Latest / Rich Valdés: This is America! / Criminal Raid: Ilhan Omar, Columbus, Comic Book Legend: Chuck Dixon

Transcript

Criminal Raid: Ilhan Omar, Columbus, Comic Book Legend: Chuck Dixon · Rich Valdés: This is America!

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This is America with Rich Valdez, powered by politiweek.com.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: And Rich Valdez is with us, former Christie administration official.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: You work for Chris Christie, you've been in politics, a
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: lot of public service stuff.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Rich Valdez, columnist now with the Washington Times.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: This is America.
• 0:22
  Speaker 5: Richie V, you're on the air with the nation.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: This is America with your host, Rich Valdez.
• 0:30
  Speaker 5: What's up, America?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: I am Rich Valdez. Valdez with an S at Rich
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Valdez on all of the social media. Your liberty-loving Latino
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: amigo right here 17 blocks away from Madison Square Garden,
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Times Square, New York City. Blessed and honored to be
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: with you guys this Monday night. Happy Columbus Day. Welcome
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: to This is America, our late-night national town hall conversation.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Give me your opinions on what's going on. Give me
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: a call. Dial the number 877- Valdes 1. That's 877-825-3371.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Of course, that's Valdes with an S. If you want
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: to share your thoughts, we will air it during our
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Open Phone America segment. And again, felicidades, happy Columbus Day.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: This is the day that we celebrate the bold Italian
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: who sailed into the unknown, you know, opening the door
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: to this extraordinary experiment we call today the United States. Now,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: while some of our The people out there, they still
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: want to cancel history and rename everything, right? Indigenous Peoples Day.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: And I happen to be in Indigenous Peoples, if that matters.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: But it's because of their feelings, right? And the rest
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: of us are out here just saying, look, thanks. Thanks
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: for the courage that made this country possible. Of course,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: somebody out there screaming, yeah, what about the rapes?
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: He was a pirate.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Listen, you can't win them all. Now, growing up in
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Brooklyn and cutting hair as a teenager, you guys know
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: I was a barber. in Hudson County, I learned a lot,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: and I learned early, that hard work and grit, it
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: beats grievance every single day. Rather than complaining, just get
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: on your grind, do what you got to do. So
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: you show up, you hustle, you build something. You don't
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: apologize for the story of how you got here. You
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: just celebrate the fact that you're already here. And speaking
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of these stories, one of the stories that keeps delivering,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: Ilhan Omar, her home was raided in D.C., by the
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Department of Homeland Security this morning as part of a
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: criminal investigation. Agents are executing a judicially authorized search warrant.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Boxes are coming out of her house.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: The whole scene.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: Listen to this audio clip we've got from the Fox
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: News Channel. David Spunt has the report.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: All this happened a little bit shortly after 6 o'clock
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: this morning here at Congresswoman Omar's home in Washington, D.C.
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: It's unclear if she's home at this time. It does
• 2:43
  Speaker 6: not appear so because we've been out here for several
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: hours now after this happened. You can see on scene
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: behind me. There are several investigators from Homeland Security Investigations.
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: I'm going to back out of the way. Homeland Security Investigations,
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: they go by HSI. They are on scene. Also told
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: that DOJ involved in this investigation. We don't have details, guys,
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: specifically about what the investigation entails, but we can report
• 3:08
  Speaker 6: that it is a federal criminal investigation. I want to
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: read a statement. From a DOJ spokesperson, it says, quote,
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: today in the Washington, D.C. area, Homeland Security Investigations executed
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice.
• 3:25
  Speaker 6: This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Again,
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: we are out here at the congresswoman's home in Washington, D.C.,
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: No public comments from her at this time, but agents
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: have been out here for several hours, fairly quiet on
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: the street today on this Columbus Day here in Washington, D.C.
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: A couple of agents outside going in and out of
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: the home, but not a real strong presence, but still
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: no comment from the congresswoman at this time. but we
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: can't confirm she is under federal criminal investigation. I do
• 3:56
  Speaker 6: want to add one more thing, if I can, guys.
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: A judge did have to sign off on this search warrant.
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: This is not something DOJ or Homeland Security could just
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: do ad hoc. This is something a federal judge would
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: have had to sign off on for them behind me
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: to be here today.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: So there you go. That's the report from David Spunt
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: from the Fox News Channel. That's what's going on with
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Ilhan Omar, part of a federal criminal investigation. Listen, I'm
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: one of the first people out there saying, I hope
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: she gets what she deserves. I just don't believe she's
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: going to get anything. I'm one of those guys that
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: just doesn't believe that it's going to happen.
