'Zombie Date Night' with Special Guest Steve Urena | Zombie Book Club Ep 89 - Zombie Book Club

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to the Zombie Book Club, the only book club
where the book is a date andyou're blowing it.
I'm Dan, and when I'm notcommitting heinous faux pas on
dates with Leah, I'm writing abook that has been described by
one person as highly anticipated.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
And that person is me .
I'm Leah, and today we arechatting with Steve Urena, an
indie comic writer since 2020,who is best known for his fast
killer sloths, santa fightingrobots, zombies interrupting a
blind date and a demon-possessedsuperhero who gets her powers
from cursing.
I would love to have powersfrom cursing, and we are talking
with so powerful.

(00:52):
We're talking with Steve todayabout his latest comic series,
Zombie Date Night.
Welcome to the show, Steve.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
I mean this.
You know, zombie Date Night.
I have to go on a zombie datewith both of you.
Yeah, appropriate.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Are we a thruple for this next 90s?

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Oh yeah, zombie thruple night, zombie tra.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
I think we need your fiance here just to balance this
out.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yes, yes, we might bring her on.
She's the editor actually ofboth zombie date nights.
That's amazing.
She's.
She's the editor actually of ofof both zombie date nights.
That's amazing.
And they talk as well.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I've got some rapid fire questions for you.
Let's do it, but just be knownthat you will be judged.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, that's fine and it's all part of a broader
science experiment working on.
We're going to collate all ofthe data one day.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, I didn't know that we were going to do
that, but it sounds good when wesay it.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I have a spreadsheet.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
All right.
Do you prefer fast or slowzombies?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I like the slower zombies.
I think they're moretraditional from what I'm used
to growing up and I just feellike, as a big fan of Resident
Evil, like you know, gettingaround those zombies are tougher
because if there's more of themthen that becomes more of a
problem.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, they're suspenseful.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yes, they're also more disturbing, I think, in a
way, having your death slowlywalk towards you.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
But not too slow.
If you're focusing on onezombie, you're like, oh, it's a
slow zombie, then the other onecould get you from behind.
Yeah, because they're quiet,yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Next rapid fire.
Question 40-hour work week orzombie apocalypse which would
you choose?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
I like my 40-hour work week, so I'll go with that.
Why, what's that?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
like.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Zombie apocalypse would be tough.
I feel like you.
I feel like that is theequivalent of a 24 7 job,
because you're always because,unless you're in a community of
people, um, and if you're onyour own, you always have to
watch your back.
And if you know, if that is theequivalent of getting emails at
10 30 at night, I think a40-hour work week, at least for

(03:07):
me, um, is a little bit easierto manage.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah you bring up a good point, though, um you know,
without, without community, thezombie apocalypse is a very
daunting thing I mean withoutcommunity.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
A 40-hour work week and capitalism is also very
daunting.
So I think there's like acommon thread there you need
people to get there, you needpeople.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
You need people to get through.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Uh, so you don't feel dead I guess, which is why you
need to date them and when yougo to work you have a community
at work that and everybody doesthe work together yes, hopefully
if it's functional.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Sometimes work can feel like the Hunger Games or a
zombie apocalypse.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yes, absolutely the Hunger Games.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, so you've got your slow zombies.
Unfortunately, the 40-hour workweek, this didn't work out and
it is the zombie apocalypse.
What are you going to begrabbing for your weapon?

Speaker 3 (04:08):
of choice.
I mean, you can't go wrong witha nice baseball bat I would use
in honor of my grandmotherwhich is part of the first
zombie date night chancleta withnails in it which you could use
both hands and quick draw onthese zombies.
But yeah, I think baseball batand melee weapons 100%, jess.

(04:31):
I feel like I feel like thefeel of that is better than you
know gun great.
But like you know, I feel likebeating zombies heads in would
probably feel real good.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I've definitely been leaning more in that direction
lately.
You know, as a kid you know Ilove these movies because it was
just kind of like a afree-for-all shoot them up kind
of situation.
But now I'm yeah, I I kind ofappreciate when they go full
melee, because it does it does.
It amps up a lot of thatsuspense, because you can't just
blast your way out of it.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
You gotta, you gotta, start swinging and fighting
also, you're surprised sometimesby who the badass is like,
abuelita.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yes, 100%.
Don't fuck with her.
Don't fuck with Abuelita,that's right.
I do think you guys have a nicebusiness idea going, because
there's a lot of axe throwingand things like that.
There's also break rooms whereyou can break things with a bat.
I feel like if there's a zombieroom or a zombie type of escape
room or something like thatwhere you can bash zombies heads

(05:28):
in, maybe you could fill themup with.
You know, fill mannequins up orsomething.
I don't know, but I feel likethere's something there.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
I feel like there's a big business opportunity I've
always wanted to make one ofthose like ballistic dummy uh,
ballistic, ballistic gel dummiesthat have like 3d printed bones
and organs and stuff and justlike go, that would be beat the
shit out of it.
But they're also reallyexpensive yeah, that would.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
I don't know what your overhead would be.
Yeah, it wouldn't be good, itwould be expensive.
I I went to a uh, a halloweenthing once and it was you could
shoot zombies, quote unquotewith, with, uh, paintballs and
and that was fun for like twoseconds and then it's like all
right, well, what, what now?
I mean they just, they justcome at you and they, but they

(06:14):
don't go down, you just keepshooting at them oh, that's
right, there was a rule.
Yeah, they're breaking therules.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
They can't do that.
No, they cannot.
I, uh, I I actually, um a longtime ago, knew somebody that
worked at one of those places.
Yeah, she was.
She was a writer.
She didn't write zombie fiction, it was just like that's.
That was the job that wasavailable where she lived so
that was her 40-hour work weekyeah, being, as I don't want to

(06:40):
take work home last lastofficial question yeah, and nero
, our dog, has a lot of opinionsabout this one.
So, okay, we'll compare.
We'll compare notes.
Uh it's, it is the zombieapocalypse, um, and you've,
you've found a warehouse that isfilled with some type of shelf

(07:02):
stable food item, um, forsomehow, some magic happens and
you're able to choose what thatfood item is.
Uh it's, I guess he found agenie.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Maybe I don't know the demon is a superhero.
Yeah, she swore a bunch andcreated your favorite shelf
stable.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, so what?
What is your?
What do you choose to be thethe thing that you eat for the
rest of your life?

Speaker 3 (07:26):
um, I mean, I would love fried chicken, but I but if
it was more of a zombie thing,that makes you know, makes more
sense, because frying your friedchicken would be very tough in
a warehouse.
I would say eggo waffles, Ilove it.
Wow, I think that's a gooddoomsday food.
It's portable, you could putstuff on it, you could make
sandwiches with you, put peanutbutter on it.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
It's the best, yeah that is true when I discovered
that you could put peanut butteron waffles it changed my world.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
You can do that all I know is, as you were saying,
your answer our dog nero, waslike choking, so I don't think
he's a fan of the echoes, butwe'll have to find out yeah,
we'll, we'll, we'll see.
We'll get some egos and see ifnero's into it so I was gonna
ask this question later becausetechnically, I typically like to
have like one rapid firequestion that's related to your,

(08:14):
your story, but this one willrequire some explanation.
So it's not totally rapid fire,but I feel like it has to
happen right now.
Okay, let's do it.
So you have a demon possessedsuperhero who gets her powers
from cursing and a sloth thatkills a lightning speed If those
characters met your zombies,who's walking away?

(08:35):
And please explain what azombie is.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
So, first off, a zombie in my book are my.
Zombies are reliant on theirpartners, so they need they need
a mate to survive, basically,um, so that's that's why I
wanted to make zombie date nighta little bit different.
So it is about an awkward blinddate, but then the twist is
that the zombies are alsoworking together to, uh, get to
their food.

(08:57):
Because you want to, you wantto share your food, of course,
um, but you know, in terms ofwho wins between all three, I
mean, I think the slow pokes win.
I feel like the zombies wouldwork together, but I feel like
the zombies are too quick to go.
But then, um, foul mouth, thedemon possessed superhero, gets
her powers from cursing.
Um, I could literally drop anf-bomb on them, but I would say

(09:22):
that I would say the slowpokes.
I think the slowpokes are alittle bit more clever and foul
mouth, and in the last issue shejust got her power.
So she's still fairly new tothe game, but the slowpokes, I
feel like, have been killing alittle bit longer.
And because there's three ofthem, there's more of a, you
know, the unified front againstthe other two.

(09:42):
Yeah, and for those who don'tknow, the unified front against
the other two, yeah, and forthose who don't know, the
slowpokes are the sloths thatkill at lightning speed.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's killer sloths.
Yes, that is what brought me tothe dance.
Well, thank you for answeringthat very difficult question.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
There's a thing right happening right now, called
march mammal madness.
Have you heard of it?
Yes, where I, where they?
They vote in what?
What the best animal mammal is,right?
Well, it, it's like.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
It's like fantasy football, except for it's every
year.
Some I don't even know whatthese people are, biologists,
whatever.
They pair up a whole bunch ofdifferent animals.
This year includes mycelium, sothere's like mushrooms, there's
a ginkgo biloba tree, and thenthey make them face off in these
fictional scenarios.
So there's one ultimate winner,and I'm banking on the polar
bear this year.

(10:23):
So this that was sort ofinspired by this question.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
That's awesome.
Yeah, maybe, maybe one day myslots will be there.
The fast slots, I mean.
I always thought in my mind, uh, that if sauce became fast,
that they become killingmachines and that just the
gravity from earth keeps themslow I mean, those claws are
terrifying I feel like thegravity of earth keeps me slow

(10:46):
let's have that too.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
That could have that works for gravity, I'd be so
fast.
Um, so you're, uh, you'vealready got issue one out.
Issue two is coming via yourKickstarter.
What can you tell us about theZombie Date Night series?

