Alex Breen Interview - From Within

[00:00:00] Your ears do not deceive you. You have just entered the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by your friends at Comic Book Yeti. So without further ado, let's get on to the interview!

[00:00:30] Please, snobber, knocker, throw down with the hand and stick sacrifices himself to save Matt at the end. Ever since that moment I have loved martial arts comic book.

[00:00:38] So when fellow Yeti, Alex Breen reached out about his Kickstarter project from Within, I was excited to find out more about it.

[00:00:45] It's a 240-page martial arts revenge graphic novel about a slave fighting his way through a deadly tournament where the rules shift according to the whims of fugastic, a tyrannical emperor, full of high impact fight sequences as sure to the light any fan of action focused on the world.

[00:01:01] Artists Rinso Padesa kills the genre, see what I did there? And the whole project is already complete. So the hardest part is the one that makes you wait is Artida.

[00:01:10] Found some over to Kickstarter and search for it from within. I'll drop a link in the show notes to make it easy for you. Make sure to check it out.

[00:01:46] It was then that I discovered Arkenforge. If you don't know who Arkenforge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive.

[00:01:55] Allowing you to build, play, and export animated maps, including in-person, fog of war capability, the Let's Your Players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture.

[00:02:07] Now I'm set to easily build high-res animated maps saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign. That's when everyday in my book.

[00:02:17] 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.

[00:02:28] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even.

[00:02:33] Hello and welcome to comic book Yeti's Crypted Creator Corner. I am one of your host, Jimmy Gasparo.

[00:02:38] And I have a very special guest with me today. It is a fellow comic book Yeti contributor.

[00:02:44] And he is kickstarting a full-length graphic novel.

[00:02:50] It's on kickstarter right now as you listen to this. It's going to be run until October 8th the name of the comic is from within it is a martial arts revenge graphic novel that I think weighs in at a healthy 240 pages or so.

[00:03:08] But please welcome to the podcast Alex Breen. Alex, how are you doing?

[00:03:15] I am very tired. I have plenty of coffee on standby.

[00:03:20] Bro tip for anyone who's curious maybe you don't do a kickstarter right after traveling to a convention just speaking from experience there.

[00:03:28] But thank you so much for having me Jimmy.

[00:03:31] Yeah, no I'm excited to talk to you.

[00:03:33] You've been handling plenty of written interviews for comic book Yeti and we've certainly interacted on the discord but it's exciting this past weekend.

[00:03:46] It Baltimore Comic Con to meet you in person for the first time you and Wells Thompson.

[00:03:52] It was also a comic book Yeti editor at one point in time and it was great to meet both of you.

[00:03:58] And yeah, I'm excited to have you on to talk about from within.

[00:04:02] I think you had had an issue like issue one of this came out.

[00:04:06] I think a little while ago through was it was it through don'tless comics correct yeah it was published through don'tless and they got up to the second issue.

[00:04:15] I forget the year on it but they did get to an issue too.

[00:04:18] Okay, yeah and I mean I really liked it martial arts kind of revenge tale.

[00:04:25] I mean I really like the story overall essentially your main character.

[00:04:31] I've been pronouncing it shoe like a like an essay sound.

[00:04:35] I don't know if that's if that's correct but because I don't I don't speak Chinese but it's an X you as your main character right.

[00:04:44] That's right.

[00:04:45] Okay, how how is it pronounced?

[00:04:48] Well to be completely honest with you I would probably even venture to get some pride but train the pronunciation too.

[00:04:55] But I tend to say as you.

[00:04:57] Okay so essentially the story starts out his his parents I think tried to overthrow.

[00:05:07] So you know the emperor or the the the lord of the particular town or village and he's essentially after his parents are seemingly executed he's enslaved and kind of has to grow up in these fighting pits and.

[00:05:31] The story really takes place as the like I think it was emperor yeah the emperor how has like a fighting tournament with like the the nations 16 best fighters so it is it's got a it's got a great story to it.

[00:05:50] It's got a ton of action.

[00:05:54] So what what's and what's a nice kid from the Midwest like you wanting to write a martial arts revenge graphic novel.

[00:06:03] Let's start there.

[00:06:05] Well, you know like any kid born in the 90s I loved mortal combat and I think that can almost begin and end there but okay.

[00:06:13] But no I think at the time.

[00:06:17] I was actually having a lot of anger at a particular period my life as kind of remembering some of those feelings and like a lot of writers you channel those feelings into a story and so it's sort of like that.

[00:06:32] You know the way I'm selling it nowadays is more like Bruce Lee mashed up with you know paranoid thriller from sleeper because there is a fighting component obviously it's a martial arts story but yeah there's as this story goes and progresses there's a lot more about like.

[00:06:49] Playing into people's fears of like okay this person doesn't know this I need to keep this from them at all costs and playing in the secrets a lot so that's what I tend to tell people but yeah a lot of it is just kind of.

[00:07:04] be dealing with like anger I was feeling at the time and kind of playing it from a different angle with a couple different characters okay well I mean you mentioned Bruce Lee and.

[00:07:16] Growing up my my dad still is was but but especially growing up a huge Bruce Lee fan I mean his debasement of my parents house had a ton of like Bruce Lee.

[00:07:26] Memory of the idea whether or not it was posters or nunchucks or.

[00:07:32] So I grew up with that and watching you know Bruce Lee's films and my brother and I actually just recently finished warrior three seasons of it on Netflix and so I was really prime for something like this having that.

[00:07:46] You know love of Bruce Lee in my background and then having just watched a TV show like warrior which is if you're not familiar with it you like martial arts it's absolutely fantastic but it's it's set in San Francisco.

