Jordan Alsaqa & Vivian Truong Interview - Cooking with Monsters

[00:00:00] - [Speaker 0]
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[00:00:55] - [Speaker 2]
Hello, and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I am really excited, for today's two guests. My daughter, Penny, is, I think maybe even more excited for me. She was if she's read both, books one and two for this series we're gonna be talking about, because book three is going to be out shortly. I am talking about Cooking with Monsters.

[00:01:22] - [Speaker 2]
Book three, Best Serve Cold is going to be out August 5 from, IDW. And I am with, two of the creators here, and we're gonna talk all about book three. We're gonna talk about this series if you're not familiar. But please welcome back to the podcast, Jordan Alsaka. And for the first time, please welcome to the podcast, Vivian Trong.

[00:01:43] - [Speaker 2]
Jordan, Vivian, how are the two of you doing today?

[00:01:46] - [Speaker 3]
Great. Roasting in The UK heat right now for Oh. Celebrating the World Cup victory. Well, I mean, the semifinals.

[00:01:56] - [Speaker 2]
Yep. I was I was watching, I was watching England. Was it yesterday? But, yeah, it's been an it's been a pretty interesting, exciting, World Cup. Sorry you're dealing with all the The UK heat wave now.

[00:02:09] - [Speaker 2]
That's gotta be pretty tough.

[00:02:11] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. Not too bad, though. I think it's starting to cool down. It was really bad last week, though.

[00:02:16] - [Speaker 2]
And and, Jordan, how are you doing? You're out there on the, the West Coast. Right?

[00:02:19] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. It's hot here, but it's not heat wave hot. So it's it's like a scattered summer here. I had some we we actually had a house guest this past couple of weeks from North Carolina, and they were very happy to miss most of the it's it's bad there. I mean, it's always bad there in the summer, but, like, the heat wave's been pretty awful all over the place.

[00:02:38] - [Speaker 4]
So

[00:02:39] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. It's it's not too it's not too bad today where I am in on the East Coast, US. So, hopefully, it'll it'll be a nice day, but I really appreciate both of you coming on the podcast. Jordan, you were on before. We talked about cooking with monsters.

[00:02:55] - [Speaker 2]
I really liked it. I had, given a copy to, I think, my oldest daughter. My youngest daughter, though, in particular, Penny, she's nine right now. She loved it and was very excited to get book two. Book one is is culinary combat.

[00:03:11] - [Speaker 2]
Book two was harm to table, which I absolutely love that name. And, she, really loved it. And I told her when I first heard about it that there was gonna be a book three. So she has been diligently asking me if I was going to have the two of you on the podcast and when does book three come out. So she is not so patiently waiting to get her hands on book three, but she absolutely loves the series, as do I.

[00:03:41] - [Speaker 2]
So I'm really excited to to talk to you both about it. Just for listeners who might not have heard Jordan's earlier episode or or might not be familiar with the series, you know, Jordan or Vivian, do either of you wanna start? Just kinda give listeners a rundown of what is cooking with monsters all about?

[00:03:57] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. It's so it is a series about a young girl named Hana Ozawa who goes to a school where she'll be taught how to become a warrior chef who fights monsters and then makes meals out of the spoils. The the main focus is it's a very much it's a teen adventure comic, so it's about interpersonal relationships, very shonen inspired, a lot of monster combat, and, again, yeah, romances, funny jokes, hopefully, a lot of puns, like so many puns, visual too, which Riyadh does a great job at. So it's very light, fun, but, you know, as the series goes on, I think we not not to a major degree, obviously, it's only three books, but tried to, like, intensify and mature the story a little bit as it goes because I think, ideally, especially with You stuff, you want the a book series told over several years to hopefully grow with the audience a little bit. But, you know, just yeah.

[00:04:55] - [Speaker 4]
It's it's meant to be very fun, inspired by the books that we really liked. And, yeah, I I think that's a good summation. It's early for me, so if my brain's a little all over the place, that's why.

[00:05:08] - [Speaker 2]
No. You're fine. I think that's a great summation. I mean, there's so many things that I really love about it. I I like the I like the idea in terms of cooking with monsters.

[00:05:17] - [Speaker 2]
They're at, like, a a cooking school. They're learning how to fight. They're learning how to cook. You have these two very interesting concepts mashed together. Their their fighting implements are all, like, giant utensils, like a big spatula.

