Robin Ha talks The Fox Maidens | The Comic Book Yeti Cryptid Creator Corner podcast

I feel really privileged to have gotten the opportunity to do today's interview. Award winning illustrator/author Robin Ha joined me on the show to talk about her new queer YA graphic novel set in 16th century Korea injected with a bit of fantasy, The Fox Maidens, being released by Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins. Robin's other work has been very personal, exploring her own experiences as a teenage Korean immigrant in Almost American Girl and diving into familiar Korean cuisine with Cook Korean: A Comic Book With Recipes. The Fox Maidens is equally personal but examines not just her own experiences but those historically of Korean women and the generational trauma caused by the patriarchal and class dominated structures in place throughout its history.

A young girl Kai Song has dreams of breaking down cultural norms in 16th-century Korea by following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a great martial artist. Her father tracked down and killed Gumiho, the nine-tailed fox demon, for the magistrate gaining prestige and status for the family, but there’s a lingering rumor about a familial connection to the creature. As Kai struggles with accepting her role as a woman in the male and class dominated societal structure, she must come to grips with and deal with the secrets of her family’s past as it is wrapped up in her own destiny and identity.

This book hit me hard y'all. I loved it. I hope you enjoy the interview. It will be available everywhere February 13th.

Partner note:

If you are interested in backing Mechaton on Kickstarter, click here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[00:00.000 --> 00:30.000] 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. Hey Yeti, what's shaking? Yeah, I did see that Megatie was crown funding on Kickstarter now. I love that book. I was in backer for the single issues myself. That whole creative team is great. I love Fernando Pinto's artwork and it reminds me so much of a hand. [00:30.000 --> 00:54.960] hanging out with my friends at middle school and playing Nintendo, well, minus the giant bug from outer space swooping in and trying to take over part. Wait, you can make a transformation sound. Who knew? You want one of you? Where would you eat away? Yeah, that power gauntlet is cool. Whatever their touches can transform into an alien annihilating Meg. [01:00.000 --> 01:08.160] Even a hot dog cart too, too funny. Where can people go to back it? They can head on over to Kickstarter and [01:08.160 --> 01:14.880] search for mekaton in e-c-h-a-t-o-n or just check the show notes. I'll make it easy for them. It runs all [01:14.880 --> 01:18.800] the February and it's awesome that everything is done and looks like a really quick turnaround for [01:18.800 --> 01:24.240] backers. And that exclusive JSON viewer cover is awesome. He's doing Spider-Man stuff now. [01:25.120 --> 01:32.080] No, so long. Did you just really say fu-yo? You've got to get off TikTok, man. I had you. [01:34.560 --> 01:39.440] This is Byron O'Neill, your host for today's episode of the Cryptic Creator Corner podcast. Today, [01:39.440 --> 01:45.200] I'm chatting with award-winning author and illustrator Robin Ha, whose work Almost American Girl and Cook [01:45.200 --> 01:49.840] Korean, a comic book with recipes you are likely already familiar with. Most recently though, [01:49.840 --> 01:55.040] Robin has a new historical graphic novel injected with a bit of fantasy The Fox Maidens, [01:55.040 --> 01:59.760] from Balzer & Bray, HarperCollins, hitting stores this month, which is the focus of today's show. [01:59.760 --> 02:02.560] Robin, thanks so much for joining me on the show today. How's it going? [02:03.120 --> 02:05.680] Thank you so much for having me. I'm doing great. [02:06.720 --> 02:11.120] Good to hear. Well, I got a chance to read an advanced copy of The Fox Maidens and really, [02:11.120 --> 02:15.280] really enjoyed it. There's a lot going on the story. To kind of give everyone the basic beats, [02:15.280 --> 02:19.680] you have a young girl, Kaisong, who has dreams of breaking down some of the cultural norms [02:19.680 --> 02:25.120] in 16th century Korea, by following in her father's footsteps and becoming a great martial artist. [02:25.120 --> 02:28.320] Her father dragged, you'll have to excuse me if I pronounce some of these words wrong. [02:29.040 --> 02:33.200] Her father tracked down and killed Gamiho, is that? I'm like, okay, great. [02:34.320 --> 02:38.960] The Ninetail Fox Daemon for the magistrate kind of gaining prestige and status for the family, [02:38.960 --> 02:42.880] but there's a lingering rumor about a familial connection to the creature. [02:42.880 --> 02:47.360] As Kais struggles with accepting her role as a woman in the male and class-dominated societal [02:47.360 --> 02:53.200] structure, she must come to grips with and deal with the secrets of her family's past that is wrapped [02:53.200 --> 03:01.440] up in her own destiny and identity. So, Kais is going through quite a lot here. Let's kind of start with [03:01.440 --> 03:06.800] the setting because that provides the kind of architectural backbone for the story. So, you've [03:06.800 --> 03:12.480] already made a memoir focusing on your own immigration story from Korea to America at a very [03:12.480 --> 03:18.960] formational age in almost American girl. If that was a personal story, this feels like the journey [03:18.960 --> 03:26.080] of Korean women were, as a whole, to some extent. So, why I set it up in that time period specific. [03:27.680 --> 03:34.560] First of all, I love historical dramas. So, one of my favorite K dramas are like the Taguk, [03:34.560 --> 03:40.560] we call it. It's set in tools on period and they're wearing costume and I'm just really fascinated [03:40.560 --> 03:49.520] with the visual of that time period. Things have really changed a lot in Korea and the world [03:49.520 --> 03:55.440] in the last four or five hundred years. But still, I think a lot of the problems we have in this [03:55.440 --> 04:03.040] modern era existed in that time period but just in a more heightened version. So, I think it just [04:03.040 --> 04:08.560] gives me also a little bit more freedom to explore these issues that I think is very important now [04:09.200 --> 04:15.440] because it's a historical and fantasy. So, you can have a little more freedom talking [04:15.440 --> 04:23.200] about these very difficult issues in a fictional field. That's kind of how I felt when I was writing. [04:24.640 --> 04:29.760] Okay. Well, you're kind of reimagining the legend of the Fox Maiden in Korean folklore. [04:30.880 --> 04:36.640] I have a thing for Ninetales but my reference point is the katsune or the Japanese version of [04:36.640 --> 04:42.560] the creature. So, what makes the Korean version unique if anything? Because we have [04:42.560 --> 04:48.400] box-tailed references in mythology from lots of different cultures, like most of them including [04:48.400 --> 04:56.000] some in America. I really don't think there's that much difference between