Soo Lee & Heath Corson Interview - Witness Point

[00:00:00] Your ears do not deceive you. You have just entered the Cryptid Creator Corner, brought to you by your friends at Comic Book Yeti. So without further ado, let's get on to the interview. The future is calling! 2000AD is the galaxy's greatest comic with new issues published every single week. Every 32-page issue of 2000AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more.

[00:00:28] Get a print subscription to 2000AD and it'll arrive to your mailbox every week. And your first issue is free. Or subscribe digitally and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10. Head to 2000AD and click on subscribe now. Or download the 2000AD app and start reading today.

[00:00:54] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yetis Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo. And I have two returning guests. They've been on the podcast before separately. Now they're together for a comic that they're working on which is coming out through Dark Horse. Issue number one will be at your local comic book shop on July 8th. And I am very excited to talk about Witness Point with Heath Corson and Sue Lee. Heath, Sue, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

[00:01:24] Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you so much. Yeah. Happy to be here. I want to first kind of before we get into what Witness Point is all about, I want to kind of get into a little bit about how it came into into being because I know that this is written by both you, Heath and Nathan Fillion. Yeah, a little known actor named Nathan Fillion that no one had ever heard of. Yeah, the name sounded a little familiar when I read it in the press release.

[00:01:54] You might know him from massive fan things like Firefly, Serenity, Castle, The Rookie, Dr. Horrible's sing-along blog, you know, Destiny, Destiny 2. The man is fairly well known. Yeah, he's been on TV a long time. Yeah. And now his very first comic book. Yes.

[00:02:22] And I thought this was, to be honest, just knowing him from so many different like kind of genre things and I really, or sci-fi, I really, because I really think of him first with Firefly is like the first thing I associated him with. Although I watched every episode of Castle. Um, it was one of those types of procedural shows. I, I really, I really enjoyed Nathan Fillion and Stan Akadok. But I just thought this was such an interesting choice.

[00:02:52] I didn't know what to think of with Witness Point. I mean, maybe I, I was thinking, I should have been thinking Castle and not Firefly. But this is like a really intense, grounded crime drama. Yeah, it's a Midwestern noir. Uh, that's sort of what we've been saying is, is that it takes, it's, it's a little heightened. I would say tonally, we've got some Coen brothers in there. Well, some Fargo.

[00:03:20] Um, there's a little bit of David Lynch in that there's a whole circus element that's a little topsy turvy, but, but still real and still grounded. Um, but it is a, a, a very odd, uh, dark murder mystery, uh, that we are, we are putting together. Yeah, I definitely got a little bit of, well, you mentioned David Lynch. I definitely got a little bit of like Twin Peaks vibes, kind of the, the idea of the, the Midwestern noir.

[00:03:49] I just instantly kind of latched onto, I like Kite, who's kind of the, the sheriff of Baraboo, Wisconsin, your main character. And, um, oh, another thing I thought was very interesting was the cold open of this starts with a, like a, a real event that kind of threw me off as well, because I was like, I was, I was reading it and I'm like, wait, you know, cause growing up in around Philadelphia.

[00:04:14] And I was a practicing attorney in Philly for, I mean, I'm still a practicing attorney, just not in Philly, but my, one of my very first bosses represented alleged members of organized crime. And so we always were very interested in all of the, the goings on in Philly, but also New York. And when I read that, I'm like, oh wait, that's, I'm pretty sure that's a real event. And I had to Google it and I'm like, oh yeah, I was right. This is a real event. This is very interesting. That is a real event.

[00:04:43] And, and, and we do that in the series. Um, after, after that, it's sort of become a convention for us that the first page, uh, is takes from a real event and, uh, uh, pulls it through sort of thematically, uh, through the rest of that issue. So what I think we really liked about it was it talked about, uh, the witness protection program a little bit.

[00:05:07] And it talked about moreover a time when the mob was powerful and how things used to be, how things, there were rules. And now how it sort of feels like we're at a time when those rules sort of go out the window, um, which is evidenced by this guy who falls into this QAnon hole and believes that, um, he is, he is getting messages to go, uh, murder this alleged mafioso Don and knocks on the guy's door and shoots him.

