Zack Quaintance talks Death of Comics Bookcase

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

[00:00:30] Let's get started with the twist of 70s pop culture thrown in. Harmony, Lyra, Melody, Cadence and Biola are a sterling 20-something band and a roller-dirty team fleshed with talent but broke as a joke.

[00:00:43] The burnout's are thrilling concert doors with their killer looks and vibe until a music mishap drops a curious ancient artifact into their hands. Cheeky, light-hearted and fun, it will be launching soon and there's an early bird special if you catch it in time that scores you a discount and a VIP wrist band. I'll drop the link of the show notes.

[00:01:02] I read the advance for this and honestly it reminds me of my own carefree days gigging on the road in the music industry but with way better shower scenes. The only thing missing is more cowbell.

[00:01:12] Hello and welcome to another episode of Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner Podcast. If you're listening to this you know that I'm one of the hosts Jimmy Gasparo and I'm here today with another guest that I've met in person at Baltimore Comic Con just kind of ran into each other luckily enough but I'm here with comics writer, comics creator, comics journalist Zach Quaintant.

[00:01:41] Zach Quaintant, Zach welcome to the podcast. Hey Jimmy thanks for having me on it's an honor I it's really been fun to watch this show grow over the over the years and see the kind of guests you guys get so it's definitely thrilled that you're able to get me on.

[00:01:56] Now I really appreciate it. I mean, I really enjoyed reading comics bookcase we're going to talk about it because you're here today to talk about a new Kickstarter if you're listening to this on the day that this comes out April 2nd or probably anytime in April

[00:02:11] because of how long the campaign is Zach and several artists have kind of put together death of comics bookcase volume one which is kind of like a 48 page anthology with kind of an interstitial tale and a couple of different comic stories that we're going to get into and talk about for anyone that doesn't know comics bookcase is or was Zach's kind of blog that covered a lot of different comics had a

[00:02:41] different writers working on different stories some long form stuff I think to I know I was constantly checking it when you really had a going and I guess we're going to find out what the state of things are and why you have an anthology called death of comics bookcase volume one.

[00:02:59] But I think you know in addition to comics bookcase I think I had backed your earlier Kickstarter for next door number one which I really liked and with me when I ran into you a Baltimore guy to sign it so it's a it's in my my long box of treasured signed comics but yeah let's get into it let's let's talk about the

[00:03:28] current campaign and why why death of comics bookcase volume one like how did this all come about.

[00:03:38] Yeah so this is actually like a really cool place to talk about this because I remember back when I was doing it like I started comics bookcase in 2018 and I think Matt started comic book yet he may be right around the same time because this would happen all the time people would be like oh what do you want to do?

[00:03:57] I think people would be like what are some of your favorite like small comics blogs and it would they would always tag comics bookcase and comic book yeti like in the same in the same tweets so we were sort of like these two small small blogs and I remember like people on Twitter would also refer to me as like Mr.

[00:04:15] and I was thinking like man bookcase like who wants to be a bookcase like it like being a yeti so much cooler right like but um so then like a couple years ago uh I kind of got burned out just doing the blog like we really expand it and it's like this thing where like you want to do as much as you can on these blogs because it's fun right like to write about your favorite comics and work with like really cool.

[00:04:44] Writers and all this stuff but then it just gets to be too much and you're like doing a million different things and um I'd always really like sort of wanted to write comics anyway so I like put a pin in comics bookcase couple years ago and really focused on starting to write some comic ideas for pitches and things.

[00:05:03] And at a certain point I had several of them like I had several these short pieces and a couple a couple of them are pitches actually in the book they're sort of like backdoor pitches for longer longer things or they leave off with to be continued.

[00:05:17] And then so as I was working on it I remembered how everyone used to call me Mr. bookcase and I started writing these interstitials.

[00:05:23] Like a framing device like that this big mutant bookcase would be introducing and telling these stories whether people wanted to hear them or not because that's kind of how it feels when you start just putting comics out there you know like I have comics I want to give them to you and so like right that's where the idea for the like comics bookcase character came from um I don't know where I got the idea to kill it it just seemed funny to me like.

[00:05:49] Well no I mean first let's let's let's talk about that and then we'll talk more hopefully about you know what comics bookcase you know was and um you know why you've gotten to this this point I certainly can understand the burn out because you you tend to cover a lot of stuff there's little to know money in it and you when you start doing it.

[00:06:11] And then you get to a point where like other creators are reaching out to you.

[00:06:16] You know sometimes I at least I do kind of feel like a bit of like pressure to like oh let's I want to cover this thing or I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that and it's the next thing you know you're jumping through all kinds of hoops to get stuff out there I mean I do it with the you know the podcast I know other you know other the other folks at comic book Yeti do you know the same thing

[00:06:36] I'm sure it was the same thing for you and anyone else that was working with you for like comics bookcase articles but to talk about that first the idea of like the comics bookcase like come to life and this idea of like kids coming you know like you know Scooby-Doo Esk come across this like haunted house with this comics bookcase come to life and it just you know they they don't know how to react to it.

[00:07:04] It wants to keep telling them like different stories and that's how you get into the like the actual comics of it of the anthology I thought was great I mean I just I love the idea of this.

[00:07:17] You know beauty in the beast like furniture come to life who is just took but but rather than knowledgeable about what was going on just seemed totally oblivious just one message the entire time I have to tell them the new comics tale I was like this guy's great.

[00:07:32] Yeah he's really a sense a sensitive writer type right like he's like like I really just took like my own feelings of what it feels like to start writing and like trying to show people your work and like.

[00:07:45] Blue them up on a giant scale with that character so yeah he he like asked for feedback but then whisper is like you know only positive feedback.

