Crashdown: An Interview with ComicTom & Fire Guy Ryan about Horror Sci-Fi, Making Comics, and Ben Templesmith

Crashdown: An Interview with ComicTom & Fire Guy Ryan about Horror Sci-Fi, Making Comics, and Ben Templesmith (The Short Box Podcast Ep. 415)

[00:00:00] Badr: In this episode of The Short Box.

[00:00:05] ComicTom: Like, for me, Crashdown is about, it's horror sci fi. So we're looking to ruffle some feathers and make you feel not great sometimes. I'm, I'm hoping that there's peeps who are like, Yo, I read that comic. It's a little messed up. I'm excited about the next issue, you know, like through a comic.

[00:00:22] It's kind of tough You know, we're watching a movie got sounds coming at you and and suspense and quick shots and in a comic You're like you're seeing the whole page at once. So it's it's challenging, but if it's messed up enough Oh, it lands in a way that you can't even experience in the theater

[00:00:43] Intro music plays

[00:01:10] Badr: Yo, Shortbox Nation, welcome back to the podcast. I'm glad to be dropping some new content. I know these last two weeks have been Shortbox Classic episodes and Patreon previews, but we got something new for everyone today. If you're new to the show, welcome aboard.

[00:01:25] My name is Badr and this is episode 415. And today I've got two household names, two big names from the comic YouTube podcast world on the show with us. Most of you probably recognized the voice from the snippet in the intro as belonging to the one and only Comic Tom. Which shouldn't really come as a surprise, considering the millions of views and thousands of subs he's amassed through his YouTube channel Comic Tom 101 and his podcast Bags and Boards.

[00:01:51] But we're also joined by his right hand man and co host FireGuyRyan. And they're not on the show to talk about YouTube per se, but a brand new original horror sci fi comic series they got coming out through Whatnot Publishing today. Actually, yes, today. You can go into a local comic shop right now and find issue one of their new comic series, Crashdown, in shops right now.

[00:02:12] And we'll hear from them about how the book was made, uh, working with Ben Templesmith, and all that good stuff very shortly. But first, I'd like to get some very quick housekeeping out the way. You may have heard the new promo spot in the beginning, but I'd like to formally acknowledge that the short box is once again partnering up with Collective Con this year to not only promote the show, but also help them make this year's event the best one possible.

[00:02:35] I mean, this year is their 10 year anniversary. For those of you that don't know, Collective Con is Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention. It's one that I'm always looking forward to going because it's a good time all the time. Just a reminder, go ahead and get your tickets right now. We got a link to that in the show notes.

[00:02:51] And speaking of sponsors and partners, I want to give a big shout out to our friends, our, our comic family at Gotham City Limit, Jacksonville's premiere shop for comics, toys, collectibles, and more. And thank you to everyone that reached out with such positive, uh, praise and words about the episode with Ben, the, the owner of Gotham City Limit.

[00:03:09] If you haven't heard that episode yet, go back to episode 414, so the one that was dropped, uh, early this month. And give that one a spin. I promise it's well worth your time if you like hearing passionate people talk about comics. Which would explain why you're here today, why most of you are here today, and that's not to hear me pay bills or suck up to the sponsors.

[00:03:29] So, without further ado, let's get this show started. Shortbox Nation, let's welcome our guests of honor today. That's right, guests. That's plural. Because we got two fantastic guests for you today. We've got the host of the Comic Tom 101 YouTube channel, and they can now add comic writers to the resumes, because at the time Of this episode, the first issue of the original comic book Crashdown is in shops today.

[00:03:50] The series is illustrated by highly decorated and multi award winning comic artist Ben Templesmith and is being published by Whatnot Publishing. Shortbox Nation, let's welcome Tom Garcia and Ryan Sargent to the show. Tom, Ryan, welcome, welcome,

[00:04:04] ComicTom: welcome. Badr, it's great to see you. Thank you for having us, taking time out of your day.

[00:04:09] It's, uh, very exciting. You know, we're recording this before the release, but I can only imagine our excitement. And our enthusiasm at the time of this release is at an all time high. It's gonna be a very different

[00:04:22] Fire Guy Ryan: world

[00:04:22] Badr: next Wednesday. This episode comes out on, on the big debut day, so I'm gonna go ahead and, uh, retroactively or however, however, futurely, say congratulations on the release of Crashdown.

[00:04:34] Um, I have been watching the, the videos, I've seen the, the, the, the clips on YouTube, I'm sorry, YouTube and Instagram. Uh, I'm loving the promo and all the work you guys have done, uh, building up to it and This is like the ultimate podcasters, you know, comic content creator, podcasters dream to have their own comic book.

[00:04:49] So I applaud you guys for making it happen,

[00:04:51] ComicTom: man. Yeah, we appreciate the love. We've had so much support. It's been outstanding and it's been a long ride, you know, we've delayed the book a little bit, but for good reason, you know, we've been able to expand it, you know, make it a larger and even better story than what we even imagined at first.

[00:05:07] And yeah, we're just hitting the ground running. We have a lot of ideas and I want to speak for you, Ryan, but I feel like this is just the start. It, it, I feel like I got bit by the bug, you know, I'm, I'm constantly in this creative mode now and I'm thinking of new stories. I'm thinking of volume two already, which I don't want to get ahead of myself cause Hey, we got to have a successful volume one first, you know, but, but, uh, I, you know, it's definitely something that I didn't think would be, um, here so soon, you know, it was definitely a dream of mine to have a comic book.

[00:05:35] I second all of that. I didn't give you permission to talk, Ryan. Oh, sorry, Tom. There

[00:05:39] Fire Guy Ryan: you go. Tom told me if I did good, he said if I did good in the interview, then I could have one extra snack today.

[00:05:45] ComicTom: Yeah, I got, uh, I've, I've, I've had, uh, been very blessed with my, uh, career in comic books. And I've been able to work with some of my best friends.

[00:05:54] And I've known Ryan way before the YouTube channel, um, way before Instagram, way before I even had like a social media presence at all. So, um, What you see is what you get because we just have extended our lives and welcome the comic community to just be spectators and be part

[00:06:11] Badr: of it. The marketing has been on point, you know, you guys obviously are used to promoting videos and your own content, cutting clips and, you know, being active on social and.

[00:06:21] You know, learning the algorithms and things like that. I'm assuming that was probably, would you say marketing the comic book was maybe the easiest step when you consider the entire creative process, considering all the work you already put into the channel and promoting that? That's a good question.

[00:06:37] ComicTom: I love that question.

[00:06:39] I'll say none of it's easy. Like really, I mean, if anything, going through this process has, I already had. The utmost respect for everyone involved in comic creation because I'm preview to a lot of it. I work with a lot of artists. I'm a rep of Johnny Desjardins, you know, like I'm, and I, we work with the industry leaders and publishers and I'm friends with almost all of them.

[00:07:01] Um, so I had a lot of insights. I knew I was like, I was prepared. Um, but starting and actually like going through it. Oh my goodness. There's so many curve balls. There's so many due dates. There's so many things you got to think five steps ahead. Yeah. And I would say like, no, there wasn't really anything.

[00:07:19] It was all hard. It still is hard, you know, um, and it's a lot of fun. Um, I think that we're, we were equipped with the marketing though, because not because like we knew what to do, because we had to go into and plan it just like anything else. And maybe because we're good at planning things because of our show like that, that could help.

[00:07:35] Um, but really the thing that made it easy is that we make a lot of variant covers. We work with a lot of publishers and we work with a lot of other stores. So, for me, I thought about this like, if there was another, you know, if I was working with an IP, a brand new IP, that was all RISC, because it's brand new, we're the first time writers, you know, um, we think we made something awesome, you know, I hope it's great.

[00:08:03] At this point, we've been spending so much time on it, we may have made something totally just dog shit, I don't know, but I think it's great, I think the community is going to love it, and I'm really excited about it, um, but. I, when I looked at the marketing was like, this is how I wish a comic book would be marketed that I was investing in and, um, from, from the ground up, it was a, it was about empowering anyone who wanted to support us.

[00:08:26] Um, you'll notice that all the crash sound variants that are coming out had a minimum print count of 100, which is basically unheard of. In ongoing comic books, and that was purposeful. Um, I'm not looking to make money off of my supporters or my friends. I'm looking to support them because they're going to support us by marketing and, and being along for the ride of, uh, of our, of our creation that we put over a year into.

[00:08:52] Um, and through that, I just, it, that was actually pretty easy. What would. I like if I was taking a risk and trying to help someone who was supporting and I was supporting their IP. And maybe I was, I looked at them as a friend or a colleague. So we went out of our way to curate covers. We went out of our way to make sure that those cover deals were great and that we didn't like profit off of our stores who were backing us.

[00:09:14] Um, we went out of our way to make sure that things were received, um, before a convention like mega con, which is going to be the big debut. Um, we went through specialty printing to make sure that They were done to a higher level of quality than when you go through a giant printing house that things go wrong because there's thousands of books being dealt.

[00:09:32] Um, we, uh, paid for better card stock. Like we, we, every step of the way, just like our YouTube channel, we reinvest into it. And in this case, we're reinvesting into our supporters. Um, and that's a big part of the marketing is the supporters of our, of our, uh, fellow retailer stores, et cetera. Uh, but then obviously LCS is, is.

[00:09:50] Primary number one, you know, they're the ones who are taking the biggest risk and ordering across the country and out of country. So, um, doing interviews like this, of course, is kind of like, you know, this is, you know, like what is expected of us, but we did a lot. We did way more. I think we've probably marketed Crashdown more than I think any independent comic that we've covered since the start of our YouTube channel.

[00:10:10] I could be wrong. And I feel like we're

[00:10:14] Fire Guy Ryan: just scratching the surface as the person behind the scenes who is typing these posts out and hitting the button and sharing them all. It's like we've got a lot more on deck. So if you do enjoy these little teaser clips and like showing off the covers that we have on deck, then Stay tuned.

