[00:00:00] Intro: Welcome to the Corner Box with David Hedgecock and John Barber. With decades of experience in all aspects of comic book production, David, John and their guests will give you an in-depth and insightful look at the past, present and future of the most exciting medium on the planet, comics and everything related to it.

[00:00:24] David: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Corner Box. I’m one of your hosts, David Hedgecock, and with me, almost always, is my good friend and editor in chief of Funtime Go, Chase Moritz. John’s out here again, Chase. Okay, thanks for filling in though, man. You’ve been a regular, irregular guest.

[00:00:41] Chase: I enjoy getting the chit chat about the funny books.

[00:00:42] David: Well, last time you were here, talked about doing some sort of deep dive about a Frank Miller thing. For a while now, I’ve been like, I don’t even know what I’m trying to describe, but in my I’ve been thinking a lot about this outsider art and some of the books that have come back into sort of the zeitgeist or last couple of years that I would say are in that vein. Guys like Landograph, Alexis Ritz, and just some of the projects we’ve been talking about for the last couple of months. But the thing that actually started me off on that whole kind of adventure was a hover by Frank Miller of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because Frank Miller’s art has really become sort of outsider-esque, for lack of a better term. Like, he’s really clearly doing something different that’s outside the norm of, you know, standard sort of North American comics right now. It’s almost an ugly style, but it has really grown on me over the last year or two. The more covers I see and the more I sort of—I don’t know if I’m understanding what he’s trying to do, but I think he’s trying to do something. I don’t disagree with that. I think part of it is age, right? Like I do think that there’s an age component here where he’s an older man now. He’s had health issues in the past. Physically, he is limited in some ways in his ability to do certain things. I suspect that there’s also a component of his current style that is purposeful. And it’s what he just wants to be doing and the way he wants to be doing things. So I’m excited to talk about the book that we picked. So for our listeners, we’re going to talk about 300, his famous five-issue miniseries from I think it was around 1998, 1999. Yeah. Eventually made into one of the most macho movies of all time, 300. But is that Zack Snyder? Yeah. Oh, I love that movie. It’s a fantastic movie. I’m not a huge Zack Snyder fan.

[00:02:33] Chase: I really like his Dawn of the Dead remake though.

[00:02:36] David: I’ve never seen it. And wasn’t the Dawn of the Dead, that movie directed by Zack Snyder, Wasn’t it written by the director of Guardians of the Galaxy?

[00:02:44] Chase: Oh, yeah. It wasn’t James Gunn script. That’s right.

[00:02:47] David: Yeah. It’s interesting that former and current architect of the DC comic universe movie universe, uh, we’re both on that film.

[00:02:54] Chase: Yeah. This is something that, uh, our, our, our, our, our, our, our, our, our, our, our, our,

[00:03:07] David: our, now was an interesting exercise for me. So I’m anxious to get into it. But before we ended that chase, I thought we’d do some other stuff. We haven’t done this in a while. The convention season’s sort of warming up. So you’re starting to see more and more like news coming out. It was a quiet couple of months there, but we’re starting to see the news wire pickup, there’s some interesting stuff already happening that I thought would be fun to share just announced today. So we’re recording on the 5th of June and announced just today, which thought was very well timed. Chip Zdarsky is going to be relaunching the main universe Avengers comic book with Marco Chiquero, which I love that combination. They did Daredevil a few years ago. I don’t like Daredevil, but I love that combination and I love them as individuals. And I’m excited that they’re going to be on a book that I will probably pick up and read. Have you read any Zdarsky stuff? Did you read the Daredevil run? Yeah, I liked that a lot. So I like this idea of putting Zdarsky and Shketl on Avengers. Um, I thought it was the announcement was actually timed very well because I get the impression from the press release that it’s going to be sort of the events that are falling out of their new tent pole storyline Armageddon. Armageddon is the lead into the relaunch of Avengers. And the first issue of Armageddon is coming out next week. So I thought that was, oh, that’s a, that’s smart. That’s actually a nice little bit of synergy that comes from the Marvel marketing team. The Marvel marketing team has not historically given too much effort to anything because they don’t have to. They control 70% of the marketplace and… I have more. Yeah, I know. It’s interesting.

[00:04:50] Chase: Now that the geeks started eating their lunch, they had to wake up a little bit.

[00:04:54] David: Yeah, they’re back on their heels a little bit. You can already tell. It’s like, “Oh, we got to start taking this stuff seriously.”

[00:04:59] Chase: I may well be proven wrong, but I’m excited about the creative game. I don’t think that this will have the sales of something like the absolute universe because it is dependent on a big tentpole event Whereas the absolute universe got to come in and say here’s just like something clean Like even if you know nothing about Batman like you don’t have to like here’s like Batman That’s sort of like the Batman, you know, like enough to be like familiar But with like a cool edgeworthy thing to please the kids whereas this I feel like if you’re coming out of any sort of world-changing Event like and I guess I’m gonna be coming to this. I actually just picked up a chip Zdarsky’s Joker year one storyline Which is collected like volume three of his Batman run and I hadn’t read any of the previous stuff So I kind of got like dropped into it and like I’m so confused by what’s going on like Colorful Batman that’s like his secret personality that lives in his mind that like got out the Joker is like three guys Or is he one guy like I I think chips at RC is a great writer

[00:05:51] David: I have no fucking idea what he’s talking about like I’m gonna top it out like I’m gonna finish it But I’m just like multi-colored Batman’s like like what’s his name? It’s like sir

[00:06:02] Chase: Nour or something the bat might or whatever is

[00:06:06] David: Sir and or okay. I have no idea what you’re talking about sir in our using credibility with our listeners by the moment I haven’t read read as it are skis daredevil and I haven’t read the dark skis Batman Yes, so Zurin

[00:06:51] Chase: Volume 3 just because I wanted to get to like the Joker story that did he added a heart I don’t want to get to the Joker story that maybe had a I are but I didn’t want to spend money in all three

[00:06:59] David: Volumes I want to see what all of hubbub was about got it got it You’re just there for the controversy as most people are these days I’m kind of excited for the Avengers. I feel like that’s a step in the right direction like putting that team back together Chiquero is was the number one artist in all of the corner boxes top 10 hottest artists for the first two times we did that. He only fell from grace recently. So I’m excited to see him on this, and I’m sure he’ll be back in our top ten again by the time that launches. Even though Marvel seems to be still getting a lot of bad press, it does feel like there are some books there now that are hopefully starting to get a little more traction. I think Ryan North on Fantastic Four is really cool. I think Philip Kennedy, Johnson on Inferno Hulk is– I really like that book, especially when Nick Kline draws it. You know, Avengers being sort of the lead title, You know with X-Men sort of not be having been that for the last 15 20 years It’s good to see that they’re gonna put a really cool team on that and I’m excited to see what they do with it