[00:05:31] - [Speaker 2]
There there's just a lot of fun with it, but, yeah, there's a ton of heart in this series as well because because they are at school, because they are young people, you're dealing with things that not all young people are gonna have to, like, fight monsters and learn how to to cook the monsters that they kill. But in terms of dealing with their interpersonal relationships, dealing with friendships, dealing with bullying, dealing with, like, that first person that you are, you know, attracted to or have feelings for, dealing with your relationship with your mentor. Like, all of these things are in this book that I think just about anybody can really relate to. So, Phoebe, since you haven't been on before, I I love the style in this, especially, like, the monsters, the the the fighting, the big action pieces are just fantastic. Can you just tell listeners, you know, a little bit about in terms of your style and and influences and what you really enjoy about, you know, being a part of Cooking with Monsters?

[00:06:31] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Growing up, I was really into, like, like, a lot of monster, like, cuttings in anime, like, kind of, like, Pokemon, Digimon. I read a lot of, like, Shonen manga.

[00:06:44] - [Speaker 3]
So I was really inspired by a lot of the books that I grew up with. So when I first heard about when Jordan first pitched me Cooking with Monsters, I was just so excited by the idea because it was like, finally, I get to draw, like, something that I would have loved in my childhood. And, yeah, it was a lot of, like, a lot of fun because it's so different because all the characters have, like, the different utensils and the way that they might utilize those weapons and different monsters and just trying to think about, like, how, like, different monsters would fire, like, what body parts would they fire with, what kind of special, like, powers they might have. Yeah. It was just a lot of fun just really imagining, like, those scenes and how, you know, how could you fight like a giant snake?

[00:07:32] - [Speaker 3]
Like, what would you know, what kind of utensil would, like, defeat a monster of that proportion and everything. So, yeah, I had a I had a lot of fun doing that. And, yeah, it was very much inspired by, like, all the cartoons and shows that I watched in my childhood.

[00:07:46] - [Speaker 2]
Awesome. Yeah. The monsters in the themselves are know, some look like monsters you might have seen before, like a a basilisk, but which is in book one. But, I mean, book two kinda opens up with a sound hog, which is just, you know, very different. It's it's very fun.

[00:08:02] - [Speaker 2]
I have my copies of, for for anyone if we have the video on YouTube. I do have my copies of book one and and book two here because I was going through it again before this. But, one of my favorite scenes early on in in book two is the, the glutton mutton, which are basically a mix, I think, between a sheep and a vacuum cleaner. But I thought, like, stuff like that, I think, is it's just it's very fun. It's very engaging.

[00:08:34] - [Speaker 2]
As, you know, silly as that concept might sound to someone, oh, it's a sheep, then it's a pack of sheep, and it's also a vacuum cleaner. Like, that is, like, one of the most traumatic scenes early on in book two. And, like, the the roller coaster ride of, oh, that's that's funny to, oh god. It's like I I'm glad you're Like,

[00:08:55] - [Speaker 4]
I will say that's one of the scenes where we did, with our editors. We we had some back and forth because it was there was definitely a bit of what's too silly for this emotion

[00:09:04] - [Speaker 2]
scene, and let's find the right balance.

[00:09:07] - [Speaker 4]
So I'm glad to hear that it works because that was definitely one of the scenes in book two that I I remember us going, trying to find the right answer for.

[00:09:15] - [Speaker 3]
Don't know. What was the monster before that we had before the ghosts?

[00:09:19] - [Speaker 4]
It was like a chocolate mousse or something to that.

[00:09:22] - [Speaker 3]
It was something it's chocolate. So again. Yeah. It's too nice. But I think, like, stuff like that, we try to make it relatable to real life because, you know, you could easily, like, get attacked by some mod like, some animal that might seem friendly at first.

[00:09:38] - [Speaker 3]
But if you approach it the wrong way, you know, you it could go really badly. So that's why, like, we kinda wanted to play around with that, Like, you know, you can't treat every monster, like, to harm us in a way.

[00:09:53] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Well, I also like how this book kinda deals with, like, the the morality and the ethics of it because there are definitely some characters that are just like, these are monsters. We're going to kill them. But some of the mentors at, at the at Gourmand, Academy, you know, are this is a living creature. We need to treat it with respect even in death.

[00:10:13] - [Speaker 2]
Like, there's so much care taken to all the different elements of this story. It it really is remarkable. And the balance between these fun fight scenes and some of the the the more comedic elements or the silliness of it are really well balanced by the the heart and emotion and the relationships in the story. You you talk about working with your editors, Jordan, to get that balance right. But what is that like between the the two of you in terms of the back and forth, like, having the emotion of the scene that you're writing match up with with Vivian's art?

