Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Capes and Tights podcast right here on capesandtights.com dot. I'm your host, Justin Soderbergh. This episode we welcome writer extraordinaire Jordan Morris to the program. Jordan is a comedy writer with experience writing tv features, comics, podcasts, digital comedy and video games. He has written for HBO, Max, Disney, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, YouTube originals and more. His graphic novel Bubble was nominated for two Eisner Awards, which is pretty badass. And his latest comic graphic novel, youth group with Bowen McCurdy is coming out July 16 and 17th at bookstores in LCS shops, just in time for this podcast to drop. So enjoy this episode with Jordan Morris, writer of youth group. But before you do, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, bluesky threads, all those things and subscribe rate review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and wherever you find your podcasts. And always visit capesandtypes.com dot. But this is Jordan Morris talking comics right here on capes and tights. Enjoy everybody.
Welcome, Jordan. How are you?
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Thank you, thank you. Good to be here.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Good. Yeah, I'm glad to be on the podcast. Like I said, you know, we talked a little bit before about, you know, getting ready to do this and you said, I said, hey, can you do it in July? Because I want to put out the, put out the podcast right around the time that your book comes out. Youth group. And I'm really excited to talk about it. I hope you're excited to talk about it.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Yeah, thrilled to be here and I'm thrilled about youth group. I'm so stoked. I think as we're recording this, it'll be out in like two weeks.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it's surreal. I'm stoked.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Well, you know, you've been promoting this book for a long time because like I said, in the Foc world of comics, you have a single issue that comes out and you're trying to get this promoting in there, but you've been promoting this book for a very long time and finally it's here. You must be excited for that.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: I am. I'm stoked, yes. So with graphic novels like the ones that 1st, 2nd puts out, the publisher of youth group, you can start that preorder flogging like a year before the book comes out. And I'm just really excited about this book. It's kinda of like personal to me in a weird way. It is. I'm really proud of it. I think Bowen did a great job with the art. So I've been flogging hard.
You know, your show is obviously very special and I'm so glad you asked me, but this is my 10,000th podcast I've done.
I am really stoked to talk about the book and happy to do it to whoever wants me to do it. But yeah, I, yeah, the promo has been a marathon, not a sprint, but I'm stoked. If that means more people check it out, then I'm happy to do it.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's weird. Cause you also, as a comic book person, we find out in the comic book world you do a lot of the promotion yourself, even though 1st, 2nd is the one that's publishing the book and they're doing their due diligence as well to get people to buy it.
And all these other people are trying to do this too, but you have to get on the streets and basically be like, buy my graphic novel.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: I have a sandwich board.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Yes, you walk down the street, you're like, buy this perfect novel off of me. But you also have to like with the name youth group too. I mean, I grew up in youth groups too, so this is why this kind of hit home in a way that was weird and, you know, exciting and funny reading it, because I'm like, a lot of the stuff that you talk about in the book, I'm like, oh, I remember those days. Well, not as much as the crazy stuff that happens in the book, but like the more generic stuff that happens in the book.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I should say youth group. It is a ya horror comedy about goofy teenage exorcists. They are part of a kind of a cool Bible study group. I was in one of these growing up. You know, you had a youth pastor with tattoo sleeves. He turned the chair around backwards before he gave it to you straight.
Yeah, these were just such funny, weird little organizations and yeah, I'd always kind of wanted to write about one. So yeah, I think it is set in one of these, in one of these kind of like real life familiar teen Bible studies groups, but it goes to crazy supernatural places. It turns out that the kids in youth group actually have to do exorcisms. So that's the horror twist.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: It's a funny story, but also has some action moments in there. Funny enough speaking, funny enough world of comics. People say is are funny funny books. Like they say funny books as a generic term for comic books. Although we know as people in the comic book world, it is a, there's horror comic books, there's, you know, drama, there's action. There's all kinds of different comic books nowadays, but telling a funny story can actually be, can be hard, oddly enough, because of the fact that I think comedy is so subjective that some people might read it differently because it's a comedy book versus not a comedy book. Do you find it hard to try to tell people to read this book being a funny book behind it?
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it is a real odd duck genre wise, and I realize that, and that's part of the reason why I'm out there flogging so hard is because, you know, I think somebody needs to stump for this thing. It, you know, does not feature Batman on the COVID So I understand how you might, you might go past it as you're, you know, browsing. Browsing in the LCS.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I personally really like it when there's a little bit of comedy in my horror. Like, I love Shaun of the dead. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think that those two things just really party well together. I like that flavor.
