Civil Disobedience Interview with Tyler Chin-Tanner, Jarred Luján, and Vita Ayala

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[00:00:55] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I have three guests on the podcast tonight to talk about their newest Kickstarter campaign. Two are returning guests. One, I can't believe it, a first-time guest. But please, welcome to the podcast, Tyler Chin Tanner, Jared Lujan, and Vida Ayala. How are the three of you doing tonight? Great. Yeah, thanks for having us on. Hey, hey. Pretty good. Yeah, absolutely. Happy to be here.

[00:01:22] Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. To talk about civil disobedience, which is, I guess by the time listeners are listening to this, it will be, the campaign will be live. So, I don't know. Tyler, do you want to get started or as to what you can tell listeners about civil disobedience? Yeah, well, it's a new anthology.

[00:01:48] And, you know, anybody who's familiar with the Wave Blue World and what we've published, we've done anthologies for an over a decade now. Yeah, because we're Broken Frontier with 2015. So, yeah, 11 years. And, yeah, we try to stay topical. We tackle issues. We're not afraid of controversy. And I was just sort of sitting there being like, all right, 2026, no distribution, got Kickstarter, you know, state of the world.

[00:02:17] What feels like it needs to be out there? You know, and so civil disobedience originally was just going to be more of stories about resistance, whether they were true to life, you know, the nonfiction, this happened at this time, or more allegory or just someone taking the current events and doing something. And, you know, I grabbed Jared for that right away. I'm like, this is our idea. And then we're like, you know who we should really get? Vita.

[00:02:44] And what was besides just having Vita on for that concept, they brought this new idea, which is why don't we provide resources, guides for how to get out there, connect in your community, stay safe, you know, make a difference, you know, make it count while you're out there. And so it's become a combination of stories to get inspired by, but information to put into use. So that's how I would run it down.

[00:03:12] Yeah, no, I really like that. Not just the stories of civil disobedience, whether you're talking historically or allegorical, but the idea of also having like a practical guide, because I've seen those things sometimes, like when I my local comic book shop here in Delaware will sometimes have certain guides, especially when it comes to like LGBTQ issues.

[00:03:36] And it's like, hey, here's what you need to do, or here's a great way to be an ally, like whatever it's geared towards. But in terms of like, you know, protesting or, you know, whatever form civil disobedience or resistance might take. I think that's very smart. I think it's very, you know, helpful.

[00:03:59] So Jared or Vita, whichever one of you wants to start first, what was your initial interest in terms of a project like this? And what do you think is the biggest strength that you're kind of bringing to it? I'll just kick it off because my interest in this was mostly to be able to work with these guys again. Just or rather Tyler again and then Jared for the first time. I'm a big fan of both of them, and I respect all the stuff that they do and put out into the community.

[00:04:28] And so I was like, oh, yeah, absolutely. If I can make this work, I want to do it. But also it was funny because a couple of weeks before Tyler reached out, something happened that I was it kind of like primed me for this. Which is that I was passing by a Lush, like the like the store with like the bath bombs and stuff. And they were giving out like whistles and guides on how to like signal that ice is close and like what to do if you see ice.

[00:04:55] And I was like, OK, Lush is in the game now. Like, you know, it's dystopian when Lush, the bath bomb company, is like, here's your bath bomb. And also, you know, through ice, here you go. But it was really heartening. I was like, wow, you really can just wherever you are, you can do something. Right. And when when Tyler talked to me about it, I was like, this is really cool. Because one of the things that I love about with Blue World is that like you read the anthologies and you get this energy. Right.

[00:05:24] Whatever whatever the kind of like theme is, you're like, oh, I feel connected to this. And so, yeah, I right away was like, oh, how do we how do we channel this? How do we make sure that like no matter who you are and where you are, you're able to to give back. Right. So, yeah, that that was my interest in this. It started with Lush, but also Tyler. Yeah, Jared. Yeah. So I feel like right. Like I was a kid that I grew up.

[00:05:53] I've said this a lot that I grew up on the border. One of the things that you learn living on the border between the United States and Mexico is and being Mexican American is that those differences are really highlighted immediately. Right. Like and you sort of just kind of like it's really hard for me to take border seriously growing up on the border. It's like litter. I used to just go over there all the time.

[00:06:19] And it's people that I still connected with, people who still shared my history. And so I've been pretty active in, you know, immigration rights. I've been to protests. I was really, really a lot in the BLM stuff. I've been I got tear gassed once. That was pretty cool. By the way, like if you've never got don't don't take a hot shower after. That's like the that's a lot.

[00:06:46] Yeah, that's a life experience lesson for everybody right now. Freebie. But the other thing was like whenever obviously the most recent election went to hell in a handbasket, I kind of would back in. I'm a pretty big member of my neighborhood. I don't want to like make myself sound more important than I am. But everybody knows me. I know everybody. I go around and anytime there's a natural disaster, I've spent time checking on people in my neighborhood.

[00:07:15] And so we like started a network in my neighborhood about connecting us and so that we know which what's happening and when ICE and other Border Patrol agents are coming through. We've staged a lot of of annoying letter calls and being involved with our local sheriff and trying to get them to stop participating with sort of those detentions. And being in West Texas, that's that's pretty hard. That's a pretty tough job.

