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 it's the chairman of

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the united states department of nerds

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where we are for the people by the

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people and of the people and i'm a

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little out of breath because i was rushing

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to get this shared out across all the

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beautiful platforms that we are located on

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But some futures don't arrive quietly.

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They rebuild themselves from the ashes

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stronger, faster, and more advanced.

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But progress always comes with a price.

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And tonight,

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we step two hundred years into the future,

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a rebuilt Japan where guns are outlawed

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and technology has reshaped society,

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but yet violence.

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still finds a way.

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Laserblades, rising factions,

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a city under constant pressure,

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and in the middle of it all,

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a detective named Miko.

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Please tell me I said that right.

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Yeah, you said that right.

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Trying to survive long enough to uncover

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the truth.

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Our guest tonight is writer Todd Black,

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a creator with over a decade in comics,

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more than fifty published stories,

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and the architect behind the Cyberpunk

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Detective Saga,

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tokyo blade detectives and volume three is

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reaching its climax with issue number

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twelve on kickstarter an interlude story

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about consequences legacy and what happens

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after the dust settles ladies and

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gentlemen the council of nerds is now in

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session todd welcome to the united states

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department of nerds my friend honored to

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be here

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Now let's get into this because it is

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a really cool story.

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It's like Japanese Star Wars in my eyes

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is how I look at it.

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But Todd,

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for everybody meeting you for the first

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time, who I think is everybody here today,

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who is Todd Black as a creator?

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Like I said, my name is Todd.

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Nice to meet you.

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I'm a writer of comics and novels.

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I've been doing this for a decade now.

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I...

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I'm a guy who just loves to tell

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stories,

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and if you ever were to come to

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one of my Comic-Con tables,

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you'd see I had not only a widespread,

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but a wide array of genres that I

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have tapped into,

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with anime being the latest one,

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comics-wise, with Tokyo Blade Detectives.

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For me, it's very much,

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it's about the story,

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it's about the characters,

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about trying to get the most out of

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it so that you, the reader,

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will enjoy what you read every single

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time.

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I endeavor to put my best foot forward

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and my best, well not pen, I don't,

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I type,

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but I try to do my best with

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my writing and I appreciate everyone who

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reads any of my books.

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So was there a particular comic book in

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your life that kind of pulled you toward

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writing comics yourself?

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Actually, not a comic book.

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I grew up in the nineties in the

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golden age of superhero television.

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So Batman TAS, Superman TAS,

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Justice League, Batman Beyond, X-Men,

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Spider-Man, all of them.

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And I was enamored with all of it.

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I didn't read my first official comic book

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until I was eighteen years old because I

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didn't realize that there was a comic

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store near me.

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And even if I learned sooner,

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I guarantee my parents wouldn't have

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bought any for me.

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It's like, Todd,

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you need to buy it yourself,

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but they're so expensive.

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Uh,

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but eventually I went to a C two

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E two in Chicago comic-con.

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Okay.

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And I went to a panel called making

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comics, the Marvel way.

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And on the panel wasn't was Matt fraction

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of legendary comics name.

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And I said, Hey,

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I have had this idea for a comic

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in my head for awhile.

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What do I do to make it real?

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And he goes, look,

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if you're a writer and you want to

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make comics,

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go find an artist and go make comics.

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Like almost word for word,

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that's what he said.

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And so fast forward, oh, I don't know,

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two years,

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because apparently you need money to make

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comics.

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I finally got the funding to make it.

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And I found an artist named Alex Garcia.

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And we made my very first comic series

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called Guardians,

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which is my superhero story.

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And then I just started working one issue

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at a time, one book at a time,

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then started jumping genres.

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Then I went from comics to prose for

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a bit.

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I've got a bunch of prose novels out

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across a couple of series.

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And now it's just about trying to get

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the next story out,

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trying to get the next adventure out and

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seeing where everything goes.

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You're up to fifty stories.

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What keeps you... Schematics on that one.

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What keeps you creating, man?

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Like I said, I love stories.

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My biggest problem.

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Okay.

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I got a lot of problems.

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Okay.

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I mean, that's the thing.

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That's the big one is that I think

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some people underestimate how much it

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takes to make a comic.

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And especially when you look at certain

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Kickstarters where they're making,

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you know,

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thousands and thousands of dollars,

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everyone thinks, well, they're rich.

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No,

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a lot of that goes into the comic

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and production and then making the next

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thing.

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And then paying people on top of it.

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Yeah, not not not.

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And it does include doing things like

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comic cons,

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which I try to do a lot in

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my area.

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You know,

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those cost money just to get the table,

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get the comics to sell at the table.

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And then you have to sell enough to

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try and make a profit.

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It takes a lot.

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And I've been lucky in that I've had

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jobs that have supported me enough so I

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can do all of this.

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but it does cost a lot of money

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to make a single book.

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Even with novel writing,

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it costs a lot because you might think,

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well, you're only just typing the words,

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right?

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Well, that's true,

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but you're also paying for the cover.

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So depending on your artist,

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that could cost a lot.

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And then if you have an editor,

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which you absolutely should,

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they could cost you as much as like

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ten comic pages because they're going

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through hundreds of pages and

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helping you with story flow and grammar

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and all that.

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So it all adds up in the end.

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But my other problem is that I just

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have way too many ideas in my head.

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Like I already know what my,

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what I want my next comic series to

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be multiple comic series.

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And then I,

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I just finished one prose novel,

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which is off to editing and I'm already

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starting my next novel adventure in a

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completely different genre.

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So I still don't have the time for

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it all.

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And then I have side jobs.

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I have my main job.

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I have comic cons.

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It'll be starting for me in two weeks.

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And,

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much to do but i love it and

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i love that i have something to hold

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on to is like even if everything else

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is going bad i've got my comics i

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got my novels and i got these other

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stories i want to bring to the world

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let's break that down real quick because i

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don't think people really understand so if

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you get a table yeah at a comic-con

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right just a local comic-con a table is

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going to be anywhere from twenty five to

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seventy five dollars at a small one and

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we're talking a small convention

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They may not even provide you the table.

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So now you're on the hook for the

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cheers and the table.

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You just don't want to show up with

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a table.

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So therefore now you need a banner with

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your name or logo on it.

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So quick estimate,

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thirty five to fifty bucks for that.

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Then it's the display stands.

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You just don't want to have your stuff

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just laying on the table.

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You want to make it look nice for

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the people come to see you and learning

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who you are.

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So

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let's say,

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fifty to a hundred bucks for comic book

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stands or something like that to for a

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proper way to make your comments

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presentable to the masses of people.

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Then on top of that,

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you throw in the cost of actually

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producing books.

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Say he's out of a book.

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He goes back to his printer and says,

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hey,

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can you print me twenty five copies of

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this book at what?

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Three ninety nine.

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Four dollars a pop depends on the printer.

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But that's a good estimate for now.

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So we're talking about that one day trip

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to a Comic-Con local to his house.

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We're looking at five to six hundred

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bucks.

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One day's worth of working.

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We now have to make that money back

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somehow,

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which gets unfortunately given out to the

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customers in the price of the book.

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So that's how that breaks down for anybody

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who's ever wondered how that works.

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And just to be clear,

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that was for a small con.

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All right.

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Yes.

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For like next month.

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One of my my biggest show of the

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year right now, at least,

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is I'm doing a show called Planet Comic

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Con Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.

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one of my best show I do every

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year by far in terms of sales.

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But even then,

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that's a four hundred dollar table just to

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get there.

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And then I drive six hours to get

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there.

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And then I have about four hundred dollars

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for the hotel.

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Yeah,

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they got four hundred dollars for the

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hotel, plus food,

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plus whatever other expenditures hit my

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way.

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So right there,

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I need to make about nine hundred dollars

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to technically cover costs.

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And technically,

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I'm not because of comic orders and

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everything.

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That's an entirely different thing.

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So things can add up very,

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very quickly if you're not careful.

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So.

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There you have it, folks.

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You love to see when your favorite comic

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creator shows up at Comic-Cons.

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The small guys,

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like Todd and all the other indie creators

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who you see on this podcast when they

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appear at a Comic-Con,

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it's out of their pocket.

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And it's not cheap.

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So that's what we're saying,

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and that's why we push so hard to

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support indie creators on the podcast is

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because...

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why not they they deserve as much love

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as the big guy because a lot of

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these guys are producing stuff better than

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what marvel and dc are putting out right

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now and i'll i will die on that

00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:55.892
hill i won't deny the certain ones but

00:10:56.511 --> 00:10:59.393
no sorry that was a tangent every now

00:10:59.413 --> 00:11:01.533
and then something like every now and then

00:11:01.553 --> 00:11:03.475
something comes up and it's very dear and

00:11:03.514 --> 00:11:04.955
near to me because i do love comic

00:11:04.975 --> 00:11:07.155
cons and i think it's important for people

00:11:07.176 --> 00:11:08.216
to understand

00:11:09.344 --> 00:11:10.865
what actually goes into those.

00:11:10.904 --> 00:11:13.044
And that was just a good opportunity.

00:11:13.605 --> 00:11:13.926
Thank you.

00:11:13.946 --> 00:11:14.206
Trust me.

00:11:14.245 --> 00:11:15.947
Comic-Cons are a huge part of what I

00:11:15.986 --> 00:11:18.607
do just because due to the nature of

00:11:18.648 --> 00:11:22.068
my, my existence, I'm a hermit.

00:11:22.469 --> 00:11:24.809
Like I work from home and everything.

00:11:25.149 --> 00:11:27.071
So Comic-Cons are my way to expand my

00:11:27.130 --> 00:11:27.350
reach.

00:11:27.390 --> 00:11:28.431
And there are plenty of people at

00:11:28.451 --> 00:11:30.491
Comic-Cons that I'll never meet online.

00:11:31.265 --> 00:11:33.366
So this is my chance to reach out

00:11:33.386 --> 00:11:34.148
to them to say like, hey,

00:11:34.168 --> 00:11:36.048
there's this book that they might like.

00:11:36.249 --> 00:11:38.169
And I've met lifelong friends at these

00:11:38.230 --> 00:11:38.791
shows.

00:11:38.811 --> 00:11:41.511
So my life would be so much more

00:11:41.591 --> 00:11:43.793
boring without these Comic-Cons.

00:11:43.854 --> 00:11:44.594
Now, are they stressful?

00:11:44.714 --> 00:11:45.414
Absolutely.

00:11:45.475 --> 00:11:46.615
Can they take a drain on me?

00:11:46.835 --> 00:11:47.696
Absolutely.

00:11:48.035 --> 00:11:49.616
And next month, I got three of them.

00:11:50.197 --> 00:11:52.239
But I'm doing it because I love it.

00:11:52.438 --> 00:11:53.860
And I get to see people I care

00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:54.159
about.

00:11:54.179 --> 00:11:55.240
I get to sell my books.

00:11:55.321 --> 00:11:56.240
And if they go well,

00:11:56.400 --> 00:11:59.102
then I'm above and beyond.

00:11:59.202 --> 00:12:00.844
So it matters.

00:12:02.898 --> 00:12:03.597
I love that, dude.

00:12:03.658 --> 00:12:05.538
But let's talk about Tokyo Blade

00:12:05.578 --> 00:12:06.259
Detectives.

00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:08.081
We're going to dive into this.

00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:10.802
So what sparked this idea for Tokyo Blade

00:12:10.842 --> 00:12:11.464
Detectives?

00:12:11.683 --> 00:12:13.845
Because it looks like such a fun series.

00:12:13.884 --> 00:12:15.907
The hype video on the Kickstarter looks so

00:12:15.947 --> 00:12:16.547
much fun.

00:12:16.826 --> 00:12:17.467
Thank you.

00:12:17.567 --> 00:12:19.349
What really brought this about?

00:12:19.369 --> 00:12:20.669
Okay.

00:12:21.389 --> 00:12:23.251
So if I were to tell you that

00:12:23.371 --> 00:12:25.253
I grew up on the age of Toonami.

00:12:25.793 --> 00:12:28.735
with Dragon Ball and Outlaw Star and

00:12:28.794 --> 00:12:29.754
Sailor Moon,

00:12:30.075 --> 00:12:31.895
and that I've been a Pokemon fan since

00:12:32.035 --> 00:12:32.995
Gen One,

00:12:33.015 --> 00:12:34.797
and I was there for the original Yu-Gi-Oh

00:12:34.836 --> 00:12:36.876
franchise all the way up to Five Ds.

00:12:36.897 --> 00:12:38.038
I don't wanna talk about Zexal.

00:12:38.618 --> 00:12:40.018
And I tell you about all the anime

00:12:40.057 --> 00:12:42.038
franchises I have, you might think, well,

00:12:42.078 --> 00:12:42.418
Todd,

00:12:42.438 --> 00:12:45.059
this clearly has been something in your

00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.341
mind for years that you wanted to do.

00:12:47.721 --> 00:12:48.581
Now,

00:12:49.321 --> 00:12:50.802
I came up with this idea because of

00:12:50.841 --> 00:12:51.822
a Facebook meme

00:12:53.318 --> 00:12:55.499
That's even funnier.

00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:55.899
I know, right?

00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:56.980
What meme was it?

00:12:57.019 --> 00:12:57.279
So,

00:12:57.919 --> 00:12:59.860
you know when you sometimes are scrolling,

00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:00.700
you know, doom scrolling,

00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:03.020
Facebook or Twitter,

00:13:03.520 --> 00:13:05.400
and you come across those memes like,

00:13:05.541 --> 00:13:07.581
what are your, insert blank here,

00:13:08.322 --> 00:13:09.442
and it's where you have to take your

00:13:09.461 --> 00:13:10.761
first letter, your first name,

00:13:10.802 --> 00:13:12.663
your birth month, whatever, right?

00:13:12.702 --> 00:13:15.202
So, mine was, this is like,

00:13:15.243 --> 00:13:18.083
twenty-seventeen, something like that?

00:13:18.104 --> 00:13:20.344
Mine was, what is your anime title?

00:13:20.364 --> 00:13:23.125
I'm like, okay.

00:13:23.638 --> 00:13:24.817
So it was first letter of your first

00:13:24.857 --> 00:13:29.418
name, T. First letter of your last name,

00:13:29.678 --> 00:13:32.299
B. Then last letter of your first name,

00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:36.721
D. T, B, D. Tokyo Blade Detectives.

00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:37.321
Now,

00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:39.481
about this time was when the first

00:13:39.522 --> 00:13:40.761
Deadpool movie came out.

00:13:40.881 --> 00:13:42.643
And one of the key lines from that

00:13:42.682 --> 00:13:43.322
movie was,

00:13:43.383 --> 00:13:45.363
Deadpool smells like a franchise.

00:13:45.942 --> 00:13:47.823
So I had that stuck in my head.

00:13:48.504 --> 00:13:49.504
And I was like,

00:13:49.543 --> 00:13:51.345
Tokyo Blade Detectives sounds like a

00:13:51.365 --> 00:13:51.985
franchise.

00:13:52.184 --> 00:13:52.404
Enter.

00:13:53.979 --> 00:13:56.360
left the comment, left the page,

00:13:57.721 --> 00:13:58.802
completely forgot about it.

00:13:59.261 --> 00:14:00.522
Didn't even register.

00:14:01.143 --> 00:14:02.682
Get back onto Facebook a few hours later.

00:14:03.203 --> 00:14:04.985
And I have a reply from an account

00:14:05.644 --> 00:14:06.725
name that I don't recognize.

00:14:06.745 --> 00:14:08.405
And I usually know who's always replying

00:14:08.446 --> 00:14:09.027
to me and whatever.

00:14:09.047 --> 00:14:11.087
And I'm like, who's this guy?

00:14:11.427 --> 00:14:13.349
So I click and it's from the Facebook

00:14:13.408 --> 00:14:13.649
meme.

00:14:13.849 --> 00:14:15.009
And he goes, you know,

00:14:15.049 --> 00:14:17.130
that actually does sound like a franchise.

00:14:17.150 --> 00:14:18.631
You should do something with it.

00:14:18.971 --> 00:14:19.231
I'm like,

00:14:20.788 --> 00:14:22.749
Okay, so I looked at the title.

00:14:22.928 --> 00:14:24.590
I'm like, what does this tell me?

00:14:25.451 --> 00:14:26.912
Tokyo, obviously set in Japan.

00:14:27.552 --> 00:14:29.293
Detectives, modern day.

00:14:29.692 --> 00:14:31.614
But Blade was sticking out to me.

00:14:31.734 --> 00:14:34.556
Why would there be blades in the

00:14:34.615 --> 00:14:35.777
detectives' hands?

00:14:36.277 --> 00:14:38.437
And then that's when the tagline happened.

00:14:38.938 --> 00:14:40.840
In a land where guns are outlawed,

00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:42.640
only the Blade can rule.

00:14:43.556 --> 00:14:45.019
And right when I said that,

00:14:45.078 --> 00:14:47.844
the floodgates of my mind opened up and

00:14:47.923 --> 00:14:50.448
I just got swarmed with so many ideas

00:14:50.469 --> 00:14:51.910
of what I wanted to do with this.

00:14:52.567 --> 00:14:54.590
thing to the point where I did something

00:14:54.649 --> 00:14:56.730
I had never done at that point,

00:14:56.750 --> 00:14:58.712
which was I opened up Microsoft Word and

00:14:58.793 --> 00:15:00.835
I typed up everything I was thinking

00:15:00.855 --> 00:15:02.235
because I did not want to forget.

