More Than Meets The Eyes: An Interview with Daniel Warren Johnson About Transformers and Making Comics (The Short Box Podcast Ep. #402)

 
[00:00:00] Intro music plays  

[00:01:04] Badr: Yoo, Short Box Nation. Welcome back to the podcast. This is episode 402. Thanks for joining us. If you're new, welcome to the show. This is the short box podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations. About comic books and pop culture inspired by comics. My name is Badr, and I've got my right hand man, Triple C, Cesar Cesspool Cordero, here in the studio with me.

[00:01:28] Cesar: Cesspool? Wait, we didn't talk about this. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Cesspool? If you recall... Sir, don't touch my shoulder gingerly, please. What are you doing? Please don't do that.

[00:01:35] Badr: If you recall episode 400... Cesspool?

[00:01:37] Cesar: Is that my name now? You dubbed

[00:01:39] Badr: yourself Cesspool. I was drunk. Ah, yeah, true. I mean... You're like, but

[00:01:42] Cesar: I'm exploiting you.

[00:01:43] Cesar: It's blurry. This is what I'm doing,

[00:01:45] Badr: yes. Alright, business time, man. It's time to get down to showbiz cy. Today, ladies and gents, we've got Daniel Warren Johnson on the podcast. You heard a little snippet in the intro, so it shouldn't be that surprising, alright? And if you've been a fan of the show, For any number of years, you already know that this has been a long time in the making.

[00:02:03] Badr: This individual has been at the top of my list to interview, to get on the podcast, since I became a diehard fan in 2017. That's how long I've been down on the DWJ train. See, what about you, man? When did you become, when did you see the light? Yeah.

[00:02:17] Cesar: Okay. We saw the light during Wonder Woman, dead Earth. Yeah.

[00:02:21] Cesar: Dig it.

[00:02:22] Daniel Warren Johnson: Mm-hmm. talking about a little bit of post apocalyptic DC Intercontinental mayhem. Yeah. Daniel Warren Johnson talking about

[00:02:31] Cesar: WW eight. No, the D W J dig.

[00:02:35] Badr: You're breath smells like beef jerky and I love it. Like Slim Jims. Like some Slim Jims and I love it. Come on. Alright, for those of you unfamiliar with the name Daniel Warren Johnson, You know what's funny?

[00:02:43] Cesar: What's up? We're having way more fun than we normally do. Like, we're very like, This is Garrison

[00:02:48] Badr: Keillor.

[00:02:51] Cesar: NPR. Normally. And now we're just like, Give it to me, give it to to me. Weenie and the butt.

[00:02:55] You

[00:02:55] Badr: know? Normally, normally we are so much more professional than this. It's a working zoo. We're so much more professional than this.

[00:03:02] Badr: Anyways. I know, I know. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the name Daniel Warren Johnson, he is a comic creator in every sense of the word. He is. Because he does it all. He draws. He writes. I think he inks. He plays guitar. He's got a sweet ponytail. Freaking shredding, dude. Yeah, that too. He's contributed to comics some of its most refreshing and imaginative stories since he first came on the scene in 2012.

[00:03:24] Badr: With his first major webcomic, Space Mullet. From there, he's worked with just about every major comic publisher under the sun, and has amassed a die hard fanbase throughout the years, thanks to comics like The Ghost Fleet, Extremity, Murder Falcon, Wonder Woman Dead Earth, Beta Ray Bill, uh, Argent Star, and most recently, he netted his first Eisner Award for Best Limited Series with the phenomenal 2022 comic series, Do a Powerbomb.

[00:03:48] Badr: Oh my god. Which is a personal favorite among all of us here. Absolutely. On the short box. Daniel was on the show today to talk about his new project for Skybound that once again finds him both writing and drawing the entire thing. Phew. But this project is much more than meets the eyes to, oh wow. This new project.

[00:04:05] Badr: Oh, that would roll with it. Roll with it. I with it. Roll out with

[00:04:08] Cesar: it. ,

[00:04:09] Badr: if you will. Okay. This new project centers on a few good alien robots who specialize in disguise. Man, forget all this Lowry language. Danny Warren Johnson is doing a Transformers comic. Oh, that boy good. Issue 1 comes out October 4th, and it'll serve as the, uh, part of the official launch of Skybound and Hasbro's newly minted Energon universe.

[00:04:29] Badr: Outstanding. Without further ado, Shortbox Nation, let's welcome for the First time ever, Daniel Warren Johnson to the show and the last time. Do not put that bad mojo on us, Daniel. What's up?

[00:04:45] Daniel Warren Johnson: Welcome, man. It's been a while since people talking about my ponytail. I love it.

[00:04:54] Badr: I love that out of everything we said. He's like, yeah, they got a point about the pony.

[00:04:57] Cesar: Look, look, we, we excel at being originals. Not good, but originals, you know.

[00:05:02] Daniel Warren Johnson: Well, let me tell ya, I'm sure I've told this story before sometime, so I apologize if you've heard it before, but... You haven't heard it on the short box.

[00:05:09] Daniel Warren Johnson: I may have been asked by a public school, a public high school, to come in and talk to the students about what I do, and, you know, what my job is, and the possibilities of being an artist in today's day and age, and I'm over here, like, throwing up, like, the commissions I've worked on, like, Darth Vader, I've worked on Marvel comics, DC comics, and I'm like, these kids must be so impressed.

[00:05:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: And, you know, we get to the question time, and I'm ready, I'm ready. And, you know, the teacher, it's like a, it's like 200 kids, it's like the whole high school is like, checking out this presentation, and the vice principal or whatever is like, does anybody have any questions for Mr. Johnson? And it's like, dead.

[00:05:48] Daniel Warren Johnson: Nothing. Everyone's just like, you know, kids just say they are not impressed at all. And, uh, there was one girl, she raised her hand. Yes. Mr. Johnson. I was like, yeah. Do you know that ponytails are not cool anymore? No! Savage! It's in front of like 200 people. Oh man. Oh, it's savage. And I was like, I appreciate you looking out for me.

[00:06:15] Daniel Warren Johnson: She's like, I just wanted to let you know. And I was like,

[00:06:17] Cesar: I appreciate you.

[00:06:20] Badr: That That's cute. So when are you going to draw said school in your next comic book? Getting absolutely demolished and short. Alright. That'd be my revenge steps on it. That'd

[00:06:28] Daniel Warren Johnson: be my revenge. . That was a good time. He's like, guys, I'm

[00:06:31] Cesar: not that petty.

[00:06:32] Cesar: And he's like, instantly must

[00:06:34] Badr: draw. School kidding? He's like, what was that little girl's name? did? No, no,

[00:06:41] Daniel Warren Johnson: no. She was cool. She wasn't like mean about it. She was like, I could honestly tell you, you know, you get a vibe. You get a vibe, and

[00:06:50] Cesar: she was like, looking out. She was like, look fam, let's just, let's, let's, let's do a little solid here, okay?

[00:06:54] Cesar: I mean,

[00:06:54] Badr: look, you can absolutely give off a vibe and be 100 percent incorrect. You know, that's, yeah, that's true. She was wrong, and you're still rocking the ponytail. Accurate. And killing

[00:07:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: it. To be fair, really quick, and then we can move on to the ponytail. I did, I mean, I did rat tail it for a while, guys.

[00:07:10] Cesar: I did rat tail.

[00:07:11] Cesar: Did you

[00:07:11] Badr: really? It was a humble beginnings though, right? Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. Humble

[00:07:14] Cesar: beginnings. You rat tailed it. I'm, I'm 42. Did you rat tail it at the appropriate age or did you rat tail it like closer to our age Now

[00:07:23] Daniel Warren Johnson: we're like 20. This is like 20 14, 20 15. I mean, I was like a metalhead. I, I still respect, I still wear the cargo shorts.

[00:07:32] Daniel Warren Johnson: The, the, with the like army chain on camo on it, like with the army camo, you know, and the death metal T-shirts. Oh yeah.

[00:07:39] Cesar: Oh, yeah, you're looking like Dimebag Daryl. Yeah, dude.

[00:07:42] Yeah,

[00:07:43] Daniel Warren Johnson: I was Dimebaggin it, so, uh, It comes with the ponytails, with the territory,

[00:07:47] Cesar: yeah. Yeah, as soon as you put those camo, like, pants slash shorts on, it's just, doo doo doo

[00:07:54] Daniel Warren Johnson: doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo,

[00:07:56] Cesar: doo doo, that's all you hear.

[00:07:59] Cesar: Hell yeah. It just happens, you have no

[00:08:01] Badr: choice. Daniel, you're in Chicago now,

[00:08:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: right? That's true, I've been in Chicago since 2005. Wow. Oh, wow. Okay.

[00:08:09] Badr: What is the um, for someone that maybe has never visited Chicago? What is like the comic scene like in Chicago? Do you frequent like a local comic shop there? Uh, I do.

[00:08:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: I, I mean, there's a tons of comic book stores in Chicago. All of them amazing. My personal comic book shop that I go to every week is Challengers Comics on Western Avenue. Uh, nice. Right in between Wicker Park and Logan Square. Uh, I live in Albany Park. That's a neighborhood in Chicago, and I, I used to live in Andersonville, which had, uh, Alley Cat comics, that I could walk to, actually.

[00:08:42] Daniel Warren Johnson: And, uh, great shop, great owners. But, you know, with moving to a new neighborhood, it's just easier for me to get to Challengers, so. And people are, Chicago people are going to laugh because, like, Albany Park and Wicker Park are, like, nowhere near each other. But, there's no comic book stores in Albany Park, but I am right next to the highway, which leads directly to Wicker Park.

[00:09:00] Daniel Warren Johnson: So there's the story about Challengers being my local

[00:09:04] Badr: shop. My man is frugal with the gas mon smart with the gas money. I can respect that. I like how the quick

[00:09:09] Cesar: words change.

[00:09:10] Daniel Warren Johnson: I'm more, I'm more frugal with like my time. I like, I don't want to like, cause driving to Andersonville like in rush hour, it used to be awesome.