(11:08):
For anybody who hasn't heard ofthis, Sure.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
So you know what makes a blind date more awkward,
and that's zombies, of course.
So if you go on a blind datewith somebody a Tinder date, you
know, hinge date, whatever andyou meet somebody you know on
this, on this thing, and ofcourse that's awkward.
Meeting somebody in person,then I feel like now it's, it's
even more introverted than itused to be.
Um, you know, I know somepeople do video calls, but I

(11:33):
know some people are very timidwhen it comes to the dating
scene and just they're, they're,they prefer texting and talking
like that.
Um, so if you meet somebody inreal life and whether, if the
vibe is good, great, but if thevibe is bad and a zombie
invasion happens, like what doyou do?
Like, do you get out of?
You know, do you go and leaveor do you stay?
Do you stick around and seewhere the date goes?

(11:54):
Does the date get better nowthat there's zombies, something
that united front?
So that's kind of where zombieday night comes from.
And it's basically arelationship that takes place
during a zombie apocalypse or a,um, you know, according, if you
will, of a zombie apocalypse.
Um, so, and then you know, puton top of that, that the zombies
are.
They can't survive without amate.

(12:16):
Then you got for some good,old-fashioned zombie form yeah,
zombie love.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Zombies need love, zombie love all around.
I get it.
Um.
I was reading some of yourinterviews from the past one
with Paige Lyman and you sharedin that interview that an
inspiration for this story isthat you used to gauge dates.
You went on by a zombie rule.
Can?

Speaker 3 (12:33):
you share more about that and?

Speaker 2 (12:35):
how that inspired this story.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Sure.
So back in my dating days, Ikind of had that in my mind.
I was like, if this date sucks,or if this date sucks, or if
this date is going well andzombies came, what would I do?
Do I stay or do I go?
And I always thought that was agood idea for a story, because I
feel like you're vulnerablewhen you're on a date and then

(12:57):
if there's zombies too, you'reeven more vulnerable.
But at the same time, you cancreate a bond with somebody just
from this zombie invasion,because you have to survive, um,
so I, I always thought that wasinteresting and I always
thought in terms of, like,horror and comedy, the beats
line up together because you'recreating tension, um, and you're

(13:17):
, um, you're whether it's comedyor horror, you're trying to get
a reaction out of somebody, andthose reactions are fairly
similar.
So, um, that's where zombie daynight came from.
So he have to.
If I, if a zombie, if zombiescame, whether I would stay or go
, that's, that's, that's whereit came from.
And now I'm going to getmarried.
So she, she, uh, she passed thetest congratulations.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
That's actually our next question yeah, um what?

Speaker 1 (13:44):
when did you know that your, that your fiance uh,
passed the zombie rule test?

Speaker 3 (13:52):
um, I knew she passed the zombie rule test because
there's there's two types ofpeople when you date people
those, those are that are herefor a reason, those that are
here for a season and, uh, shewas here for a reason and and
there are those who will meetyour mom.
And she passed the test andshe's looking at me with loving
eyes at the moment.

(14:12):
And also, you know, she's justeasy to deal with, she's fun and
if there was a zombie invasion,watch out zombies.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Really.
So she's like Ginger, she cankick some ass potentially.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, she can definitely kick some ass.
She's a fighter.
She will not let zombies eat me.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's very useful to have around.
So when did you pass the zombietest for her?

Speaker 3 (14:37):
That you might have to ask her.
Do you want to answer that?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, no, she doesn't want to answer.
Okay, I don't think.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
I passed the zombie test you're still working on it.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
She's just accepting that she'll be caring for you
and making sure you don't die inthe apocalypse yeah that's very
loving.
You mentioned zombies and she'slike halfway out the front door
.
She's like good luck.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
Well, you know, funny , funny enough, I don't think I
passed the zombie test becausewhen we first met, we met on a
of all things.
I never went out with anybodyon a dating app.
I always had it but I woulddelete it because I was kind of
scared of it.
I was like, oh, I don't knowwho you're going to meet on
these things.
So then we matched and westarted talking.

(15:18):
I was like, oh, this girl isreally cool.
You know what.
I'm going to meet up with her,I'll see what happens.
But in my back of my mind I'mlike what if I get robbed?
What if something happens?
Who knows?
So we met up.
We went for hot chocolate andsomebody pulled up next to me in
the car and was like, hey, Igot to talk to you.
I was like, oh, I'm gettingrobbed.

(15:40):
I was like something'shappening, something's going on.
And it was just this guy.
I don't know if he was on drugsor something like that, but he
was telling he was talking abouthow he needed 17 so he can get
a hotel room, because he didn'thave that much.
So I was like I'll just giveyou 20 goodbye.
And then he left.
But she was going like this inthe car, in the passenger seat,
because she thought I was goingto get shot and she didn't want
to get shot.

(16:00):
She wasn't.
She wasn't willing to to tohelp me.
You know what I mean.
So we always have that.
We always have that storybecause I thought that she was
going to rob me, but she justshe stole my heart instead.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's a.
I love that love story.
That's very sweet.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
I don't know if it is a love story, but that is what
happened.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well, I mean, I think it's also reasonable, because
she wasn't sure if you were shewanted you to be in her zombie
crew.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yet you know, I know, but it, but if, if you put a
gun up, I I feel like I wouldhave been like hey, like you
know, I mean to protect, but she, she wasn't gonna protect me at
all she's like I don't want toget hit with the splatter yeah,
exactly that's what she did.
She went like this she was.
She was far back in the chair,but luckily nothing happened, so
it was fine.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
And now you're getting married.
Are you going to reenact thatas part of your wedding?

Speaker 3 (16:55):
I keep saying, because we had our date at Donut
Delight and so with our weddingwe're looking at venues.
I was like, if you want, wecould just do it where we met,
the parking lot, of DonutDelight.
It's very romantic.
She doesn't find that asromantic as I do you know?

Speaker 1 (17:10):
I mean, it sounds like a really romantic place and
I think we should go.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Donut Delight.
Yeah, I would be delighted toeat some donuts, so I'm a fan.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Who doesn't like donuts?
Donuts are great.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, you know, I'm still waiting for somebody to
say that their food item isdonuts.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, nobody said donuts.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, I guess it's not really shelf stable.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think some donuts would be shelf stable, but
that's a debate for another time.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
So if you guys are talking donuts, which donut
would you want?
Because it's not just a dozendonuts, would you have a
specific donut in mind and it'snot just a dozen donuts Like?
Would you have, like, aspecific donut in mind?

Speaker 2 (17:45):
So, as a Canadian, I have to say that I have a
special place in my heart forthe sour cream glazed donuts
from Tim Hortons.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, that's, that's a good one.
Yeah, you know I might be theweird one.
I mean I love all donutsequally.
However I I have, I have aweird.
I have a weird thing for likethe, the base, you know, like
whatever it is, I want like themost basic version of it and

(18:13):
that's how I'm going todetermine whether or not it's
good.
I like a plain donut and if Ieat a plain donut and I'm like
this is a good plain donut, thenI'm willing to expand and try
some other things.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's the gateway donut.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Back to zombie type.
Wait, we have to ask you yourfavorite donut, then we can move
on.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Crawlers.
I love crawlers.
I mean, I love all donuts aswell, but I think crawlers.
I don't eat them as much.
So whenever you get one, it'slike oh man, this is a nice
treat.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
whenever you get one, it's like oh, man, this is a
nice treat, a special treat,yeah, uh, okay, so you told us
what the zombies as part of yourzombie type, which definitely
is a new one I've never heardabout like paired off zombies.
How else would you describeyour zombie type versus others?

Speaker 3 (18:55):
Um, besides, probably more medium, uh, speed.
You know what I mean.
Like they, they move aroundlike, I guess, like normal
people do, but because they relyon the other zombie, there's
more things that could be done.
Like they can work together,kind of like two animals and
pairs, to get what they need, toget the food that they need,
and I think that's moredangerous than just one zombie,

(19:18):
just you know, coming at you.
And especially, there's also akind of like a horde mentality.
So there's a main king andqueen and then they a kind of
like a horde mentality, sothere's a main king and queen
and then they all kind of likecome around.
Um, I always thought in zombieslike that would be like.
I feel like that makes it morescary, because at first you're
like, all right, just a couple,like well, we can mess.
It's like, oh wait, this isbasically a giant, um, you know,

(19:39):
a giant couple relationship ofzombies.
And also in in zombie datenight two, the single zombies
are the weakest zombies whichyou know sorry single folks.
Yeah, sorry, you know, even,even, even in zombie world,
you're getting, you're gettingthe shaft, I guess.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
So these zombies are codependent.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yes, they are codependent.
That is their power, which canmake for a bad relationship too,
but yes, they are codependenton each other.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
And they must have some level of intelligence
because they're coordinating.
But like do they have to dateto find their pair?
Like what's their process?

Speaker 3 (20:17):
It's basically the first, I guess like pheromone
type of thing, but like thefirst person that comes around.
That is, that is their, theirpreference, whether you know,
gay, lesbian, whatever you knowthere's.
There's lesbian zombies,there's gay zombies, there's
regular couple zombies.
But if they meet somebody, thatis basically what they want,

(20:40):
they're looking for, they'llconnect, they'll hook up.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
I love that.
I'm actually kind of rootingyou a little bit more for the
zombies.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Love, love wins, love , love always wins, yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
So let's take.
Let's take place in a mall.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Do you have any like real life inspiration from the
mall or so so for me, zombiedate night takes place in a mall
, because that's my second comicand as a somebody that's a big
fan of Kevin Smith, um, and likeI'm from, I'm from New Jersey.
Um, so, clerks, you know, slowpokes was my clerks, zombie date
night is my ball rats, um, andjust zombie.