[00:07:58] And I think the 1870s it's post the Civil War and it's really about the the Chinese immigrant community in San Francisco but fantastic fight choreography in that TV show.

[00:08:12] And you know having just come off of finishing that not that long ago and I I do into from within and I was like just so excited because when you know when you you find something of a particular genre.

[00:08:24] And then you just kind of want to keep you know going with it and that's how I felt since I finished warrior and this was like a perfect you know follow up just.

[00:08:34] It's got a lot of heart to it but I mean there are a lot of fun you know action scenes.

[00:08:40] You know what do you think was kind of the biggest I guess influence not just like mortal combat but I mean with actually like scripting the action scenes and the fight choreography.

[00:08:52] Did you like was it tightly scripted did you leave a lot open for for the artist on this.

[00:08:59] That's a great question.

[00:09:02] I did full panel breakdowns for the action scenes but I also very quickly told the artist though it's like look if there's something that you would rather do for a page as long as it kind of fits the.

[00:09:16] The beat of the story we're trying to convey in the character moments we're trying to convey if you think like a kick is more economical than a punch or if you think like this fits better for everything else we're trying to do go ahead and go for it.

[00:09:29] I'll I'll riff from there so I had a plan laid out for most of the pages but I did try to give the artist runs a pedestal lot of room to add his own forces to it as well.

[00:09:41] Yeah, it's just going to say Renzo does like of the nominal job.

[00:09:45] I mean there because there's a lot of you know it's a lot of different fighters a lot of different like fighting styles you know in terms of like some close combat and yeah I mean the action scenes are and the action panels are phenomenal.

[00:10:04] Thank you and since you mentioned that you read the you got through the first half when we were talking the second half is really where he pulls out his trick bag there's a there's a big you'll know when you get to this point but it's very early in the second half of it.

[00:10:19] There's a really intense fight it's probably it still stands up as one of my favorite like chapters of comics I've written even to this day it's it's a great sequence that runs it makes even better.

[00:10:32] Oh well I can't wait yeah I I I go through the first half of it and I loved you know it's just this the story has such a great pace to it.

[00:10:45] And yeah you've assembled you know a really great team we already mentioned Renzo Padesda but Brian Valenza does the coloring work DC Hopkins just phenomenal letter and yeah everyone really come together to put like such a.

[00:11:03] Really great you know martial arts revenge tale I was very exciting you know we've all seen action comics and action scenes in terms of like superhero stuff but I really felt that there was.

[00:11:19] You know a great sense of movement to this this comic and it's a little different in terms of like superhero punching to actually have like.

[00:11:30] You know there's kicks and there's knives and there's choke holds and there's all these other things that I think.

[00:11:37] Look great on the page which can be difficult to do.

[00:11:41] Agreed and you know something I tried to figure out pretty quickly if you're talking about like action for martial arts story versus superhero stories like yeah yeah some.

[00:11:51] You know if you watch like a boxing fight sometimes like sometimes someone gets knocked out it's like oh that's not like that spectacular of a punch like when you're watching it now reality it's devastating.

[00:12:01] For the person taking it but like so obviously it's going to have a little bit more of a flourish when someone takes some of that damage like in the superhero comic.

[00:12:10] But the thing I tried to differentiate in this world is yes you can have that type of fight you might not be able to walk away from it and be able to do much for a little bit in story time you're going to have to recover from some of that damage you take.

[00:12:29] So that was like kind of how I tried to balance out a little bit of grounding the world without being super realistic about it right.

[00:12:38] How I mean with the story like this you know putting it all together and as a.

[00:12:44] You know a full graphic novel like how long did that you know take you and was this something you you know set up from the beginning like this is what I'm going to do I'm going to get it all done or was it written over you know in pieces over a number of years.

[00:12:57] A bit of both actually.

[00:13:02] So I had the outline about I'd say 95% together.

[00:13:08] Okay at the time.

[00:13:10] But what I did in this was during a very different time of my life because like the writing of this was.

[00:13:17] I finished writing this around 2090 the art took a little bit more time to get produced because there's a little bit more of a trickle for you know day job reasons I'd be able to afford the pages and I took me quite a while but.

[00:13:34] The.

[00:13:35] Long and short of it is that I hired the artist initially before I actually had anything scripted.

[00:13:44] It was actually one of the best things for me as a writer at the time because I had the outline there and I told him I think it was like Thursday and I told him I'd have a script for you by Monday.

[00:13:54] And that was one of.

[00:13:58] That was one of the best writing weekends in my life to be honest because I did not have the luxury of writers blog.

[00:14:06] I just went for it.

[00:14:08] I got it done and you know then at that point it was a matter of just keeping ahead of the artist.

[00:14:13] But I had the outline and I stayed true to that and I got to.

[00:14:18] Leave myself room to also improvises like out the one of these characters better so it was one of the best writing boot camp experiences in my life.

[00:14:28] So I had so how much writing did you actually do your call like how much writing did you actually get done that that first weekend.

[00:14:35] Oh, I sat down on Saturday and I wrote the entire thing and I didn't get up until I was done.

[00:14:41] What do you mean the entire thing like all 200 and like no no not the entire.

[00:14:44] I'm just the first chapter like oh not 20 pages worth okay as far as.

[00:14:52] Yeah, I do that have been incredible that what have been yeah okay if definitely wouldn't have been good.

[00:14:59] But I do stand by that that first chapter is I'd say apart from some edits that you know happened after the fact like about 80% of that first chapter is.

[00:15:12] What I wrote at the time and I'm apart for some type of yeah I'm really proud that chapter.

[00:15:18] Yeah, but I'm still really impressive that you you know would sit down and have that much of it.

[00:15:24] Done and and together and you know I mean 80% solid is remarkable.

