Zack Kaplan talks Dark Empty Void

[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.

[00:00:07] So without further ado, let's get on to the interview.

[00:00:13] When we started this podcast, we knew inclusion and diversity were going to be at the forefront of what we wanted to do with it.

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[00:01:38] Y'all, Jimmy, the chaos goblin strikes again.

[00:01:42] I should have known better than to mention that was working on my DC universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media.

[00:01:48] My bad.

[00:01:49] He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know.

[00:01:52] And now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we can start playing.

[00:01:56] Another friend chimes in, are you going to make maps?

[00:01:59] It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together.

[00:02:02] So I guess question mark.

[00:02:05] It was then that I discovered Arkham Forge.

[00:02:07] If you don't know who Arkham Forge is, they have everything you need to make your TT RPG more fun and immersive, allowing you to build, play and export animated maps, including in person fog of war.

[00:02:19] Capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture.

[00:02:26] Now I'm set to easily build high res animated maps, saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign.

[00:02:33] That's a win every day in my book.

[00:02:35] Check them out at arkhamforge.com and use the discount code Yeti5 to get $5 off.

[00:02:41] I'll drop a link in the show notes for you.

[00:02:43] And big thanks to Arkham Forge for partnering with our show.

[00:02:45] I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even.

[00:02:51] Hello and welcome to the comic book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner.

[00:02:54] I'm one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I have a returning guest, but it's a guest that I actually haven't had a chance to interview yet.

[00:03:01] Byron has been taking up all of his time.

[00:03:04] He was on the Cryptid Creator Corner three times in 2022, but it's been almost two years since he's been on the podcast.

[00:03:11] He has so much going on.

[00:03:13] You may know him from some series he's written like Port of Earth, Join the Future, The Lost City Explorers, Eclipse, Breakout, Breakout, which I think was one of my favorites.

[00:03:23] I absolutely loved, loved, loved Breakout.

[00:03:27] Forever Forward, Metal Society, Beyond Real, Mindset.

[00:03:31] And we're going to talk about some new stuff that he is in that a few issues have been out and some stuff that hasn't hit yet.

[00:03:38] But please welcome to the podcast, Zach Kaplan.

[00:03:41] Zach, how are you doing?

[00:03:42] I'm good. Thank you so much.

[00:03:45] Yeah, I'm very excited to talk to you.

[00:03:48] Like I said, Byron has interviewed you a couple of times, but about two years ago.

[00:03:52] You have a ton of stuff coming out.

[00:03:55] Yeah, I think the first time I became familiar with your work was Port of Earth, which I think came out around like the 2017-2018 time here.

[00:04:06] Yeah.

[00:04:06] I'm a big huge science fiction fan.

[00:04:08] Like that's like my number one, you know, in terms of genre storytelling and the subset of science fiction is I'm a huge time travel story fan, which I was listening to your episode with Byron on Forever Forward.

[00:04:24] And he was like, I think his quote was like, time travel stories usually make me puke.

[00:04:28] And I was like, really Byron?

[00:04:30] We had the wrong one.

[00:04:31] Yeah.

[00:04:31] Yeah.

[00:04:32] That's, I mean, I think he did like it.

[00:04:34] But still, I was like, I guess I should have taken that one.

[00:04:39] I had no idea of Byron.

[00:04:40] I thought we were friends, but I didn't know he had such an aversion to time travel stories.

[00:04:46] He took your favorite one and he didn't even care about it.

[00:04:49] Yeah. What a jerk.

[00:04:52] But yeah, so I think Port of Earth was the first time that I was familiar with your work and then joined the future.

[00:05:00] Breakout was one that I just loved.

[00:05:03] I love the whole concept of it.

[00:05:05] If any listeners are not familiar, it's essentially like these alien cubes come down and they are kidnapping kids.

[00:05:17] And one kid in particular, the main character has to figure out a way because they take someone close to him to kind of break them out.

[00:05:25] So it is like an alien kidnapping, but it has the dynamic of a heist story.

[00:05:35] Yeah, prison break heists sort of.

[00:05:37] Yeah.

[00:05:37] It is so good.

[00:05:40] Thank you.

[00:05:41] Yeah.

[00:05:41] The art in it is fantastic.

[00:05:44] Yeah.

[00:05:44] Wilton Santos and Jason Warty, fantastic.

[00:05:48] Jason Warty, just one of my favorite colorists, but Breakout is awesome.

[00:05:52] If you have not read Breakout, do that.

[00:05:53] Read Breakout listeners because it is fantastic.

[00:05:57] But all right, so right now just to talk, to catch everybody up.

[00:06:03] I think when you were, we mentioned it before we started recording, but Andrew Irvin, who's the comic book Yeti interview editor,

[00:06:10] interviewed you on the Yeti YouTube channel about Beyond Real.

[00:06:17] I think that was like last year when that started coming out.

[00:06:21] And the trade of that is coming out.

[00:06:23] We might touch on that a little bit, but really Andrew did did a pretty good job with you guys going through it.

[00:06:30] And that is a really great series as well.

[00:06:33] I particularly just to touch on it.

[00:06:34] I really like how many different artists have worked on that series with you.

[00:06:41] But just some of my favorites, I mean, names like Dennis Menier, Jorge Corona, Luana Vecchio, Leona Kangus.

[00:06:51] I mean, you have some fantastic artists on Beyond Real.

[00:06:56] And I think the trade of that is coming out soon.

[00:06:59] So if you haven't read that, that's a vault series and it's so good.

[00:07:06] Really enjoyed it.

[00:07:08] But you're right now, you're right in the middle.

[00:07:10] Two issues have come out by the time this podcast comes out.

[00:07:14] It'll be like two weeks before issue three of kill all immortals drops.

[00:07:19] Yeah.

[00:07:20] And then one of the things I'm most excited to talk about is Dark Empty Void.

[00:07:26] It's you and Christian, and I'm a huge Christian fan.

[00:07:30] Their work on The Autumnal is wonderful.

[00:07:35] Amazing.

[00:07:36] You and Chris, the rest of the team doing a like black hole science fiction.

[00:07:43] It's been described as annihilation meets alien, which I absolutely love.

[00:07:50] So issue one of that drops September 11th.

[00:07:53] So if you're listening to this when this episode first comes out,

[00:07:56] you'll be able to like walk into your comic book shop tomorrow and it's on the shelf.

[00:08:00] And if it's not there, tell me you want to order it because if they still have copies

[00:08:04] of the distributor, your local shop will get it for you.

[00:08:07] And then we're also going to talk about the midnight.

[00:08:10] I want to say the midnight colon shadows.

[00:08:14] But yeah, midnight shadows, midnight shadows.

[00:08:16] I mean, that's that that concept.

[00:08:18] That sounds wild.

[00:08:19] I want to get into that as well.

[00:08:21] And I got you sent me the first issue and I loved it.

