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what is up everybody it's the chairman of
the united states department of nerds
where we are for the people by the
people and of the people and i'm a
little out of breath because i was rushing
to get this shared out across all the
beautiful platforms that we are located on
But some futures don't arrive quietly.
They rebuild themselves from the ashes
stronger, faster, and more advanced.
But progress always comes with a price.
And tonight,
we step two hundred years into the future,
a rebuilt Japan where guns are outlawed
and technology has reshaped society,
but yet violence.
still finds a way.
Laserblades, rising factions,
a city under constant pressure,
and in the middle of it all,
a detective named Miko.
Please tell me I said that right.
Yeah, you said that right.
Trying to survive long enough to uncover
the truth.
Our guest tonight is writer Todd Black,
a creator with over a decade in comics,
more than fifty published stories,
and the architect behind the Cyberpunk
Detective Saga,
tokyo blade detectives and volume three is
reaching its climax with issue number
twelve on kickstarter an interlude story
about consequences legacy and what happens
after the dust settles ladies and
gentlemen the council of nerds is now in
session todd welcome to the united states
department of nerds my friend honored to
be here
Now let's get into this because it is
a really cool story.
It's like Japanese Star Wars in my eyes
is how I look at it.
But Todd,
for everybody meeting you for the first
time, who I think is everybody here today,
who is Todd Black as a creator?
Like I said, my name is Todd.
Nice to meet you.
I'm a writer of comics and novels.
I've been doing this for a decade now.
I...
I'm a guy who just loves to tell
stories,
and if you ever were to come to
one of my Comic-Con tables,
you'd see I had not only a widespread,
but a wide array of genres that I
have tapped into,
with anime being the latest one,
comics-wise, with Tokyo Blade Detectives.
For me, it's very much,
it's about the story,
it's about the characters,
about trying to get the most out of
it so that you, the reader,
will enjoy what you read every single
time.
I endeavor to put my best foot forward
and my best, well not pen, I don't,
I type,
but I try to do my best with
my writing and I appreciate everyone who
reads any of my books.
So was there a particular comic book in
your life that kind of pulled you toward
writing comics yourself?
Actually, not a comic book.
I grew up in the nineties in the
golden age of superhero television.
So Batman TAS, Superman TAS,
Justice League, Batman Beyond, X-Men,
Spider-Man, all of them.
And I was enamored with all of it.
I didn't read my first official comic book
until I was eighteen years old because I
didn't realize that there was a comic
store near me.
And even if I learned sooner,
I guarantee my parents wouldn't have
bought any for me.
It's like, Todd,
you need to buy it yourself,
but they're so expensive.
Uh,
but eventually I went to a C two
E two in Chicago comic-con.
Okay.
And I went to a panel called making
comics, the Marvel way.
And on the panel wasn't was Matt fraction
of legendary comics name.
And I said, Hey,
I have had this idea for a comic
in my head for awhile.
What do I do to make it real?
And he goes, look,
if you're a writer and you want to
make comics,
go find an artist and go make comics.
Like almost word for word,
that's what he said.
And so fast forward, oh, I don't know,
two years,
because apparently you need money to make
comics.
I finally got the funding to make it.
And I found an artist named Alex Garcia.
And we made my very first comic series
called Guardians,
which is my superhero story.
And then I just started working one issue
at a time, one book at a time,
then started jumping genres.
Then I went from comics to prose for
a bit.
I've got a bunch of prose novels out
across a couple of series.
And now it's just about trying to get
the next story out,
trying to get the next adventure out and
seeing where everything goes.
You're up to fifty stories.
What keeps you... Schematics on that one.
What keeps you creating, man?
Like I said, I love stories.
My biggest problem.
Okay.
I got a lot of problems.
Okay.
I mean, that's the thing.
That's the big one is that I think
some people underestimate how much it
takes to make a comic.
And especially when you look at certain
Kickstarters where they're making,
you know,
thousands and thousands of dollars,
everyone thinks, well, they're rich.
No,
a lot of that goes into the comic
and production and then making the next
thing.
And then paying people on top of it.
Yeah, not not not.
And it does include doing things like
comic cons,
which I try to do a lot in
my area.
You know,
those cost money just to get the table,
get the comics to sell at the table.
And then you have to sell enough to
try and make a profit.
It takes a lot.
And I've been lucky in that I've had
jobs that have supported me enough so I
can do all of this.
but it does cost a lot of money
to make a single book.
Even with novel writing,
it costs a lot because you might think,
well, you're only just typing the words,
right?
Well, that's true,
but you're also paying for the cover.
So depending on your artist,
that could cost a lot.
And then if you have an editor,
which you absolutely should,
they could cost you as much as like
ten comic pages because they're going
through hundreds of pages and
helping you with story flow and grammar
and all that.
So it all adds up in the end.
But my other problem is that I just
have way too many ideas in my head.
Like I already know what my,
what I want my next comic series to
be multiple comic series.
And then I,
I just finished one prose novel,
which is off to editing and I'm already
starting my next novel adventure in a
completely different genre.
So I still don't have the time for
it all.
And then I have side jobs.
I have my main job.
I have comic cons.
It'll be starting for me in two weeks.
And,
much to do but i love it and
i love that i have something to hold
on to is like even if everything else
is going bad i've got my comics i
got my novels and i got these other
stories i want to bring to the world
let's break that down real quick because i
don't think people really understand so if
you get a table yeah at a comic-con
right just a local comic-con a table is
going to be anywhere from twenty five to
seventy five dollars at a small one and
we're talking a small convention
They may not even provide you the table.
So now you're on the hook for the
cheers and the table.
You just don't want to show up with
a table.
So therefore now you need a banner with
your name or logo on it.
So quick estimate,
thirty five to fifty bucks for that.
Then it's the display stands.
You just don't want to have your stuff
just laying on the table.
You want to make it look nice for
the people come to see you and learning
who you are.
So
let's say,
fifty to a hundred bucks for comic book
stands or something like that to for a
proper way to make your comments
presentable to the masses of people.
Then on top of that,
you throw in the cost of actually
producing books.
Say he's out of a book.
He goes back to his printer and says,
hey,
can you print me twenty five copies of
this book at what?
Three ninety nine.
Four dollars a pop depends on the printer.
But that's a good estimate for now.
So we're talking about that one day trip
to a Comic-Con local to his house.
We're looking at five to six hundred
bucks.
One day's worth of working.
We now have to make that money back
somehow,
which gets unfortunately given out to the
customers in the price of the book.
So that's how that breaks down for anybody
who's ever wondered how that works.
And just to be clear,
that was for a small con.
All right.
Yes.
For like next month.
One of my my biggest show of the
year right now, at least,
is I'm doing a show called Planet Comic
Con Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.
one of my best show I do every
year by far in terms of sales.
But even then,
that's a four hundred dollar table just to
get there.
