The ComicsXF Interview Podcast

This week we’re talking with Mike Kennedy, the founder and publisher of Magnetic Press. Magnetic is reintroducing itself to the market now that it’s operating as an autonomous unit again. Previously, it published graphic novels from foreign markets as a collection under Lion Forge. But as a product of last year’s Lion Forge-Oni Press merger, Magnetic is now an independent unit again, though still under parent company Polarity. We talk to Mike about all of that, going to shows like ComicsPRO and Angouleme, what kind of books he has coming up this spring, and much more.

This week’s guest is Chris Hassan, who writes the X-Men Monday column at aiptcomics.com. He’s got a fun thing going on this week where he and some friends of the show are producing a bunch of content centered on those two all-timer mutants, Jean Grey and Emma Frost. Chris talks about that, interviewing Jonathan Hickman, dealing with Jott and Scemma shippers and the good old days when we all bought our physical media from Sam Goody.

Jimmy Palmiotti talks about his and Amanda Conner’s new "Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey" book at DC Black Label, going to the "Birds" movie premiere, a little Kickstarter, a little Jonah Hex, a little Simon Bisley, a little David Lynch. It’s all over the map, and it’s all a good time.

This week we’re talking with Zac Thompson, one of the writers on the new AfterShock Comics series “Undone by Blood, or the Shadow of a Wanted Man.” We also talk about his upcoming Vault Comics series “No One’s Rose," his just-wrapped “Yondu” series at Marvel, last year’s “Replacer” OGN from AfterShock, and more.

This week, we chat with writer Steve Horton about his David Bowie OGN, “Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams” with Mike and Laura Allred. Then, we conclude our actual-play RPG, “Troubleshooters and the Jewel-Encrusted Bunny of Destiny.” All this, and listener questions.

This week’s guest is Karla Pacheco, the writer on Marvel’s upcoming "Spider-Woman" series. You may know Karla from her backups in Oni’s "Rick and Morty," her Punisher “Acts of Evil” annual or her recent "Fantastic Four 2099" one-shot.

This week we’re talking with the writer and artist behind Vault Comics’ upcoming series Finger Guns, Justin Richards and Val Halvorson. “Finger Guns” is a comic about two troubled teens who discover they can manipulate people's emotions by doing finger guns at them. And we continue our multipart RPG adventure, “Troubleshooters and the Jewel-Encrusted Bunny of Destiny,” with freelance detectives Wallace Sampson and Sloane Covington-Whit following the trail of a magical bank robbery right into the mouth of the enemy for a big-old battle.

This week we’re back on the interview kick with Stephen Smith and Keith Boyle, the co-founders of Cover Alpha Comics, a new venture that deals in exclusive variant covers. We talk to them about the company, just how they get their covers to market, and how their respective comic shops, Big Easy Comics in Louisiana and I Want More Comics in Colorado, fared in 2019.

But that’s not all! Later on, we’ll include the second part of our multipart RPG adventure, Troubleshooters and the Jewel-Encrusted Bunny of Destiny. This week’s segment of the quest is subtitled “Panic at the Olive Garden.”

It's our 100th episode, and we're celebrating by throwing the format completely out the window, as Matthew Lazorwitz and returning guest Veronica Biatrise teach Dan Grote how to play a modified version of Dungeons & Dragons in which two fantasy-realm private eyes investigate a bank robbery.

Our guest this week is Sweeney Boo, whose graphic novel “Eat, and Love Yourself,” a personal tale about eating disorders and body dysmorphia, is out April 14 from BOOM Studios. We talk to her about that, her work on the IDW "Marvel Action Captain Marvel" series, her cat, Star Wars and more.

We also have a bonus segment, recorded at Cape Con at the Cape May County Library in September. Matt and Dan talked to two of the librarians there, Olivia Gorecke and Kara Brehm, about how comics get into libraries and from libraries into the hands of readers.