Lan Pitts and Joe Hunter Interview - Beat Every 1-Up

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[00:00:54] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I'm one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparro, and I have two very special guests on the podcast today. And we are here to talk about their new Maverick graphic novel, Beat Every 1-Up, coming out March 17th. And, uh, please, welcome to the podcast, Lan Pitts and Joe Hunter. I almost said Joe Huntrix, like, uh, K-pop Demon Hunters, uh, but Joe, Joe Hunter, Lan, Joe, uh, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Jimmy.

[00:01:24] Hi. Hi. K-pop Demon Hunters are so powerful, they're taking over our identities. Yep, they are, they are. Joe Huntrix, um... Christ. Sorry, Joe. Uh, well, thank you both for coming on the podcast. Joe, thanks for coming back. Uh, you, you were, uh, you were on once before. We had a, we had a nice chat about some of the stuff you were working on then, so I appreciate you guys coming back. And Joe, I appreciate you sending me, um, the review copy of Beat Every 1-Up.

[00:01:54] I loved it. This has such, like, a video game type of vibe to it. I, uh, Joe, I think your artwork is absolutely fantastic. I just had such a great time reading this. Uh, I should mention the, uh, the other member of the Creator team. It's lettered by Frank Svetkovic, and, uh, Frank did a fantastic job. But, um, yeah, I just thought it was, like, wonderful.

[00:02:19] Um, kind of, uh, Land, do you wanna, or Joe, do you wanna go first and just maybe tell listeners a little bit about what they can expect from Beat Every 1-Up? Uh, the way I've been kind of, the way we, um, elevated or pitched it at Maverick was Sailor Moon meets Double Dragon. And that's kind of like the vibe we wanted for it anyway. That and the anti-Scott Pilgrim, I guess.

[00:02:45] So, cause I know Scott Pilgrim has a lot of video game, like, imagery and visuals and everything. But I wanted to do something, uh, not that. And I feel like we got away with it to a certain extent. Uh, there's definitely homage, like, there's definitely winks and nods to certain things. Like, there's a Castlevania homage, obviously. There's Donkey Kong Country.

[00:03:15] There's, I don't know why I'm blanking, I wrote the damn thing. I, uh, it feels like, it feels like it's, like it's left part of my body because it was, like, a part of me for, like, two years. And I'm already working on my next two things for, uh, 26 and 27. It, it definitely feels, there's a lot of homages in there that I feel like if I was, like, 13, I think would be funny.

[00:03:43] I, uh, but not to say that's, like, an adolescent sense of humor, but I don't know. We have, like, um, I feel like Joe's designs are really great. And it feels like you're playing a game without that sort of, again, Scott Pilgrim. It's like, no one has, like, a health bar. And that's, that's great. Uh, nobody bursts into coins. Nobody does anything like this.

[00:04:11] It feels like you're playing, like, this narrative of, like, a game. Yeah, I mean, the structure of it, you have your main character. Is it, um, I was pronouncing it by, is that when I, like, read it in my head, Helya and Sidra. And your structure of it is it's set up as if they're, they're playing through different lands and kind of each chapter is them going through a different land. So the, the chapter breaks being, yeah, the chapter breaks being, like, the map of something I thought was really cool.

[00:04:40] I like that a lot. Yeah, I'm glad they went for it. But, but yeah, I don't know.

[00:04:45] It's, we can definitely, I feel like, talk about how this book came to be because I feel like it's such a lore drop in a way to where I personally, and I can't speak for Joe, but I personally, when we had our first marketing meeting with, uh, Mad Cave and Maverick, I wanted to, like, the book kind of almost felt like, I think it was ego damage control.

[00:05:10] Like, like, ego repair or something because we originally pitched our book, Beast Heart Strikers to Maverick. And it went really well until it didn't. And it was going really well. And then, uh, a higher up disagreed and got a similar property and said it was too similar.

[00:05:32] And I don't know if anyone has dealt with Maverick or Mad Cave before, but they have a sort of unofficial policy to where they don't have, like, too many certain books at once. So, if someone has, like, a vampire book or someone has, like, a wrestling book at one time, there's, like, a moratorium on, like, um, similar books in the process. And we didn't know at the time, but they got Gotchamon.

[00:05:56] And while we disagreed, it was sort of our editor at the time, Chaz Pangburn, was like, hey, sorry, but dust something off. Send me something over the holidays and let's see what we can do. And we, I wanted to do this stupid fan comic because I was playing River City Girls at the time.

