Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 118. Interview with the creators of Barricade Brigade #0!
Transcript
- 0:18Host all the comic fans, Marvel geeks, and all the nerds in
- 0:20between. Welcome to another episode of
- 0:21the Vigilante Vibes podcast where we talk all things Marvel
- 0:24along with the other fandoms, but without the toxicity that's
- 0:27taken up way too much space in each and every fandom.
- 0:30I'm your host. Meg, Nicole and I have two very
- 0:32special guests joining me. I have Chris the legendary long
- 0:36box punk and his partner in crime in this comic creating
- 0:40world. Chris the punk rocker and comic
- 0:43book artist. Thanks for having us, Megan.
- 0:46I'm stoked. Yeah.
- 0:47Thanks for having us. I've talked to Long Box punk,
- 0:51Chris many, many times, but Chris, I've never actually, we
- 0:53never actually interacted other than online.
- 0:55This is crazy, Yeah. So why don't you tell me about
- 1:01both of you? We'll start with you, long box
- 1:03punk Chris. I.
- 1:05I'm never one that's short for words.
- 1:07So I I've been hosting Log Box Punk for over a year now,
- 1:11talking to indie creators. And honestly, I started it to
- 1:15learn how to make comics so that eventually, at some point in the
- 1:19far distant future, I would be able to make my own comics.
- 1:22And that happened a lot faster than I expected when Chris
- 1:26reached out to me and was like, hey, I'm trying to put myself
- 1:30out there more. I want to get more involved with
- 1:32making comics. I do art.
- 1:34You've talked about having ideas.
- 1:35You want to make a comic. And I was like, word vomit, word
- 1:40vomit, word vomit. Absolutely.
- 1:43And that was November 3rd. I looked it up because I had to
- 1:47put in a birth date for our new e-mail, so I was.
- 1:50Like oh nice. November 3rd of last year.
- 1:53Sweet. So we've been talking, we've
- 1:56done several face times at this point.
- 1:58We've got shared documents, we've got long text threads, we
- 2:03have social media, long message threads as well.
- 2:06And we've been creating several actually comics since then.
- 2:12But we're finally in a spot where we're ready to be
- 2:15launching our very first like the flagship title, as it were.
- 2:20It's called Barricade Brigade and it's we're launching an
- 2:24ashcan first. So Issue 0 launches on
- 2:28Kickstarter June 4th. It's going to run for 30 days.
- 2:32And it's it's about a punk rock band that tries to defend their
- 2:38home turf and their music venue from the big corporate villains
- 2:43that are trying to buy it and change it into a parking lot.
- 2:46But in defending their turf, they realize that they may have
- 2:49bitten off more than they could handle or more than they
- 2:53expected. So we're we're keeping some
- 2:56stuff under wraps that we haven't told anybody about
- 2:59because we don't want to be the trailers.
- 3:01They give away everything so. You.
- 3:03Just have to back. It to to find out so.
- 3:07Yeah, well. Moving on to Chris with AK,
- 3:11let's hear about you. Well I've been.
- 3:15I started drawing as a little bitty kid and for the longest
- 3:20time was not drawing. I've been.
- 3:22I found, honestly I found comics maybe like 3 years before I
- 3:27found punk rock and those two worlds overlapped.
- 3:31Then I had a long gap with no comics and wanted back in and
- 3:38finally just jumped in and spent hours with my wife in the
- 3:42parking lot, unfortunately at my local comic shop.
- 3:45And yeah, so that was the start of me getting back into it.
- 3:51And drawing is something that came back to me post a back
- 3:55injury and has really kind of given me a second wind on
- 4:01expressing myself that. Sucks about the back injury but
- 4:06I love that you've thrown yourself into it and you
- 4:09couldn't have picked a picked a better partner than Chris like
- 4:12this is a match made in heaven. Yeah, I mean, I I can remember
- 4:15his name every time too. I won't lie, all day I was like,
- 4:20how am I going to talk to two Chris's?
- 4:23How is that going to work? And we're just going to see what
- 4:25happens because now it's chaotic and I like it.
- 4:28Yeah. So where did the inspiration
- 4:33come from for your comic book? Like what?
- 4:35The idea of it? Do you want that, Kay, or you
- 4:38want me to take? It honestly, I think I think it
- 4:41was kind of that that both of us are punk rockers and have been
- 4:47in that scene for so long and have, you know, you, you, you
- 4:53end up with he's seeing the tropes of like the man's taking
- 4:56us down and and that, but like you could really take that
- 5:01somewhere. And that's really kind of where
- 5:03it started when we were trying to figure out what kind of toys
- 5:07we wanted to build to play with I.
- 5:10Like, yeah, it it definitely came from a like, OK, well,
- 5:13we're both, you know, aging punks at this point.
- 5:18We like, it needs to be something about punks that are
- 5:21taking a stand against a big corporation because they're the
- 5:25villains in every scenario. And if I learn nothing else from
- 5:30scooby-doo, it's that humans are the monsters.
- 5:34And so we, you know, we kind of took that idea and then it, it,
- 5:38we started, that was the starting point.
- 5:40And then it just started like, oh, I, what if, what if we did
- 5:43this? What if the band did that?
- 5:45What if we had? And you know, slowly but surely
- 5:47we were writing all these things down.
- 5:50And then it just kind of was like, I think we have enough
- 5:53that we can distill a story here.
- 5:55And so we took the notes that we had put together and I started
- 5:59scripting stuff. And you know, it, it was very,
- 6:04it wasn't like, oh, I'm going to sit in a vacuum and write and
- 6:08then I'm going to send it to him and then he's going to draw
- 6:11everything in a vacuum and then we're going to have a comic.
- 6:14It was very much like, OK, so here's where I'm at.
- 6:17What do you think? Like how, what if we did this?
- 6:20How is this right? Is that too much?
- 6:22Here's. And so it's very much like we're
- 6:24not doing a writer artist in the credits, we're just doing Co
- 6:28creators because it's as much like there's there's no way to
- 6:33delineate where what I started or what he started or he
- 6:36finished or I like there's no way to tell.
- 6:38It's just a big smashed like it's both of us in a comic.
- 6:43And it's a bit like for my first experience, I couldn't have
- 6:46asked for a better collaborator. And we've definitely got more
- 6:51plans for more books going forward together because it's
- 6:55been so much fun. Oh, that's so nice.
- 6:59I love that Co creators. I I'm excited to read it because
- 7:03I want to read it and be like, oh, there's Chris with the CI
- 7:06see his personality bleeding through in this area.
- 7:08I love that so much. So you said you have more books
- 7:13prepared. Are you saying you have more
- 7:15books of this series, or you're already having other ideas
- 7:19circulate in your head for other books?
- 7:22Yes, OK. That's hilarious.
- 7:24That's how I wanted to answer that.
- 7:26That, that is, that is the answer.
- 7:29Yeah, we this is the story that in the world that we've spent
- 7:32the most time on 'cause I think we both wanted to start with a
- 7:37very loud DIY punk mindset and voice in comics 1st.
- 7:43And then like we've talked about other spin off stories, we
- 7:49worked on a short that I submitted to an anthology that
- 7:52didn't happen, but there might be something there that we turn
- 7:55into eventually. And so it's like this was
- 7:58definitely the first and we were very intentional with just
- 8:02because it's the ash can. We don't want this to be like a,
- 8:05well, here's the 1st 8 pages of a story.
