Indie Comics, Action Figures, and Villains Anonymous | Talkin' Comics podcast #136

aj (: 00:00

welcome to Talking Comics. This week we got John McLaren with us. Welcome and hope everything's going well. And Tote Man, you've you've already got one comic out, right? Toat Man? Or is it coming out? Nine. Alright. You didn't tell me that when you filled off the form. You didn't send me any to read, so I didn't have any back ones. Okay.

John (: 00:02

Thank you.

I have I think nine. I have nine currently, I think I yeah.

no, I will.

aj (: 00:26

I didn't have any issues to like read. there we go.

John (: 00:26

I got that

that which is a flip book. Ninja Boy Bubbler and G Man.

aj (: 00:30

Very cool. Okay. Sh that's cool. Ooh.

John (: 00:42

The Argyll Avenger.

The origin of Toateman, another footbook, The Bubbler. And then this year's book is the original Toateman comic. Yeah, I have a goal of as I have a goal of two books a year. The what?

aj (: 00:52

Very cool.

Very cool. And G Man it that's with

I was gonna say, didn't Chris do Jim G Man stuff?

Didn't Chris do some G Man stuff?

John (: 01:13

Yeah, so my middle son, who is now twenty Yeah, twenty. he would hang out with Chris and I, and so he created the bubbler. So he asked Chris, he's like, Hey, can I use your characters in a crossover? And Chris is like, sure. So that's that's one of the crawl that's like one of the crossovers the G Man books.

aj (: 01:28

very cool.

Very cool, very cool. The what w you're saying you're doing two a year? Is the goal?

John (: 01:43

Yeah.

I'm my goal is two

books per year, yeah. So usually at least one will launch in May. The other one depends on when I want to launch it, but I try to do New York free comic book day. So I usually launch one then. It's also close to my birthday, so but yeah, I have two a year until twenty thirty. And ninety percent are done. It's just now in the colors tans. which is hard to hold on and not put them out because

aj (: 02:05

There you go.

John (: 02:18

Yeah. So they're all done, they're in the colors, tans. I now letter the books myself and I flat the colors myself. So then I give it to the colors, she takes care of it from there. but yeah. So the book the main book next year's launch will be Villains Anonymous, which is what the Kickstarter is for.

aj (: 02:38

Yep, I saw the Kickstarter. I pulled the Kickstarter up. So y you got thirty seven followers so far, so go make sure you notify hit that notify me on launch button. The real tote man. Villainous Anonymous, a comic book soci about society least wanted. So that's very cool. And when are you gonna launch that?

John (: 02:57

that well the the it'll be between Baltimore and Big Lick Greensboro. So at the end of September, middle of September, I'm not sure if I'm doing it before Epic Mini Con MightyCon.

aj (: 03:02

Okay.

Yeah.

John (: 03:10

Or after, so I'm not sure of that part, but it's gonna be in the near the end of September for a month. because I wanna I'm going to Baltimore. I wanna talk about it there, talk to people about it there. Big Lick Greensboro, if you guys are anywhere in the area, is an awesome show. JD's amazing. So that is October, it's two weeks after Baltimore, I believe. I don't have it in front of me. I should have been prepared.

aj (: 03:30

When is that?

it's fine. I can look it up. I got invited to one

John (: 03:42

Yeah, big look greensboro.

He's nice. He's a great guy.

aj (: 03:46

I'll reach out and see if we can get a booth. It might be too late, but that's okay. If not, we'll at least attend. I know we're going to there's one in Rock Hill, South Carolina on October tenth we're going to, I think. I think I have one a month basically till the November, December, somewhere around there. So we just got back from Jacksonville. That was cool. it was a great show for a one day show. There was a l it was

John (: 03:51

There you go.

Okay.

Nice. Yeah, that's awesome.

aj (: 04:14

big a venue, a lot of you know, a lot of big names there, which was really cool.

Yeah, I mean then we're going to Terrificon in a couple of weeks, so that's gonna be crazy. Chris will be there. Yeah, I thought okay, cool. So we I'm sharing a table with my artist, that worked on my book. So that was that'll be really that'll be fun. And you know get to we're getting right next to the home brew guys.

John (: 04:28

Chris will be there. Yep. Chris will be there.

Okay.

Yeah. T t when you're when you're doing sm the indie

when you're doing the indie circuit. Yeah. When you're doing the indie circuit, you really need two people at your table. Period. Cause and Mark Mariano's perfect person with that. He was saying we're talking about it. He's like, you need the guy who talks, which is me.

aj (: 04:47

Right.

Hundred percent.

John (: 04:58

And then you have the artist who's usually sitting there doing commissions. And they're not being rude, but they they're taking commissions so they're drawing. So I'm the the person talking to them about everything else, and then I Chris will close a deal or he'll do a signature or like a remark or whatever. So yeah. I mean to do this you need two people at your table. So

aj (: 05:06

Right.

makes sense. Yeah, I normally have myself, my daughter, and then, you know, sometimes my wife goes. Normally she goes. She didn't go to Florida with us. and she won't go to Triffcon with us. But Mike will be there. So so we'll still have three people at the table. And but the the main thing is I try not to let my daughter have to stay at the table. Like I don't force her to stay all day. it's a little different. We were in Florida, it was just her and I so we would trade off.

John (: 05:21

Yep.

Nice.

Yeah.

aj (: 05:48

You know, I'd let her go walk around for, you know, an hour or so, then come back and sit there for an hour or so, you know. And but if we have a third person then, you know, she can go roam and, you know, not have to stay at to be glued to the table 'cause I don't want her to be get overwhelmed and, you know, be just start hating going to these shows, right? So

John (: 05:53

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

No, I yes. I know that very well.

aj (: 06:14

So I'm hoping, you know, you know, it's worked out so far 'cause and she likes it. She loves, you know, roaming, you know, like what kid don't. Roaming the the h the lines, the halls and stuff and you know, getting her favorite signatures and meeting cool people and all that. So she's she's big kid at heart too, so which is fun. Now, do you do all the illustration and writing for your book or no? Okay. Okay.

John (: 06:20

Right.

Yeah.

I write. I only write.

and I hire artists from around the world. So I refuse I refuse AI. So I'm gonna that's why it takes me longer to do things. So I have people in Portugal, Brazil, Russia, Poland, Canada. I think that's the broad scheme of my artist. I I really like the artist

aj (: 06:43

Very cool.

Yeah.

John (: 07:05

He did he's doing one for I think it's two years from now. but his art styles, I mean he d actually did a cover for Villains Anonymous. So he d I have decided to make a color your own comic book cover. So it's all line art and very clean line art. So you can just take crayons and color it yourself. So that's one of the ones. So that that artist, Marcus is just amazing. He is so professional, he's so easy to work with.

aj (: 07:25

Very cool.

