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Back To Pop

Back to Pop Podcast: Your All-Access Pass to Pop Culture Icons

Dive headfirst into the vibrant world of pop culture with the “Back to Pop Podcast,” where we celebrate the legends and lore of the entertainment universe. From the visionaries behind the scenes to the iconic faces in front of the camera, we bring you exclusive, heart-to-heart conversations with the diverse talents that have shaped our cultural landscape.

 “Back to Pop” is not just a podcast; it’s a vibrant dialogue with the movers and shakers of music, movies, TV, and comics. Each episode is a unique journey, offering you a front-row seat to the untold stories, creative inspirations, and behind-the-scenes insights from your favorite pop culture personalities.

“Back to Pop” is where nostalgia meets novelty, where we reminisce about classic moments while exploring the latest trends that are defining the future of entertainment. It’s your chance to hear from the legends you admire and the rising stars you’re curious about, all in one place.

So, if you’re looking to get your pulse on pop culture’s past, present, and future, tune into “Back to Pop Podcast.” Be part of a community that thrives on the excitement, creativity, and passion that pop culture brings into our lives. Join us, and let’s celebrate the stories that connect us all.

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  • 22 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 1 hr 10 min
  • English

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  • #91
    Thursday · 1 hr 19 min

    Ep: 91 Silhouettes, Shadows & Legacy Characters — Mike Goguen on the Craft of Animation

    Send us Fan Mail Mike takes us behind the curtain on the creative process: how a character comes together, why silhouette and shape language matter more than people realize, and what it really means to inherit a character fans already love before you ever pick up a pencil. We dig deep into three animated milestones that still command cult followings , Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The Batman vs. Dracula, and Justice League: The New Frontier, talking about tone, atmosphere, and what it took to push animated storytelling into more cinematic territory. From there we travel through Eternia with He-Man, swing through the city with Spider-Man, and slow down for some comedy timing with Scooby-Doo and ALF (yes, there’s a story about a concerned grandmother). Mike closes out his animation career on an Emmy-nominated note with Kung Fu Panda, and shares what a surprising new chapter, acting, has taught him about performance from the other side of the frame. If you grew up with these characters, this is a conversation about the people who shaped how you saw them. 🎙️ New episodes every Thursday 🔗 backtopopmedia.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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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 show 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==

  • #90
    August 20 · 52 min

    EP: 90 “Finding Your Own Identity” with Kelly Slaughter

    Send us Fan Mail This week, Kelly Slaughter (aka “Slaughter Daughter”) joins Back to Pop for a raw, one-on-one conversation about discovering who you are when you grow up in someone else’s spotlight, and what it actually took to find her own. We talk childhood behind the curtain, the identity crisis nobody warns you about, her fitness transformation, and why she’s now dedicated to helping other women find their strength, inside the gym and out. This one’s less about the ring and more about the mirror. 🎧 New episode out now. 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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 show 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==

  • #89
    August 13 · 58 min

    EP: 89 Sugah, Politics, and Rogue: The Lenore Zann Story

    Send us Fan Mail Before streaming, before binge-watching, there was a voice you didn’t just recognize , you carried it with you. Beginning in 1992, Lenore Zann gave Rogue her unmistakable Southern charm, her strength, her vulnerability, and that unforgettable “sugah.” Decades later, she stepped back into the booth for X-Men ’97, introducing Rogue to a whole new generation. But Lenore’s story goes far beyond Xavier’s mansion. She’s played Marilyn Monroe on stage, served in elected office fighting for environmental justice and mental health awareness, returned to genre television in Syfy’s Revival, and poured her extraordinary life into her memoir, A Rogue’s Tale. In this episode, Lenore takes us from her earliest days on stage to the audition she almost didn’t take, the family atmosphere behind the original X-Men series, the complicated pull between Rogue and Gambit, and what it felt like coming back to a character who never really left her. We also dig into her path from voice actor to politician, the causes she carried into public office, and how it all connects to the woman fans have come to know as Rogue. 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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 show 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==

  • #88
    August 6 · 1 hr 21 min

    EP: 88 Comics, Cartoons, and the Courage to Start Over a conversation w/ Chuck Patton

