J. Michael Donohue Interview - Graveyard Shift

[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.

[00:00:10] Have you ever been to a martial arts tournament like this?

[00:00:13] When I was a kid, there was a used bookstore in town. I begged my mom to drop me off all the time. They had a loose stack of comics that I used to thumb through searching for secret gold. One day, I came across Daredevil 189. That's that Frank Miller cover that's iconic with Dee Dee flying through the air and a hail of arrows.

[00:00:28] The book was a complete snobber knocker throwdown with the hand and Stick sacrifices himself to save Matt at the end.

[00:00:35] Ever since that moment, I have loved martial arts comic books. So when fellow Yeti Alex Green reached out about his Kickstarter project From Within, I was excited to find out more about it.

[00:00:44] It's a 240 page martial arts revenge graphic novel about a slave fighting his way through a deadly tournament where the rules shift according to the whims of, you guessed it, a tyrannical emperor.

[00:00:55] Full of high impact fight sequences, it's sure to delight any fan of action focused fiction.

[00:01:00] Artist Renzo Podesta kills the genre. See what I did there? And the whole project is already complete.

[00:01:06] So the hardest part, the one that makes you wait is already done.

[00:01:09] Bounce on over to Kickstarter and search for From Within.

[00:01:12] I'll drop a link in the show notes to make it easy for you. Make sure to check it out.

[00:01:18] Y'all, Jimmy the Chaos Goblin strikes again. 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.

[00:01:30] 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 can start playing.

[00:01:38] 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?

[00:01:45] It was then that I discovered Arkham Forge. If you don't know who Arkham Forge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive.

[00:01:54] Allowing you to build, play and export animated maps including in-person fog of war capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture.

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

[00:02:14] That's a win every day in my book. Check them out at arkhamforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off.

[00:02:23] I'll drop a link in the show notes for you and big thanks to Arkham Forge for partnering with our show.

[00:02:27] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even.

[00:02:32] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I have a writer on the podcast tonight who I had the pleasure of doing a written interview with about two and a half years ago for Comic Book Yeti.

[00:02:47] But now that we got the podcast underway, they were kind enough to come on to talk to me more about comics.

[00:02:54] I really enjoyed that written interview. This writer is a big fan of Stephen King and horror and has put together some previous crowdfunding Kickstarter campaigns, which I was very excited about.

[00:03:12] And this current one is no exception as we record this. Graveyard Shift is on Kickstarter right now.

[00:03:20] It will be on there until October 17th and there'll be a link in the show notes.

[00:03:25] This is Graveyard Shift and Addison Grove story, and I can't wait for you folks to hear more about it.

[00:03:34] Please welcome to the podcast, Jay Michael Donahue. Jay, how you doing?

[00:03:38] Good. I'm excited to be here.

[00:03:40] Yeah, thanks for coming on the podcast.

[00:03:43] And, you know, you're somebody that we've kind of, other than the written interview, interacted with on, you know, on Twitter.

[00:03:50] And we I've seen that we've liked a lot of the same things.

[00:03:56] I know we were both big fans of Resonant, that vault comic series that I absolutely loved.

[00:04:04] And I know you did, too, to the point that you had like Rebecca was kind of like a resonant story that you did or was, which was great.

[00:04:16] But, yeah, I want to talk about, you know, kind of some more of the things you've worked on and kind of your your background up up to this point.

[00:04:25] But let's start with this current project.

[00:04:29] Graveyard Shift and Addison Grove story.

[00:04:33] So, you know, I read a little bit the Kickstarter can't pay him page.

[00:04:38] But, you know, why don't you kind of give me the skinny on on what Graveyard Shift is all about?

[00:04:46] And, you know, what it sounds like you have some pretty cool plans for for Addison Grove.

[00:04:53] Yeah, I'm excited about it.

[00:04:54] This first story is called Graveyard Shift.

[00:04:58] And it's kind of a fun tale to mob enforcers who are, you know, kind of working the late shift, getting ready, rid of some of the garbage for their I can't think of their bosses.

[00:05:12] Man, sorry, it's late for their bosses.

[00:05:15] And they come to realize that something far more dangerous and deadly is lurking in the shadows than they are.

[00:05:23] And I'm really excited for the story.

[00:05:25] And this is the first one, like you said, Addison Grove story.

[00:05:30] And my plan is, is that I kind of envision this this quaint little town, something that you would almost drive through or see like in the 50s, leave it to beaver.

[00:05:39] But, you know, on the on the outside, it's got a nice, you know, sugar coating.

[00:05:44] But underneath is something quite dark.

[00:05:47] Yeah, I love that.

[00:05:48] I love story, you know, things like that.

[00:05:50] And, you know, kind of like.

[00:05:54] Twin Peaks-esque or, you know, something along.

[00:05:57] There's been a couple of other things recently.

[00:06:00] I think there was a TV show based off of an M. Night Shyamalan.

[00:06:04] No, not M. Night Shyamalan.

[00:06:06] I can't remember the name of the author, but like Wayward Pines was like that, where it just seems like a nice, normal town.

[00:06:13] Yeah, I think M. Night Shyamalan was.

[00:06:15] He might have produced it.

[00:06:16] He was produced it and it was kind of, yeah.

[00:06:19] But I.

[00:06:20] One season.

[00:06:21] There's also another one right now from that everybody's talking about.

[00:06:25] I think it's on MGM and Prime, but it's kind of the same thing.

[00:06:28] It's like a supernatural town.

[00:06:30] Somebody said it's almost like the horror version of Lost.

[00:06:33] Yeah.

[00:06:34] Yeah.

[00:06:35] I haven't watched that yet, but I think.

[00:06:39] I think the guy I think the actor that played Michael Harold Pierno, I think is I think from Lost.

[00:06:44] I think he might be in that.

[00:06:45] But yeah, I love those types of stories that, you know, you have this this town, village, whatever it might be with like a veneer of normalcy.

[00:06:58] And just underneath this is something where, you know, it seems like very wrong, whether or not because, you know, and there's there's all kinds of different reasons in these types of stories.

[00:07:09] And I can't wait to discover what, you know, Addison Groves is like, whether or not it's, you know, that the town itself is cursed or the the townsfolk are harboring a terrible secret.

[00:07:23] Like I just we've seen those types of things.

[00:07:26] I just I love it.

[00:07:27] Like part of the fun is when you see something familiar, like kind of digging in and is, you know, is does this have some familiarity with with one of those other stories?

[00:07:39] Is this breaking new ground in some way, like discovering that mystery is is part of it.

[00:07:44] And plus, I think it's so much fun when you have, you know, but when the reader has, you know, a character, whether or not it's normal folks or two mob enforcers that are kind of like leading them in being the intro into this this town of Addison Grove.

[00:08:03] And also, it's a great idea to kind of like anthologize things, you know, so you can have many stories set in Addison Grove, which I'm assuming is the purpose as to why it's not just graveyard shift.

[00:08:17] It's graveyard shift and Addison Grove story, which kind of like hints at larger things to come.

[00:08:24] Yeah, definitely.