[00:08:25] But let's kind of I want to start with Dark Empty Void, you know,

[00:08:28] because that's the thing that's dropping next.

[00:08:30] So this is a and also because, you know, full disclosure,

[00:08:34] I'm a huge mad caveman as well.

[00:08:36] So this is a mad series killing it.

[00:08:39] That's right.

[00:08:39] Oh, they're this this year, their 10th anniversary year.

[00:08:42] I feel like they're just going all out.

[00:08:43] And I have had a slew of mad cave creators on the podcast.

[00:08:49] And it's I've just been loving like so many things that that they put out.

[00:08:53] I was just on like a TikTok the other day, just because I wanted to tell folks

[00:09:00] for like the eight people who follow me on TikTok, how because I'm an old man.

[00:09:04] But I did want to say how much I'm not even on TikTok.

[00:09:07] So you're already there.

[00:09:08] I wanted to talk about Morning Star and When the Blood is Dried,

[00:09:14] which are two great series.

[00:09:16] But yes, so Dark Empty Void, you and Chris Sheehan.

[00:09:20] It's like a secret facility is trying to create like a black hole.

[00:09:26] Yeah.

[00:09:26] And as sometimes happens, things things go awry.

[00:09:31] So, you know, why don't just tell the listeners

[00:09:33] that you're tired of hearing from me about Dark Empty Void.

[00:09:37] And you and Chris working together.

[00:09:39] Yeah, it's it's basically asking the question of I mean, black holes

[00:09:44] are one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos.

[00:09:47] And I feel like the more we learn about quantum physics and about astrophysics,

[00:09:52] the less we understand black holes.

[00:09:55] And, you know, there is a it's possible.

[00:10:00] It's not fall.

[00:10:00] It's not out of the crazy town that we could start to try to play around with that.

[00:10:05] It'd be a very bad idea.

[00:10:07] But it doesn't seem great.

[00:10:09] It doesn't seem like a good idea, but that has never stopped humanity from doing.

[00:10:12] I mean, we got AI and robots, everything that we say don't touch.

[00:10:16] We seem to we seem to touch the rail.

[00:10:18] So as the colliders get bigger, it's not farfetched

[00:10:22] that we will start to play around with this.

[00:10:24] And so this this premise is what would happen if we did create

[00:10:27] a stable microscopic even black hole in one of these

[00:10:32] colliders, and it basically all hell breaks loose.

[00:10:35] The black hole explodes with cosmic energy.

[00:10:39] They lose control of it and things start to come out, basically.

[00:10:44] And the most surprising thing that comes out

[00:10:46] besides all this cosmic chaos and energy and matter

[00:10:50] and potentially even, you know, creatures,

[00:10:54] the most crazy thing that comes out is a human stranger.

[00:10:57] A human teenage girl comes out and they don't know what to make of it.

[00:11:01] So they bring in one of the scientists,

[00:11:04] a strange wife who's a psychologist.

[00:11:09] Her name's Joy and she comes into basically help them make sense

[00:11:14] of this stranger and all the crazy things that the stranger is saying

[00:11:18] and what's going on.

[00:11:19] And they quickly find themselves in a race against time to,

[00:11:24] you know, solve this mystery before that they completely lose control

[00:11:28] of the black hole and it swallows up Earth.

[00:11:30] So it's a very exciting sci fi adventure.

[00:11:34] You know, they're going into the kind of cosmic

[00:11:37] maelstrom that is circling around the black hole and they're going into these

[00:11:40] tunnels that are charged with all this cosmic energy to try to get

[00:11:44] to the center of this thing and solve the mystery.

[00:11:46] So in that regard, it's very much annihilation.

[00:11:49] It's very much aliens in terms of going into that.

[00:11:52] And it's my first foray into cosmic horror and into horror at all, really.

[00:11:58] And, you know, just having a blast,

[00:12:02] you know, playing around in this world and an amazing creative team.

[00:12:06] Chris Sheehan and Francisco Segala does our colors and and worlds.

[00:12:10] Justin Birch does letters and yeah, it's a beautiful book.

[00:12:14] It's a really suspenseful book.

[00:12:16] If anyone's familiar with Chris Sheehan's work,

[00:12:18] whether it's autumnal or House of Slaughter,

[00:12:21] just really great, great horror artist and and and just kills it on this book.

[00:12:28] I mean, the the first issue.

[00:12:30] I've only read the first issue so far.

[00:12:32] And I mean, what I loved about it was it's very grounded and

[00:12:38] I think a lot of good horror does that very well where you have

[00:12:42] and you really grounded your your characters as well.

[00:12:46] You talk about I think it's Colson and the joy.

[00:12:52] Right. I was thinking Frank and I'm like, I think that's her last name.

[00:12:56] It is. Yeah, Dr. Joyce Frank.

[00:12:58] Yeah. But Joy is a lecturer and she's kind of brought in by by Colson.

[00:13:05] You said they're they're estranged.

[00:13:07] But all of those like little details and you spend quite a bit of time with Joy.

[00:13:12] It's a brilliant opening where you see kind of what's going on in

[00:13:19] in this this facility, which I believe is in Alaska.

[00:13:22] And I don't I don't I don't want to spoil it exactly.

[00:13:26] But it definitely seems like it's that kind of talking about one thing.

[00:13:30] And then it's revealed in a few pages that it's kind of talking about something else.

[00:13:36] And it just the words and the art just kind of come together

[00:13:41] beautifully in that opening.

[00:13:43] But the fact that they're estranged, that we see in a few panels,

[00:13:47] how Joy reacts to like Colson calling her

[00:13:52] Christian does great with like with the the the facial acting.

[00:13:58] And like all of that kind of comes together to create like a real

[00:14:01] like a realistic

[00:14:04] three dimensional person who is now thrust into this like crazy situation.

[00:14:10] And the whole, you know, opening act issue one of this comic

[00:14:16] sets everything up so beautifully.

[00:14:17] I have no idea what happens in issue two.

[00:14:20] But by the end of issue one, I was like, oh, 100 percent in.

[00:14:27] And there were, you know, I I I hear different things when you say

[00:14:31] when someone says like a comic or a story or, you know, a movie is this meets this.

[00:14:36] I never mind that.

[00:14:37] I always think it's like kind of good to get like a touch tone for whether

[00:14:40] like inspiration or get a feel for something.

[00:14:43] And I just want to say with the idea of Colson and Joy

[00:14:45] and kind of being like estranged and being stranded somewhere

[00:14:48] and there's some other presence.

[00:14:50] I was getting strong like the abyss vibes with like a hundred percent.

[00:14:54] And I was just yeah, I was just like, let's go.

[00:14:57] This is messy and it's weird.

[00:15:00] And you just have this like this presence that you feel through

[00:15:05] Chris's art of this black hole.

[00:15:10] I just I just thought that the tension in it builds so so wonderfully.

[00:15:15] And it just is so filled with potential.

