WEBVTT

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You are listening to the USDN on the

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DFPN.

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Thanks for watching

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what is up everybody and welcome to the

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united states department of nerves where

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we are for the people by the people

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and of the people some heroes inherit

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power some heroes earn it is some

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discovery hidden in the attic of the

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grandparents home tonight we sit down with

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writer paul isa that's right um

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Founder of Acorn Comets to explore the

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world of the Olympian,

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a modern story where Greek myth collides

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with small town life.

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A mysterious talisman,

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the power of the gods,

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and a young man who must decide what

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kind of hero he's going to be.

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With the Olympian issue two launching soon

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on Kickstarter,

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we're going behind the scenes to explore

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the mythology, the creative process,

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and the journey of building a new indie

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comic universe.

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The Council of Nerds is now in session.

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Paul, welcome to the USDN.

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Thank you so much.

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I appreciate you having me.

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Yes, sir.

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You've been on the slate now for a

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hot minute, I believe.

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It's been a while.

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We really have.

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It's wild to think that I'm booked months

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in advance right now,

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and I'm just right in the wave of...

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indie comic goodness.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Man,

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if I could book my day job business

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out as far as you're booking this show

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out, then I would be set.

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Without a doubt.

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Without a doubt.

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I am currently...

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i've already got shows booked in june and

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a follow-up show from that show booked in

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september so it's kind of wild in that

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i never thought about this you know i

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i used to beg people like hey you

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want to come on you want to come

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on you want to come on and now

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it's like i just kind of sit back

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and they just kind of like hey can

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i come on your podcast yes let's do

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it nice so it's been great

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And well-deserved.

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You're obviously doing something right.

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You know,

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that's all you can hope for at the

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end of the day, right,

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is that you've built a platform, you know,

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and you're good enough at what you do

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to get people to either come on the

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show or come back on the show because

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I do get a lot of repeats as

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well.

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And I love the repeat customers.

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So because by that time, you know,

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your rapport is established.

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You can just –

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like you're talking to you you know your

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best friend absolutely so but let's start

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at the beginning paul when did comics

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first enter your life uh i'd be lying

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if i told you i remembered i remember

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when i was little um before i could

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read or at least before i could read

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particularly well my dad would buy comics

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and we'd sit down and he'd actually read

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the comics to me

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And, you know,

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that was something that we kept doing long

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after I was able to read at that

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level.

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But it was just something that we enjoyed.

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It was sort of a bonding moment that

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we had.

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And he would, you know,

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he would keep reading to me.

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And I kept sitting there and sitting next

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to him and listening.

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So, you know, we enjoyed that.

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And then...

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know i fell off for for a good

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bit after after that stopped um and i

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didn't really get back into it mostly i

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had a little bit there were a few

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things i picked up when i was in

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college and a little bit after college

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that i would read and and enjoyed but

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i didn't really get back into it seriously

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until i met my wife and she knows

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more about uh she knows more about comics

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than

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you know,

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probably anyone else I've ever met.

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Working in conventions since she was a

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teenager.

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So she knew a lot of the creators

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at the time and, you know, still does,

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I shouldn't say at the time.

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But she knew a lot of these people

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and that was sort of my reintroduction

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was, oh, hey, meet my friend who was,

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you know,

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some massive writer or artist or something

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like that.

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But I got to just,

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instead of meeting them as like, oh,

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the people who

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created the things i read as a child

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just got to meet them as my wife's

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friends so yeah that's kind of cool though

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eventually it's like well you know i

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really should read the things that that

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these friends of ours are making that

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would that would only be polite and you

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know it kind of went from there ah

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that's that's that's really cool though

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how does it feel though your wife being

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cooler than you oh man i

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I wouldn't have married her if that was

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a problem.

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That's so awesome.

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Oh, yeah.

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Dude, that's amazing.

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Speaking of amazing, your career path.

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Amazing.

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We're talking prosecutor, litigator,

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mediator, comic writer.

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Yeah.

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It's certainly unique.

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Don't forget, before that,

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graphic artist...

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glorified digital librarian.

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I actually had a full career before I

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went to law school.

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Um, so yeah, it was, uh, you know,

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law school was where,

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where I went when I realized I wasn't

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happy with my career path and was sort

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of at a, you know,

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personal crossroads in my life.

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I was like, well,

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if I'm going to go to school now's

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the time.

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And so I did.

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And then the law career just sort of

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followed from there.

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Um,

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I am obviously, you know,

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still mediating full time.

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That's still the,

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the primary moneymaker over here.

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At least, you know, on my end, not,

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not from my, not counting my wife,

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obviously, but, but there's, you know,

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so that, that's still going.

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But I'm trying to follow in that long

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line of recovering attorneys who've become

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successful comic book writers.

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They're,

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There's a few of them out there.

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Charles Soule, Mark Guggenheim,

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Marjorie Liu.

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Charles Soule out there for everybody

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writes Star Wars, by the way, y'all.

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And Mark also writing some Star Wars.

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He is, yep.

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Like I said,

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it's a proud tradition of not wanting to

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be a lawyer anymore and finding something

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else to do.

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It tells you a lot about the career

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path, right?

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In fairness,

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depending on what kind of lawyer you are,

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obviously, but I tell people all the time,

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being a lawyer,

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particularly being a litigator,

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you have to be able to prepare very

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uninteresting facts in an interesting way.

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So in some ways,

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it doesn't correspond with writing

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because...

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you know,

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while hopefully the subject matter of of

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my comics is a lot more interesting than

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the typical case I would handle.

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You still have to figure out an

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interesting way to arrange it,

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to present it.

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And, you know, like I say,

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with more interesting source material,

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you get a more interesting story.

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So funny story, right?

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I'm going to.

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So my daughter, when she was young,

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she was like,

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I want to be a lawyer.

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All right, cool, baby.

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Just so happens I work with a lawyer

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at my job.

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And he offered, he owes me a favor.

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So he offered to take you to lunch

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and kind of just talk to you about

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being a lawyer.

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So we go to lunch and he's telling

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her all about being a lawyer.

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She's asking questions and she kind of got

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quiet for a minute.

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And she's thinking,

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you can tell the gears are gears up

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there grinding.

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Right.

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And I was finally, I was just like,

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what's wrong.

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She's like, yeah,

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this is the easiest decision I ever had

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to make that.

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I was like, well, what's that baby.

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I'm going to be a doctor.

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Good choice.

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She's in pre-med right now,

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so kudos to her.

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I say that there are a lot of

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things I like about being a lawyer,

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and there's a lot of people I know

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who are really happy with the career.

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Too many people go into it having seen

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lawyers on TV and have this glorified

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version of it without talking to anyone

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who's actually done it.

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People ask me, I'll say it's

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it's achievable for almost anybody.

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You don't have to be a genius to

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be a lawyer.

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You just have to be willing to work

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at it.

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And you also really need to know what

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you're getting yourself into and what the

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reality of it is.

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And if it's not for you, that's okay.

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But just be aware of what you're doing

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and why you're doing it and you should

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be fine.

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It's the time.

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I don't think people really realize

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the amount of time you have to invest.

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And that goes for a lot of things

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too.

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People think you can just jump into

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something and they're going to be this

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great success at it.

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And I will be the first to tell

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you, these are true people.

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Even this,

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even sitting here behind a microphone,

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talking to people like Paul,

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I did a lot of work leading up

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to this.

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Here's why we're having a discussion right

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now about him being a lawyer.

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you don't get that just by you know

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like oh let me look up acorn comments

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no you you literally you you put in

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the work you find out who people are

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you research them you you learn them and

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then you piece everything together so

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there's a lot of time you have to

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invest into things no matter what it is

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and being a lawyer no different people

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like oh we have interns and stuff for

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this

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You are your intern.

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Sometimes they hit lawyers have interns.

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Sometimes they tell you you're going to

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have interns and then you end up doing

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the intern work because they don't give

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you the interns.

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There it is.

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And sometimes the interns create more work

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for you than had you just done it

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yourself.

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Oh, I imagine so.

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So what was your point where you said,

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I'm not just going to read comments

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anymore.

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I'm actually going to do comics now.

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So comic writing, uh,

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it was kind of my midlife crisis.

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Um, yeah,

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I have one that might as well be

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that one.

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As far as midlife crises go,

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this is probably the best case scenario.

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Um, but no, I was,

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I was coming up on my fortieth birthday.

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And, you know, had a very good life,

00:12:35.097 --> 00:12:37.458
a very overall satisfying life.

00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:42.961
But it was also, you know, very busy.

00:12:43.022 --> 00:12:44.562
And there wasn't a lot that I did

00:12:44.722 --> 00:12:46.423
just for me.

00:12:46.864 --> 00:12:47.124
Right.

00:12:47.504 --> 00:12:50.105
And I kind of felt that need to

00:12:50.145 --> 00:12:51.206
do something just for me.

00:12:51.285 --> 00:12:52.326
And I when I was younger,

00:12:53.006 --> 00:12:55.528
I used to do like high school, college.

00:12:56.068 --> 00:12:56.428
Back then,

00:12:56.489 --> 00:12:58.009
I used to do a lot of different

00:12:58.350 --> 00:13:00.770
types of creative writing, mostly bad,

00:13:00.831 --> 00:13:01.211
I'm sure.

00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.001
But not bad for the – I was

00:13:06.621 --> 00:13:08.082
going to say,

00:13:08.383 --> 00:13:10.484
I read issue one of The Olympian,

00:13:10.604 --> 00:13:13.125
and by darn, it's really good.

00:13:13.145 --> 00:13:14.485
I appreciate that.

00:13:14.525 --> 00:13:15.826
I did not write that in high school,

00:13:15.846 --> 00:13:16.346
though.

00:13:16.366 --> 00:13:19.528
So there's been a lot of learning in

00:13:19.568 --> 00:13:19.989
between.

00:13:20.490 --> 00:13:22.331
And I started – and I said,

00:13:22.370 --> 00:13:22.691
you know,

00:13:22.811 --> 00:13:25.552
I was very much inspired by a lot

00:13:25.572 --> 00:13:27.072
of the people that we were around from

00:13:27.114 --> 00:13:28.955
the comms community and from conventions

00:13:28.995 --> 00:13:30.976
who would be –

00:13:30.373 --> 00:13:30.633
you know,

00:13:30.712 --> 00:13:32.714
friends in a more regular part of my

00:13:32.754 --> 00:13:33.134
life.

00:13:34.195 --> 00:13:37.196
And I started thinking, you know,

00:13:38.417 --> 00:13:39.657
maybe I want to give this a shot.

00:13:39.697 --> 00:13:40.898
Maybe I want to see if I can

00:13:41.018 --> 00:13:42.499
also do that.

00:13:43.038 --> 00:13:44.820
And so I would get up in my

00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:47.280
normal, you know, normal time, which is,

00:13:47.321 --> 00:13:47.701
you know,

00:13:47.721 --> 00:13:48.902
we didn't have a kid at the time.

00:13:48.961 --> 00:13:50.643
So, you know,

00:13:50.722 --> 00:13:52.443
I'd get up maybe an hour or two

00:13:52.484 --> 00:13:55.184
before I was supposed to start work and

00:13:55.485 --> 00:13:57.186
have my breakfast and then sit down for

00:13:57.206 --> 00:13:57.725
an hour,

00:13:58.446 --> 00:13:59.586
hour and a half and just

00:14:00.003 --> 00:14:02.224
start writing and start putting this

00:14:02.264 --> 00:14:02.783
together.

00:14:03.504 --> 00:14:06.525
And I did it without telling literally

00:14:06.566 --> 00:14:07.826
anybody that I was doing this.

00:14:08.907 --> 00:14:11.227
And the reason was because I wanted to,

00:14:12.168 --> 00:14:13.408
I wanted to prove to myself that I

00:14:13.428 --> 00:14:13.730
could,

00:14:14.529 --> 00:14:15.770
I wanted to prove to myself that I'd

00:14:15.850 --> 00:14:19.091
finished the first story arc and make it

00:14:19.211 --> 00:14:20.972
as good as I could possibly make it

00:14:21.013 --> 00:14:22.714
on my own before I brought anybody else

00:14:22.754 --> 00:14:23.153
into it.

00:14:23.754 --> 00:14:25.375
Yes.

00:14:25.455 --> 00:14:27.035
And that became heroes and zeros.

00:14:27.096 --> 00:14:28.035
The first,

00:14:28.056 --> 00:14:29.376
the first comic that I released.

00:14:30.283 --> 00:14:32.283
um of course once i got to a

00:14:32.364 --> 00:14:34.225
point where i was good with it i

00:14:34.245 --> 00:14:36.427
started talking to artists i started

00:14:36.447 --> 00:14:39.889
talking to um the the editor devin r

00:14:39.908 --> 00:14:42.071
scott who was probably the first person to

00:14:42.110 --> 00:14:46.974
see the script other than me um i've

00:14:46.994 --> 00:14:49.796
said before i i credit devin immensely for

00:14:49.836 --> 00:14:52.496
not only the editing help he gave me

00:14:53.158 --> 00:14:56.659
but for the encouragement to tell me hey

00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:57.541
this doesn't suck

00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:01.390
because it's the first time in probably

00:15:02.392 --> 00:15:04.273
twenty years I've shown anything I've

00:15:04.312 --> 00:15:07.254
written to somebody, you know, creative,

00:15:07.394 --> 00:15:08.195
creatively written.

00:15:09.095 --> 00:15:11.615
And there's a lot of a lot of

00:15:11.655 --> 00:15:12.777
fear of putting it out there,

00:15:13.356 --> 00:15:14.538
because if this is the best I can

00:15:14.577 --> 00:15:15.378
do and it sucks,

00:15:15.398 --> 00:15:16.519
then I guess I'm not doing any more

00:15:16.678 --> 00:15:17.599
of it, you know?

00:15:17.619 --> 00:15:19.759
Oh, yeah.

00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:24.442
And and so and so that came together

00:15:24.462 --> 00:15:26.464
and eventually I showed my wife

00:15:28.893 --> 00:15:29.552
We had the cover.

00:15:29.572 --> 00:15:31.573
We had the first ten pages basically done

00:15:31.634 --> 00:15:34.836
and what was going to be our pitch

00:15:34.875 --> 00:15:37.837
copy.

00:15:37.898 --> 00:15:40.659
I showed her that and she looks at

00:15:40.700 --> 00:15:41.660
it and is like, oh yeah,

00:15:41.681 --> 00:15:42.341
this is really good.

00:15:42.380 --> 00:15:43.001
I kind of like it.

00:15:45.643 --> 00:15:47.163
She's like,

00:15:47.244 --> 00:15:49.645
is this one that you backed on

00:15:49.666 --> 00:15:50.346
Kickstarter?

00:15:50.365 --> 00:15:53.307
I was like, look at the cover again.

00:15:53.327 --> 00:15:55.208
She saw my name on it and she's

00:15:55.229 --> 00:15:55.889
like, what?

00:15:55.970 --> 00:15:56.230
What?

00:15:58.951 --> 00:16:00.232
You did this?

00:16:02.715 --> 00:16:04.056
And so, you know,

00:16:04.076 --> 00:16:05.437
and it's kind of gone from there.

00:16:05.657 --> 00:16:08.399
And, you know, we've now gotten,

00:16:08.438 --> 00:16:08.759
like I say,

00:16:08.798 --> 00:16:10.120
two issues of Heroes and Zeros.

00:16:10.139 --> 00:16:12.062
The second one is hopefully going to print

00:16:12.081 --> 00:16:12.881
in a couple of weeks.

00:16:13.942 --> 00:16:17.105
And then, you know,

00:16:17.144 --> 00:16:19.366
since I basically had that story written

00:16:19.407 --> 00:16:22.089
before we even started putting the art

00:16:22.129 --> 00:16:22.629
together,

00:16:23.889 --> 00:16:26.672
I allowed myself to go explore some of

00:16:26.692 --> 00:16:28.273
these other ideas that I come up with.

00:16:29.533 --> 00:16:31.413
and the next one I wanted to work

00:16:31.494 --> 00:16:32.375
on was the Olympian,

00:16:32.414 --> 00:16:34.416
and so we started moving forward with that

00:16:34.515 --> 00:16:34.635
one.

00:16:36.616 --> 00:16:38.899
So what was that spark that led to

00:16:39.899 --> 00:16:42.041
the founding of Acorn Comics?

00:16:43.400 --> 00:16:45.162
So as far as Acorn Comics goes,

00:16:45.403 --> 00:16:48.644
that's just, you know,

00:16:48.745 --> 00:16:50.446
I had put together a pitch for Heroes

00:16:50.466 --> 00:16:52.667
and Zeros, and I wanted to,

00:16:53.302 --> 00:16:54.763
at least put it out there and see

00:16:54.802 --> 00:16:56.163
if we could get some, you know,

00:16:56.203 --> 00:16:57.644
backing from a publisher because,

00:16:57.903 --> 00:16:58.344
you know,

00:16:58.443 --> 00:16:59.985
at least theoretically that makes the

00:17:00.024 --> 00:17:03.725
whole finances of making these comics a

00:17:03.765 --> 00:17:04.246
bit easier.

00:17:07.426 --> 00:17:08.487
But I also didn't want to,

00:17:08.686 --> 00:17:11.708
I also didn't want to wait for permission.

00:17:11.788 --> 00:17:14.847
And so when I, you know,

00:17:14.887 --> 00:17:16.328
send out a few pitch copies and I

00:17:16.348 --> 00:17:17.308
wasn't holding my breath,

00:17:17.828 --> 00:17:19.210
I didn't hear anything back within,

00:17:19.829 --> 00:17:20.769
you know, a month or two.