[00:10:29] Badr: For our listeners, I'm going to have links to Crashdown as well as preview images of those. So all of that will be linked in the episode show notes as well as where you can go ahead and pre order and buy the comic as well. But oh, great opening statements. And that is essentially what my compliment was that seeing the enthusiasm and the level of, you know, the volume of content, I could tell like, now these guys really care about this project and they're putting their all into marketing it because I feel like marketing in comic books.

[00:10:55] Is, that's definitely an area that could be, uh, improved upon.

[00:10:59] ComicTom: Dude, can I say something about that real quick? Yeah, hit it. There's so many opinions about why the comic community Is the way it is fill that in for whatever is important to you as it pertains to like comics being ordered at LCS's and people picking up their comics and, and, you know, the more that happens, the more comics get created at the publishers, the more teams that assemble to create these comics.

[00:11:20] There's multiple people. Every IP that marvel and D. C. and image produces like its own micro business. And then the publisher is the umbrella and then the LCS is, you know, it's like, it's just a lot of people that have to coordinate to make something that comes out monthly via a dead medium, you know, paper, like, like it doesn't even make sense.

[00:11:40] So we're lucky that even exists at all. Um, there's a lot of things that could be said to what could be better narratives. Who's writing it? What they care about and what they're putting into the comics? Sure. You mentioned cardstock

[00:11:52] Fire Guy Ryan: earlier. Even the damn pages themselves you're reading. Like half the time you rip through them because they're like tissue paper.

[00:11:57] You get ink smudging on your fingers and it just feels like you're holding a cheap product that nobody cares about on

[00:12:01] ComicTom: the back end. Yeah, I mean we're talking about something you can read digitally if you really wanted to. So, um, I think like the number one thing that I, I wish was more of a critique and that people talked about at least first before any other opinion is marketing.

[00:12:17] And unfortunately, a lot of people don't understand that like Marvel DC have their plates full and they can't market much more than what they're doing. And then on top of that, the LCS is if you are friends with an LCS owner, their plate is more than full. Most of these people are working 50, 60 hours a week.

[00:12:37] And they do it because they love it, not because they're, you know, backing up the truck, you know what I'm saying? Um, and then on top of that, then you have the creators, right? And then it all falls on the creators. What are the creators job to create the best thing they can and to have someone who's amazing at art who sits at a desk and at times, some artists, I work with artists that work.

[00:13:01] It takes days to make one cover. You know, that's why the variant market so damn cool. You know, you have like someone like I mentioned Johnny Desjardins, you know, take sometimes over a week to finish a oil painting, right? Um, you have writers, right? And they, they put all their effort into something. It takes a lot of time.

[00:13:15] I remember hearing and having conversations with Donny Cates where it's like, what is he doing at, or what was he doing, um, at conventions while one or two in the morning he's downstairs, people taking shots of him while he's on his laptop writing cause it's 2 a. m. And there's five people waiting to start their job, waiting for him to do his job.

[00:13:34] So he's focused on that. So where's the marketing? Who's, who's job is it to market? Well, I mean, we got a tiny channel, yo. We're like 60, 000. We're tiny. We're a little bit. And we made a name for ourselves because we market comics because we talk about them. And like, that's, it's like the comic community, you know?

[00:13:50] It's like all of us kind of come together. We fill that role that's so desperately needed. But let's not get it twisted. It's desperately needed. And without it, nothing happens. And I would argue that it's, whatever critique people have about comics, Until marketing is dialed in, in a way where there's any level of production and any level of content coming out.

[00:14:13] That any other social media platform would require, that's 50 plus percent of the battle. Nothing else really matters. People gotta know that the comics exist. I wanna go see

[00:14:25] Fire Guy Ryan: Aquaman in the theater, and before the movie comes out, I wanna see a trailer and says, Go read The Trench, Aquaman The Trench, Jeff Johns, Jim Lee, Noon 52, it's badass, here's some pages, make a cool little clip, throw it up before the movie, get the people who are going there to see your movie, however few of them there may have been.

[00:14:40] That's your, that's your solution in my mind, I feel like. You got so many people, at least you used to, going to see these movies in the theater who were primed to maybe get a little comic book dangled in front of their eyes while they're sitting there watching previews for Fast and the Furious or whatever Jason Statham movie's coming out, you know, get them a book.

[00:14:55] This stuff is all

[00:14:56] ComicTom: based on stuff. You can't critique Aquaman. When you can't answer the question, why does Aquaman, okay, you can answer the question because Aquaman is a bad example, my man, but why could have a box office movie come out and that have no fluctuation in the comic market beyond collectibles, you know, I'm talking about just going to an LCS.

[00:15:18] It's like until that question could be answered and not by It's Oh, the writer of the month or the writer of the series and whatever it is, like so many things you can critique, but like the main thing is like if a movie can't do it, there is so many bigger problems as it pertains to marketing that everything else is kind of, in my opinion, and I don't mean to like ruffle feathers.

[00:15:36] I think it's nonsense.

[00:15:38] Badr: Yeah, you know what? I've seen a tweet that's a little bit related to this this morning about. Uh, the idea of comic books and they were like, can you imagine any other medium where you go and buy one chapter of a book every single week or a month? Uh, you know, just how deranged that kind of concept is, it's got me thinking the time that we do have for this interview is not long enough for all the things I would like to pick your brains about.

[00:16:02] Uh, so I'm going to, uh, to pivot to my next topic, which is really kind of a taking a step back since this is both of your first time. On the short box, I want to give folks a kind of an idea of who you guys are and where you're at. Is it safe to say you guys are both in Washington state?

[00:16:17] ComicTom: That's right. The evergreen state.

[00:16:19] Okay, evergreen. Best place in the world to live. I mean, you know. I have

[00:16:22] Badr: the data. I mean, you know, Florida would like to have a little conversation about that, but I'm not going to argue too much. Florida?

[00:16:28] ComicTom: You just said Florida? That was a funny joke, my man. That's a funny joke. This guy over here having to, like, run from gators and stuff.

[00:16:36] He's like, this place is, this place is poppin How are those jellyfish in the ocean being treated? I got stung by a jellyfish once in Florida. Never got over it. Yo, I got family in Florida. My grandma lives down there. She had to replace her roof twice because of freakin hurricanes. You know how last time I dealt with a hurricane in Washington?

[00:16:52] Never. What's the

[00:16:54] Badr: temperature like in Washington right now? You

[00:16:56] ComicTom: gotta wear a coat. You gotta wear a coat. Most of the year. It's a little chilly. It's a little chilly right now. It may be snowing a little bit right now. I may lose power. Look,

[00:17:05] Badr: trade offs. You know. What I want to know by bringing up that question is what is the comic scene like in your, whether it be neighborhood, your city, or state, like what is the comic book scene like there?

[00:17:14] If I was to come Uh, do a, uh, a trip to Washington and I had to mark off like some essential go visit, you know, comic book spots or do comic book things. What, what would you recommend?

[00:17:26] ComicTom: Well, one, we got Emerald City out here. It's gonna be next month. Comic Con? Yeah, Comic Con. Yeah, we got, uh, yeah, it's a good, yeah, Emerald City, right?

[00:17:33] Um, we have, uh, issue two coming out in February. It's the week of, uh, of Emerald City. Okay. Comic Con. Awesome convention and um, so much like comic supporters. Um, growing up here, I know pretty much every major retailer and they run their businesses, um, in such amazing ways that they've definitely like, you know, they're like, they're all mentors in some way since I've been known for so long.

[00:17:58] I mean, a lot of these guys have been doing this since I was a teenager, right? Um, so you have some amazing stores. We actually had, uh, Sammy from Skeleton Key. Uh, they came up for a drop, right? Yeah. And we're like, Hey, let's, let's like show her around to our, like our, our regular stops. We were in the car for maybe two hours and we hit like nine shops, eight shops.

[00:18:18] Like it was like, there's a comic store in like every city out here pretty much. Um, and if there's not a comic store, there's a antique store with a comic section because someone rented out an area and they keep their comics going. You know, um, I would say it's a really strong presence out here. There's a lot of people who like to read out here too.

[00:18:35] Um, and I think that's a, you know, it's also another important

[00:18:39] Fire Guy Ryan: thing. We're also pretty close to Portland, which in my mind is like comic mecca, you know, and you got so many publishers and, you know, creators that are

[00:18:45] Badr: headquartered out of there. If I recall correctly, I think, you know, some of the names that come to mind when I think of Portland, I think like Brian Michael Bendis is out there.

[00:18:52] I think, um. Yeah, Joshua Williamson's out there too. Joshua Williamson. Yeah, it's like, to Ryan's point, I have heard it is like a mecca. Yeah. So. You know what? Maybe I'm giving a little more credit to, uh, to Washington being one of the best states out there. All right. You had me at nine shops in two hours.

[00:19:06] That sounds like a lot of fun. It's a good time, man. Tom, I've heard your story before in regards to your first conscious exposure to comics. It sounds like, from my understanding, you've kind of grown up with comics. Your, your father was, uh, owned a comic shop and you guys lived above the shop,

[00:19:20] ComicTom: right? He was a manager of the shop.

[00:19:22] Yeah. Okay. He, he managed it. You know, you wouldn't have Run in the shop. Or ever. Or ever, maybe. I don't know. No, he was good at it. He was good at it. But yeah, um, you want the quick rundown?

[00:19:32] Badr: Yeah, give me the quick rundown. I don't want to assume that like, you know, that was your first conscious exposure, but like, do you recall maybe like that one particular title or book or moment where it was like, okay, I'm in this for life.

[00:19:42] I'm a fan. Oh,

[00:19:43] ComicTom: snap. Oh, I learned how to read with comics. Like, that, that was like, I was, I struggled at reading, I don't know, I probably have a little bit of like ADHD, or maybe even like a little bit of dyslexia, I don't know, I, I, my, my problem is like, if I'm reading a standard book, unless it's like a, a non fiction book, by the time I get halfway through a page, I'm like gone.