[00:07:58] Chase: None of the members of the Avengers are in the Avengers anymore. That was the one thing that was interesting Spider-Man Wolverine Daredevil like Luke Cage. Yeah, and Captain Marvel

[00:08:08] David: It’s sort of is a throwback to the new Avengers right like when Brian Michael Bendis launched Avengers with the new Avengers the image felt like I was going back to that even to the point of Jachetto sort of looks like Lionel Francis, you right? Which who was one of the main artists for that new Avengers run. I’m still excited for it. I like that. Then just stuff. And if they’re going to have echoes of that series in this new series, I’m probably here for it. Another thing that I want to touch on that I found interesting was you and I both worked on this in the past. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles number 300. They went to the legacy numbering. The good, what a great marketing play. You just change the number whenever you need it. You need a boost. It’s kind of nuts, right? They went to the legacy number of 300 and, and just doing that, they went from whatever they’re doing, which is I’m guessing is probably somewhere between 20 and 30 K a month to 200,000 units for issue 300 chase.

[00:09:05] Chase: Yeah. That’s a lot of copies of issues. And I think it speaks to like the staying power of the turtles. It’s cool to see. They got a Frank Miller cover, which loops on not only 300 and not only Frank Miller, which both loop into our conversation today. Yeah. I think it’s a real testament to the thing that kind of like Kevin and Peter. Bill, um, you know, talk about these outsider artists who turned this fun little parody into this cultural zeitgeist. It’s cool to see it.

[00:09:27] David: It’s the ultimate indie comic win. Right. I was talking about this last week. I think the only one that even comes close and I don’t think it’s close would be walking dead.

[00:09:35] Chase: I think walking dead had the benefit of like having that image logo in the corner, right? Like Peter and Kevin were printing TMNT number one themselves and like. Sending it out through the mail. as good as Walking Dead in and as proud as Robert Kirkman should absolutely be of that. I mean, I think like having that image logo in the corner is already like a guaranteed like distribution instead of sales that the Turtles guys just did not have.

[00:09:55] David: I think it was pretty rough for Walking Dead out of the gate, but you’re right. The thing that Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman accomplished was one in a million, but all credit to them as creators. And if somebody is going to make $100 million of a comic book, I’m really glad it’s Kevin Eastman because what a delightful human being that guy is, right? Yeah. and generous and down to earth never had a bad interaction with him one time.

[00:10:17] Chase: Yeah, well, and he like loves his fans too. I think in like, in a way that’s honest, even just having worked like a Kevin Eastman signing and stuff, like as busy as he is, and as much stuff as people ask from him, he’s always very upbeat. And he’s always very interested in people coming to see him. Like I think one in a million thing happened to one in a million dude, like I’ve never heard a bad word said about the guy, nor do I have an unkind word to say about him.

[00:10:39] David: I think it’s the honesty of the appreciation that he has. Like, it’s a real genuine and honest appreciation. He understands the moment. He understands the magnitude of the thing that he was, you know, helped create. He doesn’t shirk the responsibility of that. And he appreciates everybody who appreciates the thing he did. It’s delightful.

[00:11:01] Chase: It is kind of a cool throw circle, right? Like, TMNT started out as a parody of Miller’s Daredevil. And I think, like, probably not in his wildest dream from they were putting those initial issues together, did he think that he’d be getting a Frank Miller cover on like the 300 issue of it?

[00:11:14] David: - There’s no way that 19 year old Kevin Eastman was– - No fucking way, no way. - 300 issues later, I’m gonna pull a Dave Sim and I’m also gonna have Frank Miller doing covers for me. There was no version of reality where he was thinking that, there’s no way.

[00:11:27] Chase: - You gotta dream big. That’s the important thing, keep dreaming. I hope all our fun time fans keep that in mind. (laughing)

[00:11:34] David: - We certainly dream big with our projects.

[00:11:37] Chase: We certainly are. We certainly dream big.

[00:11:42] David: All right, there’s a couple other things. A few more little news tidbits that I wanted to hit. As John says, I want to bring this down for a minute. Of note, I thought was the passing of Marjane Satrapi, creator of Persepolis. Probably one of the most consequential original graphic novels of the last, I don’t know, 20, 30 years without a doubt. So ripped to an amazing creator who created an amazing work.

[00:12:05] Chase: Yeah, I’ve agreed.

[00:12:06] David: Did you read Persepolis?

[00:12:07] Chase: I did. I love that book. I should revisit it too. I think especially kind of with everything going on in the world right now, like getting that sort of groundsider, like insider perspective of somebody who actually was from Iran and dealt with the fallout of both, I think, the regime and the international policy around that in their own life. I think she did a very good job of making us remember that, you know, everyone’s human, even like people far away and people on the opposite side of you and all these geopolitical issues that we as common folk have very little control over at all. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it, but I have it on the shelf.

[00:12:37] David: I thought it was a good time to revisit as well. I’m going to pick it up and read it again here. I okay your sentiments there about the content and the quality of it. Persepolis, it’s one of the most banned books in the United States. Persepolis is. Another interesting fact was that apparently, Marjane’s husband passed away only recently as well. And so it was sort of, they both passed far too young. I thought that was interesting to note. Back onto certainly better news, we’ve been talking a little bit about Dark Horse Comics and sort of bemoaning or hand wringing about the fact that Mike Richardson is now gone and the new CEO or co-CEO’s or whatever they’re doing there are very much not comic book guys. They’re coming from different aspects of the entertainment industry and the level of like corporate speak and sort of media synergy speak coming out of the press releases around these new guys was concerning on its face. It wasn’t comforting to read the announcements that came around Mike Richardson leaving the company, but I do want to give some credit where credit is due. They have, uh, without any fighting, which is unusual. Dark Horse, the company is recognizing the Dark Horse Workers’ Union. So they are going to be able to move into arbitration and discussion of, you know, workers’ rights and stuff like that for the union. that Dark Horse or Dark Horse is now a union run company.

[00:14:04] Chase: I hope it’s as good as it feels right now. I mean, I think like with these multinational entities too, like the cynic in me feels like they accepted it so easily because they have just like worse plans for the comics division of Dark Horse now that they’re spinning it off into its own IP arm with Tomb Raider and Lord of the Rings. We’ll see what happens. I’m very pleased for the people who work at Dark Horse. I’m cautiously optimistic that it goes well. I hope any cynical leanings I have on that are completely unfounded.

[00:14:28] David: The cynic in me certainly is thinking, well, they’re just gonna recognize union and then fire all those people.

[00:14:33] Chase: Right. Yeah. And just just say like, we’re just like, we’re just making video games out of the few things we own now. Just thinking of like the big things from Dark Horse. I mean, yeah, like Miller, he did 300 there, but he hasn’t done a Sin City in a while. Is Hellboy like I feel like that’s not really a comic right now, is it? Hellboy? Yeah.

