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USDN Podcast is a cinematic indie comics interview series hosted by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds spotlighting the creators, storytellers, and worldbuilders shaping the future of independent comics.
Each episode dives beyond headlines into the real journeys behind the books from Kickstarter launches and creative struggles to the philosophies driving today’s indie storytelling movement.
This isn’t about rumors or recycled news.
It’s about the people creating the worlds.
Through in-depth conversations, creator spotlights, and crowdfunding discussions, USDN explores:
• The rise of indie comics
• The business of crowdfunding
• The art of worldbuilding
• The realities of independent storytelling
USDN is where indie comics come to life for the fans, by the creators, and powered by the community.
You are listening to the USDN on the
DFPN.
Thanks for watching!
What is up everybody and welcome to the
USDN where we are for the people,
by the people and of the people.
Los Angeles, nineteen twenties,
a city built on ambition,
corruption and secrets buried beneath the
surface where crime runs deep.
And justice is never clean.
What happens when the one chasing the
truth isn't something the world doesn't
fully understand?
Which I found out is wrong.
A detective with the past,
a city on the edge,
and a story rooted in Knorr.
With the twist, you won't forget.
Actually, you will.
Today,
we step into the world of City of
Demons,
the mind behind the twelve-part Indy Knorr
series.
And the mind behind the twelve-part Indy
Knorr series.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now in session.
Parker, welcome to the USDN.
Thanks, Jeff.
Thanks for having me on, man.
Hey, you know, and again, I apologize.
I had a complete misunderstanding of
things earlier.
Even the title that is currently for this
video is incorrect.
This is nothing about demons,
and I do apologize to everybody out there
who thought they were going to watch a
podcast or listen to a podcast later that
was about demons.
will be corrected when it goes live later
on at least not literally but yeah yes
correct not literally but parker dude what
like give us the spiel on kind of
like who you are and what how how
you got into comics and storytelling
Yeah, so I'm a guy, you know,
who I'm originally from and still live in
North Carolina.
I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina,
so anyone knows major, you know,
humongous art community there.
And so always had affinity for the arts,
always had affinity for storytelling from
a super early age.
I always loved movies, liked to read,
all that stuff.
Even for work now,
I'm a videographer for different
commercial shoots.
Anything with a camera, sign me up.
So I've been able to have a pretty
successful career so far doing that.
But with comics,
comics was something that was always my
original love with narrative storytelling.
Yeah.
Um,
and I read comics growing up when mostly
due to my,
it was most of my dad's fault because
he would pick me up at like these
really cheaply made, um,
like DC and Marvel used to have like
a kid line, like an old ages line,
uh, growing up.
And so he would buy me, um, like,
you know,
these three dollar comics and I just loved
it.
Like one of the first comics I ever
got was like a comic, you know,
Batman brave in the bowl where that
cartoon was going on.
They had an old comic series.
I got that as a kid.
Um,
And then shortly thereafter,
I remember I talked to him and he
gave me, at twelve years old,
Batman The Dark Knight Returns by Frank
Miller.
And I was way too young to read
it,
like to at least fully grasp all the
nuances of that story.
Yeah.
But I was old enough to understand that
it was awesome.
And my dad just thought,
he doesn't really know much about comics,
just thought, oh, a Batman comic.
and for my twelve-year-old son and changed
my life forever.
Like,
completely changed what I thought a comic
book could be or a comic book,
you know, could really grasp.
Like,
there's so many nuances in that story that
I reread it every year.
I'm like, oh, that's really fascinating.
Dude, I'm actually...
Like I had to trade paperback of that
book, lost it.
But thankfully this year, DC's releasing,
doing the re-release for the anniversary.
So I've been picking up the issues off
of that.
And I've been so excited rereading that
again.
It's just been like, oh man.
You forget how good it is.
There's so many parts.
What I hate all the time is when
people, like I see online,
when people talk about the comic, like,
oh,
Frank Miller making Batman with gritty and
dark.
There's way more to that story.
Yeah, it really is.
One of the best sequences ever in comics,
at least in my opinion,
is where the EMP bomb goes off.
And it's these black silhouettes of all
the Gothamites helping each other.
And Jim Gorn's among them.
They're passing the war bucket.
And
It plays out like a documentary.
We have these random characters who were
never brought up ever again in the story
or just talking straight to the reader
about their experience and what they
witnessed.
It was like a reporter was reporting the
story.
It was really cool.
But it wasn't done in that same weird
sort of
and so it was it was so fascinating
and it was like a fourth wall break
without it being a fourth wall break yeah
dude it was oh it was fat like
just that technique when you it was like
that's fascinating and then
All that part,
I think people forget about that sort of
really great artistic flair that Frank
Miller was bringing up at that time.
Yeah.
It's on Batman v. Dark and Batman v.
Superman, but there's so much more to it.
And, dude, it just changed everything.
It fits so well.
What's up, Kev?
Your episode will actually be coming out
here soon.
I'm editing clips right now for your
episode.
So stay tuned for that.
I had a fat nap yesterday after work.
And after that,
I was just like done to the world.
So, but your episodes coming dude.
But, um, what,
when did you decide you wanted to create
your own comic?
Cause you're still a young guy.
So.
Well, thank you.
Yeah.
I feel I'm a, I'm a twenty six.
So I've been from, uh,
some of the younger guys in my family
have been made to feel like the old
one, but yeah.
Hey, that's family, though.
Yeah,
so I've been called an unk and all
sorts of other things, so it's okay.
You're not officially unk until you hit my
age, and then you're good.
Then you can accept that with endearment.
Dude,
I talked to my nephew about what's his
favorite cartoon.
No idea what I was talking about.
I was like, oh, geez.
You should have asked him his favorite
anime.
Then he might have been spot on.
Dude, probably.
Yeah, so...
What I really decided to get into comics
was,
it was just a dream I've always had.
And it was always something to where I
thought, you know,
I just at a certain point grew tired
of waiting for the right opportunity to
come because you have to take a step
back.
And for me,
it was realizing I don't have a direct
connection to like the big two, Marvel,
DC,
or even if you want to go big
three with Image.
I don't have a direct in there.
I don't have any way to leverage myself
in there.
And I was like, so like, what, like,
okay.
It's like, what, what, like, why do I,
so I just take a step back.
It's like, okay,
I want to do this because I love
comics.
Cool.
But why like really get to even deeper,
like,
but why do it at all?
Why make comics, period?
And for me, it was like, well, shoot,
like,
I don't need to be part of Marvel,
DC, or Image, or whatever, Dark Horse, or,
you know, to be part,
to be making comics.
And so for me, it was, you know,
I just had that moment where I had
this story in the back of my mind,
because
It was honestly based off a old high
school, not high school,
college script I wrote for a screenplay
class.
And I took that,
it was a screenplay for like,
I wrote for like a pilot for a
class project for a pilot of a TV
show.
And so I took that script,
completely rewrote it to fit the comic
book format.
And then I just went making the first
issue, which is twenty pages long,
just went making it and then showing that
off to as many independent publishers as I
could.
Anyone who has not pursued small press
publishing or independent publishing,
if you don't know what that looks like,
it typically looks like you make the first
issue or at least the first ten pages.
Yeah.
I was going to say the first eight
to ten pages is what they recommend.
Right.
And you have to at least,
in my experience,
you have to give a marketing proposal,
a query letter, which is a simple like,
hey, this is this.
Like it can be like two or three
lines.
And then you have to do,
what was it essentially i'm blanking on it
but essentially a very detailed outline of
the whole series and then if asked
character profiles all this sorts of stuff
and you know no offense to um my
publisher but not gonna lie i kind of
threw away the outline after i got the
deal i was like this is not good
but so after all that you send it
out to publishers and
It was a constant storm of being ghosted,
of just drip, no reply, or someone saying,
hey, we're interested in this.
Want to talk more?
No reply.
And when I mean no reply,
I don't mean like, oh,
I sent them an email.
They didn't reply.
I mean, I sent them.
i for one person in particular i sent
them dude ten emails and i had the
phone number they we got because they were
like oh we would like this i called
them sixteen times within the span of a
month nothing yeah so i was like okay
well i call you sixteen times and i
i was like does this person still work
there yeah they do and so that that
happened several times that same sort of
pattern ghosted ghosted ghosted and about
six months, it's just this endless cycle.
And you're like, am I crazy?
Like, does this actually just suck?
Like, I don't think it does,
but maybe I'm too close,
but it just sucks.
And at a certain point with one of
the bigger independent publishers,
we got a rejection letter
And I was like, you know what?
Fine.
I'm just going to reply.
Like, why did this not work for you?
And I phrased, of course, you know,
like how I improve on all that stuff.
So I asked them that.
And the reply back was, oh, no,
I actually really liked it.
I actually really like what you submitted.
But the problem is,
is that's your first comic.
And the problem is,
is that no one knows you and no
one knows your artist and no one knows
anyone that's attached to the project.
And I was like, that was, I mean,
that was such a hard thing to pill
swallow because like, you know,
you have something good that's objectively
at very least good.
And someone's just gonna turn away from
you and,
because you're just such an unknown.
And it's wild because they don't tell you
like what kind of portfolio they're
bringing in.
Like how many titles do I need under
my belt for you to even look at
me?
