E.P.I.C. #2: Arise Alphas - Building the Dark City Universe with Lo Plater

One hero was only the beginning.

Lo Plater, creator, writer, and founder of Dark City Comics & Multimedia, returns to the Council of Nerds to discuss E.P.I.C. #2: ARISE ALPHAS - Part 1 and the expansion of the Dark City Universe.

When Lo first joined USDN, we introduced Chris Tayborne, a young archaeology student transformed by the ancient cosmic technology known as the Alpha Bands. Since then, E.P.I.C. #1 has gone from Kickstarter campaign to fulfilled comic, giving Lo firsthand experience with the realities of producing, crowdfunding, and delivering an independent comic.

Now the story is getting much bigger.

The activation of the Alpha Bands has awakened the mysterious Alpha Strand, triggering the emergence of super-powered Alpha Humans around the world. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. Others will fall somewhere in between.

Lo takes us inside the mythology behind the Alpha Strand, how Chris responds to discovering that his transformation wasn't an isolated event, and why building the Dark City Universe means creating a world that extends far beyond E.P.I.C. himself.

We also get into the realities of independent comic publishing: Kickstarter fulfillment, unexpected shipping costs, communicating with backers, building the right creative team, planning rewards, printing and distribution, direct-to-consumer relationships, supporting fellow indie creators, and why Lo believes creators are ambassadors for independent comics.

With multiple characters and projects already being developed across the Dark City Universe, ARISE ALPHAS - Part 1 represents the next step toward the larger world Lo envisioned when he first entered the Council.

E.P.I.C. #2: ARISE ALPHAS - Part 1 heads to Kickstarter in September 2026.

🚀 Follow the E.P.I.C. #2 Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darkcitycomics/epic-2-arise-alphas-part-1?ref=23uxfb

🌆 Dark City Comics & Multimedia:
http://www.darkcitychq.com

Find everything USDN:
https://linktr.ee/usdnpodcast

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https://www.bcwsupplies.com/?acc=usdn

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The USDN Podcast - Where indie comics come to life.

What is The United States Department of Nerds Podcast?

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.

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 and tonight

We are returning to Dark City.

The last time Lowe joined us,

we introduced you to Epic,

Earth's Protector in Crisis,

and a young archaeologist student named

Chris Taborn,

whose encounter with the mysterious Alpha

Bans transformed him into something

extraordinary.

But Chris's transformation was only the

beginning.

Alpha bands have awakened the alpha strand

and now super powered individuals known as

alpha humans are beginning to emerge

across the world.

Some will rise as heroes.

Others may become something far more

dangerous.

And with epic number two.

arise alphas part one we're beginning to

see what low told us he was building

the first time he entered the council a

much larger netted dark city universe when

campaign is behind him a new chapter is

taking shape and what began with one young

man and a pair of ancient alpha bands

is about to become something much bigger

than epic itself

So let's head back into Dark City and

find out what happens when one's hero's

origin becomes the beginning of an entire

universe.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the Council of Nerds is now in session.

Lo, welcome back to the Council,

my friend.

Hey, man.

Good to be back, man.

Back for a second time.

Dude, I am happy that you are here.

Earlier this week,

I finally received your package.

It's one I've been highly anticipating

since you were on the first time and

we bat Dart City the first time around.

But if you're good with it,

I'm going to open this box up right

here.

I have not had a chance to open

it yet.

So my reaction is exactly what it is.

Yeah, do it, man.

Do it.

Let's do it.

Oh, let's go.

That's dope.

I like that.

I like these nice little touches like

this.

You know what I'm saying?

You don't have to do this,

but it's just like a really cool,

nice touch.

Nice, cool little thank you card.

These are always dope and I always

appreciate them.

You got to appreciate the people, man.

We appreciate you rocking.

So it's bigger than just a book.

So we just wanted to.

Oh, that's what's up right there.

Double check,

make sure I got your size right, man.

Um, you're off of size,

but it's all good.

What you need is bigger or smaller?

Bigger.

I'm a big boy.

That's the extra large.

Yeah.

I got one.

So I'll just send you another one.

So you can give that to somebody else.

I'll let my daughter rock that one.

She ends up,

doesn't matter what kind of t-shirt it is.

Hey dad, I need this shirt for school.

And she's walking out the door.

I'm like, Hey,

Yeah, sure.

Got some stickers in here.

I like these.

I got like a box where I just

collect all these stickers from all the

Kickstarters that I've supported

throughout the years.

And eventually I told my daughter I want

to get something and just a way to

like display them, you know.

Yeah, that'd be cool.

A Pokemon card holder or something like

that because I've gotten so many dope

stickers that I want to show.

Yeah,

the next ones we do are going to

be crazy.

I got some good art to really have

some fun with.

Hey,

I've been telling everybody out there,

bag and board your shit.

Please.

Yes.

I'm going to turn this over.

Dude, this may be the cover right here.

Yeah.

This one is sexy right here.

I'm not going to lie to nobody.

This one is fire.

That all silver?

Yeah, it's chromed out, man.

Dude, that's the stuff right there.

Yeah.

He got talent.

He got talent, did this, man.

He's a dope artist, traditional artist,

bro.

And I had to...

He sent this to me.

Oh, you can't even.

It's not even showing up in mine.

Yeah, because you got the background on.

Yeah, he sent it to me,

and I had to go get it sent.

This was the cover A, right?

This was the cover A?

Yeah, yeah, that was the initial cover.

Yeah, this was the cover A, too, yeah.

I think, open there, you may have the...

Exclusive edition with Trainwreck in it.

Open to the back page.

There should be another cover in there,

if I believe.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah.

So you got the exclusive and the regular.

Yeah, man.

What happened was we was fighting to get

these chromes done,

and I wanted to get you a chrome.

It took me, I want to say,

eight weeks to get it right,

and we got some bad ones back.

Oh, the posters, though, too.

I think what I'm going to have to

start doing for posters,

because I have so many sitting around,

is just,

get a couple of frames and just like

start rotating them through the frames on

that back wall back there yeah i got

mines up too oh that's dope too yeah

so you got a print so funny thing

yeah yeah that double-sided print that was

supposed to be two separate prints but i

didn't have time to argue with the

printers ah you're good man that looks

that's dope though

I appreciate it, Lo.

That's dope, man.

It came perfect.

I did tell you the bots had a

little dent in it,

but it didn't affect the product overall,

and I'm always happy.

I can deal with a bot's dent as

long as there ain't no damage to the

books.

Yeah, man.

I was at the post office

having a little back and forth with the

postman about how to ship it and how

to code it because I had a few

media pieces going.

And it was just this whole big unnecessary

thing.

And I'm just like, bro, just,

Always.

Yeah.

And I just wanted to make sure I

put tracking on yours.

So when it landed, I was like, oh,

thank God.

And then you told me you had it.

I was happy because I just the back

and forth he and I had,

I just didn't know where these packages

were going to end up.

So I was happy that I'm happy to

see you guys.

I appreciate it, man.

I appreciate you taking the extra couple

of minutes to take care of everything and

get it sent out looking nice to me.

It means the world anytime I get a

nice, fresh Kickstarter in the mail.

And this is the first time,

like I told you before we went live,

that I've ever got to open it with

the creator themselves on the show and

just...

be able to express the love like that.

That's really dope, man.

I appreciate you doing that for me.

Yeah, man.

You looked out for us, man.

You came and supported.

And then, you know,

you gave me a shot,

probably one of my most watched interviews

and clips.

And so you're just as much as part

of that campaign,

a contributor as like a collaborator.

So I just wanted to make sure.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

We're going to do it again, man.

We're going to do the same thing for

this one.

