Soo Lee talks Cheetara

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

[00:00:14] There's a realm-trodding dystopian fantasy adventure that cleverly explores Norse mythology sound up your alley? It sure does mine, so I was excited to see one of my favorite comic creators Eisner and Harvey award-winning Michael Avon Oming is launching a new Kickstarter project collecting issues

[00:00:30] one through five of his creator-owned series After the Realm in July. I just got a chance to get an early peek and it's fantastic with over 300 pages of material including 22 new pages of story, it follows a young rebellious ranger named Una Lightfoot

[00:00:45] trying to find her best friend. As the tale of friendship and destiny unfolds, the nine realms are torn asunder with Loki up to his usual trouble-making self, of course. It should come as no surprise at this point that the cast of unusual characters Michael

[00:00:58] created in the book includes some anthropomorphic animals. But I can't say I've ever seen them riding roughshod across the land in many tanks a la Mad Max Fury Road before, so I'm so here for it. Perky, slightly beautifully unhinged and completely engrossing, the immediate analogs to me where

[00:01:15] the Legend of Zelda meets the mighty Thor with Norse underpinnings for perspective. Michael is handling both the riding and the artwork duties with Takisoma on colors and Sean Lee lettering the project. Head on over to Kickstarter and make sure you back

[00:01:27] this cuz it's epic. Y'all, Jimmy, the chaos goblin strikes again. I should have known better than to mention that I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media,

[00:01:47] my bad. He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know and now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we can start playing. Another friend chimes in

[00:01:56] are you gonna make maps? It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together so I guess? Question mark? It was then that I discovered Arkham Forge. If you don't know

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[00:02:40] a link in the show notes for you and big thanks to Arkham Forge for partnering with our show. I think I'm gonna make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Hello and welcome to comic book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner podcast. I'm one of your

[00:02:54] hosts Jimmy Gisbarro and I have an illustrator, artist and end writer here on the program today. She's actually been pulling double duty recently on a one dynamite series Maleficent. Also I've just recently read the fantastic Carmilla the first vampire but we're going to talk a lot about

[00:03:15] Chitara, the new number one spinning off of the dynamite thunder cats comic which issue number one is going to be out July 3rd, I believe but I'm very excited to welcome to the podcast

[00:03:29] Sue Lee Sue. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much Jimmy. I'm excited to be here. Really I'm really grateful that people want to talk to me about Chitara especially.

[00:03:41] No, I mean I was a fan of thunder cats as a kid. You know I'm an old man now 45 so like that hit when I was a young lad and I think I had all the toys and I probably somewhere in my parents

[00:03:55] basement is still a box with some of the old toys in it. So I was a fan of it and I've been very excited by some of the different comic book publishers that are kind of reviving

[00:04:12] you know 80s and 90s properties and kind of giving them new life and a new spin and dynamite has been doing some really interesting things not only with the thunder cats but also with some of their Disney characters that they've been doing like Cruella and you know

[00:04:31] you're you've been doing I think both writing and artist duties on the Maleficent comic yes which is pretty pretty exciting but yeah so let's I wanted to start let's start with

[00:04:44] Chitara and I just kind of wanted to get a sense like were you a fan of thunder cats at all like before were you aware of it like what was kind of your your interest in it? If anything

[00:05:00] no I think you know you don't you don't have to have a great interest to write a great story. I mean you know it was definitely in my peripherals when I was a kid and I watched

[00:05:10] it here and there but I don't think I ever got to really take a look at it until it was like you know re-running in like Cartoon Network or something like that you know like late 2000 early

[00:05:23] 2000s I mean you know so that's when I really got to like watch the show and then you know haven't watched it since and then you know when they asked me to write it I actually jumped

[00:05:37] on to some of the episodes and just kind of for homework watched a bunch of episodes. Yeah and I think I mean there was the the 80s series and I think there was like a short-lived

[00:05:49] like 2011 or 2012 they I don't know who it was but there was like a like a short-lived season or two version of the cartoon um yeah but yeah even if you're just aware of it a little bit

[00:06:03] to get the opportunity to write you know just a character like Chitara and you know I watched it when I was a kid and have read the the five issues that have just come out for the main series but

[00:06:16] I mean she's like a really powerful like wise like independent character and especially other than like Wiley Kitt really the only female of the group to balance against Lionel, Higra and like like in Panthro I mean it I'm curious did did having to you know kind of

[00:06:40] take on the writing duties for that type of character was that a big draw to it as well not just it being like the Thundercats but the character in particular? Yeah I mean like you said she's the only well she's the only adult female character in Thundercats

