Jimmy Palmiotti - Pop Kill Issues 3 and 4 on Kickstarter now!

We had Jimmy on back in May of 2019 to talk about his Kickstarter Painkiller Jane, and now he's back with Pop Kill issues 3 and 4, the conclusion to the series.

Go support this Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creatorownedheroes/palmiotti-and-johnsons-pop-kill-issues-3-and-4-finale

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Jimmy Palmiotti - Pop Kill - Interview

 

[00:00:00] Melilssa: this is spoiler country and I'm Alyssa searcher today on the show.

We're thrilled to welcome comic book writer of Harley Quinn, pop kill painkiller, Jane, and many, many more. He's also a producer of film and television. I'd like to welcome Jimmy Palmy, ADI to the show.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Hello, happy to be here. How are you doing?

Melilssa: Good. Good. I'm doing good. Thank you so much. thanks for taking the time out to chat with us today.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, my pleasure.

Melilssa: Awesome. I want to jump right into it. You've got this new series original series out called pop kill. and it, there is a Kickstarter campaign for it going on right now. So tell us, you know, what it's about and, and what readers can expect. I know you're doing issues that three and four and the latest Kickstarter.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. So the, the kick-started it's up as the last two issues. So it was a four issue series. Um, but we did make a pledge level that you can get all four issues digitally and you can get all four issues, you [00:01:00] know, if you want to have card copies in your hands. So we made, we made sure that whenever he kickstarted it, everyone's able to catch up.

Uh, you know, but the, the idea came from, uh, my buddy, Dave Johnson, illustrator, Dave, you might know him from a hundred bullets or it's on a whole bunch of them. he pitched me this idea about competing soda companies. And we were just laughing about it and I'm like saying, you know, maybe, and it's funny because my, my, my background, I used to work in advertising and I used to work at, uh, one of my clients was Pepsi Cola and, and they were interesting to work for because if any people from Pepsi came up to my ad agency, Uh, if we had a can of Coke, they literally would just stare at it.

Like they would look at it when they came into the room and then you'd have to like, kind of grab it and then throw it away or move it to another place. you know, it was that kind of crazy, uh, when they were there. but we kind of went really, really far with the idea of competing. So in a company [00:02:00] so much so that, you know, we, we started introducing, you know, uh, we have, we have the competing colo companies, uh, in Japan and we have two brothers who signed these twins that were separated.

and they hate each other now. So they've run competing. So to companies. And then we introduced Steven Delotz, who she's the scientist to the physics company, but it's fizz division and pop. So company and one is called fizz one colo and the other one called pop SCO pop. So, and she's decided to set that figured out a way.

To hold that soda can hold the combination 50% longer. Wow. Which, which, yeah, which I'm sure every sort of company would kill for,

Melilssa: they would dream about that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Right. And, uh, so we took the, we took the idea of Southern companies killing for that idea to an extreme level. where we included spies and double dealings and murders and the, basically the two brothers competing with each other.

And it's funny [00:03:00] because even their, their, their towers, their buildings for their companies face each other. So they're constantly putting notes on the window to each other. They make fun of each other and stuff. and then we introduce a character, like is our classic James Bond. Character that we sort of mentally take apart as the series goes on.

Cause he, he comes out as this, you know, as super spy and nothing can get to him. And he's got all these women in his life, everything. And then we kind of take them apart, you know, issue by issue, uh, showing what's wrong with them. And also, you know, what's, what's really behind him being so kind of cold to everything.

Uh, so it's, it's, it's a take on James Bond. So it's a little James Bond. It's a little, it's a lot insanity. It's definitely for adults since there is humor and there's violence and there's language. And at that you wouldn't find normally in most comics, uh, it's something that we've been working on for over a year and a half.

so when we actually, when [00:04:00] Juan, who is the artist, Juan Santa Cruz, when one finished the, uh, last issue, which was just recently because we were going to do like a third Kickstarter and then a fourth, we decided, why don't we just do the last Kickstarter is issued three and four as one. Kickstarter.

So we're going to have to make everybody wait another three or four months for the last two issues. And, uh, so we put together this series and then we got some, besides Dave doing covers Dave Johnson. I mean, his cover is a brilliant, but this one for three and four, we got, uh, we were lucky enough to get, uh, Bilson Kevin to do a cover.

And Adam used to do a cover. And that was Dave calling in his favors. Yeah to get those covers, but they both beautiful pieces by two of my favorite artists. And, and then we have Amanda, every issue. We have Amanda ICAN and my wife, uh, do a mystery cover. So people buy it blind. And, and then she draws it in and when they get it in the mail, we don't even show it when they get it in the [00:05:00] mail.

That's the first time they see it and it's limited to 200 copies. So it's hyper, hyper limited. Like these are not things with making thousands of and selling them later. This, these are the Kickstarter only.

Melilssa: So, so it's like a limited, limited edition. So people really need to jump on that if they want one.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Yeah. It's super limited. I mean, you know, uh, so, and a little background on me. I am a comic book collector, as much as I write and do artwork on them. I'm a big time collectors. So I love the idea of only 200 copies of something being out there. You know, I'm, I'm one of those crazy people that tracks it down and stuff.

I have to admit, you know, that's me. but, uh, so we try to appeal to everybody like w w with the Kickstarter. For pop kill. What we tried to do is say, okay, we're going to walk the digital. So anybody in the world can get it. You know, as long as you have an email address, we can send it to you. And, uh, that's really important to us plus the books.

Aren't it. Isn't a comic comic [00:06:00] book. It's 20 pages. It's over 30 to 34 pages, each issue. So it's almost almost double. What you get the regular book. but we tried to make the pledge levels, uh, for the people who just want to read the comic. And then we created these levels that are very much for the collectors, or if you're an atom use fan or a built-in Kevin's fan, or if you're an Amanda fan and then we've even taken it, taken it further.

and this is my fault, to do the CGC we'd CGC to couple. Uh, so like a couple of Amanda's covers in the last one. I, I, uh, give a box into CGC and we got, we actually got, five back that are like 9.8, which is like the highest, pretty much 10 is the highest rating. I've never seen it, but we've gotten 9.8 on these.

So we have like five of those. Available and that's for the real diehard, you know, it's for the real, uh, slammers, I call it, people love the slim comics. but when every level you back, you also get all the digitals, so everybody gets [00:07:00] a digital copy. So, so yeah, so this is my 15th Kickstarter.

Melilssa: Awesome.

Wow. So you're, you've got experience doing this.

Jimmy Palmiotti: I do. And I actually, you know, part of my experience is also backing other people. So if I vote, I backed over 300. I I'll, I'm sorry. I backed up like two over 230. I think Kickstarter is for other people to see how they handle things. And I've been doing them since, since Kickstarter has started.

So, uh, I'm just slow. I mean, 15 sounds like a lot, but it's actually, I can only do a couple of year and, uh, That's going to change. I'm going to actually amp it up a little

Melilssa: bit. Aren't you? Okay. Yeah. there are, I mean, I could assume there's a lot of work that goes into it. I mean, just designing the tiers and coming up with the prizes and the stretch goals and all that.

I mean, that's a lot of work must go into that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: It's it's, it's so much more, I'll tell you. It's not for the, it's not for the week. because I mean, I've done 15 and I, and, and I delivered every one of [00:08:00] them on time. And I've made sure every single person got their rewards and it has any complaints. I handle each person, uh, everybody to back, some will tell you I you're writing me.

I write them back. Sometimes I call them. If we had a guy in New Zealand who couldn't get his packages, we had to send a special delivery. I kind of lost money on it, but I had to make sure he got his books. Even like guys in Singapore, I had some deals where I had to kind of go, okay. You know, let's figure out a different way to get this.

So it's a lot of work, but it's a grassroots kind of thing. So these are my regular customers. I'm, I'm treating this like Kickstarter is like my store in a way you're coming into my store and I'm going to make sure by the time you leave, you got everything you want and you feel like you got your money's worth.

And so I take them very seriously. It's I, I think a lot of people look at it as a money game. I kind of look at it as, this is a way I can get. The ideas I have without being, uh, crushed editorially, [00:09:00] because that defines my model in DC work, by the way, is if I get too creative, they want to pull back.

They want to say, you can't do this, or you can't do that. Or the legacy of the character demands this. Right. so it's, it's the thing about getting. My workout there, the way I see it. And, you know, and with Amanda, with our future, kickstart is going to be with my wife, Amanda. So we're going to be putting out our own books and, you know, if anybody ever read the pro, they understand what we can do.

