Ian Mondrick Interview - Mongoose: The Unconventional Art of Joseph Mondrick

[00:00:00] Your ears do not deceive you. You've just entered the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by your friends at Comic Book Yeti. So without further ado, let's get on to the interview. Hey everyone, this is... Hi Byron. Who is this? I'm your fairy godmother. I have a fairy godmother? Of course you do. I'm 50 years old, why haven't you shown up before? I appear when I'm needed. And I didn't need you in all these years? Do you want my help or not? Um...

[00:00:30] Sure. Exactly. I was just about to pitch our Patreon. Why would I need help with that? Because you're an idiot sometimes. That's hurtful. What were you going to put on there? We do comic stuff? So something along those lines? And this is why I'm here. You do know what people put on Patreon most of the time, right? Honestly, no. People need something a little bit spicy to entice them to support you.

[00:00:59] Nobody wants to see me shirtless. I doubt that's true. You are in pretty good shape considering your age. Thank you. Let's see. A little spicy. I've been bugging Jimmy to figure out what he's going to do. I know lately he's been playing around with his **** all the time. He loves to take it out and show it off. There's even a specific TikTok channel now. How's that sound? Not a bad start. People like Jimmy. What else you got?

[00:01:24] I told a story recently about being in a strip club with some of the four horsemen when I was working for WCW back in the day. I picked up an infection on my- Woo! From the experience, I hate strip clubs. Is that better? Getting there. But maybe spicy shouldn't include infections you get in strip clubs. That's not sexy. We'll workshop it. Like I need more meating. At least tell them where to find it while we figure this out. Mother goddess, help this poor man.

[00:01:52] You can find us on Patreon at cryptidcreatorcornerpod. I'll put it in the show notes. Anything else you'd like to remind me that I'm bad at? How much time do you have? Why do you look like Rosario Dawson anyway? I appear the way you want me to look. Okay, that's disturbing. Wait, have you been showing up in my dreams? I'll never tell. And we're done here. Y'all, Jimmy, the Chaos Goblin strikes again.

[00:02:20] I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad. He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know, and now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we could start playing. Another friend chimes in, are you going to make maps? It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together, so I guess? Question mark? It was then that I discovered Arkenforge.

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[00:03:14] Check them out at Arkenforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off. I'll drop a link in the show notes for you, and big thanks to Arkenforge for partnering with our show. I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Hello, and welcome to Comic Book YETI's Cryptid Creator Corner. I'm one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparro, and I have a fantastic guest. I think this is their first time on the podcast.

[00:03:42] We met in person at Baltimore Comic Con and have kind of been, you know, on social media in the same circles for quite some time. I'm a huge fan of their writing books like the Tomb of the White Horse, Tomb of the Red Horse, and the most recent was Tomb of the Black Horse. And they are here today to talk about Mongoose, which is a wonderful black and white art book.

[00:04:09] The artist is Joseph Mondrick, and we're going to hear all about it today from our guest, Ian Mondrick. Ian, welcome to the podcast. Jimmy, how are you doing? I'm doing very well. Thank you so much for joining me. I was delighted to run into you in Baltimore, and I'm so glad that we're able to do this and have you on the podcast.

[00:04:31] And, yeah, we talked before I actually started recording, and Ian, you were saying how, like, Matt and Comic Book Yeti was one of the first, I think, folks that kind of, like, really, you know, told you how much they loved, I think, Tomb of the White Horse, which was the first in the series. Yeah, they were a big cosigner, like, early on, and we got a good reception from the book, but, yeah, their cosign was huge.

[00:05:00] It gave us a lot of confidence and I think, you know, gave us kind of a good resume or repertoire in the community. So, yeah, I've been a huge fan of Yeti for a long time. I've written a bunch of articles for them. I did a bunch of articles for Tomb of the Black Horse. Like, I love contributing. And, yeah, I think I do know why it's taken me so long to be on the show, just because it's been two years since I've had anything that's come out, right? Number one.

[00:05:27] And also just, I've only recently learned that it's kind of, like, okay to talk about me, right? I've always been kind of, like, nobody wants to hear my stuff, right? Like, nobody, it's just another boring story or whatever. But, one of the things I think that kind of, it just recently kind of pulled the veil back was the response to this book. Like, I was very, I was kind of on the fence about what the response to this would be.

[00:05:54] Like, you know, the one thing I didn't want anyone to think it was was, you know, which, what it obviously isn't, which is like, you know, just an attempt to, you know, grab money or anything like that. You know, it was, oh yeah. Right. It was meant as like, it's, it's meant as a heartfelt kind of mess, like a memory of my father who passed away from multiple sclerosis in 2020.

[00:06:18] But, you know, as I've, as I've said on the campaign page and all that stuff, like it really just started out with my mom wanting to just scan all of this stuff, have it digitally so we didn't lose it, you know, because of time. And, you know, there's just a lot of it. It can't all be stored properly. And then I'm just like, why don't, there's, there's no difference between like a pile of paper sitting in a folder somewhere or like a thumb drive sitting in like somebody's desk drawer or whatever. Um, and that's where he came up with the idea for the book. And it was always the book before the Kickstarter, right?

[00:06:47] Like as we were putting the book together, I was like, we should put this up. I think, uh, showing his art to a larger audience and, and, and, you know, kind of seeing like what other people think or feel or how they interpret it would be great. Um, and so that's kind of where it came from. And like, like, again, like I, I feel just a groundswell of support. Like the campaign has gotten off to a great start and I'm, uh, yeah, I'm feeling, I don't know if this is a 2020 or 2020. I was speaking about this earlier in the week, but a, I just feel rejuvenated.

[00:07:16] I feel, uh, uh, more confident. I normally don't feel like that at the beginning of the year, but like the year has started off very well and, uh, I'm going to continue to ride it until the inevitable, you know, rock hits my skateboard and knocks me off. Um, well, I want to start by saying to let listeners know that I, I, I am a fan of the, uh, the, the tomb series. I think, um, I first heard about it.

[00:07:43] I think, uh, right when tomb of the red horse came out and then went back red, white horse back tomb of the black horse on Kickstarter. Um, I, I, I really love the concept. I do think it's a little odd, like with a writer in particular, because when you're like, oh, I, I write this stuff and I, I want people to read it.

[00:08:08] Uh, but then there's like a disconnect in terms of, but I don't think people want to hear like about me. Like, I, I hope that they like the stuff that I put out in the world, but. You know, you kind of have a wall up, it seems between. Yeah. Your, your creative side and then like your actual. Personhood. That's kind of on purpose, I think. And, and I, and I don't think that, um, I don't think it's my fault. I think it's everyone else's.

[00:08:38] Um, no, no, no, I'm, I'm kidding. Uh, I'm joking. I, there's, um, there's a need to, uh, I hear a lot of people talk about, it's just kind of like how I never want to refer to my books as content. Right. Um, I don't want to refer to myself as a content creator. And I also don't want to refer to myself as a brand. I don't want to have a brand. Right. Like, I just want to do things and I don't want to think about it in a marketing concept like above that.

[00:09:07] And I think part of like, well, you have to get out there and do the shows and you have to be this guy. You have to be Mr. Hot take, or you have to, you know, be, um, uh, uh, like, um, uh, you know, a pillar in the industry of some kind. Um, and I, and I think that those, those people are necessary and they, they serve a purpose. I don't want to be that. Um, like I, I just kind of want to do the things that I do and, and I want to see, um, you know, if I can get the responses that I get to. Right. I want to see how well I did.

[00:09:35] And part of that is like sharing it with a group of people and then kind of like assessing the feedback and like grading it. And then also like internally, like, how do I feel like I did? Like, did, did we put the, you know, were the collaborators, right? Did we give each other the right kind of direction and inspiration? And like, did I, you know, achieve that's like what's important to me. So, you know, a lot of that talk is just talk about process. It's not talk about me. You know what I mean? Yeah. No, I, I, I, I totally get it. I understand.

[00:10:02] Also probably because I, I go like nuclear at what I perceive to be bad movie takes. Okay. Like I will unfollow people for a bad movie take. Oh, I'm good. Like they could, they could be tweeting it out, like walking into work. And I'm just like, I never want to hear from you. Oh, I've definitely blocked people for Twitter. Well, I wasn't blocked. I mean, I've, I've blocked a lot of people on Twitter for bad movies, but they're the, like, they're like ideologically bad takes. Like I'm talking about just opinions. Um, so it's like another one of those things where I don't want to be the guy who's just

[00:10:31] like, yeah, you know, I don't really like the terrifier. And then just have people go, fuck this guy forever. Ooh, I don't know if we can curse, right? We can curse? Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Okay, cool. You're fine. Yeah. Uh, I don't, I don't want people to be like, I fuck him. He hates the terrifier. He doesn't know anything about horror. Uh, I don't hate the terrifier. I'm not a fan of the movies, but, uh, it's another conversation. But, um, but, uh, uh, yeah. So I think that's another reason I'm a little bit guarded is that I don't want a perception of me to kind of influence the work. Right. Okay.

