May 5, 2025 • 52 mins
Matthew Medney joins us to discuss GUNGNIR, his fresh publishing company blending punk rock spirit with Norse mythology to create bold, innovative sci-fi and fantasy narratives.
• Journey from music industry production management to publishing
• Creating a community-based publisher where readers discover new voices and follow favorite authors
• Every Gungnir book has its own unique artistic style – no house style
• Designing books as collectible art pieces that remind readers of their emotional journey
• Stories designed to provoke questions readers will debate with friends
• Balancing work and passion by reading fantasy novels and staying physically active
• Advice for creators: fail fast, learn to network, and be your own cheerleader
• Upcoming releases including Last Breeds with its innovative duochromatic art style
Check out GungnirBooks.com and follow @GungnirBooks and @MatthewMedney on social media to discover their growing catalog of visually striking, thought-provoking titles.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment.
Wait for it Gaming.
Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil theFilipino yeah, they've got you
covered and all you gotta do iswait for it.
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hey everyone, Welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast
.
I am your co-host, Phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And I'm your co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and for this
special bonus episode of theWait For it Podcast, we're
bringing in a special guest totalk about his publishing
company, gungnir.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, gungnir, we're super excited.
Shout out to Chris Yates again,who we partnered with on the
Frost Road Project, and it'sreally exciting to see that.
Continue to flourish andproceed, continue to flourish
and proceed.
And that led to, like you said,eric, today's conversation with
our guest, matthew Medney fromGungnir.
And Matt, thank you so much fortaking the time.
How are you doing today?
What's?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
up guys.
I'm excited to be here.
I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, as are we.
You just came off ofThunderbolts viewing and I told
you we're going right after, sowe are.
It's good.
It seems like Marvel's got somejuice back as far as the MCU,
so we're feeling good andoptimistic, it felt good, yeah,
it felt good.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So, so, classic MCU.
I'm excited if that's just awarm up for the fleet that's
coming out this year.
Next year it should be, shouldbe a good run.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, so hearing a lot of really really good things
, so we're excited to get to ourviewing here this evening.
But yeah, like we said, we'rehere to talk about Gungnir, a
fresh and exciting publishingendeavor blending the rebellious
spirit of punk rock with themythic power of Odin's legendary
spear, creating a bold,innovative narratives with a
sci-fi fantasy genre.
And you guys have been, you'vebeen making the rounds with some
(02:06):
other shows.
You have been.
You guys were also featured ina deadline article with Steve
Aoki, which is just so, so cool,so really excited to dive into
all of that.
And you know you've done a lot.
Matt, your career is really aninteresting journey and I think
(02:28):
your process has been able toblend so many different
experiences and backgrounds andwe're really interested to see
how you've gotten to where youare today.
You started off in the musicindustry with Heavy Metal
Magazine and then you used thatopportunity there to move into
the worlds of comics andnovelization.
So can you share with ouraudience your story and how we
(02:49):
got here?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yes, I actually started in the music business in
production management doingpyrotechnics and confetti and
cryo and all that fun stuff forDJs like Keizo and Cheat Codes
and a bunch of the EDM basscommunity.
And then the Heavy Metal isactually not a music magazine,
(03:11):
it's a science fiction brandfrom the 70s.
It's started by Mobius, who wasthe art director on Empire
Strikes Back and Jean-PaulDionne and Droulet and had a
movie in 1981 uh, it's namesakeheavy metal, and it was uh um
(03:31):
eugene levy produced by ivanreichman who did um ghostbusters
, and it's uh sort of like acrucible of science fiction, uh,
fantasy and horror magazine.
So I was there for three years,the early 2020s, and then
that's where I met Steve Orlandoand then left there and started
(03:53):
working on the Hero Questgraphic novel with Steve and
that's where I met Jim Krugerand the three of us had this
crazy idea to start a publisher.
That was more I hate to use theterm community-based because it
just sounds like vanilla jargonbut all three of us had this
(04:14):
realization that people go towhere the authors are, not to
the publishers anymore, andthat's also the same.
If you're in the dancing I knowyou guys are in can I say where
you guys live?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, I know you guys are in Jacksonville and there's
a big dance music scene thereand I've been to a bunch of the
clubs over there and all thatfun stuff and it used to be that
you go to parties and then youdiscover DJs at them and now you
go to DJ shows and same thingin publishing correlated and we
were like wouldn't it be greatto have a publisher again where
(04:51):
the community trusted thatpublisher to find new voices and
to find and to also shepherdlegendary voices and be a home
for both kind of what it was inthe late nineties, early two
thousands and all of where theseparties would have great talent
and these publishers had greattalent.
You'd also discover authors likeJK Rowling and discover Harry
(05:13):
Potter and you would discoverauthors like Pierce Brown and
Red Rising and you discover allof those are prose obviously
Harry Potter, but Red Rising isone of my favorite prose books
out there and you know you'dfind graphic novelists like NK
Jemisin and some of theseamazing talents and now it's
(05:33):
sort of gotten to a place whereyou're just going to places
because they become banks foryour favorite talent and we
wanted to create a place whereyou could discover new talent
again.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
That makes a lot of sense.
And, thinking about it now,eric and some of our past guests
, like we've had an author on,we've had a DJ on, we've had
musicians on, and they build upthese followings where people
are seeking them out.
You know as far as they'll goto a venue to find DJ Awesomest
Prime, you know, or to find theLimit Breakers.
You know as far as they'll goto a.
They'll go to a venue to findDJ Awesomest Prime, you know, or
to find the Limit Breakers, youknow, or anything like that.
(06:09):
So I love that approach a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, 100%.
And I think the cool thingabout it all is, you know, with
Gungnir it has specifically likethis pop culture-y vibe, which
is perfect for our show.
I mean, it's a publishingcompany with punk rock, hot pink
and Norse mythology, so likeyeah, I mean one of our new
shirts.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
One of our new shirts that we're about to release Big
Nerd Energy.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Okay so see-.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
All right, well, we're gonna need-.
Yeah, we're gonna need that.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, we're going to need that.
And you know when we talk about, like, punk rock stories, when
we're talking about that vibrantpink aesthetic, and then you
know the tales from theAllfather.
What are some of those earlyinfluences in pop culture from
those genres that have made animpact in your life, that are so
impactful that you pretty muchstarted a whole brand about it?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I mean I would say probably the most impactful
realistically is Gerard Way andMyChem, you know being one of my
favorite bands and himtransitioning writing Umbrella
Academy was very inspirationaland I definitely try to invoke a
lot of vibes from MyChem inwhat we do.
(07:23):
And that's the punk rock sidefor me.
And I've just been a huge fanof Norse mythology.
I mean I kind of look it too ina lot of ways.
You know this beard is veryAllfather-esque and, you know,
obviously fan of that line inMCU, all of the Thor stuff, but
(07:45):
really the actual Norse lore isjust just fantastic.
And you know, being on the roadworking in music, punk rock
vibes, just it always just feltlike the right place for me.
And books books used to bedangerous in a lot of ways, not
just in the content but from agraphic novel standpoint, in the
(08:09):
art style.
And that's another thing that Ithink we are really aiming for
is, if nothing else, everyGungner graphic novel will look
obscenely different from thenext, and that is really
important to us.
There's no quote, unquote housestyle.
Every book deserves its ownartistic, inspired look to it
(08:32):
and that's how you know it's aGungnir book is, you're going to
see the most unique, daring,ridiculous art, and that's our
style.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Yeah, and that actually perfectly leads right
into our next question, becausewhen we're looking at these
covers, when you see Mutant Cats, chupacabra, none of they all
are so unique and they're justreally gorgeous work here on the
covers and it's clear that thegoals, like you mentioned, was
for them to look and feel uniqueand for the book itself to also
(09:03):
be somewhat of a collector'sitem.
So if you could expand uponthat, like what went into the
thought process behind thepresentation Was a little bit of
that.
To make sure you know, each onestood out when people were
proud to have all of them.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
There's a lot of that .
I'd say, first and foremost aTolkienite, and you know, if
you're gonna, if you're gonna,destroy one of Treebeard's
cousins, you might as well makeit beautiful.
You know, like I really Ireally believe that and I think
I think it is that that memoryright, most people read the book
(09:38):
for like a quarter of a tenthof a percentage of the time they
own the book, right?
So are you going to makesomething that is rememberable
for the shelf?
Or are you going to makesomething that they read and
then put in the closet?
And you know, working in themusic business, you buy tickets
(10:01):
to shows because of the way youremember they made you feel and
we wanted to try to bring thatover into publishing, make an
art piece for the wall.
So when you're done reading andyou look at the spine or you
see the book, it reminds you ofthat feeling you had when you
went on the journey with thosecharacters, and that's always in
(10:22):
the presentation, and that waswhat the driving force was for
us.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, and that's very manga-coded too.
Eric, right, Totally, I lovethat because I have a lot of
manga and I'll just buy, evenfor the anime that I watch where
I'm not reading the manga, I'llbuy the first issue because I
like to display it.
Eric knows we're both kind ofthis way.
We're big physical media guys.
I love steelbooks, likesteelbook films are a big thing
(10:47):
for collecting.
That I am, and that's it mademe just think that's so true,
because I've had this copy ofJurassic Park way longer than it
took me to read that book.
But I still look back on it andyou know, and just remember the
first time I read through itand I have it splayed somewhere
back there.
So yeah, that makes a whole lotof sense.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, and you know, the cool thing about this is
that like just seeing the booksand hearing about some of the
presentations when people get tofinally open it, like that's an
experience in itself.
But you've talked before abouthow you're creating stories for
the next generation of dreamersand thinkers, and it's not just
fun and adventures that's partof it.
But you're trying to start aconversation, to leave the
(11:31):
reader with a question they wantto debate with a friend on like
a Friday night, right?
So like yeah, you're trying tomake these emotional experiences
part of that collection.
What was the primaryinspiration for that approach to
the storytelling you're tryingto accomplish?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Totally, it's a great question.
You know, I've always looked atliterature of all forms to be a
place that's the tinder for thefire that burns within everyone
, everyone.
(12:12):
And you know, a lot of timespeople go to tv or film or
experiences because they pose aquestion and literature used to
be the only place to do that andit's sort of moved away from
that and that's not a bad thing.
Sometimes, you know, it's greatjust to read a smut book, it's
great just to like go on afantasy adventure because you
just want that mindless escape.