Let's do it.

I don't think you need another

introduction, though.

Let's start with what's changed, man.

So the first time you were here,

we spent a lot of time talking about

what you wanted to build with Dark City

Comics.

And now you've actually released and

fulfilled Epic number one.

What's changed for you in Dark City since

the last time we spoke?

Um...

I get a lot of questions from

up-and-coming creators.

I think they believe that I'm a source

of information.

And I appreciate it.

I tell them what I know,

but it's happening in real time.

This is a constant learning experience.

We've been reached out to more.

More artists come.

Collaborations are coming.

That's pretty dope.

Getting opportunities to write on other

projects.

stuck in your world.

And so being able to come out of

there and then also just helping other

creators,

supporting other people's campaign,

sharing stories, sharing information,

like really being a part of the space

in a real way to show to people,

hey, listen,

I'm trying to make a difference.

I'm trying to be involved positively.

How can I help?

Now, you can't help everybody, but,

you know,

I can help where I can help.

So as far as the epic and just

the notoriety,

Definitely more likes, more views,

more comments.

You can feel that part, you know,

and a lot of that is from,

you know,

platforms like yours giving us that

spotlight and people coming and seeing

that we really like this.

We really love it,

really passionate about it.

And you can see it through the content

and, you know, just...

I'm just having fun, bro.

I love this.

Hey, dude,

you got to be having fun because we

ain't doing it for the money.

That's for sure.

For sure.

This ain't paying one bill.

No,

I love the fact that people are reaching

out to you for advice and it's odd

because I've been at this now for a

couple of years now doing specifically

indie comic books and

I've noticed it more,

like creators reaching out to me,

and some of them,

they're not asking for advice,

but they're getting it anyway.

It's like they've never pitched a comic

book before.

They don't know what a press kit is.

So I've been doing a lot of mentoring

lately as I get those types of emails.

I'm like, hey, you know,

I'm not sure what you're asking me for

here.

Do you want me to take a look

at your book?

I'll do that.

But I really need to know what you're

asking me for.

Do you want to go on the podcast?

You know, do you have a press kit?

Do you have anything else I can look

at?

And they're like, oh, what?

I'm like, a press kit.

This is what a press kit is.

You know?

Yeah,

they see the grays and just assume that

we're wise men.

I think that's what it is.

I'm getting there, man.

I think we know a thing or two.

A couple things.

A thing or two.

Yeah.

You know?

But it's definitely it's it's rewarding,

you know,

when you get those types of emails and

you get to take that extra like five,

ten minutes and just shoot them with this

nice worded email that says, hey,

some helpful advice.

Take it how you want.

This is what I would do.

This is how I would put this together,

you know.

And when they send you back that reply

and go, hey,

thanks for taking that five minutes to

give me that advice and share that with

me because I'm just kind of like throwing

shit at the wall to see what sticks

and nobody's replying back and stuff like

that.

I'm like, dude, no.

I'm like, if you have questions,

you're looking for advice, by all means,

just you have my email.

Just shoot me an email and, you know,

I don't know the answer for it.

I will get you into contact with somebody

who I think knows the answer you're

looking for.

So you got to look at it like

this.

Like we're all ambassadors for the space.

And whenever someone comes to you,

you have to take a step back and

like, OK,

I can be

how they shape their idea of indie comics.

I can be their first impression of indie

comics.

Comics in general, you know,

just from a creative standpoint.

How do I make the best representation for

the space?

You know, I mean,

a lot of times we get caught up

in our things and I try not to

be short.

I try to be as informative as I

can with whatever time I got.

But you always got to think about it

because I've been turned away and turned

off by people's ideas and actions in the

space.

So I try to be conscious about how

I handle inquiries and, you know,

questions and things of that nature.

No, I do it the same way, man.

And it's one of those where if I

can use my knowledge from this side of

the camera,

then I will use that knowledge to help

the people sitting on the opposite side of

me and give them the best advice that

I can.

And I really hope that they're taking that

as advice and not me nitpicking something.

Because I want them to be successful.

I want their project to fund.

And I want great things to happen for

them.

It's a huge space in a big world.

But the more I can do for people,

the more I will within means.

There's going to become a point where I'm

like, yes, I'll do that for you,

but my time is valuable.

Unfortunately,

that equates to if you want this kind

of service,

I do have to charge for that.

Yeah, I mean, you know,

and it's business at the end of the

day.

And, you know, we're in the business.

So people should be able to understand

that, you know, some stuff,

some tidbits you can get, you know,

just by watching.

But, you know, if you want detailed info,

that's going to take time.

I literally created a segment from these

types of interviews called Chairman's Cuts

that are exactly that.

It's Kickstarter advice.

It's...

you know print advice whatever like

getting an editor to read your stuff for

you you know it's just great words of

wisdoms that i cut out of these interviews

that you don't have to go looking for

you can literally go to the podcast

youtube channel look for the playlist that

says chairman's cuts and just freaking hit

play and soak up the knowledge and learn

something exactly

But having gone through this entire

process now with issue one,

what has been the biggest lesson you took

away from producing, crowdfunding,

and fulfilling that book as a whole?

Shipping is...

Oh, my God.

I didn't know.

It's a whole different animal.

Yeah.

It's like, depending on the day,

depends on how much it costs you, too.

How crazy is that?

Yeah.

One extra card,

one extra book will throw you off.

And God forbid they feel it and it

feels like, oh no, this is a package.

This is parcel.

This is, oh my God.

So learning that,

because I'm thinking it's one size fits

all.

In some cases they do that.

Not in my case.

I've been getting my ass whooped at the

post office weekly.

So I start going in there with boxing

gloves on.

But it's one that learning that

Grace has to be given on both sides,

the creator side and even the consumer

side.

I still have people who pledge hundreds of

dollars and I still don't have their

address.

That's wild.

It made me nuts.

I probably got...

I got books sitting because I'm out.

I shipped off well over a hundred fifty

books.

Shirts and whatever.

But I still got another dozen or so

people sitting.

And it's one of these things like...

They don't check your email, you know,

because Kickstarter literally sends you an

email and goes, hey...

It's time to fulfill this.

And it constantly sends it to you.

Like, I messed up on one of mine,

right?

Like, I put in something wrong.

And it shot me an email, like,

the next day going, hey,

you messed that up.

Hop on Kickstarter and fix this.

You know?

So it annoys you until you do it.

So there's somebody out there with, like,

fifteen,

twenty emails from Kickstarter going, hey.

It's probably about twelve somebodies for

me.

But also...

the algorithm that it puts you in,

all of the stickers start showing up,

the cheapest shirts start showing up,

the better printers start showing up.

So as you do it,

The process,

the algorithm that lines up with the

process kind of makes it smoother.

But it's like you got to fall first.

Like this next one is going to be

super smooth because now I have all the

things I need in place.

I had to build everything.

My assembly line.

So it was a little rough.

I still think we did pretty solid.

You know what I mean?

But it was definitely some bumps and

bruises.

But we got to about ninety three percent

fulfilled.

So once my last few people give me

what I need.

That's really good to be at ninety three

percent and you only started shipping.

What, the last couple of weeks?

I've been shipping slowly.

Remember, so that silver issue.

That's right.

You were waiting on, yeah.

That took about six to eight weeks.

Yeah, that's right.

So everybody who had,

and what I was going to do is

just send everything but that and then

send that again.

But I was like, man,

this shipping is so expensive.

I kind of got to wait.

because I'm going to get punched in the

mouth if I go down there and spin

this and then come right back around.

So I'm just glad everybody was patient.

Every update, I put new artwork in.

I gave everybody some sneak previews of

issue five.