[00:06:58] right yeah but it's interesting because you know you know she exists and we like if you rewatch the cartoons you'll know like what kind of person she is or what kind of character she is

[00:07:10] but it's cool because it's a kind of a clean slate right we know of the character but we don't really know anything about her so it's like I'm just kind of putting the pieces

[00:07:26] of what I've seen and you know like her powers and try to get a sense of the personality she has from the snippets she kind of plays like the supporting role not not a main main character

[00:07:38] right even some of the fighting scenes I feel like are were you know there's like not much that showcases much of it much powers especially so I find it really fun and also really difficult to

[00:07:54] kind of have like an entire reign of seeing that's like hasn't been established. Yeah but and it's interesting with your series it sounds like you're kind of going back to talking about you know or dealing with some of those things before they got to third earth right?

[00:08:19] Yeah yeah it's definitely like a prelude it was like it's it starts a few years before episode one you know so it's like before everything happens before we know who they are and why

[00:08:38] they ended up where they are you know so it's kind of like you know I mean the fun part and the difficult part is like what is that story and then you know it's easy because I get to frame it

[00:08:50] around person but you know the other characters kind of like because they are a team the other characters make the story as well so it's not just about her but it she is like the center stage for

[00:09:05] ones. Yeah that's what I find like really kind of interesting because you can do you know there's a lot a lot of creative freedom in terms of filling out that backstory and you know writing

[00:09:18] a really character driven story you know plus you have the opportunity for for a lot of action which I think is yeah pretty neat and the the artist on it is uh Domenico

[00:09:32] Carbone. Carbone yeah. Yeah was there you know as an artist as well was there any part of you that were like oh I'm I'm comfortable being just in like on the writing side of things rather than

[00:09:46] the the the art? Yeah for sure um I mean I've done it very briefly for like a one-shot Vampirella story so it was like cool to have someone draw you know my script and everything but um this is

[00:10:02] like kind of like a bigger project right I mean it's only five issues but it is kind of because it's like you know kind of a big you know license you know thing and all like people love these

[00:10:15] characters right so I wanted the characters to be um uh like I wanted the characters to be cool um and at the same time like Domenico like giving complete reigns of what it should look like well

[00:10:34] okay not complete reigns I did write a script right and I have to like structure the script a certain way no but I I wanted to give all my trust to him and be like you are the artist right like other writers

[00:10:48] would give me trust to draw the story in the way I see fit right so you got to have that mutual you know respect and trust for the team um and he's so talented there there was no reason why I

[00:11:00] like I saw the character designs and I was like oh yeah he's great he's amazing I saw the you know the layouts and the pencils and I saw the full book and I was like no this is really good it looks so

[00:11:13] good if you hate my story at least you'll love the art I think like no you'll definitely love the art so you know thank god for him yeah well um do you think as somebody who also is you

[00:11:26] know is not you know you're writing this but not just a writer I mean you're you know fine line illustrator and you've you've worked with other writers before you know like we I mentioned early

[00:11:36] on Carmilla the first vampire working with Amy Chu um it do you think you it's because you know what it's like to get a script a comic script and kind of put your own stamp on it

[00:11:48] do you do you feel like you're more adept when you're in you know wearing your writing hat and giving a script to an artist or are you tougher okay um all great questions um

[00:12:01] as an artist yes it is oh I wish the script would be presented to me in this way or you know um so in that lens I think okay really easy way for him to work on this book right um there's a

[00:12:18] there's like a language barrier right so it is um very interesting I mean but he's great like he understands everything that I'm saying but I was worried about that at first but no it was fine

[00:12:29] so that was number one um and I thought like when I write the script I was like let me give you a one sentence synopsis of what every page is so before he even reads the panels I say

[00:12:42] this scene is a romance scene or this is an action scene or this scene this is going to happen with these characters so that so he knows what to get into you know it's not like very precise

[00:12:53] but it's so he knows what to get into and then sometimes I'll say very like um direct about what every page uh whatever panel should be but because I you know not every artist is the same

[00:13:07] either my brain works differently right so I'm like I don't want to give too many details where where you get lost in the sauce and like you know you're like okay well what am I actually

[00:13:18] drawing no no this happens this person's smiling or this you know this person's frowning and but like I won't be like draw this person standing on the right I said this person's in it that person's

[00:13:32] in it I trust use an artist to figure out the direction of where these characters should be and then at the same time um sometimes I'll be like make these three action panels cool

[00:13:44] I trust you and then like you know yeah I said just make it look good you know because you know no matter what I say he's gonna see it differently so just do it you know right I believe

[00:13:56] in him it looks great so far so you know I want to give him as freedom as much freedom because it's nice when you give me freedom um and then they don't there's not a lot of like things

