Comic Book Couples Counseling
An interview from the road...
We’re back at the Superan Podcast HQ, interviewing the folks who usually do the interviews! We started with the AIPT double shot, which was super fun. Joining us this week are Brad and Lisa Gullickson from the amazing podcast Comic Book Couples Counseling! These fine folks also hold a special place in our hearts, as they attended our soft launch at WonderCon this year and have given us all sorts of amazing advice on podcasting. Here we go!
SPFP: Let's talk about your secret origin. What was the first comic you read? Set the scene for us. What year was it? How old were you?
Brad: I entered my first shop (Joe Gumbinger's Used Books and Comics in Burke, Virginia - R.I.P.) when I was ten, having just moved across the country from San Diego in 1990. I was a TV/movie kid, so my first comics were G.I. Joe #103 and Marvel's Robocop 2 adaptation. On my next trip, I discovered Spider-Man. Nothing was ever the same.
Lisa: I didn't start reading staple comics until college, but comic strips - which we called "the funnies" in our house - were a huge part of my childhood. We always subscribed to the Washington Post, which had a robust daily Comics section with color on Sunday, and we passed those pages around the breakfast table faithfully. The most nostalgic sound is my dad's finger enthusiastically hitting the newsprint as he points out a particularly hilarious strip. Our little orange bookshelf was piled with collected volumes of Garfield, The Far Side, and Calvin & Hobbes. Our nightly ritual was mom reading one Bible story and one book of our choosing, and these volumes were frequent requests.
SPFP: What was the comic, writer, or artist that hooked you on comics? Why did you become a comics Superfan?
Lisa: Can Brad Gullickson be my answer?
Brad: Heh. Yes!
Lisa: I had read some staple comics and graphic novels before Brad, but not a ton - Sandman, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns... all stuff another comic book nerd I had dated gave me, who was less in tune with my taste and comics-reading level. They're great, classics even, but not beginner-friendly. Brad got me, though - he figured out that I liked romance and melodrama and handed me Bendis and Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man, and I was hooked.
Brad: As I said, Larry Hama and Spider-Man were my gateway, but the founding of Image Comics sealed the deal. Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld - these were my heroes. After the speculation bust, I faded from comics during high school. It wasn't until college that I found Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and Others by Mike Mignola, and I got dragged back into the medium and back into comic shops. I've had a box at Big Planet Comics in Vienna, Virginia, for the last twenty years. Rarely do I miss a Wednesday.
SPFP: When did you start covering comics? What, pray tell, was your motivation?
Lisa: What would we qualify as covering comics? Brad and I had a podcast (In The Mouth of Dorkness) with two friends before Comic Book Couples Counseling, where we would mostly talk about movies, but occasionally, we'd bring up comics, and we would cover San Diego Comic-Con and whatnot. We eventually wanted to Frasier-off and start our own podcast that captured our enthusiasm for comics specifically, and Comic Book Couples Counseling was born.
SPFP: When did you feel that you "made it" in comics?
Brad: I'm not sure we'd say we've made it in comics.
Lisa: No.
Brad: Comic Book Couples Counseling brings in a little money, but not enough to live on. I doubt it ever will. Last year, we wrote two very short comics that will appear in two anthologies this year, Pots and Panels: A Comic Cook Book and This Ink Runs Cold: Short Stories from the Space-Crime Continuum. We would very much like to make more comics. We would even like to be paid for those comics.
We do Comic Book Couples Counseling because we love it. I can't imagine life without it. Our listeners keep us going, but so does our passion for the medium. We love comics. We want more people to love comics. There is no other art form like it, and we're constantly surprised by what other creators have to show us about ourselves through their art.
SPFP: Is there a career highlight you are especially proud of? Like the equivalent of the math test you aced that your mom hung on the fridge?
Lisa: I have personal highlights, but one that my mom would be especially proud of is a whole ‘nother can of worms! My family knows nothing about comics and mostly doesn't understand exactly what we are doing with Comic Book Couples Counseling, but they understood that when we were invited to host The Harvey Awards at New York Comic Con, we must be getting somewhere. They even tried to brag about us to their friends, who also know nothing about comics!
Brad: It's hard to top the Harvey Awards, but we just got an email from a creator saying that our conversation with them was the best podcast they've ever done. And that's not the first time we've gotten an email like that. The podcast itself is the ultimate highlight in a career of loving comics.
SPFP: Is there a whale you are chasing for an interview?
Lisa: Easy. Alan Moore. Will never happen.
Brad: I dunno. I've learned never to say never. Grant Morrison has done Comic Book Couples Counseling. I certainly could not have imagined that five years ago. Todd McFarlane has appeared multiple times. That's crazy. Let's get Jim Lee on, please. How about Mike Mignola?
They made me the comic book lover I am. Raina Telgemeir and Scott McCloud published one of the year's best books in The Cartoonists Club. I want to talk to them desperately. There are so many people making great comics. I want to speak with all of them.
SPFP: Do you read comics websites? Do you listen to comics podcasts? Which ones are doing the work?
Brad: I listen to a lot, and we're friends with many of them. I never miss an episode of David Harper's Off Panel, and we subscribe to SKTCHD. I also never miss the AiPT Podcast with David Brooke and friends. I consider The Oblivion Bar, The Comics Collective, The Short Box, The Geekly Grind, and Comic Book Keepers to be sibling shows, as we basically started around the same time. I may not read every Spider-Man comic anymore, but I always tune into Amazing Spider-Talk with Dan Gvozden and Mark Ginocchio. Even if I'm not loving the comics, I love their conversation about them. And everyone who loves comics reads The Beat, right? They're up for an Eisner this year, and I hope Heidi MacDonald takes it home.
Lisa: I love what Tiffany Babb is doing with The Comics Courier - making comics criticism physical again by putting it on newsprint. That's rad.
SPFP: Would you recommend that more people get into comics journalism as a profession? If so, what would you say the first step would be? If not, why?
Lisa: I would recommend that anyone who wants to do a thing should do that thing and see what happens. If it's a comics podcast, make a comics podcast. If it's writing comic book articles, reach out to sites and do some pitches. If it's to have a site of your own, develop a domain and get one. The first step is to get in touch with who you are and what interests you about comics in the most specific way, and feature that in your project. We're all reading the same books – but you're the only one talking about them from your perspective.
SPFP: What cocktail, mocktail, or dessert would you pair with your site?
Lisa: For the cocktail, it has to be something sweet, on the edge of cloying. It's the kind of sweet that snobby cocktail people will disrespect you a little for ordering it, but not showy like something with umbrellas or a skewer of cheesecake sticking out. An amaretto sour, maybe? With no cherries for Brad and extra cherries for me. Or I'll just take Brad's cherry - like I did in 2007! Hey-ooooooo!!
Brad: Hey!
Lisa: For dessert, something with layers, which you can dig down into - like a trifle - with lots of different flavors and textures.
You can find Brad and Lisa at HeroesCon this weekend in Charlotte, NC! Only these two would start the seven-hour journey there at 4:30 p.m., right before the show begins! Also, make sure to follow them on their various social media channels to keep up to date on podcast episodes and where they will be next!
A reminder that the Superfan Podcast hasn’t launched yet, but will soon in the coming weeks! You can find us on the socials at Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook, and X! Soon, you’ll be able to see podcast clips on our YouTube channel as well. Follow it now so you don’t miss out. Please be sure to like, share, and subscribe!
Special thanks to our Season One sponsor, the amazing Fanbase Press! Fanbase Press is a GLAAD Media Award-winning and Eisner and Harvey Awards-nominated comic book publisher that celebrates super fandoms and creates new ones! #StoriesMatter.