[00:15:32] Yeah and as far as the rest of the series goes I was keeping ahead of my artist because really once again it wasn't as immediate of a.

[00:15:41] Like I got to have this by Monday, but you know if you I signed a contract I said okay I'm going to have these pages for him.

[00:15:49] I can't just decide you know for this person is kind of depending on me to deliver pages along with a check.

[00:15:55] Hey sorry dude I just wasn't feeling it that week that's that's not really going to cut it right yeah now that's true you know you have to.

[00:16:03] It's it means did you feel like at any point in time did you ever feel the pressure of that I mean I know there's a certain logic to all right what I've locked myself in I have to get it done and there are a fair few number of writers who are also great procrastinators.

[00:16:22] But did you ever feel the pressure of that and say man I.

[00:16:26] I did lock myself in or did you look at it as like you know a blessing to get it done.

[00:16:34] I think at the time I needed that push and I forced myself into that situation but I think as I went along in the further I went into the story it was good pressure at that point, but I also didn't need it after about like.

[00:16:50] If I'm word of really looking my work I think from chapter four onwards.

[00:16:57] Yeah that that was like okay cool I've got this I've got the world I got these characters like and that's me being maybe a little hyper critical myself you could probably say like two or three it's like okay I got through some of the initial bumps but like.

[00:17:11] For was the moment where like oh all this really clicks okay cool I know like how to outline this in a way to where I can leave myself some room because.

[00:17:20] I don't like over outlining because you know in the moment you might have a better idea and you got to give yourself room to make pivots both in art and story.

[00:17:29] So really from there I was keeping pretty well ahead of the arts but I was grateful that I did outline as much as I had because.

[00:17:39] I didn't have to stress in a way that maybe like you know contractually signing for a 240 page story that none of it was written that might sound a little psychotic.

[00:17:51] Right and I'm not really going to deny that but I made out the other side mostly intact maybe have a minor obsession with coffee but.

[00:18:04] I am I am a coffee drinker I drink probably more than my fair share every day so we're not going to fall at you here on the cryptid creator corner for.

[00:18:15] Being a coffee drinker.

[00:18:17] All right let's take a quick break after a string of unexplained disappearances in the southern parts of the United States retired detective Clint searches for his white trash brother.

[00:18:34] While searching for him he ends up being abducted by aliens.

[00:18:39] He is now in the arena for big guns stupid rednecks an intergalactic cable's newest hit show which puts him and he other humans in laser gun gladiatorio combat and his brother is the reigning champion with 27 kills.

[00:18:54] That's the premise for a new book from Bandabarns big guns stupid rednecks.

[00:19:00] I got a chance to see an advanced preview of this book and being from the south honestly as a bit skeptical going in but they won me over and nothing is more powerful than an initially skeptic convert my book.

[00:19:10] In Jimmy's words big guns stupid rednecks is many things, but it isn't subtle it tells you exactly what it is up front then it delivers with a great premise fantastic art and a whole mess of fun.

[00:19:21] I had a great time reading big guns stupid rednecks and what I thought was going to be an indictment of redneck culture quickly showed it was actually a love letter.

[00:19:30] A family mystery brother pitted against brother aliens fighting for profit and a big arena this truly has it all.

[00:19:36] Issue one is now already but you can still pick up a copy on the Bandabarns website and create issues are available via your previous or lunar order form or just ask your LCS don't miss.

[00:19:46] Is it back to the show.

[00:19:49] So in terms of the kind of a little bit of the revenge tale but the fighting tournament you know that's kind of to me you know clearly like the the mortal combat of it all you know in terms of getting into the story and being able to showcase those characters.

[00:20:07] You know having those moments early on where we meet somebody and then they're fighting our protagonist or fighting somebody else that that we've met along the way.

[00:20:19] So what would you count as some of your you know other influences in terms of either revenge stories or martial arts whether it's in books comic TV or movies where there are other things that were kind of floating around that you kind of wanted to use that.

[00:20:34] That anger to channel through.

[00:20:40] Well, if I'm going at the time probably one of the biggest influences actually really was a specific Bruce Lee one but not enter the dragon actually.

[00:20:50] This is a fury. There's there's a kind of a moment in there where it's like yes you want to see Bruce Lee destroy all these people, but it's actually kind of ruining his life.

[00:21:00] And kind of seeing like that this is not going to particularly end well for you know this particular character that Bruce Lee is portraying right that that was kind of a pivotal one.

[00:21:12] You know from there it was a lot of not explicitly revenge stuff from there some that was you know the real life feelings I was experiencing some that it was.

[00:21:22] Other creators who I was and still aim to stay a big fan of like brew baker.

[00:21:27] I think you can see a little bit of brew baker in sub chapters of this story especially ones where it gets a little caption heavy but.

[00:21:36] You know, it's kind of a medley of my influences at the time were throughout there from there I pretty much just locked in on the characters and just was mostly focused on the telling.

[00:21:49] Yeah, no that makes sense here and you say it.

[00:21:52] Especially with you.

[00:21:56] You know somebody who is was as I've taken away from his parents as an infant it seemed like from the story and then kind of.

[00:22:07] You know raised or trained in a very.

[00:22:11] And a cone in the barbarian, you know like fashion.

[00:22:15] You're not just the feelings of anger revenge, but you know he's you're very he comes across on the pages someone of a complicated character he's I think it's I think it's Emperor how early on that says.

[00:22:29] Makes a reference to Jews father about.

[00:22:33] You know the when he's raised in the fighting pits the type of person will become and.

[00:22:39] You know there there's a lot more to.

[00:22:42] To Jews and then just that than just being raised in the fighting pits and he's not doesn't come across as you know somebody who's murderous and and rage filled he's he's more complex than that.

