Latest / For All Nerds Show / The Joe Illidge Interview - What Is The Epiphany Engine???

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The Joe Illidge Interview - What Is The Epiphany Engine??? · For All Nerds Show

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us through our Patreon page at patreon dot com slash for All Nerds. Welcome
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to the For All Nerds Show. And what's up, y'all, and welcome
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really like the human amplifier one. That was Yes, I like that.
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I like that very much. This is Tasiana King d Grand That is a
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on YouTube, that's for All Nerds TV. Thank you to the five k
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followers that came through. That's why we got another show for you all today.
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But if you're watching right now, our melanated faces, we are joined
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by a third actually, one of the original four or all Nerds Fan fam
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mister Joe Image himself. Yes, yes, Joseph il aka Village of Infinite
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Urged aka Child of CoA aka The Midnight Sun aka Absolute Powerhouse aka Master of
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Epiphanies. You like that Absolute Powerhouse? I like that, Yes, I
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like that. I like that everyone knows, they know, they know Joe
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Illag's longtime friend of the show as well as an absolute living legend here on
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the Spaceship. I mean, this man's history goes on and on and on,
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as well as what he's doing in the future, on and on and
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on, all kinds of things popping. Some things he can talk about,
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some things he can't. But that's the light. You know. I've heard
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some rumors, I've heard some stories, you know, so you know,
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maybe we can sprinkle some hints here on the mother Ship. Let's see,
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you know what I mean. It's it's not what if it's not an imaginary
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tale, you know, it's for real. So that's right, that's right.
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But one thing that we can talk about is the alliterative Epiphany Engine,
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which is dropping this summer, the crossover of all crossovers. All right,
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Joe, you know, first of all, for all of you know,
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the fan fam out there, just let them know just what is the Epiphany
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Engine. So the Epiphany Engine is the ultimate Black comics crossover. Right.
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There have been a few times that this has been done, but never of
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this scale. We're basically talking about the black indie crossover event of all time.
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You're talking forty five different publishers or over sixty creators, probably over sixty
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five characters. We have a Kickstarter campaign, so this is going to be
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for a one hundred and ninety two page graphic novel, and we have some
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of the best writers and the best artists in comics period, in Black comics
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and in comics. We're bringing people like Brandon Thomas is our lead writer.
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So people who know you know Excellence, you know Hardware Season one, you
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know Batman Black and White. You know this guy's been bringing it for years
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and years. We've got guest writers like Roddy Barnes, who's slang would Khiladelphia.
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We've got Colleen Douglas. Really this up and coming horror writer. She's
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amazing. Her latest graphic novel is called Silk Cotton. We have the creators
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of Tuskegee Airs, Greg Burnham and Marcus Marcus, the visual Williamson in the
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house. You know what I'm saying. We have artists like Elitha Martinez from
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Nubia and World of Wakanda. We have Chris Crofts going back from Milestone.
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Right, We've got it, you know what I'm saying. Chris Cross going
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back to Blood Syndicate seat original og. Blood Syndicate then came back and dropped
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the mic twenty nine years later with Blood Syndicates Season one. This man has
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drawn all the top characters in comics. We've got the top indie creators,
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Lonzo Starr who does Accolade. We've got John Jennings. Tony Katrell is the
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publisher. He is the publisher of Advent Comics. Advent Comics is celebrating their
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fifteenth anniversary and so they're the publisher and we're bringing the top artists to this
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because this kind of scale has never been done before, and it's one single
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book. It's not gonna be this mini series that you have to read over
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a period of months. It's a one hundred and ninety two page story.
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Anyone who's looking at my socials or the socials of anyone else involved, it's
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Epiphany Engine all the time. Twenty four to seven. We dropped the Kickstarter
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campaign on juneteenth, so that's exactly like one week ago, and we're more
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than a third funded, So we're just gonna ramp it up even further and
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go into the second act. And this has basically been the road that started
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in nineteen forty seven with All Negro Comics Number one. If you know your
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comics history, that's the first comic book black owned publisher RN Evans and brought
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a total black team together to create the story. He only got out one
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issue because nineteen forty seven, so he's talking about a lot of racism,
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and all the printers got together and conspired to not allow him to print a
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second issue, so there was only one issue that came out. So you're
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talking about the legacy that starts there, goes to companies like Milestone when they
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dropped in nineteen ninety three, and leads us to here. So this has
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been a long time coming. This is a legacy project, and to see
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the black independent movement, combined forces with some of the top creators in comics
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period. It's an amazing thing and it's something that the fans have really wanted.
