4th Annual Yeti Awards

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[00:01:19] And it's time for the fourth annual 2025 Yeti Awards. This is where the folks at Comic Book Yeti as well as our guests go through and say what our favorites were this year. So we don't, if you have listened to other episodes in years past, we don't name like an overall winner or favorite. Although one of our guests, James, threatened he might.

[00:01:44] We don't get to read everything, but we just like to spotlight some of the things in indie comics that were our favorites. So these have all been put together by the contributors of Comic Book Yeti as well as our guests. And also Megan Metalonic. I had reached out to her. She wasn't able to be on the podcast, but she reads a ton of indie comics and her picks are in here as well. And for our guests, it is none other than David D.B. Andry and James B.

[00:02:14] Emmett. David and James, thank you so much for being on the fourth annual Yeti Awards. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Thank you for having us. It's so exciting to be here. I mean, James, I always middle names B. What are we working with here, James? I'll never tell. Imagine just like the secret. The reason why I put I didn't used to have the B in there. And then I found out that like the the owner of HSBC, the bank name is also James Emmett.

[00:02:44] And I was like, well, SEO. I don't want to be him. I don't want to be him. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing in life. I just try my best. Well, I I recorded an episode that's going to come out next week with Fred Kennedy about Mad Caves, Florida hippopotamus cocaine massacre. And your name came up, James. But also, James. Is it is it James Edward Clark is the artist for that book?

[00:03:11] So whenever Fred was talking, he had to make a point to say if he was talking about artist James or editor James. So, yeah, that's good. Also, how we were able to distinguish you from your your title. Yeah. There's there's also too many Davids in comics. So that's why I got to throw the DB. And just a few. Just one or two. It's like you can't stick without hitting the David. You know, you get a people over here and, you know, you got a David Brothers over there. It's just there's way too many of us. So many. There are David.

[00:03:41] Dave Scheidt. David Avalon. Baker. Yes. Yeah. There's Dave Chisholm. I mean, Dave. It's not. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was at I was at keeping Cal con two years ago. And there was four Davids in the row that I was in some level of Dave or David. I'm like, this is ridiculous. Yeah. That's really funny. God. That's why your next story is like a Highlander S. That's right. There can only be one. You're only one.

[00:04:08] You're going through and trying to take out the other Davids in comics. I think we should. I think all the Davids should get together and form their own publishing company. Just all. That's good, too. I like that. Mighty Morphin's David. Hoops all Davids. Hoops all Davids. All right. Well, I'm going to get things started for the 2025 Yeti Awards. We're going to start with excellence in writing.

[00:04:35] And again, these are just some of the folks that we like to highlight in indie comics for 2025 from the comic book Yeti contributors as well as our guests. And as I said earlier, Megan. And so if you haven't checked out these books, please go ahead and do so. There's a lot of great stuff on here from what we read this year. And so far. So we have for excellence in writing. David Pepos for Space Ghost. Drink. Drink with every David. Yeah. Every David.

[00:05:04] You'll be wasted. Wasted. Right off the bat. Right off the bat with a David. Declan Shalvey for Thundercats. John Lees for Orla, which I've been loving Orla. I think that's been a lot of fun. Dave Justice. Another Dave. Dave Justice and Lila Sturgis. Student Government. Rick Quinn with Spectrum. Anthony Cleveland. Buried Long, Long Ago. Another series that I've been having a lot of fun with. Kelly Sue DeConnick, FML.

[00:05:32] Chris Cantwell for Out of Alcatraz. Jeff Lemire, Minor Arcana. Jerry Duggan, Falling in Love on the Pathway to Hell. Tim Daniel and another guy I haven't heard of before. David D.P. Andry for both Crush Step and Red Vector. And finally, last but certainly not least. This was actually what I put on the list. Amy Chase for Abuzz. Which was just one of my favorite graphic novels this year. I had Amy on the podcast.

[00:06:02] Abuzz is like a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. It is so exceptionally well done artwork by Stelladia. But Amy just knocks it out of the park with taking the Much Ado story and adapting it for a modern high school setting. I just thought it was tremendous and had to include Amy on this list for this year. Amy's great. I love her. I think she's a terrific writer in person. Yes. Yes.

[00:06:32] 100% great. And when that pitch came in, I remember talking about that and how we all really loved it and we were really excited about it. Yeah. It turned out great. It's awesome. It's a great story. It's awesome. Are there any ones in particular in terms of the excellence in writing that, you know, I mean, David, you can talk about yourself. I did not put myself on this list.

[00:06:56] Full disclosure, I don't know who put me on the list, but I put, I believe, Spectrum very long, long ago, FML and Out of Alcatraz were my lists. You know, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Anthony Cleveland, Rick Quinn and Chris Cantwell. And, you know, FML, I think, is an exceptional, very special book that I think we're lucky to have.

[00:07:19] And I think it's a book that doesn't, it's a hard time going if you don't have a name like Kelly Sue DeConnick behind it. Because it's just, it's just, it's just a really personal, you know, there is a kid that turns into a monster and there is a serial killer in it. There's stuff in it, but it's, I, I kind of describe it to people as a book, both about being a parent of a teenager and being a teenager at the same time. And she does both of those things perfectly.

[00:07:46] And there hasn't been a single issue where I haven't cried at least once. So, I mean, for me, it's like a, it's, it's a near perfect book because it's hitting all the like emotional beats that I love and it's personal and it's weird and it's very specific. And it's the kind of stuff that I love because, you know, I feel like the more specific and, and, and personal people get the, the more interesting the stories are. Yeah, I absolutely agree with, with all of that.

[00:08:16] James, were there any in particular that you really enjoyed this year that you were able to read on the list in terms of the writing? Well, I feel really weird because a lot of these I edited. So, which is great. I'm like, yes. And editors, editors don't read comics for fun anymore, right? Yeah, really? I go, I go, I go every week. I buy comics every week. Like I try to buy, cause I, you know, I want to stay up to date on who's doing what and see what's out there. I think that's part of like my job.

[00:08:45] And I also love comic books. I really love that. So, um, I read a lot of these, um, but there's also some on this list that I have not read and I'm going to definitely check out after this. So that's very exciting. Um, cause I love to have an ever growing list and I've just a pile next to my bed of books I need to read. Um, that doesn't make me feel intimidated or scared at all. I have a short box full. I'll never catch up on never in my life. No, no, no.

[00:09:14] I, and I will say that these were, these were picked, the comics that were, were picked in the surveys that were filled out were done by the comic book Yeti, uh, contributors like, uh, Byron O'Neill and Andrew Irvin, Louis Godoy, uh, that was done before they knew who the guests were going to be. So just trust listeners that this was not skewed in any way. These were the, the things that the folks at comic book Yeti really, really enjoyed this year. So they didn't know James and David were going to be on.

[00:09:43] What I love too about this list is it's all over the place. You know, there's superheroes. There's like Orla, which is a story about like dating. There's horror. There's spectrum, which I think defies genre, which is one of the most interesting. Interesting and compelling books that I think I've ever read. Um, and again, it's a, that's a very, very special book, um, that I think people need to check out, you know, may not be your jam, but it's something you haven't seen before.

[00:10:13] And I, I just love that about comics is that we're all over the place. You know, there's something here for everybody. And there's, and there's, you know, so much more than, you know, not to bug the big two, but, you know, so much more than just, just plain old superheroes. Out there to read. Oh yeah. And I love, and I love superheroes, but you know, this is, this is a very cool list of every genre.

[00:10:39] Uh, you know, every type, you know, of, of comic, of story and something for everybody. Yeah. I mean, look, there's a lot of big two. Well, I say big two, but I read mostly DC when I read big two stuff. Um, but yeah, like the absolute line, there's been a bunch of stories about how well that's been selling for DC and it is really good. Like I've, I've, I've read absolute Batman, absolute Superman, absolute Wonder Woman, at least the first collected trade of all of those. There are great dark patterns has been really good.

[00:11:09] So yeah, there's, there's been a ton of, you know, great stuff, but yeah, I can't think of, uh, a book like spectrum, like on the market. I just talked to Dave Chisholm, his episode is going to be out next week too, about his new book coming out as Ted okay. And yeah, the work that Rick Quinn and Dave did on spectrum is unreal. It's, it's, it's tough to, to, to put it into a certain box to like pigeonhole it into, oh, this is this type of comic. There's just, there's a lot in there.

[00:11:38] It's, there's a lot in there without it ever being feeling dense or impenetrable, which I think is a real trick, um, real magic trick of comic. Well, and I think to, you know, not to, not to gas James up here, but so many of these are mad cave books.

[00:11:55] And I think it really shows which publisher is pushing the boundaries and, and, and really committing to indie comics, you know, not, not just IP, not, not just nostalgia stuff, not reboots, but true indie comics. Um, you know, look at this list.

[00:12:16] There's, there's, you know, so many different, uh, mad cave titles on here, um, that it's really taking over for places like, even like, like image and dark horse and stuff that used to really be indie.