[00:08:25] I mean, I have.

[00:08:27] I mean, all writers probably say this.

[00:08:28] I mean, I have multiple notebooks filled up with different ideas and stories.

[00:08:33] I think I have the four stories for this planned out.

[00:08:39] Not all the artists, but like right now I'm working with Colleen Palmer on this this first one.

[00:08:45] He's been doing, I mean, amazing work on the interiors.

[00:08:49] Her cover, I thought, was fantastic.

[00:08:51] Definitely had like a Mike Magnolia, like Hellboy feel to it, which I really loved.

[00:08:58] But what I'm really excited about, too, on top of that is that Alex Cormack, who I've been dying to work with on an interior story.

[00:09:06] He's done a few cover covers for me.

[00:09:09] He did the variant cover for this, which is just kind of a creepy snapshot of almost like the, you know, as you're coming into town, you got the big sign that says, welcome to Addison Grove.

[00:09:19] But obviously, you know.

[00:09:21] Yeah.

[00:09:21] Yeah, it's great.

[00:09:22] It's very dark.

[00:09:23] Yeah.

[00:09:23] Yeah.

[00:09:24] His cover is fantastic.

[00:09:25] And listeners, I mean, Alex has been on the podcast before, but if listeners haven't heard those episodes, Alex has worked a lot with Rich Dweck and, I mean, Road of Bones, Sea of Sorrow, Breath of Shadows.

[00:09:40] He also just recently worked with David Pepos for The Devil That Wears My Face.

[00:09:45] So, yeah, I mean, perfect, perfect gentleman to be working in the Addison Grove setting.

[00:09:53] Oh, yeah.

[00:09:54] No, I adore him as a person.

[00:09:57] He's an amazing friend.

[00:09:59] And his art is just spectacular.

[00:10:03] So, I'm really excited.

[00:10:04] There's been a story we've been kind of talking with back and forth and haven't really had the time that either met with what I was doing, with, you know, with what his schedule and, you know, he's a busy guy.

[00:10:15] So, the plan is hopefully, you know, we're doing well in this book.

[00:10:19] We get this one out there in the world.

[00:10:22] And then we're planning on spring working on that book together.

[00:10:27] So, that has me really excited.

[00:10:29] And some of the artists that I've talked with about moving forward and kind of doing that, I'm excited about, too.

[00:10:36] But, yeah, I think we're off to a great start.

[00:10:39] I'm really excited.

[00:10:40] Nice.

[00:10:40] And so, Colleen Palmer is handling the interior art for this.

[00:10:45] It's 39-page black and white.

[00:10:47] The preview pages on Kickstarter look great.

[00:10:50] Not everybody can make, you know, kind of talking heads in a car look interesting.

[00:10:57] But I feel like Colleen does.

[00:10:59] I kind of really like the look of those characters.

[00:11:03] Because they look like, you know, characters.

[00:11:05] Like in the, you know, in the casting a movie, you know, type.

[00:11:12] Like when they see somebody who has a particular look and they're like, that person's right out of central casting.

[00:11:17] You know, like that's how these, that's how these, when we're introduced to the two mob enforcers.

[00:11:25] They just have a very distinct kind of look about them.

[00:11:29] Yeah.

[00:11:29] And I love the black and white.

[00:11:31] I think it looks great.

[00:11:34] Yeah.

[00:11:34] I'm really excited to kind of do a black and white story.

[00:11:37] Obviously, one.

[00:11:39] It saves on production.

[00:11:41] Yeah.

[00:11:42] I mean, practically speaking, that's true.

[00:11:45] Yeah.

[00:11:46] But I'm really excited to do black and white.

[00:11:48] And I think her art has been, I mean, phenomenal.

[00:11:51] And like you said, I think she's made, and what we've shown so far, because there's a lot of things that we don't give away, are probably some of the slower moments.

[00:12:02] But they're visually interesting.

[00:12:05] And I think that's been, and maybe this is tooting too much of my own horn, really it needs to be, you know, her.

[00:12:11] But I think it's been, we've worked really well together.

[00:12:14] And I think it's been a good mix of, you know, I've tried to find little things that are interesting that kind of are going to hook the reader and be like, what the hell is going on in this story?

[00:12:24] Like, I have to read more.

[00:12:26] But she's brought it to life way better than I imagined in my head.

[00:12:31] So it's been, it's been really good.

[00:12:34] Yeah, that's always the most exciting thing when you, you know, as a writer, when you put something on the page and then you get that thumbnail or you get that page back.

[00:12:42] And I always love that kind of, just that interplay of, you know, picturing it one way in my head and describing it and then seeing how the artist interprets it.

[00:12:57] And you get it back.

[00:12:59] And like that, I don't know, with comics, there's that, just that like.

[00:13:02] You know, bit of magic.

[00:13:06] And I, there's nothing better than that.

[00:13:09] You know, when they take an idea in your head that you put on the page and then it, you know, they, then the artist translates it into a picture and it's like, oh, that's not what I pictured at all.

[00:13:21] And it's way better.

[00:13:26] Maybe I've just been really lucky.

[00:13:28] I don't think I've, I've been let down or had to give many of the artists I've worked with notes.

[00:13:33] Yeah.

[00:13:34] I mean, and you know, I, I always, whenever I meet with a new artist or anybody I work with is I try and make it very collaborative.

[00:13:45] Unless it's something just extremely vital to the story or, you know, maybe a little detail or something that I really want in there.

[00:13:54] Like I try and give them free reign to kind of, you know, to, to make the story their own as well.

[00:14:01] Right.

[00:14:02] Because, you know, it's not just, I don't want it to just be me.

[00:14:05] I mean, there's multiple names on the book.

[00:14:07] This one, not so many because Colleen's kind of doing multiple, multiple jobs.

[00:14:13] She's doing interior art.

[00:14:14] She did the main cover and then she is also a letterer.

[00:14:18] So she did lettering on it as well.

[00:14:19] Oh, nice.

[00:14:20] And, and the trade dressing.

[00:14:22] So she's doing, doing everything.

[00:14:24] She's wearing a lot of hats.

[00:14:26] Yeah.

[00:14:27] Yeah.

[00:14:27] She almost doesn't need me.

[00:14:30] Well, we won't, we won't tell her that.

[00:14:33] Yeah.

[00:14:34] She's just so.

[00:14:35] You need me.

[00:14:36] No.

[00:14:36] Just, just so she, you can stay involved.

[00:14:39] Yeah.

[00:14:40] Yeah.

[00:14:41] So.

[00:14:42] With, with some of the stuff you've done before with morsels, with better together.

[00:14:49] You know, so you, you've kind of taken some stories that you've done before and then written

[00:14:53] some new stuff with morsels, you know, to, to put like an anthology like that together.

[00:14:58] And then you've taken one, a story that you've done and expanded it when you kickstarted better

[00:15:02] together.

[00:15:04] Um, what did you like about the idea of having something that you could, you know, anthologize

[00:15:10] like rather than just saying, all right, this is my next comic and it's here.