(21:18):
So that that's how I alwaysthought of it.
Um, I do have experience in themall, living in New Jersey and
and going to the movies and andhanging out with my friends
there, and you know, by going toFYE, by DVDs, or you know
things like that, going toAuntie Annie's pretzels to get
to get a nice, you know, and weknow what Auntie Annie's
pretzels might be good insteadof the waffles, too Cause too,

(21:40):
because, like, it was reallygood and they're definitely
shelf stable.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, do they have an instagram?

Speaker 2 (21:44):
we can tag them.
Maybe you can get some free.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Auntie annie's but, but the auntie annie's during a
zombie apocalypse though it'stoo dusty, you know, I mean like
all the cinnamon, like, wouldleave a trail, oh, so that's
that's the only thing that couldbe a problem, um, but but yeah,
the, the mall, um, it's morecontained there, but it's
contained, but you could stilldo so much in a mall because
there's so many different spacesyou can go to.

(22:07):
That, you know.
You can go to, like, a huntingstore, you can go to a food
court, um, you can go to themovies there.
So I always I felt like a mallis is such a perfect place for a
zombie, um invasion also.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Um, because I love dawn of the dead as well we're
actually going to living dead,and now that I know that you
live in New Jersey, I'm like youshould come.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Funny enough, I was looking at possibly doing it.
I just have another Comic-Conthat weekend.
No, but I know they're movingaway from the mall.
Possibly, so hopefully, if theyfind a good place to do it next
year, I might look into that.
I'll have Zombie Date Night 2by then, too.
Amazing.
Find a good place to do it nextyear?

Speaker 2 (22:45):
I might look into that.
I'll have zombie date night tooby then too Amazing, yeah, damn
Walmart buying them all.
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah, but, but.
But yeah, like I think TomSavini is going to be there
Right, and a lot of the castfrom from Dawn of the Dead and
other zombie movies, so itdefinitely looks like a fun
event.
I oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
You wrote this in 2020.
So I'm wondering if, like anyof the mall aspects of it, were
some nostalgia in that momentfor being able to go to things
like the mall.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yep, absolutely.
You know, it was definitelypandemic brain at the time and I
was like I, you know, I, youknow the people were getting the
vaccine and everything likethat.
And I'm not anti vaccine by anystretch of the imagination, but
I was like you, like you knowwhat, like how crazy would it be
if they did this vaccine?
And you know they put all thesethings in here and then
everybody you know turned intopeople who took it, turned into

(23:36):
zombies, and I thought that wasa good idea like you're getting
the vaccine dan you're likeplease make me a zombie.
Yeah please be the zombie virusyeah, but the only thing with
that is like I don't, you know,I don't.
I don't want people to not getvaccines.
I don't want my characters tobe like, oh, they're dumb, they
didn't get the you know.
But it's more like, um, thatyou know the vaccine just came

(23:59):
out and they're about to get it,but they didn't, so they didn't
, and then they all they all youknow are are part of this thing
well, I have to say, assomebody who lives in the middle
of nowhere and has not set footin a mall and solidly five
years, you made me feel a littlenostalgic.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
I was like maybe I do want to go to the mall.
I guess we will be.
We go to living dead weekend Iwas like I give me good memories
.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
They're doing adult summer camps.
I don't know why they don't doadult go to the mall, whether
they do a special day of it.
Hey, you can go shopping, youdo this, you go eat and you go
hang out with your friends atthe mall like it used to be.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
Yeah, I think that they should take all of the run
down malls that are condemnedand turn them into retirement
homes For millennials.
Yeah, for millennials.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
And Gen Xers.
That sounds right.
That sounds like something.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Imagine, like going to your retirement home and like
you're, you're, you'reshuffling with your, with your
old people pals, uh, speedwalking, that's what you do in
the mall, and you and you headto the food court, because
that's where you go to eat now.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
So what?
What stores would you have inyour retirement mall?

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Oh man, I'd need a Michael's or some kind of local
art shop so I could keep doingall my fun crafts.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, there has to be a crafts shop for sure.
Spencer's Gifts of course.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Oh, hell, yeah, yeah, spencer's Gifts.
I feel like that just comeswith the mall when you build it.
It's just already in there.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yeah, I mean, how else are you going to get a
shirt that says over the hill?

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Exactly yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
That's exactly right, and the whole food court, but
it particularly needs to have,like a greasy, americanized
Chinese option.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Oh yes, my favorite, Like Bamboo Express right.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
I think that's what it is called, because I really
didn't spend a lot of time inmalls since I've lived in the
united states.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
How odd, I'm just thinking yeah you move, you move
to the most, into the mostmalls, and then you're like you
know what?

Speaker 2 (25:57):
I'm not gonna do it no malls for me, yeah, but
speaking of retirees, uh, we'vegot to talk about abuelita.
Yes, first of all, do you havean abuelita who has as badass as
Jack's Abuelita in the story?

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yes, so yes, my, my grandmother on my mom's side is
definitely.
She's the character basis forAbuelita in the in the zombie
date night series.
One because she's badass andtwo because she could beat my
ass with a nice chancleta.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
And does she make fun ?

Speaker 3 (26:30):
of you.
Well, she passed a few yearsago.
I'm so sorry, but she did notmake fun of me.
I made fun of her more than shewas probably one of the
sweetest people ever, unless Igot lost.
So one time I went again to amall and I was younger and I
decided to go off on my own andthey thought that we were

(26:51):
kidnapped or that they, you know, something happened.
And then when we came back, youknow, my other friend got a big
hug from his mom and I got anice uh ear pull from my
grandmother I feel like therelationship between abuelita
and jack, one of your maincharacters, is actually the
first love story in zombie daynight 100, because, if, because,
if, if it's good for Abuelita,it's good, it's good for the

(27:13):
grandmother, it's good foreverything else.
Like I said, uh, you know,introduced to your family or
introduced to your mom is a bigone.
Um, cause there's, I'm sure,and you know, people listening.
Um, you guys might have thesimilar story before you guys
met each other, that when youdate people, there are people
you're going to introduce toyour family and there are people
who are like I'm dating thisperson but they're not coming

(27:34):
home.
I'll be honest.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
I'm a serial long-term relationship person
and the last person I datedonline was Dan, and that was in
2000.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Okay, when we were teenagers.
Yeah, we texted for like 20years yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
And then we like texted.
I'm just saying I'm absolutelyclueless, like I don't know
which way to swipe, because I'mjust like I'm a u-hauler, um so
I just like a different type ofdating.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
You are you, holler is good.
It's like you know they put allthe stuff in there.
Yeah, all that they'll move in.
Move in with somebody alreadyyou know yeah, but like tell us
what?

Speaker 2 (28:09):
what inspired you to make abuelita at the center of
the first issue?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
um, I just, I just think having a grandmother fight
zombies is not something yousee every day.
And um, just going off ofthings that that I that I've
experienced myself.
Um, like the protective parentsor protective grandmother, Um,
one time I went on a date.
It was, it was the first daythat ever went on.
Um, I used to keep that stuffto myself and I finally was like

(28:36):
you know what I'm going to tellmy, my parents, and like, hey,
I'm going on this date.
And my dad's like you know what, here's the, here's money for a
movie, go use the car, enjoyyourself.
And I was like, okay, great,Like you know, this is great,
we're having a rapport here.
You know, me and this girl, wewent to go see a movie.
This was at the time where I wasvery a little bit more nerdier

(28:56):
than I am now.
I had asthma, so I went to goto my car because I it was
spring, I needed to use thepuffer, and then I you know day
went, fine, everything.
I came home, my dad's like, oh,how was it?
I was like great, you know itwas, it was a good time.
And then he goes oh, why didyou go outside?
I was like wait what.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
They went to the movie that they didn't go to
your date, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
They didn't go to the exact movie, but they went to
the movies while I went, and Iwent literally a town, two towns
over.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Did you make out at the mall, at the in the movies?

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Uh, yes.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
I'm glad they were in a different movie.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
They didn't see that, but it just was like that was
the that broke the trust, and Inever told them anything again
until until my future wifeshowed up and I was like, hey,
I'm dating this girl.
She's really cool, you knowthey're like we know.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Please don't.
We were at the movies.
Please don't follow me.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, we saw you at Donut Delay.
Why did that person ask you for$17?

Speaker 2 (30:00):
So my other follow-up question to this is when you
took this girl on this date, didyou buy her popcorn or did you
pull a jack and um, only buyyourself?

Speaker 3 (30:10):
popcorn.
I'm a little bit more givingthan my characters, but uh, jack
is cheap, I am uh.
At least on a date I will, Iwill, I will cover it as at the
time tell us more about jack andginger, because jack is a
choice to make as a writer.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
You could have had like a really lovely date and
had rapport happen right away,but instead you picked this guy,
jack, who's cheap, alsopossibly broke um and only buys
himself popcorn.
Why, why did you choose jack?

