WEBVTT

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You are listening to the USDN on the

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DFPN.

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Thanks for watching!

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What is up, everybody,

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and welcome to the United States

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Department of Nerds,

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where we are for the people,

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by the people, and of the people.

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Some stories begin with legends.

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Others begin with the idea scrimpled in a

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notebook,

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as sketching the margins are a strange

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character that refuses to stay quiet.

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Sometimes the Wild West isn't filled with

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cowboys.

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Sometimes it's filled with wasps.

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tonight on the usdm podcast we step into

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a strange frontier a buzzing frontier

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where creator imagination meets indie

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comics grit a world called once upon a

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hive in the west a place where creator

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david bids is building something from the

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ground up not just a comic but a

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label a

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a place called disco punk comics tonight

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we talk about the journey of making comics

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independently building a creative

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collective and bringing a bizarre western

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world to life this is the story behind

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the hive the council of nerds is now

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in session dk welcome to the usdn hey

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man welcome i'm glad to be on buddy

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So we got a little carried away,

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everybody,

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before we got started with a conversation

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we were having about ethical use of AI,

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which this comic does not have.

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We're just putting that out there.

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We were just having a conversation.

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We got carried away.

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We do apologize for that.

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But DK, let's start at the beginning,

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right?

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What first pulled you into comics as a

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creator?

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it's um i read my first comic when

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i was like eight or nine my buddy

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his birthday party got an issue of blade

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and i had a nightmare and i did

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not start reading comics then i was at

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a buddy's house in high school and i

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read a random issue i don't remember being

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a good one of invincible

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And so funny,

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I've been writing for a while.

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I've had daydreams and stories for a

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while.

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This may be basic to admit,

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but when Amazon started coming out with

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Invincible,

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I watched the first episode and I was

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like,

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I've read this before and immediately went

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online and got the omnibus and just tore

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through it.

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And from then I was hooked.

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I was probably twenty six,

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twenty five at the time.

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Yeah.

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Followed it with everything.

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Kirkman got to get it for everybody,

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in my opinion.

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It's it's it's such a great intro.

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And then you're already into such a great

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label with image.

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And then if you go back in time

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with image and I think I've heard you

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talk about this on your other podcast,

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I won't regurgitate too much.

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But, you know,

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the glory days of the Matt Spahn drew

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me in so much.

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Yeah,

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it blew me away that y'all were willing

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to read so much in a comic back

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then.

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And, you know,

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reading Spawn of the Max is a lot

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of verbiage.

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But anyways, I was hooked.

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I've always written short stories and

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little novellas, tiny stories and whatnot.

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But I've been daydreaming of massive

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stories for a while.

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And then after yelling my stories to my

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friends for a long time, I decided,

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you know,

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let's let's do it and just go into

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it.

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Dude, that's a great way to do it.

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And the fact that Blade gave you a

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nightmare lets you know how great that

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comic book was in the night.

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Yes.

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That most recent run of the Red Band

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of Blade was fantastic.

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I have a list of need to reads

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a mile high,

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and they were interrupted by Absolute

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Series that just came out.

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My daughter,

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I have turned into a huge Wonder Woman

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fan, so we're everything Wonder Woman.

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She's too young to be checking out the

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Austin illustrations that they got there,

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but she loves it, man.

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So honestly,

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most of the comics that I've been reading,

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indulging that i'm not trying to write and

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produce have been with my with my kids

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so it's been like a lot of spidey

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gwen they got a new series out that's

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going to be all right yep um but

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but yeah um uh definitely need to check

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that i think i read i'm not even

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sure which run of blade it was but

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i went back in and reread it probably

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about i think it's no bigger than like

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Oh, yeah.

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And that's what I've always liked about

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Blade and Midnight Suns and those like

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smaller runs of some of the characters

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that I really enjoy.

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They get maybe ten or fifteen issues and

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that run is done.

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And then it kind of goes dormant again

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for about five or ten years and then

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it pops back out onto shelves again.

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And honestly,

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I like that because it doesn't wear you

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out on the character.

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Yeah.

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No, I agree.

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It was funny when I started getting really

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big into comics and going to comic shops.

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The thousand different issues,

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and this I don't get yelled at because

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I'm a younger guy here,

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but the thousand different issues of X-Men

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that I needed to go into,

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all the different Avengers,

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all the different DCs.

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I found when it comes to streamline,

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I'm more of a DC guy in the

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first place and really have stuck to

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those.

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And I think outside media, you know,

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being video games, TV,

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movies has done so much recently for new

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types of fandom.

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And even as intelligent as DC

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incorporating injustice back and forth

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storylines from the video game.

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to the comic,

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which was one of my favorites by far

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and one of my favorite games, too.

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So it's kind of fun that fandom gets

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the time.

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Yeah,

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so I ended up getting the trade paperback

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of the Injustice run.

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Really?

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Because I wasn't collecting comic books at

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the time, but I loved the video game.

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And then it was like a random store

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wherever I was living at the time.

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And I seen the Omnibus or trade paperback

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for it.

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I was like, ooh, let me get that.

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Yeah.

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but let's jump into disco punk comics.

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Where did that come from?

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Disco punk.

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Um,

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Disco punk for a lot of reasons.

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Disco for a lot of reasons.

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Some that I won't get into.

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Yeah,

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I was always a big disco kid with

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my mom.

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It was always Sunday mornings cooking

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breakfast, Bee Gees in the background,

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Chic, all goofy disco.

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And then also I used to play in

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a lot of metal bands and everything or

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had a jam band in high school.

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And so a piece that I wrote a

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long time ago had a line in it

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by a character named Disco.

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which is when you take the life and

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love from disco,

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you're just left with metal.

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I won't get into it too much.

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My mother passed away when I was about

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twenty three for a little bit.

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That kind of disco was gone and it

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was the big metal scene and everything.

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And so disco to me is my favorite

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and my flagship character,

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but also just a big piece of me

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being able to move forward and create

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something.

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So I'm the disco punk or I'm not.

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But that's the label.

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No, I like it.

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And so we were talking before we went

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live.

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So is Disco Punk Comics intended to be

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a publisher, a creator collective,

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or what is Disco Punk at its heart?

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So the goal of Disco Punk is to

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get to a place where we can offer

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guidance through the potholes that I'm

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learning to face as we create.

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There's so many things that you just don't

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know.

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I'd like at one point to be kind

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of an information hub for best practices

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for a number of things.

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I would love to publish a number of

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other individuals.

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My color is on Once Upon a Hive.

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His name is Jorge Elias.

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He's actually runs his own fiction comics,

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but he's needed help in a number of

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areas.

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And so, you know,

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Disco Comics and Fiction Comics is

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bringing together

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you know already and so yeah i did

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not expect to be getting involved in other

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individuals intellectual property so fast

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um you know once upon a hive um

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you know when this comes to publish in

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just a few months this will be the

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first piece of mine of many projects in

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the work now

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but already getting an avenue to help.

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And so everything I'm learning on the way,

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passing that information to Jorge,

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and he's got a great team over there

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with Fiction too.

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So there's a lot of avenues for me

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to look for letterers and a short notice

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and everything.

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So inflecting collaborations has been

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great.

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But yeah,

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I would like it to be a big

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collaboration hub.

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that's kind of the goal as well,

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obviously,

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and selfishly to kick out all my writing,

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you know,

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a place to where I can indulge myself

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in my own art, you know?

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Yeah.

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No, it's a must.

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Yeah.

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And so,

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and I've had a number of people to

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me, you know, come to me and say,

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Hey,

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could I help get certain things off the

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ground?

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You know,

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are we at a place to where we're

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helping fund other people's projects?

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No,

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we had a place to where we're very

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open to help you with Kickstarter and,

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you know, get things taken care of,

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learn together as much as possible.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah.

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um and i think honestly um my favorite

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part of all this so far has just

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been the community it's great working

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alongside people being a writer alone

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isn't as fun i'll tell you that much

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no i will say it doesn't matter which

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group you're in on facebook the the indie

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comic book scene as a collective whole has

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been amazing i know there's a lot of

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groups that allow me to share

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like the podcast in those groups.

00:10:47.833 --> 00:10:49.634
And I am so thankful that they allow

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me to do that because it literally keeps

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me booked months in advance and it's

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really awesome.

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So it's just really amazing communities

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out there.

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And it's a lot of the same people

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within those communities and they're all

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really great.

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So yeah.

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But what has the indie comics journey been

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like so far as you've been building Disco

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Punk?

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Oh,

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it's been an excuse to learn something.

00:11:22.205 --> 00:11:23.767
It's been learning that you've got a lot

00:11:23.787 --> 00:11:24.726
to learn and you're going to keep

00:11:24.787 --> 00:11:25.128
learning.

00:11:27.009 --> 00:11:27.750
It's been great.

00:11:28.610 --> 00:11:29.390
It really has...

00:11:30.956 --> 00:11:31.836
I look at it two ways.

00:11:31.897 --> 00:11:33.698
I've got one kind of goofy analogy.

00:11:34.821 --> 00:11:35.902
One is you're kind of going down a

00:11:35.942 --> 00:11:36.663
road, and like I said,

00:11:36.702 --> 00:11:38.144
the potholes that you're going through,

00:11:38.164 --> 00:11:39.166
there's a lot of bumps.

00:11:40.346 --> 00:11:42.629
Where you live, there are plenty of them.

00:11:42.649 --> 00:11:42.809
Yeah.

00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:44.692
So listen to the people that have driven

00:11:44.732 --> 00:11:45.514
in that road before.

00:11:45.913 --> 00:11:47.436
That's a big piece.

00:11:48.177 --> 00:11:49.418
But my biggest analogy, though,

00:11:49.438 --> 00:11:50.979
is sometimes –

00:11:51.692 --> 00:11:52.913
You're swimming in the waters you don't

00:11:52.952 --> 00:11:53.192
know.

00:11:53.253 --> 00:11:54.614
So it's like you're swimming,

00:11:54.634 --> 00:11:55.634
you got your head down,

00:11:55.673 --> 00:11:56.653
and then you touch a buoy,

00:11:56.673 --> 00:11:57.693
then you look up and you're like, oh,

00:11:57.734 --> 00:11:58.975
gosh, look how far I've come.

00:11:59.595 --> 00:12:00.774
But then it's also like, man,

00:12:00.855 --> 00:12:02.254
shore is so far away.

00:12:02.375 --> 00:12:03.755
All you can do is put your head

00:12:03.796 --> 00:12:06.296
down, keep swimming, find the next buoy.

00:12:06.635 --> 00:12:07.115
But it's great.

00:12:07.135 --> 00:12:08.177
You get inspired, like you said,

00:12:08.216 --> 00:12:09.076
online in the community,

00:12:09.116 --> 00:12:10.777
people that have gone so much further than

00:12:10.817 --> 00:12:11.376
you,

00:12:11.998 --> 00:12:13.758
more buoys than you further down that

00:12:13.817 --> 00:12:14.118
road.

00:12:14.886 --> 00:12:16.587
And all of them, for the most part,

00:12:17.347 --> 00:12:18.749
without any exception so far,

00:12:18.808 --> 00:12:20.909
had been nothing but giving with their

00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:21.950
knowledge and respectful.

00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:22.389
Oh, yeah.

00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:23.571
If you ask a question,

00:12:23.610 --> 00:12:25.030
you're going to get a multitude of

00:12:25.072 --> 00:12:27.533
different answers that are very similar in

00:12:27.592 --> 00:12:27.932
nature,

00:12:27.993 --> 00:12:31.073
just different routes that that person

00:12:31.114 --> 00:12:31.934
took to get there.

00:12:32.514 --> 00:12:35.755
So it really is phenomenal communities out

00:12:35.796 --> 00:12:37.197
there for that.

00:12:37.677 --> 00:12:39.337
But what would you say has been your

00:12:39.437 --> 00:12:41.479
biggest challenge so far with launching

00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:41.899
the label?

00:12:44.278 --> 00:12:46.740
Wanting to do far more than I can

00:12:46.801 --> 00:12:48.062
do at a time.

00:12:49.783 --> 00:12:51.586
The biggest advice that has been from

00:12:51.605 --> 00:12:54.148
people is, hey man, just hey.

00:12:54.168 --> 00:12:56.090
Because we have Once Upon a Hive.

00:12:56.389 --> 00:13:01.975
I'm working with Fiction Comics for The

00:13:02.035 --> 00:13:02.876
Fallen Seven.

00:13:02.976 --> 00:13:04.918
I'm doing a manga right now.

00:13:04.938 --> 00:13:06.200
It's called Riki Riki Recoil.

00:13:06.259 --> 00:13:07.441
I have a number of things going on.

00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:08.101
Webtoons.

00:13:09.582 --> 00:13:11.203
But it's not without planning.

00:13:11.644 --> 00:13:13.725
Before any of these even came to be,

00:13:14.225 --> 00:13:16.067
I was researching for a good two years.

00:13:16.147 --> 00:13:17.967
I was saving for a good two years.

00:13:18.028 --> 00:13:19.649
I was talking to creators in the field

00:13:19.668 --> 00:13:20.548
for two years,

00:13:21.210 --> 00:13:22.870
trying to back other people's comics,

00:13:22.890 --> 00:13:24.172
see what's everything's going on.

00:13:24.611 --> 00:13:27.774
The biggest road bump

00:13:28.736 --> 00:13:29.996
or the biggest challenge you ask.

00:13:31.957 --> 00:13:32.498
Like I said,

00:13:32.538 --> 00:13:35.119
just not making sure you can eat what's

00:13:35.178 --> 00:13:35.798
on your plate.

00:13:36.979 --> 00:13:39.360
But I do think different people's labels

00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:40.600
have different purposes.

00:13:41.461 --> 00:13:42.860
Majority of the time what I see is,

00:13:43.181 --> 00:13:45.121
especially the first step out the door

00:13:45.182 --> 00:13:47.542
seems to be usually superhero comics,

00:13:47.601 --> 00:13:49.283
a series, one world,

00:13:49.663 --> 00:13:51.082
and then you have your audience locking

00:13:51.144 --> 00:13:52.283
into that one world.

00:13:53.724 --> 00:13:55.404
I do have some series that'll be coming

00:13:55.445 --> 00:13:56.005
out as well,

00:13:56.046 --> 00:13:59.067
but I also love sci-fi one-offs and just

00:13:59.086 --> 00:14:01.307
good stories and short one-shots.

00:14:02.268 --> 00:14:03.908
I'm a huge one-shot fan,

00:14:03.989 --> 00:14:06.049
and there's a lot of creators out there

00:14:06.070 --> 00:14:07.471
that do them really well.

00:14:07.711 --> 00:14:08.751
Yeah.

00:14:09.591 --> 00:14:12.352
It's within the same type of genre.

00:14:12.793 --> 00:14:14.714
It's just a multitude of one-shots.

00:14:15.754 --> 00:14:17.395
Those are some of my favorite comic books.

00:14:18.135 --> 00:14:20.157
But let's dive into Once Upon a Hive

00:14:20.236 --> 00:14:21.177
in the West.

00:14:21.457 --> 00:14:21.977
Yeah.

00:14:23.222 --> 00:14:26.984
What is Once Upon a Hive in the

00:14:27.024 --> 00:14:29.144
West?

00:14:29.624 --> 00:14:32.144
It's a gritty imagination of a world,

00:14:32.705 --> 00:14:33.924
said very plain put,

00:14:33.985 --> 00:14:35.524
where bugs were the cowboys.

00:14:36.884 --> 00:14:37.184
No,

00:14:37.565 --> 00:14:40.385
it's actually a really good look at the

00:14:40.446 --> 00:14:43.866
life cycles of bugs through this lens of

00:14:43.907 --> 00:14:45.586
this Western spaghetti scope.

00:14:48.027 --> 00:14:49.467
The story came to be in a really

00:14:49.508 --> 00:14:50.408
funny, silly way.

00:14:53.625 --> 00:14:54.927
But what it is essentially is going to

00:14:54.947 --> 00:14:56.208
be a seven issue series.

00:14:56.408 --> 00:14:58.370
We have a Halloween special that follows

00:14:58.431 --> 00:15:02.053
our protagonist slip print paper wing and

00:15:02.094 --> 00:15:04.456
his kind of journey to be the first

00:15:04.976 --> 00:15:07.399
paper wasp to survive to the end of

00:15:07.458 --> 00:15:08.620
winter and live again.

