Grant Stoye Interview - YULE vol. 2

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[00:00:55] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yetis Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo. And I have a good friend of mine returning to the podcast. I'm very excited to talk to him and figure out what the heck he's been up to. He has a brand new Kickstarter that just went live and we're going to talk all about it.

[00:01:17] It is Yule Volume 2. If anyone is familiar with Yule Volume 1, it was Ringo nominated and there is a murderer's row of creators telling these stories for Volume 2. I'm very excited to talk about it. Please welcome to the podcast, Gramps Loy. Gramps Loy. I mean, Gramps Loy. Sorry.

[00:01:42] Well, no, it's a common mistake. You'd be surprised how often we get mistaken for one another. Oh, yeah? Do you? Don't even worry about it. Are you like just at the store somewhere and people come up to you and they're like, Gramps? Are you Gramps Loy? No, it's at the cantina in Tatooine. We both frequent. We're drinking our blue milk. Like, gosh. If I had a nickel. You seem like a blue milk guy. I can't stop. I can't stop blue milking it.

[00:02:12] Do you know where it comes from? The big thing that Luke Skywalker milked. I have no idea. I was just going to say blue cows. That would have been a way better. I was trying to think of what that thing was called. I know it has a name and I apologize to any Star Wars people that are probably yelling right now like, oh, that's a that's a that's abortus. Why aren't you guys saying it's abortus?

[00:02:39] That actually that sounds like a good Star Wars villain. Darth abortus. Doesn't it? It sure could be. Yeah. Calm down, nerds. Well, thanks for thanks that I had to schedule this podcast for us to chat like real friends. Yeah. So you'll volume two. So let's talk a little bit about volume one and then we'll get into volume two.

[00:03:07] So what was the experience like? Just talk to me a little bit about it of putting that anthology together, you know, that Kickstarter campaign, like getting nominated for for a Ringo award for it. Um, what what was what was it like? Like, what was the whole the whole experience? Well, I think as with anyone who has ever done crown funding, like the fun part is putting the stuff together. Uh, that's it's collaboration.

[00:03:37] It's letting your freak flag fly. It's doing what you think that serves the story best and you're happy and everything's put together and it looks so beautiful. And then you, you launch the thing and then it's just 30 days of agony and you wish that you could be put into a coma. But apparently that's a weird thing to ask your doctor to be put into a coma because you can't look at your computer.

[00:04:04] And it's yeah, the that is that's a that's a pretty big ass, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, Grant, are you here to get your prescription renewed? Actually, Doc, I'd like to know. Could could you just I've heard people being put in medically induced comas? Oh, it does happen sometimes. Yeah, I'd like that. I would like is there a place I can sign up? It's look, I'm just saying we live in the 21st century.

[00:04:33] That should be an option. A. Yeah. And B. Yeah, the first Yule was really fun. Uh, it's so sorry switching gears. But yeah, it the the researching of all the the myths and folklore. That's I highly recommend everyone just look into other cultures versions of Christmas because it's so much more fascinating than big fat man. Go down chimney. Give present. There's.

[00:05:02] There's so many spooky scary things in delving into that and finding weirdos who also wanted to delve into that. And not only like sink their teeth into it, but really make each story stand out individually and artistically. And it's all because of everyone else that was associated with that book. It was not me that we were nominated for like everyone else was just amazing. And it's almost a similar thing with with this verse or this volume.

[00:05:31] Uh, cause we learned ways to make communicating a lot easier. Uh, we have a discord where we all kind of trade ideas and thoughts and comment on each other's art. And one of the artists said at one point we were all just fawning over his piece. And we said, man, this is, this is great. And he's like, well, this discord has kind of turned into an arms race between artists to who can post the coolest stuff.

[00:05:59] So apparently it turned into like a competition, which is great for me. But yeah. Yeah. So hopefully. Oh, sorry. Yeah, go ahead. No, I was going to say so. So. All right. So volume two, it's on Kickstarter right now. There's a link in the show notes so folks can go and check it out. So, so tell me in terms of, um, how does it work in terms of the, the stories? Because, you know, you don't want to cover the same ground you did for volume one.

[00:06:28] But like you said, there are a lot of different myths and folk tales and kind of spooky things you can do. Um, did people come to you with, with pitches? Did you have some things in particular that you were hoping folks would, would cover and, and, and tell a story with for volume two? Yeah, there was a couple of leftover stories from the first volume that I just wanted to keep around because we didn't get to them or things didn't work out and creators had to bail. But there, there are stories that I've definitely wanted told.

[00:06:57] So I put those in with a new list of prompts because as we've said again and again, like there are so many different mythologies, uh, in the world that, that we need to look at for, for these stories. Um, but I, I want all the creators to know as well, if they have something cool that we haven't done before, or I have no idea what it is, pitch it to me. And that always results in some really crazy stuff.

