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.

Breaking Into Comics -The Pros Speak

On this episode of word balloon, host John siuntres moderates a panel of creators who talk about how they broke into comics. The group of writers and artist represent a good cross section of genres and companies, that span mainstream and independent tastes. B Clay Moore (76 Hawaiian Dick, Superman Confidential) Art Baltazar (Tiny Titans, Patrick The Wolf Boy) Matt Kindt (Super-Spy, Pistol Whip) Andy Runton (Owly), and Christian Slade (Korgi)

Atomic Reolver's Big Bang Theory

From January's FX International Con, host John Siuntres conducted this panel featuring four of the Kansas City Studio's members, B Clay Moore , Jeremy Haun, Jason Latour and Seth Peck. They all discuss forming their studio, and give their view of the comics industry, as they all begin to straddle the worlds of indie creator owned projects, and mainstream work from the big two.

FX Con-The Whedonverse Panel & View From The Con Floor

Word Balloon's coverage of the FX con continues with a panel exploring the Whedonverse. Three actors from the various Joss whedon fantasy tv shows. From Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Nicholas Brandon who played Zander, Elizabeth Rohm, Kate from Angel, and Serena Sotherlyn from Law and Order.Nathan Fillion currently playing Adam mayfair on desperate housewives, but better known to the whedon fans as the evil preacher Caleb on Buffy, and Captain Mal from firefly, and the film Serenity. some cast news from the panel... Fillion will be the voice of Steve Trevor in the upcoming DC direct to video Wonder Woman animated film, with his Waitress co-star Keri Russell as the AmazonSuperhero, and the indie film Trucker Rohm's 2007 series Big Shots was cancelled by ABC, but she'll co-star with Danny & Angelica Huston, in the upcoming motion picture The Kreutzer Sonata. Brendan has two films in post production, The Portal, and Blood On The Highway. Then the show switches to the FX con floor, featuring interviews with Gene Ha (Top 10) Freddie Williams (The Flash, Robin) Derrick Fish (Dandy & Company) and Shannon Chenoworth (The Line, Supersonic).

Paint Me A Picture With Thompson, Brereton & Noto

On this edition of word balloon, host John siuntres moderated this panel at the FX International Convention about the art of painting in comics, with three of it's best practitioners. dan Brereton (Iron fist Annual, Batman ThrillKiller ,The Nocturnals ) Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Sandman, The Invisibles) and Phil Noto (Birds Of Prey, Infinite Horizon, Beautiful Killer) . They talk about what influences led to their styles and choice to paint, upcomming projects, and past works.

SPOILER ALERT! Ed Brubaker on Criminal & The New Cap

In this SPOILER FILLED edition of Word Balloon, Captain America writer Ed Brubaker sat down with host John Siuntres and went through the details of the new issue #34, featuring the debut of the New cap. If you haven't read the issue yet and don't want the details spoiled, stay away until you do... But then come back, because they also discuss the release of Criminal Vol 3 LAWLESS from Icon, Ed's creator owned crime comic drawn by Sean Phillips. Some Criminal info disclosed by Bru... The next few issues will be a series of one shot stories featuring minor characters from previous arcs. The article/essays in CRIMINAL's future issues will include an appreciation of EC Comics legendary CRIME SUSPENSE STORIES artist Johnny Craig by Brubaker and Max Allan Collins,. Crime novelist Duane Swierczynski will do an article, and an interview with writer Charles Ardai, the editor of HARD CASE CRIME novels.

FX CON-The Lives of Brians (Azzarello & Wood)

This week, the Word Balloon podcast will feature coverage from the FX International Convention, held last weekend in Orlando, Fl. Word Balloon host John Siuntres moderated this panel, featuring the two Vertigo writers. Brian Azzarello talks in depth about his ongoing work on 100 Bullets, Loveless, and reflects on past works like Doctor Thirteen, Lex Luthor Man Of Steel, and the differences between writing for the DCU and Vertigo. Brian Wood gives background and details about the work he puts into DMZ and Northlanders , plus he talks about his indie books Demo, and Local. Two private writers who usually hate live interviews slowly open, up and provide an hour of insightful views.

