Comics Alternative Interviews: Dash Shaw - a podcast by Stergios Botzakis & Derek Royal

Time Codes:

• 00:00:24 - Introduction
• 00:02:13 - Setup of interview
• 00:03:30 - Interview with Dash Shaw
• 01:02:39 - Wrap up
• 01:03:52 - Contact us

On this interview episode, Derek talks with Dash Shaw about his latest book, Cosplayers (Fantagraphics). This "Perfect Collection," as it is called, brings together the Cosplayers stories that were previously released in the two earlier comic-book issues from April and July 2014, as well as the story that appeared in the 2015 Free Comic Book Day release of Hip Hop Family Tree Three-in-One. (The guys reviewed Cosplayers #1 in Episode 83.) However, as Dash points out, this isn't a mere repackaging of his earlier Cosplayers comics. The book not only includes brand new material, but it also reworks some of the visuals from the original stories. A telling example of this can be found in some of the book's collage art, where Dash takes the covers and some of the interior pages from the earlier comics, cuts them up, and re-presents them in collage form...much like his protagonists, Annie and Verti, do with their comic books in the story "Escape from Nostalgia World."

Derek talks with Dash about his curious stylistic choices for this new work, as well as his experimental use of colors in earlier books such as Doctors and New School. But they also discuss some of Dash's other projects, such as his work in animation. His feature-length directorial debut, My Entire High School is Sinking Into the Sea, a film based on an earlier short story, will be premiering at next week's Toronto International Film Festival. Also, Dash reveals that he may not yet be done with Cosplayers, referencing the new story appearing in the summer 2016 issue of Smoke Signal and the upcoming one-shot A Cosplayers Christmas. All in all, this is a fascinating interview, and one that underscores why Dash is one of the few artists the Two Guys have featured in a Creator Spotlight episode.

See what's up with Dash on his Tumblr site!

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