Video Test guesting Around Comics

if the sound isn't working, follow this link Testing my Blackberry in the field, here's the few first minutes of the taping of the Around Comics podcast , hosted by Chris Neesman and Tom Katers , joined by fellow Chgo podcasters John Siuntres and DC artist Mike Norton

Brian Wood, A Viking's Life In the DMZ

On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, writer Brian Wood previews Thursday's release of Northlanders 17. In this self contained story, Wood and artists Vasilis Lolos and Dave McCaig concurrently weave the elements of a fierce blood match, a History channel style commentary of weaponry and warriors, and a plain speaking narrative that showcases the adventure behind epic poetry. The result is a excellent one-shot that defines the qualities of the series and allows the curious to jump in to it's unique excitement . "This story is an overview of as many aspects of Viking warfare as I could fit into a 22 page sword fight...I wanted to slow the pace of the battle...to give it a kinetic Manga style...that's when i could fold in all the technical information, and there's also the story of these two champions in battle...this is where i love working in this format of comics, because you can't really do it anywhere else. If anyone is curious to see what this book is about this a good sample issue. It's no secret that I do a lot of research, but it's with this issue where I have reached the glorious tipping point... where I stopped having to find things in books...but knew the details about weapons I'd need for this story." Wood discusses the challenge of crafting personal stories of the real people of the age, combing the research of epic Norse mythology with his own dramatic suppositions of character motives and plot conclusions. "I've kind of figured that formula out.....the poems aren't always very easy to read. It's like reading Beowulf...reading about them is always more interesting...The next few issues of Northlanders are more stand alone...different voices and a radically different context...the next issue, #18 focuses on the wives of slain Vikings, from their point of view...Who really knows what viking wives were thinking about? They weren't considered in the sagas... the histories are epic poems written centuries later...so I really had to tell their story about not being free to be anything, without being chauvinistic ...and I walked a careful line so i don't offend anybody... that's why this book is so fun for me ...cause in every new arc, I can start over again." We also discuss his other Vertigo series about a young journalist stuck in a near future life in an american civil war, DMZ. Plus, many of his past and future works. Some other quotes from the conversation.... On DMZ... "DMZ was always meant to run a Vertigolength of 70 issues... once I reached that halfway point of 35 it was time to start thinking about the end point...what I'd like to do is a few spin-offs on the side to get to what i want to do in ideas that are non Matty stories...I keep going back to that issue 12 that was written like a magazine, and pulling characters out of that. It took forever for my subconscious to let me know that Matty is like a blogger, with all of their flaws...Not to dis on them, but they're like independent guys like Matty who messes up, and still has to battle the media giants...Ryan Kelly is doing 3 issues of DMZ starting with #42 ...issue 49 is the crazy cliffhanger of the series, which I've been calling The Rise and Fall of Matty Roth ...from 51 to the end it's like the fallout of the events that happen there. " Wood is writing stories for the second volume of Demo with artist Becky Cloonan . "We're on issue 3, but the schedule hasn't been announced yet, so it won't start till at least January 2010. " Any future ideas for The Couriers ? Rob G and I have an agreement that should The Couriers film ever go into production, we'd be fools not to do a sequel. We've read the film script and it's good, but still no director has been attached, so I think it's a way's off." What's planned for more Local with artist Ryan Kelly? "Local is a favorite of mine... I do have an idea in my head...we're doing Demo now which is scratching that sort of itch...I feel like I have to something more with Oni again, because they did such a great job with Local. " Any mainstream/superhero projects in the future? There is something in the works for DC that I'm halfway done writing...I'm actually worried because people are already talking about it online, and i think that some people are gonna be bummed (laughs)...it's an old book that I love...and have been chasing it for the entire 14 years that I've been in the comics business....I'm also the millionth person to have pitched an Inferior Five idea that was rejected. "

Geoff Johns; Welcome To The Middle Of The Film

download the mp3 here Geoff Johns is juggling 3 Epic stories from DC Comics. We talk about all of them. You'll hear behind the scene details of Flash Rebirth, Green Lantern The Blackest Night, and Legion oF 3 Worlds. You'll hear character discssions of all the major players, from the reborn Flash family to the GL Corps, and previews of what's to come in Adventure Comics and Superman : Secret Origin.

