Alex Segura talks Dick Tracy

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[00:00:39] Artist Stefano Simeone is top level talent having worked on Mega Man, Radiant Black, and Star Wars among other things.

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[00:01:29] Hello and welcome listeners to Comic Book Yeti's Crypto Creator Corner podcast. I'm one of your hosts Jimmy Gosparo.

[00:01:36] And I'm really excited to talk to my guests tonight.

[00:01:41] We may have another guest joining us, we'll have to wait and see but right now I have a comic book and a book book writer of Extraordinaire who I am very excited to talk to about Mad Caves, Newest comic book Dick Tracy.

[00:02:01] Issue number one is out April 24th and I have it's co-written by my next guest Alex Segura and Michael Morecci with Art by Gerardo Borges.

[00:02:14] It's a fantastic creative team, we'll get into everybody else involved but please, please welcome to the podcast Alex Segura, Alex how are you doing tonight?

[00:02:23] I'm good man thanks so much for having me Jimmy. I appreciate it. Happy to be here.

[00:02:27] No, I'm very excited. I mean my I really love Mad Cave. I try to get a lot of Mad Cave creators on just because I'm really excited to buy a lot of the stuff that they have coming out.

[00:02:37] I was excited to hear that.

[00:02:40] I think that Mad Cave was going to put out a Dick Tracy book mainly because my only exposure I think really to Dick Tracy was like the 1990 movie.

[00:02:53] I haven't had a whole lot of exposure reading the old I think it's Chester Gold, like comic strip which I think he did for like 40 some years between like the late 30s and the 70s.

[00:03:07] I'm familiar with the character and thought it was very interesting that Mad Cave was kind of bringing this back and when I heard the creative team I was very excited.

[00:03:18] I've been a big fan of both yours and Michael's writing for a while now.

[00:03:25] I have a getting to read issue one and seeing Gerardo Borgis artwork.

[00:03:33] Yeah, colored by Mark Angler, been a big fan of Jim Campbell's lettering for a long time and also there's a creative consultant on the edge and tell Osmond but what a first issue.

[00:03:43] I mean, I'm all in on this new Dick Tracy which you know I remember the imagery and the visual style of like the movie but this is such a great grounded kind of dark take on this character.

[00:04:02] I just fantastic first issue.

[00:04:04] Oh, thanks so much.

[00:04:05] Yeah, I appreciate it.

[00:04:06] Yeah, what to say.

[00:04:09] I mean, it's been a long road to getting to this point Michael and I have and Chantal and I've really pushed hard to get this to happen and thankfully Mad Cave was really keen on publishing Dick Tracy and also really being part of this bigger kind of pulp hero initiative they're working on with Flash Gordon and the gotcha man stuff and you know I we're just so excited to be able to introduce this take on the character which

[00:04:35] I feel honors what's come before and honors the film honors Chester Gould's work honors the work of the current comic strip but just kind of presents it from a different angle slightly different angle.

[00:04:47] It's very much more based in you know, film noir.

[00:04:51] It's got a gritty like crime vibe but it doesn't really cancel anything out that's happened before you're just getting a peek at a Dick Tracy that not a lot of stories have shown which is his early days.

[00:05:03] It's not so much an origin as like a year one and a half like we're seeing Dick Tracy before he's firmly established before he kind of becomes the war and baby version that we see in the film where he's very confident and set in his ways.

[00:05:17] We're seeing everything come together which is a really exciting story to tell and it's you know Michael and I always say to each others we're doing a crime comic first and foremost with Joraldo and the team.

[00:05:28] And it just happens to feature these iconic characters which is not to minimize them but is really to show readers what our focus is to tell a really great crime story with these great characters and present them in a much more grounded way.

[00:05:43] But in a way that doesn't take away from the wonder of the stories, the comic strips previous comic versions and the movie you know you still have a lot of that but it's very much a grounded crime story for us.

[00:05:55] Yeah I mean you know my experience being really like from the movie and thinking about that like visual style and you hear like oh we have a new Dick Tracy new series and not really being sure what to expect and some of the things really.

[00:06:12] Kind of like knock me back that I thought were just such good choices a lot with a Joraldo board just his artwork because when you think of the iconic look of the comic strip character not necessarily war and baby.

[00:06:24] And then when you really get your first good glimpse of like the like square jaw Dick Tracy in this.

[00:06:33] It's cool right.

[00:06:34] I so.

[00:06:36] I got to tell you when I saw this pages come in I mean obviously Joraldo emails pages as he's done with them which is look it's definitely improved my mood when I check my email 100 full just to know that I'm getting pages from Joraldo every day but

[00:06:49] that one splash page that has been shown in the preview or Dick Tracy just walks into the crime scene it's it was sent chills you know through me just because it was like the perfect introduction to the character and.

[00:07:01] We really wanted it to make it feel cinematic I mean Michael's a big film buff I love cinema and film noir we wanted it to feel epic and important and kind of give it the gravitas set.

[00:07:14] We felt the character deserves because to me Michael and shantel and the rest of the team.

[00:07:20] Dick Tracy's got a road scaler that come you know is comparative to spider man or Batman or you know the great paul pears you characters like big boy and prune face mumbles I mean you can just go on flat top is a key key villain early on.

[00:07:36] So we wanted to treat him with that same level of respect and Joraldo really just kind of hit it out of the park.

[00:07:42] Oh yeah and the other thing I guess I wasn't really expecting not.

[00:07:47] Being asked me with the comic strip as I was getting ready for this interview and reading more about like what made you know why did I mean.

[00:07:54] Why did Dick Tracy like last so long as a comic strip and like some of the.

