October 1, 2025 • 28 mins
A fallen indie wrestler enters a haunted house to drink away his life and discovers his real main event—battling a sentient home that feeds on lost souls and reclaiming his own. Adam Lawson walks us through the art, the heart, and the Kickstarter built for collectors.
• Mad Dog Morgan’s premise of wrestling colliding with a haunted house
• Themes of failure, addiction, and redemption driving the narrative
• Why horror is Lawson’s favorite arena for human drama
• Real-world sparks from wrestling history and pop culture influences
• Visual language that blends bold wrestling color with horror shadow
• Maxi Dall'o's expressive eyes and manga-informed emotion on the page
• The bloodied mask as the tonal key to the series’ identity
• Wrestling and horror’s shared renaissance and fan overlap
• Campaign details: exclusive variant hardcover slipcase and foil print
Follow the Mad Dog Morgan Kickstarter here!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to your go-to stores for entertainment.
Wait for it.
Gaming?
Wait for it.
Anime?
Mr.
Eric Almighty and Phil theFilipino?
Yeah, they've got you covered.
And all you gotta do is wait forit.
(00:31):
This is the Wait For It Podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (00:35):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait for It
Podcast.
I am your co-host, Phil Barrera,aka Phil the Filipino.
SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
And I'm your other co-host, Mr.
Eric Almighty.
And for this edition of the WaitFor It Podcast, we have a very
special episode for you todaywith the mind behind Mad Dog
Morgan, which is a graphic novelwhere all out indie wrestling
collides with a blood-drenchedhaunted house.
SPEAKER_02 (00:58):
Yeah, we are thrilled to have Adam Lawson
with us today to talk about thecreative process, this very
unique mix of genres, and alsowhat backers can expect from
this campaign.
So, Adam, thank you so much forjoining us.
And how are you doing tonight?
SPEAKER_00 (01:12):
I am awesome.
Uh, you know, I am uh a happyman, you know, because talking
comics is my favorite thing.
Whether it's my own or someoneelse's, it's it's always a good
day.
You know, Wednesday is justlike, yes.
So um, yeah, no, it's it's goodto be on the podcast with you
guys.
I love your passion for comics.
It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (01:32):
Yeah, we've had some really great opportunities.
Shout out to our friend Chris,who of course brought this
across our door once again.
And while we are, you know, anall-encompassing podcast, just
getting to learn more aboutthese comics and graphic novels
has been so, so cool and reallyexpanding our boundaries as well
over here, Eric, which has beenreally, really great.
So, Adam, my first question foryou.
(01:53):
Well, actually, first, if youwanted to just take a brief
moment to give us a synopsis andour audience a synopsis of Mad
Dog Morgan before I get into thefirst question.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
Yeah, so um, Mad Dog Morgan is, you know, the
wrestler meets the shining.
This is, you know, as you said,all out indie wrestling meets a
blood-drenched, haunted house.
It's a tale of Mitchell Mad DogMorgan, who is an indie wrestler
who never made it to the bigtime.
And that was always his dream,and he never made it.
And he's bottomed out in hislife, his alcohol addiction has
(02:24):
taken over, and he's realizedhe's all his naysayers were
right.
He was never gonna becomesomething.
So he goes to this abandonedhouse and he's gonna drink
himself to death, only torealize that this house he's
gone to is not just any house,it's a haunted house.
And it's been luring him in foryears, and and it wants to
(02:46):
transform him into one of thehorrors that haunt this house as
it has done to thousands ofothers before it.
People at the bottom, it sucksthem in.
And so, Mad Dog, then here atthe bottom, so to speak, of his
life, at the you know, at theepitome of all his failures, he
can't even kill himselfcorrectly, realizes, comes to
discover that all his failuresactually led him to this moment.
(03:06):
Really, the main event of hislife was not in the ring, but
was in this house.
And it was to do battle withthis house and to free the souls
inside of it inside of it, andsort of including redeeming his
own failed life.
So it's this great tale ofredemption and action and horror
all mishmashed into one.
(03:26):
And you know, I have a deep loveof wrestling, and I, you know,
grew up on it.
I still watch it to this day,and um I love you know this sort
of fantastical world ofwrestling because it's it's
really fantasy, right?
It's it's it's a game, it's agood, great game of make-believe
with athletics.
But what you know, somebody whohas that sort of dual life where
(03:47):
they you know are trying to bebigger than life, but inside
they're you know, they'rethey're dying.
So that's um, you know, Mad DogMorgan in a nutshell.
And obviously, once he getsinside this house, there's a lot
of complexities and horror andmonsters and uh psychological
problem psychological enemies aswell.
Yeah, so that's that's theelevator pitch if we had several
floors.
SPEAKER_02 (04:07):
Now the main event wasn't in the ring, it was it
was the man.
I just I got chills.
Uh that's uh I love that bars.
So good.
So yeah, as we mentioned beforewe got started, you know, Eric
and I are huge wrestling fans.
I, you know, uh of course horroras well.
I I very much love theparanormal.
So I love this mixture here.
I want our audience to get toknow you a little bit more as
(04:29):
well before we get into more ofthe story and how this came
together because you have atrack record of blending intense
horror with really deepcharacter-driven storytelling.
We've seen that in, of course,you know, The Exiled, Kids and
Monsters, Kill Journal.
Each of those projects feelsvery unique, but they all seem
to share a common thread of likeexploring human emotion and
resilience in uh in the face ofdarkness.
(04:50):
It's very much what's happeninghere with Mad Dog.
Can you walk us through yourcreative journey as a writer and
how those past experiences haveshaped your approach and how it
ultimately led you to Mad DogMorgan?
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
Yeah, I think, you know, from you know, and from
the creative process standpoint,I think for myself as a
storyteller, I think that, youknow, horror is such an exciting
arena for me because, you know,it's it's essentially a fantasy
world.
And with it, you can sort ofthrow out the window of maybe
sort of the uh politicalcomplications and uh and
struggles of sort of modern day,and you can put somebody in sort
(05:21):
of an altered reality so you canfocus on a particular theme or
human struggle without maybegetting caught up in um sort of
the day-to-day things that cancan bog down a story.
And so I that's why I love it asan arena because I feel like
it's like one of the best arenasto tell a drama that isn't a
boring drama, right?
And um, and so I think that'swhy I've always kind of find
(05:43):
myself there, you know, with thekill journal, it's the story of
trauma survivors trying toreclaim their lives while they
hunt slashers, right?
So it's this, it's really that'sthe story tucked into the
horror.
And, you know, with uh theexiled, right, you have
essentially a guy trying toreconnect with his father,
caught up in this war that'smuch bigger than himself with
creatures and monsters.
(06:05):
Um, and you know, with kids andmonsters, it's the same thing.
It's two kids, you know, dealingwith their parents' potential
divorce and how that plays out.
So um I think at the heart ofwhat I am as a storyteller, I
like to, you know, remove sortof the trappings of the real
world and put us in a fantasy sowe can really dial in these
human themes that I think arehave are have a broader
(06:26):
relationship to people.
I think everybody knows that itfeels like to have felt like,
man, made my life, I kind ofscrewed up.
I'm kind of a failure.
