You are listening to the USDN on the
DFPN.
Thank you.
hello there it's the chairman of the
united states department of nerds where we
are for the people by the people and
of the people today we are sitting down
with a creator who understands that
storytelling doesn't stop at the script it
lives in the composition the pacing and
the emotion of every panel artist
writer, art director, husband,
a father of five,
and the creative force behind the Diary of
Sweet Pea.
The council is now in session.
Aleem, welcome to the council of nerds,
my friend.
Oh, and Mike is here with us too.
My bad, dude.
It's all right.
I got my fabulous intro last time.
You did.
You got to get my last sign of
it.
It was Aleem's turn this time,
so he got the good one.
I feel good.
That was a great intro.
It's like,
remember Big Daddy when Adam Sandler came
into the party at the very end?
He's like, oh,
did y'all waste another good happy
birthday surprise on me?
with it but um aleem we'll dive right
into it so for those meeting you for
the very first time who is aleem and
how did comments become your creative home
all right well aleem is a man that
wears many hats you know as you said
in the intro father um
along with all the accolades of art
director and all of those other things.
But if you're asking who I am,
I'm a guy like everybody else out here
with bills to pay and responsibilities to
keep up.
Comic books has been my thing since
childhood.
It got me through,
it was a constant in my life as
a kid, right?
Through a lot of ups and downs and
things like that.
kind of fell out in my later years,
but found my way back home during the
pandemic, really.
So, I mean, that time,
as hard as it was on a lot
of people,
it was really eye-opening for me,
because it gave me a chance to get
away from the grind of taking care of
a family as large as mine and just
slow down a little bit and get back
into art and being creative.
And, you know, my first comic book,
I started during the whole furlough thing
in the pandemic,
the Diary of Sweet Pea issue one,
and getting to see behind the curtain of
how these things are made.
I fell in love, you know,
I got into the community and, you know,
it's such a unique community because you
got people that's on my like in the
range that I'm at with these beginning
steps.
And you have people like Mark McKenna,
who's been doing Marvel since nineteen
eighty five.
We're able to interact and work with each
other.
That doesn't happen everywhere.
It's wild.
This is one of those communities that
allows that.
You don't have a whole lot of gatekeepers
going, you ain't done your time yet.
Right.
Yeah, for sure, man.
I love it.
I love it here.
I love making comic books.
I love being able to take myself seriously
in a creative way and make dope stuff.
So let me ask you,
how did you become evolved with that guy
sitting below us?
Oh man, me and Mike met,
I was flopping around in my first
Kickstarter campaign, right?
Because making the book is one thing,
selling it is another.
Oh yeah.
So, you know,
I was flopping around and Ink Studios was
one of the guys that
contacted me if anybody's done a
kickstarter before you know you get a lot
of uh spam you know robots you can
help you and this that and the third
so it just so happened that you know
me being new to the game um i
took a chance with well not even a
chance because i didn't know i didn't
understand what it was you know at first
but
anyway uh i hit up i i've recontacted
uh ink studios who hit me up you
know in the mix of all of that
and god blessed me i was lucky enough
to actually have picked some real ones out
of all of that yeah nonsense that's in
there there's a lot of it my way
but you know i was lucky enough to
meet um kevin and the guys at ink
and mike was working there at the time
and uh
and come to find out, lo and behold,
this guy is a master of literature and
writing.
I just had that conversation with some
people, and I told them straight up,
I'm like,
if you want to see a master class
in just how the behind the scenes works,
to go back and watch my interview with
Mike, it is no kidding,
a master class from Kickstarters to the
business side of things,
and
It's literally one of those where you can
go sit and watch it and take notes
because he gives so many good nuggets in
that interview.
That's going to be one of those where
I continue to push.
I'm like, hey,
go watch this interview if you want to
learn stuff.
Yeah.
And willing to share,
you know what I mean?
Goes back to that community.
You don't see that all the time.
You don't see that in a lot of
people.
There's probably not every,
I still got the rose colored glasses on
it.
I've just been lucky to meet some really
dope people.
And Mike is a solid guy and he
just, he knows how to elevate work.
You know, like there's, there's,
there's some translations that needs to
happen.
Cause I'm not,
I don't have a literary background.
I'm just spewing out these ideas and
trying to form it as best I can.
And it's great to have somebody with the
skills as an editor, you know,
to be able to come and really help
hammer some things out and smooth,
you know, some stuff out.
So Mike is great.
I'm happy.
I'm blessed to have him around.
Thank you.
All kind words.
Thank you.
His head just grew like ten times.
That's why I put this hat on.
You'll see him adjusting his hat here in
a minute.
It's tight.
My dude, you wear a lot of hats.
The artist, the writer, the art director,
production manager.
How did that multi-discipline mindset
develop?
How does that shape how you approach the
way you do comic books?
Well,
back in the pandemic where I got
reintroduced to this world,
starting with just art, creating,
you know, painting, doing digital art,
things like that, drawing,
something that I've also done for a very
long time and stepped away from.
So, you know, I got some,
there's all kinds of resources out there
now.
I got a...
some of those classes that you can get,
you know,
like you can go on YouTube and get
it,
or you can get it from those apps
that just have all the videos in a
structured class from top to bottom with
homework, you know, and I took it serious.
That got me back into art a little
bit.
And on a whim,
I searched on Facebook groups for comic
books and indie comic books.
And, you know,
I found the community there.
There was a guy by the name of
Steven Duffy from apex comics, UK that,
um,
introduced me to the game you know got
me in with uh you know like how
you can connect with with people and take
your ideas and form them into you know
artwork because comic books because you
know like there's people out there looking
for work and you know so yeah i'm
going on a tangent no no you're good
dude that's what we're here for
for telling your story and getting Sweet
Pea out to the people, man.
Yeah,
so that's really how I got into the
comic book world.
And it evolved as time went on from
doing the artwork and painting.
There we go.
So we was doing art and painting.
And then we get into comic books around
late-to-thousands.
OK.
You know,
Steve helped me with taking these ideas
that I had from like Dungeons and Dragons
games, campaigns and characters like that.
And we used to have the chat room.
There was some chat room websites where
everybody contributed to a story with
their own character.
I used to be in those a lot
when I was younger.
So, you know,
like I have all these ideas from
characters made up, drawn and imagined.
And I kind of crammed it all into
the Diary of Sweet Pea in issue one.
Right.
So.
So we got like this this
this mess of characters,
but I wanna tell a story that's only
centered on this one character, right?
Yeah.
And everything else is happening how it
would happen to you, right?
So like, there's stuff going on over here,
there, or whatever,
but only the things that enter your field
are what you become truly aware of or
become a part of your story, right?