[00:06:22] And I was like, what if it's just Daisy and Peach beating up everyone because, like, they kidnapped their boy, like, Mario and Luigi and they can't go to, like, the princess prom or something. Just something stupid. And I was like, hey, what if we actually just do this? There's already a title. We, but we just file the serial numbers off and we go for that. And Joe, over the holiday of 2022, came back with, like, a character sheet, names, weapon motifs.

[00:06:51] Like, there were things we took out in, like, the evolution of everything. Like, I think Helya had, like, a, what was it, like a talking rabbit charm? Something on her belt. Yeah. Also a chainsaw. Yeah, also a chainsaw. Yeah. And so there were things that we kind of, like, took out and just kind of repurposed. And evolved into, hey, what about this? And we sent that.

[00:07:17] And I think they acquired it in, like, two, three weeks. So that was, like, yeah, I think that was, like, in January of, January or February of 2023. And then they made the announcement. And I think we couldn't talk about it until, like, April. It was, like, it felt like forever in that time frame. We couldn't even, like, say we, like, sold something. That felt, that initial, like, not even being able to say we sold something felt like forever.

[00:07:47] At that point in time, had you, I mean, had you done much past, like, the, whatever you did for the initial pitch? Like, had you even started scripting it at that point? I think I did a page one, panel one. Yeah, I think that March. I think in between that was definitely. But we sent in an outline, and they approved the outline. And then, yeah, I definitely think that. And then it was a whole big thing of, hey, well, we have this timeline.

[00:08:16] Let's see if we can do that. And then I wrote up to, I think I was on, like, page 110 or something like that at one point. And then everything's slowly getting approved and edited, and Joe's knocking it out. And then Joe's mom dies in the fall, like, September of 2023. August. August. Okay, thank you.

[00:08:45] I knew it was around the fall. Was it 2024? Yeah. Okay. See, again, like, this whole time is just, like, we built up, and then the original, I think we originally had an idea of trying to get out, but 2025, and then that didn't work. And I think we finally figured out a time frame into the summer, this past summer. And then I wrapped up, I think I wrapped the script up. I think it was last summer.

[00:09:14] I think I wrapped the script up, and everything had to be due in September. And then heading off to the present. So, like, it definitely shifted. A lot of things changed along the way. But it definitely was, I think, the hardest thing I've ever written, just because I had never written for, like, white. I mean, we have written YA stuff before, but just for ourselves.

[00:09:40] So, writing this, like, I think there was a joke, or not even a joke, but I think I had said a line about, what was it? Oh, someone was telling someone if you're here to finish me off. And I was like, yeah, like, finish them off. Like, kill them. And that had to be, like, rewritten. Like, there were certain things, like, I didn't think about. And so... Can you have to joke me off? Yeah.

[00:10:09] Can you have to joke me off? Yeah. Like, and it made me have to, like, triple think how I had to word things just so it could be copacetic. And that's all I want. Okay. I want it to be good. It wasn't anything, it wasn't anything bad, but Christina Hardington was such a really good editor.

[00:10:33] And how, like, made me think of, like, streamlining my structure and making sure I remember... Basically, she just made sure I remembered things, too, and sent out some really good ideas about, oh, well, you have this here, but that's kind of repetitive. What if you did this? Yes. And it made it all the... It made it, like, all the more better. But, yeah. Like, I...

[00:10:57] Sometimes I, you know, I definitely need to be reined in with just the pace of things. And I know I can drag things out because I want things to... When I... Big moments... I want big moments to drop. I want them to drop and, like, it has an effect and it means something. Right. Like, she... She got on me a few times and she was right every time of, like, hey, you gotta pick this up, man. Like, you're dragging. You gotta go, baby.

[00:11:27] And I'm like, you're right. Damn. So, like, she made me think of pacing and getting to the meat of things instead of just having, like... You can have those quiet moments with characters and just have that... And they can just have those bits of conversation about themselves and the world at large. But at the same time, like, man, shit gotta go. You gotta move that. You have to move that story.

[00:11:56] And she was great at helping me move things along like that. And so, Joe, when you get... You know, when you have to turn to go from maybe doing the Beast Heart Strikers to then we're gonna try this idea and you go away to come up with, you know, character designs. Like, what are you... What type of, like, influences are you putting in that in terms of coming up with Helya and Sidra?