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It's this thing where people talk about it and say, wow, we
8:22
wish we could have it, right, and now we have it. And
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what we're showing is what happens when black people really join forces and decide that
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they're going to blow your legs off, all right, not just the legs
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you know, hopefully well listen, well listen, well listen. We want
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you to be able to still, like go to the Kickstarter and donate money,
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So we're going to make sure that you keep your hands all right,
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your hands can stay exactly exactly, So we're being selective about what happens,
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right, don't you go ahead? No, you're good. Thus, for
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people who don't have a semblance of what to expect, what should they expect
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from this project? So really it's one big story and it centers around a
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black family of scientists, engineers, explorers, and what happens is there's a
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big enemy that scatters the five members throughout the multiverse, and it's going to
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take all these black superheroes from the last thirty years of publishing to bring the
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family back together to this final battle that's going to happen at the end.
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So it's both a fictional story, but it's kind of like a metaphor,
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right, because you're talking about this story's you see what I'm saying. This
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story is going to be so big that it's going to take the thirty years
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of publishing that have been happening behind the scenes and in front of the scenes
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to really bring this story to a head. And one of the things that
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I really love about it is, and we all know this, when you're
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talking about comics and comics make their way to animation, it's hard to find
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intact black families. Right, you're talking about static shock, static loss,
10:15
his mom, you're talking about Miles Morales. Now when you talk about the
10:18
Spider Verse cartoons, his mom and his dad are around. When you're talking
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about the comics and where he came from Ultimate Universe, it was a different
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story, right. So when you see a lot of these black characters of
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comics, you're talking about broken families. But this family is intact. They're
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intelligent, they're potent, they're on their game. So the kind of person
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that's gonna knock them off. Their game really has to be next level,
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like we're talking Apocalypse Thanos level. And so that's why it was important to
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bring a writer like Brandon Thomas into it because at the core of this story
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there's a father son conflict and there is no writer in comics better than talking
11:03
about the relationship between black fathers and sons than Brandon Thomas. And if you
11:09
have any doubt, you just read excellence and then it's over, over and
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next thing. He's one of my favorites because he gets into the layers right,
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you're talking about doing the work, and so when he did the script
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for the first chapter, which then leads to all the character chapters, like
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he put his foot into it. And that's one of the things about all
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the creators who are involved in it. No one's giving sixty five percent or
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ninety two percent. Everyone's giving one hundred and ten percent of this because they
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know the historic importance of this port. Besides historic importance from a personal perspective,
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how what does this project mean to you? So I started my career
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thirty one years ago at Milestone, Right, Milestone was really the first truly
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inclusive on every level multicultural, I'd say omnisexual superhero universe that had a publishing
12:07
deal with DC Comics. Among many characters that they're known for is Static.
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Static would go on to have his own cartoon, Static Shock, which would
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just change two generations of lies and inspire people. Right, people that you
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saw working on things like X Men ninety seven were directly inspired by Static Shock
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and seeing that character. So having started my career at Milestone and working my
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way through Batman and seeing how comics have become more diverse and how independent creators
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have stopped asking for permission and have created their own companies and created their own
12:48
houses, there's a circular loop that happens to now for all these creators to
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come together in a way that is very reminiscent of the impact of the Milestone
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universe. And I really tell people that Epiphany Engine is basically like the Black
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Panther of comics. And what I mean by that is, you know,
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the Black Panther film is blackness, not even down to the DNA down to
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the ribal nucleic acid level. It is black through and through. But the
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thing is it was a universal story about civic responsibility that everyone could get right.
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And at the core of Epiphany Engine with all of the blackness that has
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come together to create this graphic novel for the Kickstarter campaign. It's a universal
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story about family and what families have to endure and how do they overcome that
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and get back together? Right, And that's something I don't care what walk
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of life you come from. I don't care what culture you come from.
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That's a story that you can identify with. Yeah, are you obviously this
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is impactful, right, It's clear the passion is there. It's it's very
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obvious the weight that this holds. And I just want to go back again
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just about your personal side of this for you, like, how does this
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really make you? Give me your emotion? Like, what's the first thing
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you think of? Are you overjoyed? Are you scared? Are you like?
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How do you feel about having this come to fruition? Yeah, no,
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this is a good question. My overarching emotion is really excitement. I
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am excited for people to see this finished book. Every day we're getting new
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pages, new covers, new scripts, and so that's the overarching emotion.
