NYCC 2023 Panel - The Awesome Power of Comic Book Podcasts and How You Can Start One Yourself - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 405

 
[00:00:00] Badr: Thank you for the patience, y'all. New York Comic Con, how we feeling today?

[00:00:09] Badr: Not bad. But I did not fly all the way from Jacksonville, Florida for that weak ass response, so let's try it one more time. New York Comic Con, how we feeling today?

[00:00:20] Badr: That's what I'm talking about. Thank you, thank you, thank you. First and foremost, thank you guys. Thank all of you so much for being here. You could be anywhere in the world, but you're here with us and that means the world to us. Um, it means the world to us. You guys are family today. My name is Badr Milligan, I am a podcaster, or as I like to tell my mom, uh, who still hasn't wrapped her head around what a podcast is, I'm a professional blabbermouth, okay?

[00:00:47] Badr: I've been blabbing about comics for the last ten years. I host the Short Box podcast, I'll tell you a little more about it later today. Thank you, thank you, thank you, I appreciate that, I appreciate that. Now, quick question, how many of you listen to podcasts? Damn. All right. Should not be surprised. This is a podcast panel, but still sometimes I don't get those hands.

[00:01:10] Badr: That's awesome. How many of you have a podcast or aspire to do a podcast? Damn right. I'm among my people. Oh yeah. Round of applause for yourself. To the podcasters. All right. Regardless, you guys are in the perfect place to be. The goal today is this panel is like part spotlight, part introduction, parts.

[00:01:32] Badr: Motivational how to, like I said, I'm from the South, my mouth is like all over the place. That was like way too many parts. But the goal is to introduce you guys to some of the best comic podcasters in the industry and hopefully maybe even spark, you know, some new ideas, maybe motivate some of you to consider starting your own.

[00:01:50] Badr: It's possible. I'm a living proof. Even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body and you want to contribute to the comic book industry, Podcast is a viable medium and a viable way to do so. New York Comic Con, I'm not gonna stall any longer. Let's go ahead and introduce and meet our panel. You guys ready to meet the panel?

[00:02:08] Badr: Alright. First and foremost. Oh, there was my slide right there. You see that smiling joker right there? That's my man, Andrew Torres, co founder of The Short Box, and awesome host as well. Alright, your first guest panelist, coming all the way from Virginia, is a married couple that have been exploring the dynamics of comic book relationships across comic and pop culture in a show called The Comic Book Couple's Counseling Podcast.

[00:02:36] Badr: And if my accolades weren't enough, comic book writer Tom King has dubbed them the best couple in comics, and I'm inclined to agree. New York Comic Con, let's give it up for Brad and Lisa Gullickson!

[00:02:55] Badr: Alright, your next set of panelists might as well be a married couple, considering how much they love each other, and how much they bicker and fight. But they're proof that two heads are better than one when it comes to celebrating and covering. All the great things in nerd culture. One of them lives in St.

[00:03:10] Badr: Louis, and the other lives in Nashville. But they come together and form the Oblivion Bar Podcast, New York Comic Con. Let's give it up for Chris Hacker and Aaron Noll!

[00:03:28] Badr: Alright, and last but not least, he's currently not here. I think he got stuck at the gate or some traffic. But, we're gonna go ahead and give him his props anyways, cause he'll be joining us here shortly. Then this next speaker, who will be joining us shortly, he'll be here. Uh, he's been covering comics and interviewing the world's best comic creators for years.

[00:03:45] Badr: He doesn't have a podcast per se, but that's because he's got a face for TV, alright? I mean, just look at the smile. I mean, you know, the skin is looking good too. You can find him hosting the Previews World weekly YouTube channel, and he's an accomplished comic creator himself. He's the co founder of Rexco Comics.

[00:03:59] Badr: Uh, and hopefully he'll be here soon, but he goes by the name of Troy Jeffrey Allen. When he comes out, there you go. Yeah, let's give it up. It's almost like we're trying to summon him with claps. He just, poof. Oh, there he goes. Alright, let's dive into it. We're gonna talk about first appearances. So, last night, I went ahead and looked up all the first episodes of all these great podcasts.

[00:04:24] Badr: And I mean, that's

[00:04:25] Chris Hacker: bad. That's really bad. I apologize. Firstly, don't do that out there, by the way. Don't go to our first session, please. Let's,

[00:04:30] Badr: let's, cause we're gonna start with, uh, the Oblivion Bar Boys. But I mean, just take a look at them now, and look at these young, smiling, animated whippersnappers right there.

[00:04:39] Chris Hacker: It's not a copyright infringement, by the way. It's, uh, homages.

[00:04:44] Badr: Aaron, you guys started in the middle of, you know, the COVID outbreak, you know, we were all at home. Um, and in my opinion, you guys were a shining example of, you know, using that free time and finding a hobby and diving all the way into it.

[00:04:58] Badr: Considering that you guys are what, three years deep in the podcast game. When you think back to episode one, pressing record in episode one in April, 2020. What are some thoughts that come to mind when you think about how, how far along you've come?

[00:05:12] Chris Hacker: Uh, I think the number one thing that I always think about when it goes back to our first episode, which we've actually remastered and relaunched since then.

[00:05:19] Chris Hacker: When we celebrated our 100th episode, we went back and re, you know, took out the reverb, took out the echo. Neither one of us had microphones at that point. Uh, you, it's a great kind of analysis on what we've learned over the last 135 episodes. You know, you're kind of feeling your way around in the dark.

[00:05:38] Chris Hacker: With that first episode going into now our 135th, we've also done 99 episodes over on Patreon as well. It's all about just like, never settling for where you're at right now. Always striving to go to that next level. When it comes to equipment, when it comes to the way that you prep, when it comes to the way that you approach interviews, all of that stuff.

[00:05:57] Chris Hacker: That, you just gotta keep striving to want to be better. Do you have anything you want to add to that as well? I do, Chris.

[00:06:03] Aaron Knowles: Uh, so yes, it's that natural evolution of, you know, trial and error. You're going to fail. You're going to forget to hit record.

[00:06:12] Chris Hacker: We've done that a lot. You're going to have

[00:06:13] Aaron Knowles: to, you know, get it out of, you know, whatever you use.

[00:06:17] Aaron Knowles: You're going to have to, to, what's the, with Saga, everyone?

[00:06:20] Chris Hacker: We, we did a Saga spotlight for like episode four, 54, and I had to edit the episode six times because I didn't have enough space on my laptop. And every time I went to export the episode on Audition, It would fail and two plus hours of editing would go out the window and I think it was the fourth time I looked at Aaron I was like, um, I think we're just not gonna release this episode But it was such a great episode.

[00:06:43] Chris Hacker: We enjoyed it so much.

[00:06:44] Aaron Knowles: It's the equivalent if you watch the Titanic with you know Who was it? I can't remember. I'm Jack Jack Jack. No Leonardo DiCaprio. That's Jack. That's Jack Yeah, so if you watch the Titanic four times end to end That's the amount of time that he spent You know, editing that episode, but you're going to, that's the thing you're going to go through a natural evolution of trial and error and also just blatant mistakes and then also add in a second person who is time zones and states away and then you're going to have connection issues.

