Gabriel Hardman On Batman The Question and Green Arrow

In this interview, comic-book veteran Gabriel Hardman takes us behind the scenes of his bold, new four-issue miniseries Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia — out now under DC Comics’ Black Label. We break down why Bruce Wayne, Green Arrow, and The Question are teaming up now; what “Arcadia” represents; and how Hardman’s decades-long dream project finally came together. What You’ll Learn

• How a teenage Hardman first pictured this trio working together — and why he waited until now to tell their story. 
• The dystopian, climate-aware premise: “Arcadia,” a floating, climate-hardened city off Greenland’s coast — and the darker truths lurking beneath its utopian veneer. 
• What sets this series apart: a hard-boiled, character-driven thriller that updates the spirit of ‘80s–‘90s vigilante stories for modern times.
• Key themes: power, corruption, moral gray zones, and what justice really means when institutions — and heroes — are compromised.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, welcome back time again for Word Balloon the
Comic Book Conversation show. John Stuntress here. Gabe Hartman and
I talked last night. We didn't do Seem Missing. We
did a comic book thing because Gabe has a new
DC Black Label comic mini series that just got underway yesterday.
It's called Arcadia, and it's a wonderful team up of Batman,

(00:20):
the Question in Green Arrow. Listen, if you've been around
as long as me, you appreciated back in the eighties
when Danny O'Neil and Mike Well and Dennis Cowen and
Built Sinkevich among others, would put all three of these
guys together and it was always a really neat story
and there are echoes of that, but it's absolutely a
modern story and Gabe is aware of that. And also

(00:42):
they're really in different places now, and especially in this
Black Label lack of continuity. I mean, in fact, I
was even telling Gabe I thought the Question was dead
in the regular DC universe, but apparently he's back. But
it's great. It's fantastic and everyone you want to be
there as far as supporting characters are. Although I didn't

(01:03):
see Dinah Black Canary, But I did you know Alfred's there, Aristotle,
tot Vic Sage's conscience in the story as well, and
it's Nate. It's a good setup, honestly, And yeah, Gabe's
my friend, I realize that, but I'm telling you it's
really really great and he's writing it and drawing it,
and I'm always more excited when Gabe really goes up

(01:26):
a notch and not only does great art. You know,
the wonderful things he's done in the past with are
another one of our good friends, Jeff Parker, among others.
You know, Gabe is in full control of this thing,
and he's got a great colorist and a great letterer,
and it's a wonderful production. Arcadia, Batman, Green Arrow, and
the Question. Gabe Hartman is here to talk about all

(01:48):
of it on Tonight's Word Balloon.

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Hey everybody, welcome back time again for word Balloon, the
Comic Book Conversation Show. John Cutris here, happy to welcome
my usual co host dot Scene Missing and a million

(03:49):
other times that we podcast, but today we're here to
talk about one of his books. Gabe Hartman. Welcome back, Gabe.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Thank you. It feels like I was just here, but
I have to talk about myself, So.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
No, no excited for a book to drop today. Here
it is, everybuddy. There's the cover in the back cover
of Arcadia featuring Batman, Green Arrow and the Question, A
classic triple that used to do a lot of the
cool things back in the eighties, and I guess a
long time coming for you to do this show Huggin.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean this comic. Yeah, I mean I was
a huge fan of that particular era of you know,
Dannie O'Neil, Dennis Collins, the Question and Mike grows Green
Arrow and you know Danny also you know, involved with
Batman at the time and the like a couple. And
this is something that I'd kind of wanted to do

(04:40):
since I was like fourteen, you know, like this is
one of those rare things. A lot of the time,
when I'm working on comics or working on anything, I
like to approach stuff that isn't necessarily my favorite thing
in the world. I feel like I can bring a
different voice to it or whatever, you know. But this
was a particular instance where I really wanted to do this.
I wanted to deal with these characters. I felt like

(05:02):
there was a lot of potential in the way that
they would interact because even though they're all street level
vigilante types, they're all coming from very different points of view.
And I'm kind of stressing those differences even more so
in my book. But I like it just it is
a lot, but it is a long time ambition for

(05:24):
a book, But you know, it's a throwback to the
tone of those eighties books, but the story itself is
looking forward. It's a contemporary story. It's not something that
in any way you wouldn't have needed to read any
of that stuff to appreciate. It's a standalone book. It's
just taking the kind of inspiration from the tone.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'm with you, man, No, I really enjoyed that first issue,
and I'm a longtime fan of the writers and the
characters that you mentioned from those eighties periods. I know
that back in the day a couple of times, I
think Denny used the three in Question annuals.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Well, yeah, there was a Fables crossover right between the
over three annuals and the you know, the which is great.
But it was also a little bit of the inspiration
for this because a couple of years ago, I bought,
you know, I got the Question Omnibus. I mean, I
have all the issues, but I bought the Omnibus and
I was reading it and uh, and that that crossover,

(06:24):
that Fables crossover, Uh, is like it's great, but it
kind of they all feel a little separate, you know,
because it's in individual annuals, you know. And uh, And
I wanted to tell a story that really brought them
to gather more, you know, I mean in the in
the first issue there you know, we're we're still on
the road there on the in the first issue, but
the but like something that made them interact with each

(06:48):
other a bit more than than than that that crossover did.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Okay, it's called Arcadia. Obviously, that's the location of where
where the conflict is gonna happen, or at least the investigation.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Well, it's the name of the of a kind of uh,
you know, a project funded by the brilliant new billionaire
head of of Queen Enterprises, which used to be you know,
uh Green Arrows Families company, which he no longer is
associated with. And uh, it's it's like a in theory,

(07:23):
it sounds good, it's a it's it's an idea for
floating cities that would that would survive you know, climate
change and sea level rises and and be adaptable for
the future. And but but there are there are questionable
things going on under the surface, you know.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Gotcha here a couple of comments right away, Pete Biser says,
really enjoyed the first issue. Uh, really felt very timely
and timeless.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
That's what I'm going for I mean, that's absolutely what
I was going for because the it you know, I mean,
I'm talking about our current world, but not not in
a not in a preachy way, not in a you know,
in a kind of ideologically driven away exactly like it's
you know, it's about exploring the stuff with these characters.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Mason says, a pleasant surprise to see this book on
the shelve today. The Cowenson Kevitch cover is gorgeous.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Is that them? Yeah? Okay, well no, I mean not
the main cover, the main covers me I drew in
color that, but the but there's a variant cover that
is a poster from the eighties that was used to
promote that theory that you know, that that fables cross everything.
It was that the Chris Connor and my editor came
up with the idea of of you know, of using