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: I hope I'm wrong. I really do.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: I hope, you know, somebody shuts me up, mainly my
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: big brother Joe. All right, my big brother Joe, he's
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: always out there telling me, oh, you think she's untouchable, Richie?
• 4:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah, watch, watch.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: You wait and see, too. She married her brother.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: She did this.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: She did that. Listen, I hope so. I believe that
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: this is well-timed.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: It's great that it's happening before the midterms. It adds
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: to Trump on the campaign trail, you know, giving his
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: stump speech saying, and.
• 4:59
  Speaker 7: You know, we've got Zoran Mamdani, my little commie in
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: New York.
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: He's ruining New York.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: He's ruining it.
• 5:05
  Speaker 7: It used to be a great city. We got Ilhan
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: Omar and her brother. Oh, goodness, her brother.
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: They're under investigation, you know. I don't know what's going
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: on there.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I really don't.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: I'm not involved. Right? And I could see him doing
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: that already from the campaign trail. Good. We need all
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: the help we can get. right?
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Because this guy, El-Sayed, is in a statistical dead heat
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: with Rogers. Now, that was before the debate, the analysis
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: from Trafalgar, Robert Kahaly, who's a very accurate pollster. So
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: we'll see what's going on in the rest of those races.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: But Ilhan Omar. And listen, She's already calling it a
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: political intimidation and abuse of power, weaponization against her.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Just like they, you know, Trump said what happened to him.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: The official, the difference is Trump didn't do anything. He
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: was literally president and had presidential immunity and went to
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: the Supreme Court and got cleared of everything. She's not
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: going to get cleared of everything. Now, she may get
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: an ethics complaint that, you know, looks ugly. You know,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: I would say the best case scenario here is one
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: like the. The one that happened with Matt Gaetz, right?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Where he said, I didn't do this. And they said, well,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: it looks like you did that and blah, blah, blah.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: And then he ended up resigning. I think that might
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: be the case here with Omar. And again, if that's
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: what it takes to get her out, that's what it takes.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: But I don't know. Do we get her perp walked?
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Are we going to see her walking in handcuffs because
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: she married her brother? Is she going to get deported
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: and sent back to Somalia? Man, if all of that
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: could happen before Election Day.
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: Please.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: But I don't think that's going to happen. But that's
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: what she's saying, right? So we're going to dig into
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: the details, the reactions, and everything else as this develops.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I'm going to call my buddy Doug Burns to get
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: some analysis from him.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: Maybe not tonight.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Maybe we'll get Doug Burns on tomorrow. We're also going
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: to get the political reaction from Professor Nick Giordano. That's
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: going to be coming up in the next couple of
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: days as well. But I want to talk about the
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: midterms with him as well. So once we get him,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: maybe for the Tuesday night or the Wednesday night show.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: But meanwhile.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: President Trump wishing Americans and Italian Americans a happy Columbus Day.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: El Trumpito Donaldis Magnus, the 45th and 47th president of
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: these United States. El Presidente Donald Trump. And he put
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: out a message celebrating this, right? Signing an executive order
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: in the Oval Office. No lectures, just gratitude, right? For
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: the discovery that led to the freest, most opportunity-rich nation
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: on this earth.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: America, listen to this.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Today we have your Columbus Day proclamation for Monday, which
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: we're signing a bit early. Christopher Columbus obviously discovered the
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: New World in 1492. He was a great Italian explorer.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: He sailed his three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: the Santa Maria, across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: what's today the Caribbean. But this is a particularly important
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: holiday for Italian-Americans who celebrate the legacy of Christopher Columbus
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: and the innovation and explore zeal that he represented.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: In other words, we're calling it Columbus Day.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 8:16
  Speaker 8: That was the.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: press that broke out.
• 8:25
  Speaker 8: In applause i've never seen that happen the press actually
• 8:33
  Speaker 8: broke out in applause good columbus day we're back columbus
• 8:38
  Speaker 8: day we're back italians today we.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: We are back we are back italians you gotta love
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: el trumpito at least i do i think he uh
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: always delivers things cheerfully celebrates things and he's celebrating he's
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: such a good politician in my opinion Um, I know
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: a lot of people take exception to that. They think, Oh,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: you're a bootlicker. You're this and you're that. But I
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: gotta say, look now, do I like this? Um, gas price?
