[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Capes and Tights podcast right here on Capesandtights.com 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 visit them at galactic comics and collectibles.com we welcome back Patrick Horvath, who is a filmmaker and comic book creator, best known for his work on idw, IDW Publishing's Eisner nominated comic book series Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, as well as the upcoming sequel Volume 2, which is called Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees right of Spring, which the first issue drops today, July 9th, when this episode drops. But if you're listening to this in the future, still go to your LCS and pick up this issue because it's phenomenal. But yeah, this is Patrick Horbath returning. But before you listen, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blue sky threads, all those places you can subscribe, rate, review over on Apple or Spotify or wherever you find your podcast. You can find us over on YouTube as well if you and as always, you can find
[email protected] this is Patrick Horvath talking Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees right here. Enjoy.
Welcome back to the podcast, Patrick. How are you today?
[00:01:14] Speaker B: I'm doing wonderful. Thank you so much for having me back on.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, you did well enough last time that we decided that we invite you back on. Is that how it is?
[00:01:21] Speaker B: I appreciate it.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Greg from Dark Horse is just really hounding me to get you back on it. That's what it is, right? Or not Dark Horse or idw, I should. Idw, I should. He's gonna hate me. Idw, I was just doing a Dark Horse thing and that's what's in my mind. Dark Horse. But you know what, they're all compeller publishers. People work in different places and things like that. But Greg from oh yeah, Idw, you know, wanted you back on. No, I wanted you back on. I had a fun time last time. I had a very exciting time reading Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees right of Spring.
So I decided that, you know, let's get back on and talk with Patrick about this. And I mentioned right before we started recording, it's, it's here, you know, as of basically today, this episode, it's right around the time we're releasing this episode is when the issue is dropping. And so people will be able to go to their local comic book shop and buy this, this series even if they haven't and they haven't read the other one. They can buy the trade of the first volume and get caught up on this because you're going to need to. This is not like a separ thing. You kind of need to. What's going on. Right. To get what's going on in writer Spring, you need to know the first.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: I feel. I mean, it's. You're. You're definitely robbing yourself of a lot of fun if you don't catch up.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: On that first trade in general, just not. Not just. Not just related to Right of Spring, but just in general, you're. You're missing out on a lot of fun. Sure, yeah. Reading the first series, but yeah, no, it's true. It was a highly acclaimed first series. People loved it. Eisner, you know, attention and all that stuff. So it was a very popular first series. Is this second series something that you had like in the back of your mind ready to go if this were to go? Or was this like, I needed a mad scramble to get something going because I wanted to write a second series?
[00:03:01] Speaker B: No, it was in my head since.
Since like issue one of the very first Beneath the Trees.
When I finished up that issue I had thought of, I was realizing like, there was going to be a lot that I was going to be leaving on the table in regards to more story that I could tell.
And so I already had my mind thinking about, like, what that could be also too.
I was, you know, looking for something like that because I wanted to leave that first volume. Like, I didn't know if it was going to be more than that. So I wanted to wrap it up enough that it felt satisfying. But I also wanted to leave it open for the possibility to do more and in case we got lucky. And then also was thinking of, like, what would that be?
So by the time I did so, like issue one, my gears returning by issue three.
I had.
Which issue three focuses on the life of like Melody the Butcher and then her dealing with the grief of her dead husband.
And then also it ends. That issue ends at the funeral for Martin the Goat who. There's big spoilers here if you haven't read volume one. But anyway, and so it was one of those issues where I was like, the storyline and the idea of like it. I really wanted to show the impact that that violence had. Right. And so in regards to specifically the story, you're watching a community deal with a funeral for this. This community member who is violently murdered in the beginning. So and. And Samantha's keying in on the idea of, like, she doesn't really understand.
She understands, like, intellectually what they're going through, but she has no idea what that really feels like. She had. She's completely void of, like, emotion for. The brain's just not wired. She's. Yeah, she's, like, totally understands. Like, she can't feel that, but she knows that what she does is, like, the same or maybe even worse, arguably, because, like, that's all, like, you know, death in absentia. Like, nobody's found. Like, nobody's. None of the. Her victims are really found.
So it's arguably even worse to just not know and to not even have that closure. And So I was 100% just starting to really dig in on that concept. And that's pretty much what the seed was for Rite of Spring. So by the time issue one came out for that, it was around, like, I think I was in the middle of issue four, and, like, I was drawing issue four when issue one came out, and IDW was like, well, issue one's doing very well.
Are you interested at all in doing more? And I was already like, yes. Like, and here's. And this is what I'm thinking.
And so it sort of had been just organically kind of rolling around in my head, and I was. I was ready to, you know, to go with it for sure.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: It was this.
Obviously, we're writing and illustrating and getting it ready to go over the past year or so. Was it waited. Do we wait till IDW Dark? Was this, like, a. A plan for them to have as part of that new, you know, part of idw? Or is this just happenstance that it ended up coinciding with. With that?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: It was. It was part of IDW Dark. And, I mean, we had thought about doing it before I'd heard anything about IDW Dark. But, like, by the time it was. We were getting ready to, like, start putting together the actual, like, story arc and everything, they were like, we wanted to be one of the. The books for this new imprint we're doing. We think it'd be a really great fit. And that made all the sense to me. So that was cool. It just kind of worked out well. I mean, maybe they had had plans for it way before, but to me, it was just sort. It was presented after we had already started thinking about it, and then it just made sense to me. So it just worked out pretty well.
But I don't know that.
I mean, it's just. It felt like it had, like, a nice home now, basically.
