Richard Ashley Hamilton Interview - Tectiv

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

[00:00:10] I love comic books.

[00:00:11] Hey children of the algorithm, I wanted to tell you about another great comics related podcast. Our friends Dan, Dwayne, and Sienna with Comics Over Time have a great show that you should definitely check out.

[00:00:20] Dan has been a Comic Book Yeti contributor since before I was around and the show delves deep into comics history, analyzing it from the wider cultural landscape at the time.

[00:00:30] I learned a lot just listening in and they are keeping it fresh too with Sienna reporting in about the current Marvel offerings.

[00:00:36] I love seeing the next generation excited about comics and it's cool to see a family participating in comics journalism together.

[00:00:42] This season they are focused on the history of everyone's favorite Hell's Kitchen vigilante daredevil.

[00:00:47] It's a fantastic show that you're going to want to add to your rotation. You can find them at Comics Over Time on your favorite podcasting platform or at their website, comicsovertime.podbean.com.

[00:00:59] I'll drop a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.

[00:01:02] He's a daredevil, Ned!

[00:01:05] Y'all, Jimmy the Chaos Goblin strikes again!

[00:01:08] I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad.

[00:01:15] He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know and now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we can start playing.

[00:01:23] Another friend chimes in, are you going to make maps?

[00:01:26] It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together so I guess, question mark?

[00:01:31] It was then that I discovered Arkhamforge. If you don't know who Arkhamforge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive.

[00:01:40] Allowing you to build, play and export animated maps including in-person fog of war capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture.

[00:01:52] Now I'm set to easily build high-res animated maps saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign.

[00:02:00] That's a win every day in my book.

[00:02:02] Check them out at arkhamforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off.

[00:02:08] I'll drop a link in the show notes for you and big thanks to Arkhamforge for partnering with our show.

[00:02:13] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even.

[00:02:17] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner.

[00:02:21] I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I am very excited to talk to tonight's guest.

[00:02:26] He is a writer and we're going to talk about a couple of different Maverick books, which is, as you know, I've had some creators for Maverick on before.

[00:02:36] It's Mad Cave's imprint.

[00:02:39] He has a new one coming out with artist Marco Matrone that I absolutely love.

[00:02:45] We're going to get into why it's called Tective and also Scoop, Volume 1, Volume 2.

[00:02:51] Volume 2 just came out not that long ago, and we are going to talk all about that as well, I hope, as well as plenty of other things to talk about with Richard Ashley Hamilton.

[00:03:01] Richard, welcome to the podcast.

[00:03:04] Thank you for having me.

[00:03:05] Thank you for the warm welcome.

[00:03:08] Well, let's get started right away and jump in with Tective.

[00:03:13] And I like when Frank Silva, I've talked about Frank before on the podcast, he works for Mad Cave, is great with setting these up.

[00:03:22] And Frank will just send out some stuff and say, oh, we have this, we have that.

[00:03:27] And I try and get folks on because it's, I really like what Mad Cave, what Maverick, paper cuts, the stuff that they put out.

[00:03:35] And I really didn't know, I didn't read anything about Tective.

[00:03:38] Frank sends it all.

[00:03:40] He's like, stuff about the creators, about you, about Marco, you know, a little blurb about the book.

[00:03:46] I didn't check out anything.

[00:03:47] I just like to dive in.

[00:03:50] Good.

[00:03:50] I loved it.

[00:03:52] Awesome.

[00:03:52] It was so, so good.

[00:03:54] First off, I'm a big fan of detective stories in general.

[00:03:59] First grade, I used to sign my name Sherlock Holmes.

[00:04:01] I was probably the only first grader in Delaware County, PA, that knew who Sherlock Holmes was.

[00:04:08] But I loved Sherlock Holmes so much.

[00:04:13] So I love detective stories and always have, regardless of what it is.

[00:04:19] A different take on Sherlock, all the way to, you know, noirs and Columbo, anything in that realm, I've always kind of, you know, been a fan of.

[00:04:34] And I mean, this is detective and it's, you know, colon noartopia.

[00:04:40] You know, I, I really bingo is bingo finders, the main character.

[00:04:47] I just kind of fell in love with this world and this story.

[00:04:53] This is the, again, I love these maverick type of books that I think the age demographic that it is written for, I think will really enjoy it.

[00:05:04] But it's the type of thing.

[00:05:05] I have two kids.

[00:05:06] I have a 12 year old and a seven year old.

[00:05:07] It's the type of thing I can hand to my 12 year old and I think she'll dig it.

[00:05:12] And then we can kind of, you know, talk about it and have that kind of connection, something in common.

[00:05:17] Did you like this part?

[00:05:18] Did you like that?

[00:05:19] Also, and I know I'm kind of going on and on and not letting you talk, but I'll get through this.

[00:05:24] And then, and then you, I'll get through this and then you can go.

[00:05:28] Marco's, I'm not super familiar with, with, with Marco's work.

[00:05:32] Phenomenal.

[00:05:33] Like all the little things in the background, all the little elements.

[00:05:37] To this, to this world is, is so great.

[00:05:41] Cause it's set in kind of like a dystopian type of future, which, you know, you get into it and you discover all the, what the place is called.

[00:05:50] All the little nods to the things that like, you know, if you're paying attention, you realize like, oh, oh, this, this, this is what that is.

[00:05:59] It's almost had like a, um, uh, HG Wells time machine kind of vibe to what they call things.

[00:06:08] Nobody's looked at that book more than I have.

[00:06:11] And I'm still finding fun little Easter eggs that Marco's left everywhere.

[00:06:14] So yeah, I'm right there with you.

[00:06:16] Um, yeah.

[00:06:17] So I, I thought it was great, but why, why don't let, let's get into it.

[00:06:21] Um, tell me a little bit about, you know, or, and tell the listeners about Tective.

[00:06:26] Sure.

[00:06:27] Well, first of all, yes, Frank Silva's great.

[00:06:30] I'm about to see him later this week at Miami book fair.

[00:06:32] So I'll tell him that this is why his ears were burning.

[00:06:38] And, um, yeah, man, thanks for all the kind words.

[00:06:41] I mean, like you, I'm, I've always been a lifelong fan of detective fiction and, and noir in particular.

[00:06:49] I went to film school and those were those in Hitchcock movies were always my favorite, favorite ones to watch, um, in class.

[00:06:56] And then, you know, in, in, in the dorm room too.

[00:06:59] Um, and, you know, I always wanted to, and I live in LA.

[00:07:04] I was born and raised in Miami, but I've spent, I think now over my God, half my life in Los Angeles, which is, you know, I, I think of very much as like the birth place of noir.

[00:07:15] Um, and so it's, it's kind of inescapable and, you know, especially after I moved out here, I really started getting into the, the works of, you know, James Elroy, LA confidential, his whole LA quartet.

[00:07:28] Um, and, and even there's, you know, sort of modern writers like Jordan Harper, who I think is co-show running the criminal show based on the Sean Phillips books.

[00:07:40] So he's a great TV writer, but also great novelist and has written some sort of modern day noir stuff in, um, set in LA.

[00:07:49] And I guess I just felt like I could never stand up to those guys, but, um, you know, I'm also a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction.

[00:07:58] And I just thought, you know, maybe we could sort of take sort of the, the conventions of a noir detective yarn, but represent them in this, what we call a post post-apocalyptic world.

[00:08:11] Um, and so it's set in a far future version of LA after a kind of mysterious cataclysm that we tease.

