Celebrating the Comics, Cartoons and Creators of Central Ohio
Small press creators often live off the generosity of time and influence that podcasters can provide. In thanks, we wanted to give our readers a chance to catch up on some fantastic comic-related podcasts.
Continue reading “Meet Your Host”The youth of the nation was enraptured in the throws of Ninja-Turtle-mania and Simpsons-mania. At the same time, the Hollywood hype machine was in full swing for what was soon to be a blockbuster movie, Dick Tracy. It was 1990 and, in this swirl of pop culture, I decided to sit down and make my first comic.
Continue reading “My First Comic”Current and former Columbus College of Art and Design students chime in about their time in the Comics and Narrative program.
Continue reading “Straight from the Student’s Mouth”Comics as a medium have grown in popularity over the last few decades. That growth has spawned an increase in the demand for comics education. Some universities and colleges nationwide have started to offer “Comics” as a major, including Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD). CCAD separated the Comics and Narrative Practice from the Illustration major in 2022. I took a brief tour of CCAD’s campus to learn more about the teachers and students of the program.
Continue reading “Major Change at CCAD”Editor’s Note: Adam White is the creator of Back to Blue, a semi-autobiographical comic that he has created while incarcerated within the Noble Corrections Institution in Caldwell, Ohio. Described as his “redemption story,” he starts by openly discussing how his drug addiction led him to rob banks, which in turn led to his current confinement. Having been in communication with Adam (with the help of his mother) for a little over a year, we invited him to tell us more about Back to Blue and the difficulties of making comics while in prison.
Continue reading “Creating Comics in Prison”We’re in the middle of a dark moment in history, and our online spaces often reflect that. Comment sections are famously toxic, algorithms everywhere favor posts that generate controversy and conflict, and more than ever, our experience of the internet is one choked with insidious advertisements and steeped in commercialism. Social media has become, in general, a loud and unfriendly place. But if you’re an artist working in 2022, sooner or later, you pretty much have to go there.
Continue reading “Navigating the Social Media Landscape as a Comic Creator”In 2007 at the age of 26, I found myself living alone in a small apartment in Meadville, Pennsylvania. I had landed there a couple of years earlier, having accepted a job at the local newspaper, the Meadville Tribune, as a graphic designer/production artist. At the time in 2005, I was pretty happy with the $9.00 an hour I was earning ($2.00 more than my previous newspaper job out of college) as it allowed me to afford my basic bills and, to my delight, make payments on a new (to me) car. By 2007, though, the shine had worn off of Meadville.
Continue reading “My Freelancer Days for Zuda Comics”For every person who makes comic books, there was a point in their life when they decided to make the jump from a reader to a creator. For me, it started long ago in a simpler age known as the 1990s. More specifically, the year was 1998. Most remember that time for all the naughty things Bill Clinton was up to. Not me.
Continue reading “My First Comic”It began in casual chitchat at a comic show some years ago when we first began our own humble newspaper.
Me: “Would you like to check out a copy of the Columbus Scribbler? Central Ohio’s only free comic newspaper!”
Wise Passerby: “Oh! Cool! Like HOOT!”
Me: “Hoot?”
Continue reading “A Look Back at HOOT”Tom Spurgeon, comics journalist, festival organizer, and all-around champion of the comics medium and the people who make them, passed away on November 13, 2019. Spurgeon had made his home in Columbus for nearly six years, moving into town to serve as the Festival Director of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, the ambitious multi-venue festival celebrating comics in its many different forms.
Continue reading “In Memoriam of Tom Spurgeon”