Go Go Scioli!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pennsylvania's own Tom Sholey, one of my favorite comic book
guys out there right now. Welcome to the show. I'm
glad we connected, Thanks, Benny.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
In particular that this Godzilla comic book that you've got,
it's got such throwback greatness to it. I love it.
Are you both drawing and writing that one?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm doing everything. I'm drawing, writing, coloring, lettering by hand,
all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, you know, it reminds me. I've got some of you.
I got about ten years on you, Tom, But it
reminds me of the comic strips, you know, in the
Sunday Paper of my youth. The way it's was that intentional?
Are wise? Yeah? Structure?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, bringing up because it ostensibly takes place in the
nineteen twenty sure, so like newspaper comics would be. You
know what comics looked like at the time that the
story takes place.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I love that look too. How do you? I wanted
to ask you, because it's just chock full this comic book.
There's God No, there's Drac Khilla, the Gatsby, there's Jules Vern,
there's is this one of those public domain things? I'm
trying to wrap my head around this whole public domain
how we're able to get a Popeye slasher movie and

(01:13):
Winnie the Pooh slasher movie and everybody's like, oh, the
public domain. Now, I don't understand how that works, but
I'm wondering if that's what's benefiting us as far as
your work is concerned.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, that was part of the conversation. I've been wanting
to do a Godzilla comic for years and we've been
talking about different approaches, and then the public domain news
kind of came up, and then talking about like, oh,
do you have any you know, public domain ideas with Godzilla?
And that was the first thing that instantly came to mind,
was the Great Gatsby versus Godzilla.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, it's and that's it. You're just able to No
estate can come and knock it on your you know,
your Pittsburgh door, and I know you're born and raised
there and you still live there. You don't have to
worry about that, none of them.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I mean, they would have to take it up with
the create the owners of Godzilla, which would be Tovo Studios.
But yeah, anybody can do anything they want with a
great Dad speed story and people have.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, that's wild. How did you come up with? You
know what else I'm gonna do. I'm gonna have Godzilla
fight Dracula, which I'm really moving forward through. Man. I
think it's gonna be great and the artwork is fantastic.
How did you come up with that? Well?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I needed someplace to go with the story. I wanted
it to be an epic, and so, yeah, you start
off with something like the great Dat Speed. I needed
someplace to go. I needed some kind of opponent that
would be worthy for Godzilla. And this like sort of
from West to East adventure that Godzilla and the characters

(02:49):
go on sort of culminates in Transylvania. Like I thought
that would be a great tapper for it.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah. That fills me with a little bit of worry there,
because I picked up the latest issue yesterday at Second
Alarm Comics. You gotta you gotta throw a shout out
to your your local comic book store. Those guys got
their work cut out for them, you know. I'm sure
you know. And Uh, when I was showing chatting with
the guy to register, I actually went to college with him. Uh,

(03:19):
And and I showed him the comic and he said, Uh,
what is what? Is there going to be six issues
to that? Like he just says, because because there's so
many that have these that I get excited and it's
happened there already to me once before I went out
and I said, I'm looking for the latest issue of
such and such and they're like that. There were just
six issues in that series? Is there? How how many

(03:40):
issues are you planning on doing?

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, it was three, So.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
You mean I just bought the last one.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
You bought the last one. The issues are they're double length,
so it's it's three, But like you said about six,
it's three but six.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I want to cancel the interview. I want to cancel the.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, we're done talking. I'll have something new along soon.
But I mean I'm talking to the to the editor
about about more Godzilla stuff. So okay, cool, you know
there'll be more more Godzilla stuff. Uh, there's a pretty
good chance of that.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I can't believe I just snapped up the last one.
What is the your next project that you're working on
and will it be in the in the same style?
Can can you give a little hint or anything like that?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, I mean my next project is it's called space
Opera Zanadax Across the Unknown Dimensions of the Galaxy. It's
a you know, science fiction uh adventure, and it's it's
completely me. It's it's my own uh creation. It's yes,
not based on anything else. It's yeah, it's like a

(04:45):
creator and comic. And so that's that's what I'm currently
working on.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, And and I ask will the artwork be the same,
because I've been looking at a lot of your stuff
and you play a little bit. You have stuff that
is very Jack Kirby esque, which I know you're a
huge fan of. I think I even had that. I
was trying to remember. I think I had his son.

(05:09):
Does his son do a podcast about his father's work?
I think I had his son on my show here
a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, I mean his son has Yeah, he sort of
makes the rounds every now and then to speak on
behalf of his father. So yeah, that would be Neil Kirby.
You might talk to him.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, that was it. And there was a book out
about Kirby. So I've seen some of your work that
does lean Kirby. But the Godzilla book, I would say
it's kind of in all your own thing it's a
little different. Yeah, I feel artwork, guys.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, you'll see me in anything I do, and especially
this next thing. But yeah, this Godzilla, I really you know,
paired things down and tried to get like what I
think of as like essential cartooning, like you know, really
like like what comics look like in the very beginning,
that sort of energy and streamline. And look that they

(06:00):
had this this one that I'm working on right now,
the science fiction one. Yeah, it's got a little more
squiggle a little It's it's in that sci fi world,
so it you know, maybe looks a little closer to
the sort of Kirby influence I have, but it's it's
not it's not that far from from the kind of
art and especially the kind of coloring that I was doing.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
The guy, I was hesitant because I didn't know if
you had a color as you're doing the whole I mean,
this whole baby is yours. But it's got that little
bit of fade to it, you know, like you're, uh,
you're you're finding an old comic struck. You know, it
looks like you ran your thumb over it, you know,
for lack of a better way of describing it, it's

(06:43):
it's got an old like old comic strip look to it,
and I like the I love the coloring in it.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Oh thanks you. I wanted it to look like it's
been around like that. This is a comic that's been
waiting for you your whole life and you're only just
now finding it achieved.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah. I would say, gee, now this next project of yours,
and again around with Tom Sholey from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, comic
book artist writer, and you say, you have this next
project coming out same publisher. Who is it? Is it
IDW id W? I'm trying to think who puts the
Godzilla comic book?