[00:08:00] Yes, but yeah both the praise and like criticism of like Chester gold's original work like sometimes he got ding did seem for being kind of a little too.

[00:08:10] You know maybe gritty or graphic in terms of it at least for the day the 30s or 50s is to how he portrayed crime but like this comic does not shy away from that kind of modern sensibility you know in that opening scene I mean it was.

[00:08:25] It's pretty and it's just rendered it is it is bro but but it's it's.

[00:08:30] It's rendered so kind of beautifully though in how like horrific it is I mean that's the challenge you you never want and I think about this a lot.

[00:08:43] Writing crime novels and right you know you write scenes of violence but you never want to feel like it's gratuitous or you're doing it out of some kind of pleasure you're doing it.

[00:08:53] You want to be evocative and you want to show the impact of violence and you want to show the power that some of these characters wield over each other so that's you know that's the balance you try to strike but I think Gerardo really brings.

[00:09:06] That cinematic quality to it all and he makes he really kind of elevates our script and it's what you always want it's like comics the best part of comics is jamming with somebody else and having them make your story stronger and draw the really does that with every page and.

[00:09:21] I think the you know the unsung heroes of every team you know just because of perception but you know Mark angler and Jim Campbell really bring their a game and there's this one thing that Jim does.

[00:09:34] In that previous sequence where he kind of letters the final caption in splutts better like it's it sounds you have to read it's really understanding and kind of.

[00:09:45] Have it kind of evoke the thing you know really kind of land but he doesn't so perfectly and with such care and nuance that you know he's just one of the best letters in the business and I think he gets doesn't get enough credit and mark has been a great partner to Gerardo because.

[00:10:00] He does ground the colors and if you know the color palette feels very real world but then there are these splashes of brightness that evoke the film and also evoke the comic strip but don't take you out of the reading experience so I think it's the perfect blend of.

[00:10:17] I think what gold was going for in his early strips which which you're right is a very pulpy very dark very in your face and kind of no frills story with the wonder and bam pow of the film.

[00:10:31] To make something really new that jibes perfectly with what might one I were we're trying to do in terms of like a gritty crime story in the dictates universe.

[00:10:42] Yeah and I mean speaking of the colors it you know depending on the different media like certain things work in certain things don't like any even with comics certain things might work in a in a comic strip but not necessarily in a comic book or graph novel might work differently in a movie but.

[00:11:02] It's got to be you know difficult to find that right balance of that yellow trench coat within you know like a more realistic setting but man it it just it doesn't.

[00:11:15] It it stands out in all the right ways if that makes sense and I mean both this goes both to Gerardo and and marks work in terms of their use of light and shadow as well in this world.

[00:11:29] There's just a beautiful balance of play.

[00:11:32] Yeah I think one of the challenges whenever you're dealing with superhero characters or pulp heroes and Dic Tracy's a pulp hero and you're trying to bring the story into the quote unquote real world is like how do you make these things that are inherently kind of wild and they can be silly feel grounded and you could lean too far and you could

[00:11:57] kind of lose the wonder of these elements and these characters that we really didn't want to do that you know obviously we can't have Dic Tracy without the yellow trench coat without the yellow hat without the watch you need all these elements because that's what makes a character who they are so you have to do it in a way that feels like you're honoring the character but also bringing him into.

[00:12:16] You know into the real world like there's stories that do that really well like you read stuff like Miller and Meso Kelly's year one not that i'm comparing the two.

[00:12:24] But they bring in all the elements of batman into the quote unquote real world but do it in such a cool way that you don't lose the wonder of the comics you know so that's you know we tried to make sure that you can have a guy with like a prune face you know but you just explain it like you say he was scarred in the war or you know a character like mumbles still has the colorful suit.

[00:12:45] That's a vocative of the movie but it's a little muted so you know you're trying to honor all that's come before not in a continuity way but just so none of Dic Tracy's fans from any medium feel left out but we can also still tell this new story or this new kind of story that really speaks to what we like as creators.

[00:13:07] Yeah and I get that you want both the fans you know long time fans to be able to find something familiar that they're going to enjoy but like somebody who's you know not super familiar with Dic Tracy to be able to you know might you know might be more fans of like maybe familiar comics wise like brew Baker and Phillips type of like crime stuff and say oh but this is you know or fans of no war to find something to dig into and have those kind of.

[00:13:35] Yeah you wanted to be with no war. Yeah exactly you wanted to feel accessible you want to you want to be able to hand it to someone who may not know anything about Dic Tracy and just have them read that and they can immediately pick up and say okay I'm up to speed you know but also there's a ton of Easter eggs not just in the first issue but in every issue we have written so far if you're a die hard Dic Tracy fan you're going to get a kick out of it and I hope I've already you know I've heard from some fans already who have read it and then like oh I saw this character or I saw this new story.

[00:14:05] I've got a lot of things to do with the game and I'm not too something else and you know that's the fun for us for Michael and I and Chantelle you know as long time fans of the property we can weave that stuff in there but you also don't want it to feel like you're just playing the hits you know you're not you're you're you're trying to tell story and we can sprinkle in the Easter eggs because we love it and the fans that pick up on them.

[00:14:27] Hopefully it'll bring a smile for their face but if you're also coming in totally new and with no experience with Dic Tracy it'll hopefully just be a fun crime comic.