And then I drive six hours to get
there.
And then I have about four hundred dollars
for the hotel.
Yeah,
they got four hundred dollars for the
hotel, plus food,
plus whatever other expenditures hit my
way.
So right there,
I need to make about nine hundred dollars
to technically cover costs.
And technically,
I'm not because of comic orders and
everything.
That's an entirely different thing.
So things can add up very,
very quickly if you're not careful.
So.
There you have it, folks.
You love to see when your favorite comic
creator shows up at Comic-Cons.
The small guys,
like Todd and all the other indie creators
who you see on this podcast when they
appear at a Comic-Con,
it's out of their pocket.
And it's not cheap.
So that's what we're saying,
and that's why we push so hard to
support indie creators on the podcast is
because...
why not they they deserve as much love
as the big guy because a lot of
these guys are producing stuff better than
what marvel and dc are putting out right
now and i'll i will die on that
hill i won't deny the certain ones but
no sorry that was a tangent every now
and then something like every now and then
something comes up and it's very dear and
near to me because i do love comic
cons and i think it's important for people
to understand
what actually goes into those.
And that was just a good opportunity.
Thank you.
Trust me.
Comic-Cons are a huge part of what I
do just because due to the nature of
my, my existence, I'm a hermit.
Like I work from home and everything.
So Comic-Cons are my way to expand my
reach.
And there are plenty of people at
Comic-Cons that I'll never meet online.
So this is my chance to reach out
to them to say like, hey,
there's this book that they might like.
And I've met lifelong friends at these
shows.
So my life would be so much more
boring without these Comic-Cons.
Now, are they stressful?
Absolutely.
Can they take a drain on me?
Absolutely.
And next month, I got three of them.
But I'm doing it because I love it.
And I get to see people I care
about.
I get to sell my books.
And if they go well,
then I'm above and beyond.
So it matters.
I love that, dude.
But let's talk about Tokyo Blade
Detectives.
We're going to dive into this.
So what sparked this idea for Tokyo Blade
Detectives?
Because it looks like such a fun series.
The hype video on the Kickstarter looks so
much fun.
Thank you.
What really brought this about?
Okay.
So if I were to tell you that
I grew up on the age of Toonami.
with Dragon Ball and Outlaw Star and
Sailor Moon,
and that I've been a Pokemon fan since
Gen One,
and I was there for the original Yu-Gi-Oh
franchise all the way up to Five Ds.
I don't wanna talk about Zexal.
And I tell you about all the anime
franchises I have, you might think, well,
Todd,
this clearly has been something in your
mind for years that you wanted to do.
Now,
I came up with this idea because of
a Facebook meme
That's even funnier.
I know, right?
What meme was it?
So,
you know when you sometimes are scrolling,
you know, doom scrolling,
Facebook or Twitter,
and you come across those memes like,
what are your, insert blank here,
and it's where you have to take your
first letter, your first name,
your birth month, whatever, right?
So, mine was, this is like,
twenty-seventeen, something like that?
Mine was, what is your anime title?
I'm like, okay.
So it was first letter of your first
name, T. First letter of your last name,
B. Then last letter of your first name,
D. T, B, D. Tokyo Blade Detectives.
Now,
about this time was when the first
Deadpool movie came out.
And one of the key lines from that
movie was,
Deadpool smells like a franchise.
So I had that stuck in my head.
And I was like,
Tokyo Blade Detectives sounds like a
franchise.
Enter.
left the comment, left the page,
completely forgot about it.
Didn't even register.
Get back onto Facebook a few hours later.
And I have a reply from an account
name that I don't recognize.
And I usually know who's always replying
to me and whatever.
And I'm like, who's this guy?
So I click and it's from the Facebook
meme.
And he goes, you know,
that actually does sound like a franchise.
You should do something with it.
I'm like,
Okay, so I looked at the title.
I'm like, what does this tell me?
Tokyo, obviously set in Japan.
Detectives, modern day.
But Blade was sticking out to me.
Why would there be blades in the
detectives' hands?
And then that's when the tagline happened.
In a land where guns are outlawed,
only the Blade can rule.
And right when I said that,
the floodgates of my mind opened up and
I just got swarmed with so many ideas
of what I wanted to do with this.
thing to the point where I did something
I had never done at that point,
which was I opened up Microsoft Word and
I typed up everything I was thinking
because I did not want to forget.
Yeah.
Now,
the problem was that I was doing another
project at the time.
I didn't have the funds or the artists
to do this idea.
So I just saved the document,
put it away.
And then once I got those projects done,
it took me about six,
seven months to find the right artist to
do it.
because I wanted a very anime style visual
palette and visual style to make it work.
And I was going through numerous artists,
including my go-to guy, Alex Garcia,
who I didn't wanna use because I had
relied on him heavily up to this point.
I wanted to get more artists,
more opportunities and all that.
love you Alex but I finally found a
guy named Lam Vu Van and once I
saw that first page I'm like this is
the guy and we've been working each other
for now twelve issues across four or five
years so it's been quite the rush and
now we're finishing up volume three which
is far far more than I thought we'd
get and even Lam kind of cheekily said
to me when I gave him the script
for number twelve he goes you know Todd
I actually didn't think this would go this
long
Thanks, law.
Thanks for the pay.
That is awesome.
And what a great way to have something
land in your lap.
And then you've ran with it for twelve
issues,
which I think the only comic book I
could think.
Well,
I can think of two off the top
of my head that have gone about as
long.
And one of them is Ben Lacey's Shark
of War.
Oh, I know Ben.
He's great.
Ben's amazing, amazing person.
And then Jason Linnet's Lords of the
Cosmos.
Lords of the Cosmos is a fantastic story,
but, um,
just off the top of my head,
those are only two where I can think
where they've had that kind of longevity
over that long of a, you know, of,
of titles.
So it's kind of cool.
And seeing that this one is no shit
issue number twelve and still going
strong.
But, um,
And I already know what's going to happen
next volume.
That's how my mind works.
I'm already planned up to twenty-five.
Dude.
Keep it going.
I'm doing my best.
Why a future Japan with strict
no-guns-allowed law?
Well,
one of the things that the floodgates
opened up was that I wanted to do
a different kind of story from most other
animes because usually it's either...
like say like My Hero Academia was
superpowers or then you have like Outlaw
Star and Cowboy Bebop with all the future
tech weaponry,
like super high powered rifles and all
that.
And I just felt it would be so
much more fun to make it just about
the swords.
There's other technology that is used in
Japan as you'll find out when you read
the comics,
but it's all about the swords and sword
play I feel is more intimate.
because you know there's different sword
styles there's different sword types as i
show in the book and
I get to play on the history of
Japan, which is, of course, the samurai.
So I got to have fun with that.
And then it's just a different kind of
visual to where it's like, you know,
it's the future,
but we're also going back into the past
with swordplay and samurai and ronin and
yokai.
