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USDN Podcast is a cinematic indie comics interview series hosted by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds β spotlighting the creators, storytellers, and worldbuilders shaping the future of independent comics.
Each episode dives beyond headlines into the real journeys behind the books β from Kickstarter launches and creative struggles to the philosophies driving todayβs indie storytelling movement.
This isnβt about rumors or recycled news.
Itβs about the people creating the worlds.
Through in-depth conversations, creator spotlights, and crowdfunding discussions, USDN explores:
β’ The rise of indie comics
β’ The business of crowdfunding
β’ The art of worldbuilding
β’ The realities of independent storytelling
USDN is where indie comics come to life β for the fans, by the creators, and powered by the community.
You are listening to the USDN on the
DFPN.
Thank you.
what is up everybody it's the chairman of
the united states department of nerds
where we are for the people by the
people and of the people and today we're
welcoming back a familiar face to the usdn
creator writer and visual storyteller
bruno catarino you've seen his work evolve
through projects like crimson bay
cinematic figments and now he's igniting
something brand new
flame vault number one bruno welcome back
my friend hey nice nice to be back
again thanks for having me and always
always i i always tell you anytime you're
ready to come on i'm a message away
thank you and again that intro always gets
me the you know the the beginning of
the podcast is just awesome every time
that's that's the team man they make that
and it's an awesome intro and i'm thankful
to have that intro and the people who
helped me make that kind of stuff so
So Bruno,
every time you've been on this show,
it feels like your work has evolved.
Tell us about Flamebolt and why was this
story you felt compelled to tell next?
Why do you start with difficult questions?
This is going to be the easiest one
you get all day.
okay good to know um no so yeah
i mean um most of the projects i've
done had been you know uh one shots
until now i mean i've done cinematic
figments but that is not a one shot
Yeah, Crimson Bay is not a one-shot,
but I think that I had done those...
I guess what I'm saying is that I
started working on Crimson Bay around the
time I started working on Flame Vault.
And basically the idea was I had created
these one-shots and I thought,
you know what, it's time to...
be a bit more ambitious to start doing
some series.
And yes, Crimson Bay was the first one.
Flame Vault is the next one.
And yeah,
it's really that it's like the natural
evolution of, you know,
start small and keep going, you know,
keep aiming for bigger things.
And I guess that's it, you know,
moving from one shots to series.
And I have this series now, Flame Vault,
that I hope is going to be
around for a really long time i started
working on it recently but it's been in
my head for over a decade yeah so
yeah it's one of those that it's it's
really great to finally you know see it
And you're settling in.
I think you're comfortable now with your
writing in a series is kind of like
that next progression from into that.
So, no, I've read it.
I enjoyed it.
I told you that from the very beginning.
And I know you did initially release
Flamebolt during a convention.
Yeah, Thought Bubble,
which is like the biggest.
So it's probably the only comic book only
convention in the UK,
or at least the only big one.
So yeah, I thought, you know,
I managed to get in this year.
Well, last year.
So I was really happy with that.
And I thought, you know what?
I'm going to release a book there.
So that was Flame Vault.
No, Thought Bubble,
I followed Thought Bubble throughout the
whole process, and that thing was amazing.
Seeing the guests they had,
some of the artists they had,
some of the writers they had,
you were definitely in a good circle
there, for sure,
because there were some really great,
talented people there,
so that had to be amazing just to
be a part of.
It was, and I was actually kind of...
my table was next to a lot of
folks that you know that i followed their
work for a while so just being in
the middle of them was just freaking
amazing yeah oh i can imagine it was
one of those where when you said you
were there and i was looking into it
also um mike's grace was there with his
comic book uh zip he was there um
i'm pretty sure i know i do have
a few people there
What's that?
I do have a couple of issues of
Zip.
Yeah, it's such a fun read.
It's such a fun comic book.
And I'm happy to have had Mike on
here quite a few times and himself.
And he's always a fun person to have
on.
much like yourself you know but it was
kind of cool with people who've been on
my podcast at this huge convention in the
uk and i'm like i know them i
know them and oh i wonder if i
could get them you know just watching this
whole thing like come together on
instagram and facebook and seeing the
pictures people were sharing and i'm like
i was so impressed with it i was
just like that's amazing to see so
Yeah,
and it's the kind of convention that we
need more of because it's really just
comics.
