Zoe Tunnell Interview - Sink Your Teeth In

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[00:00:54] Hello and welcome to Comic Book Yeti's Cryptid Creator Corner. I am one of your hosts, Jimmy Gasparo, and I have a returning guest, although this is the first time on the podcast with me last time she was on with Byron. And we are here to talk about the Kickstarter campaign that I was so excited to read the first issue and it blew me away. And so when you're listening to this, if you're listening to this right when it comes out, you're going to have two weeks left to back the campaign for Sink Your Teeth In.

[00:01:20] It is one of the best vampire stories that I have read in a very, very long time. And so please, welcome to the podcast, Zoe Tunnell. Zoe, how are you doing? I'm doing just fine. Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be back. Yeah, I was excited to talk to you because the project, the Kickstarter campaign for Sink Your Teeth In sounded interesting.

[00:01:48] And I like vampire stories. And, you know, I thought it sounded like, oh, I'd like to talk about that and let's get Zoe on. And I know she hadn't been on in a while. You were on with Byron for Godzilla. We, you know, we had mentioned about like two years ago now. God. Yeah, I know you were kind enough to send me an advance, you know, review copy of Sink Your Teeth In. And I was totally blown away about by it.

[00:02:16] Not not just because it's a it's a good noir story set in Chicago. It has a lot, you know, it has all of those elements. But, you know, vampires have been around in terms of storytelling for such a long time. And it feels like is is there anything new? And I just totally blown away by by Sink Your Teeth In. Thank you.

[00:02:45] Yeah, it's it's been a bit of a wild journey. Sink Your Teeth In is a story idea that I developed, I think, four or five years ago at this point. Like, it's been a while. And I shopped it around to various publishers and they all respectfully declined, giving various reasons like, you know, like, oh, vampires are oversaturated.

[00:03:09] Or we don't think like, you know, our publishing line has a place for like a mature, like, you know, series like this, et cetera, et cetera. And I feel really lucky that Lifeline and Deathline, which is the specific imprint we're on, was willing to like go to bat for it and let us do our weird little funky vampire detective story.

[00:03:34] Yeah, I mean, I understand like if some publishers passed on it. Yeah, because, you know, they felt like the, you know, vampires are oversaturated. But I just think it's such a unique take. And I, you know, don't want to give anything away, but I really feel like it not it does. It just totally surprised me by the ending.

[00:03:59] The whole build up to to where the first issue ends, I thought was just so well done. I mean, that first issue endpoint has always from day one of this story existing in my head has always been where we end the first issue because I'm like, that's you're not going to get a better hook than that. And I it's very funny. We actually had we sat down and talked and we were like, do we want to give away the ending for marketing purposes?

[00:04:28] You know, hey, because without giving away anything, the ending kind of tells what the story is really going to be about. And we were like, do we want to do we not? And we decided not to because it is such a fun reveal. So it's very funny doing all these like press bits where we have to kind of dance around it.

[00:04:50] I'm very excited for the issue to be in people's hands and for us to do the number two Kickstarter, because then we can let the cat out of the bag and kind of reveal all our cards. But yeah, it's that that hook at the end is what like I always clung to is I was like, you know, because vampire detective, even just vampire detectives are not new.

[00:05:14] But I was like, I think this provides a fresh a bit of fresh meat in there to keep it alive. Ironically. Yeah. And I agree. And it's one of those things where it has to be tough to talk about, because essentially you're saying to, you know, to potential readers like he have to trust us. Like we can't we can't tell you you have to trust us. This is going to be something different.

[00:05:40] But if you're if you give the first issue a chance, then I think you're you're going to be hooked. And yeah, but but but it is it that ending hits so hard. It's it's so good. The rest of the creative team, I just want to shout out and let you talk about them in a second or two. But Lauren Knight, JP Jordan, Jody Troutman and what Lauren and JP together did for the last page is unreal.

[00:06:09] It's so good. I feel so stupidly lucky at this creative team that we've gotten. Shout out to our editor, Michelle Abinader. She's the best. I literally was in New York City seeing a play with her yesterday. Like we're we're good friends. And she she was like, hey, like, you know, we're putting this together. How do you feel about Lauren Knight for art? And I was just like, I mean, sure, I would also love a unicorn.

[00:06:38] I don't think that's going to happen, but cool. And then apparently Lauren was sold within just like the two sentence elevator pitch. And then we got JP, who is one of the most slept on colorists in the biz, I think. Like he's so goddamn good. And then Jody, who is, I think, the most increasingly in demand letterer. That girl is so busy. All right. She does such consistently great work.

