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USDN Podcast is a cinematic indie comics interview series hosted by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds spotlighting the creators, storytellers, and worldbuilders shaping the future of independent comics.
Each episode dives beyond headlines into the real journeys behind the books from Kickstarter launches and creative struggles to the philosophies driving today’s indie storytelling movement.
This isn’t about rumors or recycled news.
It’s about the people creating the worlds.
Through in-depth conversations, creator spotlights, and crowdfunding discussions, USDN explores:
• The rise of indie comics
• The business of crowdfunding
• The art of worldbuilding
• The realities of independent storytelling
USDN is where indie comics come to life for the fans, by the creators, and powered by the community.
You are listening to the USDN on the
DFPN.
Thanks for watching!
What is up, everybody?
And welcome to the United States
Department of Nerds,
where we are for the people,
by the people, and of the people.
What happens when the strongest person on
the planet discovers that power alone
isn't enough?
Kamora Sampson was an Olympic athlete,
driven, competitive,
determined to be the best.
Then a tragic car accident changed
everything.
Paralyzed from the waist down,
the life she knew was gone.
until an ancient cosmic force known as the
essence gave her something impossible the
ability to transform into a six foot three
two hundred
A two-hundred-pound powerhouse of
unbelievable strength,
but only for a limited time.
Now, following the cess of Strong,
Issue Zero,
Kimura Samsa returns in Strong,
Issue Number One,
as the world begins to understand just how
powerful she truly is.
And not everyone is happy about it.
Political forces are moving against her
mysterious new threats, or...
emergent, and somewhere in the shadows,
Magnus and Chivalry have plans of their
own.
But beneath the superpowers,
cosmic forces,
and larger-than-life action is the story
of a woman discovering that true strength
isn't defined by how much you can lift.
It's defined by who you are and everything
you thought defined you.
is taken away.
Tonight,
we're joined by the creator of Strong and
founder and CEO of Visually Stoked Media,
Javon.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now in session.
Javon, welcome to the Council, friend.
Thank you.
Thank you, man.
That was great.
That sounded amazing coming from you.
That was great.
Thank you for having me.
Appreciate it.
I do something special for every breeder
that comes on and that intro has to
be spot on, man.
Trust me.
I went through that thing with a
fine-tooth comb,
made sure all the details were there and
that it...
It centered on what you created with
Visually Stoked with Strong issue number
zero and one.
But let's dive into it, man.
I know we're on a time crunch tonight.
Before we dive into Strong, though,
let's start with you.
Tell us a little bit about your journey
into comics and what ultimately led you to
becoming a creator.
Well, you know,
my journey in the comics is kind of
like everybody else's.
I grew up reading comics from a very
young age.
Uh,
I honestly don't remember a time in my
life where I wasn't at least looking at
the pictures.
Um, so I've,
I've loved them my entire life and it
wasn't, I want to say it wasn't until,
you know, I went to SCAD, um, uh,
for college that I actually thought about
really making a career of it,
but I ended up shifting to three D
animation.
but even during three D animation,
the love of it never left me.
So I decided to try it out and
I did my first book and it was
like a horror book and it was not
good.
not good at all it's horror though you
know yeah yeah so the book is actually
going to come out though that book i've
retooled it but that's another story see
you live you learn you refine yeah you
run it back yes so um when i
finished getting my degree um i decided
like i want to do this and if
i don't go now you'll never get done
so i sat down and i did the
first issue of my first book heat
And it's been like a roller coaster ever
since.
It's just kind of built up momentum until
I get to Strong.
And I did my second character, Strong,
and here we are now.
That's the Reader's Digest version.
Dude, I love that version of it.
The short, sweet,
gets all the points across,
and we're good to go on it.
Was there a character that kind of made
you fall in love with comic books?
character meaningful I I would probably
say Robin Nightwing okay that's a that's a
good one dude uh I don't know that
one often which is I don't know what
it was because the love of Robin even
when I read comics I I grew up
watching the Batman Adam West yeah show
yeah um
And everybody likes Batman.
I like Robin.
Number one,
I love the design of the character,
except for the shorts.
The tights.
Yeah.
The tights are fine,
but you can't be wearing a Speedo.
Oh, that was a legend.
Yeah.
And then my love of Dick Grayson,
the character,
went from there to becoming Nightwing.
And I'm a big George Perez fan.
Yeah.
New Teen Titans just blew my mind.
And they gave him his own arc.
So I felt like I was growing up
with Dick Grayson.
So I want to say that was probably
my first real character that I love.
And I still love Nightwing to this day.
Dude, that's legit, man.
And shout out to Nightwing, man.
He doesn't get enough love as far as
when I ask that question.
And I think you're the very first person
to ever say Dick Grayson is the dude
that got me to stay with comic books.