Supergirl Unleashed With Igle and Gates

Download The Podcast from here On this edition of The Word balloon podcast, a conversatio with the creative team on Supergirl, Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle. They discuss Supergirl, from the recent reveal that Lucy Lane is the new Superwoman, to the death of Zor-El, and the fallout from New Krypton. There's plenty of chracter dissections of Lana Lang, Allura Cat Grant and Kara Zor-El herself, and their views on where all these strong women fit, in this corner of the DC Superverse. Some quotes from the conversation... On Lucy Lane/Superwoman's role as Kara's new enemy. Gates: "I wanted a villain that can act as a Lex Luthor type...when New Krypton was told to me, I thought it was a master stroke on Geoff (Johns) and James(Robinson's) part having General Lane be the main bad guy...what great drama you get having Lois's family be against the Superman family?...There's some more crazy stuff coming up with Superwoman." On the character designs for the leading women in the series.. Igle: When It comes to Supergirl the very first conversation I had with Matt Idelson He said, 'I don't want to see Supergirl's panties again,' and I agreed ...I think there should be a coy sexiness about her but I don't think it should be as overt as it's been drawn...it just didn't fit my image of what a teenaged Supergirl is supposed to be...she's Superman's cousin, and should be, even by default, sort of a role model to young girls..." (For Lana's Asian influenced outfits) My wife Corrine works in the fashion industry for a company that does a lot of photo touch ups for Vouge, Cosmo, Louis Viton... so I get to see all these fashion materials... I was thinking more in terms of something a little eclectic but business like...with Cat, it's all Victoria Secret and Fredrick's of Holywood...the sluttiest dresses I can find (laughs)." Gates: "I guess that means write more Cat Grant scenes." On The Death of Zor El Gates: "Going in, Geoff and James really said we need to upset things. This can't ne a predictable Superman story and I think the death of Zor El made New Krypton completley unpredictable, because you realize, 'holy crap, no one is safe.' Igle: With Supergirl 36, I think that was one of the highlights for me working on the book ...when I was a teenager I lost a friend to gun violence so I was able to channel all of those feelings in that opening scene. Gates: .(Kara) doesn't get to (Zor) for nine pages,and she doesn't have powers, and is running across an open battlefield to get to him before he dies, to either save his life or talk to him one last time.....I lost my father when I was 17 not to violence but a massive heart attack...in those moments when Supergirl is holding Zor-El , and he's says 'I'm proud of you.', that was something as I held my father, I wanted him to say,and he couldn't. He was already gone Given the scene in the Origins and Omens of Lana Lang spitting up some blood how's her future looking? "Lana Lang has her own set of problems coming up that we won't come to a head until Supergirl 47." On Kara's new civilian identity as Lana's niece... Gates: "Linda Lang is not going away...it kinda got side tracked with all the New Krypton stuff...I was happy to see Linda Lang appear in Superman Batman...as long as it happens elsewhere in the DCU, it's a real thing...We're going to do a story about her in the Supergirl Annual ...that's tenatively called Linda Lang Day One."

Comic Book tatoo's Rantz Hosley

download the mp3 here The editor Of the critically acclaimed Image anthology of comic stories based on the songs of Tori Amos, Rantz Hosley stops by to talk about the book. We discuss how he and Tori got together on the project, wrangling all the artist and writer talent to put the book together, and gives his views and cautionary tales of self publishing in today's comics market.

