[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Capes and Tights podcast right here on capesandtice.com dot. I'm your host, Justin Soderbergh. Once again, this episode is brought to you by our friends over at Galactic Comics and collectibles in Bangor, Maine. You can visit
[email protected] or find them over on social media, on Facebook, and on Instagram. This episode is Dakota Brown coming back to the podcast to talk about his comic death comes to the toymaker. It's an original graphic novel that's over at Magma Comics. After a long journey and a lot of ups and downs and speed bumps and so on, this book is finally going to hit shelves here in November. Final order cut off is September 30, so make sure if you're interested in this book, tell your lcs that you want it so they'll put it on the order and get it in shop for you on release date. But yeah, Dakota Brown is the creator writer of Death comes to the toy maker over at Magma Comics, as well as he wrote a book recently in the past couple years called Grandma Tilly's high tech mech over at band of bars and has other stuff coming on the horizon as well. But this is about death comes to the toy maker, a graphic novel over at Magma Comics. But before you listen, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, bluesky threads, all those things. Rate, review, subscribe over at Apple Podcasts and Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. You can visit us in capesandtice.com for so much more content, as well as visit our YouTube channel over there on YouTube.com dot. This is Dakota Brown, writer and creator of Death comes from the Toymaker, our original graphic novel, hitting shelves this November. Enjoy everyone.
And we are live. Welcome back to the podcast. Dakota Brown, how are you?
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Great. Great to be back. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: You know, you were on a list of people you should get back on the podcast like this just, it is what it is. But the thing about it is most people come back on the podcast to talk about their next project, so it's not usually the same project. But hey, you know what? It's coming out and that's what matters at this point.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I think we might have chatted about another project between, but yeah, I'm going back to my first project. Really? Pitching that to the masses.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. But now it's coming on full force, and that's pretty cool. And it's coming out honestly at the right time of year in a sense, too which I know that there was discussions, I think, when it was going to be released as a trade somewhere else, it was going to be, like, in March or something like that, which is a little unique and weird, but yeah. So we're here to talk death comes for the toy maker, a book that's coming out at Magma Comics now, but some people may have read the first issue. So let's talk a little bit about a couple things here. One is, what is death comes to the toymaker? And the second is that some of the stuff we can talk about, like I said, there's a little bit of stuff we can't talk about, but there's some stuff that we can talk about on the journey it's been to get to where we are now. So what is Death comes to the toy maker?
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So now that it's in the hands of Magma, Death comes for the toy maker is a six chapter graphic novel rather than a six issue paperback. It's being presented as a young adult graphic novel for audiences. It's the story of. It's all in the title there. It's death comes from the toymaker. It's the story of a holiday gift giver who has a deal with death, the actual physical embodiment of death, to one day a year do the work of death, taking souls.
But that day is also the day that he delivers gifts for this world's holiday, which is called Ea's Day.
And it's at the same time a retelling and direct sequel to the epic of Gilgamesh. So you get a lot of Mesopotamia mythos in there that intermingles with this modern story in this world that's like ours, but not quite.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: I.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: But it's being presented as, like I said, a young adult graphic novel. It kind of pushes the boundaries of young adult. There's some, it leans closer to r than PG 13 in a lot of senses, but a lot of it is implications, especially on, like, the sexual nature. There's not that much sex and nudity, but a lot of people's insides come outside in the course of battle. So there's definitely some violence throughout, I.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Think, Dakota, that most young adult things that I'm at least into nowadays on that borderline, like, I know in novel, novel sphere of things, one of my favorite authors right now is Adam Caesar, who also writes comics as well. But Adam's clown in the cornfield series is very slasher horrific. Like, just like it is brutal and it's a YA book. And so, like, there's that. That borderline that you want to push that boundary like young, because let's be honest, most young adults want to read the adult thing, and so, like, having the ability to have some of it and be in that, in that segment is pretty cool. And this is their magma's first YA graphic novel. Correct. So, like, this is another thing you get to hang your hat on, is not only is it a ya, but it's the first one at Magma.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, you know, on the idea of content, I think it all comes down to context. If it's presented in such a way, it's, you know, the same items can be presented one way and another way. In one way. BPT 13 one way br but it's all connotation and context within the narration. But yeah, it's. It's the first graphic novel from Magma. I probably just lucked out in a lot of ways. They had an opening for a holiday release, and this is a holiday book.
I received, you know, my, my rights back from scout comics after the first issue came out, and immediately just, you know, kind of started that hunt for, you know, someone who might be interested in it. And we got a few responses and was very happy with all of them. But because of the, you know, the pedigree at Magma with the staff there has, you know, incredible resume, you know, being, you know, driving force at IdW for so long.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Magma has done some great things recently, too. I think that you mentioned the creators, but like, the, the things they're putting out, you know, recently, the pedestrian with Joey and Sean over there and things like that. Like, there's a lot of cool, unique stuff and having things like death comes for the toy maker to come out on that, on that publisher is pretty cool, definitely.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: In that it's always going to be a blend of, like, horror and something else. And all the creations at Magma seem to be that plus something like, it's very, it's very unique in the just styles and themes. And I don't know how much of that is just like magma seeking out creators that might have something like that or how much of it is just like, we saw this on your feed and we want it because I know the pedestrian, for instance, has kind of existed in some form for some time.
And it is. I was lucky enough to read the first issue a little bit before it came out, and it's just so wild. It's something you don't know that you wanted.
It's a superhero story that's not a superhero story. And it's just like somehow the most marketable hero, but also the most unmarketable hero. Like, it's brilliant, and it's hard to.
It's hard for me to sell it without just saying go into it without knowing what it is, and it's just a fun ride.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: I didn't know I needed this until I read it, and I didn't know I wanted this until I read it. And I didn't know I needed more of this until I read it. And that's the same thing.
But, yeah, so that magma thing is really cool. I mean, I think that magma brings a pedigree to the table that maybe your previous publisher doesn't have at the moment, and that's pretty cool on that side, is that you have actual some people that support you behind it, and we won't go too far into that. But I'm just saying that it seems like magma cares, and I think that's one thing that. That I think is different in that sense. And I think because of that, I think I see more of. Maybe it's just because we're friends on social media and things like that, but I see more of this promotion and solicitation for this book that maybe I've seen in the past, which is pretty cool, which hopefully would get people to read it, because it is a phenomenal book, a unique book, a book that's, like I said, perfect for the season.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Oh, that's great to hear. Thanks for that.