[00:09:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: Oh man. Chicago traffic used to be like really solid, not too bad. And then they started doing all this construction over the summer and now it's terrible. Anyway, we could talk about something else.

[00:09:28] Cesar: He was like, he's like, I got to be really frugal with my time. Right, guys? You know, I do have a life, right?

[00:09:39] Badr: Are you able to go into a comic shop, like, in peace, or? Or, like, do you, do you go and is it almost guaranteed that at least one person will recognize you? I can imagine, like, you're probably going, like, you know, you got a secret entrance or something, you know. They close the shop down for you. No? No.

[00:09:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: I mean, maybe, so I might get, maybe I might get recognized, but it's actually pretty rare that for me to get recognized in, like, a comic book store.

[00:10:04] Daniel Warren Johnson: Cause nobody's, nobody's expecting me to drop by, you know? So, and every once in a while, there'll be somebody be like, Holy

[00:10:11] Cesar: shit, does that do any work,

[00:10:13] Daniel Warren Johnson: Johnson? But that's like one out of five comic book stores I visit.

[00:10:17] Cesar: One out of five. It's like most of the time he's holding this book, staring into the middle distance.

[00:10:22] Cesar: Hello? I make the things

[00:10:24] Daniel Warren Johnson: you love. Believe it or not, I don't, I don't hang out. I believe it or not, I don't hang out next to the section with all my books next to it. I just peer. You're like, uh, uh, uh, um.

[00:10:34] Badr: You're like, Wonder Woman. org is a really good comic book. What? Huh? Yeah, like, just

[00:10:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: getting conversations going.

[00:10:39] Daniel Warren Johnson: I really like Murder Falcon. You know what's really great? Starting conversations is when I drop my kid off to school and I have to hang around until the teacher comes out to take all the kindergartners into class. Inevitably, I'm talking to like, other parents who bring their kids to school who have like, real jobs.

[00:10:54] Daniel Warren Johnson: You know, we start talking about our jobs and I start talking about my job and it's like, I've grown this like second hand. It's like, and then I make comic books and I pay my mortgage. That's

[00:11:05] Cesar: like, well, what do you do? Well, I like to shape the cosmos and the, the mythos around the humans. The human condition, and just basically put that on paper, and by golly, I do the best I can.

[00:11:19] Cesar: And I do the best I can to trap the human experience with words. Um, sometimes with pictures. I, I, guys, I really don't like going into it. I, but I'm a bit of a poet. You know, just, uh, oh, there's

[00:11:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: my kid. Gotta go. That's what I should say. I'd be like, I, I, I can't go into it. I can't go into it. It's top secret.

[00:11:36] Daniel Warren Johnson: I've, I've signed an NDA.

[00:11:38] Badr: All right, Daniel, we like to start off all of our interviews with this question here just to get an idea of your origin story because much like comic books, sometimes the best stories are, you know, a sort of origin story, man, or all great superheroes have a great origin story.

[00:11:52] Badr: Sure. What was your first conscious memory of comic books? And, and does that memory differ from maybe the one comic or exact moment that turned you into a

[00:12:01] Daniel Warren Johnson: lifelong fan? Uh, probably Sunday strips of some sort, uh, was like my first actual experience with comics. My grandmother, my grandfather had an old, like, collection of the old Batman comics, like the first Batman comics.

[00:12:18] Daniel Warren Johnson: Like it was like a big, thick hardcover. So probably some of the old Batman comics, but then also like Calvin and Hobbes, uh, whatever was in the library is probably a tie between like daily strips, like in the newspaper, including like Calvin and Hobbes, then probably Tintin as well. Cause that's, those are the only comics that were in the library.

[00:12:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: When I first like got into comics, the library, I guess Calvin and Hobbes definitely started me on my journey. So we'll just go with that and go with Calvin and Hobbes.

[00:12:46] Uh,

[00:12:46] Cesar: I, I gotta tell you, man, I'm real big Bill Watterson fan. We did a, uh, artist spotlight on him a little bit back, a few months back. Yeah.

[00:12:55] Cesar: He's the GOAT, as far as I'm concerned. That's kind of my first experience with comic books as well. Oh my god, that Chef's Kiss completed Bill Watterson's hardcover collection is so... It's so damn good, man. Like, I, I was, I, I think it was, I talking to you, it was like, it's the only place you'll see a Tyrannosaurus Rex piloting an F 15.

[00:13:14] Cesar: Heck yeah, dude. You know, and he... You see it every Sunday in the, we

[00:13:17] Badr: made it to the Promised Land seed. We got an interview, baby. We

[00:13:21] Cesar: got it. That said, Hey. What's up man? I'm Cesar, outside of influence. Good to meet you, Cesar. What's up, man? Yeah, I know you already met Boder and I'm his cohos, so looking forward to doing this.

[00:13:32] Cesar: Boy. P. I wish he would have told

[00:13:34] Badr: him, I'm his cousin. That would have been like, straight round. You imagine?

[00:13:40] Daniel Warren Johnson: Yo, he owes me

[00:13:40] Cesar: some Jordans, but this was cheaper, so I decided to crash it.

[00:13:44] Badr: I've owed Cesar a thousand dollars since we met, and this is how I'm paying him off. That's 40.

[00:13:48] Daniel Warren Johnson: That's right. That's 40. Also, um, full disclosure, I'm sure we're starting, but, uh, like, crazy, like, when going way behind.

[00:13:57] Daniel Warren Johnson: on my workday. So, you see me, uh, maybe doing a little doodling while we're on, uh, we're recording. It's just part of it. I promise I'm still invested. You would not be the first. You would not be the first. I also really

[00:14:12] Badr: respect that. But you know what? It's kind of like a challenge for us, right? To get me to break?

[00:14:19] Badr: Yeah, can we make him laugh or intrigued Alright.

[00:14:24] Cesar: They

[00:14:24] Badr: want talk

[00:14:26] Cesar: this. Oh,

[00:14:28] Daniel Warren Johnson: bring it on. Bring it on. I'm ready. I'm ready. Optimus Prime face is no problem. It a

[00:14:32] Badr: problem. Nailed it. And I respect your time. I find

[00:14:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: myself, well, you know, you've, and you had this hard, this hard time. I'm becoming more and more of a recluse, uh, when it comes to like talking and doing interviews and doing shows, even just because I have a family.

[00:14:51] Daniel Warren Johnson: I have two kids and a wife. A busy life, but you know, I don't think I could ever really fully go into the woods because I just am too outgoing and I really do love connecting with people. So, um, I think, uh, that's not my style. Hopefully the integrity part is my style, but the recluse part is not my style.

[00:15:15] Badr: To add to that, could you see yourself doing, let's say like, you know, you reached the top, you decided to like gracefully bow out and pursue other. You know, uh, I guess artistic callings, like, could you, could you see yourself doing maybe like what, what Bill Watterson did where he really got into like watercolor and, and doing other art things that he found, you know, didn't have time for while he was doing Calvin and Hobbes, like his brother's albums.

[00:15:40] Badr: That's fucking great. Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's a great story. So I guess my question really boils down to if you weren't drawing comics on a consistent basis, what else would you want to dedicate time to doing?

[00:15:50] Daniel Warren Johnson: Probably, um, I really love plein air painting. Like, so, uh, going out and making art that's like, uh, well, like making art while I travel.

[00:16:02] Daniel Warren Johnson: So I have a travel sketchbook for every place that I've visited in the past, since like twenty, twenty seventeen. That's cool. Uh, I visited Ireland in twenty seventeen, I have a sketchbook for that. I have two sketchbooks for both times that I went to Italy, twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three. Um, I have a sketchbook when I, from when I went to Japan.

[00:16:24] Daniel Warren Johnson: So usually I'm on the move too much with either my family or spending time with a significant other with my wife that comes with me on these trips. But if I had a perfect world, it would be sitting down and being able to like watercolor, gouache, like a scene that I see while I'm out and about somewhere different.

[00:16:43] Daniel Warren Johnson: And I did that a little bit during the pandemic. I did some like plein air paintings of like houses around my neighborhood when Things are really getting crazy in like April and May, 2020. So I see myself doing that. And I, I would hope that, you know, the comic book creative nature, especially doing my own thing, writing and drawing and making my own worlds, my own stories.

[00:17:05] Daniel Warren Johnson: That will translate, that would translate to other mediums of creative, I don't know, I'm thinking of like video games right now, but it could be television or movies or what have you. I have worked a little bit in other realms. I worked on that Rebel Moon movie that Zack Snyder's doing. Really?

[00:17:23] Badr: Oh, did not

[00:17:23] Daniel Warren Johnson: know that.

[00:17:24] Daniel Warren Johnson: I didn't do a ton of stuff, but I did like a few. Inspiration storyboards, I think they're kind of called so that's pretty cool, man. Yeah, it was really was that like Jim Lee name dropped me Oh, wow, I guess so cuz uh, I think he knows Zack Snyder quite well not surprising This is what was relayed to me by his ex assistant Zack's assistant emails me and is like, Zack Snyder was talking with Jim Lee, and Jim Lee suggested that you would be an amazing addition to this, you know, creative team that we're putting together for Rebel Moon.

[00:17:58] Daniel Warren Johnson: Is this something that you'd be interested in? I'm like, yeah, sure, that sounds like a lot of fun. And then I got to talk to Zack a few times over Zoom, which was super cool. Uh, and he's like, yeah, Jim Lee was singing your praises. And I was, he's just like, here's what I'm vibing. And, uh, they sent me the script.

[00:18:15] Daniel Warren Johnson: Zach had specific scenes that he just kind of wanted me to riff on. So he's like, just do what you want. And then he hung up basically. Uh, and I was like, so do you like want like traditional storyboards? Do you like want like a comic book page? I said,

[00:18:30] Badr: do whatever you

[00:18:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: want. He's basically like, yeah, dude, you want to make a painting?