Speaker 3 (30:45):
because I think a smooth date is too easy and when
you're writing a zombie datenight, it has to go in the worst
way possible and then it getseven worse.
And then obviously there's ebbsand flows to the story of like
okay, here's where things startgetting better, because people
have been and just hearing otherdates that I've heard from

(31:06):
other people um, in my life, uh,the meet cute is fine, but when
you're in the date, that'swhere the the hard part is and
it's keeping people's attention,and especially during the
pandemic, where I feel like alot more people became less
social.
Um, so when people are lesssocial and they're not used to
making eye contact and they'renot used to talking to somebody,

(31:27):
I feel like it gets even moreawkward.
So these characters just cameout of a pandemic type event
that they needed a vaccine, soof course they're both a little
bit rusty.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, I didn't know what they were doing, although I
felt like Ginger was fair inher strikes against Jack.
Every single one.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
And the date turns around.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
The date only turns around because ginger's a badass
dynamic switches, which, whichagain ginger, like I love having
strong female characters in my,in my books, um, and I think
ginger, you know, kicks ass andyou know, and and jack is lucky
to have her, especially during azombie apocalypse.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
Sounds like some parallels between you and your
zombie.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yes, and no Minus the cheapness she would throw me if
necessary.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Do you see a lot of Jack in yourself, or do you see
yourself as other characters inin your uh, in your story?

Speaker 3 (32:28):
I don't, I don't see myself as jack because he's kind
of like he, he's kind of theopposite of what I would do.
Um, but I would say I'm morelike blake, the best friend, I
think, I think, because he'sjust very like positive and and
very like, yeah, let's do like.
You know, I'm more like that.
That then, um, then I, I wouldsay Jack, but I, I just think

(32:52):
bad dates are.
That makes me laugh, like that,that makes me laugh and like I
think everybody's relatedrelated to bad dates, um, and
and, and you know, you alwayshear good stories too about
people who meet, who met for thefirst time.
Two great things that I'veheard um, heard people meet over
a date was my old roommate.
His parents met during a prisonriot.
Wow, they were both prisonguards and there was a riot that

(33:17):
happened and so they were onlockdown and they met that way.
And I was like that is amazing.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's a trauma bond.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
I know it's a trauma bond, which again zombie date
night is kind of like that.
And then the second is a friendof mine at work said she knows
a couple that somebody calledthe wrong number and was like oh
hey, I'm looking for so-and-so.
They're.
Like oh, you know, they're not,I think you've got the wrong
number.
And the person on the phonejust said you sound cute.
And he's like oh, you soundcute too.
And they met up and they endedup getting married.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
That's very adorable.
I also will say you made melaugh pretty much the whole way
throughout because of thefoibles of Jack.
I read the comic first and so,Dan, I don't know what you were
doing while I was reading it,but I just was like laughing and
Dan's like what I'm like.
I can't explain this to you.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
Also, there's a zombie with a popcorn bucket on
his head that was a highlightfor me.
Well, thank you, I appreciateyou for reading and luckily I've
been able to get good reactionsabout Zombie Date Night, which
is awesome, From the horrorcommunity, the comic community.
It's usually when I go to thesecons I went to a con this

(34:25):
weekend it's usually a neck andneck between the sloths or the
zombies, so so on the.
But the zombies do reallyreally well when it comes and
and people always see the titlemakes it because they're like
zombie date night.
I gotta, I know exactly whatthat is yeah, yeah, and the
art's really, really excellent.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Who is the the artist ?
Who's the team behind zombiedate night?

Speaker 3 (34:45):
sure, uh, the artist is, uh, sergey domenic.
He's excellent.
He's breaking through in comics.
He's definitely going to begetting more work from bigger
publishers in the future.
Um, just an awesome artist.
Um, lettering by anthony rella.
Uh, editing by, uh, allegracalderaro, soon to be allegra
urina.
Um, but yeah, just um, I, I'vebeen very lucky that, so I, so I

(35:09):
get my comics done through.
There's a company called comicsexperience, so they do for
anybody who wants to writecomics, who can't draw, like me.
You could take these onlinecourses and and and get your
comic made, basically.
So I took a course.
I got the sloths done in there.
I got it done.
The Kickstarter went reallywell.

(35:30):
I used the money from thatkickstarter put into zombie date
night, um, and then they justfind me, these very talented
artists who are looking for work, who need the you know, need
the reps, need the, um, you know, get more, uh, you know, get
more practice doing what they'redoing, so then they can become
masters of their craft.
Um, and these people aremasters of their craft, so I can
only imagine how much betterthey're going to be, you know,

(35:52):
as we, as as the years go by andmore issues come out.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, I can only imagine.
I mean the art style is.
I don't think I've seen an artstyle quite like theirs.
Actually, yeah, it's reallyunique.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
It's incredible, and the coloring is great too.
Like everything.
Just, comics are a team sport.
If one thing goes wrong, thewhole thing can just be derailed
, so I'm very lucky to find theteam that I have for this.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, that's what blows my mind about comic
creators is how you're able totranslate your vision, and then
somehow meet in the middle, intosomething maybe possibly
greater than maybe even youimagined.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
So for me, in terms of the artists, um, I'll write
my script, but I want, I wantthe.
You know, the artist is thecreator too, so I want them to
go at full tilt as possible.
Let me pull you back later,like do what you want to do.
Let's figure this out.
Here's my descriptions go,you're a professional, do what
you got to do so who'sresponsible for the zombie Santa

(36:48):
and zombie elves?
That's me, because.
So the comic after I did zombiedate night was ex-Mashina,
which is, you know, santafighting robots in the future.
So I always try to leave littleEaster eggs of like what's
coming and what things are, andthen people look back and like,
oh man, he predicted this, youknow there.
But also because the this, thisstory, takes place during the

(37:10):
winter, and if I was like, well,if they're going Christmas
shopping or if they're going,you know, during the winter,
then there's got to be Santapeople there and it's just fun
to see a Santa zombie.
I don't think I've ever seenthat anywhere else.
I'm sure it exists, but I justnever seen a Santa zombie.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
I also love zombie stories that are told during
wintertime.
I feel like so many of thestories are summertime or fall
and adding snow to yeah it justmakes it worse.
Yeah, it just makes zombies evenmore crazy.
Sphere, because I always when,whenever there's like a little

(37:47):
blanket of snow, that likethat's, that's like there's a
feeling about that snow which isjust kind of like comforting
and yes, yeah, and then like youhave a zombie apocalypse, which
is like the opposite I'm prettysure that for the folks who
listen to this, who hate winterand I know a couple of them they
are just going to shut off thisepisode.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Right now they're like there's nothing comforting
unsubscribe but in this you'rein a mall in the wintertime and
they're staying in the mall.
In the next issue they havesurvived in the mall, probably
because of the mall.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yes, definitely.
I feel like just the mall is agreat setting for a story like
that, just because they'retaking away people because of
the zombie invasion.
But I feel like the mall givesbecause there's food and there's
weapons and there's all thisstuff in there, um, and and it
definitely, I think, workswithin a zombie invasion yeah,

(38:38):
especially when you have aproper character.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Who I think is leah's favorite character?
Absolutely Rosie.
Adore her yes, um it took ittook me a while to realize, uh,
where, where the chainsaw went,I was, it was.
I remember just seeing.
At one point I'm like did she,did she put the chainsaw on her

(39:04):
leg?
Does?

Speaker 3 (39:05):
she have a leg chainsaw.
That, that is my, that is myhomage to Planet Terror, the
Quentin Tarantino movie, andthat was also a zombie invasion
one, and I just am like chainsawleg is the best, and always in
these zombies movies there'salways somebody who is like a
doomsday prepper that's alwaysready to go.
So of course I put that back inthere.

(39:28):
And just since the weapons arewild anyway, uh, with the
chancleta and and a katana, uh,and all different things I felt
you know, his uh, chainsaw legmakes makes sense for this
what's the backstory betweenrosie deciding to keep her own
pee, though this is a choice?
well, because doomsday preppers,or some doomsday preppers,

(39:49):
they'll drink their pee if, uh,if there's no water.
Um so, just because you know it, just yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
I I thought about this so she decided to save her
pee.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Yes, in case she needs it even though she could
have just gone to the waterfountain at the movie theater
she owns.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
She could have had jars of water.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Well, there were some jars of water also, I believe,
and also because in the bunker,yes, saving the pee for water
and things like that, but alsobecause it's just like, well,
I'm just hanging out in thebunker, I'm just going to pee
here.
But yeah, she definitely drinksher own pee 100%, just for the
taste.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Are we going?

Speaker 3 (40:30):
gonna see more of her in issue two.
Uh, I think I.
Uh, we'll see what happens.
She falls uh into into a zombiehole at some point maybe she'll
find her mate and have youzombie maybe too, maybe, um, but
yeah, you'll have to find out.
And then issue number two okay,I'll wait.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Everybody back this kickstarter.
I need to know if rosie comesback as a zombie uh, you know
what we should.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Let's talk about the kickstarter.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Yeah, sure, um, my understanding is that
kickstarters are hard yeah, uh,this is, this is number six, uh,
which is crazy, um, but rightnow.
So you know, I'm takingeverything as it comes.
The lettering is done, um, I'mtrying to just get the money is
going towards, like the printingand things like that and

(41:16):
shipping, um, but you know it's,it's been a tough time and I'm
I'm laughing because I'm like,oh, you know, february is
probably a good time to dozombie date night too.
You know it's it's Valentine'sday.
I can do Valentine's time to dozombie date night too.
You know it's valentine's day,I can do valentine's um, but
everybody, and their mother, isrunning a kickstarter at the
moment.
I think there are 300 liveprojects, somebody told me, so

(41:36):
there's a lot of.
You know there's a lot to fightfor and things like that, and
there's a lot of very talentedpeople that are running great
kickstarters right now.
Um, so for me it's it's doingthese podcasts going to, which
has been a new thing, um, andand just trying to figure it all
out and and hopefully we'll getto the finish line.
We're at 66% funded as of thelast time I checked, um, there's

(41:58):
still like 23 days, 24 daysleft.
So I think I think there's timeand also people wait till the
end.
Sometimes I'll wait until thelike the last week or so to just
jump in on it.
So hey, slow and steady winsthe race.
Any amount of money that goesto me goes to the next project
and then just making comics.
So if you like my stuff, or ifyou are discovering me for the

(42:20):
first time, check it out.
Check out Zombie Date Night.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Yeah, help us get to the goal, because issue one is
hilarious.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
Yeah, I want to see more and I also, like I said,
just go and look at the t-shirts.
If you don't like comics whichI used to do with that person
and now I love them so maybe youshould give them a try.
But if that's not your thing,but you're listening to this,
that means you probably likezombies, which means you
probably need a really radzombie date night t-shirt.
So help everybody out, get thecomic, get the shirt.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
I've been lucky to work with very talented artists.
The person who does my shirtshis name is.
His first tag name isVertebrae33.
He's done stuff for Hot Topic,he's done stuff for with Rick
and Morty, he's done Star Warscards and I'm very lucky that
he's a friend of mine that I'mlike, hey, do you want to do
these crazy shirts?