00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.142
uh as some people may or may not

00:15:11.182 --> 00:15:13.221
know life cycle of wasps i'm gonna nerd

00:15:13.241 --> 00:15:14.982
out for a split second but like ninety

00:15:15.003 --> 00:15:16.863
five percent of the population dies all

00:15:16.903 --> 00:15:18.864
the males dies everybody dies except the

00:15:18.903 --> 00:15:22.345
queen so there is a mass extinction and

00:15:22.365 --> 00:15:24.605
then by next spring the population has

00:15:24.645 --> 00:15:26.787
been reborn and if you would look at

00:15:26.807 --> 00:15:29.086
that from a human perspective it would be

00:15:30.008 --> 00:15:30.847
horrifying

00:15:31.610 --> 00:15:33.211
And so many different facets within a

00:15:33.250 --> 00:15:35.491
bug's life is actually horrifying.

00:15:36.293 --> 00:15:38.293
And with the good Western tropes,

00:15:38.313 --> 00:15:39.813
there's a lot of things that I like

00:15:40.274 --> 00:15:42.135
that I've watched with my pop through the

00:15:42.155 --> 00:15:44.496
years, like Cowboys vs. Aliens.

00:15:44.537 --> 00:15:46.498
There's Cowboys vs. Dinosaur movies.

00:15:46.518 --> 00:15:49.298
So there's a lot of space to play.

00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:51.640
And within all that space,

00:15:51.841 --> 00:15:53.761
it just wrote itself very

00:15:53.802 --> 00:15:54.721
character-driven,

00:15:55.643 --> 00:15:57.864
bug spaghetti Western with a whole bunch

00:15:57.903 --> 00:15:59.825
of kookiness and wackiness to spare.

00:16:00.566 --> 00:16:01.025
No,

00:16:01.086 --> 00:16:03.427
it's been such a fun thing to watch

00:16:03.466 --> 00:16:04.548
on your Instagram,

00:16:05.067 --> 00:16:06.609
like the art coming together,

00:16:06.828 --> 00:16:08.690
just the whole thing.

00:16:08.750 --> 00:16:10.110
It's just like a stroke of genius.

00:16:10.150 --> 00:16:10.910
You know what I'm saying?

00:16:11.390 --> 00:16:12.331
And it's just so fun.

00:16:12.792 --> 00:16:15.232
And as I was coming up with titles

00:16:15.533 --> 00:16:18.354
for this episode,

00:16:18.413 --> 00:16:20.315
I kept hitting on the Wild West.

00:16:20.355 --> 00:16:20.695
And I'm like,

00:16:21.115 --> 00:16:22.135
if I'm going to do Wild West,

00:16:22.155 --> 00:16:23.976
it has to be Wild Wild West,

00:16:24.197 --> 00:16:25.577
but with Wasp.

00:16:26.306 --> 00:16:27.407
And it was just one of those where

00:16:27.427 --> 00:16:30.107
I was like, it wrote itself.

00:16:30.408 --> 00:16:31.389
You know what I'm saying?

00:16:31.869 --> 00:16:32.129
Yeah.

00:16:32.389 --> 00:16:35.831
In fact, it's just such a fun character.

00:16:35.910 --> 00:16:37.552
Your main protagonist, you know?

00:16:37.812 --> 00:16:38.572
Yeah.

00:16:38.652 --> 00:16:39.812
Well, and so, and there's a,

00:16:39.832 --> 00:16:41.153
there's a switch up there and I won't

00:16:41.173 --> 00:16:42.833
give too much away and I'll probably end

00:16:42.894 --> 00:16:42.974
up,

00:16:43.033 --> 00:16:44.434
we'll talk about it for a little bit,

00:16:44.475 --> 00:16:46.596
but, but I'll touch base on this too.

00:16:46.615 --> 00:16:48.157
There were so many opportunities with

00:16:48.177 --> 00:16:48.336
this.

00:16:48.397 --> 00:16:49.898
It was so hard to pin down a

00:16:49.977 --> 00:16:53.159
name because there was super, so good,

00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:54.820
bad in the ugly, good,

00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:55.620
bad in the bugly.

00:16:57.264 --> 00:16:58.288
No country for old men,

00:16:58.347 --> 00:16:59.571
no country for old wasps.

00:17:00.933 --> 00:17:02.035
But really I wanted to kind of give

00:17:02.056 --> 00:17:03.399
an homage to kind of a lot of

00:17:03.418 --> 00:17:05.063
spaghetti westerns I used to watch growing

00:17:05.083 --> 00:17:05.765
up as a kid.

00:17:06.385 --> 00:17:07.987
the classic Clint Eastwood's, you know,

00:17:08.007 --> 00:17:09.426
the Festival of Dollars trilogy,

00:17:10.027 --> 00:17:10.686
and of course, you know,

00:17:10.707 --> 00:17:11.948
Once Upon a Time in the West.

00:17:12.928 --> 00:17:14.388
But it's not so much so,

00:17:14.888 --> 00:17:16.568
it's not just like a classic tale of

00:17:16.588 --> 00:17:17.710
you killed my pa.

00:17:18.609 --> 00:17:21.230
There really is a diverse spectrum to look

00:17:21.270 --> 00:17:23.291
at this when you start implementing the

00:17:23.332 --> 00:17:25.531
characteristics of the different type of

00:17:25.571 --> 00:17:27.692
bugs that may interact with a wasp in

00:17:27.712 --> 00:17:29.834
the community that's actually built and

00:17:29.913 --> 00:17:31.693
what is called, what is Bisbee, Arizona,

00:17:31.834 --> 00:17:33.434
that what I call the Hive Haven Holler.

00:17:35.076 --> 00:17:39.260
So it's a fun time.

00:17:39.340 --> 00:17:41.202
The inspiration for it was just the

00:17:41.262 --> 00:17:42.124
silliest thing.

00:17:43.465 --> 00:17:44.126
I am a bug guy.

00:17:44.186 --> 00:17:44.867
I like bugs.

00:17:44.887 --> 00:17:46.189
I take them out of the house instead

00:17:46.229 --> 00:17:46.849
of squashing them,

00:17:46.890 --> 00:17:48.152
try to teach my kids that.

00:17:48.172 --> 00:17:51.055
And they're also pretty interesting to me.

00:17:51.115 --> 00:17:52.656
So you kind of just let them live

00:17:52.676 --> 00:17:53.096
a little bit.

00:17:53.837 --> 00:17:57.240
There's a wasp nest that comes up in

00:17:57.280 --> 00:17:58.842
front of my house every single year.

00:17:59.201 --> 00:18:00.722
It's been there for the past five years.

00:18:00.762 --> 00:18:02.104
It comes down in wintertime.

00:18:02.144 --> 00:18:02.845
They're all dead,

00:18:02.865 --> 00:18:04.086
and it comes back by the time of

00:18:04.105 --> 00:18:04.526
spring.

00:18:05.987 --> 00:18:07.748
It was winter about two years ago,

00:18:07.887 --> 00:18:09.009
and I'm walking with my daughter.

00:18:09.028 --> 00:18:11.211
I mean, it was cold, cold winter,

00:18:11.590 --> 00:18:13.712
and this wasp spooked down and then took

00:18:13.752 --> 00:18:14.712
by, and she got scared.

00:18:15.354 --> 00:18:16.295
I was just thinking, and I was like,

00:18:16.315 --> 00:18:17.315
honey, that ain't trying to hurt you.

00:18:17.555 --> 00:18:18.756
He's waiting to die.

00:18:19.497 --> 00:18:20.637
He's put down his irons.

00:18:21.525 --> 00:18:23.685
And he's put down his irons and I

00:18:23.705 --> 00:18:25.925
was like, oh, wait a minute.

00:18:26.006 --> 00:18:27.506
And I was thinking to you,

00:18:27.625 --> 00:18:29.047
if you were born to die,

00:18:29.086 --> 00:18:30.186
you're just waiting for the cold.

00:18:30.207 --> 00:18:31.346
What does that life look like?

00:18:31.946 --> 00:18:32.106
Yeah.

00:18:32.126 --> 00:18:33.508
And so the kind of older,

00:18:33.567 --> 00:18:38.048
gritty Western feel came and then started

00:18:38.068 --> 00:18:40.088
typing away.

00:18:40.189 --> 00:18:41.789
It's such a fun concept,

00:18:41.829 --> 00:18:45.109
not just for those of us who love

00:18:45.150 --> 00:18:45.849
comic books.

00:18:46.010 --> 00:18:47.451
Your kids are going to love this, too.

00:18:48.564 --> 00:18:48.683
Like,

00:18:48.864 --> 00:18:49.845
it's just going to be one of those

00:18:49.944 --> 00:18:50.925
fun comic books,

00:18:51.445 --> 00:18:52.787
depending on the age of your kids,

00:18:52.826 --> 00:18:54.127
that you can sit down and read with

00:18:54.147 --> 00:18:56.028
your kids and enjoy with your kids.

00:18:56.670 --> 00:18:57.910
And it's cool that you kind of made

00:18:57.950 --> 00:18:59.912
it for that based off an experience that

00:18:59.951 --> 00:19:01.272
you had with your daughter.

00:19:01.292 --> 00:19:02.574
Yeah.

00:19:02.673 --> 00:19:03.153
And it's great.

00:19:03.173 --> 00:19:03.894
There's definitely...

00:19:05.672 --> 00:19:07.873
upper on the age appropriacy a little bit.

00:19:07.893 --> 00:19:09.513
There's a number of themes there that

00:19:09.554 --> 00:19:10.934
really does stick true to the old West

00:19:10.974 --> 00:19:12.154
being as gritty as it is.

00:19:12.694 --> 00:19:13.135
Yeah.

00:19:13.236 --> 00:19:14.435
My son, maybe for sure.

00:19:14.496 --> 00:19:15.576
My daughter will give her a couple of

00:19:15.596 --> 00:19:15.916
years.

00:19:15.936 --> 00:19:17.258
Okay.

00:19:17.317 --> 00:19:18.798
But no, but it's great.

00:19:18.877 --> 00:19:20.419
I would definitely say it's great.

00:19:21.219 --> 00:19:22.440
I guess your demographic would be

00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:24.201
somewhere, you know, teenage and up,

00:19:24.221 --> 00:19:24.780
so to speak.

00:19:24.820 --> 00:19:26.001
But yeah,

00:19:26.041 --> 00:19:27.261
if you were the goofy kid that was

00:19:27.342 --> 00:19:29.303
always quoting Tombstone, you know,

00:19:29.323 --> 00:19:30.023
if you said something,

00:19:30.044 --> 00:19:31.584
Doc Holliday every five seconds.

00:19:32.045 --> 00:19:32.204
Dude,

00:19:32.285 --> 00:19:33.664
I think we all did when that movie

00:19:33.684 --> 00:19:34.425
came out.

00:19:34.546 --> 00:19:34.945
Oh, man.

00:19:35.961 --> 00:19:37.582
There's a couple little nods.

00:19:38.022 --> 00:19:40.105
I'm trying not to be blunt and do

00:19:40.125 --> 00:19:40.586
this and do that,

00:19:40.605 --> 00:19:41.846
but there are nods to things that I

00:19:41.866 --> 00:19:43.328
appreciate that I didn't want to let

00:19:43.368 --> 00:19:45.010
disrupt the story or influence.

00:19:46.792 --> 00:19:47.133
In fact,

00:19:47.213 --> 00:19:48.714
whenever I started rewriting this,

00:19:48.895 --> 00:19:50.517
I told myself I was not going to

00:19:50.537 --> 00:19:52.078
rewatch all my old Spaghetti Western

00:19:52.098 --> 00:19:52.500
movies.

00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:53.921
You did anyway.

00:19:54.602 --> 00:19:55.281
No, I didn't.

00:19:55.342 --> 00:19:55.642
I didn't.

00:19:55.721 --> 00:19:57.623
I rewatched a handful of them now.

00:19:57.643 --> 00:19:58.163
I'll tell you that.

00:19:58.222 --> 00:19:59.542
I rewatched a fistful of dollars.

00:20:00.644 --> 00:20:01.604
But no, I'm telling you,

00:20:01.943 --> 00:20:03.723
I wanted to stay away from them.

00:20:03.844 --> 00:20:04.183
Yeah.

00:20:04.243 --> 00:20:06.025
Have them not over influence anything like

00:20:06.065 --> 00:20:06.404
that.

00:20:06.585 --> 00:20:08.365
And and really, it's funny.

00:20:09.246 --> 00:20:10.665
It's a Western through and through.

00:20:10.685 --> 00:20:14.106
But the storyline is really just inspired

00:20:14.146 --> 00:20:17.248
by random bug facts that are just really

00:20:17.288 --> 00:20:18.048
cool content.

00:20:18.722 --> 00:20:18.883
No,

00:20:18.903 --> 00:20:20.044
that's one of those where it wasn't that

00:20:20.084 --> 00:20:20.683
long ago.

00:20:21.285 --> 00:20:22.546
And I think I lost a day of

00:20:22.566 --> 00:20:24.686
my life on this one because I had

00:20:24.707 --> 00:20:27.528
seen an old John Wayne clip and I'm

00:20:27.568 --> 00:20:31.951
like, Hulu, John Wayne,

00:20:32.373 --> 00:20:34.294
and just started watching like Westerns.

00:20:34.314 --> 00:20:36.055
And by the time I realized it,

00:20:36.075 --> 00:20:37.375
my entire day was gone.

00:20:37.496 --> 00:20:38.676
And I was like, well,

00:20:38.696 --> 00:20:40.478
I guess I'm not doing laundry now.

00:20:40.498 --> 00:20:41.778
Yeah.

00:20:41.818 --> 00:20:42.759
So anyway,

00:20:44.166 --> 00:20:45.607
It's fun when it happens,

00:20:45.647 --> 00:20:48.128
but at the same time, you're like, damn,

00:20:48.209 --> 00:20:49.710
I just wasted a whole entire day where

00:20:49.789 --> 00:20:51.671
I needed to do other things on top

00:20:51.730 --> 00:20:53.291
of that.

00:20:53.332 --> 00:20:54.653
You can't really devote that time to

00:20:54.673 --> 00:20:55.553
anything productive.

00:20:55.633 --> 00:20:58.734
You're not going to be on a Clint

00:20:58.835 --> 00:21:03.096
Eastwood trivia show.

00:21:03.136 --> 00:21:05.479
Who are some of the key characters in

00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:06.778
this story?

00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:09.861
I know we got our main character,

00:21:09.921 --> 00:21:11.261
who is the Wasp.

00:21:12.602 --> 00:21:15.243
But what else are we looking at?

00:21:15.263 --> 00:21:16.404
So we we really follow.

00:21:16.465 --> 00:21:18.366
There's a there's a broadcast.

00:21:18.547 --> 00:21:20.068
And what I can't wait for issue two

00:21:20.108 --> 00:21:21.150
and three to come out because some of

00:21:21.170 --> 00:21:22.770
my favorite people are brought in.

00:21:23.991 --> 00:21:25.134
So looking over the series,

00:21:25.153 --> 00:21:26.515
there's a lot of great characters.

00:21:26.954 --> 00:21:29.257
Issue one kind of works as a world

00:21:29.277 --> 00:21:30.798
builder, intro builder,

00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:33.361
specifically for our two main

00:21:33.401 --> 00:21:36.144
protagonists, antagonists, antagonists.

00:21:37.355 --> 00:21:38.977
Hanny, villain, villain, hero, whatever.

00:21:40.438 --> 00:21:42.339
Where Slick Prick, Paper Wing,

00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:43.461
and Odd Drop Pop Pop.

00:21:44.041 --> 00:21:45.282
Now, this issue,

00:21:45.844 --> 00:21:47.645
majority in the most of the art that

00:21:47.665 --> 00:21:49.147
you've seen of the wasp on the page

00:21:49.167 --> 00:21:50.388
are going to be from Odd Drop Pop

00:21:50.429 --> 00:21:50.749
Pop,

00:21:51.170 --> 00:21:54.192
who is the living legend who aspires to

00:21:54.212 --> 00:21:56.635
be the first to never lose.

00:21:57.476 --> 00:21:59.037
And we follow him for the majority of

00:21:59.096 --> 00:22:01.357
a story that kind of helps build our

00:22:01.397 --> 00:22:03.778
backdrop for Slick Prick Paper Wing and to

00:22:03.818 --> 00:22:04.479
tell his story.

00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:07.099
So Once Upon a Hive itself is the

00:22:07.140 --> 00:22:09.461
ballad of Slick Prick Paper Wing.

00:22:09.840 --> 00:22:10.981
But you'll find issue one,

00:22:11.082 --> 00:22:13.623
a pistol for Pop Pop is heavily involved.

00:22:15.183 --> 00:22:17.884
Pop Pop being a character who was meant

00:22:17.924 --> 00:22:20.246
for issue one that I love so much.