I gave away some free stuff just to

let folks know.

And I try to update people

Ever so often,

like I probably got in thirty one,

I probably got thirty three,

thirty four updates just like, hey,

this is what's going on.

That's how you keep the customer coming

back, though, is those updates.

As long as they're seeing those updates,

they can't complain like, hey, guys.

Here's where we're at in this process.

Here's where this is.

Here's where that is.

And you just constantly keep them updated.

And that's all people really want is,

like,

update me and let me know when I'm

getting the book or how close I am

to getting the book.

That's what they want.

And that's how you get people coming back

for issue two, issue three eventually.

Mm-hmm.

But was there anything about the response

to Epic, number one,

that surprised you or influenced what

you're doing now with issue number two?

I think having people support you from all

over the country and then certain other

parts of the world.

I didn't even know

they were watching me from these different

countries.

That's pretty cool.

And it's adding a little bit of pressure,

but I'm okay with it.

It's like, okay,

some parts of the world is watching this

too.

And internationally,

we got books almost in every state.

which is cool too.

To see the UK,

to see some countries in Africa, to see...

A lot of my audience is out of

the UK, Italy,

because I've had creators on from the UK.

I've had creators on from Italy,

from Ireland, and the Philippines.

Philippines, I got a couple from them too.

I didn't even mention the South American

countries that watch the show,

and it's really cool.

China watches the show, man.

So it's always really dope to see the

broad stroke of audience that watches what

you do.

And to me, it's like, oh, dude,

somebody in China watched my shit and

somebody down in Argentina watched my

stuff.

And I'm like, yeah, that's great.

Somebody up the street,

you know what I mean?

And it all matters.

And it just, like,

once you take on this thing, like...

You're kind of always on.

You're always a brand ambassador.

And you always...

Now you got to really watch what you're

doing on these platforms.

You know what I mean?

Because now... You're...

Now consumers are watching.

Yeah.

Like everything I do now is...

Like,

and that's why I have the chairman

persona, right?

Because that separates me from the real

world me.

And, um,

I think that was one of the smartest

things I did when I, you know,

reinvented what the USDN does is like,

I'm going to call myself the chairman and

that's going to be my public face and

persona when I do this podcast,

when I go to comic conventions and stuff

like that.

And, um,

I was like, yeah,

like I'm a real person, you know,

whatever, but that's,

that's a whole separate me, you know,

and I wanted to keep those separated.

So, but yeah, no, you,

you're definitely always on brand on point

when you're, you know, sharing stuff,

liking stuff, you,

you mind your P's and Q's, your Dr.

T's,

you cross your eyes because you don't want

people going, Oh,

but he likes this or that.

And, uh,

I'm like, yeah.

Dude, it is hard.

It's hard.

It's hard, but you just...

And I'm not so much worried about...

naysayers my biggest concern is like who

is watching for influence and insight like

I don't want to let them down who's

watching because they love EPIC like I

don't want to let them down so now

I'm like alright let me make sure I'm

giving them something and they can grow on

and still having fun and the kids out

there you know watching

And I say this isn't this show isn't

for kids,

but I also at the end of the

day realize, like,

I talk about comic books for a living.

It's about people who make comic books

because in here,

we're still that little kid who loves

comic books.

All the time, dude.

And yeah.

So I do find myself being more cautious

about the four letter words that I throw

out and try not to throw out as

many.

But I definitely don't make the show for

kids.

But if they watch because they want to

be a comic book creator,

then by all means,

that's the biggest dub in the world for

me.

Absolutely.

And then be able to impart wisdom,

knowledge, some gems to grow on.

I guess important in this space because

we're ushering in the new crop.

Dude, a hundred percent.

And I think that's one of the most

important things.

And eventually I'm going to have a show

soon.

I would like to do it this year

and it's just going to be like a

thirty for thirty by ESPN where I'm going

to have creators under thirty on the show

and I know there's a lot a lot

of them out there and they're all putting

out bangers dude and we got some cool

stuff happening in this space it really is

and I love to see it like I've

had a kid on here I call him

a kid he's a college graduate

But I've had him on several times,

and every time I hear the passion in

that dude's voice when he talks about

creating a comic book,

that shit's infectious.

Yeah, dude.

That kind of stuff is why you're like,

that's why I do what I do right

there.

That's what we do it for, man.

People think it's about glory and it's

about the funds and all that.

That ego stroke.

There's nothing like taking that finished

book and cracking it open and seeing the

results of your hard work, your blood,

sweat, and tears, your consistency.

You know what I mean?

And so that's a whole other feeling.

Yeah, it's one of those things where, A,

we're not in this for money because we

ain't making none of that.

Not a dime.

And B,

if you walk in stroking a big ego,

oh,

you about to get that shit checked real

hard, real fast.

A rude awakening.

Because we're just talking comic book

spear.

We're not even talking about indie comics.

I'm just like,

they will check you and they will check

you hard.

Fast.

So when we say stay humble in this

business, when you get your success,

trust us.

Stay humble.

Yeah, absolutely.

Stay busy, though, and stay working.

Yeah, exactly.

But let's talk about the reason we're

here, man.

Arise Alpha's part one.

Where does Chris Taborn's story pick up

after the events of issue number one?

As much as you were willing to tell

us,

I don't want you to just feed us

the whole story, man.

Just what are we looking at?

Now he has his power.

He don't know what's going on.

And as he's trying to figure out,

trying to make sense of what just

happened.

Mm-hmm.

he encounters a whole nother player in

this universe.

And so now he's trying to wrestle with,

okay, why am I flying?

Why is this here?

What's going on?

I wanted it to feel like the next

day or right after the fight.

Once that's over, because...

it's a transformation process that's

happening.

Almost like a metamorphosis is happening.

So some of it's him and some of

it's the power.

And so as he's going,

trying to get back home,

you see bits and pieces that's him and

you see bits and pieces that's the power

and how it factors in the current world.

So you sent me the press read

It contains some of the story.

I think it was two pages of the

story, some art, some of the coloring.

And I love that, dude.

You have a really dope press kit.

Appreciate it.

No, dude,

some of the stuff happening in that comic,

it feels real time from where it pits

up after issue one.

And you see other people going through

their metamorphosis as well.

And I was like, dude, this is sick.

I wanted to, and the second go round,

I really wanted to expand on

what's happening with everybody else,

why it's happening with him.

Because he's getting his thing and he's

figuring it out and he's the epicenter of

everything.

But it's still somebody over here that

can't stop setting shit on fire.

It's somebody over here who can't hold

their form together.

They're doing this to someone over here

exploding.

And I wanted to kind of show that

nobody's waiting for him to show up.

It's not a rule.

It's happening right now.

There's no rhyme or reason.

It is going down.

Kids are getting powers.

It is what it is.

It was dope.

The moment I got it,

I cracked it open.

Well, I opened it on the computer.

Number two isn't finished yet, guys.

It'll be done this month, though.

I started doing my scroll through it and

I was just like, the alloy chick,

I'm not going to lie,

Probably one of my favorite side

characters.

I don't know what the plan is with

her.

She's badass, dude.

Badass potential right there.

Yeah, I wanted to...

When I first thought of her...

I was like,

imagine if She-Hulk had silver surface

skin.

That would be freaking badass.

Dude,

that's exactly what I was thinking too.

I was like, imagine if,

but I didn't want to make her like

Hulk big.

I wanted her to still be feminine.

Feminine, yeah.

sex appeal to her, but not be like,

you know,

but to be able to knock your ass

clear across the city if she needed to.

And that's going to be what you get

from her.

Like, you know,

and it's happening to her as we speak.

When you flip the page,

you see what she's going through in real

time.