00:17:21.848 --> 00:17:23.088
like you know what let's just do this

00:17:23.169 --> 00:17:26.470
ourselves you can do this now you can

00:17:26.490 --> 00:17:29.009
put it on kickstarter you can get the

00:17:29.049 --> 00:17:31.691
funding for at bare minimum to print and

00:17:31.711 --> 00:17:34.530
ship the copies and have some left over

00:17:34.570 --> 00:17:37.511
go to shows with and i said you

00:17:37.531 --> 00:17:38.592
know what let's go ahead and let's do

00:17:38.632 --> 00:17:44.833
it and so i wanted to um where

00:17:44.932 --> 00:17:47.712
acorn comics came from is i i think

00:17:47.752 --> 00:17:50.673
it's i always like having the little uh

00:17:51.354 --> 00:17:54.175
logo in the corner box and i said

00:17:54.215 --> 00:17:55.336
well what am i going to call it

00:17:55.376 --> 00:17:58.940
and our son's nickname is he's our acorn

00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:03.383
so that's what it was hey i like

00:18:03.423 --> 00:18:08.846
that dude yeah that's uh like the most

00:18:08.906 --> 00:18:11.169
wholesome thing you're gonna hear today

00:18:11.229 --> 00:18:16.633
folks oh no you're just you're you're just

00:18:16.673 --> 00:18:18.734
making me you know setting that bar for

00:18:18.755 --> 00:18:19.855
me see if i can get over it

00:18:19.875 --> 00:18:20.036
huh

00:18:21.189 --> 00:18:22.450
Hey, that's what I try to do here.

00:18:23.029 --> 00:18:25.431
And you know what?

00:18:25.510 --> 00:18:26.771
I've learned to set the bar low to

00:18:26.811 --> 00:18:27.471
begin with.

00:18:27.792 --> 00:18:29.073
That way you always have a way to

00:18:29.093 --> 00:18:29.554
get over.

00:18:29.574 --> 00:18:31.954
All right.

00:18:31.974 --> 00:18:32.174
All right.

00:18:32.194 --> 00:18:33.435
At least that's what I do for myself,

00:18:33.476 --> 00:18:34.476
too, because I'm like,

00:18:35.196 --> 00:18:37.097
I set the bar here.

00:18:37.577 --> 00:18:39.759
Set those expectations.

00:18:39.858 --> 00:18:40.538
Exactly.

00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:43.480
The way when you exceed your expectations,

00:18:44.801 --> 00:18:46.583
you're like, yeah.

00:18:46.603 --> 00:18:47.403
My expectation was two.

00:18:47.502 --> 00:18:48.644
I did four.

00:18:52.045 --> 00:18:52.326
There you go.

00:18:52.846 --> 00:18:55.066
So Acorn's still relatively new.

00:18:55.086 --> 00:18:56.967
Found it in twenty twenty four.

00:18:58.047 --> 00:18:59.768
What like kind of what was that mission

00:18:59.788 --> 00:19:01.268
when you first started this?

00:19:01.307 --> 00:19:03.088
Was it just the way you can have

00:19:03.128 --> 00:19:06.470
that that publisher stamp up there or.

00:19:07.569 --> 00:19:09.569
That's that's how it started.

00:19:09.809 --> 00:19:12.530
And ultimately it's, you know,

00:19:12.590 --> 00:19:14.531
the baseline is this is where I'm going

00:19:14.551 --> 00:19:17.593
to put out my creator owned titles.

00:19:19.497 --> 00:19:26.740
so now ultimately yeah if if that's all

00:19:26.780 --> 00:19:28.142
it ever is then that's great and i

00:19:28.182 --> 00:19:30.682
love it and i'm happy to keep putting

00:19:30.702 --> 00:19:33.944
out my my comics i mean you built

00:19:34.025 --> 00:19:36.486
a nice team there so oh we've we've

00:19:36.707 --> 00:19:39.307
i've i've been real fortunate uh the

00:19:39.347 --> 00:19:41.328
people i've been able to work with over

00:19:41.368 --> 00:19:44.030
here and uh the people who have you

00:19:44.050 --> 00:19:46.432
know graced me with their talents to help

00:19:46.711 --> 00:19:47.833
these books come to life

00:19:49.895 --> 00:19:53.397
um but you know if if i was

00:19:53.417 --> 00:19:55.118
gonna say you know if if we're gonna

00:19:55.138 --> 00:19:57.279
grow if we're gonna have room for growth

00:19:57.340 --> 00:20:00.321
and what it could become i kind of

00:20:00.382 --> 00:20:06.006
want this to be where like where the

00:20:06.066 --> 00:20:08.346
big boys look if they're looking for new

00:20:08.367 --> 00:20:12.009
people yeah if they're like you know we

00:20:12.049 --> 00:20:13.451
want to see something fresh we want to

00:20:13.471 --> 00:20:14.932
see somebody new that we haven't done a

00:20:14.991 --> 00:20:16.692
ton with and

00:20:17.449 --> 00:20:19.131
really find the next big thing i'd love

00:20:19.151 --> 00:20:21.752
it if eventually acorn comics is the place

00:20:21.772 --> 00:20:23.795
where like you know those guys are all

00:20:24.134 --> 00:20:25.536
always solid let's look at what they're

00:20:25.556 --> 00:20:27.096
doing i bet we're going to find somebody

00:20:27.417 --> 00:20:31.441
um yeah and that would be phenomenal yeah

00:20:32.201 --> 00:20:34.103
if anyone from you know big publishers

00:20:34.163 --> 00:20:35.724
watching by the way check out casey's

00:20:35.765 --> 00:20:38.967
stuff check out d's stuff check out our

00:20:39.087 --> 00:20:40.848
colorists and our letters and every like

00:20:40.909 --> 00:20:42.470
every everybody involved in this is

00:20:42.529 --> 00:20:43.030
phenomenal

00:20:43.819 --> 00:20:44.039
Yeah,

00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:45.881
and that link is actually in the

00:20:45.901 --> 00:20:46.842
description right now,

00:20:46.902 --> 00:20:48.643
and it'll be in the description as well

00:20:48.762 --> 00:20:51.743
once it goes live again on the podcast

00:20:51.784 --> 00:20:55.846
platforms and also the YouTube again.

00:20:55.967 --> 00:20:58.528
I'll always include all those links.

00:20:58.567 --> 00:21:00.608
So if people are listening and they want

00:21:00.628 --> 00:21:01.148
to see it,

00:21:02.150 --> 00:21:03.471
it'll be right there for them to click

00:21:03.550 --> 00:21:04.211
and check out.

00:21:05.050 --> 00:21:07.353
Awesome.

00:21:07.393 --> 00:21:09.233
So your statement about respecting

00:21:09.314 --> 00:21:12.214
creators and readers is pretty clear on

00:21:12.234 --> 00:21:12.996
your website.

00:21:13.928 --> 00:21:15.568
why was that something you wanted to

00:21:15.648 --> 00:21:19.690
establish from day one see how you my

00:21:19.710 --> 00:21:23.011
research you know this is kind of where

00:21:23.051 --> 00:21:24.952
the the legal background meets the

00:21:25.073 --> 00:21:27.874
creative background um or at least one of

00:21:27.894 --> 00:21:32.895
those places and i have seen i mean

00:21:33.236 --> 00:21:35.076
respect for the readers that's i think

00:21:35.096 --> 00:21:37.657
that's a no-brainer but respect for the

00:21:37.698 --> 00:21:39.638
creators is

00:21:41.525 --> 00:21:45.685
I've seen enough contracts just from

00:21:45.786 --> 00:21:49.007
friends who have made comics and have

00:21:49.547 --> 00:21:53.446
gotten hooked on with one small publisher

00:21:53.487 --> 00:21:53.968
or other,

00:21:55.587 --> 00:21:58.008
and they'll reach out to me like, hey,

00:21:59.028 --> 00:22:00.409
I'm not really happy with how this is

00:22:00.449 --> 00:22:00.709
going.

00:22:00.749 --> 00:22:02.388
Is there anything I can do about this?

00:22:06.496 --> 00:22:07.336
to put it bluntly,

00:22:07.375 --> 00:22:08.957
some of those contracts that these

00:22:09.538 --> 00:22:11.298
publishers put out are incredibly

00:22:11.338 --> 00:22:12.598
disrespectful in my mind.

00:22:12.618 --> 00:22:13.319
Oh yeah.

00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:14.779
But yeah.

00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:15.040
Okay.

00:22:15.060 --> 00:22:17.582
Look, if, if,

00:22:17.602 --> 00:22:20.363
if DC or Marvel or even like,

00:22:20.502 --> 00:22:20.763
you know,

00:22:20.804 --> 00:22:22.785
talking image or boom or dynamite or

00:22:22.805 --> 00:22:26.306
somebody who's established comes to you

00:22:26.346 --> 00:22:27.207
and says, Hey,

00:22:27.227 --> 00:22:29.587
we're interested in publishing your comic.

00:22:30.828 --> 00:22:30.989
Um,

00:22:31.617 --> 00:22:32.478
here's what we'll give you,

00:22:32.518 --> 00:22:35.759
but we want X percentage of this, this,

00:22:35.819 --> 00:22:36.641
and this in return.

00:22:36.661 --> 00:22:40.182
You know,

00:22:40.201 --> 00:22:42.002
you got to seriously consider that because

00:22:42.022 --> 00:22:45.484
there's a much better chance of that title

00:22:45.505 --> 00:22:46.846
and that property taking off.

00:22:48.227 --> 00:22:49.386
If it's got the weight of one of

00:22:49.847 --> 00:22:51.107
the big players behind it.

00:22:51.147 --> 00:22:51.428
Right.

00:22:51.448 --> 00:22:52.509
Oh yeah.

00:22:53.009 --> 00:22:56.411
But if you're a publisher who I would

00:22:56.431 --> 00:22:59.413
go into a comic convention and mention

00:22:59.432 --> 00:22:59.972
your name and

00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:01.010
you know,

00:23:01.832 --> 00:23:06.154
seven out of ten people would say, who?

00:23:06.194 --> 00:23:07.476
You shouldn't be putting those same terms

00:23:07.496 --> 00:23:08.297
in your contract.

00:23:08.977 --> 00:23:09.698
Yeah.

00:23:09.718 --> 00:23:10.898
Find something that's going to be mutually

00:23:10.919 --> 00:23:11.839
beneficial, yeah,

00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:15.122
but not like complete control over

00:23:15.201 --> 00:23:16.883
somebody else's IP or, you know,

00:23:19.144 --> 00:23:22.367
ninety percent of any multimedia profits.

00:23:22.907 --> 00:23:24.328
Stuff like that that you see in some

00:23:24.348 --> 00:23:24.689
of these.

00:23:24.749 --> 00:23:25.890
That's predatory.

00:23:25.970 --> 00:23:26.951
Ninety percent?

00:23:27.090 --> 00:23:27.991
Geez.

00:23:28.092 --> 00:23:30.473
I can't say I'm

00:23:31.166 --> 00:23:32.528
saying that pulling it out of my yeah

00:23:33.167 --> 00:23:35.388
yeah we're right now i don't have the

00:23:35.489 --> 00:23:36.849
any of these contracts in front of me

00:23:36.890 --> 00:23:38.770
but it was something that i looked at

00:23:38.790 --> 00:23:41.311
i was like that is absolutely shocking to

00:23:41.352 --> 00:23:44.393
me that somebody would have the gall and

00:23:44.512 --> 00:23:46.413
not even necessarily somebody would have

00:23:46.614 --> 00:23:49.474
be that somebody would sign it because if

00:23:49.515 --> 00:23:51.195
you're especially if you've only done one

00:23:51.236 --> 00:23:52.817
or two of these and you're getting a

00:23:52.856 --> 00:23:56.118
chance to like get put in diamond or

00:23:56.578 --> 00:23:57.118
lunar and

00:23:57.829 --> 00:23:58.069
you know,

00:23:58.089 --> 00:23:59.611
maybe get into these comic shops.

00:23:59.631 --> 00:24:00.291
And I apologize.

00:24:00.311 --> 00:24:01.772
My nose is just really itchy tonight.

00:24:01.792 --> 00:24:05.816
And I don't know why, but I,

00:24:05.836 --> 00:24:06.876
I don't usually, you know,

00:24:07.057 --> 00:24:08.317
scratch my nose that often.

00:24:08.377 --> 00:24:08.958
You're good.

00:24:09.318 --> 00:24:14.162
Um, but it's a new season, man,

00:24:14.201 --> 00:24:15.042
new allergies.

00:24:15.563 --> 00:24:16.423
So, so like,

00:24:17.404 --> 00:24:18.846
that's kind of where I was coming from.

00:24:18.925 --> 00:24:21.607
Like I'm never going to do like,

00:24:21.708 --> 00:24:22.067
and you know,

00:24:22.087 --> 00:24:24.150
I'm not necessarily going to go through

00:24:24.250 --> 00:24:26.010
all the terms of the contracts we have,

00:24:26.070 --> 00:24:26.751
but yeah.

00:24:26.951 --> 00:24:27.132
Yeah.

00:24:28.686 --> 00:24:30.327
I think the way we put,

00:24:30.387 --> 00:24:31.948
we put our contracts in there just for

00:24:31.968 --> 00:24:33.449
the people we're working with are very

00:24:33.489 --> 00:24:33.828
fair.

00:24:34.288 --> 00:24:36.430
And certainly if we ever end up,

00:24:37.250 --> 00:24:38.070
you know, doing it,

00:24:38.111 --> 00:24:40.832
doing something with somebody else's IP

00:24:40.852 --> 00:24:42.393
that they want to come and publish our

00:24:42.413 --> 00:24:47.615
banner, um, you know, I, I, yeah,

00:24:47.775 --> 00:24:49.194
more like I do it more like,

00:24:49.875 --> 00:24:52.957
like I would do something like what I

00:24:52.997 --> 00:24:55.377
understand image does, which is like,

00:24:57.864 --> 00:24:58.884
If I help with marketing,

00:24:58.923 --> 00:25:01.724
if I help with publishing,

00:25:03.164 --> 00:25:04.365
reimburse my costs,

00:25:06.026 --> 00:25:14.169
maybe a small percentage so that if this

00:25:14.189 --> 00:25:17.109
hits big, maybe I can stay in business.

00:25:18.849 --> 00:25:19.550
If this hits big,

00:25:19.590 --> 00:25:20.351
you're the one that's going to

00:25:21.606 --> 00:25:23.368
reap the most benefits from it because

00:25:23.429 --> 00:25:24.970
that's the way it would be.

00:25:25.009 --> 00:25:27.172
I've always heard Image does right by

00:25:27.211 --> 00:25:30.094
people when it comes to if they pick

00:25:30.153 --> 00:25:31.976
up your book, they do right by you.

00:25:33.517 --> 00:25:34.217
It's all creator.

00:25:34.917 --> 00:25:37.299
I don't want to ever be in the

00:25:37.339 --> 00:25:42.243
position where something that I co-created

00:25:42.644 --> 00:25:47.307
even is the one in a million indie

00:25:47.347 --> 00:25:50.151
comics that suddenly gets huge and makes a

00:25:50.230 --> 00:25:50.631
lot of money.

00:25:52.134 --> 00:25:55.537
And, you know, twenty years from now,

00:25:56.116 --> 00:25:57.057
people are asking, hey,

00:25:57.077 --> 00:26:00.580
why is the other co-creator over over here

00:26:00.601 --> 00:26:02.202
running a GoFundMe for their medical

00:26:02.222 --> 00:26:02.542
bills?

00:26:03.544 --> 00:26:05.905
Where this guy's, you know,

00:26:06.306 --> 00:26:08.086
got a yacht and, you know,

00:26:08.106 --> 00:26:08.688
going to the Bahamas.

00:26:08.708 --> 00:26:13.231
Like that's going to be if anything,

00:26:13.311 --> 00:26:14.313
if any of this blows up,

00:26:14.353 --> 00:26:15.874
the people that contributed are going to

00:26:16.855 --> 00:26:18.155
are going to see the benefits of that.

00:26:19.030 --> 00:26:19.810
No, I like it.

00:26:19.892 --> 00:26:21.853
And you had brought up something just a

00:26:21.893 --> 00:26:23.574
few seconds ago,

00:26:24.314 --> 00:26:26.194
and I'm going to lead into it,

00:26:26.454 --> 00:26:28.375
but many indie creators just launch one

00:26:28.415 --> 00:26:28.715
book.

00:26:28.916 --> 00:26:31.178
You launched a whole publishing imprint

00:26:31.678 --> 00:26:33.259
when you launched Acorn Comics.

00:26:33.999 --> 00:26:35.319
Was that always the plan?

00:26:36.320 --> 00:26:39.261
Nope.

00:26:39.301 --> 00:26:40.702
So much of this has just been trial

00:26:40.742 --> 00:26:43.424
and error and flying by the seat of

00:26:43.444 --> 00:26:43.964
my pants.

00:26:46.086 --> 00:26:47.626
The reason we ended up doing

00:26:48.415 --> 00:26:51.517
two titles right now and where we've been

00:26:51.656 --> 00:26:54.518
going back and forth with it is partially

00:26:54.538 --> 00:26:59.119
because Heroes and Zeros is a longer book.

00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:01.280
It's a double size,

00:27:01.340 --> 00:27:02.980
forty six pages of main story.

00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:05.201
And then the Kickstarter editions have the

00:27:05.221 --> 00:27:06.682
bonus story in them.

00:27:06.761 --> 00:27:07.762
Yeah.

00:27:07.942 --> 00:27:08.343
And.

00:27:09.824 --> 00:27:10.844
For those,

00:27:11.344 --> 00:27:13.585
it obviously takes longer to create.

00:27:14.530 --> 00:27:17.492
And especially since issue one was my

00:27:17.613 --> 00:27:19.054
first issue,

00:27:19.193 --> 00:27:23.436
I didn't want people to wait two years

00:27:23.477 --> 00:27:26.578
before they heard anything else from me.

00:27:27.259 --> 00:27:28.340
And so in the meantime,

00:27:28.421 --> 00:27:31.323
I was able to work with Dee and

00:27:31.343 --> 00:27:32.604
get the Olympians started,

00:27:33.163 --> 00:27:35.826
and that being a shorter,

00:27:35.905 --> 00:27:36.645
traditional size,

00:27:36.665 --> 00:27:38.768
a twenty-two page conference.

00:27:40.217 --> 00:27:41.517
We were able to get that out in

00:27:41.557 --> 00:27:43.478
the meantime while Casey was also working

00:27:43.538 --> 00:27:45.439
on the art for issue two of Heroes

00:27:45.459 --> 00:27:46.058
and Zeros.

