Lyndon Radchenka & Steven Kaul Interview - The Laundrymen

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[00:00:54] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I have returning guests. And I can't believe it has been a few years since they've been on the podcast, but they are back. And they're back with their new Kickstarter for The Laundrymen, book two. It is going to hit Kickstarter on February 2nd. We're going to talk all about it. But please, welcome back to the podcast, Steven Kaul and Lyndon Radchenka. Stephen, Lyndon, how have you been?

[00:01:24] I would say pretty good. Productive in a sense. Busy. Yeah. Very busy. Yeah. I was so excited when I, I don't know if I first saw it on like social media or in a Discord or maybe if it was Lyndon had just like reached out to me. But I was so excited to see that, you know, my favorite laundromat owning monster hunters were coming, coming back.

[00:01:50] And having gotten to read like a preview, a little sneak peek of book two, I was not disappointed. I just love this. You know what it is? I really love the spirit of this series. Like, like I just, it just makes me happy getting to read it and seeing what Brian and Wade are up to. And I like how they spend, not to spoil anything, but I do like how they spend. We can spoil the whole thing. It's all good.

[00:02:20] Oh, can we? Oh, okay. I'm totally fine with it. Well, I did just want to say, I really like how they spend a good part of this book kind of like, you know, away from each other. Yeah. I really feel like that's like a really kind of interesting element of it. It makes it feel like, you know, fresher or fresh from like book one, but it still has that spirit. It still has that kind of like drive and that kind of like energy. And yeah, it's, it's just, it's a really fun comic.

[00:02:50] It looks really great. It's a really good time. I was so happy getting to read it again and that, that other fans are going to have an opportunity to back, uh, to back book two. It's so, uh, what, why don't you just catch, you know, listeners up on, you know, if for anyone who isn't familiar, like what is the laundry men and, uh, what do we have going on in book two? So yeah, what's it go first?

[00:03:15] The, the laundry men is, uh, we, we're calling it a series, but we're, we're just at book two. Now it's about two, these two monster hunters, like you say, Wade and Brian, and they operate a laundromat and they solve supernatural mysteries. So there's the sort of like mercenary monster hunters for hire and our first book, which, uh, we came out and chatted with you about God three years ago, Jimmy. Um, we kickstarted it. It was really successful. It, it opened all these doors for us professionally.

[00:03:44] And it was sort of what we call the, the first case file of the laundry men. And so it was, uh, Wade and Brian going to Wade's old hometown and they're investigating this murder mystery and it's the two of them working together to sort of uncover this, this monster that's been killing people. And then at the very end of that book, we have them return to the laundromat and, uh, Brian ends up sort of unceremoniously stuffed into a van.

[00:04:14] And this book picks up right where that one ends up or right where that one, uh, ended. And it ends up being this, I keep not disparagingly so, but I feel like I'm entering my schlocky era. Uh, the, the concept of this book is like the, the alien mob versus the vampire mob. And both of these guys end up on opposite sides of this fight. And really the, what they're trying to do is find their way back to each other for the whole thing.

[00:04:42] And so the book is, is dressed up as this monster gang war. And really it's about what will you do as to, to help your friends is how I would describe it. And Steven's art is amazing compared to three years ago. Yeah. I'm pretty stoked on it. It's a, it's eons ahead of what I would, of what you see in the first book. So it feels really good.

[00:05:08] Now, Steven, is that just like, is that something that you, you know, like you notice right away? Like, Oh, I've been working at it and I've been working at it. And I can tell myself that I'm, I'm getting better. Or are you the type of artist that, you know, I've interviewed quite a few artists before and it takes somebody else to come along and say, wow, Steven, this stuff's great. Oh yeah. No, I would say I'm more column A there. I, that's one of the driving like feelings that keeps me moving to the next page in the next book.

[00:05:37] Cause I look at drawing comics as like just a series of problems to solve. And I might try for like page after page after page to like understand a concept. And then when I finally execute on page 10 or whatever, I finally figured out how to do this thing. I was like, I'm just like, Oh, I did that. It's amazing. I did this thing. And then I can just keep moving forward. Um, like in this book, uh, you'll notice there's a lot of like, uh, action scenes,

[00:06:06] car chases, stuff like that. And that in a script that was like left really up to me to figure out. Lyndon was off that day. So, um, but I take a lot of days off, but, uh, leaving that up to me to figure out that that was also leading me with like, like in the director's chair, as far as like, like panels and, and like the layout and the passage of time, but as well as like one's a car chase. So now I have to figure out how to draw like multiple cars at multiple angles and stuff like that.