[00:08:18] Um, and so it's like way after the fallout and the rebuilding of society and LA has kind of returned to what it originally was, which is this very sort of agrarian farmland, almost utopian society.

[00:08:32] Um, and just once we started thinking about it in those terms, all those like hallmarks of the, um, of the, the noir genre, you know, somebody in a trench coat and a hat and rain slicked streets and, um, you know, foot traces through those seats and narration, all that moodiness.

[00:08:52] Um, it just all started to take on this new charge when we were thinking about it, this, this like whacked out future world.

[00:08:58] So, um, that, that was kind of, you know, the genesis of the world and, um, Marco Matrone, our artist, um, we had worked together previously on a book at, um, um, aftershock.

[00:09:12] They, they had a YA imprint briefly called seismic press.

[00:09:16] And we did a book there called fear book club a couple of years ago.

[00:09:19] And my editors at aftershock who are now my editors at maverick, Mike Martz and, um, Christina Harrington, they introduced me to Marco and he is my creative brother from another mother.

[00:09:33] We, uh, we, we had a really great time working on that.

[00:09:36] We've now done techative together and no spoilers, but there's, there's another techative, um, in the works.

[00:09:42] And we actually are also doing another book, um, for the paper cuts line at mad cave.

[00:09:48] So, um, we just need to clone Marco and then everything's going to be fine, but he's, he's a very busy man.

[00:09:55] Um, but super supremely talented and, um, yeah, he, he brought the world to life and I don't know what your experience of it is, but for me, like, I love looking at it.

[00:10:05] Cause it's sort of like savage and dangerous, but also kind of beautiful too, at the same time.

[00:10:11] And, um, you know, I think his world building skills are insane, but also his, um, his acting and, and kind of the characters and all just the nuance in them.

[00:10:23] And, you know, bingo in particular, we, we put her through her paces and I feel like now it's my time to go on a long rant.

[00:10:31] So please interrupt whenever you want, Jimmy.

[00:10:34] Go ahead.

[00:10:34] But, um, you know, she, I guess for, for, you know, your, your listeners who, um, maybe haven't read the book yet, uh, comes out December 10th.

[00:10:44] Um, she, uh, bingos our main character and she is a scavenger.

[00:10:50] That's like her job in this, this, um, post post-apocalyptic world.

[00:10:54] And, um, she finds, you know, goods in all these ruins, these strange ruins all around LA and brings them back to her village and repurposes them.

[00:11:03] Um, but her, her favorite thing that she finds and the things that she never barters with anyone else are books.

[00:11:09] And in particular detective books, old, you know, PI pot boilers from the thirties and forties.

[00:11:15] And, and the reason our graphic novel is called tective is because bingo's favorite book, the cover of it is tattered and some of the letters are missing.

[00:11:22] And instead of saying the full word detective, all she can read, sorry, the full word detective, all she can read is tective.

[00:11:29] So that's how our, our graphic novel gets its name.

[00:11:32] Um, but, uh, one of, um, bingo's friends, um, you know, that she has a best friend, they live in this future version of LA and it really is presented to them.

[00:11:44] And to us at first is like a utopia and it's, um, uh, post crime, um, post racism, post misogyny, everyone gets along.

[00:11:54] And because there's been no crime in a thousand years since they've rebuilt society, there's like no need for cops or law enforcement and everything's honky dory.

[00:12:02] Um, until bingo's friend, uh, mysteriously, uh, vanishes one night.

[00:12:07] And, um, since there's no cops around, there's nobody to help bingo.

[00:12:11] And she's just left with questions.

[00:12:13] She wants to know how could her friend disappear in this like supposedly perfect world that they live in.

[00:12:20] And why can't anyone help and how is this possible?

[00:12:23] And bingo just can't accept that.

[00:12:25] And so she thinks back to those books that she loves and she thinks, well, there used to be these guys who would walk around in trench coats and fedoras and they'd walk around a city called LA and they'd help find missing people.

[00:12:36] So that's what I'm going to do.

[00:12:37] I'm going to become a detective.

[00:12:38] And so she becomes sort of the first private investigator in thousands of years.

[00:12:42] And, um, in true noir fashion, when she starts to search for her missing friend all through this weird version of LA, um, she starts to find out that maybe it isn't such a utopia.

[00:12:54] And there are all these, um, buried skeletons, um, sometimes literally.

[00:13:00] And she, um, also starts to discover some, some things about herself, not necessarily secrets from her past, but sort of like, you know, maybe some, some beliefs that she had or some way that she was living her life that, that, you know, maybe was just as kind of as much of a sham as, as the society that she now finds herself living in.

[00:13:19] So, um, very moody, very noir, very, you know, questions upon questions and shades of gray, but for kids and, uh, you know,

[00:13:29] No, that's the thing that you, I mean, all of the things that you said, I mean, you wrote it at your book, um, are true, but it's, it's a lot of fun.

[00:13:40] I mean, Bingo is such a fascinating character.

[00:13:43] And one of the, the great things is we know any fan of any fans of noir who have seen a noir or a few or read some, whatever it might be, you, you get the, the, the tropes of it that, you know, the, the, the kind of like the, the voiceover narration, the, um, the main character who, you know, there's, there's usually some element of they, they have some like moral wrong or something they're trying to fix.

[00:14:12] Or they're, they're doomed from the start or, you know, fame, femme fatale.

[00:14:16] But, uh, Bingo only knows about noirs from what she has read.

[00:14:24] And there is nobody else in her like peer group that understands what it is she's doing.

[00:14:30] Yeah.

[00:14:30] And she takes it so seriously, but she is smart enough to know that she's kind of alone in what she's doing.

[00:14:41] And like, it's so smartly done in terms of like her own narration.

[00:14:44] Like she sometimes corrects like the narration.

[00:14:48] Um, yeah.

[00:14:49] When she starts, like when she first dresses up as a detective, right.

[00:14:53] I guess I better start narrating like one.

[00:14:55] And she starts to do it in, in the present tense and realizes like, Oh shoot, I think it's supposed to be past tense.

[00:15:02] Right.

[00:15:03] So she's, and she's kind of goofing up throughout all of it.

[00:15:06] Yeah.

[00:15:07] But, but it's, she's taking it so seriously and it's interesting.

[00:15:11] And I think it's done so well that her only experience is through having like, having like read it.

[00:15:18] And so she approaches everything as from someone who just has like that, like a literary point of view of, of the noir.

[00:15:26] But she does try so hard to get it right.

[00:15:29] But she's still a fascinating character.

[00:15:31] She's very, she can be funny.

[00:15:33] She's very like, uh, can be like somewhat self-deprecating, uh, in, in true noir fashion.

[00:15:39] I think she flirts with a substance abuse problem.

[00:15:42] Um, you know, and, and I don't know if it's.

[00:15:47] You know, real or if it's because of this character that she's developed when she is the detective.

[00:15:55] I, I thought it, I mean, I just, I loved it.

[00:15:58] I was over the moon about it, reading it.

[00:16:00] Yeah.

[00:16:00] Uh, that's very gratifying to hear.

[00:16:03] Um, yeah, she's, I mean, you know, bingo is also an orphan when we meet her.

[00:16:09] So she's with the exception of her best friend who's gone missing.

[00:16:13] Um, she's used to being alone.

[00:16:16] And so now that she's, you know, wearing a trench coat and fedora and nobody around her even knows what that is.

[00:16:22] Or like, they didn't realize that she's dressing up as like a character.

[00:16:26] They just think she's gone nuts.

[00:16:27] You know, like she's sort of used to being the solitary figure.

