Jordan Blum & Scott Koblish Interview - The Big Shakedown

[00:00:00] - [Speaker 0]
Your ears do not deceive you. You have just entered the cryptid creator corner brought to you by your friends at Comic Book Yeti. So without further ado, let's get on to the interview.

[00:00:11] - [Speaker 1]
The future is calling. 2,000 AD is the galaxy's greatest comic with new issues published every single week. Every 32 page issue of 2,000 AD brings you the best in sci fi and horror featuring characters like judge dread, rogue trooper, and more. Get a print subscription in 2,000 AD, and it'll arrive to your mailbox every week. And your first issue is free.

[00:00:35] - [Speaker 1]
Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM free copies of each issue for only 9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10. Head to 2,000 AD and click on subscribe now or download the 2,000 AD app and start reading today. Hello, and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I have two very special guests, tonight.

[00:01:01] - [Speaker 1]
One of which is a returning guest, which is always exciting, and we are here to talk about a brand new comic that's gonna be coming out September 16, the big shakedown. It is five years after the big one hits Los Angeles, and the government abandons LA. We have a noir detective story. I've gotten to read the first two issues, which is one of the nicest perks about doing this podcast. I get to see stuff before anybody else, and I absolutely loved it.

[00:01:29] - [Speaker 1]
I'm a big fan of detective stories, big fan of noirs, and I really kinda like this take on it. But you don't need to hear me talk about it. You probably wanna hear from the creators. So with me tonight, please welcome to the podcast, Jordan Bloom and Scott Koblish. Jordan, Scott, how are you doing tonight?

[00:01:47] - [Speaker 1]
Hello, everyone.

[00:01:47] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Thank you for having me back.

[00:01:50] - [Speaker 1]
Great. No. I'm very happy to have both of you on. And, you know, Scott, welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:58] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. Thank you.

[00:01:59] - [Speaker 1]
So, why don't you tell listeners, like, you know, I gave a little kind of tease, but what is the the big shakedown all about? I it's gonna it's coming from dark horse. It's gonna be a four issue series. What can they expect?

[00:02:12] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. So it is set, like you said, five years after the big one, which is this earthquake that is, I think, 90% gonna happen in the next twenty years to LA. Knock on Oh. Many times soon. Really?

[00:02:26] - [Speaker 2]
We tend to just ignore it living here while also being terrified every day. So the big one happens. It it kind of levels LA to a degree, and the government basically says, act of god, Sodom and Gomorrah, we're not sending FEMA. You're on your own. You're in no man's land.

[00:02:49] - [Speaker 3]
And Which is completely believable at this point.

[00:02:51] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Which is hopefully not as prescient as it feels. But so we pick up and and with LA five years later, and, you know, I really believe that people won't leave. I think a huge percentage will, but I think there's a decent amount that will stay behind, and this is the people who have stayed behind. And what you sort of find out is that an Amazon like company has has sort of filled in the gap doing drone deliveries and and such.

[00:03:22] - [Speaker 2]
And a lot of the gangs have stepped up with their distribution systems and and target protection, and society has sort of continued here. And we follow a former detective who's doing everything she can to leave LA named Esther Blanco, who basically takes on a case of a missing person in a city where half the population is missing. And if she can find this child who's missing, this will be her ticket out of LA, and she can finally leave the city behind that she hates. But of course, like all good noir, she kind of uncovers conspiracies and cults and a much bigger mystery surrounding this child who she's been hired to find. And it was a way for us to kinda get to reimagine Los Angeles as to what what becomes of it after after it's been leveled by this earthquake.

[00:04:17] - [Speaker 2]
And I think that was some of the most fun we had was, like, you know, parent our our version of Paramount, the back lot becomes a red light district in the New York And, you know, Beverly Hills becomes a sinkhole where salvagers go to kind of go underground and and loot all the buried treasures that are there. So it was like fun world building next with a very familiar yet different detective story. I I've been babbling. I'll let Scott talk.

[00:04:48] - [Speaker 3]
Oh, no. No. That's that's pretty much it. It's a you know, it's a detective story set in Los Angeles, which is, pretty much every single story detective story. It's that, with this one, yeah, we've got the added aspect of, its post apocalyptic Los Angeles.

[00:05:07] - [Speaker 3]
And the thing about it is that, you know, what I really liked about Jordan's story was that it was really thoughtful about, like, how people get around Los Angeles and how the the strut the societal structures kind of, like, shift a little bit. You know, without the the federal government coming in, this the local government can't handle even just the roads and fixing things. So, like, you know, certain things get fixed because some some large companies come in and fix their own things or, you know, but you've got, like, a a it's a it's a everyone out for themselves kind of like, mentality. And, it's it's kind of I feel like society is kind of lurching towards that every man for themself kinda thing anyway. So it it really feels like, you know, all it is is just one or two events that sort of push everybody into something something larger and something more dangerous.