(08:39):
that as a as one of the variant covers, and
the I loved that idea because that that cover was
literally a poster I had on my wall when I
was fourteen years old, right, so like it felt really
appropriate to me to have that be one of the
variant covers. That's terrific, Man, were variant covers by Kevin Nolan,

(08:59):
who is one the greatest of the greats, and like
he was the top of my list when when I
was asked who I wanted variant covers from. So it's
it's awesome that he was able to do this.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
It just those two.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Are there other variants just for this one? There's just
those two. I think there's variance for the other issues,
but I don't. I don't. I mean, I don't know
the specifics yet.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Now right, fair enough, there's a couple more comments. Chi
Kurojo also says he John and Gabe but grabbed it.
Grabbed number one feels like a nice modern version of O'Neil,
Adams Greenland and Green and Arrow comics from the seventies.
Thankfully not creachy, but relevant to our times, and says
makes me want to start reading O'Neill and Cowen's question series.

(09:40):
Well you won't be sorry, man.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
You absolutely should. Yeah. I mean that one's the one
that I think is the most solid of these and
the most like, you know, the looking back at it now,
the most readable of them. I mean, I was a
huge fan of the my Growl stuff, you know, growing up.
I feel like, maybe you know, it doesn't date as well.
It doesn't date as well, although the but what was

(10:04):
a big inspiration for me in those books, and I
went and reread all those two well, I mean, my
favorite ones are the ones that have a kind of
more international espionage element to them, you know, and that's
a lot of what I was trying to recapture. This.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Given that it is black label, you can play with
this because I don't really know what Big Sage's current
status is in the DC.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Somebody told me he's alive. I was unaware of that,
and it's the and it doesn't matter for my book. Right,
this is a little bit out of content, basically out
of continuity. It is out of continuity because fundamentally, the
idea with black label stuff is you start at a
point where the characters are recognizable and then you can
go anywhere from there. So like in you know, so

(10:51):
all bets are off, you know, some of these people
could die. We don't know, you know, I mean I know,
but I'm not telling you you know, and I mean
not yet, but you know they can, you know, like
so you can go, you know, and kind of develop
it from that point. As opposed to like the Green
Lantern Earth one book that I did, where that's about
just a director reinvention of the character. The character is

(11:13):
starting from a different place, which I like doing that
a lot. But uh, but the the interesting challenge for
this was just you know, it's uh, you gotta kind
of start in a place where they where you know them,
like you get the sense of who these characters are.
But even at that, I'm pushing them in slightly different directions.
They're they're different places than they are like in the

(11:35):
regular continuity. And you know, like Vic's age in mine
is alive.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
And I'm happy about that because I I think, I
g it's Renee being the question a question as well,
if not the question. But I'm a big fan of
Vic and story as well, so it's it's cool.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
But you know what, when I started, I actually didn't
have uh, you know, an I was open to the
idea of rename Ontoya being the question in this, but
but like when I was working out the story, her
background didn't fit the kind of story I needed to tell,
you know, and I also didn't feel like, uh, I

(12:15):
didn't feel like that was a character that I wanted
to fuck with in the you know, to the degree
that that I could with vix Age like, I mean,
it doesn't you know, uh, it doesn't feel like I
wanted to reinvent Renee Montoya, right, And I'm a little
bit reinventing vix Age. I mean, he's he's still the character,

(12:36):
but much like you know, Steve Didko created this character
as a very black and white, ideologically driven character, and
then Danny O'Neill reinvented him as something else, right, And
and so my intent going into this was stay true
to who that character is, but slightly, you know, reinvent
him as a little bit something else for you know,

(12:57):
for for contemporary times, which I feel like that's the
that's the tradition of these characters.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
No question, uh, actually a question now from Madgie grow.
Did Gabe think about using a more objective version of
the vic Sage instead of O'Neill's more Eastern philosophy version.
I don't know if we're getting Eastern philosophy or not.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
We're not doing I mean, I'm not saying that that
isn't part of his story. I think it is, right,
like I think he would this the the the question
that we're seeing here is somebody who's shaped by both
those things. And has come through to a slightly different place. Uh,
and uh, that's that's kind of what I like about it.
There he had he has that vague you know, history

(13:38):
of those things, and uh, you know, and you know,
this is a saying, you know, it's the he's he's
he was recuperated with Richard Dragon and all those things happened, right,
but but like it's not but but but he his
circumstances are different now. He's in a different place now,

(13:58):
and uh, you know, and he's trying to approach the
world in a different way given the you know, he's
a character who is now looking around at the world
and saying everything is paranoid nonsense, and I'm not going
to be that guy anymore, right, And whether he even
has the ability to or not is you know, God,

(14:19):
It's the only terrible thing about giving interviews about this
is constantly saying and that's the question, right, because he
just sounds idiotic every time I say, but you know
what I mean, I do know what you mean. That's right.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
But honestly, I like that it opens first of all,
all three of them obviously converging eventually. Yeah, but at
the start, you know, Vic is back in hub City.
I guess he's been away and hub City is certainly not.
It reminded me of Detroit. And then kind of.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
That is correct, Yeah, you know absolutely, I mean and
you know he was a you know, Vic was a
media personality, right and now we it's a world where
hub City has no media, right, Like, there's no uh,
there's no radio, there's no television. It's a forgotten place
as far as that's concerned. So like, uh, and so

(15:08):
this is a lot of what shapes his his reaction
to things, right, something coming home to him, no, realizing
that he doesn't have a place anymore in all of that,
right and uh, and deciding that he's going to be
the guy who is dedicated to you know, being uh,
you know, being a community reporter, right, like, just focusing

(15:32):
on his community that has no other you know focus. Granted,
the first thing that happens is something in his community
leads him, you know, to Azerbaijan, right, like he he
goes off, you know, uh, but but it's you know,
it's it's still uh, you know, it's uh, it flows

(15:52):
from from what happened in his world. So he feels
like he has to follow that lead and pull that thread.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
Uh Mason must have missed the very first minute here.
But I'll let you very quickly say how the project
came about because he's joining us now, uh did you know?

