Lisa Naffziger talks Deja Ross Speaks to Freaks!

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

[00:00:11] Hey, comics fam! Whether you are a long-time listener or a veteran catching the show today, all are welcome here. When we started this podcast, inclusion and diversity were at the forefront of what we wanted to cover and promote with it.

[00:00:23] So in June, we'll be celebrating Pride Month for our second year in a row featuring an amazing group of queer creators and their projects. One of those projects is from our friends at Lifeline Comics. Following their success with By Visibility Still By, Herology, and Rainbow Canvas,

[00:00:39] Lifeline Comics is launching their newest queer anthology, Transphoria, a trans and non-binary anthology on May 30th. The 90-page graphic novel will contain 19 stories all about trans and non-binary experiences of gender euphoria, crossing all genres like slice of life, supernatural, romance, science fiction, anime, and beyond.

[00:01:01] Featuring a vibrant display of artistic styles and storytelling techniques, Transphoria is a testament to the creativity and talent of its contributors. From sci-fi, striking stories to endearing romantic adventures, this graphic novel celebrates trans stories while delivering a powerful message of empowerment and affirmation.

[00:01:20] I'll put a link in the show notes so you can check it out. As always, thanks for listening and have a glorious Pride Month helping us celebrate! He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know, and now I have to get it in gear

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[00:02:39] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Hello and welcome to another episode of Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I'm one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparro, and I have a fantastic guest that it's their first time on the podcast

[00:02:55] and I am super duper excited to talk to them. And it is so fitting that they are on the Cryptid Creator Corner because the book that they have written and illustrated and lettered is kind of sort of all about cryptids. And I loved it.

[00:03:12] It's coming out through Top Shelf. It's going to be every you can purchase it everywhere July 3rd, and it is called Deja Ross Speaks to Freaks. I cannot wait to get into it. I read it today and it was so fantastic.

[00:03:26] But please welcome to the podcast Lisa Navziger. Lisa, how are you doing today? Great. Yeah, I'm so so glad that I finally get to share this book with everybody and get plugged into the cryptid community a little bit.

[00:03:39] Yeah, it's great to find that there are other people who like monsters as much as I do. Yeah, I first off. Yeah, it is kind of perfect that you know, you're coming on the Cryptid Creator Corner with the book about cryptids,

[00:03:50] which I always love that when we have that type of, you know, that that connection. But more so than just the love of cryptids. This is such a fantastic book.

[00:04:04] And one of the things I love about it, I'll just tell listeners, I'll let you talk about it because they they listen to me, you know enough. They really want to hear from you. I will just a little bit.

[00:04:16] Deja is she's on vacation with her family and she wants to she wants to kind of track down cryptids and along the family vacation, she kind of ends up like interviewing them and gets into all other sorts of types of adventure with her brother Amari.

[00:04:36] And it's just it's such a wonderful story. The focus on Deja like her personality and what you know, being with her family and you know, things with her brother.

[00:04:49] There's so many like kind of true to life, you know, scenarios like real people type of stuff like they feel like real characters like not just their they're not just in service of the you know,

[00:05:01] you know, you get to talk about, you know, Chupacabra or the Rougarou or whatever it you know, it might be. And some of the more interesting or less well-known type of cryptids throughout the United States, they're not just like in service of talking about that.

[00:05:17] Like they're they feel real with like stuff that everybody goes through. But there's also this fun, interesting cryptid, you know, dynamic. So, yeah, I just I just absolutely loved it from the very opening of the story.

[00:05:34] Thank you so much. Yeah, it's a it's great to hear people reading it. Yeah, I've had this story for a little bit.

[00:05:42] The thing about comics, of course, is like from the genesis of the idea to like, oh, no, I have to draw everything and then color it and letter it. It's great to do things all by myself. But then I feel like it takes twice as long.

[00:05:54] So I'm glad that it's finally out there and other people are experiencing it, too. Yeah, I mean, I think I saw I can't remember the name of the place that did an interview with you.

[00:06:05] I think it was about three years ago and they asked you, you know, I think you were talking about one of like your web comics at that point in time. And they asked like, oh, what do you have coming out?

[00:06:16] And you're like, why have this this book about this this, you know, girl who is writing this report and it's about cryptids. And I'm like, wow, this is, you know, Lisa's been like working on this.

[00:06:28] I mean, that was three years ago when you're just kind of how far back it goes. Yeah, you know, that's the thing listeners about comics. Sometimes it does take a long time to like put everything together and, you know, get it out into the world.

[00:06:40] But man, it sure is worth it when you read a story like this. I mean, I just kind of like fell in love with this family. I mean, even mom and dad, they're driving an RV. They're doing this little road trip.

[00:06:54] But like, you know, it's interesting when you read stories and, you know, when I'm young, when I was younger, when I was a kid and seeing yourself as the kid and like when you have that switch and you're like, oh, yeah, I could definitely see like 13 year old me, you know.

[00:07:08] Kind of understanding where days just coming from. And, you know, now I'm like 45 and it's like I have two daughters who are 11 and one's going to be seven this month. And I'm like, yeah, Darius all the way.

[00:07:25] Right. I think it's fun to set things even if I know the trajectory of it is going to be like a more fantasy or fantastical story to still ground it in reality and not immediately have it be like, you know,

[00:07:37] Oh, we're going to like set up the human parts to get into the interesting stuff later. Like I want to make sure that our base characters that we're going to follow throughout everything are just as compelling. So I'm glad to hear that you like the family as well.

