Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Capes and Tights podcast right here on capes and tights.com dot. This episode, we welcome Lewis Southard to the podcast to talk about his Zoop campaign over there at Zoop GG. Called comics are dying the comic. It's a satirical history of comics over the past 250 years in a 120 page graphic novel trade paperback, collected edition, available for campaign backing now until May 3 over there at Zoom GG. It's got 100 different artists, one writer who is Lewis. And so check that out over at Zoop Dot GG. But before you do, go to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky and follow us, rate review, subscribe, all those things over on Apple and Spotify and all your major podcasting platforms. You can watch it over on YouTube, on our YouTube channel, or on capesandtights.com dot. But this is Louis Southard talking about comics are dying the comic campaign over at Zoo GG. Thanks, everyone. Enjoy.
Welcome to the podcast. How are you today? Or tonight or whatever? What time is it anyway?
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Right now it's 07:00.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Okay. That's not too, too bad. It's not too late.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: For those who don't know, I'm in the UK. I'm in the sunny capital of Cornwall. So it's all. We're recording this on the day of the eclipse?
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: So it's gray nearly everywhere across the US. For me, it's gray every day. So this is.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: I'm getting the experience of what it's like to live in the UK right now, is what you're trying to say?
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty much, yeah.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Should I have had fish and chips or something like that for lunch or crumpets or something?
[00:01:43] Speaker B: That would have been the courteous thing to do. But I'll let it go. I'll let it go.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: I think my son has some fish sticks in the freezer. Does that work?
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Better than nothing, I'd say, but yeah.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: I mean, it's great because it's funny. I've talked to a number of people from the UK and timing is always funny. Sitting up these podcasts. I didn't realize when I started booking these things that I had to start putting time zones in. I always just lived in this small bubble that I live in Maine, and that there's. Everybody has the same times. Not really, obviously, but just in my mind, I'm like, well, in Maine we have one area code for our phone number. So, like, in the United States, it's plus one, whatever. And it's 20, seven. The entire state is that number, and it lives in Massachusetts, which a couple hours south of us. Like, each section of the state has a different area code, so it's like 978 and one's 508. So it's kind of funny. In Maine, people don't say the entire phone number when you call them. They just say the last seven digits because it's assumed that we know the first three digits of it. It's crazy. It's a really weird thing. So for a while there, I just think I'm telling people, I'm like, yes, 07:00 and they're like, cool. And I get a notification saying they're on the podcast. And I'm like, well, it's only 03:00 I don't know what's going on here. Why are they on the podcast already? I'm like, oh, they thought I was talking about their time. Okay. But. So I had to start putting the eastern time on things to make sure that I get the right time in there. But I'm glad you took the time out, and I'm glad I'm here to talk about comics with you today because I love talking comics. So my earlier podcast is a novel discussion. So let's talk some comics instead of.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: We need to add some pictures in here.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: I got to clarify. I'm not from the UK. I'm from New Jersey.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: But, yeah, okay. I gotta make sure, because I remember one time I was on a podcast, and somebody kept asking me, like, a bunch of questions about England. Like, well, certainly you know about that. I'm like, yeah, no, no, no, you don't. You misunderstood. So I got to clarify otherwise, you're.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: From New Jersey, but you spent time in France, too, right?
So, like, yeah, you're a world traveler.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: I'm international. I was sent to France by accident. I was. When I applied for university, I I checked the wrong box saying that I would, I'll go to a global campus and only let me in based on that. So I was like, oh, okay. So, yeah, that was probably the worst time of my life to get shipped over to Paris, France.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Paris, France.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Without that, I would not have gone into comics. So I guess everything works out in the end.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Everything happens for a reason, for sure, but. So you've published a number of comic books now, but let's go back a little bit. How did you get into comics in general? Not just, like, how did you start writing comics and creating comics, but, like, how did you. Were you a fan of comics as a young child, or was this something that came on later in life, like, how did you, what's your comic book origin story? I guess.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Well, uh, so I got into comics when I was twelve years old. Um, I had experienced, um, a, a close loss, uh, in my life around then. And at the same time, I heard through the grapevine that Spider man was dying in a book. So death was very much on my mind. And then my young brain was trying to rationalize, well, how could Spider man, of all characters, die? So I begged my parents to take me to my local comic shop, fat moose comics and games. I'll shout them out.
And I went there, and I started with Amazing Spider Man 698, which. Or 697, it's the one with Doctor Octopus dying on the COVID and he's saying, peter Parker.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: I basically got into comics. Started reading the entire superior Spider man run when it was coming out. And that was my gateway into comics in general. Since then, I've read too much. I like to say I love, that was like my gateway drug to this whole thing, because I love comics. I love every kind of different period of comics. I love learning about it, which is very much on display in my latest project.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: But yeah, no, that was my, that was my downfall. That was certainly my downfall. By then, my, my soul was sold, and I'm now a slave to the comics industry.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: See, it's funny too, because you obviously don't write a book, you know, about comics history. In a sense, if you don't enjoy it, like, you know, you're not going to be there, like Fortress unless you're doing it. Someone's like, specifically, like, for a project that's, like, for school or something like that. You're not going to be like, I'm gonna volunteer to do this whole, you know, 100 page plus book about comic history for fun, unless you like it. So that obviously there's a, there's a love for comics in there.
Is this your first crowdfunding campaign too, or is it just, no, it is. Okay.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: You froze for a second, so I thought, I'm like, oh, no, did I lose connection?
[00:06:48] Speaker A: You what it is? It's probably gonna be the eclipse. The world's gonna end. I don't know what the heck's going on here. Like, the sun's gonna, like, block by.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: The moon, and then solar flares, Justin.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Solar flares. Communications gonna go down.
But no. Is this your first, is this your first crowdfunding campaign?
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it is right now, obviously, crowdfunding seems to be the way of the future. You go online, there's probably a bunch of kickstarters popping up. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. It's a wonderful thing that I love to see. It's easier now more than ever for people to share their works and build a fan base. And I really love that.