00:22:21.509 --> 00:22:22.691
We've done a number of things.

00:22:22.711 --> 00:22:24.011
We get to keep them around and play

00:22:24.031 --> 00:22:26.213
with them a little bit more as we

00:22:26.253 --> 00:22:28.256
get into kind of the other themes of

00:22:28.296 --> 00:22:29.696
the later in the issue.

00:22:30.478 --> 00:22:32.159
So we do start off with a much

00:22:32.219 --> 00:22:36.702
more grounded Western based introducing

00:22:36.782 --> 00:22:37.163
our world,

00:22:37.262 --> 00:22:38.423
getting y'all comfortable with all the

00:22:38.463 --> 00:22:39.884
bugs and bees and butterflies.

00:22:40.905 --> 00:22:42.227
But our two main protagonists, yeah,

00:22:42.267 --> 00:22:42.907
Paper Wasp.

00:22:43.288 --> 00:22:45.150
We have the Dirty Dauber Gang,

00:22:45.690 --> 00:22:46.810
which are dirt daubers.

00:22:46.851 --> 00:22:47.352
I love that.

00:22:47.791 --> 00:22:48.633
I love that name.

00:22:49.032 --> 00:22:49.953
The Dobber Six.

00:22:50.134 --> 00:22:51.615
I love them, man.

00:22:51.634 --> 00:22:54.116
They're great characters and they're

00:22:54.156 --> 00:22:55.758
inspired by a number of rednecks that I've

00:22:55.798 --> 00:22:57.598
known for a while.

00:22:57.618 --> 00:22:57.759
Dude,

00:22:57.779 --> 00:22:58.900
you live in a state full of all

00:22:58.920 --> 00:22:59.181
of them.

00:23:00.026 --> 00:23:00.326
Oh, man.

00:23:00.425 --> 00:23:01.145
Oh, yeah.

00:23:01.165 --> 00:23:01.685
Come on now.

00:23:01.726 --> 00:23:03.446
But I live in Memphis myself, too.

00:23:03.527 --> 00:23:04.586
So I'm in Memphis, Tennessee.

00:23:04.807 --> 00:23:06.227
And so I'm kind of in this weird

00:23:06.267 --> 00:23:07.228
limbo of Tennessee.

00:23:07.288 --> 00:23:07.988
But we have it all.

00:23:08.008 --> 00:23:08.768
I mean,

00:23:08.807 --> 00:23:10.448
you're you're you're Bass Pro is a

00:23:10.488 --> 00:23:10.888
pyramid.

00:23:10.929 --> 00:23:11.348
All right.

00:23:12.588 --> 00:23:12.989
I still.

00:23:13.068 --> 00:23:15.088
Yeah, I love it because of the song.

00:23:15.930 --> 00:23:17.690
I used to go there and watch basketball

00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:18.869
games all the time as a kid.

00:23:19.230 --> 00:23:19.931
And dude,

00:23:19.951 --> 00:23:22.151
I remember when Tyson fought there.

00:23:22.530 --> 00:23:22.871
Yeah.

00:23:23.050 --> 00:23:23.211
Yeah.

00:23:23.471 --> 00:23:24.152
Lennox Lewis.

00:23:24.291 --> 00:23:24.692
That's right.

00:23:24.731 --> 00:23:25.951
That's right.

00:23:27.192 --> 00:23:27.813
Oh, I love Memphis.

00:23:27.833 --> 00:23:28.432
I love my town.

00:23:28.553 --> 00:23:30.134
There's a soul food restaurant right up

00:23:30.173 --> 00:23:32.214
the road from it that is absolutely

00:23:32.255 --> 00:23:32.895
phenomenal.

00:23:33.256 --> 00:23:33.776
Countless.

00:23:33.915 --> 00:23:35.196
We got some good food out on Beale

00:23:35.217 --> 00:23:36.037
Street as well.

00:23:37.038 --> 00:23:37.718
I'm a big fan.

00:23:37.738 --> 00:23:41.440
A lot of our local taco vendors and

00:23:41.779 --> 00:23:43.221
our food trucks throughout Memphis are

00:23:43.240 --> 00:23:43.621
rad.

00:23:43.641 --> 00:23:44.342
That's new.

00:23:44.362 --> 00:23:46.423
They didn't have that back when I lived

00:23:47.063 --> 00:23:48.723
local to that area.

00:23:49.223 --> 00:23:49.345
Well,

00:23:49.365 --> 00:23:51.286
they've hindered out a couple areas around

00:23:51.326 --> 00:23:51.605
here.

00:23:51.766 --> 00:23:52.846
So it's a lot of pop-ups.

00:23:53.006 --> 00:23:55.468
I see that last time I drove through.

00:23:55.548 --> 00:23:55.748
Yeah.

00:23:56.549 --> 00:23:57.990
A lot more flannel than you would have

00:23:58.131 --> 00:23:58.830
outside of winter.

00:23:59.892 --> 00:24:01.692
I will say the roads there have greatly

00:24:01.752 --> 00:24:04.973
improved to its more eastern neighbor of

00:24:05.055 --> 00:24:06.355
Mottsville.

00:24:06.414 --> 00:24:07.516
Oh, I can agree with that.

00:24:07.776 --> 00:24:09.136
Memphis potholes are nuts, man.

00:24:09.396 --> 00:24:13.038
I drive a Jeep, so it's already terrible.

00:24:14.179 --> 00:24:15.680
So I could complain about our roads all

00:24:15.740 --> 00:24:17.201
day, but I won't.

00:24:18.173 --> 00:24:18.374
But yeah,

00:24:18.394 --> 00:24:20.656
there's a number of aside from again the

00:24:20.696 --> 00:24:21.436
two paper wasps.

00:24:21.497 --> 00:24:24.601
We have a butterfly butterfly brothel,

00:24:25.020 --> 00:24:26.843
which was a very interesting conversation

00:24:26.883 --> 00:24:27.624
with the artist.

00:24:29.125 --> 00:24:30.767
It's nothing like doing character concept

00:24:30.787 --> 00:24:32.028
work and being like, hey man,

00:24:32.087 --> 00:24:33.829
I know they're butterflies, but.

00:24:35.652 --> 00:24:37.354
lingerie something skank him up a little

00:24:37.394 --> 00:24:37.673
bit.

00:24:39.096 --> 00:24:40.897
That was a very hilarious conversation to

00:24:40.938 --> 00:24:42.259
have an understanding,

00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:44.623
but now there's a whole gang of locusts.

00:24:44.643 --> 00:24:46.404
We have Miss Widow who runs the butterfly

00:24:46.444 --> 00:24:48.988
brothel and we had the proprietors of the

00:24:49.028 --> 00:24:51.871
Hive Haven strip that come into play very

00:24:51.931 --> 00:24:52.511
largely.

00:24:53.032 --> 00:24:55.355
There's also my favorite Sheriff Buzzkill.

00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:57.079
who is, of course,

00:24:57.119 --> 00:24:59.300
a very large bumblebee who runs the

00:24:59.320 --> 00:25:00.301
sheriff's station there.

00:25:00.342 --> 00:25:03.202
So there's a big town of characters that

00:25:03.242 --> 00:25:04.163
come into play,

00:25:04.663 --> 00:25:06.505
and a large piece of the series is

00:25:06.545 --> 00:25:08.246
the consequences of what happens when a

00:25:08.306 --> 00:25:10.926
paper wasp lives past winter.

00:25:11.086 --> 00:25:12.948
And so it becomes, of course,

00:25:13.067 --> 00:25:14.949
old faces coming back for revenge,

00:25:15.269 --> 00:25:17.509
but also a little bit of a deterioration

00:25:17.549 --> 00:25:19.270
of our lead character's mind as he starts

00:25:19.290 --> 00:25:21.011
to actually struggle with what is real in

00:25:21.051 --> 00:25:22.692
this new season and what is not.

00:25:23.133 --> 00:25:23.292
Mm-hmm.

00:25:24.686 --> 00:25:27.208
Dude, I absolutely love this concept.

00:25:27.327 --> 00:25:28.028
And honestly,

00:25:28.087 --> 00:25:29.147
it's one of those where I'm like,

00:25:30.087 --> 00:25:31.407
you want to hit that fast forward button

00:25:31.428 --> 00:25:32.929
so we can get to this point of

00:25:33.009 --> 00:25:35.088
this comic book actually releasing so it

00:25:35.128 --> 00:25:36.489
can be in people's hands.

00:25:36.788 --> 00:25:38.250
Yeah, no, it is tough.

00:25:38.269 --> 00:25:39.549
And I'll say it as a creator to,

00:25:39.589 --> 00:25:41.369
you know, get your stuff out there.

00:25:41.390 --> 00:25:42.211
You know,

00:25:42.351 --> 00:25:44.250
when when you're any guy even new and

00:25:44.270 --> 00:25:45.010
you have one or two,

00:25:45.030 --> 00:25:46.471
three or four issues that you're pushing

00:25:46.530 --> 00:25:46.590
out,

00:25:46.611 --> 00:25:47.771
it's a lot different from the guy who's

00:25:47.791 --> 00:25:48.771
talking to the first one.

00:25:49.893 --> 00:25:51.555
So I'm looking to get this first issue

00:25:51.595 --> 00:25:52.375
in y'all's hands.

00:25:52.935 --> 00:25:53.517
Do it right.

00:25:53.576 --> 00:25:54.097
Make it well.

00:25:54.577 --> 00:25:57.260
Because we are looking for immediately

00:25:57.582 --> 00:25:59.864
hitting ground with issue two, three,

00:25:59.903 --> 00:26:00.484
four, five.

00:26:00.664 --> 00:26:01.705
There's only seven.

00:26:01.806 --> 00:26:02.386
And like I said,

00:26:02.426 --> 00:26:04.068
we have a little goofy Halloween special

00:26:04.088 --> 00:26:05.190
that I just had to have.

00:26:05.230 --> 00:26:05.329
Yeah.

00:26:06.211 --> 00:26:08.692
um that we're gonna do in total and

00:26:08.972 --> 00:26:10.513
um and then that's it everything's

00:26:10.534 --> 00:26:12.875
scripted out everything's done we're done

00:26:12.914 --> 00:26:15.276
with uh colors and paging uh when it

00:26:15.296 --> 00:26:18.097
comes to issue one moving on to lettering

00:26:18.278 --> 00:26:21.078
and editing and getting real close guys

00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:24.401
getting real close dude i like it i

00:26:24.441 --> 00:26:26.001
like the fact that you're almost there and

00:26:26.041 --> 00:26:28.624
everything is being laid out properly but

00:26:28.663 --> 00:26:31.005
um so who are some more of the

00:26:31.125 --> 00:26:32.986
artists and kind of collaborators helping

00:26:33.026 --> 00:26:34.406
bring this story to life

00:26:35.134 --> 00:26:37.035
Yeah, and I actually might have, you know,

00:26:37.095 --> 00:26:38.195
one or two updates for the couple of

00:26:38.215 --> 00:26:39.237
things I got going on.

00:26:40.417 --> 00:26:41.838
But the guys right in the ship right

00:26:41.878 --> 00:26:43.460
now, Billy Micaiah Kanza,

00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:45.401
who's been the pencil and anchor,

00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:46.442
has been awesome.

00:26:47.221 --> 00:26:47.602
Like I said,

00:26:47.622 --> 00:26:48.722
I'm working on a number of different

00:26:48.762 --> 00:26:49.723
projects right now.

00:26:49.824 --> 00:26:52.065
He has been the most responsive,

00:26:52.105 --> 00:26:53.886
just respectful on it.

00:26:54.406 --> 00:26:56.468
Good communication, great concept work.

00:26:56.508 --> 00:26:57.689
Really happy to have been working with

00:26:57.729 --> 00:26:58.088
him.

00:26:58.730 --> 00:27:00.391
And his color is Jorge Elias,

00:27:00.471 --> 00:27:01.230
who is with, of course,

00:27:01.251 --> 00:27:02.311
the team I was mentioning before,

00:27:02.352 --> 00:27:02.893
Fiction Comics.

00:27:02.932 --> 00:27:03.053
Yeah.

00:27:04.395 --> 00:27:05.876
So they're doing a lot of work on

00:27:05.896 --> 00:27:07.336
the Fallen Seven right now.

00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.798
Elias has been on the cover of a

00:27:11.858 --> 00:27:13.079
number of real good works,

00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:14.441
some silly stuff.

00:27:14.520 --> 00:27:15.760
One of them I think was called the

00:27:16.040 --> 00:27:17.142
Alabama Alligator

00:27:18.818 --> 00:27:19.739
Something, something,

00:27:19.778 --> 00:27:21.059
but it is really good.

00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:23.019
When I saw his work, I definitely,

00:27:23.059 --> 00:27:23.920
I was like, all right,

00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:25.361
we're moving forward with these guys.

00:27:26.740 --> 00:27:28.882
So those have been the leads so far.

00:27:29.582 --> 00:27:31.521
I'm actually working with a guy right now,

00:27:31.902 --> 00:27:32.762
Noah Carabello.

00:27:32.823 --> 00:27:34.182
He's with Edge Comics.

00:27:35.222 --> 00:27:36.743
He's going to be doing our variant cover

00:27:36.763 --> 00:27:37.903
that's in the works right now.

00:27:38.904 --> 00:27:39.705
that we're going to have with our

00:27:39.726 --> 00:27:40.326
Kickstarter,

00:27:40.366 --> 00:27:41.749
which I'm going to have feature a little

00:27:41.769 --> 00:27:44.613
bit more of Slick Prick Paper Wing to

00:27:44.633 --> 00:27:47.195
kind of give his due justice as is

00:27:47.256 --> 00:27:48.057
his series.

00:27:48.498 --> 00:27:49.500
But in the fat of it,

00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:52.903
this issue in a way is pop pops.

00:27:52.924 --> 00:27:53.625
I like it, man.

00:27:55.902 --> 00:27:59.344
So what was your creative process like?

00:27:59.364 --> 00:28:01.625
Did you start with a full script or

00:28:01.965 --> 00:28:03.366
how has this process been for you?

00:28:03.406 --> 00:28:05.948
Like a full up collaboration at the same

00:28:06.008 --> 00:28:06.428
time?

00:28:06.989 --> 00:28:08.609
Or did you literally sit down,

00:28:09.250 --> 00:28:11.330
write out this nice big script for the

00:28:11.411 --> 00:28:13.492
full seven issues and then kind of like,

00:28:14.173 --> 00:28:16.413
Like we shop here for one, two, three,

00:28:16.493 --> 00:28:16.894
four, five.

00:28:16.914 --> 00:28:20.156
So I write a lot of short stories

00:28:20.596 --> 00:28:22.137
and I always look for goofy reasons to

00:28:22.178 --> 00:28:22.657
write them.

00:28:22.877 --> 00:28:24.078
And the sillier, the better.

00:28:24.900 --> 00:28:26.861
I usually write about ten to twelve pages

00:28:27.381 --> 00:28:28.402
and I'm writing something.

00:28:28.781 --> 00:28:29.762
I usually know if I'm going to want

00:28:29.782 --> 00:28:30.883
to keep playing with it or not.

00:28:31.644 --> 00:28:34.605
And so Pop Pop was the first one

00:28:34.625 --> 00:28:37.646
created and I had, you know,

00:28:37.666 --> 00:28:39.268
ideas in my head for him about what

00:28:39.288 --> 00:28:40.288
the story would be.

00:28:40.709 --> 00:28:41.789
And I wrote probably

00:28:43.253 --> 00:28:44.734
probably a good fifteen.

00:28:45.454 --> 00:28:45.974
That's it.

00:28:46.015 --> 00:28:46.435
Fifteen,

00:28:46.476 --> 00:28:49.317
sixteen pages of scripting for all drop

00:28:49.376 --> 00:28:51.798
pop pop and loved it so much.

00:28:51.817 --> 00:28:52.959
And the other characters kept on

00:28:53.398 --> 00:28:54.539
developing around it.

00:28:54.920 --> 00:28:56.540
And this antagonist that I had been

00:28:56.560 --> 00:28:57.922
writing out the entire time,

00:28:58.442 --> 00:28:59.541
there was a point where to sit down

00:28:59.582 --> 00:29:00.323
and I was like,

00:29:00.343 --> 00:29:02.864
this is the protagonist like this is this

00:29:02.903 --> 00:29:03.684
is who we're about.

00:29:03.765 --> 00:29:05.865
And so once I really started to paint

00:29:05.905 --> 00:29:07.906
more in the light of Slick Prick,

00:29:09.115 --> 00:29:10.217
It just opened up.