[00:12:32] And, and, and, and I think mad cave is really doing a good job of keeping indie comics going and letting us tell stories that other publishers are like, well, I don't see, you know, this doesn't, this doesn't seem like a, you know, uh, uh, a top seller. So we're not interested, you know, this doesn't have the hook that we need to, to market it. And you don't have, you know, a hundred thousand followers on Instagram. So why are we going to publish your book?

[00:13:00] And it seems to me from the outside and from someone who has pitched to mad caves, they don't care about that stuff. They care about telling good stories and unique stories. And, um, so I really appreciate like how much mad cave is on this list. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Um, all right. So let's, let's, let's move on to excellence in artistry slash illustration. David, do you want to try, try your hand at going through this, please?

[00:13:30] I'll give it a shot. We have Ludo Laibi, Laibi for ghost pepper, Jonathan Lau for space ghost, Sally Catrino for Orla. I love Sally. Uh, Adam Szym, S Z Y M. I don't know how to say that for little visitor and other abductions.

[00:13:51] Oni press, uh, Mahmoud Asrar for bug wars, Eric Powell, uh, Dr. Worthless, Lomig, John Muir, to the heart of solitude. I guess Lomig is the name. So I, I'm not familiar with a lot of these, uh, David Chisholm for spectrum, Letizia, Cados East Cadosini, Cado EC. It killed everyone but me.

[00:14:17] Um, and Tristan Jones, event horizon, dark descent. Awesome. Yeah. I, a ton of good choices on this list. And I, I love how varied this is in terms of, you know, art style, uh, and book and, and publisher. Um, I, I will just say, uh, Tristan Jones was the one I put on the list for event horizon, dark descent.

[00:14:41] I just feel like him and Christian Ward, that was like a, that could have, it could have gone really well, really poorly, but I really think they kind of nailed it. And I thought Tristan Jones artwork for event horizon, dark descent was, um, absolutely, uh, tremendous. Uh, and also, uh, another one I just wanted to shout out that, uh, has been like a big, you know,

[00:15:06] one that I hadn't picked up at first when it came out, but then went back and, and, and caught up on, on the issues was bug wars and Mahmoud Azrar's. I mean, it, the pitch was, you know, honey, I shrunk the kids meets game of Thrones. And I cannot think of a comic book that more accurately like rises to the occasion of the pitch. His artwork is tremendous. It's a fantastic story.

[00:15:35] Jason Aaron's the writer. Um, yeah, bug war is incredible. Uh, so I've been a big fan of Mahmoud's for a long time. Like his art has, I'm like a huge, I've always wanted to work with him too. I've always reached out. He's such a nice guy. He's always like, I'm too busy. Um, but he, he's, uh, is so talented and so nice. Um, and yeah, I, I mean, bug wars is like a testament to all of that. Like he's so talented. It's crazy. Yeah.

[00:16:03] It's not only like great illustration, it's great storytelling and great like action. Like his, his dynamic scenes and, and the way he lays stuff out. And just like when, when dudes are swiping their axes through another bug's body and the bug is just exploding into gore and viscera. I'm like, this is the best. Like, it's just like, it's just such a fun, you know, it's, it's a fun read.

[00:16:30] I don't think you like, it's got some, you know, family and emotional stuff, but I don't think they're taking it too seriously. And they like, it seems like they're just having a ton of fun. Let's do all this crazy stuff with this book and, uh, just kind of burning through like plot and just like tons of action. And just a, just a really, yeah. One of my favorites of the year definitely is bug wars. Yeah. And we, we talked about with Rick Quinn spectrum, but Dave Chisholm for spectrum is on here.

[00:17:00] And again, you know, I, I think it's some of the best work that I've seen from Dave, which I mean, I think is a high bar because Dave has done some incredible work over the years, whether or not it's the Miles Davis book or let Charlie Parker. He's just done some incredible comics and spectrum can, you know, continued with every issue to, to really knock my socks off, both in the artwork, the paneling, the choices that, that he was making.

[00:17:30] Um, it was wild working on that book. Cause like every page that would come in and it was just like, Oh no, this is the best. Oh no, this is the best. So it was just like ridiculous, like every, and then there's like this double page spread and like the last issue. And I was like, maybe this, I was just like, it was, and we put together this giant collection of spectrum. Like it's coming out, uh, next year or it's like coming out this month.

[00:17:57] I think God, everything, everything in publishing takes forever, but also it was like, Oh, it's tomorrow. Um, so, uh, but like we have like original artboards scans in there and they're all, all like, it's, it's a beautiful book. So yeah, I'm obsessed with spectrum. Yeah. I think, I think like if you take a look at one of his drawings, you're like, Oh, he's, you know, pretty decent, you know, draftsman. He's got the, the, the chops to draw comics, but then you look at his page layout and the choices he's making.

[00:18:28] And it is unlike anything else anyone is doing in comics. And, and I just, I just fell into spectrum and just like, this is such an interesting, compelling book. And, you know, uh, I think I, he gave me the first three, I think PDF to, to check out. And I just, you know, I don't like digital comics and I don't like reading them on my computer or anything. And I just obsessed over those, those first couple of issues.

[00:18:57] It was so good and so well done. And I will definitely be picking up the hardcover because it deserves that level of attention. Yeah, it is. I mean, it's, I think honestly, I don't, I, you know, we're not naming best of the year and I don't know if I would name it my favorite of the year, but I think it's the most, I don't know, original of the year. Maybe the most interesting of the year. I thought it was one of the most ambitious. Uh, 100%. You're not going to see anything else like it.

[00:19:26] And it's pushing comics medium forward and it's doing things that other people aren't doing. And it's combining history and fantasy and reality and myth and legend and music. And it's like, yeah, I can't say enough good things about that book. Yeah. Yeah. Again, um, Jonathan Lau, Space Ghost. Space Ghost has just been great.

[00:19:52] Every issue, what him and David Pepo's have been doing is incredible. Um, Sally Cantorino, like I said, I've been loving Orla. I've been loving her. John Lee's working together. But, uh, you know, Sally's, she's done some of my other favorite books. Like I Walk With Monsters. Uh, Sally Cantorino was the artist on, I thought was incredible. Um, but yeah, Eric Powell's Dr. Worthless is really good.

[00:20:17] Uh, and, uh, just something, a book that I don't think enough folks are really talking about, but it killed everyone but me. I did get to interview Ryan Parrott about that and Leticia Cadenici. Um, it just, artwork is incredible. I think she's been doing like a lot more stuff, a lot of stuff like recently. Uh, I think that's somebody, if folks don't know their name, it's, you're going to be hearing it a lot more. But I think her work on that book's really good.

[00:20:45] She is such a rock star and she's like one of those like hidden gems. And I think she's going to pop off. Like I think like she did a book with Stephanie Williams for Ignition that had come out like right at the same time as It Killed Everyone But Me. And both with like It Killed Everyone But Me sold out. Like that was one of our like books that I was like, this is amazing. Um, but she's also just like, she's so professional. Like she gets all of her stuff in on time. She's communicative. She's really talented and really nice and a pleasure to work with.

[00:21:14] Um, yeah, I think, you know, she's great. So. Awesome. Uh, all right. Well, let's, let's move on. We have excellence in coloring and James, do you want to, um, take, take this? And for some of these, there isn't a book that it's attached to. So, you know, that's a fine, but just their overall work for the year. But if you could go through that list. I'm going to do my very best with this first name because it's French and I'm going to do my best. Okay. Jean-Francois Bello. Sounds right. I think that's right. That sounds good.

[00:21:44] Uh, Mike Spicer. Uh, yeah, I killed that. That was great. Um, I think everyone should change their name. Uh, Mike's and David's. That's it. Um, yeah. Uh, Dear Blah Kelly. Uh, Boo Cook for Void Runners Rebellion. Jason Wardy for Kaya and Morningstar. Um, David Chisholm for Spectrum. Uh, Moreno Dionisio for Gromit's number seven.

[00:22:13] Francesco Segala, uh, for Dark Empty Void. And Caitlin Yarsky, Living Hell. All right. James, do you want to start? Are there any? No, you did great. Um, um, yeah. Do you want to start? Are there any in particular you want to highlight? I mean, I, I think, I think I added Francesco Segala, uh, because he's such a rock star. Like every time. I mean, I love, I mean, obviously I love Jason Wardy, love Dave Chisholm, love Dear Blood Kelly.

[00:22:41] Like all these people are really, I mean, Mike Spicer, like all these people are really talented. Caitlin Yarsky. Um, but yeah, I probably could have added most of these names because I love them all. Um, but, um, uh, having worked with Francesco, um, Segala, um, I mean, I'm Dark Empty Void and I worked with him on another project. Uh, The Last Wardens, which is 2024. I, I don't know what time is. Anyway, um, he's just such a rock star.

[00:23:07] Like he's so patient and, but also quick, but also understands color theory so well. He maps everything out in such a, it's so crazy. Like he does all these thumbnails and he like sends them and he's like, this is what I was thinking for the color. Like he'll send it to you and you're like, oh, you really like, not that other art like colorists don't do this, but he was just as like a, a smart, intelligent, interesting breakdown of everything. Just like behind the scenes kind of in the weeds. Um, which I always like, I went to art school.