Unfortunately for me, I'm a very sleepy guy. I like to sleep in all day. And running a Kickstarter can, from the stories I've been told, can be very time consuming, very taxing, because, of course, you have to make the books, you have to ship the books, you have to make all your backer rewards. So what I'm trying to say is, I'm lazy. And Zoop swooped in, and they were very much interested in this book. And Zoop is a Kickstarter alternative where the significant difference is they really handle manufacturing and distribution and campaign management. So it's basically having, like, a campaign manager doing all the stuff that you don't want to do. So for people like me, I can stick in creative and promotion, which is why I'm here today. So this, to me, is the fun bit, and I'd rather keep doing the fun stuff.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: It's funny because I have my day job, is a graphic designer and creative director for a brewery. And so some of us, I wear many hats, I do many different things. And some of the things I do is, like, I handle all shipping, like, regular. Like, if you were to, like, I don't know, a part need to be sent back for our brewery. A lot of time, the brewer master comes into me and was like, can you ship this for me? And it's mainly because I just, I'm at a computer all day, so I can print the label and do all that stuff. But we had a.
A order of custom made hockey jerseys for our brewery, and people could put their names on them and stuff like that. And so I was in charge of putting the jerseys in bags, putting a shipping label and getting them out, and I was like, I don't want to do this. Like, this is ridiculous. So my wife's on maternity leave right now. We just had a baby three weeks ago.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Oh, congratulations.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Thank you. And she's in, the baby's sleeping, and she's watching tv in the other room. And I was like, do you want to put these in this bag? So she's over there putting bags and jerseys. I was like, see, I've got my own soup here. She's in the other room.
No, but I've had Jordan on. Jordan Ploski from Zoop has been on the podcast before to talk about his, the project that is a zoop as a whole, and it is so badass, and I'm so hoping that more people do it. And so when we got in contact with each other and you're like, I have a campaign on Zoop, I'm like, this is awesome, because I don't actually haven't talked to anybody who's actually run a campaign on Zoop. I've only talked to the person in charge of Zoop. So if that makes any sense, like, obviously he's gonna be like, Jordan. Be like, my software is amazing, whereas, you know, you're the one actually living through it right now.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: And so don't worry. This program is just about to become Jordan's greatest secrets revealed. No, I, it actually sucks.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: I don't know why I'm doing it. No, but, no, I've heard, I've heard great things, and it's done well, and I'm excited for that. The way that it's kickstarter without the managing work is a big one. Yeah. And that's the thing. So crowdfunding is a huge thing, and I do think that's the future of, of comics in general. I know it's been, people have been doing it for a while, but I think there's a lot more, like, people doing single issues. Like, a lot of times it was like collected editions or whatever, but I know a lot of people who have done these small campaigns just with a single issue. Let's just get a single issue out there and see what happens.
We don't have to get too far into it, but you've dealt with issues with publishers and stuff like that, so it's nice to have this ability to crowdfund and have people buy the comic ahead of time, know where the money's going to be, know where the money's going, and all that stuff. So that's soup is a good thing for you. I guarantee you that.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: No, I fully agree. You're 100% right. I've had a few dalliances with a few devils over the course of my career. Luckily, each and every time I've come out unscathed, I've managed to get my rights and books back and hopefully turn to greener pastures. But no, 100%. Zoop has been a wonderfully communicative and professional operation.
They are very much supportive with whatever you're trying to do, and they very much want to help promote the campaign as much as possible for it to be a success. Jordan Posky and Eric Moss, the two co founders, they are great guys, and I couldn't recommend the platform, uh, enough. And, like, if you could just look like it's only getting, like, bigger and bigger with, like, the people who are coming on. And I think that's a good testament to how smoothly they're running that ship that, like, it is proving to be at the time of this recording, like, a really safe commodity for people trying to get their project off the ground. I know upcoming there is, um, campaign by Patrick Horvath from beneath the trees where nobody sees. There's the christian ward art book, and I know Elsa Chardier and Liana congas, and a whole crew of amazing people are doing a big book, I think, coming out, I can't say, but coming out really, really, really soon. Yeah.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: You can sign up for the fury, the maelstrom, and the kiwi, I think it's called.
That one's on there. There's a bunch of that are coming, and it's like one of those things. That's the other thing that Jordan said to me, and this is one of those good things. When did you start? This is a good question, actually.
So the book is called comics are dying. The comic, it's a trade paperback. It's 120 pages.
Running a campaign right now to what's the. It gives you the number of days left, but what's the actual end date, do you know?
[00:12:47] Speaker B: May 3.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Okay. And so maybe the rest of the month, of April, whatever. And actually, a good, good thing on this is that my date? I told you, this release, it's actually releasing a week earlier, so you get extra run on it.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: So we.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: The cool thing about it is that they only run campaigns that they can handle, if that makes any sense. They also won't. They wouldn't pick this book. Comics are dying the comic, if it wasn't going to be successful, if that makes any sense. It sounds weird to say that, because it's hard to know that ahead of time. But you had your ducks in a row. You had things lined up. You had all the stuff saying, I am setting myself up for success. And that's where the guy, the people over at Zooper like, okay, we want you to do your project here. If you came in there, you're like, I have an idea. I think I want to do this. Let's run a crowdfunding campaign, and if I get money, then I'll do it. They wouldn't have worked with you. And that's what's cool about this, too, is like, I feel like there's a lot more trust in a platform like Zoop because, like, a lot of the work's already done. Uh, yeah, it's organized and all that stuff. So you're like, once this campaign's done, it's going to move fairly quickly. Not that it will move, not like you got a campaigns and done May 3 and people are going to get books on May 15, but it's going to move quicker than some, some, some Kickstarter campaigns because of that.
[00:13:56] Speaker B: I'll say this, the book is 100% done. So we are basically, the funding right now is how many people support it. That's how many books are going to be made with Zoop's duration. So that's really up to people. If you really want this book, this is going to be the only way to get it for a while, like for a long time. So, like, I would strongly encourage that. I'm proud to say we fully funded in a little over a day. And then right now I'm saying we're on the road to ten k. We're trying to get to our first stretch goal because with that, we'll be able to expand the book. That will be the director's commentary, where basically my idea for this book is there's a lot of history and significant events in it, in comic book history. And if you want to learn more, it's very much a springboard. You know, there's always Google. And then you're like, awesome, like, what is this? Then you look it up and you go on a whole journey of learning.