[00:07:07] And just like what a murderer's row to have this book that I've been fighting to get made for four years now. Like I feel so stupidly lucky. Yeah, it's a great creative team. Lauren's been on the podcast before. For listeners, if you don't listen to every episode, it's been a while. But Chrissy Williams and Lauren were both on when they talked about the first go round of Golden Rage. Which, hey, y'all should read Golden Rage, too. That's a fantastic comic. One of my favorite series.

[00:07:36] I think they just recently wrapped Golden Rage, like volume two. I think it's like Mother Knows Best. Yeah. Yeah. Just another great premise. Fantastic comic. Unbelievably well executed. So and yes, Lauren's work on this is really good. So to not dance around some of it, you know, the story sink your teeth and Corsica Smith's your main character.

[00:08:05] Just give like listeners a little bit in case they have like zero familiarity with what's going on right now. As much as I hate doing the well, this is like this thing and this thing mushed together. Unfortunately, it's like the best way I can describe Corsica Smith is what if Jessica Jones was a washed up vampire vampire lesbian?

[00:08:30] And because she the thing about Corsica that I've always loved, I'm a sucker for dirtbag characters, like really like I on skid row, like waking up in a dumpster, like the the like, you know, hot mess characters. I always love them. Okay. And Corsica scratches that itch for me, but in a fun way where she's actually incredibly competent.

[00:08:58] She's so good at investigating and she's brilliant. She just unfortunately had her world collapse in the 90s and has never gotten her shit together enough to climb her way out. So she's working as a private eye, but she was working as a private eye and she's taking like cheating spouses and like insurance fraud.

[00:09:27] It's like the boring bottom rung detective shit when she used to be like the number one information broker in all of Chicago. So and yeah, like I just love how much she sucks in the first five pages, which are available on our Kickstarter page. She did.

[00:09:48] She I did do so much research for what happens to blood inside the body after you die for this book because she I was like, well, that body's been there for a while. What we wouldn't just be regular blood, right? Turns out no, because she's so broken, not picky that she picks up a corpse that has been dead for several hours, slit to the back of his neck where the blood is all congealed in his jelly. It's like this sucks. I hate it. But whatever foods food need a free lunch. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:18] It's funny all the different vampire lore, you know, because I think there's been different things. It has to be fresh blood or like. Yeah, it can't be. You can't. You can't eat. Like there was there was one. Is it interview with the vampire where like you can't eat? You can't drink from a dead body. Yeah. It has to be a still living. One of those. Yeah. Right. So, yeah. But there's there's all kinds of different lore.

[00:10:44] But I love this one when like because the way, you know, Corsica describes it and your your writing of it. I mean, it's it's it's gross. Yeah. It's not glamour. These are these are the most glamorous vampires. You're ever going to see. Because Corsica is like, oh, it's like I think she describes it as like a thick copper milkshake that I can never get the taste off of my tongue. Yeah. She says if she waited any longer, she would have to eat it with a spoon.

[00:11:14] Yeah. Like she it's gross. Hey, being an undead creature that subsists on blood. Kind of nasty. Not a good time. No, not great. Like and yeah, like I think that's something we we all enjoyed embracing like Lauren. Lauren decided and I loved it. I was like, yes, go nuts. But when Corsica and other vampires, but, you know, we mostly see Corsica goes like full vamp mode. And her jaw kind of unhinges a little bit.

[00:11:43] And like it gets it's not like a cartoonish like Wile E. Coyote like jaw hits the floor. But like it goes just a little bit too wide. Like a person can't do that. And I love that because I'm like, oh, yeah, you wouldn't need to fit like an entire neck in your mouth sometimes. Of course, they would look creepy and messed up with like just a little too wide jaws.

[00:12:09] And yeah, like having that more monstrous, gross aspect to ground the vampires is something that we we all were like, hell yeah, let's go nuts. One of the things I wanted to mention before we go back to the story is some of the variant covers, some of the other artists you have doing variant covers on this. And typically I mean, I'm not a collector, collect, collect. I have a bunch of stuff.

[00:12:37] Yeah, I have comics and my brother and I do get comics when we go to like Baltimore Comic Con to get people to sign stuff just because it's fun. But I don't have like a huge collection. So I'm not somebody that goes and gets like a bunch of covers or whatnot. But yeah, you do have some great variant covers for this. But one of the things that I thought was I think it's Vash Taylor that does a movie homage.

[00:13:01] But I would not in a million years have guessed that the movie that it's I mean, I recognize what movie it was as soon as I saw the poster. But if you would ask me before I looked at it, like, what do you think sink your teeth in? Like I would have I would have guessed a million noirs. Oh, you didn't think we were the new breakfast activities? Oh, my God. And it's so good. It's so good. That's that's something that we so every issue is going to have an homage cover like that.

