to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host, Chris Hacker and Aaron Knowles. Joining us this week on the show is the creative team of Kanto, the hit fantasy comic series that tells the tale of a tiny clockwork hero on a quest to save his kind from the dreaded shrouded man, while meeting friends and other foes along the way.
These two fine gentlemen are here to celebrate the release of the next chapter in the Kanto legend, A Place Like Home, which is the fifth and seemingly final installment that is now officially over at Dark Horse Comics it is our pleasure to welcome both David Buhr and Drew Zucker on to the oblivion bar podcast The word the word hero gets thrown around and yet here we are back again legend hero You know what's it like being home guys? This is now. This is your second time together Drew.
This is your third time on the show and David, this is your fourth time on the show. So welcome back to the Oblivion Bar podcast, which you guys might as well just be special co -hosts at this time. He's tied with our favorite pit stop on the yellow brick road. That's right. Actually, no, he's tied currently with Tom King with four Christian Wars currently leading with five appearances. So David, you're in you're in good company with your fourth appearance. Christian, I'm coming for you.
I'm coming for David and I combined into one number. Can can we like? meld into one being. Only if you're in the same room. You know what? We can make that happen in San Diego in a couple of weeks. So that's our well, I guess it's a couple of months, but still we'll make it happen. But anyway, welcome back to the Ablohomarket. Chris, I was like, San Diego's in a couple of weeks. my God. And I just had like a mini panic attack. So thank you for that. Well, thanks for having us. Wake up. This is.
He's the guy I have to go. I have stuff to do. This is a wonderful appearance for us on the show. We always love coming on, but especially now because we have such a big, exciting launch for Kanto coming down. And when this airs, I believe issue one of the new series is going to be out. It's actually in the sequence, it's issue 24 of Kanto and it starts, as Aaron said, volume five. So. Most exciting thing is that this is the beginning of our quest with our new publishing partner at Dark Horse.
So we left IDW and Dark Horse picked it up. They're publishing single issues, which I can show you. These beautiful covers. It's really cops. I love that. David Mack. I love that one. This is the one in 10 retailer incentive cover that David Mack did for us. He's such a good person. He's a great artist, but he's also one of the nicest people. Always ready to say yes, no matter how much work he has or what's on his schedule and everything.
There's that. And then Dark Horse has is publishing all of the volumes in beautiful, spot glass hard. Finally, why did I buy all of this? Why did I buy all the soft covers? Why'd you guys make me do that? Now I have to go get the hard covers too. Well, in our defense, volume one fell apart a lot. it's called, it's called marketing. It's called marketing, Chris. I'm not going to lie. Dark Horse has a beautiful. product when it comes to their hardcovers.
I have several of theirs because you know, Dark Horse does a lot of their doom, some of their walkthroughs, like things like that. And I love the quality of their hardcovers. And as Chris knows, if I'm going to buy, I guess, what do you call it? Like a trade? It's going to be a hardcover, a collection. I'm going to buy a hardcover. I prefer it. It looks nicer and it just, you know, it feels, it feels nice in the hands. And so I'm excited to pick up. canto in the hardcover.
That hardcover came out so much better than we could have hoped. All the covers sort of look similar, so it's like branding for it. And then for some reason, and I can't put my finger on it, someday I'll figure this out, but the actual printing of the pages inside, it actually looks better. I don't know if they adjusted the levels a little bit or what they did, but it actually looks, it just looks better in the hardcover.
So. Not only are you getting that beautiful book you could put on your shelf, but when you read it, you kind of get a little bit of different experience from having it. Even having the hard covers, Chris, so it's not a total loss. You can buy all the hard covers and experience it anew. And you get all the behind the scenes stuff that's in there. And there is a lot in there. You guys are going to now they're going to put on an omnibus.
They're going to put out collect like a hardcover collected editions, special variants of the covers. So I guess I'm just going to have to get all of them and put all my preorder now. There you go. Just do it. Yeah, just do it. Just do it. Who cares? Just money. Pre -orders are a problem for future. Just like bills. That's right. Yeah, we don't. We're not worried about him. But, you know, kind of we're talking about all this current Canto stuff.