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Now. Of course, when you're starting something this massive, there are nerves
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because what you're dealing with is immense responsibility. Right, Whosoever takes the biggest
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risk takes the chance of the biggest fall. Right, That's just a fact.
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That's just a fact of life. But failure is not an option here.
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Right. So this book is coming out, and when it comes out,
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it will make a statement about the legacy of publishing and about how we
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can all work together for one singular effort, which a lot of people consider
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impossible. They think you get a bunch of people together and you have a
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lot of clashing of egos and everyone wants to beat the boss and things like
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that. And part of what's exciting about this project is dispelling that myth,
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and by dispelling that myth, presenting an example that others can follow. Right
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and listen, I mean being in this industry thirty one years, seeing the
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ups and downs, seeing the people that we've lost along the way. I
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wish Dwayne McDuffie was here so he could see this. I wish Robert Washington,
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who was one of the founding writers of Static, could be here to
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see this. There are people that we've lost along the way, and what
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we have to do is continue in their example. And the thing is when
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something like this happens the moment chooses you. I didn't know that this was
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going to be as big as it was. It started with a Facebook post
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by Advent Comics publisher Tony Caatrell that he did in August of last year,
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which was basically a call to action for creators to create a collective effort.
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And so many creators said raise their hands, and they're like, hey,
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reporting for duty, sign me up, I'm in. Tell me more,
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let eff and go. And so from there he began the plan, and
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he came to me in October and asked me to come on board as editor.
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And it was a situation which quite honestly, this thing called free time,
17:18
this myth that people talk about, you know, like, I'm so
17:21
happy for you. I don't have it. I don't have free time.
17:25
I had to schedule in a call with my mom today to help her with
17:27
some paperwork. Like my Google calendar is just this whole patchwork of oranges and
17:34
purples, right, But something like this I could not say no to.
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I had to carve out the time for it because it behooves us elders.
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And that's what I am now. I am an elder statesman. As Dwayne
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McDuffie was when I walked into Milestone as this wet behind the ears intern it
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behooves us to put the hand out and pull the next generation forward, so
18:08
this book can be a beacon on them and on their characters and on their
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efforts. And what it's supposed to do is when you're done reading it,
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you were going to explore these other characters and these other publishers and these other
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creators, and you were going to get access to the entire tapestry of black
18:30
publishers of comic books. So quite frankly, I can't imagine a world in
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which I wouldn't be involved in this, and I'm honored that I am.
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And so you know, I made it clear to certain people like listen,
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we're not announcing any of my other projects for the thirty days of this campaign.
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It's Epiphany Engine all the time until we're done, and that's it.
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So I'm committed to the end. And I mean honestly, knowing you,
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Joe, and knowing the work you put in in this industry, and you
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know, just in general, with blackness and with independent creators and with everyone
19:14
out there, I can't imagine the world existing if I'd heard about this project
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and you weren't involved. I'm playing, what the hell's wrong? What's going
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on? I don't know. I don't know why y'all doing this. Honestly,
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listen, I appreciate that. I'm honored to be a part of it,
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and in some dark corner of the multiverse where I'm not, I would
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put my money in it regardless because of what it represents. And you know,
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I want to give a shout out to my other partners in this.
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I mentioned Tony Katrell, publisher of Advent Comics, who's the leader of the
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project. Marcus Roberts, who's part of our team, is the co publisher
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or Second Site Publishing, and they did the Shook Horror Anthology geographic novels which
20:00
are being published by Dark Horse. Brian Hawkins is a member of our team.
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Really prolific writer editor. He's done a number of series, but I
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think one of the most popular ones is called The Vineyard, So he really
20:15
plays in the horror space, you know. And also there's just been people
20:19
throughout the community who have shown us love. Gail simone, friend of for
20:26
all nerds and just general all around great guy, Kiaren Gillan, Greg Rucca.
