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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.
Oh, my God!
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.
Every city has its legends.
Some are built on hope.
Some are built on fear.
Crimson Bay is a city built on violence,
revenge,
and the
choices that define who we become when the
fight is finally brought to our doorstep.
Over the years,
Bruno has built a growing catalog of
creator-owned comics through passion,
persistence,
and a commitment to telling stories his
way.
Now he returns for the second time with
a comic book that has an issue too.
We're going away from one shots.
The next chapter of Crimson Bay,
issue two,
in a martial arts saga inspired by classic
fighting games, action cinema,
and the character-driven rivalries that
have captivated audiences for generations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now in session.
Bruno, welcome back, man.
What can I say?
Sup, nerds?
Okay, I'll stop trying to sound cool now.
Hi.
Don't do that again.
Come on, Bruno.
I know.
I know.
It's always a pleasure to have you on,
man.
You are the main reason why I am
sitting here and I get to interview a
bunch of people about comic books.
So to this day,
I am forever grateful for you to giving
me that one shot two years ago to
have you on and talk about your books.
So, uh,
I applaud you, man.
I appreciate it.
Absolutely not.
If it wasn't me,
it would have been someone else.
You produced some great stuff.
I appreciate it.
We try.
We try.
Thank you so much for having me again.
Oh, dude, you're always welcome back.
But how have things been since your last
appearance here?
I know you've been ultra busy.
You got a Kickstarter currently going
right now.
You've been hitting the con scene.
How have things been, dude?
Well, I've been unemployed as well, so no.
But yeah, let's talk about the positives.
Yeah, I mean, it's been fun.
I mean, I had MCM,
which is the big con here,
and that was great.
I had a couple of other cons that
are a bit smaller,
but surprisingly good as well.
So yeah, it's been nice.
And as well, Kickstarter being...
Back to Back, Family and Honor,
now The Odyssey, which is still live.
And yeah, now Crimson Bay coming up next.
And Space Odyssey is looking to be your
best Kickstarter to date,
if I'm not mistaken.
Yes, so far, by far.
And yeah,
it actually makes me think about...
Because The Odyssey is a special case,
because it's a non-IP...
People are always going to be more
interested and it's going to be tough to
now go back to like original IP with
Crimson Bay and be like, well,
it's obviously not going to be as
successful.
It's obviously not going to get as much
attention.
And managing that is going to be a
bit weird to go from the Odyssey to
a fully original IP.
Yeah,
I'll have to figure out how to manage
that.
I mean, but the book, in my eyes,
sells itself, you know, because, I mean,
for those nostalgia people from the
eighties who grew up with, you know,
these types of video games for us,
it's like, oh, cool.
It's a book with a story,
but it's also,
it feels just like our retro video games
from the eighties and nineties.
But looking back,
that time has passed with Crimson Bay
number one.
How is the response to the first issue
of it?
It's been really good.
I had people come to me in cons
and saying that they bought issue one and
where is issue two?
So that has actually happened.
I had people come look for more.
And I had people come buy issue one
and
buy something else for me because they
read issue one of crimson bay and they
liked it so they want to try other
stuff so so yeah i need to get
issue two out there because people have
asked for for real so yeah i mean
i actually got interviews
you know scheduled interviews after that
show featuring crimson bay number one
because and people messaged me it was like
hey i backed crimson bay number one
because i seen it here on the podcast
oh that's great or hey i was following
crimson bay number one and that led me
to your podcast so and people backed your
book off of that so i was like
and i think i sent you the screenshots
or the email i was getting from people
saying hey you know you're the reason why
i backed this and that and dude i
was like so damn happy like but i
was like like i don't know if you
felt the same joy that i did getting
those emails like oh i bet this book
because i've seen him on your podcast and
i thought it was really cool i was
like just working just finally exactly
it's like the way i envision it is
finally happening so i thought that was
like the coolest thing ever
yeah, it's the, you know, the, the whole,
it's, it's, it's that slow buildup of,
you know, growing,
growing on one side helps growing on the
other.