[00:05:37] Um, and so like something is clearly broken, uh, in the way things have used to be done. And that sort of becomes a larger problem, uh, as we move through, uh, the story of witness point. Yeah. I mean, I thought it was very interesting, you know, to have that opening and to have the narration and it kind of links the rest of the story. I think a little bit thematically, at least from what we see with, you know, the first issue, but then you, you really get into the town.

[00:06:04] Uh, the town of Baraboo, Wisconsin seems to be its own character populated with capital CH characters loved, loved, loved, loved the, you know, the, the circus city of it all loved the mayor. Yeah. I loved the bar, the nightcap. It's populated with so many different things.

[00:06:27] Well, listeners, we're talking a lot, uh, uh, uh, about it, but just so you know, if you haven't seen any of the information about it and you just gone into this episode cold, I mean, essentially there is, we're introduced to the sheriff of the town. There is a, a grisly kind of murder and the sheriff has to kind of figure out like what is going on. And then there's a larger mystery at play with exactly what Baraboo, uh, Wisconsin is. Also a real place, by the way. Oh, really?

[00:06:55] Baraboo, Wisconsin is, is an actual place. It actually was the winter home for the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus for years. Um, they have a circus world, uh, performance space and they do a huge circus parade every summer. Um, and I spoke to law enforcement who used to be in the town, uh, a good buddy of mine who used to work for Ringling has moved back to Baraboo.

[00:07:21] Um, so I went to go visit and, uh, even one of our executives on Nathan's side, uh, took his wife there, uh, to go visit over the summer. And, uh, I had to apologize to his wife for making her be in Baraboo. Um, but it, it, it's, it's a crazy, spectacular, odd little Midwestern place. Wow. Which, Sue, in an amazing way with some, uh, perfect colors for this.

[00:07:49] Oh, I, I want to, I, yeah, I want to talk to Sue about, uh, about the look of this book. But, but real quick, Heath, did you know about Baraboo then, like, before this? And you were like, oh, this would be the perfect, was that your suggestion? Yes, I grew up in Chicago. So I had been not just to Circus World, but that's also where the International Clown Hall of Fame is. Um, so I had been there. So I had, I had heard about the town and read about the town.

[00:08:17] Uh, I'd only passed through and been to Circus World as a kid. So when I was looking for a place to put this, uh, story, um, it seems to fit thematically. Um, because, um, and, and, and no real spoilers here, but what we will find is this is a place where the witness protection program has been dumping people for the last 40 years. And there is one, uh, U.S.

[00:08:42] Marshal who got lazy in Chicago and has started dumping his witnesses all in one place. And you're not supposed to do that. That is a big no, no. Um, but all of a sudden this quiet little town of about 12,000 people all realized like, maybe I don't know my neighbor at all. And so now that really thematically helped us sort of send some really nice, um, shock waves through the entire story.

[00:09:08] Uh, so I really wanted to take a nice little quiet town where everyone knows each other, everybody gets along and sort of upend that. Yeah. It's excellent. First, first issue. And, uh, also that, that is in large part to, to, to Sue Lee's art on this book. Sue, when you were last on the podcast, we were talking about Cheetara and I mean, listeners might know you from, I mean, you're a writer and an artist, but Cheetara and Maleficent

[00:09:37] and Carmilla, the first vampire, this is like a really, like I said earlier, it's a really grounded kind of mystery story. What was, how did your approach to this like to differ? Because I also think like the, the color palette is very interesting in this as well. And did you also, you also colored it, right? I did color it. Yeah. Um, I kind of wanted it to be, well, so the story is really funny in, in a way, you know,

[00:10:05] it's like dark humor and, uh, he did a really good job on it. And I figured there's like a million crime noir stories and I have a very different style. Right. And so I was like, if that's the case, let me like embrace the differentness, if that makes sense. And kind of, because it's also like, you know, with the background of the town, I was like,

[00:10:28] then might as well make it very different with the theme and the vibes of the town and how bright and colorful it could be. And so I feel like it contradicts what a typical crime noir story is. So you're, it's like, if you look at the pages, you're like, oh, this is like something else. It's something completely different. I wanted it to give a very animated style as well.