And that was really intriguing to me.
I felt like it was something that hadn't
been done before.
I don't feel like there's been an anime
or like this before,
and I'm saying it anime loosely because I
know it's a comic,
but still like this really inspired me to
say like, you know,
everyone else is going this direction,
I wanna go this direction.
No,
it's really cool at the core of what
it is.
Let's turn our focus over to who Miko
is at the core.
Yeah.
Miko, you being your main character there.
Miko is my sixteen-year-old main
character, one of them.
And she is the most angsty teenager you
have ever met,
which was one of the most important things
for me.
Because one of the things I do with
my books is that I'll look at certain
characters and I go, OK,
I've written this kind of character
before.
Now I need to do this kind of
character.
And a previous female led story I did
was called A Home,
which is available on Kickstarter.
And the main character is named Alicia.
And I wrote her as being the kindest
person,
most relatable person you've ever met.
It's just that she has blue hair.
And I wrote in that style,
but with Miko, I'm like, okay,
I had the pure kid.
I want the angsty teenager.
Like I need the one that is just
gonna bite your head off all the time.
So rarely admit you're right,
but she backs up her crap,
which I also thought was important.
And that's why in the very first word,
her very first line of dialogue is die.
And I was like, that's perfect.
When I was structuring it, like,
cause she gets just a small spoiler.
She gets confronted by some thugs and
they're making fun of her.
And she just pulls out her laser sword
and goes die.
And then she does just that.
So they're not around anymore.
that's one way to solve your problems,
right?
Oh yeah.
And, uh, violence isn't always the answer,
but this time it helps the answer.
Yeah.
And she, and she was just like,
and she didn't even bat an eye when
her, uh, her partner, her, uh,
Not really a father figure,
but let's say business partner Michio
asked her what happened.
She goes, oh, yeah,
I had to deal with some thugs.
They're gone now.
And she just went on to chug a
soda.
She doesn't care.
She knows this is a child that's
absolutely been scarred by all that's
happened in her world and just Japan in
general.
And she's got a lot of pent up
frustration.
And for me,
one of the things that I like to
do in each arc is show that even
though she's hotheaded,
even though she's loud and sometimes
obnoxious,
she has feelings that she lets come out
in certain moments so that it's clear that
she's fragile.
She's broken in some ways and she's got
to heal even though she doesn't really
want to.
And that interests me as a writer,
because I love character stories.
And for me,
this very much is about Miko and how
Tokyo reflected upon her and impacted her.
And then Michio is the same way.
He's got a very long history,
as I tease in the book,
and we're slowly getting the layers peeled
off on that.
And then they have connections with
everything that's going on in Japan from
the factions,
the emperor who we meet in volume three.
In fact,
we meet him finally in this issue.
So the issue is on Kickstarter right now.
So everything is connected,
which is a reference actually to Full
Metal Alchemist Brotherhood,
which was one of the anime that heavily
inspired this series because I loved how
everything from episode one to the series
finale was connected.
So if you watch the whole series,
you got so much out of it.
As long as you paid attention,
I'm going to be doing the same thing
where every arc feeds into the next one.
So issue one was our starter.
Welcome to Tokyo.
Issue two was about meeting one of the
key factions and how their antics are
affecting things on a grander scale.
Number three is we have a wild card
entered into Tokyo and the Emperor wants
him dealt with.
Volume four, I won't spoil that.
Yeah,
you got to save some for self-support.
It will be revealed in the final page.
It will be revealed in the final page
of this issue.
So it's going to be...
How have you evolved Miko as a character
throughout these twelve issues?
That actually ties perfectly into the
current volume and issue where Miko,
because of her experiences with her
family, with factions,
with Japan in general,
she views things in black and white,
as most kids and teens would do,
because she has seen things and she has
experienced things that are like,
they're evil, end of story.
Volume three is about a serial killer
acting very atypically of the factions.
They're not associated with the factions,
and they're killing people in a way that
no one expected.
And she's just like,
let's kill the freak and be done with
this.
And Michio cautions and goes, no,
we have to not only find him,
we have to understand why he's doing it.
And she's like,
I don't need to understand another
psycho's mindset.
That's what the factions are for.
know she's she's over she doesn't we don't
need another monster in tokyo that's all
she views in her mind but then as
things go on she learns a certain key
truth and she doesn't know how to
comprehend it she's like this is wrong
But, and she explains,
I don't want to spoil too much for
those that haven't read volume three,
but like there's a key like mic drop
moment and it's just like,
I didn't expect this.
I don't know how to feel about this.
And then that's going to play into the
next arc where she's going to have another
key character moment with someone who was
once very close to her.
And I look forward to expanding upon that.
So each of your arcs are four issues.
What made you choose that format?
First of all, just easier.
It's a good even number.
Yeah, it's the eighty pages.
Each issue is twenty pages.
So a full volume is eighty,
which is perfect for trade paperback,
which is what I saw in my comic
cons.
It's very easy that way.
And then it allows me to think about
how I'm going to block out each story.
So how I do it is there's a
three main issues of each arc.
And then the fourth issue is what I
call the epilogue series.
Sorry, the interlude saga.
And in it, we have basically an epilogue,
an interlude,
and a prologue to what comes next.
So we're tying up the loose ends.
We're explaining what's going on in the
aftermath.
And then here's the tease for the next
arc.
And it gives me a lot of freedom
with storyline to where I don't drag
things out endlessly like some comic
series do.
I make it click.
I make it concise.
I make it fun.
And then I show like, hey,
I focus on the aftermath and how
everyone's reacting to this.
And then here's the tease for what comes
next.
So yeah.
It was also a very unique kind of
storytelling for me because with past
series,
I've either just gone as long as I
felt the arc is needed,
like I did that with Guardians,
or with things like Home,
I did just a five-issue miniseries just so
I could write out everything.
That was a hundred pages,
so that was one of my longer stories.
And then for certain graphic novels,
I just went for as long as the
page count told me to,
like with the Thunder Rosa or six men
or take the house.
It just depends on how long the story
goes with this one.
It gives me that structure to say, OK,
here's where I need to put the main
content.
Here's where I can do the payoffs and
everything and then tease what's coming
next.
I like it and I like the fact
that you are answering questions that I
don't have to ask no more.
So I do have to ask this one,
though,
because what do you want readers to feel
when they close this last volume here with
issue twelve?
No, I'm kidding.
What do I want them to feel?
I want them to... That's a good question.
I want them to see the layers that
Tokyo has imparted upon these characters.
One of the themes of the entire book
is that it's not just people that affect
you.
It's not even just experiences that affect
you, it's where you live.
And you can see this with certain people
in our world where people in Chicago act
one way,
people in New York act one way,
people in Los Angeles act one way.
And it's not just because of the people
where they're living,
it's because of the place itself.