And, you know, it's like the whole,
as your audience grows, that helps,
you know, the creators that,
come to your show as well yeah and
yeah that's great yeah it's great to see
that it's you know that it's happening
that way yeah you know it's one of
those things too where i try to explain
that to people like hey it's kind of
like you know as a hannibal lecter would
explain to clarice that it's quid pro quo
you know like one helps the other one
hand scratched the back of the other you
know and um some people get it some
people don't and the ones that don't well
move on right but um for anyone
discovering crimson bay today what is
crimson bay oh what is so as you
mentioned before it's kind of like a love
letter to martial arts games from the
eighties and nineties so your street
fighters your streets of rage so either
you know the
fighting games or the side-scrolling like
beat-em-ups.
So that sort of vibe,
that's kind of what I'm trying to capture
in Crimson Bay.
In this case,
it's the story of two brothers, obviously,
who go to the town of Crimson Bay
to avenge the death of their father by,
you know, supposedly his best friend.
Again, obviously, you know,
the story always starts with something
like that, a revenge story.
a relationship between two brothers or
something like that.
I think where Crimson Bay is different is
that and this is actually a line in
issue two.
This is not a revenge story.
You think it is is that as the
two brothers start to learn more about
their enemy,
they realize that they are in over their
heads and there's a lot more going on
than they initially expected to find when
they went there with their mission.
So
Yeah, I mean,
hopefully it's something that people will
appreciate the proximity to the nostalgia
from those games that people love,
but also appreciate the new elements that
I'm adding to it.
And you struck gold when you released the
issue one of this,
because I do believe Cobra Kai was on
TV at the time as well.
Which is really cool.
I believe so,
like Cobra Kai was on the TV.
I think they had just announced maybe the
Street Fighter movie,
which is about to come out here soon.
So I think a lot of these things
were happening at the same time,
which is cool.
And then you hit us with Crimson Bay.
It was just like this perfect opportune
time to release this book.
But what makes Crimson Bay different from
in the market um oh i don't know
i mean i think i think that the
way to respond to that is you know
um the uniqueness comes from the the voice
of the people doing it so i guess
it comes from you know whatever me and
samuel uh have added to the
to the story and Gio in the colors.
So I think that's it.
It's like the unique elements come from
the people doing it.
why is it different i i don't know
i i like to add uh elements of
more like crime drama so it's not just
uh you know just the action just martial
arts uh so it has a story uh
i like to compare it more to uh
king of fighters than street fighter yeah
because king of fighters has more of a
structured story yeah and that's it that's
kind of more
that's kind of more the slice of the
market, let's call it like that,
that I'm trying to hit is that it's
martial arts action,
It's like fantasy martial arts.
It's characters screaming the name of
their attacks and energy blasts and stuff
like that.
Yeah.
But it's also a mature story that
hopefully people will appreciate.
Even if they're not a fan of just
martial arts,
they will appreciate for the story.
At the center of that story are Aiden
and Kenji.
What makes their relationship so important
in the series?
Yeah, and this is something that is,
you know, starts in issue one,
but it becomes more apparent in issue two
is there's obviously an age gap between
them.
They lost their father early and Aiden
took the role of caretaker for a while.
And it kind of creates this unequal,
what's the right word,
between the two where Aiden is trying to
overprotect Kenji and doesn't see him as
his equal.
So there's this imbalance of power between
the two.
They both want the same thing.
uh but um yeah there's there's the the
element of trust of whether or not uh
aiden believes kenji is ready to do what
needs to be done uh plus both of
them want to tackle this in different ways
and they have different values and um one
thing that you learn early on in issue
one is that uh while kenji kept training
with their master uh aiden left
So Aiden pretty much trained on the
streets and they have like these for the
past ten years,
they have been growing apart and they've
been learning how to, you know,
interact with the world in different ways.
So their values kind of grew very far
apart and they have very different ways to
look at this revenge.
So I think that's like the central point
of their
rivalry if that makes sense and how yeah
yeah classic it's classic story where the
big brother has to take on the fatherly
role and the little brother don't like it
yeah it's it's that i mean i think
it's more than that i think it goes
beyond that i think it goes very much
into what is right and what is wrong
and is any of them actually right and
that sort of thing but but yeah yeah
know it is yeah it it's fun storytelling
you know but um in this revenge drives
a lot of the narrative was this like
because i don't know if you've done
another story before where revenge is kind
of like the central theme where both
characters are wanting the revenge it's
just how they're willing to go around go
about getting said revenge
i'm trying to think have i done anything
like that did family and honor have
revenge in it um a little bit it
has uh one of the characters does have
like some a bone to pick with another
character it's not the central element of
the story but yeah there's a little bit
of that okay yeah i think i've read
everything you have and i just for the
life of me i couldn't like
remember like if revenge was like a
central theme to a story yet uh yeah
i think not like crimson bay i think
crimson bay is like where you know it's
like it's the main thing about the story
and it's basically is literally the thing
from issue one that uh you are kind
of putting in the reader's faces this is
a revenge story uh i guess what you
learn in issue two is that it's not
quite that revenge story you're expecting
Yeah, and so like Crimson Bay,
the city itself,
the bay itself is like another character
in this story.