Without people telling us what to do,

Melilssa: right? Yeah. No, that makes sense. So do you prefer doing your own original content rather than working in those established universes that like Marvel and DC?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yes, I do. Because I, and I think I can say that only because I pretty much worked on every single character I've ever wanted to work on the only book I've never worked on.

And I've only got to ache. Uh, it was fantastic for, it's like one of those things that I love that book when I was a kid and I never really worked on writing the series, [00:10:00] but I pretty much worked on everything I've ever wanted to. I, you know, uh, Jonah hex was one when I was a kid, I'm like, Oh, I would love.

To write a Western of course, being a kid from Brooklyn, growing up in Brooklyn, the idea of writing a Western seemed like the surreal thing to me. Yeah.

Melilssa: Yeah. It's so far-fetched from where you are.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Exactly. And even like, With Harley Quinn, you know, writing something that's like exists already, but they want my, my take on it, you know, kind of thing.

but I, but I feel like, you know, I just feel like, okay, I'm looking at how many years I've been doing this. I please, I don't want to count, but it's fun. I, I gotta get my own voice out there a little more, and I got to worry less about companies that aren't really worried about me at all.

Melilssa: Yeah. And you haven't, you, haven't a very extensive backlist, you know, just looking at your, your credits and on what you've done, you know, is, is huge, huge accomplishments.

You know, you've achieved so much. but I think it's great that you're getting to [00:11:00] work on your own stuff because there's nothing better than, you know, when that gets released. And that it's like a different sense of pride and accomplishment.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Abs. Absolutely. And, and, and, uh, and if I fail, it's all on me, so I can't blame anybody else, which I, you know, look, I, I have, uh, as much as I've had success in, in my career, I've had so many failures, but they really have been great lessons for me, how to do things like, you know, I I've had books that nobody's ever seen.

I mean, I've had stuff come out that sold so terrible. but I learned each time from it. So, I don't regret. And I only have like one or two regrets with certain books. I worked on it. And I think at the time there was a time early in my career when my mom was alive, where I took care of her. So I had to take on work that I really didn't want to do, but had to pay the bills I was paying for her like medical stuff and everything.

So I was like, okay, you know, Yeah, look, look past it and take care of mom [00:12:00] as best I can and get the work done. And, you know, I did that for a while until she passed. And then I was like, okay, now I can kind of slow it down.

Melilssa: Yeah. that's honorable. I mean, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do it times, you

know?

Melilssa: Yeah. You're Italian, right.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yes, I am. Yeah. There you go. You will. You understand?

Melilssa: Family's most important for sure. Now, so with your wife, did you two meet because of comics or did you get into it after you met?

Jimmy Palmiotti: No, we met, we met, I was, I remember, I was working at Marvel, just starting there as an anchor there.

And, uh, Hildy mezzanine was an editor up there and she, she edited like the Barbie comics and a couple of lines of books. And she also had. The Disney books. And one of the books was a book called gargoyles and based on the animated series on Disney channel. And, Amanda was working on that book and she asked me to come [00:13:00] in.

And inc, some companies have Amanda and I met Amanda there and, you know, at the time she was married and, you know, so she was just, I met her and we got along and probably grab some lunches and we were friends for years, you know? and I was thinking around stuff and she was at a point where she's like, she's doing Barbie and doing goggles.

And she's like, you know, everyone's saying my stuff's too cartoony. I can't get regular superhero work that much. And, I had an opportunity to bring her over to, Harris publishing. Which at the time was doing Vampirella and I said, you know what, if you let's flip a switch here, And go from Barbie to Vampirella and, and I, I S I guarantee if you do this, nobody's gonna look at you the same anymore.

They're not going to just say, Oh, it's the girl that does the Disney stuff. And we were lucky at the time because we had a. We were working with three writers on Vampirella. Cause I, and I also was thinking, Amanda, so it was sort of like good for me too. Cause I brought her there and then I got thinking work with her.

[00:14:00] but we were working with three writers. We were working with, uh, Warren Ellis, Mark malar and grant Morrison, before they were the giants that they are. Right. so we had these great English writers and working with us and we did Vampirella for a while. And then, uh, Amanda did some work for me.

Cause I, at the time I had like Ash and painkiller Jane coming out and she did a painkiller Jane book for me. And then, uh, I think it was like, In, uh, 2000, me, Amanda, Garth Innes, and John McCray went to Germany for a con. And we had a night at the bar. We were sitting in his car and called Fritz Patrick's and Amanda started doodling.

And we were talking about how about a superhero prostitute? And we were just laughing and she was sketching it. And. When we got back home, we said, why don't we just try to do a book about the superior prostitute called the pro and we'll see who and we'll see who wants to [00:15:00] publish it. So we did it.

And then we went around to try to get it published and got turned down by a lot of people actually, you know, DC of course wanted nothing to do with it. And, and uh, finally image comics said, you know, we would love to publish that. And we said, okay, but it's a little risky and it's a little of this, a little that.

And we put it out and after the pro, nobody looked at Amanda's work the same. Oh, I bet were like, okay, this girl will do anything. And again, you know, it wasn't like there was a lot of women drawing comics at the time, either

Melilssa: groundbreaking.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. But Amanda also has that. I always say she has a little bit of guy in her, a little, little bit of like, I want to see naughty stuff and I want to, I want to blow up stuff and I want things on fire and you know, her favorite movies are Wars and Terminator.

So I mean, it kind of gets you, there you go. there you go. And then, uh, so. So, so how career had changed after that? But again, you know, like it's all learning process all these years of [00:16:00] doing things. I forgot where we started, but I think it was, that's how I met Amanda. It wasn't until years later that we were dating, we actually were great friends for years.

and then, you know, uh, her marriage went its way and. Whatever girl I was dating at the time back then went that way eventually. I think eventually we just, uh, we were, I think we were out in, uh, on vacation somewhere with a group of friends and one night we just looked at each other and with you doing.

Melilssa: And the rest was history, an amazing artist. And, I can't wait to see the, the mystery covers, uh, when they're revealed, I know the covers that you had, that you do have out already for, pop kill. They kind of have like an Andy Warhol feel to them. Was that an influence that you guys were going for?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I think we're all especially the one with the gun and the, and the, and the, and the soda. so that's Dave Johnson. So, [00:17:00] so we have two guys, right? We have Dave Johnson and then we have the designer, which is John J. Hill, one of the best book designers in the business. So, you know, our job when we do these things is to make things look better than the common companies that are putting stuff out on a stance.

Yeah, that's our goal. It doesn't mean we hit it all the time. Right. But we're trying to make stuff. It, we're trying to bring the level of the art, a little higher and place a little different place, like saying, you know, this isn't just comics, folks. This is like, illustration, this is pop art. This is stuff you can put in a frame on a wall, and it's going to last even the design of the logo, you know, everything down to the little details and the inside of the book.

So I, you know, it's, my background is advertising before I got into comics. I was in the advertising business. So I see things a little differently. yeah, I have the eye and I also look at it like I don't look as at our art form as disposable on any level. Okay. [00:18:00] I understand most common people have 400 boxes full of comics.

I get it. Right. But my thing is, I'm trying to make this like, uh, like the level up a little more. So I, so not only visually we do this, but. a little bit of nut of a nut with the paper, quality production quality. I drive some people crazy and definitely my printer is lovely, but I drive him crazy.

And, I'm, I'm a big fan of spot varnish. I'm a big fan of raised, uh, if, if, if it's the right kind of paper's stock, if we can raise something, I love all the production stuff. And I've learned over the years, how amazingly cheap. The big companies are that they don't go the extra step. I mean, you're, you're literally talking about a penny, like a penny or two on big runs to maybe do a spot varnish or to do a fifth color or anything like that.

And comics, what they've done is the big companies have beaten us in the [00:19:00] head saying, Hey, if we do this special thing, we're going to charge you an extra $2. And the joke for me is like, you know, it's not really that expensive. It's a little time consuming. but you know, if you look at it, let's say, if you look at the paper quality on a book, so DC has a little better paper quality for the cover.