[00:14:08] to bog down the script so um you know like it's not too heavy you know yeah no I think that makes sense I was just curious in terms of you know if you're uh not more strict is the wrong word

[00:14:25] but maybe more of like a discerning eye you know because you're an artist but it it's it's good to hear that you know I think that you appreciate that freedom when a writer gives you a script um

[00:14:36] yeah you know because there's always a little bit of a dance in terms of collaboration to figure out how you know two people are are going to work together so yeah actually there was two more

[00:14:47] questions to that right that I completely did not answer um what were they sorry I know you're all very good questions you know you're fine um if I if I think of them I'll I'll spit them out again

[00:15:03] um but no I just not strict no you're right I'm not strict right because because it's fun it's you're in the team and it's like you know it's really like fun to see oh so what I wanted to say

[00:15:14] was that like I envisioned something and ultimately when I do see the pages they're completely different than what I would have drawn it as but it still looks so cool you know so I'm like

[00:15:25] but that's the beauty of art and like a different artist putting their spin on it so it's like even if I was like which I'm surprisingly am not right so I feel like I'm a good I'm a decent enough

[00:15:37] writer to like give leeway and like you know a decent enough artist to be like I know when someone's doing their thing and like letting them do it but no I'm not like oh I would have done this panel

[00:15:48] this way I just look at it and I'm like this is what it feels like to be a writer I'm like this looks really cool I don't even remember what happens here but that looks really good

[00:15:58] all right let's take a quick break hey comics fam itty comic book publisher band of bars just got a level up and announced it is now a cooperative this heralds a new era for them including a

[00:16:10] partnership with dollas stories and they added several new members to the ownership group marcus himenez is now chief operating officer Brent Fisher takes on the role of chief diversity officer and joey galvez is introduced as head of Kickstarter ops and social media

[00:16:26] manager which is sure to increase their capabilities overall as a publisher and it further promotes their mission statement of advancing representation inclusion and diversity in the media they also established a new board of directors to help chart the new path of their journey with new

[00:16:42] projects in the works like Alaska by dropping in June unbroken soon launching on Kickstarter and pond coming up with dollars stay tuned to this space for more exciting news from the growing

[00:16:52] bards family let's get back to the show with the main series with the you know the the other ongoing title do you have any interaction with like that creative team to make sure like in terms of the

[00:17:12] that your characterization of some of the other characters and she Tara like lines up is that all like do you talk to the other teams or is it all done through like

[00:17:24] editorial or do you have kind of like a lot of like freedom and leeway to check that out and then do your own interpretation so it has nothing to do with the main series so I have complete freedom

[00:17:37] to do whatever I want with it but yeah which is also kind of scary right but I did you know Declan and Nate our editor like kind of sat together to like just talk about the grand scheme

[00:17:52] of where the book is right and then I want to make sure that some of the dialogue matches what Declan is doing because I wanted to I don't want them to be like oh they don't they're

[00:18:04] not talking the same I felt like that was at least one of the most important things to tie the characters in together um because it's like the story has nothing to do with each other and they could even be

[00:18:17] different people because remember this is like years way years before anything happened so they've all like grown up in Declan's story right um but that's like mostly what I like wanted to make

[00:18:31] sure was kind of those which is dialogue um but there's also an interesting thing I'm not going to spoil it but there was something that came up and I was like hey why was it this you know or what should

[00:18:43] we do should we keep it should we change it and so we kind of like because of what I brought up I'm not gonna spoil anything you're not going to know what it is but it's really cool on our end

[00:18:55] because I'm like oh now this is going to impact the story later on because we have to make the executive decision and we did it together which is really cool because I figured like and this has

[00:19:05] nothing to do with anything but hey something does that is pretty cool no I was just curious if there was like you know a connecting of the dots or you know how it all was was working together um

[00:19:18] yeah I'm assuming in terms of you like that your work on Maleficent led to like Chitara you know through through Dynamite so I was kind of curious like um how did Maleficent you know come

[00:19:33] about for you and especially you know being able to do you know do writer and artist on that series um I've worked with Nate before he was the same editor on and he was like hey do you want to

[00:19:45] do something weird you know you want to write and draw your own story I was like okay sure why not right literally and then he came to me and was like hey you want to write Chitara

[00:19:56] and I'm like super random but sure let's do it yeah that's great um you know Maleficent all those there's like there's Disney books that Dynamite has been doing those are very interesting takes on

[00:20:08] all those characters and um uh I haven't gotten to check out all of the Maleficent one but what I've seen I mean it looks fantastic and what a what a fun character to kind of get to