[00:07:42] And one of the things that I realized is that there is like this this knowledge gap in what people think they can do and what they think they can't. Like there's there's there's this idea you can't do anything. And it's really just not true. Like there's there's actually quite a bit you can do. And but it's all like it's a small scale. Right. Like it's in your neighborhood. It's in your community.

[00:08:08] So I really liked the idea of stories to inspire people to do something like don't get off the Internet. Go go into your street. Do something to go talk to one of your neighbors about what's happening. Another one of like to go talk to your neighbors about gas prices and grocery prices, because you'll probably find that they're going to find that you have a lot more in common with them than you think. Again, I say this as somebody who lives in West Texas, you know, so you end up finding a lot of things.

[00:08:35] And I was really fascinated by the idea of motivating people to go, go and do something, be active, be be engaged with what you need to do. And then so whenever the Vita came on and had this idea of adding the resources, I was like, oh, this is a whole different beast now. Like and it's exciting. It's a very exciting sort of creation that we've we've sort of gotten together here.

[00:08:58] I think that like the propaganda out there is like you said, like you can't do anything or only these specific actions count. Nothing else counts. And I think that a lot of the stories in the book, I won't get too much into it. Right. But like they touch on the fact that like none of that's true. Every single action amounts to something. Right. There is a weight to every single action. And when you add them all up, you can move a mountain. Right. And so like that to me is like one of the one of my personal goals.

[00:09:27] For this is to be like you. If you can get out into your community, I think that is the best way to like really feel invigorated. But also like you can help from your computer to everyone has a role to play. It's not going to be the same role for everybody because you can't have everyone being the boots. You need the eyes. You need the hands like you need all of these things working together in order to like move the body as it were. Yeah. I mean, the title of the anthology, you know, civil disobedience implies.

[00:09:58] You know, certain things. I mean, for me, I go right to Thoreau, you know, Thoreau's pamphlet for listeners who just read comics and haven't read anything else. That's fine. But Thoreau wrote an essay on civil disobedience, I think, in 1848. But I think of civil disobedience a lot.

[00:10:20] I just was always a fan of Thoreau's writing, you know, but when you're you're you're reaching a little bit, you know, not specifically in civil disobedience, but when you're talking about protest and things that you can do in order to even, you know, affect change. I somebody like Greg Pak talks about it all the time online. And it's something that I've found to be true myself, that folks don't think like it's tough to get through when you're like you're call your senators or call your representatives.

[00:10:49] But on like the local level, every time I have called like a local politician to talk about an issue or a bill, they have gotten back to me. It is remarkable how easy you can get in touch with like local politicians. But although they're not under the umbrella of civil disobedience, but there are a ton of things that you can actually do and can can do to make a difference.

[00:11:12] But in terms of the aspect of civil disobedience and protest, it's yeah, I think it is good to give a resource and to give folks, you know, what are your rights or what things can you do? What is actually, you know, helpful? What are some resources? Because a lot of people, you know, we have so much information now, but now we're in an age where we have to figure out what is what is the good information and what is the bad.

[00:11:40] It's almost like we have we have too much. We have too much because like 40 percent of it's bad. So, you know, to have a to have a resource that tells you what's like the real deal, I think, is very helpful, especially along these lines. You know, we want people not to go to Chad GPT. We're trying to keep them away from things that hallucinate in life. If there are any mistakes, there are honest mistakes, not built in mistakes. Right.

[00:12:06] That's what we want to eliminate the kind of confusion. Right. Because like like misinformation and disinformation are so rampant right now. And like there's no one stopping that. There's no one checking that officially. Right. But that's that's the that's the point. Right. Like you can't really you can't make change if you don't know what's real. Right.

[00:12:27] And so this is I think like, again, to bring it back to a wave blue world specifically, like I think that one of the things that that Tyler and them do is bring people together so that we can talk to each other. So that we can have like a primary contact instead of like tertiary contact through God knows how many levels of the Internet. That's the idea anyway.

[00:12:52] What was it like in terms of what, you know, the actual putting together of, you know, the stories or the call out to creators, like in terms of what it is, you know, you're looking for because you put something together like civil disobedience and you. With that with that theme in mind, you know, you I'm sure you want to keep it on message.

[00:13:12] I would think that you don't want anything to go too far to a political rhetoric or political violence, you know, but also have it be like a meaningful story. Was there like an intense kind of like vetting process or story guideline for what you were looking for? Yeah, we sent out an invite packet that really did. We did our best to lay out like what was the tone of this? We wanted to stay away from inciting violence.

[00:13:41] That was sort of the line like there was going to be a range of stories. But like what line not to cross didn't want to get into the whole, you know, the protagonist of the story was the one creating the violence. Maybe they were dealing with it. Maybe some stories were more violent than others because I didn't want to necessarily keep everything down to peaceful protests or like some actions should be taken. So we gave that guideline.

[00:14:06] We also split the stories and basically said we're looking for three categories, which, you know, some fit in better than others. Or we might say we have a fourth now. But the idea was just sort of community action, just going out, visiting your neighbors. Maybe you wouldn't even call that civil disobedience, per se. You just call that organizing or or. We're not allowed to congregate anymore, though, so I'd call it. It's right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you could. It couldn't.