[00:23:36] So it was just like such a, like, I was like, oh, this is such like a, you know, a doorway into like your thought process and your system, like your, how you work, which is really, I was really cool. Um, yeah, he's a rock star. Awesome. Yeah. I, I put Caitlin Yarsky on, on the list. Uh, I'm a big fan of, of Caitlin. And I think, I think technically the first issue of living hell came out at the very, like towards the end of 2024, but I believe issues two, three, and four came out in 2025.

[00:24:06] And, you know, Caitlin wrote it, did the artwork, did the coloring. I just, I love the color palette of that book. I loved everything about it. It was, it was such like right in my wheelhouse. If folks aren't familiar with like the plot of living hell, basically the guy escapes hell and now he's just trying to live a life and he kind of then gets caught up in having to maybe go and capture some of, uh, the other escapees from hell. And it is just a, it's, it's a wonderful story.

[00:24:35] It's a wonderful book. I, and I think all of Caitlin's work in it is great. The coloring in particular though, I just fell in love with and her choices in terms of how she showed both the world in hell and like the real world. Um, so yeah, I had to include her, uh, on that list and then, um, hopefully get to talk to her again on the, the, the podcast. Uh, I believe her and Jude Ellison S Doyle are going to be on, they have a new book called dead teenagers, uh, with Oni press.

[00:25:04] And I can't wait to talk to the two of them about it. So, so yeah, Caitlin's just awesome. Yeah. I'm a big fan of, uh, her work with, was it Sean Murphy? Sean Lewis. Sean Lewis with coyotes and, uh, yeah, I didn't, I don't know if she colored that too, but her art is tremendous. Um, so good. Try to get her on a book actually. She was busy. She's a little difficult to lock in. Yeah. She's a little popular. Yeah.

[00:25:34] Frustrating. A little bit. I put, I put wordy, I put Jason wordy on because I'm going to put Jason wordy on any list ever because to me, uh, he's just, he's so thoughtful. And so he gets so like committed to the, each project and he adds so much to the storytelling. And, and maybe that's just because I get to see the, you know, the inks and then the colors and see the choices he's making and see how much he's contributing to storytelling

[00:26:04] and stuff, but like morningstar wouldn't have been the same without him, you know, and that's easy to say. Um, you know, uh, I think that you have a lot of good colorists out there. And I think that he, I consider him more of a color artist because he's, he's adding to the art of the book in a way that enhances storytelling.

[00:26:28] And, um, I don't see a lot of other color is doing that, or maybe I just don't, I'm not smart enough to recognize it, but I can definitely see it in the stuff that I've worked on with him before. And, uh, uh, he's just, he's my dude and I love that guy. And, uh, he's just, he just, he just commits and he does such a good job at, at getting

[00:26:53] the vibe of the book and, and helping really push that across to the reader of like, Hey, this is what you should be feeling at this moment. This is the base of the soundtrack to the book and, and, you know, get ready for something scary to happen because I'm changing the palette, get ready for something cool to happen. Um, and yeah, I just, I love wordy. He's the best. No, he is. He's a complete rock star.

[00:27:21] I mean, when he like working with him on morningstar was just like, it was like, you don't, he's like one of those guys where it's like, he just intuitively or like, I mean, he makes it look easy, which it means that it's probably not easy or like he's done so much work that he knows how to do it really well or all of the above. Um, so yeah, no, he's just amazing. But he got, he got those pages. It was like, Oh yeah, the style kind of looks like the 1950s. The stories happen in the 1950s.

[00:27:48] I'm going to create a completely new coloring style to color this book. Like it was colored in the fifties. It was wild. It was wild. And you come in and pages have thumbprints on them. Like they were handled by people putting into a printing press. They have smudges. Sometimes the color slightly off. It's, it's all the little dots and stuff. I'm like, this is stupid. I'm like, what are you doing, man? And I'm like, this is, you're, you're, you're doing so much work that no one's ever going

[00:28:16] to appreciate other than like me and James and, and Tim. Like, that's it. You're doing this for literally three people and I love you for it. And yeah, I think subconsciously people got it. I think everybody who reads it recognizes that something unique is happening with the colors. They may not like outwardly notice it, but like when they flip through that book, they're like, Oh, this looks different than literally everything else on the shelf. I will say like, I've read reviews, which I try not to do.

[00:28:45] I try not to read reviews because it's either like you, if you believe the good ones, you also have to believe the bad ones, which I don't want to take that on because I'll mess up your whole head and I have to move on. But I will say that a lot of people shouted out the colors and really talked about Jesus. I mean, the whole book is so good, but yeah, I'm a huge fan of Morningstar. I worked on it. So I get to say that as if like I'm an impartial person, but no, it's awesome. Yeah.

[00:29:12] I also, just because it's, it's come up in some of the other categories, but in particular Diablo Kelly was the colorist on Orla. And so, you know, if you hear the name and you're like, Oh, what do I need to check out? We've mentioned John Lee, Sally Cantorino, like Orla has just been a favorite of mine in particular. I'm not sure which, you know, who comic book Yeti put a deer lawn, but yeah. So, but Orla has been fantastic.

[00:29:40] And you should definitely check that out because comic book Yeti really likes Orla this year. Here we go. Great pace. That's why. Orla is freaking great. It's really good. David, can you go through and for the Yeti awards for the exceptional editors? I would be proud to, we are going to start with Theo Doans Linguin, a wizard of earth sea,

[00:30:10] Harper Collins, and then someone named James B. Emmett, who works for a company called Mad Cave. Never heard of them. Never heard of them. Heather Antos, Bug Wars, Sierra Han, Epitaphs from the Abyss, Will Dennis, come find me distillery. And I mean, come on. I mean, I mean, 50% of the books on every list is James editing them. So, I mean, I think that speaks for itself, right?

[00:30:36] I mean, I don't know how, I don't know how you, I don't know how from the outside you go, wow, this book was really well edited because you didn't see the process. But like as someone who has worked with James multiple times and hopefully multiple more times in the future, I know what a great editor he is. But I think you just look at the variety of books that he edits and how happy all the creators are to have worked at Mad Cave, which is, I know they say Mad Cave, but they really

[00:31:05] mean working with James because that's really their connection to the company, right? I mean, you just, I'm not talking to the bosses. I'm not talking to, you know, you have a couple of meetings with promotional people and stuff, but every day you're talking to James. So if you're happy working at a company, it's because you're happy working with that editor. So I think if you ask every single creative that has worked with Mad Cave, I'm, you know,

[00:31:34] I bet you're going to have over 99% approval rating. And that's very, very, very unusual for comics to be very happy at the places you're working. Yeah. I mean, James, you were lucky. Not you were lucky enough. I was lucky enough for you to come on the podcast for us to chat. No, you're right. The first time. I mean, you were lucky. Yeah. You really scored. No, but I wanted to have you on and talk to you because I wanted to talk to more editors

[00:32:03] in particular, but your name kept coming up a lot. Like when I would talk to folks who were making the books and like, well, I like to get in the weeds a little bit on the podcast if I can, like talk about the process. Like, what is it really like? Let's let's demystify like making comics if we can. And your name was coming up a ton. And I don't think editors in general get enough credit for the role that they play in the storytelling, the comic book making process.

[00:32:33] And, you know, so we wanted to try and do something to to highlight those folks that probably don't get mentioned all the time. You know, but in particular, I think your name comes up a lot. And the other is Heather Antos, who I think right now is the group editor at IDW for the Star Trek line. But Heather also edited Bug Wars. She does freelance editing work as well.

[00:32:59] And just another another person whose name comes up a lot where creators are saying, you know, she made the book better. And yeah, James, your your name comes up a ton in terms of the books you've worked on. And a lot of the ones you've worked on are on this list because, yeah, I mean, I I think the true is probably I think the same thing was probably true last year. There's just been a lot of really, really great books that that your name is attached to because of the work you you put into it.

[00:33:28] So, yeah, that's all I got to say. That's it. I mean, that's this is a I mean, it's a huge honor because like also the other people on this list are amazing. So, you know, it's like, yeah, I think that the goal of an editor is to like not be seen basically. It's like if you're doing your job well, it's like kind of like the letter where you kind of just go there it is. And it should like seamlessly not be felt. I shouldn't be felt too heavily at all.

[00:33:56] And to kind of help get the books out and, you know, hopefully lead everybody to where they need to go basically. And be like it's funny because like I always describe an editor as like we wear multiple hats. We're doing a lot of different things. We're doing project management, editing and copy editing, art direction and also therapy. You know, right? I'll hop on a call with the creator and be like, how are you doing? Let's walk off the ledge. Let's have a conversation. How are you doing?

