Jeff Marvin Interview - Hunters of Sheydim

[00:00:00] - [Speaker 0]
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[00:00:11] - [Speaker 1]
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[00:00:55] - [Speaker 2]
Hello, and welcome to comic book yeti's cryptid creator corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I'm really excited to talk to today's guest. He's in a location that I've never spoken to anyone who is actually in this country from from where I am in Delaware. So I'm as the comic book yeti cryptid Creator Corner goes International, but we're gonna talk about his comic book Hunters of Shaddim, and it's coming out or will be out soon with with Gollum Press. I'm so excited, but coming to us from Israel is Jeff Marvin.

[00:01:31] - [Speaker 2]
Jeff, how are you doing today?

[00:01:32] - [Speaker 3]
Hey, Jimmy. I'm good. It's good to see you.

[00:01:36] - [Speaker 2]
Did did I say that right? Is it hunters of Shedim?

[00:01:40] - [Speaker 3]
Well, okay. So you could say it one of two ways. I learned this recently. So in if, apparently in Hebrew, it's shei dim. So as you see it on the book, because I have the ERSE, so it's got the shei part there.

[00:01:56] - [Speaker 3]
I don't know if it's backwards. Then I guess with Muslim, the pronunciation is Shadim.

[00:02:04] - [Speaker 2]
So Okay.

[00:02:06] - [Speaker 3]
Either way, it kinda works. Whichever fits your fancy.

[00:02:10] - [Speaker 2]
Alright. Alright. So hunters of Shadim, hunters of Shadim. So, yeah, Melissa Mazzaras who from Don't Hide, PR. Melissa's great.

[00:02:20] - [Speaker 2]
Melissa helped set this up.

[00:02:21] - [Speaker 3]
Fantastic. Oh,

[00:02:22] - [Speaker 2]
I Oh, Melissa's Melissa is awesome. I've I've interviewed Melissa. Early early days of the podcast, I interviewed Melissa. She she was great. But she sent over a copy of this.

[00:02:33] - [Speaker 2]
I got to read this. And this is one of those comics that was, like, right right in my wheelhouse. I I I just interviewed someone recently who's working on, like, one of the supernatural comics with with dynamite, pre t Chibber. And I've I've I've seen every episode of supernatural. I love that show.

[00:02:51] - [Speaker 2]
I love anything that is kind of in that lore of, you know, myth mythology, demons, like, that that that type of stuff, and especially an area that I'm not super familiar with. I I was raised Catholic, which is every Catholic who no longer, practices. That's what we have to say. I was raised Catholic, but I went to Catholic grade school, high school, even Catholic college. So I was raised with all of that in terms of my, like, religious background.

[00:03:23] - [Speaker 2]
But in terms of, I I guess, the the Jewish side of it and and those characters, because you borrow both from, like, Christian tradition, but, really, it's also very similar, I guess, in terms of some of some of the aspects in the Jewish tradition. But there there are elements of this that I wasn't familiar with, and I really love how there's, like, a there's a mix of of language in this book. There's, like, a there's a ton of stuff to really dig into with your story here. And what I really love is that it in the the version of it that that I had gotten, there's, like, a little bit of, like like, background that kinda sets the stage for, the story and let you know who some of the the characters are. And, it really does a does a nice job.

[00:04:21] - [Speaker 2]
Like, you know, it almost acts like the star wars crawl, you know, to kind of, like, set the stage for everything that's going on. I just thought that was

[00:04:29] - [Speaker 3]
That was on purpose.

[00:04:31] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Give me a sense of, like, what I was getting into and and all these there's a

[00:04:37] - [Speaker 4]
lot of characters in here who I'd kind of, like, heard the names before, like Asmodeus, certainly Lucifer, Moloch. But, yeah, you've really kind of done a ton of world building to set up this world, and I just really I really loved it. Really loved the story of your the twins, Lucia and and Kat and Katarina.

[00:05:02] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Bonus Creek. Katarina. Yeah. So why don't you, you know, tell listeners who might not be familiar with it, like, what Sure.

[00:05:10] - [Speaker 2]
The story is all about, and then I got a a ton of questions, about digging into, like, how you set up this world and and all these the different characters and the demons and and all that stuff I think is great. But it's you and artist RD Brown. Mhmm. And, yeah, what what what can listeners expect when they, you know, order their copy of, Hunters of Shaddim?

[00:05:33] - [Speaker 3]
What what we were trying to do, I think, was you have, the Bela Shantov, which is the the Jewish equivalent of of Jewish demon hunters. And we start off with group a of demon hunters from different religions. We have the Kutel al Jinn, which is the Muslim group, and then we have the Malleus Maleficarum, which is the the Christian, demon hunting group. And they they actually form an alliance called the Triumvirate, and they they it's a very shaky alliance, but they they've been sort of having this alliance for about ten years, and then it just all falls apart. Asmodeus is, a demon that they had previously trapped in Ganom, which is in Jewish lore is the it's the the demon version of hell.

[00:06:22] - [Speaker 3]
It's sort of a demon it's sort of a dimensional place. It's not it's not like heaven, hell is like these constructs. They're they're sort of outside of reality. And so you have Genom, and then, of course, you have Shammaiim that is also shows up in there, which is the Jewish heaven. And they and Asmodeus is released from, Genoem, and all hell breaks loose as he and his demons, with Moloch and Azazel and Lucifer hunt down and try to kill as many of the the demon hunters from all groups, but mostly the Baal Shem Tov, that they can for for revenge.