[00:22:56] You know there's there's different sides to him he's not as as hardened at times as you would think somebody who was raised that way would be.

[00:23:05] Was that a difficult balance to get right in writing this comics so that you didn't have a.

[00:23:13] You know a protagonist that was.

[00:23:16] Somebody that the reader would you know root against.

[00:23:22] You know I I could see that in hindsight being.

[00:23:26] A tricky balance.

[00:23:27] I think the way that I wrote him at the time is that he's someone who wears his heart on his sleeve at all times so yes there are certain people who are going to bring out anger more.

[00:23:40] From him but like if someone treats him with kindness or respect you know he's not going to be a jerk to them specifically because why what he be.

[00:23:50] But there's also and I suppose this is something I did when I was talking maybe more about the initial.

[00:23:58] Issues of from within but I could maybe say it more now since we're time got trade.

[00:24:04] Yeah he gets into his turn.

[00:24:15] And we're going to have to figure it out and you're going to have to start playing your ego to decide if you want to even have a chance.

[00:24:27] So kind of.

[00:24:29] Going through that journey of thinking and you know this is kind of a exposit universal journey for English young.

[00:24:36] you know, sometimes you get a little bit of an ego.

[00:24:38] You think you're the best or something

[00:24:40] and then someone comes along and it's like,

[00:24:42] nope, you absolutely are not

[00:24:44] and then having to rebuild yourself from that experience.

[00:24:48] Yeah, he is humbled pretty quickly

[00:24:50] and it's very interesting how it happens in the story.

[00:24:57] And I always like in comics when you kind of feel

[00:25:03] that training montage or, you know,

[00:25:07] that we're familiar with something like Rocky,

[00:25:11] which I always think of maybe it's because I grow up right

[00:25:14] outside of Philadelphia.

[00:25:16] But you know, you see that the fame is training montage

[00:25:19] is from Rocky and I think there's one in every rocky.

[00:25:24] But yeah, there's even a bit of a training montage.

[00:25:27] And I love that in comics.

[00:25:28] Like I love kind of like those wordless

[00:25:32] or minimal dialogue type of pages where we kind of get

[00:25:36] that sense of the montage.

[00:25:40] And I really love the one in this that takes place

[00:25:43] like right before the tournament.

[00:25:45] I think it's great, you and Renzo,

[00:25:50] it just, the two of you working together

[00:25:53] it's really good.

[00:25:54] And a shout out to Brian Valenz

[00:25:55] is like coloring work there too

[00:25:58] because there's just a lot of beautiful,

[00:26:00] beautiful colors in this book.

[00:26:03] It's not just all blood and guts, although that can be fun too.

[00:26:07] But there's just some really moody tones at time to this

[00:26:14] that I thought worked really, really well,

[00:26:18] really kind of set the stage for what was to come,

[00:26:21] you know, in the following pages.

[00:26:24] So that was great.

[00:26:25] Thank you.

[00:26:26] Would you like to hear a Brian specific story?

[00:26:29] Oh yeah, it's one that I love sharing

[00:26:31] because Brian, since doing this book is obviously

[00:26:34] I hear you're doing a lot of Marvel stuff now.

[00:26:37] So I'm so happy that he's experiencing as much success as he is.

[00:26:42] At the time I was kind of going between a couple colors

[00:26:45] to kind of see who would be a good fit for the book

[00:26:47] and I had them at the time I had some finished Renzo

[00:26:51] line arts for them to work from.

[00:26:53] So I could compare everyone's color style versus Renzo's art

[00:26:57] and there was something, it was a small thing

[00:27:00] that got Brian the job but it's something I never forgot

[00:27:03] which is he caught new decrypted something

[00:27:05] that we missed in black and white.

[00:27:07] It was a very small thing.

[00:27:09] But when I realized it versus the interior art

[00:27:12] like the line art versus the color dart

[00:27:14] and I'm like oh, oh, he fixed that.

[00:27:16] I didn't even ask him to.

[00:27:18] Oh, you're hired.

[00:27:21] Yeah.

[00:27:22] Well, that type of insight and being able to do that.

[00:27:28] That's invaluable, you know?

[00:27:31] Someone who can pick up on that.

[00:27:34] But yeah, that's great.

[00:27:36] Well, happy for Brian, happy for the work

[00:27:40] that he's doing now over at Marvel

[00:27:42] and from within is all the better for it

[00:27:46] for this creative team.

[00:27:48] Can agree more.

[00:27:50] And so this, the plan with the Kickstarter,

[00:27:55] it goes to October 8th.

[00:27:57] It is, you can, it's the whole thing,

[00:28:00] the whole graphic novel.

[00:28:03] I think it's either digital.

[00:28:06] There is a physical copy with a cover by Renzo.

[00:28:11] There is also one, there's a tango variant.

[00:28:16] Yeah, I mean, and then I see that I'm just scrolling

[00:28:20] through the Kickstarter now.

[00:28:21] I see that you can also get the Alex brain bundle

[00:28:27] which includes devour and chaser.

[00:28:32] To devour, I have a copy of here.

[00:28:35] I know this is a podcast, it's not a visual medium

[00:28:38] but I just want to show you proof

[00:28:40] I have my copies of the first issue

[00:28:43] from within and devour.

[00:28:45] Let's talk a little bit about devour

[00:28:47] and then I want to talk about chaser as well.

[00:28:49] Just to case anybody's listening

[00:28:51] and they aren't familiar with your work

[00:28:52] and they wanna go and get,

[00:28:53] they wanna back the Kickstarter

[00:28:54] and get the Alex brain bundle.

[00:28:57] I wanna know what they're gonna get.

[00:29:00] Devour, devour is really great.