How much thought went into building this
city and the culture and that kind of
stuff?
Because this place is very fleshed out.
It has its own life almost.
Oh,
I think I probably took a lot of
inspiration from, you know,
video games that have this sort of cities
uh definitely um you know south town in
fatal fury is probably a big reference
that's the vibe i got too yeah yeah
but it's it's also i'm a big believer
of not doing world building for the sake
of world building i think world building
needs to fit the story and complement the
characters and i feel like
The story,
I have it well in my head where
I want to go with the story and
character development,
but the city is kind of growing naturally.
It's...
For lack of a better word,
I'm making shit up as I go.
In terms of the city.
It's literally storytelling right there.
Just make it up as you go.
You have a flush-out story,
but everything in between,
you just kind of can be what you
want to with it, you know?
Yeah,
I didn't create the map of the city.
I'm keeping it blank.
Whenever I need a location...
I gave myself room to be able to
create that location and to make it a
new relevant location in the story.
So I guess that's why, I mean,
one of the aspects of Crimson Bay is
that there's like this very,
and this is something that is pointed out
in issue two,
is that they have like this very unique
culture of self-defense.
And I think that's kind of what makes
the city feel alive is that
It has its own culture.
But yeah, location-wise in this town,
I kind of think about locations as I
need them.
And in Institute, that happens a lot.
There's a lot of new locations that are
going to be important going forward.
But it's like, well,
wouldn't it be cool if Kenji, you know,
has this...
fight in this place doing this thing i'm
actually thinking about issue three now so
yeah i i'm currently writing issue three
and i'm actually thinking about the
location of issue three so yeah i mean
issue one did have that really cool fight
scene in the beginning it was like a
almost like a fight club feel you know
Yes.
Yeah.
And that that was a lot of fun.
And I see what you're saying with just
leaving it open.
Like you have the city itself,
but you're not building the elements of
the city until you need the element of
the city instead of saying, hey,
here's Crimson Bay.
And, you know, now you're stuck.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like,
here's the map of everything that exists
in this city.
It's like, well, one,
I'm probably never going to need most of
those elements.
So I'm just world building for the sake
of world building, you know, um,
I'm not going to need it.
And two,
if I want to go in a different
direction, I have no room to do it.
So yeah,
I'm trying not to shoot myself in the
foot with that.
So do you have the whole story right
now flushed out, like the beginning,
the middle and the end,
and you're just like building it right
now?
Or do you have like, okay,
we're going to have five issues.
Here's how I'm beginning.
Here's how I'm ending.
So I'm thinking a little bit more
long-term.
So I have fleshed out wealth.
have a general outline that goes for like
three different arcs yeah and it can have
two optional arcs so the thing is
depending how successful the series is i
can do a couple of extra arcs and
still make it feel organic uh if but
after three arcs there should be some
form of an ending let's put it like
that yeah the first arc i have fully
i have fully fleshed out outlines so i
have issue three and issue four they are
fully outlined i'm currently writing issue
three but yeah i have i know how
the story is going to end beyond those
first four issues i like it dude like
to hear that you're you're ahead of the
game on it man
think that without spoilers sorry yeah go
ahead without spoilers why can people
expect coming into issue two um so i'm
trying not to spoil issue one either but
yeah it's um issue two is less action
heavy uh i'll say that i mean you
gotta develop the story at some point
right you can't just have like all
fighting
Exactly.
It has possibly the coolest fight so far.
Maybe.
In my opinion,
it might be one of the coolest.
And it's also unexpected because... Well,
I'll shut up.
I'm saying more than I should.
Yeah.
But yeah, issue two is more...
So the end of issue one ends in
a way that throws Aiden completely off
what he was thinking.
