Steve Thompson Interview - Ill Vacation

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[00:01:29] Head to 2000AD.com and click on subscribe now or download the 2000AD app and why wait? Start reading today. I'll put links in the show notes for you. Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I'm one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo. And I'm very excited about today's guest because they were a former contributor to Comic Book Yeti, which is always exciting when we have someone who, you know,

[00:01:59] used to do reviews or interviews and is now making their own comics. But I think even when he was with Comic Book Yeti, he'd been making comics as well. But I'm very excited. There's a new comic out. Just came out as we record this one. Or it's actually, I think, just about to come out on June 17th. With Comixology Originals called Ill Vacation. And I'm very excited. I got a chance to look at an early copy of it.

[00:02:27] So please welcome to the podcast, Steve Thompson. Steve, how are you doing today? Thank you very much for having me, Jimmy. Yeah, I'm great today. Thank you very much. I'm very excited. Oh, well, thank you. No, I appreciate you coming on. Because I know that even when you were doing stuff with Comic Book Yeti, you were still making comics. And so I was excited to hear that you had another one coming out. I got a chance to read through it.

[00:02:57] You're working with artist Gonzalo Ruggieri, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. And Hassan Atzman Elhao is lettering. Yeah, I love the artwork in it. It looks very different than other comics I've seen on the market. And very weird, very weird comic in terms of Ill Vacation. And I just was all along for the ride on this one.

[00:03:26] So I'm excited for people to kind of dig into it and get a look at it. I think it's very different. It's very unique. So yeah, so thanks for coming on the podcast. And let's just jump right into it and talk about what's your pitch for Ill Vacation for listeners? How do you sum it up? Okay, well, let me sum it up. First of all, I'll tell you the title was only ever a working title.

[00:03:53] And I had a load of other ones, like a list, as long as you're ready to send to Comitology and say, look, this is a working title, but here's what it could be called. Here's what it could be called. And I said, no, we'd like to keep it like this. We don't really know what it means. Therefore, we like it and we're intrigued and we'd like to keep it as Ill Vacations. So that's the sort of genesis behind the name.

[00:04:15] But the pitch for it is, what if you had two soldiers trapped on a tropical island during the Pacific conflict in the Second World War? And what they're fighting against is both themselves and sort of the enemy is war itself. Right. If you like. They're on Easter Island. There's an American base on Easter Island.

[00:04:40] This is partially based on fact because I did my research and there was a U.S. base on Easter Island slightly later than the dates in this. But, you know, the fact that they had a base there, they were monitoring nuclear tests and they would have very strange radio blackouts instantly made me want to set it there because already in real life there was something very strange happening on the island. Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah.

[00:05:06] For listeners that don't know, Easter Island is in the South Pacific, I think probably closest to, I guess, the West Coast of. What, what, South America? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:20] But Easter Island has had like mystery surrounding it for like, you know, for decades, if not longer from, you know, when I guess European settlers first, you know, landed there to bring news back of what Easter Island looked like. So kind of a perfect setting for this story where we have these, you know, two soldiers who encounter one bizarre creation after another.

[00:05:48] And I mean, I, what I really liked about, you know, getting to the end of it and kind of like the back matter and seeing a couple of pages of your script with like kind of notations as to the development of it. Because like to see how you describe some of these, you know, some of the things in here and then how they end up being drawn on the page.

[00:06:13] I just really like like the, the, the imagination level seemed to be like off the charts in terms of you and Gonzalo working together. So, yeah. Um, and I liked hearing that there were some other things that you wanted to try and like add in again. And, uh, cause some of the creatures in here are just, are wild.

[00:06:34] Um, like what, what do you think was your like biggest inspiration in terms of how you, you know, uh, put it in the script in terms of like what you wanted the characters to look like. And then kind of the synthesis between what was in the script and like Gonzalo sending you like creature character designs. Well, when I, when I finished writing the script, um, and I sent it to Gonzalo, I thought, is this going to be of interest to you? You know, you know, is this too out there?

[00:07:04] Is this sort of, what do you think of this? And, and he got back and he looked at some of the monster descriptions and he thought, yes, this is actually what I want to draw. This is fantastic. And I approached him anyway, because I thought his style will be a perfect fit. So, um, I came up with all of these creations and, and sort of every single monster in there or almost every single monster in there is kind of based on a real object.