00:29:10.356 --> 00:29:12.398
And so the concepts of it really have

00:29:12.459 --> 00:29:16.622
changed once or twice in the first two,

00:29:16.663 --> 00:29:17.963
three weeks of inception.

00:29:18.243 --> 00:29:18.743
And then...

00:29:20.311 --> 00:29:22.755
I wrote script one of what is actually

00:29:23.336 --> 00:29:25.218
what you will be reading at Once Upon

00:29:25.258 --> 00:29:25.878
a Hive.

00:29:26.538 --> 00:29:28.121
And it was clear to me at that

00:29:28.221 --> 00:29:29.883
ending the way I specifically wrote it,

00:29:29.923 --> 00:29:31.305
how much I wanted to do and how

00:29:31.345 --> 00:29:32.726
much groundwork I've laid.

00:29:33.227 --> 00:29:35.009
So I went to write a quick synopsis

00:29:35.028 --> 00:29:36.329
of what I would do for an issue

00:29:36.369 --> 00:29:38.873
two and have the synopsis for this series

00:29:38.932 --> 00:29:39.252
done.

00:29:40.253 --> 00:29:41.714
and so i decided i was like wow

00:29:41.734 --> 00:29:43.317
so i'm gonna really deep dive into this

00:29:43.416 --> 00:29:45.298
and so i did more bug research had

00:29:45.357 --> 00:29:47.920
more fun uh learned about more about them

00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:49.681
uh because again you know it's uh the

00:29:49.721 --> 00:29:51.363
more you know about your characters the

00:29:51.403 --> 00:29:52.403
more of the world you're going to be

00:29:52.443 --> 00:29:54.805
able to build yeah and you know the

00:29:54.845 --> 00:29:56.646
the palette of who these characters were

00:29:56.686 --> 00:29:58.528
were right there and everyday kind of

00:29:58.567 --> 00:30:01.750
silly things and just personified by who

00:30:01.790 --> 00:30:03.751
they would be almost in the wild west

00:30:04.653 --> 00:30:07.035
um and then it's very character driven i

00:30:07.075 --> 00:30:09.457
think uh this story was more so um

00:30:10.037 --> 00:30:10.817
But yeah,

00:30:10.897 --> 00:30:13.619
so I started off just a sixteen-pager,

00:30:14.099 --> 00:30:15.421
turned into a full script,

00:30:15.580 --> 00:30:16.981
said I can't be done with this,

00:30:17.423 --> 00:30:18.723
added more to the first script,

00:30:18.784 --> 00:30:21.164
and just synopsis the entire story.

00:30:21.786 --> 00:30:23.047
And then over the course of maybe about

00:30:23.067 --> 00:30:23.807
a month or two,

00:30:23.846 --> 00:30:26.368
took the time to script well out the

00:30:26.409 --> 00:30:28.070
rest of it.

00:30:28.131 --> 00:30:28.351
Okay,

00:30:28.750 --> 00:30:30.873
so what has surprised you the most during

00:30:30.893 --> 00:30:32.594
the production of this comic book?

00:30:34.333 --> 00:30:35.874
Um, it's attraction.

00:30:35.913 --> 00:30:36.554
It's weirdness.

00:30:37.114 --> 00:30:38.474
Um, I have, I have a lot of,

00:30:38.494 --> 00:30:39.914
I will, I will agree with that.

00:30:40.335 --> 00:30:40.734
Yeah.

00:30:40.855 --> 00:30:41.996
It's a, it's far out.

00:30:42.115 --> 00:30:43.395
And, uh, I have some,

00:30:44.317 --> 00:30:45.856
you're one of the real sci-fi stuff.

00:30:45.916 --> 00:30:46.958
I'm a big horror guy.

00:30:46.978 --> 00:30:48.238
I love sci-fi horror.

00:30:48.258 --> 00:30:50.439
Um, you know, goofy stuff.

00:30:50.459 --> 00:30:51.659
Like I think the iron lung movie that

00:30:51.679 --> 00:30:52.720
just came out was brilliant.

00:30:52.859 --> 00:30:53.200
Loved it.

00:30:53.240 --> 00:30:54.140
Loved everything about it.

00:30:54.220 --> 00:30:54.881
Everybody did.

00:30:54.921 --> 00:30:57.260
Cause that movie like racked up on the,

00:30:57.981 --> 00:30:58.882
the weekends, uh,

00:30:59.260 --> 00:31:00.701
I was writing, I mentioned earlier,

00:31:00.721 --> 00:31:01.823
I don't know if this was beforehand or

00:31:01.843 --> 00:31:03.703
not, but I was writing a submarine story.

00:31:04.224 --> 00:31:04.744
I stopped.

00:31:04.805 --> 00:31:05.885
I think that was while we were,

00:31:08.028 --> 00:31:09.008
before we went live.

00:31:09.328 --> 00:31:09.669
Yeah.

00:31:10.048 --> 00:31:11.230
I was writing a story and doing a

00:31:11.250 --> 00:31:12.971
lot of research for it and watched Iron

00:31:13.011 --> 00:31:14.152
Long and I just put it away.

00:31:15.313 --> 00:31:15.693
I was like,

00:31:15.854 --> 00:31:17.994
they did an existential Lovecraftian

00:31:18.035 --> 00:31:19.336
horror in a submarine.

00:31:19.757 --> 00:31:20.737
That's what I was writing.

00:31:20.836 --> 00:31:21.597
They did it better.

00:31:22.178 --> 00:31:25.800
We're going to let them have that.

00:31:25.840 --> 00:31:26.801
Sorry, I went off the rails.

00:31:26.842 --> 00:31:27.281
I'm sorry about that.

00:31:27.321 --> 00:31:28.042
No, you're good.

00:31:30.497 --> 00:31:31.317
What were we on?

00:31:33.018 --> 00:31:35.239
What has surprised you the most during the

00:31:35.298 --> 00:31:36.598
production of the comic book?

00:31:36.759 --> 00:31:38.099
Yeah, the attraction of it.

00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:40.260
I write a number of weird different

00:31:40.280 --> 00:31:40.500
things.

00:31:40.520 --> 00:31:40.881
Like I said,

00:31:40.901 --> 00:31:42.602
I write a number of short stories.

00:31:42.642 --> 00:31:45.202
When I started talking to this one,

00:31:45.222 --> 00:31:46.502
to my buddies and to my wife,

00:31:46.563 --> 00:31:47.163
it was kind of the...

00:31:48.193 --> 00:31:49.755
You sure?

00:31:49.994 --> 00:31:51.756
And when you have a number of projects

00:31:51.796 --> 00:31:53.317
that are locked and ready to go,

00:31:53.396 --> 00:31:55.038
and it's a matter of which ones you're

00:31:55.057 --> 00:31:56.179
going to put budget into,

00:31:56.318 --> 00:31:57.319
which ones are you going to start

00:31:57.339 --> 00:32:00.142
producing, there's a lot of conversation.

00:32:00.162 --> 00:32:01.082
And there was conversation of,

00:32:01.382 --> 00:32:02.522
do you think Hive is one of them?

00:32:02.702 --> 00:32:03.844
Are you sure you don't want to do

00:32:03.884 --> 00:32:04.663
this one instead?

00:32:05.224 --> 00:32:06.244
And I was like, no, man.

00:32:06.285 --> 00:32:06.546
I was like,

00:32:06.586 --> 00:32:07.986
it was just so fun when I wrote

00:32:08.027 --> 00:32:08.166
it.

00:32:08.267 --> 00:32:09.627
Like, it's got to be fun.

00:32:10.188 --> 00:32:13.910
And then I'm really blown away happy about

00:32:13.930 --> 00:32:15.770
the uniqueness that people are finding

00:32:15.810 --> 00:32:16.152
from it.

00:32:16.172 --> 00:32:16.531
Yeah.

00:32:17.594 --> 00:32:17.794
No,

00:32:17.933 --> 00:32:19.315
it's one of those where you when you

00:32:19.355 --> 00:32:22.896
sent me the stills of the book and

00:32:22.916 --> 00:32:25.278
that's what I turned into the hype video

00:32:25.357 --> 00:32:25.999
for this.

00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:26.838
Yeah.

00:32:26.878 --> 00:32:27.599
And I was just like,

00:32:28.140 --> 00:32:29.861
there is the two images that I used

00:32:29.901 --> 00:32:30.361
in the middle.

00:32:30.441 --> 00:32:32.162
One of them is kind of like the

00:32:32.261 --> 00:32:34.323
artwork for the top left hand corner,

00:32:34.343 --> 00:32:34.542
you know?

00:32:34.563 --> 00:32:34.762
Yeah.

00:32:35.983 --> 00:32:37.105
And then the other one was like the

00:32:37.184 --> 00:32:38.726
full like wanted poster image.

00:32:39.326 --> 00:32:41.587
That gives you the synopsis of the book.

00:32:42.147 --> 00:32:43.888
And I was like, sitting there, I'm like,

00:32:43.929 --> 00:32:45.529
I had stuff ready to put there.

00:32:46.330 --> 00:32:47.872
And I was just like,

00:32:47.951 --> 00:32:48.752
I can't cover that.

00:32:50.365 --> 00:32:51.907
I ended up doing the first part of

00:32:51.968 --> 00:32:53.349
the hype video and the end and part

00:32:53.369 --> 00:32:55.852
of the hype video with the information

00:32:55.872 --> 00:32:57.854
that I wanted to get across because I

00:32:57.874 --> 00:32:59.395
just couldn't touch those two middle pages

00:33:00.557 --> 00:33:01.438
that you had sent me.

00:33:01.458 --> 00:33:02.019
I was just like,

00:33:02.558 --> 00:33:04.520
this is too pretty to freaking cover.

00:33:04.580 --> 00:33:06.442
And I love the one at poster that

00:33:06.462 --> 00:33:09.046
you did with the synopsis on it.

00:33:09.066 --> 00:33:10.768
I was just like, that's just too good.

00:33:10.807 --> 00:33:11.568
I can't cover that.

00:33:12.219 --> 00:33:13.460
I told Billy Micaiah,

00:33:13.539 --> 00:33:14.760
I told him when we first started out

00:33:14.861 --> 00:33:16.961
and he was telling me too,

00:33:17.001 --> 00:33:17.262
he was like,

00:33:17.303 --> 00:33:18.963
I'll have a lot of different side sketches

00:33:19.003 --> 00:33:19.983
for each different character.

00:33:20.464 --> 00:33:21.484
I was like, keep them all.

00:33:21.505 --> 00:33:21.925
I was like,

00:33:21.945 --> 00:33:23.366
every time you're doing character work or

00:33:23.386 --> 00:33:24.086
something, just keep it for me,

00:33:24.126 --> 00:33:25.008
send it to me, send it to me.

00:33:25.548 --> 00:33:26.689
And I ended up being able to play

00:33:26.729 --> 00:33:28.170
with a lot of his line work and

00:33:28.190 --> 00:33:31.051
do a lot of cool marketing stuff.

00:33:31.112 --> 00:33:32.893
I'd say that as an advice for anybody

00:33:32.932 --> 00:33:35.454
who's brand new to have whatever your

00:33:35.535 --> 00:33:36.596
artist is working on,

00:33:36.655 --> 00:33:38.096
especially your work in progress.

00:33:38.636 --> 00:33:39.137
get it.

00:33:39.238 --> 00:33:40.519
If they're making videos and stuff,

00:33:40.558 --> 00:33:41.098
get it.

00:33:41.239 --> 00:33:41.618
You know,

00:33:42.339 --> 00:33:43.921
that's some of my favorite stuff to watch.

00:33:44.201 --> 00:33:44.961
A hundred percent.

00:33:45.142 --> 00:33:45.741
Absolutely.

00:33:46.202 --> 00:33:48.624
And right now your Instagram is full of

00:33:48.663 --> 00:33:50.005
those.

00:33:50.085 --> 00:33:50.566
Yeah.

00:33:50.945 --> 00:33:53.928
I'm, I'm, I'm learning, unfortunately,

00:33:53.968 --> 00:33:55.709
this algorithm motion that we're in right

00:33:55.970 --> 00:33:56.089
now.

00:33:56.109 --> 00:33:56.549
Good luck.

00:33:56.670 --> 00:33:57.691
It'll change tomorrow.

00:33:58.191 --> 00:33:59.771
That's, that's, I've been hearing that.

00:34:00.051 --> 00:34:00.932
Yeah, I'm hearing that.

00:34:00.952 --> 00:34:03.315
So it's, so it's tough.

00:34:03.335 --> 00:34:05.756
I want to say that it's tough because

00:34:05.796 --> 00:34:07.357
you want to get what the algorithm wants,

00:34:07.397 --> 00:34:07.837
which is these,

00:34:08.217 --> 00:34:10.838
shorter form things and everything that

00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:13.900
works for a world that is created and

00:34:13.981 --> 00:34:15.521
out there and has a fandom.

00:34:15.561 --> 00:34:17.922
You can do a slim shot of Battle

00:34:17.943 --> 00:34:20.264
Beast and the whole image comic world

00:34:20.304 --> 00:34:21.925
knows exactly what's this and that.

00:34:22.264 --> 00:34:25.987
To try to sell something to your reader,

00:34:26.467 --> 00:34:27.588
not just what I mean sell,

00:34:27.628 --> 00:34:29.909
I mean to purvey a thought to someone

00:34:29.969 --> 00:34:32.190
in that shorter form is tough.

00:34:32.210 --> 00:34:33.471
I'm actually going to be looking to see

00:34:33.490 --> 00:34:34.311
what I can do about

00:34:35.507 --> 00:34:35.987
I don't know.

00:34:36.469 --> 00:34:37.251
Changing things up.

00:34:37.411 --> 00:34:37.612
Yeah,

00:34:37.672 --> 00:34:39.275
I love the I love making the videos

00:34:39.315 --> 00:34:40.036
and reels, man.

00:34:40.056 --> 00:34:40.438
They're fun.

00:34:41.795 --> 00:34:42.835
I I'm laughing because,

00:34:42.876 --> 00:34:44.056
and I'm not laughing at you.

00:34:44.117 --> 00:34:45.878
I'm laughing because that is the struggle

00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:50.601
I have for every single interview I do

00:34:50.981 --> 00:34:52.742
because every single one is different.

00:34:53.182 --> 00:34:53.643
So I'm,

00:34:54.344 --> 00:34:56.144
and I try to keep it to my

00:34:56.244 --> 00:34:58.266
flair of the podcast, right.

00:34:58.847 --> 00:35:00.789
And make it about the person because I'm

00:35:00.849 --> 00:35:03.170
literally marketing you for the podcast.

00:35:03.190 --> 00:35:04.150
Right.

00:35:04.170 --> 00:35:05.592
But it has to be different and it

00:35:05.652 --> 00:35:07.172
has to be unique because,

00:35:07.637 --> 00:35:11.940
each time yeah and it's just and i

00:35:12.001 --> 00:35:14.242
laugh at myself because i'm like the exact

00:35:14.262 --> 00:35:16.344
thing you just described doing it for one

00:35:16.384 --> 00:35:16.903
project

00:35:18.063 --> 00:35:20.545
i do up to eighteen sometimes a month

00:35:20.585 --> 00:35:23.728
yeah which that that number is getting

00:35:23.788 --> 00:35:26.530
slashed in greatly starting in april

00:35:26.949 --> 00:35:29.652
because yeah march is like i just want

00:35:29.672 --> 00:35:31.972
to survive march to be fair i saw

00:35:31.992 --> 00:35:33.333
your lineup and i was like he's working

00:35:36.856 --> 00:35:39.637
april is like i said i i did

00:35:39.677 --> 00:35:42.219
a drastic cut down in april may i'm

00:35:42.260 --> 00:35:45.202
taking a vacation for a week so that's

00:35:45.222 --> 00:35:46.121
going to help but

00:35:47.182 --> 00:35:49.085
end goal is probably ten to twelve a

00:35:49.144 --> 00:35:51.407
month and that's still a lot compared to

00:35:51.507 --> 00:35:55.132
what some people do yeah these are all

00:35:55.172 --> 00:35:58.235
live everything everything is unique to

00:35:58.514 --> 00:36:00.878
the person coming on it's not generic

00:36:01.438 --> 00:36:02.880
everything is like as i was telling you

00:36:02.900 --> 00:36:05.922
before we had went live i literally build

00:36:07.056 --> 00:36:10.119
each interview to the person the man hours

00:36:10.259 --> 00:36:13.661
i put in to learn who you are

00:36:14.461 --> 00:36:16.724
and to go to your social media i

00:36:16.764 --> 00:36:20.027
do the research i find questions and i

00:36:20.067 --> 00:36:22.487
make everything literally about the person

00:36:22.648 --> 00:36:25.369
so yeah yeah it's a lot and this

00:36:25.409 --> 00:36:26.731
month is going to be a struggle but

00:36:27.251 --> 00:36:28.313
i'm going to get through it like i

00:36:28.373 --> 00:36:28.793
always do

00:36:29.505 --> 00:36:29.844
Yeah,

00:36:30.226 --> 00:36:32.146
aside from the actual interviewing aspect,

00:36:32.166 --> 00:36:33.447
that's a lot of the marketing aspect.

