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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.
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DFPN.
Thank you.
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 but before we begin the
aha horror anthology continues to grow
we're looking at episode number six
tonight and with each episode we've
explored new corners of horror from
psychological tension to body horror to
the unsettling realities that linger just
beneath the surface and tonight we step
into something darker
Something older.
Something rooted in fear,
faith in the consequences of faith of
false justice.
The forest is quiet, too quiet.
The kind of silence that comes after a
lie has been told.
After justice has been twisted into
something unrecognizable.
A rope swings in the night air.
A name is whispered in fear.
It's somewhere beyond the gallows.
Something is waiting.
tonight we step into a puritan nightmare
where truth was buried and vengeance has
to dig its way back up ladies and
gentlemen the council of nerds is now in
session jasmine welcome to the usdm my
friend it's very honored i'm very honored
to be here
I hope the intro was to your liking.
Oh, absolutely.
I was like headbanging all the way through
it.
It was great.
Yeah.
My compliments to your graphics.
You know, really awesome stuff.
Appreciate it.
Yeah.
Kelvin would love to hear that.
He loves when his work is noticed and
he appreciates it.
But let's dive into it.
What drew you specifically to a gothic
supernatural horror movie?
Oh man, that's a good question.
Well, one of my, I mean,
really all types of horror fascinate me
because I think horror really speaks to,
you know, what it means to be human.
And especially in history as well,
because there's a lot of historical
elements of horror that both ring in that
time period, but also still now.
I took a gothic horror class, actually,
when I was doing my graduate years at
my university,
and a lot of gothic horror focused on
themes that are still relevant today,
like persecution of otherness,
of fear of the unknown,
of marginalized peoples, essentially.
And with gothic horror, too,
I think that there is a huge cry
for that,
because you
But we're really seeing a lot of returns
to these classic themes.
Absolutely.
Like there are so many horror films that
have delved into this time period.
One of my favorite directors,
are you familiar with Robert Eggers?
I think he did.
Oh, I think everybody is.
Oh, yeah, he's great.
He did an incredible film about the
Puritan times and the people that
dominated that.
And what really struck me is that even
though it was a very, like, you know,
I guess old-timey kind of film,
or the language was very antiquated,
you know,
it was very religious in terms of theme,
there's still a lot of sense of horror
that still resonated with people in terms
of this dissolving family unit.
Yeah.
And this idea of this culture kind of
turning against them.
So that was something that really
intrigued me when I wrote The Hangwoman
for this comic as well.
Because I kind of wanted to touch upon
what made the Salem Witch Trials
fascinating and still relevant today.
And The Coven is coming back in American
Horror Story as well.
Really?
That's great.
Which I'm really excited about.
That was one of my favorite seasons of...
of that series was you know the coven
and uh it's coming back around and i'm
here for it i haven't watched it in
about three or four seasons so i'm
definitely going to be jumping back in
simply because they brought the witches
back and i love that so amazing so
was there a specific image or a moment
maybe an emotion that sparked this story
and me and why a puritan era set
in
Emotion.
Sorry, could you clarify by emotion?
You mean like anger or sadness or did
I mishear?
No, you thought about it way too hard.
No, you're good.
Like a specific image,
moment or an emotion that kind of sparked
this story for you.
Well, I already mentioned The Witch,
but also when I was, again, in university,
we actually did some readings on the Salem
Witch Trials.
One was by, I think,
a testimony of a woman who's,
unfortunately,
I don't quite remember her name.
I think it was Mary?
I'll have to look into this more.
But another was...
Well, another element of was The Crucible,
you know,
a very famous play that I actually was
not assigned to read,
but I read because I was very curious
about that.
And one of the reasons why The Crucible
is still talked about is because, I mean,
it was written to basically it was written
about the Cold War, you know,
when everybody was pointing at everybody,
calling each other a communist because of
the paranoia.
What really interests me is that we still
see witch trials re-emerging.
In a lot of societies,
we still have people pointing the finger
during moments of great paranoia because
they're afraid.
I don't think we need to get too
heavy into details,
but I think witch trials are not unique
to a specific era in human history.
You know,
there are a huge facet of mob mentality.
And so I think with The Hanged Woman,
I really wanted to kind of try and
examine sort of what happens if somebody
rises that back.
Because a lot of the people who were
persecuted in witch trials were women.
And a lot of them didn't really have
their voices being told,
save for that one testament,
which I was really affected by.
And I thought that having a gothic horror
story about a woman rising from the grave
to proclaim that would be kind of an
interesting take on that, for sure.
Um, and no, oh, sorry.
No, no, go.
I'm sorry.
I was, I was, I was breathing.
I do apologize.
No, no, I'm sorry.
I just want to make sure.
Um,
another aspect that kind of inspired me
was,
this is going to sound kind of silly,
but, um, there was this, um,
Scooby-Doo film about like,
I think the witch's ghost, um,
when I was a kid and that was
kind of my first introduction to, uh,
not only, uh,
like the Salem witch trials,
but also Wiccanism and how people of
different faiths were persecuted,
which was another thing that really
inspired me,
especially seeing what's going on in these
days and all throughout history as well.
So, yeah.
That's a perfectly good explanation.
And I'm a huge Scooby-Doo fan,
so I love that.
I love that reference.
A little Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
action there.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Great, great stuff.
But yeah, I think it's...
I was kind of disappointed because they
portrayed this witch as this innocent
victim at the beginning who was executed
because she practiced Wiccanism.
But then immediately it was like, oh,
she was actually an evil witch this whole
time, who was...
I mean,
it was kind of the twist where it's
like,
I think the Wiccans actually sealed the
witch away.
I thought maybe I could play around with
that where it's like,
what if this was a perfectly good pagan
healer who just wanted to help people and
she ended up sadly paying the price for
it in an intolerant time.
Castlevania was another influence as well
with that character in the TV series.
That's a good one.
That was such a good series too.
The story feels really deeply rooted in
false justice and abuse of power.
Was that intentional from the start or
when you started writing this,
that just kind of evolved itself?
I think it absolutely was intentional
because the Salem witch trials at its core
was based off an abuse of power.
A lot of witches that were convicted,
I mean, it originally started as, well,
it went from, okay,
we have these people who we suspected
being witchcrafts who immediately
becoming,
I don't like that lady because she doesn't
say her prayers,
or I think that man owes me money,
or, you know, just a bunch of different...
facets and grudges that people um
basically anybody who was an other in
society anybody who didn't quite fit in
was immediately accused of witchcraft and
even people who did fit in were accused
of witchcraft so i think it actually ended
um the Salem witch trials and i think
one of the judges wives was accused of
witchcraft and immediately he's like okay
that's it we're putting an end to this
it wasn't until they were affected um yeah
yeah and i read um so it was
a book about
history but it was uh they explained
certain events through history with the
use of science and it was brought up
uh with the salem witch trials that it
could have been bad yeast that they were
using to bake breads that were causing
people to hallucinate which led to them
believing these were witches because they
were hallucinating these people doing evil
things because of the time with everybody
being strictly religious there
if they were hallucinating it because they
were eating bad yeast it was they were
like oh she just did this i seen
her fly so i always thought that was
a really cool concept of a book where
it was just weird things in history that
they tried to explain through the use of
science so i don't remember the name of
the book but it was just a really
cool read that i found on a shelf
in some obscure bookstore somewhere i'm
sure
Oh yeah, that sounds really interesting.