[00:12:23] And then, you know, from the very early stages to what they were in, like, the final book? I think we had, like, the fires and ice slash water motifs in mind. And then, I don't know, I was just kind of drawing. I mean, there's definitely... There's no thing about us. And, like, it's weird to think that Joe and I have been friends for... It'll be eight years this summer.

[00:12:49] And we wear our influences on our sleeves. Not literally, but, I mean, I'm literally wearing a Godzilla hat. And, like, it definitely becomes her shirt. So, like... I'm literally wearing a shirt right now. Yeah. Sometimes you do wear your influences on your sleeves. Yeah. So, sometimes, like, it's definitely a thing. So, looking at these character sheets, it's, like, sun, moon, fire, water motifs.

[00:13:18] And then, like, there's a lot of Utina stuff. Obviously, Sailor Moon stuff. There's... What was a really good one? Oh, Cyborg 009. And... Which was such a good... It was such a good callback in use for Jet. Which is, like... Ah, of course. It looks so good. But, I mean, for designing... Like, we had to get rid of one character.

[00:13:45] Because there was already another character in a Maverick book named them. Um... So, because we had... We had Motherboard. But it... She was B-O-R-E-D. Because she was, like, an apathetic mothering from Metroid. But she was, like, a hologram... Wow. That's a good name. Yeah, I know. She was, like, a hologram projector. With, like, just the... Just those, like, emoji eyes and, like, a mouth.

[00:14:15] It was just funny. It was just a gag. She was not in there long. And... We found out she had to be changed. And so... Joe was, like, what if this is this now? And he came up with the... Antivirus. Antivirus. It's just an old woman hologram... Who's also just a monster. But, yeah. For, like, just certain things...

[00:14:43] I knew what I wanted out of, like, character designs. Like, for Gogo and... Um... Simeon. And, like... I just wanted... I wanted things that were, like, bright and... Distinctive. And I feel like... We did that. Especially all the bosses. Like... Dead Iron, especially. I feel so great. And... Like, it's just cybernetic Dracula. And she looks so good.

[00:15:13] So... That's... That's one of my favorite designs that Joe's done, for sure. Oh, I loved all the designs. I loved all the bosses. How much overlap... Like, in terms of the two of you and, like, your friendship. And you've worked together before. But... I mean... How similar are your... Your interests? How much overlap is there? It's a lot. It's... It's... It's a lot.

[00:15:42] I would definitely say... I would definitely say 90% overlap. I mean, between, like... Okay. I would definitely say between, like, our love for, like, tokusatsu. Or our love for, like, musical theater. For our love for... Or, like... I mean, when Joe was... When Joe was tabling... When we were tabling at Dragon Con that year.

[00:16:08] And you freaked out because someone was actually a... What was it? A Ride the Cyclone? Oh, the Jane Doe from Ride the Cyclone? Yeah. Yeah. Like... Like... It's just a Broadway deep cut, I think. And just little things like that. And our love for, like... It's cute that you think that ever made it to Broadway. I don't know, man. I mean... You know what I mean, though? Like... You know, musicals and stuff like that.

[00:16:39] And... And... Our love for cooking. We both love to cook. And... Yeah. I'd say 90% for sure. Wrestling. We both like wrestling. And... Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of wrestling, there... I wanted to say... You know... There is a... A page in there where... Hellya... Suplexes somebody. And it is... Phenomenal.

[00:17:08] I mean... You could tell that the person who... Who drew it... Has... Has watched a lot of suplexes. That was a really good... He drew the shit out of that German suplex. Like... It's really good. Absolutely. She got the bridge on everything. Like, there's no bullshit. Yeah. Like... It looks great. It's a really good German suplex. Yeah. And, like... There's a lot of... It's so funny.

[00:17:38] Like, there's a lot of Easter eggs in there... That are just for us. Like, there's several... Beast Heartstrikers homages in there. Like, straight... Not even homages. They're just straight up panels... From the books. And... Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's... I'll let our... I'll let people figure it out... For those who, like... Okay. Had the first three issues...

[00:18:07] Okay. Figure it out. Because there's definitely in there. And then... In the first... In the first chapter... Um... In the first level... There's... There's... If I remember... Two... Easter eggs... Uh... One in Hylia's room... And the other one with... Uh... In Simeon's room. So... When we meet Simeon. Um... Okay. I just thought it was... Did you ever look that closely... At Sidris Bracelets, by the way? Oh, yeah. What was that, Joe?