[00:34:28] You know, and we hear everything. Breaking kneecaps. Yeah. Like, you know, it's very that. And then we have to also be like, well, the deadline's tomorrow. So if you could, you know, get off your sickbed for a moment and draw that page, it'd be great. But you say like in a nice way. But yeah, no, thank you. And, you know, I mean, my I put down Heather because I know her work for a long time now

[00:34:54] and I know how hard she works and I know her level of like expectation of what she expects. Not just like from everybody else, but from herself and from other editors and everything. So her reputation is, I think, pretty well deserved. So and we'll dance. Well, yeah, I just right. I think if you look at I think if you look at the books again, if we look at the variety

[00:35:20] of books that that James has edited and how each book maintains its uniqueness. Right. You know, there's nothing in Morningstar that's like Spectrum. You know, there's nothing in Spectrum like Orla. He's really helping us tell the story that we want to tell and making sure that we're getting the point across that we want to get across, you know, that we don't get lost in the weeds.

[00:35:48] We don't get lost in the sauce and like keep us focused in on what we're trying to do. And I think you could have editors are very heavy handed that want to really change the story. And you can have editors that are basically invisible ghosts who like, OK, thanks for turning in those scripts. And it's like, OK, I guess we're done talking.

[00:36:12] And then and then I think James is walking the perfect balance of, you know, stepping in when he needs to and assisting with story elements and like making sure that the team is staying focused on, you know, what the goal of the book is and what story you're trying to tell. And I think that shows with how unique each book is, but has the common thread of, you know, of being a well told story through through all of his books that he's edited.

[00:36:41] So I put James's list name on, but I'm sure 20 other people would have put his name on, too. I think I think so. I definitely agree with that. And just real quick about Sierra Han, the those books that have been coming out, Epitaphs from the Abyss, those anthologies, all this stuff, really. I think it's only that's been doing like the EC stuff, the cruel universe, cruel kingdom. Like I love anthologies.

[00:37:11] It's great to show off a bunch of different writers and artists. And so listeners, if you haven't had a chance, pick up Epitaphs from the Abyss. Pick up any of those Oni EC books. Just some really top notch storytelling. So do that there. They've all they've been wonderful. I've been loving each and every issue I've had a chance to to check out. All right. I'm going to move on to the excellence in lettering.

[00:37:40] And some of the again, some of these letters have a particular title. Some don't. It's just the body of the work that they've done this year. But we're going to go through them now. Becca Carey, Exquisite Corpses. Clayton Cowles, Die, Loaded. Hassan Atzmani Elhow. Aditya Bidikar. Damian Duffy, Parable of the Talents. That's from Abrams Comic Arts. Lucas Gattoni. Buddy Bodoin. I love Buddy.

[00:38:08] Jim Campbell, Into the Unbeing, Part 2. And Taylor Esposito. Yeah. Buddy. I've worked with Buddy. He's lettered a bunch of stuff for me. Including paper cuts Penny and the Yeti. Coming out. That's right. Hey, school 20. Stealth promote. Subtle plug. Yeah. There. Yeah. I am.

[00:38:37] Yeah, I'm as subtle as a sledgehammer. Good. You should. You should be promoting your book on top of everything else. Exactly. I. Yeah. I'm a huge fan of lettering. One of the things I did for Comic Book Yeti was to do like we did written interviews with. I don't know if it was the end of 2022 or 23. I tried to get as many letters as I could like 20 to 25 and just talk to them about like their craft. Do like short little interviews.

[00:39:06] Lettering is such an important part of the comic experience. I mean, just some incredible letterers on this list this year are doing amazing work. But I love what Buddy's been doing this year. I've been a big fan of Taylor Esposito for a long time. Jim Campbell's work on Into the Unbeing Part 2. If you haven't had a chance to read that, it's written by Zach Thompson. Artwork by Hayden Sherman. It was just absolutely phenomenal, phenomenal book.

[00:39:36] So, yeah. I don't know if there's anybody else, either of you want to want to highlight. I put I put Lucas on here just because I love Lucas. He's Lucas Contoni. He's probably one of the nicest dudes ever. And just a sweetheart. And he lettered some of my self-published stuff. And so I love watching him, you know, go up the kind of chain of like he was doing like self-published Kickstarter stuff. And then he's doing indie stuff.

[00:40:06] And now he's doing like a ton of DC stuff. And I keep like saying, hey, buddy, we're going to work together again sometime. Like, yay. And just that hasn't happened yet. But I will have him on a book in the future if I can help it, if he's not too busy. But, yeah. I just he's one of my favorite people. And Buddy is also awesome. You know, obviously did Red Vector, did an awesome job.

[00:40:32] I think like James said earlier, if you notice the lettering, then it's probably not doing a good job. And that's usually like when like, you know, we're on an indie. I'm on an indie comics discord. And I get a lot of people like sending me stuff. They what is this? How does this page look? How does this page look? And it's usually just like that letterer is just trying to flex way too much. I mean, like every word has a different font. Every balloon is different. Things are it's like everyone's shouting at you the entire time.

[00:41:02] It's really a subtle art to get that across. So if you're noticing the lettering, that's usually not great unless you're like, wow, that's really an amazing like sound effects or something. But, yeah, all the all letters I've ever worked with. I have nothing bad to say about Andy. I work with Jim. I work with Buddy. I work with Lucas. And they usually are pretty quiet people. And they just do their thing and go on to the next thing.

[00:41:30] Like, I think I got one message for Jim the entire time we did end after end, which is like a 10 issue, 10 issue story. And so it's like no interaction with them. But he just banged out those those pages and everything was perfect. It's like, oh, OK, this is like this is really easy to work with you. So, yeah. Lucas also just because it keeps coming up time and time again in this in this list. Lucas lettered Orla. Hey, there we go. More Orla love. A lot of Orla.

[00:41:59] So I guess the take home is everybody go buy Orla. Go buy Orla, which I agree with. I think the trade's out, right, James? I think so. It's either out or soon. It's a book. One of these books I didn't I didn't edit. So I get to not. No, I don't know. But. But we did. I mean, we brought it on. I was really excited about it because it was so good. Yeah, I think it came out around. It was coming out the same time as like Red Vector. So I'm sure that the trade should be out shortly.

[00:42:29] I think for those wondering, I believe the Orla trade will be out March 3rd. Oh, perfect. OK. I don't know when the Red Vector trade is out. So I can't promote my own book. We'll find out. Yeah. We'll put it in the show notes. Yeah. I guess I should know that. Should I be knowing that? Oh, that's you're done. You're done with that book. That book. Well, that's the thing. It's so funny because you work on these things and then you're like, great, I'm done. I don't worry about that anymore. Next. And then. Yeah.

[00:42:58] So, you know, it's not it's not fair all the time because I'm just like, when is that? OK, I have February 4th in the direct market and the third in the book market for Red Vector. Let's go. Yeah, I was. I looked it up. I was just going to say. I almost put Chris, Chris Evan Houston's and Sean Wieners as like artists and colorists because they could. I didn't want to I didn't want to, you know, fill this up with promoting my own book, but let's promote it for a second.

[00:43:27] Chris Evan Hughes actually is like just a rock star of a of a of an artist to me. And I've had like I do sometimes read reviews and I've heard reviews of his art saying like, oh, it looks too cardboardy or something. I'm like, so you're telling me his art looks too perfect. And that's that's the problem. Like he draws people too perfectly. Too perfect. It's too pretty. Everyone's gorgeous. Everyone is like perfect looking.

[00:43:56] And his his partner does the color. And it's just a gorgeous palette across every book and every color, every cover. I'm like, yeah, I Chris was like one of my, you know, kind of bucket list artists to work with. And I had him on my list for a really long time. And when it came up, you know, usually me and Tim, my co-writer, Tim Daniel. Hey, Timmy.

[00:44:26] We we like different types of art. He likes things to be a little bit more messy and scratchy. And I, I do like that. But for this kind of story, I wanted something really clean. And when Chris was an option, I said, I'm going to put my foot down on this one. I want, I want Evan Hughes and nobody else. So shout out to mine for a while too. Chris is so. So his art is so beautiful. I just, every page is gorgeous.

[00:44:55] And like, he, there's no, he has no shortcuts. I'm like, dude, take a panel off or something. And he never does. I mean, it's all beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of crazy. Yeah. I've been very fortunate. I've worked with like the majority of these letters and they're all fantastic. So that's all I want to say. They're all great. Love them. Yeah, absolutely. They're all, they're all amazing. All right, everybody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[00:45:25] Y'all, Jimmy, the chaos goblin strikes again. I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D and D campaign on social media. My bad. He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know. And now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we could start playing. Another friend chimes in. Are you going to make maps? It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together. So I guess question mark. It was then that I discovered Arkenforge.

[00:45:53] If you don't know who Arkenforge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive. Allowing you to build, play, and export animated maps, including in-person Fog of War capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture. Now I'm set to easily build high-res animated maps, saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign. That's a win every day in my book.

[00:46:22] Check them out at Arkenforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off. I'll drop a link in the show notes for you. And big thanks to Arkenforge for partnering with our show. I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Welcome back. All right. All right. So moving on. Exceptional series. And again, us at Comic Book YETI, we don't get to read everything.