But for me, I grew up withliterature, reading holes and
(12:33):
reading the Giver and readingSandman and Saga and these
adventures that were wrapped inlarger esoteric questions that
always left me wanting to debatethe way that I took the meaning
with a friend or an enemy,right or family member, which
might even be worse, and thatwas just sort of the impetus for
(12:57):
us.
Is that we wanted, you know,because we're not going to do a
house style of art, we wantedour sort of house style to be
that you're always going to beleft with a question.
You know these books are goingto be fun, you're going to go on
adventures, they're going tohave amazing characters that you
want to root for, that you wantto hate, and at the end of it,
that's going to be fulfilling.
(13:18):
And you're going to have aquestion and it's not going to
be a preachy question, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I disagree.
We should debate that right now.
Did the topple topple InInception?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Eric, you go first, I'm going to say no, I'll give
us that.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We'll be here all night Phil.
We said we wanted to debate andit's literally Friday night so I
don't know.
I know we have a movie to getto, but we wanted to debate.
It worked.
It worked, yeah, but no, thethat's so.
So much of that, too is like,like you said, creating debates
(14:07):
amongst your friends.
I mean, eric, that's what wespend most of our time doing in
like a group chat.
When we're in in discord or onin a PlayStation party, or even
at dinner, like most of it isjust about like a really fun
debate.
So I really, really love that.
You've also worked with areally impressive list of
collaborators musicians,athletes.
What are a few projects thatreally stand out the most and
(14:29):
why were they so meaningful?
What was it like to be on thoseprojects?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Oh, these are.
These are the are the toughquestions early on.
I love it.
I would say the most meaningfulone was probably the Bobby
Wagner project that we did withthe NFL.
It was our first project withthe NFL.
It was Bobby the Seahawks andthe NFL.
It was Bobby the Seahawks andthe NFL.
(14:53):
We were promoting hisfoundation for stroke research
and awareness and we created acomic book called FAST, which is
the acronym for facial drooping.
Oh, I'm on the spot here.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I'm forgetting what the A is, but basically it's an
acronym for how to detect astroke and face arm speech time,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
And his mom had tragically passed away of a
stroke when he was in highschool and so we turned him into
a superhero.
Uh, very much in the vein ofmiles morales meets tmnt,
because those were his vibes andhe had to fight a space worm.
Because I was excited aboutDune at the time and that comic
book helped raise about $500,000for research and it was really
(15:45):
cool to see a comic book notonly make it to the 50-yard line
on Monday Night Football duringan interview and it being held
up there and bringing the firstreal original comic book to the
NFL.
But having that comic book haveimpact in real world scenarios
was really meaningful.
And Bobby is just the fuckingbest.
(16:07):
Can I curse?
I should have asked for it.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
No, absolutely no, you're fine, of course.
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We moved on from our child audience.
This year full cursing that'sgreat.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Bobby wagner is.
We were talking about the.
You know we were talkingfootball right before we started
, because we're we're jaguarfans.
Bobby wagner is like he's a guythat every single team would
want.
Uh, you want on your roster andsomeone, so that's uh, I'm glad
you chose that one.
Yeah, bobby's, bobby's great.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So yeah and on.
You know, obviously there's alot of stress that comes in this
industry.
You're dealing with situationslike that one, like there's just
so much in life that can bereally heavy.
So I'm really curious to kindof lighten it up before our next
question what does a day offlook like for you?
Like what is that wind downtime?
(16:54):
If it's not a day off, it's anhour to yourself, like what?
What are you doing to kind oflighten the mood a little bit in
your life?
um reading fantasy novels ordoing an egregious fitness
activity yeah, the two, twoopposite ends of the coin there,
(17:16):
do you?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
or listening to an audiobook of a fantasy novel
while doing egregious activity.
There you go, I have combinedthem that is interesting, right?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
because like, uh, when, when me and phil are doing
podcasting and stuff, all we'retalking about all the time is
like pop culture stuff.
So it's weird that our like ourinterest to wind down and to
lighten the mood for ourselvesis to go consume that content.
Do you ever find it like notworking that way for you?
(17:47):
Like, oh man, I'm running apublishing company, I'm dealing
with these stories, thiscreative mindset, and here I am
diving into a book where, for us, we just did a podcast about a
movie, maybe a movie we didn'tlike and here I am, right after
the episode, watching anothermovie.
Like, do you ever have thatlike issue, or is it?
just been such a passion.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
No, no, no, 1000%.
You know the.
The age old saying, uh, whenyou turn your passions into work
, you never work a day is verytrue, but the thing that people
don't talk about is that whenyou turn your passions into work
, then your passions no longerbecome your passions, they
become work.
And I struggled for years whereI didn't read and didn't do
(18:33):
anything and it stressed me outmore.
You know, I make the concertedeffort to read, to listen to
audio books, to do the thingsthat got me compelled to want to
start a company and to work inthis space.
Space, because if you don'tcontinue that sort of way of
(19:02):
thinking, then eventually you'rejust going to resent that
you're doing it, and that is.
That's never a place you wantto be, especially with something
that you love, and why you dothese crazy things in the first
place.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
There's a lot easier ways to make a lot more money,
right definitely definitely yeah, I think that's why we've we
found it so important to youknow, because, like I told you,
we you know we cover video games, but we and we like to
eventually turn thoseexperiences into an episode we
can talk to our audience about.
But we also have to identifysome of these experiences are
(19:33):
just going to be for us, likewe'll talk about it with our
friend group and we'll talkabout it with other people, but
sometimes we just have toseparate that and like or watch
a show for ourselves, read amanga watch, watch an anime.
Uh, that you know we'll, we'lljust keep for ourselves, and I
think that's super importantyeah uh.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Jim kruger told me about a year ago, when we
started working together, one ofhis rules of life and I try to
live by this rule myself now andit is write something, read
something, watch something everyday.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, that's really good advice.
And checking out some of theinterviews that you did, I know
sometimes you've had Jim andthen Steve Orlando on as well,
the best.
Yeah, three-headed monster here, uh, for gungnir.
And I'm curious between thethree of you guys putting your
brains together and making thiswhole thing, the whole cog in
the machine go.
(20:25):
How do you balance reaching newreaders and trying to build
that community while also tryingto create like a prestige with
a growing brand, trying to makeyour mark, your legacy?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, it's great.
Another great question it'sreally, really difficult because
there's always a lot of easyways to try to go get some quick
fans, quick money, quickaudience.
You know we've been prettybentat just staying the course.
And the term if you build it,they will come from one of my
(21:00):
favorite movies, field of Dreamsis a misnomer because
especially there's so much noiseout today, but there is a
sliver of truth in the statement.
If you build it and market itand keep that community pure to
what your intention was, theywill come, and that is our
(21:21):
thought process.
So it's a lot slower of a build,but I'm also a big, big
believer that there's about600,000 people that go to San
Diego Comic-Con every year andthere's maybe 20,000 Wednesday
comic book shoppers maybe, andit's about 30 times the amount
(21:46):
of people that actually go tocomic book shops.
Love this shit, this shit.
And I think that there's a hugecommunity that is just looking
to be marketed to in a waythat's not just about the comic
but is about the story and isabout the community that they're
trying to build for it.
And I'm not in any way, shapeor form trying to diminish the
(22:10):
role of the comic book shop,because I mean, grew up at
midtown comics, I grew up in newyork city, uh, and I would, you
know, walk from 23rd or 20thand first up to whatever that is
, 44th and broadway-ish, or downto meltdown in um, not lincoln
park, in Square, and just like,enjoy the places.
(22:34):
But a lot of comic book shopshave become collectible shops
and a lot of readers are notnecessarily collectors and we
just want to build onlinecommunity and an in-store
community that's reader first,collectible second, and we think
that there's a huge audiencefor that out there.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, that's so.
The same thing happened withGameStop right.
That became a collectible shopas well, Like you go in there.
Now that became a crypto shop.
That too, let's be real.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Don't people go in there to like trade their phones
?
Now I don't know what they do.
I think you buy groceries.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I have sold a phone at gamestop.
I'll be honest.
But, uh, but I'm also, I'm alsoa six-year gamestop veteran
employee.
So, uh, you know, I I was therefor far too long.
Uh, we'll be, we'll be honestwith with everybody.
But, yeah, going into gamestopand just seeing walls of Funko
and walls of Pokemon and notcards, because you can't find
cards but like Pokemoncollectibles, yeah, that is, um,
the same thing is happeningover there as well.
(23:44):
Before I get to the next actualquestion we had written down,
because you mentioned Field ofDreams what's the best baseball
movie?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I mean, I think it's Field of dreams, right like
let's be, let's be real.
That is I mean do you?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
want to see how mlb ranked them?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
oh, how did mlb rank them?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
this is from 2023.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Number one is bull durham okay, I, I can get behind
that.
What, what's?
Number two A League of theirOwn.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
No Number three, the Pride of the Yankees, which I
haven't heard of 1942.
Get the fuck out of here.
And then four is Field ofDreams, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I could be coerced to , one being Bill Durham and two
being.
Field of Dreams, I agree.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I have no real knowledge enough to have this
conversation but what I'll sayis I watched 42 with Chadwick
Boseman.
That was a really good film.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, and then you've seen Moneyball right.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I've seen.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Moneyball is great too.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I've seen a lot of Moneyball on TikTok, if that's
what you're asking OK, so no, soyou haven't seen.
Moneyball.
Maybe a late to the partyepisode, who knows?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Major League.
Really love Major League butthe answer.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
The actual answer is the rookie film.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, I love the rookie unapologetically.
I also lived in the Dallas areawhen they were filming the
rookie because they filmed itlike an actual Texas Rangers
baseball game, like after thegame happened.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
The rookie.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Which one's the rookie?
That's the one with dennisquaid where he's like, uh, um
he's like in his 40s.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Dad comes out.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Oh yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's the more serious
angels in the outfield yeah,well, I was actually just about
to bring up angels in theoutfield, because I love that
film also I mean it's classic90s filmmaking just didn't
realize until very recently thatmatthew mcconaughey said that
thing because I was.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I was a kid so much he's in, so much in that like
late 80s, early 90s stuff thatlike you don't even realize,
like I mean unsung role, is hisrole as a pastor, priest in
contact yeah, he has a crazybacklog of appearances and just
filmography.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So I saw a clip on Instagram and then all the
comments were like I did notknow, matthew McConaughey was in
Angels in the Outfield, so I'moverdue for an Angels in the
Outfield watch.