Our setting affects us in certain ways.
And for Tokyo,
as I am slowly peeling the layers, Bob,
behind with each arc,
it's not a great place to live.
It's technologically advanced.
They technically want for nothing,
but they're in such chaos and confusion
and turmoil that it's,
a lot of people are like lying to
themselves.
You know,
they're just trying to get through the
day.
You know,
like as long as I don't get killed
by one of the five factions,
it's a good day.
You know, that's,
and Miko rails against that in this new
issue.
She's like, I hate it here,
but I can't leave.
And I'm teasing multiple things with this
blowout.
And she sees that in how the factions
have.
Because the factions wouldn't have been
here if certain things in Tokyo hadn't
have gone down.
And there are certain influences that the
city has in general that affect the
people.
They're almost resigned to their fate.
And Miko hates that as well.
And Michio has seen a lot of...
he understands that there is beauty in
just trying to help one person at a
time whereas miko sees it as just a
job she she doesn't care about the people
more or less she's very much i need
to get paid so i can at least
try and make a meaningful existence here
yeah so we all relate to that yeah
and so like and so with this new
issue i'm really harping on the fact that
Tokyo as a whole is affecting people in
ways that no one was expecting,
even this long after all these wars and
reconstructions have happened.
To quote the Joker, of all people,
all it takes is one bad day to
send you over the edge.
That was really good, actually.
Why, thank you.
Do you want to know how I got
these scars?
No.
That's actually really good.
So let's jump into the Kickstarter grind,
man.
Yeah.
This campaign includes all twelve issues.
Correct.
Do you do this type of thing as
you conclude an arc?
Do you include all volumes with each one?
Or is this just something special you're
doing this time to catch up?
I do it with every campaign.
So no matter when you find out about
Tokyo and find out about me,
every campaign I do, for Tokyo at least,
gives you the option of catching up.
Because I don't know when you're going to
find out about me.
Mm-hmm.
I am not the greatest marketer in the
world.
I have a lot of people who will
happily tell me that.
And even just with,
even with Kickstarter helping,
you never know who's gonna be on the
right day or see your post or who
is sworn off the internet or who all
made it at Comic Con.
But if they do find Tokyo,
i want to give them the option to
catch up so i have reward tiers to
where you can get everything digitally you
can get everything physically for the
physical ones you can get all single
issues or you can get our trade paperbacks
and because this is the end of volume
three we're unveiling our uh the the main
third the new cover for volume three which
is really cool done by alex garcia and
And then for those who have gotten like
volume one,
but haven't gotten volume two and three,
I have catch up reward tiers for that
digital and physical.
And it just makes it so that no
matter when you find out,
so like any of the viewers here who
only just hearing about this and like, oh,
I really want to jump into this.
You have the option.
It's right there for you.
And I try to make it fairly priced.
no that that's always a good thing and
i for one i've i am probably going
to end up doing the catch up especially
that you have trade paper bats that i
can just read the first you know you
know twelve volumes now so when you do
your next kickstarter campaign are you
gonna have the the fourth trade paperback
ready with no what what i'll do is
i'll be giving out the issue but then
i'll have like you can get thirteen issues
Be the catch up here versus just twelve.
So gotcha.
Yeah.
OK.
So what are some of your.
What's the word I'm looking for?
Rewards.
Yes.
Cameos, custom art, collector tiers.
So what do you bring into the table
for everybody?
Well,
the biggest one that I like to brag
about is we do have the cameo tier,
which is you will get you pledging at
home will get to be drawn into the
comic book.
uh and in fact for this arc i've
been pushing to make the cameos even more
special because of certain uh arrivals
that we've had and for a select group
of people who pledge before the
kickstarter gets done you will actually
have a talking part in the comic so
there you go yeah that's really cool we
have about i think six people have pledged
the cameos here so we only have four
slots left i do believe
So we gotta get on it,
because we end on Saturday the
twenty-eighth at eight p.m.
Then for those who, thank you.
If you want smaller tiers,
but still meaningful tiers,
you can get the comic physically,
you can get the comic digitally,
including the catch-up tiers I mentioned
before.
We have stickers,
which actually I can show you.
There you go.
So like, here's a good nice,
pick a sticker of Michio,
one of our main characters,
and then let me grab one of the
Miko stickers.
I buy these in like a hundred and
then just like stick them in all the
Kickstarter packaging.
I just want to meet go right there.
So we have that.
We also have the thank you page,
which has been very popular over my tenure
where you,
that's always one of my favorite things
right there.
Yeah.
And basically if you pledge to our fifteen
dollar tier or higher.
So if you get like the ketchup tears,
you will be included in this or not.
The actually can show you that, too.
This is issue eleven right here.
And then we have on our inside front
cover a thank you page honoring everyone
who has pledged to the Kickstarter,
regardless of what tier they were,
as long as they are fifteen or above.
And a lot of people love that.
I even had one person.
OK, you'll love the story.
I plug the podcast into Kickstarters that
I bet is if there's that option,
I will choose that option and then plug
the podcast instead of my name.
Yeah, if you pledge to my Kickstarter,
I'll make sure that you'll see a thing
saying, like,
what name do you want in the thank
you section, and it'll be that one.
So put whatever you want.
That's the thing.
You can put whatever you want.
A favorite story of mine happened last
issue.
A friend of mine named Joe Myers,
who actually runs a Comic-Con that I go
to,
he pledged to have his son put into
the thank you section,
which is a very sweet gesture.
So I put the name in there.
He gets the book.
And he goes, Todd, we have a problem.
Like, what?
What's wrong?
And he goes, well,
my daughter found out about this.
Now she's complaining that she wasn't
putting the book.
so when he pledged this time he said
i've got to make sure that the daughter
now gets her name into this i'm like
whatever makes them happy and gets me a
pledge so exactly yeah um thank you for
your service thank you for your service uh
i also have tears that will let you
get every single book i have made
digitally
uh both comics and novels and then there
are add-ons that you can get where you
i i guess i've made a lot of
books i made superhero stories made crime
wars i made wrestling stuff which we'll be
talking about soon i've made i've made
sci-fi novels i made sherlock holmes
novels so if you get tokyo then you
go to the add-on section you can get
any of my books that might intrigue you
and i've got plenty so feel free to
look through and see what catches your
less titles there's got to be something
that catches somebody
I would hope I've done most genres and
the ones that I haven't done are for
a very good reason.
I don't know.
You have done at least twelve Kickstarters
in your time.
What has been your most important lesson
learned running Kickstarter campaigns?
Yeah.
Well,
one of the most recent lessons that I
gotta give up some shout outs for Matt
Knowles and Carissa Grant.
You have to be fair to yourself when
you're pricing things.
I like to think that I'm a nice
guy, I do.