[00:06:35] So every time I do something good, it feels like a success. So I can always see the progression and you can see the progression from book to book, but also within the book, because it's over a period of time from like page one of this book to the final page, I can see just like a major change in myself and my skill. And it's, and I hope other people see that too. I think I look at that as a feature of the book, uh, as opposed to like, oh, this guy took some time.

[00:07:01] One of the things I wanted to say in terms of like the, uh, this, the scale, uh, of some of the panels in particular, like early on, because we open up with Brian stuck in the van. And then when we see where Brian ends up and we're kind of figuring out like where Brian is as Brian figures it out. And there is a really great panel where we kind of see Brian through like a big window, big glass paneling.

[00:07:31] And when that, when the, when that flips, so we see the other side of it, um, and we get a little bit of like a bigger scope of exactly what Brian has gotten himself into that, that was one of my favorite panels. I thought the whole scope and scale of it looked great. I loved seeing, you know, the stuff, the ship or the, the everything going on in the background, like all of that to kind of like, because you, you have a smaller panel where we see Brian

[00:08:00] and then you've really opened it up so that Brian and two of the other like alien mob guys are kind of with him in the foreground. And you really feel as the reader that like, because we're brought right in that moment that we're as in over our head as Brian is like, I really love that, that paneling effect. I thought that was very, you know, smartly done and it was, you know, exciting to see all of that. And I also, I just, I just love the design of it. I love the colors.

[00:08:30] I just thought that really took me to a really fun place reading the story. Like if you weren't hooked by that point, you were then, you know? I appreciate hearing that. I mean, like, I really love like that scene, that exact scene you're talking about and the buildup to it. It's like what you were saying there about like, we're as in over our head as Brian reading. I never thought of it that way, but it's like, you're going along the ride with him

[00:08:56] and you're seeing this unassuming place initially kind of open up and more rooms and you're like, what's all in here? And then like, yeah, you eventually get the scope of this thing. You're like, where the heck is he? Um, especially with that, that huge pull out shot. Yeah. Yeah. And I really love your world building in there, Stephen. If I recall, um, like you have all these things going on in the background as Brian is running through these hallways. And I don't think many of those details were in the script.

[00:09:26] There may have been like, oh, maybe this is going on. Maybe there's an experiment going on here, but you really, um, went the extra mile to flesh out the world of this, like, like laboratory in which aliens are conducting experiments on people. And Brian is discovering it as he is sprinting through this place as quick as he possibly can only to come face to face with this.

[00:09:50] Again, this giant two page splash of him coming out into this, uh, spaceship hangar, uh, where he is then immediately once again, apprehended. Yeah. And in that world building, like there's something I never really get to talk about. And like, part of me wants to leave it up to people who have read it to find it. But, uh, one of my favorite things I've done in this, and it's not in the scripts. They don't really ever talk about it.

[00:10:13] It's just in the visuals is that these aliens, they're human size, but they're actually like little green men in human size robotic suits. So I've like hidden suits throughout the book where they're like on docks being charged or repaired and, and, and you kind of see it with the way these characters move and what they do, where there must be something going on. And in that, like, they seem to be part, uh, cybernetic as well.

[00:10:43] But yeah, this is one of my favorite things. I, I, I was totally your idea. I didn't tell you to do that. I'm going to have to go back, back through and, and, and check it out. But I'd love that mix of like the weird, you know, the weird stuff going on. And also that scene where Brian's trying to figure out where he is, like a lot of it's silent, you know, if there's not a lot of like effects or dialogue. So you're just, it really feels like he's like sneaking around, discovering things. Like I love Brian's facial acting in that.

[00:11:13] Cause at one point he comes across an experiment and he's just like, what are you trying to figure out what he's looking at? Like I loved all of those moments, but then one of the things, like I said, the spirit of this book is like kind of after he's captured it, it's like been a very like mundane. He's not, he like just, you know, they're like playing, you're playing. Yeah. He's, he's not really shocked by it.

[00:11:40] And then we find out the, the, the alien mob, they're like, you know, having, I don't know, they're playing a card game or what is it in star Wars? Sabacc. They're playing something. And it's just like, it's, it's, it's, it's such an odd, like it looks so bizarre with the different character alien characters in it, but it's something that we're like very familiar with. It's like the last thing you would like expect, like they're going to take them to whoever's in charge. There's going to be some type of military here.