- 8:08You know, come back when we're ready to launch issue 1 and find
- 8:12out what happens. Like it's a self-contained story
- 8:16and it but it also introduces you to like who the band is,
- 8:20what they're about, what's the larger story that's going to be
- 8:23happening as this one unfolds. So we've definitely got, I think
- 8:29I was already thinking of like the second chapter that we're
- 8:31going to be doing the other night as I was working on the
- 8:34Kickstarter page for the ashcan because I was like, oh, OK, so
- 8:38once we hit this thing, then we're going to go into that
- 8:40thing and that could lead us down to the road and we could do
- 8:43this. And then I was like, wait a
- 8:44second, Chris, check this out. This is what I just thought of.
- 8:47And he was like, yeah, no, that's can we do the ashcan
- 8:50though, Just slow down. So that's that's where we're at.
- 8:58So Chris with AK, he already has so many ideas circulating in his
- 9:02little punk head right there. Would you want to see it all in
- 9:06one universe, or would you like it to see in different things
- 9:09completely not related to each other at all?
- 9:11Oh, when it comes to this band, I'm I think we keep it all with
- 9:18on within one universe, but we've got so many stories that
- 9:23are not even connected that we've back and forth on already
- 9:28that there's God, I hate to say it, a multiverse out there
- 9:33between us. How marvel of you.
- 9:37I know, right? Yeah.
- 9:39And I just. Want to point out I'm wearing a
- 9:41Magneto hat. I have my scroll invasion
- 9:43shirts. I was like, I got to go all
- 9:45marvel. And I'm going to be.
- 9:47Showing on this show so purely for you.
- 9:50Megan. Thank you.
- 9:52It always cracks me up when someone comes on the show and
- 9:54they're like, I wore Marvel for you and I looked down.
- 9:56I'm like, I'm wearing my gym shirt.
- 9:57I'm sorry. So I.
- 10:00Tried to make it an effort today because I was like, this is a
- 10:02big episode. This is, I've been looking
- 10:04forward to this for at least six days since you reached out.
- 10:11So besides the comics you've already created, do you have any
- 10:15other ideas that you ever want to explore?
- 10:17Like would you ever do like a podcast that kind of acts out
- 10:22the characters in your in your book or like a certain line of
- 10:26merch like guitar picks or something?
- 10:30That's. Funny you mentioned guitar
- 10:33picks, Chris. Tell her.
- 10:35Tell her about the guitar picks. Yeah, we've actually been
- 10:38looking at doing custom picks already, and I also build guitar
- 10:46pedals. So for our next launch, we're
- 10:49talking about doing a custom guitar pedal.
- 10:54Do you just do everything? He's making a comic.
- 10:58He's just sitting there like so debonair.
- 11:01He does not not a care in the world.
- 11:03He's like I also build guitars on the side.
- 11:05It's. Whatever I do, my phone is
- 11:07actually propped on my first guitar that I've built.
- 11:12I built my amp. I've built pretty much all the
- 11:14pedals that I have on my pedal board.
- 11:16Like, yeah, I do. I do a lot of things.
- 11:20I see. That you really are like a punk
- 11:24rocker to your bones. Yeah.
- 11:26I love that so much. Very.
- 11:29DIY. Yeah.
- 11:30It's funny, like when we for after like the first two months
- 11:35that we were collaborating and texting a lot and stuff like
- 11:38that, he sent me something like, oh, I saw this on Instagram
- 11:41today, Check this out. And I was like, yeah, I saw that
- 11:44on Instagram today too. And he was like, does this
- 11:48script thing for the same person because we're both named Chris
- 11:50and we're both punk rock centric.
- 11:52And I was like, dude, I don't know.
- 11:53But like, did you dig that ad? He was like, yeah, dude, I think
- 11:57it's really cool. He was like weird too.
- 12:00And now we just like have this running joke where it even
- 12:03happened earlier where we were texting.
- 12:05I don't even remember what we were texting, but you said like
- 12:07word for word. What?
- 12:09Like we were texting at the same time and sent them very like
- 12:12simultaneously and it was word for word the exact same thing.
- 12:16And it was like, Yep, same brain.
- 12:17OK. It's a crisp thing we just us
- 12:22normies wouldn't understand. By.
- 12:25So sorry. That's fine, it's fine.
- 12:28It's hard seeing people live out your dreams but it's OK.
- 12:33So do you 2 live anywhere near each other?
- 12:35No. No, it's how it always goes.
- 12:38Yeah, I'm in Oklahoma. We're both.
- 12:41In the. States, yeah, we're both in the
- 12:42states. I I'm in Oklahoma and other
- 12:45Chris's in Ohio. So we got O states at least.
- 12:50Right, got 2 Chris's 2O states. Same brain, both glasses.
- 12:55Yeah. We're going to have to plan a
- 12:57meet with each other so you can go to cons for the comic book at
- 13:01some point. Right.
- 13:03Yeah. I I have already said to my
- 13:07wife, I was like, listen, when we launched the first full
- 13:10chapter, like I need to make it down to Oklahoma and like hit
- 13:17some, hit a con there. You know, go down to like Dallas
- 13:21or Fort Worth or somewhere in the massive gigantic state of
- 13:24Texas and like hit a con down there because it feels like
- 13:27Texas always has a convention happening.
- 13:29Yeah. And yeah, I'm like, I've already
- 13:32planted that seed of like I'm going to be making a trip
- 13:35because the first full chapter, like that's the other thing that
- 13:39we're doing that's kind of unique is we're not doing
- 13:42individual floppies for the next iteration of the like the first
- 13:47arc or whatever. We're just doing oneself
- 13:49contained, like square perfect bound graphic novel release.
- 13:54So it'll be like, we don't have a page count, but it'll at least
- 13:58be like 60 pages and it'll just be another full self-contained
- 14:03story so that you can like anybody can come in at any point
- 14:07for any of our future stories or campaigns and they can back it.
- 14:11And they don't have to worry about the like oh back the
- 14:15backup tier for our 4th chapter and buy all four chapters and
- 14:19the AFCAN for $900 like. No where.
- 14:22You can come into any point and pick it up at any time and fully
- 14:29understand what's going on with the story.
- 14:31It would help if you jump in early, but you know, yeah, that
- 14:37and it's all like very much by design.
- 14:39We're keeping the goal super low.
- 14:41Like we set the goal like 600 bucks because I I had the
- 14:45awkward text at like 1131 night of hey, I don't plan on making
- 14:51money with this. Are are are we same brain right
- 14:57now? And he was like, oh, yeah, no,
- 14:58totally. Yeah, we're just making the book
- 14:59because I want to hold the book in my hands.
- 15:01I was like, OK, yeah, yeah, no, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, same,
- 15:05same. See, I think that's super
- 15:07healthy though, because everyone, not everyone, but most
- 15:10people get into the comic book creating business and they're
- 15:12like, I'm going to be famous, I'm going to be rich.
- 15:14I'm making all these comics. And it's like once you start to
- 15:17try to monetize and that's your goal, I feel like you do lose
- 15:20some of the passion for what you're doing.