[00:15:17] This first issue cannot cannot cannot wait to see where it goes.

[00:15:21] Yeah, I mean, I'm wrong.

[00:15:22] The abyss vibes very much.

[00:15:24] Abyss is one of my favorite movies.

[00:15:26] Definitely definitely watched it again even in researching this and absolutely.

[00:15:32] I'm I'm very proud to say that we're we're putting a little bit

[00:15:35] of that into the recipe as well.

[00:15:38] And I love sci-fi stories that have complex characters.

[00:15:42] I mean, those are just the best.

[00:15:43] The characters that are just getting tested characters that are going

[00:15:46] to crazy situations and you don't know if they're up for the challenge.

[00:15:49] I mean, joy is a mess when we meet her.

[00:15:52] And it's just so fun to watch her come into this situation

[00:15:56] and tell it like it is and challenge everything and yet still be completely

[00:16:02] out of her element overhead.

[00:16:04] And you don't know.

[00:16:05] You don't know if it's going to pull together or not.

[00:16:07] I'm not saying whether or not this series is a tragedy or not.

[00:16:13] You know, like you don't know if it's going to end up well or not.

[00:16:16] You don't know how it's going.

[00:16:17] And so I think that, yeah, there's a lot of fun to be had,

[00:16:21] but she's she's a great character and you kind of really attached to her.

[00:16:25] And Chris does an excellent job of kind of bringing her to life.

[00:16:29] And it's something that he does in a terminal and it's just phenomenal.

[00:16:33] And so, yeah, seeing Chris do it again here, it's it's it's a fantastic character.

[00:16:38] I think that you need that grounding in a story like this,

[00:16:41] especially since we're going crazy with the idea that a black hole is exploded

[00:16:46] and crazy stuff's coming out.

[00:16:48] You know, that's not a grounded idea.

[00:16:50] So you need we're grounding it with this really authentic complex character story.

[00:16:55] Yeah, I mean, I thought it makes sense as much as I like something

[00:16:57] like like the thing where, you know, you have the, you know,

[00:17:01] a horror story where it's like a single location.

[00:17:04] Everyone is kind of trapped there.

[00:17:06] But where you you have the the the strangeness of the black hole

[00:17:12] and you kind of have this, you know, new character there.

[00:17:16] I as a reader to kind of deal with the mystery

[00:17:22] and like what is that exactly going on here?

[00:17:24] It really helps to have somebody from the outside coming in

[00:17:27] rather than setting the story with somebody.

[00:17:29] You know, if you had said it from Colson's perspective,

[00:17:32] like right off the jump, I think the fact that we kind of see the opening

[00:17:37] and then we go back to joy and then, you know, kind of are brought in with her.

[00:17:44] I feel like really aids the tension, but also kind of helps the reader

[00:17:50] because you feel like, well, I got I got somebody on the inside now.

[00:17:54] I got joy. I'm in it with her and I'm seeing it through her eyes

[00:17:57] as a storytelling technique.

[00:17:58] I think it really makes sense.

[00:18:00] Yeah, I agree.

[00:18:00] I mean, and I think it's something to be said about exploring the unknown

[00:18:05] and exploring that mystery and exploring science fiction with someone we can relate to.

[00:18:09] And so, yeah, it's a lot of fun to to bring her in.

[00:18:13] And we have our science types along for the ride.

[00:18:15] We have our military types along for the ride, but she's the

[00:18:19] she's the touchstone that we keep coming back to.

[00:18:22] And she's going to she's going to be trying her best to figure out how to solve this.

[00:18:26] And yeah, it's quite a mystery.

[00:18:28] I mean, like I don't think readers know what to expect in the best of ways.

[00:18:33] And I think that we will have them guessing and have them on the edge of their seats.

[00:18:36] And so it's it's a really, really nonstop twisty tourney series.

[00:18:42] It's great. Yeah, I can't wait for issue two.

[00:18:46] With all these the science fiction series that you do,

[00:18:50] I'm kind of curious, like, you know, are some of these things just kind of like a,

[00:18:55] you know, a way to tell your story, to use science fiction to kind of,

[00:18:59] you know, to tackle a problem today and talk about it in a fun, interesting way.

[00:19:04] Or do you like how much research do you really do when you're like,

[00:19:07] oh, I got this great idea for like a black hole or and then do you dig into like

[00:19:13] I do, I dig into the science a lot.

[00:19:16] And I mean, the science I dug in and we try to use some of the science

[00:19:20] of, you know, black holes.

[00:19:22] I mean, black holes are crazy.

[00:19:24] They'll they'll eat stars and then evaporate and nothing is left.

[00:19:28] You know, it's some strange things going on in space and time, completely flip.

[00:19:33] Gravity doesn't follow all the rules.

[00:19:35] So I definitely like to nerd out and do the research and then try to infuse

[00:19:39] the story with some of that.

[00:19:40] But I think I mean, most of all, I came up with the story during the pandemic.

[00:19:45] And it was very much the cynicism and hopelessness of feeling,

[00:19:52] you know, the world around you.

[00:19:54] And it's a it's a theme that I love to explore again and again,

[00:19:57] but kind of hope versus cynicism.

[00:20:00] And it felt like a perfect analogy and metaphor for for black holes

[00:20:05] because our black holes just terrible monsters or do they lead to something

[00:20:11] more as there's something more magical to them?

[00:20:13] And I think that like life in general, you either find a way to be

[00:20:18] optimistic or you find a way to be pessimistic.

[00:20:20] But either way, you're on the same journey.

[00:20:22] And so trying to take some of those kind of themes and put it into this

[00:20:25] kind of this kind of sci-fi adventure about black holes.

[00:20:29] That's definitely I think, you know, what was on my mind

[00:20:33] bringing this story to life and getting into the weeds on it.

[00:20:37] Yeah, I think with, you know, Cosmic Horror,

[00:20:41] and I certainly have some things that I do enjoy something like

[00:20:44] a movie like Event Horizon and, you know, their comics play around

[00:20:48] on the certainly the Cosmic Horror or something like Cthulhu.

[00:20:53] One of the things about, you know, using black holes

[00:20:56] rather than something like an eldritch God or some other type of,

[00:21:00] you know, entity is that it's is that it's real.

[00:21:04] I mean, I think I think I think one of the times I had a panic attack

[00:21:08] was I just happened to see a headline from like a popular science

[00:21:11] or popular mechanics article that was like, what would happen if a black hole

[00:21:15] came within such and such of Earth?

[00:21:17] And it's like, oh, shouldn't have read that.

[00:21:19] Yeah, that ruined that ruin my day.

[00:21:22] Yeah, I mean, there there it's a really interesting phenomenon.

[00:21:26] And I mean, on the one hand, you could say, OK, if we opened up a black hole,

[00:21:31] it probably just suck us in instantaneously.

[00:21:34] But then there's another factor.