katsune or I think [04:56.000 --> 05:03.200] there's a Chinese version of it and there's Vietnamese version of it. Because this mythology [05:03.200 --> 05:09.840] has existed for a long time. If not thousands of years that I think a lot of the cultural [05:10.560 --> 05:18.960] mythologies between these Eastern Asian countries, there has been a lot of going back and forth. [05:18.960 --> 05:30.000] So, I haven't really read that many Japanese or Chinese books about Ninetales Fox. So, I'm not [05:30.000 --> 05:36.560] really sure if there are actually a huge difference between them. From what I've read, [05:36.560 --> 05:42.720] they look basically the same character. They're usually female but in Korea, I think the [05:44.080 --> 05:51.840] older version of this demon character is actually male, which I didn't know about until I was [05:51.840 --> 05:56.960] doing more research to make this book. I was like, oh wow, it was actually a male [05:57.600 --> 06:05.520] character. But in a later iterations of Kumio, it's usually female and they all have that [06:06.480 --> 06:13.920] kind of femme fatale vibe. They're all beautiful and they can all shape shift into beautiful [06:13.920 --> 06:23.600] women and they all have this need to consume human soul. So, they could kind of be like the [06:23.600 --> 06:31.840] Asian succubus kind of character. And they're usually a villain in all of the stories I've read. [06:34.000 --> 06:40.240] But they had more going on that made me want to really explore stories from their perspective [06:40.240 --> 06:46.960] instead of them just being one of the villains. And you got exposed to this. I was reading in the [06:47.920 --> 06:52.640] from a TV show, the hometown of folklore. Is that right when you were a kid? Yeah, [06:52.640 --> 06:59.680] Tonsure Gohiang. It went for a long time. I think it started in the 70s or even if not 60s. [06:59.680 --> 07:06.640] And they were going on and off for probably like 20, 30 years. So when I caught it, it was kind of [07:06.640 --> 07:12.960] the last leg of the show, the really long running show. But basically, most of their stories were [07:12.960 --> 07:19.520] set in tools on here. They're all custom drama. Yeah, and they're all mostly ghost stories, very [07:19.520 --> 07:26.880] spooky ghost stories. And I just love ghost stories since I was young. Like, [07:26.880 --> 07:35.440] horror was kind of like genre when I was growing up. I don't know why. But I was always scared by [07:35.440 --> 07:39.920] them. I mean, I remember watching those shows and not being able to go to sleep because I was so [07:39.920 --> 07:48.160] scared of these monsters. But I kept just watching it. But Kumio was very different from other [07:48.160 --> 07:57.440] ghosts or demons in the show. Most of them were just not very attractive. And they were kind of [07:57.440 --> 08:04.720] one dimensional. They didn't really have that much like backstory going on. But Kumio just like [08:04.720 --> 08:11.200] really stood out to me because he seemed to have a lot of agency of her own instead of just like [08:11.840 --> 08:21.440] doing something vicious and vengeful or just being like a really evil character. But she just [08:21.440 --> 08:29.280] seemed to have a lot more depth to her. And it's really unique that she has so much power. Most [08:29.360 --> 08:36.720] female characters in these traditional book lore in Korea, they're very subservient and they're [08:36.720 --> 08:45.360] kind of powerless victim characters rather than a character with their own destiny and their own [08:45.360 --> 08:52.560] thoughts. So it just really stood out to me that I really wanted to. I remember like thinking when [08:52.560 --> 08:58.560] I was watching it as a kid, like, I want to make a story about her. Well, you've used a myth to kind [08:58.560 --> 09:04.400] of bring to light the generational trauma of Korean women. And on my read through, [09:04.400 --> 09:08.720] there were some parallels for me personally. So I grew up in the South in America and now live [09:08.720 --> 09:15.760] here again. I've personally seen the damage that generational trauma does to women. My dad is still [09:15.760 --> 09:21.680] regarded as the head of the household. Ultimately, all decisions are his and my mom has kind of [09:21.680 --> 09:27.040] bought into the structure. My wife and I are equal partners in everything. So the cycle can [09:27.040 --> 09:38.000] be broken. I'm not super fluent in Korean history. Where is Korea today in terms of that changing? [09:40.480 --> 09:48.080] Well, I would say we're still super patriarchal society. And despite all the [09:48.880 --> 09:54.720] current media with K-drama and K-Paw and they're very successful female artists, [09:55.200 --> 10:01.760] there's a lot of really great female directors and authors who are just making such a great [10:01.760 --> 10:08.240] work right now. It's hard translated into English. And all of those things are really positive. But [10:09.040 --> 10:16.960] still, we are very ingrained in that, like, thousands of years of being in that patriarchal system [10:17.600 --> 10:27.120] that if a woman gets married, it's still expected that they become the caregiver. They take care [10:27.120 --> 10:32.720] of their husband and if they have children, they would have to probably give up their [10:32.720 --> 10:39.840] career to take care of their children. So all of these things are still hard to break from. [10:40.400 --> 10:46.640] And I mean, I haven't been living in Korea in 30 years. [10:48.720 --> 10:54.880] You know, I'm just speaking from what I hear and what I see in the media and from what I know [10:54.880 --> 11:02.720] from my, you know, distant relatives. But it still seems like pretty much the thing since, [11:02.720 --> 11:09.200] you know, I was a kid. It was kind of like the gender roles of women being more of the caregivers [11:09.200 --> 11:14.800] of Serbian, you know, member of the household, that is kind of the same still. [11:16.560 --> 11:24.560] And I think it's very important to notice that the Korea has the lowest birth rate of the world [11:24.560 --> 11:34.400] right now. Yeah, it's like less than like one kid per married couple. So it is really, it's a [11:34.400 --> 11:38.400] very significant, a huge problem in Korea right now. And you can [11:39.600 --> 11:43.920] understand why, why that is because it's been very difficult for women to [11:44.640 --> 11:49.760] really be burdened by this whole responsibility of taking care of entire family and just [11:49.760 --> 11:55.920] give up their own need and desire for their own life. So, yeah. [11:57.120 --> 12:01.520] As a Southerner, I'm kind of curious. You know, you grew up in Korea, then [12:02.320 --> 12:09.360] spent some time in Alabama in your teenage years. So did you find cultural parallels between the [12:09.360 --> 12:15.760] two with respect to women's roles, to family, to society, that sort of thing? [12:16.960 --> 12:22.640] Well, when I was living in Alabama, it was like the first year that I moved to America. [12:23.520 --> 12:31.040] My English was pretty very basically non-existent. So