00:36:33.467 --> 00:36:34.869
This is the easy part.

00:36:34.889 --> 00:36:34.989
Yeah.

00:36:35.009 --> 00:36:36.650
This is the easy part right here.

00:36:36.690 --> 00:36:38.570
I'd say the same thing.

00:36:38.690 --> 00:36:41.492
It sounds crazy.

00:36:41.512 --> 00:36:43.134
It's not easy building a comic book.

00:36:43.153 --> 00:36:44.514
It's a much more complex machine than

00:36:45.054 --> 00:36:46.016
anyone would assume.

00:36:46.697 --> 00:36:47.797
But building it,

00:36:48.016 --> 00:36:49.157
writing it is the easy part.

00:36:49.277 --> 00:36:51.039
Like being a comic book writer is like,

00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:53.021
yeah, that's the fun part.

00:36:53.740 --> 00:36:54.742
You know, getting involved.

00:36:55.041 --> 00:36:56.382
And I want to thank, too,

00:36:56.523 --> 00:36:57.963
a number of creators out there that have

00:36:58.003 --> 00:36:59.045
set the tone for it.

00:36:59.684 --> 00:37:01.586
made it more acceptable,

00:37:01.666 --> 00:37:03.807
more common to get out there and promote

00:37:03.827 --> 00:37:06.130
your stuff, the Kickstarter style,

00:37:06.170 --> 00:37:07.371
the social media style.

00:37:07.751 --> 00:37:09.773
Because, you know, few of us, I think,

00:37:09.793 --> 00:37:11.773
would have ever have, you know, gone on,

00:37:11.813 --> 00:37:13.375
put our face somewhere and started talking

00:37:13.394 --> 00:37:15.177
about something, put ourselves out there.

00:37:15.996 --> 00:37:16.097
Yeah.

00:37:16.117 --> 00:37:18.298
Been aware how big the marketing and

00:37:18.378 --> 00:37:21.762
social media aspect is to the entirety of

00:37:21.802 --> 00:37:22.541
the project.

00:37:22.963 --> 00:37:24.003
And yeah, you're right.

00:37:24.023 --> 00:37:25.545
This is creating, you know,

00:37:25.565 --> 00:37:26.644
and having fun collaborating.

00:37:26.664 --> 00:37:27.346
That's the easy part.

00:37:28.317 --> 00:37:29.438
Oh, a hundred percent.

00:37:29.878 --> 00:37:31.659
So you're working in an indie space where

00:37:31.699 --> 00:37:33.579
creators often wear multiple hats.

00:37:33.619 --> 00:37:35.480
What advice would you give to someone who

00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:39.282
wants to start their own comic?

00:37:40.802 --> 00:37:42.483
My dad gave me advice in the beginning

00:37:42.503 --> 00:37:43.804
of this when I asked him a question

00:37:43.824 --> 00:37:46.724
about something and he told me it takes

00:37:46.784 --> 00:37:48.865
a wise man to understand that sometimes

00:37:48.885 --> 00:37:50.067
someone else can do it better than you.

00:37:52.048 --> 00:37:52.449
I mean it.

00:37:53.369 --> 00:37:55.452
I think what I took from that was

00:37:56.213 --> 00:37:58.215
I aspired to do all my lettering.

00:37:58.335 --> 00:37:59.836
I aspired to do a number of different

00:37:59.856 --> 00:38:00.498
things myself.

00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:03.702
I'm going to hand over lettering.

00:38:03.762 --> 00:38:04.523
I just did.

00:38:04.583 --> 00:38:06.724
I hired a guy just a week and

00:38:06.744 --> 00:38:07.146
a half ago.

00:38:07.965 --> 00:38:09.086
Go ahead and get started on a number

00:38:09.126 --> 00:38:10.947
of things for the lettering because I'm

00:38:10.987 --> 00:38:13.668
taking a look at the quality that Billy

00:38:13.688 --> 00:38:15.170
and Jorge have provided for me as an

00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:15.929
illustrator.

00:38:16.389 --> 00:38:18.371
The quality, not to toot my own horn,

00:38:18.391 --> 00:38:20.112
that I feel like I've given this story.

00:38:21.271 --> 00:38:23.072
And do I want to debase that by,

00:38:23.112 --> 00:38:24.074
let's see if I can do it.

00:38:24.713 --> 00:38:26.516
yeah and there are things and i have

00:38:26.556 --> 00:38:28.219
webtoons and they'll all be practicing

00:38:28.278 --> 00:38:29.860
lettering and i'll be trying to be more

00:38:29.900 --> 00:38:31.483
professional about how i go to do so

00:38:32.003 --> 00:38:33.626
but do i really want to have a

00:38:33.746 --> 00:38:35.527
lower quality lettering it's going to look

00:38:35.568 --> 00:38:36.929
terrible just because like i really want

00:38:36.949 --> 00:38:38.211
to do it myself i want to do

00:38:38.251 --> 00:38:40.233
it myself a guy just hired is going

00:38:40.253 --> 00:38:40.914
to do it a lot better

00:38:42.744 --> 00:38:45.306
And so I would say there's a handful.

00:38:45.505 --> 00:38:47.007
I would give you a thousand pieces of

00:38:47.027 --> 00:38:48.387
advice if you're a new creator.

00:38:49.148 --> 00:38:50.449
But aside from that one thing,

00:38:50.568 --> 00:38:52.090
I'll say just do it.

00:38:53.150 --> 00:38:54.990
A lot of this is just throwing stuff

00:38:55.030 --> 00:38:57.693
into the sky and being surprised what I'm

00:38:57.733 --> 00:38:59.494
not saying throwing spaghetti and poor

00:38:59.514 --> 00:39:00.454
quality at the wall.

00:39:00.813 --> 00:39:02.655
I'm saying it's being brave enough to just

00:39:02.875 --> 00:39:03.416
do it.

00:39:04.275 --> 00:39:06.117
We live in a world where people think

00:39:06.137 --> 00:39:08.197
that like somebody is a famous writer

00:39:08.237 --> 00:39:09.478
because they're a famous writer.

00:39:09.498 --> 00:39:10.880
They were born to be a famous writer.

00:39:11.539 --> 00:39:13.181
a majority of the famous writers you know

00:39:13.240 --> 00:39:15.081
had normal jobs the greatest writers

00:39:15.101 --> 00:39:16.641
you've ever known have the greatest jobs

00:39:16.661 --> 00:39:17.922
greatest artists you've ever seen had

00:39:17.981 --> 00:39:21.983
normal jobs um don't sell yourself short

00:39:22.043 --> 00:39:24.465
in an art space just do it don't

00:39:24.565 --> 00:39:27.286
ask permission uh there are no rules

00:39:27.425 --> 00:39:29.806
literally none aside perhaps copyright but

00:39:29.847 --> 00:39:35.009
like there's not just um nike there yeah

00:39:37.202 --> 00:39:37.782
So, you know,

00:39:37.802 --> 00:39:40.344
it's funny is like that goes back to

00:39:40.784 --> 00:39:43.045
when you're building a business or a brand

00:39:43.206 --> 00:39:45.827
is to surround yourself with people

00:39:45.867 --> 00:39:47.128
smarter than yourself.

00:39:47.409 --> 00:39:49.030
Because if you're the smartest person in

00:39:49.050 --> 00:39:50.972
the room, you've already fucked that up.

00:39:51.052 --> 00:39:51.552
You know what I'm saying?

00:39:51.572 --> 00:39:51.652
Yeah.

00:39:51.692 --> 00:39:51.831
Mm hmm.

00:39:53.347 --> 00:39:56.568
yeah absolutely um i've said this for a

00:39:56.608 --> 00:39:58.349
long time too and i've worked in a

00:39:58.409 --> 00:39:59.690
number of different things i won't get

00:39:59.730 --> 00:40:01.251
into what i've done career-wise and

00:40:01.271 --> 00:40:03.391
everything but the best resource in the

00:40:03.431 --> 00:40:05.132
world will always be another person who's

00:40:05.172 --> 00:40:07.512
done something before um and i'm telling

00:40:07.532 --> 00:40:09.653
you this as a reader who i'm telling

00:40:09.673 --> 00:40:11.153
you this is somebody who uses google

00:40:11.333 --> 00:40:12.914
somebody who looks for things for advice

00:40:13.235 --> 00:40:14.875
the person in front of you will always

00:40:14.914 --> 00:40:15.936
be a better resource

00:40:16.556 --> 00:40:17.677
Talk to these people that have done it

00:40:17.697 --> 00:40:18.177
before.

00:40:18.217 --> 00:40:20.039
Listen to their advice about Kickstarters,

00:40:20.699 --> 00:40:21.840
about story writing,

00:40:21.880 --> 00:40:23.362
about not getting overly involved in

00:40:23.382 --> 00:40:24.382
things you don't want to get overly

00:40:24.402 --> 00:40:26.085
involved in.

00:40:26.144 --> 00:40:26.945
Be receptive.

00:40:27.065 --> 00:40:28.226
And when it's your turn,

00:40:29.086 --> 00:40:29.927
teach somebody what you can.

00:40:29.967 --> 00:40:30.449
Yeah.

00:40:31.449 --> 00:40:31.528
So...

00:40:32.585 --> 00:40:34.565
I can't remember if we talked about this.

00:40:34.746 --> 00:40:35.126
Actually, no,

00:40:35.146 --> 00:40:36.086
we already talked about this.

00:40:36.106 --> 00:40:37.588
This is one of the first things we

00:40:37.608 --> 00:40:39.268
talked about was the community for Indie

00:40:39.309 --> 00:40:40.228
Comments today.

00:40:41.289 --> 00:40:43.791
So we'll scroll over that one and go

00:40:43.831 --> 00:40:44.271
to this.

00:40:44.751 --> 00:40:47.333
What role do you think social platforms

00:40:47.393 --> 00:40:49.353
play in building an audience for comments

00:40:49.373 --> 00:40:49.994
like this?

00:40:51.375 --> 00:40:52.476
Right now, it's huge.

00:40:52.635 --> 00:40:53.315
To be honest with you,

00:40:53.376 --> 00:40:56.378
I can't imagine how you guys would have

00:40:56.418 --> 00:40:57.797
gone about it beforehand.

00:41:00.632 --> 00:41:00.791
Look,

00:41:00.811 --> 00:41:01.853
we don't live in a day and age

00:41:01.873 --> 00:41:03.434
where people have thousands of dollars to

00:41:03.454 --> 00:41:05.275
pay artists to do this unless they have

00:41:05.315 --> 00:41:06.436
some type of budgeting or getting

00:41:06.476 --> 00:41:07.376
crowdfunding or anything.

00:41:07.496 --> 00:41:09.097
I don't really understand how like a

00:41:09.217 --> 00:41:10.998
nineties in these guys would have got off

00:41:11.018 --> 00:41:11.579
the ground.

00:41:11.998 --> 00:41:13.500
The bigger guys that we respect and know

00:41:13.539 --> 00:41:15.780
that we call me like an indie like

00:41:15.922 --> 00:41:17.782
image were founded by people that were

00:41:17.802 --> 00:41:19.764
already very successful in a very

00:41:19.804 --> 00:41:20.523
successful industry.

00:41:21.824 --> 00:41:24.206
Um, I think it plays a massive role.

00:41:24.527 --> 00:41:26.347
I never once thought I'd be, I didn't,

00:41:27.148 --> 00:41:28.648
I didn't get on Facebook before I started

00:41:28.688 --> 00:41:29.190
comic books.

00:41:29.210 --> 00:41:31.030
I didn't get on Instagram,

00:41:31.050 --> 00:41:32.210
TikTok or anything like that.

00:41:32.550 --> 00:41:34.713
I felt old asking my friends advice about

00:41:34.773 --> 00:41:36.313
how to build a TikTok and do all

00:41:36.333 --> 00:41:37.173
this and do all that.

00:41:37.733 --> 00:41:40.155
But it's, it's paramountly important.

00:41:40.615 --> 00:41:41.496
It's very important,

00:41:42.596 --> 00:41:44.237
which does kind of sting to say that

00:41:44.336 --> 00:41:46.197
there is an extent to where creative

00:41:46.237 --> 00:41:47.697
community is being with.

00:41:47.717 --> 00:41:48.918
I mean, there is an algorithm.

00:41:48.938 --> 00:41:51.898
There is a madman science behind something

00:41:51.918 --> 00:41:53.159
you really don't have that much control

00:41:53.259 --> 00:41:53.498
over.

00:41:54.539 --> 00:41:56.378
So, again, advice to new people.

00:41:56.920 --> 00:41:57.179
Learn it.

00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:00.659
You don't have to start treading this

00:42:00.699 --> 00:42:03.300
water because it's part of it.

00:42:04.340 --> 00:42:07.141
Social media has been wonderful, you know,

00:42:07.282 --> 00:42:07.722
and don't.

00:42:08.608 --> 00:42:09.409
I think it's slow.

00:42:09.909 --> 00:42:11.590
Your brand will grow as you do.

00:42:12.409 --> 00:42:13.510
When that moment is right,

00:42:13.710 --> 00:42:15.612
it's going to hit the right way and

00:42:15.632 --> 00:42:17.251
you're going to find your audience.

00:42:20.253 --> 00:42:24.534
But what else is coming for Disco Punk?

00:42:24.635 --> 00:42:26.576
Oh, man.

00:42:26.596 --> 00:42:27.456
Probably more than I should.

00:42:27.496 --> 00:42:30.257
So I have Once Upon a Hive and

00:42:30.297 --> 00:42:32.597
we're ready for issue two ASAP ASAP.

00:42:33.018 --> 00:42:34.898
Ricky Ricky Recoil is a

00:42:36.043 --> 00:42:36.985
Very fun,

00:42:37.045 --> 00:42:38.867
very fun manga that I've been working on.

00:42:38.987 --> 00:42:40.188
I originally did not want it to be

00:42:40.228 --> 00:42:40.748
a manga.

00:42:41.168 --> 00:42:42.909
And I even said when I was looking

00:42:42.949 --> 00:42:44.472
and listing for an artist for this,

00:42:44.891 --> 00:42:45.853
it's not going to be that guy.

00:42:45.873 --> 00:42:47.434
And some guy sent me something.

00:42:47.454 --> 00:42:49.596
I was like, yeah, I can see that.

00:42:49.615 --> 00:42:50.936
And I was like, man,

00:42:51.036 --> 00:42:52.297
it just really changed the way I looked

00:42:52.338 --> 00:42:52.478
at it.

00:42:52.498 --> 00:42:54.079
But Riki Riki Recoil is going to be

00:42:54.119 --> 00:42:54.721
great.

00:42:55.802 --> 00:42:57.063
I said when I first started that I

00:42:57.083 --> 00:43:00.264
didn't do superheroes.

00:43:00.284 --> 00:43:01.246
Sorry, I'll be right back.

00:43:01.286 --> 00:43:02.067
I got to check something.

00:43:02.086 --> 00:43:03.007
Oh, you're good, Buff.

00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:54.440
I apologize to everybody who is watching

00:43:54.481 --> 00:43:55.402
at home right now.

00:43:56.081 --> 00:43:57.603
One of my cats sounded like it was

00:43:59.545 --> 00:44:01.405
struggling to get a hairball up.

00:44:03.423 --> 00:44:03.784
Thankfully,

00:44:03.824 --> 00:44:06.686
this microphone and stuff cuts a lot of

00:44:06.726 --> 00:44:07.786
background noise out.

00:44:07.827 --> 00:44:09.068
No, you're doing it.

00:44:09.088 --> 00:44:10.088
I'm hearing it in this ear,

00:44:10.108 --> 00:44:11.009
and I'm like, come on, dude.

00:44:11.028 --> 00:44:11.628
You're all right here.

00:44:11.648 --> 00:44:17.833
Cat's all good, though, right?

00:44:17.873 --> 00:44:19.054
Yeah, no, he'll be fine.