[00:07:02] - [Speaker 3]
And and so it's really this first book is the girls and Eli, who is their mentor, rabbi Eli, and his wife Sarah are just eviscerated. They're having to go on the run. The hunters become the hunted, and they're just trying to survive basically in this book.

[00:07:20] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I I wanna say the the action scenes are wonderful. You know? RRD Brown

[00:07:26] - [Speaker 3]
He's fantastic.

[00:07:27] - [Speaker 2]
I mean Yeah. Oh, absolutely fantastic. And that is the that's kinda like the the neat trick of this is, you know, you you set up the world, and you still though have a lot of things to kind of explain and and talk about because, Lucia and Catarina are you know, they have a mission. They're also trying to figure exactly, you know, what is going on. Sure.

[00:07:53] - [Speaker 2]
And there are some characters introduced who they have to explain. Like, when Dane shows up later on, they have to kinda explain what some of the these things are, but you the two of you have really created a a really nice balance. It's you know, the the pacing of it is fantastic, and the action scenes are just wonderful. I mean, there were just some just some tremendous there's just some tremendous stuff going on because they have to the the the demons, these winged creatures, they are fighting them.

[00:08:24] - [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.

[00:08:24] - [Speaker 2]
And, you know, there there's, like, flaming swords. There's all there's, I think Dane has a gun when he comes in. Like, there's just all kinds of, like, great stuff going on in terms of all, like, the action, and it is, like, you know, high octane, go go go with with some of those scenes are are wonderful. It never gets bogged down in in the lore, though. Like, when there are moments to breathe and we kinda see some flashbacks, you know, we go back to right around the time of of World War one.

[00:08:57] - [Speaker 2]
There's some flashbacks, I think, to, like, 1914, 1516.

[00:09:00] - [Speaker 3]
In Lithuania.

[00:09:00] - [Speaker 2]
We it it yeah. In Lithuania. And it is kind of nice to get, like, a a like, a moment to breathe in between the action. And, like, you really use every panel to kind of, like, flesh out this story and and and this history? I just thought that was, really wonderful.

[00:09:18] - [Speaker 2]
And it all it it made it the action scenes made it a lot of fun. Like, Lucy and Catarina are like, RD draws them great. They're just so they're they're fun to to watch do what they do, and they're very athletic and acrobatic, and, like, the fight scenes are, phenomenal.

[00:09:33] - [Speaker 3]
Thank you. No. I I can't take any of that credit. He he really just blew it out of the park for us. I mean, I I we the the trouble we always knew when we were looking for an artist and trying to figure out what to do is is the action stuff, obviously, you know, was complex in the way we wanted to have it shown, and I wanted that realism.

[00:09:53] - [Speaker 3]
But, obviously, capturing the Jew Jewish elements and nailing the visual ideas, especially and I always say this is Shammayim. Shammayim was key. Like, for Jewish audiences, look it up. If you go online and try to find images of Shammine, especially the Enoch, from the from the the the the book of Enoch and, his description of Shammine, you will not find a visual almost anywhere except for in our book. And so that was the real test.

[00:10:24] - [Speaker 3]
And, of course, this is a this fantastic artist, I don't know his religious background, but he, but he he's from Nashville, Tennessee, and he he definitely did not have a Jewish background. So when he just and this was, like, almost first time we we talked about it. We figured out how to how like, what it looked like, and it was very descriptive because, you know, it was very descriptive in what Shemima was supposed to look like. I was just make sure it doesn't look overtly Christian because it really doesn't. It's a weird it's a strange, strange place.

[00:10:56] - [Speaker 3]
And he just nailed it, like, first time out on the go. It was it was pretty incredible. And so things like that, he really he really grabbed on to a lot of the the Jewish imagery and the and and, like, with with the the the temple that he he drew for, with with Eli, we're standing out front of it a bit in in in, the around the middle of of of issue one. I mean, it's just incredible what he did, and I I can't be any more pleased in how he how he was able to accomplish that. And and then having our colors, Venetia Townsend just put the exclamation point on it.

[00:11:33] - [Speaker 3]
It just you know? I I my wildest dreams, I never thought we could sort of visualize and see this come alive in the way I did. So

[00:11:41] - [Speaker 2]
And both letterers. I think you had two letterers who worked worked on this, but the lettering's great, as well. I just I just wanna go back up. The letterers are

[00:11:51] - [Speaker 3]
Desi Santi.

[00:11:54] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. And Suneesa Mattek.

[00:11:55] - [Speaker 3]
And Suneesa Mattek and both of them. Desi is an old friend, and he's worked on all my previous books that I had worked on before. And he he, worked at DC for a long time, and, I think he's doing upper deck, working with that upper deck right now with cards. And he's just fantastic. He he knows how to put together a book.

[00:12:19] - [Speaker 3]
He's really good with logos and decals. He created the hundreds of Shaneen logo, and I love it. It's one of the one of the best he's done so far. And, so, yeah, I just had a really great team. And, my editor, Ori Alon, who's also here in Israel, he has a comic book store.

[00:12:35] - [Speaker 3]
One of two comic book stores here in Israel, and that's he has one of them that's in Disengaf in Tel Aviv. So, yeah, I just we really I got really lucky that we were able to put together such a team, and, I just can't wait for people to read the book. It's gonna be really fun, I think.

[00:12:52] - [Speaker 2]
It it is really fun. Just another thing about the lettering because you, Katarina and Lucia kind of can talk to each other, you know, psychically or telepathically, however, you you know, you wanna wanna say it. But there's also a lot of moments where, you know, you you you do the thing that comics does well where you're kind of, you know, showing something, and then you're you have a different narrative description. And so you have a lot of, like, color text boxes, and all of that stuff works really well to tell the story. Like, that's one of the the keys in terms of, like, really good lettering.