Not just in the UK,
but also here in the US.
I know there's a lot of smaller ones
that focus just on the comic books,
but it's one of those where, no,
a hundred percent,
I think Comic-Con should go back to being
exactly that, Comic-Cons.
It's what the comic is in the name.
yeah exactly i mean i i'm off to
two minds because i do i do think
that comic-con you know should be for
everyone and it's fine that it has a
little bit of everything it's just that
most comic cons especially in the uk are
not about comics anymore yeah and i mean
i'll i'll give you know kudos to mcm
which recently has started to move more
towards comics again and that's great
but that's just them other than top level.
It's, it's really depressing.
Yeah.
No, it is something we,
it's the same way here.
I really do wish,
I think San Diego this year,
they put a lot more focus on the
comic books.
I'm hoping New York does the same thing.
Cause that's our, really our two biggest.
So it's going to be interesting to see
because I really would like to see at
least the big two,
which be in San Diego and New York,
really just become about the comics again.
But we'll see how it works out.
Who knows?
Because they make most of their money off
the other stuff.
Yeah.
There are ways to kind of cross over
between the two.
For example,
this is something that I keep pitching to
convention organizers,
but let's say that you have,
I don't know, voice actors at conventions.
Wouldn't you love to hear them acting out
an issue of a comic?
Yeah,
there's some really good podcasts out
there like that.
Yeah, but having it live on stage.
No, that would be really cool.
You're crossing over something that people
already love,
like actors from a show that they love,
with introducing people to a new comic.
And I think there's a lot of interactions
that you can do.
Yeah.
No, that would be really cool.
Because one of my favorite podcasts to
listen to on road trips is exactly that.
It's a bunch of voice actors reading...
their characters from comic books.
It is fun to hear them doing the
voice of their character while reading the
comic.
What's the name of the podcast?
Because I didn't know it.
It's the girl from the AT&T commercials.
The girl that does Squirrel Girl.
Okay.
It's her.
I'm not sure the name of the podcast
off the top of my head.
Okay, okay, I'll have to search it.
Because I haven't had a road trip in
a long time,
so I haven't listened to it in a
long time.
But yeah,
it's the girl who does Squirrel Girl.
Okay, I'll have to search that because...
That's in school, yeah.
Yeah, it's really funny.
No, no, no, you're good, man.
You're good.
So we've talked about your cinematic
approach and genre blending before.
How did these past projects like build
Flamebolt and what new creative territory
are you exploring with this series outside
of it actually being going to be a
series where we have an origin story and
we're going to have a story?
uh yeah i mean i think if you
read like cinematic figments that's a lot
more you know philosophical sort of thing
i think it still has a little bit
of that so it's more of a it's
kind of blending something that is a
little bit more commercial more mainstream
but still have like that
form of storytelling that I like.
And I think Flame Vault is that because
it's yes, it's a superhero story.
Yes, you know,
you have superheroes and stuff like that,
but it's very much about how this affects
the world.
You basically have a world where there
were no superheroes and then all of a
sudden overnight superheroes appear.
how does that affect the world?
That's why I pitch it as, you know,
Walking Dead with superheroes because it's
kind of the same.
Yeah, I mean, and I love,
I don't want to give too much away
from the book because I do want people
to go and support the book on Kickstarter.
Like, I love how
It starts because this guy,
which thought he was doing the right
thing,
set off this cataclysmic event where a lot
of people died,
but a lot of people evolved into basically
meta humans or superheroes.
Yeah, and I think that, you know,
kind of trying to answer your question,
which I'm not really doing.
No, no, no, you are.
You're good.
I think where, you know,
where I'm trying to do something different
is that.
I'm trying to,
because I feel like I've been doing
something that it's very,
maybe not as mainstream,
and I'm kind of trying to blend in
So do something that people are more
familiar with,
but still do it in my way.
Yeah, no, you hit that out the park.
You definitely did that.
Thank you.
Because, I mean,
it's one of those where...
When I read it,
and I've read all your work up to
this point.
I've read literally everything you've
done,
and I've watched it evolve to now Crimson
Bay, which was fantastic,
and now into Flamebolt,
which is very much a series as well.