[00:07:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. I think, I think that's true. And I think one of the things you as a publisher, they want to have some tent pole things to, to launch something like an imprint with something that's already successful. And I think that, you know, obviously with some of the other intellectual properties they have releasing with this. Idw, dark, this adds this whole other side of it. It's funny though, because I liked Beneath the Trees Nobody Sees so Much the first series that I was so excited to hear about this sequel series. And the weird part is I remember exactly where I was when I read the press release coming from id and he's fine. But in a moment, my son was really sick and he was in the hospital and I was. He was sleeping in his hospital bed. It was, it was. He was there for 24 hours or whatever it was, you know, it was, it was. He's fine, but I was sitting there, he's sleeping, and I'm just, you know, there with him. And I opened my laptop up and I get that email and I got like, excited. It's the weirdest thing. Sometimes they're like, where you are is like, it has nothing to do with it. It was nothing. But it was the fact that I now remember exactly where I was when I heard this was coming. And so I was just chomping at the bit, chomping at the bit to want to see more. And I didn't know, and you know, this is no offense to you, but I didn't know how you were going to do this. Like, I didn't know how this was possible to do more like this. Because. Because part of it is the juxtaposition of the type of illustration you're doing and the characters you're creating in a horror story. You know what I mean? So it's like this idea that, like, if my son, speaking of, my son picked this up, which actually he did when I got the. The trade from Greg, Greg sent me the trade as a thank you from idw and he picked it up. He's like, is this for me? I go, well, in a couple of years, like, what's these for like a couple of years we'll sit down and read this together. When your time is. The time is ready for you to do this. No, but I was thinking myself, I'm like, that's part of the, part of the allure to the original series was the fact that you look at this cover and people are like, what the hell? And then they read it and they're like, oh, crap, this is Amazing. And so, like, seeing how to do that again, like, to be like, you can't grab those additional fans with this is like, oh, this is crazy.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Type of illustration compared to what the story is again. So you have to. We're all hooked. So you have to. Again with. After reading the first issue and you did, and it's in the solicitation. They talk about this duck that we see in the first issue of the whole series. You see this, you know, dissect, or Samantha dissecting, you know, the pieces and putting them in paint cans and all that stuff for the first issue of Beneath the Trees, first series that you think that you're never gonna hear about again, too. Like, to me, I'm like, after that series is over, you're like, that's. You know, I'm actually fittingly watching Dexter over again. And it's not like, you know, that pool scene that's very similar where there's the body is all this.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: So here's nothing about it.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: I know you did that was.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: I watched issue one and then. Sorry. The first episode of Dexter. And then I'd already had this idea, like, back when I started watching it. And so I was like, well, I can't watch this anymore because I'm like, it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not until I'm done with this, with the series. Because I was like, I don't want to stop myself from doing an idea that I think would be too close or something and so. Or be influenced or whatever. So I just stopped. So I don't know.
And. But I'm, like, super curious to see it, obviously, for so many different reasons.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: I mean, it's different. It's definitely different. It has this good. I'm glad to hear that it has one of those things for fans of. It works that way. So if you're a fan of Dexter, you're going to like the series in a sense that has that same vibe to the ideas behind it, but not, like, so much that it's like, the same. They're definitely different.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: But, yeah, I'm glad to hear that. And it was definitely like, yeah, yeah, good, good, good, good.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Fans up. But. But the idea that you don't think that we're ever going to go back to this duck, like, this duck is this story. You're laying the foundation in this first issue to let people know what Samantha's doing and so on and so forth. But then you're like, okay, it's behind the scenes now. Now we're moving on, and now we're Dealing with this other part of the story to then open up the pages, and you're dealing with this. You're now going back to that first issue. You're calling back to that. Something that we've, I guess that to me, forgot completely about. And now I'm sitting here and I'm entrenched in it, and I'm like. And then what you do from there is just like, at the end of the issue, I was like, holy shit.
So I literally think. I think I said it out loud. I think I was reading it in bed on my iPad, and my mom. My wife. My wife was sitting next to me. I was like, holy shit. She's like, shut up. I'm trying to sleep here. Because the fact that you grabbed me and you got me in a position where I was like, I didn't think you'd be able to do this again. No offense. I just think that it was such a great series. And what it was that sometimes you see that, you know, I'm talking about, like, the people who were like, it was so successful. Let's do it again. And then they just take the first series and they tweak a couple of things and make the second series. And you're like, well, that was the identical thing.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: You're just trying, like a re. Yeah. Felt like you're going down the same road. And I. That was the big fear when I first started plotting it out, and I wasn't sure.
I wasn't sure how I was going to go. So, like, the. It wasn't until I really just started wrapping my head around Monica the Duck, the sister of Daniel Brewer, who's one of the big characters in this. In this next volume. The.
The. It wasn't until I started really just putting my head, you know, in her head that it started to click. And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. This is a. Just a way different vibe, but it's still like, it. And the fact that it's the. The time jump really helped with it, too.
And that. And that we're watching or we're revisiting Woodbrook and all the survivors who've moved on with their lives. And we're seeing, like, we're gonna see a lot of the, you know, the. The impacts that the trauma from the first book has had on their lives. And, like, you're gonna. You're gonna get, you know, a lot of that. So it. Once I really started diving into that, it felt very much like, oh, this is like, we're just watching it. How we, we literally put the lid on it and now we're taking it off eight years later. And like, what happened and, and a way to revisit it is through the past with, with Samantha and, and Monica, you know, sort of on a collision course.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: I think you're going to make your readers happy by saying that too. You're not those people who really, like the first series isn't going to, like, the second or isn't going to go into the second volume being like, it's more of the same. There's definitely there, like, Samantha.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Honestly, Justin, that's like the biggest terror, dude. Like, you're just like. You're like, please don't let me just end up like the greatest hits of like the first book. And like, you know what I mean? Like, you really.
That. I mean, it's, you know, it's. That's the curse, I think, of like having getting the opportunity to do more of something. Right.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Well, I mean, that's, you know, if a Fast and the Furious movies, you have those movies that are just like. It's like, okay, they got the formula. Let's just spit these things out. I mean, they're, they're well made, they have budgets and stuff like that, but let's say they just spit them out. But I'm just saying, like, I mean, we just had what, the seventh or whatever it is a Final Destination.
And Final Destination is. Is. It's crazy kills that you never see over and over and over again. And it's that back core story, the actual thread that actually keeps the story going. That this new one, I guess I haven't seen it, but this new Final Destination actually is really good in that sense. And so I think that you have similarities because you're going to have. Obviously Samantha's in it, you're in Woodbrook, so you're going to have these similarities of the first issue or first serial or first volume, but you're gonna have a different storyline to connect through and you have to figure out a different way to tell the story so that we're not all going. Might as well just read the first issue again, you know, you got all my money. Here you go, Patrick.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: Well, I'm also, I mean, I. And I am intrigued sort of from a formalist lens, like, re doing Echoes, I guess would be the best way to put it. Echoes of what happened in that first volume that have like a shift. Yeah, right. That are like, informed by it and the perspective has changed, which is like, honest. Like that first page in issue one, which Is. I mean that was like one of the promo pages is like, it's a different perspective of that thing right of that moment. And that was a very like, to me like an intriguing part of this of revisiting Woodbrook and you know, taking things to a, to a different place.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Am I sick if I want that as a big poster to like hang on the wall, that page?
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Not at all.
There's a variant. There is a variant that's coming out that's literally just that. Let's go beyond the COVID Perfect.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: It's great. I'll tell you right now. I have multiple Scotty Young tattoos. I'm a big Scotty Young fan.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: How cool is that?
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. My buddy who owns my local comic book shop, Galactic Comics and Collectibles where I get my, my comics. He's a huge Scotty Young fan too. And I was like, oh my gosh. And the fact that it's not like the 1 in 50 or like the 1 in 500 or something like there some sort of store exclusive or his store exclusive, that to us was like a huge win to us because it was like, yeah, you're going to get that extra covers. And I mean obviously your other covers are great too, but to us it was like, oh, and Tony, Tony fleeces cover. Yeah, let's say.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah, Tony's doing all of them. Tony's doing one of those for all six. Like that's the new. That's. And we got Riley Rossman to do another storybook for. For this one. But he. Riley wasn't able to do the storybooks for all of them. But Tony's doing his horror posters for every issue, which is awesome.
