Stan Sakai Spotlight @ BCC 2025
Robots From Tomorrow!
In this panel discussion Greg moderated from this year’s Baltimore Comicon, renowned cartoonist Stan Sakai discusses his celebrated career, particularly focusing on his iconic creation, Usagi Yojimbo. The conversation covers various aspects of Sakai's journey, from his early inspirations and the development of the character, to his unique storytelling techniques and processes. He also shares anecdotes about his collaborations, his publishing journey, and the importance of maintaining control over his work. Sakai offers insights into his meticulous research trips to Japan and hints at future...
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Lettering: Drawing in a Different Way @ HeroesCon 2024
Robots From Tomorrow!
In this panel moderated by Greg at HeroesCon 2024, veteran comic book letterers Rick Parker, John Workman, and Kevin Nowlan, as well as coloring guru and production master Steve Oliff share their experiences and techniques as cartoonists working in the art of lettering. Here's how the show described the panel: GREG MATIASEVICH (Multiversity Comics) sits down with letterers JOHN WORKMAN, KEVIN NOWLAN, and RICK PARKER to talk about a job that involves much more than just typing with a pen. Listen to them swap stories about balancing their own careers as cartoonists; while placing word...
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Tools of the Trade @ BCC 2025
Robots From Tomorrow!
In this panel discussion Greg moderated from this year’s Baltimore Comicon, cartoonists Zoe Thorogood, Jeff Smith, David Petersen, and Stan Sakai talk about the tools they use to bring their Eisner-winning comic book stories out of their heads and on to the page. From scouting art shops for discontinued pens to building architectural models to using school supplies and family members (two-legged or four-legged) and all points in-between, these four go far and wide with their advice on what helps them keep bringing the comic booking goodness to us all, page after page, and year after year....
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The Legacy and Lessons of BROWNSTONE
Robots From Tomorrow!
Writer Samuel Teer is back to finish out the RFT trilogy dedicated to Brownstone, his collaboration with cartoonist Mar Julia. Since his last visit, Brownstone won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, and Samuel goes into detail about the impact that accolade has had on his career and mental health. The discussion doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects, including Samuel’s tumultuous relationship with HarperCollins, the industry’s shortcomings in supporting creators of color, and the emotional toll of navigating publisher...
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COPRA's Last Round @ HeroesCon 2025
Robots From Tomorrow!
In this panel discussion that Greg moderated back in June from this year's HeroesCon, cartoonist Michel Fiffe reflects on finishing his acclaimed indie comic COPRA with the release of issue 50 earlier on the week. Fiffe discusses the emotional journey of concluding the series after 12+ years, his inspirations, his creative process, the X-Men and Ninja Turtle impact on the book, the challenges and rewards of being an independent creator, how close we came to having a Batman show up, and much, much more! [This episode is number 819 in a series.]
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A CRISIS of Infinite Options
Robots From Tomorrow!
Greg welcomes DC3Cast’s Brian Salvatore back to the show to help out with this Shelf Bound look at DC’s 1985 blockbuster event CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. After catching up on Brian’s busy post-Multiversity life, balancing different passions including music, baseball, and family, and various podcasts, it’s time for some CRISIS management to figure out the optimal way to tackle the monumental and sprawling story Marv Wolfman and George Perez unleashed. Do you stick to JUST the 12-issue maxiseries? Do you throw caution to the wind and read EVERY red sky tie-in? Do you...
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Ricky Miller on AVERY HILL PUBLISHING
Robots From Tomorrow!
There’s an ecosystem to comics publishing, like everything else. You’ve got your Marvel & DC/Big Two on one end of things, your single cartoonist stapling their first minizines that they ran 20 copies off of the printer at their day jobs at the other, and many points in-between. And it’s one of those intermediate options, Avery Hill Publishing out of South London, England, that is the focus of today’s show. Going back to the earlier example, Avery Hill is probably much closer to the cartoonist than the corporations. And this makes sense when you look at their output. On their...
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Rick Parker on DRAFTED
Robots From Tomorrow!
In his latest graphic novel Drafted, readers can see how math did cartoonist Rick Parker absolutely no favors in trying to stay out of the military during the height of the Vietnam War. The 256-page book, which is the first of Parker's career that he has written AND illustrated, covers that three year period of his time in the U.S. Army in autobiographical detail both funny and heartbreaking. After being honorably discharged, the cartoonist would eventually get a job at Marvel Comics as a letterer for such titles as G.I. Joe and the Spider-Man line for most of the 1980's. In 1994...