[00:29:04] It is, it's in a smaller format, the physical one

[00:29:07] that I have, it is black and white,

[00:29:10] it is kind of like a supernatural horror story,

[00:29:15] which is I don't wanna give anything away in this other

[00:29:18] than to say that I found the ending

[00:29:21] to be very surprising and unexpected.

[00:29:25] And I feel like this is, you know,

[00:29:29] I think it's like, what?

[00:29:32] Is it almost 30 pages or it's 28?

[00:29:36] 28, okay.

[00:29:37] I like, it breathed by.

[00:29:41] Like I could not believe that it was 28 pages

[00:29:44] that there's, it, it, it just went so fast

[00:29:48] and I wanted more.

[00:29:50] Like you have a comic here, you know

[00:29:53] and I think it's Marcus Jimenez

[00:29:55] and DC Hopkins again, lettering.

[00:29:59] This is like you could set 43 more stories

[00:30:03] in this world of this comic.

[00:30:06] It is fantastic.

[00:30:08] I love the, the black and white.

[00:30:11] I like the, the small little format of it,

[00:30:14] you know, then a standard size comic.

[00:30:16] Tell me about, tell me about the power, tell me how this came

[00:30:19] about why did you, you know, wanna do this

[00:30:22] and, you know, why supernatural and without giving away

[00:30:26] the ending obviously?

[00:30:28] Yeah, sure thing.

[00:30:29] Well thank you for all the kind words

[00:30:30] I really appreciate it.

[00:30:32] I'd say it's a medley of reasons from the origin,

[00:30:37] but prior to this comic,

[00:30:39] I worked with Marcus on a fan comic.

[00:30:42] So that wasn't something I included when I sent to you,

[00:30:45] but I worked with Marcus on this fan comic.

[00:30:48] I had a ball working with them

[00:30:50] and I think we've been chatting about,

[00:30:51] hey, let's, let's try and do something else

[00:30:53] in the future

[00:30:55] and because we've already were kind of working together

[00:30:57] on from within issues at the time too.

[00:31:01] Okay.

[00:31:02] So, you know, I was kind of thinking about some influences

[00:31:05] and I love me some nightmare in Elm Street

[00:31:07] and I absolutely love Blade.

[00:31:09] I'm very upfront about that.

[00:31:11] Usually when I talk to people about the hours

[00:31:13] it's kind of this, you know,

[00:31:15] Blade in Nightmare in Elm Street, mashup.

[00:31:17] I also love survival horror games

[00:31:20] like Resident Evil, the early Resident Evil games

[00:31:23] in particular where you're kind of stuck

[00:31:26] in a very confined environment

[00:31:28] that you get a sense of how lived in the world is.

[00:31:32] Okay, so I got to kind of work on a little bit

[00:31:37] of a stew of these various influences

[00:31:39] and I was having a lot of fun scripting that series.

[00:31:43] In fact, I did something that I don't know if I'll really do

[00:31:47] for like artists I'm not familiar with,

[00:31:49] but I even like, breach page would put like

[00:31:52] a ton of reference using like some ideas

[00:31:55] from like some like Resident Evil games

[00:31:57] or some like ideas of like,

[00:31:59] oh, we could do something like this

[00:32:01] for like, you know, you're going into a town

[00:32:03] where like it's desolate.

[00:32:05] There's probably just shattered glass everywhere

[00:32:08] cause like the cars got all smashed up.

[00:32:11] Or even what I would do for some pages is I would put like,

[00:32:14] for this page, I think this is kind of the music track

[00:32:17] for this hypothetical thing that like,

[00:32:19] you have a feel of like how intense

[00:32:21] or like ambient this signature feel

[00:32:25] when he's entering the hospital

[00:32:26] it should be like really somber and creepy.

[00:32:29] I don't know if that 100% helped Mark is,

[00:32:32] I think he enjoyed it the very least,

[00:32:34] but hopefully that was some good background tracks

[00:32:36] as he was illustrating that up.

[00:32:39] Yeah, nice.

[00:32:40] Yeah, I mean, I felt that there was devour.

[00:32:43] I felt that there were a lot of little things

[00:32:47] that I just wanted to know more about.

[00:32:50] Like you're like going through it,

[00:32:53] in preparation for this again.

[00:32:56] So I think I read it when I first got it a week,

[00:32:58] a few weeks ago.

[00:33:01] There were, you know, I was paying more attention to it

[00:33:04] and there were just a bunch of things

[00:33:05] that I wanted like answered.

[00:33:07] Like I felt like it's a comic that's not totally explicit,

[00:33:12] you know, you're not spoon-feeding things

[00:33:15] and I really spelling things out,

[00:33:17] but like there's a lot there on the page

[00:33:18] to kind of dig into and figure out.

[00:33:21] It's not very exposition heavy at all.

[00:33:26] And I just thought it was a lot of fun

[00:33:29] and there's like so many different things

[00:33:31] that you could still explore with this,

[00:33:34] you know, as a first issue of something,

[00:33:38] I thought it was killer.

[00:33:40] Like I want, I want issue to like right away.

[00:33:43] It was like that perfect.

[00:33:46] It's what a really, really good, like first issue should be.

[00:33:49] And it totally acts as its own story.

[00:33:52] Like you don't need anything else,

[00:33:53] you don't have to revisit it if you didn't want to.

[00:33:57] But as a first issue,

[00:33:59] it really sets up so many different things.

[00:34:02] And I just, I thought it was great.

[00:34:05] Like a really fun kind of, like a cold open,

[00:34:09] you know, and then it gets into the story

[00:34:12] and yeah, fantastic ending, loved it.

[00:34:16] Oh thanks.

