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USDN Podcast is a cinematic indie comics interview series hosted by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds spotlighting the creators, storytellers, and worldbuilders shaping the future of independent comics.
Each episode dives beyond headlines into the real journeys behind the books from Kickstarter launches and creative struggles to the philosophies driving today’s indie storytelling movement.
This isn’t about rumors or recycled news.
It’s about the people creating the worlds.
Through in-depth conversations, creator spotlights, and crowdfunding discussions, USDN explores:
• The rise of indie comics
• The business of crowdfunding
• The art of worldbuilding
• The realities of independent storytelling
USDN is where indie comics come to life for the fans, by the creators, and powered by the community.
You are listening to the USDN on the
DFPN.
Thanks for watching!
what is up everybody and welcome to the
united states department of nerds where we
are for the people by the people and
of the people tonight's guests aren't just
building comic books they're building
worlds founded on one simple but powerful
idea it's okay to imagine
The Wright Brothers Entertainment has been
carving out their own lane in indie
storytelling since twenty seventeen.
Blended comics, sci fi,
cinematic ambition and creator owned
imagination into something that feels
larger than life.
At the center of that vision is the
eighty eight universe.
a massive intergalactic sci-fi adventure
filled with cosmic warfare vigilantes
hunted across galaxies ancient artifacts
ruthless warlords and the kind of high
energy world building that feels inspired
by anime blockbuster science fiction and
classic creator store creator owned
storytelling from i mean
Aminus and General Mwaku to the battle for
the Zoan Cag.
This isn't just another indie comic.
This is Universe Building.
Tonight we're diving in deep into creator
ownership, imagination,
black sci-fi storytelling,
indie entertainment, world building,
and what it truly means to build something
from the ground up in today's creator
economy.
So cancel.
Prepare yourself for a wild ride because
the council and theirs is now in session
to Carlo, Neil, the Wright brothers.
Welcome to the council, my friends.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We appreciate it, Mr. Chairman.
This is another one of those interviews
where I think we scheduled in March.
Here we are in May getting to after
this interview now.
And I've been excited to have you on
since you sent me the link to the
book.
And let's dive into it, fellas.
Where did the idea of the Wright Brothers
Entertainment first begin for y'all?
That was,
you would probably have to go back to
like, two thousand and eight, was it?
Was it?
Oh, wait.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we.
We met and we was at community college,
you know what I'm saying, down in Georgia.
Yeah, we was in math class together.
Remedial math class.
That in there, too.
We was in remedial.
That's that Algebra of One Hundred.
Yo, that's exactly what it was.
I took it too.
We're going to get your money first.
You know what I'm saying?
It's interesting because I know we was in
the same class.
I can't remember what was the conversation
where we actually just started connecting.
I think I was sitting in front of
you
Uh-huh.
And I think it was just like I
asked one day, like, hey, man,
something about some notes or something.
He was like,
y'all write all my stuff down.
You know what I'm saying?
I think the conversation kind of sparked,
man.
Yo,
the Wright brothers was born for writing.
So he's writing notes.
A piece of math equations.
Math equations, you know.
Yeah.
Oh, dude.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
We met way back there and we always
just kind of like stayed in touch.
Like I was in Atlanta.
I ended up moving up to Buffalo back
home for the finish out of school.
And then I moved back to Atlanta,
like back in twenty fifteen.
And then we we end up like hitting
each other up one day and literally like
the next day he had a dream because
I do film like that's that's kind of
like what I went to school for.
So he had a dream about like kind
of like a sci fi horror kind of
like film idea TV show.
He hit me up.
He was like, oh, I got this idea.
I'm like, okay.
He's the only person I think that can
make it happen.
I was like, all right.
We just started meeting ever since then.
We met at,
was it Wet Willie's or something?
I can't think of it.
What was the name of that spot, yo?
We met at this commercial Mexican
restaurant called Willie's.
Willie's out there?
It's like, you know,
it ain't authentic as an authentic
restaurant,
but it's almost like an upscale Taco Bell.
Upscale Taco Bell.
You know what I mean?
My first born was just born.
I think she might have been three months
at the time.
So I brought her with me.
And he had her in a little sack.
I had her like, yep, I did.
And I transferred her to the car seat
and set her on the table.
As long as she wasn't dropping no nacho
cheese on her head.
Nah, nah.
Did we get something to eat?
Or did you eat something?
Man, I think I got something.
I think he got something.
Yeah, I was always on.
Yeah, right.
And I, you know,
I expressed him the idea.
And then it kind of just,
he was like, all right, man.
And then next thing you know,
he was like,
He was like, yeah,
he down to give it a shot.
And then it wound up just being a,
it wound up rekindling.
I mean,
the relationship ain't never died out,
don't get me wrong.
We just, everybody just, you know, got,
he was on the Buffalo or whatever,
but he wound up staying down and the
relationship rekindled.
And then we just started linking up and
then it started spiraling.
Yeah.
A pilot,
and it went from a pilot to what
you're looking at now.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Like literally like that particular idea.
It was a TV show pilot and at
first it was called Eighty-Eight.
That's the funny part.
But like we kind of tabled it for
a moment.
Then we shot a film and as we
were like actually filming,
there's a character in our movie that kind
of like really just inspire everything.
And we was just joking around like during
set.
We had this guy in a silver suit
and it was like some blinds on the...
This is doing shooting by the way.
Like we're actually shooting.
This is doing COVID too.
Oh yeah, that's the part.
This is doing COVID.
Yeah, it was an interesting time.
But I saw these blinds,
and I was like, ooh,
these are nice blinds.
And the crowd was like, yo,
what's the texture?
And I was like, they're Cartovia.
He was like, what?
Really?
I was like, nah, man, I don't know.
I was just kidding.
He was like, but wait, though.
I like that.
Cartovia.
And that's how he came to be with
us.
I've never seen metal blind before.
Yeah.
Yeah, me either.
I mean, I've seen metal blinds,
but on the outside of the house,
they're like hurricane shutters,
you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, these are on the inside.
It was like a bizarre... Yeah,
they were very interesting.
But the way he said Cartovia,
it was just like...
He was almost like he was saying like
oak wood or something.
I thought he was dead serious, man.
When he said it was a joke,
it was like, that was a joke?
It was like, nah,
it can't be no joke, man.
That was it.
Yeah,
he took it and he just formulated the
character.
From there,
that's how Eighty-Eight and the hero and
all of the characters from that moment,
that's how it really took off.
That is amazing.
Then we took it to the model maker,
then he
Oh, yeah, yeah.
He called himself development, the hero,
but that face didn't match.
Yeah.
That's how we got Milwaukee.
So Milwaukee came first, right?
As far as the blueprint.
It looked too evil.
It was like, nah, it won't work.
But it worked.
It was like boom, boom, boom, boom.
It was just...
It's amazing how just something as simple
as him just fucking with you made this
whole thing come to life.
Yeah, it's great.
Yeah, I feel like in answer to,
I guess, the question, because Carl,
he came up with the name,
The Wright Brothers,
because we was just like,
because I'm a screenwriter,
and I'm just a writer, period.
And he's a songwriter,
and he writes as well.
So we both...
That's kind of like the foundation of,
I like to think, our creativity,
just kind of like our talent,
just natural talent,
this thing that's just, you know,
just God-given.
So he just came up with the name.
He was like, yo, because we were just,
at this point, we was like, okay,
this is getting serious.
Like, we got this film.
We haven't edited it yet,
but we was like, you know what?
We keep coming up with these ideas,
and we need to, like, get legit.
Yeah, yeah.
I was like, well, let's start a company.
And then we was like, well,
what are we going to call it?
He was like, yo,
we some brothers and we right.
Hey, two and two goes to five, right?
It was five all day.
I'll tell you,
we met in like math class, you know?
Hey, and it was remedial.
It was remedial.
you cannot forget remedial yo yo it was
straight with me the algebra all day yo
man that that that algebra was like it's
still i'm serious but yeah the alphabet
and the left and the numbers ain't
supposed to go together man especially
when they start adding shapes it's like
why is this triangle here let's make it
even worse for you let's you know
right yeah but that's that's uh that's
that's kind of that's the start of the
wright brothers basically and the gist of
it yeah i love that story that that's
freaking awesome and to see you are we
at twenty twenty six so almost ten years
later basically still at it still yeah
going strong oh man it's it's a journey
Beautiful journey.
Yeah,
we keep up with time through my daughter's
age.
That's how we keep up with it.
That's funny.
Mine's almost twenty.
Mine's almost twenty,
so that's how I try to stay cool.
I see what she's doing, and I'm like,
alright, cool, cool.
She keep you up to date and hip
and everything.
Exactly.
I mean, I'm still not hip,
but I try.
I try, right?
I think you do.
You got it, man.
Yeah.
but uh so it's kind of while my
next question was going to be was the
goal always bigger than comments and y'all
kind of went in a reverse order most
people are like we're going to do comics
and then we're going to let hey let's
try a movie or an animation piece y'all
made a full-up movie and then made a
comic book yeah yeah it was i i
would say it was the carlos idea he
he the one that
we were working on a screenplay and like
we're we're big i mean i i want
to speak for him but i think we're
both big george lucas fans yeah and so
we were studying george lucas to me he
is like the goat of hollywood that's
that's my top i'm telling you the moment
that museum opens in san francisco i i
have to go yeah there's a museum yeah
he's got a whole like billion dollar
facility being built in uh san francisco
for his movie props and that kind of
stuff.
Just like a arts and entertainment
centered around Star Wars Museum.
I know that.
Yeah, I like... See, that's...
He's like... He's a blueprint.
My daughter's name is Jedi.
I mean... Dude, that's freaking awesome.
She's using her birthday on...
The stars align.
That's the force at work, man.
She's the chosen one.
You in trouble later.
Yeah, I know, man.
The world's in trouble later, right?
Watch out.
Like Neil was saying, he's right.
George Lucas was, I'm going to say,
not from a creative standpoint,
but from a business standpoint,
he was definitely inspiration to us.
Let me be frank with you.
Me and Neil, like Neil said,
we were writers,
but we wasn't necessarily these guys who
kind of grew up on the, you know,
knowing all about comics and being like
this super nerd type.
We weren't really into that.