I need to go back and checkthat out.
Were you you said you're up inNew York were you a Yankees fan,
mets fan neither I'm a bigYankees fan no, no, like.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
here's the thing If you grew up in New York, you
have the option to be the fan ofone of the most prestigious
sports organizations ever toexist in any sport bar none or
the Mets.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, I can speak from experience.
I was born in Long Island andbefore I moved here to
Jacksonville for the second halfof my life so far, I had those
same choices and luckily,luckily, I chose the Yankees,
all for it.
I almost made a mistake.
There was a two year periodwhere I was a Jets fan and I was
(26:55):
like I think it's time toswitch.
And then, yeah, a couple.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Super Bowls later.
Oh well, yeah, because you werea Giants fan first.
That's right, yeah, so yeah, Iwas gonna say it's Jets to
Jaguars though, really, but thatyou were.
There was that period when Ifirst met you, uh, that you were
a Giants fan, so that yeah, Iwas a Giants fan then too.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know, I was a big Jeremy Shockey fan.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Oh, Jeremy Shockey was so fucking good Dude so much
fun.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
One of your first jerseys, so much fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
The Giants have like the craziest, greatest players
of all time that are like nobodytalks about them.
Nobody talks about JeremyShockey, Imani Toomer we don't
talk about Tiki Barber for forseveral reasons, but tiki
barbara was great.
Brandon jacobs I'm not bradshawso many fucking great players,
(27:41):
especially on offense, then ondefense though, like yeah I
think you know I went to schoolwith victor cruz.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
um, oh, man, and and uh, he's a large human being, by
the way, very, very, very large.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Victor Cruz, former teammate of our new head coach
here down in Jacksonville aswell.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Who's your new head coach?
Liam Cohen.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
They were teammates in college.
Yeah, yeah, yeah At UMass.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yep, yeah, that's where I went.
Oh shit, yeah.
Yeah, I went to college withVictor, not high school.
Yeah, I went to college withVictor, not high school.
And you know, I think thereason a lot of these great
(28:26):
giants aren't talked about isbecause they weren't, they
didn't really have like greatteams, right, they basically
stole two Super Bowls from theDeath Star and that's basically.
You know, that's basicallytheir legacy.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
That's 100.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Hey, listen I would take that like I would take one
of those legacies as a jaguarfan, so we'll take it just once
so, uh, we went off on a sportstangent there which, like I said
before we started, if we talkabout football or baseball, we
could go.
We could go a while big this isbig baseball house over here.
Yeah, I see that becauseJacksonville is so far from
(28:56):
Atlanta, tampa and Miami, soit's hard.
We do have a double A team, wehave the Jumbo Shrimp, which is
a blast to go to, but we're faraway from a major league
baseball hub, which makes it alittle bit difficult.
My baseball journey is kind oflike all over the place.
Grew up in Michigan when theTigers were awful and then I
(29:18):
sorry, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait.
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
when they were awful.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Well, they're like the early 2000s, they were
pretty solid.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'm just playing, I'm saying they're still awful.
No, they've always been awful.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
But and then in my middle school to high school
years sorry, I became a Red Soxfan.
I apologize.
I probably Did you go to schoolin Massachusetts.
Not at all, not at all.
I just didn't like the Yankees.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
It's questionable, I know.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I know it's hard to deal with it, I mean that's like
deciding to join Scientologywithout needing to get a leg up
in your career.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Okay, it feels like Scientology and David Ortiz and
Manny Ramirez aren't the samething.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
You heard it here.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
You heard it here, guys no more, Garcia Parra is
not, Tom Cruise he is.
But now I find myself againbecause we're a little bit
separated from those baseballmarkets following players more
often.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So I still like Mookie Betts, that's how I am
with football actually now A lotof people do that with
basketball too.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So yeah, I get it yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I'm less of.
I love just watching footballgames.
Well, I really just lovewatching Red Zone.
I think Red Zone is like thebest produced show on television
100% Until ESPN buys it andruins it.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I'm very concerned about that, but it's actually
made me less of an individualteam fan.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, I get that.
I get that for sure.
We have a few friends that arejust fans of players, so, yeah,
I get that To bring that forsure.
We have a few friends that arejust fans of players, so, yeah,
I get that To bring it back in.
Sorry, sorry, no, no, we couldkeep doing this.
I just don't know if theaudience is going to feel like
they were ready to get the fuckout of here.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
They stepped away for five minutes and were like what
the fuck?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Let me correlate it back Guys, let me correlate it
back.
Both Aaron Judge and ShoheiOtani, baseball players for
everyone that doesn't know haveanime comics this year.
Shohei with a Demon Slayeradaptation that Aaron Judge's
just came out, and I'm not.
I think that one's my HeroAcademia based.
(31:31):
But it's really fascinating howthe anime market is crossing
over into, uh, the mlb, eventhough for a lot of people anime
and then we can go straightback into full comics.
But anime actually is a richhistory in sport comic, uh,
sport animes.
That's like a big thing in theanime community.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Okay, I'm done yeah, no, the texas r Rangers a couple
years ago did a my HeroAcademia collaboration.
That's right, that was tight.
I want that jersey so bad.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Makers did something with One Piece here this year,
so yeah, there's a lot of goodstuff.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
But well, we are still talking to talk about kind
of pop culture in general forour next question, because we
just want, want to know what aresome of your favorite either
movies, shows, books, videogames.
In the last five years, sodating back to the 2020s, how
did you occupy your time whilewe were, you know, all home.
What were you up to?
What were you diving into?
Speaker 2 (32:25):
well, I have a ritual of watching the, the trilogy
lord of the, the only trilogythat matters once a year.
Extended editions in one day,so that's always at the top of
the list, even though ittranscends time and space.
So we can always keep thatwithin a five-year period.
And then, book-wise, I'm a bigfan of Rebecca Yaros' Imperium
(32:51):
series.
You know it's very sexuallygraphic.
She writes very graphic, butthe dragon hierarchy that she
created in there is really dope.
And I'm going to be reading thenewest edition, onyx Storm,
next week.
There's a company called GraphicAudio that puts out,
effectively, movies for yourears, full cast, sound design,
(33:15):
music the whole nine yards.
I'm obsessed with their work.
If anyone likes audiobooks,graphic Audio.
I don't even work with them, Ijust love what they put out,
highly suggest, and theirrendition of it comes out next
week.
So I'll be listening to that.
That one was excellent the GoodPlace I discovered during the
(33:36):
pandemic, and that was a great,great show, extremely well
written.
I love Silo.
I think Silo's fantastic LoveFoundation, what else?
There's an amazing Korean filmcalled Space Sweepers.
(33:58):
It is just.
I think it's Space Sweepers,not Sky Sweepers.
Fact, check me on it.
Space or Sky Sweepers?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah, we're always looking for good international
films.
It's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
It's so good, it's so fun.
It's like can't be 1990samerican sci-fi style with a
great story hero's journey.
I'm all in on it.
Also, if anyone's not watchedit yet uh, dark.
The three season tv show onnetflix, german original, is one
(34:33):
of the best written shows I'veever watched.
Period, yeah, I mean I could goon, but those would be my top.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, those are all great.
Are there any in the last 12months that have really caught
your attention, like any type ofmedia at all, that you've been
like man, we're here in 2024,2025, and this is what we're
getting.
We're eating good, Likeanything like that that's
crossed your eyes.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, I mean the Imperium series is the last 12
months, I believe and that isthat it's the best fantasy
series since Harry Potter.
In my opinion it's much moreadult because of all the sexual
connotations and scenes in it,so it's way less family friendly
like Harry Potter, but I thinkit's the best fantasy build out
(35:24):
of a world since Harry Potterthat I've read.
I've read a fair amount of them.
I would say that one shinesbright for me.
Upfront I would say WednesdayClassic Tim Burton Just
fantastic, really, really,really great.
It's the only show that I'veever run back immediately once I
(35:47):
finished the last episode.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
General Ortega was great in that as well.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So good.
We watched that.
Me and my family watched thatjust on a whim and watched the
whole thing and was like man,that was way, way better than I
thought it could be.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, same here.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
I agree completely.
Yeah, I need to jump back intoSilo.
For sure I love Apple TV.
It is.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's a sci-fi revolution, right.
Yeah, it's a sci-fi revolution,right.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yeah, there are seven or eight shows on Apple TV that
I will go to bat for, like foranybody, as far as putting them
up against anything else that'sout right now.
I love Apple TV.
I did a series for a long timehere in the podcast called
Netflix and Phil, and I wouldrecommend shows that you could
(36:36):
find on streaming sites.
And it was the joke was Ireally need to change the name
because I pretty much onlyrecommended Apple TV shows.
I have a Ted Lasso tattoo, solike I really really dove into
to that over there.
But yeah, eric, I think Silo isone you would like for sure.
(36:57):
Obviously you've done theSeverance deep dive, but you
know, I think either you guys onFoundation or Invasion, Not no,
no, no, no.
Foundation has definitely beenon my list, but no.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
I was wrong.
Yeah, we should end this nowand you should go watch.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
No, I'm kidding, but no, we watch it together.
We'll put it on.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
I let's do it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I love foundation season one.
Jared harris season one's likehe pays.
Yeah.
No, this looks, this looks good.
I mean, do you know the book?
It's classic.
So foundation for you know,whoever doesn't know isaac
asimov, 1930s, 40s iseffectively.
I mean, there's a couple ofbooks that come before, but that
is effectively where sciencefiction was invented.
Every single story Star Warsand so on that have come after
(37:47):
it basically pull fromfoundations-inspired writing.
That is the original crucibleof science fiction.
There's a book by Perry Crowein 1897 called Across the Zodiac
that has the first mention ofthe word astronaut in it and
there's a book by HG Wells in1917 called World Set Free that
(38:10):
invented the word atomic.
But outside of those,foundation is like the
origination of most sciencefiction yeah, I gotta.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
I definitely have that.
I've had that in my queue.
Um, I watch.
I also watch a lot of the showsthat just make me feel good,
also cry, so like shrinkingtrying oh those are great mythic
quest, incredible um.
I'm glad that apple tv, eventhough it's been canceled, has
allowed them to reshoot orre-air a brand new series,
finale, which is great LovedMonarch Legacy of Monsters For
(38:43):
All Mankind.
I really, really love For AllMankind.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Shout out to my boy, eric Phillips, who's one of the
writers on that show Fantasticshow.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I love Just that every season is a new decade and
we still have these charactersand we get to see them grow and
evolve.
