Cartoonist Zander Cannon joins the show to chat about the post-Kaijumax life and his upcoming Image Comics series, Sleep. Cannon discusses how he decides what projects to take on, the consolidation of art roles, coming off Kaijumax, losing momentum, his gap between big projects, palate cleansers, projects as business cards, the origins of Sleep, conspiracies and speculation, whether he’s a horror fan, sleep as a horror angle, creative exercises, the appeal of restrictions, how he develops stories, its locations and characters, the monster in the story, working with Image, managing this moment, and more.

You can find Cannon on Bluesky and Instagram and his work in the upcoming Sleep at Image Comics.

You can download the episode directly here on Libsyn.

Big thanks to Deanna Chapman for editing this episode, as per usual.

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Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s podcast: Zoop! Launching this month on Zoop are campaigns from Ron Marz with the late, great Lee Moder, for a deluxe edition of their Image comic, Shinku, as well as another special edition of “Haunted Girl” by Ethan Sacks and others! And there is still time to support campaigns by Stephane Roux, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez and more. And for those who are fans of Zenescope Comics, Zoop GAMES and Zenescope have a live campaign for “Grimm Fairy Tales: Unbound,” the deckbuilding game over on Kickstarter. For fans of trading cards, deckbuilding games, and more, there are tons of exclusives for this campaign that you won’t want to miss. Zoop would like to thank all the creators who have recently submitted projects, and urge all creators to submit your project to Zoop! Click the “Submit Your Project” link at Zoop.gg, as they are providing services to even more creators than ever before!

Thanks to the show’s other sponsor, Oni Press! From Oni Press comes the true story of the viral hoax so insane it could only be told as a comic book! From the mind of writer-comedian-actor-musician Dave Hill and breakout artist Artyom Topilin comes the SHOCKINGLY TRUE, TERRIFYINGLY HILARIOUS, AND ONLY MODESTLY EXAGGERATED tale of how one stand-up comedian forged a secret online identity . . . and accidentally started an international incident that almost wiped Gary, Indiana, off the map! Believe it or not, this story is true and at last it can be told in all of its unholy glory, only in the pages of Dark Regards #1 – the comic so extreme, there is human blood in it! (Seriously, one of the covers has human blood in the ink!) That’s gross …. but also awesome. Demand DARK REGARDS #1 from your local comic retailer by April 21st and look for it on shelves this May!

Also, big thanks to my patrons, including – but not limited to – Simon Birch, PacificNWGamer, Sion, T.S. Luther, Megan Marsden, Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast, Scott Carpenter, Gus, MKFreigeist, Saunter, Brian, Chris Robinson, David Byrne, Milton Lawson, Benjamin Wilkins, Chris Hacker, John NeSmith, Jon Auerbach, Dustin Weaver, Brandon Hayman, Aaden Hamann, Faith Erin Hicks, Ben Wroe, Cameron Brown, Jonathan Breen, Charlie Stickney, Tom Drennen, Jeremy Thomas Burke, Jared Schwab, Scott Dunn, Chip Mosher, Seth Pomeroy, James McEwan, Andrew Leamon, Christina Merkler, Scott Place, Travis Gibb, Darcy Van Poelgeest, Tom Evans, Reid Beaman, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Max Wood, Jeremy Lambert, Bryan, Nir Levie, Jason Hussa, Kieron Gillen, Jonathan Kent-Uritam, Henry Johnston, Dennis Hoffmann, Django Bohren, James Tynion IV, Chris Lankford, Jason Wood, Tom Peachey, Ben Damstedt, Ram V, Nick Walker, Patrick Coyle, Isaac Orin, Klaas Van de Ven, Submet Industries, Jack Mulqueen, Karl Kerschl, Robert Masella, Elsa Charretier, Luc Nakashoji, Dr. Luke, Scott Haselwood, CanadianByProxy, Bradley Roeder, Carl Choi, Brandon De Pillis, Patrick Brower, Declan Shalvey, Dan Gearino, Atom Freeman, Ben Wild, Brian Klein-Q, Liana Kangas, Nick Bennett, Susana Polo, Reed Hinckley-Barnes, Mario Tiambeng, Robert Wilson IV, Andrew Kurita, Stefan Hull, Phillip Maira, Chris Bachalo, Torunn Grønbekk, FuzBubbles, Christopher Ta, Transmitterdown, Walt’s Comics & Books, Akil Wilson, Alex Dimitropolous, Terry Dodson, Wesley Gift, Shawn Kirkham, Julio Anta, Brett A. Schmidt, Jason Goodmanson, Paul Reinwand, Vita Ayala, Akylle, Phillip Sevy, Al Ewing, David Kelley, Jason Nassi, Adam Bogert, Matthew Taylor, Nick Pitarra, Jacob Sareli, Ford Gilmore, David Baroldy, Nick Hall, Bjorn Basen, John Hendrick, Ian Maxfield, Cliff Chiang, Colin McMahon, Adam Highfill, Fiona Staples, Mark Abnett, 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 Bluesky.

Header photo is from Cannon’s cover to Sleep #1. Off Panel’s opening theme music is Vulfpeck’s “Outro,” used with permission from the band (and thanks from me for them doing so!), with the rest of the music being 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!