The Hall H Show
Michael Dooley @ SDCC 2019
Michael Dooley @ SDCC 2019
Aaron Nabus: For episode 77, we feature Michael Dooley, a Los Angeles, CA based graphic designer (former Creative Director for the L.A Times), author, educator (History of Design, Comics, and Animation at Art Center College of Design and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles) and Contributing Editor at Print.
Recorded at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, I couldn’t have asked for a better first podcast guest at this year’s SDCC, which celebrated it’s 50th anniversary!
Having attended Comic-Con when it was still at the El Cortez, Michael, who was born in New York, moved his young family in the 1970’s westward and fell in love with Los Angeles and of course the multitude of comic conventions that southern California has to offer.
I enjoyed our conversation where he talked about his love for Harvey Kurtzman, underground comics and his journey from reading comics to his younger brother to teaching about comics to art and graphic design students.
Along the way, he also became a book author (The Education of a Comics Artist ) and Contributing Editor to Print, with numerous articles to his name. Some of which we discuss on this podcast (such as his article on Anthony Bourdain’s graphic novel, Hungry Ghosts, published by Berger Books).
Our conversation went on for almost two hours and I think we could have easily talked for two more since Michael has such a thorough understanding of the intersection of art, design, pop culture and of course, comic books and can earnestly articulate its importance. Enjoy!
Comic Book Historians
Interview with Michael Dooley
Co-hosts Alex Grand and Jim Thompson interview Michael Dooley, Adjunct Professor of Comics and Animation History at Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design and Print Magazine Contributing Editor for the past 20 years.
Born in 1948, he discusses his youth as a New Yorker, reading Mad Comics and following the careers of Harvey Kurtzman and his disciples, Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman. He earned his Design Degree at Pratt, entered his feld of graphic design, and launched a career teaching Comic Art history as well as curating Museum exhibits on the topic. He was involved with Comic Fandom in the ’80s, contributing to The Comics Journal.
In this episode he covers a variety of topics, including Kurtzman, Steranko, Sienkiewicz, magazine cartoons, editorial cartoons, political comics, comic strips, adventure comics, alternative comics, graphic novels, and the profession and business of Comics. He also discusses his ArtCenter lectures, which include guests like Howard Chaykin and Bill Sienkiewicz, as well as an updating of his 2005 book, The Education of a Comics Artist. Plus, he recommends great comic academic sources like the Comic Book Historians podcast and YouTube channel videos, wink wink ;).