Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Capes and Tights podcast right here on Capesandites.com. I'm your host, Justin. Soderberg this week we welcome comic book writer and journalist Ethan Sachs to the program to discuss his book A Haunted Girl, which he co wrote with his daughter, Naomi Sachs. This book is an unbelievable book out there in the horror genre. Also deals with depression and suicide. So this is a great book for everybody out out there and something we wanted people to know about. So I invited Ethan on to talk about that. Ethan also is the creator or writer of books like star wars, bounty Hunters and other star wars titles over at marvel, as well as old man Quill, old Man Hawkeye, the kiss zombies, comic books, midnight Suns and much more. So check out Ethan here on this episode of the podcast. But before you do, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky and all those social media platforms over there, as well as rate review, subscribe and all that stuff over on Apple, Spotify and all your major podcasting platforms. But this is episode with Ethan Sachs, co writer of A Haunted Girl over Image comics. Enjoy, everyone.
Welcome to the podcast. Ethan, how are you this morning?
[00:01:23] Speaker B: I'm doing great, thanks for having me.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Absolutely. Where are you located? What state are you in?
[00:01:28] Speaker B: New York City.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Oh, you're in New York City. Okay.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: That makes it easy.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: We're both here on the east coast because I'm up up here in here in Maine, in the Great White North.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: I love your background.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Oh, thank you very much. I work hard on the new. I just updated it recently because before I had a lot more. Just pieces of memorabilia, art and stuff like that. All these comics now are actually previous guests of the podcast. So it goes up. I have about twelve foot ceilings in here and so now it goes up all the way. And so now if you've been a guest on the podcast a lot of times I have. I've actually already ordered from Golden Apple. I think you're doing a signing there of A Haunted Girl.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: And I preordered one of those from there that they're going to mail me. So you'll be on.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Perfect, right?
Absolutely.
And let's see, we're here to talk comics, really, but you're the first time guest on this podcast. You mentioned you don't do a number of them anymore or right now.
For those who are listening or going to listen to this episode, can you give us a little background? You have a pretty unique story going into the world of writing comic books. What's your origin story, per se?
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Yeah, my not so secret origin story was basically I worked in a newspaper for 20 years, the New York Daily News, and my main beat was what they not so affectionately called the geek beat. I kind of fell into it because no one else at the time in the features department was interested in the nerdy stuff. I was. So basically, comic books, Star Wars, horror movies, eventually Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, that kind of stuff. So it's just a really fun stuff to work on.
And during the course of my time, I got to know and become friends with Joe Casada, first as editor in chief of Marvel, and later he was chief creative officer. And basically towards the end of my run at the Daily News, and newspapers were kind of struggling, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And I did a story on May the fourth, 2016, where I interviewed this actor played Greedo, and we got in a conversation over who shot first and how it depends on different generations. And he was just hilarious. He was just going on a stand up comic routine about Greedo's eyes and how he's myopic, and that's why he couldn't figure out where to shoot.
So it kind of stuck with me. And I hit on this idea of a story about a murder investigation into Greedo and all these different witnesses giving contradictory accounts, but structured like Rashiman, which is one of my all time favorite movies, a Kurosawa movie. And for those of you out there who don't know what I'm talking about, it is a movie that's based on a Japanese novel of a murder set in feudal Japan, where all the different witness accounts are completely different. So I thought it'd be funny to do that as the Greedo investigation. So I ended up going to a New York Mets game with Joe, who's a big Mets fan, and I was sitting there going, hey, just on a lark, can I send you a Spec script?
If you don't like, you can print it out and walk your dog with it. Curb your dog. But it's just a story. I can't get rid of the story. And he was like, Fine, whatever.
Not very enthusiastic. And we agreed, like, if on the off chance it was of interest to Marvel, I would just donate whatever proceeds because I was still working as a journalist at that time.
Long story short, I'd never written a comic book script. I reverse engineered what I liked about I'd read a million of them. So reverse engineered like what I liked, the pacing, the structure, whatever.
I used a contact at Lucasfilm to put me in touch with Pablo Hidalgo, who know, obviously, on the story group, what I could and couldn't do with continuity. I write the script, I hit send, and I don't hear anything for weeks. So I think, okay, wow, he must really have hated it.
