Devil Dogs, Elephantmen and Unemployment Man

Today, we'll introduce you to some of the cool creators we met a APE a few weeks back. First up, Writer and letterer Richard Starkings will tell us about his indie comic series Hip Flask and it’s prequel Elephantmen. Then, learn about a hero created for our tough economic times, as Erich Origen & Gan Golan talk about their comic The Adventures of Unemployment Man. Plus, author David Talbot will be talking to us about his new book Devil Dog, The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America.

Episode Segments:

GSRS HR 1: Elephant Men & Unemployment Man Richard Starking talks about his Image Comics Series Elephantmen, and it’s future on the big screen. We’ll also get some background on his groundbreaking company Comicraft, which helped usher in digital lettering in comics. Then, it’s a look at a modern day problem with a Silver-Age spin: It’s called The Adventures of Unemployment Man, and it’s creators Erich Origen & Gan Golan tell us what it’s all about.
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GSRS HR 2: Author David Talbott When the most decorated Marine in history fights for America across the globe—and returns home to set his country straight. That’s Devil Dog, The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America. And Author David Talbot is here to tell us all about it. Then, we get caught up on the TV that we haven’t had a chance to talk about, like Modern Family, Tower Prep, and The Event.
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Links to Related Websites:

Hip Flash & Elephantmen Website Welcome to the world of ELEPHANTMEN, the monthly comic series written by Richard Starkings, drawn by Moritat and designed by JG Roshell, with cover art by Boo Cook. Additionally, we are midway through the companion miniseries HIP FLASK, written by Starkings and drawn by Ladrönn.

The Adventures Of Unemployed Man MAIN STREET, USA-Against incredible odds, jobless crusader UNEMPLOYED MAN and his sidekick PLAN B embark on a heroic search for work-and quickly find themselves waging an epic battle against The Just Us League, a dastardly group of supervillains . Experience this action-packed story in THE ADVENTURES OF UNEMPLOYED MAN-a fearless, brilliant, and provocative book that ASTOUNDS with incisive wit and AMAZES with stunning insights into the desperate situation so many heroes find themselves in today.

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Richard Starkings Richard Starkings is a British font designer and comic book letterer, editor and writer. He was one of the early pioneers of computer based comic book lettering and as a result is one of the most prolific creators in that industry. Starkings' lettering style was originally inspired by British comic strip letterers Bill Nuttall and Tom Frame. Starkings' UK career began with lettering jobs in 2000 AD's Future Shocks and various strips in Warrior. From there he moved to Marvel UK where he lettered Zoids in Spider-Man Weekly and Transformers before becoming an editor for the company in the late 1980s. However by the beginning of the 1990s he devoted himself exclusively to lettering, finding work in the much larger comic book industry in the United States. In 1992 Starkings founded Comicraft, a studio which trains and employs letterers and designers and provides "Unique Design and Fine Lettering" services for comic books from many different publishers. In the mid-1990s Comicraft, online as comicbookfonts.com began to sell their Font designs as software applications through their Active Images publishing company. Originally Starkings had intended that the advertisements for these fonts would feature Marvel and DC Comics' characters, however when he failed to receive the authorisation to do that, Starkings created his own character to illustrate the ads - Hip Flask an anthropomorphic hippopotamus "Information Agent". Hip Flask has since graduated to his own series of one-shot comic books, published by Active Images. Starkings plotted the first two issues with artist Ladrönn and enlisted the assistance of Joe Casey to co-script. Mystery City and all subsequent issues are plotted and scripted by Starkings. In 2006 Image Comics launched an ongoing prequel series to Hip Flask, Elephantmen, written by Starkings and illustrated by Justin Norman, Tom Scioli, Henry Flint, Chris Bachalo and Chris Burnham. Comicraft Website

David Talbot David Talbot, hailed as a "pioneer of online journalism" by The New York Times, is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon. He has worked as a senior editor for Mother Jones magazine and as a features editor for the San Francisco Examiner. Talbot has written for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He lives with his family in San Francisco. The official Pulp History Facebook Page