Given that it was a combination platter of November and December, two of the busiest and craziest months of the year, I should have expected that SKTCHD subscribers and Off Panel patrons would show out in this holiday vortex Mailbag Q&A. If I did, I would have been correct in that expectation, because dang, you all gave me a lot to chew on.

So, let’s get to it as I answer all your questions, ranging from check-ins on me to check-ins on the NBA.

How are you doing right now, David? – Stephen Adkison

Great! It’s Monday, December 1^st as I type this, and I’m listening to holiday music and drinking coffee. What’s not to like?

All’s well in my world. The question, as per usual, is can I keep the good times rolling?

We shall see!

Seeing Grant Morrison on Off Panel was not only exciting but made me wonder… do you have an Off Panel guest on your wish list that you haven’t talked to yet? Is it the other half of the Last War in Albion, Alan Moore? Is it Tyrese Haliburton talking hoops and hobbies? – Russel Harder

This is a question I’ve received before, and it’s a good one. But I’ll expand on it a bit. Here’s the list I’ve previously shared: Jim Lee; Raina Telgemeier; David Mazzucchelli; Kate Beaton; Mariko Tamaki; Jillian Tamaki; Stuart Immonen; Jenette Kahn; Chris Bachalo; Robin Lopez (an NBA player that’s into comics). That list is still there, besides Mariko Tamaki, who did come on the podcast and was an absolute delight! Jim Lee is still clearly the top pick, and TBD If that’ll ever happen. I’ll keep trying, though!

Surprising fact for you: I do not actually want to have Alan Moore on the podcast! I personally believe we should just leave that guy alone and stop torturing him with questions about Watchmen. Just let him do his thing in peace. I’d love to talk to him about his life and career, but I also don’t want to reopen wounds for him, so it’s a pass. Tyrese would be fun, obviously, but he wouldn’t be my top hoops pick.

So, who else would I want to talk to that I haven’t chatted with? Alison Bechdel would be a good one. I’ve had all of them on before, but I’d love to talk with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, and Geoff Johns in one episode about the story behind 52 in specific. Andy and Adam Kubert. Joe Madureira. Basically anyone who was an artist of the X-Men in the 1990s. Naoki Urasawa and Keigo Shinzo. Zoe Thorogood is definitely up there, but I know she hates interviews (see: It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth). Adrian Tomine. Timothy Zahn.

And for my last pick, I’ll go with a curveball. That would be James Gunn, but exclusively to talk about random comics, not movie things. He’d be way behind the rest, though.

When you spend time considering what makes a particular comic work or not, what are some things that you look at? Ways that you might approach the task? – Casey Watson

This is not useful, especially because this is for figuring out the right ways to talk about comics in a book club that Casey is a part of. But the thing I think of isn’t something I think of at all. I’m extremely not analytical about the comics I love. It’s pure feeling. I’m not sure I even think as I read. I’m immersing myself in it and responding in the way I’d respond to real life things. I’m a very emotional reader, which is probably why I love comics that are 12% sad. Do I know why a comic does or doesn’t work? Kind of. But I feel it when one side is true.

While that isn’t useful, I can reverse engineer those things to give you a real answer. When you’re talking about the overall feeling of “Does this work?” a lot of it comes down to how cohesive and consistent it is. Does it feel like a singular narrative? Do all the dots connect in the way the creators involved wanted them to? Does it add up to a resonant story? Does it achieve its goals? Those are big.

Then it gets smaller, and into the bits and pieces that add up to that feeling. Does the writing and art complement and elevate each other? This includes the colors and lettering, too. Those are elements of the art. Is it paced well, or paced well for what it’s trying to do? Do the characters feel alive and distinct, whether through the visuals or writing?

Specific to the art, how is the character acting? Is there clarity in the visuals, particularly in the layouts and storytelling? What is the artist doing to try when bringing this book to life, and is that achieved? How are colors used, and how effectively are they deployed? Does the lettering read clearly, and does it feel like the right fit for the story?

