Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo talk Afterlift from ComiXology Originals!

Kenric Chip and Jason

kenric: [00:00:00] All right guys, we are back and today on the show. Super, super lucky because one, we have Jason Lu, one of.

[00:00:10] Well, dude, your artwork on pitiful is amazing. And I know the work that you have coming out has been glorious. So thank you for coming on. And we have chips, chip ski who you guys know. Well, my first foray from chip is reading sex criminals that he did with Matt faction. So fractions. So guys. Thank you so much for coming on.

[00:00:35] Chip: [00:00:35] Hey, thanks for having

[00:00:36] Jason: [00:00:36] us.

[00:00:37] kenric: [00:00:37] Yeah, man, this is awesome. And you guys have, I have a whole new original graphic novel. OGN always makes me laugh. Just the, just the way it sounds, but. You guys have a new one out after lift? I got done reading it the other day. Thank you so much for the preview copy. That was really cool of you and man.

[00:00:57] Talk about a lot of fun. How did this project come about?

[00:01:01] Chip: [00:01:01] Oh, cool. Thanks. It’s not even really an OGM at this point because we did release a digitally through COVID solid. So it’s more just a GM, I guess.

[00:01:12] I don’t know what makes something original, but well, I mean, it started Wisconsin solidly, so chip Mosher, who’s kind of the editorial head there. I’ve been talking to him for a long time about possibly doing a project with them. And I was finding myself a little frustrated with how long it takes with print comics.

[00:01:29] And I kind of wanted to do something where I could write it, someone could illustrate it and we can get it out fast in, in a, in a more colorful format. And so I just needed a project to do and Around that time. I ended up watching a collateral, which is the Michael Mann movie with Tom cruise and Jamie Fox.

[00:01:50] I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it. I was watching for research on another comic. I write daredevils. Not for the story, but for the color palette, because I was trying to get across what I wanted, like a hot summer night to look like. And I remember it looking really awesome. And so, you know, I had to watching the whole thing.

[00:02:07] I was like, Oh man, it’s like, you know, Tom cruise is like the devil in the back of this guy’s cab. And I was like, Oh, what if he was actually the devil? And, and kind of around the same time it was Doing some mythology research and coming across a chair on, and the river sticks, you know, crossing over into the afterlife.

[00:02:27] And I was thinking, well, what would the modern version of that be? And of course it would be, you know, Uber or Lyft or one of the other kind of gig economy driving services. And so all these things just kind of like collided together. So you get the, kind of the basic idea. And so I approached Jason because Jason I’ve known for years in Toronto.

[00:02:47]He’s an amazing illustrator. He used to intern at my studio. And you know, you mentioned pitiful human lizard before, which is an outstanding comic. And I knew Jason was a talented fast professional and a, and a great guy. So I reached out to him to illustrate it. Oh, shucks.

[00:03:08] kenric: [00:03:08] That’s awesome. So, Jason, when Chip’s calling you to say, got an idea, I really want your help.

[00:03:13] What was your first reaction?

[00:03:15] Jason: [00:03:15] Well before that like I, I finished wrapping up pinnacle human lizard after five years and I was at this. State or I was like, I was just too depressed to do any comics and I was just uncertain of what to do next because because for most of my life I was just doing so publishing comic work.

[00:03:40] And then out of the blue, I got an email from, from chip saying, Hey, would you want to be the artist for my new. Comic. And I was like, Oh my gosh. Like, like I’ll be following Chip’s work. Like even like, after I graduated from Sheridan and after being his intern and I was like a big fan of his work and knowing that he’s like, he’s like, just like one of the hot guys in comic and in the comic industry right now to work with.

[00:04:10] It’s like, I, this is a great opportunity for, for me to, to reignite. My passionate and doing comics again. And and he warned me. He was like, okay, but the catch is like, you’re going to be drawing off the cars. And I was like, I don’t care. I’m not going to miss this opportunity. I’m going to like work hard to like draw as many cars as possible.

[00:04:34] I practiced for a month to, to, to get it down. Like this drawing cars, free handed. Yeah, we’re towards it to, to. To try to measure up to just the notoriety and, and, and, and, and the pressure of, of working with the superstar, like chip.