And then the interior is a mix. It depends. Who's overlooking the printer. Sometimes the painting's beautiful. Sometimes it's a little muddy. Right? And then, then Marvel, if you notice that comics, their interior stock is the same as the company stock,

Melilssa: there's

Jimmy Palmiotti: no difference. Right. So what happens with those books on the stands is either they, they eventually curl or they eventually, you can't stand them up for too long.

Right. so again, this is a tack title business for me. So something has to feel if it's, if you're going to charge me $6, it has to feel like $6.

Melilssa: Yeah. Yeah. and people, people are going to want to buy your comics more if it's better quality, you know, because that's. as a collector, you know, you want to have, you know, an [00:20:00] awesome, you know, quality, you know, cardstock page stock, you know, to display or to have in your house, you know, otherwise, you know, if it's not good quality, I'll just buy the digital version,

Jimmy Palmiotti: you know?

Right. And I also get, and the digital version, you know, we just make sure, or it looks beautiful. But the, the, the thing with the actual books, you know, again, we're tactile people, we're collectors. We, we love the art forms, but we want to see the art presented in the best way possible. you know, if it, so, so when something's not great or it's just okay, or you feel, we, we, you buy comics, right.

You know, when you look at something you're like, Oh, it looks cheap. Yeah, that feels cheap. Or I don't like the printing inside or the paper was too slick. I can't even see the art because it's reflecting light. There's all these little things. That I spend a lot of time thinking about, you know, and I am the guy that buys the special edition books that come with insights, sleeve.

I like all that stuff. [00:21:00] I feel, I love my I'm looking at my shelf right next to me. It's like, I love my special edition books or my really beautifully printed books.

Melilssa: Yeah, me too. Oh yeah. They're the better ones, you know, and you love just looking at him and flipping through them because they're just. It's such good quality.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, it's those giant artists edition. Some of those books is so beautiful, you know? so anyway, that's the approach I have with, with doing, if I'm going to get a chance to print my own stuff and not work for a company, I'm going to make sure it's better than anything. Anybody's. Yeah.

Melilssa: And I think I've noticed too, that the indie comic books are actually producing better quality.

Then the big name ones.

Jimmy Palmiotti: they're also, you know, so the, the indie stuff has more passion to it, right? Because they own the character and there's a lot at stake. Yeah. With the books that they look better at, you'll see the, the mainstream comics, they, they look fine. You know, they, they, there's less and less of the big names because they don't want to pay.

And, and [00:22:00] basically, you know, they're on the deadlines, a lot of them, right? So even if you get a great looking book, they have a colorist that all of a sudden they shoved the colorist into this. We need this in two days and the color says, you know, so there's a lot of deadline stuff. And my thing with the Kickstarter is.

I won't kickstart it until it's almost done because I want to make sure at the end of the Kickstarter, I can put, I can put the book and I can give them the numbers at the printer and get it printed right away, you know? so everything's done so three and four and done. The only thing we're doing is if we have stretch goals, I add stuff.

So that's extra editorial stuff. We add like sketchbooks and stuff like that in the back. but the companies don't, they're a business. And then less worried about each book and then more worried about getting 50 books and market share and all that kind of stuff. I don't personally care. I care about the thousand or 2000 backers I have.

And I think I care that they're happy.

Melilssa: Yeah. You're getting the best version of it.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, it's not, you know, it's, I don't have the overhead [00:23:00] that these guys have. I mean, who knows? They have to COVID they might not have overhead. They might be everybody working at home. So.

Melilssa: Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: You know, who knows

Melilssa: nobody.

so with, with pop kill, I know you said there's just the four issues. Are you gonna, do you have any plans to do anything in that same universe, again, like with a spinoff or anything like that?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I don't have plans right away. I, you know, this is a project like. Honestly, when you get to the ending, it feels like the end.

Yeah. So it's not, it's not like a Netflix series. That's going to get renewed. I mean, this is, this is more, I would say this is more like that what's that showed it's on with the chess player. It's really good.

Melilssa: Oh yeah. The new one everyone's raving about.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. it's fantastic. You should, you should check it out, but anyway, but it's, this is, this is like, it has a beginning, middle and end.

Okay. if we do anything in this world, again, it will probably be in a while. because the next Kickstarter I have after this is sex and violence, volume three, and I've, I've done [00:24:00] two of them already. And they're, they're basically a bunch of short stories around those wonderful themes.

 

yeah, by a whole bunch of creatives, but that's my next one, but I have the next three or four.

Kickstart is laid out. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't go back to the popular universe. I really think we said everything we had to say. And if we wanted this, if it was like, if it was requested enough, of course it's easy because there are people to kind of continue. Their story, you know, it wouldn't have, they wouldn't, maybe it wouldn't be about soda, but it would definitely be the characters, have another life problem with the problem of creating things.

As you fall in love with things like painkiller, Jane is probably my favorite character that I co-created. And I feel like, I feel like I can write that character for the next, you know, someday.

Melilssa: and that we're in, that's been optioned right. For

Jimmy Palmiotti: film. So it was a. Two hours. I find movie in the early nineties and it was a 22, one hour episode series that had 22 [00:25:00] episodes, uh, on Spotify that ran for a year.

And then we got the rights back and we had it in development with Jessica chasse stain. And, uh, I worked on it. I co worked on a screenplay. Co-wrote a screenplay for, uh, for chest pain and her company. They decided at the last second to go onto a different project, which, which is a movie I think called Ava that's on Netflix this month.

So, you know, she just decided that it wasn't for her, which was, which is okay in the long run because you don't really want to have anybody. Doing something that's not completely into it.

Melilssa: I'm passionate about.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Right. So we have the screenplay now and we're, uh, going around, you know, because everything's like kind of hold, but we're looking at people, to play the part and probably somebody younger at this point, because it's actually about a rookie cop.

So. It would be somebody in their twenties. you know, Jessica would have been great and it would have been her, her take [00:26:00] on it. but you know, this stuff happens all the time. If I told you the history of everything, your head would explode. yeah. Cause it's it, that's how this business is. People get interested.

you know, people like her and, you know, any kind of stars, they always have like 15 things going on at once.

Melilssa: Yeah. They get all excited about a bunch of things we can't do at all.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Right. And, and we're happy when they're excited. I mean, you know, my, my thing is, you know, we came out of it with a screenplay.

That's great. And, uh, You know, somebody else will do it. you know, this, this, this past summer I had random acts of violence come out. Oh yeah.

Melilssa: Congratulations on that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Thanks. And that was something that sat around, you know, went back. It literally was volleyed back and forth with Jay trying to figure out how to do it.

And it took years and years until he raised the money. You know? So sometimes these things, they sit for years. But it was a passion thing for Jay and it was so great to see. Yeah. Yeah. And go ahead and see it being shot with him and hang out with him and stuff. but you know, a smaller film, right?

Smaller budget, kind of Jay's take on what the book, you know, [00:27:00] so it wasn't exactly the book, but it was his take on it, which I totally respected because at the end of the day, my attitude is you can, if you want to read the Tom making spite a comment, right. I liked, I liked the idea. He kind of added his spin on some stuff.

but you know, COVID kind of neutered it a little bit as far as release. It did play in drive-ins though, which I thought was kind of cool.

Melilssa: Oh, that's really cool. I like that concept that they've been doing for the drive-ins.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's pretty awesome actually. we just need more drive-ins right.

I mean,

Melilssa: that's,

Jimmy Palmiotti: you know, it's cool.

Melilssa: Yeah. When you have, you have your own company called paper films, how, how did that come about and what types of projects do you do with, with that company?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah, so, so paper films is, you know, it's me and Amanda. I have a friend Patrick wedge who's like runs pretty much everything through it.

And we do a lot of work outside of comics. I do a lot of screenwriting. Uh, I I've written games, I've written TV shows and all this kind of stuff. So a lot of the work we get is, [00:28:00] Not always me promoting it. Sometimes it's just stuff we do that comes out. And I like, okay, you know, that's something I did.

but it's, it's a company. It's basically what Amanda and I do now. Amanda has a lot of work. She does. outside of comics, she's done stuff for a big bang theory, TV show and the spinoff show with young Sheldon. And she's done stuff for news programs, did a whole campaign for Nike, you know, and it's like, we do a lot of other work.

that it's not about, uh, Amanda Conner or Jimmy Palmy Yachty. It's more about the product, you know? and with my background in advertising, we're able to do a lot of stuff and, and, uh, you know, I've written animation, I've done a bunch of con uh, video games. And, uh, so the company is basically me and Amanda's basic baby, and it's our representation.

