Comic Pants Podcast #13
In episode thirteen, Dave Farabee, Nick Budd, Randy Lander, and David Martindale take a look at the work of writer/artist Darwyn Cooke, from his early work on Batman: Ego to his latest work on New Frontier and The Spirit. Along the way, we talk about the variety of work Cooke has done and what it is about his work that holds our attention.
Cooke began his career in animation, and is famous for designing the Batman Beyond credit sequence. You can see that sequence at the embedded video below:
As always, commentary is welcomed and encouraged. Let us know what you thought of the podcast, and if you’ve got suggestions for future podcast topics, leave us a comment! And listeners who write in could win cool comics every week! This time out, if your question is selected for the next podcast, you’ll win a complete set of DC: New Frontier in single issues! Please drop us a line at comicpantsfeedback@gmail.com to give us some questions or comments for the next show.
Use the podcast feed buttons on the sidebar to subscribe, listen via the flash player below, or directly download the MP3 here:
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Almost forgot. Here’s the link to that interview we read excerpts from.
16 Dec 2006 at 3:17 am
Quotewhat is the picture he drew of spiderman taking a picture of marvel and dc characters and where did it come from? i looks great, but i would like to see a better view of it. (if it is a sketch one of you bought, is it one of a kind?)
16 Dec 2006 at 12:21 pm
QuoteHuge influence on my work. I love Cooke’s style and my only problem with his work is that I can’t get enough of it.
16 Dec 2006 at 12:44 pm
QuotePreston, that is the cover of a Cooke-centric issue of Comic Book Artist. Fantastic interview and original art throughout, it might still be available from Top Shelf Productions at their website.
16 Dec 2006 at 12:57 pm
Quote“Denyitol” is indeed a play on words. Antidepressants allow us to “deny it all,” get it?
17 Dec 2006 at 3:32 am
QuoteMatt S Said:
“Denyitol” is indeed a play on words. Antidepressants allow us to “deny it all,” get it?
Wow, I feel moderately stupid for missing that.
17 Dec 2006 at 11:27 am
QuoteDitto.
17 Dec 2006 at 9:41 pm
QuoteI haven’t finished listening yet.. about half way through.
Even before I started listening, when I saw the subject of Darwyn Cooke, I started preparing questions.. and my biggest one is: Can you describe Cooke’s art without using the diminutive words such as “simple”, “sparse”, “minimalist”, “cartoonish”?
I ask knowing that these words are not used in any negative fashion, and most readers knowing what the style represents can appreciate those terms. Problem comes when I talk with non-readers. Whenever I say, “I love his simple style.” I always have to follow up with qualifiers and clarifications that it’s not simple in an amount of work or skill. Know wut I’m sayin’?
17 Dec 2006 at 11:29 pm
QuoteA bit long this time, but interesting and amusing as always.
(actually, this is the first podcast, and I’ve listened to all of them except the Fables one due to possible spoilers, that I found a bit too long)
I really dig Cooke’s artwork, but initially I wasn’t interested in The Spirit. My lack of interest is mostly due that I am not familiar with the character, I’ve only heard of him and saw some covers of the recent trades.
But due to all the rave reviews for the Batman/Spirit one-shot and the first issue of the ongoing I might get the first trade.
Apparently I am one of the few people who picked up Darwyn Cooke’s Solo issue. I am even more in the minority as I have every issue of the Solo series. Didn’t like all the issues, but it was a great way to get to know artists I didn’t know, or to get top notch stuff of the artists I already knew.
I hope to see a revival of this series one day…
18 Dec 2006 at 1:37 am
QuoteMédard, I picked up “Solo” too! Together we will save the industry! I was surprised that the normally cool Lander said he didn’t buy it. I think I even cried a little.
18 Dec 2006 at 9:23 am
QuoteHeh. Well, I *loved* Solo, but I was holding out for a super-deluxe hardcover format kinda thing. I figured as long as I was reading it and spreading the word via reviews, I was doing my part.
18 Dec 2006 at 4:26 pm
QuoteTim.Agen wrote:
Even before I started listening, when I saw the subject of Darwyn Cooke, I started preparing questions.. and my biggest one is: Can you describe Cooke’s art without using the diminutive words such as “simple”, “sparse”, “minimalist”, “cartoonish”?
I think the word I’d use most often to describe it is “in the animation vein.” Which I realize is not a word.
But if I had to describe Cooke’s art style to someone who had never seen it, and couldn’t just show them the work, I’d say that his work displays top-notch storytelling with a clean look reminiscent of classic illustrators and animators. If I had to go with one word… yeah, it’d probably be “cartoonish,” although that’s one of those words that means something different to everyone.
18 Dec 2006 at 4:29 pm
QuoteOn what day do you record the podcasts? Is there a due date for feedback to be in that week’s podcast?
18 Dec 2006 at 10:13 pm
Quotethe pacifist from world war one was named Alvin York. he claimed to be a pacifist, nut was a great marksman and ended up saving his platoon by killing a several germans and capture something like 100 with only a pistol. i am almost positive he won a medal of honor. he was very famous and the movie is called Sergeant York. here is the imdb link to it.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0034167/
19 Dec 2006 at 4:31 pm
QuoteTim Agen said:
On what day do you record the podcasts? Is there a due date for feedback to be in that week’s podcast?
Right now, we record on Tuesday night, but that might change at some point in the New Year to later in the week. At any rate, we check email pretty much up until that point, so if an email gets to us by, say, early Tuesday afternoon, odds are we’ll probably have it for the podcast.
19 Dec 2006 at 6:22 pm
QuoteYes, thank you! Dunno why my mind short-circuited on that one, as I finally saw the movie for the first time only a year or two ago, but there ya go. Anyway, the heartfelt nature of the true story presented in the movie certainly seems to dovetail with Cooke’s pacifistic portrayal of Hal. I wonder if it was a specific influence?
And I’d forgotten that Howard Hawks was the director on York.
21 Dec 2006 at 4:32 am
QuoteSo what is the holiday schedule for podcasts? I didn’t see any announcements anywhere. Will there be one this week?
27 Dec 2006 at 5:30 pm
QuoteActually, we’ve all been kind of busy during the holiday season, which is why the site has been so quiet. We will have Wednesday Number Ones tomorrow (holiday shipping delays) and, if all goes as planned, we’ll have a two-part podcast featuring our Best of 2006 starting next Friday. So two weeks off from podcasts, unfortunately, but we’ll get back to not slacking soon, I promise.
27 Dec 2006 at 7:49 pm
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