[00:18:34] Daniel Warren Johnson: Make a painting. If you want to do one big illustration, make one big illustration. He's like, I just want to see what you come up with and where your mind is when you get, when you see these words. And, uh. You know, I may riff on it. I may not, I may use it. I may not, but like I'm looking for other creatives to get inspired to inspire me.

[00:18:50] Daniel Warren Johnson: Or that's how he put it. Super cool. So I just basically did more. I did, I was a little, I was a little more, I did a little more traditional storytelling. I kind of treated the scene like a comic book page, but every panel was like a widescreen shot. Oh, it was really

[00:19:06] Badr: fun. Do you mind if I ask a personal question just on that topic really quick?

[00:19:10] Badr: Do you get paid for your time? Like, you know, I'm sure that it took, okay. Got it. Got it. I wasn't sure if that was like a. Whatever I use, I might pay and vice versa. But it was worth the investment of

[00:19:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: time. Yeah. I mean, I'm not retiring, but like, it was great. Like, you know, it paid well. And, uh, it was fun.

[00:19:26] Daniel Warren Johnson: Cause I had to get a, uh, a union exempt exemption for working on the movie. Uh, I had to like, be like an honorary union member just for like my time on rebel moon. Oh, wow. That was fun. And cause it's just, it's like paperwork that makes no sense. And they're like, sign here. I'm like, okay. And then this is the best part.

[00:19:47] Daniel Warren Johnson: They sent me a crew jacket. Okay.

[00:19:51] Cesar: Okay. That's so cool. That's pretty rad. You got the swag.

[00:19:54] Daniel Warren Johnson: Dude, I got the swag. I got like, it wasn't handwritten or anything, but it was like a little note from like Zack Snyder thanking the team for being on the movie. I'm like, I drew pictures. I shouldn't get this, but I'm, I'm so happy.

[00:20:05] Daniel Warren Johnson: That's so cool. It's like a Carhartt. It has, oh, hold on. I'll grab it Oh, come on, man. Here we go. Here we go. He's like, smells like success.

[00:20:12] Badr: Laughter. This is, it smells like

[00:20:16] Cesar: the Snyder's, but he was talking like, he's like, guys, I got work to do. And we're like, Yeah,

[00:20:22] Badr: we'll see about that buddy. You got work to do.

[00:20:26] Badr: Rachel moved all the jackets. All the jackets all. So there's more where that came from. Oh, that on that is stupid clean. Come on. It's uh,

[00:20:35] Daniel Warren Johnson: it's, it's like mirrored, but it says rebel moon and there's like a wolf on it. It says crew.

[00:20:40] Badr: Oh, that's pretty nice. He's got like patches, for our audio listeners, he's got patches on both, uh, uh, sleeves.

[00:20:46] Badr: A nice like army green color

[00:20:47] Cesar: too. It looks like the kind of jacket that Batuu would wear in Ghost in the Shell.

[00:20:53] Badr: It's

[00:20:53] Cesar: fucking cool. A1.

[00:20:55] Badr: It's fucking

[00:20:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: cool. It's a bucket list thing for me to have a crew jacket too. Like it was literally on my bucket list before this happened.

[00:21:03] Badr: Daniel, do you have a preference between penciling or writing or doing any other job when it comes to making comic books?

[00:21:12] Badr: Like, do you have a preference? Yeah,

[00:21:13] Cesar: it's fair to ask at this point. Like, do you consider yourself more of a pencil ink guy or a writer? You know, like, where do you stand?

[00:21:21] Daniel Warren Johnson: Honestly, they don't... At this point in my career, there's not much difference between the two. They, uh... Between, like, the art and the writing.

[00:21:30] Daniel Warren Johnson: I find myself having an easier time drawing because it's so second nature to me, especially at this point. Um, I can write a page that's like a sentence long, and I just know exactly what it has to be, and I could just turn it out, you know, just make it happen with no problem at all. Uh, not no problem at all, but like, you know, I know I can execute.

[00:21:52] Daniel Warren Johnson: Like I write something like, amazing space station scene. And I'll just blow it out of the water. I'm that constant. You know what that looks like. I know what that looks like. Um, you know, that's not including like the man hours and stuff, but I just like, I have it in my head. You just put the train on the track, put the coal in and it's going to go.

[00:22:10] Daniel Warren Johnson: Um, that's kind of how the art is for me at this point. And, I'm still trying to push myself in that regard, but even then, pushing myself art wise is still so much easier than sitting down at a blank document and trying to come up with something that works. Uh, I find that to be the hardest part of the process, and refining it down to something that I feel works as a script.

[00:22:32] Daniel Warren Johnson: And I do scripts on all my stuff before I draw them. Um, I don't necessarily write the whole series or anything like that, but like, the goal is always to have like one or two issues under my belt before I start drawing anything. To make sure I'm on the right path. So that's what I did. We do a power bomb.

[00:22:48] Daniel Warren Johnson: That's how I approach things. And I find that the script. This process really weeds out stuff that does not work before I waste my time drawing it.

[00:22:59] Cesar: Uh, you were trying to get me to re do a powerbomb for a little bit

[00:23:04] Badr: because he knows. It was, Danny, it was like you custom made it for Cesar. So I,

[00:23:09] Cesar: yeah, I had gotten into, I had never watched wrestling when I grew up.

[00:23:13] Cesar: Like, growing up, I never watched wrestling. I never, I had friends that were into it. Um, and around COVID, uh, around that time period, I I just started watching wrestling. Hell yeah. And like just watching WWE. Actually just watched Payback, uh, today, this morning. That happened in

[00:23:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: Chicago too.

[00:23:32] Cesar: I was, I know man, I know.

[00:23:34] Cesar: But when my daughter was born like 18 months ago. I would turn the TV on and, you know, I've got now I've got this little toddler who watches wrestling with me. And, uh, brought us like, Hey dude, have you read? Have you read do a power bomb yet? Have you read do a power bomb? Do you

[00:23:51] Badr: love your daughter? Have you, do you love your daughter and you love wrestling?

[00:23:54] Cesar: And I was like, I was like, Oh no, no, I haven't. I haven't. And he's like, dude, what are you waiting for? And. You know, I read it and I was just kind of like, Oh, it's true. Like, I felt like you, you, you had made a book for me, man. Like I'm like, and I'm not the only one I'm sure I'm not the only dad who's read, like, I mean, as a dad, do you feel like your perspective has changed?

[00:24:13] Cesar: Like as a writer, like, do you write differently? Do you have like ideas in your head now that you see the world a little bit differently?

[00:24:21] Daniel Warren Johnson: I do. I I'm having trouble writing as a non, not a parent. Yeah. I feel like I can't help, but like write. the same version of the Lion King over and over. That's funny. I don't know.

[00:24:34] Daniel Warren Johnson: It's like such a big part of me now. You know, I, I, uh, it's a, it's a huge part of my identity. It's my regular life. And this thing that I'm focused on, I'm thinking about, um, a lot. So I think it has a tendency to just kind of spill over into my work. Um, you know, Wonder Woman came out, the kind of concept of the story, that structure of the story came out when, um, you know, my, my uncle, I was talking to my uncle, Uncle Blood, who I named after, I, I, I named him in the, uh, Duke Nukem Bomb series, yeah, that's taken from my actual Uncle Blood who cut himself one family reunion in his, uh, On his shin, and it just would not stop bleeding, and from then on all of his siblings and cousins and nephews

[00:25:20] Badr: and everyone called him Uncle Bud.

[00:25:21] Badr: See guys,

[00:25:22] Cesar: this is why you listen to the short box, you get the nitty gritty about these stories

[00:25:26] Badr: here. That's right guys, sometimes your own family be the biggest assholes in your life, right? They be the ops, they the enemy, that's funny as hell.

[00:25:34] Daniel Warren Johnson: Well, you know, it's kind of a cool nickname, but um, he was always super cool and he was, he's a great guy, but um, He, we were talking, because he has four kids, and he's obviously older than me, and his kids are now in, either in college or past it, and, uh, he's, we was talking about, like, getting his daughter a new car, because it was safer, like, as, like, before she went off to college, and I was like, that's cool, that's cool, but, like, at what point do you have to be, like, you know, at what point can you, like, not worry, like, or not not worry, but, like, at what point, do you have to let go, you know, like, And acknowledge that, you know, a lot of the safety stuff and like everything that happens in the world and it's all so effed up, like you have to like release control.

[00:26:24] Daniel Warren Johnson: I mean, at some point, you know, like they just, you can't just hyperventilate, hyper focus on every little detail about your kid always forever, because they're going to become an adult and things are going to happen and it just sucks. And my uncle's like, you can never let go. You can never let go ever, ever, ever.

[00:26:40] Daniel Warren Johnson: And I'm like, yes, in like theory, no, you're never going to let go. But in my head, I'm like, I just don't know. I just don't know. And so, uh, the, uh, that's kind of where that like initial, like, at what point do you let go? Uh, where it kind of got me started on one thing about Wonder Woman. And our responsibility to the world and to each other, blah, blah, blah.

[00:26:59] Daniel Warren Johnson: That's kind of how that started. So anyway, but I was a parent, you know, I, uh, Fiona had been born for about a year and a half at that point. So wait, I can't remember. Can't remember when I, well, Fiona was born in 2018. Sounds like a real parent. Yeah. I can't, I can't remember when I started Wonder Woman as the problem.

[00:27:15] Daniel Warren Johnson: So I don't know how old she was, but she had been born. That's,

[00:27:17] Cesar: that's the most dad thing you've said. I can, I can relate.

[00:27:20] Badr: Yes. Daniel, we have so far mentioned, we have pretty much mentioned all of like your big hitters. We've mentioned, by name at least, Wonder Woman, we've mentioned, uh, Murder Falcon, Do a Powerbomb.

[00:27:32] Badr: Do a Powerbomb. And I was talking to C prior to us recording, and I was telling C, I was like, Yo, Daniel Warren Johnson, to me, The way that comic book fans, or at least, you know, my immediate circle, and I'm going on a ledge thinking Do we

[00:27:45] Cesar: say Do we say your full name? Is that cool? Does that make you feel weird when we say all three names?