[00:10:49] - [Speaker 2]
And, Vivian, the same thing, like, your approach when you get the script from from Jordan to make sure that, you know, that balance is, you know, is right for the story.

[00:10:59] - [Speaker 3]
I mean Well, I think the great thing about working with, like oh, sorry. Yeah. Like, Jordan is, like, Jordan like, his writing is just so, like, it's just so like, I always just kinda know where it's going. Like, the he he balances, like, the kinda emotional parts with the silly parts really well and just, like, when the the drama should be heightened. So I yeah.

[00:11:22] - [Speaker 3]
So I have a quite clear understanding because I never really, like, feel like I don't know what the tone is supposed to be because the writing is just so good that I, you know, I know.

[00:11:31] - [Speaker 4]
And for me, I just I think it's been a very collaborative experience. So we we talk everything out, I think, ahead of time. We have a Discord where I'll just throw ideas. And, again, I I think also there's the fact that at this point, we've been collaborating for almost nine years, which seems insane to say, but is accurate. So I think we've just developed a very, I I think, easy rapport, to where like, especially on this third book, it was I could send ideas.

[00:12:01] - [Speaker 4]
I could trust that I I just fully trust that, like I I my scripts aren't always, like, the most detailed, and especially just working with Vivian, I feel like I can trust her to nail whatever I send. And, you know, I I feel like it's just she she knows what we're going for at this point, so I think that just helps immensely.

[00:12:18] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, that's awesome. Well, to get into a little bit of the story of best serve cold and, Jordan, you did a nice job setting up the premise, but there's a lot of heavy lifting in terms of book one. We're we're meeting Hannah. We're meeting Bobby. We're we're we're meeting Olivia.

[00:12:33] - [Speaker 2]
We're meeting all the characters, and we kinda see, like, what is the school like? It sets up this first year. It sets up the mentor relationship. And then as we go into book two, you know, it's now their second year at school. We kinda see a deepening of those relationships, especially there's an interesting dynamic in book two between, Hannah and, Bobby and Olivia, and, you know, the rest of the cast of the characters come back.

[00:12:58] - [Speaker 2]
We've kinda see Damiani go from more of a a bully in one to a member of the team in in book two. But now you you've expanded your world now, and and you've reached out in terms of there's poachers that are kind of come into book two and, like, what that actually means. And we kinda see more of some more world building in terms of the villages and, like, the the bigger structure of, you know, the government of, of the the the world in in book two. And so there's more action. There's there's more trouble that they get into.

[00:13:37] - [Speaker 2]
How do you, like, figure out and how do you, like, decide in terms of expanding the world of cooking with monsters? Monsters? Like, when you're going back and forth on the Discord, like, do you have, like, a you know, some writers and artists will have, like, a a bible in terms of expanding the world, or, like, how does that work in terms of I don't wanna fit too much in. I don't want it to be too busy, but we really need to build upon what we've started. Like, what what goes into those types of decisions?

[00:14:08] - [Speaker 4]
I think the the biggest thing was that which I think was has been both a help and a hindrance is that when we first started again, I started this con conceptually, I came up with it, like, maybe a year into start doing comics. And so, originally, I just we we had the idea for one book. We were gonna write one book, and it needed to be, you know, contained. And it's the fact that IDW wanted a trilogy. Like, they they we were pitching them book one, and I think we, you know, we were negotiating, and they decided, you know what?

[00:14:37] - [Speaker 4]
We're gonna buy three of them. And so we already had a first book that was pretty set, and it was like, okay. We can do more, and then we we were developing from there. So I think that's helpful because I do think the first book is very focused, and it's it it tells a complete story, which was the goal from the beginning while also setting up some threads. So then when we really started working on books two and three, it was, okay.

[00:14:59] - [Speaker 4]
How do we expand this? How do we go beyond the walls of the school? And I I think it's a hindrance only in that I think if if we've been planning it fully from the start as a trilogy, I might have there are definitely things I would have written different or set up a little differently and maybe even structurally with, like, which characters got focused, but I think it's been helpful in that we were developing from a baseline. And I also think it's good because I was I was still early in my career when we started developing this, maybe not by the time scripting actually happened because that was in 2021. But, it was also the first graphic novel I wrote, so I wanted it to be kind of focused and and manageable.

[00:15:36] - [Speaker 4]
Then with books two and three, it became a case of, alright. Let's have fun. Let's, like, let's take what we set up and how can we expand it in interesting ways. And so that's the approach I sort of took to it.