00:15:03.417 --> 00:15:03.716
Yeah.

00:15:03.817 --> 00:15:04.356
Now,

00:15:05.378 --> 00:15:07.480
the problem was that I was doing another

00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:08.380
project at the time.

00:15:08.441 --> 00:15:09.621
I didn't have the funds or the artists

00:15:09.642 --> 00:15:11.543
to do this idea.

00:15:11.562 --> 00:15:13.625
So I just saved the document,

00:15:13.664 --> 00:15:14.225
put it away.

00:15:14.304 --> 00:15:16.226
And then once I got those projects done,

00:15:16.647 --> 00:15:18.227
it took me about six,

00:15:18.308 --> 00:15:20.669
seven months to find the right artist to

00:15:20.710 --> 00:15:21.091
do it.

00:15:21.738 --> 00:15:25.381
because I wanted a very anime style visual

00:15:25.501 --> 00:15:30.148
palette and visual style to make it work.

00:15:30.168 --> 00:15:31.850
And I was going through numerous artists,

00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:33.631
including my go-to guy, Alex Garcia,

00:15:33.672 --> 00:15:36.274
who I didn't wanna use because I had

00:15:36.595 --> 00:15:38.236
relied on him heavily up to this point.

00:15:38.277 --> 00:15:39.658
I wanted to get more artists,

00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:41.321
more opportunities and all that.

00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.380
love you Alex but I finally found a

00:15:45.400 --> 00:15:47.861
guy named Lam Vu Van and once I

00:15:47.881 --> 00:15:48.942
saw that first page I'm like this is

00:15:48.961 --> 00:15:51.222
the guy and we've been working each other

00:15:51.462 --> 00:15:54.063
for now twelve issues across four or five

00:15:54.104 --> 00:15:56.804
years so it's been quite the rush and

00:15:56.845 --> 00:15:58.245
now we're finishing up volume three which

00:15:58.306 --> 00:16:00.865
is far far more than I thought we'd

00:16:00.905 --> 00:16:06.148
get and even Lam kind of cheekily said

00:16:06.168 --> 00:16:07.249
to me when I gave him the script

00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:09.068
for number twelve he goes you know Todd

00:16:09.328 --> 00:16:11.129
I actually didn't think this would go this

00:16:11.169 --> 00:16:11.409
long

00:16:13.373 --> 00:16:14.134
Thanks, law.

00:16:14.214 --> 00:16:18.657
Thanks for the pay.

00:16:18.677 --> 00:16:19.317
That is awesome.

00:16:19.356 --> 00:16:21.538
And what a great way to have something

00:16:21.578 --> 00:16:22.539
land in your lap.

00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:25.001
And then you've ran with it for twelve

00:16:25.062 --> 00:16:25.381
issues,

00:16:25.442 --> 00:16:27.624
which I think the only comic book I

00:16:27.644 --> 00:16:27.984
could think.

00:16:28.104 --> 00:16:28.224
Well,

00:16:28.244 --> 00:16:29.264
I can think of two off the top

00:16:29.304 --> 00:16:31.265
of my head that have gone about as

00:16:31.346 --> 00:16:31.586
long.

00:16:31.626 --> 00:16:35.328
And one of them is Ben Lacey's Shark

00:16:35.369 --> 00:16:35.710
of War.

00:16:35.730 --> 00:16:36.409
Oh, I know Ben.

00:16:36.429 --> 00:16:37.051
He's great.

00:16:37.693 --> 00:16:39.474
Ben's amazing, amazing person.

00:16:39.953 --> 00:16:42.115
And then Jason Linnet's Lords of the

00:16:42.134 --> 00:16:42.875
Cosmos.

00:16:45.556 --> 00:16:48.395
Lords of the Cosmos is a fantastic story,

00:16:49.035 --> 00:16:50.177
but, um,

00:16:50.216 --> 00:16:51.537
just off the top of my head,

00:16:51.557 --> 00:16:52.736
those are only two where I can think

00:16:52.756 --> 00:16:54.657
where they've had that kind of longevity

00:16:55.738 --> 00:16:58.618
over that long of a, you know, of,

00:16:59.077 --> 00:16:59.698
of titles.

00:17:00.278 --> 00:17:00.999
So it's kind of cool.

00:17:01.158 --> 00:17:03.019
And seeing that this one is no shit

00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:05.180
issue number twelve and still going

00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:05.619
strong.

00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:06.799
But, um,

00:17:07.219 --> 00:17:08.299
And I already know what's going to happen

00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:08.900
next volume.

00:17:10.361 --> 00:17:11.701
That's how my mind works.

00:17:12.242 --> 00:17:13.784
I'm already planned up to twenty-five.

00:17:13.804 --> 00:17:15.885
Dude.

00:17:15.905 --> 00:17:16.526
Keep it going.

00:17:16.885 --> 00:17:17.567
I'm doing my best.

00:17:18.647 --> 00:17:20.368
Why a future Japan with strict

00:17:20.548 --> 00:17:22.109
no-guns-allowed law?

00:17:22.131 --> 00:17:22.651
Well,

00:17:23.330 --> 00:17:25.393
one of the things that the floodgates

00:17:25.452 --> 00:17:28.375
opened up was that I wanted to do

00:17:28.595 --> 00:17:30.916
a different kind of story from most other

00:17:31.037 --> 00:17:33.960
animes because usually it's either...

00:17:35.201 --> 00:17:36.803
like say like My Hero Academia was

00:17:36.843 --> 00:17:39.964
superpowers or then you have like Outlaw

00:17:40.005 --> 00:17:42.546
Star and Cowboy Bebop with all the future

00:17:42.586 --> 00:17:43.487
tech weaponry,

00:17:43.547 --> 00:17:45.488
like super high powered rifles and all

00:17:45.528 --> 00:17:45.807
that.

00:17:46.448 --> 00:17:47.828
And I just felt it would be so

00:17:47.848 --> 00:17:50.289
much more fun to make it just about

00:17:50.329 --> 00:17:50.769
the swords.

00:17:50.790 --> 00:17:53.612
There's other technology that is used in

00:17:53.652 --> 00:17:55.313
Japan as you'll find out when you read

00:17:55.333 --> 00:17:55.813
the comics,

00:17:56.394 --> 00:17:58.954
but it's all about the swords and sword

00:17:58.994 --> 00:18:00.516
play I feel is more intimate.

00:18:01.330 --> 00:18:02.775
because you know there's different sword

00:18:02.795 --> 00:18:05.340
styles there's different sword types as i

00:18:05.361 --> 00:18:07.445
show in the book and

00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.141
I get to play on the history of

00:18:10.181 --> 00:18:11.981
Japan, which is, of course, the samurai.

00:18:12.461 --> 00:18:14.462
So I got to have fun with that.

00:18:14.903 --> 00:18:16.324
And then it's just a different kind of

00:18:16.384 --> 00:18:18.685
visual to where it's like, you know,

00:18:18.846 --> 00:18:19.566
it's the future,

00:18:19.846 --> 00:18:21.646
but we're also going back into the past

00:18:21.727 --> 00:18:24.169
with swordplay and samurai and ronin and

00:18:24.328 --> 00:18:24.989
yokai.

00:18:26.349 --> 00:18:28.211
And that was really intriguing to me.

00:18:28.250 --> 00:18:29.471
I felt like it was something that hadn't

00:18:29.491 --> 00:18:30.112
been done before.

00:18:30.231 --> 00:18:32.012
I don't feel like there's been an anime

00:18:32.717 --> 00:18:34.298
or like this before,

00:18:34.557 --> 00:18:35.818
and I'm saying it anime loosely because I

00:18:35.838 --> 00:18:36.358
know it's a comic,

00:18:36.419 --> 00:18:40.980
but still like this really inspired me to

00:18:41.020 --> 00:18:42.061
say like, you know,

00:18:42.142 --> 00:18:43.481
everyone else is going this direction,

00:18:43.602 --> 00:18:44.702
I wanna go this direction.

00:18:46.104 --> 00:18:46.284
No,

00:18:46.844 --> 00:18:49.805
it's really cool at the core of what

00:18:49.884 --> 00:18:50.465
it is.

00:18:50.965 --> 00:18:53.426
Let's turn our focus over to who Miko

00:18:53.567 --> 00:18:54.567
is at the core.

00:18:54.948 --> 00:18:55.167
Yeah.

00:18:55.188 --> 00:18:57.068
Miko, you being your main character there.

00:18:57.788 --> 00:19:00.130
Miko is my sixteen-year-old main

00:19:00.150 --> 00:19:01.151
character, one of them.

00:19:01.730 --> 00:19:03.893
And she is the most angsty teenager you

00:19:03.932 --> 00:19:04.573
have ever met,

00:19:04.894 --> 00:19:08.375
which was one of the most important things

00:19:08.415 --> 00:19:08.776
for me.

00:19:09.376 --> 00:19:11.478
Because one of the things I do with

00:19:11.499 --> 00:19:13.079
my books is that I'll look at certain

00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.461
characters and I go, OK,

00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:15.701
I've written this kind of character

00:19:15.741 --> 00:19:16.102
before.

00:19:16.602 --> 00:19:17.522
Now I need to do this kind of

00:19:17.542 --> 00:19:17.903
character.

00:19:18.324 --> 00:19:20.825
And a previous female led story I did

00:19:20.845 --> 00:19:21.625
was called A Home,

00:19:21.665 --> 00:19:22.747
which is available on Kickstarter.

00:19:23.326 --> 00:19:25.789
And the main character is named Alicia.

00:19:26.069 --> 00:19:28.292
And I wrote her as being the kindest

00:19:28.373 --> 00:19:28.933
person,

00:19:29.314 --> 00:19:31.516
most relatable person you've ever met.

00:19:31.536 --> 00:19:32.637
It's just that she has blue hair.

00:19:33.575 --> 00:19:35.557
And I wrote in that style,

00:19:35.596 --> 00:19:36.938
but with Miko, I'm like, okay,

00:19:36.958 --> 00:19:37.959
I had the pure kid.

00:19:38.058 --> 00:19:39.780
I want the angsty teenager.

00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:42.323
Like I need the one that is just

00:19:42.343 --> 00:19:44.465
gonna bite your head off all the time.

00:19:44.905 --> 00:19:46.587
So rarely admit you're right,

00:19:47.067 --> 00:19:49.130
but she backs up her crap,

00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:50.431
which I also thought was important.

00:19:50.832 --> 00:19:52.913
And that's why in the very first word,

00:19:52.953 --> 00:19:56.096
her very first line of dialogue is die.

00:19:57.961 --> 00:19:59.701
And I was like, that's perfect.

00:20:01.642 --> 00:20:03.162
When I was structuring it, like,

00:20:03.321 --> 00:20:05.022
cause she gets just a small spoiler.

00:20:05.042 --> 00:20:08.364
She gets confronted by some thugs and

00:20:08.423 --> 00:20:09.384
they're making fun of her.

00:20:09.443 --> 00:20:10.804
And she just pulls out her laser sword

00:20:10.824 --> 00:20:12.085
and goes die.

00:20:12.565 --> 00:20:13.984
And then she does just that.

00:20:14.484 --> 00:20:17.205
So they're not around anymore.

00:20:19.593 --> 00:20:21.174
that's one way to solve your problems,

00:20:21.234 --> 00:20:21.555
right?

00:20:22.056 --> 00:20:22.435
Oh yeah.

00:20:22.737 --> 00:20:25.660
And, uh, violence isn't always the answer,

00:20:26.060 --> 00:20:28.544
but this time it helps the answer.

00:20:28.884 --> 00:20:29.526
Yeah.

00:20:29.766 --> 00:20:30.707
And she, and she was just like,

00:20:30.767 --> 00:20:32.048
and she didn't even bat an eye when

00:20:32.088 --> 00:20:35.173
her, uh, her partner, her, uh,

00:20:36.020 --> 00:20:37.041
Not really a father figure,

00:20:37.061 --> 00:20:38.903
but let's say business partner Michio

00:20:39.544 --> 00:20:40.104
asked her what happened.

00:20:40.124 --> 00:20:40.904
She goes, oh, yeah,

00:20:41.405 --> 00:20:42.626
I had to deal with some thugs.

00:20:42.707 --> 00:20:43.406
They're gone now.

00:20:43.727 --> 00:20:44.748
And she just went on to chug a

00:20:44.788 --> 00:20:45.108
soda.

00:20:46.210 --> 00:20:47.069
She doesn't care.

00:20:47.351 --> 00:20:49.211
She knows this is a child that's

00:20:49.311 --> 00:20:51.413
absolutely been scarred by all that's

00:20:51.433 --> 00:20:53.635
happened in her world and just Japan in

00:20:53.675 --> 00:20:54.115
general.

00:20:54.896 --> 00:20:57.239
And she's got a lot of pent up

00:20:57.278 --> 00:20:57.959
frustration.

00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:00.300
And for me,

00:21:00.421 --> 00:21:01.461
one of the things that I like to

00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:03.702
do in each arc is show that even

00:21:03.722 --> 00:21:05.303
though she's hotheaded,

00:21:05.423 --> 00:21:07.064
even though she's loud and sometimes

00:21:07.104 --> 00:21:07.744
obnoxious,

00:21:08.125 --> 00:21:11.747
she has feelings that she lets come out

00:21:11.866 --> 00:21:16.509
in certain moments so that it's clear that

00:21:16.689 --> 00:21:18.549
she's fragile.

00:21:19.070 --> 00:21:20.711
She's broken in some ways and she's got

00:21:20.731 --> 00:21:22.532
to heal even though she doesn't really

00:21:22.593 --> 00:21:23.012
want to.

00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:27.042
And that interests me as a writer,

00:21:27.063 --> 00:21:28.344
because I love character stories.

00:21:28.423 --> 00:21:28.844
And for me,

00:21:29.023 --> 00:21:32.047
this very much is about Miko and how

00:21:32.787 --> 00:21:35.189
Tokyo reflected upon her and impacted her.

00:21:35.470 --> 00:21:36.891
And then Michio is the same way.

00:21:37.151 --> 00:21:38.531
He's got a very long history,

00:21:38.551 --> 00:21:39.553
as I tease in the book,

00:21:40.252 --> 00:21:42.335
and we're slowly getting the layers peeled

00:21:42.394 --> 00:21:43.096
off on that.

00:21:44.231 --> 00:21:45.633
And then they have connections with

00:21:45.752 --> 00:21:47.413
everything that's going on in Japan from

00:21:47.453 --> 00:21:48.134
the factions,

00:21:48.275 --> 00:21:50.717
the emperor who we meet in volume three.

00:21:51.356 --> 00:21:51.577
In fact,

00:21:51.597 --> 00:21:53.159
we meet him finally in this issue.

00:21:53.699 --> 00:21:55.921
So the issue is on Kickstarter right now.

00:21:56.181 --> 00:21:57.922
So everything is connected,

00:21:57.961 --> 00:21:59.644
which is a reference actually to Full

00:21:59.663 --> 00:22:00.824
Metal Alchemist Brotherhood,

00:22:00.844 --> 00:22:03.546
which was one of the anime that heavily

00:22:03.566 --> 00:22:05.127
inspired this series because I loved how

00:22:05.367 --> 00:22:07.108
everything from episode one to the series

00:22:07.128 --> 00:22:08.029
finale was connected.

00:22:09.335 --> 00:22:10.595
So if you watch the whole series,

00:22:10.635 --> 00:22:12.276
you got so much out of it.

00:22:13.336 --> 00:22:14.415
As long as you paid attention,

00:22:14.496 --> 00:22:15.596
I'm going to be doing the same thing

00:22:15.616 --> 00:22:17.896
where every arc feeds into the next one.

00:22:18.317 --> 00:22:20.978
So issue one was our starter.

00:22:21.018 --> 00:22:21.857
Welcome to Tokyo.

00:22:22.258 --> 00:22:24.259
Issue two was about meeting one of the

00:22:24.278 --> 00:22:26.380
key factions and how their antics are

00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:27.880
affecting things on a grander scale.

00:22:28.537 --> 00:22:30.278
Number three is we have a wild card

00:22:30.338 --> 00:22:31.900
entered into Tokyo and the Emperor wants

00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:32.500
him dealt with.

00:22:33.820 --> 00:22:36.423
Volume four, I won't spoil that.

00:22:36.442 --> 00:22:36.522
Yeah,

00:22:37.384 --> 00:22:39.005
you got to save some for self-support.

00:22:39.365 --> 00:22:41.047
It will be revealed in the final page.

00:22:41.247 --> 00:22:42.347
It will be revealed in the final page

00:22:42.367 --> 00:22:42.948
of this issue.

00:22:43.067 --> 00:22:43.868
So it's going to be...

00:22:43.888 --> 00:22:47.951
How have you evolved Miko as a character

00:22:47.971 --> 00:22:50.273
throughout these twelve issues?

00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:52.701
That actually ties perfectly into the

00:22:52.721 --> 00:22:56.202
current volume and issue where Miko,

00:22:56.242 --> 00:22:58.483
because of her experiences with her

00:22:58.544 --> 00:23:00.164
family, with factions,

00:23:00.184 --> 00:23:01.184
with Japan in general,

00:23:01.825 --> 00:23:05.626
she views things in black and white,

00:23:05.747 --> 00:23:07.647
as most kids and teens would do,

00:23:08.367 --> 00:23:10.568
because she has seen things and she has

00:23:10.588 --> 00:23:11.910
experienced things that are like,

00:23:12.750 --> 00:23:14.951
they're evil, end of story.

