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Send us Fan MailKevin Conroy sat in a recording booth for thirty years playing a man who wore two faces,  and somewhere along the way, that dual identity became personal. Before he ever put on the cowl, Bruce Timm was just a burned-out animator tired of being told kids’ cartoons couldn’t be art. And a Warner Bros. executive gambled the whole look of Gotham City on painting black backgrounds onto cels instead of the other way around. None of it should have worked. All of it did.This week, Daniel Dockery joins Back to Pop to talk about I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series (St. Martin’s Press, out September 1, 2026) — his deeply reported new book built on exclusive interviews with the writers, animators, and voice actors who turned a merchandising afterthought into the show many still call the best Batman has ever been on screen.We go deep on the creative team,  Timm, Eric Radomski, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and the fights they had with the network over things as small as a recycling bin in the Batcave. We talk about Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, thirty years of partnership, and what it meant when Hamill said there wasn’t a Joker for him without his Batman. We get into Harley Quinn’s improbable survival past a single episode, the reinvention of Mr. Freeze in “Heart of Ice,” and why, unlike almost everything else from the ’90s, this show has never had its backlash moment.Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer at Crunchyroll and the author of Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All. His new book hits shelves September 1, 2026.I Am the Night is available for preorder now wherever books are sold. Get your copy here. 🔗 https://www.danieldockery.com/🔗 https://www.instagram.com/thedanieldockery?igsh=MTNqcGpoZWN6YTNhZg==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailWilliam McNamara joins Back to Pop for an honest conversation about the life that unfolded beyond the movie screen.Known for memorable performances in Dream a Little Dream, Surviving the Game, Copycat, Chasers, and numerous television appearances, William reflects on navigating fame, typecasting, addiction, sobriety, and eventually stepping away from Hollywood’s expectations.He also opens up about the deeply personal inspiration behind The Trouble With Billy, his commitment to animal rescue and activism, and how life experience has changed the way he approaches acting, filmmaking, and storytelling.This is more than a conversation about a career. It is a story of recovery, purpose, second chances, and finally taking ownership of your own narrative.Join us as we look back through the eyes of someone who was there, and discover what happened after the credits rolled.Support a great cause. https://eastwoodranch.org/Catch William’s new project here, https://thetroublewithbillyseries.com/Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman xXAudio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailEvery generation has a movie that finds them at exactly the right age. For a lot of us, that movie was The Last Starfighter — and at the center of it was Lance Guest, who turned Alex Rogan into one of the most quietly beloved heroes of ’80s sci-fi.This week, Lance joins Back to Pop for a candid conversation spanning his career — from playing Jimmy opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween II, to stepping into the Brody family legacy in Jaws: The Revenge alongside Michael Caine and Mario Van Peebles, to his Broadway and Off-Broadway run as Johnny Cash in Million Dollar Quartet.Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailFred Kennedy — writer, broadcaster, and professional chaos agent known to most of the world as Fearless Fred- sits down with Back to Pop to talk about making comics that absolutely refuse to stay in one genre.Fred is the writer behind Dead Romans, a six-issue historical epic from Image Comics' Shadowline that follows Arminius, a Germanic prince raised as a Roman hostage who used his military training to orchestrate one of the most devastating ambushes in ancient history,  the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, 9 AD. He’s also the writer of The Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre, a four-issue action-comedy from Mad Cave Studios that sold out its first printing before most people even knew what hit them. And he’s the creator, writer, and voice of Mud79,  a fully produced Star Wars audio drama that takes the galaxy far, far away and runs it straight through Platoon.Fred grew up in Belgium surrounded by real Roman ruins, built a career in Canadian radio and television, and has spent the last several years making comics that swing from historically rigorous to completely unhinged — sometimes in the same sentence. We talk about where history obsession comes from, how broadcast timing shapes the way you write a page, what it means to collaborate with an artist versus just handing them a script, and why the ordinary people caught in