[00:06:06] - [Speaker 3]
So at any rate, that's the kind of, premise for the thing. Artistically, I sat back and I tried to figure out what I wanted to do for the the story that would make it a little unique. You know, there are lots of noir stories set in Los Angeles. They're almost always at night, which, you know, like and they're almost always in parts of town that I never go to. So, like, it you know, it's always been a little baffling to me, the Los Angeles that they talk about in these in these noir books.

[00:06:39] - [Speaker 3]
You know what I mean? It's not the part of town that I'm in very often. So it was nice to be able to imagine all of Los Angeles, like places like Dodger Stadium or, you know, the Hollywood And Vine or, you know, stuff in the, Silver Lake and Eagle Rock and, Santa Monica and Venice and, you know, places that I've been to and and frequent, you know, and it's nice to sort of, think about what happens to the 405, you know, post apocalyptic. Because the 405 is the federal highway, and if they're

[00:07:10] - [Speaker 2]
gonna be killed worse, which I didn't think was possible.

[00:07:13] - [Speaker 3]
That's right. Exactly. And I like the aspect of she's on a scooter. So when I was in China a few years ago well, it was funny because it was it was before the pandemic. So I came back with a a few observations that just useless to me now.

[00:07:27] - [Speaker 3]
But in 2018, I was all excited. I came back, and I said, oh my god. You'll never believe there's a whole bunch of people walking around just with masks on. They just wear them, like, regularly. Like, you know, they they just have, like, kind of fun patterns on the masks or, like, whatever their their favorite superhero is and stuff like that.

[00:07:45] - [Speaker 3]
And and I was like, you'll never believe it. But but anyway, that that that that shoe dropped. But but the other one was is that there was just a ton of people on scooters. Like, I really thought it was it was kinda like, every every grandmother in town had a scooter that they drove around on. And, it was really kind of eye opening because I guess they're electric or whatever, and then they're just kind of like they're a way for everybody to get around in town and easily.

[00:08:15] - [Speaker 3]
And when the when the roads are decimated the way they're gonna be decimated, having a car is just a useless experiment.

[00:08:22] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. It's like a graveyard for cars everywhere.

[00:08:25] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. It's a graveyard for cars and yeah. You just have to abandon it because you're not gonna be able to get across town. So, like, you know, what I thought was, you know, how do people get around? They put boards over over cracks in the street or you know what I mean?

[00:08:39] - [Speaker 3]
Like, they just try and figure out how what to do. And a scooter is a is a terrific idea.

[00:08:44] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I love I love your your design of that, this little bright yellow scooter she's putting around in as as her way to navigate all these, you know, abandoned cars. And the other thing we thought would be really fun is, you know, I always like when when a detective has kind of like a weapon of choice. So we're like, what could she use? And we're like, oh, well, all these abandoned cars, there's gonna be tire irons everywhere she goes.

[00:09:08] - [Speaker 2]
She can just open up a trunk and grab a tire iron. Yeah. So that's

[00:09:11] - [Speaker 3]
A whiffic idea.

[00:09:12] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Information out of people.

[00:09:14] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I like I I like that too. That that comes in handy, I think in particular in the in in the second issue. Well, Scott, talking about your design of everything, especially in the first issue, I was really kinda blown away by a couple of things. Like, one, I'm not an artist, but just it seemed so daunting the amount of rubble you had to draw in every panel.

[00:09:41] - [Speaker 1]
It it looked it looked so good. It it looked like a city that was in a state of collapse for Oh, good. For five years. I'm glad. Yeah.

[00:09:51] - [Speaker 1]
Absolutely.

[00:09:51] - [Speaker 3]
The other I'd like to have weeds and, yeah, like, little plants growing up amidst the rubble and stuff like that because I see that now. You know? There's, like, cracks in the ground and things just grow up amidst them. So You know?

[00:10:03] - [Speaker 1]
It was really good how it was it was it was carried throughout depending on the part of LA that that she was in. Like, some areas clearly frayered better than others. But, I mean, between the combination of your work and Hi Fi's work, you know, who who did the colors, your use of shadow in particular, I thought, was was excellent, because, you know, you talk about thinking the war set at night, but even the the daytime scenes here, there was, like, a wonderful interplay of, like, the light and the shadow, you know, especially as the story progressed, I thought was done, you know, really, really well throughout. And it just made for

[00:10:42] - [Speaker 3]
a

[00:10:42] - [Speaker 1]
very interesting, kind of exciting read. It made me feel like I was, more, you know, immersed in it. Like, I was in a little bit of that seedy underbelly of the the new LA underground. You know?

[00:10:57] - [Speaker 3]
Oh, that's terrific. I'm glad that came across. Yeah. I I was trying to figure out what to do, about it, and, I'd always been struck by Los Angeles, has a very distinct sort of a visual flavor to it. It's very bright and very washed out, except for these shadows that build up in opposition to it.

[00:11:18] - [Speaker 3]
And, you know, I worked with HiFi to try and figure out what we could do. I I didn't wanna follow because I love Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' work. That's sort of based in Los Angeles. But I felt that that was just kind of it felt like they had a specific noir thing in mind, but it wasn't what I saw in Los Angeles. So I wanted to try and explore a little bit of the what I saw.