[00:10:55] You know, um, something very like unexpected, just like the story, um, bright and not circusy, but I'm trying to find the words, something that pops like immediately because I think it was only appropriate to have something that, that you wouldn't expect reading the story. If that makes sense. No, I, I, I totally think it does.

[00:11:21] Um, when I hear the word noir, I instantly think of like classic noir as, you know, black and white. Right. Exactly. Even when I think of modern noirs, like I still think some of the artists out there that are, you know, making them, you might hear like neo-noir and it's either still really dark or, you know, it almost goes cyberpunk where it's like a lot of neon and, and it looks a little like that.

[00:11:46] But yeah, this, I mean, I, I mean, this is a compliment, like the art and even the colors had a real kind of like quirky, like vibe to them. Like it was, it's just, it's very interesting because you're talking about a town where, uh, and it, it, we get, it gets set up in this issue. It's a nice town. Everybody likes each other. And only from when the town kind of finds out a little bit about what might be going

[00:12:11] on, we start to see, uh, we start to see folks kind of, kind of turn. And, um, I think the, the character of your art, but also those colors in particular really lend itself to a kind of Midwestern vibe that belies what's really going on in the town. I think it works really, really well when, when listeners get the book and see it, there's one thing in, you know, it's tough to talk about something without showing everybody, but

[00:12:41] I did want to say there's one panel in particular where they have the crime scene cornered off. And I love all the, uh, kind of darkened, they're not quite silhouettes. We can actually see them, but all the people in the crowd around the dead body. And then there's just a clown right in the middle of it with, and the colors on the clown really pop. It is such a great, it is such a well composed panel. I agree. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

[00:13:11] And quirky is like, actually the, it's a good word to use. I would say, I mean, like just the scene you described is very bizarre and quirky, right? So I figured might as well just lean into that. And with, you know, with like the way I shaded and, you know, chose the color palette, when I say animated, I wanted it to be, you know, kind of like, you can almost, almost imagine it as like an animated thing as well, because it's just kind of so bizarre and out there. Yeah.

[00:13:41] I mean, definitely. There's just so many really great moments in it. You know, as this story kind of is, is, is laid out. And I will say, Jimmy, I just want to piggyback on, on what Sue just said. It's a really hard line to walk between like doing something very grounded and real small town murder mystery, but also with these like very bizarre little quirky aspects of the town

[00:14:07] that we're playing as completely real and dead serious. Like it is a dead serious thing. This is the winter home of the Dingaling Brothers circus. This is where these people live. There is an area of town, which we're going to see in future issues. And nobody thinks anything of it. Like, it's not a big deal. That's just normal that, oh yeah, that's people walk around in their full clown makeup and Sue has captured it to perfection.

[00:14:37] It just, the, that, that intersection of something being heightened and yet grounded is a really tough line to walk. A tightrope, one might say, to keep the, to keep the circus metaphor going. You're absolutely right. And it's one of the things I love about comics when you have a really good collaboration,

[00:15:00] because, you know, in, in terms of you and Nathan telling this story and you have a grounded story of a very serious, terrible crime. You have kind of what we've seen so far, like a no nonsense kind of sheriff who knows everybody. He knows the town. You know, we also, then we have the, an outsider coming in. We have somebody from the feds come in at one point and we get to see how outsiders, you know, kind of view the town.

[00:15:29] But the combination of like that, the dialogue and the story along with Sue's like color palette and also like character acting whenever we get closeups, which really, like really sells it because we get that, the first narration from the sheriff. So he's the guy that we are kind of seeing the town through. He's the one, you know, like any true noir, he's taking us on the journey with that narration.

[00:15:57] And we feel comfortable in the town and all the colors kind of sell that as well. Like it is, it is a seemingly safe place where this crazy thing has happened and all these other things are being uncovered. It is, it is a very layered story. And I just loved how it, it played out. Like it just, it is the kind of thing that just hooks you right away.

[00:16:24] And, and to be quite honest, I read a ton of comics and a mystery like this. I don't know that I've, I've come across something quite like this. You know, I read a lot of horror. I read a lot of, you know, science fiction and fantasy. I read it. I've read a ton of biography type of comics, but man, I was a huge, like Sherlock Holmes fan as a kid. I loved a good mystery story. And yeah, I just loved how this kind of, this whole thing played out.