[00:21:35] What OK, if we're all going into like what happens when you go into a black hole?

[00:21:39] I mean, is it the end? Is that what happens?

[00:21:41] What I mean, does the matter just?

[00:21:46] It doesn't.

[00:21:47] I mean, the matter is still going through the black hole.

[00:21:50] Is it being compressed?

[00:21:52] Is it just being collapsed?

[00:21:54] What is happening?

[00:21:55] Like we don't know.

[00:21:56] We do not know what happens to energy and matter when it goes in.

[00:21:59] And so the rules are kind of out the window.

[00:22:02] And like any good science fiction, you kind of have to have one

[00:22:05] suspension of disbelief.

[00:22:06] And so the suspension of disbelief here is what if a black hole

[00:22:10] doesn't operate by any of the rules and we don't know what to expect.

[00:22:13] And if you come in with that, then you've got quite an interesting

[00:22:18] monster that we've unleashed and everything that goes with it.

[00:22:22] And so, yeah, but I like to ground the science.

[00:22:25] Usually I'm asking audiences to take one leap of faith with me

[00:22:29] like the sun will burn you alive or aliens have come with a business deal.

[00:22:33] But then everything else I try to be as grounded as I can.

[00:22:37] I mean, when I first read the concept, though,

[00:22:40] because you just mentioned it for port of birth, I was just like,

[00:22:43] oh, yeah, you know, like, yeah, I mean, I like, you know,

[00:22:46] we're talking about a different movies and things here that.

[00:22:49] But like, you know, I love the idea of, you know, close encounters

[00:22:52] and or an alien movie like that.

[00:22:54] But yeah, the idea that they come with like a business plan,

[00:22:57] like that is just.

[00:23:00] Yeah, it's very it's very obvious that that's what will happen to.

[00:23:04] I mean, that's the only thing that could happen.

[00:23:06] I don't know why we always we always think that aliens are going

[00:23:09] to be either enlightened or just invader monster invaders.

[00:23:15] Like if you really look at if they're if they're human,

[00:23:18] if there are anything like us, they're coming with a deal.

[00:23:20] That's what they're going to.

[00:23:21] I mean, that's what humanity would do.

[00:23:23] Humanity would not come and be like we enlighten you

[00:23:26] and or we come and just be like, we're taking your stuff.

[00:23:28] We would come and be like, well, let's talk, let's work something out.

[00:23:31] Like that's that's all of human history.

[00:23:33] So that was the the idea in port of Earth

[00:23:36] was to what if aliens were like us essentially?

[00:23:38] Yeah, yeah, which yeah, fantastic series.

[00:23:42] And thank you hooked me from, you know,

[00:23:46] from the jump from the from the concept.

[00:23:48] All right, let's take a quick break.

[00:23:58] After a string of unexplained

[00:24:00] disappearances in the southern parts of the United States,

[00:24:03] retired detective Clint searches for his white trash brother.

[00:24:06] While searching for him, he ends up being abducted by aliens.

[00:24:10] He is now in the arena for big guns, stupid rednecks.

[00:24:15] An intergalactic cable's newest hit show, which puts him

[00:24:18] and other humans in laser gun gladiatorial combat.

[00:24:21] And his brother is the reigning champion with 27 kills.

[00:24:26] That's the premise for a new book from Banda Barnes, Big Guns, Stupid Rednecks.

[00:24:31] I got a chance to see an advanced preview of this book

[00:24:33] and being from the south, honestly, I was a bit skeptical going in.

[00:24:37] But they won me over and nothing is more powerful

[00:24:39] than an initially skeptic convert my book.

[00:24:42] In Jimmy's words, Big Guns, Stupid Rednecks is many things,

[00:24:46] but it isn't subtle.

[00:24:47] It tells you exactly what it is up front.

[00:24:49] Then it delivers with a great premise, fantastic art and a whole mess of fun.

[00:24:53] I had a great time reading Big Guns, Stupid Rednecks.

[00:24:56] And what I thought was going to be an indictment of redneck culture

[00:24:58] quickly showed it was actually a love letter.

[00:25:01] A family mystery, brother pitted against brother, aliens fighting for profit

[00:25:05] in a big arena. This truly has it all.

[00:25:08] Issue one is out already,

[00:25:09] but you can still pick up a copy on the Banda Barnes website.

[00:25:12] And current issues are available via your previews or lunar order form

[00:25:15] or just ask your LCS. Don't miss.

[00:25:18] Let's get back to the show.

[00:25:20] Well, let's kind of take a slight turn from science fiction, I guess,

[00:25:25] to kill all immortals issues one and two are out.

[00:25:29] And I think it's you and Bico, Osio,

[00:25:34] Diago, Roca and Hassan, Osman El-Hal.

[00:25:36] Yep. The four. It's a dark horse series.

[00:25:41] Yeah, issue number three will be out September 25th.

[00:25:45] And yeah, again, I had seen some of the covers for when it was coming out.

[00:25:50] I hadn't had a chance to read it yet.

[00:25:52] And I do think I'm on your newsletter.

[00:25:55] I had mentioned before we started recording, but I read issues one and two.

[00:26:01] And again, fantastic concept, essentially.

[00:26:04] You know, I think the main character is Brea.

[00:26:10] And it's kind of revealed that her family are not, you know, who you would suspect.

[00:26:17] Yep. And they've been around for a very, very,

[00:26:19] you know, very long time and are.

[00:26:23] They're they're very shrewd business people to say.

[00:26:28] That's right.

[00:26:28] Please.

[00:26:31] Was it was it a great departure for you to kind of play in this?

[00:26:36] You know, this is kind of more of like action adventure fantasy.

[00:26:41] Did you feel like that was a stretch for you or you're just or was this

[00:26:45] something you were like really itching to do?

[00:26:47] I don't think it was a stretch, but it was something I had not done.

[00:26:51] I think, you know, and it was definitely something I wanted to do.

[00:26:54] I mean, I guess I am interested in kind of growing and taking chances as a creator.

[00:26:59] I mean, beyond real was it was a huge complete departure in terms of doing

[00:27:03] something completely surrealist with seven different artists now taking on

[00:27:08] horror for the first time, you know, and then yeah, Kill All the Mortals is

[00:27:11] my most action oriented series.

[00:27:15] It's a little bit, you know, it's off of science fiction and a bit more

[00:27:20] like supernatural, more just standard genre.

[00:27:23] And it's I've oftentimes helmed stories by protagonists, but never by

[00:27:29] an action hero in this way.

[00:27:31] And so I mean, it was a departure from my other work for sure.

[00:27:37] And it was really exciting for me to step into this arena that I had never done before.

[00:27:44] But I feel like, you know, at the end of the day, I still tried to bring

[00:27:48] a lot of the same stuff that I bring to any series, which is a really

[00:27:51] fascinating world, a really cool high concept hook that makes you feel

[00:27:55] like you haven't seen it before.

[00:27:57] But it makes sense.