00:27:47.618 --> 00:27:49.980
We've been able to alternate and keep more

00:27:50.019 --> 00:27:54.621
of a timeline going so that we're a

00:27:54.681 --> 00:27:58.241
little bit more front of mind for people

00:27:58.301 --> 00:28:01.383
and they don't forget about us.

00:28:01.522 --> 00:28:02.084
That's smart.

00:28:04.348 --> 00:28:06.269
You're still fairly new to this.

00:28:06.348 --> 00:28:08.210
What have you learned about the indie

00:28:08.250 --> 00:28:11.631
comic space since launching Acorn and also

00:28:11.691 --> 00:28:13.310
now launching two different titles?

00:28:14.810 --> 00:28:19.332
So, again, I've learned, number one,

00:28:19.991 --> 00:28:22.952
it's an incredible, incredible community.

00:28:23.913 --> 00:28:26.614
And with very, very few exceptions,

00:28:26.693 --> 00:28:29.973
it's been, everybody is supportive and,

00:28:29.993 --> 00:28:32.954
you know, and people say, like,

00:28:33.891 --> 00:28:35.672
It's always a struggle when you're doing

00:28:35.692 --> 00:28:36.551
things on Kickstarter.

00:28:36.571 --> 00:28:37.451
You got to get backers.

00:28:37.471 --> 00:28:39.472
You got to get prelaunch followers.

00:28:39.492 --> 00:28:41.493
You got to get backers who are willing

00:28:42.814 --> 00:28:45.655
to back you above the lowest,

00:28:46.776 --> 00:28:48.056
usually a digital tier.

00:28:49.853 --> 00:28:50.953
You got to do all these things.

00:28:51.653 --> 00:28:53.655
But even if somebody can't do that,

00:28:54.516 --> 00:28:57.919
just sharing your links and liking when

00:28:57.939 --> 00:29:00.140
you post them on social media and trying

00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:01.381
to help you get the word out,

00:29:02.362 --> 00:29:05.042
that in itself is beneficial because you

00:29:05.084 --> 00:29:07.865
never know if they're the ones that are

00:29:07.884 --> 00:29:09.606
going to share it to somebody who's going

00:29:09.626 --> 00:29:11.087
to share it to somebody who's going to

00:29:11.127 --> 00:29:14.829
be your next big fan and who's going

00:29:14.849 --> 00:29:17.731
to be able to back it at one

00:29:17.771 --> 00:29:18.792
of the higher levels even.

00:29:19.981 --> 00:29:23.125
So just spreading the word and shoot,

00:29:23.144 --> 00:29:24.546
just giving words of encouragement when

00:29:24.566 --> 00:29:27.268
you put stuff out that that's invaluable

00:29:27.288 --> 00:29:29.849
too.

00:29:29.910 --> 00:29:31.070
I wish I got more of those.

00:29:31.671 --> 00:29:34.292
It's one of those where, you know,

00:29:34.532 --> 00:29:36.414
by the time I'm done with the episode,

00:29:36.535 --> 00:29:37.875
I've got the clips done.

00:29:38.215 --> 00:29:40.198
I've given the clips over to the person

00:29:40.278 --> 00:29:41.618
and then I start sharing them on my

00:29:41.679 --> 00:29:42.318
social media.

00:29:43.375 --> 00:29:44.897
Just interact with the shit.

00:29:45.077 --> 00:29:46.078
I don't ask for much.

00:29:46.459 --> 00:29:47.359
Give me that heart.

00:29:47.881 --> 00:29:49.201
Share it with your friends.

00:29:49.342 --> 00:29:52.825
Just show me you have some type of

00:29:52.865 --> 00:29:55.028
appreciation for the amount of sure work

00:29:55.048 --> 00:29:57.849
that I do for each and every person

00:29:57.869 --> 00:29:59.551
that comes on this podcast.

00:29:59.612 --> 00:30:01.693
Cause it is a lot from start to

00:30:01.733 --> 00:30:02.214
finish.

00:30:02.894 --> 00:30:03.135
Well, yeah.

00:30:03.556 --> 00:30:05.018
And look, just from my perspective,

00:30:05.278 --> 00:30:06.378
myself, you know, number one,

00:30:07.446 --> 00:30:09.387
I appreciate you and everybody who's been

00:30:09.428 --> 00:30:11.847
willing to give me the space to come

00:30:11.928 --> 00:30:13.628
on and talk about these projects.

00:30:14.269 --> 00:30:17.250
They're afraid of getting sued.

00:30:17.289 --> 00:30:18.170
Who's getting sued now?

00:30:18.971 --> 00:30:20.330
I said they're afraid of being sued.

00:30:23.211 --> 00:30:25.012
It's a horrible, horrible joke.

00:30:25.932 --> 00:30:26.893
Number one,

00:30:27.973 --> 00:30:29.413
it would be rude not to help.

00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:31.741
Spread the word if I'm coming on and

00:30:31.761 --> 00:30:33.403
you're doing the work and, you know,

00:30:33.423 --> 00:30:34.284
help spread the word.

00:30:34.344 --> 00:30:34.983
No, dude,

00:30:35.724 --> 00:30:37.185
I seen you were sharing it just before

00:30:37.226 --> 00:30:37.866
we went live.

00:30:37.926 --> 00:30:39.087
And I was just like, hell yeah,

00:30:39.147 --> 00:30:41.309
I wish everybody did that because I don't

00:30:41.349 --> 00:30:42.671
always have the time for that.

00:30:43.352 --> 00:30:44.813
And it doesn't do me any good if

00:30:44.913 --> 00:30:48.195
I'm coming on here and nobody in my

00:30:48.276 --> 00:30:49.376
audience knows about it.

00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:53.041
Like, I mean, cause look,

00:30:53.781 --> 00:30:55.123
I don't have the biggest social media

00:30:55.143 --> 00:30:55.663
followings.

00:30:55.742 --> 00:30:57.064
I'm terrible at social media.

00:30:57.124 --> 00:30:58.365
I'm not, you know,

00:30:58.424 --> 00:30:59.404
I'm not in my twenties.

00:31:00.566 --> 00:31:01.987
I don't know how to do this stuff,

00:31:03.027 --> 00:31:04.607
you know, and you know,

00:31:04.827 --> 00:31:06.209
but I try and I do my best

00:31:06.950 --> 00:31:08.329
and you know, I've got,

00:31:08.650 --> 00:31:12.512
but it's not like even, you know,

00:31:12.772 --> 00:31:14.253
not even half of the backers,

00:31:14.673 --> 00:31:15.875
the followers I have on different

00:31:15.914 --> 00:31:16.714
platforms are

00:31:17.494 --> 00:31:21.356
back the campaigns so let's you know if

00:31:21.436 --> 00:31:23.337
maybe they've heard me talk for years and

00:31:23.357 --> 00:31:24.618
for a couple of years now on doing

00:31:24.659 --> 00:31:28.280
this maybe you know they're like yeah

00:31:28.300 --> 00:31:30.082
maybe i will you know see see what

00:31:30.142 --> 00:31:31.563
this is all about maybe i will come

00:31:31.583 --> 00:31:33.943
in and watch this and and do that

00:31:34.064 --> 00:31:35.865
i gotta share because every share is a

00:31:35.924 --> 00:31:39.027
poss a possibility of getting a new reader

00:31:39.067 --> 00:31:42.048
a new fan exactly i always see us

00:31:42.108 --> 00:31:44.049
a mutually beneficial thing anytime

00:31:44.875 --> 00:31:47.536
know people are on and like don't let

00:31:47.576 --> 00:31:51.038
it be that one-way street where only one

00:31:51.077 --> 00:31:56.160
person is is doing things right no because

00:31:56.180 --> 00:31:58.540
you never know like i always see it

00:31:58.641 --> 00:32:00.622
as my followers are potentially your

00:32:00.662 --> 00:32:02.982
followers and in in the reverse right

00:32:03.002 --> 00:32:04.223
exactly yeah

00:32:05.037 --> 00:32:06.377
And I love that.

00:32:06.417 --> 00:32:08.258
I wish I could tell all my followers,

00:32:08.278 --> 00:32:10.078
like, hey, go follow Acorn Comets.

00:32:10.098 --> 00:32:10.659
They're great.

00:32:10.778 --> 00:32:12.079
I love what he's doing over there.

00:32:12.539 --> 00:32:13.681
And I wouldn't be lying about it.

00:32:13.881 --> 00:32:15.461
I really do like what you're doing over

00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:15.721
there.

00:32:16.622 --> 00:32:18.762
And having gotten to just read the

00:32:18.823 --> 00:32:21.263
Olympian, I always try to read.

00:32:21.703 --> 00:32:23.105
If somebody sends me the assets,

00:32:23.184 --> 00:32:24.724
I'm going to read it the day prior.

00:32:25.346 --> 00:32:27.686
I read Olympian number one yesterday,

00:32:28.366 --> 00:32:31.968
and I read the part two teaser that

00:32:31.988 --> 00:32:33.128
you sent over as well.

00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:36.681
And I love the first one,

00:32:36.721 --> 00:32:38.240
the freaking talking squirrel, y'all.

00:32:39.001 --> 00:32:40.261
There is a talking squirrel.

00:32:40.402 --> 00:32:41.362
I'm just saying,

00:32:42.702 --> 00:32:44.544
what's not to love about a talking

00:32:44.644 --> 00:32:45.223
squirrel?

00:32:45.844 --> 00:32:47.785
Granted, he used to be a wolf, okay?

00:32:48.505 --> 00:32:48.805
Right.

00:32:49.345 --> 00:32:50.164
He used to be a wolf,

00:32:50.305 --> 00:32:52.286
but now he's a talking squirrel, which,

00:32:52.365 --> 00:32:54.267
in my opinion, is cuter, okay?

00:32:55.143 --> 00:32:56.304
I'm glad you picked up on that,

00:32:56.344 --> 00:32:57.443
because that is, like I said,

00:32:57.463 --> 00:32:59.825
I'm no mythology expert.

00:33:00.025 --> 00:33:01.665
I did some research for these characters,

00:33:01.705 --> 00:33:04.346
but I am not pretending that I'm going

00:33:04.426 --> 00:33:08.368
to be fast and true to any particular

00:33:08.429 --> 00:33:09.269
mythology here.

00:33:10.049 --> 00:33:12.631
But I do try.

00:33:12.691 --> 00:33:15.332
And with Miko the squirrel,

00:33:16.132 --> 00:33:21.575
when I looked up that particular legend,

00:33:22.612 --> 00:33:24.892
um, it's like, yeah, it used to be,

00:33:24.912 --> 00:33:26.813
there's this mischievous character used to

00:33:26.853 --> 00:33:28.472
be a wolf and then got changed into

00:33:28.512 --> 00:33:29.093
a squirrel.

00:33:30.093 --> 00:33:31.894
And that's why, you know,

00:33:31.973 --> 00:33:33.433
and so I kind of put that in

00:33:33.453 --> 00:33:35.273
there as a throwaway line in that issue.

00:33:36.074 --> 00:33:37.494
Um, and,

00:33:37.694 --> 00:33:39.355
and it's nice to see somebody pick up

00:33:39.454 --> 00:33:45.155
on that because it is.

00:33:45.236 --> 00:33:45.816
It really is.

00:33:45.855 --> 00:33:47.276
And it was so fun to see it.

00:33:47.816 --> 00:33:48.896
He's like, but what do I know?

00:33:48.936 --> 00:33:49.196
You know,

00:33:49.217 --> 00:33:50.797
I used to be a wolf and I'm

00:33:50.836 --> 00:33:51.076
like,

00:33:52.602 --> 00:33:53.442
But also,

00:33:53.962 --> 00:33:55.182
if that doesn't sell you on the...

00:33:56.163 --> 00:33:57.584
If I can't sell you with the talking

00:33:57.624 --> 00:34:00.425
squirrel, there's a damn minotaur, okay?

00:34:00.865 --> 00:34:02.866
A frickin' minotaur.

00:34:04.488 --> 00:34:06.028
How many comic books have a minotaur?

00:34:06.048 --> 00:34:08.329
I can name one.

00:34:10.010 --> 00:34:10.630
Maybe two.

00:34:11.610 --> 00:34:14.652
Yeah, yeah, and it's... I mean,

00:34:14.672 --> 00:34:15.913
they've been known to show up in Wonder

00:34:15.952 --> 00:34:16.753
Woman occasionally.

00:34:18.434 --> 00:34:20.556
And a lot of Frank Frazita's older work,

00:34:20.835 --> 00:34:21.056
but...

00:34:22.588 --> 00:34:23.610
That's all I can think of off the

00:34:23.630 --> 00:34:24.231
top of my head.

00:34:25.090 --> 00:34:26.652
But I was like, you know what?

00:34:27.273 --> 00:34:28.994
We're dealing with Greek mythology here.

00:34:30.456 --> 00:34:30.976
Why not?

00:34:31.556 --> 00:34:32.797
And that's the beauty of comics.

00:34:33.538 --> 00:34:35.599
I can think of the most ridiculous thing

00:34:35.659 --> 00:34:39.922
to do in this particular medium.

00:34:41.103 --> 00:34:41.644
You can do it.

00:34:43.226 --> 00:34:43.405
Oh, yeah.

00:34:43.425 --> 00:34:44.206
That was great, right?

00:34:45.228 --> 00:34:46.608
Except there was one scene,

00:34:46.648 --> 00:34:48.610
and I'm not going to reveal it because

00:34:48.650 --> 00:34:50.532
it gives away more than the teaser time.

00:34:51.465 --> 00:34:53.766
did and i did i did publish uh

00:34:53.865 --> 00:34:56.646
a more limited version of the preview on

00:34:57.126 --> 00:35:02.789
uh on comics.one um but yeah d did

00:35:02.929 --> 00:35:06.030
kind of uh scold me for one of

00:35:06.070 --> 00:35:08.012
the scenes because it was a little bit

00:35:08.072 --> 00:35:11.833
more detailed than uh by by necessity it

00:35:11.873 --> 00:35:14.373
had to be more detailed yeah and i

00:35:14.393 --> 00:35:16.335
was like don't worry we're not going to

00:35:16.375 --> 00:35:18.675
be doing much there

00:35:19.789 --> 00:35:20.769
And her response was just,

00:35:20.829 --> 00:35:27.373
my wrist thanks you.

00:35:28.253 --> 00:35:28.452
All right.

00:35:28.472 --> 00:35:28.512
No.

00:35:28.532 --> 00:35:30.134
Any time your artist goes, like, hey,

00:35:30.213 --> 00:35:31.293
I'm not getting too much of this,

00:35:31.373 --> 00:35:33.114
am I?

00:35:33.855 --> 00:35:34.755
Yeah, yeah.

00:35:35.135 --> 00:35:36.076
But, I mean,

00:35:36.096 --> 00:35:37.516
just like everything else she's done,

00:35:37.536 --> 00:35:39.856
she absolutely nailed that scene when she

00:35:39.896 --> 00:35:40.637
sent me the art.

00:35:41.137 --> 00:35:43.998
It was perfect.

00:35:44.038 --> 00:35:44.237
So,

00:35:45.518 --> 00:35:49.119
I've been segwaying into the Olympia now.

00:35:49.769 --> 00:35:52.791
But tell people on the Olympian,

00:35:52.831 --> 00:35:55.494
what is your elevator pitch for it?

00:35:55.514 --> 00:35:56.695
Because, I mean, I just did mine.

00:35:57.195 --> 00:35:58.797
Talking squirrel, minotaur.

00:35:59.336 --> 00:36:00.478
I don't think you really need to say

00:36:00.498 --> 00:36:01.139
too much more.

00:36:02.378 --> 00:36:02.579
Right.

00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:04.940
So the way I've been pitching it,

00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:05.902
at least at cons,

00:36:06.081 --> 00:36:10.505
is this is a comic for fans of,

00:36:10.545 --> 00:36:11.445
you know,

00:36:11.465 --> 00:36:13.867
it's kind of like Percy Jackson meets Ben

00:36:13.907 --> 00:36:14.208
Ten.

00:36:15.768 --> 00:36:16.010
Ooh, yeah.

00:36:17.295 --> 00:36:19.217
I like that.

00:36:19.257 --> 00:36:23.699
With also a very heavy influence from the

00:36:23.739 --> 00:36:25.880
show Trollhunters.

00:36:25.981 --> 00:36:27.302
Oh, okay.

00:36:27.322 --> 00:36:28.543
I don't know if you've ever watched that.

00:36:28.983 --> 00:36:31.184
I'm surprised by how many people I know

00:36:31.264 --> 00:36:34.806
haven't because usually my nerds have a

00:36:34.867 --> 00:36:38.528
very similar watch history to me.

00:36:39.590 --> 00:36:40.190
But if you haven't,

00:36:41.438 --> 00:36:42.599
Troll Hunters on Netflix.

00:36:42.659 --> 00:36:43.579
It's freaking amazing.

00:36:44.440 --> 00:36:46.302
And it was one that I didn't realize

00:36:46.342 --> 00:36:48.423
had influenced this story as much as it

00:36:48.463 --> 00:36:50.865
had until I went back and watched it

00:36:51.987 --> 00:36:53.768
after I had written The Olympian.

00:36:54.929 --> 00:36:56.791
Yeah.

00:36:56.811 --> 00:36:58.152
As I'm watching Troll Hunters, I'm like,

00:36:58.172 --> 00:37:00.034
oh, yeah,

00:37:00.713 --> 00:37:02.054
there's a very similar vibe here.

00:37:02.255 --> 00:37:02.815
Okay, cool.

00:37:02.835 --> 00:37:03.297
Cool.

00:37:04.666 --> 00:37:05.927
No, so it's cool, right?

00:37:05.967 --> 00:37:09.349
And so this story follows Vasilis Meyer,

00:37:09.891 --> 00:37:12.152
who is just a normal dude who discovers

00:37:12.192 --> 00:37:14.273
the talisman in his grandparents' home.

00:37:14.934 --> 00:37:18.557
But this talisman basically chose him to

00:37:18.597 --> 00:37:22.920
become basically the bearer of the powers

00:37:22.981 --> 00:37:23.882
of the Greek gods.

00:37:23.902 --> 00:37:26.824
They all duped themselves into this

00:37:26.864 --> 00:37:28.666
talisman because they knew it would be

00:37:28.746 --> 00:37:30.708
needed someday.