[00:16:53] I just thought it was just, it's really solid from issue one. Oh, great. That's so nice to hear. Yeah. I was always a big fan of like the laconic tough guy, sort of slightly cowboy character who's finding his way through this mystery. And, and he's maybe a little bit of a blunt instrument, but also is very clever and everybody sort of likes him and he's well-meaning.

[00:17:21] And, and we're going to start to peel away some of the onion of this two-hander. You mentioned the narration, which is great because our, our sheriff Carter Kite Calhoun has the narration for the first issue. And, and I will tell you that for the second one, we actually pivot and pick up with our deputy U.S. Marshal Priya Cabrani's narration. Oh, I love that.

[00:17:47] So we're going to actually be handing off the, the narration duties back and forth through our, our two lead characters and their, their, their two-hander. So that's really neat. Oh, great. Cause we'll get a different look. Yeah. We'll get to see the, the outsider's perspective a little bit. I imagine. Yeah, exactly. Right. Because she's an interesting character as well. She's kind of discovering what has happened in the town and discovering what one of her

[00:18:17] predecessors in the U S marshals has done. And there's a lot, I'm sure that we're going to find out from that as, as, as, as the series goes on. Yeah. Yeah. We really wanted to set up these two characters as opposite poles where kite knows all of these people as people. He knows them as town members. He sees them on a daily basis. And Priya knows them as cases. She knows them as files. So she only knows what they've done.

[00:18:47] So she has a very different point of view on who they are, where kite knows them as the guy who loaned me as lawnmower. Or, you know, I let, I let, I let that guy have my weed whacker. And so that's, it's a really different tension between the two of them. And, and also we're going to see how they do things and how that sort of gets them into trouble pretty early on. Oh, good. We let, we like trouble here. How did it work in terms of like the story is, you know, billed as being written by both

[00:19:17] you and Nathan. And I've, I've seen that, you know, happen different ways. Whereas like someone will come with an idea and like an outline of a story and you'll script it. Like, can you just tell listeners a little bit about like how that went? Yeah. I, first of all, Nathan and I had first met when I was doing some of the animated DC stuff. So he came on as my green lantern when I did a justice league throne of Atlantis.

[00:19:43] Um, so I think we met briefly when he might've come in for a record. Um, but you know, he ended up being a fantastic voice and, and sharing that sort of confidence and, and humor and, and all this great heroism for Hal Jordan. And, uh, I was like, that guy's awesome. Like he's so, he's such a fun person to be around. Like he's, he's someone who, who really enjoys his life. And I think that's so charismatic and fun.

[00:20:13] And so I had had this idea in the back of my head for a long time and I, I never really knew what to do with it. And, um, my friend Josh Levy, who went over to Nathan's company and was running development, um, said, Hey, you know, Nathan really wants to do comics. Um, you know, he, he's on a show. He loves the show he's on. That's really wonderful. He would love to just sort of stretch his creativity and this might be a way to do it. Um, do you have something that you could bring him?

[00:20:42] And I was like, yeah, I have some pages on this idea and I think it might be a really fun thing for him. And so I, I ended up having to pitch it to Nathan and, and he got really excited about it and started, we started sort of creatively going back and forth on what the, the idea would be and how to sort of flesh it out and, and nailed down the, the, the mystery and what that would be. Um, because this is a four issue mini series starting in July, um, from dark horse. So we only have four issues.

[00:21:12] Um, we have plans for more. If this takes off, we would love to keep revisiting witness point, but the first sort of mystery, uh, goes over these four, four issues. So we just started, uh, vibing and, and, uh, actually this is sort of how Sue came into it is at last year at, uh, San Diego, Nathan and I were signing some postcards for the book to start, uh, talking about it. And we didn't have an artist yet.

[00:21:37] And, uh, I was sitting next to Sue and we were signing for minor threats together. Uh, cause we both had worked on the minor threats series. And, uh, she's like, what are you working on next? And I told her about witness point and she was like, Oh, that sounds cool. Who's drawing it? And I was like, I don't know you. It was, I was like, why not? It was like, maybe send me the pages. So I sent her the pages and I, I think you were interested before, uh, uh, the end of the con. Yeah.