[00:07:56] Yeah he's very sensitive and I remember I remember like I so I would as I was kind of writing the other short comics like I sort of wrote the pages for the framing device in between them.

[00:08:08] So I'd finish one and then I'd like write the frame and so it kind of just like slowly over months came together like it was the slowest one I worked on because I was doing spacing out like that.

[00:08:19] And I remember thinking to myself like where am I ever going to find another human being who will want to illustrate this because it's pretty wacky like there's the book cases kind of like if you took the chair from P.W.s playhouse and made it like really sad because his was the note I gave Ryan.

[00:08:37] And I was thrilled when I sent the script to Ryan Lee that he got it and was really excited to draw it because I just remember thinking like you know the right the right artist has to have the perfect sense of humor.

[00:08:50] And also has to be willing to do a story that like is the murder of an anthropomorphic personification of an old comics blog like who's going to want to do that you know.

[00:09:02] But that's some of Ryan Lee's like those pages or those you know those those panels for the that story are some of my favorite in the anthology.

[00:09:13] I mean because it is it's so good the kids are the facial acting for the kids is phenomenal and just to bring so much detail into something like the comics bookcase that really is like so blocky.

[00:09:31] You know just in terms of its structure.

[00:09:35] Has to be like tough and he really nails it and it it's the and there's also like a ton of action yes to make that thing like move and have it make it make sense within the scene and moving around like the kids is they kind of go throughout the house and it all works yeah.

[00:09:54] I remember talking to him as he was working on it and he was he took a he took time to really work out the physicality of the bookcase like in the character design he sent me like normally you'll get character designs before you start working with somebody and it's it'll be like a headshot or maybe like a profile and there's kind of static.

[00:10:16] In the character sheet that Ryan sent for the bookcase he was like dancing like turning to the side like he really wanted to show the physicality even before he got started because like yeah like a bookcase is a really blocky kind of behemoth of a furniture to bring the life like usually see smaller things like.

[00:10:35] Beauty the beast like a candlestick or a cup or something but like and I had him like falling downstairs and giving chase to the kids and like he has to do and move a lot and be seen from different angles and another thing I think.

[00:10:49] That Ryan did really well is the consistency of the bookcase like it's or Nate like there's there's there's like pad what woodworking patterns on this thing and odd oddly placed eyes in a giant lawing tongue that like had to look the same from from page to page and he just absolutely nailed it.

[00:11:07] I still laugh really hard whenever I've been through the book now like a dozen times at least and I always laugh when I see the bookcase falling down stairs especially.

[00:11:16] Yeah and so then in addition to those the bookcase story like the the anthropomorphic bookcase part of it there's what like five or six other stories that five others that that kind of stitches together you know I we don't need to go through all of them but just kind of want to give listeners like a little flavor of what they're going to have here but there's like.

[00:11:45] Like I mean you're pretty open like right out the front with like kind of like a werewolf kind of tail yeah Texas grindhouse horror werewolf story yeah that's what we open with like just just just want to ease people in gently.

[00:12:03] I know I have it when I you know you don't know what to expect with something like death of comics bookcase right like like folks are going to be familiar with your blog or they're going to you know someone else is going to tell him about it on social media the little find it through kickstarter but it's look it's a comics anthology.

[00:12:22] You will talk about some of the other creators that are involved with you on it but you never know exactly like you know what to expect it's like you know a couple different stories here but yeah like I thought it was really bold to start with.

[00:12:36] You know something that I thought was very different in art style and I really the style of storytelling from the you know the introduction with the bookcase you have this you know very gritty real list your analyst investigating the death of like a border agent and.

[00:12:58] Yeah just like a bold start and I thought it was it's a great you know it's a great short comic yeah thank you so much um that that yeah so that I think that what you're talking about speaks to something that's like kind of odd about.

[00:13:13] This project which is most times when you see an anthology there's some like they're often unified by genre like there's something that sort of like.

[00:13:23] That a through line that runs through all the different stories and like what I was actually deliberately doing with this was trying to do different genres for every piece like I wanted to try it like I like you know.

[00:13:38] Something like this when you're paying out a pocket and crowdfunding is a giant undertaking and so like I thought if I'm going to do a 48 page book I want to I want to it's like going to buffet and you want to try a little bit of everything like that sort of how I felt with like sampling different genres and giving and giving my take on them and that that story was really.

[00:14:01] One of my favorites in the thing because like it's actually kind of based on things that happened to me like I've never seen a werewolf but like when I graduated right after you did yeah I know that would be the awesome thing if that was the true part of that story.

[00:14:17] Right after I graduated college I I'm from Chicago originally I grew up in the Midwest I'd never really been to Texas but after I studied journalism college and applied for a job online down on the border in Macauland Texas and got it so like when I was 23 years old all of a sudden.

[00:14:37] One day I'm in like a lecture hall learning about journalism and the next time like on the border covering the border patrol and immigration and like all kinds of murder and police chases and smuggling and all kinds of like wild stuff.

[00:14:54] And I was in really over my head like it was really difficult I didn't do well at it to be totally honest with you like it was a struggle I didn't know anyone for hundreds of miles and like now when I look back at it like

[00:15:05] it kind of feels like that time in my life reminds me of like a horror movie you know like it like all the stuff I was dealing with and so I just kind of like took that and if you notice in that story the narrator is like kind of reflecting backwards like from from a time in the future.

[00:15:19] And kind of injecting like pull poor into it and at the same time the artist for that one had drawn this incredible variant for next door with this like next door like you mentioned was my first Kickstarter and it was like a neighborhood crime comic.