Everybody knows that feeling ofwanting to redeem their failing,
their failings.
And so I think that Madda Morgancan connect with anybody, right?
So, and and so then my personalcreative process, you know, like
(06:46):
for myself, I handwrite mycomics, you know, for a lot of
it.
I'm writing them on notebooks orby handwriting the dialogue,
sometimes doing even layoutsmyself.
I try to keep it as organic aspossible in the early stages
when it's being the inception.
And then when I pass it to anartist, you know, I type it up
so they're not just looking atchaos on a page.
But I like that organic spacewhere there's nothing electronic
(07:09):
around you to conceive.
You know, and for mad and forand a lot of the inspiration is
you know around me is comingfrom real-world things, you
know, like Mad Dog Mor Morgan's.
I keep what I say, Mad DogMormon.
That could be another comic.
Um I'd read that too, honestly.
I think you're ready, you'reready.
But um, with Mad Dog, you know,it comes back to this
(07:29):
documentary I watched aboutwrestling.
You might have seen it uh behindthe mask.
And in this, Jake the Snake isbeing interviewed.
Um, if you can remember him backin the day.
And he gets asked a questionabout his dad, and it just
triggers the guy and he startscrying, and he's talking about
how he never was able to live upto his dad's expectations and
like his dad passed, and then henever got there, and there's
this sort of this emptiness, andyou're just like, and I was gut
(07:52):
punched by it, right?
And I think that was the earlybeginnings for myself, you know,
of this story of what is that,what is a Jake the Snake story,
but it but if he didn't get intothe WWF at the at the time, you
know, like where does he end up?
Um, is really where it beginsfor me.
So I think the real world iswhere I search for things that
(08:14):
that inspire the fantasy.
SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
Yeah, I love that.
I mean, how many uh mad dogs arethere out there, right, that
pursued this wrestling journeyand just came up short and
eventually had to reevaluate andfigure out what was next for
them, Eric.
You know, we have been, we'vehad indie wrestlers on the
podcast, you know, that telltheir story and and uh you know
how how difficult that journeycan be.
So uh this is uh again somethingthat definitely caught our eye
(08:39):
for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (08:40):
No, it it was it was absolutely from the everything
that we read about the pressrelease, uh, and everything, all
the details, the synopsis, thedescription, the art, which
we're gonna get into in a littlebit here.
Like, there's so much to lovewhen it comes to this.
Adam, I wanted to talk to you alittle bit about, you know, kind
of our first impression from thepress release was Mad Dog Morgan
(09:02):
would be perfect for fans of DoaPowerbomb, The Shining.
Uh, you mentioned The Wrestler,which immediately came to mind
when I saw the art.
So I love that you threw that inthere.
There's obviously otherinfluences that you're gonna
find in work like this, but whatI find more interesting is
getting a chance to pick themind behind the work.
So I'd like to actually ask youwhat are some other pop culture
(09:25):
influences that you've had overthe years that have impacted you
professionally, creatively, andor personally?
SPEAKER_00 (09:33):
Yeah, it's interesting to say like pop
culture influences.
You know, I think about, youknow, from like in the world of
comics, I think of a comicthat's always sat with me as
Berserk, Kentaro Miyoro'sBerserk.
I think it's maybe the greatestever done, and it's just such
this epic tale, this characterguts, you know, that um that one
has always sat with me.
It's interesting because, youknow, this tale with uh Mad Dog
(09:56):
Morgan, there's this video gameI played when I was very young
that's always sat with me calledAlone in the Dark.
Um, it was this Cthulhu-likegame, and that you go into this
house and you kind of get intodeeper levels of the basement,
and you sort of the evil expandsas you do.
And I think that that um feelingI've has always sat with me, and
it it plays out in the world ofMad Dog Morgan.
(10:16):
This you come into an evilhouse, and then as you go down
the levels in the house, deeperinto the basement, you know, the
horror becomes more, it comescrazier and more volatile,
right?
Um, so I think that was a bigthing.
And you know, interestinglyenough, with this story, the
story of Samson, you know, thatbiblical story of when he's
standing between the two pillarsand he pushes them down, you
(10:37):
know, after Delilah's cut hishair, kind of played a piece of
this.
It's kind of was what what gaveme the the the other side of the
story was it's like, oh wait,Samson looked like he'd failed,
he got betrayed by Delilah, helost all his strength, but then
really he got set between thosetwo pillars, and that was his
real destiny, right?
To to collapse the tower, tocollapse the building and kill
(10:58):
the enemy.
And it's like, oh, what if inthe end what looked like your
failure was actually justsetting you up to win?
So those are definitely someinfluences you can kind of see
it's kind of crazy between likebiblical comic books, video
games, um, right?
It's a lot of things going atyou.
I think definitely, you know, doa powerbomb is interesting
(11:18):
because I was writing Mad DogMorgan when Daniel Warren
Johnson started to tease he wasgonna do a wrestling comic.
And in the background, I'm like,please don't don't, you know, is
it a horror wrestling comic?
Because if it is, I'm gonna looklike a phony.
And so fortunately it wasn't,you know, and it's uh, you know,
I loved Daniel so much, his art,and I think, you know, extremity
was one of the um one of thebooks that I think really uh
(11:42):
increased my love of comics, youknow.
It's kind of like there's twothat like really dove me in
deep.
It was Extremity and then um 100Bullets.
You know, I was doing I wasdoing Snakes on a Plane and Sam
Jackson came to set reading it,and I remember looking at that
and I was like, gosh, if it'scool enough for him, it's gotta
be cool enough for me.
And I remember reading that bookcomic and being like, oh, this
(12:06):
is what they can really be.
Um and it was really, uh, reallyeye-opening for me.
So um yeah, but yeah, but do apower bomb definitely uh, as far
as like the sheer joy of theaction, the wrestling action in
you know, who who does not lovethat?
SPEAKER_03 (12:21):
Yeah, and I think that's really cool because like
it's it's such an interestingtime for this to drop too,
because like wrestling andhorror are both kind of seeing
like a renaissance, likehorror's in the best place that
it's been in a long time, andthe same can be said for
wrestling.
So, like, I just love the mergeof those two things and
(12:41):
wrestling fans in general, Adam.
Like, uh, you you gave us like asmorgasbord of uh of options in
pop culture.
I always find when I talk towrestling fans that that's the
case, they have the most diversetaste of like pop culture
enjoyment.
It all comes back to wrestling.
Every single genre has made itsway to wrestling one way or
another.
SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
I I agree.
You know, there's somethingabout, you know, I don't know if
you're watching Raw, you know,on Netflix now, you know,
they've you know they've reallyleveled it up in a fun way, you
know.
And Rhea Ripley's so epic, youknow, out there in the ring, and
just even this little last bitwith Santa.
But it's like I agree with youbecause when you're looking at
wrestling fans, like you seethis tough dude with his big
(13:21):
gnarly truck and his DD books inthe back.
You know what I mean?
And he's there at the wrestlingevent, you know, and it's like
this isn't this the mix there isis something different.
SPEAKER_03 (13:32):
Yeah, sports entertainment itself is
something different, it is uhsomething to behold.
