Podcast: Download (Duration: 38:22 — 53.1MB)

Dan Schkade is a freelance comic book writer, artist, and member of Helioscope, a comic creator collective in Portland, Oregon. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about how Dan got into comics, bad career advice for those looking to get into comics, favorite stories to tell, and his heroes.

Several quotes from this episode:

• “I’ve been told that I draw like a writer…. All of the skills I’ve developed in art were motivated by my desire to tell better comic book stories, faster.”
• “My favorite stories to tell as an artist are stories about characters who have a position of strength, but are constantly being put on the back foot…. As a writer, I love telling mysteries. I love following a character as they earn pieces of information that they are eventually able to put together and unlock a secret, reveal a truth or something.”
• “I’m constantly seeking stories to tell that are more and more emotionally real. That’s the big quest right now.”
• “I don’t think that a story can resonate with an audience unless they can see themselves in it.”
• “If I’m ever stuck, if I ever feel like I’m overthinking things, I’ll pick up Batman & the Monster Men…or I’ll pick up Trinity or Grendel vs. The Shadow. These [are] really excellent examples of how to tell a big story in an all protean kinda way.”
• “I needed to be able to talk about story in a very concise way so that people wouldn’t get bored and that people would get why I was interested in it.”
• “If you can’t find a joy in this, then your readers aren’t going to find that joy either.”

Show Links

• Dan Schkade
• Helioscope
• Will Eisner
• Matt Wagner
• Sandman Mystery Theatre
• Batman & the Mystery Men
• Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity
• Grendel vs. The Shadow by Matt Wagner
• San Hannibal: The city of Love and Fear
• Denis Kitchen
• Ibrahim Moustafa
• James Bond: Solstice by Ibrahim Moustafa
• The Atom (Dr. Ray Palmer)
• The Fix
• Chris Sprouse
• Damion Scott
• Bill Sienkiewicz
• Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia by Suspicious Behavior Productions
• Penny Century: A Love and Rockets Book by Jaime Hernandez
• Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman
• Bruce Timm
• Saga
• Bitch Planet
• Sebastian O
• The Invisibles
• Magnus, Robot Fighter
• Support Getting Work To Work on ChrisMartinStudios.shop!
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter: The Curiosity Lab