(43:11):
And he's like, yeah, let's doit.
And the zombies on a date I feellike it's such a good At the
end of the day, even if thecomics don't work out.
A merch line of just zombies ona date is amazing.
Yeah, there's so much you cando with that.
And then another artist, JasonThomas.
He's brand new to this comicKickstarter scene.
He's another friend of minewho's just a talented artist

(43:33):
that I'm like you know what Iwant?
To pay my friends to do thesecool designs and at the end of
the day, it adds to theirportfolio.
And then they can do comic cons, they can do horror cons and
have all this stuff there withthem.
But he did my zombie valentines, which are absolutely wonderful
.
Um, you can, you could getthese valentines.
One says eat bay love.
One says you'll always have myheart.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
and the other one says even death won't do us part
are these valentines kind oflike when, um, when you're in
like elementary school and youbuy like a whole bunch of he-man
valentines to give to everybodyin your class?

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Because I've been looking for things like that as
an adult.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
Absolutely, I'm definitely inspired by like
Garbage Pail Kids, definitelyinspired by Valentines.
Every year for Valentine's DayI will do handmade cards for
anybody who wants them, mygirlfriend especially.
There's a story where one ofour I guess it was a date or one
of our hangouts I asked her to.

(44:35):
I was like, hey, I need yourhelp with the air conditioner
and we were putting the airconditioner together and we lost
it and it fell out the window.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Oh no.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Luckily it didn't hurt anybody.
It just hurt a tree,unfortunately.
But so I drew her an airconditioner that said I'm
falling for you, so I'll dothese like punny Valentines for
people.
I drew an otter and it saidyou're an otter in space and
it's like you're otter thisworld, Stuff like that.

(45:07):
But actually just to go off ofyour question, um, that is
actually one of the tiers.
Uh, if you do the highest tier,which is the shirt, the poster,
the valentine's, everything Igot, I will make you a handmade
valentine, uh, like that wow, Ithink I need to go increase my
tier.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yeah, because I need a, because I need a valent.
Yeah, a friend of mine from thefirst place I lived in the
States, which is Georgia I livedthere for a decade Every year
with Ophiel sends me a Valentine.
So I think this is the year Ican send her one back, and it
will be one of yours.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
Yes, my drawing is not great, but I can do.
I will do my best to make itwonderful.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
That's what makes it sweet Bad art is its own sort of
special thing.
So do you have a dream of wherezombie date night could go Like
?
Do you have a certain number ofissues in your mind.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Yeah, I think I think four or five might work.
I think, if, if people keepliking it, I'll keep doing it.
But I have a set story kind ofin mind of where it goes.
Like it's not like the slowpokes, the slow pokes, I feel
like could go on forever becauseit's it's just, you know, a
different horror genre with eachissue, uh, but I think zombie
date night, I feel like there is, there will be a definitive end

(46:20):
and um, and these charactersare, are awesome and I love
writing them.
And just to go back to the wellof hey, like you know, jack and
Ginger, like what's going tohappen in this?
I feel like people that haveread the first one are
interested and want to see wherethis goes.
So I need I need to finish it.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
I agree.
I have a vested interest inJack and Ginger getting together
, even though Jack I have likefaith that because he's starting
at a low point yes, he's one ofthose characters that will like
really become.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
He's already lovable, even though he's I also would
not date him he's only got roomto improve exactly ginger's
amazing, so uh and that's whatwriting is, this journey of
change.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
So you know it's, it's, it's taking, but I but I
feel like a relationship duringa zombie apocalypse is not
something you see all the time,like it's more about the zombies
or it's more about here's, thiscommunity, but the fact that a
relationship and now that I'mgetting married, a lot of these
stories can go into this type ofbook.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yeah, they could get married.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Yeah, they can get married.
They could have arguments.
They can work together or bebroken up.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
There's so much that can be done, uh, with this
that's always the test we saythis all the time like the test
of a good zombie story is if youcan take the zombies out.
And it's still interesting andI think that's exactly what
you've done is you have thisreally hilarious backdrop, but
everything else feels very real,um, including rosie with her p
jars, because we all know thatperson I'm that person.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Dance that person.
Do you have p jars?
I'm not gonna tell you where myp jars are um, but, but yeah, I
mean, but that's also.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
That's a relationship like um, you never know what
the world around you might addpressure to it.
Um, I mean the pandemicdefinitely.
I feel like it was a challengein my relationship with my
future wife.
At first we were together andthen we were separated because
of the lockdown.

(48:22):
My mother had cancer, so I hadto stay with Not at the time but
she had to compromise theimmune system because of of this
.
So I was with them and she was.
She was a teacher, she's ateacher still, um, and she was
forced to go in so I couldn'tsee her because of this.
But it added pressure to thingsand, you know, I thought we

(48:44):
might have broken up.
I thought something could havehappened or you know, and it was
out of my there's nothing Icould do about a pandemic, and
then I didn't want anything tohappen, but luckily things
persevered and we talked it outand we communicated with each
other, which is 100% how to makea relationship successful.
And now I have two cats, so Ihave an apartment and two cats.

(49:07):
So things have changed.
But again in this changed, butit's it's again, you know, in in
this book, if there's a zombieapocalypse.
You know whether it's it'sgoing well or not going well.
There's more zombies, lesszombies.
It's gonna.
There's gonna be ebbs and flowsof a of a relationship.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
Yeah, I mean that's part of, I think, what it is to
be human is to have those ebbsand flows, and kudos to you two
for making that through a verydifficult time.
I hope your mom's okay yeah,she's fine.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Uh, she's pain in the ass as usual.
No, I'm kidding, she had ittwice before, but it just that
was during a time where nobodyknew what was happening, and it
just I just didn't want to andand we we had known people that
passed on from covid, um, youknow, and and just we didn't
know anything about it.

(49:51):
So it was, it was a very weirdtime, but I mean, things happen
for a reason, so it's it's.
Luckily, everybody came outbetter at the end of it.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
And now you have two cats, an apartment and a
wonderful fiance Two cats anapartment, and now I am forever
tied to this woman.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
Who will?
Who will?
Uh, now we are.
We are creators of the zombiething.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Well, that's what I was going to ask you is what is
it like to create together?

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Um, it's, it's fun, but it so.
At first I was like, right,I'll, she's a, she's a great
editor, because whenever I doscripts, um, I'll read it with
her.
Um, she'll give me deadlines.
Um, she'll be like scripts,I'll read it with her.
She'll give me deadlines.
She'll be like, oh, I don'tthink this makes sense because
of X, y and Z.
And if you're writing especiallyother zombie authors that are

(50:36):
on your podcast or that want towrite more stuff, it definitely
helps to have a partner to readyour stuff Because, especially
if it's somebody like her, sheis completely unedited and oh, I
think this sucks because of X,y and Z, somebody like her.
She is completely unedited andoh, and I think this sucks
because of X, y and Z.
Luckily, she's sweeter thanthat, but but you know, but it's
, it's good to have she.
She's been great, she's prettymuch been the thought.

(50:59):
You know she's.
She's helped me figure out allmy comics.
You know what works, whatdoesn't, and she's a great
editor, editor and for somebodywho's never edited before in me,
she's she's been great, verygood notes, just like oh, try
this.
Or you know, very giving.
There's no, there's no, likethere's arguments, but I feel

(51:20):
like it's debates more thanarguments.
It's more like I think.
But again, at the end of theday, you know I have control
over what I'm doing, but I trusther 100%.
And you know I have controlover what I'm doing, but I trust
her 100% and I couldn't havedone all this stuff without her.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Yeah, I think when you're in the writing process,
you can sometimes get to a pointwhere you think all of your
ideas are the best ideas andnobody's had better ideas than
these, and it really helps tohave somebody that'll just like
tear you apart and just pointout all the ways that, uh, that

(51:57):
you need, that you need toimprove something.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Um it can be painful, but it's.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
It's very helpful though I.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
I'm very open, um, because create, creating for me
is a vacation, like in myfull-time job.
I love to create, but that'snot my baby, you know what I
mean.
Like it's whatever the companywants me to do, and sometimes
I'm happy with it, sometimes I'mlike, oh you know, it is what
it is, but these are my babies.
And to have her give me thatfeedback to make it better,

(52:28):
that's what I want.
I don't want just regularstories, I want something a
little bit different.
I want people to be entertained.
I might not be the best of alltime, at least at this moment,
but as long as I get better witheach comic, I'm completely cool
with that.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
I love that.
That reminds me of so.
I used to ride horsescompetitively when I was young
and I had a riding instructorwho said to me it's not about
what like place you get, it'sabout whether or not you've
improved from the last time youshowed your horse.
And so like if I won, that wasgreat.
But it was always back to like,what was your goal for this Um
show and like, did you meet that?
Because the ribbon is like thesecondary thing.