[00:27:50] Badr: You know, well, this is part of the story. I'm calling him Daniel all the time. Mr.

[00:27:53] Cesar: Daniel Warren Johnson, how do you

[00:27:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: feel? I don't mind, but you can call me Dan if you want.

[00:27:58] Badr: Well, I was telling Cesar, I was telling Cesar that the way comic book fans talk about your bodies of work, It reminds me of the way Like, film heads talk about Tarantino films.

[00:28:09] Badr: Oh, I'll take

[00:28:10] Daniel Warren Johnson: that compliment all day. Yeah.

[00:28:13] Cesar: He's like, and actually, go back to calling me

[00:28:15] Badr: Mr. Daniel Warren, please. Yeah, so there's that, and it also reminds me, as a big hip hop head, the way that we talk about someone like Jay Z's discography. Where there's so many strong... Bodies of work that you find yourself.

[00:28:28] Badr: Yes, you appreciate every single body of work for, you know, a different reason but you can't help but as a fan find yourself when you meet other fans talking like, all right, but which one's your favorite?

[00:28:39] Cesar: Do you like Dio in Rainbow? Or Sabbath? Or just Solo?

[00:28:44] Badr: Yeah, you're like, all right, do you like Blueprint more than Reasonable Doubt or the Black Album?

[00:28:48] Badr: You know what I'm saying? And... Me and Steve have had these debates, and I've had these debates with other friends of what might be, you know, objectively your best, or, subjectively? Yeah. Personally, our favorite bodies of work, but I'm curious, coming from you, if you had to make a Mount Rushmore of all the comic book work that you've done, and you only had to choose four, I know that's like, you know, asking you to choose your kids, but...

[00:29:12] Badr: I'm putting you on the spot here. If you had to make a Mount Rushmore of the best Daniel Warren Johnson comic books or comic books that best represent you as, as an artist, as a person, what would make that, uh, what would make that list? Well, I

[00:29:25] Daniel Warren Johnson: don't have, I don't know. I feel like Mount Rushmore would probably be the big four that Powerbomb, Beta Ray Bill, Wonder Woman, and Murder Falcon, probably my four most recent ones.

[00:29:43] Daniel Warren Johnson: If I had to pick one. Do a powerbomb. Hands down. Not even close. I don't have to think about it. I just stuck the landing so well on that one. I don't know how I'm really going to top that.

[00:29:54] Cesar: Nope. No pun

[00:29:55] Badr: intended. Yeah. That's a good springboard to another question I asked. I was listening to your interview with David Harper on Off Panel, which was a fantastic interview.

[00:30:04] Badr: David Harper is great at what he does. Yeah. And you said something about, uh, you actually echo what you just said. You mentioned, you know, you felt that you nailed the landing with, uh, I believe you said Murder Falcon and Do a Powerbomb. And that got me thinking, how do you define success in comics? Like, how do you measure that?

[00:30:21] Badr: Like, what is your personal goal anytime that you're, you put out a comic book?

[00:30:26] Daniel Warren Johnson: For me, I can only speak for me. I'm not speaking for anybody else. Yeah, fair enough. Sure. It's making the cheddar. No. Oh my god!

[00:30:35] Cesar: Look, you are fitting in perfectly, by the

[00:30:37] Badr: way. You're doing a wonderful job. I think Dan might be, Dan might be the missing third link that we need.

[00:30:42] Badr: Yeah, he's the new host, that's what's happening. That was such a, good response. The cheddar cheese, baby. Well, I'll turn in my things. Reminds me of when, when Peter Quill in Guardians was like, the cheddar cheese.

[00:30:52] Daniel Warren Johnson: I think, dude, successful, for me, it's um, being successful in comics is making something that I can like, work on.

[00:31:01] Daniel Warren Johnson: Really be proud of, honestly. I mean, cause at the end of the day. When I started making comics, it was really with Space Mullet, and I was just trying to make something that I felt could stand up to whatever else might be out there, and trying to do myself justice, and trying to figure out how to actually make all this stuff, which is no easy thing.

[00:31:20] Daniel Warren Johnson: Um, and, you know, I didn't make any money with Space Mullet at all, uh, I mean, until Dark Horse put it out, and I made like, Maybe 2, 000, you know, almost nothing. And, uh, for the relative to the amount of time I put into it, but I, I mean, at the time I still am in a, in this kind of like, uh, you know, fatherly way.

[00:31:45] Daniel Warren Johnson: I think love Space Mullet and I'm still proud of it. But it was a success for me, I believe, because I really was just trying to make something that I felt special and that I put my everything into. So I think that's what success looks like primarily. And then honestly, like at this point, because comics are, are my, my bread and butter, it's like how I make, um, the mortgage payments.

[00:32:08] Daniel Warren Johnson: It is a little bit of cheddar. You talk, you know, like it's, uh, I make decisions creatively sometimes based on. What I think is going to sell and what, where the market's at and how healthy it is, and that's why it was such a, uh, uh, I felt it was a big. Risk to do a do a powerbomb because it was a wrestling book, which is not traditionally well received in the direct market You know, which is kind of what my playground.

[00:32:36] Daniel Warren Johnson: Yeah, so it was a bit of a leap. It was a leap and There's sometimes you know, you feel like hey this project that I got right now I'm playing the hits, you know, and I'm like kind of I'm not catering to anybody But it's just like what I'm vibing and that's what I'm gonna go for And it just happens to be kind of in that cultural, you know, uh, down river kind of vibe, you know, you throw the boat in the thing and it's going to go.

[00:33:02] Daniel Warren Johnson: And sometimes you do projects where you just kind of got to maybe swim upstream a little. Uh, so do a powerbomb was definitely the latter where I really felt like I had to push and like sell the fact that it's like. This is going to be special. This is going to be different. This is not just a, you know, WWE comic that like they just make just because they can, you know, it's like, this is like my heart and soul on the paper for you to digest and have an experience with.

[00:33:27] Daniel Warren Johnson: And I'm most proud of it at the end of the day. And it did do pretty well. Not like amazing, but it did well enough that I could like hold my head up high and put food on the table. So I feel like I got all the, you know, I, I got a perfect 10 bowling wise. Um, sometimes, you know. The money thing doesn't necessarily happen.

[00:33:47] Daniel Warren Johnson: I remember Murder Falcon only sold like. Issue 1 only sold like 16, 000 copies, like, and I mentioned it was, it was not great, you know, uh, it was a real bummer to hear that. But I'm so proud of Murder Falcon, you know, I feel like it's one of my best things I've ever made. You should be,

[00:34:04] Badr: dude. Thanks, bro. I read Murder Falcon on a, uh, on a plane, I forgot where I was going, but I had enough time to, like, read the whole, I think I'd bought the trade.

[00:34:13] Badr: And I was like, let me finally get around to this. To C's credit, I did stall on reading it, cause I was like, eh, I don't really know if the heavy metal aesthetic's gonna flow with me, but... You know, Daniel Warren Johnson, I was already a fan by extremity. I was like, yo, let me see what he's about. Let me see if he can, you know, catch lightning in a bottle twice.

[00:34:31] Badr: Bro, when I say... I was holding back tears on this packed plane, and I was like, Okay, it's dark, I think I can get away with just crying a little bit. And, and yeah, I'm like, You know, you know, it's like so much pressure, I'm like, I gotta, I gotta cry a little bit. And right as I'm like, making like this internal decision, The fucking stewardess, who was not around for like two hours, shows up.

[00:34:54] Badr: Sir, do you need a tissue, you little baby, okay? I was like, are you okay? And they were crying on this plane, man. Beautiful

[00:35:01] Cesar: story. So, I'm in the, I'm in the military, and, um, you know, Comics in the military have a long history together. Sure. Um, so it's not hard to sell a comic book to someone who's in the military.

[00:35:14] Cesar: And, you know, but every once in a while you find some odd job who doesn't read. So you're like, what? No, he means

[00:35:21] Badr: literally, he doesn't read, you know? He reads

[00:35:23] Cesar: comic books. He reads comic books. Motherfucker, you were in the same unit

[00:35:26] Badr: I was in once upon a time. I'm not talking about our branch, you know

[00:35:29] Cesar: what I'm saying?

[00:35:30] Cesar: So, I was like, one of my buddies was, uh, he's like, dude, he loves, oh jeez, I freaking love Ninja Turtles so much. I said, really? I said, well, it's, I just finished this book, and he likes music as well. Uh, he's a percussionist. And I said, dude, maybe give this one a try. And he's like, Murder Falcon? What is this, man?

[00:35:51] Cesar: I said, I said, well, you know, it's, um, I don't want to spoil it, but it's got, it's, I think it's got a lot of the stuff we both like in it. I'll just say that, dude. And he says, all right. So, you know, he had my paperback edition. I had just bought, I'm not a fool. I just bought the delicious hardcover.

[00:36:07] Badr: Take this reader copy.

[00:36:08] Badr: And I'm like, yeah,

[00:36:10] Cesar: take this filthy paperback. I'm elite now. So, but he, so he had it for so long. I forgot. And then we're at work. Yeah. And we're on assignment. And one day we're like right next to each other. And he just kind of like leans up next to me and he goes, murder

[00:36:28] Daniel Warren Johnson: Falcon was fucking by us. And I said, Oh,

[00:36:31] Cesar: like we're at like an official event.

[00:36:33] Cesar: There's like high ranking people and everybody's looking at us. And I'm just like, cool, man. Can we talk about it later? Like, I really want to talk about it, but like, not right now. And he was like. Of course, of course.

[00:36:44] Badr: Nah, bro, I gotta share my emotions

[00:36:45] Cesar: with you. Yeah, right, like, he was kind of like that.

[00:36:48] Cesar: Like, he was like, I need to talk about it with somebody like right now, man. This is, this hit me right in the heart balls. Just punched me right in the heart balls.

[00:36:56] Badr: It has been almost an hour, and we have not mentioned one thing about Transformers, so we should probably get to that. And it sounds like you're getting hungry, we don't want you starving tonight.