[00:11:42] - [Speaker 3]
I think one of the more successful things that I was happiest with was the cover for issue three. I thought we got the colors right exactly on that one. You'll see you'll see it when it comes out, but but that kind of thing was very exciting to me to try to explore. And I thought it was just terrific.

[00:12:01] - [Speaker 2]
Early on, we're like, we want this to be bright. This is surf noir. Right? This is Yeah. Sunset.

[00:12:07] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, I like that. Surf noir.

[00:12:10] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:12] - [Speaker 2]
Reds and and yellows, I thought you nailed it. It's funny, Jimmy, when you're saying the detailing of the rubble and the shadows, that's exactly what I picked on on two when I was seeing Scott's pencils come in and inks. I was like, this is like George Perez level detailing with, like, Frank Miller level noir shadows. And, like, Scott found them to, like, merge those two styles, which I think works so well for the book.

[00:12:37] - [Speaker 3]
Oh, that's great. I'm glad to see that came through too. That's good. Yeah. Well, those are my heroes.

[00:12:41] - [Speaker 3]
Those guys are amazing. So Yeah.

[00:12:44] - [Speaker 1]
I mean, there were a couple of pages in particular in the first issue that that I really loved. Like, one in particular was we see, Esther your main character, Esther Blanco, is is talking, you know, there's typical noir. We got narrative captions lettered by by Nate, Pikos. The lettering's phenomenal. Yeah.

[00:13:05] - [Speaker 1]
But she is talking about some of these gangs that have kinda sprung up like protection rackets. And we see a couple of folks, like three guys on the ground. She is on a fire escape. Well, we just kinda get a glimpse of this part, this little alley in LA. We see a a crack down the middle.

[00:13:23] - [Speaker 1]
You see the the building across from her. You see some of the, what is it? Avalon drones that are now delivering everything. And colors in it are are great, like, almost at dusk, I think. It is just like a really excellent page that really kind of, like, sets the scene for what we're in for.

[00:13:42] - [Speaker 1]
I just thought that in particular, if I wasn't in it already by that page, I was just like, this is, like, perfect.

[00:13:51] - [Speaker 3]
Oh, I'm glad to hear that. That's awesome.

[00:13:53] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Scott, your world building is is excellent. Like, again, the little details, it just everything just fills in around it. And I think with your work with with Hi Fi two, I'm thinking of in the fourth issue, there's sort of a race through Los Angeles that spans the day, and the coloring perfectly matches where she's at as if the sun's chasing her and then finally setting, you know? I think that's such a rare thing in comics to to have the lighting and coloring really dictate time.

[00:14:26] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Know, it's sometimes

[00:14:28] - [Speaker 3]
Well, I was super aware on that one. Yeah. Because that you had had it set you had had the end of the day was a sunset, and I think the beginning of the day was a sunrise. So I was like, alright. Let's go.

[00:14:41] - [Speaker 3]
So it's like that's how we handle it.

[00:14:44] - [Speaker 1]
One of the things I wanted to to talk about, and to stick a little bit more with LA because character in this. And so you talk about, or at least I would think part of this has to be that fear that Jordan mentioned earlier that, you know, at some point in the next twenty years, the big one is is actually going to hit. And, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you guys are both, originally from New York, now been living in in LA for, like, a long you know, quite some time. Most of your life, half of your life. So I I as an East Coast person and from right outside of Philly, like, I understand the reputation that, like, New York has in terms of people wanting to go to New York.

[00:15:29] - [Speaker 1]
You know, the old you can make it there. You can make it anywhere. Like, I still think it has that reputation. I've only ever visited LA a few times. So, like, what is that like being from the East Coast now living in LA for so long and trying to capture the character of the city in this comic and that fear that the big one could hit?

[00:15:49] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Well, LA is both a mean town and a magical town, and it's like it there's moments where you're like, what? I hate this place. And other moments, like, I can't picture living anywhere else. Yeah.

[00:16:02] - [Speaker 2]
Especially someone like myself. I'm a movie TV guy. That's why I work in the industry out here. And, like, this place is you feel like you're living in a movie. You you're walking past places you recognize as locations.

[00:16:17] - [Speaker 2]
You get the magic hour sunsets. You have things that could only exist in LA, which we feature actually in the book, like the Magic Castle, a beautiful castle on the side of a mountain that only magicians can belong to that you can go and see shows and stuff like Like things where you're like, this place is amazing. And then there's other days where you're in traffic or, you know, it's a very lonely town too because you spend so much of your time alone in a car, you know, as opposed to New York or other places where you're just socially forced to interact with people. So we wanted to this to be a love hate letter to this town, a place that I will never leave. I am like a lot of people there.

