Zoe Tunnell talks the Godzilla Valentine's Day Special

[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. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner. I'm Byron O'Neill, your host for today's episode. And I'm delighted to introduce the co-creator of Blade Maintenance, soon to be released with Dark Horse Comics and writer of the new action romance Ladies in Love, Godzilla Valentine's Day special from IDW Publishing.

[00:00:29] Zoe Tannell, welcome and thanks for joining me on the show today. Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.

[00:00:35] All right. Well, this interview is a little more happenstance to my usual ones. I think my co-creator Jimmy Gisparro threw out one of his anyone promoting a comic tweets, you know, like, and we connected through that. I love meeting new people in the medium and when I saw Fellhound was doing a pinup cover for it and I've never covered a Valentine's Day project and Godzilla's in the story.

[00:00:58] I knew we needed to chat about it. So this one shot love story, like all stories begins in kind of an unlikely way. So just at the stage, you've got an office worker in a dead-end job who embarks on a pretty radical career change, I guess that's putting it lightly.

[00:01:14] Yeah, that's definitely it's a little bit of a shift. Yeah, yeah, just a bit. Yeah. So they're becoming an amateur kaiju researcher and is chased all over the globe by a lieutenant and the global kaiju response team. Is that about?

[00:01:28] Sum it up, correctly. Yeah, yeah, we've got Piper Simmons, who is the she's the office worker turned crowd funded kaiju journalist, and Lieutenant Tam Solveter, who they are a lieutenant with the Earth Defense Force and yeah, they are are I don't want to say enemies to lovers because I don't think they get quite into the like bitter hatred that enemies get

[00:01:55] arrivals to lovers for sure. Okay, so how did this project come to be? So it feels like a work for hire kind of thing. Yes, absolutely was David Marriott, who is no longer with IDW. He just recently announced his move to boom, which hey, love that he was fantastic to work with and I hope he does great over at boom.

[00:02:19] Just reached out. We've been mutuals for a while, and they had an opening in the Godzilla schedule and just thought, hey, we have an opening around Valentine's Day.

[00:02:31] I think a Valentine's Day one shot could be really fun. Do you have any ideas for this? Would you want to do it?

[00:02:36] And I am a psi hard Godzilla fan. I have been, I remember renting the adjustable from blockbuster. I remember buying like whatever DVDs I could way back on Amazon before Amazon was the monolite that is now.

[00:02:53] Yeah. And yeah, so the idea of writing a Godzilla story was genuinely like an immediate yes, but then getting the green light to make it a beautiful fun little queer romance was really just a dream come true.

[00:03:11] So when they're approaching you about this, and Kaiju's Godzilla right. So what, what about that jumped out and said, hey, this makes for a great love story because these are not normally things you might associate.

[00:03:24] Well, the original idea that David approached me with was a play on there's this.

[00:03:31] I'm not sure if they still have an active membership but there was at one point, a fan club in Japan of women who love Godzilla called the women who love Godzilla fan club.

[00:03:45] Yeah, little, you know, sometimes you don't have to be subtle. Yeah. And it was, it was like a playfully like there, they, they're more into Godzilla than the men, or like, you know, like, you know, most of the men in their office or whatever.

[00:04:01] But it was a fun idea and he approached me with that. And I briefly thought about just kind of running with that but the, I was just jugglingly trying to see how can make a romance work because we obviously, as much as everyone in my replies has said like, you know, why

[00:04:19] isn't Godzilla dating someone when our Godzilla and mothra gonna go on a date. Godzilla does not do romance Godzilla is, is an ancient force of nature.

[00:04:31] But thinking of the forces around them. I just the idea of the requisite kind of vaguely paramilitary organization that's always around when Godzilla is sometimes it's the EDF sometimes it's g force.

[00:04:50] But a member of that, butting heads with someone who just loves Godzilla, which is a little similar to some other movies like Godzilla 2000 has a somewhat similar plot.

[00:05:03] It just seemed like a lot of fun. And once I got into the issue, it was a breeze to write. I think, I think the span of getting offered it, writing an outline, sending it getting approval from David and Toho took about four days.

[00:05:21] So, yeah, so I felt pretty happy about it and like, ready to jump in.

[00:05:31] So, what kind of creative control did they give you about, you know, kind of what kind you were to be featured in it or.

[00:05:41] I'm not sure if this is like a secret. I don't think it is, but the only rule I was given was it has to be Toho. So the modern day like legendary monster verse movies, which I have fun with I like those movies but they're a whole different legal rights ballgame.

[00:06:02] And it had to be a consistent era. So, you know, there's the different there's the show era there's the hey say era. There's the millennia era and I believe we're in the Raywa era now.

[00:06:16] But so if you wanted to do a show era Godzilla, the monsters all have to be show era. I live with hey say because that's my favorite era that's the one that I kind of grew up on.

[00:06:30] And I got to cheat a little bit because some monsters didn't have hey say version so like Angiris is in there. Angiris is my favorite kaiju I made a promise myself I was like if I ever get to do a Godzilla thing I'm putting Angiris in there.

[00:06:43] So he snuck in with his show a version because he didn't have one. But overall it was a pretty blank slate of use whatever choice you want.

[00:06:53] Toho corrected a few times because there's official terminology for Godzilla's anatomy such as his dorsal spines or his prey.