[00:07:50] Yeah, I mean, no, I think that that totally makes sense because if you if you don't care about them, the the novelty of your idea that oh this young girl for her report, she's going to interview cryptids and she's going to discover something about like the cryptid community.

[00:08:10] I mean, I think that I that idea potentially could wear thin because you're just kind of seeing like the same thing.

[00:08:18] But when you have characters that like you care about and there's so much more to the story because she's also dealing with being on a family vacation and she's also dealing with her brother. And she's, you know, dealing with all of these other things in her life.

[00:08:34] And you're like, Oh, well, this is like it makes it feel like a real person. And then you care more about her. So then you care more about the things she cares about as she's going along on this journey. And I just yeah, I thought it was great.

[00:08:49] Thanks. Yeah. Yeah, something I wanted to explore with Deja as a character was I think her strength with connecting with the creatures like realizing that they can talk in the first place and then like the friend them and gain their trust is that she's a compassionate person.

[00:09:06] But I think also her weakness then is that she's maybe too trusting or too friendly or too nice thinking the best of people and then finding out that not everybody means well.

[00:09:19] So she meets all these monsters and is able to get them to let their guard down and then she can befriend them.

[00:09:24] But then the same isn't really happening when she's meeting other people because later in the book, when she finds out there are other people who are other cryptid enthusiasts or monster hunters, she thinks first, Oh, maybe we have a connection there.

[00:09:40] But then begins to realize like, Oh, they might not have the best intentions. So then it's just like she wants people to trust her. But is she too trusting to other people? Yeah. And she does that perfect thing that like I see my especially my 11 year old.

[00:09:56] I see I see her do where you are constantly warning them, especially as they get older and are doing more with their devices, whether or not it's their phone or their iPad or on the computer.

[00:10:09] And you're like, I mean, I've Darius said it and I was I've definitely said to my kids, you can't just believe everything you read and you can't do this and you can't just trust anybody.

[00:10:21] You know, you have and she she instantly is kind of like, yeah, I know. Like, like, I know. She has that like instant kid response. Like, I know what you're telling me. You told me this before.

[00:10:33] You know, but there's still that that pull to like want to find community. You know, I like I'm on the cryptid forums. I like doing that. And you know, it's got to be careful. You never know who you're talking to.

[00:10:48] And she's like, well, these these folks like the same thing as me and whether or not it's online or yet when she meets them in real life, she is so looking for a place to belong. Like, you know, like everybody is like, especially so many kids are.

[00:11:04] And when you start to see her kind of like reevaluate, it's like, yeah, it's something we all have to do it at times. And it just very smart, very well written. And I just really love that that that aspect of it.

[00:11:21] So but in not just the family side of it, but also with the cryptids. I mean, is this an interest of yours? Like from a young age where you kind of fascinated with cryptids and then you figured out a way to tell this perfect little story about them?

[00:11:38] Yes, I'm kind of surprised it took me this long because I'm like a lifelong X-Files fan. I used to watch it way too early in my life with my dad getting too curious about monsters and stuff and then getting really scared by some of the freaky episodes.

[00:11:53] But I think it connects a little bit to a way that I used to cope with, like watching scary movies with my dad or episodes of TV shows that maybe were a little too adult for me. Like I'd watch stuff and it's super interesting and compelling.

[00:12:07] But then I get a little scared. And then at night when I'm by myself in my bed thinking like, oh man, I'm worried that like the worm man from the X-Files is going to get me. But then I thought, well, wait a minute.

[00:12:17] Like what if there was a way that if he's here tonight, like in my room, I could be friends with him and then he'd leave me alone.

[00:12:23] So then that idea there, I'm like, oh, what if there was a girl who she kind of like dissipates the threat of the monsters? Like the first time she meets the chupacabra in my story, she shows interest in him and is excited to meet him and befriends him.

[00:12:38] So then it kind of narrows the chances of her getting eaten. So that was my approach and how I survived my childhood after watching the X-Files. So I wanted to write about that. No, that's a great Genesis for this story though. Hey, that worm man episode.

[00:12:55] It's so scary. There's a couple. I mean, I think I've probably said it before on the podcast. But like if I had to pick out because I'm like I said, I'm 45.

[00:13:05] So if I had and I was a huge TV fan, I mean like raised by television, like that was it. I was an indoor kid and I love TV.

[00:13:15] And like the triangle that made up my personality was like Star Trek, The Next Generation, Quantum Leap and the X-Files. Nice. Like I was right in the center of that triangle. But yeah, there are still some episodes that I think about that just were just so creepy.

[00:13:39] Even now, I'm like looking back at stuff rewatching it like today and thinking like did I really sit in the living room when I was like six or seven years old and go through this? Like this is still freaking me out.

[00:13:53] You know what? What is I'm trying to think of the name of the episode. But was it was it Tombs where the guy like kind of makes like a little nest inside the house?

[00:14:02] He's like eating everybody's livers and like he can squeeze squeezes the first episode that he's in. And then there's another one. Yeah, his name's Eugene Tombs and he's like able to go through everybody's houses through the vents and stuff. That was the first episode.

[00:14:17] And then he came back and Tombs was the second one. Yeah. And like the episode I mean, I know we're getting away from cryptids, but the episode home was like so disturbing. I don't even know if they show that once.

[00:14:30] Right. I think that's one of the ones that like aired one time. And now it's just on Hulu if you're curious. But I don't know. I watched the first season when they brought it back.