And, and it's. And getting Scotty Young was just like incredible.
It's. I mean, to be honest too, like again, this is all like blowing my mind like that. It's, you know that there's all. There's enthusiasm for it. There's these incredible people that are, that are putting, you know, covers out for it. Like it's.
A lot of it is just like I still haven't quite caught my breath from the first go round. So it's. And, and I sort of mentioned too when we were before we hit record that it's.
I'm. I'm knee deep in it. Like I'm finishing out the, the books right now and, and I'm thankfully like busy enough that I don't have time to stop and think about it too much.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: So yeah, hey, it's cool. And it's. It to Me, it's like, well, I think we. Your issue one of the first volume comes out and you're known, you're doing covers, you're doing stuff like this. But like, let's be honest, Patrick or Beth, your name got way bigger with this series coming out too. So it's like one of those things.
If you reached out to some of these creators and said, hey, can you do a cover for me? At the very beginning, they'd be like, who are you?
[00:18:08] Speaker B: Nobody would know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: So, so now you're like, people are like, I want to be part of this dude. That's the other thing. It's like Tony and these people in Scotty are like, they're not just doing it because they like you or they want to be part of this stuff too because it's like they like the series as well. This is not just like their fans.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: They're definitely, yeah, they enjoy it. And I'm. But I'm. I mean, it's also like, oh, I'm with Tony. Like he. His. I mean, you know, like Feral and Stray Dog fans. The Venn diagram of like Beneath the Trees and Stray Dog fans is almost like a complete circle.
They had people from issue one telling me like, oh my God, I love this. This reminds me of Stray Dog so much. I was like, oh, it's Stray Dogs. I hadn't read it yet. And they're like, you have to read it. And then we ended up tabling at WonderCon right next to Tony in 2024. And so then it was just like, I mean it was perfect.
But I got to meet him in person for the first time and then he's a total sweetheart, super generous with his advice, like, and his work and it's just. Yeah. So it's been. So this is a very super excited to have him on all these covers.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And it makes sense. And you think about it, Tony's either the horror vibe of it and Tony's the horror COVID variants that he's been doing. Stray Dogs and Feral and all these things have been awesome.
Tony style artwork kind of fits like you mentioned, because of the stray dogs.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Part of it perfect.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: And then, and then Scotty style artwork is more the childish looking things to it. So it's all works out really great. So in that sense it's just, it's just so weird too sometimes as a fan of your, you know, this, this series, this, this, this Beneath the Trees, also as a fan of other, these other artists, seeing them work in that world, like seeing Scotty Draw Samantha to me, was cool. Was cool in that sense. I can't imagine, like I said, having, like, your creation, your thing, and you're the artist as well, so something that you've drawn is someone else's drawing.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: It's a mind blower, man. Yeah, it's. It's. Yeah. Like, instead of still wrapping my head around it.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, the fact that I'll tell you right now, his Scotty just did a painting at our. At a Heroes Con, and he does that live. They did a live thing there. And the auction.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: $15,000.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I saw that. I saw it close at 15. That's nuts. I also saw the reactions in the room from the video when it closed. I was like, yeah, that's incredible.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: It's insane. But it was just kind of funny. I was like, timing on this. It was so insane. My buddy and I were texting. I was like, yeah, dude, you'd have to, like, sell your shop to be able to pay for that stuff. And I still don't think you'd have enough money to do that. But no, it's true. It's cool to this. And I love that in the world we live in comics, this collaborative place where someone's like, obviously these creators and these artists are getting paid for this. This is not like they're just handing you a cover. It's part of their job. They're getting paid to do this and so on and so forth. But to see that they'll collaborate with another artist and be like, hey, I want people to buy this other person's comic, so I'm going to do a cover for it, and so on and so forth. So it's really cool. And I loved seeing that. And so that's one of the cool things about comics is that aspect of it.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: For sure. 100% agree.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: But rite of Spring, where did the title come from?
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Obviously there's the Stravinsky. If you're familiar at all with that piece, then you know that there's definitely sacrifice involved in a bears.
So the. That was part of it. But also, I mean, sacrifice is at the heart of it.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: And obviously, don't want to get too spoilery or anything, but maybe just leave it at that. Probably not that hard to imagine, like, you know, what the implications of that might be.
But.
But that was. And it's springtime, and it's, you know, bears come out of hibernation in spring. That's when it's set. It made all the sense in the world to have you know, issue one or volume one, end with her essentially going into a hibernation of sorts. And then to have.
To have the immersion from that at the beginning of, you know, this and. And to be also like the. Again, like the time jump. There's something about it where it just kind of felt like, yeah, yeah, it was a. We're like waking up. We're like waking up in the. In the world again.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: We all fall asleep for eight years. I mean, now we're eight years.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Speaking of the connectivity of this. So what we read this Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, Volume 1. For my book club at Collective Comics and Collectibles.
One question I forgot to ask, I think last night or just was going to email you or something, is in the first volume, there's animal bears in the woods as well as people like Samantha or bears. Like Samantha is there. What's the. So bears are. There's also animals and human.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Yeah, and regular animals and human animals.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: That's the way it is. There's no.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: It's very much. Yeah, it's very much the Pluto Goofy paradox.
The inspiration for it came from the Richard Scarry children's books for Busytown. And I was early on, like, looking at it as sort of just for inspiration.
And I saw on the COVID I believe the book is called what Do People Do All Day? And it's like, it shows, like, the little town and has a couple of shop fronts. And one of them was a butcher shop.
And there's a pig that works at the butcher shop. And there's like, literally, like, sausage links, like, in the window. And I was like, that's so messed up. Like, what is.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Like, what.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: What is this? Like, what is the meat? You know, and then they would also have, like, you know, you would see, like, like a raccoon person walking a dog dog, like an animal dog, stuff like that. And so I was like, he's very much like, tongue in cheek, having fun with this weird. Like, just having animal animals and people animals. And I was like, I really need to do that. That's so messed up. And then I ended up doing that.
Need to have a butcher, obviously. And so, like, that's kind of how that all sort of came together. And then the more I thought about it, I was like, oh, we should have, like, animal animals be the one that know Samantha's true nature. Like, nature should be the one that knows the secret about Samantha before anybody else does. And then.
And then I was just sort of off to the races with it and became this Sort of like, you know, interesting metaphor that you could play with. And, like, that's kind of where the whole thing grew out of. But initially it was me just being like, this is so messed up that he really, like, that's. You know, that. I mean, like, what is it? What are the implications? Like. Like. And so anyway, so that's. Yeah, it's. It's definitely, to me, like a weird, interesting thing to. That I just really enjoy having throughout and. And continues, you know, as you'll be happy to know throughout. Yes, this. The. The Rite of Spring as well.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: It makes. It makes it.