[00:07:02] And I wasn't aware of this so I got you know gentle corrections but other than that it was a very smooth process like there, no, no guidance or restrictions really.

[00:07:19] I had the idea that the dorsal spines had a specific name.

[00:07:24] I did neither until I wrote this issue.

[00:07:27] Well I was really impressed that you managed to compress a really engaging globe trotting even story that spans several years and you know many a kaiju battle into just 28 pages especially when sequencing.

[00:07:39] Oh okay okay so I was wrong yeah so I mean like in your sequencing several Godzilla throwdowns to boot in it.

[00:07:47] So was that daunting I know sometimes you know you have a tighter restriction that's easier than working with like four or five is even you know have so much space.

[00:07:57] It was tricky here and there I had to cut a few sequences. The, there's a sequence of Baragon in London because Baragon's another one I like that I had to cut, which is a little bit of a bummer but to both let the issue flow because there is so many

[00:08:16] many landscapes and like different encounters that maintaining a forward momentum was really important.

[00:08:24] Okay.

[00:08:25] And the biggest one that I was worried about that there's a, so it was initially a double page spread but.

[00:08:35] where there are four columns, each one has a kaiju above it, and there are four distinct encounters over the course of years between Tam and Piper. And that one was, I think, challenging.

[00:09:03] I think key to setting the pace is like, okay, these can all be just four panels like you just tell just enough of the encounter to get what's important about it across and move on because we don't have the space to kind of bask in them.

[00:09:19] And I was worried I drew up a little terrible MS Paint chart for originally the original artist was Danny Pendergast, who is wonderful, she did our cover, and the initial designs for Tam and Piper.

[00:09:35] But she had to step away, which is, you know, it happens and, and Sebastian is, Sebastian, please, you tackled it before I did so thank you.

[00:09:49] He stepped on and just not did out of the park it's a gorgeous issue, and seeing him tackle it and he actually reached out after we talked and he was like, I loved that splash it worked beautifully I never would have thought to do it that way.

[00:10:04] So just seeing the cramming all of that in and finding little ways to make it go flow and fit and not feel rushed or like the pacing off was less tricky and more just exciting for me.

[00:10:20] Okay. Yeah I mean I've followed Sebastian's work on Twitter for years absolutely love it just great same I have when David told me he was stepping in I was like oh my god, I love his words this is a dream come true yeah.

[00:10:34] Very cool. Well in terms of queer representation this feels like a pretty big step to me, you know Godzilla is an old character, and being able to add kind of a sapphic romance to the larger canon of his legacy is pretty awesome.

[00:10:48] You know, for a character that dates back with that that's like what 1954 so we're talking about 70 years or so.

[00:10:55] Yeah did you have this is this is yeah this is the 70th anniversary this year. Yeah yeah so I was thinking so did you have like a geek out moment as a fan where, whoa they're actually going to let me do this that's cool.

[00:11:06] Oh extremely I it was one of the first questions I asked I was like look I understand if I'm not able to I understand the realities of corporate storytelling.

[00:11:16] But I would love to make this queer if possible and immediately got a green light, which is beautiful. I do want to shout out, because while I love our story and I think it's probably the first romance.

[00:11:30] The biggest queer story in in IDW's Godzilla stories. There are plenty of other queer creators who have included like non binary characters sapphic characters in the past I would say decade or so.

[00:11:46] My friend Nola Foul and Megan Huang did a one shot just the other month jet jaguar versus megalon.

[00:11:55] I don't believe there was we're in the story but no less also trans. So it's there there have been other cases but I it's less like wow I broke new ground and more like I'm glad I get to keep this going like it feels very special to make this not a like one off thing.

[00:12:15] Yeah I mean I think that's a beautiful trend that we're we're starting to experience in in comics I mean especially lately it feels like the last few years it's really really blown up.

[00:12:25] Well I was gonna it's just my nosy question so.

[00:12:30] When you were scripting things did the lieutenant have to be French.

[00:12:34] You know it was a it's a beautiful sounding last name Lee French is a sexy language I gotta admit that but she could I'm just curious about that because you could have picked anywhere on the globe literally.

[00:12:44] No I had free reign I wanted to make it multicultural because it's a globe trying story it would if it were to white American people that would feel weird given the global nature.

[00:12:57] And so I was trying to think of just I was looking at names because his self it's here. Hey, if someone speaks fluent French and tells me I'm wrong. Sorry I don't and I tried to research.

[00:13:12] I believe it means something similar to like earth guardian and I was like oh beautiful.

[00:13:17] So it's here is French Vietnamese. They, and all of all of their squad has their national flags of origin on their, their like breast of their armor.

[00:13:31] And I included that because there's no real easy way to say that like, oh, Carlos is from Mexico like you know there there's no like to give work that in.

[00:13:44] So I was like at least to give them like we can show that they have like this is a multicultural unit this is a cast from across the globe.

[00:13:52] But yeah, it wasn't mandated it wasn't something that was asked of me just appropriate.

[00:13:59] Okay, yeah most of the time I'm pretty good on picking up on those details but I totally missed that it's small but like it's there if you want to look for it.

[00:14:08] Yeah, I'll go back and reread and check that out. Well, really do I ask this question because I think it's a little clichéd for create her own work but considering it's more of a work for hire.