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: I do not, sir. Let me send him a quick note.
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: El Trumpito. No more gas prices. Let's go. We need
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: them lower, but it doesn't work like that, right? That's
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: not the world we live in.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: We lived under $ 5 gas prices with Joe El Babo.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: So Biden, and we're doing it at around four. I
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: think I got my gas for $ 4 and 7 cents. Um, Listen,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: it is what it is, right? My hope is that
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: this will come to an end sooner rather than later.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: We'll see $ 1. 99 before we know it. I don't have
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: a fortune teller machine. I don't have a crystal ball.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: I don't have any of those things. But I do
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: know that El Trompito is a heck of a lot
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: better than having a presidency led by Que Mala Eres.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: And that was the alternative. Let's not forget that for
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: a second. Not for a second should we ever forget that.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: It's incredibly important to remember that because That would have
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: been a joke. And things are bad, but they're not
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: that bad. People are tightening their belts, that's for sure.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Gas gets high, people don't want to go out as much.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: They don't want to go to the bar as much.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: They don't want to go to the restaurants as much.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: Depending on your your disposable income.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, the people that are in the
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: upper six figures, they're like, hey, look, all right, maybe
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I'll have a couple of more chicken dishes and steak dishes.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: And they might hold back a little bit in those
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: areas trying to mitigate, you know, their spending. But people
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: who are making $ 65, 000, $ 70, 000 a year, I think this
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: is hitting them a lot. And the young people that
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: are making $ 45, 000, $ 50, 000 a year, they're crushed by this, right?
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: And this is literally a serious blow to young people.
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: And I happen to have some young people in my
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: home and in my life.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: So, you know, with daughters that are 21 and 25,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: these are things that matter, right?
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: To young people that are coming up and to their friends.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: I talk to people. I hear things. So, this is
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: a serious matter.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: And this is why Zoran Mamdani does well when he
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: talks about affordability and saving this and saving that because
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: they want to have a fighting chance. And the reality
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: is when I was 21 years old, I was already
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: opening my second business.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: And guess what? No lie.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: I had two brand new cars. I had an SUV
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: and a sports car. Both of them were, uh, financed.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: I had a car note on each of them back
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: when the car note was like 300 bucks a month.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Actually, one of them was even more than that. And, um,
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: And they were pretty nice cars, too.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: I had an Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Expedition, a 1999 bottle.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: And I had a year 2000 model, brand new. It
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: was still 1999 when I bought it. I bought the
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: 2000 Chrysler, what is that called?
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: Sebring.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: It was black and it had beige leather interior, two doors. Man,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: it was a sweet ride. Very, very nice car. And yeah,
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: one was for the weekends. The other one was for
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: everyday use. I had a barbershop and then I had
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: a cell phone place. I was an authorized dealer on
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: a very busy road called Bergen Line Avenue. So I was,
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: you know, transporting boxes filled with phones and accessories and
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: things like that. So in my mind, I needed a
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: huge seven-passenger SUV to do that. And I've never stopped
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: driving since then, a huge seven-passenger SUV. But my point
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: in saying all that is that was the life I
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: had at 21, not going to college. I started going
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: to college while I was in business for myself. I
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: went to NYU to study business. So different life. That's
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: not happening today. Most kids are not opening a business
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: and buying two brand new cars. And I hope they're
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: not buying two brand new cars, right? They're one person.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: That was a dumb thing for me to do. But,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: you know, yum, dumb, full of, you know what they say.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: So bottom line here is everybody's trying to have some fun.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: And I get it, but that's not the case anymore. And,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: you know, we see all these studies every now and
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: again about Gen Z drinking less. I'm thinking maybe they're
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: drinking less because they don't have as much money as
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: we did, right, to spend going to the bar.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: And, again, it was cheaper then.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I remember buying beer, right, 32 ounces of beer, you know,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: garbage beer. I don't want to say that on the air.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: I shouldn't insult them. But back then it was more
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: affordable beer, natural ice. It was 99 cents for a
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: 32-ounce bottle, right? Yes, I drank that stuff. Not a lot,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: but I drank it a little bit.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: It was cheap. It was fun.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: That's what everybody else was drinking. So that was me
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: at 21. That's not the case anymore. So I just
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: say that to stress to the members of our audience
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: that might be my age or older. It's not easy
