Jimmy Palmiotti - Sex and Violence #3 on Kickstarter now!

Jimmy Palmiotti – Sex and Violence 3 Kickstarter

[00:00:00] Melissa: This is why we’re country. And I’m Melissa searcher today on the show. I get to chat with Jimmy Yachty. Again, we had him on the show back in December, so I’m excited to welcome him back. How’s it

Jimmy Palmiotti: going? All right. Good. It was worried. That was, it was, it feels like a long time ago. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just.

Right. Yeah.

Melissa: I was looking back to see, you know, okay. When was the last time we spoke and I was surprised to see it was December because it has felt longer.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. It’s it’s the T it’s the COVID times. The reality of everything is just very off. Although hopefully that’s changing soon. We get no shots on Monday.

So

Melissa: I’m excited about that. My first shot about a week and a half ago, and I’m getting a second one on, I think the seventh. Okay. That’s great.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Then you, then you’re all done. And now all you have to do is worry about everyone else.

Melissa: I know that’s the, I’m the kind of the last one in my family. Everyone else, my parents [00:01:00] are fully vaccinated and my sister as well.

So, yeah, I’m just looking forward to us. Being able to, you know, all hang out and not have to be as worried, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I, like I said, I think, I think the trick with all this is to get everybody vaccinated, but I didn’t have people telling me, Oh my God, they’re telling me the stupidest reasons why they’re not doing it.

Like, it’s just like, I’m like, what, what world are you coming from? That this is a real thing, you know? But you can’t control people. I, I, I S I wish Biden made that check. Like, you couldn’t get that check this past week, unless you got a shot. You know, I wish he did that because I think a lot of people that are not going to get the shot are going to get it, to get that check for $1,400.

Melissa: Yeah, exactly. I know that would have been a nice incentive for people. And then they would

Jimmy Palmiotti: have, then they would have said, we’re, you know, we’re being Nazis or something that would make people do things. So

Melissa: the funniest thing is the excuse where people [00:02:00] think that they’re going to get like microchipped or something.

And I’m like, ah, if you have a cell phone, I hate to break it to you, but you’re already being watched,

Jimmy Palmiotti: you know, I had my, I had my hair cut by somebody that was, she was telling me that, you know, I heard this is chip in there. And, and I’m like, I’m like, why do you think your life so interesting that everybody that, that the government wants to have a chip in you?

Like, what do they care? You know,

Melissa: similar. There was a similar train of thought, you know, back in, I don’t 10, 15 years ago when there were like, you know, bill Gates foundation was trying to administer vaccines and, you know, different countries in Africa. And there were a lot of like militant groups that were spreading all this propaganda that, Oh, don’t get the vaccine.

Cause they’re going to microchip you. And you know, and all these people need these vaccines, you know, to, to combat these illnesses. It’s just so crazy how stuff like that spreads.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Well, it’s it’s, you know, you gotta think it’s cause who would make that up first [00:03:00] off. Right? So be the paranoid and crazy people or there’s I always say usually things are greed motivated, so there’s somewhere, somebody doesn’t want people to get vaccinated.

I have no idea why, why would you, I don’t, I don’t get it, but like it’s somehow I always say everything goes back to greed, anything bad, always, usually winds up being about greed. But I put the Michael chip thing. I don’t know, you know, I know some people’s cats and dogs have one and you know, in case they get lost.

So, I mean, I like the idea of having like a chip that tells you my medical history. So you can some case I get hit by a car, you can just scan it and go, okay, this guy had this and that. And you know, I don’t think everything’s evil. Like everybody thinks technology is evil, except for when they need it.

Then all of a sudden it’s the greatest thing ever,

Melissa: you know? Yeah. Well, it’s like you said, the whole microchipping thing, it’s [00:04:00] there. If they wanted to track us, they can already do that with our cell phones, you know, because I mean, just think about it. You’ll be talking about something right. With your wife and all of a sudden, you just start seeing ads for it on your phone, on your social media

Jimmy Palmiotti: pages.

Yeah. I mean, I, I remember looking up like yeah, looking up like some kind of container I needed and all of a sudden in my emails is like this container and you should use this. And I’m like, okay, obviously something tracked. What I was doing the day before and is making sure I see all these ads, you know, look at the, at the end of the day, you know, it’s it’s again, I go back to greed.

Right, right. So, I mean, it’s, it’s all about making money off people, you know? So I mean, I don’t think anybody cares to track us. Physically track us. I mean, Hey, you know, I get it. If you know, Hey look, Jimmy went to whole foods. I don’t know if that’s like a whole show, you know? But I yeah, I don’t know.

I don’t know. I mean, look, if you have an iPhone, you’re already, you’re already tracking. Yeah,

Melissa: exactly. Yeah. [00:05:00] Do you ever watch Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy Palmiotti: once in a while? Yeah, I, I, you know, I, I don’t catch it usually catch the shows. I usually catch like on YouTube, the rewriting of his opening or his some of his episodes, you know?

Melissa: Yeah. Because he had an episode on it about a week or two ago where he had to apologize to people because he was doing a bit where he was talking about Siri and like ordering pancake mix and apparently. Like people series started ordering them pancake mix because it hurts Jimmy Kimmel’s voice and all these people started tweeting.

I’m like, thanks buddy. For all the pancake mix I just ordered.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. There was a story about a parrot who kept repeating, kept talking to Alexa and ordering things and, and The house kept getting the same packages over and over and over. And they found that it was the parrot doing it all day long.

You know, like I said, technology in the hands of you know, it could be funny, but I think for the most part, I love technology. [00:06:00] I love the cutting aid edge, this virus, this you know, all this stuff. I love the cutting-edge science of it. I love that. We landed something on Mars. I love all this stuff. I, I like the Saifai stuff because I think it’s the only way we’re going to save ourselves in the future.

Yeah. When things start getting really bad, I think it’s going to, you know, hopefully things don’t get mad maxes, but you know, I think technology is gonna save us on some other

Melissa: fronts, you know? Yeah. I agree. Definitely. I think that is, you know, that is the future and, and speaking of technology, doing something good your Kickstarter would not be happening if, if we’re not technology.

Right?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Sure. I’d have to be knocking on doors, asking people if they buy, you know, buy my comics, but now it’s a, yeah. The sex and violence volume three it’s it’s been up. I think I have eight more days to go, which is you know, which is wonderful because in case anybody wants to get it. I’ve been having like a lot of kick-started craziness lately, because the last one I did and I think we spoke in December [00:07:00] was a pop kill.

And I offered, you know, we had like two covers. We had Adam use cover and a built-in cabbage cover that we ordered. If, you know, $10 more, you can get these special limited edition covers. And then once it Kickstarter ended, I started getting like hundreds of emails from people saying, can I still buy more books from your Kickstarter?

And I was like, why? Like, why do you all listen to these people? Want the book? You know, it’s already, it was up there for a month. And and then a buddy of mine sent me a text and he goes, Look, you’re you’re you’re Adam use cover. One is going, it’s selling for $499 right now and it’s selling and I’m like, and I’m like, Oh, that explains it.

I’m like, cause people, yeah. Do you have any heat Adam use or the built-in Kevin or any of the man that covers and I’m looking and they’re selling, you know, from like 200 to $500. Yeah. And I realized the collectors, like all of a sudden [00:08:00] popped up, you know, that’s great. Yeah, not, not so much the readers, you know, it was mostly people that were trying to get and like with the new Kickstarter we have we have a nice nice Frank Frazetta cover on it.

There’s a long story with that, but I might have to get a Frank Frazetta cover, but we also did, you know, limited edition Jo Lynn’s there. And then we have one of the Frank, we call it a Frank Virgin Cabo, which is nothing but his art on the cover. And we did like limited edition books cause we only limit, we limited to the Kickstarter.

