Storycraft

Mike Dubisch joins me again to talk about the various scandals regarding men across American culture, how it affects us, how it affects our industry, and some root causes/solutions that lay primarily in the hands of men. We then break into the many interesting projects Mike has going these days, from his work in the Warren/EC style horror/sci-fi magazine "the Creeps", to his own upcoming magazine "Forgotten Futures", and a few of the other tidbits he's doing along the way. We close with what is hopefully not too murky a talk about fleshing out one's art style and taking an organic approach to drawing characters.

Unique and talented cosplayer Stevie Spade talks to me about the hidden sides of cosplay, becoming a maker, social anxiety, awkwardness, and finding your community. We share several anecdotes about working comic book (& other) conventions, inhabiting characters, and using creativity to get results. The conversation is packed with jokes and laughs, but also reveals some interesting philosophical observations about our own minds, but also about the world at large.

Follow Stevie on Instagram @steviespade and on Facebook, Stevie Spade Cosplay. Look out for her upcoming blog about using your craft to better your life at steviespadecosplay.com

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Comedienne Jessimae Peluso left me with a sore face from smiling after this blazing (literally), hilarious conversation about social injustices, John Carpenter's "the Thing", organic eating, and history. We also take a ride through her incredible impression skills-- prepare to have you ears fooled! On top of that we cut into a few very current events, discuss how America takes political correctness a little too far, we share some family oddities and quirks from our childhoods, and we also share a few of our more infamous exploits while drunk, stoned or just plain dumb. It's a ride for the books, packed with laughs, and it is not for the timid (or uber-conservative).

Find Jessimae on the road at a comedy club near you!

Follow her on twitter & instagram @JessimaePeluso. Find out more about her at jessimae.com.

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Athena Aktipis, Assistant Professor at ASU & co-director of the Human Generosity Project, talks to me about cancer from a very unique perspective. We discuss her study of cooperation across systems, from human generosity to cancer, her focus on specific parallels between cancer and human behavior, how that may be revolutionizing cancer treatment now and into the future. This is a jaw-droppingly intriguing episode for science nerds, people who've been affected by cancer, and those looking for a little ray of sunshine on the future.

Read Athena's article on slate.com "Why Cancer isn't going anywhere".

Follow Athena on twitter @AthenaAktipis. Read more from her and find out about the Human Generosity Project at athenaaktipis.com.

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx.

Mike & I discuss something that has been nagging at me for some time, examining not just our relationship to the internet and technology, but to the content we all know, love, and voraciously consume. We discuss creative time management, content fatigue, quality vs. quantity, and the beauty of silence. This is a brainy, hopefully not-too-complainy, topical episode that applies to almost everyone, but is dedicated to the makers of free and/or regular content across multiple platforms that we have all grown accustomed to, as well as creators who feel the need to be visible on social media but who would rather just get some work done than constantly posting. I said not-too-complainy, but not completely non-complainy. There are, however, silver linings and surprising benefits that are not even fringe.

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Follow Mike Dubisch on twitter and instagram @MikeDubisch.

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx.

Jon Bogdanove, (Power Pack, X-Factor, Death of Superman & lots more,) sat with me after Comic Con Palm Springs to share a detailed and nostalgic dive into his history of working for the "Big 2" on some absolutely seminal works. He tells all the behind the scenes hub-bub that spurred the Death of Superman, his magical tale of landing his job at Marvel comics in the 80s, his knack for surrounding himself with the best of the best, and how openness & love got to where he is now. We discuss his diversions into being a stylistic chameleon, doing work that is consciously different from your past work, and embracing the digital in a traditional way. The whole thing is bubbling with anecdotes and wisdom many great masters from the recent history of comics, some of whom put us both firmly where we are. Finally, Jon reveals some tantalizing upcoming work. An episode any comic fan can love, but also one that outsiders can learn a lot from.

Follow Jon Bogdanove on the socials @JonBogdanove, and look for his many great works at you local shop or online.

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx.