[00:18:37] Asking... Why, and if he'd ever look that closely... At Sidris Bracelets. No. No, not even... I think I need to now. I mean, are they heart changers? Oh, bitch. Yeah. Oh, okay. Perfect. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Great. Love that for me. Um... So, yeah. I... This book was really fun, and I'm glad, like... I mean, you're one of the... One of the... Maybe 12 people...

[00:19:07] Who have... Like, I definitely know we've sent it out for sure. And so I appreciate the love, because... It was definitely... I wouldn't say a labor of love, but... I... You know, coming off... You know, the situation and everything... I didn't want it to feel like a consolation prize. And I wanted it to... Be the best damn thing it can be. And... It's one of my favorite things I've written. It's definitely the longest thing I've written. I...

[00:19:37] People... Whenever I teach writing or do, like, a writing panel at conventions, It's always interesting to me... When... You'll have... People who aren't published... And... They want to, out of the gate, do, like, their hundred-issue epic. I'm like... Brother... Like... Try to write a hundred pages first. Like... Try to write a hundred pages first. Because... It... It feels tedious... After a while. And...

[00:20:07] That's the whole thing. You don't... You try to make it not feel... Like a chore... Or... Or anything like that. And you try to have fun with it. And I... I had a lot of fun with this. Just... I feel like... I feel like the... By the time... Because even watching... Like, reading it... Like, rereading it again... Watching Joe evolve in real time. Because by the time you get to... The Castlevania level... Well, Castlevania-ish level. Let's... Let's say that. So I don't want...

[00:20:37] Nami yelling at me. And... Yeah. You don't want to get sued. I don't want to get... I don't need that. I don't want that. And... Like... You can see Joe... Reaching levels he hadn't gotten to before... In, like... Compositions. In colors. In... Uh... Layouts. In... Uh... Anything like that. And... I really...

[00:21:05] That may have been my favorite part of the book. Just because to, like... Watch him reach, like... Not quite his final form. We haven't seen Joe's final form yet. But, like... Getting too... Close there. God, I hope not. That'd be sad. Yeah, I know. I know. Um... But getting close there... And everything like that... It's just like... Hang on. Yeah. Damn. Ugh. This looks so good. So... I don't know. I'm... Proud by... Mm-hmm. Proud of how this looks by Proxy?

[00:21:35] I don't know. Because... I didn't draw it. But... At the same time... I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I can't... I'm never gonna have kids. So this is, like, the closest thing I think I'll... Have to that. I guess. Okay. I like that. You have kids, right? No. I have kids. Yeah. No, I don't think it's... I don't... I have kids. And you have your book coming out. I don't think it's weird, though. I do. I have a book coming out, which I also did not draw.

[00:22:06] Joe, when you hear Lance say something like that, that, you know, he felt like he could... He got to see you evolve a little bit in real time, although not quite your final form. Like, do you... Do you recognize that? You know, you're drawing something, coloring it, you know, over, what, at least two years? Not really. Mostly just makes me want to crawl into a hole. He hates... Man, Joe, you're really... He hates...

[00:22:34] He does not handle praise well. He does not handle praise well. That's... That... That... That is an understatement. Do you have a good time, Joe, while you're doing it? Mostly? Okay. Is it... Well, that's... That's something. I really... I really enjoyed, in terms of the story of it, that it was more complex than I thought

[00:23:04] it was going to be when I first got into it. I mean, there are... You are actually saying some things in terms of, like, how Go-Go is, you know, running Trop Terra, and in terms of, like, what his plan is. Also, when you get to the character of, like, Frostbite. Like, there is some, like, actual, like...

[00:23:31] It feels like a commentary on some modern events or current events. Ooh! Didn't plan that! You know? Oh, boy. Didn't plan that at all. Which I... Which is... Which is, yeah, great. Because it's, like, it works on a lot of, you know, different levels. Um, but, yeah, I felt like the... The action scenes in particular, I thought were great.

[00:24:01] Whenever, kind of, Sidra and Helya get to let loose. Um, it... It's really punchy. I mean, quite literally. But it... Like, you kind of feel, like, the impact of it. Like, the pacing of it as it ramps up to those battle scenes with the bosses for each, you know, level. If we look at it that way. It... It... Great. It's dramatic. It's filled with energy. It's filled with movement.