[00:10:58] Um, you know, there's lots of music artists like that, like Daft Punk and, uh, MF Doom. And there's a couple other people who like, they are anonymous, you know, like you never see their faces. And the point of it is, is like the anonymity allows you to judge them on their musical value alone. Right. Um, and I think that's very, like a cool thing. Um, so yeah, I think I've been, I've been guarded with that, but then I've also realized like everything's about balance and like not talking about yourself at all is not really viable when you're marketing books on Kickstarter.

[00:11:29] I'm sorry, marketing content on Kickstarter. And, um, you know, and then also like when you do talk about yourself, you don't have to constantly like either pretend to be a person or, uh, you know, like I guess you talk about yourself to a degree that, uh, is, uh, excessive. Yeah. I mean, there, there, there definitely is a balance to it. I, I, you know, I, I agree, but it is, it is hard because I feel like with this, you

[00:11:54] know, the age of social media that we're in and I, I, you know, I've said this before because I've, I have, you know, whenever there's a conversation about, you know, marketing books and especially when you're crowdfunding and like you, you kind of have to be your own best advocate and you have to be out there. And, and sometimes like, you know, if you can't sell somebody on like the pitch or the, the, you know, get them right away.

[00:12:22] Like sometimes if people like you or if they find you interesting or find some of your ideas interesting, like they might back your book or they might want to pick up a copy of it. And like, you know, so there is kind of like, uh, there is a dance that you, you have to do to find the balance in terms of how much are you willing to put yourself out there without it just all being about you and how much do you just let the work speak for itself?

[00:12:48] Um, I think it's kind of, you know, if you don't like going out and talking about yourself, I do think you do have to find a little bit of a balance because in this day and age, when you, when you can reach out to a creator, when there is so much accessibility, um, sometimes it is almost a detriment if like you're, you're, you're too guarded, but you know, it's just, um, my thoughts. And I, you know that we're talking about, and by the way, in terms of this show, I'm trying to be as interesting as possible.

[00:13:18] I'm trying very hard. Um, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for trying to be interesting. So no, uh, but, but to, to, to kind of leapfrog off of that, um, uh, I think one of the other things that you have to do, and this is one of the things that I really struggled with, not with Mongoose, um, but with my, my next project is kind of like, um, intellectualizing and conceptualizing the thing that you're trying to do, right? Because a lot of times with comics, you can't tell everyone what the plot is from point A to point B.

[00:13:48] There needs to be like mystery. There needs to be reveals and things like that. So I think being able to talk about it in concept and one of the people I know personally who does a tremendous job of that, probably the best among us is recent, uh, ice award winner, uh, Felhound. Uh, Felhound has a masterful ability to be like, here's what the story is about and really make you like key into it.

[00:14:15] And like, I know what the book is about without knowing the specifics of the plot. And I think that's a real talent. And, uh, I think that's like one of the things that I want to be better at, right? Like that's one of the, this, like on this side of the, uh, the comic creating, uh, stage, uh, that's one of the things I want to get better at because I, I, my next book is Stash Box. Like I struggle talking about that in a way that doesn't either tell you everything or sound like complete nonsense.

[00:14:44] Um, uh, but, um, and I think, I think maybe going back to it, just, I'm a little bit more comfortable talking about myself because for the last two years I've been work from home and like, you know, like you, where you have to talk to a lot of people at your job. I used to work in public facing places and now I don't talk to anybody. Like I might go a whole day and not have an adult conversation. So, uh, this is also a nice, you know, opportunity to do that as well. Oh yeah. All right. I see.

[00:15:09] I, I, I'm like the person in my office that like gets up and like, we'll walk around and like make, I, I, I know other people in the office are just like, oh, there's Jim making the rounds. I'm Jim at work. So, uh, I have a, I have a, I have a fine line. Somebody called me Jimmy the other day and I was just like, I, I think. I think they Googled. No, not around these parts, but stare. Yeah. I am Jim here. We are not doing, we're not doing the Jimmy thing. Just look at me and be like, where'd you hear that?

[00:15:39] Yeah. Like, but I have to, I get up and like walk around the office and like, I've, I can't work from home. I, I mean, I have like a space here, but I, I just, I just, I'm just not good at it. And I, I don't, I, I, um, I don't have the discipline. Like when the, when the pandemic first started in 2020, like a lot of the other attorneys in the office I was working at at that time worked from home because there was like a, you

[00:16:08] know, there's a stay at home order and in Delaware and they, they worked from home. I, I didn't, I, I'm like, well, nobody's at the office. Oh, I'm going to go in. Technically it's safe. Right. Yeah. The only one there. There's nobody here. There's you and one other person 30 feet away. No, that's exactly what it was. Yeah. You know? And I'm like, I just, because when I was home, you know, when the pandemic first hit my, you know, my kids were like eight and three and like my three-year-old would come

[00:16:38] up and she'd want to color. And I'd be like, oh yeah, I definitely would rather color than what it is I'm doing right now. Yeah. That's the big, that's the big rub for me is like a lot of my work is freelance and it's like, well, I could be working right now or I could be, you know, uh, reading books and playing, you know, uh, Mickey Mouse and stuff like that. And, uh, uh, and then it's like, why I can work after the kid goes to sleep. And then, you know, it's like eight, you know, eight o'clock at night by the time you get downstairs. Let's just say you're not at your peak net. Yeah.

[00:17:06] You know, you're not, you know, you're not exactly in, in the most adept shape or whatever. Uh, you're a little punchy. So yeah, it's difficult, man. It's a real grind, but, um, yeah, I don't know. I'm doing okay with it. I'm doing okay. Not being as like, uh, publicly out facing, you know, or whatever. Um, I definitely get more time to like watch, which is, is, is, is been really good. Like I'm a very much like input output guy. Okay. Right. Like I have like a tank and that tank runs dry after, for a while, like after a while.

[00:17:32] And I have to like watch a bunch of stuff and like collect a bunch of, uh, inspiration, not necessarily in terms of like specifics, but just kind of like, oh, that was a, that was a great movie. You know, like you got to replenish the well. Right. Right. And, um, so I've been able to do that and man, I'd say what, like it's, it's been great for me watching movies and TV shows. Uh, cause I've, I've kind of, uh, disassociated from like a lot of my political channels and things like that. Like, okay. No need to, to watch that stuff for the time being.

[00:18:01] It's a little too painful. So, uh, yeah, like I'm, I'm at the penultimate episode of nine seasons of Nightcore and it's just great. You know, it's a, the way like the, like, Oh yeah. Cause I know they rebooted Nightcore, but like the original John Larroquette, the judge and I, I, I'm, I'm on the fence heavily. I'm probably not going to watch it. Uh, yeah, I haven't seen it, but I, I was a big fan of the original, what is it? Harry Dean Anderson, right? Oh no, it's Harry Anderson. Uh, oh, I mean, I could name the entire. Oh yeah.

[00:18:32] I've seen like a hundred. I think I was getting, I, I, I, I, I molded, uh, Nightcore and MacGyver. Harry, no Harry Dean Stanton maybe, or, oh yeah, you know, Richard Dean Anderson. I think it's MacGyver. That's so funny. Um, yeah, it's, uh, it's, um, it's, it's been a nice two years. Uh, you know, I've got about three more to go. So I'm only, you know, before I can kind of get back into like the workforce. Okay. But it's been great. It's been a good time.

[00:19:00] And, uh, I have a lot of time to write and, and think. I'm just, uh, it's not, it's not the rest of my life. I mean, who knows? It could be, but I have, you know, the plan is it's not the rest of my life. Yeah. Only the next couple of years. But, um, yeah, it's, so it's, and again, it's really nice to be able to do stuff and, uh, and kind of hang out and talk comic. No, I'm really, uh, I'm really excited to talk to you. Cause like I said, I said earlier, I, I, I really love the tomb series. Um, just thought it was great.

[00:19:30] And, um, so about an hour, uh, before you call, I know I sent you the, the, we were talking a little bit, uh, before we started recording, uh, I got about, uh, just about half of the pages for the final tomb book, uh, in a, like scanned and in a folder from Ben. Um, so, uh, like I can't, I can't make any statements on like when we're going to be running the Kickstarter. I know it's been a while, uh, but, uh, man, I mean, they are, they are worth the wait.

