The United States Department of Nerds Podcast

Donal Thoms-Cappello - Building the Sci-Fi Universe of POWERSCAPE

In this episode of the USDN Podcast, we sit down with Donal Thoms-Cappello, creator of the sci-fi series POWERSCAPE.

Set in the year 2798, POWERSCAPE explores a future where civilization survives within franchise cities powered by limited energy resources and structured around competition.

We discuss the origins of the series, its 20-year development, and how themes of sports, philosophy, and societal structure influenced its creation. Donal also shares insights into storytelling, worldbuilding, and the evolving landscape of comics.

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What is The United States Department of Nerds Podcast?

USDN Podcast is a cinematic indie comics interview series hosted by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds — spotlighting the creators, storytellers, and worldbuilders shaping the future of independent comics.

Each episode dives beyond headlines into the real journeys behind the books — from Kickstarter launches and creative struggles to the philosophies driving today’s indie storytelling movement.

This isn’t about rumors or recycled news.

It’s about the people creating the worlds.

Through in-depth conversations, creator spotlights, and crowdfunding discussions, USDN explores:

• The rise of indie comics
• The business of crowdfunding
• The art of worldbuilding
• The realities of independent storytelling

USDN is where indie comics come to life — for the fans, by the creators, and powered by the community.

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DFPN.

Thanks for watching

Oh.

I had two versions of the song playing

in my ear when I was trying to

share it.

Apologies to everybody.

What is up, everybody?

It's the chairman of the United States

Department of Nerds,

where we are for the people,

by the people, and of the people.

So what happens when competition becomes

civilization,

when entertainment becomes survival,

and when fates of entire CDs depend on

the outcomes of a game?

Tonight we step into the year twenty seven

ninety eight,

a future where humanity survives beneath

vast domes known as franchise cities.

And the greatest force shaping society

isn't politics or wealth.

it's victory our guest tonight is donald

thoms capello creator of the sci-fi epic

powerscape a universe more than twenty

years in the making blending futuristic

sport political intrigue and big scale

science fiction world building the council

of nerds is now in session donald my

friend welcome back to the usdn

hey thank you for having me always a

pleasure to be here uh i like what

you've done to the place hey thanks man

i spruced it up as i'm redecorating

everything behind me yeah yeah same here

same here on my end yeah yeah yeah

but um hey before we dive in to

powerscape itself why don't you take a few

minutes and tell everybody about how you

kind of got into this uh the comic

book well

i back in i uh was uh a

an actor performing and uh training out in

london and uh it was right you know

post-nine eleven sort of uh reality

setting in and um i just you know

i was reading a lot of philosophy i

was i was uh uh working on a

lot of art i i was uh

attending a lot of different sports games.

I grew up loving basketball,

but I also was very keenly aware of

all these other sports like football and

European football, soccer,

playing such a role in culture,

playing such a role in how...

Our public square more and more turns into

sports forums and entertainment arenas.

And the idea of the arena itself becoming

more and more kind of what is our

society in general.

Where we mingle, where we mix.

And that with the...

decades of just seeing sort of every

everything playing out with environmental

issues and climate change and also energy

resources and finite energy and how

everything that we are and everything that

is our society rests on a lot of

finite energy and battle for it.

And what if you put these two things

together and how inevitably, you know,

the idea of bread and circus is more

and more people look at that as kind

of like the end stage of when the

Roman Empire collapsed.

but i see it as almost sort of

the inevitability of what happens when you

when you make empire and also when you

have to when when you have to hold

things together as long as possible uh and

taking bread what does it look like to

extend that even further when bread and

circus becomes like the government itself

Because the right and so so Powerscape is

sort of this culmination of of years of

really weight weaving a story in my head

about this idea of if sports franchise,

the sports franchise essentially becomes

the governing model of these remaining

cities after, you know,

centuries of the planets been destroyed by

by.

by climate issues and nuclear winter and

all this stuff,

and what happens if we recreate

everything,

but we only have this much really left

to survive, and how do we distribute it?

Well, distribute it through a game,

distribute it through competition,

and what does that look like, right?

So that's kind of what the story is

exploring, for sure.

still wild to hear it i i i

know i've heard the explanation before but

it's still it's still wild it's such a

still a very fun concept to explore now

where did uh the love for storytelling

begin um yeah i

Gosh, like I think I always,

I feel like growing up in the American

suburbs, story is kind of just there,

right?

It's there as soon as you turn on

the TV.

And I really got in,

my background's theater.

I really,

really appreciated a lot of theater.

I was a major,

I think one of the first storytellers that

really spoke to me was Arthur Miller,

who is a playwright, Death of a Salesman,

right?

Like when you say Arthur Miller, yeah.

Yeah, that's where I went.

Yeah?

So you're familiar with him, right?

I'm familiar with him, yes.

Am I a stage kid?

Absolutely not.

But I appreciate it, you know?

Yeah,

you don't want to be a stage kid.

You'll get your butt kicked in the

American suburbs, speaking of which.

Which is why you live in Canada now.

Yep.

I'm up here now.

I can't do nothing about it.

Oh, man, it's country of drama kids.

But I...

But I also, like,

I got shoved in the locker all the

time until I finally,

I remember I did the Who's Tommy.

I played Tommy.

And everybody, I remember, like, groan,

like, you know,

our star linebacker of our high school

football team was like, bro,

you're so beautiful up there.

It was so amazing.

I was like, really?

But even before that, yeah,

I was a major fan of Arthur Miller

because I really enjoyed how he was

clearly talking about something like these

underlying patterns that pop up in our

culture.

that are there that no one really ever,

no one else was talking about.

And theater,

and I feel like theater and comics are

the two mediums, media,

that they are always there before

everybody else and they're always talking

about deeper stuff.

that uh uh tv and film it takes

them takes way longer for those for those

uh uh sources those platforms to discuss

those things so i got a lot of

that from from arthur miller and then over

the years you know i just started really

it was when i started studying writing up

here in british columbia i went to ubc

and i started writing i only came up

here really to sharpen my tools for

screenwriting

But they had this rule where you had

to study different genres.

And so I was studying everything I could,

poetry, four-act structure.

I started really falling in love with

story structure.

There's that one again,

the four-eye structure.

Four-act structure, yeah.

Oh, did you say four-act?

That one I haven't heard of, actually.

No, the one you said.

I'm sorry.

It sounded like... Oh, four-act, yeah.

Yeah, four-act structure,

four-act structure, five-act, right?

Yeah.

You know,

the common novel really lends itself well

to comic book writing.

And that was something... So,

me and Braston Cosby just had a very

good conversation on that exact topic,

actually.

Really?

Yeah.

That's how he writes his comics,

using that same concept.

Oh,

where he thinks of it as one long

novel, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

There is – there's some really great –

there's another fantastic writer who,

of course,

his name is escaping me right now,

and I'll look him up.

He wrote Little Bird.