[00:07:30] There's a, there's a very tall creature with one eye that's kind of meant to look like represent lighthouse. There's a creature that looks like an atom bomb that flies through the air. Um, and I give these descriptions to, to Gonzalo and he would, you know, he'd never, like question it. He'd never say this is too silly. Uh, we're not doing this. He would, he would come back with sketches. He would improve on what I'd written. Um, I, we'd go back and forth on some of the details of it. He changed a few, few things. I might have a few notes.

[00:07:57] Um, and we'd arrive at this sort of fantastic menagerie of creatures. Um, that we could present that represent the sort of fractured psyches of our characters. You know, they're popping up all over the place, um, in weird, unexpected ways. Um, just as, you know, our main characters are really sort of losing it and losing their way and, and getting completely lost and not, not, not knowing what's going on. And we're just throwing more of these things at them.

[00:08:24] Um, yeah, I mean, I, I like, um, how the story, you know, plays out initially when these things first start happening. Um, you, you, you really don't know as a reader, like where are these things coming from? And, you know, you'll, you'll, you'll, you find out, I don't want to spoil anything for, for listeners. Like you, you find out as it goes on kind of what, what the deal is, but you're, you're right. As all these different like characters and creatures are being thrown at them.

[00:08:50] Like you, you're kind of in it with them as a reader, like they are not sure what is happening. You are not sure exactly like what is happening to them. Like what is the source of all this stuff? And, um, you know, as it's, it's, it's, it's very fascinating, like as it's revealed and as you kind of like dig into what is going on with them, um, you kind of take a step back and look at what has led up to the events of, of, uh, like the present day. Um, yeah, I really liked the, uh,

[00:09:20] the, the, the, the duck, the duck man in a suit. Like I just thought, um, both at times, both friendly looking and menacing. I just thought that came off like really well in terms of how it looked on the page, um, and how the characters, uh, interacted with it. But yeah, I just, um, really, really, I really liked it. I thought there was like a really, like some of these characters are kind of like terrifying.

[00:09:51] Um, I don't know. I felt there was like a real, but the humor of it though. Like there, there's kind of like an, an, an absurdity to what, not only what they're seeing, but also kind of commenting on like war itself and, and what is happening here. You know, that I, I very much appreciated and, and really enjoyed, uh, you know, getting into it. Was that kind of difficult to find that, that balance for you in terms of, I, I don't want it to be all just horror.

[00:10:20] I also am kind of being a little farcical with some of the stuff. Yeah. I wanted to, I wanted the dialogue to be, I'm glad you mentioned that actually. I wanted dialogue to be humorous and kind of blackly comic, but, um, I also wanted the dialogue to be really pulpy in places. Like it's from some kind of 1930s thriller, like it's just slightly absurd. Um, the same. And I was trying to go for that, but you're right.

[00:10:48] As you do, as you go through the book, it's not immediately apparent what's going on, but as you go through the book, you see that there is a reason why this is happening and something has happened to our characters that has caused this. Um, and I didn't also didn't want to do anything for no reason. I didn't want to be absurd, but for the sake of being absurd, I wanted there to be a reason behind this. Um, you know, they are, I mean, it's not a spoiler to say because it's, it's part of marketing, but they were part of an experiment. Yeah.

[00:11:17] The kind of thing, again, I did some research, the kind of thing you might've seen, um, or read about that happened in real life in wartime, um, experiments on soldiers, but we kind of exaggerated it and played with it and stretched it to like, like Doug man stretched it. It stretched it to an absurd level again, uh, really just to sort of ramp up the thrills and attention. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:43] And, um, I, I, in terms of, uh, I found it, you said you approached, uh, uh, Gonzalo about working on this. I mean, there's, I, what I really liked in terms of, uh, the artwork at one point they call something happens in the story and it's referred to as like the maelstrom. Um, and, um, it, it really kind of perfect name for it as it ties into the art. Cause like, you know, Gonzalo's art is very, it's, it's very swirly.

[00:12:13] It's, it's very easy to get, you know, the characters and you are all like caught up in it. It's, um, it really, you know, doesn't look too much like any other comic out there, which I really like appreciated. Uh, but it's never, it's never murky. It's never that you can't, you know, unless intentionally. So it's never like, you can't tell like what is going on.