Mm-hmm.
that didn't really work out you know i
mean like don't get me wrong issue one
of the diary of sweet pea and issue
two is i think they're great and yeah
i think with the idea of editing them
and going back now that i've learned more
but i also am fond of the idea
of leaving them as is so that you
can see the steps up in the evolution
of the writing
I mean,
you can always go back later and do
a rewrite on the first two if you
want to and then sell it as a
trade paperback or something later as a
reworked trade paperback.
But I like what you're saying about
keeping them as they are now so you
can see your growth yourself.
Mm-hmm.
And so other people can see it, too,
because, you know, like,
I think that we've made something really
special, right?
I think this is, like...
And I can confidently put in anybody,
any room in any arena,
and it's going to perform well, I think,
right?
Oh, a hundred percent.
that doesn't make me necessarily more
special or unique than anyone else.
So I think leaving those first two issues
as is,
so you can see like the growth and
development might help to inspire somebody
else.
Cause you know,
like once you just made the mind up
to do these things, they become like,
they're way more possible than I thought
they were for the first, uh,
thirty eight some odd years of my life.
I mean,
it's just like the first volume of
Invincible.
He had to put this out so fast.
And then he lost his artist like halfway
through that first volume.
And so he found someone was really great.
And if you read it and then you
watch the adaptation of the show on
Amazon,
they added so much more depth in the
show because there was that space in the
original where they just went from scene
and focused on plot points.
So I concur with leaving it the way
it is.
So many options to go back on.
You know,
like what if Amani's power is an energy
that's linked to, you know,
multiple linear timelines and maybe she
wants to go back and save her friends
and her family.
maybe we explore those spaces in issue one
and two later on there there's that
there's that there's that opportunity and
there's multiple other opportunities
leaving necessarily things you think that
aren't perfect doesn't make it not perfect
because you are the only person as a
creator and i know we talked about this
before um
You're the only one that will see those
imperfections.
Everybody else gets to experience the
story.
So what you're seeing is from the artist's
perspective.
What you can't unsee is the artist's
perspective.
So you can't really enjoy it as a
fan.
So we need to leave those spaces and
imperfections there because some of them
won't know that they're imperfect,
which is never the goal, by the way.
Oh, nobody will unless you say it.
Well,
they're going to know now if they watch
this.
They're going to know now.
Well, I mean,
this is just one episode in a huge
universe of content when Sweet Pea gets as
big as I hope and think it will
be one day.
Oh,
I was just telling Nanette before you
joined us is...
It's like, dude,
I can see this being so much bigger
than what it is.
But you've said that making sure a book
looks as good as it reads is core
to your philosophy.
What does every panel count really mean to
you in practice?
No fillers, man, we're not wasting,
you know,
we're not taking the cheap route on
anything if we can.
This,
I actually learned this working on
somebody else's project as an art
director, right?
You know,
cause now it's like a no-nonsense thing.
When it's my project, you know,
like it's all,
We friends and, you know,
we're friends first and we're colleagues
second.
I don't think of myself as your boss.
And even though, you know,
you're being paid for work,
I still feel like you're doing me a
favor more than anything because you're
helping me to get these dreams
accomplished.
So but when I'm working on somebody else's
project now,
I'm locked in because it's my reputation
and I want to make sure that that
person's
book is done in the way that it
should be, you know,
it should be done entrusting me to do
that, right?
So it's not to say that it's not
always there and I get lazy about my
work.
It's just that when I was working on
somebody else's project,
I really honed in and focused super hard.
And, you know,
now we're carrying that and continuing
that tradition on with the Diary of Sweet
Pea.
So when I say that every panel counts,
I mean,
everything has to be with a person,
a purpose.
I want, I want to really, you know,
imagine things in motion and capture the
perfect screenshot of that moment that
they're trying to we're trying to convey
in the script and that includes you know
if we have to change the color of
the sky for this one panel because it
makes more sense and yeah you know it
becomes vibrant then that's just something
that we have to do um and i
believe that art tells a story as well
right so i mean
looking at paintings or just, you know,
a pinup that somebody made that catches
your eye at a comic book convention.
These things like they tell stories.
So I think that in every single panel
that we that we write.
It deserves that it deserves a story to
be told and that in and of itself,
just the artist's brain thing, I'm sorry.
No, no, no.
I like hearing it.
I mean,
I know when I'm on my road trips,
I listen to my podcast back to myself,
and I will listen to the shows and
what you just said will probably make an
impact on me on a road trip in
the future.
Because it makes a hundred percent sense,
right?
Right.
You're staking your reputation,
but at the same time,
if you're working on somebody else's work,
Not only is it your reputation,
it's their reputation as a writer who's
now employed you as their artist.
Exactly.
It's win win in making sure you're just
putting one hundred percent into
everything you're doing.
So for me, it makes plenty of sense.
And I'm sure for the listeners out there
later,
it will make plenty of sense as well,
because.
What I love about doing this is we
get to share insights into.
behind the curtains of the art and the
you know the story of the comic book
with the persons involved involved in
making that comic book so yeah let's dive
in really into sweet pea
and what Sweet Pea is all about.
So it has a powerful premise.
A young girl unconsciously creating
constructs of deceased loved ones in a
world warped by reality-altering energy.
We got into it a little bit beforehand,
but I held off...
But where did that idea come from?
Because I love this idea.
It is an amazing original concept.
So, you know, like I said,
I've been in the
Video game characters that don't have
enough backstory,
I used to create more for them.
You know what I mean?
I was a kid that would say,
I'm that character.
I picked Rock Lee out of the Naruto
lineup.
That's me from now on.
This is my guy.
We rocking out.
So I've been really attached to pop
culture as a medium, right?
Comic books, cartoons, video games,
and things like that.
I really was always into them.
And I've also always created my own
stories and ideas.
So some of these characters and concepts,
like the Bane, for example,
have existed in multiple iterations
whether it's like a monk from D&D or
create a character on a game or whatever
for years.
So now I get to finally take all
of those ideas and stories of those
characters and put them inside of this
little sandbox playpen with Imani and see
what comes out.
Now for her specifically, Imani,
probably represents my children and,
you know,
like my fears for them and the world
that they have to grow up in and
face and be prepared for on their own
without me one day.
You know,
thank God it's not the life that they
live in because it is, you know,
like there's some crazy stuff going inside
of the book.
But, you know, metaphorically speaking,
it's what's waiting for them out there.
And, you know,
so I've got to be prepared.
So Imani in the comic book is only
fourteen years old.
Yes, she's carrying grief,
power and responsibility way beyond her
years.
Why was it important for you to tell
this kind of story through a such a
young protagonist?
OK, so I mean,
you kind of hinted at it just then,
but you want to do a little bit.
I mean, like just beyond my own kids.
Right.
We got.
a lot going on in the city that
I come from, especially with young kids.
There's a lot of violence.
There's a lot of foolishness.
There's a lot.
We have a lot of issues that these
kids are facing and dealing with.