Okay.

And that – he definitely – I could

see that his –

His storytelling structure for that tale

absolutely does that.

I'm trying to get his name now so

I don't lose it.

Darcy Van Paulgates.

uh he's brilliant brilliant writer it's a

really great story and he definitely it

reads like a a a novel uh in

structure but you know it doesn't feel

like that while you're reading it uh and

and that's so that so i started realizing

that a lot of a lot of narrative

structure i started like studying a lot of

you know thinking about non-linear

structure thinking about this and that i i

i learned how

I went back to comic books,

which is really the first thing I was

reading before theater, right?

And I realized how so much of what

I was, what I naturally wanted,

was inclined to make story-wise really fit

comic writing.

And so then it just got to a

point where the idea just kept, you know,

chewing and chewing in my brain.

And I was like, dude, you got it.

You got to write this thing already.

Just to at least stay sane.

I just have to write it.

What were some of those comments that kind

of influenced that?

Oh, man.

One hundred bullets, without a doubt.

Uh, uh,

one hundred bullets as well as one hundred

bullets run.

What I love about it is the layering.

He you think it starts with a very

small, hard boiled fiction,

crime fiction kind of setting.

And then it it unveils that it's part

of this bigger story.

And then that's part of an even bigger

story.

You know, reverse what is it?

Reverse Russian egg or whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I loved that feeling.

And I loved how it was earned.

Never felt like it was imposed.

And it was a nifty way of story

story world building.

without starting the story, right?

Which I think is a challenge.

I see so many people who they,

you know, I'm guilty of it too sometimes,

right?

Of you're worrying so much about the

details of your story world instead of

just people and characters and

relationships.

And I think, I mean,

that story series for sure is great.

And then of course, you know,

Watchmen obviously played a huge role.

Yeah, scalped.

A lot of the Vertigo series,

I was a kid.

They're back on the shelf, man.

Say it again?

They're back on the shelf.

The back of the shelf.

Yeah.

I was a kid.

I was very lucky.

And I was a kid who was allowed

to go to the adult section of the

comic book shop.

And the owner was just like, yeah,

I don't care.

It would be like Vertigo.

This is for adults.

This is graphic violence.

Preacher.

Oh, my gosh.

The amount of stuff coming out of that.

Come on.

Everybody loves ass face.

i think my i think my father called

me that a few times and uh that

was how we bonded and so i would

i would show it i would i would

show him that the the preacher comic like

like you know me trying to be like

a teenage rebel to my dad you know

like so i'm gonna get this what are

you gonna do about it you know my

dad's just like all right looks it looks

looks interesting you know so

So, like, you know, as a young kid,

I was lucky in that I very quickly

was able to see past a lot of

the bells and whistles of, like, yeah,

graphic violence and, you know,

incredible, beautiful art.

But then at the end of the day,

is it a story I'm going to come

back to?

Is it something I'm going to come back

to?

Dude,

that's one of those stories where you can

go back and read it.

yeah yeah the tv series itself wasn't that

bad they they did change a little much

in my opinion they changed a lot yeah

but at the end of the day it

was such a good watch though yeah there

are certain things that you absolutely

positively cannot put on tv no not at

all it can be applied like ass face

become an ass face was a plot implied

It was implied.

That's true.

I mean,

you hear the gunshot and then you see

the aftermath and how everybody treats

him.

And then nobody really ever gets that real

story of what that was and how that

happened.

Yeah.

And I think I really liked the part

of the story where,

at least in the graphic novel,

I liked that you didn't really see how

it happened.

I think later they show how it happened.

Yeah, they do.

It's in a flashback sequence later on.

Yeah.

I liked – I loved that you didn't

have to see it.

I think it's mentioned very briefly when

his dad leaves the police officer – the

police headquarters.

And then he comes – the sheriff's

headquarters.

And then the sheriff comes home,

and he's just staring at the kitchen while

his son's like, yeah,

I'm going to make you this.

I'm going to make you that.

And then he leaves,

and then he just puts his head down

and –

Yeah, that's an Arthur Miller play moment,

for sure.

Oh, yeah.

Like, that moment where it's like,

you can feel the history in the

relationship in the room, you know?

And later on, when I studied acting,

you just sort of realize that's what makes

a really potent character scene worth

watching, is, you know,

there's something that we didn't see as an

audience, but we know it's there,

and you're watching two people navigate

it, right?

He was such a great character in the

series itself.

Oh, yeah.

Like,

how many times did he save Preacher's ass,

you know?

Yes, that's right.

I forgot about that.

That's right.

That's right.

He wasn't, like,

the most prolific character,

but he was a very prolific character

throughout the entirety of the series.

Isn't he essentially a response to people

loving him so much, right?

To fan mail and stuff like that, right?

I want to say yes.

Yeah, that he starts getting more of a...

or at least I thought he did.

I don't, I don't know.

I can't remember how that,

how that went down.

And I just remember him being just like,

he was a fricking done.

Right.

Or at least that's how he,

but it felt like he also had like

mental issues before everything happened

to begin with.

And she just kind of played him along.

Yes.

And, um,

so it's kind of like you feel bad

for the character.

And then it's like, he becomes such a,

A lovable character.

Yeah.

Well, he sacrifices himself, doesn't he?

Yeah.

Now I'm forgetting everything.

Yeah.

I want to say he did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, Vertigo,

there was a moment in the mid to

late nineties where the stories were

really very clearly not geared towards my

teenage self.

And I could tell they weren't, you know,

and I think there's a I always trust,

you know, when I teach at a,

you know,

I'm a college teacher and I teach students

that I know are very hyper aware of

there's not there's not a lot of things

they haven't been told everything.

about the ways of the world in ways

to protect them,

but they're ready to handle that, right?

They're ready to,

and I think comic books were for a

long time, like the one place where,

you know,

you're an angry young man and you're not

understanding like, you know,

so many things about yourself and the

world and you go and you read a

comic book and there's some, you know,

Neil Adams talking to me somehow,

you know, from beyond the grave.

It's that five to ten minutes of being

just immersed.

in that story it yeah there's not a

lot of well i want to say there's

not a lot of stories but there are

a lot of stories out there currently that

really just like pull you into them now

yeah and you you just feel like god

bless i feel like i'm there man yeah

like i really right now i really love

um aubrey sitterson's um free planet

That's a good story.

And it's one of those where I know

when it ends, I'm going to be like,

yeah, you know,

like that one's going to suck when it

ends.

There's been a few like that.

I'm super intimidated by the the the

variation of storytelling I'm seeing now

in comics, the superiority of like,

you know,

clearly like the the the generations that

grew up watching film are going back to

comic and applying a lot of those

principles

with paneling and it's really interesting

to see how it's happening.

And I'm kind of realizing I'm a bit

of a dinosaur on terms of my preferred

format and everything,

but I'm also okay with that because I

think, first of all,

you gotta be who you are, right?