[00:12:38] Um, but I thought like with the style of, of Gonzalo's art calling, you know, one of the, the, the main things in here, the maelstrom, like really made like such sense. Um, so I really, I really enjoyed the artwork in it. Yeah. I think it is fair to say, and this is a compliment to Gonzalo. I think it's fair to say that this will be a completely different book if it was done by a different artist. It would have a different feel. It would have a different sensibility. Um, yeah.

[00:13:08] And what he brings to it is chaos. Beautiful. Yeah. Colorful, swirly maelstrom of chaos. Um, but it, and it is beautiful. I use the word beautiful and it is beautiful. It is beautiful art, but it is also sort of mind bending and you're not quite sure. And you feel disorientated. I hope, um, I know, I know I do feel disorientated after reading it because of the way he lays down color and the way he lays down his lines. Yeah.

[00:13:37] No, I, I a hundred percent agree. Um, and, um, I just, just found it. I just, I love, I just found very, very beautiful to look at. Um, but yeah, disorientating is like a good way to put it, but like you, you never don't know what's going on. Like, you know, it's not a situation where it looks messy, you know, it's all very intentional. Um, and just really, really a beautiful looking book.

[00:14:04] Um, and I just love like that juxtaposition of like this beautiful swirling colorful artwork with, with just some of the, some of the, some of the wild creatures that, that, that populate ill vacation. Um, so I, I wanted to ask you though, in terms of some of the other stuff, like you've worked on, like in comics, how long have you been, been creating comics now, Steve?

[00:14:32] So I've been self-publishing comics quite a while. I mean, if you want to go way back, I was like eight years old when I started building stuff out of Lego, building characters out of Lego and then making and writing and drawing comics about those, those characters. So, yeah, it was, but it, well, I didn't really start doing it properly till I was about 16. Okay. Heavily influenced by stuff like, you know, Vertigo comics were quite new then.

[00:14:59] And I was really heavily influenced by that because that was kind of after you've been reading us superhero stuff, that's kind of out there and everything. So I was trying to write and draw stuff like that. And it, you know, it didn't really work. I think I got a strip published in a, um, sort of fanzine tied publication. And that was like my first proper thing being published anywhere, but it didn't really get seen anywhere. I can't even remember the name of it, unfortunately.

[00:15:25] Then I stopped for a few years and I was just a comic book reader, but I wasn't making anything. And then, um, I went to a convention. I saw what people were doing. I thought, wow. Okay. There's lots of people out there making fantastic stuff. I would like to have a go at that. I think this is really fun. So I started making comics. I started writing stuff, started drawing stuff and not fast or good enough. I think to, um, to do comics unless they're very short form. So I sort of looked on Twitter, right?

[00:15:55] I kind of said, smartest, you know, do you want to do this? You know, I'll pay you money. Give you a script, see what you think and stuff like that. And we can, we can do it. And I made some comics and I, I went to many conventions as I can. I just kept looking myself into conventions and I went to the shows and I sold lots of stuff. And I talked to people who came up to the store when I loved that conversations, those conversations I would have with people like, this is, this is my work. This is what it's about. This is what this book is about.

[00:16:24] I had several different titles. They grew as it went on. Um, and that's where I started really. And there wasn't any real, what you call publishing. There was just a lot of me putting printing stuff myself and putting it out there and selling outcomes. Okay. And then, so were you, I mean, cause you're located in, um, in the UK. So was, were you coming to America to do conventions as well? Or, or, or, or was it, um, you know, mainly based where, where you're at?

[00:16:54] I'm afraid I wasn't coming to America. Um, I would love to have come to America. Um, just flight, accommodation, everything, you know, it was, it was, it was going to be a big outlay if I did that. So I did sort of all four corners of the UK as much as I could, a little bit of Europe. Um, and that was kind of my circle of influence. What is the, the UK kind of convention scene? Like, do you think it's that different from what you might've seen online from, from, you

[00:17:24] know, from the U S it's, um, I'm guessing it's much smaller than the U S there's like a real, Oh, there's the dog. Yeah. Yeah. For, for anyone watching this on YouTube, uh, sorry, you can see that Barry has made an appearance behind me on the couch. Um, but yeah, there's Barry. Okay. So yeah. So there's, there's like a really tight knit group of people who go to like a lot of shows

[00:17:51] every year and all this, all of their work is fantastic. Most of them are artists and writers. Um, I get to see them every time I go to a show, I get to say hi. There's people I've made like serious friends with, you know, it's been, it's been really good. We meet up. Um, and then there's people that I see once every like 10 shows or so, but I still say hi. And we still say, what have you been working on? What have you been doing? Um, so it feels small, but I don't think it is small. I think there are a lot of people doing it, but maybe I just keep running into the same people over and over.