[00:14:50] David: That’s a great question. I don’t, I feel like Mignola has been doing other stuff, but yeah, there’s so much in the Hellboy universe going on. it seems like there’s always something going on around that.

[00:14:58] Chase: Like you saw you Jimbo still coming out, but it feels like the banner properties we all think of when we think of Dark Horse are not actually owned by Dark Horse. Really?

[00:15:05] David: Yeah. That’s it. I don’t know how that works with Dark Horse. I’m sure that Mike Richardson made a giant wad of cash when the 300 movie was made, but I don’t know how that works. I don’t know how that the contracts on those things work, but I’m sure that Frank Miller retained the ownership of that though. I’m fairly certain of that. I don’t think Frank Miller would have done it if he, at that point I don’t think he would be working with Dark Horse if he wasn’t retaining the ownership. Yeah earlier. That’s a good thing about Dark Horse I’m glad to read that the last piece of interesting news that I wanted to get your take on chase was Shaquille O’Neal we’re in the middle of the NBA Finals right now the Spurs are battling there’s some team in New York and Cameron It’s been like so long since a New York team has made it to any sort of championship that I forget what their names are Spurs are you know battling some team from New York can’t remember the name And I’m sure the Spurs are gonna win. I thought it was timely that Shaquille O’Neal, former NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, has announced that he is making a comic book with Archie comics, which I thought was unusual. And it’s not a superhero book. I don’t know if it’s a complete fabricated story or if it’s one based on real events. I think it’s completely fabricated. I haven’t got too much of the details. The thing that totally interests me about it, though right off the bat, was the creative team. Friend of the show, Stephanie Williams, is writing it. She’s everywhere right now. It’s so funny because I was talking to John like, I don’t know, a week or two ago. And I was like, we have to get Stephanie back on the show. She, she was nominated for the eyes and we’ve spent forever since we talked to her. I really want to catch up with her about all of her cool stuff, specifically street sharks, talked to her about all the stuff she’s doing. And then, and then this announcement came out. I’m like, man, now if I email her and hit her up, it’s going to look like I’m bandwagoning and I don’t want to do that. I swear, Stephanie, if you’re listening, that we’ve been talking about having you back on the show for a while. Anyway, hopefully we’ll have her on again. The artist for it is Ray Anthony Hite. A lot of people probably aren’t familiar with Ray’s work, but I love the guy’s stuff. He’s sort of been in and around mainstream comics for a long time. He’s done a lot of indie stuff. I feel like Ray’s sensibilities often gravitate towards doing creator-owned stuff. I think that’s where he gets his most joy and energy. I wanna say the book that he’s probably best known for of his creator-owned work is, I think it’s called Midnight Tiger. But anyway, Ray’s a great dude. I’m really excited for him to be involved in this project. I think he’s a fantastic artist, well-deserved as far as I’m concerned. I’ve known Ray forever. I don’t think I gave him his first paid work in comic books, but I was one of the first for sure. It’s kind of fun to see guys that have been working really hard for a long time get a little higher profile than they’re normally used to. And he’s done stuff at DC and Marvel. It’s just, he hasn’t done like a huge big body of work to, I think, really garner a wide notoriety in those crowds, but I’m sure this one’s gonna help. There’s one other thing I want to talk to, Chase, since we have you on the show. You and I, we run a company called Funtime Go. By the way, our listeners have probably already heard the commercial. But our newest Kickstarter is live right now. It’s our sixth campaign. We’re pushing Super Kaiju Rock and Roll of Derby Funtime Go. The new book is called Fuji Tengu Flames. We make these gorgeous books with amazing artists, like Rolo Maotta, who’s drawing the interiors for Super Kaiju. They’re not comic books. They’re hardcover graphic novels. You know, they’re 48 pages They’ve got a hardcover cover with a spine and a dust jacket and spot varnish and lay flat binding and really high-end paper production Values, so I hope you go check it out If you go to Kickstarter type in super guide you will come up or go to fun time go calm and you can link there the one thing that I really want to talk about is the superhero book that we do and the reason I thought we’d be fun to talk about because You are really more involved in that one creatively than the other projects for super kaiju and and for Miss Mina and the Midnight Guardians I write those books solo. That’s pretty much all me But for sugar bomb you and I have been talking for a while about Having you like write a book and you had come up with a couple different ideas And then you were just sitting on it and waiting waiting and finally I got tired of waiting So I was like well, I’ve got this super hero idea It’s called Sugar Bomb. And I actually wanted to get your spin on this, because it’s been a while now since we were in the same office and talking about this stuff. Can you give us what Sugar Bomb is? Tell us the high-concept pitch of Sugar Bomb. And then tell us your recollection of how creatively we came to that one.

[00:19:32] Chase: Sugar Bomb, yeah. She’s like a sort of a cynical yet funny cyborg superhero and who has a perverted dolphin as a sidekick. And they sort of live in a city where super villains and superheroes are very present, Kind of trying to carve their own little niche as they move through this insane world. It’s sort of an underdog tale.

[00:19:49] David: Oh, boy. It is an underdog tale. That is definitely the way it’s framed in my mind. The thing that I love about Sugar Bomb is the artists.

[00:19:57] Chase: Juan Jose Rip has been just killing it.

[00:19:59] David: Yeah.

[00:19:59] Chase: He did our first volume. We have a couple other ones in the tank. One with great arts, but Juan, I feel like, as quickly as he’s working on a new issue, become like the quintessential Sugar Bomb artist for me. Like he just seems to understand the world and the characters and the physical comedy more than my wildest dreams.

[00:20:14] David: Yeah, it’s been super fun. The thing about Sugarbomb is the other books that we do at Funtime Go aren’t really superhero related. You know, we consult for other companies about their work. Our other big gig is working for heroic signatures, right, on Conan stuff. And Conan is definitely action-adventure superhero adjacent, but it’s not superheroes. The other books that we do at Funtime Go, Superkai-Juu, Rock and Roll of Dark Fun to Go, Mismeen and Midnight Guardians, they’re also like action-adventure, superhero adjacent kind of stories, but they’re not superheroes. But with Sugar Bomb, it’s straight up like, let’s do superhero comics. And the thing that was really important to me when we decided to do superhero comics was to say like, okay, if we’re going to do superhero comic books, the thing that used to always bother me about independent superhero comic books was that it was always not as good as what I could get from the big two in terms of like the art. And I was like, well, if we’re going to do superhero comics, And we have to be using guys who are making superhero comic books that are like that Marvel and DC want to work with right? They’re not like they didn’t do like one job 15 years ago and they’ve never been used again kind of thing like let’s use guys Who marvel and DC have really leaned into over the years? So the first thing we do is got Bart Sears to do the initial designs like we gave him some Design description we gave him a description of the characters So Bart Sears did these amazing character designs, Sugar Bombs, fantastic, I love her. And Bart was instrumental in delivering exactly what we asked for, and of course, then some. But then Juan Jose Rip comes in and just, Juan is amazing. I’ve never seen somebody have the ability to humanize a dolphin.