It's just. It's another level of creepiness that's not an actual, like, creepy thing. It's not like a murder happening on screen, on. On page. Like. Like, you do. But, like. Yeah, it was that level of, like. It's just so weird that, like, this Samantha's walking around and there's just a bear that's also a bear that's like.
Then it goes even further. Like it's. You're attracted to that bear. Like, is it like.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Like it's one of her. One of her own. Like, this is weird. But. Yeah, so it's a. It's a funny thing on that thing. Yeah. But I mean, for. I just wanted to make sure I asked that question because it's been stuck with you for a while. But, yeah, it makes sense.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Sure.
And also, Justin, just to point out too, like, it's like one of those things. I'm a huge fan of having the stuff that's not, like, 100% digestible and forgettable and the fact that, like, I don't know the true answer of, like, what the connection is between Samantha and the bears.
I think there's a lot of it that's gonna be that. The connections made by the reader, which I'm. Yeah, I hope. And so. And it's. And it's. I'm glad to hear you're still thinking about it because that was the goal. Like, I definitely wanted to have it be this weird thing that was like this. But how about this?
They're like, oh, yeah, I think this about it. We're like, oh, yeah, I think this about it. That, to me, is like the. I love. That's the interaction I love having with the reader.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: See, maybe that point of view that you saw on that page at Splash Pages in the previous pages coming out. It's actually the point of view from the bear that we're. The bear's looking at, like, the thing. I think this was a one shot here. You know, in the workings that it's all the views from all the animals that are out there.
[00:26:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Being walked and just looking at it's.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: A very good idea.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: And maybe it's like Secret life of Pets or something like that where they actually could talk to each other, but they only talk. Like we all hear barking and growling, but they're actually talking a whole other world. It's another, another vibes going on there. But no, so, so for eight years we're, we're going ahead eight years. First of all, why eight years? Is it just a random number you picked or is it specifically to something?
[00:26:48] Speaker B: It's, it's not like necessarily dialed into a specific thing. And for whatever reason like it felt like the number and it wasn't. I don't know why having like a whole decade felt like too clean and so that I wanted to have something like kind of off and I was like eight. What if it was like eight years? And that seems like a lot could happen in eight years and I guess, I mean it's like election cycles are in force. So like that could be that maybe even though that's not really necessarily play and comes into play. But, but the.
Yeah, I think that was why that was. I just kind of wanted a, A, A, A big jump that was going to bring us into the 1990s.
And it's interesting because it's like not that if you, there's a couple times where you see dates and specifically. And if you match them up with our dates, it's off by like a day.
Like it won't. The calendars like don't exist.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: And so it, but, but I wanted it to be like close enough to, to our own reality that was like just shifted a little bit.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: A little bit.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: And, and so that was. Yeah, that was kind of all part of it. I very specifically though wanted it to.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: Be in the 90s, 90s, which makes sense. I mean there's, there are other things. I mean there's, there's shows that I've seen that, that are alternate reality shows that have like 70s and then they go into the 80s and they go into the 90s.
Number one. It helps push the story further forward in the future but also gives you something else to play with. Like you're now in a different decade. So there's different things.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: It's all, I mean it's, it's. And it's very much, I mean the biggest, the big one of the big. I guess I should say elements to Rite of Spring is that it's like the best way I think about is like that first volume Beneath the Trees, was very much like almost like a diorama town. And here's this drama in the town.
And then Rite of Spring, like the lid is off and now there's influence from like, the rest of the world, and it's undeniable. And I feel like. I mean, experientially, I feel like a lot of people were sort of had that, you know, from like, 70s to 80s, there was very like, insular kind of vibe for a lot of smaller towns. And then once like the 90s and the Internet happened basically, and cable TV started just like exploding.
You just be. It became like this larger kind of monoculture of like, you know, what. What pop culture was. And now we're sort of seeing like a lot of influence from big cities into smaller towns and. And. And things like that. So that was sort of the.
All that stuff was super interesting to me.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: It's funny because that makes sense because, like, we're watching my wife and I are finishing up rewatching Seinfeld again, and it's like what the difference is between the first season of Seinfeld and the ninth season of Seinfeld and like the trial that happens at the end of the ninth season. Like the following. The final episodes, like, wouldn't have potentially worked in the first season because so much technology. You see him actually sitting on a laptop at one point in the ninth season. And in the first season, laptops weren't even like, it weren't even cell phones at the time. You know, it's like. It's like this. You get to deal with a bunch of different things. And. And Samantha's world went from this insular things, like you said, to this broader thing because of cable and Internet and all this other stuff. This is a bigger, bigger picture there. Bigger. More eyes on you, like you were saying.
Makes sense.
It's what has. Are we gonna find out? Like you said, I don't want to spoil anything, but, like, there's gonna be these, you know, look backs and things like that. Are we gonna find out what Samantha's been doing for eight years, or is this. Basically, we're just starting in eight years and I don't want to spoil it for anybody if it is a spoiler, but, like, what has Samantha been doing for eight years?
[00:30:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's.
We are.
I don't know.
I don't. I mean, I guess I don't want to get too deep into it.
The.
There's definitely a.
A growth amongst the characters that you're gonna see as you sort of reconnect with them.
And Samantha herself. I don't. I mean, I don't. Yeah. I don't wanna spoil too much in terms of, like, what she's been up to, but I will say this. Like, there's definitely a.
Like, a lot of this while we've jumped in the future. Like, there's definitely a lot of looks into the past that we're gonna have. And I feel like if anybody had seen or read the Ashcan, which is like a mini story that took place in 1962 with Samantha, that's like. That wasn't, like, completely out of left field, so that there. There's going to be connections with that as well. I would say you built yourself a.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: Little world here, too.
It's a unique and terrifying world in the sense that, like. I don't know, it's one of those things that, like. I think I mentioned this when you talked last time, but when I read Nail Biter for the first time, I was so glad that the artwork was done by Mike Anderson in a way that was cartoonish in a sense. Like, it definitely wasn't this. You know, there's some artists out there who make these things look so realistic. That gets a.
And I'm like, well, not sure that's the comic book that I want to read. I want to be able to eat food. I want to be able to sleep and things like that. And there is something to say at this stage, you can tell the most horrific and graphic and disgusting tale in this world you've built with Beneath the Trees. And it's still going to have a little bit of lighterness to it because of the artwork that you put around it. And so it's not going to give me nightmares, which is great.