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: for young people. And there's more young people behind them
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: that are going to be graduating high school. Hopefully they
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: know how to code. Hopefully they know about AI. But
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: It's not a cakewalk right now. So I'm hoping they
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: know how to invest and that they're taking advantage of
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: the stock market because crypto seems to be really stagnant lately.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Very stagnant. Gold looking good. Always moves up a little
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: bit when China starts trying to grab all of it.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: CNBC reporting today that gold is the number one commodity
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: that China's been trying to snatch up because their housing
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: market is flailing. So sometimes you got to take a
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: page from the Chinese playbook. But I also want to
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: get into this because this is something that was important
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: to me. I mentioned to you on the last episode
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: that I was talking to my 21-year-old daughter. And it's funny,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: both my daughters, I would say, are exactly like me.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: So when you hear me talking about Bastiat or John
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Locke or any of the folks from the Enlightenment, those
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: who are informed by the Enlightenment, the Tocqueville, etc., These
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: types of thinkers, and I get into that stuff. Of course,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: that's the Mark Levin influence in my life. But that
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: side of me, that intellectual side that gets into the
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: theological look on life and that worldview, it's my oldest daughter.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: She came out like that. She's very serious, very deep.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: And then the funny side where I'm cracking jokes and
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: everything's funny to me and I'm a smart ass, that's
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: my younger daughter. And they both remind me so much
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: of me and I love them to death. But I
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: was talking to the younger one who went full-clad in
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: a Spider-Man outfit to the movie theater for the debut
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: of the Spider-Man film about a month ago. And that
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: Spider-Man film, New Day, it just... A brand new day,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: excuse me. It just debuted on streaming just right before
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: the weekend. And it's had tremendous success, right? So this
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: is following its tremendous success at the box office.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: Now, the character.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Frank Castle, or the Punisher, as you might know him,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: was created in part by Marvel Comics creator Chuck Dixon.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: Chuck Dixon tweeted, I think on Friday, is the Punisher
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: a Democrat? And I thought that was interesting for a
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: comic book person. So, turns out the legendary comic book
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: writer from Marvel and other comics, Chuck Dixon, he is
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: an exiled conservative from Hollywood, right? He spoke out about
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: a lot of things, and now he's He's like many
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: conservatives that Hollywood has on their blacklist. But that didn't
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: happen before he did some major things in the comic
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: book world, like being part of the development team for Punisher,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: being part of the Spider-Man franchise where he created an
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: entire character named Bane. That's him, Chuck Dixon. And he's
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: going to weigh in on this leftward surge in Hollywood
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: and comic books. He's joining me in the next segment.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: And he's going to tell us what it was like
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: working with Stan Lee and others from the streets of
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: the New York pages of Marvel Comics to Hollywood to
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: everywhere in between. So some real talk, some real storytelling
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: about the culture and everything that goes along with it.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: And I thought it was just fascinating that he's a
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: conservative and he could give us that unique take on it.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: So keep it locked right here. There is more to
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: come straight ahead. I'm Rich Valdez coming up with Chuck Dixon.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: Don't go anywhere.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: This is America. This is America. He's got the best
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: head of hair in podcasting. This is America with Rich Valdez.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: All right, familia, welcome back. It's Rich Valdez, Valdez with
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: an S. Happy to be here with you and our guest,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Chuck Dixon. You probably know the name if you're a
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: comic book person because Chuck Dixon is a legend in
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: the comic book game. He's from Marvel. He's done a
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: lot of comic book work over the years and we're
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: going to talk about his history. But Most famously, he's
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: worked on Spider-Man. He created the character for Punisher in
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: large part and Bane and so many other things that
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: he's done. And we're going to talk about that on
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: the heels of the streaming release of the new Spider-Man movie.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: We're going to talk about the upcoming Avengers release. And
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: I want to zone in right now on a tweet.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: I saw a tweet yesterday talking about, is Punisher a Democrat?
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: And it's funny because I saw the Punisher movie, the
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: one that was on Netflix, and I thought, this guy's
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: a patriot through and through. He's got to be a
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: conservative Republican. But I want to know, was it tongue-in-cheek, Chuck?
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: What was going on?
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: And welcome. Oh, hey, thank you. Thanks for having me on, Rich. Yeah,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's partially clickbait, but I did discuss,
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: somebody asked me about the Punisher's politics. And largely the
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: answer is he's not political. If anything, he's a libertarian. Yeah.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: But on the spectrum, he's more of a Giuliani guy
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: than a Mamdani guy.