So if you go to paper, films.com, you'll see like everything we have everything we've created. We have a store we sell. So Amanda's art, it's it? You know, it's, it's our hub. [00:29:00] It's our, Hey, if the common companies decide to, you know, do their own thing and not do comics anymore, we're going to exist here.

It's I grew up very poor, so I'm always, I always think everything's going to end will go bad on some levels. So I like to plan, I, like I say, we have to. You know, uh, uh, we have to create our own little worlds. Yeah. It's models to do things, you know?

Melilssa: Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. you know, we're like a, it's like a name could be a franchise, you know, people are w what's the word I'm looking for, where your name is.

Like you sell a brand, a brand, right. So very important for Amanda and I to brand ourselves, beyond just working for other people.

Melilssa: No, it's really important, especially nowadays with indie markets and, and everyone's sort of. Kind of becoming an entrepreneur on their own and, and the things are changing, you know, with Amazon and these big corporate entities.

Yeah. You [00:30:00] definitely have to set yourself up for the long haul, to keep making content.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Absolutely. I mean, you know, it's so funny how, even on my Instagram, I get people like, Hey, would you endorse my product? And I'm always like, no, if I don't use them, I'm not going to endorse them. I, I don't have time for that.

If it's something I use. Then I'm, I'm all, I'm super happy to do it, but I, I turned down a lot of stuff cause I'm like, I don't use that. And I probably wouldn't use that. And I couldn't imagine me selling that to someone. Cause I think it sucks, you know?

Melilssa: influencer new thing now that you know, that's really.

Booming. And there's people that just do that for a living, I guess they just they're influencers.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, celebrities. I mean, I have a friends, a couple of friends that has leverage and they put their name on anything and I'm just like, and I'm like, dude, I can't, I can't do it. And they're like, why not? What does it matter?

And I'm like, I said, you know, I don't [00:31:00] know, man. You know, I, I, if somebody sends me something and I'm looking at it and like it's cheap and I don't want to tell somebody because I think what it does is weekend your word, you know? You know, I, I like, if I say something's really good online, if I go on Instagram, Instagram, or Twitter and say, this is the greatest tool I'm using on something, you have to understand it's the greatest tool.

Cause I, I would never say that in a million years. So I don't. So the influence of thing is really funny to me when I see celebrities doing it. I'm like, you know, unless I know the money's going to charity, I really don't. Much.

Melilssa: Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, I I've had a couple of people email me similar things.

I mean, I don't have as many followers as you do, but, you know, they'll say, Oh, can you endorse this or that, you know, just to try to get more likes. And, but I'm the same way. If it's, if it's not something I would buy or use, like I'm not going to put my brand and my name on it, you know, I've done it for one thing.

It was like a holistic thing that I, that I actually liked. But yeah, you don't want to be doing it so much that everyone's like, you [00:32:00] know, He does not believe in, you

Jimmy Palmiotti: know, and I, you know, when they go, we'd like to dress you. I always laugh. I'm like, have you seen me? I'm like, you do not want to dress me unless it's something that's covering my head, like a bucket that government I'm like, I am not the guy that's going to sell your shirts, jackets, pants, or anything, or even hats.

I am not the guy. You know, uh, there's a lot, there's a lot of handsome, really the handsome men out there. You want to put that shirt on? It's not me. I got, I've been, I've been built like a barrel chest and kind of guy for my whole life. That's not really, you don't really watch those commercials on TV with guys like me and, you know, I appreciate it.

And I'm always gracious. So thank you very much. But you know, what I will do is I'll push other people's Kickstarters. I'm pushed their books. If I liked somebody art I'll, I'll talk about them all day long. You know, but, uh, that kind of stuff is just crazy.

Melilssa: Yeah, no, that's, yeah. It's silly. Really, when you think about it, it's kind of silly.

and you know, especially what I, you know, I come from a generation where, you [00:33:00] know, none of that existed, you know, when I was growing up. So yeah, it's, it's been interesting to see how everything's changed, you know, with technology and, I guess in some ways it's better because we can get our art out there.

You know, more, you can engage with fans and, and you have these social media platforms now that you can actually interact directly to your fans. And do you get a lot of people that reach out to you and ask for advice or, or just stuff?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I do. I, uh, on my Twitter account, I do get a lot of, so whenever they announce it, Film or something being done.

And because the way I sign contracts, I won't give away a character or a license or anything without me being a producer on it. I get a lot of emails of actors and actresses and Hey, here's my eight by 10. Here's my sample reel. And I politely tell them I not the person. But I forwarded it to the person, you know, if I could.

and, uh, I get that or I get a lot of people. Will you read my comic? [00:34:00] and I can't read everybody's comics, so I tell them, I'm like, you know, I'm working on something. So if I read your stuff, I don't want to be influenced. but if it's somebody that sends me three pages and says, Hey, what do you think of my art?

It's easy. Right? Cause it's it's, but I can't read somebody's screenplay. People send me screenplays and I'm like, dude, I, I, I barely have time to read the news before I get to work. And reading your screenplay is like, means like I have to have hyper. Focus, otherwise I'm going to do it in injustice. And, so I kinda, I kinda I'm polite as hell, but if people, if people ask me about like, how do I do a Kickstarter?

I always go, as soon as you read the creator handbook, the creative FAQ, the tips, the fulfillment resources and support stuff on Kickstarter. And if you have any questions after that, I will answer it, but people forget to go there and read the 20 pages of how to do a Kickstarter. They just want to skip it over.

And they want me to magically say three sentences is like, you know, this is [00:35:00] the secret. Right. You know? but there's so much written. I mean, there's so many YouTube videos explaining everything. I mean, I had to fix a pipe and I just went online and it showed me how to fix a pipe. And I learned from a YouTube video.

Right.

Melilssa: So,

Jimmy Palmiotti: yeah, so there's so much stuff, you know, I, I appreciate when people do that and I do, I do have people send me to art a lot and that's always okay. Because I can look at it quickly and go, okay, you know, you need to work on your arms or your head's a little weird and you know, that kind of stuff.

But, But, you know, I try to, there's some people that want to have long conversations and there's some people that I'm not sure why they want to talk to me and it's a little suspicious, so I'm very polite. And I say, I am sorry. And I, you know, or I'll answer, you know, Amanda and I think this. And that gets the point across.

And you know, so it's, it's, it's, I I'm very open to the fans. When they see me at a con all day long, we can talk at the con, I love to talk to the [00:36:00] fans of the con and if they have questions, I try to answer them on Twitter. I try, I hope they post their questions so everybody could see him. So I figured there's a shortcut, right?

Everybody's can see a question and then get an answer and everybody can share in the answer,

Melilssa: can learn from it.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I think that's the power of the internet is that we can kind of. You know, uh, guys like me can get on and say, no, you know what? You need to ask a little more money for that. Or, you know, you should be getting your art back, you know, and stuff like that.

It happens. I mean, I do it too. Sometimes I'll ask somebody, you know, what is this? Right. You know, is this the way it's done in this business? And you know, if it has to be taken offline, that's fine. but I try to be human about stuff, meaning, you know, everybody's important. So I try to listen to everybody, but if they get ridiculous, I move on.

That's what blocking is for. Right. That's what blocking that, you know, it's funny. Cause we were talking today with somebody and I said, yeah, there's nothing like getting up in the morning and turning [00:37:00] on your computer and then somebody's tagging you. Telling you how much they hated. And I sit there and I'm like going, what is their thinking?

Like, did they sit there and go, I can't stand this. Let me tag the guy. I can't stand how long he sucks. In the middle of a conversation I'm having with three other people. He doesn't know terrible.

Melilssa: Now it's happens all the time. And it's, it's one thing to leave a bad review on a website, but it's UN it's just absolutely not.

Okay for people to tag, creators in negative, you know, reviews online.

It's

Jimmy Palmiotti: just there's no, I don't understand it. I would never do that. I'd be embarrassed to do that. You know, I don't understand it. but I, but I say, if you support my Kickstarter and want to complain, that's great. Right. Cause you, you paid for it.

So go ahead. Yeah. but yeah, I, I don't get it. I'm a little too polite. And again, being a TA, I was brought up that, you know, if you don't, if you don't like something, I don't start my, my tweets with, you know, what I hate [00:38:00] or, you know what I don't like, or I saw this movie sucks. I try to say this movie wasn't for me.