[00:07:14] Aaron Knowles: You're going to go, you're going to switch multiple platforms from recording studios. Like you just learn. And the honestly, honestly, it's just about patience with each other. Like, I'm not going to lie. Our, our friendship is 13 years old and it has been tested. Several times. Yes. But luckily, we always come back to it.

[00:07:33] Aaron Knowles: And we've had some arguments. Luckily, we come back to it. And you have to have those tough discussions with each other because you might get to the point where you hate each other, but you gotta keep it going for the show. But then during those discussions, you'll realize what you love about what you're doing.

[00:07:47] Badr: Absolutely. Can I just say it? I mean, do you guys get what I meant? I mean, they are basically a married couple. You guys did all 17 slides in like 10 minutes.

[00:07:55] Aaron Knowles: Congratulations. I don't do anything. Chris is the, the, the carrier of this show. I would say

[00:07:59] Chris Hacker: that's not true, but it's

[00:08:00] Badr: totally true. Oh, Troy! Nice of you to join us.

[00:08:04] Badr: Troy's here. Troy's here, everybody. Troy Jeffery Allen. Yeah. Like I said, we summoned him.

[00:08:08] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: I just want to say, I got the broken phone to prove that I was rushing over here.

[00:08:12] Chris Hacker: Wow. Oh no. It's a Spider Man edition.

[00:08:15] Badr: Nah, Troy, you came in perfect timing. Okay. Troy, I don't know if you see that picture of baby faced Troy Jeffery Allen right there, but that is the earliest

[00:08:22] Chris Hacker: Previews of World.

[00:08:23] Chris Hacker: Why did you get the

[00:08:24] Badr: worst picture? I, I'm, yo, look, my skills, my photo selection skills are terrible. My girlfriend says that all the time. It's okay. But when you think back to October 2016 and being in front of the camera for the first time for Previews World, like, can you take yourself back and like the thoughts that you were having of like, wow, I get to talk comic books.

[00:08:41] Badr: With creators in front, you know, like, what was that first episode experience like? You know, it

[00:08:46] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: was, it was a marathon. Like, that's the god honest truth. I was, uh, Like, I'm gonna make this happen, I'm gonna make this work. Uh, you know, Diamond Comic Distributors owns Previews World and the Free Comic Book Day, etc, etc.

[00:08:58] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Uh, they didn't really have a social media or a, uh, presence or, like, a video presence. And so, it was kind of really experimental. And, I kind of took the strategy of, like, well, if I have to do this for the first time, Um, and I've done, I, you know, I did, I did radio shows and stuff like that before, but like, uh, if I have to do this and I have to be the host of these things, then I'm going to first interview people that really interest me, you know, that I really genuinely want to ask them questions about because I was like, I can't fake this.

[00:09:28] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Um, so that was kind of the general attitude is like, well, let me find the corner creators who are doing things that I think are interesting. And I've been doing that ever since. So,

[00:09:39] Badr: uh, yeah. Bradley said, why podcasting? Cause I understand that both of you, uh, you guys write, you guys have awesome website, you guys dabble in this world, but.

[00:09:49] Badr: When you think back to December 2018, launching your first, or recording your first episode, putting it out there in the world, why podcasting as a medium? Uh,

[00:09:57] Brad Gullickson: well, we were already podcasting before Comic Book Couples Counseling, the In the Mouth of Dorkness movie podcast that you're all subscribed to, or you were subscribed to.

[00:10:07] Brad Gullickson: Dead. This doesn't exist anymore. We love the podcast format. You know, we don't, I mean, we have a YouTube channel, but we don't really do video and we're strictly an audio podcast because we

[00:10:18] Badr: love the audio medium. The

[00:10:20] Aaron Knowles: medium.

[00:10:21] Brad Gullickson: Yeah. That's why podcasting.

[00:10:23] Badr: And when you think back to that first episode, have you ever went back and listened to your first episode?

[00:10:29] Lisa Gullickson: Yeah, it's humiliating and really embarrassing and it's, and it's the episode that people go back to the most when they, when, and I've done it myself, where you find a cast that you love and you go, no, I'm going to listen to them all. First episode was a couple, a couple session between, um, Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

[00:10:51] Lisa Gullickson: And we used the book, The Five Love Languages, to counsel them. It's it's a, a, you know, the... It has issues here. It has issues. There's issues with that book The Five Love Languages. But the quiz online is great. And, um, and we were really loosey goosey. And we were also learning how to edit and record and...

[00:11:16] Badr: Yeah, because this was the

[00:11:17] Brad Gullickson: first time where we did the whole show. Like, within the Mouth of Darkness, we had friends who did all the, you know, the behind the scenes stuff. And we just spoke into a microphone. And now we

[00:11:26] Badr: have to put it together. But for a lot

[00:11:28] Lisa Gullickson: of people, those first couple of episodes are their favorite episodes.

[00:11:32] Lisa Gullickson: So, we're glad it's still out there.

[00:11:35] Badr: I've been recording, I'm sorry, I've been podcasting for almost 12 years. I've got like over 400 episodes, and still to this day, anytime someone's like, I've started back in episode one. I just tell them, please don't ever talk to me. A big yikes. No, thank you. Chris and Aaron.

[00:11:51] Badr: I want to go back to you guys real quick and ask the same question. Why podcasting considering all the different outlets and mediums that you could have chosen? What was attractive about starting a podcast?

[00:12:03] Chris Hacker: Uh, this might not be the answer that you want butter, but it's. Well, we approached it from the sense that we originally wanted to do a YouTube channel and for anyone that does YouTube out there It is very labor intensive.

[00:12:12] Chris Hacker: There's a lot of editing And we were like we don't want none of that business Which is funny because now podcasting is slowly shifting to a mostly video and audio medium together But it was kind of booming at that point again. This is early 2020. We had a lot of time on our hands We, you know, we didn't really workshop names or anything.

[00:12:32] Chris Hacker: It was just like, let's start a podcast. And I think a lot of people have that initial thought. They go, we have time on our hands. We think we're super interesting. I know Aaron and I don't think that at all. But there are people out there that think, let's start a podcast. We like to have fun and drink with our friends.

[00:12:43] Chris Hacker: But they don't realize how much work actually goes into it. Because we definitely didn't.

[00:12:47] Aaron Knowles: No, it's, for us, it was simply, we just want to talk. Because we, like I said, we've been best friends for 13 years. COVID happened, he was in a different state, we couldn't really hang out, so we just started chatting.

[00:13:01] Aaron Knowles: And then I had also been doing a lot of Twitch streaming, things like that, so we knew that kind of the internet was the way of, you know, keeping our friendship alive and not letting COVID kill it. And so we just kind of started chatting, and we were like, this

[00:13:14] Chris Hacker: is fun. Yeah. We've actually, we've only done two episodes together.