[00:14:37] Yeah I mean that's the thing with like you know you can't just trade on nostalgia you can't just play the hits because anyone who digs into it it'll it'll feel flimsy and this story doesn't you know feel that way at all like it it you know me who has like you know familiarity with the movie I think what the movie came out

[00:14:56] 1990 so I was 10 or 11 I think yes I think it was like the perfect hit. I don't know if it was that movie's burned into my mind yeah I know sometimes I critically I think it gets a bad rap maybe but I think it was nominated for like seven Academy awards

[00:15:14] I mean casino in his most like scenery chewing role ever and that's saying a lot was nominated for our best supporting actor so you know I think it holds up I saw it again recently it still still has that wild factor and I think for me as a kid and you can relate to this probably just coming off something like Tim Burton's Batman which was so stylistic so definitive we're still feeling kind of the reverberations of that movie today.

[00:15:43] Dic Tracy was the next thing like that was the next big movie with the comic book style character and I was I was completely hypnotized by the movie I you know I watched the movie and that that's what brought me to the newspaper strips

[00:15:55] and that brought me to the cartoons I read the novelizations I have like sticker book I had all the stuff like action figures like that was really the moment that the character.

[00:16:06] Like I said it was burned into my brain so you take all these influences and put them in a blender with your own like

[00:16:12] inspirations and creative desires and that's really what the book is for us it's our love for the IP but also

[00:16:20] What kind of stories do we want to tell with these characters?

[00:16:23] Yeah, so I'm kind of curious about that like how

[00:16:26] Did in terms of like the origins of this um was this something that like

[00:16:32] Mad Cave had gotten the I mean if you know like had gotten the rights to and like approached you or

[00:16:37] You know did you it this something that you and Michael had wanted to work on and like

[00:16:42] You know because I think I think Warren Beatty still has the film and television rights to the character. That's why

[00:16:50] I know as the crazy but I think the publishing rights, I think we're always with Tribune

[00:16:56] Yeah, Tribune owns a publishing rights. It owns a character

[00:16:59] So what happened is a while ago almost a decade ago

[00:17:03] um

[00:17:04] I was thinking about Dick Tracy as a fan is want to do and I was like I wonder who has the comic book rights

[00:17:10] I knew that you know they're they'd often reprint the newspaper strips and obviously there've been a few comic book stories

[00:17:16] One one of them that I really remember fondly was the Kyle Baker

[00:17:20] uh for issue miniseries he did right around the movie which is just fantastic just beautiful stuff like similar to what Kyle was doing on the shadow

[00:17:28] Uh in that vein just like a really lively reimagining

[00:17:32] I think it's out of print. I have a copy of the trade on my shelf. I'm looking at it now, but um

[00:17:37] So I reached out to Tribune

[00:17:38] I was at Archie at the time and I reached out and said does anyone have the publishing rights for comics if not we would be interested and so

[00:17:46] um

[00:17:47] For whatever reason that didn't materialize we announced it

[00:17:50] But you know we had there was an issue with the license and we we ended up not having the license at the time

[00:17:56] And you know, it was disappointing, but these things happen. It's a business um yeah

[00:17:59] But Michael and I

[00:18:02] Were just so obsessed with the story we had in mind and the things we wanted to do

[00:18:07] Um, and then we looped in chantel who was a great you know very

[00:18:11] Acquaint background as an editor and a writer and a publishing person

[00:18:15] And we all just kind of teamed up and got the license ourselves

[00:18:18] You know, we reached out to Tribune got the license um

[00:18:22] And then really started shopping it. We spoke to Mad Cave and they were interested and and that that just seemed like the perfect poem because

[00:18:29] We didn't know it at the time, but then they've been building this pulp hero line almost and

[00:18:35] Um, they were really up for the tape we had um and that's really where the connection happened and uh

[00:18:42] Thankfully it worked out and you know, I can't believe we're like a month away from the book actually hitting stands

[00:18:47] Yeah, and I mean, I think people are gonna go nuts for I mean

[00:18:51] I hope so yeah, it's such a fun first issue. I mean Gerroto's art. I mean we said it earlier, but it is just game changer

[00:18:58] Yeah, it is it is phenomenal and I just love that it's a story that seems so

[00:19:03] You know familiar and does have those elements, but um, I mean, I was hooked right away

[00:19:08] Oh, thank you. That old open

[00:19:11] To try and figure out like why are these two characters meeting what's going on?

[00:19:15] um

[00:19:16] And especially you know what I really loved about it

[00:19:19] Which is not it it's so important to do in comics, but

[00:19:24] Can be tough when you're doing a crime comic or doing the war is the pacing yeah that pacing of that cold open and how it

[00:19:31] It plays out especially

[00:19:34] Um with marshes character is just

[00:19:37] Thank you spot on I appreciate that. Yeah, we kind of laid on that

[00:19:42] Yeah, we went over that script a couple times and we definitely wanted each we wanted that

[00:19:47] Those opening pages to just kind of punch you in the gut like we didn't want it to feel like a slow burn like

[00:19:52] We really wanted to establish the world

[00:19:55] Establish the tone establish the characters and the inciting incident and then you know

[00:20:00] I love what heralda did really well. It wasn't the script but the way he

[00:20:03] Rolled it out was really masterful was you know

[00:20:05] You have the two characters talking in the diner you see them through the window then you see the shadow

[00:20:11] Of the killers and you already know something's happening something bad is coming and um

[00:20:18] Yeah, I'm really proud of the first issue

[00:20:19] Glad it seems to be resonating we definitely have a ton of stories to tell so I'm thankful that mad game has given us a lot of runway

[00:20:26] To kind of let things breathe breathe, you know, we're we're obviously the pace is good

[00:20:31] And we're trying to keep things exciting with each issue

[00:20:33] But we're also planting seeds for a much longer run which is our hope

[00:20:38] Yeah, why I hope so too

[00:20:40] I'm gonna start running like the rest of you off

[00:20:43] All right, let's take a quick break

[00:20:46] What in the sand hill is happening right now. What is that?