00:23:15.651 --> 00:23:17.692
Volume three is about a serial killer

00:23:19.923 --> 00:23:21.845
acting very atypically of the factions.

00:23:22.204 --> 00:23:23.705
They're not associated with the factions,

00:23:24.066 --> 00:23:25.567
and they're killing people in a way that

00:23:25.708 --> 00:23:26.769
no one expected.

00:23:27.269 --> 00:23:28.069
And she's just like,

00:23:28.089 --> 00:23:29.871
let's kill the freak and be done with

00:23:29.891 --> 00:23:30.132
this.

00:23:30.912 --> 00:23:32.693
And Michio cautions and goes, no,

00:23:32.733 --> 00:23:34.454
we have to not only find him,

00:23:34.474 --> 00:23:36.136
we have to understand why he's doing it.

00:23:36.196 --> 00:23:36.737
And she's like,

00:23:37.097 --> 00:23:39.519
I don't need to understand another

00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:40.520
psycho's mindset.

00:23:40.540 --> 00:23:41.741
That's what the factions are for.

00:23:42.260 --> 00:23:44.481
know she's she's over she doesn't we don't

00:23:44.561 --> 00:23:46.903
need another monster in tokyo that's all

00:23:46.942 --> 00:23:49.704
she views in her mind but then as

00:23:50.105 --> 00:23:52.205
things go on she learns a certain key

00:23:52.266 --> 00:23:54.326
truth and she doesn't know how to

00:23:54.366 --> 00:23:57.689
comprehend it she's like this is wrong

00:23:59.069 --> 00:24:02.411
But, and she explains,

00:24:02.431 --> 00:24:03.451
I don't want to spoil too much for

00:24:03.471 --> 00:24:04.451
those that haven't read volume three,

00:24:04.852 --> 00:24:07.813
but like there's a key like mic drop

00:24:07.873 --> 00:24:09.554
moment and it's just like,

00:24:09.733 --> 00:24:10.693
I didn't expect this.

00:24:10.834 --> 00:24:12.414
I don't know how to feel about this.

00:24:12.474 --> 00:24:13.454
And then that's going to play into the

00:24:13.494 --> 00:24:15.395
next arc where she's going to have another

00:24:15.415 --> 00:24:16.895
key character moment with someone who was

00:24:16.976 --> 00:24:18.176
once very close to her.

00:24:18.936 --> 00:24:21.097
And I look forward to expanding upon that.

00:24:22.157 --> 00:24:25.038
So each of your arcs are four issues.

00:24:25.358 --> 00:24:27.359
What made you choose that format?

00:24:28.430 --> 00:24:29.809
First of all, just easier.

00:24:31.931 --> 00:24:32.832
It's a good even number.

00:24:33.051 --> 00:24:34.271
Yeah, it's the eighty pages.

00:24:34.971 --> 00:24:36.012
Each issue is twenty pages.

00:24:36.053 --> 00:24:37.833
So a full volume is eighty,

00:24:37.873 --> 00:24:39.213
which is perfect for trade paperback,

00:24:39.233 --> 00:24:40.114
which is what I saw in my comic

00:24:40.134 --> 00:24:40.473
cons.

00:24:40.493 --> 00:24:41.654
It's very easy that way.

00:24:42.994 --> 00:24:45.536
And then it allows me to think about

00:24:45.556 --> 00:24:47.256
how I'm going to block out each story.

00:24:47.916 --> 00:24:49.656
So how I do it is there's a

00:24:49.737 --> 00:24:51.238
three main issues of each arc.

00:24:51.817 --> 00:24:53.160
And then the fourth issue is what I

00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.243
call the epilogue series.

00:24:56.465 --> 00:24:57.366
Sorry, the interlude saga.

00:24:58.048 --> 00:25:01.473
And in it, we have basically an epilogue,

00:25:02.214 --> 00:25:02.916
an interlude,

00:25:03.176 --> 00:25:04.759
and a prologue to what comes next.

00:25:05.395 --> 00:25:06.997
So we're tying up the loose ends.

00:25:07.117 --> 00:25:09.138
We're explaining what's going on in the

00:25:09.219 --> 00:25:09.759
aftermath.

00:25:09.859 --> 00:25:11.560
And then here's the tease for the next

00:25:11.721 --> 00:25:11.922
arc.

00:25:12.402 --> 00:25:13.643
And it gives me a lot of freedom

00:25:13.663 --> 00:25:15.664
with storyline to where I don't drag

00:25:15.704 --> 00:25:17.807
things out endlessly like some comic

00:25:17.846 --> 00:25:18.507
series do.

00:25:18.948 --> 00:25:19.728
I make it click.

00:25:19.867 --> 00:25:20.808
I make it concise.

00:25:20.909 --> 00:25:21.789
I make it fun.

00:25:22.290 --> 00:25:24.593
And then I show like, hey,

00:25:24.653 --> 00:25:26.934
I focus on the aftermath and how

00:25:27.795 --> 00:25:28.855
everyone's reacting to this.

00:25:28.935 --> 00:25:30.557
And then here's the tease for what comes

00:25:30.637 --> 00:25:30.958
next.

00:25:31.557 --> 00:25:31.858
So yeah.

00:25:33.230 --> 00:25:35.211
It was also a very unique kind of

00:25:35.231 --> 00:25:37.413
storytelling for me because with past

00:25:38.173 --> 00:25:38.834
series,

00:25:39.214 --> 00:25:41.296
I've either just gone as long as I

00:25:41.336 --> 00:25:42.336
felt the arc is needed,

00:25:42.376 --> 00:25:43.538
like I did that with Guardians,

00:25:44.137 --> 00:25:45.919
or with things like Home,

00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:49.481
I did just a five-issue miniseries just so

00:25:49.541 --> 00:25:50.843
I could write out everything.

00:25:50.942 --> 00:25:53.005
That was a hundred pages,

00:25:53.045 --> 00:25:54.445
so that was one of my longer stories.

00:25:55.145 --> 00:25:56.767
And then for certain graphic novels,

00:25:56.807 --> 00:25:57.647
I just went for as long as the

00:25:57.688 --> 00:25:58.709
page count told me to,

00:25:58.848 --> 00:26:01.730
like with the Thunder Rosa or six men

00:26:01.770 --> 00:26:02.490
or take the house.

00:26:03.912 --> 00:26:05.093
It just depends on how long the story

00:26:05.133 --> 00:26:05.773
goes with this one.

00:26:05.794 --> 00:26:07.355
It gives me that structure to say, OK,

00:26:07.595 --> 00:26:08.536
here's where I need to put the main

00:26:08.576 --> 00:26:09.016
content.

00:26:09.056 --> 00:26:10.696
Here's where I can do the payoffs and

00:26:10.737 --> 00:26:11.938
everything and then tease what's coming

00:26:11.978 --> 00:26:14.779
next.

00:26:14.901 --> 00:26:16.521
I like it and I like the fact

00:26:16.541 --> 00:26:18.262
that you are answering questions that I

00:26:18.303 --> 00:26:19.463
don't have to ask no more.

00:26:21.791 --> 00:26:23.133
So I do have to ask this one,

00:26:23.153 --> 00:26:23.292
though,

00:26:23.313 --> 00:26:25.694
because what do you want readers to feel

00:26:25.734 --> 00:26:29.778
when they close this last volume here with

00:26:29.897 --> 00:26:31.579
issue twelve?

00:26:32.519 --> 00:26:33.201
No, I'm kidding.

00:26:33.221 --> 00:26:36.363
What do I want them to feel?

00:26:36.482 --> 00:26:40.747
I want them to... That's a good question.

00:26:42.067 --> 00:26:44.609
I want them to see the layers that

00:26:44.650 --> 00:26:47.491
Tokyo has imparted upon these characters.

00:26:47.692 --> 00:26:49.753
One of the themes of the entire book

00:26:50.874 --> 00:26:54.796
is that it's not just people that affect

00:26:54.855 --> 00:26:55.036
you.

00:26:55.895 --> 00:26:58.636
It's not even just experiences that affect

00:26:58.676 --> 00:27:00.178
you, it's where you live.

00:27:00.678 --> 00:27:02.058
And you can see this with certain people

00:27:02.098 --> 00:27:04.779
in our world where people in Chicago act

00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:05.099
one way,

00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:06.361
people in New York act one way,

00:27:06.381 --> 00:27:07.740
people in Los Angeles act one way.

00:27:07.961 --> 00:27:09.061
And it's not just because of the people

00:27:09.102 --> 00:27:09.882
where they're living,

00:27:09.922 --> 00:27:11.702
it's because of the place itself.

00:27:12.903 --> 00:27:15.865
Our setting affects us in certain ways.

00:27:16.404 --> 00:27:17.486
And for Tokyo,

00:27:17.625 --> 00:27:20.186
as I am slowly peeling the layers, Bob,

00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:21.621
behind with each arc,

00:27:22.280 --> 00:27:24.542
it's not a great place to live.

00:27:24.982 --> 00:27:26.644
It's technologically advanced.

00:27:27.125 --> 00:27:28.685
They technically want for nothing,

00:27:29.226 --> 00:27:32.888
but they're in such chaos and confusion

00:27:33.755 --> 00:27:36.036
and turmoil that it's,

00:27:36.615 --> 00:27:38.175
a lot of people are like lying to

00:27:38.215 --> 00:27:38.696
themselves.

00:27:39.017 --> 00:27:39.176
You know,

00:27:39.196 --> 00:27:40.836
they're just trying to get through the

00:27:40.856 --> 00:27:41.156
day.

00:27:41.596 --> 00:27:41.877
You know,

00:27:41.897 --> 00:27:42.978
like as long as I don't get killed

00:27:43.018 --> 00:27:44.117
by one of the five factions,

00:27:44.317 --> 00:27:45.019
it's a good day.

00:27:45.239 --> 00:27:45.778
You know, that's,

00:27:46.419 --> 00:27:49.500
and Miko rails against that in this new

00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:49.859
issue.

00:27:49.900 --> 00:27:51.259
She's like, I hate it here,

00:27:51.800 --> 00:27:52.800
but I can't leave.

00:27:54.045 --> 00:27:56.826
And I'm teasing multiple things with this

00:27:56.906 --> 00:27:57.407
blowout.

00:27:57.488 --> 00:27:59.828
And she sees that in how the factions

00:27:59.848 --> 00:27:59.989
have.

00:28:00.009 --> 00:28:01.049
Because the factions wouldn't have been

00:28:01.109 --> 00:28:03.071
here if certain things in Tokyo hadn't

00:28:03.092 --> 00:28:03.751
have gone down.

00:28:04.553 --> 00:28:07.954
And there are certain influences that the

00:28:07.994 --> 00:28:09.655
city has in general that affect the

00:28:09.675 --> 00:28:09.936
people.

00:28:10.116 --> 00:28:11.778
They're almost resigned to their fate.

00:28:12.157 --> 00:28:13.618
And Miko hates that as well.

00:28:13.898 --> 00:28:17.561
And Michio has seen a lot of...

00:28:17.943 --> 00:28:20.404
he understands that there is beauty in

00:28:20.424 --> 00:28:22.527
just trying to help one person at a

00:28:22.606 --> 00:28:24.347
time whereas miko sees it as just a

00:28:24.387 --> 00:28:28.309
job she she doesn't care about the people

00:28:28.569 --> 00:28:31.112
more or less she's very much i need

00:28:31.132 --> 00:28:32.571
to get paid so i can at least

00:28:32.653 --> 00:28:36.054
try and make a meaningful existence here

00:28:36.335 --> 00:28:39.155
yeah so we all relate to that yeah

00:28:39.957 --> 00:28:41.518
and so like and so with this new

00:28:41.557 --> 00:28:43.598
issue i'm really harping on the fact that

00:28:44.792 --> 00:28:48.155
Tokyo as a whole is affecting people in

00:28:48.195 --> 00:28:49.696
ways that no one was expecting,

00:28:50.057 --> 00:28:52.239
even this long after all these wars and

00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:53.740
reconstructions have happened.

00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:57.722
To quote the Joker, of all people,

00:28:58.143 --> 00:29:00.163
all it takes is one bad day to

00:29:00.243 --> 00:29:05.067
send you over the edge.

00:29:05.087 --> 00:29:06.189
That was really good, actually.

00:29:06.568 --> 00:29:08.130
Why, thank you.

00:29:08.269 --> 00:29:09.131
Do you want to know how I got

00:29:09.171 --> 00:29:09.912
these scars?

00:29:09.932 --> 00:29:09.971
No.

00:29:14.615 --> 00:29:15.616
That's actually really good.

00:29:15.636 --> 00:29:17.278
So let's jump into the Kickstarter grind,

00:29:17.317 --> 00:29:17.458
man.

00:29:17.518 --> 00:29:17.617
Yeah.

00:29:18.598 --> 00:29:21.361
This campaign includes all twelve issues.

00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:21.781
Correct.

00:29:23.220 --> 00:29:26.182
Do you do this type of thing as

00:29:26.201 --> 00:29:27.222
you conclude an arc?

00:29:27.323 --> 00:29:30.285
Do you include all volumes with each one?

00:29:30.345 --> 00:29:31.726
Or is this just something special you're

00:29:31.746 --> 00:29:33.287
doing this time to catch up?

00:29:33.507 --> 00:29:35.067
I do it with every campaign.

00:29:35.628 --> 00:29:38.530
So no matter when you find out about

00:29:38.590 --> 00:29:39.991
Tokyo and find out about me,

00:29:40.412 --> 00:29:43.074
every campaign I do, for Tokyo at least,

00:29:44.375 --> 00:29:46.476
gives you the option of catching up.

00:29:46.516 --> 00:29:47.836
Because I don't know when you're going to

00:29:47.856 --> 00:29:48.617
find out about me.

00:29:48.698 --> 00:29:48.877
Mm-hmm.

00:29:49.554 --> 00:29:50.914
I am not the greatest marketer in the

00:29:50.934 --> 00:29:51.194
world.

00:29:51.454 --> 00:29:52.496
I have a lot of people who will

00:29:52.536 --> 00:29:53.195
happily tell me that.

00:29:54.977 --> 00:29:55.577
And even just with,

00:29:55.597 --> 00:29:56.778
even with Kickstarter helping,

00:29:56.798 --> 00:29:58.259
you never know who's gonna be on the

00:29:58.299 --> 00:30:00.901
right day or see your post or who

00:30:00.980 --> 00:30:02.981
is sworn off the internet or who all

00:30:03.001 --> 00:30:04.784
made it at Comic Con.

00:30:05.903 --> 00:30:08.506
But if they do find Tokyo,

00:30:09.528 --> 00:30:11.128
i want to give them the option to

00:30:11.189 --> 00:30:13.750
catch up so i have reward tiers to

00:30:13.769 --> 00:30:16.250
where you can get everything digitally you

00:30:16.270 --> 00:30:18.211
can get everything physically for the

00:30:18.251 --> 00:30:20.313
physical ones you can get all single

00:30:20.353 --> 00:30:21.992
issues or you can get our trade paperbacks

00:30:22.012 --> 00:30:23.913
and because this is the end of volume

00:30:23.933 --> 00:30:27.316
three we're unveiling our uh the the main

00:30:27.375 --> 00:30:29.116
third the new cover for volume three which

00:30:29.156 --> 00:30:31.758
is really cool done by alex garcia and

00:30:33.179 --> 00:30:35.361
And then for those who have gotten like

00:30:35.381 --> 00:30:35.961
volume one,

00:30:35.981 --> 00:30:37.202
but haven't gotten volume two and three,

00:30:37.282 --> 00:30:38.724
I have catch up reward tiers for that

00:30:38.785 --> 00:30:39.585
digital and physical.

00:30:40.306 --> 00:30:42.248
And it just makes it so that no

00:30:42.268 --> 00:30:43.388
matter when you find out,

00:30:43.990 --> 00:30:45.811
so like any of the viewers here who

00:30:45.932 --> 00:30:47.513
only just hearing about this and like, oh,

00:30:47.634 --> 00:30:48.954
I really want to jump into this.

00:30:49.295 --> 00:30:50.135
You have the option.

00:30:50.576 --> 00:30:51.438
It's right there for you.

00:30:51.577 --> 00:30:53.500
And I try to make it fairly priced.

00:30:54.829 --> 00:30:56.809
no that that's always a good thing and

00:30:57.050 --> 00:30:59.990
i for one i've i am probably going

00:31:00.010 --> 00:31:01.531
to end up doing the catch up especially

00:31:01.551 --> 00:31:03.211
that you have trade paper bats that i

00:31:03.231 --> 00:31:06.153
can just read the first you know you

00:31:06.173 --> 00:31:08.913
know twelve volumes now so when you do

00:31:08.932 --> 00:31:10.473
your next kickstarter campaign are you

00:31:10.493 --> 00:31:13.554
gonna have the the fourth trade paperback

00:31:13.594 --> 00:31:15.835
ready with no what what i'll do is

00:31:15.934 --> 00:31:17.974
i'll be giving out the issue but then

00:31:17.994 --> 00:31:20.415
i'll have like you can get thirteen issues

00:31:21.459 --> 00:31:23.900
Be the catch up here versus just twelve.

00:31:24.299 --> 00:31:25.020
So gotcha.