So he needs to think of a different
strategy to nail, you know, Kazuya,
his enemy.
uh and basically issue two is how that
strategy develops there's a new character
that's introduced in issue one uh mailing
who uh she seems to she has kind
of the role of a femme fatale sort
of thing did we meet her at the
end of issue one
I think we meet her right at the
beginning of issue one.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So she's the woman who sees Aiden's fight
right at the beginning.
Yeah, yeah.
And then she follows him to Crimson Bay.
Yep.
And she seems to have an interest in
Aiden.
their enemy as well.
So they seem to have a common enemy.
But she kind of is a little bit
more careful in her approaches,
more manipulative.
So yeah, there's...
And she convinces Aiden in issue two to
follower approach if that makes sense yeah
and that's why issue two is less action
packed and it's more um investigation sort
of based uh and i'll i'll just leave
it at that there's still a ridiculous you
know sequence so issue one has that
sequence with taiichi where he's just
using people as human nunchucks that is
like completely
crazy and broad and uh and my favorite
sequence to write in issue one uh issue
two has a similar sequence i'll i'll tell
you that but um but but yeah it's
yeah it's more story heavy i like it
dude that was actually not the next
question but the question after that so
where i was gonna ask well you know
along something along those lines so glad
we got that out of the way early
but so was there any scenes in this
issue that kind of was like like
challenged you as a writer where you
almost like you got yourself into a spot
and you're like how do i get myself
out of this you know or how do
i move this you know um
maybe two there's maybe two scenes that
where that happens so yeah there's you
know the dinner scene which uh you you
are i don't want to spoil too much
but because it's very much talking heads
and you know how do you make talking
heads interesting yeah and uh i think i
found a way to make talking heads
interesting but i'm not going to say
anymore um and uh the last scene because
The last scene is something that I dreamt
about for a really long time.
It was in my head for, you know,
years and years.
And is, you know,
how do you make justice to something that
lived in your head for so long?
So I think the last scene is that.
How do you make it cool?
How do you make it live up to
the idea that you had for years?
Yeah, I can only imagine.
It's one of those where when something is
just living rent-free in your head and you
have to make it happen,
and then when you make it happen,
you're like, God damn, I hope that's cool.
Yeah.
It's cool that it wasn't in my head.
When you first write it, it's like,
this is crap.
This is not what I wanted.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, dude, I'm excited, dude.
But let's talk about the art of action,
or writing action, I should say.
What makes a great comic book fight scene,
in your opinion?
Well, in that case,
it was Samuel Donato who made a great
comic book.
There you go.
Shout out, Samuel.
Yeah, I mean, it was him because, yeah,
you can't describe all you want in the
script and then you need a fantastic
artist to actually make it look good.
great and vibrant and then the colors from
geo just made it you know just pop
and it's yeah um so the whole team
is back on issue two right yeah exactly
so the entire team uh so it's i
i guess what makes a a great you
know yeah uh art in the comic is
is that is having
Someone who understands what you're going
through,
what you're trying to explain in the
script,
and can actually somehow make it better.
I think that's what Samuel did.
And yeah,
I guess the art has a bit of
this anime kind of style,
which kind of fits really nicely the
story.
yeah i don't know i mean did i
answer your question no no you did a
hundred percent so you and samuel though
had to balance action and character
development in this issue
did y'all find that good happy medium
there because i mean during a fight scene
basically all you can do in the script
is say hey samuel i want character a
and character b to have a fight maybe
in this like in this setting with these
elements around and then just let him like
go to town on it with his imagination
i'm that's how i imagine that went down
I mean,
I'm usually very specific in the script.
And for example,
because my background is in film,
I kind of try to think about performance
of actors, if that makes sense.
So I try to express what the characters
are feeling, what they look like.
so if you have a scene that's more
dramatic I like to specify you know what
the reaction or what the facial expression
of the character is same for you know
shot sizes if I feel like you know
a certain shot size is going to give
you a certain emotional response I try to
specify those and yeah even in fight
scenes is how do you make
their body language kind of correlates
what they are feeling.
So I try to specify those.
But then, yeah,
then Samuel has this ability that he can
understand what I'm going for and
sometimes it changes completely things and
it's always better.
It's like he can either follow the script
or he can just go in a completely
different direction.
But
What I'm going for,
the goal that I'm trying to do on
the page,
he nails it and sometimes better than I
imagined.
And I think that's what makes our
collaboration work is that I try to be
specific and he follows that when it calls
for that.