[00:13:18] Chris Hacker: Yeah, we've been remote the entire time and I, I think one of the greatest compliments that we get is that people will say, we couldn't even tell you guys weren't in the same room. So that means a lot to us. And, you know, again, that that's the process of it all learning and. You know, honing your craft in the podcasting medium.

[00:13:32] Chris Hacker: And I think that also,

[00:13:33] Aaron Knowles: there's just something about the audio format itself is so just like immortal, you know, you got radio, which is always going to be around, you know, you know, radio theater. I don't know if you have another term for that. I can't think of it, but you know, like back in the day, you said the radio shows where it was like, welcome to the stage, people, Batman punched the Joker, you know, and stuff like that, it's always going to be entertaining.

[00:13:54] Aaron Knowles: People are always going to be traveling. People are always going to need to commute. So, give them something to listen to, and maybe you guys want to hang out with a couple of friends who are talking about Batman, or how much we hate the Snyderverse, or how much we think Snyderverse should continue or shouldn't continue.

[00:14:08] Aaron Knowles: You know, like, maybe we're going to be entertaining some people, and if it helps...

[00:14:14] Badr: Well said. And I wanted to start off with, you know, the why. I think that's always important. Talking about, like, the beginnings. Why dive into podcasting, knowing that the work ahead. And I think that it, there's something special about comic podcasts.

[00:14:28] Badr: Because, you know, comic books is just such a passionate medium. You know, the fan base is passionate and the ability to pour that into a medium like podcasting and, you know, having projects like that, I think it just kind of goes hand in hand. I wanna talk a little bit, you know, I wanted to, to also share in the embarrassment of first and share some of that baby face, the earliest baby faces.

[00:14:48] Badr: These are like the earliest photos I could find. I think these are like circa 2011 or 12. I've been podcasting so long that they didn't have color photography, so that's the only black and white photo out there. And then the photo on the right is the first time that we ever printed crappy t shirts. But boy, were we hype about those crappy t shirts.

[00:15:07] Badr: Humble beginnings. So obviously, you know, we've got a lot of, you know, years of experience up on the stage. You know, folks that have recently started, folks that have been grinding for a long time and putting in the work. And obviously when you put in the work... For a, an amount of time when you're consistent, you show that passion and you create a quality product, you know, things like perks come along the way, you know, you get the ability to influence, you know, and, and as well.

[00:15:31] Badr: And when you get the ability to, you get perks and influence, but I think we would all agree that as you start building a name in a brand and a reputation. With that power and those, you know, uh, perks and rewards also comes a great responsibility. And I want to talk a little bit about the highlights before we talk about the reality.

[00:15:52] Badr: And, speaking about perks, I think... That's me! Hey, there's Lisa. If you look to the far right, I think you'll recognize one of our panelists here. She's taller than somebody?

[00:16:02] Lisa Gullickson: And I'm wearing a Jesse Lonergan shirt. It's super

[00:16:05] Brad Gullickson: rad. Jesse Lonergan is here in Artist Alley. You

[00:16:08] Chris Hacker: should go buy all his stuff.

[00:16:10] Badr: Lisa, do you want to talk to us about this day?

[00:16:12] Badr: What are we looking at? Where is this panel

[00:16:14] Lisa Gullickson: at? This is at San Diego Comic Con, and they did a panel about, um, comics, journalism, Other than, like, essay format. And, um, I write, uh, for The Beat. I've written for Women Talk About Comics. Um, but The Beat is how I met Heidi MacDonald, who is an icon, all the way to the left.

[00:16:35] Lisa Gullickson: And, um, so I got to go up there and represent what podcasting can do, who podcasting can reach. And I got to get my picture in front of that iconic background, which was really cool. And they let you keep the name tag! So, it was really, really

[00:16:52] Chris Hacker: fun. New York Comic Con, where's our name tags, by the way? I wanted one.

[00:16:56] Chris Hacker: That's all I wanted. I did

[00:16:57] Lisa Gullickson: not mean to show... It is very eco friendly to not have a paper name.

[00:17:04] Badr: And speaking about, you know, perks of being able to get up on stage and, and, and, you know, be a part of a panel, you guys just did a panel today with, you know, A little name that you guys all might know, a little Kevin Eastman action today, right, Brad?

[00:17:16] Badr: Uh, yes, we,

[00:17:17] Brad Gullickson: uh, moderated the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW panel this morning. And, uh, it was, you know, a highlight in our podcasting career,

[00:17:25] Badr: for sure. Oh, yeah. Brad, do you want to talk a little bit more about, like, some of the perks you get to enjoy as someone that's, like, in the industry? You do write ups, you've got multiple websites, podcasts as well.

[00:17:33] Badr: Like, what are things that you enjoy being in the podcast media? I, I

[00:17:36] Brad Gullickson: mean, what I enjoy is the podcast. What I enjoy is the audience. I mean, audience, honestly, like, the biggest... This perk is a download, it's like one person listening to our episodes, like there's nothing better than that. Uh, and, and, and, you know, whatever the success of the podcast has been,

[00:17:54] Aaron Knowles: I think back to that first

[00:17:56] Brad Gullickson: year, almost five years ago, December 1st will be our 5th anniversary.

[00:18:00] Badr: Really quick, let's give it up for that, come on, five years, five years in podcast time, you gotta like, that's like 40 years right there. And I just, I,

[00:18:09] Brad Gullickson: I remember the first reviews that we got on Apple Podcasts and the first positive reviews and it was like the best feeling and it's, it remains the best feeling and when you run into people, it's

[00:18:24] Lisa Gullickson: even better.

[00:18:24] Lisa Gullickson: I want to echo that, like one of the, one of the whys that I didn't, that I failed to mention was that I felt like there wasn't a comic book space. Where I could talk and feel safe about the way that I wanted to talk about comic books. Um, on Comic Book Couples Counseling, we talk about comic books in hand with self care and self help.

[00:18:50] Lisa Gullickson: And the stories that we can, um, draw from reading comics. And, um, a lot of, a lot of times it just felt like, yeah, but how many spawn villains can you name? And I'm just like, oh my goodness, you know what I mean? Like, I just wanted to talk about comics in a way that didn't feel like a pop quiz, where I could just share my heart.

[00:19:10] Lisa Gullickson: And, and that is a huge

[00:19:11] perk.

[00:19:13] Aaron Knowles: She's underselling it, I gotta say this. You guys are underselling it, because their podcast is so amazing, how it can draw out Emotions, because as probably the newest comic reader on this panel, I read one of the books, it was Invincible, I read the entirety of Invincible, and there's this issue where, you know, Mark and Adam, Eve, are like talking about the assault that happens, no spoilers, but there's an assault that happens, and the way that they approached it in their show literally brought, and I'm not afraid to say it, I'm all about my mental health and, you know, speaking my truth, Okay, it brought me to tears and I was listening to, thank God I was in the car alone, but it brought me to tears because they just brought out something in that discussion that was so powerful it, it caused me to kind of like self analyze some of the trauma that I've been through.