[00:20:50] No, what is wrong? You like Bart?

[00:20:53] Yeah, what are you doing?

[00:20:55] Oh, you like band of bars it's not my fault you muffle

[00:21:00] Oh

[00:21:02] That makes sense they're dropping some great new series right now

[00:21:05] There's that one about a heavy metal guitarist in the 1970s with monsters working class wizards

[00:21:11] You know how we love monsters around here and my friend Dakota Brown

[00:21:15] He's working on a project

[00:21:18] Grandma tillies held tech mech with Lane Boyd. I saw the preview for that. That is crazy

[00:21:23] Jimmy even contributed to their anthology from the static and had Matt Sumo on the podcast to talk about his project

[00:21:29] The bardic verses which makes a lot of sense that the project landed there

[00:21:33] Yeah, where you are

[00:21:35] Where can you find them? You need to get out

[00:21:38] They were in previews or you can visit their website bandabars.com for all the latest

[00:21:43] Can we turn the music off now

[00:21:46] Yeah, thank you no more surprises

[00:21:49] Minstrels or anything like that or I'll rent you out to the rim fair as a children's ride

[00:21:54] Oh

[00:21:55] Let's get back to the show

[00:21:57] How do you and Michael work in terms of um, you know co-writing it and

[00:22:02] You know how this shantel is the creative consultant like you know add to that work

[00:22:08] I'm always curious when I talk to co-writers whether or not it's you know

[00:22:11] I'll take a pass. They'll take a pass or it's I do this section this person does that section or you know how that

[00:22:17] Work it's pretty democratic, you know Michael and I've worked together for a while we did the series called the awakened for his s world which was

[00:22:25] The high concept was basically like incognito meets the justice society so it's a very crime noir story told through the

[00:22:33] The tropes of you know an Avengers or justice society type super team

[00:22:38] um

[00:22:39] And you know where it's pretty democratic like we're we're at 50% for each issue

[00:22:44] It's very rare that like one of us will do the heavy lifting on an issue and the other one doesn't um

[00:22:49] What we do is we talk it through we'll hop on the phone and kind of chat through the arc or the big the first story arc

[00:22:55] And then one of us will type it up and we'll go back and forth on the plot and

[00:22:59] Um, and then we just say

[00:23:01] Do you want to do the first half or the back half and we kind of alternate uh, so

[00:23:06] And then we'll trade off, you know

[00:23:07] And so I'll he'll write the first chunk or I'll write it and then we'll send it to the other person

[00:23:12] And then when when we're writing the next half we edit the first part as we go

[00:23:17] And then flip it back to the other writers

[00:23:18] So everyone's kind of touched each half

[00:23:21] Equally almost aside from the the generative stuff

[00:23:24] um

[00:23:25] It's worked out pretty well like I think what I like about working with michael is that there's not any ego like best idea wins and

[00:23:33] You know sometimes I'll say well this doesn't work for me

[00:23:36] I would suggest this or or hold do the same and it's never

[00:23:39] It never gets defensive or combative and um

[00:23:42] chantel has been essential to the process. She's just a voice in the room, you know

[00:23:45] She's been a key part in getting the book to happen and you know

[00:23:49] she looks over the stuff and gives comments and

[00:23:52] Um, and so does mad cave, you know our editor chess pangberg has been fantastic to deal with and is really just like

[00:23:58] kind of the

[00:24:00] Connective tissue that keeps everyone on the same page. So

[00:24:04] Yeah, it's been a really smooth experience

[00:24:06] So I'm happy with with everyone and the team itself like

[00:24:09] Joraldu and mark and gym just like all star crew

[00:24:12] And so I hope we get to keep it going for as long as possible

[00:24:16] Are there like a plan number of issues for this at least first arc

[00:24:21] The first works five and then

[00:24:24] You know, and then hopefully we'll have another arc

[00:24:26] But it we're treating it as an ongoing

[00:24:27] That's mad caves announced it as an ongoing series. So

[00:24:31] Yeah

[00:24:32] That's what I thought I just wanted to you know, curious about the the first arc of it. Yeah

[00:24:37] Yeah, I mean as I got

[00:24:39] Into the issue to kind of see it all play out um

[00:24:44] I really love those you know, noir elements how they've been embraced and it's it's interesting

[00:24:51] Reading some of like Michael stuff previously and I think Michael's also

[00:24:55] With someone else is just started like a

[00:24:58] filmographers podcast. I know

[00:25:02] You know his work in in terms of his

[00:25:06] You screenwriting and you know following him on on twitter and hear him talk about film

[00:25:12] But I mean your experience in terms of you've written with the Pete Fernandez

[00:25:16] Series of novels not to mention secret identity

[00:25:19] Yeah, and um the follow up alter ego

[00:25:23] Um quite a pedigree I mean the two of you in this like that seems to really fit with this style

[00:25:31] You know well is there

[00:25:34] You know a difference when you're plotting out

[00:25:38] A mystery or you know a prime story in terms of writing prose or or comics or as it just kind of

[00:25:46] Uh all the same to you

[00:25:48] Um, it's not I mean it all starts in the same place

[00:25:51] You know you have to figure out the story with the mystery of any kind

[00:25:54] I'm a plotter. I'm an outliner and I think Michael is too we you have to know where you're going to

[00:26:00] The throw in red herrings, you know

[00:26:02] I think readers can tell when someone is just vamping and making stuff up as they go because it just doesn't all

[00:26:08] Click into place at once um

[00:26:10] You know, and I think I think the outline process can start

[00:26:14] Doesn't have to start at the beginning like you can vamp a little bit at the beginning and then start mapping things out