The way you start things off,
and I'm really interested to see,
because this is going to be your first...
know series with crimson bay and flame
bolt like how you do a series you
know from because you're used to one shots
now see how you continue a story which
is going to be really interesting to see
how you do that because this is like
i said the first time we're going to
be experiencing you do a series that let's
see how you do issue number two because
i really i'm ready for crimson bay number
two to be fair
And so I'm really excited about that and
where you're going to take these stories.
Good news is that Crimson Bay two is
actually kind of finished.
Nice.
Just needs to have the lettering done.
I need to have some time to kind
of just go through the script one last
time.
Yeah.
Before I send the letter.
But the art is finished.
So nice.
But yeah,
I think Crimson Bay and Flame Vault are
actually kind of different.
Oh, they're very different stories,
very different approaches.
yeah but also you still have your it's
all bruno though you know what i'm saying
no it is but it's like you know
the way that they compare is that or
crimson bay is like very much action heavy
like very you start in the middle of
it pretty much you have like three pages
of this is the backstory and you're into
it while flame vault is very much like
um uh you know slow paced
thing where you you but it's not really
slow though because the way it starts is
you know there is a protest right yeah
so it's not i mean it's not per
se superhero action but it's not like
you're slow building into that i mean what
is happening makes sense and it works and
it yeah you didn't just jump into it
by boom here's superheroes you you gave us
why there is now superheroes in the main
person who is responsible for accidentally
creating superheroes which in turn when
you create superheroes you've now also
created villains yeah exactly so it's
definitely going to be interesting and
everything in between
Exactly.
There's going to be some anomalies out
there because it's such a cool origin
story.
And I'm excited to see where you go
with that one.
yeah i've heard the i can't remember the
name but people have mentioned that
there's one other series that kind of does
that which i did i had no idea
you know the whole superheroes just become
real i don't i don't know it's hard
to like to to follow everything because
yeah any comments drop left and right
So it's really hard to know what else
somebody else is doing.
So it's inevitable that one comic book
looks similar to another,
sounds similar to another.
But you have to take into account that
that's two different writers,
two different minds,
two different artists,
two different letters, colors.
So you're going to get a very similar
story,
but they're all going to be very
different.
They may look and sound the same,
but they're all very different.
Yeah, yeah.
And I guess that's where, you know,
the writer, well, the creator comes in,
right?
It's like, it's your point of view.
It's your...
exactly sorry right it's yeah it's a
different take and that's why you know in
marvel and dc you often have you know
uh creators picking up a character that
you already know and just telling like
this very different story
And you also get into it where multiple
writers write multiple characters and then
multiple writers write for both Marvel and
DC.
And it gets to a point where a
DC character starts reading and sounding
like that Marvel character they wrote as
well, because that's just their style.
yeah and to me that's i i'm not
a fan of that because like i get
it that worked over here but now you're
trying to apply it to this dc character
like that doesn't work for me because
that's not the dc character and you lose
continuity
I guess it's a lot easier to get
away with it when you're talking about
original things.
The premise may seem similar,
but then different people are doing
something entirely different.
Exactly.
Let's talk
Flamebolt, who is this story about?
What kind of setting are we entering?
And what themes are driving the narrative
behind the action of Flamebolt?
Oh,
you're going to make me think way back.
It's three o'clock in the afternoon for
you.
It's ten eighteen in the morning for me.
So you've had time to prep early there.
Okay, fair enough.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, so Flambeau,
basically like we were talking earlier,
is about this guy who,
so the first few pages introduce this,
so the same way that we have dark
matter and we have dark energy,
we scientists discovered this new particle
that the press calls Miracle Stardust.
And it basically is in this world,
obviously,
what is responsible for life existing and
responsible for evolution.
Of course,
business people start trying to take
advantage of that and using it and
researching it.
And there's this
horrible accident in Svalbard which is a
territory in you know North Pole where
it's an area that mostly has scientists so
that's the real place but in this world
basically just something happens there
nobody knows what and
communication completely drops with the
area entirely.
So that's where the main character comes
from.
There's this protest at another
headquarters of this company,
and they are protesting research into this
particle.
And the main character has a chance to
go inside and get evidence that they are
researching with this.
And he ends up setting up this chain
reaction that basically causes everyone to
gain super power.
Well, everyone,
let's say the unlucky ones.