And because of that certain pricing that I
had for like the ketchup tiers,
were incredibly low like they were
basically at cost instead of like thinking
cost plus packaging plus shipping and
everything because i was trying to cut
people a break but i but i realized
that my funding was low you know i
was making my goals i was never i
never really feared that but when i showed
it to my friends chris and matt they
were like top it
You gotta bump the price up.
You're not gonna,
you can't make money like to make the
comics, just to be clear,
if you're losing money by doing unfair
pricing.
And so with this third volume of Tokyo,
I did a whole new price tiers for
everything.
And it has helped tremendously.
It's taken burden off of me versus just-
So how do you normally ship your books?
I don't have,
I usually get the mailing envelopes.
Um, but then for the bigger orders,
like for example, the physical, uh,
ketchup tears,
I've mailed those straight from the
printer because those are numerous books
and I don't want to risk spending.
Uh, but for like the single issues,
I do standard, um,
envelopes that you can get like off of,
uh, Amazon and whatnot.
And then if you use like the, uh,
I can't remember what the content of
bosses they are,
but that you use for to actually mail
comic books that are not, uh,
Yeah,
there's the brown boxes are called
Gemini's.
Gemini's, that's the ones.
Yeah,
I would use those for like thicker books,
like the trade paperbacks.
But for the single issues,
like the standard, there's a standard,
there's a name for them, I can't remember.
I was going to say,
Gemini boxes are not cheap.
They're not,
and there are paints it puts together.
They're not that bad.
The instructions are literally printed on
them.
But yeah,
I would use those for bigger books because
you always worry about damage.
And I always have at least one person
get back to me and say, hey, Todd,
I know it's not your fault,
but the male people screwed up.
Even though I put the Do Not Bend
stamp on it.
It doesn't matter.
It does not matter.
Yeah.
I've had one come in where I watched
the mailman on my camera when he delivered
it.
He had it folded and then folded it
more and shoved it into my mailbox.
I literally just was like,
I notified the person.
He's like, well, where's the book now?
I'm like, in the damn trash.
Where else would it be?
I can't.
What am I going to do with it?
It had been folded for so long.
The crease was permanent and there was
words that were missing because it
literally had tore the page also where it
was bent.
I was just like...
i'm like i wasn't going to keep that
no you shouldn't and then when that
happens i i have a rapport with my
uh my backers to where i'm like hey
this happens message me i'll send you
another copy at no cost to you i
don't care yeah i just want you to
get it i'll tell you a story that
could top that
I was doing one of my Tokyo Kickstarters
and I was doing the mail day,
which we all love going to the mail
place with like a stack of things.
And I got a good relationship by mail
people.
But one, I'll never forget this.
I had two packages in particular that I
sent out.
One was to Indiana,
which is literally the next state over.
I'm in Illinois.
It was the next state over.
And one was to California.
So I mailed them out at the same
time, right?
I wait a few days.
And the California person messages me and
goes, hey, Todd, got the comic.
Good condition.
Thank you so much.
Hey, glad I got to you, buddy.
I message on instinct my Indiana friend.
He goes, no, I haven't gotten it.
I'm like, wait, really?
How have you not gotten it yet?
He goes, I don't know.
So I'm like, oh, I sent it.
Just keep me posted.
Fast forward a few weeks.
finally gets to him.
He takes a picture of it.
It looked like the truck had run over
it in the rain.
Oh, it probably did.
Well, that's the thing.
It looked like a waterlogged run over and
I'm like, how did this happen?
And he goes, I have no idea.
And I'm like, dude, don't worry about it.
I will send you a new one.
He got it within a week from the
printer.
I'm just like, ugh.
Dude, I did an Amazon return through UPS
You just take it to the UPS,
they slap a box and a label on
it, and away it goes, right?
Right.
So I did that.
A box comes in the mail about a
week later,
and it's the same exact thing I returned.
When UPS printed the label,
they printed the return label back to me.
Okay.
I was like, you scanned it.
How did you mess it up?
Wow, that's a new one to me.
I had to return the same thing twice.
It happens.
It's not fun.
What do you think is the biggest mistake
new crowd funders make?
Outside of pricing yourself too low.
That was one of the big lessons.
One of the biggest ones,
I can't speak for everyone.
That's almost the biggest thing right
here.
Never,
ever compare yourself to another
Kickstarter.
And I'll give you the best example.
Me.
When I did my very first Kickstarter a
long time ago, I was an idiot.
I did the dumbest possible campaign.
I won't even explain it because it's so
embarrassing.
But I didn't get a single pledge.
Then I learned from my mistakes and I
did well, but I didn't make my funding.
Then when I made Home, issue one, I...
did everything I could to make it work,
get the funding.
I had a high funding goal and I
made it.
I barely made it,
but I made it and I couldn't believe
it.
And then I built off that with every
issue.
But if I had looked at all these
other Kickstarters that are making,
you know,
thousands upon thousands of dollars,
it would have depressed me to high heaven
that I only made my goal.
Never think that way.
You need to base it on yourself.
And even Tokyo is a great example of
that because I went from a sci-fi fantasy
miniseries with home to a Disney Pixar
style Kickstarter one shot with Take Ten
Thousand Miles.
And then I did Tokyo.
So that's three very different genres.
The fan base didn't jump from one to
the other.
No, they never did.
Some of them did because they eventually
became fans of Todd and at that point
they're supporting Todd but not the actual
work.
And I have people who are like that
and then in the middle of my Tokyo
run I made another book called Take the
House which is a heist comic and I
had a whole new crop of backers because
the anime people weren't interested in the
heist comic but a whole new group of
people were interested in the heist comic
but not the anime.
So you need to focus just on your
book
what you're selling,
and then do your best to advertise it
to the people reading,
whether it be doing podcasts like this,
using social media,
doing interviews for comic sites,
and then just for the Kickstarter page,
advertising what you are.
Because I have seen so many Kickstarters
that rely on, let's just be honest,
they rely on covers.
And I think you know what I'm talking
about there, Chairman.
But they rely on covers.
And then you look for the interior art,
you'll get like a panel.
I have never done that.
I will never do that.
One of my first things,
and I've had to restructure things over
the years, obviously.
But one of the first things I always
try to show is the five preview pages.
Like that's something that I'm proud of
that I do from home to now is
I always show at least five finished pages
with dialogue.
so that they can get a glimpse of
the art,
they can get a glimpse of the story,
and they know at least a little more
about what they're getting into.
you know that that's important to me
because i'm showing them my commitment i'm
just saying i'm not saying hey i'm gonna
make this comic and it's gonna be so
cool no making this comic and here's your
preview i do that with tokyo did that
would take the house ten thousand miles
home and any one i do in the
future like i might be doing one in
april that's still open here but obviously
like hey here's the pages for that here's
the examples of what we do and what
we have here you know this is why
you should like it and blah blah blah
so my biggest thing is that for new
creators
You absolutely should show your finished
work.