And uh, you know, I gotta say,uh, Phil, kind of throwing it
back to you because I know thisis something you immediately
picked up on when we weretalking about doing this
interview, was just the amazingart style here.
Like when we talk about agraphic novel and just getting
interested right off of thevisuals, I think that's so
(13:54):
important here.
And Phil, I gotta say, for MadDog Morgan, uh knocking it out
of the park with firstimpressions.
SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
100%.
Yeah, Adam, you and Maxi Dalohave partnered quite a few
times, and it always leads tosomething really, really great.
So when you're blending, youknow, these two genres,
wrestling and horror, there's alot to think about.
Just uh outside of just makingthe story itself blend.
You want to make sure that theart style blends as well.
You know, wrestling has, likeyou just talked about, has this
bold, colorful, exaggeratedenergy to it, and you know,
(14:24):
while horror thrives onatmosphere and the shadow and
tension.
And translating both of thoseinto a single visual language
feels like it could be a reallybig challenge.
But from an artistic standpoint,what were some of the biggest
hurdles that you and Maxi facedmaking those two very different
aesthetics coexist?
And then on the flip side, werethere any moments in the
creative process whereeverything like clicked and you
realize, oh, we found it and wefound the perfect way to
(14:46):
visually balance that's the youknow the spectacle of wrestling
with the the dread of horror?
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
Yeah, it's interesting you said because you
know, here is the cover, youknow, for Mad Dog Morgan for
anybody you know watching this,and you can see it's him there
with the mask on.
And this mask is kind of becomesa source of his power, it ties
into the supernatural side ofthe story.
And you know, there's the bloodymask.
There was something when whenMaxi early and I on early on,
this was the one of the firstimages that he and I did.
(15:12):
Um, and there was something oncehe put the blood on the on the
wrestling mask that instantly wewere in that world of horror.
So I think as we were trying tofind that balance, because I
agree with you, there is like acolor palette that wrestling,
you know, wrestling in black andwhite is maybe too muted, right?
It it kind of demands color.
You know, this is the cover herefor the Ash Can.
(15:32):
Mike Spicer did the colors herefor this, who I love, and you
can see how he uses these boldpurples and reds and yellows.
And um at first we thought, youknow, that's gonna contradict
the art style, you know, becauseMaxie has such a great sense of
energy and action, whichwrestling needed to have.
Um, but then he's also such agreat use of silhouette and
(15:54):
shadow, which I thinkcontributes to the horror side
of it.
So that was oftentimes thediscussion.
But what I think we came to findwas is when you took something
like this where you're gettingsort of these pinks and purples
in this mix, but because ofMaxi's very moody lines, all the
negative space in there, theblacks, the very hand-drawn
feeling to it, instead of themcontradicting each other, they
(16:16):
complement each other, right?
And it lets it it also preventsthe horror from becoming just
too moody and like it kind ofbecause sometimes horror can
drone on if it's just if it'stwo in the dumps, right?
And I think that like weaponsand barbarian were great
examples of horror movies thatlike didn't let it get too just
flat and like you you just youfelt kind of like the drudgery
(16:40):
of horror.
And so I think that they endedup kind of complementing each
other in a unique way.
And one of the big things Ithink about it was creating
these kinds of visuals in theeyes.
Um, if you can see here, Maxidid this great thing where he
has his eyes almost kind ofpopping out of his head.
You can see the veins in themwhen he's showing fear, and
those slightly exaggeratedemotions that can come from
(17:00):
Maxie's caricatured art reallyelevated the feeling of horror.
And I think that's one thing,you know, that manga art manga
artists do well is they theyexaggerate the faces and the
emotion just a little bit moresometimes in a Western comics.
I think it serves it because itas an audience it helps trigger
you when you don't have sound,you know, to know what you're
(17:21):
feeling.
And then and then, you know,because here's another great
page you can see that Maxispeaking of that eye, right?
To build up this fear.
Um, and for those on thepodcast, it's well, essentially
it's Mad Doug Morgan.
There's this tentacle that'swrapping around him and choking
him off, and he's gettingsmaller and smaller on the page,
so you can just see just his oneeye.
(17:42):
Fear in that eye was really umwhat Max and I talked about so
much is like how can we get thefear to translate in the eyes,
which is kind of a cinematictrait versus um as often thought
about in comics, but gettingthose eyes super big uh in the
frame.
So uh that's I think that's kindof how how we went about it.
And at first I agree with you,or like, where does this fit?
(18:05):
And then that mask happened withthe blood on it, and it was
like, okay, there it is.
SPEAKER_02 (18:10):
Yeah, it looks really great.
One thing uh as that also standsout, and Eric, you let me know
if you feel the same way.
This would make uh Mad Dog wouldmake for a really cool cosplay.
I would love to see somebodycosplaying this character.
SPEAKER_03 (18:23):
Cosplay, I was gonna say, is it too early to talk
about like an animated project?
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Like, I'm gonna be honest, the second- Live action,
who are we gonna call?
SPEAKER_03 (18:29):
Phil already knew I got giddy the met the second you
started mentioning like thatmanga and anime comparison with
eyes.
Like, Phil knows one of myfavorite things about watching
like an anime or reading a mangais what they do specifically
through the eyes.
So those examples you gave arejust like absolutely fantastic
to hear about because those arethe things that get me excited.
(18:51):
And I could just only imagineagain what this looks like on
the pages.
I'm already thinking ahead.
Are you stopping yourself fromthinking that far ahead?
Like, I'm already over herelistening, thinking ahead of
what it looks like in otherforms of media.
You know, what's your kind ofthought process as you're
getting into this?
Uh, you know, about the future.
I know we're just at the start.
We're gonna talk about theKickstarter here in a second,
(19:11):
but like looking at the horizon,are you stopping yourself?
Are you getting giddy as well?
Where are you at?
SPEAKER_00 (19:18):
Yeah, no, you know, it's funny you say that because
you know, um, I've made a lot oftelevision in my time, but I
love comic books for what theyare.
When I did the book with WesleySnipes, um, they were asking
Snipes now, you know, do you seethis as a you know, is your
greatest hope for it to be amovie?
And I said, you know, mygreatest hope is for people to
read it.
You know what I mean?
For actually people, becausewhen people pick it up and read
(19:39):
it, there's a love and aconnection and a fandom there
that's that's real deep.
And I think that's in my heartthe most.
You know, we've been doing, I'vebeen building this trailer for
it for the Kickstarter that's inanimation, and that does get me
thinking, you know, anime forsure.
I'm not gonna lie, because I'm abig anime fan, especially with
(20:00):
the retro anime, because there'ssomething about like when you
look at those guys who are doinglike that cell animation,
hand-drawn stuff with all theemotion in those faces and in
the details, and you're like, Idon't know why we're not, and
you can't get it now.
Like we have all this assistancewith computers, and like how
come we went backwards?
So, I mean, I and I love youknow the animation format and
(20:24):
anime so much, you know.
I think um, you know, I thinkabout like a tomo so much, you
know, in his what he did withAkira, you know, um, with not
only just in the the mangaversion but in the film, like
what you mentioned, the eyes,you know, uh was really a big
deal.