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, well, no, there's a good question because we didn't
talk about it yet. The the it was a thing
where like I, you know, as I said, I was,
I like the idea of doing this for a long time,
and I've actually pitched it a couple other times, just
the basic idea of you know, these characters. Ultimately something
else would end up supplanting it, and you know, I

(16:30):
would end up doing some other project. But the but
like uh as as recently as a couple of years ago,
I pitched it uh at DC and it was kind
of like, ah, those cars, you know, green arrow, the question,
they're not so popular, blah blah blah, right, And I
was always like, no, I really think there's like, uh,
you know that people will have a certain faction for this,

(16:52):
you know, for for the way that I'm presenting them, right,
but I'm able to actually do something new with it.
And and Chris Conrad, like I was just talking to him,
the Black Label editor, uh at you know about the
idea of doing something, you know, And I was pitching
him a couple different things and and he he's the
one who was like, oh wait this uh this this Batman,

(17:13):
uh you know, question green Arrow thing this you know,
and you know, he he knows my work. He like
could see that this is something that would you know,
connect for me and and uh you know, and and
something that I could bring something to. So like it's
a lot him and uh and the fact that he
was confident in me and the idea, you know, so
like it's not you know, I mean, there's no great

(17:36):
story about it because it's I pitched a book and
they said, yes, but like it, you know, but that
but it'sok a while to get you know, to get
it going.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, I'm glad the right editor agreed to this.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Because yeah, and there in the right place too, because
black Label is where the book should be. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
No, and this is I'm really glad that Black Label
was developed and is thriving. Man. It started on a
kind of a tough foot with Lee, Burmeo and uh
and Azarello with Batman.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
Damn.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Then hey, look it's Batman's career.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah no, I I know, I mean they made me
take the penis out of this one. So I don't know.
I just I didn't. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
You can take the penis out of the story, but
you can't take the story out of the penis. That's welcome,
all right. GKO also says thanks for the answer. He
likes you're going your own way with this, and I
want to talk about this. He noticed the paranoia aspect
with Vic in his conversation with Todd. Yeah. I like
the contrast between Vic and Todd and Bruce and Alfred.

(18:32):
And by the way, again black labels, so we get Alfred,
thank god?

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Oh is Alfred dead too? Maybe everybody in my book
is dead and that's why I'm doing the book. Uh
but uh, the he's been dead before though, the h.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
He was dead, that's Spock line from start.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
That's true. Uh but like, uh yeah, no, I mean
the the the dynamic between Vic and and Todd. Yeah,
I mean, because Todd is tracking this guy as who
he is, right, like he's not, you know, and like
Vic is telling himself he's somebody different and maybe he

(19:17):
isn't exactly you know.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
No, I love it. Here a couple of the money shots,
and again much like Vic coming back to Hub City.
I guess Ali is coming back to Star City.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yes, yeah, so, I mean in the in the vague
history of this, it's you know, it's not vague history,
but it's the history that includes a lot of the
earlier books. Uh, the you know, it's he was in uh,
he was in Seattle, and something went down in Seattle
that was not so good, and he, uh, he ends
up breaking up with the Black Canary. He moves back

(19:55):
to the town that he grew up in, which now
is a sort of hyper gentrified place, the opposite of
what Hub City is. And uh, and there's not really
any there's nothing for him to do there, right, he's not.
There's They don't need a mass vigilante going around shooting
arrows at people, right. And he's lost his way a
little bit. He's not you know, he's not the guy

(20:16):
he was. He's hanging out in bars, getting people to
buy him drink and ship you know, and like, you know,
and he's looking for you know, he's not looking for
a you know, for for a way to find himself again.
He doesn't care, or he's telling himself he doesn't care.
But we know he's a guy who cares, right, And
so ultimately, you know, this is this is about his

(20:38):
journey back to find it, you know, finding out who
he is, but he may very well end up in
a place that's not exactly you know, the green Arrow
that we know.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Well again your your story of books. As you said earlier,
when when Grell was writing a green el, green Arrow
and you know, with with Eddie Eddie fires, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and yeah that I mean, I loved
all that stuff. That was my favorite part of the
Girl book. The uh, but I don't I'm not going
to bring that character back, at least not in this one.
But I mean, but that kind of thing, you know,
was was the kind of thing that I that I
always enjoyed.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, Vic is the one who comes to Oli with
this problem and gets Ali involved. So you know, again
I'm trying to be with my spoilers, but.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, like but yes, and
you know they're they're Vic is not somebody anybody even
wants to hear from though.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Like yeah, yeah, well that's that even kind of plays
into that echo of Rorschach that the question can get,
even though just the question is first. But yeah, I
kind of like that, you know, it's not like hey guess.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Hey, hey we're all cows. Yeah, no, no, but it's
also it's also like, you know, do you I didn't
even know you existed anymore, kind of a thing, you know,
and like because he's all fair, he's in this in
hub City. Hub City hasn't is functionally cut off from
the world, which plays into a little bit of you know,
how uh you know how the thing that draws him

(22:09):
in happens. You know, it's because it's so uh you know,
it's it's it's, it's, it's it's not the nobody cares
about it anymore, right, and nobody cares about him and
nobody even thought about him in a while.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Mason also says, uh, oh no, we know, we didn't
get this loved. You know, I didn't do this panel.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
People.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
You got to get the book and see love the
Alfred Bruce scene in the batcave. Also cool to see
the back jet hanging in the background. Yeah, man, no,
it's a nice money shot of the bat cave and everything.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah. Well, and like the like, I'm my editor pointed
this out and I just thought it made sense. I
don't know, but the but I just kind of hung
the you know, hung the bat wing up and then
have a light behind it so that it's like a
bat signal, you.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Know, yeah, or even an upside down bat hanging.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, well, definitely like an upside down absolutely.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, let's see don Lenza forgive my ignorance? Is this
a planned run of so many issues? And what was
Gabe's longest run with a title?

