THE COMIX CLAPTRAP

Did you miss us? Thien and Rina interview Portland cartoonist and childrens book illustrator, Aron Nels Steinke. They had a fun time talking about his new book, The Zoo Box that he created with his wife Ariel Cohn, as well as his comic Mr. Wolf, loosely based on his experiences as a grade school teacher. Josh talks new comics from Jason Shiga, Farel Dalrymple, Pascal Girard, Zack Cannon and Josh Shalek.

The gang has finally gotten off its lazy butt for a new episode of the Comix Claptrap. The theme of this episode is "Getting Old" as we talk about the recent announcement of the 2013 Ignatz Awards nominees. Surprisingly, Thien is a lot mellower this time around. We also talk new comics with our number one buddy, Josh Frankel. Then we round the 1 hour and a half with a fun discussion with Bay Area cartoonist, Ben Catmull, about his new stunning art book, "Ghosts and Ruins" and tales from the ole Bay Area comics scene in the 90s. 

It's been too long, and the new  year has turned everyone's personalities in the Claptrap studios upside down! Thankfully we have Brit cartoonist's, Nick Abadzis' soothing voice to calm us down (and ease the ringing in your ears from Thien's selection of intro music. He edited the podcast this time!) Nick leads us in an engaging and thoughful conversation about his comic strip, Hugo Tate now collected by Blank Slate Books, thoughts on the rise in popularity of British comics in the U.S., his move to NY, TV sitcoms, and his exciting upcoming project that involved Orson Welles! Also new comics with Josh! What a difference a year makes! We've missed you and we're so happy we're together again! P.S. Errata Stigmata - Nick's book was released in May 2012, not 2013, HA! And the new season of the claptrap is season 6, not season 7, but who cares! Enjoy!

Thien and Rina were delighted to talk to exciting and innovative cartoonist,printmaking extraordinare and pal, Dan Zettwoch. Dan took time out from watching the Cardinals game to discuss his new book Birdseye Bristoe, his intricate hand-made minicomics, and our favorite -- reality TV programming. We had lots of fun! Also Josh talks new comics such as Gabrielle Bell's latest book, July Diary,while Thien and Rina recap their experiences at the ALA and CAKE shows this past June! Celebrate the July 4th fireworks while listening to this great episode!

Thien and Rina are happy to talk to one of their favorite artist, cartoonist, zinester, Souther Salazar, who talks about his ambitious art and community-inspired traveling project, The Trading Tortoise. If you haven't donated to the project's kickstarter campaign, do it now! His perspective on making art was inspiring to us and I think it will make you go out and start making zines right now too. We also talk to Josh about exciting new comics from Retrofit Comics and crazy stuff from Image Comics. Give it a whirl!

We begin the new year with a thoughtful interview with Tom Hart, creater of Hutch Owen and founder of the Sequential Artists Workshop (The SAW!), a new comics school in Gainsville, Floria. Tom talks more about the school, the move to Gainsville and his upcoming projects with a new Hutch Owen collection and Daddy Lightning with Retrofit Comics. We also talk to Josh about comics we are looking forward to in 2012. Welcome back everyone!Errata Stigmata: Tom wanted to point out that he mistakenly credited Richard Outcault for creating The Happy Hooligan. The author of The Happy Hooligan is actually Frederick Opper while Outcault is the creator of The Yellow Kid. Thanks, Tom. He's so hard on himself.

Just in time for your thanksgiving holiday, we bring you an ever so delightful interview with funny and talented, Lauren Weinstein. We talk about the new comics she's been posting on her blog, exciting upcoming projects, the crazy experiences of parenthood and how that all has affected her comics process, storytelling and her sanity! Also Rina gives us the scoop on her time at the Minneapolis Indie Expo and Josh finds a surprise inside the new Love and Rockets: New Stories #4! A great episode to listen to while traveling to your various turkey/tofurkey dinner parties! Gobble! Gobble!

In this episode, Thien and Rina have the great pleasure of talking to exciting and extremely talented comic artist Michael DeForge. We talk to him about all of the projects he's busy working on these days, his comic "Lose #3" published by Koyama Press, co-editing smutty comic anthology "Thickness #2" with Ryan Sands, and pigging out in Canada. Also, Thien and Josh talk about their time at the Alternative Press Expo and all the exciting comics they got at the show! This one was fun! So listen!

Dylan Williams was a talented comic artist, a passionate publisher and above all else our great dear friend. Dylan passed away this weekend. There are not enough words in the world to say how much we will miss him and his enthusiasm for comics, creativity and life in general. Last year at APE, Thien moderated a panel about the Bay Area comics scene then and now. Dylan, along with Bay Area comic artists Susie Cagle, Ben Catmull, Andrew Farago and Hellen Jo talked about their beginnings and participation in the indie, small comics community. The interview gives just a tiny glimpse at how influential and important Dylan was to comics and the many lives he touched.

Dylan would post about the Comix Claptrap on the Sparkplug Comics blog. He lovingly compare us to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and say that Thien's podcast personality resembled the likes of Henry Rollins, Bill O'Reilly and Alger Hiss. Against his better judgement, he would sometimes actually listen to the show, and say that his favorite parts were when Finn would cry or scream in the background.

Dylan, we love you and we thank you for your heart, laughter and generosity.