[00:34:16] If I were to, you know, once again invoke Barabaker

[00:34:19] for a second, one thing that I really wanna do

[00:34:24] because I intend on doing more to power once again

[00:34:26] if you get to the very end it kind of basically says

[00:34:29] there's gonna be more to power.

[00:34:32] But I wanna do it in a way like how Barabaker does

[00:34:35] like criminal or how he does reckless where,

[00:34:39] you know, there will be more

[00:34:41] but they're kind of intended to be more one

[00:34:44] and done type of adventures

[00:34:45] where you get to learn more about the character

[00:34:47] from each adventure he goes on.

[00:34:50] Yeah, but you know, in theory, if you wanted

[00:34:52] to read issue the second story before the first,

[00:34:56] you can.

[00:34:57] Now granted, if you do that,

[00:34:59] you might miss one hell of an ending

[00:35:01] from the way the first one ends

[00:35:03] but you can do that if you want.

[00:35:05] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:35:07] I mean there's definitely things

[00:35:08] if you read the reckless books kind of in order

[00:35:11] and the reckless I think is a great kind of shout out.

[00:35:15] You know, it's phenomenal, Brubaker and it Philips.

[00:35:24] But you know, there are little,

[00:35:26] you could just read,

[00:35:26] you could pick up any reckless book

[00:35:28] and just read the story but also,

[00:35:32] there is something if you do read them in order,

[00:35:34] there are little things that you would have seen

[00:35:36] but yeah, it's not like the second reckless book

[00:35:40] picks up immediately where the last one left off

[00:35:43] or their kind of little glimpses into the life of,

[00:35:48] it's Ethan, right?

[00:35:49] Ethan, reckless.

[00:35:51] Yeah, that's right.

[00:35:54] Yeah, I think that would be a great idea.

[00:35:58] So Alex, I'm on board for more devour

[00:36:02] in the style of reckless.

[00:36:04] So I'll approve that.

[00:36:08] Thank you.

[00:36:09] That's what you need my approval at all.

[00:36:12] But yeah, I thought it was great.

[00:36:15] And so one of the other things that you've done very recently,

[00:36:18] I wanted to talk about that as part

[00:36:20] of the Alex brain, the brain bundle

[00:36:25] is not too egotistical but...

[00:36:27] No, I love it.

[00:36:28] I just really have another thing to describe it as.

[00:36:31] It's like, it's almost stuff at the moment.

[00:36:33] Look, it's comic books, it's a letterative, right?

[00:36:37] That's how, with a cryptid creator corner,

[00:36:40] it's the brain bundle, you know.

[00:36:45] Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, it's all, that's how.

[00:36:50] comic books and a literation are like, are linked, you know?

[00:36:57] But the other story is chaser and chaser,

[00:36:59] I think you just released that recently,

[00:37:03] I think maybe on global comics.

[00:37:05] Yeah, that's right.

[00:37:07] Again, kind of another,

[00:37:10] I don't even want to say anything about chaser

[00:37:12] for people to read it.

[00:37:13] I don't want them to know anything about it at all.

[00:37:17] It is such a great, like...

[00:37:21] It's not a very long comic.

[00:37:24] It is such a succinct story that works so well.

[00:37:29] And I think the artist you worked with

[00:37:31] is, it was Heather Vaughn, right?

[00:37:34] Yeah, that's right.

[00:37:36] Yeah, and Heather's local to me,

[00:37:38] Heather's in Philly, Heather's a friend of the podcast.

[00:37:42] I don't say that phrase much, but Heather's been on the podcast.

[00:37:45] Heather's phenomenal.

[00:37:48] Actually, the, the, the episode of the cryptid creator

[00:37:50] corner that came out today with, with Sean Taylor

[00:37:53] about restoration games new teenage mutant ninja turtles,

[00:37:57] unmatched set if anyone's into board games.

[00:38:00] And Heather, I think is doing all the,

[00:38:02] the card work for, like, land you low in that set.

[00:38:06] Oh, it's cool.

[00:38:07] Yeah, yes.

[00:38:08] She also did the artwork for the Buffy the Vampire set.

[00:38:11] I'm a, the unmatched is like my favorite board game.

[00:38:14] But in any event, Heather's work is phenomenal.

[00:38:17] Yeah, it was, I mean, it's just great.

[00:38:21] It's such a, such a...

[00:38:25] I wanted to say like an economical story,

[00:38:29] but I, that sounds kind of boring.

[00:38:31] Like what I mean is like every,

[00:38:33] everything on every, in every panel is just so necessary.

[00:38:39] It's just, it, it is, it is just at all,

[00:38:43] like works and it is all like right there on the page.

[00:38:47] There is, there is nothing superfluous or extraneous

[00:38:50] and it just tells this, you know, wonderful story.

[00:38:54] Yeah, I thought, Chaser was, was great.

[00:38:58] Was that something that came about recently?

[00:38:59] Is that something that you, you know, a script you'd been,

[00:39:02] yet, saving, you know, saved in your back pocket?

[00:39:07] More of the latter.

[00:39:09] This was the origin of it was actually around the same time

[00:39:13] as when I was doing from with him.

[00:39:15] Oh, okay.

[00:39:16] But I was very focused on from with him

[00:39:18] and there was always just kind of a visual.

[00:39:22] I think you'll understand maybe the visual

[00:39:24] and referring to, but that has been burned

[00:39:26] in my brain for about six, seven years now.

[00:39:29] Okay, and I was like, okay, but I'm just gonna put this

[00:39:32] to aside.

[00:39:33] As certain point I did script it,

[00:39:35] but still didn't be quite right.

[00:39:39] So I went that script set for a little bit.