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Well, I mean this it's a four issue series, right,
and and like I'll answer the second part of it,
but the but like, for me, I'm really big on endings, right,
I'm big on a story is going someplace. And it's
not like you can't do that in a long form book.
You can. And I love long form storytelling too, right,
But but like, uh, it's what I like, what I

(23:33):
really love doing is crafting something that is always heading
towards something heading towards an ending, which is not to
say this book, I absolutely you know, if the book
was successful enough, if it worked out well enough, I
you know, I would be happy to do another mini series,
you know, featuring these characters. And the end of this
series will you know, will be a definitive ending that

(23:54):
also could potentially you know, move into something else. Uh.
And but But the the longest run on something was
I mean, I've done a couple of things where I mean,
I guess I did a Star Wars book that lasted
for certain but I didn't draw all of that. I

(24:15):
drew half of it, wrote all of it with my
ex writing partner, and and drew drew like half of it.
I drew twelve issues of The Hulk that Jeff Parker
wrote that I didn't that I didn't that I drew
and the Red Hulk, right, it was just called or no,
called Hulk, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, he was right, Yes,

(24:37):
he was right.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
I and the and then.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
It's well, no, I know, I don't.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
I didn't do that many agent. I mean there, I
don't even know. That was so scattered, you know, like
the miniseries and things and whatever. I don't even know.
But Invisible Republic, the image series went for fifteen is Choose,
which you know ideally would have been, which was not
the entire thing, but you know it was what what
could happen? Uh? And like that's probably the longest consistent
thing that I've done, is Invisible in Public.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Really that's fair well, and again, as people might know,
you get back into you know, storyboard work for Hollywood.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah. I have two careers. I mean, like I'm you know,
like I have to kind of balance it out between
working on films and you know, doing story works for
films and doing uh, you know, and doing the comic stuff.
I do the comic stuff because I'm passionate about it
and because I love you know, I love I love
the form. I love telling stories this way. I love
being you know, I love writing and drawing them. I mean,

(25:39):
I work on a movie. It's not my movie, right,
I mean, I contribute a lot to it, but it's
not you know, uh, I'm not the one choosing that story.
And uh in comics, that's that's the only thing that
I'm interested in. I want to do the whole thing.
Although I'm more than happy to write books for other
people to draw, but the but like, I'm not so

(25:59):
much inted in drawing books that other people write. I
want to be telling a story that I'm interested in.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Pete wants to know about your colorist because he says
the color was very complimentary. You're right, Usually you color
yourself is romolo, someone that you've worked with in the past.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
I've not worked with him before. He's done an amazing
job along with great along with letter Simon Bolan, great team,
you know, assignment I've worked with for years, for a decade.
Uh and but like he's letter to everything I've done
for you know, at least a decade. But the I
this is the first time colorist wise and the and

(26:39):
I think he's just done an amazing job. And uh
like and so fits the tone and the feel of
that world that that I wanted to evoke, and you know,
and we have you know, which is as important as anything. Uh.
The color is kind of you know, the different the
different locations we're at that you are all kind of

(27:00):
defined differently in the colors. But I don't I call
it the cover myself. I like, I have been more
and more liking coloring books, you know, coloring the books myself.
But the reality is I don't have enough time to
color something this big and this long. You know, it's
four thirty two page issues. So it'll it'll be the

(27:23):
size of a you know there it's gonna be a
hardcover and you know next you know, next summer, and yeah,
you know, like the size of the Green Lantern. Earth
one Books you know, and so like I just couldn't.
I mean, I did a Godzilla short story, like you know,
earlier in the year. I colored that. I really I've

(27:43):
really liked coloring my own stuff lately, but I you know,
but there there's I just I can't color everything, you know.
I mean it's it takes honestly, like I'm faster at
it now, but it takes me just as long a
color of pages as that's a draw it half the time.
So like it's you know, it's just like you know, yeah,
I mean, it's just I'm not like, you know, like

(28:04):
a super instinctual colorist in that way, even though I
like doing.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
It mincent absolutely, I I think again, I think the
story really plays well and the art is really terrific.
So no, he's complimenting your your your style and the
atmosphere that you're going for.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
And absolutely yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
No, very cool man. I uh so four issues. I
was gonna ask because here I'm gonna bring back that
picture of Batman every now and then you know, they
they once again mess with the design.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Well they didn't, I did, uh I wanted. Yeah, That's
what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
No, I'm just saying what you're currently in Fraction's book,
there's yet another version that is different than the King
did and you know, well not.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Neither Mas Fraction or Tom King drew the book. But yeah,
you know what, I'm sorry, No, I'm sorry. I'm going
to point out that artists exist, and.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
You're right, that's absolutely funny.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
But tell me about your design for Batman. I, you know,
I mean, I think that there's a pretty self conscious
look back towards the eighties with that, with the oval,
you know, uh, you know, I mean, I just wanted
him to be a little distinct from you know what
we always see now, which is actually quite cool. And
I like the bat the you know, the bigger bat

(29:22):
that you know that's just kind of printed on the chest,
but like something about I don't know, I wanted it
to be a little different while still being iconic, and uh,
you know, and like and I also he also has
like multiple costumes in this, you know, like the and
even in the first issue he has three different costumes.
The there's this kind of standard one, he has a

(29:44):
kind of stealth costume later in it, and then uh,
you know, at the end, he has I'm not gonna
say where they end up. But it's a but the
but like he has yet another environmentally themed or you know,
themed to the environment uh costume.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Arkadiea set in Greenland? Did current events inspire? What do
you think?

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Here's the thing, Like I like I pitched and uh
and wrote this like uh longer ago like and then
had to take a break from it to do a movie,
like had to do do storyboards for a movie for
a good period of time. So the troubling thing is

(30:29):
the way that real events kind of caught up with this. Uh,
the you know, the the Greenland of it all was
not really a thing when I first uh you know,
when when I first wrote this. But then, but I'm
not shying away from that stuff. I mean, if it
has resonance, I'm just going with it. And I you know,
and like I did it for a reason in the

(30:50):
first place, so like uh, if you know, if if that,
if stuff like that, if stuff like uh you know,
the private military stuff and all all, you know, and
some forced labor and issues like that are you know,
they're they're resident in the world. I'm not doing a
book that is just about specifically referencing things or it's not.

(31:15):
It's upset exactly in the real world. But I feel
like the kind of story I'm telling, elements in the
story are resident with real world things.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
I like it. Mason says, since we usually talk about movies,
are there any certain actors you're modeling the characters after,
By the way, I like that we see a lot
of Vic without the mask as well as with the mask.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yeah, VIC is sort of modeled after. Well, here's the thing.
I do model them after actors, right, but I kind
of them deliberately bad at doing likenesses because I don't
want you to look at it and go, that's that actor, right, Okay,
I'm doing it in a vague sort of keeping it

(31:59):
consistent the sort of way not I want. I don't
want you to be able to look at it and
be distracted by the.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Fact that you go, who that act I wouldn't have
thought of this until the question was asked. Again, here
we are with the question. But I thought, now that
that question is there, and I'll say mine, then you
can tell me if I'm.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Right or wrong. And if I will tell you you're wrong,
gon go all right, because I usually a no no,
because you're not gonna guess it.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
But go Dennis Leary.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
No, but that's an interesting guess. That's an interesting guess.
I think his nose would have to be longer for that.
But butkay uh No, it's actually uh, this actor Martin Donovan,
who like he is I'm told you wouldn't guess it,
but it's a he was. He's a character actor who's
been in a bunch of things. I think he's in
some Marvel movie, although I don't watch any of those.