I was into rap music a lot.
You know,
that's all I was into growing up.
And Neil, you know, he was into...
you know,
hip hop and sports and stuff like that.
So we really didn't get into,
we didn't get into the science fiction
fantasy genre thing based on a childhood.
You know what I mean?
We got in it based on a business,
like when we say George Lucas was like
the center of like inspiration.
Yeah,
that's what we mean as far as like
business.
Like, oh, coming with an idea
and making it be as big as you
can get it, right?
intentional or unintentional like i think
george luby might have been unintentional
that's what he's saying like he wasn't
expecting so he didn't he didn't expect it
because i think um what what's the other
big uh director that said come out about
the same time him and george lucas are
really talking about filbert come out i
think it was the original job spielberg
Yeah, Spielberg.
Yeah.
And they almost basically had a bet of
who was going to have, like,
the biggest movie that year.
And George showed him.
He's like, nah.
He's like,
I think you got this one in the
bag, man.
He's like, look at what I'm doing.
I don't think this is going to.
And then it ends up being one of
the largest franchises in the world today.
Like, they literally just released,
you know, Grogu and the Mandalorian,
Grogu, like, last week.
So, yeah.
So it's kind of.
It's phenomenal.
That's what it is.
I mean, yeah, man,
that's pretty much how it went.
Like I say, we want it.
We still do,
but our aim is to be in the
film industry.
When we saw,
we watched Empire Dreams documentary.
After we shot the film, we was like,
man, how can we?
That's one movie.
It's an independent movie.
Okay, great.
We got that on our belt.
But how can we get this idea to
people or to a studio at a cheap
rate?
Because, you know,
shooting something like this is going to
cost, you know,
relatively a lot of money that we didn't
have.
And so looking at the documentary,
it was like, man, George Lucas was like,
after he shot the movie,
they came up with a marketing strategy to
this movie.
to get the people to meet with a
comic book.
Okay.
And then our model maker at the time,
he was like, oh,
you guys should read comics and check out
Middlebury.
Yeah.
His other name is Scott Washington, too.
He's an amazing...
Model maker, character designer.
Yeah,
y'all have to shoot me his link so
I can give him a follow.
Oh, yeah, most definitely.
He definitely will.
Yes, sir.
He the one actually introduced us,
encouraged us to start reading comic
books.
But he didn't show us Marvel or DC.
Like, mind you now, me and Neil,
we ain't never read them.
We green.
We ain't never read no comic or nothing.
You know what I mean?
We didn't know nothing about the game.
We seen the movies, but like, yeah.
Yeah.
So the first comics he introduced us to,
to be honest with you,
was the artist that was featured in Heavy
Metal Magazine.
like Mobius and George, I forget his name.
Who's it?
Alexander or Alexander?
I forget how to pronounce his name.
Hey, friend.
The Meta Baron.
The Meta Baron.
And so Meta Baron and N-Cal was how
we got into the comic world.
That's a great place to be though,
right off the cuff.
It took me a long time to discover
heavy metal and that kind of stuff because
I was a Marvel DC guy coming up.
Then I remember walking somewhere and I
seen heavy metal sitting on the shelf and
I was like,
what in the hell is that?
It's like the first foil cover that I
can remember.
Wow.
And I was like, it's so cool.
So, you know, little, you know, ten,
twelve year old me.
Yeah.
And I got it and it was just
like sci fi and just this really amazing,
you know, magazine slash book.
And I'm like, yeah,
I can get down with this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that stuff is fun.
Yeah, I like it.
It's totally like... Yeah,
it's just way different to me than the
regular, you know,
comic books more commercially worldwide.
No.
It wasn't just one story in heavy metal
either.
It was multiple stories done by multiple
writers, multiple artists.
And it was that way every single time.
Every single time, yo.
Every single time.
And that's pretty much what it was, man.
We were like,
we're going to give it a shot.
And we gave it a shot, man.
Yeah, we gave it a big shot.
It took us a year.
Because we actually did the same issue
twice.
You aren't the first ones to do the
first book twice.
There's been multiple people been on this
podcast with, you know,
twenty or thirty books under their belt
and they will tell you straight up they
did their first book twice as well.
Years later,
they just didn't like how it felt or
like how it looked and they went back
and redone it and made it more modern
and just really now that they, hey,
we have a few extra dollars to
put toward this book let's put these extra
dollars on this book and make it what
i really imagined it to be yeah and
they always end up being like ten times
better the second go around yeah whether
finding you know you got to find the
right artist just to make it feel right
yeah yeah yeah because we got it we
got a whole team of artists and they
all like they're all to me they're all
just wonderful and we just we just plug
them in and they just kind of like
a
Like we just love them to be honest.
No, as you should, right?
As you should.
You shouldn't be out there shopping for
the cheapest guy that can do this for
you.
Like you should really have a connection
or a friendship or when you talk to
that person for the very first time,
it should be there you know that it
that it should be there yeah and the
guy who i'm going to be working on
my comic book with it was that way
when we we talked for the very first
time i was like yeah this has to
be the guy that i work with on
this yeah you kind of feel it yeah
yeah
And I'm glad you thought of it that
way, because man, I mean,
not to say that the first book,
we still have a relationship with that
artist, too.
He's still in this issue.
He got like a couple pages in it.
Yeah,
he knew a lot of our concept work
and a lot.
hey yeah he's still a man he should
never burn bridges because indie comics is
like it seems like it's this huge
community but i guarantee you one person
knows somebody and if you burn a bridge
i'll be like oh that asshole they burned
a bridge with me you know so you
definitely don't want to burn bridges in
that regards because then people will be
like oh he's that guy that messed up
this one guy and i don't want to
work with him because this guy had a
bad experience working with them
and like if you ever just wanted to
shoot yourself in the foot that's the way
to do it you know yeah because we
we like the like in the in the
artist world i feel like everybody has a
specialty and it's like one thing we try
to do because we're very like business
minded we think like okay we might not
be disney at the moment but it's like
it's something to aspire to be so we
kind of move in our minds like you
can't tell us we probably like
isn't one of the biggest companies in the
world.
So it's like, well, how would they move?
So you might have a team of artists,
you know,
one might set something off and then
somebody else might finish it.
And it's like, we just,
we just send it through a pipeline.
We just kind of keep refining and just
going like that.
That's why we say, you know,
marvel and dc have been doing that for
years marvel and dc do that they will
have artists working on a book and then
they like hey we want to send it
over to this other artist to work on
these few pages here because we feel like
their art style will fit these scenes
better you know yeah so i mean they're
doing it why can't y'all do it you
know yeah you got the means the funds
and the and the know the persons
Make that shit happen.
There's no rules to it, man.
It's kind of crazy that people are like,
oh, there's rules.
There's rules.
It's indie comics, man.
We're the rebels.
We're the rebels of the comic book world.
There are no rules.
It's refreshing to hear that because
that's a lot of times when me and
Carla,
we meet and we talk and we discuss
ideas.
We know there's a framework and there are
particular guidelines that you do stick
within.
We always try to figure out a way,
but it's like
why not do it this way dude that's
the key words right there why not and
it kind of goes into our you know
our slogan like it's okay to imagine like
you know it's okay to kind of expand
and take the guardrails off a little bit
so that's that's kind of like what kind
of led us into like doing our comic
book overall period really yeah why not
Which I'm glad you just brought up the
slogan because that's actually the next on
the agenda.
So your slogan, it's okay to imagine.
To y'all personally, what does that mean?
carla man you just leaned back man you
got you got that thought go with it
he came up with it yeah come on
i'll eat it back like you got a
lot to say on that one there's so
many layers it's layers to it so that's
that's probably why yeah oh man i mean
you know imagination um
I think that on KD Imagine, well,
for me,
it derived from a period when this had
to be like, I want to say, uh,
twenty twenty three.
Me and Neil was trying to come.
We already had we had the first
illustration of the comic done.
It was before we got it done twice.
And, you know,
we were trying to pitch it to maybe
do like this theatrical performance to
pitch to inner city kids, you know,
we wanted to pitch it to a couple
of mentors of mine and we had to
figure out some kind of slogan that,
you know, kids, what are they lacking?
What's not being shown in the school
system, right?
Or in everyday life, right?
And one thing that I noticed was a
lack of imagination.
When a child goes to school and
They had to talk to sit inside the
classroom, sit inside the desk,
look at these four walls, listen.
Yeah.
Be on a particular schedule.
And then slowly but surely,
their imagination began to dwindle.
And so I was like, man,
how do we keep that imagination sparking?
Yes.
Yes.
We want to create regardless of just the
purpose of doing what we're doing.
But we also want to show the next
generation that the way you can get this
way is to keep your imagination.
And the older you get,
the more your imagination will be.
But it's up to you as an adult
to keep that imagination, right?
You have to nurture it in kids.
Yeah.
The way it develops properly.
Yeah.
I mean,
if the kids has a creative environment
home, yeah,
of course their imaginations are going to
flourish and be next level.
Right.
But no, you, you hit it spot on.
I don't think there's enough of that in
schools anymore.
And I just had this conversation recently
with another creator who has a comic book
that they make specifically to go in
schools that Todd black, uh,
And to it's like a science magazine
almost.
I don't know when y'all were in school,
did y'all ever get those little science
like pamphlets that have like crosswords
and that kind of stuff in them?
Nah, I didn't.
See, when I was in school,
we used to get those.
It was like a Friday thing.
It was like a four or five page.
It felt like a piece of newspaper.
It had different puzzles, different facts.
It gave you the opportunity to use your
imagination,
solve puzzles and that kind of stuff.
His comic book very much reminds me of
that kind of stuff.
Because he chooses a topic each time and
focuses on that one topic,
and he designs it to be presented to
school-age kids from elementary to high
school.
He doesn't dumb it down.
He doesn't make it way too over.
You need a PhD to understand.
He specifically makes it for school-age
kids to understand.
to have something a different way to learn
you know what i'm saying because if you
sit me down and be like hey today
we're going to talk about hurricanes like
i don't care yeah but if you present
that to me a comic book format versus
me listening to a teacher drone own i
would probably be a little bit more
interested in it because it's a different
format right you're presenting them
something different sometimes yeah and as
you say that uh uh in our company
we do have brain games in there
that's legit yeah we do have that and
so you know it's just the thought man
always imagine and it's not just for kids
you know what I mean you know for
anyone that want to use their brain like
yo imagine it's okay to think outside the
box it's okay to be rebellious towards the
norm you know it's okay to do that
and so yeah man that's it you know
Neil, how do you see it, man?