Listen, if I ever got a chance,
if I ever get a chance at DC,
if any editor from DC Comics is listening,
I'm dying to do a Nightwing run.
that's what's up man he he's gotten some
good ones too yeah but let's let's meet
strong yes for anyone discovering the
series for the first time tonight who is
kimora sampson and what is strong give us
the elevator pitch well the elevator pitch
is kind of what i tell people kind
of of course someone's doing fireworks
today um i tell people it's the story
of it's a day in the life of
the strongest superhero on the planet
Just happens to be a six foot to
have black half Latina powerhouse.
That's what I used to tell people when
I was doing strong number zero, because,
you know,
the whole twist in the end of the
book spoilers is that you find out that
she's, you know,
her alter ego is a pair is a
paralyzed young lady in a wheelchair.
What I would tell people now is it's
kind of the personification of the spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Her power is fueled by her soul.
So she's able to transform from a
paraplegic to, you know, a powerhouse.
But it's it really is a story of
understanding your limitations and
breaking through them.
So before coming strong,
Kimura was actually an Olympic athlete
whose life changed after, you know,
tragic car accident that left her
paralyzed from the waist down.
Why was it important to establish who
Kimura was before introducing us to the
power that she has?
Um, so if you've read strong number zero,
I actually did the opposite.
I showed you her and her power.
before I showed you her as, you know,
as her,
before I showed you her alter ego.
Now it's really important that you see
that she was exceptional before she became
a superhero.
She was exceptional before she became
paralyzed.
So you see her after now being paralyzed
and you see her continue to be exceptional
regardless of if she's powered or not.
Yeah.
So where did this idea for Kimura in
the world of strong come from?
Well,
she is part of heat universe and heat
universe is built on the foundation that
at the big bang, there were four, um,
Genesis powers.
They are the personification of the soul,
which is the essence,
the personification of light and heat and
fire, which is the illumination,
which heat powers heat.
There is the Ebon, which is the darkness,
the cold, which is heat's alter,
not alter ego, arch nemesis, black flame.
And then there's the personification of
all things, all tactile things,
all solid things, which is the solid.
And I wanted to kind of delve into
those powers.
And when I got to the essence of,
Originally the character was a lot more
flowery for lack of a better term,
but I thought a lot about the spirit
is strong.
The flesh is weak.
So I said, well,
if the spirit is strong,
why not just make her a powerhouse,
like literally make her the strongest
superhero on the planet.
So it kind of went from there.
And then I thought, well,
it would be really cool if the strongest
superhero on the planet was kind of stuck
in the body of somebody who is not
always physically strong.
And I thought it would be a really
good way to kind of bounce those ideas
off each other.
It's a great concept, man.
And it's just such a cool thing that
I haven't seen before in this industry.
And kind of like this,
I don't want to say iteration,
but in this form of it.
So,
but you've said that Strong represents the
powerful women in your life.
The women in your life influenced the
creation of Kimora.
Sorry.
Say, go ahead.
I said,
how did the women in your life influence
the creation of Kimora?
So she's kind of a hodgepodge of, um,
a few women um physically she's kind of
based off a friend of mine who uh
started doing bodybuilding and she became
like just amazing like physical specimen
um so she's physically based off her but
personality she's a little bit of my mom
uh a little bit of all my female
friends like she she really is like a
hodgepodge and i wanted to do something
that women could read and feel like
somebody understands what a male can
understand what they're thinking in not a
shallow way.
Like the insecurities, the strengths,
the ups, the downs.
I was really,
really interested in writing as full of a
character,
like a real full woman
yeah character no it that dude i think
there needs to be more stories like that
to be fair there's not enough of them
that represents women in this way but when
camora loses her physical abilities that
wants to find her identity as an olympic
athlete how much of her story is about
discovering who she is
When everything she thought to find her is
just taken away and just say instant.
So when the story picks up,
it picks up from a place where she
kinda has already started to figure out
her new place in life,
her new status quo.
And then I'm,
it's kind of one of those memento things.
I'm going to show you where she is
and then we're going to look and see
how she got there.
Um, and I really wanted,
I didn't want to spend.
One of the things I really didn't want
to do is woe is me.
I didn't want to do an entire,
oh my gosh, I'm paralyzed now.
Life sucks.
Like she is a go-getter, you know,
like we are already past that modeling
stage to the,
this is who I am now.
How does this new person live?
Yeah.
Shout out to Nightmares and Nerdskates,
man.
One of the best horror podcasts on
YouTube, in my opinion,
and a great friend of mine.
So shout out to him.
Happy Friday, bro.
Let's talk about the essence, man.
This is literally what has transformed
Kimura, and it's an ancient cosmic force.
What exactly, though?
I know you explained it a little bit
earlier when you gave your elevator pitch,
but what exactly is the essence, right?
so it really is the essence of every
soul of every living thing um in heat
you find out that the all the genesis
powers kind of to create life they all
kind of bounced and and mixed and mingled
to create all life and once they finished
Once life is kind of set,
the powers began to die.