That's what everyone wants. And I realized that not every, because there's a lot of little Easter eggs and details that I put into the book. And I figured the director's commentary will be like, the easiest, safest way to basically like, okay, here's everything that's in there. Like, and kind of actually provide a lot more historical context. But going back to what you were saying about Zoop, you're 100% right in that regard. You have to, like, come into this with a plan, with a mission, and, like, with, with a secure idea for your book. Because, like a lot of other publishers, this is not like Kickstarter, where you can just make your project and that's all on you. This is an application process. Like, you have to apply and they have to approve. So it's very much like a traditional publisher in that regard. Everything else is non traditional out the wazoo. So that's the best way you want to look at it.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And so, like, a lot of these people, like you, have you mentioned the campaigns by other people that are, like, in the waiting? It's mainly because they're waiting to have time or, you know, there's, there's launch. They don't just launch all of them at the one time and just around the market with all these campaigns. Cause a lot of times we're fans. Like, all of us are fans and we're all collectors. So, like, we want your thing, but if your thing is running at the same time as some other creator that I want, like, it's harder. If they just ran 17,000 campaigns at once, I wouldn't have the funds to back off these campaigns. So some of it's nice to have that, like, spread out kind of thing. Focus on one, marketing on one, and so on and so forth. And as of right now, uh, yeah, you're at $7,500 as a recording this, of your 5000 that you wanted to raise initially, uh, with almost over 223, uh, supporters, which is, uh, which is. That's cool. I love seeing that. The number of supporters money's great. Obviously, you need the money to make the book and all that stuff, but, like, having 223 people say they want this thing, that's pretty badass. With 24 days left, like, I always.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Get more excited by the, uh, the retailer level because I, I really love brick and mortar shops. So just seeing, like, people, like, stores being very excited for this, that makes me very happy. And, of course, anytime anyone ever, like, shares that they've been supporting, I've been thanking them and going out of my way to acknowledge it, because this book will, at one point, it would not have existed without the people who are interested. And right now, the people who are interested, you are only helping to make the book even better. So, like, I'm very thankful to everyone for, for taking a chance on us. And you are, once again, 100% right. Like, each zoop's very great at kind of like, letting each campaign get their time in the sun, if that, and then, like, have a good run. And, you know, after that, it's up to you to promote it as, yeah, you know, you got to hustle and grind and do what you got to do. But Zoop's very fair and, you know, good with handling that because I think that's a problem with Kickstarter. You can see that a lot of people are running a campaign at the same time, and that can be a bit cacophonous after a while.
But this, it's very lean and very, like, forward with what they're trying to do, which I think is very, I'll use this word again, very smooth operation.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And so, I mean, comics are dying. The comic is a satirical journey through the history of the comic book industry. It's 101 page comics. Basically, you have been the architect and the writer of all these one pages.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Right?
[00:18:30] Speaker A: Am I correct about that?
[00:18:31] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Okay. And then you have a hundred different artists. So let's let's dive into that a little bit. What was that the original plan to do that? It wasn't, like, have one artist do the whole thing or a couple artists do the whole thing. It was, like, original plan was, you write it all and have a hundred different artists do that.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Yeah, that was the plan from the beginning. I always had, um, the idea of a book where each page was a different artist. I never really had the theme in mind. So around the tail end of December, when people were doing a bunch of comics or dying talk, that's when it kind of hit me where it's like, oh, the comic book industry. Because then the way the book is presented, as you said, each page is a different one page comic centered around a historical fact or significant book or creator in comics history.
And as, in order to effectively portray that, we do, like, the art homages or references or encaptures the spirit or vibes of that specific fact or event or whatever. So we have a lot of legally distinct characters. I'll say that that in no way reflect any other character that you may know of.
But that that was a good part of the fun of making this is making all the pastiches. But, like, it. We basically cover from the first ever printed comic in american history, starting in, like, 1842, which was a translated book. And then we go all the way to the modern day, basically. So, yeah, no, it's a, it's a very. You will see, like, all the different changes in styles and genres all across the hundred pages, which what I thought was the best and only way to even do this kind of project.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: Yes. And I think some of them are cool because it, like, looks like almost an ad of sorts. And so, like, they're just, they're different styles. And the best thing is that, like, every page, basically, is not, like, the artists have similar styles. Right? Like, each artist is not. There's some that have abstract, completely different styles than someone else. But, like, the great thing about the way it's laid out, too, it's not, like, back to back pages could be the same artists. It's like, they're definitely drastically different in what they look like, which is awesome because I was reading it. It's like, and the cool thing about a book like this is I feel like it's very easy to read, like, five pages and then make dinner and then go back and then read a couple pages and then make dinner, you know, like, oh, you know, go to the bathroom, read it, and not have to worry about as much of a, you know, trying to follow along kind of thing. It's more, like I said, one page comics in a sense, on that, which is really cool. And it's really cool because it's purposely done. It's not like you get 17 pages in and it's a different artist, and you're like, well, I really like that artist. I wish I could get more of that one. It's like, it's nice because if you don't, if you're not a fan of the art, you can move to the next page and it changes.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Yes, we're in and we're out, which is the best way to do it. People have been asking me, like, what was, like, was this very difficult to do? Because I traditionally make, like, 22, 24 page comics. And I have to say, writing a one page comic is ten times easier to make because it was all mainly, like, comic strip mentality. You know, you're just building up to that sort of punchline at the end, and that's the way this all comes across. Or if it to, a lot of the pages are just like a splash page illustration to best encapsulate that thing. So depending, like, you know, we cover every type of genre. I can say this accurately, that you could think of. We do all types of superhero comics. Like, we go from Marvel Bullpen to golden age to nineties image extreme. We do funny animal, we do underground. We do comic strips. Like, anything really big you can think of, we capture it right there. So even webcomics. So, no, I'm very, I'm very proud with the, with a wide array of topics and facts that we put in there.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Did you have this list together of who was going to do art, or did you put out there? Did you, did you have wish lists, people that you end up getting or so on? So for a lot of these friends or what, how do these artists come about?
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Well, that's a good question. So when I started, I basically reached out to every artist that I'd worked with in the past who still likes me.
So I.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: So that was three people? No.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Yeah, two and a half. I think everyone only kind of likes me, but. But I reached out to everyone, and after that, I came up with, like, a whole spreadsheet of all the big, big things I wanted to hit all across the timeline. And then the next part was basically finding an artist that I thought would be a good fit for the project. So when you find them, then basically I'm like, okay, what's a good story that they can best do? Like, a great example is Alex Moore, a very talented UK artist. And I look at their art and they have, like, they are a totally unique style onto their own. But sometimes when I look at their faces, I can't help but see a little Ditko. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna put you on a Ditko page. So they got the mister a inspired page, which is one of my most favorite, like, underground little comics. So that was kind of the mentality of just, like, assigning the right person for the right thing.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Yeah. And I was looking at that, and you have, like, you know, I just read silver vessels from Steve Orlando and with the Katya Vecchio. And their stuff's in here, too. Alex Moore literally highlighted on the Zoop page. When you said Alex Moore's name, I had it highlighted. Cause I was like, oh, I wanna bring up Alex Moore Quegor. And you just did it. I'm like, that is creepy. Can you see there a reflection or something? No, it's great. And it's insane to think that, I mean, was it a difficult.