[00:14:48] I don't know if you saw those episodes, too, but when they brought X-Files back like a few years ago and they did like I've been hesitant. I don't know. I was going to like let my dad check it out first and let me know how it was.

[00:15:01] Well, I only I didn't watch this. I only watched the first season when they brought it back. But there is kind of like a cryptid centric episode in that one that I want to say Humel and Johnny is in.

[00:15:21] And I want to say it's a New Zealand actor whose name just ran right out of my head. But I think it's in that first season.

[00:15:31] There is like a I think I want to say it's like a Florida centric kind of skunky lizard man type episode, but very cryptid centric if my memory serves me correctly.

[00:15:45] But it's also like a little a little wonky, a little silly, a little like Jose Chung's from outer space, which I always liked. But yeah, I I learned so much about different cryptids that I'd never heard before. And I'm sure they didn't get the folktale just right.

[00:16:01] They changed it for TV and whatnot. But I mean, the X-Files, I'm sorry. Oh, they give it their own spin. From either the X-Files or Supernatural. Supernatural was real good for coming up with.

[00:16:16] That's I think the first time I ever heard of like a Rougarou was on Supernatural. And I know they did like Windigo's, which I don't know if that technically counts as a cryptid. It's more like an evil spirit.

[00:16:30] But Supernatural was really good for needing a monster of the week and plugging in, you know, a different folktale or urban legend or cryptid. It's educational, right? Yeah.

[00:16:41] I have a fun t-shirt that was like cryptozoology and had like all the little different characters on it from, you know, across the U.S., like different.

[00:16:50] Right. I've seen somebody take the time to like put one for like to assign each cryptid to what state in the United States, because there's one for all 50 apparently.

[00:17:03] That also kind of got me going when I was thinking about the idea of like, oh, this is like a road trip story for my book. Then maybe she can go to each of the different states and there's a monster waiting for her in each one.

[00:17:14] So we've only seen a couple in the first. So fingers crossed if I want to continue things, there's whole 50 states of like other monsters to see. I mean, not to mention even like the ones in other countries and stuff. It's just so cool to see.

[00:17:27] Yeah, there's there's so many of them and a lot of them have photos. I mean, they're always going to be like really blurry or pixelated or like just enough of a suggestion to make you wonder if it's real or not. But right. It's out there.

[00:17:40] Yeah, it is the truth that's out there. I like that idea in terms of her taking a road trip and, you know, go into New Orleans and because there are so many different, you know, local ones.

[00:17:54] You know, I'm in Delaware and, you know, there's the, you mean sightings and talk of like the Jersey Devil, you know, just across the Delaware River for years.

[00:18:05] But it does seem like, you know, every locale has their own little, you know, weird sighting or, you know, creature or whatever it might be, which I just kind of, you know, I find fascinating both in the differences when you start to look at it and like the similarities.

[00:18:24] Yeah, it's like there are different like genres of types of monsters that appear, at least in the United States. Like, it seems like when I was looking at when I was doing my research, very important research for this book. I bet it was a lot of fun.

[00:18:38] Yeah, there's so much to do. That's another one, too. When I get confused about where my information is coming from, I'm like, hey, friends on Twitter, tell me about your favorite monsters and make sure I got this right. Because somebody's always excited to tell you all the facts.

[00:18:52] But they'll be like lake monsters or there are a ton of like humanoid ones that are either like the Sasquatch type or like right. A yeti or oh my gosh, what was the movie is something in the Henderson's? The Larry and the Hendersons. Yes, the scary monkey.

[00:19:12] I was like typing in something for like a skunk earlier today that I was going to draw. And then I was just like, oh, that's the first picture that pops up. Yeah, I loved Harry and the Henderson's.

[00:19:22] That was great where their family comes across a big foot and kind of takes them in. Yeah, it's what we need to do. Take them in, befriend them.

[00:19:34] I in in the book, I really like I think if I had to pick a favorite from the characters in the book in terms of the cryptids, the Lake Worth monster was just so good. I don't want to say too much about it.

[00:19:52] I really want folks to read it and kind of discover it like I did.

[00:19:56] There's so many things that I loved about the Lake Worth monster by like when when I like when Dej asked him, like, Are you like the lake like you live near Lake Worth and you're a monster or you're like a lake monster?

[00:20:13] And he's like, No, I'm not a lake monster in the traditional sense. I mean, whatever the dialogue is there exactly. Right, because you'd be expecting to see some kind of like Loch Ness creature, but it's just like, oh, okay. It's not what I expected.

[00:20:28] Yeah, that was a fun part to like get my own interpretation of the monster because all the reference pictures I saw, it's like some like really burly almost like a Sasquatch build kind of a monster. But then it's like a goat person.

[00:20:41] I was just like, I bet I could make this a bit different. So that's all. Yeah, it just it really worked. You know, all the different cryptids and kind of how they interact. And yeah, I mean, the story has also such like a great pace to it.

[00:21:01] I feel like you really knew kind of when to slow it down and then went to like get things going in terms of some of the action. Like it just it really moved along at a good at a good clip.

[00:21:13] I felt like I got to spend enough time with the folks and the scenes that I wanted to, you know, so I felt your sense of like pacing was spot on. Oh, thank you.

[00:21:24] I know personally, I'm like when I'm drawing it, I'm like, man, why did so many of these scenes have to be like in a restaurant with all these tables or like, why am I having to draw all these different angles inside?

[00:21:35] And I just want to keep everything out in the woods where I can draw like a couple sticks and people talking to each other instead. But I could imagine it like towards like the when they're in the cabinet of curiosities for that place.