[00:20:06] I'm like, what did I just read? I read it, but it's, I did not retain anything. So it was a real struggle. Um, in my, in my youth when I was a youth, right? My cousin Vinnie. Right. So, um, so quickly my dad's like, oh, well, let's read comic books together. So I pretty much learned how to read comics earlier, how to read with comics.

[00:20:25] Um, and I grew up with bone and I grew up with, uh, You know, reading different, like JLA, my dad was a big Vertigo guy. So I was definitely, uh, introduced to some more mature stuff than I should have been. Um, whenever there was stuff at school, um, and they're like, you have to bring something to read for a reading time, et cetera.

[00:20:42] My dad would always be like, just grab a graphic novel. And if they give you any crap about that, tell them they can call me and I'll tell them that this is what I want my kid to read. So when teachers would be like. Oh, you can't read hellblazer. You need to read a real book and i'm like it is a real book He gets cancer and I got to figure out what he's gonna get how he's gonna get out of this I'll tell you what I

[00:21:01] Fire Guy Ryan: brought to your school reading day But I also got in trouble for because I didn't discover comics until like college dude You

[00:21:07] ComicTom: can't bring porn to school.

[00:21:08] Ryan

[00:21:09] Fire Guy Ryan: a little bit is okay No, it's a little there's a story in here!

[00:21:13] ComicTom: You gotta read past the imagery. That's right, there's a whole narrative. He loves Greg Horn. Oh. I do.

[00:21:19] Fire Guy Ryan: No, but for me it was like Excuse me, not Greg Horn. I get that mixed up too. Who who did

[00:21:23] ComicTom: I Greg Land? Greg Land? I don't know which one's which.

[00:21:25] Love Greg Horn. Did not mean to say Greg Horn. Greg

[00:21:27] Badr: Land. But Greg Horn is also known for all of his very steamy sexual covers, so that would have worked too.

[00:21:32] Yeah.

[00:21:32] Fire Guy Ryan: I brought the Kingdom Hearts strategy guide to class and read that and failed. I

[00:21:37] Badr: hope I can consolidate that, yeah, that creepy ass he has a sound bite.

[00:21:41] That is good. That's

[00:21:42] Fire Guy Ryan: why we got separate, we got separate mic tracks. Thank you. I can talk all

[00:21:45] Badr: over him. Ryan, what was your first exposure to comics? You said not until college?

[00:21:50] Fire Guy Ryan: Yeah, not really until college. I, I did like the Borders books hangout. I would sit in a chair and, you know, read Ultimate Spider Man like in high school a couple times.

[00:21:57] It was fine, but I didn't really even know that like these came out in single issues month over month. The comics were just completely off my radar. Do you

[00:22:04] ComicTom: remember any of the comics that Like stuck with you that you did experience for the first time at borders. Like I read old man Logan for the first time.

[00:22:11] It

[00:22:11] Fire Guy Ryan: was Ultimate Spider Man. I read volume one and I said, I went back and I read up as much as I could. And sometimes they put those little security stickers right in the middle of the book over a panel. And I would just like, take that off. Lift it up. No, I peel it off. I peel that sucker off. And I'll put it back on the cover of the book.

[00:22:25] I'll keep it on the book somewhere. One time I screwed up. I like, it must've stuck on my shoe or something. The beeper went off on me when I went out the

[00:22:31] ComicTom: door. Then Ryan ran. He just sprinted. Watching

[00:22:35] Badr: you two, you know, interact and hearing you two talk has got me missing all of my co hosts. Like, I kind of miss having, you know, a friend to like bounce off of.

[00:22:42] Tell me, how did you, how did you two meet? Like, how did you guys form a friendship? Oh, I hired

[00:22:47] Fire Guy Ryan: him. Yeah, about a decade ago, I was working in the food court at the mall and my mommy was like, you need a big boy job and I was like, yeah, you're right. I'm in my, you know, early twenties. I gotta get out of this mall.

[00:22:57] And, uh, I liked working with numbers. I was meeting, you know, people face to face working at a mall. So I figured I was decent enough with customer service. I applied at a bank, walked in for the interview, and it was this guy who was on the other side of the table, along with some other, you know, branch manager or something, but I assumed that must have been like, oh, she brought her son to work today and dressed him up in a suit or something, because this little, like, 13 year old looking kid is, he's the boss of the bank.

[00:23:24] Yeah, that's how it went down.

[00:23:26] ComicTom: Yeah, I was Mr. Manager. Uh, yeah, I was, uh, the youngest, like, branch manager of Wells Fargo at one point. Um, I got the job, like, right when I turned 21. Um, and Yeah, I was just good at it, and I was managing people, and I was hiring for tellers, and this guy came in, and, um, you know, he shared with us that what he liked to do in his downtime was, like, read comic books, and play video games, and I'm like, oh, cool, cause I was the bra cause I was the person in charge, um, I would have, and you can attest to this, I would have all of my you know, like, you go to work, and But you find out something's being shipped to you from eBay and you're like, damn, I can't wait to go home.

[00:24:08] And I hope that they put it underneath. You know, the awning so it doesn't get rained on or, or, you know, or like, ah, I've been waiting on this. I've been, you know, checking the tracking. So I realized, well, this is my branch. I'm from this place. I'm gonna have this be my address. So I would have my comics, I would just shop all the time, and I'd have them shipped to the branch.

[00:24:26] So they're like, Oh, Tom, we got a package. Like, Oh, cool. That's my like collection. I just bought. Um, and then statues. I was like also buying like gem and style statues. Right. So that's when I get

[00:24:35] Fire Guy Ryan: a little phone call at the, at the Tyler line. Cause I'm working. I'm, you know, managing people's transactions and stuff.

[00:24:39] And it's like, uh, we need you over at the, at the manager's

[00:24:41] ComicTom: desk. I'm like, yeah, bring me Ryan. I need Ryan. I need Ryan over here. So Ryan would come over and then other people would be like, Oh, what's Ryan doing? Tom's over there talking to him. And at first they're like, oh, he's like doing coaching or is he in trouble?

[00:24:55] And then they got to the point where they're like, Oh, Tom got some freaking comic books. You should have been coaching me. I sucked at that. You were really bad at it, dude. And I was apparently, I was my

[00:25:01] Fire Guy Ryan: least favorite job I've ever had. I

[00:25:03] ComicTom: hated it so much. It was a bad dude. I, I'm not in that industry for a reason.

[00:25:06] I lasted six months. But I also had like a Nintendo 64 in the back room and a Sega Genesis, so he's like, Oh, I play video games. I'm like, dude, I love playing video games on my break. Like, this could work. And then he also was like, Oh, I have a Green Lantern tattoo. And I'm like, Well, I got a Hellboy tattoo, dude.

[00:25:18] Like, so. But I have zero

[00:25:20] professional

[00:25:20] ComicTom: experience of any kind. I'm like, you don't need it. I own Friend. So, um, so I hired him, um, and we became good friends and, um, and he wasn't the only person we met. Um, you know, through that. That wasn't the only person I met throughout the time of my life that's, you know, around to this day.

[00:25:34] Um, and yeah, when the channel started, um, you know, we didn't hang out all that much, but whenever we did, it was really fun. Um, but, you know, he's got his degree, and he's a really good writer, and he's a great creative, and I ain't got no degree,

[00:25:47] Fire Guy Ryan: man. I went to school I didn't finish. I don't want you to put out fake news out there.

[00:25:51] Dude, you

[00:25:51] ComicTom: don't have your degree? Nah. I went to hippie school, dude. I thought you actually had your degree. I didn't even have grades. Do you have your associates?

[00:25:57] Fire Guy Ryan: I don't have shit. I dropped out of there because the economic recession and stuff happened right at that time period, man. It was bad

[00:26:03] ComicTom: times.

[00:26:03] We're gonna have to dock your pay. You can dock my pay. Oh my goodness. I've been paying you thinking you had a rocket

[00:26:09] Fire Guy Ryan: scientist degree. That's right. I am the president.

[00:26:14] ComicTom: Well, that tells you just how, um, little schooling impacted me because this guy I write good. Yeah, he writes really well, so, um G. U. D. But yeah, early YouTube days, um, when I was doing like the first couple videos, I realized like, Oh, snap, I need, I need some help.

[00:26:28] Me too, yeah. I want to make sure I'm You know, I'm doing this right. Maybe you can help me script a little bit. Maybe help me with like my delivery and edit what I'm doing. And then really quickly, I'm like, this isn't as much fun as I thought it would be because it was so hard. I was learning Photoshop and Adobe and I got a script and I'm at the time I had a green, I got a teleprompter and like, I don't do that anymore.

[00:26:49] But at the beginning, I thought that's how you do this. So, um, I quickly was like, you're right. He was just like sitting on a video and see how that goes. And yeah. It was like, it was a fun time and I realized, oh wait, this could actually be like really enjoyable. Um, if, if we kind of dialed this in, you

[00:27:04] Fire Guy Ryan: had to convince me, I was very content to just be your like a script proofreader and slash, I don't know, camera guy or something.

[00:27:10] I'll come over one time, you know, I'll sit in this video. Okay, fine. This one time thing. And then you're like, yeah, you need to get on Instagram because that's where all the comic fam is. Hey, you know, all this stuff is on Instagram. Like I got a Facebook, bro. I'm good. I don't need Instagram. You basically had to drag me to where I am now, but I'm, I'm appreciative.

[00:27:26] Badr: I probably speak on behalf of the millions of views that you guys have, but I'm glad that you guys have found your voice in a solid operation. Um, I know personally speaking, I might have, uh, got on board with the Comic Tom 101 train around, like, the pandemic time. Um, so it's been really interesting to watch the channel grow, uh, the success and the acclaim that you guys get.