[00:13:31] I don't think we're in a space where we can announce the artists for number two. We have just as is. Hey, you know how rad this collection of variant artists was there. We have an only bangers allowed variant cover policy for sink your teeth in. So they're going to be great. But but yeah, like and we were talking about the homages and we didn't want to do vampire like movies or because we were like that's, you know, been played out a little bit.

[00:14:00] But we did joke about there's there's a character who joins the primary cast in issue two, three ish. And we were talking about maybe doing a very funny one where it's Corsica and Florence. And it's the Twilight cover where they're holding Ren is me, except it would be this very not a baby character whole as a tiny baby between them. And we're like, that'd be really funny.

[00:14:28] But let's like, let's let's let's get like, let's what that's one for us, not for a Kickstarter. And yeah, we breakfast activities was all Michelle and Vash. They they put that one together. Same with the absolutely insane cake cover that we have, which is a real cake baked by existential crisis bakery. Michelle, entirely Michelle's brainchild.

[00:14:57] She just went, hey, I got an idea and I got it approved. So we're going to do it. I go, oh, what's the idea? And she just went cake. And I was like, sorry, come again. And she's like, don't worry about it. You'll see. I just sent me a picture of the cake two days later, which for all I know, we might be the first comic to have a cake variant cover.

[00:15:21] But yeah, it's it's we we've got Vash Taylor on that breakfast activities and also snuck a little Fleetwood Mac in there, too. Um, on the on the the figure for a breakfast activities. It's like, I think Elizabeth Taylor, like getting like helping someone tie a tie. And said, Vash went, what if I just put the like cover of rumors right there? And then I didn't realize that. Yeah. Snuck that one in there, too. Um, so we got Vash.

[00:15:50] We have Emily Schnall on cover B, who's incredible. Emily was actually originally going to be the artist for sink your teeth in back when we were first putting it together. She had to drop out for personal reasons. Um, but we were so happy we could get her for a variant cover so she could still like be in the mix, be involved because she did such good work on the initial pass that I wanted to. I very much was hoping she could still be involved somehow.

[00:16:19] Um, and then and then we have, uh, the Sky and Skylar Patridge cover, um, that killed me dead. It's our not safe for work cover, so I won't go into detail about it. But, um, yeah, uh, hey, killed me dead. And, uh, I is by far our best selling cover, which I think is understandable. Yeah, it looks great. Um, uh, Skylar's work is awesome.

[00:16:47] Um, with the cake cover, so it was an actual cake. Like, did somebody get to eat the cake? What flavor was the cake? From what I understand, they're gluten-free. Um, so all of it, so I think it was like a gluten-free raspberry chocolate. Um, we didn't get to eat it. From what I understand, Existential Crisis Bakeries bakes the cakes and then donates them after they're done. Because, because it's like, uh, it's like a more of a photography than an actual, like, eating the cake thing for them.

[00:17:17] Um. Okay. So that, I'm. That's pretty cool. I'm not 100% sure. Like I said, that was Michelle's baby. But from what I understand, that's what happened. Which, hey, love that the, love that someone out there got a cake that said, sorry, I turned you into a vampire and then ghosted you. Yeah. Like, what, what do you, yeah, I would just love to have been a fly on the wall if somebody got that donated cake and they were like, what is this? And it's like, I don't, it's cake. Just, let's just. It's free cake. Don't ask questions. Free cake. It's free cake.

[00:17:46] Don't ask why the raspberry jam tastes like that. It's fine. Nope. Nope. Um. Oh, that's awesome. So, you were, this is a project that you'd been thinking about doing for a while and, like, working on. And, was it something that you, was in the idea stage for a long time? Or had you scripted it and, like, slowly worked on it to get it into the place where, you know, you were ready for the art?

[00:18:15] Or did you just have it all done and ready to go? I had, um, a full pitch doc and then a five page, um, like, proof of concept. That, when, whenever I'm pitching, like, an original series to a publisher, um, if I have an artist attached, which you don't always do, but if I do, um, I usually like to, um, do five pages of, like, here's a proof of concept. Here's what the comic will look like. Um, usually, like, four uncolored pages and then one colored page.

[00:18:45] Um, and, um, that's not an industry standard thing. That's just what I like to do. Um, and, uh, we, I had that for a good long while and Emily Schnall actually did the five page, like, proof of concept. Um, paid her for that and, um, we, we got that made but then, you know, no one bit on it.

[00:19:07] Um, and so when Lifeline came along, um, and Cat and Phil are angels, um, they basically went, we think the pitch is great. We have no notes on the, this story structure. It's just make sure you can fit it into four issues because originally I was planning on five. Um, but it, it's easy to fit into four. Um, and then, uh, we went through the process of trying it out with Emily. Things, like, you know, just unfortunately couldn't come together.