[00:27:58] And I think a lot I like we were just talking about Dark Empty Void grounding

[00:28:02] a story in authenticity.

[00:28:06] And so the premise here is that we've got a family.

[00:28:10] I think we I think everybody's aware of the basic.

[00:28:13] I mean, it's a mortal Vikings and they're living present day

[00:28:17] and they're a billionaire family and they're they're fighting.

[00:28:21] And the daughter is fighting against the family.

[00:28:23] But I think one of the real things that we wanted to do here was make this

[00:28:28] story feel modern, make it feel, you know, just as real as you can make it feel.

[00:28:34] And so, you know, whether it's the sets to the costumes,

[00:28:38] to the way that we're portraying everything to the fights,

[00:28:41] you know, this is as if the family in succession suddenly picked up

[00:28:45] Viking weapons and went to town against each other.

[00:28:49] So, yeah, style and aesthetic was really important.

[00:28:53] And, you know, we worked with Tom Moller on the on the logo and the design,

[00:28:57] Oliver Barrett on our A Cover series and FICO and Diago Jewel.

[00:29:01] An absolutely amazing job with the artwork of just bringing you into that world.

[00:29:05] And, yeah, really proud of the series of the look of it,

[00:29:10] of the action is just phenomenal.

[00:29:12] And then I think this is really interesting character story year

[00:29:17] that's also, I think, pretty modern because

[00:29:21] this character Frey has been a she's a mortal.

[00:29:26] She's been around a long time and

[00:29:29] she's kind of growing with the times.

[00:29:31] And so she's finding herself for the first time,

[00:29:34] kind of looking at her family and her situation with a 2024 lens

[00:29:40] that she hasn't done that yet.

[00:29:42] And so it's kind of looking at how we all evolve and change

[00:29:47] over time and how we handle these kinds of things differently.

[00:29:52] So, yeah, it's a lot of fun to write a character like this.

[00:29:57] One of the things I noticed and I don't think

[00:29:59] I don't think any of the series that I've read of yours

[00:30:02] that you've written and the artists that you've worked with.

[00:30:06] I don't think any of the stories ever lack action.

[00:30:10] But this, certainly, I think is like the bloodiest maybe.

[00:30:14] Oh, yeah. That you've done.

[00:30:15] Like, oh, yeah. I mean, it is it is bloody.

[00:30:18] The action scenes are I mean, they're great.

[00:30:22] The fight choreography in it or it's it's so good.

[00:30:27] And it's it's

[00:30:30] you always kind of know what's happening.

[00:30:34] It's like there's it's all there on the page.

[00:30:37] You know, it's not something's being hidden.

[00:30:39] You're not, you know, like, not taking any like tricks, you know,

[00:30:42] tricks or anything with it.

[00:30:43] It's like all there and yeah, I mean, the.

[00:30:47] I have to tell you, it was crazy.

[00:30:49] The fight sequences coming up in issue three are absolutely incredible.

[00:30:54] They will blow your mind as great as one and two are.

[00:30:57] It gets better.

[00:30:58] I just saw the final pages for four.

[00:31:01] Absolutely amazing.

[00:31:03] So like, yeah, we're taking the fight choreography

[00:31:05] and the fight dynamic very seriously.

[00:31:08] We continue to try to just bring really exciting

[00:31:12] locales and energy to it.

[00:31:14] But I think what's really, you know, also behind it is that

[00:31:18] the violence of the fights are thematic.

[00:31:22] They're built into the character because these are Vikings.

[00:31:25] And this is a power struggle.

[00:31:27] And so every fight becomes a really important dramatic

[00:31:31] beat in this story.

[00:31:33] You know, this is about characters going to war with each other.

[00:31:37] And the violence manifests itself as to just how.

[00:31:41] These characters handle aggression and how they try to, you know,

[00:31:46] control and dominate each other.

[00:31:47] And so it has relevance.

[00:31:50] It's not just gratuitous.

[00:31:53] But yeah, it is it is violent for sure.

[00:31:55] Definitely my most most violent.

[00:31:57] Yeah, yeah.

[00:31:58] I mean, the interesting idea of with characters like this

[00:32:01] that have been around for hundreds of years, like, do they change

[00:32:04] with the times and how do they they change?

[00:32:08] And, you know, when you're around long enough that you can amass

[00:32:12] such like huge amounts of wealth and control and influence.

[00:32:19] You know, but there is still

[00:32:22] something of their viking this, I guess, to them.

[00:32:25] Yeah, I just thought it was great.

[00:32:27] And there were a couple of little moments in it that I mean,

[00:32:29] I love the action scenes, but Breya is joined by someone who's

[00:32:35] doing a story on her.

[00:32:37] Mr. It was Jabari. Oh, and he's a journalist. Yeah.

[00:32:40] OK. And yeah, he he is a journalist.

[00:32:42] That's exactly what I was going to say, where one of Breya's

[00:32:46] brothers says something, I think, in the first issue about him being

[00:32:51] reporter, a journalist or reporter.

[00:32:54] And he goes, well, I think I'm more of a journalist

[00:32:55] than he goes. Is there a difference?

[00:32:57] And I just thought, like, man, that was like it's just a little moment.

[00:33:02] But like the heat you kind of set up that dynamic and that tension

[00:33:07] between those two characters like right away, it's aggressive in a totally

[00:33:11] different we're not using swords yet way. You know?

[00:33:15] Oh, yeah, I like that.

[00:33:16] Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of flexing going on.

[00:33:19] And yeah, I mean, that's the cool thing.

[00:33:21] I mean, the violence is saved at times, too.

[00:33:23] Like it gets violent, but these everybody in the family

[00:33:28] poxed with such intention and such power and you can really feel it.

[00:33:33] And definitely

[00:33:35] in the writing and the storytelling, we work to make sure that

[00:33:40] you can feel each character trying to control the situation.

[00:33:44] And the first issue culminates in a really dramatic scene

[00:33:49] where everyone is trying to control each other.

[00:33:51] But then there's this whole dynamic about journalism in here because.

[00:33:57] Journalism and social media and the Internet,

[00:34:01] like if you look at it in like in a past 25 years sort of thing,

[00:34:06] they've really changed and evolved.

[00:34:08] And so this family

[00:34:11] has been living in the shadows, living in secrecy, dominating the world

[00:34:16] and accumulating all this wealth and power.

[00:34:20] But the world is changing.

[00:34:22] And so this is kind of a question of like, how does that changing world?

[00:34:25] How does introducing a component of journalism and introducing the component

[00:34:29] of technology, how does that?

[00:34:31] How does this family handle those sorts of things?

[00:34:33] And so again, trying to stay modern and trying to keep it relevant.

[00:34:37] It's a lot of fun to kind of explore that kind of stuff.

[00:34:40] Yeah, I mean, I really appreciated that aspect to it.