[00:16:58] - [Speaker 2]
You know, you can't beat the weather, like, in the book, but I have my grievances, and it's tough. And I think we wanted to put Esther through that where at the very beginning of the book, she's like, I can't wait to get the fuck out of here. Like like, the whole goal is, like, I'm she's saving money. She's collecting batteries and selling them at farmer's markets, and she's teaching yoga in an abandoned Dodgers stadium. And she's doing all these things that she can just have enough money to get something that's used to excavate something out of the rubble of her apartment and then leave.

[00:17:28] - [Speaker 2]
And I think the goal was throughout this adventure and what she gets tied into into the mystery and all that was to also show, like, LA maybe is worth fighting for, sticking around for the people, you know, they need her there. So I I don't know. I have that relationship with the town. I don't know, Scott, do you have as much animosity and love for as I do?

[00:17:47] - [Speaker 1]
No. I you

[00:17:47] - [Speaker 3]
know, it's funny. At the beginning when I first moved here, I had a New Yorker's perspective on everything. I had spent a lot of time in New York, and I'd lived in New Jersey before then. So, like, New York was where I wanted to go. And then I spent my twenties in New York, and then I left for here.

[00:18:05] - [Speaker 3]
And, you know, if you try to treat Los Angeles like you would treat like any other city, like in New York or Philly or any any any place that has like a a pattern or a plan to it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you're you're not gonna you're not gonna get you're not gonna get rewarded. Like, I used to try and walk everywhere.

[00:18:24] - [Speaker 3]
I lived in I lived in Santa Monica, but kinda far out out to the, you know, near the 10 and, like, 20th Street. So I'd walk downtown, but it would take me, like, forty five minutes or something like that. So it was, an hour and a half round trip just walking to the comic shop. And then at some point, I was just like, I can accomplish this by I can have the rest of my day back

[00:18:45] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm.

[00:18:45] - [Speaker 3]
If I just drive down and then come back. Do know what I mean?

[00:18:49] - [Speaker 2]
Like Yeah.

[00:18:50] - [Speaker 3]
But I used to try and walk everywhere, and then it it just wasn't it wasn't working for me, and, I just started driving. But then then what winds up happening is that the whole city opens up to you. There are all these neighborhoods that you would never be a part of. It's it is very much like, growing up in Northern New Jersey Mhmm. It to me, it felt like a very, equal thing.

[00:19:14] - [Speaker 3]
Like, in New Jersey, there's High Point in one you know, there's a mountains in one section in New Jersey. There's the Jersey Shore. There's New York. There's, there's Newark. There's Camden.

[00:19:25] - [Speaker 3]
There you know, there there are all these different places. There's the there's the the Pine Barrens in between. So, like, you can get all these different experiences out of Los Angeles similarly to what I used to get out of New Jersey. It was just if you were willing to drive long enough. Yeah.

[00:19:39] - [Speaker 3]
You know what

[00:19:40] - [Speaker 2]
I mean? So, like Yeah.

[00:19:41] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. You can get out

[00:19:42] - [Speaker 3]
to Palm Springs, which is a completely different experience, or up to to, what is it? Big Bear,

[00:19:48] - [Speaker 1]
which is

[00:19:49] - [Speaker 2]
a completely different experience. In an hour and a half away. Yeah.

[00:19:52] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. An hour and a half The the, yeah, the the ocean is right there. The Long Beach is down there, like, you know, Orange County. Like, everything is kind of, it's not that far. Do you know what I mean?

[00:20:05] - [Speaker 3]
Like, there's a little bit of traffic, you know, because I'll I'll look at things. I still have a little bit of northeasterner in me where I go like, it's 11 miles away. I'll get there in eleven minutes. But it's not it's not the case,

[00:20:17] - [Speaker 1]
you know.

[00:20:17] - [Speaker 2]
Doesn't work.

[00:20:18] - [Speaker 3]
You just go like, yeah, you have to you have to multiply it that way. It's but once you once you just decide that you're gonna get there whenever you get there, like Yeah. It's a it's a magical place. Like you said, with the the magic castle, I've never seen another place like that, you know. And and my wife used to love like, she used to just, like, camp out there pretty much.

[00:20:38] - [Speaker 3]
So I haven't been there in a while. We should go back. But anyway, like, there's great places. A lot of places in Los Angeles are kinda hidden.

[00:20:45] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm.

[00:20:45] - [Speaker 3]
You know, in New York and and and all the East Coast towns, like, you'll find all the things. They're just there. But in Los Angeles, they're kind of yeah. It's not always invite only, but you kinda have to know that it's it's going on. You know?

[00:21:00] - [Speaker 3]
Mhmm. So, like, you'll you'll be invited to something in the the Hollywood Hills or, you know, you're invited over to some warehouse district that you didn't know there was anything there, and it turns out there's a beautiful a beautiful venue, you know, that you just had no idea that was there. So it's just got a lot of different things. There's nothing like this town, so it was nice to be able to celebrate it in the book.

[00:21:22] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. You can drive five minutes, and the neighborhood completely changes. And that's what we wanted to do was that it gave us this fun, you know, kind of path for her that the scenes and the threats and the locations and geography change so much when you're driving through it. We could really create a journey for Esther as she goes and solves this mystery. So Yeah.