[00:26:19] Based on the the bread crumbs you've laid out, but um

[00:26:23] I do think comic book plotting the pacing is just different with a novel. It's it's it's much more organic you can

[00:26:30] You can have as much runways you want like I've written novels that are 60,000 words

[00:26:34] I've written novels that are a hundred thousand words. It's just like what does what container

[00:26:38] Fits the story and let's the story breathe whereas with comics it's much more

[00:26:44] I hate to say the word algorithmic because it makes it sound like like math and but it is a little math

[00:26:49] Like you have x amount of pages

[00:26:51] You can do as x

[00:26:52] You know why amount of panels in each panel

[00:26:55] You can only have so many word balloons and so many words in the balloon. So

[00:26:59] It isn't to say we we run the story through a filter or anything, but you you know the you know the sandbox

[00:27:04] You know the framework of what you can do

[00:27:07] So you kind of do that keep that in mind. So we knew we had five issues

[00:27:12] We knew we had x amount of pages per issue and

[00:27:15] and

[00:27:17] Now i'm just making it sounds scientific, but really we knew we knew we wanted to establish tic tracy and kind of establishes world

[00:27:23] But we also wanted to show these characters not as their peak selves yet. So you get like kind of

[00:27:30] early days of tic tracy early days of

[00:27:33] Lips manless and the underworld and just what the lay of the land is and

[00:27:39] A kind of a nice snapshot of post world war two america before

[00:27:44] The 50s heat before you know this air of

[00:27:48] You know kind of white-picket fences and what have you like it's a very unstable period and um

[00:27:55] That was really fascinating to us. We didn't want to do anything where we were like this is dictraising but in the

[00:28:00] It today it just felt it didn't really ring true to us

[00:28:03] So we wanted to make sure it was a historical crime story

[00:28:08] I hope that answered your question

[00:28:11] Yeah

[00:28:13] Yeah, I think talk a lot

[00:28:14] I think it's come up in this podcast when I asked you know when we talk about

[00:28:18] comic book storytelling in particular like the

[00:28:21] Economy of storytelling, you know, and it's not necessarily that it's

[00:28:25] I mean, maybe there's you know like you said mathematical and not what's collaborative to like that's the difference

[00:28:30] Like when i'm writing a novel. I'm the final verdict

[00:28:33] I mean eventually and my editor is going to look at it and can say this is terrible or you should change this

[00:28:38] But at the end it's a much more complete product whereas with a comic book, you know

[00:28:43] Michael and I have to kind of sit and figure out the story

[00:28:45] And we have to leave room for Geraldotes really put his stamp on it otherwise. It's not interesting to him

[00:28:51] Mark has a go at it in terms of the visuals and the color and Jim has time to chime in and so to shantel

[00:28:56] So it's really like a rock band almost like you're all doing your parts

[00:29:00] And you hope that when it all comes together it feels better than any single element

[00:29:04] Um

[00:29:05] Whereas with a novel all the weight is on the writer in terms of you're the writer the screenwriter the director the cinematographer all these things at once whereas

[00:29:15] Uh in a comic you kind of

[00:29:17] Do your part and let the other person shine too and hopefully the whole thing works together

[00:29:23] Yeah, now I mean that I mean it makes sense and um, I think the final product shows that you guys roll uh

[00:29:30] You know

[00:29:31] Playing the same tune. Oh good. Yeah, I mean we're proud of it. Yeah, it feels like it's uh

[00:29:35] It felt like a really strong launch for us and I'm excited for people to read it soon

[00:29:39] It's crazy. It's coming. Yeah, and fantastic cover by the way as well

[00:29:43] I mean, I know there's I think there's a I think made cave offer to few

[00:29:45] Yeah, there's like some retail

[00:29:48] incentive variant covers but uh, you know

[00:29:51] Francisco has one Francesco Frickavilla, Sean Martin borough has a great one. They're all great. Uh Thomas Patilli has one

[00:29:58] um

[00:30:00] Yeah, there's so many two of the day and uh, yeah, there's a bunch of great covers

[00:30:04] And I think you know get them all if you want if that's your bag or just get the one you like the most

[00:30:11] Yeah, but the um, I think the

[00:30:14] I think the A cover is Gerardo Borges and um

[00:30:18] Mark uh

[00:30:20] Yeah his cover is iconic. Yeah, yeah

[00:30:23] The prominently it's the you know the Dictraise and Shadow prominently features the

[00:30:29] The wristwatch. Yeah, which I think Chester Guilt took credit for you know kind of

[00:30:34] Inventing when it eventually came out of yeah the Apple watch

[00:30:38] Years later. Yeah, you know that question came up so many times when we announce the book people like is he gonna have the watch

[00:30:43] Is he gonna have the watch and of course he's gonna have the watch like it's a Dictraise story so we'll make it work

[00:30:47] Yeah, you make it work. That's what you do like

[00:30:50] You know, it's like asking his batman gonna have his utility belt. I mean, that's what he is

[00:30:54] Yeah, it's a it's a key part of the

[00:30:57] The myth of the character you know

[00:30:59] It's uh

[00:31:00] When I was reading about Chester Guilt and like digging into more about Dictraise

[00:31:05] It's funny when you say like you know

[00:31:06] You're a plotter and planning everything out because one of the things I I thought it was interesting

[00:31:11] But maybe we want to kind of get into some more of the actual Dictraise comic strips

[00:31:15] Which I guess is a fun thing about this if you're not familiar with to be able to go back and try and find some of those

