A “Peanuts” Tribute podcast.
Episode—(well, it’s actually episode #50, if you count our original post as 01-even thought it was numbered 00!)
Our 50th episode! What better way to celebrate 50 episodes-and the 70th anniversary of “Beetle Bailey”- than part 2 of our interview with Brian Walker! We talk Beetle, Hi & Lois, Alex Raymond, Stan Drake and comics, comics, comics!
Episode 48: Brian Walker! Need I say more? The great comics writer, historian, curator, cartoonist, keeper of the flame and son of the legendary Mort Walker, is here for a long discussion about…EVERYTHING! You’re gonna love this one1 Part 1 of two.
Episode 47: Kevin Mutch , part 2! In this wide-ranging conversation, Kevin Mutch, cartoonist of the critically-acclaimed graphic novel, “The Rough Pearl” and Geoff get down to some nitty-gritty comics talk; “cartoony” or “realistic” comics? which is better? It’s a knock-down, drag-out battle for stylistic supremacy!
Episode 46: Kevin Mutch, cartoonist behind the great new graphic novel from Fantagraphics, “The Rough Pearl” is here for a wide ranging discussion about Canada, comics, and the coming zombie apocalypse. Part 1 of a two-part interview.
Episode 45: Take a trip to Hootin’Holler to visit Snuffy Smith, Loweezy, Barney Google and Sparkplug, with cartoonist John Rose, as “Blockhead” celebrates “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith’s” 101st birthday!
Episode 44: A frank and timely round-table discussion about race, the Black Lives Matter movement and events in the wake of the murder of George Floyd with the great Ray Billingsley of “Curtis” and Khalid Birdsong, cartoonist of the wonderful “Fried Chicken and Sushi”. The conversation ranges far and wide, and you bet we talk lots about comics!
Episode 43: part 2 of Blockhead’s interview with Jan Eliot, cartoonist of the wonderful syndicated comicstrip, “Stone Soup”! Join Geoff and Jan for a relaxed and engaging discussion about Jan’s career, comics, and cartooning!
Episode 42: This fall will mark 25 years in syndication for Jan Eliot’s warm and funny comicstrip, “Stone Soup”, about two working-mom sisters living life and raising families just across the fence from each other! Jan’s here to help us celebrate in a relaxed, fun and engaging discussion about comics, cartooning, feminism, teaching and just about everything else!
Episode 41: “Blockhead”’s “Dennis the Menace” celebration winds down with Part 2 of our interview with Ron Ferdinand, cartoonist of the Sunday “Dennis” since the 1980’s!
Episode 40: ”Blockhead”’s celebration of “Dennis the Menace” continues with Ron Ferdinand, longtime cartoonist of the “Dennis” Sunday strip! Ron has a treasure trove of stories to tell about his years working with Hank Ketcham, about cartooning and his work as standard-bearer for one of the longest-running and most popular comic strips in the world!
Episode 39: “Dennis the Menace” takes over “Blockhead”! The wonderful Marcus Hamilton, daily cartoonist of “Dennis the Menace”, is here to talk about Dennis, the Mitchells, Mr. & Mrs. Wilson, his career as a top-notch illustrator in the 1970s and how a chance glimpse of a TV interview with Hank Ketcham revitalized his career and led him to a dream job drawing one of the most iconic characters in comics history.
Episode 38: Small-press cartoonist (and former mailman)Terry Flippo has made a big splash with hit webcomic, “Deliver Me!” about life carrying the mailbag for the U.S. Postal Service! Terry and Geoff talk about “Deliver Me!”, small press, the early days of SPX and some of the challenges faced by mail carriers in the days of Covid-19
Episode 37: Part 2 of the Lynn Johnston interview! Lynn talks about her friendship with Charles Schulz and his response to Farley’s death, as well as some of the many other groundbreaking( & sometimes heartbreaking) storylines in her long-running comicstrip,”For Better or For Worse”!
Episode 36: Lynn Johnston on Blockhead! Need I say more? One of the greatest cartoonists of the last 50 years talks with Geoff about her life, career and her ground-breaking and beloved syndicated comicstrip, “For Better or For Worse”.
find “For Better or For Worse” at : http://www.fborfw.com
@Fborfw_official on Instagram
Episode 35: Part 2 of our interview with Brian Gordon, creator of the hilarious “Fowl Language”; comics to raise your kids by!
