Transphoria: A Trans & Non Binary Comic Anthology (feat. Kat Calamia, Phil Falco, Daniel Falco, & Ben Kahn)

Today, we're chatting with the brilliant minds behind Transphoria, an incredible trans & non-binary comic book anthology from Lifeline Comics.

Tomi is joined by Lifeline Comics founders Kat Calamia and Phil Falco, plus writer and lead-editor Daniel Falco, as well as returning guest Ben Kahn! They're here to share insights on the successful Kickstarter campaign that hit its $26,000 goal in just 25 hours, and the 19 inspiring stories that make up this anthology.

Our discussion ranges from the origins of Transphoria to the unique challenges and joys of curating such a diverse collection, and what aspiring creators can do to create appealing story-pitches to submit to future comic anthologies.

Don't forget to check out the ongoing Kickstarter campaign for Transphoria and support these incredible creators before June 27th! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicuno/transphoria

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Music.

(00:17):
Welcome to Transcending Comics, a podcast dedicated to trans representation
in comic books, manga, and webtoons, both on panel and behind the scenes.
I'm your host, Tommy, and today I'm joined by the creative team behind Transphoria,
a trans non-binary comic book anthology from Lifeline Comics.
The book has an ongoing Kickstarter campaign at the time of recording,
which managed to hit its $26,000 goal within just 25 hours.

(00:42):
This graphic novel collects 19 short stories about trans and non-binary experiences
of gender euphoria in collaboration with dozens of trans and non-binary creators.
First, we have the founders of Lifeline Comics, Kat Calamia and Phil Falco.
They're comic Kickstarter experts known for anthologies like Bi-Visibility,
Parology, and Rainbow Canvas, as well as their own original comics like Beast

(01:04):
in Snow, Witches of Oz, and the popular webtoon Slice of Life.
Kat's also known for her comic review channel, Comicuno, as well as her creator-owned
series, like Father Like Daughter, and they call her The Dancer.
Phil has worked as co-writer and co-creator on several other Lifeline comic
series, as well as his own supernatural horror book, Haunting.
Welcome to the show, Kat and Phil.

(01:26):
You did your research for sure.
That was the best intro we've ever gotten. Damn, I always kill it.
We're also joined by writer and editor Daniel Falco, whose work has previously
been featured in the anthology By Visibility, Still By.
Daniel is leading the charge on this book as lead editor of the team,
while also contributing a story of his own. Welcome to the show, Daniel.

(01:47):
Thank you for having me here. And finally, returning to the show is yet another
writer featured in the book, Ben Kahn, the writer of Renegade Rule and Captain
Laserhawk, Crushing Love, and co-host of the Progressively Horrified podcast.
Thank you so much for having me back on, and so glad to be here to talk about
this wonderful, wonderful anthology. I am so glad to have gotten to contribute a story for.

(02:09):
See, you missed the best part of the intro, Ben. And I was about to say that
you're back with a vengeance to tell us about the inspirational queer influence
of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in the form of a comic.
So you jumped the gun on that, bud. I do apologize for that.
But I mean, you got to be careful. I have filled entire podcast hours just talking
about Jojo's Bizarre Adventures and how queer it is.

(02:31):
We'll be following up on that in a minute.
First, I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to join us today.
And even more so, thank you for creating literally the perfect comic for this
podcast's subject matter.
Yeah, no, we were happy to be able to curate this book and just put those stories out there.
It's honestly one of the most rewarding experiences every year,

(02:54):
putting these anthologies together and getting to work with such a variety of
different creators at all levels.
Levels from creators telling their first story creating their
first comic to you know seasoned veterans people who've published
so many comics like ben yeah this was my like dream anthology
queer storytelling is always something that's very close to me but trans specific

(03:14):
and getting stories from a lot of different genres was really important to me
so honestly perfect project and great way to start pride month yes absolutely
always happy you know showing especially the more
fun side of gender euphoria and getting to celebrate.

(03:34):
You know, all the things that open doors, no matter how silly and really just
especially celebrating the camp of it all.
Now, I think I'd like to start us off by asking the team about the origin of
this anthology and how this project came to be.
So interestingly enough, we again did Buy Visibility and
our second volume was Still and dan was an

(03:57):
editor on still by and i want to pass the baton to
dan and because you really wanted to do a trans mythology
and we're like yeah let's do that and we'd
love to help as much as we can so you can take the
baton and and really run with it yeah absolutely so we worked on uh by visibility
the second volume still by together that anthology was bigger than the first

(04:18):
volume of by visibility so the teams were bigger the responsibility was bigger
and there There are a lot more stories with a lot more genres to offer.
There are, of course, a lot of like very personal and autobiographical stories,
but the genre stories were very fun too.
And we always knew we wanted to do another queer anthology and we weren't sure
if we wanted to make it like a broad queer identities or try and hone in on

(04:39):
something a little bit more specific.
And as we were talking about it, we did land on a trans anthology would probably
mean the most to a lot of audiences, especially as I started reading a lot more
trans and queer comics. We wanted to get a lot of independent creators together
to try and tell those stories.
And the more we talked about it, the more excited we became and the more contact
we had with other creators.

(05:00):
We knew that this is something that could work and that there is a definite audience for.
I know because I am the audience and I'm always looking for something like this.
So it would have been, we knew it would be a great thing to create and contribute to.
So that involved reaching out to a lot of people and finding a lot of forums
where we can find creators to tell the different stories that are out there. There are a lot of them.

(05:21):
Whether they're specifically autobiographical or not, are very personal and meaningful stories.
And a lot of them are very fun to tell. So we landed on it just because we talked
about it for so long and knew that people out there wanted it.
There was definitely a big demand for it. You know, we always look for intersectionality
in all of our anthologies.
So Bivisibility, you know, had a story about a bisexual trans character that

(05:44):
Dan wrote for their second volume.
And our anthology that came between Bivisibility and Transphoria Hairology also
had a, it was all about, stories all about hair, had a story about,
you know, a trans woman's relationship with her hair.
And our Slice of Life webtoon has, you know, recurring trans character,
who's a sibling of one of our major characters.
So our audience, and whenever we go to Pride, there's always people be like,

(06:06):
oh, where's, where's the, where's your trans anthology when they're looking at our anthology list?
So the hunger for it was, sorry? I was going to mention the enamel pins too.
Like we have enamel pins of all different flags and different identities.
And the trans fox in particular was so popular.
And they're like, wow, we're really happy that you have this.
And it's like, wait, we should be doing it for comics as well.

(06:28):
But continue, Phil. I just want to mention the enamel pins is also like a big
sign of people wanting more trans representation.
Basically, every direction you turn, everyone was like, please give us trans representation.
And we were like, yeah, let's do that. On the note of those enamel pins,
were you at C2E2 selling those pins last year? We were, yes.

