Interviews with multimedia comics creators: how Hannah Berry, Lance Dann and Tom McNally use audio drama to move their work into new areas of storytelling

This contribution includes a pair of interviews recorded with practitioners who work in comics, and audio drama production. These practitioners have moved from the practice of making comics into audio production or have lent their experience in comic creation to making related podcast dramas.
In the first interview, former comic book writer Tom McNally, editor and publisher of the comics anthology Semiotic Cohesion [2006-2008], which promoted work by comic creators from South Africa to a wider audience, talks about his comedic fantasy audio drama Saga of the European King. In this interview he discusses how his storytelling craft was honed by the medium of comics, with obvious changes made when moving into the aural medium. McNally’s comics anthology was accompanied originally by songs available to download on an accompanying website, including the first iteration of his audio drama. This interview took place 30th October 2017, at Cartoon County, a monthly discussion group where a comic creator talks about their work in front of an audience of their peers in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex.
In the second interview, former Comics Laureate Hannah Berry and audio producer Lance Dann discuss their work together on The Rez, a multimedia storytelling project which exists as a podcast, an app, a website and a comic. Each aspect is designed to complement each other to tell a larger story within the science-fictional world of the narrative, aimed at introducing children to ideas of kindness and resilience, and first created during Covid lockdowns. This interview was recorded at the Graphic Brighton conference, University of Brighton, 27th May 2022.
Each of these Q&As was chaired by Alex Fitch and recorded in front of a live audience, and subsequently broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM (London).
Transcripts of these interviews demonstrate the connections between the related media, the different approaches each of these practitioners have undertaken regarding the creation of audio dramas and comics, how these creators became involved in each project being discussed, and the differences and similarities they have found working in each of the different media.