John (: 07:34

And it's like update, update, update. so it's like it's great. So I I will prefer to work with him for a while. Yeah. Facebook. I would go I do it I do the like

aj (: 07:41

Very cool. How did you meet him?

Okay. A lot of people say that.

John (: 07:50

writers seeking artists or comic creators, you know, and I put a posting up. Hey, I'm looking for an artist for eleven pages. my budget is this. Let me know. And people will just send you stuff. And when he came when it came across him, I'm like, wow. Okay. I'm I'm gonna stick with you. but there's a quite a few of the that are like that. Like the one who did Villains Anonymous, he's just phenomenal. he he's the one in I I'm pretty sure he's in Poland.

But he is amazing. I also have an Italy. I forgot I have Italy as well. So Yeah. They they're really good people. They're really nice people. They c they get the work done quickly. They they like I said, updates are important. Like let me know how you're doing. Don't sit in the ignore me for weeks. So I f I found my my crew. And my letter my art my colorist has been with me since goodness. Two thousand fourteen or fifteen, I think.

aj (: 08:39

Right.

John (: 08:50

Yeah, we've had a nice relationship for a long time. She's been she's been awesome. And she's in the UK, so Yeah. Yeah. Correct. I had friends do it here and there where I would hire somebody do it, but Chris taught me. He's like, just do it. I'm like, alright. So he sat and taught me how to do it, and I'm like, Cool. So I can now let her and he also taught me how to flat, so I'm like

aj (: 08:57

Okay. That's very cool. And then you do all the lettering now, you said.

Okay.

John (: 09:17

I'm in it makes the artist the the colorist in the UK makes it quicker for her. So it's Yep, I can do that. I can do those. So

aj (: 09:23

Right.

Those are two

skills I need to learn. So any any give give somebody the advi a little bit of advice on lettering. What's step one?

John (: 09:35

Well, your script is is step one. I I use Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop.

aj (: 09:38

Okay. Makes sense.

John (: 09:46

I use all three of those. So the art is done in Photoshop. The lettering itself is done in InDesi is in done in Illustrator. And then I marry the two in InDesign. So I I prefer my my templates I've set up so that I I know the exact size, pa the page size and whatnot. And then I got all my my bubbles. I know they're not called bubbles, they're balloons, they'll kill me. balloons.

aj (: 09:46

Okay.

Okay.

John (: 10:14

the speech balloons and such. I have all those in another file so I can just drag them in and pull them around and do it. He when he showed me layers and channels and stuff, it would a whole new world. Whole new world. So like lettering with you have the different layers. You have your

aj (: 10:28

Right. Layers are amazing.

John (: 10:35

your guide layer, then you have the word layer like the text layer, then you have the balloon layer, and then I have a special effect or sound effects layer separate so that yeah, it and it's just it's amazing what he has gotten me to do and taught me.

aj (: 10:53

That's awesome. I'm I haven't done any of that except writing and a cover. I did I wrote the I wrote our book, my book, our comic book, and then hired an artist and he did everything he did all the he did drawing, lettering, he did everything else. So that was nice. and then I did a cover for it, but like my daughter, I was telling you a few minutes ago, my daughter made a zine all by herself a few weeks ago and

John (: 11:04

Yeah.

Nice. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

aj (: 11:23

She kinda showed me up, you know, so I'm like, Well, I need to be able to do that. Do I? Right? It is awesome. And I was like, Well, I have to make one now. So now I've been trying to teach myself how to draw and I mean right now I'm just, you know, looking at stuff and trying to copy it, right? Draw it, you know, just to learn, get the get the flow of my hands, teach my hands how to do it, I guess.

John (: 11:27

Isn't it awesome?

It's so awesome when they show us up. I I'm all money.

Yeah.

aj (: 11:51

And I've done, you know, three different sessions so far. I'm a huge Thor fan, as you can tell by that side of the my head, besides my daughter's Harley stuff mostly. but so I've dream it I've drawn some, you know, Thor that I 'cause I read one Thor comic a day. You know, I started at the very beginning, Journey eighty three, and you know, I'm on two ninety I read two ninety five today, I think, ninety four or ninety five.

John (: 11:57

Yep. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

aj (: 12:21

So I'll like see a cool scene and I'll be like, I'ma try that. So I, you know, just draw it. I drew some at the convention they had I'll show you one.

John (: 12:27

Yeah.

aj (: 12:33

They these like blank sketch cards you could draw. And so I was just playing around. I drew like a Batman, you know, just trying. I'm not you know. And then my daughter, she she stole this one from me. I drew Joe Grant Harley. I this turned out really a lot better than I expected. And she saw it and she was like, well, I'm just gonna take that from you, which she sh you know. I was like, Well, I need it

John (: 12:41

Nice.

Nice.

I that happens to me a lot.

aj (: 13:02

And then I just drew our little mascot, Panel Ped as Batman, just playing around. so I mean I you I'm just trying to learn and teach myself and maybe make a little zine hopefully soon and you know, learn just learn to draw and I don't know that I'll get to the point where I'll make a whole comic, but we'll see. You never know. I like working with people too much.

John (: 13:07

Very cool.

I I

exactly. I also like I drew all the original characters for my care my comics and whatnot.

And then I had a professional do turnarounds for me, which is just the best thing in the in the world when you go up to an artist. I would like you to draw this character you've never heard of. yeah, here. This is what he looks like at all degrees. So artists love it. And then when I do the complex, I can give I can give all sheets. I'm like, hey, I these are the characters. This is what I want. Here you go. And it's it makes it a lot easier on everybody. So but yeah, I originally I did I originally drew all of them. I made the original action figures.

aj (: 13:57

Right.

John (: 14:02

back in the nineties. And then now I actually get to make action figures. Like I actually have production action figures now. So Yeah.

aj (: 14:10

Very cool.

You take those to conventions with you? I don't remember seeing those. Maybe I did. I don't

John (: 14:14

I do. Yeah, I have I

have the wave one is five of them. I should have put next to me but I didn't. They're over there. but let me see if I can slide out real quick.

aj (: 14:28

That's fine. Yeah, grab

John (: 14:33

So yeah, action figures. They're actually cardic and like I said, this wave one is done. So with that character, this is what she looks like out. And they are fully articulated. Well, fully articulated for the eighties.

aj (: 14:37

that's so cool.

So cool.

Right. Love that.

John (: 14:57

So

that's this is a 3D printed version. Well, a color 3D printed version. She is also 3D printed, but she is hand painted by me. So in a Kickstarter there'll be a choice. You can ha you can go for this one that's a f the hand painted or the 3D printed one. Same with like this is Job Robber.

aj (: 15:05

Right.

wow.

Pretty cool.