[00:20:20] you know play around with oh yeah for sure I mean she was also built because Disney is very strict see now they're very strict that you can you can and cannot do many things with certain characters

[00:20:34] a lot of hurdles to get through but ultimately I really like you know um the voice I gave her yeah so with something like that when uh you're working with you know somebody else's property

[00:20:47] and they are very strict with the character do they give you like a laundry list of like used in don'ts beforehand or is just you just pitch something and if they say okay but we want

[00:20:57] to approve it each step of the way like how does that work no no they definitely give you a laundry list of things I cannot I can I can't do for sure which makes it easier because and at least I know

[00:21:08] what to do yeah there's a starting point which is you know all I'm very grateful for but which is hard they were like yeah they were like no just do whatever you want I was like okay

[00:21:21] yeah no that's that that freedom seems like I mean having all the do's and don'ts seems like a fun you know challenge but I certainly see the benefit of having the creative freedom to be like all right we're gonna build this thing from the ground up you know

[00:21:37] mm-hmm for sure for sure yeah um I wanted to talk a little bit about uh you know in terms of how you had gotten your artistic start and your start um in comics oh so we

[00:21:53] I mean we don't have to but uh no no it's like where did I start how many years ago was that what year are we uh I I think it's 2024 but I've not been able

[00:22:05] to keep track of the years uh at least the past couple of them um if I if somebody if somebody told me tomorrow that this has all been a simulation I'd be like look that tracks you know it's I was

[00:22:17] gonna say you know what makes a lot of sense okay I'm not even doubt it you know what okay yeah so what led you to comics were you a fan of comics growing up or was it something that

[00:22:29] you found later in life how did you make your way to to write and draw in comics yeah no I'm always a fan of comics read manga comic books you know like Batman you know

[00:22:42] manga in general it was like mostly my start um Hellboy you know just so many like I'm so many like main ones that I know I'm leaving out right now but um it's just like

[00:22:57] comics is always in my life then when I went to high school I went to an art school and you know all my friends were nerds and we would read comics we would like share comics and stuff

[00:23:06] and then they started doing like comics classes so I was like oh this is cool I know you can actually do it right right like oh this is like a job I didn't know this was actually a job as

[00:23:18] I'm reading comic you know what I mean it's like the number of folks is actually a thing yeah if something just happens that I pick up and read right the number of folks on this podcast

[00:23:30] that have said that you know that have like you know one way or another have come to come to the realization they're like oh people do this for like a living you know right I thought it was

[00:23:40] the thing that just appeared and I buy it and I read it I didn't think that like someone actually makes it right um and so I was like okay well there's classes um this would be fun right I

[00:23:52] can like have fun try it out right and then I was like oh this is really fun and then I went to like you know I took classes in college for it and you know it was under Klaus Jansen and I was like

[00:24:06] oh I could do this for real you know and I think it was his class that I took it very seriously because he takes it very seriously and for a while I thought it was just like something fun and

[00:24:16] cute I can do and whatever but then I was like no no I really want to be good at this he really like you know mentally case ensues into me and was like okay you know if you want to do this

[00:24:26] you're gonna be serious and right I did I'm very grateful for him I love him very much for it you know um yeah so it was like that and slowly making my way into the con circuit just like I was a

[00:24:38] terrible artist you know I still think it like even yeah I still think even five years ago it was terrible I still think I was like terrible two years ago you know what I mean so it's like

[00:24:49] you're always like learning and I was like at the con circuit you know doing my best to hustle like terrible art you know I make friends and like yeah like I started freelancing here and

[00:25:04] there while I had like multiple jobs as well like real jobs and then it was until like I did the math like a few weeks ago but right before the pandemic happened I decided to quit my full-time day job

[00:25:22] because I was like you know what I can finally make the jump and I'm going to do it and then the pandemic happened so I was working comics part time for like a year and a half before that and

[00:25:36] then so I'm like okay what is that 20 18 19 right yeah when did the pandemic happen 2020 we're 20 yeah 2020 okay so like 2018 maybe 18 19 20 one two three four so like maybe six seven years

[00:25:53] now that I just started doing this full time and I was like that's not that bad I think but yeah I mean that's not that bad in times of time but it feels like I've been doing it forever because I've been

[00:26:04] like you know really try hard to like get to where I am now for the longest time right but yeah it's it literally was like ever since I was a you know a teen I've wanted to become a

[00:26:18] I wanted to draw comics and then you know slowly working my way up so when you're doing that and you know working other jobs doing it part time to get to that point and working

[00:26:32] as like an artist or a cover artist whatever it might be um was you know you know from reading comics and then seeing scripts and then working in them was it a had you written other stuff before