Honestly, I don't want to be, like, the company suck up, but it's working with magma has been a real thrill. And there's more coming later this month and in October for just on the marketing aspects of things that some connections that they've made that I never really thought was something to look into, like death comes for. The toy maker already has a big representation at libraries, both, you know, public school and prison libraries. I've seen talking about having it in there available for, you know, perusal and checkout, and it's. It's just a demographic that, you know, for me, I didn't think of at the time. But the numbers don't lie that libraries represent so much readership.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: And it's somehow forgotten.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: It's a holiday book, but not really a holiday book in a sense that it's not like Christmas and it's not like, full on, like your traditional saint Nick and all that stuff in there, but it has that comparison in that if you're looking for something like, there's not that much to read during holiday seasons, there's not like a plethora of Christmas themed comic books out there. Obviously, there's some that are floating around out there, but, like, this would fill that slot. If you're looking to, like, make sure you have that, you know, I don't know. I do a lot of that. Like, this time of year, I'm always watching horror movies. You know, I mean, like, it's like that thing or, like, as you get close to Christmas, you're watching Christmas movies. This kind of fills that need if you want to at least have that.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's been on my mind a lot lately because there's not, obviously, there's, you know, movies you watch at during the holiday season, there's songs that play on the radio, whatever, but there's not really.
There's not like a go to comic book necessarily for individuals. Obviously, there might be something that, you know, strikes with him. Klaus came out a few years back, and it's fantastic. There's all kinds of appearances of a Santa Claus figure in various marvel books.
And it would be great if, you know, this became something that became a holiday tradition you pull off your shelf every year. I don't know how. How to do that outside of just hammering it on social media every single year subsequently.
But, yeah, it's definitely not a Christmas story in this. Christmas doesn't exist in this universe because Christianity doesn't exist in this universe. The only religion that exists is the worship of the babylonian pantheon. A little bit of zoroastrianism in there, here and there, just as a reference to other religions of the time, but it's a very different beast in this universe. But for the most part, the only recognized religion is, again, the babylonian pantheon because they walk on earth and, you know, there's no.
There's no denying that they're walking among you. They're here.
So it can't possibly be a Christmas story with, you know, a Santa Claus figure. So it being a retelling of the epic of Gilgamesh. And because issue one has been out for so long, I don't mind spoiling this. Our, you know, Toymaker is deal the toymaker, who is modern day Gilgamesh, and through a deal with the God ea, who saved the world from the flood that, you know, would later become Noah's flood, and so on and so forth throughout different cultures and religions, ea, you know, decided he wanted to have a day of remembrance for himself and that in exchange for, you know, certain saving graces for Gilgamesh, that Gilgamesh would be the one to do that. Toy giving. It's a separate deal than his one with death. He has two deals simultaneously.
But, yeah, again, it's hard to call it a Christmas story despite the fact that there's a night of gift giving. There's a tree, there's stockings and gifts. All these things feel like they would, you know, naturally come about with a gift giving season because they're not necessarily the, you know, the christian side of Christmas, necessarily. The things that you kind of associate with, like Saturnalia and other more pagan holidays kind of remain.
But there's a lot of. There is a lot of overlap. So it does feel like a Christmas tale without being a Christmas tale. And, you know, issues two through six, you might not really get a lot of that. It might hop into a separate story that follows that one instance of Iya's day. But, yeah, it's definitely going to. It's going to have that holiday vibe without being necessarily a Christmas story. Hallmark won't buy it, I'm sure.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: No, that's what I think they said. I think it fits that slot, really, without having to be exactly that. You don't have to have it be. It's actually Santa Claus and it's actually this. And you mentioned chapters two through six are different in that sense. It's not. I mean, chapter one is really that full on. You feel you have those feelings as you're. As you're reading it, that it's, like, holiday themed, but it's one of those things that could fill that slot without actually having to be that. So, like, if someone's like, I don't want to read a stupid Christmas story, at least this would fill that slot of having that ability to read something that's parallel to the actual, you know, holiday season and so on and so forth. But so, I mean, it's epic. Gilgamesh in this story. Like, what made you want to create this in the first place? Like, I mean, we're going back, obviously, many years now, but, like, what? What? Where did this come from?
[00:14:17] Speaker B: Yeah, the year is 2021, I think. I think it was.
So I had written for theater and animation for quite some time. Nothing ever sold with animation, but always a pitching, and I wanted to get into comic books.
It was mid pandemic.
Avenues were kind of closing with a lot of connections I had, and I wanted to make some new ones, and I had all these properties that I wanted to bring from animation and theater to comics, comics to explore that. Something I always wanted to do since childhood.
But I didn't feel like anything that was in my portfolio really worked. For a first comic, there wasn't anything that I felt if you saw on a shelf would make you go, I need this. And kind of like the classic thing with indie comics is to.
Or one of the things that's very common is to take, you know, two public domain characters. You take like, a princess and a horror icon and pit them together.
You see it all over Kickstarter, you see it in comic shops, and it works and it's fun. And I wanted to do something similar that with two very public domain characters that really hadn't been together in this. For some reason, I thought that a Santa Claus death story had been done, but I struggled to find it.
So I wanted to tell at least my version. There might be one out there that exists. I'm sure there is, but I wanted to tell my version, and I wanted to have just this be this big melange of all kinds of cultures and mythos and religions. And it was going to have a lot of, like, native american mythology and a lot of african mythology, a lot of just all mythologies. But it felt like american gods and it felt like somebody else's story. And it was a lot to work with, especially for a six issue series. This would have ended up being something wildly unbearable for me and audience.