I'm like this is so smart.
I love this.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Seasons one and two might be the best arc of any two
characters ever in a show barnone, I agree, I agree.
I mean minus Ron Moore's otherwork in Battlestar Galactica,
which is the greatest show evermade.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Listen, there's a lot of great stuff that not just
back then, but that's why Iasked you that question, like
the last 12 months, becausethere's so much stuff coming out
now that is so amazing as welland that kind of transitions us
into this next question to kindof bring it full circle from
talking pop culture and thenalso about Gungnir as well.
You've mentioned before how theopportunity there, the
(39:46):
opportunities that are here withthese types of stories that
you're making making their wayfrom the pages to the screen,
and it's not just all Marvel, dcor superhero-related comics
that are making that jump instories.
So what are some of the storiesas a fan that you'd like to see
a live-action adaptation ofthat we haven't gotten yet?
(40:08):
And on the flip side, if youhad to pick something from the
Gungnir catalog, what would youchoose first?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Love it.
I'll also give you my twofavorite non-Capes adaptations,
which are History of Violence Alot of people don't know that
was a Vertigo graphic novelAmazing and Sandman, because the
book is one of my favoritebooks ever written.
The book is one of my favoritebooks ever written.
(40:44):
Then what would be my?
I mean, I guess the book thathasn't been adapted yet, that
like we got to adapt as acommunity, we got to get it
going is saga like what?
Where is the saga?
Adaptation like what is wrongwith people.
That's like one of the greatestbooks ever written I'm a big
fan of.
Just like the sprawling, space,dire world that it creates.
I just think it's amazing.
(41:06):
And then you know we have abook called Chupacabra.
I don't know if you guys did wesend you any physicals.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
No, we did not, but I looking through some of the
youtube videos was the first onenot in mutant cats.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
I immediately was like, oh, these look cool as
shit well, we'll send you acouple of copies.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
We'll circle in with chris and get you guys some,
some copies, hell yeah.
But uh, chupacabra, you know II have a deep love of like why a
detective story?
It's like what I grew up on.
You know, buffy the VampireSlayer, the Librarians, which is
a really campy version ofIndiana Jones for those that are
unanointed, noah Wiles at hisbest.
(41:49):
And you know I want to createmy version of that and I'm half
Brazilian.
You know my mother's side andEl Chupacabra is a really,
really fun myth to work with andwe created this high school
detective who unravels a reallyfun mystery that involves a
chupacabra and a secret society,and I think it's just
(42:12):
tailor-made for an adaptation.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Yeah, I'm a big Cryptid fan, so that stuck out
to me right away for sure.
So, yeah, very much excited tocheck those out.
To get into our last questionand kind of wrap this up, I want
to ask a couple of things.
So you've given advice to thosetrying to start their own
(42:36):
creative journey, and the termyou've used is failing fast, and
you guys are watching a lot ofwhat I put out.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Jesus, I love it.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
We're prepared man.
We're pros man, of course.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
So we want to know, like, what's the biggest lesson
you've learned through all theyears in this industry?
And I also want to ask you thisis a similar question we asked
Keith Arem, the writer-creatorof Frost Road, and we had a
discussion about making sure andidentifying opportunities that
are right for you early on.
So if you want to touch onthose things and if you need me
(43:14):
to repeat anything, let me know.
But yeah, what's some advicethat you would give?
Start there.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, I mean outside of the failing fast as you
alluded to, which I think is ismost important for people to.
You know, try a lot of thingsand quickly learn what works and
what doesn't work right, and beokay when it doesn't work.
Not everything works and noteverything that costs money
works right.
Sometimes you're spending moneyon something and it doesn't
(43:39):
work out, and the best thingthat you can do for yourself in
those situations is take alesson from it.
Otherwise you've really justburned those resources.
But outside of that becausethat is something that I've
talked about before, I thinkit's networking.
You know, there's a lot of greattalent out there and
(44:01):
unfortunately we live in a worldwhere great talent is not the
only thing that rises you to thetop, and I am a staunch hater
of social media.
I like doing podcasts, I liketalking, I like having these
conversations, but postingonline is like a dagger to my
soul twisting every time I haveto do it, and a lot of times,
(44:25):
people who are really great atthat become more successful than
just great creatives.
And so, if I had to give greatadvice is unless if you found
yourself in a system with amachine, you have to be really
aware that great talent alonewill not do it anymore and you
(44:46):
have to put in the work ofawareness and you have to be
your own marketer and you haveto be your own cheerleader, and
you're going to have to do a lotof things that make you feel
uncomfortable and that make youfeel as uncomfortable as the
characters that you're writing.
To create that tension you gotto do for yourself in real life.
And if you're not, and ifyou're not willing to do that or
(45:08):
you don't want to do that, Iget it.
You got to find yourself a bigpublishing house.
Then that'll do it for you,because otherwise, uh, it's it's
price of entry.
These days.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah, that's one of the questions we get a lot in
terms of.
You know, we've been veryfortunate to be able to work
with a bunch of conventions herelocally in Florida, throughout
the state, and people ask us,you know, like, how is that
happening?
Well, we go to every singlenetworking opportunity that we
get, and meeting those peopleand building and forging those
relationships has been.
We would not be here withoutthose conversations, without
those relationships, and sothat's, yeah, certainly very,
(45:50):
very important.
The second part, so what I hadasked Chris, or, I'm sorry, what
I had asked Keith is balancingearly on, like you said, which
opportunities are right for you.
And then you also you know youkind of touched on this already
but early on, are you in theposition to say no, do you think
, or do you take out everyopportunity you can get?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
You know, richard Branson has a great quote about
this where he says say yes andfigure out how to do it later,
and that's sort of like how helived his life and I think
there's a lot of merit in that.
I've definitely gotten to whereI've gotten to wherever, that
is by saying yes a lot.
And now at this point I saymaybe, and I need to get better
(46:32):
at saying no, and I think thatthere's a lot of power and a lot
of benefit in saying no.
But I think you alluded to itjust now.
You need to earn that, andearly in a career, I think
saying yes more often, if notalways, is really important.
(46:54):
But keep that first thoughtthat I had front of mind.
Fail fast If you say yes and yourealize that it's not working
out.
Failure doesn't mean that youhad to go to zero.
Failure could just mean thatit's not working out, that the
choice that you made to go dothis thing you've realized a
(47:14):
month in two months, in threemonths in, is not the path.
Fail fast, get out of that,move on to the next thing.
You don't need to see thingsfrom 100 to zero every time.
So I would say say yes to theopportunities but but have a
really good barometer of whenand how you need to eject, if
needed.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
There you go.
Love that.
Thanks for answering those.
The last thing I'll bring upbefore we give you the
opportunity to plug everythingand let everybody know where you
can find what you're up to.
Liam Cohen was at UMass from2005 to 2008.
Did you guys cross?
Were you there?
Speaker 2 (47:49):
at that time.
We were definitely there at thesame time.
All right, there you go.
I need to Google a quick photoof this guy.
Liam, yeah, he was aquarterback.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
I think he was the starter for maybe three seasons,
06 to 08.
Yeah, 07 was his best year.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
I was there from 06 to 10.
So we were definitely theretogether.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
I'm pretty sure 2007, 2005, 6 to 8.
He was the starter, based onhis statistics.
Well, there we go uh, duval,duval yeah because I remember
seeing a video of victor cruzkind of facetimed him when he
got the job.
So the day he did his uh, hispress conference, he called him,
which was yeah, I mean, he wasdefinitely the starting
quarterback when I was there.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
That's hilarious.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Yeah, I uh, I don't remember ever crossing paths
with him, but that is uh themore you know matt the real
question is uh, did you know youwere going to be talking this
much about Field of Dreams andUMass?
Speaker 3 (48:57):
Or the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It's a welcome conversation.
Those were good years.
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Yeah, so if you're ever in Jacksonville during the
fall, let us know and we willtotally go to a game.
So we will go check them out.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Yeah, I was just in Jacksonville in November, my
buddy got married out there.
Okay, and I don't know if youguys go out to any of the clubs,
but I think Celine is the nameof the club he just opened out
there.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
Doesn't sound familiar.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
That's not our vibe, but I have heard of it.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
So he's doing something right.
That's my buddy Paul's club.
Shout out Paul.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
There you go.
Well, matt, thank you so muchfor taking the time here.
We hope to link up with youagain.
We're going to keep up witheverything that you're doing
over there as well, so pleaselet our audience know where they
can find everything Gungnir andanything else you want to let
people know about.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Yeah, gungnirbookscom .
At Gungnir Books on all socialmedia, at Matthew Medney, at all
social media.
We have five really greattitles that are in stores right
now that you can go pick up,from Supercabra to Mutant Cats.
To Forward as Always, which isa prose novel by my buddy, olin
Rogers and Jake Sidwell.
Olin created an amazinganimated show called Final Space
.
If you've never watched FinalSpace, you've got to watch it.
(50:23):
It's fan-fucking-tastic.
Jake did the music for the showand they wrote this awesome
book.
Stefan Petruccio wrote a bookcalled the Stars Within.
Stefan edited my first novelBeyond Kuiper, the Galactic Star
Alliance, five, six years agoand then had this book that he
wanted to publish and it's beenan amazing journey with him.
And then we're going to beputting out later this summer a
(50:47):
book called Last Breeds that Iwrote with my buddy, jonathan
Ball, and GMB Scott Hendersondid the art on it.
It's a duo chromatic art style,so it's all reds and greens.
It's fucking rad.
We've been fortunate enoughthat Scott Snyder gave us an
amazing endorsement on it and isgoing to help us with the
(51:07):
promotion around it, and we'rejust really, really excited
about that book.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Awesome, matt.
Yeah, all of that will be inthe show notes of this episode
so you can keep up with Gungnir.
And, once again, we had anabsolute blast doing this with
you and hope to do it again soon.
So make sure you check out theLinktree link in the show notes
of this and every single episode.
You find everything Way4Podcastrelated and, like I said,
everything Gungnir.
But, eric, if you want to wrapus up, I think we are good to go
(51:35):
.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Yeah, guys, you want to wrap us up.
I think we are good to go.
Yeah, guys again really greatepisode and this opportunity
came to us from shut up chrischris yeah, chris, that was on
that episode with keith forfrost road.