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Me and him go way back to the Detective Comics days. Jimmy Palmiatti,
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who's one of the Kickstarter masters, Kat Colombia, Charlie Stickney. I
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mean, we've had people from around the community, you know, generate the
20:49
win that is lifting our sales. And that also speaks to the fact that
20:56
so many people recognize that this is a pebble in the pond moment in comics
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at a time when we feel like, oh, we've seen everything, or
21:10
I'm tired of that same old thing, or at a time when you have
21:15
a revolutionary era like Krakoa and it ends and you wonder, what's the next
21:21
thing that can really get me supercharged? And when we announced this, and
21:26
when people saw that initial image by Criss Cross and Will Kintana with all those
21:32
characters fingo, that became the visual iconic symbol of the energy and the excitement
21:41
and the teamwork behind us. All right, So I have a question,
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right because you at the beginning you said this is the greatest Black crossover,
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which obviously I can't think of anything other than like say, a Milestone crossover
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that would even compare, because this is pretty historic and first of it's kind
21:57
as far as I know. So in comparison to other great crossovers and comics,
22:06
what would you say this story is reminiscent of that's fair. And just
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to mention the two that preceded it, there was one called War of the
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Independence that came out in two thousand and eight, and I think after that
22:18
there was one called The Union. So those two are smaller scale endeavors in
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black independent publishing. This is the higher scale. If I'm going to compare
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it to the ones that we know, I would compare it to Chrisis on
22:34
Infinite Earths. I would compare it to Secret Wars, okay, because which
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which is the Secret Wars? Even the Jonathan Hickman Secret Wars? You know,
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it's not the very first one by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck. And
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the reason was because those dudes did it first. Anyone who comes after and
23:00
does a spin off, well they did it first. Yes, So the
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only way you can expand on the legacy is go bigger, right, go
23:11
bigger. And so I would compare it to those because what Crisis on Infinite
23:18
ERTZ did for the DC universe after and the fact that Crisis is still the
23:23
white whale that DC is chasing almost forty years later. There is an element
23:32
to the Epiphany engine above and beyond the collection of all these superheroes is that
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whatever events follow like this, it's kind of like a mic drop, like
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can you go bigger than this? Right? It's just like when Ronald Demour
23:49
did Battlestart Galactica and then he heard that the creator of Mister Robot was going
23:56
to redo Battlestar Galactica and his public statement was good luck, because I know
24:00
what I did, I know what my team did. Okay, I want
24:03
to see you tap that. So this is going to be a mic drop
24:07
and a challenge to future generations, and we'd like to see what they do.
24:14
Scale Yeah, that's it. I an't real to get off topic.
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I mean, yeah, I can't believe they're dude, but mister Robot.
24:21
Dude always been making mistakes after mister Robot. Oh well yeah, so all
24:26
right, No, I really like that because those are obviously two of the
24:30
most iconic, you know, crossovers of all time, and it also lets
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people know what they're getting here, you know, a world where And that
24:37
leads to my next question. If someone's like a fan of Stiggy you know,
24:41
the Tustigee joint or any of these various joints in here. What Well,
24:47
like, so, how do I praise this? How they feel about
24:52
this crossover? Let's say that like where they well, the characters, they
24:56
know the storylines that are going on these time as they're going Will they be
25:00
impacted by this crossover? Does someone have to read this crossover if they're reading
25:07
a series that's independent of it, right, they this story is contained.
25:12
Okay, However, what's going to happen is when you see some of these
25:18
characters later, they will have been impacted by this in their separate you know,
25:26
publishing company. So like the first Secret Wars when Spider Man comes back
25:30
with a black costume suddenly and you're like, yo, where do you get
25:33
this from? You have to go read that exactly. Now. The thing
25:37
is, you could have read Secret Wars one to twelve, right, But
25:41
as you said, if you followed when Spider Man came back with the black
25:45
suit, when the Fantastic Four came back, but it's not Ben grimmat she
25:48
Hulk, you know what I'm saying. Then you're like, oh, okay,
25:52
I see that this had an effect. Yeah, And I can guarantee
25:57
you that some of the new characters and ideas that come out of this this
26:03
is the first time you'll see them, but it will not be the last.
26:07
And that I mean I was already intrigued by this idea because now that
26:11
you're having this huge crossover and some of these characters are bound to meet in
26:15
it in the future, these independent creators can always call one another up and
26:19
be like, hey, let's do something with those two characters who already met
26:22
and have them return in our respective series. So yes they can. Yeah,
26:26
this is really setting up a multiverse, and you have all these independent
26:30
creators doing it so they're free to use their characters as they will, which
26:34
really opens up a lot of possibilities. That's really dope. So I'm about
26:38
thank you as soon as we get off of this. Yeah, listen,
26:41
you know, thank you because you know again, not only is this a
26:45
fictional multiverse, this is a business multiverse. This is a business multiverse of
26:52
forty five different publishers. Nothing like this has happened in the history of comics.