So if only 50 people order it, that’s we kind of make, we kind of make 75 because I have to do in case shipping’s get damaged and stuff like that. We have damages, but we don’t print any more than that. And And as my fellow retail is like to tell me yeah, to have 50 of the books with a certain cover is automatically makes it expensive.

And I’m just like in my brain, I’m just trying to make it like, so people’s back the Kickstarter.

Melissa: Yeah. We make some more exclusive. And I actually, I did back your pop [00:09:00] kill Kickstarter and I got, you know, issues three and four and the quality it’s just so beautiful. I mean, people in my family, they don’t even read.

Comics were like, what is that? That’s such a gorgeous cover. I was like, Oh, this is, you know, Jimmy Palm Yachty’s comic and. They were just so great. And I’m just so excited. I haven’t even taken them out of the plastic because I just want the regular, I think I, at the time, I want to say that the other tiers were sold out because I kind of came in at the end of it.

So I got the original covers and, but they’re just so beautiful and yeah, great. Well,

Jimmy Palmiotti: it it’s a, so, you know, we use a printer that’s near my house in Florida, so, I go over and pick out the paper quality and the cover stock. And and then we do things like on those covers, they had spot varnish. So you saw only certain parts of shiny and you know, so, and then the inside paper is like, honestly, it’s, it’s not comic book paper.

It’s, it’s [00:10:00] thicker, holds the color better for me. And yeah, it’s more expensive, but it’s a Kickstarter. You’re paying more for the book anyway, but I figured, you know, I don’t want to give you something that looks like a comic you pick up. For Marvel and DC, because they don’t even have cover stock anymore.

Their stock is the same as the inside of the book, you know, and it’s kind of cheap. They kind of feel cheap, even though they’re charging you at $6 or $7, sometimes the comments are really cheap and you know, they only have 20 pages of story. And you know, like I said, I just feel if I’m going to do this, I have to make this like the best Paperstock best production.

Cause I have, I have this guy, John J. Hill, he’s amazing designer. And he’s a guy that does all the books. He designs them. He, you know, he he works with me with the printer. And you know, and my buddy, Patrick, we, we all like sit there and try to fuss over the books. And it’s nice because the printer likes to showcase our books.

The principal likes to show other people that are trying to [00:11:00] get business from them. And you know, so that’s kinda like, that’s, that’s very nice compliment.

Melissa: Yeah. That’s a good display, you know, thing for them to have to get more business

Jimmy Palmiotti: for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, and also, you know, so you like you back three and four, my thing is, is like, I don’t want you to open up the package and go, ah, yeah, look, you know, these are okay.

You know, I, cause I’m a, I’m a very tactile person and I feel when I buy something, it has to feel like it costs that much. Yeah. We get

Melissa: the value.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Does that make sense to you? Like yeah. And I, and I’m definitely like, I’m definitely in the school of packaging means a lot. I mean, you know, with our books, we, we, you know, we, we bought everything we backboard and I look, honestly, me and my buddy Patrick tape up each one, we back boarded, we put it in there, we put the certificate, we put the little on the certificate, there’s a little, a scan scanner.

So we know, you know, we scan each of the [00:12:00] certificates. So we have a tracking record. Cause, cause my whole thing is people used to just give certificate of authenticity and it looked like toilet paper. Right. You know, and, and I was like, how is this, how is this typical of anything? And how is it unique to the book?

So what we did is we have like this it’s, it’s a holographic scan. That’s unique to each book. So when we give you this certificate is unique to that book and my attitude is it, you know, you know, if you’re going to pay for something, that’s like a authorized signature, you know, like you can give it to to a CGC in a heartbeat and they’ll be like, okay, We get into came with the certificate.

I’m not saying they, you know, they, they have all their rules cause it, you have to kind of sign things in front of them. But, but I feel like if I’m going to be personally creating a Kickstarter and even with the new one, we have 1,234 backers one, two, three, four. You know, I want to make sure every single one of those [00:13:00] people are completely satisfied.

Otherwise, why would they bother with my next

Melissa: one? Yeah. And I was really impressed with just the level of, you know, the, the email communication, you know, you leave updates quite often. And then when it came, it was just so well packaged. You know, I was really excited. I opened it up and, and everything was perfectly straight.

There was no bending, you know what I mean? It was just

Jimmy Palmiotti: if there was a hard-on in it, that means I packed it.

Melissa: Oh, yeah, I got that. You

Jimmy Palmiotti: got the hardware. Yeah, I did. Yes. I I’ve put a little hard on it, you know, but I have my, my buddy Patrick also helps me out, you know, we, we both work on the stuff cause it is a lot, I mean, there’s a thousand packages and we want to get it to everybody.

Like th the reason. So even with sex and violence, like when you back it, the minute the campaign’s done what happens is Kickstarter puts in for your credit cards. And we have some add ons. We always put it on the case. Anybody wants anything extra, but the [00:14:00] minute the, the credit card companies tell us everything went through is when we send out the digital books.

So you don’t have to wait. You don’t have to wait months for a book. You get the digital one usually a week after, and then you get the actual volume of the book usually a month because it takes us. We literally, when the kickstart is done, we put any order with the printer. The print that tells us it takes two weeks.

And then if we get spot varnish, it’s an extra week. And then he actually drives it up to our office, which my office is in the back of a giant comic shop.

Melissa: That’s right. I remember I was talking about that and I just think it’s the coolest place to have an office. I envy that.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Well, it’s funny because all the guys that work there, like when do I get my free copy of Kickstarter?

Cause I take care of the guys, but I don’t tell them, but I give them all the damages. They don’t know that

Melissa: they won’t know

Jimmy Palmiotti: now it’s free. They don’t care

Melissa: process, you know? And you guys do such a great job. You know, you have a great team. Like I [00:15:00] said, it was just, I was impressed with the quality and I’ll definitely be backing, you know, this next one as well. So I’m curious, what is, what is sex and violence about? I’m going to have kind of an idea, but I’d love to hear you in your own words.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Sure. It’s a, it’s a, this one’s, it’s a 64 page anthology and it has, this one has one, two, three, four complete stories in it. Two short ones by Justin Gray, one by Patrick wedge and one by Amanda and IMN. And I wrote the the opening story, which is the longest story in the book. I think it’s 22, 24 pages.

So they’re basically stories around it. First off, it’s not the kids, this one is a mature audience. Most of my books are majority it’s and I’ll tell you why. I, I, I think we have a comic store full of stuff made for all ages. And I don’t think adult material is that. Available these days. I think, I think everybody’s, every company is hyper sensitive about things.

And since it is like our own books, if anybody has a problem, they can just attack me online. Like they [00:16:00] usually do. But so it’s a mature storyline. So each story has its own stories about around the, the themes of sex and violence. And Justin’s two stories are about, you know, women and betrayal and men and all this kind of crazy mature stuff.

Patrickson that is setting out a space. And the one Amanda and I wrote is based loosely based on on something that happened that in the beginning, like we got the idea from something that actually happened while we were, we were at a Halloween party and I couldn’t find Amanda for like an hour. Oh, wow.

And hour and a half, she just was gone or so we thought it was scary and yeah. Oh, it was, well, it was so, and it was in like in a hotel in the middle of like New Hampshire or someplace like that. Right. And we were in the middle of nowhere. This hotel was the only thing in the whole town besides a McDonald’s right next door.

And and I couldn’t find her. And then I was asking people and some people said, I saw her, I think I started talking to some guys. I don’t know who they were and [00:17:00] you know, and all of a sudden I’m like, I try not to panic, but now it’s like, I walked through the whole hotel. I checked back at the room. I can’t find it.