[00:21:51] I really need all these people. Yup. I'm like, oh, that person wouldn't be in the background at this part, right? Sure. We'll switch them over here or I forgot to draw a bow tie on this person or the braids in their hair, whatever.

[00:22:06] It's fine. Somebody's going to find it. Somebody will find the Easter eggs of where I didn't draw something consecutively. But that's OK. All right. Let's take a quick break.

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[00:23:04] Unbroken soon launching on Kickstarter and Pond coming up with Dauntless. Stay tuned to this space for more exciting news from the growing Bards family. Let's get back to the show.

[00:23:18] What was kind of like the most fun for you in terms of putting this together in terms of the art side of it, you know, because you're doing all of this. You're putting your story together and you're illustrating everything.

[00:23:29] What was like the most fun for you to draw? Like, is it the is it the cryptids? Is it the creatures or was there something else that you really kind of felt you got to flex your muscles for?

[00:23:41] Definitely the monsters. That's the part I always look forward to.

[00:23:44] So maybe that's part of my pacing to not only to like keep the interest of my reader that there aren't too many like boring dialogue bits, but then also for me that I don't have to draw too many boring dialogue bits and I get to draw creatures talking to each other or fighting or something.

[00:23:58] I love to draw monsters.

[00:24:01] I'm probably like a lot of people. The character design part is really exciting in the beginning and then when it gets to the points in the story where you're just like, oh, now I have to do the legwork for the slower scenes or the things that are going to have more complicated backgrounds.

[00:24:18] I appreciate the challenge, maybe not while it's happening, but looking back at it, especially the pages that I did in New Orleans where I've been there in person and I can see like what it looks like to have all of these like the cobblestone streets and the intricate gates and stuff in the historical district in the French Quarter.

[00:24:42] I can appreciate in hindsight, it was like, OK, that was a good test for me, a good challenge. Maybe not in the thick of it, but try to keep that chapter a little bit shorter because I don't know how many more cobblestones I can draw.

[00:25:00] That's funny. Yeah, but you had a fair number of scenes set outside, so that was good. Got to take a breather. Yeah, I'm sure.

[00:25:14] Yeah, I really like the colors in it too. I wanted to mention that. I really like Deja's hair and I really like the colors for all the cryptids.

[00:25:22] The Rougarou, which I'm probably, like I said, I think I didn't hear that until I did an episode of Supernatural. I'd never really been familiar with that, but I thought your idea in terms of New Orleans and that whole setup where the family kind of goes to visit and how that all works out.

[00:25:38] It's a little bit readers when you read it, you'll see it's like a little bit of a subterfuge on Deja's part to kind of get her family so she can figure out how to meet these cryptids without constantly running away from her family on vacation.

[00:25:53] And it's a really, really fun scene. And I thought out of all the stuff, because I read something somewhere about you liking the X-Files and being an X-Files fan.

[00:26:06] That scene in particular reminded me of a very specific X-Files episode. I don't know if you were thinking about it at all in there. I'm about to get busted.

[00:26:17] I'll just say there's a specific episode in the X-Files which I've always particularly liked and the scene with the Rougarou very much reminded me of it.

[00:26:29] It felt very X-Files influenced. So, I don't know, maybe if you saw the episode you don't...maybe it was just rattling around in the subconscious. Right. I wouldn't be surprised if some of it's still coming out through that.

[00:26:42] I was talking with a friend the other day about how that show in particular, the lighting is so good. And it's like, I don't know, the composition of some of those scenes really stays in my mind.

[00:26:55] Not just the freaky stuff. Not just the warm man burned into my mind to freak me out at night. But yeah, they have so many dark scenes, creepy alleyways, shadowy buildings, but they still have to make sure the characters are lit and coupons in a certain way.

[00:27:11] And I feel like I see a lot of shows coming out right now where everything's just shot day for night. And you just kind of get that blue filter over it and they're not taking maybe as much care into making sure things are lit in a readable way.

[00:27:26] Because they're like, oh, that's something we can fix and post. But yeah, there's something really cinematic about the X-Files that I could see just screenshots of it being in a comic by itself. Yeah, I was going to say that when you started to mention the lighting of it.

[00:27:41] Like, I feel like if that show were made today and I know they recently redid it and I did feel like there was a difference. But like those early episodes, I would think based upon some shows being made now, it would be like way too dark.

[00:27:57] You know, like there was something about the X-Files where there was always like a darkness to it. Like you knew it was at night or but you could always see everything that was going on.

[00:28:09] And so that there was always like an eerie type of light to like a lot of it. It was very I thought a very well lit show. But yeah, I think that makes that I think that makes a lot of sense.

[00:28:21] But yeah, but I love the Ruger scene. I love how they kind of got into and got out of it. And yeah, it seemed like that would have been a lot of fun to kind of figure out how to how to do that.

[00:28:37] To come up like was it hard to come up with like the device of how is she going to like run into all these characters?

[00:28:44] Yeah, I'm glad you said that because that was something going through my mind where I'm like if she's already had at the start like two separate excuses to dip out on family vacation real quick and like go meet up monsters in the woods,

[00:28:57] keeping in mind that my character is like a middle school age girl. I'm like somebody's not I mean, this isn't sitting well with me like writing it. So I thought maybe I want to make sure she stays with her family for a little bit.

[00:29:09] But then also to like vary the story. So I'm thinking about maybe not all the monsters are like living on the outskirts of society.

[00:29:17] Maybe somebody like Ruger is in New Orleans, like living also under the guise as a human integrating with society a little bit because I also try to think of their backstories.