John (: 15:26

Complete with the backing. Ninja Boy, which I'm not even sure who's the most popular at this point. I think I've sold a few of him, a few of Milan, and one job robber. And then the man. And Toateman is I can't find him. He's packed for show, probably. So yeah, I now do those. And I will have a five a limit of five hand painted ones. And then the other ones are.

aj (: 15:42

Very cool.

Gotcha.

John (: 15:56

3D color printed, with the card back and all that kind of stuff. The Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, action figures are in. I think the the only thing I'm missing is a cartoon. And that's that's that's the last goal for me is my epilepsy awareness comic book, which started everything. I'd love to have that as a PSA for kids in school.

So a cartoon. Unlike what we had to watch with the you know, the DUIs and all that kind of stuff, this would be a superhero cartoon with an underlying epilepsy feature. So that's the last goal for me.

aj (: 16:21

That's cool.

Right.

Okay.

I did something similar with our book my first comic. It was like had a whole anti bullying message in it, so it's very you know, same kind of deal. I love that being able to do that. And now I I'm working on so I'm starting to write a instead of doing another comic at right now, 'cause I got laid off a couple of months ago, so I'm kinda looking for work or waiting for this to, you know, start paying me. so

John (: 16:41

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

aj (: 17:05

Probably looking for work. I'm going to I'm just gonna write the story in a kid's like as a like chapter book and publish it that way and then 'cause I really wanna do the origin story and just do it as a chapter book and I still sell that at shows with the comic book and stuff, put it on Amazon or whatever, and I can turn it into a comic later when I get disposable income again, right? So that's my goal at the moment is to do that.

John (: 17:11

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

aj (: 17:36

yeah, plus I'm working on a documentary. I've got all kinds of stuff I'm working on. hopefully it'll all come together. Right. 'Cause the cool thing, the coolest part what we did is we didn't just make our comic book. We actually made our comic. So we went to the print shop and we got to like pick out paper, like f for d hours. And we got samples and we got to then once we picked our paper we got to run all the equipment. We got to hit print on the printer.

John (: 17:40

Nice. Sound like me. I'm

aj (: 18:04

take it to the to the cutter and cut it, you know, the trim it and then score it and then feed it through the machine, you know, coil coil coilate it and feed it through the machine that, you know, f saddle stitch, folds it, trims it. Like we got to run like every part and we recorded the whole process. So I'm gonna do like an interview style documentary and then with clips of us producing, you know, this you know, that in there.

John (: 18:07

Very cool.

Yep. The final stitch.

Very cool.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

aj (: 18:33

So I've got the pre launch page up on Kickstarter the other day. So that's that's the next big project in between writing and everything. But what got you into writing?

John (: 18:36

Very cool.

my English teacher in seventh or maybe not in high school, I think. his name was Mr. White. So we had a project in class and what can you see from your desk? And I was on the door side, away from the window. So I made an entire thing of what I thought would be out there. Squirrels playing in the wind with blah blah blah. I got an F.

aj (: 18:52

Okay.

John (: 19:12

He said, You can't see that. I'm like, okay, but you know, I can't see anything, so he's like, You'll never be a writer. So that's that's what. Yeah. 80s were rough, man. 80s were rough. No, you can't see that. I'm like, really? I'm like embellishing. I know I can't see this, but I can't see anything but people's heads. So I made it a thing.

aj (: 19:12

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah, right? Dang. So that inspired you to be a writer.

John (: 19:41

And then in college I wrote a few st wrote a few, you know, essays and whatnot. And it's just it was fun. I mean, and I got really good reactions in college versus his his class.

aj (: 19:55

Yeah, I went to b college so this is a second layoff, big layoff I've gone through. In two thousand nine I went through a big layoff. The business I work for just closed. Like literally we were working at seven thirty in the morning. At eight o'clock they were closed. Like it was insane. And they ended up sending me back to school as like twenty eight, twenty nine, somewhere around there. And

John (: 20:18

Mm-hmm.

aj (: 20:22

College is so much easier at twenty eight than it was at eighteen. I lasted like a semester and a half. Yeah.

John (: 20:28

I agree. I didn't I didn't go either until my thirties.

Because of epilepsy I lost my license. I lost my job. They fired me because of it. So then I lost my license for two years.

aj (: 20:36

my goodness.

John (: 20:41

And I went and they said, Hey, you should go back to school and learn something. I'm like, Sure. They paid for me to go to college. I had a bus pass. They paid for my bus pass, so I got back and forth to college. In there, I did a lot of writing. I produced a video game that's actually playable. I was the first one in that college to do so, and I'm still used as an example for other people. I I I went there and th they they it was a new program and they were like, Well, we're gonna have at the end of the semester

aj (: 20:58

Very cool.

John (: 21:11

We're gonna challenge you all to who ac who could bring the most people in to look at your demo. And you can you can challenge another team or whatever. I said, I'll challenge everybody here. Everybody. I will have the most people in here guaranteed. And they're like, Well you willing to list? great. I'm like, yeah. If I don't, I get an F. My team gets an F. But if I win So they're like, Yeah, we'll do it. I had it overflowed my room, the next room, and over another one.

I had papered the entire college with come out, come see me, because the ki people who knew me, come see me in this costume as Toat Man, playing this video game. And that was enough for all my business majors to come just to see me embarrass myself.

aj (: 21:48

Right.

John (: 21:56

we had to do I I thought it was supposed to be run like a business. So I was the first one to ever fire somebody for my group 'cause I was a business major. This was fun. This was just they asked me to do it. I was a business major. I gave him a verbal, a written, then he was fired. And then I was also I'm like, We need to play test this. I wanna go. So I went to the call the college library and I'm like, hey

aj (: 22:06

Yeah.

John (: 22:21

I need to r I need to take these four machines, load this onto it, and have people come in on this day for a for a a wide thing of playtesting. They're like, What? I'm like, I'm in the video game design class. This is what I need to do, this is what I'm going to do.

Okay. Did that I had lines of people playing the game, finding the bugs and breaking things. I I had prizes from my colour shop and whatnot. So it was a blast. We had a blast with that thing and I was the first one and I'm not sure th that semester I was the only one to actually a full functioning game. 'Cause I was the lead on the game. They wanted to use my property. They had to sign releases. I'm like, you can't just none of this is yours, this is all mine. And then they had to

Like they like, well I can't figure this out. I'm also a techie, I do IT, so I fixed the bugs in the programming when he couldn't figure it out. The only thing I didn't do is music. I didn't be a music guy. But it was a lot of fun. Like it's just I've been doing this for thirty-one years. Especially with Toteman. I would go to shows for free. I would pay for it and make no money. But it was all about getting my comic book for epilepsy awareness out there for people.