You have to put your own money on
the line and show that, hey,
I've already finished some of this.
You're helping me finish the rest.
Because that preview could be the
difference between saying, you know,
this is an interesting idea,
but I might not like it.
I don't back comics unless I at least
have that preview.
what he said so because because a lot
of people especially comics people we're
visual people we don't want to read the
wall of text there are people who love
the wall of text and god bless them
but some people like i want to see
the pages and i'm like well here you
go and there's even tabs now on the
kickstarter page where you can go where
you select say preview pages and you can
click right on that and get sent right
to the art so this is actually a
great opportunity for this
so when i go to i don't back
all the comics of people who come on
here some of them that i get priced
out of the shipping because they're
overseas and it sucks because i really
want the book however when the shipping
costs more than the book i cannot
I cannot do it.
It's as simple as right now until the
mail system as a whole is fixed,
I'm just not willing to bank on a
product coming from overseas where the
shipping is more than the actual book and
there's no guarantee it comes to me safely
and soundly.
So it's nothing against the persons or the
individuals.
It's just a lot of risk that I
am not willing to take.
But when I go to a Kickstarter page,
I am looking for I would I like
to see videos because I'm very I'm a
comic book guy, right?
I'm very visual.
So I love to see when they've spent
that extra money to have those first six
pages animated.
And it just looks really cool.
And then I want to see it laid
out in a way that makes me want
to keep scrolling down.
You're telling me what this is about.
And then you're giving me samples of the
pages.
And let me see some of the covers.
And it walked me on the journey of
this comic book Kickstarter through the
page.
And a lot of...
I've just seen one recently.
It was... God, it was a dumpster fire.
And dumpster fire is putting it nicely
because I really wanted to support the
project.
This person has not been on the podcast
at all.
I don't know who they are.
It was just one of those where the
cover looked really, really cool.
I was like,
let me click that because I like the
concept of the story.
It was like a horror,
sci-fi type of deal.
And...
dumpster fire, hardcore dumpster fire.
So take people through the journey of your
book on your Kickstarter landing page.
It will do you justice to do that
and have those samples up there.
Have, you know,
let people know who you're working with
and which is my great segue into you
worked with Lam Vu Van.
Lam Vu Van.
Yep.
Yes.
he did the uh the art yeah see
matt shore yeah he did edit it and
alex garcia did some covering art and the
lettering on this book which you've said
that alex garcia is kind of like your
go-to for everything when it comes to your
books he's been with me since the first
comic
And I love to see when people are
consistently working together like that
because it's cohesion and you know what
you're going to get every single time.
But tell us about your team that worked
on Tokyo Blade Detectives.
Yeah, so like I said,
Alex has been with me since the very
first comic.
And the only reason he's not doing Tokyo
is just because I knew I'd need him
for other projects and I wanted a new
artist to just give some work to,
share the love, as it were.
Like I'm trying to build up a repertoire,
an arsenal of artists.
So I'm like, here, you do this project,
you do this project, do this project.
But he's great.
He's done every single cover for Tokyo.
He's also done some special art for Tokyo
that we had as a stretch goal one
time, came out really well.
He's amazing.
I can always count on him.
Matt Shore is actually a fellow comic
creator.
He specializes a lot in horror comics.
He loves that stuff.
He's a Halloween all the time kind of
dude.
I love horror books.
We're working on a project together that
you might like,
so I might have him come on the
podcast one time.
Perfect.
Send him my way.
I will.
Just remember, I'm about...
two months out of scheduling so if we're
in february that means i'm usually right
now i'm booking two months ahead so april
okay i'll keep that in mind but uh
he's great and we we go to comic
cons together he's a really nice guy and
i'm just like hey i need an editor
on this yeah i can do that and
then uh long vivon i met on facebook
and
we he's really good he's just such dynamic
art especially for the combat scenes i'm
like hey can you do this and he
goes yeah i can do that and he
actually lives in vietnam and because of
that he has a a knowledge of japanese
media culture i rely on for example in
the second volume we introduced a
character and i said okay well this
character is very imposing so we need to
have him like with a
bigger weapon than ever so i'm like give
him like this massive broadsword and i was
like referencing like cloud strife and
guts from berserk and he goes um you
know japan never really had a broadsword
right it had naginata's though and i'm
like that's perfect so and so we gave
him a naginata and it looks so cool
with how imposing he looks with it so
i rely on his knowledge quite a bit
And he's just so consistent.
I know that no matter what page I
can give him, he'll do well.
Or if I do need corrections,
he'll do them quickly.
He's like, hey, do you mean like this?
And we have a very good back and
forth,
which is very important with me and my
artists.
Because I could be a perfectionist at
times.
I'm not afraid to say that.
But I know that he can take it
and do it.
And then he knows that I'm grateful for
the changes that he makes.
And you have to be,
you don't want to put a bad product
out attached to your name and they're out.
Zero thing is wrong with going back to
your artist or your, you know,
your letter or whoever it may be to
say, Hey,
I like where you're going with this.
You're in the right area,
but it needs this tweak.
Now,
how do you send your stuff over to,
to him?
Like when you're, do you,
just send the story over and he draws
the story.
Do you have a storyboard per se of
like, Hey,
I want it to be this angle,
you know,
him looking at the sunlight from this
side.
Like how, how do you do that?
Personally, I write the script and,
but I tried to be as detailed as
I can without like massive paragraphs
describing one.
But I go like, okay,
we're going to have Miko and Michio in
this shot, blades drawn,
looking at the bad guy, the camera.
The camera's behind me.
I try to lend perspective.
That's a very good point you just brought
up right there.
For anybody and everybody out there,
in case you don't know or you don't
read comic books,
perspective like you'd have in a movie
with a camera shy also applies to comic
books.
You want to be able to look at
a scene like you were looking through the
camera lens of a movie being made.
so if you ever see something that looks
weird and it looks like it was it's
just there they didn't use the right
perspective and you will catch that in not
only you know indie comics but marvel
comics and dc comics it doesn't matter
mistakes happen and it just gets
overlooked by either the editor or they
just don't care yeah so and that's another
big tip for indie people never
ever think that the big two can't make
mistakes oh they i'll give you an
excellent example from a very recent comic
all right there was you know the dc
ko uh the comic that's out right now
yes yes no i've been enjoying it i
have i don't want to see our marvel
yeah
they recently released an interlude issue
called Boss Fight,
where they had basically the DC characters
fighting all these other franchises,
including Homelander from the Boys,
Red Sonja, Annabelle, etc.
In one of the panels,
they have the World Forger,
one of the most powerful beings ever,
with Gorilla Grodd talking about how
reality is folding on them.
And in one of the text bubbles for
the World Forger,
He says we're running out of room.
Realty itself is folding in.
Realty, not reality.
And I'm like,
have you seen the housing market?
