As 2014 draws to a close ROBOT 6 is gearing up for its annual takeover of the Comic Book Resources home page on Jan. 1 to celebrate our anniversary. However, we're getting a little bit of a head start with one of our annual features, "Looking Forward, Looking Back," in which we ask creators and other comics industry figures what they liked in 2014, what they're looking forward to in 2015 and what projects they have planned for the next 12 months.

In this installment you'll hear from Corinna Bechko, Al Ewing, Matthew Petz, Alison Sampson, Christopher Golden, Ross Campbell, Jen Van Meter, Enrica Jang, Seth Kushner, Jane Irwin, Judith Stephens! Then come back later Thursday to see what even more creators have to share as part of our anniversary celebration.


Corinna Bechko

Star Wars: Legacy, Deep Gravity, Sensation Comics, Invisible Republic

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Google +



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

I loved Beautiful Darkness by Fabian Vehlmann and Kerascoet. What an amazingly lovely and disturbing book! I would have said Kinski, by Gabriel Hardman, but it's probably not right to mention something made by a family member [Hardman is her spouse as well as frequent collaborator]. Still, Kinski was my absolute favorite book this year.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I'm looking forward to Emerald City, the big con held in Seattle in the spring. It's consistently one of the best conventions of the year.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

Invisible Republic, the science fiction ongoing that Gabriel Hardman and I have been working on, with colors by Jordan Boyd, will be out from Image in March. Gabriel and I have been excited about telling this story for a while now and I'm thrilled that people will finally get to read it this year!




Al Ewing

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor, Avengers: Ultron Forever, Captain America & the Mighty Avengers, Loki: Agent of Asgard

Twitter | Tumblr



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

This is a tough choice in a world of Multiversities and Annihilators and Sex Criminalses, but the comic I keep coming back to, day in, day out, without fail, is John Allison's Bad Machinery -- or Scary Go Round, as it's gone back to. (Or maybe Bobbins. Who can say? It's all one comic, anyway.) Expecting to Fly, his prequel to the whole 10-year-plus shebang, was the cherry on an always-perfect sundae of comics greatness, and I heartily recommend his work to anyone.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I think the thing I'm most excited about is Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro. The first issue was phenomenal -- frankly, if you didn't pick it up then you missed out on one of the comics of the year - and I can't wait to see more where that came from in 2015.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

There's a lot of stuff I'm excited about that I can't talk about, so I'll probably pick the ongoing saga of Loki, which is going to get into some very cool places in the coming year. Pretty much every issue from #10 onwards is going to hit harder than the one before, until our readers basically explode. So it'll be that ... or the Avengers: Ultron Forever trilogy with Alan Davis, which will probably have a similar effect. 2015 is going to be a good year for exploding readers.


Matthew Petz

War of the Woods

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

This is almost impossible to pin down, but I think I’ll go with Moon Knight. Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvie and Jordie Bellaire killed it on that book. The art especially was a highlight for me. I think Declan's ink washes took his art to a new level. The end product still felt like a “mainstream super-hero” book … but with the heart of of its creators intact. Rare to see nowadays.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I think Archie Comics? I can’t believe I wrote that. I have almost no knowledge of anything Archie … I barely know what a Jughead is. But Mark Waid and Fiona Staples on Archie feels game-changing.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

I’m working on Season 3 of War of the Woods. It’ll be three installments. I'm finishing Part 1 now. It’s a 20-page spread of one continuous battle. It’s insane. Here’s a sneak of the first 10 pages laid out on my apartment floor!




Alison Sampson

Genesis, Winnebago Graveyard

Website | Twitter | Tumblr



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

Southern Bastards by Jason Latour and Jason Aaron. Their use of place in the work is second to none.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

Whatever Breakdown Press have up their sleeves for this next year. I have a feeling that there is an unpublished surge of material I like coming along, from all angles of comics publishing (as publishers become more confident a diverse output works financially), and Breakdown Press' work is part of this. I want to be challenged in my visual reading. Gardens of Glass, Treasure Island and Ryan Holmberg's translated books do this.

