histories

André once again dips into the extremely talented pool that is the Toronto based comic art scene to chat with a talented and vibrant creator!Paris Alleyne is a Toronto-based comic-book artist. He has done work as a colourist for Ninja Turtle, Ghostbuster, GI Joe, Captain Canuck, and Riftworld comics. His art has appeared in Marvel, DC, IDW, Chapterhouse, Black Comix Returns and his own independent Haven comics. Paris speaks about noticing the power of art in comics with an unconventional Superman story, why art was always his end goal and how important it was to him to carve his own path as an artist aside from his work as a colourist.

The world of alternate covers is a rich and vast one and on this episode we speak with a man who navigates it well!Rich Woodall is best known for his creator owned books Johnny Raygun, Kyrra: Alien Jungle Girl, Zombie Bomb, and The Electric Black. Rich's work can also be seen in the Savage Dragon, Invincible, Atomic Robo, and several sketch cards series from Upper Deck, Topps, and Rittenhouse Archives. Rich discusses how comics gave him a sense of home as he traveled a lot growing up. Getting an unlikely start working for Fruit of the Loom and returning to his first love comic books and finding a sense of home once again. 

Mr. Monster has been an enduring figure in the minds of many comic fans our host included! André chats with the creator of that iconic figure Michael T. Gilbert!Michael’s stories have been featured in Heavy Metal, Slow Death, Star*Reach, Quack!, Batman, The Spirit and Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories and American Splendor. Over the years he’s written or drawn comics starring Superman, Batman, Dr. Strange, Elric, The Simpsons, SpongeBob and the Disney characters. But Michael’s signature creation remains his fearless monster-fighting superhero, Doc Stearn … Mr. Monster! Mr. Monster celebrates his 40th birthday in 2024 with new Mr. Monster stories appearing in Dark Horse Presents.The two talk about Michael's breaking into comics with Craig P. Russell and bonding over a love of Steve Ditko. Discovering sword and sorcery comics while working on Elric, breaking into Marvel Comics and a beautiful tribute to his premiere creation Mr. Monster coming hopefully in 2024!

In the sweet vanished past... a young André was fascinated with an independent comic he read about in Wizard magazine. That comic was Box Office Poison and it opened a wide world to that young reader about what alternate comics could offer. The creator of the book was this episodes guest!Alex Robinson has written and illustrated several graphic novels, including Our Expanding Universe, Too Cool to Be Forgotten, Box Office Poison and Tricked. He and his work have won several industry awards, including the prestigious Eisner Award and prize for best debut in Angouleme, France. Alex discusses the differences between a cartoonist and graphic novelist. How Wizard magazine gave his first book a real opportunity to succeed. Creating a distinctive format in podcasting and what industry legends he studied under that inspired a key character in his debut book.

Merry Christmas! André celebrates the holiday by chatting horror with a connoisseur of the subject all the way from Australia, writer, editor and jack of all trades when it comes to publishing Christopher Sequiera.His published work includes poetry, prose , and comic-book scripts. Sequeira's creator-owned work includes "Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective", Pulse of Darkness, Rattlebone: The Pulp-Faced Detective and The Borderlander. He has also written for American publishers, notably contributing a Dazzler story, "I'm Gonna Stake You, Sucka" in X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – X-Men vs. Vampires No. 1. Chris discusses being one of nine children, the unorthodox way he broke into publishing and his lifelong fascination with horror, Jack the Ripper and vampires!

Joe Eisma and André share a love of a great many things John Carpenter films, Grant Morrison's X-Men and scintillating conversation!Beginning his comic career with a bang on Morning Glories, Joe also worked on Nick Spencer's book Existence 2.0/3.0. His first published work was A Dummy's Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea by Viper press in 2008. He recently completed Holo Ween a Star Trek horror comic that turns the Next Generation Crew into Classic film monsters. Eisma talks about his fathers love of reading, finding a community and career on Brian Michael Bendis's message board. Working with Nick Spencer and the unusual way he discovered Morning Glories was optioned for television.

André talks with a consummate professional and consistent comic creator and artist Ron Randall!An early contributor to Dark Horse comics with his creator-owned series Trekker which appeared in early issues of Dark Horse Presents in the 1980s, Randall would also go on to spend time as artist for the major comics companies Marvel and DC, perhaps most prominently spending time as artist on DC Comics' popular Justice League Europe series in the 1990s.Ron talks about working with Alan Moore on Swamp Thing, Evolving technology in the comic art industry and working on the Dragonlance comic adaptations something André voraciously read in his youth.

André finds a guest who is also a fan of this very show!Kalman Andrasofszky got his start producing massive amounts of art for roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and Vampire: The Masquerade among others. In 2003 Kalman co-created and illustrated the comic book series iCandy for DC, since then he has gone on to freelance extensively for comicbook publishers including Marvel, DC, Valiant and BOOM! Studios. He's produced art and covers for such titles as Spider-man, X-men, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Dazzler, NYX, X-23, Tomb of Dracula, and Gi Joe.Kalman teaches André about the scret history of Micronauts, why Marvel Covers where so basic for so long and why Halloween brings about a tongue and cheek call of cultural appropriation from out guest!