I think it's important that we take a quick step back here. You know, since 2019, Canto has been such a mega success for both of you and has truly garnered himself a very dedicated fan base for comic readers. Highly sought after first issue. options in Hollywood, trading cards, statues, more variants than Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's X -Men number one. And now four dedicated chapters with again, that fifth installment on the way with a brand new publisher.
So Drew, I'm going to start with you here. What's the move been like for Canto from IDW over to Dark Horse? It's been really amazing. When we made the decision to leave Dark Horse kind of threw all of their support behind the book in a way that I'm not sure either one of us was really prepared for, but we had always kind of hoped they would. And the experience has just been fantastic.
Logistically, everything is handled in a way that we very rarely have to be involved in kind of the minutia of it. We're just there to kind of make decisions, but it's nice because it allows us to just focus on what we should be doing, which is making the book. So to that end, it's just, it's been a really Great experience. David, how about you from your angle? How has this move been for Canto over to a dark horse, which we've already been bragging on dark horse a ton.
Aaron, I can tell you firsthand when we reach out to creators, when we have, you know, early comps dark horses, I mean, maybe far and away our favorite publisher that we like to kind of reach out to for all that. Yeah, it's been terrible. Sound bite. Just just a contrast of how things are going. OK, cut that. Cut that. And I'm sending it to Dark Horse. That's it. Just the one little clip. No. It's been amazing.
I mean, we were with IDW for four years of the five years that Kento has been out and we published a lot through IDW. And when you get that far in a series, you kind of just are looking for some way to breathe sort of life into an excitement and that sort of thing. And when our license came to the end, we talked to IDW and we talked to Dark Horse and Dark Horse was... had all this enthusiasm. The editors, our editors on Kento, were already very familiar. They were already fans of the series.
So it was a very easy conversation to say, will you all continue this? And then they came in and they really expressed a lot of confidence in how this series is going to continue playing out, not only with the hardcovers, but the new single issues that are going to, there's going to be a six, you never hear about six issue mini series anymore. It's like four issues, five issues.
Maybe if you are, We talked about Tom King and James Tynan and you know, some of these big, you know, top, top level folks can get six issue series, green letter, 12 issue series, but it's very rare now. And Darkwish did not bat an eye. We said, this is our creative vision. This is how it's going to end. And we want to do that. And they're like, okay, great. Let's do that. And so their commitment has been outstanding.
I think when we saw the covers coming in, even just the three covers I showed you, they just felt like they... This is Drew and Vittorio, the colorist on Kanto. This is Lisa Heidhoff. This was our editor's idea for doing a stained glass. And then again, David Mack. Felt like when the covers were coming in, it was like a level up. It was a level up with everything.
Not to say that our other covers weren't beautiful, but you could just see it sort of forming into this something that they really wanted to curate and make feel special. And that... was the best part. I mean, Dark Horse, as Aaron said, Dark Horse, their books are beautiful. I've been doing other work with them. I did Killer Queens with them. I did Ghostbusters with them. So it was an easy conversation to have, transition to make. Speaking of Ghostbusters, I'm loving it, by the way.
thank you very much. I love Ghostbusters. I love the franchise. So to get to bust some ghosts, it's pretty darn cool. I don't know if Chris mentioned, but I'm actually... since moving to New York, I've joined the New York City Ghostbusters. And so I was the one who was like in the group. I'm like posting, I'm like the new books out. You guys got to go get it. I love that. And just so you know that he's not just giving you a bunch of praise in front of your face.
He actually mentioned it last night on our Patreon episode that he was really enjoying the series just offhandedly without me prompting him. So I'm just I'm here to reaffirm that he is being he's being truthful here. Well, I love it. I mean, I love to hear it. I was just in New York this past week. I took a snap in front of the. in front of the firehouse because I'd never been there before, which was super cool.
The most support that I've gotten and the most enthusiasm that I've gotten, it's the Ghostbusters folks. The LA Ghostbusters are so supportive of the series. New York Ghostbusters, Cherryland Ghostbusters, which is out in, I forget, I think Michigan somewhere. They're just like all over this. And it was so fun to be a part of that. I'm bored here. Aaron's walking away to show you something here. He's going to bring up something in the camera. Yes, you got a flight suit. You got a flight suit.
Let's go. I got three of them. So I have a summer, a winter and like a spring one. So when are you going to get your red winter? Yeah, the one that everybody went wild over. But no, I was just going to say because I know that actually next week is the 40th, I think 40th anniversary of Ghostbusters. And so there's going to be a huge celebration up here in New York.