(32:46):
But the he's an older guy now. It's based on
him in like the nineties, like when he was younger. Yeah, uh,
and but I know him mostly from these Hal Hartley movies. Uh,
and like, uh he's in Trust and there in nineties
indie movies. Uh that very uh you know, like very

(33:10):
you need. Hal Hardley is a director. He's still around,
but you know he made the move Henry Fool and
you know and like, uh, there's a sort of trilogy
of those movies, uh, Henry Fool, fay Grim and ned Rifle.
But like a big fan of these movies. And it
doesn't there there isn't any specific thing that makes makes

(33:32):
it make sense that Martin Donovan is the question. It's
not like I wouldn't cast him necessarily as that character,
you know, if I were making the movie. But but
his look was something that I was inspired by for him.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
How about Bruce and Awing, Uh, because it's like in
a way I don't want to say, like in the
way I don't want to say, but like use I mean, well, here,
I'm gonna bring up the Alley picture again because I
mean I see, I see a lot of or see
that's damn it, that's here we go. There's a you know,
especially the top panel there. It definitely has kind of
a meal vibe to it as far as art. But

(34:06):
I can't yeah, I can't.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah, I'm not gonna say that one. But the but
the I'll say the Bruce Wayne one because it's ridiculous. Uh,
it's young Rod rock Hudson, like uh, you know, just
for the kind of feel of it. It's has nothing
to do with actual Rock Hudson. It's not like I'm
casting Rock Hudson in it, but like, uh, you know,

(34:28):
because I think he would be a little lightweight for
the for the character that I'm doing. Right, But the
you know, even though like ro Rock, I like rock Hudson.
I love them exs I love him in a lot
of stuff, right, giants, he's he was a great actor.
He was you know, pretty Maids All in a row?
Uh that was that was a scene missing level reference there.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Sorry, you should do that movie sometimes. That's weird.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Oh my god. I went to see it at New
Beverly a while ago, and uh, but see it, see
it with an entire crowd and get the full exp as.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yike. Yeah, really creepy, creepy movie, especially to watch with
the crowd, I would say.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Yeah, if anybody doesn't this is this is a movie
tied to star Trek in a weird way because Geene
Roddenberry produced it. And you know, this is a weird,
horny Jean Roddenberry movie.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Very like very morning weird like suspense movie.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, it's a real odd ball thing. But uh, this
this is not. I'm gonna look into getting the Pretty
Bates All in a road license, see if we can
get some comics going based on that.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
The coach needs his story to continue, Yeah, and Telly
Sambalas is the investigator. I believe in that movie and
I I can't remember. And also, sorry, we gotta we
gotta follow the tangent for a second, aren't Kanig Walter
Kanig and do Him both in the movie as well?
Do it one of them is?

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Do it is? I don't think it is. And but yeah,
it's it's like it's one of those like now we're
talking about this, it's one of those like movies where,
like you know, in the when things opened up in
the late sixties early seventies and you could show more
and you could do more, that didn't mean that people

(36:13):
had good taste in what you showed and did, right,
And it also could be especially if you're if you know,
if a kind of older you know, older filmmakers were
coming to it, maybe they would embarrass themselves a little bit,
but you know by like showing, you know, telling stories
that were not you know, inappropriate or whatever, right, and

(36:34):
or certainly look that way in retrospect. It's a weird
document of its time, you know. I mean, I'm sure
Quentin Tarantino thinks it's brilliant.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, well again, I will cop to owning it as well,
just because of the weirdness of it. So yeah, and
I didn't remember Roddy McDonald's also in it. I didn't
remember Roddy being in it.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, yeah, I think that's right.
But there you Yeah, but anyway, yeah, back to back
to back to Arcadia and our our three heroes will get.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Yeah, I like the new guy that's in charge of
Queen Industries.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Yeah, so he's like, I mean, he's basically somebody who
has bought up a lot of stuff, and he is uh,
you know, like a little bit omnipresent and you know,
uh and he's uh you know, I mean yeah, well
he's basically the owner of it, and but the you know,

(37:32):
functionally the owner of it, and the you know, and
well I mean the Arcadia or I mean, yes, the
Arcadia is a project being developed by Queen Industry. Okay,
so like, uh, it's and Oliver Queen is you know,
he's on the ouse from it. We we get this,
we get the impression that, you know, things didn't go
well the last time he had an interaction with them.

(37:54):
He's been banned from the premises of the you know,
of the offices, so like like.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Kind of creepy, you know, again the opposite of Wayne
Industries obviously in Green industries.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Yeah, yeah, so all these contrasts are things that is,
you know, I mean I get I've gotten a question
a couple of times of like, these are all street
level characters. I said, question again, but you know, these
are all street level characters, Like why have them all together?
What's the point? They all do the same thing, And
it's like, man, they absolutely don't, and they are also

(38:28):
like I'm also using it as an opportunity to make
these comparisons between them and make, you know, and make
the ways that they're not alike a lot of the
point of the book.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
You know, if Man, it's a shame and I don't
know what the plans are for some of these crossovers
that we're going to continue to get in twenty six,
but much in the same way you could think of
the three street level characters to punish your Daredevil and
Spider Man when the three of them get together.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
Yeah, two of those characters I really like. But I
mean Spider Man, it's like one of my favorite characters
of all time. I'd still absolutely love to do a
Spider Mann't like, Frank could you couldn't pay me to
do a Punisher book? Read a Punisher book. I mean, I.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Hate the character, hate it thing. Well listen, I mean
I understand. I mean truly, you know, depending on whose
hands are on him and everything, he's an anti hero
or he is an out and out villain. But like
I I remember when Rukka and Mark Wade did a
did a joint writing.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
I'm not saying people haven't done great work on him, absolutely.
I mean I'm not. I'm saying I don't like the character.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
No, but it was interesting because like for a long time,
Wade's like I could never get a handle on him,
and Greg was like, and I'm not saying you don't
have a handle on him, but I'm just saying that
Greg Okay, Well Greg was like no, you know X
y Z and and Mark's like, oh oh, I'm waiting
for him.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
I have no there's no question in my mind that
Greg could find it away into it. And you know,
but like I'm not saying I couldn't find a way
to it. I'm sure I could. Actually I don't want to.
I don't like character. I have a real distaste for
a kind of character that is about uh like the

