Kelly Thompson talks Scarlett

[00:00:00] Your ears do not deceive you. You've just entered the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by your friends at Comic Book Yeti.

[00:00:07] So without further ado, let's get on to the interview.

[00:00:11] Y'all, Jimmy, the Chaos Goblin strikes again!

[00:00:15] I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad.

[00:00:22] He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know and now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we can start playing.

[00:00:29] Another friend chimes in, are you going to make maps?

[00:00:32] It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together so I guess?

[00:00:37] It was then that I discovered Arc and Forge. If you don't know who Arc and Forge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive.

[00:00:46] Allowing you to build, play and export animated maps including in-person Fog of War capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture.

[00:00:59] Now I'm set to easily build high res animated maps saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign.

[00:01:06] That's a win every day in my book.

[00:01:08] Check them out at arcandforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off.

[00:01:14] I'll drop a link in the show notes for you and big thanks to Arc and Forge for partnering with our show.

[00:01:19] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even.

[00:01:24] Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of the Cryptic Creator Corner.

[00:01:28] I'm Byron O'Neill, your host for our Comics Creator Chat and I'm delighted to introduce first time visitor Kelly Thompson on with me.

[00:01:35] Kelly is an Eisner Award winning comics writer with big title credits on Gem and the Holograms, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Birds of Prey amongst quite a few more and recently has been diving into creator own space with personal favorites of mine,

[00:01:47] The Call and Black Cloak.

[00:01:49] She's working with a new publisher now helping Skybound revitalize the G.I. Joe franchise with the forthcoming Scarlet miniseries bringing Jane to G.I. Joe.

[00:01:58] Kelly how's things?

[00:01:59] Good, good.

[00:02:00] Thanks for having me.

[00:02:01] Absolutely.

[00:02:02] So great to have you on.

[00:02:03] Well I was going to ask you how your comics week has been but hey news just dropped that you've been nominated for five, yes five Eisner Awards this year so damn that's got to feel good.

[00:02:14] It's time to negotiate.

[00:02:15] Yeah it feels really really really good.

[00:02:18] Really good.

[00:02:19] I'm so excited like especially like getting a nod for like some creator own work for some creator own and for work for hire like that feels like me finally sort of getting it right you know like a mix of these things and these and honestly when you when I look at those I mean I don't know does anyone get to an Eisner nom without like really loving the thing they're making I don't know but I really love it's Jeff I really love Birds of Prey.

[00:02:47] I love these creator own books the call of black cloak so you know it's honestly it's honestly really great for someone to go like hey you did a really good job on this thing that you love and then you're like yes this is how it's supposed to work so it's a great morning.

[00:03:04] Well I've got a friend on the committee so if we need to slide into those DMs right he's really into cross stitch if that's helpful.

[00:03:12] We'll reach out.

[00:03:16] Before we jump to the scarlet I think you've been unjustly targeted sadly from a few friends of mine I was listening to a recent episode of the spec tales podcast.

[00:03:25] I was frankly horrified that Jake and Jesus did you so wrong on the show and I expect it from Jake but not from Jesus right as a former guest myself on their show I'm starting a new coalition if you'll join me right this is the I hate Pennywise fan club and normally I cannot get behind kicking off a hate group but I think it's justified in this case.

[00:03:45] And I summarily pronounce Pennywise gets zero tater tarts not a one right and furthermore all clowns can just buck off as far as I'm concerned so are you in and I'll understand if my rather zealot stance is a touch too far though.

[00:03:59] Well I don't know I haven't read the book and I'm not going to probably it's huge and I know the whole that thing at the end there's no way that's gonna work for me like knowing what it is there's there's no way there's no way and maybe maybe it's brilliant and fans everywhere like you don't know what you're talking about but like the pre knowledge of knowing it like this just no way for me to like not probably be able to do that.

[00:04:26] There's no way for me to like not process what that thing is and like lose myself in the narrative it just won't happen so.

[00:04:34] So I can't speak to how great he is in the original material but no I did not like those fucking movies yeah really I was really disappointed by them and again that's not me trying to hate that's me watching some of those trailers I mean remember when the trailer for the first one came out

[00:04:53] with the balloon in the like like the open I mean I was terrified I was terrified of those trailers I thought this movie is going to be incredible and then it was just it was sometimes really good tension and then a scary thing runs at you and then the scenes over I don't get it.

[00:05:10] I hate clowns I really do I'm not scared of them personally I have no problem admitting when something frightens me like dentists for instance yeah you know I just find them detestable like with with the exception of okay the Joker and shakes the clown I don't know if you've ever seen shakes the clown yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah shakes the clown is fantastic but I love shakes the clown right.

[00:05:29] Yeah that Joker doesn't really feel like a clown does he I mean I know we play into this all the time but we take him so seriously because I agree with you on clowns they're sort of creepy but I don't usually find them scary but I just don't find it that interesting but Joker's interesting so I wonder what that is the I guess just all those incredible terrifying stories.

[00:05:50] Yeah maybe when you grow up with it it also mutes the flavor of it because I mean with everybody putting an imprint on Joker Joker has changed and morphed so much yeah and you know so you play with the character enough some people will run with the terrifying you know clown aspect others not so much so.

[00:06:11] Yeah I mean it really just the only part of him that feels like a clown at this point are like a couple of the colors depending on the approach like oh green hair and white skin and the smile like the you know because yeah that's interesting I guess he's just been so stretched and distended into so many different terrifying shapes that clown doesn't really sum it up you know it feels almost dismissive it's interesting I hadn't really thought about it before I think that's telling about how disassociated he is to the clown

[00:06:41] and what it sort of is from a more like it type of clown that we might think of is that I didn't even really associate it you know yeah interesting.

[00:06:52] Yeah well before skybound gets mad at me for going off on a clown tangent let's let's pull it back to scarlet.

[00:06:58] So shana o'harrow scarlet is a founding member of the team I remember her from when I was a kid watching the cartoon in the eighties and she's about as foundational to me is like linda carter was playing wonder woman and defining the female superhero right same yeah okay where is scarlet in your dna same same.

[00:07:17] She was probably I mean I guess wonder woman probably did come first.

[00:07:22] When I close my eyes and imagine watching g.i. joe as a kid i'm used usually in colorado and when i was when i close my eyes and imagine watching wonder woman i was usually in california so wonder woman must have been first but.

[00:07:36] Wonder woman felt very different than than scarlet if only because wonder woman was like a solo hero and scarlet was.

[00:07:45] A thing that as a girl you would get a lot of as a kid if you were interested in more sort of.

[00:07:50] Boy coded material which is that you get a token girl on every team right like and you were really.