[00:24:31] You know, in terms of the art. And, um... I just really loved all of that. Um, so... Jill, what are some of your, like... I guess, like, specific video game influences or other influences that you kind of put into those, like, fight scenes in particular? Oh, boy. Um, a lot of pro wrestling.

[00:24:58] Um, I read a lot of, like, manga from, like, the 60s and 70s. Um... God, what else? Uh... It's... I don't know. A lot of what I do is just, like, throwing crap at the wall and hoping it sticks. So, um... Yeah, I'm really bad at talking about this part. Well, that's... I mean, that's all right. You don't have to be good at it. I just need you to do it. No, I... I'm just teasing you, Joe. You know that. You know I love you, Joe.

[00:25:28] Okay. He doesn't take praise well. No. I'm going to get a thing. What did we just say? Um... Yeah. Um... I... I definitely at least ruin a lot of it. Um... Oh, go on. No, I was going to say, like, uh, in terms of from the initial pitch of it, you, Land, you were talking about how there were some other things earlier on that you had to, like, you know, cut in terms of, like, a character and there were changes.

[00:25:54] Although I would have liked to see seeing Helya with a chainsaw, to be honest. Um... It did look sick. How soon did you know you kind of wanted... What was that? It did look sick. Oh. How soon did you know you wanted to lean into the Helya and Sidra relationship? Oh, that was the whole thing. That was the whole thing. Like, we... Okay. We knew...

[00:26:22] I mean, that was always the endgame and the outline was just like, oh, these two... I mean, even when we were talking about the... The... The fan comic thing of Just for Fun was always, oh, Peach and Daisy realized they don't need to mend and kind of, like, go to... Go with each other to the dance. So, like, it... It was always going to be... Something there.

[00:26:52] But pacing it out-wise, I didn't know when it was going to... Like, how it was going to basically evolve. And, like, I didn't know if that was going to be for later. Like, oh, they kissed at the end. I'm like, well, what if they kiss, like, halfway? And now they're on this sort of event to basically still try to save, like, Helya's, like, fiancé.

[00:27:20] And at the same time, she's like, I don't want that anymore at all. And so you have her dealing with the guilt. You have her dealing with, like, is this even for real? Like, what is going on? So, having to deal with that situation, I feel like was real.

[00:27:47] Like, I wanted to put the focus on, even if it's just in quiet moments. So there's that scene with Helya in the graveyard. And her just kind of, like, having this moment of, oh, shit, is this real? Well, if it is, that's worse than, like, should I just go home at this point? I don't care. Like, what am I doing? So, but no, she's, like, sticking to it.

[00:28:19] And I love the, and I knew the idea of, like, okay, well, this takes place over a certain amount of time. They've always been friends. And so I always, they always kind of knew, like, oh, this is the reason, like, I liked you and stuff. And it wasn't, like, someone falling in love. Like, it almost was, like, an Adam and Tila dynamic, for the most part, from He-Man.

[00:28:48] Most people, most people don't realize that Tila is Adam's bodyguard. That's her main role as also captain of the attorney and royal guards. So, yeah, I'm aware. Like, and, yeah, what about it? And so it was sort of, like, I try to play that dynamic because you don't see a lot of that stuff when they're kids.

[00:29:18] You see a lot of stuff when Adam was a kid and how, like, there's that origin episode where he got cringer. But I digress. And so I wanted to keep it, like, sort of like that. But they're friends. But, like, when I'm not protecting you or helping you train or whatever, hey, let's go shopping. Hey, let's go get ice cream. I mean, I have to keep it, like, way A so it wasn't just, like, because they don't know. They don't know.

[00:29:47] They might not know they're gay. I haven't written, like, that much lore. Sidra may have known that she was. But, obviously, she's the princess. So she's not going to try anything. And Helya doesn't know anything besides what she's been told to be. So her doing that self-discovery and everything, I feel like, happens to a lot of, again, I can't speak for, you know, queer teens.

[00:30:16] But I feel like it's still a revelation whether you know you're straight, you're gay, you're bi. Whenever that is, that moment still is like, oh, I'm definitely this. But even then, that could change later. So having to do that evolution was very important. And pacing it out was not stressful.

[00:30:43] But I wanted to make it seem authentic as possible. And that, I mean, we've all realized there of, like, oh, we have a crush. Oh, shit, what do we do now? Oh, we panic. That's what we do. We panic. And that's what she does. She panics. Yeah. And I feel like that doesn't matter your sexual orientation. I feel like we've all definitely had that moment of, oh, no.