00:31:25.040 --> 00:31:25.221
Yeah.

00:31:25.840 --> 00:31:25.901
OK.

00:31:26.520 --> 00:31:29.242
So what are some of your.

00:31:31.282 --> 00:31:32.483
What's the word I'm looking for?

00:31:32.604 --> 00:31:33.023
Rewards.

00:31:33.664 --> 00:31:34.105
Rewards.

00:31:34.125 --> 00:31:34.464
Yes.

00:31:34.505 --> 00:31:36.486
Cameos, custom art, collector tiers.

00:31:36.865 --> 00:31:38.606
So what do you bring into the table

00:31:38.626 --> 00:31:39.346
for everybody?

00:31:39.487 --> 00:31:39.727
Well,

00:31:39.747 --> 00:31:41.627
the biggest one that I like to brag

00:31:41.647 --> 00:31:44.269
about is we do have the cameo tier,

00:31:44.670 --> 00:31:47.010
which is you will get you pledging at

00:31:47.050 --> 00:31:49.291
home will get to be drawn into the

00:31:49.332 --> 00:31:49.791
comic book.

00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:52.761
uh and in fact for this arc i've

00:31:52.781 --> 00:31:55.023
been pushing to make the cameos even more

00:31:55.104 --> 00:31:57.646
special because of certain uh arrivals

00:31:57.686 --> 00:32:01.210
that we've had and for a select group

00:32:01.250 --> 00:32:02.611
of people who pledge before the

00:32:02.631 --> 00:32:05.213
kickstarter gets done you will actually

00:32:05.233 --> 00:32:07.836
have a talking part in the comic so

00:32:07.875 --> 00:32:10.659
there you go yeah that's really cool we

00:32:10.699 --> 00:32:13.141
have about i think six people have pledged

00:32:13.181 --> 00:32:14.403
the cameos here so we only have four

00:32:14.442 --> 00:32:15.604
slots left i do believe

00:32:16.163 --> 00:32:17.483
So we gotta get on it,

00:32:17.503 --> 00:32:19.384
because we end on Saturday the

00:32:19.404 --> 00:32:20.305
twenty-eighth at eight p.m.

00:32:20.325 --> 00:32:23.444
Then for those who, thank you.

00:32:24.105 --> 00:32:26.486
If you want smaller tiers,

00:32:26.526 --> 00:32:27.786
but still meaningful tiers,

00:32:28.165 --> 00:32:29.705
you can get the comic physically,

00:32:29.726 --> 00:32:30.747
you can get the comic digitally,

00:32:30.767 --> 00:32:31.807
including the catch-up tiers I mentioned

00:32:31.826 --> 00:32:32.126
before.

00:32:32.467 --> 00:32:33.166
We have stickers,

00:32:33.207 --> 00:32:34.007
which actually I can show you.

00:32:34.027 --> 00:32:36.428
There you go.

00:32:36.468 --> 00:32:38.167
So like, here's a good nice,

00:32:38.268 --> 00:32:40.288
pick a sticker of Michio,

00:32:40.367 --> 00:32:41.828
one of our main characters,

00:32:41.868 --> 00:32:43.009
and then let me grab one of the

00:32:43.028 --> 00:32:43.969
Miko stickers.

00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:46.759
I buy these in like a hundred and

00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:48.040
then just like stick them in all the

00:32:48.721 --> 00:32:50.323
Kickstarter packaging.

00:32:50.803 --> 00:32:52.163
I just want to meet go right there.

00:32:52.944 --> 00:32:54.625
So we have that.

00:32:54.646 --> 00:32:56.127
We also have the thank you page,

00:32:56.327 --> 00:32:58.450
which has been very popular over my tenure

00:32:58.829 --> 00:32:59.250
where you,

00:32:59.330 --> 00:33:01.192
that's always one of my favorite things

00:33:01.231 --> 00:33:01.692
right there.

00:33:01.712 --> 00:33:01.893
Yeah.

00:33:02.752 --> 00:33:05.536
And basically if you pledge to our fifteen

00:33:05.556 --> 00:33:06.817
dollar tier or higher.

00:33:06.957 --> 00:33:08.538
So if you get like the ketchup tears,

00:33:08.557 --> 00:33:10.420
you will be included in this or not.

00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.461
The actually can show you that, too.

00:33:13.544 --> 00:33:15.184
This is issue eleven right here.

00:33:15.744 --> 00:33:17.665
And then we have on our inside front

00:33:17.707 --> 00:33:20.748
cover a thank you page honoring everyone

00:33:20.788 --> 00:33:22.849
who has pledged to the Kickstarter,

00:33:22.910 --> 00:33:24.451
regardless of what tier they were,

00:33:24.471 --> 00:33:25.770
as long as they are fifteen or above.

00:33:26.392 --> 00:33:27.792
And a lot of people love that.

00:33:27.813 --> 00:33:29.012
I even had one person.

00:33:29.433 --> 00:33:30.374
OK, you'll love the story.

00:33:30.574 --> 00:33:33.655
I plug the podcast into Kickstarters that

00:33:33.715 --> 00:33:36.577
I bet is if there's that option,

00:33:36.617 --> 00:33:38.278
I will choose that option and then plug

00:33:38.298 --> 00:33:39.759
the podcast instead of my name.

00:33:40.180 --> 00:33:43.603
Yeah, if you pledge to my Kickstarter,

00:33:43.663 --> 00:33:46.085
I'll make sure that you'll see a thing

00:33:46.105 --> 00:33:46.424
saying, like,

00:33:46.505 --> 00:33:47.365
what name do you want in the thank

00:33:47.385 --> 00:33:49.007
you section, and it'll be that one.

00:33:49.067 --> 00:33:50.868
So put whatever you want.

00:33:50.888 --> 00:33:51.269
That's the thing.

00:33:51.348 --> 00:33:52.250
You can put whatever you want.

00:33:52.951 --> 00:33:54.692
A favorite story of mine happened last

00:33:54.751 --> 00:33:55.071
issue.

00:33:55.512 --> 00:33:57.034
A friend of mine named Joe Myers,

00:33:57.314 --> 00:33:59.336
who actually runs a Comic-Con that I go

00:33:59.375 --> 00:33:59.556
to,

00:33:59.915 --> 00:34:03.199
he pledged to have his son put into

00:34:03.259 --> 00:34:03.980
the thank you section,

00:34:04.059 --> 00:34:05.221
which is a very sweet gesture.

00:34:06.055 --> 00:34:07.615
So I put the name in there.

00:34:08.117 --> 00:34:08.956
He gets the book.

00:34:09.538 --> 00:34:10.898
And he goes, Todd, we have a problem.

00:34:11.539 --> 00:34:11.920
Like, what?

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:12.400
What's wrong?

00:34:12.579 --> 00:34:13.300
And he goes, well,

00:34:13.340 --> 00:34:14.882
my daughter found out about this.

00:34:14.942 --> 00:34:16.342
Now she's complaining that she wasn't

00:34:16.402 --> 00:34:17.204
putting the book.

00:34:18.987 --> 00:34:21.068
so when he pledged this time he said

00:34:21.128 --> 00:34:22.510
i've got to make sure that the daughter

00:34:22.550 --> 00:34:24.150
now gets her name into this i'm like

00:34:24.411 --> 00:34:26.632
whatever makes them happy and gets me a

00:34:26.692 --> 00:34:31.014
pledge so exactly yeah um thank you for

00:34:31.054 --> 00:34:33.795
your service thank you for your service uh

00:34:33.835 --> 00:34:35.675
i also have tears that will let you

00:34:35.755 --> 00:34:38.117
get every single book i have made

00:34:38.237 --> 00:34:38.717
digitally

00:34:39.617 --> 00:34:42.260
uh both comics and novels and then there

00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:45.280
are add-ons that you can get where you

00:34:45.780 --> 00:34:46.762
i i guess i've made a lot of

00:34:46.782 --> 00:34:48.342
books i made superhero stories made crime

00:34:48.382 --> 00:34:50.284
wars i made wrestling stuff which we'll be

00:34:50.304 --> 00:34:52.304
talking about soon i've made i've made

00:34:52.364 --> 00:34:54.186
sci-fi novels i made sherlock holmes

00:34:54.246 --> 00:34:57.286
novels so if you get tokyo then you

00:34:57.306 --> 00:34:58.708
go to the add-on section you can get

00:34:59.208 --> 00:35:01.829
any of my books that might intrigue you

00:35:02.090 --> 00:35:04.811
and i've got plenty so feel free to

00:35:04.851 --> 00:35:06.192
look through and see what catches your

00:35:06.311 --> 00:35:07.791
less titles there's got to be something

00:35:07.811 --> 00:35:08.713
that catches somebody

00:35:09.072 --> 00:35:11.454
I would hope I've done most genres and

00:35:11.474 --> 00:35:14.014
the ones that I haven't done are for

00:35:14.034 --> 00:35:15.235
a very good reason.

00:35:15.914 --> 00:35:16.295
I don't know.

00:35:18.416 --> 00:35:22.137
You have done at least twelve Kickstarters

00:35:22.197 --> 00:35:22.818
in your time.

00:35:23.297 --> 00:35:25.199
What has been your most important lesson

00:35:25.318 --> 00:35:28.380
learned running Kickstarter campaigns?

00:35:31.521 --> 00:35:32.081
Yeah.

00:35:33.853 --> 00:35:33.994
Well,

00:35:34.074 --> 00:35:37.077
one of the most recent lessons that I

00:35:37.097 --> 00:35:39.119
gotta give up some shout outs for Matt

00:35:39.139 --> 00:35:40.519
Knowles and Carissa Grant.

00:35:42.362 --> 00:35:46.126
You have to be fair to yourself when

00:35:46.146 --> 00:35:47.266
you're pricing things.

00:35:49.188 --> 00:35:51.811
I like to think that I'm a nice

00:35:51.851 --> 00:35:52.831
guy, I do.

00:35:53.572 --> 00:35:56.494
And because of that certain pricing that I

00:35:56.556 --> 00:35:58.697
had for like the ketchup tiers,

00:35:59.405 --> 00:36:01.106
were incredibly low like they were

00:36:01.126 --> 00:36:04.688
basically at cost instead of like thinking

00:36:04.728 --> 00:36:07.469
cost plus packaging plus shipping and

00:36:07.509 --> 00:36:08.969
everything because i was trying to cut

00:36:08.989 --> 00:36:12.309
people a break but i but i realized

00:36:12.329 --> 00:36:15.150
that my funding was low you know i

00:36:15.170 --> 00:36:16.711
was making my goals i was never i

00:36:16.791 --> 00:36:19.432
never really feared that but when i showed

00:36:19.472 --> 00:36:21.793
it to my friends chris and matt they

00:36:21.813 --> 00:36:22.554
were like top it

00:36:23.699 --> 00:36:24.920
You gotta bump the price up.

00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:26.221
You're not gonna,

00:36:26.240 --> 00:36:28.501
you can't make money like to make the

00:36:28.541 --> 00:36:29.541
comics, just to be clear,

00:36:30.001 --> 00:36:32.822
if you're losing money by doing unfair

00:36:32.862 --> 00:36:33.123
pricing.

00:36:33.543 --> 00:36:35.463
And so with this third volume of Tokyo,

00:36:35.523 --> 00:36:39.224
I did a whole new price tiers for

00:36:39.264 --> 00:36:39.764
everything.

00:36:40.264 --> 00:36:41.804
And it has helped tremendously.

00:36:42.545 --> 00:36:45.565
It's taken burden off of me versus just-

00:36:45.585 --> 00:36:47.706
So how do you normally ship your books?

00:36:50.806 --> 00:36:51.146
I don't have,

00:36:51.507 --> 00:36:52.927
I usually get the mailing envelopes.

00:36:54.344 --> 00:36:55.827
Um, but then for the bigger orders,

00:36:55.847 --> 00:36:57.708
like for example, the physical, uh,

00:36:57.768 --> 00:36:58.568
ketchup tears,

00:36:58.708 --> 00:37:00.630
I've mailed those straight from the

00:37:00.670 --> 00:37:02.632
printer because those are numerous books

00:37:02.652 --> 00:37:03.552
and I don't want to risk spending.

00:37:04.114 --> 00:37:05.914
Uh, but for like the single issues,

00:37:06.054 --> 00:37:08.277
I do standard, um,

00:37:08.396 --> 00:37:10.018
envelopes that you can get like off of,

00:37:10.139 --> 00:37:13.422
uh, Amazon and whatnot.

00:37:13.442 --> 00:37:15.023
And then if you use like the, uh,

00:37:15.043 --> 00:37:16.123
I can't remember what the content of

00:37:16.143 --> 00:37:16.784
bosses they are,

00:37:16.804 --> 00:37:18.465
but that you use for to actually mail

00:37:18.505 --> 00:37:19.527
comic books that are not, uh,

00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:20.699
Yeah,

00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:22.880
there's the brown boxes are called

00:37:22.940 --> 00:37:23.659
Gemini's.

00:37:24.179 --> 00:37:25.460
Gemini's, that's the ones.

00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:25.980
Yeah,

00:37:26.661 --> 00:37:30.702
I would use those for like thicker books,

00:37:30.722 --> 00:37:31.742
like the trade paperbacks.

00:37:31.862 --> 00:37:33.981
But for the single issues,

00:37:34.103 --> 00:37:37.182
like the standard, there's a standard,

00:37:37.503 --> 00:37:38.744
there's a name for them, I can't remember.

00:37:38.764 --> 00:37:39.664
I was going to say,

00:37:39.704 --> 00:37:41.503
Gemini boxes are not cheap.

00:37:41.925 --> 00:37:42.244
They're not,

00:37:42.304 --> 00:37:43.684
and there are paints it puts together.

00:37:44.632 --> 00:37:45.994
They're not that bad.

00:37:46.014 --> 00:37:47.614
The instructions are literally printed on

00:37:47.635 --> 00:37:49.275
them.

00:37:50.157 --> 00:37:52.157
But yeah,

00:37:52.297 --> 00:37:55.521
I would use those for bigger books because

00:37:57.802 --> 00:37:58.682
you always worry about damage.

00:37:58.702 --> 00:38:01.485
And I always have at least one person

00:38:01.644 --> 00:38:03.827
get back to me and say, hey, Todd,

00:38:04.306 --> 00:38:05.027
I know it's not your fault,

00:38:05.047 --> 00:38:06.648
but the male people screwed up.

00:38:06.668 --> 00:38:08.070
Even though I put the Do Not Bend

00:38:08.150 --> 00:38:08.949
stamp on it.

00:38:09.030 --> 00:38:10.291
It doesn't matter.

00:38:10.610 --> 00:38:11.612
It does not matter.

00:38:11.632 --> 00:38:12.152
Yeah.

00:38:13.193 --> 00:38:15.335
I've had one come in where I watched

00:38:15.375 --> 00:38:18.175
the mailman on my camera when he delivered

00:38:18.235 --> 00:38:18.295
it.

00:38:18.356 --> 00:38:21.257
He had it folded and then folded it

00:38:21.317 --> 00:38:23.757
more and shoved it into my mailbox.

00:38:24.998 --> 00:38:26.338
I literally just was like,

00:38:26.478 --> 00:38:28.438
I notified the person.

00:38:29.099 --> 00:38:30.278
He's like, well, where's the book now?

00:38:30.298 --> 00:38:31.300
I'm like, in the damn trash.

00:38:31.320 --> 00:38:32.019
Where else would it be?

00:38:32.099 --> 00:38:32.440
I can't.

00:38:33.168 --> 00:38:34.088
What am I going to do with it?

00:38:34.608 --> 00:38:36.471
It had been folded for so long.

00:38:37.170 --> 00:38:39.492
The crease was permanent and there was

00:38:39.532 --> 00:38:42.275
words that were missing because it

00:38:42.355 --> 00:38:46.217
literally had tore the page also where it

00:38:46.998 --> 00:38:47.599
was bent.

00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:49.201
I was just like...

00:38:49.820 --> 00:38:51.342
i'm like i wasn't going to keep that

00:38:51.362 --> 00:38:53.224
no you shouldn't and then when that

00:38:53.244 --> 00:38:56.349
happens i i have a rapport with my

00:38:57.409 --> 00:38:59.413
uh my backers to where i'm like hey

00:38:59.432 --> 00:39:01.735
this happens message me i'll send you

00:39:01.755 --> 00:39:04.257
another copy at no cost to you i

00:39:04.297 --> 00:39:05.699
don't care yeah i just want you to

00:39:05.739 --> 00:39:07.081
get it i'll tell you a story that

00:39:07.101 --> 00:39:07.621
could top that

00:39:08.483 --> 00:39:10.385
I was doing one of my Tokyo Kickstarters

00:39:11.005 --> 00:39:12.684
and I was doing the mail day,

00:39:12.724 --> 00:39:15.226
which we all love going to the mail

00:39:15.266 --> 00:39:17.186
place with like a stack of things.

00:39:17.226 --> 00:39:19.606
And I got a good relationship by mail

00:39:19.626 --> 00:39:19.867
people.

00:39:19.927 --> 00:39:22.047
But one, I'll never forget this.

00:39:22.108 --> 00:39:24.367
I had two packages in particular that I

00:39:24.407 --> 00:39:24.768
sent out.

00:39:25.068 --> 00:39:26.188
One was to Indiana,

00:39:26.228 --> 00:39:27.429
which is literally the next state over.