The story itself might give you some nightmares. Just the idea behind what's going on. But it's like, you're reading it, you're like, okay, it's softer. It's easier to maintain. It's powerful palatable in that sense. And I think that's great. And I think that's what. What that does is it opens up your readership. I think there's a lot of people out there who might not read this story if it was based with real characters in, like. In, like.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: What's weird, too, is, like, I don't know if the emotional investment would be as strong if they were just regular humans.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: Which is Interesting to me as well. Like, I felt that a lot of folks are. I mean, there's something about it that kind of catches you off guard. And this. I had a similar experience when I was reading Stray Dogs where you're like, you just weren't. You weren't sure, like, because of how everything looks. You're, like, not sure where. How far this is going to go.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: And so there's something that's kind of interestingly, like, transgressive because of that, with this, with this stuff. And then there's also, like, I love hearing from folks that, like, I'm a huge horror guy.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: But some folks are like, I hate horror, but I like this book a lot. And I've actually been exploring other stuff too, which I think is terrific. Like, I do feel like there's a ton of great stuff in the horror genre that, like, you know, maybe some folks just miss out on because they. They kind of don't. They discount a lot of it just because it's too much or whatever.
But to help, like, kind of build a bridge to some of that stuff is very fun for me, too.
[00:34:02] Speaker A: I mean, it's also traumatizing to all of us who grew up with, like, which are scary books, and now we're like, okay, now these people are murdering each other. Or, like, with stray dogs. And, like, watching all dogs go to heaven and all. This other one, yeah, it's a bad one because they. People, dogs die. But, like, there's this, this childhood fluffiness of the childhood. And then you're like, oh, here we go. Samantha's a bear over there cutting someone up into quarters and putting them in paint can in the ground. Like, there, there is this like.
Like, if you just go from real. Like, if my son were to read Richard Scar up to the point, then just read this, he'd be like, holy.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be bad.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: It's definitely.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: I mean, it's very much like, for folks like us, like, it was.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: You know, I'm. I'm in my mid-40s, but it was very much like taking this stuff from my childhood and then combining it with the stuff I've grown to create, like, in adulthood. And. And it's all sort of just, you know, I remember thinking, felt really bad about it, started doing it. I was like, oh. Like, I don't. I feel like this is wrong. But I think that that's. That means it's a good sign. Like, I should keep, you know, sort of exploring.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: It's more tasteful, though, I think. That like, even some of these, like, like, new horror movies that the rights have been, you know, copyright law has been in the public domain. And yet these where it's just like, we're going to make this bloody gory, whatever it is. It's barely even touching the actual original story.
But using those characters like this is a completely new thing. It's not connected to anything. It looks like Richard Scarry. It looks like some of these things.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: Nostalgia. Yeah.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: Which gives you the freedom obviously to do what you want so you don't have to worry about staying within. It's your story. But it does bring and invokes that nostalgia. And also to me, like, I was born in 86, so I'm almost 40. And so seeing the 80s then going into the 90s, like, this is going to be fun things. And. And let's be honest, right now.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: People love nostalgia right now, Patrick. Like, this is like.
[00:35:52] Speaker B: I mean.
Yeah, they always. I feel like it's always a big, big win with, with the fans to.
To tap into it.
And I also. Yeah, I mean, to your point, I definitely didn't. I didn't want to make anything that felt mean, which is hard because, like, I literally just have a psychopath as the main character who's like a serial killer.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: But it's a bear too, though. I mean, a bear, like, it's a vicious thing. It's not like this. I know, I know it is cuddly, but, like, not really totally terrifying.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: If I ran into a bear in the woods, I would not feel cuddly. Like, I would just say, hey, would you.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Would you be like, Samantha? Samantha? Would you call the bear Samantha?
[00:36:30] Speaker B: No, no, no, no. I wouldn't even. I would just, like, either pretend that I probably just play dead. The. The. Or be dead.
Yeah, yeah. Or be dead. Yeah, the. Was against. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But the. It definitely wanted to have.
I wanted to have the violence show up in a way that either was like, informing, you know, the character or like playing into the greater, like, emotional arc with the rest of the characters in the, in the book. And to have to have the, The.
The impact being, like, seen instead of just being like, throwaway. Like, I definitely didn't want it to be throwaway, like, at any point. So it's. Yeah, it's.
It is interesting to.
I. Some of the stuff that I see, I kind of feel like it's sort of disingenuous in what it's doing just because it's. It just kind of feels like more of an exploitative thing.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: And I'm. It's just. That's just not my cup of tea. I'm. And that's. I'm not, like, poo pooing. And I'm just saying, like, it's not for me, no pun intended.
But. But for myself, like, it's.
It's undeniable that the nostalgic part is as a. I'm sure, a huge, huge element as to why folks were even interested in this.
And I think maybe the. The. What I ended up doing with the story is, like, something that kind of ended up keeping some of those folks from, you know, from, you know, throwing it away and instead, like, giving it a look and a closer read.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: It's not only this McMurdo, and I don't want to spoil anything, but there is a scene.
It's the duck from the first issue's sister. What's her name again?
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Monica.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: Monica. Where she's, like, getting ready and she's, like, in her apartment and she's walking around in her underwear. And I laugh a little bit because there's multiple things. First of all, I'm like, there's never been a Richard Scary. Where a woman's walking around with their underwear. That was the first of all. The second thing is it reminded me of the Howard the Duck movie in the sense. Like the opening sequence, there's a duck taking a shower.
A woman taking a shower or in.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: The bathtub or something.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah. And she's just sitting there and Howard crushes through her wall on her way. On his way to Earth. And she's just like. There's just duck boobs. And I'm thinking myself, it's the weirdest. Like, to me. Am I still to the point where I still. I think it's Marvel's first nudity in a movie and it's duck boobs.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: I think so.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: But I just laugh at this kind of thing. It's like that weird, you know? And then, like, obviously, what's her face tries to sleep with. With Coward the duck. Which is a weird situation.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: Also strange.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, one movie. One movie, she's making out with her son and Back to the Future. And in the next movie, she's making out with a duck. I don't like this whole.
They did. They did Leah Thompson. A little. Little dirty in the 80s, but.
But, yeah, it's like this weird, like, thing. It's like a big picture. And, like, you just don't picture these animals in this way. And so it's like when you see it, I just. It makes me giggle a little bit. That's the. That's the other part of it.
It's a horrible horror book. But you're, like, looking at. You're like, oh, that's pretty funny. I'm sure, Pat. I'm sure while you were drawing it or writing it, you're like, that's pretty funny. This is going to be funny, Monica.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm like. I mean, it definitely felt like it was. I remember doing it. Be like, well, I mean, if she's, like, getting ready, she's probably not wearing pants. Like, I mean, like, it's just like, you know, it's. There's a certain. I guess it's the. To me, it's like the. It.
It's amusing to have a level of realism in it like that that's like. Same thing with the violence and. And, like, the anatomy of stuff.