(06:48):
Okay, we would have briefly met there. Remember, I came to your booth twice
to buy that Fox pin. I do remember that now.
Honestly, the flashback is being brought.
That's so interesting. We were so sad we didn't make C2E2 this year because
we were fitting other travel cons.
And we're like, no, we got to go back. We love the crowd of C2E2. do
and yeah that hairology story uh you're talking about

(07:10):
the tilly bridges one right yeah yeah i just read
that this week and i even had to shout out tilly afterwards because we've
been exchanging i'm trying to get her on the show when she's not so
dang busy but like that was exactly my experience as
well i didn't know i had curly hair until i came out and
started growing it out and now it's like my favorite thing it's
wonderful we love that story um it it

(07:30):
honestly feels like it would be at home in transport it's such a such a positive
and bouncy and like beautiful story about you know gender euphoria so the art
fits so well for it as well it's just like it all married together so well i
mean you got stretch goals maybe you can add a few more pages i like the suggestion.
Now, I know all of our guests today are contributing stories to the book in one form or another.

(07:55):
So how about we all go around and let's hear about the story each of you are
personally contributing.
Cat Packet started off our story that we have in there as a four-page story
from the world of Slice of Life of our webtoon.
It actually wasn't part of the anthology until a month ago. We actually curated
the full book. And then we were gearing up for release.

(08:16):
And we were looking at all of our previous work. and we noted that herology
we didn't have a story for.
And it was something that we aren't sure if it was the right call because we
weren't sure if that alienated part of our audience who likes our work.
But Bi Visibility had a story about one of our pansexual characters from our
webtoon. It led to a big turnover from our webtoon.
People who maybe wouldn't have otherwise checked out a bisexual anthology because

(08:38):
they're a fan of those characters.
We were like, we have a recurring trans
character in slice of life do a story about her
and uh we pulled it together pretty quickly slice
life's always easy to write because it's our baby and you know now it's uh now
it's in there and we love yeah no we that's exactly it it was just a story we've
always wanted to tell in the main series so it's just like oh we have the opportunity

(09:01):
to tell it here and this is a character people really like from slice of life
so we we want to tell more of that and it's also
kind of cool to because as someone who's bisexual
kind of tell it from a bisexual angle as well so
um yeah it was a fun story that maybe wouldn't
have been in the book but uh we're happy we did
yeah because we think a lot of slice of life fans that might have not checked

(09:25):
out the book is now reading it and um and again our audience as well and hopefully
it just puts transphoria to in more people's hands i did the upraised close
enough tale of how i learned i I Was Non-Binary.
Which is a four-page comic and is really all about the show that introduced

(09:46):
me to androgyny in a big way and kind of opened the door to me realizing androgyny
was an option and something I could pursue.
And that is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
It is very silly to say this anime was my queer awakening, but if you were to

(10:08):
poll people and ask who here was made queer by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
It would not be a small group.
I can tell you that, you know, it was very much the thing that kind of introduced
me to this flow and balance between masculinity and femininity in a way I'd
never seen before and really opened the door to me,

(10:29):
not just questioning who I was, but starting to give me an answer to that question.
Gin so i kind of wanted
to pay tribute to that and i
don't know i felt like i could package it in a really fun silly four-page uh
format that is chock full with a ton of easter eggs to the wonderful art of

(10:53):
hirohiko iraki and i do have to super fucking uh commend the rest of the creative team,
Janssen Carbonell on art and Taylor Esposito on letters, who just absolutely
kill it and do a wonderful job bringing this world of Baba's eccentric journey, let's say, to life.

(11:15):
The fact you were able to condense this to an anthology short comic appropriate
length is nothing short of a Herculean task for you, Ben.
And I just want you to know how proud I am that you were able to accomplish that.
Ah, thank you. I appreciate that.
It is again, I could go, I could do a whole podcast on just about Jojo and how goddamn queer it is.

(11:38):
That's not even Ben has a new podcast.
Well, that's not even getting to, I mean, to this day, the manga's newest part,
which is giving us our first just,
full-on canon trans representation among the main cast dragona joe star you fucking icon.
And anyway i'm gonna cut myself off there before i
keep going on the jojo train daniel save us from

(11:59):
this let's uh hear about your story well before i
get into that i should say i don't know much about jojo but the only
thing i do know is that my friend who is an artist is
obsessed with it and the way friends rant back and forth about their
interests to each other the only things he sends me are character
designs to rant about uh how cool the.
Styles are and how much he wants to dress like them so oh

(12:20):
the strongest impact on me that i
know the way these characters look more than anything it's always
been the poses years which a
lot we pay tribute to a lot of the famous jojo poses
uh they his influence comes straight
from like full-on high fashion and fashion magazines which
is just yeah uh he is very much

(12:42):
it's very much opened my eyes and fashion
has been a huge part of my gender journey and fashion
is a huge part of jojo's and so not just as a non-binary
person but as a writer it uh its
influence has made fashion a much bigger part of my
own work yeah amazing i when i read your script
i was very excited for this particular friend of mine to see that one uh

(13:03):
transparria does come out but uh i did want to
shout that out but even though like i don't consider myself a
jojo fan this has also been its influence on me
but my story for the transphoria it's
called hrt tales and well first for by visibility the story i contributed was
uh like a gothic story it was called portrait of the vampire and it was about
the vampire's relationship to not being able to see a reflection i was trying

(13:27):
to play with gender dysphoria with that so i got to write that fun gothic genre
story for by five is ability.
And then when I was thinking about what kind of story we wanted for Transphoria,
looking at all the great scripts we had already gotten, I knew as a queer audience
member, what kind of story would I want to be seeing in there.
And the topic of hormone replacement therapy is something that is very important

(13:51):
to me, mostly because I think in a lot of recent years,
there's been a lot of fear mongering about it, talking about misinformation
spreading about like, over-exaggerated dangers and, you know,
trans health care trying to be ripped away from a lot of people.
And that was something that impacts a lot of people and delays getting gender-affirming care.
So I know I wanted to write a script about that. So that is how I kind of developed

(14:12):
the story and developed the script that I wanted to write.
And the artist for that, Zuzana Lewandowska,
they were able to convey that very stylistically, because the tone of the story
I wanted to keep mostly playful and light while commenting on the importance
of it that gender reform and care needs to be accessible for the people who want it and.