You mentioned how it's, imagine doing this on Kickstarter, meaning that you had to also maintain all of these 100 artists and all these 100 something pages plus run a campaign, Kickstarter.
It's a lot of management, I'm guessing. I'm guessing there's a lot of, like, did you have to hound some of these people? You don't have to name names, but did you have to send some emails being like, I need my page and things like that to some of these people, or was it pretty smooth?
[00:25:00] Speaker B: I experienced a great deal of burnout from this project, if you could imagine. Um, but I. I like everyone, I would say 95% of people. Smooth operation. Like, everyone really committed to their deadlines. And, like, I, you know, they put their best effort in. There were a handful of people who either didn't hit the deadline and had to send it in at a later date. And I, by later, I don't mean like a few days, like, I mean.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: Like a few weeks to a month.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: But the problem with that is the people that took the time they created, like, these stunning pages that it's like, okay, like, you win. You win. Like, you want. You want the quality over the deadline every single time.
So I try not to. I try not to push people if I know they're actually really working hard at it. But at the same time, you do have to keep a timeline. And luckily, with Zoop, I was able to kind of finagle everything to kind of fall on the right day. So everything worked out perfectly. There were, like, I had to fire a couple people because some people became, like, bit too difficult to work with. Yeah, because it's like. Because this needed to be, like, we needed to not run gun, because I'm making it sound like we didn't put that much thought into it, but it's like, we needed this to work, and we needed people who could keep up with that. And there were some people where it was very. They proved more difficult. They were more of an obstacle than a help. So, unfortunately, I had to let some people go, but that was a very, very small number. And the people that, for the most part, everyone did a phenomenal job.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: That's awesome to hear. I mean, I just. I can just picture, like, me trying to get a weekly episode of podcast organized. I imagine trying to, like, a hundred different artists, 100 different pages coming in, and so on and so forth. And that must have been a fun thing, but it seemed like it went pretty well. I also saw Ryan Cody on there, who. Who was the artist behind Dakota Brown's the death of the Toymaker, which we absolutely loved here. So I wanted to shout that one out, too. There's a bunch of names on there that are just like, I can't. Obviously can't. We'd be here for an hour and a half just saying people's names on the podcast. But was there, like, yeah, I don't want to put that pressure on you, but you don't have to say who they were. There's definitely some people on there you were really excited to work with. It, wasn't there?
[00:27:32] Speaker B: I guess so I was more excited that anyone. You know what?
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: That anyone wanted to do it. No, no, no. It was more like a lot of the bigger names. Funnily enough, I had worked with in the past.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: So I didn't really have, like, that star studded, like, oh, boy. It's more like, oh, hey, Mitch, you want to hop in on this? So it was more like, oh, cool.
But, like, I think the biggest name that got me starstruck was that Mark Wade was willing to chip in for the introduction, but in terms of the collaborators, that made me really excited. It was a lot of the younger people that this is, like, their first credit.
That made me so happy to, because me, as a younger creator, it was very difficult to get into the industry and like to get my opportunities. So the fact that I can hold the door open a bit for people trying to get in as well, I feel like that's a great honor, and it's the least I could do for, you know, people trying their hardest and working their hardest to get in, but we got to give. We got to give people the sexy answer. So we got. There are some hot names that are in this. We got Vasco Georgiev, who is. He's doing. He's doing red Hood. He's done some X Men, Netho Diaz. He did vanish over at image, and he's doing X Men right now.
David Hahn, long time collaborator. He's back on this. We got Richard pace from. He's drawn Batman. He's doing this. So we got some industry pros working on this, as well as some newer talents. So it's a very healthy mix of the two.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: That's awesome to hear, and that's what's cool. It's like, the funny thing about with this book for you is that when someone asks a writer out there, who have you collaborated with? And someone's like, oh, this person you have your list now is massive.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: Everyone.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: So many people.
I think this guy from a podcast did a page. No, but, no, it's a really cool, cool thing to have. And the cool thing about Zoop is also your options on this ahead of time. And also, I will say you said about falling of this year is when people should get their rewards, which seems about right, right?
[00:29:51] Speaker B: Yeah, no, you got it.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: If that's the case, two people jump on this because you can get someone a Christmas present, right? I mean, like, buy it now, back it, wrap it, put it under the tree, and bam, get a Christmas present right there. For someone, someone who loves comics, this would be a great one, because I don't think, also, if people don't know about it and someone were to buy this or someone who loves, like, say, I didn't know about this, and my wife was like, oh, that seems like a cool. This seems like an obvious thing to give a comic book fan, a reader that, like, that would just be, like, they wouldn't expect. They wouldn't be. If they didn't know about it, they wouldn't be buying it on their own. So I do think it's a pretty good gift, in my opinion.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree.
Oh, no. I think it's perfect for the comic reader in your life, as well as, like, anybody who is just starting out. I think this is a perfect way for, like, a jumping on point to learn more about the industry, because I know when I was starting, if you were to ask me a bunch of questions about where comics came from or, like, the timeline, you, you'd be like, there's too much here. Like, you wouldn't know. You wouldn't know the place to start. And I remember I spoke to one guy, and he said, well, to all my friends, comic book history starts in the 1980s. So, like, I, I think this is like, a great, it's, it's like a little history textbook, but it does, it's not boring. All fun and excitement is all pushed into it, and it's told in a very visually interesting way.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: I love historical or historical, but comic books that you learn from, too. And we mentioned that this is multiple recordings today before we started. I've talked to another person today, and they wrote their author.
He's an indigenous author, and so he wrote dystopian's books that has his indigenous culture in it. And something that I learned from it was a fiction book, but I learned from, there are actual real life places in real life, uh, traditions and things like that that I didn't know about indigenous people, uh, you know, history. And so I was like, it's cool to know and learn about indigenous people at the same time as this fictional dystopian book. And so I love the idea of learning from some sort of the medium of comics as well. And so, uh, a number of years, two years ago, we had, uh, uh, Ian Rosenberg on to talk about this free speech handbook. And this is a, you learn, it's a history. It's a historical book, but there's, it's comic book related. And so there's, Stan Lee has his.