[00:12:09] They're going to want to fire in the sky, experiment on him or something. They take them to this game that they're playing. I was, I just, I just loved it. I got such a kick out of it. And I enjoyed them. So much fun. Oh my God. Yeah. He just sits down and he's like, Oh, I guess this is like what we're doing. I just, I just love it. It just, yeah, it tickles me. And it just, I have such a good time reading it.

[00:12:37] It's just the last thing I expected. Yeah. And then like, and then we cut back and we see like what Wade's doing and Wade's trying to find Brian and we see the steps Wade's going through. And that's a whole other adventure. And we get a sense, you know, we've, you've read comics before. You understand that we're leading towards the two of them meeting back up in some fashion. But man, it was, it was such a, such a fun ride.

[00:13:05] So Linden going from like the first one and then, you know, going into book two, were there things that you wanted to like explore with this with like, you know, particular areas of story that you wanted to tell or dive into or like other influences of yours that you wanted to bring into the laundry men for book two? Yeah. Yeah. If we look at, if we look at book one, it was very narrow in scope.

[00:13:33] It was Brian and Wade together and this sort of almost claustrophobic setting for a lot of that book. Like part of that book, they're just trapped down in a mine with this monster at the same time. And so when we look, when we started to plan out book two, Stephen and I really talked about wanting to expand sort of the scope of the storytelling that we were doing. So I really wanted to give Stephen the opportunity to show how great he is with big action pieces.

[00:14:02] And, you know, I've seen Stephen, you know, Stephen and I have known each other for, it's got to be almost 15 years at this point. And I've watched him draw cars like for all of it. And so I always knew how good he was at that. And this seemed like the perfect vehicle, pun intended, to really show that off this sort of quick paced, bombastic, explosive story where like we, we literally like blow up that

[00:14:32] facility at one point. Um, so I really wanted to get bigger with the storytelling with the set pieces, but I really wanted to keep the character, uh, driven aspect of that story. And I thought that the best way to draw a difference between book one and the upcoming, when we were

[00:14:58] planning at book two was, well, we've seen how capable Brian and Wade are. We've seen the sort of strength of their friendship through book one in which for, you know, spoiler alert for the read, for the listener who hasn't checked out the book yet, it will also be available on our Kickstarter. Um, Brian is the one who solves the murder mystery of book one before Wade does. And he sort of has to lead Wade to that conclusion because Wade isn't ready to see it yet.

[00:15:27] So we, we know that these two characters are close together. So what happens when we, when we pull them apart and we put them in different settings, how do we, how does that change their, the way we characterize them or the way that they respond to the world around them when they're sort of operating on their own instead of together. And, uh, so, you know, we've, we're planning book three already and we put Wade and Brian

[00:15:52] back together in a, in a really fun new settings, but it really felt like book two was the right time for us to separate them while keeping our story moving forward and, um, really push them in a, in a new way that we didn't do in book one. Yeah. I think it was all, I, I think that was a smart choice. Um, like I said earlier, and also I liked the cast of characters you surrounded them with.

[00:16:20] And I think that really helps, um, you know, cause we, we learn a lot about Brian or Wade seeing Wade kind of figure out where Brian is and do that aspect of it on its own. And also, I mean, book two has some really interesting stuff because we, you know, we are still, I think trying to get a sense of how well do Wade and Brian, you know, know each other. And like throughout this book, we, we see like Wade learns things about Brian that, you know, he hadn't known before.

[00:16:49] And I, that's very interesting and, you know, um, does a lot for like the, the character development, but yeah, the characters that you've surrounded them with, I think help, you know, immensely and make it for a much more interesting story and really help develop their, their character. But, um, Steven, you were going to say something like, Oh, I cut you off. Oh, you, you basically said it, but it was like, that was kind of the beauty of separating them is we, it allowed us to bring in even more characters to flesh these guys out and,

[00:17:17] and give, you know, Linden more toys in the sandbox for like future books and future stories for different characters to bring in and, and, and help the story along. Um, by cause by separating them, it, it, it broadens the scope, right? Yeah. One of the real strengths of this book, this book specifically, I think is it really gave us a way to build up the worlds around these two characters and make it feel lived in, in

[00:17:45] a way that we didn't necessarily get to do in the first book. I feel like in the first book, we really sort of set out to establish that there's a history of these characters working together. And in this book, we get to see sort of more of the world that they live in rather than sort of a really focused, um, case file like we do in book one. So that was the other real benefit to structuring this one the way that we did. Yeah.

[00:18:11] And bringing in like all the different, we'll say supernatural things that you see in this book also helped build the characters and like, um, show the audience really who they are in their competency in their work in that, like we're talking about the scene where they get app, where Brian gets apprehended and brought up to the mob bosses. And like the look on his face is just like, oh, okay. That makes, okay. This makes sense. Like, uh, I, I understand that it's these guys.