In fact,
I think it was actually referenced in
Robert Eggert's The Witch,
where I think the family was holding a
corn because their harvest was going bad,
and the corn is just covered in black,
you know, bleh.
Yeah.
Apparently when I was researching into the
film,
because I was really gripped by its
accuracy and I wanted to learn more about
it,
that's apparently a kind of rot called
ergot, I think it's called,
and that also causes hallucinations.
So there was a whole theory about the
film,
whether the family was actually going
insane,
or if there was supernatural occurrences,
or if it was just bad corn.
exactly what you were saying yeah and it's
really cool to explore those concepts even
in the uh tragedy of those events that
actually happen it's kind of neat to take
a step back and go can we explain
this through science as well and that's
fun to me because it's different yeah but
um so the judge in this story profits
from elizabeth's death
how important was it to show the
corruption behind the moral authority of
the story?
I felt it was rather important to portray
it because I think now more than ever,
we're aware of the corruption of authority
and people in power.
And that, again,
it is a facet in history, you know,
I mean,
True.
I mean,
I can't directly name references of people
accepting bribes back then.
Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
I don't necessarily have the sources to
back that up.
In fact, I should research into that more.
But I do know that people with authority
use the witch trials as a way to
essentially control the masses, you know,
go to church, you know, be obedient,
don't step out of line.
And one of the reasons why the witch
trials was also so horrifying was because
a lot of people,
even like people who were usually, like,
you know,
expected to be seen and not heard,
like women, suddenly had all this power,
like, you know,
all these very people being like,
she's a witch, listen to me,
listen to me, she's a witch.
Yeah.
And that was a big thing.
But with that, but of course,
with the story,
it was more about some religious
persecution and a persecution of a person
outside of their society,
which is definitely something that leaders
are throughout history and now have
incorporated as scapegoats and also for
fear.
There's actually a history of monsters
course that I took a while back,
which has been incredibly influential,
which directly talks about how monsters
are made to represent that which a society
fears, you know,
that which they can't control,
which you cannot control.
You demonize and you make sure that
everybody shuns it.
Yeah.
So who do you see as the real
villain in this story?
The judge,
the system are the people that allow this
persecution to happen.
Oh, I love questions like these.
It's I think it's kind of like I
think I guess it's sort of like a
snake eating its own tail, you know,
something that's continuing, you know,
corrupt systems will corrupt people and
corrupt people will corrupt the systems.
I think with.
I think I'm probably leaning a little bit
more towards the authoritative figures
because I think these are the types of
people who have the power to end the
system but don't because it's either too
well or they're indoctrinated in it.
But I can definitely see how somebody who
is how a bunch of people would be
completely behind the judge's authority,
not just because he says so,
but because they truly believe this person
is guilty and that they want them gone.
I like that answer.
I ask questions like that,
and people are like, ooh.
I'm like, come on.
You're coming on a good podcast.
You go on a good podcast,
you get good questions like that.
Oh, yeah.
I didn't doubt that for a second.
I was just happy, you know.
No, no.
I love that enthusiasm you had with it.
So the imagery here is strong.
We have crows, the moonlight,
the gallows tree.
How did you build that visual image?
That's another good one.
Really,
those are just great visuals to have in
a gothic horror setting.
Immediately you get a sense of like, well,
when I write a story,
I want the art to really transport the
character, the person reading it.
I want them to feel the wind chilling
their back.
I want them to hear the crows cawing.
in the trees that are rustling overhead
and the moon and the moonlight shining
over them, you know, it's,
it's an eerie sight.
Um, but also it kind of,
I think invades the setting, you know,
it's, um, you know, it's,
of course it's at nighttime, um,
back then,
especially they're very superstitious
around the night.
So already it was, um,
Very dark.
The trees symbolize that it's autumn and
winter,
so things are just going to get worse
for these people because there's more
dangers and more hazards.
And of course,
with all these witches that they're
hanging,
it's not going to get easier for them
either.
And I think also with the crows, well,
crows to me are a very interesting symbol
because, I mean, they are carrion birds,
first of all.
I mean, they literally eat the dead.
But they're also symbols of memory,
of thought and memory,
which I felt was very relevant in the
story.
In Norse mythology, Odin has two ravens,
Huginn and Muninn,
who serve to collect memories.
Crows themselves are very intelligent
birds, you know, they never forget.
And there's even, like,
stories that I've heard of crows literally
attacking people who were at them.
Yeah, exactly.
And also another motivation was the comic
The Crow, which was about grief.
one of my favorites yeah it's a very
personal um um comic and it's a very
raw comic but the crow serves as that
um link between the uh the physical and
the metaphysical which is definitely i
actually have that autographed by the
author so really yeah so cool the
opportunity came up about a year and a
half ago and uh i couldn't pass that
one up so i sent my book to
be signed and
came back it was really cool absolutely um
i wish i could have got the oh
yeah i'll have to somewhere yeah i'll dig
it out i have to dig it out
and take a picture of it because i
also got the funko pop signed by the
guy who did the crow in the third
one oh the second one yeah i can't
remember his name he was also in john
wick was it a city of angels or
salvation
I think it was City of Angels,
if I'm not mistaken.
It was one of the two.
Whichever one had,
I wish I could remember his name,
but I just know he was in The
Crow.
He was in the John Wick movie.
His name will pop up in my head
later.
It'll be ten thirty at night and it'll
dawn in my head.
I'm like, oh, yeah, this guy.
Gotcha.
I have seen the second film.
It actually has a really interesting
history.
I mean,
if you look up the behind the scenes
elements of it,
it had a completely different story.
Hopefully it gets released.
Maybe, what's their name?
Shout Studios can get the rights to it
and restore it to how it was.
Here's a cool one for you.
A mint,
nine point eight CGC of The Crow,
number one, the comic book.
will run you between twelve hundred and
fifteen hundred dollars u.s wow yeah that
is crazy wild yeah that is insane that
well i mean that's all that's great though
you know i mean it was never it
was at mass reproduce so it's very hard
to get your hands on and i've actually
only ever seen one of them definitely and
i've never seen it raw
are just floppy.
I've never seen it that way.
I've only ever seen it slabbed.
So it's really cool.
That was a cool,
I'm glad you brought that one up.
So how do you approach writing horror that
feels unsettling rather than just
shocking?
Because a lot of the stories are very
shocking, but they're told with, you know,
like with Minaj and Squids,
they put in like hours and hours of
research into what they wanted to bring
into the story.
Did you do this?