[00:14:18] You know, what are you hoping sticks out the most for someone who's considering picking this up aside from Godzilla cool Valentine's Day.

[00:14:27] I hope, I hope it's satisfying. I, I love one shots, a, a well constructed one shot that gets in gets out tells a complete story, and doesn't feel like it's rushed or like you get to the end and it's like, I wish there was just a little bit more I feel like the story didn't quite land.

[00:14:51] Which is tricky writing a one shot is very, very tricky. But I, I, that's what I, I feel like we told a very satisfying, entertaining, like, arc, like it has both of them start in one place and by the end of it they're in a very different place.

[00:15:11] And I hope that journey feels well earned.

[00:15:14] Yeah, I, I thought it was great. I mean, I, I got to admit one shots are typically not my thing, just because I am left wanting quite a bit, you know, and in this case I guess I was left wanting but that's just merely because I wanted more.

[00:15:29] Well, thank you. Yeah, yeah, it was really well done.

[00:15:33] Well, I want to learn a little more more about you since this is the first time we've got a chance to chat so how did you find your way into writing comment in the first place.

[00:15:42] Well, I used to, well, I've always been, I, I've always comics have always been in my life. And at least since I was like 1213.

[00:15:53] I got into comics via the ultimate universe. Yeah, I, I started reading ultimate universe trades at my local borders, which immediately ages me.

[00:16:04] And just kind of never really stopped, read, you know, did the Marvel and DC die hard, like, you know, teenage years expanded out from there.

[00:16:17] And around 2020 ish, like during the height of the pre vaccine days of COVID. Sure. I got into comics, criticism and essay writing I wrote for a few different sites.

[00:16:32] And it helped me, it helped me gain a different perspective on the medium, both in a good way and also a, having a harsh realization about like two years in like, oh, I need to reassess how I'm approaching these comics like when I'm covering them when I'm writing about them.

[00:16:59] And that actually, that reassessment made me step away, because I was like, I actually don't, I, I don't think I am getting the same thing out of like reviewing.

[00:17:09] and then we went to a weekly comic or doing an essay as I was two years ago. And then from there I had already started Valentine and I were friends at that point, Valentine and Smith, my co-creator on Blade Maidens. And we had talked about, we had done a few little X-Men fan comics together, and we were like, "Well, do we want to just try and do our own thing?" And by then we were already brainstorming Blade Maidens. And we just kept writing from there. And it turns out, a lot more creatively you've fulfilled it.

[00:17:39] And I was willing to make the comics, at least for me. I know that's not to dismiss comics, criticism or essay work. There's some incredible writers who could do both of those much better than I ever could.

[00:17:53] And it just turns out, for me personally, I enjoyed making them more than I enjoyed analyzing them.

[00:18:01] I like the analytical aspect of it. I don't so much prefer the reviewing. That's why I got into interviews and stuff because I don't like beating anything down. If I don't like it, I just won't talk about it.

[00:18:14] That was the weekly grind of a review of, "Oh, I have to fill my review quota this week and there's not a book I really dig on the table here. I guess I gotta review something that I don't really like was draining."

[00:18:31] And I definitely have tried to be a lot more generous both to knowing how hard it is to make comics to comics themselves and also just like, "Hey, if I don't like a comic, I don't have to. Not everything's for me."

[00:18:47] As long as no one's being hurt by it, who cares?

[00:18:51] Yeah, it's amazing how many people I've talked to recently. Even people who are writing big two books. Steve Fox and David both came from a comics journalism sort of start. So it's the pathway that nobody expects, I guess.

[00:19:10] Yeah, it's a weird road to get here.

[00:19:13] So what were some of your biggest influences in comics then?

[00:19:20] Honestly, one of my biggest, it's such a weird pull. But something that I always look at as like, "Oh, this is exactly what I want to get. Like the story I want to tell, the vibe."

[00:19:38] And it's weird because it's fairly recent, so it feels weird to have a cornerstone. There's an image series that came out, I think, between the years of 2018 and 2020-ish.

[00:19:52] And it's a bit crowded by Chris Sabela, Ted Brant, Roestine. Now I'm friends with Ted Brant, and they're going to be like, "Thank you for the kind words. Stop talking about crowded so much."

[00:20:08] That book is such a good, moves in a blistering pace. The art is beautiful and emotive. It's hilarious while still having a punch to it. And just reading that, I remember being like, "This is what I want to read. This is what I want to write."

[00:20:26] And it's always been writers like that, like John Rogers is another writer that like, everything he writes is the exact balance of like, snappy dialogue, moves at a good clip, always never loses sight of the characters in the heart.

[00:20:40] And so it's always stuff like that that sticks with me. And it's always the art, the artists that usually find those stories and help uplift them, where like, where you get your, "Oh God, how am I blanking? Give me two seconds."

[00:20:59] I feel terrible blanking on this. Steve Lieber, there you go. Yeah, Steve Lieber, like Jimmy Olsen, the artists that know the importance of acting and timing and how tricky, not just a comedy beat, but an emotional beat.

[00:21:19] And so it's always been those, it's less like the big epics or the punch fest or anything, which I like those. I have an iron fist tattoo, like I'm not above like a good old fashioned punchy superhero comic, but it's always been the ones that try and flow and have a different rhythm to them.