[00:29:29] They're like are all the cryptids just out there like hiding waiting to be found hoping they're not seen or some of them like living in society kind of disguised. So that was a fun angle to take with that. Yeah.

[00:29:44] Were there other in terms of your research and like looking at other cryptids that you know Deja might come across?

[00:29:51] Were there any that you maybe you don't want to say if there is another book in the future, but were there anything that like that you really wanted to include that you weren't able to or I'm also kind of interested in terms of like if you're doing this research and you have ones that are well known like the Chupacabra.

[00:30:11] I think is one of the more well known ones and something like more obscure like a very specific area that has you know a lizard man right.

[00:30:20] How did what did you have like criteria? Is it just like this interests me or oh I think this sounds neat or you know how did you come up with all right I need her to meet like five cryptids like.

[00:30:32] Yeah I was trying to think of like I can pick one first to be like her companion and partner in crime kind of so I thought oh the Texas Chupacabra makes sense that it would be a creature that could like maybe ride in the back of the RV with them secretly or is running alongside or able to keep up pace or something like that.

[00:30:58] So thinking about other monsters that would at least be in the trajectory of like the area they're taking for their road trip, but I am kind of disappointed and thinking like oh I wanted some more like heavy hitters in there too like everybody would want to see Mothman.

[00:31:13] I know I would like everybody would like to see the Flatwood monster or something like that but I know those are in different pockets of the United States that they're not really grouped together and I think those are also kind of the go-to's so I thought if I wanted to focus on a collection of monsters that don't get talked about as much.

[00:31:32] Maybe that would be a good way to collect them all together and maybe they can go over to yeah see Mothman another time and that'll be more enticing.

[00:31:44] Yeah I mean I really liked it I liked all the different introductions like I think that's what I like the most about how Deja met all of them you know because she said she set out she wants to meet the Chupacabra like that's what that's her

[00:32:01] goal right she thinks she's going to be in the area she wants to meet that one and then you know from there it's kind of well then you know.

[00:32:13] They're going to be in New Orleans where they are this like Rougarou is rumored to be but they're all kind of like a little bit like different like the Lake Worth monster.

[00:32:26] It has a much different approach to to humans than the you know the I can't the name just went out but the the the large iguana man.

[00:32:39] But it's all you know has kind of like a different approach to society and like that definitely doesn't want to have it like his picture taken and you know all those like different little elements how like she got in to meet all of them I just really felt worked and.

[00:32:55] I really like the addition of a Mari and just to connect to you know what I said earlier another element that really makes us care about them like a Mari kind of doesn't want to be there he's supposed to be if I think football can't but he broke his arm.

[00:33:10] And it's you know it's clear that they have.

[00:33:14] What I'd call it a typical brother sister somewhat of an antagonistic relationship but they do kind of care about each other and you know maybe he's he Mari's older little feels a little bit put upon that when the parents are doing something he has to you're supposed to keep an eye on Deja.

[00:33:32] But you know really works in terms of their relationship and he eventually kind of gets brought into the whole thing and. Yeah.

[00:33:40] There's a couple of you know funny scenes and funny bits of dialogue that I really enjoyed yes I really like the addition of that that character was that always when you thought about this story.

[00:33:55] Like a part of what you had planned like to have days you have like another sibling or somebody else involved was that from the beginning or did that kind of develop as you started putting it together.

[00:34:05] I think he her brother was easy to think of in the beginning because I needed somebody to be like a skeptic around her but not have as much authority as parents cuz I'm thinking if mom and dad are just like oh.

[00:34:21] You're doing things that are a little too out there delusional or you're going out to talk to strangers in the middle of the night like they would shut that down so quickly and then we wouldn't have a story so I thought oh she has a brother who can like.

[00:34:33] Voices doubts and question what she's doing but it's also kind of framed as the fact that their siblings he's already annoyed with her he already doesn't believe her and is looking for any excuse to pick on her then like.

[00:34:46] That could be where it's coming from and it's not just like oh mom and dad found out that I like snuck out of the RV one night to go find a weird monster vacations over like.

[00:34:58] So I thought that would be like like a less of a conflict but still something of like not letting her totally get away with things with no consequences if that makes sense like nobody's doubting her everybody's on board yeah. Yeah, that definitely makes sense.

[00:35:19] When you are putting it when actually when you're actually putting this together it's kind of more of like a I guess a process question but are you are you scripting everything or because you're doing both.

[00:35:29] Like how do you do that like what is your you know process to put the story together do you outline anything do you just start going with what do you do.

[00:35:38] I feel like this is my chance to apologize to all of my college professors and say yes you were right you should do both at the same time. Now I will email this episode exactly so sorry scat professors turns out that you were right.

[00:35:55] I don't know I guess I thought like I get so excited about drawing things I like that part better than the writing it just takes a different kind of brain power that and I can like kind of watch a TV show in the background while I'm filling in everything and drawing it but when it's like time to do script work I like really have to concentrate.

[00:36:14] So I used to try to do it as I go like I will have like a skeleton or like a rough idea of where i'm going with things and all.

[00:36:23] Get drawing right away cuz i'm too excited to like hold back but i have found that it's so much easier to like look at things and make adjustments before you've committed to the artwork.

[00:36:36] You know even now like I'll still find that I want to get drawing maybe a little more quickly than is advisable but sometimes that is helpful for me to see it as like a.

[00:36:50] Like a compilation it's easier for me to look over a couple of PDFs or like images in a PDF than to like look at.