They don't tell you that part and nobody
knows because I've never had anybody come
on who's ever said like, hey,
you need to have at least, you know,
three to four titles under your belt
before even shooting your shot with like
the big five.
you know marvel dc image boom studios and
dark horse that's my big five and what's
crazy is dark horse don't even make up
a point one percent of total sales within
the comic book world and i all this
stuff about name recognition like i can't
like honestly i get it like just on
paper but at a certain point it's like
To be perfectly honest,
I don't think it particularly matters a
lot for a lot of different comics.
Because I think if you have enough
distribution base and you have something
that's really killer, the word of mouth,
which is super strong, especially, I mean,
just in comics in general,
but especially in the independent scene,
word of mouth is going to carry that.
A hundred percent.
And also, to be honest,
my personal opinion,
when I get a reply like, oh,
you're unknown or whatever,
is I perceive that.
And maybe I'm wrong,
but I perceive that that's a person or
a company or whatever that may lack
vision.
It's like you see something good.
So you see there's talent here to work
with.
So why not start an early business
relationship?
Get that person in.
Yeah.
you know on day one why not and
they may not even know at that point
who they are yeah as a publisher i've
seen that too where they just they when
you look go to their website and you're
looking at the books they're publishing
and they're all over the place and you're
like who are these people really because
you flip that be like well who are
you exactly
yeah dude and it's like with some of
them it was you know i was just
bummed out because i'm like like like you
know i'm not gonna be specific that
project got green lit like really yeah no
i've seen some bad projects get green lit
just by name recognition and you read it
and you're like yeah and the you know
two three weeks later you're back at your
local comic shop and you're like you know
dude i don't know that that was garbage
i don't want that dude and it's
I kept seeing that, and to be honest,
something that gave me confidence
pursuing this even though it felt like
everything was against me was you see
something really badly bad get published i
tell anyone if you if you think you're
suffering from imposter syndrome look not
just a comic but just anything published
there's some really horrible things
published so if they can do it like
i think you yeah so dude i i
i look at that the same as i
look at the independent book scene right
yeah there's some stories on the
independent book scene that get published
by publishers
And, you know,
there's certain aspects of that book
you're like, oh, man,
I really like the title.
I really like the synopsis of this story.
And you buy the book,
and it is littered with, like,
just horrible, like, writing.
It's littered with, like,
who proofread this?
Like, there's a whole paragraph,
and it's nothing but a single run on
sentence.
Like, who did this?
Dude, it's...
and that's the part where i was like
oh gosh dude like there has to be
there has to be some you know door
for me to enter and that came at
least initially in the publisher blood
moon comics that was head down by ramel
and so i was like oh thank god
thank goodness like someone gets it and
keith yeah
And Blood Moon was really starting to hit
their stride,
starting to build a really core horror
audience because they were mostly
independent horror.
And so I was like, oh,
this would be – it's not horror.
City of Demons isn't horror,
but it's no war.
It totally fits well with that.
And –
And so it was all going well.
We had produced six issues just on the
backend.
So because we were going to release it
very quickly.
And a month before the release of our
first issue, it had all been printed.
So to my knowledge,
there's a warehouse somewhere with Blood
Moon, you know,
City of Demons issue one somewhere.
Yeah.
So the month before it's released,
I'm emailing Keith,
the head of Blood Moon, be like, hey,
dude, like,
everything good to go, just making sure,
blah, blah, blah, told my local LCS,
book signing, blah, blah, blah,
all this stuff.
And he goes back, he emails me saying,
hey, dude,
we're going to be shutting our doors.
And I was like, oh.
And also, side note,
and this was whole due to the diamond
distribution fiasco,
which has just been horrible.
Yeah.
On that one day,
so that day was like a triple whammy,
dude.
It was.
It always is, dude.
It's always three.
On that day,
my girlfriend at the time broke up with
me.
I had just a crazy rough day at
work.
I just hated it.
I was just in a foul mood.
And then my girlfriend makes out with me.
And then I get the email back from
Key saying, oh, yeah.
I'm like, oh, this is terrible.
Yeah.
rich that knife in there you know dude
it was brutal and then I was like
I just sat there near my apartment just
sat here I was like like because you
put in all this work all this time
and you're like like what's it for that's
the feeling you're like I just wasted so
much time like I'm just dreaming that's
not going to happen anymore and
so from that from blood moon was one
of the first ones to fall and then
from that it was like everything all these
independent small press publishers are
just closing out because they all had
exclusivity deals with diamond like every
company did and they weren't big enough to
take the you know to take the bleeding
like marvel or dc or image where they
could yeah just cancel that switch over to
lunar and our penguin yeah and it was
oh my gosh dude it was i
the whole thing with the diamond was
insanity the whole way that has been going
on which is crazy but and which honestly
the the direct Market which you know
Diamond had doing forever I've been saying
that even since I was a teenager I
was like there's no way this business
model is like dude it's not and they
proved it ours bro like
It was.
There was people jumping ship.
They were paying themselves out of their
distribution deal with Diamond.
I think Boom was one of the first
ones that was like,
here's whatever it is we need to pay.
We're done with you.
And they jumped over to Penguin,
I believe.
Maybe Lunar.
I can't remember which.
was insane because like but the the
obviously what hurt with diamond was so
even before they closed they were so
horribly mismanaged and they had been for
years yeah at that point and the thing
is like with independent comics you know a
big thing is you got to be consistent
whether it's every month every other month
you've got to hit those deadlines you've
got to hit that you've got to be
in stores because when people add to your
pool is you got to think about like
They're adding you on because they can.
No, you're not a Batman.
You're not a Spider-Man where people will
gravitate you.
Even if you're both subpar,
they'll still get it because.
Yeah, it's Batman.
It's Superman.
It's Superman, Spider-Man.
It's Gets Man.
Exactly.
So it's like, but you,
it's like they're making an exception out
of their budget,
out of their time for you.
Yeah.
So which means you got to prioritize the
customer at all points.
And they don't care if it's Diamond's
fault that your book shipping late.
And so that's the whole deal, dude.
And then after it was hurting, man,
because I was like,
I go into my LCS to pick up
my my pulls.
and i might have a a five book
week or a twenty book week the following
yeah there was never any consistency there
and i'm just like i need this nightmare
to freaking in it got to a point
where i was testing my lcs just to
go hey what's it look like today he's
like oh skip he's like it'll be in
your box next week just skip this week
and i would just skip that week and
just pick up my pulls the following week
when
or on a Friday when stuff would actually
be there.
Yeah.
You know,
it got ridiculous there for what,
six months or so, seven months.
But yeah, I was,
I was done real fast with it.
I was just like,
I need this to stop soon.
Thankfully, you know,
the big five jumped ship pretty quickly
when they realized it.
And it just goes to show that that
business model is, it's not sustainable.
You can't borrow against the,
future, you know,
income and equity that isn't even,
doesn't even exist yet.
And they were borrowing against stuff they
didn't even have.
Dude, it, oh my gosh.
And there was a part where it was
like,
I remember when I was on the phone
call with Keith after he announced Blood
Moon Shined Down and dude,
his anger like was just, I mean,
totally justified, but unreal.
And, and he was just talking about it.
And I, you know,
Of course, my mind, albeit selfishly,
is like, well,
what do I do with City Demons now?
I mean, what else do you do, though,
at that point?
You have to be selfish to some degree
in this business.
You can't, you know,
if it's not for you.
then why do you even give a shit?
You should do it at the end of
the day.
Yeah.
I'm going to support my friends in the
business.
I'm going to support the Parkers of the
business because that's,
this is part of what I do.
But at the end of the day,
when I write my first book,
going to be a little selfish about it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, I just was with Keith.
I was like, you know, I was asking,
I was like, you know, are you,
do you know any publishers that weren't
independent publishers that weren't harmed
by this and asking him his opinion or
whatever.
And he just says like, look, and this,
this did help a lot.
It also was kind of a twist of
the knife, but he was like, you know,
I want you to know that he's like,
I saw all the pages you turned in
and I,
I never gave you notes.
And there was a reason I never gave
you notes.
He's like,
I really liked everything you turned in.
He's like, I think you're talented.
I think the artist you've teamed up with
is very talented.
I think the letterer, Nikki Powers,
is very talented.
Everyone you've teamed up with is
talented.
He's like, you have a great story.
The art's great.
He's like, I like it.
I really liked it.
He's like,
from when I shopped around on FOC for
all these different places,
they really liked it.
i sees like i'm saying all this to
tell you i will not be the only
one who likes it yeah and i was
like okay so we have a shot at
a publisher yeah it was nice but at
the same time the twisted knife was he
told me he said he was like oh
man we all was so hyped he's like
oh there was a lot of good you
know you know spread about your comments
like don't tell me that but uh yeah
anyway afterwards
through a podcast called Indie Comics and
Reviews.
I got connected to an independent social
media personality named K-Pop Junkie.
Yeah, I know who you're talking about.
Yeah,
and so I asked her because they told
me she knows all about the publisher.
She follows it super closely.
Cool.
And I was telling you before we went
live,
that's something I'm working to do is to
get those connections like,
red five has been invited i really like
what he's doing over there like i really
like his stuff and he also he he
has the name red fight comics because he
worked on like star wars so he literally
got red fight comics from george like he
got that permission yeah and i really like
what they do over there and of course
you know wiseacre is gonna i told you
beforehand we're gonna have him on in july
frederick seems like a really really cool
guy
And, um, yeah, dude,
I'm trying to make those connections and
get stuff set up that way too.