[00:19:59] Uh, they are, um, I shared one with you. Uh, yeah, I, cause it looked great. It's really incredible. The work that he's doing. And, um, and it's, um, and it's one of those scripts where, uh, I was very nervous with, uh, white horse and red horse, um, that people were going to like them. Right. Like I was, and it wasn't necessarily like, um, we're new out of the gate thing. It was just like, I don't know if these ideas work. I don't know if there's something I'm not thinking of.

[00:20:27] Like there's maybe some plot hole or there's just like some missing piece that the, like the readers won't get or whatever. Um, but with the black horse script, I was just like, oh, like, I feel like, I feel like we're cooking here. I feel like this is a really clever kind of, uh, ingenious idea. And, uh, man, just like, it's been a while since I've looked at the script for pale horse, but seeing these pages, I'm just like, I just, I can't wait for people to read it. I really can't.

[00:20:52] Like, um, I'm, I've, I, it's, it's definitely like a different protagonist, uh, than I've done before. Um, and, uh, and I think, I think if anything, maybe I took punishing your characters a little too far. Okay. Uh, like I, I really beat the shit out of this guy, uh, like, like real bad. And, uh, it was great. I mean, it was just an absolute blast. It was so much fun to write and like kind of being able to put it on the back burner for

[00:21:21] a little while and then see what Ben came up with just now. Like, just like knock my socks off. I'm so excited. So, uh, yeah, well, I, I can't wait. I, I just, I think it's a great like concept. I really like how, um, I, I just, I just really like the take on the idea. Um, I mean, a tomb of the red horse. I instantly got it, got like what, at least what I thought, you know, what was going on, what it was about.

[00:21:51] I think I then went back and read tomb of the white horse and was ready to go and back tomb of the black horse. I actually, I reread it again today in preparation for this. Cause it had been a while since I had taken a look at it and, um, how did it hold up? Really? Even better, honestly, than when I first read. All right. You probably know why. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, when people are like, Hey, what's your comment about?

[00:22:20] It's like, Oh, eat the rich basically. It's like billionaires. It's very easy for people to jump on board with that. And it was easy two years ago. It's even easier now. Um, it is, but you know what? One of the things that I really love about it more so, I mean, I mean, Ben, Ben's art is great. Uh, but more so than, than that and the plot, it's really your scripting and his art kind of comes together and it's, um, you know, some comics are like plot heavy.

[00:22:49] Some make, maybe they aren't, but like you really love the art, but there's something about the two of you coming together that the comics are so like atmospheric. Like, I just feel like I'm in that like place and time. Like they're like mood and tone are, are just conveyed in such a way that I am instantly drawn into it. And, um, one of the things I really like about it.

[00:23:16] I think, uh, I've, I've been lucky enough to work with like really great creators, pretty much across the board. And I think part of that, if there's any part of that, that is, you know, that, that responsibility or that, uh, those results fall on my shoulders, it's, um, picking the right collaborators or asking the right people. Um, cause, cause you know, Ben immediately when, when we started talking about the project and Ben's a co-creator, right?

[00:23:44] Like this is, uh, you know, these stories and these things, these are as much his ideas as they are mine. Um, but, um, the, the level of seriousness, I guess, cause I think it's very easy when you're trying to be serious. Like the tune books are that like, you can come off as either kind of silly or pretentious or, or stupid, but it's like trying to get that tone just right. You need to hit those certain like specific things. You need to hit that atmosphere. And, um, I just know with, with Ben, like I could ask for that specificity in a panel. Like I need to see this character's hand.

[00:24:14] There's a specific reason why, and it needs to look like this or, or when you're asking for like specific expressions. Um, so yeah, it's just, he, he's been a dream collaborator. Everyone we've worked with has just been amazing. Like, um, you know, we, we try to rotate, uh, colorists and, and letterers and, and, uh, uh, to, to kind of give the books like a little bit of a unique feel. Um, but we've really hit on with black horse. We really hit on something with Shan on colors. They're just amazing.

[00:24:44] And, uh, uh, Rob Jones on letters. Yeah. I, I, I'm, I'm a big fan of Rob's letter. Yeah. Yeah. So am I, man. I mean, I'm, I'm a huge fan. I, uh, uh, uh, so yeah, I don't know. Uh, we'll like, we'll see. Like, I, I can't say anything other than, uh, I've seen, I've seen about half of the book from Ben and it is absolutely breathtaking. And like I say breathtaking in like, I feel like each one of those issues is incredible, but you can tell that he is leveling up kind of in between them.

[00:25:13] And, and I think black horse is really just kind of like, like I, I told him after we finished black horse, like I'm never going to be able to afford to work. Like after you're done with the series, like people are going to want to, and he ended up doing, uh, the, the Kieran Gillen story in a tales from the majestic. And I'm like, this is what I'm talking about. I'm like, these guys are working with you. I'm like, you're, you're gone. You're never going to, you know, like I'll be getting emails from, uh, San Diego Comic-Con when you're doing signings. Uh, and I mean, more power to him.

[00:25:40] Uh, but, uh, that, all of that is to say that looking at those, those pages from pale horse, it's just like, I didn't, I didn't know he could get better. Right. Like I was just like, you're at the peak of your powers. And there was another peak obscured by fog. I could not see, but, um, yeah, he's, uh, he's tremendous. He's absolutely, uh, one of the best. And, um, yeah, like I said, um, hopefully I'll have more to announce, you know, this year. Um, but, um, yeah, it's going to be worth everyone's, everyone's weight.

[00:26:10] It's really good. Yeah. Listeners. Yeah. You have to, if you're not familiar with the series, uh, I'll put a link in the show notes so you can follow Ian on, you know, social media, but just. They're all for sale digitally on my website too. Okay. Good. I think they're all like five bucks or something. I don't charge a lot for them. Yeah. Um, they're, they're worth it. It's, it's such a, such a great series. Thank you so much. Um, I'm a, I'm a big fan, you know, speaking of all that, you know, specific collaboration and finding the right collaborator. Um, yeah.

[00:26:39] My next project is called stash bot. Uh, and it's with a guy I've been working with recently, uh, uh, Frederick Hornung, who's done a, probably a bunch of covers you've seen for like long, dark winter. He's been in a bunch of anthologies. He does his own webcomic seconds to midnight. And like, again, it is just one of those things where, uh, me and him immediately got on. Like, uh, he really likes my writing. I absolutely adore his artwork.

[00:27:04] And more so than that, like his style of art specifically fits what I'm trying to do with this story. Oh, nice. It's not the same tone as, uh, the tune books. It's not the same type of horror. I guess it's cosmic horror to that degree, but, um, you know, it's a different kind of setup. You know, it's still a one shot, uh, you know, it's still kind of a self-contained story, but, um, yeah, it's just, it's just been really nice. But I also think that's another reason. Like, I just, I'm not very prolific with comics because it's very important to get it right. You know what I mean?

[00:27:33] I never want to work with someone who's just kind of like, yeah, I don't know. Some guy paid me to do his. Right. Right. Like I, I want them to be invested and that's why like most of the people I work with ended being co-creators and not like writer art. Yeah. You know what I mean? And when is stash boxed? When, when do you think? Do you know yet? Yeah. I'm hoping for like end of February. Oh, okay. Like really, really tight. Uh, you know, the turn, like the thing about Mongoose is it's already designed. It's already printed. I mean, the test prints have already been done.

[00:28:01] So we got a couple of small revisions, but like, basically I'm kind of ready to pull the trigger on the printing as soon as we fund, like before the campaign is over. You know, if, if we hit our goal, I'm going to probably go right to the printer, order the copies that I plan on ordering and, uh, just to try to like expedite that turnaround time. And also because the last two books I, I take started, like took extra long to fulfill. So I really want to like work on tight turnaround. All right. Let's take a quick break.

[00:28:31] After a string of unexplained disappearances in the Southern parts of the United States, retired detective Clint searches for his white trash brother. While searching for him, he ends up being abducted by aliens. He is now in the arena for big guns, stupid rednecks, an intergalactic cable's newest hit

[00:28:57] show, which puts him and other humans in laser gun gladiatorial combat. And his brother is the reigning champion with 27 kills. That's the premise for a new book from Banda Barnes, big guns, stupid rednecks. I got a chance to see an advanced preview of this book and being from the South, honestly, I was a bit skeptical going in, but they won me over and nothing is more powerful than an initially skeptic convert in my book.

[00:29:23] In Jimmy's words, big guns, stupid rednecks is many things, but it isn't subtle. It tells you exactly what it is up front. Then it delivers with a great premise, fantastic art and a whole mess of fun. I had a great time reading big guns, stupid rednecks. And what I thought was going to be an indictment of redneck culture quickly showed it was actually a love letter, a family mystery, brother pitted against brother, aliens fighting for profit in a big arena. This truly has it all.