26:59
The best you get in general are too like And look at what it
27:02
takes for Marveling DC to get together as you get are too. We're talking
27:07
forty five. So this is also about entrepreneurship, yep. And what this
27:15
says about the power and unity of black entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in general. You
27:22
have so many creators out there that are making the sacrifices to get the work
27:29
out there, and this is a tribute and testament to them. Yeah,
27:34
I do feel like I'm hanging onto everything that you're saying, Joe, because
27:38
this is igniting not just excitement, but feeling like I'm being fulfilled. Like
27:44
even just you talking about it like that in the maybe ten minutes ago,
27:48
the elevator pitch you had, Like that took me. That took me,
27:51
and I was like, I'm there. The fact that you're creating something that
27:55
matters, and yes, the idea of blackness being centered on there, the
28:00
idea of heroic blackness and characters and all the different stories that come into it,
28:04
like that makes a big That's a big deal to me, period.
28:08
And I do understand that that's a big deal when you're talking about just the
28:12
greater audience and then people who don't even realize that something like this is even
28:17
possible, Like I think that it's the it's the ideas even, and that's
28:22
that's what the multiverse represents, right, the possibilities of ideas, the strength
28:29
of going in and being able having the ability to go in any direction with
28:33
this. And I think that's what makes us even the most intriguing, that
28:37
the possibilities are there. You can't, you can't like the ideas that that
28:42
phrase of you can is just more powerful, the most powerful thing that I
28:47
think I've heard. So I really, I really like that. Yeah,
28:49
thank you, Because you know, we get enough of the you can't correct,
28:55
We get enough of the well that's impossible until you prove it possible.
29:00
We get enough of the naysayers until evidence comes to late and you know,
29:07
you talk about impact, Tatiana, and there another way this is going to
29:12
have impact is you know, when you have a bunch of comic books,
29:18
those comic books can end up in boxes and be ignored. But when you
29:22
have something with a spine, you have a book that goes on a bookshelf,
29:30
right, and that that sits here, you know, that sits on
29:37
shelves, that's on your coffee table. These are conversation pieces, These are
29:42
tones, These are tones with endurance, right, and so three years later.
29:51
The same way. If you look behind me, you're seeing these milestone
29:53
compendiums, right, of stories that were crafted from nineteen ninety three nineteen ninety
30:00
seven, memorialized in these beautiful volumes print. No these, no these,
30:07
I think these are still all in print. The third one is the latest.
30:10
But that's what thirty years from now, you know, God willing I
30:17
live that long. That's what I would like to see on people's bookshelves.
30:22
Epiphany Engine is on your bookshelf. It was this mark in history, and
30:27
it's memorialized in a beautiful package. We're not memorializing this in flimsy packaging.
30:34
Right. This is something which is meant to endure and something that you should
30:40
be able to pull off your bookshelf again and again whenever someone says you can't,
30:48
or someone says that's impossible. Right. That's what a lot of these
30:53
books are, right, That's what they are. It's like there's always someone
30:57
is like, you'll never finish, and then you do, right, or
31:03
if you know exactly or you know you don't have what it takes, and
31:07
then you do. Right. So you know, the campaign is running until
31:14
July nineteenth, and the books will be in all the funder's hands on January
31:18
twenty twenty five, which will be a perfect entry in the Black History Month
31:23
because next year, you're going to see the book everywhere. That's going to
31:30
see the book on various creator's tables, You're going to see the book in
31:33
comic shops, You're going to see the books in people's hands. You're going
31:37
to see the book everywhere. So now what you're seeing exactly. So now
31:42
what you're seeing is the process unfold with covers, with interior pages, with
31:48
graphics. But when it's physical, that's going to be a whole other something.
31:56
Can you share the Kickstarter again, that's where how people can search for
32:00
and find it. Yes, really the easiest way is if you go to
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Kickstarter and you just type in the word Epiphany EPI p h A n Y.
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Epiphany engine is the first one that's going to come up nice, right,
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and so that will take you right there. If you follow any of
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my social media profiles, you're likely not seeing anything else but this, right.
32:25
Yeah, So this is a full team effort, and all the creators
32:30
are out there with the hyperlink, but typing in Epiphany into the search field
32:37
on the front page of Kickstarter is going to lead you to our campaign first.
32:40
Yeah, and I can confirm when you go to kickstarter dot com if
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you type in Epiphany Engine, that's the first option that pops up. And
32:49
then to your point, you guys are already you're almost forty percent funded.
