Roger Langridge – by Roger Langridge. Art © Roger Langridge
Roger Langridge chats about tricking people into liking their work, how cartoonists feel insecure about their own talent, getting better at writing and remaining visible. in the latest episode of fellow comic creator Dan Berry‘s Make It Then Tell Everybody podcast.
The podcast is great fun – especially if you’re also an artist, as Roger and Dan bat technique storytelling process tips back and forth and talk about Roger’s work and career, from his very first cartoons through to his work for Marvel today.
Roger has been producing comics for over 20 years, including strips for Doctor Who Magazine. Most recently, he has attracted critical attention for his work on the Harvey Award-winning Muppet Show Comic Book (Boom! Studios) and Thor: The Mighty Avenger (Marvel Comics); other works of note include Marvel’s Fin Fang Four, Fantagraphics’ Zoot! and Art d’Ecco (in collaboration with his brother Andrew), and the NCS, Ignatz, Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated comic book Fred the Clown.
Dan Berry has now produced almost 40 episodes of Make It Then Tell Everybody: episodes include interviews with Declan Shalvey, Emma Vieceli, Marc Ellerby and INJ Culbard, covering a wide range of creator-related topics and projects.
An illustrator, designer, cartoonist and lecturer at Glyndwr University, he’s given a lectures and workshops on comics all over the place and his book, The Suitcase is due out soon from Blank Slate.
“My job is teaching comics,” says Dan of the reasons for the Make It Then Tell podcasts. “I lecture in Illustration, Graphic Novels and Children’s Books at Glyndwr University. I get to work with a lot of very talented and driven young artists and I get a real sense of excitement from watching people embarking on creative adventures.
“At the end of 2010, I decided to interview as many comic artists as I could. I’d been interested for a long time in how artists approach their work, how they rationalise what they do and how they saw themselves fitting in to the wider world. It was a real pleasure interviewing so many people and I learned a lot and had a lot of great feedback from people that enjoyed reading them. Also, I enjoyed doing it.
“A couple of years later I was asked by [artist] Lizz Lunney whether I wanted to do a talk or something at the Birmingham Zine Festival in 2012. I wanted to interview some of my favourite artists so we came up with Make It Then Tell Everybody. Kristyna Baczynski did a wonderful job of designing the poster and we booked in to do them at the Patrick Centre at the Hippodrome in Birmingham. They went well so I decided to do some more.
“I’m interested in the way that comic artists work, what they think about the process of making comics and how they go about making a living from that. If you like what I do, consider supporting the show. It’d help me out.”
• Listen to Make It Then Tell Everybody: Roger Langridge
• Roger Langridge’s official web site – Hotel Fred
• Dan Berry’s official web site – Things by Dan
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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