[00:29:48] Issue one is out already, but you can still pick up a copy on the Band of Bards website and current issues are available via your previews or lunar order form, or just ask your LCS. Don't miss it. Let's get back to the show. I mean, we've been chatting about all these other comics, but I really want to talk about Mongoose. Which I pulled the Kickstarter page up here. It's 150 pages of unconventional black and white art is what it says on the title of it.

[00:30:16] You were kind enough to send me over a PDF of Mongoose. This is your father's artwork, as you said earlier on in the podcast. He passed away in 2020. And I didn't know what to expect. I mean, I had seen, you know, just from following you on social media and looking at the campaign a little bit, I had seen you post some things, you know, about your dad. And, you know, didn't know what, you know, this type of book was going to be.

[00:30:45] There are a couple of things in there written by, I think, you, your mother, some other friends and his artwork. Ian, this is phenomenal. I mean, not only is, not only did I feel like it was like a wonderful tribute, you know, from like a son, you know, and family to a father.

[00:31:11] His artwork is like, it's so quirky is the wrong word. He's out there. But there's, like, it's, there's such a unique, like specific style to it. And I, I, I, I loved it. I loved looking through it. I looked at it again today, like at work. And I just, I love paging through it.

[00:31:39] I love, there's like an abstract section, which I thought was great. I, I love all these little characters with like, they have mouths and feet and like, like different places. But I, I just, I just, I really liked the, like aesthetic of it. I loved how it was like kind of laid out and kind of peppered with these things about, you know, your dad, about the type of person he was, a sense of humor.

[00:32:06] Um, I guess the thing your, your mother wrote as to how they met was just like taught, like what a, what a wonderful, like meet cute. Um, you know, uh, um, at the Philadelphia, you know, Navy yard. Yeah. Um, but I, I just thought it was like, these are things that just could have sat and been a, the, you know, a family thing.

[00:32:33] Like this was something that dad did when he was working at the post office and, and he would, he'd like to doodle these, these types of things. I, I just think it's so awesome to put this together and share with people. And I was, I don't know. I was really taken by like so much of it.

[00:32:57] I just felt like there was such a personality behind it where I'm like, man, like I, I, I just, it got me, uh, like in a way that I didn't quite think it would. I, I, I was, I, I mean, I, I knew there was going to be like emotion and maybe behind it, of course, you know, with a tribute like this, but I was just so taken by, by his artwork and by the, the stories in it. I, I, I loved it.

[00:33:27] I'm, this was blown away. So thank you so much. And, and that's, you know, that was the, the kind of the, I guess kind of the point of it was to see like what kind of reaction we'd get. You know what I mean? You're all, you know, you're, you're, I'm biased. He's my dad. I love his work, but you know, he was my dad. Um, and it's really nice because, because most people have had, um, uh, the same,

[00:33:51] the same response, which has just been, it's been overwhelmingly, uh, emotional to say the least. You know what I mean? It's very nice. Um, and I think also one of the things about it is that it really does, it spans like probably 40, 50 years of his life. Yeah. You know? And yeah. And you can, you just, you can see the difference. There's like a whole period of child's art where he was in school and he had a kid on the way.

[00:34:18] And, um, you know, and then, um, there's the, the whole section at the end is the, the post office sketching, um, which, um, those were kind of like the last things that he did before he, before he retired. And then he would only kind of doodle after he was, wasn't at work anymore. And then once he was diagnosed, like he just couldn't really draw it off. Um, and so we just kind of stopped, but, um, there's just so many different periods of like the way that they, they look, you know what I mean?

[00:34:46] He has like that sketch style is very like ink heavy, uh, and like solid kind of confident lines. And then his pencil drawings are like incredibly detailed and very faint. And, um, I should really give a shout out here to Jeremy Heilman who designed the book and like not only designed it, but I, after I scanned in, you know, pieces of, of, you know, regular ass, like, you know, the five and a half by eight and a half, uh, or yeah, whatever. Uh, um, like copy paper that are like 30, 40 years old.

[00:35:16] Like he was able to kind of like darken some of them in retouch them. Um, and really just kind of make them look uniform and, uh, and kind of show off their best assets. He was, uh, he was instrumental in making the book, uh, look as good as it does and kind of like showcasing my dad's art the way it's supposed to look. Cause a lot of them are kind of old and it faded. The originals aren't nearly as, as crisp as, uh, they look, uh, in the book. You know what I mean? But he was able to darken them in a little bit and really, uh, uh, really bring him to life.

[00:35:46] So, yeah, I mean, it's, um, it's great. We didn't, I didn't want to go overboard. I didn't want to just make it, um, uh, pictures. I wanted to throw some tributes in there, but I didn't want to like overload the book. You know what I mean? So I just, uh, uh, we, we only asked a couple of people and we kind of told them there really wasn't any requirements. He didn't have to write 500 words, like whatever you wanted to say. And, you know, so some of them, they're a varying length.

[00:36:11] Um, but the one that was, you know, uh, most informative to me, uh, uh, was, uh, his buddy from the Navy, uh, uh, uh, the guy that, uh, uh, I guess was his student, I guess, or like, was it, uh, uh, his understudy or something at one point in the dermatology. What were they in like a dermatology or something? So the story is, uh, my father enlisted in the Navy in 1969 ahead of the draft. Right. Uh, cause he knew he had a better chance of not seeing combat if he enrolled rather than getting drafted.

[00:36:41] And, you know, he kind of like made the, the, the strategic decision to go into the Navy. And then knowing that he was a reasonably smart guy, the Navy's not going to want to put him your gun. Um, so he was actually, I think he went to boot camp, I'm not sure if it was boot camp or if he went to Philly, uh, the weekend that Woodstock was going on. So like that, that's like, you know, like right in the Vietnam War and he, he missed all of that. He never went overseas.

[00:37:07] And basically for four years, he worked at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia in a dermatology ward, like, you know, freezing warts and taking samples of stuff and, and, you know, just, uh, you know, helping, helping soldiers, you know? Uh, you know, he was very, you know, very conflicted about the war. There's a piece in, uh, there's like, there's not really any political art except for, uh, there's a picture of, uh, like a giant bald eagle carrying away like a screaming and writhing

[00:37:33] Richard Nixon, uh, which I guess kind of tells you all you kind of need to know about his politics at the time. So, uh, all right. So, uh, yeah, but I mean, it was, um, that was kind of the biggest insight to me. You know what I mean? I had, I had heard a lot, like all of the stories my parents told about each other over their lives, but really kind of to get a glimpse into, uh, someone who knew him in a way that I didn't really know him was, uh, it was very rewarding. So I was, I was very happy to reach out to him and I'm very excited to like, get him a

[00:38:00] copy of the book and, um, you know, so, so he can, uh, he can see it and, you know, hopefully enjoy it. I, I mean, I, I do love how it's put together. Um, you know, uh, especially like when, when you hit, I guess like 1977, when you were born, like some of the, the, some of the sketches you have all seem to be very like, like father's son or like kid oriented. I think there's one with like, like a bear and a cub.

[00:38:29] There's another one of like a kid in the bed with, you know, a stuffed animal, um, his animal portraits. There was one in particular that I was, uh, I think it was like, uh, a raccoon standing up looking into a trash can, which I just like was like delightful. Whimsical. I, I, you know, and there, yeah, there, there was just something about like his style that

[00:38:55] I guess reminded me of, you know, like mid to late seventies. There's a lot of like swirling faces and I, you know, it's just, um, yeah, I was really taken by it. It's a wide, that's one of the things I think is so, is so cool about the book is like seeing it all put together that way. And like there, there are probably like, I would say maybe 40 or about probably about 40 things that didn't end up in the book. Like just sketches that were like, you could tell they were just kind of unfinished doodles.

[00:39:24] Um, and you know, he took art classes in college. So there was lots of figure drawing. Um, uh, so there's just like, you know, there's, there'd be like five sketches of the same nude and they're like, I don't think we need these. Right. Like, um, um, so like, you know, so there's just so much stuff, but being able to kind of compile it and it was very hard, like, cause we, you know, we really can't do chronologically cause some of the stuff just, you know, we didn't have any idea exactly what it was done. Um, so kind of like grouping it up really kind of just allowed me to see like all the

[00:39:54] kind of different phases that he went through as an artist and kind of like, you know, uh, whatever kind of style he was trying to adopt or whatever he was trying to say. Um, but I do have to say, I mean, I, I love a lot of the, the more detailed pencil pieces, but the post office sketches in the back, they're my absolute favorite because those are just kind of like quick, like, you know, from the hip, like you had an hour or two to do something and then just like doodled them out. So they're almost kind of like rapid fire right from his subconscious or whatever.