The concept is
really kind of like a nature versus
nurture thing.
Because Imani has this, you know,
she has to face this dangerous world,
hostile world,
but she also had a loving father that
instilled certain morals inside of her and
things of that nature.
And now we get to see these extreme
situations clash with each other and see
what comes out of it.
I'm still not sure which way I want
to take Imani,
if I want her to end up
how I want to let all those moments
affect her.
I have a pretty good idea,
but I'm not going to,
I don't want to,
I want to surprise myself as well and
be open to the possibility that, you know,
she might,
she might not be a hero by the
end of this.
She might be the threat that the world
has to deal with, you know, you know,
stay tuned.
No, I like that.
I like leaving that open-ended
you know, story like that,
especially when it's very easily could be
one way or the other.
And it is really on you on how
you want the character to go and where
you see her being in the future.
And I'm excited for it to be fair.
Like I'm down either way.
It's really just let it, let it burn.
Let it burn.
It's really dope, man.
Cause, cause like Imani, she has, um,
the whole world watching her, right?
You have the Bane that initiated this
event,
exposed this energy to our planet in order
to harvest it.
And Imani is, well, no,
we ain't going to tell that yet.
We got it.
We won't make up too many spoilers.
We want people to still go out and
support the book.
Let's put a pin on that.
I want to make sure I get my
words right before I let it all out.
But so let's talk about a little bit
about the grief and the memory of
everything happening in this story.
So Amani's companions are born from loss,
not choice.
How did you approach portraying grief in a
way that's honest,
but still accessible to readers?
Like it can resonate because we all have
dealt with loss in our own way.
I know Mike, same as me,
we've lost grandparents and stuff with,
you know.
So how did you approach that?
So this is something that me and Mike
went back and forth and kind of hammered
out a little bit together.
You know, I have written, I wrote it.
And, you know, then Mike,
when Mike got a hold of it and
read it,
I didn't really know what I had written
and how powerful it really was and how
much we should focus on it.
So there was some,
I'm only gonna say major edits there,
but it was some refocusing on dealing with
grief because like you said, man,
it's something that we all go through,
young and old.
I think for me,
it was just the natural progression of the
story so far of Imani with how much
she's been through in the first two
issues.
You know,
this is a fourteen year old kid.
She's seen a lot and been through a
lot.
You know, her powers.
I'll tell you this much.
Her powers are subconscious in nature.
Right.
And they're actually a little bit sinister
towards her in a way, because.
it makes it hard to tell reality from
what's real from what's not, right?
So now in this issue,
she's facing some hard truths
and coming to some realizations of things
that happened earlier in the story that
now she has to confront all of this
at the same time with a mind that's
full of all of this energy and outcome.
It's a recipe for disaster.
So that's where the story took me.
It's a beautiful contrast, really.
It also makes it really easy for when
you decide later on which way you want
to go with her.
The backstory is there for her to be
the ultimate villain.
Yeah, it is.
It has a lot to say about what's
coming next because the world around her
is moving
And she's progressing,
but at a very slow emotional rate.
That is the pace that we're moving Imani
through the story.
Because one of the cool things that people
are going to discover about Sweepy is that
it just isn't about a little girl who
gets superpowers from...
weird energy that engulfs the planet
there's a there's a huge huge world behind
all that that that includes you know the
phyto fighting force and uh aliens beyond
the bane uh with weird crystals and
mystical healing powders and stuff like
that it it it goes beyond that but
the progression the emotional focus and
how it contrasts to the world around her
gorgeous absolutely gorgeous
So I got to ask,
was there a particular emotional moment or
scene in this book that hit you harder
than expected while you were writing it?
Oh, man.
Every moment.
I mean, so it's hard for me because,
you know,
I'm thinking about my kids when I'm
writing this,
but I'm putting them in this, you know,
like they're going in the meat grinder
inside of this book.
So, yeah.
these kids are in the upside down and
they don't know it.
Yeah.
So, I mean, like it's, it's, you know,
like every,
every page is hard for me and I
have to make some serious decisions about,
you know,
like keeping the integrity of the book.
I can't take it easy on them.
I just really have to like channel these
innate, often unfounded, you know,
but dad's prepare, you know,
here's that I, you know,
fears that I have for my, uh,
you know, my kids, man,
and I'm letting it out inside of the
page.
So one of the most haunted aspects of
this story is that Imani doesn't even
realize the scale of what she's involved
in.
What drew you to the narrative tension of
that?
Yeah, so like I said,
originally my plan was to make the diary
of Sweet Pea strictly from the perspective
of Imani, right?
Like we're just looking in her diary.
So the only things that we can really
know is what she knows and what she
sees.
But, you know,
we found that the book is so expansive
because there's a lot of history,
you know,
between all of these different factions
and everything.
And there's a lot going on with a
lot of, you know,
like a lot of different people all at
the same time.
And it's of no value to me to
not let the reader,
like I know all this in my head,
but the reader doesn't get to know all
this until he gets to see it.
So, you know, we decided to change that.
our focus a little more and try to
encompass those you know other elements
and did i answer your question i feel
like i did no no no you did
you did how does this lack of awareness
from amani heighten the danger both for
herself and also the world around her
because she's not she doesn't really
realize what she's capable of it seems
yeah so
it just makes it more,
it makes it more interesting to me to
have this journey of discovery.
You know, I think it pays more into,
um,
Imani's story and the overall story that
I'm trying to tell is even though
superpowers in it, I don't think we can,
anybody could really say that this is like
a superhero or a super villain book,
you know, not, not really.
So her lack of awareness just allows for
her to continue developing as a
fourteen-year-old would inside of this
world that she's in.
It's an extreme situation,
but making her a part of the fighters
in defense of humanity,
the FIDO or something like that,
would just give her too much structure to
get the story out.
She needs to be on her own and
finding herself and figuring out what
these powers are, what's real to her,
what's not.
If I have her around too many people
all the time,
then you kind of start to lose all
of that.
Simply put,
a cold sword was never a sword until
we put it in the fire.
I like it.
Dude, yeah.
No,
so I've only gotten to see basically the
press pass that he sent over to me.
And the moment I opened it and started
reading it, I was like, all right,
I got to have this whole thing.
It is that good in my eyes.
So you're the art director on Sweet Pea
as well, right?
How did you develop this visual language
of the constructs versus the real world
for her?
So we took some locations from Philly and
the surrounding areas because that's where
the story takes place at.
So Philly and Delco.
And, you know, as far as the style,
I wanted to confuse the reader's mind a
little bit because it's ultimately a story
about a fourteen year old girl.
So we have this kind of very approachable,
soft, round art style.
Contrasting with, you know,
like dark themes and violence and stuff
like that,
so I just thought that would be
Dope, because I like dark fantasy,
fantasy whimsical stuff,
but seeing like it could have been,
like it's kind of like a childish in
this animation,
but the story is heavy and rich.