My wife's Japanese. And so we went to Japan to visit the in laws. The plane lands back in New York on September 7, 2016. I turn my phone back on. I get the email that changed my life with the subject line f GREETO.
And that was from Joe. And basically it was like, wow, this might be the best first time script I've ever read.
And he put me in touch with Axel Alonzo and at the same time the newspaper was offering buyouts. So I had, because I'd been there so long, got a package of seven months of pay. So I was like, if I'm going to make a leap and do a career change, this is it. So that's how I got started. They never ended up lucasfilm did not. Apparently they liked the script, but for whatever reason, it couldn't be published. So it just goes into the ether.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: But it helped get my so obviously, Star wars has been a big part of your comic book writing career so far. Have you been a lifelong star wars fan? Is that why?
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm of age where I was four years old when the original movie came out and that's like one of my first memories. It's such a powerful memory. I can remember sitting in theater seeing the star Destroyer go overhead and the fanfare blaring and I'm turning and seeing my dad, and I can still remember my father passed away in 95 and it's so vivid, it's like he's still alive. So it's like one of my earliest touchstones.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: And so that must be like somewhat of a dream come true. Obviously, beyond the right these characters on comic book pages.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Yes. Every day is just I can't believe I get to play again. The other great thing about star wars as a franchise is unlike any other franchise that I can think of.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: It.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Is something where every piece of the puzzle fits into this larger story. So the comics actually matter in terms of continuity. The books, the video games, the TV shows, the movies, even the theme parks, they all connect.
And so it's kind of cool to be creating or co creating characters and then knowing that they're kind of frolicking in the same sandbox as like Han solo. Yes, it's pretty cool.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: And the cool thing is, and I see that same thing, is that if you create or co created character that ends up on a screen of a TV show or a movie, it's not just an adaptation of your character. A lot of times it's a continuation of the story you've already created in the comic book.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Which is pretty yeah, yeah.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Which is not what we see a lot in the big two now. It's some sort of version of a character. Not that it's a bad thing, but.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's same for, let's say, Harry Potter or James Bond or whatever. If there's a comic, it sort of exists separately, know, or in the case of Harry Potter novel, the movies don't necessarily interact, which is a cool thing.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: To see in the star wars universe. And even video games, even all that stuff is in some sort of canon spot there. I think I just read was it Taika Waititi just had a comment that said if you wanted a movie so close to the comic books, just read the comic books. Yeah, but this is different. I feel like in the Star Wars universe, it's that actual like I said, it's continuity. It's part of the story. It's pretty cool. But, I mean, you've read so you've written in November, 40 issues of Bounty Hunters is dropping, which is pretty crazy run so far.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: I never thought it would last this long. And I've gotten to by the time it ends, I will have gotten to tell just about everything I wanted to do when I was completely ignorant when I started and didn't know how long I'd have or anything like that. There are all these story tendrils that could have just ended up not being told.
So that's kind of cool.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: It's really cool. And it's cool to see a title that doesn't have the words like Darth Vader or some sort of major character's name in the actual title. Obviously the word Star Wars is there, but to have that ability to have 40 issues of a run go so far, that, like I said, doesn't have that immediate draw of attention of someone's name attached to it that can pull that in, which is pretty cool.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it also gives a tremendous amount of freedom because I'm not as beholden to what happens in Return of the Jedi for most of these.
Like, obviously I can't kill Boskov because he's visible for a fraction of a second in Return of the Know, but yeah, other than that, I have a lot of free.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: I mean, so you've done these big done obviously you've done old Man Quill, old Man Hawkeye, things like that. You've worked on Midnight Suns recently and stuff, but now you've now ventured into a more creator owned or creator driven comic book with a haunted girl. How did that has this been a story you've been working on for a while? But how did this come about? How did how did Haunted girl come about?