Like when you're cutting these poor people open, like, you know, it's like all that. There's a certain level of, like, verisimilitude that I'm trying to hang on to while still doing, like, the cutesy, you know, animal people thing that it feels like that's, like, it's necessary for the world of this book.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: It does. And it's. It's always fun to me. And it's one of those things that caught my attention is the idea, like, ants or. Or Bug's Life or these movies that they use, like, bottle caps for tables and, like, these, like, taking and making ants. Humans, in the sense that they have everything we have. It's just they. They don't build the table. They take our bottle cap and make it into a thing. And so.
[00:40:41] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: I'm sure it must be a thing. As you're writing this, like, what are we going to have, these anamorphic animals? Like, what are they going to be doing? And so they having them cooking dinner on the stove and making soup.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: So it's a weird thing to see a duck stirring something on the thing. Hopefully it's not. Hopefully it's a duck soup. But, like, you know, doing that, even that most minuscule duty, it's just weird to see. And so I think that's what's cool about it. I think it takes you out of your element in this world we live in where, like, the actual real life we live in is pretty scary right now to actually go into a thing where it's scary. But it's like, also, like I said, you have to, like, look at everything. What Are these animals doing what's going on in this life? And they're just like. That's. They're acting like normal people would act like Monica's going to try to find what happened to her brother.
That's what we would all do if our brother was missing for a while. But she happens to be a duck, and so it's just a cool thing. I mean, obviously, that character Monica is recreated based off of the fact that her brother died or is being buried, at least in the first issue of the first series. Other animals that are in this town and things like that. Are there a thought behind what animal becomes what character? Like, what duty? Like, you know, as a dog, being a police officer. Does that make sense?
[00:41:53] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:41:54] Speaker A: Is that what you're trying to do? You're trying to, like, connect some sort of duties to the animal, making the similarities there, or is it just like, I want to make this one a dog?
[00:42:02] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it's kind of interesting. I think, at this point, like, every cop I have is a dog, which I wasn't realizing at a certain point through the first one, but now it's, like, very much a conscious choice.
[00:42:12] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:42:13] Speaker B: Which I find really amusing. But the.
It's. Some of it's, like, playing counter to what. The. What is sort of a stereotype of the animal. And the other stuff is playing into it very much. So, like.
Like, I picked, like, Birdie to be a turtle because he was gonna have this arc that made him very much an introvert and that was gonna be. And that's, you know, we'll see more of him.
And then the same, like, Charlie the Mole from the first volume. Like, having him work at the shop was specifically, like. She liked it because he could. His eyes were horrible. And she would just fudge the inventory, like, all the time for stuff that she was taking or whatever. So, like, it was very much like. And he couldn' you didn't know what you're doing. So the. So, like, it's. There's certain things like that that I'm having fun. Like, having Melody be a butcher was very much like, cats are carnivores. And so that made all the sense in the world to me.
Things like that. And also, I didn't even know this, but the.
I found this is just like a happy accident. But I have this whole running thing in that first volume of the lavender and being allergic to it.
[00:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: And the. In cats are, I guess, like, known for being very much not into laven.
And I had no idea. And it was such A. Like, I had other people like, oh, this is so smart that he, like, use the fact that cats are, like, allergic to lavender or whatever. I was like, I had no. That was a complete, like, you know, serendipitous thing.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: It's just. You're just smart. It's just all in your brain that you didn't know.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: I don't know if it's smart. I just feel like it was the guiding hand of fate being like, here's this book. Like, here's some ideas for the book or whatever. The fates were sort of inspiring me.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: It sounds like you have fun doing this too, obviously.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: Oh, for sure.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: If you were having fun. But like, it. There's a lot of work that goes into it. You're doing everything but lettering. Right. Hassan's doing lettering again.
And so you have all the. All the duties to do that some people have been smart enough, Patrick, to hand off to someone else.
Not that we. Not that we don't. We want that. Because obviously, if you want volume two to look like volume one, in a sense, you want the same.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: Yeah, that I did that to myself. I have 100% tied myself, painted myself into that corner where I have to write it.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: And that's fine because I think a lot of us would. And honestly, I'll tell you right now, it would be difficult to sell a second volume if people are like, well, here's our new artist. Yeah, yeah, here's the new writer or whatever. Yeah. So it wouldn't be the same, but it does take up a lot of your time and so on and so forth. So you have committed to another six issues and you're working on that right now.
We're talking this. A couple weeks before it actually comes out. But, like, this will release on the day that the actual issue drops. Are you hoping. Or is this. I mean, obviously you're not going to say anything permanent, but you have more ideas if you want to do more in the future.
Not that I say. Not that you're holding it to it or anything like that. Or anything like that. Again, again, issue one of the second volume comes out the day that this. This episode drops. So we're not even in the second volume yet. But. But if it's successful again and all that stuff, you would like to continue being in.
[00:45:21] Speaker B: Oh, I.
Yeah, I'm a very much, like, never say never. Like, if people are into this one as well, then, like, I would love to be able to do more. Like, it's.
It. Like, it just won't like the ideas. Like Just kind of keep coming. So like I feel like it's, and I have ideas for tons of other stuff as well. Yeah.
And hopefully we'll be doing more stuff even in a writing capacity sooner than later.
But the, but I mean like I'm, I mean like listen, this, this book has been a gift. Like it's one of those things where I, I mean my career really took a hard turn once this opportunity popped up. And so I'm like all in right now, very happy to continue doing more of this or whatever I get to do.
I mean it's definitely like. And I, I mean I've, I guess I've read this several places but they always say like the, one of the best signs of success is that you get to do again, you get to do more.
And, and I'm happy to do it. So, so yeah, I would totally be into it if I got the chance to do more. For sure.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: And I will say, I mean I, I, I talked to Kyle Starks about his Where Monsters Lie series. Was the second volume came out and the first volume sold out like incredibly and he had multiple prints of the things and all that stuff. And so going into the second volume he's like, well if it sold that well, like if it did, if like the fifth issue of the series is selling out and going into second printing, you'd have to think that the first issue of the next series would do well of the same.
[00:46:53] Speaker B: Oh for sure.
[00:46:54] Speaker A: And it didn't, it didn't strike as, as, as hot as the first series.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: Oh sure, sure.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: And he's like obviously you know, there are his die hard fans and obviously it's in a trade, maybe the trade will do something different, whatever. But he was just hoping it would do better. Obviously he did fine. He's not initially sure and so that's obviously a fear in this thing. But also I think that I work in the beer industry as I work and doing can art. I'm an artist for a brewery. And so you could sell a brewery or a restaurant or a bar or a convenience store a four pack of beer twice for sure. Because if you sell it the first time it's something new, it's something exciting. They'll buy it and then if they sell out of it then obviously the retail store is going to buy it again from you because oh, we just sold out of it so quickly. It's that second, second time that if that sells out again then you know that this is actually going to go and people are going to want to buy and so on and so forth, because, like, a very. Not very easy, but it's easier to sell the first six issues than it is the second six issues. And I will tell you.
