Optipess

So I’ll admit it took me far too long to buy into that whole “podcast” thing. I probably knew they existed, but for some reason it didn’t occur to me that I could find something of interest amongst all those random shows, most of which probably were of rather amateur quality. So it wasn’t until I got my first iPod over a year ago that I bothered to look into the phenomenon, quickly ending up with a bunch of gaming-, music- and comics-related podcasts through the then newly installed iTunes. Most of the ones I subscribe to, while they’re excellent shows, I usually have no rush to listen to the new episodes, and I can even skip an episode or two without feeling I’m missing out.

But there’s one show in particular that makes me jump for joy every time a new episode is released, and probably drop everything else to check it out immediately. The show in question, as you might’ve guessed from the headline, is Webcomics Weekly (which, incidentally, is NOT posted weekly – more like Webcomics Monthly), where the four excellent webcomics creators Dave Kellett (Sheldon), Kris Straub (Starslip, Fchords, chainsawsuit), Brad Guigar (Evil Inc, Courting Disaster, Phables) and Scott Kurtz (PvP Online, Ding!) talk shop and share general tips and tricks of the webcomicing and cartooning trade. Also, the crew are also responsible for the Webcomics.com site, as well as teaming up for the brilliant How to Make Webcomics book — which inspired me to make this website in the first place!

But best of all, not only is the show very informative, but these guys are absolutely hilarious and obviously just having a blast recording these things. While a typical one hour show might tackle a couple listener questions, the conversation is also very likely to go on some completely unrelated tangent and into highly amusing ratholes, which of course makes it all the more entertaining. So yeah, a new episode was released yesterday, where they have Jim Demonakos of Emerald City ComicCon on as a special guest, and even if one can’t relate all that much to American comic convention talk, it was another stellar episode well worth checking out.

In fact, I’d recommend the show to comic readers as well as creators, I can guarantee that you’ll be literally rolling on the floor laughing within minutes even if you don’t necessarily follow every aspect of every subject. (I certainly don’t!). One of my definite favourite episodes, and one of the first I checked out, is the one called “Where Ideas Come From” (#13), where the guys dwell into brainstorming and writing techniques, something I’d wager pretty much everyone regardless of their profession or hobby could find useful. Oh, and it also helps that the episode is just about the funniest of them all. Enjoy!

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