I didn't really understand what was going on [12:31.040 --> 12:37.280] around me at all. So the people that I spent most time with were my step families. And they [12:37.280 --> 12:42.720] were Korean and they were very, very traditional Korean family. Like they're, you know, the mother [12:42.720 --> 12:49.120] of my cousins, she was basically the caregiver. She took care of everyone on top of like having [12:49.120 --> 12:55.840] a job of her own business. So, you know, that family particularly was super, super [12:56.560 --> 13:01.200] traditional, even Korean standard. I mean, looking bad, like, wow. [13:03.840 --> 13:10.560] So, but now that I am more aware of American culture now that I've lived here for three decades, [13:11.120 --> 13:18.800] and I read some, you know, Southern novels and, you know, movies set in the Southern States. [13:19.520 --> 13:27.200] Yeah, I mean, I think I can definitely see the peril. And I think it's not really about like [13:27.200 --> 13:33.840] what state these stories and this kind of culture is from. I mean, I think it's kind of depending on, [13:34.800 --> 13:41.440] you know, the individual family, how severe that like gender role plays. I mean, I know of a few [13:41.440 --> 13:46.480] people who live, you know, who are from like Midwest or like Northern, you know, more like [13:46.560 --> 13:53.840] liberal states and they still have that kind of divide between gender. So, yeah. [13:54.960 --> 14:03.600] I mean, I think it all depends on what that particular person family was, like when they're [14:03.600 --> 14:10.480] growing up, right? I mean, if their parents were very strict about like, girls should behave [14:10.480 --> 14:16.000] like this, or if they're very religious and they expected you to, you know, play into that [14:16.960 --> 14:23.920] rules based on their religion, I think those things definitely play a huge role more than like what [14:23.920 --> 14:32.000] that particular region of the state is. Yeah. Well, you mentioned in the afterword about [14:32.000 --> 14:37.200] having to create you were you started out trying to create you had a fun action pack, you know, [14:37.200 --> 14:42.320] fantastical thriller, but it became so much more than that. I seem to be interpreting all [14:42.320 --> 14:46.160] the books I'm choosing to do interviews about recently in an emotional direction, apparently. [14:46.160 --> 14:53.120] So like my my fluff meter is broken. But you started the book with a quote, which with that [14:53.120 --> 14:58.240] thing is really material to the whole thing. And hopefully I'll pronounce everything correctly, [14:58.240 --> 15:04.000] but for those who carry Han in their hearts. So what does that mean? Both widely for Korean [15:04.000 --> 15:09.600] women and kind of for you as an individual with this story specific. [15:11.920 --> 15:23.200] Han is a very complex word. I described it as a longing for life lived fully and also to correct [15:23.200 --> 15:29.120] something that has been done to them that was very harmful to them. They want to go back and fix it. [15:29.440 --> 15:38.240] I think more I live my life and more I'm aware of what's happening around the world. I really [15:40.320 --> 15:47.920] don't think that this particular sentiment is only for Korean women. I think you could [15:47.920 --> 15:54.720] apply that to any anybody who has lived in a society where they were constantly put down and [15:54.800 --> 16:02.400] constantly had to fight for what they deserve, harder than anybody they could see around them [16:02.400 --> 16:09.040] just because of like, you know, their background, their skin color, their religion or their social [16:09.040 --> 16:16.640] economic status, you know, all of these things might hinder a person's opportunity to live [16:16.640 --> 16:21.760] their life fully. So if they if you are put in that situation, I think they all understand what [16:21.760 --> 16:31.040] this feels like. And I consider myself of hugely privileged person. I mean, compared to my mother's [16:31.040 --> 16:39.760] generation, compared to even my own generation, I know there are a lot of women or men who for [16:39.760 --> 16:49.200] whatever reason was not able to choose some lifestyle that makes them completely happy and be true to [16:49.200 --> 16:55.680] themselves. So I am one of the really lucky people, very, very privileged person who could choose my [16:55.680 --> 17:03.360] own lifestyle. You know, I am I am not married. I don't have kids. I work full time as an artist. [17:04.080 --> 17:10.320] And I have like completely designed my life to make sure that I can live this way, you know. [17:10.320 --> 17:15.200] And I know that there are so many people who cannot do that, even if they really want to and they really [17:15.360 --> 17:20.080] want to try to do it, something really blocks it in their way that they can't do it. So [17:21.680 --> 17:25.360] I I want to acknowledge that, you know, it's not [17:27.920 --> 17:34.240] it's not just for fun that I am making these stories. It really means something to me to explore [17:34.240 --> 17:41.760] these injustice in the world and make sure that really think about it and how it affects individual [17:41.760 --> 17:49.840] people. And I mean, like my story has a father figure who is very supportive of her, his daughter, [17:50.400 --> 17:56.240] which is I don't even think that this that that kind of father could have existed in [17:56.240 --> 18:03.840] chosen era. I mean, this is a fiction fantasy. So, you know, in my fantasy fantastical mind, [18:03.840 --> 18:09.600] I created this father who was very extraordinary in teaching her his daughter, martial art and [18:09.600 --> 18:15.120] really support her career. You know, like he acknowledges that she's better than him [18:15.120 --> 18:21.600] in martial art. I mean, that kind of father, I don't think have existed in chosen, but I made [18:21.600 --> 18:29.360] him in for that story. But even he could have her destiny. You know, he couldn't in the end help [18:29.360 --> 18:36.720] her all the way. So, you know, like if individual person tries their hardest and really break their [18:36.720 --> 18:43.600] norm, it still is not enough, right? If the whole society that they live in is not supporting that [18:43.600 --> 18:52.160] decision. So, I want to also explore that. Yeah, I was a little surprised during my read through this, [18:52.160 --> 18:58.320] this could be my own interpretation of it. Because, you know, you just pointed out the sort of the [18:58.400 --> 19:07.280] agency that Kai had that so many others didn't in reality. But in a lot of the stories, [19:07.280 --> 19:13.600] inflection points, she still felt largely powerless. You know, as if she's kind of being constantly [19:13.600 --> 19:20.560] pulled by the river of destiny, if you will, is that an illustration of Korean women kind of [19:20.560 --> 19:30.480] in the history as a whole, to some extent. Yeah, I mean, I am really admiring a lot of female [19:31.520 --> 19:37.760] activists and writers and directors in Korea, who are really fighting the good fight, you know, [19:37.760 --> 