So I I I try not to let myselfget dreaming too big because
then I forget the moment I'm in.
But every now and again whenwe're working on the animation,
(20:46):
I go, and then I bring myselfdown very quickly, very quickly,
pop that balloon.
SPEAKER_03 (20:51):
No, that's completely normal.
That is completely normal.
And again, uh, we're reallyexcited to bring this to our
audience uh to get more peopleto know about this, to read it.
Uh, you've definitely got somebackers over here.
Like again, we we pretty muchknew when Chris sent us the
deets.
Like, we were like, all right,yeah, that's that's a wrap.
Uh so for anybody else that'sconsidering uh supporting you,
(21:13):
you know, as part of thisexclusive crowdfunding effort,
uh, which is launching onOctober 7th of this year, 2025,
there's gonna be two campaignexclusive editions, some add-ons
for Mad Dog Morgan that youcan't get anywhere else.
Can you tell our audience as wekind of wrap up a little bit of
what they can expect if theyback this on Kickstarter?
SPEAKER_00 (21:33):
Yeah, so I'm a big crowdfunder.
You know, I've personally backedmore than 400 campaigns, so I'm
in it deep.
I've done several campaignsmyself between board games,
role-playing games, and tons ofcomics.
And, you know, I love thatexperience of kind of taking the
ride, getting in on the newthing.
And so when launching this book,you know, it'll be in retail
(21:54):
stores, you know, mid to late2026.
But I wanted to do a crowdfunderthat was gonna give all the
fans, the people who supportedme along the way, something
totally different and somethingspecial.
And so one is is the cover forthe book will be an exclusive
variant that will only exist inthis.
And you know, for the lab, myprinting partner on it, my
(22:16):
publishing partner on it, theyonly do hardcover.
So it'll be a hardcover slipcasebook that you're getting.
It will have this incredibleimage here of him smashing the
lecture here.
This will be a foil print.
This will be the only way toever get it.
It'll be signed by Maxi and I.
And then this, so it'll be aspecial cover, there'll be the
(22:37):
special foil print, and forthose who back in the first 48
hours, they'll get the New YorkCity Comic-Con Ash Can.
Which will be essentially theonly way to get it if you aren't
one of just a very small handfulof people who grabs it in New
York.
And that gets it for you on anytier level if you're in the
first 48 hours.
So it's like, how can we giveyou something like you jumped on
early, so you get thisexclusive, incredible item that
(22:59):
no one else is ever gonna get.
And for anybody watching, youknow, here's the cover for the
Ash Can.
Obviously, no trade dress, butjust the the colored art.
And then, as you mentioned, thecosplay.
So there is gonna be the Hell'sCannonball t-shirt that's gonna
be out there.
That's his signature move in thebook.
There is gonna be the mask, it'sgonna be an item.
(23:22):
There's gonna be a leather-boundedition of the book that's gonna
be a special tier that'll onlyever exist um, you know, here
for the campaign.
There's gonna be patches and uhheadband.
There's gonna be all the coolthings that make it feel like
you got the uh the inside track,you got the special item.
And I'm a fan, you know, I'm acollector, so I I love the this,
(23:45):
you know, and you guys are inthe same boat as I am, and I
think many people on Kickstarterand crowdfunding spaces are, you
know, you want you want thespecial thing.
Um, and so that's what we'regonna be throwing at you with
it.
We're gonna keep it real simple.
There's just gonna be two tiers.
Uh, one for this for this theexclusive variant Kickstarter
edition of the book, and thenthere'll be a big mega tier, you
(24:06):
know, called the main event,which will be the leather bound
edition, which will have themask, uh, it will have the ash
can, um, it will have the patch,the t-shirt, it'll be the full
package.
And then also everything will beas will be add-ons except for
the ash can.
That will you can ever get morethan one.
And and um, but um, and so youif you want to build your own
tier.
So that's that's I think whatthey're looking forward to with
(24:29):
it.
Um, it's a chance to you knowdive in deep.
SPEAKER_02 (24:32):
Yeah, that is that is really, really cool.
As far as outside of uh New YorkCity Comic-Con, will you guys be
anywhere else throughout theremainder of the year promoting?
SPEAKER_00 (24:41):
Yeah, you know, I uh as far as I I'll be I'm I'm
gonna be at New York.
Um are you guys gonna be in NewYork?
Unfortunately not.
SPEAKER_02 (24:47):
No, it's New York City Comic-Con eludes us.
We're right, we're based out ofJacksonville.
So Jacksonville, Florida.
SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
So yeah, no, I mean I I would say the same if I
didn't have we have a I have apost-production office there, so
it's like kind of an easyexcuse.
Uh, because I know it's uh thethe hotel prices are killer.
Um but I know so I'll I'll bethere at New York City Comic-Con
promoting.
I won't be to another con beforethe campaigns because it's just
a you know 30-day window, and soit'll really just be New York
(25:13):
for it.
Uh, but we'll certainly be, youknow, making an appearance at LA
Comic-Con, other places later,you know, to help to continue
the promotion of it and to keepthe keep the word out there and
keep mad dog Morgan fighting.
SPEAKER_02 (25:26):
Yeah, definitely.
And like Eric mentioned, we aregoing to be uh keeping very,
very close watch on this, veryexcited to also support.
And uh for those of youlistening, we definitely implore
you to check out the uh theartwork that has been shared
over our YouTube page.
So make sure you check that out.
And everything Adam justmentioned as far as the
crowdfunding and the Kickstarterwill be in the show notes of
(25:48):
this episode, Eric.
So uh yeah, but uh again, very,very excited to follow this
project.
SPEAKER_03 (25:54):
And Adam, thank you so much for giving us the time.
Like it is very muchappreciated.
And I know getting the word outis super, super important.
Is there anything else that youwant to say?
Any last words for anybodythat's thinking about, you know,
again, backing this project,getting involved?
Yep.
Anything at all that you'd liketo plug here, I'd like to give
you that opportunity as we closeout the episode.
SPEAKER_00 (26:15):
In the world of, you know, the MCU and the DCU, there
is this magical vortex ofcreators throwing their whole
hearts into their work andputting it out before the world.
And, you know, comic bookcollectors and even wrestling
fans or horror fans, what makesus cool is that we're on the
front row.
And getting in on the campaignputs you in the front row of not
(26:38):
just this book, but just youknow, comic books as a medium in
general.
And so it's like if you've neverbacked before, this jump on in,
it's fun.
The book is done, so there isn'tgonna be some two-year wait uh
on the on this kind of thing.
It's gonna be, they'll get theuh we'll get the numbers and
then we'll make a print orderbased on it.
So it's you won't have to wait,and you get to be in on the
(27:01):
ground floor of something trulyspecial.
Um, so join the ride.
The water's warm.
SPEAKER_03 (27:07):
Awesome, Adam.
Again, so thank you so much forjoining us.
And uh, I can tell you guys nowfrom the artwork jumping off the
pages, from your passion jumpingthrough the mic, jumping off the
screen.
Like, I'm telling you, it we'rewe're on board, we're excited,
and we're excited to have morepeople get to know about this.
Adam, we appreciate it.
And for all of you guyslistening to the Wait For It
(27:29):
podcast, we really appreciateyour support.