[00:20:05] Aaron Knowles: In my life, and I'm just like, this is phenomenal to listen to, so don't undersell that, that conversation. Nobody can

[00:20:12] Lisa Gullickson: talk about comics without talking about themselves. I, I think that, um, the idea of doing a, uh, an unbiased review is just a fantasy. So, um, I think like Hey, this, you know, talking about Mark and Adam Eve and how they have this functioning relationship and how it's not always easy is important because then we get to learn about how we can make our relationships better.

[00:20:39] Badr: Yeah, you guys were like, I bet that you can say free comics. No.

[00:20:45] Lisa Gullickson: The free comics are great. They are

[00:20:48] Badr: great. You love a free comic. No, they're fantastic. I want to move on to another, uh, perk, and I feel like reward and blessing that comes with being in this medium and space, and I think that is, I think we could all agree, that is the ability to meet, you know, amplify the stories of some of our favorite creators and really get inside, like, their heads about, like, the stories that we all love.

[00:21:07] Badr: I got a picture pulled up of one of my favorite interviews, Troy, that you've done, and that was with Todd McFarlane. I think you've actually interviewed him quite a few times, but do you want to speak a little bit about the different creators that you've been able to share their stories or amplify in that experience?

[00:21:23] Badr: Uh, yeah.

[00:21:24] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: So I'm, I'm obsessed with story, like that's a big thing for me. Uh, and, uh, for that reason, like, a lot of my approach is tell me how you first got in the comics, tell me the origin of this character, tell me, you know, uh, what were you, what was your headspace when you first came up with this? Like, I love the creative process, and so, you know, when they told me I was going to get, like, 30 was like, alright, we're going to fire away, I'm just going to ask him, like, you know, I'm making Spider Man 300, Spawn Number 1, Venom, like, you know, I'm just gonna go down the list of things.

[00:21:56] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Um, and, you know, he was really open about it, which was really cool, like, he kind of allowed, uh, me to just kind of, like, basically just have a conversation with him, which is also really my style. I'd much rather just be, like, talking like I'm in a room with you. Like, even if it's over Skype or Zoom or whatever.

[00:22:14] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Um, so yeah, like it was, uh, I've been fortunate enough to kind of talk to a lot of people that I'm, like, really excited about in general. And, McFarland's definitely been one of them. And, like, yeah, I've gotten to interview him, like, about three times,

[00:22:27] Badr: so. Sure, you don't gotta flex. I mean, we're all

[00:22:30] Chris Hacker: friends. I haven't been able to talk to him once.

[00:22:33] Badr: Uh, Chris, Aaron, do you guys want to talk? Oh, actually, I'm sorry, you guys have a dedicated slide. Speaking about perks. I'm going to say one thing about Chris and Arian and the Oblivion Bar podcast. I feel like I've kind of done a lot of different tactics to get, you know, the podcast in front of people.

[00:22:47] Badr: But these guys seem to continue to push the boundary. And what you're looking at is, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to say it. Chris, what are we looking at right here? Because I think this is one of the coolest opportunities that I've seen a fellow comic podcaster get.

[00:23:00] Chris Hacker: Well, ironically enough, it was in 2018.

[00:23:02] Chris Hacker: I was at New York, excuse me, 2019. I was at New York Comic Con. I went to dinner with one writer, David Boer, and artist Drew Zucker, who are the creative team behind Kanto over at IDW. And at that dinner, they also had another friend with them, which was Jack DiMeo, who people who are familiar with Whatnot know Jack.

[00:23:18] Chris Hacker: He is a very integral part of the Whatnot and all of that. And through that conversation, we were able to kind of create this partnership. We were the very first podcast that Whatnot had ever partnered with. We had a very successful first year with them, partnering. And then when it came to our second year, Aaron and I brought the idea of, let's do our very first Oblivion Bar exclusive version for Phantom Road No.

[00:23:40] Chris Hacker: 1 from Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta over at Image Comics. And what you're looking at right now, our good friend in the business, Christian Ward, uh, everyone knows Christian, this week he actually released Batman City of Madness, which is a DC Black Label book. And it's amazing. And it's, it's incredible.

[00:23:57] Chris Hacker: It's probably the best looking Batman book of this year. And, uh, he did our Phantom Road number one. He sent us a bunch of options and... We had a favorite that, and it was Christian's favorite as well, he sent all those to Jeff, and Jeff chose this one here. So, we're very excited by it, it's uh, it's very cool, it's something, it's very bewildering that we have an exclusive comic, not only with Jeff Lemire's name on it, but with Christian Ward's name on it.

[00:24:20] Chris Hacker: And with our name on it. And with our name on it. You know, it's just, it's very wild, so. Yeah, it was a very surreal moment.

[00:24:27] Badr: Aaron, you said that you, you know, you're the newest comic book reader of the group. You're just really kind of getting into it. But like, do you, can you wrap your head around, I guess like, this, how big this kind of is?

[00:24:38] Badr: Like, you know, what are your feelings about it? I

[00:24:40] Aaron Knowles: mean, it's obviously, it's an honor to learn the comic industry itself. And to be a part of it, to be welcomed into it. Again, as a newer reader, as a newer fan. Uh, it's, it's so amazing. This community is amazing and the creators in it are just as amazing. And the things that they create as a new reader, I had no idea what went into the creation of a book, a letter, an anchor, a colorist, and I get to work and talk to, and, and really during an interview, so I've been doing public affairs and, you know, media and things like that for about 12 years.

[00:25:15] Aaron Knowles: And talking to a creator is much different than doing like a news interview. Creators are so passionate about what they make and what I don't even think sometimes they understand the inspiration that went into what they are making to be able to help them draw that out and share those things is so meaningful to me.

[00:25:35] Aaron Knowles: Uh, and as an advocate of mental health, when I can draw something out and have them talk about something, Um, Ava's Comics, or Ava's Demon, um, Ah, Michelle Fuss. Michelle Fuss, yeah. She, she was so, she was a little bit tough to kind of crack open to interview, but once she started going and talking about what went into creating her own, like, webtoon, and then publishing, uh, Ava's Demons, it was, it just felt, I don't know, enlightening, and like, like I helped lift her load and my own as well to, to bring that out of her.

[00:26:07] Aaron Knowles: So it was just an amazing thing, and like I said, uh, just. Talking to people is, it just makes, making connections, it's just, it's

[00:26:14] Chris Hacker: amazing. Well, yeah, I think I have to kind of echo that too. The, the, the ultimate perk of this situation is making friends and talking to creators. Because the creators would have absolutely no reason to talk to us if it wasn't for this podcast.

[00:26:25] Chris Hacker: That is the ultimate perk. Anytime we get to sit down with a Tom King, a Jason Aaron, a Mitch Gerads, a Christian Ward, you know. We had David Dos Machin and Leah, Leah Kilpatrick on the show today. There's no other better feeling than being able to pick their brain on their process and all that, so that's really honestly the biggest perk.