[00:26:48] was it a difficult transition for you to be a writer or for you is it just it's all storytelling like what is uh what was that like uh for Chita you mean right for writing yeah for Chita

[00:27:01] um so for Maleficent I had to write as well but the cool thing about writing for yourself is you could be as in vague as possible and I'll know what I'm saying I'll just be like

[00:27:13] you know draw her doing this and I'm like okay I already know what this is or like smile this person's frowning perfect I know what I'm gonna draw so there there doesn't have to be

[00:27:22] that like strict of a script right but um for Chita because I'm writing for someone else I it was a little difficult and again I did it for Vampirella but it was very like

[00:27:34] short-formed it was like one shot and it wasn't you know there's a lot of mistakes that I made um and I was like okay I don't want to make the mistakes because I read reviews I read comments

[00:27:46] and so it's like oh I do I love doing it um I'm one of those freaks who like actually really enjoy reading comments but I I part of like the real criticism I like you know between the

[00:28:00] like the dumb ones right but like I was like okay I understand the actual critiques and I think like you know there's a lot that I didn't do well and I was like okay for I mean who knows

[00:28:10] people might hate Chitaura but that's just like how life is right that's whatever um but I was like okay I want to like learn from that and from Maleficent because it's all me right like if if I mess

[00:28:25] up Maleficent it's all my fault and so that that was the stress that made me make sure that there are things that I deliberately chose to do because I get to do it I'm the creator too bad

[00:28:36] for you if you don't like it but at the same time I'm like I want to make sure this is fun so there was a lot of like learning curve from that I think that was like biggest you know kick

[00:28:47] that I had to you know take from doing it all by myself right and what Chitaura I was like does this make sense does a sentence even make sense to someone else who's not me right and then

[00:28:58] like just a dialogue people speaking that even makes sense this is how this is not like real people talking right yeah and then what they understand so it was things like that that I like

[00:29:09] really had to focus on and pay attention to um but it was like I really wanted to make sure that it flowed and it's still a learning process I'm still learning right I don't think you'll but

[00:29:24] that's anything I think you'll always learn I'm still learning how to draw right um but it's also like a Chitaura is interesting because I have to be so much more detailed and precise

[00:29:36] yeah I it's kind of like um I used to write fanfics for fun back in the day like long long time ago so it kind of like like unleashed this like un like this hidden fanfic thing that

[00:29:51] I used to do and it's like oh I remember how to do this so it's like okay this is what I'm gonna do and it just kind of like you know um it was fun to do again right remembering that oh

[00:30:02] I've actually done it's not professionally but like fanfic wise I kind of I think I could do it again you know basically I'm writing a fanfic right so well I mean I guess kind of um but it's a professional

[00:30:17] but it's professional and it's being public and you know a lot of people are going to read it um you're talking about say you know wanting to make sure the dialogue you talked earlier

[00:30:27] about making sure the character dialogue sound the same but you know in writing the dialogue that or at least consistent but in writing dialogue that it sounds like what you know the characters

[00:30:38] would say do you do when you write do you say the dialogue out loud like whenever I write I always like act it out like out loud not just in my head um yeah yeah for sure I read it and then

[00:30:50] I'm like sometimes if I then the cool thing about things like uh Thundercats is that I like I can be like is this how they sound and I can just re-watch an episode with

[00:31:01] with like them talking and I'm like yes that is how they sound yeah but I do say it out again and then I reread it with just a dialogue to see if it makes sense right um but again

[00:31:12] I'm doing it by myself at home alone right so it's it's different when you know someone else reads it but yeah I've got to have an editor you know who will let me know if it doesn't work out so

[00:31:24] you know yeah absolutely um I'm not I'm not building a rocket ship okay it's everything will be fine right uh when we were talking about you know uh reading comics when you were younger or reading

[00:31:38] manga but I I've said on this podcast before when when it has come up that I like I just never got into manga like nothing I don't have any aversion to it it just was not anything I was like

[00:31:51] I was like exposed to and I I keep meaning to my daughter my oldest she's 11 and she loves anime manga yeah um she's I think making her way through demon slayer right now hopefully that's okay

[00:32:07] year old but uh I don't know I haven't watched red demon slayer but it's very popular I think it is actually yeah um but I was curious like I'm sure she's smart yeah she's smart I think she's fine

[00:32:21] she's all right and she loves to draw so she has like sketches books filled with characters she absolutely loves it um but I was just curious oh this is starting on myoung oh god she's like at 11

[00:32:34] that's her her her current dream at 11 years old is to be like an animator and so like that's oh that's cool her whole thing yeah I've told her she can do whatever she wants to do but she cannot