[00:07:58] You are really at the whim of the show as to how great that female character was or not like if you were you know cuz you that was who you were gonna connect to as a young girl watching this material and i always felt scarlet we were really lucky because.

[00:08:11] She was super cool and she was interesting and she had the great red hair so i started out a crush on her and wanted to be here and like all of that.

[00:08:18] Imprinting stuff that's so important when you're little when you're looking to these things where you're seeing heroes that you wanna be.

[00:08:25] So she was really one of the first i do have to acknowledge wonder woman probably got there first but i think she i think scarlet because i was a little older she actually have more of an impact.

[00:08:36] Like she when i when i think of myself as a wonder woman fan which i am it really came later in life even though i had seen the show and stuff like that but i was a joe joe fan from a little from a little kid.

[00:08:50] So did the that marble run of gejo in the eighties were you a reader of that as well no no i didn't i didn't read any of that so i've gone back and read some of that stuff since.

[00:09:03] Both for research purposes and separate from that but.

[00:09:06] I wasn't reading certainly not in the eighties but i wasn't really you know.

[00:09:13] One of the things that i think the judge show was so great at is that i'm not that interested in like.

[00:09:18] War stories and battle stories but they put such a like a superhero vibe on it that even though they were still military they all felt like these special characters with these special attributes the things that we saw and i think.

[00:09:31] Connect with super hero stuff and i think that's one of the reasons it was probably so you like they didn't just look like a bunch of military guys the way.

[00:09:40] You know a war movie looks to a kid they looked more like superheroes all snake eyes can do this cool stuff and whatever so i think that those are things like as a kid that help me connect to it.

[00:09:49] In a way that didn't feel like war it just felt like heroes you know which was always more.

[00:09:55] Appealing to me you know when i thought of like war stories or soldier stories i would think of like oh some dumb movie my dad's watching or whatever right but like.

[00:10:04] G.I. Joe was able to transcend that and like make those characters interesting me hey this guy has a freaking wolf like you know it's cool stuff right like that you mostly do not get to see in your dad serious war movie that he's watching.

[00:10:18] So that was a wolf was in it.

[00:10:20] May.

[00:10:24] What this whole skybound inner gone universe concept seem like a big swing right yeah honestly to me at the time trying to mesh transformers in G.I. Joe.

[00:10:33] You think to beloved classic flavors would make for a great combo like chocolate and peanut butter but i had had my doubts.

[00:10:39] Those have been proved very wrong but admittedly they recruited some of the top writers in the game on all these projects you know starting with kirkman with board rivals.

[00:10:48] You're all in the daniel warren johnson on transformers joshua williamson is doing duke and cobra commander and i guess what would probably be considered the next phase of the rollout with you handling scarlett and dan waters on destro so how did you get involved with all.

[00:11:02] So i mean i was just lucky i guess i mean you know.

[00:11:07] With you do some work and some people think you might be a good fit at something like this and so i assume my name went on a list hopefully a short one.

[00:11:16] I got the call and because scarlett was one of my first key gloves like there was no question i was jumping on it i mean i didn't even hesitate.

[00:11:24] I was also excited to work i've never worked with skybound before and i would have had so i had some of the same.

[00:11:32] Concerns you did i think about the energy on you know what they were doing there particularly because while g.i. joe has always interested me transformers is not something i super connected to when i was a kid and

[00:11:44] and so i've been offered a few turns former things over the years and i always sort of back away the same way i do with star trek.

[00:11:51] Where.

[00:11:53] They're really interesting to me and i'd be interested in telling stories in those worlds but.

[00:11:58] I just know i'm surrounded by a lot of other really talented geeks who that's like their favorite thing so like why am i trying to tell some great transformer story when i'm surrounded by a dozen people minimum who are.

[00:12:10] It's like their most passionate things so yeah so i never really went after that stuff but but because of that like combining transformers with g.i. joe like i suddenly go oh maybe that's not going to be for me cuz i'm not really a transformers person.

[00:12:25] So i was really excited when void rivals came out in kirkman is obviously incredible but also the runs so the artist.

[00:12:34] Is it definitely i've forgotten that he did that book chroma.

[00:12:40] Which is one of my favorite books i've read in the last you know however many years it's a little bit of a great yeah incredible i love it i he doesn't need me at all but i'd love to work with him.

[00:12:55] So that void rivals i was just incredibly impressed with it it didn't feel like transformers it didn't feel like g.i. joe the reveals within it were super interesting to me and i was like okay.

[00:13:06] Now i get it like if you can bring this to it so i mean i would say certainly duke and these other books we're doing are less.

[00:13:16] Like wildly innovative than void rivals because they're more traditional takes like it's not as far afield as sort of the way they brought in all the void rivals and like tied it all together to me.

[00:13:28] So this feels a little more classic joe but it does feel still.

[00:13:33] He'll still feel sorry too many else there it does still feel really.

[00:13:39] Modern and and just energized in like all these connections that you can make between these two properties and i just think some of the moves are making a really cool and that duke book.

[00:13:50] I mean i wanted to punch joshua in the face because he made it so good how do i follow that up like.

[00:13:57] Honestly it's very intimidating like when you come into a line like this you want the books to be good cuz you want to be a part of a strong line and that's part of why void rivals was such.

[00:14:06] Made it so easy to say yes to doing scarlet because i knew they were doing cool stuff but you don't want people to be too good cuz then you have to go after them josh.

[00:14:16] I do think that they've been incredibly smart about who they brought in not speaking about me obviously but you know joshua williamson is.

[00:14:25] Not only incredible writer but that's the super fan like i feel like i'm a scarlet super fan but that guy's a gi joe super fan i mean he knows everything and like you just feel that.

[00:14:36] Energy and that passion for the property you can just feel it in everything he's doing and like how he's helping to build that whole world it's very cool and i'm honored to get to be a part of it.

[00:14:46] I hope i won't let anyone down you didn't let me down like i read the oh yeah that's right that's right let's read one i forgot i'm sorry oh no it's all good yeah i mean and to me there was actually a welcome shift in tone from the other joe miniseries so far right.

[00:15:01] Do you have duke is like this torn battered figure fighting against the system disillusionment all that you know and then you have he's kind of like captain america.

[00:15:11] Yeah yeah and then you have cobra commander who's his ruthless self with like a tech fetish which is like a nice twist on it but you know scarlet is portrayed.

[00:15:19] Is it going to sound like weird in terms of an adjective but like a bit motherly in this first issue you know it's like you're building building a version of her that there's a whole lot more friendship and yeah like team dynamic in this book so what did you feel like you had to infuse into her as a character.