[00:15:45] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. I think it really helped that, like, because we're cooking a lot of the cast, we we really wanted to have the characters based off of different regions as well, like, but, like, kind of inspired by real life. So I think it wasn't too hard to kind of expand the world because then you just kinda start to think about, like, where are these characters from? You know, we they have different dishes. Like like, that's not, like, typical, maybe, like, American dishes or something something like that, like, because there's loads of different cultures where we just kinda mix in with, like, monster parts with it.

[00:16:16] - [Speaker 3]
So we just kinda start to think about, like, you know, how does different parts of the world, like, maybe handle monsters. So we've kinda had that story expanded in best served cold as well.

[00:16:29] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, cool. Speaking of, like, the different dishes, because it is a pretty diverse cast, and it does kind of, like, interesting, like, reflect different parts of the world. And you not just the fighting monsters, but you do have this, like, cooking element to it as well. Do you talk about, like, oh, like, what what type of monster would make, like, this type of dish to have, like, a real world dish equivalent? Do you guys talk about your favorite foods a lot?

[00:16:53] - [Speaker 2]
Like, can we talk about food for a little bit? Because, Vivian, some of the things some of the some of the meals you've drawn in here look really good. Gotta you gotta be honest with you.

[00:17:02] - [Speaker 3]
I definitely put my favorite meals in there. There's like a monster in in the third book that I kind of it was called, I think, the noodle. Right? Yeah. But I kinda it I I kinda mixed it up.

[00:17:15] - [Speaker 3]
I didn't make it exactly like noodles, but I made it more like pasta. Like, the hairs are like different pasta dishes, like, types. So I still think it was really funny, like, trying to think about, like, what monster could make, like, certain dishes, and I try to, like, think about that when I'm designing the monsters.

[00:17:31] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. I think the facts and and design wise, I think it goes into it a lot because having done three books, especially in book one, and, again, I think this is an element of me being newer and, you know, testing the waters. A lot of the monsters in book one are, as you noted, based on more real world monsters and creatures and familiar things. There's some original stuff in there, but, you know, cockatrice, basilisk, all of that. And then books two and three is where we, I think, really just go for it in terms of, like, silly puns and, like, weird creations.

[00:18:03] - [Speaker 4]
But part of that comes from the fact that book one had a lot of background monsters that Vivian just designed and put in there, and we eventually gave names to when our editors did ask us to make a a series bible that we could reference. And so working off of that and then bringing those monster some of those monsters back in books two and three inspired the sort of dishes. But the other thing that was important is because we wanted I think a a thing with fantasy that's always tricky is you'll have characters of color and different ethnicities, but they don't necessarily line up to real world analogs, and it can be disconnected from actual experience. And it was important to me to have those specificity of culture even if, again, they are fantasy. So we tried to map everything to a place where if they're gonna have a cuisine, it is based on a region that they are actually from, and let's try to have actual cultural parallels to those regions.

[00:18:57] - [Speaker 4]
I know, like, with the entrance exam in book one, I tried to match characters to, like, a cuisine that would actually fit them. Or, again, there's, the Palestinian coated characters bake dishes that I had as a kid and still enjoy today. So it's stuff like that where we just try to make sure that cultures are being respected because food is a very, very huge part of culture, and so we wanted that to come across well.

[00:19:18] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, yeah. Abs absolutely. Well, Vivian, you said you tried to draw on some of your favorite dishes. So what what are some of your favorites?

[00:19:25] - [Speaker 3]
Well, I one of them is definitely pho. So we definitely had that in book one from my influence. Yeah. I I don't know. I love Italian dishes, Japanese.

[00:19:36] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. I I would have loved to have made a bit more of my favorite dishes in there, especially Vietnamese food, but because it was, like, a little bit outplay sometimes. The envy, maybe in a side story, do more cooking.

[00:19:49] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, that's so cool. Well, I'm not gonna be angry at a a big bowl of pho. I don't care how hot it is. I'd eat it right now.

[00:19:55] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah.

[00:19:57] - [Speaker 2]
And so you've expanded on the world as we talked about into book two. You you've set up some very interesting things, introduced some new characters, and really expanded the relationships between the main characters in the school. So just to get into a little bit about book three and and best serve cold, Like, where you know, can you tell listeners a little bit about where do we find, Hannah and and Bobby and and Olivia and the rest of the cast, and what can we expect from book three from best serve cold?

[00:20:29] - [Speaker 4]
It's very much a continuation. Book two opens at the start of their second year, and this book finishes that second year, with a continuation of the whole the storyline with the poachers and the growing threat there. Book two ends on a cliff sever a few cliffhangers that we, you know, pick up with. And, you know, from the action front, we we really wanted to to heighten that and pick it up and put them in more dangerous situations right away. Before we still the the balance is definitely we still wanna do the school stuff and have them learning new things, but we also wanna intensify, not just the action, but the stakes.

