Hi, welcome! This is Tom Hart. We're really honored to feature Craig Thompson.

Craig is arguably one of the best cartoonists of his generation. In addition to having sold tons of books, he's also got a beautiful way with words and pictures and has garnered the appreciation of hundreds and thousands of people, including a lot of artists.

So, it's wonderful to sit down with him, and it was really kind of a shock to hear him name me as one of his early inspirations; that's very kind. And Craig also expands the web by mentioning some other people at the end of this interview that we should be contacting.

But more importantly, I want to talk about how that web expanded, because we went to a little, not only out of the way, but sort of secret cafe in Providence, Rhode Island to film this interview. It's surrounded by artist lofts, and we hadn't even started yet, and we're filming outside, and a woman, Claire, came up to us and we had her ask the questions because she was interested in what we were doing.

By the tail end of this interview, and especially after the interview, we realized that Claire was deeply interested in these values. So much so that she was probably living them more than Craig or I. She and her partner, Femi, who also appeared for a few moments in the interview, have an art studio nearby where they host events and have art shows, and Claire, for instance, hates Instagram had some things to say about the soothing scrolling that is hurting her generation.

And way more interestingly., the way you find out about events in their art studio is, you have to call their landline, which is a rotary phone. And so we were really happy to connect with artists almost half our age, who really believed in the value of face-to-face contact and walking across town or walking from town to town, and reaching out the slow way, and the the mindful way and also the cumbersome way.

We were really honored to to be speaking with them. It's in the interest of connecting all these generations that these oral histories have been started and preserved.

So, I want to thank Claire and Femi, and I also want to thank Craig for sitting down with us, and thank what's left of the really interesting parts of Providence, Rhode Island for being there, and the secret cafe and everything else have a listen. Thanks!

SAW spoke with YLP Alum and FLOW + Publish member Dusty McGowan about his experiences with comics, his creative process, and his unique perspective as a psychotherapist cartoonist.

Dusty was also a guest on the most recent episode of SAW’s Comics Karma podcast with hosts Tom Hart and Lauren Weinstein. Check out the episode!

We had such a splendid and informative time having Sacha Mardou speak with us about her healing journey and career in comics. She gave us a generously in-depth look at her process in making her newly-released graphic memoir Past Tense. We also got a sneak peak at what she's working on next!

About our guest speaker:

"Sacha Mardou was born in Macclesfield in 1975 and grew up in Manchester, England. She began making comics after getting her BA in English Literature from the University of Wales, Lampeter. Her critically acclaimed graphic novel series, Sky in Stereo was named an outstanding comic of 2015 by the Village Voice and shortlisted for the 2016 Slate Studio Prize.

Since 2019 she has been making comics about therapy and healing. Her graphic memoir Past Tense: Facing family Secrets and Finding myself in Therapy published by Avery/Penguin USA is out now. Since 2005 she has lived in St Louis, Missouri with her cartoonist husband Ted May, their daughter and two disruptive cats."

What a pleasure it was to have Yasmeen Abedifard speak with us at the Sequential Artists Workshop! We talked in depth about the making and many iterations of her recently published When to Pick a Pomegranate (2024 Silver Sprocket), as well as her journey through arts, comics, publishing, and teaching. Give it a listen! About our guest speaker: "Yasmeen Abedifard (b. 1996) is an Iranian-American artist born in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently based in Oakland, CA, USA. She holds an MFA from Cornell University, where she received the Charles Baskerville Painting Award. Her work is centered around storytelling mediums, including comics, illustrations, and animation. She is currently teaching in the Comics program at The California College of the Arts (CCA) and the UC Berkeley Art Studio."

Andrew Coltrin is a writer, comics artist, and disabilities advocate when not at the day job as a paraeducator for a large urban school district.

For decades Andrew thought he was just weird, anxious and unexplainably broken until the DSM finally had an update that caught up with lived experience. Andrew was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 37, and informally diagnosed with ADHD by his brother in 2023 (“your DHD is Advanced”).

Andrew’s previous works include the glossary zine A is for Autistic, and the zine Ability: Emerging from the Social Constraints on Neurodivergence and Disability. Andrew has also led staff trainings about neurodiversity and has spoken on panels at the Interdisciplinary Autism Research Festival (2021) and the Tucson Zine Fest (2023).

Thanks for listening!

Sam Henderson is an American cartoonist, writer, storyboard director, and expert on American comedy history.

From Sam:

“Technically, I started doing [mini-comics] at 12 in 1982. When I went to art school in the late eighties I got other students (including a young Tom Hart) into doing them. But I guess for this you'd say 1991. I did a bunch with different titles but did MAGIC WHISTLE as a regular series in 1993. All the while I was starting to sell work professionally and had an alt-weekly strip for a few years, doing MW as a minicomic until 1998 when it became a "real" comic (i.e. a minicomic with a slightly higher circulation and better production values). Most of my 90s minicomics were collected in a book called HUMOR CAN BE FUNNY.”

Our very last episode of The Terrible Anvil (Season One) was recorded this week! With Tom and Jess together in the same room!

We tried to tie a bow around the business of comics by offering ideas on HOW TO KEEP GOING (FOREVER), AKA making your own sustainable comics practice amidst inner/outer turmoil and also remembering to wash the dishes.

A big takeaway from this episode: CELEBRATE SMALL WINS!