And the only way that they could sustain
themselves is to find living beings to
attach themselves to.
Okay.
So the essence only,
it kind of makes you more of what
you are.
Mm-hmm.
And she's already a strong individual,
and it just magnifies that.
Mm-hmm.
So how much of the mythology behind what
you just referred to,
the essence and these four,
we'll call them pillars,
how do you develop behind the scenes?
Like right now you've only written about
Gamora and the essence.
Are we gonna see the rest of those
in future issues?
So Heat is one of the Genesis avatars.
So if you're interested in seeing the
illumination and how the illumination
works, you can read Heat.
Heat actually has more books.
I have a graphic novel and three
individual issues.
So you can always read that.
And you can also see the Ebon,
which is one of the four in Heat
as well.
And then the Solid, it's coming.
it's coming um i don't want to talk
too much about it but you're going to
find you're going to see all four um
and you're also going to find out you
know where they came from and who they
were running from oh so they're running
from something too that's uh i'm not
saying nothing else that's all you got an
exclusive man i gave you an exclusive i
like it i love a good exclusive here
but kabora could transform into a six foot
three two hundred pound powerhouse of
unbelievable strength
but it's only for short periods of time.
Right.
Why was it important to give one of
the world's most powerful superheroes such
a significant limitation?
So, I'm a big Green Lantern fan, too.
Okay, yeah.
I love, you know... I see it now.
Yeah, the battery.
So,
the essence basically props her body up.
So, when she's strong, it fixes her.
Mm-hmm.
But it does take a lot of energy
to fix her.
So, you know, if you read the book,
in the new book, I have a little,
like a counter.
So you can see her power.
Yeah.
I always enjoy seeing, like,
the counter or something like that.
Like, what's it for?
What's it do?
Why is there a counter?
I can't remember.
Was it an X-Men book or an Avengers
book that had one of those?
i can't remember which one it was but
yeah it was just like you didn't know
originally what it was for and then you
learn later on why it keeps counting down
well this is more along the lines of
uh spawn um you know yeah it was
fun it was fun yep yeah i'm a
nineties kid so you know you know i
was there for the beginning of spawn and
i remember the counter so they just threw
that out the window
Right.
That's gone now.
But for Strong,
she has to go back to being Kimura
to let the battery recharge.
And so.
Yeah, he's got a great point.
It adds the tension to the scenes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yes.
So, yeah, it was.
But it's also, you know.
you if you're gonna have the strongest
superhero on the planet you have to give
them limitations to make stories good i am
not a big fan of these you know
the comic book characters that are uber
powerful and because then you're like well
why am i reading this book if you
can if you're so powerful
and you know then we have to keep
ratcheting up so the villains are even
more and more and more powerful because
you get to a point where all right
this is absurd like i don't it becomes
unbelievable right like it even it's it
exceeds what what's in your head in your
imagination at a certain point yeah where
it's like you originally started reading
comic books for
yes we real but they had some type
of realism to them but once that realism
is gone and we're definitely way into this
fantasy realm it kind of loses it right
i remember i'm old enough to remember when
x-men characters used to pass out from
using their powers too much
Who Jean gray was notorious for that
storm.
I think Jubilee storm,
like the only one that never really did
it was a Wolverine,
but he could exhaust himself to a point
in a few issues where he would be
out for weeks on end after a really
bad fight.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now it's like he gets in a nuke,
he gets blown up and he's fine in
like, yeah.
I think that's missing in comics and
superheroes.
I think everybody's rushing to make their
character so powerful that you just don't
see heroes with feet of clay from a
physical, physical standpoint.
You know, Batman is, you know,
I make the joke all the time.
Batman used to get beat up by random
criminals in, um,
You know,
the comics and back in the early days
of detective comics.
Yeah.
Or even Batman, the animated series.
Like,
I remember him just getting he would get
beat up by, you know, Joe Blow.
You know, we had Alfred.
We used to have to pick him up
in the Batmobile.
Right.
But now it's to the point where Batman's
so good,
he should never struggle with like the
average crook.
I think that's something that kind of fits
in the absolute universe.
Batman, he can take a beating.
He does take beatings in the absolute
universe.
But still,
he's Batman at the end of the day.
Yep.
That was very important to me.
Let's transition into Strong Issue Zero.
It introduced readers to Kimura and Begin
the Journey.
What did you learn from creating and
releasing
issue zero into releasing issue one.
I mean, you're seasoned at this point.
You've got a couple of titles underneath
your belt, but dude,
I say this all the time.
If you're not learning something new or
different on a daily basis,
are you really living life?
Right.
What did I learn?
Well,
I think I'm a better artist and a
better storyteller.
What did I learn?
Well,
I learned that there was a market for
it.
I was very,
very I was very worried that I was
going to do a female superhero and nobody
was going to pay attention to it.
