Space Quest: An Interview with Joe Casey about Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, and America Chavez - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 451

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Intro music plays

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Yo, Short Box Nation! Hello again, welcome back. It's another Wednesday, another new podcast. Thanks for pressing play today. If you're new, welcome to the show. My name is Badr and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about your favorite comics with the creators that put their blood, sweat, and tears into making them. This is episode 451 and I've got a special creator interview with Joe Casey lined up for you today.

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Now, if you're unfamiliar with the name, Joe Casey is a writer and producer whose career in comic books, television and film has spanned more than two decades,  maybe even longer than two decades at this point, along with lengthy stints writing Superman, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, G.I. Joe, Wildcats and many others. Joe Casey is also the creator of Marvel's America Chavez, who made her live action debut played by actress Zochi Gomez  and Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness. Joe is also a founding member of Man of Action Entertainment.

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the writers collective behind some of pop culture's biggest franchise characters like Ben 10 and Generator Rex, as well as feature films like Disney and Marvel's Academy Award-winning Big Hero 6, which by the way is the first comic book IP to win for best animated feature. Fun fact for you there. Joe Casey is currently writing Blood Squad 7 for Image Comics and the new Weapon X-Men series for Marvel. And come later this month, not like he isn't already busy, he'll be writing the new Space Ghost and Johnny Quest crossover series.

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for Dynamite Entertainment, called Space Quest. So we've got plenty to talk about today. But first, let's get some bills paid and some house cleaning out the way.  I'd like to start by shouting out the longest running sponsor of the podcast, Gotham City Limit Comic Shop, the Jacksonville's premier shop for comics, collectibles, toys, and more. And I recommend that if you live in Jacksonville, if you're local to Jacksonville, or ever find yourself passing through Jacksonville, whether that be on vacation or road trip, go check it out for yourself. Gotham City Limit is on South Side Boulevard, right next to Tencel Town Movie Theater.

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Short Box Nation, without further ado, let's welcome your favorite comic writers, favorite comic writer. It's Joe Casey. Hey, Joe, how are doing today? All right, how are you, man? I am out of breath now. Trying to name all your accolades is a Herculean feat right there. Well, it me want to take a nap. know that. It's a lot of work. Yeah, it is, man. You've had a lot of work. And I got to say, I was going through your bibliography and your list of works, and you've got, there's quite a few on there that I'm

04:24
both familiar with and a big fan of, the series that come to mind is you did an Ironman run, a limited run in 2007 called Enter the Mandarin with, his name was, it was Eric Knet, Knet, how do you say it? Eric Knetty. Yeah, Knetty. I love that series and I think I can pinpoint that limited run as being a catalyst for me getting really into Ironman. And if I'm not mistaken, I think 2007 was around the same time that

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the Iron Man MCU film, whether it was the first one or second one. Around that time, the movie was coming out. So I  was actually rereading that Iron Man series the other night, and I'm like, this shit still holds up. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, that series exists because it was predating the movie, but we knew the movie was happening. And at that time, early in its development, the Mandarin was going to be at least alluded to a lot more strongly. So they wanted to have material that laid some track for that character, maybe a little bit more.

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modern, a little more of an update than the old 60s version. So that's why that series exists. I mean, it's a great little, I think it's like five issues. So like not a long commitment, but drawn wonderfully. I didn't even like notice at the time, but like Dave Stewart is doing the color. you know, it's like the art looks great. The colors look great. The story's got like this cool kind of pulpy new art, a lot of action. And you really get to see like Iron Man, like,

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here's Iron Man fighting the Mandarin for the first time and like he's getting his ass kicked and he's really having to like, he's meeting like a formidable foe and you've like worked in like world politics into the story in a way that wasn't like boring to a, you know, at the time 18 year old kid.  Well, that's good. I mean that, that, that series also based on some of the old 60s stories. was sort of, there was, sort of adapted them as you would adapting a book to a film in a way. You update things and you recontextualize things.

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And I like doing that kind of stuff. That one turned out really well,  mainly because Eric Kennedy's art was so distinctive. And like you say, Dave Stewart's coloring was fantastic, too. Yeah, highly recommend. I guess for any listeners out there, if you can get a hold of this 2007 run, Iron Man entered the Mandarin. It is well worth whatever the price of admission is. I think you'd find it pretty cheap on second hand. But Joe, speaking of which,  like I said, I went down kind of a rabbit hole  of all the different stuff you've worked on.

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And I tried to find what was the earliest. Because we're talking about, like I said in the intro, a two  decade plus at this point career. And I found your Wikipedia page. And tell me if this is accurate. I know a lot of times info on Wikipedia can either be outdated or just incorrect. But it's got your earliest work listed. Some of your early work is some fanzine  essays that you wrote.  One in particular I was trying to find.  You wrote something called a.

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and a San Diego Comic-Con program at. was like a, story, like, do you remember what it's called? can't recall it's out in my head right now. Something like, it was a takeoff on, I was a teenage something or other. was like I was almost a teenage comic book writer. Yeah. It's a, could have been a teenage comic book writer essay in the San Diego Comic-Con convention program from 1995. So that's one the earliest works Wikipedia has listed.

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And then another one is The Harvest King. It's a three issue mini series from Caliber Comics from 1998. And then it says that your first major big breakthrough with a large  major publisher.  It's got listed Wolverine Days of Future Past, issues two and three, script by Joe Casey, story by John Francis Moore, with art by Joe Bennett. Does that ring a bell? And is that accurate? Would you say that was your first  big entrance into big publisher comics and all that?

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It's  semi-accurate. What happened was I got  the gig writing cable first.  But I  had some lead time on that because the artist was trying to catch up and there was some scheduling and so I was working on that on issues that had not been published yet. But in that, while we were getting going on that series, the Wolverine miniseries was way behind  and John Francis Moore didn't have time to script it. So  in one of those classic

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You're a new writer. Let's test your metal situations. They sent me the pencils for the second issue and said, can you script this in, I think it was two days. And I yes, because that's what you say when you're breaking in and you're trying to get work and you're trying to impress. And so I scripted it in two days. Wow. So it turned out okay.  so, yeah, so, so that was published first, but I actually had the cable gig prior to that. that my run didn't start seeing print until I think.