00:44:19.094 --> 00:44:20.014
He's got long hair,

00:44:20.054 --> 00:44:24.016
so it's one of those where it happens

00:44:24.056 --> 00:44:24.398
with him.

00:44:24.418 --> 00:44:24.518
Yeah.

00:44:25.217 --> 00:44:26.219
Yeah.

00:44:27.045 --> 00:44:28.545
So Ricky, Ricky recoil.

00:44:28.846 --> 00:44:29.206
Yeah.

00:44:29.266 --> 00:44:29.766
I think Ricky,

00:44:29.806 --> 00:44:31.206
Ricky recoils can be real fun.

00:44:32.226 --> 00:44:34.628
Definitely a sci-fi driven.

00:44:34.789 --> 00:44:35.949
Don't want to give too much away.

00:44:36.509 --> 00:44:36.949
Go ahead.

00:44:36.989 --> 00:44:38.010
Social media is right away.

00:44:38.050 --> 00:44:38.730
Check out that one.

00:44:38.750 --> 00:44:39.931
We have a lot of content on that.

00:44:39.951 --> 00:44:41.070
A lot of works in progress that are

00:44:41.090 --> 00:44:41.972
coming out.

00:44:42.152 --> 00:44:44.472
There's a lot of stuff on your Instagram.

00:44:45.052 --> 00:44:45.753
Well,

00:44:45.934 --> 00:44:47.313
and a couple of the projects I'll talk

00:44:47.353 --> 00:44:48.355
about real quick,

00:44:49.494 --> 00:44:50.976
we haven't really released yet that we

00:44:51.016 --> 00:44:53.056
haven't really brought to the public.

00:44:53.456 --> 00:44:55.137
So the couple of big ones right now,

00:44:55.177 --> 00:44:56.157
of course, Riki Riki Requel,

00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:57.378
Once Upon a Hive,

00:44:57.838 --> 00:44:59.239
and we have The Fallen Seven, which,

00:44:59.360 --> 00:45:00.539
of course, fiction comics.

00:45:01.121 --> 00:45:01.280
Yep.

00:45:01.900 --> 00:45:03.923
and uh and they had some great stuff

00:45:03.963 --> 00:45:06.646
there um they really do um i wanted

00:45:06.786 --> 00:45:08.208
maybe as much as i can to get

00:45:08.228 --> 00:45:10.751
this out because i read the story as

00:45:10.771 --> 00:45:12.974
a writer i love it um and writers

00:45:12.994 --> 00:45:14.697
don't always like everybody else's stuff

00:45:15.378 --> 00:45:16.438
um so i mean it's one of those

00:45:16.458 --> 00:45:17.119
things i read it and i was like

00:45:17.139 --> 00:45:17.800
oh man that was a

00:45:19.152 --> 00:45:22.934
um some great story um very excited to

00:45:22.974 --> 00:45:24.434
talk about this one real quick and i'm

00:45:24.454 --> 00:45:26.016
going to be releasing information on this

00:45:26.115 --> 00:45:27.416
i had a buddy that passed away about

00:45:27.456 --> 00:45:30.657
two years ago named jc and growing up

00:45:30.697 --> 00:45:33.338
he would tell these infatuated stories

00:45:33.378 --> 00:45:35.920
that just were not true and we would

00:45:35.960 --> 00:45:37.981
find out like five years later growing up

00:45:38.001 --> 00:45:39.981
in the south we we all had that

00:45:40.081 --> 00:45:40.521
one friend

00:45:41.016 --> 00:45:41.416
Oh, wait,

00:45:41.456 --> 00:45:42.976
so he told this story one time,

00:45:43.016 --> 00:45:44.257
and this is where I got the inspiration

00:45:44.297 --> 00:45:45.139
for it, where he was telling me,

00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:46.619
he was like, he talked like this,

00:45:46.659 --> 00:45:47.139
and he was like,

00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:48.581
so I was in a fight with a

00:45:48.621 --> 00:45:48.782
dude,

00:45:48.822 --> 00:45:50.021
and I put my arms like this on

00:45:50.061 --> 00:45:50.443
the wall,

00:45:50.463 --> 00:45:52.023
and I just like scissor kicked him in

00:45:52.043 --> 00:45:52.784
the face.

00:45:52.903 --> 00:45:54.585
And we're like, JC, that didn't happen.

00:45:55.226 --> 00:45:56.327
But five years later,

00:45:56.706 --> 00:45:57.668
like after high school,

00:45:57.688 --> 00:45:58.568
I'm talking to some guy,

00:45:58.588 --> 00:45:59.088
and he was like, oh,

00:45:59.108 --> 00:45:59.748
you're friends with JC.

00:45:59.829 --> 00:46:00.869
And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:46:01.190 --> 00:46:01.690
He was like, dude,

00:46:01.710 --> 00:46:02.891
I was in seventh grade with him.

00:46:03.692 --> 00:46:05.974
He scissor kicked some dude in the face.

00:46:06.034 --> 00:46:07.275
And I'm like, that can't be true.

00:46:08.434 --> 00:46:09.016
And but anyways,

00:46:09.036 --> 00:46:09.836
there's a really good guy.

00:46:09.876 --> 00:46:11.737
He would tell these crazy stories that

00:46:11.777 --> 00:46:12.938
just could not be true.

00:46:12.958 --> 00:46:14.260
And then you'd find out that were.

00:46:14.900 --> 00:46:16.521
So when he passed away and he was

00:46:16.541 --> 00:46:17.943
just he was a big hippie.

00:46:18.304 --> 00:46:21.327
He had a smiley face,

00:46:21.666 --> 00:46:22.987
smiley face tattoo on his butt,

00:46:23.088 --> 00:46:25.650
all the stuff he passed away.

00:46:25.809 --> 00:46:27.831
I wrote this story called J.C.

00:46:27.851 --> 00:46:29.353
McSmiley Face Spaceman.

00:46:30.173 --> 00:46:31.873
So we have a webtoon that's going to

00:46:31.893 --> 00:46:32.795
be kind of coming up.

00:46:32.815 --> 00:46:34.114
It's going to be voice acted and a

00:46:34.155 --> 00:46:34.795
couple of things,

00:46:34.815 --> 00:46:37.376
but it's basically the story of a very

00:46:37.416 --> 00:46:39.695
embellished space adventure that my buddy

00:46:39.735 --> 00:46:40.637
JC had.

00:46:41.456 --> 00:46:45.878
And it's very it's very potty mouth humor.

00:46:45.958 --> 00:46:48.518
It's really teenage stoner flick.

00:46:49.358 --> 00:46:50.778
It's got to be a real good sign,

00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:52.139
but we're bringing that in.

00:46:54.096 --> 00:46:54.936
Gosh, what else?

00:46:55.177 --> 00:46:56.137
Because there's more coming.

00:46:57.018 --> 00:46:59.141
I'm working with a rather, rather,

00:46:59.181 --> 00:47:00.143
rather talented,

00:47:00.563 --> 00:47:02.626
well-known artist around the social media

00:47:02.646 --> 00:47:05.528
community to a sixty page one shot that

00:47:05.588 --> 00:47:07.911
has been in slow production for a while.

00:47:08.072 --> 00:47:09.293
That is a graphic novel.

00:47:10.815 --> 00:47:12.177
It had to be.

00:47:12.697 --> 00:47:14.018
So many people at times come to me,

00:47:14.039 --> 00:47:15.320
have you thought about breaking that down?

00:47:15.460 --> 00:47:17.443
And I'm like, no.

00:47:17.483 --> 00:47:19.166
So that story is Genesis.

00:47:19.586 --> 00:47:23.132
That is the creation of the universe into

00:47:23.152 --> 00:47:25.014
which everything I have written lives in.

00:47:26.503 --> 00:47:27.885
And it's a great story.

00:47:28.306 --> 00:47:30.510
It's definitely kind of the opus ode to

00:47:30.690 --> 00:47:30.949
art.

00:47:30.969 --> 00:47:33.072
It was owed to my mom and really

00:47:33.132 --> 00:47:35.876
heartfelt sci-fi story.

00:47:35.916 --> 00:47:37.880
That's in slow production right now.

00:47:37.900 --> 00:47:39.161
Not going to be.

00:47:40.282 --> 00:47:40.963
My dogs are coming out.

00:47:42.025 --> 00:47:43.327
It's going to be a second before we

00:47:43.367 --> 00:47:44.809
get that one really where we need it

00:47:44.849 --> 00:47:45.269
to be.

00:47:45.751 --> 00:47:47.652
I have heard horror stories about people

00:47:47.672 --> 00:47:49.356
crowdfunding for longer projects,

00:47:49.436 --> 00:47:51.117
even getting the funding and still messing

00:47:51.157 --> 00:47:51.539
it up.

00:47:52.159 --> 00:47:55.704
I've seen some really successful ones out

00:47:55.744 --> 00:47:56.284
there where they

00:47:57.045 --> 00:47:59.367
know somebody who has a currently they

00:47:59.387 --> 00:48:02.070
just funded this there's the second part

00:48:02.710 --> 00:48:05.932
of their graphic novel series and the

00:48:05.992 --> 00:48:08.554
third part is coming soon so stay tuned

00:48:08.574 --> 00:48:10.755
to everybody that will yeah they will be

00:48:10.795 --> 00:48:12.557
back but um

00:48:14.373 --> 00:48:15.856
That's a complete misconception,

00:48:15.896 --> 00:48:16.516
I believe.

00:48:17.297 --> 00:48:21.139
It's really all about how you and people

00:48:21.159 --> 00:48:24.242
you're creating this book with utilize

00:48:24.262 --> 00:48:27.304
their social media to push people to that

00:48:27.384 --> 00:48:28.244
project.

00:48:28.824 --> 00:48:31.047
So for people to say, oh, well,

00:48:31.067 --> 00:48:32.088
they don't do as well,

00:48:32.188 --> 00:48:34.570
that is not true at all.

00:48:36.068 --> 00:48:37.309
Not that they don't do as well.

00:48:37.650 --> 00:48:40.432
I think with the additional longevity of

00:48:40.472 --> 00:48:41.273
the project,

00:48:41.393 --> 00:48:43.896
with the time that it takes to create,

00:48:45.077 --> 00:48:46.199
from what I've just, again,

00:48:46.599 --> 00:48:47.860
before I started doing anything,

00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:49.742
I spent like a year just talking with

00:48:49.762 --> 00:48:50.063
people.

00:48:50.583 --> 00:48:52.224
hearing the goods, hearing the bads.

00:48:52.704 --> 00:48:54.385
And there was a number of things that

00:48:54.405 --> 00:48:57.387
shine through to me about people that have

00:48:57.427 --> 00:49:00.108
made mistakes with larger projects,

00:49:00.268 --> 00:49:02.150
getting funded early or missing funding

00:49:02.630 --> 00:49:03.170
or, you know,

00:49:03.210 --> 00:49:06.172
going fifty pages in a seventy pager and

00:49:06.271 --> 00:49:07.152
not getting there.

00:49:08.094 --> 00:49:11.197
um so we're doing things slow away i

00:49:11.217 --> 00:49:12.717
mean we're taking our time we're doing it

00:49:12.757 --> 00:49:14.298
right we're making sure it's getting done

00:49:14.699 --> 00:49:15.679
and it to me is one of the

00:49:15.699 --> 00:49:17.320
biggest pieces close to my heart so i

00:49:17.420 --> 00:49:19.681
really want to make sure uh it's done

00:49:19.702 --> 00:49:21.802
with care and then in the back of

00:49:21.862 --> 00:49:23.063
it uh like i said i may have

00:49:23.083 --> 00:49:24.605
said this from podcasts i've just been

00:49:24.644 --> 00:49:26.746
writing this story daydreaming since i was

00:49:26.766 --> 00:49:29.887
about fifteen years old um there will come

00:49:29.927 --> 00:49:31.909
a day well disco punk will be doing

00:49:31.949 --> 00:49:32.889
something called eaters

00:49:33.670 --> 00:49:34.391
But when we get there,

00:49:34.411 --> 00:49:35.831
I'm going to make sure I have my

00:49:35.952 --> 00:49:37.672
own Ryan Otley to my Kirkman.

00:49:37.713 --> 00:49:38.534
Like, I need somebody.

00:49:39.273 --> 00:49:40.715
We got a long way to go, baby.

00:49:40.755 --> 00:49:42.617
So I want to make sure we're buckled

00:49:42.737 --> 00:49:43.416
in.

00:49:43.456 --> 00:49:45.938
What a combination to want to have your

00:49:46.039 --> 00:49:46.780
own part of.

00:49:47.119 --> 00:49:48.101
Who couldn't want one?

00:49:49.422 --> 00:49:50.702
I've said that to so many people.

00:49:50.722 --> 00:49:53.264
Like, could you just be my Otley, man?

00:49:53.304 --> 00:49:55.465
Could you just work with me on everything

00:49:55.485 --> 00:49:56.567
that I really want you to?

00:49:59.248 --> 00:50:01.030
Those two put their name on anything.

00:50:01.070 --> 00:50:02.891
A brown paper bag is going to sell.

00:50:03.507 --> 00:50:07.090
It's going to be the most creative brown

00:50:07.110 --> 00:50:08.351
paper bag you've ever seen.

00:50:08.652 --> 00:50:10.713
Yeah, it's just the partnership of it.

00:50:10.753 --> 00:50:11.693
That's what I long for.

00:50:12.074 --> 00:50:13.715
I really want nothing more.

00:50:14.396 --> 00:50:15.818
And I love all the artists that I

00:50:15.838 --> 00:50:16.378
have now,

00:50:16.757 --> 00:50:18.940
especially all the artists I have for the

00:50:18.980 --> 00:50:20.621
series will remain on the series.

00:50:20.681 --> 00:50:21.762
They will be my guys.

00:50:23.083 --> 00:50:23.603
But yeah,

00:50:23.643 --> 00:50:25.146
you're definitely always looking for,

00:50:25.166 --> 00:50:27.648
especially the series that I want to do

00:50:27.668 --> 00:50:29.730
when I'm ready for it is long.

00:50:29.750 --> 00:50:29.909
Yeah.

00:50:30.349 --> 00:50:31.751
There's a lot going on.

00:50:31.771 --> 00:50:32.632
There's a lot of factors.

00:50:32.652 --> 00:50:33.931
There's a lot of worlds to build.

00:50:33.972 --> 00:50:35.072
There's a lot of different sections,

00:50:35.213 --> 00:50:35.652
areas.

00:50:37.094 --> 00:50:38.835
It's going to take someone who's really,

00:50:39.115 --> 00:50:40.596
really, this is a long haul deal.

00:50:41.496 --> 00:50:42.677
And also, I think as well,

00:50:42.737 --> 00:50:45.259
it's easier once you have a little bit

00:50:45.298 --> 00:50:49.141
more traction to want to be in a

00:50:49.181 --> 00:50:51.422
place to set up so many consecutive

00:50:51.443 --> 00:50:53.184
successful campaigns to get something

00:50:53.224 --> 00:50:53.585
done.

00:50:54.065 --> 00:50:55.726
Yeah.

00:50:55.786 --> 00:50:57.126
And that does start to eat at you

00:50:57.186 --> 00:50:58.847
after a while from what I hear.

00:51:00.173 --> 00:51:01.574
Yeah, I can imagine.

00:51:02.715 --> 00:51:03.576
I'm fresh.

00:51:03.675 --> 00:51:04.436
I'm real green.

00:51:04.777 --> 00:51:06.318
Hey, I'm learning every day I go.

00:51:06.757 --> 00:51:08.139
I'm coming out swinging with a lot of

00:51:08.199 --> 00:51:08.759
stuff.

00:51:08.858 --> 00:51:10.099
I've done a lot of research,

00:51:10.519 --> 00:51:12.101
but I also do understand that there's just

00:51:12.161 --> 00:51:13.322
so much to learn.

00:51:13.541 --> 00:51:14.581
And so, like I said,

00:51:14.702 --> 00:51:17.344
every different street that I'm on,

00:51:17.523 --> 00:51:18.184
there is a new...