(14:33):
The i don't know the positive impact impact it could
have because it's such like a heavy conversation especially for if
you have it with your families or friends just that
there is like a euphoric side of it that you're going to come out of it if those
are the effects you want you should go for it so i was glad to take a step back
from my very like gothic genre heavy uh writing that's very usual and kind of

(14:55):
ground myself into something that's very personal and i think trans
readers whether they're on hrt or thought about it would
be like oh this is important to know i'm glad
to see that kind of representation there or if people who
aren't trans are reading it they're like oh that's good to know
because there's so much either misinformation or just not a
lot of awareness or knowledge about hormone replacement

(15:18):
therapy and it's how good it is for
a lot of people i can't even count the number of recently transitioned friends
of mine that just Just getting that one trans friend's input on like the truth
of what happens when you begin HRT has been invaluable in convincing them to
finally start because they've only heard the fear mongering before.

(15:41):
But once they start making friends in the community and getting those details,
like all of a sudden it isn't this terrifying nebulous thing.
Now they actually have a direct experience and someone who can kind of put those fears to rest.
So I really hope that story does the same for a lot of readers out there.
Now, Daniel, I know that you have probably a rather unique relationship with

(16:03):
all of the stories in this book as the lead editor of the team.
So could you tell us a bit about what your involvement with each of these stories
look like as they were developed and made ready for the anthology?
Anthology yeah i could probably go step by step
so first we really uh received a lot of script submissions
and we received so many so narrowing that down was

(16:23):
already a feat and uh there's so
many stories that if there's a second volume we'd love to see you
know similar resubmitted scripts for it but we
know for an anthology every anthology i look at
or any comic that i read comics that
are like interviews of a lot of people you want intersectional stories
diverse stories is what both in like the identities represented the

(16:45):
style they're told in the genre what kind of art
will be matched with it so that was part of narrowing
down what our script selection would look like and then what
i was looking for while editing and working with the
writers later on as we were doing developmental or
line editing was what kind of emotions were connected with
the story so whether it was like something very

(17:06):
autobiographical and personal or a light-hearted comedy
what kind of themes were they touching on making sure
to develop that i know one of the stories that is popping to my mind is the
beach day story that's about somebody who recently got top surgery and they're
supposed to wait a year before they go into the sun it's a comedy story and
uh he's very excited to finally go out into the sun post top surgery so working on that just to.

(17:30):
Make sure it was succinct that like all the jokes landed
was i think a good embodiment for
what working with each script and with each writer was
like yes we wanted to talk with each writer and say like what are you
what's the core of what you're trying to convey how do
we do that in the best way and will the art how how can
the art best match that like we want to keep that fun tone

(17:50):
that beach day was going for keeping the writer's message
is the most important part of i guess editing and working with them
what their core what their theme is now digging
a little deeper in that with a question for all the
editors here like with receiving so
many deeply personal stories for really all of your anthologies you've done
so far what is your selection process usually look like when deciding which

(18:15):
stories will go into the book honestly the just to add a little and then phil
you piggyback on is just uh it really has to do with genres if we're being I mean, honestly,
it's so funny because we just did a podcast about an hour ago and we kind of
figured that it was so interesting that, you know, you get so many great stories
that are all kind of in a, like,

(18:35):
this is the autobiographical story. This is the horror story.
But if you have a different genre, it's a little bit easier to be like,
oh, we don't have that type of story.
So that's kind of the biggest way we do it. But Phil, you piggyback off of that.
Yeah. Yeah, I think one thing we do differently with our anthologies,
or I should say that not every anthology goes through the process of is,

(18:57):
A, you don't need to apply as a full team.
You can apply individually as a writer, an artist, colorist, letterer, etc.
And we do ask for writers to submit full, complete scripts, not just concepts
or beat sheets or anything like that.
So to your point, Dan and Tommy, it's a big job.
We had well over 100 scripts to read. I think for Transphoria it was close to 200 scripts.

(19:18):
And, you know, we... It took us three days, I want to say. Three full sessions
to go through them. And that's with reading the scripts beforehand.
That's just three full day sessions of talking about them and narrowing down.
You know, you get, especially with a...
Personal, something as personal as your sexuality or gender identity.
You get a lot of personal autobiographical stories, and you need those in an anthology like this.

(19:42):
It's what people expect to read, but you can only have so many in order to have
a well-balanced anthology.
So like Kat said, a lot of time those really unique spins.
Those genre stories stand out to you
and make a little easier to kind of select because
you know you have if you have 200 submissions and
40 of them are autobiographical um

(20:06):
you know maybe you know 10 of those are going to
to have some unique element that stands out or like
a really strong succinct writing style or like really
specific theme versus like oh my god own too
because we picked a couple autobiographies that were comedy leaning
and that was like oh we don't have a comedy so we could
do this as a comedy story yeah we it's

(20:27):
always our goal with our anthologies we want them to be informative we
want them to be fun we want them to be diverse and we want to have
a wide range of genres so you know a lot of parents for example buy our anthologies
to you know relate to uh their children or friends to relate to families so
we want stories that are educational and accessible to people who maybe aren't

(20:48):
as knowledgeable or informed about trans and non-binary experiences
and issues, but also stories that like a really unique genre twist,
a horror take on a trans coming out story that would appeal to somebody who
is not new to the world of trans and non-binary storytelling.
So it's finding that middle ground and making sure that you have a well-balanced book.

(21:12):
And thankfully, like Dan said, after the first Five Is Ability,
which was a little shorter, had nine stories.
We've kind of graduated now to more consistently having larger anthologies. This one has 19 stories.
There's definitely something for everyone, we always like to say.
I know you mentioned earlier that your story in this anthology,
as well as in By Visibility, tie into your series Slice of Life.

(21:35):
Can you tell us a bit about how you came to that decision and what makes you
decide between if you're going to be absent from an anthology,
if you'll do an original story, or if you'll tie it in with one of your series?
It was a really hard decision, I would say that. Because again,
I went to the last month and was like, should we do it or should we not?
And, again, kind of what we said earlier is more about because we run these

(21:58):
Kickstarters and a lot of people follow the books because we wrote it,
we thought it would be stronger with maybe our backers to try out people who are on the fence.
If we had a slice of life story, especially the webtoon, which has like over 60,000 subscribers.
That's 60,000 people that could potentially check out this book and learn about

(22:19):
either trans issues or just get something out of it.
So that it was a really hard decision maker because Heralogy, we didn't have a story.
Yeah. And it was something, you know, Heralogy was a success in the end,
but Heralogy was an anthology we had to work a little harder to get our audience to jump on board with.
That could be for a variety of factors. It was queer, but it was entirely queer

(22:40):
like all of our other anthologies.
And we did not have our own voice in there versus By Visibility,
Rainbow Canvas, our other anthologies.
We had stories in them. And in two of the three cases, we had specifically slice
of life stories that is our biggest property with the biggest fan base.
So adding that story was in the end, a decision in the interest of converting

(23:01):
as much of our audience as possible. We want this book in as many hands as possible,
because we want these stories to be read by as many different people as possible.
And we also just didn't want to take anyone's slot away. That's why we added
it in the end as kind of a last minute addition, not when we were curating the book.
We definitely, we didn't really have a page count in mind necessarily.
When we were curating the book, we knew we wanted a graphic novel.

