Pronounced like "Omni".

It’s 2012, so I’ll let you all in on a little SiDEBAR secret. Most of the blog posts we write as companion pieces to the podcasts are written ahead of time. Not all, but most. I can’t speak for Dwight and Adrian, but for me, I sometimes get an angle on a guest or topic that I think will be interesting, and I try to run with it. Doesn’t always work out, but hey, where there’s a spark, there could be flame, right? So, here’s what I have to say about today’s guest, Chris Samnee, and how I think things will go with him.

I first heard Chris' name a few years ago on the Around Comics podcast. He was probably drawing Capote in Kansas at the time. Then, in early 2009, I attended the very first C2E2 in Chicago, ran into Sal and the AC gang on the floor of the con, and Sal showed me a commission he’d just gotten from Samnee — who was in artist alley. It was an awesome little piece with this serious chiaroscuro thing going on. Very noir, very well composed. I hightailed it over to Chris’ table, never said hello (asshole), and after rifling through his originals, just fell in love with what I saw. His stuff was reasonable, too.

Since C2E2, Samnee has gone from working on smaller projects to working very much in the mainstream. He did a great job on Marvel’s limited series, Thor the Mighty Avenger (2010), with Roger Langridge and Matt Wilson. And he just finished up on the monthly series, Captain America and Bucky, with Ed Brubaker, Marc Andreyko, and Bettie Breitweiser (both the Thor and Cap projects were just in time for the films).

All of this means Chris' star is most certainly on the rise with fans and art nerds alike. Which is a good thing.

So, how do I think the interview with him is gonna go, you ask? Quite well. Chris Samnee is a young guy, seems pretty laid back, and his work oozes a love for his job. I suspect we’ll hear that much of what he’s learned about drawing and mark-making, he learned by observing and self-educating. I think we’ll hear some classic comics names as well as a few names from his youth as influences. And I think we’ll get an inkling from the conversation that even bigger things are on the horizon for this remarkable talent. And that, too, is a good thing.

Listen in and find out if my powers of prognostication are on or off. As I said earlier, I’ve been wrong before.

-SWAiN

2011. The year that was. And yes, there was some phat booty. We acquired tons of comics, OGNs, trades and artbooks over this past year. The goodness flowed freely! Somebody came up with the idea of us celebrating our year's take on the show (me), so here we are. Don't judge us too harshly.

We also cover some highlights and memorable moments on this one. 2011 was not without its peaks and valleys. For the most part, though, it was all good.

A sincere thank you to every single person who downloaded an episode this year. Thank you to every guest who came on with us this year. Thank you to everyone who followed us on various social media or took the time to drop an email or comment on our blog. All the great discussion, laughs, and plain old camaraderie are very much appreciated. Thank you to all the convention promoters who extended us courtesies.

And last, but never ever least, an extra special thanks to our sponsor, GRAHAM CRACKERS COMICS, for eternally being the best damn sponsor around! What's up, John?!

We hope your holidays have been fantastic so far, and here's to an awesome 2012!

-DWiGHT, SWAiN & ADRiAN (The Three Amigos)

Howard V. Chaykin.

Comic book writer/artist. Illustrator. TV writer/producer. And eternal digressionist. OK, I made that last one up, but it aptly applies. He’s quite the talker.

I’ve been a fan of Chaykin’s ever since I was a teenager. I met him in person briefly at a comic book convention here in Atlanta back in the 1980s. He was there with his then-wife, and it was during the apex of American Flagg! fever. I didn’t really talk to him. I just sort of stood back and watched him interact with fans. He was gregarious, very professional, and very direct. The exact impression of him I had gotten from his print interviews.

Before that con, I had just started following his work after having read several of his graphic novels: The Stars My Destination, Empire, The Swords of Heaven, The Flowers of Hell. All of them were full color, mixed media, and very sophisticated stuff. Some of the first works of their kind here in America.

I proceeded to pick up loads of his comics later on (though I wasn’t a Star Wars guy, per se). I did, however, become a complete fiend for Flagg!, The Shadow, Blackhawk, and so on.

Going back to Howard’s interviews for a minute — as a kid — I'm pretty sure I read them all. At that particular time in my youth, I found him to be a fascinating figure in comics. And not just because of the material he was working on. As a person, he seemed to be well read, had an acerbic wit, and was opinionated as all get out (I related strongly to that last one).