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Andrew Aydin and GOOD TROUBLE COMICS
Robots From Tomorrow!
We live in troubling times. Turn on the news or your phone and that seems to be all there is: trouble. But according to John Lewis, the late U.S. Congressman from Georgia’s 5th District, trouble… doesn’t always HAVE to be bad. In fact, there can be GOOD trouble that helps you deal with all the bad. Carrying the Congressman’s message of GOOD trouble into these times we find ourselves in, is the Congressman’s former staffer, writing partner, and steadfast ally Andrew Aydin. Andrew’s publishing venture Good Trouble Productions is built on the foundation of that message of...
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Spotlight on Colleen Doran @ HeroesCon 2024
Robots From Tomorrow!
Today’s episode comes directly from this year’s HeroesCon in lovely Charlotte, NC. Greg had the opportunity to host a few panels this year; the first of which was this spotlight on cartoonist/illustrator Colleen Doran. As described in the show programing guide: Her work has garnered more nominations and awards than we have space to list here, but trust us, it’s a looong list. Eisners, Bram Stokers, Harveys, Hugos, inclusion in the Best American Comics series… when discussing COLLEEN DORAN’s career as a cartoonist and illustrator, there are so many highlights only the bravest of souls...
info_outline"The cycle of renewal in art is peddled by the periodic influx of stuff from somewhere else. That’s why you need a man at the crossroads… He will be the purest, most fresh faced wee fellow you have ever met. His ingenuous enthusiasm will beam from his cheery countenance." -- Eddie Campbell on Paul Gravett, Alec: How To Be An Artist
Today’s guest is Campbell’s Man at the Crossroads, and he has been observing, studying, and directing comics traffic for over 40 years.
As this fellow’s understanding of its ebbs and flows has grown over that time, so has his endeavors in making sense of it for himself. And thankfully, Comics fans around the globe.
He’s written at least seven books, including Mangasia: The Definitive Guide to Asian Comics, which has been transformed and translated into reality as the touring exhibition: ASIAN COMICS: EVOLUTION OF AN ART FORM.
The Barbican website describes the exhibit at The Bowers Museum in Los Angeles, CA as "with a team of more than 20 international advisors, ASIAN COMICS features over 500 works, the largest selection of artworks from the continent, including Japanese woodblock prints, Hindu scroll paintings, digital media, printed comics, and contemporary illustrations. This unique exhibition is a gateway to an unexplored world of graphic storytelling and its artistic value."
He’s also an accomplished editor and anthology curator. Among the books he’s assembled have been 2011’s 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die, which is a fantastic title, and The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics. He’s contributed to countless periodicals and documentaries about comics.
He’s published one of the best comics magazines of the 1980s, Escape, with partner Peter Stanbury, giving a platform to such creators as James Robinson, Dave McKean, and Neil Gaiman.
He started Comica, the London International Comics Festival with John Harris Dunning in 2003.
He gives lectures, he hosts panels, and he continues to be one of the most respected comics patrons of his generation. Frankly, it’s been exhausting just narrowing down his endeavors to a reasonable summary for this blog post.
He's Paul Gravett and he joins Greg today to talk about comics in all their wonderful forms and many varied locations.
[This episode is number 815 in a series.]
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Preamble
02:50 - Intro
05:40 - “I want to know about everything…”
06:17 - What was the first thing you learned that gave you your paradigm shift of what comics could be?
08:28 - Shonen Magazine / Fishing Crazy Senpai
10:32 - “No nostalgia, no loyalties, no limits”
12 36 - How do you keep all these perpendicular lines of comics in your head?
17:52 - "An unlimited multiversity to comics"
19:53 - Photo comics & Gregory Crewdson
22:11 - Jayme Cortez
24:18 - Comics 1964-2024
27:20 - Sawwaf Collection
29:31 - Lusanne / Taiwan
32:27 - Lodz Poland
33:19 - Posy Simmonds
35:40 - ASIAN COMICS
37:10 - Talk about your growing understanding of Asian comics as you were working on the books and the exhibition.
41:38 - Is the diversity of Asian comics and inspiration to you about the future of comics?
44:05 - Comics preservation in the Philippines and Mexico
50:41 - How important is humility (or lack thereof) when putting together an anthology or exhibition?
57:25 - Talk about your working relationship with your partner Peter Stanbury.
1:02:25 - Comica
1:06:00 - Outro
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Go to the episode page at: https://robotsfromtomorrow.net/paul-gravett-at-comicas-crossroads/