[00:16:31] And in the beginning, I, we have a lot of fun or try to with like getting her from being sort of like a kid playing dress up to actually like, like shit gets real.

[00:16:43] And like, and, and then it's like, there are real stakes and she, there's a really steep learning curve.

[00:16:49] And she has to learn on the fly fast or otherwise, like she's going to go missing too.

[00:16:54] So we, we do that, but I'm, I was so happy to hear you say that it's also fun because that was very much by design and Marco's art makes it fun.

[00:17:03] But because we're also in this, in such a far future version of LA after like kind of every kind of post-apocalyptic scenario you can imagine.

[00:17:14] We have every, like, we feel like we have access to everything.

[00:17:18] So we have like talking coyotes.

[00:17:20] We have mutants everywhere.

[00:17:22] We have robot cults.

[00:17:24] We have like all, all kinds of stuff.

[00:17:27] And part of the fun for me is now, if not a LA native, then, you know, sort of a long time LA transplant is sort of taking local famous landmarks and representing them in really altered states.

[00:17:43] And yeah, Marco does an amazing job with them.

[00:17:46] Oh, absolutely.

[00:17:48] The coyotes are fantastic.

[00:17:52] Like every time they showed up, I was really excited for that.

[00:17:56] But, um, I mean, it is fun, but what you just said about the stakes, there are real stakes.

[00:18:01] Like that was kind of, you know, surprising as I was reading it, which is one of the things I think it's great for the, the age group that they, you know, Maverick or markets towards.

[00:18:13] But also like, I, I didn't feel like I was, oh, this is a, what is a kid's graphic novel, or this is a YA graphic novel.

[00:18:20] Like the stakes on it, there are real stakes to what Bingo is trying to do.

[00:18:25] And she clearly gets in over her head very like quickly and has to kind of like readjust and reassess.

[00:18:34] Um, well, I, I mean, I, you know, for, thank you for saying that too.

[00:18:41] I sort of for better or for worse, that's just like the way that, that I like to write, you know, like I'm, you and I are about the same age.

[00:18:48] Um, I was a kid of the eighties.

[00:18:50] I grew up with all the Amblin movies and, you know, stuff like, you know, Goonies and everything else.

[00:18:55] And I always loved that there was real peril for those kids and being a kid in the audience, seeing that the young characters were usually the smartest ones around way more, you know, tuned in than their parents were or like law enforcement.

[00:19:09] Yeah.

[00:19:09] And, um, I just appreciated that.

[00:19:12] I never felt talked down to in the audience.

[00:19:14] I don't think I could have articulated it at six or seven, but now that I look back on it, I'm like, yeah, nobody like insulted my intelligence as a little kid.

[00:19:22] Right.

[00:19:23] So I, I, I always trying to apply the same thing to anything I write.

[00:19:27] And, um, you know, my, my background, I worked at DreamWorks Animation for a few years and, you know, we were always trying to make movies and shows and stories that would appeal to all audiences, which doesn't mean all ages.

[00:19:44] It doesn't mean like a watered down kiddie version.

[00:19:47] It just means that sort of like what you were saying, like you feel comfortable sharing tech with your 12 year old, but also, you know, you as a, as a full grown man, you know, you get something out of it too.

[00:19:58] And like, that's, that's also the way it was when I was growing up reading comics.

[00:20:03] Like, you know, the, the books I would get off the spinner rack as a seven year old, like the Superman I would pick up would be the same one that like a 20 year old or 30 year old or 40 year old would be reading.

[00:20:14] And we all enjoyed it.

[00:20:15] It's not like they had to do different versions for different age groups.

[00:20:18] It was one story that could, you know, there could be something in it for everyone and it might be different for different ages, the thing that they latch onto, but it was all in there.

[00:20:27] So I don't know.

[00:20:29] That's like a, just a really long winded way of saying like, you know, I, I'm, I'm a dad too.

[00:20:34] And, and, you know, I want to write stuff that my kids can enjoy and, and that also, you know, old folks our age can enjoy too.

[00:20:43] Yeah. Well, I, I, I think, I think you nailed it.

[00:20:46] Thank you.

[00:20:47] Yeah. You and Marco, I mean, working together, there was, there's just, there's so many good things in it.

[00:20:55] I think listeners are just really going to love it.

[00:20:57] I mean, any type of detective story, or even if you, you know, you have, you know, you have kids that are interested in, in detective stories or you want to introduce them to noir.

[00:21:08] Um, and, and what that, that me, what that is like, what that, that genre can do.

[00:21:15] Um, but in that, this, that fun futuristic, you know, post everything setting of, of LA, there's, there's just a lot of, a lot of, a lot of great stuff in it.

[00:21:27] All right.

[00:21:28] Let's take a quick break.

[00:21:28] After a string of unexplained disappearances in the Southern parts of the United States, retired detective Clint searches for his white trash brother.

[00:21:45] While searching for him, he ends up being abducted by aliens.

[00:21:49] He is now in the arena for big guns, stupid rednecks at intergalactic cables, newest hit show, which puts him and other humans in laser gun gladiatorial combat.

[00:21:59] And his brother is the reigning champion with 27 kills.

[00:22:04] That's the premise for a new book from band of barns, big guns, stupid rednecks.

[00:22:09] I got a chance to see an advanced preview of this book and being from the South, honestly, I was a bit skeptical going in, but they won me over and nothing is more powerful than an initially skeptic convert in my book.

[00:22:20] In Jimmy's words, big guns, stupid rednecks is many things, but it isn't subtle.

[00:22:25] It tells you exactly what it is up front.

[00:22:27] Then it delivers with a great premise, fantastic art and a whole mess of fun.

[00:22:31] I had a great time reading big guns, stupid rednecks.

[00:22:34] And what I thought was going to be an indictment of redneck culture quickly showed it was actually a love letter, a family mystery, brother pitted against brother, aliens fighting for profit in a big arena.

[00:22:45] This truly has it all.

[00:22:47] Issue one is out already, but you can still pick up a copy on the band of bards website and current issues are available via your previews or lunar order form.

[00:22:54] Or just ask your LCS.

[00:22:56] Don't miss it.

[00:22:57] Let's get back to the show.

[00:22:58] There are a couple of things that I, it took me a second, you know, I'm a pretty fast reader at reading comics.

[00:23:04] I've the past 10 years, I've really had to train myself to like slow down and appreciate the art.

[00:23:09] Cause I've always, as a kid been a fast reader.

[00:23:12] Yeah.

[00:23:13] At first there's something in, uh, I guess bingo's room.

[00:23:18] Um, but I didn't realize at first that I just, I saw the private eye and then I was like, wait, that's,

[00:23:24] that's a Hall and Oates poster, right?

[00:23:26] Oh yeah.

[00:23:27] Well,

[00:23:29] and then I read scoop volume one and two and I was like, okay, well,

[00:23:32] yeah, no, um, every that's me.

[00:23:36] Uh, everything you read, uh, that I write is going to have Hall and Oates worked in there

[00:23:41] in, in some way or another, even if it's in a post post-apocalyptic, uh, nor just to be a

[00:23:48] whole scape.

[00:23:49] Yeah.

[00:23:49] I love them.

[00:23:50] So they inspire me.

[00:23:52] And so I just, that's me giving back to the world and, and just like how detective can

[00:23:57] be, uh, maybe a primer for like young readers who, who have never experienced noir before.

[00:24:03] Yeah.

[00:24:03] If, if I can introduce the majesty of the Hall and Oates musical catalog to even one young

[00:24:09] person out there.

[00:24:10] I happy.

[00:24:11] Okay.