[00:18:21] And those people also having to be really, really talented and have some great stuff and that's awesome. I, uh, my, I told, I told this before on the podcast, but, uh, in 2024, my brother and I went to Dublin comic con and I, I was, I mean, we loved it. We had a great time. It was packed. I mean, with cosplayers, with comic people, with nerds of all, I say nerds affectionately.

[00:18:50] I consider myself one, but nerds of all, you know, shapes, sizes and backgrounds. It was, it was, it was awesome to see, uh, you know, uh, a comic con, like, you know, a comic convention, uh, in another country. Um, yeah, no, I do love the aspect of it as well. I do love the costume. I do love the people, you know, they don't have, they're not buying comics. They're necessarily, you talk to them and you know, they're not, they don't have any

[00:19:17] my pockets or anything that they have, what they have is these fabulous creations that they're walking around in and you want to say, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, so for listeners who check out ill vacation and love it, like I did, um, like what are some of the other things that you've worked on? Cause I know you've crowdfunded comics before, you know, whether or not it was on, on Kickstarter.

[00:19:43] Um, where do you think in terms of, uh, like the type of stories that you like to write and have worked on, are they similar to ill vacation? Like what are some of the things that you're like, Oh, if you liked ill vacation, you need to check out this. This is what Steve Thompson comics are all about. Yeah. Well, if you're at the convention, I'm at convention, you'll, you'll see some of my books. And I think if you like ill vacation, you'll find some stuff that's along the same kind of lines and you'll find some stuff completely different.

[00:20:12] Um, there's, there's a book that always sells really well that I, that I love making called Don't Let Your Dead Ones Die. And it's about a woman who wakes up one morning. She's a zombie and she's trying to find out how she became a zombie. She doesn't really know what happened. She's like trying to talk to people, but she's a zombie. So she's not really getting anywhere. And as we roll on the twists and turns kind of pile up to quite an absurd ending.

[00:20:39] So we start off with a very standard unbedged kind of thing. And then we end up somewhere wildly different, which I think is really fun. It's like a one shot comic. Okay. There's that. And then there's Hey Don't Go, which is one of the first ones I did with an artist who was a friend of Gonzalo who introduced me to Gonzalo originally, which is about a, uh, a pop band trapped in space. Um, I love that.

[00:21:07] I mean, okay. That's a, that's a great concept. Um, well, I mean, you know, uh, with some of those things in mind, do you, do you think you kind of tend towards something that is more in the, um, like absurdist realm, like, like taking a concept and kind of pushing it, you know, to its limits rather than like a straight up kind of, you know, superhero story or a straight up kind of horror story.

[00:21:35] Cause like, certainly in the hands of another writer, the idea of ill vacation becomes straight up like science fiction or straight up horror story. And it doesn't seem like you're interested in doing that, which I, you know, which I appreciate. I think it makes for a much more interesting thought provoking kind of tale. Like, do you think that's kind of like what, what it is you're most interested in doing with, with comics kind of taking a more, you know, straight up approach and then like

[00:22:01] seeing how far into the realm of either, you know, absurdity or matching up with an artist like Gonzalo and like, let's really push it to its limits with character creation or character creation, character design. That is what I love to do. That is sort of my wouldress operandi. And I, yes, I'd love to take something and push it to some absurd limits and really go there. But like with ill vacation, I wanted to ground it in realism as well.

[00:22:30] So I wanted to do some research into like this, this US base and make it like the one in the comic book exactly like it. And I wanted to get the weapons and the radio equipment correct and stuff. So that it's not just silly, but there's also something underpinning it. That's quite serious and real and everything. And I've tried to do that with all of the other stuff as well. So I do, I do like to push it. Nice. And I've worked with artists who have interpreted my descriptions in completely different ways to the ways Gonzalo would have done it.