[00:07:25] Uh, which in the first volume, uh, there was that really weird story that Heather Vaughn and Jason Piper Berg did about Cagatillo, the, the Christmas log. Like that's kind of the result of tell me something cool. And it turns out amazingly. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, the, the, the first volume is fantastic and that's the best thing about, that's what I like about anthologies and that you just not only discovered different stories, but you know, also, you know, different writers, different artists that you might not be familiar with.

[00:07:54] And like just everything in Yule volume one is really well done, really well put together. It's, it's fantastic. So thank you. I, I didn't do much. Uh, thankfully it was everyone else that was very good. No. Well, I mean, you did put the Kickstarter together and then, you know, hit, hit the refresh button on your computer several hundred times a day for 30 days.

[00:08:19] Mm-hmm hoping your doctor would put you in that medically induced coma and you could just wake up and it would be funded and you could, you could go on with your life. Yeah. And then I, I cried on Twitter about it. So that was good. Right. So man, you know, Jimmy, when you put it that way, I did so much. You did, you did, you did so much. Your, your, your kids are of an age now. Have they discovered that?

[00:08:44] Like, like, have they gotten to a point where if, if you're mad, cause this is what I would have done to my parents. If we had the internet then, like if you were mad or yelling, like would they just dial it up and like play back to your face the video of you crying on Twitter? Cause if not, I would like to send an email to them that they should do that. Well, jokes on them because I have videos of them crying and throwing tantrums of children.

[00:09:10] So in an arms race of me versus my children with embarrassing material, I mean, I'm going to come out on top. You think so? Oh yeah. I'm not letting those losers win. Oh, all right. All right. Can you bleep out what I called my kids losers? Nope. No, no. Keeping it in. This all, this all goes in. It's all, it's all, it's all staying in. It's all staying in. This is what they'll play me when I'm in the home and I ask why they never visit.

[00:09:40] Yep. It's cause one time on a podcast, you, you called them losers. That's all right. I say, I talk shit about my wife all the time on the podcast and somebody once said like, isn't she going to be me? I'm like, you think my wife listens to my podcast? Exactly. Yeah. Like, even when I work at the radio and like did podcasts and stuff, there's no way my wife listened ever. And I don't think my kids ever listened unless I was driving them back from daycare. Yeah. Yeah. And they, they, they were forced to.

[00:10:11] Um, well, so let's talk about you. Let's talk about some of these stories. Let's go through them because I, I mean, I mean, I, I think I recognize every name on here, uh, of, of somebody who just, you know, whose work I really like and admire. Um, yeah, I, I, I'm pretty sure, um, every name one here I'm, I'm familiar with, but, uh, just to go through some of them, you have a Jacob Marley story, Dylan Gilbertson and Zach

[00:10:40] Traum, uh, pair. Wotard. That one. I don't, I don't know that at all. Leslie Julian. That one Minerva Fox. That's fantastic. Um, that werewolves, Ian Mondrick and Frederick Hornung. I like, I mean, they, uh, that's the stuff that Ian and Frederick have kickstarted recently has been fantastic. Yeah. It's been super creepy. Yeah. You got Felhound and AHG cat ballman, Alaya Rossico, Casper Bennett.

[00:11:10] Uh, Krista, uh, cabbage, uh, harder and Han Seely. Using her government name. Yep. Or using their government name. I'm reading, I'm reading their government name. Um, yeah, but some of these myths I, or, or stories or characters, I, yeah. Cabbages and Han Seely, uh, Julu Puki. I don't know that at all.

[00:11:36] Uh, Morocco is doing carnival of, uh, I'll, I'll say mama thones. Mama tonus is a Greek. I don't know. It's funny to hear you read them out loud because I realized in my head, I've never actually said them out loud. So look, I'm, I'm, I'm going to be brave. I'm going to be brave and I'm going to do my best. Yeah. But the, uh, Sierra Barnes is doing, uh, Kukari. Kukari. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Either one. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:06] DB Andrew and Desalina Grishko. Uh, I want to say it's St. Nuts Day, but it's probably like St. Ute's Day or something. St. Nuts Day is a different thing altogether. That's a different anthology. Oh yeah. Okay. Probably. One of the, the themes of this one is, uh, like Val Halverson did the cover of creepy guys in masks.

[00:12:33] And this one has a kind of a through line of creepy people in masks, uh, dealing with evil spirits. And I noticed that there was a lot of familiarity between some of these Nordic tales and some of these Eastern European tales where these are celebrations that still go on today and kind of finding out the differences between each one and then letting the creative teams do their

[00:13:00] thing with them has been really fascinating. Like that's my favorite thing about doing these is seeing people's interpretations of like this basic premise. And thank God for the internet because you can look it up and look up where they came from or what the costumes looked like compared to what they look like now. And yeah, it's just, it's wild seeing people turn these mythologies into their own works.

