The next few episodes of Let's Talk Comics are going to sound a little different because we're coming to you live from San Diego Comic-Con!

For the first panel in our SDCC series, Jim Viscardi is joined by Matt Rosenberg, Patrick Kindlon, John Layman, Rob Guillory, Dustin Nguyen, and Tony Fleecs for a conversation about creating comic book characters readers will love, hate, or love to hate.

The group previews some of their latest Image Comics projects, including IF DESTRUCTION BE OUR LOT, REGICIDE, GHOST BRAWLER, CROWBOUND, and FERAL. They also discuss reuniting with longtime collaborators, hiding clues in the artwork, balancing humor with darker stories, and what happens when readers fall in love with characters they probably shouldn't.

How quickly does a first issue need to define its characters? Does every terrible person deserve a redemption arc? And why does making readers laugh make it hurt so much more when everything goes wrong?

Recorded live at San Diego Comic-Con 2026.