[00:13:29] - [Speaker 2]
You're never confused. You never have to go back. And, like, who's saying this? Like, all of that is, like, really done well. I thought the use of color along with the lettering for a lot of those text boxes, like, were really smart choices.

[00:13:42] - [Speaker 2]
One of the one of the the kind of things in the comic book I don't I don't wanna give, like like, too much away, but I do wanna say with, I I guess, as Asmodeus Mhmm. There is a section where, Asmodeus, like, you don't you don't get an explainer beforehand. Like, you you there's no, hey. We're about to do this. It just it's just part of the story.

[00:14:02] - [Speaker 2]
But as you see with, like, the first, like, one or two panels, you realize that Asimodeus is now telling events from, like, Asimodeus' perspective, and it's, it's it's so well done when it happens and really puts, like, a very interesting spin on it because then you, you know, you you kind of have you do not have demons or these these characters with especially with Asmodeus who were just doing these things out of pure, like, evil. There is there is some complexity to it. Not to say that they're like antiheroes or good guys by any stretch of the imagination. You know? But there there there there is, like, some there's some dimensionality to these characters, which I thought was, you know, very interesting.

[00:14:53] - [Speaker 2]
You know, you don't see a lot of that all the time. So I thought that was very smart, like, when it was done and how it was done, when Asmodeus kinda gets his moment to to, you know, tell things from tell his side of the story.

[00:15:07] - [Speaker 3]
His perspective. Yeah. The Lucia stuff is yeah. Yeah. Well, I think one of the things that I I really loved about doing it this way is that, you know, when you look at a lot of the Christian iconography of when you look at these characters, like Asmodeus or Moloch or Yazael, Lucifer.

[00:15:22] - [Speaker 3]
I mean, obviously, sometimes they're the same person or they're a bunch of different people. But but they're usually just, yeah, they're usually just blatantly evil. I mean, obviously, the show Lucifer and and what Neil Gaiman did with Lucifer obviously making him a little nuanced in some way is sort of my and, of course, I always used to say that that I think he was looking at it from the Jewish perspective too because in Jewish texts, in in the Talmud and the Torah, And a lot of these characters are not just blatantly evil, especially as Modius. As Modius is charismatic is described in in in the Torah as this charismatic kind of guy who's who does awful things, but he also, at some point, was was responsible for building the temple for Solomon. You know, the question of whether or not he was coerced to do it is obviously open, but the fact that he did do that, that he is a Talmudic scholar, that is in the text.

[00:16:18] - [Speaker 3]
He is he is basically a rabbi, and he is somewhat of a proud Jew. It's not a and and there are there are many texts that that suppose that he is the son of David, and one of the demon queens, one of the four demon queens, either Lilith, Agred Batmotleth, Naama, or Isith. So, you know, I incorporate a lot of those things into it because, you know, Asmodeus, I I look at it kind of like when you think of, like, clash of the titans. Remember clash of the titans from the eighties where the gods just Sure. They just mess around with stuff.

[00:16:54] - [Speaker 3]
Right? They screw around. I mean, Zeus and then, you know, they they just they get greedy or they get jealous, and they Right. Screw around with stuff. And so I kinda looked at it as, like, a lot of the Jewish demons are like that too.

[00:17:05] - [Speaker 3]
They're they have a lot of human qualities. They're flawed. May you know? And so for Asmodeus, he kinda has a perspective that people might be like, you know, it may be maybe similar to maybe like a Thanos with Thanos. Right?

[00:17:19] - [Speaker 3]
Kind of ideal. But but but he has a perspective, and you're kinda like, oh, well, okay. You know, it's he's not just blatantly like, Malek is the only one I I basically say has no redeeming value at all. He's just he's just basically, I wanna burn stuff and make get power out of it. That's it.

[00:17:37] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. One track mind that guy.

[00:17:39] - [Speaker 3]
One track. Yeah. No. No. Well, that's what makes it amusing between the three of them.

[00:17:43] - [Speaker 3]
You know, Lucifer doesn't get as much play in in this book as he will in in future books if we hopefully can continue. But but, but Azazel I I had so much fun writing Azazel, Malik, and Asmodeus, and, you know, Azazel just playing everybody. Like, he just you know? And then using those two personalities against each other was just a lot of fun, and it's gonna get a little nuttier even in the second one that I'm writing right now. Oh,

[00:18:11] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, awesome. Well, that that's very exciting. You said that it would you know, it was amusing, like, watching the the three those three characters kinda play against each other Mhmm. Or play one against the other, whatever the case may be. I also I I love the the the the fun and the humor of this.

[00:18:31] - [Speaker 2]
You know? It it it is a ton of action, and there's a lot of fun lore if that's, you know, what you're into, listeners. But, yeah, Katarina and Lucia, like, have a great chemistry and, like, a really fun, like, sense of humor in terms of you know, you you think maybe that's something so, kind of, like, steeped in in in the lore or, you know, having to do with this fighting demons wouldn't be as quippy as it can be. Like, it's you don't overuse it at all, but there's just enough, like, cultural references in here. I mean, I think star wars is is referenced.

[00:19:08] - [Speaker 2]
There's a couple of other things that I thought were, like, just absolutely hilarious. They have a really you know, the the characters who I think, I think they they were or they you were it's talked about somewhere that maybe they they have a Catholic upbringing, but, like, a Jewish identity as well. Yes. But they also are very like, right now in terms of, like, they know what's going on. They know, like, modern references.