Yeah.
The ones who weren't evaporated by it.
yeah those are probably the lucky ones the
ones that just melt um and yeah that's
basically the premise is superheroes
become real all of a sudden and then
it's very much about this main character
being responsible for everything that
happened even though he was trying to do
something good how does the um how does
he react to this and how does the
world uh react to this so
Yeah, people who can, you know,
suddenly power structures completely
disappear because, you know,
you have people with actual superpowers,
economy changes, there's a lot of effects.
It's very much about how the world is
changed as it is about the characters.
So yeah,
I think that's what makes it different
from other superhero stories.
no i i like it and i will
continue to harp on that that it was
such a fun read and it's very different
from crimson bay it's its own little thing
and it was just it was so good
and i'm it's one of those where you
you've started something now i'm gonna
hold your feet to the fire bruno you
have to have to complete it yeah and
the thing is this is a lot this
is going to be a long one i
do have
I don't want to say this in a,
you know,
obviously one thing is what I thought when
I started working on it years ago.
The other is what actually is going to
happen.
But I literally would be able to have
material for a decade of stories.
And it's great having an open-ended story
that you can always continue.
Like you can get it to a certain
arc and then you can, like,
I'm going to take a year off of
it and come back.
And because you completed an arc,
you can now come back with a new
arc and start it again if you want
to.
So that's always great to have characters
in a world like that.
Yeah,
and that's pretty much the goal for this
year for me is that, you know,
I started a couple of series last year
and this year I want to be completing
them.
So I want to be focusing on,
you know,
I don't want people to be like, well,
I backed Flame Vault one,
where is edition two?
You know, I want...
i want to be putting out crimson bay
and flame vault uh this year so that
people get you know complete story uh i
like it dude too long yeah and no
that that's the the killer part right is
when you have to sit around and wait
and they and people have to understand
you're an independent creator you're
relying on get started to fund and push
these things out
So it's like, yeah,
I wish I could get you an issue
every other month or every other week.
It's just there's the back end and the
funding isn't there to do that.
And you have to realistically put that
into check and go.
We could do it one a quarter,
and that means you get three issues per
year of each book, basically,
depending on how you space it out,
which to me is ideal anyway.
You don't want to overstress yourself as
an independent creator by trying to do too
much too fast without having β
that funds already in place,
which as an independent creator,
very few are going to have that kind
of money just sitting around.
Yeah, no, it's not going to happen.
And that's the thing.
I mean, first year,
you can kind of use some savings you
have.
But then if the money is coming in,
you know,
you can't keep doing that every year.
You have to pace yourself.
And Flame Vault is funded at this moment.
But, you know, by funded,
we made a fraction, you know,
of what I spent so far.
Yeah.
You got to think long run,
and that means you can't really use it
as fast as you would like to.
Yeah.
And like I said, at some point,
reality does have to sit in, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
you have always had a strong visual
identity going back to cinematic figments
which i thought was phenomenal your artist
was phenomenal on that walk us through
your creative process on flame bolt from
concept to page and what visually sets
this project apart from your previous work
with your like the one shots with
bereavement and you know cinematic
figments
I mean, when it gets to the visual,
I guess the input that I have there
is mainly, you know,
the choice of the artist, right?
Yeah.
It's pretty much about, you know,
all the magic that, you know,
Arturo did with the art.
Are you still using the same artist on
this one?
So for Flimfold?
Yes.
So it was a different artist from Crimson
Bay.
So, yeah.
Okay.
I had never worked with either of them,
really.
uh but yeah they you know they uh
put their own stamp and you know it
has the unique look it has because you
know because of them really so yeah my
contribution on that side was you know
i tried to write visually in the script
and then i tried to write an artist
that i tried to find an artist that
i think works for that book yeah i
very much like you know superhero kind of
like the classic eighteen ninety style so
i was always going to choose an artist
that kind of gives a little bit of
that vibe uh so yeah and i will
say the art in this one it
The colors are very modern and bright and
vivid, which is very much a Bruno thing,
in my opinion.
But the art itself,
you could see it from a different time
period.
But also, like I said,
with the way the colors are done,
it's very vivid.
So it's very modern as well.
So touche, man.