- 15:22It's like with podcasting, I don't think I'm ever going to
- 15:25make money. I'm just doing because I like
- 15:26it. But there are people who only do
- 15:28it to make money. And it's like you're just kind
- 15:30of sucking your soul away with that.
- 15:31Yeah. Yeah, you're chasing a goal that
- 15:35is really never going to happen. So set a realistic goal, have
- 15:39fun every episode. Got it.
- 15:41OK, I can do that. Yeah, and how many people can
- 15:44say that they created a comic book?
- 15:46Do you know how crazy that is? Yeah.
- 15:48Yeah, you. Did it?
- 15:49You started November. Like what is going on?
- 15:52It's not even June. I brought props, so the first
- 15:56time that I got this is our main cover that Chris did.
- 15:59This is his pencil version. I'm going to be inking this on
- 16:04my Instagram live because I'm doing a punk ified version
- 16:07that'll look kind of like this. Quick little glance but I first
- 16:14time that like my wife printed this out at her job and brought
- 16:17it home because the library can't print that large
- 16:20apparently in either Confedex or UPS store whatever.
- 16:23Not that I'm salty. They gave me a half sheet and I
- 16:27was like it does sound 11 by 17 but.
- 16:29That's where I would go is no, no, never mind, never mind.
- 16:33Whatever. Yeah, Yeah.
- 16:34Yeah, don't go to the place that says they print I.
- 16:37Sent it to my wife and she printed it out at work and
- 16:40brought it home. But like, seeing her carrying
- 16:43this in and then having this like, in my hands and like,
- 16:47these, these characters came out of my brain.
- 16:50Like, that's insane. And I just like every step,
- 16:54every time he sends me a new panel or a new page of pencils
- 16:58and then inks and then colored and then full and done.
- 17:01And it's like, this is the coolest freaking thing I've ever
- 17:04done. And it just like, you can't, you
- 17:09can't describe that feeling to someone that's not, like,
- 17:13creative by nature because they're like, yeah, cool, you
- 17:16made a thing. Yeah.
- 17:18Exactly. They're like, oh, you drew a
- 17:20picture and you're. Like, no you don't.
- 17:21Get it? Right.
- 17:24But yeah, it's, it's been really, really awesome.
- 17:27Just like having all this stuff come together and seeing it.
- 17:30And even as we were writing it, I was like, yeah, we're writing
- 17:32a comic. And then it was like, Oh my God,
- 17:35we're writing a cut, dude. We're making a cut.
- 17:37Like regularly we'll have just brief freak out sessions of like
- 17:42sending just hype overload gifts back and forth.
- 17:44Like we're doing that there. So it's.
- 17:48It's it's exciting stuff. I love it.
- 17:52It's really exciting because when I first met you, you were
- 17:55reading comics. You're all about comics now.
- 17:57You are the comics. You are the ones creating it
- 18:00like you're in the industry now. That's congratulations to both
- 18:04of you. Thanks.
- 18:06Yeah, I don't think I'm. Not getting chills over here.
- 18:09Yeah, it's not weird to hear other people say these things at
- 18:13all. Totally normal.
- 18:15This is our life now. Yeah, yeah, you're kind of a big
- 18:18deal now, so you might as well get used to it.
- 18:22I. Don't know about all that I'd
- 18:23say. So this, this is exciting.
- 18:25This is amazing. Even if it goes absolutely
- 18:28nowhere and it's just for you guys, you still made something.
- 18:31That's right. How many people can say that?
- 18:33And you did it with someone you genuinely like.
- 18:35So you made a great friendship on the way.
- 18:37And it's like your passion has always been comics.
- 18:40So you're going as far as you can in that passion, in that
- 18:45field. So you're achieving something.
- 18:47Even if no one in the world is interested, you still achieve
- 18:50something. Hang my hat on that.
- 18:53Yeah, yeah. It's almost like the journey is
- 18:57the more important thing than the destination.
- 18:59That's. It's all about the friends we
- 19:00met along the way. Yeah.
- 19:02I think that's the quote. I don't know, actually, I don't
- 19:04know what that's from. I just say it sometimes.
- 19:07Insert a deep quote here from me.
- 19:09And I'm. Like, yeah.
- 19:15Oh my gosh. So did you guys, have you guys
- 19:18always wanted to make comics or did it just happen?
- 19:21Was it just like, you know, why not?
- 19:22We have everything going on you want.
- 19:26This one first you want. Me to take it honestly yeah I I
- 19:30I I remember drawing my honestly my first comics were probably
- 19:37drawn on my paper bag book covers like in middle school
- 19:42like I had these dumb little characters that I would make up
- 19:46and I would I would just change my book covers so I could draw
- 19:49new things that they were doing it was so it's been a long time
- 19:53that's I I don't want to talk about how many decades that is
- 19:57but it's been. A few.
- 20:00It has to at least have been two.
- 20:01I mean, you're only like 28. So I mean, let's not brag here.
- 20:05Yes, I'll, I'll go with that. What about you Chris with?
- 20:13ACII don't know that I always wanted to make them like I
- 20:18because it never even occurred to me that I could like I, you
- 20:22know, as a kid it was just like, Oh yeah, these are things that
- 20:25like professionals make and you know, I, I just enjoy them and
- 20:30so I'll buy them and read them. And so it never, like, it
- 20:33genuinely never occurred to me that I could make comics until
- 20:39the last 10 years when I really started.
- 20:42Like I was reading the big two and I was just like that I'm
- 20:46going to go to like Valiant and Image because I loved those as a
- 20:51kid. And so I was reading those.
- 20:52And at first I was like, yeah, I read indie comics.
- 20:55I'm like, no, those are, those are still like big companies
- 20:59that are doing things. Valiant doesn't always make
- 21:03great decisions, but I still love them.
- 21:06It's like when you read Image, you're like, I'm just so street
- 21:10level cool. I read Indies and you guys would
- 21:13are just not on my level. Stick to Marvel and you're like,
- 21:15it's it's Image though. It's like the most marvelly DC
- 21:18yeah, indie comic place ever. So you calm down.
- 21:22Yeah, yeah. Listen, Bat bro, I read the
- 21:25Indies and he's like, you're reading image.
- 21:28Like seriously, the guys that started that used to work at DC.
- 21:32And most of them, most of the writers do like.
- 21:35Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Kyle Higgins, Big
- 21:38Batman. It's, it's just been like as
- 21:44I've gotten more into indie comics and like further from
- 21:48even Image and and Valiant and Dark Horse and Boom and getting
- 21:53into smaller publishers and smaller publishers.
- 21:56And then like a guy that I went to college, he's an editor for
- 21:59one of those small publishers. And it was just like, hang on,
- 22:04if he's working, I went to, I sat next to him in like Psych
- 22:07101. What?
- 22:09And he's making comics. Why can't I?
- 22:13And then suddenly it was like, OK, at some point I want to make
- 22:16comics. Yeah, OK.
- 22:18And then, you know, I started doing 1 box punk and it was just
- 22:21like talking all these creators that were doing it in the true
- 22:25indie scene. And it was like, oh, I can, I'm
- 22:30taking myself to school. Like I'm just learning from
- 22:33people that have done it how they did it.