[00:15:38] I just felt like you know.

[00:15:41] When you've got one female character okay and you know i'm sure they're building out i mean already we've seen baroness and so like things you know these characters are starting to develop whatever but when you have.

[00:15:52] This one female character among your heroes that sort of has to tow the line for all of them.

[00:15:58] She's got to be really exceptional i mean listen all the jose are pretty exceptional like you know the way superheroes are but i knew we were going to throw her into.

[00:16:08] We were gonna have to give her because we wanted it to be like a smaller more personal sort of private angle or i wanted that yeah because i thought that was the way into the character and the way in for her to eventually the jose but like you know the jose don't exist on page one of our book.

[00:16:26] Yes you know they're like becoming as you're seeing as you're seeing in the universe you're seeing the pieces are coming together and there are some hints to that in this one was like that appearance of stalker and things of like.

[00:16:37] Oh people are building something else here so she's not a part of it yet but so this book is about showing the exceptional way in which she becomes a part of it by being who she is and like.

[00:16:49] Caring about the world and caring about her place in it and being frustrated by her inability to.

[00:16:56] Make things happen she feels like she's like a janitor like she's cleaning up after things have already gone bad and she wants a more proactive role but.

[00:17:05] Sort of pinning all that underpinning all that together is that through this military career she's got and she's still pretty young.

[00:17:13] She's lost sort of like her best friend that she is the closest to as a sister and that's jinx and we built that bond that you know certainly their bond exists in the original but not the way we built it here which is incredibly close this is someone.

[00:17:31] This is someone you go on a suicide mission to get back because what would what would be the reason you go if you're if we're if we're creating a scarlet who is feeling frustration within the military role she's stuck in.

[00:17:44] And we want her feeling that way because we're pushing her towards some other greatness that's coming.

[00:17:50] There's gotta be a reason that she's gonna say yes to these things that we really care about that isn't just it's the order you think of it.

[00:17:58] And so we gave her something she really really cared about something she'd really risk her life for and yeah i hope it's a like high octane it's not.

[00:18:07] It's not revenge i think when i was first writing it i felt like it was more sort of james bond mission impossible sort of cold spy vibes but i do think that marco style.

[00:18:20] Is so like high octane and sort of frenetic i think we ended up getting.

[00:18:27] Also and i think it's great for the book i think it makes it more interesting we got sort of like a almost a john wick vibe to it where she will like do anything she will go through any number of obstacles to get to this thing and it's really fun it's really fun.

[00:18:42] Issue three in particular has a sort of dread quality to it like the film where it's all like trapped in one location and like you know basically you're not intended to get out of this alive so good luck.

[00:18:57] It's really fun we're having a good time yeah i mean totally it feels a little less sci fi than the other projects do you know there's.

[00:19:05] There's just like big theme thread where you have organic matter versus metal right right and it's very topical as we all kind of yeah i really seek to understand reject or embrace the revolution and how we're gonna interact with machines as a society moving forward.

[00:19:20] Right there was a super disturbing ipad commercial that came out recently.

[00:19:24] You know did you see it though genius it was always terrible terrible but did you see the guy that reversed it.

[00:19:33] No i have nothing that one so right after i saw it and everyone was yelling about it and i didn't yell about it but i agree there was something really.

[00:19:40] Soul destroying about it and it was shocking that nobody could see that except for everyone you showed it to the second you unveiled it was universal yeah so i was like here i fix it for you and i'm sorry i don't have his twitter handle.

[00:19:55] He basically just reversed the ad.

[00:19:58] So it starts with the ipad being all thin and beautiful on the thing and then it.

[00:20:03] Open all that stuff up so it's creating instead of destroying so it makes the piano instead of destroys the piano it told the same story and it was incredibly soul restorative.

[00:20:16] They should pay that guy i don't know how much people make on commercials they should pay that guy that money and re issue the commercial like that i'm swear it was.

[00:20:24] It was exactly what they wanted to say i'm what they thought they were saying.

[00:20:29] And all they had to do was reverse it that's it was a it was a mind.

[00:20:36] It was a it was a it was a step back moment to me of like watch your watch your p.o.v shifts because look at how that changes that yeah you went from.

[00:20:46] Saying exactly the opposite of what everyone wanted to hear to telling them and showing them exactly what they want like i couldn't believe how genius it was with just that p.o.v shift it was incredible.

[00:20:57] I have to check it out that's cool you you should you should and yes that commercial is awful and i'm sorry i completely ran over your question no very good question.

[00:21:09] Yeah i mean to me that you know kind of moving away from sci fi you know and in this particular story and you have.

[00:21:17] I guess this the excellence in this is totality big picture package right is that they're all like character driven stories.

[00:21:24] Right you know and so what restraints did you have from the the jump in terms of a remit.

[00:21:30] Well so we do have restraints on like you know people we can bring in you know because the we all as fans we all just want to throw.

[00:21:41] The fun characters at the project like you know everyone wants to reach for everyone yeah but i tried to not be too greedy i had been very.

[00:21:51] I've been gifted with jinx and storm shadow which was you know my who i really really needed.

[00:21:58] And i got snow job i also wanted snow job but you don't like soccer in there and stuff too but like yeah i mean the instinct is to reach for all your favorite toys from the toy box and i think.

[00:22:13] Cooler calmer heads prevail and they're like no you can't have all those things like let's build and you're like okay.

[00:22:21] So yeah so there are there are restrictions on like who you can bring in you don't want to.

[00:22:27] Put everyone in round phase one and you know you want to really get people i mean i guess that's why it's so.

[00:22:34] I'm so happy that we were able to build this scarlet and jinx relationship and this whole mission in which.

[00:22:41] You know they don't want to give too much away but this suicide mission scarlet goes on in hopes of getting her back or at least discovering what's happened to her.

[00:22:52] Like it allows us to build it organically so that i hope that people will feel like it doesn't feel like we'll ever have to go back and like.

[00:23:02] I mean you could do an origin story but like this is it this is building her into the person she's going to be as a joe.

[00:23:10] I do think our story you're right is less engaged with like the text of although.

[00:23:18] Some of that comes in i don't i don't think it ever comes in as big as you know maybe do or some of these others but.

[00:23:25] I am maybe because it all sort of the story spins around the russia kaji.

[00:23:32] And they tend to be less tech.

[00:23:34] Right driven and that sort of a that is a little bit of a plot point in the book like them do we want to push forward or do we want to stay traditional like.

[00:23:44] Where are we going as a clan so all of that sort of wraps in and like you get the mention of a weapon.

[00:23:53] So that's your tech probably like you know so there's still these threads there but you're right that it feels a little more.