[00:21:07] - [Speaker 4]
And then from the personal side, we continue a lot of the relationship drama. But, ideally, we I I tried to subvert some of what would be expected because I feel like a lot of times you'll get stories that have big stakes and relationship drama, and they'll sort of just, like, both exist without interacting. And we my goal with this was that the fact that there are big stakes happening that affect the characters in certain ways will also affect the relationship drama and lead to hopefully, unexpected but still earned character beats. So it's very much a continuation and and a conclusion of this arc. Like like, you know, Vivian and I both really love working on this.

[00:21:51] - [Speaker 4]
And so if we get to do more at some point, we would we'd absolutely love to. But we did wanna make sure this finishes it because it is what they you know, it's the the third book that we got, hired or to to make, basically. But but we did leave it open. It was a thing not not like a major point of contention, but I know our editors were like, you sure that you don't want this to just be year three? And I was like, no.

[00:22:10] - [Speaker 4]
It's I wrote it to be two two books for year two. And if we get to do more, that's that's where we'll we'll go. But I was like, very much like, no. This is a two part story that we're gonna finish here.

[00:22:20] - [Speaker 2]
Awesome. I I oh, I'm I'm excited. I can't I can't wait. I know I know Penny is too. Vivian, was there anything in particular?

[00:22:27] - [Speaker 2]
I mean, because you've you've done so many different things with the the the fight scenes and the the your facial acting in terms of your you know, when characters have to be really emotional and a bit heightened is fantastic. But after two books, were there still things that you were hoping you'd get to do in in book three that you think maybe you hadn't gotten to do or show off yet in terms of your artistic talents?

[00:22:55] - [Speaker 3]
Well, one of my favorite things to draw is big buff ladies. So I would have loved to have drawn a bit more like Ara and Alexandra, like, maybe something going on, but otherwise yeah. No. I don't know. I feel like I was able to hit a lot of things that I love drawing.

[00:23:12] - [Speaker 3]
I love drawing action action scenes. I love drawing the goofy moments. Like, one of my favorite characters is Salem. Like, he just he's just so silly and and Tom's facial expressions are always really fun.

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

[00:23:24] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. I don't know. I always loved designing monsters too even if I, like, have to just kinda fill out the page, I'll just randomly all start to think about like what other monsters haven't we like not, have we not come across yet? So yeah, don't know, I've been able to like just kinda draw like everything within my wheelhouse I think. So this has been pretty good.

[00:23:43] - [Speaker 3]
I mean, I would love to keep yeah.

[00:23:45] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I was gonna say one of my favorite sequences from book two is I I think it's the Bobby and Olivia fire ant sequence. Like, I just feel those couple of pages, just how the the panels are laid out, the art, the I mean, the story in and of itself, the the the sound effects editing or or lettering, it all, like, it all works really well. It's just one of my favorite sequences, and it's towards, like, the backup book too. It is it's just so well done.

[00:24:17] - [Speaker 2]
It it just is one of those scenes that I think really came together well and is just a very exciting moment in the book. And it it looks great. It reads great. Just that was you know, I don't know if you had any particular approach, the two of you, in terms of that scene and showing it, but I just thought it was exceptionally well done in a in a book that has many amazing moments.

[00:24:39] - [Speaker 3]
That I remember that one distinctly because that was one of the, like, hardest things to draw, just drawing so many ants with so people. But I also had a lot of fun doing it. Actually, I had more fun drawing the ants than drawing, like, the the kind of arena. But I think I remember, like, feeling, like, so fatigued by it. But once I got the flats from Demali, our wonderful flat artist, and I started coloring it together, that's when it really kinda came together.

[00:25:09] - [Speaker 3]
And I was just like, I was so kind of proud of that moment. Like, oh, you know, I went through this. And it looks great now. Thank God.

[00:25:15] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. I'm I'm glad honestly, thank you for calling out that specific scene because I know especially towards the end of the book, because both books two and three, book one didn't necessarily have a I had a limit because I wasn't trying kill Vivian, but we didn't have, like, a hard page limit. But then it became, okay. You you've written a 254 ish page book. That's the that's the hit that spot every time became the, the rule.

[00:25:40] - [Speaker 4]
So, like, especially with book two because they didn't tell us that till I drafted it. I was cutting so much, like, the back of the book especially to be like, this all needs to fit. And that was a scene where I was very much like, I hope this is still reading well because it it it was a little longer. It allowed for a few more beats that ended up getting compressed a So I'm very glad that it does work apparently on the page as well as it does. And I think it did.