[00:10:25] Speaker B: Well, it's the most personal thing I've ever done. And basically the backstory is more than four years ago, about four and a half years ago now, my daughter battles, depression and everything came to a head and she was hospitalized for suicidal ideation. And we as parents were completely caught off guard and our whole lives changed, basically. And I remember I was actually writing an issue of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge in the hospital cafeteria, waiting between visiting hours to go up and see her in the pediatric psychiatric ward where she was staying for a few weeks. And I was so distracted, but I had a deadline, so I was, like, sending it in. And I had this idea.
I felt all the guilt that you would feel as a parent in that situation, like how did I miss warning signs and all this kind of stuff. And I was like, I need to channel something positive. Like, what if I write a story for her to try to try to inspire her and maybe inspire others to just keep fighting and keep finding the will to live. And I wrote down just a line in a reporter's notepad, and it was something the effect of the fate of all life on Earth rests with a girl who doesn't know if she wants to live. And that ended up becoming like, I didn't really have a plot or anything, and I just kept working on it.
And fast forward. Four and a half years later, my daughter is in a much better place, and I asked her if she would write this story with me. And so the result is a teenage girl who's just fresh out of the hospital who basically finds out that she's the only person that can stop this supernatural apocalypse. And she has to sort of find because to save everyone she loves, she kind of has to save herself, you know what I mean? And sort of find the will to fight this very scary, you know, inner demons and outer demons, if you will.
And we teamed up with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They did sensitivity reading and they provided a resource guide in the back of every issue.
So this is hopefully a cool story, but on top of that, it's a mission statement for us.
So, yeah, the first issue drops October 11. It's from Sysig Publishing, which is an imprint of Image Comics. So we're pretty excited.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: That is exciting. And then the sad part is that during the advanced copy PDF that they send doesn't have that stuff at the back of it. So I didn't know that. That's pretty good information to have, is that there's that information at the back of the comic for everybody to read as well.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I think when it was sent that we're still putting that all together. I just also really want to shout out, because there's a third creator besides my daughter and I, and that is artist Marco Lorenzana, who has been I've worked with a couple of times, including my very first eight page Marvel story and on our very first creator owned project together, this flipbook called Intrusion, which came out about two years ago. It's kind of a horror flip book. And he's been, since day one, basically doing the sketches.
Essentially, we're working together for four years to get this onto the runway to take off. So he is as much a part of this as my daughter.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: And so and obviously was there basically like, you're going to work with Marco no matter what. This was the decision to make that's the artist you.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: In fact, I think it took a while to find a publisher as well. And I think one of the reasons why they were like, his art is a little too like, if you're going after teenagers, his art might be a little scary. Like, maybe you should do more of a manga type thing. And I was like, I envision this like a PG 13 horror movie. Lean into the horror. It's maybe not an R rated, grizzly, blood splattering all over the place kind of horror, but more of like that sort of very kind of scary, creepy PG 13 horror. And I wanted it to look like that. And so he definitely delivered that.
So it was never a question of going another route for art for me, even though we had to sort of wait to find the publisher that really got it.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: And obviously, I'm guessing an October release was a planned thing with the horror aspect of it.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: I mean, actually, we were rushing to get it done. The October was definitely the know, I live in New York. New York Comic Con is here. So it's kind of hoping that it would be out around then marco's coming to New York Comic Con, so it'd be like the only time the three he lives in Mexico and the only time the three creators are in the same place at the same time. So there are all these reasons.
And then because of the horror, people ask me, why horror to deliver this story about. And the reason is that's what it feels like to go through it. It feels terrifying. And I wanted it to be.
You know, Naomi definitely kind of grabbed that mission statement, and it wanted to feel like it feels in real life, but have that layer of fantastical plot. So it's kind of a little bit of protection. And also, I want people who may not be going through this to be able to appreciate the story and kind along go along for the ride.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And was this a time where you sat down with Naomi and wrote things together? Did she bring ideas to you? How did that collaboration process work?
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I approached her about a year ago now, and by the time we signed the contract, it was like, early December when she was off for her winter break, her school winter break because she's in college now. And we sat down and she had no free time. We basically just broke down an outline scene by scene. And then most of what we did was by zoom and shared Google Docs.