[00:37:06] Badr: No, no,

[00:37:06] Daniel Warren Johnson: no, no, no, that's not why I, no, no, no, don't worry about that. Cause, you know, when I worked with this, it's gonna take like 45 minutes to get here. You know

[00:37:13] Cesar: what I'm saying? I'mma get that food. Don't worry about that, son.

[00:37:17] Badr: I thought she was about to pull out some, like, magician shit, like, nah, I'm gonna draw me food.

[00:37:21] Badr: Alright? What the fuck?

[00:37:23] Cesar: Was this the movie Hook? Oh, my favorite never food. I

[00:37:26] Daniel Warren Johnson: love

[00:37:26] Badr: Hook. Before, you know, we're gonna save uh, Transformers last, so that way we end on a bang, but then I've got a, I want to play you something. All right. A couple of weeks ago. It's his demo.

[00:37:42] Daniel Warren Johnson: Hey, yo, my man, could you

[00:37:44] Cesar: pass this along for

[00:37:44] Daniel Warren Johnson: me? Yeah, that's funny.

[00:37:47] Badr: That is hilarious. Okay. They had a couple of weeks ago, we had one of your collaborators on the show. Okay. Juan Gideon, you may know him. Yep. Co wrote, uh, Jurassic League with you. Did a majority of the artwork. Had him on the podcast, had a fantastic conversation, and I told him that you'd be on, uh, pretty soon, and I asked him to leave a question for you, and I want, I want to play that for you, all right?

[00:38:07] Badr: All right, do it

[00:38:08] Daniel Warren Johnson: up, do it up. Here we go. Hey Daniel, this is Juan. The bather asked me this earlier, so I'm gonna put you on the spot. Who would you put in your comic book Mount Rushmore? Living, dead, could be artists in general. I would like to hear

[00:38:24] Badr: your, your answer. Alright, so his question is one that I gave him, so he's tossing it back to you.

[00:38:30] Badr: He did my job for me. I'm

[00:38:32] Daniel Warren Johnson: going to answer this in a second, but I'm ordering one. This is great. I'm ordering one fried chicken sandwich from a really great Asian, uh, like, style. Korean style like fried chicken rice. Yeah, it's like kind of boba ish. It's

[00:38:46] Cesar: called cuckoo. C U C K O O from uh,

[00:38:51] Daniel Warren Johnson: Andersonville actually.

[00:38:54] Badr: Does it have like a, uh, does it have like Asian slaw? I think that's what they call it. Don't distract him, butter!

[00:38:58] Daniel Warren Johnson: They don't have the slaw, but they have like pickled like, you know, veggies that come in like every order. Yeah, and they do like uh, they do kind of like Korean style fried wings, but Um, a little bit of everything, but there's also some Japanese stuff in there too.

[00:39:13] Daniel Warren Johnson: Okay. Subtotal, 13. 98, delivery fee, 1. 99, whatever, fees and estimated tax, 4. 50. Huh, for one man, we're at 20. 47 and I haven't done a tip yet. We're gonna do standard, 24 to 36 minutes, you know what? Uh, we got three, four, we'll do a 5 tip, 5 tip for the podcast. There we go. We're going, 25. 47 for one man. Okay, confirming your order, we'll see how it goes.

[00:39:44] Daniel Warren Johnson: There we go, we got Daniel Fitch. Anyway, comic book Mount Rushmore, there's a lot of names that kind of flip in and out and like kind of there's some but there's Some that are staples and I'll go over the staples Miyazaki Miyazaki from his uh, Castle of the Wind manga, uh, Nausicaa is Nausicaa, but it's not in the Castle of the Wind Naska, Valley of the Wind.

[00:40:08] Daniel Warren Johnson: Yep. FIRE DEMONS! Yeah. Yep. Uh, Masamune Shiro from, like, Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell. And Dominion and Orion. Some amazing titles that are completely, honestly, actually worth... The, uh, out of print, crazy prices that they are now. I Dude,

[00:40:27] Cesar: I found some sweet deals on some Appleseed stuff. Just randomly at a used bookstore, and I paid, don't be mad, five bucks each for these trades.

[00:40:37] Daniel Warren Johnson: I'm not mad. I was buying them before it was cool. I hear ya. I hear ya. I was buying those before they I would buy multiple copies at like four or five bucks a pop. Cause I was like, these are so good. I'm going to gift them to friends. And then, I don't know, I think maybe it was the pandemic around that time.

[00:40:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: Like, cause they had been out of print for a while and they were just kind of hanging out in comic book store shelves, not getting bought and to be totally fair, the stories on all of those comics are incomprehensible. But the art is, like, next level. Oh my god. Um, so Shiro for sure. And then, I gotta throw up, probably, he's a peer, but, um, James Heron.

[00:41:17] Daniel Warren Johnson: You know, I wouldn't be here without James. Man. I just wouldn't. Wow.

[00:41:21] Badr: You know, I cannot recall Juan's, um, Mount Rushmore exactly. I know it was a blend of, like, uh, manga artists and, and, um, American comic artists. Yep. But James Heron was also on his list as well. And I found that pretty fascinating, considering I mean, obviously James Cameron's got a, you know, long career, he's got a couple of years on, on Wan, and, you know, respectively, but for someone so recent, I guess, modern?

[00:41:44] Badr: You just expect somebody to be like,

[00:41:45] Cesar: Will Eisner, or, you know, something

[00:41:47] Daniel Warren Johnson: like that. I think Kirby could go up there for sure for me, and he would stay up there. Hell yeah. Frank Miller. Frank Miller, for me, like, he goes up and down, like, I look at his art now, and I'm like, ahhh. I think for him too. I, I, I don't know.

[00:42:01] Daniel Warren Johnson: I love Frank Miller. I also wouldn't be here without Frank Miller. We'll put Frank Miller up there as well, but definitely James too. We'll put James up because when I was teaching, before I was even making comics, you know, I was reading his stuff in BPRD, and I was flipping through it, like, after my day at school, going to the comic book store.

[00:42:17] Daniel Warren Johnson: Reading his comics and having my life changed by that art. I mean it was just like it's honest. It was just life changing And I read those, I read James's comics and I was like, this guy's getting paid to draw like this in American comics. I want to do this. I want to make comics. I want to make, if, if you can draw like this, you can draw with this much like intensity and speed lines.

[00:42:41] Daniel Warren Johnson: And like, I just didn't even know that that was possible. Honestly, like that people would even buy that. Not like I was able to really emulate it, you know, but. I just wouldn't be here without him. Have you read

[00:42:53] Badr: Ultra Mega by James Herron? I have read Ultra Mega. That is a phenomenal comic book. Really cool.

[00:42:59] Badr: You brought up a bunch of manga artists and it got me thinking that you put me onto one of these out of print mangas and I cannot for the life of me recall, actually two of them, the name of it. And, but I do know the main character is like, he's got armor, he's got like a helmet, he rides a motorcycle.

[00:43:17] Badr: It's like an outer print manga.

[00:43:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: Oh, oh, oh, uh, Tetsuro Ueyama for, uh, Metal Guardian Faust.

[00:43:23] Badr: Yes! Metal Guardian Faust. And then, uh, that same creator has got another one called, uh, Fire Boy? Or something, something about a boy?

[00:43:30] Daniel Warren Johnson: Lampo, the hypersonic boy.

[00:43:32] Badr: Lampo. Awesome. I want to say thank you for putting me onto those.

[00:43:36] Badr: But also... Why would you put me on this journey, trying to find any of those books? It is insane. I was able to find, uh, Metal Guardian Faust, a couple issues, but I cannot find the other one. For the life of me.

[00:43:50] Daniel Warren Johnson: Metal Guardian Faust is the only thing of his that's been translated. And it originally came out in those single issues, but then it got collected, so there's a collection.

[00:43:59] Daniel Warren Johnson: It's gone up in price. I think it's like, you can find it for like 30, 35 bucks now. Lampo, the hypersonic boy, you can buy from Japan on ebay and I have never had a problem with getting stuff from Japan, ebay on Japan, uh, from Japan but you can buy it on the website and it will, they'll ship it to you.

[00:44:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: That's like 150 for the four set, four, four book set and I think it's more than worth it. Oh and he also did Uh, Mitsuyoshi, which is like a samurai comic, but all the ladies are like, very well endowed. I don't know what you mean, Dan. They're like, you know, uh, well, like, they have like, they're like, you know, it's like, very big boobs, like, insanely big boobs, but it's not like the big boobs from like, Battle Chasers.

[00:44:51] Daniel Warren Johnson: It's like, they're like, big ladies. Does that make sense? Yes. It's still sexy, but it's

[00:44:58] Cesar: also Look, we here we go. We for real have turned into Howard Stern. Wow, that's incredible. That's

[00:45:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: incredible. So these big ladies, that's Robin, what do you think of those big ladies, huh? Are they from Brooklyn? Is that what you think?

[00:45:09] Daniel Warren Johnson: But also, it's like, you know, It's so well drawn. It's so well drawn. The action is so incredible. I I

[00:45:19] Badr: will I will look for these, um Yeah, I bet yeah, I bet you will. No, you didn't let me finish. I bet you will. I will look for the other manga that you mentioned. And, uh, you know, I'll just accept the fact that I'll be eating, uh, nothing but ramen for the next, uh, month and a half, buying Japanese imported books.

[00:45:35] Badr: But, speaking about comic books that are well drawn, that have a lot of action, the previews for Transformers number one, I think, were posted yesterday by Skybound. They look amazing. I think it's only gotten everyone even more hype about the upcoming comic book. And I want to get to talking about Transformers number one.

[00:45:52] Badr: I think this is how we'll go ahead and wrap up the show. Talk about bearing the lead,

[00:45:56] Daniel Warren Johnson: by the way. No, we're not bearing the lead. Everybody knows about Transformers now, so might as well talk about it last. That is true.

