Today, we welcome veteran animation writer and story editor Stan Berkowitz to discuss his career spanning decades of superhero animation. Stan shares his experiences working on the DC Animated Universe including Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, and Batman Beyond, where he served as series story editor. He also worked on shows like Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited, and even wrote the animated movie Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. We explore h...
We sit down with writer Stephanie Williams as the second issue of her debut creator-owned comic Roots of Madness launches today through Ignition Press. Stephanie discusses the cosmic horror series loosely inspired by Madame C.J. Walker that combines alternate history with the supernatural, illustrated by artist Letizia Cadonici. We also get into her previous projects like Nubia: Queen of the Amazons, My Little Pony, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Stephanie discusses how her background in s...
Bandit Mike sits down with friend, ex-boss, and veteran comic book editor Ben Abernathy to explore his vast editorial career. From breaking in at Dark Horse in 1998 through stops at DC and Marvel, his editorial work at Wildstorm and pioneering DC Digital projects before becoming EIC and founder at Madefire in 2012, we get into it all! We discuss his return to DC where he became Group Editor of the Batman books, hiring major talent like Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez, his promotion to Executiv...
One of our favorite cartoonists returns, as Jamar Nicholas gets back in the hot seat! He's giving us a preview of the next book in his popular Leon series, which is still in the works and doesn't have a name yet. We get into all the details, exploring Jamar's approaches to character development and creating stories for kids. As always, you can follow him on his site, jamarnicholas.weebly.com, on Instagram @jamar_nicholas_cartoonist or on X and Bluesky @jamarnicholas. Support the show __...
Today is Pop Mhan Day on the Dollar Bin Bandits! Pop, who was born in Thailand, broke into comics under Jim Lee at Wildstorm Productions in San Diego, and then really broke out on SpyBoy with writer Peter David. Since then, his extensive career included stops at Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and other publishers with titles including Batgirl, Robin, Bionicles, and World of Warcraft. Pop shares how his multicultural background and influences from Japanese manga artists helped him develop a distincti...
Today we welcome legendary comics writer Joe Kelly to explore his remarkable career! We get into the joint Marvel/NYU Stan-Hattan Project that gave him his start, his redefining run on Deadpool, his acclaimed Spider-Man work, and his time on Uncanny X-Men and Action Comics. Joe reflects on co-founding Man of Action Studios and creating the global phenomenon Ben 10, how he balances solo comics writing with collaborative animation work, his current run on Amazing Spider-Man with artists Pepe La...
We sit down with veteran comics artist Howard Simpson (who also works under the pen name Poppy) to explore his diverse career that began after earning his BFA from Tyler School of Arts and working as a commercial artist during the 1980s for major clients including Action News, Bantam Books, Sony, and various Fortune 500 companies. Howard shares his transition from commercial work and fanzine contributions to breaking into professional comics with DC, working on titles like Green Lantern, The ...
Acclaimed comics writer Mike Carey joins the show to take us through his remarkable career! While working as a teacher for 15 years, Mike began breaking into comics with heavy metal biographies and 2000 AD stories, before moving into mainstream with a Lucifer miniseries that unexpectedly became a critically lauded 75-issue run! We dive into his Marvel work on a slew of Ultimate titles and a lengthy X-Men tenure, where he collaborated with some of the most sought-after artists. We also get int...
In today's exclusive interview, we sit down with legendary creator Rick Veitch to discuss the groundbreaking NYCC 2025 announcement that has Swamp Thing fans celebrating after more than three decades! Rick shares how it came to be that DC will finally publish Swamp Thing #88 as part of a Swamp Thing 1989 miniseries, completing his epic run that was abruptly halted when DC refused to publish a story featuring Jesus Christ. We explore the history of the controversy, how this deal came together ...
Franco's back on the pod! And he's talking his latest collaboration with Art Baltazar on the hilarious Flash Gordon Adventures! series from Papercutz and Mad Cave Studios. Franco shares his approach to bringing a fun, all-ages take on the classic Flash Gordon property, exploring he and Art balance humor with sci-fi action to make the legendary space hero accessible to young readers. We dive into the upcoming Flash Gordon Adventures! Vol. 2: The Anthology Odyssey, releasing next month, which f...