[00:36:58] Text on a screen I can kind of like visually look at and think oh the pacing of that's weird or this is out of order this doesn't make sense or we can scrap this completely.

[00:37:06] It's always good to find a part that you can scrap completely before you've drawn the entire background I have also learned that the hard way like drawn an entire.

[00:37:17] I don't know some really complicated room background car whatever it may be and then i'm just like you know what I could probably cut seven of those pages and it's like oh man.

[00:37:29] Already did so much work but yeah what I like to do now is I do both at once so I can write what I think is happening but i'm also.

[00:37:41] Sketching it to make sure on the page it's looking like it is in my head if that makes sense.

[00:37:48] There have been plenty of times to the I mean how many of us we like write a super cool page description you know like this is happening and this is happening at the same time I'm like there's no physical way all of these things can fit in one single panel like it's too many actions for for one drawing so.

[00:38:04] I have to be reasonable with myself but yeah if I can do that but then conversely it really really helps if I lay out the text bubbles and word balloons like on the page while i'm doing it because i've also done the thing where i'm like oh there'll be enough room for all this dialogue later and then when I put it there it's like this giant word balloon covering half of somebody's face and i'm like oh what a waste.

[00:38:19] I mean I see the benefit you know to being able to kind of you know outline a bit or you know figure out where it is you want to go.

[00:38:28] But yeah that must be frustrating if you put all the time into you know all of that great artwork and then you're like oh no I have now have to cover it up. Exactly.

[00:38:39] And I know that some people they do it really well and I think that's really cool because I think that's the way that you can do it. you know, figure out where it is you want to go.

[00:38:50] But yeah, that must be frustrating if you put all the time into, you know, all of that great artwork and then you're like, oh no, I have now have to cover it with a word balloon. Exactly. And I know that some people, they do it really well

[00:39:08] where they're able to alternate or change the size of text on the same page for each of the word balloons. But I don't know, when I do it, it's a kind of just looks like an excuse.

[00:39:21] Like I'm just like, you can tell that I did not budget this correctly. And now it's like you got to bring out your glasses and read this tiny print. So I try to just make it consistent across the board. Yeah. I mean, you work

[00:39:36] entirely digitally now or I do. That is one thing I will not apologize to my school professor. No, I'm kidding. I understand why they emphasize, like, you should learn the craft totally traditionally first before you jump into digital stuff,

[00:39:51] because there is a lot to be gained from slowing down and having to commit to what you're doing and not just I'm going to do a new layer. I'm going to do a new layer. But now I know that because it's going to be in print anyway

[00:40:04] and I'll be coloring it digitally, it just kind of cuts out the middle man of having to like, oh, I've done this page and I'm going to scan it and then resize it or. Yeah, I think it saves me time.

[00:40:15] Like, I'll do my thumbnails on a full sized document, but I'll just zoom out so it looks way smaller on the screen. I think it saves me time. It also just helps to be able to like gather it across

[00:40:30] a couple of monitors and look at it all at once instead of like laying out a bunch of Bristol board while my dog climbs all over it. Yeah. Well, in anticipation of this interview, I had asked the folks at Comic Book Yeti,

[00:40:46] everyone to tell me their favorite cryptid. So yes, the votes are in. I need to know because you said you're interested in what everyone's favorite cryptid is. So I was asking whoever was around. Whoever was around. I don't I mean, I don't know what I mean by around.

[00:41:08] Like it's all on a discord. I need to know. Yeah. We have a lot of like, I think ones that everybody would know, I think. Let's see, Al. Al, who is the manga and web comics editor, they're a big Mothman fan.

[00:41:32] So they probably would have bought one of those issues that Holly was talking about before we started recording. Oh, man. But in it. Yes. I'm so mad I didn't think of that. So let's see then. I got to scroll up here.

[00:41:51] Luke's their favorite is Nessie, the Loch Ness monster class and Byron, who's the other host of the podcast. His was I hope I'm saying this right. Oaktenna, which is a horned serpent. Oh, this might be a new one for me. Yeah. So it's yeah.

[00:42:10] So anyone's curious, it's UKTNA. I think it's a Native American origin, but a horned serpent. So that's Byron. There you go, Byron. Matt said the Yeti, but I told him he wasn't allowed to pick that. So he. I think Matt picked the swamp ape then because

[00:42:35] you know, Matt just did wrote an issue of the the Ahoy comic about the Ahoy has a comic right now about cryptid. So Matt got to write one of those. And I think he had the swamp ape as his as the character he got to write about. Nice.

[00:42:53] Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And then there were one for me, the snake. I'm looking at pictures of it right now. That's pretty cool. I think Wells picked the Kraken. Mm hmm. So yeah, yeah. Then I'm like, oh, is there like a like a size limit on cryptids?

[00:43:11] I'm like, is that is that like Kaiju territory? Are we getting into like crazy big monsters now? I don't know. Maybe I was trying to think of my favorite, my favorite cryptid if I if I had one and I had been

[00:43:26] I mentioned this before we started recording, but I had looked up like. Cryptids of Pennsylvania, because that's where I'm originally from. And then I came across my new favorite cryptid, the squawk. Oh, I was going to. That's my new favorite cryptid. We're going to go with the squawk.

[00:43:44] And I'd never heard of it before. I've never run run into one. But according to. The this website here that I just pulled up, this says the squawk is a uniquely Pennsylvania cryptid first appearing in the 1910 book, fearsome creatures of the lumber woods

[00:44:05] described as an ugly pig like creature living in the hemlock forest, the squawk cries almost continuously. So sad. See that maybe is another one on the docket later, because like my breaking heart, my bleeding heart for this creature right now.