Like, she's on the phone.

saving a little kid.

And I'm just like... And that's mom stuff.

You got to remember how many times your

mom stopped you from bumping your head or

knocking some stuff over.

Instinctively, just be like, oh.

You know, I wanted to be like, oh,

she, you know, it's heroism,

but she's also a mom.

So that's the mom factor.

Like my mom be on the phone,

she cooking,

she talking and something to fall,

she'll catch it.

Yeah, she get that spotty sense.

Yeah, you know,

so I wanted to give it that vibe.

And still make it pretty cool.

No, you nailed that one.

Like,

I sit there and I pause on that

one.

I was like,

I hope he's doing something with this

character.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm like, Chris's character, cool as fuck.

Not going to lie to nobody.

But the moment I seen her,

I was like,

that's so much potential right there.

Yeah, yeah.

And the cool thing is, as...

As each issue shows up,

we will try to add new people.

So by the time we get to that

first twelve, you'll have Alpha Block,

which is my team.

And then you'll have some additional

characters.

Then you have villains and it'll just open

up.

And then we got...

So in this first arc, though, you get...

Alloy and I feel like you get Tork

and I feel like Maybe Lotto I know

there was another teaser Of one toward the

end of the press kit

Yeah, so you'll get, in this book,

you'll get her and a couple villains.

And then issue three, we get a fight.

We get a fight.

We get a real fight.

That's going to be so much fun to

show you guys.

I'm old school.

I know caping tights, but I like, hey,

good guy, bad guy,

you punch him in the face.

Let's get it.

I'm one of those.

I like action and good story,

but I like action.

I'm right there with you on that one.

So Chris has activated the alpha bands.

And as we were just discussing,

something much bigger than simply giving

him his powers has reawakened the alpha

strand now.

What is the alpha strand exactly for

everybody out there?

Why has Chris unknowingly unleashed upon

the world?

So what it is,

is a dormant strand of DNA that...

evolves you so back in when it first

happened the aliens come and what they did

was speed up the humans they came in

contact with so they can help build a

ship help them with technology and they

controlled it with the bands but what

happened was our dna was a little more

complex than they expected so instead of

just elevating our height our

consciousness and intelligence we got

ability

So in essence, the alpha bands were used.

They were left with the Pharaoh because we

had good alphas and bad alphas.

And he had to do battle and he

had to pull those powers back.

And so when you got the alpha band,

it's full of cosmic energy and also power

signatures.

So when he reactivates it,

that surge goes right back into the

planet.

Yeah.

So everybody who had that dormant gene,

all of the descendants who had that

dormant gene, any kind,

all over the world.

And this is thousands of years ago.

You know how DNA is, how it moves.

If you had the slightest bit of it

in you, you're on.

Yeah.

And it's immediately,

and it's all over the world.

And we know we've all intermingled now,

so there is not a pure fucking human

in this world.

And that's what I'm saying.

That's what makes it cool.

Like, you can't decide or visually see,

oh, he's going to be,

she's going to be.

Yeah.

It is happening randomly because for

thousands of years, we've traveled,

we've intermingled.

Yeah.

You know, so...

now the strand is awakened,

the powers are activated,

and they're drawn to the source.

And so they come in.

So good or bad,

he got to deal with them.

And

It set off a beacon into space.

So now we're going to be done with

aliens coming too.

Yes.

It's going to be a fast-paced mess.

I love a nice chaos-filled,

controlled chaos-filled story.

It is a controlled chaos-filled story.

But what he has is probably one of

three of the most powerful artifacts in my

universe.

So the aliens who have the other one

is coming to get that one.

So any one can be any one.

Any two can be any one.

And if you have all three,

you're a god, pretty much.

So they're coming to get his.

And so you'll see.

It's pretty cool, man.

It's a lot going on, but

When it's on paper,

it's going to make so much sense and

it's going to look so dope.

So how does Chris deal with realizing that

his transformation wasn't an isolated

event and now that he is now a

part of something much larger?

And we see that a little bit.

Well,

I see a little bit of that because

I got the press release and the press

review of it.

But how do you see him dealing with

this?

I think you got to look at it

from a kid who never wanted it to

begin with.

I don't think he'll fully understand that

it's all his fault because so much stuff

is happening to him.

He won't have time to sit down and

absorb and digest all what's happening.

not for the first run.

Like, it'll never be, oh,

all of this is my fault.

Because he's always on it.

And then when he's epic,

he's not completely, you know, his self.

Like, he's on autopilot.

So he's kind of along for the ride.

I think once he realizes, oh, shit,

this is me, by that time,

he's so far deep into it,

you just got to deal with it as

it stands.

In the moment, yeah.

Yeah, we're in it now.

It's not... You can't prepare...

For something that you never knew you had

to prepare for.

No one knew this was coming.

And he didn't ask for it to happen

to him.

So as they show up, as they,

you know, they'll...

He's so stoic as epic,

the story will be pushed forward.

Through the other alpha humans.

Dealing with their powers.

And dealing with the city.

As it happens to them.

So you'll see more Aloy.

You'll see Tork.

You'll see Lado.

You'll see Noble.

You'll see how they're dealing with it in

real time.

Because once he's epic.

He's on.

Where's the evil?

Let's destroy it.

But the people around him.

Are far more conscious of their powers and

abilities.

He's just a conduit.

For cosmic energy.

He's cosmic energy incarnate.

With a specific director.

Yeah.

You know, he's just a vessel,

so to speak.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is dope, man.

And it's so good.

I appreciate it.

I can't wait to sit down and read

the whole story.

I did read the press kit, of course,

for the first one.

I read the press kit for the second

one.

And it's one of those where you get

a press kit that's really, really good.

And you realize you now have to wait

a few months before you actually see the

whole book, you know?

Yeah.

And that's the biggest,

that's another hurdle with Kickstarter.

Even though you still got to wait for

things to get fixed.

Cool thing this time,

I found the local printer.

And so that'll probably take weeks off of

my time.

Nice.

And I don't have to pay shipping fees.

I can go drive, pick my stuff up.

That's a whole other thing.

And you're an Arizona guy, right?

Yeah, and honestly,

we got about four printers out here that

do major stuff,

but this new one we stumbled upon when

Comics Wellspring collapsed.

And I was using Mixum.

Those books, Mixum,

and I think the Chrome is...

Kablam.

Okay, yeah.

I know Kablam's business just picked up

big.

Yeah, but they're solid and they deliver.

You know what I mean?

And they're only a few cents more.

Not enough to complain about.

Especially if you got orders to get off

and you can do POD.

So if you get tight and you gotta

send five or six books,

you can do that.

You know what I mean?

It helps when you're in a jam, but...

Our first run was Comics World Spring.

This first run was Mixum and Kablam.

And y'all got...

So I don't know how many people out

there enjoy Vampirella.

Not Vampirella, I'm sorry.

But Coffin Comics.

Yeah, Coffin is out here.

Yeah,

it's just right up the road from you,

too.

And the whole facility is there.

They print out of it.

They do everything out of it.

One-stop shop, dude.

Yeah.

I think that was one of the coolest

things they did is go pure independent and

do everything themselves.

They even built their own Kickstarter

within their website.

I'm on their site once a week just

looking at how they do it.

I look at a few sites,

but I definitely look at that.

One of my mentors said, hey, you know,

Coffin Comics is out here and they do

this, this and this.

And we were supposed to go meet with

him and we may sometime in the future.

But he's such a good dude.

Yeah.

And that's what he said.

I did great people.

But I just I'm just looking at it.

I mean, I'm like, OK,

how do I do this?

Yeah, dude,

I think that's all of our dreams.

