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Matthew Thurber cannot be stopped. But Inkstuds manages to slow him down long enough to chat.

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So, following Frank and Dan, I am now the last of the Comics Comics bigwigs to get interviewed on Inkstuds. You can listen to the carnage here.

I can’t really bring myself to listen to much of it yet. Lauren tells me it’s actually not that bad, but I still remember several answers that I would change if I had the chance to build a time machine and do it all over again. I’m sure I made other misstatements that I should correct, but I’ll spare everyone by just addressing the two I still recall in vivid insomnia-inducing glory.

1. When Robin mentioned Guy Davis, my brain immediately leaped to thoughts about the difference between “mainstream” and independent cartoonists, and for some reason I started talking about this post by Jacob Covey. I was thinking “generic talented artist working in the corporate comics world”, but in this context, Davis himself is about as bad a specific example as I can imagine. The bulk of his work is independent and/or creator-owned, and even in his work for DC and other big publishers, his art is almost unfailingly personal and ambitious. If I had been writing slowly instead of speaking quickly, I would’ve pointed out that Davis was not really the kind of artist I was talking about.

2. If I remember accurately, when discussing Steve Gerber, I talk about how while he never really wrote any entirely successful comic books, he still managed to pave the way for future good work, simply through his willingness to stretch the boundaries of corporate comic writing. I think I ended up saying that “someone had to do it.” In fact, though, his importance stems from the exact opposite of that statement: No one had to do it. He did it anyway. That’s what’s important about him. (This doesn’t even go into his legal fights for creator rights, which may be a more important legacy, but that’s another story.)

Anyway, that’s it, I think. Number 1 is much worse than number 2, and the one that really bothers me. I don’t want to know what numbers 3, 4, and 5 are, but feel free to point them out and mock me in the comments, or in person this weekend at SPX.

UPDATE: Okay. I listened to it. It’s not that bad. There are a few more parts that made me cringe a little, but nothing egregious enough to write about here. Only the Guy Davis part really makes me feel embarrassed ashamed embarrassed. Carry on.

UPDATE II: Also, it may have sounded like I was joking when I suggested that Robin get Paul Pope to do a cover for his bound collection of Ambush Bug comics, but actually, I think that would probably be pretty great!

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This time with Dan, Sammy Harkham, and Alvin Buenaventura. The topic is the “new art comics”, and as I believe moderator Tom Spurgeon says at some point (I’m going by memory), it provokes exactly the kind of argumentative complaint-fest superhero fans always expect alternative-comics panels to be. In other words, it was a lot of fun to watch.

This is only the first part, when they’re just starting to get warmed up. The rest of the panel, as well as comments from Spurgeon, can be found here.

UPDATE: And here’s the audio, if for some reason you don’t like looking at moving images.

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1. Listen to Dan’s interview with C.F. from this year’s MoCCA, courtesy of Indie Spinner Rack.

2. Go see Gary Panter and Devin Flynn on Saturday at Amoeba Music in Berkeley. Or see Gary later in the day at Park Life in San Francisco at 8 pm.

3. Prepare for Lauren R. Weinstein’s signing for The Goddess of War at Rocketship in Brooklyn Saturday night by taking a photographic tour of her studio.

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The audio of the panel mentioned earlier is now up, for anyone who’s interested. It’s going to be a while before I have time to listen to it myself, fortunately, but I am sure of two things: (1) I sound like an idiot trying to answer Tom Spurgeon’s first question to me, and (2) at the time, I was greatly depressed by some of the things being said, openly, freely, in front of an audience, and on tape, seemingly with little awareness of or concern for the ethical and journalistic implications. (To be clear, it wasn’t the audience or recording devices that bothered me, but the fact that even their presence couldn’t inspire the barest lip service to be paid to the ideal of journalistic independence.) All this doesn’t mean that it was a particularly exciting discussion, so don’t expect fireworks.

(By the way, one of the other panelists, Johanna Draper Carlson, has posted her thoughts as well.)

UPDATE: And now a third panelist, Heidi MacDonald, has also weighed in.

UPDATE II: This guy is making sense! And he’s even more persuasive because of his DEFT use of CAPITAL FUCKING LETTERS!

UPDATE III: Update II was juvenile.

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We’re going crazy with the talking about comics lately, and Dan steps up to the plate for the latest in our recent series of interviews. Here he is on Inkstuds, in discussion with two of the best comics thinkers around, Jeet Heer and Tom Spurgeon. I probably won’t get a chance to listen to this until this weekend, but there’s nothing stopping you from taking the plunge now.

UPDATE: I was able to listen to it after all, and there’s a lot of good talk in there. Well worth checking out.

UPDATE II: Oh, but Dan: Omega the Unknown? Really? Obviously I like that comic a lot, but if you only get to pick one book …

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After a little wrangling, I have posted the somewhat infamous audio recording of my “interview” with CF at SPX 2007. Check it out here. But please don’t yell too loudly, he’s trying to finish Powr Mastrs 2. Shhhh. Also, remember to send positive thoughts to Obama today. He’s our only hope.

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I haven’t had a chance to listen to this yet, but I can not wait.

Resident genius and co-blogger Frank Santoro was interviewed for this week’s episode of Inkstuds. You haven’t heard someone talking about comics until you’ve heard Frank talk about comics.

Download the excitement here.

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Brain’s still broke from SPX, but here’s two links in the meantime:

1) Craig Yoe has posted a cover of “Jug Band Music” by the late, great Wally Wood.

2) Jog has written a great review of C.F.’s Powr Mastrs 1. I need to stop linking to Jog — just bookmark him, please.

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David Heatley, great cartoonist, contributor to Comics Comics, and interview subject in our third issue, was the most recent guest on the Inkstuds radio program.

I haven’t listened to it yet, but David’s an articulate, interesting guy, and it should be a good one. Check it out here.