That would have been a great time for you to come up here and celebrate because I know up here in New York, they're doing a bunch of stuff at the firehouse. And, you know, with your work on it, you know, I know everybody's enjoying it. It's not it's not too late. It's not too late. Maybe I'll show up in New York. Let me know. I'll show you around. You know, last week, there next week. You know, it's all about it's all about appearances. Right.
So people will be like, that's a long, quick flight, like a long flight to just set up because you're all the way on the West Coast. L .A .X. to JFK is like a piece of cake. Piece of cake. The last time we were actually all together here on the oblivion bar, we were discussing your zoop horror tale, the feeding, which doubled its funding goal and seemed to be a huge success for you both.
David, you have since become an Eisner nominated writer, which we honestly should have mentioned at the top and some type of royal fanfare prepared for you. Drew, you are working on TMNT covers and interiors for a freaking Avengers title, man. That's awesome. Drew, let's start with you. What was the conversation like when Whatnot Marvel approached you to work on Beyond Earth's Mightiest? They basically just told me this is what we're doing. And it came to me in a really roundabout way.
I was recommended by Marvel's head of talent relations to John Barber, who was our EIC at IDW when we were doing Canto since since left, set up his own shop. And then the offer came from him. But so it's like it's. like six degrees of separation basically, but all these people I've met throughout my career, all kind of slingshot back around just to offer me this project and then, you know, come back to working with them. So it's going full circle for you. Exactly. It was awesome.
I mean, it was, I had kind of reached a point in my career, especially when Canto started that I was like, I'm done chasing Marvel and DC. It's not worth the headache. It's not worth, you know, the heartbreak. they will come to me when they're ready to do something. And in the meantime, I'm going to do my own thing and do what I want to do. And it seems to have worked out so far because that's how it came to me.
But getting to do that stuff, I was a little sad it was only 12 pages because I felt like once I hit like 10 and 11 in particular, I was really finding my groove. But it was definitely. there was a stress moment with it where you're like, my God, this is actually happening and I have to deliver here. But then, you know, once you're in it, it's just like this, these are the greatest toys in the world that you're getting to play with. That's awesome.
I always, I always find it interesting because I, you know, I hear hearing you talking about, you know, your, your kind of feelings of being approached. It almost feels like it's like a rite of passage as like somebody in the, in the comic creation, like industry. You kind of have to at one point just be okay that you might not be on some of these like big two books. And then once you once you get there, that once that expectation is gone, the world kind of opens up to you.
And it probably will happen once you've been like, OK, it's maybe not in the cards. You know, it'll like slap you in the face and be like your time, you know, kind of girlfriend. You don't get one of them. You want one of them when you don't tell I got married. But you can. I mean. You're right, Aaron, though. You just can't, you cannot focus on that. It all has to be about your own work and your, and the story that you want to tell.
You just have to, you have to keep your head down and you can't be worried about what everybody else is doing all around you. And are they going to, or did I get any cool emails today that I can vague tweet about and all this stuff. All of it is like superfluous extra stuff. It's all about you and your work and your stories and you being, you telling them.
So probably over the last six or months or so I've come to that sort of place of peace of not worrying about what's going on around me because it's all about story all the time. And that's all it should be about. Not anything else about benchmarks or nominations or anything like that. Just focus on the work. And so I don't know, none of that ever really bothers me. I don't know. I enjoy, I mean, Cantor is a perfect example, right?
It's us doing something we love and we're still doing it and we love it. David and I were talking about this over the weekend too, that, you know, there is definitely a freedom in Canto that I feel that I don't feel doing other stuff. And it's because I'm so intimately acquainted with it. Also it's mine in, it's mine in his, I answer to no one outside of, outside of David and my own level of, you know, what I want to put into it. and the standard I set for myself.
Marvel and DC, they have 12 billion factors that they have to consider beyond whatever it is I might be doing. And I personally, as this makes me, I think the era of the run is kind of over, at least for the time being. So that stuff is all fun and it's great to go and play with other people's toys. I'm always happy. I have my personal bucket list.
I have a list of pitches I would like to make someday but at the end of the day, you know stuff like can't do is definitely where I'm more comfortable and where my focus is.