As Halloween approaches André speaks with a man who had a hand in a ton of projects that were big parts of our hosts formative years. Steven E. Gorodon started in animation working on Ralph Bakshi's animated feature Lord of the Rings as a "roto-photo" artist while still in High School. He quickly moved up to work as an assistant animator and eventually animated (roto-scoped) several scenes and was given animator credit on the finished film. He worked for Ralph Bakshi on and off for years on many Bakshi films including American Pop and Fire and Ice working alongside Frank Frazetta. he went on to work on The Black Cauldron, Cool World, Batman: Sub Zero, X-Men: Evolution, The Swan Princess, Anastasia, Titan A.E. and Wolverine and the X-Men eventually becoming an animation director as well.Steven and André talk about making more money than his teachers while in high school working in animation, his connection to Nova Scotia, Working with Ralph Bakshi, Frank Frazetta, Stan Lee and the differences in film directing and animation directing something he has a lot of experience in.

The patriarch of The Federation of Podcasts drops in to discuss his origins in podcasting as he gets to know the black sheep of his federation a little better while being interviewed in the process!Born in Nova Scotia but winding up in Toronto Dave has fostered a love of sci-fi, podcasting and reality television into an entire federation of programming featuring friends...some old and some new. As co-host of Live Long & Podcast as well as The Super Mader Bros. he delves into all things Star Trek and reality television, respectively.Dave speaks on how becoming a father at a young age benefited his development as an adult, finding podcasting through Kevin Smith's Hockey career, how the idealism of Gene Roddenberry's creation led to his career in philanthropy and he gives a compelling argument to our host that may make reality television more accessible to him.

André speaks with a collaborator of one of our previous guests who has a respectable body of work all his own!From Listuguj, Quebec, Brandon Mitchell is the founder of Birch Bark Comics and creator of the Sacred Circles comic series, which draws on his Mi’kmaq heritage. He has written five books with the Healthy Aboriginal Network, (Lost Innocence, Drawing Hope, River Run, Making it Right, and Emily’s Choice). Brandon has written and illustrated Jean-Paul’s Daring Adventure: Stories from Old Mobile for the University of Alabama, as well as two Mi'qmaq language-based stories for the Listuguj Education Directorate. He has also completed an art installation for Heritage and Culture New Brunswick.Brandon discusses growing up unaware of the divide between different indigenous communities, finding representation in an obscure cartoon. Discovering a love of storytelling and why stories about his community need to be stronger than just it's shared trauma.

David Hahn has been writing and illustrating for indie publishers and the major brands for over 20 yearsHis work has appeared in everything from comic books to cookbooks. It’s been used behind-the-scenes for storyboards and concept art, as well as mobile apps and non-profit awareness campaigns.André and David discuss his Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane series, The almighty nostalgia dollar, reinventing old properties for comic books and the joys of living a simple live far from civilization. 

Our next guest is a legend in the eyes of our host...he is the co-creator of Nexus and illustrator for First, Marvel, DC and Dark Horse ComicsSteve Rude, also known as "The Dude", was born in Madison, Wisconsin. After two years of study at the Milwaukee School of Art and Design, he returned to Madison for further training at both the University of Wisconsin and Madisson Area Technical College. With writer Mike Baron, he created the comic serial 'Nexus' during the summer of 1981. Steve worked also on several mainstream titles, such as 'Space Ghost', 'Johnny Quest', 'Spiderman: Lifeline', 'Legends of the DC Universe' and 'Captain America'. He received the Russ Manning Outstanding Newcomer Award in 1984, and has won comic industry awards as best artist, in 1986 and 1988Steve discusses moving from his childhood home at too early an age, exploring cosmic injustice with the creation of Nexus, how Marvel Comics censored his work and how as a man of deep convictions he was never able to be put in a box when it came to mainstream expectations.

André catches up with a fellow East Coast Comic Expo guest Tara Audibert about her astounding work in representing indigenous Canadian stories across a variety of platforms.Tara Audibert is a multidisciplinary artist & film maker with 20+yrs experience in animation, comics and fine art. She combines Traditional First Nations Art and Storytelling with contemporary design and digital mediums.Award-winning works include animated short film The Importance of Dreaming (2017), comics This Place: 150 Years Retold (2019), and Lost Innocence (2011) which has been placed in the Archives of Canada, Nitap: Legends of the First Nations, a storytelling app and creator of Lil Glooscap and the Legends of Turtle Island (2022) animated TV show. Books JoJo Makoons (2021), Fiddleheads for Fox (2019), Moonbeam (2020). She is of hybrid Wolastoqey-French heritage residing in Sunny Corner, NB.Tara and André discuss early storytelling influences from her parents and how those skills propelled her towards a career in animation and now a feature film that celebrate indigenous culture and language!Listen in on Stitcher, Castbox, iTunes, Spotify or at www.graphichistories.com

Episode 101 is the first of what we hope are many more firsts in the coming years! This time André hits the road and attends the East Coast Comic Expo in Moncton and while slinging his artwork took some time to host a panel with former guests of this show Troy Little and Jim Zubb about their amazing collaborative work on Rick & Morty / Dungeons & Dragons.Listen in as the two creators discuss how that project came to be and the sheer level of detail given to the character designs and rules for the various editions of the game used in the book. Being a live panel many guests had some questions of their own which you'll get to hear as well! A great conversation with two impressive creative talents!

Our 100th Episode extravaganza is here and what better way to celebrate then getting to know our host André Myette!Davan Skelhorn steps into the hosting role to interview André and discuss his beginnings in a small fishing community, his careers in Graphic Design, Wrestling, Acting and how comic books was a through line to all of those exploits.André and Davan discuss all aspects of André's life and have a lot of laughs along the way. Celebrate with us as we look back on 100 episodes and look forward to 100 more.