Dirk Wood Talks Full Bleed Volume 2

The Cream Of Culture

♦ The first volume of IDW’s arts and culture publication Full Bleed came out a few months ago to some fanfare and they are now getting ready to put out a second volume very soon. Here, its editor and co-curator Dirk Wood gives us a few clues as to what to expect in the second volume…

TRIPWIRE: What is the theme for Full Bleed Volume 2?

DIRK WOOD: Well, so far we’re staying away from “themed issues” per se, however one has sort of erupted naturally for Volume Two. This one is a little more political. We largely stayed away from that in the first book, the idea being that we see Donald Trump on every magazine cover on every newsstand in America, can’t we keep him out of own book? So we did. Mostly we want to stay above the fray on these kinds of matters, and create something that stands the test of time. But we also feel a little nagging sense of responsibility not to ignore the current world. So we get into that a bit here. It’s perhaps a little heavier and darker than the first volume, with some recurring themes about censorship, and political anger. But there are lighter moments too, of course, and this seems to be a bit of a one-off, I don’t see it dominating future proceedings.

TW: What did you learn running the campaign for the first volume?

DW: Mostly that there are a lot of people out there that like physical media, just like I do. We needed subscribers to make this thing work, and we got them. However, producing a 200-page Hardcover magazine is not cheap. So we need more, and I think we can find them. Hence, the campaign for Volume 2 and beyond!

TW: What are the five highlights of the content for you of volume two?

DW: Well, as far as the Trump thing goes, Bob Fingerman’s “Stable Genius,” a political rant with a bevy of watercolor paintings of Trump’s Rogues Gallery is quite something. The interview with Walter Simonson is just amazing, I could hear him rant about Norse Mythology for hours. It’s beastly and long, and tremendous. Abdulkareem Baba Aminu’s interview with Nnedi Okorafor is great. I got to interview one of my favourite musicians, a guy named Sam Coomes, from the band Quasi. Having him in the office for that was a personal thrill. There are a bunch of other favourites, I won’t pick a fifth because it’s so hard to narrow down. The comic content this time around is a lot of fun.

TW: How has your approach to Full Bleed altered since you first decided to make it a reality?

DW: I wouldn’t really say it’s altered, I’ve just become more confident about what we’re trying to achieve and how to make it work. This is a real labor of love for Ted (Adams) and I. The first few months were difficult, just figuring out contracts, proof of concept, how to sell this thing, and everything else. But now that it’s rolling, it’s getting to be more and more fun by the day.

I love it. Actually, I got pretty used to the idea when I was essentially editing our section of Previews for IDW. In a lot of ways that was more punishing, a monthly schedule, and you’re dealing with a ton of different moving parts. In a practical sense this isn’t that different, I just have much more of a say about what the content is. Periodicals are tough, you don’t get a lot of down time, or time to celebrate, because by the time you finish something, you’re half way into the next volume… But that’s the good part too, because I’m already excited about what’s coming together for Volume 3 on this thing!

To help support Full Bleed Volume Two, visit their campaign here

Full Bleed Vol.2 kickstarter campaign