Well, and you know, Aaron was sort of poking fun a little bit with the fanfare and such for you David, but you know, seriously from both Aaron I congratulations on you know, not only your Eisner noms for Killer Queens and rain but also your glad nomination for Killer Queens to which has a trade coming out here in the next month on the 19th. Same day as Canto. that's right. Yeah, that's right.
And so you kind of touched on this a little bit just a moment ago, but I kind of want to dive in just a little bit deeper. In terms of when you get that sort of recognition and acclaim for your work, how does a comic creator's career change, if at all? You know, it's a great question. And I think about it, but not quite in those terms. On the surface level, I think a lot of folks think that it doesn't change.
Like when... I went to the Eisner's last year and the thing that everybody still talks about is I wore a pink velour tux jacket. It was a great jacket. Absolutely fantastic. It was fantastic. It was fantastic. I mean, nobody cares. Nobody is talking about the nominations, blah, blah. They're like the jacket, the jacket. So that sort of encapsulates. It's not like anything changed, but what has changed since then? Having Cantor be successful, getting the Eisner and GLAAD nominations.
It has given me the freedom to not worry about stuff. Somebody gave me great advice and this is probably not something I should share publicly, but I'm going to anyway. You know, sometimes I worry about chasing licenses and chasing different books and like, should I take this work? Do I regret passing on this work? Whatever. My friend told me, said five years from now, nobody's going to remember X thing. But you did. But everybody's going to remember Canto.
So you could also do nothing for the next five years and then come out with something and people are still going to know, you're the you're the one who did Canto, you know. So it's created this freedom to be able to focus on my own work and put out my own work. So it's it's it's eliminated the anxiety of I think a lot of creators feel, which is like keeping up with each other. I liken it to driving on the freeway.
And if you look to the left or right, other cars are going faster than you, other cars are going slower than you, everybody's going to a different place. And you just keep your eyes forward to where you are going and you'll get there without the anxiety of worrying about everybody else around you. So my life did not change on the surface level, except I have a lot less anxiety now about what I'm doing.
I'm pursuing the things that I love, the stories that I love, creator -owned work, really focusing on that. And, you know, hopefully it works out. If not, it's been a fun ride, guys. Being on oblivion bar, tying, tying Tom King for appearances on oblivion bar is like, that's the top. You were, I have made it to the top. That's all the acclaim you need. Does he get a plaque if you do, if he does that? I think it's 10 times, Aaron, correct? You get 10 times, 10 times as a plaque.
No, Chris, I've told you this six times. 10 times you get a certificate, three certificates. You get a, I think it's a blue ticket. Then you get eight blue tickets. You exchange them for the one golden ticket. You enter that into the Zetan machine in, what's that the, the peer at the peer. Okay. And then, and then he gives you your, you know, your fortune. And then if your fortune says that you get it, then you're good. You get the plaque.
David, we got to do a lot more books because we got a lot more appearances to get that golden ticket. So it just gets typing out of frame. Just like counts. Counts. We're here talking. We're talking to Lee Williams and I just see David come from around the corner in the screen. Guys, and I leave just constantly. People on the show. How'd you even get there? appearance. San Diego is a big one. Yeah. yeah. And like I said, we're doing a show there with everyone. We've already made a pact.
You guys didn't see it, but we all put our hands in the middle. We said we're doing a show together at San Diego. So I want to quickly let's tie it back. You know, we're kind of on the topic of Canto. I want to specifically talk about a place like home. You know, this first issue again, it just came out, which, you know, June 5th or sorry, excuse me. I know it's sorry. It didn't come out yet. You have them, David. It doesn't come out until June. Yes, right.
That's that's what I was trying to get to. All right. And as we said there in the beginning. This is annoyingly and possibly a farce. It's being billed as the final chapter of Kanto's journey. So David, why is now the time that we're ending Kanto's journey? Well, okay. From... Let's see you. Okay. Since the very beginning, we've always had a vision of where the story was going to end, both the first six issues and then overall the story arc. It sort of changed in the middle a little bit.
but we always knew where we were going to end up and what the final sequence is going to be. In fact, Drew and I are sort of working on that final sequence in the last couple of issues right now as we speak. And it's so remarkably similar to what we had envisioned five years ago. So I guess I totally lost the thread of your question. Is this the end? Is this the end? That's the question. That's my answer is we had this ending in mind. So this is the... Lord of the Rings cycle for us.