(23:21):
We knew we probably wanted less than 100 pages just, you know,
for budgetary reasons, but we didn't want to occupy a slot unless,
you know, we knew that, okay, we got everything in this anthology that we feel
needs to be in here from this from this process of curating the book.
And as someone who doesn't work on Slice of Life, but worked on this with them,
I could attest to Phil and Kat were really debating for a while about it.

(23:44):
Uh and for a while it didn't look like they were going to include the
slice of life script and they're two of the most like
empathetic and i guess emotionally in tuned with their
audience you know writers and editors i've seen yeah and uh i will say that
i don't work on slice of life again but i'm a fan of slice of life i'm always
in the comment section and their audience loves all of the characters all the

(24:08):
queer stories that they tell and they like they mentioned earlier
though it's like oh do you have trans pin do you have trans characters coming so
i do think that the addition
with the trans character your audience will appreciate the script that you put
into that and uh how it helps develop the character because again i know slice
of life as an audience member and through your comment section and the audience

(24:31):
i think is going to be happy with what you've written for slice of life for
the anthology and your audience will want.
I think transphobia as a whole because it is something that they've been
actively you know rooting for these kind of queer stories kind
of gender stories but but few uh phil and cat
are very aware of the stories you're telling the space
you take up and it was i saw i asked someone who watched the debate live on

(24:52):
whether or not you would include it i am glad that the script that got in is
going to be told and something we really was important to us was when we did
the script the first person we asked was dan like rita is this like there was
there was like a specific line.
I remember I was like, kind of like, Dan, is this good? Is this what we should be doing?
But this line in particular is like, yeah, no, that's really good line.

(25:12):
Like, be like, okay, cool.
Like I want it from your perspective. And same thing for even when you weren't
the drawn slice life, when that character did show up, we're like,
damn, what's your opinion?
You know, let us know. Cause we, that's the point that we could tell this story.
We need your perspective.
And that's something that was really important to us. Because we keep talking
about the story without really talking about what it's about,
just to add a little context, You know, it's one of our most prominent recurring characters,

(25:37):
Chris, who is bisexual and appears very frequently in Slice of Life,
visiting her sister, her trans sister, at college for the first time since her
sister, Charlie, was kicked out of their family home for coming out as trans.
And both characters appear in Slice of Life. Their relationship is addressed
in Slice of Life. But we really like this opportunity to kind of tell a side
story that's distant from what's going on in the main events of the series right now.

(25:59):
And also tell an intersectional story that, you know, touches on Chris's bisexuality,
which is an important part of her character.
And obviously a big part of our audience resonates with because of our work
on volumes of bi visibility.
But then also to talk about Charlie's experience as a as as Chris's sister, as a trans woman.
Now, Ben, I know this isn't your first time being featured in an anthology like this,

(26:22):
and I'd like to know what your process looks like when you're trying to come
up with an idea for a submission for a comic anthology and tailoring a short
story for submission criteria.
Criteria yeah i've done a few anthology stories i did a story in a once upon
a time machine volume two uh from dark horse few other tales floating around

(26:47):
you know i definitely sometimes try to think.
You know uh phil and kat you're talking about balance trying
to have a different balance of tones
so i'm always naturally drawn to comedy
and jokes so and with this instance where
i kind of figured a lot would be very biographical come

(27:07):
from a place of really just like deep heavy emotions
i thought uh you know something fun and
campy and euphoric could be something nice to
balance it out put some like get some smiles in there
alongside the fields so especially
for an anthology whether it's like
four pages or eight pages it's definitely

(27:29):
got to be a more careful construction normally especially you know if i have
like issues or grabbing those i have a little more runway i'll you know come
up with the plot and just start going and be like cool well this This is going
to take the real estate it takes and we'll wrangle and we'll figure out how to wrangle it as we go.
But for an anthology, I think you really got to go into it knowing exactly what

(27:54):
each page is going to be accomplishing since you have so little space to tell
a story and make an impact.
So especially with um you
know with uh this story four pages it
was kind of like i definitely kind of tried to structure it as a joke you know
kind of uh set up build up build up punch line at the end but yeah i would say

(28:22):
that's the biggest difference between uh anthology stories and the longer stories,
you know, issues and long stories and graphic novels is that difference between write an outline.
Aim for how many pages you'll think you'll need and just let it rip and figure
it out along the way versus this much more, you know, careful clockwork sense

(28:44):
of like, no, I need to know.
I have just such a finite amount of real estate. I need to know exactly what
each page is going to accomplish to sell, to make the story work.
I'll say from the moment we read your script, it definitely,
it felt very like someone who's
been around the block writing stories for anthologies. It was very tight.

(29:05):
And you could tell just how much thought you put into what went on each page
specifically and the setup punchline, like you said.
So you actually, I don't think we've told you this, you're our
second Jojo inspired uh story that
we've had in an anthology um same artist i
think same artist i mean they're

(29:26):
very different stories and they look very different just like
i mean the outfits that johnson came up with the fashions just the sexy androgynous
psychic ghosts yes um i'll send you the the story that had in uh hairology i'm
telling you the the the jojo weep to gay pipeline is so real.

(29:50):
I mean, you've got Golden Wind and Stone Ocean, no matter which gender you end
up being or fancying, it's got you covered.
We've definitely learned that. I didn't think anthologies would be my queer
introduction to JoJo, but here we are, two in a row.
Now, Captain Phil, would you say that your experience writing more short form

(30:12):
comics for Webtoon, or at least much more bite-sized chapters,
has lent to your ability to write slight short anthology
comics or are the two just a very different beast
that the skill zone crossover you know i actually think
it's the complete opposite which is so interesting because our we
write it in a sequential format for slice light but we kind of

(30:32):
write it in longer issues so like when
we plot slice of life um we're plotting for the 40
to 50 page issue that so
happens to be part of the web comic and it's
the one of the only books i feel like we get to dive deep
into is so much because it's such long form so it's
so interesting because we release it as like short form but we when

(30:52):
we think about it in a writing format is our
long form book it's our serialized what uh one
of phil's favorite shows is uh good trouble and the fosters and we always describe
it as like are the fosters because it's it's that show that kind of just lasts
forever and you get to really dive deep into these characters over a decade
with a single character kind of feeling i agree exactly with what cat's saying

(31:14):
slice life there's a lot of room to tell the story long form over time,
but obviously they're broken up into short form installments.
But to your question, Tommy, I do actually, I do think that just in general,
brevity is a writing skill you get when you write more.
Like, I think using your space skillfully is just something that you master over time.