[00:15:14] And then we're going to pick a different setting and tell a different story.

[00:15:19] Like what, what made you want to set everything and like Addison Grove and have a place that

[00:15:24] you could kind of, I guess, was that world building exciting to you or interesting?

[00:15:32] Yeah.

[00:15:33] I think any writer, you know, when you get the chance to play God, you know what I mean?

[00:15:37] It's going to relish that.

[00:15:39] Just go right for the God talk.

[00:15:41] We're, we're 13 minutes in.

[00:15:43] And you're, I mean, why waste time?

[00:15:46] Let's just get right to it.

[00:15:47] Yeah.

[00:15:47] Um, I think a lot of it comes down to, you know, like with morsels, morsels was an easy

[00:15:55] way as I already had multiple stories that I had kind of done for a couple of different

[00:16:00] like online places or things that I had just kind of, you know, really wanted to work with

[00:16:03] certain artists.

[00:16:04] So, you know, I, I wrote a story for them and kind of had them sitting around and it's

[00:16:09] like, you know, I wanted to show them to the world.

[00:16:12] So that's kind of how morsels was born.

[00:16:15] Um, together forever is a real special one.

[00:16:19] Cause it was a chance to work with Jeremiah again.

[00:16:22] Um, and you know, I call him my, my PIC, my partner in comics.

[00:16:26] Um, cause he was the first one, like together forever is the first story in morsels.

[00:16:30] Um, and it was a three page story.

[00:16:32] It was one that I just had kicking around in my head forever.

[00:16:35] Um, you know, I, I thrown up on Twitter one day, Hey, any artists out there wanted, you

[00:16:40] know, want to team up on this?

[00:16:42] Um, and he was like one of the first ones to reply.

[00:16:45] And so, you know, I checked out his work.

[00:16:47] He did some fantastic art pages that he still shows cause he showed they're awesome of, uh,

[00:16:51] the rocketeer.

[00:16:53] Yeah.

[00:16:53] I'd love to see him do a rocketeer book one day.

[00:16:56] Um, I know me and Chuck Satterley are constantly like, Hey, you know, putting it out there.

[00:17:01] Somebody put him on this book, but, um, and, and, and it was a story that very special in

[00:17:08] my heart is not even that.

[00:17:09] But what I love about Jeremiah and his passion for comics is, you know, when I did that story,

[00:17:14] I was kind of like, all right, cool.

[00:17:16] I did a story.

[00:17:17] I guess it's done.

[00:17:19] Maybe I can do it next.

[00:17:21] And he was immediately like, Hey, I do work for this editor over at the site called hyper

[00:17:26] epics and their whole thing.

[00:17:27] They're, they're a great site.

[00:17:29] And their whole thing is that all their stories are three pages long and they do like a, uh,

[00:17:34] uh, try to think a soundtrack to them, which is really cool.

[00:17:37] He's like, I kind of like to show this to him.

[00:17:39] Maybe they'll, they'll publish it.

[00:17:40] And I was like, yeah, sure.

[00:17:42] Go right ahead.

[00:17:42] I mean, I, in my head, I'm thinking like, they're not going to want that.

[00:17:45] Who cares?

[00:17:46] Yeah.

[00:17:48] But yeah, sure.

[00:17:48] Show it to them.

[00:17:49] Um, and I think the next day he was like, Oh yeah, they want it.

[00:17:52] I was like, Oh my God.

[00:17:53] Okay.

[00:17:53] Awesome.

[00:17:54] So that's always been kind of like, you know, my first published story has been special.

[00:17:58] And so then I just kind of kicked around the idea of a way to expand it.

[00:18:02] So it was like, yeah.

[00:18:03] And I hadn't worked in it with Jeremiah in a while.

[00:18:05] So I was like, Hey, what about this?

[00:18:07] Let's get another book out there.

[00:18:09] Um, so that was a lot of fun, but I kind of wanted to move out and kind of do something

[00:18:13] different.

[00:18:14] Um, and I've always been a big fan of anthology.

[00:18:17] So I think that's just kind of where my work always just somehow kind of comes back to.

[00:18:22] Um, I mean, I used to love tales from the crypts, um, tales from the dark side.

[00:18:26] Um, what else?

[00:18:28] I mean, Erie, we talked about before, you know, Erie, Indiana was a big one as a kid.

[00:18:32] Goosebumps, you know, a new story each time.

[00:18:34] Oh yeah.

[00:18:35] Um, but what I was excited about Addison Grove is, is it's a, with the stories that I had,

[00:18:42] you know, like, like one thing that I, is hard for me as a reader, especially when you

[00:18:49] get into like superhero comics and you get into a lot of these things, even with the MCU,

[00:18:53] I mean the movies, I mean, DC is a little bit different, but still kind of same as like,

[00:18:58] sometimes if you don't keep up and you get behind, it's almost like you just kind of feel

[00:19:02] lost.

[00:19:03] Um, and you know what I mean?

[00:19:06] Cause there's just so much, so many stories that so many people have told.

[00:19:09] Um, and so, so it feels daunting.

[00:19:11] And so what I'm excited about with Addison Grove, you know, if we continue is, is that

[00:19:15] each story is going to be pretty self-contained.

[00:19:18] Um, obviously all set in the town and there'd be little threads that kind of, you know, connect

[00:19:24] each one, but it's, it's more of a, you know, an enticement to read the other stories.

[00:19:31] Um, you know, you're not punished if you haven't read the other ones, each one's going to be

[00:19:35] its own self-contained story.

[00:19:37] No, I like that.

[00:19:38] Yeah.

[00:19:38] So that you can just pick one up and read it, but, um, it sounds like you'll have little,

[00:19:43] you know, either Easter eggs or little nods to, to some of the other stories for folks

[00:19:49] that like, you know, are reading all of them.

[00:19:51] So I like, I like that, I, that idea that, that little bit of connective tissue, but just

[00:19:57] being able to pick one up and, and kind of go through it is, uh, you know, it's pretty

[00:20:01] cool.

[00:20:02] All right, let's take a quick break.

[00:20:12] After a string of unexplained disappearances in the Southern parts of the United States,

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[00:21:32] Let's get back to the show.

[00:21:34] Well, have you thought about in terms of the stories that you, you know, these first ones

[00:21:41] that you're going to do it or is everything firmly grounded in horror?

[00:21:45] Like, have you thought like, oh, I can branch out another genres in Addison Grove, or do

[00:21:51] you want to kind of keep things fairly, you know, consistent, at least thematically?

[00:21:57] Uh, I, one of them, I will say definitely touches more on sci-fi.

[00:22:03] Okay.

[00:22:04] If I feel to it.

[00:22:05] Um, but generally all four of them, yes, are horror, um, and maybe kind of touching on

[00:22:14] different sub genres, obviously, you know, so each one's not necessarily the, you know,

[00:22:18] the exact same.

[00:22:19] There's going to be, you know, hopefully some differences, um, a little bit of different

[00:22:23] flavors, like this one is very much, um, may have a little bit of a dark humor in it, but

[00:22:29] I think this was much more of a, um, of a horror book.