[00:22:59] And that's fine because that's brilliant because then you work with somebody who's just taking it in a completely different direction from where you even thought you were going. And yeah, so that is something I love to do. But I don't want to do sort of absurdity for the sake of absurdity. I want to be a proper beginning and middle and end as well. I think that's important. Yeah. Now, I agree. I think it works. All right, everybody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[00:23:43] We'll be right back. 1937 Vatican photo.

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[00:24:43] Y'all, Jimmy the Chaos Goblin strikes again. I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad. He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know. And now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we could start playing. Another friend chimes in. Are you going to make maps? It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together. So I guess? Question mark? It was then that I discovered Arkhamforge.

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[00:25:40] Check them out at Arkhamforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off. I'll drop a link in the show notes for you. And big thanks to Arkhamforge for partnering with our show. I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Welcome back. Yeah, so Steve, what is it that you do when you're not making comics?

[00:26:05] What does Steve Thompson do other than that? Well, that's a good question. I have a regular day job. And when I'm not in that regular day job, I'm kind of writing stuff. I am writing a new book at the moment, which I'm hoping won't be self-published but will be published. With a working title. It's called The Flight of the Turtle and I'm hoping it won't. This working title won't stick because I'm not sure that one works at all for this.

[00:26:35] But that one's set in like... That's something I haven't done before. This one's set in a fantasy world, like a Dungeons & Dragons type of world. But it's disappearing bit by bit. And the reason why sections of it are disappearing, like every couple of days, will hopefully surprise and intrigue people. And the resolution of that will be something unexpected, I think, as well.

[00:26:59] It may be a lot less absurd, but it will have not very linear approach, storytelling. All right. So I'm very excited about that. But yeah, no, I am a project manager. In my day. Okay. It is like a very, very sort of strict... We are producing sort of educational products. Okay. And we have to follow these rules and we have to manage our risks and everything.

[00:27:29] And it is not absurd at all. Very serious. I mean, you know, I have a fairly serious job as well in terms of being a personal injury attorney. And which we sometimes have fun at the office. But a lot of times you're dealing with cases where somebody who's come to you has been hurt. It's a very serious matter. They're trying to get compensated for the injuries they sustained. And I find that the kind of...

[00:27:58] The heavier the day, you know, the more I have to deal with, like, the rules of the court. Like, getting my... Like, if I have to write a motion or a legal brief, like, having to stick to those rules. Especially, like, the Delaware Supreme Court. It's very strict in terms of how they want things filed. Um... I find that the more that I want to read something and escape into something that is, like, the total opposite. Right?

[00:28:29] Absolutely. Yeah. Do you find it the same for you that, like, when you're dealing with either deadlines or you're dealing with, you know, some... Like, a very strict regimen of stuff that, you know, whether or not you're creating something yourself or whether or not it's your reading. You want something that's as far away from, like, real life as possible. Yeah. I'm in a senior position. There's a lot of responsibility. I don't want any of that when I turn off my work. I want to run far away from that.

[00:28:58] So, I want to read something. I want to write something that is just creative and silly and out there. Absolutely. That's... Yeah. Yeah. And that's a large part of why I've done this. Um... Because I just have these ideas. I can be sitting in a meeting at work. And I just want to say for anyone listening, I do do my job properly, but ideas pop into your head and you can't wait to, like, get home and flesh them out and write them down and all of that.

[00:29:27] Oh, yeah. I have, like, a Notes app open on my phone. And just real quick, oh, an idea popped into my head, you know. Takes less than 10 seconds, but something you want to try and, you know, get back to, you know, later. Yeah. I use the Notes app on my iPhone. Um... If somebody to read my list of ideas that I write down, most of them have never been developed before, but if somebody were to read it, they go, what is this? Yeah.

[00:29:55] Every once in a while, I read back through mine and I'm just like, I really wish I knew what I was thinking when I wrote this sentence. It doesn't make any sense right now, but, uh, you know, hopefully things that I will return to. And I often do. So, you know, it's all very, uh, very helpful. Um, so what has your experience been like so far working with, you know, comiXology originals?

[00:30:22] Like, you know, because you've, you've done stuff, published it on your own, taken it to a convention, you've crowdfunded things. Like, what has it been like working, you know, having a publisher behind you? Is it much different than what you, you know, thought it would be like? Yeah. It's, it's very different. When you're self-publishing, you're the marketing person as well. In fact, a massive part of it is marketing. And then suddenly you're with a big publisher and comiXology, they wanted to do this like new tranche of originals.