[00:22:05] Cause I do really like, um, Westerns and noir as well, but I was like, I don't know if I'm the person to do it, but when you explain the background of the town and everything behind it, I was like, yeah, I want to do something different and weird. And I, I always want to like push myself to do something that I haven't done before. So I like, you know, what's the point in doing comics if you just can't do whatever you want sometimes. Right. It's like a, you know, like I'm being, I'm being asked to do something, but there's a freedom to it.

[00:22:34] So I was like, you know what, let me, I want to have fun with it. And I, and I'm, you know, I'm, I'm able to have fun with it right now. So I was like, you know what? Uh, let me try. And Sue really locked into the sort of like Western stoicism of, uh, of our lead of, of our sheriff and, and really liked that. So we leaned into it a lot and, and we got this really amazing character design, um, which I just adore. Uh, first of all, I'm a Chicago guy.

[00:23:02] So I love the fact that I finally have a character who wears a Cubs hat, um, in a comic book, which I don't think I've ever seen before. Um, but you know, with the sort of look, he's got that very modern Western look with like the almost Carhartt jacket. And he's not a sheriff who even wears the local uniform. Um, he just sort of does it his own way. And, uh, it, it, it suggests a real interesting interior life that that's going to be fun for

[00:23:30] us to, uh, uh, explore and, and peel away a little bit as we move forward. Jimmy is too humble to do this. So as his stalwart ride or die, I wanted to tell you about his new graphic novel, Penny and the Yeti with artist Amber Aiken. What started as a comic short with his daughter that I've known about for ages now, and it's evolved and has become one of those annoying can't talk about it in comics things for too damn long.

[00:23:57] Yes, I'm predisposed to be supportive, but after reading an advanced copy of it, I have to admit it's way better than I anticipated. No shade, but it's really good. Remarkably so. Does it have a Yeti? Yeah. Is it cute and adorable? Yeah. But it straight flies in effectively tapping into the all too familiar family dynamics that we all are facing in 2026 and approaching it in a way that doesn't insult the book's target audience. Kids!

[00:24:24] They're way smarter and perceptive than we adults give them credit for. So I really appreciated Jimmy's narrative approach, tapping into his own experiences as a dad and a spouse. I can hear his wife saying, get off your phone, Jimmy, through the pages. She's going to kill me for saying that. It's hitting shelves on April 21st, and I dropped a link in the show notes where you can pre-order a copy today. Yeti or not, here we come with Penny, Perry, Fenton, Maxine, and the magical, mythical, magnificent Yeti.

[00:24:53] On behalf of us both, we appreciate your support. The things in the comic that hint about, you know, what Kite is all about, there's a lot of questions there. Some of which I'm sure will not get answered in four issues. So it would be wonderful that there is more. But, you know, the things I'm thinking when I'm reading it, because we talked about the Open, which is a real event.

[00:25:19] And I'm like, well, okay, well, that's like a New York, that's a New York thing. He has a Cubs hat. He's in Wisconsin. So there's like, there's a lot of question marks, you know, as to what's happening here. A Cubs hat in Wisconsin very purposefully pisses people off. And we get that like literally on page two. When someone yells at him, God hates the Cubs.

[00:25:49] And we widen to reveal that it's the local priest who's raking the leaves on the lawn of the church. And Kite says, you know, after this season, I can't really argue with you there, Padre. But I just have to say, Illinois has already given us one hope. Remind me how many Wisconsin's given us. And that joke made me very happy to have a character who would be able to say something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's another thing that I want to say, which I feel is like a touchstone of your

[00:26:17] work that I've read, at least in terms of comics. I mean, I think last time you were on the podcast, I spent, I think we were supposed to talk about one of the Minor Threats books, maybe The Brood. And I think I spent 45 minutes just telling you how much I love Bizarro. But I feel like that is kind of, like I said, a touchstone of at least your comics work. I mean, I know you've, as you've mentioned, you've written for the DC animated universe. You've written on the television show Animal Kingdom. You've done other TV work.