Episode 34: Brian Gordon, comedic mastermind behind the hilarious webcomic about ducks & parenting, “Fowl Language” is here to talk about his career, the greeting card industry and how great cartooning and foul language combined for success just when he needed it most!
Episode 33: Cartoonist Tim Jones of the successfulLay self-syndicated comicstrip, “Sour Grapes” (sourgrapescomic.com) is alive and well and here to talk about his work, “Peanuts”, comics, self-syndication, life-and yes-near-death encounters of the heart attack variety.
Episode 32: Rick Stromoski, Part 2! Cartoonist of the hilarious syndicated strip “Soup to Nutz”, Reuben-winner and former President of the National Cartoonist’s Society in a wide-ranging discussion about comics, newspapers, religion and -yes-“Peanuts”!
Episode 31: Rick Stromoski, cartoonist of the hilarious family strip, “Soup to Nutz” talks about his career as a freelancer, gag cartoonist, President of the National Cartoonist’s Society as well as the ups and downs of syndication and what he-and “Soup toNutz”-are up to now! Part 1 of a wide-ranging interview!
Episode 30; Snoopy; a Beagle of Mars , the newest “Peanuts “ graphic novel is out this week, just in time for the holidays! Author Jason Cooper is here to talk about the latest edition in the ongoing series of “Peanuts” graphic novels from BOOM studios and the Schulz Creative Associates team.
Episode 29: Tauhid Bondia, part 2! Our interview with the dynamite cartoonist of “Crabgrass” ,Tauhid Bondia, continues with talk about Peanuts, Charles Schulz and comics! What else?
Episode 28: Rising star Tauhid Bondia visits Blockhead to talk about his life, career, and his two great comicstrips on GoComics.com; the politically charged, “A Problem Like Jamal” and the new Instagram sensation, “Crabgrass”! (This episode is dedicated to the memory of Tom Spurgeon)
Episode 27: Michael Jantze, Part 2! More insightful comics talk with the “cartoonist’s cartoonist”! Michael talks about his journey, animation, comics online and more!
Episode 26: Michael Jantze, “The Norm”’s Creator/cartoonist extraordinaire is here to talk about his new collection; “The Norm 4.0”, self-publishing, lessons from Charles Schulz, great comicstrips of the past and more!
Episode 25: Brad Perri & I resume our discussion of “Peanuts”, The Beatles, comics and the kitchen sink as “Blockhead’s” first anniversary special continues!
Episode 24: Brad Perri, cartoonist of “Pirate Mike” on GoComics.com joins Geoff to celebrate “Blockhead”’s first anniversary in a special two-part episode! We talk Charles Schulz’s old neighborhood, Chris Ware, The Beatles, and everything “Peanuts”!
Episode23: “Peanuts “ graphic novel illustrator extraordinaire, Robert Pope, joins us for Part 2 of our fascinating discussion about Charles Schulz Peanuts, comics, and the challenge in bringing comics’ most-beloved characters to a new generation of readers in new stories and adaptations.
Episode 22: If Charles Schulz had an artistic doppelgänger, it might’ve been today’s guest, Robert Pope; illustrator of the recent graphic novel “Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!” and a host of “Peanuts”-themed books from Simon & Schuster!
Episode 21: Pat Sandy returns for part 2 of our discussion of his strip, “Next Door Neighbors” on GoComics.com! The conversation ranges wide but always circles back to Charles Schulz & “Peanuts”.
Episode 20: Welcome, Pat Sandy, cartoonist/creator of the hilarious comicstrip, “Next Door Neighbors” on GoComics.com! Pat discusses the evolution of “Neighbors”, Norm and his mom, Vera and her cats and then we talk shop; writing, making a living, fave comicstrips and of course, Charles Schulz and “Peanuts”! (part 1 of a two parter)
Episode 19: Ray Billingsley, creator and cartoonist of the syndicated comic strip, “Curtis”; Part 2. In this episode, Ray and I talk about everything from cooking to comics, with some great stories about Charles Schulz, Will Eisner and others!