[00:46:48] So if there's something that was your favorite listener and you're like, oh, you didn't mention, let us know what it is and we'll take a look. Maybe we just didn't read it yet because we can't read everything. We do read a lot of comics. But go ahead. James, can you take the exceptional series for 2025? Absolutely. Ghost Pepper, buried long, long ago. Orla!

[00:47:16] Dreadnought by Mike Carroll and John Higgins. Rebellion. FML. We're taking everyone down with us. Spectrum. Space Ghost. Tim Can Society. Something is Killing the Children. And Red Vector. I didn't. But again, I didn't put it on there. I put, we're taking everyone down with us in FML. And I don't know if I put Spectrum or not. But I, or buried long, long ago.

[00:47:44] But all those, I loved all those this year at Tin Can Society. I love Tin Can Society. But we're taking everyone down with us. I think has just the most perfect tone of any book. It's just so ridiculous and funny and, and like over the top action and explosions. And it's, it's like if, you know, Dr. Doom was in a comedy. I just, I absolutely love, love that book.

[00:48:14] I think that's one of my favorites, not just of this year, but of all time. Along with FML, which I think is one of the best books ever made. And I really enjoy, I mean, enjoying Tin Can Society. I think the last issue is coming out soon. That one's getting close to being wrapped up. So that's, that's a really fun, just pretty straightforward superhero story with, then gets a bunch of twists in it. So check that one out too. Yeah. I'm not familiar.

[00:48:44] I'm not sure who put Ghost Pepper on the list. That's one I'm not familiar with, but I definitely want to check out. It looks like The Trade will be out February 10th. And I think it's an image book by Ludo Lullaby and Adriano Lucas. It has some of the best art you'll ever see in there. It's kind of, it almost is, I think a little like manga inspired type art. And I pick it up every single time I go into the comic shop and flip through it.

[00:49:13] And I'm, I'm trade waiting on that one. But yeah, it's, I haven't read it yet, but it is beautiful. It is such a great looking book. Yeah. I want to get in. I don't know anything about it, so I'm excited. That's going to be something new for, for me to, to check out. For me, I put Red Vector on the list. I've, out of all the stuff that I've read this year, I just absolutely loved Red Vector. For all the reasons, you know, I'm a big fan of you, David, and of Tim's work.

[00:49:42] And for all the reasons you mentioned about Chris Evan Hughes and is it, is it John, Sean Weegers? Something. Or is it with a V, Weegers. I never said her name out loud. It's so bad. I don't, I never, I never said her name out loud before. Or, uh, Sean Weisers? Weisers? Weisers? Weisers? I apologize. She won't because she's too nice. She won't love. She is too nice. And she, I'm sure she gets it all the time. Yes. Well, for most Americans.

[00:50:12] Americans that are like, oh, what are, what are names? Like, we're all, none of us can do it. Anyway, sorry. Her and Chris's work. No, her and Chris's work has been great for all the reasons you were, you stated earlier when we were talking about Red Vector. Uh, I, I just, I loved it. Loved the story. It just felt like it was, you know, again, something that was right in my wheelhouse. Very science fiction-y, like a little Star Wars, a little enemy mine, a little, you know, uh, but like a modern take, you know, you're, you're down at the border and you got a bunch

[00:50:41] of stuff going on with this war that has come to earth. I just, I just really, look, as, as we're sitting here, I know podcast guests, you can't see this, but this is just for, for James and David. Look, I got all my issues. I got all, I got all five of my issues here for Red Vector. I just thought it was like a really fun series. Just had a ton of nods to things that I loved growing up from the eighties and nineties. And I just felt it was a very kind of modern right now take. And it has a cool ass dog in it.

[00:51:11] And I'm a sucker for, I'm a sucker for a lady protagonist with a cool ass dog. Let's be honest. Absolutely. I mean, I, a third of my series, I've put dogs in, so I can't stop. I had to put my, my new dog in, uh, this one. So it's always, it's like wish fulfillment. I wish my dog was as cool as the dogs that we, I put in the comics.

[00:51:37] I think I put in something is killing the children just because that book continues to be really great. I don't know. Like it's so, I know I, I just, I buy all the trades. I'm up to number seven almost. I, yeah, I just keep reading it. I think it's great. It's a great series. I mean, you kind of like put like a blonde monster hunter into a book for me as a, like a Buffy fan. I'm just like, sure. And I'm on board. I'll read anything. That's really ridiculous. Like to put it in front of me. I'll read it.

[00:52:05] Um, but yeah, I love a good horror story. So, and it's just like, and a lot of series, a lot of series now don't get that kind of, you know, shelf life to be quite honest. And I think my brother is shout out to my brother, Bobby, the cryptic creator corners, number one, most dedicated fan. Bobby listens. Hi Bobby. We're still working on that. Don't worry. It's coming out. Oh, Bobby's Bobby's a huge dead, dead blood fan. He's going to love that.

[00:52:33] And so, uh, yeah, Bobby collects it and I read it, you know, I pick up the comics cause I'm, I live closer to the shop. So I'll read it before then I, I, I give it to him. And I mean, it's up to like at issue 40, 40 something. I think it's in the forties right now, you know, which is kind of unheard of and it's still interesting. It's, it's still a really, it's still great. So yeah, absolutely. And they're planning to go to like issue 100 or something. Like they're just, there's no, there doesn't seem to be slowing down and they're making like a TV show and an animated.

[00:53:03] I'm like, go, go do it. That's great. Do it all. Like, it's not something that happens anymore. Like you said, we don't get indie series that go this long. So, you know, uh, he's gotta be writing for the trade, but also writing for a long series now, which is, you know, something people don't do anymore. It's like, it's not since the walking dead really have we had something that was kind

[00:53:29] of like started off as maybe it's going to go five issues. Maybe it's going to go six issues. And then, oh, we have to expand this universe and keep this going for a hundred issues and keep it interesting and keep writing for the individual issues, but you keep writing for the trade that that's hard, man. That's something that people aren't used to do anymore. And readers aren't trained to read series that long anymore either. So it's really got to be something special to keep, keep going like that.

[00:53:59] Yeah. I put, uh, I don't know if I put it, but Barry, I want to just shout out Barry long, long ago. I think that was a great, one of the coolest horror series out this year. Just a really cool weaving of like fantasy and reality and like taking an actual historical event and turning it into this supernatural thing. I think it was great, had great characters, uh, really well-written, uh, really greatly illustrated

[00:54:28] the, the, you know, the whole quality of the book was awesome. So if you haven't read Barry long ago, I have a strong recommendation for that one. Just go pick it up and trade and devour the whole thing. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. And especially if you're a horror fan and you have read something or seen something and you're like, and, uh, you're like, they're not possibly going to kill this character. Right now. Yeah. And Anthony and Alex answer that question.

[00:54:58] Yeah. It's basically no one is safe. Yes. I mean, if you've seen like Alex Cormac's work in the past with this series with like Rich Dueck, you know, his horror series like this, I think this is his best work, man. He really leveled up this story. I'm like, cause I've always been a fan of his, the visceral nature of his work, but he also is drawing little cute kids like going through this.

[00:55:27] And I'm like, he really flexed on this series. I think he did a great job. Um, so yeah, I, it's a strong recommendation for the story, strong recommendation for the art. Uh, it's, it, it's, it has a lot of like momentum. Like you start reading and it just goes, it's, it's no, no filler. Um, and, and just a tight, clean, super freaky story.

[00:55:57] Yeah. Yeah. I'd hate to see if, if, if Alex does reference photos, I don't, I don't want to see what's in his phone library. No, I'm, I'm good. I'm good with what I saw on that book. That book was horrifying. He's also crazy fast, Alex. It's wild to work with him. You're like, Oh, here's five. Like, it's just like, you're just shocked. I'm always shocked. I have. And I've worked with him now two times in the future, probably.

[00:56:23] But, um, uh, I can't say anything. Um, anyway, but, uh, um, but yeah, no, he's so fast and he's also just like the nicest human being. Like he's such a sweetheart. Like he's really a pleasure to work with. And yeah, very long, long ago. It's great. It's great. Great series. Absolutely. Um, all right. Moving on to exceptional anthology for this year.

[00:56:47] Uh, we have faster than light volume two, Sarah cook, Godzilla, the 70th anniversary shook, a black horror anthology. Hello darkness. And aces and arrows and asexual and a romantic comic book anthology. Uh, that was another one that lifeline comics has done. Uh, cat, uh, columnist, columnist, columnist, columnist, and, uh, Phil Falco. Um, but, and they did that. I think it was also edited by Jeremy Whitley.

[00:57:15] Um, so yeah, so those are our, uh, anthologies. Um, I think some of them were crowdfunded, but usually you can still go and get copies of those, the Godzilla 70th anniversary. I haven't read that myself, but I just had nothing but great things about it. So I put in hello darkness. Because I love horror. Um, and I just love like the different horror stories that you really see the, like the array of different horror story.

[00:57:42] And I love that it's doing so well, like in a monthly space for an anthology to be doing well, it's really great. Like, it's really reassuring. You get to see a lot of new talent. You get to see a lot of new people. I mean, you could see very established people, but also like a nice mix of different voices and different talents. Um, and I think that's really reassuring in a way, um, in today's market. Cause it's like we've, I've been so trained to be like, no anthologies just don't sell in the monthly market.