- 22:36So I need to take notes. And so I've been taking notes
- 22:40and learning as much as I can and building those
- 22:43relationships. And as I've been putting this
- 22:46page, the Kickstarter together, I'm still like, OK, I have no
- 22:50idea how this works. What is this thing talking
- 22:54about? Like I'm still trying to figure
- 22:55out shipping and it's this big scary monster because I haven't
- 22:58figured it out yet. But you know, I've got messages
- 23:01out to people to to learn. But yeah, it's it's it was never
- 23:07a thing. And then once I figured out that
- 23:09it could be a thing, suddenly I was like, I need to chase that
- 23:13down and do everything I can because I'm a I'm an all or
- 23:15nothing faucet person. And like, you could have the
- 23:18faucet all the way on for me. And so once it was like, I want
- 23:21to make comics, it was all the way on.
- 23:24And my wife every night is like you talking to Oklahoma like.
- 23:28Yeah. She's like, do you guys ever
- 23:30sleep? No.
- 23:31No, not really. No, It's kind of a problem,
- 23:35yeah. Yeah, it was up till like 2:00
- 23:38AM last night working on the page and working on like a flyer
- 23:42that we want to put out. It was just.
- 23:44Like which looks super sick by the way.
- 23:47I mean, I'm still, I don't have a safe version to show it off to
- 23:49you, Megan, but I'll send it to you after you're on it actually.
- 23:53So Yep. What?
- 23:56Yeah, my gosh. Yeah, this is an achievement for
- 23:58me. In true punk fashion, we're
- 24:02taking Barricade Brigade on tour and so we're hitting, you know,
- 24:06all the podcasts that we're doing, we're doing the date that
- 24:08it's publishing and the podcast that we're appearing on.
- 24:11And I got hyper focused last night and spent three hours
- 24:16building this single graphic and then my computer crashed and I
- 24:19lost all of it. And I.
- 24:21Rebuilt. Oh my God, this morning set the
- 24:22house on fire. At that point, I'm out.
- 24:24I I did. I was just like, fine, slam, I'm
- 24:28going to bed. I love that you said that you
- 24:33were going on tour because that's really that's what you
- 24:36do. You collaborate, you get the
- 24:38name out there. And plus like this sounds
- 24:40really, really cool. Like more people should know
- 24:42about it. But I'm excited to see the flyer
- 24:45That did happen. We did get a fire.
- 24:48OK, OK. Did happen, yeah.
- 24:49I, I, before I did anything, once I got it to where I was
- 24:53happy with it this morning, I immediately downloaded it and
- 24:57sent it off. Because usually I like to create
- 24:58something and I'll take a step away and do something else for a
- 25:02cat pilot palate cleanser and then come back to it.
- 25:06And usually I find something else and I'm like, yeah, I
- 25:08should change that. And so I had done that.
- 25:11And when I came back to it, it was like error loading images
- 25:14and it like completely, it saved like 2 items of the like 14 that
- 25:19I had in it. And I, that's where I was like,
- 25:22I'm not doing all that again. I'm Nope, it's too late.
- 25:26Sometimes when my computer starts to do that, I'll
- 25:28screenshot it with my computer just just in case.
- 25:33I've lost so many things, I've almost committed felonies over
- 25:37it. But that's neither here nor
- 25:39there, so. Plight of creators.
- 25:42So I mean, you know, some people do drugs and stuff, you know,
- 25:46we're just, we're just trying to make Flyers and stuff.
- 25:48It's fine. YouTube thumbnails.
- 25:51So what do you think has been the most challenging part of it?
- 25:55And I will start with you, Kris with AK.
- 25:57Oh. You didn't get, you don't get
- 26:00out of these questions. I know, I know.
- 26:02Chris does a lot of talking, but we want to hear you too.
- 26:06That's that's understandable. Honestly, I think for me, the
- 26:12hardest part was figuring out like, like these are our toys,
- 26:20the band is our toys. What's the sandbox that they're
- 26:24in and how comfortable am I with sharing my thoughts on that
- 26:29sandbox while we're learning how to play together?
- 26:33So it was really the very beginning.
- 26:35Once we got past that hump, it's been very comfortable.
- 26:39Wow. OK, so it's diving in and trying
- 26:44to look around to see which way to go using.
- 26:46What tools? Yes.
- 26:49What about you Chris with AC? Copy paste it, figuring out it
- 26:57it honestly, I guess I can change it to like the logistics
- 27:02of making comics. Like there's you hear about.
- 27:06Oh yeah, there's a writer and artist and a letter and editor
- 27:10sometimes and and color flatter all these things that make a
- 27:14comic. When there's two people doing
- 27:17it, it's like, oh, we're doing everything.
- 27:20And then it's like, we can't just make it like we got to
- 27:24figure out we got to find a vendor to print and we got to
- 27:27find someone that can do printing that's like cost
- 27:32effective, that's also here in the States to avoid the overseas
- 27:36costs. And like then suddenly, yeah, I
- 27:40have to put my corporate hat on because I do work at a bank and
- 27:45like I have to put that hat on to think like, OK, how
- 27:50logistically, like what's the ROI here?
- 27:52Like how much can we spend without like completely losing
- 27:56ourselves, but also being able to recoup that money?
- 27:59Like what's the price point? Because we want to keep things
- 28:02cheap because we're broke punks. Like no one has money except
- 28:06like we're buying groceries, right?
- 28:08Like who can afford a $15 comic when eggs are $17.00?
- 28:13Like no priority. So we wanted to be intentional
- 28:17with all of that. But it's it's the logistics of
- 28:20figuring all that stuff out. And because Kris with AK is
- 28:26doing all of the artwork and the lettering and the coloring, I'm
- 28:31like, well, I wrote the thing, So what else do I do?
- 28:34And so I'm doing all the logistics stuff, which honestly,
- 28:38like is it our, our different skill sets balance each other
- 28:42really well Because I love figuring out logistics stuff and
- 28:47doing the reaching out for podcast appearances and setting
- 28:51up the Kickstarter and do it like 'cause I my broadcast, my
- 28:55degrees in broadcasting. So like, I've done the promo
- 28:58stuff for big radio stations, for bands, for concerts.
- 29:02I've put those together like I've done all of this stuff
- 29:05already. So for me, it's like, oh, yeah,
- 29:07OK, I can just pick that hat back up and put it right back on
- 29:10and it's no big deal. And then he can focus fully on
- 29:13doing the artwork and making the pages look way better than I
- 29:17ever could have tried to intend them when I wrote the script.
- 29:20And like it, it works out really well.
- 29:23But the logistics and like figuring out the stuff like it
- 29:27has to be printed in in, you know, iterations of four.
- 29:31So like, OK, well, how do we get to an even page count that can
- 29:36be printed? And how do we fill the other
- 29:38page? Like things like that that you
- 29:40just never would think of. Suddenly we're thinking about
- 29:43all the time and. Yeah, I've never would have
- 29:46thought about that. Yeah.
- 29:47Oh my gosh. I'm never making a comic.
- 29:50This sounds exhausting. It definitely is a labor of love
- 29:56and it's I'm. Sure.
- 29:57It's a reoccurring theme with a lot of any creators.
- 30:00Like, yeah, I'm burning the midnight oil doing this.