Well,
I already know you did the same thing,
but like,
how did you like kind of approach that
with
like this isn't necessarily unsettling but
rather they're it's more rooted in real
life you know what i'm saying yeah i
mean i i've totally seen um evil um
which ghosts pop up from uh time to
time sorry i thought that was funny but
yeah i totally agree with what you're
saying um yeah like with rank horror
that's unsettling um
Well, I didn't really,
I didn't know what my peers were doing
for Aha.
We just kind of submitted stories and they
picked so much of it.
And I was very fortunate to get chosen.
But I...
to me i think horror is at is
best when it deals with real life themes
i mean all stories like deal with real
life themes of course but i think with
horror um it's very easy to just throw
some like gruesome image on the screen and
get a reaction but with horror you know
you need to address um what's scary um
you know it's not just a matter of
um oh it's a fanged monster ah it's
a matter of um
like a specific theme a specific idea that
centers around um social anxieties that's
still unsettled you know like um i'm
trying to think of a good one um
maybe hereditary hereditary is a very
unsettling horror film that's um
And, you know, yeah,
I had very gruesome images, you know,
a girl gets decapitated like on the road
and of course,
but at the core of it is seeing
a family completely destroy themselves.
grief through domestic horror that is
unsettling and with the witch trials too
you know it's very much you mean we
definitely people getting hanged is scary
but it's the idea that it could happen
to you it could happen to anybody for
no reason other than you they just don't
like you that is essential as verifying
And I think that with this comic too,
you know,
I think with so many people being
persecuted and rounded up and put away for
no good reason other than they just don't
like you,
I think that is essentially a unsettling
moment that I wanted to bring awareness to
through this horror.
Yeah.
Let's dive in a little bit and talk
about Elizabeth.
So her transformation into a vengeful
spirit is powerful.
How did you approach that shift?
You mean the shift between her being a
healing woman to a vengeful spirit?
Yes.
Well, I am, as you can probably tell,
I'm a big fan of ghost stories.
And I have researched a lot of different
stories involving...
A lot of ghost stories often center around
women.
You know,
women coming back from the grave because
they were killed by their lover or they...
their child died and, or was, um,
thrown out or they, um, you know, was,
um, they were basically, um,
discarded by society and they rise up and
they haunt people.
Um,
there are countless examples in Mexico.
There was, um,
I'm going to butcher this pronunciation.
I'm so sorry.
Um, to anybody listening who is Spanish,
um, La Llorona, um,
which is about a woman who basically
haunts, um,
like the rivers, um, and, um,
goes after children because she was...
One of my favorite ghost stories.
Yeah, exactly.
You know what I'm talking about.
You know, abandoned by her husband and,
uh, her children died.
Um, and there's several more like that,
you know, all across, um, areas.
But with this ghost story,
I wanted to focus on a woman whose
life was destroyed through the witch
trials, because of course that happens.
But more than that, um...
I think with her coming back as a
vengeful spirit,
I didn't want it just to be like,
you know,
she completely turns a one eighty from a
nice person to complete to killing
everybody.
This is a woman looking for justice to
get back at somebody who took her away
and would probably do the same to several
other people.
um another big influence that i have with
the design his character is um are you
familiar with the song of ice and fire
books um the ones that inspired the game
of thrones series yeah um you know about
lady stone still waiting for him to do
it up do the last book yeah yeah
along with everybody else but yes i'm very
familiar
Yeah, well, with Lady Stoneheart,
what made her really interesting as a
ghost isn't just that she was brought back
from the dead to kill a bunch of
people.
It was people that hurt her personally and
hurt her family.
So that's her own form of justice.
Because sadly,
she's not going to get justice,
not just because she's dead, but because,
I mean,
who would give her justice in this kind
of world?
So she goes through those different means.
yeah i guess uh you know empowerment to
witches definitely there we go i like it
because i mean those are some of my
favorite stories and i think remember who
it was um the guy one of the
guys that was on at the beginning of
the this month um i don't want to
mess up his name so let me just
up here real quick uh zach
he was on um he had brought up
something and i was like oh that sounds
just like grim and a lot of these
stories that you were just talking about
you can find a version of that story
within one of the seasons of grim and
um i don't know a lot of these
stories like this i can immediately go oh
that was an episode of grim one time
and it was a really good episode so
yeah my head always goes to
Graham for some reason,
because it wasn't that long ago that I
rewatched the entire series again.
So I don't know.
I'm,
I'm a big fan of Graham and I
hear he's making a comeback.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
I'm definitely,
I definitely do want to watch that series.
I've heard some amazing things.
It's really good.
The finale,
but it was really good up into the
finale.
So did you want your audience to fear
Elizabeth or do you want your audience to
kind of root for her?
Because she, I mean, for me,
I'm rooting for her.
I know that for a fact, but like,
what did you want them to take away
from that?
I think I kind of wanted to,
I mean,
of course she is a person to be
feared, you know,
she's this undead wraith coming out,
but she's not necessarily going to hurt
anyone else,
just the people who targeted her.
That's why at the end, you know,
she doesn't attack the guy she helped,
she just asked her, okay,
who else do you want me to come
and bring over that's hurting others?
That's what the thing is.
But also,
I think one of the reasons why I
brought up a lot of women in ghost
stories is because, like I said,
with people being persecuted,
a lot of times in these ghost stories,
they're meant to be people or figures that
are not good.
They're meant to be these people.
Even though they have sympathetic
motivations, they're still very dangerous.
They're still throwing random kids into a
river.
They're still haunting houses and making
pots and pans moves and things.
yeah they're not nice people so i think
with her it's like you definitely do root
for her but it's not so much that
you fear her for what she could do
to you if she existed but more like
you kind of fear it's more like um
awe-inspiring power i guess you know yeah
yeah have you crossed her that's the one
thing that you would think about like wait
did i just see a ghost and have
i pissed off anybody who may be a
ghost now
Have I ever done that?
Um, when I was younger, definitely.
I think now, I think even now sometimes,
you know, like when I hear about his,
like when I read about history of any
kind,
I always kind of treat it with certain
kind of gravitas.
Um, like to this day,
I still don't touch things like Ouija
boards or anything that's like haunted
dolls or anything like that.
You never know.
Right.
You know, exactly.
Exactly.
That's why I just like, eh,
I'll keep on walking.
But the cat or not,
thank you for stopping through, man.
or her or i don't know sorry um
but yeah i think um but also with
um um i'm like with ghosts and uh
like i mean i mean with ouija board
i mean if um if i'm cranky just
waking up in the morning imagine how
ghosts would be waking up after like five
hundred years you know i know something to
think about like why are you waking me
up like dude i was sleeping good
Absolutely.
Furthermore... Oh, no, go ahead.
Sorry.
I think when I was younger, too,
you know, actually, me and my sisters,
it's kind of a funny story.
We were once walking our dogs in, like,
the dead of night.
Well, not the dead of night.
It was, like,
very early morning where it was still
pretty dark, but...