00:37:32.003 --> 00:37:33.483
where did that concept come from?

00:37:33.523 --> 00:37:35.684
Cause it's such a cool and unique concept.

00:37:35.724 --> 00:37:37.045
And this thing is just chilling in his,

00:37:37.246 --> 00:37:37.385
um,

00:37:37.887 --> 00:37:39.568
his paw paw stuff up in the attic.

00:37:39.588 --> 00:37:39.748
Right.

00:37:39.768 --> 00:37:42.228
Right.

00:37:42.268 --> 00:37:43.449
So, uh, you know,

00:37:43.469 --> 00:37:45.210
just kind of take us my,

00:37:45.371 --> 00:37:46.391
my creative process,

00:37:46.411 --> 00:37:48.253
which I think is the creative process that

00:37:48.273 --> 00:37:52.954
all people follow, um, is, uh, you know,

00:37:52.994 --> 00:37:55.016
I have some weird idea and think of

00:37:55.056 --> 00:37:56.356
how I can build a story around it.

00:37:56.978 --> 00:37:57.077
Um,

00:37:58.277 --> 00:38:00.539
and and the the real seed of an

00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:04.643
idea for this one um came from came

00:38:04.663 --> 00:38:06.885
from something my wife said to me years

00:38:06.945 --> 00:38:08.186
ago when we were dating that she never

00:38:08.246 --> 00:38:10.528
even remembered saying to me but that kind

00:38:10.548 --> 00:38:12.972
of stuck with me um because she's her

00:38:13.012 --> 00:38:18.297
family is is greek um or greek um

00:38:18.336 --> 00:38:20.159
very much like vasilis's family and

00:38:22.525 --> 00:38:23.726
And she's like, you know,

00:38:23.746 --> 00:38:26.086
when I was a kid and we'd go

00:38:26.126 --> 00:38:28.768
anywhere on vacation and they'd have all

00:38:28.807 --> 00:38:31.449
those souvenirs with people's names on it,

00:38:32.130 --> 00:38:33.630
I would never see my name on anything.

00:38:33.650 --> 00:38:34.851
So it was always a thrill for me

00:38:34.871 --> 00:38:36.291
to see my name on something.

00:38:37.452 --> 00:38:41.492
And our son, Vasilis, I was like, well,

00:38:41.532 --> 00:38:42.934
he's going to have that same issue.

00:38:43.474 --> 00:38:45.173
I should write a comic with him,

00:38:45.193 --> 00:38:46.594
with him as the name of the character.

00:38:46.614 --> 00:38:48.315
So I'm like, okay, where would that be?

00:38:48.335 --> 00:38:49.496
All right, well,

00:38:50.403 --> 00:38:50.684
you know,

00:38:50.764 --> 00:38:52.905
obviously it should have some kind of,

00:38:52.945 --> 00:38:54.905
you know,

00:38:54.925 --> 00:38:57.106
be at least a partially Greek family.

00:38:57.146 --> 00:38:58.967
So I kind of set it up to

00:38:59.186 --> 00:39:02.728
mirror our own family as far as mom's

00:39:02.748 --> 00:39:04.449
Greek, dad's not Greek.

00:39:04.469 --> 00:39:07.409
And I was like, okay,

00:39:07.489 --> 00:39:09.811
so it's very much a free association thing

00:39:09.831 --> 00:39:10.391
at this point.

00:39:10.411 --> 00:39:12.192
I was like, okay, so Greek,

00:39:12.672 --> 00:39:13.431
where's the setting?

00:39:13.472 --> 00:39:14.672
Where's the setting going to be?

00:39:16.452 --> 00:39:18.414
And I remember this town in New Hampshire

00:39:18.434 --> 00:39:19.233
that I grew up in,

00:39:20.202 --> 00:39:20.842
had a very,

00:39:21.101 --> 00:39:23.322
a surprisingly large Greek population.

00:39:25.503 --> 00:39:26.543
And in fact,

00:39:26.583 --> 00:39:28.043
the pizza place we would all go to

00:39:28.724 --> 00:39:31.465
after school was owned by a Greek family.

00:39:32.324 --> 00:39:36.385
So that's where the pizza restaurant came

00:39:36.445 --> 00:39:36.686
from.

00:39:36.746 --> 00:39:38.085
That's where the town came from.

00:39:39.166 --> 00:39:42.586
And then everything else is like, okay,

00:39:42.626 --> 00:39:44.847
so, you know, Greek mythology,

00:39:44.907 --> 00:39:46.568
what are we going to do for powers?

00:39:48.088 --> 00:39:49.829
And then I kind of got to the,

00:39:50.309 --> 00:39:50.769
you know,

00:39:50.809 --> 00:39:53.610
the Olympian gods and wouldn't it be kind

00:39:53.630 --> 00:39:54.911
of cool if you could kind of tap

00:39:54.931 --> 00:39:59.452
in each of them when needed.

00:39:59.693 --> 00:40:01.873
And everything else just kind of went from

00:40:01.893 --> 00:40:02.094
there.

00:40:02.114 --> 00:40:05.074
Yeah.

00:40:05.135 --> 00:40:07.675
So Greek mythologies inspired countless

00:40:07.715 --> 00:40:08.295
stories.

00:40:08.936 --> 00:40:11.657
What will set this one apart from all

00:40:11.697 --> 00:40:12.197
the others?

00:40:13.996 --> 00:40:16.317
So the Greek mythology in this is not

00:40:17.056 --> 00:40:17.496
the star.

00:40:17.516 --> 00:40:19.478
Like I said,

00:40:19.518 --> 00:40:23.378
I'm not trying to stick too closely to

00:40:23.478 --> 00:40:25.219
any particular myth.

00:40:25.460 --> 00:40:26.599
Just like any mythology,

00:40:26.659 --> 00:40:28.360
I think there's probably variations of it

00:40:28.420 --> 00:40:28.780
anyway.

00:40:28.860 --> 00:40:31.181
So whichever version of it you do,

00:40:31.362 --> 00:40:32.561
you're going to get something wrong in

00:40:32.621 --> 00:40:33.402
somebody's eyes.

00:40:35.443 --> 00:40:36.963
I'm trying to stick to the kind of

00:40:36.983 --> 00:40:38.304
high level basics of it.

00:40:40.255 --> 00:40:42.536
um yeah as what the gods do and

00:40:42.577 --> 00:40:44.356
what their powers are and abilities are

00:40:45.157 --> 00:40:48.077
and you know the the star of this

00:40:48.117 --> 00:40:52.239
is really it's really the the dynamics

00:40:52.398 --> 00:40:57.460
it's it's really the world and the talking

00:40:57.481 --> 00:41:00.581
squirrel yeah i mean look he's uh miko

00:41:00.601 --> 00:41:02.521
is really uh he really is uh

00:41:03.780 --> 00:41:05.661
quite a big part of the story and

00:41:05.860 --> 00:41:06.942
will be going forward.

00:41:07.842 --> 00:41:09.284
So you and Squirrel Girl had this

00:41:09.304 --> 00:41:11.204
conversation prior to introducing a

00:41:11.244 --> 00:41:11.824
squirrel, right?

00:41:11.885 --> 00:41:13.166
I don't want you getting in trouble with

00:41:13.226 --> 00:41:13.445
her.

00:41:13.467 --> 00:41:15.568
Oh, no.

00:41:15.668 --> 00:41:17.509
Are you talking about actual Squirrel Girl

00:41:17.568 --> 00:41:18.130
or my wife?

00:41:21.172 --> 00:41:22.251
I don't know the relationship between

00:41:22.271 --> 00:41:23.592
those two, but please continue.

00:41:23.672 --> 00:41:24.353
I'm interested.

00:41:26.715 --> 00:41:27.295
For years,

00:41:27.335 --> 00:41:28.817
she's been known as the convention

00:41:28.856 --> 00:41:29.336
squirrel.

00:41:30.197 --> 00:41:30.557
Okay.

00:41:31.018 --> 00:41:31.818
And actually has a

00:41:33.318 --> 00:41:35.641
a piece of art from uh art balthazar

00:41:36.340 --> 00:41:38.742
that he gave her at a convention years

00:41:38.782 --> 00:41:41.063
ago with like a little squirrel wearing a

00:41:41.103 --> 00:41:44.746
headset um oh nice so yeah and she

00:41:44.786 --> 00:41:46.487
she's a big squirrel fan you know she

00:41:46.786 --> 00:41:48.648
likes squirrels quite a bit so i think

00:41:48.708 --> 00:41:50.909
i surprised her with that because i just

00:41:50.929 --> 00:41:53.110
wanted to kind of see her reaction to

00:41:53.931 --> 00:41:55.371
me putting a squirrel in this one when

00:41:55.512 --> 00:41:57.954
i had not in in heroes and zeros

00:41:58.554 --> 00:42:00.195
yeah no that's so cool though that you've

00:42:00.235 --> 00:42:01.076
gotten to a

00:42:02.418 --> 00:42:03.559
give your main character,

00:42:03.619 --> 00:42:05.920
your son's name and be,

00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:07.621
just have that cool little reference there

00:42:07.641 --> 00:42:08.342
for your wife.

00:42:10.143 --> 00:42:11.043
So, yeah, I mean, look,

00:42:11.164 --> 00:42:13.304
because I'm the writer, so why not?

00:42:13.344 --> 00:42:15.766
You know, Hey, it's indie comics, right?

00:42:15.786 --> 00:42:16.907
You do what you want.

00:42:17.088 --> 00:42:18.027
As long, look, as long,

00:42:18.108 --> 00:42:20.809
as long as the story still holds up,

00:42:21.391 --> 00:42:22.411
I don't see a problem with it.

00:42:22.431 --> 00:42:23.811
Um, and,

00:42:24.032 --> 00:42:26.193
and I think like to be a little

00:42:26.233 --> 00:42:27.094
less modest than,

00:42:27.114 --> 00:42:29.056
than what I think the story holds up.

00:42:29.496 --> 00:42:29.516
I,

00:42:30.298 --> 00:42:31.878
I'm actually really proud of what we're

00:42:31.918 --> 00:42:32.639
doing with this.

00:42:34.139 --> 00:42:36.521
And I think, like I say,

00:42:36.780 --> 00:42:38.280
we finally get the first glimpse of the

00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:39.882
cost.

00:42:40.101 --> 00:42:41.481
I broke that rule in the first one.

00:42:41.922 --> 00:42:42.983
There was no costume,

00:42:43.782 --> 00:42:46.003
no superhero costume at all on issue one.

00:42:48.239 --> 00:42:49.340
And we're finally getting the first

00:42:49.380 --> 00:42:50.780
glimpse of the costume in issue two,

00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:54.862
which is – I've teased it.

00:42:54.922 --> 00:42:56.282
It's in some of the promotional stuff

00:42:56.302 --> 00:42:57.063
we've put out there.

00:42:58.403 --> 00:42:58.884
I used it.

00:42:59.384 --> 00:43:00.105
I had to.

00:43:00.204 --> 00:43:02.965
That cover is so clean.

00:43:03.865 --> 00:43:06.007
Oh, Dee's cover on that, yeah,

00:43:06.047 --> 00:43:08.588
with Ibrahim's colors on that came out

00:43:08.947 --> 00:43:09.748
magnificent.

00:43:10.369 --> 00:43:13.429
Just wait until we drop the variant that

00:43:13.449 --> 00:43:13.969
we just got.

00:43:13.989 --> 00:43:14.230
It's awesome.

00:43:16.434 --> 00:43:19.556
so i i that's how i'd like to

00:43:19.577 --> 00:43:22.420
do my hype videos as i i i

00:43:22.619 --> 00:43:23.780
when i get a chance to do them

00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:25.242
i won't always get a chance to do

00:43:25.282 --> 00:43:27.525
them but here lately i've been spreading

00:43:27.565 --> 00:43:28.846
stuff out a little bit more to where

00:43:28.905 --> 00:43:31.708
i can do those types of videos and

00:43:31.728 --> 00:43:33.530
uh there's nothing better than using the

00:43:33.610 --> 00:43:37.293
covers for those types of videos and that

00:43:37.333 --> 00:43:41.277
cover it just dude that covers amazing

00:43:44.815 --> 00:43:47.336
If any shops put this in stock,

00:43:47.396 --> 00:43:48.617
this is going to scream to you off

00:43:48.657 --> 00:43:49.278
the shelves.

00:43:50.018 --> 00:43:50.739
It really would.

00:43:51.480 --> 00:43:57.244
I'm real excited for once I finally get

00:43:57.304 --> 00:43:58.686
these in my hands and I can bring

00:43:58.706 --> 00:43:59.606
them to conventions,

00:43:59.867 --> 00:44:03.210
just seeing how much more attention they

00:44:03.230 --> 00:44:05.791
can bring in.

00:44:06.132 --> 00:44:07.452
Not to say the other covers.

00:44:07.813 --> 00:44:09.534
I love all the covers we've gotten.

00:44:10.445 --> 00:44:12.846
And, you know, we do... I always believe,

00:44:12.885 --> 00:44:14.867
like, when you're doing these comics,

00:44:14.907 --> 00:44:16.148
especially if you're doing variants,

00:44:16.927 --> 00:44:18.909
the main cover, number one,

00:44:19.048 --> 00:44:20.329
unless you're a series artist,

00:44:20.369 --> 00:44:21.210
doesn't want to do it,

00:44:21.269 --> 00:44:22.429
should be the series artist.

00:44:23.431 --> 00:44:28.253
And number two should have a lot of,

00:44:28.492 --> 00:44:28.693
you know,

00:44:28.713 --> 00:44:30.353
some storytelling elements in it.

00:44:30.713 --> 00:44:31.233
Yeah.

00:44:31.414 --> 00:44:33.855
And I think all these covers that we've

00:44:33.875 --> 00:44:35.936
had for both of these titles do that.

00:44:38.436 --> 00:44:39.358
The variant covers...

00:44:41.117 --> 00:44:44.981
More can tend more towards being pretty

00:44:45.021 --> 00:44:49.244
pinups and that as opposed to anything

00:44:49.344 --> 00:44:49.603
else.

00:44:49.643 --> 00:44:51.485
You got a little bit more leeway,

00:44:51.525 --> 00:44:52.365
I think, with those.

00:44:52.945 --> 00:44:55.728
But I've always loved the covers that

00:44:55.927 --> 00:44:58.090
really have a lot of little hidden

00:44:58.150 --> 00:45:01.632
elements of the story in them that you

00:45:01.672 --> 00:45:04.514
can keep looking at before and after you

00:45:04.574 --> 00:45:04.934
read.

00:45:06.014 --> 00:45:06.795
And after you read,

00:45:06.835 --> 00:45:08.336
it means more to you than before you

00:45:08.356 --> 00:45:08.516
did.

00:45:09.320 --> 00:45:11.461
So that's one of those covers where I

00:45:11.481 --> 00:45:12.163
would have out.

00:45:13.222 --> 00:45:15.123
Like right now, I'm a mess.

00:45:15.864 --> 00:45:16.864
I'm redoing things.

00:45:17.364 --> 00:45:18.905
But that's definitely one of those covers

00:45:18.945 --> 00:45:23.208
where once I have my full railing put

00:45:23.268 --> 00:45:25.889
up around the office here to just display

00:45:26.010 --> 00:45:28.231
books, that's one that would be up there.

00:45:28.471 --> 00:45:30.952
Like it's that nice.

00:45:31.891 --> 00:45:32.831
Like, definitely.

00:45:33.291 --> 00:45:34.391
Yeah, it came out great.

00:45:34.411 --> 00:45:34.893
Like I say,

00:45:35.833 --> 00:45:37.393
I've been so fortunate to work with some

00:45:37.413 --> 00:45:38.913
of these people I've gotten to work with

00:45:39.193 --> 00:45:40.353
over the last few years.

00:45:42.693 --> 00:45:46.074
And they've just made this whole thing so

00:45:46.114 --> 00:45:48.695
much more fulfilling for me.

00:45:48.775 --> 00:45:50.034
It's amazing how that works, right?

00:45:50.275 --> 00:45:51.295
When you get to pick and choose your

00:45:51.315 --> 00:45:51.856
coworkers.

00:45:52.835 --> 00:45:53.896
I really love this,

00:45:54.195 --> 00:45:57.496
the collaboration and the whole process of

00:45:57.556 --> 00:45:58.277
getting this stuff.

00:45:58.597 --> 00:45:59.836
There's no better feeling

00:46:00.847 --> 00:46:03.309
then you know you suddenly get a like

00:46:03.369 --> 00:46:06.329
notification on your email and you open it

00:46:06.409 --> 00:46:09.010
up and here is a page that up

00:46:09.050 --> 00:46:10.990
until that point had only been in my

00:46:11.010 --> 00:46:16.992
imagination yeah no it's yeah that's that

00:46:17.032 --> 00:46:21.713
covers the money so vasilis is someone who

00:46:23.074 --> 00:46:25.375
is very reluctant to want to take on

00:46:25.414 --> 00:46:27.675
this responsibility and the talisman has

00:46:27.715 --> 00:46:28.335
chosen him

00:46:29.237 --> 00:46:32.199
he's he's got miko he's got the minotaur

00:46:32.259 --> 00:46:35.621
both like dude you're it sorry dude but

00:46:35.641 --> 00:46:38.422
you've been chosen so he's very reluctant

00:46:38.442 --> 00:46:42.903
to become this hero are we going to

00:46:43.003 --> 00:46:46.326
learn in like issue two like why he

00:46:46.545 --> 00:46:48.746
actually did kind of decide to just pick

00:46:48.806 --> 00:46:50.447
up that mantle and be the hero

00:46:53.748 --> 00:46:56.730
I think we're going to get more of

00:46:56.750 --> 00:46:57.971
an inkling of that, yeah.

00:46:58.510 --> 00:47:00.070
I don't know if it's going to be

00:47:00.090 --> 00:47:02.231
an aha moment, per se.

00:47:03.411 --> 00:47:06.853
But it's ultimately going to come down to

00:47:06.893 --> 00:47:10.235
just his character and his choice of...

00:47:12.956 --> 00:47:14.635
Because he's a small-town guy,

00:47:14.876 --> 00:47:15.936
and he likes his life.