[00:22:35] I mean, like straight horror.

[00:22:36] Uh, whereas the next one that with Alex Cormac, um, definitely has kind of more of a Tales

[00:22:42] from the Crypt, you know, sense of humor too at a time.

[00:22:46] Okay.

[00:22:47] So yeah, so I think that, yeah, so I definitely, there'll be.

[00:22:53] Playing all around.

[00:22:54] I think it's a different sandbox.

[00:22:56] So pretty cool.

[00:22:57] Um, when, when you, in terms of the stuff that you read or watch, um, you know, in the

[00:23:04] horror space, like, do you find yourself gravitating to like the same types of stories or are your

[00:23:10] tastes as well, like all over the place or, you know, whether or not it's, you know, zombie

[00:23:15] films or, you know, post-apocalyptic or ghost stories, haunted, you know, stuff.

[00:23:22] What are you just, you know, take on all comers or do you have like a particular like

[00:23:27] favorite, like a sweet spot for, for things?

[00:23:33] Um, subgenre, I think is kind of near and dear to my heart is the, uh, werewolf subgenre.

[00:23:38] Okay.

[00:23:39] Um, but it's hard to come by a good werewolf movie.

[00:23:44] You know, I feel like for every, you know, American werewolf London you have, you've got

[00:23:50] a lot of bad ones.

[00:23:52] Yeah.

[00:23:52] Um, and I have bad, I mean, like there's a lot of, a lot that are a lot of fun.

[00:23:55] Like I love silver bullet, um, you know, American werewolf in London, um, you know, dog

[00:24:04] soldiers.

[00:24:04] I mean, they're just all over the place, but I would say like, I've always loved all

[00:24:09] types of horror.

[00:24:10] Some of it kind of depends on my mood, who I'm with.

[00:24:12] I have a good friend of mine.

[00:24:14] I mean, from like our college days, we used to love to get the cheesiest eighties horror

[00:24:19] movies to watch.

[00:24:20] Um, sometimes the, you know, the worst, the better, um, you know, and I, and I feel like

[00:24:28] I kind of, I can roll with just about any, I think subgenre that's going around.

[00:24:33] Folk horror is sometimes a hard sell for me.

[00:24:39] Um, but I'm, I'm always open to give kind of anything a shot.

[00:24:45] Has there ever, um, has there ever been anything, uh, you know, recently where you were like,

[00:24:52] that's, that's too much.

[00:24:54] I'll have to pass.

[00:24:56] Oh, uh, I can't think of anything that's been too shocking.

[00:25:02] I will say I have not dabbled in the terrifier movies.

[00:25:08] Um, and I think mainly because some of the, the rumor or not rumors, but just kind of the,

[00:25:14] you know, the reviews and kind of talking about how extreme they go.

[00:25:18] Um, I mean, each their own.

[00:25:21] I mean, they've got their, their fans that I, to me, that's not my cup of tea.

[00:25:27] Yeah, no, I get that.

[00:25:28] Yeah.

[00:25:28] I haven't seen, I haven't seen, are there three now or, or just, or two?

[00:25:33] I think the third one comes out this year and it's going to be a Christmas movie.

[00:25:37] That makes sense.

[00:25:38] Um, yeah.

[00:25:39] And so that some of those aren't my cup of tea.

[00:25:43] I find what I found more recently is there are some that are just so highly regarded and

[00:25:50] everybody's like, watch this, watch this.

[00:25:51] And then I watch it and I'm kind of like, ah, it was okay.

[00:25:55] Like it, that they just haven't quite lived up to the hype that I feel like has been given

[00:25:59] to them.

[00:26:01] Okay.

[00:26:02] Um, I will say what I'm really excited about now though, is that my, my two oldest sons

[00:26:07] are, um, they're about to be 15 and 13.

[00:26:10] They're at the perfect age where I'm starting to show them some horror movies like we did.

[00:26:15] Um, and what I love is they're getting excited about what are we going to watch this week?

[00:26:20] What can we watch?

[00:26:20] What can we watch?

[00:26:21] Oh, see now that's, that's the, that's the, my kids are younger.

[00:26:24] Um, but like my two daughters, they rarely want to watch anything I suggest, but yeah,

[00:26:30] that's the sweet spot when your kids are coming to you and are like, what's next?

[00:26:34] Well, they finally got there.

[00:26:36] Like I showed my youngest, he, he showed more of an interest in horror, like show them

[00:26:41] poltergeist.

[00:26:42] I showed them, um, also we watched, we watched poltergeist.

[00:26:46] We watched the thing we've watched, uh, the conjuring.

[00:26:50] Um, and then my oldest son kind of got into it.

[00:26:53] So I think recently I showed them, uh, we did lost boys one night and we did fright night

[00:26:58] the next night.

[00:26:59] Oh, the, the, the original fright night or the, the remake original.

[00:27:04] I would show them the remake.

[00:27:06] I, I like the remake too.

[00:27:08] You know, I personally, uh, I love them both.

[00:27:11] And I think what's so great about the two fright nights is that they, um, I feel like they have

[00:27:20] the same spirit, but they stand on their own, own ground.

[00:27:23] Like they didn't try and rehash everything in the remake.

[00:27:27] They kind of made it its own.

[00:27:28] Yeah.

[00:27:29] Um, and I know there's some podcasts I listened to and some discussion and people are like,

[00:27:33] I don't like that.

[00:27:34] It's out in the desert.

[00:27:35] I don't like this.

[00:27:36] And I'm like, to me, part of that is like, what's well, don't get me wrong.

[00:27:41] Um, my suburban neighborhood of a vampire moved in next door.

[00:27:44] It's pretty terrifying.

[00:27:45] But like the desert aspect is, especially when they make this town, it's like you have

[00:27:50] this small little town and then you're just desert.

[00:27:53] You know what I mean?

[00:27:54] Like, where do you run to?

[00:27:55] Yeah.

[00:27:56] Yeah.

[00:27:56] So, but yeah, no, so I like, we'll show them that I'm kind of excited.

[00:28:00] Uh, I think what really piqued their interest is that for my birthday, my brother-in-law

[00:28:05] got me, um, one of those scratch off posters.

[00:28:08] That's like the hundred greatest horror movies that you should watch.

[00:28:10] So as you watch them, scratch them off.

[00:28:12] So they've been really like, which one can we scratch off?

[00:28:17] Oh, that's fantastic.

[00:28:19] Oh, I mean, I'm excited about it.

[00:28:21] I, I think I'm thinking this weekend I'm on board.

[00:28:24] I want to go maybe, uh, night of the living dead.

[00:28:28] And then I, I've been up on the air about doing alien.

[00:28:32] Cause I just want to see their response to the chest person.

[00:28:35] Oh yeah.

[00:28:38] I mean, the first alien movie is just, it's, uh, they're just, there's just something

[00:28:44] about how like blue collar it is.

[00:28:50] Like, it's not, it's not fancy.

[00:28:53] It's not like shiny.