(53:06):
So I think that's really coolthat you're building your skill
over time and that you have apartner that can support you.
I think it says a lot about thetwo of you, too that you can
communicate in that way andreceive feedback and have those
conversations.
I think it's something that Ireally appreciate about this guy
over here across from me, dan.
Co-creating something with yourpartner is really special, so I
always love hearing about itwhen other people are doing that

(53:28):
.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
Yeah, it's, it's been , it's just awesome, Like she's.
I mean I have crazy ideas andshe's not like, oh, that's, why
would you do that?
Or whatever.
Um, my, my thing is I alwayssay that if it gives my parents
something embarrassing to talkabout, that it's probably the
right way to go.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
When was the first time you told your parents about
like your comics?
Did they always?
Know about it, or did you alsokeep it?

Speaker 3 (53:50):
yeah, my parents my parents, I think are supportive
of me as a person, but myparents are not supportive of my
ideas because they can't wraptheir heads around it.
Sometimes, um, which is funnybecause my mom is a fashion
designer and I'm like you, youhave to be a little crazy to get
your ideas through.
And then my dad is is morestraight laced, as like a

(54:11):
businessman, um, he's, he's, heworks for xerox, um, but when I
first told them about the slotsoh man, that was that made me
laugh so hard.
Because my dad's, like you'respending money on this, like
what are you doing?
I was like, hey, I made, Iwrote this in class, like I'll
see what, where it goes.
But I, I want to do it.
It sounds fun, it's alreadydone, might as well get it done

(54:31):
and the risk is low and ifanything, you know, I lose some
money, that's okay.
Like it's, it's not, I'm not,it's not, you know, I'm not
going into debt over it, it'sjust.
You know, just something I wantto try.
And he, they I don't know how mymom really felt, but my dad was
not really into it at all.
He was just like what is this?
And then now they I feel likethey support when they see it's

(54:53):
finished with the, see thefinished thing.
So when they saw the comic,like the, what it looks like,
now they talk to their friendsabout it and then you know
everything is like oh, I needthat shirt.
Oh, can I have this?
Okay, it's like all right, likeyou didn't support it first, um
, but now they, they will.
They support the finishedproduct that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
It's just that you're the one who's the visionary.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Um yeah but the fast killer sloths yes, during and
during the, during the, thekicks the first kickstarter for
slowpokes I told my I adoptedbaby sloths.
Uh, as part of like, the, aspart of the campaign.
So I did, I the there's a slothconservation project.
So I donated money and becauseyou donated money, you're
technically adopting a sloth.

(55:36):
So I told my mom that she wasgoing to be a grandmother and
she was like what, what are youtalking about?
I was like to these beautifulbaby sloths and she was very
pissed off.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
Oh, that's wonderful.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
I think my mom had a similar moment, but not to
baby's loss.
I think she just realized thetwo dogs is what she's getting
from me.
It was a moment for her too andI I can relate because, like,
my family knows about thepodcast, but I have not told
them the name of it because Ireally don't want them to listen
.
Um, but I have shown her someof my art that's related to it.
So currently I'm making like a,a zombie crown for our annual

(56:17):
game show, zombie ween forsylvester barzi, who won in 2024
.
It's really rad.
Um, it has a butthole on it andmy mom is like asking me for
update painting pictures of allthe time.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
And then she told me she's showing her friends hell
yeah, and I'm like show it goand your mom is showing your
butthole work yeah, yeah,basically that's where we're at,
but apparently, um.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
So my last marriage was with a woman and she's told
me that people react moreweirdly when she tells them that
I make zombie crowns and sheshows them the picture than when
she told them that I makezombie crowns and she shows them
the picture when she told themthat I was with a woman, which
brings me a lot of joy.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
I mean, that's what it's for.
I was afraid when I was younger, but then I think with the
comics it's like I can literallydo whatever I want and if you
can form a story out ofsomething that's absolutely
batshit crazy, like demonsuperheroes or zombies on a date
, and also, just for me, thekiller sloths I get sloth

(57:19):
everything now Sloth gifts,sloth pictures, sloth whatever
and I could have just stayed inthat realm.
But I was like you know what?
I got to spread my wings and Ilove being known as a slot guy,
but I want to make sure thatpeople know that I have more to
give and I can try new thingsand self-publish stuff and
figure it all out and not haveto worry about anybody getting

(57:43):
in my way of like, oh you can'tdo that.
If I pitched fast killer slotsto like Marvel, I think they
would kick me out of the becauseI don't know what they're
talking about.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
I'm also going to be getting um slow pokes after this
.
It sounds so entertaining.
Also, I love slots.
Did you have a natural affinityfor slots or how did that come
about?

Speaker 3 (58:00):
I just think slots look scary, like if they.
If you take a look at them,they have crazy claws, they're
like they look horrifying andthen you've ever seen a wet
sloth like that's not, uh, yeah,just lots like in the in the
water.
Um, I just thought that, likeclimbing in the trees, if sloths
were fast, they have the it's.
It's ripe for a horror moviebecause they have the claws,

(58:22):
they can, they can swim in thewater, they can jump in the
trees, and then you're screwedsorry, my brain just started
picturing a movie no worries Iwas like this has to be a movie
like a sharknado kind ofsituation where funny.
You do say that, um, there is animitator, um, I will not say
the name of it, but there is animitator that took my logo and

(58:45):
they took the idea, um, and it'sbeen very bizarre because mine
came out in 2020 and theirs cameout in like 2024.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
What's that like?
What's that experience like asa creator, to see something like
that happen?

Speaker 3 (58:58):
It's cool because at the same time, it's like all
right, I made enough of a dentthat people want to do their own
, I guess.
But at the same time, it's likeI might have it Like, let's say
, I wanted to make a slowpokemovie or something like that.
I feel like it's tougher nowthat that exists, um, but I
don't know, I I'm not sure, I'mstill.
It's still very weird, it'sstill very fresh, because we

(59:20):
found out about this last year.
Wow, uh, and it just, you know,I just don't know what the deal
is.
Maybe it's a coincidence, maybeit's not, but I, I just, I'm
like, I, I just, I, it's too,it's too, um, everything is too
similar for me to think that itwas just the coincidence.
Yeah, um, so I, I will, wecould talk offline, I'll show

(59:41):
you the deal, um, but it is veryuh, it's a very bizarre thing,
but at the same time, it's notthe same as slowpokes.
And somebody, somebody saw thatand read my comic and said that
the comic was better.
So I'm like, all right, well,that's fine, but also I created
a new genre, so I think thatthat's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
Wow, that's a cool way to think it.
You've created the sloth killergenre.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
As far as I know, and again I haven't I'm sure I'll
run into them at a horror conone of these days and and and
I'm sure there'll be talkingthrough Cause like I don't know,
like maybe it was just somebodyhad a similar idea or whatever,
but again, the logo is is toosimilar to mine.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
I mean, that's I think.
I think that kind of tells thestory.
I'm I already.
Yeah, steve is the originalsloth killer.
Yeah, or the original slothhorror comedy.
But yeah, it's kind of like if,if you didn't, if you invented
uh sharknado, this is the, the,the uh natural disaster, plus um

(01:00:42):
scary animal combo that'sfollowing you and trying to copy
that, that uh but just imaginethere's somebody who made Shark
Hurricane first.
And they're like hurricanes aretoo big.
How about a tornado?

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Yeah, Like oh man.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
There could be a fun beef out of this where, like
somehow you're, two slightlydifferent versions of sloths are
duking it out.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
Maybe, I don't know, there could have been a legal
thing, possibly Also that kindof beef legal thing possibly
also that kind of beef, yeahyeah, that kind of beef.
But listen, I, I the fact thatthere's two of these things is
crazy, um, but I just, I justwant to keep creating and I just
want to keep doing things alittle bit different.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
Um, and I, I like the horror genre because anything
can, anything is possible yeah,I was gonna ask you because
people like you I always find umfascinating if that's not too
weird to say, like dan is alsolike this, a lot of folks that
we I get the privilege.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
I said I don't think my girlfriend agrees with that,
but you're fascinating.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
I just mean, like, how does your?
What I don't understand aboutpeople who are storytellers is
like there's, it feels likethere's a compulsion to create
and these ideas are coming fromsomewhere and I just want to
know, like where?
How does this?
I'm asking you the mostimpossible question, which is
how does your brain work, Steve?
How do you come up with thingslike demon possessed people who

(01:02:08):
can make things happen byswearing people?

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
who can make things happen by swearing.
So there's a lot of good booksfor that too, like Stephen
King's book on writing is reallygood David Flinch's book about
catching ideas and it's funnybecause I always had ideas like
imagination, of like, oh, whatif they did this, what if they
did this?
And I just never had the outletfor it and I never knew what

(01:02:31):
the outlet could be until comicscame into my life, because I'm
like, oh, maybe a movie, but I'mlike movies cost a ton, you
need to find actors.
I'm not an actor, but comics Ifeel like I can do that.
I can make my movie, I can makemy story and it's visually
interesting Because even if Isuck as a writer, the artists
that I pick are awesome and theycan make it all pop and make it

(01:02:54):
all come together.
But luckily, the writing I'vebeen okay at what I've been
doing.
But ideas just come from livinglife and just doing whatever
you can do to go out of yourcomfort zone, because you don't
know how comfortable you areuntil you're uncomfortable.
And that's why I feel like Ithink I have a little bit of an
edge on other comic creatorsbecause if I go to cons and

(01:03:15):
things like that.
They're not.
They're a little bit timid totalk to people.
They're a little bit timid totalk about their ideas.
Um, and for me, I love talkingabout my ideas, I love talking
about, and even if people don'tbuy comics, I'm okay with that.
That Cause it's like hey, youcame, you took five minutes out
of your day, talk to me, be like, oh, what is this?
And I told you and it will staywith you.