And, yeah, and I think it is not something you see a ton in comics, but, yeah, hopefully that makes us stand out rather than, you know, sinks the ship. So, yeah, I think it can be done, and I think that, like, part of the reason the comedy works so well in youth group is Bowen's great work. Bowen McGurdy, the artist on the book. Like, I think people talk a lot about how comedy is tough in comics because of timing, right? Like, you can't have pause or it's harder to have pauses, I guess I should say you can't. And it's kind of hard to, like, show people's reactions to jokes sometimes. Like, you know, I feel like I, sometimes when I am reading a comic, it feels like the writer and artist sometimes are, like, just doing their own thing. Like, you'll see this great joke, or you'll read this great joke. Like, Thor, like, Thor will say something funny and then the panel is just him, like, wailing on a goblin, and the drawing will be beautiful, and the joke will be beautiful, but they're not really taking each other into account. Right. Like, it. It is kind of just like somebody wrote a joke, somebody drew a picture, and they found a way to mash them up.
But I think that, like, when, when the artist and writer are kind of trying to do the same thing and they have the same goal, the comedy can work really well in comics.
And I think that part of the reason that Bowen's style is so good for this is the acting of Bowen's characters. Are so great.
They have such lively facial expressions, they have such clear reactions to things. And comedy isn't just someone saying something funny, but it's someone reacting to someone saying something funny. Right.
You know, every. The comedy cliche is there's a funny person and a straight person. Right. And I think you need to see that reaction to the funny thing being said. And I think that, like, bowen's just super expressive characters with, like, really clear, big emotions. Just, they. I think they help juice the comedy in such a great way.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: It does. And do you. How did you. Speaking of Bowen, how did you get partnering up with Bowen for this. For this project?
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. So that was Calista Brill, my editor, over at first. Second, I brought this pitch to her, and she liked it, had a bunch of great notes for it, and then kind of the artist search started, and I think the first email I got about the subject was, hey, we're going to start the artist search. First person I want you to take a look at is Bowen McGurdy. And she sent me a bunch of Bowen's work, and I'm like, we can stop the search if you want to. If Bowen will do it, let's get Bowen to do it. And we didn't look at any else. Like, we. It just stopped there because, I mean, I just, like, saw it, and I'm like, this is perfect. And, yeah, I'm so lucky Bowen wanted to do it. They've got a very full dance card these days. Very, very in demand artist for a good reason. Yeah. And I'm so glad they made time for our book.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: I wanted to mention that because the artwork does work so cohesively together, and the. The comedy, the jokes, all those things. The expressions even wrote that when we did our review, was, like, it was so big to me that. And there's sometimes that that stuff jumps out to you in a bad way. Like, it's too over the top to try to sell the joke. But I feel like you and Bowen work so well together, and it seemed like you two would have been, like, friends for a long time. And this is, like, the fourth or fifth book that you've worked on together. You know what I mean? Like, it seems experienced in together reading each other's minds, even in this book, and that's why I feel like it works so well.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it was a really good match, and I really credit Calista over it for a second for that. I think, like, she, you know, she knew the exact person for the job. And, yeah, I'm just I'm really lucky, I'm really lucky that we get to do this together.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: It was to start off as a first. 2nd was the, was the publisher you pitched it to. So it obviously started off as a graphic novel. Did you ever have any mind, in your thoughts, in your mind you wanted to do some sort of, you know, floppy single issue release? Or was it always in your mind, just as a graphic novel?
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think I pitched it with format in mind.
The first 2nd are the first people I pitched it to and they said yes. So I said, let's do it.