Yeah, it's like the same.
Like,
I remember being in college and I was
taking this class and we were going over
to study.
And it was like, I can't recall the...
hey i can't it was like a it
was like one of them longitude didn't know
study you know one of them long-term
joints basically where it was like it
started like a second grader and it
followed them all the way up to like
high school and it followed like two
students and it was like one was just
on a regular education track and then the
other one was it was kind of like
like specialty programs where they kind of
like yeah
stoke the child's creativity and
everything and they kind of found like
through the studies like okay a lot of
times school like probably around the
fourth grade they start to in a sense
for lack of a better word destroy a
child's creativity yeah
And they showed the results of like,
you know,
just one child having their creativity
destroyed and then another one having it,
you know, kind of just, and, you know,
just stoked up a little bit and inspired
and kept it going.
And it's, that child did way better.
And it was just more like,
I think he just said, like,
even as an adult, like you still,
needs your imagination.
Somebody said like a person without
imagination is like a bird without wings.
Like you just, you got, you know,
you ain't going to fly.
Creativity,
whether it's through artistic means or
even music classes and that kind of stuff.
Like my daughter's done music since she
was a tiny child,
like four or five years old.
We got her started in piano and we
just let her pursue those passions,
you know, with her music.
And,
Honestly,
I think kids who do music and they
are creative tend to do better in school.
So why not, you know,
let them pursue those other passions like
that instead of just like, oh,
that art's not going to take you nowhere.
Like, really?
Yes.
I think Stan Lee would disagree with that,
you know?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, totally.
You just,
you never know when that part of the
brain is unlocked,
like just playing an instrument and what
that could do for them just in the
future.
Like you just, to me,
you just never know because it's,
It's like when I think of imagination,
it's like if you – you have to
have fun.
To me, that's – Dude, a hundred percent.
Like when they're children, oh,
you got an imaginary friend.
You know, it sounds weird, but it's like,
oh, they're a kid.
It's okay, right?
Yeah.
But when you're – Yeah,
if they're thirty years old and their only
friend is their imaginary friend, hey,
then we got a psychopath on our hands.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah,
but I feel like if adults were more
imaginative and learned that, hey, look,
this whole process that we have,
just creating this stuff,
it gets stressful.
You deal with a lot of discouragement.
You deal with a lot of people saying
no.
You deal with a lot of just...
opposition and red tape and hey you know
these things like our goal is to become
you know we want to make a film
out of this so yeah when you think
of like wait so you want somebody to
give you probably upwards of three hundred
million dollars
to shoot this movie.
And who are you again?
Like,
do you need three hundred million to make
this movie or could it be ten thousand,
you know, or ninety thousand?
You know,
it's one of those where there's a lot
of really good indie movies out there
right now that are killing it.
Yeah.
They're performing box office movies for,
you know, a ten thousand dollar budget.
Yeah, I mean, it is.
It is.
That three hundred million wouldn't hurt
though, right?
I would say the imagination we have,
it's like, yeah,
you want to get as much as you
can.
Yeah.
Especially with this.
You want to go blockbuster.
We just do.
We want to be global.
We want to be blockbuster.
We want to just start a wave of
people just having fun again.
When you look at the Star Wars movies
where people are waiting outside and they
were just like, ah.
Like, they just going crazy, right?
It's like, to me, that was fun.
Like,
the crowd was sending me all kinds of
videos.
Like, look at this.
I feel like, yo,
when was the last time you seen somebody
do that when they went to a movie
theater?
It's like bringing back that nostalgia of
just like, hey, man.
yeah the world is whatever like let's get
back to having some fun again yeah which
is is a great segue because my next
question is literally do you feel modern
entertainment has lost some of its
originality oh hell yeah
Dude, no.
Spot on, man.
That's like the best answer ever.
That shit was so exciting.
Me and Neil had this conversation.
So when we made the comic book,
we wanted to have it to where,
I remember even as a kid,
even though I wasn't into comics like
that, you can go to McDonald's,
you can go to Pizza Hut,
you can go to Walmart,
and everything was engaging.
Like, I mean, even the freaking fish tank,
you know, you go in,
you know what I mean?
And, you know,
me and Neil have these conversations all
the time.
If you're going to make something,
I think what we're lacking in today's
entertainment and creativity is,
the rules of engagement.
We just have become lackadaisical to the
internet, where it's like, oh,
you can do an ad online.
Yeah, you just do it online.
Man,
we went inside of Walmart to get my
daughter the Valentine's Day things,
and they was like, yo,
you got to scan it online to do
the little things when you write the love
you and all that.
Yeah.
It's no engagement at all.
And so the reason,
and back to the three hundred million
movie is like, yo, you know,
we want to aim big because it's like,
yo, we can't be on the popcorn box.
Oh, we ain't got the toy.
It's like,
what's the point of the next movie for?
You know what I mean?
Dude, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
I think we should all strive if we're
going to make a movie like that, too.
If we don't have the McDonald's toys or
the Burger King toys,
if we don't have the cool popcorn box,
what the hell are we even doing, right?
I don't know.
You remember watching whatever movie just
like when you were a child.
You went to the theater.
Your parents took you.
You went with your friends, whichever.
And you just had stuff that you could
take home.
And it just felt like, wow,
life is amazing.
This is what life is?
Going to Pizza Hut.
Going to Pizza Hut and getting your
personal pan pizza and they would bring
you out the little
little coloring thing and the crayons.
Yeah.
I hope we answered the question,
but it's the engagement.
You remember that feeling?
Dude,
and then they had the little arcade at
the end of the hallway in Pizza Hut.
Oh, wow.
You're going to win.
I remember those days.
Everything was like that.
The buffet was like even the Pizza Hut.
They had a buffet.
Yo, you used to get your reading.
I just seen that Pizza Hut was bringing
back the buffets and like that.
The whole Friday night family buys where
you used to go to, I don't know,
Friday night with your family.
Oh, I remember that.
The whole thing, right?
Yeah.
Go get the skate drink.
Hit the skate drink.
Get some pizza buffet.
Hey.
To the creative standpoint,
even everything,
even from the architecture,
like with buildings,
everything looks so generic.
McDonald's, nothing has no character.
Everything is like a school cafeteria.
Just a bunch of grays and browns.
Nothing has personality.
Everything looks the same.
If you go to a shopping center,
everything, like the storefronts are just,
everything looks the same.
There's nothing in the windows anymore.
Right.
Nothing.
There's no character.
I hope we answered your question.
No, you did, a hundred percent.
I'm loving this conversation.
This is good.
This is good stuff right here.
Yeah.
With y'all's creative partnership, man,
how do y'all divide responsibilities when
it comes to that kind of stuff?
It has to be difficult with you no
longer being in Atlanta anymore and be
more...
Like,
how does that work when y'all are like,
hey, we need to get S, Y,
and Z done?
Like,
how do y'all divide and conquer that kind
of stuff?
Well, I mean, you know,
thankfully right now, Neal,
he just moved to Maryland.
So, thankfully,
we had already laid down most of the
groundwork over the course of those nine –
well,
we had nine –
By seven, eight, nine years.
It ain't like it was in the beginning.
I feel like if we was in the
beginning,
it might have been a little challenging.
But right now,
we're really in the stage of just
marketing and promotion.
So taking this product that we have and
trying to get it into as many people's
hands as we can.
So I feel like right now,
We're just working on the script.
The good news is we already had
Half of this, well,
I ain't gonna say half,
but it's gonna be long.
Yo, that's right, just the intro.
We already got about thirty-something,
thirty-odd-something minutes of the
storyline of the comic book,
which put us at a head start.
So, we're only doing about, what,
twenty-four pages.
Well, the comic is bigger than that,
because it includes a lot of other stuff,
but the storyline is about
twenty-something pages,
which gives us so much room,
because with a script versus a comic book
script,
It's totally different.
So, I mean, we're talking like, I mean,
it only took him eleven pages to get
to twenty four.
Right.
So, I mean, we're basically coasting.
So, you know,
we don't really have to meet up as
much right now because we have done so
much stuff leading up to this point.
Now, I believe once you start,
once we begin to sell out on these
books and
things start moving,
we'll probably figure out some kind of
strategy.
I mean, he always, he come down,
he come to Georgia anyway,
because of his job, he travels.
So, I mean,
I feel like if it's going to get
serious like that, I feel like, you know,
he got the, thankfully he has the,
Just the freedom.
Just the freedom to move that wheel like
that.
It'll work out.
And even on the business and the creative
side, just to speak on that perspective,
we kind of,
I feel like me and DeCarlo,
we respect each other.
So we kind of, you know, we'll talk.
We know we keep the main thing the
main thing.
So it's like, hey, look,
this is what we want.
This is the goal.
So when it comes to ideas,
when it comes to business decisions,
we just always respect each other.
And then we always, like,
hear each other out.
You know, sometimes we be like, oh, man,
we want it this way.
You know,
we just – I like to say we
like to talk as men.
Hey, I'm going to follow you right there,
because –
That's literally the next question is,
have there been moments, because I mean,
we've been here, right?
We're going to disagree sometimes.
Have there ever been any of those types
of moments where you quite didn't agree on
a way the story should go?
That actually, you know,
once you've looked at it from a,
you took a step back and looked at
it, like, oh no, that actually,
that might be better than the way we
were thinking in the beginning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean.
All the time.
Yeah, man.
It happens, right?
You think the story's going this way.
And then one of y'all takes his stuff
back and goes,
what if we didn't do this?
Listen, one time, man,
we was developing the character.
It was like early on before the book.
And my boy Scott,
our boy Scott Washington,
letting us know about these different
sci-fi shows like Farscape and stuff like
that.
You know,
you guys got to do something different.
You know, she got two breasts and three.
She got one and two.
And so I was like, yeah,
that's a good idea.
Oh, dude.
You can't do that.
Get that total recall.
At first, I was like, no, man,
you got to expand the arousal.
The deal was like, listen, man,
we can't do arousal.