I was going to say then talking to
Frederick's great.
I'm really excited.
It's like one of those where you get
certain people like both and you're like,
I'm so ready for that interview.
Like you're salivating at the fat light.
Yeah.
ten good interviews between the here and
then and then it's him and i'm like
yes but i'm like those other nine
individuals are equally amazing like i'm
so excited to talk to them
but you always have that one interview or
two interviews lined up that you,
you're really excited to talk about.
Dude.
And I'm still like Frederick,
great connections already.
It's um, and I, and so K-pop,
you know,
I asked her like what was her
recommendations of publishers reach out
who maybe have survived the diamond thing.
And there was a lot that still survived
that had the equity to hang on.
Yeah.
Um,
I was surprised by how many she named,
to be honest.
But the top of her list was Wiseacre,
was Frederick Littles.
And I knew of Frederick Littles because of
Magnus and the initial connection with
Godhood.
and so i was like okay i've heard
this i've heard this guy i've you know
i've read um but at that point i
had it but like after i got his
contact red madness i was like okay so
this is cool this is nothing like this
is flagship isn't it magnus yeah that's
what i thought he's got the figures coming
out for it and everything else yeah dude
those were really cool i seen the kit
started for that i was like notify me
yeah dude so yeah he's yeah he's doing
great over that and um
he's just like um he's just very he's
he's super driven very organized and it's
very much appreciated that's that's a
killer right there get get yourself
organized always tell people are you
organized and there's a lot of people
especially artistic people who are not
organized yeah and it's organized chaos
yeah dude and then with frederick i
remember i read all this i'm like red
magnus i'm like
this is cool and i looked at some
of the other stuff he was working on
or like the wiseacre was working on and
i was like okay cool cool i have
no idea if this if city of demons
was just a hardcore like nice and twins
noir crime murder mystery i don't know if
this is like it's so different i don't
know if he'll go for it and then
i emailed with him talk facetime to him
talk back and forth
And thank goodness he got it.
And he immediately got what we had and
he read through our whole,
at that point we made, I think, yeah,
still had six or seven issues made.
And he read through it and was very
supportive,
got immediately what we were going for and
saw it as a really good way to
expand upon their lineup.
because they had anything that was noir
not had anything that was like super
grounded um and based a little bit like
ours in historical fiction and so and it
was just great to work with him and
has been great to work with them and
that was been special about him is that
he's a great writer
and so if you ever need someone to
bounce ideas off of he's the guy and
he's been at connecting the whole wise
acre team to with each other just so
we can bounce ideas like we already have
a group chat where people say hey here's
concept designs for character you know
here's one concept design for character a
here's you know another one which one do
you guys like and we have open
conversations like that so that's been
really really awesome um
I tell you though,
for what he's brought to City Demons,
it's been great connection
distribution-wise.
And so super thankful for that.
Thankful for the connection to massive.
And, um, but yeah, dude, it's in comics.
I'll tell anyone you gotta love it.
Cause especially in the independent scene,
it's nothing but love for comics is what
it feels like.
And dude, it's, um, I gotta tell people,
it's like, you gotta understand your why.
Like I want to make comics.
Yeah.
there's no, like,
I know a lot of people like,
you know, they've talked, well,
like hypothetically,
what would you love to see?
Demas was like a movie or a miniseries.
Like, I just want to write a comic.
Yeah.
Love comics.
I'm not thinking about this being a TV
show.
I'm not thinking about being a movie.
I like, that's not my goal.
Um, I'm not thinking about people like,
you know, when they, um, daydreams, Oh,
well, if I wrote for Spider-Man or,
I don't know, like Superman.
It's like, would that be cool?
Sure, we'd be awesome.
Yeah.
We're talking,
that's like one percent of a one percent
who will ever write for those comics.
That's not how I do this.
Like,
I'm not doing this so I can end
up one day writing Spider-Man.
Again, which could be cool,
but that's not why I'm doing it.
I'm doing it because I love the art,
like the storytelling art form of comics.
Because the magic of comics is only
something comics can do.
it's very direct um specific communication
you know because it's not like reading a
novel where you have to you know think
about and imagine everything it's it's
direct communication between you and the
author and you and the artist and so
that's what i really love like when you
read something like we brought up dark
night returns before you read that that's
a direct line from you to frank miller
Yeah.
Not your imagination of what Frank Miller
could be right about.
It's you, Frank Miller.
Yeah.
And that's why I love it's like I
love that very personal.
It feels like you're in a like a
friendship with some of these writers.
And, you know, it's crazy.
I'm glad you brought that up.
So many of these writers and artists who
work on your favorite stories are very
personable people.
When you see them post to social media
and you go, hey,
I just picked up that cover right there.
It was like my favorite of the bunch.
I've read it.
The story is outstanding.
And you will be surprised the amount that
come back with a, yo, hey, no,
thank you.
We really appreciate hearing that this is
our first stab at this kind of book.
And we're glad it's resonating with,
you know, people who read this.
And to me,
that's a highlight of my day because like,
I literally just finished reading your
book five minutes ago and, you know,
hopped on social media to give them a
follow because I want to see what's coming
next from them.
And then like,
I see them posting about it and it's
just like a quick,
like two minutes out of your day.
Like, Hey,
I just picked this up and read it.
This was fantastic.
Yeah.
This cover was amazing.
The cover, like,
you didn't know what the cover was going
to give you when you open the page,
you know, in some books are that way.
And it's like this cool mystery.
Like you can get an idea or a
sense of a what's about to happen.
But then when you get that story and
it makes that cover look like,
I see what they did with that cover.
That's why it's like that.
And it just like, yes, it works.
Yeah.
It's a lot of these, you know,
the part where it's like on the
independent scene,
like you mentioned that I love the
relationship between like a creator and
like even that small base of like fans
or just readers, you know,
it's like because for me,
I feel so blessed and lucky that a
single person even picked up the comic.
Yeah.
The time out of their day to read
it.
I'm like, oh, my gosh, like.
Like, thank you.
You know, I think that's so cool that,
you know,
and I appreciate you sending them over.
I didn't have a chance to read it
because you got them to me like yesterday
and I was in the middle.
Yeah.
I was doing your interview.
And like I said,
I didn't have like anything yet.
Yeah.
And I was like,
so I'm literally writing thinking city of
demons.
Like, okay, this, this detective is this,
it's this.
And I'm like, okay.
And then when you hit me up later,
it's like, um,
you're kind of off base this isn't this
i was like let me uh immediately jump
back on i started rewriting this whole
interview updated the social media and i
told you i was like as soon as
you hopped in and we started chatting i
was like i updated everything except for
the description of this video right now
and the original title i had planned
Because in my head, I'm thinking, oh,
we're turning a demon into a detective,
you know?
In the Darkblood situation, you know?
Exactly, you know?
And I was like, shit.
I was like, okay, well,
when I re-released this on YouTube and to
the podcast platforms,
I've already fixed the titles.
I've already fixed everything else.
I just realized that's the one thing.
That's what everybody is seeing right now,
and they're thinking, oh, demons, cool,
detectives.
That's not the case.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
Well, you know, it's like...
It's a very misleading title.
Well, you know, I'll say, like,
for anyone confused about the title or
wondering about it, it's like, you know...
I've told several people,
it's funny because my biggest fear with
the title was that I thought it was
too on the nose.
And because City of Demons,
the story takes place in the early days
of Hollywood.
So LA, Los Angeles, City of Angels.
And I was like, oh, City of Angels,
City of Demons.
And so that was my big fear.
Misleading in such a good way, though.
Because it's not metaphorical,
and the demons part refers to our four
central characters, Lucas Short,
Lawrence Kaye.
They're both private detectives.
And then we have Harry Boyle and Marcus
Sulfan,
who are the heads of the two Warren
crime families.
And so that's all the story, you know,
through the mystery reveals a lot of these
characters, inner demons,
and also reveals a lot of the dark
underworld forces in Hollywood at that
time.
And a lot of those that love that
darkness,
a lot of that evil is prevalent with
Hollywood to this day.
So as you human evil, yeah,
not demon evil.
And that's what makes it even freaking
scarier.
In my opinion,
there's no supernatural entities
playing people it's people playing people
and playing yeah you know god and devil
you know well dude it's like you know
one of the things that's always you know
i think more the most terrifying thing
about a lot of like horrible people a
lot of you know mass murder serial killers
you know all these terrible things is that
they're people they're humans yeah you
know they're not like a scary part about
it from you know a storybook they're not
know what you know like a literal demon
but they are they're repeat they're humans
and so it's like well how did a
human do how is that how are they
capable of that and so that's what's
really terrifying about it and so we see
a demon's a story which i you know
I think anyone that gives it a shot
and they really dive into the mystery,
it's like we use the whole setup of
a murder mystery, which is a crime family,
the Sullivans,
are being targeted by a serial killer.
We use that mystery, and Marcus Olven,
the newly appointed head,
due to his father's death,
hires two private detectives to
investigate these murders because he
doesn't trust his own family.
And so we do that,
and through this whole mystery that these
two private detectives interact with,
we then uncover all the dark underbelly of
Hollywood that extends to even now.