Plus, from where I sat, Chaykin came off like an adult. Once he stepped up as writer and artist on his stuff, it became glaringly apparent that he wasn't guided by a 14 year-old's idea of heroism and benevolence. His work was layered with themes like politics, sex, betrayal, and guilt. And usually at the center of it all, was a protagonist with questionable motives and feet of clay (just like in real life). This was completely diametric to my pals and I who, back then, well — we were still very much into punching and saving the day!

The other thing about his interviews that intrigued me were these little tidbits he would drop. Things about himself, his background and his profession that he never really expounded upon much until recently. Chaykin has always been a good soldier when it comes to promoting projects (an aspect of his professionalism that I’m sure his publishers adore). Yet I’m quite certain his comments in print have gotten him as much buzz as the work he creates.

And that’s why we chose to call this interview Revealed. The goal wasn’t to be sensational or provocative — in fact, not at all. We genuinely love Howard’s stuff, but were curious if the perception that many fans may have of him is at all accurate or justified. And frankly, he surprised us.

After nearly four decades in the business, you won't find a smarter writer or more graphic designer of the comic page than Howard Chaykin. However, the meat of our discussion with him today reveals more about his background, the person he is, and more importantly, the professional that he is. I, myself, find those things almost as interesting as the stories he tells. And I hope you do too.

- SWAiN

Like the legendary hip-hop group, Whodini, said back in 1984, "Friends, how many of us have them?" I've got a few. And you're about to meet one of them right now.

I first got to know Joe Phillips years ago, 'Nation. I won't embarrass him or I by telling you how many years — just know it was a lot! We were both drawing at the time. I clearly remember Joe, me and four other buddies sitting around on his living room floor drawing. And drawing. And drawing (though I've since become more art lover than art maker).

Even then, Joe was really good and already an entrepreneur in his own right. He had his own small comic book company, his own characters and super team — the whole nine. We were all like, “Daaamn!”.

Fast forward a few years, and Joe's working in comics full-time. A year after that, he co-founds a very popular Atlanta-based art collective, Gaijin Studios. Oh yeah, and he starts ballin' outta control (my words, not his).

He's penciling tons of mainstream comics (Green Lantern, Justice League, X-men), doing crazy trading cards, and straight makin' bank. It was the well-documented era of the early '90s known as 'The Speculator Boom'. And of course, it didn't last.

But Joe did.

He and I fell out of contact by that point. And as he shares in today’s interview, he ended up leaving the studio and starting anew by “going west, young man”. Over the course of the next decade plus, it was t-shirt designs, an apparel company, a magazine, illustration work, animation, calendars, and yes, some comics here and there. Dude kept busy!

Now, all the stuff that happened in between the highs and lows (there was a lot) kinda gets covered in our conversation with him. Kinda. Our chat with Joe was very much just that — a chat. Old pals reconnecting. It's not in any way formal, so do your best to keep up.

I saw Joe again recently for the first time in about 15 years. It was at this year's Dragon*Con. And it was all good. Obviously, we'd both changed a bit, but he seemed to be enjoying his time back home.

I told him right there on the con floor, that while I had proudly followed all of his successes from the sidelines — the comics, The Heretic, the Joe Boys stuff, the national ad campaigns — I never stopped thinking of him as anything other than my boy. That same talented, but humble kid sitting on the living room floor drawing and cracking jokes. 'Cause in my mind, that's where it all started.

Friends. How many of us have them, indeed.

- SWAiN

Hey, when it's good, it's good. You gotta give it up. And that's exactly what I had to do with Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and The Bold.

When I first heard that there was gonna be a new, new Batman animated TV show, I was like, "First of all, it's gonna have huge shoes to fill coming behind the incredible Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. And second, the tone is gonna be that campy, over-the-top Dick Sprang vibe? That's gonna suck."

Of course, I was dead wrong. And I told James Tucker, the producer of Batman: The Brave and The Bold, as much in my interview with him. Thing is, he said the potential Silver Age campiness was partially why he agreed to help develop the project in the first place.

Apparently, the 1950's era DC comic book of the same name was one of James' very first comics. It was geek providence that he got offered the chance to bring some of that flavor to animated life. When Sam Register approached him with the idea a few years ago, James says he liked the fact that this cartoon incarnation of Batman would be very different from Batman: The Animated Series.

I knew Tucker's name and face from the behind-the-scenes extras on my other Warner Bros. animated DVDs. Superman, Justice League, Batman Beyond — he worked on all of them— either in the art department, or as he did on BTBaTB, as a producer.