- 30:03But like, this is what it feels like to be energized by work is
- 30:08making this comic. And I think I texted you last
- 30:12night or two nights ago. Like how how do people feel this
- 30:16way about their regular jobs? Like, there's no way.
- 30:20Yeah, not, not possible. Not possible.
- 30:24Yeah, my husband feels that way about his regular job, like he's
- 30:28a plumber. So he whenever we go to like a
- 30:31Lowe's or something, he's like, this is so fun.
- 30:34I'm like, look at that huge. Joint babe, look at that.
- 30:39So he's like a master plumber. So he does all the big things
- 30:42like be piping houses and like huge, huge water heaters, all
- 30:45that. And he's like, it's like a big
- 30:47puzzle. I'm like, you're you call me a
- 30:49nerd. Like, calm down.
- 30:51I can relate to him. My day job is an I'm an engineer
- 30:57for the gas company. So essentially I work with
- 31:00plumbers all the time. And it is, it's like a puzzle.
- 31:03It's like Legos. It's super easy to nerd out on.
- 31:08Your husband likes playing with Legos.
- 31:09That's what he likes. He likes the tools, too.
- 31:13He's a, he's like, you know, we'll just be driving.
- 31:16He's like, you know, Milwaukee really is the best tool brand.
- 31:19I'm like, just just shut the fuck up.
- 31:20I'm not doing this today. You know, it's really thinking
- 31:25about it and I hope these tariffs don't impact the the
- 31:29incoming German engineered tools because they're just, they're
- 31:33just made differently, you know? Trying to, if I have to hear any
- 31:37more of it. Like he's so involved that he
- 31:41knows the Milwaukee salesman so well that when my kids were
- 31:45born, one of them sent them all these baby clothes, Milwaukee on
- 31:49it. And it said like it was a onesie
- 31:51that was Milwaukee that said heavy duty on the butt.
- 31:53And I was like, who are these people?
- 31:56What is this? World that's fantastic.
- 31:58Oh my God, it. Was like that's a whole world
- 32:02that I just don't understand. But like, I guess that's the
- 32:05passion I I've never felt that for like my past jobs, but like,
- 32:10OK, so it's cool to see you guys still have that passion.
- 32:14Even going through all of the stuff, the logistics, the
- 32:16drawing, all of it sounds exhausting.
- 32:19I have to be honest with you. So like I'm really excited for
- 32:21you guys some. Of it is, but you know.
- 32:25But if you're passionate about it, it's so worth it though.
- 32:28Like. You're you're.
- 32:28Like, like you said, a labor of love.
- 32:30But for someone like me, I'm never writing a comic.
- 32:33I will never do that. Not one part of me wants to.
- 32:37That's exactly what I was thinking.
- 32:39Can't say never in this industry.
- 32:41I, I don't want to. All of my ideas are like just
- 32:47no, no, no, world doesn't need to see it.
- 32:50It's not OK, but. Is it like red band edition?
- 32:54Are we talking Red Band Edition ideas?
- 32:56Depends on the day. Like today, it would have been
- 32:58really violent. I like to draw that stuff so.
- 33:02Well, like yesterday it would have been like princesses and my
- 33:06daughter's spinning in a circle singing Trolls soundtrack.
- 33:10Tomorrow it'll probably be like me murdering someone again.
- 33:14I don't know, but it's like I don't want.
- 33:17To see comments where people get murdered.
- 33:19So. You do like the indie stuff and
- 33:21not just an image. So when you were talking about
- 33:29the storyline of it, was there any tropes?
- 33:33Any. We know the tropes, we all know
- 33:35it, that we kind of roll our eyes at that.
- 33:37You thought I don't want that, I do not like that.
- 33:45Yes, I couldn't tell you what they are.
- 33:50I do remember one of the face times that we did of like, we
- 33:55can't fall into this. Like we we can't we we can't go
- 33:59there. So what if we did this instead?
- 34:01And then I was like, yeah, OK, all right.
- 34:03And it was just a quick because I mean, we've both, we both have
- 34:08years and years of reading comics.
- 34:11And I don't want to just be making something else that's
- 34:15going to be there that's like, Oh yeah, hey, cool.
- 34:18Here's a whole box of the same Rob Layfield books from Image in
- 34:211993 like. That's not specific.
- 34:25That's not at all. Like it's I don't so.
- 34:29Now we know the trope, there's a layfield and I get it.
- 34:34He annoys me too. Listen, we have feet on our
- 34:39cover, OK? So look.
- 34:41Look at all those feet. You got really already done.
- 34:44Shoes, so we're not. Look, and I saw chest, it was
- 34:48very, very disproportionate. It was very proportionate.
- 34:53And it's like you're already doing better than some people.
- 34:57Chris knows anatomy, so. Yeah, I don't.
- 35:00I don't like the I loved the 90s X-Men, but pointy feet and God,
- 35:08yeah, that was one of the big ones.
- 35:12Yeah, pointy feet was not happening.
- 35:14I could not know. And they're.
- 35:17Coming back with it, they did it.
- 35:19I read 1 today that was like come on, they look at ball or
- 35:22ballet shoes, what are we doing? I don't like anime so when it
- 35:25gets to anime I'm like Oh my God my fight or flight turns on and
- 35:29got it. Guys, so no more.
- 35:33Oh, that's funny. Yeah.
- 35:38It's just so I get the pointy feet thing.
- 35:40It's like. Yeah.
- 35:41What are we doing? Yeah.
- 35:43Yeah. That's a pretty easy one to just
- 35:45be to stay away from. Yeah, I think the other one,
- 35:50like I don't want to do the traditional hero's journey
- 35:55because it's literally in everything.
- 35:59Like, I wish I'd never learned about the hero's journey 'cause
- 36:01now that's like, I'm a formula person.
- 36:04And once I understand the formula, that's all I see.
- 36:07And like, Oh yeah, you like this movie, check it out.
- 36:10Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm like, you suck.
- 36:14And it's like, yeah, we can do the pieces in literally
- 36:17anything. It's all there.
- 36:18And so I don't, we don't want to, I don't want to do the that
- 36:23trope, even though it's like fundamental storytelling.
- 36:27I really am trying to not do that.
- 36:30So I think we're trying to be more unconventional with the way
- 36:35that we tell the story so that it doesn't feel the formulaic,
- 36:40like, Oh yeah, here's the person and here's the conflict and
- 36:43here's the challenge and here's the bad person and here's the
- 36:46resolution. We're trying to keep the reader
- 36:50on their toes by not following that thing to give hopefully a
- 36:55comic that sparks interest and gets people talking.
- 36:58Plus you can, I mean, you're starting from like in the middle
- 37:01of their lives. Probably you're not, it's not
- 37:03like an origin story. So you can work with so much
- 37:06more when you do that. So I love that because I am sick
- 37:10of the this is where I started. This is where Spider Man got his
- 37:12powers. This is what happened to Uncle
- 37:14Ben. You know, we all know we we get
- 37:16it, we want new and it sounds like you guys are going to give
- 37:19us exactly that. Yeah.
- 37:25So if you could describe this comic in three words, both of
- 37:31you, what would you use? And you can't use the word punk
- 37:37or rock. Come.
- 37:38On. Megan.