An extra bonus shout out to ourpatrons that are supporting us
monthly.
Briar, T3K DO, Vintage Macaroni,Corey from the World is My
Burrito, Nick Casbaro, theauthor of the Vitalyrium series,
and Botter from the Short Boxpodcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, wegot a lot more.
Please just remember all yougotta do before you press play
(27:51):
is wait for it.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
This is the Wait for It podcast.
Welcome to your go-to stores for entertainment.
Wait for it.
Gaming?
Wait for it.
Anime?
Mr.
Eric Almighty and Phil theFilipino?
Yeah, they've got you covered.
And all you gotta do is wait forit.
(00:31):
This is the Wait For It Podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (00:35):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait for It
Podcast.
I am your co-host, Phil Barrera,aka Phil the Filipino.
SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
And I'm your other co-host, Mr.
Eric Almighty.
And for this edition of the WaitFor It Podcast, we have a very
special episode for you todaywith the mind behind Mad Dog
Morgan, which is a graphic novelwhere all out indie wrestling
collides with a blood-drenchedhaunted house.
SPEAKER_02 (00:58):
Yeah, we are thrilled to have Adam Lawson
with us today to talk about thecreative process, this very
unique mix of genres, and alsowhat backers can expect from
this campaign.
So, Adam, thank you so much forjoining us.
And how are you doing tonight?
SPEAKER_00 (01:12):
I am awesome.
Uh, you know, I am uh a happyman, you know, because talking
comics is my favorite thing.
Whether it's my own or someoneelse's, it's it's always a good
day.
You know, Wednesday is justlike, yes.
So um, yeah, no, it's it's goodto be on the podcast with you
guys.
I love your passion for comics.
It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (01:32):
Yeah, we've had some really great opportunities.
Shout out to our friend Chris,who of course brought this
across our door once again.
And while we are, you know, anall-encompassing podcast, just
getting to learn more aboutthese comics and graphic novels
has been so, so cool and reallyexpanding our boundaries as well
over here, Eric, which has beenreally, really great.
So, Adam, my first question foryou.
(01:53):
Well, actually, first, if youwanted to just take a brief
moment to give us a synopsis andour audience a synopsis of Mad
Dog Morgan before I get into thefirst question.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
Yeah, so um, Mad Dog Morgan is, you know, the
wrestler meets the shining.
This is, you know, as you said,all out indie wrestling meets a
blood-drenched, haunted house.
It's a tale of Mitchell Mad DogMorgan, who is an indie wrestler
who never made it to the bigtime.
And that was always his dream,and he never made it.
And he's bottomed out in hislife, his alcohol addiction has
(02:24):
taken over, and he's realizedhe's all his naysayers were
right.
He was never gonna becomesomething.
So he goes to this abandonedhouse and he's gonna drink
himself to death, only torealize that this house he's
gone to is not just any house,it's a haunted house.
And it's been luring him in foryears, and and it wants to
(02:46):
transform him into one of thehorrors that haunt this house as
it has done to thousands ofothers before it.
People at the bottom, it sucksthem in.
And so, Mad Dog, then here atthe bottom, so to speak, of his
life, at the you know, at theepitome of all his failures, he
can't even kill himselfcorrectly, realizes, comes to
discover that all his failuresactually led him to this moment.
(03:06):
Really, the main event of hislife was not in the ring, but
was in this house.
And it was to do battle withthis house and to free the souls
inside of it inside of it, andsort of including redeeming his
own failed life.
So it's this great tale ofredemption and action and horror
all mishmashed into one.
(03:26):
And you know, I have a deep loveof wrestling, and I, you know,
grew up on it.
I still watch it to this day,and um I love you know this sort
of fantastical world ofwrestling because it's it's
really fantasy, right?
It's it's it's a game, it's agood, great game of make-believe
with athletics.
But what you know, somebody whohas that sort of dual life where
(03:47):
they you know are trying to bebigger than life, but inside
they're you know, they'rethey're dying.
So that's um, you know, Mad DogMorgan in a nutshell.
And obviously, once he getsinside this house, there's a lot
of complexities and horror andmonsters and uh psychological
problem psychological enemies aswell.
Yeah, so that's that's theelevator pitch if we had several
floors.
SPEAKER_02 (04:07):
Now the main event wasn't in the ring, it was it
was the man.
I just I got chills.
Uh that's uh I love that bars.
So good.
So yeah, as we mentioned beforewe got started, you know, Eric
and I are huge wrestling fans.
I, you know, uh of course horroras well.
I I very much love theparanormal.
So I love this mixture here.
I want our audience to get toknow you a little bit more as
(04:29):
well before we get into more ofthe story and how this came
together because you have atrack record of blending intense
horror with really deepcharacter-driven storytelling.
We've seen that in, of course,you know, The Exiled, Kids and
Monsters, Kill Journal.
Each of those projects feelsvery unique, but they all seem
to share a common thread of likeexploring human emotion and
resilience in uh in the face ofdarkness.
(04:50):
It's very much what's happeninghere with Mad Dog.
Can you walk us through yourcreative journey as a writer and
how those past experiences haveshaped your approach and how it
ultimately led you to Mad DogMorgan?
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
Yeah, I think, you know, from you know, and from
the creative process standpoint,I think for myself as a
storyteller, I think that, youknow, horror is such an exciting
arena for me because, you know,it's it's essentially a fantasy
world.
And with it, you can sort ofthrow out the window of maybe
sort of the uh politicalcomplications and uh and
struggles of sort of modern day,and you can put somebody in sort
(05:21):
of an altered reality so you canfocus on a particular theme or
human struggle without maybegetting caught up in um sort of
the day-to-day things that cancan bog down a story.
And so I that's why I love it asan arena because I feel like
it's like one of the best arenasto tell a drama that isn't a
boring drama, right?
And um, and so I think that'swhy I've always kind of find
(05:43):
myself there, you know, with thekill journal, it's the story of
trauma survivors trying toreclaim their lives while they
hunt slashers, right?
So it's this, it's really that'sthe story tucked into the
horror.
And, you know, with uh theexiled, right, you have
essentially a guy trying toreconnect with his father,
caught up in this war that'smuch bigger than himself with
creatures and monsters.
(06:05):
Um, and you know, with kids andmonsters, it's the same thing.
It's two kids, you know, dealingwith their parents' potential
divorce and how that plays out.
So um I think at the heart ofwhat I am as a storyteller, I
like to, you know, remove sortof the trappings of the real
world and put us in a fantasy sowe can really dial in these
human themes that I think arehave are have a broader
(06:26):
relationship to people.
I think everybody knows that itfeels like to have felt like,
man, made my life, I kind ofscrewed up.
I'm kind of a failure.
Everybody knows that feeling ofwanting to redeem their failing,
their failings.
And so I think that Madda Morgancan connect with anybody, right?
So, and and so then my personalcreative process, you know, like
(06:46):
for myself, I handwrite mycomics, you know, for a lot of
it.
I'm writing them on notebooks orby handwriting the dialogue,
sometimes doing even layoutsmyself.
I try to keep it as organic aspossible in the early stages
when it's being the inception.