[00:46:02] Badr: But, you know, we're going to tackle it a little different. You know, because everyone's got access to the same solicitation, the same previews.

[00:46:08] Badr: But what they don't got access to... Is a very talented Stop,

[00:46:13] Cesar: I think I know what you're

[00:46:14] Badr: gonna do. I don't like this. I don't like this at all. And what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna have Cesar I don't like this. I'm gonna have Cesar read the solicitation for Transformers number one. You son of a bitch. Do it, voice boy!

[00:46:24] Badr: No,

[00:46:24] Daniel Warren Johnson: I don't wanna! I wanna hear it now. It's been, it's been hyped up. Now you gotta do it. Prepare yourself. It's not, alright. Alright. Don't mess up. You need some water? Yeah, maybe give

[00:46:35] Cesar: me some water. Let's see if I can do this.

[00:46:42] Cesar: I, Optimus Prime, was supposed to have led the Autobots to victory.

[00:46:47] Daniel Warren Johnson: Instead,

[00:46:48] Cesar: the fate of Cybertron is unknown. My allies have crash landed, far from home, alongside my enemies, the Decepticons. As these titanic forces renew their war on Earth, one

[00:47:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: thing is immediately clear. The planet will never

[00:47:07] Cesar: be the

[00:47:07] Badr: same.

[00:47:09] Badr: New

[00:47:09] Cesar: alliances are struck. Battle lines are redrawn. And humanity's only hope for survival. Is I, Optimus Prime, from Cybertron.

[00:47:28] Daniel Warren Johnson: Come on, that's talent. That's beautiful.

[00:47:32] Cesar: Now you have to do the same thing with Lion though. Can you do the line? Do da do do da

[00:47:37] Badr: do da do do da do.

[00:47:39] Cesar: That shit gets me so friggin hype every time I hear it on Spotify and it comes up randomly because it's in my like song. What about, uh, People who ride with me in my car.

[00:47:47] Daniel Warren Johnson: Oh my god. Autobot Decepticon battle. Damn. Damn. Dare , Mr. Cola.

[00:47:57] Cesar: One of the goats. Yeah. Oh dude. I was gonna say, yeah. He's the guy that did the soundtrack for Rocky Four. Yep. And it

[00:48:04] Daniel Warren Johnson: fucking shows. And dude, it's Ah. And do you know this is a secret tip? Secret tip. Here we go. He has a separate record that's all of the instrumentals of Transformers the movie that is not this It's separate from the Transformers soundtrack of the 86 film Where the soundtrack has all has a few of Vince's cuts like Autobot Decepticon battle death of Optimus Prime I think there might be one more and the rest are like those 80s, you know Instruments of Destruction!

[00:48:37] Daniel Warren Johnson: That kind of vibe, you know? He has a, he has a record that you can't get on streaming, but you can buy the record like on Apple, like Apple, uh, Like if you buy the actual record. Thank you. And it's great, it's totally, there's no singing or anything, it's just like, that kind of vibe, like all of the background stuff that he did for the whole film.

[00:48:57] Daniel Warren Johnson: It's like the actual score. Oh my god. Yeah, you

[00:49:00] Cesar: gotta check that out. Dude, talk dirty to me. Dan, this is, this has been so, this has been so great. Before I ask my

[00:49:05] Badr: question, can I admit No, no, you don't get to ask anything now. Can I admit that I I only recently watched a Transformers movie, maybe, I don't know, five, maybe, in the last five years?

[00:49:15] Badr: That's fine, man. And I saw it in theaters, uh, Ryan was having his, I think his big 40th birthday, was to get a group of people to go watch the Transformers movie because they were reshowing it at AMC, when I say I might have been the most hype motherfucker in that theater. You got

[00:49:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: the touch! Bam

[00:49:32] Badr: bam bam! I already knew that Optimus Prime was going to die in the first couple of minutes and I still was sitting in that theater like, You heard, you heard

[00:49:41] Cesar: Judd Nelson talking to you personally?

[00:49:43] Cesar: Like he was like, If you're gonna ride, Potter,

[00:49:46] Daniel Warren Johnson: ride in style!

[00:49:50] Cesar: Exactly.

[00:49:51] Daniel Warren Johnson: Sometimes I will.

[00:49:54] Cesar: Why run when you can fight? Yeah. What is it, you know, yeah. Potter's like mouthing the words. It's like, Cowards run, Megatron. Heroes stand.

[00:50:05] Daniel Warren Johnson: Or one of my favorite lines in the whole movie, Ah, my foot! It's so

[00:50:13] Badr: good! It's so good, dude! That was great. I know a lot of writers tend to write their own solicitations.

[00:50:18] Badr: Did you write did you have any hand in the solicitation that

[00:50:20] Daniel Warren Johnson: No, I didn't touch that. No way. No way. I don't got time for that. Come on. Skybound does that. I only do that when I have to. Nobody likes writing solicitations. Ugh. I had to write the solicitations for Oath to a Powerbomb.

[00:50:36] Badr: You're like, you know what? I think I will use chat dbt for something. Yeah, right? Oh god. Well, I guess do you have anything to add that solicitation that might give our listeners a better insight into what they can expect from your version of Transformers?

[00:50:49] Daniel Warren Johnson: Yeah, man. Yeah. Okay, I've said this before in other interviews, so I'm just gonna say it here too, because it's just the best way to say, to kind of give people the vibe.

[00:50:58] Daniel Warren Johnson: So I'll start with this. Like, I've grown up with Transformers. I love Transformers, the TV show, the comics, the whole deal. But the thing that connected with me most was the movie. I mean, it was the movie. And it still does. It's still my favorite piece of Transformers lore, media, whatever you want to call it.

[00:51:14] Daniel Warren Johnson: Art. Sure. It holds up still to this day. I've seen it so many times. The music, the background art, the, uh, the animation, like it's a cut above the, the TV show in every way. It's better than all the Michael Pay movies combined. I'm sorry. It just is what it is, how it is. You got

[00:51:31] Cesar: to apologize for that,

[00:51:32] Daniel Warren Johnson: my man.

[00:51:33] Daniel Warren Johnson: And you know what? It's like, like, of course, you know, Optimus Prime dying, you know. There's real consequences, even though it comes at the request of, uh, brutal capitalistic strategies, you know, like, right. It's like shamelessly, like shamelessly capitalist, like we're here to make money. And yet somehow the purity of those characters comes right through the screen directly into my eyeballs.

[00:52:00] Daniel Warren Johnson: And I feel every minute of it. Which says something about the power of, like, well designed things, and just how special something can be visually. All that to say, I am trying to emulate the vibe of a 1986 movie. Like, I really am. Like, I'm using that as my bible. For character designs... I sent it to Mike.

[00:52:21] Daniel Warren Johnson: Mike was like, you got any ref? You know, when I'm talking about colors. And I just told him to watch the movie. Which I'm sure he already did. I was like, it's basically, we're going for that 86 movie vibe. We want to have fun. We want it to be meaningful. Uh, we want people to you know, celebrate and mourn in the same resonates.

[00:52:43] Daniel Warren Johnson: Even for something that just is about, you know, toys, selling toys, making money.

[00:52:48] Cesar: Look, I mean, the movie made children cry and now you're going to make men cry. So it's going to be,

[00:52:53] Daniel Warren Johnson: it's going to be, it's going to be good. I just want to give somebody, I want to give people something that is worth their money as always.

[00:53:01] Daniel Warren Johnson: Uh, I want to do it while. Being able to care for my fam, and the best way that I could do that was to just make the most bomb ass Transformers comic I could possibly

[00:53:10] Cesar: do. God, man, okay, so that sold it for, like, right there is the selling point, because you can hear it in your voice.

[00:53:17] Daniel Warren Johnson: I'm trying, I'm trying real hard.

[00:53:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: End

[00:53:19] Cesar: of the day, it's like, you know, look, I'm going to tell you what I told everybody, I'm trying to use the model of the movie, blah blah, and then he pauses, and he's like, Man, I'm just, I'm just trying to make the best, like, the bomb ass, most bomb ass Transformers comic there is. Like, it's like, well, there it is right there.

[00:53:37] Cesar: He just won the election, folks. That's all it's in. The votes are in. Dan's the president.

[00:53:42] Daniel Warren Johnson: I can't show you any of the pages because they're all too spoilery. Uh, and I sent off my issue one art to my rep, otherwise I'd show you that, but I've got my little reference printout here. All right, so I do this for every project.

[00:53:59] Daniel Warren Johnson: There's a Bay Area Bill one, a Wonder Woman one, I do a Powerbomb one. I just take a bunch of crappily printed out, uh, eight and a half by eleven pieces of paper from my printer, uh, and I just will use it for, uh, reference. Here's uh, Sparky from the, from the, here's a Spike, you know, I just printed out for myself.

[00:54:26] Daniel Warren Johnson: Uh, and I just add to it as the project goes, so it'll be like pretty thick by the time it's done. Here is a, you know, vroom vroom kind of vibe. Oh

[00:54:37] Badr: man, that's

[00:54:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: great. So that's from the issue one, and that is just something for me to have. So I'll print out my own art. Just because I will I'll make creative decisions like on the page in that day on that moment and I'll forget them So I'll just print out what I did to make sure I'm consistent moving forward

[00:54:56] Badr: You brought up Mike Spicer the colors that you've been working with, you know Pretty pretty tight for ever since extremity.

[00:55:04] Badr: Yeah extremity murder Falcon Wonder Woman beta rebuild do a power bomb and now transformers Um, I had a chance to meet him at a convention here in Jacksville a couple months ago, and he was so humble, so very nice, very soft spoken, and he had all of, uh, he had Murderfowl, he had all these books around him, and the only thing I could, you know, muster up to ask him was like, What does it feel like getting some of these pages from Daniel?

[00:55:30] Badr: And dude, the look he gave me, he was like, It's Daniel Warren Johnson. You've seen what's in it. And he grabbed Murderfroggen and he just flipped it to a random page. He's like, I mean, look at it, man.