[00:13:28] And, um, one thing I wanted to do with each of these volumes is the creators own their story. Like if they want to pitch it anywhere else they can. Uh, and I think that that gives them a little more incentive to get as weird as they want with it. Really? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Were there, we'll talk about some of the myths that are in here. Like, was there anything that like you were really excited to have in here that you like

[00:13:54] totally weren't familiar with or just ones that you think, you know, backers and the eventual readers of this are really going to find interesting? Uh, well, one story, uh, I'm really excited for people to read is, uh, well, and we kind of worked together to hammer out like just the, the nuts and bolts of her story,

[00:14:20] but she had this really cool idea about incorporating AI as the antagonist in this, this short story. And the, what she's able to do in this is incredible because again, these are all like four pages and it's really hard to make an impactful work and just four pages. Yeah. And I don't know how she came up with this concept, how it mutated and how she actually portrayed it, but we've got one of the pages on the Kickstarter right now.

[00:14:48] And that's just a fraction of how crazy the story gets. And it's funny. It was one of the stories left over from the first volume that I really thought was cool. And I, I'm really glad that she, she came to it and had a cool idea and went with it. Uh, yeah, the, the, the page on the Kickstarter is, I mean, it's, it's, it's really kind of creepy as shit. Uh, yeah.

[00:15:14] And I, I love, uh, I love a layers work. I finally got to work with a layer last earlier this year, last year. Um, and it was just like, it was, it was fantastic. So yeah, I, as, as part of the granite, uh, CJ Hudson, one of, uh, his super, his superhero that's part of like the summit comics universe.

[00:15:39] And, um, yeah, CJ had wanted to do backup stories and I put a pitch out there and he liked it. And I think, I think he had even asked me, is there anybody you've ever like wanted to work with? And I was like, I, I, I'd love it if the layer could do it and a layer did it. And yeah, it was awesome to see a layer like draw superheroes and villains. And it just turned out, it turned out amazing.

[00:16:06] So it is so gratifying to see her bring any idea to life because she's so thorough and so clean and so detailed. Oh yeah. And, and this, the story for the, the backup story that we did for granite, like granite has to take on like one superhero was just like a garbage man, but I mean like a monster made out of like garbage. And I think that's all I said in the script. And it is, it's so good.

[00:16:36] And also a layer had to draw him like being hit by it, like, like stuck to the front of a truck after just getting hit by a truck. And just, it's, it's just wonderful. It was so awesome working with a layer. So yeah, I can't wait to see what a layer has done with the mouse king. So yeah. And I got, I got really lucky that like all the artists I asked agreed and it's still,

[00:17:02] it, it boggles my mind because these are artists who I've been following for a long time for the most part. And I love their artwork and I could only dream of like what it would look like if they were on a book I was in or something like that. So it's seeing their pages is just very, it is warm and tingly and fuzzy, which is kind of the opposite of the feeling the book's supposed to give you, but I can't help it because they're all really good.

[00:17:29] But yeah, I mean, everybody in here, I was starting to get through, through, I think I got to see a reborns, but I mean, oh, I said DV who I'm just like the biggest fan of David Andrews work. I mean, I think I have like every comic David is, has written. Oh yeah. And his story is so cool.

[00:17:54] And the funny story, he turned in his draft, I think the day or two after I asked and I was like, are you sure you don't want to take any time? He's like, I don't like homework. Yeah, that's fantastic. But yeah, but Don Cardenas is in this. You're doing a story with Heather Vaughn, who Heather's amazing.

[00:18:23] And then Amy Chase and Alex Schlitz. I love Amy. Oh, Torin Chennault, Lauren Hauser, The Wreck of 1912. And Ray Allen is doing a story. And I, I, I really would be taking a big swing trying to pronounce the name of Ray's story. Oh my gosh. It's very Irish. It is so Irish. It's slow, slow ship, this should city.

[00:18:53] I don't know, man. I don't, I really don't. Did you start to try and say that? And then I really did. And then halfway through, I was like, this isn't working. You're going to turn to the Lucky Charms Leprechaun if you keep pushing this. Oh, it's magically delicious. Yeah. Yeah. Slusidae a bruna boine. I don't know. You know what? That was pretty good. Was it? Yeah. All right. Ray will be like, that wasn't even close. You're Jimmy O. Gasparo.

[00:19:23] I am. I am. I'm Italian. And well, I guess I'm a little Italian, right? I mean, I mean, my, my dad's half Italian. I am. I'm mostly Irish and English. I just. Really? Look like this. I just look like this. Yeah. Just. The key control is. This is just my face. Yeah. Just my face. So. So there you go. Um. And the, the Heather story is. Uh. We were just kicking around ideas.

[00:19:53] Uh. Of like what we wanted to do. And I thought about. Well, you know what? The, which one? Your sound like. Just went out. Uh oh. Can you hear me now? Now. You're, you're back now. So whatever you started to say. I couldn't stop swearing. I think that's just our school internet. Telling me not to swear. Oh. Okay. I don't know. Is that what I'm on? Uh. But anyway. Like.