[00:14:32] So the second level was a little more like action orientated, like going out, causing a little bit of disruption. Maybe you want to call it that or really pushing against something. Right. And those could have been either nonfiction. Like this is something that really happened that we saw or it could be a fictional tale. And then the third was more in the allegorical, whether it's futuristic or a different sort of reality, be more imaginative.

[00:15:02] And so it was fun getting some stories there. So as they came in, you know, we first saw where things fell. But then we started to guide a little bit like, oh, hey, we'd like you in this. But we've got a lot of these. Might you want to do something, you know, like this? And yeah. You know, we had some people that just felt uncomfortable with the nature of the anthology. Positive and supportive.

[00:15:23] But they were like, I'm just not in a good position to, you know, associate or be, you know, in this anthology. But other than that, you know, people were very receptive and happy to follow the guidelines. I think maybe we got one pitch that we're like, no, that's not quite it. You know, something else. But other than that, it was just seeing where they all fit together and which sections of the anthology was one of them in.

[00:15:50] We got really lucky in that, like, they kind of like there's a beautiful kind of escalation from the like very personal and very individual to like these big, like you said, allegorical, systemic kind of like almost fantastical things. I think that one of the briefs that I was happy to be able to tell people is like, you don't have to be super grounded. People understand that these things are metaphors.

[00:16:16] Like, you can do stuff that is like, like, it's never going to be like fun, fun, right? But you can do things that are engaging, exciting. Whimsical isn't the right word, but like, you know what I mean? Fantastical is probably the word. And no one disappointed. Everyone was on their A game. You do have more grounded stuff in here, which is really good, right? To show people like, no, no, this is you right now.

[00:16:40] But also you do have some stuff that is, that is almost absurd, which is like a very common. I feel like we're in our secondary data era as a society, right? Like the absurd is now something that is coming to the fore. And so it's nice to have a little of that in the anthology as well. Yeah. I feel like by like all the people that I reached out to, I was reaching out because I had, I was like, what?

[00:17:04] I want this specific person's vision of what's happening in the country today, like, and or, or resisting what is happening. I want this specific vision for this specific reason. And we got like, again, right? We had a really fantastic reception from a lot of people. Everybody. I really like all of my teams a lot.

[00:17:29] Um, all the people that I'm editing, I'm, I'm really like in awe of, uh, and I'm really just having a good time watching their stuff come in and talking to them. Uh, it's been, uh, this is like my first, the first time I've ever done like real editing work. Uh, I've done a little bit in the past. So like, there's definitely been a little bit of a learning curve with, with specifically with what I'm looking for. Um, fortunately I have like a lot of friends who are, are editors in one form.

[00:17:57] And I was like, Hey, like, I'm worried. I'm not giving notes because this came back and I think it's really solid. Like, what should I specifically be like looking for? What do you look for? And, uh, just kind of like going from there. But I, I, I really did was very, very impressed with a lot of the stories that came through. I was impressed with a lot of these stories when they came through as pitches. And I was like, Oh, this is so cool.

[00:18:21] This is so, it's such a nice, a nice approach to what you're trying to say with, uh, at the same time, this is such a really nice, like end goal. This is nice and optimistic. And it's, it's, that was really, it was a really cool experience to, to get it, to be able to see the pitches come back and, uh, like to talk to people about their stories and about. Like, cause I, cause like I'm politically right. Yeah. You can talk to me about whatever you can go crazy. Like, let's go nuts. You want to talk to me about political violence.

[00:18:50] We can probably have like a six hour conversation about it and nobody's going to be happy by the end of it, but we can do it. And, uh, but, but, but unfortunately most of the people that came to it were like, Hey, uh, I don't even want to like do that. I want to tell this really, this really beautiful story of this really small thing that had this massive effect. Uh, and I loved that. I had a really great time watching them come in. Yeah. There's, there's such a beautiful spread of stories.

[00:19:19] I think every team in this book is phenomenal. Um, I, there's one in particular that I got to edit that is like almost a how to guide, but it's done in a really clever way. I, and God, Jared. So I could, I don't want to spoil anything, but like everyone's, everyone's teams are so good and they're so unique that there's kind of something for everyone, but also there's nothing that isn't appealing. I think to everyone. Yeah.

[00:19:48] Well, I mean, it's, it's great. I'm sure from the anthology and, uh, just like an art, uh, comic perspective that there's so many different types of stories and that they're very well done bit of a bummer that there's so many things to want to resist right now though. Um, cause like I, I think of not to quote like, uh, that star Wars show and door, but I, I think a lot about that quote.

[00:20:17] It's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than like a single incident, you know, cause the, the concept of civil disobedience and protest. I mean, there's, there's so many things going on right now. Uh, and it is amazing. The, the work, especially, you know, like Vida and Jared, like you have said, especially the work in, like in communities.

[00:20:41] Like if you just take a look around, like in your own community, you are going to find people doing things and doing work to like help the community, help their neighbors to that. That you're going to be surprised that they're doing and, um, and, and accomplishing. But yeah, I'm very, I'm, I'm very excited for it. I can't wait to see it. Especially, I mean, you've revealed, I think as, as we record this, you revealed the cover so far.

