Born in Milton, Massachusetts in 1952, Peter John Sanderson, Jr. is proof that an obsession for comic books and consistency can be made into a viable career.

Sanderson is a comic book critic and historian, as well as a teacher at New York University (NYU). He is best known for his work with both Marvel and DC, helping each of those companies catalog their characters and continuities. Sanderson’s first professional job in the comic book industry—he had written for comic fanzines in the early 1980s—was reading every comic book DC had published since 1935.

That research was instrumental for both Marv Wolfman’s Crisis on Infinite Earths and Len Wein’s Who’s Who in the DC Universe. Sanderson then moved to Marvel, becoming their archivist and assisting with the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. He also wrote the Marvel Saga and Wolverine Saga limited series.

Currently, he writes the online column “Comics in Context,” reviews for Publishers Weekly, and teaches at NYU.

Paul Southworth’s webcomic Ugly Hill is about, well… monsters.

At least, that’s how he usually describes it.

If I were to describe it, I’d write that the five-day-a-week strip features a brightly colored cast of creatures who experience the trials and tribulations of life in a bleak, consumer-driven world not entirely unlike our own — except that it’s full of monsters. That’s how I’d describe it.

I’d also write that Ugly Hill is part of the Blank Label Comics collective, and at the end of the month, the multiple Web Cartoonists Choice Award-winning strip will celebrate its third year on the InterWebs.

Oh, and I’d also mention that Paul Southworth recently became a new daddy.

But the thing is, I don’t want to put words in his mouth, so I’ll just let the following interview I conducted with Paul explain everything about his wildly successful webcomic.

COMICMIX: First off, congratulations on the new addition to the family! What’s your schedule like these days?

PAUL SOUTHWORTH: Rigorous. I thought I was busy before, but it turns out I was living a life of spoiled luxury, concerned only for myself and my own ridiculous pursuits. Now my life is consumed with filling bottles, mixing just the right amount of orange mush with just the right amount of pale green mush, and having long, detailed conversations about the size, frequency, and consistency of another human being’s feces. Somewhere in there I manage to work a day job for nine hours and draw a comic strip on the side.

To be fair, sometimes I can draw and hold a conversation about human waste simultaneously, but only when I’m pressed for time.

CMix: Well, I’ll try to keep this short, then. How did you prepare for keeping the strip active when the baby came home?

PS: I always try to keep at least 2-3 weeks ahead of publication. When I started the strip, I was six weeks ahead, but I squandered that away somehow.

So I just tried to work ahead as much as possible. I was also able to line up two weeks’ worth of wonderful guest artists to fill in for me directly after the birth, which was so helpful. I don’t think there has been a time in my life that I have thought less about drawing than those 3 or 4 panicky weeks after my son was born, so not having to worry too much about it was a blessing. Otherwise, after the guest strips had run their course and my buffer had dwindled, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’m sure glad it worked out, though! (more…)

Born in the Bronx, NY in 1930, Howie Schneider is best remembered for Eek & Meek, the comic about two mice (later two men) he created for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) in 1965 and ran for 35 years.

Schneider also published several cartoon books, wrote a daily cartoon called Unschucked for the Provincetown Banner after he moved there in the mid-1970s, and in 2003 launched a new daily syndicated strip, The Sunshine Club. Schneider served on the Newspaper Features Council board for 20 years, and on the National Cartoonists Society board for eight.

He won the New England Press Association award for Best Editorial Cartoon twice. Schneider died in 2007 from complications after heart surgery.

While the world gets more pumped for Iron Man, the buzz for the Hulk film continues to be accompanied with raised eyebrows and memories of that 2003 film. Marvel Studios President of Production, Kevin Feige tells you why those fears are groundless, plus:

— DC sends the Killing Joke Special Edition back to press

— Fox hangs on to Sarah Connor

— Clear off the game table for a ton of new Star Wars minis

Okay, we have to say it: Press the button or Hulk will smash!

  And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!