[00:26:43] Chris Hacker: Another fun perk,

[00:26:44] Lisa Gullickson: sorry, um, is, uh, past the comics podcast community itself. Like, I've made so many friends through it. Not just the people on this stage, Comics Collective is sitting right there. Watchers is sitting right there. And, like, um, it's a really small community and we're all listening to each other and

[00:27:05] Badr: it feels great.

[00:27:07] Badr: Obviously, I did not bring my mic skills to this panel. My apologies. You trying to eat that thing? That was well said. Oh. Alright, but I do like all the points that were brought up. You know, as far as, you know, the reward. The perks that, you know, the perks that mean something. When it comes to comic podcasts.

[00:27:21] Badr: From being able to create the show that you've always wanted to see. Being able to pick the brains of creators. And being able to, you know, befriend them. And, you know, really get nuance to the stories that you love. To also just doing some really groundbreaking stuff within comics. Um, fantastic points. We talked about the highlights, but as we know, it's not all sweet.

[00:27:41] Badr: Alright, there's a lot of work that goes into being able to get to this point, to these, uh, positions, of being able to do these things. So I want to talk a little bit about, you know, the obstacles, the work, and the learning curve. Uh, that comes with the, with the medium. And Troy, I wanted to start with you, because I think you're in an interesting position where, you know, you're an on screen personality and talent, um, but you've also, you know, you've got artistic ability, and you shifted that into co founding Rexco Comics.

[00:28:07] Badr: So you're a comic creator yourself, you're a writer yourself, and I was curious, If there was any overlap and what are some of the things that, like, did you face any obstacles moving from, you know, talking about comics to creating comics to getting into that

[00:28:22] Aaron Knowles: space?

[00:28:23] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: I'll tell you a little secret. I literally talk to the creators so that I can learn the obstacles.

[00:28:30] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Like, that's the god honest truth. Uh, you can learn so much by talking to a lot of these people. And, um, I don't actually talk a lot in my interviews. Like, it's typically, there was a period where we only did interviews where the camera was just on the creator. Um, and that's because I want the focus to be on them.

[00:28:47] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: But meanwhile, I am definitely taking mental notes. Uh, everything they tell you about like the editing process, the writing process, uh, the artistic process. I don't draw, but those conversations allowed me to kind of go, okay, maybe I'm scripting the wrong way. Like, you know? Um, and so all that stuff kind of is its own school in itself.

[00:29:07] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: I'm not saying there aren't obstacles. Um, one major obstacle is that I work for the distributor directly. So, there was a lot, there was definitely a period where... conversations weren't on the table. Um, and me being me, I would still have those conversations. Uh, and sometimes you get in trouble for that.

[00:29:27] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: But at the same time, uh, I didn't want to be dishonest with people. Um, because you know, admittedly what we're doing is kind of. propaganda for the comic book industry, and I'm okay with that. Like, I have no issue with that at all. Um, of all the things I could do propaganda for, comic books, I'm okay with that, right?

[00:29:45] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Um, but at the same time, uh, you know, to just be like, buy, sell, sell, sell, sell, that's not... That's not interesting content, right? So, uh, yeah, to just kind of find, uh, the honesty in the conversation. And also the right angle, too, because you can ask a pointed question, it can come off wrong. Um, and those are also obstacles as well.

[00:30:08] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: And also just finding my rhythm. Like, that's always an ongoing thing. Like, you know, it's like, oh, are you too excited about this? Are you overtaking the live stream right now? Like, you know, stuff like that. So, you know, it's all a learning process.

[00:30:21] Badr: Bradley, so what would you say is the hardest thing about, about podcasting?

[00:30:26] Badr: The hardest

[00:30:27] Brad Gullickson: thing about podcasting is doing it on a regular basis. That's the hardest thing about podcasting and we suck at

[00:30:34] Aaron Knowles: it.

[00:30:35] Badr: Like

[00:30:35] Lisa Gullickson: if you actually look at our release schedule. It is a

[00:30:39] Aaron Knowles: little uneven.

[00:30:40] Brad Gullickson: Yeah, they say, you know, pick a day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and publish every, you know, that day. And I bet you that would be, like, that would be helpful.

[00:30:49] Brad Gullickson: And I would love to do that, but our lives just don't work that way. That doesn't mean that we stop doing it all together. It just means we accept our schedules and who we are as, uh, podcasters and, uh, get it out when we can get it out.

[00:31:04] Lisa Gullickson: Yeah, yeah. And also, like, not be too precious. Like, and I'm saying this to myself because I will get so picky and so hard on myself.

[00:31:12] Lisa Gullickson: And when you are podcasting with your lover, like the, like, you will say things, like, I'm going to do a thousand re takes, and you're just going to have to do it, because you're mine.

[00:31:21] Badr: You know what I

[00:31:22] Brad Gullickson: mean? You have no idea what editing is like until you edit your wife.

[00:31:28] Lisa Gullickson: Yeah, so, if you, if you are too precious, you will never get an episode out,

[00:31:33] Badr: so.

[00:31:34] Badr: Chris and Aaron, when you guys think about, I want to get to the, to think about an obstacle that you guys were just having trouble with. Yeah, Aaron's a

[00:31:42] Chris Hacker: natural. He's right here. That's the biggest obstacle of the Flipping Bar. He's right next to me. He gave me a sound board one time and I lost it. Never again.

[00:31:49] Chris Hacker: Never again.

[00:31:51] Badr: He almost caused a fire in the house. No, I want to hear an obstacle that you guys overcame that, that benefited you in the long run. Like maybe a lesson that you had to learn the hard way to really improve the podcast, to get it

[00:32:02] Chris Hacker: going, to get better. It's definitely being flexible, I'll say that.

[00:32:06] Chris Hacker: Uh, I'm a very anal intensive person that needs to, kind of speaking on what Brian and Lisa were just talking about, having an episode released every single, we release an episode every Monday. And we release a great episode, our Patreon exclusive show, every Friday. Uh, for me, my, I'll speak for myself, Aaron, I'll let you kind of talk about your biggest obstacle.

[00:32:24] Chris Hacker: Mine is being more flexible. Uh, this is my best friend, and again, like we've said many times, my best friend for 13 years. And, there have been times where we have gotten at each other's throats because I want to do the show a certain way and I have to sometimes take a step back and go, Is this going to affect the friendship if I try to get an episode out this Monday?

[00:32:45] Chris Hacker: You know, and if it does then we need to take a step back and we need to just not do it, you know? So for me, it has been loosen up a little bit. Lisa, you kind of talked about it, don't be so precious with it. Uh, and that's kind of been my biggest thing. Aaron, what about you? Uh,

[00:32:59] Aaron Knowles: I just, I, I find that, uh, being precious works in my favor.

[00:33:03] Aaron Knowles: Now, um, for me, honestly, the biggest, uh, issue is, I'm, I'm a sensitive individual. And so, when my best friend is an, is a type A personality, and he's very strict and very rigid on certain things, I have to let go that he is not talking to me.