Today we welcome Duncan Rouleau to discuss his remarkable career spanning comics and animation, from discovering comics as a young reader to breaking into the big leagues in the 90s with Venom: The Hunted and working with Larry Hama on various X-books. Duncan shares the origin story of co-founding Man of Action with Steve Seagle, Joe Kelly, and Joe Casey, discussing his unique perspective as the only writer in the group with a visual arts background. We get into how the collective landed thei...
Today we welcome veteran comic book journalist and publicity agent Rik Offenberger to explore his multifaceted career, where he started as a retailer before transitioning to writing for Comics Buyer's Guide in 1992 and pioneering Internet-based comics journalism. Rik discusses his work as interviewer and senior feature editor at Silver Bullet Comic Books (now Comics Bulletin) and his interviews for Newsarama and Comic Book Resources, before succeeding Alex Segura as Public Relations Coordinat...
We set off on a wild journey with returning guests Jimmy Palmiotti and Dan Panosian to discuss their new Marvel Knights: Punisher series set in the world of Joe Quesada's and Christopher Priest's The World to Come. Things start innocently enough, with the duo explaining their collaboration on "the most unforgiving Punisher story ever" and how they're bringing Frank Castle and his world to brutal new extremes. But things quickly spiral into a chaotic, tangent-filled conversation that veers wil...
For our final Hollywood Week episode, we welcome iconic character actor and comedian Eddie Deezen for a career retrospective exploring his journey from performing stand-up at The Comedy Store to becoming Hollywood's go-to "nerd" character in beloved films. Eddie shares his origin story growing up in Cumberland, Maryland, moving to Los Angeles after graduating high school in 1975, and his breakout role as Eugene Felsnic in the 1977 blockbuster Grease. That led to high-profile comedy films incl...
In the second part of DBB's Hollywood Week, we welcome writer-producer Marc Guggenheim to discuss his remarkable career spanning comics, film, television, and novels. After an internship at Marvel, Marc worked as a lawyer for a time, before transitioning to TV to become one of the architects of the Arrowverse. Marc reflects on his comics work for Marvel and DC, including The Flash and Amazing Spider-Man, his experience with the 2011 Green Lantern movie and what he learned from that project, a...
Today, we sit down with comedy legend Bruce Vilanch for a wide-ranging career retrospective, tracing his path from early days as a writer for the Chicago Tribune and Hollywood Squares to becoming one of the most in-demand joke writers in show business. Vilanch reflects on decades of crafting sharp one-liners for the Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys, his work with icons like Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg, and his own turn in the spotlight as both a performer and pop culture fixture. With his tradem...
Today, we explore the career of Sweeney Boo, from studying graphic design in southwest France to becoming a sought-after artist and writer in mainstream comics. We discuss her early work as a letterer and colorist for French publishers and her bold decision to move to Canada in 2015 to pursue her comic book dreams. We then get into her deeply personal work on Eat, and Love Yourself, which she launched via Kickstarter to tackle subjects like eating disorders, depression, and body dysmorphia, h...
Today, we welcome back legendary comic writer J.M. DeMatteis to discuss the impressive array of recent reprints celebrating his diverse career, starting with Moonshadow - The Definitive, Expanded Edition, where he reflects on his introspective collaboration with Jon Muth and how Marvel's Epic line was crucial to realizing this unique narrative. We also explore: His acclaimed run on Doctor Fate, discussing how he brought humanity to the cosmic mystical character while balancing magical concept...
Today, we welcome the always versatile Terry Beatty to explore his diverse, four-decade career spanning comic books, newspaper strips, and cover art. Terry discusses his co-creation of the long-running female detective series Ms. Tree with writer Max Allan Collins, as well as their other collaborations including Mike Mist, Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger, and Johnny Dynamite. We explore his work as the primary inker on DC's "animated-style" Batman comics, including a four-year stint inking Chri...
Today we sit down with acclaimed comic writer-artist David Lapham to explore his remarkable journey from penciler at Valiant Comics on titles like Shadowman and Harbinger, to working under Jim Shooter at Defiant Comics where he co-created Warriors of Plasm, before creating his own publishing company, El Capitan Books, to self-publish his signature series Stray Bullets. David reflects on that crime-drama masterpiece, especially how he maintains momentum on the nearly 100-issue irregular series...