the machine are almost always more interesting than the chosen ones.Also: the hippos. We definitely talk about the hippos. For more on the fearless one. Click here:  https://q107.com/show/fearless-fred/     https://www.instagram.com/fearless_fred?igsh=aDlxYTZkemc0ZmY3Mud79 Fan Made Star Wars Story: https://open.spotify.com/show/7APxLkXWfXhvv1hzdY5zMx?si=h3mIyK7JTNSTMttTheme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailThis week on Back to Pop, we sit down with Adam Cahoon — artist, designer, and Senior Designer & former Production Lead at Vault Comics. Adam stepped into The Nasty, Vault’s horror-comedy about VHS culture and the “video nasties” moral panic in 1990s Scotland, taking over as sole interior artist from issue #3. He’s also the designer behind the premium hardcover edition of He Who Fights With Monsters and the cover of The Two Week Curse (Book 1 of The Ten Realms), and the artist/co-creator of Greetings from the Maglev, a post-apocalyptic revenge story from Invader Comics.We dig into what day to day, the invisible design choices that make a comic feel like an object instead of just printed pages, and how Adam built the “1950s title card” energy into the He Who Fights With Monsters typography. We also get into horror fandom, the challenge of stepping into a world someone else built, and the quiet, personal comics Adam’s been building on the side — superhero spas, cosmic consequences, and family mistakes.In this episode:•Designing The Nasty and taking over from original artist George Kambadais•Inside the cover and hardcover design of He Who Fights With Monsters•Building a cover for LitRPG/portal fantasy with The Two Week Curse•Greetings from the Maglev and the pull of personal, self-owned work•What makes a comic book logo actually workFind Adam:🌐 https://adamcahoon.com📷 Instagram: https://instagram.com/adamccahoon🛒 Greetings from the Maglev Vol. 2: https://invadercomics.com🎙️ Back to Pop — the podcast that looks back through the eyes of those who were there.Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailSome covers don’t ask you to pick them up — they grab you by the collar.That’s exactly what happened with Honor and Curse from Mad Cave Studios. One look at the cover and the search was on: who made this?This week on Back to Pop, we sit down with the artist behind that image — Nick Marinkovich, Canadian comic artist, illustrator, concept artist, and co-creator of Dead Romans (Image Comics Shadowline). Nick’s work carries grit, atmosphere, and cinematic weight — the kind of art that makes a panel feel like it has history behind it.We talk about what makes a cover stop a reader cold, how a visual style gets built over years of sketchbooks and false starts, the discipline behind sequential storytelling, and what it really means to co-create a world from the ground up alongside a writer. Nick also opens up about process, pressure, deadlines, and the influences — comics and otherwise — that shaped how he sees light, composition, and motion.If you’ve ever picked up a book purely because the cover wouldn’t let you put it down, this one’s for you.Find Nick’s work: https://nickmarinkovich.com/Follow Nick here:  https://www.instagram.com/nick.marinkovich?igsh=aWJzZ3g5NW52MjRhIncluding Dead Romans and his cover art for Honor and Curse, and keep supporting the artists making comics feel alive before you even turn the first page.Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailWriter Doug Wagner returns to Back to Pop  and this time, he brings his artistic partner in crime with him.Daniel Hillyard joins the conversation for a wide-ranging discussion on what it looks like when a creative partnership builds its own corner of the comics world, strange, violent, funny, and more emotionally honest than it has any right to be.Together, they’ve made Plastic, Vinyl, Plush, and I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer. Now there’s Narco. And the work keeps getting bolder.Marc, Doug, and Daniel dig into the DNA of their collaboration how they balance horror and humor, what makes a damaged character feel real inside an absurd premise, and why the strangest stories often carry the most human weight.If you’ve been reading these books, this one’s for you. If you haven’t, this is a great place to start.You can connect with Daniel here https://www.12gaugecomics.com/creator_danielhillyardYou can can connect with Doug here https://shocknoggin.com/about Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailThis week on Back to Pop, Marc is joined by cover and variant artist Suspiria Vilchez — a Barcelona-born, Toronto-based painter whose hand-crafted acrylic technique sets her apart in today’s comics industry. Her work has appeared across Vault Comics,  BOOM Studios, IDW, Image, Penthouse Comics, and Sumerian Comics, with credits including Nectar,  Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dune, and G.I. Joe. In this conversation, Suspiria talks about her artistic upbringing in Spain, the European comics and fashion worlds that shaped her perspective, finding her visual voice, and the turning