And, you know, the first few years,
it's been a few years since I released
strong number zero.
It's still one of my best selling books.
I go to cons with, you know, thirty,
forty copies and walk out with none.
So it's definitely one of those really
cool niches where you don't see a whole
lot of superheroes with a disability as
well as ability.
So it's definitely a niche there.
I feel amongst parents and kids.
Yes.
Yeah.
I mean, it was,
it was definitely for women specifically,
like, I can't tell you how many times.
you know, a woman, a young woman,
an older woman would come up to me
and say, they love the character design.
You know, they love the fact that the,
you know,
the costume is something that they could
cosplay and not feel uncomfortable in.
That was like a big thing for a
lot of women.
And I purposely tried to design it this
way,
but I was very happy that it was
received that way.
Cause you never know.
you know?
So that's what,
if zero taught me anything,
it's people were ready for this and people
wanted more, but it also, it was,
it was very daunting.
Cause I was like, well, how do I,
it's almost like if you make a great
movie and people are ready to sequel.
Yeah.
Like how do I follow this up?
And I think when I came up,
when I got the idea,
I thought this is it.
and when i was able to go full
blast it just everything fell fell into
into place so what changes when you move
from introducing a character to building
an ongoing series around them like you
have so i would say i didn't i
purposely didn't introduce a lot of
the backstory,
a lot of the background and the backstory
of the character in Strong Number Zero.
Because it was more important to me that
you kind of get to know the character,
like the person,
and the two main characters of the book.
So I didn't,
and I wanted her to be a little
bit mysterious.
Because I wanted it to be,
because if I had done all of the
introductions in Zero,
I don't know if a lot of people
would want to pick up Number One.
yeah but now I I feel like if
you want to find out more about Kimora
like you know about strong but do you
want to know more about Kimora now you
can read number one and it kind of
gives people incentive to pick up one even
if I don't have any copies of zero
like if I sell out of zero
You can still pick up number one and
not feel like I don't know what's going
on.
Yeah.
Dude, I always appreciate that too.
Because anytime I see issue zero,
I'm thinking in my head,
this is the prequel story to issue number
one.
And then if I'm not able to get
that prequel story and I pick up at
issue one and it feels like I'm completely
lost,
then I am like the most disappointed.
I'm like a man child at that point.
I'm like,
what is this?
I'm like,
there's all this stuff going on and none
of it makes sense.
You're laughing because you know exactly
what I'm talking about.
I'm a big proponent of every book is
somebody's first.
I've gone to Comic-Cons and I've run out
of books and only had number three of
Heat.
The way I write my books and I
put as much
I don't, I'm not,
and I mean this with all due respect.
This is a really good question.
With the love of Dick Grayson,
are there any shades of another paralyzed
hero involved from an inspirational
standpoint?
Probably like Daredevil.
Okay.
I don't know if he was leaning towards
the Oracle.
Actually, no.
I take it back.
I take it back.
I was very influenced by...
This is a deep cut, okay?
I like a good deep cut.
I am a big New Warriors fan.
Okay.
Huge New Warriors fan.
And there's a character called Silhouette.
Yeah.
Who has... She's paralyzed, but she has,
like, the crutches,
and she's beating up people on crutches.
I've always thought that was so cool.
So she was a little bit of inspiration
for that, too.
No, that's a really good one, actually,
and
Not very brought up often.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
But to my original point, I put recaps.
No, no worries.
It's fine.
I put recaps in every book.
Okay.
Every book has a recap inside the front
cover.
Every book has a blurb about the origin
of the character.
It's really important to me that you
don't...
Because I grew up in a time where...
you pick up issue number two hundred and
forty five and you're like and you just
go with it yeah dude that was this
very i'm guessing you're in your forties
like i am i am in my forties
yeah yeah that was so common for our
generation or wherever and we that one
comic book on the shelf that's left there
is kind of like an edsman like one
thirty seven or whatever.
There's nothing in front in the front of
it or nothing behind it.
So you're kind of stuck with this.
You went thirty seven.
But the last issue you got at home
was one twenty five.
Right.
So it was like a whole arc basically
missing.
But you still for the love of the
game.
Right.
You still picked up that Ed Smith and
you still took it home and you still
read it like it was the best thing
you ever read.
And you're lost as hell.
So one of my one of my one
of my dad was a big comic book
creator.
he not creator excuse me uh yeah uh
comic book uh collector and uh actually
him and my uncles they have one of
the largest comic book uh collections out
there they have a ton of books and
i believe he left me a few books
he gave me a few books not left
he gave me a few books and one
of those books and i got this book
when i was young was x-men
Is it one thirty seven?
It's the death of Dark Phoenix.
And I remember and I'm young,
so I don't understand how valuable this
book is.
Remember, I don't know.
So I read it a bajillion times.
But I had no clue what was going
on.