- 37:41Hard level. Man, I was going to totally say
- 37:45punk rock con. I know you were.
- 37:47I know. You were Chris.
- 37:52I was like, he's going to say it's punk rock.
- 37:54Yeah, that's even better. It's punk rock.
- 37:57Like, yeah, I was like, you got to set.
- 38:00You got to set a limit for these guys.
- 38:01It doesn't have to be a sentence or anything, just three words
- 38:07that you think describe it well. Yeah, well, I'm an overachiever
- 38:10and I want the three words to make sense together.
- 38:19Chris with AK, are you an overachiever?
- 38:22Go, go. To K, man, kind of.
- 38:24Yeah, I think I'll I'll use loud as my first word Loud.
- 38:30'S good. OK, yeah, that's good.
- 38:34Yeah. Oh, can we mix and match words?
- 38:36Can I make him go next? That sounds.
- 38:40Fun. Then we get 6 words.
- 38:42Yeah, he said. Loud, monstrous.
- 38:46Loud monstrous. Back on you, bud.
- 38:51Surprising. Surprising.
- 38:55That's a good one. So loud monsters.
- 38:57Surprising. Energetic.
- 39:01Energetic, This is a fun game. I'm do this with everyone.
- 39:09You're welcome. Yeah, glad to be a Guinea pig,
- 39:12this. Worked out well.
- 39:18Oh, oh, I could throw this in there and it will only make
- 39:21sense to people to back it Historical.
- 39:24Oh. Mine this is more because we've
- 39:32done all the back story stuff but representational.
- 39:36Oh. Yes.
- 39:37So we have loud, monstrous, representational, historical.
- 39:43Energetic. Energetic.
- 39:45And what was yours, Chris with AK?
- 39:48Oh God, I forgot. That's bad, I'm forgetting.
- 39:57Surprising. Yes.
- 39:58Yes, OK, we got all six. All right, That's nice.
- 40:01So I 100% plan on reviewing this comic because I feel like I
- 40:07deserve it. So I will be doing just that.
- 40:10Snap, the same person that reviewed Phoenix.
- 40:13This is not good. I just want you to know that I'm
- 40:16like, published by Marvel. I know.
- 40:19And I'm doing this for free. Kind of a big deal.
- 40:22I have to do it for the loud, monstrous, energetic.
- 40:26I'm not going through them all again.
- 40:27I can't do it. I love it to me.
- 40:29Surprising. Surprising none of us remember.
- 40:36That's OK. I wrote mine down.
- 40:38No, you didn't. Oh.
- 40:40He's the note taking his note taker.
- 40:42It's so sweet. I know how my memory is and it's
- 40:48not great, so if I don't write it down I'll forget.
- 40:51I will remember when I go to bed tonight, when I'm falling asleep
- 40:56and I'll be like representational and that'll be
- 40:59stuck there. That was it.
- 41:01That was that was the one, Yeah. That was the one.
- 41:04Yeah. So Speaking of, I'm going to
- 41:07take that word because it's something that I want to talk
- 41:09about is yes, please. When we were coming up with the
- 41:12story, I was like, it's super important to me to have like my
- 41:18family heritage. I've I've been doing a lot of
- 41:21like whatever that word. Ancestry.com and all that.
- 41:26That type of stuff, yeah. Genealogy.
- 41:29Is that the word you're looking for?
- 41:30That's it. Yeah, see, same brain.
- 41:34I've been looking a lot at my family's genealogy and
- 41:37genealogy. That's a 5 syllabler.
- 41:40All right. Well, representation, Noel, Hey,
- 41:45I beat you at six. I've been looking at my family's
- 41:50genealogy because there's always kind of like a throwaway comment
- 41:54of like, yeah, well, I have Native American in me, so like,
- 41:56I don't burn in the summer, which is true.
- 41:58I don't, but it was always like a throwaway thing.
- 42:02And one of the creators that I had on Rafael Flores Junior who
- 42:06wrote the return of commisots was like, yeah, you know, like
- 42:10I've my ancestry and it was important for me to like
- 42:13represent that heritage well. And it just like hit me of like,
- 42:18shit. I'm not representing MyHeritage
- 42:20well. And so I I wanted to learn more
- 42:23about it. And Fast forward, I submitted
- 42:26paperwork and application for like official tribal recognition
- 42:31with the Abenaki tribe, which is where my great grandmother was
- 42:35full blooded of. And so I was like, hey, I it's
- 42:40important to me to have one of our characters be at least
- 42:44Native American, if not like Abenaki specific.
- 42:48And he was like, cool. And then so if you want to, I'll
- 42:52pass the ball back to you if you want to talk about Mick.
- 42:57Yeah, so Mick is one of the band members as well.
- 43:02And me being Latino and having Mayan and Linka ancestry know,
- 43:10knowing that literally my ancestors fought the Spanish.
- 43:15They may have lost, but they fought to protect their lives.
- 43:19Mick is also a Latino character. So we've literally put ourselves
- 43:26in the book as friends in the band I.
- 43:34Loved it and it was super intentional and like very much
- 43:38like this needs to be front and center because like much to
- 43:43Raphael's point, like I need to represent MyHeritage better than
- 43:47I used to and just the like, oh, don't burn because Native
- 43:51American. And it's like, Oh well, I was in
- 43:54winter months. So like that's not even from the
- 43:57Abenaki tribe like. It's like you want you want
- 43:59people to know you're Native American, but you're not willing
- 44:01to do the work to prove how Native American and how involved
- 44:04in your culture you are. So you took those steps.
- 44:07Yep, yeah. Took those steps, did a lot of
- 44:10research, did a lot of digging and talking to my dad.
- 44:13And he's talked to his cousin who's like 90, who still lives
- 44:18in New Hampshire, where a lot of the Abenaki tribe is.
- 44:22And there's like this big discourse.
- 44:23I could go on at this point. Like I, I have learned all of
- 44:26these things about the history of the the tribe, which are just
- 44:29fascinating. And it's, it's been really neat
- 44:34to learn just to be like, oh, this is like, this is where my
- 44:39family, we traced our family tree.
- 44:41And honestly, it was my uncle who did the majority of the
- 44:43legwork, but he traced it all the way back to one of the
- 44:47settlers that came over on the Mayflower.
- 44:49Like, he went all the way back. And I can tell you exact, like
- 44:55we're related to Ernest Hemingway, which is one of my
- 44:58dad's favorite writers. And he was like, hell yeah, I'll
- 45:01take that. Yeah.
- 45:01We're. Running I.
- 45:03Was like dad, he's like 8 rounds removed.
- 45:06He was like I don't give a shit son.
- 45:09All right, Dad, Cool. That's great.
- 45:12I get it. We're related somehow to Abraham
- 45:15Lincoln. And my mom tells like everyone
- 45:17who's like who will listen. Well, you know, we are related
- 45:21to Abraham Lincoln and I'm like, Mom, stop.
- 45:23Most people are like the family got around like it's fine.
- 45:31Good. I'd lie to you.
- 45:32You know, one of my relatives is Abraham.
- 45:36Got it. Mom.
- 45:37Yeah, thanks. Yeah.
- 45:37And it's just like that was it's such a big bag of badge of honor
- 45:40from our parents. It's like, is that going to be
- 45:43us? I hope not.