[00:28:55] Like it's, it's the kind of like, you know, spaceships and the future and like sci-fi

[00:29:02] as, but yeah, these are just like, it's like they're folks working on an oil rig, but they're

[00:29:08] in outer space.

[00:29:09] And, ah, yeah.

[00:29:11] And that scene comes, uh, like just happens.

[00:29:14] So suddenly, um, yeah, well, that would be fantastic.

[00:29:20] And maybe I'm wrong on this, but what I'm excited about is that like, I think I had that,

[00:29:27] I was discussing this with my, uh, a friend of mine.

[00:29:30] Cause he's like, you know, that's so culturally big.

[00:29:33] It's like, like, how could they not know about it?

[00:29:36] Um, but I don't feel like, like I had that scene ruined for me because I think I had seen

[00:29:41] parodies of it before I had seen.

[00:29:43] Yeah.

[00:29:44] I saw Spaceballs.

[00:29:45] Yeah, exactly.

[00:29:46] Like I had seen Spaceballs and I was like, oh, okay.

[00:29:48] And then, but when it came up, I'm like, oh, that's from alien.

[00:29:51] Like, so it wasn't that big of a shock to me, but like, I can't think of anything they've

[00:29:57] watched or it's been parodied or that they would recognize it.

[00:29:59] So I'm excited just to see what their faces.

[00:30:02] Yeah.

[00:30:03] My, my, my son, my, my, my middle son has a pretty good poker face.

[00:30:07] Like I was, there's a thing watching the whole time when they're about, they're doing

[00:30:11] CPR and I'm like, oh, oh, watch, watch, watch.

[00:30:14] And he was just like, oh, okay.

[00:30:15] I'm like, what are you talking?

[00:30:17] Like, that was awesome.

[00:30:18] They bit off his hands.

[00:30:22] So.

[00:30:23] Well, well, good luck.

[00:30:25] That sounds, uh, that sounds, yeah, that sounds great.

[00:30:28] Um, especially that they're excited about, you know, scratching off the, the hundred greatest

[00:30:34] horror films and, and going through all of them.

[00:30:37] Uh, I bet that's a pretty impressive list.

[00:30:41] So.

[00:30:42] Yeah.

[00:30:43] Um, are they, do they like, are, do they like comics?

[00:30:47] Are they excited about comics?

[00:30:49] Like, uh, do they get into that at all?

[00:30:52] They do some.

[00:30:53] Yeah.

[00:30:54] Um, I felt a little, a little pride recently.

[00:30:57] I was pretty excited.

[00:30:58] Cause my, my middle son said he was, uh, I think it was his English class and they were

[00:31:02] talking about, he's like, oh, we're, we're talking about horror stories and this and that.

[00:31:07] And he's like, and my teacher asked, does anybody know anybody that wrote horror, you

[00:31:11] know, horror stories?

[00:31:11] He's like, my dad wrote a horror comic.

[00:31:13] And so he said, I was like, oh, cool.

[00:31:15] And he was like, yeah.

[00:31:15] And so we, we were Googling it and we found the other, we saw the Kickstarter pages and

[00:31:19] we, I was like, oh, okay.

[00:31:22] But he seemed excited.

[00:31:23] Any, any other time they're just kind of like, oh yeah.

[00:31:26] Okay.

[00:31:27] Cool.

[00:31:27] Yeah.

[00:31:28] That's what, that's what dad does.

[00:31:31] Yeah.

[00:31:31] But, uh, well, no, that's, that's exciting though, that he, uh, you know, was able to

[00:31:37] tell his class about it and that they were Googling you.

[00:31:39] So, you know, that I know I've been Googled.

[00:31:41] Yes.

[00:31:42] You've been Googled.

[00:31:42] Uh, no, but I mean, that shows that, uh, they have some interest in what you do, Jay.

[00:31:47] So, you know, that's pretty great.

[00:31:50] Yeah.

[00:31:50] Um, in terms of like, uh, you know, speaking of horror movies in terms of horror comics and

[00:31:57] we, we've mentioned resonant already, um, you know, there, I feel like there are just

[00:32:03] some phenomenal like horror comics out there, you know, right now, like you mentioned not

[00:32:08] being a, a, a, a huge fan of like folk horror and movies, but I instantly thought of, um,

[00:32:15] uh, uh, Michael, uh, Conrad and Noah Bailey's, uh, double Walker, which had a very, like,

[00:32:24] folk horror film feel to it.

[00:32:26] Yeah.

[00:32:27] I love that.

[00:32:28] I love that comic.

[00:32:29] That's one of my favorites.

[00:32:30] I've read that.

[00:32:31] I love that book.

[00:32:32] Um, yes, I'd love to see that as a movie.

[00:32:36] I mean, I'm not saying like, I won't watch them, but I guess sometimes they're a harder

[00:32:42] sell for me.

[00:32:43] Yeah.

[00:32:43] Um, but no, that one I've read is fantastic.

[00:32:47] Um, the comic series, I, I guess the two that I would see, uh, the plot that was Michael,

[00:32:53] uh, Michael Marisi and Tim Daniel.

[00:32:57] Yeah.

[00:32:57] That was from vault comics.

[00:32:58] Like, I think that would make a phenomenal, like even a mini series.

[00:33:01] Oh yeah.

[00:33:02] And Josh, uh, Hickson, I think did the R right.

[00:33:05] Um, yeah, he did that.

[00:33:07] Um, and then, uh, another one that was good from vault.

[00:33:11] That would be really awesome.

[00:33:13] I think even as many series too, is the, uh, the optimal, which is she, Hannah's art.

[00:33:17] And then, uh, Oh man, I can't Daniel Krauss in your craft.

[00:33:21] Yeah.

[00:33:22] Yeah.

[00:33:22] Daniel Krauss writing.

[00:33:23] Like I loved both those.

[00:33:24] Oh yeah.

[00:33:25] They were, they were.

[00:33:27] Yeah.

[00:33:27] Yeah.

[00:33:27] The old terminal has, has some like, uh, um, like full car feel to it.

[00:33:32] Definitely.

[00:33:33] Um, but, uh, yeah, yeah, there, it's just an amazing time for, for horror comics.

[00:33:38] Like when you're going through and reading stuff, you know, as a writer and wanting to

[00:33:42] do more and now wanting to set stuff in Addison Grove, like, do you take notes as you were

[00:33:48] like, you know, whether or not physical or just mental notes, like, uh, when you come

[00:33:52] across an artist and you're like, Oh, this, you know, like the, you know, the, the Colleen

[00:33:57] Palmers and Alex Cormac's like, Oh, this person, I could do something in Addison Grove.

[00:34:03] Like, are you doing that now?

[00:34:04] Or have you been the more you've been wanting to work on, uh, these Addison Grove stories?

[00:34:12] Yeah.

[00:34:12] I think I'm always kind of mentally taking notes.

[00:34:16] Um, you know, as much as I hate it and kind of in between doom scrolling and things

[00:34:20] like that on Twitter, um, you know, I, I feel like as I'm going through there and trying

[00:34:25] to ignore anything political, you know, if I find artists that I see that, you know,

[00:34:29] I like their work, I'll make kind of note of it.