That's what I had in mind for when
I was creating,
coming up with the art style.
Are there any visual cues or design rules
readers should subconsciously pick up on
as this story unfolds?
Are you evolving the art in this story
with visual cues for people to pick up
on, if that makes sense?
There's stuff there.
that help tell the story that aren't
necessarily you have to be looking for.
Yeah, watch Imani's eyes.
Anytime you don't wear,
keep an eye on her eyes.
I'll say that much.
That's a big giveaway.
we talked about this last time mike how
uh it takes us like you know forty
five minutes or an hour to read a
comic book because we're not just reading
the comic but we're actually studying yeah
the page as well because i'm looking for
visual cues i'm looking for easter eggs
i'm doing all these things while i'm
reading a comic book yes yeah i'll read
the page yep but then i go like
this right here through the page and i'm
just looking for things that
draw me to something or something where i
see it here but when i'm going to
get you know five pages over here i'm
going to see it again and it's just
those little visual cues that cue me into
things and i like that because the eyes
are always so telling but it is something
that
don't see a lot of in comic books
people using the eyes to help tell stories
so i i really like the fact that
you you're using the eyes of characters to
tell stories in that kind of way as
well so
Yeah, everything, everything counts.
You know,
we got to take it all into consideration.
It's nice to have something in there that,
you know,
like you find some detail that the artist
didn't put an arrow on pointing to make
sure you know.
That's why it takes me like ten to
fifteen minutes to read a page of a
comic book, because that's what I'm doing.
And even like,
if you get a chance to check out
issue one,
there's some things in there too, where,
you know,
like the size of characters and things
like that change.
And it's for, you know,
like it's for a reason, you know,
I put, it was deliberate.
We put it there on purpose,
but want to kind of let you have
some fun with why did this change so
much from one panel to the next kind
of.
Now, I like that kind of stuff,
and it's one of those where I think
that's an underutilized aspect that you
can do in comic books.
More people take advantage of that.
So you've worked across multiple projects,
Deathblade, the Five Thirds crew,
and now Sweet Pea as a creator.
How have those other experiences sharpened
your leadership as a storyteller?
So definitely it was dope because I got
to work with another writer for the first
time,
which was something I was trying to get
my hands on some scripts to just check
out and see how other people do it.
So getting to work on another person's
script and read it,
create these panel ideas and layouts
inside of my head and everything.
um really opened up my eyes to how
much more seriously i could take it
because i did a damn good job with
with death blade you know what i mean
and um and i think you know like
that just showed me that i can take
this to another level you know i can
i can take my own work to another
level and then with the five thirds crew
that came after
You know,
and this is the guy that's just this
is his first book, second issue.
First one wasn't really exactly a comic
book, but it's such an exciting idea.
That's all you got to make this comic.
So that one is actually it's like a
math book.
workbook but also a comic book and it's
really really good it's a great idea it
has you know like it's fully characters
it's not like the uh the things that
you get inside the dentist's office you
know yeah brush man or something like that
you know this is a full it's a
full comic book and it has
you know,
like these moments where they come up and
have to solve a math problem.
So, you know,
there's space for you on the page to
write in the book and solve the math
problems.
And he had a script.
Were those given to schools?
I hope so, man.
I think they should.
That would be such a cool concept,
especially for, like,
once they get to the second, third,
fourth grade, you know?
That would just be, like,
a fun way to do math.
I think he's got the golden goose, man.
Yeah, no kidding.
That might be it.
But, yeah, so, I mean, he had, like,
a word spreadsheet thing for his script.
so i took that remade it into an
actionable script that we can actually get
panels ideas from sent that back over to
him and you know we got we got
we went from there so i mean it
just showed me more of what i'm able
to offer because for me this is fun
more than more than work yeah
I'm passionate about it.
I get to be good at something.
It's still catching up to me.
I'm not trying to pat myself on the
back.
I don't want to seem like I got
a big deal.
You reach around.
It's not one of these, man.
Honestly, for me,
I know exactly where you're coming from
because that's how I feel about what I
do here.
There's times where I'm just like,
there's days like today where i actually
get to sit down and do the show
talk to you talk to mike again and
it makes it all the stress and stuff
leading up to these moments well worth it
so for sure man it feels good to
be good at something like this is this
is my thing right dude exactly that that's
exactly how i feel man this this right
here is like where
I found a niche and I was like,
why aren't there other people bigger than
me exploring this niche?
Yeah.
I would love to talk to some of
the bigger creators out there,
but at the same time,
if I could talk to guys like you
and Mike and other indie creators out
there who I see as the future of
comic book storytelling to begin with,
that to me has more depth to it
because I,
tomorrow you could be working for Marvel
or DC.
I don't know.
And I can look back and go,
I knew him before he was over there.
And, you know,
I have this proof right here in the
pudding that he got over there,
you know what I'm saying?
He's definitely got chops.
If I'm there,
it ain't going to be like I knew
him.
It's going to be like,
I know that guy.
Yeah.
I appreciate that.
Like I said, to me,
this is where it's at.
This is where the future is.
The future starts with indie comics.
I don't know a single big name out
there making comics right now that didn't
get their start in some kind of way
at this level.
So that's why I do what I do
to keep bringing you guys to the forefront
of people.
So I love it.
And I'll do it until I can't.
I appreciate it.
We need that.
We definitely need it.
You know, like I said before,
making the book,
you find it to be I found it
to be surprisingly easy.
I ain't going to say it's an easy
thing to do,
but it's extremely possible to do.
selling that book and getting eyes on it
you know it's really freaking hard what's
great about this right here is at the
end of the day i'm going to chop
this up for you i'm going to send
you over clips to help you you know
with that part of the of the selling
so
It's pretty crazy how something as simple
as a clip from a podcast interview that
you did can help kind of push that
along to another level.
So hopefully this will do that for you.
You can get us up to that that
fifty, you know,
pregame backers over on the Kickstarter
and everybody can get that cool as mobile
phone screensaver.
Yeah, yeah.
I feel free to cut me out.
You can cut me out.
You don't have to leave me.
You just edit it,
stack y'all's cameras together so it fits.
I don't have to be a part of
it.
I already got my clips.
Give him his clips.
Dude, honestly,
I didn't know if you were going to
show up or not.
And I literally,
when I was putting everything together,
I was like...
I was like,
I don't know if Mike's going to show
up.
And I'm like, but if he shows up,
you know, I'm prepared for that.
You know,
he can jump in where he wants to
jump in.
But I really,
I kind of had a feeling that you
wanted me to put more focus on Aleem.
I've been like doing that.
So I don't want you to think that
I'm ignoring you, Mike.
Absolutely.
But so you're,
You're just not building worlds.
You're raising five kids as well.
How has being a father influenced the
stories you've done?