Epilepsy Foundation of America found me at Baltimore. They asked if they could print out my books in color. I'm like, Yes. I ran out of those books. Cigna Healthcare I worked for. I talked to people all the time on the phone and

They would I would say, hey, you know, we're I'm fixing something. Like instead of keeping silence, I'm like, hey. But like, well, what do you do? I'm like, I write comic books in in the background. They're like, what? Like I do this about some areas. They're like, like if you want one, I'll mail you one. Really? I'm like, yeah, but let me know now because I'm almost out. Like I'm running out of these these things. Okay, I get I fixed the problem. They email me later, like, we want to talk to you. I'm like, okay. How would you like us to print it in comic book form, in color, in Spanish and English?

I'm like, yes, yes, please. Then they put it on the on their website as well. So like it was a lot and it was fun. I went I've gone to walks for epilepsy, I've gone to talks with kids about epilepsy in that costume, and it's it's just so nice to talk to the kids.

aj (: 24:27

Yes.

That's amazing. That's awesome, dude. I love that. Love comics with a story. Like with a you know, not with a story. They're obviously have a story, but with a meaning behind it, right? Or a message. Not an overbearing message, but a good message, you know? I love that. Yeah, I mean that's I mean I did the same thing and I'm everything I write's gonna have some sort of message like that in it, you know. Which is very weird 'cause I don't know. I didn't start writing until literally eight

John (: 24:50

Yeah.

Yeah. Correct.

I think so.

aj (: 25:15

or ten months ago, so I wrote a little you know, I wrote when I had to for college and high school. I did find it a lot easier in college to write than I thought, you know, they I had really good English teachers that really laid it out and told you like, this is all you have to do, you know, and I'm like, well shit, I can do that, you know? And and then it was like, yeah, here I am in, you know, my forties and like

John (: 25:18

nice.

Right.

Yeah, that helps.

Yeah.

aj (: 25:44

I wanna write a comic book. It's like, ooh, okay. And it was really Stephanie Phillips videos like, you know, this is how I do an outline and this is how I do, you know, this and I'm like, I can do that. I can do an outline. So I did an outline and then I I had a ten hour plane ride, well, five hours each way, and I was like, I'm just gonna use that time to write my script and I hear I did. And I sent it to my artist and he was like, So done, sold. All right, let's do it. I'm like, Okay, cool So

John (: 25:53

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

the middle child got me back into it. I was doing a tote man for forever. And then when he started wanting to do his own, five years old, he he was a savant. it's it's sad. He he's just s so smart.

And he's like, F five he would tell us a story and I'd script it. Six, he would tell me the story and script. By seven, he was doing it himself through through twelve years old. He'd every summer he would put a new story in there and then he would have plot holes and subplots and things going on and I'm like and then he fixed one of my p major plot holes that I could never finish the comic book, the original Tokman book, because I couldn't figure it out.

He fixed it and I'm like, in his books, I'm like, okay. So now I can do my own. But he made it so much fun. I mean, like, we would just sit together, him and I in IHOP, we would start, like, where are you gonna start it? Okay, where are you gonna end it? Okay, let's fill it in. How does this happen? How do we get from A to B? And he would just like I said, the subplots watching him grow from five through twelve is just like s astonishing.

So but he also did like you were saying, this one is about bullying. His this is our dog Ace. This one, the two older boys wrote together and it's about divorce. So they definitely do things together. Cause yeah, I mean it it's heartbreaking for the tote boy one because the two of them wrote it together because in Xavier's book that's

aj (: 27:29

Mm-hmm.

Well.

John (: 27:53

That's Xavier. That's the bubbler. That is his older his old his older brother, Dirty DJ. Well, Dave, the older brother, had already created Tote Boy years ago. I'm like, Alright, if you're done bubbler, you need to figure out how Dirty DJ becomes Tote Boy. So the two of them worked together and made that and David lived with me his entire life. Xavier was back and forth.

And then when they wrote it together, he switched it. Since Bubbler lived with me, Dirty DJ did not, and he hated me for it. That he lived with his mom. I'm like, my god, Xavier, that's what you feel like really? I'm so sorry, 'cause like Dave, yeah, Dave was always with me. And you weren't. So it was a little heartbreaking for a dad to read, but it's it's a really good story the two of them came up with, so

aj (: 28:37

Right.

Yeah, it's life has crazy ways. It's dealt with it my oldest daughter. So yeah, it's it's crazy. Knock on wood my youngest is or everything's going well so far. But she has some crazy stories too, which is crazy. So she comes up with some cool stuff. I just love the fact that she writes, she draws, she does all those things and like she's not scared to do it and put it out there and

John (: 28:50

No.

Yeah.

There you go.

Mm-hmm.

aj (: 29:16

She'll disappear and come back a couple hours later with a completed project. I'm like, What did you how did you do this? I'm sitting here trying to plan and this and that and she has no problem coming in here and she'll be like, You know, Dad, our thumbnails suck. I'm like, What? Like she's like, You need to make look cooler. I'm like, Okay. I'm like, Well then stand right there and while I'm working on So it's it's great.

John (: 29:23

And that's that's what needs to be done. Yeah.

Ha ha ha.

Yep. Yep.

aj (: 29:45

Well tell us about the the upcoming book project.

John (: 29:49

So Villains Anonymous is about villains who are just terrible at their job. It's not that they're they're mean or whatever, they're just terrible at their job. the main the first main one is Snow Globe. He is actually wearing one of those lawn ornaments that are off the front that have like the snow going. That's what surrounds him. He has styrofoam peanuts as his snow, and he's trying to steal a snow globe.

Stacy wants to be seen and heard and they mess with him. The Villains Anonymous So Villains Anonymous is the grouping, but when they get sentenced, they go to Mendel Gregorson and he has to figure out

Does management, the evil company in my in my books, want to use him or is he not worth it? So they would they mess with Stacy getting him a mask that turns him invisible. So he can't be seen unless he his notice. So the three trip over him. So he wants to help and wants to get people's attention and whatnot, and he becomes a villain because he's like, if I can't get it the good way helping people, I'm gonna do it the bad way and be a villain. And then nobody notices him. He's gone. And it slowly drives him insane because he's

Like,

what's going on? I was told to be able to be a hero. So it's a lot of stuff like that. It's just they're they're just bad at what they do. It's a lot of fun. I'm hoping to continue that one. 'Cause most of my books are like one shots. But Villains Anonymous, I'm hoping to keep going and getting 'cause there's a list of villains I have and

the action figures kinda go with that. Like you'll s you'll see two of the people but you don't know that's it's them yet. Then Stacy. Like I've actually done and since you're recording this, I'll do it in a second. I'll show you in second. But so yeah, it's what they it's just fun. I I do fun books. I don't do anything really serious other than the epilepsy thing. And then like for the Kickstarter, if you pledge for something physical on the first day

aj (: 31:48

Right.