[00:31:20] I think iDW before has put out some of like the Dictraise comic strip collection. Yeah, and I think clover press is doing some too

[00:31:28] Yeah, but um I had read that he

[00:31:30] Like the Chester Guilt kind of like to improvise you know as he went didn't really plan things out

[00:31:35] Like to the point where he would sometimes get Dictraise caught in something he couldn't quite

[00:31:41] Yeah, like it's off

[00:31:43] Yeah, I mean that just gives me stress just hearing it as a plotter like I just I'm a big outliner

[00:31:48] So I like to know what the what parallel I'm putting the characters in though

[00:31:52] I think I heard Mark Wade of his fantastic obviously he would he said he sometimes scripts and

[00:31:58] Intentionally leaves the cliffhanger in such a way

[00:32:01] That he has to then write himself out of the problem in the next issue which

[00:32:06] Is amazing like you know there's just writers that can do that and there's writers that choose the path of caution

[00:32:11] Which is my path but um or you know like Michael Connelly who writes the Harry Bosch novels and the Lincoln lawyer books

[00:32:17] Um and Stephen King they don't outline at all

[00:32:19] They just start on page one and they kind of have an idea of what the story is going to be and they just start typing

[00:32:24] Um everybody's different whatever works

[00:32:27] Yeah, I mean that's that there's no you know tried and true methods long as it works for you as long as you um

[00:32:33] As long as you can get there. Yeah, I did know the the the story that kind of you know you want to tell um exactly

[00:32:40] You know, I wanted to ask a little bit before I let you go just to be your off from Dictraisey a little bit in terms of your

[00:32:46] own

[00:32:47] kind of like

[00:32:50] Headagre in terms of comics um, so

[00:32:54] What kind of brought you into

[00:32:56] You know writing comics because I mean you've written a bunch of different things and I know you've done several comic series

[00:33:02] Yeah, it was comics something you were always

[00:33:05] A fan of and you wanted to write or kind of how did you first get your start in terms of writing comics as opposed to the

[00:33:12] Like the Pete Fernandez novels or you know, I mean yeah, no that's a great question

[00:33:16] I mean I grew up reading comics my first comic was like an archie comic that my mom got me at the grocery store

[00:33:22] uh, I started getting super hero like marble DC stuff and dark horse

[00:33:27] At the newsstand, you know, I'd bike to the grocery store or to the pharmacy and every week

[00:33:32] And hope that they had spider-man or batman or whatever I was into where the X-Men

[00:33:36] And you'd have your B titles, you know, it was the days before really comic shops comic shops existed

[00:33:42] I didn't have one nearby yet. So it was really kind of a crapshoot like whatever was at the newsstand

[00:33:47] You hoped you would get the ones you wanted and then eventually I found a local comic shop

[00:33:52] Near my grandparents house

[00:33:53] Frank's comics and cards which I would walk to and then I could you know have a pull list and do all the things that we do

[00:33:59] um, you know

[00:34:01] You do as a fan um, but yeah, I got into I worked at Wizard magazine

[00:34:06] Which was huge at the time it was like the tastemaker magazine and comics in the um

[00:34:13] early 90s to

[00:34:16] The 2000s and so that was my kind of first foray into the industry as a professional like full-time and then

[00:34:23] Eventually I started working at DC comics as a publicity in the publicity department

[00:34:28] The challenge there is if you know if you're working at DC in publicity

[00:34:32] You can see all the stuff come together, but you can't really contribute

[00:34:35] So I knew I wanted to write. I always knew I wanted to write

[00:34:37] I knew I wanted to tell stories even before I really realized what that meant like you

[00:34:41] I'd read a spider-man comic and then I'd kind of

[00:34:44] Draw my own

[00:34:46] Interation and so you I was creating stories even though I wasn't really clear on what I was doing yet

[00:34:51] But even then at DC I wanted to write and so I was kind of like absorbing what people were doing as a sponge and talking to creators and editors

[00:34:59] but my first comic book opportunity

[00:35:02] um

[00:35:03] Was after that was when I moved to archie to do um

[00:35:07] publicity and marketing for them because you know when you're at a smaller company

[00:35:10] I think the rules are a little different. They're not as corporate and so

[00:35:14] they were totally fine with you know

[00:35:17] Someone in house writing comics it wasn't a big deal

[00:35:19] And so I wrote um my first full comic was a comic-con story where archie and his friends go to comic-con and

[00:35:26] They all caused plays different characters and that was fun

[00:35:29] I mean I grew up reading archie. I love those characters. I have a great fondness for that world

[00:35:33] um, and then it really just continued from there

[00:35:36] um and at the same time I was writing these novels because when I was at DC I was reading a lot of mystery novels you know

[00:35:42] um

[00:35:44] You know when when comics becomes your job

[00:35:46] And you get a stack of all the comics coming out each week

[00:35:50] You try to I found it tried to find another like creative outlet

[00:35:53] And so I was reading a lot of mystery novels and then that got me to try and write my own mystery novel and um

[00:35:58] That was the Pete Fernandez series. So those started around then um

[00:36:04] And yeah, and then my comics stuff started a little few years later once I was at archie and um

[00:36:10] I did a lot of work for them

[00:36:11] I wrote a ton of like you know archie meets kiss archie meets her mones

[00:36:16] The archies archie be 52s and so um I kind of found that little niche of

[00:36:22] music comics and music comics with archie and um and really the black ghost which I did for

[00:36:27] Comic-Sology and Dark Horse with Monica Gallagher and George Camadayas who's doing gargoyles for dynamite now

[00:36:33] um

[00:36:34] That was my first creator own series and that was really what opened the door to doing more non