[00:21:56] Chase: - Yeah, no, his dolphin expressions are the real deal.

[00:21:59] David: Like, how is a dolphin emoting, the acting in Juan Jose Rip’s arc is just, it’s next level. It’s just, there’s a reason why, you know, he’s working on Green Lantern right now, you know, when he’s not working on Sugar Bomb. It’s just, he’s incredibly imaginative and just the acting of the characters in every panel, I’ve just never seen anybody do it the way, the only guy like literally that I’ve seen that’s as good as him in character expressions that immediately comes to mind is Kevin McGuire, like, famously International Justice League’s Kevin McGuire. So it’s that level of like, character acting and facial expression that Juan’s bringing to the table in a way that completely transformed, I think, in some ways, the way we were approaching this project. I think it’s the first time we saw Juan Jose Rip draw Tom the Dolphin making some sarcastic remark and the facial expression that he applied to this crazy dolphin. I think the book completely changed for me. It went from being Sugar Bomb’s book to now it’s kind of Tom’s book, you know, in a lot

[00:23:02] Chase: of ways. It’s like a two-hander for sure. I think they both have their charms, but yeah, he is. I mean, he’s very fun to write.

[00:23:08] David: So the first story that we sort of put together actually, Bart Sears drew it. But do you remember how I brought it to the table?

[00:23:15] Chase: As I recall, I know you had the name Sugar Bomb. You had the name and outside of that, there wasn’t much. And it started like, because we used to share an office, we’d just like sit in there and Rith. And I think like the initial goal was just try and make each other laugh or make each other horrified. So we kept tossing like little things back and forth and flushing out this world and somehow this dolphin came up, but the dolphin was like a pervert. And we just like had all these little goofy bits that we just like chuckle about. I don’t know exactly when we realized like, oh, shit, like this actually is something we should just do. But I think, you know, it started very casually and kind of snowballed from just like sort of an in-joke that we were kicking around

[00:23:48] David: at a thing we wanted to put together. I think I must have had the initial thoughts of the first story too because I know that Milk Maid, who’s the villain of the story Milk Run, which is the next Kickstarter campaign we’re doing for Sugar Bomb, she was there like right from the start. And I also knew that the surprise villain at the end of Milk Run was always in my head, somebody I wanted to include. I don’t want to give it away to our listeners because it’s part of the surprise of the story.

[00:24:15] Chase: Well, no, I remember, remember, I mean, we made a Milk Maid because we were trying to think of HR inappropriate villains and what was the other one we had like I think before milkmaid we had like the nightmares who would like go around like force men into diapers like it was just like we were totally unhinged milkmaid stuck we haven’t we haven’t used the Niners for anything yet but I’m sure so

[00:24:35] David: we talked it out and I remember once Tom kind of got into the mix it really informed a lot of sugar bombs background for me because once those two characters were linked as friends or, you know, superhero and sidekick, their backstory started coming along pretty quickly from there. And Sugar Bomb’s civilian background and history and personality are really coming to the front and start figuring out who she was from there. And then I remember sort of going away and sort of plotting out that first milk run story. Yeah. Like a real rough plot. I think I broke it down by page.

[00:25:09] Chase: Yeah, we had a page by page breakdown that you didn’t.

[00:25:11] David: And then I kicked it over to you and then you just ran with it from there. And that’s kind of been our working stuff since then. We’ll kind of talk a little bit and then I’ll throw together a rough plot and maybe a page by page breakdown and then hand it over to you and then you do all the real work.

[00:25:25] Chase: No, I think it’s collaborative because then I hand it back to you and you let me know what is working, what isn’t working. We ship things around like, yeah, it’s a harmonious setup.

[00:25:32] David: For our listeners, Sugar Bomb, hopefully you’re not getting too bored by this, but it’s just I thought it would be fun to talk to Chase about Sugar Bomb because it’s a thing we created together. book called Porta Potty. Do you remember how the 3D version of Sugar Bomb Porta Potty came about?

[00:25:46] Chase: I think it’s just because John was doing those 3D comics at PUNW.

[00:25:50] David: That’s right. For the first Sugar Bomb comic book that we put out, we did a regular edition, and then we did a 3DD edition that came with 3D glasses. And that’s right, John was making some 3D comics with his company, and he put us in touch with the folks that were doing the 3D conversion stuff. I couldn’t help myself. I was like, I have to do that. I’ve been making comic books for, I don’t know, 20 years now, almost. And I’ve been part of thousands of comic books at this point in my career. And Sugar Bomb Portal Potty, the 3D edition, might be the most ridiculous, craziest thing I have ever made. And I think it’s the thing I’m most proud of.

[00:26:26] Chase: It’s pretty bananas. I love that book so much. We probably have some in like our shop, right? I don’t mean to throw this into a plug. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like if you’re curious about what we’re talking about, you can indeed go buy this. Like you don’t have to wait that I think we still have some left.

[00:26:40] David: We over print it a little bit from last campaign. We don’t have a ton on, but we do have some left.

[00:26:44] Chase: Don’t sleep on that. There’s only a few left.

[00:26:46] David: Yeah. I don’t want to turn it into commercial. So porta potty was our first one and then milk run was completed fairly shortly after that. And then we did another book with another artist, Emiliano Ordonola who did work sucks will be our third story. This will be a third one we put and Emiliano did an amazing, like that’s That’s the one that was really kind of where I feel like we really went out on a limb. Like we saw his stuff and it was amazing. Like I was like, if I was working at Marvel, DC, I’d 100% hire this guy. But he was a little more unknown than, you know, guys like Bart Sears and Juan Jose Rip. But he crushed it too, man. We’ve got some amazing guys that have been doing work for us.

[00:27:26] Chase: Yeah. I love them all for different reasons. But I think like work sucks is I think where I finally like kind of got this synergy of the superhero versus real world, like kind of issues and conflicts that they have to untangle. I think like work sucks more than more than any of the other ones is I tried to structure it like an episode of like Seinfeld with like kind of like little interweaving storylines that all collide in the end in this big moment. And I think I think it worked.