[00:33:23] Aaron Knowles: Um, I've also, so I'm, I'm about to enter my 20 years, 20th year in the U. S. Army. And so, thank

[00:33:31] Chris Hacker: you. Uh,

[00:33:34] Aaron Knowles: I am old. Yes. Uh, that's active duty year. So I'm used to being kind of in a rigid environment, but I'm not used to coming home and getting on a podcast with my best friend and having somebody tell me what to do.

[00:33:47] Aaron Knowles: Um, Uh, so that's something that I kind of have to, to, to let go a little bit of and know that he is just talking to me in his specific way. And it's almost like, it's almost like love languages. Uh, not to, you know, steal your guys thunder. Um, but it's like, you know, everybody speaks in their own language and Chris communicates in a very strict way.

[00:34:08] Aaron Knowles: To the point. To the point. And so I have to be, I have to understand that, um, you know, when he wants to get something done, He needs to get it done because he puts in, I'm not gonna lie, he puts in most of the work. He edits the show, he produces 90%, 99 percent of it, and you know, I try and help out as much as I can.

[00:34:25] Aaron Knowles: So, the biggest thing that I can do is be flexible, but also be rigid, but also be understanding that I need to come and meet him at a certain level.

[00:34:35] Badr: Well said. This next slide here, because I wanted to chime in into this part of the conversation here. Uh, these photos right here are probably from maybe the best, one of the best days of my life, period.

[00:34:46] Badr: Not podcast wise, but personal wise. We got to do an Avengers Endgame premiere at a local theater, and uh, Peter David, um, uh, in a weird way, is the father of the, one of the owners of said theaters. And we did a live show with him after the movie. It was like an epic day. And it got me thinking about how when we first started, we were very hyper local.

[00:35:10] Badr: Like all I was thinking was like, local to Jax. Let's get local creators. Local, you know, there was really no focus. And I think that's probably one of the... Those type of obstacles that I see early on in podcasters is that they want to do everything when sometimes a little bit of focus is where you want to go because as soon as we started tightening up and it was like okay it's got to just be about comics you know we can't have Yeah, you know, you almost alienate the potential for more listeners because if they hear it's just a Jack show and you know, you're from whatever, Tennessee, you're not going to listen, it won't connect with you as much.

[00:35:42] Badr: So that's one thing I did want to share in terms of, you know, just kind of things that you might want to overcome early on is think larger, think bigger. You know, when we first started, it was very kind of narrow. We didn't really have a lot of shows to go off of, and I will say that is one thing about this incredible panel is that all of you in a way have, have shown me different tips and ways to get overcome, like, you know, feeling like, you know, I'm only, you know, this big or I can't ever reach this audience.

[00:36:07] Badr: Um, I think thinking about, you know, in larger perspective, like, is this a show that someone And Hawaii can listen to it. This is a show that someone has never heard of comics and maybe at least jump in and enjoy it. I think it reach Go ahead, go ahead. I have

[00:36:20] Aaron Knowles: to interject something real quick. I just realized that all of us ignored the biggest obstacle that one of us has faced in podcasting.

[00:36:29] Aaron Knowles: Completely ignored it. Hit it. Chris

[00:36:32] Badr: here. It's

[00:36:33] Aaron Knowles: Chris. Chris here. Battled cancer. That's not a joke. He had, he had colon cancer. So he's missing about a foot of his colon. Alright. One less foot. One less foot of colon. Y'all have a lot of extra colon more than he does. And he beat, well he's beating cancer. And throughout that treatment continued to record podcasting.

[00:36:58] Aaron Knowles: Record podcasting. Produce a show. So, dedication. Dedication.

[00:37:05] Badr: Everyone right now is like, Chris, this isn't a competition. Chris, chill. No, but I think it goes back to what Brad brought up about like consistency being one of those also early on obstacles is you gotta, you gotta carry that momentum, you gotta build momentum and you gotta carry it, you know, a long way.

[00:37:23] Badr: So, you know, finding ways to not burn out I think is another like obstacle and just hardship that a lot of beginning podcasters start out. That being said, so we talked about some of the, you know, the pitfalls, the roadblocks, the things that kind of give us headaches, let's go out and give some solutions, not that we haven't been given great solutions and tips, but like, let's really dive into some things that people can do right now.

[00:37:43] Badr: I've got, um, a screenshot, Brad and Lisa, this is a bunch of reviews for your podcast, killer ratings. I mean, all five stars, what are some tips that you would give to aspiring or existing podcasters to reach this level where people are leaving them? Praise. Like, what is the secret to your sauce?

[00:38:03] Lisa Gullickson: Don't be shy about asking for a five star rating every single episode.

[00:38:10] Lisa Gullickson: And tell them that any less is actually not constructive or

[00:38:14] Badr: welcome. Also,

[00:38:16] Brad Gullickson: the community, the comic book podcast community is small.

[00:38:20] Aaron Knowles: Help each other out.

[00:38:21] Brad Gullickson: Right. And a lot of these reviews are other comic book podcasts, movie podcasts. Uh, all kinds of different podcasts, reach out to them, DM them, and say, Hey, I'll write you a five star review, you write me a five star review.

[00:38:34] Brad Gullickson: So I know that some of those are actual

[00:38:36] Badr: listeners, but

[00:38:38] Lisa Gullickson: not all of them. You know, those first couple, you know, first couple decades worth were,

[00:38:46] Aaron Knowles: you know, Well, if I could go back

[00:38:47] Brad Gullickson: in time and relaunch comic book couples counseling, I would have gone to every single friend that I had and say, I'm launching it on this date.

[00:38:55] Brad Gullickson: And, could you do me a solid, when it launches on this date, write me a 5 star review, and, on Apple Podcasts, and when they do that, if you get enough 5 star reviews on Apple Podcasts on your launch day, you become a podcast that Apple is paying attention to, and then they promote you. They feature you, so.

[00:39:12] Brad Gullickson: So, make friends, and force them to write you reviews. Also, make good episodes. But,

[00:39:19] Badr: the first thing first.

[00:39:20] Lisa Gullickson: There is a little bit on that

[00:39:22] Chris Hacker: one star. I was going to say, is this an awkward time to say that I'm that one star reviewer? It's an Emma

[00:39:28] Aaron Knowles: Frost

[00:39:28] Brad Gullickson: fan, not joking. Yeah. They did not like things we said during

[00:39:32] Chris Hacker: our Grant Morrison.

[00:39:32] Chris Hacker: Oh, you know who it is? You found out who it was? I mean, they also emailed us. Oh my gosh. That is effort, and that's a, that's a.

[00:39:40] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: What did you say about Grant Morrison's new X Men? No, no, I love new X Men. Okay, I love everything about it.

[00:39:46] Lisa Gullickson: Those Scamma people though, they'll come after you and we love you and we see you and we are going to do Scamma episodes.

[00:39:52] Lisa Gullickson: So don't worry.

[00:39:53] Badr: Yeah, I want to add to this too, uh, early strategy that we had When doing this short box and we wanted to get our customer our customer reviews is so weird But our podcast reviews up is that we would do like giveaways, you know Like hey, if you send us a screenshot of the review You know, we'll enter you in a raffle to win a comic or we'll send you stickers, you know, like give something to the folks that are taking time out to leave a rating and review.