And then I, and then my buddy, I think Billy Tucci says to me, why don’t you check your phone and see if you, do you have that thing on your phone where you can see where her phone is? And he said, Oh, that’s a great idea because I kept calling her and I, it just kept going to message. Right. And when I went to track or on a phone to see where her phone is, it showed that.

Where it showed her phone was four miles away on a dead end street in the middle of nowhere. Oh my God. And, and, and I swear to God, the name of the street was Elm street. I am not kidding. Right. And long story short, Amanda was in a part of the hotel. I didn’t know about hanging out with some people talking.

So everybody missed this one little part, but for a minute or two, we were sitting there going, wait [00:18:00] a minute, how is this possible? She didn’t have a, we don’t have a car here, you know, and why is she four miles away? And, you know, and I was, you know, my imagination is just incompletely too way, too active.

And and I was saying, Oh my God, where is she? So. I took that fear of, of that. You know, the idea that, you know, my wife is missing kind of thing and tweaks some details. Cause obviously that’s not enough to do a story. It’s just a lead into something and made it a crazy over the top and sort of sex and violence story.

Like it’s, it’s, it’s really violent. But, and it follows a woman character in it, but she kinda, it’s one of those stories where she turns the table on everybody, like, like she’s the victim and then she’s not the victim anymore. You know, she kind of something happens and and it’s not what you expect, but it’s told the stories, told them a point of view, two points of view.

And if you read it, you’ll [00:19:00] have to hearing the story. You’ll get what, where we went with the story. And so anyway, the book has, you know, so the book has not only these four stories, but you know, we have a beautiful Joe, the cover, a limited edition Joe lives, a cover. We have a Frank, is that a piece that’s never been seen?

So Frank drew this piece on I, I swear to God, he drew it on a tablecloth in like a gentleman’s club in the fifties, and it’s beautiful. What a color. And using years and years ago I bought it or somebody had it and his, and his granddaughter, Sarah is Edda and his daughter, you know, her mom. They never seen it.

And so I asked permission if I can use it for the cover, you know, what would they want for it? And, and we, and we kinda made a deal and, you know, so that’s how I got to use the cover, which was kind of cool. And then, and then and then we have you know, so we had extra pages. So as we started hitting [00:20:00] stretch goals, I got some pinups done by different people.

Sarah for Zetta actually, we got her to draw one at the I’m thinking I have one V Elsa chart, the chart TA. And then we have a whole bunch of other, we started adding more and more art to fill the 64 pages. So at some point the book had ads and, you know, pushing out our other stuff. And then as we started going, like, yeah, take the ads out, just let’s put pinups in there and let’s make it, you know, cover to cover.

Melissa: Yeah. I love that style of the pinups, you know, because with, with pop kill, I remember we were chatting about how it was kind of like Andy Warhol, you know, type of art with this one. It’s just got that pin up. That 1950s kind of feeling.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. That’s John Jay Hill, the designer, he went. For like a full, like, it looks like a poster that was maybe on a strip joint in the fifties.

Melissa: Yeah. I like, I like that feel and that vibe, it kind of, it lets you know right away what the type of book it’s going to be, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, yeah, this, I mean the title, sex and violence. If, if, if you’re [00:21:00] shocked at it has sex in it or it’s violent, then you you’re really not reading very well. I guess this is our third one.

We did two before and the two before were very successful. Unfortunately I hardly had any copies of those. So we only had a couple of sets with the first two, but the good thing we got to do on this and that’s the beauty of digital comics is we actually for $15 you can get volume one, two and three.

Melissa: Oh wow. Okay. So you can go back. If you get the digital, you can read at least the

Jimmy Palmiotti: first two. Yeah. Yes. The first three that it’s our most popular pledge level actually at $15, we’d sold 500. Wow of the digital additions. That’s a lot for any Kickstarter.

Melissa: And especially since you know, we weren’t sure if a lot of people were actually still reading digital, if they’re just getting the hard backs, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. The, the two things that I think that, that changed all that is one [00:22:00] to send the book. Overseas is very expensive. Ship shipping now is just crazy. And it’s why we put the ad-ons. We put the ad-ons when the campaign, so when you sign out, you can, it has like another 10 or 15 things you can buy. And honestly, a lot of that is made for our foreign guys.

Cause they say, you know, to send one book, it’s not worth it. And I said, well, if we do an add on thing at the end, you can pick out five or six things. So we send one package and it makes sense.

Melissa: Oh yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. So we had that a lot with sex and violence. So we had, you know, people adding on stuff in this one we’re offering, you know, whatever we could find around, we offer a, you know, we, we do like sometimes we do like a.

A random Harley said, so you get like three Harley comics and Amanda and I sign them or we kind of do stuff like that, that, you know, is kind of fun. But again, each Kickstarter is it’s different. It’s its own animal. Like the sex and violence Kickstarter is definitely different from the pop kill one, you know, as far as content.

[00:23:00] And and then we, you know, we’re planning We ha you know, this is so, so Amanda and I have kind of stepping away from a DC and Marvel and we’re just going to be doing Kickstarters.

Melissa: Okay. Interesting. So yeah, I wanted to ask, well, first, before we get into the DC stuff, I wanted to ask just real quick.

So with volume three of sex and violence, it’s, it’s considered sort of a standalone, right? Like you don’t have to read one and two.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Absolutely not the stories inside this have nothing to do with him wanting to

Melissa: okay, cool. That way we just know, like anyone who’s listening, you can just buy it and not worry about like, not, you know, picking up in the middle of a story or something.

Correct. Okay. Awesome. And now, so you’re stepping away from Marvel and DC, and I remember we sort of touched on that a little bit before but are you, are you going to be continuing Harley Quinn?

Jimmy Palmiotti: No we’re done. We’re done. So the, the hardcover that just came out, the collection of the Holly Quinn into birds of prey will be our last Harley Quinn books for the immediate future, or until, [00:24:00] until something changes up at the scene.

It w there’s no, there’s no incentive to kind of work for them and keep doing Harley at this point, because we’ve done a lot, you know, we’ve done over a hundred and I don’t even know how many issues, 20 issues or something. We’ve done a lot. We’ve, we’ve it’s in three on the buses plus this hardcover, but, but the bigger picture is there’s nothing.

We, we don’t benefit that much from all the Harley stuff. We, we, you know, we get a little bonus here and there and you know, they’ll put us, they’ll give us a thank you at the end of a movie, which is very nice, you know, I’d rather have a check, but it’s nice to be tanked. But I think we’ve done everything we can to the character.

You know, th the sad part is a man that I have, like a thousand stories with Harley we can do. Okay. But this is also, they kind of cut back their rates. And I don’t want to say I was ghosted, but I’ll say that they don’t really, they’re not really going out of their way to work with us that much anymore.

It, [00:25:00] what happens is a change hands up there, as you know, and anybody that, you know, we, you know, we’ve been, I’ve been working for DC now since you know, almost yeah, almost 30 years maybe. So my rate, you know, my rate is now too expensive. For them. And so what you do is you earn your, your page rate five or $10 more each year.

And then when it gets high enough, they tell you, Oh, we can’t afford you anymore. Which I find is ridiculous, right? Cause it’s one of others and my rate isn’t really that high. So there’s a lot of factors about the mainstream stuff that Amanda and I are a little older now than a lot of the people getting in there and their twenties, they can afford the work for really cheap Paige rate and go through what we’ve been through, where, which is working for people that you know, eventually happen.

There’s not a lot of loyalty, you know, every time it changes hands, you’re a new person to the new people. And and I wish legacy meant something to them, but it doesn’t. So, you know, we’re happy to do business with them. Amanda [00:26:00] still does covers with them. We have a good relationship with one or two people up there, but for the most part, they kind of, they kind of, made their message loud and clear and where Amanda and I are at this point is we want to create our own characters and do our own books.

