Jonathan Hickman guests on Off Panel this week to talk about his current and upcoming Image books – East of West and The Black Monday Murders. The conversation starts with a discussion about East of West, his comic with artist Nick Dragotta, looking at how that book developed, how the two of them work together, how far out Hickman plans, how his background in other fields impacts his writing, world-building, their recent silent issue, who his favorite character is, and what’s next for the book. Hickman also discusses his recently announced title with Tomm Coker, The Black Monday Murders, why it’s such an exciting project for him, how he’s taking bonus content in the book to another level, how people respond to the design elements in his books, and then the discussion shifts to talk about comic book economics, collection sales, what today’s industry is like, how Image fits in, launching new titles at different points in your career, and much more. It’s a sprawling discussion with one of the industry’s best creators.

You can find Jonathan on Twitter and his work in East of West, The Dying and the Dead, The Manhattan Projects and the upcoming the Black Monday Murders at Image Comics.

Have a question for Off Panel? You can reach David by email and Twitter.

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Header image is from East of West #25, art by Nick Dragotta and Jonathan Hickman. Intro music is Yo La Tengo’s “Periodically Double or Triple”, used with their permission (if they remember…I swear it’s true YLT!).