19:45.840] they're really putting themselves in a lot of danger. There's still a lot of violence against [19:45.840 --> 19:52.960] women, especially if they're queer, if they don't fit certain social norm. I mean, even I heard that [19:52.960 --> 19:59.360] if a woman doesn't wear makeup in Korea and like, some men can attack them because they're like, [19:59.360 --> 20:06.080] you're not doing your best, you're not being what women should be like, you know. And that just like [20:06.080 --> 20:15.680] blows my mind that like, you know, they're in that kind of danger. And in the corporations, [20:15.680 --> 20:23.840] there's a lot of scandals of like people finding hidden cameras in female bathroom. Like it's [20:24.880 --> 20:31.360] it's really it's really terrible. And, you know, especially if if there is actually a sexual [20:31.360 --> 20:36.000] violence, it's really unlikely that women in Korea would report it because it still [20:36.000 --> 20:41.760] viewed as a huge shame. It's some somehow viewed as its downfall. Like maybe they were not wearing [20:41.760 --> 20:46.320] the right clothes, they're not in the right place. Like, why are you walking down the street by [20:46.320 --> 20:51.440] yourself at nighttime? You know, all of this stuff still like very discouraged for women to really [20:51.440 --> 20:56.640] come forward and speak out about these and just terrible stuff that's happening to them. So [20:57.520 --> 21:03.120] it is, you know, like, I think a lot of [21:05.040 --> 21:11.280] literature, especially American literature and blockbuster movies, it's all about [21:13.360 --> 21:20.800] people who are in, you know, terrible situation, like punching up and winning the victory, like, [21:20.800 --> 21:25.360] you know, like hunger game, like, oh my God, like, she did this, she like fought the system and that, [21:25.760 --> 21:31.280] you know, girl power, right? Yeah, so and I'm like, I'm reading all this books and yeah, [21:31.280 --> 21:38.240] it's very fun, but it doesn't really reflect our society. It doesn't really reflect what the [21:38.240 --> 21:45.600] real struggle is like. And I think it's almost kind of like a false advertisement to keep making [21:45.600 --> 21:53.920] these kind of like, you know, empowering book, you know, and I'm going to even though my book is [21:53.920 --> 22:00.880] also fiction is fantasy. I wanted to deal with this situation in a more like realistic manner, [22:00.880 --> 22:08.640] like what is what is it like to be that one woman who's always put down always something happens [22:09.200 --> 22:15.680] to her life that puts her right back or even worse situation that went where she started, [22:15.680 --> 22:21.520] like, how is she gonna live? How is she gonna find meaning in her life, even though she thinks [22:21.600 --> 22:25.920] that nothing can change, you know, all of these things are something that I want to [22:25.920 --> 22:31.040] figure out for myself and I want to figure out for all the people around me. So, you know, I want [22:31.040 --> 22:38.160] to really, I mean, there's a lot more I want to say in this book. I really hope that I get the [22:38.160 --> 22:43.360] opportunity to make another book like this, or maybe I could make a sequel, you know, [22:44.080 --> 22:54.640] and I mean, it ends also in a kind of a happy ending, but I wanted to have a room for [22:56.800 --> 23:03.280] imagination for the reader to know that this isn't really the end, right? I mean, this is [23:05.440 --> 23:11.200] just a part of her journey, right? I mean, and it's kind of ambiguous, like, well, it really happens [23:11.200 --> 23:16.560] at the end too. So, it was very intentional that I don't make it like this is it, this is it, [23:16.560 --> 23:19.360] they're happily ever after, you know, I don't want to do that. [23:20.880 --> 23:27.040] Yeah, I mean, I found my own reaction to it caused a lot of family reflection, like my own family [23:27.040 --> 23:33.440] reflection. My mind kept ruminating on how, you know, this perpetuation of patriarchy is ultimately [23:33.440 --> 23:38.240] broken down, like, how do we do that? How do we escape for a lack of better way of putting it, [23:38.240 --> 23:44.560] you know, as a society, and I was indoctrinated into that structure. As a kid, I overcame it [23:44.560 --> 23:52.000] super hyper macho, right? How I was raised in a very rigid religious structure, and I still question [23:52.000 --> 23:58.720] what legacy that has on me as a male, as a partner, as a father, you know, Kai is able to overcome it [23:58.720 --> 24:06.960] through ultimately through love. So, when you wrote this, was that about, was that the out, you know, [24:07.680 --> 24:12.960] that you were kind of thinking for her, you know, you titled that chapter in the book Nirvana, [24:14.080 --> 24:19.040] without giving too much away, right? You know, was love her out. [24:21.280 --> 24:28.080] I think love is part of it, but it's more about acceptance. I think when she accepted, you know, [24:28.080 --> 24:34.960] like at the end, she, you know, something like terrible happens to her, or somebody she loves, [24:34.960 --> 24:41.280] and she, she just repents. She's like, I will do anything to just be this way. I would accept this [24:41.280 --> 24:48.960] life. I wouldn't do anything else. I will just be happy as it is. That's when things happen, like, [24:48.960 --> 24:57.920] for the better, you know, and I think I don't know if this is a cultural difference. I see there's [24:58.000 --> 25:10.720] especially in Western modern fiction, I see a lot of emphasis on fighting back and like [25:11.360 --> 25:17.760] chart your own destiny. You could do anything, you know, change your situation, pull yourself [25:17.760 --> 25:22.640] by the booster strap, you know, like you could do anything. And that is a really important [25:22.640 --> 25:30.560] message message, but also I think a lot of things happen in life that is nothing to do with how [25:30.560 --> 25:35.840] much he tried or how much he wants something. Things happen in your life more than you can control. [25:36.640 --> 25:43.120] And I think it's really important that people understand this and accept the life as it is [25:43.120 --> 25:49.920] in order to grow and be accepting of their own life or love themselves. I mean, [25:50.800 --> 25:59.840] like it's kind of grand theme and, you know, people can live a whole life like trying to [25:59.840 --> 26:10.000] meditate on this kind of theme, but I wanted to make sure that like going, accepting your own life [26:10.000 --> 26:15.920] as it is is probably the most important thing you could do, do love yourself or be happy. [26:16.880 --> 26:18.880] And that's what I wanted to get to at the end. [26:20.160 --> 26:26.560] Well, it's a love story, but it's also a queer one, you know, how taboo would I assume that [26:26.560 --> 26:34.400] have been at the time. I just don't have a footing on, you know, Korean history. And even Korea now, [26:34.400 --> 26:35.840] I don't, I just don't know. [26:38.080 --> 26:45.840] I mean, it is still that widely accepted, which is pretty weird to me because there's