[00:32:46] she can't she cannot follow in my footsteps and be a lawyer that's the one thing she cannot do oh you reversed psychology to her yeah yeah yeah wait she'll probably end up going to law school

[00:32:58] and I'll be like I it wasn't a joke I didn't want you to do this I wanted you to follow your dream um no but uh I'm curious like if people ever come to you like if they have recommendations

[00:33:10] is there like a manga or like you know a comic series that you would like your number one you're like if you've never read manga start here oh boy start um I read dragon ball I watched and read dragon

[00:33:26] ball when I was a kid that was fun um oh gosh there I'm like blanking but I loved in the manga too like uh monster is a great one it's like um and also like all the acuratorial books you know and

[00:33:44] like not just like dragon ball I mean like you know um the older stuff I'm blanking because it is a little late recording so it's a late at night and I put you on I put you on this not um and also um

[00:34:01] uh a bunch of like you know akira you know but that's not recommended for kids oh no yeah I was asking for for me for when I when I get started okay good good akira is great I mean that's like

[00:34:13] pinnacle of you know manga right and like anime um but I think he's like monster a lot that's also very classic I think okay but that's like mostly um not very mainstream but if you want mainstream

[00:34:32] death note is really fun I used to love death note okay yeah that's like a very long running series where it's like you know it's a mystery and there's like action and like intrigue and stuff

[00:34:45] one piece is one of the most popular comic books in the universe yeah I know like anime and comics in the universe like it blows anything out the water in terms of popularity so okay if you have

[00:35:01] a million hours of time boom you got one piece you know well I I don't know if I have that much time but I can start I can get started somewhere I just feel like I need to it always comes up

[00:35:12] it always comes up on the podcast when folks are talking about when we talk about like the comics that got you into wanting to make comics and so many writers and artists like point to manga

[00:35:22] and I'm like I need to get I need to get into it and read I need to start somewhere so I always ask folks like where should I start so berserk I loved reading berserk when I was younger too

[00:35:34] maybe I started way too young what I should impact but it's like incredible right it's like even if you don't like the story it's so incredibly beautiful and it's just like things like that

[00:35:47] really inspired me oh that's awesome well I appreciate you allowing me to put you on the spot and uh it's the questions um I wanted to turn a little bit if we could just to talk about Carmilla the

[00:36:04] first vampire which um I think won the Brom Stoker award in graphic novels yeah uh you and Amy Chew out by you know put out by Dark Horse um I think I don't know if it's one or was nominated for

[00:36:22] a couple other things I think too I mean it was um pretty popular but I read it today in preparation for this and it was on my list to read but it's one of the reasons I like doing this podcast because

[00:36:35] like my 2b red list gets like shorter when I have somebody on who has something on the list because I'm like oh well I gotta read it um what what an absolutely phenomenal graphic novel I mean I

[00:36:48] love how I love how it took the like I love the interpretation of the original story for I mean for listeners who don't know um the original story I think is from like 1872 uh predates

[00:37:05] Brom Stoker's Dracula Dracula that's right 25 years uh was written by uh an Irish writer what is it Sheridan La Fanu La Fanu right um and I always wonder if I'm saying that wrong I am so

[00:37:21] sorry I don't know either um there's you know I think I don't I don't know if there's any recorded interviews with him where he says his name because it was late 1800s well you know

[00:37:34] what are you gonna do uh but no it's uh this is set in New York City in the 1990s um it's kind of brings like it brings in the some elements literally like some actual like

[00:37:52] elements from the original story in a very like concrete way it is it was fantastic I mean I I just like breezed through it and I just absolutely love the story I thought it was so

[00:38:09] fascinating I love the bits of the the narration and how they they worked with it but your artwork was tremendous I mean it was just so beautiful it's just like fine lines details just how you

[00:38:25] created those characters um they it was just it just was wonderful I mean I just thought it was phenomenal yeah there's not a question there I'm just just no no no thank you so much I

[00:38:41] really appreciate that that's like I'm I don't know what to say thank you so much great with compliments but no really that's I seriously appreciate that I there were just so many

[00:38:54] elements of it um like just so many like little moments um whether or not it was uh the main character's name just went right out of my head um Athena you're Athena Athena yeah when she was

[00:39:12] like just just the way like from the very beginning like just her like standing on the train tracks um those little moments where she kind of talks about the forgotten folks like in

[00:39:22] the city and the facial acting like just the little bits of kindness she is showing them but the scenes with her and and Violet um were just fantastic uh thank you every time the two of

[00:39:40] them interacted I just thought it just looked so great and there's there's just such a uh vitality to to Violet um like she just comes right off the page thank you I mean yeah like