[00:26:02] - [Speaker 4]
Like, when I saw it, again, I like being the writer because I get to be I'm not precious about my script at all, and I know it's a working document, so I just get to, see it get made better. And and it definitely did on the page, so I'm I'm glad it worked out.

[00:26:17] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, yeah. I I that was just one of my favorite moments in particular. Like, I love seeing Bobby and Olivia kinda work together. I like the I like the fire ants. I like the design of them.

[00:26:27] - [Speaker 2]
I like how that scene kind of, you know, leads into some of the mentors showing up. Like, I I just think, you know, that whole sequence really it looks like a lot of work. Like, as somebody who understands how comics are made, you know, I that it you know, that's why one of the reasons I also called it out, it looks like a scene that took a lot, like, to do. But, also, if you're a casual fan or reader and you're not really thinking that much about it, like, looks effortless as well. Like yeah.

[00:26:59] - [Speaker 2]
But it really does work so well on the page. It's it's a really nice moment in the book in book two.

[00:27:04] - [Speaker 4]
Awesome.

[00:27:05] - [Speaker 2]
You know, I wanted to one of the other things with a story like this that is, like, three full books and like you said, it's, like, 254 pages. It's a lot of pages. There's a lot of there's a lot of story here. I'm always curious when you have a cast of characters, you know, like this, trying to find the the balance between showcasing everybody, like, trying to fit everything in. And sometimes I often wonder if creators, whether or not it's a character you like writing for or drawing, you know, like, Vivian, you said Tom's facial expressions are, you know, fantastic.

[00:27:39] - [Speaker 2]
How do you manage that aspect of it? Like, do do you have favorite characters to write for, Vivian? Did you have other favorites to draw? And how do you make sure that you're not giving, you know, for lack a better word, somebody too much screen time or or panel time, I guess, since it's a comic.

[00:27:57] - [Speaker 4]
It's definitely tough since we had a big cast, but we wanted to make sure the cast was both diverse and had room for a lot of stuff. And I I think it's just balancing, book two was nice because we were able to split the cast. And so there's obviously a main trio with, Olivia, Bobby, and, Hana, and then Damiano had a bigger role in book two. I think the character that surprised me the most, who did become a favorite was Tom because he starts off as, like there's a he he he became, like, the perfect contrast to Damiano because he is a arrogant guy at the start of the series and then keeps getting kinda put in his place and develops his rivalry with Aldo. And then especially in book two, just having a contrast, between what happens with him and what happens with Damiano, it was just it was very nice and getting to explore his backstory and have a setting.

[00:28:47] - [Speaker 4]
So he really surprised me. There's definitely more I would have liked to do. I do wish and and we we did that with Anne in the third book giving her sort of a role there that that got played up a bit more from the past. Because she she's very much into the mythology and the backstory of their country that that gets played up more in book three, so she got to do that. But it is a balancing act.

[00:29:12] - [Speaker 4]
I think, you know, some characters are just naturally gonna be a little more to the background, but I think, again, if we got the chance to do more, they would they would have a chance to be prominent. But I I do feel like of the, again, eight main kids, we did a good job of giving everyone the right amount of screen time. Again, I I some people probably got less than would have been ideal, but in total, there's over 750 pages. So there's there's room for everyone to have had moments. I I Yeah.

[00:29:38] - [Speaker 2]
Vivian, I wanted to hear your answer, but real quick before I did wanna because I've mentioned, you know, twice now Tom's kind of facial expressions, but, something Jordan said early in book two when Aldo shows up, and he's tall now. Steady standing up, like, having Tom talk about their kind of rivalry from book one and, like, the fact that Aldo shows up and is tall. And Tom's, like, furious, but it's just I thought that really, really nice character moment for for Tom. I think it spoke kind of, like, volumes about Tom's personality. And it was just funny how the you know, it kind of there's the there's the carry through in in book two with that.

[00:30:25] - [Speaker 2]
But yeah. Yeah. Very good.

[00:30:28] - [Speaker 3]
I mean, it was really fun. Yeah. I mean, I I love all of our characters so much. I think, like, I mean, while I do maybe have, like, my favorites, I think because each of the characters have such, like, distinct personalities and they're all very different from each other that, like, it really kind of pushes my kind of, like, character acting when it comes to drawing, which is a lot of fun because there are some characters who are maybe more, like, bolder than others and, like, some who are more reserved. Like, Leila doesn't have the same movements as, like, Tom, for example, and Hannah's always, like, really kinda, you know, the typical Shonen hero, like, having to, like, do what is, like, the fist pumps and everything, whereas, like, Bobby probably wouldn't do that or, like, even Olivia.