[00:21:44] - [Speaker 2]
I think that's the fun of the city is that, yes, New York has the boroughs have different personalities and different neighborhoods, but I think it ultimately looks a lot of it very similar, you know, structurally versus here. It's just like it's so scattershot. It's so different. Yeah.

[00:22:00] - [Speaker 3]
And on a character level, you know, very much like noir stories, the main character is kinda broken. It's interesting to make it a female because, she's got her own problems and how she's broken and stuff like that. But, like, it's, it's really interesting to see. You know, she's got something that's keeping her here just for a little while longer, and then then she has to get that resolved too, you know, as well as the the mystery that she's involved in. So we tried to keep it interesting on all different levels.

[00:22:30] - [Speaker 3]
I thought Jordan's script with with Tim was just terrific. So, you know, lots to lots to bite

[00:22:36] - [Speaker 1]
into. Oh, absolutely. I and I wanted to talk about Esther because I thought she was kind of a fascinating character to lead this, this detective story. And, you know, her, I guess, origin that we learn in, like, the first issue or two seemed very LA to me, which she was like a a a cop who then became a consultant for a TV show, became a or was a detective and Yeah. Became a consultant for a TV show, and now she does, like, a bunch of, you know, different things.

[00:23:06] - [Speaker 1]
I just felt that was, like, a very it just felt very from what what I would imagine, like, somebody in LA trying to, you know, do whatever they can to to get by. Like Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's got, like, the entertainment industry was very interesting, and she's just a fascinating character when we we meet her. And still, even after two issues, like, we're not quite sure exactly what's driving her other than, like, we know there's something she needs.

[00:23:34] - [Speaker 1]
We know she wants to get out of LA. And really just I really just loved her as a character, and she really hit for me.

[00:23:42] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Good. Well, the the the thing of her being a consultant, we wanted her to be rusty, right, when she takes the job. She's a little out of shape. She's a little you know, it's been a while since she had to do real detective work because she was coasting on this consulting job, you know, for years.

[00:23:58] - [Speaker 2]
So I love those detectives that are reckless and a little bit self destructive and kinda jump in head first and have are bandaged, you know, halfway through the case because they're pissing off all the wrong people and picking fights. So we I love I haven't seen too many female detectives that get to kind of lead noirs who are those kinds of characters. And, you know, I think as much as this is like you know, has a lot of the long goodbye, that kind of art type, you know, it also is very influenced by like Shane Black movies, like the nice guys. And I love those

[00:24:41] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, yeah.

[00:24:41] - [Speaker 2]
Sort of of detectives. So I think a lot of that was infused in her that she has a little bit of a a sense of humor about her. She's a little bit off and and making bad choices and willing to kinda put herself in harm's way to get the job done. And, you know, I think I I she's a rare character to kind of see being a female lead in in this kind of story. So and then tying her to LA and all the different elements of LA.

[00:25:11] - [Speaker 2]
And as as you read more, you get a little more of her history of her, where she grew up, and and also what what it is that she's she's after. And and you get to meet more people who kinda come back. I think you meet in in the second issue, her ex husband, and and, you know, he's helping her with the case, but we also get to hear a little more of of, you know, what kind of drove her to where she is. But I don't know. I just I love those broken detectives who are kind of on a on a mission of redemption, and I think that's ultimately what what Esther's story is.

[00:25:43] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. And visually too, I tried to I tried I tried a little experiment. It's over a it's over a period of a couple days, like a week or something like that. And I just thought that each each time she gets roughed up, the the bruises get a little deeper and deeper. So they're like, the bruises around her eyes just get, like, darker and darker over the period of the that we're playing with her.

[00:26:07] - [Speaker 3]
It was just really fun. And that hat too really gave me a lot of, narrative, abilities, which I didn't expect at all because there's a way to kinda shade her

[00:26:17] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm.

[00:26:17] - [Speaker 3]
Expression so that, like, you're as a reader, reading into what she's thinking. Like, I I really enjoyed that aspect of it because oftentimes, I'm I'm drawing whatever the expression is of whatever's happening. But, I would wind up drawing the expression, and then I would cover it up in shadow or cover her eyes. And it it just all it does is it creates a situation where, as the reader, you're imparting part of your narrative onto her. Do you know what I mean?

[00:26:47] - [Speaker 3]
Like, what you're imagining what your reaction would be as well as seeing what her reaction is, as well as not seeing what her reaction is. So it was really interesting. I I love that hat. I'd I'd the hat was kind of

[00:27:01] - [Speaker 1]
Well, I love I love do.

[00:27:02] - [Speaker 2]
I love when a detective has sort of a uniform, an unofficial uniform. And I think we even joked a little bit about even like Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop where he has the he always has a Detroit jacket on. So we wanted to give her like a Lakers jacket and a baseball And then she's got the scooter. And when you see it together, it's like, okay. This these are iconic things that you'll now associate associate with this character.