[00:04:55] Chip: [00:04:55] Oh yeah. I bring a lot of pressure, I will say. Jason got so unbelievably good at drawing cars so fast that the, the writer in me was very happy.

[00:05:06] And the artist in me was very angry at how easy.

[00:05:12] kenric: [00:05:12] Well, you did good on the motorcycles too, man. It wasn’t just cars. You had a motorcycle’s chasing man, the demons, right? That motorcycle.

[00:05:27] Chip: [00:05:27] Maybe you’ve got your assistant to draw those. We don’t know. No, I, I,

[00:05:31]Jason: [00:05:31] Yeah, I, I was studying a lot of like fast and furious, but also like initial D and like, just try to translate how. How well did you chase scenes? Like in, in a, in a comic format? So yeah, initial deal was, was one of the inspirations behind working on cars.

[00:05:55] kenric: [00:05:55] That’s awesome. Where did what did Janice come from?

[00:06:00] Chip: [00:06:00] From the depths of my brain. I dunno, I just, I was trying to think of somebody who who would go on this journey and also end up where we needed her to end up if that makes sense, having read the book some of her experiences or my experiences, the the the scene of her in purgatory with the being in the hospital room, like if something similar happened to me when

[00:06:22] kenric: [00:06:22] I was younger, that was pretty heart-wrenching when you, when you read through it and you understand what’s actually happening, you’re like, Ooh, that’s a powerful

[00:06:28] Chip: [00:06:28] scene.

[00:06:28] Yeah. Well that was when I was like, I guess about 14, 15. Oh, we had a family friend who was an early twenties with cystic fibrosis and she she was engaged to be married. But she kept having these horrible health difficulties. And there was one point where I was visiting her in the hospital and like, you know, Jason drew the scene almost exactly, really.

[00:06:48] Wow. Was her just kind of sitting up? She had like, she had a ventilator on and she was super skinny and she was flipping through bridal magazines. And like inside, I just wanted to start screaming. Cause it’s just like, it felt like it was so few tile. So we’re divergence is Janice does say something and I didn’t say something, but I still felt guilt for feeling,

[00:07:12] kenric: [00:07:12] even having those thoughts.

[00:07:14] Yeah.

[00:07:14] Chip: [00:07:14] Yeah. And then a lot of the, because it’s about guilt, right? It’s about kind of beating yourself up and you know, who, who deserves how, you know, beyond this life and, you know, my My wild theory is that usually the people who think they deserve it don’t and the people that don’t think they deserve it.

[00:07:32] And probably, maybe do you know?

[00:07:36] kenric: [00:07:36] Yeah. I can see that. I mean, Suzanne story throughout the, throughout the store, throughout the book is interesting because when she comes on the scene, you almost think she’s going to be a bit player. Like she’s going to be on a couple of pages and then she’s going to be gone.

[00:07:51] And, but no, she turns out to be. You know, a main protagonist. And when you guys got through to the end, I don’t want to give anything away, but coming up with what you came up with, was she always planned to be that far along? Is this something that was, we have to have somebody as a ride throughout the whole thing, or did you just really fall in love with what she was going through?

[00:08:16] Like you said, the guilt of everything and that you wanted to see it through completion.

[00:08:20]Chip: [00:08:20] I, I had her arc figured out more so than Genesis beginning. Like I kinda, I kind of knew where she needed to end up and with Janice. I had some debate as to the ending for the character. You know, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna spoil it for anybody.

[00:08:37]I’m trying to tread carefully here. The, the, the, the one nice thing about working in this format versus working for Marvel or DC is that this has a beginning, middle and end. So it felt like I could kind of be more final and definitive with what’s. What we do with the characters can say what you do is like Spiderman or Batman.

[00:08:55] And, and yeah, it was, it was extremely satisfying to kind of have resolutions for all the characters.

[00:09:02] kenric: [00:09:02] That’s cool. I mean, I couldn’t figure out do-do you know, I mean, you have an understanding of what he is and what’s happening, but it wasn’t until three quarters of the way that you really had an understanding of why.