point that launched her career in American comics. A conversation about craft, identity, and what it takes to create art that truly stops you cold.For all things Suspiria head here: https://suspirialand.com/Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when the dream doesn’t die — it just waits?Michael Tove spent decades in North Carolina as a regional actor, film extra, and financial adviser. His first screen credit goes back to 1990, when he worked as an extra on the theatrical adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale — shot right in his home state. He carried a screenplay called Hot Ice for nearly thirty years. He never stopped.Now, well past his 70th birthday, Tove is a debut screenwriter whose short film Yard Saleing — a Hitchcockian thriller about a yard sale, a locked box, and a decades-old jewelry heist — is making serious noise on the festival circuit. The film stars Eric Roberts and Eliza Roberts, and was directed by Tom Logan, veteran acting coach and former head of the acting department at the American Film Institute. Tove wrote it, and produced it. There is no expiration date on your dreams. Michael Tove is living proof. If you would like to see Yard Sailing watch it here https://youtu.be/QTNAGtQSWm4And for all things Mike Tove click here https://www.emeraldoakproductions.com/Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Ever had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you! https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cSupport the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailGeorge Vega grew up in Newark, New Jersey watching Voltron and filling sketchbooks with Jim Lee panels. Today he’s doing G.I. Joe cover work through Skybound and his art has appeared across Marvel, DC, Alien, Firefly, and Rick and Morty. In this conversation, George talks about the artists who shaped him — Jim Lee, Brom, Todd McFarlane, Larry Elmore — and what he actually took from each of them. We get into his process, his discipline philosophy, what it means to capture what makes a character unique, and why showing up anyway is the only real answer to artist’s block. If you grew up on trading cards, action figures, and Saturday morning cartoons, this one hits different.To connect more with what George has going on click here https://www.georgevegaart.com/Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailJP Mavinga has spent over twenty-five years building one of the most distinctive careers in illustration and comics — born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, trained at SCAD, and forged across three continents before landing as a senior concept designer and art director at Sideshow Collectibles, where his work on the Thanos on Throne maquette set sales records.In this episode, JP joins Back to Pop to talk craft, identity, and his debut Image Comics series White Sky written by William Harms, colored by Lee Loughridge, and already on its third printing. The conversation covers his multicultural journey and how it shaped his visual voice, his years designing iconic collector pieces for DC, Marvel, and beyond, and the process behind building every page of White Sky  a post-apocalyptic survival story about a father and daughter crossing a haunted America. JP also gets into the tools he uses, how he draws emotion without dialogue, and what twenty-five years in this industry has taught him about staying in it.Find out more about JP at mavinga.com.Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Ever had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you! https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==

Send us Fan MailIf you grew up reading The Batman Adventures, Batman: Gotham Adventures, or Superman Adventures, Rick Burchett’s work shaped how you see those characters. His pages don’t just look good — they move, they breathe, they act.In this episode, we sit down with Rick to talk about how a commercial art background at a St. Louis ad agency quietly became one of the best training grounds for comics storytelling, why the animated Batman books weren’t just tie-ins but a genuine artistic statement, and what it actually takes to sustain a career in comics across decades without losing your voice.Rick breaks down what he’s really chasing when he builds a page, how he shifted gears between Batman’s tension and Superman’s optimism without losing himself, and why clarity and restraint — not flash — are the rarest skills in the medium.This one’s for the fans who wore out those pages. And for anyone who ever wondered what makes a comic actually work.Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolioInstagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ==Ever had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you! https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==Support the showEver had an idea for an action figure, or maybe you just wish one had been made? Well at Lecroy Toys you don't have to wait anymore, head over and tell Matthew we sent you!  https://www.instagram.com/lecroystoys?igsh=MW1ndWE5cHhzaGQ3dw==