a Mexican", but over the course of this episode, Henry tells Greg about why it's not a bad time to be in his shoes right now.

[This episode is number 830 in a series.]

00:00 - Intro 03:32 - Zoot Suit Style Talk 07:09 - Ricky Tellez 11:13 - Collaborating with Rachel Merrill 14:47 - From Research to Writing 19:00 - Standup Stage to Comics Craft 22:26 - Top Cow Origins + Lessons Learned 26:35 - Cover Artists, Collaborators, and David Lapham 30:55 - Working on Daily Strips 33:44 - Henry's Role in the Cartoonist Society 36:00 - Lettering Your Own Comics 38:40 - Benefit Anthology Work 40:16 - MorrisonCon Memories 43:32 - The Future of Ricky Tellez 47:09 - Dolores Huerta and Civics Education Comics 52:37 - Outro

Cartoonist / writer / scholar / educator (and now Comics Laureate) Stephen R. Bissette joins Greg for the first part of their two-part talk about all things Tyrant and more as the Kickstarter campaign to bring his long out-of-print series back to life has roared past its funding goal and continues to smash any stretch goal in its path! Bissette goes into why Vermont is such a good place to be a cartoonist, what his plans are for his tenure as the state's sixth Comics Laureate, why repressive eras seem to spur on transcendent works of horror, and how Zap Comix #0 changed his life. He dives deep into his fifteen years as an instructor at James Sturm's Center for Cartoon Studies, including some of the difficulties in teaching the history of the medium when some of the pioneers' work is held in disdain by the current generation. Finally, Bissette details how the 1990s direct-market distribution collapse aborted Tyrant and how today's crowdfunding and print-on-demand landscape—aided by Lighthouse publisher Chris Stevens and advocate/designer Jim Rugg—enabled Tyrant's Kickstarter-fueled revival.

[This episode is number 829 in a series.]

00:00 - Intro 02:48 - Why Vermont Loves Comics 06:57 - Saying Yes To Laureate 08:30 - Vermont Cartooning Legacy 13:22 - Arts In Regressive Times 17:17 - Underground Comics Awakening 19:04 - Kubert School v CCS 24:25 - Teaching Comics History Debates 28:01 - Never Go Away Philosophy 33:48 - Tyrant Returns And Distribution 38:34 - Print On Demand Revolution 41:57 - Ads Reviews Retailers 42:45 - Direct Market Collapse 43:57 - Crowdfunding Changes Everything 45:46 - Perks Backstock Ceramics 47:40 - Success Fears Next Steps 51:50 - Life In The Zone 01:00:20 - Why Trust Stevens And Rugg 01:04:44 - Past Projects Credibility 01:11:10 - Lighthouse Team Scanning 01:13:31 - Momentum And Final Thoughts

Greg welcomes cartoonist/designer Jim Rugg back to the show for the first recorded conversation since 2014! Last time, Jim talked with Greg AND Mike about the return of Street Angel through AdHouse Books, among other things. But for 2026, Jim brings a whole slew of new projects to the discussion:

• Becoming a Creative Producer at VeeFriends
• Writing VeeFriends #11 + #12
• Writing AND drawing VeeFriends #13
• Joining the creator-owned distribution co-op Power Pulp
• Designing new collections of Stephen Bissette's long-out-of-print Tyrant
• Writing a monograph for Bloomsbury Publishing on Barry Windsor-Smith's Weapon X
• Being back on YouTube in various places talking comics.

The years may have passed, but Jim continues to be passionate about comics in all shapes & forms and even more passionate about making them. Find out about all of that and more on today's episode!

[This episode is number 828 in a series.]

00:00 - Intro 02:28 - Twelve Years Later 03:16 - Joining VeeFriends 06:38 - Writing VeeFriends 09:10 - Farm Fights Origins 13:21 - Bullpen Comics Talk 16:51 - Writing For Other Artists 25:14 - Script Style And Process 29:12 - Teaching And New Ideas 31:50 - Power Pulp Explained 34:37 - Distribution Then And Now 39:40 - Power Pulp Interviews 40:54 - Unearthing Leo Derek 43:51 - Sharing Comics Gems 46:58 - Designing Tyrant Editions 51:12 - Working With Steve Bissette 56:01 - Writing About Weapon X 01:05:19 - Research Fuels Creativity 01:10:34 - Outro