[00:09:19] You know, why don’t you meet his boss once you meet the boss and Jason, your, your work through all the whole, I guess we can say hell, cause you guys describe it in the, in the description, but you’re working with the background in hell and the demons, dude, they look fantastic. What did you model your, your, your demon, your demonology I guess they could say.

[00:09:43]Jason: [00:09:43] So since we were. Can a male amalgamate, like, like a lot of elements from, from many different religions and to our afterlife to make it feel more universal. I, I, I wanted to go for like a more a more like a, like just a new approach to. To how we see devils and demons, because like me being raised Roman Catholic, like, I, I, I think it’s like just, just seeing devils, like in red skin with the double horns and the tails, like it’s been done to death.

[00:10:28] So I thought like, let’s try to refresh this idea with, with something a bit more colorful. And I was like looking into. Just, just remembering the, the Indonesian demon masks that hung at my uncle’s house back when I was a kid. And we would have like this ball bitesize Crooked teeth smiles and like this covered in here and this they’re just very colorful.

[00:10:56] So I just played around with that for, for each even concept just, just to make it more interesting and more refreshing.

[00:11:04] kenric: [00:11:04] Yeah. It’s it’s. It’s nice when you’re drawing people, does their voice into your head. And does that force you or, or gravitate you to draw them a certain way?

[00:11:19] Jason: [00:11:19] Oh, definitely. The comic medium is, is just another way to tell a story.

[00:11:24] And I feel like we’re, we’re like, I’m, I’m trying to just tell a story, like in a cinematic approach like just have some good, proper acting where we can really convey the right emotions of that scene for the readers. And you know what, when we got. Well, when I, when I first read the script of like the hospital scene, I was like, Oh wow.

[00:11:49] Like the amount of weight that I need to draw in this to, to make the readers feel what they’re supposed to feel like. It’s a great challenge to have as a creator.

[00:12:03] kenric: [00:12:03] Yeah. I mean, because when I was reading it, the three demons, I kept hearing as English accents in my head, high pitched. And somebody like the the guy who had the green and the white, I can’t remember his name off the top of my head.

[00:12:21] And he had that, but he had the angel. So he had the sword, that guy, I, I, in my head, I almost heard. Star scream from transformers from the eighties cartoons, but with an English accent, that’s what I heard. And then the other guy that rode the motorcycle that had the, the ax, he was a gruff English type, kind of like a very Liverpool style accent in my mind.

[00:12:43] Chip: [00:12:43] Is he easy? I blame star Wars for this. Yeah. They, they made the bad guys with British accents throughout. So we all screw up to the bad guys.

[00:12:55] kenric: [00:12:55] Totally, man, I should have, I should have just made them American. I don’t know. But that’s what came through when I was reading and I was like, Oh, this is hilarious.

[00:13:03] I, I can like reading that story. Chip your writing is so good because reading that story, I, I could hear everybody as I went through it and I don’t get that all the time when I read books. Right. Sometimes you read a book and the story can be great, but you don’t like, I sat down to read it. It’s 100 and some odd pages and I didn’t stop until I was done.

[00:13:25] Which always is the best thing for me, because I didn’t want to stop it. I wanted more, I wanted another one. I was like, Ooh, is there a new driver or is she going to go back and become a, become the person that keeps taking people down? Or

[00:13:40] Chip: [00:13:40] again, I blame star Wars because you just assumed it was going to be another movie all the time.

[00:13:46] kenric: [00:13:46] You know, it’s funny. I, I, are you a big, are you a star Wars guy? Are you a, a fan of the franchise? I mean,

[00:13:52] Chip: [00:13:52] yeah. Jason is actually makes star Wars figures and diorama’s so he’s, he’s deep in it. Do you really.

[00:14:00] Jason: [00:14:00] Yeah, that that’s, that’s pretty much what I do. Like outside of comics, that’s like my, like my leisure hobby, just making miniature right now, just making miniature furniture for like custom star Wars action stuff.

[00:14:12] And

[00:14:12] kenric: [00:14:12] you’re drawing comics and make a diameter. You don’t want to make any money. Do you?

[00:14:19] Jason: [00:14:19] The money that goes into w the money I make it in college, it’s like part of the gut does go into My dad run miss, but I also just love playing around with like finding recycled material and like turning that into something you Oh, that’s cool.