[00:21:40] Yeah, I totally get that, like one of my favorites for a long time, and I always preach about this one is Hillbilly, Eric Powell's Hillbilly. Yeah, yes.

[00:21:51] So like, who knew that I would connect to the Arthurian, you know, southern Appalachia comic book, but hey, such as as it is, we find our influences where we find them.

[00:22:03] Yeah, you never know what's going to stick with you.

[00:22:07] Alright, let's take a quick break.

[00:22:10] What in the Sam Hill is happening right now? What is that?

[00:22:14] No, what is wrong?

[00:22:16] You like Bart?

[00:22:17] No, what is wrong?

[00:22:19] Oh, you like band of Bart? It's not my fault you mupple.

[00:22:23] No, no, no.

[00:22:26] That makes sense. They're dropping some great new series right now. There's that one about a heavy metal guitarist in the 1970s with monsters, working glass wizards.

[00:22:35] You know how we love monsters around here.

[00:22:37] And my friend Dakota Brown, he's working on a project, Grandma Tilly's Helltech Mech with Lane Boyd. I saw the preview for that. That is crazy.

[00:22:47] Jimmy even contributed to their anthology from the static and had Matt Sumo on the podcast to talk about his project, The Bartick Verses, which makes a lot of sense that the project landed there.

[00:22:57] Where you are born?

[00:22:59] Where can you find them?

[00:23:00] You need to get out more.

[00:23:02] They are in previews or you can visit their website bandabars.com for all the latest.

[00:23:07] Can we turn the music off now?

[00:23:09] Oh, thank you. No more surprises, minstrels or anything like that, or I'll rent you out to the rent fair as a children's ride.

[00:23:17] Let's get back to the show.

[00:23:21] Well, with Blade Maidens, coming out with Dark Horse, so tell me a little bit about how that happened.

[00:23:29] So you're pitching this for a while, it's more of a COVID project.

[00:23:33] Yeah, well, so Valentine and I, originally, we weren't, we weren't making it with the intent to get picked up.

[00:23:40] We were making it because we wanted to tell our story.

[00:23:43] It launched as a webcomic in October of 2020, I believe.

[00:23:48] Like Tae, very tail-end.

[00:23:51] And we just, it's our own website. We didn't have any editors, like it was, it was us telling the story we wanted to tell.

[00:24:00] And that story is a rowdy, queer, like punk rock fantasy.

[00:24:06] And we kept going, we were partway through story two, when I have to credit Alex DeCampi with reaching out.

[00:24:17] She's been a supporter of Blayton's since we started and also, like, has helped me on a professional level quite a few times, just like giving advice.

[00:24:26] But she reached out and she was like, "Hey, Blade Maidens is great, your doll are making a comic that should be published somewhere.

[00:24:35] Do you want to, like, I can get you in touch with some people?"

[00:24:39] And we reached out to a few publishers, and the one that immediately got back to us was Dark Horse. And Connor Nudson, over at Dark Horse, they are our editor.

[00:24:50] They are an angel, absolute dream to work with.

[00:24:54] But they also were like, "I was actually planning on getting in touch with you two in the next few months."

[00:24:59] So, ended up working out beautifully.

[00:25:02] But yeah, it just kind of felt natural. We didn't really change any plans. It's just a collection.

[00:25:10] We were already planning to tell the story and kind of six story, like, chunks, where a goal with Blade Maidens is every story stands on its own.

[00:25:19] So, you can just read a Blade Maidens story and it'll tell a complete beginning to end tale, but they all tie into an overarching narrative.

[00:25:28] In those narratives, we try to keep two over, like, six issues. It'll complete an arc. Next six issues have a whole arc.

[00:25:35] And so, we were already planning on doing that, and Connor said, "Well, why don't we just collect the first arc, see how it does?"

[00:25:44] And we thought that was a great idea.

[00:25:47] We still don't declare we don't have a date yet,

[00:25:49] 'cause we're still, we're a bit of an odd duck

[00:25:52] in that we are an ongoing currently being made webcomic.

[00:25:56] Usually webcomic deals happen after the comics are done.

[00:25:59] So we're in progress one page a week.

[00:26:02] So we don't have a date to announce quite yet,

[00:26:08] but we're definitely talking to Connor often,

[00:26:12] and we're excited when we would do have more news on that.

[00:26:16] - Okay, yeah, I read through it,

[00:26:18] brief synopsis, my synopsis of it.

[00:26:21] You've got two ladies in love.

[00:26:23] I think this is a trend.

[00:26:25] I think it's fair to say.

[00:26:26] - Yeah, yeah.

[00:26:29] I don't mean to be a little typecast with my writing.

[00:26:32] I promise I can write stories that aren't a sapphic romance,

[00:26:36] but it feels good that people are looking

[00:26:40] for more stories in that thing.

[00:26:42] - Oh yeah.

[00:26:43] - As a trans lesbian, having people wanting to read stories

[00:26:48] about a trans lesbian feels pretty good.

[00:26:51] - Yeah, yep, I'm sure.

[00:26:53] And it's got such a vibe to it, right?

[00:26:56] So I may pronounce the characters names wrong,

[00:26:58] but is it sir or sir?

[00:27:00] - Yeah, it's sir, it's sir.

[00:27:01] - Sir, okay.