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maybe January of 1998. so, so yeah, the Wolverine work predates it publication wise, but not in the order that I was doing it. Okay. And I guess at that point, like where did you learn to like script or, know, write a, write a script and writing in general, did you have, did you go to school for it? Did you have any, like, I guess like classic, you know, were you classically educationally trained? No, not at all. was completely self-taught. mean, I, I,

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You know, I was a big fan of comic books and the business of comic books growing up. And in the eighties, we were really lucky. We had a lot of really professional level fanzines that were being put out. This was pre-Wizard magazine. This was like Amazing Heroes, comics interview. The Comics Journal was in its publication prime.  And it was these fanzines were really a great look behind the curtain. And occasionally,

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they would get into process and especially writers process and on the rare occasion they would actually reprint a script page like an actual script page from I remember one of the earliest ones I saw was from Denny O'Neill and just seeing the format was enough to sort of unlock it in my brain. It's like okay now I know because before that I was doing what everybody who wants to do comics when they were a kid does. I was writing and drawing my own comics. Not very well.

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But that was how I was trying to learn. was what I was trying to... Everybody wants to be an artist when they start out. And then at some point I realized, well, I'm just not that good of an artist and I never will be. And I was really more interested in the storytelling aspect of it than I was the art aspect, even though I love comic book art, obviously. But it  was the dialogue, it was the stories, it was the plots, it was the characters that I was really into. So that's why I transitioned into writing.

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And so when you do that, then you start to look around and how do I do it? What's the process? What's the format? So I've just here and there just get little tidbits and start to formulate my own style, my own approach. And 10 years later I  broke into the business as a professional.  Growing up, did you have comic books in the house? Like, can you recall what's the earliest conscious memory of a comic book that you have? It's the classic story of like,

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My earliest memories like being on a road trip with my parents when I was five years old and they bought me something off out of this or I asked for it whatever. I saw it in the spinner rack in the gas station of the convenience store that we'd stopped at and you know, had begged the parent to  spend the quarter that it cost and then you're in the backseat with this thing and  you know, I had known about, I think it was probably a spider, it was actually a Spider-Man reprint from the 60s or the late 60s that they were

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reprinting a lot of Spider-Man material in the 70s because he was the most popular character. And it's one of those things where, you know,  you just see something and you have that instant connection. You know, it's the classic thing about, you know,  Mozart saw the piano and he just knew how to play it, you know. And  it was just a situation where I understood it, I understood the language of it, I understood

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what it was trying to convey. You some people go their whole lives. I know adults who don't know how to read comics. They don't know how to, know, what comes first? Where do I look at first? What do I read first? Which direction do I go in? And I just got the language from the get-go from being five years old and just was fascinated and just deep into it. It's been the longest relationship of my life, these comic books, you know. So I just, love them from  being a kid. I wanted to do them from an early age.

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And  I've just never lost the fascination. Yeah. mean, I just listed off like three monthly titles that you're  currently writing. Is the process that you have now when it comes to writing your scripts and working your projects,  how much of it has your process evolved? I know in terms of the industry, that has definitely evolved since 98 in terms of marketing and.

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you know, everything that goes into it, but just looking at your writing process and your creative process, how much of it has changed like throughout the years? Are there any, I guess, tent pole moments that, you know, kind of changed the way you approach, you know, writing? Well, I think, you know, when I first started, every gig was really like the gig of my lifetime. You know, I had put so much pressure on myself because I didn't know how long it going to last. When I started my run on cable, I didn't know if I would last.

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You know, 12 issues or two issues. You know, when you're brand new, you're just kind of waiting for them to bring the hook out and like this, like yank you off stage. So  every issue, every page, every panel was like precious to me. You know, it had to be just right and just so. And that all had to do with, you know, whatever insecurity I was holding is do I have the talent to do this? Do I have the gift to do this or the means to do this? I was ready to work my ass off to do it, but there's got to be some talent in there somewhere, hopefully.

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And as I've gone on,  I put less pressure on myself and I've just, I've gotten better at the job. You know, I mean, you can't do something for 27 years and  not get better at it. So, you know, there's, have, I still put a lot of pressure on myself to be as good as I can be, but not, but I don't have the pressure of every gig being the be all end all, you know, this is, it's going to make or break me kind of thing, which is nice. Cause that was, that was.

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hard pressure to put on myself in my mid-20s. At that age or in that phase of your period starting out, aside from looking internally, what external factors  are you looking at to get that confirmation or that confidence boost that you're on the right track? mean, is it sale numbers? Is it  approval or compliments from  other peers and colleagues?  Where were you looking towards to refine your skills and just build your confidence?

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I mean, in terms of building my skills, I just wanted to keep doing it. And I would have kept doing it no matter what. But  in terms of like career-wise, there was a Marvel Creative Summit that happened probably about  seven months after I broke in that I went to, held on the East Coast. And from that summit, I met a lot of the other editors at Marvel. And  from meeting them, I got a couple of gigs here, like an annual...

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One shot here there once that happened. I kind of felt like okay. I'm gonna be here for a little while and that kind of alleviated the pressure of Will this be a career or just like like being this for a year and then flame out?

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So that was an important part of the next step of being a professional in the business. It wasn't just one gig, one shot, and it's over. So that was a big deal. If I was to ask your editors, previous editors that you've worked with, or even collaborators, artists, et cetera, what do you think your previous editors or collaborators would say about you in terms of your work ethic or what you bring to the table creatively? That's a good question.

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I'd like to think my work ethic is pretty strong. It's the one thing, you know, like I said, I felt like I didn't know for a long time, you to this day you still question it, how much raw talent you might have at something. But if you can recognize that, hey, maybe I don't have the most talent, I don't have the  God-given gift, maybe I can work harder than everybody else.

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And that can compensate for whatever  I'm lacking in the talent department. So I was very, very adamant on busting my ass  to get in, to stay in, to be in it for the long haul.  to this day, I still have that attitude because it's  the one thing that you can control is how hard you work at something.  Everything else is sort of up to chance or up to fate or whatever. You can't control how people

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think of you when they're not staring you in the face. You can't control how an audience will embrace your work, but you can control how hard you work. And so that's kind of been my ethos. I hope my collaborators recognize that because, you know, I ask a lot of my collaborators very often, but I wouldn't do it if I wasn't there myself 110%. I'd never ask a collaborator to do more than I was willing to do.

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You know, that's just seems not right and unfair and lazy. So that's kind of my that's been my metric for the most part. And I guess this might be an unfair question, but I guess when you think back on, what do you say, almost 27 years of working in comics, does any one and maybe not memorable, whatever one or two, whatever comes to mind, what are some of the most memorable?

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moments in terms of like feeling like you've you achieved, you know, great success, whether that was financially or, you know, accolades, et cetera. Like,  are there any moments that immediately come to mind that you're like, man, that was like an epic moment for me in my career that, you know, filled me with pride that let me know I was on the right track? I think all of that stuff is  I look at it  as accomplishments in retrospect, you know, like at the time you're just kind of doing it and trying to hang on.