And so that was the part where it
was like,
issue eight reveals you know which again
has not been released yet would not be
released for a while yeah that's been
produced and that's the part where you
truly see a lot of that true uncomfortable
sort of darkness where again i think
people who give the series a shot
we'll fall in love with our four main
characters and we'll really dig what we're
doing.
Cause it's not just a simple murder
mystery.
It's a murder mystery that we use as
an entry point to examine a lot more
of the dark,
just a lot more of the dark side
of Hollywood that really connects well
with a lot of the history of old
Hollywood during that time period.
And you also can experience some really,
you know, obviously I created it,
but some really cool,
uh really awesome black and white art that
um isaac king's yeah we were talking about
that book beforehand too because uh we
were as we were discussing this because
that's how i'm doing my book is that
old school you know sin city-esque type of
art which i absolutely love and you just
splash it with just a little bit of
color here and there with the neon signs
being neon and that's one of my favorite
styles of art but
I'm glad we're talking about City of
Demons this way,
but ultimately at the end of the day,
though,
what led to the creation of City of
Demons?
Yes,
I know you wanted to make a comic
book,
but why City of Demons and why nineteen
twenties Hollywood?
Right.
So it's not something that's explored very
much these days is that era of Hollywood
where really the
the corruption and greed started in there,
you know?
Yeah.
So I'm just a history buff.
So I think what a lot of it
came down to was like,
I am really drawn to a lot of
period pieces,
especially period pieces in comics.
I really love the comic from that.
I'm laughing because that's my book that
I'm writing is in that era as well.
Okay, sick, dude.
Yeah, yeah.
It's mafia related,
but it's not standard mafia.
I'm doing something cool with it.
What's the title for it, by the way?
I'm leaning toward Mafioso.
Okay.
Or something like that.
But I think Hollywood movie monsters,
the Mafia,
and heads of the family are who you
think they are.
It's going to be... Yeah.
Hit me up whenever you've got it.
I always tell people,
I've got like sixty people I can bounce
things off of.
Like,
I know all these comic book writers and
artists,
and I already have my artists picked out,
of course, with Fred,
a great friend of mine.
We do the Halloween special every year
together.
He hit me up one day with this
really great idea about how to use...
What's his name?
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I wanted to find out...
I hadn't even thought about him yet and
used him in the story.
So he hit me up one day.
He was like, hey,
we kind of need this like story behind
the story.
You know what I'm saying?
Like this tertiary story taking place in
the background of what's going on in front
of us.
And he's like, what about we use Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
I was like,
I know where you're going with this.
And yes, let's do that.
Yeah.
So what inspired City of Demons?
Yes.
What ultimately led to the creation of it?
I mean, history buff,
that makes a lot of sense.
I just thought that time period of
Hollywood,
because it's still silent film era,
but it's right at the time,
the turning point where Hollywood was
becoming the epicenter of American pop
culture.
Yep.
and so i thought it's like okay that's
really interesting you learn a lot more
about that time period about sort of like
the underground mafia connections of the
early studio system and a lot more of
these crazy stories a lot more of these
unsolved murders around hollywood around
that time period like there's um fatty
arbuckle um there's that whole trial where
maybe may or may not have killed his
girlfriend and then there was no um
William Randolph Hearst, I think,
supposedly tried to kill Charlie Chaplin
and failed and killed someone else.
And then it's just all these wild stories.
And that's the reason why I went with
that time period as well is because I
love that time period.
And like then the mafia were like the
rock stars of their generations in the
twenties and thirties and the forties.
It went into like,
I want to say the late forties,
early fifties where the cops were like,
okay, we have to shut this shit down.
Also,
I'm sure it was the same for you.
Visually, it just looks sick.
Dude, the suits and everything, the hats.
Yeah, the cars.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
It just has such a...
It's a vibe.
It is a complete vibe.
Yeah.
And it's like, you know,
I still wait for like,
I know the mafia game video games are
out there,
but I'm still waiting for like the perfect
nineteen twenties mafia like experience.
Yeah.
I mean,
there's some really good Yakuza games out
there,
but not really any mafia video games that
really like resonate for the time piece,
you know?
Right.
Like,
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
But so we'll see a demon.
So there was that part also.
So I was like, okay,
this is really fascinating.
And then you learn about a lot more
of, you know,
a lot more of the news,
at least when I started writing was,
you know, like Harvey Weinstein,
all that stuff was coming out.
Yeah.
A lot of the stuff with the casting
couch has been around forever.
So a lot of these more, you know,
aspects I was like have existed forever,
you know,
since the heyday of early days of
Hollywood.
And I was like,
I was like, okay,
so there's a story here to explore.
And then developing the characters,
the lead character,
the primary lead character is a black
detective named Lucas Short who starts
off, he's a World War I vet.
He then is a police officer and then
later becomes a private detective.
And then...
And so a lot of people,
one of my first podcasts, they were like,
so it's kind of a leap and jump,
like a black man being a police officer
that early in the twentieth century.
I'm like, well, actually, again,
he's inspired by two real people.
But that's the difference between what was
happening on the West Coast and what was
happening on the Southeast Coast.
You know,
that's the difference when people think
that their mind goes to the southeast from
like Texas eastward.
Right.
And when you went west of there,
it wasn't that way.
Yeah.
And it just was again,
that's because he's inspired by Robert
Stewart,
who was like a police officer in eighteen
eighty six.
and like super early like for any major
american city like insane like that like
that's really cool yeah but very rare and
i was like okay that's really fast that's
a part of la history you just don't
ever hear about and i was like and
there was another black private detective
named samuel marlow
who was like a PI to some of
the early Hollywood stars and starlets.
And I was like, Oh,
that's really fascinating.
So let's combine these aspects from these
two characters into one,
which is Lucas short.
And I was like, OK, that's cool.
And then I love that kind of stuff,
though,
where you take that slice of history and
you put your twist on it and you
shove it into a comic book character.
I love characters like that,
especially when you can identify it.
You know what I'm saying?
like when you're reading a comic book and
the character,
like it resonates with you and you're
like, why does this character resonate?
This is a book one of a book,
a comic book series.
But yet the main character or like a
side character resonates with you for some
reason.
And you have to go in like,
I hate to say this,
but you Google lens the character and
you're like,
That's why.
It kind of has this little bit.
It reminds you of this person.
It reminds you of this person.
His personality is kind of like that
person's over here.
And it just resonates and it sticks to
you.
Yeah.
And it's like,
there's a part where it's like, you know,
issue one was the biggest risk of the
whole series for me.
Not just because it was the first issue,
but...
it is unapologetically a character piece.
And the reason it's, you know,
I stuck to my guns on that was
spoiler alert, but it literally ends.
So the final few pages,
the issue ends on the inciting incident
that leads,
that will lead Lucas into the larger
mystery.
So you really don't know at all what
the larger mystery is by the end,
but the end of it is the inciting
incident into it.
the reason what's wild about that is i
don't know what people expect when you
release a book one with new comic of
a new comic book it's going to be
a character piece yeah like it has to
be but yeah i want i want the
reader to buy into this character because
if they buy into the character which again
from all the feedback and reviews so far
so good but it's like if they buy
into it then he's your vehicle to be
taken with through this whole journey and
i'm like
that's what i need and that's what and
what's wild is if you don't make it
a character study or a character piece or
you introduce your characters like kind of
um abruptly like you don't give enough on
them like and you just kind of toss
them into into this wild action and then
you're like why are they doing that
Why do they do this?
It gives me more questions and anxiety
that I need to be reading a book,
one of a comic book series.
Why do I have so much anxiety built
up over reading this now?
Because it bothers me.
I want to know more about the characters
and then give me some...
You're funneling in the story,
but it's mainly the character and the
dialogue and we're learning who these
people are and then you, like you did...
we're solving this murder.
Yeah.
And so it's,
it's one of these things where it's like,
that's such a risk.
Cause again, people, you know, it's like,
it's like,
so people are quickly looking for a
concept hook.
So looking for a concept to like latch
onto.
And I get it with independent ones.
Cause you're fighting for air all the
time.
But for me, what I was like, okay,
what our hook can be is literally just
so people that this is quality, right?
This is different because this, as like,
I've, you know,
read a bunch of independent comics around
the time it was released.
I'm like, it will stand out.
There's no way,
even just on the art alone,
it's not going to stand out.
And so it's for, you know,
it's definitely a comic for mature
readers, but not just for like, you know,
older readers, but for readers who,
you know,
take the art of comics seriously.
Yeah.
And it's not, you know,
You know, so it is a point,
but if there's no like epic space battles,
there's nothing like, it's very much,
you know,
in the vein of a NOAR that is
going to give you, feed you information,
going to have you asking questions about
who's who, what's what.
And it's like,
We'll go up, but there will be answers.
And I promise you the answers will be
good.
I think, you know, like, yeah, you know,
you don't want to be.
So, I mean,
you have twelve issues planned for this
book.
I hope it's going to be good.
I hate to fall dead in the water
at number eight.
Yeah, no, it definitely doesn't.
I can promise you that.
Yeah, it's something I've been, you know,
when promoting the series to put people on
pull lists, I collaborated with different,
you know,
social media personalities in the conflict
space.
Let me say not paid just so everyone
knows.
So I said, hey, you know,
would you mind reviewing this and me
posting about it?