[00:19:36] I'm reaching out to Lauren and then Lauren basically went nuts. I wrote the script. I, I wrote the script in, um, like, I'm a pretty fast writer. I wrote the script in, like, a week or two. Um, and then sent it off and Lauren just started cranking out pages left and right. And I was just like, oh my god. You, I, I wasn't aware. You were so excited about this project. And everything since Lauren has been like, if I don't do more of this project, I'm going to die.

[00:20:05] So, it's, it's been a delightful experience. That's awesome. Yeah. Cool. Um, yeah, I mean, it, it, it, like, it, like, it, like I said earlier, it looks really great. It's a fantastic story. What, what are some of your influences in terms of the noir aspects of it? Um, for me, hilariously, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a big one. Which, I, I love, I think that movie's perfect.

[00:20:35] Um, I think it's a shockingly great noir story. Um, but it also has, as you'll see in issue two and three and four, has kind of the odd couple, um, pairing with Roger and Eddie, um, that I think Sink Your Teeth In gets into a little bit. Right.

[00:20:55] Um, beyond that, um, I honestly just read a shit ton of Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, um, like Criminal and, um, Sleeper and, um, Gotham Central. Like, I just, because I, I know how noir works in film. Like, you know, I feel like anyone who has watched, you know, a half dozen, either, you know, recent, because people still make them, or classics.

[00:21:24] Like, you kind of, you understand the, like, language of the genre. Um, comics are a different bag, I think, because you can't rely on the music. You can't rely on the camera movement. You have to, you have to adapt that same language in a different way. And I think reading masters at work, like Brubaker and Phillips and Rucka, um, and how they crush, or even, um, Darwin Cook's Parker, um, series. Yeah.

[00:21:54] Um, was, was great, um, and super helpful. It, it helped me thread the line with, I, this is one of the rare, I don't use internal monologues a ton in, um, in my work. Because I feel like you can, once you start using them, you can overuse them real quick.

[00:22:12] But here, um, it suited the genre, and I think after reading all those, like, it helped me get that middle line of, like, here's enough that is genre appropriate. And lets, you know, Corsica's vibe without feeling like, it was a dark day and the dame just walked in. Like, you know, kind of vibe. Yeah, sure, sure.

[00:22:35] Yeah, I mean, and it's, it's tough, like, you'll see, you know, sometimes with a, like, a writer's first noir comic. Yeah. You know, you, I feel like with other genres, when you're doing, like, a narrative caption, it's, it's, it's easier to make sure that what you're, you have in the caption doesn't match the page. Like, you're not showing and telling at the same time.

[00:22:59] But sometimes I feel like writers go, like, forget that when they start to do a noir because it is, like, a key element. And so they're, they're showing and telling at the same time. And you have to remember, like, oh, no, I still have to remember the basics of, like, comic writing and keep it interesting. And, and I, I have to be doing something and informing the character and, and not just telling them what is, is on the panel.

[00:23:23] And I thought, yeah, having Corsica, especially in the beginning and with other things, you know, later on, you know, about her past and about, you know, you use that to kind of dump different things of, like, the vampire lore, like little, little tidbits, which I think is really smart because you're fleshing out the world. And you're, you're learning more about Corsica as she's kind of going through and, you know, goes from one job to the next and getting into the heart of the story.

[00:23:53] It's like exposition that you try your dandest to not make it feel like exposition. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel like you do it well in this. So, so kudos. Thank you. I really appreciate that. It's a really, yeah, it was a, it was a, it was a really, you know, it's a really quick read and it's, it's very well paced too, which I think is another key thing within the war. Pacing is kind of crucial.

[00:24:21] I mean, generally a comic, but with a, with a noir in particular, you get, you get lost in the weeds of, of like, you know, the, the mood and lose the actual like pace. Yeah. Oh, definitely. Definitely. Um, so what, how have you felt going from something that you pitched and nobody bit on to then having it all come together leading up to the Kickstarter? And now you're, you're, you're what, a week and a half to two weeks in.

[00:24:50] And it's, it's doing pretty well. So what is that like? It's funded in 12 hours, which is insane. Um, it feels incredible. Like, like, it's not even like a vindication of like how those publishers knew nothing because, right. Um, because like, you know, Hey, they had their own, like, you know, audiences, they have their own, um, their own like publishing like calendars and what they're looking for. Um, sure.