[00:39:42] Somewhere around the time of the pandemic,

[00:39:44] I dusted off and I sent it over to the editor, Claire Napier

[00:39:48] and we bounced back and forth quite a bit with it.

[00:39:51] It took a couple changes for the best

[00:39:55] and when we got it all lean and ready to go,

[00:40:00] that's where thankfully Heather said yes.

[00:40:04] Heather had no idea it existed

[00:40:06] so I was kind of like sending that email cold

[00:40:08] and just thinking like, okay, she's gonna say no

[00:40:11] and then I'm just gonna figure out something else

[00:40:13] find another artist right can and she said yes and like,

[00:40:15] oh, oh cool, let's do this.

[00:40:19] Yeah, well, Claire is a fantastic editor.

[00:40:23] So that makes a lot of sense,

[00:40:29] hearing Claire being involved.

[00:40:31] But yeah, Heather just feels like the perfect artist for this

[00:40:35] because it's kind of like it's dark and shadowy

[00:40:38] and like a little scratchy and it just,

[00:40:42] it works.

[00:40:44] It feels rundown and dingy like the bar that it said in

[00:40:50] and yeah, just fantastic.

[00:40:55] Thank you.

[00:40:56] I tend to describe it as like the Vertigo comic

[00:40:58] that I always wanted to make

[00:41:00] because like when I was in college,

[00:41:04] I read a lot of Vertigo.

[00:41:06] I would love to say I was a Vertigo creator at some point

[00:41:10] I don't think that's ever gonna happen

[00:41:12] since Vertigo is kind of dead.

[00:41:15] So this is the next best thing for me.

[00:41:17] Yeah, no, I mean it definitely feels that way.

[00:41:21] It feels like the type of,

[00:41:24] it feels like the type of dory that you know,

[00:41:28] just only because of the length of it

[00:41:31] but it could have been a backup in a,

[00:41:34] in a hellblaser, you know?

[00:41:37] That would be pretty sick.

[00:41:39] I wouldn't have been cool though.

[00:41:42] But it just has that kind of like that feel to it,

[00:41:48] that look about it.

[00:41:50] So yeah, highly recommend anyone who's not familiar

[00:41:53] with Alex's work to check out from within the Kickstarter.

[00:41:57] I'll put link in the show notes

[00:42:00] and definitely consider getting the brain bundle

[00:42:03] so that you can have from within devour and chaser

[00:42:08] because all three are fantastic.

[00:42:11] You're not gonna be disappointed.

[00:42:15] Alex, before I let you go,

[00:42:17] I mentioned earlier on about us getting to meet

[00:42:19] and person at Baltimore Comic Con

[00:42:21] but I just, I'm a huge fan of Baltimore Comic Con.

[00:42:23] My brother Bobby, the, everyone knows who listens to this

[00:42:26] that I shout out my brother on like every episode.

[00:42:28] Bobby's the cryptocurrency creator corner's number

[00:42:30] almost dedicated fan Bobby.

[00:42:32] He came as press with me,

[00:42:35] reping comic book Yeti.

[00:42:37] He had to borrow one of my shirts but still.

[00:42:40] We had our comic book Yeti shirt

[00:42:41] so I'm walking around Baltimore Comic Con

[00:42:43] for a Friday and Saturday.

[00:42:44] I mean, I love the show.

[00:42:45] I love how comic creator focused it is.

[00:42:48] I think they do a nice job to get comic creators there.

[00:42:51] They have a great kids, family section.

[00:42:53] I think they have a really nice artist alley

[00:42:57] but you know as a,

[00:42:58] I've been able to ever walked around

[00:43:00] and as someone who's now table there

[00:43:03] what was your Baltimore Comic Con experience

[00:43:05] like to join joy it?

[00:43:07] What'd you think?

[00:43:08] Yeah, I had a really good time.

[00:43:10] I had one point when I was doing a little bit of self-publishing

[00:43:13] I went like 2019, pretty pan-to-mic.

[00:43:17] And that was a really good experience.

[00:43:20] I was a lot more new to table in it the time

[00:43:22] so that one was a little bit more nerve-racking

[00:43:24] but that's more of a me problem than show problem.

[00:43:28] This one I got to kind of be a tag along

[00:43:30] with our mutual buddy Wells Thompson

[00:43:33] but for this one for me having a fairly small mass stock

[00:43:37] I just got a prinnings of devour

[00:43:40] probably about a week or two prior to the show

[00:43:43] and then I was able to get some ash cans for chaser

[00:43:47] and another short spray I did desperate times

[00:43:50] which is another crime story I've made.

[00:43:54] So I was able to get those together

[00:43:55] and you know for, you know

[00:43:57] not a lot of stock

[00:43:59] the people I got to speak with and interact with

[00:44:02] it was a really good time kind of getting back

[00:44:03] on that horse gang used to hand selling again

[00:44:06] and especially the part that I appreciate it was

[00:44:11] that there's just a whole bunch of creators

[00:44:13] that I've kind of gotten to know a little bit over

[00:44:16] you know between our time with Yetti

[00:44:19] and then also just some of my other convention experiences

[00:44:22] gained a meet a few people in person

[00:44:25] that I hadn't had a chance to meet

[00:44:26] and catch up with some others I hadn't seen for a while.

[00:44:29] So kind of that, I think they tend to say for tableing

[00:44:33] it's you know, their sales is a big factor

[00:44:34] but then there's also the networking side

[00:44:37] and I'd say both aspects were a really nice success

[00:44:41] for where I'm at right now.

[00:44:43] Awesome, well that's good to hear.

[00:44:45] It is nice getting to meet people in person,

[00:44:49] you know getting to meet you and wells in person

[00:44:51] after just interacting with each other

[00:44:53] through email or the comic book Yetti discord.