00:51:19.264 --> 00:51:21.505
new way to cross the street every time

00:51:21.525 --> 00:51:23.385
and so there's a lot of hat you

00:51:23.445 --> 00:51:24.547
ask you know what type of hats what

00:51:24.567 --> 00:51:26.746
type of roles do you play it's a

00:51:26.907 --> 00:51:28.768
lot you if you want to be a

00:51:28.807 --> 00:51:30.467
writer if you've written a story and you

00:51:30.487 --> 00:51:31.509
want to bring it to life in the

00:51:31.528 --> 00:51:33.528
form of a comic book you have to

00:51:33.568 --> 00:51:37.110
put on a producer's hat I've worked in

00:51:37.150 --> 00:51:39.510
management for the majority of my life

00:51:39.891 --> 00:51:41.552
managing an artist is a very different

00:51:41.592 --> 00:51:43.072
thing than managing somebody who's

00:51:43.112 --> 00:51:45.012
employed by a company you also work for

00:51:46.172 --> 00:51:46.914
And there's a lot of,

00:51:47.333 --> 00:51:48.634
there are artists out there that work at

00:51:48.673 --> 00:51:50.855
different paces and you gotta learn

00:51:52.255 --> 00:51:53.275
different personalities,

00:51:53.315 --> 00:51:54.376
who's gonna work with what,

00:51:54.396 --> 00:51:55.317
how things are gonna go.

00:51:55.876 --> 00:51:57.338
So yeah, you wear a manager's hat,

00:51:57.438 --> 00:51:58.978
a producer's hat, a funder's hat,

00:51:58.998 --> 00:51:59.878
a marketer's hat.

00:52:00.447 --> 00:52:00.987
Get ready.

00:52:01.248 --> 00:52:02.608
I feel that.

00:52:02.628 --> 00:52:02.969
All worth it.

00:52:02.989 --> 00:52:03.648
I feel that.

00:52:03.728 --> 00:52:04.389
Mega worth it.

00:52:04.510 --> 00:52:04.969
Get ready.

00:52:05.190 --> 00:52:05.831
You're having some fun.

00:52:05.871 --> 00:52:06.010
Oh, yeah.

00:52:07.492 --> 00:52:09.773
So what do you see as your long-term

00:52:09.833 --> 00:52:11.235
vision, not just for the label,

00:52:11.275 --> 00:52:13.376
but let's say five years from now,

00:52:13.697 --> 00:52:19.860
how would you define disco punk success?

00:52:20.322 --> 00:52:20.342
I...

00:52:22.239 --> 00:52:23.260
Five years from now,

00:52:23.619 --> 00:52:24.501
I kind of know what I want in

00:52:24.541 --> 00:52:26.481
five years from now in three categories.

00:52:27.782 --> 00:52:29.965
As for me, DK Biggs, I,

00:52:30.045 --> 00:52:30.865
in the next five years,

00:52:30.905 --> 00:52:32.646
want to continue to learn illustration so

00:52:32.706 --> 00:52:34.108
I can maybe one day start working on

00:52:34.128 --> 00:52:35.929
my own variant covers and attributing to

00:52:35.969 --> 00:52:36.750
my own illustrative.

00:52:37.170 --> 00:52:39.092
That's my five-year goal is in the next

00:52:39.152 --> 00:52:39.693
five years.

00:52:39.733 --> 00:52:40.994
I've been working for the past year or

00:52:41.014 --> 00:52:41.213
so.

00:52:41.253 --> 00:52:42.014
I'm still trashed.

00:52:42.315 --> 00:52:43.536
Probably still going to be trashed five

00:52:43.556 --> 00:52:44.496
years, but I'm having fun.

00:52:46.130 --> 00:52:48.010
For Disco Punk Comics itself,

00:52:48.492 --> 00:52:50.672
I want to see successful traction for the

00:52:50.733 --> 00:52:52.132
series that I have here,

00:52:52.614 --> 00:52:54.434
and I want to become again somewhat of

00:52:54.454 --> 00:52:56.835
an information hub or a community.

00:52:57.195 --> 00:52:59.356
Disco Punk is a community for people to

00:52:59.637 --> 00:53:01.137
learn how to do this right,

00:53:01.538 --> 00:53:03.179
find people to collaborate with.

00:53:04.039 --> 00:53:05.840
I'm inspired by a number of people.

00:53:07.260 --> 00:53:07.981
In Indie Comics,

00:53:08.001 --> 00:53:09.782
you'll see some guy who's lone wolfing it

00:53:09.802 --> 00:53:10.942
and trying to get everything done and

00:53:10.961 --> 00:53:11.822
freelance and everything,

00:53:12.143 --> 00:53:13.362
and then you'll come across every now and

00:53:13.382 --> 00:53:14.123
then teams.

00:53:14.824 --> 00:53:16.425
And doesn't everybody long to be a part

00:53:16.445 --> 00:53:16.945
of one, you know?

00:53:18.166 --> 00:53:20.648
So I would love to cultivate and continue

00:53:20.668 --> 00:53:23.871
growing my my room of artists and

00:53:23.911 --> 00:53:26.012
teammates and then more letters,

00:53:26.132 --> 00:53:28.215
editors and just more people on the way.

00:53:28.735 --> 00:53:30.436
So I can sit back, write,

00:53:30.496 --> 00:53:32.157
produce and have people that have their

00:53:32.217 --> 00:53:33.458
own hats that are helping me out.

00:53:33.539 --> 00:53:34.699
That'd be nice in five years.

00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:37.340
Don't blame me there, man.

00:53:37.521 --> 00:53:39.422
I think that's the ultimate goal for not

00:53:39.442 --> 00:53:39.943
just you,

00:53:40.003 --> 00:53:41.264
but a lot of creators out there,

00:53:41.304 --> 00:53:43.385
even for guys like me.

00:53:43.465 --> 00:53:44.847
I would love to be able to get

00:53:44.867 --> 00:53:49.269
to a point where I write the interview,

00:53:49.550 --> 00:53:50.431
I do the interview,

00:53:51.072 --> 00:53:52.913
I then take said interview and I slide

00:53:52.932 --> 00:53:55.534
it over to my guy over here who

00:53:55.574 --> 00:53:57.577
makes my clips and he does my social

00:53:57.617 --> 00:54:00.159
media and I can just focus right here

00:54:00.199 --> 00:54:00.798
where I want to be.

00:54:00.838 --> 00:54:00.918
Yeah.

00:54:02.101 --> 00:54:02.641
Well, and two,

00:54:02.661 --> 00:54:04.547
and I'll say this as the aspiration,

00:54:04.586 --> 00:54:05.268
and I'll make it quick.

00:54:05.309 --> 00:54:07.213
I know we're probably close on time.

00:54:07.855 --> 00:54:08.275
You're good.

00:54:10.275 --> 00:54:11.815
When you look at some of the success

00:54:11.876 --> 00:54:13.996
again, Indy is a very broad term.

00:54:14.016 --> 00:54:15.117
When you look at people that are like

00:54:15.137 --> 00:54:15.677
dark hearts,

00:54:15.757 --> 00:54:17.277
dark horse or image or anything,

00:54:17.797 --> 00:54:19.737
they do have teams where a writer is

00:54:19.777 --> 00:54:20.217
doing this.

00:54:20.257 --> 00:54:21.757
A pencil is doing this and he was

00:54:21.797 --> 00:54:22.219
doing this.

00:54:22.259 --> 00:54:23.958
A colorist is doing this and editors doing

00:54:23.978 --> 00:54:24.179
this.

00:54:24.559 --> 00:54:26.139
You'll find yourself when you start out

00:54:26.219 --> 00:54:28.000
more roles and responsibilities come to a

00:54:28.079 --> 00:54:28.900
smaller team.

00:54:29.420 --> 00:54:31.159
So if I if I were to aspire

00:54:31.199 --> 00:54:33.280
to get to my one of my favorite

00:54:33.320 --> 00:54:35.121
series that I really can't wait to show

00:54:35.141 --> 00:54:35.721
to the world,

00:54:36.222 --> 00:54:38.041
it's going to come with a team.

00:54:38.481 --> 00:54:39.922
Because you need to consistently be

00:54:39.943 --> 00:54:42.565
releasing issues not to lose too much of

00:54:42.864 --> 00:54:44.146
the track mod.

00:54:44.186 --> 00:54:44.505
No.

00:54:45.827 --> 00:54:46.987
Once you've got something good going,

00:54:47.027 --> 00:54:48.027
you want to keep it going.

00:54:48.389 --> 00:54:50.409
Otherwise, you lose the traction on it.

00:54:51.411 --> 00:54:52.130
Nobody knows DK,

00:54:52.411 --> 00:54:54.052
so if that traction's gone, it's gone.

00:54:54.333 --> 00:54:55.673
You may not get that back.

00:54:55.994 --> 00:54:59.235
Whereas a Robert Kirkman takes it like,

00:54:59.255 --> 00:54:59.835
hey, guys,

00:54:59.896 --> 00:55:01.217
I need to take a three-month break from

00:55:01.257 --> 00:55:02.237
writing this series.

00:55:02.797 --> 00:55:03.498
I will be back.

00:55:03.778 --> 00:55:05.260
He pops back up in three months.

00:55:05.340 --> 00:55:07.161
It's like he was never gone anyway because

00:55:07.181 --> 00:55:08.202
his name is Robert Kirkman.

00:55:08.561 --> 00:55:10.583
right yeah oh yeah oh and then there's

00:55:10.744 --> 00:55:12.625
a number of writers that work under him

00:55:12.664 --> 00:55:13.885
to do this and do that in those

00:55:13.925 --> 00:55:16.748
worlds too uh and i also say this

00:55:16.929 --> 00:55:19.070
and this is maybe because um i i

00:55:19.090 --> 00:55:22.293
did not luckily with the research i did

00:55:22.333 --> 00:55:23.853
i did not share this delusion but i've

00:55:23.914 --> 00:55:25.295
had a number of people that i've seen

00:55:25.335 --> 00:55:26.815
either come to me or i've posted online

00:55:26.835 --> 00:55:29.297
and whatnot if you're a writer if you've

00:55:29.318 --> 00:55:29.978
made the idea

00:55:30.922 --> 00:55:32.402
You're going to have to budget it.

00:55:32.422 --> 00:55:34.045
You're going to have to figure it out

00:55:34.105 --> 00:55:34.824
like this is.

00:55:35.666 --> 00:55:38.748
You're not gonna put a script on Facebook

00:55:38.809 --> 00:55:39.929
and our course is going to be like

00:55:39.949 --> 00:55:40.510
alright son,

00:55:40.550 --> 00:55:43.092
let's make you a star like get ready

00:55:43.273 --> 00:55:45.454
like so you know you'd be aware that

00:55:45.474 --> 00:55:46.295
that's part of it.

00:55:48.300 --> 00:55:49.601
Artists don't want to work for free.

00:55:50.201 --> 00:55:51.001
The idea can be...

00:55:51.021 --> 00:55:52.762
They're not going to either.

00:55:52.782 --> 00:55:53.382
Yeah, exactly.

00:55:53.402 --> 00:55:54.983
The idea can be the greatest thing in

00:55:55.003 --> 00:55:55.405
the world.

00:55:55.784 --> 00:55:57.005
But I see it all the time in

00:55:57.045 --> 00:55:57.686
posts and stuff,

00:55:57.726 --> 00:55:59.447
and I see kids get thrashed by it.

00:55:59.527 --> 00:56:00.387
I wish I could have reached out to

00:56:00.407 --> 00:56:02.268
them and said, hey, let me help you.

00:56:02.289 --> 00:56:03.550
This is how we find artists a different

00:56:03.590 --> 00:56:03.889
way.

00:56:03.909 --> 00:56:06.172
This is how we save a couple bucks

00:56:06.231 --> 00:56:08.092
and maybe pay one or two pages a

00:56:08.152 --> 00:56:09.313
month or do something.

00:56:09.373 --> 00:56:11.355
But saying, hey,

00:56:11.454 --> 00:56:12.295
I've seen people on there.

00:56:12.315 --> 00:56:14.317
I have a fifty-two issue synopsis written.

00:56:14.376 --> 00:56:15.657
Who wants to do it all for free?

00:56:15.697 --> 00:56:16.478
Let's split the money.

00:56:16.518 --> 00:56:17.159
They're just like, well...

00:56:18.139 --> 00:56:20.420
google google the type of indie sales

00:56:20.440 --> 00:56:21.681
you're going to see give yourself a

00:56:21.760 --> 00:56:23.521
realistic budget look at it from a

00:56:23.561 --> 00:56:26.523
business standpoint uh have two devils on

00:56:26.543 --> 00:56:27.983
your shoulder one that wants to create

00:56:28.003 --> 00:56:31.266
things blindly carefree and the other ones

00:56:31.286 --> 00:56:32.706
that's making sure that your pockets are

00:56:32.786 --> 00:56:34.188
okay and you're not leaving yourself down

00:56:34.248 --> 00:56:37.889
that road oh yeah yeah and it's amazing

00:56:37.909 --> 00:56:39.490
what a simple google search will tell you

00:56:39.510 --> 00:56:42.992
right off the hand no kidding no kidding

00:56:43.333 --> 00:56:44.032
and it's it's

00:56:44.672 --> 00:56:46.135
But anyways, go ahead.

00:56:46.175 --> 00:56:47.315
No, no, no.

00:56:47.335 --> 00:56:47.695
Trust me.

00:56:47.817 --> 00:56:48.818
You definitely want to go.

00:56:49.599 --> 00:56:49.798
No,

00:56:49.858 --> 00:56:51.380
I was just going to say on Google

00:56:51.400 --> 00:56:51.740
as well,

00:56:51.880 --> 00:56:52.041
it's

00:56:54.335 --> 00:56:55.996
There's a number of things that,

00:56:56.175 --> 00:56:56.596
so as a,

00:56:57.056 --> 00:56:58.536
as a writer and a producer,

00:56:58.597 --> 00:56:59.978
you are going to look at things very

00:57:00.018 --> 00:57:01.498
differently from other people that are in

00:57:01.518 --> 00:57:03.719
the market that are more so freelancers.

00:57:04.179 --> 00:57:05.561
Um, I heard somebody say this,

00:57:05.681 --> 00:57:07.501
I don't entirely believe this,

00:57:07.561 --> 00:57:08.623
but to an extent,

00:57:09.402 --> 00:57:11.684
some common book artists are there to draw

00:57:11.744 --> 00:57:14.505
pages, not to create books.

00:57:15.146 --> 00:57:16.626
You are the one creating the book.

00:57:16.666 --> 00:57:17.527
You are the brainchild.

00:57:17.567 --> 00:57:18.688
You're the one doing all this.

00:57:20.186 --> 00:57:20.347
Um,

00:57:20.367 --> 00:57:23.510
be very aware of that concept that like

00:57:23.911 --> 00:57:24.251
you,

00:57:24.311 --> 00:57:26.052
I'm not sure where I was really going

00:57:26.072 --> 00:57:27.193
with this, but like,

00:57:27.213 --> 00:57:28.494
I think I know where you're going with

00:57:28.514 --> 00:57:28.695
this.

00:57:28.735 --> 00:57:31.077
So I think what you're trying to portray

00:57:31.097 --> 00:57:32.458
here is or purvey.

00:57:34.221 --> 00:57:36.282
Some artists have to have their hands

00:57:37.023 --> 00:57:37.405
held.

00:57:37.784 --> 00:57:40.186
And what I mean by that is you

00:57:40.226 --> 00:57:41.449
give them your story.

00:57:42.556 --> 00:57:43.878
But they need more than that.

00:57:44.217 --> 00:57:47.521
They need to know what your characters are

00:57:47.601 --> 00:57:48.282
looking at.

00:57:48.762 --> 00:57:49.862
For instance,

00:57:50.943 --> 00:57:52.965
if you have a character facing this way

00:57:53.686 --> 00:57:54.947
and you want them to be looking at

00:57:54.987 --> 00:57:58.730
something specific on that screen that

00:57:58.769 --> 00:58:00.891
way, they want you to tell them,

00:58:01.751 --> 00:58:02.813
are they facing east?

00:58:02.893 --> 00:58:04.153
Are they facing west?

00:58:04.213 --> 00:58:05.195
Are they facing north?

00:58:06.380 --> 00:58:09.202
Provide your artists the guidance that

00:58:09.222 --> 00:58:10.003
you're looking for.

00:58:10.083 --> 00:58:11.644
Don't just give them the story.

00:58:12.005 --> 00:58:14.588
Pervade your idea to that artist so they

00:58:14.608 --> 00:58:17.670
can interpret your story and your idea and

00:58:17.710 --> 00:58:20.112
your thought the way that you intend it

00:58:20.152 --> 00:58:21.134
to be.

00:58:21.213 --> 00:58:22.695
Because you can do that.