[00:26:47] But I think it's just like whenever you're writing a comic, like you really have, I think, a sense of humor that at least that you imbue into your characters that really works for whatever story like you're telling. It makes the town feel even more lived in. It makes the reading experience more enjoyable. You know, I like reading something that is not just all murder and mayhem. I like that it has like a really kind of, you know, fun sense of humor.

[00:27:17] And it really kind of tells me who the person of Kite is, you know? Yeah. Well, thank you. I love that. I love that you're picking that up. That's yeah. Yeah. And also, I think that Nathan's voice is really strong in there as well as someone who is also very witty and very smart and never on the back foot for a smart comment.

[00:27:40] So I we did want to make sure that like Kite does sort of have that very clever witticism at the tip of his tongue, at least in the way that he sees things. Absolutely. Not just for the characters that Nathan Fillion has played, but if anyone's ever seen him in interviews or, you know, seen how he interacts with folks. I think I met him once at a Wizard World in Philadelphia. He is he is very charming, very witty.

[00:28:08] That that piece of his character, I think, is is a little bit of a piece of him as well. Yeah, as well as small town Canadian guy like that was one of the things he really liked is this is this is a small town story. And he really connected to that idea, too. You know, the idea that on the surface, everybody wants to really like each other and there's going to be some things that keep them from from doing that. Right. Right. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that makes a lot of sense.

[00:28:34] Sue, I also wanted to to talk to you because this book is coming out July 8th. And then I think on July 15th, you're also working on Kingdom of Earth, another dark horse book with David Dasmalkian and Leah Kilpatrick. Frank Svetkovic is is lettering. But, you know, essentially monsters invade in the future.

[00:29:01] And there's like one person who is trying to escape them because the monsters want to eat them. Like, so these are the two books you have coming out. Were you working on these like almost simultaneously? Yeah. Like it almost is pretty close. But it's yeah. I mean, it's like two very different genres. And I'm very much comfortable with horror anyways, because a lot of my titles from, you

[00:29:30] know, recently has been horror based, if not action horror. So it's something that I was like easily, you know, I kind of just like fell into with the art and everything. And that's why it was like, oh, witness point is so different. I get to kind of like change gears. And it's like I'm able to eat different foods at the same time to like, you know, you know what

[00:29:54] I mean, there's like a buffet and I'm able to sample something else while I'm eating another course. Because it's there's like there's like a there's like a massive stress and also fun to that. Yeah. So, I mean, in terms of the in terms of the monster design for Kingdom of Earth, what was that like for you? These are all monsters based in not real life, but, you know, on real mythology and legends.

[00:30:23] Also, some some of them from small towns as well. So it's not too dissimilar to the not topic, but to like the vibe of what's going on. But so I basically just looking at designs of the monsters that already exist and then, you know, taking artistic liberty and kind of just changing it up to my vision or to what,

[00:30:49] you know, might suit the book, because some of it is like, oh, you know, this is a little too cliche or whatever. But I kind of wanted it to give a more gritty or alien esque look to a lot of these monsters because we're we're deep into the future as well. So they're not aliens, but I wanted it to give like a different monster vibe to everything. OK. OK. Yeah.

[00:31:15] I will say the cover that that I saw of Kingdom of Earth, which it looks like a monster is some type of maybe furry arm in the foreground. And then it's like the main character draped almost toga style, except both shoulders are uncovered with an American flag holding a baseball bat with like a destroyed city in the background. I thought that's a hell of a cover. I mean, that's phenomenal. Thank you.

[00:31:42] You would need to know nothing else about that series other than that cover to buy that issue on the stand. I appreciate it. I wanted it to give you everything like of what the world is like in all of the issues in just one cover. So hopefully that does translate so that, you know, when we promote it more, you'll have an idea of what's going on. But there's like an air of mystery and, you know, not sure what's happening.

[00:32:12] And that's exactly how I wanted, you know, the readers to feel when looking at that. Yeah, I would be remiss to if I didn't also mention, though, your witness point cover, which, you know, has has kite front and center. Yeah, I was going to say, which is completely different. Yeah, it is very different. But still, you this the similarity is like you have kite in the center gun drawn, but you

[00:32:39] have like clowns and the the the tiger painted on a wagon like in the background. You have all these like little things in it that, again, are question marks as to exactly, you know, what is is happening here. But it's it's a phenomenal cover as well. The Kingdom of Earth one, I just feel is so that imagery is very striking. So but yeah, tremendous. Thank you so much.