There wasn't a bidding war or anything from several different parties. I loved working with for a second on our book bubble, the Sci-Fi comedy book bubble that I did with a great writer named Sarah Morgan, great artist named Tony Cliff. And I just loved the process of bubble. And I'm just like, if they want to do the next book, they should do the next book. So, yeah, but yeah, I think this is a story that you could have told in floppies. But yeah, I like it as it is. It feels like something you can kind of like sit down and read, you know, in a day or over the course of a weekend. And yeah, I think that's kind of cool and fun. And it's a beautiful book too. It really looks nice.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: So it's gorgeous. And selfishly, I like it as someone on this side because, you know, we discussed the idea of you coming on to talk about the book. And a lot of times I talked to a lot of people where I read issue one of like a five issue mini series or like a ten issue series, and you get to issue read issue one, maybe issue one and two. And so you get an idea of where the story is going to go, but you really don't know the entire story. And so like, selfishly, when someone has a graphic novel or completed work that you get to see prior to talking to them or prior to doing a review, you get the whole picture. And that's just nice about something like a graphic novel. And in first seconds a great publisher to work where we've actually had a couple people on who have published things through 1st, 2nd they said nothing but great things. And getting that full, complete thing, you're like, okay, I got the whole story, so we can actually talk. Not that we're going to spoil anything, because I really want people to read the book. And spoiling it to me is, you know, if we talked about this book two years from now or a year from now, I feel like you could spoil things, but I really want people to read the book, so we're not going to spoil much on this thing, if anything. But, yeah, I think that it's nice having that cohesive story and knowing how it ends up in the end when I get to talk to you.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, I would love for this to be a book that not just, like, comics people pick up, but also. So if you're an occasional comics reader or you need a present for a teenager who doesn't read a ton of comics. Yeah. And I think that stories that have beginnings, middles, and ends are just easier for occasional comics readers to pick up. I think that, I love monthlies. I get them. I was at comics Factory in Pasadena yesterday getting my monthlies, but I know that the reason a lot of people don't try comics is cause that monthly structure is just a little bit hard to dig into sometimes. So, yeah, I like the fact that I can pitch this book to a.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Ton of different people and it's in bookstores. And that's the other thing about school, about graphic novels or trade collections, is the fact that you now, when I say to someone, where can I get this? Anywhere that sells books basically can get it, because you just have to go to them. They may not, you know, if it's a, you know, a niche bookstore in your down, like, we have a small bookstore, briar patch in downtown Bangor, in the town I live in, and it's very small. Yeah, it's very small. So, like, they can't really carry everything. But if I say to them, hey, I really want this book, it's coming out on July 16. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gibran there would get it and stock it. In all likelihood, for me, it's different than maybe other people. If I go on there and say I want, he might buy three or four copies so that he can actually stock it. Or if you, if someone does order it for someone, someone goes into your bookstore and asks for a book, sometimes they'll order one because that's, they want to make sure they sell the one that, you know. But a lot of times, like, my LCS owner will carry this book because if you're to order one, you might as well order one or two because then you can put it on the shelf and if you sell it, you sell it. If you don't, you don't. But it's not like you're hampering by carrying 30 of something that you don't know about. But if you go to your lcs or your bookstore owner and say, I want this book, they can get it for you. And that's as cool about a graphic novel, I think, over a floppy. Is that a floppy comic? That story has to wait until it's in a collected edition, which is potentially a year after the first issue comes out that you can get it at your bookstore. And not everybody has a comic book store. So yeah, go to your local bookstore because they can get it for you, which is really cool.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Hey, from your lips to God's ears. I love that. Yeah. Part of, part of the promo marathon is getting people to pre order, and it's that exact thing that you said. I mean, you really put it well. It's that like, if you do go up to a bookstore employee, if you go up to a bookseller and you order one, maybe this wasn't something that was on their radar. Like maybe, you know, maybe they breezed by it, maybe it's not something they would usually carry, but because they have to check it out to order it for you, they, yeah, they might get a couple more copies and that's a couple more copies that someone might just see when they're browsing. So, yeah, we love it. I second everything you said at first.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: 2Nd too, gets just to breathe a little bit when you pre order it because they're like, okay, we're going to print a bunch of these for George Boeing. Okay. We already sold a bunch of them, so we're okay. Publishing is a very risky industry, and so if you have a bunch of pre orders out there, or at least orders within the first few weeks of it coming out to pass publication, it makes the publisher breathe a little easier that this is going to be okay. Not that they don't have faith in you. It's just nice to have faith in sales numbers. Numbers count like they do count.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: No kidding. I know. Yes. Hey, if you're a fan of a creator out there, definitely, definitely look into pre ordering their work.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. But like, so you have written bubble, which was based off of a podcast that you created. It is.
And so there's one way of telling a story. This is obviously different than that. And, you know, like, it's a different story. What made comics the story? You wanted to tell this, and obviously you went to, you went to first, second to pitch it to them. But like, you know, why wasn't you working tv, you work in features. Like, why wasn't this something like that? What made comics the venue? You wanted to tell us the story?
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it's something we were talking about earlier.
It's the fact that it is such a weird genre thing, right. Horror in youth group is taken pretty seriously, but there's a lot of jokes in it. There's a lot of jokes, and there's kind of big teen feelings, and there's family drama. So it's like, it's a little bit hard to characterize. Right. And I think that, like, comics readers are so much more adventurous than other readers. Right. And I think they go with genre stuff.