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: We probably all should be that guy.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's true. Well, look at the results. So, yeah,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: we should all be more Giuliani.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: They speak for themselves.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: So.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Uh, what, what made you think that this would go
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: over well in comic book world? Because, you know, in
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: my world as a conservative commentator in the broadcast world,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: that goes fine, but not everybody's in my world, right?
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: I realized I live in a little bubble and maybe
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: you live in a bubble too, but I would have
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: always thought, you know, Disney owns Marvel now, uh, RIP
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: to Stan Lee. This is something that as a kid,
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: I grew up as a comic book guy. I was
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: more of a GI Joe guy than anything. They weren't
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: the highest value, but, but I just loved it. I
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: was a Patriot since I was a little kid and
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: I loved that.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: And, um, and I had some, some old Spider-Man, I
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: love Spider-Man, but, um, this, this has evolved, right? It's,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: you know, I, I asked my kid yesterday, she's a girl,
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: she's 21 and she loves these Marvel, Marvel movies. And
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I said, I wonder if, uh, Marvel comics are still
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: selling like in print form. And she's like, I don't
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: think they do that, dad. They just make huge movies.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: And I thought, I was like, I don't know, that's
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: kind of their bread and butter. Uh, but the point
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: was it's evolved to somewhere where, you know, this used
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: to be when I was a kid, they were, I
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: think there were 50 cents or 35 cents. And then
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: they went up from there to whatever they went up to.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: And I don't know what they cost today, but what
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: is this evolution looked like? And what made you think
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: that you could make a comment like that and get
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: away with it with big Hollywood looking down at you?
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, I never concerned myself much
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: with big Hollywood. I mean, I talk a lot about
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: film producers and studio heads and stuff like that. Um,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: and the mistakes they make and all that, even though
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: I'm in the mix with them. Uh, but the thing
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: is that you can talk about how stupid a producer
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: is and he's saying to himself, well, he's not talking
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: about me. Uh, But, you know, that said, you know,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I work with some smart people, too, but there's an
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: awful lot of dummies out there. But, yeah, I don't
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: think anybody would notice me. I'm small fry. I'm comic
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: book famous, which is below jazz famous.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: OK, I'll take it.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: So in the comic book world, in that bubble, you
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: felt like there wouldn't be much blowback or maybe you're
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: just known for that. And it was like, yeah, it's
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: just Chuck Dixon being Chuck Dixon.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I get a lot of feedback on this stuff.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, hell, you go on the Internet and say,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I love kittens. And five posts later, you're being called
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: a racist. So, you know, that's that environment. You guys
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: have to ignore that. But, yeah, I mean, I've gotten
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: in trouble for stuff I've said before. But, you know,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I felt I had to comment on the Punisher because,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: you know, the movie and what Marvel has done to
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: the character in recent years. So and, you know, it's
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: an interesting question for any of these characters. Sure. Is
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Superman a Democrat or Republican? You know, any of these characters,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: where would they fall on the spectrum?
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I guess it opens up the conversation to is
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: what we grew up with, the characters we grew up
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: with and the America we grew up with. Is that
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: still the America today? And have we seen a liberalization,
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: if you will, of these characters? And I would say
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Disney's definitely even admitted to doing that. trying to make
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: LGBTQ and 50% of their characters be part of that spectrum.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: So do you think that's what happened with Marvel as well?
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Marvel and DC both have gone far left. There
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: was sort of a void in the early 2000s where
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: you had a lot of editors who were indifferent to comics.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: They saw comics as a stepping stone to another career.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: And that left the door open for a lot of
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: left-wing activists to move into the comic book space. And
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: you've got, I mean, now you've got the Punisher. They
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: basically humiliated him and driven him out of the comics.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: They made him look like a fool. You have a
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: version of Batman at DC who's fighting ice agents. I mean,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: this is, you know, it's gone beyond the pale. And
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: it's reflected in sales. I mean, nobody wants to read
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: comics that make them feel bad. So sales have plummeted.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Well, you talked about a career that some people have
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: used as a stepping stone and it makes me think, um,
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: let's talk about your career, right?
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: Because so many people want to be a comic book person.