[00:31:06] - [Speaker 3]
So it's really fun, actually, because I can I can really see what they look like in my head, like, how they would actually be, like, maybe in real life or even maybe if they were in a cartoon? So, yeah, I think it was it's just a lot of fun being able to draw all the different characters even if maybe some have a bit more fun than others.

[00:31:25] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. I think also for me, when especially developing this and it being very shown and inspired, I didn't try to hide from tropes. I think you can obviously map characters in any story to those, like, standard types. I think the goal is just to help diversify them and make them more complicated as you go along, and I like to think we've done that and given them more depth and let them kinda break out of their molds as time has gone on. And, again, yeah, just just who gets to see their backstory.

[00:31:52] - [Speaker 4]
Again, how Vivian portrays them has been great and helped give a lot of depth. And, yeah, I just love our cast. I would keep again, I would I want to keep writing them and see where they go from here. But, again, I'm very happy with what we've accomplished with a pretty a very wide cast of characters. Again, there's a focal group, but, you know, when you add in the villains and the teachers and everyone feels distinct, it's it's been really great.

[00:32:15] - [Speaker 2]
I, also for for some of the things for for book three, not to spoil anything, but just to call out a couple of things because, Jordan, you sent over the arc, and I was able to take a look at it. But my favorite animal, is the the capybara. So I like, I was surprised to see that snappy baras are introduced. I think I don't remember them from book one or two, but they they show up in book three. I like the idea of a snappy bar.

[00:32:39] - [Speaker 2]
Yes. That I thought was yeah. I thought they I thought that was great. I also really liked, you know, speaking of, again, in terms of this is like a You book and getting away from some of the the fun and silliness and action sequences, but some of the emotional things and complicated things that, you know, high school kids are are dealing with in terms of their relationships with the other people in their life. I really enjoyed kind of expanding on, the relationship with Olivia and her mom and Ara and, like, that that whole group that came before.

[00:33:16] - [Speaker 2]
I thought those moments in the book were very interesting. I I I thought it it was, I really liked how that dynamic was kinda brought back in, you know, from book two to book three and and how that was developed. I I thought that was very, very well done. And for for, you know, talking head kind of panels, they were very impactful, and I thought very well done.

[00:33:41] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. I think we the expanding the character's eyes, as we've said, was important, but especially with the core trio. I think book one is very much focused on Hana because she is the protagonist. But book two, especially, I wanted to go the sort of the, like, empire strikes back route of, like, let's split them up. Let's let the characters kind of exist on their own and and see how they interact.

[00:34:02] - [Speaker 4]
So letting, Bobby and Olivia sort of lead the the b story as it were although I I I think they they both carry equal weight, but, you know, Hana being in the main story with with facing, or meeting Alexandra. But it was important to do that. And then in book three, letting them come back together, bringing a bit more of the folks, but also kinda shifting where the the secondary plot is because book three puts a lot more attention on Alexandra and lets her have more of an arc because it was important that she is the antagonist, and she is villainous, but I I never I ideally, she doesn't come across as just evil. I think we have a character for that who you know, there is just, a full on villain, but but for her, we wanted something more complicated. Ideally, that is something that's in every book.

[00:34:45] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Well, even from the the book two introduction of Alexandra, like, I I don't I she comes across as complicated. You know? It it's not like mustache not that she has a mustache, but it's not like mustache twirling villainy. You know?

[00:35:02] - [Speaker 2]
Mhmm. Which is more interesting, I think. You know? Yeah. And so, what do you what now that the third book is about to be out, what do you hope your readers what do both of you hope your readers really take away from this series, if anything, once they've gotten a chance to go through all of it?

[00:35:21] - [Speaker 2]
Have you thought about that? Like, how it it'll be received and you know? Has has there been any response if you've done conventions or signings as to how people have, you know, talked to you about the series?

[00:35:36] - [Speaker 4]
I think we I've had response at both conventions, and I'll get emails. I'm not like a huge number, but it is it is very heartening because especially, like, comic sales across the board are never, like, thrilling to see because they're not, like, huge. But I I think it's been very nice to know that we are actually popular in libraries, which is great. It's just not it's hard to it's hard for us to get a sense of, like, the exact scope of our readership because and libraries are great. I'm not bashing libraries at all.

