Speech Bubble

Hey, Fan Persons! In another installment of our Comics on Comics series, Steve Kerzner is the creative force and executive producer behind the big personality that is Ed the Sock. Children of the 1990s to mid 2000s will remember Ed as the acerbic and outspoken puppet hosting programs on MuchMusic like Fromage - his annual take down of pop culture and Ed and Red's Night Party, his late-night show with co-host and co-creator Liana K on CityTV. Steve comes to Speech Bubble to let his geek flag fly, revealing that his house is decked out with all kinds of comic book memorabilia and his wedding band is the jewel encrusted crest of his favourite hero – Superman. He talks about the opportunity Ed gave him to meet his heroes including Stan Lee – who he pitched a comic about his superhuman childhood cleaning lady. We also talk about why, for him, DC heroes are heroes thanks to the purity of their morality and why the moral ambiguity of the largely failed DCEU doesn't work for him. Plus, here the true story of how Triumph the Insult Comic Dog ripped him off, his take on the #MeToo and “Cosplay is not Consent” movements and the genesis of the new YouTube show Ed the Sock Lives! This episode sponsored by Hairy Tarantula.

@stevenjkerzner

Stephen & Steven Talk Politics podcast

Steven Kerzner on IMDB

@EdtheSock

EdtheSock.com

FU Network Fan Page

Ed the Sock Lives! (Ed's new show on YouTube)

Ed the Sock webstagram

Episode Sponsor: Hairy Tarantula

Recorded live over breakfast at the Halibut House in Burlington, Ontario Canada, Keith Grachow is an independent comic artist whose credits include Concrete Martians, Saltwater, Polybius Dream and the independent children's book series Up in the Sky written by his mom Amy. Exposed to comics and graphic design at a very young age, he didn't start embracing his artistic side until the final year of high school. He talks about overcoming his hangups and fear around doing comics professionally and what it took to fully commit. Though he'd joined Bright Anvil Studios, it wasn't until he moved to Japan that his desire to do comics kicked into high gear. He also talks about letting go of the dream of working for DC and Marvel and what it takes to finance his indie work. Plus, he talks about what it's like working with his mom and with a 13-year-old on a comic called Weapon Warriors. Oh, and he loves craft beer!

Keith Grachow's Website

Keith Grachow's Facebook

@keith_grachow (Instagram))

@kgrachow (Twitter)

Order Concrete Martians (Part 1) (Part 2)

Polybius Dreams

Saltwater

Order On a Planet Named Up in the Sky

Weapon Warriors

JnK Imagery (the business Keith owns with his wife Jenn)

Sponsored by: Hairy Tarantula

Born in Toronto, grew up in Oshawa and now living in Kelowna, B.C., Marvel writer Ed Brisson (Old Man Logan, Iron Fist) regales us with his 18-year odyssey trying to break into comics. Even after he seemingly broke in with The Comeback for Image Comics, there was still a period where he was being rent-evicted from his home in Vancouver, all his comics work had basically dried up and he was mere moments away from taking on a full-time job before Marvel offered him a solo title starring the Daredevil villain Bullseye. Thankfully he hasn't looked back since, but his harrowing experience with Vancouver real estate inspired the Vancouver-centric noir, The Violent, which exposes the seedy underbelly of a city on many top ten destination lists. Recorded on location from The Pan Pacific Hotel during Fan Expo Vancouver, Brisson discusses the pressure of taking over Old Man Logan from Jeff Lemire and what speaks to him about an older Wolverine. He also talks about how his dad's position as a karate teacher and Shaw Brothers Kung Fu movies influenced his run on Iron Fist. Episode Sponsored by Hairy Tarantula

Ed Brisson's website

@edbrisson

Ed Brisson's Instagram

Fan Expo Vancouver

Vancouver Comic Con

The Violent

Old Man Logan

Iron Fist

The Ballad of Sang

Episode Sponsor:

Hairy Tarantula

D.A. Bishop returns to Speech Bubble from his basemment studio in Pickering, Ontario to promote his groundbreaking co-creation with writer Kevin Joseph, Morte published by Source Point Press – a silent one-shot comic starring a man who is presumably the last human on earth in a post-apocalyptic future living out his days performing a seemingly monotonous but necessary task. In this short episode, Aaron and David debate who is more important in the production of a silent comic – the writer or the artist? They briefly discuss other occurrences of silent comics in the mainstream industry before dissecting how Bishop became involved in Morte and where an idea that's such a profound meditation on what it means to be human came from.

@Renerd

www.renerd.com

Source Point Press

Bishop's Facebok Fanpage

Rogues Portal's Advanced Review of Morte

Malcolm Derikx aka Miike and Todd Sullivan met as classmates at Ty Templeton's Comic Book Bootcamp. Both fans of old gangster movies and noir, they always wanted to work together, but other projects got in the way. Malcolm helped found the Toronto Comics Anthology and Hogtown Horror and Todd was teaching animation as a former animator on Tiny Toon Adventures and Darkwing Duck. Eventually they did come together for a gangster romp called Tommy Gun Banshee featuring an assassin named Nicky who is haunted by a whaling banshee who can only be drowned out by the Rat-tat-tat of his Tommy Gun. The two come to Speech Bubble to pimp their Kickstarter for the project and geek out over how war always seems to spawn a criminal element throughout history.