[00:27:49] David: I agree. I love it. I mean, there’s still the fight fight like it’s still superheroes. There’s still fights. There’s still crazy about like just the most insane villains, But there is a certain, I do feel like it’s the moment where we really fully realize the voice of the book. And I think the next book, the new one that we’re working on with Juan Jose Rip, which is tentatively titled Summer Fun, it’s a perfect reflection, I think, of this sort of where we’re settling into for this. Anyway, that’s Sugar Bomb. I have been really lucky to get to work with Chase on this one. I love the scripts that you’ve been putting together, Chase. Thank you. And I think the artists we’ve managed to pull in for this thing is they’re amazing. So it’s been a fun project. I’m glad we’re continuing on with it. There was a moment there where I wasn’t sure because the Kickstarter campaign did well, but it was like, oh, maybe we shouldn’t be pulling away our time and attention from Miss Mina and Super Kaiju. But I think Suga Ram has proven herself at this point.

[00:28:47] Chase: So I’m excited we’re going to keep going. Yeah, likewise with her for a while.

[00:28:51] David: Hey, everybody, it’s David. And I want to take a break for just a second to talk to you about book, Super Kaiju Ruck and Rurukduri Funtime Go, Uji-Pengu Flames. This is the story of Harmony, Lyra, Melody, Cadence, and Viola, a gown on their luck, all-girl garage band, turned Rurukduri Divas, who just might be the only people on the planet that can save it from total annihilation at the hands of giant kaiju monsters of mass destruction. Super Kaiju Ruck and Rurukduri Funtime Go is a glorious mashup and revitalization of ‘70s pop culture beats, from black exploitation films afternoon kung fu cinema to Kaiju movies. A wildly successful Kickstarter original graphic novel series featuring incredible creative talents such as myself and the amazing interior art of Rolo Maeda. The book three Kickstarter is now live. We have some great cover artists that have joined us for this one. Chuma Hill who has been covering Absolute Wonder Woman, Absolute Batman and Superman recently has done a cover for us. We also have works from Netadeas, the lead story artist for the Uncanny X-Men and of course the all-time great Jean Brothers who are the interior artists for Miss Nina and the Midnight Guardians. Go to get.funtimego.com. That’s get.funtimego.com and check out everything about the book. Also we have a very special VIP offer if you want to throw a dollar our way. The VIP offer basically gets you access to a 30% discount. And also there’s some special pledge tiers this time that only VIPs are going to get access to. And we’re doing special limited edition items that only the VIPs will have access to. So that’s git.untimego.com. Book3 Kickstarter campaign is live right now. If you have enjoyed the show, the best way to support John and I are to buy our books. Thank you so much for listening and thank you in advance for your support. Get.funtimego.com. The Book 3 Kickstarter campaign is live. All right, thanks everybody. Let’s get back to the show. - Frank Miller’s 300.

[00:30:57] Chase: - It had been a long time since I had read it before I reread it yesterday in advance of this conversation.

[00:31:01] David: - Same here. I can’t remember last time I read it, although I have to say it’s probably, you know, it’s definitely up there in my list of favorite comics of all time. Like, I love that book. What were your first impressions on rereading it?

[00:31:14] Chase: I think I’d actually forgotten how much Miller was leaning into his newer, looser art style by this stage. You look at the book, obviously the book is colored, but you imagine the book without kind of Lin Varley on top of it. And yeah, a lot of it, I think people give Frank grief for what they perceive as his newer, sparser art style. But I think his impressionistic, almost ugly in some way lines and kind of open, wide open, allowing the color to make a lot of the structure of the page. It’s not even just started here. It’s already well present in this book, which I had not recalled it being before. And then my second impression is I love Frank Miller, but I think like Lynn Varley does so much additive work in terms of making me engage with his art. I think there’s such a duo. And this is actually, I mean, outside of “Dark Knight Strikes” again, where she was doing computer coloring, this is their last full-length story collaboration with her on watercolor, outside of that one issue of “Hellenbach” from Sin City.

[00:32:12] David: Yeah, it’s interesting that that’s like sort of your first big like impression because that is exactly my first big impression. Well, I was like, I mean, I remember it, but I didn’t really remember how much heavy lifting Lynn Volley was doing in this project. Yeah. Her work in this book. I mean, she won an Eisner for it. She won the 1999 Eisner award.

[00:32:32] Chase: totally well deserved. I mean, it’s like fine art, right? Like you can see the brushstrokes. It’s so impressionistic. But but it communicates so much like she’s she’s just very much at the top of her gang throughout.

[00:32:43] David: So this is around 1999. And Miller’s already done several volumes at this point of Sin City, I think.

[00:32:49] Chase: I think by this point, he just done Family Values. In advance of this, we also Dave and I are nerds and we both own the comics journal library Frank Miller interviews 1981 to 2003. So we also dove an interview for which deals with 300 in the Sin City on at the time, which was family values.

[00:33:04] David: I love it that we both have a copy of that, just like handy.

[00:33:07] Chase: Randomly, I know. We didn’t even coordinate. Where’s that one there? So funny.

[00:33:10] David: So Lin Varley was just a true revelation in this book. I think the reason why I didn’t recall how closely Miller’s art in 300 is to his current style. The reason I don’t think I realized that was because Lin Varley in 300 is doing so much work to elevate the lines that Frank’s putting down. Again, I think that’s purposeful, though. I think Miller was perfect. And when you read the interview, I think you get that feeling as well. Frank is having multiple daily conversations with Lynn Barley about this project. When he’s seeing what she’s been doing, he’s purposely sort of pulling back and getting out of her way. I mean, that’s how he describes it in the interview. I think it’s purposeful that, you know, Lynn is sort of the star of the show, but she’s kind of the star of the show on the art side.

[00:33:58] Chase: 100% and it’s interesting to know that they were like couple of the time they were married to each other while yeah

[00:34:02] David: I’m wondering if this one broke of them though because it was only a few years later when they were I think they were divorced

[00:34:07] Chase: It’s interesting reading the um the interviews where he talks about like how How we intentionally left like so much empty space for her to work with because he knew like on the page It looks like nothing, but I’m gonna get back these textures. I’m gonna bet sky I mean he he says like I think like the copper and the bronze is like the best part of the book and I I really worked to figure out in quays to support like what she was doing with those colors It gave me a whole new appreciation for for how those two Work together because I feel like his his modern color art doesn’t his well for me because I don’t think anybody can color him Like lin varley colored him they’re trying to put this very kind of modern I think alex and clary colors in the most is a great colorist But there’s not quite that synergy there that I think you had with like miller and barley at their creative peak

[00:34:49] David: I agree entirely and I think that is probably one of the reasons why you get the strong reaction to his more recent work and you didn’t get it with 300. I think there are other things as well. I think there is a level of detail in 300 that is missing in some of his more current work as well. But it’s really fascinating how much is already all there in many ways. The other thing that I found interesting from that interview, just talking in generally about 300, he said, “This is the story that I was waiting to tell “until I knew I was good enough to tell it.” That was a very interesting and informative piece of information. Like this was his sort of baby in a lot of ways. Like this was his childhood dream fully realized in some ways it seemed like.