And we actually thought we saw Slender Man
like in the distance watching us like some
tall.
It's crazy how those trees will look.
And hey, what's his name?
Nick Cage is coming back as the Slender
Man in the new movie.
Oh, nice.
That's great.
I just seen that recently.
And but it's kind of crazy.
I don't know what it is.
It's that time between three a.m.
and like five thirty a.m.
to me is creepier than any of the
other times.
Yeah, definitely.
Don't know why, but it just is.
So is Elizabeth getting her revenge or is
her revenge justice or something more
sinister or darker?
I think that's up for the reader.
I don't know.
I think that when you phrase it like
that,
I feel bad for answering something like
that because I think it's more interesting
to have the reader... Fair enough.
That being said, though,
when I pictured him saying,
who else do you want me to bring?
I didn't think it was him bringing a
bunch of random people that had no
connection to her whatsoever.
I pictured it as him more bringing over
people who were involved with her witch
trials or who...
were malevolent.
But by all means,
if people want to take this idea,
like the story further and create their
own versions, I'd love to see that.
I think it'd be pretty interesting.
I like that answer because I do like
when,
like I do a lot of these interviews
and even Minaj and Squids were like,
we just kind of want people to make
their own minds up about these parts of
the story.
And that's a fair response.
And I respect that.
Yeah,
I think the reader will respect the writer
more when the writer isn't just holding
their hand and spoon-feeding them what
they want.
Yeah.
I've met some people where you would still
have to spoon-feed them.
That's a bummer.
Yeah.
So what was the most important moment for
you in her return?
Um, you mean like,
and how she like comes back or, um,
I think really the reaction of the judge,
you know,
I think that was something that I really
wanted to bring out.
Um,
I haven't seen Matt's some art yet for,
um,
the witch coming back and how the judge
is going to look,
but I imagine it's going to look great
because, um,
a lot of Matt's art is great.
Um,
but I really want it to be like
kind of this, um,
complete moment of shock and despair when
he realizes that, um,
her returning means that he's pretty much
sealed his own fate.
He can't just push around people's lives
for his own gain and expect him to
just continue lingering on.
Especially because back in those days,
even if you weren't religious,
or even if you didn't believe in it,
or even if you're hypocritical,
it was still everywhere.
It was still a fundamental aspect of your
society, even if...
like whether you quoted it or not.
And a judge,
I think especially would be very much
aware of the Bible,
given how education back then for such a
high figure of justice would have had that
hammered into his head, you know?
Yeah.
I mean, it would have been in,
in his studies would be, you know,
from the Bible.
Exactly.
So, but so when she asked,
Who should be judged next?
What does that mean for this world?
I think it means there's going to be
a lot more ropes.
What I mean is, well, with witch hangings,
it's never a one-person job.
You always have a committee of people
being like, hey, I think she's guilty,
and she pleads her innocence,
even if they make completely compelling
arguments,
which a lot of people back then did,
because a lot of people were literally
making up random things that couldn't
possibly happen.
I think there's even a moment in the
Crucible, if I remember correctly,
where a guy saw a man come through
a window, like fly through a window.
And he was like, I can't walk.
How can I fly through a window?
And they were like, well,
it could have been your spirit projecting.
And that's when it all gets crazy.
Yeah.
They had some wild ass imaginations in
those days.
I'll tell you that.
Exactly.
I mean, if they were hallucinating,
they must have been just completely going
out of their minds.
They had that good peyote back in those
days.
Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
The good old days, right?
Exactly, exactly.
You remember them.
You were there.
But I want to dive into the woodsman-ness.
Can we dive into the woodsman-ness?
So he's fascinating.
He feels more than just a guide.
Who is he really not?
He's not just an accomplice.
He's not just a believer.
He feels something else entirely.
Can you explore that with this?
Or is that one of those another one
of those where you kind of just want
to leave it up to the reader to
figure out or to make their own
assumptions?
I don't want to sound like I'm cheating
here,
but to me it's a bit of both.
I will say I kind of drew this
a little bit on my own somewhat personal
experience where I actually did meet
someone who was a Wiccan when I was
a kid.
Like, I had some,
this kind of rather religious aunt who was
very much kind of ingrained the Bible a
lot in my childhood, you know,
for showing me Bible movies and stuff like
that.
And so by the time I met this
Wiccan, of course, I mainly, you know,
grew up and met more people.
But a lot of how they people portray
witches is very much like, I mean,
modern day witches practice witchcraft.
It's almost like Satanists or something
like that in films.
But when I met this person,
she was really lovely.
She was very helpful, very kind,
very sweet.
And again,
I don't want to sound like I was
making the sign of the cross or anything
like that.
But when I heard that she was doing
witchcraft, I was like, oh, wow, really?
What for?
so you know it's wild that you said
that right because i've met wiccans i've
met pagans i've met um people who practice
voodoo and they were all some of the
nicest and friendliest people i have ever
met in my life like they would literally
if you were hungry they would feed you
if you needed clothes they would clothe
you if you needed shelter they would give
you shelter it was just the type of
people they were so
There's that.
And I've had the opportunity to meet a
lot of different people from a lot of
different walks of life.
And those were some of the best people
I ever had the chance to meet.
Yeah, exactly.
So, I mean,
like that middle school experience really
got me like interested in studying this
stuff, studying.
I mean,
I've always been fascinated with religions
for as long as I can remember.
But that but I was always like up
until I experienced because, again,
I was very young and a lot of
what people were telling me about
different religions is that, you know,
they perform cults.
Curses on people and I guess I was
kind of thinking at that age if I
pissed them off.
They will.
Yeah Which is stupid.
Oh,
it's like that's unfortunately kind of how
I grew up in the Bible belt.
So for me it was Like a lot
of Bible something and a lot of That
kind of stuff like you go to church
you pray you do you you take your
vitamins you do the whole Kogan thing,
right?
You take your vitamins say your prayers
and
And I remember being in my senior year
of high school and we had to write
a book report for one of our classes.
And at the time,
like the teacher had done something and I
just did not like it.
So I'm like, and she was very like,
you know, God's watching you.
So I'm like, what can I do?
That would just like piss her off without
getting me into too much shit.
I'm like,
I'm going to write a book report on
witchcraft and paganism.
And that's what I did.
And we had to present this to the
class.
So I presented that to the class.
And the whole time she was sitting there
side eye in the hell out of me.
And I went and sit down and I
just felt like I had this big shit
eating grin on my face.
Just like, got him.
I really do think that's great,
not just because you got back at her,
but also, I don't know,
I like to think that, I mean, obviously,
like, you should, of course,
respect people's beliefs,
but I think at the same time,
what's really important for everybody,
regardless of beliefs,
is to learn about others' beliefs,
you know?
It doesn't matter if you...
It doesn't matter if you...
you know,
don't want to practice the same as them.
But I think if you have that kind
of awareness, ironically,
you will feel less fear than you did
before.
And I think that's what's great about
horror in terms of that.