[00:27:24] - [Speaker 2]
That's her uniform even though she changes clothes or whatever, you know, throughout. And I just I love that as as kind of a thing people use in detective stories.

[00:27:33] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. A couple of other things I just wanted to kind of point out and and and, you know, ask you guys to just ask you about them that I thought were particularly well done. One, in terms of the the scripting, but also, Scott, your work. The fighting in issue two, tremendous. Absolutely loved it.

[00:27:51] - [Speaker 1]
The fight scenes that, Esther gets into with this, like, we'll call them a salvage or construction crew. Absolutely wonderful. Loved it. I I don't wanna give too much away, but I I there were in both issues, I I loved how funny it was at times. Like, I don't usually laugh out loud when I read a comic.

[00:28:13] - [Speaker 1]
I mean, I I I love comedy. I love I love to laugh loud, but just reading a comic, it doesn't you know, they're they're not always laugh out loud funny. There were there was a couple of times where I did laugh at, like, out loud when I read this before I left work today. Oh, that's awesome.

[00:28:30] - [Speaker 2]
That's great.

[00:28:30] - [Speaker 1]
Really, really great. And then, the other thing I wanted to mention, again, without giving too much away, reading the first issue and was really enjoying it. Really like the character, like the setup. Like I said, I I I love kind of the world building of this LA five years later. And I was like, well, this is a really solid, like, noir.

[00:28:55] - [Speaker 1]
This is a really solid story. And then I got to the last two pages of issue one, and I went, fuck yeah. We're getting weird with this. And I was like, I that I felt like I didn't know what was going on, what was happening. I was so excited.

[00:29:10] - [Speaker 2]
I just took up a number dodge. Our our weirdo is Tim, and Tim is so good at at subverting where you think things are going.

[00:29:20] - [Speaker 1]
And Absolutely.

[00:29:21] - [Speaker 2]
Absolutely. Injecting that in there. So I have to give credit for for Tim for that where, you know, we were because we were like, oh, we need another person who's after her. And and then we were talking about, like, surf zen and, like, a bounty hunter and that's got kind of this incredible design. So, yeah, it gets weird.

[00:29:43] - [Speaker 2]
It gets weirder, I'll say. Every Oh, it gets weirder. Yeah. Weirder and weirder.

[00:29:47] - [Speaker 1]
I mean

[00:29:48] - [Speaker 2]
But, you know,

[00:29:48] - [Speaker 1]
that's LA. Unexpected. I mean, it was it was so unexpected, and it's it's tough, you know, because, like, like, page turns are are tough. It can still you know, like, you try to write to the page turn. It can still be tough to surprise the reader.

[00:30:03] - [Speaker 1]
It's really easy just to catch a glimpse of what's going on in the next page. And, like, reading digitally, because I had the two PDFs is still tough. I I I was very, very I was still very surprised. Like, we get to what happens in the last two pages, and I was like, oh, a little a little a little twist. And then

[00:30:22] - [Speaker 2]
Shaking it up. It was

[00:30:23] - [Speaker 1]
then another one and then another one. I was like, well done. I just thought it was tremendous.

[00:30:29] - [Speaker 2]
I think I think finding the tone for this was interesting because I think when we first started talking about it, it's funny you bring up, you know, Brubaker and criminal. I think that's just the gold standard, you know, of noir. But I think if you look at the work of Scott and myself and Tim, we go a little bigger, you know, or or or louder. Right? Like like, I love how controlled and grounded criminal is, but I don't think that's us.

[00:30:57] - [Speaker 2]
You know? So I think we all wrote to each other's strengths, you know, and embraced that stuff. And I think, you know, even the minute Scott came on, I was like, we gotta, you know, add more action to this. I mean, he's such a master of that and and kept challenging him. We have a in the third issue, I don't know if you're aware, there's a museum called the Peterson Automotive Museum.

[00:31:21] - [Speaker 2]
It's in, like, Museum Row. So we end up flipping that on its side and Esther's hotwiring cars from the museum and driving them out the side. It was like we we said, like I said, like, this could either be fully the long goodbye and be a little quieter and moody, or this can be, you know, the last boy scout, which is loud and bombastic. And I think we tried to ride in between that and let some of the noir moments be a little quieter with some of them you know, some of the action be huge, you know, sort of Shane Black influenced Yeah. Stuff.

[00:31:57] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:31:59] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I just just really, really loved it. And then just going from the end of that first issue into into the second one, it just it just keeps building. It has such a wonderful, wonderful pace to it. I I think the the Esther's narration, it just looks great on the page.

[00:32:19] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. It it had all of those, like, touch tones of a noir, but it it felt, you know, it it felt very not even, like, right now. Just like just it did feel like maybe just a few years down the road. It was remarkable how that how that worked. So I I can't wait for issues three and four because I just thought one and two were were were great.

[00:32:42] - [Speaker 1]
That's

[00:32:43] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. That's also how we hooked you because I found the hardest thing about this is you have, you know, four twenty two page issues to to thread a mystery. You know? And how do you pace that accordingly? And and it really helps you kinda cut a lot of the fat of your story because it's like, is this a service, the character, or the mystery?