[00:36:04] - [Speaker 4]
It's just, know, we don't know how many people are checking it out, but I know some librarians, fortunately, who who who are always sending me pictures when it like, the books come back through or get turned in, and that's always exciting. So I just I hope what people take is that they enjoyed it and that it it taught them I don't know. I I hope there's themes of acceptance, themes of, like, questioning. I guess that's the big thing for me is, like, with book one, we set up a world, and then it can be very easy to just be like and take it as fact. And with books two and three on it, to be like, no.

[00:36:36] - [Speaker 4]
Let's question it. Let's, like, poke at the government at the way the monsters work, at the way the society treats, like, the people on the fringes. And so, hopefully, those themes come through and give people a reason to be like, okay. Let's not just accept as as law what we have been told. Ideally, in high school and then college, you are learning to question the world around you.

[00:36:56] - [Speaker 4]
And so I guess I hope that's what's in there for me.

[00:36:58] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. I I've taken this book to, like, conventions and things. And, yeah, sometimes I do get, messages from others asking when does the next book coming out. The other day, I was at someone else's signing and then someone from a queue came up to me and was like, oh my god, are you one of the creators of Cooking with Monsters? That surprised me actually.

[00:37:20] - [Speaker 3]
That was really nice. But every every time, like, I've sold the book, like, maybe the first book, someone will come back and they want the second one because I think people just really love, like, how kind of fun the series is. It's very unique. I do hope that people who have read it can see themselves in it. We did wanna make it, like, kind of as, like, real, like, diversity in it.

[00:37:44] - [Speaker 3]
But also the characters, the stories, like, the arcs and how they've grown. I do hope that people can kind of really see themselves in it and also maybe grow along with the characters. I also hope that people will want more books from us because, you know, we love doing this series and I think, like, even though the third book kind of concludes this story now, I think there's just so much more room to, like, expand this world. There's, like, so much we haven't explored yet and, you know, it's just there's so many, like, there's, like, infinite possibilities within the world of cooking monsters. Monsters.

[00:38:18] - [Speaker 3]
So, hopefully, you know, hopefully, we can build our build our readership a bit more and yeah.

[00:38:23] - [Speaker 4]
Yeah. The nice the nice thing about having a trilogy is it's it'll it'll always exist now, and there's always room. There's so many comics, right, that that'll get and and this isn't, I think, our end goal to get adapted, but getting adapted can lead to them being like, alright. Make more books because there's gonna be an adaptation. So, I mean, even if it's years from opportunity now, and I think I know what I would want to do next.

[00:38:47] - [Speaker 4]
I, like, I have very clear ideas, but, I hope, again, this stands on its own and really works as a solid, like, a trilogy just just as a as a trilogy.

[00:38:57] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I I I mean, I love the world of cooking with monsters. I just think they're phenomenal books. Jordan and Vivian, both of you, like, working together on this series is absolutely wonderful. So I hope if anyone listeners haven't found it yet I always tell listeners, like, don't be scared away.

[00:39:15] - [Speaker 2]
Like, if you're, you know, an adult by the the You tag to a book, these books are are wonderful. But if you do have other younger people in your life, graphic novels make great gifts. And if your local library doesn't have one, there's every library I know in The United States use usually, I would say, has a way for you to ask your library to order a copy of it so people in your community can get it as well. I I I think my local library has a copy of it, but I'll I'll double check that. But, yeah, I I just, I'm a huge fan of cooking with monsters book three.

[00:39:53] - [Speaker 2]
Best served cold is gonna be out August 5 in your local comic book shop. But Jordan and Vivian, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I really appreciate it.

[00:40:03] - [Speaker 3]
Thank you so much for having us.

[00:40:05] - [Speaker 2]
Alright. Listeners, make sure you get cooking with monsters. If you do get it, check it out. Please, you can find me on blue sky or TikTok. Let me know what you think about it.

[00:40:14] - [Speaker 2]
I'd love to talk to you about it. Rate and review us and do all those things they tell you to do for podcasts. It, it really helps. And, yeah, thank you, so much for listening, and I'll see you next time. Good night.

[00:40:29] - [Speaker 5]
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.

[00:40:57] - [Speaker 5]
No shade but it's really good, remarkably so. Does it have a yeti? Yeah. Is it cute and adorable? Yeah.

[00:41:04] - [Speaker 5]
But it street flies and 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.

[00:41:29] - [Speaker 5]
She's gonna kill me for saying that. It's hitting shelves on April 21, and I dropped the 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

[00:41:48] - [Speaker 2]
support. YOLOLA.

[00:41:52] - [Speaker 5]
This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by Comic Book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and, more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening.

[00:42:12] - [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.