So in the process of that, I found that I really liked the. The mesopotamian mythos, specifically the creation story. And I knew I wanted that in there, and I had written around that, so I just kept going and through the course found that the story of the Santa Claus character I wanted to tell, who was originally just called St. Nicholas, had a lot in common with the story of Gilgamesh. Like, the Venn diagram of the two characters was nearly a circle as far as, like, their journey. The one that, you know, Gilgamesh completed and the one that my Santa Claus figure was going to go on. So it quickly, it matched up pretty quickly and pretty easily and hopefully in a fun way with some twists and turns that might make for a fun read.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Yeah. And you. And you partnered up with Ryan Cody to do the artwork. He has the artwork on this book that is absolutely phenomenal. And there's some moments in there, and I don't want to spoil it that much, but, like, there's a moment where fighting happens between, you know, death and Gill and there's some epic and some. I feel it. I almost. My jaw almost hurts sometimes seeing some of these in there, you know? And so it's a cool, you know, it's a phenomenal artwork. Was Ryan attached from the beginning. I mean, nothing from the beginning, but, like, I. When you had this ready to go and it was getting ready to be published and things like that. Ryan was the artist.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's so much here, like, fell into place very easily. It's almost embarrassing to talk about because I know that it's a medium of struggles, but I just lucked out with connecting with the right people at the right time, and Ryan was one of them.
I had the pitch ready to go as far as the script. I had script ready. I had my list of publishers I was going to send it to, but no arthem. And I kind of worked backwards, and I don't know why. I had read Family tree, which Ryan did, colors on, and I don't know if it's just because it was fresh in my mind, but I love the colors there. So I'm like, well, I want Ryan on for colors if I can get him, because it's so he has such a unique style that's, like, it's hard to pin down with words, but it's always evocative to the moment. Like, he chooses very distinct colors and very distinct palettes for not necessarily a scene, but, like, the moment. Like, you'll in toymaker, you'll see. Like, he kind of goes through evolutions throughout the story. I don't know if it was a cognizant choice, but, like, he starts out with this very Mignola style, both in colors and art, and then it kind of softens over time as you learn more about the characters.
But I knew I wanted on colors, and just looking at his stuff, I found out that he had done quite a bit of, you know, penciling and inking that I was also very quickly becoming a fan of, especially his work on the phantom.
But I just reached out and he was available, and it was the most painless piece of blessing I could have been partnered with because he has a very dynamic style. And again, it's from the beginning of the book, from chapter one to chapter six. If you look at one, you know, chapter one to chapter six, if you look at them separately, you might think that these are two separate artists. And that's not to say he's inconsistent by any means. You see this evolution over time, which, again, I don't know.
It's not something I was cognizant. I didn't write it into the script. It's just a decision he made to do. And it's beautiful. Again, super dynamic, super heavy moments, especially with the action. You. Yes, you really do feel those hits and those visceral moments of slashing and gore. You can feel the rips, fat and marrow, all that jazz. I might have lost for a second, but complete blessing to be able to work with them.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it's awesome. And Michael Myers is obviously doing, obviously, obviously to you and I, he's doing the lettering on it, but, like, he's a great letterer as well. One of the. One of the elite letterers, I think, right now, doing in the game right now. And so that's also that team of creation, a creative team on this thing is pretty phenomenal. You know, finishing it with Micah.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, I have never not worked with Micah, honestly. There's one project I'm working on where my collaborator is doing.
It's a co creation with. With them doing art and lettering. But if I have the chance to work with Micah, I always will, because it's. It's.
Lettering is like this invisible work, despite the fact that it's, you know, what you see on the page, it's kind of overlooked by, you know, the average audience. And if. Yeah, it's one of those things where if you see bad lettering, you see bad lettering, but if you see great lettering, you don't notice it. And that's kind of both magical and, you know, horrible because. Because you want to be able to say, this is fantastic lettering, but you might not be able to find those moments because it's just so smooth and so, um.
It's just so.
Again. Yeah, it's just smooth. It's just smooth. It tells a story, and it's one.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Of those things, too. It's like you had good partners on this. This creation with. With having Ryan and Micah, because I feel like you let, you know your writing was a highlight when you needed to be a highlight. Scripting is physically had, you know, as a highlight when it needed to be highlight. You let Ryan's artwork speak what it needed to speak, and then Micah, uh, you know, lettered what it needed to speak lettering wise, meaning that, like, if you look at some pages, there's like one or two speech bubbles on it, letting the artwork breathe, letting the artwork tell the story. Uh, and then there's a script in there and then the letter. So it's like, it's one of those things. And I'm reading the book. It's like a comfortable book. I had this, and I don't usually say the name, and I won't say the name, but there's a creator out there who just, I feel, uses too much of actual script and actual, like, wording and actual speech. And speech levels on the page that I'm just like, okay, I read novels. Let me read a novel.
When I'm in a comic book, I want the artwork to speak for it too. I don't want it just to be a speech problem, speaking for the characters on the comic book. I want the artwork to speak for itself. I want some. Some sound effects and things like that to speak for me. Instead of having the writer just be like, okay, I'm just gonna write a big, huge novel or artwork around it. And so I feel like there's moments where you're like, okay, I'm gonna put speech rebels in here, and Mike is gonna do a great job on that. And then I'm also gonna let Ryan's artwork speak for itself, because he knows what he's doing, and he has your script, and he has your, you know, what needs to be on each page, and it works. And I think that's one of the things that worked well for me, is that it was like a breathable comic book, whereas it's not. It wasn't. It wasn't a task to read. It wasn't like, oh, shit, I was talking to Dakota. I need to read this book again. It was like. It was a breeze. It was an easy read. Meaning not in a bad way. In a way that makes you want to read it over again. That's, I think, a big thing. You mentioned, grab off the shelf every year. I think there's two things in that. One, it being a graphic novel, will allow that to happen. Whereas single issues only. If someone goes out there and buys all six single issues, they may be less likely to pick them up in the future. Makes any sense. Most of us who are single issue collectors are like, oh, bag board that. Put it on the shelf, don't touch it.
Whereas a graphic novel, you're more apt to, like, pull it open, sit by the fire.
I don't know, sit on the couch and read it. But also having it be an easier read in the sense that it wasn't a lot of work to read makes it also more achievable to have you read again. I think that's a big thing. That's what the library's coming to. I think. I think, you know, a $20.15, $20, $25 trade graphic novel nowadays, you can't buy them all. Like, you can't. You don't. You don't can afford that. I mean, you know, people who can afford that aren't buying, that's the problem. And so all of us who can't afford going out and buying, every single one of them having the ability to go to a library and read it is a big thing. And I see that more and more. And so I think all those pieces put together, Dakota makes it for, like, a, you know, a good book, you know?
