Sequential State – the comics criticism archive of Alex Hoffman


Thoughts on Brainstorm: A Conversation About Comic Writing Processes with MJ Robinson and Cathy G. Johnson

[First and foremost, apologies for the rustling in the audio. I recorded the talk on my phone, and having never recorded a talk before, I forgot to put the phone on a flat surface, so it sat on my coat. I’ve tried to clean up the audio as best possible.]

This past Sunday was Cleveland’s small press comics convention Genghis Con (genghisconcleveland) run by Kevin Czapiewski (tumblr: kevinczap) and friends; I’m still poring through a giant pile of comics from the weekend, so I’m hoping to talk more about the con next week.

Luckily, Genghis Con brought some talented folks into town from Providence RI, and both Cathy and MJ had a related but not ancillary talk at Oberlin College, a liberal arts college about 45 minutes southwest of downtown Cleveland.

I’ll let the video speak for itself, but my perspective on the presentation was just how in great this was for me as a reader. I am always learning more about how individuals make art, and seeing MJ and Cathy talk about the process of making comics was enlightening.

Having recently read Cathy’s Dear Amanda (you can check out my review here) and watching her talk about the brainstorming and scripting process really made the comic all the more vital to me.

A big shout out and thank you to both MJ Robinson (tumblr: kickintheeyes) and Cathy G. Johnson (tumblr: cathyboy) for taking the time to put this talk together and for helping me get the video compiled after the fact. Thanks to the Oberlin Comics Collective for hosting the event open to the public. Also thanks to Kevin Czapiewski for being super cool all year and telling me about GenghisCon at TCAF.


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