[00:20:23] I, I really wanted to work with Heather. And we were tossing around. Like things that might be cool. And I realized that the. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Like. The whole thing begins on Christmas. Like it's a Christmas festival. That the Green Knight interrupts them. Uh. So I just kind of. Started. Saying like. Do you think this is cool? Would it be cool to do this story? And she's like yeah. Uh. Can we make it really gothic? And I was like absolutely. So.

[00:20:53] I wrote something. I had Ian Mondrick give it a once over. To make sure it didn't suck. And it made sense. And then Heather's got it. And. Man. It's going to be really dark. And I think that's. The. The most excited I've been for a story in a while. That's awesome. Is just seeing how she's going to do it. Because she sent me her. Like. Inspiration board. And it's all these. These. Creepy ass. Like heavily inked. Uh. Painting style things. Oh.

[00:21:23] Yeah. Heather's work is fantastic. I. I just had. Jackson. Lansing. And Colin Kelly on. And they're doing. You'll never leave this place alive. With Heather. And it was just. Um. You know. I. I want to get Heather. To come back on the podcast. Because Jackson and Colin were just like. Blown away. You know. By. Heather's work on the. On the comic. Uh. But. Yeah. Everything. Like Heather touches.

[00:21:53] Is just fantastic. And especially with. A darker story. I feel like her style. Kind of really. Lends it to something like that. So. Oh yeah. And. Like all these. These folks are extremely easy to work with. Like any sort of stupid. Minute note. I might have. They take. And. They make it better. Or they surpass anything. I thought they could have done. And. It's so. Reassuring. To just be like. All right. Go to town. Do your thing. And then they turn the stuff. And it's like.

[00:22:23] Okay. You are very talented. At what you do. Uh. So. Thank you. So. What stories out of here. Did you just have. No familiarity with. Oh man. Like a lot of the. I'm kind of curious. A lot of the costume. The costumed stories. Uh. I. I. I. I knew. That there were. These weird. Celebrations. That people would have. In Europe. Where they dress like monsters. Or whatever.

[00:22:52] But I didn't know. Or understand like. What exactly. They were doing. Why they chose. The garb that they did. And what kind of spirits. They were trying to. Ward off. So it was neat to. Learn the. The baseline. Of things. Then have the creative team. To just. Dive head first. Into it. Kind of. Make it. Make a better. Explanation. That. The main thing. I could kind of. Mush mouth out. And. So. With like.

[00:23:22] Some of the. Some of those. Those stories. That. You know. They were. Putting together. Did. Were there any. That you were like. Oh I would want to. Celebrate this. Oh man. Man. Well one. One story. That. I kind of. Stumbled on to. Was the one that. Torrin and. And Lauren are working on. The. The wreck of 1912. It's based on a true story. That happened. Around Detroit.

[00:23:52] It was. It took place. On one of the Great Lakes. Where this Christmas tree ship. Ship sank. Like before Christmas. And. It just seems like such a cool. Michigan centric. Occurrence. That now I kind of want to. Learn more about it. Maybe have like a. Celebration. For the. The mighty trees. That lost their lives that night. Did people lose their life? Or is it. Just the trees. Do we know. Or is that. Part of the surprise.

[00:24:22] Yeah. I can't. I can't say more than the trees. Okay. Okay. But it's a Christmas book. It's a horror book. You can probably. Guess what happens. Yeah. I probably can. I was just looking it up right now. I was just googling. The National Maritime Historical Society. About. The Christmas tree ship. That's the one. Roush. There we go. That. It feels like you should start playing.

[00:24:51] The Edmund Fitzgerald song. In the background. At this point. Hey. The captain of the ship. Was nicknamed. Captain Santa. Mm-hmm. Herman Schoonerman. Well see. I'm going to go down the rabbit hole. And just start. Talking about. The wreck of 1912 now. Yeah. All these are like. Really wild. When you start digging into them. The Perry Futard one. Like as soon as you get the background. Of that. You're like. Oh. This guy kind of sucked. Uh.

[00:25:22] That's kind of like. The. The. Some of the other. Uh. I know in the. The one I did with Alex. In volume one. Was a Hans trap. And the person that that's based off of. Was an awful person. And just learning the history behind these is. It's kind of grotesque. Yeah. There's. There's. There are a lot of things like that though. Where you think like. Oh. This doesn't sound too bad. And then you really start to dig into what like actually happened. And it's like.

[00:25:52] Oh. Oh no. Why are. We should probably stop singing. Ring around the Rosie now. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. It's about what? What do you mean? Why? Why? Why do we teach this to children? This is so depressing. Yeah. So tell me about the. The. Uh. Uh. Andri. And Desalina Grishko one. The St. Canute's Day. Mm. Uh. What is that? It is a.

[00:26:22] It is a man in masks. Sort of story. Um. And David had a cool idea. Uh. And it kind of plays with the perception of the reader. Like it leads you in one direction. And then takes you in another way. And. Des was working on. Some of the pencils. Uh. A couple weeks ago. And seeing. How. She took. This. Really cool. Of. Version of events. And.