[00:19:34] - [Speaker 2]
They're and they're very kind of, like they're they're very fun, and they have they both have, like, great personalities and senses of humor, and it's like a little quippy, and it's it's it's very funny. I I thought at times was really, like, really good, in terms of the the humor of it, which I was kind of, you know, surprised by. I thought I was gonna get more of a straight on. Like, we're we're we're hunting evil. We're killing demons.

[00:19:56] - [Speaker 2]
We're doing all that stuff. But it is very, you know, in, like, the modern sense of having a really good sense of humor without it, you know, being overused or feeling trite. I thought, well done.

[00:20:08] - [Speaker 3]
Well, thank you. Yeah. I I had a lot more. That was that was my editor, Oreyu, was able to tone me down a little bit because I I I liked having these sort of back and forth things with Katerina and Lucia. They kind of they kind of do their own thing.

[00:20:21] - [Speaker 3]
I I did you know, and, again, I don't wanna give anything away, but there are certain plot points in the story that were not originally there, but Lucia drove it. She, like, drove it like a Mack truck through a, you know, through a nitroglycerin plant. And I I realized I couldn't ignore her instinct and, like, sort of you know, because she's she's a very she loves she's extremely talented, and and she's funny, and she's she knows her pop culture and stuff. And she has a good heart, but she's a little reckless. And so, you know, that played into a lot of the things that were happening.

[00:20:55] - [Speaker 3]
And she was so reckless that it kind of wreaked havoc on some of my original plotting because I was like, well, this you know, I need to keep the characters consistent, so this is where we're gonna go. And, and I think you you since you're ready, you probably know what I mean with some some particular plot points involving Lucia. Like the Star Trek stuff, I you know, that was I loved doing all that. I I love Nimoy and and Yeah. And so we I wanted to play with those ideas a little bit and have those references.

[00:21:28] - [Speaker 3]
And, of course, with Katerina, she's really into science, and you'll get a kick out of this is that she she is absolutely in love with Neil deGrasse Tyson. So that's gonna be like a theme going on into into future stories of her her love of Neil deGrasse Tyson. So, you know, her wanting to sort of explore space and the stars. So these kinds of things are all those little things that that were just sort of really fun to sort of bring out, and and, you know, I'm glad and then I'm glad you enjoyed that. That's that that puts a smile on my face that you you were able to pick all that up because I I sometimes I worry I put too much in.

[00:22:09] - [Speaker 3]
And, but, but, yeah, it's it's, you know, I'm looking forward to sort of you know, in the next book, as I'm working on it right now, we I just I've finished the first draft for the for the for the second book. It's gonna mostly take place in Israel, so we're gonna see a lot of Israeli, little spots like Masada is gonna show up. I don't know if you know Masada, but it's it's a very important landmark in Israel. It's a lot of IDF soldiers, a lot of people that are here, they take their oath, on Masada. Masada was a place where the they held off the Romans.

[00:22:49] - [Speaker 3]
The Jews, held off the Romans, and they ended up making an ultimate sacrifice of saying they could be enslaved by the Romans and give up, or they could basically die and basically sacrifice themselves, rather than become enslaved. And it's a huge thing in Jewish, history, Jewish lore, and it's an amazing place to go if you ever come to Israel. It's up on this giant sort of cliff, and you can can see it. And it's this massive sort of fort, really, and fort at base that, Herod had built, and it's this, you know, storages and all this stuff. And it's a really so so I say anyone who is interested, you look up Masada, and you could see how how interesting the place really is.

[00:23:37] - [Speaker 3]
But there's a lot of history here, so it's, it's gonna be a lot of fun to kinda show it all.

[00:23:41] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, I I'm not familiar with, with that place in particular, but I will I will look it up. But, yeah, cert certainly, there is a lot of history in terms of, the the area of the world you're living in right now.

[00:23:53] - [Speaker 2]
I mean Yes. We don't we don't have anything that that old in America.

[00:23:58] - [Speaker 3]
No. And look. I I you know, and I in my concept, you know, when I was a kid, you know, to grow up as a colonial and stuff and you're like, you know, that's 300, 400 years ago. And then you come here and it's like thousands and thousands. Every you can I could walk down the street down into this little area?

[00:24:13] - [Speaker 3]
If I dig deep enough, I might find some pottery shards of, like, the Maccabees because I I live in the city of the Maccabees where the Hanukkah story comes from.

[00:24:23] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[00:24:24] - [Speaker 3]
That's where Modi'in is. So, you know, that's that's such a cool thing to think about if you love history and and these things that Yeah. There's just stuff buried everywhere.

[00:24:35] - [Speaker 2]
Well, that's a a a good good point to kind of turn when you talk about, like, history and because I'm kinda curious as to how you first, you know, developed an interest in this. Like, you know, not just growing up, you know, Jewish, but, you know, also then taking it and and getting into, like, this aspect of it, like, kind of the the the the learning about the the demons and learning about, like, these characters from, like, the Jewish tradition and Jewish perspective and wanting to write about it? Like, did you like, where how did that interest first develop? And, also, like, how did you go about, you know, researching it and learning about it for the comic?

[00:25:16] - [Speaker 3]
Well, you know, it it's funny. I am very much the characters of Katarina and Lucia are very much kinda me. I had a similar background. My grandfather, my my paternal grandfather was born Jewish, and they're from Lithuania and Kovno. That's that's where they're encounters.

[00:25:36] - [Speaker 3]
That's where they're that's where they're originally from. But my grandfather converted to to Protestantism. He was a Presbyterian with when he married my grandmother. And so I had this magical Jewish history. I had no idea.

