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This weeks show is a little different. I played music by different cartoonists. It’s a pretty interesting and varied list. This week was the more poppy week and next week will be more um, loud….

Blueshammer - Cotton Pickin’ Blues(written by Daniel Clowes)
The Action Suits - Fun Flies(members include Peter Bagge and Eric Reynolds)
Can You Imagine - How Did I Get Home(members include Peter Bagge)
The Francies - Hey Psycho(performed by Al Columbia and friends)
Extravagant Bachelor - BYOB(mystery disc sent to show)
Kupek - St. Clair(Bryan Lee O’malley project)
100 damned guns - I Ain’t That Bad Anymore(members include Dave Sherrill)
Crumb Family - Little Buttercup(it’s Robert, Aline and Sophie)
Lucylou - Song for Disconsolate Friends(Lucy Knisley)
Archer Prewitt - Leave It Alone(also features Chris Ware on Piano)
Walt and Skeezix Theme Song(performed by Chris Ware)
Arks - Maginot(singer is Paul Hornschemeier)
Daniel Johnston - Casper
Lavender Diamond - Open Your Heart(Ron Rege jr on drums and the video has a cameo by Jordan Crane with his daughter)
Wannabe Texans - Rich Girl(members include J Bradley Johnson checkout all the flyers he did)
Wigbilies - Party Time(Mary Fleener!)
Art Break - Asymetrical girl(Chip Kidd’s band)

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Back for more 4 years later, after being my first guest ever, Seth and I seem to start right where our previous conversation left off. I am a really big admirer of Seth’s work, and this interview was very enlightening in new ways that I was not familiar with him before. Be sure to check out George Sprott, it’s pretty great.

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Sully is one of those fine hidden Canadian gems that i love coming across. Sully is doing some really great and interesting stuff in Montreal and his creative energy shines through in his book, Hipless Boy.

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Ball Peen Hammer illustrator, George O’Connor and I discussed his latest book and as well as his work in children’s books and his future in the world of the Olympians.

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J Bradley Johnson has a handfull of comics out there, but if you can hunt them down, they are great. His work can be found in great anthologies like Kramers Ergot, Snake Eyes, Hotwire Comix, and Ivan Brunetti’s first Graphic Fiction anthology.

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Abby Denson joined me for a chat about her book Dolltopia and the wonderful world of cupcakes. Abby will be in Vancouver on Saturday for an event at Elfsar Comics and then on Sunday, she will be doing a reading at Emily Carr

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I don’t particularly need to know what happened to the World of Tomorrow, but I’d be curious to know why it ended up so boring. There’s nothing in this book that shouldn’t be riveting—it’s a nostalgic look at the way we (as a culture) have viewed the future over the past 70 years or so, starting with the New York World’s Fair and proceeding up to the present. It’s chock full of really interesting commentary on the various eras and epochs as told through the eyes of a boy and his relationship with his father (as well as the the styles of the various comic books of each age), but unfortuantely the commentary just sits there, failing to connect the reader with either the material or the boy and his father.

To further confuse things, the boy ages extremely slowly, progressing from nine or ten around the start of the book, to his late teens by the end. I’d postulate that this is a metaphorical aging, representing the changes that our society has weathered in order to reach the more mature, realistic vision we have now, but if that’s the case, we are once again left behind by a concept that leaves the average reader behind. My wife, casually picking up the book and interested in the material, couldn’t figure out the metaphor in the aging and put it down, mildly frustrated. That’s not the right reaction when you’re trying to evoke nostalgia and wonder.

I’d like to like Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow—I’d certainly like to read the author’s conclusions and points of view in essay-form—but as a graphic novel, the pieces don’t quite mesh together and in the end one is left with the feeling that sometimes the future is better off without us making a big production of searching for it.

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Jill Thompson and Evan Dorkin joined me for a lively discussion of their Beasts of Burden series. Evan and Jill are really great guests and have always have a lot to say about their work. The second issue of Beasts is probably some of Dorkin’s strongest writing, and a far step away from the Dork that we are used to.

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Manga Kamishibai from Abrams, is an interesting look at the Japanese Paper Theatre that is a kind of precurser to the development of Anime and Manga. It is a really goergous book and Eric Nash has done a fine job in documenting this unique artistic legacy.