But I also keep it in the back

of my mind, like,

he's had this character since she was

born.

He's raised her up.

So when he noticed what the market was

about to do,

he predicted that Penguin was going to do

what happened to him.

Was it Penguin?

The company that went bust.

Diamond.

Diamond.

Yeah, Diamond.

He, he,

he's seen the writing on the law and

he pulled all his stuff back.

And it was like,

we're going to do it internally to

ourselves.

We're going to produce what needs to be

produced and we're going to run it that

way.

It is, it is, it is.

It's inspiring.

It really is.

I'm in awe and I'm like, damn,

they did all of this.

And it's all in-house.

And something to be said,

when you can build your own infrastructure

and really run it and be the boss

of it like you want,

can't nobody tell you nothing.

I watched Ripperverse and they got a

similar business model where they do most

of the things in-house.

I don't know if they outsource their

printing, but I know just...

creating and how they fund everything is

right there one stop shop and it's

something to be said about somebody who

has that mindset that hey you know what

no matter what we're going to do it

our own the people love us and that's

all we need and we'll go from there

so I it's commendable and I definitely I

definitely like what I'm trying to

remember his name is it Polito yeah Brian

Polito yeah yeah

Shout out to him, man.

He's seen the writing on the wall and

was like,

I'm just going to do it all myself

in-house.

I have the facility now and we're just

going to do it ourselves.

I think he set a new standard for

all indie creators to want to do that.

Having that foresight.

Yeah.

And that's how you know he had his

hand on the pulse of the space,

of the industry.

Like he saw it coming and he made

it.

Because you got to remember,

for a long time,

you couldn't go into a shop if you

didn't go through diamond.

Yeah.

I was turned away my first run because

I didn't have a diamond account or

whatever they sent me as form to fill

out.

I'm like, dude, I'm not doing that.

I'm up the street.

I live right here.

Let me put these ten books down.

you know?

But it was Diamond.

They were Death Row Records.

I mean, they had it.

It's cool now because you're seeing like

Philbo Press doing a lot of big things

in the indie space.

And then you now have the Indie Comic

Alliance who are trying to get indie

comics into more

local comic shops, excuse me,

around the world.

And that's commendable.

And the moment that came across my feet,

I immediately messaged them.

It was like, hey, dude, I want in.

What can I do to help this?

And so they're going to be on the

podcast later this month to talk about his

new Kickstarter.

And I really want to have a great

conversation about the Indie Comic

Alliance and what they're doing for Indie

Comics.

So another thing that's happening is Indie

direct-to-consumers booming through TikTok

shops and whatnot.

If I'm saying it right,

you're seeing people reach right out to

the creators and they don't have to...

I bought Super Predator directly from R.J.

Barnes.

One of the things I want to do

eventually,

I'm probably going to set it for first

quarter of twenty twenty seven.

So starting January twenty twenty seven is

after I have a creator own.

If they have inventory,

I then want to go live with them

on whatnot and sell some books with them.

Oh, that's dope.

I think that's just the next evolution of

this.

Why not take the two audiences from the

podcast and the creator, like, hey,

if you want books,

we're going to go live on whatnot,

and we're going to sell you some of

his books.

Right now.

Yeah, I think it's cool,

and I think having the ability...

What it does is show you, though,

as a brand owner,

what your market is, what your demo is,

what your reach is.

That's usable data that you can't get.

Even though I go through Kablam sometime,

they won't give me a list of who's

buying.

I've logged on there and had hundreds of

dollars because I forget about it that I

have the old books there.

I'll log in, two hundred, one seventy,

a little small eighty,

I can't get none of that feedback,

none of these people,

unless they find another way to reach me.

And so we talking about,

and they buying them,

that's about seventy, eighty books,

a hundred something books.

You know what I mean?

Of people that I can't even reach back

out to and thank.

I can't even say, hey, I appreciate you.

Here's a sample of this.

So I think having those shops in place

and having a direct consumer makes you

control, not even control,

but makes you far more aware of who's

really tuned in.

It really does, yeah.

And that's so much usable data for indie

creators in this space.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

and that's all stuff that I can then

download and send to them.

Like, hey, well,

I'm going to have to download it and

send it to them anyway because they have

to ship the books out.

Right.

But I mean, of course, you know,

it being what not, you know,

everybody has to take their piece of the

pie.

So I don't know how that's going to

work from a dollar and cents perspective

yet.

I haven't done the research on that part,

but I do know it is possible for

me to do that.

It's just then how to do that.

Right.

That's the biggest thing I'm working on.

I'll be down to demo it with you.

I think once I get my first arc

done, which will probably be Shuggs.

October, I'll have probably three.

Yeah, I'll be down to demo it.

Yeah, I would love to.

Even if it's just for data collection to

see what works and what don't.

I'm down to demo it, dude.

I'm always, I mean,

we can't grow if we don't try nothing,

you know.

Exactly.

And it's one of those things I want

to do to see if it's a proof

of concept that we can actually do it.

And we can both get a piece of

that pie, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

No problem with me at all.

But so last time you were here,

building a larger dark city universe was

still largely something we were talking

about with the rise.

Alphas were actually starting to now see

it.

How do you take one character like Epic?

and begin building now an entire connected

universe around him.

And I've gotten to see it,

so I know it is happening and it

is beautiful.

I think by not really making it about

him.

Yeah, that was a big thing.

You have to take him out of it

because not everything is happening

specifically to him.

And

Not every reader is going to be able

to connect to a kid with cosmic powers

who is damn near unbeatable.

Yeah.

But you can connect with...

the guy who works at the train station

or the bus driver or the student,

you can connect more with these regular

people as they go through these things.

You know, the mom, the family man,

even the bad guys, the degenerate gambler.

You can probably connect more.

You'll find more in common as regular,

not saying he wasn't regular.

Yeah, I mean,

he was just a college student, you know?

Yeah, you know,

but as it's happening to the world,

as a reader,

you can find where you are in the

world and connect to a character that's in

somewhere similar.

I'm like, damn, I can get him.

I can see why maybe a single dad

or a struggling worker or a guy who

can't hold a job may take his powers

and do something a little less than legal

to help make ends meet.

Or I can see a guy who's been

a jerk his whole life,

and now he got powers.

He really want to press the issue and

go out in the street.

You know what I mean?

You can see these things,

and you can see him get whooped,

but

now you got different perspective.

It's not just this one guy and what's

happening to him.

And it's one of those,

it's a comic book thing, right?

You have to take some time,

develop other characters and really let

the story start feeling itself out.

It can't just be me.

Yeah.

You want to focus on the main character

in you.

There are scenes with the main character

that I've seen in the press release for

issue number two.

However,

You still have to expand the story.

You have to let the world wake up

and there's other things going on and you

have to do character development.

You have to.

Build a universe, literally,

and the only way to do that is,

like,

you can't focus on the main character.

Right.

Or twenty-two or twenty-six pages,

you know?

Yeah, I wanted to, it's happening random,

so I wanted the story to have some

randomness to it.

I want you to turn the page and

be somewhere totally different because

that's what's happening.

Somebody somewhere totally different.

as melting through something or burning

through something or just flying.

You know, all of this stuff is happening.

So I wanted to be able to flip

the page and be like, oh shit,

what are we doing right now?

Did he just suplex us?

That's the entire vibe of the presser that

you sent.

And the one soldier who was like,

Yeah.

The dust, you know,

like he's like the sandman, you know?

Yeah, the sand race.

So here's the funny part.

That is a backer who paid to have

themselves in the book.

And so what happened was that is from

the first run.

I just expanded the lore because I

appreciated what he, you know, he paid.

Yeah.

And I was like, oh, I know what.

I know what, dude.