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When I look back and, you know, think about the fact that I was writing  X-Men and Superman simultaneously at both of the big two companies, I don't think anybody had ever done that before. At the time, I was like just doing my work, doing the best work that I could and just trying to, again, just trying to stay in the game. I look back and I'm like, that's  pretty impressive. You know, not many people,  nobody could have claimed it at the time. People have done it since, I think. But,

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I look back and I feel like that was kind of an interesting situation I was in. The other thing is, again, in retrospect, the amount of creator-owned work I've been able to get out into the world that has really been true to the vision that I had when I thought of them. To be able to go from soup to nuts on projects, I mean, at Image Comics, think I've done, I don't know, 15, 20 creator-owned series over the years.

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And that's a lot of work to do that is really reflective of your vision. It's a non-compromised vision that you got out into the world in pretty much exactly the way you wanted it to.  I'm pretty proud of that. And that's a big deal. I don't take that for granted to this day because  it's one thing to get a job  writing Spider-Man or whatever. It's another thing that if you love comics, to build something from ground zero,

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to published product. You're not part of an assembly line. You're shepherding the whole thing. It's enormously satisfying. It's creatively fulfilling. And I've had the chance to do it at Image Comics, like I said, like 15, 20 times so far. That's really been important to me as I look back on it. And I guess, just thinking about your creator-owned series, right now you're writing like Blood Squad 7 for Image Comics.

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You had a long stint for image writing your creator on series, Sex. Godland comes to mind as well. But what I want to know is if you were to recommend one series,  creator on series that you wrote that you feel perfectly maybe encapsulates your vision and your voice to recommend to someone that's like, man, I want to get into Joe Casey. What does he got over here in this creator on stuff? What comes to mind for you? Well, it's like, who's your favorite child?

21:19
You know, it's it's a tough thing to answer. Yeah, I know. That's the unfair question right there. Because as soon as I think of something, I go, well, what about, you know, what about this? What about that? And I mean, obviously this could change like any day of the week. like right now, what like what jumps out at you? Well, I mean, the last before Blood Squad 7, the last creator on the series I did was a series of limited series called Junior Baker, The Righteous Faker, which was which was sort of a spiritual sequel.

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to a book I had done a decade earlier called Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker. Butcher Baker I put up as a really, I mean, was drawn by Mike Huddleston, looked great, and is a really good gonzo superhero subversive story. I'm really proud of it. Junior Baker, the sequel, was much more personal, much more plugged into my own life or what I'd kind of  experienced in the, you know.

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decade plus years that I did Butcher Baker, which was very, again, it was very wild and gonzo and over the top. Whereas Junior Baker was a little more meditative, little spoke a little bit more to my life as I live it now. And I was, I was, and it was drawn by a great artist, new artist named Ryan Quackenbush who's fully, you know, sort of media painted the whole thing.  And  it was really a personal  story that I was telling.

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about a guy kind of assessing his place in the world in relation to, you know, superheroes and fatherhood and all, you know, all these  subjects that were very close to my own life. And I'd never really expressed them in a comic before. So I would say if you were looking, if I had to choose one to point people to, it'd be that one because it's the closest to me personally at this point.  So, you know.

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That's what I would do. I'll check that out myself. I want to turn the corner and get to talking about  the reason why you're here on the pod today,  which is the upcoming Space Ghost Johnny Quest Space Quest series. I'll say that like five times. That's a good little tongue twister there, which comes out issue one. Yeah, issue one hits comic shops March 26th, but it's combining the world of Space Ghost and Johnny Quest, which you are the  writer for the current Johnny Quest series.

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that is currently coming out through Dynamite, along with artist Sebastian Perez. How do you say his last name? Perez? Perez. Perez. Okay. So you two are not only going to be doing the Johnny Quest series, but you're also going to be doing this new Space Quest series. For anyone that might not be familiar, I want to read the solicitation for the Space Quest series. Joe, I want you to chime in with anything that you feel like you want to add to it that maybe reflects your vision of what readers can expect. Okay. Here's what they got for the solicitation.

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At last, the meeting the Cosmos demanded. The Quest family is legendary for how far they go in the spirit of exploration and discovery, but now they're headed for outer space. Johnny and the gang are brought in to investigate a mysterious, potentially alien spacecraft being held at Area 51, and where there's a spaceship, there's bound to be aliens, right? What happens when Space Ghost and Johnny Quest cross paths? The greatest entertainment event of the 21st century, that's what, brought to you by a claimed creative team of Johnny Quest.

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Now, Joe,  hearing that,  guess one of my most immediate question is, what connection did you find between these two concepts, whether that be like creatively or  the way they're constructed, and how are you bridging, I guess, the world of Johnny Quest and space goes together? Well, it's interesting because this whole  story  was originally going to be, in my mind, it was going to be the second arc of the Johnny Quest series that I was writing already.

25:07
But the guy's a dynamite figure, well, this is a better, this is a bigger event than that. And let's put the spotlight, which is fine. But I would say that the reason I wanted to do it, I mean, I'm a fan of both characters and both concepts, obviously. But if you look at them side by side, there are a lot of similarities. You know, with each concept, there is sort of an adult figure that's a very action oriented figure.

25:37
In the case of Johnny Quest, it's  Race Bannon and in Space Ghost, it's Space Ghost himself. Then there is the two teenagers that they hang  around.  In Johnny Quest, it's Johnny and Haji. In Space Ghost, it's Jan and Jase. They also both have little pets that they run around with. Johnny Quest's case, it's Bannon and for Space Ghost, it's Blip. So,  you see those similarities and you think, okay,

26:07
How can we mix it up so that you're crossing over the concepts in a way that makes sense  and sort of is still true to both concepts? And the fact is, as far as I know, no one's ever done this before. No one's ever had this thought that if you switched out certain elements,  the concepts would still basically be the same in terms of how they look in formation, how they look on paper.

26:37
So to come up with a story to facilitate that  sort of switch up was my whole motivation.  And, you know, I it's not really a big secret now because some of  the covers for number two have been seen where you see Johnny and Haji in the Jan and Jace sort of space ghost apprentice uniforms.  Oh, whoa. I'm actually looking at it right now and Mark Spears did the cover. So it's already like amazing. This is a really cool concept. Well, yeah.

27:07
So that's just something I wanted to see. I wanted to see that myself. So  coming up with the story to make that happen was kind of my whole motivation. Is how do I get, how do I trade those two teenage duos and how would that story play out? How would that work? How would the dynamic work if Space Ghosts sidekicks were Johnny and Haji? And how would it work if, you know, Dr. Quest's children were Jan and Jace?