So, as we continue to do moreof this and spotlight really
creative minds uh, like matt,and everything going on at
gungnir, we really appreciatethe support and for you guys
checking out everything thatGungnir has to offer as far as
(52:01):
the Wait For it podcast, wealways appreciate the support.
So everything from the likes,the comments, the shares, the
follows to both accounts reallyhelps out a lot.
But for this episode we arewrapping up, my name is Mr Eric
Almighty, that is my co-host,phil the Filipino and our guest,
matt Medny.
And remember, all you have todo is wait for it.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment.
Wait for it Gaming.
Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil theFilipino yeah, they've got you
covered and all you gotta do iswait for it.
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hey everyone, Welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast
.
I am your co-host, Phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And I'm your co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and for this
special bonus episode of theWait For it Podcast, we're
bringing in a special guest totalk about his publishing
company, gungnir.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, gungnir, we're super excited.
Shout out to Chris Yates again,who we partnered with on the
Frost Road Project, and it'sreally exciting to see that.
Continue to flourish andproceed, continue to flourish
and proceed.
And that led to, like you said,eric, today's conversation with
our guest, matthew Medney fromGungnir.
And Matt, thank you so much fortaking the time.
How are you doing today?
What's?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
up guys.
I'm excited to be here.
I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, as are we.
You just came off ofThunderbolts viewing and I told
you we're going right after, sowe are.
It's good.
It seems like Marvel's got somejuice back as far as the MCU,
so we're feeling good andoptimistic, it felt good, yeah,
it felt good.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So, so, classic MCU.
I'm excited if that's just awarm up for the fleet that's
coming out this year.
Next year it should be, shouldbe a good run.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, so hearing a lot of really really good things
, so we're excited to get to ourviewing here this evening.
But yeah, like we said, we'rehere to talk about Gungnir, a
fresh and exciting publishingendeavor blending the rebellious
spirit of punk rock with themythic power of Odin's legendary
spear, creating a bold,innovative narratives with a
sci-fi fantasy genre.
And you guys have been, you'vebeen making the rounds with some
(02:06):
other shows.
You have been.
You guys were also featured ina deadline article with Steve
Aoki, which is just so, so cool,so really excited to dive into
all of that.
And you know you've done a lot.
Matt, your career is really aninteresting journey and I think
(02:28):
your process has been able toblend so many different
experiences and backgrounds andwe're really interested to see
how you've gotten to where youare today.
You started off in the musicindustry with Heavy Metal
Magazine and then you used thatopportunity there to move into
the worlds of comics andnovelization.
So can you share with ouraudience your story and how we
(02:49):
got here?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yes, I actually started in the music business in
production management doingpyrotechnics and confetti and
cryo and all that fun stuff forDJs like Keizo and Cheat Codes
and a bunch of the EDM basscommunity.
And then the Heavy Metal isactually not a music magazine,
(03:11):
it's a science fiction brandfrom the 70s.
It's started by Mobius, who wasthe art director on Empire
Strikes Back and Jean-PaulDionne and Droulet and had a
movie in 1981 uh, it's namesakeheavy metal, and it was uh um
(03:31):
eugene levy produced by ivanreichman who did um ghostbusters
, and it's uh sort of like acrucible of science fiction, uh,
fantasy and horror magazine.
So I was there for three years,the early 2020s, and then
that's where I met Steve Orlandoand then left there and started
(03:53):
working on the Hero Questgraphic novel with Steve and
that's where I met Jim Krugerand the three of us had this
crazy idea to start a publisher.
That was more I hate to use theterm community-based because it
just sounds like vanilla jargonbut all three of us had this
(04:14):
realization that people go towhere the authors are, not to
the publishers anymore, andthat's also the same.
If you're in the dancing I knowyou guys are in can I say where
you guys live?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, I know you guys are in Jacksonville and there's
a big dance music scene thereand I've been to a bunch of the
clubs over there and all thatfun stuff and it used to be that
you go to parties and then youdiscover DJs at them and now you
go to DJ shows and same thingin publishing correlated and we
were like wouldn't it be greatto have a publisher again where
(04:51):
the community trusted thatpublisher to find new voices and
to find and to also shepherdlegendary voices and be a home
for both kind of what it was inthe late nineties, early two
thousands and all of where theseparties would have great talent
and these publishers had greattalent.
You'd also discover authors likeJK Rowling and discover Harry
(05:13):
Potter and you would discoverauthors like Pierce Brown and
Red Rising and you discover allof those are prose obviously
Harry Potter, but Red Rising isone of my favorite prose books
out there and you know you'dfind graphic novelists like NK
Jemisin and some of theseamazing talents and now it's
(05:33):
sort of gotten to a place whereyou're just going to places
because they become banks foryour favorite talent and we
wanted to create a place whereyou could discover new talent
again.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
That makes a lot of sense.
And, thinking about it now,eric and some of our past guests
, like we've had an author on,we've had a DJ on, we've had
musicians on, and they build upthese followings where people
are seeking them out.
You know as far as they'll goto a venue to find DJ Awesomest
Prime, you know, or to find theLimit Breakers.
You know as far as they'll goto a.
They'll go to a venue to findDJ Awesomest Prime, you know, or
to find the Limit Breakers, youknow, or anything like that.
(06:09):
So I love that approach a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, 100%.
And I think the cool thingabout it all is, you know, with
Gungnir it has specifically likethis pop culture-y vibe, which
is perfect for our show.
I mean, it's a publishingcompany with punk rock, hot pink
and Norse mythology, so likeyeah, I mean one of our new
shirts.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
One of our new shirts that we're about to release Big
Nerd Energy.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Okay so see-.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
All right, well, we're gonna need-.
Yeah, we're gonna need that.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, we're going to need that.
And you know when we talk about, like, punk rock stories, when
we're talking about that vibrantpink aesthetic, and then you
know the tales from theAllfather.
What are some of those earlyinfluences in pop culture from
those genres that have made animpact in your life, that are so
impactful that you pretty muchstarted a whole brand about it?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I mean I would say probably the most impactful
realistically is Gerard Way andMyChem, you know being one of my
favorite bands and himtransitioning writing Umbrella
Academy was very inspirationaland I definitely try to invoke a
lot of vibes from MyChem inwhat we do.
(07:23):
And that's the punk rock sidefor me.
And I've just been a huge fanof Norse mythology.
I mean I kind of look it too ina lot of ways.
You know this beard is veryAllfather-esque and, you know,
obviously fan of that line inMCU, all of the Thor stuff, but
(07:45):
really the actual Norse lore isjust just fantastic.
And you know, being on the roadworking in music, punk rock
vibes, just it always just feltlike the right place for me.
And books books used to bedangerous in a lot of ways, not
just in the content but from agraphic novel standpoint, in the
(08:09):
art style.
And that's another thing that Ithink we are really aiming for
is, if nothing else, everyGungner graphic novel will look
obscenely different from thenext, and that is really
important to us.
There's no quote, unquote housestyle.
Every book deserves its ownartistic, inspired look to it
(08:32):
and that's how you know it's aGungnir book is, you're going to
see the most unique, daring,ridiculous art, and that's our
style.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Yeah, and that actually perfectly leads right
into our next question, becausewhen we're looking at these
covers, when you see Mutant Cats, chupacabra, none of they all
are so unique and they're justreally gorgeous work here on the
covers and it's clear that thegoals, like you mentioned, was
for them to look and feel uniqueand for the book itself to also
(09:03):
be somewhat of a collector'sitem.
So if you could expand uponthat, like what went into the
thought process behind thepresentation Was a little bit of
that.
To make sure you know, each onestood out when people were
proud to have all of them.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
There's a lot of that .
I'd say, first and foremost aTolkienite, and you know, if
you're gonna, if you're gonna,destroy one of Treebeard's
cousins, you might as well makeit beautiful.
You know, like I really Ireally believe that and I think
I think it is that that memoryright, most people read the book
(09:38):
for like a quarter of a tenthof a percentage of the time they
own the book, right?
So are you going to makesomething that is rememberable
for the shelf?
Or are you going to makesomething that they read and
then put in the closet?
And you know, working in themusic business, you buy tickets
(10:01):
to shows because of the way youremember they made you feel and
we wanted to try to bring thatover into publishing, make an
art piece for the wall.
So when you're done reading andyou look at the spine or you
see the book, it reminds you ofthat feeling you had when you
went on the journey with thosecharacters, and that's always in
(10:22):
the presentation, and that waswhat the driving force was for
us.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, and that's very manga-coded too.
Eric, right, Totally, I lovethat because I have a lot of
manga and I'll just buy, evenfor the anime that I watch where
I'm not reading the manga, I'llbuy the first issue because I
like to display it.
Eric knows we're both kind ofthis way.
We're big physical media guys.
I love steelbooks, likesteelbook films are a big thing
(10:47):
for collecting.
That I am, and that's it mademe just think that's so true,
because I've had this copy ofJurassic Park way longer than it
took me to read that book.
But I still look back on it andyou know, and just remember the
first time I read through itand I have it splayed somewhere
back there.
So yeah, that makes a whole lotof sense.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, and you know, the cool thing about this is
that like just seeing the booksand hearing about some of the
presentations when people get tofinally open it, like that's an
experience in itself.
But you've talked before abouthow you're creating stories for
the next generation of dreamersand thinkers, and it's not just
fun and adventures that's partof it.
But you're trying to start aconversation, to leave the
(11:31):
reader with a question they wantto debate with a friend on like
a Friday night, right?
So like yeah, you're trying tomake these emotional experiences
part of that collection.
What was the primaryinspiration for that approach to
the storytelling you're tryingto accomplish?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Totally, it's a great question.
You know, I've always looked atliterature of all forms to be a
place that's the tinder for thefire that burns within everyone
, everyone.
(12:12):
And you know, a lot of timespeople go to tv or film or
experiences because they pose aquestion and literature used to
be the only place to do that andit's sort of moved away from
that and that's not a bad thing.
Sometimes, you know, it's greatjust to read a smut book, it's
great just to like go on afantasy adventure because you
just want that mindless escape.
But for me, I grew up withliterature, reading holes and
(12:33):
reading the Giver and readingSandman and Saga and these
adventures that were wrapped inlarger esoteric questions that
always left me wanting to debatethe way that I took the meaning
with a friend or an enemy,right or family member, which
might even be worse, and thatwas just sort of the impetus for
(12:57):
us.
Is that we wanted, you know,because we're not going to do a
house style of art, we wantedour sort of house style to be
that you're always going to beleft with a question.