[00:18:38] He's not surprised when Wade meets his counterpart, uh, like the opposite side of this, uh, gang work. He's not surprised. No, they're never really surprised, but you get to see the pressure that they come under in different ways. And it's not really in like the new things that are coming their way. So it's more in like dealing with their problem. I was just going to say on a, on a real craft level, if I'm talking, you know, if the listener

[00:19:05] here is also a comics maker, like we are the other real thing that excited me about this book was we got to push along the like C and D plots that we had started in book one. If we recall the, at the very beginning of book one, Wade and Brian are encountering a werewolf that ends up exploding. And they're really confused by what, about why that is. This book starts to explain about what that is at the end of book one way.

[00:19:33] There's, um, in, in our volume, we had a six page afterward sort of story that introduced a new character who was investigating, uh, vampires, who is a werewolf who was investigating vampires and sort of this den of vampires that were drugging other werewolves. We finally get to push along that story a little bit more in this book. And that character becomes more central to our story.

[00:19:57] It's really a, um, that sort of classic comic book writing storytelling style of the A plot being subsumed by the B plot being subsumed by the C plot being subsumed by the D plot as the, as the series progresses. And so there's just so much fun in trying to find the different ways of slotting all those puzzle pieces together while still trying to keep the shape of this overall story arc that we're trying to do from book to book. Yeah.

[00:20:27] I really loved how everything, you know, fit together, you know, as it all kind of progressed because you don't, there, there's a lot of this book where there isn't dialogue. There's not a whole, a ton of like, oh, here's a big lore exposition dump, which is like always tough when you're like, oh, we have to, I got to tell, you know, when you're writing a story and you're like, okay, the, I got to tell the audience this, I got to, I got to tell the reader that I got to make sure they know this. And it's like, oh, how do I, how do I do this? Other than do I have them discover something and just talk out loud as they find it?

[00:20:56] Do I have a character come in and like do all the explanation? Like you really don't have like a ton of that. And in the, in the moments where you do have some of those more explanatory scenes, like you really, it's broken up very nicely. I mean, when, when Wade, I think it's in like the third section, like when Wade gets into the building with all the other guys to try and like look for Brian, you know, like it's, it's, it's, it's very much almost like a, like a heist kind of like infiltration, you know, where they're,

[00:21:25] they're going up the stairway, they're in the hallway, like all of those like elements is they're like sneaking in and sneaking around. And I just, I really liked, you know, that balance of it. It really has a nice balance. It's really like really well paced. It like, it moves along at the really good clip. You never, I never felt like slowed down or anything like it, it goes, you know, which is great because it helps propel the story forward as we are, you know, we have our two characters on a collision course to each other.

[00:21:55] So all of that is really, you know, working very well together. Steven, I had a question. The character that I, I was trying to look in the preview I had to see, cause I could not remember the name of the character that, that Wade meets that is like helping him. Yeah. Was there any particular, like, did you like, was there anyone that you like based that on or like an amalgamation of characters?

[00:22:20] Cause there were sometimes he, he, he looked to me, he looked, sometimes he came across as like a very seventies, like Robert Goulet meets Schneider from one day at a time. I always say Tom Selleck. I just, yeah. Yeah. He is specifically Tom Selleck. He's specifically Tom Selleck. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He's Tom Selleck as his character, his character from friends, Richard Burke. There's a shot in that show.

[00:22:50] He's got a long black coat and like the scarf and the mustache and the hair. And like, he's just the perfect age for this character. And I'm like, Oh, that's what I'm drawing. And I'm going to Magnum. Magnum PI is going to be this character. Right. Um, and, and yeah. And like, you know, sometimes I lose, there's, there's some panels where it's like, Oh my God, that's Tom Selleck. And there's other, I kind of lose it. But one thing I tried to keep consistent is Tom Selleck has these like very unique dimples. They're like Y shaped.

[00:23:19] And I just made sure they were like always there. Cause he's always sneering and smiling the character. But yeah, it's definitely Tom Selleck. Oh, Tom Selleck. No, that, that makes a lot of sense. There's, there's a couple of panels in particular. I'm going to share, share my screen for a second. To tell you what I was. So yeah, I know I can share my screen. So there's a couple of particular. Okay. And like, yeah, yeah. Goulet. Yeah. And so I totally thinking about it.