You don't have to explain how possession works because comics readers are like, yeah, I've read possession stories. I've read religious horror. I've watched religious horror. I know how this works. Let's get on with the story.
So, yeah, I just, I love making comics because you're making them for comics readers. And, like, I think that just, like, if you grow up reading Spider man and X Men and you read saga and you read sex criminals, like, you're just okay with stuff that's a little weird or genre wise. And I think that because youth group is kind of a mishmash, it's kind of a gumbo.
I think that I can trust that, like, comics readers will go on that ride.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yes.
It's a thing that I've always said is that when I talk to people, I was like, I've been a Marvel fan since I got into comics for the first comic I read, and I don't really like DC that much. I dabble in a little bit, but, like, Marvel's been my thing. But over the past, what, I don't know, two, three years, it's really taken a big backseat to independent stuff. And it's not because it's independent versus the big, big two. It's more along the lines that I felt like it's the same stories being told over and over again with different artists, different writer, different colorists, things like that. Whereas your independent side, there's so many different unique takes or unique stories that are being told that, like, youth group would never end up being in a marvel universe. You know this, we know this. And so getting this ability to read a book that's different than anything else that's out there right now or mostly different than anything else that's out there right now, it does wonders because there's such a big variety of comic books nowadays to read that you kind of have to stand out. And I feel like, yeah, with you do that, you, maybe you need a little bit of explanation behind it, but that's why you have people working in a comic book store or a bookstore. That's why you're doing all this with your, your billboard out front of a store, your sandwich board, telling people about it. Um, but it's different. And I think that's huge to me because I like horror, I like comedy. I like the two together.
I'm a recovering youth group attendee. No, my parents are gonna love that. My dad's actually a pastor, so my parents are gonna love that comment that they listen to this episode. My mom's in the other room watching my kids, actually. But no, the youth group part of it, it does resonate to those people who have been part of youth groups. But it's different. That's my big point. I think the point of it is that it's different than most stuff that's out there right now, which I think, to me, stands out as a comic book reader, as something I want to attach myself to because I need that different thing.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think if you're a comics reader, like, you're also, like, a pop culture person, right? Like, I think. I think comics readers tend to be, like, really enthusiastic pop culture people who just, they love it all. They, they're adventurous. And I think that, like, they want a surprise. They want something that's a little bit weirder.
I read a great book recently. It's called Lunar New Year love story. This is Jean Lu and Yang and Lu Yin Pham, writer and artist, respectively. And it is. It's a graphic novel. And it's like a rom.com, right? Like, it has a pretty familiar rom.com setup. It is a teen girl. She's got two hunky guys who both like her, and she has to choose between one's a little more enthusiastic, one's a little more brooding. So this is all familiar stuff, right? Like, we've, we've seen this story, but, like, it just goes to some weird places. She's haunted by the ghosts of catholic saints. She has this kind of intense family mystery that's unraveling itself. It's a rom.com, it's a ghost story. It's a family drama. And I'm like, this is so wonderful. This is so specific. If they went to, as someone who's worked in tv and film, I could kind of imagine how that pitch would go as a movie. It would be like, do we need the ghosts of catholic saints? Can this just be, do we need that? Is that, you know, and they would. And, you know, I think a lot of interesting, cool genre stuff gets made in tv and film. But it's harder. Like, it just, it's the stuff so expensive. It needs to be a little more middle of the road. You see, like, the rough edges getting sanded off something. And, like, I like rough edges. You know, I like it when something's a little weirder and harder to categorize. So, you know, I think that's just part of what I think makes comics so great for youth group is that it's weird.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: It's weird. And what I try to pitch to people, too, about comics. I read a lot of novels, too. I listen to audiobooks. And so when I talk about these things, a certain people, I'm always like, you can't always watch tv in movies. Like, you have to do something else. There's. It's big right now. It's massive right now. How many people, have you seen that show? Have you seen that movie?
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Right?