Beware The Fists Of Matt Fraction

Today's Word balloon podcast finds Host John Siuntres in conversation with writer Matt Fraction. They discuss Fraction's Marvel work on Punisher War Journal, The Immortal Iron Fist and his one shot specials, including the sixth issue of Young Avengers Presents, and a special featuring Thor and the Asgard Gods. Fraction also talked about the cancellation of his new team book The Order, drawn by Barry Kittson. Some quotes from Fraction on The Order, which ends with issue #10... "The writing was on the wall... but Marvel was very gracious letting us get off the stage the way we wanted to...it was a great opportunity working with Barry (Kitson), and I can't wait to work with him again." Here are some other highlights from the audio interview ... On Punisher War Journal. "We're going to get serious again with The Punisher The Kraven-Rhino-Vulture fun time arc is over... We're doing two one shots to lead into the jigsaw arc, Howard Chaykin will be doing the art... Punisher War Journal #16 is hands down my favorite comic he's done since he came back to comics...and he's sticking around for the Jigsaw/Lady Punisher arc, so I couldn't be happier." Matt is writing the 6Th Young Avengers Presents book. "It's about The Hawkeyes, Clint Barton and Kate Bishop, and will be drawn by Alan Davis. We finally get to see what happens when Hawkeyes collide." Fraction's upcoming Thor special... "These are Tales of Asgard... the cool thing about Ragnarok is there are survivors after the Apocalypse and the cycle continues until the next Ragnarok... the stories explore the different eras of the Norse pantheon ...We'll see what Asgard looks like in the past and the future and what it means to be Thor Odin and Loki these different eras. I hate elves on horseback. They put me to sleep. ...If you're like me and you hate Tolkien but love Frank Frazetta heavy metal album covers, then this is the Thor for you...Leave your D 20 at home, Nerdo, this is a different kind of Thor." The Immortal Iron Fist "The New Special will feature more adventures of Orson Randall The Iron fist of the 1920's & 1930's and the Confederates of The Curious... my god, I get to work with Russ Heath, I wrote a "Cowgirls at war" tribute sequence to his1970's National Lampoon work, and he delivered... Nick Dragota and Mike Allred are doing pages for it too, it's outstanding." On Casanova "The current arc ("When Is Casanova Quinn") goes to #14. Fabio (Moon) is just starting #13 and says it's the best script I've ever given him. #13 is cool because Casanova finally does show up, but in flashback scenes only.We'll see these scenes replayed but extended, and from a different perspective than the first time."

The Loeb Report Part 3

Word Balloon Host John Siuntres continues to ask Marvel writer Jeph Loeb questions provided by the podcast's listeners. In this wrap up to The Loeb Report, Jeph looks back at past projects like Heroes Reborn and his relationship with Rob Liefeld, Batman-Hush, and some unused ideas for All Star Batman and Robin. Here are some transcribed highlights... The Wolverine arc with Simone Bianci was meant to put an end to Sabertooth's killing spree. "I feel like when a villain takes that many lives it diminishes the heroes because of the continued rampage...it was my intention to try to figure out their relationship, and once you try to define something there will be some people who will disagree with it, and some who say, "oh that's cool." That story isn't done it was supposed to be 12 parts but there was no way with Simone's schedule to get it done,...it is my hope that we will get together to do the last six, and there may be surprises so people will understand the first six a whole lot better." Why return to onslaught reborn? "The reason we all did O.R. was because Marvel offered me a chance to make a substantial contribution to my son's scholarship fund. Rob and Sam had a special relationship. He enjoyed poking fun at Rob and saying "So people actually like your art?" When I knew Rob was doing it, I was on on board." On Bringing Jason Todd back in Hush "Nobody liked Jason they thought it was the worst idea in the world to bring him back for the story. it was my feeling that he had been forgotten. I didn't intended to bring Jason fully back... dead is dead as far as I was concerned, but it was my idea to leave his body missing at the end of the story." The future of NBC's Heroes stories "The focus on the older generation of heroes (Linderman's group) will continue. WHEN depends on when the WGA strike gets settled. Volume 3 is called Villains and will begin with the next episode. I think season three will be outrageous and bombastic. There's no doubt we'll be back to work in June, but (the strike) is an important issue. " Will Jeph be working with Michael Turner and the aspen crew again? "Yes, and there's a major announcement forth coming."