- 45:46I'm going to make something up though like.
- 45:49So like, you know, I'm published by Marvel.
- 45:54I'm going to say that, but I'm also going to say I'm related to
- 45:56Kevin Feige and Chris, Chris Claremont.
- 45:58Like, I'm going to make it. There you go.
- 45:59My kids are going to be like, what in the what?
- 46:03But my family feuded with the Liefelds.
- 46:12You. So you have though, been
- 46:14published by Marvel like you're. You're I have are.
- 46:17Printed in their comics. So and they don't tell you
- 46:21they're going to do that. You don't surprise.
- 46:25That's a very annoying surprise. Like I'm grateful, but if you're
- 46:29OK, I'm not going to the comic book store and looking through
- 46:32everyone you know. And I do comics every week for
- 46:37them. So it's like, did you pull any
- 46:40better ones though, 'cause I let me know like at least like I'll
- 46:44like here on Facebook and let me know.
- 46:45But whatever, it's fine. I guess it's fine.
- 46:51Such, such, such a like, you're complaining.
- 46:56Just calm down, relax. You're in Marvel.
- 47:00OK, I I get it though. Like I one of I was asked for a
- 47:04pull quote and provided it and it is printed on the back cover.
- 47:10And when I got that book from the Kickstarter, I was like,
- 47:12there's just the coolest. Like I've hit the.
- 47:14Pinnacle. This is.
- 47:15Yes, what else can I do? And then I started making my own
- 47:18comics and so. So they reached out to you.
- 47:21Ask him, yeah. So they reached out to you.
- 47:23That's cool. Speaking of Kickstarter, I do
- 47:27have a lot of people who watch this show that are just getting
- 47:30into comics who don't understand Kickstarter.
- 47:33Can you give them a brief breakdown of what it is just so
- 47:36they can understand it a little bit?
- 47:39She said briefs. OK, you got to take it.
- 47:42Oh no, no, no, no, no. You're far more versed.
- 47:45I'm still fighting for my e-mail address with them.
- 47:49He's like, look, I just draw the feet like calm.
- 47:53Down draw real good, it's a thing.
- 47:57So OK, brief Kickstarter is It's a way that creatives can list
- 48:04their projects and crowdfund so that they share their campaign.
- 48:10Like if you go to Kickstarter and you type in Barricade
- 48:13Brigade into their search bar, our comic will pull up and you
- 48:18can hit the like back or pre. If it's still in pre launch, you
- 48:23can get notified for when it launches.
- 48:26And then you have a certain time frame that you as the creator
- 48:30set up ahead of time. So we set ours for 30 days.
- 48:33And so for 30 days we have a goal of funding of 600 bucks.
- 48:39So we're trying to raise $600.00, which is going to cover
- 48:43publishing costs, shipping materials, it's going to cover
- 48:48the taxes, the Kickstarter fees. It's going to cover all that
- 48:51stuff so that we don't have to spend $600.00 out of our pockets
- 48:55because again, we're punks, we don't have money.
- 48:58So we're raising the money. And instead of like going into a
- 49:02comic shop and saying, oh, there's a Phoenix book, I'm
- 49:06going to buy this Phoenix book operator.
- 49:09Like you're going to Kickstarter and you're saying, I believe in
- 49:11what you're doing. Here's money.
- 49:14I hope this comes to fruition. And if enough people do that and
- 49:18we hit our goal, then when the campaign ends, we submit the
- 49:23order. Kickstarter takes like 2 weeks
- 49:25to release funds to the creators.
- 49:27And so then we get the money that we raised during our 30 day
- 49:31run. And then we use that money to
- 49:33pay for printing, pay for shipping supplies, pay for
- 49:36stickers, pay the taxes, pay the fees, do all that stuff.
- 49:41And then we get the books shipped to us.
- 49:43And we're DIY, so we're doing everything ourselves.
- 49:47And so once we get the books, we're going to bag them, we're
- 49:49going to board them, we're going to line them with cardboard, and
- 49:52we're going to send them out the door to all of our backers.
- 49:55And so usually, like fulfillment can vary.
- 49:58I've had some that are fulfilled where like I get the comic that
- 50:03I backed within like a month of the campaign closing.
- 50:08Some others take longer. Like there's one that I've
- 50:10backed that it's been a year and a half and they're still like
- 50:16finalizing some things on the book before they send it out.
- 50:19It just depends like that's it, depends on the creator.
- 50:23We were. That was another intentional
- 50:25thing of like, I want to have the book 90% done before we ever
- 50:29even talk about Kickstarter so that we're finishing everything
- 50:33else up during the campaign so that as soon as it's done and we
- 50:37get the money, we can say cool order and then it's just a
- 50:41matter of waiting on the printer to send it to us.
- 50:43So it's an easy way. And it's not just comics that
- 50:44are in Kickstarter. There's regular like pros books,
- 50:48there's tech gadgets, there's fancy like cable bags that you
- 50:53can get. There's all sorts of insane
- 50:56stuff that like indie creators and smarter people than me are
- 51:00making these wild little devices or whatever.
- 51:03And so it it like they have it all broken out by genre.
- 51:07You can search for like soonest ending, closest to funding, not
- 51:11yet funded, already funded. So you can really customize what
- 51:15you're searching for as you're just spending some time with it.
- 51:19And honestly, I've walked a couple people through it.
- 51:21I'm more than happy to. So if anybody is curious about
- 51:24Kickstarter, like seriously, send me a message on Instagram
- 51:27long at long box punk. And I would be happy to set up a
- 51:30call and walk you through it because that's that's the
- 51:33lifeblood for indie creators. Like, that's how these people
- 51:36are living their dreams of making things.
- 51:40We just happen to be making comics because that's our dream.
- 51:43And so, like, it takes that crowd to come together to say,
- 51:47Yep, I believe in that. Here's some cash.
- 51:49I'll take the book, please. And it takes a lot of those
- 51:53people to hit goals. And then you also have a direct
- 51:57communication line with creatives.
- 51:59And I've seen some really cool stuff that creators are doing
- 52:01with like the after campaign surveys, which is then where you
- 52:06collect like the address or e-mail address if you want
- 52:09digital or mailing address if you want physical.
- 52:13I was drawn onto the back of a comic as like one of the
- 52:17rewards. That's super cool.
- 52:19I have it there, so if Chris covers something, I can grab it
- 52:23because it's right there. But there's a whole lot of stuff
- 52:27that you can do with campaigns and like, because it's all
- 52:31indie, we can do whatever we want.
- 52:33So we're doing custom guitar picks.
- 52:35We're doing like, I'm, I'm, I'm not an artist.
- 52:39I'm doing my version of a cover that people can buy as like a
- 52:44variant cover of our book. And it's Chris's pencils with my
- 52:49like Sharpie marker punk ified flair that I call it, where I
- 52:54just draw skulls on everything. That's really what.
- 52:56It is. I like your flair.
- 52:57I bought a shirt with it on it. I know, yeah.
- 52:59You have like a punk ified shirt that I did.
- 53:02Damn it. Should have worn it today.
- 53:04I didn't think about it. Believable.
- 53:06Unbelievable. You got to put the comic on a
- 53:12shirt. You have to put the front page
- 53:15on a shirt. I'll buy that so quick.