[00:27:47] Ryan, you said in an interview that you pride yourself in doing, like, you know, like, just digging. Through previews, like the back issues, the bottoms of the listings and scraps. Yeah, the scraps, which I can totally respect because I'm a front to end kind of like preview reader myself. I'm always looking for like, you know, the stuff that's off the beaten path.

[00:28:06] So if that said, how did it feel seeing crash down be listed in preview? I believe it was what listed in previous for the first time in the June or July previews magazine. How did it feel like we've

[00:28:17] Fire Guy Ryan: gotten in there a couple of times. Because, you know, we had a, we had a delay on our book, so it was in previews.

[00:28:22] I think the first two issues were in previews almost a year ago at this point when, when it was first solicited and then it was delayed and then re put in previews again. So we've had, we've been in previews a lot now. We're in the, we're issue three is in the current catalog right now. I just flipped to it like yesterday when I was at the shop just to, just to get a look.

[00:28:39] Still doesn't feel real. I don't know. I don't know when this is gonna feel real. Probably, uh, by the time this, you know, by the time I get to read the actual comic myself.

[00:28:46] Badr: You know, like, uh, Tom said, we are recording this, uh, you know, a week, well, a couple days before the release of Issue 1. What do you guys plan to be when Issue 1 drops?

[00:28:55] Like, do you guys plan on celebrating in any way?

[00:28:57] ComicTom: Like Oh, so we're gonna be on WhatNot for hours. Like, we're gonna be doing, like, a party. It's gonna be a really cool time. Cause it's like, we're gonna stream on YouTube. See the fam hopefully bring in as many creators and individuals who are part and that we owe a lot of like You know, gratitude to, and hopefully they feature, you know, we're going to have them feature on, on, on whatnot and on YouTube.

[00:29:18] And, um, we're going to be debuting the book, we're gonna be signing books and we're gonna be, um, you know, providing them to the community and however they want to grab them. So, um, yeah, it's gonna be a fun time, you know, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm kind of excited, uh, to see how Wednesday goes. Cause I do want to make time to actually go to an LCS and see if they have any there, any there too.

[00:29:40] So we

[00:29:41] Fire Guy Ryan: have a, we have a live stream on Thursday and we're going to talk about the book on Thursday too. So once, once it's actually out in people's hands, I I'm excited to talk to people about the read itself. You know, we've, we've been kind of vague about it up until now, cause we're trying to keep it spoiler free until, until release day.

[00:29:57] Well, how

[00:29:57] Badr: about this, uh, to give folks an idea of what they can expect from the series and issue one. I'm going to read the solicitation and then I want to ask you guys a question about it here in a sec. So the solicitation for Crashdown number one reads, Tom Garcia and Ryan Sargent, which Ryan, by the way, you've got like two badass names.

[00:30:13] You got a badass regular last name and then a badass nickname, Fire Guy Ryan. Uh, Tom Garcia and Ryan Sargent, the host of the Comic Con 101 YouTube channel with over 12 million views, team up with legendary horror artist Ben Templesmith for this three issue story of suspense and survival. Equal parts lost and alien with a Lovecraftian twist, Crashdown delivers a dark vision of our world's final days.

[00:30:34] The Earth is dead, humanity's last hope is the distant planet Empyrean and the ship full of colonists ready to repopulate our civilization. But what happens when their new home doesn't want them there and it fights? That's a solicitation there. My question is, what was the mission in writing this? Like, what, what audience, um, what reader, what consumer, like, did you have in mind when you, when you wrote this down?

[00:30:56] And how did the story, I guess, come about? Me.

[00:31:00] Fire Guy Ryan: I wanted to write the book I wanted to read. Like, if I was flipping through the catalog and I saw a book that marketed, that said the word lost in it, I'm ordering it. That's that's about it. If I, if I see anything with tentacles or Lovecraftian stuff, I'm a sucker.

[00:31:11] I'll order it and I might be disappointed more often than not, but there are certain things that I gravitate towards when it comes to storytelling and I wanted to write the comic that I would like to read and I think that's a solid piece of advice that a lot of creators get

[00:31:25] ComicTom: any medium really make it for yourself and then it's going to be the best it can be and fortunately this opportunity to bring it to press it wasn't an opportunity first and then we decided to make the book no this was already like conversations were happening I'm friends with Ben Temple Smith He had been telling me for over a year.

[00:31:46] Come on, man Let's make a book and i'm like i got these ideas and i'm kind of like i'm chilling with him or bouncing ideas off Each other and I had a handful of things i'm like thinking about doing and I had some bad ideas I had a freaking creepy weird story that I don't think whatnot would ever publish Um that I showed ryan and he's like dude, you got some weird stuff going on in your head Like, you know, I like horror dude, like it's superheroes are cool.

[00:32:06] And I like a lot of uh, dc stuff and that's all great but I'm a horror guy at heart. I like feeling disturbed. I like the feeling of, uh, I really enjoy being able to read a comic and then having it linger afterwards and there are stories that I, you know, I think of like, uh, witches, for example, you know, the witches that are in the trees, Scott Snyder, goodness, that Jock drew, you know, that's going to be an animated horror series, by the way, um, it resonated so much with me that I got reread the book and all throughout the year.

[00:32:37] I'll randomly think of that book, but I do that with a lot of horror as well. Um, so yeah, we went into it like, well, we already know what we want to do and we have a company that's willing to. Like work with us with this and they're cool with horror. Let's go all in and let's see how much we can push it and like do something that we really want to do.

[00:32:55] So, um, fortunately we got like no pushback, you know, they hurt their, they've been, it's honestly, I'm, I'm a little surprised that they let us do everything they wanted us to do. You know, I was waiting for them to say, Hey, maybe tone it down a little bit. You know, we're like a multi billion dollar company and we're competing with eBay.

[00:33:13] No, we're like. We're splitting people in half in this comic and they're like, Whoa, that's cool. Give us more of that, please. I'm like, Oh, this is freaking dope. Like they really care about comics. Cause they're like, you know, they're, they're, uh, putting their money where their mouth is. They know they're back in indie creators and, you know, helping us live our dream.

[00:33:30] You know,

[00:33:30] Badr: speaking of what not publishing, I just realized that there's a little bit of, um, uh, like synergy going on here with this episode around this time last year, the first episode that, uh, we put out with the short box, uh, in 2023. There's actually an interview with co founder and co publisher of WhatNot Publishing, Kevin Rotatelli, who also has a new original comic series coming out this year through WhatNot Publishing in March called Washed in Blood.

[00:33:54] It's being advertised as Black Mirror, a post apocalyptic twist. You can actually get your pre orders in for that right now if you're interested. So big shoutouts to Kevin. I find it interesting that we got you guys on talking about a release coming out through there. I guess that leads me to a question here.

[00:34:09] Whatnot Publishing is a relatively, I mean, safe to say they're like a newcomer into the publishing world. Obviously, they're enjoying a lot of success. I mean, those, you know, that first year that they came out with Uh, all those pre orders they were getting for like Quested and, uh, Liquid Kill and, you know, and that they got Astrobots, now they've got Crashdown.

[00:34:26] What was the process like working with Whatnot Publishing? Like, it sounds like they gave you guys a lot of, like, uh, clearance and a lot of leeway to do the things you wanted. Um, do you think, like, them being relatively new meant that they had a chance to maybe take more risks and, you know, give you guys a lot more freedom?

[00:34:43] ComicTom: They're not relatively new. I think that's the first thing that I think may be a misconception. Um, massive. Well, why not publishing is relatively new, but that's just an imprint and massive publishing is the actual like distributor. Why not? So, so it's, it's a, it's like skybound image, you know, skybound may be newer than image, but it is image, right?

[00:35:03] Like those are the ones that handle everything. It's nestled in there. So like so Kevin Rotatelli, you know, he's from like behemoth days, you know, Michael Calero He's been making comics for years and he's our editor, by the way So like these guys knew what they were doing all these comics that they brought to press with what not publishing as a banner and A collaborative effort with whatnot Now I was like it was backed by industry professionals.

[00:35:25] So as far as their impact to what we did Oh, it was like we're working with professionals. It was amazing. Um, and then You know, we, we had asked Michael Calero early on, like, yo, you edit our book. Like, I know you're busy as hell. And he's like, dude, I'm freaking love Ben Temple Smith. Let's do it. So, so we have someone who like, I mean, we just have so much talented individuals that we can seek advice from.

[00:35:45] And we did all along the way. Um, so really like working with them was. Super easy, you know, it's if anything it's like the learning curve of creating the comic was the most difficult part deadlines and making sure that we have Assets and that we figured this out in time for this and don't forget about previews here And you know, we're gearing up to like work on this thing But you know what?

[00:36:04] You got to work on this thing first and then you got to work on this thing and also be creative at the same time It's really tough But all along the way Um, we're gonna people who like do this every day and um, yeah, I mean it was a it's actually way simpler of a process on the creative side, um, maybe, maybe because we're not as bad as I, you know, we, we, we might not be as bad of writers as we are,

[00:36:26] Fire Guy Ryan: but there's so many small like things that you take for granted as a comic reader that like when you step on the other side of the, you know, of the page as it is like, You didn't use their names.

[00:36:36] Like, that's a thing I keep bringing up in a lot of interviews we've talked about but, like, that's a lesson that Tom and I learned the hard way was that, like, when you're writing a script and you write a line of dialogue and it says, Jack. Oh man, let's go over here. Susie. Okay, that's a good idea. When you're reading the book, people don't know the names Jack and Susie but we write it down in the script.

[00:36:52] Those are placeholder names, by the way, we do not have characters named Jack and Susie. But regardless, stuff like that, you gotta think about stuff like, while issue 1 is about to release, we are farther down the road, finalizing stuff for issue 3 and 4, proofreading issue 2, making sure all the stuff is ready for that, cause that's about, we're about to switch into, you know, issue 2 mode here in a minute, so like, we are having to put a lot of different hats on kinda at the same time, it's uh, It's a fun

[00:37:18] Badr: challenge, though.