[00:40:22] And I think like some of my best, my favorite ones are in there for sure. Yeah. I also really liked the one that he, um, in the book it said he, he gave to a couple as like, Oh, the just married one. Yes. But it says like married justly, doesn't it? Married justly. Yeah. Oh, I, I don't know what it, like, like seeing that I just thought was like, cause that's just, I don't know, like to put it that way, there's just something about it. Yeah. Um, that was the one, uh, that was like, that's a big piece.

[00:40:52] Um, and, uh, it's in the, the, the house of the people who were married justly. So I had, I had to, I had to call, uh, the husband and ask like if I could borrow it and then tell him what it was for. And he was like, I, do I need to tell you to be careful with this? And I was like, no, no, not at all. Like, but then I, I, it's too big for a scanner. Like a lot of the, the post office sketches were half a sheet of paper. Right. So like you can fit those in any scanner, 600 DPI. You're good.

[00:41:19] But like, I had to take this to like a camera shop with like a scanner big enough and like leave it there for a couple of days. And then I had to be like, do I have to tell you to be careful with this? You know? Uh, cause it's like, you know, uh, it's kind of irreplaceable. Right. Um, but I, I dropped a, that was another funny thing is I dropped a whole bunch of pieces off all at once, like all of the ones that were too big to scan. And I came back like a week or two later and they were handing everything over to me. They're like, these are really cool. I was like, oh, I was like, thanks. I was like, yeah, I'm doing a book.

[00:41:48] And, but, um, yeah, it was, um, it's been, it was a very long project. Like I, this, I've been working on this for two years and it's not that it took long. I think that it was just difficult for me to like go through with it. You know what I mean? Yeah. A lot of the writing and a lot of the compiling, like you're just spending time thinking about a loved one who passed away. And, uh, you know, that's, I think rumination is good in some degree, but obviously it's not something you want to like, you know, uh, beat yourself up with.

[00:42:18] But, um, it was very, it was, it was very helpful, uh, uh, to me. I was, I was talking to, I was talking to Frederick just today and we were talking about therapy and I was like, yeah, I think I probably should have gone to therapy. I'm a big advocate of therapy, but, uh, the healthcare system and our insurance being what it was, it just wasn't really viable. But I think in a lot of ways, this book kind of didn't work as therapy. You know, it really worked to kind of help me, uh, keep him center in my mind and like

[00:42:43] the completing of this and putting it up on Kickstarter and like, uh, saying like, this is a finished project and now I want other people to like partake in it had, had a big feeling of closure, which was nice. Oh, wow. Um, so I mean, I, I don't want to assume, but just from everything I've seen you say in this book in general, you, you and your father were pretty close. So he was a bastard. We tell you, uh, no, it was great. No, we had a wonderful relationship. He was great.

[00:43:11] Um, uh, he, he was the person who just really pushed me to be creative. Yeah. Uh, you know, he was my first editor. I would write, um, I can't show it now. I'm going to take pictures of it later and put up on social, but, um, I got my first typewriter. I found it in my parents' attic. Um, and I dusted it off. I mean, I don't know if it still works yet, but it's an old, it's like an electric Smith Corona. Okay. Um, it's like all gray plastic. Uh, but he was the first person to like read the stories and be like, I really love this, but like, you know what you could do here?

[00:43:40] Or do you know like how this part doesn't really match up with this part? And then he was always very gentle in his criticism. And he also just, uh, I mentioned this in the book. He just took me to see everything. Like, I know that that's the one of the thing when I read that, I was just like, oh yeah, like that's like, that's it right there. Go into, go into the movies, go in, you know, to whatever and like talking about it. And yeah. And that, and that was the big thing is like, he, he was the person who taught me how to

[00:44:08] deconstruct stuff and not like in the way, like where he explained how to do it, but we would go to a movie and he would be like, well, what about the music? Or what about this character's performance? Or like, I didn't like the movie, but I thought this person was great. I just saw, uh, smile too. Uh, I was catching up on all of my horror movies for 2024 and I'm not a big, I wasn't a big fan of the first one. Honestly, not a big fan of this one.

[00:44:33] The girl, the main protagonist, absolutely tremendous, which is wonderful. You know what I mean? And I think being able to separate that stuff really kind of allows you to like appreciate things about art, right? Like, uh, you know, I, I like hate watching stuff. I like watching stuff that I know isn't going to be good because a lot of the times I, I pull interesting stuff out of it that, or, or visual things that I like. Um, and, uh, you know, and then also I kind of like what not to do.

[00:44:59] So he just took me to see good movies, bad movies, midnight movies on like Friday and Saturday night sometimes. Uh, and just like, you know, we went to see everything, but also he took me to like a lot of stuff that I probably shouldn't have gone to. Like, um, we had a little art, we have a little art theater in Allentown, uh, called the 19th Street Theater and, uh, he was like, Oh, uh, there's this, uh, little crime movie that's opening on Friday. Do you want to go? It's called Reservoir Dump.

[00:45:28] And I was like, yeah, guys in suits, guns. I was like, that sounds cool. Let's go. And it was, that was like 92. So I was 15 years old. Yeah. I came at, yeah. 92 or 93. Yeah. By the way, the trivia about that is to this day, I've never been in a theater where more people have walked out. Really? Yeah. Yeah. About, about 70 people walked out of Reservoir Dump. Some guy, some guy walked to the back of the theater, turned around, yelled at the screen and then walked out.

[00:45:57] And I'm just like, this movie is either the worst thing I've ever seen or one of the best things I'm ever going to see. It was an incredible experience. Oh, wow. Yeah. No one had ever seen it. But yeah, he took me to see that. He took me to see The Fly when I was like nine years old. Uh, and even. That's the right age. That's the right age to see The Fly, isn't it? The, my favorite part of that is like, I actually had to like walk out of the theater in one part. Uh, and I was like, and I told him, I was like, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'll be right back.

[00:46:24] Then like, there's like nine year old me walking back and forth out in front of the theater, just like my hands on my hips going, just kind of like, and he comes out and he's like, let's go. This is too much. And I was like, no, I want to go back in. I want to go back. And he's like, I don't know if we should go back in. And I was like, I can finish it. I'm like, I want to, I want to go back. I want to finish it. Did you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got through it. Yeah. I guess it was just like, if you, if something gross is going to happen and I don't want to see it, I just close my eye. Yeah. But, um, yeah, I don't know. It was, uh, it was an absolute blast.

[00:46:53] I look back on all that stuff so fondly. Cause like, yeah, you probably shouldn't take a nine year old to see The Fly. But like, I don't know. Like I'm, I feel like that was like, that's intrinsic to my upbringing. You know what I mean? Is, um, is that kind of stuff? Oh yeah. I, we, my, you know, I podcast listeners know my kids are like 12 and seven. And, um, but I want to show that they don't anything I want to try and show them. They, they do not care to see. Well, I know that, but I will suggest things at times.

[00:47:21] And, uh, my wife's like, you can't do that. They can't watch that. And I'm like, I saw it. And she goes, do not. Do not judge what your kids can see by what you watched at a certain age. I'm like, oh, fine. Yeah. I've, I've been, I've been a little more restrictive. I, I'll, I'll like, he likes horror movies. I'll, I'll, my 13 year old. I'll let them, not the two year old. Uh, he's not into horror yet. Um, but, but the 13 year old, I'll, I'll let him watch, you know, what he wants to watch up to a degree.

[00:47:49] We did take him to see, um, it was a small indie movie that came out this summer called Deadpool Wolverine. Oh, small indie film. Yeah. We took him to see that. And I like, and again, he was not the youngest kid there, which I was kind of like walking in like teens. Like, like, it'd be a hard R rated movie. Right. The movie's over. I look at him and I was like, what'd you think? And he just goes, the best movie I've ever seen in my life. I mean, if I was 13, I'd probably think that too. So, but yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:48:17] And hopefully he got some cred for like being a kid who got to see Deadpool and Wolverine, you know what I mean? Where? Oh, absolutely. What kind of stuff? I mean, going to see that, you know, your dad taking you to those movies and like talking about them and learning through it. Like what did he just like, was he somebody that just liked, you know, to see everything good and bad, like, like you described or what type of stuff, like, you know, did he

[00:48:43] like, I'm kind of curious, just like seeing his art and hearing or reading the things that other folks have said about him. Like what was he into, you know, in terms of the movies? He, um, he's, he was a bit of an Anglophile. Like he loved Monty Python. So there was a lot of British stuff, a lot of British comedy. Uh, I remember going to see Nuns on the Run, uh, twice, which is like an Eric Idle, Robbie, Robbie Colt free. Yeah.