[00:36:40] Work for higher stuff

[00:36:42] Sorry, that was like a long rambling answer to uh

[00:36:45] No, I

[00:36:46] Appreciate it. Yeah, you know, I I think

[00:36:49] Well, well one of the things I try and do with the podcast is you know for listeners um

[00:36:54] You know somebody just who listens to the episodes and we have a lot of you know really good listeners. I feel like yeah

[00:37:01] uh

[00:37:03] But what you know, you're getting into this and kind of want to know like you know how you got into this

[00:37:09] You know creative side of things. I'm always fascinated by like we all love

[00:37:13] I think everybody has like what love stories love story telling whether or not it's reading or

[00:37:18] Television or movies whatever it might be but to take that leap to

[00:37:24] You know wanting to get your own stories out there or even you know telling stories with you know

[00:37:30] The characters that you love like whatever it might be um yeah, I think it always felt like

[00:37:35] I'm fascinated by it. Yeah, it always felt like something I wanted to do even as a kid like I was saying like

[00:37:41] Um, it was a different time

[00:37:42] You know, it was an era where you couldn't just google something and find out everything about a character like there was no like

[00:37:48] It was the early days of like fandom online even or even when I was a kid

[00:37:52] There was no online you know, there was maybe like aol or compi-serve or what have you

[00:37:57] So the way you'd educate yourself about your these characters was through stuff like the Marvel trading cards or the DC trading cards

[00:38:04] And so I would write stories for myself just to kind of fill those gaps like

[00:38:08] Why did the original X-Men leave the X-Men?

[00:38:10] I didn't know I hadn't read the comics yet

[00:38:12] But I knew that there were these two teams and so you kind of create your own answers to the questions and um

[00:38:19] It wasn't until later on that I realized

[00:38:20] Okay, I want to tell these stories professionally or try to but um

[00:38:25] You always have that desire and so I think you know the big secret

[00:38:28] I think for a lot of writers is we probably end up doing this for free just because we have to get the stories out

[00:38:33] But you know don't tell don't tell your agents that or don't tell your editors that yeah

[00:38:38] Well then it seems like you know

[00:38:40] Everything you've just said and what you know that our listeners heard and what I've you know read about you preparing for this interview

[00:38:46] It seems like secret identity is kind of like the perfect culmination of

[00:38:51] Like all of that in terms of the mystery side of it the current side of it and um

[00:38:57] You listeners for anyone who hasn't you you should really do yourself a favor. Oh, thanks

[00:39:03] And go get a secret identity and then the follow-ups um

[00:39:07] Altarigo yeah, Altarigo comes out at the end of this year and yeah secret identity is very personal work in that it blends all my passions

[00:39:17] um

[00:39:18] noir

[00:39:19] crime novels comics there are literally comic book sequences in the novel. It's a it's a murder mystery set in the 1970s comic book industry in New York

[00:39:27] Um, and it follows a woman a Cuban American queer woman Carmen Valdez who moves from

[00:39:33] Miami to New York to pursue her career in comics and she gets this like dead-end job at this third great publisher called triumph comics and

[00:39:42] All through her time there. She's pitching stories to her editor her boss the editor-in-chief

[00:39:47] She's his secretary until he finances just stop pitching me ideas

[00:39:52] I have other freelancers. I need to entertain

[00:39:54] I have to do other things like I want you to do your job and I'll have I have a plan for you later

[00:39:59] um

[00:40:01] So despondent she runs into another colleague who says I have this idea for a character that's been greenlit

[00:40:07] Do you want to co-write it with me? But it's just gotta be in secret

[00:40:10] You know, I'll eventually tell our boss that you're doing it. But for now, let's do it under undercover

[00:40:15] um and they co-create this character called the legendary links who's a little bit of daredevil a little bit of Batman

[00:40:22] A little bit of spider woman

[00:40:25] This street level vigilante who protects

[00:40:28] triumph city, which is their big fictional city

[00:40:31] um

[00:40:32] And now i'm just giving you kind of a synopsis

[00:40:33] But you know basically what happens is her collaborator is murdered

[00:40:36] So no one knows that Carmen has created this character who then becomes the hit for triumph comics

[00:40:42] Then becomes like huge

[00:40:44] Yeah, relatively obviously it's a smaller company but

[00:40:47] Her you know and that lights a fire under her like she has to solve the murder because she needs to reclaim this character because

[00:40:54] Otherwise, it's she knows comics. She knows eventually like once the scripts are burned through

[00:40:58] Someone else is gonna get a chance to write her baby and she doesn't want that to happen. So

[00:41:03] Yeah, it's a love letter to comics. It's a love letter to the industry at that time and um

[00:41:08] Altarigo picks it up in the modern day

[00:41:11] So hopefully you know if you have a run secret identity you can put you can dive into alter ego without reading secret identity

[00:41:16] Obviously if you've read them read secret identity you'll get a little bit more out of it

[00:41:19] But um, it's very much the other side of the coin. It's about um

[00:41:24] A filmmaker who used to work in comics as an artist she left the industry

[00:41:28] Found some success in film, but then finds yourself being pulled back into comics because

[00:41:33] This new company is relaunching a library of characters based on these obscure 70s properties

[00:41:39] And one of them is the legendary links a character that

[00:41:43] Any the protagonist has a great affinity for because she felt a great connection to the character as a kid growing up

[00:41:49] But um as she gets deeper into the assignment she realizes that there's much more to the origins of the links

[00:41:55] and who created the links and and the people that want to keep that story a secret

[00:41:59] so

[00:42:01] Yeah, I mean

[00:42:03] You know, it's kind of um interesting

[00:42:05] Just talking about Dictracy and then and talking about those two books