[00:24:01] Like a personal quieter mission even though it's incredibly dangerous.

[00:24:07] There's a lot of action i mean i i talk about it being character driven but it's not as it's not a slice of life right there yeah she's moving shaking doing things yes for sure.

[00:24:17] Yeah no there's so much blood.

[00:24:22] There's a lot there's a lot of fighting yeah.

[00:24:24] Well i mean frankly i absolutely adore that they they tagged you for this because she she.

[00:24:30] It was so feminine and so strong and i'm glad you know companies are getting on board getting women to write these big female characters you know we we are more of an indie space you know focus media outlet and there's a portion of it.

[00:24:42] It always lament with like that that tna aspect that can can drive sales right.

[00:24:47] I don't have a problem with sex positivity but frankly i'm tired of men writing women that lack dimension yeah you know i have my first three jobs from comic book shops and again since i've gotten back into comics in this way in the last few years.

[00:25:00] I'm gonna rediscovering that love of characters like cat woman when definitely handle by somebody like teeny howard.

[00:25:06] Yeah and you know not knocking the groundwork lay down by the other writers in the universe but.

[00:25:12] No it's all been a bit of a boys club thus far if a well behaved one right.

[00:25:17] I think that's the unfortunate reality of comics i mean.

[00:25:22] Do you see those stats the other day on that article on cbr no it was like they just you know i i'm not i'm not trying to get all rowdy about anything but you know it's just the percentages are dire when you look at creatives female creative so i'm glad to i think many men write women better than women do

[00:25:41] but i don't deny that you're gonna get like a little bit more of a attention paid and i don't know i don't know it gets in there's a day there's just such a dangerous ground to try to limit what people can write but i certainly don't disagree that.

[00:26:03] I have different priorities probably than a lot of other creators that would come in to write scarlet so i mean i'm glad too because it's really important to me that she be.

[00:26:14] Complicated you know and i don't mind tna either i mean i don't know if you read birds of prey and obviously want to keep the sort of scarlet focus but.

[00:26:22] I just did i just did a two issue arc that was about a fashion show and which included bar to stripping fully naked during the fight because she thought her clothes were mind controlled.

[00:26:32] And if you know and it's all for comedy and it's all for whatever but i did that in part to show that you can do it that these women are still strong and have agency and are complicated and interesting and funny and weird and make bad decisions to like stripping off all your clothes in the middle of a fight.

[00:26:53] Because you think there's mind control.

[00:26:55] I'm but i also wouldn't have done that with just any artists like i knew hobby a peanut and david lopez.

[00:27:03] Have the same ideas in mind as i do that they can show this woman being incredibly sexual while she's punching a guy's head off like you know that that these things don't have to come.

[00:27:16] You know my issue is like they didn't even all have the same body types like bar to doesn't look the same as cascading like that's part of it like.

[00:27:24] I think that a lot of the thing that gets lost in the cheesecake is that what happens is it all gets whittled down to the same thing so it's not that.

[00:27:33] The character looks sexy it's that the character looks sexy and she looks exactly the same as the other two characters standing next to her who have completely different personalities and.

[00:27:42] Completely different power sets and they would have different workout regimes and yet they all look like the same you know size two supermodel not a gymnast you know so.

[00:27:52] I just like i just think it's all really complicated and for most comics you're asking too much to be talking about those things.

[00:28:00] What good comics great comics do think about those things and care about those things and it's part of how you develop a bad ass scarlet who's gonna be able to hold her own in a gi joe universe.

[00:28:13] Well and i would argue that the thought that goes into it that you clearly put in also proof is in the pudding right you just got nominated for five eyes and somebody cares just saying i do believe i know what i'm doing i mean i.

[00:28:29] It's sometimes i feel like it sounds like bragging but like i spend all my time thinking about this like i care about it as much as you can possibly care about it so.

[00:28:40] You know i'm glad i'm doing a good job because it would be really upsetting if i cared about it this much and i'm still not getting it done.

[00:28:47] Yeah that would that would be tragic i mean i felt that way many times but you know you feel you feel better.

[00:28:57] Yeah i feel like sky bound looks at something like black widow and they go okay.

[00:29:05] Bad ass redhead big fight scenes like you know let's do it but then.

[00:29:10] Again with a different artist maybe this would have ended up too much like that book you know and so i do think there's some genius in bring in marco who's gonna have a completely different style to elena.

[00:29:23] You know much looser and higher energy hers is more controlled and precise and it really just completely changes the vibe in really interesting ways we're having a good time.

[00:29:38] That's what counts at the end of the day.

[00:29:41] Alright let's take a quick break.

[00:29:42] Hey comics fam, indie comic book publisher Banda bars just got a level up and announced it is now a cooperative.

[00:29:51] This heralds a new era for them including a partnership with Dauntless stories.

[00:29:55] And they added several new members to the ownership group.

[00:29:58] Marcus Jimenez is now chief operating officer.

[00:30:01] Brent Fisher takes on the role of chief diversity officer.

[00:30:04] And Joey Galvez is introduced as head of kickstarter ops and social media manager.

[00:30:09] Which is sure to increase their capabilities overall as a publisher.

[00:30:13] And it further promotes their mission statement of advancing representation inclusion and diversity in the media.

[00:30:20] They also established a new board of directors to help chart the new path of their journey.

[00:30:25] With new projects in the works like alas goodbye dropping in june.

[00:30:28] Unbroken soon launching on kickstarter and pawn coming up with Dauntless.

[00:30:32] Stay tuned to this space for more exciting news from the growing bards family.

[00:30:40] Let's get back to the show.

[00:30:42] And switching gears a little bit while we're talking about girl power.

[00:30:45] You have another big ip dropping soon this time with dynamite and powerpuff girls.

[00:30:50] So night and day in terms of scarlet you had powerpuff girls but you know

[00:30:54] you know back in the day working concerts believe it or not powerpuff girls were my

[00:30:58] unwind watch after a stressful day you know.

[00:31:01] I totally get that that makes sense.

[00:31:04] Yeah yeah right I crashed into my bunk on a tour bus and get lost with bubbles and blossom and

[00:31:08] buttercup buttercups always been my favorite right so clearly you're a fan like what was.

[00:31:14] I'm a big fan I'm a big fan and bubbles is my favorite although.

[00:31:19] I'm more like buttercup and I do love her so much.

[00:31:23] I'm a big fan I'm such a fan that when I was living in LA after college I tried to.

[00:31:30] A write and storyboard some episodes maybe get a job as a writer on the show maybe get a job

[00:31:35] as a storyboard artist I didn't know how any of it worked I was I was learning a little

[00:31:38] bit how the storyboarding worked which.