27:36
So that was my commercial motivation for doing it. And then, of course, once you start to think of the story, the  character motivations and the relationships and the action stuff, that all  starts to come into focus. then, as it turned out, it's more than just a gimmick. It's turned out to be a really fun and resonant story that I think illuminates those characters to some degree.

28:04
I'm sold. kind of feel like they should have used that as the solicitation. I got a scenario  for you here. Take me for example. I am currently  pulling, collecting the current Space Ghost series by David Pepos and Jonathan Lau, which is awesome. I mean, it was like one of my favorite comic. I said it was like  one of the best comic books of last year. It's an awesome, fun, action packed series. So let's take someone like me that is currently reading Space Ghost or even vice versa. Let's say someone is currently reading your Johnny Quest run, but isn't reading Space Ghost. I guess...

28:33
Are they going to be able to follow along with Space Quest just fine without having to do a lot of like catch up and homework? Yes. mean,  the Space Quest side of the series does not really tie into what they're doing on the monthly series because that's a, they're doing a whole macro story there.  And, uh,  you know, I, it's one of my sort of tenants as a, as a, as a writer, I don't want to mess with somebody else's story. If I can help it. This really stands alone as an event series that, you know,

29:02
It's informed by how they're doing Space Ghost over there because I like that consistency and they're doing a classic Space Ghost. So it's not altogether different from the classic episodes of the cartoon show from the 60s either. So I think, mean, we do our best to make it, if somebody's coming to this cold, don't know anything about Johnny Quest or Space Ghost, it's all in that first issue.

29:29
to catch you up and get you up to speed on the concepts and the character dynamics. I feel like we can't talk about Johnny Quest and Space Ghost without acknowledging or bringing up the  classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, which growing up I watched a lot of on VHS thanks to my dad. He was a big Hanna-Barbera fan. And what comes to mind here are the creators of  Johnny Quest and Space Ghost respectively. got Doug Wildey who created Johnny Quest and Alex Toth who created Space Ghost.

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who you've gone on record as calling comic book royalty, which I find interesting considering not only their comic and animation  work and background, but also your animation and comic book background. So that similarity there. Can you talk a little more about that praise you give them? But also, are we going to see any of  their influence or legacy find their way here into the new Space Quest series? I'd like to think that for any readers who are a fan of those shows, I'm delivering the goods. The voices are there.

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character dynamics are there. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here with either one of these concepts.

30:35
But you know, the thing about Space Ghost and Johnny Quest is cartoons, even more so than the superhero cartoons that we got in the 70s and the 80s. Those two series look like comic book art. You know, they're not not simplified that much for the animation process. Later on, when you saw things like the Super Friends or even the Spider-Man show from the 60s, they had to kind of  pick their battles in terms of

31:04
what they could show based on production schedules and  just intricacies. I  it's sort of the charm of like the old Spider-Man 60s show that they only did the webbing  very often from just the head and the body would just be solid red because it's too hard to animate that figure with all the webbing design on there.  know,  but Johnny Quest in particular, especially like the opening credits and stuff.

31:34
It really looked like world-class comic book art brought to life in animation. And if you were a comic book fan, which I was, like I said, since I was five years old, and you looked at Johnny Quest, you'd go, that's like a comic book being animated. When you looked at the Super Friends, you're kind of into it, but it was sort of,  you realize that, hey, this is great. It's great to have Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman and those characters.

32:04
in a cartoon, but it doesn't look like Neil Adams drew it. It doesn't look like George Perez drew it. Johnny Quest and Space Coast have, you know, the Doug Wilde, Alex Toth style to them. And they're great comic book artists. So the fact that they were able to translate that pretty accurately into animation makes them leagues beyond most other comic book animation until around, you know, the, until probably around the X-Men cartoon in early 90s.

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or the Batman animated series in the early  90s. Those were finally the shows where I could look at them and go, all right, these are comparable to the comic book art that you find in the best comics, especially Batman. mean, with X-Men, the art was okay, but the stories were deep and they really went to continuity of the comic books. So it made up for it in that respect. But before that, was Space Ghost and Johnny Quest were that benchmark for me.

33:03
Well said.  What would you say is harder, personally speaking, for you? Or which one do you prefer more, writing for comics or animation? And then I guess if you don't mind explaining, what's that Venn diagram between the two art forms look like in terms, coming from a writer's perspective?  I mean, look, well, first of all, it's comic books all the way. That's my first love. It's my great love. It's my best love. There will never be another, as far as I'm concerned.  Animation, it's funny because

33:33
More often than not now, we're trying to take from  comic books more than we ever have in terms of, you know, when I write a script for animation, I want it to deliver as a single unit of entertainment. Like the best comic books I read as a kid, you know, before people were writing for the trade and people were writing these sort of multi-part stories where you'd get something that was so satisfying in between the covers that you had in your hand.

34:01
as opposed to part two of six or whatever. mean, that's okay for what it is, but  I think as an industry, we haven't done ourselves any favors by not delivering the goods every single issue.  know, some issues are admittedly filler issues because you're trying to get to the next thing or whatever. And animation, I find is much more like those old comics is that every episode you want to be a killer, you want to deliver on every level and have it be

34:31
packed full of  action, suspense, emotion, character,  all that stuff.  So to me, that's where the Venn diagram crosses over.  As a unit of entertainment, you want to just deliver on all fronts with both of those things. And shameless plug here on your behalf here, Joe.  Speaking about writing for trades, it turns out the first volume of your Johnny Quest series for Dynamite.

35:00
that first trade is coming out the same day as Space Quest. So if you want to catch up with Johnny Quest before getting the Space Quest, you could do so on the same day.  I would recommend it because,  like I said, it was, it's, it's really, especially in the Johnny Quest side of things, it's the Space Quest series is a continuation of what we did in the Johnny Quest series. So if you want, if you really want the whole story, you should definitely, definitely get the trade. And pick up Space Ghost while you're at it. But on the topic, uh, back to Space Quest,  uh,

35:30
If I didn't mention, I apologize, but your artist, your collaborator, Sebastian Perez, I hope I'm saying that right, Sebastian Perez is also the artist for the Space Quest series. And since this is an audio first show, how would you verbally describe Sebastian's art style? And I guess what's the energy like between you like now moving into working on a second series and, you know, incorporating more cast members and more characters? Like, does the process or relationship change at all? Like also tackling Space Quest?