a lot [26:45.840 --> 26:52.720] of Korean comics about gay love, like especially in girls comics. I think it's the same in Japan. [26:55.200 --> 27:03.280] So like gay love or queer love is almost exploited for that young team leadership, [27:04.160 --> 27:09.200] you know, but in a wider society, it's still not accepted. It's still, you know, [27:09.200 --> 27:13.440] it's still common for people to get this owned if they come out to their parents. [27:13.440 --> 27:22.000] They like, especially if, I mean, I have a several Korean gay friends and they, they are very lucky [27:22.000 --> 27:28.080] to have, you know, accepting family. But even, even if they're accepted and they're like, [27:28.080 --> 27:34.240] they're allowed to live the life they are, they're still a barrier that they can't really talk to [27:34.240 --> 27:40.480] their parents about their relationship. Like it's still, it's almost like elephant in the room that [27:40.560 --> 27:44.720] they don't, you know, they know that they, they know what they don't talk about, you know, [27:44.720 --> 27:57.920] it's an actual situation. So there's also a lot of movies these days that shows queer love [27:59.440 --> 28:06.800] and they're very highly claimed and very well loved by the critics. But I don't know how much of that [28:06.800 --> 28:10.640] those kind of claim changes things in real life for people. [28:11.840 --> 28:13.040] All right, let's take a quick break. [28:15.280 --> 28:18.240] What in the Sam Hill is happening right now? What is that? [28:20.800 --> 28:21.600] You like Bart? [28:23.840 --> 28:27.520] Oh, you like band of bars. It's not my fault, you muffle. [28:30.720 --> 28:35.440] That makes sense. They're dropping some great new series right now. There's that one about a [28:35.520 --> 28:39.680] heavy metal guitarist in the 1970s with monsters, working glass wizards. [28:39.680 --> 28:45.200] You know how we love monsters around here. And my friend Dakota Brown, he's working on a [28:45.200 --> 28:51.760] project, Grandma Tilly's Hell Tech Mech with Lane Boyd. I saw the preview for that. That is crazy. [28:51.760 --> 28:56.080] Jimmy even contributed to their anthology from the static and had Matt Sumo on the podcast to talk [28:56.080 --> 29:01.760] about his project, the Bartick versus which makes a lot of sense that the project landed there. [29:01.760 --> 29:07.840] Where you are born? Where can you find them? You need to get out more. They are in previews or [29:07.840 --> 29:13.120] you can visit their website bandabars.com for all the latest. Can we turn the music off now? [29:15.600 --> 29:20.160] Thank you. No more surprises, minstrels or anything like that or I'll rent you out to the [29:20.160 --> 29:24.400] Renfaire as a children's ride. Let's get back to the show. [29:25.360 --> 29:33.920] Well, looking at this from a visual perspective, it feels very man-wah to me structurally. Well, visually [29:33.920 --> 29:39.600] it kind of retains a footprint that looks like this, a more classic structure where you have ink [29:39.600 --> 29:46.960] washes or shan chui or like mountains and water traditions. I've looked at the body of your work [29:46.960 --> 29:52.080] on your website and you're a bit of an artistic chameleon of sorts. So talk to me about how you [29:52.160 --> 29:56.960] created that visual language you wanted to explore in the fox maidens with all these buried sort of [29:56.960 --> 30:04.560] influence. Yeah, so I wanted to make sure this book looks very different from my memoir because [30:04.560 --> 30:13.680] it's a fiction, it's a fantasy and I wanted to take this opportunity to really dive into my [30:13.760 --> 30:24.960] illustration side of my girl. I love Japanese print. It's I own several books on these [30:24.960 --> 30:36.800] genre and I've always admired how efficient these artists back in the 1800s, they really [30:36.800 --> 30:45.440] developed this really nice, efficient style to depict the world and just visually I find them [30:45.440 --> 30:52.720] just gorgeous and I wanted to kind of mimic that style and also color in a way. [30:55.200 --> 30:58.480] I found I found it a lot more challenging than I expected but [30:59.040 --> 31:07.280] I'm almost American girl. I colored it more kind of looser watercolor way but I wanted to [31:07.280 --> 31:16.400] have a really strong design element and coloring and fox maidens. So I chose maybe a dozen color [31:16.480 --> 31:31.280] and I tried to use only those colors to kind of pare down the visual spectacle. It was really [31:31.280 --> 31:40.320] challenging a task to pick just enough but not too much elements and I because I wanted to make [31:40.880 --> 31:47.360] it easy to read. I got a lot of illustration to be too much that gets in the way of reading the [31:47.360 --> 31:56.400] graphic novels so I really had pretty clear idea when I started drawing this book how I wanted to [31:56.400 --> 32:04.320] look like but the coloring part was really challenging because I wanted to pare down the color but at [32:04.400 --> 32:10.080] the same time be able to achieve like the wild fact when it needs to be [32:12.000 --> 32:18.640] and I wanted to make sure these colors I chose are going to be efficient enough for me to show [32:18.640 --> 32:25.040] like different time of the day, at nighttime, a fantastical scenes, all of these or the flashback [32:26.000 --> 32:31.760] so it was a really fun and also very hard challenge for me to draw this book. [32:32.640 --> 32:37.600] I'm really glad you broke some of that down because I had a question about that like totally [32:38.800 --> 32:44.880] you aren't relying on those subtle shifts of colors that we've come to expect where you have [32:44.880 --> 32:52.160] these gradations in tone for highlights and stuff but you also have these really nice [32:52.160 --> 32:59.280] color blocking moments where it's just kind of a sepia tone which to me some of those are in [32:59.360 --> 33:04.240] flashbacks but they read like moments almost take a breath in the narration. [33:05.680 --> 33:10.560] So how did you want to kind of use color in this story like that to break things up because you [33:10.560 --> 33:16.720] had those there's color moments that you use the color to really make things stand out and punch [33:17.760 --> 33:27.440] within that limited range that you chose? Yeah I think color is a huge tool to signal the reader [33:27.440 --> 33:32.880] like what the mood of the scene is. So I wanted to [33:36.240 --> 33:43.040] have enough color to be visually exciting but also it's not like too much. I mean I get that [33:43.040 --> 33:48.720] reaction when I read some comics that are like way too colorful and it just uses like every color [33:48.720 --> 33:53.280] under the rainbow or if it has like way too much like neon tone or something like that. [33:53.840 --> 33:59.360] After reading maybe like a chapter I can't read anymore like my eyes are tired you know. [33:59.360 --> 34:09.360] Yeah. Well I was also very conscious about like okay if it's nice scene I'm using these five colors [34:09.360 --> 34:17.600] or like if it's flashback I'm using only sepia