[00:39:56] when it comes to I feel like uh I want to make sure the acting especially on the faces are as like you know I it's kind of a different style that I do I drew Carmilla with um but I wanted to

[00:40:12] make sure that like the facial expressions matched what Amy was writing because she writes some really beautiful things I mean she's a great writer right so I wanted to make sure that it like

[00:40:22] translates well um and then even if like you can't see the faces I'm hoping that like the colors of the pages will translate to what the mood of the scene should be so that like even if you

[00:40:34] know um it's a scene where you can't see the characters immediately you'll know what like the scene is supposed to be so like a red scene so it's like a creepy scene or like a dangerous

[00:40:43] scene or a blue scene is like a very somber scene you know or like blue blue color is like a somber scene yeah so yeah you know with every step of the way I'm just trying to match what Amy is doing

[00:40:53] and making sure that it's um like thematic and like has a lot of ambiance even with the facial expression thank you for noting no I mean I just I just thought all of it worked so well

[00:41:07] there were just so many elements of it uh with you and Amy and I think I think it was lettered by Sal Cipriano yeah yeah he's wonderful he's so good his lettering is like amazing on that book

[00:41:20] oh phenomenal especially because he's dealing with a lot of different characters but then kind of dealing with the the elements from the original Carmilla um and it just it works so well

[00:41:34] you know together I feel like I said that like a million times but it's true you need to read it because it all works so well together thank you um yeah like oh and then like the little first

[00:41:43] stuff he does like with like narration it's really good he's so good yeah yeah um very very very well done and I've worked with him before too on another dynamite book actually like a long time

[00:41:57] ago so it was like oh yeah I know Sal and I trust him yeah I just thought it was uh just thought it was wonderful and especially um that the whole the whole ending of it uh was I'm like I don't

[00:42:13] want I mean I know it's been out I don't want to give anything away because if anyone's listening to this and have not discovered it and you even have like a tiny bit of interest in I don't know

[00:42:22] gothic horror uh New York City in the 90s vampire stories it's a little vintagey you know it's like Amy's story is like very specific on what timeline it is so hopefully my art translates to like

[00:42:38] the nostalgic gothic fans it makes sense yeah I I definitely you know I definitely think so I one of my favorite things was I think it's I think it's when Athena is at the is at the club

[00:42:53] talking to the bartender Mai Tai and she's I love her Athena yeah I do too but Athena is describing her and I think she described her as like I don't know if she was a dancing girl or

[00:43:07] something however she got to New York in like the 70s and then she saw New York be at its best and then it's worse and then back to its best again um just the way she described that that New York

[00:43:23] and like the folks in it kind of embodying all the I don't know the different transitions I mean New York was essentially a character in and of itself um yeah I just I tried it no actually so

[00:43:38] much like I really tried to make sure that the scenery was a part of the story too because it's like you know the what's the point of the setting if I you know hopefully I got it as not right

[00:43:51] but I hopefully I got it as nostalgic and like memorable as possible because like then why else is it in New York who cares then right if it's not going to be very New York yeah exactly like it would

[00:44:04] why set it in New York you could just set it anywhere but if you're going to set it in New York like it really did feel like a character you know in and of itself especially that makes

[00:44:14] me so happy to hear that well especially like there's just and then it's not anything that's like it's not anything like there's like a big exposition dump you know like to like

[00:44:27] explain it or where you're going out of your way to oh look there's this thing here clearly they want us to know it's New York but there's just so many like little moments like almost anywhere

[00:44:37] else could be like a throwaway line where Athena is describing the Chinatown neighborhood and like how that developed um you know and then talk starting you know you're like the mid 90s like 95 96 when it's said I think and you know she's talking about seeing little bits of

[00:44:54] gentrification start to creep in and you see some of that in like the artwork um yeah it really gives such an added dimension to the story thank you so much I really appreciate that

[00:45:09] yeah so I didn't have any too many many questions just I just uh wanted to mention it because I read it and everyone should go read it um because it was fantastic and is is that I read is there

[00:45:20] second one a volume to the Carmilla the last vampire hunter I think is that coming out this summer it's actually coming out very close to Chitara if not the same yeah wow well that's exciting

[00:45:36] two books on the shelf in the same week I know it's too much no no no I'm very excited for volume two is really fun it's um I'm not gonna say anything because it's not I don't want to spoil

[00:45:52] it but it's it's like a continuation of a of the last page okay that if you've read it you know if you know you know I I I know I know I I'm very excited uh I'm very excited for it and I just

[00:46:12] really was blown away by it and thank you yeah um like I said I'd been wanting to read it and glad I I wish I would have read it sooner glad I glad I did get a chance to get it and late than