[00:15:35] And Anna Redman amazing artist from the UK had she drew the variant for that and it was like a real estate sign with a million weapons sticking out of it in a dog peeing on it and laughing and it's just hilarious piece and I thought like if I'm going to do a big werewolf story like I knew she could draw a dog and make it look awesome with a ton of like gritty weapons like see if she'd be interested you know I absolutely love the artwork.

[00:16:00] In that one it's colored by Brad Simpson who colored a coffin bound and more recently all eight eyes like in a horror comic yeah I just love his colors on or any kind of horror and I just thought they're fit together was incredible for that one that's that's one of my favorites it's actually a pitch to so hopefully that will end up being.

[00:16:22] A series eventually like that's my I have an outline and that's the plan for that one so it could be a first appearance that's what i'm saying no yeah I can definitely I could see it working as a series of letter by Becca Carrie as well.

[00:16:35] Yes phenomenal letter but yeah Brad Simpson's colors are like wonderful Brad's done some amazing work colored some you know incredible comics but yeah I really like that one.

[00:16:47] I really like the narration of it you know have that like you said pulpy grind house effect yeah I thought like to be very very gory artwork like a I was actually surprised at how hard the gore went when the pages came back like I was like oh my god it's this I mean I loved it it was super cool but like I didn't I didn't put like intestines hanging out like anywhere in my script you know that was all artist choice.

[00:17:16] Yeah I really liked it I think that was you know and it's it's great because you you know if you're listeners if you back the you know the Kickstarter and you get it and you read it like.

[00:17:30] You know we're talking about all this is a werewolf and it's down on the board but there's so much more in that story you know that is told through the narration but also visually and even through you know Brad's colors yeah it's a phenomenal way to see.

[00:17:45] I'm just a way to start the book I thought like a really bold choice yeah because and then at the end of it you just you you have this I won't you know spoil anything because you this great final image and immediately just immediately cuts back to the bookcase kind of doing a bit and it's I'm not that's all I'm going to say it's so good.

[00:18:12] I'm curious like what did you think of the transit because I like I've this has all been in my head for so long I can't tell what did you think of the going in and out of the bookcase story to that work smoothly for you as a reader like how was that I I I was so engrossed.

[00:18:28] I want to try and do this without giving too much away but listeners a flavor of it and answer your question I was so engrossed in the werewolf story and I loved the final image and I I and I thought the last thing like that the last bit of lettering on the page I thought oh like okay like this was a slightly odd choice because everything else was like so

[00:18:57] like gritty and grounded in you know realism is realism werewolf story could could be a was kind of gory I thought the last bit of lettering was like an our choice and then we can't really cut to the bookcase and he has his bit of dialogue I was like I left out loud.

[00:19:15] It's okay good yeah it connects together. Oh yeah exactly instantly reminded me it's like oh I'm like lost in this really good comic and I forgot a second about the framing device and as soon as I got back into it I thought that was I thought it was great I thought it was hilarious.

[00:19:35] Okay cool yeah yeah because I was like I they're very different art styles as well to so I didn't know how to like transitioning between those pages would be for readers so that's good to hear I'm glad I'm glad you got a kick out of that I really did and I it just solidified the idea of.

[00:19:53] The framing device and I mean you know once you buy into it then I think it's like you're off to the races okay like what what you and Ryan's art does a lot to sell that character and the bookcase character so when you when you when you buy into that.

[00:20:12] Buy into the framing device you get to the end of that first story and like it reminds you I I was just like I was like this is great yeah I wanted to use it to do little things so there be interactivity between the stories because I always like that in anthologies when they have a frame that runs through it.

[00:20:29] And and the story sort of like there's just an acknowledgement that you're like reading one book you know what I mean and then I don't know if you notice but in the second story the one that.

[00:20:40] Nicholas rates it's about it like a teen superhero is actually a panel where the main characters reading a were with priests comic so yeah little nod back to the first story I said I did I noticed that yeah I thought I like that that was stuff was so great and then.

[00:20:58] Yeah so you go into your second story responsibility.

[00:21:03] Which is kind of like you know felt like a commentary on generative AI you know what we're dealing with well you know I say we what really comic artists are dealing with right now and yeah I mean I thought it was great I you know I got it I think I got what you were going for yeah and it's good.

[00:21:28] So long the way you do nods to anyone who's picked up you know a silver age comic is is is familiar with in terms of like an origin story so you take all those familiar elements and tropes and kind of talk about the danger of like the danger or the fear or the problem with with AI also I thought there was a bit in there about the idea of.

[00:21:54] Not really having an original idea and just kind of repackaging nostalgia yeah I thought it was good yeah I that that one's interesting to be because I like it was very much came out of a place of like love for like comics you know what I mean like it wasn't any kind of like.

[00:22:11] Take down of anyone or anything that happens you know like and it's actually like yeah you picked up on something that's a really sharp observation there which is like it was the like.

[00:22:23] Not being able to do anything new which was like I knew when I did this I wanted to have a superhero like they tell you not as a starter starting crater not to do superheroes because it's so hard and they are right like it's really ridiculously hard to like.

[00:22:36] Contribute contribute something new to superheroes so like as I was working on this I was getting more more frustrated like I can't make this work like it just feels so hacky you know and that like kind of led to the a lot of the like.

[00:22:47] I'm.

[00:22:48] parody of doing the same thing over and over again because that's like I must have worked on that script for weeks and just felt like I wasn't getting anything new out of it you know and then being like kind of being honest about how that felt like mixed in with my own like kind of.

[00:23:04] Reservations and like distaste for AI and that's what what it was born out of and at the same time I've been reading pink lemonade because I interviewed Nick.

[00:23:13] For the beat and pink lemonade is was like Nick's big breakout book with only press and it's got a lot of like references to the comics industry in it and like 90s comics kind of nods and I knew Nick was just this massive spider man fan as well.