(31:34):
We've even gone better with Slice of Life. Yeah, I think you're going to say the same thing.
There's early chapters where it takes 10 pages to do something.
You're like, wait, now we would do that in six. Just out of
circumstance our first issue quote unquote of
slice life where we collected like you know 40 x pages
of uh of series was like four chapters and
then you know our most recent one was probably like 10 chapters so

(31:56):
like it shows that oh we're we're breaking up
into shorter installments and also if you look at anthologies i
think by visibility cat your your story in
that first volume was like 10 pages and then you know
look at uh rainbow canvas or or transporter
we have of like four page stories i think just you know over time
you you kind of it's a it's a skill you want obviously certain

(32:17):
stories demand real estate especially like when you're when you're
tackling complex themes and characters but you know
it's uh it's a skill to be able to tell a story in a short amount of space and
actually everyone on this call had a four page story and everyone used space
really well i think so and when you write a lot you have to write like let's
say weekly you know when you're writing a lot of stories and currently how many

(32:38):
series we have right now like 10.
So if we're writing, I don't even know what we have. And that's currently that's
like not there concurrently being worked on 10 books.
And it's just like, at that point, sometimes you also just writing so often
that you just kind of like a lot of times I'll write and I won't panel it out right away.
I'll just do dialogue. And I could tell how many pages it's going to be just

(32:59):
from dialogue without paneling it out.
Because it's just like you're just doing it so consistently,
you kind of just understand like how to write to a certain amount of pages.
The answer always is, you know, how do you write by writing,
you know, you, you always learn new skills in writing and how to be a better writer just by writing,
you know, write that first script, and then, you know, write that second script,

(33:20):
and you'll, you'll, you'll become a better writer just by virtue of writing
and interrogating your work. And of course, reading. Yeah.
On that note, with a little luck, within a year, year and a half time.
I hope to be in the same position you were with Slice of Life of converting
a Webtoon into a physical release comic.
So could you share some insight on what that process looks like?

(33:43):
Like once you have all these established panels and strips from Webtoon and
reformatting that for a traditional comic format, like does it require much
like redrawing of artwork or just restructuring?
Like that's new to me we actually worked in
reverse we we knew that we would want
to do a print version of slice of life so all of

(34:05):
slice of life is actually drawn as sequentials to start.
And then we convert it to webtoon so we we
kind of it's almost designed to be print first
and then you know we we do the conversion for what is on webtoon
so it's always ready to go we have to double letter it
because webtoon you need larger text just to properly
fit on the on the screen for that vertical scrolling format but

(34:26):
plenty of webcomic creators do the opposite
where they start from webcomic and then
convert it to sequentials it is a more involved process.
And does from my understanding
we've obviously we're friendly with a lot of webcomic creators
who've taken the other route it's it's a little more work but it's
definitely doable you might want to get more creative with

(34:47):
your page specifications a lot of webtoon creators who
do print media don't use like us standard comic
size they might use like you know manga size or like
a more custom size and their their paging
and their paneling might be a little different they might you
know do fewer panels usually yeah to have
that flexibility because you know when you're creating

(35:08):
a comic in the vertical scrolling format
you're not necessarily thinking about the composition of everything together you might
have a small fan panel followed by a huge panel followed
by a small panel and you know in sequentials there's
no easy way to make that fit with you know to three other panels on
the page to get your standard five or six panel page so you
know it's just it's about creativity so uh but

(35:29):
it's it's doable a lot of incredibly successful web you know web comic i think
lore olympus would didn't it started vertical and they do yes yeah i think uh
i think a lot of the really popular originals um i don't know about let's play
i think let's play might I'd have done to can start it in the vertical format.
Now, Daniel, with this being, um, to my knowledge, your first couple forays

(35:52):
into writing comics, uh, I'm real curious about what kind of aspirations you
have for your comics career in the future.
Like, do you plan to focus mainly on editing or do you hope to shift more toward
writing as you progress?
I've been very fortunate to be working with Phil and Kat a lot that I have been
able to indulge both of, uh.

(36:13):
Those things i do love both equally i
think if i keep pursuing writing it would be more
in this like independent small time space because i
do like working in this kind of close environment where you
get to know these creators and artists that you work with and
the freedom you have with the scripts you're able to produce and
finding what you need that's been great as

(36:33):
a writer to adapt to what kind
of anthology and really work with the team see what things you
want to focus on what the anthology needs and play with
that but editorially you know uh i'm only
a recent graduate so i would like to explore more in
the editorial team because that has been one of the i discovered
was greatest joy of working both on by visibility and on this i think that just

(36:56):
as an editor your job being to make the story like not the best version of what
you want it to be but the best version of what this author is trying to tell
the best version that this author wants response is just very gratifying, very rewarding,
because you get to dip your toes into a lot of different genres,
into a lot of different tones, and that kind of adaptability working from script

(37:18):
to script, that's something that it's hard work on the mind in the most satisfying way,
because you get to work closely with them, put yourself in their place,
and then also even detach a little bit and be like, oh, we're very close here.
Let's see, like, oh, from an audience perspective who might
not have those kind of close personal feelings what is the
best way to move forward so you know moving from like the

(37:41):
larger developmental editing to the
close like line by line editing that's uh i
enjoy every step of the way so editing i think is more where i'm leaning towards
but always working with small town creators working on these small scripts that
uh anthologies need and getting you know what i think are valuable and important
stories out there is always going to be something i'm going to pursue at least

(38:02):
in some part of my life on that That note of critique within the realm of comic creation.
I had a question for you, Kat, in regards to your YouTube channel, Comicuno.
I know a lot of my listeners might know you from that channel where you're often
ranking and critiquing new comics.
And I've always been really worried about being negative at all toward any book

(38:23):
on either of my podcasts, just because there's so many good ones out there.
I don't want to be that person that brings down a creator's day if they hear
me say something bad about their book.
With you working in this realm, both like helping creators bring their books
to life, also sometimes adding like numeric value to art.
Do you find that this creates any complications when working with professionals in the industry?

(38:46):
And does it ever lead to burn bridges for you?
Luckily, no. Honestly, you know, when I was a journalist before all this,
before I did any creating, and I think it really depends on how you are a critic.
I think there are certain critics that are there to bring people down.
And that is not what Comic Uno is about.