And with that man,
I think that kind of when,
like the woodcutter,
I think that really kind of,
I kind of remember thinking about that
experience when I was writing him, like,
this is a guy who wants to help
this pagan woman who he describes as a
healer.
And
In this town that saw that as a
negative.
So he remains very calm all the way
until the very end.
Was that intentionally done on your
behalf?
Or is that kind of like as you
were going,
as you're writing what you feel like he
represents?
Is that something that you wanted to kind
of hammer home?
Is that he's just this very calm
individual in the face of this vengeful
spirit?
Um, yeah, I, I think that definitely, um,
works well because he knows, um,
he knows her,
he knows that she's not going to hurt
him.
They have this kind of partnership going
on, but also I think, um,
I think there's kind of like a, um,
I think he can feel very calm when
you're very righteously angry, you know,
like kind of this expression when you're
leading this guy into the woods and he's
just like, uh,
you're going to get what's coming to you,
but on the inside, you know, like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So do you think he represents justice or
something maybe a little bit more
dangerous?
Something dangerous?
That's an interesting one, I think.
Well, I mean, with justice, honestly,
it's a word that a lot of people
have different interpretations for.
I think he represents, well, he's an aide.
He's helping her.
She's still on the back skirts of society.
I mean,
not like in both life and death,
but he's the helping hand that allows her
as a marginalized person outside of the
system and society who was condemned by
that system and society
gate get justice and there are people like
that there are people who hear about um
the experiences that others have and they
feel compelled to help and i think that's
a very powerful thing i think that's um
what justice is it's people helping each
other have their voices be told you know
um which you think and i i like
this idea of the woodsman he almost feels
like death
leading people to their death you know
what i'm saying like he's the reaper of
their soul taking them to be reaped and
that's kind of like the vibe i feel
from him and there's been other you know
uh entities throughout history or in
stories that lead people to their demise
so it that's the vibe i got from
him and how i feel when i read
the synopsis of the story yeah so like
But let's talk a little bit about writing
horror.
Yes.
So what makes horror meaningful instead of
just violent?
Like you have to find balances there and
you have to pick themes.
And, you know,
so how do you balance that with the
atmosphere and the themes to get that
ultimate payoff?
How do I balance the themes and energy
and imagery to get a payoff?
Yeah, that's great.
I think with, well, for one thing,
it's all about knowing your audience.
That's a big thing because a lot of
people,
they're not just scared of different
things.
They also want to experience different
things, you know,
like you don't have a slow psychological
drama in a monster film.
I mean, you can,
but most people want to see the monster,
you know, it's, which, yeah,
I guess like now I think that was
a bad example.
What I'm trying to say is you want
to be able to deliver on the premise
that you have.
You know,
if you have a horror film without a
monster, it could still be good,
but you can't market it as a monster
film.
Yeah, but no,
I've seen some horror movies where you
never really see the monster.
And it's not just the jump scares that
get you.
It's the aftermath.
And some of those are some of the
scariest movies I've seen.
Yeah, that's true.
I don't mean, I meant more like,
I was using it as an example.
It's like at some point, at least,
or have a monster involved,
whether it can be like a representation of
a person or even something that's hunting
you.
Like the Babadook, for example,
I think is a great example of a
monster that the monster might not even be
real.
She might just be nuts,
but it still explores how this tangible
thing is still present.
But as for themes in the imagery, like,
I'm just trying to think.
I think too.
Oh, take your time.
Yeah, I'm just trying to,
because that's a really great question.
I just want to make sure I answer
it well.
I think with creating horror,
it's kind of like you need to have
a scary idea,
but you also need to bring it out
through some powerful imagery.
I mentioned Hereditary about how, yes,
it is about this family that's destroying
themselves,
but they're destroying themselves through
cults, through physical bodily harm,
through them yelling and screaming at each
other.
Basically,
that's horrific imagery that's associated
with fear.
in danger and stuff outside your control.
Jaws,
that's another theme that has a lot of
similar themes.
It's a really good one.
Exactly.
It has a lot of really interesting themes
about corruption.
And that's a big horror of the film.
It's not just the unpredictability of
nature,
but that incompetent people won't do
anything to stop it.
So that's also the moment that goes in
the film.
And with this, I think it's like...
I think through the theme of a witch
hunt of...
you know,
corrupt officials targeting people in a
system that thrives on people being
targeted.
I think that also carries over with the
imagery of not just this other like forest
where people were, you know,
Creatures are lurking,
and they're literally outside their own
house.
They're literally stepping into it,
which is definitely a horrifying theme.
But also,
I think having a gross image of a
ghost and a wraith...
definitely helps bring out the scares more
as well because it's something that's um
is visually unpleasant and frightening but
it's also the meaning of which that makes
it so you know this is a not
just a scary looking woman this is a
woman who is target is fighting back
against the people who made her that way
um i don't answer your question i i
hope i uh
No, no, you did.
And that's a great answer.
So do you have any advice for creators
trying to write gothic or supernatural
horror?
Oh, that's not so great.
I think a big thing is to research
and to dive into your influences.
Because I think once you have a specific
idea of what you want to write,
looking up different themes and influences
definitely helps as well.
You know,
there's so many great horror out there,
but also really ask yourself,
what scares you?
What kind of message do I want to
bring through horror that reaches people?
Because to me,
horror isn't just about scaring people,
it's about making people confront
themselves.
their own fears like internally and also
externally.
There's this great quote from Terry
Pratchett.
This is about fantasy,
but I think it also rings true about
horror.
People need fantasy to be human because it
allows you to explore
um, like people,
people need fans to be human,
but also horror.
Um,
you need horror to be human because it
allows you to explore the uncomfortable in
a way that you can discuss and think
about.
I mean,
there's also a fun horror that's just,
you know, pulp and that's great,
but true horror to me that still stands
the test of time focuses on human themes.
And there's so many you can focus on.
You can focus on, on nature,
on domestic horror, on, uh,
Discrimination on the fear of the unknown
is a very big one.
So my advice is just look at what's
going on in the world around you and
what scares you and how can you bring
that out.
Some good advice I got was be comfortable
being uncomfortable.
Exactly, exactly.
That's very much it.
I mean,
if you are writing horror and you don't
feel scared by what you're writing,
you're not doing it right.
Exactly.
You should feel the chills up your spine
as you write the words.
Absolutely.
You should be unable to write the words
because your hands are shaking so much you
can't touch the keyboard, you know?
Is that what was happening earlier?
When I first brought you in?
Because all I heard was...
uh no i was i was sorry about
that i was um i'm just giving you
a hard time because i just because you
had the hands up so i was like
oh that's what was going on earlier but
let's talk about your anthology experience
with chris and chris um
So you submitted your story.
Was it this specific story or was it
the idea of this story that you had
submitted to possibly get a chance to
submit your story for AHA?
Actually,
it was a bit of both because I
had the scripts done prior for another
anthology that I wasn't able to make it
in.