[00:23:48] I totally get the Tom Selleck. But there was a couple of times where all I could think about was like, is this supposed to be right? Well, like that's way too. I should have said, is Robert Goulet a vampire? I mean, I wouldn't believe it, but yeah. So that's awesome. Just so you know, that's what I was thinking of. Yeah. I'll take it. I'll take it. I'm going to tell people Robert Goulet as well. Yeah. Like when I'm designing my characters, I don't spend a lot of time trying to like synthesize a human face.

[00:24:16] I go like, like my first thought is like, who would play this character in the movie? And then I just draw that guy. Like Wade, it weighed initially in like the first issue and early this issue. He was like kind of an amalgam of a couple actors and like a stock footage guy. Cause I just got somebody who had all these angles I could use, but then can't remember his name, but then he slowly morphed into the guy from Severance.

[00:24:45] Can't remember his name, but he's also in the new Mission Impossible movie and just amazing actor. And I'm like, well, I can mean, he's, I want this guy to play him in the movie. So I got to make sure I, I, the casting directors look for this guy. Okay. Trammell Tillman? Yes. Trammell Tillman. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He plays, yeah, his character in, in a Severance, Milchick. Milchick. Yes. Yeah. Great character. Oh, awesome. Yeah. That's fantastic. All right, everybody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[00:25:17] 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 could start playing. Another friend chimes in. Are you going to make maps? 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 Arkham Forge.

[00:25:46] 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. 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.

[00:26:14] Check them out at arkhamforge.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 Arkham Forge for partnering with our show. I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Welcome back. It's been three years. I mean, other than working on Laundryman 2, what the heck have the two of you been up to? Well, in the three years, I guess a lot has happened.

[00:26:42] We've released several books, whether they're anthologies or the release of the first part of our other series. It's a two-part series called There Was Another Light. It's about a man who's trying to save the world twice. But myself, my wife and I had a kid back in 2024, so that slowed my progress. Oh, thank you. Yeah. And it's amazing. I love being a father. But that kind of slowed my progress down a lot, probably added a year onto the timeline for sure.

[00:27:10] But otherwise, yeah, life's just moving very, very fast. Oh, yeah. It's amazing. I mean, I have two kids, and my kids now are 13 and eight. And yeah, it's wild. Like when everyone tells you the same thing. And I mean, the dad experiences, I know, you know, different than like the mom experience. But everyone I feel like tells you like when you become a dad, like the same stuff.

[00:27:37] And it still doesn't, I feel like prepare you for how fast exactly it goes. Yeah. It's just, it's remarkable. Yeah. But I also have an odd, I also look at it, I guess, slightly differently though, because my parents had me very young. So a lot of times people will ask me like, can you believe you have a 13 year old? And I'm like, well, yeah, I get it. Like, it feels like it's going fast. But like when my parents were 46, like I was 24.

[00:28:05] So like I could have a, I could have a 24 year old right now. So, you know, like I was in law school when my parents were my age. So my kids, like my oldest is in the seventh grade. So, you know, but yeah, it does. It goes fast, man. So enjoy it. Oh, yeah. Enjoy as much as you can. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. My wife and I are expecting our first this spring. So we'll see if I slow down the way Stephen.

[00:28:32] I keep joking that Stephen now gets to do all the things that I've spent the last two or three years doing. Congratulations. Oh, gosh, that's so exciting. Yeah. So yeah, we had a couple of books come out. We were in some anthologies, a book called Dire Beasts together. I had a book with a friend of ours, Zach Schuster, come out called Hero Man. Oh, that was in between. That was in between.

[00:28:57] And then last fall, I wrote for the DC Comics Halloween anthology. So I got my first DC writing credit at that time. And I lettered a book called Death Fight Forever last year, which is going to be coming out from Image starting middle of February, February 18th. So I'm really excited about that. Yeah. Well, that's awesome. What was the DC experience like?

[00:29:27] Fast. It was slow and then really fast. Yeah. I had been in touch with an editor there for a couple of years. And I was told when they had space that they wanted to give me a shot writing a short. And when they had space, they would let me know. And they let me know the day after Valentine's last year, the 15th of February. And I sent in 10 pitches.

[00:29:56] I got nine of them were rejected. One was accepted. They paired me up with artist John McRae, who was amazing. Oh, wow. Once the pitch was accepted, it was really fast. It was like I had to write a script in like two weeks. And then I did the revisions. And then it went to John. And he had like two months to do the 10 pages. And then it was like, then sit and wait for it to come out. The work's done. Like it was just, it seems like it happened in such a flash. Yeah.