I'll make you a character.

I'll make you a villain.

Because at first, you know,

they just pay to be background.

I said, nah,

that'd be cool to make him.

I said,

now you're going to get your ass whooped.

As long as you're cool with that.

As long as you're cool with getting his

weapon, come on in.

And he loved it.

He sent it in.

You know, we got him.

I got him posters of everything.

Yeah.

So, you know,

he can see himself in his book.

So I just.

That's really cool.

And I love that kind of stuff.

I know when I had the guys from

Collision Force on like last month.

like a guy literally paid like this

unfathomable sum of money to be the

president.

You know,

it's so dope to see that kind of

stuff though.

And like,

if you want to be in a comic

book and you want to be a comic

book character that you can do that

through indie comics,

DC ain't going to do that shit for

you.

Marvel ain't going to do that for you.

You can reach out and say, Hey,

what is it going to take?

Yeah.

And, like, Frank,

he's a good friend of mine, his coworker.

I didn't know he was going to play

as Adam Allen.

I didn't even know he had him.

Man, I wanted to be in it.

I said, all right.

I said...

if you don't mind getting your answer.

You know,

as long as you're cool with getting this

work, but it's cool.

But I would have never even known he

thought about being in a book had I

not had a book.

I would have never even know.

Who knows what people still hold on to.

Like, man,

it's a dream to be in a comic

book.

Yeah, dude.

You know, that's pretty cool.

It's wild.

Like,

a guy that lives up the road from

me

was just recently on the podcast.

Right up the street.

Just right up the street.

Like, fifteen, twenty minutes, man.

Like, a short car ride.

What city in Virginia are you in?

We are in Yorktown, like Hampton,

the Hampton Roads area.

Hampton.

So I'm from PG County.

Was that an hour away from you?

I think so, yeah.

So you got six, fifteen comics out there.

And Advent is out there.

Emmetropia is out there.

Sean White is out there.

Man, you got, I mean,

you got some hitters.

You got some hitters on your side.

From Pennsylvania down to...

south florida man yeah i'm pretty sure

there's some higher man there's like some

like since i love malcolm that's my dude

right there uh i just sent him some

books today bobby campbell who does the

tells of the illuminatus he's just up the

road in um pittsburgh and um and i

know he's going to be at small press

expo this year so that's really cool that

i'm going to

get to meet some of these creators this

year between Baltimore and Small Press

Expo.

And I'm excited, dude.

I'm so excited to finally meet some

people,

shake some people's hands that have been

on the show,

and just thank them in person for giving

me a chance.

Because every interview I do is a new

tryout for me.

This is the second time of your own,

but I treat it like it's your first

time on.

Because I'm trying out for the third.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, but you know,

I think what you do and what platforms

like yours do that's similar and

different, you guys give us a voice one.

And you guys give people a way to

reach us and to know that we exist

outside of our normal reach.

Like I'm going to get on IG, Facebook,

TikTok, X. I get on Snap.

I get on Rumble.

I get on Fanbase.

I got a damn sub stack.

I got a Reddit.

I'm on all of that, right?

Yeah.

But I'm not reaching everybody.

It's some people who come to you just

to see what you're doing.

It's wild to me.

It still blows my mind that I don't

want to call it influence because I don't

see it that way.

But it is influence, but it's also...

an avenue you know i see it as

an avenue for creators and prospective

buyers you know putting them in front of

each other so to speak to discover this

new creator to discover this new book and

um the way i lay everything out from

the way i do my social media to

the way i build the

the description of this video right here.

Like all they literally have to do is

click the description and all your

information is right there.

The Kickstarter campaign,

your social medias,

everything is like right there for people.

Like if they love what you're doing,

like if they see like, Oh,

Epic is dope as hell.

How do I get ahold of them?

Like, Oh, this guy just interviewed him.

Let me go check his page.

And it's like two birds,

one stone always because I'm not going to

make new fans unless the,

the creators bring their fans with them,

you know what I'm saying?

Cause it's hard for us because we don't

have just one lane of this, you know,

our lane is your lane when you come

on the show, so to speak.

So it's like,

we're sharing the road side by side and

vice versa.

Yeah.

You know, so it is cool.

And I love this.

It's just such a cool atmosphere to be

in with people, you know, and like,

there's some good ones and bad ones out

there.

Yeah.

Um,

I'm not going to shit talk to any

of them.

I still appreciate what they do and

putting new eyes on creators and indie

comics.

But it's fun, man.

I love being part of this world.

Yeah, I wouldn't change it,

but it's probably the most fun I've had

as a creator.

Just creating, period.

I mean, I wrote my first book.

I was probably in fifth or sixth grade.

But this is fun.

I always come back to comics.

I always come no matter what I do,

man.

And I think...

These platforms,

especially right now in this current

climate,

when representation is being talked about,

Indieverse mainstream is being talked

about,

really being able to see what's out there,

the different types of variety that's out

there,

and not having to go dig and shovel

through the underground.

We put it in your face.

It's right in the algorithm.

It's right in the search bar.

I like to look at the USDN as

a repository of your next favorite

creator.

And if you are a creator and you're

just getting started in this game,

I like to see USDN as a learning

space for you.

Because I take the time after every single

interview to pull up that transcript and

find those nuggets of information that

could teach or help somebody that's just

getting started.

And I cut those out for people.

You don't have to go looking.

It's all right there.

Yeah,

what you sent me was the best alley-oop.

I mean,

it's still some stuff I can still drop

right now today.

Here's what's crazy.

I just started doing YouTube.

I have never circulated outside of what

has been shared by the creators.

I bet I have close to a thousand

videos.

unreleased clips like shorts let them go

man let them fly yeah so when the

people want let them fly so i mean

i can literally just go in right now

and just schedule every single short i

have on hand and never create another

piece of content if i didn't want to

and i would probably if i released like

one a day for the next you know

three years three years and that's all i

would have to do

Yeah.

But you put in the work.

Yeah, but you put in the work.

You know, when you put in the work,

you get those results.

You get the ability to have content

stacked because you create content.

Yeah.

Usable content.

And that's hard to get.

Like, I'm a content creator first,

you know, and.

It's weird when I say that out loud

because I don't really... Yes,

it is what I do.

It is my hobby of mine because I

don't get paid for it.

To me,

I'm just an extension of that creator I'm

talking to.

I'm bringing this to people that may not

see it otherwise and

And to have a platform to stand on

to do that,

it's fulfilling at the end of the day.

But you've said we're going to see new

heroes, villains, organizations,

conflicts.

And if you are curious about any of

those,

we do go into some details on those

in his first appearance here.

So if you want to go watch that

first appearance where Lo is on the

podcast,

you can go watch that and see what

we're talking about there.

But how much of this universe have you

already mapped out and how far ahead have

you actually written out?

Epic is... Now that I redid everything...

I'm going to do the next eight.

So we got issue one, issue two,

issue three.

Issue four is Lotto's Home.

Then we're going to offshoot Lotto one,

Lotto two, Lotto three.

Then we're going to jump back to issue

five.

I'm going to drop teasers for Ketchum and

then get back.

So we have the mainline epic.

And then my second title will be Lotto.

And then I have something that's more

street vibe that's called Catch Him.

And it's just like, it shows what happens

To the gangs and, like,

the street-level stuff as the powers hit.

Like, what's happening on this level?

Like, I like that a lot.

Like, the wire meets supercell.

You know what I mean?

Like, you're just out on the block,

and now somebody can turn into bricks.

And now somebody can lift and toss tanks.

This wasn't like this yesterday.

And so... And then I got...

Evolutionary Muscle,

which is going to be dope.

I can't spoil that.