[00:21:39] Speaker A: And. But, like, with other mediums, if you want a visual medium, comics, to me is that thing, because you can't always be in front of your tv, but if you're waiting for a doctor's appointment and you're in the lobby area, you can either be on, you can either bring your graphic novel with you, or you can have your iPad out and be reading it on there. If you're, like, outside at the lake in a summer day and you want to read something, yes, you can. You bring your iPad and watch your iPad. But I feel like you can't always be glued to these things. So some of these things, even if youth group got picked up an option for a tv show or a movie, it would be cool. We all like it, anybody who stands there. But it's like, sometimes you just need this thing to be something else so that you can enjoy and take in this story and this graphical thing, this visual medium in a different format. And sometimes that's what sells me to comic books in general. It's like, I love all of my favorite comics to be adapted, that'd be great because I'd like to get to see it again in a different format. But sometimes it's just nice to be what it is. It's like, it's.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Yeah, and there are great adaptations, right? Like, and I'm not saying it can't happen or that it wouldn't happen, but, like, yeah, I don't know. Sometimes the comic is just the thing. Like, sometimes that's the story. And if you loved it, you loved it, and, you know, there's no reason to see Sidney Sweeney placed into it somehow.
[00:22:59] Speaker A: You're already casting, though. I see that your brain's working already, though. Right? The funny thing and the great thing.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: About you're out there, call me. You got a great part for me.
[00:23:07] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: But, yeah, I think because comic book media is such a big deal, because there are so many biggest movies and tv shows based on comics. Like, people do get really wrapped up in, like, how would you adapt this and who would direct it and who would, you know? And that stuff is fun to think about, but, like, I don't know, sometimes it feels like we're not engaging the comic as a comic.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: Yeah. You're not living in the moment of the actual, of the actual comic. You're not reading this at the end. There are definitely comic books at the end. You're like, that would be really cool to see this. And I think most things you do, like, again, to me is my argument for the Star wars universe is that people go, oh, that the last three movies were absolute crap. And I'm like, yeah, but they made them. Like, as a Star wars fan, I was like, I got to see stuff on a big screen. I don't care if it's good, bad, ugly, whatever it is. I got to go to the movie theater and see another Star wars project. As a Star wars fan, that was amazing. Like, I don't, whatever, if it's bad or not, like, it doesn't mean it's being made. That's all I care about somewhat. But, like, you know, living in the moment of actually just reading the comic book for what it is is also great. And you and Bowen did such a great job with youth group being, like, fun, rompy, and also energetic.
The artwork jumps off the page, and so it's almost motion. It's almost as emotion in that as it is like a motion picture as it is, because it's so well drawn. And so that also adds to why just living in the moment of youth group, being a comic book is a great thing.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Bowen does so much creative stuff with the paneling in this and such interesting things with format. Just a real. Yeah, I mean, a genius. I was constantly just so thrilled getting the pages back and, yeah, getting to, getting to see what they had done with it. It's really like, I'm thrilled I don't have more interesting ways of saying it.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Dana, how thrilled you are. Yeah. How long did it take to do this? Is this something you've been working on for a long time, and it just finally is now going to be in print?
[00:25:10] Speaker B: I.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Or is this something that came up pretty quickly.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Oh, no, no. A while. Yeah, so this has been. We've been. We've been poking away at this thing for a while. So I wrote this script, like, height of pandemic. I wrote this script, like, in my house, and, you know, while I was still wiping down my groceries. Remember those days?
And, yeah, so I wrote the script, and then Bowen, as I mentioned, had a pretty full dance card, pretty in demand artist. So we had to, like, wait a little bit for their schedule to. To allow for them to draw a giant 101 page script.
So, yeah, so it's definitely been in the works for a while. And as we mentioned, first seconds books are very attractive, but they take a little longer to print for that reason. So, yeah, I think with the floppy comic, it can be on the stands a couple months after you write it, but with something like this, it takes a while.
Yeah, it's definitely. The waiting is, like, hard, and you're excited, and you want it to be out there, but I'm just so thrilled with the result that I'm not that bad about the waiting anymore.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: It's funny you're excited for it, but also, I'm guessing you're probably a little nervous, and how. I mean, you've had a lot of people review this thing, and it's been overall positive. What I've seen is an overall positive on that. So you kind of have an idea of how people will expect or how expect people to read this and understand it and like it. But I also, me personally, I get nervous when things, like, finally release. You're like, oh, sure, gonna like it. Are people gonna like it? They can understand what I was trying to get across to you, or they're just gonna be, like, miffed to what's going on in youth crew.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. And there's a little added element to this, too, because it's really personal. Like, like, I put a lot of personal details from my childhood in it, and there's not, like, a self insert character or anything. I don't think there's a person in it where you're like, this is the writer. You know, this is him. But, like, you know, I did just populate it with kids I grew up with. And, you know, the family in the story is going through a lot of the same stuff my family was going through at that age. And so, like, it does feel very autobiographical to me. I mean, it's, like, about fighting demons, so it's not that autobiographical.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: I was gonna say is that the autobiographical part is the fighting demons?