[00:24:13] Well, uh, I, I think it's, I think it's admirable.

[00:24:16] Um, thank you.

[00:24:17] I did not realize it at first when I saw the private eye and I was like, I was good.

[00:24:23] I always, when I see private eye and two people on it, I always think the, uh, the Don Knotts

[00:24:28] Tim Conway movie, I think that was called private eyes.

[00:24:31] Oh my God.

[00:24:31] Wow.

[00:24:32] Yeah.

[00:24:33] 70s, early eighties, uh, traumatized me as a child.

[00:24:37] Um, the very end of the movie, Tim Conway's talk listeners.

[00:24:40] I apologize for this digression, but Tim Conway is talking the whole time about a Wook-A-Lar

[00:24:46] and then it appears at the, at the end of the movie.

[00:24:49] Um, so, and, and then, but then I realized with Bingo's dialogue, I was like, oh no, that's,

[00:24:55] this is Hall and Oates.

[00:24:56] Yeah.

[00:25:00] Tim Conway, Don Knotts, also awesome.

[00:25:02] Yeah.

[00:25:03] Yeah.

[00:25:03] In a different way.

[00:25:04] But, um, yeah, well that's, I mean, I think it's a lot of fun.

[00:25:07] I think that's great.

[00:25:08] I think that's, uh, I, I, I love those.

[00:25:11] I love those little nods.

[00:25:12] Those, those little things.

[00:25:14] Um, yeah.

[00:25:15] You say nod.

[00:25:15] I, other people might say compulsion, but yeah, it's, uh, you know.

[00:25:20] Semantics.

[00:25:21] Yeah.

[00:25:23] Well, let, let's turn now, um, and talk a little bit about Scoop volume.

[00:25:29] Uh, one has been out.

[00:25:31] Volume two came out this year, right?

[00:25:33] Yeah.

[00:25:34] Both, both came out this year.

[00:25:35] Okay.

[00:25:36] Um, volume one was in the spring.

[00:25:38] Volume two came out in October and, uh, we have, uh, two more on the way next year.

[00:25:44] Oh, awesome.

[00:25:45] Um, yeah.

[00:25:46] So I, I, I, uh, they sent Scoop, you know, PDF over to, to, to read through.

[00:25:51] And I, I read both Scoop one and two, which, um, your main character, Sophie, she is, her dad

[00:25:59] is in a lot of trouble.

[00:26:01] She's interning for, uh, uh, news.

[00:26:03] She's in high school interning for a news company in, in Miami.

[00:26:08] Um, very, you know, very Veronica Mars as investigative reporter.

[00:26:15] If I can, if I can say that, um, I'm flattered.

[00:26:20] I love it.

[00:26:22] Well, I, I, I did not watch Veronica Mars when it was first on my wife watched it.

[00:26:28] And then at some point she was watching it a second time and I decided to watch it with

[00:26:34] her and, um, very much enjoyed it.

[00:26:37] Yeah.

[00:26:37] Really liked Veronica Mars.

[00:26:39] Um, and yeah, I, I instantly kind of got those vibes from it like Veronica Mars, but,

[00:26:49] but, you know, rather than her and her dad being a partner, um, she's trying to figure

[00:26:54] out what's going on with, uh, what her dad is being accused of.

[00:26:58] And she's kind of partnered with like her little brother, uh, who's 10 and who's great.

[00:27:04] James Bond.

[00:27:06] You, uh, that's exactly what we describe him.

[00:27:10] And he was based on my little brother.

[00:27:12] That's the way he was when we were that age.

[00:27:14] He's the little tech.

[00:27:15] Um, yeah, but another store, another, another comic that I, I, I feel it doesn't talk down

[00:27:23] to, to kids at all.

[00:27:24] Um, uh, very, very fun, very, you know, funny at times, a lot of action, uh, stakes.

[00:27:34] But with these very strange, it's not strange in a bad way.

[00:27:40] These very weird twists that I like was not expecting that totally, you know, sucked me

[00:27:46] in.

[00:27:47] Like it, it, it, cause it, it plays very straight as like dad's been accused of crime.

[00:27:54] She's going to get an internship.

[00:27:55] She's going to use her connections with the news agency to like figure out what's really

[00:28:00] going on with her dad.

[00:28:02] And then it takes like a X files, like left turn at some point.

[00:28:08] And, um, I, I hate to reference all these other things because it is, it is very different

[00:28:13] than all of those, but you know, I always make connections.

[00:28:16] No, that's other stuff.

[00:28:18] It's what, what people do.

[00:28:19] So, uh, yeah.

[00:28:20] It's honestly how we, that's like the elevator pitch for scoop is Mars meets X files or for

[00:28:27] me, it's even like, um, I love, uh, cold check, the night stalker.

[00:28:32] Oh, okay.

[00:28:32] And I often say Sophie's like, uh, Carla cold check, but nobody under the age of 50 gets

[00:28:40] that reference.

[00:28:41] So you see Veronica Mars meets X files.

[00:28:44] Right.

[00:28:44] Right.

[00:28:45] Yeah.

[00:28:46] Yeah.

[00:28:46] Yeah.

[00:28:47] Veronica Mars was, and still is my, and my wife's favorite show.

[00:28:53] We started watching it when it aired and we were, I think even dating at the time.

[00:28:57] And it was same thing.

[00:28:58] It was like this.

[00:28:59] I also consider Veronica a noir character big time.

[00:29:02] Um, and, uh, when she, when that show got canceled, uh, the first time, uh, I was like

[00:29:11] so despondent and, and I was like, I gotta, I gotta like have a, another girl detective

[00:29:16] in my life.

[00:29:16] And that's when I started thinking about, about scoop.

[00:29:20] So there's very much like that DNA in there.

[00:29:23] And, and then the, the other part of it is, um, it's set in my hometown of Miami and, but

[00:29:30] in the present and when I lived there and when I was around her age, I, I got an internship

[00:29:35] at CNN totally roundabout way.

[00:29:39] But my first day on the job was just so happened to be the day that the fashion designer, Johnny

[00:29:45] Versace got murdered in front of his home in South beach, which was huge news story.

[00:29:52] Like the, the, basically the OJ Simpson trial sort of started the 24 hour news cycle, but it

[00:29:59] didn't really kick into high gear and become an international thing until the Versace killing.

[00:30:04] And so I got to ride down in the news van and go to a crime scene on my first day.

[00:30:12] And his, the poor man's body was still there and covered in a sheet.

[00:30:15] And it was, you know, like, I, I always quick to say, like, I never have ever wanted to make

[00:30:20] light of that, you know, horrific tragedy.

[00:30:24] But selfishly, it was this unbelievable learning experience about, you know, like my whole summer

[00:30:31] that year was the Versace case and the manhunt for the killer, Andrew Cunanan, and, and, you

[00:30:35] know, like everything else.

[00:30:37] And it was, it was a total mind blower because you're learning in real time how these stories

[00:30:44] are put together, how they're reported, everything that goes on in front of the camera, but also

[00:30:49] like to the, just as interesting stuff, sometimes even more interesting stuff that happens behind

[00:30:53] the camera, the ethics, the personalities, the politics, all that stuff.

[00:30:58] And so, um, I would say, you know, the love of Veronica Mars, plus the back that CNN background,

[00:31:06] plus my deep abiding, you know, passion for all things, sci-fi sort of informed this.

[00:31:12] And, and, you know, you're not the first person to say, like, they started reading scoop, but

[00:31:16] they thought it was one thing and all of a sudden it takes a total left turn.

[00:31:19] And I love that because honestly, that was my experience at CNN.