There are tons of things you can consider, but I think a good place to start is asking yourself two questions: How does this make me feel, and how does it accomplish that? While many people try to look at things objectively, subjectivity is pretty much all we have to work with. Embrace that, and diagnose how a comic makes you feel those things to unlock the conversation. That’s my take! Everyone has a different approach, though.

What’s a comic that you would want to see adapted in as a movie and one as a television series? – Pinoywonder

I had a pair of picks immediately hit me, so I am just going to lean into those here.

The movie pick is Nick Abadzis’ Laika, but it specifically would need to be adapted by LAIKA Studios, because a) it’s too fitting to not have them do it and b) their soulful brand of stop motion animation is perfect for this heartbreaking and wonderfully told graphic novel. I would not trust many companies to do right by that book. LAIKA Studios is one of them.

The TV show pick is obvious. It’s Zander Cannon’s Kaijumax, and it would need to be animated as well. I’m not sure who would be the right fit for that, but Kaijumax is episodic and season-based already. It’s a perfect fit for the medium, and it’s an incredible story that blends humor, heart, emotion, intensity, and all kinds of other things that would work well for TV audiences. Plus, Zander gets some money, so double success. If I had to go live action, though, I’d flip the script from prison to cops and pick Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and — who else! — Zander Cannon’s Top 10. I apparently think that anything by Zander Cannon should be adapted!

Got my copy of the Stilt Zine and love it. Do you have any other zine projects in mind? Does making zines scratch a particular creative itch for you? – Scott Haselwood

I almost made a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup zine for the Zine Fair I tabled at. I think I will do that at some point. I discussed making one about wrestler/actor “Rowdy” Roddy Piper with my tablemate in artist Tadd Galusha. I actually really love making zines, and even though I’ve been told mine are barely zines because they’re a) long and b) fancy, I still like the idea. The problem is I don’t have design skills, just concepting and writing ones.

And yeah, making zines definitely scratches a different itch for me. SKTCHD Zine and STILT-ZINE are on the short list of my favorite projects I’ve done. While everything I do is “anything goes,” the zines really feel like me unleashing whatever I feel like in the best of ways. I love doing them, and I hope to do many more in the future, even if none of my friends even understand what a zine is.

What is your favorite superhero crossover? – William Eucker

If we’re talking event comics, it’s probably Annihilation or Secret Wars (2015). William mentioned that some of these events are impenetrable and make reading tie-ins essential, but I think both of these can be read in isolation and do just fine. They give you what you need. Age of Apocalypse would be up there too, and Infinite Crisis does the same — especially if you get an omnibus that has the lead-in stories (which are really part of the larger story in a way tie-ins aren’t). Those would probably be my Mount Rushmore of crossovers, with apologies to the X-Men story Messiah CompleX and Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Note: I do not count House of X and Powers of X as a crossover or event comic. It’s something else, and something I don’t believe has a name.

Oh no! Santa Claus has tragically died! Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to select a superhero who will trade in their cape so they can fill Santa’s boots—comics and related media appearances featuring this character will henceforth show them in the Santa Claus role, and new media set canonically before this event will always include at least some Christmassy foreshadowing.

(If you’d rather pick a team for the job, you will need to select one hero to fill the Santa role that the rest of the team would agree with. The others would be honorary elves with modified costumes featuring elfish flare. Their tastes would shift to consist solely of Christmas songs, food, and beverages.)

This is not a one-time gig; it’s permanent. Choose wisely. – Mark Tweedale

So, we’re looking to replace an almost alien-like being who is preternaturally good, moves with incredible speed, and is constantly watching out for people who are being good and people who are being bad? And someone who wears a lot of red, with a base hidden somewhere in a frozen region?

Uhh…that’s pretty much just Superman, right?

So, he’s my pick. Sorry, DC! Superman is Santa Claus now! James Gunn would love that, though. He’s done a Christmas special in the past and when given the chance to Santa up Superman, I bet he’d have a good time with it. So would we!