[00:23:29] And so I started writing it for him as well that's where like the spider and stuff really came in was I was trying to entice Nick to draw it.

[00:23:37] So I was really cool because I just think like like the artist so good in the first half of it by the time I think it gets more interesting in the second half of this of this story but I think Nick's art is just incredible from the beginning so you're like your like there's a lot to like right right as we're kind of and the first page is like a really awesome spider in.

[00:23:58] Amazing fantasy homage that I wanted to see Nick draw so that was really cool and his his character design.

[00:24:07] He's been out there everywhere probably the most talked about thing with the campaign in pre launch has been the way he like took a memo pad spider man and clippy from Microsoft word from way back in the day and matched it in this amazing looking goofy absurd superhero yeah.

[00:24:24] I agree the and he key Nick colors his own work right yeah and his colors are super bold in this man he did some really cool stuff so good the colors are so good in this that I think that was probably my second favorite thing were the colors the first was that your version of clippy's called tacky.

[00:24:46] That was a double that was a very unsuddle double meaning yeah yeah he's a thumbtack also so is like paper clip clippy thumbtack tacky.

[00:24:58] I thought that was that was great i was really like i really liked how that whole thing turned out and it was actually like it hit it like this is really small and silly but like at the end it had originally ended with the end period and we added a question mark.

[00:25:13] Just so we can maybe go back and do more with this characters someday in like and the way it ends will have to like really get creative to bring him back but I have some ideas so.

[00:25:23] It's comics it's comics yeah you can come up with something and then yeah the next just looking at this um.

[00:25:31] The uh the next.

[00:25:34] The next comics bookcase part of it has like a great action chase scene and then another look i felt like into the the inner life.

[00:25:44] Of that quaintance as a run by and they can't they can't find an open door i like what is it the one door says like journalist and i think when respect is just was never been open yeah yeah yeah.

[00:25:58] They run past comics blogger and the kids says like oh comics bookcase sure has closed a lot of doors like that is kind of a nod to the history of the site and then they run past respected journalist like this one was never open and then the final door is like youtuber slash tick tocker and i think one of the kids says and he's way too old to open this one yeah.

[00:26:19] But those moments like that where you're kind of you know having fun with the connective tissue between all the stories and kind of you know delving into you know maybe in a fun way maybe a serious way about you know some of the ways you felt about the block about comics or about your own life I mean.

[00:26:42] You know even if it's heightened it's it's interesting because you really feel like oh this isn't just like a throw away we're actually getting something else here we're getting a great action sequence we're getting something funny.

[00:26:54] You know but we're also getting you know a bit it seems like about how you know you feel about comics bookcase or the death of comics bookcase as it were yeah absolutely i mean it was kind of like laying it to rest in a way and like sort of excising it like this i mean it was a very good.

[00:27:11] I mean it was it was a four years was a long time to do it like updating updating the site three to four times a day at the peak of it like a lot of a lot of time and energy went into running that blog and money like I was actually actively losing money on it because it's like right.

[00:27:28] Right. Favorite the domain name and the email mailing list and just like you get a little bit back if you're doing like affiliate links or something and we had like one sponsor one time for a few months but I lost money on it.

[00:27:40] It was a work it was a passion project you know it's just because I love comics and I want it to give back to the industry if I was going to also be trying to like work in it you know so yeah like I think there was a lot of like.

[00:27:54] Like just being honest about how I was feeling about it now because with some distance from like having run the daily site like looking back at it I was able to laugh at it and have some fun with it and then I think what was happening too is like I said I was writing those pages in between the shorts so like writing the shorts was pretty time intensive like I would spend a few weeks on each of them even though they were just eight pages because I had to figure out how to establish a world bring people into it and wrap it up neatly in eight pages which is really hard to do.

[00:28:23] So by the time I would finish one of those and it would come time to write the next interstitial page I was in a really good mood so I was like ready to I was ready to be a little bit lighter about things and kind of let the air out of it yeah worries a little bit I think that kind of end up coming across.

[00:28:39] In those in those pages and also Ryan is just hilarious with his he drew this book he's drawn a lot of Rick and Morty stuff and he's also he also drew this book that John Lee's wrote Mountinghead which is oh my god I love mountain head isn't it awesome it's like one of the great underrated comics the last few years yeah I'm I interviewed John before for the podcast right right before the nasty the one he's doing I think with the wall.

[00:29:08] Well the nasty number one came out and I telling him like I loved mountain head I thought that was so good and it's one of those ones that like people don't talk about too much and they should it's just a it's just such a great story it's got like if you like Eldritch Harb body heart it's got so many good things in it yeah survival horror with the smile and it's Ryan's art in that is just phenomenal with the like all the small panels and stuff that he did in that book like an actually

[00:29:38] like I basically stole the team from that book like it's Ryan color colored by duck Garbar can lettered by his brother Sean like that's the whole minus John like switching me and for John like that's the whole team that's how much I liked Mountinghead and thought it was a because they do kids really well in that book too like they have the teen protagonist that's about looked really great.

[00:29:57] And monsters so it was kind of a you know, I'm on the mountain head in a way and how much I like yeah I thought it was great.

[00:30:05] Alright let's take a quick break.

[00:30:07] What in the sand hill is happening right now what is that?

[00:30:12] No, what is wrong?

[00:30:14] You like Bart?

[00:30:15] Yeah, what is wrong?

[00:30:17] Oh you like band of bars it's not my fault you muffle.

[00:30:21] Oh, that makes sense they're dropping some great new series right now there's that one about a heavy metal

[00:30:29] guitarist in the 1970s with monsters working class wizards you know how we love monsters around here and my friend Dakota Brown he's working on a project

[00:30:39] uh grandma tillies held tech mech with lane void I saw the preview for that that is crazy Jimmy even contributed to their

[00:30:46] anthology from the static and had Matt Sumo on the podcast to talk about his project the Bardic Versus which makes a lot of sense

[00:30:53] that the project landed there where you are.