00:47:16.985 --> 00:47:20.949
and if he's gonna do this how he's

00:47:20.969 --> 00:47:23.590
gonna do it uh has the potential to

00:47:23.630 --> 00:47:29.293
really upend his life um and and that's

00:47:29.313 --> 00:47:32.376
a big choice to make so it's not

00:47:32.436 --> 00:47:34.056
something that he's obviously going to

00:47:34.097 --> 00:47:35.438
come to a decision one way or the

00:47:35.518 --> 00:47:41.001
other um quickly um you know he he

00:47:41.021 --> 00:47:42.182
still has you know as we

00:47:42.724 --> 00:47:44.146
come into issue two he still has a

00:47:44.186 --> 00:47:46.266
lot to learn about just about what the

00:47:46.306 --> 00:47:49.728
talisman is and and what's happening

00:47:49.748 --> 00:47:52.128
because you know at the end of issue

00:47:52.289 --> 00:47:55.630
one we're you know we're left with he's

00:47:55.670 --> 00:47:58.791
just sort of you know triggered a few

00:47:58.851 --> 00:48:02.012
times by accident yeah and all he knows

00:48:02.072 --> 00:48:04.193
is that by holding this thing that that

00:48:04.233 --> 00:48:06.215
was uh as far as he knows a

00:48:06.255 --> 00:48:07.956
souvenir his grandparents brought back

00:48:07.996 --> 00:48:10.297
from their honeymoon in greece um

00:48:13.016 --> 00:48:13.516
Suddenly,

00:48:14.797 --> 00:48:16.918
he's doing fantastic things that he didn't

00:48:16.938 --> 00:48:21.659
think he could do.

00:48:21.980 --> 00:48:23.039
He's going to learn a lot more about

00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:24.780
the Talisman, about its history,

00:48:27.021 --> 00:48:29.202
and he's got a real tough choice to

00:48:29.242 --> 00:48:30.402
make by the end of issue two.

00:48:31.844 --> 00:48:34.123
It's not bad for a small-town guy who

00:48:34.164 --> 00:48:35.425
just wants to sit at home and chill

00:48:35.445 --> 00:48:37.085
with his ferret and hang out with his

00:48:37.106 --> 00:48:37.945
friends on the weekend.

00:48:38.606 --> 00:48:41.047
Yeah, I mean, that's not a bad life,

00:48:41.088 --> 00:48:41.268
man.

00:48:41.307 --> 00:48:43.568
You got a job, you got good friends,

00:48:43.588 --> 00:48:45.509
you got a ferret, you know?

00:48:46.489 --> 00:48:48.068
Now you got a talking squirrel and a

00:48:48.108 --> 00:48:48.668
minotaur.

00:48:49.789 --> 00:48:50.889
What could be better, right?

00:48:52.550 --> 00:48:52.990
I don't know.

00:48:53.010 --> 00:48:53.931
I mean, like I say,

00:48:53.971 --> 00:48:55.251
you saw the minotaur at the end of

00:48:55.291 --> 00:48:55.791
issue one.

00:48:55.811 --> 00:48:58.911
That's not necessarily a friendly

00:48:58.952 --> 00:48:59.652
relationship.

00:49:00.831 --> 00:49:02.932
He is an intimidating figure,

00:49:02.972 --> 00:49:03.833
I will give it that.

00:49:04.353 --> 00:49:06.994
And he's just so well done, too.

00:49:07.193 --> 00:49:07.333
Yeah.

00:49:08.663 --> 00:49:10.583
And we're going to talk about like D

00:49:10.623 --> 00:49:11.945
and everybody here in a little bit,

00:49:12.005 --> 00:49:13.905
but let's talk about issue one of your

00:49:13.945 --> 00:49:16.228
Kickstarter fund date,

00:49:17.688 --> 00:49:19.170
what was that moment like for you as

00:49:19.210 --> 00:49:19.829
a creator?

00:49:21.311 --> 00:49:21.771
Relief.

00:49:23.932 --> 00:49:24.413
Relief.

00:49:25.893 --> 00:49:26.494
Oh yeah.

00:49:27.474 --> 00:49:28.434
They are stressful.

00:49:28.795 --> 00:49:31.036
If you want to know why so many

00:49:31.056 --> 00:49:31.516
creators,

00:49:31.577 --> 00:49:36.059
myself included are so passionate and

00:49:36.579 --> 00:49:37.240
frankly passionate

00:49:37.954 --> 00:49:40.115
annoying about getting pre-launch

00:49:40.155 --> 00:49:43.878
followers on these campaigns it's because

00:49:43.958 --> 00:49:47.480
it is so nerve-wracking to hit that launch

00:49:47.519 --> 00:49:55.784
button and then a week later you're like

00:49:55.864 --> 00:49:57.704
you're maybe twenty five percent of the

00:49:57.744 --> 00:50:00.286
way or twenty percent of the way

00:50:01.619 --> 00:50:03.400
And halfway into the campaign,

00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:05.621
you're maybe coming somewhere close to

00:50:05.661 --> 00:50:06.382
halfway.

00:50:06.481 --> 00:50:10.605
And most of the support you get is

00:50:10.664 --> 00:50:12.385
typically at the beginning.

00:50:13.806 --> 00:50:15.027
And you're like, man,

00:50:15.068 --> 00:50:17.449
now I got to keep just being out

00:50:17.509 --> 00:50:20.371
here and being in people's faces and

00:50:20.431 --> 00:50:22.172
drumming up as much support as I can

00:50:22.251 --> 00:50:22.512
get.

00:50:23.333 --> 00:50:27.135
Otherwise, we might not hit this goal.

00:50:27.275 --> 00:50:27.795
It's wild.

00:50:28.951 --> 00:50:31.032
know some people see it as an annoyance

00:50:31.313 --> 00:50:33.695
i love seeing the passion that independent

00:50:33.715 --> 00:50:36.936
creators bring to their stuff and that's

00:50:36.956 --> 00:50:39.039
why what i see it as and i

00:50:39.079 --> 00:50:41.460
guess it's just me being like having

00:50:41.519 --> 00:50:43.722
worked with the industry now for a little

00:50:43.802 --> 00:50:45.704
over a year and doing this type of

00:50:45.744 --> 00:50:48.706
stuff but i love it man it's infectious

00:50:48.746 --> 00:50:49.907
and it just kind of makes you want

00:50:49.927 --> 00:50:49.987
to

00:50:51.072 --> 00:50:53.052
Like, hey, what do you mean, man?

00:50:53.072 --> 00:50:54.793
When I say annoying,

00:50:54.932 --> 00:50:57.974
I think that's a projection because we all

00:50:58.134 --> 00:51:00.175
feel like we're being annoying by posting

00:51:00.195 --> 00:51:02.135
about stop all the time.

00:51:02.876 --> 00:51:05.317
And I've never actually had somebody say,

00:51:05.356 --> 00:51:06.217
this is really annoying.

00:51:06.237 --> 00:51:07.097
Could you please stop?

00:51:07.856 --> 00:51:09.998
Like most people react like you do.

00:51:11.197 --> 00:51:12.458
You never know who's going to see it.

00:51:12.978 --> 00:51:15.840
You never know who the algorithm is going

00:51:15.860 --> 00:51:16.500
to show it to.

00:51:17.019 --> 00:51:18.521
If you post five times a day,

00:51:19.815 --> 00:51:21.356
each person might see one of them.

00:51:23.440 --> 00:51:24.420
You just never know.

00:51:25.242 --> 00:51:27.744
So it's not that annoying in reality.

00:51:27.784 --> 00:51:29.206
You just feel like you're being annoyed.

00:51:30.007 --> 00:51:30.608
Oh, I'm sure.

00:51:30.849 --> 00:51:32.231
And it's what I always tell people is

00:51:32.271 --> 00:51:32.490
like,

00:51:33.393 --> 00:51:35.034
When the podcast ends,

00:51:35.094 --> 00:51:37.076
my support for the project doesn't end

00:51:37.096 --> 00:51:38.076
with the podcast.

00:51:38.757 --> 00:51:41.338
I still like I follow you on Instagram.

00:51:41.378 --> 00:51:43.099
So if I see it like your post

00:51:43.119 --> 00:51:45.081
pop up on Instagram for the Kickstarter,

00:51:45.501 --> 00:51:46.581
I'm sharing the Kickstarter.

00:51:46.621 --> 00:51:46.922
You know,

00:51:47.483 --> 00:51:49.503
I'm doing all those things to follow

00:51:49.585 --> 00:51:52.166
through on your appearance around the

00:51:52.206 --> 00:51:53.927
podcast because.

00:51:55.215 --> 00:51:56.817
especially when you're an infectious

00:51:56.916 --> 00:51:57.597
person,

00:51:57.637 --> 00:51:59.476
when it comes to your passion for the

00:51:59.516 --> 00:52:00.018
project,

00:52:00.597 --> 00:52:03.438
it carries over to me and subsequently

00:52:03.518 --> 00:52:05.639
carries over to other people as well.

00:52:06.639 --> 00:52:07.780
And it's hard.

00:52:08.599 --> 00:52:11.061
Like some people I've had some on the

00:52:11.101 --> 00:52:12.422
podcast where I was just like,

00:52:12.481 --> 00:52:14.382
I felt so unenthusiastic about their

00:52:14.422 --> 00:52:16.623
project after the fact that I just didn't

00:52:16.663 --> 00:52:18.664
care.

00:52:19.583 --> 00:52:20.623
It's one of those where like,

00:52:20.684 --> 00:52:22.244
if they all asked to come back and

00:52:22.264 --> 00:52:22.565
be like,

00:52:27.615 --> 00:52:30.117
you know and it's not that they create

00:52:30.157 --> 00:52:32.777
bad stuff the stuff they create is good

00:52:33.197 --> 00:52:37.340
sure but they'd like that passion and that

00:52:37.400 --> 00:52:40.521
enthusiasm for what it is they do you

00:52:40.561 --> 00:52:42.400
know it's there it's just they don't know

00:52:42.440 --> 00:52:47.543
how to project it outward you know what

00:52:47.563 --> 00:52:49.244
i'm saying i i get that too because

00:52:49.423 --> 00:52:49.664
like

00:52:51.132 --> 00:52:53.251
I'm not the most naturally charismatic

00:52:53.291 --> 00:52:53.713
person.

00:52:55.492 --> 00:52:56.893
I can gear up for something like this,

00:52:56.913 --> 00:52:58.733
and I am excited to talk about this.

00:53:00.893 --> 00:53:03.074
But I'm like a lot of writers.

00:53:03.153 --> 00:53:04.855
I'm very introverted in general.

00:53:05.195 --> 00:53:06.914
We were just talking.

00:53:06.934 --> 00:53:08.375
I told you how introverted I am.

00:53:09.034 --> 00:53:09.755
Yeah.

00:53:11.135 --> 00:53:12.536
It's great to talk to people,

00:53:13.655 --> 00:53:15.097
and I do enjoy it.

00:53:15.157 --> 00:53:16.757
I legitimately do enjoy it.

00:53:17.277 --> 00:53:19.378
But that doesn't mean that it doesn't take

00:53:19.398 --> 00:53:20.539
a lot out of you on the back.

00:53:21.860 --> 00:53:24.483
And so it's something that you really got

00:53:24.523 --> 00:53:25.264
to gear up for.

00:53:25.364 --> 00:53:26.063
And like I say,

00:53:26.083 --> 00:53:28.985
a lot of people who are creative are

00:53:29.405 --> 00:53:29.586
like.

00:53:31.068 --> 00:53:33.009
Creativity and, you know.

00:53:34.449 --> 00:53:36.871
Public speaking and marketing smarts are

00:53:37.112 --> 00:53:39.512
all very different things and very

00:53:39.552 --> 00:53:39.793
different.

00:53:40.114 --> 00:53:41.574
That's a not a lot of people have

00:53:42.635 --> 00:53:44.396
have all of them or even two of

00:53:44.416 --> 00:53:45.697
them in some cases.

00:53:46.322 --> 00:53:47.943
I mean, I'm not a public speaker.

00:53:47.983 --> 00:53:49.764
I've had to work on this over the

00:53:49.804 --> 00:53:52.347
last, you know, seventeen,

00:53:53.168 --> 00:53:55.048
twenty years since I started law school.

00:53:56.769 --> 00:53:57.550
Oh, yeah.

00:53:57.570 --> 00:53:58.391
That's what this is.

00:53:58.431 --> 00:54:01.614
This is me briefing and standing in front

00:54:01.653 --> 00:54:03.375
of people talking and.

00:54:04.594 --> 00:54:06.594
actually making all those classes I did

00:54:06.634 --> 00:54:08.755
take in college to be useful now,

00:54:09.235 --> 00:54:09.614
you know,

00:54:10.675 --> 00:54:12.715
in writing this stuff and getting,

00:54:13.135 --> 00:54:14.835
you know, the way I approach things,

00:54:14.856 --> 00:54:15.876
the research I do,

00:54:15.916 --> 00:54:18.436
like I'm constantly evolving,

00:54:18.496 --> 00:54:19.996
like even the way I do my social

00:54:20.036 --> 00:54:20.476
media,

00:54:20.757 --> 00:54:22.557
I'm always going back out there and seeing

00:54:22.577 --> 00:54:24.717
what other people are doing.

00:54:24.797 --> 00:54:28.239
Although I do first,

00:54:28.259 --> 00:54:29.539
I take it back to a certain step

00:54:29.579 --> 00:54:32.119
where I still need to get certain points

00:54:32.159 --> 00:54:32.679
across.

00:54:32.980 --> 00:54:33.280
Right.

00:54:34.297 --> 00:54:35.418
Like the show is going to be at

00:54:35.518 --> 00:54:38.440
this time on this day, follow this person.

00:54:39.121 --> 00:54:39.420
Boom.

00:54:39.440 --> 00:54:42.362
Because I do as much as I can

00:54:42.422 --> 00:54:44.684
possible to make everything I do at the

00:54:44.784 --> 00:54:46.326
end of the day when somebody's coming on

00:54:46.365 --> 00:54:48.226
the show about that person.

00:54:49.641 --> 00:54:51.382
I can sit here and scream at the

00:54:51.402 --> 00:54:52.663
top of my lungs all day and say,

00:54:52.682 --> 00:54:53.523
hey, follow me.

00:54:53.623 --> 00:54:54.063
Do this.

00:54:54.083 --> 00:54:54.983
Share this.

00:54:55.543 --> 00:54:57.844
But is that what I do, though?

00:54:57.885 --> 00:54:58.005
Well,

00:54:58.025 --> 00:55:01.306
what I do is people and marketing people

00:55:01.806 --> 00:55:03.827
and spotlighting people and their stories

00:55:03.987 --> 00:55:04.807
and their books.

00:55:05.967 --> 00:55:07.148
So I have to kind of take that

00:55:07.188 --> 00:55:09.608
step back and go, right,

00:55:09.648 --> 00:55:10.610
it's about the person.

00:55:11.090 --> 00:55:12.130
I'm going to push the person.

00:55:12.150 --> 00:55:13.311
I'm going to market the person.

00:55:14.375 --> 00:55:16.936
And then on the bad side of it,

00:55:17.056 --> 00:55:19.617
I get my return when those people are

00:55:19.637 --> 00:55:20.217
spotlighted,

00:55:20.297 --> 00:55:22.900
their followers come over hopefully and

00:55:22.920 --> 00:55:23.500
follow me.

00:55:23.519 --> 00:55:25.221
Cause Hey, I like what this guy does.

00:55:25.280 --> 00:55:26.722
I seen how he did with Paul.

00:55:27.322 --> 00:55:28.583
I won't in on that too.

00:55:28.603 --> 00:55:29.623
I want to see what he does for

00:55:29.704 --> 00:55:30.623
other people as well.

00:55:31.224 --> 00:55:32.806
And you'll notice that I do everything the

00:55:32.846 --> 00:55:34.186
same way for everybody.

00:55:34.306 --> 00:55:34.606
Yeah.

00:55:34.626 --> 00:55:37.929
And that's fantastic because that's also

00:55:37.969 --> 00:55:41.251
like partially that's how I've found,

00:55:41.271 --> 00:55:41.911
you know,

00:55:43.072 --> 00:55:43.472
other things,

00:55:43.851 --> 00:55:45.233
other things to watch and listen to.

00:55:46.034 --> 00:55:48.175
Like if I've, you know,

00:55:48.195 --> 00:55:50.835
if I've even been on a show or

00:55:51.255 --> 00:55:53.338
talk to people online or seen them put

00:55:53.398 --> 00:55:53.557
up,

00:55:54.737 --> 00:55:56.659
seen them cover somebody that I'm friends

00:55:56.699 --> 00:55:57.000
with.

00:55:57.739 --> 00:55:58.360
Yeah.

00:55:58.380 --> 00:55:58.679
Oh man.

00:55:58.760 --> 00:56:00.001
Hey, I'll go check out their show.

00:56:00.061 --> 00:56:01.762
And you know, if I,

00:56:02.543 --> 00:56:03.682
if I like what they're doing,

00:56:04.423 --> 00:56:05.884
then there it is.

00:56:05.943 --> 00:56:06.925
I'm, I'm following, I'm,

00:56:08.393 --> 00:56:09.293
I love word of mouth.

00:56:09.414 --> 00:56:10.653
Word of mouth is so great.

00:56:10.693 --> 00:56:12.554
I get so many people coming over from

00:56:12.594 --> 00:56:13.394
word of mouth.

00:56:16.717 --> 00:56:17.277
What's his name?

00:56:17.317 --> 00:56:18.677
He was just on the podcast,

00:56:19.057 --> 00:56:21.298
was word of mouth from another guy who

00:56:21.338 --> 00:56:23.119
was a word of mouth from another guy.

00:56:23.579 --> 00:56:26.601
And now three interviews deep from word of

00:56:26.661 --> 00:56:27.021
mouth.

00:56:27.681 --> 00:56:29.141
And I love that kind of stuff.

00:56:29.161 --> 00:56:29.583
Like, oh, yeah,

00:56:29.603 --> 00:56:31.583
this one person said that you were great

00:56:31.603 --> 00:56:33.603
at this and to come on your show

00:56:34.184 --> 00:56:34.885
and push the book.