32:52
At this point, I think you guys need a stretch goal. I think
32:54
you need to boost this shit to a hundred. Oh well, well,
32:59
we're going to be revealing some stretch goals, okay, And we have a
33:02
thing called and we have a thing called drop Friday where every Friday we drop
33:08
a new thing that's going to be part of the campaign. So this Friday,
33:14
it's going to be a cover by again, one of the best artists
33:17
in comics, and you're gonna see it and you're gonna be like, okay,
33:22
I want that second, where's the T shirt? Right? It's going
33:25
to be like that. So every drop Friday we drop something new. But
33:30
we're about to roll out some stretch goals. There are some creators that are
33:34
involved that have not been announced, and when you see they've come aboard the
33:37
Epiphany Engine, it's like, all right, this is this is done.
33:42
We're talking about high power Legends were coming to this because they know, right,
33:49
they know, they know what's up. I love that every tier for
33:52
the Kickstarter is it's hip hop based. So like, I see a tier
33:55
for that's titled mob Deep, is another tier called protect your Neck. Listen,
34:00
you know this is per you know right up, and we have to
34:05
pay homage to the greats. These are the people that I'm listening to while
34:10
I'm working. So and that was really the brainchild of Tony Katrell. It
34:15
was his idea to do that, and I'm like, listen, that's where
34:17
I live. You know. Someone was asking me the other day because I
34:22
posted a Friday morning selfie and they were like, what are you listening to?
34:24
I said, seventies R and B and nineties hip hop. That's that's
34:30
what That's what kicks off my morning. Hey, and that said so yeah,
34:35
so we got to give respect to those dudes a soundtrack of our lives.
34:39
You know, I'm actually I'm supporting right now as we speak, clicking,
34:45
but thank you very much. Yes, yes, right, all right,
34:49
Joe, you know, before we do get you out of here though
34:52
you survived the interview segment, but we do have our infamous brat. Let's
35:00
go, let's go. It's been a minute, you know, since we've
35:02
done one of these and since you've been here. So let's see how you're
35:07
feelings are these days. All right, let's see what we got, all
35:09
right? A falcon or war machine falcon? All right? Magneto or professor
35:19
X what magneto X men ninety seven version? Still magneto? Oh, magneto
35:29
change. He was like, Ni Magnito, Come on, he's been right
35:34
there it is Eric Magnus. Lyncher has been right for a long time,
35:42
all right. As a writer The Wire or Breaking Bad? What the Wire?
35:47
Yeah? What? No? Breaking Bad didn't become a stellar show until
35:53
season three Wire with Stellar from Jump and people who know, who know,
35:59
don't know, no, no, know that the best seasons are seasons two,
36:04
Wow docs and seasons four with the kids. I mean, that's funny
36:08
thingcase. Most people will debate you about all time. In the beginning anyway,
36:15
I hated it in the beginning. Need it. You can't pull it
36:17
out of the equation and the show works. The show falls because listen the
36:22
Greek, yes, the Greek, I'm not even really Greek exactly, And
36:29
you can't have the overthrow of Avon and Stringer and the ruthless era of Marlowe
36:37
Stanfield, who gives nos. You even can't have that without the Greek even
36:45
more than that. To me, why because it's why I fell in love
36:47
with the show because I started on season two, and it's because I've never
36:51
seen them show the drugs come in and show how white people are involved with
36:55
that, and that's where that's where The Wire change everything for me. And
37:00
I also think, you know, uh, what's it Ziggy like. I
37:06
mean, he's just one of the greatest characters in you know, television.
37:07
To me, I'm fucked. You know, it's what you are, That's
37:10
like, that's one of the greatest last lines of a characters. Come on,
37:14
I mean, come on, man, don't don't turn this into an
37:17
episode about the Wire because you will not get that. But I tell you
37:21
what the thing about the Wire is. When that last episode came to pass,
37:25
you were like, I want to see what happens tomorrow to these characters.
37:30
Yep, if we can pull that off with a fiphany engine, I'll
37:34
be proud. Then you close a book and you're like, I want to
37:37
see what happens to them tomorrow? All right, Superman or Batman, please
37:45
Batman? And I love Cal, but why are we? Why did you
37:50
even ask me that? I know it was easy for you. I got
37:53
love for Cal, but come on now, no, I think I'd still
37:58
say you're only giving me no hard ones. And I don't know why Luthor
38:04
adopted doom? What Victor von do? The man went to Hell to get
38:12
his mother's soul back. Nothing Lex does will compare to that when you put
38:20
it like that, like that, ain't even got an icon of phrase like
38:28
that. Please, Lex doesn't. Lex doesn't have a nation that he rules
38:35
Latviria. Come on, that's facts, all right. Star Wars or Star
38:40
Trek Star Trek and that's and that's a tricky one because you will not find
38:46
the biggest fan of Andor than myself. But when you look at the entire
38:54
thing the both of those franchises, the entirety of the Trek has more layers.