In part 2 of my great talk with Shannon Wheeler (Sh*t My President Says, Too Much Coffee Man), we cover the perils of Hollywood, the beauty of teaching art, and being typecast as an artist. We also discuss breaking new creative ground, more stylistic choices, infusing our work with real life, and the importance of constantly considering the long game. This is yet another super insightful and entertaining chat, full of wisdom for anyone running a creative career.

Pick up Shannon's amazing new book, "Sh*t My President Says", from Top Shelf Comics anywhere you buy books.

Follow Shannon on twitter @muchcoffee, on instagram @muchcoffeeman and on Facebook, where he posts tons of cartoons.

Find me this weekend at Comic-Con Palm Springs, where I'll be tabling in artist's alley (table A12), and I will be recording a live podcast as a panel with Death of Superman artist Jon Bogdanove!

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx.

Cartoonist and longtime con-pal Shannon Wheeler (Sh*t My President says, Too Much Coffee Man) chats with me about his new book from Top Shelf in which he Illustrates Trump's most insane & inane tweets, the confused state of America, and how this time has been on the horizon for decades. We also talk about the deliberate choice of art style and techniques, pushing to make stuff happen for yourself, Kyle Baker, and a bit about Hollywood... with more about tinsel-town in part 2 next week!

Pick up Sh*t My President Says from Top Shelf, anywhere you buy comics or books. Shannon has crafted an incredible piece of art.

Follow Shannon on twitter @muchcoffee, on instagram @muchcoffeeman and on Facebook, where he posts tons of cartoons.

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx.

Illustrator Tony Guaraldi-Brown (The Cone-Nose Saga, Always) and I escaped the madness of San Diego Comic-Con, [and the crazy-busy Artist's Alley], to talk studying art outside of comics, the pleasure of working within limits, major psychological elements that forge artists, family, and writing characters from the internal perspective. We also discuss the lack of great internal superhero stories, because we feel superheroes are often internally misunderstood by their creators, and Tony delves deep into his powerful ongoing web-comic the Cone-Nose Saga. We also cover how lots of characters are defined by the loss or lack of family (even our own selves as characters), as well as how we feel driven to one-up and change our approach constantly, both to grow and to say different things. We wrap with discussion of Tony's gorgeous new art book ALWAYS. For a talk between two artists, this one is truly all about story- writing, structuring, and executing story- it is by far the most complete look at how I make comics, and it was a delight to discover Tony makes them in almost exactly the same way, internally speaking.

The episode closes out with Celestial Lagoon from Solar Team by DJ Roshay.

Visit Tony's site tgbart.com and read his excellent ongoing web-comic the Cone-Nose Saga. Pick up always at bigcartel.com.

Follow Tony Guarldi-Brown on twitter @tgbart and on instagram @tony_guaraldi_brown.

Follow this podcast on twitter @storycraftpod, and support the show by subscribing, rating & reviewing on iTunes, and by sharing with your friends.

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx.

All around music making machine DJ Roshay (Aloe, Solar Team talks with me about community, incorporating diverse influences, owning your brand, and standing out in noisy LA as an indie talent. We also talk about processing the current state of American politics, cool 80s stuff we love, practical science fiction effects, and our work together on his album Solar Team, for which I did the art-- NOW AVAILABLE for pre-sale at monkeygong.com!

I round off the episode with a special announcement about the above pre-sale, as well as a bunch of cool monkeygong related tidbits.

After the close, stay tuned for the track "VOYAGER" from Solar Team by DJ Roshay.

Follow DJ Roshay on twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, YouTube and Facebook @djroshay, and listen to his music on iTunes and Spotify.

Follow this show on twitter @storycraftpod, and help support the show by subscribing, rating/reviewing on iTunes, and for Pete's sake, share it with your pals (especially Pete)!

Follow me on twitter and instagram @kraigcomx, and please help support this show and my work by shopping at monkeygong.com/shop, or by supporting me at patreon.com/monkeygong.