[00:25:18] But it does feel, it's one of those things where I'm, I feel really lucky that I got this chance. And I think it's also just a testament to like, Hey, don't give up on those ideas. Like if you, cause like I had that sitting for years, um, and no one bit on it. And I, you know, but I was like, I still like Corsica. I still like this story. I want this to happen. Um, and it just happened to work out.

[00:25:44] Like I literally, what happened was Michelle and I met doing a signing, um, at a wonderful shop here in New Jersey, Eastside Mags. Um, and, um, we just became friends and she mentioned, she was like, Hey, like, you know, if you have any pitches that you think might fit this vibe. And I just mentioned sink your teeth in. And she would send me that immediately. Uh, and then, uh, and then later went, Hey, so hope I didn't overstep.

[00:26:13] I sent it to Kat and Phil and they've already greenlit it. We want to do it through lifeline. Um, so I was just like, Oh, cool. I'm the luckiest lady alive. Hell yeah. Um, but yeah, it's, I don't know. It feels like magic sometimes to, to, and then to further, to like, to, to double up the like fever dream. Um, um, I mentioned it before we started recording. I, I got sick recently.

[00:26:39] Um, and on January 20th, the day we launched the Kickstarter, um, which was also the day another very big project of mine got announced. I, uh, was feverish and sick as a dog. So it was like the fee, like fever racked doing promotion on blue sky while in my bed going, um, the entire time and watching it fund in 12 hours. Like I had never had less of a grip on reality than I did in that moment. That's all.

[00:27:08] That's, I mean, but that's how it works sometimes. That's comics. Yeah. And the other project that was announced, I, uh, I, I should have looked it up before we started, but I know I, I read it. It's, um, are you writing a prequel to one of the, are you writing a prequel to one of the lifeline comics? Uh, no, I'm writing a prequel to, um, the upcoming life is strange reunion, uh, video game. It's the, the final Chloe and Max life is strange game.

[00:27:36] Um, the, the details are out there. Like they're, they're going to do like more and more detailed, like announcement with preview pages and everything next month. But, um, it's a pre-order exclusive. If you pre-ordered the deluxe edition, you get the prequel comic. It's me and Claudia Leonardi who did the art on many wonderful, um, uh, life is strange comics before, uh, the previous volumes.

[00:28:00] Um, and without going into specifics, um, it may not be the last time you see me writing Chloe and Max this year. Um, so keep an eye out for things. Could be cool. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's great. So yeah, January 20th was a big day. Yeah. Big, big day for poor fever racked me. I think I like to celebrate. I put on master and commander and was just like, yay boats. Whoa.

[00:28:30] Well, the fever was watching over me and I was just watching the number go up on the Kickstarter. Is that, is that the movie you pull out for celebration? Master and commander. It's, it's a comfort movie for me. Um, it's so, so I was sick and I wanted something comforting. Um, I, I love the, the very, uh, hobo erotic, uh, boat movie with Russell Crowe and, and Paul Bettany. It's a wonderful film. All right, everybody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[00:29:01] Y'all Jimmy, the chaos goblin strikes again. Ben, I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad. He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know. And now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we could start playing. Another friend chimes in. Are you going to make maps? It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together. So I guess question mark. It was then that I discovered Arkenforge.

[00:29:30] If you don't know who Arkenforge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive. Allowing you to build, play, and export animated maps, including in-person Fog of War capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture. Now I'm set to easily build high-res animated maps, saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign. That's a win every day in my book.

[00:29:58] Check them out at arkhamforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off. I'll drop a link in the show notes for you. And big thanks to Arkham Forge for partnering with our show. I think I'm going to make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even. Welcome back. I wanted to ask just because whenever I get a chance to talk theater on the podcast, I try and do that. Can you tell me what show you and Michelle went on? Oh yeah, of course.

[00:30:24] We saw the first preview night of The Other Place. It's a modern retelling of Antigone. Starring Emma Darcy from House of the Dragon. They were that. Emma Darcy was the main reason we both love them. But it was a good play. It was performances were all great. It was very funny. Michelle wasn't familiar with Antigone.

[00:30:53] And thus did not know how much of a bummer Antigone is on the note it ends on. So watching the ending unfold and Michelle be like, oh, Jesus Christ. It was very funny. But yeah, it was great. And we saw Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order in the audience. And we were like, oh, wow, we're so fancy. We're so we're here with the cultural elite. There you go. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:19] Much better than my going to a Broadway show and seeing a celebrity. Someone like my friend Harry that I used to work with had gotten tickets and we went and saw Young Frankenstein the musical. Yeah. With Roger Bart and Megan Mullally. And I think Andrea Martin was in it as well. And I used a urinal next to Geraldo Rivera. Did he still have the mustache? He did still have the mustache. Honestly, good for him.