[00:21:05] Um, I think that Tim Daniel designed the logo and I think the cover was by, uh, Chris Sheehan. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. We reviewed that today. Thursday, we'll do the full creator list, which means we'll all be alive. So feel free to drop any names or, or, or mention anybody. Yeah. I guess we should do that. Yeah. You can go ahead and do that. Like you don't have, I know you don't want to spoil the stories totally, but like you can, you should be able to talk pretty freely if you want to. Okay.

[00:21:35] Okay. So let me spoil mine. Right. Cause, cause, cause Tyler, uh, Tyler hits me up and I'm like, all right, I've got this like wishlist writer that I don't think is going to end up being a part of it, but I have to try. Right. So I send an, an email out. Uh, I sent another email out. Vita comes on and helps me out. And the next thing I know, I'm editing a story by Stephanie Williams. Right. And I'm like, hell yeah, I love Stephanie Williams. Right.

[00:22:05] And she, she's so talented. She has a fantastic pitch, like a beautiful pitch. Uh, she has a fantastic artist already in mind, uh, named Ryan Oakley, who was also amazing. And, and, and then she nominated for the Eisner vote for Stephanie. Right. Right. In the middle of the, I'm making the anthology. And so I'm like, cool.

[00:22:31] So not only just is this writer that I'm a huge fan of now, I have to edit her story. Right. Which is cool. Like that's work that I'm happy to do. It's the year she's getting nominated for an Eisner that I am also now being like, yeah, I lost a Ringo a few years ago. Send me that script. So I can tell you if it's good enough, you know, like what am I doing? You know? You can only, when you write something, you can only see out of your own perspective. You need your editor to be able to see it from that other perspective.

[00:23:01] Be like, there's, there's something you missed here. You missed a corner there. Why don't you fill that in? No, she's, she's the best. Uh, I hope everybody voted for her. God, that team is so good. It's that, it's really good. I've got, um, Jordan Clark, who I did the milestone initiative, uh, uh, who just did ancestral recall, who also has another amazing, has amazing story in it. And he's doing his with Miguel Hernandez, uh, who's also in the milestone initiative.

[00:23:28] If you're asking yourself, are, is it because all of you guys were doing that? The answer is yes. Uh, besides the fact that Jordan is like, George Rose is a fantastic writer. Um, I feel like we all, we all know that now, right? Like if we didn't before. Um, but, and then, uh, so I, I really like his story. I think his story is really wholesome and, and it makes me really like, it feels, it gives me the nice warm feeling inside.

[00:23:53] And then, and then I have the, I actually wrote a story for it too, uh, that I'm doing with chase, chase Bluestone that I don't think anybody is going to fully expect. Um, that one I'm going to keep where I know we're doing a little bit of press with that one. So I'm going to, I'm going to hold that one off. So, so everybody can, can be surprised by that one. Um, but, uh, just, just really like phenomenal Karina Bechko and Leonie O'Moore.

[00:24:21] And, uh, but yeah, it's just, they are also doing a story that's really, that's a nice sci-fi and beautiful, uh, optimism that, that like, I really, really, really, it's really nice. Like Karina's, uh, I think Karina has a really amazing job of envisioning this, this really beautiful, like science world, but also while it, why it's not. It's awful. Right.

[00:24:45] Like it's a sci-fi world, but it's sort of like a dystopia and she does it in a way that is, that speaks directly to my love of history and like sharecropping. Um, I don't love sharecropping, but I know a lot about it and yeah, I feel like I should maybe definitely qualify that. Right. Like not a fan of sharecropping, uh, but, but it did devastate, uh, Mexico's entire political economy for like a hundred years.

[00:25:12] Uh, in case anybody was curious, but, um, it's, it's been really, really, and, and really incredible stuff to like, to, to, to watch and to see these other perspectives, give me these radically different ideas that never would have occurred to me. Right. And like never. Never. And that's, that's, that's what's the beauty of it. Right. Is that it's, we have so many of these beautiful, diverse voices, Mark Bouchard. Oh my God. My dog. Mark. Uh, Mark also contributed and John, Mark Bouchard.

[00:25:41] Uh, and oh my God, uh, Conrad, John Conrad did a star doing a story together. Um, that's a, one of those really small moments leads to a huge, massive like consequence. Uh, that's really cool that I didn't know anything about. And then it was, it's also a historical moment. I didn't know anything about it. Mark's is fantastic. The script is great. And then Jonathan Hedrick and Matt Harding are doing another story together as well. Um, Jonathan, somebody who I've really liked and respected in.

[00:26:11] Comics for a really long time. Uh, he's, he's, he's been an indie guy with me alongside and sort of those indie trenches. But, uh, Jonathan's a veteran. And I was really curious about like what Jonathan had to say, you know, like what, what, what is it that he had to, to contribute and about the current moment as somebody who was in the military actively or at some point for the country.

[00:26:39] Um, and Matt is obviously one of my favorite artists. Uh, he drew all the devils are here, uh, with me and we, we had so much fun making that book. So I am like, uh, spoiled, spoiled with riches right now, but definitely it was like saw Stephanie. And, and I was like, I thought I told Tyler at the beginning, I was like, I'm just going to shoot my shot. Cause like, I, I, I love, I've liked, I've been such a fan, such a fan of Stephanie for so long.