[00:14:36] kenric: [00:14:36] Yeah. Yeah. What did your guys’ parents say when you wanted to get into comic books?

[00:14:41] I’m always interested because You know, I’ll write from time to time. My writing is nowhere near as eloquent or as full as what chip produced on after lift. But I like to do it, but I don’t see myself ever being somebody that makes a living from it when the passion isn’t there enough. So, you know, I had to go through college and try to figure out what I was going to do.

[00:15:03] I’m always enamored with people that are able to make it in this business, especially in comic books, because it’s so difficult, not only to break in, but to maintain and to be somebody who can produce something that people want to see. And so I always have to ask this question. What is your guys’ parents think when you said I’m going to do this, I’m going to make it, you guys gonna watch out.

[00:15:25] Chip: [00:15:25] I want to hear Jason’s answer first.

[00:15:27] Jason: [00:15:27] Well for my mom she pretty much. Wanted me to, to, to have like a, a good backup plan, like like a good stable job that, that will bring in the, the money to pay the bills and stuff. And, and like, she saw me doing comics as just something that I’ll do for fun. She never thought, like, it’s something that I could do for a living, whereas in my dad he, yeah, he always wanted me to be a doctor ever since I was a kid.

[00:15:56] And like, almost like every year he would ask me, like, do you want to be a doctor? He was like, no, I don’t want it. Like, and then year after that, ask me the same question. Like, no, like for, you know, five or six consecutive years to the point where like, He asked me one more time. Like you will like, and this is after like like there was this TV program of, of this operation and progress.

[00:16:21] And he’s like, you know, if you are able to, to see to not get sick from, from looking at blood, like you can be a doctor, do you want to be a doctor? I was like, no, it was like, I told you, I want to be an artist. And he’s like, all right, fine. You can be an artist. And then then he. Since then he was like, he would finally like an article about arts, anything about art in the newspaper.

[00:16:44] Like, Hey Jason, here, here’s something about art. You want to read that and be like and I was kind of supportive of him after, since then, like put up with him lizard, like I would see him like read some of my comics on the couch, which was kinda cool. Yeah.

[00:17:00] kenric: [00:17:00] That’s awesome. That’s awesome.

[00:17:03] Chip: [00:17:03] I mean for me, I didn’t really pursue comics as a career until I was like 38.

[00:17:08] So my parents at that point, fine with it. You know, I, I like doodling and I love comics when I was a teenager, but I couldn’t really conceive of that as a career. So after kind of bumming around bounce around college to college, I settled on illustration which is, you know, magazine, editorial, illustration, and coming out of school.

[00:17:31] I ended up working for a newspaper. Part-time doing freelance illustration and kind of did myself published comics for fun, but never really considering it as a career. And I ended up kind of doing the newspaper full-time and that was where I kind of first Got into the writing side of things, a bit more writing for them.

[00:17:50] It’s kind of funny. Cause like, you know, I went to school for illustration and when I finally got an illustration in a newspaper, I told my mom, yeah, I’m in tomorrow’s news newspapers, a little mail. She’s like, Oh, did you write something? I’m like, what? No, I just went to school for art. So in order to make my mother proud, I didn’t, I started writing for newspapers.

[00:18:10] Oh, that’s, that’s hilarious. And and yeah, counselor always kind of just a side fun thing. Like even when I started sex criminals with a fraction, we were just kind of doing something fun for each other. You know, I continued to work for the newspaper for a whole year after that. But it took off and, and opened all these doors.

[00:18:29] Next thing I knew I had to make a choice between the newspapers and comics. Yeah. You know, as I like to say, jump from one dying print industry to another and comics seem to be less dying. So that’s where I ended up.

[00:18:42] kenric: [00:18:42] How surprised were you with sex criminals taken off the way it did.

[00:18:47] Chip: [00:18:47] Nowhere, nothing more surprising.

[00:18:50] Like, you know, one of the early conversations I had with Matt, we were kind of like, I think I’d already drawn this to one where we talking on the phone about issue two. And and at one point he said, you know, we’re gonna only get to issue three before image cancels that. Right. And I’m like, yeah, no, I know that, like, this is a comic for us.