[00:34:43] That whole conversation between Owen and the rest of the family

[00:34:47] there at the table and that little quip that Owen and the one brother had.

[00:34:51] I can't know if it was Stein or Lee.

[00:34:55] Which I can't.

[00:34:56] Yeah, is it who says I think it might be.

[00:34:59] But but that whole conversation they have about, you know,

[00:35:02] journalism and reporting and the family saying like, oh,

[00:35:06] what would you want to work like for us?

[00:35:09] Like maybe we'll have our own news and they have this.

[00:35:12] They basically are ramp.

[00:35:14] You're ramping up the tension at this table

[00:35:17] and for a comic that has so many great action scenes

[00:35:21] and bloody action scenes in the first two issues,

[00:35:23] you really have this tension ratcheting up where they're kind of having

[00:35:27] a conversation about, you know, like you said, the future of,

[00:35:30] you know, journalism, the 24 hour news cycle.

[00:35:34] The fact that it's only like a few families or people

[00:35:37] that own these companies that now, you know, give us the news

[00:35:42] and just very quickly in a couple of panels, like it is it's it's tense.

[00:35:47] Yeah. And it's almost like they're having this fundamental conversation

[00:35:51] about who controls like the narrative, who controls the truth.

[00:35:55] And then it just then it goes off the rails and it's just yeah.

[00:35:59] I mean, it's wild.

[00:36:01] So good. Yes.

[00:36:04] I don't want to spoil anything.

[00:36:05] The first issue definitely ends with the with some fireworks.

[00:36:09] But yeah, yeah.

[00:36:10] We, you know, and it's it's a testament to the creative team.

[00:36:15] I mean, FICO is one one minute drawing crazy fights,

[00:36:20] you know, and amazing layouts that show off the fight, the choreography.

[00:36:26] And then we've got these really amazing character tense moments

[00:36:29] that, you know, you can feel the the power and the energy.

[00:36:33] So yeah, it's just been an absolute blast

[00:36:37] to kind of to work on the series and bring all that to life.

[00:36:41] And yeah, I mean,

[00:36:43] the the the fight that comes is sometimes, you know,

[00:36:49] sometimes the fight begins with the words, you know,

[00:36:52] and that's the fun thing to do in the comics to play

[00:36:55] play with the fight before the weapons are drawn. Right.

[00:36:59] Yeah. But you're saying FICO's artwork is is really tremendous.

[00:37:03] Great. Yeah.

[00:37:05] Yeah, he was on that series.

[00:37:08] What is it? No one left the fight with Aubrey Citizen, right?

[00:37:11] That's right.

[00:37:12] It was a two volume series of Dark Horse as well.

[00:37:14] And and he's also done Mr.

[00:37:16] Miracle and just got announced on the new Black Lightning series at D.C.

[00:37:23] Yeah. And has done Action Comics.

[00:37:26] So some great DC stuff.

[00:37:28] And yeah, just an amazing, amazing artist.

[00:37:32] But I really think that that FICO is shining, you know,

[00:37:38] on this book and and and I'm very excited for everyone to continue

[00:37:42] to just see how impressive his artwork is.

[00:37:45] Yeah, I thought it was great.

[00:37:47] So again, cannot wait to see where that one goes.

[00:37:50] And like I said earlier, issue three is going to hit September 25th.

[00:37:54] And I will tell you issue three will blow you guys away.

[00:37:59] If you are reading this and you are

[00:38:01] booked, do not miss issue three.

[00:38:04] That's all I'm going to say about it.

[00:38:05] Don't like decide that you're trade waiting.

[00:38:08] Get issue three because it's a good one.

[00:38:11] All right.

[00:38:12] So so that's that's you've been warned.

[00:38:15] Yeah. All immortals.

[00:38:16] Issue three.

[00:38:17] You're definitely going to need issue three.

[00:38:19] You're going to see some some people going online about it.

[00:38:23] It's a it's a good one.

[00:38:24] Well, that's good enough for me because and that plus issues one and two.

[00:38:30] Which were great.

[00:38:31] And to the other another dark horse,

[00:38:34] both the coming out in October.

[00:38:36] Yeah, I think the first issue is dropping October 2nd.

[00:38:38] And it's actually it's a full Jimmy.

[00:38:40] It's a full graphic novel.

[00:38:42] Oh, it's a full graphic novel.

[00:38:43] It's fully collected.

[00:38:44] Yeah. So you read the first chapter, I guess.

[00:38:47] But yeah, it's a full it's a fully collected.

[00:38:50] It comes out all as one is one.

[00:38:52] OK, great.

[00:38:52] It's called The Midnight Shadows.

[00:38:54] So I think you're working with artist Steven Thompson on this one.

[00:39:00] And Jean-Noel Lindsey.

[00:39:01] We've got Steven Thompson does a bulk of it.

[00:39:04] But Jean-Noel Lindsey does some artwork as well for us.

[00:39:07] All right.

[00:39:08] And then and then Thiago Rocha is our colorist

[00:39:10] and DC Hopkins is the letter on.

[00:39:12] Oh, great.

[00:39:13] That's awesome.

[00:39:14] I like DC work.

[00:39:15] That's fantastic.

[00:39:16] So tell listeners about what the concept of

[00:39:19] the Midnight Shadows because I was very curious about this

[00:39:24] and I was also listening to The Midnight.

[00:39:31] So yeah, I was not familiar with but but tell me.

[00:39:34] They're amazing. They're amazing.

[00:39:35] Yeah. So The Midnight is one of the largest

[00:39:38] synthwave bands in the world.

[00:39:39] They have a million listeners on Spotify.

[00:39:41] They play bands, play shows all over the world, you know.

[00:39:46] And they're amazing.

[00:39:48] They're really synthwave,

[00:39:51] nostalgic, kind of rooted in the 80s culture

[00:39:55] and 80s and 90s culture of like technology and, you know,

[00:39:58] computer coming up and.

[00:40:01] Very poetic, you know, about kind of growing up

[00:40:05] storytelling and in the music.

[00:40:07] I've been a fan a very long time.

[00:40:09] I also happen to know the band and long story short.

[00:40:13] We decided to collaborate on a graphic novel.

[00:40:16] But the great thing is it's an original story.

[00:40:20] If you are a fan of The Midnight, you will absolutely

[00:40:23] geek out over the connection to the music.

[00:40:27] But it is really a reflection of the music, of the music's themes

[00:40:31] and kind of elements that the music explores.

[00:40:35] So if you have never listened to music,

[00:40:37] I feel very comfortable in saying pick this up as if it was any other

[00:40:40] comic series for me.

[00:40:42] It's a sci-fi adventure.

[00:40:44] It's about a young man who's kind of on the precipice

[00:40:48] of fatherhood here in our world and, you know,

[00:40:52] kind of reticent to accept responsibility and adulthood.

[00:40:57] And then he finds as he's cleaning out his stuff,

[00:41:01] he finds his old video game The Midnight

[00:41:03] and he goes to take it to get fixed and he gets sucked in

[00:41:06] to the video game.