It worked out, you know?
yeah it's it's amazing those guys did an
amazing job on that um but yeah i
mean uh what was the other part of
your question um no you you you got
it yeah no you answered it uh it
was like from concept to page and what
visually sets this project apart you
nailed that yeah
You got it.
Yeah,
it was basically it was a two part
question,
but really just one answer to answer both
parts of the question.
So you're good.
You're good.
So for new readers discovering Flamebolt
and discovering you,
what kind of experience are they getting?
Is this a clean entry point?
And what should readers take away after
the final page?
So this is Flamebolt number one.
It is the perfect entry point.
But would you say like, hey,
if you want to really understand like my
storytelling, would you like, hey,
read this book and then maybe read this
book or maybe read Crimson Bay first and
then read this one?
No,
I think you can really just jump on
this.
I mean,
I think the thing with indie comics is
that
there's a lot of great stuff there and
you need to you can only read as
much as you have time and you are
going to read probably the kind of stuff
that
you enjoy so if your thing is superheroes
you know jump on this if you like
martial arts do jump on crimson bay i
guess it really is you know if you
like complete stories pick up one of the
one shots that i've done in the past
it's really the kind of stuff that you
like but flame vault you can jump on
it right now uh because it's issue one
and i think overall you will be able
to just you know
I guess the big advantage is, you know,
we talked about Marvel and DC earlier.
There's a lot of really great comics,
but there's too much of it, right?
And there's six years, you know,
of history with Marvel.
With DC, there's more than that.
So it's like,
it's hard to keep track and to,
it feels like homework sometimes.
And with this,
you're starting from the beginning.
You have issue one,
there's nothing before.
There's no continuity issues.
Yeah,
and the simple fact that there were no
superheroes before issue one means that
there's no, you know,
you're not gonna have like this weird
retcons of, oh,
but fifty years ago this thing happened,
that it happened this way but actually
happened a different way.
There's not gonna be that, I think.
Let's see.
But yeah,
there is no homework to be done with
this.
You just jump in and it's enjoyable from
the start.
That's the best kind.
When there's no homework involved to try
to figure out what it is.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
You can just jump in on the Kickstarter
and get issue one and go with it.
And that's great because that's exactly
what I did on this one because I
have all your other work.
So for me, it was just like, oh,
I can just get Flamebolt and be cool.
I mean, yeah, exactly.
I mean, one thing that I'll say, though,
is that I have these things that I
call Isco bundles,
which are basically like international
shipping.
What is it?
I forgot my own.
Yeah,
it may spend in the seven dollars to
ship or nine dollars to ship worth.
Because you have to pay the same dollar
amount to ship.
So you might as well get your money's
worth.
Yeah, exactly.
Because basically international shipping
is by weight.
If you get three books,
you get basically more out of them if
you just get one or two.
So you can basically get three books and
then you can choose to jump on Flame
Vault or you can choose to jump on
one of the other two books that are
in the same bundle if you choose to
get one of those bundles.
Yeah,
it's one of those where I was like,
I have those already,
so I don't want to start piling up
duplicates because then they're just
there.
Well, I could sell them,
but I don't want to do that.
No, but in your case,
it didn't make sense, right?
Because I think this is more for people
who are coming in.
Just discovering it and picking it up.
yeah for anybody to pick it up definitely
get in on the bundles because you're going
to get some great boats prey i will
say is a phenomenal story so definitely
check that one out i think that's one
of the ones in the bundle and what
was the other one the one with the
camera uh portrait of a soul portrait of
a soul another one check that one out
that's weird that's the weird one it
really is but it's really good too but
um
Let's talk about how fans can support the
project, Bruno,
and what can backers expect from
Flamebolt, issue one on Kickstarter,
and why is backing Indie Comics at this
stage so important?
You know,
this is my standard question that I always
throw out there for everybody with a
Kickstarter.
uh yeah i mean do back in the
comics even if you don't pack mine back
back in the comics because they can't get
made you know without that um yeah i
mean from flame vault you get you know
the usual
issues just individual issues you get the
the bundles uh i do have like some
uh i do mix up some you know
freebies like um uh dnd custom content
based on you know the this world of
flame vault and there's an any bundle with
uh any uh reward here that you get
uh you get some extra indies from other
creators and that's a great way to get
to know you know the work of other
people to get value for money because uh
so yeah i mean that's i i guess
that's an advantage that you get with
indie comics especially on kickstarter
that you don't get almost anywhere else
is that you get a ton of value
for money even though it's expensive uh
but you get a lot of comics you
get exposed to a lot of different people
yeah and what i like about kickstarter is
so they back bruno kickstarter is going to
make them other recommendations based off
of you so they can also discover their
next
favorite writer and creator.