You got to make it to where it's
relatable, too.
You know what I mean?
He wasn't knocking it down.
He was just saying, I get it.
We always try to look at things from
a film perspective.
Like, okay,
we're trying to reach this major audience.
And you don't want to alienate the kids
and the teenagers as well.
Yeah.
And three brats would definitely alienate
them.
Yeah, he was like...
You know, Scott, he was excited about it.
He was like, I'm telling you, man,
we got to do something different out of
this world.
And I was like, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I get it.
But we can't do that.
I fucking love that.
That's awesome right there.
It's fun, though.
Like, we just laugh at stuff, yo.
And I feel like...
No idea is off limits.
Like to me,
like one of the major rules of creativity
is everything is valid.
Everything's on the table, right?
Yeah.
You just throw it against the wall and
you might look and see and be like,
you know what?
It just takes some refining.
Oh, we can't use that.
And it's okay, though,
because the process,
you try to keep it as fun as
you can.
You try to be as passionate as you
can.
And then you really just let the proof
of, okay, was this a good idea?
Is this a good storyline?
Yeah.
It's like, once you read through it,
if you like it, I like it.
Or if I don't like it,
but you like it, you know,
we might say, Hey, you know,
we might pass it to somebody else and
say, Hey, look,
this is what we're working on.
What do you think?
You know, that outside perspective on it.
Yeah.
Every now and again, we do that.
We keep a lot of stuff in house,
but we, every now and again,
if we just feel like, Hey, look,
we stuck.
We need somebody to break this tie.
Like, yo, let's see what's, you know,
I mean,
that's cool that you actually have other
people outside of the two of you that
can go, hey,
give us your no shit opinion on this
and let us know what you really think
about it.
And they're going to be honest and upfront
with you and, and really tell you,
because those are people are hard to come
by in this, in this,
this sphere of what we do and really
just be like, Hey,
tell me what you think.
Oh yeah, man.
Hey, I love what you're doing.
And then like, like, okay, cool.
And you're like, well,
Let's see what else.
Then somebody else goes like, bro,
what the hell are you doing?
This shit is ass.
You know, it just people to be honest,
like, Hey, you know,
that's ass right there.
You don't want to do that.
Like those last two pages.
No, don't know.
Let's not do that.
You know, you just don't.
And it's the one way to say, Hey,
don't have a whole bunch of yes men
on your team.
Right.
Yep.
Yeah.
Sometimes I think it's cool to get
somebody that's absolutely not interested
in anything you're doing.
That helps too.
Like, oh, you're writing a comic book.
I don't care.
But like, hey, you're the perfect person.
Hey, take a look at this.
Yeah.
Take a look at it.
Yeah.
So,
for people just discovering Eighty-Eight,
the link is down in the description for
everybody.
Make sure you get that link.
Check out Eighty-Eight.
What exactly is Eighty-Eight?
Yeah.
So, it's just like, you know,
you think like the eight is infinity and
it's eternity.
Yeah.
So, it's just...
To be a hundred percent honest with you,
it's like it unfolds as we're writing it
and creating it.
No, that's a legit answer.
I love stuff that evolves as it goes,
right?
Because it's infinite and it's eternal.
Like, it just don't, like,
the crowd always say one thing, like,
it just don't stop.
That's all you keep saying.
Like,
when it comes to IP and stuff like
that, so it's a...
It's an ongoing, like,
he might have a better explanation for it.
Yeah, I mean,
that's pretty much what it is.
I mean,
people ask me that from the last couple
of comments we've been to.
They ask, like, hey, man, what AD-AD is.
It's just infinite.
When you think of the universe, man,
you just think of, you know,
these folks done discovered it.
So many of them on the planet,
they just found out this,
they just found out this.
I mean, the universe,
it just keep going and keep going and
going.
And it just never stops.
You know what I mean?
I mean, I can appreciate that.
I mean,
it's one of those where Marvel has done
it, right?
DC does it constantly where everything
just evolves.
Yeah.
It gets to the end.
The end happens.
it resets, right?
It becomes something new,
something bigger, something better.
And it just, like,
and they use the same characters over and
over and over again.
Kill them and bring them back.
Exactly.
Is anybody really dead in those universes?
Absolutely not,
because anybody can be back at any given
time.
At any given time, yeah.
So, no, I like that.
That's a great explanation.
And it's like, it's not like,
because it looks just like, oh,
it's Eighty-Eight.
yeah but what is adh yeah you know
i think another thing too like you
mentioned marvel and they do a lot to
read they they have the luxury of doing
the reset and things of that nature so
we we kind of i feel like because
so many great people that went before us
as far as like in the comic book
industry we can kind of
We can see where, okay,
and they've made movies as well.
So we can sit back and see, well,
we don't want to go that route.
So we always keep challenging ourselves to
create new characters.
So, yeah, we have a main hero, but
he's really, like,
so many years has went by,
so many wars have been fought,
and it's like, in his particular,
you know,
chapter in this Eighty-Eight saga,
so to speak, it's just one portion.
There are so many characters we have,
like, on the roster.
That's really cool, just to have a...
Like, oh,
we need a character that does this,
and usually just...
oh yeah that's the guy right there pop
him in you know we want it to
be so beautiful that like it's it's kind
of infinite in a sense it's like alright
wow so we got to know this character
well who's this and we just challenge
ourselves like cause we got a lot of
like side stories and back stories
different you know events that take place
that we're working on and writing but as
far as but this is what we're presenting
right now
because this is, you know,
we feel like this is the goal right
now.
Like, okay, this is it.
This is the best story, you know,
putting our best foot forward.
But yeah, we just,
we have one thing I will say,
we have tons of characters.
And we just got a number of scripts
that we're writing.
Characters in that world.
You know, so it's... Yeah, it's a lot.
We love the monsters, man.
We like the villains.
You know what I mean?
That's me.
I love, like...
monsters and villains or i've always been
i've felt more connected to those guys
than i do the heroes you know especially
as i've gotten older that's awesome yeah
like i understand the way he is the
way he is you know who just wants
to be left alone
right so you know i don't know feeling
man we building based yeah yeah like we
we love no country for old men that's
good dude that movie is so good what
is it sugar sugar yeah uh yeah yeah
you you have uh uh like a
like the inspiration like a mount rushmore
village and yeah like thanos is like hey
you know you couldn't live with your own
failures where did that leave you right
yeah yeah what's your voice from no
country for all the country oh man what
are you saying what are you saying when
he was talking he said if the rule
is what led you here he said yeah
he was like the rule is to let
you hear it then what use was of
the rule
It's like, yo, it led you to me.
We liked him.
He probably ain't the person you want to
be talking to anyway.
Nah.
It was over, man.
Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's over.
You know, you got Freeza, right?
Dragon Ball Z, right?
You got Heath Ledger, the Joker, right?
Yeah.
You know, it's like... You know,
those like... Iconic...
villains so we look at it like that
man that's one of our things you ain't
got no villains yeah villains are one of
those things where they have to come at
you correct they have to come at you
hard like I want to that villain to
just be like oh damn he's a smooth
bad guy like he's got the one liners
he's got the zingers you know he just
like the hero is here
The villain,
I need to see that villain just over
here.
He's still beatable,
but he's got to make that good guy
work to whoop his ass.
That good guy ain't going to beat him
at a war of words.
That bad guy's got the words.
Sometimes I feel like I look at sometimes
villains being like alter eagles.
I think that's how you could relate to
him.
That's my alter ego.
But the hero be more like your moral
compass.
He's your moral compass, right?
Yeah, your day-to-day.
We all want to be He-Man,
but deep down inside,
we all know we're Skeletor.
Skeletor.
Catch me on a bad day.
Let's see what's going on.
Exactly.
So, yeah, man.
That's right on the nail, man.
That's it.
That relatability.
So let's talk about some of your big
characters here.
We have...
I'm going to attempt to pronounce them
again.
It's Aminus, right?
Yeah.
Tell us about him.
The Cartobian, man.
The silver blinds, yo.
That's where it all started.
That's how it's all about, man.
The silver blinds, yo.
That's it, yo.
It happened just like that.
It kind of spiraled.
It just went from...
I came home with that Cartobian,
and I was like, yo,
his suit should be made out of that,
whatever that Cartobian is.
So his body is like surrounded in that.
And that's ominous, man.
And then Neil kind of took it to
another level with the ominous and making
him more relatable by dealing with these
relatable issues.
neglect of not knowing his parents for
real and going through all of this,
but he didn't need to run down on
that, but yeah, that's pretty much it.
It's still so cool to me that you
just pulled this word out of your ass
just to troll DeCarlo,
and here we are talking about it.
Yeah,
he's really like a vigilante kind of guy.
So it's like when you open the book,
it's a character.
He says like, peace, friends, you know,
welcome to the Splendacious Eddie
universe.
That's his mentor,
Captain Amopius Omega Supreme.
So he's like pretty much Ominous's mentor,
his trainer.
He's kind of been like set him on
the path that he's on now.
So he goes to different planets, galaxies,
and he just,
he kind of just fights against injustice.
Yeah.
in whichever form.
It could be saving an endangered species.
It could be from just saving just a
small creature.
Yeah, he got the book.
Yeah.
Dude, how cool is that?
Yeah.
You'll be able to see it, man.
We'll put an extra one in there for
you, too, by the way.
Yeah, I'm going to...
As soon as we finish up here,
that's my first thing I'm doing now that
my...
It is up from the vacation.
Yeah, yeah.
I've had like five Mondays in a row
since coming back from vacation because
all I want to do is go back
on another one.
Yeah, it'd be like, I get it, yeah.
It's like you need vacation from the
vacation, you know?
Yeah, it'd be twofold.
Exactly.
Like,
why did I come back to work the
day after?
It's like, let me get back.
Let me get back to normalcy for a
minute.
Let me just take a second.
Exactly.
You know?
Yep.
Exactly.
All right.
We got General Mwaku.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what I'm talking about.
Yeah.
You hit it.
I don't know.
That's Neil right there.
That's Neil.
Yeah.
That's his nemesis right there.
That's... Yeah.
General Mwaku, he is like...
Like, going into, like,
us creating villains,
it's just how can we create the worst
but best villain in history of mankind?