[00:31:41] I could have been eligible for but I just think there weren't any openings at the

[00:31:44] time that I was working on it anyway I'm trying to dig out from my garage I know

[00:31:48] I've got a few of those sketches left so hopefully put them on my sub stack or

[00:31:52] something which will be funny but yeah I've been a fan all going all the way back and

[00:31:57] I think anyone that's not a fan is not seen it because it's really funny I was

[00:32:03] reading the comics the other day.

[00:32:07] And I was just laughing in the living room and my partner was like what are you

[00:32:11] reading and I was like it's a super powerful girls comic it's so good like

[00:32:16] it's just really creative and they just the world is built in like it is an

[00:32:20] incredible bit of world building from the sort of the styling right on down to

[00:32:28] you know the iconic colors the girls have I just think it's incredible stuff.

[00:32:38] The mid century modern UPA backgrounds like the watercolor and the geometric

[00:32:46] shapes and like the bleed through and stuff which you probably see less in

[00:32:49] the comics than you do with a show but like all of that stuff it's just so smart and

[00:32:53] cool like when I look at the designs for just the random people of townsville in

[00:32:58] the park I mean I'm sometimes I'm just laughing before anyone said anything like

[00:33:03] this kid's got a square head and like buck rabbit teeth like what is going on

[00:33:09] it's I love it I love everything about it.

[00:33:12] The rogues gallery I think is so good for a cartoon like that right.

[00:33:17] It's better than most of the major superheroes I work on honestly.

[00:33:21] I know I know you get I don't know if I don't know if Carol Danvers has three better

[00:33:27] rogues than Mojo Jojo him and I don't know the rowdy rough boys like I don't think she

[00:33:34] has the equivalent of that these days I mean I tried my best over 50 issues to

[00:33:38] create some new ones and build up some of the old ones but it's really you really can tell

[00:33:43] hero's strength on strength of their rogues gallery and powerpuff girls is incredible.

[00:33:49] Best names like fuzzy lumkins and seduce my personal favorite and no he's not as

[00:33:55] important as a lot of the others but like Dick Hardly like how can you get away with that in

[00:33:59] a kid's show?

[00:34:00] It's so funny well that's that's sort of the the alchemy of powerpuff girls to me I

[00:34:06] know it's not as popular as something like Simpsons but it's a similar idea where a

[00:34:11] kid can get it it's all you know primary colors and fun great designs interesting easy

[00:34:18] to understand story but then if you're watching it as an adult there's a whole other layer

[00:34:23] laid over it like sometimes it's a visual or a narrative trick often it's just jokes that

[00:34:27] or you know in jokes like Dick Hardly like I mean amazing I just love it's so fun.

[00:34:34] I created so for the third I think it's the third issue I created a new villain for them

[00:34:41] that's basically inspired by the storyboarding thing I was doing 20 years ago so I doubt he'll

[00:34:48] make the leap to the rogues gallery but I can hope a girl can hope.

[00:34:54] Hey let's keep hoping I'm along for the ride I mean it's always going to be fun.

[00:34:58] Yeah for sure.

[00:34:59] Well I wanted to touch on your creator own work too it's not like you're short of

[00:35:04] writing gigs lately but I'm curious what the catalyst was for wanting to kind of

[00:35:08] jump into that creator own pond which we all know is tough.

[00:35:13] What were you missing with the big two?

[00:35:16] I think I mean certainly it would be nice to just be able to make characters gay

[00:35:24] when you want and things like there's a freedom of control that

[00:35:31] you know I think one of the first things people do when they go off

[00:35:34] start doing creator own stuff it's like anyone can be gay who wants to be gay because you're

[00:35:39] sick of having that restriction when you're working the big two and I get it these are

[00:35:45] billion dollar characters a lot of the time you can't just cavalierly new writers come in

[00:35:50] but it can feel restrictive and frustrating especially when you feel like it's not going

[00:35:56] the direction that the world feels like it's going and you're like yeah we should be ahead

[00:36:00] of this not behind this you know. So I think that's a little bit just you want that freedom

[00:36:08] I also wanted to be able to work with you know like I'm very lucky in that I often get

[00:36:15] paired up with exactly who I want to be with on books you know Leo and Jordi and I coming

[00:36:20] together on Birds of Prey stuff like that but you know if you for sure want to work with

[00:36:25] someone the only way to ensure that's going to happen really is do a creator own book so like

[00:36:30] you know how long was it going to take for Madi and I to get paired up on something like

[00:36:34] Jessica Jones again the only way to be sure if we wanted to work together was to do it ourselves

[00:36:38] so you know we built a call I had this great opportunity with Substack so that I could fund

[00:36:43] the books which after having done I'm incredibly grateful for but I do feel a little frustrated

[00:36:49] because I don't know how anybody does this if you don't have that funding so I feel

[00:36:56] you know one year after those books have come out we're obviously reaping the rewards

[00:37:00] rewards on the awards nomination side that's great but it was a really tough year financially

[00:37:08] and I don't just have the funds to fund more of those books so it's a very strange

[00:37:14] position to be in where you're like so I'm so successful we got five Isner nominations

[00:37:19] that we can't pay for new volumes of any of this like it's really hard you know yeah

[00:37:23] oh comics are tough yeah that's tough that's really hard but I get it I mean the draw because

[00:37:32] I connect to like DC's Black Label is a great example for me where I love those stories

[00:37:38] because they are not beholden to everything else that's canon and so you know that's

[00:37:44] why I work in the indie space because I love world building I love hearing about how people

[00:37:48] you know world build and I always get frustrated because I was like I want more and I get all the

[00:37:53] limitations as somebody who hears about the inside ins and outs all the time but yeah yeah

[00:37:58] it's frustrating yeah yeah it's a you know I think it's I'm constantly lamenting that I

[00:38:05] want it to be easier to be successful in this industry or have this industry as your career

[00:38:12] and that's all true but I also I don't know I also I don't know maybe it doesn't get to be

[00:38:22] easy to do your dream I don't know like it's recently someone was talking about TV and film

[00:38:31] which I tangentially touch that sometimes I haven't been super involved in things I've had

[00:38:37] things optioned I almost had a TV show go to a network like some things like that have happened

[00:38:42] but I'm pretty removed from it but someone recently said something about the difference

[00:38:49] from the people you deal with in comics versus the people in TV and film is that the

[00:38:54] people in TV and film don't necessarily love TV and film okay and I thought that seems like

[00:39:01] bullshit because so many people work so hard writers directors blah blah and then I was like

[00:39:06] wait a minute they're talking about producers they're talking about you can make so much