[00:31:23] I showed up on that first day wearing a suit and tie thinking I was going to be getting

[00:31:27] coffee and answering phones.

[00:31:29] And 20 minutes later, I'm riding in a news van and my life changed completely.

[00:31:33] There were no aliens or ghosts there as far as I know, but, you know, it was like, I

[00:31:39] feel like in your real life, if, if you go through like such a huge paradigm shift like

[00:31:42] that, you don't really see it coming.

[00:31:44] It's going to kind of like blindside you out of nowhere.

[00:31:47] And so I, I wanted Sophie to have that experience and to the extent possible in this world of

[00:31:53] like spoilers and advanced solicits and all that, I, I wanted the reader to try and have

[00:31:58] that experience as much as possible too.

[00:32:00] I, you know, some people don't like it.

[00:32:02] Some people are like, feel like they should have known it was a sci-fi thing and in from

[00:32:06] the get go.

[00:32:07] And I get that perspective too, but you know, I feel like there's plenty of stories that

[00:32:11] are like that.

[00:32:12] I sort of like these things that maybe hopefully surprise you in a, in a good way.

[00:32:16] Well, I, I thought it was, I, I enjoyed it.

[00:32:19] I, you know, um, one of my favorite episodes of, of the X-Files, I was a huge fan of the

[00:32:27] X-Files.

[00:32:27] I talked about on this podcast before when it, when it's come up, but I like fell absolutely

[00:32:33] in love with Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and that whole world, like whatever it was, I

[00:32:41] was way into it.

[00:32:42] And an episode, I don't think I really appreciated when it first aired and I was, you know, a kid

[00:32:52] or my young teens, whenever it was on.

[00:32:55] But as I grew older, it was one I go back to because of its weirdness, which is Jose Chung's

[00:33:03] from outer space.

[00:33:04] And that, and that episode is, is so bizarre.

[00:33:09] And I feel like it is all, you know, not the norm for X-Files, but I really appreciate that

[00:33:19] ability to just kind of like go for it.

[00:33:23] Like taking a big swing with like an episode, like, because they, a lot of the X-Files, at

[00:33:28] least, especially in the beginning, they played for, you know, Fox was the conspiracy theorist

[00:33:34] and, and, and Dana was more of the, you know, she was the FBI agent and by the book and like

[00:33:41] that dynamic.

[00:33:42] But they, it, even though there was weird stuff that they were investigating, it still kind

[00:33:47] of followed the rules of like a regular police procedural, but like Jose Chung from outer

[00:33:51] space, there's so many bizarre things crammed into like one episode.

[00:33:55] And I always, I forget, is that the one with Luke Wilson in it?

[00:34:01] Or is that a different one?

[00:34:03] Um, I, I, I want to say, I thought Jose Chung from outer space was the one where Alex Trebek

[00:34:09] shows up in the, uh, at the, at the end of it.

[00:34:14] Um, my guess is that Vince Gilligan probably wrote both of those or co-wrote both of them,

[00:34:20] but I could be wrong.

[00:34:23] Uh, probably I, I, I would imagine that that would, it would be the case.

[00:34:27] I I'll, I'll have to, I'll have to check, but, um, I don't know.

[00:34:31] I always felt like after that, I really wanted to allow myself to be open for letting a thing

[00:34:37] be what it wanted to be rather than what I wanted it to be, you know, cause I didn't,

[00:34:43] I didn't, I didn't create it and I have to meet, uh, uh, whatever it is.

[00:34:47] If I'm watching a TV show or a movie, a book, a play, a comic, I, I have to meet it like

[00:34:54] where it is.

[00:34:55] And I, I, I, if it's not done well, I can quibble with that, but I can't dislike something

[00:35:01] or discount it because it wasn't what I wanted it to be.

[00:35:05] And I should just go make my, then I should just go make my own stuff.

[00:35:09] Right.

[00:35:09] Yeah.

[00:35:09] No, but even if you make your own stuff, like I, I feel the same thing applies, you know,

[00:35:15] because like, it's, I don't know, it's always interesting.

[00:35:18] And, you know, I haven't, I've done a, an okay amount of comics, not as many as other

[00:35:23] people, but each, each time, like I do one and it comes out, I'm always reminded these

[00:35:27] things are like Rorschach tests, you know?

[00:35:29] And like as a creator and, you know, me and my, my collaborators, we all put a lot of ourselves

[00:35:35] in there and we all see it one way.

[00:35:37] And then it's always interesting, like how a reader will have a completely different reaction

[00:35:41] that we never could have expected.

[00:35:43] But, you know, I look, I, my son is, I have two boys, 12 and 16 and they, my older boy,

[00:35:53] you know, is a huge MCU fan and a huge horror movie fan.

[00:35:58] And so whenever trailers are coming out, he's watching them and he's asking me if I've seen

[00:36:02] them.

[00:36:02] And my answer is almost always no, because I love to go into things cold, you know, and,

[00:36:07] and be surprised.

[00:36:08] Like I, I want to be, I want to not see something coming, you know, if it's good and it's earned,

[00:36:14] then that's a really cool feeling.

[00:36:16] Yeah.

[00:36:17] So I'm right there with you.

[00:36:18] Yeah.

[00:36:19] Yeah.

[00:36:19] I just thought, yeah.

[00:36:20] So I really liked one and two.

[00:36:25] I thought they were, you know, very well done.

[00:36:28] I, the first one I thought was great.

[00:36:30] I mean, I did not see any of it.

[00:36:32] And some of the characters that pop back up in volume two, I know it's hard to talk about

[00:36:36] things without like giving stuff away, but, but listeners, there were some characters that

[00:36:41] were really interesting in volume one that, that, that pop back up in, in two.

[00:36:46] So, um, that's one of the other things I, I really liked the other, the other characters

[00:36:51] that you populate in the story.

[00:36:53] Um, they kind of the, the main reporter who has a very interesting character arc kind of

[00:36:59] takes Sophie under his wing, um, Ritz and, uh, and, uh, who I, I just can't, I don't

[00:37:08] know if he was drawn this way intentionally.

[00:37:10] I just kept, I kept, just kept seeing like John Slattery from Mad Men, um, was, was, was

[00:37:15] my, was my signpost for Ritz.

[00:37:18] That's the voice I hear in my head when I'm writing his dialogue.

[00:37:22] For sure.

[00:37:22] That's funny.

[00:37:23] Um, but yeah, I even, I mean, his arc where he is kind of, you know, they have to find

[00:37:30] him on the golf course in the very beginning and he's, you know, doesn't seem like, is

[00:37:36] he, does he still have it?

[00:37:38] He's, he's making, he's saying these things like he's, he's broke these, these stories,

[00:37:42] which he, he couldn't possibly have done.

[00:37:45] Yeah.

[00:37:46] You know, major name dropper and claims to have broken every big story over the past 50

[00:37:53] or 60 years, which is math doesn't add up amongst other things.

[00:37:58] He, how it was kind of based, the good parts of him were based on, um, two reporters.

[00:38:04] One was a guy named Hal Fishman out here in LA.

[00:38:07] When I moved out, he, you know, hosted the evening coast of the evening news.

[00:38:12] And he was just this like super old school kind of, you know, fuddy duddy, um, reporter.

[00:38:20] He would wear EV to frame glasses before it became cool to do that again.

[00:38:25] And he's double-breasted suits and either dyed his hair or wore a piece or something.

[00:38:30] But he was like, in LA, the news is very flashy and kind of absurd.

[00:38:38] And he was the one guy who would like just tell you the facts.