[00:30:57] Where can you find them?

[00:30:59] You need to get out they were in previews or you can visit their website bandabars.com for all the latest.

[00:31:05] Can we turn the music off now?

[00:31:07] Oh my god!

[00:31:09] Thank you no more surprises, menstruals or anything like that or I'll rinse you out to the

[00:31:13] rim fair as a children's ride.

[00:31:15] You know let's get back to the show.

[00:31:18] You know I wanted to talk about you know for listeners who you know just to get back to like comics bookcase

[00:31:24] and talk about all the work because it's not like that you were just doing uh I have it up here but

[00:31:29] it's not like you were you know just doing comics reviews or like doing some interviews one of the

[00:31:35] things I really loved you would get guest writers and you would do like the comics anatomy stuff.

[00:31:42] I know Harry Casson did a bunch of stuff for comics anatomy and those articles I thought are great

[00:31:52] but you also had other you know guest writers that anybody who follows some comics people on like

[00:31:58] on on Twitter but like Zoe Tunnel, um,

[00:32:02] Ritish way back when he was doing like yeah you had like all throughout the time you did this

[00:32:09] and you even had some creators do like a creator's perspective in terms of the comics anatomy stuff

[00:32:15] like I mean I thought that stuff was great. You did deep dives into other series.

[00:32:21] I mean I also really liked you would do the classic comic of the of the week where you gotta take

[00:32:27] a look back at the thing. Yeah I mean that's so much work to put things like that together to organize

[00:32:34] other writers you know. Yeah that's a lot of work like uh I mean it was like a part-time job

[00:32:43] there were there were weeks I was spending more on that than my actual like I work full time like

[00:32:47] um and I was spending more time on the website and like because it's not just like I really would

[00:32:54] edit and clean things up and make sure there was no spelling errors and things like that and like

[00:33:01] for I'd add the format every post and get it ready and then like run the social media too.

[00:33:06] Like that was how we put eyes on the site was basically at that time me being on Twitter constantly

[00:33:11] um and notice like when I stopped doing the site I took a long Twitter break like

[00:33:16] I was just like exhausted with with um marketing a website on social media all the time you know

[00:33:21] so yeah like no but thank you so much for all those kind words about it it really was like

[00:33:26] a lot of what made that site work was the people who contributed to it and like I would try to um

[00:33:34] give like what you're saying in the beginning where like people reach out to you and you want

[00:33:38] to cover their stuff but you just can't like logistically you don't want to let anyone down

[00:33:41] certainly and it's not ever typically a knock against their work but just logistically if you

[00:33:47] covered everyone you reached out to you you'd never stop working um so I would always kind of like

[00:33:52] try to give people an opportunity like hey I'm a little busy but if there's a way that

[00:33:56] you can brainstorm to write about your own work or like maybe you could interview your

[00:34:01] co-creator on this and and they could interview you back and we could turn that into a piece

[00:34:06] that would take less of my time and like but still get the word out about your book I would try

[00:34:10] to give people um the opportunity to do that um and like yeah we did a lot of cool stuff on there

[00:34:16] like there's uh I'll run comics anatomy was amazing that was Harry Kesson's baby like uh

[00:34:22] for it for the first year and a half or so he wrote one every month and then and then eventually

[00:34:26] opened it up to gas and he would work with them really closely to make sure they were a good fit

[00:34:31] and then developed a piece to be very craft intensive and those were some of the best writing we had

[00:34:37] on there um and then we did some fun stuff like I remember right when the pandemic began we did uh

[00:34:44] like uh it was basically a daily recommendation from a comics pro of like what comic you could read

[00:34:49] if you were stuck at home and so we did that for like three months and we had like Mark Russell

[00:34:53] and Kieran Gillan and like all these people talking writing you know a little 300 to 600 word things

[00:34:58] about some of their favorite comics and that was really cool um to do that yeah it was it was fun

[00:35:04] and I I miss having my own type of man I don't miss all the all the work involved with that because

[00:35:09] it was just it was hard it was it was it was when I stopped doing it daily um uh a couple a year

[00:35:17] and a half ago now like I was sad about it but man was it a relief like uh now I mean the site is

[00:35:23] still you know up and there's still stuff in the archives will that stay up for a while yeah as long

[00:35:30] I mean I feel like like you're saying like I had so many great people write stuff to it and I know a lot

[00:35:34] of them still have links in their in their link trees to like their author pages on there so like

[00:35:41] I mean I am paying to keep the site up and I'll keep doing that as long as I'm able to without it

[00:35:46] being a huge can be in can be you know like I I kind of divided it off all in the archives and

[00:35:51] I'm going to use the main URL to like um be a home for my creative work as well as the newsletter

[00:35:57] as I kind of pivot into this new phase and hopefully are creating more comics but yeah like

[00:36:03] the stuff that's on there a lot of it's evergreen like there's a lot of like reading lists for best

[00:36:07] horror comics or best vertical comics from the 90s that you can poke around and check it out

[00:36:12] and those aren't going anywhere like those will always be there um like I said as long as I can

[00:36:16] before continue to afford it yeah and I mean it's a great resource as as hopefully new readers younger

[00:36:23] readers folks just getting into comics you know need a place to figure out what do I read next we know

[00:36:29] and it's like hey you uh you know you like tar here you get here's mountain head you know co exactly

[00:36:36] yeah that was the mission of the site it was like there's a lot of comics we're going to tell you

[00:36:42] some of them that are good and explain why you might like um like that was the entire the entire