[00:25:54] - [Speaker 3]
I mean, I knew about it, but I didn't, like, know all the ins and outs. And we had all this backstory from my mom's side and and the my father's mother's side, books and books of, like, history going back to, like, the sixteen hundreds and the beginning of the of the of of of the The US. And then with my dad's, with the Marvin's, like, it was nothing. I mean, literally, they were from somewhere in Lithuania. We have no idea where.

[00:26:18] - [Speaker 3]
And so it fascinated me, and I learned more. And then I met my wife who was, who was born in Rehovah here in Israel, and she moved to The States when she was three. So, you know, I just, through her, like, found my Jewish roots, and I converted, to

[00:26:37] - [Speaker 2]
to Judaism. Grow you didn't grow up Jewish?

[00:26:40] - [Speaker 3]
No. I didn't. I grew up I grew up Protestant. So I I I you know, so all of that is very real. Like, when with from the girls' perspective, like, you know, they they made their conversion a lot quicker than I did.

[00:26:55] - [Speaker 3]
I I I mine was I was an adult when I converted. Right. Okay. But it was really wonderful thing, and I got to learn more, and we learned more about our history and my family that came from Covno, which we just learned the town, and Kaunas, which is the modern, I think, name of the town, in Lithuania, which as you read, it plays very heavily into the book.

[00:27:23] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, yeah.

[00:27:23] - [Speaker 3]
So that, you know, that was very important to me to to have those things and to build on those things. And and that's what made it so personal because I I was sort of learning these things, and my wife was going through her own process. She already had a doctorate in medieval Jewish studies, so she was a master of these things already. And then she became a rabbi. So she knows the law, she knows Talmud, she knows everything.

[00:27:53] - [Speaker 3]
So she is my editor on those things as I write. So the all the authenticity is really from her. She she keeps me straight. So it's it's been a wonderful kind of experience to be able to do all those things and keep all of those elements. You know?

[00:28:08] - [Speaker 3]
And and I wanted to sort of I thought it would be really cool when you have all the different religions. You know? Some people are like, oh, you don't I don't if you wanna touch that, but I'm like, I think it's beautiful because you've got this thing where they're trying to actually come together and fight these things from these different religions who have different ideas on how that would work. But that when they did do that, they were able to accomplish something, and now they kinda have to try to fix that or rebuild it. And that's one of the sort of the tenants of the of the story that I'm really kind of enjoying trying to kind of mold out and see where we go with it.

[00:28:42] - [Speaker 2]
Okay. Yeah. Oh, that's fascinating. Yeah, Jeff. That your background is, like, so interesting.

[00:28:48] - [Speaker 3]
Oh, that's great. I've got even one more for you that you're gonna enjoy this. So my wife, she has, her her background goes all the way back to the ascitic movement, and her she's directly related to the balay sham tav. And if you know when I say the Bali Shem Tov versus, you know, the organization of the Bali Shem Tov, there was a man who was called the Bali Shem Tov, and my wife is actually related to him, who you know, that's what they were. They were they were demon hunters.

[00:29:19] - [Speaker 3]
They, I mean, they would do exorcisms. They would do all these things, and this was, you know, one of those things. And I was like, well, once I learned that, I was like, oh, I have to do this. I have to there's there's too too many things coming together not to put all that together.

[00:29:36] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Yeah. That's that's wild.

[00:29:40] - [Speaker 3]
Right?

[00:29:40] - [Speaker 2]
Oh my gosh.

[00:29:41] - [Speaker 3]
I Well, can you Yeah. Can you imagine, like, a rabbi doing an exorcism? Because when you think of an exorcism, you think of the robes and, you know, you think of father I can't think of his name from the exorcist Max von Sydal with the you know, you're seeing with the bible and all these things, and you're trying to think, what would a Jewish exorcism even look like? But they were doing these things. They had they had you know?

[00:30:02] - [Speaker 3]
Then they had the age of reason with Mamadides, and they kind of threw that to the side. I was, oh, well, that's just Kabbalah. And, you know, the the the mainstream element kind of decided to move away from from those things and be more of the rationalist, the reason, which is why Maimonides is such a big part of of the of of that movement, to away from sort of the exorcisms and demons and things like that. So it's really interesting, you know, to delve into those things in that way.

[00:30:35] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I I mean, I'm fascinated by the actual history of it.

[00:30:39] - [Speaker 4]
Jimmy is too humble to do this. So as his stalwart ride or die, I wanted to tell you about his new graphic novel, Penny and the Yeti with artist Amber Aiken. What started as a comic short with his daughter that I've known about for ages now and it's evolved and has become one of those annoying can't talk about it in comics things for too damn long. Yes, I'm predisposed to be supportive but after reading an advanced copy of it, I have to admit it's way better than I anticipated. No shade but it's really good, remarkably so.

[00:31:10] - [Speaker 4]
Does it have a yeti? Yeah. Is it cute and adorable?

[00:31:14] - [Speaker 5]
Yeah.

[00:31:14] - [Speaker 4]
But it streak lies in effectively tapping into the all too familiar family dynamics that we all are facing in 2026 and approaching it in a way that doesn't insult the book's target audience. Kids. They are way smarter and perceptive than we adults give them credit for. So I really appreciated Jimmy's narrative approach tapping into his own experiences as a dad and a spouse. I can hear his wife saying, get off your phone, Jimmy, through the pages.