(01:03:36):
Fast killer slots will staywith you for the rest of your
life, regardless of if youbought the comic or read the
comic.
You'll always remember that.
But yeah, just ideas.
It's weird how it'll just cometo you Like it'll just if you're
, if you have, if you try toforce it, it's not going to come
.
But if you're just like, allright, here's this brief idea.
You know I want to pursue itLike fast killer Schloss came

(01:03:59):
because I love horror movies andI love, I loved going to
blockbuster as a kid and youwould see, you'd see the art of
the of the videos and you, yourimagination would run wild and
the videos would never, everlive up to what your imagination
was.
So I always wanted to say in myhorror comedies or my horror

(01:04:19):
movie or my horror books, thatif you see the cover and it's
awesome, and then you open itand there's something even more
awesome inside.
So like the slots came fromthat and also like the sci-fi
movies.
So I was like, oh, what ifslots became fast and became
killing machines?
And I was like that'd be a funthing to write.
And then when I took the classthat you could have written
anything and I was like I'mgoing to write that because I
think it stands out.

(01:04:40):
And that brought me to comicsand I and I it's crazy.
And then zombie date night samething, just living life and the
zombie things as we talkedearlier.
Uh, ex-machina was was.
I wanted to work with a partnerfor the first time about um.
She had an idea where it waskind of like um, the twilight
zone, where there would be likea google search engine, except

(01:05:01):
you would get whatever yousearch for would come true in
the worst way possible.
And then I had an idea for likeevil elves and then we put it
together and I was like, oh,this we can combine these ideas
and make it where, like, santaloses his matter, santa is sour
because he's getting older, heretires and his wife left him
for the abominable snowman um.

(01:05:22):
Santa gives his likeness tolike a mark zuckerberg who uses
his his magic to make like thesemake a robot Santa and robot
elves.
And because his magic is sour,now Santa has to fight his sour
self to redeem for Christmas.
So there's that.

(01:05:43):
And then the demon-possessedsuperhero.
I always thought I was likewhat's something that I could do
in comics that nobody can do,and I was like, well, if there's
something with cursing, thatwould be great.
But I can't just have a cursingcomic that does that.
That's no fun.
So I'm a big fan of GreenLantern, big fan of Venom, so I
always thought I was like, okay,so if there's a demon and
possesses this girl, she becomesa superhero, and the more

(01:06:06):
animated her curse words are,the more they animate.
If she calls somebody an asshat, the asshat will appear, or
things like that.
I felt like that's my versionof Green Lantern and Venom
together and I'm like there itis.
So it's just melding ideas andseeing what works.
I mean, the best part of ifyou're a writer is think about
your two favorite things, mixthem together.

(01:06:28):
What do you got?
You got something completelybrand new.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Yeah, but there's something special about you all
who do this, because I want toask you a question that I've
never asked anybody before,which is would you be happy if
you couldn't do this?

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
No, probably not.
I feel like it's a release.
Doing this is a release ofcreativity, and I don't.
For me, as long as people reactto it, whether it's positive or
negative, is what I want.
If people don't react, then Ihaven't done anything.
Then I, then I need to go backto the drawing board and figure

(01:07:00):
this out.
Um, because it's, it's such apositive thing to create and
you're, you're literally likecreating worlds, you're bringing
people together.
Um, you're, you're, it's, it'slike a virus I guess You're
talking about, I'm sure, becauseyou read this or other people
that read it.
It's like you got to see thisand it becomes this word of
mouth, and then they read it,they react to it, they have

(01:07:22):
their own opinions on it, andthen it makes them want.
It makes some people want to dotheir own thing.
That's why I love doing theKickstarter.
I love doing this independently, because there's no rules.
It's literally whatever I wantit to be.
There was a masterclass withJoyce Carol Oates and she said
when you write in a diary,that's the most real that you'll

(01:07:44):
ever write, because you're notthinking about anything other
than yourself.
You're not thinking aboutanything other than this is my
diary, this is how I write, orwhatever, and this is how I I
write my comics yeah, I had amoment like that when I had a
couple edibles and there's a.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
There's a certain point where I was like, am I
even writing this book anymore?
Am I a book?
Just going some some diatribeabout something and I'm like, oh
right, I was supposed to bewriting my book.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
But it's funny Cause it's funny?
You say that?
Cause most people think that mythings are drug induced, which
they are actually not, of allthings.
That's like I would love towrite something where I am, you
know if I'm on an edible orsomething, and see if that
alters my thinking or changes myperspective on things.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
Maybe we need to create like a horror slash,
zombie writers or creatorsretreat where we all get high.

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
Hell yeah, that'd be great.
And do zombie activities.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Yes, okay, this is what I want.
This is what I want for mybirthday next year is I want a
gathering of zombie creators andwe do mushrooms together, and
then see what happens.
This could be a total disasteror really wonderful yeah, or or
we just become the zombies yeah,I will say that like people
like people like you and dan andothers we've talked to do

(01:09:01):
really inspire me, because nowin my own head, I'll probably
never write this.
This is the difference betweenme and you all but in my head I
now have like a fan fictionversion where rosie, as a zombie
, finds her zombie and it'ssomebody that she catfished, but
like it works you know like I,and that just that will live
rent free in my head now.

(01:09:22):
So thank you, steve, you'rewelcome.
Yeah, that's where it startswith fanfic maybe because that's
usually like, if I really lovea story, then I and I love a
character and I don't know whereit's gonna go.
My brain starts to make stuffup for me.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
I mean that I, I, you could do it too.
That's, that's what my adviceis to everybody.
If I can do it and I'm a clownlike you know what I mean like
you guys have have, you guyshave read zombie books, you guys
are researchers, you guys areexperts on the topic there's no
reason why you guys can't writea zombie thing, whether together
or separately.
Um, so I believe in you, youcould do it too.

(01:09:55):
Um, here's my process.
Uh, you come up with an idea, um, and then I just brained up of,
like, what could happen in thisworld, whatever that you do a
character sheet of of eachcharacter, what are their traits
, what is happening, what isgoing on?
Um, what are their traits, whatis happening, what is going on,
what are their facial features,what is it?

(01:10:16):
Basically, if you play D&D,it's your character sheet for
your character.
You take that, like I said, youbrain dump and then, once you
brain dump, you start pruninglike a tree of like, okay, what
works, what works here?
How does it flow into eachother?
And then, once that happens,whether you're making a comic or
a book, you start making it.
You, you follow your outline asyour, as your map and then,
when you're writing, this iswhere you, this is how you, you

(01:10:39):
follow it and sometimes thingswill change and sometimes you'll
have better ideas, but at leastyou're you're making a map for
your own creativity and your ownstory.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
Wow, I feel like you just gave us a masterclass
lesson.
That was very helpful.
I think all the pantsers willbe offended, though, by the
outline.
I would be.
If I was doing this, I wouldalso be an outliner.
I sketch my art first before Imake it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
Well, it works, at least within comics.
But whatever your process is, Ithink just brain dumping within
this universe you created is ahealthy thing because, listen,
you could, it's yours, you,you're not showing anybody this
stuff until it's finished, um,and of course there's they.
It's it's like, um, you know,it's like, uh, a stream.

(01:11:20):
Right, you're gonna go up upthe stream, um, or you know,
sorry, you're gonna go down thestream, um, if it works.
And if it doesn't work, you'llkind of get blocked.
You go back to where it startedworking and and start pruning
away and then you'll get back towhere you need to go yeah, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
I'm back to the pruning part.
That's where I'm at, yeah Iwent I went back downstream and
now I got my clippers.

Speaker 3 (01:11:42):
You could also do.
You could also do several maps,like if you, if you have an
issue let's say there's writer'sblock of like all right, where
do I want the story to go?
All right, what's?
What are the two options, whatare the three options, and then
go from there and see what worksbest I like to roll dice, I
roll.
Dice is good.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
Yeah, roll a 10 yeah I think what's cool about
creating whatever the venue is,is uh, or like vehicle is.
For me it's um my weird zombiecrowns right now is realizing
you really can do whatever youwant, like what you said earlier
you can do whatever you want,like when I realized like I
really can put a butthole onthis crown, like I can do that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Absolutely make it the very best butthole I know
how to make yeah, I, I think,you know, I think growing up,
everybody's so vulnerable to toshare what they really feel on
the inside because they don'tknow what it's.
You know what, how people willreact to it.
But I think if you read, learnor re-teach kids as long as

(01:12:38):
people react to it, then you gotsomething yeah, I that's.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
That's always like.
The biggest fear is, like whatif I spend like a decade writing
a book and then, uh, then Idon't really hear from anybody,
just like I didn't, I didn't getany opinions about about it I
guess you guys already builtaudience for your thing, and you
guys love zombies.

Speaker 3 (01:13:01):
I guarantee you you will have an audience.
You're ready, you already builtit.
It's already here, yeah, so Ithink I think you have it.
Just you, just you know, youjust gotta be able to look
inside yourself and realize like, hey, I'm putting this thing
out there, this is a piece of meand it's for you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:13:19):
I didn't expect this to become so motivational.
I was just thinking do you haveanother?

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
like side gig as a motivational speaker for
creators, because maybe weshould hire you for this zombie
retreat we're going to do.

