In this week’s episode of Off Panel, writer Ram V joins the show to talk about his approach to writing, Swamp Thing, and the upcoming The Many Deaths of Laila Starr. Ram discusses his engineering background, how that affects his writing, being beholden to comics, curiosity, the impact of collaborators, why Swamp Thing stands out, freedom of story, how his Swamp Thing story came together, genres, the origins of Laila Starr, Filipe Andrade, the gods from the book, balancing workloads, and more.

You can find Ram on Twitter and his work in Swamp Thing, Catwoman, Justice League Dark, and the upcoming The Many Deaths of Laila Starr.

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Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s podcast: Bad Idea! This new comics publisher is recently debuted with Matt Kindt and Doug Braithwaite’s ENIAC #1, and they did so a little differently than their peers, with each issue being oversized and ad-free with a bonus, B-side story in each as well. Even crazier? They don’t publish variants, trades, or digital versions of their comics, so if you want one or all of them, you’re going to have to find a Bad Idea retailer near you and be there on a Wednesday. Don’t have one near you? Order online or explore your options for mail-order at Bad Idea’s site to make sure you don’t miss out on ENIAC or upcoming titles from creators like Zeb Wells, David Lafuente, Marguerite Bennett, and many more.

Also, thanks to the other sponsor of this week’s podcast: Macroverse. Macroverse is an exciting digital comics platform featuring top creators from all parts of the comics, Webtoon and storytelling universe, with everything curated for quality – think of it like HBO for comics. There’s over 35 series and more than 400 episodes so far, with work from creators like Brian Stelfreeze, Juan Doe, Paul Scheer and more, with each using Macroverse’s unique TapStory format, which tells comic stories at the power of a tap in a way that’s only possible in a digital format. Check out Macroverse today by downloading the app on iOS or Google Play, or my clicking this link. The first episode of every series is free, with unlimited access to this growing library being just $4.99 a month.

Also, big thanks to my patrons, including – but not limited to – Scott Haselwood, Scott Buon, Michael Tunk, CanadianByProxy, Jonny Cannon, Zac Thompson, Bradley Roeder, Carl Choi, Megan Marsden, Brandon De Pillis, Patrick Brower, Declan Shalvey, Dan Gearino, Josh WIlliamson, Atom Freeman, Ben Wild, Brian Klein-Q, S.B., Antonia Offen, Nick Bennett, Daniel Whitfield, Skottie Young, Susana Polo, Geoff Wira, Reed Hinckley-Barnes, Mario Tiambeng, AbductedTheComic.com, Andrew Kurita, Matt Mahoney, Charlie Chu, Stefan Hull, Penscaola Pop Comics, Kim Estlund, Phillip Maira, Christian Shelton, Kenny Porter, Chris Bachalo, Torunn Grønbekk, FuzBubbles, Christopher Ta, Transmitterdown, Walt’s Comics & Books, Carl Mizell, Danny Ollie, Paul Salaets, Akil Wilson, Alex Dimitropolous, Terry Dodson, Liana Kangas, Wesley Gift, Shawn Kirkham, Alister Ross, Julio Anta, Brett A. Schmidt, Jason Goodmanson, Paul Reinwand, Vita Ayala, Tara Ferguson, Dave Slusher, WMQ Comics, Akylle, Kokaachi, Phil White, Shaun Pinello, Kent Heidelman, Phillip Sevy, Al Ewing, Ryan Alcock, David Kelley, Robert Wilson IV, Nick Poleto, Eoin McCready, Brenden Fletcher, Gary Moloney, Jonathan Nilsson, Matthew Groom, Jason Nassi, Adam Bogert, Matthew Taylor, Nick Pitarra, Jacob Sareli, Ford Gilmore, David Baroldy, Nick Hall, Bjorn Basen, John Hendrick, Steve Anderson, Ian Maxfield, Cliff Chiang, Benjamin Schipper, Colin McMahon, Chris Palmer, Scott McGovern, Nathan Fairbairn, Cat McKenzie, Adam Highfill, Fiona Staples, Chris O’Halloran, Mark Abnett, Mike Murphy, Michael Shirley, Tom Barnett, Jim Demonakos, Norbert, Nick Lowe, James Kaplan, and Mission: Comics and Art in San Francisco. You’re all the best.

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

Header art is from Filipe Andrade’s cover to The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1. Off Panel’s theme music is an original track by custom music agency Upright T-Rex Music, written and performed specifically for the podcast. A huge thanks to Ross and Cody from Upright T-Rex Music for putting the track together!