[00:31:40] - [Speaker 4]
She's gonna kill me for saying that. It's hitting shelves on April 21, and I dropped a link in the show notes where you can preorder a copy today. Getty or not, here we come with Penny, Perry, Fenton, Maxine, and the magical, mythical, magnificent, Yeti. On behalf of us both, we appreciate your support.

[00:32:00] - [Speaker 2]
Yahua. Religion has always I mean, growing up Catholic, and like I I said, I went to Catholic grade school, high school, went to Catholic college. I went to St. Joe's in Philly. Okay.

[00:32:10] - [Speaker 3]
Oh, you you you had the bro you had the whole thing.

[00:32:14] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, I got the I got the whole thing.

[00:32:15] - [Speaker 3]
Got Yeah.

[00:32:16] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I got I went to sleazy anem in Wilmington for high school, so I got the oblates for high school. I I got and and I got the Jesuits at Saint So you

[00:32:28] - [Speaker 3]
had a hardcore. You weren't all there.

[00:32:31] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. You had you had to take, you know, you had to take religion classes in college at Saint Jude's, and I remember taking one, called, like, Christian tradition. I loved it. It was like one one of my my favorite classes. Actually, the the the Jesuit who taught it, told me that I I did so well in the class.

[00:32:51] - [Speaker 2]
He asked if I ever thought about going to the seminary, which I hadn't, but, I loved learning about how it all comes together. I mean, because, like, you know, studying Christianity throughout the years, you know, throughout the centuries, and and we're you're like, okay. Well, how how how did we go from you know, how did we how did we go from, you know, a period of time in the story of of Jesus to, like, putting the bible together and doing all these things and break and breaking off from, you know, from Judaism and and kind of creating, like, the the foundations of Christianity. Like, when you dig into it, you learn about things like, oh, the the council of Nicaea and the council of Trent. And, oh, this this is a bunch guys who are sitting around.

[00:33:35] - [Speaker 2]
Like, what do we wanna keep in? What do we wanna keep out? Right. You know?

[00:33:38] - [Speaker 3]
Is he God or isn't he? Like, what's yeah. Yeah. No. I love that too.

[00:33:43] - [Speaker 3]
The the council of Nicaea is one of my favorite ones I love to use. It's like, well, they had a whole meeting about it. They they they discussed everything. They they discussed whether or not he rose from the dead. They discussed whether or not he was, you know, he was the was he the son of god?

[00:33:57] - [Speaker 3]
Was he god? Like, you know, they had all of these these conversations. It was very public meeting. Yeah. That's that

[00:34:05] - [Speaker 2]
all that stuff's fascinating to me. Yeah.

[00:34:07] - [Speaker 3]
So I do me too. I I love all of it. It's it's and so yeah. So, like, for you, like, with your when you're interested in some of that stuff, when you look at so a lot of these things, I mean, it was happening a lot earlier, you know, as, you know, it's sort of the age of prophecy as they call it. When you had, like, you know you know, I always joke with Tamara.

[00:34:29] - [Speaker 3]
It's just like, this is when they were, you know, talking to burning bushes and doing all sorts of crazy things that we would never imagine they could do that because they could do that then. But after the age of prophecy, that's ridiculous. Nobody would do any of that. So I always spoke a little fun with that. I was like, yeah.

[00:34:43] - [Speaker 3]
It's a fire. Just sort of stopped. And then, you know, in Judaism, they don't have crazy, you know, where God is, like, just literally talking to people and saying, you are gonna do this or you do that or smite this guy. It's fine. You know?

[00:34:57] - [Speaker 3]
It's like none of that. He talks through other, you know, weird ways or melijim or whatever the, you know, the the angels, that kind of stuff. It was it's all very, it's all very entertaining when you think of it from that context. But you know? But, yeah, I I I I I I think that's sort of where I I took some of that.

[00:35:18] - [Speaker 3]
Like, so the book of Enoch is very interesting because a lot of Christians take that book of Enoch sort of more as their as the gospel, as part of the Christian gospel rather than Jews. Jews don't usually look at the book of Enoch because it has a lot of it does have a lot of Christian allegory that I think they've taken from that to sort of put into their own. And so Jews kinda don't like some elements of it. I think, like, the fallen angel element, Jews don't typically like that. You know, that part, like, the watchers, you know, that part, it doesn't always mesh in.

[00:35:53] - [Speaker 3]
So it's considered not really part of, like, Jewish canon, but but they can kinda do that because Enoch kind of was before they were Jews at all. They were not considered Jews. This was before Abraham. So it's it's Okay. Know?

[00:36:07] - [Speaker 3]
This is like he's the great grandfather of Noah. So, you know, it's when you think about it, he's like you know? And, like, Methuselah, when you think of, like, when you think of the terms like that, you know, you didn't have any of it. You know? God was sort of a concept of a singular god, but there was no religion around it.

[00:36:25] - [Speaker 3]
So it's very interesting with that stuff. And so I I kind of like to go back to that part, and that's where, like, Enoch and a lot of those things sort of come into the story in that way. So it it can be for everybody. It's not necessarily, you know, just the the Jewish part. You know?

[00:36:41] - [Speaker 3]
It's it's it's kind of, you know, representative of all because, you know, it all kinda spawned from Judaism anyway.

[00:36:48] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Well, I when every religion, at least most of the the the major ones that we we know the most about, right, I would say the average person

[00:36:56] - [Speaker 3]
you

[00:36:57] - [Speaker 2]
know, has heard of or knows about, like, has some type of whether or not we wanna call it mythology or tradition Sure. About demons or evil spirits or, like, whatever it might be. And I this this comic is very accessible even though it talks about some pretty, you know, like, lore heavy stuff. I feel like it it it's and a lot of that is propelled by, you know, RD's work, which is, you know, just really fun and and, you know, like I said, like, high octane action. So it's a it's a really great looking, you know, comic book and very accessible.