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, it's not IDW. It hasn't been officially announced yet,
but it's it's another publisher whose name also starts with
the letter I.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
HM. I have guesses, and that would be interesting that
that's the most interesting thing I've noticed as a lifelong
comic book collector. Like yesterday when I was standing at
Second Alarm and looking at all the new releases. I
can't believe. When I was a kid there was Marvel,
DC and Archie. There were those three, and now there

(07:51):
were it was uncountable. There were literally ten to twelve
to fifteen different houses, and I don't know if that
benefits create like yourself, you just feel like, hey, there's
that many more avenues we can go down, or if
we were better served when it was just the top
two kind of duken it out. I guess there was

(08:12):
also Charlton, if I'm remembering correctly. I loved their what
they put out too. I think that was from Connecticut.
Charlton was Connecticut based. I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, that's Jack. Kirby always referred to Charleton as Connecticut.
You never called it Charlton. He said, Oh, you know,
Seve Dicko went to work for Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah. Didco did a lot here in Connecticut in the valley. Yeah.
I was so excited as a Connecticut lifer when I
discovered that I was a huge Ditgo fan. I mean,
who wasn't really or you were a Kirby even that,
It's like Marvel versus D. C. Kirby versus did Goo.
There are a lot of sides to choose growing up
as a comic book enthusiast.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, I love them both, yea, And yeah to your question,
as a creator, it's nice to have a lot of options,
and yeah, idw didn't exist when we were kids, so
I would have been out of luck with scott Zilla thing.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, and I'm so glad it came along, but I'm
sad to find out that yesterday was my last jaunt
to Second Alarm. That's the last issue, you know. Obviously
it goes to show that I haven't gotten to it
yet because I would imagine you got a big the
end at the end of it, right, I've never heard
of a three issue run though. That's that's a really
abbreviated one.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's it's becoming sort of a new model. They were
sort of They had a lot of success with a
comic called The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for the last
rounin which was similar. It was you know, longer than
usual issues, but then you know, three three issue mini series.
So it's been like a successful format for them. So
that was that was the idea with this.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, now when it's this, you have no a date
you can announce as far as this next project surfacing.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, no, the next one. The next one it'll be
in August.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Oh okay, so not too far out there, and also, uh,
you host YouTube podcast. I would imagine it is, right,
the total Recall Show. It comes up in my feed
often and it looks like a lot of fun too.
How can people watch the Total Recall Show?

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, just go to YouTube and search Total Recall Show.
And we have all kinds of videos, you know, some
about comics, some about regular pop culture. We've been doing
a lot of Star Trek stuff lately because I've been
really into the Star Trek movie novelizations. Kind of a revelation.
I wish I would have read them sooner. I don't
know if you have any familiarity with that stuff.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Believe it or not. I didn't get into it. Just
gonna sound so I mocked my friends who are who
were you know, Treky fans until these these prequels came along.
I thought those were really good. Zachary Kinto as a
young Spock was kind of badass. No, I was no
disrespect to no disrespect to Leonard Nimoy because he is

(10:55):
a legend. But yeah, I was a Star Wars guy.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, me too. And it's in my adulthood that I've
sort of fallen in love with Star Trek. And now
I do feel bad about making fun of my Treky friend.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, well, Kirk was he you know? Hey, God blessed Shatner.
He especially the chapter in his life when he started
kind of making fun of himself and running with it.
Quite a career man, especially when he was doing that show.
It eludes me right now when he wound up on
TV snapping up Emmy's working with James Spader. Quite an
evolution because he was so campy in that show. As

(11:31):
a young kid, You'd think I would have loved it.
You know what. I was a huge fan of Tom
when I was a kid, and I wish you would
bring back is Thunder the Barbarian? Is that public domain?
Tom Sholey doing Thunder the Barbarian? I'd flip out.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah, I mean that that was a big inspiration for me.
I was like maybe three years old when that show
came on, Yes, and it blew my mind and probably
got me interested in Jack Kirby because the designs all
over the show show is designed by Jack Kirby. Yeah,
that's show so that that whole aesthetic just spoke to me.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
I've got them all on DVD. I bought them bootleg
on the streets of New York uh some years back. Yeah,
that was the only way I could get him. Is
there a way that you could tackle is that public
domain stuff too or no, Hanna barbaras kind of they're tough.
They're tough as far as there's and do you remember
the Herculoids another great one, Tom, you know.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Both of those things. You're talking about, Herculeoids. I think
is a comic currently, Like if they just brought out
a Hercules comic, I don't I don't know who's doing it.
And then uh, there's uh thunder is coming soon. I also,
you know, don't know who's putting that one out, but yeah,
there it's all that kind of barbarous stuff is now
owned by Warner Brothers, so it could be going through them.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I can tell you who's doing both of those comics.
My next guests here on the project. That's who's doing
well both of those comics. But I'm glad we connected.
I'm a huge fan. It's Tom she Uh, get out there,
grab these these comic books. These Godzilla comic books are
a blast. Jules Verne and Gatsby in Action has been

(13:10):
just a blast to see. And uh, let's stay in touch, man.
I'm looking forward to the new series in August as well.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, thanks so much, Benny,