Sunday, August 31, 2008

JAVILAND premiere podcast now available!!!

The podcast is up! Yep, the 1st JAVILAND podcast was recorded live a few hours ago, and now it's up! (You can listen to the episode using the player at the left). I had a great time doing the show, and it was really fun to have several people interacting on the show, both in the chat room and on the phone. I can get real use to this! (Actually, I already host another radio show, PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO, but that one is geared toward one-on-one interviews with creators, as opposed to the free-wheelin' JAVILAND!)

Anyways, the rundown of the show goes like this:
First 25 minutes or so I introduce myself, talking about my start 10 years ago as an independent, DIY comic creator. I update folks with my plans for the new EL MUERTO comic, and my upcoming DEMOLITION DOVE. Also talk about the EL MUERTO movie and PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO.

After my intro, our first guest joins us via phone, TED SEKO. Ted and I have worked on several projects over the years, and his new character ZOMBIEMAN ZERO will be joining DEMOLITION DOVE in our upcoming imprint, XOMIX COMIX (see our trailer here). Also joining us are Xeric Award-winning cartoonist, JOSHUA KEMBLE, a talented and creative artist. I met Josh about a year ago down here in Los Angeles at WizardWorld, and I always meant to join his cartooning group for some Friday night drawing sessions. Since then he's moved up to Portland, but it's cool that he joined us Linktonight.

JIM LUJAN, animator and Co-founder with me of the CARTOONISTAS, called in as well, bringing with him his usual magnetic charm and nonchalant attitude! Jim also brought along a good friend of his, JUSTIN STEWART. Justin is a cartoonist from Kentucky, and he's a member of the Lexington Kentucky Comic Creators Group. I had never met Justin before, but he comes across as good comic book people. (Nice meeting you, Justin!). And joining us toward the end of the podcast was KEVIN CROSS, another recently-transplanted Portland cartoonist. Kevin does comics, plays in a band, and hosts his own podcast (of which I was fortunate to have been a guest on!). Kevin joined in late because he came from an interview he recorded on another podcast, ART & STORY! What a busy podcast superstar, that Kevin! (I interviewed him on a recent episode of PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO.)

We pretty much had a nice, free-wheeling conversation, with our cartoonists chiming in with talk about the craft of making comics, selling books to comic shops, cartoonist groups and lots of other related topics. It was a really good mix of artists, I thought. We also had two other folks in the chatroom, Irmajoy7 and Terran. Thanks to all for participating, it was a really fun way to launch the podcast.

I certainly plan to do more shows. Will it be weekly? Well, I'm already doing the weekly interview show, but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to talk an extra hour or so a week about comics! Stay tuned to this blog and my TALK SHOE.COM page for updates on the next episode. I've submitted the podcast to iTunes, so hopefully they'll include it in their podcast library. Thanks for reading...and listening!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Here comes JAVILAND!

Sunday night at 6pm (PT) will be the live podcast for my new show, JAVILAND! This will podcast live through TALK SHOE.COM, and you can interact with the show in real time via the chat room.

For the premiere episode, (the First Issue Collector's Item, as we say in the comics biz!), I'll open the show with a little intro on who I am and how I got started making my own comics. But what I want to do with this podcast is talk about the process of creating comic books, particularly on the DIY, self-published level. I've been publishing for 10 years now, so I have more than enough stories to share about creating a comic book, drawing and writing my own stories, printing the books and then finding the audience for them. And I mean literally finding the audience by attending comic book conventions and other venues where you can sell your books, as well as yourself as an artist.

I've been concentrating more lately (or at least being more conscious of it) on establishing a brand name for myself as someone with a multi-faceted approach: an artist, a publisher, a podcaster, etc. Really though, I guess I'm someone who loves creating his own comics and sharing the love of the artform and medium with others. A comic book evangelist, ya might say!

I want the podcast to be a resource for other creators to share their experiences so that they, myself, and the listener can learn new and different approaches to making comics. And I also want anyone who is thinking of making their own comics to get some insight and inspiration on making their own comics.

I won't be conducting formal interviews on this podcast (that's what my weekly radio show, PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO is for!), but I will have other cartoonists and creators call in and join the discussion. And of course the live chat room will allow others to comment on the topics or even ask questions directly.

I'll probably stick to the Sunday, 6pm schedule. Not sure at the moment if the show will be weekly though. That probably would depend on the level of participation we get. I hope to make it a lively show that provides beneficial information to folks interested in making their own comics. Each episode will be linked to here on the JAVILAND Blog, once it's been podcast, with show notes and relevant links