The Loeb report Part 2

Part two of our conversation with Jeph Loeb. Some highlights from both parts... Who will the Red Hulk face? The cast we see in issue one with be the group we initally follow. In particular,"Leonard Sampson will be seen as an FBI profiler based on his years observing superhero behavior. He has always been regarded as a c-level hero and he wants to change that perception." Ed McGuiness has a long list of Marvel Heroes he wants the Red Hulk To face and Jeph is agreeable to all suggestions "There isn't anybody in the Marvel Universe That he doesn't want the Red Hulk to smash. We want to be on this book forever, which for me is like 25 issues. Ed is living every Jack Kirby fantasy he's ever had with a Red Hulk doing the damage. "The book was never intended to be called HULK RED...It is by people's estimation other than my own, it's a take on "the hulk" that hasn't been done before.I don't claim that, I just think Ed and I are telling a very fun Hulk story." On possible future Marvel Color books with artist Tim Sale . "Nothing can happen until Tim's exclusive deal with DC ends. Marvel could have kept doing them without us, but I'm glad they didn't. " "We have an idea about Capt America White... The idea behind the color books is the hero losing an important early love of his life. In Cap's case I have a story but it doesn't involve Sharon or Peggy (Carter). I can see an Iron Man Yellow story, if I could convince Tim. " On the Ultimates Vol 3 Why kill the Scarlet Witch instead of Pietro? "I think Wanda is the glue that holds Pietro together, and I do not think good things will come out of this. I can put together any version of this team I wanted to. My version of Hawkeye is the next step in terms of where Mark and Brian were going, that this guy was losing his grip on reality and here he is, to the point where now he won't let anyone see his face. I'm having a blast with the Ultimate Black Panther...you have no idea where that's going. I'm also having fun with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, and when you see what I'm doing with Valkerie hopefully you'll like it as well." On The Ultimates Vol 4 I think Ultimates Vol2 #6 which is the Defenders story was the best story Mark has ever written. It's a bunch of folks who want to be heroes and get the crap beaten out of them. What happens to them when their dreams come true, and what is the price of that? That is the basis for Ultimates 4, and who will draw that, I'm not sure cause my original artist is having too much fun drawing a red monster. The Spider-Man story Loeb and J Scott Campbell are working on takes place in current brand new day continuity.

The Loeb Report

Writer Jeph Loeb is a fan of the Bendis Tapes, and after hearing the last session, he wanted to take questions from WB listeners . What follows is a funny discussion that covers Jeph's current books like HULK with Ed McGuiness and THE ULTIMATES Vol 3 with Joe Madureira, but also reaches back to loeb's early Marvel days, his classic takes on Superman & Batman, his film and TV work, and much more.

The Rucka debrief-The Crime Bible Code

In this edition of Word Balloon, host John Siuntres discusses 52 Aftermath, The Crime Bible with it's writer Greg Rucka . The miniseries continues the personal journey of the new Question, former Gotham City Detective Rene Montoya, but also focuses on the book , complete with text pages and illustrations from the crime bible itself. In an earlier article at Newsarama, we discovered a notebook The Question is using to assemble clues to locate the Crime Bible. Greg talks about the creation of these clues, and further locations to more viral info that enhances the story behind the book. "With all the events in comics it's easy to have missed this mini series, but Rucka and company are delivering a very fun DaVinci Code puzzle in the story, and these various artifacts and clues," says Siuntres. They also talk about Checkmate the DCU spy series , The future of his Queen and Country at Oni Press, and his latest novel, Patriot Acts, featuring Atticus Kodiak. Finally, Greg discusses his future, including the decision to end his exclusive contract with DC, but why he'll continue writing comics for the company.

The Bendis Tapes Dec 2007 Pt 2

On this episode of the Word Balloon podcast, it's time for the conclusion of the Bendis Tapes, as Brian Michael Bendis and WB host John Siuntres wrap up the answers to questions posted at Brian's jinxworld.com message board. You'll hear info about Secret Invasion, the Avengers books, Ultimate Spider-Man and more. Plus a new wrinkle to the Loeb vs Bendis arguments at the last Marvel Story Summit, which leads to the next episode of the WB podcast, coming next week.