And we figured, well, we’ve done enough working for other people over the years that if we launch a book or two, we might have an audience, you know, which is what you know. So that’s going to be our focus. I mean, I, I wish there was some loyalty. There’s no, you know, corporations, you know, want to brothers and Disney they’re corporations.

They, they’re not in the job. They’re not in the business of people. They’re in the business of their characters and licensing. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s extremely clear. Everything they do is money motivated. Right.

Melissa: Aren’t they cutting out diamond as well?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, I haven’t been reading about it, but I just saw the headline.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. The, you know, distribution and it all [00:27:00] comes down to money and greed and you know, all that kind of stuff. Right. Whatever they can control more of. And that’s corporations, it’s not, it’s not any person or anything. I went, you know, when the end of the deal was up there all the freelancers felt there was somebody that had had their back and once they got rid of him and new people came in, it’s not the same.

Right. It’s not the same at all. There’s a nice people, but they’re under the thumb of the people in charge of them. And, you know, I don’t know them and they don’t know us. And you know, that’s, that’s the way it goes. I mean, I’ve been in business long enough. I’ve been through everything highs and lows right now in my career.

I’m like right in the middle, not high, not low right in the middle. But Amanda and I having a blast doing our own thing. So we’re working on stuff. I mean, besides the fact that we were doing a six product red Sonja thing that we just, we took on. Cause it was fun. But we’re going to do our own books and you know, if the company needs this stuff, we debate whether we want to do it or not, we look at it.

She just did some coverage for DC. That one of them is amazing. You know, and she, once [00:28:00] in a while, she’ll take on something that’s fun for her, you know, but we know, we know, you know, in the end it’s like, you know, comic artists, they get a, they don’t get a royalty unless a book sells over 60,000 copies.

So I don’t know if people know that I did not know that now. Yeah. So if you look at the top 20 books, most of them don’t sell over 60,000 copies. So you’re talking about hundreds of comics that don’t make a dime in the, after in the market. You don’t make any dime on the backend. So your page rate is everything.

Yeah. And then if you spent a whole career trying to get your page rate up and then it, and then at some point they tell you, your page rate is too expensive. It’s the most ridiculous conversation you can ever have, you know, because, you know, so, So I think, you know, it’s sort of like knowing who your dance partner is, you’re going to that dance partner will step on my feet many times what would dancing and that’s okay.

I learned a lot from them. So happy with the work we did for them, the lovely people we worked with, but it’s also [00:29:00] a time to kind of explore what we can do ourselves and you know, owning our own intellectual property is what we’re up against next.

Melissa: Yeah. And you know, it’s interesting. It seems like what’s going on with, you know, companies like DC and Marvel, the same type of stuff is happening in the pros publishing industry as well.

When you have companies like penguin and Simon and Schuster, they’re also doing similar things and more and more authors are turning to indie publishing and creating their own content because of similar stories of just not getting paid. What. You know, of living wage and then these companies are making a fortune, you know, I mean, guess they’re putting their own money forth as well for marketing, but the margins and the return on investment, it just doesn’t make any sense.

These authors aren’t making any money, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, if you look at, I mean, look, Amanda and I didn’t create Harley Quinn. Okay. But we revitalized there. We, [00:30:00] we changed the character. We added her walking away from the Joko, the reason the suicide squad movie and, and Ali Quinn and the birds of prey was based on the stuff we did in our series while we did it.

Okay. But you know, of course it was created by Paul, Paul Dini and Oh my God. I’m blanking on his name. Come

Melissa: on. I know I can’t, I’m blanking on it.

Jimmy Palmiotti: It’s Bruce tin. Yeah. So Bruce and Paul obviously benefit from the character, but all the work we did you know, they do a cartoon where they use a character, a two of ours, and then we get a check.

If I told you how much the check was, you, you, you you’d be very sad. And you know, we, we get to go to the premiere of the movie, but, you know, they never asked us to be part of it or anything. You know, there’s a lot of little things that honestly, if they did things, their business, a little different. It would go a long way.

And then you have people that just, you know, don’t want to deal with the problems of [00:31:00] things and, and, you know, so, you know, th I’m I’m opinionated, but I, but I don’t attack. Right. You know, I understand this is the way corporations work. I mean, it’s every, everybody that works for a corporation will tell you the ups and the downs of it.

But comics is different, right? There’s no, there’s no there’s no retirement. There’s no medical coverage. There’s no union. There’s no influence. They dig. They can just say, no, we don’t want you to join the book anymore. Goodbye. And then you have to start hustling again. Wow. So with that, the only retirement a comic grader has, is creating their own intellectual properties, creating their own characters.

You can’t work for these companies and retire healthy. And that’s why something like the heroes initiative exists because we have to start taking care of the older comic people because the companies don’t.

Melissa: Wow. And that’s why you have paper films

Jimmy Palmiotti: as well. Yes. So we would pay for films, it’s me and Manda and Patrick, and we, we kind of [00:32:00] just, you know, we go out and we create things ourselves and sure.

I mean, sometimes we make really good money. Sometimes we break even something, you know, it’s all learning process and that’s honestly, that’s what keeps us going. Right. We’re always trying to do new things. And but in the end we have like amazing fans, like the fan base, Amanda and I have collected over the years, a loyal this suite that really smart people.

And and they keep coming back for more from us. So we, so, you know, and, and again, every time we do a series of whether it’s har Harley or power girl or Jonah hex or Marvel nights, when I did it, you gain people that. Follow you because they like your work or they like the quality you work, and then those are your fans for life.

So those are the people we look at.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. Because they’ll just follow you even when you’re doing your own stuff, you know, especially because of that. And I think doing your own, it’s more fun. You have more creative freedom. You don’t have anyone telling you what you can or cannot do. So that must be really liberating as [00:33:00] well.

Just to sit down with Amanda and do it the way you want to do it.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh yeah. I mean, you know, I, I have, we have hundreds and hundreds of stories of working for companies where they tell us to change the art. Can’t do that scene. Can’t do that with that character. Oh my God. Those two can’t kiss. You know, we have so many.

Stories of that. And, and, you know, after a point you have to say, all right, well, I get it. It’s their property, right? So you have to play by their rules. But when we do our own, we can just do anything violent. Actually the last bunch of books I’ve done Kickstarter wise, it shows that off. It’s like, it’s like I have no issues.

So I personally, I have no issues with nudity with people foul language. I don’t, you know, I grew up in Brooklyn and all this stuff who cares. Right. I’m very European in my mentality. You know, violence gets to me more than sexuality. So, you know, so that, that stuff always is a little more startling to me.

But it’s definitely in America, you know, if you show a nipple, people start [00:34:00] exploding. So, you know, but you can show an exploding head to a young kid and that’s okay. You know,

Melissa: said that. And I, I had a little I had been dealing with that myself because I do, I write some steamy romance stuff and I was trying to do an advertisement for one, and it was a totally clothed couple, but they were in like a suggestive, you know, stance or whatever.

And Facebook would not allow me to advertise. They said it was against their terms of whatever. And I thought, but you have all these other ridiculous stuff that you let people post. And, you know, that’s just propaganda and violence and, you know, false information. But I can’t post like a romantic couple, you

Jimmy Palmiotti: know, It’s it’s so ridiculous.

You know, I’m not a big fan of Facebook, you know, my, my first thing I tell people is delete your Facebook account, but I, but I get, you have to communicate with people. I’m a more of a Twitter person because it’s in and out and real quick. But I got to tell ya, it’s disturbing [00:35:00] what they feel is, you know, I mean, let’s be honest that, you know, the sexuality of the couples, all that kind of stuff, that’s normal everyday stuff.