I mean,
it's huge in the multi reference to the
housing market.
Yeah.
And I'm just like,
there's that can't be right.
And I even reread it to make sure
they didn't miss like an eye squeezed in
there.
Like, no,
they put realty instead of reality.
And that's not even the worst mistake I've
ever caught.
in a dc book or marvel gorilla that's
my dude man that he's one of my
favorite dc characters so i like those
weird characters like that the
constantines and you know question uh but
going back to the perspective question or
how i handle that there are times when
i'll say okay look miko is facing the
villain and
and she's shocked, and then I'll go,
you know, panel five,
flip the camera so that it's behind her,
and we see the villain in full because
we didn't see him before in the previous
panel to, you know,
help build the tension.
And he knows exactly what I mean by
that.
Or sometimes I'll go, okay,
she just got knocked down,
show the camera from the ground up so
that we can see the character looming over
her.
Or, hey,
we need a top-down perspective here,
you know, angled city shot.
That helps explain things.
And then other times I'm like, Lom,
go off.
I love doing that with Alex and Lom.
I'm like, guys,
I don't know how I want this to
look.
Here's a loose explanation.
Have fun.
it's amazing how many artists love when
you go hey just have fun with it
and they're going to produce some of their
best work just off those words right there
just have fun with it yeah and they
have uh and but then there are other
times when i have said i need something
very very very specific uh in issue seven
six or seven yeah i had him draw
the akira slide
We, I had it.
I had the motorcycle.
Yeah.
The motorcycle slide.
And I even added a little Tokyo twist
with the laser blade.
And I'm like,
I gave him so many references.
I'm like, this is the Akira slide.
I know, you know it,
but here's all the references.
Here's what we're doing with it.
Here's how we're making it our own.
And when it, when it's printed,
like it looks fine on the page when
it was printed,
the printer actually made it darker.
Like the color tints were dark.
And so I'm like, Hey,
I need to fix this for the volume.
I need you to go back to the
page.
I need you to lighten this up,
freshen this up.
Yeah.
And it was going to add that darker
tone back to it.
And now it looks so much better.
I'm just like, Oh,
it's funny that you brought that because I
actually collect those covers,
like the homage covers of that.
So anytime I see that homage on the
shelf,
I pick it up because I just love
to see that.
homage to that scene.
It's not a cover,
but it's a splash page,
and I made sure it got a lot
of love.
The cover for Tokyo No.
XII, actually,
is a reference to One Piece.
It's a shout-out to Goldie Roger in his
infamous Wanda Coaster,
where he's got the swords right across
from him before his death.
So I was like, yeah,
let's reference One Piece here.
So...
You've hinted that Tokyo Blade Detentives
could expand beyond comics.
What's the long-term vision for this
project?
The dream, Chairman, the dream,
that would be to get my own anime
series based on Tokyo.
You mentioned before that I actually had
an animated video made.
That is true.
I worked with a team called Studio Leaf,
and we basically spent almost a year
working on this ninety-second piece of
animation.
I framed it to be an anime style
intro complete with epic track by Omega
Sparks, my good friend.
And I was just like,
I need this to be like the most
anime intro ever.
We started with a storyboard.
I gave it to Studio Leaf.
We went through concept art.
We went through background art.
We went through
the motions, the animations,
how to tweak things,
how to tie it with the music.
And it turned out so well.
And even some of my comic friends were
like, dude,
you are so mean because now I have
to step up my game because I don't
have anything like that.
Shout out to Fish Lake.
And...
uh i was just like i didn't mean
to do that but i was just like
i i don't see people doing this and
i put my money where my mouth is
and that was not cheap uh because i
wanted to show that this could look really
cool as an anime and that is indeed
my dream so the longer i go with
this the longer i can say like i
got the lord we just got to make
it into episode no that's that's really
cool and i think every
creators should dream as big as they want
their project to be and work towards that
goal.
Even though that that's a far-fetched goal
is still do the things to line yourself
up to hit those bigger goals like that.
But Todd,
let's hit this bonus segment that I
mentioned before.
Yes.
We went live.
And so for those who don't know,
I am a big wrestling guy.
That's W-R-A-S-S-L-I-N, apostrophe.
That's how you spell it.
You can't argue with me on that.
But Todd did do the autobiography of the
Thunder Rosa.
And...
Walk us through how this project came
about.
Was it actually a Kickstarter or was it
something that you did for Thunder Rosa
and AEW?
Okay,
so this is a perfect example of how,
to quote you from earlier,
something just falls into your lap.
So this was twenty twenty.
Thunder Rosa was just making her first
appearances in AEW when she was still part
of NWA and was their world champion.
She was going to face Hikaru Shida,
who's one of my favorite wrestlers,
on an AEW All Out.
At this point in time,
I have a large group of friends who
are called the Wrestling Knights of the
Round,
and we would get together and talk about
AEW and whatever.
So we got together one time after Dunder
Rosa showed up,
and my sister Maria – love you,
Maria –
She was,
we were talking about Thunder Rose and how
cool she was.
And she knew that my dream,
one of my dream jobs was to work
to create AEW.
In fact, I,
I came up with the AEW Origins comic
long before DC ever did anything.
And I have multiple pieces of approval for
that.
But I was trying to get my work
in front of Tony Khan to try and,
you know, prove my worth to comic book.
And so Maria was like, you know, Todd,
maybe you should reach out to Thunder Rosa
because she wasn't under contract in AEW.
And like the more wrestlers I worked with,
the more I could potentially get a job
at the company.
And I'm like, well, that's great, sis.
But how am I supposed to contact her?
She goes,
she's got an email on her website.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I muted my mic.
I went to her website.
Sure enough, she's like, hey,
you want to contact me?
Here's my email.
I sent an email via my business account.
And I was like, hey, Thunder Rosa,
my name's Todd Black.
I'm a comic book writer.
Me and my friends think you're really,
really cool.
Would you like a comic made about your
life?
Simple as that.
Send it off.
Tell everybody.
I'm like, there you go.
It's sent.
And she goes, you never know, Todd.
I'm like, yeah, I know, Maria, but still.
Fifteen minutes later,
Thunder Rosa gets back to me and goes,
yeah, that's a great idea.
That's really cool.
I'm like,
why can't everything be this easy?
So it was funded by her entirely.
We would get on phone calls.
I still have her number.
Get on phone calls and I would just
say like,
hey, here's what we would do,
here's what I would need from you.
And then she would just email me like
large sections of her life story.
And it's a sixty page comic.
It started in the graveyards of Tijuana,
right?
The graveyard, yeah.
We talk about how she was from the
graveyards of Tijuana, Mexico.
And it is legit her life story in
comic form.
We talk about her life from Mexico,
moving to the US,
what she was before she was a wrestler,
how she got into wrestling,
where she got the idea of the sugar
skull, her time on the indies.