At first, I spent a lot of time for the first issue breaking down everything, so, like, panel descriptions for the artists and writing most of it, leaving the dialogue for her. And I left two pages for her for the therapy scene, for her to do from scratch so she could see how it's done. And then as we progressed, issue two, issue three, she ended up doing more and more of that.
So she does every line of dialogue from teenagers from the know, the therapy, the hospital scene, all the stuff that she brings knowledge of that I don't know, I joke that had I just done this by myself, I kind of feel like the teenagers would have sounded like the Steve Buscemi meme. How's it going, fellow kids?
So I kind of feel like in many ways, the original plot was sort of my idea way back when, but it's changed a lot from her input, and then she's very much embodied the teenagers and sort of the mental health aspect of it.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: I mean, this is a difficult subject to obviously touch on, but it must be so amazing to be able to work alongside your daughter like this.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I know it is. And I was a little worried going in for several reasons. Like, number one, I didn't know if it's going to be triggering for her or what it's going to be like when you google your name and that's what comes up. And so if it was sort of a secret from some people or whatever, it's gone now. Once you do it, there's no putting that genie back in the bottle or closing the lid on Pandora's box, whatever the analogy is. So I was worried about that. I was worried about how she would take criticism, like if you get a bad review or if there are things like she wrote, and I'd be like, we can't do that because a tie went to me just because I'm in charge of getting the pages to image and all this kind of stuff. So I'm responsible for that. So I was worried about all those things. But so far she's taken to it really well and seems to really enjoy it.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: That's awesome. Did you think that it's something Naomi would want to do going further is write more comics, or do you think this is just like a special thing?
[00:19:20] Speaker B: I'm sure she got bitten by the bug a little mean. She's in college now. She's studying something completely different, like related to environmental activism, basically, is what she's studying. So I don't know.
But the truth about comics is you usually have to have a side job anyway unless you achieve that sort of 1% strata of success.
So in my case, I do some journalism on the side and I work on multiple comics. So if she's going to go that route, it doesn't hurt to have a day job.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Exactly. Most people, it's one of those things that if you're some sort of environmental scientist, you could do that on the weekends or at night or something like that, not having to worry about writing.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: So she's always sort of done that for herself. So who knows?
[00:20:13] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Trying to get through the door right now.
[00:20:17] Speaker A: Exactly.
And doing a creator own thing like Haunted Girl gives you a little bit more freedom to do what you want as yourself. Ethan, as a writer, is this something you'd like to do more of, even on your own creator own?
[00:20:29] Speaker B: Definitely. I mean, I'm working on something that's so long, like, it's so long gestating that I have no idea exactly when it's and then I'm pitching something else. So I would love I think the secret to success in this business in terms of satisfaction with what you're doing is a combination of getting to play with this great work for hire IPS that I'm just starting with DC Comics as well. So getting to write these fantastic characters and then have your own thing on the side where you can really there's nothing really holding you back kind of thing. So just a of I think George Clooney called it like the one for you, one for me kind of balance. I love that they're both for me because writing Star Wars yeah, I was.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Just going to piggyback.
As a journalist, you go into writing the geekbeat if you want, they called it is you're a fan of it, that's why you're writing. It's very hard to write something journalistically if you're not something you don't know well, at least. And so being able to write Star Wars and even things like Old Man Quill and Old Man Hawkeye, these are characters you're probably fans of. So being able to write that must be like a dream come true. And then on top of be able to do your own stuff as well. So yeah, the one for you, one for me thing I can understand.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: Yeah, one for me, one for me.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: But just from different point of views. Yes, exactly.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: Directions or whatever.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Different directions. Yeah, exactly. But you mentioned, obviously, Marco being a part of this project is equally as you and Naomi, but Joe Cassada did a cover for you. Was this just like one of those things that you really wanted him to do for you?
[00:22:21] Speaker B: So that was a gift. He literally gifted it to me and he believes in what we're trying to do.
Like I said, he's one of my best friends and there was a time, and I think without going into too much detail, one of the key sort of leaps of progress that my daughter made involved a trip to Yellowstone, basically camping with this environmental high school science project thing. And we were really worried because there's no phones, she couldn't use her phone there, she wasn't allowed to. So we're like, what happens if she has some sort of panic attack in the wilderness with this? And it would take us so long to get there. And so, coincidentally, Joe was staying with his family, not like on a world map, not too far away. So I ended up spending like eleven days just intruding on his summer, basically.