[00:34:31] Same as like on Instagram.

[00:34:34] Um, and then there's just a lot that, you know, as, as I see them, I try and reach out

[00:34:39] to them.

[00:34:40] Um, and there's a lot that are long shots, you know, cause I just know that they're,

[00:34:44] they're popular, they're good.

[00:34:45] So they're booked up.

[00:34:47] Uh, yeah.

[00:34:48] And so I was lucky Colleen Palmer was available.

[00:34:51] She like said, she's fantastic.

[00:34:53] Alex, you know, we've had a story probably for about, I mean, two close to two years that

[00:35:00] we've been kind of talking about and wanting to do together and kind of discuss things and

[00:35:04] just hasn't worked out with either of our schedules.

[00:35:06] So I'm excited.

[00:35:07] Like, you know, when I, I, I told him, I was like, Hey, this is kind of the idea I'm doing

[00:35:11] for this, this project.

[00:35:13] You know, I think our story could make me, you know, be a good fit for it.

[00:35:17] I kind of want to, you know, kind of tweak it.

[00:35:19] And, um, you know, when do you have available?

[00:35:22] And he's like, you know, he told me when I was like, all right, pencil me in.

[00:35:26] We're doing it.

[00:35:27] I don't care.

[00:35:29] I'll take a second mortgage out on my house.

[00:35:31] We're, we're, we're doing this story.

[00:35:34] Yeah.

[00:35:34] Whatever, whatever, whatever we have to do to make this, uh, this comic happen.

[00:35:39] Um, what do you think it was that, you know, uh, like made you want to write, not just

[00:35:46] write comics in general, but horror comics specifically.

[00:35:49] Was it just your like love of reading, love of the genre?

[00:35:55] Um, what was it that really like you wanted to tell these types of stories?

[00:36:01] You know?

[00:36:02] Yeah.

[00:36:03] I think I've just always loved watching horror movies.

[00:36:06] I mean, reading horror books, horror comics is just kind of what's always pulled me in.

[00:36:09] Um, and, you know, I have tried, I can't say I've tried too hard, but I've always had other

[00:36:19] genres that I want to do.

[00:36:20] And somehow horror just always kind of seeps its way into the story.

[00:36:25] You know, it never, it never stays, um, stays one, one way on its own.

[00:36:31] And, and, and I've always enjoyed watching like genre mashups when they're, especially

[00:36:37] when they're done really well.

[00:36:39] And, and it's always kind of fun to play with those ideas.

[00:36:42] Like, I think, uh, there was one of the stories from morsels I did with Jeremy Simster.

[00:36:49] Um, he's a phenomenal artist and he actually does a lot of storyboard artists for the MCU

[00:36:54] like shows and movies and things like that.

[00:36:56] But, uh, when we did, you know, he came to me and he's like, Hey, uh, I like what you've

[00:37:02] done.

[00:37:03] You know, I've got some opening in my schedule.

[00:37:05] Like, let's do something.

[00:37:06] So I go, okay.

[00:37:08] So I pitched an idea and in my head, I was thinking, all right, what if, what if Godzilla

[00:37:12] was with sleepless in Seattle?

[00:37:15] I don't know why those two popped in my head, you don't make this romantic comedy and kaiju

[00:37:21] movie.

[00:37:22] And so even as I started trying to write that, it still just kind of edged its way closer

[00:37:28] to horror and more horror in it.

[00:37:29] Um, but I don't know.

[00:37:31] I just, it's just what I've always enjoyed.

[00:37:35] No, I mean, yeah.

[00:37:36] I mean, it makes sense.

[00:37:37] I just didn't know if they're just kind of curious if there was, um, you know, anything

[00:37:43] else, uh, there doesn't have to be, you know, just what, what you like, and then you want

[00:37:50] to be able, you know, I always think that some of the things that I've read and the way

[00:37:55] they made me think or feel.

[00:37:56] And I, you know, wanted to try and, you know, do that myself, you know, wanted to kind of

[00:38:03] tell a story to have somebody else experience that.

[00:38:07] And, um, if horror was the thing that made you interested, um, yeah, you don't need anything

[00:38:13] more than that, you know?

[00:38:15] Yeah, definitely.

[00:38:16] And, and I've, I've got stories in my back pocket.

[00:38:20] I'm really excited to tell whether it be comics.

[00:38:23] Um, I've toyed around with some things of doing maybe, you know, a novella or book at some

[00:38:28] point.

[00:38:29] Um, so whether what's the right medium for some of these stories, but, but a lot of them

[00:38:35] are, they're, they're horror.

[00:38:36] And I think, you know, as a lot of people said, horror is a great way to kind of look at yourself,

[00:38:43] um, you know, kind of deal with maybe some of the things that you're, you're scared about,

[00:38:48] um, you know, can be a good therapy in some ways.

[00:38:52] Um, but I think in the end, you know, I love, I love telling stories.

[00:38:57] And so if, if I have one that pops up, like there are a few, I haven't, I have as well

[00:39:03] that I've, I've kicked around that, um, that aren't horror at all.

[00:39:08] Um, but I'm not going to lie.

[00:39:09] Some of them are in my mind, they're more emotionally taxing stories.

[00:39:16] Um, and I feel like right now where I'm in, I'm almost a little, well, maybe scared to

[00:39:23] jump into them.

[00:39:23] Um, and I, and they're ones where I want to tell them correctly.

[00:39:27] So maybe, you know, in the back of my mind, I don't feel whether or not I'm quite there

[00:39:33] in my craft that I want to tell those stories.

[00:39:34] Cause if I'm going to tell them, I want to do them correctly.

[00:39:36] So I want to take my time to get to them.

[00:39:39] Yeah.

[00:39:40] Do you, um, no, I, no, I, I get that about wanting to, you know, be able to tell the story

[00:39:47] and, and tell it the right way.

[00:39:48] Um, you know, when you have a story that you want to tell, but whether, you know, you don't

[00:39:54] feel you're, you're there yet as a writer or kind of digging in, like scares you.

[00:40:01] I mean, I certainly understand that, that aspect of it, um, you know, being a fan of horror,

[00:40:09] which, you know, whether or not it's like a jump scare or psychological terror or whatever

[00:40:14] it might be.

[00:40:15] Does that kind of inform you like wanting to tell those stories even more?

[00:40:21] Are you able to kind of like pump the brakes on things and, and, and, and settle in?

[00:40:30] Um, yeah, I don't know.

[00:40:33] I don't know about that.

[00:40:34] I mean, I, I think any story I have, like, I don't know, I guess the best way I feel like

[00:40:44] right now in my career too, what I've tried to do with things is that being indie, having

[00:40:49] to produce these myself, um, also trying to find stories that I can tell, you know, in

[00:40:58] a shorter amount of time.

[00:40:59] Yeah.

[00:41:00] Um, but what I've even loved so far, what, and what I've done and what Morsel's a lot of

[00:41:07] fun with is, is that I feel like it made me a stronger writer to do shorter stories because

[00:41:15] I, I really had to think, okay, what is, what is absolutely important to this story?