[00:49:13] If you know Nuns on the Run, I don't know, you know, uh, but, um, but I'm not on the run fan. Yeah. He was, well, I mean, I don't say big, but like we did go to see it. I think twice the, the, I do. No, I was saying I'm a big, no. Oh, you're a big, yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Why wouldn't you be? It's a tremendous film. Um, yeah. Uh, I do remember one of my clear memories was, um, uh, we went to see Spaceballs on like

[00:49:36] a Saturday at a matinee and like, just like died laughing and like pestered my mother. We came back and we're like, you have to see it. It's so funny. Took her back the same night to see it again. And then like, and like, we were right. Like she was cackling the whole way through and everything. And it was just like, see, we, like the whole time we're just like, we're laughing. We're like, we told you it was Larry. Um, but he was a, he was a, he was a pretty big fan. There is the, the one movie he wouldn't take me to see. He refused.

[00:50:05] He was, he was not a Bruce Willis fan. Okay. Uh, he, he had this unnatural, like just hatred for Bruce Willis. And, um, so he refused to take me to Die Hard. Like we saw so many bad movies. Like, like we saw Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn and Bird on a Wire. Right. Like we saw, like I, my grandfather took me to see Bird on a Wire down in Seminole, Florida at the dollar movie. Right.

[00:50:33] We, we sat through Jean-Claude Van Damme in The Hard Target. This man took me to see three Steven Seagal movies. Yet Bruce Willis, an action movie? No, thank you. So I like my Bruce Willis talking like a baby with John Travolta and Christy Alley. Thank you very much. Oh my gosh. So, so he wouldn't take me to see Thigh. I did get to see it this year though, for the first time on the big screen. Uh, and I don't know if you know this. I mean, you had seen it before, right? I've seen it a bunch, but I never saw it like on a movie screen before.

[00:51:01] And I will say, boy, that helicopter scene where they blow up the roof. Like I've seen that a million times, but like watching it on a like movie screen. And it was like, it was a restoration too. So it was beautiful. Oh, awesome. Like, like, like they don't, I feel like I just talked about this to somebody, but they don't make films like that anymore. Right? Like you can't make a film the way they may die hard. Like it's illegal. Like they broke people's windows by blowing shit up. You know what I mean? And like they had helicopters like 30 feet in the air, just flying around movie sets.

[00:51:30] I'm like that in between buildings. It's just so unsafe. Just so, so unsafe. But it looks so incredible. It looks great. It looks so incredibly cool. Yeah. I was on a, in March, this past March, my brother and I went to Ireland to celebrate my birthday. It was like a treat. We went to Ireland. But on the plane, he was watching movies and he had like, I think it was Expendables 4, which has a ton of stunts in it and all that stuff. But it looked like everything was on a green screen.

[00:52:00] Like I wasn't paying too much attention, but every time I looked over, it looked like it was just like Jason Statham standing on a thing and a green screen behind him. And I was just like, yeah, I mean, I want to, give me Die Hard. Bruce Willis looks like he's really jumping off that roof with that fire hose attached to him. And if you don't have Die Hard, I'll take Die Hard with a vengeance. Okay. Right? It's an acceptable follow-up, I believe. I like the, yeah, I like that. I like it.

[00:52:30] But his, yeah, but his influences were all over the place. He was very much like a classic rock guy. So there was all like that psychedelic stuff from the 60s. That, you know, he was a fan of the big Beatles fan, big Zeppelin fan. And he was a history major. And I don't, you don't really see this reflected too much in his art, but he was a huge fan of like Russian literature. Okay.

[00:52:57] Like just like constantly like Nabokov and Tolstoy and like just read a lot of Chekhov. Made me read a bunch of short Chekhov stories. Like again, way too young. Not that they were adults. Just I just, you know, I have trouble grasping, you know, trouble grasping that stuff as an adult. Like I remember being like the eighth grade and he was trying to get me to read like Albert Camus, who's the stranger.

[00:53:25] And I'm like, I don't, I don't understand. He's in jail because he didn't cry at his mom's funeral. I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm not following. Oh, wow. Eighth grade. Yeah, that's a little, that's a little young for Camus. Yeah. He's like, you can handle it. You went to see The Fly. You're going to be fine. Yeah. So it's like, I can say, I really can't say that I've read any of that stuff because like, you know, I was my tiny brain couldn't figure it out back then. But it did give me an appreciation for a lot of that stuff.

[00:53:52] And I think like, I think a big thing for him was like, there wasn't really any sort of drive or there wasn't any kind of goal with the art, with his artwork. Like this is obviously like pre monetization of all of our hobbies and spare time and stuff like that. And he was just doing it to do it. So it was kind of just like, there was no pressure to do anything a specific way. You know, he wasn't trying to get likes or engagement. It was just, I'll just start drawing a thing and whatever it becomes, it becomes. And whenever it's done, it's done. And I'll just do another one the next day.

[00:54:22] And I'm like, again, I really, really kind of like that. Right. Like I, uh, I have so many ideas that I just kind of stick into a folder because I like the idea very much, but like, is it going to make a, like a comic book that's going to be compelling that are people really going to want to read, you know? Um, so it's like, there's a lot of like the why that we do things. Right. I always like talking to Jared Lujan about it because he's the philosophy guy and he knows more than me. And every time I talk to him, I learn something.

[00:54:53] But, uh, yeah, but, uh, yeah, the, the why we do things. And I was always kind of, I think maybe not impressed by that, but just a little, um, um, enamored of like not being driven to do something, just like kind of just doing it because he liked doing it. Did he ever have aspirations of doing something with it or was it just a creative outlet that he just liked to have? I think, you know, my, the way my mom tells the story was that, you know, he, he received

[00:55:18] a bunch of like, uh, feedback from a commercial art teacher that was just kind of like, you can't draw like this. Like you have to kind of, you have to do it a certain way or you're never going to get hired anywhere. And he just, she said, he really kind of internalized that. I never, I've never heard him tell this story. Um, but, uh, uh, but she said after that, he just kind of like never really made it the forefront. It always just kind of became like something that he did in the background.

[00:55:43] Um, but I think that's, I, again, I think that's, um, I think that's kind of great, right? Like it is, it is, there does seem like there's an intense pressure to, to kind of judge or grade everything we do by the response it gets or how we can monetize it or. Oh yeah. Especially now. Right. Right. And I, and I just kind of feel like, you know, I'm not, I'm not out to prove anything other than like that.

[00:56:10] I, this was a compelling story and it was worth your, you know, your time and your money. Like, that's the only thing that amounts to prove. So like, you know, um, if, if, if everything went right this year and I were to run like three Kickstarters this year, like, you know, the chamber is kind of empty, right? Like I have a bunch of ideas and stuff that I'm working on, but like, it's just that thing where none of them seem good enough yet to pursue. Like they need more time to cook in like the back of my head or whatever.

[00:56:38] Um, so it's just like, if, I don't know if like nothing happens the next year or the year after that, or if I, if we don't talk again until, you know, 2028, like that's why, you know what I mean? Cause I'm not just like, oh, the, they're going to forget who I am. I got to get back out there. And it's just like, you know, you got to keep your brand going. Yeah. Yes, exactly. I got to keep my, I got to keep my brand going. So people keep purchasing my content. Right. Um, but, uh, yeah. So I think maybe I take a little bit of that from him and that's probably also goes why

[00:57:06] like I'm not great at the marketing side of things, you know, because like, again, I don't, I don't, uh, I don't think about it nearly as much as I should. Well, I, yeah, I mean, it's hard. I, I certainly get that, but I don't know. I mean, I, when I saw you in Baltimore, I was like, yeah, come on the podcast. Let's talk about it. I mean, I, I just, I, I just, I think I like the work you've done. I'm in and I'm interested to talk to you. And that's why I, that's why I do do this podcast.

[00:57:36] Like a Byron, you know, will tell me like download numbers and things like that. I don't, I don't pay attention to it. I, I, I just to the extent that I want people to come on so that other folks can find their work. And I, I like that aspect to it. If we are whatever the, the, the numbers are. And as long as Byron's happy with it, that's great. But, you know, I read something, uh, and, uh, I want to know more about the person that makes it. What compelled to do it?

[00:58:04] And why did they make the choices they did? And what is it that they're, they want to say? And, you know, why out of all the things we can do and all the, we have such limited time and why are you spending it doing this? Right. Telling a story. And what's it all about? And let's, you know, let's just have a conversation about it. Um, that's one of the things I like, I like most about the community is like backing a book, reading it, and then immediately like going and talking to that creator.

