Episode 9: Finding Inspiration, ft. Ramzee

With Thought Bubble Festival currently underway in its new 2020 online format, Joe caught up with Aled Lies, Dylan Owen and Shehzad Amhad – the team behind Idiot Corpse, which is debuting at the festival. They took a very unconventional approach to working together, taking the format of a classic exquisite corpse parlour game and applying it to making comics, so we discussed how they came up with the idea, being creative whether you like it or not, and making a comic that was as much of a surprise to the creators as it is to the readers.

In the middle of their Kickstarter campaign to fund their upcoming releases, Sam Williams, Paddy Johnston and Rozi Hathaway from micropublisher Good Comics join Joe to talk about how this year has affected them, the financial pressures of small press, and how they decide which books they want to publish.

On the eve of the latest WIP anthology books being released, Joe has a panel discussion with Lara Callaghan, Steven Wang, Mereida Fajardo and Jess Hannar, all of whom contributed towards said books, to discuss taking part in the anthologies, tackling the themes, working as a group, and how limitations can breed creativity.

On the cusp of releasing his new book There's Only One Place This Road Ever Ends Up, cartoonist and illustrator David Biskup joins Joe to talk about how he approached turning deeply personal life events into a story to share with the world. They also talk about drawing simple faces, developing an artistic style, and the similarities between making comics and seeing a therapist.

On this episode Abs Bailey joins Joe to talk about how she crafted the story of her recently released debut graphic novel Zebedee and the Valentines. They also chat about developing characters, visually depicting music, and how being part of the Broken Frontier Six to Watch helped boost their reach.

Joe catches up with Andy Oliver, the editor-in-chief of the small press-focused news and review website Broken Frontier, and one of the most vocal and supportive voices on the UK comic scene. They discuss advice on how to promote your comic, get reviews, and get involved with the community, plus they dive into how Andy got started in comics press and plans for the future of Broken Frontier.

Joe has a lengthy chat with portrait artist and comic maker Ed Firth, who is also one of the artists on this year's Myriad First Graphic Novel Prize shortlist. They discuss Ed's Myriad entry and current comic project, dive into their respective approaches to drawing people and benefits of life drawing, and talk about drugs, sex and death.

In a bit of a change up from the usual episode format, rather than focus on a particular topic Joe had an open and casual chat with illustrator, printmaker and small press creator Aleesha Nandhra. Both Aleesha and Joe were featured as part of the 2019 Broken Frontier Six to Watch, and they discuss how that affected their work, balancing having a creative job with having a creative pastime, and the pressures of promoting yourself on social media.

With his debut graphic novel Flake having been released earlier this year, the award-winning Matthew Dooley joins Joe for a chat about his path to getting published, that delicate balance between humour and sadness, and whether or not comics can ever reach a more mainstream audience.

Joe has a lengthy chat with British Comic Award nominated creator Ramzee about a multitude of topics including where to find inspiration, how he has taken influence from creative mediums outside of comics, and the two have a big discussion about the state of the UK comics scene.