I can kind of see that from what
I've gotten to see of Sweet Pea so
far.
But how has that been a big factor
into this?
You've hinted on it, but...
Yeah.
Well, first of all, just full disclaimer,
I want anybody reading this book and
thinking that very well.
Before we went live,
he was messaging his kids.
I swear to you.
Yeah.
So the kids are doing great.
Well, like I said, you know,
before and fathers prepare, fathers worry,
fathers consider, you know,
just something that men do.
You know,
we go into a room and analyze threats.
You know, it's just what we do.
So, you know, as a father, you know,
even from a young age, you know, well,
not me at a young age,
when I'm looking at my kids at a
young age,
Looking at their cute little faces,
but all of this knowledge of the world.
And I understand where they're at.
You know what I mean?
Everything's all fun and sunshine for
them.
As much as we can keep it that
way, we do.
You want to protect that innocence for as
long as you can.
As long as possible, man.
And make sure that they get the best
shot possible.
But...
it's a nasty world man it's a nasty
world and at the end of the day
we gotta prepare these children to be a
part of it one day and out on
their own they gotta leave the nest so
and that is that for me i ain't
gonna say it's always been scary i'm not
like a helicopter parent or anything like
that i trust that i've um
giving the kids what they need to go
out in the world.
And I'm still there for them whenever they
need me or whatever.
So it's not like I'm a nihilist or
something like that,
if I'm using that word right.
But I know what it is out there.
So that's what I'm putting out inside of
this book.
That fear, that worry,
just following that string of imagination.
turning it into something that's
interesting as a comic book, you know,
for the reader.
How have you managed to balance all that
between your family life and what you do
for comic books?
I don't know if you have a regular
job as well,
but how do you find balance in all
that?
Well, first of all,
I do a very poor job.
I can do that because mine's in college.
So I can it allows me to have
more time to do this kind of stuff,
which I am thankful for at this point
because I've done the hard part already.
I'm still I'm still I got a freshman,
a college freshman and a kindergartner.
she's a sophomore so in college so i'm
kind of like i can hands off and
just be there when i need to be
there so that's nice so i mean um
you know we make do it's easier it's
it's not easy but it's easier because it's
something that i'm passionate about doing
This ain't the same as me going in
for overtime to get, you know,
try to get a couple extra bills,
catch up on some credit cards.
This is me, you know, betting on myself.
This is me following my dreams.
This is me pursuing my passions.
And, you know,
when I can get my mental state together
to lock in,
I can do some amazing things.
And once you see once this Kickstarter
goes live,
and you see the care that I put
into that presentation and people start
seeing these, you know,
this book and these books that we've made,
I think you're going to see all of
that come through there.
I like it.
I'm in the same boat, man.
I got a nine to five.
The only reason I still keep the nine
to five is because I got bills to
pay, man.
Otherwise,
I'd be doing this full time whether I
was getting paid or not.
If people just watch the videos and let
me get paid to do this,
I wouldn't need the nine to five because
if I was getting paid to do this,
I'd do it all the time.
I wouldn't be worried about closing my
schedule.
I'd be like, hey, yeah,
I can fit you in at two p.m.
on Thursday.
Let's do it.
I know it's the same for Mike, too.
I know you guys are dealing with the
same things, man.
We all are.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And me and Mike talked about that when
he was on last time, too.
I mean...
if we could if we didn't have to
do it we would this would be i'd
be a full-time creator in a heartbeat i'll
work into that point you know i would
i want to be there and that that
is kind of my goal is hopefully end
of the year i'll be you know that
next step closer to being able to do
that so we'll see
it's all about the grind.
And I showed y'all my schedule for the
month of February.
We grind in this month.
It's consistent, man.
It pays off.
But, um,
i wish everybody knew that man i wish
i knew that from i wish i knew
this when i was you know kid watching
batman the animated series and you know
superman and all that stuff that you know
oh freakazoid regular people so all those
great people i've always been i've never
read the credits you know like i stopped
when i've never stayed for the credits of
the show i just watched the shows or
you know i read the books and then
i went about my day but those were
always
regular people that pursued their dreams,
followed it, and landed where they are.
So that's actually a part of my mission.
And I'll say that on every show that
I go on, that you can do it,
man.
If there's any kids watching and you have
ideas,
Start taking them seriously pursue them
and you know create just even if you're
just like Hopping on YouTube and watching
videos of what it is that you want
to do or what you have a passion
for And just do it Yeah,
because I remember when I first started
doing this I was watching YouTube videos
on how to do YouTube videos and how
to podcast and Ways to do it economically
and and get the most bang out of
your money so
Yeah, exactly.
And I was in my late thirties when
I started doing that.
So just imagine if we was nineteen,
twenty years old, getting it from there.
When I was eighteen or nineteen years old,
I don't think podcasting was a thing.
It was still being on it.
The way I see it is I do
a live podcast for the people who like
to watch.
but I also know and understand that I
got a face for radio.
So it also goes to Spotify and apples.
Okay.
Yeah.
So yeah, man, it's just like, you know,
just the takeaway is more people should,
if I could have,
if I could have built my life around
comic books,
I would be happy with wherever the chips
are.
Fortunately, you know, like I'm not,
I thank God for my, for,
for my life and everything that I have.
But you know,
I've got a lot built now that I
got to maintain.
So that nine to five,
not stopping until this takes off.
And then we can put our full attention
over here.
True story right there.
So without spoiling anything, man,
where do you see the diary of sweet
pea headed thematically?
As this story continues,
you've been kind of like dropping us
little breadcrumbs along the way there,
but without a spoiler,
where are you headed?
And, Mike,
you're giggling down there like a little
schoolgirl.
I don't know, Mike.
You think I can do it without spoiling?
Some dark places.
Hey,
this is one of those where you can
go, hey, dude,
I can't do this question without giving a
spoiler away.
And I'm going to understand it.
The people who are going to be listening
later on the podcast are going to
completely understand as well.
So...
If you can't do it without giving
spoilers, then by all means,
we can go to the next question.
I think you could explain it like this.
The stages of grief, right?
She's accepted it,
but there's one emotion that's pretty
valid in the stages of grief that you
got to get through,
and you won't like her when she's angry.
That's a perfect way to put it right
there, Gulls,
especially if she is
going through those stages of grief.
That makes perfect sense.
And if that's where it's going,
then I know there's a step in there
that's... That's what the talk is,
but the boss said it's open.
We're still talking about it.
It's on a pendulum.
but we can skip that one.
Let me ask you this,
is Sweet Pea a contained story or is
a foundation there of something much
bigger?
Oh,
it's absolutely a foundation there for
something much bigger.
You know, if this story takes off now,
we got a lot of things coming down
the pipe.
Me and Mike have something that we working
on together.