00:39:27.469 --> 00:39:27.949
I'm in Illinois.

00:39:28.349 --> 00:39:29.190
It was the next state over.

00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:30.769
And one was to California.

00:39:31.869 --> 00:39:33.490
So I mailed them out at the same

00:39:33.590 --> 00:39:34.831
time, right?

00:39:35.990 --> 00:39:37.472
I wait a few days.

00:39:38.576 --> 00:39:41.478
And the California person messages me and

00:39:41.498 --> 00:39:43.300
goes, hey, Todd, got the comic.

00:39:43.521 --> 00:39:44.302
Good condition.

00:39:44.521 --> 00:39:45.262
Thank you so much.

00:39:45.483 --> 00:39:46.844
Hey, glad I got to you, buddy.

00:39:47.925 --> 00:39:50.148
I message on instinct my Indiana friend.

00:39:50.168 --> 00:39:51.449
He goes, no, I haven't gotten it.

00:39:51.469 --> 00:39:52.411
I'm like, wait, really?

00:39:53.070 --> 00:39:54.273
How have you not gotten it yet?

00:39:54.293 --> 00:39:54.853
He goes, I don't know.

00:39:55.134 --> 00:39:56.255
So I'm like, oh, I sent it.

00:39:56.275 --> 00:39:57.456
Just keep me posted.

00:39:58.376 --> 00:39:59.978
Fast forward a few weeks.

00:40:01.307 --> 00:40:02.489
finally gets to him.

00:40:02.568 --> 00:40:03.869
He takes a picture of it.

00:40:04.188 --> 00:40:06.409
It looked like the truck had run over

00:40:06.489 --> 00:40:08.010
it in the rain.

00:40:08.530 --> 00:40:09.711
Oh, it probably did.

00:40:10.172 --> 00:40:10.751
Well, that's the thing.

00:40:10.853 --> 00:40:13.594
It looked like a waterlogged run over and

00:40:13.614 --> 00:40:15.474
I'm like, how did this happen?

00:40:15.494 --> 00:40:16.934
And he goes, I have no idea.

00:40:17.195 --> 00:40:18.655
And I'm like, dude, don't worry about it.

00:40:18.715 --> 00:40:20.737
I will send you a new one.

00:40:20.777 --> 00:40:21.878
He got it within a week from the

00:40:21.918 --> 00:40:22.197
printer.

00:40:22.217 --> 00:40:25.498
I'm just like, ugh.

00:40:25.739 --> 00:40:30.342
Dude, I did an Amazon return through UPS

00:40:31.663 --> 00:40:32.884
You just take it to the UPS,

00:40:32.903 --> 00:40:34.565
they slap a box and a label on

00:40:34.606 --> 00:40:35.987
it, and away it goes, right?

00:40:36.327 --> 00:40:37.086
Right.

00:40:37.146 --> 00:40:37.887
So I did that.

00:40:38.829 --> 00:40:41.451
A box comes in the mail about a

00:40:41.490 --> 00:40:41.990
week later,

00:40:43.092 --> 00:40:45.554
and it's the same exact thing I returned.

00:40:47.394 --> 00:40:50.958
When UPS printed the label,

00:40:51.217 --> 00:40:53.699
they printed the return label back to me.

00:40:54.221 --> 00:40:54.300
Okay.

00:40:56.583 --> 00:40:58.344
I was like, you scanned it.

00:40:58.364 --> 00:40:59.686
How did you mess it up?

00:40:59.947 --> 00:41:01.568
Wow, that's a new one to me.

00:41:01.588 --> 00:41:03.809
I had to return the same thing twice.

00:41:05.490 --> 00:41:06.170
It happens.

00:41:06.891 --> 00:41:07.632
It's not fun.

00:41:10.034 --> 00:41:12.335
What do you think is the biggest mistake

00:41:12.456 --> 00:41:15.597
new crowd funders make?

00:41:15.677 --> 00:41:17.219
Outside of pricing yourself too low.

00:41:18.019 --> 00:41:18.880
That was one of the big lessons.

00:41:19.581 --> 00:41:20.822
One of the biggest ones,

00:41:22.182 --> 00:41:23.164
I can't speak for everyone.

00:41:24.204 --> 00:41:25.246
That's almost the biggest thing right

00:41:25.266 --> 00:41:25.405
here.

00:41:26.400 --> 00:41:26.760
Never,

00:41:27.081 --> 00:41:28.561
ever compare yourself to another

00:41:28.581 --> 00:41:29.121
Kickstarter.

00:41:30.603 --> 00:41:32.043
And I'll give you the best example.

00:41:32.244 --> 00:41:32.443
Me.

00:41:33.684 --> 00:41:35.806
When I did my very first Kickstarter a

00:41:35.887 --> 00:41:38.068
long time ago, I was an idiot.

00:41:38.547 --> 00:41:40.289
I did the dumbest possible campaign.

00:41:40.309 --> 00:41:42.271
I won't even explain it because it's so

00:41:42.311 --> 00:41:43.532
embarrassing.

00:41:43.552 --> 00:41:44.733
But I didn't get a single pledge.

00:41:45.132 --> 00:41:48.235
Then I learned from my mistakes and I

00:41:48.275 --> 00:41:49.635
did well, but I didn't make my funding.

00:41:49.896 --> 00:41:53.539
Then when I made Home, issue one, I...

00:41:54.954 --> 00:41:57.275
did everything I could to make it work,

00:41:57.735 --> 00:41:58.476
get the funding.

00:41:58.516 --> 00:42:01.637
I had a high funding goal and I

00:42:01.717 --> 00:42:02.038
made it.

00:42:02.077 --> 00:42:02.818
I barely made it,

00:42:02.858 --> 00:42:04.539
but I made it and I couldn't believe

00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:04.639
it.

00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:06.860
And then I built off that with every

00:42:06.940 --> 00:42:07.239
issue.

00:42:07.619 --> 00:42:09.400
But if I had looked at all these

00:42:09.420 --> 00:42:10.681
other Kickstarters that are making,

00:42:10.722 --> 00:42:10.922
you know,

00:42:10.961 --> 00:42:12.382
thousands upon thousands of dollars,

00:42:13.382 --> 00:42:14.884
it would have depressed me to high heaven

00:42:14.923 --> 00:42:17.063
that I only made my goal.

00:42:17.985 --> 00:42:19.105
Never think that way.

00:42:19.465 --> 00:42:22.887
You need to base it on yourself.

00:42:23.552 --> 00:42:25.554
And even Tokyo is a great example of

00:42:25.574 --> 00:42:28.856
that because I went from a sci-fi fantasy

00:42:28.896 --> 00:42:31.039
miniseries with home to a Disney Pixar

00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:34.882
style Kickstarter one shot with Take Ten

00:42:34.902 --> 00:42:35.422
Thousand Miles.

00:42:35.842 --> 00:42:36.943
And then I did Tokyo.

00:42:36.983 --> 00:42:38.445
So that's three very different genres.

00:42:39.025 --> 00:42:41.327
The fan base didn't jump from one to

00:42:41.347 --> 00:42:41.748
the other.

00:42:42.568 --> 00:42:43.268
No, they never did.

00:42:44.048 --> 00:42:45.971
Some of them did because they eventually

00:42:45.990 --> 00:42:48.592
became fans of Todd and at that point

00:42:48.612 --> 00:42:51.155
they're supporting Todd but not the actual

00:42:51.514 --> 00:42:51.996
work.

00:42:52.135 --> 00:42:53.757
And I have people who are like that

00:42:53.797 --> 00:42:55.318
and then in the middle of my Tokyo

00:42:55.358 --> 00:42:57.280
run I made another book called Take the

00:42:57.300 --> 00:42:59.061
House which is a heist comic and I

00:42:59.101 --> 00:43:01.282
had a whole new crop of backers because

00:43:01.503 --> 00:43:03.764
the anime people weren't interested in the

00:43:03.804 --> 00:43:05.447
heist comic but a whole new group of

00:43:05.467 --> 00:43:06.708
people were interested in the heist comic

00:43:06.927 --> 00:43:07.989
but not the anime.

00:43:08.329 --> 00:43:11.271
So you need to focus just on your

00:43:11.291 --> 00:43:11.532
book

00:43:12.168 --> 00:43:13.208
what you're selling,

00:43:13.329 --> 00:43:17.211
and then do your best to advertise it

00:43:17.592 --> 00:43:18.532
to the people reading,

00:43:18.572 --> 00:43:20.554
whether it be doing podcasts like this,

00:43:20.735 --> 00:43:21.996
using social media,

00:43:23.697 --> 00:43:25.478
doing interviews for comic sites,

00:43:26.259 --> 00:43:28.681
and then just for the Kickstarter page,

00:43:29.201 --> 00:43:31.083
advertising what you are.

00:43:31.103 --> 00:43:33.123
Because I have seen so many Kickstarters

00:43:33.164 --> 00:43:38.108
that rely on, let's just be honest,

00:43:38.148 --> 00:43:39.168
they rely on covers.

00:43:40.349 --> 00:43:41.331
And I think you know what I'm talking

00:43:41.351 --> 00:43:42.010
about there, Chairman.

00:43:42.871 --> 00:43:44.152
But they rely on covers.

00:43:44.231 --> 00:43:46.353
And then you look for the interior art,

00:43:46.373 --> 00:43:47.494
you'll get like a panel.

00:43:48.155 --> 00:43:49.235
I have never done that.

00:43:49.396 --> 00:43:50.635
I will never do that.

00:43:51.516 --> 00:43:52.317
One of my first things,

00:43:52.336 --> 00:43:53.777
and I've had to restructure things over

00:43:53.838 --> 00:43:54.858
the years, obviously.

00:43:55.199 --> 00:43:56.719
But one of the first things I always

00:43:56.739 --> 00:43:59.342
try to show is the five preview pages.

00:43:59.362 --> 00:44:00.842
Like that's something that I'm proud of

00:44:00.862 --> 00:44:03.204
that I do from home to now is

00:44:03.364 --> 00:44:06.846
I always show at least five finished pages

00:44:06.865 --> 00:44:07.626
with dialogue.

00:44:08.126 --> 00:44:09.527
so that they can get a glimpse of

00:44:09.567 --> 00:44:09.967
the art,

00:44:10.007 --> 00:44:11.509
they can get a glimpse of the story,

00:44:11.869 --> 00:44:13.570
and they know at least a little more

00:44:13.590 --> 00:44:14.751
about what they're getting into.

00:44:15.981 --> 00:44:17.181
you know that that's important to me

00:44:17.202 --> 00:44:18.882
because i'm showing them my commitment i'm

00:44:18.902 --> 00:44:20.222
just saying i'm not saying hey i'm gonna

00:44:20.242 --> 00:44:21.483
make this comic and it's gonna be so

00:44:21.503 --> 00:44:23.844
cool no making this comic and here's your

00:44:23.885 --> 00:44:25.605
preview i do that with tokyo did that

00:44:25.625 --> 00:44:27.286
would take the house ten thousand miles

00:44:27.606 --> 00:44:29.947
home and any one i do in the

00:44:29.987 --> 00:44:31.407
future like i might be doing one in

00:44:31.447 --> 00:44:33.608
april that's still open here but obviously

00:44:33.628 --> 00:44:35.847
like hey here's the pages for that here's

00:44:35.867 --> 00:44:37.349
the examples of what we do and what

00:44:37.369 --> 00:44:39.269
we have here you know this is why

00:44:39.289 --> 00:44:40.769
you should like it and blah blah blah

00:44:41.250 --> 00:44:42.911
so my biggest thing is that for new

00:44:42.951 --> 00:44:43.411
creators

00:44:44.416 --> 00:44:47.179
You absolutely should show your finished

00:44:47.219 --> 00:44:47.320
work.

00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:48.621
You have to put your own money on

00:44:48.661 --> 00:44:50.264
the line and show that, hey,

00:44:50.324 --> 00:44:51.525
I've already finished some of this.

00:44:51.666 --> 00:44:53.148
You're helping me finish the rest.

00:44:53.708 --> 00:44:55.610
Because that preview could be the

00:44:55.630 --> 00:44:56.911
difference between saying, you know,

00:44:56.931 --> 00:44:58.034
this is an interesting idea,

00:44:58.114 --> 00:44:59.255
but I might not like it.

00:44:59.335 --> 00:45:01.498
I don't back comics unless I at least

00:45:01.538 --> 00:45:02.539
have that preview.

00:45:03.199 --> 00:45:05.800
what he said so because because a lot

00:45:05.820 --> 00:45:07.181
of people especially comics people we're

00:45:07.221 --> 00:45:09.581
visual people we don't want to read the

00:45:09.641 --> 00:45:11.041
wall of text there are people who love

00:45:11.081 --> 00:45:12.641
the wall of text and god bless them

00:45:12.681 --> 00:45:13.782
but some people like i want to see

00:45:13.802 --> 00:45:14.963
the pages and i'm like well here you

00:45:14.983 --> 00:45:17.163
go and there's even tabs now on the

00:45:17.202 --> 00:45:18.882
kickstarter page where you can go where

00:45:18.902 --> 00:45:20.523
you select say preview pages and you can

00:45:20.563 --> 00:45:22.143
click right on that and get sent right

00:45:22.184 --> 00:45:23.724
to the art so this is actually a

00:45:23.784 --> 00:45:25.784
great opportunity for this

00:45:26.565 --> 00:45:29.606
so when i go to i don't back

00:45:30.106 --> 00:45:32.286
all the comics of people who come on

00:45:32.347 --> 00:45:34.268
here some of them that i get priced

00:45:34.307 --> 00:45:35.547
out of the shipping because they're

00:45:35.608 --> 00:45:38.550
overseas and it sucks because i really

00:45:38.590 --> 00:45:42.251
want the book however when the shipping

00:45:42.291 --> 00:45:44.512
costs more than the book i cannot

00:45:45.793 --> 00:45:47.514
I cannot do it.

00:45:48.594 --> 00:45:52.615
It's as simple as right now until the

00:45:52.635 --> 00:45:54.615
mail system as a whole is fixed,

00:45:55.137 --> 00:45:57.876
I'm just not willing to bank on a

00:45:57.916 --> 00:46:00.478
product coming from overseas where the

00:46:00.538 --> 00:46:03.539
shipping is more than the actual book and

00:46:03.559 --> 00:46:06.039
there's no guarantee it comes to me safely

00:46:06.179 --> 00:46:06.900
and soundly.

00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:09.721
So it's nothing against the persons or the

00:46:09.780 --> 00:46:10.360
individuals.

00:46:11.141 --> 00:46:12.702
It's just a lot of risk that I

00:46:12.722 --> 00:46:13.663
am not willing to take.

00:46:14.043 --> 00:46:16.025
But when I go to a Kickstarter page,

00:46:16.244 --> 00:46:19.827
I am looking for I would I like

00:46:19.847 --> 00:46:21.989
to see videos because I'm very I'm a

00:46:22.028 --> 00:46:22.989
comic book guy, right?

00:46:23.050 --> 00:46:24.010
I'm very visual.

00:46:25.393 --> 00:46:27.574
So I love to see when they've spent

00:46:27.614 --> 00:46:30.215
that extra money to have those first six

00:46:30.255 --> 00:46:31.275
pages animated.

00:46:31.436 --> 00:46:33.255
And it just looks really cool.

00:46:34.077 --> 00:46:35.956
And then I want to see it laid

00:46:36.056 --> 00:46:38.117
out in a way that makes me want

00:46:38.137 --> 00:46:40.179
to keep scrolling down.

00:46:40.659 --> 00:46:42.219
You're telling me what this is about.

00:46:42.840 --> 00:46:44.300
And then you're giving me samples of the

00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:44.740
pages.

00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:46.922
And let me see some of the covers.

00:46:47.601 --> 00:46:49.603
And it walked me on the journey of

00:46:49.682 --> 00:46:52.925
this comic book Kickstarter through the

00:46:52.945 --> 00:46:53.425
page.

00:46:54.284 --> 00:46:55.146
And a lot of...

00:46:55.786 --> 00:46:57.025
I've just seen one recently.

00:46:58.086 --> 00:47:00.648
It was... God, it was a dumpster fire.

00:47:01.427 --> 00:47:03.548
And dumpster fire is putting it nicely

00:47:03.568 --> 00:47:05.050
because I really wanted to support the

00:47:05.090 --> 00:47:05.630
project.

00:47:06.050 --> 00:47:07.891
This person has not been on the podcast

00:47:08.652 --> 00:47:09.052
at all.

00:47:09.271 --> 00:47:10.172
I don't know who they are.

00:47:10.572 --> 00:47:11.612
It was just one of those where the

00:47:11.652 --> 00:47:13.193
cover looked really, really cool.

00:47:13.614 --> 00:47:14.034
I was like,

00:47:14.074 --> 00:47:16.775
let me click that because I like the

00:47:16.795 --> 00:47:17.795
concept of the story.

00:47:17.815 --> 00:47:18.637
It was like a horror,

00:47:18.677 --> 00:47:19.697
sci-fi type of deal.

00:47:20.717 --> 00:47:20.838
And...

00:47:22.422 --> 00:47:25.405
dumpster fire, hardcore dumpster fire.

00:47:25.885 --> 00:47:28.666
So take people through the journey of your

00:47:28.746 --> 00:47:31.148
book on your Kickstarter landing page.

00:47:31.788 --> 00:47:35.170
It will do you justice to do that

00:47:36.050 --> 00:47:37.371
and have those samples up there.