Speaker 3 (01:13:31):
So a lot of people have brought me in to talk to
students.
My old school used to it doesthat, um, and they've done it a
few times.
I just did my first Q a at thiscon that I was at.
I was at a horror con inPennsylvania.
It's called Delco horror Havenand they did a really good show,
um, and, and I got to do a Q aand you know it's, it's it again
, putting yourself in situationswhere you're a little bit

(01:13:53):
uncomfortable.
Where will people be there?
Is it just going to be chairsat the end of the day?
But again, what's on the otherside of fear?
It's nothing.
Once you're up there, onceyou're getting past the fear
zone and you're doing what youneed to do, it's like there's
nothing can stop you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Who motivates you?
Do you have an internal motorwho's helped you get this level
of insight?

Speaker 3 (01:14:14):
I I read a book called the tools of Titans and
um, it's based they'veinterviewed a lot of successful
people about not, it's not likea, it's not like they're telling
you what to do.
It's more of like this was whatworks for other people, um, um,
maybe you could apply it intoyour life.
Um, and just, you know living.
I used to be very negative as akid, like I'd be like, oh,

(01:14:35):
that's stupid, why would we dothat?
And then I became I was like I,I left.
I think my parents were verynegative and how they reacted to
certain things.
And then I kind of adopted thatmentality and then when I went
to college on my own, I I waslike I can do whatever I want,
there's no rules here and it'sbetter to be polite and it's

(01:14:56):
better to be positive and it'sbetter to be like you know what.
I'm just going to do the bestthat I can.
And then I just started readingmore about more positive
thinking, more motivational typethings.
John Wooden's book is reallygood.
He's a basketball coach and I'mnot even a basketball type of
person, but he said like make,make your, make today your
masterpiece, do or you can.

(01:15:18):
Um, and then you just findthings from other things like um
, like there's a Ricky Gervaisshow like, uh, the one where,
where he, uh, uh, he, he has afriend, carl Pilkington.
That's just like an absolute,like an idiot, but he still has
all these nuggets.
He's like you know, you're deadlonger than you're alive and I
was like, so you might as welldo whatever you want to do, and
that fits in with the zombietheme.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
I love that I might make that a sign for our bunker.
You're dead longer than you'realive.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
Yeah.
So you might as well do exactlywhat you want to do, because
who's stopping you?
You're in your own way.
You can do whatever you want todo and have crazy goals,
because, at the end of the day,the more you do something, the
better you'll get at it andyou're one step closer to doing
what you want to do, rather thanif you didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
Wow, I feel like people are going to leave this
episode feeling really inspired.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Yeah, or they're going to go this episode feeling
really inspired, so yeah, orthey're gonna do it like burn
down a tesla dealership orsomething yeah, you can do
whatever you want to do, yeahyou're dead longer than you're
alive, all right it just butthat.

Speaker 3 (01:16:23):
But that I also thought would be a good story
too, where what if you madesomething that ended up being
something negative?
And I think that's horrifying,and I would love to to kind of
pursue that idea at some point.
Because, like what if you madea machine that is supposed to be
for something good but then itended up being something like oh
my god, this is the downfall ofhumanity.
Or like this is the downfall ofof you know whatever?

(01:16:44):
Um, that that's the hard part,because, like you know, what if
I made a, a comic like that, andsomebody read it and then, like
you know, killed somebody orsomething like that's like okay,
well, that you know that wouldmess you up I'm hopeful that
your comics will not do thatit's not like you made the atom
bomb.
Luckily they're funny and Ithink the funny you know will be

(01:17:05):
like oh, that's a, that's ascrewed up idea, but hey, here's
a slot I think the real issuesof slots.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Learn to read, they might get some ideas.

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):
That would be a trouble.
The slots will be like if welearn how to swear.

Speaker 3 (01:17:23):
And it became a superpower.
Yeah, but also the best thingtoo for authors out there.
You know, when you go to thesecons and it is timid because you
know you have your book andthen and then people, you know
whether they take a chance onyou or don't.
That's the very daunting.
But if you have cool merch,people will just want to come
talk to you.
You know, if you have a coolshirt, cool stickers, um related
, you know, I feel like it'smore of a gateway into people

(01:17:45):
like oh, I love, I'm not sureabout the book, but like I love
that shirt.
Or like, oh, I love the shirt,I want to check out the book.

Speaker 1 (01:17:51):
Yeah, that's a good point.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Yeah, this is actually really good tips for us
, as we're getting ready forLiving Dead weekend so selfishly
.
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:17:58):
Steve.
Well, I hope you guys aremaking merch for Zombie Book
Club.
We are.
They did bookmarks.
T-shirts, hats, stickers Peoplelove all that stuff.
Stickers with QR codes on themthey go directly to your site.
It's a lot easier to make stuffthese days.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
Yeah, speaking of that, where can people find you
and find your Kickstarter?

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Well, they can find your Kickstarter on Kickstarter
and also the link that's in thedescription.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
Yeah, it's over there .
Yes, for anybody who wants tofollow my comic journey, you can
follow me on instagram at thesteve urana.
I'm also on every otherplatform under that name
t-h-e-s-t-e-v-e-u-r-e-n-a.
Um, that that's where I am.
It's a little bit of a weirdspace at the moment because, um,
I feel like social media is notsocial anymore and it's getting

(01:18:48):
harder and harder to reachpeople, and I think that's by
design, which is awful.
Um, but I mean, there's alwayssomething new and there's.
And even if I have to go doorto door or go to cons or go to,
you know, zombie retreats, um, Iwill do whatever I need to do
to to get my comics into yourhands.

Speaker 1 (01:19:06):
Yeah, we got to start those zombie retreats.
I think that's what's comingnext.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
But yeah, go follow Steve everywhere that you can
follow him, and on Instagram.
I love to use the little bellthing, so I've made a point of
following folks like you where Ijust get your posts because
otherwise they would justdisappear.
Because you're right, like evenwhen even follower people we've
known for a long time,sometimes I won't see their
stuff if I don't have thatlittle special.
You know the bell I'm talkingabout.

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
You got to ring the bell.

Speaker 2 (01:19:31):
You got to ring the bell so that you get notified
all the time.
So that's my call to actionRing the bell, go, support this
Kickstarter, because we need thenext issue no-transcript.

Speaker 3 (01:19:54):
Thank you so much for coming to talk to us, no
problem, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it, love your show.
You guys run a good show.
You guys have great chemistryand very positive, so it's
awesome to see.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
I try, trying to keep that positivity.
I try, try to keep thatpositivity.

Speaker 3 (01:20:12):
It's hard.
It is hard in the way the worldis, but you know life short, do
what you got to do.

Speaker 2 (01:20:17):
Yeah, we got to enjoy what we have Every minute we
have it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:25):
I don't know if you know this, but I heard recently
that you're dead longer thanyou're alive, and that is
somehow motivating.

Speaker 3 (01:20:33):
It is because we all die, everybody dies, but again,
everybody dies, but noteverybody lives.

Speaker 2 (01:20:39):
That's true.
Another good saying for thezombie bunker.

Speaker 1 (01:20:42):
That sounds like it came directly from like some
hair metal band from the 80s.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
That came from a Nicki Minaj song.
Oh really, yes, everybody dies,but not everybody lives.
Thanks, thanks everybody.
Nicki Minaj song yes, everybodydies, but not everybody lives.

Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
Thanks.
Thanks, everybody for joiningthe Zombie Book Club.
If you would like to support us, you can leave a rating or
review.
Reviews are great.
Reviews help us reach morepeople.
Love those.
You can also send us avoicemail.

Speaker 2 (01:21:08):
If you have words?

Speaker 1 (01:21:09):
maybe you have words.
Send us your words.
614-699-00006.
I don those um.
You can also send us avoicemail if you have words.
Maybe you have words.
Send us your words um six, uh,six, one, four, six, nine, nine,
zero zero six.

Speaker 2 (01:21:16):
I don't know how many zeros, there's just three zeros
, three zeros.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
it's in the description, you can go look at
it.
You can make sure that numberis right.
But you can leave us a messageup to three minutes.
If, uh, you know, maybe you'rea creator of some kind of I
don't't know zombie book, youcould also send us an elevator
pitch right there from thatnumber that I just said.
With the correct number ofzeros, you can also join the

(01:21:42):
Brain Muncher Zombie Discord.
It's down in the description,just go get it, just click it.
Also, new thing We've got athing, a thing, a newsletter a
newsletter, one of those.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
We have not made any news yet not yet.

Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
I haven't look.
I'm not gonna bombard you withnewsletters, but you know we're
building a list.
Get on that list so that we cancontact you via your email.
We want to contact you in everypossible way.
I'm going to take out abillboard ad in your hometown.

Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
But you know what I've got to say.
I'm going to interrupt you, Dan.
What you've got to do beforeyou do any of those things is go
to Steve Uranus Kickstarter forZombie Date Night so we can get
issue two and everybody canwear the really cool Zombie Date
Night t-shirts when we all meeteach other at our zombie
creators retreat yeah, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:22:29):
That's gonna be the uniform.
Everybody has to have a zombiedate night, yeah you have to
have a zombie.

Speaker 2 (01:22:34):
Sorry, single folks, you gotta bring somebody with
you.
My sound crazy, but the end isnight.
Baby, bye, bye, bye, don't die.
Thank you, steve.
Thank you, that was awesome.

All Episodes

'Zombie Date Night' with Special Guest Steve Urena | Zombie Book Club Ep 89

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Crime Junkie

24/7 News: The Latest

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}'Zombie Date Night' with Special Guest Steve Urena | Zombie Book Club Ep 89