And he mentions in our talk that he learned much of the craft of producing under the wing of animator extraordinaire, Bruce Timm. Timm, along with Alan Burnett, Glen Murakami, Paul Dini, and Michael Jelenic, are just a few of the talented collaborators that James has worked with since he got his start at Warner Bros. Animation.

Batman: The Brave and The Bold debuted back in November of 2008, and the series just ended with its triumphant final episode on August 1, 2011. It was a delightful show that captured all the adventure and whimsy of those old Silver Age comics without ever slavishly paying homage to them. Tucker and crew cleverly pulled classic elements together, and then pushed them through a modern day filter — thus, making their show very much its own thing. Well done, folks!

- SWAiN

**It's just me asking the questions on this one, but I had a ball. Hope you dig it.

Hello, 'Nation. Swain and Adrian here. The two of us have a saying that we use around these parts. It goes like this — lay off the hyperbole! Say it from the gut and with meaning, or don't say it at all. And don't get us wrong. Hyperbole has its place in this world. But you just don't wanna reside there, ya know?

That said, here goes. Harvey Kurtzman. Mort Drucker. Don Martin. Sergio Aragones. Jack Davis. These men are considered cartooning gods. And if you're of a certain age, you know that all of them wrote and drew pictures for MAD magazine. MAD was co-founded in 1952 by William Gaines and the aforementioned Mr. Kurtzman as a humor anthology, and continues to be published to this day.

The work that these gentlemen did for MAD (some of them for almost five decades) was beyond remarkable. It redefined what cartooning was to become for later generations with its outrageous parodies and lampooning of pop culture.

So, with that kind of preamble, is it hyperbole to say that we see Kyle Baker in a similar light? Not completely. If you look at the breadth of his work on a practical level, Kyle is clearly working in their same tradition of "cartoonist". He writes, draws, colors, letters, and does the design work for most of his projects. He's an auteur.

Baker as a writer is a humorist/satirist at heart — again, just like his MAD predecessors. His gags are always clever, caustic, and clear. They can range from family-friendly slices of life to sharp observations of the sexes. And his dialoguing is some of the most natural that you'll find in comics.

Without question, the humor and attitude in Baker's stuff reflects the city from which he hails: New York. New York has been the backdrop for many of his stories, most especially, the one that made us die-hard fans — Why I Hate Saturn.

First published in 1990 by Piranha Press, Saturn is a smart, funny, and by most accounts, accurate representation of urban single life in the late '80s/early '90s. It's an early example of a non-comic book publisher, in this case, Doubleday, seeing a comic book story as a viable publishing option.

Putting Saturn in perspective — right smack dab in the middle of mutant fever and "gimmick" covers — comes this long form graphic novel about a neurotic writer, her platonic friendship with a bar-hopping guy pal, and sibling rivalry. All with little-to-no action. And it is hilarious! We highly recommend this book if you haven't read it.

Why I Hate Saturn, sadly, has never been a huge hit. And it's perhaps indicative of Kyle's status in the comics industry — critically lauded by dedicated fans and peers for his inventiveness, craftsmanship, and humor, yet mainstream readers at large have never responded in droves (or dollars) to his projects.

However, should the uninitiated wise up and seek out works by Kyle, there are plenty that we think deserve your attention: The Cowboy Wally Show, The Shadow with writer Andy Helfer, Dick Tracy, You Are Here, Plastic Man, Nat Turner, I Die at Midnight, his Hawkman tale in Wednesday Comics, and all of his self-published collections like Cartoonist and The Bakers.

After his Wednesday Comics gig ended, Kyle got a call from Marvel to work on Deadpool: MAX. That's pretty much where he's been comics-wise for the last two years. We both admit that his MAX stuff is not our favorite stuff by him (by any stretch), but it's still great to see him on something regular.

And again, we don't mean to be sacrilegious in comparing Baker to the giants listed above. Kurtzman and company are all esteemed quite highly by fans and critics alike, and deservedly so. However, what they all share in common is the distinction of being creators of timeless quality and perpetual verve. A Kyle Baker book will absolutely never fail to entertain. And that's the TRUTH (pun intended).

There's much more to Kyle than we're laying out here — trust. We're just trying not to give too much away in this blog post. The two of us have been champing at the bit to give Baker some shine on these mics, so this one was a long time coming.

Hope you enjoy the exchange. We damn sure did.

- SWAiN & ADRiAN

**Our thanks to Eric Nolen-Weathington of TwoMorrows Publishing for doing a terrific interview with Kyle as part of their Modern Masters series. That issue (along with Comics Journal # 219) was an invaluable resource to us in our prep for this episode.

Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite,
All are on their rounds tonight;
In the wan moon's silver ray,
Thrives their helter-skelter play.
- Joel Benton

Okay, now that's hot!

With Halloween creeping up on us (no pun), we thought it was high time we did an episode celebrating the scary. And why not go the route of scary comic book characters, yeah? Comics going back to the 1950s have always featured "tales of terror", and that tradition continues on to this day.

The '70s being what they were for horror films seemed like a good place to start. Movies like The Omen, Jaws, The Exorcist, Carrie, Amityville Horror, Willard, Audrey Rose and others, set that period apart as "the" decade of horror. So, many of the characters/heroes we dug up for this roundtable (no pun) were birthed around that same time.

Our theme is Monsters as Heroes. Creepy, weird, and just plain awful-looking folks who, at their core, are heroic. They wanna do the right thing — often times they do do the right thing — but damn if they don't frighten the sh*t out of people! And their actions can sometimes end with grave results (no pun).

We hit all the main ones you can think of, and threw a few surprises in there, too. The images we've showcased with this blog post will offer a few clues as to who made the final cut (no pun).

It's a FEAR FRAUGHT FRANTIC EPISODE!!!

-SWAiN

A poor play on Charles Darwin's Natural Selection, but hey — it sounded better than all the other stuff we came up with (ha).

The impetus of this episode was the mystery as to why some of our favorite comic artists aren't doing more work. Why aren't they more visible in the marketplace from month to month? Well, we attempt to answer that question on this one.

Surviving (and succeeding) in the world of comics is probably just as challenging as it is in any other industry. Not unlike other fields, I'm sure it comes down to a few simple rules — show up, create and foster good relationships, do great work, and finish the job — on time.

The rules above are universal in most trades, but from where we sit, they're not always universally applied within comics.

For example, if you're popular in comics, all can be forgiven pretty quickly if you miss a deadline. Editors and fans have certainly been known to turn their heads when "superstars" are late.

What if you're good at your job, but can't strike a solid rapport with those that will hire you? You can end up out of sight and out of mind.

Here's another one. What if you're an older artist with a style that's seen as "old school"? It can probably be a struggle to get assignments. Ageism exists everywhere (sadly).

And last, what about the possibilities of embracing an all-digital workflow to meet the demand by companies for quicker turnarounds of production? The needs of the business beckon.

Opinions and theories abound on this one, 'Nation. And with the comic book industry evolving in nearly every other facet in terms of production, now more than ever is a good time to discuss the challenges of maintaining a fruitful comics career in the 21st Century.

- SWAiN & ADRiAN

The return of the B-side — short, but very sweet.

We here at the 'Bar were fans of illustrator and fine artist, Sterling Hundley, long before he appeared on these esteemed microphones back in 2009. He was one of the guys we knew we wanted to talk to. And he was quite the astute guest. Knowledge by the pound was dropped that day.

So, guess what? His new art book, Blue Collar/White Collar, will be available everywhere on November 15th from Adhouse Books. We got our grubby mitts on an advanced review copy — and it is wonderful! A gorgeous collection of images that thoroughly covers his illustration career as well as some of his recent fine art pieces. And presented with some very special touches to reflect the artist's taste and sensibilities. Very well done.

Dwight and I cannot recommend this tome enough. Blue Collar/White Collar is worthy of your time and your dollars. To paraphrase Dwight on the episode, "It's a much needed addition to any art lover's collection".

- SWAiN

**It's just dos amigos on this one. Adrian was away on assignment in New Genesis.

The comic shop. The LCS. The funny book store.

That last one was what my grandmother and aunts used to call my favorite hangout spot when I was growing up in Chicago. I hated it. Superheroes weren't funny to me. Dudes got socked in the eye! People got killed (Gwen Stacy, Bucky, Captain Marvel)!

Anyway, I'm over it now. And I still got love for my brick and mortar stores. So, welcome to Comic Shop Confidential.

Dwight, Adrian and myself recently sat down for a celebration of the venerable brick and mortars. Specifically our collective experiences here in the Atlanta area over the last three decades. And even though we reference names and places that you all don't know, chances are the experiences are universal. We all come from the same place, right?

We hope you enjoy listening in and don't get too bored. While the battle between digital vs. print rages on, it was nice to pay simple tribute to the guys and gals who've been holding it down for the last 25 years. Salute!

- SWAiN

**This episode is dedicated to Graham Crackers Comics — our official sponsor and the largest chain of comic shops IN THE COUNTRY.