I think it was because I didn't have
an artist.
I'm not entirely sure.
Either way, I didn't make it in.
So I had a few horror scripts from
horror short stories.
And when I heard about this anthology,
I thought it sounded like a great idea.
I wanted to meet some more creators.
Of course,
I'm always down for the opportunity.
So I submitted the pitch of this story
because I felt that it stood strongly.
I didn't know what other people were
writing.
I just kind of took a guess that
having a historical horror story was a bit
different than what other people were
writing.
And fortunately, I was right.
You absolutely were.
I mean, there's a period piece, I think,
that takes place before this one because
it includes knights and stuff like that.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, yeah.
That was also written by the cat or
not, which we just saw here, I think.
If you're still watching, again.
Yeah, it is.
Actually, yeah,
that's where I knew his name from.
Yeah, it is his.
Yeah, I'm sure it's a perfect story.
Sorry.
Don't don't boot me off.
All right.
That's oh, oh, that's cute.
Yeah, that's nice.
That's my bum.
That's the old man.
That's what I call him.
He's my old man.
Yeah,
when I saw you reaching for the camera,
I was joking.
And I was like, oh,
is he actually going to boot me off
for that?
No, no.
As much as I make bad jokes,
I would never boot anybody off for the
same.
When Stephen Honeycutt was on,
it was like an hour and forty minutes
of us doing bad jokes, basically.
So I felt bad.
Go watch the show.
It was a lot of great stuff in
there.
We talked about his finale of his story.
There's a lot of really bad jokes in
there.
A lot of them.
You put two forty-year-old men together,
we're going to crack dad jokes, okay?
Nice, nice.
I actually,
one of my bosses actually asked me if
I became a dad recently because I was
making so many dad jokes.
Hey, that means you're doing it right,
okay?
Yeah.
I mean,
I certainly don't think I've become a
father at any point,
but I'm glad that I'm upholding the pride
of the dad jokes.
That's a shirt.
You should get a t-shirt.
Pride of the dads.
Yeah.
Pride of the dad jokes.
definitely yeah we'll get that um we'll
get that made somehow maybe we can sell
it alongside the anthology um because
there we go i think too um with
this anthology so i had the script ready
but i did the pitch so fortunately because
i had the script already done um i
basically just gave it to him to matt
and was like if there's anything you don't
like let me know and he's like no
i like it it's um i feel like
i'm you know watching a movie as i
read it and i was like
So most of the time,
while everybody was writing their scripts,
I was kind of just floating around being
like, hey, guys, how's the writing going?
Yeah.
Oh, my script's going well.
Yeah.
And that was what's been great about this
whole experience for me is just kind of
getting to see where everybody kind of
was.
at the beginning of this like duke he
just had an idea so he just literally
threw an idea out there like doing on
the wall right and you hope it sticks
and that's kind of what he did and
then when he got selected he was like
well now i actually got to write this
story
And then the same, like, Minaj,
he kind of already, like,
he didn't quite have the story down until,
again, when he was selected.
So it's been really cool to hear all
these different experiences from my behalf
and hopefully to the listeners or the
viewers' behalf who are getting to hear
about this and, like,
everybody's individual experience.
Because Chris and Chris are two great
dudes.
yeah and they refer to themselves as two
agent punk rockers it can't be you know
it's a hundred percent the truth you know
that's who they are and they like i'll
thank them for this opportunity to get to
talk to all of you they put this
together you were like my last edition
into this and i was like and they're
like hey do you think you could squeeze
one more in i'm all like
I got this date here.
He's like, awesome.
So I was happy to be able to
squeeze you and Matt in.
I know Matt, unfortunately,
had some stuff come up with the family
that he had to attend to, I believe.
So shout out to him.
Can't wait to see his art on the
story.
I mean,
I've seen some test pages on Instagram and
like everybody else.
But I'm really excited to see everything
come together because I do love,
like I said, American Horror Story,
Coven was one of my favorite series from
there.
And this kind of just feels like it
could fit right in as a backstory to
one of the witches in part of the
Coven.
But for you,
what was it like creating alongside other
horror creators?
I don't know how much interaction y'all
really had together outside of
The teams call that y'all got at the
very beginning of this so.
Well, you said it best.
You have two men together.
You tell a lot of bad jokes.
Try eight or nine men all in one
chat room.
That was a lot of fun.
They were very encouraging.
Everybody was great.
Everybody was so passionate and so on
board and so excited.
And I think that's such a great thing
about indie comic collaborations is
because...
That was why Image got started,
because a bunch of people just wanted to
tell stories and get together.
And working with these guys, too,
definitely helped me out a lot as well.
I'm hoping to see more of their work,
for sure.
It's been an absolute privilege working
alongside them.
And their stories are so creative as well.
And I think for horror especially,
I think we were all just really very
happy about this opportunity because I
think anthologies are such a great tool
for comic creators, you know,
regardless of experience, you know,
whether it's your first one or your tenth
one.
Because you meet, like,
a lot of my partners that I'm working
on right now artistically,
I met through anthologies.
And they're all amazing, amazing people.
And same with these guys,
because when you're working with
anthology,
not only do you get more connections,
but you're able to hone your craft more,
you're able to build up more of a
network.
And I guess my advice for young comic
creators is to try and work on an
anthology with other people.
Try to write smaller stuff.
That's solid advice right there.
Yeah,
it's tough because there's not a ton of
things around on Facebook, unfortunately.
That's where I go on a lot of
times to look for these opportunities.
I was actually told about this from a
friend,
but they also posted it on Facebook,
and I also saw more stuff on Instagram.
But I think more people just need to
make more anthologies and get more people
together.
Please, please, please.
Yeah, I want to work with more people.
I always say an anthology will get you
the most bang for your buck.
And I will never stop not saying that,
if that makes sense.
I will always say that is what I'm
meaning to say.
I will always enjoy Hello Darkness from
Boom Studios.
I absolutely love that series because it's
some of the best writers and comics just
writing horror.
It's good stuff.
Oh, and by the way,
it was started by R.L.
Stine.
One of the best to ever do it.
So,
and the fact that he's where he's at
in life,
still writing horror stories is
phenomenal.
This dude don't have to do that,
but he does it because he loves it.
Like Stephen King, you know,
he still does it because he loves to
do it.
So at this point,
I think he's up there.
Cause I remember reading, uh,
odd Thomas when I was, uh,
teenager a young teenager so off topic i
apologize no no no please anthologies get
me hyped up okay i love a good
anthology and that's why when i was
presented this idea i was like yep say
no more i'll do it exactly because i
wish i got to do this more often
Because it's not often you get to talk
to the whole team of creators behind the
anthology.
Normally you get to talk to the person
whose idea the anthology was,
which is great.
But this right here has been like an
absolutely amazing experience for me and
hopefully for everybody involved getting
to come on and tell their story about
their creation that they put on for AHA.
So.
Yeah.
But to you,
how does the hang woman fit into the
overall tone of in your opinion?