[00:39:11] money in TV and film and comics is protected from that problem because there's no money

[00:39:17] there's no money in it and so it's this weird thing where this horrible thing that makes it so

[00:39:24] hard to be a creator has actually sort of protected the medium itself because there's

[00:39:30] not a ton of money to be made from it from just making comics like yes some people out

[00:39:36] there have done a great job Brian Michael Bendis has made a lot of money Brian caveman

[00:39:42] has made a lot of money like some people are incredibly good at this and just nail it and

[00:39:46] it's a home run but for most of us it's not a hey let me retire and have a beach house and

[00:39:53] whatever like it's a it's just a working life yeah and and there I'm trying to appreciate

[00:39:59] the beauty in that is that part of the reason that is is because there's not a ton

[00:40:03] of money in it and so everyone in it really loves it people who make comics are not here

[00:40:10] to make a quick buck they're here because they're in love with it and it's sort of

[00:40:14] beautiful in a backwards way well it is I mean and it's it trickles throughout the industry

[00:40:18] right there's okay I'm not I'm not going to be egotistical egotistical here but like people

[00:40:23] like me who you know we we are volunteering our time I don't get paid a dime I ain't nothing

[00:40:28] off of all this stuff right I do it because I absolutely love talking to creators and I love

[00:40:33] the books that they make you know yep and so there's all these levels to comics that coming

[00:40:38] from another medium because I used to be a professional fine art photographer and stuff and

[00:40:42] then 15 years in the music industry they're just nothing it's so cutthroat there's no

[00:40:48] scaffolding people are not there to back you up right wow it's it's just a very very different

[00:40:53] industry yeah but it's a it's a it goes it goes back to that thing we were talking about

[00:40:59] before we started recording that I'm trying my best to sort of appreciate things even when

[00:41:08] they're weird and I think that that's a weird way to appreciate the fact that comics are tough

[00:41:14] is that part of the reason it's not easier to make a living wage in this means beautiful

[00:41:21] people love them and are involved in them and so it ironically makes the experience of making

[00:41:27] them even better and it makes it more you want to stay in it and you want to do more of it

[00:41:32] like you know uh I don't know it's tricky thing life right it's uh who knew complicated

[00:41:39] oh yes trust me as a disabled person is somebody who became a disabled person

[00:41:44] late in life with an autoimmune condition oh do I understand that statement yeah yeah um

[00:41:50] well let's try to help sell some cold trade paperbacks then because those just came out

[00:41:55] and if not we'll just answer my questions right um so I read mostly trades I'm not a super big

[00:42:02] you know single issue guy but I did pick up the the first issue of the call and recently

[00:42:06] the trade paperback um and that that I gotta say so the the first panel on the first page

[00:42:13] totally sucked me in and I don't know how I how purposeful putting a location um is in

[00:42:18] there but you know a bit of a backstory being the fine art photographer I taught landscape

[00:42:22] photography workshops and national parks and such so that panel reminds me of a spot that I stood in

[00:42:29] in a coal estate part looking southward at like the iconic cannon beach on Oregon's coast yep

[00:42:35] yep exactly I made one of my favoritages that day of an old man sitting on a beach alone over

[00:42:41] looking the ocean his back was turned don't know who he was he never saw me never sold

[00:42:46] it anywhere it's not a great composition but it's still one of my favorites so please you

[00:42:51] just alluded to but please tell me that was a purposeful location and don't break my heart

[00:42:55] yes yes cannon beach is probably my favorite place on earth um my dream would be to have a

[00:43:02] house in front of that haystack rock I think it's the most incredible thing I've ever seen

[00:43:08] I think it feels I find it magical because it feels completely organic and of the world

[00:43:17] and completely alien like it feels like you could discover new worlds on there and uh so that's what

[00:43:23] I did yeah I was helped by I mean obviously there's a million photographs and I'd love to

[00:43:29] see your photograph by the way uh but you know Mattia there's a ton of material he knows

[00:43:34] that it was based on this I live in Portland this is not far away in Oregon right um it's

[00:43:40] my favorite place to go and be um but Mattia has he they don't have the exact same thing

[00:43:46] but he was like I we have this in Italy some versions is I mean certainly I mean

[00:43:52] I've seen the movies Italy's got a few things going for it so he was like oh yeah there's

[00:43:58] a place I like that and so we talked about that he's like maybe I'll photograph it whatever

[00:44:02] I read someone saying they thought that that stuff on page one was a photograph they're

[00:44:06] like it's weird to mix in photography and this super real art I was like bullshit for me

[00:44:10] all drawn but it wasn't a photograph it's drawn there are no photographs in this book

[00:44:15] Maddie is just that good man um so anyway uh yeah it's definitely like a fictionalized

[00:44:24] cannon beach for sure okay um yes 100% yeah yeah I mean they they st-stacks really are

[00:44:30] like magical right there's this weird nexus confluence of of transitioning from the beach

[00:44:36] and like timing is so important because you can totally get stuck out there yes it's always

[00:44:42] changing because of the tides so how it interacts with the world itself is bizarre I just find it

[00:44:49] completely magical yeah well that that unknown man is likely why I connected to the book so

[00:44:55] much because like every time I look at that image more than any other that I've probably

[00:44:59] ever taken it transports me like I am and I'm not in the shoes of that guy and there's that

[00:45:05] gulf of space uh but that is between us and it's like this unsettling glimpse at aging

[00:45:11] and confronting like the vastness of space and our infinitesimally small stature in it right

[00:45:16] yeah so that that exploration of liminal spaces in the book just speaks to me especially

[00:45:21] as I approach turning 50 this year um so so why did you want to play with the the liminal

[00:45:26] spaces you know because it's weird because it's come up twice in interviews over the last

[00:45:30] month and do portland comics pros just like have coffee at voodoo donuts and talk about them or

[00:45:35] something well what what did it come up with for you because I did see there were two books

[00:45:43] or things that right around the time that the cold was coming out I was like oh my god

[00:45:46] the liminal space what are we all using this now someone else had used it was in something

[00:45:51] right at the same time that I was using it it's uh whatever it's that collective creative

[00:45:56] energy or whatever right where you get two two armageddon type movies at the same time or

[00:46:01] whatever um but much smaller scale I guess um my idea for doing the liminal space was because I

[00:46:08] didn't want them to go to another world I wanted them to go to a place where you could

[00:46:15] go to other worlds okay so I wanted a connective place that would be scary and change and

[00:46:23] be idyllic but also dangerous potentially that would be sort of almost like a key you

[00:46:29] had to unlock to get to these other places um you know we we had a lot of trouble in the

