Xaviar Xerexes

Xaviar Xerexes is the publisher, editor and all-around web monkey for Comixpedia. Leah interviewed me for the site if you want to know how big of a dork I am.

An Interview with Tom Brazelton

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: July 2008 Issue

Theater Hopper by Tom Brazelton

Theater Hopper by Tom Brazelton is a webcomic sort of, but not entirely about Tom, his wife Cami and their friends. The creator, Tom Brazelton (as opposed to his four-color alter ego) is coming up on six years of the webcomic.  Neither fatherhood nor the Star Wars prequels have stopped the man from making fun at and with the movies.  Over the last couple of months I interviewed Tom about the webcomic, his third print collection and other necessary pop culture topics.

DrunkDuck Founder Dylan Squires Moves on From Platinum Studios

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Features
Issue: June 2008 Issue

DrunkDuck Logo With Duck

DrunkDuck.com founder and administrator Dylan "Volte6" Squires announced yesterday at the DrunkDuck forums that he has left Platinum Studios to pursue new opportunities.  I caught up with Squires via email to fill out the story.

Catching Up with Jason Shiga

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

By Jason Shiga

Jason Shiga is an inventive cartoonist and the creator of FLEEP, a comic serialized at Modern Tales back in 2003.  Shiga is fairly prolific and has posted to his website many other examples of his work over the years.  His most recent graphic novel Bookhunter was nominated for an Eisner award this year and he's already at work on new comics.

Catching Up With Pendleton Ward

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

By Pendleton Ward

Back in 2003, one of the first webcomics reviewed by ComixTalk was a cute little absurdist riff called Bueno The BearBueno the Bear was a strange, but sweet-natured aburdist bit of humor; alas it's creator Pendleton Ward took the archives down from the web.  Curious as to what Ward is up to now, I got a chance to interview him via email.

An Interview with the Creator of SPQR Blues -- Carol "Klio" Burrell

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

SPQR Blues by Carol "Klio" Burrell

Carol "Klio" Burrell is the Glyph Award nominated creator of SPQR Blues -- a webcomic set in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius in the era of the Roman Empire. Burrell is really talented which is a great thing because a historically-based webcomic like SPQR Blues appears to be a really  demanding task:  set in Roman times with a wide-ranging cast;  all of it meshing with our collective sense of the Roman empire both in terms of the writing and the visuals -- it's extremely interesting to say the least and perhaps the education-oriented publishing company (Graphic Universe)  Burrell works for ought to consider putting it out as a book when she's done.

I was really excited to see Burrell's Roman take on "steampunk" for our cover at ComixTalk this month.  I think there's a whole new subgenre of speculative fiction waiting to emerge from that image.  I got a chance to interview Burrell about her and her webcomic via email earlier this month.

Catching Up With Dylan Meconis

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

Dylan Meconis

Dylan Meconis created the popular and well received webcomic Bite Me!ComixTalk reviewed it back in 2003.  Nowadays Meconis is working on the webcomic Family ManFamily Man is being serialized by Meconis on her website and as she discusses below is a work with a lot more ground to cover before it will be completed.

Meconis also wrote a regular column called Juxtapose This! for ComixTalk in its first years.  Aside from Paul Bryant Johnson's comics, it's the only thing I think we've published that had footnotes.  But really good footnotes! (honest!)  Being the fifth anniversary year of ComixTalk I thought it would be a great idea to catch up with Meconis and see what she's up to in 2008.

Joe Shuster Calling: An interview with Canada's Favorite Comic Book Creator, Faith Erin Hicks

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

Faith Erin Hicks

Faith Erin Hicks is the creator of two critically well received webcomics, Demonology 101 and Ice.  She most recently put out the graphic novel Zombies Calling for which Hicks was just named "Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator - English Language Publications" at this year's Joe Shuster awards.

We've covered much of Hicks' career in webcomics at ComixTalk from a review of D101 in March 2003 to interviews with her at the completion of D101 and during the start of her webcomic Ice.  She even did one of my favorite covers for ComixTalk for the April 2005 issue

Given the very recent news of her Shuster award it was great timing to catch up with her on life in Halifax, Nova Scotia and to get a few words on the new graphic novel, The War at Ellsmere, she's currently working on.

The Diaz Codak

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

Aaron Diaz

Aaron Diaz's Dresden Codak is an inventive swirl of science and supposition.  The writing is fantastic speculative fiction all on its own but it's complemented by Diaz's damn impressive artwork.  ComixTalk had a review of the comic earlier this year, I caught up with the creator for an interview by email for this month's issue.

Catching Up With Dorothy Gambrell

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

Dorothy Gambrell

Dorothy Gambrell is a prolific creator, probably best known for her webcomic Cat and Girl.  We've interviewed her twice before, once for our March 2003 issue, and again for our October 2004 issue.  We've also reviewed her webcomic Cat and Girl and her webcomic The New Adventures of Death.  I got a chance to catch up via email with what she's working on now.

Catching Up With John Allison

By: Xaviar Xerexes
Department: Interviews
Issue: June 2008 Issue

Cool Hand John Allison (2008)

John Allison has been making webcomics for almost as long as the world wide web has existed.  First with the comic Bobbins and then since 2002 with his current project Scary Go Round.  We reviewed Scary Go Round in our December 2005 issue and interviewed John for our 2003 issue (John also did the cover art for our December 2005 issue).  I got a chance to catch up with him via email on the eve of the 6th anniversary of Scary Go Round.