[00:36:47] mission of the site like I always thought of it more as like curation and like review critics criticism

[00:36:52] like I don't think that's exact uh 100% accurate to what we were doing we're more like

[00:36:56] curating reading lists for people right yeah and I but the deep dive stuff I thought you know

[00:37:04] was done exceptionally well um appreciate that yeah no it's that's very nice you to say that

[00:37:10] and so let's so let's dive back into death of comics bookcase volume one the next story you have here

[00:37:17] is um you have artwork by I just want to go through this it's gold mask artwork

[00:37:24] blue course men again colors by Jason wordy letters by uh rob jones so

[00:37:32] great folks working on this um kind of your foray into your you know a little bit of uh

[00:37:40] swords and sorcery exactly like a fantasy story um yeah I love the colors in it um I love the artwork

[00:37:50] has a little bit of like a Scotty young five not to compare one artist to another but um really

[00:37:57] love the character design of it I like how we again we now have something totally different we have

[00:38:03] um you know grind house horror I guess into kind of like uh you know comment uh

[00:38:12] met a met a superhero comics commentary nod to like silver age origin stories to now um you know kind

[00:38:23] of a fantasy type story with uh dark wizards uh yeah and a little touch of eldritch horror so

[00:38:30] yeah yeah yeah yeah well I but I wanted to write I mean I I wanted to write a wise-ass like

[00:38:36] I wanted to try to smart out like and so that's that's where that lead character is from but yeah um

[00:38:42] I love the character design in that one um that's actually the other story in the book that's

[00:38:48] a pitch that I would like to like I like it was more of a proof of concept like

[00:38:52] the uh where with pre-story is eight pages of a story I want to continue directly from

[00:38:57] that next moment on yeah whereas uh gold mask is like this is what a uh sample adventure might look

[00:39:03] like this is the character that you'd be kind of seeing in in more adventures because he like

[00:39:08] walks away and it says like gold mask will return and uh yeah the the the character design loop did

[00:39:14] there cracks me up so hard because he's wearing like sort of a magical mask that contorts

[00:39:19] very cartoonishly with with his emotions like when like so you can always like see him raise an

[00:39:24] eyebrow or like look outrage which he does often um that was just a lot of fun to write the voice

[00:39:30] for that character I could do it all day I love that one well yeah and I like with that story in

[00:39:35] particular uh I did I love the character designs I thought the other dark wizard like the old guy

[00:39:40] looked great and there's some just wonderful you know panels in particular one where that wizard is

[00:39:45] kind of looking over like the village looking down there's kind of like lightning coming from his

[00:39:50] fingertips and like that page just looks it looks phenomenal the colors are great on that page too

[00:39:58] like it's a little sepia because that's a flashback and it's like that it just pops right off the

[00:40:03] page yeah I what I liked about the voice of you know kind of gold mask and then of itself is that um

[00:40:14] kind of getting into it I thought he was going to be more I thought it was going to be more

[00:40:21] um earnest maybe um in terms of like like uh like the style of the fantasy story like oh we have

[00:40:30] the hero and the villain um whatever it might be at first and then I didn't pick up on all at first

[00:40:39] glance like his kind of you know you said like a smart answer smart out but like

[00:40:47] it towards the end though it is it is just like one after another um like his whole debate as to

[00:40:54] what he should do like how he responds to like what happens at the end yeah um it's so good uh I

[00:41:02] really just enjoyed that character I'm like oh yeah I could read you know well uh another eight

[00:41:08] adventures of this guy you know man that's awesome to hear that yeah I that character is near and

[00:41:13] dear to my art because he like like I'll just tell you where it came from and the kids kind of

[00:41:18] references when you get back to the bookcase is like me working through some things where it's like

[00:41:22] I feel like I've never set out to have to be like uh like gold mask is a dark wizard right so he's

[00:41:29] I'm not a dark wizard certainly but like he's not setting out to like actively um defend people or

[00:41:36] anything like that but like the world around him gets so messed up that he's like man like

[00:41:41] I got to step in here like that's kind of like I felt like that a lot in recent years you know

[00:41:46] it's like I'm not I'm just trying to mind my own business but then the everything's around you get so

[00:41:50] messed up you have to say something or take action you know and all of a sudden you're just like how

[00:41:55] could anyone ignore this and so that's kind of where the his like begrudging moral compass comes from

[00:42:00] and that and I just think it's kind of funny too the idea and I'm guilty of this is like when you

[00:42:06] when you do the right thing and then just grumble andcessantly about it after the first thing

[00:42:10] like oh yeah you there's keep believe this oh god like empirically you did the right thing but you

[00:42:16] won't shut up about it nobody likes that like right and yeah and that's true when it comes back

[00:42:22] into the the bookcase character in the kids like the kids commenting on the stories again you know

[00:42:28] using that framing device to kind of comment on the story because the bookcase is telling the kids

[00:42:35] the story you kind of get you kind of get those kids here you know acting as though they're hearing

[00:42:45] things the same time as the reader right they're right they're like your lens into this like you're

[00:42:50] yeah and you're supposed to be like there's like parts where the bookcase is like more comics and

[00:42:55] the kids are like we didn't ask for this which I think is also like me being cheeky about like

[00:43:00] like I was running a comics blog no one wanted me to make comics but here I am doing it you know

[00:43:05] right yeah and then you have another little I guess a potential glimpse of next door number two

[00:43:13] which was great to see that yeah those characters again I guess except the husband he wasn't in it but

[00:43:21] no yeah he gets mentioned briefly but yeah how was it I'll ask you another question like because

[00:43:25] you read that years ago now because we're like how was that for you were you did you did it come

[00:43:29] back to you a little bit like oh I remember I remember this guy like oh yeah like right away