You have to tell the story you are.

I don't think there's a right or wrong

way.

I know a lot of people say, oh,

that's the wrong way to tell it.

Is it?

Look at it now.

People use the gutters.

People are all in the gutters now.

People are using the whole page to tell

the story now, whereas before,

you better have that half-inch white all

the way around the page.

Now it's like the pages are blue,

the pages are black, the pages are red,

and

Yeah.

There's no such thing as a –

Yeah, everyone younger than me,

and in fact,

a lot of my peers are trying to

re-engineer story for verticals,

for vertical story format.

Every student I know,

like there was a young student I worked

with recently and she was like, oh,

I'm into comics.

I'm like, you are?

Oh, here's mine.

And she's like, oh, I read these.

And they're meant to be scrolled, right?

And I'm like, wow, this is, oh shoot.

Like this is how everyone who's younger is

thinking.

They're also talking about – yeah,

they're not talking about an actual comic.

They're talking about reading – I forgot

what they're called off the top of my

head.

But a lot of this stuff is online

now.

You can literally just go buy digital

copies of all the comic books.

I mean you offer digital prints of yours.

Yeah, mine's on Global Comics now as well.

One's on Global Comics.

But it's also available.

Global Comics goes out of its way to

keep it traditionally horizontal.

Um,

I'm just saying that I can see that.

Yeah.

It's like you said, there's, there's,

there's different,

there's different ways of presenting the

story.

I'm a, I'm a big,

I think I said this last time in

our, in our last interview,

I'm into Marshall McLuhan because McLuhan

always believed in the medium is the

message, right?

The medium is the massage.

You would call it where you're,

you're being,

It's not necessarily the story content,

it's how it's being presented to you

that's really sticking in your mind.

And I think that's changing a lot now,

for sure.

But I also see that people are going

to comics because it's a really immediate

way to deal with the stories and the

themes that I don't think we're getting in

other places.

There's no rules, right?

yeah yeah yeah and it's the most immediate

way to experiment without certain rules

right yeah yeah yeah if you want to

show blood and guts it's one of those

where you know you can show the blood

you show the guts you can show intestines

being ripped out of this person's body

their brains splattered on the wall if you

want to go the opposite way

If there's a graphic scene between two

adult consenting human beings,

you can show it.

You got to label it,

but at the same time,

you can still show all that stuff.

There's an audience for it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

yeah and i think also you you you're

i'm seeing how like the text bubble is

changing like people have different ways

of delivering it now the test bubble is

all over the place now yeah it's not

art text bubble being used as transition

i'm noticing a lot which is which is

pretty good and that's the belief right

the the art will tell the story the

words will progress it hmm

And then there's the idea of people who

use the gutters to do self-inflection into

the story from the characters,

which is a cool concept too.

I've read a few stories like that now

where I'm like, none of that makes sense.

And then you get a few pages over,

and then you're like, oh,

that's inner monologue the character is

having with themselves while they're

having the conversation with this other

character on the page.

Yeah.

So it's kind of odd seeing that,

and I'm seeing more of it.

But it's still cool.

I like that it's an evolving form of

media now.

yeah and there's really no right or wrong

way to do it anymore now before you

you had to have the gutters you had

to have that that white page and

everything had to be confined to those

boxes and you know image was really the

first one that kind of came along and

said yeah we ain't doing none of that

and then doing like the whole inner page

is just a giant splash page you know

yeah

i i'm i'm i'm in the middle of

reading for the first time i haven't

finished it uh powers i don't know why

it took me this long to read it

it's been on my my list forever yeah

and i'm just noticing i guess when retro

girl is murdered they they're and they're

they are... Not a spoiler, by the way.

It's in the beginning of the...

They are giving background for what...

I guess how the city thinks of her.

And it's... Yeah, the bottom of the page,

just these panels that are...

These little mini panels scrunched

underneath the actual panels of the page.

And I'm like, wow, that is so...

it's like on one hand i'm like this

is this looks a little clunky but on

the other hand it's like oh i don't

even need it i could take or leave

it and that's kind of the connotation of

it and i thought that was really

interesting it's like oh yeah like that's

the whole point of it it's like i

could i could read this or i don't

have to and that's the page is telling

me that

which is pretty cool.

Yeah.

So it's just things like, yeah,

I appreciated that from like image as

usual really did like set the whole, like,

what if we do this instead, you know,

or understand.

They kind of just said, okay,

here's the traditional rules and here's

the shredder.

And yeah,

we're going to do what we want.

We're going to experiment.

We're going to find what works and what

doesn't work.

Yeah.

If it doesn't work,

they're going to tell us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, food for thought.

Food for thought.

Yeah.

I mean,

we just had this conversation before we

went live.

Mm-hmm.

About?

About your book.

Yes.

About, well, yeah, I mean,

it's definitely...

I mean,

I'm probably the only person who's

actually read it right now,

and I'm not going to give any spoilers.

But, you know,

it was one of those where... Yeah,

let's talk about it.

We should talk about it.

You want to talk about it?

Let's talk about the actual comic book.

Let's talk about the actual comic book.

That was literally my segue into it,

actually.

I appreciate that.

Yeah.

So let's step inside the world itself,

man.

PowerScape has taken place in twenty seven

ninety eight.

Civilization is surviving within these

franchise city and they're powered by

Korra.

energy which was given to them by aliens

yeah that's right aliens finally visited

earth to help us on frick ourselves that's

what it took yeah but let's not get

for those in the real world let's not

do that okay let's let's not get to

that point where aliens have to visit us

to help us survive but again society is

revolving around this massive competitive

event known as powerball

Now, Donald,

can you let everybody know exactly what

Powerball is?

So it's a game that is played on

a variety of different fields depending on

which city you're in.

The one that we open on is New

Caledonia,

which is essentially Seattle and Vancouver

and everything in between.

and parts of Portland just kind of like

put together in a region as a mega

city that is under a dome of, yeah,

of manufactured atmosphere that this core

energy keeps sustaining.

Their field is called Omega Field because

it's essentially almost like a gravity

loop,

except it stops at the top where there's,

right where the hooves of the horseshoe

basically,

you have a goal here and a goal

there.

There are seven players on the field for

each team,

so there's four team players all together.

These Arbiter bots,

who are sort of the reps,

drop down out of the ship.

There's three of them,

and each one of them have a ball

of core called Core Ball.

More and more as I'm writing it,

the slang of it is a seaball or

a sea, which I'm like...

Could be a drug, but hey, you know.

And so the core ball- Give it a

leak, it'll be a drug.

Yeah, probably.

So the core ball is dropped out of

one of the refs,

drops onto the field like a jump ball

almost, right?