00:56:35.811 --> 00:56:36.811
I was like, dude, that's so cool.

00:56:36.972 --> 00:56:38.253
It means I ain't got to do nothing

00:56:38.853 --> 00:56:42.655
from a advertising perspective as far as

00:56:42.737 --> 00:56:44.358
trying to get people on the podcast

00:56:44.378 --> 00:56:45.559
because they're just showing up now.

00:56:46.099 --> 00:56:46.960
And it's great.

00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:49.961
I love that.

00:56:49.981 --> 00:56:51.382
Because that's really the hardest part

00:56:51.483 --> 00:56:53.425
about this job is trying to get people

00:56:53.465 --> 00:56:54.746
to come on the podcast.

00:56:55.367 --> 00:56:57.027
And once that part of the job is

00:56:57.168 --> 00:56:57.728
gone,

00:56:58.289 --> 00:57:01.612
I can then focus on what really matters,

00:57:01.811 --> 00:57:03.132
which to me is the person.

00:57:04.349 --> 00:57:05.670
Well, that's fantastic, though,

00:57:05.750 --> 00:57:08.931
and it's much appreciated.

00:57:09.751 --> 00:57:11.612
Dude, I love this.

00:57:12.172 --> 00:57:13.193
This is my wheelhouse.

00:57:13.253 --> 00:57:13.673
I love it.

00:57:15.034 --> 00:57:15.474
From me,

00:57:15.514 --> 00:57:18.556
and I feel confident speaking on behalf of

00:57:18.675 --> 00:57:20.597
literally every other indie creator out

00:57:20.637 --> 00:57:20.856
there,

00:57:21.538 --> 00:57:26.460
we all appreciate indie-focused media

00:57:26.500 --> 00:57:29.402
because it's so hard to get your...

00:57:29.961 --> 00:57:33.244
There's not a lot out there.

00:57:33.891 --> 00:57:35.030
I've said this so many times,

00:57:36.032 --> 00:57:37.072
there is an audience.

00:57:37.092 --> 00:57:39.632
There is a big audience for indie comics.

00:57:40.413 --> 00:57:43.494
The problem is for each creator,

00:57:43.594 --> 00:57:45.594
since we're all kind of scattered all

00:57:45.614 --> 00:57:46.054
around,

00:57:46.974 --> 00:57:52.755
to find their audience and to be able

00:57:52.777 --> 00:57:54.336
to have kind of a hub of

00:57:56.510 --> 00:57:58.210
a handful of places you can go that

00:57:58.251 --> 00:58:00.170
are consistent spotlighting this.

00:58:01.351 --> 00:58:03.251
That's what I'm trying my best to make

00:58:03.331 --> 00:58:04.932
this is that central hub.

00:58:05.432 --> 00:58:07.432
That's why I have the Facebook group that

00:58:07.472 --> 00:58:10.293
you can join and you can literally say,

00:58:10.313 --> 00:58:10.634
hey,

00:58:10.673 --> 00:58:12.135
my Kickstarter is launching on this day.

00:58:12.155 --> 00:58:14.355
You can share it on that group.

00:58:15.715 --> 00:58:17.936
That's what I'm trying to evolve this into

00:58:17.996 --> 00:58:19.195
at the end of the day is I

00:58:19.235 --> 00:58:21.036
want to be the media hub

00:58:21.806 --> 00:58:22.746
for Indie Comics.

00:58:22.766 --> 00:58:24.007
You got a Kickstarter going?

00:58:24.047 --> 00:58:24.226
Cool.

00:58:24.246 --> 00:58:25.507
You can come share that over here with

00:58:25.527 --> 00:58:26.007
my group.

00:58:27.068 --> 00:58:29.449
If you got something else going on, like,

00:58:29.489 --> 00:58:30.889
hey, I hit this milestone today.

00:58:31.250 --> 00:58:31.369
Dude,

00:58:31.409 --> 00:58:32.630
I want to know about your milestone you

00:58:32.670 --> 00:58:33.150
hit today.

00:58:33.851 --> 00:58:35.552
And I love that kind of stuff.

00:58:36.351 --> 00:58:40.193
And I continuously want to make the USDN

00:58:40.253 --> 00:58:42.054
now that media hub.

00:58:43.226 --> 00:58:44.246
Or if you just want to talk about

00:58:44.286 --> 00:58:45.847
a movie you've just seen over the weekend,

00:58:46.728 --> 00:58:48.489
please let's talk about it, you know?

00:58:49.170 --> 00:58:51.670
And that's what I love about having that

00:58:51.731 --> 00:58:51.990
group.

00:58:52.030 --> 00:58:52.391
There is,

00:58:52.911 --> 00:58:55.853
we call it the fan page and it's

00:58:55.873 --> 00:58:56.134
going.

00:58:57.324 --> 00:58:58.824
It will always be a fan page,

00:58:58.864 --> 00:59:00.204
but I want it to be a media

00:59:00.244 --> 00:59:02.304
hub for others to come in.

00:59:02.324 --> 00:59:04.206
They can share their work with everybody

00:59:04.246 --> 00:59:04.545
like, hey,

00:59:04.585 --> 00:59:05.786
check out with the pages on my new

00:59:05.806 --> 00:59:06.385
comic book.

00:59:06.885 --> 00:59:09.547
And hopefully that leads to, you know,

00:59:09.606 --> 00:59:11.166
you get more backers as well.

00:59:11.686 --> 00:59:12.347
And then, of course, you know,

00:59:12.367 --> 00:59:13.728
there's the podcast page,

00:59:13.748 --> 00:59:15.608
which is where I do all my advertisements

00:59:15.668 --> 00:59:18.329
and stuff like that for for this.

00:59:18.809 --> 00:59:20.009
And I also share it to like.

00:59:21.268 --> 00:59:23.469
Fifteen different groups at the end of the

00:59:23.489 --> 00:59:23.690
day.

00:59:24.628 --> 00:59:25.007
Yeah.

00:59:25.068 --> 00:59:27.090
Whenever I'm all over the place,

00:59:27.250 --> 00:59:29.490
like you don't realize I have to do

00:59:29.590 --> 00:59:31.913
two different posts every time because

00:59:32.193 --> 00:59:33.693
they will only let you post to nine

00:59:33.713 --> 00:59:34.074
groups.

00:59:34.094 --> 00:59:35.514
So I did have to go in and

00:59:35.554 --> 00:59:37.255
recreate that same post.

00:59:37.637 --> 00:59:38.036
Thankfully,

00:59:38.376 --> 00:59:40.599
I I do all my posts and I

00:59:40.619 --> 00:59:42.480
can just copy and paste it right back.

00:59:43.039 --> 00:59:43.219
Right.

00:59:43.260 --> 00:59:44.481
So it's not that I'm not doing a

00:59:44.521 --> 00:59:46.001
lot of work in terms of that,

00:59:46.443 --> 00:59:47.784
but it is remembering, OK.

00:59:48.907 --> 00:59:50.648
Which nine did I just do to make

00:59:50.688 --> 00:59:52.389
sure I don't overlap and piss off the

00:59:52.429 --> 00:59:54.309
administrators of that group or the

00:59:54.369 --> 00:59:55.668
moderators of that group?

00:59:56.028 --> 00:59:57.510
Because I've done that more than once,

00:59:57.550 --> 00:59:58.050
I'm sure.

00:59:58.070 --> 00:59:58.949
I'm sure.

00:59:59.409 --> 00:59:59.510
Yeah,

00:59:59.530 --> 01:00:01.210
that seems like an easy mistake to make.

01:00:02.230 --> 01:00:02.389
Yeah,

01:00:02.409 --> 01:00:03.791
I'm pretty sure I probably do it once

01:00:03.831 --> 01:00:05.471
a week.

01:00:05.490 --> 01:00:06.210
Thankfully, you know,

01:00:06.490 --> 01:00:08.331
I haven't got any nasty grams going.

01:00:08.371 --> 01:00:09.572
Hey, what the hell are you doing?

01:00:10.452 --> 01:00:11.931
So thankfully, I haven't got none of that.

01:00:12.211 --> 01:00:13.771
So I must be doing something OK.

01:00:13.791 --> 01:00:15.492
So clearly, yeah.

01:00:18.664 --> 01:00:20.505
So let's talk about issue two, man.

01:00:21.385 --> 01:00:23.346
I've gotten to read the little spoiler you

01:00:23.365 --> 01:00:24.106
got in there.

01:00:24.606 --> 01:00:28.027
What more can we expect in that second

01:00:28.168 --> 01:00:28.547
issue?

01:00:28.608 --> 01:00:30.608
We're going to get to see some expansion

01:00:30.668 --> 01:00:32.068
of the Greek mythology.

01:00:32.849 --> 01:00:34.210
I hope there's more Squirrel and more

01:00:34.250 --> 01:00:35.190
Minotaur, personally.

01:00:35.971 --> 01:00:38.532
So definitely going to be some more

01:00:38.592 --> 01:00:40.112
Squirrel, some more Minotaur.

01:00:40.972 --> 01:00:43.253
And again, more of the...

01:00:44.579 --> 01:00:46.420
more of the dynamics with the,

01:00:46.440 --> 01:00:48.181
with the family and friends, which is,

01:00:49.081 --> 01:00:49.722
well,

01:00:49.802 --> 01:00:52.384
he's got such a great dynamic there too.

01:00:52.423 --> 01:00:53.023
And I, and I just,

01:00:53.204 --> 01:00:54.905
another thing I loved about this story,

01:00:54.925 --> 01:00:56.965
he's got such a fantastic friend group.

01:00:57.567 --> 01:01:00.768
His, his grandma, his mom and dad,

01:01:00.788 --> 01:01:03.090
they all seem like there's such a good

01:01:03.130 --> 01:01:04.070
dynamic there,

01:01:04.570 --> 01:01:05.871
even though he's still kind of got that

01:01:05.931 --> 01:01:08.893
normal, like early twenties ain't like,

01:01:08.913 --> 01:01:10.213
I don't want to go to meanwhile's house.

01:01:10.233 --> 01:01:10.612
Come on.

01:01:11.494 --> 01:01:11.773
Right.

01:01:11.813 --> 01:01:12.333
Well, yeah.

01:01:12.373 --> 01:01:13.514
Like, I mean, that's kind of,

01:01:14.195 --> 01:01:15.856
yeah,

01:01:16.956 --> 01:01:18.036
the family's just going to do the same

01:01:18.056 --> 01:01:19.456
thing the family always does.

01:01:20.336 --> 01:01:24.557
And it starts with his grandfather had

01:01:24.577 --> 01:01:27.458
passed in issue one.

01:01:27.478 --> 01:01:29.619
So it's like, yeah,

01:01:29.659 --> 01:01:30.880
everyone grieves their own way.

01:01:31.280 --> 01:01:32.141
And for him,

01:01:34.141 --> 01:01:35.922
even though he knows his family wants him

01:01:35.942 --> 01:01:38.822
there, it's a little much for him.

01:01:38.842 --> 01:01:41.324
So he'd rather be around his friends and

01:01:41.923 --> 01:01:43.485
maybe try and think about something else.

01:01:47.474 --> 01:01:51.177
But he also knows that his yaya needs

01:01:51.217 --> 01:01:53.619
his help and needs him to come over

01:01:53.679 --> 01:01:54.780
and do some of this.

01:01:55.740 --> 01:01:57.302
So that's why he ends up doing it

01:01:57.322 --> 01:01:58.202
because he's a good kid.

01:01:59.123 --> 01:02:00.364
He's ultimately a good kid.

01:02:01.266 --> 01:02:03.447
And even though he's gone and Meemaw,

01:02:03.807 --> 01:02:04.788
you don't know how much time you're going

01:02:04.809 --> 01:02:07.010
to get with Meemaw.

01:02:07.070 --> 01:02:08.572
Go see your Meemaw's people is what I'm

01:02:08.612 --> 01:02:08.972
saying.

01:02:11.039 --> 01:02:12.161
And if they need something,

01:02:12.742 --> 01:02:13.583
you help your family,

01:02:13.643 --> 01:02:16.905
even if it annoys you a little bit.

01:02:17.005 --> 01:02:19.728
And so he comes through and he goes

01:02:19.748 --> 01:02:20.809
and unwinds with his friends.

01:02:20.849 --> 01:02:23.032
But it really is, I think,

01:02:24.353 --> 01:02:27.077
the mixing of the family dynamics and the

01:02:27.137 --> 01:02:30.199
friendship dynamics and the mythology and

01:02:30.219 --> 01:02:31.902
the adventure and all that put together.

01:02:32.394 --> 01:02:32.815
And yeah,

01:02:33.275 --> 01:02:34.615
we're taking another step in that

01:02:34.635 --> 01:02:35.077
direction.

01:02:35.117 --> 01:02:36.277
He's going to have a lot more.

01:02:36.797 --> 01:02:37.018
Like I said,

01:02:37.038 --> 01:02:38.097
you're going to see the costume.

01:02:38.117 --> 01:02:39.938
You're going to see the powers a little

01:02:39.978 --> 01:02:41.840
bit more developed in this.

01:02:42.601 --> 01:02:44.702
And you're going to see he has a

01:02:44.762 --> 01:02:47.844
big decision to make in issue two.

01:02:47.903 --> 01:02:50.485
And you're going to get to see what

01:02:50.505 --> 01:02:51.385
that decision is.

01:02:52.065 --> 01:02:54.128
Are we going to start to see some

01:02:54.248 --> 01:02:56.869
enemies or threats start to emerge in

01:02:59.150 --> 01:02:59.650
issue two?

01:03:01.099 --> 01:03:01.800
Well, right.

01:03:01.860 --> 01:03:06.282
And so you are going to see there's

01:03:06.302 --> 01:03:08.463
going to be dealing with what's in front

01:03:08.483 --> 01:03:11.664
of him, obviously, and then dealing with,

01:03:11.744 --> 01:03:12.125
you know,

01:03:13.206 --> 01:03:15.967
and then a bit more of a more,

01:03:16.047 --> 01:03:16.286
I think,

01:03:16.327 --> 01:03:18.188
more of a hint at what's coming in

01:03:18.248 --> 01:03:19.608
issue three.

01:03:20.268 --> 01:03:20.969
Okay.

01:03:20.989 --> 01:03:24.610
As opposed to a true emergence of it.

01:03:24.831 --> 01:03:26.992
Okay.

01:03:27.072 --> 01:03:27.952
You know, you see.

01:03:27.972 --> 01:03:28.773
You saw a build to it.

01:03:30.617 --> 01:03:32.298
I think I can give this little clue,

01:03:32.378 --> 01:03:33.759
and we've already seen it a little bit

01:03:33.798 --> 01:03:34.338
with Miko.

01:03:34.699 --> 01:03:36.619
So Miko, the squirrel,

01:03:36.659 --> 01:03:38.960
comes from Native American lore.

01:03:40.440 --> 01:03:43.300
Whereas, obviously,

01:03:43.860 --> 01:03:46.782
the talisman comes from Greek mythology.

01:03:47.942 --> 01:03:48.681
What does that tell us?

01:03:48.702 --> 01:03:51.262
That tells us that multiple mythologies

01:03:51.882 --> 01:03:55.023
and lores exist and in this world were

01:03:55.664 --> 01:03:55.884
real.

01:03:57.152 --> 01:03:59.092
Um, so I'll leave,

01:03:59.213 --> 01:04:01.233
I'll leave that little teaser out there as

01:04:01.293 --> 01:04:03.494
far as what might be coming, uh,

01:04:03.554 --> 01:04:06.596
for issue from issue three and, and the,

01:04:06.775 --> 01:04:09.436
and through the rest of the arc.

01:04:09.617 --> 01:04:10.177
Yeah, I like it.

01:04:10.197 --> 01:04:11.737
So how far out is, uh,

01:04:11.777 --> 01:04:13.039
the Olympian planned?

01:04:13.719 --> 01:04:15.659
We looking at like a six issue series

01:04:15.699 --> 01:04:16.039
here,

01:04:16.159 --> 01:04:19.601
or are we looking at like an arc

01:04:19.661 --> 01:04:20.322
of sits?

01:04:20.882 --> 01:04:21.842
Yeah, we're playing for an arc,

01:04:21.922 --> 01:04:22.782
a five issue arc.

01:04:22.802 --> 01:04:22.902
Okay.

01:04:24.304 --> 01:04:25.025
With all these,

01:04:25.065 --> 01:04:26.867
with both of these stories that I've done,

01:04:26.947 --> 01:04:28.146
I kind of wanted to break it up

01:04:28.186 --> 01:04:32.929
in a way that if a publisher with

01:04:32.989 --> 01:04:34.170
funding came calling,

01:04:35.431 --> 01:04:37.711
it would be very easy to put it

01:04:37.751 --> 01:04:40.833
into an existing framework and sell it

01:04:40.873 --> 01:04:41.313
that way.

01:04:43.034 --> 01:04:44.376
But also, you know,

01:04:44.496 --> 01:04:47.998
easier to break down and make this and

01:04:48.237 --> 01:04:49.318
get it out to the fans that we

01:04:49.378 --> 01:04:50.278
have that are supporting.

01:04:51.211 --> 01:04:53.512
from you know from the ground floor uh

01:04:53.572 --> 01:04:55.153
so yeah so i want to keep it

01:04:55.193 --> 01:04:59.014
manageable five issues i'll still end up

01:04:59.054 --> 01:05:02.715
being over a hundred pages of story um

01:05:02.936 --> 01:05:06.117
and with room to grow and go in

01:05:06.177 --> 01:05:08.259
many different directions after that if

01:05:08.298 --> 01:05:12.019
the support's there for it um and uh

01:05:12.079 --> 01:05:14.280
like i say and and that's the same

01:05:14.300 --> 01:05:16.362
with the olympian and with with our other

01:05:16.402 --> 01:05:18.322
stories too like i always want to leave

01:05:18.342 --> 01:05:19.282
the door open for

01:05:20.463 --> 01:05:22.945
for something additional in that universe.

01:05:22.965 --> 01:05:23.065
If,

01:05:23.346 --> 01:05:24.927
if we decide that we have stories to

01:05:24.967 --> 01:05:25.266
tell,

01:05:26.668 --> 01:05:27.989
but I also want to wrap up the

01:05:28.048 --> 01:05:30.590
story that we're telling in a satisfying

01:05:31.150 --> 01:05:31.672
way.