[00:37:35] - [Speaker 2]
Like, this isn't for, oh, I know I know nothing about, you know, Judaism or I I you know, I don't know anything about Christian tradition or demons. Like, no. This is this is a comic that's, I think, very approachable for everybody and even has a lot of that, you know, history in it. It's very accessible. It's very fun.

[00:37:53] - [Speaker 2]
It's a very good oh, this is what comic books you know, this is what they do really, really well. Stories like this. You know?

[00:38:01] - [Speaker 3]
We're really

[00:38:01] - [Speaker 2]
trying to put I mean, you could you could put something like this in, you know, TV or movies, but it would cost a lot of money to make. Yes. It would. You know?

[00:38:08] - [Speaker 3]
I can't imagine what my shitty shitty look like. It would feel like, you know, God.

[00:38:13] - [Speaker 2]
And Yeah. Can we just talk about the panel where the the one priest is in the stall and all the flies come out of this? That is so good. It is so good. Yeah.

[00:38:23] - [Speaker 3]
That's Like, that's I thought it would be really you know, we you know, because I I knew the imagery was out there of the Kevin Smith from dogma with the Golgotha. Yeah. So I I I wanted you know, I couldn't avoid some things, but I kinda like I, you know, I knew I wanted to have it be a big giant sludge monster at some point, but that's not its only form. It's it's like these sort of bees and, like, just covered in whatever and felt, and and they act sort of like, you know, it's funny. I I kept thinking of, like, transformers like shockwave and all the things that come out of shockwave, you know, where it's like the the thing out of the chest.

[00:39:01] - [Speaker 3]
So I I kept thinking, like, like, from the hierarchy element, the the the shit demons or the Sharika bar the bar Sharika pandas, they they kind of act as spies, and and they can kind of, like, move in and out of places and without being seen and get gather information and do things, but then they could turn into giant sludge ones or like a deceptive like a like the the the destructicons, you know, with the, you know Yeah. You we're calling a So I don't know. I kept thinking like transformers was I was thinking it to try to sort of not do it in the same way as Kevin Smith. So that's sort of Yeah. The auspice of of creating it that way.

[00:39:38] - [Speaker 3]
But but, yeah, you know, I wanted to have more fun with that, you know, and, you know, and have it at the Vatican bathroom because whenever you get to see a Vatican bathroom in a comic book.

[00:39:49] - [Speaker 2]
I I can't think of another comic where we get to see the Vatican Vatican bathroom. I've been to The Vatican. I can't remember what the bathroom actually looks like at the Vatican. But

[00:40:00] - [Speaker 3]
I couldn't find anything. I just said, okay. We'll just make it like a European bathroom as much as humanly possible.

[00:40:06] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Yeah. I I was I did a study abroad in Rome in law school and Oh, wow. Had a and we we were we were we weren't too far from, like, from the Vatican. Okay.

[00:40:18] - [Speaker 2]
From from, like, Saint Peter's. And one of the, one of my law school classmates, his I wanna say godfather was a priest or somebody that was working at the Vatican. And Right. There and, like, seven of us got, like, a tour of just him. He, like, set us up with a tour all through Wow.

[00:40:42] - [Speaker 2]
All through the Vatican. And yeah. Personally, for me, nothing turned me off of religion more than seeing, like, one of the the former Pope's treasure chest from, like, the fourteen or fifteen hundreds and just being like, oh, okay. That doesn't doesn't seem very Christian y.

[00:41:00] - [Speaker 3]
The conchant stuff? Well, that that's a running joke, which I'm sure you picked up, right, which is the Yeah. The the secret Vatican vault that has all the all the all the Jewish stuff in it. And it's like a recurring theme where they they they constantly have to steal from it to find all the artifacts that are probably, you know, hidden somewhere underneath this in this sort of catacombs of of of crazy treasures and things that are in there. Yeah.

[00:41:26] - [Speaker 2]
So Yeah. But, like, I mean, you know, there's but all the stuff that we learn, like, there because there's I mean, there's so many many sculptures and artwork Right. And, like, all kinds of things in the Vatican. Like, from a historical perspective, it's, like, amazing. But then you know?

[00:41:38] - [Speaker 2]
And I'm just to to each their own. And like I said, I went to Catholic school for however many years, but, yeah, like, when you see a painting and you're like, it's depicting, the pope's army. Like, at one point in time, like, the pope had an army. Like, that's how tied in the Catholic church and the Vatican was to the government at the time. I I mean, not to have, like, a, you know, historical lesson here outside of the the what your wonderful comic book.

[00:42:05] - [Speaker 2]
But, yeah, it is it is it is remarkable to kinda be able to to to see that stuff. But

[00:42:09] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. No. I

[00:42:11] - [Speaker 2]
any event.

[00:42:11] - [Speaker 3]
No. I appreciate that. Yeah. That that that was really fun to kind of and I wanna definitely have more fun with that as we go. Like, what other crazy things are in this this this this mysterious vault that they won't admit exists?

[00:42:25] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Yeah. Who who knows? I mean, I remember when I was there in Rome, like, there's so many rumors, about, you know, from, like, what is hidden at the Vatican, like, whether or not they're I I don't know if this was rumor or if anyone if it was a story about how, like, Hadrian's tomb is not too far from the Vatican. It's like the castle, San Angelo.