I'll give you the issues for free.
Like, cool.
And what I've been so proud on is
so because no one knows who I am,
no one knows about City of Demons,
you know, new property.
What I've done is I sent them digital
copies of the first eight issues.
Because my goal was,
I don't want people just to say,
because I'm such an unknown,
I don't want people to just say, hey,
the first issue is good.
I want to sell people and point it
on a pull list.
And I want to sell people in the
overarching journey that, hey, this is,
you know, through eight issues,
it's really good.
Because could you imagine what the end
could be?
And
so far all the reviewers have said the
same thing, which is, you know,
one of my favorite, you know, favorite,
uh, guys, sir, comic comics, comics a lot.
Um, it was like, you know, and, um,
a few others were just like,
it was like, you know,
I read eight issues.
I wanted more.
Yeah.
They were like, Oh, I really liked this.
And it's one of those things where it's
like, again, not paid.
So he wouldn't ask, but it's like, um,
you know, it's like,
When their thing is,
I cut me going every issue.
Like every issue intentionally is on a
cliffhanger.
So it's like,
I want to keep going and keep going.
And by issue eight,
I want to know how the story ends.
Yeah.
Like, oh, thank goodness.
Okay.
Yeah,
I get asked all the time if I
do comic reviews.
And when I first started,
I did a few reviews in the beginning.
And I just,
it's not that I mind them.
It's just a lot of extra work that
I don't want or have time to do
because I would rather talk to you about
your journey and about what you're doing.
To me, that's more fun.
You're a hundred percent.
I've been approached twice on social media
about, you know,
maybe reviewing something.
And I was like,
and at one time I was like, yeah,
sure.
Whatever.
Like I thought it was going to be
a comic book.
You know,
obviously like social media related.
And a guy sent me over like five,
He sent me over a very long novel.
And I was like, dude?
Yeah.
There's no pictures here, bro.
Like, what's going on?
Like,
I think you have me confused with somebody
else.
I'm like, I don't know what you think.
yeah no you know i was trying to
be nice because i'm like you know i
was like i've had authors on here and
they've sent me their novels and i will
do my very best because i'm going to
bring them on we're going to talk about
the book we're going to talk about their
journey the writing process
And eventually I do get to go back
and read more of the novel and I'm
happy I got to.
Right.
And I'm happy when they come on because
I see independent authors and like
independence as a whole deserve more love.
And if I get a chance to talk
to independent authors as well in the work
they do, then amazing.
Like, yeah.
i just tell them straight up i'm not
going to have time to read your book
just simply because i don't have that kind
of time right but i eventually you know
you know you you put the little bunny
ear on your your page that you're on
as you're digitally scrolling the book and
um i eventually make my way through the
book it might be months after they've been
on the show but i do eventually get
an opportunity to read these books and
they're all fantastic and um
What I liked about yours,
like I was going through the art and
looking at the, you know,
and I appreciate you greatly for sending
those over because I'm excited to read
this.
I need to finish that and edit in
an episode.
I'll edit this episode.
And then I have my May schedule is
like one show every like four days.
So I'm going to have a lot of
time to think.
go back and read the whole series.
I've sent you over the first eight issues.
You did, yeah.
Whatever you read those,
let me know what you think.
What I love, from the cuff,
I had to pull some covers, obviously,
out of some of the folders to have
something to...
You know, push this out and say, hey,
Parker's going to be on the show as
we're going through the covers alike.
So I love I love your covers,
the black and white covers.
But what I really love are your phrase
covers.
Yeah.
Where it was just like famous quotes
through history from like these
philosophical quotes and.
they fit the story and the vibe so
well.
I was like,
he had to put in so much time
to get those.
And I was like,
he was here with me,
but now I'm like,
you're up here now because that's a lot
of work to find quotes that match a
single issue of a comic book to make
it work.
And you can read those quotes and you
almost know
what to expect when you go into and
you start flipping through that book or in
this case, you know, flipping through the,
the pages of this,
the electronic book that you sent me.
And I thought that was like really dope.
Cause I think you started doing that on
what book three, if I'm not mistaken.
So it's been there.
Cause I didn't see it on issue one
or two, or I might've missed it on.
Yeah.
So it's there from the beginning.
Yeah.
It's there from again,
I think the layout was a little,
a little bit different where we're
positioned, but yeah, but it's,
it's there.
And then, um, it was, um,
it was just one of those things where,
and I was going to ask you,
I'm like,
you got to tell me what the concept
and why you did that.
Cause that to me is like the coolest
thing ever.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Cause my, I,
I did it and I was like, this,
that gotta be super pretentious.
There was a part where it's not though,
because I like like certain TV shows.
Like I always referenced groom.
Like I referenced the shit out of groom
because groom, I thought in the early,
like,
everything but the finale about that show
was beautifully done.
But David always started out with these
quotes from like philosophers throughout
history and that kind of stuff.
And I was like,
that's so cool because you know what the
vibe is going to be in that show
based off that single quote.
And I was like, I never like, like,
I never thought to apply that to a
comic book, let alone a comic book cover.
Right.
Which is a whole vibe of it's on
and the way it's done.
I was like, that is dope.
I've never seen that.
And I've been reading comics, you know,
for a very long time.
And I've been talking to creators now for,
a year and a half.
And this is the first time I've seen
something like that done.
I was like, that's so unique.
And by doing that,
you let people know without really letting
them know what they're getting themselves
into when they open the cover of that
book.
And I was like,
that's genius level stuff right there.
Yeah.
It's, I think the origin,
I kind of just did it to be
honest with you because it just kind of
felt right.
But I mean,
I think the origins of it,
probably go back to like probably alan
moore because i know he kind of did
those quotes at the end of certain issues
like yeah far back as um just one
thing yeah i was gonna say his swamp
thing and i know obviously he kept it
with um his boots as well yeah and
he kept it with uh watchmen uh
uh yeah talk about a lineup of books
man like that dude we're never gonna see
and i truly there's a million great
writers we're not a million but there's
there's a lot of really good writers in
comics
i don't think also i think it's due
to the time he came in i don't
think we're going to see another frank uh
alan moore alan moore you know he's
writing novels like he's he's like he's
left comics behind which i was like whoa
yeah um i i seen that and i
was like i need to find it i
would love for dc i mean he i
know he hates comics like the big two
yeah i i know he hates them but
but it's wild because he wrote one of
the best one thing runs you've ever laid
your eyes oh it's my favorite comic book
run of all time and yeah same like
he wrote that um he also did uh
not an uh captain marvel not um marvel
man yeah and that's not owned by marvel
um but i was like
And he did do, like,
he did a Kevin Brin one for a
while.
Dude, V for Vendetta is, like, phenomenal.
From Hell is... From Hell is his.
Yeah, from you.
And the ending of From Hell...
The movie did not do that comic book
justice.
Oh, dude, it was horrible.
It was...
There was points where I was like, oh,
this is on point.
And then you're like, oh, fuck,
there it is.
There's the movie magic.
Dude, it...
Good Lord, dude.
I thought the movie was done very well.
It just was not a good comic book
adaptation.
For those who don't know, yes,
that is a comic book adaptation.
I know a lot of people still love
and a lot of Finney for Saxon Irish
Watchmen adaptation.
Yeah.
I have issues,
like a lot of people who have with
it,
specifically that kind of a lot of the
characters seem like they have
superpowers.
They don't.
They're straight vigilantes, yeah.
Right, and that's the problem.
There's a whole... Saxon Irish style...
just does not mesh well, in my opinion,
with Moore's writing and Moore's
narrative.
I just don't think it was a great,
like there's great moments in it.
The tile sequence is like one of the
greatest tile sequences ever.
But beyond that, the styles,
in my opinion,
don't really mesh super well.
I don't think it's a horrible adaptation,
but I think there can be a much
better adaptation.
The only thing I really thought they had
done very well was Dr. Manhattan.
Yeah.
I thought they'd done him very well.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Yes.
Yeah.
And then, um, like just the way Mr.
Manhattan or sorry, Dr. Manhattan,
when he,
he fried himself and then as he's coming
back,
that sequence was done very
what they did in the comic book.
That sequence is actually phenomenal.
There are great moments in there.
The title sequence is amazing.
The Manhattan sequence is great.
Everything to do with Rorschach.
He's phenomenal, dude.
The guy who plays him to me is
just like... Dude, yeah.
You couldn't ask for a better person.
He's just...
he plays those deranged characters like
that so damn well like he's a character
actor through and through yeah i haven't i
think he's he's done some movies where he
wasn't quite like that and they were
really good too and you're just like dude
he's so good like why why are you
so good
It's just with Watchmen, you know,
I know they made an animated version of
it not too long ago.
Yeah.
Which I liked, but it's like, you know,
I still want another live-action
adaptation.
Yeah.
It could even be a miniseries.
I would love a miniseries where it's true
to the comic book.
Yeah.
I thought when Invincible,
the animated series for Invincible first
come out, I thought... I'm like,
I knew they were going to be able
to show certain things.
It just can't be happening.
Right.
But I thought it done pretty well.
Yeah, I thought it did pretty well.
Right.
From a...
like a homage of the book.
And then the walking dead,
the same way when the walking dead started
with, cause it was old man, Carl, right?
Yeah.