And then when I pass it to anartist, you know, I type it up
so they're not just looking atchaos on a page.
But I like that organic spacewhere there's nothing electronic
(07:09):
around you to conceive.
You know, and for mad and forand a lot of the inspiration is
you know around me is comingfrom real-world things, you
know, like Mad Dog Mor Morgan's.
I keep what I say, Mad DogMormon.
That could be another comic.
Um I'd read that too, honestly.
I think you're ready, you'reready.
But um, with Mad Dog, you know,it comes back to this
(07:29):
documentary I watched aboutwrestling.
You might have seen it uh behindthe mask.
And in this, Jake the Snake isbeing interviewed.
Um, if you can remember him backin the day.
And he gets asked a questionabout his dad, and it just
triggers the guy and he startscrying, and he's talking about
how he never was able to live upto his dad's expectations and
like his dad passed, and then henever got there, and there's
this sort of this emptiness, andyou're just like, and I was gut
(07:52):
punched by it, right?
And I think that was the earlybeginnings for myself, you know,
of this story of what is that,what is a Jake the Snake story,
but it but if he didn't get intothe WWF at the at the time, you
know, like where does he end up?
Um, is really where it beginsfor me.
So I think the real world iswhere I search for things that
(08:14):
that inspire the fantasy.
SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
Yeah, I love that.
I mean, how many uh mad dogs arethere out there, right, that
pursued this wrestling journeyand just came up short and
eventually had to reevaluate andfigure out what was next for
them, Eric.
You know, we have been, we'vehad indie wrestlers on the
podcast, you know, that telltheir story and and uh you know
how how difficult that journeycan be.
So uh this is uh again somethingthat definitely caught our eye
(08:39):
for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (08:40):
No, it it was it was absolutely from the everything
that we read about the pressrelease, uh, and everything, all
the details, the synopsis, thedescription, the art, which
we're gonna get into in a littlebit here.
Like, there's so much to lovewhen it comes to this.
Adam, I wanted to talk to you alittle bit about, you know, kind
of our first impression from thepress release was Mad Dog Morgan
(09:02):
would be perfect for fans of DoaPowerbomb, The Shining.
Uh, you mentioned The Wrestler,which immediately came to mind
when I saw the art.
So I love that you threw that inthere.
There's obviously otherinfluences that you're gonna
find in work like this, but whatI find more interesting is
getting a chance to pick themind behind the work.
So I'd like to actually ask youwhat are some other pop culture
(09:25):
influences that you've had overthe years that have impacted you
professionally, creatively, andor personally?
SPEAKER_00 (09:33):
Yeah, it's interesting to say like pop
culture influences.
You know, I think about, youknow, from like in the world of
comics, I think of a comicthat's always sat with me as
Berserk, Kentaro Miyoro'sBerserk.
I think it's maybe the greatestever done, and it's just such
this epic tale, this characterguts, you know, that um that one
has always sat with me.
It's interesting because, youknow, this tale with uh Mad Dog
(09:56):
Morgan, there's this video gameI played when I was very young
that's always sat with me calledAlone in the Dark.
Um, it was this Cthulhu-likegame, and that you go into this
house and you kind of get intodeeper levels of the basement,
and you sort of the evil expandsas you do.
And I think that that um feelingI've has always sat with me, and
it it plays out in the world ofMad Dog Morgan.
(10:16):
This you come into an evilhouse, and then as you go down
the levels in the house, deeperinto the basement, you know, the
horror becomes more, it comescrazier and more volatile,
right?
Um, so I think that was a bigthing.
And you know, interestinglyenough, with this story, the
story of Samson, you know, thatbiblical story of when he's
standing between the two pillarsand he pushes them down, you
(10:37):
know, after Delilah's cut hishair, kind of played a piece of
this.
It's kind of was what what gaveme the the the other side of the
story was it's like, oh wait,Samson looked like he'd failed,
he got betrayed by Delilah, helost all his strength, but then
really he got set between thosetwo pillars, and that was his
real destiny, right?
To to collapse the tower, tocollapse the building and kill
(10:58):
the enemy.
And it's like, oh, what if inthe end what looked like your
failure was actually justsetting you up to win?
So those are definitely someinfluences you can kind of see
it's kind of crazy between likebiblical comic books, video
games, um, right?
It's a lot of things going atyou.
I think definitely, you know, doa powerbomb is interesting
(11:18):
because I was writing Mad DogMorgan when Daniel Warren
Johnson started to tease he wasgonna do a wrestling comic.
And in the background, I'm like,please don't don't, you know, is
it a horror wrestling comic?
Because if it is, I'm gonna looklike a phony.
And so fortunately it wasn't,you know, and it's uh, you know,
I loved Daniel so much, his art,and I think, you know, extremity
was one of the um one of thebooks that I think really uh
(11:42):
increased my love of comics, youknow.
It's kind of like there's twothat like really dove me in
deep.
It was Extremity and then um 100Bullets.
You know, I was doing I wasdoing Snakes on a Plane and Sam
Jackson came to set reading it,and I remember looking at that
and I was like, gosh, if it'scool enough for him, it's gotta
be cool enough for me.
And I remember reading that bookcomic and being like, oh, this
(12:06):
is what they can really be.
Um and it was really, uh, reallyeye-opening for me.
So um yeah, but yeah, but do apower bomb definitely uh, as far
as like the sheer joy of theaction, the wrestling action in
you know, who who does not lovethat?
SPEAKER_03 (12:21):
Yeah, and I think that's really cool because like
it's it's such an interestingtime for this to drop too,
because like wrestling andhorror are both kind of seeing
like a renaissance, likehorror's in the best place that
it's been in a long time, andthe same can be said for
wrestling.
So, like, I just love the mergeof those two things and
(12:41):
wrestling fans in general, Adam.
Like, uh, you you gave us like asmorgasbord of uh of options in
pop culture.
I always find when I talk towrestling fans that that's the
case, they have the most diversetaste of like pop culture
enjoyment.
It all comes back to wrestling.
Every single genre has made itsway to wrestling one way or
another.
SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
I I agree.
You know, there's somethingabout, you know, I don't know if
you're watching Raw, you know,on Netflix now, you know,
they've you know they've reallyleveled it up in a fun way, you
know.
And Rhea Ripley's so epic, youknow, out there in the ring, and
just even this little last bitwith Santa.
But it's like I agree with youbecause when you're looking at
wrestling fans, like you seethis tough dude with his big
(13:21):
gnarly truck and his DD books inthe back.
You know what I mean?
And he's there at the wrestlingevent, you know, and it's like
this isn't this the mix there isis something different.
SPEAKER_03 (13:32):
Yeah, sports entertainment itself is
something different, it is uhsomething to behold.
And uh, you know, I gotta say,uh, Phil, kind of throwing it
back to you because I know thisis something you immediately
picked up on when we weretalking about doing this
interview, was just the amazingart style here.
Like when we talk about agraphic novel and just getting
interested right off of thevisuals, I think that's so
(13:54):
important here.
And Phil, I gotta say, for MadDog Morgan, uh knocking it out
of the park with firstimpressions.
SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
100%.