[00:41:09] But unlike Tron, which is loosely

[00:41:13] inspired by unlike Tron, when he gets to this world,

[00:41:16] he discovers that he is, in fact, the hero of this world

[00:41:19] and or he's told he is and he doesn't know which world is real

[00:41:23] and which world is not real.

[00:41:25] And this is a world that is shrouded in darkness

[00:41:28] and they want him to save them.

[00:41:30] And so it's just an incredibly fun adventure.

[00:41:37] It's really heartfelt.

[00:41:39] It's really actually got some fantastic action,

[00:41:43] absolutely amazing action and gorgeous artwork.

[00:41:47] Stephen Thompson and Diago Rocha just bring to life

[00:41:51] this kind of synthwave cyberpunk sort of world.

[00:41:56] It's it's crazy.

[00:41:58] Genoa does some amazing work in the ordinary kind of world.

[00:42:03] And yeah, it's just I cannot wait for people to read.

[00:42:07] It's also going to be a lot of fun because when it drops,

[00:42:09] people get to read it all as one entity,

[00:42:12] you know, just kind of and and actually this is the first series

[00:42:16] I've ever had come out that some talk about also

[00:42:20] pushing a little bit like everything's always been monthly.

[00:42:23] So this is the first one that's like it'll come out

[00:42:26] and people get to read the whole thing.

[00:42:27] So yeah, yeah, can't wait for it.

[00:42:30] It's first week of October.

[00:42:32] It's going to be awesome.

[00:42:32] Yeah, so I was I'm not was not familiar with with the midnight.

[00:42:36] But I read about it before I read the

[00:42:40] but that's fine.

[00:42:41] You want to read what you read the first chapter just going in for the story?

[00:42:45] Yeah, I did. But I had looked up a little bit about the band.

[00:42:48] I think it's Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwen.

[00:42:51] That's right. And I went on Spotify.

[00:42:54] So there's they have a million and one listeners now

[00:42:56] because I wasn't familiar with it.

[00:42:58] And I I think I played like a couple of the song

[00:43:04] like just whatever came up like the most popular Spotify.

[00:43:07] And I I instantly felt like transported back.

[00:43:11] Yeah, I was just like when did this?

[00:43:14] I'm like, you know, looking at when the album

[00:43:16] like when the song dropped because it has like such a nostalgic

[00:43:20] like kind of 80s feel to it.

[00:43:23] But after listening to after listening to some of it

[00:43:26] and then reading the first chapter, I was like ready to go.

[00:43:29] I got my members only jacket.

[00:43:30] I stole a 1982 Pawnee at Firebird Trans-Am.

[00:43:34] Oh, yes.

[00:43:35] I put on the song Jason and I just wrote off right down the highway.

[00:43:38] You need to go driving. Yes, driving.

[00:43:41] Yes, drive. Go where you go when no one's on the road.

[00:43:45] You can just go and listen to the music. Yes.

[00:43:49] I mean,

[00:43:52] I'm a sucker for any comic or really anything but a comic in particular

[00:43:56] that does that really like shows an old abandoned mall.

[00:44:01] Yeah, I think you can't, you know, you can't beat that at all.

[00:44:05] It opens with it opens with a kind of an 80s 90s mall,

[00:44:09] but it's post apocalyptic.

[00:44:11] Yeah, it's beautifully drawn and and yeah,

[00:44:15] there's a lot of like touchstones like the mall,

[00:44:19] the late night driving like there's a really amazing

[00:44:23] sci-fi city that they get to.

[00:44:27] But there's a lot of that kind.

[00:44:28] There's a lot of kind of

[00:44:31] nostalgic references to it.

[00:44:33] And there's something about that kind of music and about that kind of time

[00:44:36] that makes you feel like a kid again.

[00:44:39] You know, I think that's the cool that it's a real thoughtful look at nostalgia.

[00:44:43] You know, on the one hand, nostalgia can make transport you

[00:44:46] and make you feel young again.

[00:44:47] It can make you feel how wonderful the fantasy of,

[00:44:51] you know, shrugging off your responsibilities are.

[00:44:54] But then there's a dark side to that.

[00:44:55] You know, the dark side is that you're neglecting the world around you.

[00:45:00] You're neglecting, you know, responsibilities.

[00:45:04] And so it's it's and the midnight when they sing about

[00:45:08] when they sing songs that talk about darker impulses or influences or emotions,

[00:45:14] it is about that sort of thing, about the dangers of losing yourself.

[00:45:18] And so the monsters, they have a song called Monsters.

[00:45:22] And so, yeah, it was really fun to dive into the music that I already knew so well

[00:45:29] and then take out the ideas, the themes

[00:45:34] and then create a whole story around those themes.

[00:45:37] And I collaborated with with Tyler and Tim immensely.

[00:45:41] You know, I brought them, you know, the ideas and we shaped it together.

[00:45:45] But, you know, really, really a fun

[00:45:50] experience to to try to create a story that is not canon for this music.

[00:45:57] But again, I think the best word is a reflection of this stuff.

[00:46:02] And so if it'll be really fun,

[00:46:05] there'll be midnight fans who completely lose it reading this book.

[00:46:10] There'll be readers like you who read the book

[00:46:14] and then maybe are so excited about the book that you go and listen to the music

[00:46:19] and go the other way.

[00:46:21] Or there might be people who just pick up the book, go,

[00:46:23] I have no interest in the music.

[00:46:24] I just love this book.

[00:46:25] And so I'm really curious to see kind of how it all unfolds.

[00:46:29] But I think the synergy of having people come

[00:46:33] to the music from the book or to the book from the music,

[00:46:36] it'll be really exciting.

[00:46:38] Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

[00:46:40] I really enjoyed the first chapter and I'll get it when it comes out.

[00:46:44] Thank you.

[00:46:45] But yeah, I was kind of curious, because I know just from what I had read,

[00:46:49] either in a press release or something online

[00:46:52] from Dark Horse about how it kind of came together.

[00:46:55] And I knew that I had read that you had collaborated with Tyler and Tim from the band.

[00:47:00] And I was just kind of curious, was it something that they they came to you

[00:47:04] and like, hey, Zach, we like your work.

[00:47:06] We want to do this thing.

[00:47:08] We have an idea and then you structure a story around it.

[00:47:11] But I think you just said that you you would kind of like

[00:47:14] yeah, so I knew Tyler before he started the midnight.

[00:47:19] And I probably got to listen to some of the music

[00:47:24] before it even came out.

[00:47:26] And I was blown away when it came out.

[00:47:28] Like it was it was just coincidental that my friend

[00:47:31] just started a band with my favorite music.

[00:47:36] What? And I consequently listened to on repeat for years.

[00:47:41] And so we both kind of followed each other

[00:47:44] as I was getting into comics and having success in comics.