Another couple of things: the as-yet-unpublished work of Emma Rios and Nate Powell. Interesting, personal, political stories from artists who are always upping their game and getting better at what they do. Both of these people have been very supportive to me. I've seen a little of Emma's work and I can't wait for it to get out into the public space.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

I'm drawing a book written by Steve Niles, called Winnebago Graveyard. I don't want to say more, except to say it's a fun story and we'll announce the publisher in due course.




Christopher Golden

Baltimore: The Wolf and the Apostle, Baltimore: The Cult of the Red King

Website | Twitter



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

It's a tie between Letter 44 from Oni and Trees from Image. Both fantastic books! They remind me what I love about comics.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

Hands down, it'll be Frankenstein Underground from Mike Mignola and my former Baltimore partner, Ben Stenbeck. Seriously, how can anyone not want to read this comic? Frankenstein. Mignola. Stenbeck.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

Baltimore: The Cult of the Red King is the most ambitious thing we've done in the series, and the story in which we pull back the curtain on where we've been headed all along. In addition, there's the Secret Project that Mignola and I are doing for Dark Horse. But of course, it being a Secret Project, I can't actually name it yet.


Ross Campbell

Wet Moon, Shadoweyes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Jem & the Holograms

WebsiteDeviantArt | Twitter Tumblr



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

Lost Pieces by Erin Watson

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

Heart in a Box by Kelly Thompson & Meredith McClaren

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

Jem & the Holograms with Kelly Thompson


Jen Van Meter

The Death Defying Doctor Mirage, Hopeless Savages

Twitter Tumblr



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

I know I'm biased, but I look forward to every issue of Lazarus. I'm so pleased and proud for Greg and Michael, and I just love what they're doing.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

Lady Killer by Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones, Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Val de Landro -- I'm so looking forward to where these books go.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

This is going to be a good year for me, I think. I'm truly excited about a couple things that haven't been announced yet, but I've got more coming from Valiant and a new volume of Hopeless Savages coming out, and I'm thrilled about both of those.


Enrica Jang

Red Stylo Media, The House of Montresor

WebsiteTwitter Tumblr



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

Favorite series throughout this year has been Chew. It's the most consistent and satisfying, and it's still my favorite escape from the more serious stuff I tend to read. Layman and Guillory hit on all cylinders.

Pretty Deadly and Velvet were close seconds.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

Kind of cheating with this question because whatever is going to happen will have an impact on Red Stylo Media, but I'm really interested to see how digital reading is going to change next year. I see indie companies coming up with great ideas to get more readers, and now Twitter is going to begin selling e-books within the app. If they eventually extend that to all publishers, that would be insane. I feel like anything that gets paying content to people with just one touch in social media is going to change the game.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

So many things! We're about to announce an open call for our next anthology on Jan. 1 at Red Stylo. And then Part 2 of my new graphic novel, The House of Montresor, a sequel to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," will be out for Poe's birthday in January. Artist Jason Strutz is pretty amazing.


Seth Kushner

The Roman Nose, Heyday,  Schmuck

WebsiteTwitter 



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

I didn't have an ordinary year. I spent eight of the past 12 months living in a hospital room battling leukemia (which I’ve managed to beat), so much of what I read were books gifted to me by friends. Of those, Jamie Hernandez's The Love Bunglers stays with me the most. While the material in the beautifully designed hardcover isn't technically from 2014 (it's collected from Love and Rockets: New Stories), I'm counting it because it's the first time it's been collected together in this form. I've never considered myself a hardcore Love and Rockets fan exactly, though I've read a number of the collections and I'm fairly familiar with Hernandez's Locas characters. When I began reading this latest Maggie story, I found myself reacting the same way I always do, which is I find Jaime's art stunningly simple and elegant, but wonder why I'm reading what is essentially a soap opera. Then, somewhere along the way, also as per usual, I get drawn in to the Locas world and the book becomes impossible to put down. The Love Bunglers is haunting, tragic and ultimately life-affirming, and having read it during a time in my life which can be described similarly, I have to pick it as the best graphic novel of 2014.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I'm looking forward to The Fox in Fox Hunt by Dean Haspiel and Mark Waid from Archie/Dark Circle. Dean's my buddy, and I've seen the pages he's been drawing for this new Fox series and they look great. Plus, as anyone who's read the first Fox series knows, Dean's crazy plotting and expressive art merged with Waid's clever dialogue make for super fun comics, which I think there aren't enough of these days.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