[00:47:52] Speaker B: Oh, hell yeah.
[00:47:52] Speaker A: I do think that you'll be fine in this, but I'm hoping that's why we talk about this. I mean, I want people to buy this thing, and so I want a fan of a lot of things, and I'm a fan of things at this pop culture side of things. Star Wars, Marvel, Independent comics, all this stuff that. I'm just glad I live in a world that there's more of it. And whether it's subpar or amazing, it doesn't matter. I mean, I want the next Star wars thing because I get to go to the theaters and watch another Star wars movie.
To me, I'm still lucky that we still get to do this, because I thought when I was born, they weren't gonna make it anymore. Like, that's, like, that was the point where I was in. And so I will say, you know, I'm not the only person to say this, and I'm probably not the official person to say it, but the second volume, first issue, is phenomenal. And so I'm hoping people get out there and buy this thing because it's worth it. It has that shock moment in there. It has that set up, and it's getting you ready for the series that I cannot wait for more of this. So, you know, I'm telling you, that's the reason I'm saying, selfishly, I want volume three already, and I haven't even gotten through volume two yet. I would selfishly want volume three. And so. But also, we want Patrick to continue making comics and things like that, too. So. Know we want that too. So, you know, it is.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: But I really appreciate hearing that. I mean, I. It's definitely. I mean, it's the same thing with.
With that first volume. Like, I was like, I'm. I've signed the contract for, you know, the second volume. I. You know, and so I'm gonna deliver that. And. And I would love to keep going more. Like, I'll never, like, say I'll never put a definitive end on something. Yeah. Because I feel like that's, you know, not unless it absolutely 100 needs it. But it's.
Other than that. Like, it just feels foolish to just be like, nope, that's it. Bye. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. Unless you just really have, you know, your reasons, and. And that's fine, but I'm like, so I'm having a ton of fun with this world. So, I mean, like, yeah.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: And it's a horror story, so there's no reason that Samantha can't go to space. Right? I mean, like, we've talked about.
Yeah, there's no reason.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Jumping forward. Just keep jumping forward in time, my man.
[00:49:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, it's just one of those things that, like, it's true.
I forget who was saying that. The other day, they were talking about making something, and they're like, I got to go as far as I can make it to be like, Jason's where I can go to space. That's like, the goal. It's like the next thing is to go to space. And it's true.
I don't even have to be a horror nowadays.
Fast and the Furious went to space. So, like, it's just all this. You have to go far enough and you have to sell enough.
[00:50:25] Speaker B: I mean, you got like. Got like Jason, Hellraiser, Leprechaun went to space.
[00:50:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:31] Speaker B: I mean, like, you know, you can make it.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: It's a feat. It's like one of those things.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: Like, it's a franchise.
[00:50:36] Speaker A: You know, you go platinum for. For a record or something like that. This is the next thing. You're like, you solidified your place in horror history. If you can make something go to space, hell yeah. You know, and plus, again, the. The juxtaposition of an animal.
Glenn is obviously the. The pilot of the. Of the spacecraft.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: I mean, like, if we're. If we're doing it, we gotta have Leica the space dog involved somehow.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And you could have a monkey.
[00:51:01] Speaker B: It's a whole thing. Yep. And a monkey.
[00:51:03] Speaker A: Yeah, that's got to be on those things.
[00:51:05] Speaker B: I mean, like, listen, this is my bread and butter, because that is sad as hell.
So if there's anything I like, I like making it cute and fun and sad as hell.
[00:51:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I need all those things make us cry. But, yeah, I know. It's. So there's a. And that's the thing is, it's not just you mentioned. This is a horror story for a bunch of people because it's not just slasher horror. There is that in there. Obviously. There's some gruesome spots to show you. This is a horror story. Samantha kills animals, like, kills people, kills things. Like, it's. This happens in this book, but there is a heart to it, and there is a story to it. And you. You're dealing with a little bit different side of things in the second volume with the loss of someone that semantically has killed. And so you're going to deal with that now, too. So there's a storyline that goes to it that's not just as simple of, hey, we got a. This one person's killing a bunch of people. And that's. That's the story, and there's more to it. And I think that's what's cool about the second volume. You caught me by surprise in the sense that I was very, very, very satisfied with that. You didn't just go, samantha's back to killing people again. Like, it's just like, there's more.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: No, it's very much. It's interesting because, like, I tend to, like, I'll take on. Or I'll enter into projects sort of focused on an existential angle on it.
[00:52:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:19] Speaker B: And the first volume was like, Samantha, who's this serial killer is Defined herself in this very specific way. And then to have that upended basically by this chaotic evil that shows up in town. And then in this. And Rite of Spring with Monica, it's somebody who's like, sort of, you know, existentially, like, redefine themselves around the loss of her brother. You know what I mean? And she's like. Like, radically changed her life. And then. And again with those, like, eight years of just like, you know, this unsatisfactory pursuit has sort of, like, gnarled herself into who we meet in issue one.
And it's. And it's. That's definitely. I mean, I'm glad to hear it's a satisfying read.
It's def. It was very important to me to make it feel like an earnest, you know, a thing for sure.
[00:53:13] Speaker A: And. And, yeah, and you meet new people and you're gonna see old people. And this is really cool about that, is like, it's like, you want to live in that you don't want an entirely new.
Well, it's like one of those. It's the final destination where it's like. It's the same story, but, like, you meet an entirely new cast.
[00:53:27] Speaker B: New cast. Yeah.
[00:53:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is cool about this, is that there's gonna be people that you're gonna notice from first series. They. Again, I think you probably. Yeah.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: There's so much. There's so much power in that history that I feel like it would be foolish to not, you know, utilize it.
[00:53:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think you could potentially read because you're getting enough of a. Of a backstory in this first issue to understand why Monica's doing what she's doing.
[00:53:52] Speaker B: Sure. To.
[00:53:53] Speaker A: That you wouldn't really need to, you know, to go back and read it. But to me, I'm like, you know, I'm. There's a new Robert Langdon book from. From Dan Brown coming out, and I'm reading all the old ones because I'm like, sure. I want to. Want to know they're not. Probably have anything to do with this new book. But I want to get complete. I want to complete the.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: Oh, it's a richer experience.
[00:54:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, totally. Richer experience. Yeah.
[00:54:14] Speaker B: I'm glad. I mean, I. I've actually heard from. I believe somebody wrote a review who had not read the first trade as an experiment because they were like, I'm. I'm curious because I'm always like, yeah, yeah, exactly. And it was. It was satisfying enough.
But it was.
It's. But yeah, I mean, like, what you're saying, like, to me, I'm. I'm always just like, I need to. I need to know everything that's available to, like, just have the most satisfying, like, experience of how it was intended. You know what I mean? Like, I'm a total.