[00:26:51] Start making the monsters. And making the. The costumes. Mm. And then started looking really eerie. And really good. And. One thing that David. Excels at. Is just. The ability to tell. A succinct story. Well. And I think that having him do a four page story. Really worked to. His strengths. Because his story turned out. Really well. Uh. I'm sure once. The books out and stuff. I feel like. It would be cool to turn out. Uh. Like a compendium. Of all the different people's scripts.

[00:27:21] To see like. What they were thinking. What they include in their scripts. For like. References or whatever. Um. Just because it. I don't know about you. But I love hearing about people's processes. And what goes through their minds. When they're. They're choosing certain. Aspects of the story. To heighten. Or to lessen. Or what to lean into. And what to avoid. Oh yeah. I'm. I agree. I'm the same way. Um. I also like with the podcast. Like especially when they get an opportunity. To have a writer. And artist on. And kind of. Look at.

[00:27:51] Well what was in the script. And what was the writer. Kind of thinking. When they put that script together. And then what did the artists do with that. Like that. That. Um. Moment where. You know. The writing goes. Into the art. And. Like. How. Sizes. Onto the page. Like what. What. When. The. A writer writes. Whatever it is. In terms of a panel description. And a panel layout. And then how that.

[00:28:21] How the writer sees it. And then how the artist. Will then take that. And like how. They see it. You know. Because I. Don't. I used to work. For a guy. George Hebner. May he rest in peace. And. And George and I cleaned out houses. Cleaned out estates. And. He took stuff to auction. I did it all throughout high school and college. And we would have to load. The U-Haul truck. Or George's truck. Or van. Whatever we were using. And George was great at it.

[00:28:50] And he used to say. That he'd never met anybody. With less spatial awareness. Than me. And so. I think about that all the time. When I am writing scripts. And. And like trying to. Like. Picture everything. Thing. And. And making sure everything. Makes sense. Making sure all the. The actions on the page. Like. Makes sense. Making sure like. Everything. I am still always amazed. What I love about comics. Is when. Like. I'll get.

[00:29:20] Thumbnails. Or something from a writer. And they're like. You had this. But I'm going to break this into two panels. Or. Yeah. You have it described like this. But I. I see it. This way. Because that's how the artist's. You know. Brain works. And then I. Get it back. And I'm just like. Oh. Yeah. That makes. That makes way more sense. Absolutely. I just. Did not see it that way. And. You know. I love. Figuring those. Moments out. And that's kind of why comic artists.

[00:29:49] Are kind of superior to a lot of different storytellers. Because their knowledge of visual language. And physics. And all this stuff comes into play. And they often make our shitty words way better. There was this one sequence. In one of the side quest books. Where I had like. Good God. So many panels of just two people fighting. And Hilaire's like. What if we take out the panels. And just like. Put a couple images. Like laid out like this. And against this backdrop. And I was like. Oh.

[00:30:18] That looks so much more aesthetically appealing. I'm glad that you are smart. And I am not. And also. With this volume. I had a lot more. Writer. Artist. Like solo people. Like storytellers. Yeah. And it's neat to see. Their process. Because they. They would write a script. For the most part. But the way the scripts. Were presented. It was in a way that they understood. Not quite in a way that I understood.

[00:30:48] So I had to adjust my way of thinking. Because I think. Like. Hilaire had grids. That she had. Written like story beats and stuff. My friend Casper. Had a bunch of just like. Story beats. Amongst. A lot of weird. Like is that someone talking? Or is this. What you want the. Your artist. Self to understand. Or to remember. And then Kat. With the grither. She wrote things. In a way. That it's like.

[00:31:18] Man. How. How does your brain work. To translate. Like. Your visual imagery. To what you're. Writing out here. For me to check. It's. It's just fascinating. I. Working with. The. The cartinos. Who do. Writing in. And their own art. Is just. It's so impressive. To see. First hand. And I can't recommend. Like. If someone puts out a book. With back matter. So you can see their thought process. Like do get that. Yeah.

[00:31:48] That's my favorite. It's like my. My favorite thing. To go through. Those. And especially. If there's a script. And then there's like. The. The thumbnails. And then. The inking. And like. To see how things develop. To see how things change. Yeah. I love being able to see that. And also. I think it helps. You know. It's kind of like. I think it improves. My writing. Being able to see how. Other folks are doing it. But more so. To be able to see how. Artists are. You know. Interpreting. The script. And. That's the biggest thing. With when somebody asks about.

[00:32:17] Writing comic. Comics. It's like. Well when you find the artist. That you want to work with. Like talk to them. Find out what they want to draw. Find out. What works best for. Them. You know. Yeah. Because writers. There's no right or wrong way. To like. Format. A comic script. I mean. Letterers will tell you differently. I love letterers. So we want to make sure. That we're not. Using tabs. Or whatever. We're going to do. That's going to mess with. Lettering. Oh god. Yeah. But. But yeah. Like. Just get it all down. Figure out what works best. For your artist.