tone like I was very clear and I try really not [34:17.600 --> 34:25.520] to break away from that rule self-imposed rule and also like color [34:30.000 --> 34:39.520] to me color is really like important but also not what I'm really used to reading like in comics [34:39.520 --> 34:46.480] like most Korean and Japanese comics are black and white. Well the webtoons are all color now but [34:46.560 --> 34:52.800] when I was growing up they're all black and white. So I'm just more used to reading black and white [34:52.800 --> 34:59.520] comics that like to me color sometimes just feels superfluous it's not needed. Okay. I actually [34:59.520 --> 35:09.040] had a lot of back and forth with my editor because when I first drew a few sample color sketches [35:10.480 --> 35:15.840] I only used like maybe three color or the whole thing in my editor's like you need more color than [35:16.160 --> 35:24.240] so I had to really like think about adding more but indian I think I am pretty happy with the [35:24.240 --> 35:33.200] colors I chose and I think I was very conscious like you know every color I use in every page [35:33.200 --> 35:39.280] I you know it wasn't like an accident or it was just like I was just going with whatever that felt [35:40.160 --> 35:45.200] you know at the moment I actually really thought about each colors that I chose to use [35:46.800 --> 35:53.680] well I love gimmehos lettering by the way it's so good you know that sort of like red firebox is [35:53.680 --> 35:58.640] really really nice I haven't seen that before I'm getting a bit in the visual weeds but um did you [35:58.640 --> 36:06.880] make up the font there as well oh no that font is I didn't write any of the font that that's in the [36:06.880 --> 36:15.040] book okay yeah but I drew the you know the four balloons for different characters yeah [36:16.000 --> 36:21.280] I really like that this is really nice touch well I say it all the time but tackling a graphic [36:21.280 --> 36:25.840] novel seems like such a daunting process to me and this is a big one as well you know it's over 300 [36:25.840 --> 36:31.760] pages so how do you how does one structure their time the taxable something like that you'd say [36:31.760 --> 36:40.800] three and a half years that's a long time be working on yeah I mean a lot of uh well-known graphic [36:40.800 --> 36:47.680] novelists they sometimes hire colorists so at least that will like help them speed things up [36:47.680 --> 36:55.200] a lot um I colored everything by myself like I had a couple of assistant who just did a flat for me [36:55.200 --> 37:02.880] towards the I did the first half of the book coloring myself and I realized I will like it will [37:02.880 --> 37:08.480] take me like five years I guess it was taking so long so I actually had to hire somebody to [37:08.480 --> 37:16.320] help me towards the end but um this was a a huge learning curve for me I've like this is my first [37:16.320 --> 37:23.680] fiction and this is also the longest book I've ever made so I learned a lot by just doing it [37:23.680 --> 37:35.520] like trial by fire um I realized uh you know I tried to give like good like sensible deadline [37:35.520 --> 37:42.800] for my editor and also for myself but I was never able to meet them like I you know I will [37:43.840 --> 37:51.680] calculate by oh you know last uh last week I did you know I like 15 pages so I can eat [37:51.680 --> 37:59.200] 15 pages every week and like you know a year from now I'll be done you know but you know sometimes [37:59.200 --> 38:04.560] you get sick sometimes like life something happens to you like you can't you can't make that three [38:04.640 --> 38:12.720] day three pages a day deadline like it's you're not a machine you know so I realize it's very [38:12.720 --> 38:23.040] important for you to build in that passion of time and also um don't beat yourself too much about [38:23.040 --> 38:30.800] it like if you can't make it um you know like art is not like a manual job you know it's [38:31.360 --> 38:35.200] sometimes you know if you're in a good condition and you're just in the right [38:35.760 --> 38:40.640] mood that you could just crank out at every line you make it's gonna be perfect and you [38:40.640 --> 38:46.640] feel so good about yourself but there's days like everything you draw like totally looks like [38:46.640 --> 38:52.640] shit like it's like there's nothing you can do about it you know yeah so I learned to be [38:53.920 --> 39:00.720] uh much more patient with myself and more graceful about you know days [39:00.720 --> 39:07.840] that doesn't work out and it's still a challenge I mean still sometimes I just I hate you know my [39:07.840 --> 39:13.600] job and I just don't want to make any more comics ever again in my life but you know I have to [39:13.600 --> 39:18.240] find myself like oh no no you know last week you felt great like you know just two days a bad [39:18.240 --> 39:24.480] day you know I get that like I have an autoimmune condition and I feel that 100 percent the good [39:24.480 --> 39:31.600] days the bad day I get that very very well um well most of your work thus far has been it's [39:31.600 --> 39:36.560] been very personal you know the lens has been identity you know this is designated as a YA [39:36.560 --> 39:40.320] but what does it mean to you to be able to get this in the hands of the younger reader as they [39:40.320 --> 39:44.960] are discovering who they are finding their own place in the world I can't imagine there was much [39:44.960 --> 39:53.200] similar when you were growing up quite like this anyway yeah I mean I think that term YA middle grade [39:53.200 --> 39:58.960] all of these things are pretty new to me um when I was growing up we had children's book like a [39:58.960 --> 40:06.880] chapter book and their books so there were no distinction between what was suitable for teenagers [40:06.880 --> 40:15.200] versus 20 year old like I read all kinds of books since I was like eight I mean I was a lot to go to [40:15.200 --> 40:21.040] the libraries I was a lot to go to Ban Ha Ban which is a Korean like comics rental shops [40:21.200 --> 40:27.520] that were everywhere when I was growing up so like my mom was a really busy working mom so she couldn't [40:27.520 --> 40:33.440] just like you know tail gave me and just like picked things for me you know I was a lot to just go [40:34.000 --> 40:41.280] and read whatever I want so like all my favorite books growing up were not YA books I was reading [40:41.280 --> 40:48.480] real book like my favorite books were like gala letter like whether I like and I was like [40:48.560 --> 40:58.560] middle school you know like so I think uh adults worry like too much about like what teenagers can [40:58.560 --> 41:06.080] understand and process I mean I think young people are totally capable of processing whatever books [41:06.080 --> 41:12.720] they're reading I mean they might not get exactly the same information or emotional reaction from [41:13.680 --> 41:18.960] other adults but that's the same with any any individual people right I mean [41:19.840 --> 41:25.920] I am four year old woman and I read YA books I might