I'm a total fan of that completist stuff. Like, you almost like.
[00:54:52] Speaker A: It's like the bus driver could be from the first two books or movies or whatever. And you're like, the bus driver literally says hi to the person coming on there. But I'm like, but he was in the first movie. That's amazing. It's so cool.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: It's sort of like. It's. It's one of those things where you're like. And they did this. And if you notice this detail, then it's like. And, oh, my God. And then all of a sudden, like, it. I mean, it's interesting to me too, because, like, eight years on, and you have like.
I had. I mean, some folks have pointed out the hair and so, like, Samantha's fur is graying.
[00:55:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:22] Speaker B: And like. And with Monica, she has basically, like, a dyed black ombre going on where she's growing out her roots.
And, like. And it's very. And it's all informing the thing. You only have, like, so many pages. And so you really. There's so much detail that speaks to character in even those little, like, the bus driver waving high panels or whatever that you're like, all that stuff counts.
[00:55:47] Speaker A: I'm like, the other way. The other way you could do it is to read the issue. This first issue. It comes out on July 9, and then go back and just read the rest of it as a prequel to it. And Then go back and reading it back. Jump back and forth in that sense.
I know before I read Write a Spring Number one, I did read the series over again because I just wanted to read it first of all. And then I read it, and then again, I read it again last night before coming on chat with you, because I was just thinking to myself, I wanted to read this again. Obviously, we're not going to spoil anything, but I wanted to read it again, and I'll probably read it again before issue two comes out. So it's like one of those things that's just like. It's a fun thing and they're not hard. This is not. This is not a knock against anybody. It's not a hard read. It's not a lot. You don't have to put a lot of energy into doing this either. It's not like you're like, oh, crap, what did I miss on panel one? That's it. You do a good job at writing it as well as illustrators.
[00:56:35] Speaker B: I'm glad to hear that. I definitely. I'm a fan of. I mean, like, hopefully this is, like, a fast, fast read and can invite multiple reads that way. But it's like. But to me, it's not. I'm a big fan of making it, like, as easy on the reader as possible to just kind of get through. Just, like, just have fun getting through.
[00:56:57] Speaker A: The book and then go back and read it again.
For sure. And it does. It's so funny because it's a mystery, in a sense, obviously, because you have that. There's a mystery going on. You don't know the end of the book.
But even knowing the end, even when I knew what was gonna happen at the end of the first volume, I was still, like, excited to read this book again. It's the same as me going on and watching, watching Dexter over again. I'm like, I know what happens. Like, I know what this whole series is about, but I'm reading it, watching it again because I'm enjoying the journey. And I think that's what volume one did for me. Again, it was the journey to get to volume two, which is ready to spring, which comes out July 9, which is the day that we're dropping this episode. So go to your LCS and grab it. Make sure if you can't get there today because you're listening to us in the morning, call them, message them on Facebook, say, can you save me a copy? How can I get this thing?
And I'm hoping it goes into second printing, because that means it sold a bunch of the first printing and then you get that.
[00:57:53] Speaker B: That would be amazing.
[00:57:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And if you're. And if you are a. And if you're a trade waiter. Understand nowadays I understand the whole idea about reading the computer story and having it for your shelf or whatever. So eventually it will come out and trade too. And if you haven't gotten yet, you can grab volume one right now and get that. Get that going as well. But it's always fun talking to you, Patrick, coming on here.
[00:58:13] Speaker B: I appreciate that getting.
[00:58:14] Speaker A: It's cool. Super. Just so much fun.
Again, not to make your head bigger. You only can fit so much on the screen here. But you are fantastic at what you do. So keep doing it.
I want Beneath the Trees, Volume 17. I want this to be like manga. I want. Where there's like just forever and ever and ever for 57 issues or volumes of this. Of this series. I want. There you go. You can do a manga version of it. You could do a.
I'm just trying to think of ideas and I'm waiting for that one shot where it's the point of view from the animal animals.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: And what the animal animals like their pets and what they're doing.
[00:58:49] Speaker B: Yeah, but it's like secret life of pets.
[00:58:51] Speaker A: Secret life up beneath the trees.
[00:58:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:53] Speaker A: It's like what. What. What's man. When the people leave their house. It's. The pets get together and they talk about things. Did you see what Samantha did? Did you see what the hell is going on? I can't believe. I can't tell this person that Samantha did it.
[00:59:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. This feels very stray dogsy. This. This has like stray dogs crossover potential.
[00:59:09] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: You write it Barrel. Or maybe you write it in the world.
[00:59:14] Speaker A: I don't know how it works with the. The. With Trish and Tony. You guys get together and do this all together.
[00:59:19] Speaker B: Amazing.
[00:59:19] Speaker A: And do it. Or there's at least some covers going on there. But no, I could have seen you actually do. If it was funny. If this came out right around the same time as Stray Dogs was coming out. I could have seen you doing a. A variant for Street Dogs at the same time. But.
[00:59:30] Speaker B: Oh yeah, for sure.
But I mean it's still in the running. I hope I get to do a very feral.
[00:59:36] Speaker A: Yeah, you could do a feral. Yeah, for sure. That's actually phenomenal series everybody. If you haven't read Farrell, that too. Yeah.
[00:59:41] Speaker B: Please read Farrell.
[00:59:42] Speaker A: Yes.
You got plenty of time. There's nothing to read out there. Just. Just read Beneath the Trees and Feral on the market. Yeah.
[00:59:50] Speaker B: Like there's so many good books out right now, it's nuts.
[00:59:53] Speaker A: Well, that's what I appreciate with your book. Easy to read. It's one of those things. I could fly through it, get what I wanted out of it, enjoy it, enjoy the experience and being able to read the next thing. There's. Com.
[01:00:03] Speaker B: Read the rest on your polar.
[01:00:04] Speaker A: I'm like, I'll read four comics tonight and I get the issue of the first comic and I'll. I'm like, jesus, yeah, that was then. Jesus, I need a breather like Monica. Right?
I love seeing a cigarette in a duck's mouth. It just. It's a funny looking.
[01:00:19] Speaker B: I don't know why I was like, is this gonna work? But I'm just going with it.
[01:00:24] Speaker A: It works.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah. So I appreciate you coming on here, chatting with us and. July 9th, 9th today, go pick up Beneath the Tree where Nobody Sees.
[01:00:36] Speaker B: Right.
[01:00:37] Speaker A: Of Spring number one. Second issue comes out in August. Or. Yeah, August. And then in September is the third issue and it's a six issue miniseries. So grab that. But again, thank you so much. I appreciate you coming out and chatting with us here on the podcast and we'll have you back again in the future.
[01:00:50] Speaker B: Oh, man. Major pleasure. Thank you so much.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Thanks, Patrick.
[01:01:03] Speaker B: Sa.