And the players have to get it,

and the job is to get it across

the field to either,

if you're the home team,

it goes into a module pipeline that leads

to the city grid that powers it

immediately,

or if you're the away team it goes

into a module pipeline that leads into the

your shuttle that you came in uh and

then you bring it back to your city

uh if anyone breaks any rules if anyone

does any of infractions or they violate

the game in any way like this like

you try to keep one of them for

yourselves the arbiter bots uh basically

uh sanction you uh and which can be

anyways you know you know usually

including death

So it's pretty...

And that's literally one of the only rules

because... Yeah.

I mean,

there's a scene where he opens up and

the new star player gets his whole knee

locked off.

Yeah, yeah.

He learns very... Yeah,

right out of the gates,

there's an accident on New Caledonia's

side because these are all players who

haven't played with each other yet.

And yes, and they're players,

but they're also... Their archetype...

The characters are... They look very...

They're superpowered.

You're given a genetic therapy as part of

your player training,

and it does something and changes your

body in a way that gives you some

kind of a superpower, unlocks it,

but nobody really ever knows what it is.

It's an unpredictable power.

So the players themselves have to kind of

train and then also know what their power

is, but also...

be good enough at whatever this power is

that they're able to work within the team

system.

And as we see in the beginning of

the series right now, the Stargazers,

who is our New Caledonia team,

they're not good playing with each other.

And yeah,

they basically friendly fire one of their

guys here.

And then they're scrambling and they have

to play.

And then the substitute of the substitute

don't even know what her powers are yet.

Like they haven't manifested.

Yeah, not yet.

Not yet.

They will.

This was one that, yeah,

you were saying that the cliffhanger

frustrated you.

And I get it because I had to

make a tough call to split the game

up into two issues.

Because I try as I did,

I could not end this game in one

issue.

Part of me wanted to because I figured

it would be an easier, a better showcase.

But I wanted to establish, again,

I wanted to think character more so than

story world, I guess.

And so I'm really trying to get us

to establish who this main character is.

And so, yeah,

you're basically getting the game.

You don't necessarily get the end of this

game yet.

You will in the next issue.

Yeah.

But it's yeah,

it's it's essentially we don't quite know

yet, you know, what her power is.

We do see her being resourceful enough.

She knows what to do on the field.

This is Gala, right?

Yep.

Yeah.

And you can kind of tell,

like when she is introduced that,

you know,

there's something special about her and

people are feeling like.

There is something there and there's

something special about this person.

It's just not yet.

Like you're not seeing yet.

And my fresh, like,

I know we were talking about my

frustrations with the book is like, it's,

I love the story and I'm not taking

anything away from the story.

Like that issue is with the goal being

scored.

And I'm just like,

let there be one more page.

And it's right there, so I'm just like,

come on, man.

Oh, wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Did you read up to twenty-four?

Did you read up to twenty-four?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did, yeah.

There was a few pages that wouldn't work.

Like, I couldn't get them to open.

So there was a few pages that did

get skipped.

There are more pages.

Oh, okay.

So that's what it was.

But no,

there was a few pages within the...

the Microsoft, you know, that went open.

I know what happened.

That might have been one of them.

Because I uploaded them late.

I uploaded them late.

That's right.

The lettering wasn't done yet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll have to go back.

Yeah, keep reading.

Yeah, let me know.

Yeah.

My bad.

My bad.

Yeah, no, all good.

All good.

Oh, yeah.

No, I wouldn't end it.

I know what you're talking about.

I wouldn't end it just there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Because I was like,

you've got to be shitting me, Donald.

You were talking about some dirty tactics.

Yeah, no, I was going to say,

I was like, cause you were like,

oh yeah, I don't.

And I'm like, well,

there's definitely a very specific sort of

revelation, you know, but yeah, yeah,

yeah.

It's all good.

Cause I mean,

we see Gala get like KTFO'd basically.

And then the goal is scored,

and then for me,

because I didn't have those other pages

yet,

and I didn't put two and two together

to go to the other folder that you

had sent me to finish reading it.

Yeah, when you said PTFO,

do you mean you saw what happens, right?

Yeah, when he gets into her head.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That keeps going.

That keeps going.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, that keeps going.

So I'll have to go back and reread

it because there's a few pages,

like I said.

I feel like a dumbass.

I feel like I just ruined your story

experience of the thing because now you're

going to be like, okay, all right now.

It's one of those where I'm so invested

in it right now that I'm just like,

I have to read it no matter what

now.

Yeah.

That would honestly, if I ended it there,

I probably,

I wouldn't blame you if you were like,

dude, don't, don't do this anymore.

Do go do, go do more theater.

Yeah.

I'll just call it your name, buddy.

Always is.

Always is.

Always is.

The casting Ottoman as well.

Uh, yes, I, uh,

I know everybody were joking about that,

but he's in a play right now,

so that's why I keep making the joke.

Yeah,

I'm in the middle of trying to finish

this series.

And right in the middle of it,

I decided to go do Henry IV.

And I don't know what I'm thinking.

I don't know what I'm...

But Henry IV in Langley,

Bard in the Valley.

I play Falstaff.

It's going to be great fun.

If anybody sees this and you're in the

area, please come on by.

That would be great.

But that's...

So for everybody listening or watching

from...

From, yes, I'm sorry, Langley,

British Columbia.

There we go.

British Columbia.

Which is why the team is the team.

But essentially,

to get into what you read so far,

yeah, as you can see,

it's a brutal sport.

It's a brutal game.

Oh, it's so brutal and it's so lovely.

Yeah.

It's one of those where if we could

see hits like that in modern day

football...

Again,

not to the point where the leg is

being like ripped off,

but like just that brutality.

Yeah.

Well,

you see what happens with with some of

the other players, too, right?

I mean,

it's and a lot of it is the

connotation is as as you're going to learn

later,

the medical science is heavily invested

in.

So these players are it's it's a lot

easier to repair them than twenty first

century medical science now.

You just reattach that shit now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But but the first of all,

it doesn't always go the way they

predicted.

And secondly, as you're going to see,

I mean, you know, as we know, right,

when you get injured and this is I

think this is what I'm writing a lot

in this story as well,

because I've had multiple injuries and

technically on paper, they're OK.

But psychologically, that's still there.

And and and you can only do this

so much as a person.

before it starts to wear on you right

yeah and uh and and that's that's kind

of a hidden little i don't want to

say a subplot but it's a it's it's

a piece of the development for sure it's

especially going to be a development for

kai because um kai first came out the

gate man he's he's done it's awful it's

awful isn't it knee count

There's a lot of, you know,

I'm somebody who, yeah,

I was rubbing elbows with a lot of

people who turned into like professional

celebrities, whatever.

And I think in the entertainment world,

and there's that feeling where you...

You kind of look back and you realize

like, man,

there's certain things that like, damn,

like,

I didn't even get the chance to this.

I didn't even know that that that right

there kind of sealed my fate with some

with something, you know,

and I don't want to get into it

too much.

But I got into like,

I remember a board meeting for

representation when I was young out of

college and

I didn't realize,

but I was I was kind of on

a handshake contract with a manager who

did not like the head of this agency

I was interviewing for.