[00:40:16] Badr: Obviously you'd want it, you know, out of the, you know, love of their heart and time, but, you know, I get that sometimes asking folks to take time out of their day for something like this. Uh, you know, it works better sometimes when you got a little, uh, carrot on the stick. Troy, I'm sorry, not Troy, uh, I'm gonna go really quick to Chris and Aaron, I'm gonna come back to Troy.

[00:40:34] Badr: But Chris and Aaron, when I think of, you know, success also in this space, I think a lot of podcasters are waiting for the day that they can think, you know, sponsorship, monetization, like partnering with like their favorite brands and whatnot. Um, and whatnot,

[00:40:50] Chris Hacker: but this show is sponsored by what not buy, sell, go live, but

[00:40:53] Badr: you guys just announced a, uh, your second partnership, or I don't even, I can't even keep track of this point.

[00:40:58] Badr: You guys just announced a new partnership. With, uh, omnibus, which I think, you know, is, is worthy of an applause. And I think that is a prime example. Golf class. There you go. But do you want to give any tips for, for folks out there and podcasters that are just right there, they're trying to break in and get, you know, their first sponsorship or first brand deal.

[00:41:21] Aaron Knowles: I'll leave to start with this

[00:41:22] Chris Hacker: one. If you don't mind, please go ahead. Um,

[00:41:25] Aaron Knowles: so as somebody who's been a content creator for some time, Twitch stream, it's going to be here to stream on Twitch or quick or kick anything like that. Anybody show hands. Okay. So here's, this will apply to you as well. So just listen to this.

[00:41:39] Aaron Knowles: Okay. Know your value. You have, you as a content creator hold so much value, and there are so many companies out there that will try and take advantage of the newer content creators and try and make it sound like it's a partnership that you have to pay into, or that you have to buy items from them, or you have to, you know, like get your numbers up.

[00:42:02] Aaron Knowles: These companies need you to put their word out there to make them look good, to make them, you know, seem like a company that cares about the community. So if a company comes to you and asks you to do more for them initially than you, than they're going to do for you, it's not worth it. Now, the partnerships that we've had, that we have right now, Omnibus, uh, G Fuel, like these are, these are companies that not only care about what we create, but also care about the community.

[00:42:31] Aaron Knowles: And Chris and I have had the same approach every single company that has come to us or that we've approached if we don't use your product or your product is not quality or the messaging that goes along with your product is not quality, we will not work with you because we know our value and we know our values and that's, you know, that's, I think we'll continue to do that to the end of this show, but to speak on omnibus, We already know what's going on with comiXology, not to, you know, bring any negativity in this space.

[00:43:01] Aaron Knowles: No, we can go ahead and say

[00:43:02] Chris Hacker: comiXology

[00:43:02] Aaron Knowles: sucks. Okay. Omnibus approached us, and we initially, like, we sat down with them, and from the start, it was like sitting down and talking to... Literally our

[00:43:13] Chris Hacker: clones. Yeah, two of us that just created the best digital comic reader out there right now. And

[00:43:18] Aaron Knowles: again values community and just communication with us and again We like it was just it was a partnership that was meant to be and as a new comic reader what they're doing to build the community is just Amazing.

[00:43:32] Aaron Knowles: So I'll, I'll just leave it at that and let Chris take the rest. It's

[00:43:34] Chris Hacker: very easy to put your name on stuff that you believe in. I'll say that. That's the ultimate thing. And that's a good piece of advice that if you ever want to, like Aaron was saying, reach out to a company and run ads or do any type of partnership, social media wise or otherwise, make sure you believe in that wholeheartedly because people, listeners will see through that instantly.

[00:43:53] Chris Hacker: If you are being disingenuous with these partnerships. So, when we met Travis and Kenny, shout out to Travis and Kenny, let's give a round of applause, they're here in the crowd right now, one of them is shaking their head as well, we love you guys. Uh, almost immediately, I actually invited them on the show just for an interview, cause I, when I saw what they were creating on social media, I was like, I, I automatically believe in this.

[00:44:13] Chris Hacker: And the moment that we started talking about Omnibus and what they were creating over there, I was like, well I want to partner with them. And I, I'll, I'm going to tell everyone right now, I pitched a free ad space for them on the Oblivion Bar. I said, please, let me, let me... Let's partner in any way that we can and to their credit, they were like, no, no, no, no, we're, we're going to pay our fair share to have, you know, be included in the oblivion bar, which is all the credit to them.

[00:44:37] Chris Hacker: They, you know, we cannot preach how amazing not only omnibus is, but what not on the same aspect when we came to whatnot and told them that we wanted to promote them in different avenues. They were like, let's get you on an influencer plan, which again, speaking on success, I don't, does anyone know what success is in podcasting?

[00:44:55] Chris Hacker: We're not going to tell you, by the way, during this panel, we're not going to tell you what success is in podcasting, but they put us on the influencer plan and we're going to your strong now with whatnot as well. So, and G fuel as well, it's a lot less pay structure, but it's more like, uh, uh, posting base

[00:45:11] Aaron Knowles: or, yeah.

[00:45:12] Aaron Knowles: So, I mean, I, we, we create content with, for G fuel. They send us stuff, I, I believe in their product, Chris, he believes, he likes their product, it's all clean stuff. Um, and they were kind enough, like, I reached out to, uh, to G Fuel, to our partnership manager, because my best friend was going through cancer treatments and surgery, and I was like, hey, I, I, I can't afford to do something that I want to do for him, will you help me surprise Chris with a gift that I really want to get him?

[00:45:37] Aaron Knowles: And when he came out of surgery, I was able, thanks to G Fuel, to, to present him, or gift him a PS5. You know, and so he was able to play at home and recover and not, you know, not stress out

[00:45:50] Chris Hacker: too much. So I played hard work's legacy for like nine days straight. So

[00:45:55] Badr: really quick, I want to, I want to echo something that, um, that Aaron brought up, but kind of an amalgam of what Chris and Aaron brought up.

[00:46:02] Badr: And that is to understand the value that you, that you do bring, you know, like the amount of work that you put in. It's not something that all companies want to invest in when they see like the amount of hours you put in and recording, editing, promoting, you know, like, like, like Aaron said, like value your work and your time, but at the same time realize that success does look different for all of us.

[00:46:24] Badr: Some of us want a partnership deal. Some of us want tens of thousands of downloads. So I think early on, and it kind of goes back to the obstacles and, and you know, the pitfalls is if you have a plan and clear definition of what you want out of your podcast, I think it helps. You know, in the, in the long term, you can make, you know, educated decision and, um, and whatnot, uh, going forward, you know, to see what you want to pivot.

[00:46:48] Badr: And really quick, I want to go to Troy, because Troy, you know, we, we mentioned, I mentioned in the intro. You don't have a podcast per se, but you know, at this point, being on YouTube might as well be a podcast, but we also talked about just the grind and, and how much of a different beast, you know, YouTube and video content is compared to just strictly audio.