01:05:31.751 --> 01:05:31.972
Yeah.

01:05:31.992 --> 01:05:33.193
Oh yeah.

01:05:33.233 --> 01:05:34.914
So that we can, you know,

01:05:34.954 --> 01:05:37.514
so people feel like they're not on the

01:05:37.574 --> 01:05:37.735
hook.

01:05:37.755 --> 01:05:38.295
You got it.

01:05:39.036 --> 01:05:39.597
Yeah.

01:05:39.637 --> 01:05:41.398
Like they got their whole story in that,

01:05:41.677 --> 01:05:44.039
in that just in case, you know,

01:05:44.119 --> 01:05:46.742
in five issues is a lot of pages

01:05:46.762 --> 01:05:48.143
when you sit down and think about it

01:05:49.242 --> 01:05:49.523
and,

01:05:50.688 --> 01:05:51.208
I personally,

01:05:51.268 --> 01:05:53.190
I like to get a full story and

01:05:53.231 --> 01:05:54.672
then an arc within six.

01:05:54.731 --> 01:05:55.452
You know what I'm saying?

01:05:56.172 --> 01:05:56.432
Right.

01:05:57.974 --> 01:06:00.335
To me, that's just,

01:06:00.355 --> 01:06:02.456
I call it standard comic book,

01:06:02.556 --> 01:06:03.936
but at the same time,

01:06:04.677 --> 01:06:06.259
if you can't get a good arc out

01:06:06.298 --> 01:06:08.400
in six issues, what are you doing?

01:06:09.681 --> 01:06:10.121
Right, right.

01:06:10.161 --> 01:06:14.664
I feel like with few exceptions,

01:06:15.925 --> 01:06:16.485
at that point,

01:06:16.505 --> 01:06:17.965
you're probably just dragging it out

01:06:19.684 --> 01:06:20.824
Because maybe you don't know where you're

01:06:20.844 --> 01:06:21.425
going with it.

01:06:23.407 --> 01:06:23.588
Yeah.

01:06:23.608 --> 01:06:25.268
And I've seen stories like that as well.

01:06:25.329 --> 01:06:27.610
And I think Marvel's notorious for that.

01:06:28.552 --> 01:06:29.793
Well, and if you can't look,

01:06:29.833 --> 01:06:31.114
if you want to tell a good story,

01:06:31.155 --> 01:06:31.875
especially, again,

01:06:31.934 --> 01:06:33.336
especially in the indie format,

01:06:34.177 --> 01:06:36.278
when you're doing it in this way, like,

01:06:36.980 --> 01:06:38.001
I feel like going into it,

01:06:38.041 --> 01:06:38.842
you've got to know

01:06:39.829 --> 01:06:41.431
where that story's going.

01:06:41.471 --> 01:06:44.672
The backers have to have an idea too.

01:06:44.693 --> 01:06:45.753
They have to know going in.

01:06:45.813 --> 01:06:47.293
If they're going to support you and become

01:06:47.313 --> 01:06:49.335
a fan, they got to know.

01:06:50.295 --> 01:06:51.115
They really do.

01:06:51.155 --> 01:06:51.577
Otherwise,

01:06:51.597 --> 01:06:55.458
that support's going to be dried up.

01:06:55.478 --> 01:06:56.139
That's the thing.

01:06:57.059 --> 01:06:58.860
We're going to have five issues of the

01:06:58.900 --> 01:06:59.340
Olympian.

01:07:00.476 --> 01:07:01.376
And like I say,

01:07:01.396 --> 01:07:02.958
not to say we won't have more stories

01:07:03.018 --> 01:07:03.498
after that.

01:07:04.278 --> 01:07:04.920
Um,

01:07:04.980 --> 01:07:07.862
but we're going with the original five and

01:07:07.902 --> 01:07:09.742
then heroes and zeros is going to be

01:07:09.762 --> 01:07:10.503
a three issue arc,

01:07:11.204 --> 01:07:12.806
but it's the three double issues.

01:07:13.606 --> 01:07:15.067
So, you know, we're,

01:07:15.467 --> 01:07:17.369
we're working on that one and we've got

01:07:17.409 --> 01:07:17.989
our plans.

01:07:18.070 --> 01:07:19.791
I already had my, my,

01:07:20.010 --> 01:07:21.773
our initial planning meetings with Casey

01:07:21.813 --> 01:07:24.574
on that one to, uh, uh,

01:07:24.614 --> 01:07:26.096
for timelines and everything.

01:07:26.155 --> 01:07:27.237
But, um,

01:07:29.407 --> 01:07:31.570
we're we've got everything ready and we're

01:07:32.690 --> 01:07:35.032
laser focused now on these two stories

01:07:35.552 --> 01:07:37.155
we're going to get these two arcs out

01:07:37.594 --> 01:07:40.117
and just like every other writer out there

01:07:40.797 --> 01:07:43.059
i've got like ten other ideas that i

01:07:43.099 --> 01:07:47.744
could pursue yeah depending on depending

01:07:47.824 --> 01:07:49.244
on who i get to work with me

01:07:49.346 --> 01:07:50.547
and and

01:07:51.983 --> 01:07:53.804
you know, what seems to be appealing and,

01:07:54.125 --> 01:07:56.565
and like the best bet to really,

01:07:56.585 --> 01:08:00.327
you know, put out the next one.

01:08:00.467 --> 01:08:00.706
Oh yeah.

01:08:01.047 --> 01:08:03.987
So let's talk about the Kickstarter coming

01:08:04.068 --> 01:08:04.188
up.

01:08:04.248 --> 01:08:04.927
When, when does,

01:08:05.047 --> 01:08:06.768
when can people expect to see the next

01:08:06.827 --> 01:08:08.909
Kickstarter for the Olympian issue too?

01:08:09.528 --> 01:08:13.110
So we are looking to launch barring any

01:08:13.389 --> 01:08:14.891
hiccups on April.

01:08:16.430 --> 01:08:16.711
Okay.

01:08:16.730 --> 01:08:18.311
So not that far away.

01:08:18.332 --> 01:08:18.992
Less than a month.

01:08:20.814 --> 01:08:23.216
Not too far away, yeah.

01:08:23.237 --> 01:08:24.237
Do you have the pre-launch yet?

01:08:24.978 --> 01:08:25.918
Yeah, pre-launch is up.

01:08:25.979 --> 01:08:27.961
It's olympiancomic.com.

01:08:29.521 --> 01:08:30.722
Okay, if you want to send me that,

01:08:30.802 --> 01:08:34.025
I will include that as well in the

01:08:34.065 --> 01:08:35.006
social media stuff.

01:08:35.266 --> 01:08:36.707
Oh, absolutely, yeah.

01:08:36.828 --> 01:08:38.628
And I've done that on purpose.

01:08:38.708 --> 01:08:40.970
I try to get it so that we're

01:08:40.970 --> 01:08:44.654
– yeah,

01:08:44.673 --> 01:08:45.755
I try and get it so that I've

01:08:45.795 --> 01:08:48.117
gotten easy to remember and easy to share.

01:08:48.778 --> 01:08:49.057
Yeah.

01:08:50.235 --> 01:08:51.979
website rather than the, you know,

01:08:52.180 --> 01:08:53.684
kickstart.com slash.

01:08:53.703 --> 01:08:54.886
Yeah.

01:08:55.506 --> 01:08:55.688
Yeah.

01:08:55.728 --> 01:08:57.431
That nobody can ever remember that,

01:08:57.471 --> 01:08:58.713
but Olympian comic,

01:08:58.935 --> 01:09:00.198
you can probably remember that one.

01:09:01.436 --> 01:09:01.818
I know.

01:09:02.278 --> 01:09:03.738
That's why I asked to send it because

01:09:03.798 --> 01:09:04.458
I will forget.

01:09:04.479 --> 01:09:06.581
But if you send it to me,

01:09:06.881 --> 01:09:07.381
that's the thing.

01:09:07.421 --> 01:09:08.181
If you send it to me,

01:09:08.221 --> 01:09:09.301
then I can add it to what I

01:09:09.322 --> 01:09:10.422
already have over here.

01:09:10.443 --> 01:09:12.083
And it makes it easier for me on

01:09:12.104 --> 01:09:13.824
the backside to when I go to make

01:09:13.864 --> 01:09:15.685
this into a YouTube description.

01:09:16.207 --> 01:09:17.568
It's easier just for me to pull it

01:09:17.648 --> 01:09:18.427
over and do it.

01:09:18.747 --> 01:09:19.809
I didn't mean you personally,

01:09:20.009 --> 01:09:20.890
but more generally.

01:09:22.109 --> 01:09:23.490
Yeah, no,

01:09:23.591 --> 01:09:25.671
I like to get everything out as humanly

01:09:25.712 --> 01:09:27.052
possible for the person,

01:09:27.393 --> 01:09:28.912
especially if it's the Kickstarter

01:09:29.234 --> 01:09:29.894
prelaunch.

01:09:29.913 --> 01:09:32.694
I know how much that prelaunch means to

01:09:32.734 --> 01:09:33.114
people.

01:09:33.295 --> 01:09:34.676
Yeah, I appreciate that.

01:09:34.695 --> 01:09:36.697
And I tell people all the time, look,

01:09:37.818 --> 01:09:39.497
if you think there's anything at all

01:09:39.578 --> 01:09:40.599
interesting about this,

01:09:41.298 --> 01:09:42.960
please follow the prelaunch.

01:09:43.618 --> 01:09:45.720
Because you're not locked in.

01:09:45.760 --> 01:09:47.240
You don't even have to back it when

01:09:47.280 --> 01:09:47.740
it launches.

01:09:47.780 --> 01:09:49.243
If you decide later, you don't want to.

01:09:49.722 --> 01:09:51.585
But having those higher pre-launch numbers

01:09:51.645 --> 01:09:53.105
helps us when we launch.

01:09:53.706 --> 01:09:54.907
And I've never...

01:09:56.057 --> 01:09:59.921
conclusively confirm this but i am fairly

01:09:59.940 --> 01:10:01.841
well convinced that that does play into

01:10:01.902 --> 01:10:05.765
kickstarter it does promote and support so

01:10:05.824 --> 01:10:08.667
you know i mean there's that and then

01:10:08.846 --> 01:10:11.448
you know there's backer kit as well which

01:10:11.509 --> 01:10:13.989
is a secondary thing that will do all

01:10:14.010 --> 01:10:17.592
that stuff for you which is an additional

01:10:18.092 --> 01:10:19.934
amount of money you have to give to

01:10:20.154 --> 01:10:22.957
this and they push that kickstarter for

01:10:22.997 --> 01:10:23.117
you

01:10:24.560 --> 01:10:25.761
And there's nothing wrong with that.

01:10:26.082 --> 01:10:27.422
I know people who have done it and

01:10:27.443 --> 01:10:29.545
they love it and cool.

01:10:30.265 --> 01:10:32.987
However, if I, as you know,

01:10:33.726 --> 01:10:36.149
Snuffy can get this in front of,

01:10:36.328 --> 01:10:38.990
you know, my social media eyes as well,

01:10:39.551 --> 01:10:43.134
then that's one more way of pushing that.

01:10:43.213 --> 01:10:45.015
And the more prelaunch you have in the

01:10:45.114 --> 01:10:47.155
algorithm does in fact for Kickstarter,

01:10:47.417 --> 01:10:49.057
because you have to look at Kickstarter as

01:10:49.097 --> 01:10:50.338
another social media, right?

01:10:50.399 --> 01:10:51.719
Even though that's how you're funding your

01:10:51.760 --> 01:10:52.300
book, right?

01:10:53.234 --> 01:10:55.457
is it will make it more readily available.

01:10:55.497 --> 01:10:56.698
So when you go to Kickstarter,

01:10:57.078 --> 01:10:57.918
comic books,

01:10:58.618 --> 01:11:01.180
they're just all kind of jumbled in there

01:11:01.261 --> 01:11:02.001
and you can see them.

01:11:02.962 --> 01:11:04.143
But if you're doing well on your

01:11:04.182 --> 01:11:06.465
pre-launch, then when you go to launch,

01:11:06.904 --> 01:11:08.565
it's going to be more visibility because

01:11:08.786 --> 01:11:10.226
it's going to be toward the front of

01:11:10.287 --> 01:11:10.847
the pack.

01:11:12.708 --> 01:11:14.409
Right, yeah.

01:11:14.430 --> 01:11:15.511
And that's really it.

01:11:15.690 --> 01:11:17.271
And that's just another way to support

01:11:17.431 --> 01:11:19.833
indie creators that are doing the

01:11:19.873 --> 01:11:20.774
crowdfunding is

01:11:21.310 --> 01:11:23.813
Give them a follow on the pre-launch page.

01:11:25.073 --> 01:11:25.434
They're free.

01:11:25.913 --> 01:11:26.474
It does help.

01:11:26.954 --> 01:11:29.595
And that part, at least,

01:11:29.695 --> 01:11:31.957
is no financial commitment whatsoever.

01:11:32.318 --> 01:11:33.859
You decide later if you really want to

01:11:33.878 --> 01:11:34.479
back it or not.

01:11:35.220 --> 01:11:36.940
Likes and follows are free.

01:11:37.060 --> 01:11:38.181
Yeah, absolutely.

01:11:40.284 --> 01:11:42.467
Crowdfunding has become one of the biggest

01:11:42.507 --> 01:11:44.451
tools for indie comics.

01:11:44.730 --> 01:11:47.175
What have you learned in your years or

01:11:47.354 --> 01:11:50.259
a few short years of running Kickstarters?

01:11:50.279 --> 01:11:51.560
Because it's no easy task.

01:11:52.523 --> 01:11:52.743
Yeah,

01:11:52.863 --> 01:11:55.806
it's what I've learned is just keep trying

01:11:55.868 --> 01:11:56.328
new stuff.

01:11:57.641 --> 01:11:59.141
because I don't think I have any kind

01:11:59.162 --> 01:12:00.222
of magic formula.

01:12:00.943 --> 01:12:02.063
There's not one.

01:12:02.122 --> 01:12:02.502
Yeah.

01:12:02.863 --> 01:12:05.163
It's I'll keep trying new stuff.

01:12:05.203 --> 01:12:07.224
I'll keep putting out different options,

01:12:07.264 --> 01:12:10.625
different tiers, trying some, you know,

01:12:10.664 --> 01:12:11.944
try and get in front of different

01:12:11.984 --> 01:12:15.006
audiences, you know, come on podcasts.

01:12:15.065 --> 01:12:15.426
Thank you.

01:12:16.065 --> 01:12:17.805
Yeah, no, I love having people on.

01:12:17.865 --> 01:12:19.386
I love talking kickstarters.

01:12:19.487 --> 01:12:20.987
I love lunch and kickstarters.

01:12:21.006 --> 01:12:22.827
It's just so fun to do.

01:12:22.846 --> 01:12:26.328
And with, with Kickstarter and like,

01:12:27.287 --> 01:12:28.047
There's no,

01:12:29.748 --> 01:12:32.069
whatever kind of tier or add on or

01:12:32.109 --> 01:12:33.831
thing that you think people might be

01:12:33.890 --> 01:12:34.431
interested in.

01:12:34.452 --> 01:12:35.931
There's no harm in ever putting it out

01:12:35.972 --> 01:12:36.273
there.

01:12:37.012 --> 01:12:37.753
Like, yeah, no.

01:12:37.873 --> 01:12:39.414
And that's literally the next question.

01:12:39.614 --> 01:12:41.296
When you go to launch this, what,

01:12:41.655 --> 01:12:43.917
what do you have anything special planned?

01:12:43.957 --> 01:12:45.417
Are you just doing like the books?

01:12:46.059 --> 01:12:48.260
What's the plan for Olympian number two?

01:12:48.300 --> 01:12:50.442
So we're going to have a tier for,

01:12:51.162 --> 01:12:52.882
um, obviously for the digital,

01:12:52.922 --> 01:12:54.663
for the physical copy with the,

01:12:54.703 --> 01:12:55.664
for the variant cover.

01:12:56.317 --> 01:12:58.279
I usually do a version where you can

01:12:58.319 --> 01:13:02.221
get all covers for people who want that.

01:13:04.002 --> 01:13:09.346
You'll be able to get add-on issue one

01:13:09.747 --> 01:13:12.128
if you didn't get a copy of issue

01:13:12.229 --> 01:13:13.690
one before and you want a copy now.

01:13:14.992 --> 01:13:18.073
But we're also going to have a couple.

01:13:18.274 --> 01:13:20.416
So we did a coin in the first

01:13:20.536 --> 01:13:21.796
one that was a big hit that was

01:13:22.337 --> 01:13:23.878
a coin version of the talisman.

01:13:23.899 --> 01:13:25.060
Oh, that'd be really dope.

01:13:26.078 --> 01:13:28.038
And that was a really big hit.

01:13:28.059 --> 01:13:30.420
And so we're doing another coin this time

01:13:30.460 --> 01:13:34.141
around with a Styrian with the Minotaur on

01:13:34.162 --> 01:13:34.722
it.

01:13:34.842 --> 01:13:35.243
Oh, cool.

01:13:35.603 --> 01:13:36.503
Yeah.

01:13:36.623 --> 01:13:39.085
And so hopefully that'll be a big hit

01:13:39.125 --> 01:13:39.404
again.

01:13:40.966 --> 01:13:42.186
We're doing t-shirts this time.

01:13:43.747 --> 01:13:45.427
And so we've got two different designs on

01:13:45.448 --> 01:13:48.829
the t-shirts that people can order.

01:13:51.190 --> 01:13:52.131
You know, we have...

01:13:53.469 --> 01:13:56.229
I think we've got a couple of spots

01:13:56.270 --> 01:13:59.011
for advertisers in the back of the issue,

01:13:59.051 --> 01:13:59.810
half page ads.

01:14:02.150 --> 01:14:03.792
And one thing I put out for the

01:14:03.811 --> 01:14:05.591
last campaign for Heroes and Zeros that I

01:14:05.612 --> 01:14:08.972
think is going to be a mainstay is

01:14:09.012 --> 01:14:10.413
going to be the patron tier,

01:14:11.613 --> 01:14:15.175
which is obviously a much higher price

01:14:15.215 --> 01:14:15.534
point.