[00:31:50] A number of years ago. And yeah. So if I remember right, that dude sucks. But good for him. Yeah. Still having that mustache. Yeah. Yeah. So but yeah, I'd much rather would have would have seen Mariska Hargitay. Yeah. That's, you know, in the audience there. So that's pretty cool. Yeah, it was great. It was a it got a little to like the production parts of the production, like the score were a little too like we are avant garde modern theater.

[00:32:19] We want you to be uncomfortable for me to the point where it stopped being like a mood thing. It was just like this soundtrack is too much. Please tone it down for a moment. But all of the performances were fantastic, especially Emma Darcy. Like, my God. Yeah, it was great. Highly recommend it. I think it's only running for like the month in New York. So, hey, if you're around and get tickets, it's also it's short.

[00:32:48] It's like an 80 minute play with no intermission, like kind of gets in and gets out. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I haven't I'm I don't have tickets for anything yet. I usually try and at least go up to New York to Broadway once a year. I'd love to be able to go more.

[00:33:05] But I'm not allowed to pick the next show because my wife and I for our for our anniversary, I I got tickets to see last November to see swept away the Avent Brothers musical that like closed a week after I think we saw it. And she did not. She's not a she's not a fan of the Avent Brothers. She didn't know it was about four guys on a boat. She did not know it was going to be about cannibalism.

[00:33:31] And I'm not allowed to pick the next musical. Honestly, honestly deserved. My my partner and my partner lives in Scotland and I'm going to go visit in March and we're going to spend a week in London. So we're going to try and catch some shows. I think right now we're debating between six, which is the one about all of Henry VIII's dead wives and ex-wives or Hercules, the Disney.

[00:34:01] Which unfortunately, unfortunately, Hercules is very near and dear to my heart. So like that was kind of like a special like I know it's not as cultured, but also consider I want to see Megara sing. I'm not in love. I've heard nothing but great things about the West End production of Hercules. Hell yeah. So, yeah, I mean, every clip I've seen of it, it looks it looks great. It looks like a lot of fun. It's got a fantastic cast.

[00:34:31] So, yeah. And I'm like, fingers crossed. We'll probably we might be able if we're lucky enough, we can get two shows in. But yeah, I will. Hey, if I go see it, I'll let you know how it is. Please, please do. I want to get back to something you said in terms of you really love dirtbag, you know, waking up in a dumpster characters. So what are some of your touchstones, do you think, like dirtbag characters that are done, you know, really well?

[00:34:57] I think in terms of comedy, you know, because I'm right outside of Philly and went to college and law school in Philly of It's Always Sunny or something like the Righteous Gemstones. So kind of, you know, dirtbaggy. I am in a I believe there's a strict dichotomy between dirtbag and scumbag. A dirtbag. A dirtbag is someone who. Take me to school. You got it.

[00:35:23] A dirtbag is someone who is a hot mess, is a disaster, will wake up in a dumpster, will their life is in constant train wreck. But at the core of their person, they're still pretty OK. Like they they'll help you out. They'll they'll do something like, you know, they they'll complain about it and probably fuck it up along the way. But they will try to help you. A scumbag is someone who will not is.

[00:35:53] So like I think the Always Sunny gang are scumbags. I love them. Yeah, I love Always Sunny. It's great. But Always Sunny works because they're all irredeemable monsters. Yeah. You're by your by your definition. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I am on board. The like for me, I think it's like a dirtbag as. Jason Todd is a dirtbag for me, like Red Hood.

[00:36:20] I could see that man waking up in a dumpster, being like, oh, shit. OK, I get just getting up and like just brushing off the banana peels. Me like, all right, what am I doing today? Or what was the did you watch? I know not a ton of people did. HBO did that remake of Perry Mason a few years ago. It's fantastic. That version of Perry Mason, dirtbag through and through.

[00:36:50] OK. Yeah. I can't remember the actor's name from the Americans. Yeah. Reese. Matthew Reese. That's it. Yes. But yeah. Yeah. He was incredible. That version of Perry Mason is a dirtbag for sure. Jessica Jones. OK. Dirtbag like that. And that's that's the difference. I love a scumbag, but it's not it doesn't scratch that same itch as a dirtbag to me. OK. All right. And here's the thing.

[00:37:19] I think Corsica is constantly straddling the line of dirtbag and scumbag because she she's not as bad as Adeline or some of the other vampires. I mean, she's not a good person. And like we're we're yeah, I'm not going to pretend that my sweet baby dirt vampire is a nice heart of gold. But like as you'll see, as the series keeps going, there are some decisions to be made and

[00:37:48] she may be conflicted over some of those. Yeah, I can't. I mean, I can't wait. The other thing I really liked and I alluded to it a little bit in terms of we get some of her backstory. And then you said like she had a you know, she was doing much better and I think had a really rough go of it. Yeah. In the 90s. But yet living being immortal or undead or living a long time like that can present a lot of problems like it's it's tough under capitalism to keep going for sure is.

