We’ve heard it and experienced it many times: For a creator to make an impact, to truly etch his/her message in the brains of his/her audience when it comes to art, from novels to films to comics, imagery with a high shock value is employed or simulations ...

Cinematic Universes are the big thing these days. Or they're trying to be.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding to further-flung corners all the time: I couldn't believe some of the “cosmic” characters who appeared in the Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2. Characters I would have thought ...

Recently I watched Crystal Lake Memories, an extensive behind the scenes documentary about the Friday the 13th movies (yes, I know…it's not even October yet and I've managed to shoehorn Friday the 13th into the conversation again).

What I found interesting was the role of Frank Mancuso ...

In many parts of the world, this Sunday is Mother's Day. So I thought we'd take a look at some of my favourite Mothers in fiction.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii25/Banes500/moms.png

How many of these Moms and their shows/movies/comics can you identify ...

I have been feeling inspired lately. It is not to be confused with the same wave of inspiration that usually happens when I listen to Bon Iver while driving down a highway at night (even though that also works). It is the type of inspiration where a story begins to ...

-art by Gunwallace

Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Exhale.

This time of the year can be the most joyous while being the most stressful. There are less hours of work and more places to spend money. It is a time for reuniting with old relatives, eating great food ...

It was great to read about the various influences on people's comics last week. I don't know if this topic called for a second part, er, so here it is!

Once again, these are the major influences I've identified for my current comic, Typical Strange. They stretch ...

image by Banes, influenced by lots of things

When I came up with the characters and stories that became my webcomic here on The Duck, I knew it didn't come from a vacuum. But for the most part, it was only after writing and posting stories for several years ...

If you've heard me talk for any reasonable amount of time (apologies!), you know I can't maintain much of a conversation before beginning to list movies. What can I say? I love ‘em!

So for this penultimate October Thursday, I thought I’d share my Halloween movie playlist ...

LISTEN!

- Art by Kevin Hayman.

Content:
For Quackcast 224 I've asked Kevin Hayman back again (KOTA's world, Mailbox Rocketship, Erant Apprentice), to regale us with his Owen Wilson stylings…
But seriously, the topic is “finding your own voice in writing”, i.e. learning not to imitate your hero ...