00:47:37.411 --> 00:47:38.612
Have, you know,

00:47:38.632 --> 00:47:40.413
let people know who you're working with

00:47:40.893 --> 00:47:44.855
and which is my great segue into you

00:47:44.914 --> 00:47:48.516
worked with Lam Vu Van.

00:47:48.876 --> 00:47:49.438
Lam Vu Van.

00:47:50.117 --> 00:47:50.378
Yep.

00:47:51.358 --> 00:47:51.639
Yes.

00:47:54.070 --> 00:47:57.434
he did the uh the art yeah see

00:47:57.494 --> 00:47:59.818
matt shore yeah he did edit it and

00:47:59.958 --> 00:48:02.882
alex garcia did some covering art and the

00:48:02.922 --> 00:48:04.963
lettering on this book which you've said

00:48:05.003 --> 00:48:06.485
that alex garcia is kind of like your

00:48:06.525 --> 00:48:08.528
go-to for everything when it comes to your

00:48:08.728 --> 00:48:10.510
books he's been with me since the first

00:48:10.570 --> 00:48:10.851
comic

00:48:11.472 --> 00:48:13.273
And I love to see when people are

00:48:13.672 --> 00:48:15.632
consistently working together like that

00:48:15.672 --> 00:48:18.094
because it's cohesion and you know what

00:48:18.114 --> 00:48:21.074
you're going to get every single time.

00:48:21.094 --> 00:48:23.594
But tell us about your team that worked

00:48:23.655 --> 00:48:25.755
on Tokyo Blade Detectives.

00:48:26.076 --> 00:48:27.836
Yeah, so like I said,

00:48:27.916 --> 00:48:29.657
Alex has been with me since the very

00:48:29.677 --> 00:48:30.297
first comic.

00:48:30.896 --> 00:48:32.637
And the only reason he's not doing Tokyo

00:48:32.657 --> 00:48:34.257
is just because I knew I'd need him

00:48:34.277 --> 00:48:35.898
for other projects and I wanted a new

00:48:35.998 --> 00:48:38.579
artist to just give some work to,

00:48:39.099 --> 00:48:40.440
share the love, as it were.

00:48:40.956 --> 00:48:43.157
Like I'm trying to build up a repertoire,

00:48:43.418 --> 00:48:45.099
an arsenal of artists.

00:48:45.380 --> 00:48:46.681
So I'm like, here, you do this project,

00:48:46.721 --> 00:48:47.802
you do this project, do this project.

00:48:49.043 --> 00:48:49.563
But he's great.

00:48:49.583 --> 00:48:51.465
He's done every single cover for Tokyo.

00:48:51.505 --> 00:48:53.106
He's also done some special art for Tokyo

00:48:53.126 --> 00:48:54.507
that we had as a stretch goal one

00:48:54.568 --> 00:48:56.150
time, came out really well.

00:48:57.168 --> 00:48:57.949
He's amazing.

00:48:58.509 --> 00:48:59.429
I can always count on him.

00:49:00.030 --> 00:49:01.751
Matt Shore is actually a fellow comic

00:49:01.791 --> 00:49:02.210
creator.

00:49:03.291 --> 00:49:05.572
He specializes a lot in horror comics.

00:49:06.653 --> 00:49:07.693
He loves that stuff.

00:49:08.215 --> 00:49:09.856
He's a Halloween all the time kind of

00:49:09.876 --> 00:49:10.056
dude.

00:49:11.697 --> 00:49:12.918
I love horror books.

00:49:14.719 --> 00:49:16.018
We're working on a project together that

00:49:16.039 --> 00:49:16.460
you might like,

00:49:16.480 --> 00:49:17.440
so I might have him come on the

00:49:17.480 --> 00:49:18.420
podcast one time.

00:49:18.460 --> 00:49:18.780
Perfect.

00:49:18.800 --> 00:49:19.601
Send him my way.

00:49:19.822 --> 00:49:20.101
I will.

00:49:20.161 --> 00:49:21.443
Just remember, I'm about...

00:49:23.233 --> 00:49:26.394
two months out of scheduling so if we're

00:49:26.414 --> 00:49:28.615
in february that means i'm usually right

00:49:28.655 --> 00:49:31.657
now i'm booking two months ahead so april

00:49:31.896 --> 00:49:34.498
okay i'll keep that in mind but uh

00:49:34.518 --> 00:49:36.659
he's great and we we go to comic

00:49:36.679 --> 00:49:39.000
cons together he's a really nice guy and

00:49:39.039 --> 00:49:40.320
i'm just like hey i need an editor

00:49:40.340 --> 00:49:42.141
on this yeah i can do that and

00:49:42.161 --> 00:49:44.621
then uh long vivon i met on facebook

00:49:45.001 --> 00:49:45.322
and

00:49:46.047 --> 00:49:48.489
we he's really good he's just such dynamic

00:49:48.650 --> 00:49:50.391
art especially for the combat scenes i'm

00:49:50.431 --> 00:49:52.353
like hey can you do this and he

00:49:52.373 --> 00:49:53.554
goes yeah i can do that and he

00:49:53.594 --> 00:49:55.556
actually lives in vietnam and because of

00:49:55.577 --> 00:49:58.800
that he has a a knowledge of japanese

00:49:58.900 --> 00:50:01.943
media culture i rely on for example in

00:50:01.983 --> 00:50:04.144
the second volume we introduced a

00:50:04.184 --> 00:50:06.427
character and i said okay well this

00:50:06.447 --> 00:50:08.610
character is very imposing so we need to

00:50:08.650 --> 00:50:09.490
have him like with a

00:50:10.170 --> 00:50:12.413
bigger weapon than ever so i'm like give

00:50:12.432 --> 00:50:14.074
him like this massive broadsword and i was

00:50:14.094 --> 00:50:15.974
like referencing like cloud strife and

00:50:16.074 --> 00:50:19.617
guts from berserk and he goes um you

00:50:19.657 --> 00:50:22.780
know japan never really had a broadsword

00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:25.902
right it had naginata's though and i'm

00:50:25.922 --> 00:50:29.764
like that's perfect so and so we gave

00:50:29.804 --> 00:50:31.525
him a naginata and it looks so cool

00:50:32.045 --> 00:50:34.487
with how imposing he looks with it so

00:50:35.128 --> 00:50:36.509
i rely on his knowledge quite a bit

00:50:37.322 --> 00:50:40.184
And he's just so consistent.

00:50:40.684 --> 00:50:41.925
I know that no matter what page I

00:50:41.965 --> 00:50:44.027
can give him, he'll do well.

00:50:44.106 --> 00:50:45.188
Or if I do need corrections,

00:50:45.228 --> 00:50:45.987
he'll do them quickly.

00:50:46.007 --> 00:50:47.128
He's like, hey, do you mean like this?

00:50:47.608 --> 00:50:49.751
And we have a very good back and

00:50:49.791 --> 00:50:49.951
forth,

00:50:49.971 --> 00:50:51.271
which is very important with me and my

00:50:51.331 --> 00:50:51.751
artists.

00:50:52.012 --> 00:50:53.494
Because I could be a perfectionist at

00:50:53.554 --> 00:50:53.914
times.

00:50:53.994 --> 00:50:54.875
I'm not afraid to say that.

00:50:55.375 --> 00:50:56.936
But I know that he can take it

00:50:57.255 --> 00:50:58.217
and do it.

00:50:58.257 --> 00:50:59.737
And then he knows that I'm grateful for

00:50:59.777 --> 00:51:00.679
the changes that he makes.

00:51:01.981 --> 00:51:03.740
And you have to be,

00:51:03.860 --> 00:51:06.481
you don't want to put a bad product

00:51:06.621 --> 00:51:09.523
out attached to your name and they're out.

00:51:10.063 --> 00:51:12.083
Zero thing is wrong with going back to

00:51:12.123 --> 00:51:15.204
your artist or your, you know,

00:51:15.224 --> 00:51:17.143
your letter or whoever it may be to

00:51:17.184 --> 00:51:17.724
say, Hey,

00:51:18.605 --> 00:51:19.784
I like where you're going with this.

00:51:19.844 --> 00:51:21.284
You're in the right area,

00:51:21.644 --> 00:51:23.186
but it needs this tweak.

00:51:23.206 --> 00:51:23.945
Now,

00:51:23.985 --> 00:51:26.045
how do you send your stuff over to,

00:51:26.465 --> 00:51:27.085
to him?

00:51:27.766 --> 00:51:29.467
Like when you're, do you,

00:51:30.440 --> 00:51:31.981
just send the story over and he draws

00:51:32.001 --> 00:51:32.621
the story.

00:51:33.061 --> 00:51:35.862
Do you have a storyboard per se of

00:51:36.402 --> 00:51:36.822
like, Hey,

00:51:36.862 --> 00:51:38.364
I want it to be this angle,

00:51:38.884 --> 00:51:39.123
you know,

00:51:39.184 --> 00:51:40.885
him looking at the sunlight from this

00:51:40.925 --> 00:51:41.545
side.

00:51:41.585 --> 00:51:43.005
Like how, how do you do that?

00:51:43.425 --> 00:51:45.806
Personally, I write the script and,

00:51:45.826 --> 00:51:47.586
but I tried to be as detailed as

00:51:47.646 --> 00:51:50.708
I can without like massive paragraphs

00:51:50.748 --> 00:51:51.367
describing one.

00:51:51.387 --> 00:51:53.489
But I go like, okay,

00:51:53.509 --> 00:51:55.909
we're going to have Miko and Michio in

00:51:55.929 --> 00:51:57.909
this shot, blades drawn,

00:51:57.969 --> 00:51:59.831
looking at the bad guy, the camera.

00:52:01.061 --> 00:52:02.824
The camera's behind me.

00:52:02.884 --> 00:52:05.204
I try to lend perspective.

00:52:06.666 --> 00:52:08.387
That's a very good point you just brought

00:52:08.447 --> 00:52:09.007
up right there.

00:52:10.228 --> 00:52:12.929
For anybody and everybody out there,

00:52:12.949 --> 00:52:14.951
in case you don't know or you don't

00:52:14.971 --> 00:52:15.711
read comic books,

00:52:16.152 --> 00:52:18.213
perspective like you'd have in a movie

00:52:18.253 --> 00:52:21.675
with a camera shy also applies to comic

00:52:21.715 --> 00:52:22.034
books.

00:52:22.536 --> 00:52:24.476
You want to be able to look at

00:52:24.516 --> 00:52:26.518
a scene like you were looking through the

00:52:26.577 --> 00:52:29.139
camera lens of a movie being made.

00:52:29.679 --> 00:52:31.141
so if you ever see something that looks

00:52:31.420 --> 00:52:33.643
weird and it looks like it was it's

00:52:33.663 --> 00:52:35.764
just there they didn't use the right

00:52:35.804 --> 00:52:38.065
perspective and you will catch that in not

00:52:38.085 --> 00:52:40.907
only you know indie comics but marvel

00:52:40.947 --> 00:52:43.048
comics and dc comics it doesn't matter

00:52:43.688 --> 00:52:46.610
mistakes happen and it just gets

00:52:46.650 --> 00:52:48.932
overlooked by either the editor or they

00:52:48.952 --> 00:52:52.175
just don't care yeah so and that's another

00:52:52.235 --> 00:52:54.436
big tip for indie people never

00:52:55.512 --> 00:52:59.255
ever think that the big two can't make

00:52:59.275 --> 00:53:02.918
mistakes oh they i'll give you an

00:53:03.099 --> 00:53:05.121
excellent example from a very recent comic

00:53:05.141 --> 00:53:07.724
all right there was you know the dc

00:53:07.764 --> 00:53:11.768
ko uh the comic that's out right now

00:53:11.807 --> 00:53:14.110
yes yes no i've been enjoying it i

00:53:14.150 --> 00:53:16.572
have i don't want to see our marvel

00:53:17.293 --> 00:53:17.514
yeah

00:53:19.474 --> 00:53:21.596
they recently released an interlude issue

00:53:21.615 --> 00:53:22.755
called Boss Fight,

00:53:22.795 --> 00:53:24.496
where they had basically the DC characters

00:53:24.536 --> 00:53:26.898
fighting all these other franchises,

00:53:26.958 --> 00:53:28.398
including Homelander from the Boys,

00:53:28.518 --> 00:53:31.639
Red Sonja, Annabelle, etc.

00:53:31.739 --> 00:53:32.820
In one of the panels,

00:53:32.860 --> 00:53:36.101
they have the World Forger,

00:53:36.121 --> 00:53:37.623
one of the most powerful beings ever,

00:53:37.782 --> 00:53:40.543
with Gorilla Grodd talking about how

00:53:40.583 --> 00:53:41.965
reality is folding on them.

00:53:43.065 --> 00:53:45.646
And in one of the text bubbles for

00:53:45.666 --> 00:53:46.367
the World Forger,

00:53:47.489 --> 00:53:50.672
He says we're running out of room.

00:53:50.994 --> 00:53:53.717
Realty itself is folding in.

00:53:54.998 --> 00:53:57.802
Realty, not reality.

00:53:58.744 --> 00:53:59.164
And I'm like,

00:53:59.204 --> 00:54:00.887
have you seen the housing market?

00:54:01.876 --> 00:54:02.097
I mean,

00:54:02.157 --> 00:54:04.079
it's huge in the multi reference to the

00:54:04.398 --> 00:54:05.099
housing market.

00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:06.159
Yeah.

00:54:06.239 --> 00:54:06.701
And I'm just like,

00:54:06.721 --> 00:54:08.362
there's that can't be right.

00:54:08.402 --> 00:54:09.762
And I even reread it to make sure

00:54:09.782 --> 00:54:11.505
they didn't miss like an eye squeezed in

00:54:11.525 --> 00:54:11.625
there.

00:54:11.644 --> 00:54:11.965
Like, no,

00:54:11.985 --> 00:54:14.407
they put realty instead of reality.

00:54:15.748 --> 00:54:17.389
And that's not even the worst mistake I've

00:54:17.489 --> 00:54:18.170
ever caught.

00:54:19.030 --> 00:54:21.353
in a dc book or marvel gorilla that's

00:54:21.373 --> 00:54:22.813
my dude man that he's one of my

00:54:22.853 --> 00:54:25.757
favorite dc characters so i like those

00:54:25.936 --> 00:54:27.918
weird characters like that the

00:54:27.938 --> 00:54:34.623
constantines and you know question uh but

00:54:34.643 --> 00:54:37.427
going back to the perspective question or

00:54:37.467 --> 00:54:39.068
how i handle that there are times when

00:54:39.108 --> 00:54:42.512
i'll say okay look miko is facing the

00:54:42.552 --> 00:54:42.992
villain and

00:54:43.786 --> 00:54:46.487
and she's shocked, and then I'll go,

00:54:46.527 --> 00:54:47.509
you know, panel five,

00:54:47.869 --> 00:54:50.692
flip the camera so that it's behind her,

00:54:50.931 --> 00:54:52.974
and we see the villain in full because

00:54:52.994 --> 00:54:54.675
we didn't see him before in the previous

00:54:54.715 --> 00:54:55.456
panel to, you know,

00:54:55.476 --> 00:54:56.315
help build the tension.

00:54:56.697 --> 00:54:58.577
And he knows exactly what I mean by

00:54:58.617 --> 00:54:58.818
that.

00:54:58.878 --> 00:55:01.039
Or sometimes I'll go, okay,

00:55:01.260 --> 00:55:02.440
she just got knocked down,

00:55:02.521 --> 00:55:04.702
show the camera from the ground up so

00:55:04.742 --> 00:55:07.326
that we can see the character looming over

00:55:07.425 --> 00:55:07.706
her.

00:55:08.326 --> 00:55:08.547
Or, hey,

00:55:08.586 --> 00:55:10.688
we need a top-down perspective here,

00:55:11.028 --> 00:55:12.389
you know, angled city shot.

00:55:13.831 --> 00:55:15.793
That helps explain things.

00:55:15.833 --> 00:55:17.856
And then other times I'm like, Lom,

00:55:19.356 --> 00:55:21.860
go off.

00:55:21.960 --> 00:55:24.081
I love doing that with Alex and Lom.

00:55:24.101 --> 00:55:24.943
I'm like, guys,

00:55:25.123 --> 00:55:26.585
I don't know how I want this to

00:55:26.625 --> 00:55:26.865
look.

00:55:27.186 --> 00:55:28.527
Here's a loose explanation.

00:55:29.347 --> 00:55:29.869
Have fun.

00:55:31.938 --> 00:55:33.800
it's amazing how many artists love when

00:55:33.820 --> 00:55:35.760
you go hey just have fun with it

00:55:36.302 --> 00:55:37.862
and they're going to produce some of their

00:55:37.922 --> 00:55:39.923
best work just off those words right there

00:55:39.965 --> 00:55:41.686
just have fun with it yeah and they

00:55:41.746 --> 00:55:44.307
have uh and but then there are other

00:55:44.347 --> 00:55:46.748
times when i have said i need something

00:55:46.909 --> 00:55:52.434
very very very specific uh in issue seven

00:55:52.474 --> 00:55:54.715
six or seven yeah i had him draw

00:55:54.755 --> 00:55:55.615
the akira slide

00:55:57.324 --> 00:55:57.923
We, I had it.

00:55:57.963 --> 00:55:58.905
I had the motorcycle.