Tommy Gun Banshee Kickstarter

@MiikeSomething

@ToddSullivanArt

artoftoddsullivan.blogspot.ca

Toronto Comics Anthology

Hogtown Horror

Former Toronto Comics Anthology and current Chapterhouse Publishing editor Allison O'Toole returns to Speech Bubble with a groundbreaking new project. Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women features an all-female and non-binary cast of comic creators telling monster stories from their own perspectives. Following in the footsteps of other recent comic anthologies written and drawn from a minority point-of-view, Wayward is still something the mainstream comic industry has never seen, much less attempted, at a time when new readers are hungering for something more. Allison brings her assistant editor and former Marvel intern Margot Blankier and contributor Lorena Loaiza to the studio and the three discuss their love of The Gothic, why work like this is needed now and has already proven profitable and how this anthology widens the definition of monster to those who are already perceived that way by society. The Wayward Sisters Kickstarter is live until Nov. 10, 2017. The episode is sponsored by Hairy Tarantula.

Wayward Sisters Kickstarter (Donate until Nov. 10, 2017)

@wsanthology Instagram

@WSAnthology Twitter

Wayward Sisters Website

Lorena's Instagram

BBC article on The Castle of Otranto (The first Gothic Tale)

Manhwa (Korean Manga)

The Shadow Over Innsmouth (The H.P. Lovecraft story that inspired M. Blankier's story “Low Tide”)

The H.P. Lovecraft Archive

The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Judy Garland (This changed M. Blankier's Life)

Guillermo Del Toro: At Home with Monsters

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Robb Mirsky was working the checkout at a liquor store when David Craig showed up in his line wearing a Chester Brown t-shirt. The two bonded and Robb invited David to the next Toronto Comic Jam. Taking place the last Tuesday of every month, the jam happens in the back of the Cameron House bar where participants are expected to grab a page and finish the next panel of the night's various half-started comics. At the end of the night, the pages are collected and that month's issue is published. It was on one of those nights when Robb and David met James Spencer. The three vibe so well at the Jam they decide to recreate the magic with Read More Comix – a series of surrealist humour comics reminiscent of the underground comix of the 1960s by Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, Kim Deitch and Trina Robbins. At Speech Bubble, the three talk about their individual styles and why they work so well together before promoting their latest sequential experiment, the bookmark sized Tiny Comix. This episode is sponsored by Hairy Tarantula.

Read More Comix Store

Read More Comix Tumblr

@readmorecomix

@readmorecomix Instagram

Episode Sponsor:

Hairy Tarantula

Stephanie Cooke cut her teeth in the comics industry as one of several hosts on one of the original comic book podcasts – Talking Comics. From there, she was able to work behind-the-scenes at many comic conventions, eventually becoming the personal assistant of some of the biggest names in the industry. Now, she has struck out on her own as the founder and editor-in-chief of Rogues Portal a pop culture review and commentary website. A writer in her own right, her work has appeared in the Toronto Comics Anthology, The Secret Loves of Geek Girls and more recently, Mark Millar's Millarworld Anthology 2017 and the upcoming Blocked and Wayward Sisters Anthologies. In this conversation we discuss how she takes much of her inspiration for her work from her own life and what it was like working with Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsmen: The Secret Service, Wanted) and his team.

@hellocookie

@RoguesPortal

www.roguesportal.com

Millarworld 2017

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls

Wayward Sisters

Blocked

Talking Comics Podcast Archive

Last episode we talked to artist Gibson Quarter and this one features his Quid Pro Quo collaborator and fellow RAID studiomate -- writer Anthony Falcone. Anthony has written everything from novels to screenplays, but he is perhaps best known as the writer of the Northguard comic book for Canadian publisher Chapterhouse. Find out how original Northguard co-creator Mark Shainblum passed down the writing chores of the newly rebooted series to Anthony and how integrated the hero into the Chapterhouse Universe. Then we discuss what it's really like to work at RAID and the new studio anthology RAID.ONE where Anthony also collaborated with Marcus To (Nightwing, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Ramon Perez (Jim Henson's Tale of Sand) on some original stories he has big plans for. Finally, we discuss his first novel Comic Con-men, its planned sequel and the true keys to his prodigious productivity. After you listen to our conversation, don't forget to check out Anthony's own writing podcast, Storybeater with fellow Chapterhouse scribe Andrew Wheeler (Freelance).

Anthony's Website

@anthonyfalconewriter – Instagram

@Afalconewriter – Twitter

Storybeater Podcast

Raid Studio

Buy RAID.ONE

Buy Comic Con Men

Another member of the RAID Studio graces the Never Sleeps Network Studio in promotion of the group's RAID.One anthology featuring original work from celebrated artists Francis Manapul, Ramon Perez and this man, Gibson Quarter. Gibson's name may not be as familiar yet in North America because a lot of his work is published in Europe. On this episode, Gibson describes how his love for the work of famed Scottish comic artist Frank Quitely lead to him breaking into the European comic market working for Quitely's first publisher and then later signing comics beside him at the Glasgow Comicon. Though Gibson loves that he's known in Europe, he reveals that having published work only available across the pond has hurt his career stateside a little bit. Still he perseveres, supplying covers and interiors for some issues of Canadian hero, Auroraman, Frogman #3: The Death of Frogman and working as the co-creator of The Organ Grinder, a character that first appeared in the independent anthology series Undertow published by 7th Wave Comics based in Seattle. This episode sponsored by Hairy Tarantula.

Gibson's Blog

Gibson's Instagram

Gibson's Twitter

Buy RAID.One

RAID Studio

@theRAIDstudio

7th Wave Comics

Frogman 3: The Death of Frogman Kickstarter

Wasted

Auroraman

Episode Sponsor:

Hairy Tarantula