36:01
Well,  when I found Sebastian  to do the Johnny Quest series, I felt a big, you know, relief because I knew that he could really  evoke the old cartoon without being a slave to the old style. He brings his own thing to it, but you you recognize it as Johnny Quest. So he did that so well. I had no doubts about his Space Ghost depiction. I'll tell you this, I've said this before. There are...

36:31
three artists that I think depicted Space Ghost the best in comics. And that's Alex Tuff, Steve Rood, who did a Space Ghost one-shot in the late 80s for Kamiko, and Alex Ross, who did the covers of a Space Ghost series that my partner Joe Kelly did at DC in the mid-aughts, I think. So, those are my three goats for drawing for a Space Ghost artwork. Sebastian is now...

37:00
right up there in that company, I feel like. His Space Ghost is so amazing and just so right on that, because Space Ghost is tough to get right.  We've seen a lot of Space Ghost depicted on all of the variant covers of the various issues that, of the monthly that Dino-Aid puts out. And for my money, there's pitfalls to drawing Space Ghost. That white  unitard is a minefield for artists.

37:29
You know,  it's really tough to pull that off in a way that makes you go, yeah,  that's space ghost, you know? And Sebastian does it. It's beautiful when he does a space ghost. Awesome. Joe, you brought up  a space ghost depicted in other forms of media. And I think we'd be remiss not to mention that we're recording this interview just a couple of days after it sadly announced at George Low.

37:56
passed away. George Lowe being the veteran voice actor and comedian, best known for voicing Space Ghost in the Space Ghost Coast to Coast series along with many other shows as well. Just kind of want to give a nod to George here. Were you a fan of Space Ghost Coast to Coast? Did that show inform anything in this new series that you're writing? Well, I mean, the thing was when that was really running strong on Cartoon Network, I didn't have cable TV. was in my

38:25
So I knew about it and I would see it occasionally when I was, you know, like a friend's house, we happen to have cable and it was, I thought it was a genius show. Cause I mean, I didn't have, I mean, I love Space Coast as a kid, but I didn't have so much of a connection to it that I felt like, oh my God, this is some kind of desecration. Thought it was brilliant. Thought it was  a great  way to bring that character back into the public consciousness.  And you know, that's  the true test of a great character.

38:55
they can survive different iterations, they can survive different treatments. know, Batman is the same way. There's the 60s, you know, pop art show and there's the Christopher Nolan deadly serious movie series, you know. And the character is strong enough to take both of those extreme interpretations without breaking a sweat. And with Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Space Ghost proved he was on that level.

39:22
Because it doesn't diminish anybody's appreciation for how cool that character is. It just proves that he was built to last and he was built with real resilience. Because believe me, they're cartoon characters.  you put them in  that different of a context, they totally fall apart.  They can't stand up to it. And Space Coast does, definitely. I had David Pepe's on the show  last year or a couple of months ago to promote

39:50
his Space Ghost series. And we talked a lot about Space Ghost Coast to Coast. And I went down like a rabbit hole over just watching like just clips on YouTube.  And  man, you're right. That show was really ahead of its time. I remember as a kid, would come on to, know, it would come on Cartoon Network or Adult Swim. And, know, I was just kind of just attached from it because you're just talking. So, you know, there was no action or anything,  you know. So I definitely didn't appreciate it, you know, as a kid, a young teenager. But looking back now, man, some of those interviews

40:20
Like it would fit so well in today's kind of  pop culture, right? Where it seems everyone's got a podcast or a talk show. But man, watching those old clips, they still hold up really strong. So I just wanted to just honor George Lowe  here for a little bit.  And I guess speaking on a related note, kind of speaking about depictions and  animated versions and live action versions,  I am curious. I said in the intro that you are the creator of America Chavez, who has recently adapted

40:49
and live action in the Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness movie by actress Xochitl Gomez. I guess just kind of curious your thoughts about seeing this character that you and Nick Dragata created in 2001, fast forward what, 2023 or 22, whenever the movie came out, seeing it on live action, depicted in real life, how did that make you feel? I gotta tell you, I've mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, I'm really proud that that character

41:17
Transcended the comic book page and made it into the MCU because  I mean I love a lot of those movies So it's it gives me a lot of pride on that level. I'm proud that the character exists in general because you know in a in a in a shared universe that was mostly white male centric  Characters like that were needed. So I'm glad that

41:44
we were able to contribute and that she has stood the test of time. My mixed emotions about it are that we're still in the very, I guess, the dark ages when it comes to creator recognition and compensation  and, you know, it comes to these corporate IPs.  And  so, you know, on one hand, it's great. On the other hand, it sort of puts a light on an issue that has not yet been resolved.

42:14
And I don't know if we're any closer to resolving it,  but it  is what it is. And those of us who are sort of in the trenches, we're doing what we can to change that system, but it's a very David and Goliath kind of situation.  I feel like it's going to take a lot of years, a lot of effort to really  turn that ship in the right direction.

42:41
How did you go about creating  the character America Chavez? Like what was the, I guess, like inception of the character? Because to your point, for anyone that might not know, like America Chavez is considered Marvel's first Latin American LGBT character to also just star in a comic book series, you know, of her own.  So, you know, history was made when that character  debuted in 2001. It was like Vengeance, issue one or something like that. But like, how did the character and the creation of the character come about? Well, when you're working in a shared universe,

43:11
where there's a lot of moving parts and you want to make a contribution. You tend to look at, what's missing from this shared universe? What kind of character? Who's not being represented in this universe? You know, Marvel, that's a lot of ground to cover.  She was kind of meant to be a cross at first between Wonder Woman and Captain America, you know, and she was meant to be, you know, I her name was to evoke

43:42
you the country she lived in, but in a way that made you think, you know, it's one thing for Captain America, blonde hair, blue eyed white man to represent America. You know, it's  we've all, we all understand that trope, but to have different  cultures  represent America so blatantly had never been done before in Marvel. And I just, I felt like it was time, you know, I felt like, and I, you know,

44:12
I live in LA, I've lived here for 31 years. And when I first moved here, for a while I lived in East Hollywood, which was, know, that's very East LA is a very Latino kind of community there. So I was exposed to it and got to really kind of see it firsthand. And it just...

44:40
You know, it's one of those things where you think of something and it just starts to feel right. Like it feels like it  already existed, that it should always have existed. And developing that character, she just felt like, yeah, Marvel needs this, you know? And listen, I would never put myself up there as any kind of  crusader for diversity. I mean, I believe in it and I believe it should be there more than it is. But I just thought she was a cool character.