00:55:59.264 --> 00:55:59.465
Yeah.

00:55:59.505 --> 00:56:00.844
The motorcycle slide.

00:56:00.905 --> 00:56:03.025
And I even added a little Tokyo twist

00:56:03.045 --> 00:56:04.025
with the laser blade.

00:56:04.405 --> 00:56:04.826
And I'm like,

00:56:05.445 --> 00:56:06.827
I gave him so many references.

00:56:06.867 --> 00:56:08.186
I'm like, this is the Akira slide.

00:56:08.527 --> 00:56:09.246
I know, you know it,

00:56:09.467 --> 00:56:10.507
but here's all the references.

00:56:10.807 --> 00:56:11.788
Here's what we're doing with it.

00:56:11.887 --> 00:56:13.068
Here's how we're making it our own.

00:56:13.487 --> 00:56:15.528
And when it, when it's printed,

00:56:15.748 --> 00:56:16.989
like it looks fine on the page when

00:56:17.009 --> 00:56:17.708
it was printed,

00:56:18.108 --> 00:56:19.750
the printer actually made it darker.

00:56:20.369 --> 00:56:21.971
Like the color tints were dark.

00:56:21.990 --> 00:56:23.570
And so I'm like, Hey,

00:56:23.590 --> 00:56:25.032
I need to fix this for the volume.

00:56:25.811 --> 00:56:26.811
I need you to go back to the

00:56:26.831 --> 00:56:27.052
page.

00:56:27.072 --> 00:56:28.132
I need you to lighten this up,

00:56:28.512 --> 00:56:29.273
freshen this up.

00:56:29.512 --> 00:56:31.373
Yeah.

00:56:31.474 --> 00:56:32.693
And it was going to add that darker

00:56:32.733 --> 00:56:33.614
tone back to it.

00:56:34.034 --> 00:56:35.235
And now it looks so much better.

00:56:35.255 --> 00:56:36.255
I'm just like, Oh,

00:56:36.735 --> 00:56:39.096
it's funny that you brought that because I

00:56:39.175 --> 00:56:41.376
actually collect those covers,

00:56:41.757 --> 00:56:43.217
like the homage covers of that.

00:56:43.257 --> 00:56:44.918
So anytime I see that homage on the

00:56:44.958 --> 00:56:45.318
shelf,

00:56:46.659 --> 00:56:48.199
I pick it up because I just love

00:56:48.219 --> 00:56:49.340
to see that.

00:56:49.960 --> 00:56:51.081
homage to that scene.

00:56:51.902 --> 00:56:52.543
It's not a cover,

00:56:52.583 --> 00:56:54.164
but it's a splash page,

00:56:54.184 --> 00:56:55.465
and I made sure it got a lot

00:56:55.485 --> 00:56:55.885
of love.

00:56:56.626 --> 00:56:58.226
The cover for Tokyo No.

00:56:58.327 --> 00:56:59.068
XII, actually,

00:56:59.168 --> 00:57:00.369
is a reference to One Piece.

00:57:01.750 --> 00:57:03.692
It's a shout-out to Goldie Roger in his

00:57:04.072 --> 00:57:05.012
infamous Wanda Coaster,

00:57:05.032 --> 00:57:06.994
where he's got the swords right across

00:57:07.014 --> 00:57:07.936
from him before his death.

00:57:08.436 --> 00:57:09.376
So I was like, yeah,

00:57:09.396 --> 00:57:10.438
let's reference One Piece here.

00:57:11.277 --> 00:57:11.498
So...

00:57:14.894 --> 00:57:16.976
You've hinted that Tokyo Blade Detentives

00:57:17.016 --> 00:57:18.998
could expand beyond comics.

00:57:19.038 --> 00:57:21.079
What's the long-term vision for this

00:57:21.119 --> 00:57:21.619
project?

00:57:22.519 --> 00:57:24.942
The dream, Chairman, the dream,

00:57:25.382 --> 00:57:27.963
that would be to get my own anime

00:57:28.003 --> 00:57:30.726
series based on Tokyo.

00:57:30.746 --> 00:57:32.547
You mentioned before that I actually had

00:57:32.586 --> 00:57:33.788
an animated video made.

00:57:34.108 --> 00:57:34.748
That is true.

00:57:35.208 --> 00:57:37.250
I worked with a team called Studio Leaf,

00:57:37.929 --> 00:57:41.293
and we basically spent almost a year

00:57:41.432 --> 00:57:43.693
working on this ninety-second piece of

00:57:43.753 --> 00:57:44.275
animation.

00:57:45.449 --> 00:57:47.490
I framed it to be an anime style

00:57:47.590 --> 00:57:49.913
intro complete with epic track by Omega

00:57:49.932 --> 00:57:50.954
Sparks, my good friend.

00:57:52.614 --> 00:57:54.036
And I was just like,

00:57:54.096 --> 00:57:55.137
I need this to be like the most

00:57:55.257 --> 00:57:56.297
anime intro ever.

00:57:56.338 --> 00:57:57.559
We started with a storyboard.

00:57:57.639 --> 00:57:58.679
I gave it to Studio Leaf.

00:57:58.699 --> 00:57:59.661
We went through concept art.

00:57:59.681 --> 00:58:00.882
We went through background art.

00:58:00.902 --> 00:58:01.322
We went through

00:58:01.632 --> 00:58:02.672
the motions, the animations,

00:58:02.693 --> 00:58:03.653
how to tweak things,

00:58:03.853 --> 00:58:05.755
how to tie it with the music.

00:58:07.054 --> 00:58:08.695
And it turned out so well.

00:58:08.775 --> 00:58:09.976
And even some of my comic friends were

00:58:09.996 --> 00:58:10.617
like, dude,

00:58:11.416 --> 00:58:12.956
you are so mean because now I have

00:58:12.976 --> 00:58:15.599
to step up my game because I don't

00:58:15.619 --> 00:58:16.719
have anything like that.

00:58:16.759 --> 00:58:17.679
Shout out to Fish Lake.

00:58:18.440 --> 00:58:18.840
And...

00:58:19.360 --> 00:58:21.041
uh i was just like i didn't mean

00:58:21.061 --> 00:58:21.942
to do that but i was just like

00:58:22.121 --> 00:58:24.083
i i don't see people doing this and

00:58:24.103 --> 00:58:25.483
i put my money where my mouth is

00:58:25.503 --> 00:58:28.364
and that was not cheap uh because i

00:58:28.385 --> 00:58:30.126
wanted to show that this could look really

00:58:30.146 --> 00:58:33.548
cool as an anime and that is indeed

00:58:33.588 --> 00:58:35.088
my dream so the longer i go with

00:58:35.108 --> 00:58:36.510
this the longer i can say like i

00:58:36.590 --> 00:58:38.672
got the lord we just got to make

00:58:38.711 --> 00:58:42.494
it into episode no that's that's really

00:58:42.514 --> 00:58:43.914
cool and i think every

00:58:44.806 --> 00:58:46.467
creators should dream as big as they want

00:58:46.487 --> 00:58:49.490
their project to be and work towards that

00:58:49.630 --> 00:58:50.050
goal.

00:58:50.672 --> 00:58:52.634
Even though that that's a far-fetched goal

00:58:53.313 --> 00:58:55.135
is still do the things to line yourself

00:58:55.235 --> 00:58:57.757
up to hit those bigger goals like that.

00:58:58.838 --> 00:58:59.699
But Todd,

00:58:59.739 --> 00:59:01.681
let's hit this bonus segment that I

00:59:01.721 --> 00:59:03.222
mentioned before.

00:59:03.282 --> 00:59:03.382
Yes.

00:59:04.143 --> 00:59:05.065
We went live.

00:59:05.565 --> 00:59:07.726
And so for those who don't know,

00:59:08.387 --> 00:59:11.369
I am a big wrestling guy.

00:59:11.389 --> 00:59:16.253
That's W-R-A-S-S-L-I-N, apostrophe.

00:59:16.614 --> 00:59:17.454
That's how you spell it.

00:59:17.894 --> 00:59:19.215
You can't argue with me on that.

00:59:19.936 --> 00:59:24.840
But Todd did do the autobiography of the

00:59:25.340 --> 00:59:26.202
Thunder Rosa.

00:59:27.081 --> 00:59:27.282
And...

00:59:30.467 --> 00:59:32.226
Walk us through how this project came

00:59:32.246 --> 00:59:32.447
about.

00:59:32.507 --> 00:59:34.588
Was it actually a Kickstarter or was it

00:59:34.628 --> 00:59:36.248
something that you did for Thunder Rosa

00:59:36.387 --> 00:59:37.349
and AEW?

00:59:37.809 --> 00:59:38.068
Okay,

00:59:38.088 --> 00:59:41.389
so this is a perfect example of how,

00:59:41.409 --> 00:59:43.050
to quote you from earlier,

00:59:43.090 --> 00:59:44.449
something just falls into your lap.

00:59:44.969 --> 00:59:48.990
So this was twenty twenty.

00:59:49.010 --> 00:59:51.512
Thunder Rosa was just making her first

00:59:51.532 --> 00:59:53.231
appearances in AEW when she was still part

00:59:53.251 --> 00:59:55.092
of NWA and was their world champion.

00:59:55.333 --> 00:59:56.592
She was going to face Hikaru Shida,

00:59:56.612 --> 00:59:57.753
who's one of my favorite wrestlers,

00:59:58.193 --> 00:59:59.793
on an AEW All Out.

01:00:01.309 --> 01:00:02.530
At this point in time,

01:00:02.750 --> 01:00:04.311
I have a large group of friends who

01:00:04.351 --> 01:00:05.552
are called the Wrestling Knights of the

01:00:05.612 --> 01:00:05.992
Round,

01:00:06.672 --> 01:00:08.614
and we would get together and talk about

01:00:08.634 --> 01:00:10.054
AEW and whatever.

01:00:11.175 --> 01:00:13.398
So we got together one time after Dunder

01:00:13.418 --> 01:00:14.277
Rosa showed up,

01:00:14.538 --> 01:00:18.041
and my sister Maria – love you,

01:00:18.061 --> 01:00:20.021
Maria –

01:00:19.340 --> 01:00:19.701
She was,

01:00:19.840 --> 01:00:21.362
we were talking about Thunder Rose and how

01:00:21.402 --> 01:00:22.081
cool she was.

01:00:22.101 --> 01:00:23.882
And she knew that my dream,

01:00:23.922 --> 01:00:25.364
one of my dream jobs was to work

01:00:25.384 --> 01:00:26.364
to create AEW.

01:00:26.804 --> 01:00:27.804
In fact, I,

01:00:28.525 --> 01:00:30.885
I came up with the AEW Origins comic

01:00:30.925 --> 01:00:32.646
long before DC ever did anything.

01:00:32.666 --> 01:00:34.588
And I have multiple pieces of approval for

01:00:34.608 --> 01:00:34.847
that.

01:00:36.469 --> 01:00:38.329
But I was trying to get my work

01:00:38.349 --> 01:00:41.030
in front of Tony Khan to try and,

01:00:41.190 --> 01:00:42.552
you know, prove my worth to comic book.

01:00:43.739 --> 01:00:46.061
And so Maria was like, you know, Todd,

01:00:46.161 --> 01:00:48.342
maybe you should reach out to Thunder Rosa

01:00:48.362 --> 01:00:50.202
because she wasn't under contract in AEW.

01:00:50.503 --> 01:00:52.224
And like the more wrestlers I worked with,

01:00:52.423 --> 01:00:54.204
the more I could potentially get a job

01:00:54.264 --> 01:00:54.905
at the company.

01:00:55.646 --> 01:00:58.047
And I'm like, well, that's great, sis.

01:00:58.106 --> 01:00:59.867
But how am I supposed to contact her?

01:01:00.288 --> 01:01:00.728
She goes,

01:01:00.748 --> 01:01:03.289
she's got an email on her website.

01:01:03.309 --> 01:01:03.668
Yeah.

01:01:03.728 --> 01:01:03.929
Yeah.

01:01:06.572 --> 01:01:07.092
Okay.

01:01:07.152 --> 01:01:09.074
So I muted my mic.

01:01:09.094 --> 01:01:10.175
I went to her website.

01:01:10.255 --> 01:01:11.016
Sure enough, she's like, hey,

01:01:11.036 --> 01:01:11.936
you want to contact me?

01:01:11.996 --> 01:01:12.938
Here's my email.

01:01:13.478 --> 01:01:16.481
I sent an email via my business account.

01:01:17.541 --> 01:01:18.762
And I was like, hey, Thunder Rosa,

01:01:18.822 --> 01:01:19.742
my name's Todd Black.

01:01:19.943 --> 01:01:20.864
I'm a comic book writer.

01:01:21.344 --> 01:01:23.206
Me and my friends think you're really,

01:01:23.226 --> 01:01:23.786
really cool.

01:01:23.867 --> 01:01:26.668
Would you like a comic made about your

01:01:26.688 --> 01:01:26.989
life?

01:01:27.570 --> 01:01:28.190
Simple as that.

01:01:28.489 --> 01:01:29.110
Send it off.

01:01:29.271 --> 01:01:30.431
Tell everybody.

01:01:30.472 --> 01:01:31.672
I'm like, there you go.

01:01:31.713 --> 01:01:32.293
It's sent.

01:01:32.313 --> 01:01:33.715
And she goes, you never know, Todd.

01:01:33.735 --> 01:01:35.096
I'm like, yeah, I know, Maria, but still.

01:01:35.885 --> 01:01:37.706
Fifteen minutes later,

01:01:38.407 --> 01:01:40.228
Thunder Rosa gets back to me and goes,

01:01:40.268 --> 01:01:41.389
yeah, that's a great idea.

01:01:42.250 --> 01:01:43.289
That's really cool.

01:01:43.431 --> 01:01:43.791
I'm like,

01:01:43.911 --> 01:01:46.293
why can't everything be this easy?

01:01:46.632 --> 01:01:49.655
So it was funded by her entirely.

01:01:52.077 --> 01:01:53.998
We would get on phone calls.

01:01:54.018 --> 01:01:55.079
I still have her number.

01:01:55.960 --> 01:01:57.059
Get on phone calls and I would just

01:01:57.079 --> 01:01:57.460
say like,

01:01:58.061 --> 01:01:59.061
hey, here's what we would do,

01:01:59.141 --> 01:02:00.681
here's what I would need from you.

01:02:00.702 --> 01:02:02.443
And then she would just email me like

01:02:02.503 --> 01:02:04.043
large sections of her life story.

01:02:04.784 --> 01:02:06.164
And it's a sixty page comic.

01:02:06.184 --> 01:02:08.144
It started in the graveyards of Tijuana,

01:02:08.204 --> 01:02:09.005
right?

01:02:09.045 --> 01:02:09.686
The graveyard, yeah.

01:02:09.865 --> 01:02:11.286
We talk about how she was from the

01:02:11.306 --> 01:02:12.467
graveyards of Tijuana, Mexico.

01:02:12.487 --> 01:02:14.427
And it is legit her life story in

01:02:14.447 --> 01:02:15.347
comic form.

01:02:15.387 --> 01:02:17.309
We talk about her life from Mexico,

01:02:17.349 --> 01:02:18.269
moving to the US,

01:02:18.449 --> 01:02:20.429
what she was before she was a wrestler,

01:02:20.489 --> 01:02:21.791
how she got into wrestling,

01:02:22.070 --> 01:02:23.331
where she got the idea of the sugar

01:02:23.391 --> 01:02:26.193
skull, her time on the indies.

01:02:26.793 --> 01:02:28.193
And because of the time,

01:02:28.213 --> 01:02:30.273
I hope because she is a I think

01:02:30.313 --> 01:02:31.735
what a USC grad or something like that.

01:02:32.574 --> 01:02:33.715
I think we lightly covered college.

01:02:33.735 --> 01:02:35.275
Okay.

01:02:35.315 --> 01:02:37.817
But we because of the timing of it,

01:02:38.056 --> 01:02:40.217
I actually had through the third issue,

01:02:40.237 --> 01:02:40.797
the final issue.

01:02:41.266 --> 01:02:42.527
this was when she was doing like her

01:02:42.588 --> 01:02:43.869
world tour of sorts.

01:02:44.009 --> 01:02:45.530
So she was in the TNA for a

01:02:45.590 --> 01:02:47.273
big match against Dionne Barrazzo and she

01:02:47.293 --> 01:02:49.496
had the great skull cosplay.

01:02:49.755 --> 01:02:52.219
She showed up in GCW and everyone lost

01:02:52.259 --> 01:02:52.960
their minds.

01:02:53.420 --> 01:02:55.041
And then I got to show the all

01:02:55.061 --> 01:02:56.804
elite graphic with her.

01:02:57.244 --> 01:02:58.885
And then we ended basically.

01:02:58.985 --> 01:03:01.068
And right when we finished the book,

01:03:01.735 --> 01:03:03.577
The whole series, miniseries,

01:03:03.976 --> 01:03:07.418
was when she beat Britt Baker for the

01:03:07.458 --> 01:03:07.737
title.

01:03:07.777 --> 01:03:09.679
So what I did was that...

01:03:10.659 --> 01:03:12.360
It was a... Steel cage match.

01:03:12.739 --> 01:03:13.820
Steel cage match.

01:03:14.960 --> 01:03:15.940
Why was it?

01:03:15.981 --> 01:03:17.460
No lights or something like that?