[00:44:26] I'm like, oh, yeah, we got to make sure he knows he's OK. Yeah. Volume two, you can have, you know, Deja does a tour with her family of, you know, the East Coast. Maybe they they go from New York to D.C. or something, you know,

[00:44:44] hit New York, Philly, D.C. You got the squawk, you got the Jersey Devil. You know, you can and you can I'm sure there's a couple in and around New York. Oh, definitely. She's like hyping up the squawk for like some big speech

[00:45:00] that he has to make or something. Yeah, you know, there's got to be a story as to why the squawks crying all the time. I know. Poor guy. I know. I did read something else that said it's like covered in warts.

[00:45:12] And I guess it's you know, but that was great. Some just some fantastic names, but the squawk is just as you good. Definitely. Yeah. So in terms of. Other stuff that you've done, along with Deja Ross speaks to freaks like, I mean, you've done a couple other,

[00:45:35] you know, things in terms of web comics, I was looking at some of the work that you've, you know, done before and including minus. And I don't want to puke in Tijuana. Yeah. And but I really I haven't read it yet.

[00:45:51] I have to now because when I was looking up stuff for to prepare for this interview, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I guess it's a web comic that you did the taking back. Toku. Yes.

[00:46:09] All right. I guess I mean, the full name written here, Toku Satsu, but I thought that is what a fantastic concept for for a comic. I was like when I was going through the other stuff that you've done

[00:46:24] and I came across that for listeners who who don't know like this web comic that Lisa did. The whole this essentially your main character is a mom that works for like a practical. I mean, she's.

[00:46:40] I only say like she's a mom, like not like she's just a mom, like it's it's crucial to the story, like she has a kid who has and the pets grow up to be like Kaiju, like you just mentioned, and she works for a like movie studio.

[00:46:56] You know, Toku Satsu, like practical effect movie studios. So she decides to use the the Kaiju her son's pets, really. These I guess they're giant salamanders or something in the practical effect movies that she makes. And I was just like, yeah, sold.

[00:47:14] Just give me a million issues of it. That sounds amazing. So and especially I already know that you draw and color monsters really well. So that sounds it's a it's actually the next thing that I'm working on. It predates Dejara speaks to freaks by a little bit.

[00:47:34] But after Top Shelf was interested in this story, I thought that I would ask if that was another story that they might like as well. And turns out they did. So that is the next book that I'm working on with Top Shelf is taking back Toku Satsu.

[00:47:49] So, oh, yeah, I'm drawing it right now. That's fantastic. Will this be the I mean, it was a web comic. So will this be like the first time it's in print? Yes, I've only had it as a web comic so far.

[00:48:03] Couple changes I need to make, but overall, the setup is still the same. So it'll be even more polished this time. All right. Well, please, if if you if you even had a if I'm still doing this

[00:48:16] and you even had a little bit of a good time talking, please come back. Definitely. I don't know. Can talk about that when that one's ready to go because then we have to talk about a bunch of Godzilla movies and stuff and all that. Yeah, the campiness there.

[00:48:29] Yeah. And I'm like way behind on Godzilla movies. So I I'm like ready to dive in. I'm just going to binge all the new Godzilla's and I really want to see Godzilla minus one. I have it so good.

[00:48:43] Yeah, there's like there's a whole new wave of stuff coming out. I feel like there is a bit of like a like a content drought for a little bit. But yeah, there's a bunch of stuff right now. Minus one was awesome.

[00:48:55] I loved it. Yeah, I haven't seen it yet, but I desperately want to out of all the the the recent Godzilla movies. That sounded amazing. So I want to check that out. So I'll have to be ready.

[00:49:09] I'll just I'll when when I know it's coming close to publishing, I'll just make sure that I'm caught up on all my monster movies. So yeah, definitely. Is there anything I mean, I was going to say, is there anything else you're working on? Not that that's not enough.

[00:49:24] Just once again, comics take a long time. So yeah, that's using up a lot of my time right now. But other than drawing that and getting ready for more promotional stuff for Dejara Speaks to Freaks. Yeah, those are my my two main things.

[00:49:40] Or every so often I bite off more than I can chew and I do a drawing challenge in October or July or something. They'll be like, oh, we're going to do Kai July. So it'll be like you do a Kaiju each day of July.

[00:49:57] And then I'm just like halfway through and I think I still have 15 more days to do this. But it's fun. I love getting suggestions from people on Twitter, because, you know, once again, if you open up the can of worms being like,

[00:50:09] hey, guys, tell me about some weird obscure thing. I've never heard of before. Everybody is all too eager to do that. And then I'm like, ha, I tricked you. Now I don't have ArtBlock anymore. Now you've given me an idea. Well, yeah, I mean,

[00:50:23] that's that's the good side of social media. You know, it can still be a force for good. You just have to block folks liberally. It has its perks, but yeah, yeah. I usually dip out before it gets too weird. Yeah, I agree. I didn't ask you.

[00:50:39] Wait, do you have a favorite cryptid? Did you say, oh, I didn't. It's hard to pick. And I've always been really partial to like sea monsters and lake monsters. Had I not done the whole drawing comics thing with my career,

[00:50:56] I wanted to do like paleontology or some sort of like I want to learn about dinosaurs and dig up dinosaur bones or look for sea monsters or something. So that's my my second love. So I love Loch Ness Monster.