It's the three movies that are ending and some will survive through it, some will not. And we'll figure out, we sort of have a vision of what it's gonna, what things will look like after this is all over. But this is our big final, it just feels so natural as to where the story has gone, to where the story has been, where it's gonna end up. So that's sort of why we're billing it as the end of Kanto's story.
because it really for us, this big shrouded men's saga ends at this point and what comes next is going to be different. It's going to look different. How do you guys feel about that? Like on like an emotional level, it's got to have some kind of it's got to have some kind of, I don't know, there's like maybe like a sadness, but also like a point of pride there, because, you know, I know some books don't even make it that far, but you guys have this is your final lap, quote unquote.
How does it feel? It's it's emotional. I mean, like for me, so it has been a rough year because unfortunately my dad passed away at the end of last year and he was my biggest cheerleader and David will attest to that. He saw it too. And, you know, it's rough enough that this is the place that David and I set out to go five years ago. And the fact that we're here is just kind of unbelievable. you know, I'm drawing pages.
I'm like, it's not really hitting me yet that we finally got to this point, but then to add to it that, you know, my dad, unfortunately, isn't going to get to see the end of this, which was something I, I fought very hard to have happen, but wasn't, wasn't in the cards for this, unfortunately. But, you know, there is a lot of emotion, I think, for both of us with this, that this project has been our baby for. the entirety of its existence. And it's very much the result of the two of us.
It's the two of us really putting everything we've got creatively into this because it doesn't look the same if it's just me. It doesn't look the same if it's just David. This is five years of us driving towards one single goal. And the fact that we're at the end is both upsetting and exciting.
I mean, I believed we both believed in this story so much that I mean, maybe it's the lack of perspective over the course of five years, but it feels like this moment was sort of inevitable and however form it would take, whether we published it ourselves and kept pushing forward with it. I just feel like this is where it was meant to where we were meant to end up as creatives and where Kanto's story was meant to end up and everything to get there.
There's been so many challenges with this with this series behind the scenes that folks don't even know about that. for us to have this first issue be coming out to end the story arc. It's just such a wonderful final finale to everything that we've gone through, that Kenta's gone through, that the world has gone through. It came out and the first issue came out in, it's uncanny, but you think about it. The first issue came out in June of 2019.
So we had six issues out, June through November or December, I think. The trade, the collection of those first six issues came out in March of 2020. So the majority of Canto, the vast majority of Canto has been amidst and post pandemic, right? So to have this all be able to happen over the course of five years is wild. Drew and I, like everything that we've gotten to do has been since like 2020. Yeah. Since we all got locked down. It's wild to think that, but yeah.
So it feels like this is the right place for us to have ended up. both personally and story wise. Well, you guys should be proud. You guys have done like honestly an amazing thing. And I think from again, from, from our perspective, it's kind of interesting with hearing you say that in the past that you have describing that the, the, the process, the timeline, it's very weird how it's also almost the same parallel timeline for, for the oblivion bar.
We really started almost exactly around the same time. Obviously nothing compared to the journey that you two have gone through. or that Kanto has gone through. please. I see. I see Chris's posts. He's like, I have the president on. I have Madonna on this week. Everybody want to talk to Billie Eilish? I have nuclear codes and we're going to share them on the Oblivion Bar podcast. Hey, Swifties, guess who's on next week? Yeah, exactly.
But I appreciate knowing and letting us have this, like, you know, kind of introspective. getting beneath the surface and hearing, because that's one thing that we don't really get a lot of that we really haven't had a lot of on the oblivion bar is that kind of circle. Yeah, it's like going full circle. But like, like seeing and getting to ask you about the like, again, this culmination of emotion, the culmination of the story, everything kind of coming to a head.
And then and then, you know, getting that from you point blank. So I appreciate you being willing to share that with us. There's a lot of stuff, I think, if you if you go back to. 2019 in particular, that either from creatives, from books, from the journalism podcast side of things, from the publishers, there's a lot of the beginnings of what the next couple of years of the industry are going to look like.