45:10
you know, from a superhero point of view, you know, a young woman who could kick anybody's ass and had her own opinion about the universe that she lived in. mean, my favorite line from Vengeance is her saying, you couldn't pay me to join the Avengers. You know, she was of another generation, you know, that looked at the old institutions with kind of a side eye, which I really liked. I think that you should do that. You should kind of

45:39
try to tear down the old institutions wherever possible because either they'll survive and prove their resilience or they go away and  they, you know, it's proven that they were, they should go away. So to create a character that confronted that system in the moral universe, that was to me  the appeal of writing that character, creating that character. The  cultural  ethnicity of the character and  later her sexuality was really

46:10
to me secondary in terms of she had to work as a character first and she had to work as something that stood in  a unique light in the Marvel universe. So that's where I was coming from and the fact that she gained that know, popularity and momentum, you know,  like I said, it's really gratifying and I'm glad that  the audience that she was meant to reflect identified back with her. That was amazing.

46:39
You know, that was so gratifying that young Latina women were like looking at that character and going, I see myself in her. I identify with her. I'm going to embrace her as like  one of my characters that I'm going to support  throughout whatever iteration she shows up in. That was fantastic. One of the highlights of my career. Yeah, I mean, that sounds like a great highlight. And I got to say,  know at least two off top of my head right now.

47:09
die-hard America Chavez fans who were stupid excited to know that you know, she was gonna be portrayed in the movie. So on behalf of them, Joe, yeah, you struck lightning with that character there. And I really appreciate you going in depth in terms of your thought process. I love hearing any time that a writer talks about how a character kind of like brings themself to light, right? Like figuratively speaking, like.

47:33
Do any other characters or stories come to mind where it felt effortless? in your words, I think you said, you know, it just,  was cool. was something, it felt good. Well, mean,  that happens with a lot of characters actually. I in terms of, I mean, there's, it's one thing, again, it's the two categories. It's one where I'm coming in and writing Superman, for instance,  and I have to find my Superman voice.

48:00
to feel like I'm the character authentically. And that sometimes takes a while. But once I locked into Superman, he wrote himself. What he would say and what he would do became obvious. It was not a lot of effort. And I feel like a writer's job in general when it comes to character creation or story creation is you're  just there to kind of set the table. Try to get all the elements in place and then see where it takes you. Because good characters that are constructed well

48:30
They'll tell you what stories they want to be in, how they're going to react in certain situations, what they're going to say. They tell you. And at that point, you know, you're almost like, as Quentin Tarantino once said, you're like a court reporter. You're just sort of taking, it's like you're taking dictation.  When that happens, then you know you're on the right track. know, it's when you have to force things that you just feel like, oh man, this is a chore.

48:59
I'm not getting this or something about this that is not hitting. When I mean, it's as a writer, when that happens, it's just it's torture. It's torture. But, you know, luckily, I've been doing this for a while. I kind of know how to set the table  these days. So I  think I do.  I'm better at setting myself up for success in writing these characters than I was, you know, 25 years ago, for sure. Yeah, that's great.

49:28
Joe, you know what I like about interviewing someone that has such an extensive career like yours is that it makes for fun research.  When I do my research, I like going down rabbit holes and finding just new stuff, like being put on to new series maybe I haven't read, new old series, I should say.  I've compiled a list of some  artists and collaborators you've worked with. And I want to hear what comes to mind, whether it be a story or maybe some words that come to mind when I say these names.

49:56
I'm sorry, I a Tom Scholey because he was on the podcast last year to promote his Godzilla book that came out. also correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like he's one of your longest running collaborators in terms of artists. You guys worked on Godland for Image Comics for damn near seven years. What comes to mind when you think Tom Scholey? Tom and I, it was like a meeting of the minds. When we got together, it was just sort of instant click in terms of creativity and like,

50:25
kind of book we wanted to do. And to me, it was just a constant back and forth of like, I have this idea, what do you got? He'd come back with his idea and we just, it was a game of ping pong the whole run of Godland. And I'm as proud of that as I am of anything I've ever done. And I'm especially proud that Tom and I stuck through it together. There was never a time, we had moments, but overall there was never a time where

50:55
we each were bringing everything that we had to bear on the series.  We never slagged off on ideas and trying to push the envelope through ourselves and each other. you know,  I'm proud of the book, but I'm just as proud of that collaboration. Well said. I love hearing that.  All right. This next one, I'm going say Scott Collins, who you work with on  Marvel plenty of times, but particularly on one of my favorite Avengers series.

51:24
Earth's Mightiest Heroes, what comes to mind for Scott Collins? Scott, it was great because, you know, whenever I write things and I don't know exactly who's going to draw them yet, which is not often, by the way, but it happens, especially at the beginning of a project when I'm just kind of formulating it and figuring it out. When I was doing that Avenger series, anytime I write the Avengers in my mind, I'm writing for George Perez because he's my Avengers guy or John Byrne. He's the other

51:54
big Avengers guy for me. But when Scott was brought onto that Avengers series,  his storytelling to me was the closest at the time to a George Perez in terms of not backing off on  having eight, nine, 10 panels a page, drawing everything, not  shortcutting anything. So I felt like, oh, this is great. I  can lean into my George Perez fanboy without

52:24
working with George, which it was not, I've never would ever thought that I was going to work with George. He was too high up on in the pantheon for me to even consider. But Scott brought that same kind of storytelling energy and that sort of unflagging enthusiasm for the page. So that series turned out even better than I thought it would because he allowed me to indulge in that.

52:54
fantasy of writing for George Perez. So that turned out really great. I was really proud of that series too. Can I also say that those covers for Earth's Mightiest Hero, Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes volume one and two, those covers are so dope. mean, just from a design perspective, and I think you had Dave Johnson, I think did the covers for at least volume two.

53:18
I think Scott Collins did the covers. But I mean, just the way  the font, with  every issue spelled out, I think a letter of Avengers or something to that effect. I  vividly remember flipping through short boxes as a kid at my first comic shop and being really into Avengers and a big fan of George Perez and finding those issues. And you're right, Scott Collins, yeah,  there's definitely  not too much degrees of separation between Scott Collins and George Perez in my eyes for sure. Yeah, yeah.

53:47
Alright, want to, how about this next name here? Dustin Winn, who you worked with on the 2002 Wildcats version 3.0 series from DC Comics. What comes to mind? Well, Dustin was a newbie when he took on this. He's only done a couple of things at Wildstorm up until that point. When they brought him up to me as a possibility, I was like, I don't know, man. I don't know him. I really didn't really know his work that well. But they convinced me and man, I'm glad they did because...