[00:19:09] Like, no, one’s going to buy this dumb sex economy. Comics, no sense. Like, it’s just, it’s juvenile, but not juvenile enough to appeal to people who like that kind of thing. Right. And it’s come more about romance and sexuality and feelings, but no one’s going to buy it because it’s called sex criminals. Like yeah.

[00:19:29] Right. The title

[00:19:30] kenric: [00:19:30] loads got to put you a cover over it and say 18 plus.

[00:19:34] Chip: [00:19:34] Yeah. There’s there was no way we thought we were going to find an audience for it, except for Matt and I. So like the first year was. Just the most bat shit, crazy year of my life, where it just kept getting in the news or sales are going up and like we’re being covered everywhere.

[00:19:54] And and it’s just, yeah, it’s spun my head and it’s, it’s the most confusing thing that’s ever happened to me.

[00:20:00] kenric: [00:20:00] It’s awesome though, man. Cause Oh great. We get chipper a lot more. And look after Lyft is I got to tell you guys, and I don’t tell everybody this and I don’t, I’m not blowing smoke. That was a wonderful story and I will be reading it again because it was a lot of fun.

[00:20:16]Jason, I I’m going to order the pitiful human lizard cause I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. But if the artwork is anywhere near what you did in after lift, I know I’m gonna, I’m going to love looking at it. So I can’t wait to read what you’re writing is like.

[00:20:32] Jason: [00:20:32] Yeah, I do it all. Writing, coloring, custodial

[00:20:39] Chip: [00:20:39] dancing.

[00:20:40] kenric: [00:20:40] So you guys have hit both, right? Right. With the independent scene and now with, well, not now, but you’ve been with image and now you’re doing, this is coming out with dark horse. I think February 2nd, if people want an actual hard copy, you guys can go to your LCS. Tell him you want the dark horse.

[00:20:57] After Lyft written by chip drawn by Jason. And hopefully they can get it ordered for you right away. Or they’re going to have some in there, you know, keep an eye out for that. But I got to ask you guys being on both sides. Now, how important is the independent scene that people are just don’t really, maybe not grasp right now.

[00:21:17] Chip: [00:21:17] I mean, I do like the idea that that we’re part of the independency and when we were originally published by Amazon. Yeah. Dark horse. Hell boy. Yeah. We were Hawking our wares on the street corners. Right. To get your copy. I mean, there’s obviously there’s a distinct between Marvel and DC and the rest.

[00:21:43] You know, this is a creator owned project, which I think is incredibly, incredibly important for a bunch of reasons. One for the kind of creative freedom, being able to tell kind of stories and have that beginning, middle and end. Like I’m super proud of this book and knowing that somebody buys it because it’s a friend They get the full story.

[00:22:02] It’s not like chapter seven of 30. So, so from that perspective, it’s important to do, to create our own work. And also economically like, you know, I, I don’t own Daredevil, I don’t know, in Spiderman. Right.  Enjoy working on them, but there are too many stories of comic creators in trailer parks, right?

[00:22:23] Yeah.

[00:22:25] kenric: [00:22:25] This is 100%

[00:22:26] Chip: [00:22:26] true. Yeah. It’s the sad reality business. So you want to be able to diversify,

[00:22:31] kenric: [00:22:31] but if this was 10 years ago, Or, you know, 15 years ago, whatever Jason might not have broken through without self-publishing human lizard, you know, and the fact that he got he got an intern with you have this amazing comic book, you were able to go, I know his work.

[00:22:51] I want to have him help me on this. And. Today, I we’ve talked to independence and they’re like, Oh, I really want to get this with Marvel. And I was like, well, you gotta keep, you should just keep doing your book. And if it’s good enough, or I shouldn’t even say good enough, if somebody likes it, that’s over there.

[00:23:06] They’re going to reach

[00:23:06] Chip: [00:23:06] out. I, you know, I can only think of maybe one writer at Marvel who didn’t do create our own before Marvel. I think as Dan Slott, cause he just like, he interned there and, and, and ended up writing for them. And, you know, he worked his way up from, you know, from kind of within but, but for the most part, like when they would ask me, like, how do I get work at Marvel and DC?