[00:37:20] It sounds like these next few weeks are going to be jam packed and busy. Because, I mean, it sounds like the schedule is pretty much going to be on point with Issue 2 in February, and then the series wraps up in March. So I imagine April. Is that it again?

[00:37:31] ComicTom: Four issues. We got expanded to four issues. Oh, wow.

[00:37:33] Congratulations. Yeah, that was the second So the first delay one. The first delay was more of a, you know That was a timing thing. It was a ti Yeah, it was There was a lot of weird stuff, and it's It had nothing to do with Crashdown, and it had everything to do with just, like You know, just working with companies, big companies, and it's got to be right.

[00:37:51] And they wanted, they wanted to do it right. And you line things up for convention seasons and things change. So the first one was like, Hey, we had an idea for a one shot and they're like, Hey, if we can get a one shot rolling, we just need a little bit more time. Have a better launch. So we're like, yeah, well, we need more time because we want to gear up for a one shot.

[00:38:07] And then the second delay was like, well, our one shot is kind of more of an issue for if we can actually get issue for. On the books, we were going to do

[00:38:15] Fire Guy Ryan: three issue storyline with a one shot that came afterwards to like, you know, do a solo story for a character, like a all flashback storyline, some kind of thing, you know, a standalone one shot.

[00:38:23] And we realized

[00:38:24] ComicTom: like we did issue three script and we're like, damn, we could use another issue. Like, I feel like it's so hard, like our, because we do it in order to like. Map, you have to map the whole thing out in the very beginning, you know, we have to know what's gonna happen in issue 4 at the end, while we're writing issue 1, um, but the, the loose outline, and then the rough draft, and the ones you actually get to it, and you have to commit, it's like, damn, you gotta fit this in 22 pages, and then the flow doesn't feel right until you're like really experiencing it, and it's like, oh, snap, I want a fourth issue, and I want it longer, and why not, it's like, yo, let's just, Do this

[00:38:57] Fire Guy Ryan: in 2024.

[00:38:58] We already have that one shot. So like we just took that. We're going to have a little bigger fourth issue because a one shot is a little bigger than a regular comic. So yeah, our final issue will be 34 pages. I think it is. It's going to be bigger than the normal, the normal standard size. But yeah, we had to kind of rework the whole back end of our story because it was expanded at the halfway point to be four issues instead of three.

[00:39:18] So yeah, we had to change the whole, not change, but like, Massage the whole back half and make it make it work better over two issues versus one way to put it

[00:39:26] Badr: You've mentioned Ben Templesmith a few times Tom. You mentioned that you guys have had a friendship for a while I think to anyone that's listening right now.

[00:39:33] They probably more so know him as you know, a New York Times bestseller He's a you know, multi award winning, you know comic creator. He's notable works for anyone that might not be familiar 30 days of night And, uh, fell with Warren Ellis and, and a whole bunch of other things. What, what are some lessons that you learned from Ben Templesmith?

[00:39:50] You know, as someone that's a, you know, career veteran that's been in the industry, won a few awards, like what did he bring to the table in terms of like, you know, guiding you guys or, or making the process easy? Oh, Ben's a genius.

[00:40:04] ComicTom: I think that's, we start out with saying that, like he's a, there's, there's no independent creator that I've ever seen that is as talented as that gentleman.

[00:40:12] Um, and he, his love for comics, it pours through the page. How his brain works is fascinating. Um, you hit him with the challenge and it's like, it's like someone's playing 4d chess. He's, he's, he's, he's calling stuff out that you would never think that unless you were deep into creating comics every single day for like 20 plus years, your brain just wouldn't think like that.

[00:40:38] But that's, this is so cool about this medium is that it offers that growth in, um, as it pertains to the creative. Um, and for him, uh, it was like, geez, then that made it really easy is like, I just wanted to flex his art. I mean, I think that was the big thing, is like, we put a note on the top of the page, like, whenever we're in doubt.

[00:40:58] So remember, we have Ben Tumblesmith on this, and the visuals are gonna be, you know, we can really lean on that. But in a good way, like, like, not like as a, as a, uh, what was the

[00:41:09] Fire Guy Ryan: word, like a cry? That's not the wrong word, but for me, like Like with issue one specifically, there were so many times when we were like stressed and wondering like, how do we write this scene, how do we make it fit, and then we sent the script to Ben, he's like, you guys are, this is, here,

[00:41:21] ComicTom: here it is, you did it, you did it, I

[00:41:24] Fire Guy Ryan: showed you, you're panicking, you're worrying, here, here's the scene, here they are, they all fit, they're all talking, calm down, keep

[00:41:29] ComicTom: going, it's like, here, you can't figure it out, it's because the camera needs to be, And then all of a sudden we're like, that's our comic book, and that looks really freaking cool.

[00:41:39] Oh my gosh, because we're not artists, you know, and we don't think that way. And he's somebody who is like, he's probably the most indie creator I've ever met. Like as far as he makes his own comics and sells them to his own patrons. Every three months, there's a new comic that only his patrons get recommend joining his patron, by the way, if you're at all a fan of, of, uh, a Ben Temple Smith, I mean, it's a must, but he's just on a constant grind of creating and it leads to some of the most fun collaborative work experience I've ever had, because when we get those pages, it is like Christmas, I got to say to

[00:42:16] Fire Guy Ryan: we've, we've had issue one done for a minute because, you know, because of the delays we already talked about.

[00:42:20] And, uh, yeah. I don't know what it is. I don't know if he was like practicing extra hard in that little downtime we had between issue one and two, but the, uh, the art that is on deck for the future issues is like even better. Like I I'm, I'm kind of shocked at how much more I personally love. Issues two and three, and I'm excited to get issue four once we're done scripting that and once we get some thumbnails and pencils for that in, I don't know, I think each issue of this book gets better and better as it goes, at least in the art, if not

[00:42:48] Badr: the story.

[00:42:50] Tell me if you can answer this without spoiling anything. What issue or page are you most excited for readers to get to?

[00:42:57] ComicTom: There is a part of issue one that we've kept out of just, there's, we've had friends and family read issue one. And there is a consistency with their feedback that there is a part of the book that made them feel a certain way.

[00:43:16] And I feel like we accomplished that. We have not

[00:43:18] Fire Guy Ryan: revealed that moment at all. Yeah. We've been very careful. All the marketing and teases we've done have avoided this.

[00:43:24] ComicTom: Specific shot there. It's it's it's horror sci fi. So we're looking to ruffle some feathers and make you feel not great Sometimes you know because it's it's it's it's scary.

[00:43:35] We're trying to we're trying to like, you know, it's through a comic It's kind of tough You know We're watching a movie got sounds coming at you and and suspense and quick shots and in a comic you're like you're seeing the whole Page at once so it's it's challenging but if it's messed up enough Oh, it lands in a way that you can't even experience in a theater or, you know, on a screen in general.

[00:43:55] There's a

[00:43:56] Fire Guy Ryan: couple moments for me in like issues two and three and I think we've got some cool stuff cooking for like the final climactic battle sequence or whatever is happening in the very end of the final issue. Like there's some stuff coming that I'm personally excited to see.

[00:44:08] ComicTom: You know, it's something that I'm really surprised about, like for real.

[00:44:12] I can't believe how much body horror Whatnot has allowed us to do. That's part

[00:44:17] Fire Guy Ryan: of the reason, like when we, okay, we, we, we covered their debut and their launch and we talked about Quested and Alpha Betas and Ninja Funk and Tom and I looked at each other and Exiled. We looked at each other after that conversation and we're like, those guys need a horror comic, you know, they don't have anything scary.

[00:44:31] We

[00:44:31] ComicTom: got literally, that's what we told them. We're like, guys, um, you guys really need some horror. Like where it's like, because First of all those books are great. They're good. They were really not scary though.

[00:44:40] Fire Guy Ryan: No, no, I've got some moments, but yeah It's my action. There's a lot of comedy. You know, there's funny books in there.

[00:44:44] I enjoyed alphabet is quite a bit

[00:44:46] ComicTom: requested. It's fantastic There's no horror horror. Yeah. Yeah, I want it like I was looking for the thing. That's like So maybe

[00:44:52] Fire Guy Ryan: they just allowed us to be really really off the charts horror scary because we're making up for you know, every other Non horror title. And there's more now, of course.

[00:45:00] They got American Psycho over at Massive and that book's great. That's

[00:45:03] Badr: crazy good. From the previews I've seen, the six page previews I've seen, I think you guys have already accomplished that. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. As far as, like, the previews. It's got a tinge of mystery to it.

[00:45:17] I think Ben Temple Smith's art is just eerie. It's that the color palette is just, you know, it feels claustrophobic. You can already tell there's a mystery to, to be unraveled in it. So the preview pages look great. And I'm excited to know that there's a fourth, uh, a fourth issue to expand and let you guys kind of have some breathing room.

[00:45:33] Tom, I wanted to ask really quick, uh, in regard, you mentioned that, you know, you've had some family and friends read the book. Specifically, how has your dad reacted to, I guess to all of this, you know, like to him being a comic shop manager, like he's got to have a sense of a huge sense of pride right now.

[00:45:48] ComicTom: Oh, he's so proud. And it's, it's, it's really special thing to share with them. Um, he's got two different variants to debut at mega con. He's teamed up with Kyle Willis, who I know you've done stuff with in the past too. Hell yeah. Yeah. Um, he had Kyle Willis cut up a thousand little pieces of paper and make a huge mosaic.

[00:46:05] He had Kyle do one of

[00:46:07] Badr: his infamous mosaics? Yes. Oh my God. It's

[00:46:10] ComicTom: going to be the best thing you've ever seen. We're going to show this off here soon. So it's a really cool video. Actually, yo, at the time of this, I mean, what I can do is I can actually dump all those videos and you can pick and choose what you want to share.

[00:46:19] But by the time that this comes out, it actually works out. So people's, I'm sure they're going to be debuting them. And, um, Kyle actually did, um, some recording of the process. So we incorporated that into this animated video that we're providing. So, um, you get to see him, like, you He's like little tiny pieces one by one with glue and he's like, Oh my gosh, man, like you spent so much time on this.