[00:27:26] Speaker B: I've never done an extra.
I would love to. If anybody has a demon, give me a call. I did some.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: Oh, that would have been great for the marketing campaign. That would have been great to have, like, a video of you actually performing an exorcism with the book.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: With youth group, not with anything else.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Like trying to get youth group in place of a Bible.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Yes.
I think you should start using that in place of a Bible everywhere. Like, when they go to a stand to, like, swear on the Bible, they're swearing on youth for sure. I just think it's great marketing.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Yeah, but get it in. Get it in courts. You have to put your hand on it. This is great.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: When you go to a hotel, it's in the drawer instead of the Bible issue of youth group.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: Honestly, I don't hate it. I don't hate it.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: Hey, there's enough hotels out there. That's the number of sales right there.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Jeez.
So, yeah, so I think the fact that there is a, like, more personal aspect to this book than other things I have written that adds a little added layer of, like, if people reject the book, they're rejecting me. So. And I don't think that will happen. I have, like, very. I feel very great about how it's been received so far, and I think it has a shot, definitely. But it does feel a little bit higher stakes because there is so much personal stuff in this.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: And is there also on top of the personal aspect of it, too? You've written tv shows and things like that, too, that were like, writers of tv shows? Sadly enough, maybe not for me, because I followed a lot more, but our kind of backseat, you're behind the scenes. You don't really get to see it. So if you write a joke or something like that for a tv show and someone doesn't laugh at it, it's like you're not. It's not your face. You're telling the joke or whatever, but like. Or something like this. So this is personal to the point where this is a creator own. Like, this is a thing that you. Your story and that you're out here promoting it. You know, all your tv shows very rarely where you on a podcast being like, you should watch my tv show this weekend. You know? And so that's also a side of it that people, the writer and the artist of a book, are center for a lot of people who read comics.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. No, no kidding. Yeah. And I love working in tv. I totally love doing it. But you are a, like, smaller cog in a bigger machine. Right. Like, and, you know, and, like, youth group isn't just my vision. We, there's Bowen, and, of course, there's great editors. Callista Brill, I mentioned, and our kind of day to day editor, Ben Wilgus, had a lot of insight. Ben is a great comics writer himself, and, like, pitched a lot of good stuff and good jokes and good, good. Kind of, like, story fixes for stuff that ended up being in the book. So, like, comics are a group effort, but tv is a very big group effort. Like, there are multiple writers. There's a showrunner, there's a director. I work in animation a lot. So there's storyboard artists, and then there's executives, and then there's the studio. So just, like, it's a lot of people given a lot of notes, and, like, they're nothing, always bad. Sometimes they are very good. Sometimes things change for the best. But, like, it just, there's a smaller chance that what you write on the page makes it to the screen exactly like that.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: Like, it just, it will go through changes, your script will get changed, and, like, it will hopefully turn out great, and it'll hopefully be kind of, like, along the lines of your vision, but just, like, there's going to be changes.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And I believe, I think the generic public who watches a tv show, if you just say, obviously, you don't write on South park, but say South park out there, you don't like an episode of South park. People just don't like the episode of South park. They're not going out there being like, who wrote this episode? You know, like, a lot of people just like, oh, that was a mess, whatever. And they go on, they watch the next episode or so on and so forth. But, like, if someone doesn't like youth group, it's like, oh, Jordan Morris, I don't think I want to buy the person.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: There's like, that more of your name is right on it. It's like, it's not like it's on the top.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. You're voicing all my worst fears. Absolutely.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: So that's why also, putting your personal side of it out there, too, is great. I mean, the, we just talked. We read from my book club at my local comic book shop, a haunted girl. I don't know if you've read this book from Ethan Sachs and his daughter Naomi, and it's about mental health and suicide, and it's. Naomi went through this stuff. She's a, she's a college age woman who wrote, co wrote this with her dad, and she put that out there for the world to see. Not only her problems locally with it, now it's on the world stage. And so, yeah, there's this risk of putting your personal thoughts and feelings and also stories out. There is a big risk in hoping that people do it. But I feel like, let's bring it back up to a positive thing here that you did a very good job at it. I think it's wonderful. So there you go. I'm a small person in this world, but I do think that people are going to well receive, are going to be well received with people out there because it's a unique, funny horror. There's a little bit of everything in there, honestly, for everyone with youth group. And is it available, going to be available on paperback and hardcover? Is that what I.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: Paperback? Hardcover? Yeah, on July 6.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: I love that. Yeah, I love that.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Definitely. Yeah. The hardback's a little pricier, but, boy, it's attractive.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Well, it is. That's. To me, I'm a hardcover kind of. It's harder to read, I think, sometimes. But, like, to me, it's like you read it once and then you put it on the shelf and you read it again later on. It needs to withstand moving, it needs to withstand other books in the shelf, all that stuff. The number of times I put a, like, you know, paperback trade paperback in the side shelf here, and it's like, got crypt back page. Cause it slid in weird or something like that. Like, a hardcover is a nice. It's worth the investment.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: Easier to loan out, too. You're probably gonna get it back, you know, in better condition if you loan it to somebody. So.