[00:31:15] So her being able to do that and then, like, and then, like, you know, I'm not going to say what happens. But I'm glad that it happens. I love, I love the ending to it. I like a happy ending. We like happy endings here. Oh, yeah. We love happy endings here. Byron's going to isolate me just saying that. And that's going to be used against me. That's fine. You know, you did that to yourself.

[00:31:45] I did. I did do, I did do that to myself. All right, everybody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Y'all, Jimmy, the Chaos Goblin strikes again. I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad. 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. Another friend chimes in. Are you going to make maps?

[00:32:14] It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together. So I guess? Question mark? It was then that I discovered Arkenforge. If you don't know who Arkenforge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive. 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.

[00:32:41] Now I'm set to easily build high-res animated maps, saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign. That's a win every day in my book. Check them out at Arkenforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off. I'll drop a link in the show notes for you. And big thanks to Arkenforge for partnering with our show. I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Welcome back.

[00:33:08] Yeah, no, I really like Helya's journey. I like to see, you know, the development of them being friends and you set it up early on with, you know, Helya kind of being isolated. Basically just wanting to fight all the other princesses that, you know, come to her kingdom. What a good opening page. It is a good opening page.

[00:33:37] I feel like there was when we did backups to Radiant Black. And I got compared to Grant Morrison and like how I condensed their origin story, which again, I would never compare myself to them. But I feel like, again, it boils down to pacing.

[00:34:02] And we had to go again, like set up all these characters pretty much at once out of the gate. And so we're letting you know what Helya is about, like page one, panel five, out of here. Like that's the piece we have to do this with. So, so Joe, to not not to force you to say something nice about your your own art.

[00:34:29] But in this journey of doing all of this, was there anything that like in particular, you know, with any of the quote unquote, you know, levels or the end bosses that you felt, you know, really kind of exceeded your own expectations? Like when the page was done? Uh, there's a two page spread in the sort of Castlevania ish part of a book that I was pretty happy with.

[00:34:58] I think maybe. No, that's what we I was talking about. Like that level looks so good. And when you get up to like the house and everything, like it was really good. That was really good. It's just a big dumb Bagnola pastiche. So, and it worked. Yeah, it does. It absolutely works. Well, I'll take it. Joe said that there was a two page spread. He was kind of happy with maybe. So take it. Yeah.

[00:35:28] Well, this is you're going to get. Well, I'm going to take it. I'm going to put it, put it on the book jacket. Um, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I really loved the story. I mean, I really loved kind of not only the aesthetic to it, like what it, you know, how it looked and the character design and everything that I've already mentioned. But, um, in terms of the character development and also the, the humor of it, like I found

[00:35:53] Helya and Sidra, their relationship, their friendship to, you know, be endearing, but also, you know, to be funny. It was a little funny. It was a little quippy. There was some great stuff from the villains, um, you know, especially like antivirus. So I appreciated all of that as well. I think there's a very nice tone, uh, to the book, which, you know, I, I think the, the

[00:36:18] artwork, the colors, uh, you know, the, the pacing issues and trying to get that pacing just right that you were talking about earlier land, I think all kind of helps with the keeping the, the, the tone of the book upbeat, even when there's some maybe, you know, darker stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Joe, I have a question for you actually. Absolutely. When, okay. When you look at antivirus, who do you hear?

[00:36:48] Like, are there voices you had for like, when you were designing a lot of these characters? Cause I heard some of them. I never really gave much thought to for that. So, okay. Cause I had to make sure as well, as well as like you make sure like no one, like not everyone kind of looks the same ish. I had to make sure everyone kind of like sounds differently. So I made sure everyone got a voice.

[00:37:17] So I didn't know who you like made her sound like in your head of when you were designing her. I don't know. I didn't really have something in mind. She's sort of like, Oh God, we have to do something here. Design. I know that's perfectly. Did you guys talk about the designs? Like you had said earlier, like Joe had kind of went and came back with like a character sheet early on.

[00:37:41] But when you start really developing the script and, and all the different bosses, um, like are, are you putting like describing them? Like, are you being very descriptive land in terms of what you wanted? Like frostbite and no, and then to look like, or you're like, Oh, we need something here. And what do you want to draw there?

[00:38:03] I, I think I maybe gave Joe like maybe three notes were like different throughout like the whole thing for the most part though. He just knocked things out. Uh, so for frostbite, cause I, I just wanted like a street fighter homage. So he basically just made him like, what if I think it just has cybernetic shark. And cause I just think that was just kind of cool.