Is it.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: I have a, here, actually, I think one of the best examples, biography is.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: A, is a graphic novel, I should say. You know what I mean? So it's like this cool idea that you can not only read a comic book of this, but also learn at the same time is pretty badass, in my opinion.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: I think one of the greatest examples is Scott McLeod's understanding comics.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Just like teaching you how to make comics through the use of comics.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: Comics.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: Yeah, like that. That's one of the greatest, like, tomes out there. So. And mine's even greater. No, like, I just think, no, like, there's no reason why history can't be fun. And this, I think, was, like, the driving incentive. And, like, a lot of people who have read it, they're like, oh, I read this thing. And I had to go make sure, like, well, I checked out, like, is that real? Is that a thing? I think that's the exciting bit of it. Like, I want people to get excited by what's come before and, like, go on this little journey of, like, oh, that's really interesting. So I, it's an interactive book. I'll say. So that's, I think, is a very fun thing to have for or to even give people.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Yes, it's a great title, too, because it's definitely draws people in, are like, wait, what? You're writing a comic book about the comics are dying? It seems like, well, it's like, you know, my buddy, I'm like, you want to lose money? Open a comic book store. And he, he's like, yeah, that's exactly what happens. Every day. I lose money because I own a comic book store. But no, like, the idea that comics are dying, and you mentioned it before, the people were saying that online a lot over the recent years and so on. And I think it's just, you know, and the truth of the matter is, comics are changing in the sense that there is a potential success in comics, and this is one of them, if you think about it. Because if these are dying, if comics were dying, you wouldn't be over your, over your goal. You know what I mean? Like, there is some success here and there, and there's some failures here, and there's some publishers that are doing some shady things that need to be fixed, but we're not going to say anything else about that. But no, the idea that comics are dying and that the name of the title of that is that it's going to draw people in for sure.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: I've mastered clickbait at this point. Yes.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: No.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: I think that people have been saying comics have been dying since the 1950s.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: So, and it's still here. So that was the whole idea that it's like this die, this dying industry that has been around for so long, and that's, like, the fun way to get into it.
This isn't much of a spoiler, but the watchman inspired page has a quantum character. I called him Quantum Al. And they are going through time, seeing all the different times comics have supposedly died. And I think that's very much homaging the Doctor Manhattan, experiencing time all at once, and I think that was some good fun. But yeah, no, I think it's really dumb to say that. I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. And this book is a great example of that. I'm sick of negativity. I'm sick of people hating on comics and being really, just really abusive and bad in it. And I wanted to do something that was a good time for everyone involved making it, and I wanted to make something with a more positive message. So I really think we pulled it off with a much more optimistic and just fun and good book. So I think everyone who made it, for the most part, had a great time. And everyone who will read it, I very much think will get a laugh and smile out of it because it's, it's a very, it's a very enjoyable book.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: And I honestly could see it as some sort of like, coffee table book at someone's house, too, just putting it on there. So if someone's over hanging out, you just pick it up, take a look at it and stuff like that, too. So I think it's just one of those things you just have to have in your collection. People, I don't question, no question about it. But you can buy, obviously, you can buy digital. There's like cool about Zoopla as well as you have the different breakdowns. You're your rewards that you can get it in, you can get it digitally only. You can buy the regular cover. You have the trade exclusive for Zoop. You can buy both covers and so on and so forth. But there's also a retailer pack I would recommend if it was me, in the next few weeks as this campaign is going on until May 3, is that if you are either an lcs or your lcs is interested in carrying it, to go on there and buy some of the retailer ones so that they have some in stock at the stores. Because, um, it's almost, it's impossible for you or myself to tell everybody about this. You know, I mean, you're not going to reach every single person, uh, on social media and in this podcast and in all the different interviews you do and things like that. And so there's going to be people, uh, who, like, I go in my lcs who I want to be like, check this book out and I will send them to you. But there's going to be people after this campaign ends who don't realize this existed in the first place. And, you know, so it's nice to have it that if a retailer wants to buy five copies or ten copies that they could just sell, put on their shelf and resell. And so they have it and it lives at their shop. I would highly recommend it too. So that's a cool feature as well. On there is the retailer package.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: No, I wholeheartedly agree. I think that's probably, that's the thing I would tell people, go ahead, tell your local comic shop, tell your friends. Just spread the word as much as you can. But like I was saying earlier, I love brick and mortar shops. My shop in town is getting a bunch of copies because there's a lot of artists in the area that are coming to do like a signing once it gets released. And depending on where you people live, this is an international affair. So we have like people all over. And I know there are some creators who are interested in popping into shops. So if you tell them, then this is, we need all the support and we also want to spread this book out as much as possible. Not for financial gain, as much as nice as that is, but because really want to get this book to as many readers as possible. Because once this Zoop campaign is over, it's going to be near impossible to get your hands on a copy.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: And that's got it down. And that's another thing I think about cool about these kind of campaigns. We do these things in my day job, too, which is basically like limited edition drops of things where it's like, get it while you can. If you can't, it's not going to happen for a while or if ever. And that forces people to it too. So you have an x amount of days, you know, this, you know, at this point will be about two weeks from when this episode drops to the end of the campaign. So you have two weeks to make sure you have it in order. And the funny thing is, I was like this, this morning I woke up, I was like, getting ready, you know, doing some of my day job work and so on and so forth. And I was like, oh, I got to make sure because I want a copy, so I'm going to buy a copy and, and so on and so forth. And I was like, uh, last week my Facebook was stolen.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: And then suspended. And I can't get it back. Okay. So it's gone. Like, I don't have, it's almost impossible to get that back from, from Facebook. And in that same process, they stole my Facebook ads account. And so in that process means that any credit card or debit card, they, someone put a bunch of ads out there for something. And so I now have, like, all of my credit card and debit cards are shut off because I need to get new cards to make sure that I'm not screwed over in the long run. And so I was like, oh, I don't have any way to put a credit, obviously, you know, there's timings and things like that. But I was like, I'm getting a new card tomorrow. I'll go and get a new car tomorrow, and I'll go on and make sure I have the funds to back the project. But it was just kind of funny. I'm like, I don't know if I've ever felt like this since I was, like, 16, where I've been like, I have no money to spend. It is like, legitimately have no money to spend. I have money I just can't spend.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: I remember one time, this is tangentially related, I was in New York City, and I went on a night out, and I came back to my hotel room around, like, let's say, 02:00 a.m. And I sit down and I'm just gone. And I pull out my wallet to set it down on the table, and I open it up, and my debit card is missing. And I'm like, oh, no. So I'm drunk and I have to. And I'm like, okay, now I gotta cancel my debit card. So I'm like, slog groggily, like, trying to, like, get onto the website, click the right thing, and I'm just in a daze. And then eventually, after half an hour, swear to God, like, half an hour, I finally canceled the card. And I'm like, oh, thank God. And then I looked down on the ground and it sat right there. It fell out of the thing. I was so livid. But at that point, I just gave up and just went straight to bed. I'm like, I'm clocking out. I'm done.
