There is something about Mackenzi Lee’s work that feels familiar to me. Not in the sense that it’s hackneyed or stereotypical, as if part of a giant metaphorical snake eating its own tail of rehashed literary ideas. Rather, her work feels like the type of novels sprung to life from my wildest dreams. In the…
Looking Forward by Looking Back: A Retrospective Interview with Anna Selheim
I love to consider how a cartoonist’s work has changed over time. For most practitioners of a craft, the work evolves slowly, but as readers we can swiftly sink our teeth into multiple works and seek out recurring themes, shifts in art style, and general growth. It’s not often that I get to conduct such…
Licking the Face of God: John Allison Answers For Bad Machinery
Editor’s note: Ah, San Diego Comic Con. What a time, what a place! I’ve never been. But I have been caught up in the press of it all, getting interview sorted, then rearranged, then having to do them myself, then realising I should have done it yesterday by email. Ah, San Diego Comic Con… So…
Hella Big Shoes To Fill: Deck Nine Games’ Zak Garriss on Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Life is Strange is one of the breakout hits of 2015. Brought to you by Dontnod, the creators of Remember Me, Life is Strange put players in control of Max Caulfield, a teenager with time-travel powers, as she navigates returning to her hometown in the midst of a Twin Peaks-esque mystery.
A Look at GOOK with Justin Chon, David So, and Simone Baker
From April 30 to May 4, 1992, Los Angeles was enraged. What finally set it off was a verdict. Four white LAPD officers were found not guilty of the severe beating of Rodney King, a black man, which was caught on tape. The riots that followed would be remembered 25 years later, and Justin Chon’s…
Image 25: Top Cow’s Matt Hawkins’ Full Trajectory
From some guy in a line to COO of a 25-year-old publishing imprint, Matt Hawkins saw the glory days of Image, and stayed around for the aftermath. There are plenty of interviews covering the Founding Fathers of Image’s early days as masters of their new domain. The twentieth anniversary interviews Jason Sacks carried out for…
Superwomen, The Eisners, & Leia Organa’s PhD: A Conversation with Carolyn Cocca
Editor’s Note: One of my goals for Comics Academe is to promote the work of women working as academics and scholars in the field of Comics Studies. I reached out to Carolyn Cocca about her Eisner Award-winning book Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation, and she generously agreed to an email interview even while in the…
Behind-the-Scenes with the Mr. Mercedes Cast
Early reviews warn that the first few minutes of David E. Kelley’s Mr. Mercedes are “horrifying” and “disturbing.” This is unsurprising, given that the 10-part series is adapted from Stephen King’s bestselling 2014 detective thriller. The trailer was revealed at last month’s San Diego Comic-Con, and I had a chance to chat with some of…
Crying About Animal Comics With Jill Thompson
The day after Jill Thompson wins three Eisner Awards we manage to squeeze in a few minutes to talk. Unsurprisingly, everyone wants to talk to her. I’d been planning to interview for weeks and had a slate of questions for her all about Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In, her Dark Horse one…
Immortal Souls: Queer Witch Comics from Power & Magic Press
Joamette Gil is on fire. Hot on the heels of Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology, Power & Magic Press is back with a new anthology called Immortal Souls (The Next Queer Witch Comics Anthology). The response to Gil’s previous call for submissions was overwhelming, and not every piece could be included in the original…
Women Making Comics: Sitting Down With Ann Nocenti At SDCC
As a woman, growing up as a comics fan, you’re often told that you’re in some kind of minority, that women don’t read (or write about) comics, and have certainly never MADE comics. This weird ahistorical version of things is a relatively recent one, with people of all genders enjoying newsstand comics and creating them since…
Kickstarter: Interview with Artist Katie Wadley (dorkbait)
You might know artist Katie Wadley from her three successful Kickstarter campaigns, two of which were compilations of her Bucky Barnes centric Inktober series. Or you’ve seen her work in Raw, the Hannibal fanwork anthology, and more recently the Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes fanwork anthology, Not Without You. She has a new Kickstarter for a Marvel…