[00:32:47] And tailor the script. To them as best you can. I think you're going to have. A much better collaboration. I can't remember. If I read this. Saw this. Or was told this. But someone. Conveyed the. The knowledge. Is that when you're writing a script. You're not writing it. For an audience to read. You're not writing it. For the editor to read. You're writing it. For your artist to read. And it's their interpretation. Of your words. I think. I. That helped me immensely. Because. Yeah. Because. When you're working with artists. That you trust. It's a lot easier to.

[00:33:17] You don't have to give. Alan more descriptions. Of like two pages. For one panel. You can just be like. This happens. It kind of reminds me of this. So do that. Yeah. I know. It's true. I mean. I feel like. Writing Penny and the Yeti. Was the first time. Where I was just like. Because I think. When I first started. Writing even. Short scripts. And I hadn't really written. More than a 10 page script. And then I had to write. Penny and the Yeti. Which is like. 120 some pages. So. But. Writing a short script.

[00:33:47] And starting out. And being like. An old person. You know. Like the first thing. I ever wrote. The. You know. I was 40. You know. When I was. So I'm like. Oh. I'm 40. I'm not like. Not a kid trying this. I feel like. Even. You know. I should. Know what I'm doing. Even if I've never done it before. So I. Always wanted to make sure. Like it was right. And it was good. And it was. Whatever. Whatever. But Penny and the Yeti. I realized. Like I can't. Like I can't do that. I can't.

[00:34:17] I don't think it's going to work. That. That well. So. Penny and the Yeti. Was the first time. Where like writing to Amber. I was just like. This is what I am thinking here. You know. It wasn't. It wasn't like. Panel descriptions. Like it's this. And then it's this. And then it's this. It's like. All right. I think the family should be here. It should be this. I was thinking of something like this. Do you think this will work? It was more of like. It was the first time. I wrote a script. That felt like. I was writing a conversation. Between me and the artist.

[00:34:46] Not just. You know. Yeah. For somebody else to read. Like you said. And. I feel like that makes it. A lot more. Organic. Too. Like when you're just. When you're just having a dialogue. With someone. On a page. Then. That. Like your ideas convey better. When you're talking to someone. And it's almost like you're bouncing off each other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Process man. Yeah. I love it. Well. Speaking of process though.

[00:35:16] In terms of. Running a Kickstarter. Like. Do you feel like you. Learned stuff from the first one. And that you were better prepared. Or are better prepared. For this one. Like where there are crowdfunding lessons. You had learned. That. You now took with you. From volume one. Into volume two. To hopefully. Make. Make the process. A little less stressful. If at all possible. Right. Uh. Well.

[00:35:45] Accepting the fact. Your voice went up a few octaves. As she started to answer the question. My entire body is. Clenching up. Just thinking about this. And there's still so much time left. And I hate it so much. Oh. But I learned. Grant. You're. You're like. You're starting to sound like a Muppet. Like. You're almost. I think you went past Beaker. Clear. Almost. To Mickey Mouse. You're like. Yeah. It's really hard. Running a Kickstarter.

[00:36:15] Oh boy. You wouldn't even believe. How rough this gets. Uh. Uh. But. With the first one. Uh. Like the only. Kickstarters I had done. Were the side quest ones. And those are. Pretty like. Bare boned. And streamlined. And that's just kind of. How I. How I operate. And when it came to. The first Yule one. I realized that. You can't do the same thing. Over and over again. Because that's. Boring for everyone. It looks like you're mailing it in. Uh.

[00:36:44] So this time. Uh. Thankfully. I got people to help me out. Like. Ian Mondrick has been such a huge help. In. Uh. Both plotting out. How the. The Kickstarter is going to work. To how the campaign is going to work. And how. To. Order certain of the. Of the add-ons. And just. In general. Just being a huge help. And then. Fell. Being. A saint. As though. No one else had ever been so saintly. Was like. Can I help you with graphics?

[00:37:14] And I was like. You please God. Help me with graphics. So the. Some of the stuff that she's got up right now. Is just. It's so small. And it's so. Perfect. That you're like. How did. How did this happen? Did it. Did an angel do this? It must be the case. So. For this one. I. I. I tried to. Just. Rely on people. Who are offering help. Because I'm. The type of weirdo. That I don't. I don't like asking for help.

[00:37:44] Uh. If help is. Offer to me in any. Former fashion. Like very rarely. Will I say yes please. Uh. Because I hate myself. And I want things to be hard. All the time. Um. Yeah. That's not great Grant. No. It's. It's. It's not. It's not good. I'm not your therapist. But I'm just letting you know. It's. Not great buddy. Oh boy. I hope my therapist isn't listening. Because that. That would be. That's almost worse than my kids. Being called losers. Uh. But. I think that we did a good job.

[00:38:14] I'm sorry. I. My brain doesn't work. Uh. I think that this. This campaign is a lot better. In terms of. Allowing people to help. Um. All. Everyone's on the same. The same page with this. Even though. And I think you can speak to this too. Like. It feels like in the last couple years. Kickstarters and crowdfunding. Has become. Much more difficult. Cult. And it's hard to. Yeah. Be confident in something like that.

