Weir & DeFillipis On Jumper Pitcihing Zatanna, and ARLI$$

On This edition of Word Balloon Writers Christina Weir and Nunzio De Fillipis join host John Siuntres to discuss their Oni prequel to the film Jumper drawn by their longtime collaborator Brian Hurtt . They also talk about their mainstream work on Checkmate, Wonder Woman, Detective Comics New Mutants, plus their television adventures writing for the HBO series ARLI$$. You'll hear about their work at DC and Marvel, including some interesting pitch stories invvolving Iron Man and Zatanna that truly illustrate the process and journey all writers go through to get their plots heard by editors . De Fillipis is also about to start his third semester teaching a comic book script-writing introduction course at the UCLA extention. In the discussion,you'll hear a lot about his teaching approach and how he tackles the prospect of organizing ideas into a cohesive plot and story. If you're in the LA area, you can find course information here... www.uclaextension.edu in the english dept, course #409.2 Some news from the interview. The JUMPER DVD will include an additional animated story written by the duo, and drawn by Hurtt that further explores the character of David and his Mother. The final volumes of Destiny's Hand and Amazing Age of Luna are coming from Seven Seas . They are also writing a romantic comedy film for the Oxygen Network. The sequel to Past Lives "All Saints Day" is coming from Oni in late 2008, or early 2009.

Flashback Interview : Walter Simonson

A WB classic from 2005 Walter Simonson looks back at his classic work. From Thor The Frog and the creation of Beta Ray Bill, to Orion and The New Gods. From his collaborations with Martin Pasko to put the bronze age spin on Dr Fate, to reviving Manhunter with Archie Goowdwin. We talk about the Fantastic Four, his spin on X-Factor co-plotted with his wife Louise , to working on the Marvel Star Wars comic at that awkward time between The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi. Tales of wonder, from a true master.

Richard Starkings On Crafting Comics The Right Way

On This edition of Word Balloon Writer-Artist-Letterer Richard Starkings of Comicraft pulls away the curtain and talks about his collaborators. Like Kurt Busiek J Scott Campbell , Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, Tom Scioli, the guys at Comiccraft , and the many artists that are helping him put out the cult favorite animal noir-series from Image Elephantmen. Starkings talks about his early days at Marvel UK and the lessons learned that he took to start the Comicraft company, and he discusses the importance of graphic design when creating a comic.

Steve Englehart on The Bat, Cap, and More

Word Balloon Podcast Host John Siuntres continues his spring cleaning of the WB podcast archives, and presents this 2005 conversation with writer Steve Englehart. As the new Batman film gets closer, and Ed Brubaker continues to make headlines with his run on Captain America , the tining seemed right to re-post this talk with Englehart who put his mark in the same heroes in the 1970's. First they discuss Englehart and Marshall Rogers signature Batman story Dark Detective: The Laughing Fish and it's 2005 sequel Dark Detective 2 . Then they look at the 1973 Captain America Secret Empire Arc. A controversial story, whose villain appeared to be the then sitting president Richard Nixon. Finally, they talk about Steve's runs on The Defenders, Avengers , creating Night-Man for Malibu comics, and his creator owned character for Eclipse comics, Coyote

Ron Marz Adding To The Legacy Of Heroes

Today on the Word Balloon Podcast Host John Siuntres and writer/editor Ron Marz discuss the concept of the legacy hero character in comic books. You'll hear Marz compare his Green Lantern , Kyle Rayner toDani Baptiste, one of the current holders of the Witchblade for Top Cow The conversation begins with an in depth look at Witchblade #116, which is a launching point for new readers, as Sara Pezzini and Dani share the power of the Witchblade. Marz discusses some hints in regards to the future of the series, and his current collaborator artist Stjepan Sejic. Marz also discusses his duties as an editor at Virgin Comics over-seeing their Shakti line of books, including Devi, Ramayan Reloaded, and The Sadhu. They also look back at Ron's years at writing for the star wars books at Dark Horse, his time at Crossgen, working on Scion with JIm Cheung, The Path with Bart Sears, and Sojourn with Greg Land. Future plans for Marz include In May, a new mini series for Virgin called Depak Chopra's BEYOND, an adaptation of a screenplay Chopra wrote. Also the Devi/Witchblade crossover. In addition to the regular Witchblade series (where Ron is committed til at least issue #150) , he'll write this summer's Top Cow crossover mini series Broken Trinity. Later on this year for Dark Horse he will get back to his co-creator owned Samurai Heaven and Earth vol 3 with artist Luke Ross, and another mini series Pantheon City with Canadian artist Clement Sauve

Jay Faerber Master Of the Faerberverse

On this edition of the Word Balloon Podcast, Host John Siuntres welciomes back writer Jay Faerber who discusses his unique spin on super hero books. The conversation revolves around Jay's 3 current hero books all from Image Comics... Dynamo 5 the story of 5 illegitimate super powered offspring of a iconic but flawed super-dad. Nobel Causes Jay's super-powered soap opera which returns advancing the story and characters 5 years into the future ,causes new relationships, romances and conflicts for Doc Nobel and his family of heroes and villains. Plus, his new 5 part mini series out in May Gemini, which Jay describes as a "Manchurian candidate"-hypnotically programmed hero, who by day is unaware of his hyper-powered alter ego, and the spy team that has programmed him, and guides him.

Gene Colan- Words Of Wisdom from THE DEAN

From 2005, a conversation with the Man Who Paints With Pencils. We discuss Gene's 50 plus years in the business, that includes meroies of the 1960's Marvel Bullpen. He recounts working on charcters like Daredevil, Captain America, The Sub Mariner,and Dracula. We also discuss his stints at DC in the 1950's (as Adam Austin) and the 1980's on Batman Wonder Woman, and Nathaniel Dusk. Gene discuss his film influences , his attention to detail when it comes to cars, cities, and objects. Plus he talks about collaborations with Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman, Don McGregor and others.

Mike Grell On Jon Sable, Green Arrow, The Warlord & Beyond

In this episode of Word balloon, host John Siuntres presents a conversation with one of the great stars of the brozne age, who still draws amazing work today, Mike Grell. Grell's work goes back to the 1970's on titles like the Legion Of Superheroes and Batman, but you have to include his own creations like The Warlord and his revamp of DC's Green Arrow which began with The Longbow Hunters in 1986. Grell went to Pacific and later First Comics creating works like Starslayer and Jon Sable, Freelance. Grell is midway through a new Sable story, Ashes Of Eden . The story will eventually be collected as a trade, but you can follow the story for free at www.comicmix.com. In the interview Grell discusses how his own militray inteligence background informed the 1980's stories of Sable, and his future work with the character. Grell has another story in the works with Mark Ryan called The Pilgrim, The story is a modern supernatural thriler, based in part on factual accounts of the British Gov't study of the occult to combat the Nazis during WW2. "Mark crafted the story, and frankly it gives me the willies." Other future projects for Grell may include a return to his charcter Travis Morgan, The Warlord."I'm working on a DC proposal for a new Warlord story... we'll see." His also has two novels in the works, one featuring Sable, the other Savage Empire, which is sword and sandals epic based on an original comic strip idea of Grell's, about an archeologist who time travels back to Atlantis.