[00:40:47] Speaker A: Well, it's too, it's like today I had some recordings and things like that. So, like, I work. I work for an office, but I also work in my office at home on Mondays, and which is kind of funny, I was like, I'm not going to go to the bank yet, so I'll go tomorrow on the way in because I can go to my bank now. And now, luckily, nowadays, you can go to the bank and they'll just make you a new card in the bank. Whereas it used to be like, any credit cards I have, it's gonna be like, ten to 14 days before new cards come in. And so, like, there's ten to 14 days that I won't be able to use those cards, basically, which is fine. Cause I have cash, obviously, but, like, the debit card, I have to go get to the bank again. So it's kind of, kind of funny. It just was funny. Like, I wanted to, like, oh, I wanna back this project. And I'm like, wait, I don't have anything to back it with. I mean, will you take a trade?
I'll trade something to you next.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: Don't worry. When you finally do it, I'll feel it in the force. I'll feel, like, a connection, and, like, my heart will grow an extra size. I'm like, ah, Justin bought it.
After this, I'm. After this, I'm gonna cry. Knowing that you're not supporting the campaign. I'm already to cry myself to sleep devastated. What can I say?
[00:41:52] Speaker A: Also, it's funny, I was like, I felt like most of the stuff, so I've obviously read it, and so, because you sent it to me ahead of time, but, like, I want to back it because I believe in the product, but I also, I'm a very, I'm a collector, and so I have things that, like, I, you know, most of the stuff that I've reviewed for the website or had people on the podcast, I own the physical copies, even though I have the digital copy. And I'm like, if I got to a point where I was reviewing and talking to a lot more people, I wouldn't financially be able to collect everything people had. And so the benefit I have with doing this the way I do it, and people probably repetitive if they listen to the podcast a lot, is I only choose to talk to and decide to talk to people that I want to talk to. So when you reached you out and said, let's talk, I was like, yes, let's agree that I agreed. And I was be honest, if I didn't like it, I might have texted you this morning and like, yeah, we're not doing this. Um, because now, hey, man, I'm sick today. I've done it in the past. I'm not joking. I have actually canceled the podcast and made an excuse. Uh, and if they're listening, sorry, but I don't believe in promoting something that I wouldn't buy myself or support myself. So, like, this is not like I have a big corporation, Viacom over me saying, you need to talk about this book. Comics are dying because an advertiser of some sort, some sort of connections, brothers, sisters, mother, you know, by the way.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: I got to pay you the $1,000 after this is done for promoting it. So remind me to do that.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: I wait till my accounts open back up.
[00:43:17] Speaker B: But, yeah, yeah, cut this part out. We don't want people to know that.
[00:43:22] Speaker A: But there's a Kevin Hart joke about him. Do you ever feel yourself, find yourself oddly explaining your financial situation to someone? Like, you're like, hey, let's go out for drinks. And you're like, I have a checking account and a savings account, and I have all my money in my savings account, so I can't. So, like, just to say I can't go out for drinks is. You're oddly explaining my. My financial situation. I feel like that's what that just was, that I'm not actually going to back the project. I just needed to explain on how. Why I wasn't going to back. No, no, I am going to back, and I believe everybody should back this project because I think it's cool for multiple reasons.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: I do too, but I think it's.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: Well written, well, well illustrated from all the artists. And I believe in zoop. So there's, like, three fold there. You know what I mean?
[00:44:01] Speaker B: I believe in the project. I probably believe in the project more than anyone in the whole world, really.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: Why?
[00:44:07] Speaker B: I don't know. It just speaks to me on a spiritual level. It really.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: Well, I feel like if you came on here and were like, buy it or don't. I don't give a shit. Then you actually might sell more. Cause someone be like, art. This creator is. I don't like what I'm gonna. I guess I should back this thing. I should find out what it's all about.
[00:44:22] Speaker B: Yeah, do reverse psychology on. Yeah, this guy's hardcore. He doesn't care what he does.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: With a book like this, though, that is history. Like, you know, I mean, like, is the history of the comic book industry as a sense.
Is there a future to this? Is there, like, if you're, like, 1015 years from now, you're like, oh, I should do a part two because it's been 1015 years of comics. Or is this, like, this is the product I worked on. Other than the stretch goal of the $15,000 and getting more pages, is this basically like, okay, comics are dying. The comic is done when this campaign's done.
[00:44:56] Speaker B: I think I would only come back to it other than, yes, the stretch goals we already mentioned. The first one is to the director's commentary. The second one is, well, obviously, we couldn't capture everything from the past 250 years. So this is a great chance to expand the book and just add a few things that we missed.
We didn't miss a whole lot, but there's certainly some things people would be like, hey, how dare you forget my favorite thing? So this is the chance to get it in there.
But in terms of, like, will this continue?
I think I. I'm very much like, once the project is done, I leave it alone. But I think, like, ten years, I wouldn't touch it. But if I. If I hope to God I don't get hit by a car tomorrow or struck by lightning, if I live a healthy life and, you know, make it to, let's say, 60 or 70, then I think that's the time to bring it back to be like. Because then there's more events under, under the belt, and then you can call it, comics are dying again.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: The comic, they're still dying. Comics are still dying. No, but it's funny, when you're 68, 70 years old, and you're an extremely, extremely wealthy and successful, successful comic book creator, you just have someone else doing it. Your name's on it, but you just have someone else writing it. Stan Lee method just, it's yours.
That'd be amazing. You've already done an anthology with your name on it. So there you go. We can just do this now. But, no, but, yeah, so, like, it is funny. I do ask that question, because I think a lot of people always ask that question of, like, what's next in the whole thing? But, like, I talked to Douglas, not Douglas woke.