[00:42:50] - [Speaker 2]
And, you know, there's all kinds of stories that, like, there's tunnels that lead from the Vatican to the Castle San Angelo. And Right. You know? It it's just like it's it's remarkable. Any place, you know, that like like, Rome, like Italy, like Israel that has this, like, just hundreds and hundreds of years.

[00:43:09] - [Speaker 2]
Right. Just centuries of history are just just kind of remarkable places. But, yeah, I I mean, I feel like what you've done, you and RD have done the rest of the creative team. Like, this was a wonderful read. I had a a ton of fun, and the the action scenes, as I've said several times now, are, are incredible.

[00:43:30] - [Speaker 2]
I mean, I I thought that this was wonderful, and I I can't wait for more. So I'm excited to hear that there's gonna be more of this. But, yeah, I'll I'll put links in the show notes to listeners. When is the book? Is it available now?

[00:43:43] - [Speaker 3]
So we they are being shipped to The States. We'll see how long that takes. But, but, yeah, we we have a date. It's March 18 is the on sale date. We have we have it all for presale at our Gollum Press site, which is gollum-press.com.

[00:44:01] - [Speaker 3]
It's very simple. You can check it out. We've got some posters that are available now. We have the Shemayne poster. We have the, the poster for the for the the main cover.

[00:44:14] - [Speaker 3]
We have a couple of shirts. Demon triumvirate from the from the book. We a couple of the images from the book. And, yeah, we have the and we have the demon plushies. We have, a green and a brown one.

[00:44:28] - [Speaker 3]
They're they are our official, Shamosh demon plushies, with their own character cards that come with them. They have a a certificate. This is this is one of the ones that we have that has the, the name of the their original name and a little backstory on how they became a shamosh, in in Moloch's army. So they're kind of fun little little cards that we have with those.

[00:44:55] - [Speaker 2]
That's awesome. Well, think that's great. Yeah. I'll have links in the show notes so folks can, you know, go to your website. They can go to Gollum Press.

[00:45:03] - [Speaker 2]
They can check all this out. But, yeah, listeners, I mean, this is a ton of fun. I I'd say if if you, you know, if you like, you know, things like supernatural, but but also, know, stuff like Lucifer, but also I mean, this is just a really fun action comic on one level with some really strong characters. But if you're even remotely interested in demon hunting or or things that have that type of religious or supernatural bent to it, I mean, this is just a wonderful comic. I had a fantastic time reading it, and I just thought it was just really great.

[00:45:42] - [Speaker 2]
And RD's artwork, the colors, the lettering, everything about this just kinda sings. So I highly highly recommend it, listeners. But, yeah, Jeff, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. Really appreciate it.

[00:45:55] - [Speaker 3]
I love I hey, man. We I can I can sit and talk this lore stuff all day long, man? I could see you do too, so I love it. It's great.

[00:46:02] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. No. I really appreciate it. And it's, like, fascinating, like, kind of, like, about your background. Like you know?

[00:46:08] - [Speaker 2]
Hopefully, I I'd love to have you come back on and, you know, when, whenever, book two is ready to go, please, or if you have anything else coming out, I would love to have you back. We can talk we can talk lore more. And Thanks, man. Yeah. So thank you very much.

[00:46:25] - [Speaker 3]
I will I will say this. The one thing that we are sort of doing because of the Jewish holidays, we're doing lore stories that we're gonna be putting up. They're gonna be more on, like, short story novel form, very short sort of short stories that I'll be putting up in the coming months. And, of course, the the one that's coming up this next week will be, Tube Vishrat, which is, about the trees. And it's gonna have a lore story that's gonna tie into hundreds of Shirim, and, and then we're gonna do Purim, in March.

[00:47:03] - [Speaker 3]
So it's, I've got, my buddy Jeffrey Zackel is a really great artist. He's gonna draw some of this stuff, and and it like I said, it's gonna have some images for it. And, they'll be on the website. And if you sign up for the newsletter, you'll get it sooner. So because they'll they'll be Oh.

[00:47:18] - [Speaker 3]
I'm a send them through the newsletter, first, and then we'll put them on the website. So

[00:47:23] - [Speaker 2]
Awesome.

[00:47:24] - [Speaker 3]
Sign up and check them out.

[00:47:27] - [Speaker 2]
Alright. Yeah. I'll have I'll have links to the show notes for all of that. So, yeah, that's fantastic. But, Jeff, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

[00:47:37] - [Speaker 2]
Listeners, please, you know, check out Hunters of Shaddim. Check out the links. It is a really fantastic comic book. As always, shout out to my brother Bobby, the cryptid creator corner's number one most dedicated fan. Bobby listens to all my episodes.

[00:47:50] - [Speaker 2]
I I know Bobby who also, you know, was an altar boy like I was and went to Catholic grade school and and high school like I did. I think will absolutely love this book. But, yeah, rate reviewers do all the things they they tell you to do about podcasts. It really does help. You know, we appreciate it.

[00:48:07] - [Speaker 2]
You can find me on blue sky and TikTok sometimes making videos about comics. So yeah. And anyone on the, you know, in the South or East Coast as we record this, we're getting hit with a snowstorm. So stay warm, please. So, yeah, thank you so much for listening.

[00:48:22] - [Speaker 2]
Good night, and I'll see you next time.

[00:48:25] - [Speaker 4]
This is Byron O'Neil, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by Comic Book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening.

[00:48:44] - [Speaker 0]
If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast, Into the Comics Cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:48:57] - [Speaker 6]
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[00:49:27] - [Speaker 7]
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[00:49:46] - [Speaker 5]
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