Prior to this issue.
but i love the crap out of that
book yep that's moon yes it's one of
the first books i remember reading and i
just i had no clue it's probably why
i love cyclops too i'm a big fan
it's probably the root of one of the
reasons why i love cyclops i have said
this for many years me and kelvin of
one of the another guy on the with
the over at the smoke pit
uh willie mccoy a bunch of the fellas
here on the podcast network we have said
for the longest time that people sleep on
cyclops oh yeah and uh he's getting his
shine now he's finally getting his shine
but that's been but like it's like what
the hell i'm like you're just now
highlighting what we've known for years
now i i i have long i was
a fan of cyclops even during
you know even i've been since since the
eighties yeah so i mean like i have
been a fan of cyclops through all of
the time when when they clowned them in
the x-men movie um you know when they
killed them off screen in x-three yeah
I have been a fan.
We're getting into that territory where I
just get disappointed now, man.
I can't talk about those X-Men movies.
They're just so horrible.
I keep telling people I have not seen
a great X-Men movie yet.
I don't think we will, man.
I honestly don't think we will.
Even the origins of Wolverine wasn't good.
There was a lot of important stuff left
out of that.
There have been some decent ones.
like first class was decent um days of
future past was okay once you look past
kitty pride having the ability to go back
in time yeah um i'm trying what was
the other one after that i kind of
tapped out uh logan was that's true too
that's too nightcrawler and it's because
of nightcrawler though yeah that's another
dude who don't get enough love
Although the new comic book runs have been
giving Mike Fowler a lot of good love
lately.
X-Two,
I have a love-hate relationship with it,
just because they clown Cyclops again.
Like,
they just keep finding ways to clown him
in the movie.
So it's... Yeah.
So when I... I don't know.
That's why I love X-Men.
I love X-Men.
I love it because it is everything I
love about X-Men,
and they give shine to people other than
Wolverine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cyclops is why I love X-Factor.
I was a big X-Factor fan.
I was X-Men blue team.
Here's a guy.
Yeah, he's my favorite X-Man with Gambit.
So Gavin's my boy, and man,
one of the most tragic love stories ever
written in a comic book, dude.
It's still heartbreaking.
Yeah.
You give me emotional, man.
And let's talk about we will switch.
Let's talk about strong.
Number one, man.
So, all right.
In this issue,
what it begins to explore what happens
when the world realizes just how powerful
Kimura is.
And then we see political figures are
beginning to move in different directions
to kind of make her life a little
bit more difficult.
But what happens when the most powerful
superhero on the planet becomes someone
that people in power cannot control?
So that goes back to issue zero.
Again,
spoilers earmuffs for if you haven't read
it and you want to read it.
Big part of issue zero is she's being
interviewed by
a news reporter who wants to get to
know her.
And it's this kind of dance,
this kind of personality dance between her
and this individual, this reporter.
And by the end of the book,
her and the reporter kind of become
friends.
And the big twist of the reporter is
a reporter is actually a, um,
a federal agent tasked to get information
on strong because in this universe,
any superpowers are illegal.
Like there,
there's no such thing as being a superhero
because it's against the law.
So that's kind of wild though,
that like you can't pick and choose that
if it happens, it happens.
Right.
That, well, you know,
our government has a long history of
trying to control everybody.
Uh, so the reporter is actually, you know,
uh,
an FBI agent who's tasked to monitor her
and basically come up with ways to take
her out.
And so we pick up with that thread
in heat and, um, uh,
we in strong number one.
Where the friendship remains because
Strong has no idea who this person is,
really is.
And, you know,
the reporter slash agent gets new marching
orders and those new marching orders are
there to make Strong's life very
difficult.
Yeah.
So you can't necessarily like punch away
through politics and public opinion and
manipulation.
So how do you create meaningful threats
for someone as physically as powerful as
strong?
And this is what you were just describing
is probably that's the way to do it,
right?
That and one of the big,
I forgot who, was it Mark Wade?
I'm a big Mark Wade guy.
And Mark Wade,
when he was talking about Superman,
You know,
he was talking about how you like you
said,
the threats can't just be punch for punch.
You said it very well.
So that's always stuck with me.
And especially with this character.
So the best way to do Superman.
And it's one of the reasons why I
loved Superman and Lois.
The newest one.
Yeah.
loved it yeah because they were very they
did a great job of making conflicts that
he just couldn't punch his way out of
yeah and they they're uh lois and clark
dude they're like i don't know what it
is the chemistry they had on screen just
them together in general are we're so damn
good
they're really nice people though i got to
meet them both yeah i was supposed to
say they are some really nice people so
nice people incredibly nice they were
really nice i got to meet them at
a comic con last year um but they
it had a really good premise that allowed
for problems because the point of us
reading these stories is how does the hero
get out of the problem not always how
do the how does the hero beat up
the villain because that gets boring
Yeah.