John (: 31:54

We are making your one month chip coin for Villains Anonymous.

aj (: 32:01

That's cool.

John (: 32:02

So and then

these are the the three D printed ones will be available like I said, anybody gets a p a physical product on the first day. There'll also be a tier with actual metal ones that you know, like a real chip from AA V NA. So this has been a thing for a long time. I've been wanting to do this and just couldn't find the right artist, couldn't find the right way of doing it. But then when I met PR, man, like like I want this and

It's just amazing. The artwork is amazing. And the good thing with this is there's no risk because they're actually printed. Like I have them here. I'm just, you know, editing them. So I've one or two copies of just editing. So everything is complete except my little tweaks here and there. And all of my books, because I am an eighties child and I need to live in the eighties again. I have things like this.

aj (: 32:49

Right.

Yeah.

John (: 33:02

Saturday morning cartoons with all my friends. And then I have

You the old hostess adds

aj (: 33:12

Yep.

John (: 33:13

The old hostess ads. There's ads for Migo figures with my characters. There's ads for kites. There's ads for all kinds of stuff. My video game is the coolest ad because I took the screenshots from my actual video game and superimposed them into it's when Spider-Man and Green Goblin, I think it was, back then. When they had an Atari game. But then I did

a Genesis because that's the one I grew up with. I was trying to find if I had it in this book. Nope, not that one. But I also have, you know, remember the old ads for action figures? That's my pond out back. Like, I'm gonna use that. That'll be cool. So I have just weird like you said, your daughter. Like, I'm gonna try it. It's gonna work or it's not gonna work. So that is

aj (: 33:52

Yup. That's awesome.

John (: 34:09

The video game and there's actually like I said, all of these are actual screenshots from the video game itself. I'm playing it. Yeah.

aj (: 34:14

game. That's cool. Do you

s do you sell a game or

John (: 34:19

Everybody keeps asking me in all these interviews I'm doing or like put up on Stitch or something else. I'm like, I don't know how. I'm fifty-four years old. I have no idea how to do that. It's a full functioning four-level game. And w when I was building it, our teacher taught us, Brian told us point blank is video games are not to be an antagonist to a a gamer. I'm like

aj (: 34:26

Yeah.

John (: 34:46

Yes it is. So my secret one of my secret levels is completely blank. All you see is a background and you gotta figure out how to get up. And there's just like little platforms that you can't see. He's like, Why? I'm like, 'Cause you don't have to do this. It's hap if you happen to drop into this hole, now you gotta get out. But you're I'm like, I'm antagonizing a gamer, yes, because that's what I do. So but it's yeah, it's it's just like those little nitpicky things. It's all about the racetrack I used to work at.

All this came from Garden State racetrack in Jersey. people I met, people I worked with, just started there as a joke and the video game shows that they're actually at a racetrack and you to go through the levels of the track. So it's fun.

aj (: 35:30

That's awesome.

John (: 35:32

Yeah.

aj (: 35:33

Well cool. Well I have some fun questions. Just a couple fun questions if you want to do those. who is your first favorite superhero or comic character?

John (: 35:35

Sure.

Wolverine.

aj (: 35:43

Wolverine. Heck yeah. Do you remember the first comic book you ever read? Right.

John (: 35:46

You can't tell by the mask.

I don't remember. The epilepsy is the problem with destroying memories. So I really enjoyed McFarlane's run on Spawn. And then what the was it nine or whatever that had Cerberus? I think that's by far my favorite book. I love that. But yeah.

aj (: 35:56

Really?

Awesome.

Even today, that's your favorite book?

John (: 36:16

I think so, because of writing and making superheroes and the fact that he just said, you know, I own this. I can kill Spawn right now. All these people I I don't know if you ever read it, but like they have all like you'll see Cerberus is telling him about, you know, be being an owner of your own book and Spawn goes downstairs into a dungeon and there's like the Hulk hand coming out, Batman's hand, 'cause they can't you can't do anything with those. They're they're certain way, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't do this. He's like, Yeah, but

aj (: 36:26

I have it.

John (: 36:45

My guy can just kill me, kill spawn, and then brings him back. I can do whatever I want. So it's a really good issue to read. I believe it's number nine, but it could be eight or nine. But it was it's just it was really well done.

aj (: 36:59

Okay. I'm gonna check that out. I'll have to look for it. See if I can find it. I love the my f one of my favorite books right now that I'm reading is The Deadly Tales of the Gunslinger Spawn. I'm I love that series right now. It's probably one of my top that, Dick Tracy and of course absolute Batman, but everybody who everybody loves Batman. You

John (: 37:11

Mm.

I don't read many new ones. I really don't

r have any I'm not really reading anything new except Master Universe, because I'm a huge Heyman dork.

aj (: 37:31

Okay. Yeah. I've read I've got those. I've read the first one or two, I think. So I've been getting those. Those are good. That movie was pretty good too. I enjoyed the movie. All right, this is a three it used to be three separate questions, but now it's a three part question. If you could live in any comic book universe and you could have any superpower and have any character as a sidekick, what would you choose?

John (: 37:42

I enjoyed it.

Okay.

Dear Lord. Marvel. No, no, Marvel. It would definitely be Marvel. Superpower. Don't know. I know we always everybody asks the same always asks that question. I don't know. I honestly have no thing, but I would probably have it would have to be the Wolverine or Spider-Man for my partner.

aj (: 37:59

It doesn't have to be a sidekick. It can be any character.

Okay.

The power superpower one.

Okay.

John (: 38:28

Sidekick friends.

aj (: 38:30

Heck yeah.

You don't need a s superpower if he's your friend. Fulvey's your friend. He'll take care of it.

John (: 38:35

Right. Right. Exactly.

Everybody gets one.

aj (: 38:41

That's right. All right. If your life were a comic book, what would the title be?

John (: 38:49

O S.

aj (: 38:52

I like it.

Is there that was all my fun questions, but is there anything that we didn't talk about that you want to talk about? Perfect.

John (: 39:01

So back to me being a He-Man dork. So I am a huge He-Man fan. I have always been a He-Man fan. It was the last thing my father and I got to play with before he passed. So I made my own version of a mini comic. Complete with action figures on the back. All of these figures could have been made in the 80s because they only have a head swap. Every other part is actual.

aj (: 39:07

Yeah.

Okay.

John (: 39:30

I I researched it. Even the dog is from Big Jim Husky team. So everything. And I just and I just got his vehicle, which is kind of an attack track, but it's not an attack track. It's from Big Jim. And I'll be modifying that up soon. Like I have the artwork done for the box. Cause and tell your daughter, if you're gonna do it, do it right. Just go. So with that

aj (: 39:56

Right.