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, thank you.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: I guess that's what I'm saying.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: Oh, I appreciate that. I think it's really just a attempt to respect the medium because, you know, if you take the dialogue and, you know, put it to a film script just like, as it is, and say, this is, we can just translate this easily from comic to film, it's not going to work because this is. It's designed for comic book. I always think about, like, around, I think it was like the Empire strikes back, when Hasbro was like, well, they're not making a movie for a while, but we want new figures out. So we're gonna do what we're calling off screen vehicles and off screen characters. So you might not see it on the film, but, like, in the battle of Hoth, you look over in the trenches off screen here, and you'll see this. And this is what's, you know, fighting the empire coming in.
And with comics, it kind of feels like that to me. Like there's.
You're going to get everything you need from the dialogue and the action. I don't tend to do a lot of narration in a comic.
I don't know what the decision is there, honestly. It's just, it might just be a.
I always want, you know, a good flow, and you, I want that page turned to feel like you want to do it.
But.
Oh, I was. But, yeah, so the dialogue's there and the actions there, the lettering's there, but there's more to it that might be inferred or implied based on either the art or what have you, and that's kind of left to the audience to kind of interpret themselves.
Because, like I said, I don't do a lot of thought bubbles either, and I don't do a lot of narration. So these internal moments with the characters, I typically want the audience to kind of fill in themselves and, you know, as much as possible put themselves in the place of the characters.
So, yeah, it's. I think it's just an attempt to respect the medium and hopefully is enough to keep the story going, but at the same time, you know, have the reader put themselves in a little bit.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: Would you have handled this differently in a sense of, like, writing. If you were new from the outset, when you wrote the first issue or first chapter, that it was gonna be six issue chapter graphic novel, or do you think that it just, I mean, obviously worked out? I don't. I don't think that it was, like, clunky to the point where you're like, there's like, oh, my gosh. This is definitely written as a six issue mini series, and now we're graphic novel part of it. But I just didn't know if it. You would have flowed it differently or done something differently or maybe approached it differently. Knowing from the beginning that it was gonna be a graphic novel.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's hard to say. Um, because I was, you know, it was written as a. As an issue to issue mini series. I knew it was six issues. I knew it was gonna be 22 pages an issue because that's a manageable indie comic length.
So it was always designed to, you know, end an issue on a moment, whether that's a cliffhanger or just.
Just some kind of moment that makes the reader want to get to the next issue, because that's, you know, as a comic writer, I think that's the best we can do. Whether it's, you know, turning to the next page or the next issue, you're. You're wanting the audience to move forward.
So there would. I mean, there would definitely be something similar in the sense that, yeah, I want you to be excited about the next chapter, but the length of each, you know, what became chapters started as issues. The length would probably be different.
It just depends on the allowances of the form. There might be some chapters that were, like, two pages. There might be some that were, like, several. But, like, you look at traditional graphic novels, like that run of graphic novels from Marvel, starting with Dazzler and, like, God loves man kills.
They don't have necessarily chapters, I don't believe. It's usually just one solid story, just in a longer format. And obviously, watchmen was twelve issues. Twelve issues. Twelve issues. So it's presented as, you know, essentially a trade paperback. But, you know, all. Everyone considers it a graphic novel just because of the scale of it.
So it's a weird one to answer because there's no set format to the medium like a graphic novel.
I guess I'm thinking when I think of a graphic novel for comics, I think of bone.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: And there's pretty consistent lengths of the chapters there.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: I mean, it probably would have been harder to go the opposite way to have it been written as a graphic novel. And then be like, okay, let's make. We're actually going to do a six issue mini series on this. Because then you would have had to break things in a certain way. Add pages, subtract pages, whatever. Or it may have been like, issue one was 399 22 page comic book. And issue two was a 499 30 page comic book. And issue three was, it could have been this weird thing. And going the opposite way probably would have been harder. But, yeah, maybe you would have done 20 pages for one chapter and 24 for the next chapter. And then have it be seven chapters and one be five, issue five, five pages long and something else only be 15. And so, yeah, I could see that. But again, you're right. There is no set medium. And that's the weird. It's one of the cool things about comic books and also one of the frustrating parts of a comic books. Because there is that thing where, I mean, I just talked to Jacoby Salcedo and Julio Antae. About their blue beetle graphic novel that's coming out. And it's like, oh, it's phenomenal. But, like, I'm a big single issue person. So, like, now I have this want for this graphic novel that's going to have to go on a shelf instead of, it's just like, in, some of them are digital and some of our webtoon comics and some are web. There's no actual format that that's, like, standard. And even nowadays, with distillery and image doing their the last mermaid, there's not even a size of. Of a comic book format anymore either. And, like, in last Ronin being a random size. And then, like, you know, I mean, like, nowadays, obviously, there's a. There's a reason behind it, but, but it's just kind of funny. There isn't a regular thing to do. So I think it's kind of cool that this is coming out. You know, I have a single issue. It's harder to see. It's way up there. I have a single issue of death comes for the toy maker. But I'm also going to get it in a graphic novel, which is pretty cool. You know, I mean, like, yeah, I honestly wish they would do that more, to be honest with you. Put out issue one, even if it's greenlit already. Like, even if you're like, we're gonna do six issue or six chapter graphic novel. It's coming out in November, but in July, we're gonna at least issue one as a single issue to kind of promote it and get people to, you know, pre order it. And stuff like that.
I think that would be pretty badass. So then you can still get the single issue all the time and then also get the graphic novel full story when it comes out. I think it'd be cool.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: I'm a big fan of that as a reader. Definitely because that. Because that was the original plan with, you know, with scout, with death comes for the toymaker, and it was issue one, and then it's the full, complete graphic novel a couple of months later. You know, for whatever reasons, which I'm unaware of, honestly, I don't think they know why.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: So. No, you don't have to say anything. I'm gonna say, I don't think they.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Knew what they were doing, so whatever reason, it didn't happen. But I do like that I'm still attracted to that idea of, like, an issue one followed by a graphic novel.