[00:46:39] That's crazy.

[00:46:39] Badr: He is insane with it. Speaking of some of the variant and the different covers, this was the last thing I was worried about. I was like, look, if there's one thing that these guys are going to do great. Are the cover selections and options. If it wasn't already good enough that you had Ben Temple Smith doing the interiors and you know, the standard cover, you guys have some legends also doing some other legends doing some of these other covers.

[00:46:59] You got David Mack doing a cover, a beautiful Kevin Maguire tribute cover that I'm personally looking forward to grabbing a Johnny Desjardins, is that how you say it?

[00:47:10] ComicTom: Um,

[00:47:10] Badr: Desjardins. Desjardins, yes. A painted cover with him. And then you got a Metroid video game homage cover by your editor, Michael Calero and Trevor Richardson, uh, that I might pick up as well.

[00:47:21] Um, I know it's like probably asking you to pick, you know, between your children, but do you have a personal soft spot, or do one of these covers stand out to you just a little more than the rest? You have a personal favorite?

[00:47:32] Fire Guy Ryan: I do. What's your favorite? My favorite for issue one is by Casey Parsons. I believe it's cover C.

[00:47:38] Uh, it shows our character, our lead character, Allison, kind of floating in the water, about to get, like, attacked by some tentacle monster, and you can see some crazy other monsters in the background, there's a lightning storm happening, it just really captures that moment of issue one for me in the creepiest

[00:47:51] ComicTom: way.

[00:47:52] What about you, Tom? I mean, outside of having Ben T do all the cover A's, of course. For sure. I'm very proud of all that. Um, but as far as other covers, you're having a David Mack cover. That's pretty freaking cool. Like that's a that's a shout out for helping make that happen. Um, that's not the only one we got coming by the way, but um, but yeah, David Mack has been amazing.

[00:48:09] Um, if you pull up, um, I mean, hell issues, I think issue three right now has some of the strongest covers. We have a cover by. Scott Williams. Freaking crazy dude. Crazy. Kent Williams. Oh, Kent Williams. Scott Williams

[00:48:23] Fire Guy Ryan: would be the anchor. Oh,

[00:48:24] ComicTom: Scott Williams is the anchor. What am I saying? Kent Williams. Sorry.

[00:48:26] It's been a long day. So

[00:48:27] Badr: I pulled it up real quick. So you guys have a Mike Mayhew cover. You guys have a Tyler Kirkham cover.

[00:48:33] ComicTom: Battle damage baby. Open to order by the way. Didn't have to do that. You're welcome.

[00:48:37] Badr: And an Alex Maleev cover as well. My favorite artist. Like I said, I had no doubt that the variant cover game was going to be on point.

[00:48:46] So congratulations on making that shit happen. Hell yeah. Yeah,

[00:48:49] ComicTom: we are. We're definitely really lucky. We got some incredibly talented people who are supporting this, uh, this IP,

[00:48:57] Badr: very excited. How long would you say that you guys have worked on the book from scripting, uh, revisions, all that, like rough total time, ballpark?

[00:49:05] A year, two years.

[00:49:07] ComicTom: Oh, it's been like 14, 15 months now. little, it

[00:49:10] Fire Guy Ryan: was like the fall of 22, I think.

[00:49:12] ComicTom: Well, we were, it was before New York. Yeah. We had panels done for New York, which is October, 2022.

[00:49:17] Fire Guy Ryan: And we did that interview with what not in like

[00:49:20] ComicTom: July or August. I would say it really started in July of 2022.

[00:49:25] Um, but like. Yeah, we're still trucking,

[00:49:28] Badr: you know. You obviously have a lot of work still ahead of you, right? Like the marketing, wrapping up issue four, all the things in between there. But, but I'm more so curious how you view comics, uh, personally, like how you enjoy them personally. Like, are you more analytical?

[00:49:42] Are you a little more selective? And then how maybe some of those lessons have crossed over with what you do with the channel? Like, has that improved how you do things? Has it changed anything? It's

[00:49:52] Fire Guy Ryan: made me read comics so much more like in depth and analytical and I, I'm, I'm almost taking notes at this point.

[00:49:58] Like what happens on a page turn? Are they teasing anything? I, I, I notice now when creators, I've seen this before as I'm reading when like you get the twist of a comic and you see it coming. I think Tom mentioned this before, but it's on the right hand side of the book. And you see the big, you know, splashy plot twist that it's supposed to be a surprise because it's not on the page turn, stuff like that, and you got to start to, uh, develop and, and kind of observe and take notes on.

[00:50:22] I'm, I'm panicking a little bit because in the last, you know, 14 ish months, like Tom mentioned, I've read more than a couple comics that came really close to our idea, and thankfully they, they, you know, veered off in a different direction before, before I got really worried, but that's another, another thing I was keeping an eye on while we were making this.

[00:50:42] Badr: I think having Ben Temple Smith just, you know, automatically makes it such a unique comic book. I mean, you know, the, the saying, you know, there's no, no ideas original. There's nothing new underneath the sun, but I really think it's like the execution. And I think the, your voices will definitely shine through because you guys are in such a unique and interesting place in the comic book, kind of like ecosystem.

[00:51:02] So even if, you know, it's similar to something, um, I think you guys have enough differences and enough like of a signature that it'll be, it'll be rock solid. What about you? I mean, what are some of the big lessons that you came out with that you're applying to, you know, whether you're reading comics personally or how you do things with the channel?

[00:51:20] ComicTom: I have a new respect for artists who do, um, like traditional work, painted work, ink work, colorists, letterers. Um, it's amazing how. Much it could change we had a just a font change that literally made the entire book feel different You know, it's kind of tough to map those things out, you know You're so focused on writing a good book then it's like wait just in how like the the word bubbles look it could influence how You feel when you're experiencing them also Um, the editorial process has been very, very exciting to me.

[00:52:00] Um, we have a, we have Michael Calera as mentioned, but we also have, um, an assistant editor, Rand Bellavia, who is like an uncle. I've known him since I was a child. Um, and his involvement was really great because, uh, uh, do you remember like the first time we had a meeting with Rand? Um, he says, guys, I just want you to sit down.

[00:52:16] I don't want to stress you out, but I reviewed issue one and I have some feedback and that's kind of how it is. Like you get feedback from multiple people and in this case, we were like kind of testing the waters to see if we wanted to get an assistant editor to kind of help us even more, you know, we're trying to think outside the box here.

[00:52:29] And The first thing he said to us was, I don't know, should I be saying this?

[00:52:33] Fire Guy Ryan: Go for it man, issue one is out. Issue one

[00:52:35] ComicTom: is out, so it's too late. So if you don't like it, then it is what it is. Um, he says, I think you, he's like, I love the story. And we're so, you know, so excited to be part of it. I think you ordered the pages wrong.

[00:52:48] And like, my heart sank. And I'm like, what

[00:52:49] Fire Guy Ryan: does that even mean? This was like his audition, almost, if you want to call it that. And you know, like, I can help you guys edit. Let me do, let me start by. Completely shuffling every single page

[00:52:57] ComicTom: in your book around. He's like, I printed them out so I can experience them in hand.

[00:53:01] And then I looked at them on the floor and then I, I moved them around. So it's like your page 16 should be page 4, like stuff like that. And I'm sort of like, wait a minute, hold on. We're over here critiquing word bubbles, and we're like trying to figure out name changes, and then all of a sudden, wait, we have to like, did we order, is our story, it's not sequential, but maybe it's like really not sequential, and sure enough, let's Pulp Fiction this, let's make it confusing, but you know, that change, like, it just totally racked my brain about how we're writing this book, and it's like, oh, that's like one of the coolest parts about comics, it's like you can do literally anything and have it be, you know, Like you can just like totally flip the reader's expectations on like timelines and what you show here, but then what you don't show here and what you save for later.

[00:53:44] So, um, that's what reading comics is different for me now. I don't know if you feel that same way, but like, like, like when I read it and experience a book, like I'm, I'm giving like, like, Oh wow. They chose not to have the panels end. It's like a, you know what I mean? Like there's no box in this one page because the art goes through and it's like, you see it the first time.

[00:54:05] And if you don't really think about that as a writer or creator, it's like, it's a cool effect. But then like when you see it done intentionally, you kind of, and we're always looking like. I'm constantly taking mental notes, like, yo, Ryan, look at this page. You do the same thing. You're like, dude, look at this.

[00:54:16] Jimmy T, whatever. Like, look at what they did here. Like, oh, damn. That gets me thinking. I sent you a photo of a Daredevil

[00:54:22] Fire Guy Ryan: comic I was reading a month or two ago. The new issue of Daredevil, for example, has a scene with him, like, lurking in the vents above another character. And it's just really cool. Cut like a slice of this floor, right?

[00:54:32] You see what's happening below and him lurking in the vents above all in one clean image. I'm like, here we go. I was kind of spoiling something that may or may not happen in a future issue, but I'm always looking for different ways to kind of, you know, tell the story.

[00:54:46] Badr: Issue one obviously comes out the day this interview comes out, you know, by, I'm assuming by April, you know, it'll be all wrapped up.

[00:54:52] What does success look like for you guys? Obviously, I think the easy answer would be, you know, sell a bunch of books. Is that the only metric for success for you or do you have something personal, uh, that you're like, man, as long as X, Y, Z happens, I'm good. Or is it just the opportunity? Like, are you just good enough with the opportunity or do you have, like, bigger goals or benchmarks?

[00:55:12] ComicTom: My benchmark, it may be different than yours, Ryan, but like, I really want people to read our comic. I want people to open it. A lot of people don't read our comics. It's just a thing. We know it's the case. People like to collect covers, there's, collecting's awesome, but reading comics is a big part of the problem is that just in general people don't read that much.