[00:30:52] They wanted to have established talent. They wanted to have new talent. They wanted to get a load of stuff out there that, you know, people might not have expected to see from them. So they've been great. And what they've done is they've, they've done the marketing work. They've taken that out of my hands, which is like completely original for me. That's fantastic. They've been great in that they said, you know, we read this. We like it. I said, okay, what do you want to change? They said, we don't want to change anything. I said, surely you want to change the title as we've discussed before? No, we don't want to change the title. Okay.

[00:31:21] We'll go with that then. And, um, and they'd given me and Gonzalo, you know, as much support as we need. If we've had questions, they've answered them right away. Right. So it's been utterly, completely different to sort of self-publishing model. I mean, I had, I, I worked on, um, an anthology for Image Comics. I didn't come across 24 Panels, which was a charity anthology. And I was editing that.

[00:31:45] So I got to work with a, like a sort of mainstream publisher there with a, yeah, this is another level level because they're taking, um, something's completely your work and they're sort of supporting you for it. And it's, and it's been absolutely fantastic. Oh, awesome. Well, that's, that's, that's fantastic to hear. Yeah. Um, yeah, I like a lot of the stuff that comiXology Originals, you know, has been doing and the stuff they put out. It's just, uh, I don't know. That's what gets me excited. Like I want to see something I haven't seen before.

[00:32:13] I mean, I read, I read big two stuff. Well, mainly DC Comics more so than Marvel. I read a ton of indie stuff and, you know, the, the guests that we have on here and it's everything from folks that are working with a publisher to, you know, folks that are crowd funding. But I'm just always excited by, you know, seeing things that I feel like I haven't like quite seen before. I like, I like big swings, even if they don't always work. Right.

[00:32:40] They're not all, they're not all going to work, but I love taking chances. I love seeing how far you can push things. I love seeing, I love seeing like new, you know, weird ideas as something like ill vacation. Um, you know, it, like, I, I just think with other writers, other artists, it could be something completely different. I, I, but I feel like no, nobody would make what you and, uh, Gonzalo and, and Hassan have, have made.

[00:33:09] And that's what I just think is really, you know, special about it. Um, I agree. I, I, I agree. I, I wrote something that I would want to read and then had to hope that other people would want to read it as well. Um, it, it is a big swing. Yeah. And, and that's why it's fantastic that they sort of taken a chance on this and, and adopted it. Yeah. I really like how, you know, it bounces around a little bit. It's not just the, the two main characters.

[00:33:36] Um, it's not just Bob and, um, Mary. Yeah. Mary. It's not just Bob and Mary. Um, there, there are two like prisoners of war that come into play. There's another kind of more, uh, mysterious character whose clothing appears to be modeled after, um, the shadow from the, the 1930s radio play. Yeah. Um, which I thought was great. Um, I also really liked the scene where at one point there are like other soldiers that

[00:34:05] are sent out and, um, they're kind of getting like debriefed on the mission. I, I thought all those, those little like vignettes with them were really funny. Another one you mean, yeah. Yeah. Just, just, I just very, very like comically funny. Um, you know, some of it gave me a sense, like made me want to go watch, um, Dr. Strange

[00:34:32] Love or, uh, you know, that kind of like, that gave me that kind of feel to it, which is one of my, my favorite movies, um, uh, about war. Um, so yeah, I just, I just thought it was very well done. I really, really, really enjoyed it. Was there anything that you, you know, without, you know, giving away too much, I don't want you to, you know, spoil anything, but anything in particular that you were really like excited

[00:34:58] or, or proud that like that the scene worked the way you really wanted it to like your writing matched up with Gonzalo's art that you thought, wow, that that's a moment that I didn't know it would work, but it really came out the way I wanted it to. Yeah. Um, chapter three, um, is one that I had in my head from the start and it's when it starts it's wildly different to what's happened before, but it kind of, it all extends because it ties straight back into the story.