Now I'm going to forget his name. Who wrote a book about American. Jeremy Dauber. Who wrote a book called American Comics, and it was the history of american comics in a novel. It's like a brick. And I always asked them, like, a history book is not over. Like, you have new publishers coming out. The zoop, for an example, is a new thing in comic book history. And so there's obviously adding to that. I'm like, would you ever add to it? And he's like, I don't know. Once I'm done with it, I'm kind of done with it. Someone else could do that. Like, yeah, that's a good point. You did the projects. Let someone else continue adding to it or whatever they want.
[00:47:09] Speaker B: I did 250 years of history. What more does anyone want from me at that point? The readers are just getting greedy.
We want 50 more years.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: It's pretty easy to back if anybody needs to know that too. Like, that's the other thing about Zoop, is that you just basically, go to zoop dot GG, and you click on. Yours is the first one right now under the, like, on the page. Like, if you go to zoop.com or Zoom GG, it was like, underneath the top thing that rotates. I don't know, is it on the rotating one? It is, but there's also, like, if you want to, like, quickly go to. It's like the second section down. It says, comics are dying.
[00:47:42] Speaker B: We can shout out the other one. I'm a fair, I'm a team sport. Like, that's. What is our team player? What is it? Who killed Nessie? That's by Paul Cornell and Rachel Smith. You're two fantastic UK creators, and they're trying to reach their big goal. And I very much recommend people check that out because it is a, it is a very good book, and those are very talented, very professional people who, oh, did we cut out?
[00:48:10] Speaker A: I'm here.
[00:48:11] Speaker B: Oh, it just said, meeting unstable. But, um.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: Oh, that's true. But that's.
[00:48:17] Speaker B: No, but they're, they're fantastic. Their book is fantastic. So if you want something completely different, I recommend checking them out as well.
[00:48:25] Speaker A: And so as. Yes, yes, 100%. Anybody on there said, like, they're all by back. I believe in what they believe, what they do over there. So at zoop. So, like, they're not gonna give you this crap thing. So, like, just make sure you, you know, do you only have a finite number of income? Start with comics are dying, and then go to the hundred percent agree, and so it's there. And then you just click what you want and check out and so on and so forth. There's no, like, post campaign surveys and add on things, all that stuff. It's all right there in front of you. It's very simple and easy as another benefit of using Zoop over other platforms is that they're very conscientious. Like, let's just make it simple for you. Let's not overcomplicate this stuff and so on. So, which is really cool on that sense. So, yeah, that runs until May 3. So you have 24 days from this recording. But obviously, I said this is gonna come out on the 17th, so it'll be about two weeks of this episode being out, and then you have about two weeks to back it and get on there and make sure you do it, because, like I said, it's absolutely wonderful. A history, a satirical look at history of comics called comics are dying. The comic, I'm excited for it. I mean, are you excited for people to get it in their hands.
[00:49:30] Speaker B: Oh, of course. I want people to. My favorite thing I've been asking, I'll ask you this. One of my favorite thing to ask people who have been reading it is like, what are your three favorite pages? Because there's so many different things going on that, like, it's like, perfect. You'll, it's different for everyone, you know? So I'll ask you. I'll ask you that.
[00:49:52] Speaker A: I don't, I don't have three. It's hard because I've only, the problem with some comic books and things like that, too, is like, I read it for a I gotta get through it kind of thing at the very beginning because we're recording a couple days later after I got it, and then I want, I read, go back and went through.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: They're all your favorites. Say no more.
[00:50:07] Speaker A: No. My biggest thing, and I say, this is a cop out answer, probably, but is the fact that it is so different. I'm a big different person. Person. Like, I love different things. And when you tell a story in a new way, or I just read a novel about, from the perspective of a slasher who is a teenager, like a horror killer, not the overarching thing, but it's like him selling his autobiography. Like, it's a different thing. And so I like the idea that this book is different as a whole and the fact that every page is different. There's black and white pages, there's full color pages, there's realistic looking pages. They're cartoony. There's like, everything in there. So again, that's a cop out answer. But I don't think, I think I have to read it a couple more times to do that. And maybe what I'll do is, because this is coming out on the 17th, is in the post thing, I'll put my favorite three pages on the, in the post so that I have to.
[00:50:53] Speaker B: Share the pages, too. I'll give you the official Lewis Southard promise that you're allowed to do that.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: But, you know, I think it's exciting in general for people to get their hands on and them to figure out their best pages or favorite pages. Older. I hate to say older people, but, like, people who have lived longer than they, I'm 37.
What might be fun to see if they like the pages from when they first got into comics versus, you know, like those kind of things, too, is like where their favorite part of history is. Maybe the artwork is reminisces, what they remember from artwork back when they first started listening and so on, or people who are fresh into comics and don't know comics that well might be like, oh, this is interesting. That's what's cool about seeing it. I always ask people who haven't had something come out yet, like what they, are they super excited to have people have it in their hands, not just digitally, but like, physically hold the comic book? And I'm guessing you are.
[00:51:41] Speaker B: No, Justin. What I want, we are raising all this money because I have this great plan. We're going to print all these copies. We're going to put them on a trailer, and we're going to let a truck drive that trailer to wherever the driver wants to go. And then I'm going to run off into the night and no one will ever. Lewis Southern, who was that guy you look me up? Didn't exist.
[00:52:01] Speaker A: Wait, you wrote a publishing coast? No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
No, hold on, hold on. You're. I was wrong about that because you actually said you were to print them, right? You said you were going to print them, so that's where I'm wrong on it. Okay.
[00:52:17] Speaker B: You're a killer. Just the. Geez.
[00:52:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like sometimes it's later in the day here, obviously during the day there, but like, sometimes I feel like I'm at the comic book shop, shoot the shit with my buddy when I'm on here. I just have to throw some people under the bus without actually throwing people into the bus.
No, I'm excited for people to have in their hands. Yes, you're excited for people to say this.
[00:52:40] Speaker B: I'll say this. The campaign is very lean.
The options that we have. I'm not a fan of variants personally, so with this being a campaign that I could control all, we want to have one solid variance that would best represent the project as a whole by very solid artists, Lynn and Cahill. I'll shout them out. And then after that, we just have a series of different bundles. We have a cover bundle where you can get both of the versions of the book. There's the I need it package, which has basically everything that you can get from the campaign.
The retailer bundle, as we said, recommend telling your local shop about that or letting any store know about it. And then we have a nice little tip jar if you want to, if you can't buy the book, but you can always just support a little bit if you believe in the project.