[00:27:01] So you have Sir and Rowan,

[00:27:03] one's a cellosaur, the others a runaway princess

[00:27:05] with an affinity for magic,

[00:27:06] and they're navigating the world of kilos telos,

[00:27:10] which- - Telos.

[00:27:11] - Telos, okay.

[00:27:12] In search of their next payday,

[00:27:13] as I said, super stylized visual presentation

[00:27:17] that felt very pulpy to me.

[00:27:20] Like the artwork reminded me a whole lot

[00:27:23] of like first edition Dungeons and Dragons,

[00:27:25] like fiend folio era kind of stuff.

[00:27:28] - Yeah, yeah, that's definitely

[00:27:30] one of the vibes we're shooting for.

[00:27:32] - Okay, yeah, 'cause the color work,

[00:27:35] it's not like that at all.

[00:27:36] It's outstanding though.

[00:27:37] It's got like blacklight vibes for-

[00:27:41] - It's one thing Valentine's.

[00:27:44] So Valentine's co-create everything,

[00:27:48] Valentine co-plots with me.

[00:27:49] I write the script, then we edit the script together.

[00:27:53] They send me pages in progress.

[00:27:54] I give notes like, hey, can we tweak X, Y, or Z?

[00:27:57] Fully collaborative.

[00:27:59] But one thing Valentine said from the very beginning was,

[00:28:03] I don't want this to look like every other fantasy story.

[00:28:06] Where like the, I love a lot of fantasy stories,

[00:28:11] modern fantasy stories, the hunger in the dusk

[00:28:14] is one of my favorite comics coming out right now.

[00:28:15] I love that book.

[00:28:16] But a lot of it has shares in very similar aesthetics,

[00:28:20] lots of browns, lots of greens,

[00:28:22] lots of like dull silver armor.

[00:28:26] And it was important with us that Bladen's,

[00:28:30] especially Valentine, but I wholeheartedly agreed

[00:28:33] that Bladen's stand out from the pack.

[00:28:36] - Yeah, it already has, let's see,

[00:28:40] an aged feel to it.

[00:28:42] Not like in, obviously the gutters and stuff

[00:28:45] are a different color than white.

[00:28:47] Okay, so that definitely has that.

[00:28:49] But I mean, I'm having trouble.

[00:28:51] It's not, I mean, it may be 60s,

[00:28:54] almost like colorization stuff.

[00:28:56] 'Cause it's so primal in the way

[00:28:59] that Valentine is coloring stuff.

[00:29:01] So I was fully sucked in and, you know, like you,

[00:29:04] I love the fantasy stuff.

[00:29:05] It's probably my favorite genre,

[00:29:07] but a lot of it can get visually repetitive.

[00:29:12] - Yeah.

[00:29:13] - Yeah, so this was stand out.

[00:29:16] - Well, thank you.

[00:29:16] Yeah, we're, the colors are like,

[00:29:20] I never know what color combo Valentine is going to throw

[00:29:24] at me until I get the page.

[00:29:26] And I'm always just like,

[00:29:28] how does your brain get there?

[00:29:30] Like it looks beautiful.

[00:29:31] It's always great.

[00:29:31] But how do you, like when they sent me the cover

[00:29:34] for our next story that we're going to be starting,

[00:29:38] I think early next month,

[00:29:39] closed fist to open hand is our fourth story.

[00:29:41] Like doing this big cover that introduces our new,

[00:29:47] our fourth member of the blades,

[00:29:49] which is the mercenary group that Sir and Rowan,

[00:29:51] initially they are the blade names.

[00:29:53] They start getting hangers on and party members

[00:29:56] and eventually just become the blades.

[00:29:59] But our fourth main cast member, Eldridge Miller,

[00:30:03] it's like a heroic, like when I saw the inks,

[00:30:06] I was like, oh yeah, it's got LD up front,

[00:30:08] the rest of them in the back.

[00:30:09] And then like our villains looming in the shadows,

[00:30:11] great, beautiful.

[00:30:12] And then they throw it and it's like

[00:30:14] bright, bold, dark purple in neon greens

[00:30:19] and LDs like brown skin tone with like crackling magic.

[00:30:24] And it's so stunning and gorgeous.

[00:30:27] And I'm like, I don't know, in the best way possible,

[00:30:30] I don't know how your brain works and I, it's incredible.

[00:30:35] - Yeah, somebody who's essentially an amateur color,

[00:30:38] comics colorist as I am working on becoming

[00:30:41] and getting rid of the amateur tag,

[00:30:44] looking at those color combinations.

[00:30:45] And I have taught color theory before, like two people.

[00:30:49] And I'm looking at this and I was like,

[00:30:50] these, these shouldn't work, but they do.

[00:30:53] - And yet, yeah, yeah, so.

[00:30:56] - That's Valentine M. Smith.

[00:30:58] They are a, I don't know what dark magic they did

[00:31:03] to get this gift, but they've got it.

[00:31:06] - So is there anything, we always like comparisons.

[00:31:09] So is there anything that you felt like

[00:31:12] gave you fuel, gave you juice and it's kind of towards,

[00:31:16] okay, now I want to take on the genre that everybody takes on.

[00:31:19] We want to do it uniquely, but 'cause there's like

[00:31:22] a rat queen's sort of vibe in the way.