54:15
not only did Dustin level up on that book from page one,  he really was a great collaborator, became great friends and great friends of this day.  And  so it was one of those instances where an artist was brought to me and at first I was hesitant, but turned out so great, which is why to this day, I keep an open mind if an editor says, what about this guy? I'll look at them, I'll consider it because

54:44
I was testing about Dustin, he knocked it out of the park and we've done very little things ever since then, great, great guy, great friend and  great artist who's only just gotten better and better and better. Yeah. He is on  a tear. I mean, even his creator on stuff. Oh  my God. I'm drawing a huge blank. It was like a sci-fi epic for a descender. Yeah. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Okay.

55:13
You know what? Let's go creator owned here for  this last one.  hopefully I don't butcher the name. But speaking about  long series and just long time collaborators, what comes to mind when I say  Peter  Kowalski? that how say it? Yep, Kowalski, yeah. Who you worked with on the 2013 sex series for Image Comics, another  long run series for you. What comes to mind?

55:40
Great guy, great artist, again, will draw anything down to the tiniest detail. Doesn't  ever take a shortcut.  And, you know, with sex, we wanted to, it was, there was as much a world building exercise as it was about the characters and the story.  And he built that world to such a great degree that it just, it felt so lived in from the first issue. That, and we have other things coming up down the pike.

56:10
Sex is not over, which everybody loves to hear that, that sex is not done yet. But we have other projects that we're working on. But there's other projects that we're working on that I think are going be good. Well, look, I was going to get into a shift topic or change topics, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask for Ian Churchill's story, considering I was such a huge Ian Churchill fan growing up.

56:40
a cable, he did a couple of cable issues  where he  fought like crossover of X-Men and I'm just a big Ian Churchill fan and considering that you two work together on a bunch of uncanny X-Men comics from like the early  2000s, what,  do you got any good like Ian Churchill stories?

56:58
I got a few. mean, he slept on my couch one night and we were hanging out in LA together.  I don't know if he have anywhere to go or he ended up sleeping on my couch in my shitty apartment. I'm sure he was  in East Hollywood. So I'm sure he was thinking, well, how did I get here? Cause he's, he's just a great guy from England. He's a great, very fine Englishman. Oh, I didn't know he was English. Okay. Cool. Oh yeah. Yeah.

57:26
We were in New York together for the first  X Summit for when we those  run of issues together.  And we all went to, it was me, Ian, Grant Morrison, and Frank Whiteley. And we all went to Times Square, the Virgin Megastore, which used to be in Times Square. And down in the  basement was Virgin Books.  And...

57:54
Ian is a great, great guy, you know, he had his taste in comics and he didn't know who Frank Quietly was. He never really  read anything he had done. let me show you  what it's about. then down in the down, you know, I'm sure that, you know,  I don't know what Ian was thinking, but we went down to the Virgin bookstore and we found a copy of the Earth 2 graphic novel that Grant and  Quietly had done.

58:24
just recently, just before they started on X-Men. I said, here it is, this is what this stuff looks like. And I just remember, again, I don't know what he was expecting, but he was like, oh, so this guy's a genius, I see. He just thought he was just another jobber like we were. But Quietly's work, as we all know, is on another level.

58:53
So seeing that, Ian was like, and he's doing the other X-Men book? Okay, I got to step up.  And I think it freaked him out a little bit, but he certainly stepped up. mean, the work that he did  on those issues that he drew with me were I think some of the best that he's ever done in terms of, again, level of detail,  know,  level of storytelling. He,  and I think that seeing Frank Wattley's work kind of...

59:22
lit a little fire  in her  ass. So Joe, one of my favorite things about doing these kinds of interviews and just doing a comic podcast is the opportunity to play  a conduit or a middleman or a bridge between the creator and the comic shop. And that brings me to my next question, which isn't from me per se. I actually reached out to Ben Kingsbury who owns Gotham City Limit, the sponsor of this show, but also my personal comic shop.

59:49
And I asked him to submit a voicemail today and a question for you based on the new Space Quest series, considering that he'll be selling it later this month. And he sent in a pretty good question. So let's hear from Ben. Hey, Joe, Ben K representing Gotham City Limit, local comic shop in Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks so much for taking some time to be on this awesome podcast. I just want to say congratulations on writing an awesome comic like Weapon X-Men and then

01:00:19
having the privilege of having the original cover art done by  none other than  Alex Ross.  mean, that cover with Cable, Wolverine, Deadpool and more is spectacular. I wish I had enough money to buy the original art.  However, that's got to be pretty cool feeling to have a legend like Alex Ross do cover art for a comic you write.  Then with your Space Ghost and Johnny Quest upcoming comic,

01:00:47
Having Mark Spears, who might be arguably the hottest comic book artist out there right now, to do the cover art of the A cover of that has to be a privilege as well.  So that's where my question comes from.  Has there been a comic that you've written where an artist has done the cover art or interiors that you idolized growing up and made you feel like,  I really made it? I'm gonna get off and let you answer.

01:01:13
Thanks again for writing awesome comics. We literally couldn't do it without you. And remember, short box nation,  always take it to the limit. That was Ben Kingsbury of Gotham City Limit. Big shout out to Ben for that question. As you can tell, he's very energetic. And when it comes to comics, you won't find anyone more hype about comics. And yeah, he's been talking about  Mark Spears every single time I get in the shop. guess his covers fly off the shelf. So I what does it feel like having Mark Spears?

01:01:42
Do the covers for Space Quest and then also his question too. It's very cool. mean, it shows that, uh, dynamite, he's a big gun for dynamite. When they pull him out, put him on a cover, you know, it's a big deal. So I'm grateful that he, that was able to do this one. Uh, in terms of this question, I would have to say I did a series in the late nineties. I only been in the business a couple of years called X-Men Children of the Atom. And the artist on that, least the first three issues was Steve Rue.

01:02:12
Oh, that is right. I've been looking for those issues like in the wild for a minute. Yeah. Steve Rood. mean, when I was  a teenager, Nexus was my favorite comic book. I love Steve Rood. The fact that we work together at all still blows my mind because I had this thing about when I broke in, I didn't really want to work with my heroes. I wanted them to remain heroes.  I wanted to work with artists that were at my level in the business because then it would be a  balanced collaboration.

01:02:42
It wouldn't be one guy having the power over the other guy. It would just be  a true collaboration.  But with Steve Root, I made an exception because he was legitimately a hero of mine. And working with him, getting to know him was amazing and  just as fulfilling as he wanted to be. He did not disappoint on any level. His work on that series is phenomenal. And Marvel gave him a bum deal at the time.