[00:38:44] Even though you're confident in the work. But it's making sure. That the word gets out. And people get eyeballs on it. And they know what's going on. And I feel like we're in a. A much better place. With this one. Because. Not only do we have. The new people. Uh. On this. Who want this to do well. But thankfully. There's. Some veterans. Of the first one. Who are. Are chiming in. About like. How they had a good experience. And they like that one. And they think that we should give this one a shot. And. I feel.

[00:39:14] Like. Like obviously. Anxious to the point of vomiting. Every moment. Uh. That I have awake. But a little bit better. Knowing that there's such a good. Support system. To try and see this. To the finish line. So I can cry on camera again. Good. That's what we all want. Ultimately. I think you just want me to cry. As I try Scrapple. Because. It's horrible. It's delicious. It's. You. You can't say that you've never had it. You've never had it. No. Right.

[00:39:44] I've never had it. Yeah. It's delicious. It's. It's. It's. It's the lips and assholes that don't go into a hot dog. I don't want any of that. That's. That's not what it. That's not what it is. It's more like cornmeal that's been soaked in pig juice. That sounds even less appetizing. No. No. And it's turning. Then it's. It's congealed into a block. And then you cut it and fry it. Congealed is not a word that I want to find its way into my stomach. Yeah.

[00:40:14] And it's like a gray color. But then when you cook it, it kind of turned brown. True or false. The slogan is everything but the oink. I think that is somebody's slogan. Yes. I don't know if that's Rapa, Scrapple or Haberset. We got a Delaware and Delco or we like our Scrapple. But yeah. And look, you don't have to have it on its own. Next time you come here, we could just do. You have a Scrapple egg and cheese on a bread of your choice.

[00:40:41] You know, there's there was a place down here in Middletown, Delaware. They made a Scrapple cheese steak. That just seems unholy. It was very good. Oh, there is a place right around the corner from me that they make Scrapple fries where they cut the Scrapple to make, you know, into strips and fry them. And, you know, we could do like a cheese sauce to dip into it if you want. Wait, so there's no fries in the Scrapple fry?

[00:41:12] It's Scrapple disguised as fries? Yeah. Yeah. It looks like it's just it's just Scrapple made into a fry shape and then deep fried. I would rather suck on someone's socks than eat them. No, no, you wouldn't. No. It's so good. Hey, you know, the good thing about French fries, the potatoes? There's none of that. We're not doing potatoes. But it's like the places have other, you know, where they're like this is Scrapple fries are good, though.

[00:41:42] Like you ever go somewhere and they're like, oh, it's like zucchini fries. And you're like, what is that? That's just zucchini that's been cut in the shape of a fry. You can't believe me. Zucchini fries? But Scrapple fries are good. They're good. The Scrapple cheesesteak was very good. Shout out to First State Brewing that had it on their menu. I'm just saying. Is there still steak in the cheesesteak or is that a lie, too? Oh, no. Yeah, it was called it was called a Scrapple cheesesteak, but they would they would take

[00:42:11] this Scrapple and they cut it into cubes and would deep fry it and put it on the cheesesteak with like fried onions and peppers and cheese. Although I don't really think peppers belong on a cheesesteak like not bell peppers like sweet or hot. But, you know, if you if you like so hot take hot take on on. I just I hate when you go to places that aren't. I hate when you go to places that aren't Philly and it's like they put it like it's a it's

[00:42:39] a Philly, you know, it's a Philly cheesesteak and it's got green bell peppers on it. I just drives me insane. I don't think they belong there. That's yeah, I guess that's my hot take. But Scrapple does. It's delicious. I'm going to put in a stretch goal where if this if it is met, I'm going to sit down and eat all these disgusting Scrapple things. No. OK, good, good.

[00:43:08] But I have to be there. I want to be look, I'll make the Scrapple if you want. I will buy the Scrapple and I'll I'll cut it and I'll make it. I'll make it. I will. I don't make the Scrapple. I will buy the Scrapple and I will cook it. I will fly out to Philadelphia. We reach this threshold that we've all gather around and watch me eat these horrible things. And then for dessert, I'll have pineapple pizza. Wait, you don't like pineapple on your pizza either? No, it's abysmal.

[00:43:35] Why would anyone want that on on something so perfect? I love it. I love a nice Hawaiian pizza, you know, especially from a really good place like Papa John's. So then you could dip it in the garlic sauce. It's so good. My stomach just lurched so hard. I think you could hear it hit the table in front of me. Yeah. Ham and pineapple. It's like garlic butter. Savory. It's so. Oh, my God. I would. I. Yeah.

[00:44:04] Dip it in that garlic butter. That's so good. So good. What? Why are you looking at me like that? The listeners can't see. I'm trying not to throw up on camera. Yeah. I love it. I love pineapple on pizza. Mm hmm. Takes all cards. Come for me. It does. It does. It's not, you know, I don't think I don't think it's I. I don't know. It's delicious. Have you at least tried it? Or is it another thing that. Okay.