[00:30:26] It kind of went like silent. Like once all the files were in, it was just like, I guess we just wait till those books are in hand. I kept waiting for them to email and be like, ah, we actually don't have space anymore. But that never happened. That was such a different experience from like doing our own books. Because like you kept me apprised every step of the way. But like we talk about the book from the conception to when we have the books in hand, there's always

[00:30:54] something to think about like logistics wise with it. But I guess when you're creating something like that for DC, it's just kind of like, here you go. Well, and then you just wait for them to do all. Well, and you know, they, they paired me with John who's, you know, forgotten more about comics than I'm ever going to know. So. Oh. Sorry. Yeah. You have to write a script. It's like, yeah, you have to write a script in two weeks.

[00:31:20] By the way, the artist is well known for Hitman and the demon. Yeah. And it's like, oh, okay. No. And you're doing his Zatanna story together. Like he was going to be awesome no matter what. And so the script I handed into him, I'm like, John, I recognize there's, there's like directions here. They're just what is in my head. Please throw it out if you want to. You're going to come up with something cooler than I can think of. I will make it work.

[00:31:49] Anything is good. Like what Todd McFarlane says. It's like the writer and letter, they can fit that story into two panels, one panel. If the artist wanted seven, you can be in one. And like it, and you know, the really funny thing that story about related to it is that the book DC Zatanic Panic, it came out on October 1st on and hit stance. And, you know, my family was all excited and everyone, because people know what DC comics

[00:32:15] is like you, like in the indie comic space, no one ever knows what anything is, but they knew what this was. Um, so the book came out October 1st, but then on October 7th, one week later, we revealed to everyone that we were expecting and now no one cares. Like it's just, let's just talk about the baby. Like the, the sort of local family hype that I had for that was like gone in a, in a heartbeat, which makes it funnier. No one wants to talk about your first born. That's crazy.

[00:32:48] Look, you had a solid six days there. Yeah. All right. She had a solid six days, you know, so that's, that's, that's it. It is funny though, that the, like, you know, everyone knows Marvel DC. I mean, quite a few people know image, but that just happened to me today. I've sent, I've told everyone about, you know, Penny and the Yeti coming out in April. I sent them all the link, you know, told my family about it. Like, oh yeah. You know, they know that I host a podcast. No one's ever listened other than my brother, Bobby.

[00:33:18] Thanks Bobby. Hey Bobby. My sister has someone she knows who is like a manager of a kid's bookstore. And she had, so she called me up today. She goes, oh, like what's, what's the deal with your book? Like who's, who's publishing it? And I told her and she's like, is that like just a real thing?

[00:33:38] And I hear, I guess her, her friend who's a manager in the background, I guess just thought maybe my sister was just telling her, oh, my brother has like a book and he's just putting it up on whatever. And I'm like, no, it's like a real book. It's a real publisher, but it's like so hard to describe. You're like, yeah, it's paper cuts. They've got real distribution. In front of man cave. You can order it.

[00:34:27] Like, yeah. Yeah. The Kickstarter is going to have book one, book two, basically every other book that we've worked on that we can get copies, our hands on copies of. Um, I think we've got one page of original art also because our friend Zach, who did a pinup for us, has, does all his work, um, analog still, which is amazing. Um, and then, you know, obviously everything is digital.

[00:34:52] And then we get to play the fun game of what are the tariffs going to be? That's a whole other thing. What's the shipping look like right now? I feel like Kickstarter in that sense is just, it's different, right? The world's different than it was three years ago when we did this. So I'm excited to see what it looks like.

[00:35:11] I'm, I keep telling Steven this, Jimmy, I'm, I'm terrified of this campaign because we, we put the pre-launch page up like a year ago and I came back to it to prep it, whatever, two months ago. And I discovered that it had been floating around on, I'm assuming the pre-launch page of Kickstarter. They have a little tab that shows the projects that are upcoming and it's got like 300 followers. And I don't know how many of those people are robots.

[00:35:37] So I have no idea what to expect from this campaign because anyone who's run a Kickstarter knows as soon as you put a campaign up, you start getting emails from people who aren't real people. And so I just have, I just have no idea what this is going to look like once it launches. And that's both exciting and, uh, and kind of scary. I just respond to all of them. I mean, right now I have so many robot, you know, AI friends. Um, who doesn't have robot AI friends? Yeah. Just embrace it. Just embrace it.

[00:36:05] I mean, I've seen all the robot movies. It doesn't look that bad. You gotta befriend them before they get too powerful, right? So they remember it. You've seen Terminator 2. Everybody says it's going to be Terminator, but nobody ever says, could it be Terminator 2 when he becomes a guy? What if it's just her? Yeah. Oh, that is that, that's the, uh. Yeah, that's the one. Joaquin Phoenix one. Falls in love with the robot. That's a beautiful one story. Great. Yeah. Society is the villain in that movie. That's true.