[00:58:10] They do better on Kickstarter and those types of platforms. Um, uh, which I think is great, but seeing that do well in a monthly like retail space is very cool. All right. And that's boom studios is doing, is doing hello darkness. I think. Yeah. Dave. And now I'm back. Now you're back. Oh, there you are. Yeah. I don't know what happened. Don't look at me. Hi, me. I figured out how my, the last time I was on stream yard, I figured out how my mic 30 minutes

[00:58:39] after the stream ended, I'm like, Oh, my mic is working now. So I was here, I was here nice and early to get everything working this time. Cause thank you. I appreciate my computer. If I touch a cord, things go crazy. And I just don't touch anything. I was, I was doing some Googling because I was, I remembered an anthology and I'm like, did it come out last year? No. So it didn't. So I won't, I won't mention it. All right. Well, that's, that's fine. That we're glad you're back and we, uh, we can now hear you.

[00:59:08] You look for a second, like, like a character in morning star where you were just gesticulating wildly. And there was no stamp, no letter. There's a deer behind you. Oh no, not again. Yeah. I would just say, I was just saying that the hello darkness covers are like some of the best looking covers on the shelves. They're just beautiful every time. And I'm not much of a, like, Ooh, I buy comics for the covers. I'm not that one, but that comic, uh, it, it's kind of worth buying just for the

[00:59:37] covers too, even though the stories are great, but the covers are amazing. Yep. I agree. All right. Moving on. Exceptional original graphic novel. David, you want to take this one? Let's do it. Um, have love languages, uh, Lake Yellowwood slaughter, golden rage. Mother's mother knows best more weight. A Salem story. Ben wiki drone. Jesse a logger.

[01:00:06] And the mushroom night, Oliver Bly and hello. Sunshine. He's a young. All right. I will say hello. Sunshine is what I put on here. I just thought it was absolutely tremendous. Uh, and Keezy's work is incredible. I mean, the, the storytelling, the, the artwork. I, I, I, I just devoured the book and I've been telling everybody like you, you have to get it. You have to read it.

[01:00:34] There were so many wonderful things done in it. It's, it's a, I mean, it's a very interesting story as well. And yeah, I just absolutely one of my favorites that I've read, not just this past year, but in quite some time love to live sunshine. Yeah. I'm a huge, huge Keezy fan as well. I met them at Emerald city a couple of years ago and pretty much bought everything on their table. Um, had the, but they have a bunch of little short comics, uh, some about like mental illness

[01:01:04] and are very, very honest and real with their work and just, uh, just gorgeous artwork, like honest storytelling and, uh, strong, strong recommendation. Pick up everything Keezy Young does for now and forever. Accurate. And, uh, I put mushroom night, I think on there.

[01:01:28] I'm not sure maybe I did because I love mushroom night and Oliver Bly is a genius, like cool dude. And like his stories are super unique and his art is like way better than it has any right to be for how good of a writer he is too. It, uh, makes me a little mad actually. Cause he's too talented and too nice.

[01:01:57] Um, he sent me a Christmas card. I'm like, Oh dude, that was so nice of you. You didn't have to do that. And, uh, just one of the best people, but also telling like a super cool, unique story that is grounded in where he's from and, and filled with what he's interested in. Um, and it's still just a really well told story. So like big shout outs to mushroom night and mushroom night too, which I don't know.

[01:02:27] Yeah. I think you and mushroom night three. Um, yeah, it feels like he can keep going. I mean, it really, it feels like he can keep going forever. I think. Yeah. I know Byron has talked a lot about, uh, about mushroom night, but Byron has been a big fan of, of mushroom night. So I'm sure Byron would, would want me to, uh, to mention that. Um, I, I like, and I know my brother loved as well. Yake Lake, uh, yellowwood slaughter from goats flying press, which I just love the whole

[01:02:57] concept that it's the official comic book adaptation of a 1983 slasher movie that never existed. Uh, when I saw that, when I saw that launch on Kickstarter, I was so jealous. Cause I was like, um, I want us to have that. I was so, I was like, what? I was so jealous. I was like, that, yeah, that made me crazy. I was like, okay. Yeah. And then Bobby had backed it and got his copy. It's a great creative team.

[01:03:24] It's Alejandro Arbona, uh, Gavin Guidry, Chris O'Halloran and Hassan Otsmini O'Hall. Um, but yeah, Bobby and I were at Baltimore comic-con this year. Gavin Guidry was there. Bobby got his, his copy signed, but it's just like, it's a fantastic idea. It's such a well executed, uh, comic book. Um, so yeah, shout out to that as well. I haven't, it's, it's in my to read list. It's one of the many that you'll, you'll dig it. It's really good. Yeah. And I just picked up drone.

[01:03:54] I just picked up drone recently, Jesse Lonergan. I think, I feel like drone is ending up on a lot of year end for 2025 best lists. And yeah, it's absolutely incredible. Uh, I mean just Jesse Lonergan's like artwork in it. And for a book that has so few, like not a lot of dialogue, like the storytelling in it is in incredible. So if you haven't yet checked out drone, I highly recommend that one as well.

[01:04:22] I'm bad about keeping up with the original graphic novels as much. Cause I buy so many monthly books and then I realized that I'm bad and I've had to catch up on everything else that I'm missing. Uh, let me, let me, let me hate, let me hate read X-Men first and then I'll read something. God, why did I read this? I hate this book. Oh my God. What are they doing? Um, all right. Uh, we have a few entries.

[01:04:51] Clearly comic book Yeti needs to brush up on our, uh, manga and other non-Western comics as well as web comics. We have a few to cover. I'm going to go through both of those categories. And I'm one of the guilty ones that I do need to read more non-Western comics, but for excellence in manga or other non-Western comics, the guy she was interested in wasn't a guy at all. Uh, the color of the end mission in the apocalypse as well as grand familia and then exceptional web comic.

[01:05:19] We have Jake spooky and the wolves within him, Michael Grover and lore Olympus. Um, so I I'm, I'm in a bad spot cause I do not read a ton of manga or web comics, but those are the ones that the folks at comic book Yeti really wanted to highlight. So if that's something you're into, go check them out. I will at, at some point I just, uh, you know, was never mongol was not, not something that I ever like grew up with.

[01:05:46] And it's funny cause my daughter Charlotte, uh, who's 13 reads a ton of comics, but also she reads, you know, quite a lot of manga as well. You know, our library, our local library has like an unbelievably excellent selection. Um, which is, which is great because you'll go in there and you're like, Oh, what's my hero academia or whatever it might be. And it's like, Oh, there's, there's 34, there's 34 volumes. I'm ready to go. Let me start at one piece. There's a thousand volumes.

[01:06:15] Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So one piece more like a thousand pieces. Never read it. Not that I'm bad as well. I had not read manga in probably 25 years. I mean, I read manga when I was younger and read with my friend who is very much more into it. So I read a lot of sailor moon, uh, run on one half, you know, um, Yasha, like I'm dating myself. Like I'm old man.

[01:06:45] I read apple seed. Like, um, just an old man, but I did say Laura Olympus, which I, I think it's done. I'm, I think I'm behind, but, um, I buy the, the, the graphic, the books because I'm again an old man and I don't want to like when I'm done working. Cause all I do is read on a screen. Yeah. It's not what I want to do. Like I want to go and like hold a book and smell paper and not my eyes are already busted. This is definitely old man podcast. I'm there with you. Yeah, basically. So yeah.

[01:07:16] If I can't smell the comic, I mean, what's the point really? What's the point? Yeah. Yeah. I read a lot of stuff digitally, but I, I do love to hold like a physical book in my hand and I, I do like the smell of comics. So it's hard to beat. It's just like a book. It's like a tactile thing. It's like real, it's real life. Um, and I spend enough time. Yeah. Well, that's true. That's certainly true. Um, okay.

[01:07:43] For the, the 2025, uh, the fourth annual Yeti awards for exceptional crowdfunding comics project. Uh, James, can you take those? I'll try. I'll do my best. Um, danger boy. I believe in you. Yeah. Yeah. Can I read? I don't know. We'll find out together. Um, probably not actually. Um, danger boy and the antagonists who killed Sarah Shaw gem and the holograms truly outrageous comics collection skull kickers.

[01:08:11] The digest edition by Jim Zub on Zoop. Loogie, uh, the fables, Eric King, would, Junie, Bah, uh, by Junie, Bah. Um, second shift by Kit Anderson by visibility by lifeline comics by appointment only, uh, by Wells Thompson and futility shapes by Edward Kane. All right. And the winner is no, I'm kidding. All of them.

[01:08:41] Uh, um, yeah, I will say that some of the ones that I really liked and, um, I, I had mentioned futility shapes. That was a comic. Uh, I think Edward Kane wrote it, but also I, I don't want to forget to mention that the artist was Dave Fowler. And then Rob Jones was the letterer on that one, but I really liked futility shapes. I thought it was a really interesting kind of premise about a man being made into a machine.