You know these books are goingto be fun, you're going to go on
adventures, they're going tohave amazing characters that you
want to root for, that you wantto hate, and at the end of it,
that's going to be fulfilling.
(13:18):
And you're going to have aquestion and it's not going to
be a preachy question, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I disagree.
We should debate that right now.
Did the topple topple InInception?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Eric, you go first, I'm going to say no, I'll give
us that.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We'll be here all night Phil.
We said we wanted to debate andit's literally Friday night so I
don't know.
I know we have a movie to getto, but we wanted to debate.
It worked.
It worked, yeah, but no, thethat's so.
So much of that, too is like,like you said, creating debates
(14:07):
amongst your friends.
I mean, eric, that's what wespend most of our time doing in
like a group chat.
When we're in in discord or onin a PlayStation party, or even
at dinner, like most of it isjust about like a really fun
debate.
So I really, really love that.
You've also worked with areally impressive list of
collaborators musicians,athletes.
What are a few projects thatreally stand out the most and
(14:29):
why were they so meaningful?
What was it like to be on thoseprojects?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Oh, these are.
These are the are the toughquestions early on.
I love it.
I would say the most meaningfulone was probably the Bobby
Wagner project that we did withthe NFL.
It was our first project withthe NFL.
It was Bobby the Seahawks andthe NFL.
It was Bobby the Seahawks andthe NFL.
(14:53):
We were promoting hisfoundation for stroke research
and awareness and we created acomic book called FAST, which is
the acronym for facial drooping.
Oh, I'm on the spot here.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I'm forgetting what the A is, but basically it's an
acronym for how to detect astroke and face arm speech time,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
And his mom had tragically passed away of a
stroke when he was in highschool and so we turned him into
a superhero.
Uh, very much in the vein ofmiles morales meets tmnt,
because those were his vibes andhe had to fight a space worm.
Because I was excited aboutDune at the time and that comic
book helped raise about $500,000for research and it was really
(15:45):
cool to see a comic book notonly make it to the 50-yard line
on Monday Night Football duringan interview and it being held
up there and bringing the firstreal original comic book to the
NFL.
But having that comic book haveimpact in real world scenarios
was really meaningful.
And Bobby is just the fuckingbest.
(16:07):
Can I curse?
I should have asked for it.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
No, absolutely no, you're fine, of course.
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We moved on from our child audience.
This year full cursing that'sgreat.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Bobby wagner is.
We were talking about the.
You know we were talkingfootball right before we started
, because we're we're jaguarfans.
Bobby wagner is like he's a guythat every single team would
want.
Uh, you want on your roster andsomeone, so that's uh, I'm glad
you chose that one.
Yeah, bobby's, bobby's great.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So yeah and on.
You know, obviously there's alot of stress that comes in this
industry.
You're dealing with situationslike that one, like there's just
so much in life that can bereally heavy.
So I'm really curious to kindof lighten it up before our next
question what does a day offlook like for you?
Like what is that wind downtime?
(16:54):
If it's not a day off, it's anhour to yourself, like what?
What are you doing to kind oflighten the mood a little bit in
your life?
um reading fantasy novels ordoing an egregious fitness
activity yeah, the two, twoopposite ends of the coin there,
(17:16):
do you?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
or listening to an audiobook of a fantasy novel
while doing egregious activity.
There you go, I have combinedthem that is interesting, right?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
because like, uh, when, when me and phil are doing
podcasting and stuff, all we'retalking about all the time is
like pop culture stuff.
So it's weird that our like ourinterest to wind down and to
lighten the mood for ourselvesis to go consume that content.
Do you ever find it like notworking that way for you?
(17:47):
Like, oh man, I'm running apublishing company, I'm dealing
with these stories, thiscreative mindset, and here I am
diving into a book where, for us, we just did a podcast about a
movie, maybe a movie we didn'tlike and here I am, right after
the episode, watching anothermovie.
Like, do you ever have thatlike issue, or is it?
just been such a passion.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
No, no, no, 1000%.
You know the.
The age old saying, uh, whenyou turn your passions into work
, you never work a day is verytrue, but the thing that people
don't talk about is that whenyou turn your passions into work
, then your passions no longerbecome your passions, they
become work.
And I struggled for years whereI didn't read and didn't do
(18:33):
anything and it stressed me outmore.
You know, I make the concertedeffort to read, to listen to
audio books, to do the thingsthat got me compelled to want to
start a company and to work inthis space.
Space, because if you don'tcontinue that sort of way of
(19:02):
thinking, then eventually you'rejust going to resent that
you're doing it, and that is.
That's never a place you wantto be, especially with something
that you love, and why you dothese crazy things in the first
place.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
There's a lot easier ways to make a lot more money,
right definitely definitely yeah, I think that's why we've we
found it so important to youknow, because, like I told you,
we you know we cover video games, but we and we like to
eventually turn thoseexperiences into an episode we
can talk to our audience about.
But we also have to identifysome of these experiences are
(19:33):
just going to be for us, likewe'll talk about it with our
friend group and we'll talkabout it with other people, but
sometimes we just have toseparate that and like or watch
a show for ourselves, read amanga watch, watch an anime.
Uh, that you know we'll, we'lljust keep for ourselves, and I
think that's super importantyeah uh.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Jim kruger told me about a year ago, when we
started working together, one ofhis rules of life and I try to
live by this rule myself now andit is write something, read
something, watch something everyday.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, that's really good advice.
And checking out some of theinterviews that you did, I know
sometimes you've had Jim andthen Steve Orlando on as well,
the best.
Yeah, three-headed monster here, uh, for gungnir.
And I'm curious between thethree of you guys putting your
brains together and making thiswhole thing, the whole cog in
the machine go.
(20:25):
How do you balance reaching newreaders and trying to build
that community while also tryingto create like a prestige with
a growing brand, trying to makeyour mark, your legacy?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, it's great.
Another great question it'sreally, really difficult because
there's always a lot of easyways to try to go get some quick
fans, quick money, quickaudience.
You know we've been prettybentat just staying the course.
And the term if you build it,they will come from one of my
(21:00):
favorite movies, field of Dreamsis a misnomer because
especially there's so much noiseout today, but there is a
sliver of truth in the statement.
If you build it and market itand keep that community pure to
what your intention was, theywill come, and that is our
(21:21):
thought process.
So it's a lot slower of a build,but I'm also a big, big
believer that there's about600,000 people that go to San
Diego Comic-Con every year andthere's maybe 20,000 Wednesday
comic book shoppers maybe, andit's about 30 times the amount
(21:46):
of people that actually go tocomic book shops.
Love this shit, this shit.
And I think that there's a hugecommunity that is just looking
to be marketed to in a waythat's not just about the comic
but is about the story and isabout the community that they're
trying to build for it.
And I'm not in any way, shapeor form trying to diminish the
(22:10):
role of the comic book shop,because I mean, grew up at
midtown comics, I grew up in newyork city, uh, and I would, you
know, walk from 23rd or 20thand first up to whatever that is
, 44th and broadway-ish, or downto meltdown in um, not lincoln
park, in Square, and just like,enjoy the places.
(22:34):
But a lot of comic book shopshave become collectible shops
and a lot of readers are notnecessarily collectors and we
just want to build onlinecommunity and an in-store
community that's reader first,collectible second, and we think
that there's a huge audiencefor that out there.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, that's so.
The same thing happened withGameStop right.
That became a collectible shopas well, Like you go in there.
Now that became a crypto shop.
That too, let's be real.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Don't people go in there to like trade their phones
?
Now I don't know what they do.
I think you buy groceries.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I have sold a phone at gamestop.
I'll be honest.
But, uh, but I'm also, I'm alsoa six-year gamestop veteran
employee.
So, uh, you know, I I was therefor far too long.
Uh, we'll be, we'll be honestwith with everybody.
But, yeah, going into gamestopand just seeing walls of Funko
and walls of Pokemon and notcards, because you can't find
cards but like Pokemoncollectibles, yeah, that is, um,
the same thing is happeningover there as well.
(23:44):
Before I get to the next actualquestion we had written down,
because you mentioned Field ofDreams what's the best baseball
movie?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I mean, I think it's Field of dreams, right like
let's be, let's be real.
That is I mean do you?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
want to see how mlb ranked them?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
oh, how did mlb rank them?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
this is from 2023.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Number one is bull durham okay, I, I can get behind
that.
What, what's?
Number two A League of theirOwn.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
No Number three, the Pride of the Yankees, which I
haven't heard of 1942.
Get the fuck out of here.
And then four is Field ofDreams, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I could be coerced to , one being Bill Durham and two
being.
Field of Dreams, I agree.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I have no real knowledge enough to have this
conversation but what I'll sayis I watched 42 with Chadwick
Boseman.
That was a really good film.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, and then you've seen Moneyball right.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I've seen.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Moneyball is great too.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I've seen a lot of Moneyball on TikTok, if that's
what you're asking OK, so no, soyou haven't seen.
Moneyball.
Maybe a late to the partyepisode, who knows?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Major League.
Really love Major League butthe answer.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
The actual answer is the rookie film.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, I love the rookie unapologetically.
I also lived in the Dallas areawhen they were filming the
rookie because they filmed itlike an actual Texas Rangers
baseball game, like after thegame happened.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
The rookie.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Which one's the rookie?
That's the one with dennisquaid where he's like, uh, um
he's like in his 40s.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Dad comes out.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Oh yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's the more serious
angels in the outfield yeah,well, I was actually just about
to bring up angels in theoutfield, because I love that
film also I mean it's classic90s filmmaking just didn't
realize until very recently thatmatthew mcconaughey said that
thing because I was.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I was a kid so much he's in, so much in that like
late 80s, early 90s stuff thatlike you don't even realize,
like I mean unsung role, is hisrole as a pastor, priest in
contact yeah, he has a crazybacklog of appearances and just
filmography.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So I saw a clip on Instagram and then all the
comments were like I did notknow, matthew McConaughey was in
Angels in the Outfield, so I'moverdue for an Angels in the
Outfield watch.
I need to go back and checkthat out.
Were you you said you're up inNew York were you a Yankees fan,
mets fan neither I'm a bigYankees fan no, no, like.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
here's the thing If you grew up in New York, you
have the option to be the fan ofone of the most prestigious
sports organizations ever toexist in any sport bar none or
the Mets.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, I can speak from experience.
I was born in Long Island andbefore I moved here to
Jacksonville for the second halfof my life so far, I had those
same choices and luckily,luckily, I chose the Yankees,
all for it.