[00:55:45] Badr: I thought that was some of the funniest shit ever. I guess from your perspective, what's it like working with Mike? And, and, and how have you guys,

[00:55:53] Cesar: what's that relationship look like when you guys go to work, you know, like you just mentioned Nacionali, like I, you know, I talk with Mike or whatever, like, but do you guys?

[00:56:00] Cesar: I mean, you've worked together on so many projects. Is it to the point now where we're like, all right, buddy, you ready to ride out into the sunset one more

[00:56:07] Daniel Warren Johnson: time? You know, uh, it is a lot like that actually. It's, um, we actually never talked even on the phone or anything until the pandemic happens, uh, when we were kind of, I think we had to talk about some logistical thing or something, but it.

[00:56:22] Daniel Warren Johnson: We worked so well just over email communication. We just never had a reason to talk, you know, we've never go ahead. How'd you find them? I'm sorry to interrupt. No, you're fine. When I was working on extremity, we had a colorist in place already that had colored all of issue one, which we really dug, but then the deadline came and went for the colors to be turned in for issue two, and it was, they just ghosted us, you know, uh, I think they just had a lot of projects do or what have you.

[00:56:49] Daniel Warren Johnson: So it got to the point where. They just wouldn't answer emails. So you're like, okay, we just have to let them go and we got to look for a different colorist. Uh, and Mike was a suggestion to me by my friend, Brian Lovell, who also works in comics. And, uh, he was working on some boom stuff at the time Mike was.

[00:57:10] Daniel Warren Johnson: And, uh, we reached out and we were like, Hey, just here's like two pages. Just give a crack at them. See how we, how we feel. And I saw those two pages and I was like, this looks really good. Let's go for it. And, uh, He recolored all of issue one, and I thought it looked Fantastic like I thought it looked so good.

[00:57:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: I was so happy. I was more happy with Mike's colors than the previous colorist actually it just seemed to fit my style so well and Yeah, I've just from then on it's been like not even not even a consideration of anybody else It's always been Mike always Uh, it's been, it's an absolute pleasure to have him on projects.

[00:57:54] Daniel Warren Johnson: He's so easy to work with, you know, like our communication, like at the beginning of the story, like I sent Mike, what did I send Mike, when, uh, We were working on Murder Falcon. I sent him a few screenshots of like Street Fighter, Marvel versus Capcom, sorry. And I was like, I want it to look like this. He's like, okay, I got you, and he killed it.

[00:58:17] Daniel Warren Johnson: And that was basically the only back and forth as far as like vibes or like reference we ever had. I will usually do a quick watercolor study of like my own characters and what I kind of want them to look like. And Mike will take that and run with it. Sometimes he'll make little changes. Sometimes we'll keep it the same and there've been maybe five times.

[00:58:35] Daniel Warren Johnson: This is very rare. Like 99 percent of the time I get stuff. I'm like, this is awesome. And the only thing that I might have notes on is like. Oh, that sword's supposed to be red or whatever, right? Like storytelling stuff? Other than that, every time he kicks it out of the park, every single time he kills it.

[00:58:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: And then there's been a few times where like, I just haven't liked the way a panel looks. And I'm like, Mike, I don't know why I don't like this. But I can't, like, I honestly, like, I cannot place my finger on it. And he's like, I got you. And he like fiddles with it. I'm like, no, I like it. That's awesome. Yeah.

[00:59:11] Daniel Warren Johnson: This happened maybe five times where I've even had to say like, Oh, this one, I'm just not buying one. And he's like, no problem. And he's just so good at his job. He's, he's always on time. He's just like, he gets done. He's just amazing. I could not ask for a better person to work on, to color my comics. It's just so, he's so

[00:59:30] Cesar: incredible.

[00:59:32] Cesar: It's so awesome that you have somebody in your corner like that, that just knows exactly how to deliver the goods and never leaves you

[00:59:39] Badr: hanging. I cannot believe you just took my joke. I can only imagine what that feels

[00:59:42] Cesar: like. you down in any sort of way

[00:59:46] Badr: at all. I got maybe two more questions for you, Dan.

[00:59:50] Badr: Hit me. Um. I said, maybe depending on where we go, where we go, depending on where we go. In a recent interview, you were, I'm sorry. Let me take a break. My God,

[00:59:59] Cesar: here we go. Here comes the gotcha journalism. Here it comes, Dan. You better watch out here. I'm

[01:00:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: ready. I'm ready. I don't know what's going to happen.

[01:00:05] Badr: Hit me, hit me. You've just been real. Like you've been very honest and I really appreciate the honesty and just, you're just keeping it a buck with us, right? Just keeping it hyper real. Okay. That has come across in other podcasts as well. Maybe not as well as this one. Cause you know, it's a short box. We just nailed it better than everyone else.

[01:00:20] Badr: You've been very open and honest about the toll, uh, that creator owned books, uh, take on you. And, and I think that's something I don't hear too much about. I hear a lot of like, the plus side of creator owned books, right? Like, you get to own the IPs, you get to, you know, uh, a greater return on investment.

[01:00:35] Badr: Like, all the pros that come with creator, the creator owned route. Uh, but, but you've made it seem like, you know, it isn't everything that it's cracked up to be. And you've talked about, in this particular interview, like, just feeling burnt out from having to come up with Every single idea and I was curious, have you found like any comfort, um, or a chance to like recharge your creative batteries while working on transformers and having like, you know, established IPs and being able to like, you know, have some sort of oversight.

[01:01:02] Badr: Like how has it been working on transformers say versus, you know, something creator owned and, you know, like, has it given you enough time to plan your next move?

[01:01:10] Daniel Warren Johnson: So I have not been shy about this. Working on a licensed property like Transformers has in a lot of ways been a real challenge because I come to the table with like my ideas and I'm excited about them and then Hasbro's like, I don't know about that, you know, so you have to like do this like, and to be fair, like I swing for the fences like every time like I want to do this thing, I'm like pointing to the outfield, you know, and Hasbro's like,

[01:01:42] Badr: so let's go to second base.

[01:01:46] Daniel Warren Johnson: I have a very clear picture of what I want in my head, and I fight for it very, very hard. Um, and I'm also dealing with realities of the fact that I do not own the Transformers. And that, uh, you know, sadly, it's owned by a company that is You know, they got their vibe and it's important for me to be respectful of that while also trying to deliver something that I feel like I can be proud of and hold my head up high with.

[01:02:09] Daniel Warren Johnson: So, you know, overall, the positive, I would, it has been a positive. Overall, it has been an incredible experience. It is so much fun to draw Transformers. I'm doing my absolute best to bring everything I possibly can to the table. I think even just the preview images that have been released have show that.

[01:02:27] Daniel Warren Johnson: Um, but at the same time, because of that. You know, because of the kind of reining in of what I just have to do, just because it is a gig, it's not like a creator owned thing. It's made me take that energy and start having to channel it back into my own intellectual property, my own stories. Because, you know, I am the kind of person for whatever reason, I need a fire lit under my butt to get things done a lot of the time.

[01:02:56] Daniel Warren Johnson: Um, you know, I, I don't know what it is, I just, I, a lot of times I need, uh, some sort of other force to kind of get me into gear. Maybe it means I'm a lazy person, I'm not sure. Uh. But, you know, after Do a Powerbomb, I sat down and I was like, I'm going to write my next comic book now. And I didn't have time to write anything, because the ideas had not gestated enough during Do a Powerbomb.

[01:03:23] Daniel Warren Johnson: Um, I was really tired, and, uh, for whatever reason, like, I was able to crank out like three or four issues of script of Do a Powerbomb before I finished art on Bayray Bill. Um. So I was like really ready to go and do a power mom all greener on books, you know Especially an image, you know, you're doing it all yourself And, uh, you're doing marketing, you're doing, like, uh, emails, you're doing podcasts, and you're talking with shops, you're doing creative, uh, you're doing, like, uh, exclusive covers, and you're trying to hustle, you know, you're playing the game, you're, like, all, like, always going, all the time, let's go, let's go, and then when you're finished with the final issue, you're just like, ugh, um, and there's just, I had no juice for another creator owned book in me, I, like, would sit down to write, you And I just couldn't write.

[01:04:14] Daniel Warren Johnson: I just couldn't get my brain to activate. I was too tired and I kind of wanted somebody to tell me what to do. You know, I kind of wanted like a job job. And, uh, it was actually just kind of perfect that Transformers came along because Transformers is that job job, you know, like that thing where. It inherently requires a little bit of distance from me because I can't do it exactly the way I want.

[01:04:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: I don't think that makes it by any means like an inferior story or product or what have you. It's just a different vibe and it's a different way of working. And because I am a little bit farther removed from it, I'm able to take some of that energy and that passion, like I said before, transfer it into something new that is my own, that I'm really excited about.

[01:04:58] Daniel Warren Johnson: It'll be the next thing that I work on, I'm pretty sure. 90 percent sure. Um, and you know, I don't think I really would have been able to do it without, you know, working on something different. I, I wish I could be that guy. I think like, Rick Romander's like this. Crater on, crater on, crater on, crater on, crater on, crater on.

[01:05:15] Daniel Warren Johnson: Like, I really admire him for being able to just pump out idea after idea, character after character after character, continually. Bam, bam, bam. I'm not that guy. I'm just not. I never will be. I need a back and forth, I think. I need to have a kind of sway. Otherwise, I just... The ideas in my mind will not be formed well enough for me to make something that I can be really proud of.

[01:05:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: And it really does take a lot of fermenting, you know, I'm like, sorry. So yeah, it was a soy sauce. It takes a long time before I start leaking.

[01:05:50] Badr: That was a really good answer. I appreciate the insight. No worries, dude. Yeah. Can you share any ideas that were rejected by Hasbro? Oh, wow. That you pitched. That were pretty, you know, you said that you were aiming for, you know, the outfields every single time.

[01:06:05] Badr: And it sounds like you would always kind of get back in the middle. But was there any one idea that you, that you can share that was, that was, uh, shot down? He's like Unicron

[01:06:12] Cesar: in a black metal band. Just huffing and breathing heavily. So Orson

[01:06:18] Badr: Welles can't deliver dialogue. You're like, you're like Matt Black.