[00:33:09] I mean, and also back to back, it's like with Kingdom of Earth, it's very empty and there's like a sense of loneliness. But with witness point, it's like there's chaos. There's just too much happening. And it's kind of like I feel like it also goes with the theme of the story with, you know, with what Heath is going for is like it's chaotic and bizarre and not really sure what's happening. So it also feels a little dreamy, I think, because it doesn't feel real like because it's

[00:33:34] just like so many bizarre things, again, like the tiger and the clowns and like just we're like what's happening. And that's exactly what I wanted the entire story to be like. Oh, yeah. OK. Again, the the idea of working on both of these, you know, almost simultaneously and going from, yes, a terrible murder. But you really do have like a warm, inviting small town and things are starting to flare up.

[00:33:58] And to this post apocalyptic, humans either have to serve monsters or be served to them. I mean, I think sometimes when I write and I write different characters, like I I know that I say the dialogue out loud and mimic like the facial expression the character is making. I'm like as an artist, if you were doing that, you had to run through every human emotion between these two series. Yeah, it's it's definitely shifting gears for sure. Keeps me on my toes.

[00:34:27] I guess I'm glad that you were sitting next to Heath signing and ended up with both of these series. I mean, it's a it's a boon for Dark Horse and your other collaborators. I know July is Sue month. I don't know about that, but I mean, it's I feel like it was a happy coincidence, you know, like Heath and I, you know, we got along like immediately. We just vibed. We had a good time. We were just like hanging out.

[00:34:55] And, you know, when and immediately I was like, yeah, absolutely. I want to work with Heath because, you know, he's a really good writer. And also we just get along. And honestly, that's kind of like how artist writer teams kind of happen. I mean, you know, other than like good repertoire and all that stuff. But like, honestly, if we didn't get along, I wouldn't want to work with him anyways. But we do. So it's like, yeah. So it was an easy decision. Yeah.

[00:35:24] And I'm such a huge we do have a great rapport and relationship. And I'm so impressed with the way Sue's mind is about design and how she just brings these characters to life and the little moments of acting. There's a repeated moment, I think, a couple of times that when our lead gets really exasperated, he rubs the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

[00:35:50] And it's just one of my favorite, just tiny little moments Sue brings to it. But I just love it so much. He's just sort of like, oh, man, pinching the bridge of his nose. It is definitely something like I'm like, I have a different vision for what this story is going to be. And even in the middle of it, I was like, is this too different? I had to tell myself to trust the process. You know what I mean? Like, I was like, is this too weird?

[00:36:19] Is this too like bright looking? You know, like not even bright in terms of color. I was like, does this look too silly? But I think like after looking at it altogether, I'm like, no, it actually I think it I think it actually really works. And I'm not just saying that to like pat myself on the back. But I'm like, no, no, I think I like I know what I want to do with it. And I think it actually looks good. Yeah. It forges a unique tone.

[00:36:45] It is the whole book is a really unique tone, which which can be challenging to talk about because people are like, I don't understand what it is. And it's it's where you kind of have to see it and go like, oh, now I get it. Because because like you were saying, Jimmy, like it's not all the long shadows. It's not the darkness. It's not the black and white of noir that sometimes you see. It's it's this is all happening in the sun of a Midwestern town.

[00:37:12] And so like it's a little different, but it works so well. And also, I won't you know, not that I think the last page gives anything away, really. But that last page is wonderful. Like what a way to end it on. Yeah, that's like a crime noir. Yeah. I mean, it's it's such like a kind of like a classic image of, you know, some of the things

[00:37:39] we see when detectives are working on a case. But it it really came out really, really well. It's a it's a hell of a last page. Yeah. Thank you. That was one of those images that I knew we wanted to back into. I knew that I think once we got that, you get the sort of scope of what we're going with going to do. So I thought that was a that was something that was with me all through the outlining

[00:38:06] process to get to and to earn is is procedural the right term. You're the TV guy. Like if I wanted it to give a very like like TV show procedural, like feel to those the last few pages leading up to that last page, because it's like, you know, oh, we had the goofy and the silliness. And then it's like, OK, they're like now we have the typical noir thing going on where

[00:38:33] they're like, you know, getting like serious about it and like rolling up their sleeves literally. Yeah. Liter quite literally. One of the other things that I liked because just growing up watching detective shows and watching mystery type of shows, if you've watched TV since, you know, the 70s. So the past 50 years of television, we've seen a lot of different guys who have investigated crime.

