Episode 109 - Stray Cat Strut

The Injustice Society, from History of the DC Universe. Pencils by George Perez, inks by Karl Kesel.

(c) 2021 DC Comics.

We’re happy to welcome Karl Kesel (@karlkesel) back for his annual visit to discuss the latest Impossible Jones kickstarter. At the time of recording, there were two days left in the Impossible Jones / Polecat Kickstarter, which has been trying to reach its latest stretch goals in the final days. Karl tells about new character Polecat, what he has in common with last issue’s guest star Captain Lightning and some of the other new friends and foes in this issue. We also talk about the Even Steven back-ups this time around, with new origin stories being written by Alex Segura and Gail Simone. Karl also updates on us the state of the latest Section Zero project, on which he and Tom Grummett are still working. If you listen before the deadline, you can still pledge at impossiblekickstarter.com.

We also talk about some of Karl’s older work, starting with Final Night, the 1998 DC mini-series he created with Stuart Immonen, the Amalgam and Unlimited Access books and some of the projects he worked on with the late George Perez, including the great History of the DC Universe, written by Marv Wolfman, drawn by George and inked by Karl. We also discuss, in a wonderfully nerdy way, the differences between DC’s Who Who and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Parish Notice: By the time you listen to this, we might have a new podcast officially launched over at the When It Was Cool Network. If you’re a long-time listener of the pod, the subject of this new project will not be a surprise. Be on the lookout on social media when it actually debuts.

Episode 101 - Teenage Kicks

Impossible Jones and Holly Daze. (c) Karl Kesel and David Hahn.

I’m happy to welcome @karlkesel back to the show to talk about his newest Kickstarter project, Impossible Jones & Captain Lightning Team Up. With less than a week to go, Karl talks to us about the new project, the recently shipped Impossible Jones & Holly Daze Team Up, the creations of those characters and how they were influenced by his writing Harley Quinn, the creation of Captain Lightning, bringing childhood creators to life, the Ditko-like Even Steven and the back-up that will be written by Mark Waid and more, We also start about the nuts and bolts of creating comics via Kickstarter, the ups and downs, lessons he learned with the original Section Zero book and wearing multiple hats in the job, from creator to editor to fulfillment. We also talk about the popularity of King Shark, who he created back in the pages of Superboy and is now a popular culture phenomenon, thanks to the Suicide Squad movie. You can find more information about the Impossible Jones Kickstarter here.

Note 1: Former guest @jeffparker was supposed to be on the show too, since he also has a new Kickstarter project, but couldn’t make it. His book, also ending this week, is Blighter: Tracker of the Realm.

Note 2: We had talked to Friends of the Show @paultobin and @colleencoover about doing the pod to discuss their new book Wrassle Castle, but they too couldn’t make. It’s out now so pick up a copy and as always, read Bandette.

Episode Seventy-Six - Divided by Zero

Sargasso, from Section Zero. (c) 2019 Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

The pod returns with a guest we have been trying to get on for quite a while. Longtime comics creator Karl Kesel (@karlkesel) is here to discuss his current Kickstarter project Section Zero 1959, a continuation of the series he and Tom Grummett started almost 20 years ago. We talk about the creation of that series in 2000 and its return as a Kickstarter project in 2017., with the hardcover out now and the story being serialized by Image Comics in April. We talk about the book’s inspirations , notably the work of Jack Kirby. (I interviewed Karl way back in issue 27 of the Jack Kirby Collector about his love of the King and some of his more esoteric characters).

We also do a deep dive into Karl’s career, featuring some of our favorite books over the last couple decades. We chat about a few books he did with Stuart Immonen, Adventures of Superman, the Fantastic Four Annual from 1998 and the DC event series Final Night. We also discuss one of my all-time favorite (and all too brief) comic books series his run on Daredevil with Cary Nord.

On the day of our interview, Section Zero 1959 had two weeks left to go in its Kickstarter campaign and was just over 80% funded. For information on the book and some very cool incentives if you pledge, head over to SectionZero1959.com.

Two other pieces of business: We will soon be starting our series on the website called High Wire Act, which is an episode by episode break-down of the classic 1960s spy show Danger Man (aka Secret Agent). We hope to have a pod up soon discussing that with a returning podcast guest. Also, we are in talks to do our first convention in a few years in the summer. If we do the show, we will likely have a new issue of the magazine out to go along with the appearance.

Spidey Amuck. From Daredevil 354. (c) 2019 Marvel Comics