And when he feels like it should take
it in a different direction, he does it.
he still respects the intention yeah so do
you leave him like notes in in the
script as well when he's doing it saying
hey this is what i'm thinking here here
and here but if you see something
different that could add to it like or
do you just have that understanding with
him as you you hand him the finished
script for him to draw
Does he understand or what's that
relationship like where he has that
freedom, I should say, to, hey,
here's what I'm looking for.
But if you see something that could add
and make it better, then go ahead.
I think more often than not is where
I'm like,
I have a general thing in my head,
but I don't have like a specific image.
and I'll say, this is what I'm thinking,
but I'm not sure.
See what you can do with this,
and we can talk.
If you can't think of anything either,
let's talk.
Let's see if we can find something.
But
I don't think I need to tell him
to, you know,
just take it your own way if you
want to, because he does that naturally.
I mean, he's done that since bereavement.
And bereavement was so good.
Yeah, exactly.
And he started doing that in bereavement
naturally.
And it was like, you know,
just let him cook.
Whatever he cooks is tasty.
Let it do it.
Exactly.
But yeah, I mean,
I think we have that...
I think we came into that understanding
naturally.
And sorry, my phone is,
let me get out of here.
We have that.
Only you could hear it.
Okay.
We have that understanding naturally and
you'll just, you know,
do something different.
It will warn me, you know,
if it does something different and say,
hey, this is not what's in the script.
Is this okay?
And usually it is.
Usually I might say, you know,
this panel can be changed a little bit
here, but the rest is like spot on.
So, you know, yeah,
I think we have a very good,
I don't know.
I feel like he reads my mind and
he knows what my intention is.
So even when he changes it,
he's still respecting that intention.
like it bruno let's talk about the
business of indie comics right now you you
have done a lot of kickstarters and the
like you you've been doing this for a
hot minute now is what i'm trying to
say so what has been the biggest challenge
in getting crimson bay in front of readers
oh i mean i think we uh we
were talking about this you know earlier
about the whole
I think being an original IP is the
biggest challenge because, you know,
people love nostalgia.
People love fighting games from eighties
and nineties.
but they love the properties they already
know so if you present a new ip
people are less interested naturally i
mean i do that same right i mean
if someone shows me an ip i love
yeah i want it if someone show me
something like it i'm like i don't know
this yeah so i think that's the biggest
challenge is to convince people to try
something new you
And I feel like, for example, at cons,
I've been a lot better at pitching my
work and being like, you know,
I know you don't know this,
but how about you try it?
I have been a lot better recently at
doing that, but it's still...
You got to have your elevator pitch down.
Yeah, exactly.
It's still hard to get people to...
I don't know.
I think it's less about the elevator pitch
and it's more about...
getting people open to even hear the
pitch.
I think that's the difference of how I'm
started doing better at cons is getting
people open to hear the elevator pitch
before I even give the pitch.
I feel like if you just give the
pitch, people are like, I don't know this,
I'm not interested.
Yeah, I feel like that has been the...
the changing factor recently.
For Crimson Bay specifically, I mean,
I don't know.
I guess we'll see how it goes with
issue two.
I mean,
I am hoping a lot of people backing
Odyssey will, you know, want to come back.
Stick around, yeah.
I hope.
One of the rewards that Odyssey offers is
other books,
and Crimson Bay is one of them.
Yeah.
So my hope is that people read Crimson
Bay one and they come back for two.
I don't know.
We'll, we'll, we'll see.
The only thing I can do is,
is try.
I know he's not going to be as,
uh, you know, successful or as, um,
you know,
as many people back in Crimson Bay to
probably not going to be as many people
as the Odyssey for the reasons we talked
about earlier,
but all you can do is try,
you know, be realistic,
but try to always reach, uh,
a little bit more, but yeah.
Yeah, no, it all makes sense.
When you first started crowdfunding,
what have you learned from that?
like I'm not asking for all your secrets
to success because I literally like
anytime I have somebody on the podcast
that is new to Kickstarter or it's their
first Kickstarter,
I always go back to that very first
lessons learned that you sent me for
people.
And I always send that to them as
well as the links to the second and
third parts to that.
So you've,
whether you know it or not,
how unintentionally helped quite a few
people when launching their Kickstarters
because I like the lessons learned that
you put together so well that that is
my go-to when people ask me that question.