And the two of them hated each other.

And so, yeah,

so I got I got double rejected as

a nephew.

I got rejected by one as a nephew

to one of them.

And then I got drunk.

Yeah.

And it was all, like,

just playing games with each other over,

like, eight titles.

But I was the collateral.

And they don't care.

They don't give a shit, yeah.

And so, like,

a lot of that is in, like,

Kai's narrative is a lot of what I

see with, like,

a lot of younger people who are so

talented and incredible at things.

They have, like,

you can see he's ambitious, right?

And he's very, he's a little,

he's kind of bought into the narrative,

right?

And so when his life is the narrative

of, like, what you do as a, oh,

yeah, I'm going to be a player celebrity.

I'm going to do this.

I'm going to get that.

have this lined up for me and then

when all of a sudden doors shut

immediately snap dude yeah yeah yeah you

know what's crazy is over the last like

month and a half two months i've

interviewed a lot of guys like under the

age of thirty building these fantastic

comic book universes

And it's one of those where I'm like,

I hope they're still here next year,

this time.

And I'm not knocking them.

They are extremely talented writers or

artists.

They are really good with big ideas.

And it's one of those where I hope

they have the,

what's the word I'm looking for?

The mentality to make it through

what they are about to put themselves

through.

And there's a few who they've got a

few titles under their belt.

I'm not worried about those per se,

but it's the ones who are just coming

up and they're like,

I'm going to do this on my own.

I'm going to do it this way.

I'm going to do it that way.

And that's great.

I want you to do that.

That's the way to do it.

You need that too.

You need that.

You have to establish.

Yeah.

You have to establish yourself.

Yep.

But at the same time,

those are the ones I also worry about

because I,

They're at it by themselves,

and I don't know who's mentoring them.

I don't know who's guiding them along this

journey.

Who are you talking to?

As we discover,

we're in a world and an industry,

especially the entertainment and the

content industry.

It's a world where it is very easy

for a big fish to take advantage of,

to play with their food with little fish

before they gobble them up.

And you know what I think is really

funny?

I think of like,

I've been really thinking about this a lot

lately of all of the cultural icons that

their lives were so clearly not belonging

to them and that there were so many

things in them that actually if they got

the chance to do what they wanted to

do,

we might've remembered them for something

completely different.

Elvis comes to mind like Elvis manager

being like the most and we don't think

of that with Elvis you know we're like

oh yeah he got addicted to drugs you

know whatever died on the toilet blah blah

blah but it's like no he he he

was actually his whole career was being

steered by this other guy who was taking

his money like

He had no say so whatsoever.

His tour in Vegas, the whole nine,

none of it was his.

And to be fair,

he would have probably been done at a

much younger age,

just living his happy life in Memphis.

You're right.

Might have actually started making

different music.

Music that's maybe something that he

connected to more or something.

And yet,

I remember I watched his last concert

before he passed.

It wasn't good.

Not only not good,

but it was like a...

The hundreds of towels that he's passing

out,

and that it's like this is a caricature

of this one thing you do that's like

your signature cultural moniker,

the thing everyone recognizes you.

And there's a guy behind him who's just,

every time he's unloading the scarf to an

audience member, he's like,

I got Elvis's scarf.

I'm sorry, I'm just doing the...

Just doing the reaction,

what the lady looks like, I guess.

There's a guy behind him who's putting

another scarf on.

And it was so metaphorical of like it's

just never ending.

And it's a literal burden on his neck

that's not getting lighter because someone

else keeps putting it on top of him.

Oh, my God.

I found that so interesting.

Have you ever seen the president sign a

document or sign a bill?

Wait, you mean Nixon?

Like any president whatsoever signed

bills.

I think I meant Nixon making Elvis the

secret agent.

He's like,

I want to be a secret agent.

No,

I'm just talking about like each president

as they sign a bill into law,

they go P. Yeah.

R.

yeah because those pins are significant

and they give them to other members of

the cabinet they give them to whoever you

know that is exhausting right dude imagine

having to do that over and over and

over again yeah or just being like a

say a comic book creator for instance at

a sign-in yeah and just be like uh

you know p yeah

Oh,

that would be just so exhausting just to

keep swapping pins.

And there's a lot of creators who do

that.

Yeah,

I got a lot of respect for people

at conventions who do that.

And they want to do that for the

fans, right?

They want to do it.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I appreciate it wholeheartedly.

absolutely but then yeah there's the

there's the if they're you know with elvis

it's the guy behind him that's like very

subtly like you know it's the money it's

the money around him that's that's moving

him in this direction and it's now it's

been it became such an like just uh

and not to not to excuse personal choice

right dude you can cut out anytime you

want perhaps right but like that that's

clearly i think more of the um

the rule rather than the exception.

And with pro sports, absolutely.

Right.

Well,

those contracts at that time were ironclad

and it said,

you will owe me this much.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's true.

And I think that

uh you know it's interesting i there was

another thing i was thinking of uh there's

this famous story of marilyn monroe

blowing like i think she goes through

fifty five takes to say this line where's

that where's that damn bourbon in a movie

yeah she couldn't you know she was so

oh high on medication and stuff she

couldn't say it whatever um

and it's actually not true she she could

she said the take she did and and

my my brain was like that's as from

my experience with film you could find so

many ways to just have that take and

move on right yeah so what were they

really doing they were breaking her

because of her contract position because

she was getting paid a certain rate that

a lot of the other other actors weren't

at that point and she

You could say a lot of things about

Marilyn Monroe and her state of mind,

but she was a damn good negotiator.

She actually understood how to get her

money.

And they hated her for that.

So they were punishing her because it was

in the contract that she couldn't... Yeah,

if she walked off set,

she would forfeit her money, basically.

So it was a game of...

Just ratting on her, yeah.

Just like, fifty-five takes,

just getting in her brain to try to

break her, basically, right?

And her doing it was probably her, like,

okay, I know what you're trying to do,

but I'm gonna do it.

It's just like,

I'm not gonna let you break my,

you know, happy life off the set, right?

Which is...

just that i'm really fascinated with those

games that people play in industries

golden boy is probably a major symbol of

that of somebody who's been with so much

that he now is doing it back and

he knows how to do it he knows

how to use the crowds how to use

the people right yeah

Oh, I'm sure.

And there is so many,

like so much out there and it's all

predatory, right?

Like, yeah, they're not for you.

They're not trying to help you.

There's unfortunately a lot of predatory

interests.

Yeah.

And there's, you know,

there's spaces of people who support each

other in communities, but, um, it's,

it's tough.

You have to really be able to trust

people and you, you know, yeah.

If you're young out there,

I would just say be, just be,

do just do your homework,

do your homework.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But so powerscape and no,

you can just sit here and just jibber

jabber all night about comic books and

everything else in between.