[00:33:03] - [Speaker 2]
No. Gone. You know? It's gotta always be moving forward or being propelled forward. So that was the hardest part of it, but, you know, I think Scott Scott's art is so good at, like, filling in that stuff that we cut actually.

[00:33:17] - [Speaker 2]
Believe it or not, there was more narration that we cut. I know it's very narration heavy because it's and we leaned into it. But, you know, Scott's storytelling is so beautiful that we were able to kind of pull back and and let, I you know

[00:33:28] - [Speaker 3]
like filling out a world, you know, like because I think that that's kind of the trouble with the trouble with comics is just the amount of time that the artist puts into whatever the work is. So if you're you know, you'll have you'll have some art that just, you know, they they lean on the the characters, but they really haven't established the area around the the place that they're in. And and sometimes that doesn't matter. You know what mean? But sometimes it really does.

[00:33:56] - [Speaker 3]
Like, you know, if you've got a if you're if you're in a if you've got two characters talking with one another and they're in a dungeon or two characters talking to one another, and they're in, like, the top of the the Sears Tower. Do know what I mean? Like, you're having dinner. It's a completely different atmosphere, and it and it changes exactly what's happening. And the thing is is if you just if you just draw the two characters talking, you're not gonna get the full story.

[00:34:24] - [Speaker 3]
You know what I mean? Uh-huh. It's not so it's important I think it's important to have the backgrounds there and to have them in a way that's believable and have them in a way that you interact.

[00:34:35] - [Speaker 2]
So I would even say next to Esther, LA is the co lead. Like, it's just as much of the main character as she is. And I think you were so good about, like, always pulling the right geography and and and placing us in the city and picking the right look, you know, for this, you know, for this interrogation scene, we need to be here in in this part of the city because this works well here. And

[00:35:00] - [Speaker 3]
Yes.

[00:35:01] - [Speaker 2]
You know, the personality of all these different places, the patchwork of LA, I think, comes through because it is it is in LA. LA is the character next to her.

[00:35:09] - [Speaker 4]
Yes.

[00:35:10] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. One of the other things that I think really helps is in terms of keeping it going. And and, you know, Jordan, you said you cut a a narration, but, you know, you said, oh, there is, like, narration in it. I don't I don't think it's narration heavy, though. I I think there's such an amazing pace to this because Esther is constantly moving.

[00:35:30] - [Speaker 1]
Like, one of the, series in particular that I think it's one of those things where, like, the whole creative team is firing on all cylinders in terms of the scripting. It's a tight and compelling story in terms of Scott's work, high fi, Nate's work when she is being chased in her apartment. And there's two guys chasing her. They're up the stairs. She's on the roof.

[00:35:52] - [Speaker 1]
She's over the roof, like, grabbing a drone, crashing a window. Like, that whole sequence is incredible, and it just feels like a really tight compelling story structure. And Scott's work is incredible. It has such motion to it, has such a flow. Like, things like that, it really propels the the story forward, and it's not just big high action scenes.

[00:36:16] - [Speaker 1]
Like, the narration that I would say is actually sparse in there, but we're we're learning about Esther in terms of she feels like she's a little softer than she used to be. She feels like she would have always had a backup plan, and now she doesn't. And so it's just such a good job of telling us about her, telling us about the story, and it's just it looks fantastic.

[00:36:40] - [Speaker 2]
Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. I love hearing that. That's great. We

[00:36:45] - [Speaker 1]
did it. We did it. I didn't I didn't really have a question there. I just No. I just really like that.

[00:36:50] - [Speaker 2]
I'm so glad that jumped

[00:36:52] - [Speaker 3]
out to you

[00:36:52] - [Speaker 2]
too because, you know, we're I think Scott and I do a ton of superhero stuff. And you do scale down for noir, but I still wanted set pieces. Right? You know?

[00:37:04] - [Speaker 1]
For Okay.

[00:37:05] - [Speaker 2]
I wanted to give Scott really fun big things to draw. And, you know, it's a smaller sequence compared to, you know, the Silver Surfer and Galaxus, but it's it's, you know, jumping off a roof and and gliding on a drone, smashing through a window felt like the right scale. You know? So we're always trying to find those moments to let it pick up in pace and then slow down for smaller, more intimate stuff so you really do feel like you're going on the full ride.

[00:37:31] - [Speaker 3]
Yep. Absolutely.

[00:37:33] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And for listeners, it it does not the sequence I described it, I think is in in book issue one, but it does not slow down in issue two. Like, just it it just continues to build. Esther continues to get the absolute shit kicked out of her. And but it it keeps always driving the story forward, the mystery forward.

[00:37:56] - [Speaker 1]
It does all of those things like you you want a noir to do or a detective ive story story to to do. Do. And, And, yeah, it's it has a ton of action in it, but it's still it felt very grounded without being, like, gritty for the sake of grittiness, which I don't always, always enjoy. But, yeah, I just thought first two issues knocked it

[00:38:19] - [Speaker 3]
out of the park.