[00:38:42] And then every now and then he'd have a segment, I think it was called something like Hal's

[00:38:46] Corner or something like that.

[00:38:47] And that's when he would give his, his op-ed, his, his editorial, his opinion piece.

[00:38:52] And he'd have his moment to do that.

[00:38:54] But the rest of the time, it was like just the facts and really like good, solid reporting.

[00:38:59] And the other guy that Hal Ritz is based on was a reporter named, um, Bob Vito, who was

[00:39:04] the senior correspondent at CNN when I was interning there.

[00:39:07] And he was very kind to me and took me under his wing and kind of taught me some of the

[00:39:12] ropes and, and, um, you know, also kind of claimed to have broken every big story in the

[00:39:18] past 50 or 60 years, but I loved it.

[00:39:20] So, uh, you know, and it, it now lives on in a way through scoop, but yes.

[00:39:25] Yeah.

[00:39:25] I mean, the way he kind of does, you know, take Sophie under his wing and because he says he

[00:39:33] is like, you know, still has a nose for news.

[00:39:36] Um, and they, they make a very, you know, interesting team.

[00:39:42] Um, well, those are my favorite scenes to write because they, I, I, I do think they have a fun

[00:39:48] dynamic and he's kind of old and jaded and sort of, I think in a, in a weird way, sort

[00:39:54] of enjoys sort of being washed up.

[00:39:56] Like he likes sort of being taken for granted because then he can surprise people when he

[00:39:59] proves that he still knows what the hell he's doing.

[00:40:02] And Sophie is so like laser focused and driven on clearing her dad's name.

[00:40:08] She thinks he's been wrongfully accused of this crime.

[00:40:10] And that's why she joined the news is like, she's going to just like you said earlier,

[00:40:15] sort of, you know, find the truth and clear his name.

[00:40:19] And so they, they're like such polar opposites and he's kind of willfully gleefully out of

[00:40:24] touch.

[00:40:24] And she's like very contemporary and social media savvy and all that.

[00:40:28] So, um, we had a lot of fun and they also as close as Sophie is to her dad, because

[00:40:34] of his life circumstances being under house arrest with an ankle monitor and all that.

[00:40:38] Um, Sophie does start to form like a surrogate, you know, parent relationship with Hal and,

[00:40:44] and she starts to bring out the good in him again.

[00:40:47] And, uh, I, I just, yeah, I love writing those guys together.

[00:40:50] Yeah.

[00:40:51] I, I, I, every one of their scenes, you know, every, every panel with the two of them,

[00:40:55] I, I just thought was, uh, it was great.

[00:40:58] Um, yeah, I, I liked the weirdness of it.

[00:41:00] I, you know, I, I, I, I, at first I thought it was going to be more, you know, well, it's,

[00:41:06] it's, it's set in Miami.

[00:41:09] It, it, it all seems like it's being played for, you know, reality, uh, or at least reality

[00:41:16] as we know it.

[00:41:17] Um, but yeah, the, the weird stuff, I was just like, Oh, okay.

[00:41:24] Sure.

[00:41:24] Like, like, why not?

[00:41:26] Um, that was the plan, you know, like we, my experience has always been like the more

[00:41:32] realistic you make the real world stuff, like the more emotionally real it is and relatable.

[00:41:37] Yeah.

[00:41:38] Then as an audience, we are far more likely to go take a flyer and suspend our disbelief

[00:41:43] on some crazy plot twist, you know?

[00:41:46] Yeah.

[00:41:46] I, I mean, I do want to say, I, I don't know how I can say this.

[00:41:49] I don't want, I don't want to spoil this moment because I laughed out loud and in such a wonderful

[00:41:56] way, but there is a scene where they, where Sophie, um, uh, is trying to escape from somewhere.

[00:42:06] She's trying to escape in the Everglades and she ends up in a swamp and, um, she meets,

[00:42:14] we meet a character for the first time that kind of just points the way and it is so unexpected.

[00:42:21] And I, I like, I was giddy.

[00:42:24] Um, I was giddy that I was like, what is this book?

[00:42:30] Um, a hundred percent, like loved it.

[00:42:33] Like I am relieved because when we're making these things, I'm like, is anyone going to

[00:42:40] like this, but me, you know?

[00:42:41] So I just, it was, I just, again, it felt like it was so out of left field and, um, yeah.

[00:42:48] And it, it just, and Sophie is the type of person that she just kind of accepts it and keeps

[00:42:54] going and gets back to the mission.

[00:42:57] I, yeah, I w I w I was, I was giddy.

[00:43:00] I thought it was so wonderfully strange.

[00:43:03] Um, and, and yeah, and volume two, we now just to talk a little bit about volume two.

[00:43:10] Uh, we do, like I said, we have some of the same characters that pop up, but there is a,

[00:43:15] like a celebrity chef that has been accused of a, of a crime who gets off on a technicality,

[00:43:21] very OJ Simpson S and, uh, kind of asks Sophie to, Sophie's gotten some notoriety after what

[00:43:29] we see, if you find out happened, the events of volume one kind of asked Sophie to look into

[00:43:35] his case.

[00:43:37] And, um, again, there's some more strangeness, some, some more like weirdness about it, but

[00:43:43] the, the hell and Sophie scenes are, are so good.

[00:43:48] And I love how much like her family is in it just enough, you know, like that's got,

[00:43:55] that's a tough balance.

[00:43:56] I think when you're doing this, when you, you kind of have a bigger cast, it's not like

[00:44:00] just three or four people to figure out like those beats, like, am I overusing it?

[00:44:06] Am I underusing somebody?

[00:44:08] And just to talk about like, uh, you know, to, to nerd out on like the structure of comics

[00:44:14] for a minute.

[00:44:14] I really feel like the pacing of it and the use of like the family and how continuing that

[00:44:22] role is like a, a surrogate father, uh, on to, to, to suss out the truth.

[00:44:28] I, I just thought it, it, it really moves along at like a great clip.

[00:44:34] And, uh, I, I felt like I, I get like just enough of everybody.

[00:44:38] Like just when I'm wondering when the, uh, the, I guess the one reservation cop hasn't

[00:44:44] been seen in a while, he pops right up.

[00:44:48] Well, I, yeah, it's, it definitely becomes more and more of an ensemble as the series goes

[00:44:55] on.

[00:44:56] And, and, you know, part of that is like, I was lucky enough to grow up in Miami and

[00:45:01] there, there is a tremendous amount of diversity there.

[00:45:04] I mean, I'm, I'm half Cuban, um, but you know, there are huge European communities.

[00:45:09] They're Haitian.

[00:45:10] There's the Nikazuki, uh, tribe, which is where our sheriff character, um, hails from.

[00:45:16] Um, and just like every kind of diversity and not just culturally or racially, but, you

[00:45:22] know, identity wise in every way.

[00:45:24] And so having an ensemble really lets us kind of highlight all, all the stuff that I think

[00:45:28] is great about Miami.

[00:45:30] Um, but also like, I've always just been a fan of, of team books, you know, and like one

[00:45:35] of my favorites is defenders 99 and a hundred, which is just like jam packed with everyone

[00:45:41] who was ever a defender and then a bunch of other guest stars.

[00:45:44] And, um, I, I just always love like the dynamics that come out of that.

[00:45:50] And, you know, as a storyteller, like process wise, it gives you a lot of stuff to cut to,

[00:45:54] which is good, you know, for building suspense or maintaining pace, but it's also just fun,

[00:45:59] you know?

[00:46:00] And, and then, then the trick becomes like remembering where did these characters leave it in the last

[00:46:06] volume.