[00:31:26] - Yeah, it's definitely got that like a rowdy kind of like

[00:31:30] a little bit more modern than like it's got,

[00:31:32] it's a fantasy world, but like the dialogue isn't full.

[00:31:37] Like, oh, these sound like you, you know,

[00:31:39] you go out on the street and these are people who like,

[00:31:42] but we definitely are trying to blend a little bit more,

[00:31:45] like, you know, harder modern edge into things.

[00:31:49] Honestly, one of my, one of my touch points,

[00:31:55] which always feels so weird to say

[00:31:57] 'cause it's so far removed.

[00:32:00] But I in my high school days was obsessed with Warhammer.

[00:32:05] Still love, still like Warhammer,

[00:32:07] but I read every single novel in the series Go Trek and Felix,

[00:32:11] probably mispronouncing Go Trek.

[00:32:13] I've never heard it said out loud,

[00:32:14] but it was the story of a human bard type scoundrel

[00:32:20] and his surly dwarven berserker companion

[00:32:25] getting thrown all across the globe

[00:32:27] and different conflicts and everything.

[00:32:30] And just, I loved the idea

[00:32:33] 'cause this initially started as just Surin Rowan

[00:32:36] and we were going to, it was going to be like a buddy story.

[00:32:39] And then as Valentine and I kept brainstorming,

[00:32:43] we decided we wanted to bring in

[00:32:45] and just make it a tradition, like an adventuring party.

[00:32:47] - Okay.

[00:32:48] - And then a lot of the influence kind of comes from non,

[00:32:54] like not like written narrative.

[00:32:58] It's, I watch a lot of like dimension 20

[00:33:01] and in the past year, I've gotten into critical role,

[00:33:05] but seeing how they blend modern sensibilities

[00:33:10] of like humor or speech or like, you know,

[00:33:14] modern outlooks on things such as gender,

[00:33:18] but still telling these very familiar fantasy tales,

[00:33:23] although they're like the improv and it's bonkers.

[00:33:26] I don't know how they do that.

[00:33:28] Seeing that and being like, there's an appetite for this.

[00:33:32] And like, I have an appetite for this.

[00:33:35] So I would want to read more comics like this.

[00:33:37] I would want this energy in my life.

[00:33:39] And when we decided to tell like, you know,

[00:33:43] what if the runaway princess is trans?

[00:33:46] What if the knight that saves her is a butch kind of gender shrug

[00:33:52] and just like kind of running with the ball from there?

[00:33:56] And now we've got, we have a Mel

[00:33:58] who's our our Bardberry and werewolf.

[00:34:02] We've got Eldridge who is a scrappy little trans mask monk

[00:34:07] and just being able to be like, hey,

[00:34:11] you know, all these fantasy, like, you know, archetypes

[00:34:13] and stories that you love so much?

[00:34:16] What if they were rowdy and 100?

[00:34:19] and 50% more. Do you want that? And so far, people do. Yeah, which brings me to like, I feel like there's a push sometimes, and I could be way off. This is my own interpretation. But especially with trans writers, this push to write the authentic trans character as opposed to writing and authentic trans character. If that makes sense.

[00:34:47] It's weird, because there was no push with this one, because it's our story. And Rowan's experience does not reflect my experience.

[00:34:58] It was important to me, because Rowan are two big trans characters are Rowan and Eldridge. There will be others in the future. We have stories planned out quite a ways.

[00:35:10] But there are two big ones. I won't get into Eldridge's much, because his story, he hasn't even, like he just showed up. So, you know, readers read read and you'll get his story. But Rowan, one thing I didn't, I very intentionally didn't want to do, and I think this is part of that push you're talking

[00:35:30] about, where so many of our stories are centered around trauma, because that's a huge part of a lot of our lives. And so you'll often get, there are some, there are great stories. One of my favorite comments the last few years is cheer up love and pom poms by

[00:35:52] Crystal Frazier and Bow Wise. And that's a story that deals with trans trauma. But I still love it to death and it's incredibly beautifully told.

[00:36:03] And I didn't want to do the same trauma of like being misgendered, or being being viewed as not actually a woman, or like, you know, any of the thousand.

[00:36:18] So Rowan's Rowan story being that her parents accepted her in a heartbeat as their new daughter. However, in the matrilineal society of Verdana, she now is a princess who has to attend to courtly affairs who has to

[00:36:36] take, have manners and live a far more structured, controlling life, when she wants to go climb a tree or go travel the world and learn different schools of magic.

[00:36:50] And having her trauma just be that she's a woman, but her parents want her to be a very specific kind of woman and she doesn't like that.

[00:37:02] So it was weird because there was a push in the sense that I didn't want to do well trod ground.

[00:37:11] And I feel like that's a lot of the stories that trans writers are often, when we are given a chance to tell those stories, that's what sometimes publishers think that that's the story that has to be told.

[00:37:26] And I'm hoping it if nothing else I'll blame means helps people realize that there's so many other stories we've got.

[00:37:32] Exactly, exactly.

[00:37:34] So right now we've got three total issues up. Yes, the fourth is.

[00:37:40] We have one more page of we like to do little short stories in between each main chapter.

[00:37:46] Yep, we have the final page of our current short story latch key, and then after that close to open hand.

[00:37:56] Okay, yeah, and then this is always a beef of mine because I've noticed this trend in in web comics especially people who are, we're doing it on their own website, where you guys have stuff at the bottom.