I mean, I, you know, they, they normalize like. Like violence on these sites. They, you know, they’ll show a guy, get hit by a car. No problem. Yeah. You know, and let’s be honest. You don’t want your kid looking at that. You don’t want, you know, it, that leaves a Mark. Right. You know, I, I think, I think when you demonize the human body, I think that’s some problems, there’s some problems with

Melissa: that.

Yeah. And they also tend to put responsibility on the creators instead of the parents for monitoring what their children are looking at, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, at least the movie data will tell you it’s rated R you know, but yeah. I, I, you know, let’s be honest, you go to a library and you can find stuff in books, that’ll make your hair curl.

You know? Like I said, I, I just think, I just think kids and teenagers and even adults, we discover things [00:36:00] on our own as time goes on and. And our interest on our own, but when the more you demonize something, the more people tend to go towards it and then it becomes and then the presentation of it or the message of it becomes what the little bit, you know, you know, the forbidden fruit type thing is ridiculous.

Yeah. You know, but we can watch a movie like John wick and I’m not picking on it. Cause I actually liked the movie, but we literally murdered hundreds of people. Yeah. Like flat out. I remember John wick three I’m like he, he flat out murdered like a hundred and something people. And everyone’s cheering in the theater and everything, and I’m like going, okay, it’s a movie and it’s goofy and it’s silly, but you know, another movie will be two hours about one person getting killed in your heart will rip out of your chest because you’re so upset over it.

And you realize that, okay. It’s like, it’s like all these weird messages, you know, or I’m flying out there at once to people. [00:37:00] So no wonder why, you know, a lot of stuff, like I said, I just don’t think it’s good to demonize something. I think it’s, I think it’s okay to point out when people are being horrible and when things are terrible, but to demonize things that a part of our lives or just regular relationship things, Yeah, I think it has damaging effects over overtop.

Yeah, I agree.

Melissa: And I like how you brought up the sort of European perspective that you have, because when you talk to people that are from Europe, you know, particularly like France they’re a lot more open, you know, with their sexuality and with what, you know, how they express their art and they don’t demonize it and they don’t get like it’s not like a bad thing, you know, they don’t have shame over it.

And you know, we have so much of that in our country.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I mean, you know, we were in Amsterdam and Amanda and I were there last October, I think, or October before it right before COVID. And you know, there’s a red light district and you know, these, these girls are in the window trying to get guys to come [00:38:00] over and, and all that kind of stuff.

Right. And we’re looking at it and, you know, you see on the window, it has a like a medical chart, I guess the last time the girls were to the doctor and all that stuff. And it’s very business. Like, even though it is, you know, it’s Amsterdam, right? So you go there and it is kind of like other worldy, right.

Cause everybody’s spoken weed in the street and then it’s, you know, there’s prostitution is legal and everything and you know, and I’m looking at it and I’m saying, okay, but it, it’s also not like out of control. It’s like, there’s something everybody seems to be. Kind of relaxed and happy and having a drink and being very social around here.

It doesn’t, it’s not like when I was a kid in times square, it was like scary, you know, and, and you know, and it’s like, I’m like, Oh my God. I’m like, you know, this is like, this is like, I guess it’s like, an evolution. In a way of like saying, you know, these are the things humans do, and if they’re regulated and if they’re legal and if [00:39:00] we’re not demonizing everything, things can function on some level about this.

I’m sure a lot of moms will be pissed at what I’m saying or, you know, or, you know, or, or religious people or whatever, but I’m not the most religious people. I went to Catholic school for eight years. So that’s yeah,

Melissa: me too in there. Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. So I, like I said, so I, so when my comics, I liked them adult, I like them to, I like the characters to say what’s on their mind and you know, superheroes on, on a whole or a little they’re childish on some level, right?

They’re they’re little fantasies like Western genre stuff. It’s all, it’s all fantasy stuff. A guy can fly. And you know, I, I’m not a big fan of comics where two grown men in spandex punch each other. I’m not really a fan of that. Anybody that reads my books understands it, especially Holly, the book was never about the bad guy.

It was always about whatever she was going on in her life, you know? So we’ve Amanda and I’ve always written comics a little [00:40:00] differently than mainstream. And it’s probably why we’re a little on the outskirts of it at times. Because we definitely have read a lot of comics in our lives and figure, well, you got these guys, you got the Bendis’s and the Tom King’s and the grades, it can do superhero stuff.

So well, you

Melissa: know, I think that’s what I like about your stuff is cause I like darker, edgier you know, material. And I think that’s why I’m drawn to your, your work as well. And, and especially like Harley Quinn, because she is one of my favorite characters. And I think that there’s just something more real, you know, as opposed to, like you were saying, the guys in spandex, you know, punching each other.

And honestly, I think the only person for me who’s done a really good job of that is Derrick Robertson with the boys. Cause it’s just amazing. I think.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. He and Garth are just hit when they did that together there. That was just, but you know, that’s also Garth, right? Garth is cause we did the crown together.

Yeah. So Garth has this thing. He doesn’t like superheroes. Yeah. [00:41:00] So when he wrote the boys, it was about his non love of superheroes and how ridiculous things.

Melissa: Yeah. I loved it. It was great, but yeah, your stuff is just darker and edgier and you don’t need the superhero stuff in everything, you know?

Jimmy Palmiotti: No, no, I agree. I agree. There’s so many great stories. I mean, I, you know, when I was a kid, I grew up and had a lot of uncles and they’d sit around in a bowling alley and tell stories and. You know, too bad there on video cameras and camera phones and all that. Cause that would be like a whole podcast in itself.

You know, old guys telling stories is like, is fantastic. And it’s funny. Cause I watch, I watch a lot of some of the film people talking and everything and I’m always amazed how boring some of them are like, I’m like 20 minutes in and I’m like, Oh my God, does anybody have anything interesting to say true.

And I realized that they haven’t lived. Yeah. These people, you know, my, my uncles, they’ve all been to world war [00:42:00] two and they’ve lost a brother and their father came over on a boat is so many crazy stories. And like, w we’re like in a, we’re like in a world where. You know, people get excited when they tell you they got up at seven in the morning, that’s like a big headline and like those commercials.

Right. But, but it’s like, you know, and I’m like, Oh my God, you know, it’s just like Amanda and I travel, you know? And I always say people who don’t travel, unless I think Han, which of course that’s a whole different story, but if you’re able to, and you don’t, I always say you’re just missing so much life.

Melissa: Yeah. It’s just, you learn so much about other people and other cultures. I mean, even if it’s just, you know, traveling around the U S for example, because the us is so diverse and, you know, just getting out there and seeing new places, it’s just so important.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. I think, you know, in opening up conversation with people that are nothing like you is the most interesting thing in the world.

You know, and, and you, and you’re right in the U S I mean, Amanda and I went through, we went through We’re in Utah, [00:43:00] we went to Denver. Then we went up to like through the Northern States. We drove through three weeks. Yeah. We took three weeks off and went through South Dakota and, you know, we, we’re pretty social.

We, we talked to people and everything and it’s, and there’s so much history and there’s so many stories and you know, it’s, it’s tough for a writer because you want to, and especially someone like me, you want to just write every day something new. And he realized somebody has to draw it, then you have to put it out and all that kind of stuff.

But like right now you know, man and I working on four different books and, you know, and then we have like our gigs that are paying bills, like, that we enjoying by the way like his right Sonia. And we’re doing a book on Blondie, a biography on the band. Blondie. I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, and it’s great to be able to communicate with the band and, you know,

Melissa: yeah.