Yeah, Adam, you and Maxi Dalohave partnered quite a few
times, and it always leads tosomething really, really great.
So when you're blending, youknow, these two genres,
wrestling and horror, there's alot to think about.
Just uh outside of just makingthe story itself blend.
You want to make sure that theart style blends as well.
You know, wrestling has, likeyou just talked about, has this
bold, colorful, exaggeratedenergy to it, and you know,
(14:24):
while horror thrives onatmosphere and the shadow and
tension.
And translating both of thoseinto a single visual language
feels like it could be a reallybig challenge.
But from an artistic standpoint,what were some of the biggest
hurdles that you and Maxi facedmaking those two very different
aesthetics coexist?
And then on the flip side, werethere any moments in the
creative process whereeverything like clicked and you
realize, oh, we found it and wefound the perfect way to
(14:46):
visually balance that's the youknow the spectacle of wrestling
with the the dread of horror?
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
Yeah, it's interesting you said because you
know, here is the cover, youknow, for Mad Dog Morgan for
anybody you know watching this,and you can see it's him there
with the mask on.
And this mask is kind of becomesa source of his power, it ties
into the supernatural side ofthe story.
And you know, there's the bloodymask.
There was something when whenMaxi early and I on early on,
this was the one of the firstimages that he and I did.
(15:12):
Um, and there was something oncehe put the blood on the on the
wrestling mask that instantly wewere in that world of horror.
So I think as we were trying tofind that balance, because I
agree with you, there is like acolor palette that wrestling,
you know, wrestling in black andwhite is maybe too muted, right?
It it kind of demands color.
You know, this is the cover herefor the Ash Can.
(15:32):
Mike Spicer did the colors herefor this, who I love, and you
can see how he uses these boldpurples and reds and yellows.
And um at first we thought, youknow, that's gonna contradict
the art style, you know, becauseMaxie has such a great sense of
energy and action, whichwrestling needed to have.
Um, but then he's also such agreat use of silhouette and
(15:54):
shadow, which I thinkcontributes to the horror side
of it.
So that was oftentimes thediscussion.
But what I think we came to findwas is when you took something
like this where you're gettingsort of these pinks and purples
in this mix, but because ofMaxi's very moody lines, all the
negative space in there, theblacks, the very hand-drawn
feeling to it, instead of themcontradicting each other, they
(16:16):
complement each other, right?
And it lets it it also preventsthe horror from becoming just
too moody and like it kind ofbecause sometimes horror can
drone on if it's just if it'stwo in the dumps, right?
And I think that like weaponsand barbarian were great
examples of horror movies thatlike didn't let it get too just
flat and like you you just youfelt kind of like the drudgery
(16:40):
of horror.
And so I think that they endedup kind of complementing each
other in a unique way.
And one of the big things Ithink about it was creating
these kinds of visuals in theeyes.
Um, if you can see here, Maxidid this great thing where he
has his eyes almost kind ofpopping out of his head.
You can see the veins in themwhen he's showing fear, and
those slightly exaggeratedemotions that can come from
(17:00):
Maxie's caricatured art reallyelevated the feeling of horror.
And I think that's one thing,you know, that manga art manga
artists do well is they theyexaggerate the faces and the
emotion just a little bit moresometimes in a Western comics.
I think it serves it because itas an audience it helps trigger
you when you don't have sound,you know, to know what you're
(17:21):
feeling.
And then and then, you know,because here's another great
page you can see that Maxispeaking of that eye, right?
To build up this fear.
Um, and for those on thepodcast, it's well, essentially
it's Mad Doug Morgan.
There's this tentacle that'swrapping around him and choking
him off, and he's gettingsmaller and smaller on the page,
so you can just see just his oneeye.
(17:42):
Fear in that eye was really umwhat Max and I talked about so
much is like how can we get thefear to translate in the eyes,
which is kind of a cinematictrait versus um as often thought
about in comics, but gettingthose eyes super big uh in the
frame.
So uh that's I think that's kindof how how we went about it.
And at first I agree with you,or like, where does this fit?
(18:05):
And then that mask happened withthe blood on it, and it was
like, okay, there it is.
SPEAKER_02 (18:10):
Yeah, it looks really great.
One thing uh as that also standsout, and Eric, you let me know
if you feel the same way.
This would make uh Mad Dog wouldmake for a really cool cosplay.
I would love to see somebodycosplaying this character.
SPEAKER_03 (18:23):
Cosplay, I was gonna say, is it too early to talk
about like an animated project?
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Like, I'm gonna be honest, the second- Live action,
who are we gonna call?
SPEAKER_03 (18:29):
Phil already knew I got giddy the met the second you
started mentioning like thatmanga and anime comparison with
eyes.
Like, Phil knows one of myfavorite things about watching
like an anime or reading a mangais what they do specifically
through the eyes.
So those examples you gave arejust like absolutely fantastic
to hear about because those arethe things that get me excited.
(18:51):
And I could just only imagineagain what this looks like on
the pages.
I'm already thinking ahead.
Are you stopping yourself fromthinking that far ahead?
Like, I'm already over herelistening, thinking ahead of
what it looks like in otherforms of media.
You know, what's your kind ofthought process as you're
getting into this?
Uh, you know, about the future.
I know we're just at the start.
We're gonna talk about theKickstarter here in a second,
(19:11):
but like looking at the horizon,are you stopping yourself?
Are you getting giddy as well?
Where are you at?
SPEAKER_00 (19:18):
Yeah, no, you know, it's funny you say that because
you know, um, I've made a lot oftelevision in my time, but I
love comic books for what theyare.
When I did the book with WesleySnipes, um, they were asking
Snipes now, you know, do you seethis as a you know, is your
greatest hope for it to be amovie?
And I said, you know, mygreatest hope is for people to
read it.
You know what I mean?
For actually people, becausewhen people pick it up and read
(19:39):
it, there's a love and aconnection and a fandom there
that's that's real deep.
And I think that's in my heartthe most.
You know, we've been doing, I'vebeen building this trailer for
it for the Kickstarter that's inanimation, and that does get me
thinking, you know, anime forsure.
I'm not gonna lie, because I'm abig anime fan, especially with
(20:00):
the retro anime, because there'ssomething about like when you
look at those guys who are doinglike that cell animation,
hand-drawn stuff with all theemotion in those faces and in
the details, and you're like, Idon't know why we're not, and
you can't get it now.
Like we have all this assistancewith computers, and like how
come we went backwards?
So, I mean, I and I love youknow the animation format and
(20:24):
anime so much, you know.
I think um, you know, I thinkabout like a tomo so much, you
know, in his what he did withAkira, you know, um, with not
only just in the the mangaversion but in the film, like
what you mentioned, the eyes,you know, uh was really a big
deal.
So I I I try not to let myselfget dreaming too big because
then I forget the moment I'm in.
But every now and again whenwe're working on the animation,
(20:46):
I go, and then I bring myselfdown very quickly, very quickly,
pop that balloon.
SPEAKER_03 (20:51):
No, that's completely normal.
That is completely normal.
And again, uh, we're reallyexcited to bring this to our
audience uh to get more peopleto know about this, to read it.
Uh, you've definitely got somebackers over here.