[01:09:08] And, um, I'll just, I'll just leave it at that in terms of the description, but I thought that was a really good one. Uh, some of the other ones like I backed, uh, Wells Thompson, uh, by appointment only. It was just, uh, you know, Wells started out doing stuff for comic book, Eddie, he did reviews and then now he's gone on and made comics. He won a Ringo award this past year for smut, which is fantastic, but by appointment only

[01:09:34] is like a witch runs a shop and you can show up and get the witch to, you know, maybe help you out, but you know, she's available by appointment only, but Alice and her friend, Scarlet, it is a really cute series. It's really fun. I loved by appointment only. Um, and the other one I want to shout out is who killed Sarah Shaw. That's written by Frankie white and the artwork by, uh, Adam, uh, Markowitz. And it was something that they, they serialized on. I think it was Adam's Patrion.

[01:10:04] Then they collected it all. I think they worked with Dauntless stories to do a hard cover of it. Uh, the premise for listeners, if you don't know, um, two podcasters who do like a true crime podcast, go to this town to investigate this, uh, 30, 40 year old, um, uh, cold case and, uh, really great story. Uh, really loved it. The book, the hard cover came out, I think really well. I got a copy of it upstairs.

[01:10:31] Um, but yeah, those were some, some, some of the projects that I really liked. Um, so yeah, I don't know if there's anything in particular either you wanted to mention in terms of a crowdfunding stuff. I'll shout out, um, who killed Sarah Shaw too. I love that book. I thought it was great. Um, it's, uh, it's, I think a testament to it that as soon as I was done reading it, I read it a second time because it is a murder mystery. And so once you know who the murderer is, you're like, Oh, I want to read it again. See all the clues I might've missed.

[01:11:01] And they're currently working on a third volume, uh, where they combining, uh, the last two books they did into like the same property, which is going to be interesting. Cause one is about, uh, being in hell or something. I can't remember what the first one is. Yeah. I had Frank, I was lucky enough to have Frankie and Adam on the, on the podcast, but their first book that they did eat my flesh, drink my blood is insane. Yes.

[01:11:30] I mean, as, as, uh, I mean, I was raised Catholic, uh, which you say you tell people you were raised Catholic when, when you no longer go to church, that's what you have to say. You can't, you can't say you are Catholic, but, um, uh, eat my flesh, drink my blood is insane. And then who killed Sarah Shaw. And now their newest one that they're working on now is I just came from hell. Yes. Which is kind of like a combination. It's one of the characters from eat my flesh, drink my blood.

[01:11:59] And I think it's the podcasting team from who killed Sarah Shaw. So I can't wait. I'm super excited for that. I think that's, I think it's, I think it's the really cool thing about podcast about, um, kickstarting is like, you can get your audience big enough, you know, where you can just do the stories you want to do, you know? And, um, there is something nice to say about just doing it and not having to ask permission

[01:12:25] and not worrying about like how commercial is this. And, and, you know, he just, you gotta, you can just do like fun stuff. And, uh, uh, I mean, I love being in the direct market. I'll always try to be there first, but it's nice to know that, that Kickstarter is there. If you want to tell weird stories, like, uh, like my self-published dead blood, which

[01:12:50] is, you know, our, my, my buddy, Christopher Alvarez is homage to nineties comics and it's big and stupid and no one would publish it once every three years. And, uh, you know, and it's, uh, it's our, it's our little baby. It's our little bundle of joy. So, um, yeah, I'll shut out Lugi, which was a ton of, a lot of fun, kind of like a, you

[01:13:15] know, anime style, manga style, uh, story about a girl who has slime for hair and lives in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and bounces all over the place and has a super positive attitude. And I love main characters that have super positive attitudes in like the worst situations. It's just such a fun juxtaposition. Um, so that one I loved on Kickstarter too.

[01:13:42] Uh, I will shout out Skull Kickers cause that was one of my favorite comics of all time when that came out. And, and Jim Zub has always been a really great supporter of indie comics. And, uh, you know, anytime someone says, you know, Oh, I need to, I want to get, I want to break into comics. I want to do, I always direct them to Jim Zub's website, his YouTube channel, his Patreon. Yeah.

[01:14:07] The dude has thousands of hours worth of quality instruction. If there, if you ever have a question about making comics at some point he's answered it. So, uh, you know, he's basically a one-stop shop for helping out indie creators. Uh, so big shout out to Jim Zub and Skull Kickers is awesome and should have been way more popular than it was.

[01:14:33] I think if it came out now, um, would be one of the top books just because of all the D and D love and, you know, critical role and all that stuff being more popular. I just think he was, I think he, he was ahead of the curve. Um, and I'm glad Skull Kickers continues to get some love. Awesome. I'll also shout out who killed Sarah Shaw. Cause I also love that book. That book was really good. It's really good.

[01:14:58] Um, but, uh, I added by visibility, um, from lifeline comics, which I think, um, all the work that lifeline does is really important. I think it's like, it's giving voice to people who don't always get a voice in this industry or in a lot of other, or a lot of industries, period. Um, so I think their stories are important and who they're giving opportunities to are also, it's also really important.

[01:15:24] Um, I also loved, uh, I read the Gemini Holograms when it was first coming out. So, so like, I love that they have a full on collection that everyone can now get. Um, cause it also has so, so many talented people in it. There's Jen St. Onge who's amazing. And, um, Meredith McLaren, who's like, should be a bigger star. Um, she's already a big star, but she should be a bigger star. Um, but yeah, really talented people and a really fun story.

[01:15:54] And they should bring Gemini Holograms back. I've been saying that for a while. Just shouting into the void. No one knows. Please. It just seems like they should be here. I mean, if, if we have space ghosts, why don't we have Gem? I know. And like more women focused, licensed properties, please. I mean, I love Buffy. Buffy can keep going forever for me. Um, but I want more women. Agreed. Um, all right.

[01:16:22] Exceptional comic or graphic novel for kids. David, you mind taking this one? Let's do it. Uh, 10 ton Titan Terrier, uh, through paper cuts by David Pippos and Ornelia Greco. Free piano, not haunted by Whitney Gardner. I'm pretty sure that piano is haunted. Uh, Spoofs. The Little Spirits of Halloween, uh, top shelf. AJ Locasco, Locasio. Lori A. Conley.

[01:16:51] Uh, Lou and Ren's Guide to Geozoology. Uh, Yelp, Yeti, Chaos, and Kathmandu. Are you going to sue them for infringement? Or what are we doing with this other Yeti people? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeti. I, I, I, well, I think theirs is already out. So I don't think there's anything I can do. I don't think you can copyright a, um, a cryptid. Not with that attitude. Yeah, right.

[01:17:18] What you have to do is find an actual Yeti and get him on your side. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Yeah. I'll, I'm a, I'm a lawyer. I'll represent, I'll represent the Yeti. Yeah. Uh, double book Yeti. And then we got that. I do need a spokes Yeti. Uh, double booking, uh, the October girl Maverick, Matthew Dow Smith. That was two different things. Double booking and stop speaking period. The October girl Maverick.

[01:17:47] Some of these things have long names, so that could be a whole thing. Uh, by Matthew Dow Smith was the October girl space case, the graphic novel, Stuart Gibbs and Ward Jenkins. Um, yeah, I don't read a lot of kids graphic novels, but I did check out 10 ton, uh, Titan Terrier by David P. Post because David's my boy. And that was great. So that's all I got to say about kids graphic novels. Yeah. I don't read them. I haven't read 10 ton. Sorry. Go ahead to me. Sorry. Go ahead, James. No, no, no. Go ahead.

[01:18:29] So, um, her and I will read it together. Nice. Now you go, James. Sorry. Um, I don't read that many kids books either. Cause I'm, as we've mentioned an old man. Yes. But, um, uh, 10 ton Titan Terrier. Um, love David P. Post.

[01:18:53] Uh, double booking was one I added from, uh, Chaz Pangburn and, uh, his sister Kim Shurer. Um, Chaz is also an editor at Mad Cave and he wrote this and it was for paper cuts and it's a great book. And they had a sequel. They had a, another volume. Would that be triple? Triple booking? Yeah. Triple booking. Or double, double. What's really fun is that you tell like half of the story is told from one of the, like, it's a sibling story.

[01:19:22] So, like, one part of the story is, like, told through one perspective and then they flip it and it's told from another. It's very cool. Um, really great, really fun story. Um, Chaz is awesome. His sister's a delight. Um, uh, and then, um, the October girl love Matthew Dow Smith for a long time. He's great. Um, so those are my very not, um, impartial. Literally just listed everything from Mad Cave.

[01:19:52] Like, that's, yeah. I mean, that's what I get to read because I, you know. Oh, man. Right. Yeah. Well, I will, I will shout out. I, one of the things that I, I really loved was, um, Matthew Dow Smith, the October girl, um, which Charlotte got for Christmas. So hopefully Charlotte, I don't know if she's read it yet, but, um, yeah, I just, I, I read that. I thought it was, uh, tremendous. Love the story. I love Matthew's artwork. That was really good.

