Description

The Weekly Pop Culture Audio Podcast Featuring In-Depth One On One Interviews and Discussions From The Entertainment Worlds Of Genre Fiction-
Comic Books, Novels, Television, Film, Video Games And More. Created In 2005 By Chicago Radio/TV Host John Siuntres

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Tony Fleecs, By The NUMB3RS

Suppose they held an LA comic book convention without a live audience? That's what happened last week, on a shoot for the CBS TV series NUMB3RS. The episode revolves around some action at a comic book convention so the word went out for creators to show up to the mock-con and go through the motions of a real show. There were some familiar names among the creators and guest stars for the shoot, and Word Balloon got the low down from indie artist Tony Fleecs (In My Lifetime, Postcards:True Stories That Never Happened) The NUMB3RS episode airs on CBS Fri Nov 23rd at 10pm eastern & pacific time.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Phil Hester Writes His Own Ticket

On this Halloween edition of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres chats with artist Phil Hester, who's been flexing his writer muscles and has a slate of current and upcoming monster related stories. We caught Phil as he was recovering from a cold, but still excited about getting more scripting work alongside his upcoming art projects. You'll hear about Hester taking the reins on THE DARKNESS for Top Cow, and a new direction for the series main character Jackie Estacado. Also the very funny "werewolf in recovery" series THIRTEEN STEPS, co-written with Chuck Satterlee and drawn by Kevin Mellon for Desperado. But Phil show his sensitive side too, in a poingant indie short story featured in The Villard Books collection POSTCARDS: "True Stories That Never Happened". On the art side, Phil previews the December start of his run on Superman Confidential, teaming up with his infamous inking partner Ande Parks and writer B Clay Moore. Next Year will be busy for Phil, writing and drawing a Daredevil/Magdalena crossoverfor Marvel/Top Cow in February, and in the spring he and artist Andy Kuhn bring back FIREBREATHER for Image Comics.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

"The Future Of Graphic Literature" Pt 2

Part 2 of The Comic Creator Panel That Josh Fialkov put together Sept 29th for the LA Public Libarry. Featuring Mark Waid Ross Richie, Christos Gage Kazu Kabuishi and Tony Fleecs.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

"The Future Of Graphic Literature"

On this episode of Word Balloon, we turn the mics over to writer Joshua Fialkov, who hosted an LA Public Library Comics Creator Panel titled "The Future Of Graphic Literature" The dais included Fialkov (Elks Run) , Mark Waid (The Brave And Bold) , Ross Richie (Publisher, Boom Studios), Christos Gage (World War Hulk/XMen) , Kazu Kabuishi (Flight) and Tony Fleece (In My Lifetime) . They address many comic related subjects such as the impact of Hollywood, the success of Japanese manga, the rising price of single issues, and the proliferation of other comic genres in traditional bookstores versus the superhero driven direct market. Word Balloon presents this lively discussion in 2 parts , with part 2 coming Thursday.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Robert Kirkman's Manifesto Continues

Today we wrap up our conversation with the Kentucky writer. Kirkman tells us about winning a SPIKE-TV scream award last year,and tells us how his scary books play to the non-comics horror crowd. We also talk about his run on Ultimate X-Men, and preview his collaboration with Rob Liefeld on Kilraven, the Martian hunting hero of Marvel's War Of The Worlds.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Brian Bendis Spills His Guts To The 24 Hr Podcast

This weekend several comic book podcasters got together to do a non-stop 24 hour comics podcast. They included DC artist Mike Norton and Chris Crank of Devil's Due (The Crankcast) Marvel artist Skottie Young, Chris Neesman Brian Salazar & Tom Katers (Around Comics) Stevie D and Eric (The Comic Book Queers) and John Siuntres (Word Balloon). Along with the round table discussions, there were informal interviews with other comic pros like J Torres, Tim Seeley, Chris Moreno Jeremy Haun Chris Burnham, Sean McKeever and Brian Michael Bendis. Most of the pros just talked casually about work in general, but Bendis dropped a few comic news items regarding his books. On this special edition of Word Balloon, we present the Bendis interview, moderated by John Siuntres and the Around Comics hosts. Some highlights from the interview... On Ultimate Origin being re-scheduled... Bendis and artist Butch Guice have three issues completed, but some tie-in stories written by Jeph Loeb won't be ready till next year. Plus they didn't want the Ultimate Universe storyline to conflict with Bendis' Secret Invasion miniseries, so Ultimate Origin is getting pushed back until the end of summer 2008. On the Avengers/Secret Invasion/Illuminati books… When artist Frank Cho finishes his Mighty Avengers arc he will move to the Mighty Avengers Annual featuring an all female Avengers team facing a group of female villains. Mark Bagley then replaces Cho on the series, and he's already finished drawing his arc. After issues #6 and #7 of Mighty Avengers comes out, Illuminati #5 will be released. New Avengers #38 will be a very special issue focusing on Jessica Jones and Luke Cage drawn by Alias co-creator Michael Gaydos. "I don't want to spoil the story but it's called ‘The Break-Up.’" On Secret Invasion... There are clues to who is a Skrull in some of the thought balloons in Mighty Avengers, so it will be fun to see who can figure out who the Skrulls are, by re-reading those issues." On Ultimate Spider-Man "I got permission to Ultimatize a few villains from the 1967 Ralph Bashki Spidey animated series that have never appeared in any Marvel Comics. "I was surprised that there didn't have to be any legal wrangling to recreate these villains." In fear of the pending 2008 Hollywood writers/directors strikes, the studios are rushing to production with any potential films in the development pipeline. Apparently, this has resulted in some upcoming good news for Bendis. "Uh yes... in about three weeks, I should have some announcements."

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Robert Kirkman's Zombies Are Chasing Me !

In this episode of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres begins a two part conversation with writer Robert Kirkman. Kirkman gives us an update on Haunt, his 2008 collaboration with Todd McFarlane, of which the writer says, "I've written the script for it...we're looking for a May/June 2008 launch. Todd will be designing all the characters,and I'm going to say he'll be doing all the covers . Hopefully it will be a cool book, I've got some cool stuff planned." We also hear a preview of his return to the Marvel Zombies universe, as Marvel Zombies 2 hits the stores this month. We'll also discuss his string of Image creator owned books, including the very popular Invincible, and his other Zombie mega hit The Walking Dead. he talks about turning over a couple of his creations to new writers, like Bruce Brown (currently writing Brit), and the upcoming Atom Eve miniseries written by Benito Cereno. On the subject of craft, Kirkman discusses his thoughts on the difficulties in writing a first issue, selling a new series to the public and more

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Jason Aaron's New West

Jason Aaron gives Word Balloon host John Siuntres the lowdown on his critically acclaimed pulp western series Scalped from Vertigo, all about the seedy side of life on a native american reservation. they also talk about his Vertigo debut,the Vietnam mini series The Other Side, his Ripclaw one shot, part of Top Cow's pilot season. and his past and future work on the Wolverine solo book for marvel.