39:02
There's there's no Star Trek show, and not even and Or does this
39:07
that beats Star Trek Deep Space nine. There is no Star Wars show that
39:14
beats it. Okay, so let and finish his run exactly because exactly just
39:22
what and things I've never seen anything else do on television. I don't know.
39:27
I haven't seen every episode of Deep Fase nine, but I don't know.
39:30
If they don't know, that's your crucial life error and you need to
39:36
rectify this. You need you need to watch the entirety of Deep Space nine,
39:40
dude, because basically they showed what war is really like out there,
39:49
right, not this sanitized thing that you've seen from like the sixties. It's
39:54
like, no, this is what it does to you. This is what
39:59
it us to you over a period of time, to your body, to
40:04
your psyche, like real real and right here, listen, I'm just saying,
40:12
still talking about well listen, maybe be Deep Space nine walks so and
40:21
or could run there, but you but you can't run without your daddy.
40:25
Did you get a walk first? Eventually the student comes back and what's on
40:29
that master to be to be seen? Said, I have no ground left
40:35
to listen an entire franchise. It's track. That's it. That was the
40:45
toughest one. That was the toughest one for real son out there, boy,
40:49
listen, listen you know you know like that's one of my YouTube addictions.
40:54
I'll be like, I need some inspiration because I got to write something
40:58
and I'll be like, Okay, let me just watch one of those,
41:00
let me just watch one of the monologues. I was watching the Marva monologue
41:05
yesterday. I'm in the kitchen cooking lunch. It almost brought me to tears,
41:09
bruh, because with home Girl says, if I was still alive,
41:15
I would get up early every morning. Darn it, fight fight these bastard.
41:22
You don't. You don't feel that tee the bit of your soul,
41:24
you bruh. Someone posted the picture, they said, post a picture from
41:29
a shoul that if you don't understand it, you'll you know, it'll make
41:31
it. You won't get it, but if you see this picture, it'll
41:34
fuck you up. And they posted the picture of them arrive, of the
41:38
prisoners arriving at the edge. I don't want to tell Tatiana, you know,
41:42
I don't want to spoil, but you already know. They posted the
41:44
pictures and I'm about to fall off crying, bro from that image. I'm
41:47
about to start bawling right now talking about it. Yes, yes, one
41:52
way out, goddamn it exactly. And this is what STO are supposed to
41:57
do. They're not supposed to be forgettable. Supposed to leave an impression.
42:00
So that's what we all got to aspire for, to leave the impression.
42:06
All right? Uh? Storm or Misty Night? Oh damn? Okay,
42:12
now I hate you, Now I hate you. It's it's it's I've been
42:16
Misty rider Die since I was a teenager. And listen, if we're gonna
42:22
keep it really real, Storm has finally finally reached the goddess status that she
42:29
has long deserved. The full potential of Misty Night has not been realized yet.
42:36
Now I am willing to make myself available to Marvel Comics to do that.
42:40
Okay, I will realize. I will realize the full potential of Misty
42:45
Night and Colleen Wing the Daughters at a Dragon because right now Marvel's been playing
42:50
rainder games with those two characters. Well but but but I'm but I'm Rider
42:54
Die Misty Night. Bro. Yeah, I love it. This actually comes
43:00
from a listener f seven patches, long time follower, a long time supporter.
43:05
Would you rather see your life turn into an album, a graphic novel,
43:10
a game, or a movie? Wow? Wow, that's a tough
43:15
one man. That is whoa And I think that's partially connected to ego.
43:22
You know, I'm gonna say graphic novel because I'm a child of comics.
43:25
Like if that's where I started, If if my story ended that way,
43:34
Like, man, that's a that's a life, that's that's the human adventure,
43:38
right, that's a human adventure. If my if the story of my
43:42
life could be memorialized in comics, so some black kid can pick it up
43:45
and be like, damn, that's what it was like to be a black
43:50
kid in the seventies who like comic books. That's what it was like to
43:53
be a black teenager in the eighties who like comic books, because as a
43:58
black kid, you were an out past and as a black teenager you are
44:01
a social pariah. Right. Everyone knows the name Thanos now. But when
44:07
I was a kidding, a teenager, I had to hide my math.