[00:43:35] okay last long I knew like oh oh all right we're getting another look at at at issue two at part

[00:43:42] two let's see what this is about and yeah when in a direction I did not expect at all and I

[00:43:49] really liked it I was just like okay I guess this is what this is what we're doing yeah I thought

[00:43:55] it was great it was great seeing that it was it was it was interesting how we have this little

[00:44:01] meat between him and the wife and then you know there's like a bit of a like a recap it was almost

[00:44:10] like right yeah the opening of a television show where they comment on what happened last

[00:44:14] episode you know talking about like last issue and then kind of gets right into you know

[00:44:20] what he has going on now and yeah I thought it was great I was it was all came back to me so

[00:44:26] yeah that's great yeah what I what I wanted to uh I figured just because some of the artists I was

[00:44:31] working with and there's like superheroes and fantasy and horror that this this book might have

[00:44:36] a little bit broader appeal than next door did because the next door is pretty subtle like it's

[00:44:40] a crime comic but it's pretty grounded like there's not anything big and splashy about it which I

[00:44:45] get some people may not have checked it out because of that so my hope was like real them in with

[00:44:50] these bigger flashier stories in this collection and then like hey this is what next door is about

[00:44:55] maybe bring some because I'm really proud of that first issue of next door and I'd love it if

[00:45:00] people would be like read this and it's designed in a way where you don't entirely know what happened

[00:45:05] in the first one you are reminded of it if you read it but like ideally there will be people who

[00:45:10] read this and want to check out next door number one which is available online on Gumroad

[00:45:15] Global Comics and I have as an add-on on this campaign you can pick up a copy for like four bucks

[00:45:20] or something like that so oh that's awesome yeah listeners if you're going to check it out I

[00:45:25] encourage you to check out next door and I really like global comics I like if you like digital

[00:45:30] comics if you read you know those checkout global comics and if you can get it there or if you're

[00:45:35] going to back the campaign to pick it up that's uh that's awesome um yes so we have another little

[00:45:40] scene and then I mean as much as I like the grindhouse har of the werewolf comic I think

[00:45:46] you're the last comic in here the way a story other than the the the ending interstitial

[00:45:52] with the ending you know comics bookcase uh the last story the omega brain uh mega brain four um

[00:46:02] out of all the stories in here this is the one that I think showcases what comics

[00:46:09] does best take something that seems ridiculous kid fantasy this is a war between sharks

[00:46:21] and gorillas like it's just like perfect little kid just you know dream scenario

[00:46:33] and but it's so much damn heart into it um like that's what comics does like nothing else can do I

[00:46:44] think just take something like that doesn't work as a tv show or a cartoon or just reading the words

[00:46:52] on the page but damn if that works is a comic uh that's how I felt about it yeah and you got PJ

[00:46:59] hold in dear blycally and Simon bullet so no that no slouches me I can't believe they were down to do it

[00:47:09] like like this sci-fi eight shark uh super personal like uncomfortably personal uh comics that

[00:47:16] that we made in seven pages but yeah I mean part of that was like yeah that that was my clearest

[00:47:23] articulation of what comics mean to me and have met particularly in this part of my life where it's

[00:47:28] sort of been enabled me to revisit um feelings from when I was younger like kind of return to this hobby

[00:47:36] and return to different excitement and inspiration that I had as a kid and it's been really really nice

[00:47:40] and helped me through a lot of things um and then the other side of that story is like I'm not going

[00:47:45] to make a 48 page anthology that doesn't have an 8-minute so those were the two like very kind of like

[00:47:56] dual opposite goals like of having that last piece but yeah like PJ hold in man like

[00:48:02] absolutely incredible and like as it like he drew the thing in like 11 days and was like sending me

[00:48:08] pages in real time like page one done page two done page three done like phenomenal like um

[00:48:14] and if that wasn't enough to contribute to the project we have a cover by John McCrea with

[00:48:19] colors by Mike Spicer that wouldn't have been without PJ being nudging me and being like hey reach

[00:48:24] out to John McCrea I think he might be available if you want him to do a cover and I was like oh my

[00:48:28] god like can't email him fast enough you know like I've been reading his comics for like 30 years

[00:48:32] you know yeah yeah that's that's amazing um there's one one panel in particular again that last

[00:48:41] story where um there's the the hell-laped copter which is great but like part of the panel is

[00:48:51] unfinished as though it's still part of like like the kids drawing you know what it looks like I

[00:48:56] mean that's so good thank you thank you thank you I really appreciate yeah that's one of my favorites

[00:49:01] like because that one was really personal and meant a lot to me so like it's good to hear you say yeah

[00:49:05] yeah I thought I thought I think when I put that in the script too I made it optional like hey if

[00:49:11] this doesn't work compositionally like we tried kind of thing you know and yeah I thought it turned

[00:49:16] out looking really cool um it's like the panel kind of as it pans from left to right turns into like

[00:49:23] a kid's pan on notebook paper like for a brief moment before like snapping back into the like

[00:49:28] full finished comic art yeah I thought it worked great I really did um yeah I just I think if

[00:49:37] nothing else folks you know if anything else we've said you're not interested like if you're

[00:49:43] listening to this and you're like I didn't read I didn't check out comics bookcase I never went

[00:49:48] to the blog um I'm not interested in an anthropomorphic comics bookcase it's it's it's worth

[00:49:55] the whole entire thing is worth it for that last seven page story because that that just is what comics

[00:50:02] it I keep saying it but it is it's what comics does absolutely best like I don't think any other

[00:50:09] medium can capture uh that seven pages right there like to me that's comics uh that means a lot

[00:50:17] to me thank you for saying that yeah it's really nice to hear you say that because like yeah I

[00:50:20] really liked that one and like I think that would took me two months to write to be honest with you