[00:38:09] Yes, different things every time right. Yeah, but that never gets included in a collected volume and I so hope dark horse might let you do that.

[00:38:21] I can't confirm anything but we've had discussions there, there will be that that material, there will be at least some of that material in some form.

[00:38:34] It's something we've talked about something we wanted to do I I write all of those that actually no like Valentine wrote two of them. There's one story in between story two and story three the Valentine scripted plotted did everything for and also wrote the blurbs for.

[00:38:50] It's great story.

[00:38:53] I write those so I'm very proud of them and I was like, I would love to include these. They're there a little bit of me having some of the fun of like a good tabletop RPG source book like, hey here's a journal from a here here's a journal entry from a book in this

[00:39:09] here's like you know here's a letter from centuries past that kind of vaguely ties into the page you're reading.

[00:39:17] So yeah, it was important I can't confirm how many or in what capacity but there will be a presence in that collected volume.

[00:39:25] Okay, yeah because for me, that's the lore of the world you're creating right, but you can't put that in all the exposition of the actual comic book.

[00:39:36] Yeah, we we've had we have some interesting ideas of how to how to make it feel like a tangible part of the world.

[00:39:47] But yeah it's it's tricky because we do a lot of our world building there just because it's such a it's a fun way to do it, but it's also helps ensure we don't have constant exposition dumps in the page that's as much as I love a good fantasy book that's like

[00:40:04] the pages of wrong past the king Tethras of blah blah blah like you know is like hey I love a good fantasy book that lore dumps, it doesn't work so well for comics.

[00:40:15] Because you you put 25 text bubbles on a page that page is going to feel painful to read through.

[00:40:24] So, that's pros is that something you would also want to write in the future or is there a balance between comics and pros that you're interested in.

[00:40:33] I I'm interested in pros is tricky for me comics comes very naturally writing a comic script is I mean it's, it's challenging like to make sure you do it right but it flows very easily from me like I.

[00:40:47] I feel like I'm pulling teeth I still enjoy it. It's still it's but boy is it a lot harder for me.

[00:40:58] So these sorts of like universe lore type deal.

[00:41:05] Sorry, I just drink a whole bunch of water.

[00:41:08] This type of like universe lore like you know in world journals etc.

[00:41:13] Those are I'm I have a pretty good time with it hey if someone wanted to grab me to write a bunch of tabletop like you know hey here's the here's the lore for this country and I would jump at the chance that would be a delight.

[00:41:27] But I don't have any plans as of right now but it's definitely in the back of my mind.

[00:41:33] Yeah. Well what else you got cooking we've got blade maidens and the god till Valentine's day I'm going to say it's a given maybe well okay we don't want to type cast you that have that ladies in love is is what you do really well.

[00:41:44] But you you have done it very well from what I have read. Thank you.

[00:41:48] Yeah I look I'll always love to write a romance story it's it's funny I wasn't into romance as a genre until a I transitioned.

[00:42:00] Okay, that's interesting.

[00:42:02] Yeah, it turns out when you feel better about yourself and feel more comfortable loving other people in the sense that like oh it's not creepy that I love someone this way.

[00:42:21] It makes reading romance a lot easier, but it's also my, my partner decks and we've been together for almost two years now but being with them has also made me a much better writing romance because like, oh I get it this is a healthy relationship.

[00:42:40] I get it now I understand. But yeah I love writing romance I would happily write romance if more people want that but I do more than that.

[00:42:54] I've got a few pitches that I'm working on with a few artists that hopefully fingers crossed. We can get someone to bite on. I don't have any other projects like as far as for higher work. I would love to. So, hey, publishers, if you're listening. I hit your girl up, please. But yeah, I've got a few pitches. I don't want to say too much about them.

[00:43:22] Yeah, but yeah, with some incredible artists, I'll say at least I'm working on one with Val Wise and Frank.

[00:43:33] I just realized I haven't said their name out loud before. I hope so, Frank.

[00:43:39] I've got another I'm doing with Tango, another I'm doing with Megan Huang. They're all incredible artists and I feel so lucky that they have.

[00:43:50] They're interested in the stories that I rotated in my brain.

[00:43:55] But yeah, that's really all I've got right now. I wish I had more, but who knows? Let's see what 2024 brings me.

[00:44:04] Yeah, well, I mean, you hooked up with Dark Horse. That's a huge step, for sure.

[00:44:08] It really is. I still feel insane that it happened because

[00:44:16] I feel like that is usually not hey, you want your first comic contract, you get a you get a collected trade volume with Dark Horse comics congrats.

[00:44:27] Yeah.

[00:44:28] I feel incredibly lucky. And I don't, I'm trying to make the most of the opportunity and want to make sure that it's not all that I get to do.

[00:44:40] I would love to continue to work for more publishers.

[00:44:44] Well, I'm glad you found your way to romance. It is one of those things where I always feel like as somebody on the spectrum, I feel like sort of an alien trying to digest what the other human people are experiencing.

[00:44:57] So it's always interesting to talk to people about romance projects and stuff because I have a completely different lens, I feel like, than a lot of people.

[00:45:06] Yeah, that's honestly hearing how other people experience romance or don't.

[00:45:14] I, I've got, like, you know, a few different a row ace friends and hearing how wildly different and varied romance can be or just not be across, like, you know, everyone's different lives.