You know,
like it's really eventually you're going
to have to use your mind.
Right.
To do a little punching as well.
Right.
And so that is always one of the
things that is in the forefront of my
brain.
You know, my job,
as much as I love my characters,
is how do I make their lives a
living hell?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's spot on.
Speaking of a living hell.
And let's go here.
So we have these mysterious forces who are
entering the picture with Magnus and
Chivalry.
Without spoiling anything,
why can you tell us about Magnus and
Chivalry and what their arrival means for
the larger world of Strong?
So Magnus is, is, is,
is it Magnus or Magnus?
I believe it's Magnus.
Magnus.
Magnus.
Sorry.
I have so much,
so many ideas in my head.
Magnus is a warrior.
Who's all I say about the two characters
is Magnus is a warrior who doesn't believe
she's the strongest around and chivalry is
maybe some help.
Okay.
I don't want to say too much.
No, no.
I don't want you to spoil too much.
I mean,
you've already gave us some deep cuts here
and some exclusives.
I don't want to get too many out
of those.
Get too many of those out of you.
I want you to save some for the
book.
Oh, I've got a lot.
I haven't even scratched the surface.
Let's go.
Let's build the world of Strong.
You've said that one of the things you're
most excited about is deepening this world
around Strong, including her family,
friends, and also her new enemies.
How important are the relationships to
understanding who Kimura really is?
So, again, I'm an old school guy.
So most of the books I grew up
reading,
the heroes had like extensive supporting
cast.
Um, I was,
everybody had a team that back in the
nineties.
Well, it wasn't like,
I feel like the CW,
as much as I love those shows,
they forgot that it's okay for the hero
not to have a giant support system who
knows that the hero is this is the
secret identity.
And I wanted to get back to secret
identities matter.
And they're important because they ground
the hero in reality.
So they're not always like,
they don't always have to be a superhero.
And so, you know,
her supporting cast includes her mother,
her brother.
She has a best friend that she works
with.
And of course,
the aforementioned reporter slash FBI
agent.
This is just the beginning.
Again, I grew up when Spider-Man,
his supporting cast was so freaking large.
I mean,
he had the people at the Daily Bugle
and then the people who he went to
college with and then his family.
And there were all these people whose
stories you cared about.
And whose lives would then somehow
intersect with Spider-Man.
Yeah.
And they made his life difficult,
but they also enriched his life.
And I'm from that school,
and that's where I wanted to go with
Strong.
I wanted to do it with Heat as
well.
So when you're creating someone with
extraordinary abilities,
how do you make sure that human being
underneath the superhero remains the most
important part of the story?
So one of the great pieces of advice
that I ever read on Twitter was there
was this writer.
I know, right?
A great piece of advice on Twitter?
Yes.
And the writer talked about
how the seed of the story has to
be the the center in the sea of
the story has to be grounded and
compelling everything else attached to it
is just window dressing and he used the
analogy of die hard and he was saying
how die hard if you strip away the
terrorists and the gun fights and the
nakatomi plaza
it's about a broken marriage that is
trying to come back together.
Yeah.
At the heart of it.
Yeah.
And that is what compels us.
That's what compels us to keep watching
is, you know,
McLean going to make it back to his
wife is the wife's, you know, is,
are the terrorists going to learn that
that's his wife?
Like that's what kept you engaged because
everything else can be static.
right yeah and you see this with a
lot of movies where the seed isn't strong
enough i'm lying i'm sorry oh no i
was talking to him oh uh the the
seed isn't strong enough and the world
building is great but you don't care
because you don't care about the character
because you didn't take enough time to
make the seed no pun intended strong
enough yeah
So since you brought up Die Hard,
I got to ask you,
is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Yes, it's a Christmas movie.
I watch it every Christmas.
Come on, people.
See,
multiple times I've proved this to be fat.
It's a Christmas movie.
I'm not going to argue on it,
but it's a Christmas movie.
But it continues.
And once I read that in Twitter,
I started dissecting every one of my
favorite movies.
And that's like one of my favorite movies
is the game.
With Michael Douglas and Sean Penn.
OK, yeah, yeah.
I broke it down and I was like,
what is the game really about?
The game isn't about the game.
The game is about.
What is valuable about life?
Like when you strip this one guy,
it's about stripping somebody down to see
what's valuable about their life.
Yeah.
And I was,
and so I started doing it to every
single book, comic book movie.
And it helps me as a writer because
now I, before I create a character,
I go, what do I want to do?
What's the point here?
And then everything grows from that
because everything becomes a metaphor for
it.
Yeah, dude, I like that.
And I think you said it a lot
better than Shrek did when he said Shrek
is
is like an onion because onions have
layers yes that too it works it works
too anytime i start hearing people like
start talking about filling up the way
layers of a story i'm like oh like
shrek shrek is an onion and onions have
layers then all i can hear is donkey
go parfaits have layers right and one of
the things you know that i try to
do with my writing for the to make
each character feel like a character
is there has to be a nugget or
two in the book that tells you a
little something about the character.