And then... I think that's it.

Yeah, I can... And Alpha Block.

So Alpha Block will be once they team

up.

And then Shadow Strike,

which is more my like... Like magic...

Yeah, yeah.

Style, like, off into that.

The Justice League dark,

where it's like the magic.

Yeah,

so it shows how these powers have elevated

magic in this space.

How they boosted, you know,

and there's a crew of people who totally

outside of what's going on, who care,

who actually help something that's going

on.

So, like I said,

once I'm able to sit back and, like,

two issues, two years of epic is written.

straight up.

Like I can just drop books every day,

every month for next two,

two and a half, three years.

Yeah.

And I'm still writing every day.

Yeah.

Still writing every day,

still crafting stories and outlines and

new characters.

So you don't want to get stale.

So,

and then I'm putting my eyes on other

projects that aren't mine just to keep my

mind fresh and to collaborate with

different energies and see, okay,

this is how they approach stories.

Mm-hmm.

And that's one of those things, too.

I always enjoy talking about the

differences of how people create stories.

They're all very different,

but they're also very similar in their own

unique ways.

So it's always cool to me to be

able to...

to see all these different points of views

and how different people do different

things,

but it all leads to like this amazing.

It's a, it's,

It's funny how the brain works.

I had an idea that was so strong.

I had to pull over and dictate this

idea.

I couldn't think of nothing else.

I had to pull over.

What I thought was it was going to

be a quick record.

Okay, cool.

This is the idea.

This is the art.

I ended up going through the art,

the outline.

I'm sitting in the car just talking to

my phone as it's jotting these notes down.

And I was like, damn.

What I thought was going to be a

quick two-minute pullover.

I've been sitting there for thirty

minutes.

Yeah.

And it just happened when ideas take a

hold of you, you know,

you just along for the ride.

So on this book,

you have a larger creative team this time

around.

Walk us through who has helped them bring

Arise Alphas to life and kind of like

what they're bringing to the book.

So I got Diogo Macedo.

I hope I'm right.

He did Trainwreck Part One in the last.

And so he's at the helm now,

and I have Rashard, who is coloring.

I'm lettering, but I may hand that off.

Now,

I did enlist different cover artists and

poster artists because I got Kanan White

on the cover.

He did a cover for me for my

last run that I wasn't able to use,

and I had to get another one.

I just feel like Kanan is amazing, dude.

He is an amazing artist.

And then I got...

I met Anthony Piper from Trill League fame

at EB Con in February.

And I talked to him.

I knew he was busy.

I said, listen, bro.

I've been wanting to cover some work from

you since Trill League.

And then when I saw him and RJ

do Super Predator, I was like, oh,

I got to get...

I don't care what it is.

You got to give me something.

And...

he put something nice together for me.

I still haven't revealed it, I think.

I think people will love it, man.

But my goal is,

now that I'm seeing what the space is,

variance and all that,

I want to be able to give you

a good solid book.

Even if you only get this book,

this cover is dope.

But if you want an elevated experience,

yeah,

I'll throw a few more pages and I'll

add your cover.

If you want something more than that,

you know, I understand that.

you know, variety.

Not going too crazy far out of the

spectrum, but, you know,

having that first one,

having these two variants and then having

that exclusive edition cover,

I think is important, you know?

I thought, like,

even on the first Kickstarter,

Like,

it was a lot of stuff for people

to pick from,

but I still didn't think you went

overboard on any of it, you know?

Yeah,

I had to reel myself in because my

son is collecting cards now,

and so he wants to add cards.

Was he collecting Pokemon?

yeah and then he has me at these

damn card places negotiating uh i don't

know what i'm talking about yeah i don't

know my daughter does all that i have

no idea he now he wants to get

his cards graded because it's the s i

have no idea but he wants to do

that so i may um do that for

him uh we got some stickers crumbs art

made me a dope sticker that i'm gonna

add um

And we just, you know,

I just want to,

I want it to be fun and an

experience.

So you asking people to part ways with

their dollars and we asking them to invest

in a dream.

And so I want to make sure that

you're getting your money's worth and that

you feel like you're a part of what's

going on.

No, and you're, I mean, they seen it,

right?

Yeah, I mean, so far, you know,

I literally showed it to him.

What's in the box, man?

And it is phenomenal.

Well packaged,

great stuff that I wasn't expecting to be

in there or I probably expected it and

then forgot it was going to be in

there to be fair to everybody because I

don't keep up.

you know i just know i'm like okay

i know this is coming i got the

notification and i'm like i'm hyped right

i'm like i know this is gonna come

i'm finally gonna get my hands on it

so you got some extras in yours you

got we definitely i definitely threw some

extras in there no i i appreciate it

and you know it means the world to

me that creators think of me like that

and they they throw a couple extra things

in the box for me means the world

to me and it means the world that

i get to show it to everybody else

too you know like

So I appreciate it greatly, but yeah,

another indie creator out there watching

possibly right now, you know,

they're thinking about crowdfunding their

own comic.

What's the one thing you understand about

being ready for Kickstarter now that you

didn't quite understand before Epic number

one?

I think fulfillment, having a plan.

I had an idea where I was going

to go with these books and who's going

to fulfill,

but really having a timeline of,

Because I thought I had, I was like,

this makes sense.

I can get this done in a couple

months.

But making sure that people you reach out

to can fulfill what you're doing.

Because we had Comics Wellspring.

And you see what happened with them.

Yeah.

And that one was out of left field

to me.

Because I did not, like,

I know people who were in the process

of having stuff printed.

with them and then all of a sudden

they're like hey we're closing the doors

so once it seemed like they went under

new management or something real quick and

then it went you know yeah and also

if you're doing apparel because i did two

things i ordered some stuff and then i

ended up pressing some stuff myself and um

just just really trying to streamline

streamline your process i wouldn't get too

crazy your first run books posters cards

stickers

Maybe a t-shirt.

Keep it simple.

Kiss it.

You know, as you,

as you grow and expand,

let the people tell you what they want.

Yeah.

Look at other campaigns and see what works

well for other people.

Like, okay.

Cause I seen a guy do figurines.

I think they were awesome.

I like the coins.

I know a lot of people have been

doing the coins.

Yeah, those are dope too, but I mean,

you got to buy in such bulk.

Yeah.

I think the minimum is like a hundred

or something like that too on some of

those.

I don't have the guarantee.

You got to have a guarantee on your

investment.

Like I know,

so I know if we do,

if we go by the numbers,

I know I'm around one fifty.

My goal is to double that.

So if I get three hundred,

I'm preparing for six hundred.

Yeah.

So if we prepare for six,

because we get late pledges,

we get people who inbox.

I don't want to tell nobody.

No,

I haven't turned anybody away who wanted a

book.

I even had a guy.

I appreciate it.

He was like,

I'm going to give you half now,

half later.

I'm like, all right, whatever it takes,

brother.

And I sent it right out, you know,

but I want to have overages.

So I'm always preparing for more,

but I'm always prepared to handle what we

got.

That's solid advice, dude.

You know, like, so I would say,

look at your numbers.

Be honest with yourself.

Yeah, you know, know your crowd.

Like, don't overshoot.

Don't go too crazy.

You know.

At the end of the day, though,

you want to have inventory on hand because

farmers markets, libraries, Comic-Cons,

you know,

you want to have inventory on hand for

people.

Yeah, you want to be able to like,

hey, no, I got inventory.

What do you want?

Oh, you want that color?

I got a presentation.

I was pressing up shirts.

And the manager of the company told the

other guys, like, hey,

he makes comic books.

And dude, like, for real?

Man,

I got about four or five coworkers and

engineers.

They love this stuff.