[00:47:06] Badr: And I was curious if you had any tips or tricks when it comes to, to that aspect of like, you know, setting up for success or, you know, elevating or just, you know, minor things that folks could be doing.

[00:47:19] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Uh, you know, I was listening to everybody else's response, and I was like, what can I say that's different from what everybody else said?

[00:47:24] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Um, God, like, you know, like, I would say... One thing, Run Recipe for Success, if I can speak on that, uh, is look at what everybody else is doing and do the opposite, please. Like, I think, that's the thing I think is really cool about your podcast and your podcast, you guys are doing something different. And, uh, you know, there's, you know, especially on YouTube, there are certain types of narratives that run wild on YouTube all the time.

[00:47:50] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Um, and it's really interesting, especially in comics, particularly in comics. And, uh, it's really interesting to... Try to be a voice outside of that, you know, um, not focus on the negativity because it's not what I got into this for like, you know, uh, but zero in on the elements of the industry that you love because at the end of the day, uh, it's going to be the thing that sustains you in the long run, just personally, not even, not even successfully, just personally, um, uh, I have a friend who has a, you know, YouTube channel, and I've had him on Previous World a couple of times on top of that, um, but he kind of was hitting this point where he was sort of like complaining about stuff over and over and over and over again, and he actually called me and was like, do you ever get tired of this?

[00:48:37] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: And I'm like, well, I'm going to tell you, man, I don't want to say this to you necessarily because it's your opinion, but at the same time, like you're focused on all the stuff you hate. And I'm like, why don't you just talk about the stuff you like? And he was like, and it was weird. It was kind of surprising.

[00:48:51] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: He was like, Oh. You know, it's like, yeah, because there's a thing, I get it, you're on YouTube, you're on Twitter all day, and you're seeing people just like, ah, every five seconds. And it's infectious. You know what I mean? It does, it does, it does grab a hold of you. And I think it's really important to just kind of, you know, you got to, you want to do this because you like it.

[00:49:12] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: So focus on the things you like. There are plenty of people online talking about the stuff they eat. You know, and plenty of people complaining about, uh, geez, Spider Man's married, and you know, like Spider Man shouldn't be married, or Spider Man should grow up, and it's just like, okay, but... What do you like about the character?

[00:49:28] Troy Jeffrey-Allen: Like, you know what I mean? Or maybe stop reading Spider Man, like, you know what I mean? Talk about something else for a bit. Um, so yeah, just, yeah. Focus on that because we need more of that. That is the counter programming that I'm begging anybody who's going to do a podcast or live stream. Focus on what you love.

[00:49:45] Lisa Gullickson: Yeah, and don't just do different. Do you. Do you. We're all reading the same books, right? But nobody is you. And that's something that you can share. And people will

[00:49:57] Badr: become curious. Well said. And this last slide here is just to show that, you know, we walked the talk, right? We're here preaching about the comic book, you know, podcast community and you know, being a family, but you know We wanted to just showcase some of the collaborations that we've had amongst this panel and as well as other podcasts as well Just for the sake of time, you know, I'm gonna quickly go over this but Chris Did you want to add something really quick?

[00:50:24] Chris Hacker: Oh, no, I just, uh, I think this is really important and this might be one of the most, uh, One of the greatest perks of doing a podcast is I'm friends with Troy and I, we just met here just now during this panel. So you're bear witnessing to a new friendship. But everyone else, I mean, Bodder and I, we have a group chat together.

[00:50:39] Chris Hacker: I'm often going to Brad for advice on, like, anything, whether it be, you know, reaching out to people for interviews or what have you. The collaboration is one of the most important things when it comes to podcasting. It's a good way to get your name out there to other podcasts, other podcast listeners.

[00:50:55] Chris Hacker: But also you get to pick up little things that the other podcast does that doesn't they do it Well, like the greatest form of flattery is imitation that is that the term Aaron I think yeah Like so when it comes when it comes to podcasting and I am I want to specifically I'm gonna pass the baton back to Potter here But I want to specifically shout out the United seven a nerdy podcasting event that we did back in was it 2022?

[00:51:17] Chris Hacker: Yeah, or 21 maybe I can't remember time is weird. But What we did during this event was we each took a character from the Justice League, and we spent an entire episode analyzing that character, talking about some of their greatest storylines, our own personal opinions on that character, and we're so grateful to, you know, we have Comic Book Couples Counseling, Comic Book Keepers, us, Wednesday Pull List, First Issue Club, we have Botter with a Short Box, and then Effin Nerds, and it was, it was one of the most, uh, and we released our episodes each week, so you had to go to one of the other episodes in order to listen to that character's arc.

[00:51:49] Chris Hacker: Or that episode as well. So it was just, uh, collaboration is very important in our, in our medium. I'm

[00:51:54] Aaron Knowles: gonna intercept that baton before it gets back to Bonner. No, give it back. No. Okay. Um, and one of the greatest things about these collaborations, and, and to add on to the friendship portion of this, is there was one of the episodes that Chris and I did together, we were having really bad audio issues.

[00:52:12] Aaron Knowles: And it was just frustrating to the point where we literally had to stop, walk away, and Chris does not get mad easily, he is a gentle soul, except when he talks to me, but he is a gentle soul, um, unless something is extremely frustrating, and he needed to walk away, it doesn't happen very often, but he did, and we came back to him and we were still having the same issue, and we had the ability at this time to call Our podcasting friends who do podcasting in person to help us solve this problem.

[00:52:42] Aaron Knowles: And eventually we got to a point where, you know, we were still having some issues, but it was better. And that's what the community is about. That's what this, this collaboration of, of, of podcastings and, and uniting all of us together is because again, you know, we've said it multiple times in different ways in this, on this panel is.

[00:53:00] Aaron Knowles: We're all going to run into obstacles, but we don't have to face them for the first time and without help. And it's the same thing with even just like mental health and things like that. There's so many people that have so much experience in this room, on this panel, in your friendship circles, that you can reach out to.

[00:53:17] Aaron Knowles: And just, it's a simple call, you know. And I didn't even think to call somebody and ask, but Chris right here, he had the people in mind. Dialed the phone and we

[00:53:25] Chris Hacker: solved it. And I called Botter. That's who I called, by the way. I called Botter. You called Brad also. Yeah, and Brad I think I called. And also Greg for the First Issue Club up there as well.

[00:53:35] Badr: In closing, Podcasting can feel like you're in a silo, but it doesn't have to be. You can find your community and we can all uplift each other. I would have taken audience questions, but we started a little late. I don't want to hold anyone up. I don't want to hold up our awesome tech, uh, team as well. So I'll end it with this last slide here.

[00:53:51] Badr: If you guys want to check out any of the shows we talked about, scan the QR code. We've got a bunch of goodies as well. Stickers, comics, um, and if you've got a question, we'll take them up here, uh, shortly. But besides that, I think that brings us to the end of this fantastic panel. I want to thank my panelists, my family, my crew.

[00:54:08] Badr: I want to thank you guys so much. You've been a blast.