And because of the time,
I hope because she is a I think
what a USC grad or something like that.
I think we lightly covered college.
Okay.
But we because of the timing of it,
I actually had through the third issue,
the final issue.
this was when she was doing like her
world tour of sorts.
So she was in the TNA for a
big match against Dionne Barrazzo and she
had the great skull cosplay.
She showed up in GCW and everyone lost
their minds.
And then I got to show the all
elite graphic with her.
And then we ended basically.
And right when we finished the book,
The whole series, miniseries,
was when she beat Britt Baker for the
title.
So what I did was that...
It was a... Steel cage match.
Steel cage match.
Why was it?
No lights or something like that?
No, no.
The lights out match was different,
but we have that in the book.
That was their match of the year.
winner.
It was the Lights Out match at St.
Patrick's Day Slam.
When we got done,
she just won the world title.
I'm like, well,
you know we got to put this together
for a championship edition.
She goes, oh, really?
She goes, yeah, but don't worry.
I'll take care of the cover.
I drew her in her outfit.
Alex drew her in her outfit from the
Steel Caves match holding up the belt.
We called it the championship edition.
So that's really cool.
Yeah.
But she was absolutely amazed or amazed
with how it all came out.
She was awesome to work with.
I made her cry and I'm like,
why am I, why are you crying?
She goes, cause it's so beautiful.
And I didn't expect it to be this
good.
I'm just like, well,
I'm trying our hardest.
And I was actually sad when it ended.
Cause I mean,
I didn't get to get to talk to
her.
And then all out,
I got to see her where we were
in the midst of working on the book.
And yeah,
it was during the pandemic still so they
were all the talent at the fan fest
were hiding behind the glass yeah like
they were protected by the glass yeah and
so i show up she instantly recognized me
she most into security she goes i have
to come around for him he's my friend
i was like oh so uh that's been
one of my best sellers because people go
oh that's thunder rosa
And I go, yeah.
It's really cool.
And, like,
I knew there was a comic book made
because, I mean,
I follow her on social media as well.
Yeah.
And I was just, like,
I had seen it, like,
at conventions and stuff where she was
posting pictures from conventions.
And then when it come across when I
was looking through your Kickstarter,
I'm like,
this is the guy that did it.
I'm like, that is even cooler.
Yeah.
I didn't – it's one of the few
books I don't credit myself in because I
–
wasn't my book.
I didn't feel, I probably should have,
but I was like,
this is about Thunder Rose,
it's not about me.
So I didn't credit myself, but like, yeah,
I'm the writer of the,
Alex Garcia was the artist on it.
He did a great job and
It's definitely one of the highlights of
my career.
And again,
but it's also the one of the ones
where like,
why can't everything be this simple?
I sent one email.
It wasn't even my idea.
And it was like,
but it worked out so well.
And Thunder Rosa, you're amazing.
She just redebuted on AEW last night,
got a big reception.
Yeah.
She's amazing.
I'm inspired by her.
Her story is truly inspiring.
I'll have to go back and watch AEW
because I missed it last night because I
was editing another show.
I need to go back and watch it
or at least have it up in the
background so I can hear it.
She got a great return.
Good.
I love to see her work.
I know she's got her own wrestling
promotion down in Texas.
Mission Pro Wrestling.
And good people down at Mission Pro too,
by the way.
I got a friend that works down there
with them.
Yeah.
But let's move on to some rapid-fire
questions before we start wrapping this
up.
Okay.
So favorite sci-fi influence?
Definitely Star Trek or Babylon V,
and they were actually the influence for
my novel series I'm writing right now
called As We Wander the Stars,
which is available on the Kickstarter.
Blade Runner versus anime cyberpunk,
which shaped you more?
Neither, actually.
I've never seen Blade Runner,
and I can't really think of an anime
cyberpunk that's influenced me.
I know they exist,
but I don't think of that.
I'm like, oh, this inspired me.
You're not missing nothing on that one.
The video game is better on that one.
Favorite Kickstarter reward you've
offered?
Cameo.
Oh, actually, for Home,
I had them become knights.
that's really cool too i i was my
biggest reward i've ever done like like in
terms of cost but i needed it because
of the the reward the the goal i
was going for but like you paid this
much you're going to be a main character
like gary that's really cool and a lot
of people pledged to that which i was
grateful for but um one word to describe
tokyo blade detectives one word layered
It's a good one.
Advice to indie creators grinding right
now.
I'm going to lean in for this one.
Believe in your books.
Seriously.
If you don't believe in what you're
making, why should anybody else?
I would not release a book that I
did not believe in.
OK, from Tokyo home, Thunder Rosa,
whatever.
I put everything I have into my books
and that's why I make them,
because I believe that if someone reads
them, they will enjoy it.
So believe in your books and I'll carry
you through.
I do want to point out before we
hit the end in here, you're fully funded.
Sixteen hours.
Yeah, that was cool.
And that was a lot of hard work
just to get to that.
But I had a lot of people.
I had my best launch ever via this
campaign.
I don't even know why.
It was just I launched it.
And then I have a tradition where I
don't even check my campaign for the first
day outside of plugging it.
And then I checked on the midnight mark.
I always launch at midnight,
just a quirk of mine.
And I was almost at fifty backers on
day one, which has never happened to me.
And I'm just like, wow, this is amazing.
And I was funded in sixteen hours and
I'm very,
very grateful to my support base.
And I'm hoping you watching will be a
part of this because I'm hoping to
continue growing Tokyo Blade Detectives
through the years.
Perfect, man.
It's truly awesome.
I love when I log in to see
the Kickstarter that's about to come on
the podcast and learn that they've either,
they're almost there or they're there and
they did it in like some amazing amount
of time.
Yeah.
But Todd,
this is the point of the show where
you get to plug yourself and where people
can find you.
Well, you can find me on blue sky.
You can find me on Twitter at guardians
underscore comic.
uh i also have an author page on
amazon if you want to get my books
there if you if you miss the kickstarter
uh i do have late pledges so if
you do miss it again we end on
the twenty eighth at eight p.m central
time so you got a few days but
we do accept late pledges um i am
on facebook but mainly via my personal
page so i'm sure you can find just
look for the hair and uh but again
the kickstarter is the place where you can
get all my books including all of tokyo
so i really hope you'll check it out
i really do love this series
Awesome, bro.
Appreciate it.
Todd, seriously, though,
this has been a fantastic conversation.
Tokyo Blade Detectives isn't just another
indie comic.
It's a low-running universe built with
consistency, vision,
and a real understanding of character
consequences.
Check out the Kickstarter,
support indie comics,
and follow Todd's work because this
clearly isn't done yet.
And as always, ladies and gentlemen,
this has been the chairman of the United
States Department of Nerds,
where indie comments come to life.
Y'all be safe out there and stay warm.
Yes, please.