01:03:11
Um, and, um, but the time that we had together in the collaboration that we did have together was, I mean, that was a highlight of my early career for sure. And I look back on it now. I mean, that's, that was the, that's, there was no other answer to that question than, than Steve Root on Chindler the Adam. You know, it was a big deal for me. Those are, uh, yeah, it was a three issue.

01:03:36
series and I have been looking for these issues for a for a minute now because to your point the Steve Root covers are  so badass I had no idea that  you were the writer on that and Joe with all due respect I say this fully respectfully I feel like that is is what was happening as I was doing prep for this I'm like oh wait Joe Casey wrote that I love that series Joe Casey wrote that too I love that series so I challenge any comic collector or comic fan worth their spit to go through their collection right now and I guarantee you

01:04:05
Joe Casey is in one of those short boxes.  You could probably fill an entire collection of just the stuff that you've written. But Joe, you've been in this industry long enough to where I'm curious to hear your answer. If you could change one thing about like comic books and the way whether they're made or  sold, et cetera, et cetera, like what would you change? Because I've read a couple of recent interviews where you talk about how  marketing in comics is kind of like,  it's a hurdle, it's a headache.

01:04:35
know, like creators having to really step up and do a lot more when it comes to marketing their own books to help publishers. Like, is that what you would change or is there something else that comes to mind? No, that's really my only thing that I would want to fix, I guess. Because we're not, you know, the selling of comics to retailers by the publishers, especially on the Marvel and DC side. It's less about the meritocracy of the work. It's more about

01:05:04
some bean counter somewhere decides, okay, we're gonna make money on this as opposed to this. Whatever those metrics are, I'm not free to them, but they seem, they're not random, but they're not necessarily, they're not looking at the work itself and going, this is good work, let's push this, let's market this, let's make people aware of it.  But that's only one side of that coin. The other side is there's not really a mechanism in place.

01:05:32
to get that word out on  a  wide level. There is no wizard magazine that everybody in the industry reads or every retailer read, where you can advertise something or talk about something or get  the buzz going on something. There's no  central website, news website that people go to every day like they used to for newsarama and complex resources. So those two things...

01:06:01
are really, I think they're really holding us back, you know, because publishers aren't getting the word out, but at the same time, there's nowhere to get the word out too, you know. So, know, poor creators, we have to get out there as much as we can and, you know,  bang the drum about our projects. Even for work like Weapon X-Men, I've been doing a huge push on Weapon X-Men. I don't know why I'd have to do that.  It's a book with...

01:06:29
Cable, Wolverine and Deadpool. You'd think that Marvel would look at that and then it's, you know,  we're putting our blood, and tears into that book and it shows in the final product. I think it's a really good modern superhero book. But whatever its merits are, are not part of the equation. Whatever its creative merits are, are not part of the equation of how hard it gets pushed.  But again, like I said, where do you push it? know, there's nowhere, you can't do...

01:07:00
one interview somewhere that everybody will watch or read or check out. It's just a lot more  effort on the part of creators now. And look, I love talking about comics, so I'll talk to anybody and everybody that lines up at my door to talk about comics. But I'd much rather there be effective marketing and effective ways in which to market.

01:07:27
You know, it's a very closed system and it's, you I don't think it's going to lead to anywhere good. It's just going to keep  the more closed it is, the smaller it gets and the more it shrinks.  And it's, you know, it's dangerous territory right now. Yeah,  I agree. think comic creators have a lot on their plate that isn't just the creative part of making comics, that isn't just making comics. They've got to worry about social media, promotion, hopping on podcasts.

01:07:56
which I definitely don't take for granted. But on that note, what advice would you give to aspiring comic writers that want to do what you do, that want to have a 20 plus year career, that want to be the next Joe Casey? Is there any advice that you wish you would have gotten when you first started that would have been helpful? I don't know if I needed any advice because it worked out for me with whatever advice I've been given at the time or whatever notion I had about doing it. It's hard to argue with the results. Yeah. Somebody coming up is that just...

01:08:27
Just make comics. know, luckily the technology exists where you can make comics and throw them up on the internet and people will see them. You know, don't worry about  the path to, you know, don't worry about writing the X-Men. Worry about making comics and writing good comics. The X-Men may be there in their future, they may not be. There might not be an X-Men to write,  you know, at least in terms of a comic book in five years. So don't worry about that. Worry about...

01:08:57
being good at writing comics or making comics if you're an artist, you know.  Because there's nothing that will hold you back anymore. There's no gatekeepers to people seeing your work.  So, you know, just do it. You're never gonna regret putting in the time  to making your craft better. You'll have no regrets ever in your life for that time you put in. So, you know, start now. Put in that time.

01:09:26
Pay off later, I guarantee it.

01:09:56
or a post that you've made, actually speaking about Weapon X-Men, I was reading your sub stack about that and you went through like every panel, broke down the inspiration, certain Easter eggs. So I highly recommend following Joe on sub stack. Give him a follow, I have links in these show notes. Joe, to go back to your earlier point, I just wanna say I appreciate you taking time to promote Space Quest, coming on here talking comics. I know it's not, you know.

01:10:22
It's not easy. You've got 24 hours in a day like I've got 24 hours in a day. So this means a lot that I got to pick your brain and talk comics with you. Do you have any parting words or shameless plugs before we wrap up? No, I mean you plug the sub stack. That's what I was going to say. It's free. So I can tell everybody to get your money's worth. But other than that, yeah, this was great. Thanks for having me. You run a great show here. was happy to be here. Fantastic. I appreciate you, Joe. Thank you so much. Thanks, man.

01:10:52
There you have it short bikes nation. That's the end of the show.  Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here. And a special shout out if you 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 the short bikes, jacks at gmail.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 five star rating and review on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

01:11:22
or wherever you get your podcasts. It takes two minutes tops and it would mean the world to us. Leave us a review. 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. Once again, sign up at patreon.com slash the short box.

01:11:49
Speaking of our Patreon community, want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chittani,  RcGamut, BJKicks, Blake Simone,  Blythe Milligan, Bo Evers, Brian Brumleaf, Chad Lannenberger, Chris Hackett, David Morales, Greg Lictype, Hershel,  Mack Jacobson,  issue number three, Brad,  Jay Sinner,  Jeff Fremid, Jerome Cabanatan, Jose Sepulveda, Justin McCoy, Corey Torgeson, Matt Godwin, Amanda Maron,

01:12:18
Melissa Burton, Nick Wagner,  Ryan Isaacson, Steven Gammon, T-Mix, The Wait For It Podcast, Tony A. Uppie, Trey Namo, Walter Gant, and last but not least, Warren Evans. Big shout outs to the patrons. And with that being said, that's it. That's what I got for you this time. Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for another 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.