Yeah. I was going to ask you about that. Cause I saw you announced it on Twitter and I thought what a cool, amazing project to be a part of. I mean, just how have you met or talked to Deborah Harry? Like what how’s that all going?

[00:44:00] Jimmy Palmiotti: So the, the person I talk to and communicate the most with is Chris Stein, you know, and Chris is a, you know, they used to be a couple right now, but Deborah and Chris and then, but they’re the main, they’re the main focus of the beginning of the book kind of thing.

Cause it’s about when they meet and then form the band. Deborah Harry, no, just, just as far as, you know, secondary people, you know, because we send in script and then they say, can you change this? Can you change that? There’s a process to the book, but eventually we will meet them of course. And, and you know, I’ve seen them play live when I was younger and then even Amanda and I went and saw them a couple of years ago.

So, you know, when we got the gig, I think a lot of it was based on the fact that I was around when they were coming up. You know, I was, I was a senior in high school go into max, Kansas city and CBGBs, and we, you know, I’ve seen him a couple of times, I’ve seen the Ramones, all those, all those bands were playing, talking heads.

All those bands were like, that was like the Bowery in New York. And so writing this is very much about [00:45:00] the book is like a biography about them, how they got together and their careers, and then eventually how they separated. But it’s also about New York in the late seventies. And, and how you know, punk rock became new wave and how you know, the, the, the, the lower end of life, meaning, you know, the, the, the People didn’t have money.

We’re making art in their own way. And meanwhile, there was side-by-side with guys like Andy Warhol and these gigantic millionaire people making art. It’s it’s just an interesting, the whole backdrop is interesting. But it’s a monster of a book. It is that it is. Yeah. I have to, once in a while, call the editors to call me, talk me through something because I’m like ready to jump out a window, you

Melissa: know?

Yeah. Well, but I can see why they would have come to you too, to do it because they’re rock stars and a lot of your art and stories, you know, they scream kind of a rock star vibe as [00:46:00] well.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Well, I think, I think, you know, I think the I think the, the, the, the thing to get Amanda and I to do it is because we’re storytellers.

So, you know, th they didn’t want the book to be on this date. This happened on that date that happened, you know, because you can easily do that. Right. There’s enough story there that you can just say. Yeah, yeah. On this date, they recorded their first album here. And you know, the problem with that is that where creative storytelling, we, we don’t want to tell it in a way that’s conventional.

So, you know, we’ll have like, I’ll have like a rat. Tell him part of the story, like in New York on the lower East side, or I’ll have, or I’ll just have like, you know, things that shouldn’t be talking, talking. And cause my, my attitude on it is the whole world is aligned to tell her story and to tell that story.

So it shouldn’t be just about them and quotes. Although the first beginning of the book is about Debbie and Chris, how they, they grew up in met. And the good thing about with [00:47:00] Chris Darian is that Chris and I grew up in the same neighborhood. So it’s really easy for me to relate to his life, at least that part.

And Debbie’s is, you know, she’s a girl from New Jersey who looked at New York, like it was Emerald city in a way, you know, you know, across the water and it’s like this whole other world and

Melissa: relate to that. Yeah. New York is a magical place.

Jimmy Palmiotti: You’re right. Wait, so where are you from?

Melissa: I’m from California.

So I’m in, I’m in central California, but I’ve been to New York a lot. My sister was living there on the upper East side for a little while when she was younger and early twenties trying to do the theater scene and, you know, had to go visit her all the time. And I just, I love New York. I fell in love with it you know, right away.

And when I was in my, I think I was like 25, 26 at the time. And of course I wanted to move there, but it was way too expensive for me at the time. And, but I just fell in love with it. So I went every, every year for about five years and spent about a week there each time and just explored, you know, all the different boroughs and yeah, it’s such a magical [00:48:00] city.

I love it. I haven’t been in awhile. Some yeah,

Jimmy Palmiotti: we haven’t been there since COVID right. So it’s changed. A lot of people said a lot of things closed, sadly, sadly, the city, you know, like, I mean, there’s whole avenues of business buildings, not open. You know, so it’s gotta, it’s gotta be pretty bizarre. I’m, I’m looking forward to everything coming back though.

Because it is still New York, you

Melissa: know, New York always bounces back. I mean, it’s just, it’s just the way new Yorkers are.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Well they have nowhere else to go. Yeah. And they’re stubborn. Yeah. Very stubborn. I learned I lived there 45 years, so I can, I get brag about it all. I want people new Yorkers don’t give a shit about a lot of things.

And so that’s

Melissa: why I liked it because, you know, I often when I was there people would mistake me for being a new Yorker because I have kind of that same no-nonsense attitude. And when a tourist would ask me for directions, I would get all excited, like, Oh, I’m blending in.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. And, and, you [00:49:00] know, th the, the joke is, you know, people say New York because they’re rude and everything I said did not rude.

Nope. Okay. If you, if you, if you. Walk up to one with a smile and go, Hey, you know what? I don’t know where this is. That person will walk you to the place you’re going to at times, you know, it’s just that they understand that it has a pulse and the pulse doesn’t give you time to look up at everybody and say, good morning.

You know, I remember, I remember I came out of a subway in spring street and I got completely disoriented because, you know, why did the subways have like four different entrances and exits? And I got disoriented. I needed to find a one of the streets there. And this woman was walking by, excuse me, which way is, I think I said, where is bringing Broadway?

Where, where is that meeting? Is it here or there? And she says, okay, darling. And he walks me to this corner. She goes, that is spring. And if you follow that two blocks up Pittsburgh, I’m like, thank you. And as she said, okay, good, good luck. You know, walked away. And I realized that was Isabella Rossellini. I didn’t [00:50:00] realize it.

I just, you know, she had a hat on it, like a little with a coat on and that’s New York in a nutshell. Yeah.

Melissa: You’ll see, you’ll see a celebrity on the subway, just doing their own thing or whatever. And nobody seems to bother them like they do in California. You don’t see a million paparazzi chasing someone down fifth Avenue.

Jimmy Palmiotti: No. Cause people in New York don’t really care. You know, the, the there’s a time when they care, when they’re in the studio watching, you know, an interview that there’s a time for it. Right. But. You know, usually New York has, it has like a beat to it, a policy people trying to get home or they’re trying to get to work and you don’t really have time for that crap.

Yeah,

Melissa: exactly. And I think that’s why people they’ve gotten this rep that they’re, you know, quote unquote rude because when you go to other places, you know, like in California, for example, everyone is just so over the top bubbly at times. And, and you know, some people are offensively that way, but not always, sometimes it’s because you’re working for a company that’s like, you have to be this way [00:51:00] when you’re greeting your customers.

And it’s like, hi, how are you? And people just don’t do that in New York. And so right. People from California from the Midwest may go there and go, God, these people are so rude. And it’s like, no, they’re just, they’re just normal. They’re just being like subdued. They’re not like over the top, like bubbly trying to, you know, ask you questions, just pay for the gum and get out of here.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Well, w w I think like a friend of mine describes it. Great. It’s like, I’m actually Amanda and I saw this comic strip and it was two guys on the street and it said California under it. And they’re shaking and they’re looking at each other and one guy goes, Hey, Bob, how you doing? Long time? No, see. And in his, in his thought balloon, it’s like, fuck you.

Right. And the other guy’s like, Steve, it’s great to see you. And he goes, and Steve’s foot balloon is, I hope you dropped it. Right. And then they showed the two, same two guys, New York. And the guy in New York is saying, Hey, fuck you. And then the thought balloon is going, Steve, how are, you know? And the other guy goes, why did you go to hell?