[00:38:31] And so he basically made him Kano and it looks great. Um, I mean, there's even like the sagat codes he does. I thought was like kind of funny. Um, and, um, for dead iron, I basically said the same thing. Cybernetic Dracula, just make sure he just doesn't, she doesn't look like Dracula in like the common sense.

[00:39:01] So just nice, cool bat armor. Um, and he did that on one and done. Um, and I think the one that went through maybe the most changes was maybe Gogo himself. Um, really?

[00:39:22] I think so because I, I saw it because what greater villain to be an homage to than the first video game villain of Donkey Kong. So sure. So basically my whole, my whole vibe from him was, uh, share con from tailspin. So when I was writing him, he was just Tony J in my head.

[00:39:53] Um, okay. And then Simeon and his goons were like just back to Biff and, uh, Biff's grandkid and like his little gang of mutants from back to the future too. Um, and, uh, I think that was it. I think that was the, the main thing I kind of just wanted. The rest of them was just like, yeah.

[00:40:23] Hey, what would you think about this? I think we need like a Western villains, the lady sun hiss and we need. Here's a snake lady. Yeah. Big old snake lady. Oh, it's. Yeah. That was it. I think, I don't think I have any sort of really specifics for her besides like, I knew

[00:40:45] I wanted like a bandana mask, um, and what else? Yeah. I think that was pretty much it for the most part. Everyone else. Um, like, I think, I think there's definitely like, there's other homages in there, obviously like there's a secret of mana homage and level two there's, um, which was the, someone did

[00:41:12] fan art of one of our guys, just an ancillary background character. Uh, and I just based off him off, uh, a secret of mana character. Um, so yeah, but there's definitely a, a scene in the garage and like, I think that was the most detail I wanted for like references.

[00:41:41] So, cause I think I wanted, and then like, there's the like, you Tina cycle in there. I don't know there again, influences on our sleeves. There's a whole bunch of stuff in there. If people, if people find them, uh, come yell at us about it and say that you liked it or something that works. Yeah. I'm going to read it again now and be on the lookout more for, uh, for secret homages

[00:42:10] and, uh, and Easter eggs. But yeah, look, I loved it. I thought it was fantastic. Um, I really loved the Helya and Sidra's, you know, friendship and yeah, I thought all the, the, the final bosses were all just a ton of fun. I think the book, the book looks great. Joe's art is phenomenal. The colors are great. Frank's a wonderful letterer. And, um, I, I felt like the tone of the book is great.

[00:42:37] So yeah, it, it, it, it hit, um, you know, all the right notes for me. So I really liked it. Yeah. Well, thank you, man. Like I said, just appreciate the love and I hope people like it. If they don't come yell at me, do, do something better, make something better and then show me how it's done. And that'll be fine. That'll learn. That'll, that'll learn me. You know, we're all, we're, we're not, we're not.

[00:43:08] That'll learn me. It'll, we're all imperfect. It's fine. So that's it. I don't, I don't think anybody's going to do that because I think people are going to enjoy it, but, um, well, uh, I know we've all had a long day, uh, in our own way. So I don't want to keep you, you fellas, but, um, beat everyone up is out through Maverick March 17th, 2026.

[00:43:33] So you can tell your local comic shop or however you get your graphic novels, uh, that you want it. Uh, you know, you want a copy of it. You want to order it. I'll put a link in the show notes. You can just go right to Maverick's website. Um, if you want to get a copy that way and I'll have links that you can follow Lan and, and Joe on, um, social media. And if you ever see Joe at a convention, um, try to get him to say something nice about his own art. That's your homework.

[00:44:02] Uh, uh, all right. Well, uh, Lan, Joe, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Uh, this has been, uh, a real treat. I really, really love beat everyone up and it was great talking to you guys about it tonight. So thank you so much. Thank you. All right, listeners. Uh, there'll be links in the show notes, rate, review us, do all the stuff they tell you to do about podcasts. I really appreciate it. Uh, shout out to my brother, Bobby, the cryptic creator corners, number one, most dedicated fan.

[00:44:32] Uh, Bobby listens to all my episodes. And according to Joe looks like several guys, Joe dated in college. Um, Joe, you said that you said that those are your words, Joseph. I know. Um, listeners. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you next time. 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.

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