[00:32:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I'm sure this book will also be at your libraries, probably, if you ask your library.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. That's also something you talked about, the importance of pre ordering, which we love. But also, like, you know, times are tough. Like, if you want to read a book like request at your local library, it has a similar effect. Right. Like that effect of telling the bookseller that you like the book or you want to order the book, it puts it on their radar. Same thing with the librarian. Right. It might not be something that they knew about, and now that you mention it to them, they know about it and, you know, they'll order a copy. A sale is a sale. So, yeah, we love a library sale. So definitely, yeah. With this book or any book you're hearing about on this podcast, like, if times are tough or if you don't know, you want to take a chance on it, but it sounds kind of cool. Request it at your local library. We love that.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: I do find myself, too, renting books at a library or like this, where they got an advanced PDF that I buy the book afterwards if I like it. You know, I mean, like, it's like, I mean, some people's budgets don't fit that, that philosophy. But like, I do think that, you know, a lot of times if I get an advanced copy of a book and I read it and I really like it, I am going to buy that. Like, I don't physically have to at this point. Right? Like, I don't actually, if I want to read the book again, I still have the PDF that you sent me, so, like, I don't have to, but I want to because the fact that I do want to own this and I do want to have it on my shelf. I'm a hoarder in that sense too. Like a collection of hoarder collector, you know, quotations here, same thing. Right. But yeah, the idea that I want.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: To be like owner, I can see you have a very tidy, you have a very tidy background. I don't know if the rest of your house is a disaster area, but.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: You don't want to see this side. No, no, exactly. There's a feeling behind it and it's gone the opposite way. Jordan, I will tell you that same thing where I've read something and been like, I'm definitely not buying this now. So there has gone the opposite way because I was able to read it ahead of time. But yeah, going to a library, a lot of times, if I really like something, I'm like, well, I want to add this to my collection now. I didn't take the risk that I didn't like it, so I'll take the risk at a library where I can take it out, read it. Oh, I loved it. I'll go buy the actual copy or order it at my local bookstore. But yeah, libraries are huge. I think. I think there's one missing, missing thing that a lot of people don't really understand is you can get graphic novels at a library. They have them on the shelf.
[00:35:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I love it. I read so many comics from the library and just have over the course of my life. Right. Like, and hey, comics, I don't need to tell you, I don't need to tell the listeners to this podcast. Expensive hobby.
And it can stack up depending on how many books you're reading a month. So, yes, a great way to sample stuff.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: Great way to sample stuff, but. So you wrote this mostly over the pandemic and things like that. Are you working on. I don't want to get past this. Obviously, you're in this love for releasing this book right now. You're right in the heart of it. But, like, I'm guessing you're wanting to tell more stories in comic book format in the future.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: I would love to. I don't have any, like, projects at the moment. I would love to have some or one or whatever, but, yeah, I hope that, like, I would love to do more youth group stuff, more stuff in this world, more stuff with this tone. So, like, yeah, I hope folks check it out. I think that, like, if it does well, they will ask for another one. So, yeah, if it sounds cool to you, and if you're like, if you check out the book and you like it, definitely tell a friend. Leave a nice review. Yeah, I would love to do more, I think. Yeah, yeah. That would be such a thrill.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: Quickly with bubble and then this. Those fans of bubble will like this. In your opinion, or is it something like. Cause your style of writing is similar or is it different?
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. A similar kind of, like, genre comedy matchup. Bubble is obviously for grownups. Lots of swears, lots of gore, lots of sex jokes.