Like again, we we pretty muchknew when Chris sent us the
deets.
Like, we were like, all right,yeah, that's that's a wrap.
Uh so for anybody else that'sconsidering uh supporting you,
(21:13):
you know, as part of thisexclusive crowdfunding effort,
uh, which is launching onOctober 7th of this year, 2025,
there's gonna be two campaignexclusive editions, some add-ons
for Mad Dog Morgan that youcan't get anywhere else.
Can you tell our audience as wekind of wrap up a little bit of
what they can expect if theyback this on Kickstarter?
SPEAKER_00 (21:33):
Yeah, so I'm a big crowdfunder.
You know, I've personally backedmore than 400 campaigns, so I'm
in it deep.
I've done several campaignsmyself between board games,
role-playing games, and tons ofcomics.
And, you know, I love thatexperience of kind of taking the
ride, getting in on the newthing.
And so when launching this book,you know, it'll be in retail
(21:54):
stores, you know, mid to late2026.
But I wanted to do a crowdfunderthat was gonna give all the
fans, the people who supportedme along the way, something
totally different and somethingspecial.
And so one is is the cover forthe book will be an exclusive
variant that will only exist inthis.
And you know, for the lab, myprinting partner on it, my
(22:16):
publishing partner on it, theyonly do hardcover.
So it'll be a hardcover slipcasebook that you're getting.
It will have this incredibleimage here of him smashing the
lecture here.
This will be a foil print.
This will be the only way toever get it.
It'll be signed by Maxi and I.
And then this, so it'll be aspecial cover, there'll be the
(22:37):
special foil print, and forthose who back in the first 48
hours, they'll get the New YorkCity Comic-Con Ash Can.
Which will be essentially theonly way to get it if you aren't
one of just a very small handfulof people who grabs it in New
York.
And that gets it for you on anytier level if you're in the
first 48 hours.
So it's like, how can we giveyou something like you jumped on
early, so you get thisexclusive, incredible item that
(22:59):
no one else is ever gonna get.
And for anybody watching, youknow, here's the cover for the
Ash Can.
Obviously, no trade dress, butjust the the colored art.
And then, as you mentioned, thecosplay.
So there is gonna be the Hell'sCannonball t-shirt that's gonna
be out there.
That's his signature move in thebook.
There is gonna be the mask, it'sgonna be an item.
(23:22):
There's gonna be a leather-boundedition of the book that's gonna
be a special tier that'll onlyever exist um, you know, here
for the campaign.
There's gonna be patches and uhheadband.
There's gonna be all the coolthings that make it feel like
you got the uh the inside track,you got the special item.
And I'm a fan, you know, I'm acollector, so I I love the this,
(23:45):
you know, and you guys are inthe same boat as I am, and I
think many people on Kickstarterand crowdfunding spaces are, you
know, you want you want thespecial thing.
Um, and so that's what we'regonna be throwing at you with
it.
We're gonna keep it real simple.
There's just gonna be two tiers.
Uh, one for this for this theexclusive variant Kickstarter
edition of the book, and thenthere'll be a big mega tier, you
(24:06):
know, called the main event,which will be the leather bound
edition, which will have themask, uh, it will have the ash
can, um, it will have the patch,the t-shirt, it'll be the full
package.
And then also everything will beas will be add-ons except for
the ash can.
That will you can ever get morethan one.
And and um, but um, and so youif you want to build your own
tier.
So that's that's I think whatthey're looking forward to with
(24:29):
it.
Um, it's a chance to you knowdive in deep.
SPEAKER_02 (24:32):
Yeah, that is that is really, really cool.
As far as outside of uh New YorkCity Comic-Con, will you guys be
anywhere else throughout theremainder of the year promoting?
SPEAKER_00 (24:41):
Yeah, you know, I uh as far as I I'll be I'm I'm
gonna be at New York.
Um are you guys gonna be in NewYork?
Unfortunately not.
SPEAKER_02 (24:47):
No, it's New York City Comic-Con eludes us.
We're right, we're based out ofJacksonville.
So Jacksonville, Florida.
SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
So yeah, no, I mean I I would say the same if I
didn't have we have a I have apost-production office there, so
it's like kind of an easyexcuse.
Uh, because I know it's uh thethe hotel prices are killer.
Um but I know so I'll I'll bethere at New York City Comic-Con
promoting.
I won't be to another con beforethe campaigns because it's just
a you know 30-day window, and soit'll really just be New York
(25:13):
for it.
Uh, but we'll certainly be, youknow, making an appearance at LA
Comic-Con, other places later,you know, to help to continue
the promotion of it and to keepthe keep the word out there and
keep mad dog Morgan fighting.
SPEAKER_02 (25:26):
Yeah, definitely.
And like Eric mentioned, we aregoing to be uh keeping very,
very close watch on this, veryexcited to also support.
And uh for those of youlistening, we definitely implore
you to check out the uh theartwork that has been shared
over our YouTube page.
So make sure you check that out.
And everything Adam justmentioned as far as the
crowdfunding and the Kickstarterwill be in the show notes of
(25:48):
this episode, Eric.
So uh yeah, but uh again, very,very excited to follow this
project.
SPEAKER_03 (25:54):
And Adam, thank you so much for giving us the time.
Like it is very muchappreciated.
And I know getting the word outis super, super important.
Is there anything else that youwant to say?
Any last words for anybodythat's thinking about, you know,
again, backing this project,getting involved?
Yep.
Anything at all that you'd liketo plug here, I'd like to give
you that opportunity as we closeout the episode.
SPEAKER_00 (26:15):
In the world of, you know, the MCU and the DCU, there
is this magical vortex ofcreators throwing their whole
hearts into their work andputting it out before the world.
And, you know, comic bookcollectors and even wrestling
fans or horror fans, what makesus cool is that we're on the
front row.
And getting in on the campaignputs you in the front row of not
(26:38):
just this book, but just youknow, comic books as a medium in
general.
And so it's like if you've neverbacked before, this jump on in,
it's fun.
The book is done, so there isn'tgonna be some two-year wait uh
on the on this kind of thing.
It's gonna be, they'll get theuh we'll get the numbers and
then we'll make a print orderbased on it.
So it's you won't have to wait,and you get to be in on the
(27:01):
ground floor of something trulyspecial.
Um, so join the ride.
The water's warm.
SPEAKER_03 (27:07):
Awesome, Adam.
Again, so thank you so much forjoining us.
And uh, I can tell you guys nowfrom the artwork jumping off the
pages, from your passion jumpingthrough the mic, jumping off the
screen.
Like, I'm telling you, it we'rewe're on board, we're excited,
and we're excited to have morepeople get to know about this.
Adam, we appreciate it.
And for all of you guyslistening to the Wait For It
(27:29):
podcast, we really appreciateyour support.
An extra bonus shout out to ourpatrons that are supporting us
monthly.
Briar, T3K DO, Vintage Macaroni,Corey from the World is My
Burrito, Nick Casbaro, theauthor of the Vitalyrium series,
and Botter from the Short Boxpodcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, wegot a lot more.
Please just remember all yougotta do before you press play
(27:51):
is wait for it.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
This is the Wait for It podcast.
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