01:03:17.481 --> 01:03:17.621
No, no.

01:03:17.641 --> 01:03:18.722
The lights out match was different,

01:03:18.742 --> 01:03:20.641
but we have that in the book.

01:03:20.862 --> 01:03:21.983
That was their match of the year.

01:03:22.563 --> 01:03:22.822
winner.

01:03:23.143 --> 01:03:24.605
It was the Lights Out match at St.

01:03:24.644 --> 01:03:25.445
Patrick's Day Slam.

01:03:27.527 --> 01:03:28.168
When we got done,

01:03:28.188 --> 01:03:29.230
she just won the world title.

01:03:29.250 --> 01:03:29.610
I'm like, well,

01:03:29.630 --> 01:03:30.690
you know we got to put this together

01:03:30.731 --> 01:03:32.253
for a championship edition.

01:03:32.413 --> 01:03:33.293
She goes, oh, really?

01:03:33.333 --> 01:03:34.074
She goes, yeah, but don't worry.

01:03:34.114 --> 01:03:35.436
I'll take care of the cover.

01:03:35.516 --> 01:03:38.038
I drew her in her outfit.

01:03:38.117 --> 01:03:40.559
Alex drew her in her outfit from the

01:03:40.581 --> 01:03:42.581
Steel Caves match holding up the belt.

01:03:42.601 --> 01:03:43.923
We called it the championship edition.

01:03:44.423 --> 01:03:45.965
So that's really cool.

01:03:46.005 --> 01:03:46.184
Yeah.

01:03:46.226 --> 01:03:49.188
But she was absolutely amazed or amazed

01:03:49.228 --> 01:03:50.248
with how it all came out.

01:03:50.268 --> 01:03:51.309
She was awesome to work with.

01:03:51.590 --> 01:03:53.371
I made her cry and I'm like,

01:03:53.411 --> 01:03:54.452
why am I, why are you crying?

01:03:54.472 --> 01:03:55.713
She goes, cause it's so beautiful.

01:03:55.773 --> 01:03:56.994
And I didn't expect it to be this

01:03:57.034 --> 01:03:57.313
good.

01:03:57.333 --> 01:03:58.795
I'm just like, well,

01:03:58.815 --> 01:03:59.835
I'm trying our hardest.

01:04:00.096 --> 01:04:02.498
And I was actually sad when it ended.

01:04:02.518 --> 01:04:02.858
Cause I mean,

01:04:02.918 --> 01:04:04.259
I didn't get to get to talk to

01:04:04.298 --> 01:04:04.458
her.

01:04:04.559 --> 01:04:06.780
And then all out,

01:04:08.822 --> 01:04:10.244
I got to see her where we were

01:04:10.264 --> 01:04:11.565
in the midst of working on the book.

01:04:12.264 --> 01:04:13.146
And yeah,

01:04:13.804 --> 01:04:16.686
it was during the pandemic still so they

01:04:16.706 --> 01:04:18.268
were all the talent at the fan fest

01:04:18.288 --> 01:04:20.630
were hiding behind the glass yeah like

01:04:20.650 --> 01:04:22.351
they were protected by the glass yeah and

01:04:22.391 --> 01:04:25.373
so i show up she instantly recognized me

01:04:25.414 --> 01:04:27.235
she most into security she goes i have

01:04:27.255 --> 01:04:28.755
to come around for him he's my friend

01:04:29.077 --> 01:04:33.000
i was like oh so uh that's been

01:04:33.159 --> 01:04:35.262
one of my best sellers because people go

01:04:35.382 --> 01:04:36.463
oh that's thunder rosa

01:04:38.255 --> 01:04:38.536
And I go, yeah.

01:04:38.556 --> 01:04:39.235
It's really cool.

01:04:39.335 --> 01:04:40.416
And, like,

01:04:40.556 --> 01:04:42.016
I knew there was a comic book made

01:04:42.056 --> 01:04:42.536
because, I mean,

01:04:42.556 --> 01:04:44.797
I follow her on social media as well.

01:04:44.836 --> 01:04:44.916
Yeah.

01:04:45.577 --> 01:04:46.197
And I was just, like,

01:04:46.237 --> 01:04:47.237
I had seen it, like,

01:04:47.438 --> 01:04:48.978
at conventions and stuff where she was

01:04:49.038 --> 01:04:50.559
posting pictures from conventions.

01:04:51.338 --> 01:04:52.518
And then when it come across when I

01:04:52.539 --> 01:04:53.659
was looking through your Kickstarter,

01:04:53.679 --> 01:04:55.179
I'm like,

01:04:55.219 --> 01:04:56.480
this is the guy that did it.

01:04:56.500 --> 01:04:58.260
I'm like, that is even cooler.

01:04:58.280 --> 01:04:58.840
Yeah.

01:04:58.960 --> 01:05:00.579
I didn't – it's one of the few

01:05:00.599 --> 01:05:03.521
books I don't credit myself in because I

01:05:03.521 --> 01:05:04.110
–

01:05:04.655 --> 01:05:05.235
wasn't my book.

01:05:05.956 --> 01:05:08.699
I didn't feel, I probably should have,

01:05:08.778 --> 01:05:09.420
but I was like,

01:05:09.440 --> 01:05:10.159
this is about Thunder Rose,

01:05:10.179 --> 01:05:10.820
it's not about me.

01:05:11.340 --> 01:05:13.842
So I didn't credit myself, but like, yeah,

01:05:13.902 --> 01:05:15.463
I'm the writer of the,

01:05:15.664 --> 01:05:16.885
Alex Garcia was the artist on it.

01:05:16.925 --> 01:05:18.927
He did a great job and

01:05:20.139 --> 01:05:21.159
It's definitely one of the highlights of

01:05:21.179 --> 01:05:21.721
my career.

01:05:21.780 --> 01:05:22.181
And again,

01:05:22.221 --> 01:05:23.041
but it's also the one of the ones

01:05:23.061 --> 01:05:23.300
where like,

01:05:23.320 --> 01:05:24.701
why can't everything be this simple?

01:05:24.802 --> 01:05:26.282
I sent one email.

01:05:26.762 --> 01:05:28.181
It wasn't even my idea.

01:05:28.322 --> 01:05:28.963
And it was like,

01:05:29.003 --> 01:05:30.242
but it worked out so well.

01:05:30.302 --> 01:05:31.603
And Thunder Rosa, you're amazing.

01:05:31.623 --> 01:05:34.384
She just redebuted on AEW last night,

01:05:34.583 --> 01:05:35.644
got a big reception.

01:05:35.724 --> 01:05:35.965
Yeah.

01:05:37.637 --> 01:05:38.217
She's amazing.

01:05:39.197 --> 01:05:40.159
I'm inspired by her.

01:05:40.239 --> 01:05:41.898
Her story is truly inspiring.

01:05:41.938 --> 01:05:43.619
I'll have to go back and watch AEW

01:05:43.659 --> 01:05:46.260
because I missed it last night because I

01:05:46.280 --> 01:05:47.599
was editing another show.

01:05:48.981 --> 01:05:50.041
I need to go back and watch it

01:05:50.061 --> 01:05:50.920
or at least have it up in the

01:05:50.960 --> 01:05:52.661
background so I can hear it.

01:05:53.822 --> 01:05:54.621
She got a great return.

01:05:55.342 --> 01:05:55.621
Good.

01:05:57.123 --> 01:05:58.123
I love to see her work.

01:05:58.163 --> 01:05:59.322
I know she's got her own wrestling

01:05:59.342 --> 01:06:00.503
promotion down in Texas.

01:06:01.182 --> 01:06:03.284
Mission Pro Wrestling.

01:06:04.552 --> 01:06:06.032
And good people down at Mission Pro too,

01:06:06.052 --> 01:06:06.393
by the way.

01:06:06.413 --> 01:06:07.554
I got a friend that works down there

01:06:07.574 --> 01:06:08.255
with them.

01:06:08.315 --> 01:06:09.054
Yeah.

01:06:09.094 --> 01:06:11.436
But let's move on to some rapid-fire

01:06:11.456 --> 01:06:13.239
questions before we start wrapping this

01:06:13.358 --> 01:06:13.478
up.

01:06:13.938 --> 01:06:14.398
Okay.

01:06:14.539 --> 01:06:19.103
So favorite sci-fi influence?

01:06:19.222 --> 01:06:21.485
Definitely Star Trek or Babylon V,

01:06:21.724 --> 01:06:23.407
and they were actually the influence for

01:06:23.467 --> 01:06:25.327
my novel series I'm writing right now

01:06:25.347 --> 01:06:26.628
called As We Wander the Stars,

01:06:26.949 --> 01:06:28.351
which is available on the Kickstarter.

01:06:29.771 --> 01:06:32.454
Blade Runner versus anime cyberpunk,

01:06:32.474 --> 01:06:33.315
which shaped you more?

01:06:34.637 --> 01:06:35.458
Neither, actually.

01:06:35.498 --> 01:06:36.500
I've never seen Blade Runner,

01:06:37.059 --> 01:06:41.784
and I can't really think of an anime

01:06:41.923 --> 01:06:43.746
cyberpunk that's influenced me.

01:06:43.846 --> 01:06:44.585
I know they exist,

01:06:44.606 --> 01:06:45.606
but I don't think of that.

01:06:45.686 --> 01:06:47.369
I'm like, oh, this inspired me.

01:06:47.469 --> 01:06:50.010
You're not missing nothing on that one.

01:06:50.030 --> 01:06:52.813
The video game is better on that one.

01:06:52.833 --> 01:06:54.675
Favorite Kickstarter reward you've

01:06:54.755 --> 01:06:56.155
offered?

01:06:56.215 --> 01:06:56.675
Cameo.

01:06:57.697 --> 01:06:59.378
Oh, actually, for Home,

01:06:59.659 --> 01:07:01.079
I had them become knights.

01:07:01.833 --> 01:07:03.574
that's really cool too i i was my

01:07:03.635 --> 01:07:05.456
biggest reward i've ever done like like in

01:07:05.576 --> 01:07:07.516
terms of cost but i needed it because

01:07:07.556 --> 01:07:10.858
of the the reward the the goal i

01:07:10.878 --> 01:07:12.300
was going for but like you paid this

01:07:12.360 --> 01:07:13.900
much you're going to be a main character

01:07:14.141 --> 01:07:16.603
like gary that's really cool and a lot

01:07:16.623 --> 01:07:17.623
of people pledged to that which i was

01:07:17.663 --> 01:07:21.585
grateful for but um one word to describe

01:07:21.626 --> 01:07:25.487
tokyo blade detectives one word layered

01:07:27.088 --> 01:07:27.748
It's a good one.

01:07:28.329 --> 01:07:31.452
Advice to indie creators grinding right

01:07:31.592 --> 01:07:31.871
now.

01:07:31.891 --> 01:07:35.315
I'm going to lean in for this one.

01:07:35.375 --> 01:07:37.476
Believe in your books.

01:07:39.079 --> 01:07:39.659
Seriously.

01:07:39.900 --> 01:07:41.661
If you don't believe in what you're

01:07:41.681 --> 01:07:43.402
making, why should anybody else?

01:07:44.643 --> 01:07:45.764
I would not release a book that I

01:07:45.804 --> 01:07:46.445
did not believe in.

01:07:47.418 --> 01:07:49.398
OK, from Tokyo home, Thunder Rosa,

01:07:49.679 --> 01:07:50.059
whatever.

01:07:50.739 --> 01:07:52.201
I put everything I have into my books

01:07:52.240 --> 01:07:53.202
and that's why I make them,

01:07:53.262 --> 01:07:55.523
because I believe that if someone reads

01:07:55.563 --> 01:07:56.844
them, they will enjoy it.

01:07:57.284 --> 01:07:59.246
So believe in your books and I'll carry

01:07:59.266 --> 01:07:59.547
you through.

01:08:00.586 --> 01:08:02.027
I do want to point out before we

01:08:02.088 --> 01:08:06.652
hit the end in here, you're fully funded.

01:08:07.351 --> 01:08:08.112
Sixteen hours.

01:08:08.907 --> 01:08:10.188
Yeah, that was cool.

01:08:10.208 --> 01:08:13.369
And that was a lot of hard work

01:08:13.409 --> 01:08:14.271
just to get to that.

01:08:14.291 --> 01:08:15.251
But I had a lot of people.

01:08:15.690 --> 01:08:18.292
I had my best launch ever via this

01:08:18.632 --> 01:08:19.033
campaign.

01:08:19.113 --> 01:08:20.153
I don't even know why.

01:08:20.894 --> 01:08:22.014
It was just I launched it.

01:08:22.054 --> 01:08:23.875
And then I have a tradition where I

01:08:23.914 --> 01:08:25.355
don't even check my campaign for the first

01:08:25.376 --> 01:08:27.016
day outside of plugging it.

01:08:27.417 --> 01:08:28.877
And then I checked on the midnight mark.

01:08:28.896 --> 01:08:29.717
I always launch at midnight,

01:08:29.738 --> 01:08:30.578
just a quirk of mine.

01:08:30.938 --> 01:08:32.698
And I was almost at fifty backers on

01:08:32.779 --> 01:08:34.140
day one, which has never happened to me.

01:08:34.659 --> 01:08:36.261
And I'm just like, wow, this is amazing.

01:08:36.601 --> 01:08:38.083
And I was funded in sixteen hours and

01:08:38.104 --> 01:08:38.604
I'm very,

01:08:38.623 --> 01:08:40.086
very grateful to my support base.

01:08:40.265 --> 01:08:42.427
And I'm hoping you watching will be a

01:08:42.467 --> 01:08:43.408
part of this because I'm hoping to

01:08:43.488 --> 01:08:45.291
continue growing Tokyo Blade Detectives

01:08:45.310 --> 01:08:45.811
through the years.

01:08:47.640 --> 01:08:48.640
Perfect, man.

01:08:48.740 --> 01:08:49.680
It's truly awesome.

01:08:49.720 --> 01:08:52.082
I love when I log in to see

01:08:52.462 --> 01:08:53.922
the Kickstarter that's about to come on

01:08:53.943 --> 01:08:55.703
the podcast and learn that they've either,

01:08:56.243 --> 01:08:58.125
they're almost there or they're there and

01:08:58.145 --> 01:08:59.885
they did it in like some amazing amount

01:08:59.925 --> 01:09:00.426
of time.

01:09:00.645 --> 01:09:00.905
Yeah.

01:09:00.926 --> 01:09:01.365
But Todd,

01:09:01.386 --> 01:09:02.766
this is the point of the show where

01:09:02.787 --> 01:09:04.867
you get to plug yourself and where people

01:09:04.886 --> 01:09:05.547
can find you.

01:09:06.087 --> 01:09:08.708
Well, you can find me on blue sky.

01:09:09.048 --> 01:09:11.850
You can find me on Twitter at guardians

01:09:11.869 --> 01:09:12.770
underscore comic.

01:09:14.360 --> 01:09:15.560
uh i also have an author page on

01:09:15.621 --> 01:09:16.662
amazon if you want to get my books

01:09:16.681 --> 01:09:18.242
there if you if you miss the kickstarter

01:09:18.902 --> 01:09:21.082
uh i do have late pledges so if

01:09:21.103 --> 01:09:23.143
you do miss it again we end on

01:09:23.162 --> 01:09:24.783
the twenty eighth at eight p.m central

01:09:24.823 --> 01:09:26.604
time so you got a few days but

01:09:26.623 --> 01:09:30.805
we do accept late pledges um i am

01:09:30.845 --> 01:09:32.585
on facebook but mainly via my personal

01:09:32.625 --> 01:09:33.725
page so i'm sure you can find just

01:09:33.744 --> 01:09:36.645
look for the hair and uh but again

01:09:36.666 --> 01:09:37.886
the kickstarter is the place where you can

01:09:37.905 --> 01:09:39.907
get all my books including all of tokyo

01:09:39.987 --> 01:09:41.006
so i really hope you'll check it out

01:09:41.027 --> 01:09:41.987
i really do love this series

01:09:43.331 --> 01:09:43.711
Awesome, bro.

01:09:43.730 --> 01:09:44.731
Appreciate it.

01:09:45.273 --> 01:09:46.252
Todd, seriously, though,

01:09:46.292 --> 01:09:49.055
this has been a fantastic conversation.

01:09:49.095 --> 01:09:51.396
Tokyo Blade Detectives isn't just another

01:09:51.636 --> 01:09:52.318
indie comic.

01:09:52.837 --> 01:09:55.159
It's a low-running universe built with

01:09:55.199 --> 01:09:56.801
consistency, vision,

01:09:57.282 --> 01:09:59.203
and a real understanding of character

01:09:59.283 --> 01:10:00.163
consequences.

01:10:00.744 --> 01:10:01.744
Check out the Kickstarter,

01:10:01.784 --> 01:10:02.905
support indie comics,

01:10:02.985 --> 01:10:05.728
and follow Todd's work because this

01:10:05.768 --> 01:10:07.270
clearly isn't done yet.

01:10:08.265 --> 01:10:09.646
And as always, ladies and gentlemen,

01:10:09.747 --> 01:10:11.809
this has been the chairman of the United

01:10:11.828 --> 01:10:12.909
States Department of Nerds,

01:10:13.390 --> 01:10:16.012
where indie comments come to life.

01:10:16.774 --> 01:10:18.914
Y'all be safe out there and stay warm.

01:10:18.935 --> 01:10:20.157
Yes, please.