Youth group is for a Ya audience, so the language isn't quite as spicy. But yeah, I think if you like. If you like a little comedy in your genre, then I think bubble and youth grouper, it's a good double feature.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: I will say, like I always say with people when I talk to them about ya stuff is ya means that there's a limit on how low it should go, but that doesn't mean it for age wise. It does not mean there's a. There's a max ceiling on how high it should go. So you can be 98 years old and read a YA book, in my opinion. So that it's one of those things ya is out there. Not to say you have to be a young adult.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: It means that you shouldn't be a five year old. Admitted. Like, that's the, that's the big thing we're trying to say here is not, there's no, you know, cap to how old you have to be to read a YA book, for sure. But, yeah, July 16 is the day it hits local bookstores and bookstores everywhere, I should say.
And then July 17 is when it hits your local comic book shop. Because Tuesday's book release and Wednesday is comic book release. So that's how that works. In the, in the, in the world. I like how it does work that way for this. Some publishers end up being like, it's in bookstores and then six weeks later it's in book stores.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: But. Right.
[00:37:39] Speaker A: I know this does look like it's going to be that 16th and 17th timeframe, which is awesome because, you know, don't forget the LCS's.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Oh, please don't. Yes, we love them for sure. And definitely, like, those pre orders mean so much to them. Yeah, for sure. So.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: And locally for us and here in Maine, you can go to galactic comics and collectibles and you'll be able to grab that there as well as hopefully briar patch of downtown Bangor. I haven't talked to Gibran about it yet, I've been so busy. But yeah, we should check that out. So if you haven't, if you are local to this area, not very many people are. Most of my listeners are all over the United States. But if you are, tell Gibran, he'll order it for you for sure over at Brabesh. But yeah, I mean, you must be still pretty busy. You still writing tv stuff? You're doing all that stuff on the side too, or is you focusing right now on this?
[00:38:23] Speaker B: There's some. Yeah, I've been working on some tv stuff that's pretty heavily NDA'd.
[00:38:28] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: So. But that will come out eventually and hopefully you'll hear about it. But this is actually kind of cool.
I'm gonna do Comic Con for youth group. I'm going to do San Diego and then I'm going to hit the road. So I've never been like a con guy before. Like, I've been to cons and I grew up in southern California, so I went to, I've been to San Diego, you know, 20 times. But yeah, I'm kind of going to hit the road and set up a little table in artist alley and hopefully get that sandwich board we talked about and just kind of try and hand sell youth group at cons, which I've like, never done before.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: I'm kind of sprinkle water on people.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I should have a whole baptismal power, baptismal pop up, right?
[00:39:09] Speaker A: Yes, we can actually do that.
I just got an advanced copy of CJ Leeds book, American Rapture, which is also very.
[00:39:19] Speaker B: Oh, I've heard that's great.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: It's unbelievable so far. But yeah, I think that people, you could do a book booth next to them and do the whole like, holy water and. Yeah, no, San Diego. This will actually come out on July 17. So San Diego's this weekend. So that's this coming weekend. That, that timeframe? No, the next weekend, whatever. It's after this. So if you listen to this, I.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Will be there doing a panel on the 26th and signings and all kinds of stuff. So. Yeah, definitely. If you're, if you're at the old San Diego Comic Con, look me up.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: He'll be the one wearing the sandwich board, walking around, right.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: Telling people to repent.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Don't walk up to the person wearing the sandwich board because it's probably not gonna be Jordan. So just let you know.
[00:40:01] Speaker B: Oh yeah, I guess there are people at Comic Con with action, actual repent sandwich boards.
[00:40:07] Speaker A: So I mean if. Tell them to buy the book, but.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: Like, yeah, let them know. Let them know about youth group might be up their alley a sales.
[00:40:17] Speaker A: We already said that.
[00:40:20] Speaker B: Even if a weird religious fanatic buys the book, they still bought the book.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: Hey, they bought the book. You can pay the bills. 1st, 2nd likes it. You'll be able to make a second one. There you go.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the dream.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Well, yeah. I really appreciate, Jordan, you taking the time out of your day to chat on here. I hope everybody goes out and buys the book. I only talk to people on this podcast that I really want to talk to because I like their stuff. And so usually that's a good sign on my part that if you're on here, it means I like your stuff. So hopefully people go out and buy it in droves because I want more youth group. I think other people will like it, so hopefully people buy it.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. And hey, coming from a former youth group kid, that, that means a lot.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: I wish you buy to give my dad.
[00:40:57] Speaker B: Hopefully we got that right.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: Buy a copy for Christmas for my dad. There you go. Right?
[00:41:01] Speaker B: Makes a great gift.
[00:41:03] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Jordan.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: Thanks, dude. Yeah, this is fun track.