So in making him, he's definitely vicious.
He's definitely smart.
He's kind of on a superior level.
Right.
That's my favorite kind of villain right
there where the good guy is going to
have to really think,
how am I going to beat this person?
Yeah,
he's kind of virtually indestructible.
He's a warmonger.
He thirsts.
He feeds off just murder, bloodshed,
killing.
That's just who he is.
And he has this...
You got a glare on it,
so it's going to be a little harder
to see.
Oh, it's kind of hard.
Yeah.
That's him in the red cape.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Oh, dude, yeah.
He's, like, big, too, man.
Yeah, he's not a – he's a monstrosity.
Like, his backstory is something.
Yeah.
We'll tell his backstory in the comics to
not give too much away.
We're going to give you hints and
everything.
I love how when you just develop a
character slowly over time,
they're a major player and you're kind of
getting bits and pieces of how they became
who they are.
I think that's a great way just to
slowly drip feed that backstory.
I like the way you say that.
Yeah, man.
It's just it.
I love to go to the origin of
how stuff be made, man.
It's kind of wild, right?
Like, some backstories,
you just give it to them all up
front.
Like, the good guy, just tell them, like,
boom, here's his backstory.
But the villains and, like, the bigger,
superior beings in comic books,
you got to, like,
drip feed them that origin story.
And then later on, you know, you drop,
like...
maybe uh one shot of like all that
little bit that you've been slowly feeding
in there and just do a one shot
like back story just like just hit them
and it's channels that you've already
showed them but it's all been put together
in a comic book yeah a lot of
stuff could come through in the comic
books
Like, that's the beauty of comics, too.
Yeah, there's no rules.
There's no rules.
And you can give him the rundown.
You can give him a whole issue.
And that's, hey, look,
that's the backstory.
This is who he is.
How he got to where he be.
Well, you know where he is.
Because it's always different than a
movie.
So, it's like, you can definitely hit him.
But, yeah,
he's actually my favorite character.
I mean, he might be Carlos' favorite.
Let's kneel.
Once we did Ominous and then the model
maker, Scott Washington, he did the face.
And Neil kind of took that.
He kind of made Milwaukee out of that.
The head was dope.
That's his guy right there.
I like it.
So the lore and world building part of
this,
what exactly is the Zo and Cag then?
Okay, yeah.
I think you created that, didn't you?
Yeah, so I think, yeah,
the Zoan Cag was a...
That might have been a collab.
That might have been me.
Oh, okay.
But I think the Zoan Cag was a...
He on Planet Eda, yeah.
Yeah, he on Planet Eda.
And he's basically a...
He looks like a dragon,
but he's technically a living...
He's got... Yeah,
like a living being that needs to...
It's like when you collect all the dragon
balls, right?
He's like the... He, like, on planet Edai,
it's an ancient planet.
And he is essentially the life force of
that planet.
Yeah, so the planet, like,
he nourishes all the plant life,
vegetable life.
Everything absorbs and feeds off of him.
It's like if you watch the...
Star Wars Rebels, the Bendu,
how he is the living force.
Oh, wow.
You got to go back and watch Star
Wars Rebels, the animated series.
There's a character in there called the
Bendu who is the embodiment of the living
force.
Oh, wow.
That's pretty cool.
That's pretty much what he...
He's basically that.
He has been removed
from his planet.
Yeah, he got hijacked.
Yeah, it's in the comic book, too.
Yeah, that's dope.
Like, you want to kill a planet,
steal its life.
That easy, right?
Yeah.
But that's General Milwaukee, though.
That's all him.
That's all him.
yeah that's when a villain goes hard yeah
and he does it so smooth like you
don't even know what happened like but
again the the like it's like when grew
stole the moon right yeah i'm yo i'll
be like i'll be so off
I guess so much stuff.
He's got a daughter.
He's got a young daughter.
So he's watched the minions and stuff,
you know, grew still.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll be up front.
You got to forgive me.
I'm the most detached.
see that's been the last like two years
of me doing this is i've become detached
and like i can like i know everything
that happened two years before i started
doing this like wow basically full time so
for me it's like it ain't no reason
to feel bad i mean she uh my
daughter she they her mom is really they
really into like all of this stuff like
the millions
They look at all the Disney shows,
you know.
We're watching Star Wars like that.
I think the last Star Wars thing we
watched was The Mandalorian,
to be honest with you.
But, yeah,
the Minions and all that type of stuff
like that, they really on it.
They put me on it.
Because I be so caught up in doing
what we doing.
It'd be hard for me to...
Sometimes I have to just pause myself and
be like, all right,
I need to pump my brakes.
Yeah.
Let me get caught up on what I
need to get caught on because I really
want to finish watching the One Piece
season,
the new season of the One Piece on
Netflix.
Speaking of that,
I've never even watched that.
You know what I mean?
So I've never watched the anime.
I mean,
I know what the One Piece is.
I know what it was about.
However, I was not going to go watch...
A thousand episodes of season one of the
one piece.
That's why I was like, oh, you know,
I can jump in on the the live
action and kind of like have an
understanding.
I know I'm going to be missing a
lot of stuff that happened in the anime,
but it gives me a chance to kind
of like.
learned why so many people love this anime
you know from a smaller digestible amounts
of it and i've really enjoyed it so
far you know when the live action came
out i did watch all of i was
already brought up i was already up to
speed on all the avatar stuff yeah so
when the live action come out i was
like oh yeah this is like i know
exactly where we're at in the cartoon yeah
like i follow it along i was like
yeah this is my jam right here so
yeah yeah the last airbender
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Not the blue people.
Not the blue people.
Yeah, I was like, wait, okay.
I like the last airbender.
Yeah, I do too.
The animated series was really good.
I enjoyed that one thoroughly.
Oh, okay.
I might go back and check that.
I don't think I saw that.
It's definitely one of those where you can
go back and just watch it,
and it still feels fresh.
It still feels like it's current and
modern.
I never even watched Airbender.
I never even watched Avatar.
That's definitely something now that your
daughter's like eight years old,
you can definitely sit down with her and
just enjoy that one together.
Yeah, yeah.
We started,
me and Jedi started watching Dragon Ball
when she was about two years old.
Once you get into it,
it's so many episodes, man.
It's so many different series of it.
I used to watch,
I would watch Dragon Ball here and there.
I never got into it the way a
lot of people did.
So for me,
I'm so detached from Dragon Ball that it's
just like, yeah,
I know who the characters are.
I know the basis of the story.
But I'm just like,
Yeah, honestly, I'm right there with you.
I think I learned most of it from
the Carlo.
I don't think I ever fully watched,
and don't shame me on this,
but I don't think I ever watched the
episode of Dragon Ball Z.
Don't, don't, don't.
Should I have not said that?
No, man, you're good.
There's plenty of other people that
haven't watched anything at all either.
I mean,
she's got opinions to back Neil up.
Neil is a major movie buff.
yeah but here's the wild thing though you
could probably give us the basis of what
dragon ball z is because it's become such
a part of mainstream pop culture yeah that
you could you know what it's about and
you you could just never have watched it
but you still have an idea of what
it is because it's so ingrained into what
we do every day like it's part of
pop culture now
Just like the mini.
Just like all this other stuff.
Yeah.
There's so much stuff out here.
Man.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I'll be in the cover.
You know what I'm saying?
Hey.
Dude, I get it.
It's like some of these more bothering...
some of these newer movies and stuff like
that i'm like i catch them on streaming
because i'm i'm busy man like yeah like
they they just don't really you know like
you said you catch it on stream because
they go back to the question earlier man
a lot of this stuff that they when
they market it ain't no engagement yeah
like some of it like it just doesn't
you know yeah it doesn't right away or
it'll be like a year later somebody will
be like hey did you watch this one
show or this one movie oh it was
like a splash in the pan right yeah
and then you go back and you're like
okay hey i'll give it a shot and
then you watch and you're like oh god
damn that how come they didn't push that
harder but it's like yeah but it's like
new thing drops now it's here for a
second and it's gone they get their money
back on the product and then it's gone
right and they keep moving yeah and then
what's the next big thing okay let's drop
that in the pan let it let it
go okay it's done let's pull it out
we made our money
yeah I think that's why I like I
like what stranger things did it was kind
of like that I feel like that Netflix
I call it the Netflix model where they
they make it they make you wait a
year and then it was like all right
boom here's the next one
Yeah, and they did.
They made you,
I feel like they make you wait like
two or three years.
It felt like it.
Those kids were like graduating high
school, graduating college,
getting married, having babies.
Yeah.
In the normal business model, that sucks.
But when you have something good that the
people love, it gives you time to, well,
let's write books now.
Or let's come up with little museums that
you can go visit and stuff like that.
I feel like they kind of capitalize on
all of the engagement and things that they
can do.
And that's something that Netflix does
really well.
I mean, Stranger Things has a comic book.
It's got an animated series that just came
out.
They're milking that cow until she can't
milk it no more.
That's the way it used to be.
That's the way it used to be.
You get yourself a good cow producing some
good milk.
You milk that damn cow until it goes
dry.
You do what George Lucas did.
He milked Star Wars.
You know,
he didn't really direct them that much.
After a while, he would produce.
He did the first three.
He did the first three,
and then after that, he produced.
He started producing, which is, you know,
I feel like that's how you build
longevity.
You got to really sit back and say,
kind of like,
you just sit back and say,
you know what?
Yeah, I done built this.
Let me get somebody who is qualified.
Yeah.
who can kind of fill this position.
New ideas, right?
You keep it fresh.
Keep it fresh.
Keep it going.
Which I'm glad you just brought up George
Lucas again,
because it really leads me into the next
question.
So like the energy of ADA,
it feels huge.
It's anime, like sci-fi action,
cinematic storytelling here.
And I know earlier you had mentioned that
George Lucas was one of your biggest
influence from a business perspective.
standpoint but from a medium standpoint
who were some of your influences when it
came to making this comic book was there
anime inspiration sci-fi inspirations like
what were some of those other inspirations
for the book itself man uh
It was none.
I mean,
we were so back to the joint, man.
Like, when we was in there with Scott,
man,
we didn't have no idea about this whole
comic book stuff.