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R Sikoryak’s Masterpiece Comics was one of my anticipated reads of the year, and it did not disappoint. Sikoryak is able to create a blend of classical literature mixed with the finest of styles of some of the greatest cartoonists. I have been a fan of his work for years, and am pleased as punch to have it all in one book.

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Christopher Butcher of The Beguiling comic store in Toronto and Dustin Harbin from Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find out of Charlot, North Carolina, joined me for a discussion on comics retailing. There were two talking points that we covered, firstly, a talk on getting small press work into comic stores and the second part looked at the changing dynamics of the retailing biz. They are both very knowledgeable about comics retailing and bring countless years of experience to the table.

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Kim Thompson joined the Inkstuds for a chat about the work of Jacques Tardi. Fantagraphics has started on an ambitious reprint project, translating a selection of Tardi’s fine work for North American audiences. I have been a big fan of Tardi for a long time, after seeing his work in Raw, Drawn and Quarterly and a whole bunch of other anthologies. I highly recommend checking out West Coast Blues. It really stands out among the recent amount of Noir work that has been seeing print lately. It is strong compelling work that avoids a reliance of the standard tropes of detective pulp.

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Josh Neufeld’s AD - New Orleans After the Deluge has been getting some great much deserved praise. He has been able to take his experience under the tutelage of Harvey Pekar in to a whole different level of understanding other people stories. His recounting of the events of Huricane Katrina don’t rely on shock and awe, but more on the understated humanity within the event. We had a really good talk about the social reality and the values needed in understanding such an undertaking. Please go read his book.

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Tony Millionaire joined me for another round of questioning. Tony was on of the earliest guests to appear on the show, so it’s nice to touch base again. His latest book is the incredible Art of Tony Millionaire from Darkhorse. I am honestly blown away by the collection. It is a really good look into the man and his work. We also discussed his Maakies strip, The Drinky Crow Show and more Billy Hazelnuts.

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Brad Mackay joined us for a chat about Canadian cartoonist, Doug Wright. Brad is the organizer of the Doug Wright Awards, an award that recognizes the best in Canadian cartooning. More importantly, Brad is one of the three men(along with cartoonist Seth and DQ Chief, Chris Oliveros) behind the Doug Wright collection from Drawn and Quarterly. The collection is a true testament to the passion that Seth, Chris and Brad shared in seeing this important Canadian work in print. Here is what the Doug Wright Awards, have to say about the man himself.

Doug Wright created the long-running comic strip Doug Wright’s Family.

Born in England, Doug Wright came to Canada in 1938.  His cartooning career really began when he landed a job as editorial cartoonist for the Montreal Standard.  In 1948 he took over the reins of Jimmy Frise’s Birdseye Center, retitled Juniper Junction. Signing the strip “DAW”, he continued with it until its end in September, 1968.  Wright created Nipper, a mostly silent comic strip, for the Standard in 1949.  Wright excelled at the depiction of childhood and the daily charms and frustrations of late-20th Century domestic life.  A skilled draftsman, his fluid cartoon figures whirled through meticulously-rendered backgrounds and suburban landscapes.

Nipper was rechristened Doug Wright’s Family in 1967 when Wright moved from Montreal to Ontario.  The strip enjoyed a long run, entertaining a generation of Canadians on a weekly basis until Wright ended it in 1980.  Wright created a number of other strips and attempted to syndicate them, with some limited success, in addition to regular work in illustration and drawing syndicated editorial cartoons for the Montreal Standard and later the Hamilton Spectator.

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Sam Gaskin joined me for probably one of the most laid back sounding Inkstuds yet. He is a great cartoonist fresh out of the CCS whose work has been developing into an interesting mix of culture jamming meets personal introspection. I highly recommend his sugarcube minicomic. He also has a bunch of music on youtube, that is the kinda thing I like.

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The Illustrated Journey is a fascinating project put together by some fine workers in Vancouver. Here is a description from their website - The Illustrated Journey is a community art project that brings together comic book artists and youth who are in the process of settling and integrating to Canada. The youth share their journey through storytelling and illustration, make friends, improve their English language skills and have fun in a safe and welcoming environment. They have put together an event for the release of their latest collection this Saturday.

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On top of the material in the Jack Survives collection, you can also find Jerry Moriarty’s more recent work, including his Sally series in Kramer’s Ergot’s 6 and 7 and Comic Art Magazine 9. And if you really feel like hunting them down, the Jack Survives work was also published in the original run of Raw.