I didn't enjoy the pacing, but it was beautifully shot. Yeah. Yeah. I try to find something in there, but, But that is the internet and I've grown accustomed to it. So it doesn't, I don't get offended very easily. but, but if they attack me, they got to understand they're going to be attacking a professional person that knows how to insult you.

so if so, if you really want to go after me, you're probably gonna lose. Because I do have a way with words.

Yeah. I prefer not to have that battle. I kind, kinda, I kind of feel if I, even, if a person doesn't like me, I feel like if I sat there long enough, we'd find something. We haven't been common and stopped laughing about it. So I that's my attitude with stuff.

Melilssa: Yeah, no, I think, you know, the best thing to do and, uh, is what I do is I just, like I said, I block or I ignore, you know, if you get anything that's trying to be confrontational or negative, you know, it's like, you know what, [00:39:00] teach your own.

Like if that's how you wanna live your life. Great. But I'm not gonna, you know, respond or engage because, you know, I think sometimes too, they, they want you to engage to like kind of fuel the fire, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, I, there was a, I used to have it. I don't have it. I have on my wall. I have sayings and Amanda put some of them up too, when it says slow the fuck down.

And it's a picture of a turtle with a snail on its back. Right. And then another one has keep calm and have integrity, slow down. Enjoy the moment. I used to have one of the only power people have over you is your reaction to them.

Melilssa: Yeah, that's

Jimmy Palmiotti: a good one, boy. and the other one I have is, are you comfortable with this tweet being the headline of a story?

Melilssa: Oh, that's a good one.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. That one makes it kill everything. I mean, that one is like a lot, you know, but they are good things to have on your computer in front of you because, Yeah. And it's, and I think all of it's about slowing down saying, okay, I'm pissed. Let me slow it down to [00:40:00] why is this person doing this for me?

Like, what is the reaction they want from me? And I've learned that if somebody picks on me too much, I go, Hey, sorry. He didn't like it. You know, what's a great book, uh, you know, uh, this by this guy and have a great day. then there's no. Battle anymore.

Melilssa: Yeah, exactly.

Jimmy Palmiotti: And, uh, usually they take it away, you know, what were they going to?

they're going to, uh, I've only had the block, a couple of people. And you know, when I do that, it's really funny because then I see somebody posts, you know, a clip of Jimmy Palmy, ADI is blocked me. And then, you know, that's like their pride, like they going around and that's, that's their badge.

Melilssa: Yeah.

That's not something to be proud of.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. And I'm like, Oh, okay. That's, that's sad. But, You know. Okay. That's it makes you happy, but they never liked that to your face in a con they never have anybody. Oh

Melilssa: no,

Jimmy Palmiotti: no.

Melilssa: Of course not. No, these, a lot of people just hide behind their computers. They would never say it to you to your face.

Jimmy Palmiotti: You know, [00:41:00] there's a lot of frustrated people and I think a lot of people want to make comics and, and so. They have very strong opinions. And if it's not how they like it, they want the world destroyed around that person. and it's sad, but whatever. I mean, I, I, you know, you turn off your computer, the Internet's not there anymore.

Let's be honest.

Melilssa: Exactly. Yeah. There's a, I think sometimes people get so caught up in Twitter, but that they don't, they forget that like the rest of the world, I mean, is there's a lot of people that are not on Twitter. I mean, half of my family and my friends, they're not on it. So all the Twitter drama that happens, they have no clue.

so yeah, once you turn off that computer, I mean, it's so normal life that does not, none of that stuff affects you, you know,

Jimmy Palmiotti: honestly, Uh, you know, you go outside and you're like, Oh, okay. Nobody cares. I, or, or you have neighbors that like, we have neighbors that don't, they don't buy comics. So, you know, they go to me, how would the comics that's, that's [00:42:00] their question now, by the way, how the comics you doing like Snoopy or something,

we call them crypto, but yeah, sure.

Melilssa: No idea.

Jimmy Palmiotti: No, nobody knows who the hell. I mean, let's be honest outside of comics. Nobody knows who the hell we are. It's the, it's the best kind of fame where nobody, nobody cares. Except when you're at a convention.

Melilssa: Right. Everyone has the convention.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Then you can accidentally hear two people talking about you while you're getting food and giggle, giggle behind them.

Yeah,

Melilssa: it must be nice though, too, to have like, like you said, in, in the comic book industry, and unless you're a comic book fan, you know, you're not gonna know. Some of these names or faces. So it is kind of nice, like you have this huge level of success and fame, but yet you can still walk down the street and not be bothered and bombarded by people.

You can still do normal stuff.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, it's you, it's funny, you said a huge level of [00:43:00] pain. I'm like, I'm laughing. Cause it's like, you know, and, and yet at like a convention. We'll not let the comic people sit with the celebrities.

Melilssa: Oh, is that right?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh yeah. The bigger shows. Yeah. They separate the people.

So we're not considered celebrities were considered comic people. So we get the table with the sandwiches that are pre-made and the water. And then the celebrity table is like, that room is right next to yours. And they have a chef in there cutting food, had food and you're like, okay. So the people that do common conventions.

Still treat us like, you know, I don't know, like crack certain kinds. We don't, we don't do those kinds anymore. We, we, we, we judge the cons by the green rooms, but, uh, you know, I think after this year, they've all been humbled. So we'll see what happens when they come back.

Melilssa: Yeah, absolutely. I think the, the only con I've been to, I go every year as the Seattle Emerald city Comicon, and that one's really, it's a fun one.

and you know, it, it got canceled [00:44:00] literally two weeks before we went into. You know, the shutdown on everything. have you, have you been to that one?

Jimmy Palmiotti: We've been there twice. I think it's very, like, they invited us once every like six years or something. and th the one time I went, I was, I got sick after the first day, so Amanda had to do it all alone.

but it's a great show, you know, and there's a great crew there and I think they've been bought. Right. So they're owned by.

Melilssa: Yeah. Repop yeah, they just totally different, not totally different, but there's some different packaging and they're doing some different things that, so like originally you could, when you went to like a panel, it was just first, first come first serve, you know?

So if you got there early to get a seat in the front row and then. just this last year they started doing this whole VIP thing where you had to pay extra to be close to the stage. I don't like that. I think that's, you know, pretty bad, you know,

Jimmy Palmiotti: Hey, it takes, it takes the fun of, you know, the people that love to get online [00:45:00] early and they're going to get it.

It kind of makes it now a class system.

Right, right. I, yeah. Yeah. I'm not a big fan of that unless I'm getting the money, you know, that's not the case. Believe me, that's not the case.

Melilssa: I kind of think of it as like a casino, right? Like if you, if you don't charge for the front row seats, some people are going to spend their money and all the food and the merchandise, you know what I mean?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I, I, you know, look there. Let's be honest, the bigger the con, the more it's about making money. Right. You know, they're not putting on a con because they huge fans. Right. I, that only happens with the smaller cons or the personal cons or, you know, there's certain cons out there that are just wonderful.

And you can tell everyone involved is so happy to see you. Yeah. You know, there's some really, but the kinds of money-making things, you know, and then you go and you see like, You know, automatically, you know, that you have a certain amount of celebrities, right. So what does that mean? You know, nobody has any money to [00:46:00] spend in the comic part because they paid the guy who plays Thor $150 just to get an autograph.

And then they come over to you and you're selling a book for $5 and they go, Oh, I'd love to get that. But I, you know, I gave, I gave store, you know, all my money and and you're like, what the hell? You know? so it's like, that happens. And like I said, I think with COVID, I think it's going to be interesting.

Cause I think a lot of. Smallest shows are going to come back and they'll be hopefully. Focused on the creators and, uh, people, but I don't, I don't know. That's just me being hopeful.

Melilssa: I agree with you. I think that it's, what's definitely going to change, you know, even, you know, for at least the next few years, even if we get, you know, the vaccines and all that stuff, I don't think there's going to be as many, art, you know, celebrities wanting to take selfies with people, you know, because everyone's going to be still afraid to get sick or get germs.

so I think that actually may put more money into the comic book, creators hands, because if you're not spending money on all these photo ops and, you know, autographs and selfies, then you can [00:47:00] actually buy, you know, the toys and the comics and you know, all the knickknacks and everything. Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I never, I mean, I guess it's kind of cool to see these actors, but my thing is you can't have interaction with them when you can't bullshit with them.