And then when they killed Carl, I'm like,
he's telling the damn story.
How do you kill the man?
The story.
I was like, done with you.
I was about to say walking dead is
the interest.
Like I love the comic.
So good.
It's so damn good.
I mean, just,
Kirkman just hits on all angles.
My first introduction to him,
oddly enough,
was I think to even his admission would
not be one of his better works was
his Ant-Man series.
Yeah, no.
You'll probably tell you that wasn't his
best.
Dude, it is total insanity, and it's like,
what is this?
And you read that, dude, and you're like,
wait,
this guy went on to do Walking Dead,
Invincible.
Yeah, the list goes on and on.
Here's what I think the problem is with
that.
If you let him – he's like Tinian,
right?
Yeah.
Tinian cannot write a superhero.
Mm-hmm.
if you go hey tinny and i want
a story about this you have all the
collective freedom you want to do what you
want to do but i need it to
be about this right you tell kirkman the
same thing same as that thing you're going
to get two very completely different
stories
but they're going to be so damn good
because you just gave them all the freedom
in the world to do what they wanted
to but it had to be about topic
a right and you're going to get the
best story you ever read about it yeah
it's dude like with with all these like
kirkman's one of them there's a there's a
great few writers in comic who who really
do show you it's like like
He almost makes you feel bad for even
trying.
You know what I'm saying?
I know a lot of people have problems
with his Batman run, but look,
he's a great writer.
Tom King,
I read his Vision miniseries for Marvel.
Oh, it's phenomenal.
it's like oh my gosh and like this
like I don't care about Vision but this
story is one of the best Marvel stories
ever it's wild right some writers can just
make you give a damn about a character
I didn't care about that at all
I didn't care about Moss.
I always did.
I always loved Swamp Thing.
There's been some bad runs,
and I wish he deserves to this day
to have another Alan Moore-esque run.
He does,
and I didn't care anything for him,
but I kept hearing from my friends, oh,
Alan Moore, Swamp Thing, Alan Moore,
Swamp Thing.
No one showed up about it.
I was like, fine,
I'll give it a shot.
So his first, technically his second,
but his first real issue of Swamp Thing,
it was like Alan Moore, Swamp Thing.
I remember the anatomy lesson.
He did finish.
I think he finished an issue for somebody.
Then the next issue was his.
He was just like,
I don't like anything this guy was doing.
Here's Alan Moore's one thing.
It is the greatest single issue of a
comic I've ever read.
anatomy lesson like it is mind-blowing how
good it is and it's so good like
his renditional swamp thing is so good
that lynn ween uh the original creator was
like oh yeah al moore was better like
he always says i know he was better
and he's like oh and like that's crazy
when you're reinventing the character is
so good that even the original creators
yeah oh yeah it's always crazy because
people are like because people are always
complaining like
oh the this person's oh you know nerfed
or whatever he's too overpowered i'm like
swamp thing evolved into basically mother
nature yeah he's basically a god like he
can go dimension to dimension to dimension
as long as there is a blade of
grass yeah he's like jumping planets it's
like it's amazing how he just like yeah
you're like
what the hell?
And I love the stuff that were anytime
you throw John and Swamp Thing,
John Constantine in a book together,
it's just going to be amazing because
there's two like oddly different
characters,
but they work so well together.
Who's the other character who turns into a
demon?
Um,
He's like a yellow demon guy.
Oh God.
I know who you're talking about.
What is his name?
I'm not very much a DC person.
I just like very specific characters.
He's another type of character where it's
that super element where it's like, yeah.
And I know I could,
I could see him.
I can see him in my head.
I'm blanking on it.
So I am too.
Yeah.
But dude, it's like, oh my gosh.
But yeah,
the justice league dart with wonder woman
the wonder woman lid justice league dart
oh my god with zatanna you know
constantine i forgot who else was in there
there was like three or four more others
that were just like holy this is so
good i'm like and wonder woman was
probably at her to me and at her
best in that book okay yeah i'm trying
i'm trying to think of i don't know
how i just i don't think i disagree
the um dude it's
there's all these characters where it's
like if you get a great writer behind
it or a great artist behind it like
you're like it's like wow like i didn't
even know they could be this cool like
yeah there's like still like so much of
that and i you know ideally like one
of my friends like you know if i
don't know like marvel ever picked you up
which again not when i'm doing this let
me clarify that it's like like who would
you go like what character would you write
like right for i'm like well
I was like, probably, I know he's A-list,
but I don't think a lot of people
was like his favorite, like Thor.
I think there's a really great story of
Thor.
I had never read, like,
I take that back.
I was going to say,
I've never read a Thor story where I
really liked it.
He's so known,
not like beloved in the comic book space,
to be honest.
But the Thor and Black Panther stuff,
I thought was really good.
But I'm just not a fan.
I don't like to read him.
I don't like to read Marvel that much
anyway.
There's very little Marvel I will read.
I will read certain runs of certain
characters.
What's her name?
Psylocke came back out.
She was being written by Crash Wong.
Crash is such a great writer.
She made me want to read it.
But then after a while,
I was just like...
she's being held back by Marvel like you
could tell like you could tell that with
um I gotta be careful I say uh
you could well like look Jonathan Hickman
is yeah a really really talented writer
absolutely and you see some of the
projects that he's thrown into and you're
like
There's no way he chose to do that.
The money was really good there.
I was like, Hickman, I mean, golly, dude,
he got me into Fantastic Four.
I was not a Fantastic Four fan.
I like some of the older Fantastic Four.
It's kind of a carefree adventure book
more than anything.
I was talking to Kev when he was
on,
which I'm going to be finishing his
episode probably tomorrow or tonight and
getting that scheduled to go live.
But I told him, I'm like, dude,
our first introduction in comic books to
Agatha Harkness isn't what we get in the
TV series.
She was a nanny for the Fantastic Four.
Yes.
And that's how we get introduced to her
originally.
And then we got this really cool backstory
on who she is and what she is,
which I absolutely love the TV series.
I've not seen it.
It's a must watch simply because of depth.
Okay.
Aubrey Plaza plays death and she is
amazing.
And it talks about the relationship
between her and Agatha.
And then we were talking to him like
more and he's like, you know,
he brought up, you know, Thanos.
I was like,
do you know why Thanos was collecting the
infinity stones?
Yeah.
For death.
For death.
He was in love with death.
I'm like, okay,
did you know who Death was actually seeing
at that time when Thanos was collecting
the Infinity Stones and who she was
actually with?
Not off the top of my head.
He's got movies.
He's got movies.
Yeah.
No idea.
Ghost Rider?
No.
Uncle Deadpool.
Yeah.
Death and Deadpool were having a thing.
Thanos was in love with death.
So he put together the infant and the
gauntlet because he wanted to give her
souls, basically.
I think it's how that works.
It's crazy, right?
Because we got secret wars and stuff like
that coming up.
And I'm like,
I don't think people really realize how
big that actually is.
Dude, people don't... Well,
I do miss a lot about, like,
so specifically the big two.
I do miss... Like,
you look back at some of these older,
goofier comics.
There was a sense of, like, fun.
Like,
you look back at the first Secret Wars,
which was, you know,
all the superheroes and villains.
And, look,
is it much literary value there?
Probably not.
Is it awesome?
And to see Spider-Man in a black suit,
you see Hulk hold up a mountain...
Iron Man turns out to be Rhodey and
Human Torch is in a relationship with this
one alien.
Dude, it's all there.
And the Secret Wars weren't just being
fought on Earth.
They were being fought across multiple
Earths and galaxies.
It was so cool.
There would be an episode or issue where
where's your main five?
Where's your main five Avengers?
The war right now is being fought by
these people.
That's because the main group had to go
fight a war
on this other planet.
They went to this other planet to help
them out,
and then they're back all of a sudden
and follow an issue, and you're like...
And you didn't get that in the main
run.
You got it in another book,
and you're like... It was just a wild...
Those big adventure... Yes,
the Secret Wars,
but it's like this huge adventure comic
taking place over several different
stories and titles, and...
They just did this,
Marvel just did that recently with,
what was it,
Gang Wars or whatever it was,
with Spider-Man and all the street-level
heroes.
It's an amazing story.
Star Wars did it with Crimson Reign over
several different titles,
told the story of Crimson Reign, and dude,
oh my God.
I haven't heard of this.
Find the trade paperback for Crimson
Reign.
It includes all the complete story of
Crimson Reign through all the different
titles that they told the story through.
And it is such a good book.
And you don't have to collect all the
comic books like I did and all the
different titles that I did to get the
entire story of Crimson Reign.
Oh, shoot.
Yeah, this is cool.
That is a phenomenal story.
You want some good Star Wars read?
Crimson Rain.
I've been starving for... I mean,
I haven't seen the Darth Maul show yet,
so... Yeah, I haven't either.
I haven't had time.
Yeah,
I haven't had time to watch it yet.
I've been starving for some really great
Star Wars stuff.
Crimson Rain,
and then when you get done with that,
jump over and read Dark Droids.
Dark Droids, okay.
Yeah,
and then message me after you get done
reading it and be like, holy shit,
that ended.
Sweet.
Okay, dude, turn...
Yeah, Dark Droids is another one.
Just phenomenal series.
Dude.
What?
Is that a robot with lightsabers?
That's awesome.
Dude, yes, it is.