And then, then talk a [00:52:00] load is it’s so good to see you. We should hang out sometime. You know? So it kinda like, I love that cartoon because it is exactly that as my friend says, I have a friend of mine that lives there that grew up in Brooklyn and he says, everybody is so sensitive about everything. It’s exhausting.

Yeah. And he’s like, sometimes I just want to eat and be left alone and yell at a cab or yelling at driver or whatever he goes. Everybody’s so sensitive. Everything’s so over-protective and you know, I think COVID really drove him insane being in a. California. Cause he’s like, he’s like, you know, they can open up the theater and just limited it to 50 people.

Right. You know, why the hell are they doing? And I was like, well, I said, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s California, which has movie people, which people feel are the most important people on earth. And they think, and they absolutely know they are the most important people on earth. So yeah, I’ll tell you. So it’s very interesting.

It’s, it’s just a joke. I mean, I, you know, I’m, I’m [00:53:00] stereotyping because I have so many friends in California. I love them. I adore them. But they are definitely overthinking everything.

Melissa: Yeah, no, we’re definitely, you know, I, I grew up in California, born and raised. And but being, I think being in central, Northern California, it’s a little different, we’re not as, you know, I mean, don’t get me wrong.

We definitely still are California, but you know, we’re, we’re not LA people get it. We’re not as, as obsessed with like the Hollywood thing. And, you know, sure. If, you know, there’s a show that gets filmed in my town that’s on HBO. And so every summer they kind of take over the whole town and everyone gets kind of excited.

They’re all Streep is here or whatever, and you know, and it’s cool, whatever. But but then we just go about our day after that. We don’t really, really care that much, but I think the more South you go is where it becomes a lot more about looks and

Jimmy Palmiotti: yeah, I always, I always laugh. I always laugh at the Hollywood Boulevard because like people expect the celebrities to stand there and, you know, and then it’s [00:54:00] like, and then they like fuss over a piece of sidewalk that has a celebrity’s name on it.

Yeah.

Melissa: Yeah. And Hollywood is so it’s kind of a trashy area, actually. It’s not really, it’s not that safe. My sister lived in West Hollywood for a little bit and I mean, every night she would, there were sirens and people fighting and screaming outside her window. I mean, all kind of like parts of New York really.

And she was like, Oh, this is familiar. But yeah, it’s, you know, people think Hollywood and they’re like, Oh, it’s going to be glamorous. Like the Oscars. It’s like, no, it’s, it’s pretty, pretty dirty. There’s a lot of crazy people running around talking to themselves and you know, it’s just, it’s not a, it’s not what you see

Jimmy Palmiotti: on TV.

Well, I always say, you know, when, when I get invited to we get invited, you know, some movie premieres and stuff like that, Amanda and I will fly out. And it is always a point in the premiere where I sit there and go. If I’m here and I’m a big guest, nothing means [00:55:00] anything anymore. You know, it’s like, why am I, you know what I mean?

Like, what the hell am I doing here? You know, I’m like, Oh my God. It’s like, it’s so not glamorous if I’m here,

Melissa: you know? Oh my gosh, I bet it’s fun to just play dress up for the

Jimmy Palmiotti: night though. It is. I mean, you know, we definitely have, I mean, I’ve had those nights and yeah, Amanda loves it. Pick out a beautiful dress or if we’ll go no, from the Elliot birds of prey where, and we did in London and she got.

Beautiful dress and you know, her and Margot Robbie posing for pictures. And I’m just like, yeah, that’s fun. That’s awesome. You know, but, but the next day I still got to get up and shave, you know, so whatever it’s, it’s all good. You gotta be in the moment. That’s, that’s the theme, right? You gotta be in the moment.

Melissa: A hundred percent of that is actually, my motto is I have like a fortune cookie that I got about 15 years ago and I have it on my fridge and it, it literally says live in this moment and I always try to follow them.

Jimmy Palmiotti: I think it’s a cause if you, if you, if you you’re in the past, you’re, you’re not present.

And if you’re [00:56:00] thinking about the future, you’re definitely not present. And when you’re not present, people know it and they don’t want to be around you. What are we talking about? Comics? What are we saying? No, but we’re on

Melissa: our own little philosophical.

Jimmy Palmiotti: If the guy for a second that we’re, we’re doing.

Right,

Melissa: right, exactly. Well, speaking of the present then presently sexual islands is got eight days left, right?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. It’s got a I think so. Yeah, it’s got a week, a little over a week. We still have a lot of things people can order and, and and you know, and who knows, maybe it’ll go for four times more on eBay and then you can buy yourself as a plane ticket somewhere.

Melissa: Yeah, there we go. Yeah. Well, I definitely want to jump on and get, get into it before all of the The rewards get taken. Cause I, you guys are doing really great. I went on there earlier today just to kind of take a peak at it and there’s already some tiers that are sold out. So I’m like, okay, I need to jump

Jimmy Palmiotti: on this.

Yeah. You know, it’s funny with the kickstart is because, you know, we don’t have [00:57:00] a advertising budget, right. So we just go out and promote it. Social media, the people that follow me, they actually posted on there on social media. They do a lot of the hard work for us and thank God for them. And, and You know, our kickstart is lately have been hitting the goal within a day.

Yeah, that’s awesome. And I think that goes, and I noticed the names, you know, I noticed the first a hundred, 200 names. I noticed them. Cause I know those people, they, they back all of them. And so again, with the Kickstarter, you know, it’s, it’s different than a comic when you do a comic and then the company puts it out and then you sign it for them at the show.

It’s so much more personal, but the Kickstarter, like I kind of worry about everything cause I, I, I keep a, I’m a, I’m a so I backed a tons of Kickstarters, so I’m a really good consumer. And when I opened the package and it looks like it’s just thrown in, I kind of get like this feeling like, Oh, okay, back this, the person just threw it

Melissa: in

Jimmy Palmiotti: no bag, no nothing, [00:58:00] no, no sense of, you know, of worth.

Yeah. You know, and and I kind of feel like the books, I feel like I have to, like, I, you know, I feel like they should be, well, I’ll give you an example. We’re, we’re working on a an art book for Amanda as a Kickstarter, right? Like showcasing some of her stuff. And and we were looking at sizes for the book, and then we saw this company, they do custom boxes where you can put art on the box.

You know? So part of me thinks when we ship it, people stealing a lot. So that’s one problem which happens. But, but on the same thing, I’m looking at it saying, well, it’s only like a dollar or two more. To have this special box. And I said, how cool is you get a box in the mail with a book in it, but the box itself has artwork all over, you know?

And I’m like, Oh, okay. I kind of like that. And you know, I, I look at like how Apple packs their stuff, you know, like, you know, it’s white on white, on white, but this is really beautiful thing [00:59:00] that this kind of like, design about it. And so we’re looking at the boxes today. Patrick and I, and I’m like trying to figure out the prices, cause it’s not cheap to make them, but you know, but the other part of me is like, you know, how cool to do that?

And it’s a couple of dollars more you know, so it’s, it’s, it’s like that all kind of stuff. I just bought these little These little paper, film stickers. I can put on the back of the comics and little circles with the logos.

Melissa: Oh, fun. Yeah. People love all that kind of stuff and they’ll pay extra if they know they’re getting a little extra, you know?

Yeah. I don’t,

Jimmy Palmiotti: I don’t want it yet. And I don’t want them to, you know, I don’t really want to shake them down and stuff. I want the, I want the product to be that when you get it, you’re like, Oh my God, this is worth it. Or there’s a person behind this. Right. Because obviously I can’t write a note for everybody.

It’s just like crazy. I would love to do that, but it would be like, my handwriting is terrible anyway. But, but you know, that’s why I do a little hard on a box sometimes because I’m just like, well that I can do and just put my initials. Yeah. But it’s, but it really is like, you know, [01:00:00] it is definitely a grassroots kind of operation.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it takes a village,

Jimmy Palmiotti: right? Yes. You have a cat, right? I do have a cat.