[00:38:20] - [Speaker 1]
Really loved

[00:38:21] - [Speaker 3]
Great. Thank you so much. I really

[00:38:22] - [Speaker 2]
appreciate it.

[00:38:23] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. I hope the audience enjoys it as well. Pick it up. Read it.

[00:38:31] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Jordan, I did wanna ask you in terms, I mean, because you've worked, with other, you know, cowriters before. Yeah. And you've worked with Tim before in terms of some of the minor threat stuff. Does has has that collaboration, like, it changed or developed at all, or did you two find kind of, like, an easy rhythm when you first started working together that you've carried through to other stories?

[00:38:54] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. We worked very closely on the alternates. It was a story Tim had pitched us, and then we just kinda yes and did. And then, you know, we trade drafts back and forth, and we just found it's very rare when you find someone who can just pick up your words and run and vice versa. You can grab onto their thing and add, and it just feels seamless.

[00:39:13] - [Speaker 2]
So it was just that similar process. And, you know, we knew all the big beats of of the mystery, but we also there's I think there's something fun about leaving stuff open and and and playing a little jazz even though you have a road map, you know, where to go. So there was still fun discovery along the way. And then, yeah, we would just kind of, you know, one of us would do the outline, the other one would do the script, switch back and forth. You know, we we always have these long calls pitching and building.

[00:39:45] - [Speaker 2]
We'd see the stuff Scott was doing and change course and write towards that and you know? So I think, you know, there's a level of of just trust and and but and and, you know, we spent a long time hammering out what this would be, but while leaving these these open moments of discovery along the way.

[00:40:04] - [Speaker 3]
Yeah. It worked out terrific.

[00:40:05] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I I agree. It it it really did. Well, I, I really appreciate, both of you coming on to talk about the big shakedown. It's a four issue series, listeners with dark horse.

[00:40:17] - [Speaker 1]
Issue number one is going to be out September 16. So, if you're listening to this episode, it'll be this episode when this episode comes out, it'll be, you know, right before the issue drops. You can let your local comic book shop know that you wanna just add all four to your pull list. I am it absolutely fantastic. If you're in any way interested in LA or noir detective stories or really just great comic book, art or comic book storytelling, I I mean, I I really loved it.

[00:40:49] - [Speaker 1]
I just thought it was a ton of action, compelling mystery. I thought it was funny, and I thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it. And issue one, if I didn't say it, it'll be out, September 16. So, yeah, Jordan, Scott, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. This has been fantastic.

[00:41:06] - [Speaker 2]
Thank you.

[00:41:07] - [Speaker 3]
It was a real pleasure.

[00:41:08] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. This was awesome. One other thing to hype if people really are interested, Collectors Paradise, I believe, will still be doing this when this this airs. It's a comic store out in LA, but they ship everywhere, are doing all four issues signed by us, and then a sketch of your choosing by Scott. Could be any character.

[00:41:25] - [Speaker 2]
It could be Esther. It could be any X Men or whatever. Yeah. And they're selling it all together as a package. And I thought that was so neat.

[00:41:32] - [Speaker 2]
So if you're interested, they should be selling them. Yeah.

[00:41:36] - [Speaker 1]
I'll I'll try and find a link to that and put it in the show notes for listeners to check out. Like, I wanna get my I wanna maybe I'll I'll have to do that too. I wanna get my Omak sketch for from Oh, yeah. Sure. That's the kind of thing I

[00:41:50] - [Speaker 3]
wind up drawing. Yeah. Yeah. Which which Omak do you want? Yeah.

[00:41:54] - [Speaker 3]
Whichever one you want. So yeah.

[00:41:56] - [Speaker 1]
I'll have to think about that. But, yeah, listeners, thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate it. Shout out to my brother Bobby, the cryptic creator corner's number one most dedicated fan. Bobby listens to all my episodes, and don't worry, Bob.

[00:42:08] - [Speaker 1]
I'll make sure this is added to the poll list so you get to read it too. And, yeah, rate reviewers do all the stuff they tell you to do about podcasts. It really helps. But thank you, Jordan. Thank you, Scott, for coming on the podcast.

[00:42:20] - [Speaker 1]
And, Tim, your work is impeccable. You know, sorry you couldn't make it. I hope you're feeling better. Thank you so much for listening. Good night, and I'll see you next time.

[00:42:31] - [Speaker 3]
Thanks a lot, everybody.

[00:42:33] - [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 Jetty 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.

[00:43:00] - [Speaker 4]
No shade but it's really good, remarkably so. Does it have a yeti? Yeah. Is it cute and adorable? Yeah.

[00:43:08] - [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. She's gonna kill me for saying that.

[00:43:36] - [Speaker 4]
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

[00:43:51] - [Speaker 1]
support. YOLOLA.

[00:43:56] - [Speaker 4]
This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptic 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.

[00:44:15] - [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.