[00:36:35] That's, that, that is true. It is society. So it's, it's been really exciting. Yeah, it is. It's been really exciting. And you know, I'm really excited for you, Jimmy. Mad Cave is awesome as far as I'm concerned. We here know about it. So we can tell you how great it is. And I'm really, and like Mike Marks is over there. He's awesome. Like the whole, the books they've done are great. I've read a lot of them. Yeah, it's, I, I'm, I'm really excited to be, to be over there, to be with them. And I, and I, I like the stuff Paper Cuts is doing now.

[00:37:03] Like I interviewed Trevor, um, um, Mueller not that long ago. And he's doing like a series of steam society books and, um, like David Pepos. I really love David's work. And he, um, the name of the artist is escaping me, but they just had recently come out. I think it was called 10 ton Titan Terrier, which is like a fun name, a fun kids robot, like mech suit kind of, kind of book. So yeah. Um, yeah, I'm excited.

[00:37:31] It's just like, you know, I don't know, trying to, trying to get on shows and do, do this thing on the other side of it and have to like answer questions. That's the part that I, I mean, I can talk like all day. It's just like having to, to do it. It has to be exhausting. Like I'm, I'm looking at like setting stuff up and I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is like, this is a lot. Like, you know, trying to keep my, this podcast going, trying to get on other stuff and promote, but you know, in layers. So many things.

[00:38:01] You'll also come out and like post stuff on social media. You'll come to realize the sorts of questions, like the fun questions to ask even in your own interviews going forward. And when the sort of the standard questions that you get asked everywhere, like Steven and I were joking, we think the number of times now that we've asked, like, how did you get into comics? How did you meet each other? What was the first comic you read? Like those, those answers get so refined. Yeah. And then every once in a while you get hit with like a good one, like a good question where

[00:38:30] you pause and you have to think and you have to give a, a thoughtful response that you weren't prepared for. And those are always, always the best. Yeah. I'm just going to give different answers every time. Like the Joker. That's my, it's my goal. Yeah. Yeah. Different origin story every time. You know, well, let me, I want to steal some stuff. What is like the best question you've ever been asked in an interview? This one. Never had to have an answer for this one. Yeah. Well, we covered all that stuff. I did last time. How'd you meet each other? How'd you get out?

[00:39:00] What was your meet cute? We did. Yeah. I think my favorite question that hasn't been asked yet is what I'm going to work on. And I'm trying, it's a way for me to try and talk about how, and I was going to say this earlier, um, when dealing with a book like this, what I really love about it is the way, the weird ways that we get to sort of twist the lore of things that in ways that people aren't expecting.

[00:39:24] So like in this one, the idea that way or that Brian sets a trap for the vampires with like in like a, in like a steam room with holy water and, and UV lights. Like, I think those sorts of ideas are fun. Um, and every once in a while when Steven and I are brainstorming something like that will pop up. Like do vampires trigger motion detector lights?

[00:39:51] Um, the sort of like real world implication questions. Um, and I find though making up those sorts of things to be so much fun. Yeah. I, I, I, I never thought of that. Would they, would a vampire trip like a motion sensor light? Uh, I'm going to be thinking about that one for a while. I mean, I can give you the academic answer, which is that it's relate, like the vampire shadow reflection thing is more related to the sun.

[00:40:19] Um, his like religiously, religious symbol wise. And so yes, they should probably still trip a motion detector light, but it's more fun when you throw those things out and you make up your own lore. Uh, so that's where I have a lot of fun with books like this. That's awesome. Yeah. I, I, I have to think that like doing things like that and putting your own spin like on the Lord, you know, does have to be a lot of fun and really creative.

[00:40:49] And because you, you don't want to do the same thing that we've seen in other comics or TV shows or movies or whatever it might be. I, I, I do want to say a couple of things about the book itself before we, we go and get out of here. Because as I said, before we started recording, my wife is, is going to start tonight's episode of the pit without me. And I told her I'd be there. And we respect that. Um, so, but thank you. I do, I do appreciate that.

[00:41:15] So there's a couple of things that I, I, I wanted to say and point out in, in particular that I really loved the colors of this. And in particular, I wanted to, I'm just going to share my screen again real quick to show something. I know it's a podcast listeners and you can't see what I'm showing them, but I'll, I'll just describe it in terms of one of the panels.