Man, I haul ass to the car.

I have four books.

Yeah.

So now I'm going to go there.

They want to do like a little

presentation.

I'm going to just bring books and we

can talk shop.

And it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't

had anything on hand.

I just, I said,

let me keep a few books in the

car and I just keep a few books.

Yeah.

No, dude, that's smart.

That's smart because you never know.

You never know what's going to happen.

So the Kickstarter is launching September,

right?

Yeah, the twenty first.

Twenty first.

So we're ahead of the game.

And but I love this kind of stuff

because we get to get the word out

there early,

get to get the word out there before

it's, you know,

we're keeping it fresh up until the

September twenty first.

But for somebody who backed issue one,

what are they getting this time that's

going to make Epic number two feel even

bigger?

I think now that the foundation has been

laid, you're getting more action.

I went and got...

Some more seasoned artists.

That's going to add some more depth to

the artwork.

We're adding some more rewards.

You're going to get some goodies that I'm

going to just throw in there.

We're going to just have some fun and

really take care of the people.

I love that.

The stickers aren't really a part.

The cards aren't a part.

The prints aren't.

You know what I mean?

So I like throwing goodies in there.

But story-wise,

you're going to get to take this ride

in real time,

and you'll be just as surprised as Chris

is as he's unfolding these things.

Like, he doesn't see anything coming.

So I want to keep riding it like...

we don't see it coming.

When you turn that page and somebody's

exploding, you didn't see that coming.

So I wanted to still,

I want to have that level of

unpredictability that keeps people drawn

in.

And then if they decide to come in

with us again,

Up the ante.

Whatever you got the first time,

let's take it to that next level.

Book quality.

And I feel like the books were solid

quality.

I got some graded,

so I'll have those back.

I'll probably add those.

But I'm in comic book stores and I'm

feeling these books.

That's dope to know that you're in comic

book stores.

You have graded books.

And did you go CGC or CBCS?

CGC.

I got CGC.

Yeah, we got CGC.

Pull some nine eights, nine nines.

I'm hoping, you know, I'm hoping.

So you just sent them.

Yeah, well,

so he has a batch coming back,

I think, next week.

So I sent.

Yeah, and I want to send,

I haven't even sent a chrome issue.

I was waiting to see what the other

one would grade to see how happy or

sad I would be.

Foils are a finicky beast.

When you send a foil in like the

silver one there,

you want to make sure they clean it

first.

So do a clean and press and a

grade.

Okay.

That way it gets the fingerprints off

because foils will hold fingerprints.

Now,

if you want to clean yourself beforehand,

glove up and get, you know,

those makeup remover pads.

Okay.

I wouldn't use microfiber, but like...

Okay, the makeup remover.

Okay.

Those little round pads, you know,

and just gently go over that cover.

until you get those smudges and those

fingerprints off.

You don't want to press onto it.

Just lightly wipe them away.

Okay.

Yeah.

And then if you want to, after that,

you can just do a real gentle of

a microfiber and then just put it back

into the bag and board.

And what I like to use are these.

They're Chroma Labels.

And this is how I sell all my

bag and board at comics.

Because even if this gets stuck to the

comic, it's not going to pull it apart.

It's not going to rip.

But they're like twenty five bucks for a

thousand or something like that.

OK, I need those.

You know, Amazon, I do the one inch,

but they have them up to like three

inch sizes.

I just like the one inch because it

just all I wanted to do is hold

that.

Yeah.

When you flip it down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because you want to send them in bagged

and boarded.

Absolutely.

But before we close this out, man,

give us the pitch.

Why should somebody hit that pre-launch

page right now and follow epic number two,

Arise Alphas, part number one?

So I would say if you are into

superhero comics...

You're going to love this story.

It is about a young, reluctant hero.

And if you're into high action,

good pacing, good story,

and you need something new.

I'm not saying get epic instead of your

Supermans or instead of your this ones.

Get it alongside.

It's a great book.

I think it's a great read.

It's a lot of action.

It's a lot of fun.

It's a new world.

You know,

a lot of people have been reading the

same books for five, ten, fifteen,

twenty years.

There used to be a breath of fresh

air in the space.

It'd be something dope to add to your

pile.

Yeah.

And it takes place in Egypt.

I love Egypt.

Yeah, yeah.

We started there,

and I don't really go back.

Um...

I think Egypt is a cool place.

There's so much mystery and things of that

nature.

But we start there and we don't really

go back maybe once or twice,

but we keep it in modern times,

modern cities,

and we're going into space with it.

So you'll get the touch.

This series will give you superhero level,

vigilante level, ground level,

cosmic level,

You even get mechs.

It's the mech level.

So you'll even get that manga vibe.

You got robots.

And you're getting everything.

I mean, it's that gumbo.

It's a creative gumbo.

Ooh, I do love some good gumbo.

Yeah, man.

It's a good gumbo, man.

So that's what it is.

It's a creative.

And I think it's enjoying something in

there for everybody.

Dude, I love it.

I hold this book in very high regards.

I do enjoy it that much.

And I'm always happy when you hit me

up to say, Hey, we're running it back.

And I'm like, dude, let's do it.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And there's a few people like that,

that I just like,

all they got to do is say, Hey,

I got this.

I'm like, all right.

One day.

Here's what I got going on.

Where can I fit you in?

Hey, man, I appreciate it, man.

You looked out for us and we take

care of our people.

So you locked in with us.

Anytime I'm doing something,

I'm going to check in first and say,

hey, this is what I got going on.

What you got?

Like I was going to drop this.

A month early, I was like, no way.

It don't make sense.

We got to do this first.

I appreciate that.

We got to do this first.

We got to go and talk.

And it just dawned on me.

I'm like,

we got to talk to the people.

We got to let the people know.

So everything, let's put it on hold.

Let's talk to the people.

And then we'll go from there.

Dude, I love it.

I love that people see me in that

regard as like, yeah,

we could launch it today,

but let's go talk to the USDN.

Let's go present it to the council members

first.

And, dude, I love hearing that.

That makes my day right there.

But before I let you go, though,

you got to tell everybody where they can

find you.

where they can follow Dark City Comics and

everything they need to know to stay

connected as we head toward this

Kickstarter in September.

So we are on everything at Dark City

Comics.

And that's no kidding.

So if there is a social media platform

to be on,

we are there at Dark City Comics.

So that is your Facebooks, Instagrams,

Twitters, TikTok, Blue Sky,

if I'm saying it right, Pinterest,

Fanbase, Rumble, YouTube, Substack,

Reddit, LinkedIn, Snapchat,

anything,

we are there at Dark City Comics.

The website is darkcityhq,

like darkcityheadquarters.com.

I love it, bro.

All that stuff is listed right now in

the description below,

so make sure you hit those links.

Give Dark City a follow.

You won't regret it.

I know he's got some great new t-shirt

designs on there.

The books are on there.

So make sure you give him a follow

and hit that save notification on that

Kickstarter link to make sure you get

notified the day this book goes live.

You're not going to want to miss it.

I've read the press review of it and

it's a chef's kiss once again.

So with that.

Lo, as always,

it's been great having you back in the

council,

and I'm looking forward to seeing where

you take Epic next and where this Dark

City universe goes from here.

And to everyone watching or listening,

if you enjoyed this conversation,

make sure you like, follow,

and share because this is how indie

creators get discovered and how these

stories reach the people who need them the

most.

Subscribe so you don't miss future

sessions.

Drop a comment and let us know what

stood out to you.

And tell us who you want to see

welcomed into the council nest.

Because this is the USDN Podcast,

where indie comics come to life,

ladies and gentlemen.

The council is adjourned.

Y'all be safe out there.