[00:46:38] first issue deciding how to show the space as a reveal like but from their point of view and

[00:46:48] we couldn't really make it quite work and so we ended up reversing the shot out so that you're

[00:46:54] seeing them like you can't really make them out in this double page spread that opened it up

[00:46:59] and in that spread you can see all these different rocks and you can also see in the

[00:47:04] distance in the background are these other big creatures like you see in that teaser

[00:47:09] but these are all things more for someone who's excavating the issue not for like

[00:47:15] I think they're blink and you miss it kind of things but they're all put there in the hopes of

[00:47:22] developing longer narratives right like this narrative is very specifically about

[00:47:29] I mean as anyone who's made it to the last page knows it's very specifically about this

[00:47:34] thing and there should be and can be and I hope will be like a million other stories in

[00:47:42] the cull that are about different places um of course it's hard to talk about without

[00:47:48] right sure on that one well the uh the other creator I was talking to was Michael Avan Oming

[00:47:54] and it wasn't in relationship actually to a current project it was he was on another podcast

[00:48:00] about talking about a sort of paranormal slash supernatural thing um and he you know just

[00:48:07] he described it as liminal space and um just that very very unsettling you know not like

[00:48:13] you actually saw something but you know there's something very odd about this particular space

[00:48:18] yeah yeah and I actually think it's coming up more because of covid um yeah because we had so

[00:48:25] much more time to ground into ourselves and slow down yeah so it everybody's reflective and

[00:48:31] they're just spending more time seeing space and understanding the transition as you move

[00:48:36] through the world as opposed to xyz you got to do this this this this this in my day so yeah

[00:48:41] yeah well I want to spend just a sec talking about how how special about your work artwork

[00:48:45] is in the series because like the force is strong with this one it's like you mentioned

[00:48:50] that that photo photo realist quality and I had to to go back and flip through you know

[00:48:56] everything and it was surprised by the panel construction and even more surprised that I didn't

[00:49:00] notice it at first because I don't believe there are more than like six per page ever

[00:49:05] and on the main they have this unique panoramic width to them yeah which gives it that cinematic

[00:49:11] feel where did that come from I I didn't say I didn't say I only want us to use these

[00:49:19] but when we were talking about developing the book and we were first figuring things out my

[00:49:24] suggestion was that we keep everything in these long horizontal horizontal panels for this

[00:49:32] cinematic quality because not only does did I know all the visuals had a cinematic element

[00:49:38] these beaches these rocks these creatures this weird liminal space I knew that we were going

[00:49:44] to have that I also just knew with his style you know it feels cinematic like there's no

[00:49:51] reason to fight it it just you feels like you're looking at movie stills and like leading

[00:49:55] yourself through a television show or a film and breaking it up into these other smaller panels

[00:50:03] I don't know it felt felt a little wrong to me and I must have felt a little wrong to

[00:50:09] Madia because he didn't do that and if you go back and look at his Jessica Jones that we did

[00:50:14] together and I'm sure other things too he certainly didn't only use like long horizontal

[00:50:19] panels in that we were right and it looks fantastic so it's not that it can't be done

[00:50:24] it's just that this felt different I also think that doing this panel structure like that it has

[00:50:30] a way to sort of lull you and almost sort of like hypnotize you into it which is sort of

[00:50:35] a vibe we wanted with the call like because it's such like a quiet book in some ways like I

[00:50:41] mean I don't mean to say that it's not a ton of writing in places like there's I would

[00:50:45] say it sort of lulls into quiet sections and then all of a sudden like bursts of

[00:50:51] like stuff we need to say and we're running from a thing or whatever and so it's almost

[00:50:56] like a hypnotic quality to it that we were going for but it's mostly the cinematic aspect

[00:51:00] of it like that you just can't fight it with Madia's work so why try it's so beautiful

[00:51:05] yeah it is absolutely gorgeous and that construction it changes the way you move your

[00:51:11] eye moves completely on a page yes because we're so used to bouncing in these zags with comics and

[00:51:17] this is almost a lot of it anyways is vertical yeah and so you really do you spend more time

[00:51:23] on the expressions and the the the lighting yeah the coloring the coloring is just amazing and

[00:51:31] incredible I realized when we started I because of the way the tides were and because I wanted

[00:51:37] it to have some horror vibes right from the jump they they start out their adventure in like 3am

[00:51:45] and as I was drawing it I was like wait a minute I was like we're like 18 pages in or

[00:51:50] something before like we start having anything that's not dark like yes we can play with

[00:51:56] flashlights in the light and we can play with these other things but we're really making

[00:52:01] Madi a tie one hand behind his back because he's so great at these colors and we're limiting

[00:52:05] them so much now we talked about that because I was worried about it I was like I'm worried

[00:52:09] about how dark this all is I'm worried about that I'm like hiding this thing that you're

[00:52:13] so good at and he's like no no no don't worry about it he's like we're gonna find all these

[00:52:17] ways to do it and so he did he found like you know the way he played with the light in

[00:52:22] the scenes when all the kids are waking up and in their rooms and the way that that

[00:52:26] shows them off differently lux in front of the lighted mirror doing her makeup and like

[00:52:30] all these things he found all these ways to like lighten it and make it incredible and it

[00:52:34] also just drew this incredible contrast between these darker saturated like pages with this

[00:52:40] explosion when they go into this liminal space so those contrasts were really funny but really

[00:52:45] fun but it was you know it was sort of just this example of someone as good as madia is

[00:52:52] like he took something that I was worried was an issue and then I flagged and I was like listen

[00:52:58] if we really think this is a mistake I can rework it and we can do something not at night

[00:53:02] or whatever and he was like no no no we'll just do it like these are the guidelines and we'll do

[00:53:09] incredible things within those guidelines like I didn't mean to do this to him but that's a

[00:53:14] little bit the thing that I call the meat dress problem which is like Lady Gaga meat dress or

[00:53:21] well yes and no it's project it's project runway based which is a lot of times you

[00:53:26] give these challenges that are absurd like make a dress out of meat and these people turn in an

[00:53:33] incredible thing and then when you give them the challenge where you're like free budget

[00:53:38] free style whatever you want and everyone fucks it up yeah they try to do everything so

[00:53:44] sometimes limitations are your friends and working within those limitations can push you

[00:53:49] to create cooler better more interesting things and I think in our case it helped us a lot

[00:53:54] because I was very worried you know the whole opening of that block of the call is quiet very

[00:54:01] quiet there's very little dialogue or anything to guide you what's guiding you is literally

[00:54:08] photorealistic artwork that you're supposed to be looking at and really absorbing and taking