(39:08):
The brand, I guess, not the person I am, Comic Uno.
But no, I think their true criticism is a compliment sandwich.
I always say that. Uh, you know, you can always put the perspective of this
wasn't for me, uh, and this is the reason it wasn't for me, but that doesn't
mean it's not for anybody else.
And, you know, you could give the reasonings of why you should pick something

(39:29):
up or why you shouldn't, uh, in, in my perspective, but that,
you know, I think that's the balancing act. And that's something I enjoy doing.
I enjoy being able to give rightful criticism, right?
I think criticisms are, and I don't believe that you should put anyone down.
And that's something I don't love seeing in reviews is any time where it's like,

(39:52):
you should never say the words, this sucks, because that's not a review.
A review is when you're like, this worked, or this didn't work.
And that's something I've always wanted to express with my reviews.
And anytime I've met a creator, a lot of times they'll be like,
I love your reviews because you do that, because you're true to your thoughts.
I'm not getting a yes man.
I'm not getting this is a five star book because I just love you.

(40:14):
But you're also not being a mean person.
You're just you're you're you're being being balanced. And even when you don't
like something, you'd be like, but this worked out or, you know,
never. You got you got to be well balanced with it.
Is it a hard balancing act? Yeah, for sure. But I've been doing criticism for
over 15 years. You kind of learn the balancing act also.

(40:34):
I think Deepak King has a friend of Kat who sees a lot of not-Kamkuna, a lot of actual Kat.
You know, she very much values like honest but fair criticism.
You know, I could walk out of a movie with Kat. She'll be like,
I did not like that. It is not for me. And then you watch a preview and she
will take the time to go through it.
This is what did work or what might work for someone else.

(40:55):
It's like she's a very even-handed reviewer and
you know this is something we talk about a lot actually you know just what
what is fair criticism you're not going to see you know outrage clickbait from
cat where it's just you know like the rage baiting so that's something i i respect
a lot about her enjoy working with her and watching her reviews for yeah as
someone who is also what's cat a lot socially uh if we just saw a movie like

(41:19):
phil said she'll be say what she thought in the be like,
do you want to know what comic Uno thought? And she'll give.
Comic Uno is a different person. Yeah. She'll speak and then say,
I want to know what comic Uno thought.
And then it is a very thoughtful analysis and review.
So, uh, cat comic Uno has a lot of work into the, uh, the very thoughtful and
careful criticism that she puts out there.

(41:41):
We really respect comic Uno and we like cat.
That's a much better person than cat. Um, no, and I appreciate that.
No, I, I very much appreciate that.
From the outside looking in. I think honestly, what I was also going to add
is help in our own grid from all three of us, our own creative space as editors
where we could, I put my Comic-Uno hat on a lot of times.
I honestly, I put the Comic-Uno hat with me and filler writing where,

(42:04):
you know, he'll be like, is that a five-star review from Comic-Uno? And I'll be like, no.
And this is why, and this is why. And then we corrupt it because of that.
Cause they're like, oh, as like Kat, I love this cause I wrote this.
But if I was reviewing it as a critic, this is the things I thought were wrong
or not wrong, but like, you know, that were could be elevated.
And honestly, that's helped us in our own writing. But then also with between

(42:27):
me and Phil, in particular, talking to each other with criticism,
I feel like we've been better at like, it's like, obviously,
you're putting your heart and soul into something.
And sometimes it's hard to tell your partner, hey, I don't think that worked.
And I think the criticism side has helped us both.
And Phil has also picked up on a lot of the criticism side to where we get to
communicate with each other better where we don't yes man each other.

(42:50):
But And I think our quality of our book is better because of it.
We know the language to use now.
Because like Kat said, writing is personal.
And you want it to be the best it could be. You want the fair criticism of what could be better.
But I think we are good at now and knowing each other's triggers where it's
like, oh, don't say this exact word.
Or don't say, this doesn't work. Change it. Say, this doesn't work.

(43:15):
Because of change or this doesn't
work and i don't know how to fix it oh well yeah even just
saying i don't know how to fix it else or saying what you had in mind but uh
no it's it working with someone working with comics are collaboration so it's
always working with someone but you know use your collaborators bounce ideas
off of each other that's the way that you create the best art that you can never

(43:37):
yes man people i think that's always been my best best answer of like
either our friendship between me and Dan or in Phil,
I don't know why I let you out, Phil.
Did Kath leave him out or did Kamiguno leave him out?
Oh, Kamiguno is, it definitely left out Phil. It was the third ego. It was business cat.

(43:57):
There is business cat in the egos as well.
But no, I think that's also just kind of, that's kind of interesting as well
as just being able to, to do all that and balance all that. Business cat's a whole nother cat.
She's crazy we could do like a big brother house of all
the cats i think fun
cat she's she's cool music cat

(44:19):
food cat food cat her down
schedule cats the worst now to give
our listeners a dose of almost preemptive feedback
i'd like to know what advice the group has
for creators that are looking to submit
stories or ideas to anthologies like this

(44:39):
and what they can do to prepare a good
submission that might stand out among the others like
kat mentioned earlier standing out is always a
good thing so you know if you're submitting to a you
know using this as an example of trans non-binary anthology a genre story with
a unique twist or even just a unique setting a unique character slash voice

(45:01):
like stand you want to stand out and you know put your best foot forward because
that's the best way to get noticed by a editorial team that may be reading hundreds of submissions.
Also, there's nothing wrong with submitting multiple stories.
One of our contributors submitted three different scripts, and we liked all
three, but in the end, one of them fit best in the anthologies.

(45:22):
Parology, too. We loved all three of one of the stories, and it's like, what did we pick?
It was honestly rude. It was the JoJo one, actually, that we talked about earlier.
Earlier, the writer that she had submitted two scripts. And that was a writer
who's never published before either.
That was her first work and I did not. It was fantastic.
Yeah, my advice as someone on the submitter side is...

(45:46):
Whatever you're writing about, whatever genre it is, just make sure it's coming
from a place of something real, whether it's silly or fun or serious or dark or traumatic.
Just make sure that you're speaking from some true emotions.
You know, it doesn't have to be true to life. It can be fictional,
but make sure that you're writing about something that's true to you, that you care about.

(46:10):
That is, you know, because if it's not meaningful for you, how is it going to
be meaningful for anybody else?
So, you know, you only got so many pages, so make them count and do them and
make them something that you can really be proud about pouring yourself into.
And honestly, and this is just advice I've gotten over the years before we even

(46:31):
started doing anthologies, try to have someone else read it.
That way it'd be like, oh, in your perspective, it could be like this,
this and that and be like, oh,
well, I actually didn't get that from this story, maybe do another run.
And honestly, grammarly grammar checks.
I think that's always great too. Not that we would never pick something because
there's like one grammar mistake, but if like it, if the language is,
is, is a little hard to get through, it'll, it'll make it maybe a little harder to choose.

(46:55):
So I think also just making sure you've, you've read it a few times,
but I definitely seen people submit like right away.
You could kind of tell that they just wanted to get it out there like their first draft.
And And sometimes we do choose those because they're just wonderful stories and great.
But, you know, if we're between one and another story, we might go with the
one that was a little easier to be more polished.