[00:58:32] Uh, uh, Matt, uh, Sumo and I had always like, you know, been casual friends or whatever. And I was always a fan of his work, but like after I read the Bardic Versus. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I was just like, there's no one doing this and there's no one doing this as well as you are. And you and Pete just seem to be this like incredible team. And satire is such a difficult thing to like, to pull off or parody, I guess. And I always get those two confused, but, um, but man, it's just like, like talking to him and like kind of picking his brain about it.

[00:59:01] I like, that's just absolutely fascinating. And it's like, uh, uh, it's one of the, the bummer things about like watching movie. Like, um, you know, I watched so many films and I wanted like, I want to talk to you, Robert Eggers, about Nosferrati, but it's like, he's not around. I can't get him on the horn. He's, I don't have his number, but, uh, but it's like, uh, I don't have his number. Like I would like to do that. Um, so I just, I talked to my other movie friends and then we, you know, kind of pick it apart and go through the motion.

[00:59:27] But, um, but I think that's the big thing is like talking about your stuff and, and intellectualizing with your friends and like figuring out what it is, is such a big, uh, like I, you know, I write stuff and I have a theme in mind. And then when I go back and I reread it and I start changing the story, I'm like, oh, actually this is the theme. Like I have something different in mind. Like I wasn't aware of what I was putting down and, uh, just hammering that out and revising that stuff. I just, that stuff I just love. I just think it's great.

[00:59:55] And I haven't been in that mode for a little while now and I'm like kind of itching to get back into it. So. Well, good. You know, I gotta do all these Kickstarter campaigns first. All right. Well get, get through them. You'll do it. I will. You know, I think Mongoose is off to a great start. Was that your father's nickname? I didn't. Uh, that was his art name. Yeah. I guess I did a really bad job. Cause I know some of the things were signed Mongoose, but I just wasn't sure if like, if it was like. Yeah.

[01:00:22] It was just, that was the, uh, the nickname I think that he got in high school or grade school or something. And then he just started signing stuff with that. But like no one called him that. Like we didn't call him Mongoose or anything, but it was just, it just seemed to be the apropos, uh, kind of title for the book. You know what I mean? Yeah. I guess his, uh, uh, his artist name or whatever. And, um, yeah, I wanted to, you know, I w I wanted to ask like doing this and putting all this together.

[01:00:51] Like what do you, do you think he would have like loved this or would he have been like apprehensive about it or would he have cared? Um, so I was on, uh, uh, Chris stalls, the long box punk. Oh yeah. Okay. Great guy. We had a great time. And I told this story there. Um, but, uh, he would have hated it. Okay. He would have hated it to start. Cause there was a lot of dragging him kicking and screaming into a good time.

[01:01:21] Right. Like, um, uh, when, uh, my wife and I got married, we got married in Pennsylvania and we were living in Las Vegas. I said, this is very difficult planning a wedding across a, you know, a country or whatever. Um, and at the time my father was staying with us. He just retired and he wanted to spend like a month or two out hiking all around Nevada and stuff like that. And we had two dogs at the time and the dogs were going to stay here. And we were trying to find like a dog sitter.

[01:01:49] And he's like, well, I'll just, I'll stay here and I'll watch the dogs. And it's like, but we're getting married. Like you have to come to the wedding and he's like, uh, you know, you don't need me there. I'll just stay here. And I was like, and like, I literally had to like go, you're coming to the fucking wedding. Like, what are you talking about? Yeah. And, and that was the thing. Like you could tell us, like, I don't want to go to a party and get dressed up and have to do all this stuff. And then he's there and he's like the most charismatic guy. He's, you know, kissing hands and shaking babies. And like, he's making people laugh and he's having a great time.

[01:02:18] And then afterwards it was like, Hey, I'm sorry I made you come. And he's like, Oh no, I had a great time. He's like, it was so great to see you. I feel like an idiot for not. So I think that would be the case. I think he would just be like, I don't think you should do this. No one wants to see my art. And then I think once he saw, um, the response to it, I think he would have been, uh, flattered and maybe even felt a little foolish for being resistant in the first place. At least that's the story that I'm going to go with. Right. Uh, you know. It's a nice story. I mean, it's a good story. Yeah. You know?

[01:02:47] Um, well, yeah, thankfully he can't argue with me. So, yeah. Um, I mean, we're, we're, you and I are, we're pretty similar in age and I, just because you're, you're doing this book, you know, when I, I was thinking about this today and, uh, if it's true for you that, uh, unintentionally for me, um, not, you know, being married,

[01:03:10] having two kids, I find myself saying and doing so many things like, just like my dad. Yeah. And I mean, I, you know, my, um, my, my, my parents don't live too far from me and I, I still see my dad fairly often. Um, but things that I never thought in a million years that I would say or do or mannerisms like that I get called out by my wife and kids all the time. Like, that's just like, you sound just like pop-up.

[01:03:40] I mean, is that just, are you finding yourself, uh, doing that as well? Especially with, with, with having two kids? Yeah. Having a 13 year old boy, I, I, yeah, I do, um, I, I do find myself doing a bunch of that stuff. My wife has called it out once or twice. Uh, you know, like, you know, you sound like your dad right now and I'd be like, oh yeah, you're right. I do sound like my dad.

[01:04:07] Um, but, um, yeah, it's, it's that, it's a weird thing because it, the crazy thing about it is the only time I think about it or hear myself doing it is when I'm behaving poorly. Right. If I'm like, if I'm getting too upset about something and it wasn't like, that wasn't a thing with him. Like he wasn't like, you know, he wasn't incredibly strict or he didn't yell a lot, but, um, it was just really funny. Like I'll, I'll hear my dad.

[01:04:36] And as soon as I hear my dad, I was like, gosh, probably like, like, I'm just like, why, you know? Um, and I, and the, the one thing I did inherit from him was, uh, here's the thing. I say, here's the thing excessively. Uh, and, and I, I definitely got that from him because he, he used to do that, uh, all the time. Um, and I also think I got his, um, his, his, I got his, his willingness to argue. Right.

[01:05:06] It was just kind of like, we, we can, we can do this for an hour if you want. Like, I'm not going to get tired and shut down. Like I'll keep going. Um, which frankly doesn't really happen at all to me anymore. I don't argue with anybody, but, um, but yeah, he did have a certain tenacity. Like, especially if we disagreed on a movie or something, it was, it was just like, I wouldn't want to stop and he wouldn't either. And we would just keep like, well, what about this? Well, what about this? And we would just go back and forth. And, uh, he was very tenacious in that regard.

[01:05:33] Like, uh, it was important for him to prove, not like sometimes it was important for him to prove his point. And then sometimes it was important for him to be right. I think, you know what I mean? Okay. Okay. But, uh, you know, do you remember what was the movie that you most vehemently disagreed over? Uh, I remember, I remember, uh, two arguments, uh, not arguments, but, but really good discussions. These weren't vehement disagreements. I probably, one of the vehement was, was like, I wanted to fucking see Die Hard. Yeah. It looked great.

[01:06:03] Um, and then he was like, it's the name of a Sears battery. He's like, it was a stupid title. I appreciate less. I'm like, you know, I just, I lost. I did the keys to the car. Um, but, um, I remember watching Unforgiven, uh, uh, with Clint Eastwood and, you know, spoilers for, you know, 30 year old Clint Eastwood movie. Um, but I, I walked out of the movie and I'm like, uh, Clint Eastwood was the good guy. And my dad's like, what are you talking about? He's like the protagonist. He's like, Gene Hackman's the good guy.

[01:06:30] And I'm like, and I'm like, what are you talking about? And he's like, he's like, look, the, the movie is presenting Gene Hackman as the bad guy, but like Gene Hackman hasn't done anything wrong. Like, yes, he went too far. Right. But like, it's, it's, he's, he is law. There are no courts. There are no judges. Like the only reason he controls the town is because he controls it. Right. Like there's no one to come in and go, you're not running the town anymore. It's the wild west. And he's like, you can't have lawlessness. And he's like, that's what Clint Eastwood represents. He's like, yes.

[01:07:00] Like the point is, is that you're like, Hey, what, what my thing was like, Clint Eastwood was right. And Gene Hackman was wrong. You killed Clint Eastwood's friend. He's going to kill you. And that's, and my dad's like, that's the whole point is like the, and the, the line Gene Hackman gives is like, I was building a house. I don't deserve this. You know, the, the, him building the house is a metaphor for him building a society because I don't deserve this. And Clint Eastwood says deserves got nothing to do with it. Right. And that's it.