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: They're drawing. I did.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: I had a book that I got at the Brooklyn
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: public library. I remember I was like 11 years old.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Maybe no, I was like seven years old. And I
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: remember getting this book and it taught me how to like,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: you know, draw the shapes and then draw the muscles
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: and the stick figures that you expand into a character.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: It was called How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: I loved it. It was a great book.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: And and I didn't want to be a comic book illustrator.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: I was just such a fan of comic books. I
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: thought that's so cool. But my point is people grow
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: up wanting to do they love baseball. They want to
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: be a baseball player. And here you are, a guy
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: that's created characters in comic books, have been in this
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: business for decades, and they're blaming part of the Punisher
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: storyline on you. They're blaming Bane on you. You're getting
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: blamed for a lot of good stuff over here. Take
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: the credit, right?
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: What was that story like, you living your dream?
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Well, I just never wanted to do anything else. I
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: wanted to work in comics. I wanted to be an artist,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: but I wasn't disciplined enough. So, of course, I became
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: a writer where you don't need any discipline and and
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: just making stuff up. And I just aimed myself at
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: that job. I had no plan B. And I, you know,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: by the grace of God, I got into it and
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I've been doing it now for 40 years and I
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: love it. And it's all I've ever wanted to do.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've written novels. I've written a little bit
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: for the movies, but comics are my first love. Always
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: will be just in my DNA.
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: How did it start?
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Were you into comics as a kid? Where did you
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: grow up? I want to get the full picture.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I grew up in Philadelphia, Philadelphia and the Philadelphia suburbs.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: And I was sick a lot as a kid, which
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: is the origin story for a lot of comic book writers.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: And so I was sick a lot as a kid and,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: and people would bring me comic books to help the
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: while away the time when I was in the hospital
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: or whatever. And I just, climbed onto them. They, I
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: just fell in love with the medium of comics. I mean,
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I love the characters too, but I just love that
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: sequential storytelling. I love the art. I love the dynamism
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: of it. I just love the whole vibe of comics.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: And so I just aimed myself at that. I mean, I,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: at school, I was only interested in things that would
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: help me get into comics.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: How did you get your big break? Did you start
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: working at a comic book store? Did you grow up
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: going to comic con as a kid?
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: I went to comic book conventions. I met editors. I pitched.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: I did this. I did that. I worked a lot
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: of dead-end jobs. I didn't go to college. I drove
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: an ice cream truck. I was a security guard. I
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: was a janitor. You know, anything to pay the rent.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: Anything to pay the bills so you could pursue your dream.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And then I would make runs up to Marvel
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: and DC for years and years. And then finally, I
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: got a break from a company in California called Eclipse
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: to write a title called Airboy. And almost within two weeks,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: got a break, got my first work at Marvel through
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Larry Hama, who worked a lot on G.I. Joe, which
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: you're very familiar with. Of course. Yeah.
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: Legend.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Legend.
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: Very, very cool.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: So now here you are 40 years later, you're seeing
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: these characters that, you know, you've been a very intimate
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: part of Punisher in the new Spider-Man movie in a
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: different way than you'd envisioned.
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: How does that make you feel? What are your thoughts
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: on that?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: It's pretty cool. I mean, you know, creating Bane and
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: then see him go on to be a household name
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: where everyone knows who Bane is now. I mean, that's
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: that's kind of staggering. I'm looking right now across my
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: desk at like, you know, two dozen action figures of
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Bane sitting here. And it's like I never thought that
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: would happen. And then, you know, with, you know, being
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: a part of, you know, the evolution of the Punisher series.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: It's neat to see him in the movie. I saw
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: the movie. I liked him in the movie. I didn't
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: care for the TV series, but I liked him in
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: the movie.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: Talk to me about, I guess, what the timeline looks
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: like for Bane starting in here to Bane being on
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: the page of a comic.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, we were doing this big event called
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Nightfall in which Batman gets his back broken. The animated
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: movies are on Amazon now. based on that event. And
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: we needed a bad guy to break Batman's back because
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: that was the whole point of the story. And I
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: was kind of assigned along with Graham Nolan, the artist,
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: to come up with this guy. And they very much
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: wanted him to have legs. They wanted him to last.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: And it's hard to create a character like that. So
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Graham and I put a lot of thought into it.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: And it succeeded beyond anybody's wildest dreams because he's a
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: permanent member of Batman's Rogues Gallery, probably the first one
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: since maybe Catwoman to become a permanent member.
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: That is so cool. And from there, what doors open up?
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: How does your career take off from Bane through now?
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: What are some of the things that you're doing?