In fact,
we were so intimidated by it that when
we did the comic book, we was like,
we ain't going to go to no comic
because we don't know nothing.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So we don't want to get around all
these people that know these books.
Yeah,
but how else are you going to learn?
How else are you going to learn unless
you immerse yourself into it?
We get that now, right?
Yeah.
Man, I mean,
I'm going to be honest with you, man.
This stuff just came out of our head,
man.
No, that's awesome, though.
Straight up.
It wasn't no... It wasn't...
And Neil was very careful about that when
Scott Washington, he started doing...
He was the first person before we hired
our artist.
He was the first person to give us
concept drawings of these different types
of... These armies...
and all of that,
and Neil was very careful.
Like,
I'm not going to sit up here and
say we didn't know what Star Wars looked
like,
and I didn't know what Star Wars looked
like because I did, right?
So we would catch it.
We'd be like, nah,
that looked too much like a stormtrooper.
We got to take that out.
Yeah.
Or it'd be a little stuff like, oh,
like, you know,
like the Farscape type elements,
where it's like how he was saying the
three, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
He was like, nah,
we gotta take that out.
So we struggled to be extremely
rebellious.
Now, over the time,
When we began to work on submitting these
various art pieces to different letterers
and stuff like that,
we got feedback and people were like,
yeah, man,
this kind of reminds me of heavy metal.
Or you guys kind of, you know,
the humanoid ink,
or like you guys are doing your own
thing, you know,
different sides of the world.
Like how the Ninja Turtles are and...
you know research based on that like oh
find out the ninja turtles when they
printed their first book out it was
slightly bigger than a normal comic book
yep but that was by mistake right
realizing like oh dang well and he printed
it himself too because that's what he had
available
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's also why it was in black and
white.
Yeah, yeah.
So it was just like, man,
it was like,
so we started looking at things where we,
I wouldn't say we was totally,
we were inspired to make the character
based on these people,
but we was inspired to remain original and
be rebellious to what was already out
there.
And that's what it was, being ugly.
Yeah.
And parts of it too is just how
you grew up in life.
We grew up listening to just hip hop
music.
Just kind of like, yo,
you're just background of who you are,
how you were raised, and things like that.
So you find a way...
I feel like we found a way to
insert just our own culture.
He's from Atlanta.
I'm from Buffalo.
So it's like...
the more you delve into it,
you might be like, ah,
you might see a little bit of the
swag or like just little things like that.
I always say that you're,
you're a product of your environment,
but it's what you take with you from
your environment that really helps mold
you at the end of the day.
Yeah.
I do read a lot of like classic
science fiction.
Yeah, dude,
there's nothing better than some of that
old school science fiction.
Yeah, it's all like some of the artwork.
So I say we got,
we really went far beyond what was
relevant to pool.
You know what I mean?
Like all these old school different
artists in the seventies.
Scott Ashley, Scott Washington,
he let me borrow this book.
Well, I bought it.
I bought it again, Jim Burns.
Yeah.
No, that's a good one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You got Michael Whelan and we kind of
pull from his library.
But, you know,
Neil's got anything relevant,
like special, like Star Wars,
anything like that.
We'll put it back.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because you don't want to you want to
you want to have those vibes,
but you don't want it to be like
when people look at it,
you want you want them to go, oh,
that's original.
that's yes you don't want them to go
oh that looks like cheap star wars you
don't like that yeah like even this right
here this uh actually neil purchased this
book right here this is a heavy metal
another heavy metal joint uh yeah that's
crazy uh now this book is very rare
it's hard to find neil had found it
yeah i hadn't seen that one before yeah
man if you see i try to be
very careful but there's nothing that
I love that.
That's so beautiful, so dangerous.
Yeah, man.
I love that stuff.
Those are underrated colors,
in my opinion.
Those pinks and purples and blues to
reflect space.
Bruno Caterino has a book that has...
I forgot what it's called now.
But the story is it takes place in
outer space and the artists really utilize
those purples and pinks and blues that
way.
And it just makes for such a beautiful
setting.
And I think here lately, like this year,
I've seen a few other books really laying
heavy into those colors because they go so
well together.
I mean,
even if you think about funk music,
like Jimi Hendrix and all of that,
type of, that stuff get to coming out,
like OutKast and, you know,
the purple and the,
just the wild hairstyle.
We do go to,
me and him do throw back different ideas
on African hairstyles and African weapons
and just,
we try to stay within our roots as
strong as we,
as much as we can and just try
to, you know,
Native American,
we pull from cultural things.
Y'all need to reach out to Jeff Carroll.
He was literally just on the podcast two
interviews ago.
On Instagram, he's CoachYoJeff.
And his science fiction is very African
roots based, you know,
and it was a great conversation, too.
And we were talking about the same thing
because
I'm not going to get to talk about
this on a normal day-to-day basis,
but here I have y'all on.
I had Jeff on,
and I got to talk about the African
roots of stuff,
using weapons inspired by them,
hairstyles inspired by them,
and how it takes up the character to
another level because you can do so much
more with it, right?
Yeah.
And you can see those influences in the
work, in the writing, in the characters.
And to me,
that's just some of the coolest shit, man.
And there's not enough of it.
It needs to be more.
I think another thing me and Neil look
at, too,
is a lot of different terrains around the
world, like mountains.
And we're into different types of
landscapes and stuff like that.
We're very photo-driven.
and that's another inspiration too i i we
didn't really got to mention was uh
stanley cooper yeah yeah i don't want a
space i mean just the perfection like
driving to make everything just just it
gotta be just being anal yeah
The moon landing was done by him.
He had to do it on location on
the moon.
That's what Space Odyssey was really
about.
I went to Toronto Film Festival one year
and I saw the cameras and the lenses
that he made that film with.
They were like NASA part.
They were constructed
Specifically, he was behind a lot of that.
He was ahead of his time, man.
He was so ahead of his time.
He really was.
They were like, the dude's an asshole.
But when you look at what he produced,
you're like, he may be an asshole,
but look what this asshole just made, man.
Yeah.
I mean, go on, Shelly.
Do it one more time.
That's what I remember from The Shining.
He just, all right, now talk to Shelly.
What are you doing?
and then whoa uh what's his name um
nicholson nicholas jack news yeah like his
character in that movie man he was just
so goddamn deranged and we talk about
villains man he's got that he's a little
like a villain he was like this great
two-face right and and what was it batman
or whatever
He was a joker.
He was a joker, yeah.
Joker, yeah.
Joker.
Michael Keaton's Joker.
Yeah, he's like a,
he's a villain in real life.
Michael Keaton.
But he just looks like a villain.
Yeah, I'm saying,
but he was like the Joker.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Yeah, Jagger,
he just looks like a villain.
He does.
The way he can pull that smile up
there real high.
Yeah, it's like the eyebrows.
The eyebrows and the eyes.
His face is...
He's got the same expression on his face,
but it's so...
Like, the way he can just pull, like,
the difference in motions out of it.
Like,
the dude just looks like he's just a
resting asshole, right?
Yo, all day, right?
All day.
Like, he's just, like, in asshole mode.
He can't get out of that place.
Yeah.
Like, he's the happiest man in the world.
But you look at him, you're like, man,
that dude looks like such an asshole.
He's probably, I think he's saying Lona.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, no,
I'm not messing with that guy.
He'll throw his cell phone at me.
I don't want to mess with that.
All right.
So let's dive in a little bit of
the indie creator discussion on this
because at the heart of us all,
we're indie creators.
So why was it important for y'all to
build something creator-owned?
I don't know.
I feel like IP is,
you look at just different forms of
communication throughout humanity.
You got some people, they might just, hey,
look, I work a job, I'm cool.
You know what I'm saying?
And then you have some people,
they might be a supervisor or some people
might be a CEO.
But then you have those people who are
like visionaries and just,
they're just a creator.
Like when you think of the Steve Jobs
and people like him or Bezos and like
to me,
those people that I personally like,
I like those, you know,
like I really like Steve Jobs.
Like the crowd kind of like put me
up on him.
Like, and I just started researching him.
And it's,
it's like just being a visionary is,
Like that to me,
creativity is like almost like the highest
form of communication.
Yeah.
It's like to take something that don't
exist and make it into something,
which kind of brings you into like IP
and having something that's like,
it's intellectual property.
It's something that you own.
It's something that can outlive you.
And it's something that can be passed on
from generation to generation.
And you know, just us specifically,
it's like,
It's okay to imagine that's our slogan,
but we really want people to just have
fun.
We want to create an escape for people.
We want to build something.
Yeah, we're independent.
Again,
George Lucas essentially is independent.
That's just how he industrialized magic.
Yeah,
he turned it into a billion-dollar
enterprise.
The blueprint, right?
Just kind of on that,
it's okay to be independent.
It's just having control, having freedom,
just being able to create something to
share with people that could just...
create an escape form that can just expand
their horizons in some sense that can help
them understand your culture.
You know,
you can communicate your culture with
different people.
So I think it's a lot of,
you know,
you can go on and on and on
about like just being independent and
just, you know, kind of going that route.
So what are some of the biggest struggles
you think indie creators face today
outside of money?
That was the first thing that came to
mind.
That's the first thing that always comes
to mind.
That's why I always say outside of money
because I know what the answer is going
to be.
You can't say that.
I've done this for a little bit.
I know that's the first answer.
Outside of money,
you say what they struggle with?
What's the biggest struggles you think
they face today outside of the money part?
I think the main goal is
It's not gold,
but I think the fundamental struggle is
you got to try to be a hundred
percent original.
Like trying not to,
it's very hard to do.
I think it's a team effort.
Sometimes you can subconsciously copy
something.
And it's okay to copy as long as
it's original, right?
There's always going to be something out
there that's going to look very similar or
similar to what you are producing.
But it's how do you spin that and
make it uniquely yours?
Yeah,
I think a lot of indie creators are
very shy at building against the norm.
You know what I mean?
Something as simple as resizing the book.
You know what I mean?
Or not putting something in the left
corner or just, you know.
Yeah.
I think that's also what it is.
I think.
Yeah, it's that old school mentality.
And when Image come out,
Image was one of the first ones that
I can remember that said, no,
we using the whole page.
There ain't going to be no white on
the outside of our pages.
We doing full color, splash pages.
We're doing it big.
Every piece of that paper is going to
be utilized.