    Send us Fan Mail In 1983, Chuck Patton became the first Black artist to draw Justice League of America, and helped build one of the most divisive, and now most re-examined, eras in the team’s history: Justice League Detroit. This week on Back to Pop, Chuck takes us from a kid in Detroit who wanted nothing but to draw comics, through Dick Giordano’s New Talent workshop, the fan backlash over Vibe and Gypsy, and the napkin story behind his Titans work with Marv Wolfman, all the way to the moment he walked away from comics entirely. He rebuilt a second career in animation, from Saturday morning staples like G.I. Joe to an Emmy for Spawn and one of his proudest credits, Dead Space: Downfall. We also talk about his late collaborator Gerry Conway, the co-creator of Justice League Detroit, and what it means to watch a generation of readers reconsider work that was once torn apart on arrival. To learn more about Chuck Patton and keep up with his work head over here: https://www.artofchuckpatton.com/ To follow Chuck Patton https://www.instagram.com/chuckpattonart?igsh=MWh3NTlkeGVranNwZg== 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • S2 · E87
    July 30 · 1 hr 33 min

    Ep: 87 Still Open: Comics Plus and the Man Who Never Left the Counter

    Send us Fan Mail Before the algorithm, there was a bell over the door. For us over at Back To Pop, that door belonged to Comics Plus in Macon, Georgia — and the man behind the counter, David Roland, is still there. This week, we sit down with David for a living-legacy conversation that pulls items out of a metaphorical time capsule: an old receipt from the shop’s earliest days, an ’80s comic with the price sticker still stuck on tight, a box of trading cards from the era when cards were “the gateway drug,” a foil-cover #1 from the wild speculation of the ’90s, and a pull list full of names who never missed a week. 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #86
    July 23 · 1 hr 23 min

    Ep: 86 Daniel Dockery on the Batman Book Thirty Years in the Making

    Send us Fan Mail Kevin 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 show 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==

  • #85
    July 16 · 1 hr 19 min

    Ep: 85 William McNamara: What Happened After the Credits And What's Happening

    Send us Fan Mail William 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 x X Audio composed and edited by Lauren M. Antoine Website: Composer Ron Wasserman Back To Pop https://lantoine2.wixsite.com/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • S2 · E84
    July 9 · 25 min

    EP: 84 Lance Guest: From 🎃 Halloween 2, The Last Starfighter to Jaws: The Revenge

    Send us Fan Mail Every 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #83
    July 2 · 55 min

    Ep: 83 Fearless Fred Kennedy on Comics, Broadcasting, and Making Stories That Refuse to Behave

    Send us Fan Mail Fred 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=aDlxYTZkemc0ZmY3 Mud79 Fan Made Star Wars Story: https://open.spotify.com/show/7APxLkXWfXhvv1hzdY5zMx?si=h3mIyK7JTNSTMtt 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #82
    June 25 · 58 min

    Ep: 82 Adam Cahoon on Horror Fandom, LitRPG Monsters, and Vault Comics

    Send us Fan Mail This 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 work Find 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #81
    June 18 · 1 hr 30 min

    Ep: 81 One Image, One Promise: Nick Marinkovich on Covers, Comics, and Dead Romans

    Send us Fan Mail Some 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=aWJzZ3g5NW52MjRh Including 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #80
    June 11 · 1 hr 14 min

    EP: 80 From Plastic to Narco: Doug Wagner & Daniel Hillyard on Building Something Strange

    Send us Fan Mail Writer 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_danielhillyard You 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • S2 · E79
    June 4 · 1 hr 4 min

    EP:79 “Art That Feels Like Something” — Suspiria Vilchez

    Send us Fan Mail This 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #78
    May 28 · 1 hr 14 min

    Ep: 78 Michael Tove: The Dream That Waited

    Send us Fan Mail What 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/QTNAGtQSWm4 And 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://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=MW1ndWE5c Support the show 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==

  • #77
    May 21 · 1 hr 30 min

    EP: 77 George Vega: The Kid Who Never Stopped Drawing

    Send us Fan Mail George 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

  • #76
    May 14 · 1 hr 22 min

    EP: 76. JP Mavinga: Drawing Worlds, Building Heroes, and the Art Behind White Sky

    Send us Fan Mail JP 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://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 show 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==