That's so cool, dude.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah,
there is a triple cover with all the
droids across the covers.
Like,
I eventually need to have that one framed
because I have all the connecting covers,
and it is just such a cool read.
Like,
the ending is going to blow your mind
of that one.
Yeah.
But I know we're completely off topic and
we went off the rails.
But I would like to round this out
a little bit and kind of bring us
home a little bit.
And just kind of like your indie comic
journey and kind of like what has your
experience been?
I know we touched a little bit about
Wise Acres and Frederick Little.
And like the dude's phenomenal.
I only got to speak to him briefly
in like booking him like later on this
year.
And what, what, like,
what's it been like working with,
with him?
He seems like a fantastic dude,
by the way.
No, Frederick Lills, dude,
he's been great to work with.
Um,
make comics independent comics is hard
obviously it's like it's brutal it's
really really hard um so you have to
love it and at the end of the
day you want to partner you know help
you with distribution help you with all
these things who loves comics as much as
you do and frederick littles not only
loves comics as much as i do he
loves it probably more than anyone i know
so frederick littles has been so awesome
to work with he's been very receptive um
great communicating uh open book
I probably annoy him with how many
messages I send him on a weekly basis.
But, yeah, no, he's been great, dude.
And he's been so open with the whole
Wiseacre team about, you know,
where he sees us going.
And, you know, we've been, you know,
causing with City of Demons out and Magnus
out.
We've been causing a little bit, you know,
getting a little bit more name recognition
out there for Wiseacre.
And distribution has taken notice.
And so we've been very positive about
where both series are going right now.
And
Yeah, dude.
I mean, again, he loves comics.
And this is a guy who's not thinking
about what series he can take on or
a TV show or movie.
He's thinking about what great comics can
we just produce.
And I'm telling you,
anyone out there who loves independent
comics or just loves comics in general,
great stories, go check out Wiseacre.
Go check out Sea of Demons.
Go check out Magnus.
Dude, like...
If you just love great stories,
you'll love these stories.
Like I said, I spoke to him.
I messaged with him in just a few
minutes because I had followed him.
I always try to...
Anytime I'm having somebody on, you know,
you follow me.
It's kind of like one of those things
where you want to follow them,
follow who they're connected with.
And you never know,
it's going to lead you somewhere else
eventually, like somebody, you know,
is going to reach out and be like,
Hey,
can I come and talk about my book?
Right.
And that's basically how my show works is
it's a lot of word of mouth and.
And I love that aspect of it, like.
I just had Tom rash on who literally
Googled independent podcasts or
independent comic podcasts and found me,
which to me, I was like,
that was like, what?
I was like, hell yeah.
And, uh, cause that means it's like,
what I'm doing is starting to expand its
growth.
And I was so happy to hear that.
And, um, but you know, you messaged,
I had tagged him or something.
I forgot what it was.
And I followed him,
and he's got his set up to where
it just automatically sends you a message.
And I'm like, you know what?
I'm going to shoot my shot.
I was like, hey,
I'm going to have Parker on tomorrow.
Would you be willing to come on and
tell me what it's like to be a
publisher and talk about publishing comic
books?
And he was like, I would love that,
yes.
He's like, I can't do it anytime soon.
I'm like, dude,
I'm booking for July right now.
Everything before that's already taken.
He's like, oh, perfect.
Here's what my schedule looks like for
July.
Do you have something in this time frame?
I was like, that day right there.
He's like, perfect.
I was like, shit, this was easy.
I'm excited, dude.
He just seems like a great dude to
work with and to have on your team.
I love a good comic book mind as
well.
Just somebody you can just...
go back and forth with.
He's a great writer, dude.
He's a great creative,
and he's on top of it.
And in this industry, which is brutal,
like brutal beyond belief,
you need someone like that in your corner.
And so, yeah, couldn't be more grateful.
And I will say this, though.
We say it's brutal.
We say all these things,
but there is such a great independent
comic community out on Facebook where
everybody's encouraging.
There's a few that are just like...
You can't stand them.
You can't tolerate them just because they
come off as complete pompous asses.
I did this.
Hey, that's great, dude.
Now pick up the guy next to you
and give them those same words of
encouragement that somebody gave you.
I wish I was more active in those
groups as well outside of what I do,
but it's hard when you're always doing
this.
Yeah.
And it's like that part where it's like
with comics and you're a hundred percent
right.
It's like,
like while it's hard and all this stuff,
you know,
I've also never found a better community
of creatives that are there.
Like we all know we're in the same,
you know,
same struggle and you got a great group
of people and the great, um,
does really want to support each other and
if you find you know like the right
independent comic group or whatever you
know they yeah and there's like a jerk
or there's a handful of people i've met
through this where you know think they're
the next
I don't know.
Like, you know,
I guess Alan Moore or whatever.
And it's like, you read what they have.
It's like, Oh, you're a way off.
And so you have a few delusional people,
but most of them are good people that
just are going for their dreams.
And you know, I'm never, never,
not never going to be against that.
So I'm so happy.
I'm not right into that yet.
Like I dread the day I run into
that and it's going to be, you know,
either on the pre-show where we're talking
and we're doing our soundcheck or
And I'm going to realize like,
this dude is just like a complete, like,
I can't have this dude on and I'm
going to have to shut it down.
Like it hasn't happened yet,
but I know it will eventually happen.
You know?
Maybe not.
I hope it never happens because I'm not
going to tolerate it.
And I'm just gonna be like,
This show isn't going to happen.
I'm still going to go live,
and I'm going to explain why the show
doesn't have a guest on tonight.
Sorry, dude.
I'm going to blast you.
I've been in contact.
Again,
it's the same deal where it's like you
meet a hand, just a small,
small percentage.
Maybe like two percent or less than that.
It's like that are really there,
and they do not –
It's just a weird, pompous,
arrogant energy and vibe.
I don't even think they really like
comics.
They're there for the potential celebrity
part of him.
You're in the wrong world, buddy.
You're in comics, buddy.
You got to understand, to most people,
this is not the such uncool,
dorky thing to do.
There's very few comic creators out there
who can ride the wave of being a
rock star.
Oh, extremely you, and it's like...
I said the one percent of the one
percent earlier,
and those people that end up with rock
star status are the one percent of the
one percent of the one percent.
Yeah, and it's like, you know...
And, you know, we talked about like, and,
you know,
there's a lot of hard work involved in
this.
There's a lot of this and this.
Another thing that, you know,
helps people, you know,
when you don't have the clout to just
do whatever you want,
be easy to work with,
be easy to talk to.
If someone reaches out to you, like,
for instance,
a person found me on a podcast and
asked me to sign a copy of a
book to sit on.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah.
I was like, it was my first one.
And I was like, you know, dude,
don't even worry about paying for the
shipping.
I got you.
I always like that little personal touch.
You know,
I support a Kickstarter or something like
that.
Like, I'm excited to get that book.
And I'm like,
if I don't see a signature on it,
I'm kind of like, really, dude?
Really?
Two seconds out of your day?
I will admit for my crowdfunding campaign
through Zoom,
I did not have signatures because the
printing was not coming directly from me.
So that's a different story.
If the publisher is aware of your
shipping,
because I know like some places like they
print and then they ship for you.
You know, that's the difference.
But now it's some great communities out
there.
I highly encourage if you're into this.
Find one of those communities.
Ask questions.
Some of them have some very helpful people
on it.
Some of them are just really brutally
honest with you.
And you're going to get your feelings hurt
at some point.
And you need it.
But you need to hear it.
You need to hear it.
A hundred percent.
And you're going to come out the other
end of that going.
I needed to hear that.
Right.
And it's like that part where I tell
someone is that, you know,
always listen to old criticism,
understand what you are willing to change
or may not change.
Cause there's that part to it,
but never be arrogant enough to think that
you're just, again,
like I mentioned before,
like you tell these people,
like you don't ever think you're
delusional to think you're just the
perfect like storyteller and notices you
can be possibly wrong.
Like, yeah.
Like, you know, like guys, like,
No, it's just not reality.
There's a very small percentage of people
out there who are going to submit
something to Image or to one of the
other independent, quote unquote,
independent creators.
And they're going to go, I love that.
We got to have it.
It just doesn't happen.
What I even tell people is like,
typically,
even with a circumstance like that,
you could maybe get the rare person that,
you know,
sends it and they look at it.
But even for something like Image...
to my understanding,
to people I've talked to,
unless you have a direct connection there,
they're most likely not gonna look at
something you just submitted.
Even though the link is probably open
right now as we talk.
It's open.
I think it stayed open if I'm not
mistaken.
It's like...
um so there's that part where it's like
you know don't go into comics trying to
be a superstar or with that like go
into comics you love comics dude you love
storytelling if you don't love it don't
even why are you trying yeah because it's
like you know when i do this like
i'm doing it right now i'm doing it
for fun and because you know i know
that it's a risk i'm taking that
if I skipped out on it, you know,
twenty years down the line,
I wouldn't kick myself in the foot for
not getting myself out there, you know?
Oh, a hundred percent,
and it's one of those where I have
a notebook full of all these, like,
everything related to mine, and it's like,
I'm at the point now where it's like
put up or shut up.
I need to start putting it on paper
or not paper necessarily,
but on a notepad.
Right.
And which I have notepad.