We're getting our money worth on what this
paper is worth.
Wow.
Yeah, I mean, man,
Neil had to tell me, you know,
we had a conversation all the time.
He's like, yo, always strive to be,
if they did it this way,
if they went right, go left.
Yeah.
Even if it's wrong,
you can make the wrong turn to right.
That's what they did.
Image did it in ninety three, right?
Yeah.
So ninety two, ninety three.
Yeah.
They rebel, man.
I think that's I think that's what it
is.
I think as an independent creator,
shine away from being like what you
already saw.
Oh, dude, that's that's great.
That's great advice, too.
Yeah.
so so what do you think is harder
now to get people is it harder now
to get people invested in original
universes because there's a lot of people
out there putting out a lot of original
universes like what do you think it takes
to make yours the universe they want to
like lean to i i i think just
being a hundred percent original and
putting yourself out there and having,
I think like this podcast right here,
right?
I think I like how I look at,
I listen to podcasts and I, you know,
that's how I found you.
You know what I mean?
I go through on my Apple and Spotify
and, um,
That's really cool.
I appreciate that.
That means a lot to me.
You found me through Spotify or Apple or
whatever it was.
That's really cool.
What I noticed is a lot of these
people, they'll read the book first.
Then they'll talk about the book.
What I like about what you're doing is
you're having a conversation not
necessarily about the book but about the
characters of the people that made it.
You're talking to us and it's all about...
Yo,
let me get to know who the creators
are.
Let's get their characters out.
Not these characters, but who they are.
We were discussing this before we went
live, right?
I like to take people on the journey
of...
the people who create the book,
to how the book is made,
to get to where we are right now,
talking about the industry.
We talked about the book.
We talked about who you are and your
influences.
It's a journey for me.
I love to hear the people's journey and
how they got to where they're at.
Because to me, that's engagement.
That's entertainment.
You're sharing a story of the people who
are creating your favorite comic book or
your...
your future favorite comic book and that's
what i love about what i get to
do is and the way i do it
which is uniquely i think is uniquely mine
in that aspect is i don't want the
focus to be on the the book a
hundred percent right
i want it to be about the people
creating the book and what got them to
that place to create that book and then
we can talk about the book and we
can talk about the influences and we could
talk about the industry with like we're
doing right now dude that means the world
that you that dude i appreciate that no
no problem man i i think that's building
something where it's like yo let's find
out who who the people are that made
it
because that's the most important thing
right to me yeah people and then sometimes
even with in social media i think a
lot of even us i think we lack
you know like people want to see who
you are you know what i mean that's
what getting them to buy into the product
you know what i mean yeah and so
like this right here is like somebody
watched this they're like man i wouldn't
i'm they might not never care to get
the book but they probably get it based
on our personality based on conversation
And like I said,
we really didn't talk about the book much,
but it's like we did talk about the
book in the sense of who we are.
And it said so much.
That's how we get to that part, right?
by us finding out who you are,
we're talking about the book because the
book is based on your personalities,
your experiences in life,
what you're doing,
what you're trying to do.
And it all builds into this really cool
journey of who y'all are and what this
book is about.
And it's just a different approach to
doing, getting to the same place, right?
Only it's like,
I don't wanna just dive in and go,
hey, tell me about your comic book.
That's easy.
That's easy.
That's the easy button.
But if you take them on a personal
journey of who the people behind the book
are to get to the book,
to get to these other pieces of good
conversation, that's what I like.
Yeah.
I'm glad.
You asked really good questions.
Very good questions.
Very good questions.
I appreciate that.
It took me a long time to get
to this spot.
I like this good foundation to where I
got this really great solid foundation
built that I can now
plug and play but still make it uniquely
about the people yeah behind this book
yeah because i i literally i went through
your instagrams i i look at all that
stuff i i learned about like i was
like but when we before we went live
right we were talking to carlo i was
like dude you got some good knees man
i seen you jumping around the stage man
yeah
So, I mean, it's immediately,
that's how I'm able to connect with people
because I'm not just like,
it's not generic shit, man.
I get into your Instagrams.
I, you know, look,
you give me the social media.
I'm going to look at it.
I'm going to learn who you are and
like what you enjoy and,
and try to bring that stuff in because
I know that's going to bring out your
personality.
Yeah.
And it's going to make that conversation
start to flow so much easier because it's
now personable.
We're getting to know each other.
Right.
And it's just a different approach to get
to the same story that instead of just
dive in.
Hey, tell me about eighty eight guys.
Right.
Right.
Like easy button.
I don't want to do that.
I really like that.
I think to get people to want to
buy Eighty-Eight,
you have to know the people behind
Eighty-Eight, right?
And that's why you do it the way
you do it.
The next question is actually,
how difficult has audience building been
for y'all?
Because it's not an easy task to market
yourself and put yourself out there in
that kind of way.
Yeah.
Man, I'm going to be honest with you.
I don't even think it is.
I think we kind of figured it out.
When we first launched the book,
I think it was a thousand and one
hundred books inventory.
And man,
we got good love off the first hundred.
I mean, we've been getting support.
Being there, I think for us,
it's just a matter of putting ourselves
out there.
Because the love is in there.
I mean, it ain't been no hiccups.
It just has been, you know,
trying to get more exposure on what we're
doing.
And so, yeah, man, I mean...
I don't think no difficulty has really
been there.
It's just, you know,
it's the financial thing, right?
Yeah,
that's always going to be number one no
matter what.
That's why I don't try to bring that
into the conversation because that will
always be like, we know.
Trust me, we know.
Yeah, we've gotten a lot of good reviews.
Yeah.
Like, it's...
I would say that's been the upside of,
again,
getting exposure and things of that
nature.
It's just that the reviews,
they are what they are.
Everybody likes it.
I think that's just a blessing in itself.
It's just like, wow, that's good stuff.
People like it.
I mean,
this announcement is going to be coming
here soon.
I got a State of the Union address
coming,
but I'm actually about to get back in
the business of doing comic book reviews.
I'm not going to do a traditional written
review.
The chairman does not have that kind of
time to be doing written reviews.
I'm sorry.
But what I am going to do is
after I read the book,
i will do a thirty to sixty second
short video that i can post to social
media to youtube and places like that of
a review on the book so that's going
to be coming here soon yeah awesome
It took me a lot of deliberations to
get to like, hey,
how do I want to do this?
You know, just like that internal,
you know, like writing it down, like,
how do I want to do this?
Do I have time to do this?
Like,
but a thirty to sixty second short video
done on my iPhone,
I can do that in my car at
lunch.
Yeah.
You know, so those will be coming soon.
I'm going to make that announcement soon.
Okay.
I'm going to be doing reviews again,
but they're going to be in a video
style format and don't expect me to
sugarcoat shit because I'm going to be
honest and upfront.
If the book isn't good,
I'm going to be like, Hey, you know,
i'm like do you really want me to
publish this because i'm going to be
honest and i don't think this book was
good so yeah i'm just putting that out
there like i'm an honest person like
journalistic integrity right i got to be
honest on that kind of stuff i mean
like i said so far man we've been
getting good feedback man and no i was
looking at the website man y'all have
gotten great feedback man i'm actually
really excited to order the book and get
it myself
And people are probably wondering, like,
how does he have them on there?
He's not read the book.
It's not about reading the book.
It's about them.
This is about them,
their journey to get to that book.
Trust me,
I eventually get all the books that have
been on this podcast.
Trust me on that one.
It just sometimes takes me some time to
get there.
They have one person.
I was about to say,
you are one person.
Like I said,
I like the fact that you're just focusing
on the writers.
To me, the writers, the artists,
the letters, the inkers,
the concept artists,
these are the people that make our
universes come to life.
They are.
their stories.
Those are the stories I want to hear
personally,
and that's why I do this the way
I do this.
Those are the stories I care about.
I want to know the people.
We have a seven-man team on this, man.
That's a big team.
so i mean i love that kind of
stuff where you you have the people back
in the book and supporting the book and
the team to go with it to to
make all that happen because
Dude, people are like, oh,
anybody can make a comic book.
They make a comic book and they've come
back and tell me how that was at
the end of the day.
Yeah, it's not easy.
And y'all were working with multiple
artists on this book.
Oh, by the way,
every artist works at a different time.
So you've got to have the patience of
a saint sometimes.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, that's just what it is,
though.
That's what it is, man.
Yeah,
it's one of those where I'm booked into
July right now.
And there's a lot of those conversations
that I'm really excited to get to.
But I'm like, man, fucking July, man.
And then y'all were one of them.
Once I started doing my research,
I'm like, man,
I'm excited to have these guys on.
Yeah, man.
Like, shit,
I booked y'all in like February, March.
And I'm like, man, May twenty ninth, man,
we closing out this month big.
It's going to be a fun conversation.
And I knew I knew it was going
to be a good conversation.
Like, like you just know going into it,
like after you start doing the research,
you're like,
this is going to be a vibe.
This is going to be a good time.
It's going to be a good conversation.
And like you really start.
And this one, like, it's solid.
Solid conversation.
So I appreciate it.
So let's keep, keep it rolling, man.
We got some more to get through here.
So for social media, man,
how has that been like for y'all?
Cause right now everything's on the right
brothers.
page on Instagram,
how has the social media growth and using
social media to put the book out there,
how has that been for y'all?
Because I can attest firsthand that social
media is probably the hardest part of
this.
It is, man.
That social media, it's a give or take.
TikTok was doing us great until they shut
it down and reopened it.
We got most of our sales from there,
too, on TikTok.
We was growing pretty great on that.
So,
social media always been a little hard for
us.
Our whole motto is, man,
getting out on foot.
You know what I mean?
Being out on the street and getting out
on foot, man.
Yeah,
Comic-Cons make a huge difference in
putting the product out there.
Yeah, it did.
They're expensive as fuck to table.
Yeah.
And so, that's really been our thing, man.
It's just...
Stand on foot, man.
And then taking that and then putting that
and using social media like that.
Yeah.
That's been what it is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm trying to get into cons right now.
So, I mean,
I get that a hundred percent.
Just trying to be like from a media
perspective.
And like people are like,
who are you though?
And like.
And it's like, what do you mean,
who am I?
I literally submitted the application.