[00:55:34] And You know

[00:55:34] Fire Guy Ryan: what we should have done? We should have shipped just a blank book with a cover on it. Yeah. That's a really cool comic we totally wrote and drew the inside just

[00:55:41] ComicTom: to see if anybody even reads it. I bet, I bet our haters would be like, oh it's just It didn't even make sense, like, I don't even understand the character development, and the ending wasn't strong, and the thing would have been blank, and I would have gone, Yeah, gotcha.

[00:55:52] Like, I knew it. I knew you didn't even open it, but like, but for me, the, the goal really is, is like, um, to show you my cat's butt! There you go, Butch. That's my guy. Surprise, but he doesn't listen. The goal is like, I'm, I'm hoping that there's peeps who are like, yo, I read that comic. It's a little messed up.

[00:56:10] I'm excited about the next issue. You know, like that's, that's really, yeah, there's obviously be great to have it do well at LCS is, and I want everyone to be successful who backed the book, but like, I want to, like, for me, crash on is about trying to create a story with Ryan that we both, they both enjoy, I want to get people to read comics more.

[00:56:30] Right. Comics are so dope. And as soon as you experience reading them more, it's, it unlocks a whole new thing. And, uh, if I can contribute to that even a little bit, Oh, that's all I need. Money and, and all that other stuff, that's later, yo. I'm just like It'd be so cool to just have something that people actually enjoyed and, you know, be able to check out of the, the chaos of everyday life and, you know, have some time to yourself.

[00:56:55] Other chaos. Yeah. Might not be the best escape. Controlled chaos. Yeah. There you go. You know, and, and enjoyment and take some time to yourself. I feel like. You know, you gotta be able to, like, sit in a room by yourself sometimes for 10 minutes and not fidget on your phone and feel like the world's ending, you know?

[00:57:09] You should not be preaching that to anybody. Well, I do it on my own time. Yeah. You may not experience it because you're around, but no, there's plenty of times I'll just be like, you know what? I'm gonna sit down and

[00:57:17] Fire Guy Ryan: read and put my

[00:57:18] ComicTom: phone away and not Dude, I Yeah. Legit, everyone should be able to just sit in a room by themselves and nothing.

[00:57:23] No sound, no music. People be losing their minds. They gotta, they're thinking about what they gotta do. They're checking on TV. They're looking on Instagram. It's like, no, no, no. You gotta be like, content with yourself. Just like, chilling. Enjoy your moments of being alone. And then maybe, enjoy that with a story.

[00:57:39] Use your eyes, you know? Your imagination.

[00:57:42] Badr: All right, Ryan, I got one question for you and then one question for Tom. Ryan, if you could give one piece of advice for any aspiring comic creator that wants to break into the industry, that wants to make their own comic book, uh, is there something that you would say to them or maybe in particular something that you would have told yourself as you were first starting out to maybe save yourself a headache or just make things easier?

[00:58:02] What would you say? Um,

[00:58:07] Fire Guy Ryan: before Tom pulled me into the YouTube channel, like he explained earlier, asking me to help him do videos and all that, before he did that, I was working graveyard at a hotel for fricking seven years, I think was the

[00:58:17] ComicTom: total time I spent there. This dude would go a full day's worth of work, overnight, get off, drive an hour and a half, sometimes in traffic, to go do a fricking video about Bam.

[00:58:29] Dedication. Infinity Gauntlet. Yep. That would get 200 views and I'd make them record it. We were, we were learning. So like I would do this thing where we just record it twice.

[00:58:40] Fire Guy Ryan: No, that's not what you're talking about.

[00:58:41] ComicTom: I used to, this is what I used to do. I'd be like, all right, we have to hit a timeline. We got to hit a time.

[00:58:48] Like I get good at doing this under freaking 30 minutes. So I hit a stopwatch. And I would be going to be going and all I'd have to do is kind of like I have a different look on my face when I knew we'd have to restart and it got to the point where Russ and Ryan would get so mad. They're like, son of a bitch from the look on your face.

[00:59:10] Are you going to say we got to restart all night? I'm like, dude, we got to do it over again. We got to get, we have to, we have to get better at this. No one's going to watch it if we don't make it shorter and better. And actually that's my anyway, that's my story. I actually just figured out my answer and this is my, this is my, I wasn't talking.

[00:59:28] This is my, um, my answer for a lot of things. I think this actually helped. I think this could help some people. I was

[00:59:35] Fire Guy Ryan: stalling for time anyway.

[00:59:36] ComicTom: I didn't need to say anything at all. This is, this is for content in general. It's very simple. Do. Less. Better. It applies to everything. YouTube, content, writing.

[00:59:48] Like, if you, if you wrote awesome dialogue in the comic, can you make it shorter and better? Because you don't want that word bubble to be huge. If you're going to do a YouTube video on boxing, can you cut out five minutes of you like walking around and not on the mic and you're fumbling, I'll be right back.

[01:00:05] You can cut that. You can make it shorter. Be respectful of people's time. Make it more quality. And that's that since the beginning. Do less better. Every step of the way has never steered me wrong. Um, because you're focusing on quality. And I think that that's something that the fact if I would have learned that even earlier, I probably would be even better at what we do now.

[01:00:24] Not

[01:00:26] Fire Guy Ryan: what I was gonna say, but that's a pretty good

[01:00:27] Badr: answer. No, that's a solid answer. And I'm glad that you spoke for the fellow content creators out there. That's a really good piece of advice. Ryan, what about you? What was the piece of advice you had?

[01:00:37] Fire Guy Ryan: I was gonna say, while I was toiling away at the hotel for years, I spent a lot of time writing screenplays, because I was, you know, killing time, writing stuff for myself, for nobody else.

[01:00:48] I was scared to even let somebody even read them. You know, it was literally just for like practice, so to speak. I guess that means the best advice I would say is put yourself out there. I would definitely tell that to my younger self, but professionally, um, if I hadn't had met Tom, if I hadn't had been available to feel uncomfortable in a whole bunch of YouTube videos leading up to this, you know, you gotta, you gotta put yourself out there and you gotta take the risk.

[01:01:13] You know, you gotta feel a little uncomfortable and unsafe and try stuff, which I think is the best. That's the best advice. But also I think there's just an example, there's an overall feel of like networking and putting yourself out there and talking to people and making relationships and friendships.

[01:01:26] And you never know what the, you know, the guy who interviewed you for a bank job, like a decade ago, you know, you never know where that random relationship is going to go in your life. So. Put yourself out there. Talk to people.

[01:01:37] ComicTom: Don't be scared. Get out of your wolf pack, man. You know, you got to have your people you trust your, your, your inner circle and you got to protect it.

[01:01:45] But you also have to know who's in it and, and know that that trust has to be established and you got to be able to be reliable. And if you surround yourself by good people. Like there's gonna be times that I'm down that I'm not able to do all the things that I'm committed to doing But I know I got him He's got my back and it goes the same way and I can say that about Russ bright I can say that about Jeff golden age guru I can say that about Aaron heavens like all these people that are Immensely important to this whole thing that we're building here as a channel and as a comic it's it's all about the people you surround yourself with and I'm always like really looking to provide everybody else with that extra 1%.

[01:02:23] The relationships in my life, they're always 51, 51 percent is going to them. I'm always looking out a little bit more for other people because, you know, it's all about empathy and it's all about, um, you know, doing right by others and

[01:02:37] Fire Guy Ryan: 51 for me, I'm thinking you're putting like 82 for me and I'm contributing like

[01:02:41] ComicTom: 18.

[01:02:42] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm working on it. Go less.

[01:02:44] Fire Guy Ryan: I could do like 10

[01:02:45] Badr: probably. Probably. Yeah. Those are some great pieces of, those are words to live by even outside of content creating and writing comic books. I've got one more question before we wrap up. I promise it's the last one, but it plays to your strength.

[01:02:56] Uh, because one of my favorite series of videos to watch from the comic Tom YouTube channel is the trending videos. I watched the trending videos because a lot of times you guys are putting me onto books that. You know, I might have missed one that in particular that comes to mind is, uh, beneath the trees.

[01:03:11] Heck. Yeah. Love that series I I think you guys put it on the radar for me first and it also reminded me Yeah, and it also reminded me to make sure I went ahead and bought the second issue You know, it's sometimes it's fun to go ahead and

[01:03:21] ComicTom: buy you hear that Our trending coverage got him to go buy a comic.

[01:03:27] He wanted to read So I'll throw that out there

[01:03:29] Fire Guy Ryan: department of truth Tom's favorite comic

[01:03:32] ComicTom: I saw a comment the other day cuz I talked to people about getting Department of Truth right now It was on the list. He showed me a comment He's like he just snapshotted of someone's comment on a random thread and it's like they said that I was shilling Department of Truth And I just started laughing.

[01:03:45] I'm like shilling Department of Truth. That's like an oxymoron Like what? Is that even possible? It's like, oh, Tom's always talking about Spider Man and Dark Knight Returns. He's shillin Frank Miller. It's like, dude, Frank Miller don't need anyone to shill crap. What are you talking about? It's

[01:04:00] Fire Guy Ryan: Department of

[01:04:01] Badr: Truth.

[01:04:01] It's Department of Truth, dude! Department of Truth is like a two, at least a two year old comic book. It's like, well, I'm gonna shill. Maybe

[01:04:06] ComicTom: they're trying to start a conspiracy and it's like Maybe

[01:04:09] Badr: we created Department of Truth. This is like really meta now, yeah. Anyway, I say all that to say that, uh, Beneath the Trees was a book that I got put onto in part to the, uh, to the YouTube channel and the trending videos, so I want to ask what is a book that you feel not enough people are reading that they absolutely should go check out?

[01:04:26] Ooh. Really quick, Ryan, you have a distillery shirt on and it's been catching my eye. Hell yeah, dude. Because they've been pumping out, like, you know, these first issues have been fantastic, so I want to start with you. And it doesn't have to be distillery, I'm just giving you a compliment on the shirt. Uh, yeah.