- 53:18We have talked about doing like band merch, Yeah, for sort band,
- 53:23it's called Hot Watermelon because.
- 53:27That's cool. Admittedly, like it was the name
- 53:31of a show, radio show I did in college that I just, I've always
- 53:34loved that name. And so he was like, yeah, we'll
- 53:37do a band and whatever. And I was like, I'm just gonna
- 53:39go with it. We'll see what happen.
- 53:41And like all the names that I wrote down, he was like, God,
- 53:44no, that's totally great. And it everything worked out.
- 53:48The Roadies name is five, like the number 5 you know, and it's
- 53:53Sarah is the bassist slash singer and then Tolba is the
- 53:59Abenaki drummer and that which is Abenaki for turtle because he
- 54:03has a turtle tattoo. And then Mick is the guitarist
- 54:06and other like front lead man vocalist.
- 54:10So that's our crew or band of hot watermelon.
- 54:15Talk about something and I'll get that cover.
- 54:18That's so cool. I like that a lot.
- 54:22It's so hot. Watermelon.
- 54:24Have you ever had hot watermelon?
- 54:27In the summer, yeah. Yeah, me too.
- 54:29It's not a bad, it's not a bad time.
- 54:31No. Oh, you did get it.
- 54:34There I am. Oh.
- 54:36That's so cool. We're all flicking off the
- 54:39camera. This is a book from Jeff
- 54:42Schiller. Shout out to Jeff.
- 54:44It's called the Public Defender. Another guy that I had on my
- 54:46show, Gerald von Stoddard, did this cover art.
- 54:49But then, yeah, all of these people back here paid a little
- 54:53bit extra so that they could all be on the cover.
- 54:56And so there's a couple faces on here that I know some had like
- 55:00their original character, like somewhere is, Yep, there's
- 55:02pistol shrimp where it's like a Western about a shrimp, you
- 55:09know? And it's.
- 55:10So some had their characters and some had their people.
- 55:13And I just sent in a picture. And that's not the first time
- 55:17that I've been drawn into a comic because I'm like, yeah, I
- 55:19want to be in a comic. Let's go.
- 55:20It doesn't. That's so personable.
- 55:24I love that. Yeah.
- 55:26So as we wrap up, what are a few thoughts you want to say about
- 55:31your comic? I'll let it got so quiet.
- 55:36I'll I'll let Kay have the last word.
- 55:39Amaze. I'm on a roll.
- 55:41And. I I know that he needs more time
- 55:43to come up with words than I do. I just start talking and figure
- 55:45out. What I'm?
- 55:48Saying I if you like punk rock, like if at all the DIY mindsets,
- 55:55if you've ever been to a small local show or Battle of the
- 55:58Bands, if you've been in the crowd at a bar where your shoes
- 56:02are sticking to the floor, that's our comic.
- 56:06Like that's where it starts. And that energy that you can't
- 56:10really describe, that you feel when you're at a local show and
- 56:13everybody's sweating and everything stinks and you're
- 56:16bumping into each other and you all have crushed cans of PBR in
- 56:19your hands because that's all you can afford.
- 56:22That's our comic. And like, perfect.
- 56:25It's we targeted corporate people because corporations are
- 56:31trying to wipe out that smaller everything.
- 56:35Small venues, small bands, small businesses.
- 56:38And so we're really leaning into that.
- 56:40And so there's definitely like our ideologies that are in the
- 56:45book, but it's also just a fun book.
- 56:48Like it's, it's, I don't want it to be overly political because I
- 56:52don't like talking about politics.
- 56:54And so it's not it's it's just a punk band that's going on tour
- 56:59and they realize that they're part of something much bigger
- 57:02than just going on tour by the end of it.
- 57:06And that's our secret, super secret under wraps that we're
- 57:11not telling anybody about. So you just have to back.
- 57:13It launches June 4th and it's super affordable.
- 57:17It's super cheap. And it's like stupid how cheap
- 57:20we're making everything because we're literally, we're like, we
- 57:23might end up spending money to make this happen, but we just
- 57:27want to make it happen. So that's that.
- 57:31Those are my thoughts. That's.
- 57:33Beautiful Chris with AK. You know, I'm going to, I'm
- 57:36going to piggyback off that. And 1st off, I have to say this,
- 57:40this is one place where we are not same brain.
- 57:42I will gladly talk politics. I've had mall security circling
- 57:47me with my very conservative brother-in-law going almost
- 57:53physically toe to toe. But Chris is spot on.
- 58:00This book is everything that punk rock should be distilled
- 58:05into a more fun, palatable story that that hits at all these
- 58:13ideologies that are just ingrained in US.
- 58:19And because of that, I, I, I feel like it's like required for
- 58:24me to say that this book is for everyone and punk rock is for
- 58:30everyone unless you're not for everyone.
- 58:35And that's just the bottom line. I love it.
- 58:41Well, that's beautiful. Well, thank you both so much for
- 58:43coming on here. This has been so much fun.
- 58:46I don't usually get to talk for a whole hour laughing my face
- 58:48off, but we did. So where can I find both of you?
- 58:53And also whoever is watching or listening to this episode, check
- 58:56the show notes and I will have all the links to whatever these
- 58:59guys want for you to go follow them.
- 59:03That sentence made no sense, but you guys are picking up what I'm
- 59:05putting down. Links and stuff.
- 59:08Yeah, the links and stuff. All one word.
- 59:11Yeah, that's it. Yeah, links and stuff.
- 59:13That's how you find this, honestly.
- 59:17Like I don't care that you follow me specifically, like
- 59:20just just click the link for the campaign.
- 59:22That's all I can ask you to do. That's the, that's why we're
- 59:27here. That like it's about the book
- 59:29and we want this book in as many hands as possible.
- 59:31So go to Kickstarter and back Barricade brigade #0 and just
- 59:36keep in mind like we have Google Docs that are, you know, 20
- 59:40pages long of just notes of what happens in this world and, and
- 59:45how it works. So this isn't the end of
- 59:48anything. We've barely even started so.
- 59:53Nice. What about you Kris with AK?
- 59:56You should follow Chris. He's amazing and he does one of
- 1:00:01two of my favorite podcasts, if I'm going to be honest.
- 1:00:07And and, and like truthfully, Chris was mine's my my
- 1:00:12introduction to truly indie comics too.
- 1:00:15So like me finding him on threads was like that.
- 1:00:21That's why I'm here. So.
- 1:00:24It's a big deal. Go follow him, he's great.
- 1:00:27He is and I'm. I'm going to include your links
- 1:00:30anyways, even if you say not to, like.
- 1:00:33That's bananas. Definitely check out his check
- 1:00:37out his Wednesday live. It's always fun, it's always
- 1:00:39sweet, and even if it's like a heavier topic, he still delivers
- 1:00:43it with such grace and kindness. 100% do it.
- 1:00:49So thank you so much for listening to this episode of
- 1:00:52Vigilante vibes. Wherever you're listening to
- 1:00:54this episode, click that subscribe button so you don't
- 1:00:56miss any of my amazing guests like Chris or Chris and or any
- 1:01:00other future episode. Thanks for listening.
- 1:01:02I hope you enjoyed it. Have a marvelous night.