But they welcomed me and they were there at really crucial times in our lives and so I can't say enough about the guy. And so he was like, well, how can I help here. And I was, you know, a Cassada cover would be kind of cool. So he made the time to make one FICO, ASIO did also gifted his cover, which was the other variant I really wanted.
The variants were really important to me.
There's essentially like a fourth one, which is a Walking Dead variant for the first month, which is awesome. This guy, jeff Edwards is amazing. And we have a manga one with Ryose Yamada. But going forward, two, three and four, we have like three covers per month. And I have some just incredible talent like Jessica Fong and gifts, and it's just some really incredible talents.
And it looks good, if nothing else, hopefully, like what's inside the COVID But you cannot go wrong with those covers.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: No, it's beautifully designed book, too. The logo is beautiful as well. It draws your attention in, I think. Like I said, the Cassada cover is beautiful, but all of the covers are absolutely stunning and they all portray the same feel, but they look different. And it's one of those ones. This is definitely a book that if someone's a variant person, definitely a book that you'd want to collect all covers, this is one of those ones you want to tell your know, I want all of them because they're all beautifully were.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: And Chris Ryle, who's the publisher of Sysig and the believer in this project that made this happen and took us in, he was also very adamant about not overloading with variant covers because sometimes as retailers and fans, oh, God, how many am I expected to get? Kind of thing. So it was like, all right, can you please give me three per month? And I will make them beautiful. I will get the best artists I can, but just please give me three a month. And so that was a compromise.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: There can be I've had a discussion with my local comic book shop owner about there are certain publishers out there that you go to look at their advanced previews of everything that's coming out. And there's one that has like, letter triple F covers. I'm like, oh, gosh, that's definitely not one of those ones where you're like and then it's not even like you want to collect them all. It's more along the lines of which one do you want? And it's so hard to just pick one. And then I end up being a person who loves Cover A, because Cover A seems like the one that the entire creative team really wanted to be their number one cover. And so I've always want that cover, but then there's always like, oh, this cover is cool. And then I ended up buying two copies of the same, which is good for you. I mean, that's more sales. But still, it still gets to a point where there's too many, it gets.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Too overwhelming, which you can do if it's like a number one Marvel or DC thing, but Haunted Girl most people haven't heard of.
We also wanted them to be different. There's always one that's kind of a little bit more manga or fun. And then there's one that's very much a very horror cover. And there is one that's a little bit more, you know, as an example for the second one, I Paolo Villanelli, I sent him the script and an outline and he's like, you have a zombie deer. I want to draw a zombie deer. Okay, so he has this big decomposing zombie deer head on his cover and Jessica Fong has know that's the B cover and the A cover is like jessica Fong, this is gorgeous cover of this haunted Girl, basically this upset looking teenage girl and these zombies coming down from above.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: And was it cover a of issue three too? Almost looks like a 1980s horror film, which is kind of cool.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: The hands reaching up from the bottom and things like that too. Yeah, they're all beautiful and they all portray, I guess, a different feel or a different style, but same feel of what you're expecting to read within the pages.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: That's the hope. I don't want to fool anybody. Like what's inside.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: It works well. I think that the array of covers works really well for this book. And it's a four issue miniseries. Am I correct with that?
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Four issue? Yeah.
And I know it's a bit of a spoiler, but because of the subject matter, we wanted to have a definitive empowering ending and cathartic ending and not sort of delay it longer. What we did is we ended up sort of packing more story per issue. Like, I think the first two issues are 26 pages. I think the third is 28 and the fourth maybe 30 between 28 and 30.