But um,

so who are some of these artists and

your collaborators out there that help

bring powerscape to life because it is

such a visual piece of work?

yeah i mean the the the the main

artist is uh stefan tochev and uh stefan

is a local guy whose comic book daybreak

he or he did he did art for

a comic book called daybreak and i saw

it when i first got here when i

first moved here from los angeles and i

really i just had it i just bought

it because i was like i am really

fascinated by this style of art because it

was at once

Definitely like a guy who grew up watching

cartoons,

like the X-Men cartoon run or something

like that, the way I did.

But with just enough realism in it that

the characters were really grounded.

I felt like I was still watching people

who lived by the physics of my earth

in the story,

even though it's very sci-fi.

And he kept things so clean and simple.

but also sleek and detailed.

I was like,

this is a very unique style.

This guy's got something really,

really unique.

So in my head, I just was like,

well, that's a really great artist.

And then as I was racking my brain

trying to reach out to artists for

Powerscape,

I was working with a group of consultants

who were helping me organize.

In an industry I never had been in

before.

And I asked them, I was like,

you know,

what if we just contact, I said,

can we get someone who looks like this?

And then as, as I'm looking at it,

I'm like, wait, he lives here.

And I'm like, can I just,

can we just contact him?

And so they did.

And I had coffee with him and Stefan's

really just like, you know, tell me what,

what's the story I did.

He's like, all right.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

Cool.

And then he like goes home and then

he just fires away.

Like just gives me like, like, Holy shit.

And he's like, yeah, I guess this,

maybe this, I don't know, whatever.

And you know, for him, it's like,

I can see he enjoys working the chops.

I told him to use the comic as

a platform to just experiment and just do

try stuff.

I really enjoy our working relationship.

We're very like, we're very,

we're two different people, but he is,

he like, you know,

my whole thing is like,

I don't care how it looks.

Like I have what I think it looks

like and I'll write notes,

but I don't like to do panel like

direction.

um yeah i just i tell him like

whatever you think makes sense let's try

it and um like sometimes i don't want

something a certain color you know he has

a good way of being like uh yeah

i think it's fine you know

you know it's wild right because the book

is very it's neon centric and what do

i mean by neon centric i mean it's

we're talking what what year is it twenty

seven ninety eight things are very

cyberpunk feeling yeah it's very the

lights are very neon they're the goals are

like neon lit you know it's

And it's done purposely,

but even the outfits that the players

wear, they're very cyberpunk feeling,

very neon.

It's the same team,

but everybody's like an individual.

Yeah,

Stefan was funny because he based a lot

of the aesthetics on football.

Yeah, football gear, right?

And then he would be like,

know i'd be like oh this is great

dude were you were you thinking of like

this guy right here like this way he

looks and it's so it looks so much

like like um you know like uh uh

like watching growing up and watching like

larry fitzgerald like did you do that on

purpose and he's like dude i don't really

like i don't really watch sports and i'm

like oh okay

It's one of those where he probably

Googled and be like, oh, OK, cool,

I can, yeah, yeah, let's, yeah.

Possibly.

I mean,

I gave him a library with a lot

of different looks,

like a lot of different, like,

iconic sports stuff.

Like, there's this one,

I think the shot on our social media

of Gelo with the ball,

it's kind of low-key a throwback to an

Allen Iverson pick.

and um you know and so he's really

good at just like like adopting that and

he gets it but i like that he's

kind of separated from it like he doesn't

i feel like people who are like sports

fanatics will be like super detailed on

certain things yeah or trying to overdo it

when it doesn't need to be overdone yes

Yes.

And that's the good thing about it though.

Right.

In my eyes, I'm looking at it,

you know, a sport is being played,

but it's a lot more about the character

interaction because they never played the

ball together.

This is their first time really playing

together.

Yeah.

They haven't had time to practice.

None of that.

Yeah.

And, um,

And as you can see,

it's a bit of a shit show, right?

Definitely a shit show.

But it's still fun in that aspect of

it's really cool to see how the game

is being played by both teams.

And just the interaction between the

teams.

They all know each other.

They've been playing this game for years

with each other.

So they're like shit talking and they're

doing all that stuff.

So it's like real sports, but

Sit in the year.

Twenty seven.

Ninety eight.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

We're still talking.

We're still.

doing that, you know?

Absolutely.

And the captain of the other team, right,

when he debuts,

you can kind of see how it's –

yeah,

a lot of this is very matter-of-fact.

That team specifically,

there's a background with them where

they're in a lot of trouble because they

don't win a lot of games.

Yeah, you can tell.

It almost feels like there's – I don't

want to say self-sabotaging,

but it feels like they're kind of being

pulled from the –

inside out you know somebody is like

trying to deliberately yeah i'm not saying

that's the plot i don't know but yeah

i feel

Yeah, well,

that team's from Lone Twin City,

which is definitely,

it's supposed to be what's left of

Minneapolis and St.

Paul,

kind of holding on as a little collective.

And it's because they've faced years of,

which is very topical,

they've faced years of a lot of

instability.

And so there are some cities that are

doing really, really well,

and they win a lot.

And then there are some cities that, that,

that are, you know, yeah,

it's not going great.

And, uh, and as you'll see, there's,

there's some cities and yeah,

I don't want to say anymore.

Just, just read.

Oh, I don't know what I did wrong.

Like I said.

No, I did it wrong.

It was my fault.

I updated it too late.

I should have told you that.

I should have said that.

No, you're good, dude.

I emailed you like a day ago.

I'm right in the middle.

It's one of those two where I may

not get to the email till like the

day after anyway.

Yeah, man.

Just because.

Yeah.

You're busy.

Yeah.

What do you think?

You're doing like back to back interviews,

right?

Back to back.

So I got you tonight.

Yeah.

guy lenovo innovations press tomorrow and

then i'm kicking off i think it's going

to be a six part mini series with

uh chris the long box punk hey yeah

i'll tell chris i say what's up yeah

i i interviewed with him too he's awesome

He's awesome.

I've known about him for quite a while

now.

And, um,

I know he does similar to what I

do.

I just don't know what he does it

at because I think it's weird if I,

I mean,

I will check out my competition and so

to speak, I don't really like.

I don't view you guys as competition.

I view you as two completely different

interviewers.

Yeah,

and it's one of those where I root

for people versus trying to poo-poo on

people.

You know what I'm saying?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What's the point in wishing bad for

people?

Yeah.

But it's also one of those where I

wish I had more time to watch those

who, when I first started,

they were some of the people I looked

at to go,

I like what he does with this and

this.

Maybe I want to adopt that,

but I want to do this differently.

And he was one of those guys for

me where I was just like,

I like what he does,

but I want to change it up and

do it my own way.

But I definitely pulled elements from a

lot of different guys who kind of do

what I do.

but not necessarily because I completely

switched it up.

Like I literally, when I started this,

I'm like,

and then it slowly evolved to where I'm

like,

I'm going to walk people through the

journey of my guests,

like how they got here,

where they're going and that kind of

stuff.