Melissa: Okay.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. It’s this detective Jimmy. How do you

Melissa: know that I have, Oh, are you looking at my photo and see the cat food in the background?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yes. Either that or you like to eat cat food?

Melissa: It was, Oh my God. I was dying the other day.

I showed my sister. I said, this is my, you know, my profile photo zoom. And we were laughing. Cause I’m like, Oh my God, you can see my cat food in the background. How cool. Yeah. I mean,

Jimmy Palmiotti: at least it’s for your cat, right? Like, cause you know, you, you know, they used to be when I was kids, I remember they used to say, you know, that old person down there, they eat cat food every day and I’m like, yeah, they ran out of money.

They could only afford cat food,

Melissa: gluten free. So

Jimmy Palmiotti: I’ll mix in milk is, you know, it’s sorta like fruity. Fruity pebbles. [01:01:00] Pebbles.

Melissa: Yeah. And you know, it’s funny. We have a, I live in a, a very old house. That was my great grandparents house. So they bought when they came here from Sicily. Yeah. And so they had those, the houses in the fifties here were built where the living areas and the kitchen areas are massive.

And then the bedrooms are really tiny, right. Because you know, you do all your entertaining. And so our kitchen is massive and we do that old school style where you have like the tables in the kitchen and you put a lot of things out on kind of display. And so, you know, we keep the cat food there, but then just recently my dad found a 50 year old pasta maker.

That was my grandmother’s. You know, the hand crank where crank the dose, is it, is

Jimmy Palmiotti: it like white porcelain type or metal?

Melissa: Metal? Yeah. It’s, it’s all written in Italian on the box and the instructions are in Italian. Did you make pasta? Not yet. We just found it a couple of days. Like I was I’m actually going to start waking up some really good dough recipes, like and spike and [01:02:00] make it yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. During COVID it was very hard to find baking materials.

Melissa: Yes, incredible everything.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah. Everything was sold out. Like for some reason, toilet paper and baking materials, which, you know, kind of go with each other in a way.

Melissa: Yeah. Eat and then yeah. Yeah. It was bizarre.

Jimmy Palmiotti: That’s the circle of life during COVID right.

Melissa: The pandemic life. It’s starting to kind of look up, I think for everyone and things aren’t sold out anymore, you can actually get gloves and masks and things like that. That were pretty good. I

Jimmy Palmiotti: wonder how many people have like now, because they went through this. They’re stocking up and then keeping it like in a,

Melissa: yeah, I think there’s people that are still farting.

Yeah. Yeah, because everyone’s so you’re, you know, there’s still this uncertainty of, you know, what’s, what’s going to happen, you know, with with the vaccines and with reopening because some States are doing really well and other States are kind of going backwards a little bit.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Well, I’m in a [01:03:00] state where it’s honestly the wild West.

I mean, in Florida, honestly, the wild West it’s like I walked down the street. My brewery is packed full of people because it’s spring break. We don’t go near. And by the way, people that live in Florida, don’t go out during spring break because we have a million tourists here who do not who think because the thing’s open, they could do anything.

And I’m the Clearwater beach and it’s like, First off after this year, nobody’s going to want to go to Florida for vacation anymore because everything is so full and packed to drive a 10, 15 minute drive to the beach. Now it takes two and a half hours. Wow.

Melissa: Yeah. I heard declared it like a state of emergency because there was just so many people yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Down in Miami, that’s a clue. What a beach is family spring break, where Miami is like teen and twenties spring break, right? Teenage twenties, spring break is out of control and lead spring break is just filling up every, you know, [01:04:00] every kind of restaurant and every kind of everything, you know? But people come coming here from every state.

We see the cars and they’re like, there’s no way to stay. Hotels are tripling their rates. The beach is completely full. Like they literally closed parts of the beach cause it’s full and the restaurants are full and then people come in here and just getting back in the car and driving away, which is very

Melissa: interesting.

Yeah. So you guys are just hiding in your house. We,

Jimmy Palmiotti: we throw eggs out the window and stuff.

Where did that end street? So they, you know, we don’t really get any traffic outside, but we know not to. Dry certain areas because it’s just going to be walls of cars.

Melissa: Gotcha. So that’s so nuts to me that people are just so acting like everything’s fine, you know, it’s, I mean, it’s getting there, but we’re still far from normal, but the reality there’s this whole group of people that are acting like it just like never even happened.

Jimmy Palmiotti: I think once we see cons, then we’ll know, things are getting back to [01:05:00] normal.

Melissa: Yes. Cannot wait for those again. Hopefully, hopefully next year, you know, next spring, early.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Well, they were all kinds already in August and September and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. It won’t be it. I will not be it.

Melissa: No, no, no. It’s still not.

Quite safe. I mean, even with vaccinations too, we still don’t even really know like how protected we’re going to be. You know, at least for six to eight months. Yeah.

Jimmy Palmiotti: I mean, a buddy of mine is a doctor and he said, look, the shots, what they do is if you get COVID, it’s not, it’s like, it’s not life threatening.

Yeah. It will be like a virus or a cold and you’ll get sick. You can get sick, but you’re not going to be dropping yourself in a hospital. It’s, that’s what it’s doing. It’s preventing, it’s preventing it from being like, you know, cause we, we had a friend that just, he went through and he’s fine. And then two weeks later, his lungs are filled with blood clots.

He had to kind of get finished and all that stuff. It’s kind of a [01:06:00] lot of weird effects. It

Melissa: does. It’s a very strange virus, you know, one that we’re not familiar with and yeah. Yeah, it’s just, it’s been so hard on everybody, but I mean, I’m just glad that everyone’s getting vacs and Eric, the most people are getting vaccinated and I hope other people will follow too.

Jimmy Palmiotti: And yeah, no, no matter what your presidential choice, the guy who’s in office now is doing a pretty good job.

Melissa: Absolutely. A hundred percent. Yeah, for sure. And you know, one of the, one of the benefits for, for being home, I think for the, as long as we have been, as you know, you do get to focus a little bit more on your art and your work and your, your writing and creating and things like that.

So you get to put all these cool Kickstarters together. It’s true.

Jimmy Palmiotti: It’s true. That’s what we, we keep everybody busy. Yeah. Yeah. And then you die, you stay busy and then you, you know, and then you’ve retarded and

Melissa: that’s it. And that’s done spoken like a true Italian.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Give me a little between, [01:07:00] you need a good piece of fish.

That’s Amanda, Amanda cooked some fish, as I said, that’s a good piece of fishermen,

Melissa: a little bit of fish and some Catholic guilt and we’re all good. Right? I was like, well, thanks for coming back on. And talking to me, this is always been at the blast as usual.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Oh, my pleasure. I, I, you know, I, I hope we didn’t bore people with that.

Melissa: Yeah. We went off on our own little you know, we have our episodes that are called tangents and I think, yeah, I think we did our

Jimmy Palmiotti: own tangent. We learned anything about comics except, except that they should not think that common companies, a loyalty you, right. They’re not just companies. They’re, they’re like they like, they like McDonald’s and burger King in a way.

They, they, they just want you to buy the product

Melissa: mass, mass buying, that’s it? Yup. Yeah. We learned that. And we learned that everybody used to go to kickstarter.com and back sex and violence volume three

Jimmy Palmiotti: that’s right. Everybody needs a little more [01:08:00] sex and violence in their life.

Melissa: Absolutely.

Jimmy Palmiotti: Yeah, probably not.

Melissa: Oh my gosh. Thanks

Jimmy Palmiotti: Jimmy.