And then we also have a nice little poster as an add on. But me personally, I would say if you want the poster, get the bundle.
[00:53:38] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Then you'll get everything. Plus the poster.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:53:41] Speaker B: And obviously we have the digital PDF, which is the cheapest and probably most efficient way to get the book. But if you want to really add it to your collection, have something to flip through. And believe me, this is a book you want to flip through because you won't know what's coming on the next page. Then that we have the soft cover cover a right there as the cheapest option for that.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. So you can grab that now again. Two weeks. You have two weeks fire sales. Let's go, people. Get on it.
[00:54:09] Speaker B: You have to go do it now.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: If now, we will never get to this. This is deal of the century, everybody. No, the. The.
You are ready for this to be done because you want to be complete. You want to be able to do the next step. You want people to get it into people's hands. But it's fun to talk about it, too, and get people excited about something like this. It's not just as simple as someone coming on here and trying to get you to get your local comic book shop to put it in before final order cut off or in like that, too. It's like, it's nice because there's a actual physical action item. If you liked the idea of what we were talking about here, and you go to zoom GG, and you click on it, you can actually push by and do the whole process and get it done and over with now. There's none of this, like, when do I have to tell my lcs? No, just do it now. Get it over with. Pull the car over. I know you're listening to this in their car.
It's mobile friendly. Just do it now. Get on it.
Hard sell.
[00:55:05] Speaker B: And like we said, and like we said, the book is 100% done.
[00:55:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:09] Speaker B: So, like, the. You. You support it. You're gonna get it. You're guaranteed to get it this year. So, like, you really don't have to wait that long, and you certainly don't have to wait on us. So, like, that. That is probably, like, you know, it's a safe call. It's a safe investment.
[00:55:27] Speaker A: That's awesome. So I have a question for you, though, and you don't have to answer. You don't have to answer it. You can. You can weave around or whatever. Do you have any more news? Are you working on getting anything else with midnight western theater? Is it gonna. Is it gonna live on somewhere in the near future? You don't have to say where or anything like that, but it's the plan to do something else with it?
[00:55:49] Speaker B: Well, right now we are, we are with tentative talks. Let's say that with a publisher that is very keen on supernatural westerns at the moment.
[00:56:02] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:56:02] Speaker B: So nothing is finalized, but fingers are crossed.
[00:56:07] Speaker A: That's, that's all I personally, selfishly wanted to know because I want more and I want to see it out there and I want people to read it and so on and so forth. I was just saying I'm going to.
[00:56:18] Speaker B: I'm going to hype something else out while I have the platform. Yeah.
This year, either late fourth quarter this year or earlier next year, I will have my first ever licensed book out. Like I am working on a licensed character. I will not say who or what or where or when or why or how, but I'm very, very eager to get that out into the world. And the people I've been working with, they are some of the loveliest people in the industry working right now. So you have that to look forward to in the future.
[00:56:59] Speaker A: On top of that, is blackout bombshell going to get a trade at some point or is that just basically single issues?
[00:57:08] Speaker B: I don't know.
The company will let me know. How about that? I think that.
[00:57:15] Speaker A: Do you want to email? I've got the email for massive publishing. I can just email him if you want me to personally ask people demanding.
[00:57:22] Speaker B: The people need it right now.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: They keep email. They honestly email me like four or five times asking me to say, can you promote some of our books? So on and so forth. I'm like, sure. I'm absolutely, you know, whatever. And so they're like, they are really on top of trying to get this. And I think there's massive, is working on some things now, so it's just pretty cool. It's on omnibus as of today, which is really cool and so on and so forth. So, like, I think that's massive. So I'm hoping for something because I do think that those of us who missed collecting the physical issues, getting a trade is also fun for people. I think people want that trade. I think that's a big thing nowadays.
[00:57:55] Speaker B: I'll say this, if everything goes well with the midnight publisher, their first priority is basically collecting everything that was at scout in one trade to get to as many people as possible.
If everything goes well, it'll have a new life there and maybe we will see what happens, you know, but that's a very, very loose prediction of the future.
[00:58:21] Speaker A: Follow you on social media and find out. People like, this is what, you know, this is what we do over here. We just wait and you know, that'll happen.
[00:58:29] Speaker B: Either that'll happen, or three months from now, you'll see me living in a nice box outside of a costco, just living on big pizzas and $1 hot dogs.
[00:58:37] Speaker A: You'll have copies of comics are dying in a little wire rack. Donations, please.
[00:58:44] Speaker B: It'll be. It's either one. Any prediction is fair at this point, so everyone place your bets.
[00:58:50] Speaker A: Yes, exactly. But, yeah, I really appreciate you coming on and talking. Comics are dying. The comic and the Zoop crowdfunding campaign going on right now. So it's Zoop GG, people. And I think the easy thing is Zoop dot gg C slash comics are dying is the direct link. It's. It's not easy, but like, if you just go to zoom GG and then click on the thing, you can back it there as well. So you can back it. You have about two weeks as of this episode, dropping to back it. So make sure you get on that. And then, yeah, follow you on social media so that people can find out more about what's going on in your life and what's coming with new publishers and new things that are coming out. Because I'm guessing you work on other things too, outside of just this, so.
[00:59:32] Speaker B: Well, I know if you want to follow me, I'm Southard, or at Lewisj Southard, you can always google my name and I pop up.
[00:59:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:42] Speaker B: So you'll be able to find me.
[00:59:44] Speaker A: And, yeah, so I'm looking forward to more. Thank you so much for doing this. I've taken some time out and staying awake over there in the UK and the world. So far, the eclipse has come and I'm basically cutting towards the end of it right now. And we're still here, we're still alive and so, well, I don't know. We literally could go outside right now and have it be like walking dead and we have no idea. Right.
I can't see outside anything in my.
[01:00:09] Speaker B: Studio, so that'd be a good way to go, I feel. Podcasting about comics, it's the way we.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: Finish this episode and no one's going to hear it because the last two people remaining on the earth right now, are you usually. Yes, and we got saved because we have headphones in and that's the why we were exactly happened. And we were headphones in, talking, and that saved us from everything. But no, I really appreciate it. Like I said, you coming on, talking about it. Zoop Dot GG is the comics or comics are dying on Zoop GG and back today. I appreciate it. We'll get you come back on at some point in the future. Does it sound good?
[01:00:41] Speaker B: That sounds good. Justin, thank you so much for having me.
[01:00:44] Speaker A: Awesome. I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