(47:17):
And that kind of goes with descriptions, too. Sometimes there's descriptions
that are just like so long and then the language is a little, you know, chopped up.
That's for everything, not just the dialogue, but also like the presentation of your script.
Yeah and my advice is uh similar to
ben's especially if you're a new writer it could be difficult to
really like get in touch with your emotions and feel comfortable

(47:39):
to get that in the script so that's why drafting is
important you want to make sure again that the
theme the emotional message whatever the core emotion
you have is in there and not to be afraid of i guess wearing your heart on your
sleeve putting that on the page because that is what will connect with an audience
will make you stand out another thing just about comics specifically if you're

(48:00):
maybe a different kind of writer or you like poetry or prose because comics
is such a visual medium what we.
Loved in submissions were even if you're not an artist if you're thinking about
the visuals and there are cool visuals that were like this is a very thoughtful
script writer even if you're not going to draw it you thought about what it
will look like and reading your script if we could visualize it and it's something

(48:22):
that stands out it's cool or very meaningful that's going to make
your script stand out and we'll show how much of a thoughtful writer you are.
And how thoughtful you are for an audience who's going to be looking at something
that's visually conveyed through whatever the artist designs.
Yeah, another piece of, again, practical advice, especially if you are coming

(48:43):
at this, you know, first time comic writer looking to submit and see try the medium.
One big thing is very different from prose or poetry.
You can include reference images. You can do that.
You can just drop a link in there. uh you do
not need to spend three paragraphs explaining every

(49:04):
detail of a location or a
fashion or what have you just drop a jpeg much easier to yeah much easier to
read on that also something that i i will put out there this is ocd cat here
follow directions we've had probably i would say 30 percent of all of the missions
are either like not the right page count might be a prose story

(49:28):
might be a a screenplay like things
that you can't convert into a comic so follow directions
also the best way to get on cat's bad side is to not follow the directions when
you're submitting but we'll still read your submission we'll still give it a
fair shot but it gets you off on the wrong foot be honest will you be making

(49:49):
fun of it in the review sessions yeah it depends on how
badly you didn't follow the directions.
Let's make fun of Moran. Like, what? Did you see this? Did I open the wrong file? And then...
Is this a 40-page novel? What? We've gotten...

(50:09):
Let's say problematic submissions at times that
that sometimes you can't help but like squint and shake your head at sometimes
so you know i think i don't think i don't think we would make fun of anything
that comes our way but there are definitely some that make you scratch your
head a little bit like oh this is the wrong anthology that you submitted did
they know that this was a comic anthology i said transphobia not transphobia.

(50:33):
With the success of this kickstarter hitting
its goal so quick aiming for multiple stretch
goals now and last i checked being at 175 ish
percent of its target goal what do
the odds look like of us seeing a transforia volume
2 in the near future i think it's very high what

(50:54):
we learned from by visibility though is that we don't
want to do it on a yearly basis i think something with by visibility still
by was that we should have skipped another
year and done a different project because we think still by could
have been very successful but we think it could have been even more
successful if we didn't do it back to back so we have we will not announce here

(51:15):
but we are already in talks of another thing we're going to be doing that is
in the queer space that we yeah two are in the queer space so one we're working
on right now actually uh that we're really excited for.
And then the other one that's going to be more in this vein,
where it's going to be open submissions that we're really excited for.
So we'd love to do another volume for trans, but we don't, we don't think it'd be in 2025.

(51:40):
But if we do do another volume, I think the earliest would be 2026.
Now, I do have a personalized question of the week here to wrap us up.
But before I move to that, are there any final thoughts in regards to Transphoria
that you would like to share with the audience?
All I would like to share is thank you for being such a wonderful host with
such wonderful questions, such thoughtful questions. It really,

(52:02):
really means the world to us.
I appreciate that. I try and do my best to research my guests and,
yeah, get as much of an idea of their work and what their career looks like
before coming into an interview.
So glad that paid off. it shows very much so
such a thoughtful host and great mediator great
communicator it's been a great great podcast session now for

(52:23):
our closing question uh since you're doing a lot with this one book and bringing
more trans and non-binary representation to the comic book medium i would like
to know what your favorite trans non-binary or gender queer representation from other recent
comics you've found lately or any very inspirational ones going into your writing.

(52:46):
I definitely want to give a shout out Jed Zia Axelrod's work on the character Galaxy,
the trans superhero Galaxy, the prettiest star and the new Hawkgirl miniseries,
whose trade paperback just dropped, I think, today as we're recording this.
Yeah, and I can see that influence in your work because, Ben, I

(53:09):
know you've got your own sci-fi corgi story coming up soon uh yes though that
was in development uh way before galaxy came out but yes more and more wonderful
corgi action and we love and we love argus which i can't wait to read uh no
for me i would say uh alissa.
From um batgirl that she was like the first

(53:30):
uh person i remember even seeing trans representation
for in comics and that was gail simone who did
that so and obviously just being able to see that character through
burnside and other stuff so i i would say that character
i'll go into the the web comic space on uh
on webtoon to that immediately jumped to my mind on
the webtoon original side uh boyfriends features one

(53:51):
of their the lead boyfriends for is uh is a trans man and And the creator of
the comic who we worked with before on Rainbow Canvas is also trans and a delight
to work with and explores a lot of really interesting and specific aspects of
his experience very specifically.
And isn't afraid to dive into, you know, taboo is not the right word,

(54:17):
but dive into topics that you don't always see, including like,
you know, 18 plus topics for themselves and their relationship to their gender
identity and sexuality.
And then on the Webtoon Canvas side, I'm a big fan of Encore.
I think it's on a pretty long hiatus right now, but it's a boy love romance
that one of the leads is a trans man.

(54:37):
And, you know, I really like the exploration of both the romance and of the
of the two leads that one of whom the this this one of whom is bisexual.
I think there's a lot of really interesting conversation about,
you know, their individual journeys and their relationship.
Thank you for that. I've been struggling to find good Webtoons to cover on the
show. So that gives me two really good, helpful directions.

(55:00):
On for exclamation point. And yet your rainbow canvas like kind of sample or
who's who platter on Webtoon was awesome.
Nice like and yeah hats off for slice of life because
like i've really had a hard time getting invested in any webtoons just
because like there's a lot of small digestible chunks you have to get through
for stories to get going and it's a medium i'm just not that
exposed to but slice of life really caught my

(55:22):
interest very quickly so that's got
me opening the app a lot more that thank you so much really means
the world because it's so interesting coming from a traditional medium where
you're like oh are we bringing people to webtoons and we always think oh we're
bringing webtoon people to kickstarter so it's really cool to
like hear the opposite too where it's like no the also people
who really love traditional comics can also go to webtoon that's

(55:43):
kind of always been our biggest goal of lifeline comics is to bridge
every different medium and be like oh you don't have to just go to the comic
book store to get your weekly comics or you don't just have to read traditional
comics to get your weekly comics and vice versa for webtoon too webtoon readers
should know that webtoon is comic books so it's a lot of the time when you talk

(56:04):
to webtoon readers like like, well, I'm not reading a comic.
I'm reading a webtoon. It's like, no, it's all comics. And
Like Kat said, it's very much our mission statement. Every time we do our newsletter
posts biweekly, we always plug, we try to capture all the areas of comics.
We talk about one Marvel DC book, one direct market indie book,
one Kickstarter book, and one web comic.