Basically when I take people on a journey

to get to know who Donald is,

why PowerScape is and that kind of stuff,

you know what I'm saying?

And that's where I'm at.

But let's talk about some of these themes

beneath the spectacle, man,

especially right now.

Do you kind of see this story as

commentary on our current present-day

stuff or a warning about our future?

Because, I mean,

especially when you mention Minneapolis

and then places like that,

it's kind of like that's been a shit

show.

Yeah, it definitely – I mean,

this is –

I don't wanna say this is political.

It's political in the sense that

everything is political.

I would call it sociopolitical.

And I think what,

at the end of the day,

what this story is,

I can't help but be a manifestation of

all the events in the history that,

you know, you and I, we've lived through.

I mean, you know, your background, right?

I'm sure we've lived through twenty five

years of like the nineties.

We watched this place change drastically.

Right.

We see the invention of the smartphone,

the invention of the personal computer.

Mm hmm.

Liquid natural gas is basically doing to

oil what oil is doing to coal, right?

Yeah.

Everything is like – Electric vehicles.

Yeah.

Oh, gosh.

Geopolitical alliances that we thought

were just reality changing.

Yeah.

And that kind of stuff is –

what I've always sort of been really,

what my brain's,

my brain is permanently stuck on big

picture to my detriment.

Like my partner, you know,

I love her a lot when we get

along because she's so good at just the

small details.

Cause I am blind.

I am blind with that stuff.

but so that's like me with like like

the political realm that we currently live

in i choose not to watch it listen

to it have anything to do with it

because i live in my own little bubble

because i am just that busy that where

i like my idea of watching something is

literally going to be watching this back

as i make clips out of it

Yeah, I think that's good because I think,

like I said,

like we were saying before with younger

artists,

we are all having this realization that we

live in systems that are not necessarily

there for our health.

They're not there for...

They used to be at least there for

our productivity and they may not even be

there anymore, right?

And so this story is...

kind of what happens when you know that

system's not working.

And that's the main thrust of this game

is that it's a couple centuries now of

this thing kind of working and humming

along,

but the main character is going to go

through an arc of sort of discovering it's

really not though.

And that there is another way to do

this that when we discover that,

The system itself is actively going to try

to kill our means of doing that,

of changing it.

And because that's what a system does in

order to survive, for it to perpetuate,

it needs to kill anything that is in

competition with it.

And that's the notion of competition

versus collaboration.

How do we get there?

We are, as humans,

we're both of these things all the time.

There's a system that's destroying

something right now in a part of the

world,

but while it's also creating the means for

somebody else to enrich themselves or get

better.

How are we going to rectify that?

What happens when it doesn't work anymore?

I'm really interested in how do we

transition to that next leap of our human

evolution?

It's very easy to say we won't.

But I think it's very difficult for

something to end.

I think society and history has been

saying that forever.

That, oh, well, that's it.

This is the last manifestation of

humanity.

Say it again.

I don't see it that way.

Yeah, I don't either.

I don't either.

I think each generation is meant to be

better than the previous one, right?

And even if they're not better,

they're different.

They're different in a way that it changes

our understanding of better.

And we're not talking about physical

evolution here.

We're talking...

Yeah, no.

All that kind of stuff.

I mean how society organizes itself.

Yes.

Which is definitely the arc of this story

is this is a society that needs to

reorganize itself.

And it's a lot of people saying in

denial.

And that really the spectacle of the game

is a collective denial.

Right.

Oh, we're fine.

Everything's fine.

This is it's a planet that's uninhabitable

now because the air is toxic.

There's temperatures that are too hot.

Right.

There are, you know,

there are fire tornadoes I have at one

point happening.

You know, it gets pretty rough.

But there are these little sanctuary

cities of, I don't want to hot charge,

supercharge with that term,

but a sanctuary of these little places

left where they figured out a pocket to

breathe and everyone is acting as if

that's fine.

We're good.

We're good, right?

And it's going to become evident.

No, it's not.

It's not going to work.

It's actually worse than you actually

think it is.

Absolutely, yeah.

It might even be like a grave you're

digging for yourself,

or a collective grave we're digging.

And so what do we do when we

have to face that?

The people who do face that,

what do they have to do to get

us to know?

I'm not quite sure I know what the

answer is.

I think the story is me asking,

you know?

Yeah.

And I don't know how people are going

to respond to that, you know?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, we'll find out.

Yeah.

So this, sir, has already ended.

Mm-hmm.

Everything's moving forward.

It's in production.

There's a few pages left to be lettered.

No, the lettering's done now.

Two's done.

Issue two is finished.

And then we're moving forward.

Three is next, of course.

Then I'll have a mini,

and then I'll have an issue four,

and then all four of those will be

slated as a volume one graphic novel.

This is only supposed to be a six-part

series, right?

This is...

I know when we originally started our

series, has it evolved, Donald?

uh yeah no this is i mean you

know i i don't want to say this

because i feel like people roll their eyes

when they hear writers say this especially

old old dogs like me but i mean

i have like this is you know there's

this can be you know a hundred issues

this can be a lot i i've got

i've got i've got the really long version

i've got the

And then I've got the middle version,

which would be at least three volumes.

I mean, that's not bad.

There's still twelve bullets.

Yeah, yeah.

So I've got four that are planned for

this first one.

I'm almost done with issue eight,

and that would be five through eight would

be the second volume.

The playoffs, basically.

And then sort of a third volume where

things change.

Things change quite a lot for the main

character, yeah.

Because I know the first one,

the first interview when we talked,

it was a cis issue arc.

That was it.

That's what we were going for.

No, it was not.

No,

I think even then I said it's that's

what I that's what I for sure have

flushed out is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That might have been what it was.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I mean, no,

if I'm going to be honest,

I have I didn't want to be someone

that like was like, oh, you know,

this could be like this could go on

for ten years because I feel like you're

not taking seriously.

You're going to lose everybody.

Yeah, that's what everybody tells me.

Like, you know, no,

you don't want to be the guy that

has all these lungs.

But I will say,

it has been a story I've been weaving

for twenty years.

So, yeah, it's twenty years worth of...

You know,

I've got a file that's pretty long, right?

But I...

But I have no problem killing babies.

Babies meaning writing ideas.

And I got no problem trimming it down.

And I have a shape for it now

where it could be three to four volumes

worth of a story.

See, I think that's a good story,

especially with something like this.

Yes.

Because if you just say, oh,

we're going to go through the playoffs,

I'm like, no,

I want to see – let me get

the championships.

Let me see what follows after that.

Let me get that – not a prequel,

but the postgame on this.

What happens now after this season?

Not necessarily an entire volume on what

happened after that season because I don't

know how long these seasons are per se.

We're definitely going to,

we're going to flash forward a little for

sure.

Okay.

Yeah.

We're going to,

we're going to get out of this season.