I feel like. then what are you spending the money on? Just a random thought. I can do that with Photoshop. He's not with us today, but I can put you with Sean Connery for 50 bucks.

Melilssa: The way I learned that, the hard way I thought I got all excited. I was like, Oh, I'm gonna get to talk. Uh, I had a photo op with Jason Mamoa Aquaman.

And, uh, I remember it's like two seconds. Like literally, like you can't even hear the guy breathe. Like it's literally two seconds you're in, you're out. And I thought, that was a waste of money. I mean, you know, it was cool to stand next to him for four seconds. But so from then on out, I spent all my money on comics.

When I go,

Jimmy Palmiotti: we should have a thing where you. If I'm paying this, will I be able to hear them breathe? I think, I don't think that's creepy enough. [00:48:00] I think

Melilssa: literally two seconds, 120 bucks down the drain. Right.

Jimmy Palmiotti: you know, and again, I like, I get the idea of, you know, Hey, you're going to see this celebrity and I guess that's exciting.

but I I'd much rather go, I don't know, go, go meet the, you know, uh, you know, any, any of the artists that I love and I, I would throw down a hundred bucks to sit and talk with them for five minutes. So it's like, it's like, it's, it's. Everybody's different, but you also noticed that a lot of people go to the content going just to the TV movie stuff, and they're not going to become, they really need to start calling them comic conventions and just call them entertainment,

Melilssa: conventions.

Jimmy Palmiotti: And I think we should do small comic conventions. I love them. I love the small ones because they get to talk to everybody. You can hear me breathe, Melissa

Mandel, breathe in one ear and read in the other check for

Melilssa: a [00:49:00] pulse to make sure it was actually real and not to stat.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, that's funny.

Melilssa: Yeah,

Jimmy Palmiotti: but it's true. I mean, I, you know, I've been lucky because you know, being part of the con it's. You know, you get to see the celebrities, you know, on a different level. cause they, they asked me who the hell are you? and then you explain that. but you know, again, they're just people.

So, and they're really big, like big name insecure people. So they have a whole different set of needs. My thing is I like people that people always got to me. Yeah. You know, I want to get one book signed and, and we, Amanda and I talked to everyone. W everybody comes in, we talk to, and we tell the people in line with it's going to take a little while, but we talked to everybody and, and because my thing is that's, the con experience is it's to get to talk and they have questions.

They have ridiculous, wonderful questions that we laugh. you know, when they want to know what you're doing next and everything and, and that's what the panels are great for [00:50:00] to doing right now, what we're doing right now.

Melilssa: Yeah, absolutely. Exactly. Now, have you done any virtual comic cons that all this year?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I did. I did the, I did the, a panel two in New York one. I did a panel for. That Warner brothers thing that, it was like some big event online event thing. I did something for there. Amanda did one for that. yeah, I did. I did. I just did one for a college with Jeff Smith. Me and Amanda did something with Jeff Smith.

Who's a wonderful person. And, and uh, we do them once in a while. I do the podcast like I'm doing now, when I have something to promote otherwise, why do you want to talk to me? Right. you know, so, uh, but uh, I try not to overbook them, you know? cause I feel like, okay, it's going to, I don't want to be, Oh, it's him again?

kind of guy. I have a couple of guys. I know. It's like, Oh, it's him again. I know what he's going to say. I, I always, I, I liked, I liked the unexpected questions, you know, I like the stuff that, uh, uh, that I don't see [00:51:00] coming both, you know, the virtual kinds of tough, right? Because you don't have the interaction you want,

Melilssa: you know, but you can interact with

Jimmy Palmiotti: no.

And you know, the cons have been about. Shaking hands hugging, uh, sometimes, you know, taking a picture with people, you know, getting the sketch on their book, like once in a while, just sketch on their book and ruin it. And you know, that kind of stuff, you know, you don't have that right. The, the intensity of a line is, is kind of fun because you meet people online.

You know, I stand online for other people and you talk to people. I don't know the, you know, w we're we're humans, we like the contact. We, the, the interaction, we love the bar at night. Uh, after the con all the pros and fans hanging out in bar and, you know, having, having crazy conversation,

Melilssa: it's a mingle,

Jimmy Palmiotti: mingle, mingling, and we're social animals.

So, uh, you know, if this is hard and it hits and it hit a lot of people [00:52:00] hard. No, it's hard. It's hard to be creative when you don't have that forcement.

Melilssa: Absolutely. Yeah. Has it, slowed you down at all as far as, your creative spark, you know, uh, just getting ideas or anything like that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: So, yeah, so I, so Amanda and I are traveling people.

We, We go to Europe, we traveled to new countries. We go places we'd never been. We do cons where we never been before, just to the fact that we get to explore the area. So, you know, we had, we had, I think we had a Belgium and we had a couple of places in your plan this year that got canceled. And then, uh, We were going to plan a trip to Italy for a month and that got canceled.

And, those ins you find stories in your trip when you travel, right? So if you're a writer and you travel and you do a little research of the history of places, there's a million great stories. so for a writer it's essential to be constantly stimulated and TV. Doesn't do it for me like TV. Doesn't do it, even books in a way it's hard to write and then get into a novel because my brain [00:53:00] spouts.

Cross sectioning a little bit. Okay. so travel has always been a thing, so it's been tough that way. and because I'm not as social, the part, a big part of me is a social, Amanda and I is we'd go out and we'd have friends at the bar when we'd go. So we're not doing that. So I have more time, but more time doesn't mean more.

Melilssa: Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: And then plus the, the past year, like the work we took on a lot of it, we're like, okay, what kind of done? You know, we kind of that's enough of that. Character that's in that we've said enough of this. We need a break from that. So it's been a good time to reflect on what's important.

And, uh, what's interesting to us and, and, and we miss our friends. We have a group of people that we meet at the cons. We have friends that we made over the years at cons and not, they're not creators. They're just friends that we go. And we'll go to another state and they'll all go because we're going and we'll have like big dinners and stuff.

So, yeah. So I missed that. I missed that group. Uh, [00:54:00] we'll get it back next year. Yeah. But I think this taught a lot of people what's important and you know, between between politics and this COVID it's exhausting.

Melilssa: Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's draining

Jimmy Palmiotti: very draining. Yeah. If, if, if it's not clear who I voted for on my Twitter account, then you have no idea.

I mean, I'll say it out loud. I grew up with Trump in my life. I had friends that worked for him. I went to his birthday party when I was in my, so I known this guy. On and off since I was a kid. So I knew what the man is about. And from day one and New York new Yorkers know that too, because we've had to grow up with them on our radar.

So, you know, and so when people tell me, you know, they're big fans of his or this and that, I kind of say, Oh, you know, that's your choice. but it would never be my choice because I know him. [00:55:00] You know, I know how, how he thinks and, and I've lost some people followers. I've lost some fans because of my politics, but.

You know why they don't go to the page and pick on who they are. Thing where I don't non-fat, uh, you know, because of their politics, but if they, but it's freedom, right? You don't want to follow me. That's great. Don't follow me. I don't care. It's not a contest. It's not how many people I have on Twitter.

It's quality. It's the quality of the people I have on Twitter.

Melilssa: Yeah, no, I, I agree. I think that if, yeah, I I've lost followers too for, for my, you know, political posts and, you know, I'm, I'm Democrat and liberal and everything. And so, and that's fine if, if people don't want to see the posts, they don't have to follow me.

That's all right.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I had, I had some guys that are like, you know, big Trump supporters and I still talk to them. All the time. They they've not, not followed me. They just say, Hey, that's your politics. I met you 40 times. We get along. Great. I said, yes. I said, no matter what the politics are, I guarantee you.

If we sat in the bar and [00:56:00] started bullshitting and hanging out within 20 minutes, we'd find 400 things we have in common. Yeah. And politics would be the last thing we'd want to talk about at that point. So, it's not easy for people to see that though. They take it. It's more important to them than religion or life goals, which is really weird to me is like, like why was politics that important to you at this point?

Like just, there's a lot more going on.

Melilssa: Right. Yeah,

Jimmy Palmiotti: no, I know. I know. I don't know. I think as people, I don't know. I mean, maybe it's the COVID. I think people are just in their own heads, too much.

Melilssa: Nothing else to do.

Jimmy Palmiotti: You can only watch so much TV. That's what, you know, look comic stores right now that are open, are very busy right now.