[00:39:00] And one of the things I always like, though, and it was, you know, the the typical tough guy when he showed a little bit less than like the typical tough guy stuff. And it was usually in the early days. It was always like he had a pair of glasses. And for whatever reason, when when Kite takes out the glasses in the office, I was like, you know what? This is my kind of guy. Just I just thought that was such a fun. He has a morning. He hasn't want to get at the end.

[00:39:29] But like we don't see him take him out. It's just the panel and the mayor's talking and he's looking at the pages with his glasses on. I thought as a nice touch. I mean, that's a he like he wanted that. And and as I kept drawing it, I like I like it grew on me because I was like, oh, he's so cute now. I have to say for me, it was it was a moment that spoke to Kite's vulnerability, as you

[00:39:58] said, but also his age, that sort of aging stoicism that it's like, I hate these things. I don't want to put them on. But I know that when I'm looking at a crime scene or something, I've got to put on and like, look at the goddamn glasses or I've got to look, use them in order to have to read the case files. But the minute he's talking to a person, they come right off and they're right in the pocket. So I like that business of somebody putting them on and taking them off.

[00:40:26] And like just it was something we talked a lot about. And I said, I think this sort of tells you who this guy is, that he doesn't want people to see him in these glasses reading. He would much rather be that like very handsome cowboy that I think he he thinks he's he's playing. So that was that was something that we talked about quite a bit as we as we designed it. That's great. No, no, I love it. I thought it was a nice touch. I really did.

[00:40:56] So I'm glad you caught that. Yes. Thank you. Both of you, I really appreciate your time coming on the podcast. I won't keep you any longer. Otherwise, I'll just we'll end up talking about the whole book, like every every page and panel. And I want listeners to do that when they pick it up on July 8th. Make sure you tell your local comic book shop that you want a copy of Witness Point. Go ahead and tell them you want Kingdom of Earth in your your pull list as well.

[00:41:25] So you can get a double dose of Sui's art this July. Both are from Dark Horse. And if you haven't read Heath's the the the bizarro that that that Heath did, you should you should do that. I'm still going to plug. With Gustavo Duarte, the amazing Brazilian cartoonist Gustavo Duarte. Yeah. Who is insane. Yeah. Gustavo's art. It's it's so good.

[00:41:55] It is. It's just one of my favorite. I'm a huge bizarro fan. I said it listeners. If you didn't listen to the last time he was on, I talked about it, but I'm such a huge bizarro fan. And it's just one of my favorite bizarro stories. Heath and Gustavo just did such a tremendous job. So if you haven't read that, you got to get it. But yes, witness point with Nathan Philly and Heath Corson, Sui out from Dark Horse July 8th. Please make sure you get it.

[00:42:24] And hit us up on on Instagram, on the socials. Let us know what you think about it. Yeah. Oh, yes. Tell us panels you like. Tell us stuff that you're wondering about. We're very excited. Come see us at San Diego. We'll be signing. Yes. We'll be doing signings with Nathan at San Diego if anybody happens to be at SDCC this year. Awesome. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, you can find me on Blue Sky. I'm on Instagram and TikTok.

[00:42:52] And let me know what it is you're reading, especially if you pick up witness point. I'd love to I'd love to talk to you about it and let Heath and Sue and Nathan let them know and Dark Horse. Let them know what you thought of it. I think you're going to love it. But yeah, thank you so much, Heath and Sue for Comic Book Yeti's Cryptic. I'm Jimmy Gasparro. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. And I'll see you next time. This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by Comic Book Yeti.

[00:43:22] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast Into the Comics Cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.