I almost made a mistake.
There was a two year periodwhere I was a Jets fan and I was
(26:55):
like I think it's time toswitch.
And then, yeah, a couple.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Super Bowls later.
Oh well, yeah, because you werea Giants fan first.
That's right, yeah, so yeah, Iwas gonna say it's Jets to
Jaguars though, really, but thatyou were.
There was that period when Ifirst met you, uh, that you were
a Giants fan, so that yeah, Iwas a Giants fan then too.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know, I was a big Jeremy Shockey fan.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Oh, Jeremy Shockey was so fucking good Dude so much
fun.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
One of your first jerseys, so much fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
The Giants have like the craziest, greatest players
of all time that are like nobodytalks about them.
Nobody talks about JeremyShockey, Imani Toomer we don't
talk about Tiki Barber for forseveral reasons, but tiki
barbara was great.
Brandon jacobs I'm not bradshawso many fucking great players,
(27:41):
especially on offense, then ondefense though, like yeah I
think you know I went to schoolwith victor cruz.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
um, oh, man, and and uh, he's a large human being, by
the way, very, very, very large.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Victor Cruz, former teammate of our new head coach
here down in Jacksonville aswell.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Who's your new head coach?
Liam Cohen.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
They were teammates in college.
Yeah, yeah, yeah At UMass.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yep, yeah, that's where I went.
Oh shit, yeah.
Yeah, I went to college withVictor, not high school.
Yeah, I went to college withVictor, not high school.
And you know, I think thereason a lot of these great
(28:26):
giants aren't talked about isbecause they weren't, they
didn't really have like greatteams, right, they basically
stole two Super Bowls from theDeath Star and that's basically.
You know, that's basicallytheir legacy.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
That's 100.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Hey, listen I would take that like I would take one
of those legacies as a jaguarfan, so we'll take it just once
so, uh, we went off on a sportstangent there which, like I said
before we started, if we talkabout football or baseball, we
could go.
We could go a while big this isbig baseball house over here.
Yeah, I see that becauseJacksonville is so far from
(28:56):
Atlanta, tampa and Miami, soit's hard.
We do have a double A team, wehave the Jumbo Shrimp, which is
a blast to go to, but we're faraway from a major league
baseball hub, which makes it alittle bit difficult.
My baseball journey is kind oflike all over the place.
Grew up in Michigan when theTigers were awful and then I
(29:18):
sorry, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait.
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
when they were awful.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Well, they're like the early 2000s, they were
pretty solid.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'm just playing, I'm saying they're still awful.
No, they've always been awful.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
But and then in my middle school to high school
years sorry, I became a Red Soxfan.
I apologize.
I probably Did you go to schoolin Massachusetts.
Not at all, not at all.
I just didn't like the Yankees.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
It's questionable, I know.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I know it's hard to deal with it, I mean that's like
deciding to join Scientologywithout needing to get a leg up
in your career.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Okay, it feels like Scientology and David Ortiz and
Manny Ramirez aren't the samething.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
You heard it here.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
You heard it here, guys no more, Garcia Parra is
not, Tom Cruise he is.
But now I find myself againbecause we're a little bit
separated from those baseballmarkets following players more
often.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So I still like Mookie Betts, that's how I am
with football actually now A lotof people do that with
basketball too.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So yeah, I get it yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I'm less of.
I love just watching footballgames.
Well, I really just lovewatching Red Zone.
I think Red Zone is like thebest produced show on television
100% Until ESPN buys it andruins it.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I'm very concerned about that, but it's actually
made me less of an individualteam fan.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, I get that.
I get that for sure.
We have a few friends that arejust fans of players, so, yeah,
I get that To bring that forsure.
We have a few friends that arejust fans of players, so, yeah,
I get that To bring it back in.
Sorry, sorry, no, no, we couldkeep doing this.
I just don't know if theaudience is going to feel like
they were ready to get the fuckout of here.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
They stepped away for five minutes and were like what
the fuck?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Let me correlate it back Guys, let me correlate it
back.
Both Aaron Judge and ShoheiOtani, baseball players for
everyone that doesn't know haveanime comics this year.
Shohei with a Demon Slayeradaptation that Aaron Judge's
just came out, and I'm not.
I think that one's my HeroAcademia based.
(31:31):
But it's really fascinating howthe anime market is crossing
over into, uh, the mlb, eventhough for a lot of people anime
and then we can go straightback into full comics.
But anime actually is a richhistory in sport comic, uh,
sport animes.
That's like a big thing in theanime community.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Okay, I'm done yeah, no, the texas r Rangers a couple
years ago did a my HeroAcademia collaboration.
That's right, that was tight.
I want that jersey so bad.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Makers did something with One Piece here this year,
so yeah, there's a lot of goodstuff.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
But well, we are still talking to talk about kind
of pop culture in general forour next question, because we
just want, want to know what aresome of your favorite either
movies, shows, books, videogames.
In the last five years, sodating back to the 2020s, how
did you occupy your time whilewe were, you know, all home.
What were you up to?
What were you diving into?
Speaker 2 (32:25):
well, I have a ritual of watching the, the trilogy
lord of the, the only trilogythat matters once a year.
Extended editions in one day,so that's always at the top of
the list, even though ittranscends time and space.
So we can always keep thatwithin a five-year period.
And then, book-wise, I'm a bigfan of Rebecca Yaros' Imperium
(32:51):
series.
You know it's very sexuallygraphic.
She writes very graphic, butthe dragon hierarchy that she
created in there is really dope.
And I'm going to be reading thenewest edition, onyx Storm,
next week.
There's a company called GraphicAudio that puts out,
effectively, movies for yourears, full cast, sound design,
(33:15):
music the whole nine yards.
I'm obsessed with their work.
If anyone likes audiobooks,graphic Audio.
I don't even work with them, Ijust love what they put out,
highly suggest, and theirrendition of it comes out next
week.
So I'll be listening to that.
That one was excellent the GoodPlace I discovered during the
(33:36):
pandemic, and that was a great,great show, extremely well
written.
I love Silo.
I think Silo's fantastic LoveFoundation, what else?
There's an amazing Korean filmcalled Space Sweepers.
(33:58):
It is just.
I think it's Space Sweepers,not Sky Sweepers.
Fact, check me on it.
Space or Sky Sweepers?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah, we're always looking for good international
films.
It's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
It's so good, it's so fun.
It's like can't be 1990samerican sci-fi style with a
great story hero's journey.
I'm all in on it.
Also, if anyone's not watchedit yet uh, dark.
The three season tv show onnetflix, german original, is one
(34:33):
of the best written shows I'veever watched.
Period, yeah, I mean I could goon, but those would be my top.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, those are all great.
Are there any in the last 12months that have really caught
your attention, like any type ofmedia at all, that you've been
like man, we're here in 2024,2025, and this is what we're
getting.
We're eating good, Likeanything like that that's
crossed your eyes.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, I mean the Imperium series is the last 12
months, I believe and that isthat it's the best fantasy
series since Harry Potter.
In my opinion it's much moreadult because of all the sexual
connotations and scenes in it,so it's way less family friendly
like Harry Potter, but I thinkit's the best fantasy build out
(35:24):
of a world since Harry Potterthat I've read.
I've read a fair amount of them.
I would say that one shinesbright for me.
Upfront I would say WednesdayClassic Tim Burton Just
fantastic, really, really,really great.
It's the only show that I'veever run back immediately once I
(35:47):
finished the last episode.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
General Ortega was great in that as well.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So good.
We watched that.
Me and my family watched thatjust on a whim and watched the
whole thing and was like man,that was way, way better than I
thought it could be.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, same here.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
I agree completely.
Yeah, I need to jump back intoSilo.
For sure I love Apple TV.
It is.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's a sci-fi revolution, right.
Yeah, it's a sci-fi revolution,right.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yeah, there are seven or eight shows on Apple TV that
I will go to bat for, like foranybody, as far as putting them
up against anything else that'sout right now.
I love Apple TV.
I did a series for a long timehere in the podcast called
Netflix and Phil, and I wouldrecommend shows that you could
(36:36):
find on streaming sites.
And it was the joke was Ireally need to change the name
because I pretty much onlyrecommended Apple TV shows.
I have a Ted Lasso tattoo, solike I really really dove into
to that over there.
But yeah, eric, I think Silo isone you would like for sure.
(36:57):
Obviously you've done theSeverance deep dive, but you
know, I think either you guys onFoundation or Invasion, Not no,
no, no, no.
Foundation has definitely beenon my list, but no.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
I was wrong.
Yeah, we should end this nowand you should go watch.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
No, I'm kidding, but no, we watch it together.
We'll put it on.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
I let's do it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I love foundation season one.
Jared harris season one's likehe pays.
Yeah.
No, this looks, this looks good.
I mean, do you know the book?
It's classic.
So foundation for you know,whoever doesn't know isaac
asimov, 1930s, 40s iseffectively.
I mean, there's a couple ofbooks that come before, but that
is effectively where sciencefiction was invented.
Every single story Star Warsand so on that have come after
(37:47):
it basically pull fromfoundations-inspired writing.
That is the original crucibleof science fiction.
There's a book by Perry Crowein 1897 called Across the Zodiac
that has the first mention ofthe word astronaut in it and
there's a book by HG Wells in1917 called World Set Free that
(38:10):
invented the word atomic.
But outside of those,foundation is like the
origination of most sciencefiction yeah, I gotta.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
I definitely have that.
I've had that in my queue.
Um, I watch.
I also watch a lot of the showsthat just make me feel good,
also cry, so like shrinkingtrying oh those are great mythic
quest, incredible um.
I'm glad that apple tv, eventhough it's been canceled, has
allowed them to reshoot orre-air a brand new series,
finale, which is great LovedMonarch Legacy of Monsters For
(38:43):
All Mankind.
I really, really love For AllMankind.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Shout out to my boy, eric Phillips, who's one of the
writers on that show Fantasticshow.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I love Just that every season is a new decade and
we still have these charactersand we get to see them grow and
evolve.
I'm like this is so smart.
I love this.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Seasons one and two might be the best arc of any two
characters ever in a show barnone, I agree, I agree.
I mean minus Ron Moore's otherwork in Battlestar Galactica,
which is the greatest show evermade.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Listen, there's a lot of great stuff that not just
back then, but that's why Iasked you that question, like
the last 12 months, becausethere's so much stuff coming out
now that is so amazing as welland that kind of transitions us
into this next question to kindof bring it full circle from
talking pop culture and thenalso about Gungnir as well.