[00:23:30] I’m like, well, make your own comics because like, how else are you going to prove to them that you can do it without, you know, Giving them your fan comic of a speed ball or whatever. Right. Which they lately won’t read stumbling block right there.  And, and, and doing your own books also shows that you have the commitment to finish something.

[00:23:52] That’s the number one stumbling block, especially for comic artists.  You know, I’ll I’ll, if someone shows me that they’ve done an issue, one of something I’m like, great. They’ll show me an issue too, because a lot of people just stop it and issue one, which is, you know, which is what makes someone like Jason stand out from the rest.

[00:24:07] Cause like he continually produces for himself, which is amazing. Jason,

[00:24:12] kenric: [00:24:12] how many issues are in a pitiful, pitiful human lizard?

[00:24:16]Jason: [00:24:16] About 20 to 22 issues for volumes or collected volumes

[00:24:22] Chip: [00:24:22] while holding down while holding down a full-time job, right?

[00:24:25] Jason: [00:24:25] Yeah. Yeah. That was nuts. So yeah, weekends were my time to like, try to work on five pages a day, five and eight pages a day.

[00:24:39] kenric: [00:24:39] That’s crazy. That’s incredible, dude. I don’t know how you even began to do that. That’s awesome. And then

[00:24:44] Jason: [00:24:44] it’s just the love of it. Just making comics.

[00:24:47] Chip: [00:24:47] Yeah. Yeah. I, I noticed a lot, especially when I’ve talked to prospective creators conventions, a lot of people want to be comic book artists. Like, they just want the feeling of being a comic artist, but they don’t actually want to do the job of comic artists.

[00:25:04] There’s a huge difference. Like a bunch of splash pages or, you know, a page where they just don’t bother drawing like backgrounds or cars or regular people. Cause they just want to have a dryness Spiderman punching the green car. Right. Well, that’s fine if you want to do fan art. That’s great. Yeah. Comic comic art is about telling a story like over a series of pages.

[00:25:23]And, and I’d say like 90% of people who want to be a comic artists don’t actually want to be comic artists as a job. Right. They want the title. Yeah. Because it’s like your dream as a kid. So you think you want to do it when you get older, but it’s something it’s, it’s the hardest art job I’ve ever had.

[00:25:41] Like at a school, you know, I, I was a graphic artist, graphic designer, you know, I did oil portraits for money, you know, I did design work for museums, like. Architectural renderings, like just any kind of art job I could get, like animation backgrounds. None of them come close to comic card for for how much work you have to put into it continuously.

[00:26:03] And that’s. Yeah,

[00:26:05] Jason: [00:26:05] it was just like, just like long days of commitment just to spending hours and hours destroying the same characters penciling stage. You’re doing that for like two weeks and then you got to do it again for the yanks and if you’re tolerating it, you got to do it like another week. Of just seeing the same drawings all over again.

[00:26:22] It’s it’s like endurance tasks.

[00:26:26] Chip: [00:26:26] Yeah. You have to be a cinematographer. You have to know anatomy, if no fashion drop vehicles to architecture understand color theory, do lettering. Like it’s, there’s so much to it. It’s you know, I was talking to some comic writers today just about like, well, who are the artists who can continually produce.

[00:26:43]And, and are reliable as a result. And there’s like maybe 10 working today.

[00:26:50] kenric: [00:26:50] Eric Larson, oddly enough, he’s all over the place.

[00:26:53] Chip: [00:26:53] Yeah. And that’s not even slagging the other artists. No, because it’s an incredibly hard job. And like, some people are like, yeah, I can produce like a comic every three months.

[00:27:02] Like great. If you can do that, that’s amazing. What’s

[00:27:05] kenric: [00:27:05] your after comic ritual? You know, you got done and you’re like, I got whew, I got to unwind. I, I just poured all this into this.

[00:27:15] Chip: [00:27:15] Jason, what’s yours.

[00:27:17]Jason: [00:27:17] I, I usually order in from like one of my favorite restaurants.

[00:27:22] kenric: [00:27:22] What kind of food is it? Let’s paint a picture for us, Jason.

[00:27:25] This is what you do. Paint a picture.