So it's like you get, I guess, bang for your buck. But we wanted to have the full complete story in that kind of space.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I've talked many times on the podcast with other people, but miniseries to me, I'm happy with it now. And if it's one of those things, obviously this subject is a little different and this story is a little different. But if you were to create another four issue miniseries that might have oh, we could do a second four issue miniseries. That's just a continuation, but it's a different volume and those kind of things I'm okay with. But this does make sense that I'm a big floppy copy purchaser. I like collecting single issues, but this also probably could have worked at some sort of OGN too. So was it always going to be a single issue comic from the beginning.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: While we were flirting with other publishers? There was a scenario where it would be a longer graphic novel, but I think there's several reasons. The way I saw it was it'll eventually be collected in a trade paperback and we'll find a whole other audience in bookstores. So. We're trying to reach as many people as possible who might be uplifted by this. So I was like, if we have both the sort of the comic store crowd and then later the bookstore crowd, maybe slightly more manga centric or whatever, I think it would make sense. And the image model, I'm pouring a lot of savings into this, so I have to sort of think about that as well.
If you do a graphic novel, you just release it once, essentially, and so this way we're essentially releasing it twice.
So there was that factor, too. But, yeah, I'm a comic book store guy.
I had two local comic stores. One, unfortunately, just closed down, JH Comics in Manhattan, so that particular store. But I love going and talking comics to somebody and browsing and just seeing all the cool issues I haven't heard of. Here's a number one of a Hawaii comic series that I hadn't heard of, and it looks cool and so I'll check it out kind of thing.
I wanted to be part of that.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Yeah, and they also, like, we just already mentioned the variant covers. Variant covers aren't really a thing when you have it as an OGN from the beginning. Variant covers really only really exist in the single issue market, which is pretty cool. You get to add that to it, too, from beginning to end. Now, are you excited for this to now drop and get into people's hands? Are you nervous? What's the feel now coming into the.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: Little bit of both?
I'm doing all I can to get the word out. Like, we're doing some pretty cool press the next week or two. And then after New York Comic Con, we're doing our first signing at Forbidden Planet in New York with all three creators there. And then I'm hitting the road. I think it's two countries, seven states, eleven stores or something like that. So it's yeah, I'm doing all I can to help get the word out, and I hope people like it. So I am nervous.
But also, it's been four years since it was a line in a reporter's notepad, so the chance to see it come to fruition is just incredible.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm excited for people to read it because, like I said, it's a unique story, but also one of those ones that if you're into a specific or in that nowadays with the horror kind of style, comic books are pretty prevalent and pretty popular, that it would fall in that genre. Not to say you shouldn't care about the other underlying story in it, but even if it wasn't something that draw you in for the first place, this is something that anybody who likes a horror style or some sort of darker comic book would be able to read and understand and enjoy. But also, if you're just there for the story, the Naomi's portion of the story, then you can also pick it up for that, too. So I think it has a multifaceted and I think it's one of those ones that people will just pick up to give it a shot. Plus plus, I mean, you got all your Star Wars fans, right?
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I hope they come along.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: Are you wrapping up your run with bounty hunters? Do you know if the finite end of it or are you no, I.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: Know where the ending was. I mean, it was always like a fixed space that we could work in because it's set between this was a great moment in time for the comics because we could interact like the four sort of flagship books and all the crossover events and miniseries that spun out of basically, you know, Alyssa Wong, Greg Pak, Charles Soul and Mark Guggenheim and I, we were really lucky to have all our comics set in the exact same time period between Empire and Return of the Jedi. But at the same time, there's like a year of story between those two movies, so it could not go on forever. So, yeah, there is an ending in sight.
I know how the series ends and I was lucky to get to that point because it was but we still have more story out there, so you won't feel the effects of it too soon.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: You mentioned about how you writing for Star Wars as a pretty cool dream come true. In a sense that your name next to those names you just named off in the same category of those writers is pretty cool, too, I would think.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: It's fantastic. And the best part of they're they're like we've been working together for more than four know. You look at take Charles as an example. He is somebody who is quarterback to all these crossovers but is very collaborative. So it's like, hey, in this bigger, like, what's Valance's role? What would you like to do? And he'll fit it in. And he's very collaborative. They all are.
Those weekly zooms are just so much fun.
And all the wisdom that they've accumulated over the years, they share and isn't just them, it's like, of course, the editors led by Mark Panicia and the artists.