And it doesn't have to be big.
It can just be like they like Reese's
Pieces.
Or, you know, they you know,
they always have to listen to white noise
to go to bed.
But to me, for me,
and it's just for me,
I feel like that's how these characters
become real.
Yeah.
Because then somebody who likes Reese's
goes, yeah, me too.
And then they're classic.
That's a classic.
You can't go wrong with Reese's.
I actually don't like Reese's.
We're going to say that we're going to
instead talk about visually stoked.
The combination of peanut butter and
chocolate doesn't react well with me.
Really?
i i don't like any chocolate and peanut
or peanut butter dessert wow that's how
you learned something new about me this is
what i don't know if that's a you
know i i don't know about i don't
i'm kind of taking it's okay i live
forty something years alive just give me a
second i gotta process it i'll let you
process it quote new girl you process that
however you need to process it
Let's talk about visually Stoats media,
man.
Cause you didn't just simply create
strong.
You built visually Stoats media as well.
What inspired you to start your own
publishing company?
So I've been doing the entrepreneur game
for over.
Twenty plus years.
Appreciate you.
Um, those are two of my favorite movies.
love them i have a lot of favorite
movies um uh i've been doing the
entrepreneur thing for a long time so
visually stoked has had a lot of different
names but it's always been what i've used
when i do i used to free i
do a lot of freelance artwork and
originally i was going to pitch my first
book heat to somebody yeah but the more
i learned about
the industry and the more I learned about
comics in general,
I saw so many people doing it themselves
and so many people building their own
publishing houses.
So I was like, well, I mean,
I can do that.
I can find a printer.
I'm already doing all the artwork.
I'm already doing everything.
Why not?
So from that point,
that's when I started doing Heat.
And, you know, I published, you know,
this is my ninth comic book.
OK,
I published I just published a children's
book last year.
Oh, nice.
And, you know,
I've done a bunch of different things I've
done.
I just did a book to cover to
a book, a novel this year.
OK, it's called.
Was it a billion I forget the name.
I'm sorry if you're watching it I'm sure
they understand Yeah,
so I and I just use it as
a vessel to do whatever I want to
do Like I said,
I'm doing a horror book right now.
I'm in the beginning the script for it
and I'm you know,
I want to do
animation at a certain point as i said
my degree is in three d animation so
i know how to do pretty much the
whole thing start to finish yeah so you
know i i have this first script for
a heat cartoon you know the first pass
of it done you know i want to
do a novel so i want to publish
my own novel so i just use it
i would like it to grow to become
a an art
a a creative studio in which you know
i can let my imagination run wild dude
i i loved it man and i i
hear this story like three four five six
seven times a month and i never get
tired of hearing the entrepreneurial
spirit
You know,
thriving and surviving in today's world
that we live in where it's not really
built for us to do these things,
but we are still doing them.
Right.
Despite, you know,
people trying to block us from doing what
we do.
independent creators today are expected to
create publish market distribute and build
their own audiences what's been the
biggest lesson you've learned about the
business of independent comics and that
business is like it's booming but also
it's a big business um a couple of
lessons one money moves mountains so
number one as much as money like money
we need money to do this.
So, and I,
and I mean more than just sales, like,
you know, you, you know,
you got to use your own money a
lot of time.
And so, you know, I, I,
I've funded my business from the
beginning.
So that's the one thing.
And then two,
the biggest thing I probably learned is
it's not a race.
Like there's no,
finish line you're not racing against
anybody you know i've kind of learned i
gotta you know take my time build my
readership one book at a time and you
know be intentional about everything
you're doing you know like take a minute
come up with a plan and then do
that plan
And, and, and, and just keep pivoting.
If this part doesn't work, okay, do this,
pivot this part and just like be
undeniable.
Like you have to be,
you have to be unstoppable.
Like you cannot.
And there've been so many times where I
have wanted to quit or I have thought,
you know what,
maybe I'm not supposed to be doing this.
And then something will happen.
will that will go no you're supposed to
do this it's just not supposed to be
easy yeah and it was easy everybody would
do it if it was easy everybody would
do it you know one of my favorite
uh quotes is there's no success without
struggle and so i look you know again
it gets frustrating because i i have so
many contemporaries so many friends who
are doing so well
And it's hard not to look and go,
all right, well, when's my time coming?
When's my time coming?
But the truth of the matter is when
you talk to them,
they've been doing it for a while and
they're looking at other people and
they're like, well,
when is my time coming?
So we're all looking at each other going,
when is my time coming?
And the truth is just work,
just do the work, get out there,
make your audience, you know, the,
And I do this a lot.
I have to.
I constantly have to remind myself of the
person I was.
Fifteen years ago.