[00:35:35] Chase: He talks about even, I mean, at that point in his career, he’d been one of the most prominent comic artists in the industry for two decades at that point with Daredevil. Like he’d already done Dark Knight and just the homework he had to do, learning to draw crowds and learning how to render like historical places and figures in a way that felt good. and actually going to the battle site in Greece to experience it. I mean, the amount of homework that went into this comic, I think it’s very easy to miss just engaging it as a comic without that background.

[00:36:01] David: - Perfectly said. They did a whole trip to Greece with Lynn Varley at the time they were a married couple. So that part wasn’t, I think, that unusual. But where they went around all of Greece and they specifically looking for historical context for this one particular battle, which I guess was a little difficult to do at the time. There wasn’t as much information on this particular battle as one would have thought. The thing that I liked about the interview when he was talking about visiting Greece was how Greece, the island of Greece itself, educated him a lot about how all of this could even be possible. Because the premise behind 300, if it wasn’t real, is a little unbelievable, right? There’s this massive army of tens of thousands of people against 300 people. And the only reason it works is because there’s a narrow crevice bottleneck where this massive army is forced to go through. And you’re like, okay, come on. But then when you hear in the comics journal interview, Frank Miller talking about Greece and the land of Greece and how, no, that’s exactly what it’s like. It’s an unforgiving place. I was like, oh, that’s really cool to read and understand when you’re looking at 300 and makes it so much more believable as somebody who’s never been to Greece.

[00:37:14] Chase: Yeah, totally. I have Xerxes the sequel here too and I’m just like looking at the digital colors versus the watercolor. I mean, there’s so much lost without having Lynn on this project. She did so much work. What did you think of the story overall? I like the story fine. It’s a cool battle sequence. The character I thought was the most interesting even though he was only there for a little bit and I think he was probably Frank Miller’s least favorite character is the hunchback, Effie Alties. Oh right. I found him so compelling. I felt just absolutely terrible for him and the choice that he made to betray after he couldn’t go into the Spartan army and then his regret as he watched the Persians be brutal and kill men who were fleeing. Like yeah, I just I feel like you could build a whole book on that guy.

[00:37:58] David: Yeah, he’s an interesting and sad character, right? For a lot of reasons. Like ultimately he betrays his country. Like you say, it’s a very brief moment of this character, of the interaction with this character. But Miller does a lot with those brief moments to give sympathy to the enemy, you know, in a really cool way, which is really one of the things about 300 that I think puts it in a higher quality of storytelling for me. The villains have reasons they don’t necessarily think they’re the bad guys. I think the only ones who are contemptuous and evil are the Ephors the in Brent priests spoilers everybody for 300 the book that came out over 25 years ago. Yeah

[00:38:41] Chase: Yeah, if it came out before 9/11 spoilers were fair game also happened

[00:38:46] David: There’s been stories told about this for a couple couple thousand years So there’s that too, but the story, you know, the king of Sparta Leonidas is not allowed to go to war with the Persians with his full force because who are the priests of Sparta, are they like supposed to be seers of some sort?

[00:39:10] Chase: Or is it just… I mean they do, they are the priests of the oracle, right? Like the oracle… They’re the priests of the oracle. Yeah, and they have to ask the oracle whether or not they can do this battle because it’s on some sort of like religious day and… And so the Ephraims

[00:39:24] David: themselves are like these grotesque, they’re inbred and disgusting, and the way Frank Miller writes about them is they’re disgusting, they’re vile. They’re vile creatures and the oracle is you know, of course this young new by a woman who’s been pulled by the priests, you know Because they only choose certain people and of course they take advantage of the oracle in various ways. It’s all very gross I instantly hate them I instantly am a bored by them and then the final nail of that to just like oh, there’s no redeeming qualities here whatsoever is is how the Ephors take money from the Persians. You realize almost immediately that the Ephors are telling King Leonidas that he cannot go to battle and they’re using a holiday as an excuse, but the real reason is that the Persians have paid the Ephors off. I’ve forgotten that detail of the story when I was reading it. I was like, “Oh man, that’s fantastic. That’s brilliant.” On my second reading, I’m not smart enough to really get it, but there was something about the comparison of the Ephors and Ephialtes in some way, because they’re both exhibiting, you know, weakness and corruption, and they both are choosing sort of the desires of the individual over the health of the many. I don’t know what that’s about, because he’s using deformation, the physical deformation, you know, the visual of that, to sort of also describe the internal spiritual deformation that’s going on.

[00:40:58] Chase: Yeah, I feel like for me, Ephialtes, like the whole aura of Sparta is like, if you’re a child who’s born like Grunty or physically infirm in some way, they just like throw you off a cliff and kill you. Ephialtes’ parents didn’t want that to happen. So his warrior dad, Fled Sparta, became a shepherd, but spent every day raising his son to be like, trained in the art of warfare and being able to hold a spear and like identifying with Sparta. And all this guy wants to do is lay down his life for the nation of Sparta. He goes to Leonidas, he shows him the goat trail that is like the one flaw in their plan. He’s like, “Here, I’ve just like shown you this tactical spot that you should defend that I know about. I would love to like stab as many Persians as you’ll let me stab, like all I love is Sparta.” And Leonidas like looks at his body, he’s like, “No, get lost, sucker. Like you can’t hold a shield good enough.” Like you couldn’t even like put him on the fucking side or have him stand guard. Like he just tells him to get out of here. So he throws himself off a mountain and doesn’t die. and the Persians find him and they’re like, “We’ll be nice to you. “We just need you to help us out a little.” And so I guess I get where he’s coming from. Can you betray a country that would prefer to see you dead and would have killed you as a child? I don’t think Frank Miller wanted this to be that sympathetic to the character. I think it’s probably, having read the interview, probably more like, this is a weak character, you didn’t hold to these ideals, but I just found it so compelling, the questions that like, why should people be loyal to a state? Or should people be loyal to ideals? Yeah, what does it all mean? And I think, yeah, I think the ambiguity that you can read in this story is certainly one of the things that makes it worth revisiting and so compelling.

[00:42:26] David: Yeah, no, you’re right. He’s a fascinating character. I don’t think that Miller portrays Ephialtes as a villain in any way. I think he’s a sympathetic character throughout. I think even King Leonidas is sympathetic to Ephialtes. You say, “Oh, you can’t do it. You can’t raise your shield.” King Leonidas takes the time to see if FELTs can actually do the requirements of shield holding.

[00:42:52] Speaker 4: Of the phalanx, yeah.