  • #75
    May 7 · 1 hr 8 min

    Ep: 75 Rick Burchett — The Artist Who Made Batman Move

    Send us Fan Mail If 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://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 show 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==

  • #74
    April 16 · 1 hr 9 min

    Ep: 74 Dancing Between the Raindrops with Nelson Aspen

    Send us Fan Mail He’s covered the Oscars, the Golden Globes, and decades of Hollywood from the red carpet out. Now Nelson Aspen is turning the lens on himself. Nelson joins Back to Pop to talk about Dancing Between the Raindrops: Happily Ever After? — the final chapter in his trilogy blending romance, identity, and the unfiltered realities behind the spotlight. It’s a book that feels lived-in, because it is. We dig into reinvention in middle age, the tension between wanting intimacy and settling for availability, what it means to start over in New York City, and whether “happily ever after” is something we’re taught — or something we have to redefine on our own terms. This one goes deep. And it earns it. Dancing Between the Raindrops: Happily Ever After? The Magnificent Mr. &Mrs. Maple are available now. All things Nelson can be found at the link below. http://nelsonaspen.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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://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=MW1ndWE5cHhz Support the show 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==

  • #73
    April 9 · 1 hr 22 min

    EP: 73  “Bob Budiansky on Building the Original Transformers Mythology”

    Send us Fan Mail He named 200 characters like Megatron, Starscream, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Prowl, and more . He wrote the character bibles that turned a line of Japanese toys into one of the most beloved franchises in pop culture history — and most people have never heard his name. Bob Budiansky spent 20 years at Marvel Comics as an editor, writer, and penciller. He drew Ghost Rider covers for five years, co-plotted the conclusion of the original Johnny Blaze run, and wrote The Transformers from issue #5 through #55 — crafting the personalities, the mythology, and the names behind roughly 250 characters over six years. Then he walked away from licensed properties and built something entirely his own: Sleepwalker, a wildly original Marvel series about an otherworldly guardian who battles nightmares bleeding into the real world — which he wrote for all 33 issues. In this conversation, Bob takes us behind the curtain on all of it: how the Transformers assignment landed on his desk over Thanksgiving with a week’s deadline, what it felt like to realize he was building the foundation of a global franchise, and why he didn’t fully grasp what he’d created until he googled his own name in the 90s. This one’s for every kid who ever picked up a Transformer and wondered where it came from. Back to Pop drops every Thursday. Subscribe wherever you listen. 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://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=MW1ndWE5 Support the show 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==

  • #72
    April 2 · 52 min

    EP: 72 Jeremy Robinson: Blood, Butterflies, and Building an Empire

    Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Robinson has written nearly 100 novels. He’s a #1 Audible and New York Times bestselling author published in 14 languages. His kaiju series Project Nemesis is in development at Sony Pictures Television with John Wick director Chad Stahelski. And now he’s back where he started — in comics. But he’s not adapting his novels. He’s creating something new. Nectar, the debut title from Robinson’s own Breakneck Comics imprint at Vault Comics, is a 19th-century gothic folk horror story set in 1837 on Misery Island — a cold, isolated stretch of land off the coast of Salem, Massachusetts. Its monster: blood-drinking butterflies carrying the Dancing Plague. The goal was to build something that could stand alongside Dracula and Frankenstein. From the early reviews, they may have pulled it off. In this episode, Jeremy Robinson traces the full arc — from Beverly, Massachusetts kid raised on science fiction and seacoast exploration, to comic book illustrator, to screenwriter, to genre fiction empire builder. We talk about the leap from drawing panels to filling them with story, the architecture of a shared universe, what it means to run your own imprint, and how an idea that arrived in minutes with his wife Hilaree became the horror comic readers are already hunting on the secondary market. This is the origin story. And the monster story. And the business story. Let’s go. Find out more here! https://www.breakneckcomics.com/ Follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jrobinsonauthor?igsh=MXE2NjVpdjU3YW1mYw== 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/portfolio Instagram/ https://www.instagram.com/backtopopmedia?igsh=MTd0dGNid2hjdWd5cA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.instagram.com/4ronwasserman?igsh=MTR6ZGZ5dXJzYXN3eQ== Support the show 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==

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