Who didn't even have a one page done.
Yeah.
That version of me would look in awe
at where I am now.
I just have to keep remembering that.
It's continuing to grow, man.
Yeah.
So you actually have.
strong number one available through select
comic book shops independent bookstores
amazon digital and directly through your
website what have you learned about
actually getting your book into the hands
of readers which all this one of the
biggest complaints you always hear is like
how do i get this to people and
how do i get people to discover my
book well the truth of the matter is
you need this you need two things you
need social media
which i'm which i struggle with because
i'm we all do man because it does
this so often like you find your groove
and then you might have that groove for
a week a month three months and then
that group is gone right so you need
social media but you also need to be
out there you need to be at every
comic-con every farmer's market every
event you can every vending event possible
Like there was a period.
This is a slow year for me.
But last year and the year before and
the year before that,
I was doing fifteen to thirty five events
a year.
I want people to think about that for
a second.
Fifty two weeks.
Thirty five events.
And we're talking anywhere from one
hundred to five hundred dollars a booth or
a table.
Yeah.
Of his own money.
Not and that doesn't include travel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Food, all that.
Yeah.
Like the printing of the books and
printing of the book,
like you have to budget well,
and you have to get out there because
you're never going to sell your book
better than when you're in front of
somebody,
because the truth is nobody cares about
your book.
You're no, you're not Spider-Man.
You're not invincible.
You're not walking dead.
Nobody cares.
You have to make people care.
And the best way to make people care
is for you to stand in front of
them and tell them why they should care.
You got to make them care.
So those are the two biggest pieces of
advice.
If you get good at social media and
you get your butt out there and you
will sell books.
If you have a quality product,
you will sell books.
I don't want to say guarantee,
but you know.
This is a good question,
and I know we're getting short on time
here.
As a creative and a businessman,
how do you keep yourself from trend
chasing and focusing on what you're really
passionate about?
I don't follow trends.
I write stories that I want to see.
As I said, I love horror.
I wanted to do a horror book.
I told you my first book was a
horror book.
I did my characters because I love
superheroes and they helped scratch my
itch of superhero.
If I want to do a superhero,
I'll do a strong book or I do
a heat book.
I want to do a horror book now.
So I'm going to do a horror book.
Um, Hey, listen, you can email me.
Um, so, but I'll shoot him your email.
Perfect.
Uh,
but so I'm going to do a horror
book.
But I was just talking to my cousin,
you know,
maybe thirty minutes ago and I told him,
you know,
I kind of want to write a novel,
too.
So I do what I want to do.
I the audience will find me.
If I chase trends all day,
I don't feel like it would be authentic.
Yeah.
All right,
I know we got to start wrapping things
up now, but what's next, man?
What's the future holding for Kimora?
What's the future holding for Javon,
for Visually Stoked Media, man?
For Kimora, after I finish the script,
after I get my horror thing out, actually,
I'm going to do my horror book,
and I'm going to do Strong No.
by the beginning of the next year.
I know guys,
it takes a long time for me because
I'm literally writing, drawing, coloring,
inking, lettering, doing everything.
So.
Which is dope because a lot of people
don't do that.
Right.
So what's next for Kimora is strong number
two and the fallout from what happens in
number one and the twist at the end.
And what's coming next for me
I have two big projects that I'm not
able to talk about yet that I'm looking
forward to doing.
I should be starting one of them soon
and the other in the fall.
The horror book,
which is called Irreconcilable,
hopefully will be done by the end of
the year.
I'm probably going to do,
I've had a lot of requests to do
a coloring book.
So I might do one with my superheroes
with both of them in it.
and strong which i think would be really
cool would be the it'll be their first
crossover before their first crossover
that'd be essentially a really cool way to
do it and then uh visually stoked the
big thing that i really want to do
is do a cartoon and i know it's
going to take some time uh i'm in
no rush and but it'll get done i
love it dude any parting shots man uh
get listen so
For those people that pre-ordered the
book,
there's still time to pre-order the book
because I've been looking for a new
printer.
The books have not been printed.
Yeah, and we lost a printer this week.
Yes.
I probably have settled on the new
printer,
so the new books will be printed in
the next couple of weeks.
No, you're good.
You still have time to pre-order Heat at
visuallystoked.com slash strong.
I love it, dude.
Javon,
thank you for joining us tonight and
introducing the Council of Nerds to Kimora
and to the world of Strong.
Strong number one is available,
as he just said,
and you can find the book and learn
more about everything happening with
Visually Stoked Media at
visuallystoked.com.
Make sure you follow Visually Stoked Media
on Instagram and ask to keep up with
Strong and everything Javon is building
next.
Most importantly,
support independent creators,
discover new stories,
and keep indie comics alive.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now adjourned.
This has been the USDM Podcast,
where indie comics come to life.
Y'all be safe.
Happy weekend.
Age of Army.