[00:50:24] like I just couldn't get it get it right you know and like um so a lot went into that one um also

[00:50:30] like I don't want to give away the last page at all but there's some images on that last page that

[00:50:34] cracks me up pretty hard so the last panel in particular always makes me laugh yeah I

[00:50:41] Zach I think you've just have partnered with some amazing creators and you know to take all the love

[00:50:50] for comics and all the passion that you had with comics bookcase and to kind of send it off

[00:50:57] with this anthology I think is a wonderful idea I I hope it gets funded I think it will I think

[00:51:08] people will you know show up for it um then I just cannot recommend it enough to listeners to check

[00:51:16] out go go on Kickstarter I'll have a link in the show notes and if you're listening to this when

[00:51:21] this episode came out or within the month of April you'll be able to just click on that link

[00:51:27] and you know and back the Kickstarter and you know one because this is a excellent anthology it's

[00:51:38] an excellent look at a couple different types of stories and you know we mentioned some of the

[00:51:42] creators who are phenomenal so you're getting phenomenal artwork coloring lettering in a 48 page book

[00:51:50] but also you know if you like listening to interviews about comics or reading about comics you know

[00:51:56] Zach is somebody who did that for no money because of his passion and it's tough to keep going and

[00:52:07] keep doing it and if you want folks to be out there and to do it and to write about comics and

[00:52:13] the make comics and you know to help you have a deeper dive into a series that you love you know

[00:52:21] like if you're somebody who just discovered comics and like I've never read watchmen and you want

[00:52:25] to go and find an article on comics bookcase about watchmen because I know there is one and

[00:52:31] have like a little bit of a deeper you know understanding you know um

[00:52:36] I think it's important to support the people that are doing that type of work and support projects

[00:52:40] like this and I just yeah I thought it was I had a great time the comics bookcase interstitial stuff

[00:52:48] is great the first comics great the last comic is phenomenal so thank you yeah great

[00:52:58] thank you I appreciate that yeah and it's done like there's no uh there's no risk to this kickstarter

[00:53:03] like I paid all the artists page rates out of pocket like I'm and there's actually a joke about

[00:53:07] that too because there's a joke about everything in there but yeah there's uh it's if the

[00:53:14] proceeds will go to a print run and then we'll go to find theoretically death of comics bookcase volume

[00:53:20] two rain of the comics bookcases so I'm just already kind of mapping out some stories for that

[00:53:29] and if you think you'll see a cyborg bookcase and the interstitials for that one you are correct

[00:53:34] yes that's what I want uh well I'm glad to hear there will hopefully be plans for

[00:53:43] for death of comics bookcase two I know it was teased at the end and I'm like oh I hope

[00:53:47] that's a real thing because it's a real it's very real yeah no it's I'm already like I've

[00:53:51] have a list of stories I've started I've artist in mind like you might see some of the same

[00:53:56] characters from this book come back if things work out certain ways so yeah awesome that if as long

[00:54:02] as we find a little bit like uh that'll happen all right well um I wish you the best of luck I

[00:54:08] think it's great I will definitely be shouting about it on uh you know social media on Twitter and

[00:54:14] blue sky and wherever else uh I am these days all five social media platforms we all have to use now

[00:54:21] yeah yeah every one of them um Zach thank you so much for coming on the podcast this has been awesome

[00:54:28] thank you it's an honor man and actually like you mentioned I signed a comic in Baltimore for

[00:54:32] you're the first person I ever signed a comic for because it was it came out during the pandemic

[00:54:37] and we were all masked you know and like yeah and we met outside and I signed it for you so

[00:54:42] this is awesome that's awesome well yeah thank you I really liked it and I'm glad the folks are

[00:54:46] going to be able to get it as part of this campaign so um yeah I got to Baltimore every year with my

[00:54:53] brother Bobby shout out to my brother Bobby is the every podcast I say he's the cryptic creator

[00:54:57] corners number one most dedicated listener he listens to all my episodes and um I do tell folks Bobby

[00:55:03] does buy a lot of comics so we have one pull list that we share at our local shop in fact um

[00:55:10] this past Tuesday Alex Segura's episode came out talking about Dick Tracy and Bob just texted me

[00:55:15] I guess he listened to the episode because he's like please add Dick Tracy to my full list

[00:55:21] so and I did Bob I did Alex Segura's longtime friend to comics bookcase too he was a vocal supporter of

[00:55:28] the site oh yeah I'm glad to be on in somewhat adjacent to him uh yeah yeah because your your

[00:55:35] episode will be out next um great interview great guy uh and Dick Tracy number one if listeners

[00:55:42] if you haven't listened to that episode you'll listen to this one um Dick Tracy number one is great

[00:55:46] he's providing it with Michael Marisi I'm a big Michael Marisi fan uh loved roach limit when I

[00:55:52] read it years ago and barbaric is super fun um and wasted spaces like one of my favorite comics of

[00:55:59] all time I have all all three of those on my comics bookcase here in my office well I hope that

[00:56:06] doesn't come to life and try and eat you me too it's my number one fear now I'll just be working

[00:56:11] and it'll start talking to me or something well Zach I really appreciate it uh listeners

[00:56:17] you know please check out death of comics bookcase volume one on kickstarter you'll be able to

[00:56:23] click the link in the show notes uh listeners um I do this you know for you folks so hopefully I can

[00:56:30] introduce you to some cool comics that you're going to like you're gonna love uh I really appreciate

[00:56:34] you listening um thank you very much to Zach Quaintance and uh I will uh the night I'll see you next time

[00:56:42] this is biononio one of your hosts of the cryptic creator corner brought to you by comic book

[00:56:47] edit we hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast please rate, review, subscribe all

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