[00:45:32] It is, it's one of those things that makes it so fascinating to think about for me because every every relationship is so different.

[00:45:42] You're, you're just like, well, what's the, like, if I'm writing a story, I don't want it to feel like every other romance. What's, what's different about this romance.

[00:45:53] Yeah, and that was one of the refreshing aspects about Godzilla because it wasn't direct.

[00:45:59] I don't want to give everything away but they, they didn't find each other through the typical this was not in nightclub meeting together clumsy, this took time, and was unexpected I think is safe to say.

[00:46:12] Yeah, it was, it was unexpected, both.

[00:46:18] I don't think either of them expected it to begin with but also there's a moment near the end of the issue.

[00:46:26] Where some feelings are expressed to that maybe one of them weren't, we're expecting something else. And it's a very fun moment that I'm glad we got to include.

[00:46:38] Well, last time I checked the drop date was supposed to be February 7th. Is that still as far as I'm aware that is still our release date.

[00:46:47] Awesome. Well, everyone, I hope you're on the lookout for it. I hope we've done a good job of convincing you to pick this up. I thought it was really good.

[00:46:54] I didn't know what to expect from a Godzilla Valentine's Day special and so I didn't have a strong preconceived notion going in, but, but I thought it was, was really delightful.

[00:47:04] Just a tight, tight, well written, you know, illustrated very, very well by Sebastian. So, yeah, I hope everybody gets a shot.

[00:47:13] I actually want to shout out just because I've only mentioned Sebastian colors, the beautiful colors are Rebecca Nolte. Okay. And the letters, I never actually spoke with her so I want to make sure I get her last name right.

[00:47:28] But the letters which are fantastic. I, there's some lettering flourishes that I did not include in the original script.

[00:47:39] And I was so, I was like, of course, that's so much more beautiful than I would have thought of. Thank you. Her name is Johanna Knapp.

[00:47:47] And then David Marriott editor, who is now over at boom but he was an absolute delight to work with and made this about as ideal of a like first for higher work experiences I think I could have possibly worked for.

[00:48:04] So those those good letters will come in and they will, they'll give you the little visual blessings that you didn't anticipate and you're just like, oh, yes, you read my head. Thank you.

[00:48:15] There was, there's actually one that Sebastian hand lettered something that I didn't during that spread that I mentioned where there's the four columns and each one as a kid.

[00:48:24] Sebastian went and looked up the katakana for each kaiju and put it in which I did not ask to do in the script. He just thought it would be a cool idea and turns out he was right, it looks fantastic.

[00:48:41] Well, everybody make sure to check it out coming out in early February right before Valentine's Day. So, yeah, and I, I hope y'all enjoy it it's, it's a very special little comic to me.

[00:48:53] Well, where can people find you online or where would you like them to find you online to social media dumpster fire.

[00:49:00] Yeah, it's rough. I'm on Twitter technically still at blank zilla. I don't use it much nowadays. So, good luck.

[00:49:11] Yeah.

[00:49:12] That feels like that's like everyone's view on Twitter right now which is the current view.

[00:49:16] I'm on blue sky, which I like, I wish I have a much higher opinion of if blue sky added DMS I'd probably be on Twitter a lot less.

[00:49:25] But I'm on blue sky with at Zoe with a sword.

[00:49:29] And then you can also check out my website.

[00:49:33] It's Zoe's now calm it's got all my work, contact info, etc.

[00:49:39] And yeah, that's about it.

[00:49:41] And while they're waiting on the collected volume from dark horse.

[00:49:46] Oh, yeah, of course.

[00:49:47] Thank you for that.

[00:49:48] That's my job.

[00:49:49] Yeah.

[00:49:50] Thank you.

[00:49:51] Welcome.

[00:49:52] Blabanes.com our entire comic is available there to read. We have new pages on Thursdays.

[00:49:58] And I can't say the comic will always be free to read on our website.

[00:50:02] We will have, you know, printed collections if you like me love to have physical media.

[00:50:07] But but if you ever want to read Blabanes, it's free.

[00:50:11] Go to our website.

[00:50:12] If you like it, buy some prints off of the store or something.

[00:50:15] But it's having it be accessible and free for folks was really important for us.

[00:50:21] Well, I want Valentine to have more work.

[00:50:23] So please go support.

[00:50:24] And and now it's amazing stuff.

[00:50:27] Amazing stuff.

[00:50:28] I have, I have a dozen different Valentine prints.

[00:50:31] On my walls, so you too can have a dozen different Valentine prints on your walls and they will look gorgeous.

[00:50:40] There you go.

[00:50:41] You pitched them.

[00:50:42] Good job.

[00:50:43] Well, Joey, thanks so much for coming on the show and hanging out with me today.

[00:50:46] Yeah, of course.

[00:50:47] Thank you for having me.

[00:50:48] 100%.

[00:50:49] Well, this is Byron O'Neill.

[00:50:50] And on behalf of all of us at Columbia, thanks for tuning in.

[00:50:53] And we'll see you next time.

[00:50:55] Take care everybody.

[00:50:56] This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts at the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by comic book getting.

[00:51:02] We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[00:51:05] Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[00:51:09] It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve.

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[00:51:15] If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast into the comics Kate.

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