get a different reaction but is that that [41:25.920 --> 41:35.280] like it you know why do we have to only make certain books why are certain things prohibited [41:35.840 --> 41:41.680] to discuss and in YA books I think that is actually more harmful you know to [41:42.560 --> 41:48.800] peg these books away from younger reader just just because you as an adult doesn't believe that they [41:48.800 --> 41:54.400] are capable of handling it I think you should let them see for themselves right and [41:57.760 --> 42:05.040] I understand I mean there are certain books they're like just really violent or very like sexually [42:05.600 --> 42:11.120] explicit like maybe some of those things should be guarded but other than like really really extreme [42:11.120 --> 42:20.560] cases I think those books should be free for any any age readers can pick up and I think the [42:20.560 --> 42:29.280] earlier we start introducing these books and start thinking about these issues the better off it will [42:29.280 --> 42:36.800] be for any any any children growing up well thank you because that that's it's a soap box of mine [42:36.800 --> 42:42.800] and you articulated it better than I ever could because I always get so annoyed as the you know [42:42.800 --> 42:48.960] the father of a teenager and in that YA or young adult designation sometimes drives me absolutely [42:48.960 --> 42:55.520] that yes I think kids are perfectly capable they they okay the world we live in and what they have [42:55.600 --> 43:01.840] to absorb on a daily basis and much worse than any any fiction can depict [43:04.960 --> 43:09.360] well I'm always trying to get a better barometer of where we are in comics in terms of representation [43:09.360 --> 43:15.440] so during my pride month focus I always ask about glass ceilings you know in terms of representation [43:15.440 --> 43:22.720] of Asian culture and people in comics you know where where are we and if if the glass ceiling isn't [43:22.720 --> 43:30.880] broken what would it look like in your mind well I think we're in a very interesting point [43:30.880 --> 43:39.840] in terms of bipod representation and media we're having such a renaissance like hey hey days of [43:40.720 --> 43:48.800] you know Asian American stories being made into TV shows and big you know blockbuster movies and [43:48.800 --> 43:55.840] they're super successful I mean that is amazing like I never expected that would ever be the case [43:55.840 --> 44:03.120] when I was a teenager growing up in America and I feel extremely fortunate to be one of those [44:03.120 --> 44:10.560] authors who can really benefit from this attention that we're getting and especially with K-pop and [44:10.560 --> 44:17.920] K-drama being like so popular right now I just feel really really lucky but at the same time [44:18.880 --> 44:25.840] I was just talking about this with other writers yesterday and you know [44:28.560 --> 44:36.400] somebody was talking about how like they the editors expect the main characters of our stories [44:36.480 --> 44:44.720] to look like the author so you know if you're a white author they expect their protagonist [44:44.720 --> 44:51.920] to be a white person and if you're a main uh Korean American they expect the protagonist to be [44:51.920 --> 45:00.000] an at least an Asian person you know it's just like why you know it's like I if you're a good writer [45:00.000 --> 45:06.880] you should be able to make a story about anybody right and whoever the main character is gonna be [45:07.600 --> 45:14.160] what skin color what background it doesn't matter like that you're you as an author she would be part [45:14.160 --> 45:21.120] of that character no matter what because you're the one writing that person so I think it's very [45:21.120 --> 45:29.600] harmful actually to put that kind of box as a publisher or entertaining industry to make sure that [45:30.080 --> 45:36.800] you know the the content creator of this material she reflects exactly who they are I mean that is [45:37.840 --> 45:44.240] that is very short-sighted and also kind of condescending too like you you you don't [45:44.800 --> 45:52.880] cross like you know like a terrible Asian American story can be written by an Asian American author [45:53.520 --> 45:59.920] and saying can be said about any any race right so or any gender I mean I was [46:01.120 --> 46:09.760] you know I read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishigura for a book club and we were just discussing how we're [46:09.760 --> 46:18.560] so impressed how well this Japanese man described like young girls dynamic like you know the central [46:18.560 --> 46:26.080] characters are you know British young young women and like they he just described to the [46:26.080 --> 46:33.440] tea like what that like angsty you know teenage like friendship dynamic is like in like a boarding [46:33.440 --> 46:39.520] school I mean you know if you're a good writer you should be able to write anything so I think [46:40.400 --> 46:46.160] we're not quite there yet to allow you know all kinds of authors from different backgrounds to [46:46.160 --> 46:55.360] just explore whatever they feel like exploring and just kind of separating the art from the maker [46:55.360 --> 47:03.200] I mean I think with the social media especially there's a huge problem of like humushing the creator [47:03.200 --> 47:09.120] with their art and like you are kind of the product especially on social media like you're expected [47:09.840 --> 47:16.240] to see the maker of this book talking about themselves and like posting what they ate for [47:16.240 --> 47:22.320] breakfast like I mean all of these things are kind of like I see it as a huge hindrance in terms of [47:23.600 --> 47:31.680] does the quality of work right at the same time sometimes I feel like there's a tendency for [47:32.560 --> 47:38.400] Americans to group Asian people into like this one big large cultural melting pot right I don't [47:38.480 --> 47:43.440] feel like we do that with say South America right Brazil Argentina are viewed differently [47:43.440 --> 47:49.360] and nobody confuses Finland and France right you do have a fair bit of speaking about Asian [47:49.360 --> 47:56.000] American culture and especially pop culture so are we collectively taking a misstep by lumping [47:56.000 --> 48:01.360] it all together you know what constitutes proper representation you've touched on it a little bit [48:02.240 --> 48:11.840] I think it has definitely got a much better actually I mean I think in my 20s like a lot of [48:11.840 --> 48:17.440] people a lot of Americans didn't even know like much about Korea at all like they you know [48:18.160 --> 48:25.520] they just all assumed they were Chinese or Japanese so I think now I think there is definitely more [48:25.600 --> 48:36.400] people who are distinguishing between all of these countries but I think it's I mean I don't really [48:37.680 --> 48:44.400] fault people for confusing us I mean sometimes I get confused too I don't know exactly who I'm [48:44.400 --> 48:49.920] talking to like I you know and it's not really that important to me like I will find out when