Like, hey, you know,
you got any tips or tricks?
I'm like, I do actually.
They don't belong to me.
They belong to my friend Bruno.
But he gave me the link and I
share that link.
So I literally every time you make a
new like how to or lesson learned or
anything like that,
I literally share that out to two people
or people who ask me for that kind
of stuff.
I'm like,
I'm not going to write all that down.
But let me send you this link to
somebody who has already took the time and
written that down,
and I can give that to them.
Yeah,
I probably need to write a number three
now because I think I wrote two of
those.
So you've got two on there,
but you have another one on there that's
very close to it.
And I can't remember if it's
convention-related or what it was,
but there's a third one in there that's
really good as well.
Okay, okay.
I can't remember exactly, but yeah.
I can't either.
I said I can't remember either.
Yeah,
I think I have one which is moving
from film to comics.
But yeah, but that's a specific case.
I mean,
I don't know if I have any additional
specific advice.
I think this advice,
so there's one that I learned with the
Odyssey and that really pains me because I
absolutely hate it,
which is make projects out of IPs that
people already know.
Yeah.
Which, unfortunately, is... Yeah,
but you struck at the right time with
the Odyssey, with them announcing...
You had that light lined up perfectly to
where you could go, hey, yeah,
before you check out the Odyssey in
theaters,
check out my Odyssey that takes place in
space based on the same story.
So you struck at like the perfect time.
Like you just had that sitting on the
shelf and you're like, hey, let's go.
here we go um and i'm having a
lot of fun writing it to be honest
the odyssey the other issues i've been
writing it and it's been it's been really
fun to write but um uh i got
but yeah i think making ip and you
see that with a lot of creators a
lot of creators make you know um
adaptations of fairy tales or stuff like
that,
because the thing is that that sells,
unfortunately.
I mean, fortunately for, you know,
everybody who does it, but it's like,
Original content always struggles more.
So I guess one advice I would give
people is that maybe start with something
that's public domain.
Yeah,
that's what I was actually about to say.
The public domain right now is so full
of IPs that are just sitting there waiting
for people to make something of it.
So it's like the perfect opportunity.
And it's a quick Google search to public
domain IPs.
that you know you can go and go
oh there's hundreds if not thousands of
these sitting here not being used by
anybody they're not copyright protected
they're not anything like that that you
can literally you you find your piece of
nostalgia that you want and pull it off
that shelf and then turn it into something
that you want it to be
so it's a great place to start if
anybody just and not just comic books just
like if you wanted to get into writing
or if you wanted to like practice writing
you know and you don't you right you're
just not in a spot where you have
the headspace to create something
completely oc
you could go out to the public domain
like oh you know winnie the pooh is
sitting there or whatever and just write
yourself a short story and just kind of
get yourself into it so i mean it's
perfect for that and again it's there's a
lot of content right now sitting in the
public domain that you that's free use
there's nobody's like you can use it
nobody's going to come after you for
making winnie the pooh blood and honey
part three or whatever
I mean, it's still a little bit tricky,
for example, with Mickey.
I think you can do like now Steamboat
Willie.
Steamboat Willie is the only one, yeah.
But you can't do anything else.
So you probably are like in a thin
line.
I have a book coming recently that has
Steamboat Willie-like character in a Buzz
Lightyear sort of suit that
I'm walking a thin line there, but yeah,
that's one for the future.
It's not anytime soon.
But, I mean,
two things I would say is that, yeah,
that is probably a good way to build
your, you know,
your audience is to start with a public
domain because you have some interest.
The other thing I would say is that,
you know,
personally i do prefer original content i
just realized that it's much harder to get
to people and to convince people to you
know spend their hard earned money in
something they don't know yeah i would say
if if you do follow public domain content
you know
There's already a lot on Kickstarter,
so it should be something new,
something unique,
something you actually want to make,
and not just because you want to make
it, just because it will bring you money.
It should be something that you actually
have a passion for.
And what's cool about it is if you
want to go out to the public domain
and find something,
and then if you're curious about it,
Has anybody ever built a comic book off
this public domain character?
You can literally hop over to Kickstarter,
pop that character into Kickstarter,
and it's going to tell you.
Or just Google the character,
and it'll tell you anything recent that's
happened with it.
So, I mean,
there's a lot of checks and balances that
you can do for yourself.
Yes,
you can take a public domain character and
make it into a completely original IP for
yourself.