[00:27:06] And I was like, I really want to get, to get something to see if I can get something from her, uh, for this. Cause I also think this is a really good book for Stephanie to be able to, to contribute to you. Like, I think this fits with, with her voice and, and she's crushing it. So. Yeah, that's awesome. Now, Gita. Are we trotting out all our teams? Because I feel like we all have just incredible people. Um, I was really lucky in that.

[00:27:32] Like I, I came on late, um, but there was enough room for me to reach out to people that I wanted to work with, um, and inherit a few that I, uh, absolutely adore as well. Right. So all of the, the writers that I'm working with are really good friends of mine. Right. I'm working with Danny lore. Of course, my, my platonic soulmate, my other half who is doing a really fun kind of like story from five weeks from now. Right.

[00:28:02] Like just, just into the future. Um, but just enough kind of speculative stuff to be really, really cool to, to look at working with Seth Smith, who he's an incredible artist. Um, so much energy. Um, I am doing my best not to spoil these things, but they're tackling a kind of issue that you would not think is at first blush, uh, civil disobedience until you realize that like literally

[00:28:27] just existing in public is like pretty much outlawed as especially for certain populations. And so they are doing something really fun and interesting with that. Um, I'm working with, uh, my Houston who has written stuff for DC as well as the comics, as well as the shows, right. She wrote for Batwoman and Flash and stuff like that.

[00:28:49] Um, and, uh, she's doing a story that is probably one of the more speculative, um, in just the anthology with Angel Batron. They're doing something that is fun is again, not the word I would use for anything. But certainly something that like feels both kind of like hopeful, but also like, yeah,

[00:29:17] it's engaging in a way that kind of draws you into the story as well as like slipping in the like, Hey, remember, this is a thing you can do, right? You can open your eyes and do this and that and the other thing. Um, but like, you know, dressed up in kind of like not quite superhero stuff, the kind of fantastical element because she does it so well. Um, I, I got to reach out to one of the two of my brain trusts, Leah Williams, uh, to

[00:29:45] do a story with Valentine Smith, which is that one's just straight up fun. Actually, like that, that, that one is like, like you're going to read it and go, this is awesome, absurd and ridiculous. But that to me is also like one of the stories in the bunch that is a very like you as an individual can do this right now. Like you yourself, nobody else can just do this right now and spread the information if you so choose.

[00:30:15] God, I can't wait for people to see that one. The character in that one is truly like hilarious. Like I, I laugh every time that I, I think about it. Um, who else am I working with? Oh yeah. And then I'm working with one of my very, very, very dear friends, David Precht, uh, who was working with, uh, Morgan Telly on a story, um, that kind of touches on this kind of in-between space of what actions that we can take that don't feel like we're necessarily

[00:30:42] like contributing in the way that we're supposed to, except that they're the foundation for being able to take any action. Um, and that one's really fun because there's a recipe in it. I feel like every single story in the anthology brings something to it that you wouldn't necessarily expect. It's none of them are really straight up. Like here's a comic and there's nothing more to it, even though that would be totally fine. We love that kind of stuff. But like, there's a little nugget in every story that makes you think and go, oh, I didn't

[00:31:10] even, yeah, that's a possibility or, you know, springboard or something in it. Um, yeah, I, I working with my themes is awesome. I too feel like, well, who am I to tell you anything about how to do your job? You're all incredible creators. You're all incredible artists and writers and colorists. What, what do I know? I literally all get some stuff back and I'm like, uh, my note is that this is good. Good job. Good job team. I've done nothing here.

[00:31:39] Um, it feels almost sometimes like you're kind of nitpicking because it's like, if this just went out, it would be great. But how can we make this the best version of what you want to do? Um, please don't hate me for giving you a note on something that is already incredible. And everyone is very amenable. I haven't seen a single person be mad about it. Right. Um, and then I also did a story.

[00:32:03] So like you said to Jared about being an editor, you know, um, uh, it's not just seeing from another perspective. It is also a pushing and it's nice to, it's nice to hear that, uh, no matter how many comics you make, the imposter syndrome just never goes away. So you hear that creators it's, it's here to stay. On the writing side, I always feel like I apologize to my artists. I'm like, Hey, like, I don't know how to draw. So here's some ideas.

[00:32:32] I hope you dig them. If you got something better, go for it. Sorry. Like, I never want someone to feel like I'm putting like this like vision on them. But the thing about editing this book, which I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be able to do it because I really enjoy looking at each story and going, okay, this is what you're trying to do. What is working really well? Let's push that. And what is kind of blocking what you actually want to say. Right.

[00:32:59] Cause none of it has like, I get all this stuff in and none of it's bad. I'm just like, this is not doing the thing you want to do. Let's make your story the best story that it can be. And every team that I've been working with, and I'm sure that everyone else is working with the, the people are collaborating really tightly. Right. So like the writers and artists are talking to each other and going back and forth. I just get to kind of like witness it, like looking over a hedge and see like what their process is.