(56:24):
We love all comics and we want our readers and our fans to also love all comics
wherever they are published.
And Daniel, didn't mean to get in the way of your answer, but yeah,
what have you been liking in the realm of TransRub? Thank you.
Always happy to talk about Slice of Life.
But I anticipated by this question and was very excited by it.
So I went to my bookshelf. So I did want to highlight to gender queer has been

(56:46):
getting a lot of traction recently or conversations because there are a lot
of like book banning campaigns against it, even though it's such a very thoughtful and meaningful story.
So I wanted to highlight that because especially schools recently have been targeting it.
And I would say unfairly targeting it because it tells such a very important
story of gender exploration and delves very deep into topics that I think schools

(57:07):
should have no reason to ban. And then the other one I want to highlight was Fine.
This one, the author tells their personal story about gender exploration.
And then their name is Raya. They then interview a lot of people and they're from the Midwest.
So there are a lot of other Midwestern experiences. experiences and
then they travel to get more different cultures different religions different
identities and it's a book all about their own experience

(57:30):
with gender and then how them going around
to interview other people how that impacted themselves
and then putting it all into a book into a graphic novel again that's
i work with a lot of anthologies i love uh getting a
lot of different voices and seeing them all thematically connect
so that was a great read for me i think came out in
2022 and i would always recommend that i love

(57:52):
the the journalism side of that because like one thing
i love about comics and i don't think comics do it enough there's very
few comics that do it is to have a journalistic aspect be like cool you could
actually interview people and do a journalism piece but through a comic book
um i know kent state was a really good example of that where they went back
to talk about that event but they they went back like 20 years later to to interview those people.

(58:16):
And they wrote it as like a comic, which I think is cool.
And Ray Ewing was actually one of my earliest guests on this show,
and they were awesome to talk to.
And like, yeah, I was so surprised to see they didn't have much in the realm
of comics credits outside of that.
But I think it also makes sense because fine is like really distinct among the realm of comics.

(58:38):
Like, I don't personally know of any other examples that are quite like that
with its journalism take in the graphic novel field.
That's so exciting that you had them on. I will have to check that out.
As we close out here, can you remind our audience what the last day they'll
be able to back Transphoria is going to be?
Yeah, we'll pull up the campaign here. June 27th.

(58:59):
You got it first. I always have it open. I hate that he has all those tabs open.
Cats furry ain't about closing her tabs. But last day for Transphoria,
Thursday, June 27th at 10pm Eastern Time.
You still got almost a full month to check it out and we strongly encourage
you to do so. So I've known the pain of finding an amazing Kickstarter book

(59:21):
months after the campaign ended.
So, folks, if you're hearing this in time, you'll want to check this out while you can. For sure.
If y'all are comfortable with it, would you want to plug your social media or
tell our audience where they can find you and follow your future projects?
Yeah, for me at Comic Uno, the best place to learn more information about what

(59:42):
we're doing is on our sub stack for Lifeline Comics.
So go check that out. We post every two weeks, and we update you on literally
everything we're doing. So go check that out.
Yeah, you'll see a little of Comic-Kuno, a little of Kat, a little of Business Kat.
She's all there. She's all over that sub stack.
But for me, if you could find me, Phil Falco writes on Twitter,

(01:00:05):
Instagram, BlueSpy, Threads, all those good things.
And like Kat said, Lifeline Comics sub stack, great place for all of our updates.
I'm new to Twitter, but I'm trying to be more active.
So my uh twitter at would be literary underscore
dandy uh get dan followers oh dan
motivate me to stay on social media yeah dan are you on blue sky no i just i

(01:00:29):
know that the twitter alternatives seem kind of superfluous but i have found
blue sky to be like the awesome hotbed of
trans comic creators so like yeah
that's where a lot of them migrated to i know like jadzia axelrod
charlie jane anders tilly bridges a lot of others
are really active on blue sky our announcement post on blue sky for transphoria

(01:00:54):
did very well so that very much supports exactly what you just said that was
the perfect pitch to get me on there so thank you it'll probably be the same
username so long as there are no problems so literary underscore dandy will
probably be on by the time this comes out.
Blue sky i'm open to sponsorships just saying and uh
so yeah so first off we've

(01:01:15):
just announced a new graphic novel i wrote
with art by georgio brooks coming out
january 2025 from oni press called mr muffins defender of the stars about a
young boy who just wants a day off from his responsibilities who is instead
dragged into an intergalactic war when it turns out the The cosmic chosen one

(01:01:37):
has been reincarnated as his pet Corgi.
Yeah, just, you know, a boy and his dog story with a whole bunch of super awesome space action.
Giorgio's art is just something amazing. So keep an eye out for Mr. Muffins in January.
And then you can find me on Twitter at Ben the Con and then BenConComics.com,

(01:02:02):
where you can definitely make sure to subscribe to my newsletter at pencon.substack.
Regardless of what happens over the next six months, I'm still sure that Mr.
Muffins is going to be exactly what we need come January of next year. It's going to be so cute.
Yeah, looking forward to it. Again, thank you, Kat, Phil, Daniel,

(01:02:24):
and Ben for taking the time to come on the show.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Transphoria come to life and,
yeah, your future anthologies and hopefully someday a Transphoria Volume 2.
Jordan, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. If the listeners at home
have requests or recommendations for comics or creators you'd like us to cover
in the future, you can send them our way on social media.

(01:02:45):
You can find us on the Transcending Comics Instagram and Facebook page,
on Twitter as at Transcend Comics, or email us at transcendingcomics at gmail.com.
We'd like to thank you again for giving our podcast a chance and give a special
shout-out to Ray Day Parade for designing Our intro and outro music is A Little
Soul and You've Been Starring by Carlson.
You can check out more of their music on carlson.com.

(01:03:06):
Join us again next week as we continue to transcend boundaries and explore the
colorful world of trans, non-binary, and genderqueer representation in comic books of all kinds.
As the curtains fall on this episode of Transcending Comics,
remember that comics have the power to inspire change in countless worlds,
including our own. Keep reading. Keep writing.
Music.