My guest this episode is someone you know even though you don’t know you know him — because, among many others things, Chris Kalb, artist, art director, and pulp magazine maven, designed the podcast icon for Eating the Fantastic, so you met him when you clicked on that flying saucer hoovering up a donut, burger, and chicken leg with its tractor beam. He’s also designed covers for two of my short story collections — the horror collection These Words are Haunted, and my recent science fiction one, 101 Things to Do Before You’re Downloaded.

But Chris is a lot more than the projects he was willing to tackle for me. He’s a Charles M. Schulz Award-winning cartoonist and designer whose work has appeared in books and magazines, on TV and online, and in educational content for the last 35 years. His illustrations have appeared in such books such as ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics, Cooking Rocks: Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids, and He Loved Me, He Loves Me Not. That last title, written by comedienne Lynn Harris, spawned the relationship super-hero Breakup Girl, whose subsequent internet advice column and web-comic (one of the first!) were adapted for TV by Oxygen when they launched in 2000.

From 2001-2008, Chris was the designer of the Syfy Channel magazine during the station’s peak period. For the last 13 years, Chris has been using all of his combined talents in storytelling, art, design and coding to craft innovative classroom experiences for Amplify Education, a pioneer in digital curriculum.

Chris has also been a life-long fan of pulp characters such Doc Savage, The Spider, Operator #5, and G-8 and His Battle Aces. Beginning in 2007, he has been able to give back to pulp fandom as the art director and publisher of Age of Aces Books, reprinting the very best in aviation pulp fiction from titles like Daredevil Aces, Sky Birds, Wings, and Flying Aces.

We discussed the comic book company and superheroes he and his brother created when they were just kids, why he once thought Chris Ware was his nemesis, the Batman comic which influenced him the most, how his father caused him to fall in love with Doc Savage, the secret origin of his romantic advice superheroine Breakup Girl, the sophistication  of pulp era writing, one theory as to why Doc Savage never made it as a successful comic book series, the college comic strip which won him a Charles M. Schulz Award, the problem the slabbing of pulps has caused within the collecting community, the pulp premium so rare none may have survived, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us at Veselka —

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts — or wherever you choose to consume your podcasts — where I hope you’ll be tempted to sample a few of the 274 previous episodes.

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3) Or simply use the embed below.

Here’s what you would have seen us nibbling had you been with us at Veselka —

Eight Pierogi with Seven Fillings
potato; braised beef short rib; cheese; sauerkraut & mushroom;
bacon, egg & cheese; arugula & goat cheese; chicken & vegetable
served with sides of apple sauce, sour cream,
caramelized onions, grilled kielbasa & bacon

Ukranian Meatballs
beef and pork meatballs served with
mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy

Yule Log
chocolate hazelnut mousse rolled between a layer of
rich chocolate sponge and topped with chocolate buttercream

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support my mission of breaking bread with creators of the fantastic while letting you eavesdrop, there are several ways you can help bring this podcast to the attention of potential new listeners looking for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comics ear candy —

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Coming up next on the podcast, you’ll be able to have lunch with editor and publisher Liz Gorinsky, where you’ll hear us discuss how books are made better, how best to move through the community we share, comics, LARPing, immersive theater, and much more.

Thanks for listening!