There has been a lot of talk of late about the challenges the direct market — aka the side of the comic industry comprised of comic shops — is facing right now. That’s for a good reason: it’s a super weird time! Discussing the problems of the industry is a good and important conversation to … Continued

Sales charts have been a big topic of conversation in comics of late. That’s for a good reason. In this multi-distributor era, they simply don’t exist in the direct market. That means publishers know how much their titles are being ordered, but they don’t know how they’re doing relative to other publishers or how specific … Continued

It’s time once again for one of my monthly chats with writer James Tynion IV, as the ongoing SKTCHDxTiny Onion interview series continues with a subject both James and I have thought about a whole lot: first issues, and what goes into making one of those pop. This conversation explores the crucial elements of a … Continued

Being a comic creator is a job. That’s something we as fans and readers can forget sometimes. It isn’t the totality of your being. Writing Batman or Spider-Man is not your identity. It’s a thing you do. We know that, of course. But sometimes it feels forgotten that creators are people, first and foremost, and … Continued

On Panel is a recurring text-only sister series to Off Panel, my weekly comics interview podcast, in which each interview features two or more guests as I attempt to simulate the idea of a panel conversation from a conversation. By that I mean it’s a moderator – myself – guiding a free-flowing conversation between multiple … Continued

This one’s been coming for a bit. Variant covers are one of the most polarizing concepts in direct market comics, and writer James Tynion IV is one of the deftest deployers of the concept on his varying creator-owned projects. That’s why when James first pitched me the idea of our SKTCHDxTiny Onion interview series, “variant … Continued

It’s been a lengthy stretch of travel for writer James Tynion IV, with trips to varying conventions across Europe and beyond over the past calendar year. And as you may know, I myself just returned from a vacation in France. As two people who can’t turn off our comic brains, both James and myself walked … Continued

A lot can happen in a month. Take writer James Tynion IV’s life and career, for example. When we initially recorded our fourth monthly conversation in our SKTCHDxTiny Onion series of interviews about his work and its place in the broader comic book industry — back in ye olden days of March 24, 2023 — … Continued

Everyone has their characters. That’s been a common topic in conversations I’ve had of late, both for interviews and outside of them, and it’s not just their characters. The recurring theme has been it isn’t always the A-listers that draw our love, but the C-listers and below that really lock in our passion for superhero … Continued

The comics you read and the comic experiences you have early on in your life often form the building blocks of your relationship with the medium. Obviously what you’ll enjoy expands from there, but for readers, those earliest experiences can be enormously influential on you going forward. It’s the same for our favorite creators. Some … Continued