I have some other ideas that I want
to explore,
but if this thing really takes off and
the people are really interested in seeing
where this story can go,
there are so many factions inside of this.
So you have the Bane,
who are interdimensional creatures that go
from dimension to dimension.
creating catastrophic events and then
harvesting uh the resources from them and
moving on you have the results who are
like ancient enemy of the bane also travel
between dimensions and fighting them you
know and uh guerrilla warfare tactics for
hundreds of years thousands of years you
have the fight fighters in defense of
humanity or fido who is um
paramilitary global organization created
to try to fight against the BAME
using, you know,
like this new experimental technology.
Then you have, you know,
the average everyday human who also,
you know,
like we could focus on people who are
not powered and trying to survive this new
hellscape that we all have to deal with
in this story.
And then you have the people who absorb
the energy and become powered individuals.
You know, it's not just the money.
You know, she's just, uh,
we'll get into that issue for, but it's,
um, you know, you have,
you have other people too, that, that,
that have this power.
So there's a lot of elements, you know,
there's some,
there's some things in issue two that I
could take and make like a graphic novel,
a hundred and eighty pages easily.
Issue two could have easily been five or
six issues alone.
So we can go some places if you
guys want to go some places.
We can explore some more.
I like that a lot, dude.
But let's jump into the Kickstarter.
It is launching in March.
And what can you tell us about the
upcoming Kickstarter and what this
represents for the project?
Because this is issue three.
It's pretty pivotal of a four-issue
series.
Yeah, so issue three,
I'm giving it a lot of love and
care and affection with this Kickstarter
campaign.
I'm building it myself from the ground up.
Coming up with some really fun stretch
goals, one of which is live right now.
So in our prelaunch,
we have a stretch goal where if we
can get our followers on the prelaunch
page up to fifty,
then everybody's going to get that free
digital screensaver for their phones that
we talked about.
And then, you know,
like we'll probably do something like if
we can get up to one hundred and
a desktop wallpaper.
or something like that.
But we also have an element where sharing
is going to come into play.
I'll have some stretch goals for that.
For the number of backers,
we'll have stretch goals.
And then, of course,
monetary stretch goals as well to increase
that.
I'm only asking for a thousand dollars.
And if I only get enough to print,
that's fine.
Cause it's, you know, I was,
I bet on myself first with, with,
with the diary of sweet pea, um,
I pay for this book out of my
pocket.
Right.
So the book is, the book is done.
It's edited, it's worded,
it's lettered and everything like that.
Now we just got to get the print.
so if um traction is still low and
i haven't gotten it out to enough people
then you know we prep with a with
a thousand dollars and as high as we
can take it you know we uh we
make more it's not you know we definitely
going to finish diary sweet pea issue four
because that uh you know it's the promise
that i made when i wrote issue one
and put one of four in there
Which, by the way,
don't do if you if you if you
listen to that, you know,
just let it be issue one and leave
it at that.
Yeah.
Oh,
like it creates a box that you don't
necessarily want to have to deal with,
you know,
kind of confine the story into four issues
that could have easily been well with
thirteen or more.
So, you know.
I'm confident that we're going to hit that
goal.
But, you know,
I think that we made something really
special and it deserves it deserves to be
seen.
You're going to want to take a chance.
I know I'm not the best salesman in
the world,
but I'm a damn good comic book creator.
And this is a damn good comic book.
So I just think that you get to
come back the next time and go volume
to issue one and just leave it alone.
yeah so the the pitchwater man that has
we got some got some great graphics for
you guys um i have some really fun
tears we have three different books uh
covers so we four covers that include the
script the sketch cover yusuf shitu is the
line artist he's he's the standard cover
that's also going to be a holographic
cover that vibrant um purple
Which one was on the cover that you
had a cover on there on the press
release that I sent to you?
I had some of them that Mike had
sent over.
If you want,
I can pull it up real quick.
For sure.
Yeah.
All right.
Because this is the one that's been my
favorite one, to be fair.
The skydive pose, the all-purple.
And there was a one on the one.
Yeah, we got to.
There we go.
Yeah.
So that's that's this is clean.
Yeah, it's powerful, right?
Everything about this says I want to buy
this book.
yeah so this is this represents like a
really strong moment that you're going to
find inside of the book right well not
this exact picture but this moment is
contained inside of the book and um you
know like this is just an example of
the kind of intention that we have when
we create and the artwork to go along
with it the artist first so that's yeah
that's our standard cover yusuf shitu
knocked that out of the park
We actually had a coloring contest with
the line art from that.
And me, the colorist, and the line artist,
Yusef.
And for the third book now,
he's beat me on the colors for his
work.
Now,
the moment Mike had sent that cover over,
I was like,
i'm going with this cover i don't care
what anybody else says like that it just
instantly became like the cover for me
well we got to use stuff man because
he killed it on that cover yeah he
knocked that out we got we got some
more great artists though uh for our
variant covers we have uh travis uh jay
travis smith who's worked with idw and a
whole slew of other people
got an alternate cover from him.
And then Mark McKenna,
who I spoke about earlier,
who's been with Marvel since I was a
baby, also did a cover for me,
which is amazing.
I hope they don't throw no type of
way when I say that,
but it just blows my mind that me
and him got to work together.
This guy has
and all other kinds of stuff and now
he's a cover artist for alter ego arts
the diary is sweepy as well and that
is just mind-blowing oh dude that that's
that i love that dude i'd love to
hear like like i had another guy on
the podcast not that long ago and he
had a guy that i personally like admire
his work uh franco franco bella
did a cover for him.
That dude's cover work and just his art
in general just blows me away every time
I get to see it.
Knowing that he got a cover from him,
A,
I was immediately envious of it because he
messaged Chris Ford to do a cover for
him.
He's like, hey,
I want to do a cover for you.
They did a cover for him.
I'm just like,
dude that's freaking amazing so for me it
was just like when he told me that
i was blown away by it but it's
when it goes to show that it doesn't
matter where you're at there's always
somebody watching what you're doing and
are willing to do something for you you
know what i'm saying
So to me, it's dope as hell, man.
Like you got to get a cover by
somebody that you've looked up to and
admired.
Don't meet your heroes,
but sometimes meeting your heroes gets you
a cover, you know?
And then, you know what, like,
like I said before, I never,
I wasn't reading the credits to these
things that I was picking up.
Right.
And books, you know what I mean?
Like I've carried books with his inks on
there across States.
You know,
and stuff like that and passed it down
to other, you know,
like my little cousins and stuff like
that.
So like it is wild, too,
because you don't think about the amount
of people it goes to making a single
issue of a comic book until you either
start work.
So for me,
when I started doing the podcast and
working with comic books more often and
more frequently,
that I started paying attention to the guy
who does the pencils,
the guy that does the ink,
the guy that does the colors,
the guys that do the stories,
the guy that does the productions,
the guys who do the printing.