[00:42:53] David: Of the phalanx. And then when FELTs can’t do it, King Leonidas takes the time to say, look, your dad taught you the individual pieces of being a Spartan soldier, which is all he could do. But there is another more important component, and that is that you have to protect your brother. And you’re not physically capable of doing that. And I’m sorry, but you can’t. You can’t join. But he does apologize. And he does say, I’m sorry, I wish it was different for you. But it’s not. And so, FELT’s reaction to that is to throw himself off a cliff, right? Yeah. And King Leonidas even sort of mourns him in his own way. He does. No, he does. You’re right. In a very Spartan-like way.

[00:43:31] Chase: I was given the most of Leonidas under fair shape.

[00:43:33] David: But all of that is to say that you’re sympathetic to FELTs because King Leonidas is, I think, sympathetic to FELTs. And it is tragic that FELTs in some ways is put in that situation, right? FELTs legacy, for lack of a better term, would have been better served acknowledging his, you know, what he could and couldn’t do. Not saying that you should have jumped off a cliff and killed himself, but finding another way to serve. But that wasn’t offered to him, like you said. And what other conclusion could a person come to at that point? That If a state government is actively trying to push me down, why would I continue to support that regime?

[00:44:16] Chase: Yeah. I think getting into the comic journal interview, too, I think Frank Miller does have a healthy distrust of institution and a suspicion of the people who say that you have to follow certain rules. I think Frank’s work has gotten a lot of blowback. I think a lot of work in general gets a lot of blowback because a lot of modern readers want to make the assumption that because a character has portrayed a certain way that that perhaps has something to do with the personal outlooks and politics of the creator or the writer of said character. And I think certainly while Frank’s like this idea of holding true to your ideals and this rugged individualism is something that he clearly is interested in, at least by 1998 based on this interview, I think also there’s this distrust of institutions can kind of write these like unflinching super rule following like kind of in a way like societally cruel characters without necessarily like having that be your belief set.

[00:45:04] David: I agree. I never get the impression with 300 that Frank Miller’s trying to do anything but tell a good yarn. Like he’s certainly pointing out some things, right? I don’t think he’s making any strong commentary one way or the other. He’s just saying this is what it is. There is one thing that he is very clearly emphatically stating and that being macho is freaking cool.

[00:45:23] Chase: That’s true. No, that is.

[00:45:25] David: Most macho comic book I have read in a very long time. It is macho, macho, macho.

[00:45:32] Chase: Yeah, dude.

[00:45:32] David: Just a lot of dudes fighting and sweating, man. It’s like very, very macho. Like everything is about like honor and my chest was puffing out as I was reading this book. Man, I could feel the testosterone flowing in my system.

[00:45:46] Chase: And that’s funny because I was going to bring up in the comics journal interview how the interviewer were in Frank Miller agreed described this as feeling very much like a musical or like an opera.

[00:45:55] David: I think I missed that part of the interview.

[00:45:57] Chase: Yeah, in the sense that like Frank even talked about like how classical music was like the playlist of this comic and how it like unfolds and movements and there are these individual characters that like come out before like going back into the fold and there are these grand moments and it’s not like the storytelling is very like fluid and lyrical in a way and it’s less it’s less focused on the intricacies of these politics or the exact battle tactics as it is kind of these broad movements across like the glorious white format that he chose to do it in.

[00:46:22] David: That totally makes sense. I totally see that in that description. I see the musical influences in the art and the story.

[00:46:29] Chase: A macho musical with music. 100%.

[00:46:31] David: Classical music is very macho, dude. I don’t know about you, but very, very macho.

[00:46:36] Chase: I admittedly don’t listen to a lot of classical music. It’s not to my bad music taste.

[00:46:40] David: It’s great for your brain. It’s a healthy thing to do for your brain.

[00:46:44] Chase: I want to listen to stuff that sounds like inmates howling in an asylum, machine noise or like Morrissey.

[00:46:49] David: Our listeners think that you’re joking right now, but you’re absolutely not joking.

[00:46:52] Chase: I’m deadly serious.

[00:46:53] David: I know. I know this about you. If anybody wants to hear some of the music that Chase makes, Google the gruesome details.

[00:47:01] Chase: We are on Spotify. Oh, you’re on Spotify now? Yeah, the gruesome details are on Spotify.

[00:47:05] David: Oh, I didn’t know that. I think I’ll list you on SoundCloud.

[00:47:09] Chase: And I think Peloton.

[00:47:10] David: Peloton? ride your peloton bike and listen to the gruesome details? Fantastic. Not to turn this into a commercial again. Look, we’re doing a lot of creative stuff. It’s okay for us to talk better as well. Here’s what I wanted to talk about. There are a couple lines in this book that are, again, the most macho lines ever. But man, there are some killer lines. Frank Miller wrote the hell. It’s a very sparsely written book, in my opinion. It’s a quick read. There’s not a ton of dialogue being exchanged, and everything is sort of grand, sweeping gestures. There’s not a ton of panels. The panel count’s very low in this. All the pages are double page spreads, and they’re in this wide landscape double page spread. So it’s almost like twice a double page spread in some ways, the format. So it’s a quicker read because of the low word count and the low panel count. There’s a line in here and this, and I want to bring this up because I found it fascinating. At some point, a Persian messenger boasts that the Persian army is so vast and its archers are so numerous that our arrows will blot out the sun. Yeah. The response to that is, then we will fight in the shade. And I was like, oh my god, that’s amazing. That is an amazing line. And I don’t think Frank Miller wrote that. I think that is from the original historical story, Like the original counts of the story, the Greek historian Herodotus, when he’s telling his account of the Battle of Thermopylae, is the one that used that dialogue piece. So I think Frank pulled that from the actual original historical count of this battle. And I think that’s amazing. That is a quote that deserves to live for 2,500 years.

[00:48:55] Chase: It’s very cool. Very badass. Or like when the guy like loses his eye and he says, “Oh, like the Lord granted me a spare.” Like that shit. Yeah, it was so fucking perfect. I just loved it. There’s another great line in here

[00:49:07] David: Go tell the Spartans passerby that here by Spartans law we lie I was like, oh man, that’s such a great line I love that line of the book and then if you go to Where the 300 battle takes place in physical Greece because this is a fictional retelling of a historical event that actually happened When you go to Greece, they have put a monument to this battle in the area where it was fought But the area looks very different now, according to Frank Miller, because over time, earthquakes and stuff have dramatically changed the landscape. So from what Frank says in the interview, you don’t have a good sense of what the actual battlefield really looked like. But there’s a plaque there that essentially has that phrase, “Go tell the Spartans passer by that hereby Spartan law we lie.” And that is on a plaque in the ground at the site of the battle or a version of that. I think Frank Miller may have adapted it slightly. But I thought that was fascinating too. It was like another one of the best lines in the whole comic book for me was another one that he took from a historical record.

