Let’s Do a March Mailbag Q&A! Send Me Your Questions, Folks!

By David Harper

March 7, 2024

I’ll quite often take skip months on my Mailbag Question and Answers columns, but with February’s edition being such a roaring success – you all killed it – I couldn’t help but feeling like we had to run it back in March. So, here we are, doing that thing once again.

But just to make sure we’re all on the same page, hello! This is the introduction post to the March Mailbag Q&A, and a place for you all to find out how you can submit your questions for me to answer. You might be wondering what exactly that means, though. What is a Mailbag Q&A, at least when it comes to SKTCHD and Off Panel? It’s pretty simple. It’s a place where you, my kindly subscribers and patrons, can ask me whatever questions you might have, and then I answer them in a monster column.

You might be wondering what you can ask, and the good news is, the answer is quite simply, “Whatever you feel like.” Most questions tend to be about comics and the broader comic industry or what I do on SKTCHD and Off Panel, but they really can be about whatever you feel like. Whether it’s about the NBA or my favorite movies and video games, insight into the inner workings of what I do or my big thoughts about the March Madness tourney, or…I don’t know, my five favorite Blondie songs, or something, I’m game. I have a lot of interests, and as you may have noticed, I quite enjoy talking about them.

As per usual, the point is this: There are no limits on what you ask, and I am happy to really dive into any topic, whether it’s real or hypothetical. The only caveat I have is that if a question is too big for the mailbag, I reserve the right to answer it in a separate piece altogether. I’ve done that before and I’ll do it again! But even then, it’s better to ask than not, so fire when ready!

The question becomes, of course, how does one get me a question or questions. It’s simple. You can either comment on this post, email me at david@SKTCHD.com, or hit me up on your favorite social media platform of choice (although if it’s on Threads I’ll probably miss it, because I’m not going to lie, I’m not crazy about that one). I’ll need questions by March 22nd, though, as I’ll be putting this month’s Mailbag Q&A column up the following week. So get your questions in and let’s have some fun! I always love these, and thanks to everyone for participating. They’re always a blast.

Notable Replies

william6 says:

March 7, 2024

In light of Scout Comic’s truly bonkers past week, what do you see as the future of these small to midsize independent publishers (think Vault, Mad Cave, Scout, Source Point Press, IDW, Oni, maybe even Boom Studios)?

Will they merge (or maybe becoming an imprint like Skybound)? Fall by the wayside? Move away from the direct market? They all seem to be doing kind of the same thing without setting themselves up for longetivity.
william6 says:

March 7, 2024

With Marie Javins having settled into her newer role at EIC for DC Comics, she’s made far fewer public statements than her predecessor, Dan Didio. I remember how he would write all sort of columns and interviews to promote projects. He really acted as the face of the company in a way that Marie hasn’t been.

How do you think the role of an EIC has changed over the years, and are they trying to more consciously stay behind the scenes? I think that CB Cebulski is on social media, but he doesn’t have a dedicated column like his predecessors did
StAdkison says:

March 7, 2024

I know you’ve done various superhero sports drafts, like which X-Men would you pick for your baseball/basketball team. What about the reverse? If you had a vat of toxic waste and were drafting a team of professional athletes to give super powers to, who would you pick? Let’s limit it to a max of 7 players for your Justice League-style roster, no two players from the same current team, and no more than 3 players from the same sport. You can include 1 coach as a Jarvis/Alfred role.
simon2 says:

March 8, 2024

With Bendis moving from a Substack to a full on website, it strikes me that we’re weirdly going backwards (tech-wise) in some way after the fall of Twitter and the lack of uptake and fragmentation of the competitors that came in to fill that space.
When I tell non-comic friends that I get weekly emails from my favourite comic creators and actually look forward to receiving them they find it very odd.
Do you think there’s something in the average comic fan that gives us comfort and enjoyment in going back to more ‘outmoded’ forms of media? The standard comic has changed size, paper and print quality in the last 80+ years, but it’s still essentially the same thing!
tjas says:

March 9, 2024

A lot of your features naturally focus on American comics, but I know you sometimes highlight foreign favorites. Are there any European comics that you enjoy and follow consistently? What about manga?