[00:33:25] Which is really cool as an editor to be able to be like, yeah, I want to facilitate free flowing communication. And then I'll just funnel you into what you got to do. Jimmy is too humble to do this. So as his stalwart writer and I, I wanted to tell you about his new graphic novel, Penny and the Yeti with artist Amber Aiken. What started as a comic short with his daughter that I've known about for ages now, and it's

[00:33:51] evolved and has become one of those annoying can't talk about it in comics things for too damn long. Yes, I'm predisposed to be supportive, but after reading an advanced copy of it, I have to admit it's way better than I anticipated. No shade, but it's really good. Remarkably so. Does it have a Yeti? Yeah. Is it cute and adorable? Yeah. But it's straight flies in effectively tapping into the all too familiar family dynamics that

[00:34:17] we all are facing in 2026 and approaching it in a way that doesn't insult the book's target audience. Kids! They are way smarter and perceptive than we adults give them credit for. So I really appreciated Jimmy's narrative approach tapping into his own experiences as a dad and a spouse. I can hear his wife saying, get off your phone, Jimmy, through the pages. She's going to kill me for saying that. It's hitting shelves on April 21st and I dropped a link in the show notes where you can pre-order a copy today.

[00:34:45] Yeti or not, here we come with Penny, Perry, Fenton, Maxine, and the magical, mythical, magnificent Yeti. On behalf of us both, we appreciate your support. Woohoo! Yahoo! Woohoo! Woohoo! Woohoo! Yeah, I was just going to say, most of the artists and writers knew each other or formed their own team every once in a while where we paired somebody or found someone that was appropriate. But yeah, I think that really helps because it's, you know, it's just the collaborative processes

[00:35:14] and the connection is already there. So yeah, I think that's been really helpful. I was surprised because I was like pulling out my Rolodex. All right, what artists I'm going to call on? And I like, I barely went through my list because it's like, well, this person suggested this person and this person suggested. So, so sorry artists that were on my list. I can't get very far down that. Well, I love hearing just the different, I guess, depth, you know, and breadth of the stories and the, the, the creators that are going to be in this.

[00:35:42] I mean, that's, it sounds incredible. I can't wait to see, especially, you know, you've named some of my favorite creators in comics. So that's pretty awesome. I feel like I just need to finish it off. I won't delay, but it would be feeling at this point if I did not. I reached out to Greg Park right away. So he's writing a story super excited about. Mark Russell, super champ.

[00:36:10] I wouldn't even, I thought he might be too busy to even be in the anthology. He was the first one to turn in a script. We got a full script before we'd even gotten all the other writers in and that's been moving along really well. So super impressed by, by his contribution. Tim Daniel, who did the logos, also writing a story with his writing partner, DB Andrew, who, you know, I wanted to get DB in, you know, Tim's on logos, but now I get a Tim story with DB.

[00:36:38] So super excited about that. And then I'm editing Vita and Jared's story. So I just wanted to make sure we name dropped everybody. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, just, just incredible, uh, incredible, you know, talent. Um, that's, that's amazing. Um, I, to get back to the cover with Chris Sheehan, I wanted to ask, like, was there a

[00:37:03] particular, you know, brief in terms of the cover or, or was it because to me it, it immediately I, I thought of the, um, you know, taking a stand in Baton Rouge, the, the Jonathan Bachman photo from the, uh, uh, Baton Rouge protests, I think back in 2016 was a little reminiscent of that. And then the, the, the flower, which, um, I mean, that's been around since like the sixties and seventies.

[00:37:30] There's a very, you know, famous movement where they were taking flowers and putting them into the, uh, you know, the business end of the, of the rifles. Yeah. Um, but I just thought very powerful imagery that kind of captures protests going back to the sixties and then, you know, in the past decade. Can we talk about some of the stuff on the side too, after we talk about Chris's stuff, because Jared had a really cool idea that I wanted to highlight, but Chris's cover it first clearly. Cause it's incredible. Oh, okay.

[00:38:01] Um, yeah, I don't know. The brief was too detailed. We started off with an idea, but Chris was like, Oh no, I know what I want to do. And I was like, okay. All right. As long as any, any turned in the, um, the comps pretty quickly. So we were just like, okay, it just seemed like that came back to us right away. We're like, yeah, no, that's great. See that through. And, um, you know, get the cover. And then I even showed that to Tim and, uh, cause Tim wanted to do the logo, wanted to

[00:38:30] work off of what he created first. So, um, yeah, I thought they complimented each other perfectly. Oh, it turned out great. And yeah, no, I didn't have much. Same with Tim. I was just like, make something that looks awesome. That goes with this cover. That's kind of what both Chris and, and Tim do, right? Like they kind of go into their little magical caves and come back with just like gold, right? They've turned lead into gold.

[00:38:56] So Jared had this idea for some of the kind of like stuff that always kind of ends up happening with a Kickstarter, right? Like they're like extra stuff that you can do to do buttons in the style of like, like Vietnam protest buttons and stuff like that to kind of like compliment what Chris was doing on the cover, which I thought was really like, really cool. Also just all of that kind of like vintage protest stuff is really powerful and has sustained for a reason.