And, and more power to them, you know, uh, my office is in a comic shop, so, so, you know, I know how busy it is in those stores. It's crazy. You know, I, I, I lock my door with my mask on, cause I, I don't trust any anybody or anything. but, [00:57:00] but the stores have busy. They let in a certain amount, th this store is Emerald city.

It's in Clearwater, Florida. the story is the size of a giant supermarket. So it's huge. They do a head count. You have to weigh your mask. They make them wash your hands, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. They're great people. but they're busy as hell right now. Cause people bored.

Melilssa: Yeah. yeah. There's like you said, there's only so much TV you can watch.

And I mean, I think, you know, you've, there's not anything really new coming out. I mean, little bit sear in here, but for the most part, I mean, once you've watched. Everything or all the, you know, all the top shows on your list and it's like, it just, I get burnt out from TV and, uh, you know, reading is so much more relaxing anyway.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, cause you do it at your own pace. Yeah. The end of the day TV still delivers information at their speed. Yeah. So know it's funny. Cause I was watching a movie the other day and I was like, they need to edit this thing because it's dragging on too long. And then I was watching another thing I'm like, why did it end so quickly?

[00:58:00] Like they should have gave us another four minutes. And I realized that's my comic book brain, my comic book brain wants to slow it down or speed it up. And I do that by flipping. Yeah. You know, so it's my pace. And realize. Yeah, I realize that my reading is my pace, so I control that I can't control these other mediums, but definitely reading is a, is definitely something I, and you know, when a comic I can actually go back, flip back three pages and go, Oh, that's where I got the knife from that it was on that table over there.

Right. Oh, good catch.

Melilssa: Yeah. Instead of trying to have to like rewind something and the way that, like the streaming services now, it's not like you just have a regular remote, you know what I mean? It's, it's confusing on how to go back a few frames, then you go back to

Jimmy Palmiotti: it's so annoying. Like Netflix is the easiest one to navigate.

Melilssa: That's true.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. But it's funny. Cause sometimes you go back and then there's that line and there's a circle. Like I'm like just go backwards without [00:59:00] things blocking my screen. Cause sometimes I want to sketch what's on the screen. I like freeze frame it and draw it, but there's this line and there's the logo.

And I'm like, get that shit out of the way. Amazon's like, yeah, I don't like Amazon that much. And then Hulu's got like a whole different process. I'm such a, you know what? I think a comic people were really weird. We want to, we want to fix everything in our needs and I think most people don't even give it a second thought.

Yeah, that's true.

Melilssa: Yeah. Do you think of it differently?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah.

Melilssa: speaking of, I, you know, I've been wanting to ask this question too, but I wasn't sure to who in the industry, and you may have an answer, you may not that I was thinking about this. So, so, you know, when you, when you buy a book on Amazon or whatever, you buy a Kindle, right.

And you get your book on Kindle, I was just thinking the other day as I was reading a digital comic. There needs to be a tablet that is specifically designed to like read a comic book that would [01:00:00] enhance the comic, make it easy to read because when you're reading it online, you're scrolling left and right.

And up and down and I'm getting my, yeah, vision's gotten blurred.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah.

Melilssa: So have you heard anybody in the industry? Say that that's something that could even be a possibility in the future?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I, you know, it's funny because like, you know, the board of brain goes to, they should create a, uh, an iPad that's specifically made for it, but we all know the math of how many comic readers are on there would never do it.

So we have to say, okay, you need an app that delivers this. And it's funny because a lot of different, you know, comics, algae has their own thing. Some of the stuff you download it's panel the panel. You know, reading panels. I don't know if there's any one specific way because I think everybody reads it differently.

I like, I like on my computer. My desktop. I don't really want to read a comment, right. Because I don't want to sit up in a chair and I don't know. I liked it. I'm so used to reading. So I'm not a big [01:01:00] digital comic person. I love the people love them. And it's great because what I find is people that don't even read comics, read digital comics.

So I'm happy about that. but on my iPad, it's interesting, but I find myself zooming in a lot.

 

And, and, and it is like, uh, it is a little, it was a little, I, I want to say because we have not grown up with this technology so much that it's a little awkward for us, but I'm thinking a 14 year old probably probably knows this shit backwards.

Like they literally can just flip through a book and it's easier on the, on the iPad. So I'm guessing it's a little bit of that. Yeah. It's sort of like thinking your parents with, uh, with the cable box and with the two control is one to turn it on and do this special channels and how crazy they get.

They, you know, they're like, I think it's broken, you know, and they start panicking. They start thinking they broke the whole computer or the TV. I don't know. I can't get to Netflix, you know? [01:02:00] So I'm guessing where that level of the younger people using the iPads a real techie. So, but I get it. I remember my mom called me up.

Like, I swear it was like 11 at night and she goes, the TV's not working. And I'm like, all right, get the controller. And I haven't been doing everything. She could still networking and I'm like, what the hell? You know, I'm going to have to get up, get dressed, get in my car and drive to my mom's. To figure out the TV.

And then I, at the last second, I said, mom, do me a favor, walk to the TV show in the wall is the plugin. And she goes,

Melilssa: Oh my God. It's like, that's always what it is. It's always, that's not plugged in.

Jimmy Palmiotti: I mean, I should know better that that's the first thing I thought, but I think technology. So, so I have this thing and, uh, I have this theory.

That goes along with this question in a weird way. I never really said out loud, too much. [01:03:00] I think, I think that the trick to staying youthful and young to stay up with technology to keep up with technology. I think once you decide that, Oh, I don't know how to do Hey. Hey, can you do this for me? I don't know how to do this when you start.

Word towards getting old.

Melilssa: Oh gosh, no, that's such a good point. I mean, you're right. I think you're, I think you're onto something with that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I think, I think, I think that, you know, I love that in some seniors homes, they teach people how to use the computers. I love that, you know? but I'm like the minute you start saying, I don't understand this technology and you know, and I've learned like I've learned that the key to everything is knowing how to search and knowing how to put things in a sentence, like.

So, I don't know. I don't know how to do this. And I. Oh, how do I do this? And then I write what it is and you'd be shocked. How many people ask me questions? How do you do this? Or how do you get that? How do you do, do you know, a guy that sells this and I'm like product [01:04:00] sell? Where do you live? Oh, it was constant in Wisconsin.

There's like, it's so funny how there's a generation that doesn't understand the search tool engines, you know, and. So I think the secret to staying young is keep it keeping up with technology so much. So I have my Oculus and my, I have my VR stuff and I just bought a new camera for Amanda for her desk.

Cause I think she should draw and have it like, so people can watch it on YouTube. but I constantly, my Oculus is like amazing. My eye people come over and I say, Oh, you want to VR play tennis? And they're like, what? And I'm like, I don't know if you've ever done that.

Melilssa: You know, I haven't, and I'm such a big gamer.

I love video games. I have an Xbox and I would, I need to get one. I've been looking at them and,

Jimmy Palmiotti: yeah, we'll get the new one, get the newest one they got. Cause you know, you want to stay up with it, you know how that works. And, Let me tell you something, once you do it, you're like, Oh my God. and you know, they have a, they have things on it.

Like you can, they have like [01:05:00] a Google map type thing where you can press anywhere on it and on a map or any, or type in any address. And it gives you like, and it's a three 60. Okay. Environment for using Google maps. So you can actually go up the street or down the side streets, and then you can put in a year like, okay, let me put 2014.

And that's what that block looked like on 2014.

Melilssa: Oh, wow.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Cool. Yeah, it's so crazy. And then, you know, so I have a friend of mine who's handicapped and he doesn't get out much and he's in another state. And I bought him one. So we meet in the room, there's a room we can meet in. And he created an icon. I created an icon and he gets in and, and, you know, he looks goofy and I look goofy.

And then I say, what do you want to do? And he says, you want to watch some TV or you want to play a game. And he goes, yeah, let's play a game. And we play against each other, all watch the same show and we'll comment. And he's in another state he's wheelchair bound. And we do this stuff together. I bought him one, so we can kind of meet, engage.

Melilssa: You

Jimmy Palmiotti: didn't even know you could [01:06:00] interact

Melilssa: with other people on it.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah, you can. So, and so it's, it's pretty amazing. And, and then if you have like Netflix, you put it on Oculus and when you put it on it's, the screen is compatible to a giant IMAX screen.