Because, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of comic readers are collectors. It's kind of hard on the creator because it might feel like you're losing five issues of revenue, but readership falls off so much, and depending on print costs, it's a toss up.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: But I mean, technically, like, almost guaranteed that if someone buys issue two, they're buying issue five in the sense that if it comes out in a graphic novel and someone buys it, whereas someone might buy issue two and not buy issue five. So you really are losing money in the sense that you made the money off of that second issue, but you didn't make any on the fifth issue. So, yeah, it's one of those. You never really know. Hindsight would be 2021. If it worked or didn't work, you'd be like, oh, cool. We sold a bunch of issue one, but we didn't sell any of the graphic novels. So we still lost money on this comic. But, you know. But, yeah, I could see, I just know a lot of people out there who are trade waiters would do the same thing. They buy issue one and wait for the trade. If they like issue one, they'll buy the trade when it comes to it. So if you just set yourself up in that position to just, oh, there is no issue to it. Piss me off. If during the pandemic, when they did with Hawkeye over at Marvel, where they had a Hawkeye miniseries and they had four issues of the miniseries out, and they just said, screw it. We're not even going to release the fifth issue. We just put it in a trade. And I was like, screw you, man. All of us, comic book, that's completionist. There it's just like, it's a four issue, a five issue miniseries. Only four, remember, came out in single issues. Then it was in trade. I was like, oh, you got to at least complete this, man. There's so many people out there probably banging their head against the wall, seeing.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: What the hell has it been completed since?
[00:33:19] Speaker A: I think they just put it on a trade. I forgot. It's been so. It's funny, actually. It's been. This march will be five years since the beginning of the pandemic, which is absolutely asinine, in my opinion, that it's been that long.
Yeah. So I don't remember because it was that. That moment when they shut down production and shut all that stuff down.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: I'd have to look into it again. And it might have been three issues out of a four issue series or two out of four or something like that, but it was. I know. It was like, they released it on, like, the Marvel unlimited platform in a single issue, so you could read it digitally, but they never actually printed it. And so that ended up being a graphic novel or trade only. So you keep that fifth issue. You had to buy the trade. That would piss me off if they did it that way, if they did four issues out of five and they didn't print number five regularly. And you said, if you want to see how this finishes you by the trade.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: I mean, I get it, though. I mean, it's. Yeah, it was a terrible, horrible time, obviously, for, you know, an earth, but.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: As well for everyone. But, yeah, for the publishing industry is a little difficult to.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Yeah, but that's. Especially to have something that's released every month and have it, like, you know, kick in at a moment when several things are released, you have to make tight decisions. But, yeah, if that was the intention from the beginning, that would have been terrible.
But I can also see the cynic in me says, like, I could see somebody doing that in the future, like, releasing three out of four issues and be like, well, if you want the last of it, here's the, you know, $2025 trade.
[00:34:47] Speaker A: If, you know, marvel at the time was probably still with diamond. Right? Because they went to. They went to Penguin random house after the pan or during the pandan right around that time. You should, like, put a pre order out to LCS's and be like, this is a preorder only. Meaning that we're with literally whatever number of orders are ordered we're going to print. And so that the fifth issue could be done for those people who wanted a completionist and be like, I'll get it. But then that would end up happening is there'd be 5000 copies of that printed and it'd be high value comic book because it was only 5000 copies printed. And so then the comic book wouldn't even, the completionist people wouldn't even keep it. They'd sell it on eBay.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: That's wild.
It's a difficult medium, especially when it's the only medium where, like, something is released twice in different formats, like, on a guaranteed level.
But it's because that's what the audience merits, really. Some people like their single, some people like their trades. I'm a, I'm a trade guy myself, and I wish I wasn't a lot of times because I miss my pull box. I'll still buy, you know, individual comics when I can, when I get out, and I usually go wild when I do.
But, like, it can become unmanageable when there's so much good stuff out there that you want.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: So the single issues to me make me think of, like, payment plans versus buying it all at once. It's like, even though it costs me more if I buy five, $5 comics and the trade's only 20, but it's only going to cost me $5 every month for five months or $20 20 once, maybe I'll just do the single issue because then, you know, then I only have to pay $5. So, like, Barbie goes the way I'm losing money here or spending too much money and I have to wait. But no, yeah, it is one of those things that the marketing of it behind it is, can be helpful, you know, having five issues to market a comic book. So if this did come out, you know, but now you've had x amount of time to market this book now because.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: Yeah, about three years.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Exactly.
But, yeah, so, so now it's going to be coming out in trade or graphic novel format. And your cover artist, is it just. Joe Bacardo did the COVID He did.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: The, the COVID of the scout comics release. Yes, but my cover has always been Ryan Cody's cover, and I'm glad to have that featured here because that was the one that was here from the beginning and for whatever reason, that wasn't what came out from previous publisher. Yes, but Ryan told a story with a single page and, and that's enough to sell a comic right there. Just his incredible work.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: It is. It is. Now I forgot about that. It was the opposite. I was thinking it was the opposite. There was that he did that one, but, yeah, so so, yeah, the COVID is Ryan Curtis. It's a beautiful cover.
The trade dress, the graphic, the logo is pretty. It's pretty awesome, too. It fits the theme of the book loosely in that sense of it being somewhat of a holiday book. So it has that kind of, like, feel to it. But, you know, it's coming out November 19, which is exciting. I mean, so now you're getting to this point now, like, you know, you had this first issue come out, you know, from a previous publisher, and then you were gearing up for the trade release, and then that didn't work out, and you had this probably some sadness. You sat in a corner, stared at the corner for a little bit, you know, contemplating your career in comics. And then, and then magma picks it up and decides, no, we're going to release it. We're going to release it as a YA graphic novel. It's coming out in November. Yada, yada, yada. What's it been like now? Now that this is, like, finally coming to fruition, you're actually going to have these on the shelves. You're going to be able to tell people they can buy it. Has it been exciting? Is it is, are you nervous? What's, what's going on in your head right now?
[00:38:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's one of those where, like, it's been a long process, you know, between, you know, the original pitches and contracts of Toymaker, and now it's final release. It's, I think it's been, has been three years now for various reasons. There have been other comics I've had published since then. There's been, you know, contracts I've signed since then for things that are coming out in early 2025.
There's been so much happening because of my start through death comes for the Toymaker and partnering with Ryan and Micah that, it's weird that it hasn't. It's just odd because so much has happened because of it.
But I, when somebody says, like, when a publisher says, hey, send it to me. Yeah, I say, I can send you a link. You know, it doesn't necessarily.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Yet. The proofs are coming in and I think early October, so there's gonna be a physical item for me to hold very soon. And that's very surreal. I think I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know, because it's a, I trust magma so much because they're, again, their incredible pedigree and everything they've done with their company since they started releasing just this year.