[00:41:23] You know, what can I get rid of?

[00:41:24] What can't, can't I?

[00:41:26] Um, and sometimes it's been really tough.

[00:41:28] I mean, but I think it's maybe a stronger writer.

[00:41:31] Um, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

[00:41:35] Yeah.

[00:41:36] I mean, I, I, um, I'm excited for the, for graveyard shift.

[00:41:39] I was a big fan of Morsels.

[00:41:42] I mean, it always had like eight stories in it.

[00:41:44] You worked with different artists.

[00:41:45] I mean, that in and of itself, I think will make you a better writer, you know, writing

[00:41:52] for somebody else, having another artist, you know, take a look at your script and kind

[00:41:58] of put it together like that.

[00:42:00] Every artist is different, just like every writer is.

[00:42:02] And that collaborative experience, I think is, uh, you know, is invaluable.

[00:42:08] Um, and there were just, there was just some fantastic storytelling, uh, both in your

[00:42:13] writing and, and visually with the artists you work within Morsels.

[00:42:17] So, um, yeah, I'm really looking forward to, to, to graveyard shift and, and whatever other

[00:42:23] stories we get that are set, uh, in Addison Grove.

[00:42:26] I just think it sounds like a, you know, a fun concept.

[00:42:30] It already has that stuff.

[00:42:31] I like, you know, give me a, give me a weird little town where, where things seem okay and

[00:42:36] have something dark happen in it.

[00:42:38] That's I, that's enough.

[00:42:40] And let's see what, you know, let's see what you and Colleen can do with that.

[00:42:45] Uh, yeah.

[00:42:45] Um, that sounds, that sounds perfect to me.

[00:42:49] Yeah.

[00:42:50] Well, but I'm, one thing I'm really excited about with graveyard shift is I don't want

[00:42:56] to give away what it is.

[00:42:58] I don't know.

[00:42:59] I, I always, I always go back and forth on how much should I give away?

[00:43:03] How much should I, should, you know, cause you want to, you want to hook them in.

[00:43:06] You want to know what, you know, give the reader what they're kind of getting into,

[00:43:10] but I like to surprise people, but the, the creature, the monster in this is something,

[00:43:17] um, I mean, I've never seen people, uh, other people do not saying that it hasn't been done.

[00:43:22] Um, and it's also kind of a, a creature from, uh, a different, um, I'm trying to think, you

[00:43:30] know, country.

[00:43:31] Um, cause that's what I always find is I, you know, I, I always like to look at, you know,

[00:43:37] Japanese, you know, folklore, um, you know, Irish folklore, you know, British, I mean,

[00:43:42] from, from everywhere and kind of read about these different monsters and what they

[00:43:45] believe in what's kind of the same, what's kind of not.

[00:43:48] Yeah.

[00:43:49] Um, and even the fact that, you know, it's so much fun, like Japanese horror is, is one

[00:43:55] that I really love and like reading their folklore and even just, um, me and my friend were kind

[00:43:59] of talking about some, it's like some of these, these, you know, demons or these ghosts that

[00:44:05] they have and just kind of how different their belief system is.

[00:44:07] And there's some of them that are like, you know, so grotesque in the way that they're

[00:44:12] described, but they're the belief is they just like to scare people.

[00:44:17] Like they're not evil.

[00:44:18] It's just like, they're almost like trip tricksters in a way.

[00:44:21] So, you know, some of those are a lot of fun.

[00:44:23] Yeah.

[00:44:23] That's why I'm excited about great bar shifts.

[00:44:25] Isn't something, it's something different, but I get to hit in all four stories.

[00:44:32] It's all going to be kind of such sub genres.

[00:44:34] And we talked a little bit about for that, you know, I've really loved, or there's been

[00:44:38] like a touchstone movie that, you know, has been really big to me that's kind of, you know,

[00:44:42] really inspired me to do those.

[00:44:44] Nice.

[00:44:45] Yeah.

[00:44:45] I, uh, no, I think that's great.

[00:44:47] And, um, it reminded me of what my brother, Bobby and I, uh, I'll shout out Bobby now

[00:44:52] that Cryptid Creator Corner's number one, most dedicated fan, but Bobby and I watched all

[00:44:57] every episode of like supernatural.

[00:45:00] We started it when it first came out in, I don't know, like 2004.

[00:45:04] And it was something we would do together, you know, whatever night it was on, or sometimes

[00:45:08] we'd record them and have like two or three, but like 15 seasons.

[00:45:15] And like, I really feel like, you know, towards those later seasons when they did, when they

[00:45:20] had like, just like a monster of the week type of episode.

[00:45:23] Oh yeah.

[00:45:24] Like, I really feel like they were, they were, they were really like on the back pages of

[00:45:30] some, like some folklore books or, you know, or something to try and find like, what is

[00:45:36] a, what is a creature we, we didn't, we didn't use yet.

[00:45:39] And I always thought that was great.

[00:45:41] I'm like, did they just make that up?

[00:45:42] Like, what was the little seed of something that, you know, was, was this creature and

[00:45:48] it, you know, how did they come up with the rules that made it work or, you know, made

[00:45:54] or what, what killed it and, you know, whatever, whatever, you know, that's 15 seasons,

[00:45:59] 22 episodes, you really gotta, you really gotta come up with some stuff.

[00:46:05] Supernatural was one of my favorites.

[00:46:06] I can't say I made it to the end and, and kind of like what you said, I think a lot of

[00:46:13] it is once they kind of had a mythology set, yeah, they kind of stopped with the monster,

[00:46:17] the weaker, all the different types of monsters, obviously.

[00:46:21] Yeah.

[00:46:22] But yeah, no, that first season or so.

[00:46:24] Yeah.

[00:46:24] I love the, it just felt like, you know, this teenage version of X-Files.

[00:46:30] Yeah.

[00:46:30] Kind of scratched that itch.

[00:46:31] But yeah, those, both those actors were a lot of fun.

[00:46:35] They had a good chemistry.

[00:46:37] I mean, I'm a, I'm, I'm a big sucker for a monster of the week type show or story or

[00:46:42] anything like that.

[00:46:43] Yeah.

[00:46:44] Yeah.

[00:46:44] I love, I mean, I like the mythology of Supernatural.

[00:46:47] I, I enjoy, I enjoyed the shows.

[00:46:48] It was fun watching it with my brother, but yeah, some of those monsters of the week were

[00:46:52] great.

[00:46:52] X-Files.

[00:46:54] I mean, I, I was a huge X-Files fan.

[00:46:56] I, I, same thing.

[00:46:58] I kind of dug whenever the cigarette smoking man showed up, but, but some of those, you know,

[00:47:05] like, what was it?

[00:47:08] An early episode.

[00:47:09] What was the monster in the sewer?

[00:47:10] Was that, was that fluke?

[00:47:12] I think might've been the, the, the creature was kind of like a humanoid fluke worm.

[00:47:19] I, is all I remember.

[00:47:20] Oh, I do.

[00:47:20] Okay.