[00:38:18] And I think of like like Hobgadling, the the immortal character from Sandman who you see through like times where he was doing great and then other times where he was like just dirt or had nothing going on. But yeah, it's it's kind of tough to to maintain things for decades and and decades. It's also like, you know, Corsica compared to some of the others like like Corsica was

[00:38:47] turned in the 60s. So she's like, you know, she's not young now. You know, it's the it's it's set in the present day. So, you know, 2020s. But compare that to Florence, who was around in like the late 1800s or Adeline, who's from the French Revolution. Like Adeline's been around a while. And I think it's one of those things where the other vampires might see it as like, oh,

[00:39:16] yeah, you know, you're being punished. Give it another century. And like, you know, you'll probably bounce back. Whereas Corsica is like, oh, my life is over. And this is just what my life is now. Because she she she she went from being turned riding that high to now hitting rock bottom and not having that like sort of long distance view of I can I can deal with living at rock bottom for 50, 60, 70 years. If it means I get 200 back on top because she just hasn't experienced that yet.

[00:39:46] Yeah. I mean, but I still think that would that would that'd be tough to wrap your head around. Oh, 100 percent. 50 years is a long time. It's a long time. You know, if you're turned in your what? 20s or 20s. She was a college student when she was turned. Yeah. So you're in your early 20s in the 60s. And you're like, yeah, yeah. 50 50 years is a long time. And now. Yeah. Now it's 2020 and you're living in a closet. Like not great. Yeah. No, not not not great at all.

[00:40:17] But but but what is great is the entirety of sink your teeth in. Nice. Nice. Good segue. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Yeah, I I just I just loved it. I just absolutely loved it. I you know, even though the Kickstarter is funded, I just want to see how well it can do because of I think everybody will just should get on board for this story.

[00:40:44] I especially I mean, I love I love all the vampire stuff. But yeah, just something new, some breathing like new life into, you know, this idea of like a vampire in the war. And yeah, I just I think it's great. And I'm really happy for you and the entire creative team and the success of this.

[00:41:10] Although I will just worked on fulfillment for for for my anthology that I kickstarted back in April and just had my my youngest penny help me package up like seven 75 graphic novels. So you're like 600 right now. I hope I hope Lifeline and Cat and Phil are helping with the fulfillment. Oh, here's so here's the beautiful thing. I don't have to do any of that shit.

[00:41:37] I can I do have to like autograph some comics. And I also there are certain rewards like like some people get a 30 minute zoom chat with me where I get to go over their script or like an outline with them and kind of give some pointers. Um, but that's that's part of the like kind of beautiful agreement with Lifeline is it's the I will say this. The the contract with Lifeline is the most fair contract I've ever seen in comics.

[00:42:05] Um, uh, just to sing their praises. Uh, we retain me and Lauren. We retain ownership. Sink your teeth in. That's ours. Um, they don't have exclusive, uh, reprint rights that they have like a certain amount of reprints, but then eventually it will revert to us. Um, they like it's just very, very creator friendly. And one of the again, one of the big ones is they handle fulfillment. They handle all of the logistics. They handle all of that.

[00:42:34] Um, and they um, they it is entirely, um, uh, in their hands. Also, like I feel like this is something that a lot of people don't do and I would love to see become the norm. Uh, we the entire creative team was paid, um, before the Kickstarter hit like a lot of Kickstarters are like, okay, and you'll get paid if we fund. Uh, Lifeline pays you a page rate regardless of funding or not.

[00:43:04] If you if you get paid, if it funds great. Once it clears a certain profit threshold, you'll get some bonuses. Um, but either way, you're getting paid, um, which is I think, uh, a wonderful thing to see in comics, which is an industry that requires a lot of unpaid labor. Um, a lot of the time. Um, so I truly just cannot sing Cat and Phil's praises enough. Lifeline is one of the best operations going around.

[00:43:33] Yeah, I, I, I love Cat and Phil. I mean, I've had him on the podcast before and the first thing I ever had printed was a four page short that I wrote. Beck Kubrick did the art. Yep. Um, for the by their first by visibility anthology. And yeah, I, you know, so I, I Cat and Phil are awesome. Um, great people. So, yeah. And so, uh, I, I'm glad to see that they're involved in this and yeah, listeners sink your teeth in.