(40:16):
how do I say it? Like they they're there so
that the audience can get that visceral thrill of them
going around and killing people, some sense of vengeance for
vague thing in the thing in the background or whatever.
And I don't find any appeal in that at all. Uh.
And like, particularly in the realm of gun violence stuff,

(40:40):
I find zero appeal to that. There are plenty of
things that I do find, like you know, Lee Marvin
and point blank, Uh, you know, many things where gun
violence is involved. Character you're getting a certain thrill of
them going around and you know, he just wants his
money back and he's going around and he's killing the
people and all that stuff, right, Like, I get that

(41:01):
and there, but I don't see I think that that
there's a level of fetishization with the punisher that doesn't
appeal to me in any way. And the fetishizing, you know,
is a lot about guns and a lot about stuff
that I just you know, I have personal reasons, and
I'm very I find it very unappealing.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
I respect that. I I think, I guess growing up
as long as I did with all the gun violence
that we had in TV in the seventies and eighties,
I'm kind of like Tom Hanks in Big when he's
in the shitty hotel and a real country, he's watching
the show at gunfire. He turns it off. There's more
gunfire outside. Yeah, you just seeing potato chips, and it's
just like, yeah, I mean that's my thing. When I
when when the guns really start blazing in a punish

(41:43):
the thing, I'm like, all right.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Yeah, well it's not that's not really the point the
issue for me, but the but like it's the issue
is the way that you know that it could. It's
about giving the the audience some thrill about the revenge
against against people who have had nothing to do with
the you know, the initial thing, you know, And I

(42:07):
think that that's an issue with you know, his his
family was killed. He's got on an avenge of whatever, right,
like Batman is, has built in conflicts that make that
more interesting to me. Right, He's not just going around
going I'm going to indiscriminately kill people because I you
know whatever. He has this kind of conflict that's keeping
him back. Like he the fact that they you know,

(42:29):
that his parents were killed by the gun violence is
a you know, is a deeply conflicting element for the
character that makes the character interesting in ways that I've
never found The punisher.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
G Kuroho is not that you're looking for it, but
he's recommending, sure the end the Garth Ennis story. Uh,
that's fine. I know.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
I don't doubt that people did great work on that
though I don't. I mean, and there's plenty of stuff
that doesn't have like that isn't for me, but I
you know, but that doesn't mean it's bad, I think,
because you know, there's so many great creators of work.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Right right now, Palmiati is back on the character with
Dan Panoshen, and it's great. It looks great and it's cool.
You know, it's a great world. The problem with doing
as many shows as I do, I sometimes forget. But
I know somebody recently, maybe somebody in the chat saw
it or heard it. But someone's saying, and forgive the
Frank Castle tangent. But he's like, I don't believe that

(43:26):
you're doing Frank right when he just shows up and
just you know, arbitrarily starts shooting and things like that.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
Oh well, I wouldn't think that any of those people
would do that. It's just that, like, I think the
setup does not appeal to me for the character. No,
it's cool.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Pete Biser wants to let us know that he's going
to the Five hour kill Bill that's going to be
a seventy millimeter in a few weeks. Are you going
to do that as well?

Speaker 3 (43:49):
No, but I don't have time. I'm so behind on everything.
But the and also I went to I watched all
I went to all eighteen hours of Twin Peaks at
the at the Egyptian like a mon to go or whatever. Yeah,
like that's as much. I mean, like because that's my
you know, that's my thing, you know, but the but like, yeah,
right now, my deadline was I'm so slammed just from everything.

(44:13):
There's a lot of stuff going on otherwise, and I've
had to you know, like haven't had as much, you know,
I've got behind.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Did you and did you and Round Richards finish your
rewatch podcast of the Twin Peaks?

Speaker 3 (44:24):
I just guessed it on it a few times. But yeah,
I mean I would like he was doing it with
another guy, but I yeah, I mean I was on
it a few times. I was on it, like when
the new season of it happened in the you know,
the final episode was you know, the final episode is
bat shit bewildering, and like you it gives you no
like you know, no real conclusion. And and I, you know,
and it's something that you have to sit with forever.

(44:46):
And I watched it and immediately went and recorded the
last podcast with them, which was literally impossible. We were
just sitting around going, I don't know, I don't know
what happened. I don't know how to even think about
what happened, you know.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
So you know, did you hear Dana Gould's like deep
multi show dive on uh?

Speaker 3 (45:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was fun. I mean I
knew all that stuff, but it was a fun recap
of it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, No, I thought he did a good job with that.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Mason wants to know if you have any other DC
books lined up after this series.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
I do not have another one lined up. It's not
like it couldn't happen. It's certainly a possibility. And uh,
I do really really want to get I have like
two creator own books that I've been working on that
I really really want to get out there in one
way or another, and I think that that's going to
be my priority after finishing this. I have one other

(45:38):
freelance thing that's a one shot that hasn't been announced yet,
and and I'm writing another mini series that I'm not
drawing that that it is another thing, but that that
wouldn't so much get in the way of doing another book.
But the but like it is and yeah, schedule wise,
it depends on like I also need to do another
movie at some point, so like, you know, it's my

(46:02):
career is so much about juggling stuff, and you know,
I would love to do another. For a long time,
I thought I wanted to do another Duom Patrol book,
and there was a point where that almost happened, but
I don't know I actually went And lately I've been
this is a comic book podcast right now, we're talking
about comics, not old movies and the and like I did,

(46:24):
I've been doing these kind of like super deep dive
rereads of or just reading for the first time of
different series, like I read X X Men from issue
one through the nineteen ninety one I think, right, like
everything and like this is a coping mechanism clearly, but
the but like I also after that because the Doom

(46:50):
Patrols started in an analogous sort of way, right, like
they kind of they started virtually at the same time
X Men and Doom Patrol and add you know, the
early ones are compared and like I so I reread
all of the Doom Patrol, like everything Doom Patrol after that,
which i'd read a lot of late, but I hadn't
read a lot of the more recent ones. And after

