Comics power couple Ken and Joan Steacy ring in their 40th wedding anniversary with a live interview on Speech Bubble during TCAF weekend and a graphic novel each. The first, Aurora Borealice from Conundrum Press made its debut at TCAF and is the first part of a three-part fictionalized memoir from Joan Steacy following Alice (standing in for Joan) and her struggle with illiteracy. As Joan says on the podcast, “I graduated high school functionally illiterate and I knew I had to do something about that.” The memoir also documents how meeting legendary media theorist Marshall McLuhan and his son Eric changed her life. How having people of that calibre believe in her gave her more confidence and how she embraced new technology to help overcome her struggles with reading. Meanwhile, she had to overcome being perceived as a dummy in her own family and she explains what it's like to be failed over and over again in school and then overcoming that to go to university. The graphic novel she releases now helped her accept her own personal style and embrace who she is as a cartoonist.

Ken began his career working for Marvel as an inker right out of school, but it wasn't the dream he thought it would be. He talks about having to carve his own path through the comics industry as a military brat. He went to Sheridan College and learned art fundamentals and basically started again to unlearn bad habits and learn good habits. He eventually would go on to win the Governor General's medal for his work in sequential art and draw books like Iron Man and Astro Boy. He talks about his journey toward authorship and away from being a cog in a wheel.

His latest project War Bears happened thanks to an article he illustrated written by Margaret Atwood that takes place during the golden age of Canadian comics -- The Canadian Whites. The article was published to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday and War Bears is its continuation – a further exploration of the story. He talks about what it was like to work with Margaret Atwood and the creation of Oursonette – a fiction hero of the Canadian Whites period. The two Steacys pack a great one-two punch as you listen to them react to each other's work as Joan explores her own history and Ken explores Canadian comics history both real and fictional. This episode is sponsored by Hairy Tarantula.

@joansteacy

Joan's blog

Conundrum Press

The Comics Journal interviews Joan

The Comics Program that Ken and Joan teach at Camosun College

Joan and Ken's son Alex's forthcoming webcomic Drainers

Buy War Bears

Buy Aurora Borealice

Sponsor

Hairy Tarantula