I do transfer a lot of my notes
into notepad that I know for a fact,
I want to have that relationship in my
comic book or that idea in my comic
book.
But it's literally just like,
I haven't set myself a hard deadline yet,
but I'm about to just that way.
It forces my hand to do it.
And that's also why when you see like
later schedules come out this year,
I'm not doing as many shows because I
do want to do this other thing.
Right.
So, and if it sucks, it sucks.
People tell me that's the way I see
it.
Well, it's like, dude, like, I mean,
the way I feel is also like you
have the guts to put your stuff out
there.
There's a great deal of people who don't
have the guts or too scared to even
do that.
I always say,
I wonder how many brilliant comic books or
stories are just sitting in a notepad or
on a shelf somewhere.
Or the next great movie is just sitting
on a shelf somewhere.
And I referenced Kevin Smith when I was
talking about that because I know he has
a wall of scripts everywhere.
that may never see the light of day.
Oh, George Lucas is the same way.
Yeah, same.
And George Lucas frustrates me because I'm
like, dude,
you're a billionaire at this point.
Oh, yeah.
Even if you don't want to put the
time and energy into it,
hand it off to someone who wants to
make these scripts because I want to see
what you have to say.
Oh, a hundred percent.
Especially if it's Star Wars.
I'm like, yeah, dude, let me get that.
or even like something that's not star
wars like what else like because i know
he did american graffiti and thx but like
yeah outside star wars what else does
george lucas want to say or have to
say and well he is building that billion
dollar uh
a museum in San Francisco.
That is like the dopest thing ever.
I'm like, yeah, yes.
I will make a trip to the West
coast just for that.
Dude.
It's I, I think I will too.
And dude, it's like,
I'll probably get a group of friends and
we'll like rent an RV and just do
it.
It's like,
and I know like Star Wars is brand
wise.
It's not particularly in a great place,
but,
I don't care when that thing opens.
I like the new stuff, too.
I know a lot of people don't like
it,
but I'm in my my forties and I'm
like, if I'm getting new Star Wars,
I am cool with it.
Like,
even if it's not the best stuff on
Earth,
I'm still getting new Star Wars at the
end of the day.
That's how I see it.
My thing is that in general with Star
Wars, Star Wars is fantastic.
i'm just like stars i do think brand
wise is maybe at its weakest point yeah
maybe ever and i think just because like
i love star wars i get a hype
oh this is coming up but i've noticed
like with my friends like my generation of
like we grew up with the clone wars
and yeah one of the prequels and so
but and so we grew up still like
oh loving star wars every young boy loves
star wars
Like,
it's literally a property made for little
boys.
Gunship!
Lightsaber vines!
Like, spaceships.
Like, perfect for little boys.
And then, like, now most of them,
to be honest with you,
are just apathetic because they've been
birds many times, all this stuff,
and I'm hoping that some way there can
be a single...
It will have to be a movie.
It will just light the spark back
because...
i'm hyped but i don't think many people
are hyped for the mandalorian movie yeah i
was gonna say we'll find out may i
mean i personally am because of what the
future could be from that story right
exactly me too the ending of that movie
is going to literally build the nest
probably five ten fifteen years of the
star wars franchise right and for me it's
like so that's what i'm looking forward to
but
It's another thing where it's like,
I'm looking at this.
So obviously Disney fumbled the ball
marketing-wise.
The Super Bowl ad?
Yeah.
What are you doing, dude?
Yeah.
You spent ten million dollars for a bit.
Yeah.
It was like, I don't know what.
They were way too overconfident about
that.
The Rotten Tomatoes trailer was better
than that.
Well, it's like,
and that speaks to me about how out
of touch Disney is with that property.
Because you only release something like
that at the Super Bowl when you think
the property of the brand is untouchable.
That's the only reason you do that.
And I'm like, oh,
you don't realize Star Wars is actually in
a rough spot.
You need to do something to light it
back.
Oh, yeah.
So I think that, I mean,
I'm hyped for it, but, you know.
I mean, I am too.
I mean,
I'm a big fan of the Hutt.
I'm going to be honest, it's been bad.
Yeah, I'm a big fan of the Hutt.
So we're getting Rhoda the Hutt all grown
up in this movie, who, by the way,
Rhoda the Hutt is the little larva that
Ahsoka and Anakin saved.
Yeah.
Again, I'm hyped about that.
And, like,
I think the action consistently from the
show, if the show is anything judged by,
it's awesome.
So, again,
I think I'm really excited for it.
Star Wars is weird, though,
because there's been so many canceled
projects.
Like, Rian Johnson,
I don't think will ever...
I think he probably received a million
death threats, but I think like, honestly,
you know, honestly,
you're all fancy and get about this stuff.
Yeah.
Like, so he,
I think his trilogy is like the amount
of actors that just, you know,
they received death threats over star
Wars.
I'm like, dude,
they didn't write the movie.
I didn't Christmas and did not write that
dialogue.
Okay guys.
Like let's chill out.
Like that dialogue.
Yeah, and look, when I say,
you try to make half his dialogue sound
natural, okay?
It's impossible.
Yeah, yeah.
The sand line,
it's not just the sand line,
but that line in particular.
Yeah.
There's some horrible dialogue.
You can give that to Leonardo DiCaprio,
and it would not do.
Yeah, yeah.
And it sucked, because that,
and I love those movies, too, like,
because it, it, it,
Brings us back to the original and you
understand who Darth Vader is at that
point.
But let's start bringing this home, man.
Sorry, my bad.
Yeah, man.
You put two dudes with some mild ADHD
together and tell us to talk about comic
books.
We're going to talk about comic books and
everything else in between.
I mean,
we've covered everything that I wanted to
cover.
And then we covered everything else in
between as well.
So...
But tell everybody if they want to pick
up a copy or a digital version of
City of Demons right now,
where can they do that?
Yeah,
so first I would say check out your
local comic book shop.
There's a very good chance it could be
already on its shelves.
If not already,
please make sure to add to your pull
list.
Issue three,
we released the first two issues already.
Issue three is being released May twenty
seventh to stores.
And then the FOC for issue four,
which again is it's a really solid issue.
I think people are really going to love
it.
Yeah,
it is going to be FOC is June
first.
I mean, if it's issue four,
that's kind of like it has to have
like something like a pinnacle is about to
happen.
You have to get that because it's a
twelve part miniseries or a twelve part
series.
You got to think every fourth issue,
you're going to have a pinnacle or
something happen that's going to give you
that next arc of the story,
if you will.
So.
no exactly and that's where it's like
that's it's such a pivotal turning point
for the story onwards that i think people
really gonna dig it um for anybody
wondering elfo c is final order cut off
right and again if um if it's not
your stores or it's not your lcs uh
all comics can be purchased on the weiss
acre uh uh website so just really easy
to navigate it too right and it's just
just weiss air comics
Buy tab,
and City of Demon should be one of
the first ones to pop up.
And you can buy from that website the
first, second,
and soon to be third issue as well.
So, again,
please be sure to add to your pull
list and pick up any previous issues you
may have missed out on because, again,
it's a comic that if you give it
a chance,
I think everyone will really dig.
Mm-hmm.
I haven't had a chance to actually sit
down and read it yet,
but in just going through what I've gotten
to go through, I really like it.
And like I said,
I love the covers that you're doing with
it, with the quotes,
because it's such a unique thing.
But if people want to follow and support
Parker and City of Demons and Wiseacre
Comics, where can they find y'all?
So primarily, I would say Instagram.
We have the growing Instagram.
Our username is cityofdemons__comic.
And so that's primarily where we're going
to get our bigger updates.
Once we hit a thousand followers,
we're going to start Discord,
which gives people a much more exclusive
look at some art being developed.
a lot more of out previous, you know,
so behind the scenes,
look at previous outlines,
sketches and get a better idea of how
the comic came together.
And so, yeah, can't wait for all that.
Awesome stuff, man.
And for anybody who's tapped in with this
and probably just heard us talking about
the most random of shit, I do apologize.
This was a great conversation.
There's a lot of conversation about City
of Demons.
And I admitted some faults here because
My initial thought on what this was was
not what it was,
and I apologize for the title.
All that stuff will get fixed on the
backside, I promise y'all.
Parker, appreciate you coming on, dude.
I know you've been on the bus for
a hot minute.
I appreciate it,
you coming on and talking to us about
City of Demons and about just everything
else in between as well, man.
It was a lot of fun.
Yeah, thanks, man.
Have to have you come back on later
on, just...
And do it again, man,
when issue six or so,
when we're at that good point in issue
six that we should be getting, I think.
We'll see.
I'm going to be reading it here soon.
Awesome, man.
Yeah.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it
later.
Again, thank you so much, Jeff,
for having me on.
Dude, like I said, open invite, man.
Welcome back anytime.
You know how to get a hold of
me.
But that's it, people.
So if you're looking for a comic that
blends horror,
And nor City of Demons is definitely what
you have been missing.
If you like the nineteen twenties
Hollywood,
definitely you want to check this one out.
Make sure you check out Parker Newman on
his Instagram and Wiseacre as well on
their Instagram.
And make sure you just support Indie Comic
Center as always.
Make sure you like,
follow and share because this has been the
USDN podcast.
where indie comics come to life.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the council is now adjourned.
Y'all be safe out there.
Hey,