[01:04:40] Fire Guy Ryan: The second they announced distillery, I jumped on board. I'm, I'm, I'm very much, very much in love with all those creators and what they're doing over there. Something, not enough people are reading. Oh man, that's such a good question too. Cause all the stuff that I love right now is very much in line and everyone's,

[01:04:54] ComicTom: everyone's on board.

[01:04:55] Dude, no one reads comics. What are you talking about? What are you?

[01:04:58] Fire Guy Ryan: Yeah. Um, I don't like the first thing that comes to mind. It's a Marvel book, which is stupid. And I feel like that doesn't count. But like, I don't think enough people are talking about Fantastic Four right now. Uh, it's my favorite Marvel comic.

[01:05:12] It's the best Fantastic Four has been in over a decade. Like, uh, every writer I've read since Jonathan Hickman has been trying to copy what Jonathan Hickman did like a decade or two ago. At this point, I don't remember how long it's been. It's been a while. And Ryan North is writing Fantastic Four right now.

[01:05:28] And it is funny. It is charming. It is heartfelt. And every issue is amazing. It's blowing me away and nobody's reading it. It seems like, because I think a lot of people gave up on Fantastic Four because it's not, that hasn't been that good in recent years. So Fantastic Four is my first instinctual

[01:05:43] Badr: answer.

[01:05:44] Okay. That's a good pick. What about you, Tom? Probably should have thought of an answer, huh? Here, I'll solve for a little more time for you and Ryan, you know what? You can't go wrong with any of those Alex Ross covers at all. Like even if like, you know, for some reason you choose not to even open up the book.

[01:05:57] Some of those Alex Ross covers are so good to see, worth just picking up, you know, the comic form. I'll get to them

[01:06:01] Fire Guy Ryan: even more time, because recently, there was a recent story arc where the Fantastic Four accidentally opened a portal to a universe where everybody was a dinosaur, and they fought a Fantastic Four version of themselves, but as dinosaurs.

[01:06:12] And one of the covers for that was Alex Ross, who drew a dinosaur Dr. Doom with the regular Dr. Doom riding him, like, you know, it's just a T Rex Dr. Doom with regular Dr. Do It's amazing. It's amazing, and it's funny, and it worked, and it, it, it made no sense. It's kind of, it's like a throwback comic. It feels like, like a Silver Age book, which is cool.

[01:06:30] That's a good sell. But it's

[01:06:31] ComicTom: modern. I know it just ended, but I want to say Ghost Rider. Yeah, it

[01:06:36] Fire Guy Ryan: did just end, unfortunately. Well, he's still writing it now, but they're about to

[01:06:39] ComicTom: reboot it with The Hood. But yeah, but before all that, it just ended. Like, that whole run is, is, it's superb. Hulk right now? Damn, dude.

[01:06:47] P. K. J., baby. That is crazy good. I haven't been this excited about Hulk since Immortal Hulk. And the first few issues of Donny Cates Hulk. Um, back issues, as far as like older stuff, I'm kind of surprised that I've recommended The Crow to so many people that haven't read it. Interview's over, bye! So like, um, Great, great to talk to you!

[01:07:06] Yeah, so like, that's definitely something that I want to help change. Everyone needs to read The Crow.

[01:07:11] Fire Guy Ryan: Tom gave me his trade paperback of The Crow when we worked at the bank. And I left it in the backseat of my car for like five years and it got super sunfaded and I never, never tossed it, never, you know, I never did anything with it.

[01:07:21] I want that back by the way, but you have to read my shelf right now. It's got like sentimental value at this point. I, I never want to read it at this point because it's been over a decade and it's just sitting there on my shelf.

[01:07:30] Badr: Solid pics overall. I know I've got some homework. I'm gonna check out, I'm gonna check out Hulk and, and, and Fantastic Four as well.

[01:07:35] You guys both Those are the two best Marvel books right now.

[01:07:37] Fire Guy Ryan: I would have said Hulk,

[01:07:38] ComicTom: but I don't think it's that underrated. I mean, it's always interesting to see how writers handle transformation of Bruce Banner,

[01:07:43] Badr: but like I've seen the panels and pages on that, and talk about some, uh, body gore. It's wicked.

[01:07:48] ComicTom: Yo, it's so good.

[01:07:50] Badr: This has been fantastic. First and foremost, if you guys ever want to come back in the show, uh, open Door Policy for you guys, I'm gonna have links to your socials. I'm gonna have links to the YouTube channel. I have links to previews for Crash Down. I highly recommend and advise once again, if you're listening to this episode, crash Down Issue one.

[01:08:06] Is in your local comic shops. Now do yourselves a favor, pick that up, add the series to your pull list, uh, but Tom and Ryan, do you have any closing remarks? Uh, anything to say to the listeners? Any, anything you want to close out with before we, uh, wrap

[01:08:17] ComicTom: up? Yeah, we appreciate all the support. It's really cool that we're able to make this interview happen.

[01:08:22] Really appreciate you. Um, but yeah, issue one's out. Issue two is available for you to order. Throw crashed out on your previews pull list. It is 3. 99

[01:08:34] Fire Guy Ryan: unlike a lot of other books these days But yeah, we're sticking to the 4 cover price. I mean,

[01:08:37] ComicTom: hopefully I keep 10 years I mean all the way through issue 3 at least it's it's 3.

[01:08:41] 99 and Hopefully we have a second print coming so that if you missed out on issue 1 you're stored in order it you can Hopefully you get another chance at issue one, um, and maybe issue two. It all depends on, you know, what gets ordered and it's not really up to us. But, um, but yeah, no, we, we really do appreciate all the support and love and everyone along the way, you know, everybody we've called to get advice from it's, it's been a, it's been a really cool thing.

[01:09:07] You know, uh, they know who they are. I have a plug. Can I plug something? This is the time to do it. I 300. It's like a 500 plus book. And all you have to do is sign up to our newsletter on Comic Tom101. com, that's it. Like, right when you go to the landing page, you type in your email address when the box comes up, and that's all you have to do.

[01:09:26] You don't have to buy anything. Um, we had, we used to do a lot of giveaways on the show, and then there were people spamming the comments section, going after our audience's money and committing fraud. Pretending to be you, yeah. Pretending to be people from the show. They'd do like Comic Tom 101. Dot or a comment.

[01:09:42] I want to one space space dot and they'd be like, Hey, you won. Send us 50. And so, um, we had to stop doing giveaways like that. So, um, if you're are interested in ever winning one of our giveaways, which we do them monthly on the show and this month as an ASM 300 first print, all you have to do is sign up to the newsletter.

[01:09:58] And also when crashdown comes out, you'll get an email about it, you know, but I try to keep it very light. I don't, I don't want to spam people, you know, I don't like getting a bunch of emails myself, so I try to be very reserved with what we send out. But you'll keep up with us, with all the stuff we do, and you'll be entered to win not just our ASM giveaway, but every giveaway going forward.

[01:10:18] Badr: My man Tom is a salesman and that sounds like too much of a good deal to pass up. And if there's one thing, I know the short box nation. Enjoys more than, uh, listening to awesome interviews like this, it's free comics, alright, so, uh, take Tom's advice, like I said, I'm gonna have links to the website, so you can sign up for the newsletter in the show notes, but besides that, listeners, that's it for today's episode, uh, thank you so much for tuning in, let me know what you thought of this episode, if you enjoyed it, leave a comment, review, hit me up via email at theshortbikesjacks.
 
[01:10:46] gmail. com, uh, I've got a really Fun, uh, follow up interview, uh, scheduled next week with Declan Shelby. All right, that's right, Declan Shelby, uh, had an awesome interview. Time before time, man. I love that book. Yeah, exactly. He's got a, uh, he's the writer of the new ThunderCats, uh, series that's launching, uh, via Dynamite with artist Drew Moss.
 
[01:11:06] Uh, if you heard our episode with Ben Kingsbury last week, or Whatever, two weeks ago. Uh, you know, that is one of the most hyped and one of, one of those books that retailers are looking forward to as well as fans. So I got Declan Shelby coming on the show next week, so you don't got to wait long for another awesome interview.
 
[01:11:22] Besides that you guys take care and I'll catch you next week. All right. Peace. There you have it short box nation. That's the end of the show. Thank you for hanging out, thanks for being here, and a special shout out if you've made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at theseshortbikesjacks at gmail.
 
[01:11:44] com. And if you really liked this episode, help us spread the word. Share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do. And don't forget to leave us a 5 star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. It takes two minutes tops, and it would mean the world to us, so leave us a review.
 
[01:12:03] Now, if you want more content like bonus episodes or perks like early access and commercial free episodes, and in some cases free comic books, consider joining our Patreon community at patreon. com slash the short box. It's an easy and very affordable way to support the show and get rewarded for being a fan.
 
[01:12:21] Once again, sign up at patreon. com slash the short box. Speaking of our Patreon community, I want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chetani, Tony Ayupi, R. C. Gammit, Blake Simone, Blythe Brumleaf, Bo Evers, Brian Brumleaf, Chad Landenberger, Chris Hacker, Chris Jinks, David Morales, Triple D Mystic, Dominique Jackson, Errol White, Edbot5000, Generation Jaguar, Greg Hopkins, Greg Licktig, Henry Hernandez, Herschel.
 
[01:12:51] Hydrus96, aka Mac, Jay Sinner, Jeff Fremid, Jerome Kabanatan, Joshua Miller, Justin McCoy, Cara Reichhardt, Cassie Whitley, Corey Tordjesson, Matt Godwin, Amanda Maron, Nick Wagner, Podcasters Assemble, Steven Gamet, T Mix, The Wait For It Podcast, Tom Spandich, Thurian, Trey Namo, Walter Gant. Warren Evans and Zach Armour.
 
[01:13:14] Thanks again to everyone that listens and supports the show. Be sure to come back next week for a new episode. And most importantly, take care of yourselves, read a good comic and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.