I [48:49.920 --> 48:54.320] find out it's like when I meet somebody it's not important if they're Korean American or Chinese [48:54.320 --> 49:00.560] American it doesn't matter you know I like them as who they are and if I like their work it's [49:00.560 --> 49:11.120] because the work is good so I am seeing it actually in a positive way like it's you know it's got a [49:11.120 --> 49:17.760] much better than when I first arrived here and I think it will continue to get better and there's [49:17.760 --> 49:27.440] a lot of Asian American authors and directors and makers talking about this issue so I think [49:27.440 --> 49:35.920] people are aware that we are all different and you know also like even if you can distinguish [49:35.920 --> 49:45.760] from Chinese American to Chinese Korean American you still are up against certain stereotype on [49:45.760 --> 49:54.160] that particular ethnic group right I mean you know just because I'm Korean like I mean I love [49:54.160 --> 50:00.480] spicy food let's just be clear but not all Korean American like spicy food not all Korean American [50:00.480 --> 50:07.360] have like perfect skin or you know like it's you know it's all it's all stereotype so I think we [50:07.360 --> 50:14.640] should be much more aware of what kind of stereotype you have when you come across certain piece of [50:14.640 --> 50:22.320] literature or a person well you've you mentioned you drop one recommendation there from your book [50:22.320 --> 50:27.520] group and you've talked about it a couple of times here what are you saying recently that that's [50:27.520 --> 50:33.040] inspiring you so who who should the listener go do some more research if they want to learn more [50:33.040 --> 50:43.040] about you know the Korean women who are writing right now about this stuff I just finished reading [50:43.040 --> 50:49.680] this book called The Fetishes by Katherine Minn it just came out like last month or something yeah [50:50.240 --> 50:59.200] oh my god it just blew my mind it's so good she's so fearless like I I don't know if I can [50:59.200 --> 51:04.560] ever write a book like that but I just like I enjoyed it so thoroughly and it's so funny and [51:04.560 --> 51:13.680] it's so fierce I highly recommend that book another book is Minor Feeling by Kathy Hong Park [51:14.640 --> 51:22.400] that's a sensational book and she talks about all kinds of issues about Asian Americans and [51:23.760 --> 51:32.720] gender issues and all that stuff so that's really cool what else am I reading oh I [51:33.280 --> 51:39.920] I just started reading this book called How Do You Live by a Japanese author it's a very long [51:39.920 --> 51:48.880] name I can't remember but I read it because I'm reading it because I watched Boy and the Heron by [51:49.520 --> 51:57.600] Studio Ghibli that just came out and to be honest I was kind of confused after I watched the movie [51:57.600 --> 52:03.920] I was like what is happening here I don't know if I really like this but because I love Miyazaki and [52:04.880 --> 52:10.960] you know like I want to understand more about what he was trying to do in that movie I heard [52:10.960 --> 52:16.640] that that movie is loosely based on this book so I'm starting to read books this book and it's [52:16.640 --> 52:24.240] really good book I think it's I think it's for a pretty young reader but I think definitely adults [52:24.240 --> 52:32.320] can enjoy it and it's a really weird book but I think this book kind of gives me like a lot of [52:32.320 --> 52:41.680] hope and like publishing like kind of weird stories and YA genre that doesn't really fit any particular [52:44.880 --> 52:51.520] like trope or you know because it's a soul over the place so yeah these three books I highly [52:51.520 --> 52:56.080] recommend to pick it up right now okay well thank you I think the tolerance definitely [52:56.080 --> 53:03.440] in for younger readers for weird is way higher than it is like all folks like me let's put it that [53:03.440 --> 53:12.560] way I mean I mean and I love that stuff but I think in general that the the market there it is it's [53:12.560 --> 53:20.160] lots weirder yeah it's good well what else you got cooking I asked that all the time but given how [53:20.160 --> 53:24.880] much food has played a role in your work perhaps it's more relevant statement than usual [53:26.720 --> 53:34.080] I am working on several different projects so I am writing all kinds of new story ideas for [53:34.080 --> 53:42.640] my next books I don't know if there are anywhere near Willy and Ready for me to talk about it in [53:42.640 --> 53:50.720] public yeah so right now it's like kind of the world is my oyster I could like do whatever I want [53:50.720 --> 54:00.560] and yeah it's also kind of nerve-racking because like I you know I haven't really been in like this [54:00.560 --> 54:08.400] kind of creative like brainstorming mode in like last eight years I was basically working on [54:09.120 --> 54:15.520] one book after the other without any break so it's exciting and also pretty nerve-racking time [54:15.520 --> 54:22.000] right now well where can people find you online where would you like them to find you online [54:23.040 --> 54:31.200] so I have one social media it's instagram at robinha art I'll make sure to put that in the show [54:31.200 --> 54:36.960] notes but one of the things I love about comics is its ability as a medium to take a [54:36.960 --> 54:41.920] a neurodivergent kid like myself and make me process things emotionally I can't explain why it [54:41.920 --> 54:48.160] does it it it just does it and the fox maiden says not at all what I expected it to be or rather [54:48.160 --> 54:53.280] it was that and it was a whole lot more and that can only be found by a creator who's willing to [54:53.280 --> 54:58.160] to start off with a premise and not to follow it necessarily where they want it to go but where [54:58.160 --> 55:05.440] it needed to go so it had so many delicious layers to it I hope everyone who's listening do [55:05.440 --> 55:10.800] yourself a favor and go pick it up because I thought it was a delightful book so thank you so [55:10.800 --> 55:16.480] much yeah well robin thanks so much for hanging out with me on the show today it's been a pleasure [55:16.480 --> 55:22.880] to have you on thank you this is briano neil and on behalf of all of us at comic book eddy thanks [55:22.880 --> 55:30.240] for tuning in and we will see you next time take care everybody bye this is briano neil one of your [55:30.240 --> 55:35.440] host of the cryptid creator corner brought to you by comic book eddy we hope you've enjoyed [55:35.440 --> 55:42.560] this episode of our podcast please rate review subscribe all that good stuff it lets us know how [55:42.560 --> 55:49.360] we're doing and more importantly how we can improve thanks for listening if you enjoyed this [55:49.360 --> 55:54.560] episode of the cryptid creator corner maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast into the comics [55:54.560 --> 55:59.040] kate listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe3.sonicengage.com/releases/20240207165123' directory