01:14:16.734 --> 01:14:18.354
And I don't expect that most people are

01:14:18.373 --> 01:14:19.675
going to look at that and say,

01:14:19.715 --> 01:14:20.314
that's for me.

01:14:20.954 --> 01:14:25.095
But for somebody who is a repeat backer,

01:14:25.115 --> 01:14:28.115
who backs most of our campaigns,

01:14:29.657 --> 01:14:31.396
or who just is very generous and wants

01:14:31.436 --> 01:14:32.856
to help us out,

01:14:33.778 --> 01:14:35.057
it's that higher price point.

01:14:35.137 --> 01:14:38.219
But I said, OK, for the last campaign,

01:14:38.998 --> 01:14:40.819
you're going to get everything that we

01:14:40.859 --> 01:14:43.220
publish between now and twenty thirty plus

01:14:43.340 --> 01:14:44.800
any Kickstarter stretch goals.

01:14:46.470 --> 01:14:47.891
Now, that's not a guarantee.

01:14:47.912 --> 01:14:50.033
Honestly, that's a pretty good deal.

01:14:50.993 --> 01:14:51.134
Now,

01:14:51.154 --> 01:14:53.456
that's not a guarantee about what we will

01:14:53.496 --> 01:14:55.296
publish or when we'll publish it.

01:14:55.337 --> 01:14:57.359
We don't make any promises about that.

01:14:58.640 --> 01:15:00.720
But I think we've got a fairly consistent

01:15:01.301 --> 01:15:01.681
record.

01:15:01.721 --> 01:15:03.582
And now that we're focusing only on these

01:15:03.622 --> 01:15:04.323
two titles,

01:15:05.104 --> 01:15:07.126
and we're committed to getting these two

01:15:07.185 --> 01:15:10.328
story arcs out at minimum,

01:15:10.648 --> 01:15:14.091
you can certainly count on that happening

01:15:14.490 --> 01:15:15.511
within the next few years.

01:15:16.152 --> 01:15:17.532
And probably more.

01:15:19.412 --> 01:15:20.472
Most likely more,

01:15:20.733 --> 01:15:23.092
unless things go horribly, horribly wrong.

01:15:24.353 --> 01:15:27.634
So, again, not going to be for everybody,

01:15:27.673 --> 01:15:29.213
but we're going to have that patron tier

01:15:29.234 --> 01:15:31.055
for anybody who really feels like throwing

01:15:31.074 --> 01:15:32.314
that extra support our way.

01:15:33.475 --> 01:15:35.435
And we did get one backer at that

01:15:35.454 --> 01:15:37.176
tier in the last campaign.

01:15:37.256 --> 01:15:40.055
So shout out to Brian.

01:15:40.115 --> 01:15:40.655
Thank you, Brian.

01:15:40.676 --> 01:15:43.697
Way to go, Brian.

01:15:44.586 --> 01:15:46.506
And part of that also,

01:15:46.847 --> 01:15:48.228
a special thank you in the back of

01:15:48.247 --> 01:15:51.690
that issue that you joined for that tier

01:15:51.810 --> 01:15:56.193
and a few other cool things.

01:15:56.353 --> 01:16:00.775
And for anybody who is a paid subscriber

01:16:00.836 --> 01:16:04.497
to our newsletter,

01:16:04.859 --> 01:16:07.841
you're going to have tiers available with

01:16:07.860 --> 01:16:13.363
a discounted tier on the digital and

01:16:14.252 --> 01:16:16.474
free shipping on several of the physical

01:16:16.514 --> 01:16:16.894
tiers.

01:16:17.474 --> 01:16:20.376
So if you're willing to throw a few

01:16:20.416 --> 01:16:22.077
bucks a month our way on the newsletter,

01:16:23.578 --> 01:16:25.819
we'll get you back on the shipping on

01:16:25.859 --> 01:16:26.079
that.

01:16:26.980 --> 01:16:28.742
Plus you get other extras through the

01:16:28.761 --> 01:16:29.362
newsletter.

01:16:30.002 --> 01:16:32.463
You get previews of the art that other

01:16:32.484 --> 01:16:33.364
people aren't getting,

01:16:33.845 --> 01:16:35.185
or at least before other people are

01:16:35.206 --> 01:16:35.605
getting it.

01:16:37.141 --> 01:16:39.342
and uh you know some other i i

01:16:39.983 --> 01:16:41.384
again kind of by the seat of my

01:16:41.423 --> 01:16:43.944
pants with this but we're trying to come

01:16:43.963 --> 01:16:45.404
up with cool stuff every month to get

01:16:45.425 --> 01:16:48.286
to our newsletter no that's really cool

01:16:48.305 --> 01:16:51.127
and i always like having my name in

01:16:51.167 --> 01:16:52.367
the back of the book or having that

01:16:52.447 --> 01:16:54.427
as an option when it's affordable because

01:16:54.448 --> 01:16:56.469
some people price it like ridiculous i'm

01:16:56.488 --> 01:16:57.689
like dude you're just printing a page with

01:16:57.729 --> 01:16:59.630
names in the back why is this going

01:16:59.649 --> 01:17:01.291
to cost me twenty five or thirty bucks

01:17:01.310 --> 01:17:02.110
that's ridiculous

01:17:03.606 --> 01:17:04.966
And that's not a knock on anybody,

01:17:05.228 --> 01:17:06.787
but I do like it when it's like

01:17:06.887 --> 01:17:08.408
net twelve to fifteen dollar range.

01:17:08.429 --> 01:17:10.389
That way I can go, hey,

01:17:10.429 --> 01:17:12.050
let me go ahead and slap the podcast

01:17:12.090 --> 01:17:13.270
name in the back of this book.

01:17:13.289 --> 01:17:14.591
That way, when people get to the back,

01:17:14.650 --> 01:17:16.011
they see that podcast name.

01:17:16.051 --> 01:17:18.671
I can be like free advertisement.

01:17:18.731 --> 01:17:19.551
Well, not free,

01:17:19.712 --> 01:17:21.153
but cheap advertisement than what I would

01:17:21.193 --> 01:17:22.773
normally pay if I was going to advertise

01:17:23.573 --> 01:17:25.234
through like Google or something like

01:17:25.274 --> 01:17:25.514
that.

01:17:26.833 --> 01:17:27.654
So.

01:17:27.835 --> 01:17:28.614
Right, right.

01:17:30.162 --> 01:17:31.722
But let's talk about the future, man.

01:17:31.762 --> 01:17:34.145
What does the future have for Acorn

01:17:34.185 --> 01:17:34.524
Commons?

01:17:34.545 --> 01:17:37.627
You've got Heroes and Zeros, The Olympian,

01:17:37.686 --> 01:17:39.167
and I believe Intrusion?

01:17:40.309 --> 01:17:43.970
So the Intrusion was just a short that

01:17:44.030 --> 01:17:44.430
I did.

01:17:45.572 --> 01:17:47.953
That was one that I had been working

01:17:48.092 --> 01:17:48.213
on.

01:17:48.314 --> 01:17:52.515
No real dialogue or anything.

01:17:52.775 --> 01:17:54.677
I took some time to just put together

01:17:54.698 --> 01:17:56.958
this little three-page script.

01:17:56.979 --> 01:17:59.201
Okay.

01:17:59.240 --> 01:17:59.501
And

01:18:00.171 --> 01:18:02.132
There was one artist I've been following

01:18:02.953 --> 01:18:06.176
for years who just has a very distinct

01:18:06.275 --> 01:18:06.775
style,

01:18:06.836 --> 01:18:09.819
and I couldn't really imagine it being

01:18:09.838 --> 01:18:11.119
drawn by anybody else.

01:18:11.920 --> 01:18:12.440
Yeah, yeah.

01:18:12.501 --> 01:18:16.583
And that's an artist by the name of

01:18:16.663 --> 01:18:19.025
Lane Lloyd who is out there and does,

01:18:19.667 --> 01:18:22.769
and you'll see Lane pop up on some

01:18:22.788 --> 01:18:24.810
projects here and there and doing a lot

01:18:24.831 --> 01:18:25.490
of cover work.

01:18:28.869 --> 01:18:30.030
They do, again,

01:18:30.091 --> 01:18:32.731
very distinct and unique style.

01:18:32.752 --> 01:18:33.393
I was like, okay,

01:18:34.172 --> 01:18:36.833
I just got to get Lane to work

01:18:36.854 --> 01:18:37.975
with me on this one because I think

01:18:37.994 --> 01:18:40.155
it's come out pretty cool.

01:18:40.256 --> 01:18:40.615
Like I say,

01:18:40.636 --> 01:18:44.177
it's a little three-page horror short that

01:18:44.257 --> 01:18:45.439
I think came out really cool,

01:18:45.479 --> 01:18:47.300
black and white.

01:18:48.279 --> 01:18:50.720
It was just a fun thing to do.

01:18:52.922 --> 01:18:54.342
Other than that, I've got, like I say,

01:18:54.363 --> 01:18:55.503
a few other projects.

01:18:55.583 --> 01:18:56.583
Nothing that's...

01:18:58.948 --> 01:19:00.269
with most of them i've got about ten

01:19:00.309 --> 01:19:03.050
pages of script done and then an outline

01:19:03.409 --> 01:19:04.650
an outline because that's how i proved

01:19:04.730 --> 01:19:07.511
myself that i've got a viable idea yeah

01:19:07.551 --> 01:19:10.274
because i start writing it and then if

01:19:10.314 --> 01:19:12.314
it feels good and i feel like i've

01:19:12.354 --> 01:19:14.456
got a good grasp of you know the

01:19:14.496 --> 01:19:16.036
world and the characters and i'll take it

01:19:16.055 --> 01:19:18.917
from there okay but i'm not going to

01:19:18.957 --> 01:19:20.478
focus on any of those until i get

01:19:20.899 --> 01:19:25.520
these two done and out in the world

01:19:25.581 --> 01:19:26.841
i like you what does the next five

01:19:26.862 --> 01:19:27.521
years look like

01:19:28.948 --> 01:19:30.427
I say hopefully getting these two arcs

01:19:30.488 --> 01:19:34.128
done and then debuting a few other things

01:19:34.189 --> 01:19:39.229
and maybe some continued stories from the

01:19:39.270 --> 01:19:42.250
Olympian and Heroes and Zeros.

01:19:42.350 --> 01:19:44.110
I definitely really,

01:19:44.310 --> 01:19:45.890
having read Heroes and Zeros,

01:19:45.970 --> 01:19:48.731
that wasn't in the plans for this show,

01:19:49.311 --> 01:19:50.671
but it's one of those where if it's

01:19:50.712 --> 01:19:51.832
as good as the Olympian,

01:19:51.891 --> 01:19:53.972
I definitely want to go back and hopefully

01:19:53.993 --> 01:19:54.853
with the kit started,

01:19:55.092 --> 01:19:55.993
that will be available.

01:19:56.969 --> 01:19:58.349
I definitely want to read that now too

01:19:58.389 --> 01:20:02.211
because it really is such a good series.

01:20:03.390 --> 01:20:06.771
The Olympian is fun and I can't wait

01:20:06.792 --> 01:20:08.231
for this to kick off and launch.

01:20:08.252 --> 01:20:09.832
That way I can get my hands on

01:20:09.912 --> 01:20:10.012
it.

01:20:11.193 --> 01:20:14.054
Why don't you go ahead and let everybody

01:20:14.113 --> 01:20:17.795
know where they can find you.

01:20:17.935 --> 01:20:21.515
We have our website, acorncomics.com.

01:20:21.916 --> 01:20:24.777
You can get back copies of

01:20:25.475 --> 01:20:27.356
of anything we've done right now.

01:20:28.618 --> 01:20:29.939
I think all I've got in stock at

01:20:29.958 --> 01:20:32.301
the moment is the variant covers still.

01:20:33.282 --> 01:20:36.585
But that's not really a consolation prize.

01:20:36.604 --> 01:20:38.447
We got Heroes and Zeros won.

01:20:38.466 --> 01:20:40.809
We got variant covers by Dee Fish and

01:20:40.828 --> 01:20:41.448
Tom Rainey,

01:20:44.311 --> 01:20:47.014
Salome Lucia Antoinette and Walter

01:20:47.033 --> 01:20:48.315
Giovanni on the Olympian.

01:20:49.396 --> 01:20:51.779
All the covers were brilliant in my mind.

01:20:52.518 --> 01:20:54.680
Um, we've got some of the prints,

01:20:54.760 --> 01:20:56.301
some of the other merchandise we've got,

01:20:57.221 --> 01:21:00.064
um, you know, that we, uh,

01:21:00.604 --> 01:21:03.667
that we put through the Kickstarter, uh,

01:21:03.688 --> 01:21:05.149
the coins are up there on the website.

01:21:05.628 --> 01:21:07.690
The, um, you know, we,

01:21:07.751 --> 01:21:09.051
we're going to have some more once we

01:21:09.072 --> 01:21:11.595
get the reward shift for heroes and zeros

01:21:11.635 --> 01:21:11.914
too,

01:21:12.595 --> 01:21:15.257
which we should be shipping very shortly.

01:21:15.677 --> 01:21:16.918
Uh, well, you know,

01:21:17.158 --> 01:21:19.140
probably by the end of April, uh,

01:21:19.161 --> 01:21:20.082
they should all be in the mail.

01:21:21.574 --> 01:21:23.435
And once those are out to the backers,

01:21:23.475 --> 01:21:24.796
then they'll go up on the website as

01:21:24.877 --> 01:21:25.136
well.

01:21:25.176 --> 01:21:28.618
And we've got a pre-order slot for Heroes

01:21:28.639 --> 01:21:30.260
and Zeros two up on the website as

01:21:30.319 --> 01:21:30.581
well.

01:21:32.322 --> 01:21:33.021
Social media.

01:21:33.842 --> 01:21:34.103
Oh,

01:21:34.122 --> 01:21:37.625
you can also sign up for the newsletter

01:21:37.664 --> 01:21:40.246
there.

01:21:40.947 --> 01:21:42.467
That's just the easiest way for people to

01:21:42.488 --> 01:21:46.109
get on the newsletter as opposed to trying

01:21:46.130 --> 01:21:48.930
to figure out what the actual address is.

01:21:51.220 --> 01:21:54.103
I'm on blue sky threads, Facebook,

01:21:54.162 --> 01:21:56.944
Instagram, um, under acorn comics.

01:21:57.005 --> 01:21:57.886
In most cases,

01:21:58.605 --> 01:22:00.828
the handle on blue sky is easy.

01:22:00.969 --> 01:22:02.029
A E S Q.

01:22:02.090 --> 01:22:03.951
Like my last name lawyer.

01:22:04.792 --> 01:22:07.994
Um, I got the handle.

01:22:08.015 --> 01:22:08.956
I wasn't sure if I was going to

01:22:08.975 --> 01:22:11.177
be using it for my legal stuff or

01:22:11.217 --> 01:22:12.338
for my comic stuff.

01:22:12.918 --> 01:22:15.560
And it's definitely mostly towards the

01:22:15.581 --> 01:22:16.242
comic side.

01:22:16.983 --> 01:22:17.023
Um,

01:22:18.097 --> 01:22:22.179
But the headline is still Acorn Comics.

01:22:23.020 --> 01:22:24.920
So, you know, if you see me there,

01:22:24.939 --> 01:22:25.380
that's me.

01:22:26.921 --> 01:22:28.261
And you're on YouTube as well.

01:22:29.381 --> 01:22:31.261
I am, although I frankly,

01:22:31.362 --> 01:22:32.882
I don't really do much with it.

01:22:32.943 --> 01:22:34.523
That's just a place for me to put

01:22:34.603 --> 01:22:36.484
the trailers when I have a trailer for

01:22:36.524 --> 01:22:40.324
the for the comics now and occasionally a

01:22:40.345 --> 01:22:43.706
little promo video that my when my wife

01:22:43.725 --> 01:22:44.846
dresses like an axolotl.

01:22:47.162 --> 01:22:50.643
But which got by far the most views

01:22:50.682 --> 01:22:52.163
of anything I've ever put on YouTube.

01:22:52.783 --> 01:22:53.463
Oh, of course.

01:22:53.663 --> 01:22:54.104
Of course.

01:22:54.163 --> 01:22:55.204
But I don't want you to get in

01:22:55.225 --> 01:22:56.524
trouble with your wife.

01:22:57.005 --> 01:22:57.845
So, everyone,

01:22:58.685 --> 01:23:00.865
that brings us to the end of another

01:23:00.926 --> 01:23:02.987
episode of the USDM podcast.

01:23:03.426 --> 01:23:05.528
Huge thank you to Paul for joining us

01:23:05.568 --> 01:23:07.929
and giving us a behind-the-scenes look at

01:23:07.948 --> 01:23:09.849
the Olympia and the world he's building

01:23:09.889 --> 01:23:11.170
through Acorn Comics.

01:23:11.649 --> 01:23:12.949
If you enjoyed this conversation,

01:23:12.970 --> 01:23:15.051
make sure you check out the Olympian issue

01:23:15.070 --> 01:23:15.671
two podcast.

01:23:15.911 --> 01:23:17.471
April tenth when it launches on

01:23:17.532 --> 01:23:19.993
Kickstarter and be sure to follow Paul and

01:23:20.173 --> 01:23:22.395
acorn comics across social media to stay

01:23:22.534 --> 01:23:24.976
updated on Everything that they have

01:23:25.016 --> 01:23:27.698
coming up next and of course if you're

01:23:27.778 --> 01:23:30.619
new here Make sure you subscribe follow

01:23:30.779 --> 01:23:33.181
and share the show so he keep bringing

01:23:33.221 --> 01:23:36.203
you more conversations with the creators

01:23:36.583 --> 01:23:39.324
shaping the future of indie comics until

01:23:39.425 --> 01:23:40.046
next time

01:23:40.666 --> 01:23:42.787
The Council of Nerds is adjourned.

01:23:43.247 --> 01:23:45.409
This has been the USDN Podcast,

01:23:45.729 --> 01:23:48.091
where indie comics come to life.

01:23:48.893 --> 01:23:49.913
Y'all be safe out there.