[00:47:48] You know, we would just shoot each other texts and talk.

[00:47:51] And I would tell him how much I love the music.

[00:47:53] He would tell me how much he enjoyed my work.

[00:47:56] And we were just going back and forth.

[00:47:58] And I think it was like a

[00:48:01] you ever want to do a graphic novel?

[00:48:03] Let me know. And it was like, yeah, we would love to do that.

[00:48:06] And it was it was like this kind of appreciation of each other's

[00:48:11] work and medium became a conversation.

[00:48:15] And yeah, I came into it saying,

[00:48:18] I have I have an idea, you know, and I shared the idea and they said,

[00:48:22] this is great and it could be this and it can be that.

[00:48:25] And it can be this and it was

[00:48:27] it was creative collaboration as the best possible way of being able

[00:48:31] to put it together and form it together.

[00:48:34] And you know, they're not coming at it from as comic book creators.

[00:48:37] They're coming at it saying, look, these are the themes

[00:48:39] that we love to talk about.

[00:48:41] This is that these are the the story elements that we find again and again

[00:48:45] as storytellers in music.

[00:48:47] And, you know, they're more sharing their souls with me about what moves them.

[00:48:52] And then I'm taking that I'm showing them how it can be articulated

[00:48:57] in the story and we're building that together.

[00:48:59] So yeah, it was it was an absolutely fantastic experience.

[00:49:03] And and and yeah, came it came out amazing.

[00:49:07] I'm very proud of that.

[00:49:09] That's awesome. Yeah, I was curious.

[00:49:10] And if it was just like in building the story,

[00:49:13] you know, how their music influenced it, you know, and it seems more

[00:49:18] thematically, whereas, you know, I think another way, you know,

[00:49:23] when so when they do like a jukebox musical, right?

[00:49:26] So like Margaritaville and they basically take a bunch of Jimmy Buffett songs

[00:49:31] and they figure out which ones will fit into like the story

[00:49:34] or either they are building or, you know,

[00:49:37] I think this is curious.

[00:49:39] This is not the first music time.

[00:49:40] There's been several music graphic novels and sometimes they drop the band

[00:49:45] in there and the band is is actual characters in the graphic novel.

[00:49:49] And, you know, to each his own.

[00:49:52] But I think we were much more interested in doing something that

[00:49:56] that was just elevated and a little bit and a little more authentic

[00:50:00] and a little more about about creating a separate experience

[00:50:05] for people to enjoy.

[00:50:07] And so it's it's very intrinsic of who the midnight are.

[00:50:12] I mean, it is the midnight true, you know, in and out.

[00:50:17] But it also stands alone as this really just amazing story

[00:50:22] about growing up and nostalgia and losing yourself.

[00:50:26] And I think those are themes that whether you are a fan of the midnight

[00:50:30] or not, we can all relate to

[00:50:35] to the to facing adulthood, even when you're already an adult.

[00:50:39] I mean, that's the big secret, even when you're already adult,

[00:50:42] you don't want to always face adulthood, you know?

[00:50:44] You know, oh, man, why do I got to be an adult today?

[00:50:46] Like I do not want to be an adult today.

[00:50:48] Yeah, it doesn't stop until it does.

[00:50:51] You know, but until it does, you have to you have to do these things.

[00:50:55] Well, I love chapter one.

[00:50:57] I mean, I just this has just been an absolute joy

[00:51:00] to finally talk to you, to steal you away from Byron

[00:51:06] because I, you know, am a fan of your work and because you like time travel.

[00:51:13] That's really I do.

[00:51:14] I like I like time travel.

[00:51:16] All right, I'll write my time travel Magnum Opus one day.

[00:51:21] But yeah, I like time travel stories.

[00:51:23] And but yeah, dark empty void, though.

[00:51:25] I I just I can't wait.

[00:51:27] I can't wait for people to start reading it.

[00:51:29] I can't wait to see where it goes.

[00:51:31] I just I really like the combination of you and and Christian working together

[00:51:37] at Mad Cave.

[00:51:39] So I'm super excited about that.

[00:51:41] And if you're listening to this when this episode comes out, like I said,

[00:51:43] you can get Matt Matt tomorrow.

[00:51:46] Matt has been killing it.

[00:51:47] And it was an absolute pleasure to bring this story to them.

[00:51:50] And yeah, I mean, they've been putting out hits.

[00:51:55] And, you know, I was very excited.

[00:51:58] And and yeah, it's it's a great series.

[00:52:01] We're really proud of it.

[00:52:02] Chris and Francesco are amazing.

[00:52:04] And yeah, it's coming out tomorrow or any day now here and definitely go pick it up.

[00:52:10] Yeah, I to be honest with you, it's probably going to sell out.

[00:52:15] I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

[00:52:16] So I would definitely not sit on it unless you want to go get a second printing.

[00:52:22] Find find get it at your shop.

[00:52:25] Find it somewhere and then tell your shop.

[00:52:28] Yeah, tell your shop they put Matt.

[00:52:30] There's still a mad cave needs to be on on on some shops.

[00:52:36] Radars, if it's not, they're not ordering mad mad cave books.

[00:52:39] Tell them to order.

[00:52:40] Yeah, I let them know.

[00:52:42] I love whenever I go into my local shop

[00:52:44] and I see that they got some mad cave stuff on the on the shelf.

[00:52:49] But Zach, this has just been an absolute pleasure.

[00:52:53] Dark empty void, kill all immortals, the midnight shadows,

[00:52:58] the trade for beyond real.

[00:53:01] Yeah, that's coming out probably tomorrow.

[00:53:03] Yeah. So plenty of good stuff to scratch that science fiction itch.

[00:53:08] And if you want something with a little more violence

[00:53:11] with the capital V for Viking, get all the more.

[00:53:15] That's right. Zach, thank you so much.

[00:53:18] Thank you, Jimmy.

[00:53:19] Always a pleasure.

[00:53:20] Yeah, shout out to my brother Bobby,

[00:53:22] the Crypticreator Corner's number one most dedicated fan.

[00:53:25] Bobby listens to all my episodes and I do this every episode

[00:53:28] because Bobby gets excited that I still do it.

[00:53:31] And he is definitely going to want to read kill all immortals.

[00:53:35] So I'll make sure that we get that for him.

[00:53:37] But yeah, thanks a lot, Zach.

[00:53:39] I really appreciate it.

[00:53:40] Thank you, Jimmy.

[00:53:41] And for Comic Book Eddie, I'm Jimmy Gasparo.

[00:53:43] And thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.

[00:53:46] This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts

[00:53:48] of the Crypticreator Corner brought to you by Comic Book Eddie.

[00:53:52] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[00:53:55] Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[00:53:59] It lets us know how we're doing and, more importantly,

[00:54:02] how we can improve.

[00:54:04] Thanks for listening.

[00:54:06] If you enjoyed this episode of the Crypticreator Corner,

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