So that's what I really enjoy about it
is that, Oh,
you just bet this book where here's three
others just like it.
If you want to get to know them
as well.
And there's no pressure.
They don't be like, Oh,
make sure you back these two.
It's like what, you know, it's,
I want to say it's affordable and it's
like, it's no pressure really, you know,
cause you,
they can help out in any kind of
way.
But, uh, cause especially like when, uh,
you hit that notify me on launch.
You are providing feedback to the creator
saying, oh, I'm interested in this.
I don't know if I'll back it,
but I am interested.
And that's the thing, I mean,
when you think about indie comics compared
to mainstream comics, it's more expensive,
but when you look at other businesses
like, you know, I don't know, Carpentry,
if you buy something on, you know,
Ikea versus something custom,
the price difference can be very...
big and with comics it's not really like
that you're uh you may get something a
little bit more expensive but you're
supporting a new creator and you're also
getting a lot of extra stuff and to
be fair a lot of marvel in dc
is like eight ninety nine now nine ninety
nine in some cases for some books
depending on what they are so
it is the prices are almost equal now
to begin with where there's an indie comic
or a freaking mainstream that you're
buying from marvel in dc because some of
their prices have gotten ridiculous like
six ninety nine for a standard floppy
issue come on for a floppy really yeah
yeah okay that's more expensive than i
sell comics yeah
Oh, wow.
The prices for Marvel and DC are getting
up there, dude.
It's kind of crazy.
There you go.
Back in the comics.
Yeah.
So what's Flamebolt issue one is out in
the world.
What's next?
Is this the start of a well,
I know this will be the start of
a longer saga for Flamebolt and something
bigger within the Flamebolt universe will
eventually come.
what are like,
are you going to be revealing the main
like villain in this next issue of flame
bolt?
Cause right now we're at an origin story
where our hero wakes up and he's been
captured for being like, we're like, dude,
you know what you did, right?
I mean, he did something really bad,
but yeah.
So something really bad with good
intentions.
well yeah true but you know but yeah
uh on issue two you will see a
lot more standard superhero super villain
dynamics uh so i wrote an article about
um uh the inspiration that a game that
i used to play called city of heroes
had oh yeah yeah i played it back
in early
yeah yeah yeah you play that okay yeah
yeah because it came out like that's when
uh world of warcraft was getting really
really big but then this game come along
called city of heroes where you get to
make your own superhero and you could
either be a bad guy or a good
guy based on your actions and you got
to yeah it was a phenomenal phenomenal
game
Yeah,
so I basically wrote an article about that
on, you know, Substack,
how it influenced it.
And I have a lot of shots from
some of the characters that you're going
to see on issue two.
And some concept art as well that I
got someone to do a few years ago.
So this is a project that I've been
working on for over a decade, really.
Yeah.
I have notes going back a really long
time.
So on issue two,
you will start seeing a lot of those.
And you will see...
I wouldn't call it main villain because I
don't think there is a main villain.
We'll start seeing some faces that will
become familiar.
Now,
I like that because I'm glad you brought
up City of Heroes because if Flame Vault
is going to be anything similar to City
of Heroes,
it's just going to be a ton of
fun.
Because every day,
City of Heroes that you played,
it was something different.
Like, yeah, the mission could be the same,
but the way you interacted with that
mission was different every single time.
So it made it a lot of fun
to play and to build your character in
it.
So...
Yeah, I mean, to be fair,
it doesn't really have much similarity
with City of Heroes itself.
It's more about...
I brought it up mainly because it's
something that I wrote where a lot of
the characters are being introduced that
you're going to see later.
But I think thematically it's a lot closer
to something like, you know,
The Walking Dead or Children of Men or,
you know... No, no.
And that makes sense,
but I was such a big fan of
City of Heroes.
I'm running with it.
It's such a good game.
I guess people still played.