[00:41:39] Um, where we see Wade kind of like on his bike looking out over the city. And like, I, I just love kind of sitting in this moment. I, I, I love the look of it. I love the colors of it. I, I, you know, I, I love, I love the little yellow text box with the dialogue in it. I just thought like this kind of like, I was like, yeah, I would, that's, I would take that print. I put it up on the wall like that.

[00:42:06] I just really love the whole composition of it. So I wanted to just point that out because I really liked it. So this panel really turned out. You haven't seen it in like two years. It, yeah, it, it like, it was such a stressful panel. Cause like I talked about like so many things as I draw, like it's, I'm always challenging myself to do like a first or whatever.

[00:42:34] And it's like, I was like, well, how do I show like the outskirts or like the, like this, like the more suburbs downtown. And then I want to show the downtown of the background and like the layers of the image and really turned out. He's, he's rediscovering his own art. That's what I'm saying. It really did. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's great.

[00:43:00] But yeah, listeners, you'll, you'll see it when you back laundry men book two, you'll see it. It Brian, uh, Wade, not Brian. Wade is on his bike. He's kind of like, it looks like he may be a little bit up on a hilltop, kind of looking out over the, the outskirts of the, of the town. And it's like the sky is like a bit purple and it just, it looks really nice. It's very well composed. It's a nice moment to kind of sit in before Wade really gets in the shit because that's, that's what happens next.

[00:43:28] Um, and then the big, the culmination, you know, the big fight scene, we've now got all our characters together and all that stuff happens. One of the things that I, it's tough. I love to laugh. As you can tell, I laugh at all this dumb shit I say on here. Cause I just, I love to laugh. I love making people laugh. I think sometimes with reading a comic, even ones that are supposed to be funny. I mean, I've said this a million times on the podcast. I think comedy is tough to do in a comic.

[00:43:53] So much of comedy is timing and pacing and it can be, you know, difficult other than like visual gags or like a really funny, like well-written joke, but it can be difficult. I don't know. I don't know. Like it was intentional. It's like a very serious acts action scene, but made me laugh out loud when Brian is fighting and, and rips off one leg of the table. And then like, that doesn't quite work. And he has to go back and rip off two more legs of the table.

[00:44:23] I, I thought that was hilarious. Like, I just thought it was so funny. Like, cause he seemed frustrated in that moment. And he's like in the middle of like a really well-drawn, well-done action scene. But the fact that he like had to go back to the table and rip off like two more legs during the fight. I think his line at that point is like, I need to try a little harder. I guess really got me. And that seemed like really good.

[00:44:51] It shows the competence of the characters where he's like, I know how to do this and I'm winning this fight, but this guy won't go down. Yeah. And then that's the problem. He solved it. I just love it. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was, that was great. So, uh, all right. Well, um, Lyndon, Steven, thank you so much, uh, for, for coming back. Hopefully it won't be another three years before we get back on here and chat again.

[00:45:18] But, um, shouldn't be the lawn, the laundry man book too. It's there'll be a link in the show notes listeners. Um, uh, February 2nd, it will be on Kickstarter. So if you're listening to this within like the first week or so it comes out, you'll be able to go and get notified or, or back the campaign right away in the early days. But yeah, I love the concept. I really loved laundry man book one.

[00:45:44] I think book two is really something special and yeah, you should definitely check it out. Uh, so, you know, Lyndon, Steven, thank you so much. And I'm just so excited for all the success you've had in the past three years, which includes children. So, um, no, thank you so much for coming back on. I appreciate it. And congratulations on your own success. Thanks for having us back on. My favorite conversations that I think Steven and I have been doing lately are the ones where we get to, to talk. Like it's not just question and answer.

[00:46:12] So I love that we were able to come back and like, you know, go back and forth a little bit on it and really, really dig into all of our experiences. It's just, it's just great. Yeah. I, I a hundred percent agree. So, um, to listeners, uh, the laundry men book two, February 2nd. Thank you so much for listening. Shout out to my brother, Bobby, uh, the cryptic creator corners. Number one, most. Thanks Bobby. Bobby listens to all my episodes and, uh, yeah, thank you so much for. Hey Bobby.

[00:46:41] He loves when people say, when people, when strangers thank him, it's his favorite. Uh, it really is. So, uh, thank you so much for listening. I'll see you next time. Uh, good night. This is Byron O'Neill. One of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate review, subscribe all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening.

[00:47:11] If you enjoyed this episode of the cryptic creator corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast, Into the Comics Cage. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Bye. Bye. Bye.