This is, you know,

this is really about Gela Gale, Gela,

the main character.

And this is about ten years of her

life.

Okay.

And I know when we got taught the

first time, I was like,

I can tell this character just feels

special.

And you never really alluded to a whole

lot.

And even in volume two, you really don't,

elude to it that much still.

But even then,

you can kind of see like with some

of the things she does when she gets

into the game, you're like, oh,

Like, she does, she's special.

Like, there's something there.

It's not came out yet.

And I'm glad to know that.

She has an ability to see what's going

on,

what is everybody's motivations underneath

for everything, like on the field at once.

And as we're going to see,

that's going to help her out off the

field.

For sure.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I'm like,

I'm very excited to really,

really hope I get to to tell the

story quicker.

We're figuring out our process a lot

better.

Kickstarter, the next kick.

The last Kickstarter was successful and

I'm really, really thankful for it.

The next one is coming up soon.

That was that was the next question where

I was about to lead you to is.

Thank you.

What are we looking like on the next

one?

Yeah, so issue,

probably partial funding of issue three,

just like we did with this last one.

It was a partial funding of two.

We'll be doing a partial funding of three.

We will have more to give out for

sure.

And like I said, my hope is that...

I am in talks with a local writer

and artist team about a possible side

story that's kind of a prequel that will

involve a Canadian city that becomes a

sports franchise.

My ultimate, what I would love is for,

talking about younger artists,

I would love some younger artists to get

more involved in

in painting the story world itself,

which is sort of why I was,

you know,

I had to accept that I shouldn't make

a hundred issues,

a hundred fifty issues worth of a story,

but I was tempted to because I really

loved the world itself and the

possibilities of the world.

And I think the answer for that is

to have more people who are interested in

filling the gaps for other regions,

for other cities.

Yeah, that would be really cool.

Yeah,

I'm working on so I so I have

one.

There's one team right now that I'm

talking with them and they, you know,

we're thinking of maybe a twelve issue

sort of mini issue that sort of sets

up a couple a couple of narratives that

will come later in that in that third

volume.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so so that's what we have on

the on the plate right now.

When can people who backed issue two

expect to get their books?

That's a good question to ask.

Yes, I appreciate that.

Thank you.

We just finished issue two.

We've got posters already.

One's ready.

So if you ordered a physical issue of

one, t-shirts are ready as well.

It's just a matter of...

I've got to go...

We'll have to print out the posters too,

but I just wanted to send them all

at once.

I didn't want to send a few things

and then issue two after the fact.

So now that two is done,

that's the final piece of all the things.

We're also going to send a couple little

tiny goody things as a thank you to

everybody as well for supporting.

Timbits.

I won't say what they are.

Little Timbits, yeah.

But they're coming.

They're coming.

A little bit of just patience because I'm

sending them all from Canada.

Yeah.

No, trust me, dude.

That's it.

Yeah.

I get stuff from the UK.

Yeah.

I know it got shipped in like February

and I get it in March.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, yeah.

Like as you've learned firsthand,

two finished two days ago.

So now it's just a matter of putting

it together, printing it out,

sending it to everybody.

T-shirts look great, though.

We have an alternative logo that we will

probably save for the next Kickstarter.

alternative logo t-shirts and I'm going to

do what I can to see if I

can get bigger sizes for people because

only because you know I know that there

wasn't a lot of options with the medium

t-shirt so I'll do what I can yeah

I think I got a t-shirt that's going

to end up like going to like my

daughter

Cause I'm a tall guy.

So for me, it's like,

we have to get into the tall sizes,

like the two XLTs in order for a

shirt to like,

not look like a belly shirt on me,

basically.

Totally.

I'm tall too,

but I'm tall the other way.

You know, it's suspension, right?

It's the gravity of the earth pushing me

down and expanding me width wise.

Yeah.

We're like the little, we're like,

we're like the little vase on the,

on the,

on the wheel that Demi Moore's making in

Ghost.

That's what I look like.

That's what I'm.

So, yeah.

I, yeah.

So I understand.

I understand the issue is what I'm saying.

Yeah, I will.

I, uh, and I'll, I'll be happy to,

uh, we'll,

we'll probably feature more possibilities

for that.

But Donald,

I know I got to get you out

to the casting couch, man.

So before I let you go,

let once you let everybody know where they

can find you.

Okay.

You can find me on, uh, uh, Instagram,

Donald Thomas Capello, my full name.

The comic book is also on Instagram,

powerscape underscore comic.

We are also on Patreon,

patreon.com backslash powerscape

underscore comic, same ID.

And please go ahead and find us on

Global Comics as well and give us a

reader and a support there.

We'd really appreciate it.

One is up there now.

Two will be up there very, very shortly.

So thank you so much for supporting us.

And yeah, more to come.

More to come.

And all those links will be included in

the description of this when it goes live

again.

Thank you.

Saturday.

Probably.

Saturday is good for me.

I will be grading.

It's fine.

So you'll get everything probably on

Saturday, probably around lunchtime.

Yeah.

For everybody listening out there,

I have one more show.

Well, two more shows.

I have Lenovation Press tomorrow.

And then I have I'm introducing the part

one of a six part miniseries that I'm

doing with the long,

long boss punk Chris and Chris.

Starting on Friday and that will cover

five days.

The second part of that will be like

thirty one March and then the other four

parts will be in April.

And that's going to be a lot of

fun as we discuss their heart anthology

that they are doing.

We'll get into some details on the actual

stories themselves and kind of like what

was Chris and Chris's story.

Thoughts in making this project.

And that will be Friday.

So I highly recommend everybody tune in on

Friday.

And tomorrow too.

But Friday definitely.

Because we are definitely going to kick

off.

A six part mini series featuring.

AHA.

That stands for.

a horror anthology, which is really dope,

which is just a really cool concept.

We're going to get into all that Friday

night.

Donald can't thank you again for coming on

and giving us an update on power scape

and kind of where you're at with it

and just coming on and just blowing the

breeze, man.

Now let me get you out of here.

Cause I know you got to get to

the casting couch.

Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you.

Best of luck on the seventh try on

that joke.

Best of luck on that one.

Hey, you know it sticks every time.

But civilizations rise, empires fall,

but the game never ends.

A huge thank you to Donald once again.

for being awesome being a friend and

always just you know he hits me with

messages here and there just uh checking

in and i appreciate that so much for

joining us tonight though and taking us

inside the world of powerscape one more

time if you'd like to support the series

and bring well you can't bring issue two

to life because it's already been brought

to life but give him a follow and

stay tuned for issue three where i'm sure

you'll be able to get issues two

and one later on.

Absolutely.

And I will, of course,

once that is announced,

I will announce it here and we'll probably

bring Donald back one more time just for

that.

And a big thank you to everyone watching

and listening to at home.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the council of nerds is adjourned.

This has been the USDM podcast where indie

comments come to life.

Y'all be safe out there.