[00:51:11] I don't think there's there's a lake monster in Michigan. Oddly enough, that's where I'm at. But I think we just have the Michigan Dog Man. But feels like there should have been something swimming around in Lake Michigan. So, yeah, definitely.

[00:51:24] I feel like there are any places have a dog man. I don't know what that's about. I mean, maybe it's just like werewolf, you know, type of stuff or. But I feel like so many different places when you look at like

[00:51:37] cryptids of whatever state, like there's always some type of dog man. I want it to just be the same guy who's like on like a national trek across the state and just like, OK, I got to put on the mask.

[00:51:50] He's just like, I got to travel for work. Where does he go every night? Yeah. Yeah, I was I think from a young age, I was like fascinated with the idea of like the Loch Ness Monster as well,

[00:52:03] like whether or not, oh, there could be a dinosaur still alive or it could be this thing. And, you know, learning that that famous photo that somebody took was, you know, faked and at all. All those types of things.

[00:52:17] Though every so often they there's a news article that comes out. This is hey, there's something in the ocean we thought died a long time ago. Here it is. And I'm like, that's so cool. I like that we're getting close to like finding something crazy.

[00:52:32] Yeah. That that that fascinates me as well. Like, oh, we've. There's two ends of it. Like, I'm always fascinated by like something along those lines where but this thing still be alive and then scientists discover that, oh, hey,

[00:52:45] there's this fish that we thought was dead for, you know, extinct for a long time. And now somebody caught one or we think there could be like a giant squid. And it's like, well, we got one on camera now, you know, that there's still those mysteries.

[00:53:03] There's still things out there that we don't, you know, know about. And maybe there is something fantastical that we haven't discovered yet. Also, the other side of it is I like when you find out about a creature and then.

[00:53:19] Read like the origin of it is like something totally ridiculous. Like, I remember reading that. Like somebody thought that maybe the origin of like the mermaid was manatees. And I'm like, that's a right, right. That's just great. Like a bunch of sailors dehydrated, suffering from scurvy

[00:53:39] and just being like, you will not believe what I just saw. It was, I know, I'm just like, how long have they been away from society? They just like look overboard. They see this like dig manatee. They're like, she looked good, though.

[00:53:54] You know, I just think that's that's fantastic. The power of the human imagination. Definitely. But Lisa, I don't want to keep you any longer. This was absolutely phenomenal. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Deja Ross speaks to freaks. I loved it. I just thought it was so wonderful.

[00:54:17] And it just it's just it's such a fun story. And I really cared about these characters and just fell in love with your artwork. So I hope everyone goes and gets a copy and and reads it. I know I'm going to get one for for my kids,

[00:54:37] because I think they'll absolutely love it. Yeah. So yeah, thank you so much for reading. That makes me so excited to like, ah, it's like that's the other thing with publishing, right? You like finish everything and then you got to wait a little bit

[00:54:49] for everybody else to catch up and be able to see it. So, yeah, it's really satisfying to see it all come together. I can't wait to see it in front of me. I haven't seen a print copy just yet.

[00:54:59] I've only seen PDFs, but that's the real deal when I get to like hold it in my hands and I'm like, it's a real book. Yeah. Well, I wish you the best of luck with it and listeners. Yeah, please. It's going to be everywhere July 3rd.

[00:55:16] You can probably call your local comic shop and get them to make sure that you have a copy from Top Shelf. But, you know, it's one of those things that I think even if you're. My age, you're going to find something to love about it.

[00:55:31] It's just a really good story. But especially if you have if you have kids or if, you know, you know, you have younger people in your life. It's just it's a it's a really great comic. It's also the type of thing that I think if you, you know,

[00:55:47] have somebody who it can be a really gateway to like other comics. Like it's one of those types of graphic novels that I think kids would read and love and want like more of this type of thing. You know, so if there's somebody that you're thinking like,

[00:56:03] oh, how can I get my niece or nephew or or kid into comics or, you know, get them to read more? This is the type of story that I think is just so much fun. And it has a ton of heart and Deja and her brother Amari are

[00:56:19] and Greg as well are just really three phenomenal characters. So yeah, I loved it. Thanks. Yeah, I hope it's something that encourages young readers to want to read more, either getting people who are already into cryptids

[00:56:38] to be excited to see them in more media or people who are just lovers of graphic novels who want to learn more about monsters and then become addicted like me. Yeah. Definitely scratches that that cryptid fix. Yes, 100 percent.

[00:56:57] Well, Lisa, thank you very much for coming on the podcast. And please, especially once taking back, Toku is is ready. Please come back and let's chat about that one, too, because that is awesome. I want to try and check out the web comic.

[00:57:12] But yeah, I would love to have you back on. And Polly, if you listen this far, if you actually listen to the episodes, thank you for putting this together. This has been phenomenal. July 3rd, Deja Ross speaks to Freaks. Yeah, go get it. Read it.

[00:57:29] You're going to love it. Shout out to my brother, Bobby, the cryptid creator, corners number one most dedicated fan. Bobby listens to all the episodes and he buys a lot of comics. So thanks, Bobby. And yeah, I think Bobby, I think you'll like this one, too.

[00:57:42] And I think your your your kids will like it as well. So make sure you pick it up. Listeners, thank you very much for listening. I really appreciate you guys checking out the podcast. And yeah, thanks a lot. And I'll see you next time. Good night, everybody.

[00:57:59] This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner, brought to you by Comic Book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[00:58:12] It lets us know how we are doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast into the comics cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.