[00:39:24] But I thought that like, Ooh, it's, it's like Chris and Jared, like had this like mind connection when it came to like that. It's Texas. It's Texas. You know, like we're, we're, we're still, we're here at the same time. We're all on the same plane. Spurs are in the championship. We're just operating on a different level this year, you know? I have to say everybody would split their doppelganger, you know, we're all operating on a different level, except that guy.

[00:39:55] I like the, uh, I really like, like Chris's dude. Chris did like two things that I think is really amazing with the cover that, that really got me maybe three things, right? Like the first thing is that he did something that was a reference to an actual event without it being like an actual event, right? It sort of exists in this nebulous space of reminding you of something without reminding you of a direct place and time and location and things like that.

[00:40:25] Um, person. I think the next thing that he did, uh, or they did, that's really fantastic. Uh, is, is the sort of the color breaks, right? The, this bright color and, and, and the way it feels like heavy with the, with the, the, the guards and the police aiming guns at her. And then it's the negative space, right? Like negative spaces by like, it's nature feels like a striking cover. Cause it's so different from what people typically do.

[00:40:54] Uh, on a, on a, and I was really, I, I'm actually like probably the biggest, uh, no, that's not true. I'm not the biggest, but I don't have like strong opinions about negative space covers, right? Like I, I kind of get a little hyphy about it because I really think that it's a really powerful tool, but if you don't do it right, it kind of flounders. Uh, Chris, I don't think has ever floundered at anything in the last like 10 years of their life.

[00:41:19] Uh, cause I can't, I honestly can't remember a time where I ever saw Chris post something they drew and be like, uh, that's okay. Like, you know, like it's always amazing. Right. And I don't even, I, I followed Chris's NSFW Twitter account because I love Chris's art so much. And I don't even typically, that's not even my like joint, you know, but, uh, but yeah, I know the cover is, it's so, it's so good.

[00:41:43] And it's so striking that it really does like hit me in my, in my, my, my protest part of my brain where I'm like, man, this reminds me of, of, of all of these great struggles because there's so many of, of the nuisance person who is unarmed and a, and a multi-armed well-funded government defending itself from the people that empower it. You know, uh, it's really good stuff. I'm really, I really am very, very jazzed about the cover.

[00:42:12] And it's very hard to ignore, I think is another, it is its best characteristic. I think that like, one of the things that like immediately jumped out at me when I saw it was that like, it is very easy for that particular kind of setup to have the, the kind of like aggressive government force looming over the kind of protester and feeling like the protesters being kind of like caged in. And it's the composition is the opposite, right?

[00:42:39] Like the protester is, uh, is literally above them, but also like is, is not encased by them is on the negative space makes it seem almost like she has an aura that is repelling the darkness of this kind of like force, which I thought was incredible. Right. Like this beyond the color, the striking colors of like the red and the white and the black

[00:43:04] and that kind of stuff, the, just the composition alone made it feel hopeful and made it feel like, Oh, this singular figure is making a difference against this like wave of bristling guns. Right. Like, and it didn't feel also like, I mean, they're guns, so they're scary, right? Like they are a threat, but it didn't feel like one of those things where you're like, and then, and then this character dies. And then the, then the other thing was like, no, this there's power here.

[00:43:34] Like I fear empowered looking at this image, this, uh, not necessarily as a cover, right. But as a piece of art, this feels empowering to me. Um, and I think that that strikes kind of at the heart of the goal for the anthology, right. For the people. Right. I, Tyler, I got the, the, the, the email, the buttons I'll share my screen. So sorry, listeners. We'll I'll describe the buttons, but we do put this on YouTube. So if you're watching this, you can go to the YouTube, uh, video and you can see what

[00:44:03] the buttons look like, or I'll put links to everything in the show notes. They'll be on the campaign. So there we go. So they, we have the, the, the, the logo design for civil disobedience button. We have one with a blue background that says good trouble. And then a, I really like the comics against fascism button, which is, yeah, that's fantastic. So three options for buttons that I'll be part of the Kickstarter campaign.

[00:44:30] Um, but yeah, the comics against fascism is, is, is fantastic. I might have to buy like an old vintage, uh, uh, jean jacket. Just become one of those guys that just wears that with all the buttons on it. Just for this. Don't worry. They go in a leather jacket too. You can put it in a leather jacket. If you got one of those hanging around, these are so, so awesome. I love those. They look, they came out great. The good trouble one's really good too.

[00:45:00] I dropped the heck at all. I really like the flower at the bottom of the civil disobedience one. Oh man, that, that is, that is, uh, that's a chef's kiss, uh, design thing. Uh, I love that, but yes, I am also, I, the comics against fascism strikes my, uh, my like political campaign, like a sixties brain. It like makes that itch feel nice, you know? Uh, so yeah, that's, those are really nice. I, this is the first time I've seen them because I suck at discord.

[00:45:27] So, uh, you, this is, this is me reacting, saying either joke. Jared, Jared was sending like pictures of like Vietnam, like protest buttons. And it was like, oh yeah, this is it. This is perfect. And to see the logo on it, it's like, yep, yep. All goes together beautifully synthesized into one button. Yeah. I mean, I, there's, it's, it's eerie in terms of the, the parallels.