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Just kind of slogging away doing comics. I just keep
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: writing comics. Uh, Bain brought me some degree of recognition, uh,
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: you know, uh, and then I, I, um, they made
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: a movie based on one of my novels, which, you know,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: that gives you like 15 minutes of fame where you gotta,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: you gotta, you know, get more work. So that's helped me.
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: Um, That's show business, right? 15 minutes of fame always
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: runs out. It's always time to get going.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you got to hit while they're
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: wondering who you are, you know, before they find out
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: who you are. And it's like, oh, they're curious. Who's
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: this guy? Who's this guy whose name I saw on
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: the credits? So that opened some doors for me and
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: some interesting projects. But it's always about comics with me. Yeah.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Amigos, we're on with Chuck Dixon. He is the inventor
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: of Bane and he's a comic creator. He's been in
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: this business for 40 years and we're coming right back
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: with him.
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: Don't go anywhere.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: All right, amigos, welcome back. We continue the conversation with
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Chuck Dixon. He is a 40-year veteran in Marvel Comics
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: and all sorts of comics. He's worked for a number
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: of companies. He is the creator of Bane from Batman fame.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: as we discussed the Batman movie coming out on streaming
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: just a few days ago and following its theatrical release.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: And I want to get into, in a moment, the
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: upcoming release of the the next Avengers film because those
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: are always blockbusters and let's let's talk a little bit
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: about that your thoughts on on the how this is
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: blown up right and we talked about it a little
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: bit before on how it was once a comic, now
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: it's blockbuster theater films.
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: And I mean blockbuster.
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: They release them on Wednesdays and people are making lines outside.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just, you don't see that in Brad
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: Pitt movies, right? These are huge things. Talk to me
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: about that. I think it's amazing to be a part
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: of something that's that big.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, when I was a kid reading Marvel comics, particularly,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: you know, I thought they were really cool. I mean,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: they really spoke to me. I thought there was a
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: lot of heart there and humor. and everything else, and
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: I could easily have seen them back then becoming movies.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, to me, they were full-blown epics. And it
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: took a while, but what I loved about them, now millions,
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: possibly a billion people love those same stories. I remember
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: going to see the first Spider-Man movie in a theater,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: and when Uncle Ben gets shot, the audience was stunned.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, wow, this is the reaction I had
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: when I read this when I was 10. These people
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: have never seen this story. They didn't know this story.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: And that's what's going on. The sad part for me
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: is it doesn't translate into greater comic book sales. Right.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's a new world. I mean, my background's
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: in radio. And as much as I love radio, and
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: radio is a beautiful thing.
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: They don't see you. You don't see them. They're in
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: the car. They're driving. It's very live. Right.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: These mediums where you do see people and you stream
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: it and you could see it whenever you want the on-demand, uh,
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: functionality of it is really the future. And you kind
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: of got to go with the times.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. It's true, but I just wish people would
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: go back and look at the source material.
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, when the Lord of the Rings
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: movies came out, uh, people went back and read the novels,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: you know, the novels became bestsellers again. Uh, but that
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: doesn't happen with comics. I think that's part of the
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: fall is the comic book companies. They don't put themselves
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: out there enough. Right.
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: That's an interesting point.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: Now in your career, I'm sure you've worked alongside a
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: lot of people that are legendary. You talked about Hama earlier,
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: but who is the standout person that you've had a
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: chance to work with that really was like, wow, that
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: guy is a G.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: Oh man, there's so many. And if I make a list,
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: I'm going to leave people off and they're going to
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: be mad at me. But You know, I'm a longtime
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: collaborator with Graham Nolan. He helped create Bane, co-created Bane,
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: I should say, in case he's listening. But I got
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: to work with Joe Kuber, who used to work on
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Sergeant Rock. I worked with John Buscema, who drew Conan
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: the Barbarian for a long time. So I've gotten to
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: work with guys that I literally idolized when I was
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: a kid.
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: Any mentors that you've had?
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Well, Archie Goodwin, he edited at Marvel in D.C. Larry Hama,
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: very much so a mentor. He gave me a lot
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: of great advice early on. And I worked with Denny O'Neill,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: who is a legendary editor on Batman. He's the man
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: who rescued Batman from from camp obscurity in the early 70s. And,
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: you know, and I've met a lot of legends. I
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: met Steve Ditko, who created Spider-Man. I met Jack Kirby,
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: who created the Hulk and Fantastic Four. And I worked
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: with Stan Lee a little bit on a couple of projects.