44:10
I had to hide my comics in my math book taking a four train home
44:15
to Utica Avenue. Right, So when I see people complaining about MCU stuff,
44:22
I'm like, you living in a golden age. You got a black
44:25
Panther film that literally shook the foundations of global culture. What are you complaining
44:31
about? Please tell me you have to are you are you living in a
44:36
creative renaissance. So for me, it would have to be a graphic novel,
44:43
right, I would say that way? I like that answer. Yeah,
44:47
all right, who is your first geek crush? Oh boy? Does
44:53
this go across any medium? Yeah? Of course. Okay, I'm gonna
44:58
have to say Linda Carter Wonder Woman, And I'm gonna have to say that
45:02
even at a young age, I realized that there was something just like extraordinary
45:07
about her. Come to find out she's of Mexican and Cuban descent. Wonder
45:13
Woman Wasn'tla Dina. Yeah, so she just had this special exotic nature and
45:22
you know what else, she was so humane, like the thing I admire
45:28
about Wonder Woman the most. And if I ever get to write Wonder Woman,
45:30
this is what I would say. Most human beings, most creatures,
45:35
most bipeds, what they say and what they do are entirely two different things
45:40
every day. Wonder Woman is a creature of truth. She says as she
45:46
is. That's why, if you're a writer, you don't need internal narrative
45:51
captions for Wonder Woman, because there's no second level. It's as I say,
45:58
is as I am. Now. Of course, to King gets an
46:00
exception in his present Wonder Woman series with Daniel Samperry is genius. But wonder
46:06
Woman doesn't need any internal narrative captures Batman does because with Batman there's always an
46:09
angle right, there's four angles right right. While he's talking to you,
46:16
his brain is constantly on three sixty alert. But wonder Woman is a creature
46:22
of truth. Excellent. All right, I'm gonna hit you with the last
46:28
one. If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?
46:32
Wow? So this question is always a tough one, and I think I
46:37
guess where I am in life determines the answer. But I would have to
46:40
say flight, right. I think man's always wonder fully Listen. I think
46:47
if I always having a bad day, and I could go up there and
46:51
look down from like look up from thirty thousand feet and see how amazing this
46:57
planet is, or go sixty thousand, well, I don't know if I'd
47:00
still be able to breathe with how airror is, but I think it would
47:05
just give me perspective, you know. I think I think it would be
47:10
an amazing thing. Like I don't need to be super strong, I don't
47:15
need to be invisible or read minds, but I think flight is pretty profound.
47:22
And Harriet Tubman dreamed that she could fly, you know, so I
47:28
think that says something. Yeah, for all intentsive purposes, you could right,
47:31
listen, listen, listen. One of the great liberators of the human
47:37
race. Facts, one of the great liberators of the human race. Yeah,
47:45
all right, Joe, all right, Joe as always, man,
47:47
thank you for joining us here on the four All Nerds Show. For those
47:52
of us who know our history. Like I said, you are one of
47:53
the long term I mean from the very beginning. Shout to Chris Morrow and
47:59
d Chico leeh for introducing me to you way back in the day. And
48:04
please let the fan fam out there and know where they can find you at
48:07
all right, well, Ben Tatiana, as always, my gratitude for getting
48:13
the invitation to come back. Always have fun with y'all so you can find
48:17
me. Joe Illage on Facebook, Joseph p Iledge on Twitter, Joseph p
48:23
Illedge on Blue Sky, ill Master one on Instagram, Joseph Philip Illage on
48:29
LinkedIn. I have a TikTok. I need to activate it and that's it.
48:32
And when I'm not on those, I'm doing the work. Yes,
48:36
and let the people know once again about Epiphany Engine, where they could go
48:39
to support, find it, the dates, all that stuff. You got
48:44
it. Epiphany Engine Ultimate Comics cross Over one hundred and ninety two page graphic
48:50
novel now being campaigns on Kickstarter. You go to Kickstarter, you type in
48:54
Epiphany Engine and you will see the campaign. It is running until till July
49:00
nineteenth. Do not walk, run, learn about this. See amazing creators
49:06
that you have grown up with, that you respect, learn about new creators.
49:10
This is the ultimate jam in comics. You're gonna want to be there.
49:14
Thank you in advance for your support. Word and like we said,
49:19
thank you for joining us. Joe, thank you to all the fan fam
49:21
As always, we will be back with much more on a future episode.
49:25
Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Joe, Thank you so much,