[00:47:21] Now I know what you're talking about.

[00:47:22] Um, you know, I just.

[00:47:23] I don't remember the episode and I just started a rewatch of that and I haven't gotten far

[00:47:27] into it.

[00:47:27] So I don't think I've hit that one again.

[00:47:31] Um, yeah.

[00:47:31] And you know, X, as much as I loved X-Files, it was one of those where, and maybe I leaned

[00:47:38] more towards Supernatural because I like more of the monster stuff than the alien stuff.

[00:47:43] And so sometimes they lean more heavily into the UFOs and extraterrestrials.

[00:47:48] Um, so sometimes I was a little like zoned out on those versus when they had more of

[00:47:54] your monsters of the week.

[00:47:56] But like, I remember the one guy that could like stretch himself into place.

[00:47:59] So he was like going in through like the air docks.

[00:48:02] Yeah.

[00:48:03] Yeah.

[00:48:04] Yeah.

[00:48:04] Tombs.

[00:48:05] Yes.

[00:48:06] That was the, I think that that was Tombs.

[00:48:08] I think was the character's name, but he was in, yeah.

[00:48:10] He showed up in, in, in two episodes, man.

[00:48:13] I haven't watched X-Files in a while.

[00:48:14] I'm really, I'm really, I'm really digging deep for this to remember the X-Files.

[00:48:20] Um, well, the host, the, the fluke man was season two, episode two.

[00:48:26] The episode was called the host.

[00:48:28] So if you're, if you haven't got to season two, uh, you have that to look forward to.

[00:48:33] You can revisit fluke man.

[00:48:35] Yeah.

[00:48:35] I'll have to see.

[00:48:36] It's funny.

[00:48:37] Um, I haven't listened to the podcast.

[00:48:40] I want to go back.

[00:48:40] I listened to the King cast and, uh, Kumail Nanciani has been on there for multiple times

[00:48:46] as a guest.

[00:48:46] And one of them, he said he has is he had, I think he's done with it now, but he had a

[00:48:50] podcast where it was a X-Files rewatch.

[00:48:53] Yeah.

[00:48:53] The X-Files files.

[00:48:54] Okay.

[00:48:55] Yeah.

[00:48:55] And so I kind of want to go back and watch it just see, cause he even said, he's like,

[00:49:00] you know, he goes, it was kind of rough in the beginning.

[00:49:02] He's like, so I'm going to go through and tell you, watch this episode, this episode,

[00:49:06] skip, skip, skip, watch this one, skip, watch this one.

[00:49:09] You're not missing anything.

[00:49:11] Skip, you know?

[00:49:11] And so it was just kind of funny.

[00:49:12] Cause I mean, any show takes a little while to kind of get its footing, I think to kind

[00:49:17] of really hit its stride.

[00:49:18] So.

[00:49:19] Oh yeah.

[00:49:21] Yeah.

[00:49:21] But that stuff was, you know, that, that was a lot of fun.

[00:49:25] I love that show and yeah, I like that's, that's why, you know, it's, it's one of the

[00:49:30] reasons, one of the things I love about this podcast is having writers and artists on and

[00:49:36] kind of talking about this stuff and not just the comics that you create, but the things

[00:49:40] that led, you know, to those comics.

[00:49:42] Like, I feel like, you know, we're, we're all a product of everything that we've experienced,

[00:49:47] you know, how we were raised, the people in our lives, the thing we watched, it kind

[00:49:52] of all just gets jumbled up into a stew.

[00:49:54] And then when you decide that you want to create something, you know, I, I feel like

[00:49:59] it's a little bit of, uh, all, all, all of these things in our creative DNA, you know?

[00:50:07] And when you find somebody who writes something that you like, and I like, you know, you come

[00:50:12] on and I'm like, Hey, I really liked morsels and, uh, this graveyard shift looks cool and

[00:50:16] let's talk about it.

[00:50:17] And then we're talking about, you know, Stephen King and eerie Indiana and the X-Files and

[00:50:23] supernatural.

[00:50:24] And it's like, yeah, it just gets me excited to, to read these stories because of, uh, you

[00:50:30] know, all these other connections and talking about resonant and the plot.

[00:50:33] And, uh, yeah, so I love it.

[00:50:37] And, um, uh, Jay, I, I, it is late and I, I, I, otherwise I'd keep you talking about,

[00:50:43] uh, the X-Files or, um, or, or more comic books.

[00:50:48] Um, but this has been wonderful.

[00:50:51] Uh, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

[00:50:53] No, no problem.

[00:50:54] Thanks for having me.

[00:50:55] It's been a ton of fun.

[00:50:56] Any, any chance to, to nerd out and talk about all these things, you know, I take it whenever

[00:51:02] I can.

[00:51:03] So, well, I really appreciate it.

[00:51:06] I'm going to try and get the listeners of your list.

[00:51:08] I'm going to try and get this out, um, before the campaign for graveyard shift ends.

[00:51:12] But even if I can't, if it's towards the end, they, they do allow for a Kickstarter allows

[00:51:18] for like late pledges.

[00:51:20] Now it's something new that they've been, been rolling out.

[00:51:22] It hasn't been that long.

[00:51:23] I don't think, but I'll have links to the show notes to Jay's social media and website

[00:51:29] and all of that stuff.

[00:51:30] So you can check out all of those things.

[00:51:32] Um, uh, but yeah, uh, Jay, I, again, I really appreciate you coming on.

[00:51:38] Uh, good luck with the rest of the, uh, graveyard shift campaign.

[00:51:42] And I cannot wait to read, uh, this first story and, and I, I'm looking forward to, to more

[00:51:49] Addison, Addison Grove.

[00:51:51] But I hope everybody will, will feel that way after reading the first book.

[00:51:56] Well, we'll let you know, but I'm late.

[00:51:57] We'll let you know.

[00:51:58] Yeah.

[00:51:59] Fair enough.

[00:51:59] Yeah.

[00:52:00] Um, no, I'm, yeah, I'm definitely excited for, for that book.

[00:52:04] Um, I'm excited to work with Alex Cormac.

[00:52:07] Uh, I'm just excited to see where this project can go.

[00:52:10] So.

[00:52:11] Awesome.

[00:52:13] Uh, well, thank you again, listeners.

[00:52:15] Thank you for listening.

[00:52:16] Rate, review us, uh, reach out, tell me, find me on Twitter.

[00:52:21] Tell me what it is you're reading.

[00:52:22] Um, what comic books you're getting into right now.

[00:52:25] Uh, I, as always, I thank you for listening.

[00:52:28] Yeah.

[00:52:28] You're the reason that I do this.

[00:52:30] So hopefully I can, uh, help you find some comic books that you love.

[00:52:34] And, uh, yeah.

[00:52:36] Um, that's all.

[00:52:38] I'll see you next time.

[00:52:39] This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner, brought to you

[00:52:43] by Comic Book Yeti.

[00:52:45] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[00:52:48] Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[00:52:52] It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve.

[00:52:56] Thanks for listening.

[00:52:59] If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister

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