[01:20:18] Um, uh, a surprise for me, not anything I'd read before, but just because I had Stuart Gibbs on the podcast. But, um, Stuart Gibbs series of books like Space Case, a lot of them are now being adapted. Ward Jenkins did the illustrations for it. But Space Case, the graphic novel, um, I read it before I interviewed Stuart and I just thought it was delightful. It's about a kid living on a space station trying to solve a murder. And, like, it's, it's a really great book.

[01:20:48] Uh, just, it was, I had an absolutely, you know, fun time with it. And then, um, you know, just because we are a comic book Yeti and, and we do like all things Yeti, but Yelp, Yeti, Chaos in Catman 2, Catmandu by, uh, Sneha Pradhan, illustrated by Promina Shresta. It, I haven't read this one yet, but it looks great. Devon is pet cat. Tuna spot a Yeti in the city, but no one will believe them. It's a fun pack. Action and adventure graphic reader set in the paw for young comic fans.

[01:21:18] So I just read, read that from the, the website, but that looks super cute. So yeah, let me, we support all the Yeti stuff. So there we go. Yeti's, Yeti's band together. Absolutely. Yes. Um, I, what do we, we have to think, what do we call, what, what would a group of Yetis be? Like an abomination? Is that? Oh, that's pretty good. I don't know. Interesting. Yeah. An avalanche, an avalanche of Yetis. Oh, an avalanche of Yetis. That's another good one. I like that. All right.

[01:21:47] So just to finish up with a new category we added this year, I think this was probably inspired by Dan Nixon and Tyler Lance who have been doing stuff for comic book Yeti in like the gaming space, like, um, uh, tabletop, uh, role-playing games. We have, uh, exceptional game. We only have two. And I think technically both these came out in 2024, but they were new to us in 2025. So we're going to count it. Worm, Wormspan by Stonemaier Games.

[01:22:16] If anybody has played Wingspan, uh, the, the, the game Wingspan, they've done, they've done a Fin Span, which is all about fish. And now they've done Wormspan, which is dragon. So it's the same board mechanics as Wingspan, but all of the, the artwork and the cards are dragons. Wingspan is, is a really fun game. Um, I, uh, I haven't played Wormspan yet, but I do enjoy Wingspan.

[01:22:41] And, uh, the other one, Harrow County, the game of Gothic Conflict from off the page games. I'm just a huge fan of off the page games. They had turned mind management into a board game. They turned a manifest destiny into a game called core of discovery. Um, new this year. And they went to Kickstarter with Grendel. They turned Grendel into a board game, but Harrow County, I think is fun.

[01:23:09] Uh, you can play, um, uh, as, um, or the main character whose name just escaped me from Harrow County or like a member of the family. And, uh, the art, the box artwork with the tree on it, it turns into a dice tower. So you have to like roll dice and move around trying to defeat your opponent. It's, it's just, it's great. And, um, really ties into nice, it ties into the comic book as well.

[01:23:39] Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook. So, um, if you get a chance to, if you find it, to get it, it's, it's a really fun game, especially if you're a comic book fan. So sweet. Yeah. I don't, I don't have any friends, so I can't play games. I'm reading and writing comic books. You just spending time crying, you know? Um, yeah, yeah.

[01:24:07] Um, I don't play a lot of games and I, I was like, what's the game I play? I recently bought Marvel cosmic invasion and I was like, Oh, well that doesn't count. Cause you guys don't want big too. And I was like, well, that's the only game I've played. And I'm like, whatever. Anyway. Um, I'm not, I'm not, I don't stay on top of games, four games, role play game. Any of it. It's bad. I used to play a lot of D and D, but that doesn't, that's been, that's been around for six years. I'm playing D and D tonight.

[01:24:37] I'm playing D and D tonight. I'm playing D and D tonight. Nice. There you go. Random people from Facebook. So, cause I, like I said, I don't have any friends. I gotta find them on the internet. That's great though. They're your friends. D and D. They're your friends, David. Oh, thanks guys. Yeah. I, we, uh, we, we, we play D and D and just like the, I mean, it's, I, I'm not the one that made this up. Somebody else said it before, but the biggest villain in D and D is scheduling. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Really.

[01:25:05] Very, very difficult. Uh, so sometimes when we can't get together for D and D, like it's not like the whole group, but we'll get together and have a board game night. So Dan, Dan Nixon, who does stuff for comic book Yeti. And we've gone to PAX unplugged in Philly a couple of times, which is the big board game convention. And, um, yeah, Dan has a ton of games and he'll just bring a bunch over and we'll just go through and play.

[01:25:29] And I, you know, I, we started, I think in 2017 up until then I had no idea how like expansive modern board games could be. And, you know, the past, like, I guess eight years or nine years now at this point, it's like amazing all the different types of games we played. And, um, yeah, it's a, it's a lot of fun. There's a ton of fun stuff out there to get a board game and, and get together and, and have a game night if you can, if you, if you find some friends.

[01:25:57] Um, no offense, David. No, I'm taking it. I gotta, I gotta go to LA. My buddy, uh, Sean Kirkham, AKA big clutch. He has, um, him and his wife have a huge gaming area with like the gloom doom, whatever that big game is with like, it's like gloom Haven, gloom Haven. They got all of the board games and they have all the little card ones. We played a Rick and Morty one. That was really fun one time.

[01:26:24] Um, and so they've got all those kind of, uh, games. That's the only time I ever play is when I go down there and get some people together. Yeah. So that's, I would like to play more games, but again, lack of real life friends. Start, start working on, uh, red vector. Red vector would make a cool board game. You know, yeah. Yeah. Something to consider for sure. Nobody's, nobody's interested in, in my, there's so much work.

[01:26:54] I know how much. I'm like, we don't want to, we don't want to do that. We, uh, Christopher Alvarez and I made a card game for based in the, in the dead blood universe. I don't want to turn this in dead blood podcast, but, uh, yeah, we made a little wrestling card game. Uh, I love that. We were going to kickstart. We were going to kickstart, but instead of kickstarting, we just printed out ourselves. So we have a little, uh, I got to send you some of those, Jimmy.

[01:27:21] I'll, uh, Oh yeah, that's great brother. I'll send you a couple of packs. Um, Oh, whole, whole love it. Yeah. I, uh, no rate rate. Um, what did I, what did I else just play recently? That was comic book based. Um, yeah. Radiant black is a card based game. Um, they made like part of the massive verse into a, into a card game. And I played that. That's a lot of fun as well. Um, but yeah, ton of stuff out there.

[01:27:50] If you're into board games, just comic book, getty site. We, Dan and Tyler are reviewing board games and telling you what some of their favorite stuff is. So if that's something, I think Jimmy's just bragging that he has friends now. Yeah. I got like, I have four and I am. That's a lot of friends brag. Yeah. Um, all right. Well, that has been the 2025, uh, the fourth annual Yeti awards.

[01:28:17] Uh, very, uh, very big. Thank you to David, uh, DB, Andrew and James B Emmett, uh, my guests today. And thank you to everyone at comic book Yeti, uh, who put forth their selections for their favorite comic books of 2025. And, um, Megan metalonic, who also, uh, she reads a ton of indie comics. She's on blue sky and she's always posting about the stuff that she loves to read.

[01:28:43] Um, I'll put a link in the show notes so you will be able to see all of the, all of, uh, the quote unquote winners for this year. And you can follow David and James on social media and check out some of the stuff that they have worked on and we'll be working on. And yeah, go, if there's something on this list that you haven't read or checked out yet, please. That's, you know, why we do it. We want to point, point you in the direction of something that we hope you're going to, you're going to love. So please, uh, go read some comics.

[01:29:13] Um, yeah. So thank you guys very much. Recommend, recommend comics to your friends. You know, any comics can live and die on word of mouth. So if you love something or if you like something, shout it out, put it on the internet, tell your friends, tell your comic shop owner, tell everybody that you know that this is a good comic, you know, cause, um, 10 more sales is huge for an indie, an indie book. You know, we're not doing the Batman, the absolute Batman numbers.

[01:29:42] So, you know, whatever, you know, whatever you can do to help any comic sales, we'll keep them around, um, for longer. So tell your friends. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like, like David just mentioned too, like if you have a local shop, you know, put something on your pull list, let them know that's that you want to read this and talk about it. Um, that's one of the best ways. Cause if they may not be familiar with it, they may not have seen it come across, um, you

[01:30:09] know, if somebody hasn't ordered it, uh, but if, if you mentioned it and you want it, they might check it out and then recommend it to other customers. It's still one of the best ways to get the word out there about, um, you know, the books that the books that you like, the books that you love. So, all right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you, David. Thank you, James. I appreciate this so much. It really does help us as well. And, um, yeah, thank you so much for listening.

[01:30:39] I really appreciate it. Um, I'll see you next time. Good night. Thank you. Thank you. This is Byron O'Neill. One of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate review, subscribe all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the cryptic creator corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister

[01:31:09] podcast into the comics, Kate, listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.