You have all my details.
You have everything.
And they come back, well,
you're not big enough.
I'm like, dude,
you're a Comic-Con in the middle of BFE
North Carolina.
Like, really?
And you're going to tell me that I
don't have that what you're looking for?
Like, come on, dude.
Like, ten people have heard of you.
I'm the eleven.
That's not a knock.
It's like I'm waiting for my shot to
get in the door.
Any of y'all out there listening,
hit the chairman up.
I would love to do media
whatever it is that I can do to
put myself in that position.
I mean, that's how it is with us,
man.
You know, we're doing the same thing,
working our way.
But we're always trying to figure out a
method to go around.
Hey, once y'all figure that shit out, man,
market it.
Book it and sell it to people because
that shit's hard.
Yeah, it is, man.
So, you know,
that's just one of them things, man.
But being on foot,
you know what I mean,
and figuring out a strategy,
that's what we try to aim for,
you know what I mean?
So do you think that indie creators
currently are getting enough visibility?
It's a money thing.
Yeah.
I don't think they are.
No.
They're not.
And there's only so many of...
like podcasts like this to go around right
yeah so it's really hard i wish there
were more people doing this and there's
you see you see podcasts pop up talking
about indie comic books but again going
back to that flash in the pan right
it feels like they're here one minute and
they're gone the next because it's a lot
of work it is yeah it's a lot
of work and a lot of times they
it's it's time is some people got family
some people work two to three jobs they
got responsibilities and it's so long like
we've been at this for almost a decade
so yeah it's a it takes a lot
to not only start
but to continue and actually see it
through so it's i commend any and every
independent creator artist company because
it gets discouraged it's not an easy thing
to do and to stick with you got
a lot of like naysayers at times you
can be it can be your environment or
people might be discouraging you or you
just can't see the light at the end
of the tunnel so it's it's
It's a complicated journey.
It really is.
It can be so fulfilling, though,
at the end of the day.
It is.
I feel like when you understand why you're
in it and what you got into it
for, it keeps you going.
This is Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.
They said,
if you're not looking to right a wrong
or
something that just keeps you at it,
you're not going to make it.
I mean,
I told y'all before we went live,
like my number one priority is to make
the,
the Carlo Tatum's and the Neil Newman's
the right brothers,
like household names to some degree.
Like when they, they think of the USDN,
I don't want them to think about me.
I want them to think about the people
in the journeys that I present and I
talk about.
And, um,
That's what my, like I said,
my biggest goal,
my number one goal every year until that's
a real life statement.
When people go, oh,
did you see that new interview on the
USDN?
He had the Wright brothers back on and
they were talking about issue two or issue
three of eighty eight.
Or, hey,
he just had them back on because they
just got funded for their movie.
You know,
that's what I want at the end of
the day.
I want this to lead to bigger and
better things for all parties involved.
And the only way to do that is
to fucking keep grinding.
And that's what I do every single day.
I go to work.
I do my job.
I come home.
I do this.
And it's just sick, right?
Just like you get up.
You know today may not be the day,
but, hey, maybe it's tomorrow.
Or maybe it's the day after that.
Maybe it's a year from now.
I don't know,
but I'm not going to stop that dream,
right?
Because that is my dream.
Right.
It's necessary.
It is a hundred percent.
Like I said,
I wish there were more people like us
doing what it is that we're doing right
now,
which is having these kinds of
conversations and talking about
independent comic books,
talking about different universes and
doing those kinds of things.
That way everybody eventually gets to know
about what it is that we are doing.
Right.
but with that let's start winding this
down man let's um think a little bit
beyond comic books i know you this is
going to be a movie someday like it
was a movie first right and then a
comic book after the fat um what other
plans do you have for this ip oh
what
Man.
Let it out there, man.
This is y'all's moment, man.
You just keep going.
You know,
we're talking about we want to build a
theme park.
That's where I was going, man,
to build a theme park,
to turn this thing into a clothing brand
where it reaches all the clothing.
That ADA would be kind of dope.
Yeah, man.
You know?
Just to...
see this thing all the way like Neil
said uh to even when we're not here
no more hopefully man of our families
after the fact right yes yeah I mean
that's that's yeah I agree I mean when
you think all the great people whether
it's Walt Disney or trying to think who
else got
I feel like he's the person who built
Disney World and Disneyland.
He didn't see all of it,
but I felt like he saw all of
it.
He knew.
He knew the power of his brand.
Just to be able to have something to
live on.
and where it can be passed down where
it could like george lucas was influenced
by going to disneyland so to be able
to to just you do that for somebody
else like you give somebody else that
spark that hope that imagination just that
wow like
you know i think that's that's like
priceless like that's to be able to do
that that's that's like job well done no
a hundred percent and it honestly you said
it best he knew when he started building
disney world disneyland and the product he
knew it was going to be everlasting yeah
and that's the goal man everlasting man
that's that's yeah yeah
So years from now, the dust has settled.
We have an ADA movie.
We have this amazing, you know, ADA,
you know, comic universe.
We have it on clothing.
What do you want people to say about
the Wright Brothers Entertainment years
from now?
After you've lived out your dreams,
you've made all these things happen.
What do you want people to look back
and go, damn?
That Frank Sinatra song?
No, I'm just playing.
I did it my way.
No, I'm just playing.
Dude, yeah.
Oh, man.
That's a fucking awesome summary,
actually.
That's solid.
Yeah, I think for me personally,
it's like, hey,
we just helped a lot of people.
I think to be able to help people
live out their dream and just...
I think that's the ultimate kind of like
for me personally.
Like, yeah,
it's stuff that we want to do for
me.
Like, oh, yeah, I want this house.
I want the car, blah, blah, blah,
whatever.
But it's like if you can help somebody
like achieve their purpose in life.
Be that inspiration.
Yeah, that's the ultimate goal.
Let them be the next, you know,
Neil or DeCarlo, the next chairman.
That's right.
Yeah.
Get them kids out,
get them kids out them projects, man,
and give them something to do.
Oh, for real, though.
Oh, a hundred percent, yeah.
That's one of my goals, man.
I had St.
Neil official building.
It was like, yo,
one of my goals is to get a
building and put it right in the daggone
industry.
One of mine is to own my own
shop, my own comic shop.
I know exactly.
Oh, that's what's up.
Oh, you own your own comic shop?
No, no.
That's like one of my goals and dreams
at the end of the day is to
have my own...
you're driving down the road one day and
you see the United States Department of
Nerds on a building.
You go, what the hell is that?
And then you just pull in and be
like, oh damn, it's a comic shop.
It's an experience.
That's what I look like.
I like that.
at the end of the day like that
is like my like and not just one
like i wanted to franchise it you know
just hit that franchise tag where people
can buy a franchise tag like hey i
want to open up a united states department
of nerds in washington state or new york
city or wherever and carry it on and
just have like and then not just be
you know comic books but like pop culture
what whatever like yeah you're buying a
brand right you're buying a brand
yeah you're buying an established name so
like that's my like that's one of my
things right there is like i want to
own a comic shop and eventually it go
on to be a franchise yeah yeah no
i like that i have different locations
yeah that's the idea man global exactly
exactly to be able to imagine all around
the world man
solid goals, solid dreams right there.
I like that.
So what's next for the Wright brothers and
the ADA universe?
Um, man, uh, issue two.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Solid.
Yeah.
So we probably, we, we,
we working on some other stuff.
We, we thinking about doing, you know, um,
you know,
you got a t-shirt we're working on.
Yeah, man.
Yeah, we're doing a movie script too.
Finishing out.
Outside of this,
it's another kind of like a sci-fi horror
movie we're working on.
That's my jam right there.
Where can people find you and support the
ADA universe?
Oh, right now, the website is up.
Yep.
It's linked down below.
Yeah, TWB Studios.
I think the best thing- What's the
Instagram?
Oh, wait.
My bad.
Oh, yeah.
I think the best thing people do, too,
is make sure they follow us on Instagram.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Just be aware of that,
just in case things happen.
But, yeah, man,
just follow us on the ground.
Always reach out.
The DM will hit you up.
You know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, man.
We got an email.
Email us.
Got any questions?
Yeah, we real personal.
Very personal.
Don't be shy, man.
The moment I invited y'all on,
I was like, hey, if you're interested,
let's make this happen.
I was like, I just need this, this,
and this.
And it was like, shit.
Ten minutes later, I had everything.
I was like, damn.
I'm like, I wish everybody was like that.
I was like, holy crap.
I'm like,
it's like pulling teeth with some
creators, but y'all were like, nah,
we got you.
The car will be locked in, yo.
No, that shit was solid.
I was like, damn.
But final message to indie creators out
there trying to build something.
Oh, man.
I learned from Neil, man.
Just be rebellious.
If somebody's going right, man,
you just go left, man.
That's it.
Solid ass advice right there.
I mean,
it's okay to imagine and just make sure
if they're going that way,
you go this way.
That's the only way you're going to get
out.
If it sounds too much,
I think that'd be the only thing.
When we're giving each other ideas,
the main thing we're looking for is,
is this already out, man?
I ain't saying throw it away,
but we got to tweak it.
As original as we can get it.
You know what I mean?
If you out there, you're an indicator,
try your best to come up with something
different.
You know what I mean?
Don't copy out of us.
Don't copy out of Star Wars.
You can be inspired by people.
Inspiration is different,
but try to be rebellious as much as
you can,
and that's what's going to make you stand
out.
Yeah.
Solid advice right there.
Hey,
that's the perfect spot to end it all
right there.
So tonight's conversation was a reminder
that indie comments are about more than
just books.
They're about imagination.
They're about taking an idea that exists
only in your mind and having the courage
to bring it into the real world.
The Wright Brothers Entertainment aren't
just creating comics.
They're building worlds,
building possibilities,
and proving that creator-owned
storytelling is still one of the most
powerful forces of entertainment today.
And honestly, Council,
that's exactly the kind of energy that we
love spotlighting here at the USDN.
So make sure you support the Wright
Brothers Entertainment.
Check out the ADA universe and continue
supporting independent creators who dare
to imagine bigger.
Make sure you like,
follow and share because this is the USDN
podcast where indie comics come to life.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now adjourned.
Y'all be safe, happy Friday,
and enjoy your weekends.