[00:27:29] Jason: [00:27:29] Okay. So sometimes it’s, it’s either getting like, like really good barbecue food.

[00:27:34] kenric: [00:27:34] So the smell of musky is wafting through the air of Jason’s house. Gotcha. Gotcha. Like barbecue rubs, dry rub Robin the meat. Got it.

[00:27:45] Jason: [00:27:45] Lemon pepper covered it, like reds and Mac and cheese.

[00:27:50]kenric: [00:27:50] You’re singing my praises, man. This is like my favorite meal. Oh, sorry. I said you’re singing my praises, man. This is like my favorite meal

[00:27:58] Jason: [00:27:58] or I make myself like a surfing turf. Oh, I love

[00:28:02] kenric: [00:28:02] it. Yeah, that’s great. No no scotch or anything on the side. Maybe a cigar. No, nothing like that. Or clean living all the way.

[00:28:11] Nice. Spyros good stuff.

[00:28:14]Chip: [00:28:14] I would say whenever I finish drawing initiatives, ex criminals yeah. Well, there, there was a period there where like I wasn’t allowed to touch a video game until I drew a full issue. And then like, it’s like, we play video games for like three days and then I’d have to start the next one.

[00:28:30]When I finished sex criminals, like fully, yeah. All right. I really want to unwind by taking a hammer to my drawing hand. So I’d never had to draw again,

[00:28:42] chill out for an evening to smash bones.

[00:28:47] kenric: [00:28:47] Oh my God. That’s a, that’s a scene right there.

[00:28:50] Chip: [00:28:50] There’s you’re there to dry rub.

[00:28:56] The barbecue just reminds me One of the first conventions I did after sex almost came out with staples in Austin. And there was a barbecue night and I missed it because you just re barbecue places, just run out of barbecue. I didn’t realize that I missed it cause I was signing too late and I was pretty sad.

[00:29:14] So the next day some fans brought me some brisket to my table. Nice. And I got to just like. Yes, get my hands, all just discussing, just eating brisket while Alignable people looked at me and waited. You

[00:29:24] kenric: [00:29:24] want me to sign this book? Barbecue soft out.

[00:29:28] Chip: [00:29:28] It was so good. It was the best food I may have ever had.

[00:29:32] Was that

[00:29:32] kenric: [00:29:32] in Dallas? Was that in Dallas? That was Austin, Austin there’s. So I go to Dallas every once in a while for my, my day to day. And I live in Seattle, but sometimes I fly down there and there’s a town just outside of Dallas called Garland. And in Garland, Texas, if you’re ever in this area is a barbecue shack right off the side of the road.

[00:29:56] And it’s literally a shack and I don’t know how long it’s been there, but the, the, the, the screen, the screen that you order through is all rusty and old. And you can see the grease from the smoke that have walked out of this thing for who knows how many years. And you can’t even see the person you’re talking to behind the screen, because it’s just so covered in.

[00:30:18] Smoke grease. And they have like the brisket and the ribs. And, but if you get there, they open at 11, you gotta be there by 10 30, 10:00 AM. Because if you get there at 1130, 12, they’re already out of brisket. They’re already out of ribs and all you’re going to eat is hotlink sandwiches. And it is,

[00:30:39] Chip: [00:30:39] those are the best man.

[00:30:41]Jason: [00:30:41] I’ve it sounds like some of the restaurants that were covered on at Ugly delicious, which is on Netflix. They had a barbecue episode and yeah, like what you’re describing this reminds me of like, like the old school, barbecue places down South.

[00:30:57] kenric: [00:30:57] Oh yeah, man. It’s it’s it was good. I think it was called me shacks.

[00:31:00] That was the name me shacks. Pretty good. And so if you get a chance and you’re in Dallas for one of their comic cons down there, are you guys excited for Comicons to come back?

[00:31:12] Jason: [00:31:12] Maybe in the ear too.

[00:31:15] kenric: [00:31:15] Yeah. I, I don’t know if I’m going to trust if it was this year, but next year I think that’d be cool.

[00:31:20] Jason: [00:31:20] Yeah.

[00:31:20] Well, we’ll see how the world is next year and I’m sure it will. I’m hoping it will be fine in two years.