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: What was that like?
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: He was awesome. He was awesome. He was, you know,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I'm an old guy now, but he was he was
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: older than I was in his 80s.
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: He's been old my whole life. God rest his soul.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was still with it. He was still with it.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: And he gave me the greatest compliment I've ever gotten.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: We were on a conference call with a bunch of guys,
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: and everybody's putting their two cents in. And Stan says, ah,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: leave Chuck alone. He knows what he's doing. I'm like, oh, wow.
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: That's great.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Stan Lee said I knew what I was doing. I
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: was impossible to live with that afternoon.
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I bet. I bet.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: I once got a compliment like that from Mark Levin,
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: the great one. And it was a backhanded compliment. I
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: hosted his show. He was out sick and he chose me.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: And I said, sir, I want to thank you for
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: having me on. And he said, you know, Richie, I
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: wouldn't pick you if you weren't any good.
• 34:13
  Speaker 5: And I was like, Mark Levin just said I was good.
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: I'm holding it to it.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: The backhanded compliments are the best ones.
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: The best one because, you know, it's honest.
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. Yeah. He don't want somebody in there screwing
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: his show up.
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: Oh, for sure. So. So you've gotten these accolades. You're
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: doing your thing.
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: You've got projects coming out at different times, different things.
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: What do we focus on next? What's cooking for you?
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: What can we promote?
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm working for a company called Ripoverse. I'm doing
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: a continuing series called The Horseman with an awesome artist,
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Joe Bennett. I've got a new Western novel out on
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: Amazon called Gallows. Uh, and, um, I got, you know,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: a whole bunch of, I'm, I'm always caught where I'm, I'm,
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: I've got like half a dozen projects I can't talk
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: about yet.
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: The good old NDA.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I got a couple of movies, you know,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: I've got some movie options out there and they've assigned screenwriters,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: which means they actually tend to make the things. So nice.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: We'll see what happens.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: Now, I guess we'll end on a, on a cultural note,
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: because we talked about how you said the whole industry
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: and I'll take it big where, Ronald Reagan was governor
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: of California. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: Back then, him and John Wayne, they thought they were
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: holding back communism from getting into Hollywood. That was before
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: I was born and when I was a kid. I
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: think the dam has broken and communism has made its
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: way in. What's your take on the status of Hollywood and,
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: in particular, comic books and And how do we navigate that?
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, there's plenty of alternatives in the comic
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: book business. I mean, there's a lot of independent publishers.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, my buddy, Graham Nolan, who I'm mentioning again,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: he's like a one man shop. Him and his wife
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: run their own publishing company. He's doing very well with it.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: So you, you know, A lot of us fled or
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: were kicked out. I mean, I was blacklisted, kicked out
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: of the main comic book publishers, DC and Marvel. So
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: we can't work there because of who we vote for.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: And so we all made our own way. I mean,
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: and that's. I call it the garage band era of comics,
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: making our own comics and, and, and do doing very
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: well with it, doing very well with it. So, uh,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: and you know, and you get the own copyright and
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: you get to make your own movie deals, your own
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: licensing deals. Uh, so it's actually turned out to be
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: a good thing for a lot of us.
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: And you know what?
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: And I think the comic book space is not alone.
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of filmmakers. You mentioned, um, Conan earlier,
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: and I was thinking about Hercules. I'd interviewed Kevin Sorbo.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: He's out there making all sorts of independent films, doing
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: well for himself. Stephen Baldwin doing the same thing. So
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: there's hope after Hollywood, it seems.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Well, people don't want communism. They keep trying to sell
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: it to us, but we don't want to buy it.
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Which is the, you know, that's encouraging. Good point.
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: Really good point.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: All right, Chuck Dixon, if people want to find you
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: and learn more about you and buy your books, where
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: do they go?
• 37:23
  Speaker 5: Where do I send them?
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Let's put my name in on Amazon. It's page after
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: page of my stuff.
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: Outstanding.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Chuck Dixon, that's with an X. Chuck, I want to
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: thank you for being here. Let everybody know how they
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: can find you on X or the other social media platforms.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm on X. I'm on Facebook. I'm at ChuckDixonOfficial.com.
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: All right, that's the flagship.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: I'm right there.
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: Thank you, brother. Godspeed to you. You're a gentleman, a scholar,
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: and a patriot, and I thank you for being here.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Okay. Thanks for having me. This was fun.
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: You got it. Take care.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: This is America.