[00:35:28] But when you, you're not quite sure where you are when it's where it starts. And the first thing that we did for it was I got Gonzalo to create a cover and the cover for like, it's not a cover cause it's a graphic novel, but the, like the chapter picture image is fantastic. Gonzalo's colors, his choice of layout. Brilliant. Absolutely fantastic. And we go into that with a debriefing, I think the same one you were talking about. And some, some of this sort of, they're trying to talk very seriously to this group of agents

[00:35:56] in this protective hazmat gear. They're like going to go into the maelstrom and then they go in and what happens to them is not what they expect. It's probably not what the audience expects as well without giving anything away and writing that and then getting the pages back from that. Yeah. Absolutely. Fantastic. That was really, really fun. Really fun. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome.

[00:36:23] No, I, I, I, as I, as I mentioned, I, when I brought it up, I re I really, really enjoyed all of that. Um, so yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of cool to hear. Um, you know, I always think like, you know, as a writer and you're, you're making anything, you know, you're, you're proud of all of it. Like the act of, or the, the, you know, of creating art, creating, you know, anything is amazing, right? To take that leap from fan to, to actually doing it, to putting, you know, something

[00:36:53] out there in the world. Um, you know, uh, but it's, I, I'm always curious like, well, but wasn't there like, was, you know, was there that one thing? Was there something it's like, I did not think this would work on the page. So that's kind of, um, cool to hear, especially cause I really enjoyed that section as well to think that that was something that, that really came out the way, you know, you, uh, had one of the two, uh, I think is a great, um, uh, so yeah, well, um, Steve, I really

[00:37:21] appreciate, you know, you coming on the podcast. Uh, uh, I look forward to fans and readers, listeners checking out ill vacation when it's out, uh, by the time you listen to this podcast, ill vacation will be out. Um, so you can pick it up from comiXology, uh, originals. And, uh, I look, I look forward to hearing more about, uh, flight of the turtle or whatever it is eventually called, uh, but it'll probably be called that. It'll probably be called that.

[00:37:51] Probably. Um, but, uh, yeah, Steve, is there anything else like you want, uh, listeners to, uh, to check out other than ill vacation? You have anything else you want to point, point them towards? Well, we'll check out your vacation because, you know, you will love Gonzalo's art. If anything else, you will absolutely love the way it looks. It doesn't look like anything else out there. It really doesn't. So please do check that out. Um, and also actually I mentioned 24 panels.

[00:38:20] Please do check that out because that was for, that was an anthology, um, for the survivors of the Grinfeld disaster in London, which was a tower block fire. Um, so please do check that out as well. And if you're at a convention, come to my table and have a look at some more of my books because I do have a wide selection of stuff. Um, so, and I will talk you through it quite happily, probably, probably until you're really bored of hearing about it, but I will talk you through it if you come and see me at convention.

[00:38:49] Yeah. Yeah. Go up, talk to Steve. Steve. I have read some of Steve's other, other work, especially when some of the things that he had come out when he was, uh, you know, um, hanging out in the Yeti cave with the rest of us at, at comic, at comic book Yeti. Um, and it's, I just, I really, I really like your, your, I really like your work, Steve. I'm really excited for ill vacation. I, I, I really enjoyed it very much. And I, I appreciate the chance to like, you know, it's, it's, um, it's always great with like

[00:39:19] folks that you like interacted with, you know, online, but to actually have a conversation about the stuff that we're both passionate about, which is comic books and, you know, that it's not just covering other folks stuff, which I love. Don't get me wrong, but you know, to see people that are passionate about comics making their own and, and doing it really, really well, um, is always very exciting for me. So, um, I'm very excited for ill vacation and, uh, thank you very much for chatting with me this morning or this afternoon for you, I guess. Yeah.

[00:39:49] Thank you, Jimmy. That was great. Thank you very much. Yep. So listeners, we're going to check out ill vacation. There'll be a link in the show notes. Um, it's like 114 pages. I, I really enjoyed it. I really liked it. I think you're going to like it too. Gonzalo's art, Hassan, one of the best letterers in the business. So it's, it's a fantastic creative team. Um, yeah, so check it out. Uh, also shout out to my brother, Bobby. I shout out Bobby every episode. He's the cryptic creator corners.

[00:40:17] Number one, most dedicated fan listens to all my episodes. And, um, uh, and you know, as we record this, it's father's day. So happy father's day, Bob. Bobby's got four kids. Uh, he's a crazy person. Um, so, uh, yeah, thank you very much. Let me know what it is you're reading and thank you so much for listening. I'll see you next time. This is Byron O'Neill. One of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book. Getty.

[00:40:45] 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.