I haven't played it since like two
thousand four, two thousand five, I guess.
yeah uh it's it's still so it doesn't
exist officially but it still exists
there's some okay let's call it uh an
official servers uh pirate servers but an
official yeah it was just such a fun
game and it's one of those where i
know like world of warcraft is still going
and there's been multiple expansion paths
and that's one of those where
One of the reasons why I stopped playing
City of Heroes,
it just felt like it was dying.
It didn't have the support that I felt
it should have had.
Because you wanted more from the game.
And they could have gave us so much
more.
But it just never happened.
I mean, I think in terms of customization,
it was ahead of its time.
Oh, a hundred percent ahead of its time.
You could customize character in a lot of
gorgeous ways, like, you know,
visually the costumes,
you could customize the superpowers.
you could create missions it was very
customizable in comparison with you know
stuff that's being made today and this
which is wild because the only thing that
was really comparable to it was world of
warcraft with the the amount of
customization that you could do even
though even on world of warcraft you were
still limited by what your character's
strengths and weaknesses were
yeah but yeah but visually i i thought
it was a lot more limited i think
that's where city of heroes really shine
is that the character yeah no yeah it
was it was insane yeah it really was
insane yeah no i'm right there with you
and we i yeah that was one of
those games where i was it was just
such a fun thing to pick up and
play so so bruno for anyone who's watching
right now and listening later
for someone who loves indie comics but
hasn't backed you yet why should flame
bolt be the project that they go bruno's
my guy now i'm back in flame bowl
sell the people your book i mean um
if you like weird things let's put it
like that so if if you want like
typical superhero stuff
give it a try but if you like
different takes on you know stories that
you might be used to see but like
with
I mean,
if you read cinematic figments and you
like it,
this is a superhero version of that.
Let's put it like that.
That's a good way to put it.
I like that.
Yeah,
if you like weird sci-fi kind of
existential sort of thing,
this is a lot milder.
I mean, it's a lot more, again,
it's a lot more mainstream.
It's not as abstract,
but let's call it a superhero version of
that.
No, I like that description.
For anybody out there wondering,
Cinematic Figments is a sci-fi anthology
series.
I think there's three stories in the book,
if I'm remembering right.
Two on each.
There's two books.
Yeah.
Possibly coming out this year.
Okay.
But, yeah, it's very interesting,
and they're both really fun reads.
So if that's any indication, plus it β
Cinematic Figments has the USDN seal of
approval on it,
as well as most of Bruno's other work.
So I will back Bruno's work from the
chairman here of the USDN.
I would highly recommend checking out
Bruno's stuff.
He brings something new and different to
the table each time,
and I'm happy to see him dipping his
toes into writing a series with both
Crimson Bay and Flamebolt just to see what
my man can bring to the table with
the series.
Thank you.
I will just say this.
Cinematic figments is good even for Doctor
Who.
Doctor Who, one of them,
has both cinematic figments.
Nice.
If it's good enough for Doctor Who,
it's good enough for everybody, damn it.
But before we wrap this up, Bruno,
let everyone know where they can follow
you and keep up with Flamebolt.
Yeah, I mean,
if you go to the Kickstarter and look
for Flame Vault,
you'll basically get the page and you can
see more about the project.
You can read the first few pages,
see if it's for you.
You can see what are the rewards and
all the extra freebies that are added.
And you have all my contacts there.
So that's an easy way to
find me as well but if you go
to blue sky bruno caterino is my handle
uh so basically first last name or
facebook even though if he's not banned
this week if i'm not banned this week
yeah because yeah i i need to leave
But so all his links will be in
the description of this video.
As always,
the Kickstarter link will be in there.
His blue sky link, his Facebook link,
all that will be in there.
And I'm trying to convert my guy over
to Instagram,
but my cushion just for Bruno to join
Instagram has not worked yet.
I will keep working on that,
but you can find his link.
His link's down in the description of this
video, as always.
But Bruno,
it's always a pleasure to have you on
the USDN.
Flame Vault feels like the next evolution
of your storytelling.
And I cannot wait for readers to
experience it.
To everyone watching out there,
support Indie Comets.
Back Flame Vault, issue number one.
And remember,
this is the United States Department of
Nerds.
We're Indie Comets.
come to life we're out of here and
we'll see y'all next time thank you see
you