(47:11):
I read all of it like, uh, which you know,
I love, love, love the stuff from the sixties. The
Bruno Premiani is one of my favorite artists ever, the
you know and the Arnold Drake stories, and like it's it. Actually,
I don't know that I'd ever sat down and just
read it intently before. I've read issues of it, really

(47:31):
enjoyed it, like it's super enjoyable. It's the opposite of
the early x Men books, which kind of suck, you know,
like they're they're not great. It's I don't think it's
even a controversial opinion, right, I agree and like the
but the the early Doom Patrol stuff is so fun
and well crafted. And then I do love the Morrison stuff.
I would I I'd never read Rachel Pollocks aroun on

(47:54):
it before in entirety. I've read pieces of it, uh,
and like it. It starts little shaky and starts too
much in the world of the Morrison stuff, but it
turns into something really unique and interesting and I really
enjoyed that. Uh and then there were good things about
other iterations of it later, and at the end of it,
I kind of felt like, I don't really know that
I want to do it do Drump book, Like I

(48:15):
think that it's done. You know, I'm not that it's done.
Somebody else could do it, but you know, but like
I don't, I don't know if I have a thing
to say that I want to say that bad.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
Would you would it be the classic lineup or would
you dip into the Morrison stuff or any I would if.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
It were me, well in this book that I'm not
going to do, I mean, it would like I would
want it to be something different. I mean I would
like it would certainly be Cliff Steel robot Man, and
you know he's the anchor of it, right but the
but like I would want to develop it into something else.
I mean, if I if I felt if I wanted
to do it and I pursued it or whatever, I

(48:48):
would try to do it in a way that felt
fresh and not going back and just revisiting things, you know.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
In that classic social media way. I was on a
two and a half Men fan page in April about
Bob Wait what I know, hold on, I promise you, okay,
and you know and listen, lovely woman, striking woman, and
that said, that's great. But I had to say it
because everyone's like, you know, and I'm like, you know,

(49:16):
she is incredible in the Doom Patrol TV series. She's
rita elastic girl. And I'm like, it literally took me
like half an episode ago. Oh my god, it's Candy
from from Two and a half Men. And truly I'm like,
hey man, I'm like, you gotta give it to her,
like totally one eighty thing. And she popped out and went, oh,

(49:39):
that's very sweet, thank you very much, thank you. Would
you like to be on my podcast Eat It, Eat
It check Off? You're lucky I st alone to you.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
But no, did you you're taking liberties now? John? That
was that was great?

Speaker 1 (49:53):
No, But that was really my point being that really
was a great series and it really pleased me and
surprised me in the best ways of how good that
series was. Honestly, I don't think it gets the credit
that certainly Peacemaker is currently enjoying. And I would say
of that period of the streaming shows like that was
really the best thing that I think DC was making

(50:14):
back then.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Yeah, do you think so? Did you watch it? I
didn't watch all of it. I mean I'm difficult about
stuff though. I mean, like it was like it's not
that I mean, it was fine. People in it were good,
Like it didn't speak to me, but but it wasn't
like I thought it was bad.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
Mason says Yeaper creator on work. Would you go the
Kickstarter round or are you going to do the image
thing for your creator on stuff?

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Mason, this is the question. I fucking did it again?
You know, it's I'm just it'sn't bothering me now, right,
But like I'm just realizing how often I say that ship, right,
And I won't mention it again, Okay, but it if

(51:00):
you will. Yeah, the I don't know exactly right. I mean,
it's about finding the place that makes the most sense
in this market, and I'm not one hundred percent sure
what that is currently, right.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Have you gone have you gone to like Vault or
some of these other Oh.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
I've talked to these companies absolutely, yeah, and the like,
And it's just it's not like, oh, who will publish
the thing? It's like, what's the most effective way to
get it out there, that this specific story will reach
the right people. And right now, that's a kind of
murky question, you know. And you know, because the creative

(51:40):
books aren't necessarily selling that well in this market. And
you know, but the kickstarter option is a thing, and
you know, but that only plays too I mean, there
are certainly versions of that that makes sense, but I mean,
I mean, the thing that turns me off about it,
even though I'm very much not It's not like I
wouldn't do a Kickstarter. I would, But the thing that
turns me off about it just the idea that you're

(52:01):
only selling it to the people who, uh, you know,
who are already going to be interested in one way
or another. And I want to do stuff that somehow
has the ability to reach out to more people than
that and people can discover accidentally and all that. That's
a very idealistic, utopian idea for considering the you know,
the way things are now. But like, uh, and I'm
not against the kickstarter, and certainly I could do a

(52:22):
direct market version of the thing after the kickstarter or whatever, right,
but you know, but I just I these are all
just questions, and I'm you know, and I when I
approach create our own stuff, I I'm gonna, you know,
if at all possible, I'm gonna do most of the
work before I you can approach anybody, right, because the
book is going to be the book, and uh, and

(52:44):
I'm not gonna do it in a way where you know,
I go to a company and they're like, but what
if it has uh you know, what what what are
the zombies in it? Or whatever? Right, like, you know,
or really nobody will do that. But but but definitely
I wanted the two things that I'm that I want
to do. One of them is a is very much

(53:05):
a kind of noir comic set in Hollywood. I may
have talked about it on the show before and the
and it's it's something I've been working on. But it's
not a you know, it's it's certainly a mature reader's
type book. And it's also not uh, it's not a
genre mash up, right, And in the direct market, that's
a lot of what people want to hear, right, And

(53:26):
it's not a story. That's not what I want to
tell though, And you know, and like, I want to
do a straight book set in nineteen forty seven that
is you know in Hollywood that deals with all the
stuff that I'm interested in, and uh, you know, and
like that's what I'm doing. I just have to find
a way to you know, to get that out of people.
That makes the most sense because like in you know,

(53:48):
any of those smaller problems, you know, they always wanted
to be like, but what if there's also Cuthulhu? You know,
like and I just don't, like, that's not the story
I want to tell, right, so the like you know,
I mean, I so there's that, but there's also a
long form, a longer Here's the problem with the other one.
It's it's it's a horror thing, but it's sort of
an epic horror book, right, It's like, uh, it's uh,

(54:12):
it has it it stories take place in you know,
different periods of time over two hundred years. There's like,
you know, one character that goes through it all. It's
it's like a vertigo book from a million years ago, right,
you know, And like when you could tell a long
form story like that and tell it in you know,