I got to work with Paolo for like 30 issues, I think, which is an amazing run for a writer and artist to be paired together. That just doesn't happen anymore. So I think the series was so much better for that. And then there's all these other writers know Daniel Older and Kevin Scott and Justine Ireland who are just so generous, man. It's just a fun place to work.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: It does seem like I've talked to Daniel before. Daniel older, and Charles and I've actually had Mark Guggenheim on as one's. It's not one of them who was like, I don't really want to talk about the Star Wars part of this, because I don't like like, everyone seems like they're just happy and excited to work at the yeah.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: And so everyone reverts to whatever age they were when they first started, and.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: They want this Star Wars universe to be the best they possibly can. So it would kind of stupid for them to hold on to all their information and knowledge and whatever. They want Ethan's story to work just as well as Mark's. They want them all to work well because they want this to succeed and continue. So it's just a cool time we live in as a you know, I.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Was at the last few celebrations and the one in Anaheim last year, a kid approached me and he's know, mr. Sachs, can I show you something? And he was 7th grade, I think, and he showed me his mother was there and they showed me on his phone for his school project. He loved Bounty Hunter so much that he shot a movie, and the costumes were so so he I think he was Bane. Um, and his father was Valance, and his grandfather was Busque. His mother was Zuckus. But the costumes were so elaborate, and they were somewhere in the wilderness, like the snow covered wilderness.
And I was like, my God.
My comic inspired creative movie. That was probably a better story than anything I could have come up with, judging by the production value.
And that was kind of cool. And he said he got a good grade on it. So, you know, props to that teacher for encouraging his creativity.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: That's awesome to hear. And that's one of those cool things now with conventions and things and stuff, you get to see this. I've talked to multiple creators who was like, it's insane to see that I draw something. And my iteration of drawing this character is what someone dressed up as a character for something like New York Comic Con or San Diego or Celebration. It's just weird to see that someone would like it that much that they're willing to spend time, energy and money to make this costume or make a project for school where most of us, me, for example, in school, phoned all that stuff in. So for him to be that excited about doing this kind of project, to do that much work on, it's pretty cool to hear and pretty cool to see that's always.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: Like, I was never the top student, but the classes where they encouraged that, man, I just dove right in. If I got to write a creative writing project, that's where my brain went. So kind of feel like if you can encourage that, that is absolutely the way to do it.
Learning shouldn't just be like reading 100 pages and regurgitating it in a homework.
It should be fun and engage their.
[00:38:24] Speaker A: Brains in comics as a thing. When I was younger, I couldn't read books very well, and so I read comics, and that's what got me into reading. And now I read a book a month, at least an actual note. Frozen novel and so comic books have got me as a better reader. So that's awesome to hear. Kids are still reading comic books because I want them to, and hopefully it helps them turn into a better reader.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: I have a weird experience because I did a few nonfiction journalism books for Awa Studios, one called COVID Chronicles, one called Climate Crisis Chronicles that they also ran on NBC News, where I still freelance very part time. Anyway, collected and trade paperbacks. And my old high school got bought, like 70 of them and are using them as a textbook for a class called Writing to Make Change. And so I'm going to go in October to give a talk about this book in my old high school. So it is weird.
[00:39:25] Speaker A: That's awesome. I'd love to do that because I'd love to go in there and be like, I told you guys I'd make it. Geez, you guys all didn't believe it. That's the only reason I do. I'd be like, oh, yeah, I'm here to teach, too.
[00:39:33] Speaker B: Oops, yeah.
And I was not like the star student, let's just say that.
So it's kind of cool.
[00:39:41] Speaker A: That's cool. That's really cool.
I have a two year old. I'm expecting another baby girl in March. All right. A baby girl in March. I have a two year old son and a baby girl. I'm coming in March. So as a father, I'm excited to see thank you. See what my son turns into and has passions for. In all likelihood, my son's going to hate comic books altogether, but that's just the way it is. But the idea that you got to co write and co author a book alongside your daughter is just something that I was touched on because as being a father. And I think the story behind it and the attention you're giving depression and anxiety and suicidal thoughts and tendency. All that stuff is great to hear, and I'm excited to see it coming out. October 11. Actually, this is actually the day that this episode drops. So when people are driving to when you're driving to work and you're listening to this episode in your car, make sure you get to work, call your LCSA, save me a copy, and then also preorder and get your order in for November 15 is when issue two comes out, correct?