But so much has, has happened with death comes for the toy maker that I feel like.
I'm sure this is the, this is the one, this gonna happen, but, you know, fingers are crossed. It's really surreal. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's in comic stores on the 6 November and then bookstores on the 19th.
And I, I have to just trust that.
And that's, that's, I'm not the only one with that story. And it's not exclusively a, it's an industry wide thing. You know, there's always a lot of doubt, even when something is ready for, like, it's in previews world and it's in lunar and you see the dates there. It's not always guaranteed. And that's nothing to do with necessarily a publisher or the creator. It's just, you know, something might happen with the distributor, something might happen with the paper company.
There's a lot of factors going, a lot of invisible work going into comics that's beyond publisher and creator. Obviously, both of those have a lot to do with release dates, obviously.
But I am beside myself with the fact that I was able to team with magma on this because it's, I, I just hope I, I do them right, because, like, like I said, it's a, it's a team of creators and a team of employees at the pub or from, you know, editor, editor in chief to marketing to design to CEO, even though I know, I know Denton doesn't like the term CEO, but deserves.
[00:41:23] Speaker A: It, at some point, you gotta, you gotta take that title because you got me. You basically.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's, it's, it's surreal, and there's, there's no words for it, and I just hope, I hope it gets in people's hands, and I think magma is going to be the place to really do that properly and, yeah, and I think.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: That once you have these proofs in your hands and once you have them physically in your creator copies, your comps and things like that in your hands, it's going to be like, okay, this is cool. It's actually happening because I think there's, I mean, there's chances of any other publisher, not any other publishers, not speaking of one specific one, that if it ended up in their hands, it may still not have been come to fruition, it may not. It may have been solicited for. And I've been on, like, a lunar website and other websites where you're, like, looking every week to see what's coming out that week and the same books in it every week because they just push it to the next week, and then they just push it to the next week, and then they just push it to the next week, and you're like, okay, this book is never coming out. And so to actually see this happening is going to be pretty cool. And, and you got your rights back, and that's the big thing, I think, when the whole situation is you actually get to publish this, not the publisher you're coming from, but the other publishers that have been out there in the past. I've talked to other creators who were still waiting from other publishers to get things back. Bankruptcies and all these other different, crazy world of publishing is the fact that they're just like, if I get it back, cool, this is gonna be awesome when it does come back. But if I don't, I'm just reserved to the fact that it's never coming back, and that's gone, and so at least you have it, and that's a big thing. That's a huge, huge, you know, success in your side, and so next thing is physically getting it in your hands. That's the next big thing for you.
[00:43:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's one of those things that I'm very happy with, to have the rights back, obviously, but I know that other people out there aren't as lucky and might not have been as lucky for, you know, ten or 15 years from, you know, whether it was an independent publisher or, you know, maybe a member of the big two who something was created for through a work for hire agreement or whatever, and it was technically an original creation.
So it's tricky, and it is.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: And it's, you know, I guess the only way to make it perfectly 100% sound that you own everything and you can do whatever you want with it, is to do your self funding. And that's just not usually easy. It's not possible sometimes. And sometimes the marketing prowess behind a publisher, it helps sell that extra few books that maybe you wouldn't have sold if you did it yourself can make, make, or break whether or not the book successful or make or break what you do next. And so having someone like magma behind you is going to be huge, I think, in the long run. I think now they're going to say, dakota Brown death comes from a toymaker from magma comics is going to be a bigger thing for you than just if you had to just be like, oh, I kick started this, and so on and so forth. Not saying Kickstarter is bad. I do a Kickstarter, and it's awesome. I just think that this having magma next to your name is probably going to be beneficial to you in the long run.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah.
I wish I had the prowess to do a Kickstarter and do it well.
The people who are greatest Kickstarters are great at Kickstarters, and Charlie Stickney and Charlie McElvey, the two Charlies and Travis Gibb are all fantastic at Kickstarter. So many others as well.
But my fear with doing one, it was an option if we're going taking death comes from the toy maker of Kickstarter. Yeah, absolutely. It was, it was on the docket there and, you know, I had done some math and looked into it and it was, it might have happened. Yeah, but it would not have happened. Well, I don't think. Yeah, because a lot of times, you.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: Know.
[00:45:03] Speaker B: It, Kickstarters can get lost in the shovel. It's hard to get excited about a Kickstarter from someone who had previously done a Kickstarter. Actually, I had actually done that. Kickstarter for death comes for the toy maker. When it was in its early, early days at scout, it didn't work out. It wasn't the most glamorous Kickstarter and it might not have had the marketing and support that I was hoping it would have, but at the end of the day, people did get excited with it and bought the first issue based off that.
But yeah, it's hard to meet those numbers, especially now. And Kickstarter is always going through changes. So even if you fulfill everything, obviously Kickstarters, it's a not for profit creation machine a lot of times because you want to give your audience what they deserve. And just the numbers don't match up with how the world is.
[00:46:00] Speaker A: And the best ones out there are the ones that the things already done in hand for the most part, or done and ready to be sent to the printers, completely done, wrapped up. They add that thank you page to the back of it, they do the proofs, they send it to the printers and they get it done in your hand within a couple of months. Those are the best and most successful ones. And sometimes it's just not feasible. Sometimes you need that cash from the Kickstarter to even do, to pay the artist to pay the awesome. So it's a difficult thing. And I just think there is no, again, it was same thing with size in type of comic and format. It's in and length and all that stuff. There's no set thing in the comic book industry. And I think that in the end, you did the math, you did the research and going, you know what? Magma is the best option for this. Let's do magma. And I think it's going to be successful in that sense. And I do think that it's going to reach a broader audience in the sense that my lcs is going to carry it, which, even if you had a publisher or an LCS option on the Kickstarter, those don't always get to the LCS owners. Like, they don't always find the right people. Maybe your people in the shops. And then the other part of it, my lcs is like, like, why are you backing it? I go, yeah. He goes, well, I just lost a customer then. You know, I mean, like, if you're going to back it, then you're not going to buy one from me, which means that I lost the customer that I would potentially sell it to. So if five of my people back the project and I buy five copies, thinking that you five will buy them, that I don't, I must just sit on them. And so, um, you know, hopefully people stumble upon it and things like that. Lcs. But like this, my lcs is going to carry it because they believe in magma. They read the first issue, they're excited about it. And so those kind of things for someone maybe doesn't have a massive name to themselves that might sell that thing. Having the magma name, someone goes, I love pedestrian. I love some of the other stuff that magma is doing right now. I'm definitely going to pick this up. Especially again, people want to read graphic novels right now. I think that's a huge thing. I think people want that one contained story that they can just buy and sit and read. And again, it fits nice on the shelf. And you grab it again. Yeah, I just got this one in the mail, actually. It's pretty sweet. Advanced copy of.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: Oh, I've seen that going around. I haven't read it yet.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: It's absolutely phenomenal. But no, but this is one of those things that. This is one of the ones that I will read over and over again. My son was so pissed of a three year old. He was so pissed that he couldn't read it.