I mean,
I'm not I'm not either of the two
amazing Chris's,
so they truly know the answer.
But to me,
those two guys got a big ego.
Don't don't feed that ego anymore.
yeah well i'm you know it's um one
of the um yeah that's why i'm on
uh i'm on a high i've just been
flattering them to no end no no hey
i've been doing the same thing i've been
blowing a lot of smoke up their ass
i think well that's what brings some
creators together you know we're all um
collectively boosting each other's egos
and that's great um for me i love
it this is great stuff
Thank you.
For me,
I think what makes The Hanged Woman fit
well into AHA is because what I really
love about this anthology is that there's
a different theme for every story.
There's one that's more about Indian
horror.
There's another that's more fantasy
horror.
There's monsters.
There's cannibals.
There's so many different stuff.
And everything is different,
and everything fits in.
And I think a lot of the stories,
too,
also focus on such rich imagery and ideas,
you know, in their stories.
Because not only is every one of them
different, but every one of them is, well,
it's uniquely fresh,
but also the art styles also really shine
together.
I think with a lot of how they
bring a lot of the stuff to life,
it's very, how do I explain this?
It's like, not only is it dynamic,
but a lot of what you see,
um it's it's very um grandiose you know
yeah like so much of how they um
how um the writers and artists drew their
works it feels so larger than life um
you know it's so eerie too and i
think that no go ahead go ahead i'm
sorry sorry you go ahead sorry about that
no no no no go please go
Alright, well, I think with The Hangwoman,
too... Aw, that's a cute kitty.
But I think with The Hang... Sorry,
that's an adorable cat.
I think with The Hangwoman,
it fits in well, because, again,
it's a different genre, but...
Also,
I think what a lot of AHA stands
for is telling stories that you don't
typically see in other media,
in other comics.
We don't usually see horror stories about
Indian body horror or...
It's true.
There have been some horror that's out
there, I'm sure,
but we don't usually see that in comics.
We don't usually see cannibal horror or
fantasy horror in comics.
Sure, we do, but not like this.
And I think that's one of the reasons
why The Crow, why we brought that up,
it was so impactful in the indie scene
because for a while,
no one would publish it because it was
just too raw and too gritty with its
emotions.
But that's where indie comics shines.
There are no restrictions.
Creators can tell the stories they want,
and we're rewarded for it by seeing some
truly compelling art and narrations.
So that's why I think The Hanged Woman
fits in because...
we're all unique creators and we're all
coming together.
Yeah.
No, that's,
that's a fricking amazing answer.
I love that.
And that's again,
like why I love anthologies so much is
because you can take all these different
people from different walks of life,
stick them together and have nothing to do
with each other,
but make a really great comic book.
And that's another good thing about in the
indie comics is you,
You have no limitations to what you can
do.
It's only limited by what you are willing
to or how far you're willing to go
to bring the shock or the horror to
the next level.
And I appreciated the fact that Chris and
Chris just said,
there's no handcuffs on you.
do what you want to do,
tell the stories you want to tell.
And I'm so happy that everybody just
absolutely positively did that.
So you've obviously read other anthology
series.
So what makes AHA so special compared to
others?
Um, that's, um,
I think it also kind of goes back
to a lot of our influences, which, um,
you know, Tales from the Crypt, um,
EEC Comics, you know, all those, um, as,
as Chris and Chris would put it,
classic anthology tales of yesteryear,
you know, um,
EEC Comics is one of my favorite,
I'm not gonna lie.
Definitely.
So many great horror stories that came
from there.
And what made them stand out was because
of the fact that they were so,
you know, at the time,
at least visceral and frightening,
you know,
because comics didn't really have the same
kind of restrictions back then that other
mediums did until, of course,
the Comics Code came in and basically
censored that.
But we're seeing, I think,
a greater rise in horror comics that's
emerging over the years, more and more,
since that code died down.
Like, I can think of several.
I think there was a comic about Ed
Gein recently that was really interesting,
Serial Killer.
There was, I think, one,
I forget this one, it's not Black Mirror,
but it's another comic that's, I think,
dealt with a lot of identity.
I can try and look up the title
for you if you want, but...
No, you're good.
I'm pretty sure I know which one you're
talking about.
I know for me, did you watch Smile?
I have not, but I've heard of it,
and I've seen a lot of the posters.
So Smile, too, to me, in my opinion,
better than Smile, one.
But there's actually a comic book out
right now.
I think they released issue two or three
this week.
But it pits up where the second one
leaves off.
And it is very,
it keeps that tradition going in a new
format and they can do a little bit
more than what you can put on the
silver screen.
So I've absolutely been enjoying it.
And as, like I said,
I enjoyed the second movie better than the
first movie.
And I think it was,
but a lot had to do with the
actress,
the main actress in the second movie.
She just, she did that role so well.
Like she was very visceral in how she,
her emotions and her portrayal of that
character.
So, but yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Um,
Thank you for sharing that.
I appreciate it.
But also, like with this horror anthology,
I mentioned those other comics because so
many horror comics,
even though they're so great and they are
really impacting people.
Again, Lock and Key is another example.
I can go on.
Still scary.
Love it.
Love it.
Yeah.
I mean,
that's why you and I are getting along
because we have great taste in comics,
right?
I even enjoyed the TV series.
I thought it was absolutely amazing as
well.
Definitely, yeah.
So many great horrors.
The problem is, well, it's not a problem,
but it's more like because of the fact
that they're being published by a bigger
company, while they're still great,
as it comes with all publishing works in
any company, it's never fully your own.
They always take a portion of the price.
They've always got some editor or somebody
telling you maybe you should do this.
You're getting rejections on your work.
Even if it's work is good,
it just doesn't fit.
That's totally okay.
But what makes AHA special is that we
have all these unburdened creators coming
together and we're throwing in stories
that reflects on the time of when
anthologies were free to be alive with
fear and terror without any restrictions
and without people saying, no, no, no,
you have to do this or you have
to do that.
And of course,
all the creators are incredibly sensible,
hardworking people.
You mentioned how much research they did
on their stories,
so it's not like you're going to be
reading a pile of not good stuff.
They're really not.
You're honestly,
I think there's eight stories,
and the work has been done.
it really has and everybody i've talked to
has been so passionate not just about
their own work but about everybody's work
in the comic book as a whole and
i love to see that and that's what
makes indie comics so special is the
passion is there
and it's infectious and it carries on and
that's why i'm i've been so excited every
time i've done one of these is because
everybody who's come on has had a very
different
experience but the same experience which I
know that sounds weird but everybody's is
different but yet the same because
everybody's working for that one big goal
and when it finally funded I was super
excited just like all of you were which
is funny you know I'm pretty sure people
are like what why are you excited well
I didn't have a story in this I
didn't have a dog in the fight but
I had eight creators and
Well, technically, sixteen creators,
seventeen creators who were relying on me
to push their story forward and to carry
these stories forward for them through my
medium.