[01:06:23] Daniel Warren Johnson: I'm trying to, I'm honestly trying to think of something specifically that they have said no to. And now I'm having trouble coming up with something on the spot. Uh, let's see, hold on, hold on, hold on. Well, you know what? So I can't, I honestly, like, this is no BS answer. I could answer your question, but I'd be getting into spoiler territory.

[01:06:49] Daniel Warren Johnson: If I said it, because it's like, you know, Hasbro may say, you can't do that, but you, you can't do it that way. You know, you can make, and then like, it's kind of up to me to kind of like backdoor it and try and like figure out a way where we can all be happy. And it's kind of like, it's actually, it's a kind of, if I'm, After I get over my frustration, you know, it's a nice, like creative exercise and a good way to kind of like flex and train the creative muscles to kind of work on the fly and find other solutions that still work.

[01:07:22] Daniel Warren Johnson: And there's still, you know, awesome. Um, all that to say though, you know, I've been dancing and stuff, and I don't want to really, if I tell you something, it's going to give you the vibe, and then it'll kind of ruin the story a little bit, so I'm going to hesitate, and uh, maybe you have me on in a year or so, and I'll tell you.

[01:07:42] Daniel Warren Johnson: Tell you more about that. All right.

[01:07:43] Badr: I like it. I was, I mean, I was gonna shamelessly just ask for us to come back for a part first time ever. That's, that's the short box exclusive. We

[01:07:51] Cesar: got it recorded.

[01:07:52] Badr: He said it. The short box exclusive is a guest asking to come back

[01:07:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: willingly. Oh, you know what? I won't tell you what they tell me not to do story wise, but I will tell you something they're very concerned about.

[01:08:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: Hasbro is very concerned that the hands look too human. My robot hands look too human, so I keep having to adjust the hands, especially on the covers. That's great.

[01:08:12] Cesar: So,

[01:08:12] Daniel Warren Johnson: yeah. So now, so like, they'll

[01:08:14] Cesar: Can you make the hands look less rounded? They are robots in disguise, after all, Daniel. Thank

[01:08:22] Daniel Warren Johnson: you. Thank you, Daniel.

[01:08:23] Daniel Warren Johnson: I just like, draw the Transformers like they were in the Marvel comics, you know? Which like, little rings, and then, you know. This is how I roll. You got the Brunianski,

[01:08:30] Cesar: yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:08:31] Daniel Warren Johnson: I don't like the little Uh, so every once in a while, Mike Spicer, another, a champ, you know, Hasbro will be like, Hey, these are looking a little too human.

[01:08:42] Daniel Warren Johnson: And then Mike's like, I'll go in and add some more white highlights to make it really look

[01:08:46] Badr: metal. That's great. How about we give something to, to the listeners and we'll call it a day here. Okay. Dan, what practical piece of advice would you give to an aspiring comic creator that's listening right now, based on something you wish someone would have told you as you were breaking in the industry?

[01:09:05] Badr: It's like, don't grow a ponytail.

[01:09:09] Badr: Oh!

[01:09:10] Daniel Warren Johnson: Oh, a T square. This is a T square that's tiny. It's a tiny T square. It is 11, no sorry, it's 12 inches long, and it hooks onto paper rather than like, it like hooks onto paper rather than the side of your table. I used to use the big T squares that will hook onto the side of the table, never again. Just takes too long.

[01:09:38] Daniel Warren Johnson: Game changer like that? I got my iPad here, you know, like so here, there, I'm locked in, right, it's like, it's like perfectly straight. Get out of here, you

[01:09:47] Cesar: using

[01:09:47] Daniel Warren Johnson: Procreate? I was using Procreate, yes. Uh, but I, it's, it's only like sometimes when I pencil for covers and stuff, or if I really need to get something done.

[01:09:56] Daniel Warren Johnson: Okay,

[01:09:57] Cesar: I gotta, I gotta ask. I can slide it upside down. Does Hasbro send you stuff? Do they send you like toys and stuff? Like if you ask for

[01:10:03] Daniel Warren Johnson: reference? We're working on getting a free His Tank. This is the goal. This is the goal. I was like, I'm making a bomb ass Transformers comic for you. Can you send me a His Tank?

[01:10:13] Daniel Warren Johnson: Oh my god. There we go. Actually, this poor guy, his name's Michael. He's awesome. Uh, he is the contact guy for the comics and, uh, side of things for Hasbro. Uh, he puts up with my BS, thank you Michael. Uh, but the first thing I did when I met him, I was like, Hi, nice to meet you, what's a guy gotta do to get a hiss tank around here?

[01:10:37] Daniel Warren Johnson: And he was like, we'll see what we can do,

[01:10:39] Cesar: we'll see what we can do. Yeah, he just looks at you, he's like, RETREAT!

[01:10:44] Daniel Warren Johnson: He's a good sport. He's a good sport.

[01:10:47] Cesar: That is awesome. It's like, uh, yeah, Dan, we, we have some issues. Oh yeah, what's going on? Well, so far you've asked for the premier wheelie figure, the premier RC figure, you've asked for Starscream, Soundwave, Uh, I, I, I don't understand.

[01:11:03] Cesar: I thought you already had reference for this. Yeah, I do.

[01:11:06] Badr: Yeah, you see on my contract here, uh, Yeah,

[01:11:09] Cesar: he's got a, there's a writer.

[01:11:10] Badr: He's got a writer. If you, if you reference this, that means personal collection.

[01:11:13] Cesar: Yeah, it's the most rock and roll thing. You have a Transformers writer instead of like, Brown M&

[01:11:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: M's.

[01:11:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: So, I haven't, I haven't done that. I haven't done that, but I am now, for the duration of my working on Transformers, I am writing off. Every single Transformers toy purchase. Thank you. Federal government. Oh, my food's, my food's almost here. I'm out. I'm out.

[01:11:37] Badr: Dan, this has been fantastic. We will definitely take you up on a, uh, on a part two.

[01:11:42] Badr: You're welcome anytime. Come back anytime, man. We're gonna have links to your socials, to your website, as well as the, the, the preview of, of Transformers number one. That'll be in shop October 4th. But do you have anything else you wanna, you wanna plug or say to the listeners before

[01:11:54] Daniel Warren Johnson: you leave? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

[01:11:56] Daniel Warren Johnson: Getting the subscribers on YouTube is insane. So hard. It's difficult as hell. I promised my viewers on my live stream. I go live every Friday, Friday with D dubs it's called. It's really fun. Chill. I just draw, just kind of hang out. I, uh, there's no super chats. There's no, I don't answer a ton of questions.

[01:12:13] Daniel Warren Johnson: I just kind of do what I'm working on that day and people hang out. Um, that's every Friday around five o'clock central time. But yeah, I promised people on the live stream, like I'll never ask people to subscribe, but I'm not on my YouTube channel right now. So subscribe to me. Just look up my name on YouTube.

[01:12:29] Daniel Warren Johnson: You'll find me, uh, thank you in advance. It's going to be worth your time. Super chill. I don't fall for this. Uh, The algorithm BS, I can't stand that, you know? There's no smash this like button, whatever, I just, it's like You're not

[01:12:43] Cesar: like, uh, 10 ways the industry failed me, click to see what happens

[01:12:48] Daniel Warren Johnson: Or like just a sad, a picture of me being sad like, comics is over

[01:12:52] Cesar: No, none of that, we're not doing that

[01:12:55] Daniel Warren Johnson: There's no clickbait, there's no bull S Sorry, I'm trying not to swear There's no, there's no BS You just come, you watch me draw, we hang out The end.

[01:13:05] Badr: This has been fantastic. Dan, you enjoy your dinner. Well earned, well earned dinner. You've survived. Yeah, and we'll be picking up Transformers 1, the show soon, man. Thank you so much, brother. Real good talking with you, man. Likewise, guys.

[01:13:19] Daniel Warren Johnson: Oh, oh, also, I never know what to say here, but I really do mean this.

[01:13:24] Daniel Warren Johnson: Thank you for your service. No bullshit.

[01:13:26] Cesar: Hey, man. Thank you for your support. I mean it

[01:13:34] Daniel Warren Johnson: You

[01:13:40] Badr: We made it to the promised land sea. We got an interview, baby.

[01:13:44] Cesar: We got it. That said, uh, Hey, what's up, man? I'm Cesar. Um, good to meet you. already met botter and I'm his co host. So looking forward to doing this, dude. Cool, dude.

[01:13:56] Badr: I wish you would have told him I'm his cousin. That would have been like straight brown

[01:14:03] Cesar: people.

[01:14:03] Cesar: Yo, he owes me some Jordans but this was cheaper so I decided to crash it.

[01:14:07] Badr: I've owed Cesar a thousand dollars since we met and this is how I'm paying him off. That's funny. Every episode of the

[01:14:12] Daniel Warren Johnson: show. That's funny. Oh yeah. Also, um, full disclosure. I'm sure we're starting, but, uh, I'm like, I'm like way behind on my workday.

[01:14:22] Daniel Warren Johnson: Uh, so you see me, uh, maybe doing a little doodling while we're on, uh, when we're recording. It's just part of it. I promise. I'm still invested. You would not be the first,

[01:14:32] Badr: you would not be the

[01:14:32] Cesar: first. You're good, man. This, we get

[01:14:36] Badr: it. But you know what it, it's, it's kind of like a challenge for us, right? Like, it's like, do you get me to break?

[01:14:41] Badr: Yeah, can we make him laugh? What are you talking about? Or intrigued enough to be like, fuck this work. Alright, they wanna talk, they wanna pod, they podding. Alright, that's what I wanna

[01:14:50] Daniel Warren Johnson: get to. Bring it on, bring it on, I'm ready, I'm ready. Optimus Prime's face is no problem. It is a problem, it's a problem.

[01:14:56] Daniel Warren Johnson: It's a problem.