[00:50:12] Chase: Yeah, I found it. It’s just an eye. The God saw fit degrades me with a spare.

[00:50:16] David: That line’s so good that I think it’s in the movie, made a movie too.

[00:50:19] Chase: Yeah, it made the movie. It totally made the movie.

[00:50:21] David: Did you like the movie? I did like the movie. I really liked that movie. Again, it just feels like a super macho movie and I’m super fun to watch it. I liked it a lot.

[00:50:30] Chase: It definitely added all this palace intrigue back home, I think. After Leonidas leaves Sparta, we never see Sparta again, but that’s not the case with the movie. It does show some of the machinations of the political plot, but I think as far as the battle goes and that unfolding, yeah, it’s pretty much just straight to the comic.

[00:50:46] David: Anything else that we should touch on for this book, Chase?

[00:50:48] Chase: It was a fun discussion. It was nice to revisit and do this deep dive. I’m really happy to have had the interview because I think like you know going into this like kind of hearing his own homework and thought process behind this made it a really kind of exciting way to look at this comic. I think Frank kind of put it interestingly like at this point in his career like they did ask him like are you like a mainstream guy or are you like an independent guy and he kind of exists in his own world right like he was not doing like the mainstream superhero stuff anymore but he also doesn’t neatly fit into like what people thought of as like he’s not like a Dan Clowes or like like the Hernandez brothers both of whom He seems to appreciate quite a bit, but he himself acknowledges that his work is not focused on the the same sort of gray areas They’re interested on like he is very interested in making these kind of like black and white like kind of morality plays I think part of the staying power of Frank Miller is he does sort of exist in his own like little world, right? Like nobody else is doing it like him his artistic voice and writing voice is so distinctive that you can’t mistake him for anyone else You know love him or hate him I don’t think anyone can doubt that Frank Miller has sort of spent especially the back half of his career pursuing projects that were totally faithful to his own like highly idiosyncratic creative vision.

[00:51:52] David: Well there you go, I couldn’t say it better and I won’t. Thanks everybody for listening to our little chat about 300. Definitely recommend it. If you haven’t read 300 by Frank Miller, go out and grab it right away. It’s definitely worth your time.

[00:52:05] Chase: Go to any used bookstore in America and you might find it.

[00:52:09] David: Yeah and there’s some great collected versions of it with some cool back matter. The ones that I was looking at were just the original 5-issue miniseries, that’s what I was reading. But there’s some great collections out there with some cool extras. Definitely highly recommend it. It’s actually a great place if you’ve never read a Frank Frank Miller book. I think it’s a great place to start reading Frank Miller because you can go forward or backward in time from 300 and I think still get a really cool measure of the creator no matter which direction you go. It’s sort of perfectly placed in the center of his career, at least as it stands right now. You know what else this accident did that I really liked? And I don’t think anybody else likes it.

[00:52:58] Chase: The Watchmen?

[00:52:58] David: Does nobody like Watchmen? The movie. I liked it. Fine.

[00:53:01] Chase: What is it?

[00:53:03] David: Sucker Punch. You ever see that movie?

[00:53:05] Chase: I saw the first half of Sucker Punch while I was in Beijing, furiously finishing like fruit beers because a car was coming to take me to the airport at like 730 in the morning.

[00:53:15] David: Oh, maybe fair shake it deserved.

[00:53:17] Chase: No, I didn’t get it. Didn’t get the fair shake it deserved. I was pretty, I was pretty off my gourd.

[00:53:21] David: You should watch it because I think I’ve spent most of the last two years with all the stuff that we’ve been doing at Funtime Go trying to recreate the soccer punch movie. Yes. I’m going to have to see Army in the Dead. I think I’m going to have to check that out. I’m not a horror guy, so I just never do that. But I am interested in that movie because I heard so many cool things about it.

[00:53:39] Chase: I am a horror guy. It’s pretty gruesome at parts, but yeah.

[00:53:42] David: Did you ever watch the movie 300 Rise of an Empire? The sequel? Did you ever see that?

[00:53:48] Chase: No, I totally missed it.

[00:53:49] David: Yeah, I didn’t either. I wonder what-

[00:53:51] Chase: It’s a movie that didn’t need a sequel, right? Like, everyone dies at the end. Like, I don’t like- Spoiler! Like, oh, like, you build this relationship with like these epic characters who all died in like a blaze of glory. Like, do you want to see the shit that happened after? It’s like, no, I’m okay. Yeah.

[00:54:10] David: Something decent happened.

[00:54:11] Chase: It’s a little like making the passion of the Christ too. Like what are we doing here? The resurrection of the Christ coming in 2027.

[00:54:17] David: All right. Well, you’ve heard of your first people. Mel Gibson is back. So thank you dear listener for listening in. I hope you got something out of the 300 discussion. Again, if you haven’t read that book, definitely recommend it. Go out and pick that up along with all the other stuff we’ve been recommending lately. John will be back next week and we do have a guest next week. we’re going to be interviewing a legendary comic book artist, Bart Sears. There’s so much synergy in this episode.

[00:54:44] Chase: It worked my best. I very much like that, man.

[00:54:47] David: The reason Bart’s coming on, though, is because John recently found, you probably don’t know about this, but do you remember the “Bruits and Babes,” Bart Sears’ “Bruits and Babes” comic book that he put out from a company called Ominous Press, which was his company in the mid-90s?

[00:55:04] Chase: Yeah, that was like the “How’d it grow,” right?

[00:55:06] David: Yes, the Brutes and Babes was in Wizard Magazine as the how to draw, but he actually created a comic book series with stories using those characters and a bunch of other characters out of a company called Ominous Press that was his company. And the first book that they put out from Ominous Press was called It Begins. It featured Brute and Babe, the characters that were kind of famous at that moment from Wizard Magazine. But the cool and amazing thing about this particular book is that it wasn’t a comic book chase. It was a series of oversized trading cards, basically in a comic book size that told the story but instead of it being a comic book, it was all these giant cards in this plastic like sleeve and they called it a monument edition. It is so amazing. craziest thing I’ve ever seen in terms of like how to launch a comic book because it’s it’s just wild though the choices made here were incredibly crazy I can’t wait and Bart has agreed thank you dear Kirby Bart has agreed to come on the show and talk to us about ominous press and specifically about why this monument comic man why did you decide to do it this way dying to talk to him so we’re gonna do that next week so we’ll have that coming up for you dear listener Hopefully you’re as excited about that as I am, man. Mid-90s comic books, baby.

[00:56:33] Chase: - Excellent.

[00:56:34] David: - Thanks, everybody, for listening, and we’ll be back with more nonsense next week. Bye!

[00:56:38] Outro: This has been the Corner Box with David and John. Please take a moment and give us a five-star rating. It really helps. And join us again next week for another dive into the wonderful world of comics.