So...
But yeah,
it's kind of a weird area now that
we're starting to see so much coming back
into the public domain that have been just
sitting on some studio or whatever's shelf
for the last twenty or thirty years that
we fell in love with and it just
disappeared and it's back now.
But it's kind of cool in that regards
that people are like,
brave enough to go and go like we
need the poos out there let me let
me get that or what you know steamboat
willie let me grab that and do something
completely you know different with the ip
so sometimes weird as hell as weird as
the shit is yeah exactly but let's let's
look to the future let's look to the
future
What does success look like,
not just for Crimson Bay,
but for yourself over the next year?
I mean, because, you know,
like I said earlier, you know,
because I've been kind of unemployed,
you know,
I kind of put a little bit of
a break on having a lot of projects
at the same time.
So definitely going to have Cinematic Film
on Street coming out.
So, I mean, success is, you know,
Crimson Bay two is a second issue.
Cinematic Figments is a third issue.
So it's like this series have more backers
than, you know,
previous issues that people come back.
I would say that is success.
And then, you know,
you always have the expectation and the
hope that you can, I don't know,
get knock on some publisher's door and
they will you know open the door i
don't know you're always you know hoping
that that happens always on the lockout
but um but but yeah uh the things
that i can control is keep putting books
out there that are self-published and i
can you know try to make them be
more successful than the last one i guess
that's
I mean, you've been doing that.
I mean,
it's one of those where I've seen you
barely squeak by and getting books funded
to like, oh,
it funded and I made a couple of
dollars on top.
And I've kind of watched you kind of
like each book, you know,
get better and better and better from the
crowdfunding side.
So it's like...
You're slowly but surely finding the key
that works for Bruno.
And it's been cool to watch that journey
since I've gotten to know you.
So keep pushing it, man.
But what's coming up next for you, Bruno?
What should readers keep their eyes out
for?
Yeah,
definitely Crimson Bay now and then
Crimson Bay two, issues three and four.
I'm hoping to be able to do them
before the end of the year again.
Okay.
Depends on, you know, cash coming in.
Yeah.
That's, that's, that's big, big shooting.
I mean, Samuel and Gio,
they are really fast.
So I think it's possible as soon as
I'm, you know,
working and getting a steady income that I
can put aside and spend on comics.
Yeah.
I think it's, it's doable.
I believe.
And that should close the first start
before the end of the year, hopefully.
There are cinematic figments three that is
pretty much done.
There are cinematic figments four,
which is on the way.
And I may have one other thing that
I don't want to talk about it yet
because I don't know.
Hey, people,
just hit that follow button down below.
Come back in a couple of months when
you're ready to talk about it,
and we'll talk about it then.
I have a cover for it.
I'll tell you that.
All right.
I like it.
But, yeah,
I think I'll talk about it more when
I'm ready to talk about it.
All right.
Well, you know where we'll talk about it.
You'll probably be the first to know.
All right.
I like that.
I like being the first to know.
All right, Bruno, let's wrap it up.
Where can readers support you and your
upcoming campaign?
Yeah, I mean,
if you go on Kickstarter and you look
for Crimson Bay,
you'll be able to find it.
So that is my next project.
You can also find Cinematic Figment Street
there.
The page is already up.
And yeah,
then you can follow me on my sub
stack or Blue Sky, Bruno Caterino.
That's probably the best places where you
can find me.
I like it.
All those links are down below except for
a sub stack.
Shoot me your sub stack because I can't
remember it off the top of my head.
When I do the edits to this video,
I'll add it down below into the
description as well.
Bruno, always a pleasure to have you on.
Thanks again, man,
for joining the council.
At this point,
if you're not on for a few months,
I start to worry about you.
We got to get you on the podcast,
man.
Thank you so much for having me.
Of course.
It's always great catching up with
creators who continue building the world's
one issue at a time and Crimson Bay
is shaping up to be another exciting
journey for readers who love martial arts.
compelling characters,
and creator-owned storytelling.
Council members,
if you would like to support Bruno and
Crimson Bay Issue,
be sure to check out the Kickstarter
campaign and follow his work in the links
below.
Until next time, ladies and gentlemen,
the council is adjourned.
Happy Father's Day,
and this has been the USDM Podcast,
where indie comics come to life.
Y'all be safe out there.
Great stuff, Brent.