Kevin O'Neil, An Extraordinary Gentleman

download the show from here On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, we present a conversation with artist Kevin O'Neil, to discuss this month's release of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III): Century #1 ("1910") drawn by O'Neil and written by Alan Moore. Kevin discusses the background of the story, and his views on past characters like Mister Hyde Mina Murray, the mysterious Orlando, and the Family line of Captain Nemo. His thoughts on the LXG film, and the origins and future plans of his co-creation with Pat Mills, Marshal Law . The interview does cover plot points and setting that have been discussed in other preview articles and reviews of the book, so beware. Her are some non spoiler quotes from the talk... On the inclusion of Nemo's daughter in the 1910 League. "She occupies a great part of the story, and we will follow her in later books." On the process of putting the literary cameos and pop culture easter eggs in a subtle way. "We just have to tread a careful line as to how we populate the book.. as we proceed with incredible numbers of different characters in street scenes and backgrounds or newspaper headlines ...it's a lot of work, but we realize we have these Jess Nevins books analyze every single panel and we know a lot of people who like that it...however if you don't know the references, it won't spoil the enjoyment of the story, it's just another layer of fictional stuff going on alongside the main story." On the creation of Marshall Law, and could such a story be told today? "I scribbled out an idea of the name, and rough character sketch for Marshall Law and sent we sent it as a "Mad Max" type of thing for Epic to Archie Goodwin. Archie had warned us that Marvel will take a hell of a longtime to do creator contracts...it ended up taking a year , during which Dark Knight and Watchemen were released...during the interim Pat said 'Why don't we do Marshall Law as a super hero hunter I said 'well don't you mean super-vilians?' and Pat said , 'No superheroes, I hate them." (laughing) I felt the energy of that loathing, and that's what we did...Chris Staros did the first ever 1987 review of Marshal Law in his pre internet era Staros Report... cut to us doing League for Top Shelf . Chris asked who owned the rights to Marshal Law, and I told we did (Pat Mills & O'Neil). op Shelf will do a big slipcase edition of Marshal Law featuring every story appearance of the character to be released hopefully later this year...and now reviewing the stuff for the Top Shelf collection I'm surpirised at how strong it was and how far it went becuase i think it would be harder to get that material passed today."

View From The Floor At The FX Con Pt 2

Download the mp3 here More of Word Balloon's audio coverage from the floor of April's FX International convention in Orlando .Featuring one on one talks with Olivier Coipel (THOR, HOUSE OF M) , Matt Kindt (PISTOL WHIP, SUPER SPY), Tony Bedard (REBELS) Chuck Dixon (GI JOE, The Simpsons), Steve Rude (NEXUS), and Arthur Suydam (MARVEL ZOMBIES, CHOLLY & FLYTRAP). Here are some quotes and tidbits from the conversations... Expect The announcement of what's next for Coipel and Marvel during this summer's con season. Matt Kindt's new OGN 3-Story The Secret History of the Giant Man will be out from Dark Horse ."It's a weird story that takes place in the 40's,50's and 60's with the narrative from the POV of his Mother, His Wife, and his daughter." Tony Bedard on REBELS: "I think we've had enough with stories that are so intertwined, they never get a chance develop their own personality. We want to give these characters a chance to develop on their own terms and give them their own corner of the DC universe to play with...it's one of those books where you really don't know who will survive in a given issue...Vryl Dox wants to do good, but6 he doesn't mind if you. die in the process." Chuck Dixon is taking over chronicling the tales of "The Man With No Name" in the soon to be retitled The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from Dynamite. Steve Rude: Lots of Nexus Product Nexus The Origin: Remastered , "Nexus: As it Happened Volume 1" a black and white Archive, and the long-awaited conclusion of Nexus: Space Opera due out in July. Arthur Suydam: For Radical Working on Hercules Aladdin and Shrapnel they're also releasing Cholly and Flytrap Center City featuring Suydam's post apocalyptic sci-fi duo . It comes out in June.

Dan Slott 2 Part Interview

On this edition of The Word Balloon podcast, we present a 2 part conversation with Dan Slott. In part 1 Dan discusses the current events in Amazing Spider-Man. On Amazing #600 and the return of Doctor Octopus "One of the things we wanted to do was take the villains off the board for awhile so when they come back it's big...John Romita Jr and I get to tell this 60 page story...We're building towards season 2 of Spidey which begins after we wrap up some stuff in issue #600." On the mysterious background of Mister Negative "I can't wait fir people to know more about him...I gave Fred Van Lente some big for his upcoming Mister Negative mini series...but there's more coming including ties to previously established spider-man characters. Let's leave it at that. " Download Part 1 here In part 2 Dan talks about the events in Mighty Avengers, from the revelation that Loki has been manipulating the Mighty and Dark Avengers, to the Mighty teams upcoming encounter with the Fantastic Four. On Mighty Avengers and Dan's choice to make Hank Pym leader of the Avengers"It will get more messed up as we go along...for all of Hank's fault he is a genius and has a very non linear way of thinking...but he's still that messed up freak who built Ultron...the question is how do you redeem him?...Some stink doesn't go away no matter how hard you try...it's nice to have Hank on this redemptive path... he may never get rid of his past sins, but his trying makes him heroic." Download Part 2 here