[00:42:09] Yeah

[00:42:10] Because they're again, it's a great setting for

[00:42:14] A mystery novel

[00:42:17] You know, but there's so there's so much richness there for folks that are like comic fans who like kind of

[00:42:24] Understand the stories of the industry to to dig into so if you don't know anything about comics

[00:42:30] And you're like I like a just like a good old mystery

[00:42:34] Great, but yeah, there's there's it's you know like hiding those Easter eggs for fans of Dictracy

[00:42:39] There's a lot in there for folks that have been paying attention to comics for the past you know

[00:42:45] 2030 40 years. Oh thanks. Yeah, no, I mean there's some of there's met if you know and love comic book history

[00:42:50] There's a ton of nods to real people obviously, you know, none of them are main characters

[00:42:55] You can't you know legally you can't have like you know

[00:42:59] Jack Kirby solving a mystery, but you know it's woven through real world events like Carmen goes to a convention in 1975

[00:43:06] In New York City and that was a real event and the guests that I referenced were people that were actually there and

[00:43:11] You know, it I'm a big fan of benefiction

[00:43:14] You know stories that kind of live in the real world like I've gotten emails from people saying oh

[00:43:19] You know those links comics actually come out like you know was you know

[00:43:23] What happened to triumphant? It's just great because that means you succeeded

[00:43:27] You know, you really like kind of evoke the era so well that people almost

[00:43:31] Believe that this could have happened and it could have happened

[00:43:34] Yeah, yeah, so listeners for anyone that hasn't um

[00:43:38] It mixed in with your comics reading

[00:43:41] Of secret identity and then yeah, thank you for alter ego

[00:43:45] But

[00:43:47] You know just kind of like a final thought here, but yeah April 24th Dictrae C number one. I just

[00:43:54] Maybe want to go back and watch the 1990 film that I don't think I've seen in maybe 30 years

[00:44:01] It's pretty fun. Yeah, and um yeah

[00:44:04] Like we said, you know nominated for seven Oscars. I think one three of them

[00:44:08] Best songs music and lyrics by Steven Sondheim

[00:44:11] I mean has the kid that movie has quite a pedigree

[00:44:14] Yeah, I mean Danny Elf and theme Madonna soundtrack Steven Sondheim like

[00:44:19] The cast is insane. Yeah

[00:44:22] So um, but yeah, I think this is just a fantastic first issue for thank you so much fans of the character I think

[00:44:31] Are really going to find a lot to dig into but even if you're not and even if like me your only real reference point is

[00:44:36] You know Warren Bady in that

[00:44:39] In the 1990 movie it is a really kind of grounded

[00:44:45] uh

[00:44:45] Prime story it's set in 1947. Uh, it looks looks

[00:44:51] Awesome on the page and yeah, although in mark and Jim just did an amazing job

[00:44:56] I really think fans are gonna like it and I'm a big fan of what made cave has been putting out recently and um

[00:45:02] I think this is another one that I really hope folks pay attention to because uh

[00:45:06] I want to see uh want to see more about i'm excited for where the rest of the story goes

[00:45:10] Thank you so much. Yeah, it's no this has been great to just chat about it and uh

[00:45:14] I'm excited for the response, you know people have been very positive and I can't wait for it to be out there

[00:45:21] Yeah, absolutely so be sure listeners to add it to your pull list

[00:45:25] And um oh i almost forgot i always shout out my to my brother bobby the cryptic creator corners number one most dedicated listener bobby

[00:45:30] List installed my episodes and we just got back from Ireland. This is my first podcast being recorded after I

[00:45:35] Bobby and I took a trip to the emerald aisle for my 45th birthday

[00:45:39] Welcome back happy birthday. Oh thank you pretty much Alex

[00:45:42] What is your birthday?

[00:45:43] Up my it was uh the 14th

[00:45:45] A march? Yeah yeah more 15. Yeah

[00:45:48] Well happy. Yeah, related birthday to you as well. Yeah the eye. It's be where the eyes of march

[00:45:53] I'm pie day so yeah

[00:45:55] Which is a little more cheerful than

[00:45:58] killing Caesar

[00:45:59] Yeah, that's true, but um

[00:46:03] Yes, the listener is April 24th

[00:46:05] Let your comic book shop know wherever you get your comics that uh

[00:46:09] I think you usually made cave you can actually go to their site as well if you don't have a local shop near you

[00:46:13] Yeah

[00:46:14] But dick tracy number one. I really like that that that a cover by uh

[00:46:19] Borgis and uh, there's a couple of really nice covers out there if you're the type of person that goes all in on that

[00:46:25] You're gonna

[00:46:26] And i just think you're gonna find a lot to uh to love about this comic so

[00:46:30] Alex thank you very much for coming on the blog. Yeah

[00:46:33] I really appreciate it and um wish you guys the best of luck with

[00:46:38] With the launch of uh of dick tracy. Yeah, thanks so much

[00:46:41] It was this was really fun and hopefully we'll chat again soon

[00:46:44] Yeah, love it absolutely love it um all right listeners

[00:46:48] Prokama book Yeti

[00:46:49] Crypto creator quarter i am Jimmy Gosparrot

[00:46:51] Thank you very much for listening rate and review us and do all those other things they say to do about podcasts because it really does help and

[00:46:58] We like to hear that you're uh your your enjoying what we're putting out there

[00:47:02] We're doing it you know for use we can connect you with great comic creators and some really great comics and

[00:47:07] The dick tracy number one april 24th

[00:47:10] Uh, thank you so much for listening and i'll see you next time

[00:47:14] This is biono neal one of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book Yeti

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