[01:07:26] And he's trying to say like, it's not a good guy, bad guy thing. They're both right to a degree, but they're both absolutely wrong to a degree. And I was like, Oh yeah. Like, that's one of those things where I was like, okay. You know, like he, you know, he, he, uh, he explained himself clearly and like really just kind of, uh, uh, you know, made a good point. And then later on, I was able to argue him like, this is a much later. So he was older, you know, I, it's like, um, it's like beating Joe Frazier in his 60s. You know what I mean?

[01:07:56] It's like, it's not, you know, I didn't, I didn't get him in his prime. Uh huh. It's still a win. It's still a win. Yeah, it was a win. It was a win. But later on, uh, one of, one of my favorite movies of all time and a favorite of his is a Coen brothers movie called Miller's Crossing. Oh yeah. Yeah. If you've seen it, yeah, it's tremendous. Um, as someone who's not a fan of like old timey gangsters and like prohibition era, I absolutely love that movie. It's like hands down one of the best.

[01:08:22] But, uh, my dad was like, well, it was all over, uh, Marsha Gay Harden's character. And I was like, no, I was like, I said, well, they're both in love with her. And I'm like, no, like, no, he never, Gabriel Burns character never cared for her. He was like, he's, he's like platonically in love with Leo because like their, their situation works so well as like, it's like a lump triangle, but like, they're not both in love with Marsha Gay Harden. They're both in love with Leo. And he's just like, what are you talking about? And then I walk him through and he's like, right.

[01:08:51] It does kind of make sense. Well, that works. I'm good. I'm, I'm right. So, um, uh, that's fantastic. That was one of the best things. Like in the, the, like the last couple of years, we would, uh, we would like watch stuff like movies or we would watch TV separately because he couldn't get out a lot. And then we would just sit and like, we would talk about it on the phone for hours. Like we watched every episode of, uh, HBO's Watchmen together. And then would like, it would be like Sunday night. There would be a debrief call.

[01:09:21] Like we would talk for like 90 minutes and then we did it with Stephen King's The Outsider. Right. I think that was the last thing we got to, but. Okay. Yeah. But those were just great. Like just, uh, you know, before everything was a podcast, it was just two guys talking about a movie for an hour. Right. I mean, right. They didn't, nobody recorded it. Right. Nobody, nobody tried to get advertisers. All of those phone conversations are available. Oh, are they? No, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Absolutely not.

[01:09:49] Um, but yeah, no, they were, uh, but I think that was the great thing. It was, it was, we, we did argue about, we argued more about music because I liked, uh, I listened to a lot of hip hop when I was growing up. He was not a fan. Okay. A classic, you know, rock kind of guy. So we argued about that a lot, but movies, it was more of like just heated discussions about the purpose or the intent or the symbolism. Um, but he was always really good at that. Like pointing out symbolism in movies or, uh, you know, little things here and there.

[01:10:17] Like, yeah, just, just, um, really gave me a, uh, a good sense of like critical thinking when it came to film. And, uh, uh, a kind of a willingness to watch stuff that I wasn't normally used to. Um, yeah, yeah. So, so yeah, uh, it was, it was just as eclectic as the art in his book. Yeah. Wow. Which I mean, I, I, I think it's tremendous. I mean, I just, I absolutely love this. Ah, thank you.

[01:10:44] I think listeners, even if, look, if you listen to this podcast and you, you know, you like indie comics and you know, that's great. We love indie comics here, but yeah, I just, this is something that I really think you should check out. I'll put a link to the Kickstarter in, in the show notes. Um, it's one, it's, um, I think a really nice tribute.

[01:11:12] It's really something great for you to have and your, your family and, and especially your kids. If one day, you know, especially your two year old wants to know about, Oh, what was your dad like, um, to be able to, you know, show them this part of him. Um, but also I just, I just really love the, I really love the artwork. Yeah. I just really thought it was, I don't know. There was something about it. Like the abstract stuff.

[01:11:42] Look, I, I like weird little things sometimes and it's just, there's some, there are some weird little guys. That would have been a good name for it too. Weird little guys. Weird little guys. Yeah. There are some, that's like the highest compliment. That is not, that is a not an ironic, that was not an ironic comment on my part. I'm 100% serious. Yeah. It was, it took me so long to settle on the word unconventional too, because like, I'm like, I don't like, I don't know, like a good way to describe this. You know what I mean?

[01:12:09] Because again, it does really run, uh, a kind of a, uh, through a wide spectrum of, of, of stuff. Um, yeah. But, uh, yeah, I guess the best thing I can say is just go to the campaign page and just take a look. That's everything I put up there is a pretty good representation. Um, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, there's 150 pages, so there's easily like 130 pieces, separate pieces of art in there. And I'm trying to like keep playing my cards a little close to my chest.

[01:12:37] I think I've only put like 11 or 12 out for, uh, you know, they're either the rewards or they're, you know, just promo images that I've used, but I'm, I'm, so I'm trying to keep a lid on like a lot of it, but, um, I'll probably release a couple of more in the next week. Yeah. I, yeah, I think it's great. And, um, yeah. So listeners, the campaign is going to run until the 27th. So if you're listening to this episode, when it comes out, you'll have a little less than two weeks. Um, I know Kickstarter has been doing the late ledges too.

[01:13:06] Um, I don't know if you're not doing that. Well, I'm going to be going, I wasn't exactly sure to be honest. It's been so long. I'm shaking the rust off. I wasn't sure, uh, exactly how they worked, but I also knew that the fulfillment time was going to be quick and it was going to be kind of a quick turnaround for stash box. And I didn't want anything to kind of complicate that exit. Yeah. Um, but I'll have, um, I'll continue to have copies available on my website after the Kickstarter is over. And again, like I'm not, uh, it'll probably be the same price. Uh, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to be raising the prices after the Kickstarter or anything. So you won't be missing out on any.

[01:13:37] Um, and, uh, it was so funny. I thought we were live. I mean, I know we're live right now, but I thought we were broadcasting live. I just got a backer and I was like, Oh wow. I was like, this is a, this is a great Jimmy. Thanks. Oh, wait, we haven't. That comes later. Uh, well, hopefully we'll send some folks your way. I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will. And I'm very thankful for it. So it's, it's, it's been an absolute pleasure, uh, being on. I've wanted to do this for so long. I'm so excited. I get to do it now. Um, yeah. Um, it's just been great.

[01:14:08] But yeah, I, I really appreciate you coming on and, um, yeah. Thanks a lot, Ian. And thanks for sharing your dad's work with, uh, you know. Well, thank you. Um, with everyone. I, I really, I think it's great and I love the stories in it. And, um, I mean, I think it's awesome. It's, it's really been my pleasure. It's, it's been, um, it's been incredibly rewarding hearing everyone. It's always nice to hear people say nice things, but it's also like, um, you're not really sure.

[01:14:35] And again, you said it earlier, like this, this is a comic book space, uh, and this isn't a comic book. So I wasn't really sure if, you know, how it was going to go over. But, um, yeah, I'm just absolutely thrilled at the, at the, uh, Al Porgas. I think we're at like 86, 87% already. Awesome. And it's not a 30 day campaign. I think I ran it for like 22 days or 23 days or something. So like, we're not even a weekend and, and I'm, you know, it kind of seems, you don't ever want to say it's a lock, but it kind of feels like a lock at this point. Um, yeah, just really excited.

[01:15:05] Really excited to see, uh, the next couple of days go by. Really excited to get it. Really most excited for people to start getting it and then hearing what they think about it. You know, seeing those pictures and stuff of people opening up and looking for it. So awesome. Yeah. Well, I will definitely send some folks your way. Uh, um, I, I just think it's great. So, um, I'll have links in the show notes to everything.

[01:15:27] And thank you so much for being on the podcast listeners, you know, find me on blue sky or Tik TOK or, you know, uh, wherever leave comments on here. Let me know what you're reading. Let me know what you like. You won't find us on, you won't find you on Twitter anymore though. That's for sure. No, we are not. Yeah. I think I still have mine open just cause I, I, I will use it to like search things to see like the timeline. Yeah.

[01:15:52] I, I shut mine down and deleted all of my organic tweets. Um, but like, I still, like I closed up shop, but I left the building there. Do you know what I mean? Like, uh, yeah. And I just, and I basically just pin stuff and I don't interact with anybody. And I just, I post like to have a pinned post. So in case anybody goes there, they can see where to go and they can see like the thing that I'm working on. Yeah. Right. Yikes. It's bad over there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:16:17] I, I, I, I'm, I like, I like blue sky and, uh, I like, and I'm on discord, you know, a couple of different discord. So that's, that's nice. But all right, listeners, thank you very much for listening. I really appreciate it. And, um, I will see you next time. And thank you so much for joining me, Ian. Thanks so much, man. Thank you, Jimmy. 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.

[01:16:45] 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.