So I'm like, yeah,
I kind of do have a dog in
the fight because I backed it, too,
and I wanted it to succeed.
Damn it.
Exactly.
Like,
the amount of people who have come forward
to support our anthology is truly
heartwarming because it shows how much
people care about helping other artists
and creators and, of course,
getting the kind of stories they want,
too.
You know, what makes AHA special is that,
you know, really it's a revolution,
you know, like all indie comics are.
You know,
it's horror stories that matter to us,
that matter to other people.
Not for some arbitrary algorithm that
publishers are trying to hit,
but because they're what we think are
important.
And of course,
they're what the people who supported us,
who are aware of the work that we're
doing, think is important too.
And I think especially of horror,
which delves so deeply into fears that are
both common and unique and individual at
the same time.
Or that you may not have yet.
exactly you're going to fear it soon yeah
you know um you know we will educate
you on things that you should be afraid
of you know we're not we will not
write exactly terrified world exactly and
i like you know i really hope the
fellas come back with a round two a
volume two of this either with some of
the same people or a new batch of
creators so i can do this all over
again and that's me being selfish a little
bit i do apologize
No, no, of course not.
It's not selfish.
If that's true,
then I'm selfish because I want to get
back to working with these people as well.
I hope that they continue to invite new
creators, but at the same time,
I also hope that they don't discard the
people that they were working with as well
just to bring in the new batch.
I really couldn't see them doing that.
Yeah, that's fair.
They're solid dudes.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Absolutely.
I agree.
I was just bringing up my own experience
where I worked for another anthology,
which also was very,
very good and tons of amazing,
incredible people that I've worked with.
But they also wanted to find the new
people rather than the people that were
previously there.
um which is fine you know their
prerogatives that's what they think is
their is best and i'm glad they're giving
so many other new creators a shot but
i think um we should be helping out
each other and if that means making more
stories like you know like maybe two
issues on the side why not take advantage
of that take advantage of the people you
have on board right yeah i think that's
no a hundred percent especially if they
have stuff ready to go already like hey
do you have something ready to go let's
make it happen
But let's let everybody know what else are
you working on at this time that you
may want to talk about or can talk
about?
What aren't I working on?
That's the real question.
I know.
I mean, I've seen your resume.
You are a very busy person.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you.
Well, I'm working on some other comics.
Well, you know, bigger,
bigger projects with some other artists.
I don't I don't know if I should
reveal their names because, you know,
they're probably private people.
But if if things do get picked up
and we do get go forward,
I'll be absolutely sure to let you know.
I can talk about it.
Thank you.
Yes, I'm working.
I'm trying to work on some short stories
on the side as well,
just to try and get those going.
I am always looking for more opportunities
with fan comic anthologies or really,
really anything I can write for sure.
I'm working on two video games currently,
two indie video games that I'm
quite proud of.
I think it's going well.
I can't necessarily guarantee what's going
to happen with those.
Maybe they'll take off.
Maybe they won't.
I certainly hope they do,
but I'm very confident in the efforts and
skills of the people that we have on
board in those projects is what I'm going
to say.
Hold on right there.
For those who may be wondering,
she also composes music.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that's on the side as well.
But I am
Actually,
I'm also working on some theater plays.
Well, more writing scripts, more so.
But I like to help composers out as
well.
Usually with me,
it's like on the productions I'm working
on with the...
um like there's um a couple of musicals
that i'm doing in the works again can't
say for sure how those are going to
go i really hope they do well um
but for me it's like um i'm working
with um some composers and they're mainly
doing that but every now and then i
give my own thoughts on how um you
know we can improve the music and make
that sound so that's really cool too
that's good stuff
Thank you.
Yeah.
The point is, is, um, I'm,
I'm just trying to, uh,
to do what I love and to hopefully
find greater success in this.
And I'm incredibly grateful to, um,
the amazing, uh,
United States department of nerds and AHA
for helping me further get there.
Yeah.
Oh, a hundred percent.
So do you think we'll see more of
the hang woman in this world?
Ooh, I hope so, maybe.
I think that would be actually...
If you want,
people are demanding a sequel.
By all means,
we can totally make that happen.
I'm just going to throw something out
there.
What would be really cool is...
So you've had the Puritan scale, right?
Where your ghost has come back.
Maybe you revisit it in another time
piece.
The same characters, just a different...
period of time.
Same names, the same everything,
just different periods of time.
To me, in my head,
I think that would be a really cool
thing to do.
Yeah.
That'd be cool.
How do you mean?
Do you mean like we bring back the
witch as So you have Elizabeth Hill.
Yes.
You have Elizabeth Hill.
She's a healer.
Just in a different time era,
let's say the Old West.
Nice.
And then you have the woodsman who maybe
isn't a woodsman per se in that era,
but maybe a cattle herder or something
like that.
Something that would fit the period,
right?
And then...
She gets accused of being a witch or
what have you.
And the story kind of repeats just in
different periods of time.
Quantum leap it, so to speak.
Yeah, I'm down for that.
But I don't know.
It just popped in my head,
and I just thought that would be really
cool, and I would share that with you.
You can run with that if you want
to.
Yeah, sure.
I mean, if Chris and Chris,
if you guys are watching this,
if we're making another Horror Amp,
follow me.
Bring me back.
I will make more hang women.
Yeah,
we will hang around with all the hang
women.
I like it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
But let me know where they can find
your work.
Where they can find my work?
Well, there's my website,
www.JasmineGKrasa.com.
That's where I post all my released
projects as well as my creative resumes.
You can also find me on my socials
on Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky,
and Threads.
I do not currently have a TikTok yet,
but I'm working on making that happen
where you'll find more announcements and
releases about my projects coming soon.
and of course i'm um you know if
um um i think that's about it really
um my website and my socials but if
you want to work with me um personally
um you know if you have a project
that you would like me to write or
even compose and you should discuss it um
you're more than welcome to send to um
send a chat through my socials and i'll
see if i can get back to you
on that
um that's really about it um thank you
for the um the shout out um and
uh would you like me to post the
links in the uh the chat or do
you already have i think you already have
them with you i think i have your
instagram and actually no i've already got
them all i just don't have them saved
but i i follow you across the board
so i can pull them so you don't
have to do that and um yeah and
as
As I start posting the reels from this
interview,
I'll tag you in all that stuff anyway.
And it will all be down in the
description of this video when it goes
live Saturday.
I believe Saturday afternoon.
Or Sunday.
Maybe Sunday.
Yeah.
Absolutely, yeah.
But with that...
I want to say, Jasmine,
thank you so much for coming on tonight,
sharing the hang woman with the council.
But with that,
with this time to close this out the
proper way.
So some stories fade, but others linger.
They sit with you.
They follow you.
They whisper in the quiet moments when the
world goes still.
The hang woman is one of those stories,
a reminder that just as delayed doesn't
always stay buried.
And with that,
This has been the USDM podcast where indie
comments come to life.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now adjourned.
Y'all be safe out there.
Thank you.