[00:31:28] kenric: [00:31:28] I hope. Yeah. I think

[00:31:30] Chip: [00:31:30] that was kind of easing my way out of common conventions where you. Yeah. I mean, there are a myriad of reasons. Yeah. Well, I traveling to the States has been difficult even pre pandemic, but yeah, was just getting tired.

[00:31:46]And you lose a lot of time to conventions. Like, you know, it’s great getting kind of the feedback from fans and stuff. But you’re basically writing up a week. Every time you do one. And I, I kept finding, I would fall behind in my work and why I felt by my work. I just went away for a weekend. I’m like, well, actually the convention was three days and it was a travel day on either end of it.

[00:32:05] And also you are going to get sick there. So you have another two days of recovery.

[00:32:12] kenric: [00:32:12] Yeah. It’s it’s, it’s a crazy, yeah. I like one of the cons. So my partner, Johnny, he he loves going to the cons. Right. And he’ll go for all the days he brought, he has five kids. We’ll take all his kids and I’m the exact opposite.

[00:32:26] I want to go for one day. And maybe half a day at that. And all I want to do is go to artist alley and meet all the creators and then go home. I don’t want to go through all the other stuff. And he wants to, you know, he wants to talk to people, talk to audiences. Yeah. And I’m just like, nah, I just want to go and think, because I don’t get the same out of it.

[00:32:46] I, I love talking to creators that are creating something I love to read and check out. And then but at the same time, like you just said this taking away from time from creating.

[00:32:55] Chip: [00:32:55] Yeah, I love a one day convention. Like if I could just do like one day and I always wondered about like, you know, whatever, you know, Comicon would have like the big celebrities and we’ll just say Saturday only Friday only I’m like, why would you just do a day?

[00:33:07] But now I get it. I’m like, because you are tired at the end of that day. And it’s very hard to go back the next

[00:33:12] kenric: [00:33:12] day. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Jason, are you a big con fan or

[00:33:17] Jason: [00:33:17] Sort of like, I don’t mind you. And like five, like no more than eight cons a year.

[00:33:23] kenric: [00:33:23] Oh, it calmed me. That’s a lot, man. I have a hard time.

[00:33:27] I’ll do San Diego. If, if I’m down in California or I’ll do Emerald city here in Seattle, but those are the two I don’t want to do more than that.

[00:33:38] Jason: [00:33:38] Yeah. Like do you ever comic Comic-Con is something that I just want to attend as a guest, not as a guest, but this does like a. A visitor and then just not worry about the pressure of being behind the table, but just, just get in as much as I want.

[00:33:53] And then. Go around go outside and just enjoy the sights of New York.

[00:33:59] kenric: [00:33:59] Yeah. That makes

[00:34:00] Chip: [00:34:00] sense. Yeah. I never get to see the cities. That’s always a problem. Like, like I did, it’s like, Oh man, I don’t conventions like all over the world. And like, you know, I’d go to Moscow. And like, people are like, how was Moscow?

[00:34:12] I’m like, I have no idea. Like, cause like I got off a plane, I went to convention center on the outskirts of town.

[00:34:19]kenric: [00:34:19] I know that feeling, man. I, when I. Before pre COVID. My job would have me travel eight, nine, 10 times a year to different places all over the United States and Canada and in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

[00:34:30] And it’s always, how was that place? I don’t know. It was in the hotel room working the whole time. I

[00:34:34] Chip: [00:34:34] have no clue. Yeah. Yeah. If you can get like one good meal, like that’s usually it.

[00:34:39] kenric: [00:34:39] Yeah. I tried to stay away from like the McDonald’s and the fast foods and try to get at least something decent. I’ve I’ve learned the trick now is just go to the local grocery store.

[00:34:47] And just get some stuff and then take it back and hopefully, you know, a lot of salads.

[00:34:55] Well, guys, I know you guys are on a time crunch. I really appreciate you coming here. It was, it was wonderful talking to you guys. I’d love to have you guys back on because this was all lot of fun. Yeah. Sounds great. Yeah. Anytime you guys have something going on, please, please reach out. Yeah. Thank you so much.

[00:35:12] All right. Thanks man.