No, you can't read that. It's scary. He's like, but I want one. And I'm like, I can understand why. Looking at the front of this that you don't know this is blood, that this might be red paint, but it does look like something that you would read. And I really apologize that you cannot read this book.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: That's just my jam bag leaking.
[00:48:31] Speaker A: So it's just, it was kind of funny, but yeah, I think graphic novels are huge. And I think, here's the deal. November 6 at local comic book shops and November 19 at bookstores everywhere, which is, again, a huge thing. It's another entire, another storefront that you get to sell these things at.
[00:48:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:45] Speaker A: Which is pretty cool.
It's perfect for the holiday season. So you can buy it for someone on November 19 at your local bookstore or number six at your local comic shop and wrap it and give it someone for Christmas. See, you're not gonna do it with single issues, most likely. I don't think I've ever got a single issue outside of a, like, key issue or a signed issue. I haven't gotten, like, issue one of a comic book series that's coming out for Christmas.
I think that would be very taking a shot in the dark there. My wife would be like, I hope you like it.
I bought it in October. So issue two and issue three probably already out and you missed them. But yeah, I think it's great. I think it's a fun, but, you know, having it out in a graphic novel, I think, is going to do it wonders, too, I think, in the long run, which is pretty cool.
I think. You agree?
[00:49:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
[00:49:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:34] Speaker B: There's no, it's hard to add to that because it's, it's all completely true. I don't, I'll be doing signings at, like, book civilians and barnes and nobles throughout the, the southeast soon and signings at, you know, local comic stores and a few conventions here and there. And it's, it's all very surreal because like I said, it's been, it's a zero to 100, definitely from creation to now, it's been a long wait. And I've really, really been excited to get this into people's hands properly.
And it's going to be a very, it's going to be a flip of a switch to have it suddenly out and have to really hit the ground running with all the, all the meet and greets and hopefully excited reviews and, and whatnot. So very thrilled, very terrified. But I hope. I hope everybody wants to read something that a thrilled and terrified weirdo wrote.
[00:50:31] Speaker A: Yeah. It's one of those things that, like buying a single issue from you. If you're tabling at a con and you buy a buy issue, one off of you say you were doing this monthly and they liked it. They may not, they may have a harder time trying to find issues, too, through whatever. And this is one of those things where they can go to your table and be like, oh, this looks cool. And they can buy the complete thing, get signed by you, whatever, which is pretty cool. And again, I think the big thing to me is bookstores. And I think that there's a bigger and ever growing section of graphic novels and trade paperbacks at these bookstores, like books a million and borders and things that are just growing and growing and growing. And I think having to be able to have this potentially on the shelves there is pretty cool, in my opinion. And they're heavier to carry around conventions, I'll tell you that much. They are, you know, they do way more than a single ish.
[00:51:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's something I'm taking into, into consideration. But, you know, at the end of.
[00:51:22] Speaker A: The day, you're like, oh, I'm gonna be so strong after this, bringing in my boxes.
[00:51:27] Speaker B: I'm gonna be a beefy, proud comic daddy just tooling around my wares, knowing that the wait is worth it. Both the wait wait.
[00:51:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's all worth it in the end. But yeah. And anybody else is coming up, we're actually gonna post this this week. So, like the 18th and so foc, I think, is September 30.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty sure.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: So you have time, like, go to your lcs, email them, message them on Facebook, snail mail them, and actually probably will get there in time and tell them that you want this because then they can get it in their foc and get it ordered. But if you miss it, say you're listening to this on October 1, still tell your lcs because they still could order it and put it on the shelves to get that stuff. It just happens to be that it might take them differently or have to do it a different avenue or something. Sorry, but just don't, don't think that because you missed foc, I mean, you can't get it. Still tell them you want it.
[00:52:23] Speaker B: Oh, no, not at all. And of course, you know, it's so exciting to be, like, in retailers, but at the same time, support your LSC or lcs as much as you can.
I just had a minor stroke there. Support your local comic store as much as you can.
And if they can, they have the capacity to order it, grab it there. It's going to benefit them more than it's going to benefit a multimillion corporation.
[00:52:51] Speaker A: I will say it's cool, too, because again, the whole being in bookstores, I'm a big fan of bookshop.org dot. And so if you are a person out there, you're like, I don't even know where the lcs is because you're not really into grabbing single issues here and there or whatever. Oh, you have a local bookstore. That's the great thing is that you now have added so many different points of sale. But bookshop.org also supports local bookstores as well. And so, like, for example, you go to bookshop.org and you buy it on there. You can select your local store. So, like in my area, Briar Patch is my local bookstore, and they get a portion of the sale from you just buying it on this website. And then this warehouse ships it to you. And so it is available for preorder on there on bookshop.org dot. If you do that, you have to wait until ships on the 19th because it comes out later at bookstores. So if you want it two weeks early, then you have to go to your lcs and get it because they'll have it there. Hopefully every lcs across the country has a copy on their shelf, right?
[00:53:42] Speaker B: Well, if people like the massive emails I sent them recently, I don't know, it feels like a lot of those might be a spam folder fodder, but very hopeful that if you send to.