John (: 39:59

Next year there will be these.

aj (: 40:05

Wow.

John (: 40:07

So he has glow in a dark pieces. And on the back you have your action shots and your header.

aj (: 40:21

Yeah.

John (: 40:22

So

This is when you talk about your daughter trying to steal things. My son still wants that. And it's fully posable. It has the rubber band and all still. It is molded from original He-Man pieces. My buddy in Tennessee, I sent him all the pieces. I'm like, here's the here's the villain legs. Here's the torso for most heroes. Here's the hairy one. Here's the hairy arms. Here's the hairy legs. Here's the hero arms. Here's the hero legs. And then he sculpted the head. And I'm like, here's some parts for you. So he did that.

And my son still is like, when's it because these are the first, these are just the prototypes. He's like, When is the next one coming out? I want the n I'm like, you can't have the first one, you can have second one. He's like, when is it? So every almost weekly, he's like, Is it done yet dead? Is Ninja Boy Dunya? I'm no. This guy is what I was talking about, spaceball. Who wants to be noticed but isn't ever seen. So he is there's his top, all the figures.

aj (: 40:57

That's so cool.

Right.

Right.

John (: 41:26

And he actually disappears. With hot air or water, he goes from this, and the only thing that's left is all opaque except the white parts where his legs are and his arm and his thing. But the figure itself actually goes away. Like you can't see anything except that opaque look. Because again, if you're gonna do it.

Do it right. And he he he blew that out of the park. I couldn't believe I'm like, I thought he was just gonna have my tet had the chest done. And I'm like, he's like, no, no, no. He sends me pictures of it, and I'm like, the whole thing changes? He says, Yeah, except the white, because he the white's actually painted on. Everything else is is molded in that color. And that color changed color. So even the the ninja boys, same way. Everything's molded in black. So when you move the arms, there's no paint chipping because

aj (: 42:15

Right.

It's that color. Yeah.

John (: 42:17

It's not painted.

It's that color. The head moves, the arms move. The only thing it doesn't do is that spring waste. Because spaceball, when he disappears, all you would see is that inner junk. So I made a conscious choice, like, none of them are gonna have that. It's just gonna be outside. Because I want it to be a knockoff. I I I love my knockoffs. I have a huge collection of He-Man knockoffs, huge. And I'm like

aj (: 42:24

yeah.

Mm.

John (: 42:44

He's like, but I'm like, no, no, no. I want it to be a knock-all, so it can't be perfect. It has to have something. So that's the thing that we left it out. Because he he worked for Hasbro. He's worked all over. And I'm like, dude, he's I've always wanted to try one, so we're gonna do yours. I'm like, cool. So I have those two. Smokey Mountain Sasquatch and Battle Armor Toat Man will be done hopefully next year. So we'll have a limited supply of those as well, so

aj (: 43:09

Okay.

John (: 43:13

That's it. I just The Kickstarter is my first. I'm hoping I'm hoping I'm hoping that people just talk about it enough to even just get it out there for other people if they can't do it. If they if you can't pledge yourself, if you can get somebody can, I just want it to work the first time. and what'll happen is I'll just roll that into producing next year's and then next year I'll do a Kickstarter produce to the following year and just keep going. But yeah, that's that's the goal.

aj (: 43:14

That's very cool.

That's my

goal too. Use the Kickstarter to pay for the next one. That's what I'm gonna try to do. So moving forward.

John (: 43:47

That that's my goal.

Yeah, and I have up on my social media I have a I have my plan till twenty thirty. I have it listed and I have it locked in which book the main book that comes out each year. Some of them the ones that have two, there's like maybe a question mark, but everything else is like, This is a definite book that's coming out, this is the book that's coming out, this is the book that's coming out. So gets me to stick to it.

aj (: 44:12

Yeah, exactly. You got a production plan, it's amazing. And action figures to go with them.

John (: 44:17

Yeah, series two of the Star Wars I figure is gonna be all my kids. So it's gonna be Tote Boy, it's gonna be Bubbler, it's gonna be my youngest son, Bite Force, and Ace, my dog. And the fifth one will be Wind Chime, which shall come with a a sticker sheet 'cause her tattoos change based on her mood.

And you can really see it happen in the Ninja Boy book when she's doing different things. When she's jumping, there's like a kangaroo on her leg. When she's running really fast, there's a cheetah on her leg or or on her arm. So it's really cool how he he he understood what I was going for. But she'll have a sticker sheet that you can actually put the stickers on and play with. So I wanna have some functionality for most of them.

aj (: 45:02

Very cool. Like and how many of those each are you gonna produce, do you think?

John (: 45:08

right now there are twenty three D printed in color of each. And then there's ten hand painted, but each of the family members need it one, so that's why there's only five left. Those will those will never be done again, the hand painted. if it goes well and people are want a bunch of them, then I will make more. But usually it's gonna about twenty each.

There's like I said, there's five for this series and there's five for next series, wave two. And there'll be a wave three. I know there will. I just gotta figure out who those five will be.

aj (: 45:40

That's

cool. I need I need an action figure now.

John (: 45:44

There they're it well, I got a guy in Florida who is absolutely amazing. He does the the ones I hand paint. So they're the the three D printing where it's a dip and not the hot glue gun. So he makes those and they're professionally done. He models them up, he shows me what they're gonna like. And I tell him which features 'cause again, he can make it come down to the every finger joint if you wanted it.

aj (: 46:07

Wow.

John (: 46:08

I don't and I told him the beginning, I'm like, dude, all I want is an eighties type figure. Head, arms, and legs. That's it. And he he came through, man, like it was just amazing. So he molds them there. He sends me the the ten or whatever of the unpainted ones, I paint them. Then I he gives me the file at my friend in North Carolina

over there somewhere. he he go he has a three D printer and he does the three D colors and he puts them all together for me. So when I get they're they're done. I'm like, this is awesome. So that's that's the workforce. And then Chris designed the cards and then I can I can interchange the the characters, the colors and the lettering on those too. So yeah.

aj (: 46:58

How did you

meet Chris?

John (: 47:01

Two thousand and one, two thousand two, we both did Philly together. and we've been friends since just I I see him at different shows, they see different shows, and he moved here and then got more into it, and then this all I I have nine books now because I only had two. Then three because of G Man and Bubbler. But you know, hanging out with him and Smitty.

aj (: 47:12

Very cool.

John (: 47:30

And Randy Green, I feel like a bum. I'm like, I wanna I wanna do more. So they push me and they help me with if I'm missing something, or like they'll teach you. They they're they're they're awesome people. So I'm like, Yeah, so now I have nine and a a choice of doing it through twenty thirty. And I also wrote a Mad Libs book for kids with my characters, because I had to.

aj (: 47:59

Yep.