[00:44:32] I feel like the Italian side of you is raging and just raging against you. Yeah. Yeah. We just he he's he's little he's mean and he's very he's very upset about some of the things that the other side of me does. Oh, I mean, like, you know, I've talked about it before. My my favorite drunk sandwich is I get like leftover whenever we have leftover spaghetti and I just microwave it till it's like warm.

[00:45:03] But I don't put any sauce on it. And then I put it on buttered white bread with American cheese and I sprinkle all day on it. That's my favorite sandwich when I've been drinking. What? What's going on? Are you still conscious when I've had a couple of drinks? It's the sandwich I want. I thought you were going to say something like a McDouble. No, no. But I can only have it when we have leftover pasta in the fridge.

[00:45:27] And then I because we my wife puts the or and I do whenever we put the food away, we we put the pasta away separate from the sauce. So that's just like. Yeah. Because the kids don't like a lot of sauce. But then I can just take the dry pasta that's been cooked and I can microwave it till it's warm and I can put it on buttered white bread with American cheese and sprinkled with old bay. I don't. I feel like Anthony Bourdain is just spinning underground. Maybe.

[00:45:56] Pasta sandwich. That's like carbs on carbs on carbs. Yeah. Well, that's why I look like this. Oh, man, that was close. All right. Well, you heard it here, folks. It's stretch goal that Grant is going to eat scrapple. He's going to come to Delaware and I'm going to get some either some wrap of scrapple and I'm going to cook it up for him. I can't believe there's more than one type of scrapple. This is so offensive. No, it's all this.

[00:46:25] It's just different companies that make it. You know, it's it's like, you know, it's good. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. Then you'll be like, you're going to be a new convert to scrap head. Scrap head. Yep. You'll you'll scrap it. That doesn't sound great. We'll have to neither does scrap. Come up with something. Why are we splitting? You're wrong. You're wrong. It sounds amazing. I don't I don't get why you wouldn't why you wouldn't like it. Look, see.

[00:46:55] Oh, there it is. There's wrap a scrapple. A cut above breakfast and more breakfast and more. And see, look, you can look at that delicious patty. Look at that. A cut above what? I don't know. I don't have all the answers. Wrap. Wrap a scrapple. Wrap a scrapple. That start. That sounds like a Star Wars name. It does. Actually. Yeah. Wrap a scrapple. Wrap a scrapple.

[00:47:24] That's something like the one of the like the droids or Jawas say or something, you know, other than they say gravel. Yep. Well, Grant, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. And I'm sorry I terrified you with my delicious food choices and how I eat things. Thank you for making me not hungry anymore. You're welcome. All right, listeners. Yule Volume 2.

[00:47:54] It's going to be on Kickstarter until November 1st. So it is just an amazing group of creators. Volume 1 was amazing. I'm sure you're going to be able to pick up Volume 1 as part of the Kickstarter if you are not familiar. But Volume 1 was nominated for a Ringo Award. And this Volume 2 is just, I know, is just going to be amazing because the folks involved in it are just tremendous. The stories sound fascinating.

[00:48:23] I want to learn more about the terrible, horrible holidays that they have celebrated around the world during this season. And I mean horrible, terrible, meaning scary. Not that they're bad celebrations. But whether it's like masked characters or other types of spooky stories. Yeah. I'm very excited for this.

[00:48:49] And yeah, really excited to see you working with Heather Vaughan Grant because Heather's a wonderful. Well, thanks, buddy. I am very excited too. All right. Anything else you got going on that you want to chat about? Everyone should stay hydrated. It's a good way to prevent headaches. And yeah, look for surprise stretch goals and other certain add-ons or whatnot.

[00:49:19] And please, if you know a rich person, just have them fund it now so I can unclench. All right. So if you know a rich person, so Grant can unclench, that would be great. But if not, just keep spreading the word. Share it on social media. Tell your friends about it. Tell your local comic book shop about it. And yeah, you'll go right to the link in the show notes. Make sure you back Yule volume two. Shout out to my brother Bobby, the cryptic creator corners. Number one, most dedicated fan.

[00:49:48] Bobby also loves Scrapple. And thanks, Bob. And Bobby also, I think, likes pineapple on pizza. But he stopped eating pork products since he's got his pig Stella. So. Oh, yeah. You know, I'm glad that had a happy ending. It did so far. But if Stella bites the kids one more time, he might let me eat her. Maybe. I don't know. All right.

[00:50:17] Listeners, thank you so much for listening. Good night. And I'll see you next time. Jimmy is too humble to do this. So as his stalwart writer died, 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 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.

[00:50:47] 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 lies in effectively tapping into the all-too-familiar family dynamics that 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.

[00:51:15] 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. 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. Yahoo!

[00:51:47] This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner, brought to you by Comic Book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast, Into the Comics Cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:52:17] Thank you. Bye.