[00:46:06] And when we see them in the next one, how do we not just acknowledge that relationship,

[00:46:11] but try and move it forward incrementally in a way that feels right, but also is maybe

[00:46:16] a little bit of a, like a nice surprise too.

[00:46:19] Yeah.

[00:46:20] Yeah.

[00:46:21] And, um, I, and I was going to say the, in terms of the, I think you had a different artist

[00:46:27] that you worked with in volume one.

[00:46:29] Yes.

[00:46:31] Yep.

[00:46:31] Volume one.

[00:46:32] And then volume two is, uh, Pablo Andres.

[00:46:35] Andres.

[00:46:36] Yep.

[00:46:37] And, um, Pablo, uh, Joe did a great one with a great job with volume one.

[00:46:43] Pablo came on in volume two and he's also illustrating volumes three and four and way

[00:46:48] do you see, I mean, his stuff is amazing in volume two, but way do you see it in volume

[00:46:53] three, which is at the printers now.

[00:46:55] And, um, it's not just, uh, Pablo, our, our colorist on the series is Simon Robbins, who

[00:47:02] just does a really cool job with, with not only like the weird sci-fi shenanigans, but

[00:47:08] also just making Miami feel like a legit place, like the lighting and the daylight and the neon

[00:47:15] and all that stuff looks just spot on.

[00:47:17] And it's just like his approach to color theory, uh, just is always flooring me.

[00:47:23] And Dave Lanphier is, is our letterer and he's been on the book since the beginning too.

[00:47:27] But volume three is really the first time where they have all Pablo, Simon and Dave have all

[00:47:33] started to work together from page one, panel one, like the team is set from the beginning.

[00:47:38] And again, to geek out about process stuff, like the, the difference is palpable.

[00:47:46] Like it just gels and the line art accommodates the color accommodates the lettering and everyone

[00:47:53] is just like, it's like feeding off of each other.

[00:47:56] And so I'm just happy as can be.

[00:48:00] And, um, you know, our editors, Christina and Mike are, you know, make it all just like

[00:48:06] they're like conducting a symphony as far as I'm concerned.

[00:48:09] And I'm, I'm just sort of along for the ride at this point, but, um, it looks really,

[00:48:14] really cool.

[00:48:14] And we're starting to get some of the volume four art in now too.

[00:48:17] And I think it just keeps getting better.

[00:48:19] I'm biased.

[00:48:20] Well, yeah, you're allowed to be, it's okay.

[00:48:24] Um, uh, yeah.

[00:48:25] What I was going to say also, if I thought the whole notes reference in techative, cause

[00:48:30] I read that verse as a fluke, uh, Nope.

[00:48:33] So the, the, the beginning, uh, not the very beginning, there's like a bit of like a cold

[00:48:38] open, uh, in volume two, but man, yeah.

[00:48:42] I mean, volume one has it too, but there's a very overt, really over some overt Hall and

[00:48:48] Oates references in volume two that I thought, that I thought was great.

[00:48:52] Um, great.

[00:48:53] Yeah.

[00:48:53] Yeah.

[00:48:54] There there's scoop is strangely become sort of my most autobiographical book, I guess,

[00:49:01] cause of the news internship thing and the Miami thing.

[00:49:05] And then Sophie's half Cuban too.

[00:49:07] But yeah, she also inherited my, um, my just fierce, fierce love of Daryl Hall and John

[00:49:15] Oates.

[00:49:16] Well, fantastic.

[00:49:17] I thought it was, I, I again, loved it.

[00:49:20] Um, you know, another thing that I really like, and I do, I do not speak Spanish.

[00:49:25] Um, but I love it in books when they have characters who, who do, and it's not constantly like, it's

[00:49:34] not constantly translated or, um, I just, I don't know to me knowing, you know, working

[00:49:41] with folks that are bilingual, it feels more authentic that they at certain times would,

[00:49:47] you know, speak Spanish rather than, than English.

[00:49:50] And it doesn't have to always be like translated.

[00:49:53] It's, I, I don't know.

[00:49:54] There's something about it that I just really, that I really like.

[00:49:58] Um, also because I like to try and figure it, it out what it is.

[00:50:01] Uh, I'm so happy to hear you say that.

[00:50:05] But I, I like that.

[00:50:07] I, well, I do too.

[00:50:08] And that's always been sort of a big bugaboo of mine.

[00:50:11] Um, because I, I always reference this, but like when I was a young lad, there weren't

[00:50:18] too many, um, Hispanic, um, superheroes in comics, you know, like I remember when vibe

[00:50:24] came along in justice league Detroit, which was great.

[00:50:27] And I know, you know, Jerry Conway was, was doing his best, but the extent of vibes, uh,

[00:50:34] Latinidad was ending every sentence with like essay or amigo or que pasa or loco, you know,

[00:50:43] that's loco Aquaman.

[00:50:44] That's loco Vixen.

[00:50:46] And like, but I, like, I was never offended by it.

[00:50:51] I appreciated that somebody was trying.

[00:50:53] Um, and really it wasn't until Greg Rucka came along.

[00:50:59] Like if you read any of his books, he will have characters talking in different languages

[00:51:05] all the time where they will be, you'll be coming midway in a sentence where they will

[00:51:09] be using like such inside baseball kind of techno jargon that it lends for me, it lends

[00:51:17] the story, like a real, um, like, you know, reality, you know, like a heft to it, but he's

[00:51:23] so great about putting context clues in, in the page so that you can, even if you don't

[00:51:30] read, you know, if you, if you're not fluent in that language, you can still get the gist

[00:51:34] of what they're saying, go along with it.

[00:51:36] And yeah, growing up in Miami, you know, you're surrounded by Spanglish and that's just

[00:51:41] like the way it is.

[00:51:42] So the, the fun becomes, um, you know, how, how, you know, what's too much, what's too

[00:51:47] little in terms of that.

[00:51:49] And, you know, again, it's great to have, um, our, our editors keep me honest with that.

[00:51:55] And also the, um, the design team at mad cave, I think they're all based out of Columbia.

[00:52:01] They're awesome.

[00:52:02] Like they do all the, the, the book design and the inside front covers and back covers.

[00:52:07] And we have some really fun, um, back matter in scoop.

[00:52:10] They lay out all that stuff too.

[00:52:12] And, um, they have also emailed in corrections to my Spanish and like, actually now that you

[00:52:19] need an accent here or there.

[00:52:20] And I'm like, I am so grateful for it because I'm, I'm definitely out of practice.

[00:52:25] I always try and run it by my mom first, but you know, through the cracks.

[00:52:29] So mad cave has, has saved my, uh, gotten my back many times now.

[00:52:35] That's, that's awesome.

[00:52:36] Well, that's great to hear.

[00:52:38] Um, yeah.

[00:52:39] So we have scoop volume one and volume two are out now.

[00:52:44] We have detect, we have detective coming out December 10th.

[00:52:48] And, um, yeah, I, I encourage listeners to definitely check out scoop.

[00:52:55] If you haven't detective in particular, I just absolutely love.

[00:53:00] Um, and if there's going to be more, which I, you know, sounds like there, there will be,

[00:53:06] um, I'm going to be here for a volume two of detective as well, because it was just a

[00:53:10] fun world.

[00:53:12] And, um, just loved the, the no-warness of it.

[00:53:17] Loved bingo, just a fantastic character.

[00:53:21] And I, I love a lot of the other folks that, you know, kind of have been populated all throughout

[00:53:26] that world.

[00:53:27] Um, it, yeah.