John (: 48:00

And we tested it out at summer school. I put Ezekiel into a reading program, and then I was off Juneteenth, so I'm like, Can I come in and do med libs? Like, sure. Now mind you, they're they're they're second graders going into third. And the first one was difficult, they had to learn all this stuff. I'm like, this is what an adjective is, this what an adverb is. And the teachers were just like, This is cool, this is so amazing.

The second and third one, they were on their own. They were like doing it ahead of time. And then like I would have the teacher read it 'cause it's you know, hearing an adult read something funny or messing things up is awesome for kids. So I gave her the sheet, I wrote I said, Okay, I need an adverb and went to point the kids and they would give me the whole list. She'd write it down and then she would read the story and they were hysterical. They had a blast. So that I don't know when I'm producing that because I want to have it printed.

aj (: 48:40

Mm-hmm.

John (: 48:57

With the car stack on the outside and, you know, just paper you can write on in the inside and it has to be vertical, not this way. It has be, you know, lift up this way. So working towards that, but it's all done. I got twenty five med libs done. Now I just need to get the way it's gonna go.

aj (: 49:16

Yeah. Yeah, well they say, you know, hang out with the people you wanna be like, right? You know, and if people are

John (: 49:22

Yeah, dress for the

position you want is what they always say. But I'm like i it it's it's just been so weird being down there 'cause they're in Greensboro, so I I drive down there and hang out at the Fungin. That's where that's their s art studio. Man, the the stuff that goes on there, the things that come up and like all the different everything and watching them create and watching them like Smitty do his books, Randy, my god, d watching him do art is just like

aj (: 49:25

Yep, same thing. Yep.

John (: 49:52

And you can do it that quick. But yeah, it's it's it's been a it's been a roller coaster. They're awesome people. They help out a lot. I only had that with Jamal up in Philly. He was awesome as a friend. But when I moved here, like we talked through the through email and through Facebook, but then Chris then Chris moved here. I'm like awesome, awesome.

aj (: 50:18

Yeah, I mean there a lot of comic people live around here, which is pretty cool. And that I mean and the same thing happened. Like I got inspired by doing all these interviews, right? Like I was getting jealous, like I wanna try to write a comic book, right? So I did. I wanna have a comic, you know, I wanted to learn but I learned by doing. So, you know, that's how I learned. I wanted to do it. I wanted to know what you guys went through, right? Creating. And I did it. Now I wanna learn how to draw, which is weird, but here I am. And I'm writing a kid's book. This is

John (: 50:22

Right.

Yeah.

aj (: 50:49

I don't

I don't even know myself anymore.

John (: 50:51

my my drawings I I they're out there and like they're it's funny when you when I hand it like Snow Globe over to somebody and then try to explain that with my drawing and

He was incredible. The guy got it and he he made it look so much better than I did. even like the toys. I'm like, Solomon, I want this feature. And I'm like, I don't know how to so I'm taking pictures and I'm I'm molding figures together and taking parts from He Man and like I want it to look like this. So yeah, I mean I have the ideas, I have the time, I have the passion, I just don't have the skills for some of the things, so

aj (: 51:30

Right. Yeah, I mean a skills will come, I guess, right? Like I'm I'm gonna do a zine. I'm not gonna do a full comic, you know, anytime soon. I'm gonna enjoy doing some drawing. Maybe, you know, just put a portfolio together of things I draw, put on the table, you know. do the zine, you know, see what happens. Maybe I'd like to do another friend of mine, comic friend, Colin Hawkins.

He did a cover for me for my li for my books. I'm a huge Thor fan, so he did a I'll show you.

John (: 51:59

Okay.

Ha ha

aj (: 52:07

He did he sent this to me. He sent just the he made our mascot as Thor. And yeah, so he saw he he sent me just this and I was like, dude, you have to turn that into a cover. So he did the journey into Mystery Eighty three homage cover. I was like, That's awesome. but he's doing some he does his own books and he wants me to do a variant cover, so I'm gonna

John (: 52:15

yeah, I saw that cover.

Very night.

There you go.

aj (: 52:36

I'm trying to get

big good enough to do a variant cover. It probably won't be great, but you know, it'll be something f special. So just try, right?

John (: 52:41

Hey, do it. Just try it. Cause yeah, I mean,

like, I have five or six alternate covers for Villains Anonymous. we have a retailer exclusive by Chris. He's doing me re he's doing that for me. And like

aj (: 52:55

Sweet.

John (: 52:59

you'll get fifty books with that cover and you'll have your logo on it. So if you want ev anybody, even like if you wanted to do a thing with your logo on that version and then for an additional add on because of freaking gas prices right now, if you're within a hundred and twenty miles of Dorum, we'll come and do a signing at your store. So

aj (: 53:21

So eight.

John (: 53:22

We got some things going. my buddy at Nostalgia Newstand told me that and that was perfect. Juan is awesome. He was helping I'm like, I want to do a re killer. He goes, Well how about we do he gave me all these ideas, I'm like, Yes. So Chris hooked me up with that. I got other covers from people that you know and you'll see in my updates I'm putting every two weeks until it launches another cover to see what comes out and So yeah.

aj (: 53:46

Very cool.

Yeah, having Chris do one and the retailer stuff. it's yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's my store wants to do a signing. I gotta do a signing there. Just haven't figured out the time yet. So that'll be fun. Maybe somebody maybe one person will show up.

John (: 53:59

There you go.

they're they're blessed. They're scary.

Nah. But it's scary, like and I and I don't get me wrong, I know it's because I sit with Chris and Smitty and Randy. But like once people actually talk to you, they're really really nice and want to help and whatnot. Like I've done show like signings too and I'm like, nobody's gonna show up. But people do they talk about it? Especially if your store does well enough, like

aj (: 54:16

yeah.

Do they? Sweet.

John (: 54:28

promoting it and then you promote it and what on your social. I I my goal for every show is to sell one book. That's all I need. One book makes me happy. The last one at was it AwesomeCon? No. Heroes. Heroes. my son set out a goal for ten on the first day. I'm like, dude I don't want he got to nine.

aj (: 54:46

Pieroffs?

John (: 54:55

The next day he's like, my goal's twenty. I think he got like twenty seven or twenty eight. By the end of the show he had over sixty books sold. And I'm like, What? People come back? I I last time I got this, I wanted to get it something else.

aj (: 55:00

Wow.

Awesome.

John (: 55:11

And then they do that. And then kids who have gotten the free comic book, the the Toteman epilepsy book are like, I want to know more about him. That's why the origin's there. And like, it's just it's so nice. People remember you. yeah, last time I bought this, but I want to get this this time. yeah, this It's just so and the the ones that are my favorite, I'm sorry if I'm taking too long, but my favorite is when like I forget which show we're at, but we were at one show.

aj (: 55:26

Yeah.

you're fine.

