Speech Bubble

Speech Bubble

By Aaron BrovermanSociety & CultureArtsVisual Arts
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Speech Bubble episodes

  • Marcus To

    Comic artist Marcus To (Red Robin, New Warriors, Batwing, Soulfire and Hacktivist) stops by to discuss Joyride, his first creator-owned project, published by Boom Studios. He reveals how the story of a girl who steals a spaceship to escape an oppressive earth was informed by his mother’s escape from China during the Cultural Revolution and his own friendly rivalry with his brother. He also drops knowledge on what it takes to break into mainstream comics, tells us what influences the youthful drawing style he’s known for and why actress Alyssa Milano (Who’s the Boss?) is one of his admired collaborators.

    Follow him @marcusto

    1 hr 14 min
  • D.A. Bishop

    After opening the show with a tribute to Darwyn Cooke, (1962-2016) local Toronto indie comic talent David “D.A.” Bishop (@Renerd) drops by to talk about his ongoing fantasy title, Of Stone (available digitally from Comixology). The series follows Gan, the ogre king, as he wrestles with a secret that can change the fate of his people. We also talk Alan Moore’s now classic run on Swamp Thing and how that, and The Walking Dead, reawakened a long dormant artistic talent within him. Bishop is a classically trained painter who loved comics as a child and tried to bury his former life as an artist. But after years languishing in various jobs and careers, he finally threw himself into what ended up being the fraught compulsion of making his own comics. Other comics of his include Squirrels, Stranger and “Curly Plays the Rex” in The Toronto Comics Anthology Vol. 3.

    renerd.com

    1 hr 7 min
  • John Little and Jon Sufrin – The Salesman
    Aaron tries mealworms live on air, which fits with the politics of consumption brought up by The Salesman — an original graphic novel from our guests John Little and Jon Sufrin. Little takes us through the long, hard road to publication: the book was released online, he hated it, so he recruited food journalist Jon Sufrin to help him re-write it. The result is a morally absolutist fable that pulls no punches and will leave many uncomfortable. Both men say, ‘That’s the point.’
    1 hr 16 min
  • Jay Clark – An Elegant Weapon Podcast
    Aaron was introduced to Jay Clark after claiming that past guest Alice Quinn was the only comics journalist in Toronto – Jay is proof to the contrary. He is the host of An Elegant Weapon, a podcast that interviews voiceover artists, actors and comic book creators from all over the geek media sphere. Jay tells us what goes into many of his interviews, how he lands big name guests like John Ostrander, (Grim Jack, Suicide Squad, Star Wars) Ryan Stegman (Superior Spider-Man) and Jim Cummings (The voice of Winnie the Pooh) and who is on the rise in the Toronto and Michigan indie comic book scenes. We also get into why he’s excited for Batman V. Superman and why he’s a big proponent of Zach Snyder.
    1 hr 27 min
  • Shane Kirshenblatt
    Shane Kirshenblatt is the former proprietor of the now shuttered Temple of Toys – a retro toy store which had its retail location inside The Comic Book Lounge and Gallery in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood. As a result, he was once the business partner of our last guest Kevin Boyd. Shane is also a custom action figure and Pop Vinyl maker, art teacher and comic book artist (The Jewish Comic Anthology, Anything Ghost, Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz). Here, he schools us on the finer points of custom figure-making and toy collecting, tells us how judaism has been a cultural point of pride as he pursued work in the comic industry, how he has met his childhood heroes through his art and how he accidentally landed his own creator-owned series without ever having a drawn a comic book panel. Also, get an advance look of his new western webcomic series Tailbone, which he created with past Speech Bubble guest Aaron Feldman.
    1 hr 26 min
  • Kevin Boyd Part 3/3

    Kevin Boyd is an integral builder of Toronto’s comic book community. He’s now the Comics Programming Coordinator for Fan Expo Canada and the Toronto Comicon, as well as the director of The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Awards. He was also the owner of the now closed Comic Book Lounge and Gallery and was the co-founder of the now defunct Paradise Comicon.

    In the final part of our interview, Kevin talks about what brought him back to working for his one-time bitter rival and former employer, Fan Expo Canada and the plans he has for Toronto Comicon 2016. We chat about the issues affecting comic conventions around the world, what he thinks of them and how Fan Expo sees these issues.

    44 min
  • Kevin Boyd Part 2/3

    Kevin Boyd is an integral builder of Toronto’s comic book community. He is now the Comics Programming Coordinator for Fan Expo Canada and the Toronto Comicon, as well as the director of The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Awards. He was also the owner of the now closed Comic Book Lounge and Gallery and was the co-founder of the now defunct Paradise Comicon.

    In part two, Kevin tells us why he founded The Shusters – Canada’s national comic book awards. He also talks about opening The Comic Book Lounge and Gallery as an attempt to continue the legacy of Dragon Lady Comics. The shop became a beloved social epicentre and was at the forefront at the new “lounge” trend in comic shops. It wasn’t all good though, a tragedy in his personal life and various circumstances beyond his control would seal the fate of his business.

    46 min
  • Kevin Boyd Part 1/3

    Kevin Boyd is an integral builder of Toronto’s comic book community. He’s now the Comics Programming Coordinator for Fan Expo Canada and the Toronto Comiccon, as well as the director of The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Awards. He was also the owner of the now closed Comic Book Lounge and Gallery and was the co-founder of the now defunct Paradise Comicon.

    In part one of our interview, he discusses how he got into comics and why he went from creating comics to selling his collection at conventions. He also goes into how he ended up co-founding one of the most beloved Toronto comic conventions of all time and accidentally become embroiled in Toronto’s biggest comic con civil war.

    1 hr
  • Aaron Feldman and Allison O’Toole

    The editors of volume three of The Toronto Comics Anthology stop by to preview the new book, promote the Kickstarter campaign and detail their own careers writing and editing comics. Allison talks about her story in the collection — “Ghosts Over Garlic Mashed Potatoes” — with art by Meaghan Carter, while Aaron details “The Dark” — a story that takes place in Toronto’s O.Noir restaurant – with art by Josh Rosen. Aaron has written for various independent comic collections like this, while Allison is also the editor of The Pitiful Human-Lizard ongoing series from Chapterhouse Comics.

    Toronto Comics Anthology Vol. 3 Kickstarter

    1 hr 23 min
  • Brian Evinou / Debra Jane Shelly Memorial
    We open another podcast from our archives in January 2014, just a few days after losing someone integral to Toronto’s comic book community. Debra Jane Shelly didn’t work in comics, but the mark she left on the scene was just as indelible. I look back on her impact with indie comic book creator and animator Brian Evinou. Brian self-publishes his own comics, (Fight Song, Lucy Legacy) has animated some of the most innovative cartoons, (Ugly Americans, Moon Beam City) and is the co-editor of a grand horror comic anthology (Monstrostity Vol. 1 and 2). After pouring one out for Debra, we talk about his time in the trenches of Artist’s Alley, how he got the editing job on Monstrosity, why making comics is better than making cartoons and that time he had a front row seat when Aaron pissed off Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods)
    55 min

About Speech Bubble

From the publisher's feed

The podcast that goes one-on-one with the writers, artists, retailers, publishers, critics and journalists inside the Toronto comic book scene.