[00:46:25] never yeah you know yeah and especially with the second one coming out but um yeah yeah and also the first volume is going to be translated in German too so I'm super excited for that

[00:46:37] to all the German speakers out there yeah well hey I mean they might like vampire stories as much as the next person I mean um if not them who exactly if not them who uh yeah I don't know what that means

[00:46:59] and so um I guess I just wanted to get kind of before I I let you go because I know it's it's late where where both of us are located um on the the east coast um so with Chitara was there

[00:47:15] you know without giving anything away were there any moments that you really had a lot of fun with like you know having the freedom to kind of do what it is you wanted and kind of build out

[00:47:27] her backstory um was there anything that I'm just kind of curious as to what really excited you in terms of uh writing it you know maybe not so much in terms of the character aspect of it but

[00:47:40] like a big action set piece or something maybe you hadn't really gotten a chance to do and and write before with something like Maleficent because you're dealing with I mean not I mean

[00:47:49] there's magic and other things but you know you have outer space elements in this whole new world there are essentially thundering royalty um was there anything that you you know can kind

[00:48:01] of hint or tease at that that's coming up that you were really excited to kind of get to dig into yeah I mean like for Maleficent sorry it was supposed to be like just one thing and I was

[00:48:13] very limited right I'm just telling her story and there's not much I could do with that um but with Chitara it's like I I wanted to be a very like I wanted to read as a mainstream

[00:48:29] book right Maleficent you can read it as kind of like it could fit into the indie world because of how like like slow and like how quiet everything is right so it's like more of a feeling story

[00:48:42] if that makes sense but yeah Chitara is also um I deliberately made it very like um like I thought a lot about like you know what she would think about or what she would be like

[00:48:54] as like her own character so that's like I can actually like be as um I can be too much if I wanted to because why not right this is like a property people really love who didn't have a voice so I

[00:49:09] can be as extra as possible with her but um it's kind of intimidating because of the mainstream book in in terms of what the property is and so I was like okay this has to flow

[00:49:24] like a mainstream story it has to have like the peaks and the lows and the action and it has to have romance and you know what I mean it has to have like all the good things that make it fun to

[00:49:35] read for everyone so that's like very fun it's like um if you want to talk about art in terms of genre it's like if you're like um a slice of life artist and then they're like okay now

[00:49:49] make an action book it's like that now I get to do something actiony and like like uh different yeah so it was really fun like so that that in itself was super cool awesome well I'm looking forward

[00:50:04] to it I've really liked what the main series uh with Declan Chalvy and Drew Moss have done and Steven Mooney uh in the main yeah I mean they're great but I'm super excited for for this

[00:50:16] um just getting haven't gotten a little sneak peek um I really think what you and uh Domenico a carbon have put together something great and I'm very excited for it so listeners July 3rd

[00:50:30] go get Chetara number one and if you have not read Carmilla the first vampire go do it so that you're ready for when Carmilla the last vampire yeah the first vampire and then Carmilla

[00:50:42] the last vampire hunter also comes out I think in in July that's through Dark Horse Chetara is through Dynamite um and if you're Disney fans uh don't you I'm sure you can get the the the trade of

[00:50:57] Maleficent which is also through through Dynamite which uh Sue um wrote and did the artwork for so a lot of good stuff for you to to check out this summer from Suley thank you so much

[00:51:12] I appreciate it and hey I would love to talk again to see what you thought of issue one and then we can deep dive into that oh yeah I I love doing that I I doesn't happen often but a

[00:51:24] couple of times I've had creators come back and kind of like you know go through the series and talk about choices they've made and and uh I always love yeah I'm doing that and digging

[00:51:35] into it I'm sure people are gonna want to grill me on why I don't know it's just that I mean for the characters I'm looking forward to it all right uh well Sue I really appreciate

[00:51:46] coming on the podcast oh before I go a shout out to my brother Bobby the cryptid creator corners number one most dedicated fan Bobby listens to all my episodes and uh that's sweet

[00:51:56] it is thank you he buys a lot of comics too so I usually get a text after he listens like add that to my poll list um well thank you so much Bobby thank you very much for coming on

[00:52:07] the podcast I really appreciate it yes once that's out I'd love to have you back this has been an absolute joy yeah for sure it's here this was fun thank you and thank you to all the listeners

[00:52:19] yeah thank you for listening uh listeners and um yeah go find me on social media let me know what you're reading love to talk to you talk with you about it and um good night and I'll see

[00:52:30] you next time bye this is Byron O'Neill one of your hosts of the cryptid creator corner brought to you by comic book yeti we hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast please rate review

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