John (: 55:37

And this guy comes up with his son. He sees the bubbler, he buys the bubbler, he comes back the next day, he's like, My son wants to write a book, Mike, do it. Don't don't don't fart don't fret. Don't worry about it. Just do it. Try it. Because it's gonna bring us together, mate. It's gonna bring you together. It's gonna you're gonna have a blast. He is so excited about this lake. And he brought him back and we talked about it, how to do it, whatnot. I'm like, if you can draw great, if you can't, like I said, I hired artists, my son would actually pick. I get like here's the artist I can afford.

Pick one. And then he picked one and we went with that and then But those parents who come back and are like, This is just amazing. I'm so glad I got this. I'm so glad you talked to me. He sold one of each to a couple who he talked to on Saturday, Sunday, because everybody says, you know, I'll I'm looking, I'll back. And ninety percent of them don't. We both know that.

And I'm like, I'm trying to teach him, I'm like, it's okay. That's just something a polite way of getting to walk away. Man, the guy came back, brought his wife, like, he talked to me about this. I want one of each Anatoteman figure. I'm like, Yay. Then when I first the first figure I sold was at Heroes last year, the guy saw the ninja boy coming down the aisle and I watched him like beeline for the table. Because what's that? I'm like, I want it.

aj (: 56:45

Yeah.

John (: 57:01

I had no idea how to much charge for him. And he has an actual he that guy actually has a hand painted one. Cause I only had one made. I'm like, let's just see what happens, put it out. And I'm like, he goes, done. I'm like, Cool. Thank you. Thank you. I was so excited, man. So excited. And the guy at one of Alan's shows bought the entire first series. All five figures at one time. I'm like, Okay. It was like early in the morning too. I'm like

aj (: 57:08

Right.

John (: 57:30

Jesus, thank you. So

aj (: 57:33

That's it. Yeah, that's the thing for us is we

only have the one book to sell at the moment. And then some prints. I've never like I sold one print out of all the shows, which is weird for me. But

John (: 57:37

Yeah.

I I've

never I I think ten, fifteen years ago I sold I tried selling prints. Doesn't work. Chris and I make fun of each other 'cause of t t t shirts. And I'm like, I'm gonna bring T shirts one day. So I made G Man shirts and I made Ninja Boy shirts. We sold out. Because what I'm like, dude, I don't know, so I bought more, I had like two left.

And I'm like, you never know because you don't have the right size, not the right color. So it's it's hit and miss for that, but I'm like, I'm just gonna do it because I want to. And I did. And I'm like, I'm not buying thirty of them, I'm buying one in each size. Let's see what happens. So and then watching people change into it and wear it is awesome.

aj (: 58:06

You never know. Right.

there you go. Yeah. So I just want that's

awesome. I might do that. 'cause I have several shirts on my website and you know, we wear too, right? I haven't thought I haven't got I used to do that years ago. I didn't want all the inventory at the moment. 'cause I like I do like how my whole setup fits in the trunk of my car. and one wagon trip, right, to the to the booth.

John (: 58:29

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Got it.

aj (: 58:48

Which I can still add more stuff to still be at one wagon thing. You know, but I'll have the book. But you know, that's the hardest part for me and I just have to keep telling myself it's we mainly go to these shows to when we get a booth to advertise the podcast, right? You know, try to grow the podcast. Having the book is great. But it's like, you know, we went to Florida and we sold like three books all day, you know? So like that doesn't even cover our lunch, you know. So it makes it hard, but at the same time

John (: 58:49

Right.

Right. Yep.

Exactly.

aj (: 59:17

For the networking that we did while we were in Florida was amazing, right? Like we met some really cool people. I just can't it's it's not sustainable, right? For a long time. So I'm going to Terrificon 'cause I've already committed to that too. then we're probably just gonna stick with some North Carolina shows for the next, you know, few months 'til w we f I figure out what whatever I'm gonna do. But

John (: 59:19

Mm-hmm. Right.

Are you doing Greensboro?

The Al the Allen show in Greensboro?

aj (: 59:45

Didn't know there was one in Greenville or Greensboro.

John (: 59:47

The ult no,

yeah, Gre Ultimate Comics. He's doing a Greensboro in September, I think it is.

aj (: 59:51

Yeah.

Not in Durham in like November.

John (: 59:58

No.

No, well that he's also doing that. But he he he started to do one in Greensboro last year. So he's

aj (: 1:00:02

Okay.

Okay. What's the name

of it? Do you know? Is it like O it's not Oak City car or Oak?

John (: 1:00:09

It's not Oak

City. It's it's like Greensboro Cap. Might be.

aj (: 1:00:13

'Cause we did okay. We

did Green we did Oak City Minicon in Raleigh, which or Carrie. That was a lot of fun. Yep. And then we did

John (: 1:00:20

Yeah. I know. I was there, I saw you. That's where I saw you.

We we were on the

back wall and you were in the first row. Yeah.

aj (: 1:00:29

Yeah, we were first row there.

trying to think. We might go to their November show, I'm not sure yet.

John (: 1:00:39

The Epic Mighty Epic Mighty Con? It's in Wendell. They I it's our first year. I was I was talking about the Kickstarter to the actual store, giving them the cards and whatnot, talking about that. And like, well you g you guys want to do the show? And I'm like, Let me pull up Chris's schedule. Chris is not Chris doesn't have a thing. If you want I call Chris and like, hey Chris, you want to go to a show in Wendell? Okay.

aj (: 1:00:42

Yeah, I need to get a booth there.

John (: 1:01:06

So it's week before Baltimore. So we have we're doing the Mighty Con. He's doing terrific. And he's doing New York this year. Yeah.

aj (: 1:01:07

Yeah, that's awesome.

Sweet.

We'll definitely see him at Terrificon.

John (: 1:01:19

Yeah.

aj (: 1:01:23

Yeah, I gotta Yeah, it's so much fun. I I love going to shows, meeting people, checking it all out. But Well, hey man, this has been great. I love this I appreciate you joining me, talking about your book and the upcoming Kickstarter. I'll put a link in. And then do you have a website you sell your other books on or?

John (: 1:01:43

yeah, Gen X toybox dot com.

aj (: 1:01:45

Jen X.

I gotta get Chris on here some one of these days.

John (: 1:01:50

What's the authority you need?

aj (: 1:01:52

twenty hold on. Let me look. Actually hold on, I'll just end this. And that because we gotta hang out to let it upload and I'll grab it. But thank you again for joining. I really appreciate you hanging out with me and check the links below for all the cool stuff coming up and we'll see you next time.

John (: 1:02:00

Yeah.

Thank you much.