And you realize the writer, the artist,
and the cover artist are the three people
who get all the freaking credit.
You know what I'm saying?
But there is a bigger team behind those
three individuals.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Like the editor.
Exactly.
Really severely under positioned to where
if you didn't have a good editor,
you could be walking around with a hot
piece of ass for a comic book.
I'm honored to be a part of this
project.
This came shortly,
I think not long after my mom had
passed away.
And one of the things that I'd taken
away from what a limit sent me was
the grieving process.
And so us just getting along really well
over the Kickstarter that we were doing
for him on issue one.
was just, I mean,
it's kind of meant to be.
So when I was asked,
I couldn't say no.
And, uh,
we worked out a price and I've,
I've held to that standard and we worked
together ever since.
And we were working on some other stuff
outside of sweeping now.
Um,
that's kind of exciting and it's really
really slow because all our schedules and
all the things we're involved with and of
course we're trying to put out sweet pea
and get to get to that issue for
as fast as we can but but uh
it's it's it's been a it's been a
true honor to be honest uh comics has
not only brought me closer to the industry
that i wanted to when i finished my
degree but
Man, it's brought me friends.
It's brought me people who are like-minded
that have allowed me to open up to
other people who are like-minded to talk
about the things in the creative space
that you don't really talk about,
that readers don't see on the page as
a product, you know.
There are some things that we don't talk
about when we're creating process.
We just don't talk about it just because
it's an insecurity or we don't want to
look dumb.
We get to talk about those in safe
spaces with those who are like-minded.
So that in itself has been a blessing.
So I'm just tickled to be a part
of it, to be honest.
Whatever value I've brought to it,
I'll let a limb speak to it.
But it's his baby.
I'm just helping him polish it.
And I'm just like, thank you, man.
Thank you so much for letting me be
here.
You sound like Marshall Lynch at the...
that NFL press release,
I'm just here so I don't get fined.
Mike here because Mike did a damn thing,
man, you know, like that.
Like I said, you know,
I don't want to, like,
want to praise you so much but i
don't want to i don't want to uh
you know like give the wrong idea that
you know like um by the end of
this episode he's gonna look like megamind
but it's just like the value of an
editor first of all like to have an
editor with a freaking master's degree and
you know editing related you know matters
it's just like wow and you know like
to have somebody that can take your ideas
and your your script and structure it
in a way that enhances it to the
best of its ability is is really
invaluable it's like it's a really
important step like you said that some
people skip you know some people may feel
like they don't need it but everybody
needs it you can't do this in a
bubble it takes a team
Like you said,
it takes a team of people that you
need to trust, you need to, you know,
be able to vibe with.
It helps to be able to, like,
I consider Mike a friend, you know,
more than anything.
We can talk about stuff that ain't got
nothing to do with comics, you know,
real life stuff that's going on and that
we deal with.
Or, you know, like, we could just,
it's nice,
it's cool to have somebody to just geek
out with these ideas with.
Yeah, dude,
that's some of the funnest parts to me.
And that's why I love having indie
creators here on the podcast is they're
just as big as nerds as I am
who understand the writing process,
the art process, the editing process.
And we already have a lot of stuff
in common anyway with comic books.
and it just like ups the nerd for
me on that you know what i'm saying
so it's always fun to me to have
guys on and not to just speak about
their projects but just to speak about
comic books in general you know because
it's one of those niches you it doesn't
get a lot of publicity yeah even though
it's a billion dollar industry
God, that makes me sick to my stomach.
There should be comic book creators on the
stage of The View.
What you mean women don't read comic
books?
I don't know about The View.
I'll skip that one.
No, no, no.
We can't skip that one.
People talk so much garbage about that
one.
Give me Oprah.
Oprah, hit me up.
I want to go on Oprah.
I want to go on Oprah and talk
comic books with Oprah.
Let's do it.
Oprah, hit me up.
Joe Rogan needs to have some podcast
individuals on there from the comic
industry.
He's had movie stars.
Joe Rogan, yeah, that's true.
Where are the comic book people at?
Let's make it happen.
I don't even have to come to Texas.
Oh, yeah.
We'll do it.
Yeah, we'll do it right here.
We'll do it one-on-one through StreamYard.
Let's do it.
Let's do it, Joe.
Let's jump back into this Kickstarter.
So for readers jumping in on this at
the ground level,
What makes this the right time to support
Sweet Pea?
And will they have a chance to catch
up with the first two volumes?
OK.
So if you're jumping in now,
you're jumping in at a great time because
I think we finally settled into the
perfect formula, right?
Issue one and issue two are available.
Issue one and issue two are great.
But if all you got to read so
far is issue three, if you jump in,
you only want to get a single issue,
and it's issue three,
there's enough there for you to be
interested enough, I think,
to later come back for issue one and
two.
And you're going to get me at my
best.
You want to get us at our best
with issue three.
It's a solid story.
You know,
we're maintaining that tradition of if you
pick up,
no matter which issue you pick up,
you should have a complete story, right?
Even if there's some back, you know,
whatever,
I want to make sure that from start
to finish,
you get a completed tale that's also a
part of a larger story,
but this alone should satisfy.
And I think that issue three is just
the perfect place to jump in to the
series.
I like it.
Issue one and two are available.
That was going to be my next question
is, will issue one and two be together?
Because if I'm going to back it,
I got to be able to get physical
copies of one and two because I'm a
physical issue guy.
Yeah.
It's something about the fresh smell of a
freshly printed comic that just very few
things come close.
Yep.
I'll make sure there's a continuity option
where you get all three for an agreed
upon price.
Yeah, definitely.
Physical and digital.
Yeah.
I know some people who have gone just
straight digital.
I myself cannot ever see myself doing
that.
I like getting the digital copies to read
in advance,
but it's just something about cutting that
tape off that box,
pulling out that physical copy.
Plus, to be fair,
it gives me more content.
From the business perspective,
if you plan to go all digital,
don't expect to raise much money because
there's no print involved.
That particular type of pursuit is for
those who want to run through a series
or a story really quickly and only need
to raise money to make the story.
You don't even have to go crowdfunding to
make money with the book.
You can go straight to Global Comics or
Amazon and Kindle and places like that.
It's a
yeah it's a business decision but unless
you're someone who's been in the industry
that's coming back or if you're like the
creator of swat cats who came and knocked
it out of the park they went all
digital they'd have made some money they
wouldn't have made near as much money if
they did if they wouldn't have gone to
print and then they just make a like
a close to a million of a kickstarter
it was almost close to a quarter almost
close to a quarter and they they raised
enough to make um a motion comic out
of the comic that they created
as like their first endeavor for bringing
SWAT cats back,
which I'm pretty sure they're in the
process of pursuing another animated
series.
But I was a part of that one
because I watched them back at the day
and I'm using it as an example to
explain, like,
if you don't have that name or that
previous nineties nostalgia,
you're not going to raise a whole lot
of money.