[00:44:02] If you're listening to this in the first week or two, it came out, you're going to be able to go. I'll have a link in the show notes. You can, you can go back, sink your teeth and check out the whole campaign page. Yeah. We tried to do it justice, but it's, it's really great. So, excuse me.

[00:44:18] And if you don't trust us, um, just to get the hard sell, um, uh, we have glowing poll quotes in praise from the likes of Greg Rucka, uh, Al Ewing, G Willow Wilson, Alex DeCampi, Jude Ellison S. Doyle, Jed McKay and Kieran Gillen. Um, which, uh, still feels fake to me. The fact that all of those people read and liked our vampire comic, uh, feels insane.

[00:44:44] Um, but, but yeah, like we, we really want as many people to read this as possible. Um, and like without tuning our own horn, I think once the issue is out and in the wild and in people's hands, you're going to see a lot more talk about it. Um, because frankly, like the, the, the end, the final page is such a key load bearing column.

[00:45:13] Um, of sink your teeth and as a whole entity. Um, and I think once that, once everyone's able to see and get hooked, um, a lot of people are going to be grumpy, but they didn't back the Kickstarter. And now they're going to have to wait for our number two Kickstarter where there will inevitably be bundles where you can pick up copies of issue one. Um, but yeah, uh, go ahead and do it now. Uh, get it now. So you won't be grumpy. Yeah, I, I agree. I, I endorse that.

[00:45:42] And, uh, yeah, I was going to mention that you have like pull quotes, blurbs from, from some giants in the comic book industry, but of all the ones on there. And I, I mean, I, I love like everybody that, that whose name you mentioned. Uh, but I, I don't think I would have, uh, recovered by now.

[00:46:06] If like I wrote some type of vampire noir and, you know, Greg Rucka, Batman, Lazarus, Gotham, Central, Greg Rucka said what he said about my comic. Oh, believe me, I have it. Not only that, Greg, Greg, who was an angel man, love Greg with all my heart. Um, that man reached out to me last week.

[00:46:31] I was just like, Hey, like, you know, it's okay if not like, you know, I just wanted to reach out and check. Um, can I shout out, sink your teeth in, in my newsletter? It's okay if you don't want, I'm just like, Greg, Greg, I'm dying. Greg, you don't know what these, what weight these words have for me. Um, I also greatly enjoyed, um, what, one of the sources of inspiration, um, for sink your teeth in.

[00:46:57] And I think it's, it's kind of an unavoidable source for inspiration, uh, for any modern vampire thing, uh, was Vampire the Masquerade. Um, it's just, it's such an ingrained, it's been around for so long and it's, it's so entrenched in what is the idea of a modern vampire story. Um, and Kieran Gillen read me for, uh, filth and had the first line of his blurby, criminal in a world of darkness.

[00:47:25] World of darkness is the brand name for Vampire the Masquerade. Thanks, Kieran. You jerk. Ugh, that's, that's fantastic. Yeah. Now, look, I, I really appreciate you coming on. Yeah, of course. We were talking about sink your teeth in. I, I just, I thought it was, I said a bunch, but it, you know, I thought it was tremendous. Thank you. And so I'll have a link in the show notes. Listeners, truly, vampire, noir, I mean, just really good comics.

[00:47:53] If you're a Lauren Knight fan, if you liked, um, Golden Rage, but yeah, uh, it's just, it's, it's also really, really fantastic. Hey, if you want some toxic Yuri in your life, let me tell you, sink your teeth in, gonna be full to the brim with it by the end of that, uh, by the end of our run. Um, so enjoy that if that's what you're looking for. So there you go. Which is one more reason. Absolutely. So, so, uh, I'll have links to the show notes for everything.

[00:48:21] The campaign will be live until February 19th. And, um, uh, yeah, listeners, uh, thank you for listening. Rate and review us, do all the stuff they tell you to do about podcasts. It really is helpful. And thank you so much to, uh, to my guest today, Zoe Tinell. Zoe, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. This was a blast. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Um, so listeners, thank you again. Um, shout out to my brother, Bobby. I almost forgot. I'm sorry, Bob. I know.

[00:48:49] And yesterday, as we record this yesterday, was your birthday too. How could I forget? So happy birthday to Bobby. Turn 44. Uh, Bobby's the Cryptid Creator Corner's number one most dedicated fan. Bobby listens to all my episodes, uh, because he's a good brother. Happy belated birthday, Bobby. Uh, so yeah, thanks a lot. Uh, happy birthday, Bobby. And, um, listeners, I'll see you next time. Good night. This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner, brought to you by Comic Book Yeti.

[00:49:18] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. It lets us know how we're doing, and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast, Into the Comics Cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:50:09] With Wieso Steuer. Now try it out. Let's try it out.