[00:54:12] an onboarding and I was very very worried that people were going to speed past that because

[00:54:18] they've sort of been trained to just go for the dialogue and not really look at the pages

[00:54:23] and I was very pleased to see that I think in large part thanks to Maddie Asile people really

[00:54:28] did seem to slow down and like pick up the clues and like get into it you know in in the way we

[00:54:34] were hoping so it was fun yeah yeah I enjoyed the hell out of it so I'm assuming talking about

[00:54:40] restrictions making for a better product that the Kohl's restriction is is monetary is in

[00:54:47] terms of making out more is that correct yeah let me let me amend that I don't think monetary

[00:54:53] restrictions are helpful I'd like the universe to know yes I think right now unfortunately

[00:55:00] that is that's our problem I mean if I had the money we'd be doing more of the call

[00:55:05] but instead we're sort of figuring that out um I think uh currently currently as it stands

[00:55:12] probably um I think we're gonna do more but I think it's gonna take time to get there

[00:55:17] because I'm gonna have to like basically raise the money to do it um which is hard because

[00:55:24] I need to be raising money for plenty of other things in life in my life but I love comics the

[00:55:31] most so probably uh that's what I'll do well as as a pretty prolific writer right in the

[00:55:38] medium what what would you consider your most personal story to date hmm that's a good

[00:55:49] question with that pause boy I think it is a good question I I think I put I put a lot of

[00:55:55] myself in things but I don't know I feel like I feel like this it's the thing I was talking

[00:56:06] about before where I don't ever I don't really ever do something that I don't

[00:56:12] that I'm not super interested in and I tend to fall in love with it as I'm working on it

[00:56:17] like because I connect like any reader I connect to characters very intensely so you know while I'm

[00:56:23] putting them through these paces I'm falling in love with them and so I even books that I take

[00:56:31] on where I'm like that'll be easy I can do that I end up being just as invested in everything

[00:56:36] and so I think that means I put sort of myself in everything like the call looks and feels

[00:56:42] more personal to me but I put a lot of myself in it's Jeff too so I don't know I don't know

[00:56:48] it's a good question I also think maybe the fact that I can't answer it means I haven't

[00:56:52] gone far enough maybe which is interesting or haven't written it yet yeah yeah that's what I

[00:56:56] mean like I think I will say I do think I'm in a weird leveling up moment where I'm struggling

[00:57:02] to push to the next level so maybe that's part of it maybe I need to be more personal

[00:57:08] it's interesting all right well we need to make sure to get you enough money to write that story

[00:57:13] yeah someone send me money probably in large piles of non-sequentially cash and we accept

[00:57:22] bitcoin right yeah actually I don't I don't even have any of that stuff I can't stand

[00:57:28] quick though I said that I don't even know why I said that it's a good joke it's a good

[00:57:31] joke then we just had to backtrack and quantify that we're not monsters that's okay like you had

[00:57:38] to backtrack backtrack a minute ago about what you said about being restricted so I did too it's

[00:57:45] well we've covered a lot on here today circling back to scarlet that comes out

[00:57:49] june 5th I believe in shops yes yes correct and and I loved it can't say enough about it

[00:57:56] is another great drop in that that combined universe of stories haven't been disappointed

[00:58:01] with any of them this far and I try to stay objective about it like reminding myself I'm

[00:58:04] predisposed right to it yeah because it echoes my childhood but it really is a great jumping

[00:58:11] on point I think for newer readers who don't want to worry about catching up on 40 years

[00:58:15] of canon yeah um which is to say buy this book and put more money in kelly's pocket so

[00:58:22] she can she can expand her creator and work and yo joe kids is that like sort of how we

[00:58:28] we move towards wrapping up like are we supposed to say that yeah I mean it feels

[00:58:32] like you should I said it at the end of my um I said it at the end of my little introductory

[00:58:39] thing at the end of scarlet the first issue yeah as I was writing it it just felt right like

[00:58:47] I wrote it and I was like yeah it's cheesy isn't it and I was like it just feels right

[00:58:51] go joe hey whatever if it feels right do it clearly doing something right I mean proof is in

[00:58:57] the pudding um well if you want to hear more from kelly go listen to spectales despite their

[00:59:03] poor taste in movies um jake and haste do a great job uh with it kind of an interesting

[00:59:10] format and I love that your speculation bit was some of your own stuff flawed shame and

[00:59:15] self-promotion no I really do I lament when I'm talking to creators and they don't

[00:59:21] self-promote enough and I know it's hard for most creatives to do that um but you have some

[00:59:26] great signed stuff on your website so pitch that yeah I do I have signed comics on my website

[00:59:34] everything's pretty reasonably priced um and I've got trades I do have deals right now on

[00:59:42] trades which you know eyes are nominated books better go there we go black cloak and the call

[00:59:48] available on the website um if you need it immediately though don't don't order I'm a

[00:59:54] one woman show it takes a minute to ship but you know it's not too bad no that's all good

[00:59:59] like I don't know many creators that have as much on their website that's available for

[01:00:03] people to buy so please go check it out and they can find you you're most active on the

[01:00:08] sub stack sector yeah subsext the best spot um that's 1979 semifinalist.subsec.com I am

[01:00:16] still on Twitter awful as it is and blue sky um blue sky is under my name uh twitter's 79

[01:00:23] semifinalist um but subsec is the best place to keep in touch with like all the links and

[01:00:28] everything and you know if you don't want too much like the free newsletter it's just like

[01:00:33] once maybe twice a month and then the paid one has more perks and gets you discounts

[01:00:37] in the store and behind the scenes stuff and comics when we've got them we don't currently

[01:00:41] have new comics but we do regularly have them and uh yeah it's cool it's uh also you can comment

[01:00:48] which I'm a sucker for you know the whole reason a bunch of us got off Twitter and started

[01:00:54] sub stacks before the paid subsec was even a thing was just because Twitter had become so

[01:01:00] awful and so it has been a really good job of like building a little community there you

[01:01:04] know it's like you don't have to worry about getting in a fight with anyone in the comment

[01:01:08] section or anything it's just nice just people who like comics talking about comics it's good

[01:01:13] how novel like it used to be on Twitter in the good old days oh now I really feel old we start

[01:01:21] talking about that that's that's bad we don't need to go down that road but Kelly thanks so

[01:01:26] much for coming on and hanging out with me today it's been a lot of fun it's been a

[01:01:29] lot of fun thank you yeah absolutely yeah so this is Byron O'Neill and on behalf of all

[01:01:33] of us at comicbookgetty thanks for tuning in and we will see you next time take care everybody

[01:01:37] this is Byron O'Neill one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by

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