Melilssa: Oh, wow.

Jimmy Palmiotti: So you can watch the Netflix movie on a giant IMAX because when you, they even have an app, you can buy it.

It's a movie theater app. So it looks like you're sitting in home.

Melilssa: Oh, cool. How's that you can literally just be anywhere you want

Jimmy Palmiotti: turn around like three 60 meeting as seats behind you and as a projection room and stuff like that. It's crazy. so what's happening with this stuff is every year they're getting people more and more creative.

There's one. There's one way you can climb and you feel like you're a mile high. there's another one that's hysterical. It's you're walking the plank and it's like sticking out of a 60 story building and you have to walk like five to six steps and your brain is saying, don't do it. Don't go. But the reality is you're just standing in your

Melilssa: living room.

Right, [01:07:00] right.

Jimmy Palmiotti: But the, the great thing about the Oculus is it's like, it's all in one piece it's rechargeable. It just goes on your head and you have two hand controllers and it's the easiest thing to navigate and do it's made for idiots like me. So I didn't just sell a hundred of these. I don't know what

I

Melilssa: do.

Yeah. I know. I was like, all right, they need to give you a free

Jimmy Palmiotti: one. They do, but I have it already. So they need to give you some free games because the games cost a couple of,

Melilssa: there you go. All right. So if they're listening sense,

Jimmy Palmiotti: have it, you should try it. You should try it. Cause if you like games, you're going to freak out.

Melilssa: Okay. Yeah. And I'm a big gamer. I love, I love all those, you know, fallout and Skyrim, all this fantasy games. So I'm definitely going to have

Jimmy Palmiotti: to, you'll love this because this, this has a games where you have a bow and arrow and it feels like you're actually pulling back on a boat. That's how convincing it is.

It's crazy.

Melilssa: Oh my gosh. Now I'm gonna like go Google one right now.

Jimmy Palmiotti: It's a great gift. If anybody's looking to buy Melissa gift, [01:08:00] John, if you're listening, you want to get her an Oculus?

Melilssa: Are you at the spoiler country? Christmas fund?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Now, there you go. you know, you can do it. You can, uh, You can do an episode where you talk about this with me and you can tell them ahead of time.

You want to experience it. If they can send you one and we'll talk it up and sell it.

Melilssa: That's a great idea.

Jimmy Palmiotti: There you go. Look at us and do washing products.

Melilssa: Yeah. Priority we're influencers now.

That's awesome. thank you so much for coming on today. This has been really fun.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yes. I hope we weren't something. I have no idea. Okay. that's all that matters.

Melilssa: Yeah. I learned about you. I got to know you a little better, so that's great.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. And you're in, you're in Seattle. You said

Melilssa: I'm actually in central California.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, okay.

Melilssa: Yeah. The guys are in split spoiler country, Geyser in Seattle and set.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Central. Is that being above Los Angeles?

Melilssa: So I am actually two hours below San Francisco. [01:09:00] South South of San Francisco. Yeah. So

Jimmy Palmiotti: new and Beaver is

Melilssa: now

Jimmy Palmiotti: part of the, okay. I just have a friend who has, uh, uh, horses out there.

Melilssa: I'm about five hour, like a five-hour drive from LA, and two hours. From from the city, from San Francisco. Yeah. So the beautiful central central coast. It's like pebble beach Carmel Monterey area.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful there.

Melilssa: Yeah. Yeah. I was born and raised here. We have a huge facility and community here.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh boy. Yeah. I yelling going on at night. What's going on there? A lot of yelling.

Melilssa: Yeah. A lot of yelling, a lot of Italian restaurants.

Jimmy Palmiotti: That's great.

Melilssa: Yeah, no, it's great. It's great. Little it's like a little Italy here.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Were you born there?

Melilssa: Yeah, I was born here. My dad was actually born in Italy and, you know, I was born here in, uh, in the Monterey peninsula.

So born and raised, lived in a couple other areas, but always come back home. Cause it's, it's such a beautiful place. you know, we've got the [01:10:00] ocean and clean air and. Good weather. Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. And how would the fires were you affected by the fires there or no?

Melilssa: just from the smoke, mostly, that was, that was so bad.

It was, we, you know, the windows had to stay closed when there were fires burning and like every direction of us. So we were like enclosed in this smoke bubble. but yeah, and that was devastating for some of the nearby counties. luckily they're, you know, they're all put out now, but yeah, it was awful.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, I found out where my friend's ranch is. It's an Exeter U X E T E R.

Melilssa: Oh, that sounds familiar.

Jimmy Palmiotti: It says highway 90 nines highway one 98. I don't know.

Melilssa: I think that might be over by Fresno.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Sequoia and vis Visalia.

Melilssa: Oh, by sale. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's a really like Fresno. That's like East, I think it's inland.

Jimmy Palmiotti: It isn't. They have a lot of the, uh, they have own cutting horses. So when I was researching Jonah hex, I stayed with them. [01:11:00] They, they have a ranch there.

Melilssa: Oh, cool. Yeah. There's we have a lot of, you know, California is so unique. There's so many different types of, you know, there's ranches and then there's beaches.

And, you know, we have a lot of rural areas, a lot of beautiful.

Jimmy Palmiotti: I love it. I always wonder why he goes to LA I'm like, what are you? What's wrong with you?

Melilssa: Yeah. Yeah. I know LA I can handle for like a weekend and that's it.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Yeah. Unless you're in the business side, it doesn't make any sense.

Melilssa: Exactly.

Exactly. Yeah. It's just too busy. But, now it's, it's much. I like Northern California. It's the trees are prettier and the air is cleaner, you know, it's just, it's really nice. Lake Tahoe. You guys got to go visit Lake Tahoe when this COVID thing is over. It's such a beautiful place to vacation.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, we'll go up there, man.

Amanda's family is like Bolinas and, Up in that area, outside San Francisco. So they were on the water over there and hit, I call it hippie land, but I don't know. It's where the grateful dead used to be and Joni Mitchell and all that stuff. But, uh, Yeah. cool. now we know a little bit about you.

Melilssa: That's right. [01:12:00] That's right. I'm all your smoke

Jimmy Palmiotti: is now confined figure. You start narrowing the map down a little bit. Yeah,

Melilssa: exactly. I want to make sure everyone goes to kickstarter.com. so you can back issues three and four of pop kill, and then also make sure to check out paper films.com so you can get the latest on all of your upcoming projects.

And, yeah, Jimmy Palmy, ADI, thank you so much for being on today. I'd love to have you back on in the future, cause it's been an absolute pleasure.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, thank you. And maybe next time we can bring Amanda. That'd be some,

Melilssa: I love that. I'd love to talk to her about, uh, about Terminator.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Exactly. All my God did.

She sort of stopped was 22 times in the theater and I think she's still a terminated, like, I don't know, maybe eight or 10 times. She has every decade. Has she has a favorite movie after that? I think it's kiss, kiss, bang. Bang is one of her.

Melilssa: Oh, that's that's a good word. Yeah. Yeah. And I love Terminator. I just saw the [01:13:00] newest one a couple of nights ago and yeah.

So we'll have to chat about that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I was disappointed, but whatever. I, I love, uh, what's her name? That she was in it. the original

Melilssa: Hamilton. Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I love this shoe. Isn't it. But everyone else, I didn't like it. Like I thought she was great and it should have been just about her.

Melilssa: Yeah. I wanted it to be more about her as well.

She's just, she's such a powerhouse actress and

Jimmy Palmiotti: I mean, I'll say one thing about the movie, the guy they picked as the evil Terminator was probably the worst pick ever.

Melilssa: I know. Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Like not scary, not engaging, not cool. Looking bland, boring. What would they say?

Melilssa: Just the robot.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Literally they could have just, they could have switched them out for it's a toaster oven and had that.

In every scene and it would have been fun.

Melilssa: I know, I completely

Jimmy Palmiotti: agree. It was a little weird to think about that.

Melilssa: I'm going to think I'm going to reflect on [01:14:00] that, Evan. All right. again, thank you so much. You've made my night making me laugh. That's awesome.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, great. Happy to be here and thank you. And hopefully I see you guys as soon, soon, and maybe next time.

Melilssa: I hope so too. Yeah, we'll we'll, we'll get John on the next time and to, and your wife, Amanda, so have a wonderful night and, uh, yeah. Terrific.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Thank you.

 

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