[00:40:43] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't, off top of my head, know when FOC is for that, but it will be closing in around that time.
We just ask if you know someone who likes comics and maybe could use that messaging, please let them know that this exists.
I kind of envision them listening to this podcast, driving the car and then suddenly turning like Robert De Niro and Heat got to get to the comic.
[00:41:18] Speaker A: That's hoping that people listen to this podcast on the way to work and not like when they're going to the bathroom or something like that. But that's just hoping here that someone listens on the way to work. No. And then also, issue 40 of Bounty Hunters hits November 22 from over there at Marvel. So make sure you continue reading Bounty Hunters and all those Star Wars comics and then grab everything else you've got out there. I'm sure there's trades and back issues. Also, I wanted to touch on the FOC thing. Even if you go into your LCS and you look at the shelves like, hey, do you have that new Haunted Girl book? And there's none on the shelves. Let the clerk know that you want it because it's possible they still can get it. So don't feel like you walk into a store. That's one of the misconceptions that I always had when I was first getting into comics, that I walk in the store, they were sold out of the comic, but that they weren't able to get the comic anymore. That's all they had. That's not the case in a lot of cases. Hopefully it sells out at distribution level immediately. That's for your benefit.
And maybe it will go into second printing if that happens. But the idea that if you tell your clerk they can always try to get in, usually it's a week or two later, you can actually get the book in.
Or if you can't get your one LCS, try the other one, or so on and so forth, because the books are available. Like I said, my LCS is a very small LCS in Bangor, Maine, and he only orders five or six copies of a book because of how small he is. And if one takes off, then he runs out of those books. But a lot of times he can order more in for and there's nothing.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Wrong with second printings for us. It's less about the dollars and more about the eyeballs.
The other thing I want to say is it would be criminal for me to not mention Andre Mosa, who's the colorist, and Jaime Martinez, who's the letterer, know, I always have. Marco Naomi and I are the creators, so I always sort of start know it's. It's like a great band or a great rhythm section for a like, the band doesn't sound as good without the bass and the drums. And so they are an incredible rhythm section.
Andre was my old man. Hawkeye oh, really? Colorist and old man quill. The beginning of old Man Quill. Yeah. So he was a person I reached out to.
[00:43:33] Speaker A: And that's that's the downside to something like your advanced preview people either for your Lunar or know diamonds and stuff like that. A lot of times they don't have that information on there, which is kind of sad to people because I feel like they're just as much of an integral part. They're not the creators, but they're just as much an integral part to get this comic book made.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: It also gets a little sketchy, too, because it's like as the creators we have to sort of keep the names a little separate from everyone else, just for legal or whatever reasons, just as the creators sort of have to keep our name on top of the thing. But we made sure, except for that cover A on that first one because of Space, I think everyone else has all five of the names on there.
And credit to Chris Ryle, who's aware of these things always. He's a great publisher and editor.
[00:44:29] Speaker A: You have a great team on that. I'm excited for people to actually get it's. One of those things. The benefit of being having a podcast and doing advanced reviews is getting an advanced copy of it. So I get to read it eventually. But the other downside is that I read it and I'm like, now I want everybody else to read it. Let's go, people. So we're only a little over a week away for people from recording this. So the day this drops, you can go to your LCS and grab it. And I'm also buy it on a digital. If you have to buy it digitally too, that's another option for people out there.
Get people to want it and like it. And hopefully it'll go into second printing, which would be really cool. But, Ethan, I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to talk.
Give our best and thank Naomi because it's such a great book, and I'm glad that she had an input on it and loving it as well. And I'm glad she's doing well as well. That's an awesome thing to hear. And, yeah, grab the book. I'm really excited for people to read it. Thanks a lot, Ethan, for coming on and talking to us.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: Thanks again for me. I really do appreciate it. I appreciate your support.
[00:45:27] Speaker A: Thank you very much. Have a good one. You too.