Episode 18: This is a special one; the great Ray Billingsley, syndicated cartoonist and good friend of Charles Schulz stops by to talk about his life, career, friendship with Sparky, and best of all, his wonderful, long-running and much beloved comicstrip, “Curtis”!
Episode 17: Zed cartoonist & motivational speaker Duane Abel stops by to talk about comics, Charles Schulz, Peanuts, and defining success on your own terms.
Episode 16: Part 2 of my discussion with Ryan Flanders, former Design Director of MAD magazine! Grieving the loss of our usual gang of idiots? This episode will help you through the process!
Episode 15: MAD Magazine! Say it ain’t so! Is this really the end for our beloved “usual gang of idiots”? Former Design Director Ryan Flanders drops in to talk about MAD, it’s past, present and (hopefully) its future! Part 1 of a two-part marathon that touches on everything MAD!
Episode 14: Part 3 of my continuing conversation with Lex Fajardo, who by now could be considered co-host! There’s still more ground to cover, and here we talk about classic comics and their creators, but most importantly-about Lex’s work on the “Kid Beowulf” series of graphic novels, published by Andrews McMeel!
Episode 13(!): Part 2 of my marathon-length discussion with Eisner-winning Senior Editor at the Schulz Studio, Lex Fajardo! This is the big one, baby! This is what this podcast is all about!
Episode 12: Lex Fajardo, Senior Editor at the Schulz Studio in Santa Rosa, Ca. And cartoonist of Kid Beowulf(kidbeowulf.com) is here to go deep into Schulz territory! Part 1 of a great discussion about Blockhead’s favorite topic!
Episode 11: Part 2 of my discussion with Terri Libenson to talk about comics and motherhood, and Charles Schulz too! A little late for Mother’s Day, but still, every day should be Mother’s Day.
Episode 10: Reuben award-winning syndicated cartoonist Terri Libenson of The Pajama Diaries visits Blockhead to talk about cartooning, comics and her series of books for young readers; including her newest; “Just Jaime”, to be released May 7.
Episode 9: Steve Conley returns for part two of our marathon discussion about his Eisner-nominated webcomic, “The Middle Age”, Charles Schulz and cartooning. As a special added bonus; hear two old men complain about Twitter!
Episode 8: Steve Conley, webcomics pioneer and creator of the Eisner-nominated webcomic, “The Middle Age”, drops in to talk “Peanuts”, Small press comics history, his eye-popping work over 20 + years in comics and gender issues and the proper pronoun for use when addressing a talking sword.
Episode 7: Will Henry is Back! Join Will & I as we go deeper into his process, comics he loves , Wallace the Brave and Charles Schulz.
Episode 6: Will Henry Part 1! Will Henry of the syndicated comic strip, “Wallace the Brave” drops by to talk “Wallace”, comics, syndication, and of course, “Peanuts”, Snoopy, Woodstock, seagulls and Schulz!
Episode 5: Brad Perri Interview; Part 2! Host Geoff Grogan and cartoonist Brad Perri of “Pirate Mike” ( at GoComics.com)continue their epic conversation about all things comics, Schulz, “Peanuts”, Popeye, Pirates and even Plastic Babyheads!
Blockhead Episode 05_Brad Perri Interview part 2
Episode 4: Brad Perri Interview , Part 1; Brad Perri, cartoonist behind the cult fave comic strip, “Pirate Mike” at GoComics.com, , visits “Blockhead” to talk Charles Schulz, Peanuts, Popeye, comic strips past and present and the life of a 17th century pirate living in 21st century suburbia! Join host Geoff Grogan for a lively, entertaining conversation with Brad Perri
blockhead episode 04_brad perri interview
Episode 3: Get in the Spirit of the Season! Between 2 “Charlie Brown “ Holiday Specials ( “The Importance of Casting” or “How I learned to Love “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”)
In the gallery below are the 4 strips from 1956 referred to in episode 3, and published with “Developing a Comic Strip” by Charles Schulz; 1959 for Art Instruction, Inc.
Episode 01: A Halloween Special! Musings on the “Great Pumpkin” and tricks or treats!
Episode 00: An Introduction. What’s this podcast all about? Why should “Peanuts” fans listen? Hopefully, this little episode will answer your questions.