You've mentioned before how theopportunity there, the
(39:46):
opportunities that are here withthese types of stories that
you're making making their wayfrom the pages to the screen,
and it's not just all Marvel, dcor superhero-related comics
that are making that jump instories.
So what are some of the storiesas a fan that you'd like to see
a live-action adaptation ofthat we haven't gotten yet?
(40:08):
And on the flip side, if youhad to pick something from the
Gungnir catalog, what would youchoose first?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Love it.
I'll also give you my twofavorite non-Capes adaptations,
which are History of Violence Alot of people don't know that
was a Vertigo graphic novelAmazing and Sandman, because the
book is one of my favoritebooks ever written.
The book is one of my favoritebooks ever written.
(40:44):
Then what would be my?
I mean, I guess the book thathasn't been adapted yet, that
like we got to adapt as acommunity, we got to get it
going is saga like what?
Where is the saga?
Adaptation like what is wrongwith people.
That's like one of the greatestbooks ever written I'm a big
fan of.
Just like the sprawling, space,dire world that it creates.
I just think it's amazing.
(41:06):
And then you know we have abook called Chupacabra.
I don't know if you guys did wesend you any physicals.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
No, we did not, but I looking through some of the
youtube videos was the first onenot in mutant cats.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
I immediately was like, oh, these look cool as
shit well, we'll send you acouple of copies.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
We'll circle in with chris and get you guys some,
some copies, hell yeah.
But uh, chupacabra, you know II have a deep love of like why a
detective story?
It's like what I grew up on.
You know, buffy the VampireSlayer, the Librarians, which is
a really campy version ofIndiana Jones for those that are
unanointed, noah Wiles at hisbest.
(41:49):
And you know I want to createmy version of that and I'm half
Brazilian.
You know my mother's side andEl Chupacabra is a really,
really fun myth to work with andwe created this high school
detective who unravels a reallyfun mystery that involves a
chupacabra and a secret society,and I think it's just
(42:12):
tailor-made for an adaptation.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Yeah, I'm a big Cryptid fan, so that stuck out
to me right away for sure.
So, yeah, very much excited tocheck those out.
To get into our last questionand kind of wrap this up, I want
to ask a couple of things.
So you've given advice to thosetrying to start their own
(42:36):
creative journey, and the termyou've used is failing fast, and
you guys are watching a lot ofwhat I put out.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Jesus, I love it.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
We're prepared man.
We're pros man, of course.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
So we want to know, like, what's the biggest lesson
you've learned through all theyears in this industry?
And I also want to ask you thisis a similar question we asked
Keith Arem, the writer-creatorof Frost Road, and we had a
discussion about making sure andidentifying opportunities that
are right for you early on.
So if you want to touch onthose things and if you need me
(43:14):
to repeat anything, let me know.
But yeah, what's some advicethat you would give?
Start there.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, I mean outside of the failing fast as you
alluded to, which I think is ismost important for people to.
You know, try a lot of thingsand quickly learn what works and
what doesn't work right, and beokay when it doesn't work.
Not everything works and noteverything that costs money
works right.
Sometimes you're spending moneyon something and it doesn't
(43:39):
work out, and the best thingthat you can do for yourself in
those situations is take alesson from it.
Otherwise you've really justburned those resources.
But outside of that becausethat is something that I've
talked about before, I thinkit's networking.
You know, there's a lot of greattalent out there and
(44:01):
unfortunately we live in a worldwhere great talent is not the
only thing that rises you to thetop, and I am a staunch hater
of social media.
I like doing podcasts, I liketalking, I like having these
conversations, but postingonline is like a dagger to my
soul twisting every time I haveto do it, and a lot of times,
(44:25):
people who are really great atthat become more successful than
just great creatives.
And so, if I had to give greatadvice is unless if you found
yourself in a system with amachine, you have to be really
aware that great talent alonewill not do it anymore and you
(44:46):
have to put in the work ofawareness and you have to be
your own marketer and you haveto be your own cheerleader, and
you're going to have to do a lotof things that make you feel
uncomfortable and that make youfeel as uncomfortable as the
characters that you're writing.
To create that tension you gotto do for yourself in real life.
And if you're not, and ifyou're not willing to do that or
(45:08):
you don't want to do that, Iget it.
You got to find yourself a bigpublishing house.
Then that'll do it for you,because otherwise, uh, it's it's
price of entry.
These days.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah, that's one of the questions we get a lot in
terms of.
You know, we've been veryfortunate to be able to work
with a bunch of conventions herelocally in Florida, throughout
the state, and people ask us,you know, like, how is that
happening?
Well, we go to every singlenetworking opportunity that we
get, and meeting those peopleand building and forging those
relationships has been.
We would not be here withoutthose conversations, without
those relationships, and sothat's, yeah, certainly very,
(45:50):
very important.
The second part, so what I hadasked Chris, or, I'm sorry, what
I had asked Keith is balancingearly on, like you said, which
opportunities are right for you.
And then you also you know youkind of touched on this already
but early on, are you in theposition to say no, do you think
, or do you take out everyopportunity you can get?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
You know, richard Branson has a great quote about
this where he says say yes andfigure out how to do it later,
and that's sort of like how helived his life and I think
there's a lot of merit in that.
I've definitely gotten to whereI've gotten to wherever, that
is by saying yes a lot.
And now at this point I saymaybe, and I need to get better
(46:32):
at saying no, and I think thatthere's a lot of power and a lot
of benefit in saying no.
But I think you alluded to itjust now.
You need to earn that, andearly in a career, I think
saying yes more often, if notalways, is really important.
(46:54):
But keep that first thoughtthat I had front of mind.
Fail fast If you say yes and yourealize that it's not working
out.
Failure doesn't mean that youhad to go to zero.
Failure could just mean thatit's not working out, that the
choice that you made to go dothis thing you've realized a
(47:14):
month in two months, in threemonths in, is not the path.
Fail fast, get out of that,move on to the next thing.
You don't need to see thingsfrom 100 to zero every time.
So I would say say yes to theopportunities but but have a
really good barometer of whenand how you need to eject, if
needed.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
There you go.
Love that.
Thanks for answering those.
The last thing I'll bring upbefore we give you the
opportunity to plug everythingand let everybody know where you
can find what you're up to.
Liam Cohen was at UMass from2005 to 2008.
Did you guys cross?
Were you there?
Speaker 2 (47:49):
at that time.
We were definitely there at thesame time.
All right, there you go.
I need to Google a quick photoof this guy.
Liam, yeah, he was aquarterback.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
I think he was the starter for maybe three seasons,
06 to 08.
Yeah, 07 was his best year.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
I was there from 06 to 10.
So we were definitely theretogether.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
I'm pretty sure 2007, 2005, 6 to 8.
He was the starter, based onhis statistics.
Well, there we go uh, duval,duval yeah because I remember
seeing a video of victor cruzkind of facetimed him when he
got the job.
So the day he did his uh, hispress conference, he called him,
which was yeah, I mean, he wasdefinitely the starting
quarterback when I was there.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
That's hilarious.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Yeah, I uh, I don't remember ever crossing paths
with him, but that is uh themore you know matt the real
question is uh, did you know youwere going to be talking this
much about Field of Dreams andUMass?
Speaker 3 (48:57):
Or the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It's a welcome conversation.
Those were good years.
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Yeah, so if you're ever in Jacksonville during the
fall, let us know and we willtotally go to a game.
So we will go check them out.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Yeah, I was just in Jacksonville in November, my
buddy got married out there.
Okay, and I don't know if youguys go out to any of the clubs,
but I think Celine is the nameof the club he just opened out
there.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
Doesn't sound familiar.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
That's not our vibe, but I have heard of it.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
So he's doing something right.
That's my buddy Paul's club.
Shout out Paul.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
There you go.
Well, matt, thank you so muchfor taking the time here.
We hope to link up with youagain.
We're going to keep up witheverything that you're doing
over there as well, so pleaselet our audience know where they
can find everything Gungnir andanything else you want to let
people know about.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Yeah, gungnirbookscom .
At Gungnir Books on all socialmedia, at Matthew Medney, at all
social media.
We have five really greattitles that are in stores right
now that you can go pick up,from Supercabra to Mutant Cats.
To Forward as Always, which isa prose novel by my buddy, olin
Rogers and Jake Sidwell.
Olin created an amazinganimated show called Final Space
.
If you've never watched FinalSpace, you've got to watch it.
(50:23):
It's fan-fucking-tastic.
Jake did the music for the showand they wrote this awesome
book.
Stefan Petruccio wrote a bookcalled the Stars Within.
Stefan edited my first novelBeyond Kuiper, the Galactic Star
Alliance, five, six years agoand then had this book that he
wanted to publish and it's beenan amazing journey with him.
And then we're going to beputting out later this summer a
(50:47):
book called Last Breeds that Iwrote with my buddy, jonathan
Ball, and GMB Scott Hendersondid the art on it.
It's a duo chromatic art style,so it's all reds and greens.
It's fucking rad.
We've been fortunate enoughthat Scott Snyder gave us an
amazing endorsement on it and isgoing to help us with the
(51:07):
promotion around it, and we'rejust really, really excited
about that book.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Awesome, matt.
Yeah, all of that will be inthe show notes of this episode
so you can keep up with Gungnir.
And, once again, we had anabsolute blast doing this with
you and hope to do it again soon.
So make sure you check out theLinktree link in the show notes
of this and every single episode.
You find everything Way4Podcastrelated and, like I said,
everything Gungnir.
But, eric, if you want to wrapus up, I think we are good to go
(51:35):
.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Yeah, guys, you want to wrap us up.
I think we are good to go.
Yeah, guys again really greatepisode and this opportunity
came to us from shut up chrischris yeah, chris, that was on
that episode with keith forfrost road.
So, as we continue to do moreof this and spotlight really
creative minds uh, like matt,and everything going on at
gungnir, we really appreciatethe support and for you guys
checking out everything thatGungnir has to offer as far as
(52:01):
the Wait For it podcast, wealways appreciate the support.
So everything from the likes,the comments, the shares, the
follows to both accounts reallyhelps out a lot.
But for this episode we arewrapping up, my name is Mr Eric
Almighty, that is my co-host,phil the Filipino and our guest,
matt Medny.
And remember, all you have todo is wait for it.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
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