(54:32):
not necessarily in order and revisit things in the past
and all that sort of stuff. So like and it's
in the world of the comic The Belfry that I
put out like ten years ago, right, and but the
even though it has nothing specifically to do with the
characters of that or anything like that, and you know,
but that it ties it and you know, uh, and

(54:53):
it's but it needs to be something that I if
I go to some company, there every chance that I
do five issues of it and then I'm never able
to do the rest of it because it's tied up
with them, and then there's whatever and I and I
want to put myself in a position where I can
choose to continue the book. If I want to continue
the book, well.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
That makes sense for that one, for the for the
Hollywood noir have another and forgive me. But I just
know when they do stuff, when Titan works with hard
case crime, you know, they do good at.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
Absolutely absolutely it's you know, but it's not to get
into the weeds of it. But it also comes down
to rights. And I'm not giving up any media rights.
Well you know like that, because there's just not a
there's not a reason for me to write like I'm
not you know, I'm not like I don't need to.
I don't want to band over backwards to get it
published at any cost. I want to get it published, right.

(55:51):
And I've had books in the past where you know,
they're non you know, uh, they're not they don't play directly,
they don't play speci typically into the direct market, you know,
that have a harder time finding their way in that
world because they're just not fit for And I don't
want to go I don't want to do that. I
want to do it in the way that makes the
most sense, and I just don't know what that is yet.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
I'm with you, Okay, g Carrow wants to know, h
off topic, how is your short film going?

Speaker 3 (56:18):
Well, it's going fine, except that we had to push
back to the shoot date until until February because of me,
because of personal reasons, because of life and family all
this stuff. But but it's all cast. It's all that,
we have the location, everything is set. Uh, we're going
to shoot it in February.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Beautiful at a boy very cool man. Well, you know,
I mean, uh, I don't know. Is there anything else
to say about about Arcadia?

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Just that it's uh, like you know, like I said,
it's a four issue thing, so uh, you know, uh,
it's it's a graphic novel length story it's uh, it's
something that I'm really passionate about. And uh and I
think that uh you know, it's it's the kind of
story that that if if you just if you like
a kind of grounded uh you know, crime espionage, relatively

(57:07):
big scope in some ways. It turns into like a
war comic at times. It's like, uh, you know it
it has it has a big scope to it. Uh
and uh you know I uh and and I think
it's something that people enjoy.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Are is it going to be a bi monthly scheduled
do we know?

Speaker 3 (57:24):
It's like it's six weeks or something. It's it's really
just screwed up because of the holidays and stuff, right
like you know, like this is the first one's coming
out this week and then there's holiday you know, like
so just scheduling wise, it's it's it's uh you know,
it's it's spaced out in more or less like six weeks.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
Okay, very good. Yeah, I was wondering. I mean, you know,
again d C is kind to me and lets me
see advanced stuff. Well again gave you know, we can
talk about this when every issue comes out and then
do kind of a short a reachap of the stories
and let people know, Yeah, Giku Ross take care of everyone.
Happy Thanksgiving and happy happy sure.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
Thanks Giving to to to Jakuro and everybody else.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Absolutely, man and I feel the same way.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
And he brought up that I would that I should
get the the license to the Outer Limits and do
Outer Limits comics, and this was something that I was
bullshitting about on Blue Sky and I would love to
do that. I think that there's probably one specific reason
that that won't happen, but you know, but like, uh
but but I mean I think that I would love
to do that. I would love to just because there's

(58:26):
a Twilight Zone book from my.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
You know, last night I talked to Tom Stoley.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
Oh yeah, right, and he's got that. He did an
issue that right.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
And it's great, and I think James Stoke is going
to do the next one.

Speaker 3 (58:36):
Yeah, uh yeah, yeah totally. Someone had brought up, you know,
that that I should maybe Matt Matt Maxwell brought up
that like that I should be doing one of those issues,
which sounds fine, that sounds great, But then when I
thought about it, I was like, I'd rather just get
the Outer Limits and like do it myself. But I
don't think that can happen. But but like, uh, but

(58:57):
it sounds like a fun idea.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
Maybe that that back to our pilot? Was it a
backorout the Martin Landau Supernatural investigatory right right? Talking about
on the show.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
Yeah, I think it's just about who owns it is
the problem, and I think probably the same guy controls it,
So I don't think that guy is going to be
interested in in licensing it for a comic.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Hilarious, very funny. All right, everybody, Well again it's out now.
It came out today, Arcadie. If you haven't seen it.
For Black Label DC, you got Batman, the Question and
Green Arrow converging on this problem. And if you're if
you're fans of what Mike Grell and Dannie O'Neil and
company all did back in the eighties, there are echoes

(59:38):
of that, but it absolutely is a modern story and
a very modern spin on the characters and situation through
Gabe Hartman. So well, that is the question, that is.
But no, good job man, Honestly, I love it and
I'm so happy for you. I know you've been talking
about this to me, yeah, yeah, for for months and
I'm yeah, at the atmosphere and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Yeah, I'm glad to be on and actually talk about it.
I'm glad to be on here and just talk about
myself frankly instead.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Of we're we're likely going to do a scene missing
before Christmas and yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
It's gonna be about Burl Lives.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
Yeah, now, I know you're teasing, but it really would
make sense.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
It could be about Burl. You're right, it makes you
know what. Finally, the joke may be over. It may
have to be about Burrol Lives because it's.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Although you know it's funny. Man, I've loaded. We're also
talking about eventually doing a Jack Web movie. Yes one
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
I was listening to some of those radio shows recently,
you know which ones, the Dragon shows, not the you
know what, the not Pat Novac, but the dragon at shows.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Yeah, I like, I like Pat Novak, I like Johnny Madero,
and I like Jeff Reagan as well. But yeah, I mean,
obviously Friday is the man, but Pat Novak man close second.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
Got to tell you, Yeah, I've listened to some of those.
I could I should take a look back. You know,
they're fun.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
The metaphor, you know, like you know, the place was
as empty as a warm beer after it's okay, but
all right, thanks Gabe. This is likely it for new shows. Everybody,
have a nice Thanksgiving and hopefully Christos Gags joining me
on Monday to talk about his current work. You know,

(01:01:21):
he's not only in Battle World for Marvel, but he's
doing a DC phone video game and he also wrote
a British movie, a British drama, so we'll talk to
We'll talk to Christos about that and more on the
next word balloon line. Until then, everybody, stay safe, stay happy,
stay healthy.