Going all digital.
So, I mean, people want physical,
tangible things to hold on to and go,
wow, look at me.
Look what I have.
It's part of the process.
So let me ask this.
What kind of reader do you think this
story is going to resonate with the most
once this campaign goes live?
Dads for sure.
Definitely dads.
I want to say that all readers,
teenage and up,
could pick it up and get a lot
of enjoyment out of it.
There's a lot of fun there,
but I think there's some elements in there
that's really special and specific to
fathers that I think is going to grasp
you no matter where you are,
where you're from in the world.
I think dads are really going to like
it.
I like it, dude.
So for readers who are just now
discovering this book for the first time,
what do you hope they feel when they
close the book?
So I know the question sounds the same,
but this is what do you hope they
feel when they close the book?
Once they've read cover to cover,
what do you want them to feel?
Oh, you know, I go deep.
All right.
Mike,
you're going to have to follow up on
this one, man.
I want them to be hungry.
I want them to be just slobbering at
the mall for more.
I want them to be all over Alem's
social medias,
clambering and beating on the social media
door,
asking to be let in so they can
see what's in the frying pan.
I think you have to get issue one
and two.
Cause the context that the emotional story
bringing to issue three is lost without
it.
But at the same time,
you're going to want to get issue one
and two,
and then you're going to want to know
what happens next.
Cause issue three is a slammer, man.
After we got done with this,
after seeing it all come together in the
pre-post for lettering, I was like,
I can't even believe I'm part of this.
This is so great.
The moment I finished reading that press
release,
I think it's five pages or something,
but it's just like
just such a it's like when they slide
the stake in front of you you know
yeah you're like oh yeah yeah no but
they don't give you no silverware and i
don't know this is another episode in this
conversation you know it's all about
building up for the kickstarter and i know
that i might be presumed biased
But typically and honestly,
if I saw this on the shelf,
I would pick it up.
But until I read it,
I don't think it's something I would
innately just be like, yeah,
put it in my cart.
If that purple cover was on the shelf,
I would immediately grab that purple cover
and be like, hey, LCS,
where do I get issue one and two?
Because if this cover is any indication of
what is on the inside,
I'm going to need the other two to
go with it.
Which is why the cover is so great.
and that's that's what i look for in
covers when it comes to comics does this
cover have anything to do uh with the
story i'm going to experience from the
inside some of it's just flash or they
got like a guest artist to come in
and
and do a little woo-ha and a little
bit of glitzy glamour.
Put their name on it.
Yeah,
but covers like the one that we all
voted on to be the cover for issue
three,
on top of it being the art was
elevated.
I'm not being biased here.
I'm really passionate about what we all
just accomplished together inside this
third issue.
It's a slammer.
You got to have one through three.
So what I would like people to understand
is how hungry you're going to feel when
you get done with it.
Because issue four is really up to y'all.
It's up to all the backers.
It's up to everybody who tells someone to
back it.
It's up to how well this podcast does.
It's up to y'all how fast we get
to issue four.
for y'all to be satiated in the hunger
that you're about to feel.
So I am so happy for y'all,
speaking to just those who are watching,
reading, and want to back this.
But at the same time,
I'm so very sorry that issue four is
not here.
But we want it to be here.
So please back, back, back.
Tell someone to back it.
Tell everybody.
Tell your friends, your mom, your grandma,
if they forgot a birthday present.
You know, I pressed this live.
It's going to have all the,
everything in there.
And then I know, you know,
Lynn was talking before and he's like,
Hey,
I know we're just like kind of building
up the, uh,
we're putting the steak on the grill,
so to speak right now.
We're actually going live in March, right?
Like mid-March is what I think it is.
Yep.
We're going to bring it back sometime in
March and we're going to do this again
properly.
Yep.
For sure.
And you're absolutely right, man.
My thinking was like, you know,
if you get issue three, right?
So I'll just give you guys fair warning.
Busy guy.
I want to get out to as many
conventions as possible.
But I'm not the easiest to find right
now for sale.
So this Kickstarter, you know, issue one,
two, and three are going to be available.
And probably the easiest way for right now
for you to get your hands on all
three copies of this book
you know we'll look into getting inside
the stores and getting out the conventions
i love doing conventions i just gotta have
you know the time and money to get
out to them i love going out and
meeting people so if i can you know
i'll be there as many as possible for
this kickstarter if you if you walk away
only with issue three you might be
disappointed because you're going to want
you're going to want issue one and two
once you read issue three for sure all
right fellas
We're at that part of the show where
I'm going to ask y'all to plug yourselves.
Tell everybody where they can find y'all
at.
Liam, we'll start with you, man.
So you can find me on Facebook and
Instagram,
Alty Eagle Arts or Sweet Pea Comic.
Both of those.
MJF, it's your turn, buddy.
Like in the last episode, man,
you can find me on Facebook.
I'm on MFoodForThoughts on Instagram.
I also have a few websites and you
can find me on the IMP sub stack,
Inevitable Media Press.
And also on Alignable.
Alignable is a social media for B-to-Bs or
businesses and people who have small
businesses.
Sole proprietors can go and connect with
people who have services.
That's not a paid marketing.
I'm just explaining it because I didn't
know what it was and how cool it
was.
I met a lot of comics people on
Alignable.
That's where you can hit me up to
find editing services and find out how I
can help you turn your product into what
I'm doing for a limb right here with
Sweet Pea.
I like it.
Even though you were the hardest guy to
get a hold of.
I'm not even shitting anybody, y'all.
Message his ass on Facebook.
He's guaranteed to see it.
I did CC a limb and let him
handle it because it's kind of his baby.
To bridge the gap, yeah.
I do apologize for that.
I'm actually really easy to talk to.
Ask a limb.
Easy to talk to.
It's the getting in part.
I got a little bit of a white
rabbit.
All jokes aside, man, hey,
it was a pleasure to have both of
you on tonight and to talk about Sweet
Pea with you all for one.
I'm going to shoot you over the schedule
for March.
I'm not kidding when I tell you February
is full and March is looking like it's
going to fill up just as fast.
So if you want to come back in
March,
you're going to have to jump on the
schedule now.
Ladies and gentlemen,
and that's the thing about indie comics.
They're not just stories on paper.
They're lived experiences.
They're grief turned into strength.
They're creators who understand that every
panel counts.
isn't just telling a story with the diary
of sweet pea.
He's building a world rooted in emotion,
intention, and craft.
So you,
if you believe in creator owned comments,
if you believe in stories that look as
good as they read,
and if you believe in supporting the
people bold enough to make them,
you know where to look.
Ladies and gentlemen,
this has been the Chairman and the United
States Department of Nerds for Indie
Comics Come to Life.
Y'all be safe and stay warm.
I love the outros.