[00:53:29] And the weirdness of it too, uh, you know, you, you jam a lot in there all makes total

[00:53:35] sense.

[00:53:36] And, um, it's just a, a really kind of satisfying story in, you know, I just thought it was great.

[00:53:45] So, no, that, that means a lot to me.

[00:53:48] Thank you.

[00:53:49] And, you know, thanks for, you know, discussing it on here and given, giving me an opportunity

[00:53:54] and Maverick an opportunity to kind of get people to know about these books.

[00:53:57] You know, we're, we're real proud of them, but there's a lot of great comics out there

[00:54:00] right now.

[00:54:01] There's a lot of, you know, good competition.

[00:54:03] So, um, you know, I hope some of your listeners take a chance on it too.

[00:54:06] I think they'll like it.

[00:54:07] You know, we've been getting pretty good reviews so far and I can't speak to the stories, but the,

[00:54:12] the art in, in tech, the van and scoop is pretty sensational and Maverick and Mad Cave

[00:54:18] in general just have really good production value and design in their books.

[00:54:23] And, you know, I think you get a lot of bang for your buck.

[00:54:26] We try and put a lot of story in there and a lot of emotion in there so that people feel

[00:54:30] like they're getting their value.

[00:54:31] But, um, the books themselves are really beautiful works of art.

[00:54:35] So I hope people check them out.

[00:54:36] Yeah.

[00:54:37] Yeah.

[00:54:37] I mean, I have had, you know, a couple of different Mad Cave.

[00:54:42] Well, I've had a lot of different Mad Cave creators on here, but like Maverick books in

[00:54:47] particular.

[00:54:48] Um, and I have just like this year and probably even like last year too have, you know, been

[00:54:56] like bowled over by, um, so many of them.

[00:55:01] Uh, I was just trying to look up here now to go through some of the ones that I've had

[00:55:07] on here, but I mean, um, even going back to good game, well played, but Jeremy Whitley

[00:55:14] was on here recently for navigating with you.

[00:55:17] I mean, I had both, uh, Jenny Wood and dozer draws on to talk about paper planes.

[00:55:24] Yeah.

[00:55:24] I mean, I, yeah, I, uh, paper planes like knock, knocked me over.

[00:55:30] I thought paper planes was so good.

[00:55:32] I'm like, I'm like, I'm reading this book about kids, you know, high school kids going to summer

[00:55:36] camp.

[00:55:37] I just thought it was such a beautiful story and Jeremy Whitley navigating with you.

[00:55:40] Another one.

[00:55:41] I just thought it was a fantastic comic book and yeah, I am putting detective right in

[00:55:47] there with them on that pile.

[00:55:49] It was just, uh, and we have things that they're all, they're all very different.

[00:55:56] Um, I mean, they're all within this realm of what Maverick does, but they're all, you

[00:56:02] know, very different.

[00:56:03] They all bring something else to, uh, the party.

[00:56:07] The main thing though, is that regardless of what these stories are, um, these, the Maverick

[00:56:15] creators, you included you and Marco have created the wonderful characters that I just love spending,

[00:56:24] you know, time with, you know, and even as a 45 year old man.

[00:56:29] Uh, but, uh, yeah, I get, I am a lawyer.

[00:56:33] I'm a lawyer in like all day and it's really nice to just to read something and get lost in

[00:56:40] a world for a bit with some interesting folks and tell not just like, yeah, fun story, but

[00:56:46] that has something else in it too.

[00:56:51] I mean, yeah, you can, you can read detective and it's, it's fun.

[00:56:53] It's great.

[00:56:54] And, but there's a lot to it, a lot of moving parts and a, a really interesting message at

[00:57:01] times.

[00:57:02] And, uh, you know, man, I really liked it.

[00:57:07] I think you should go into psychology.

[00:57:08] This is better than therapy.

[00:57:12] You've made me so good, Jimmy.

[00:57:14] Psychology.

[00:57:14] Well, it was, it was, I do have a bachelor's degree from, uh, St.

[00:57:17] Joe's in Philly, but we do this again another hour next week.

[00:57:22] Can this be a regular session?

[00:57:24] Sure.

[00:57:25] Sure.

[00:57:25] My sanity.

[00:57:26] Thank you.

[00:57:27] No, no problem.

[00:57:28] Um, yeah, I, it's just, you know, just really wonderful work.

[00:57:33] You and Marco.

[00:57:34] I mean, I like, I like scoop.

[00:57:35] Don't get me wrong.

[00:57:37] Detective will be one that I, I recommend to friends, uh, again and again.

[00:57:42] I appreciate it.

[00:57:44] I thought it was great.

[00:57:44] So, and, um, well, welcome back.

[00:57:48] Come back.

[00:57:48] You're welcome back anytime, you know, uh, scoop three and four detective, uh, detective

[00:57:54] two, whatever else you have coming down the, coming down the pipe, please, uh, please

[00:58:00] let me know.

[00:58:01] Um, we'll do it.

[00:58:03] Yeah.

[00:58:03] Yeah.

[00:58:03] Listeners, please check out scoop volume one and two.

[00:58:07] Definitely, definitely check out detective.

[00:58:09] It's out December 10th.

[00:58:11] Um, especially listeners.

[00:58:12] If, if you have kids who are in that age group who like detective stories, if you're

[00:58:18] like, I want to introduce my kids to no war, you know, if they, if they just like really

[00:58:22] interesting, weird characters and worlds.

[00:58:26] Um, you know, if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever holiday they're coming up.

[00:58:31] Perfect.

[00:58:32] Perfect.

[00:58:33] Stocking stuffer.

[00:58:34] I, these, these Maverick books fit perfectly in a stocking.

[00:58:37] Yep.

[00:58:40] So, uh, that's my, that's my commercial for, for mad cave and, and Maverick.

[00:58:44] Um, but Richard, thank you.

[00:58:46] I'm going to steal that and use it myself.

[00:58:47] Thank you.

[00:58:48] Go ahead.

[00:58:49] Feel free.

[00:58:50] Give the gift of detective this holiday season.

[00:58:52] I love it.

[00:58:53] Um, but Richard, thank you so much for coming on the podcast listeners.

[00:58:57] Uh, if whatever you're reading, you can find me on blue sky or I make videos where I

[00:59:02] talk about comics and also I have a new golden retriever puppy.

[00:59:04] So he's, he's on Tik TOK as well, if you want to see Barry.

[00:59:08] Um, but really whatever comics you're reading, let me know about it.

[00:59:12] There's any episodes you really liked.

[00:59:13] If there's any creators that you want to hear from or would like to be on the podcast,

[00:59:17] you know, reach out, let me know.

[00:59:19] Um, thank you so much for listening.

[00:59:20] A shout out to my brother, Bobby, uh, the cryptic creator corners, number one, most

[00:59:23] dedicated fan.

[00:59:25] Bobby listens to all my episodes and he was in Ireland with me.

[00:59:28] Um, but yeah, Richard, thank you so much.

[00:59:30] I can't thank you enough.

[00:59:32] This is my pleasure.

[00:59:33] Thank you, Jimmy.

[00:59:34] Really appreciate it.

[00:59:35] All right.

[00:59:36] Good night, listeners.

[00:59:37] I'll see you next time.

[00:59:39] This is Byron O'Neill.

[00:59:40] One of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book Yeti.

[00:59:44] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[00:59:48] Please rate review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[00:59:51] It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve.

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[00:59:58] If you enjoyed this episode of the cryptic creator corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast

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[01:00:09] Bye.

[01:00:09] Bye.