September will see the release of my graphic novel collection, Schmuck. It was originally scheduled for release this past September, but delayed because of my illness. My autobio anthology features art by 23 great cartoonists, including Nick Bertozzi, Gregory Benton, Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld, Noah Van Sciver and many more.

The book was successfully funded on Kickstarter and will be published by HANG DAI Editions, the imprint I founded with Haspiel, Neufeld and Benton, and be distributed through Alternative Comics. It’s a special and personal project for me and it took me years to create.

I'm also working on something special to debut at MoCCA Fest this April. It will be the first con I'll be attending since last years fest and I want to have something new to kick off my return to good health and making comics.


Jane Irwin

Clockwork Game

Website



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

Man, so hard to pick a favorite, because this summer I finally got the chance to get caught up on all the comics I'd missed while I was working on Clockwork Game. I was quite impressed with a number of mainstream comics: Hawkeye, Saga, Ms. Marvel -- but I also fell in love with several indie comics, including Mariko and Jillian Tamaki's This One Summer, Eleanor Davis' How to Be Happy and Erika Moen's (NSFW) Oh Joy Sex Toy.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I'm really excited by the momentum that Kickstarter and Patreon are creating in the independent comics world. I attended SPX for the first time in about five years, and it was just incredible seeing the impact that crowdfunding has made on self-publishers large and small. I can't wait to see what happens in the next couple of years, as new artists connect directly with their fans, gain more stability and devote more time to their art.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

2015 will be an interesting year for me; I'm trying a lot of new things before committing to another big project. It's difficult for me to take time to be fallow -- I want to be making more comics right now! -- but I've been doing the same thing for so long that it's time for me to explore different ideas and skills.


Judith Stephens

Marvel Cosplay blogger, Judith Stephens Photography, Women of Marvel podcast

WebsiteTwitter | Instagram



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

Ms. Marvel. Seeing this idea come to life thanks to G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Sana Amanat was amazing. Not to mention the story and art worked so well together. Its a great comic for a long-time comic fan and a perfect spot for a new comic reader to pick up and start reading.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I am excited to see how trend of comic character costume updates continues. From a few years back to Captain Marvel to now the new Batgirl and Spider-Woman designs, it's amazing to see how the evolution of comics is always continuing! Plus, can't wait to see all the cosplayers tackle these new costumes!

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

The Women of Marvel Podcast! We kicked off to a great start in 2014 with 25 episodes, and am looking forward to the plans we've got in the work for 2015. The now weekly series includes hosts Sana Amanat, Adri Cowan, Jeanine Schaefer and myself. Posted each Friday, content can include conversations with other Marvel coworkers, fellow women working in the comic industry, entertainment and cosplay guests and more! Look for the first episode of 2015 live on Jan. 2!




Rafer Roberts

Plastic Farm, Nightmare the Rat

WebsiteTwitter



What was your favorite comic of 2014?

The Wrenchies, by Farel Dalrymple. Not only is it an emotional gut punch, but the narrative structure and cartooning techniques that Farel utilizes in support of the story just blew me away. Plus, it's gorgeous.

Comic-wise, what are you most excited about for 2015?

I'm a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan, so I'm very excited to see him try his hand at comics. My hope is that the Fight Club sequel will prove successful and encourage Mr. Palahniuk to write more comics in the future.

What personal project are you working on for 2015 that you're especially pumped about?

I've been working on a few pitches for some creator-owned projects, one of which (with artist Giles Crawford) is already being shopped around. (Fingers crossed that we find a publisher.) Aside from that, I'm always excited to work on more Plastic Farm  and Nightmare the Rat comics.