[00:53:55] Speaker A: LCS owners, my LCS owner loves hearing from, from creators because it's just like, it feels like, okay, this person cares. It's not just, I'm gonna hope that the world finds this book somehow. And so, like, you know, Tony Fleece still emails local bookstores, our local comic book shops, and, you know, being stray dogs and feral famous and local band famous and actually like, honestly, my little pony Famous. But yeah, he still emails out to LCS's to say, hey, I got a new book coming out. And so it's pretty cool in that sense. But yeah, you can foc order it. So tell youre comic book store that you want it. You can buy it at bookstores. Death comes from the toymaker, from this, you know, Dakota Brown here, Brian Cody and Micah Myers at Magma Comics. I'm so excited for people to read this. I mean, I've been excited for people to read this since, since the issue one came out because, you know, and I know, I don't know where we're going to be able to do it this year for Christmas, but I was thinking to myself, maybe sometime in the spring we might read it for book club at my local comic book shop. So we'll get some, get some sales off of that. Hopefully it's a book that we were waiting for to come because we read issue one. We're really excited. And I'm like, talking about lcs, and I'm like, I got to read the whole thing. So there.
No. And so I hope people read it because I'm excited. I've been excited since the first issue came out, and I'm now glad that it's actually coming to fruition and I'm going to be able to have a trade graphic novel in my hand. I'm so excited for you on myself. So I'm sure you're excited, but I'm excited over here, too.
[00:55:18] Speaker B: Oh, I appreciate that. Yeah.
[00:55:20] Speaker A: So you also have, I mean, you have your comic, grandma Tilly's high tech mech available. Random places, too. I'm sure you have other things that are going out there. Any last things you wanted to pitch or say or do or whatever on here before we go wrap things up?
[00:55:37] Speaker B: No, I mean, like I said, support your local comic stores as much as you can these days.
[00:55:44] Speaker A: You're busy, right? You're doing stuff, you're working on other stuff. Just some of the stuff you can.
[00:55:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the thing.
[00:55:49] Speaker A: You are busy. That's all I'm worried about.
[00:55:50] Speaker B: About.
[00:55:50] Speaker A: I wanted to check, make sure you're busy, because if you're not busy, that's a problem.
[00:55:55] Speaker B: No, there, there. You'll see more from me from this year, hopefully an announcement in the next couple of weeks about a new miniseries, maybe some licensed things down the line. Who knows?
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:56:06] Speaker B: And just keep an eye on my almost dead social media.
[00:56:16] Speaker A: I realize my personal one was dead so much. My Instagram, when I have a six month old, just turned six months old yesterday, that, that all, like, my last, like, ten pictures or eight pictures were like, collab posts that my wife had posted. Every month. You post a picture, like one month, two months, and it was like one month, two month, three month, and a random picture. Then it was like four months, and then a random picture, then five and six. It was like all the posts that literally had posted in the past six months have been the post that she actually posted that she collab with me. And so I was like, oh, my Instagram is pretty dead, right?
[00:56:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm just trying to find which one is the landing point for the comics community, and I don't know which one. It seems like Blue sky might be the one today, but as soon as anybody finds out what the hit social media is for the comics community, find me on. Right now I'm just on x relief.
[00:57:06] Speaker A: That's the thing. I see some people that are only still on there, and then some people that are only on threads and then only on Blue Skyd guy and only on Instagram. And it's just like, you find yourself, you don't really know what to do, and so it's a little harder. But yeah, I was just say, follow people if they're on everything. Follow them on everything and so you don't miss something if you're on those things. That's my big thing. If you don't, if you don't post on Instagram as much but you're posting on x a lot, then, then you'll find it. That's my big thing. So just follow everybody on everything, and then you'll be fine. For now. You have to go on it all the time.
[00:57:34] Speaker B: I'll say, go find magma comics on every social media they have tagged me at some point. I'm sure you can find me through there, but find magma and find all the other great creators who are doing just incredible work there. They have big things coming in the future, some big announcements soon. I know that. Some I'm aware of, some I'm unaware of, but there's some really cool stuff coming in 2025 especially. So keep an eye on them, and you can sort through and find my goofy, my goofy beggings for attention page as well.
[00:58:09] Speaker A: There you go. This book is death comes for the toymaker. It's a graphic novel, a six chapter graphic novel by Dakota Brown. You can use to order it, lCs, you can order it at bookstores. You can order online, whatever you do. Here's the deal. Support a local book shop, local comic book shop, but get it, period. At that point, it's like, do that, local stores. But if you can't have a local store or don't want to do a local store, just buy it. That's all I'm saying. Just buy the book. Read the book. It's really weird. It's well worth it, in my opinion. But, yeah. I appreciate you taking the time out, Dakota, to come on here and chat your comic. I know you were excited as much as I was. I know we had to delay it because of some stuff going on, but, like, you know, happened to be. I almost had to delay today, too, man. Like, my son was up all night last night. I was sleeping on his hard floor. I have an air mattress in his room, the air mattress, a hole in it. And so it just, like, started to deflate on the floor. I end up on the floor. It was this whole thing. And I'm just like, woke up this morning, I'm like, I don't want to do life. But then I got like, I sent you an email this last night or whatever. I got the email back from you. I'm like, oh, I'm excited to talk now. So I'm going to die here soon, probably around 04:00 your eastern time. I'm going to be like, but it's been fun and I'm glad you came on.
[00:59:16] Speaker B: So it was a blast. I was in the same boat with my son last night, but thrilled to chat comics. So hopefully all children sleep tonight. And, well, my wife was like, do.
[00:59:29] Speaker A: You want me to pick up, pick up another air mattress because the other one had a hole in it. I'm like, well, I don't know. She goes, I bought it just in case. I'm like, okay, good, because it's just one of those things that like, I just needed to sleep in between the times he wasn't sleeping. That's what I needed. And sleeping on the floor does not allow you to do that. It reminded me of being like in high school, going to a friend's house on the weekend. Just been like, oh, I could sleep anywhere.
No, I can't. 38 years old, I cannot do that anymore. Dakota, that's not possible.
[00:59:55] Speaker B: I was the bathtub sleeper, and that's not something I'm interested in doing anymore.
[01:00:00] Speaker A: Here you go, man. That's new, new comic book idea. I want a horror story called bathtub sleeper. There you go. Next thing on your list. But, yeah, that's just Dakota Brown. I really appreciate it, man. We'll talk soon and we'll come back on excited for people to see it. We'll have a review up of the old trade up here at some point too, I think. Think sometime next week or something like that. I think whatever it is. But we'll put it out there for you too. But, yeah, thanks a lot, Dakota. I really appreciate it.
[01:00:25] Speaker B: Hi, thanks so much.