[00:44:57] Yeah, and other creators that I have seen there

[00:44:59] over the years and then especially going from somebody

[00:45:02] that you see an artist's alley and you might be a fan of

[00:45:06] and then someone you get to interview and then,

[00:45:09] you know, see again and you know,

[00:45:11] like for the podcast I had just recently interviewed

[00:45:17] I think the episodes coming out tomorrow

[00:45:19] as we record this but Tom King and Dan Parent

[00:45:21] and both of them were there

[00:45:23] and getting to see people at the man cave booth

[00:45:27] because I've interviewed a lot of man cave creators

[00:45:30] and I really like man cave.

[00:45:32] So getting to see some of the folks over there,

[00:45:35] you know at the man cave booth was a lot of fun.

[00:45:39] Yeah, it was that networking and meeting folks

[00:45:45] and especially you see how kind,

[00:45:48] you know other creators are when they find out

[00:45:50] that you wanna do the thing.

[00:45:53] I found most creators are very helpful

[00:45:56] and welcoming, you know, which is nice

[00:45:59] because it is, you know, can be unbelievably competitive.

[00:46:03] Everyone's fighting over the same eyeballs on their comics

[00:46:07] but yeah I had a great experience.

[00:46:09] I'm glad to hear you did as well.

[00:46:11] Yeah, thank you and I think the only thing I'd add

[00:46:14] on top of that is that yeah,

[00:46:16] it can be stressful in some situations

[00:46:20] and you know, sometimes if you're special dealing with travel

[00:46:23] or not a lot of sleep a given day,

[00:46:27] that can get little rough on certain days

[00:46:29] but I've come to find that a lot of the creators

[00:46:32] who even when they're not having a particular great day,

[00:46:36] they're willing to talk for a few beds

[00:46:38] or even offered vice when they absolutely do not have to.

[00:46:43] But I appreciate that aspect of comics

[00:46:46] still even to this day because you don't,

[00:46:48] I doubt you're gonna find out with other fields

[00:46:51] like a high, you know, caliber, writer or artist

[00:46:55] just giving tips to, you know, someone,

[00:46:58] further down the run.

[00:47:00] That's just lovely to see.

[00:47:02] Yeah, I agree.

[00:47:04] Well Alex, this has been fantastic.

[00:47:07] This is, thank you for coming on

[00:47:10] the cryptid creator corner.

[00:47:13] Was it all you hoped it would be?

[00:47:16] Absolutely.

[00:47:17] Yeah, thank you for hitting me with a bunch of questions, Jimmy.

[00:47:20] I really appreciate it.

[00:47:22] Yes, I'm fine.

[00:47:23] I mean, it's funny the difference in our episodes

[00:47:27] like because I feel vibrant is such a great interviewer

[00:47:30] and maybe it's just my self-deprecating personality.

[00:47:35] But I always think that I just say,

[00:47:37] I just say something nice

[00:47:38] and then expect the other person to talk

[00:47:40] which you know, for,

[00:47:43] this is like the 150th episode I've recorded.

[00:47:46] So I've, I'm maybe close to mastering this format

[00:47:51] of the non-interview interview

[00:47:54] but I really appreciate you coming on

[00:47:56] to talk about from within and devour and chaser.

[00:48:01] And I know you mentioned desperate times

[00:48:04] but I did get a chance to read that

[00:48:06] and I really like that as well.

[00:48:09] But yeah, I'll put links in the show

[00:48:12] and it's to everything so listeners,

[00:48:13] you have until October 8th to go

[00:48:16] check out and back from within.

[00:48:18] I mean, this is like a massive undertaking

[00:48:21] in terms of this graphic novel.

[00:48:24] It is a wonderful story.

[00:48:27] Action sequences are great and yeah,

[00:48:29] Renzo Padesda Brian Valenza and DC Hopkins.

[00:48:33] It's a fantastic team and highly recommend you,

[00:48:37] you checking it out, Alex is,

[00:48:39] you know, not just another creator.

[00:48:42] He is a fellow little squatch for comic book yet.

[00:48:46] That's a, that's what we call each other on the discord

[00:48:50] sometime.

[00:48:51] And he's a friend and happy to have him on the podcast

[00:48:55] and nothing but continued success in your comics career

[00:48:59] Alex was wonderful getting to see a Baltimore in person.

[00:49:04] And yeah, anything I can do to support you

[00:49:07] and from within, I really appreciate you coming on tonight.

[00:49:11] Thank you, Jimmy, it's me, it's a real thing.

[00:49:14] Thank you.

[00:49:15] All right, listeners.

[00:49:16] Thank you for listening and, you know,

[00:49:18] rate and review us and do all that fun stuff.

[00:49:20] I don't think I've said that in a while,

[00:49:21] byron reminded me that I got to do that

[00:49:24] because it does help.

[00:49:26] And, you know, fire me on social media.

[00:49:28] I'm on Twitter as long as that's around.

[00:49:32] Let me know what you're reading.

[00:49:33] And I do sometimes make TikTok videos about comics

[00:49:37] so you can come check those out as well.

[00:49:39] It's just my name.

[00:49:41] You can find me.

[00:49:43] Yeah, and thank you so much for listening.

[00:49:45] I really appreciate it.

[00:49:47] And I'll see you next time.

[00:49:49] This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts

[00:49:51] of the cryptic creator corner

[00:49:52] brought to you by comic book Get It.

[00:49:54] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[00:49:58] Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[00:50:02] It lets us know how we are doing

[00:50:03] and more importantly, how we can improve.

[00:50:06] Thanks for listening.

[00:50:08] If you enjoyed this episode of The Cryptic Creator Corner,

[00:50:11] maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast

[00:50:14] into the comics Kate.

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