[00:45:54] I feel like some of the things we're going through right now and, you know, go back to the late sixties, early seventies, like 50 years ago. And it's remarkable that, you know, at times when it feels like we've made, uh, as a country progress in certain areas. And it just feels like such a loss when you're living through a time when it feels like any part of society takes a step back in terms of the rights that we have or the freedoms

[00:46:23] that we enjoy. And this feels like one of those times, um, you know, They want to exhaust us, right? Like that's the point. They want us exhausted. They don't want us doing anything. They want us to be so tired and so overwhelmed that we don't do anything. And like all, all any of us have to do is do one single thing. And if we all do one single thing in whatever our capacity is, then we push back and we push back hard, right?

[00:46:52] How many of them are there and how many of us are there? Like it, people are, it's learned helplessness, right? Like that's, that's what it is. Like the rats in the box. Right. Um, and so we just have to, as soon as we start communicating with each other, then that starts to dissipate and we start to realize, Oh wait, all, all I, you know, if all you can do is, is spread the information about how to signal that ice is closed, that's going to make a difference.

[00:47:22] It doesn't make a huge difference. Right. That's a huge action. That's exactly right. Vita. Yeah. Do blowing a whistle, you know, but it, it, there's lush has a little card that has all the whistle coats on. It's crazy again, bring it back to lunch, but like, you know, there's a, I'll give you a preview of one of those stories, right? We're living in a surveillance state, right? That's a real bummer. It's real stressful to go outside and know that your face is everywhere.

[00:47:49] Definitely mask up just so they don't have your face everywhere. Right. But also apparently you can confuse the AI and cameras and stuff by wearing heart shaped glasses. Zenny's real cheap. Y'all go get you some sunglasses that are shaped like hearts. It confuses it. They cannot recognize your face. Look how easy that is. You can just stop them from collecting data. That's huge. I had no idea. When you want to talk about a surveillance state, right? Like when, when you drive to my hometown, you have to pass a border patrol checkpoint when

[00:48:19] you leave it and, and go into it. And it feels, I always talk about this as like, I was like, it feels like a military occupation because it is. It feels like a military occupation. But, but, but regardless, we are like beyond the, the, the obviousness of it, right? Like they have cameras that are set up to take your picture as you pass through the border patrol checkpoint coming and going. And ever since I've been 18, they've been over there.

[00:48:47] And every time I drive by it, I'll, I'll do this number, you know, I'll do something to like obscure something. And my wife is always like, why do you do that? And I was like, because I hate them. And I want them to know that I'm doing everything in my power to be an inconvenience. You know, I just, I don't, I just want to be a pain in the ass, you know, and that's enough. That's enough to be a pain in the ass. Yeah. You got a hundred pains in the ass.

[00:49:16] You're going to be sitting down all day. Yeah. That's Texas shit. That was a, that was a Texas shit. I'm, I'm really excited for this. I think it's, I I'm really impressed by the talent in it. I'm excited that the three of you are working together on it. I think it's, I think that comics in particular art in general is just so important right now

[00:49:42] to one, tell these types of stories, but especially the inclusion of like resources, I think is just amazing and just an incredible thing. So yeah, I'm very excited for, for civil disobedience. I'll be sure to pop links listeners in the show notes for, you know, you can click right over to the Kickstarter. You can back it and yeah, I'm, this is incredible.

[00:50:12] So Tyler, Jared, Avita, thank you so much for coming on the podcast tonight to talk about it. I really appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. We appreciate it. Well, thank you for having us. Yeah. Thanks for having us. Yeah. All right. Listeners check out civil disobedience. Just click, click, click the link in the show notes, go right to it, go back it. You're going to get some amazing comics. You're going to get some wonderful resources about protests and everything from protesting to things that you can do in your local community.

[00:50:42] And I don't know, we, we, we need those things right now and nothing is going to get better. If you don't do anything, it's just good. That's, that's the whole goal to maintain the status quo. Can I say one thing? Yeah. Vita, go right ahead. Close the show out. Go ahead. The resources will not be paywall. Yeah. Just to let everyone know the resources are not going to be paywall. Like they will be incorporated into the book, but they will also be available.

[00:51:13] Um, and that will be through away blue worlds. They will be facilitating kind of a landing page where a bunch of resources have been kind of put together. Many of them from Greg clock. Thank you, Greg. But we gave an opportunity for anyone contributing to, to add resources that we could. So you do not have to pay for the resources, but you, I, I highly suggest you check out the book and back the book anyway. Cause you want them in print. Yeah, that's right. We want them in print.

[00:51:42] We want to pay people something for contributing to the book. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. At that too. They'll, they'll just shut the internet off when they want to take it, take information from you. Like when they, if you, they can't take a physical book away from you. So back to book, back to book. That's it. Probably become better friends with Stephanie Williams. Back the book. Hopefully I've never winner. Stephanie Williams, go vote for her. If that isn't closed yet, go vote in the Eisners.

[00:52:12] If you can vote for Stephanie. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Stephanie's amazing. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you, Tyler, Jared Vida. Thank you so much listeners. And, and yeah, for comic book, Eddie, I'm Jimmy Gasparro. I'll see you next time. Good night. This is Byron O'Neill. One of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book, Eddie. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[00:52:40] Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the cryptic creator corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast into the comics cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.