00:58:23.536 --> 00:58:25.536
some artists intentionally allow an artist

00:58:25.556 --> 00:58:29.117
to change your story entirely entirely and

00:58:29.157 --> 00:58:30.878
and that's a fact and that's it's not

00:58:30.898 --> 00:58:32.199
a slight to them it's just that this

00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:35.081
came from your brain they are translating

00:58:35.221 --> 00:58:36.822
like they and and so that's a big

00:58:36.862 --> 00:58:38.922
piece of it but yeah it's it's just

00:58:38.961 --> 00:58:41.262
go out there meet people be respectful

00:58:41.483 --> 00:58:43.284
also be aware especially depending on

00:58:43.304 --> 00:58:44.505
where you're finding artists there are

00:58:44.545 --> 00:58:49.146
scams it's it's a whole world out there

00:58:49.206 --> 00:58:52.307
no matter where you are contracts

00:58:53.115 --> 00:58:55.016
Google Docs will create simple contracts

00:58:55.076 --> 00:58:56.416
with signatures that are legal.

00:58:57.277 --> 00:59:00.657
Set absolutely clear expectations.

00:59:01.538 --> 00:59:02.157
Timeline.

00:59:02.297 --> 00:59:03.617
Talk about timeline.

00:59:05.818 --> 00:59:08.018
I mean, there's a thousand things.

00:59:08.059 --> 00:59:10.139
I could talk literally for the next hour

00:59:10.179 --> 00:59:11.280
about do's and don'ts.

00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:12.099
I could, too.

00:59:12.199 --> 00:59:14.000
And that's another show for another time.

00:59:14.059 --> 00:59:15.501
I'll bring you back to that one with

00:59:15.521 --> 00:59:17.300
some of the other people that I know

00:59:17.320 --> 00:59:18.501
that are really good at this.

00:59:18.541 --> 00:59:20.601
And we'll have a roundtable about that

00:59:20.702 --> 00:59:20.782
one.

00:59:20.822 --> 00:59:21.621
That sounds good.

00:59:21.641 --> 00:59:21.842
Yeah.

00:59:22.887 --> 00:59:24.427
I got some thoughts on that.

00:59:24.887 --> 00:59:25.148
Yeah.

00:59:25.188 --> 00:59:27.427
But just be mindful of who you're working

00:59:27.467 --> 00:59:28.648
with, their limitations,

00:59:28.688 --> 00:59:31.670
what they need to make your dreams come

00:59:31.710 --> 00:59:33.730
true is the short stick of that.

00:59:34.170 --> 00:59:34.590
Yes.

00:59:34.771 --> 00:59:35.010
Yeah.

00:59:35.090 --> 00:59:35.630
Yeah.

00:59:35.670 --> 00:59:36.150
But DK,

00:59:36.170 --> 00:59:37.251
I'm going to hit you with some rapid

00:59:37.271 --> 00:59:37.931
fire questions.

00:59:37.972 --> 00:59:38.391
You ready?

00:59:38.891 --> 00:59:39.911
Oh, let's go.

00:59:39.931 --> 00:59:41.132
Favorite comic of all time.

00:59:41.612 --> 00:59:43.112
Favorite comic of all time is the boys.

00:59:43.492 --> 00:59:44.032
Hands down.

00:59:44.594 --> 00:59:45.594
Fucking good one, dude.

00:59:47.394 --> 00:59:49.096
I'm happy that we're getting season five,

00:59:49.115 --> 00:59:50.697
but I'm also sad that we're getting season

00:59:50.717 --> 00:59:50.978
five.

00:59:51.018 --> 00:59:52.918
You know what I'm saying?

00:59:53.280 --> 00:59:56.081
I love it because they're so different.

00:59:56.262 --> 00:59:58.103
It's just watching a new interpretation of

00:59:58.143 --> 00:59:59.184
the characters almost.

00:59:59.244 --> 00:59:59.945
It really is,

00:59:59.985 --> 01:00:01.266
but if I don't get the comic book

01:00:01.346 --> 01:00:02.827
ending, I will fucking riot.

01:00:03.047 --> 01:00:03.668
You can't.

01:00:03.728 --> 01:00:06.710
You can't.

01:00:06.750 --> 01:00:07.451
Noir's dead.

01:00:08.873 --> 01:00:10.355
Except for that part, but you can't.

01:00:10.675 --> 01:00:11.836
Spoiler, sorry.

01:00:12.536 --> 01:00:12.677
Well,

01:00:12.697 --> 01:00:15.239
they've already killed him in the show.

01:00:15.260 --> 01:00:16.181
They killed one of them.

01:00:16.501 --> 01:00:17.541
The fake one is still there.

01:00:19.143 --> 01:00:20.103
Yeah, so I...

01:00:21.277 --> 01:00:22.157
The Boys to me,

01:00:22.177 --> 01:00:23.117
and I'm going to make a joke,

01:00:23.257 --> 01:00:26.340
is my Forrest Gump because it's one of

01:00:26.360 --> 01:00:27.280
my favorites.

01:00:27.659 --> 01:00:29.300
But it's also you're going to cry

01:00:29.601 --> 01:00:31.382
specifically like two times.

01:00:32.682 --> 01:00:33.382
Yeah.

01:00:33.663 --> 01:00:35.443
And I'll never the first time reading

01:00:35.483 --> 01:00:35.704
this.

01:00:35.804 --> 01:00:38.224
It cracked me up so hard because I

01:00:38.244 --> 01:00:39.166
was like tearing up.

01:00:39.346 --> 01:00:40.626
And my wife looked at me and I

01:00:40.666 --> 01:00:41.226
was just like.

01:00:42.275 --> 01:00:43.956
Starlight and Wee Huey are separating,

01:00:43.976 --> 01:00:45.398
but they both know they shouldn't.

01:00:45.657 --> 01:00:46.719
They both know they're wrong.

01:00:48.820 --> 01:00:49.480
But anyways, too,

01:00:49.519 --> 01:00:51.280
that's ones where if you're reading that,

01:00:51.742 --> 01:00:52.762
you got to make sure no one's looking

01:00:52.802 --> 01:00:55.003
over your shoulder because it's just

01:00:55.023 --> 01:00:55.403
graphic.

01:00:56.324 --> 01:00:56.664
Oh,

01:00:56.684 --> 01:00:58.585
there's a reason why it says graphic on

01:00:58.606 --> 01:00:59.065
the cover.

01:00:59.365 --> 01:01:00.827
It's gnarly.

01:01:01.327 --> 01:01:02.108
Favorite Western?

01:01:03.074 --> 01:01:03.996
Favorite Western?

01:01:05.518 --> 01:01:06.438
If it counts as a Western,

01:01:06.458 --> 01:01:06.978
which it should,

01:01:06.998 --> 01:01:08.141
it's No Country for Old Men.

01:01:09.061 --> 01:01:09.782
Fucking brilliant.

01:01:09.822 --> 01:01:10.963
I love that movie.

01:01:11.063 --> 01:01:11.625
Oh, my God.

01:01:11.684 --> 01:01:12.324
It's so good.

01:01:12.646 --> 01:01:13.025
Yes.

01:01:13.567 --> 01:01:15.128
Creator you would love to collaborate

01:01:15.148 --> 01:01:15.389
with?

01:01:17.159 --> 01:01:20.222
I don't even know if I should say

01:01:20.242 --> 01:01:20.282
it.

01:01:20.302 --> 01:01:21.523
There's some dude I've talked to once or

01:01:21.563 --> 01:01:21.822
twice.

01:01:21.862 --> 01:01:22.563
It's a really, really,

01:01:22.583 --> 01:01:24.105
really high up guy that's just been

01:01:24.125 --> 01:01:25.666
probably nice to be messing to me because

01:01:25.706 --> 01:01:26.387
I'm a fan.

01:01:27.068 --> 01:01:27.668
Todd Beetz.

01:01:27.748 --> 01:01:29.050
I would kill for a Todd Beetz cover.

01:01:29.409 --> 01:01:31.092
Dude, phenomenal, phenomenal artist.

01:01:31.112 --> 01:01:31.813
Great guy.

01:01:32.253 --> 01:01:33.733
Great dude.

01:01:33.773 --> 01:01:35.456
That's the way I feel about Aubrey

01:01:35.496 --> 01:01:37.398
Sitterson as a writer who writes Free

01:01:37.418 --> 01:01:39.639
Planet for Image right now.

01:01:39.659 --> 01:01:39.860
Yeah.

01:01:39.880 --> 01:01:41.380
The story and everything going on

01:01:41.420 --> 01:01:43.483
currently in the world is just –

01:01:43.123 --> 01:01:45.224
The perfect time for that story to land.

01:01:45.865 --> 01:01:47.807
But it's just an absolutely beautiful

01:01:47.847 --> 01:01:50.550
story about what it truly means to be

01:01:50.590 --> 01:01:52.492
the first free planet.

01:01:54.534 --> 01:01:54.614
Yeah.

01:01:54.634 --> 01:01:56.135
To truly be free.

01:01:57.280 --> 01:01:58.382
Well, I think, I think too,

01:01:58.481 --> 01:01:59.742
and I've said this to Todd,

01:01:59.762 --> 01:02:01.125
I put messages on there once or twice

01:02:01.525 --> 01:02:02.846
and we talked about, oh wait,

01:02:02.865 --> 01:02:04.047
we're not like friends or anything,

01:02:04.067 --> 01:02:04.807
but he's been nice again,

01:02:04.827 --> 01:02:06.809
probably responded to me and was just

01:02:06.849 --> 01:02:07.090
like,

01:02:07.550 --> 01:02:10.914
he writes these amazing pieces and they're

01:02:10.954 --> 01:02:11.333
not like,

01:02:12.175 --> 01:02:13.556
he's just talking about how he feels,

01:02:13.635 --> 01:02:14.376
like, you know,

01:02:14.416 --> 01:02:15.838
the struggles of being an artist,

01:02:16.059 --> 01:02:17.260
the issues that he's gone through.

01:02:17.679 --> 01:02:19.260
He writes these amazing pieces,

01:02:19.300 --> 01:02:20.340
and I'm a writer,

01:02:20.481 --> 01:02:22.202
and he says he's not.

01:02:22.722 --> 01:02:23.322
He is.

01:02:24.043 --> 01:02:25.483
It's wild, right,

01:02:25.543 --> 01:02:27.704
how good some of these artists are at

01:02:27.824 --> 01:02:28.344
writing.

01:02:28.824 --> 01:02:30.284
But you ask them to write a comic,

01:02:30.324 --> 01:02:32.485
but they're going to be like, no,

01:02:32.746 --> 01:02:33.586
that ain't what I do.

01:02:33.606 --> 01:02:34.467
You write beautifully.

01:02:34.507 --> 01:02:35.148
Why not?

01:02:36.228 --> 01:02:36.447
Yeah.

01:02:36.467 --> 01:02:38.548
I will interpret your story for you.

01:02:38.628 --> 01:02:39.849
I'll draw your story.

01:02:40.489 --> 01:02:41.710
Like character creation.

01:02:41.829 --> 01:02:43.231
If I could illustrate –

01:02:44.195 --> 01:02:45.155
That would just be so good.

01:02:45.474 --> 01:02:46.536
I love world building.

01:02:46.695 --> 01:02:47.635
And so that's one of the reasons why

01:02:47.675 --> 01:02:48.715
I aspire to do so.

01:02:49.036 --> 01:02:50.597
But I look at so many different artists

01:02:50.916 --> 01:02:51.597
and one of the reasons,

01:02:51.617 --> 01:02:53.416
one of the ways I found the artist

01:02:53.436 --> 01:02:55.717
that's going to be working on Genesis is

01:02:56.077 --> 01:02:57.217
just seeing his art.

01:02:57.398 --> 01:02:59.099
And I saw it and I was like,

01:02:59.139 --> 01:03:00.478
that is disco.

01:03:00.559 --> 01:03:01.699
Like that's the character I've thought

01:03:01.719 --> 01:03:03.119
about since I was seventeen years old.

01:03:03.139 --> 01:03:03.599
There he is.

01:03:04.780 --> 01:03:05.121
All right.

01:03:05.221 --> 01:03:09.141
One word to describe Disco Pump.

01:03:09.161 --> 01:03:09.501
Disco.

01:03:10.438 --> 01:03:11.338
Fucking love it.

01:03:11.438 --> 01:03:12.239
Let's go.

01:03:12.619 --> 01:03:14.438
Let's go, DK, man.

01:03:14.980 --> 01:03:15.480
DK,

01:03:15.500 --> 01:03:17.820
tell everybody where they can find you and

01:03:17.860 --> 01:03:18.920
Disco Punk Comics.

01:03:19.360 --> 01:03:21.161
You can check out Disco Punk Comics on

01:03:21.302 --> 01:03:23.822
Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

01:03:24.362 --> 01:03:26.282
We've recently opened up on threads just

01:03:26.302 --> 01:03:27.664
because I like to talk with people a

01:03:27.684 --> 01:03:28.264
little bit more,

01:03:28.284 --> 01:03:29.164
and you all seem to be a lot

01:03:29.204 --> 01:03:30.204
more talkative there.

01:03:30.644 --> 01:03:31.425
Reach us out there.

01:03:31.704 --> 01:03:33.226
We should have a website that I'll have

01:03:33.306 --> 01:03:34.925
links to by the end of this month

01:03:34.965 --> 01:03:36.407
that's in production right now.

01:03:36.806 --> 01:03:37.806
I'm not good at building it.

01:03:37.847 --> 01:03:38.947
Having a friend help out,

01:03:38.987 --> 01:03:39.728
sorry for the delay.

01:03:41.074 --> 01:03:41.815
I like it, dude.

01:03:41.876 --> 01:03:43.137
I like it.

01:03:43.217 --> 01:03:44.217
Once you've got more links,

01:03:44.297 --> 01:03:45.478
if you want to shoot those to me,

01:03:45.498 --> 01:03:47.340
I can go back and add those to

01:03:47.360 --> 01:03:48.400
this show as well.

01:03:48.420 --> 01:03:50.561
And then to the kicks,

01:03:50.581 --> 01:03:52.483
you can find me at Disco Punk Comics

01:03:52.523 --> 01:03:53.284
on the Kickstarter.

01:03:53.423 --> 01:03:55.365
I have not launched the project yet.

01:03:55.385 --> 01:03:57.146
You can follow the creator, though.

01:03:57.266 --> 01:03:59.168
And if you follow the creators and once

01:03:59.188 --> 01:04:01.630
they launch a project, it gives you like,

01:04:01.670 --> 01:04:02.070
hey,

01:04:02.190 --> 01:04:05.693
Disco Punk just launched a new campaign.

01:04:05.733 --> 01:04:06.454
So that's really cool.

01:04:06.494 --> 01:04:07.715
And that's what I do a lot of

01:04:07.795 --> 01:04:09.275
is I just follow the creator.

01:04:10.789 --> 01:04:11.088
Yeah.

01:04:11.469 --> 01:04:14.110
But every creator builds something

01:04:14.150 --> 01:04:14.630
different.

01:04:15.110 --> 01:04:17.271
Some build heroes, some build worlds,

01:04:17.851 --> 01:04:19.512
and some build entire hives.

01:04:19.572 --> 01:04:23.414
Tonight, we spoke with David Biggs, a.k.a.

01:04:23.474 --> 01:04:24.135
DK,

01:04:24.815 --> 01:04:26.815
the creator behind Once Upon a Hive in

01:04:26.835 --> 01:04:29.197
the West and the mind behind Disco Comets,

01:04:29.737 --> 01:04:31.838
a project that shows just how powerful

01:04:32.318 --> 01:04:34.878
independent storytelling can be because

01:04:34.918 --> 01:04:37.219
the future of comets isn't just happening

01:04:37.300 --> 01:04:38.121
at major places.

01:04:38.621 --> 01:04:39.222
Publishers.

01:04:39.762 --> 01:04:41.385
It can be happening in garages,

01:04:41.864 --> 01:04:44.288
in notebooks, on drawing tables,

01:04:44.307 --> 01:04:47.132
or in the minds of creators who decide

01:04:47.152 --> 01:04:48.514
to build their own frontier.

01:04:50.376 --> 01:04:51.956
If you've enjoyed this conversation,

01:04:52.016 --> 01:04:55.018
make sure to subscribe to the USDN Podcast

01:04:55.059 --> 01:04:56.360
for more creator interviews,

01:04:56.840 --> 01:04:58.501
more indie comic spotlights,

01:04:58.940 --> 01:05:02.103
and the stories from behind the panels.

01:05:02.844 --> 01:05:03.543
Ladies and gentlemen,

01:05:03.563 --> 01:05:05.925
this has been the USDN Podcast,

01:05:06.505 --> 01:05:08.806
where indie comics come to life.

01:05:09.907 --> 01:05:12.048
The council is now adjourned.

01:05:13.389 --> 01:05:14.510
Y'all be safe out there.

01:05:15.010 --> 01:05:15.871
Y'all take care, guys.