You'll find a lot of what has either become a mainstay or has had some sort of ability to help push things towards the direction it's headed. A lot of it, I feel like came from there. I felt it. even in the group that we went into IDW with. Some of those creators are still around. It's something that we're all kind of in our own little silos, but as you kind of pop your head out and take a look around, you'll realize how many people from that kind of two -year window are still at it.
Yeah. Fun fact about those IDW years, you actually had to kill three other creators to get a book. That's true. Each. I'm glad you guys made it through. we hunger games then man. don't reference Battle Royale. Come on, not hunger game. I don't even know what that is. Is that some sort of wrestling thing? No. Somebody school this man. I'll take care of him in San Diego. School kids kill each other. It's like, thank you. is it manga? Is it manga? Can you educate our friend here? No, it's a movie.
Actually, I think it's already gone that long. Yeah, yeah. Well, and you know, to kind of build off what you guys were saying there, the epicness of this sort of final series is that. reading a place like home number one, which, hey, shout out to everybody. I know David has his copies. We also have our digital copy. So by the time you guys listen to this, you probably also have yours. But anyway, we got to read out. Yeah. Suck it. Swifties. No, no, no, no. Speaking of Battle Royale. Sorry.
They're going to come in for you. They are coming for you. I mean, I need armor because that I'm not safe just being. in a square next to you. Yeah, exactly. I put a target on all of our all of our heads with that statement. Don't worry. I'll edit it out. Not really. I'm gonna keep it in. But the epicness of this first issue is just you can feel it almost immediately. I think there's a very specific full splash by you, Drew.
That's I think maybe one most iconic Canto pages in the entire series history. He's going to show it only because it's been out there. I was gonna say, I want to see which one you are picking up the same one that I'm thinking of. So the Shrouded Man, I love this scene so freaking much. This little sequence right here. Do you want to give us a little taste? Because the issue will be already out. I'm pretty sure we've shown this page.
Yeah. So the shouted man, they're sort of communicating because Kanto has the shrouded man's heart. So they're like connected mentally and they can talk to each other. So Shrouded man says, you climb this tower once before and you failed in your quest. Tell me slave, why do you believe you will succeed this time? And Kanto is like falling off the tower and he's crawling up the tower and it's.
And you can see him just going up to the top and can't just says, that's not the question that should worry you. Evil wizard. The question that should worry you is why you believe I won't. Exactly. That is an iconic. You can picture it in the in like the rains coming down and like the he's climbing with the axe and he comes up and you see the shot of just his hand coming up and then his head comes up a little bit and he pulls himself up and he says, why do you believe I won't?
And he's like, Excuse my language, battle ready, ready to go. No, it's okay. yeah. It's like all ages. Is that the one? Is that the one? That was the one. You're correct. Yes. Yeah. There is another version of it that when like fun side note, I think this issue was done almost a year prior to... it like going to finishes with, with Dark Horse. There was a pretty significant amount of time and I went back and was just like, I'm not loving what's there and redrew the entire thing.
So there, there is an unused completed page that's in my archives. I was going to say, can you put aside, I don't know if David's called dibs yet or not or anything, but can you put aside that page and I'll, I'll make. small installments for the next four or five years to get that? You're like the third or fourth person on an installment plan. The epicness that you felt with that moment, it's that way through this whole final story arc.
And I feel it and I'm internalizing it that this is the final confrontation. So I'm just glad that you got, I loved that page as soon as it came through. I'm like, And for me, it's easy is scripting, right? I just I only had to write it once and it was just the tiny little thing. It's like Canto does his hero thing and he says that line and that's it. I'm like, go. And so that's what we get. So, yeah, it's epic and wonderful and we love it. Go crazy. Go. Hacker's going to want this.
Drew, don't screw it up. That was the note. Before we let you guys go, I think it's important that we reflect on not only my favorite New York Comic Con moment, but one of my favorite con moments. ever in 2021 us three, we got together with Jack DeMail of whatnot at the pig and whistle in the diamond district of Manhattan and talked comics and everything in between.
But since then, you two, as we've mentioned throughout this entire conversation, have had an array of success in the medium and it has shown and also, you know, in a very similar light, Aaron, we've had success here on the show again in a smaller, you know, sort of amount. My final question for you here is. And David, I want to start with you.
And we kind of touched on this a little bit earlier, but I want to see if maybe you can be a little more specific on, is there anything that you want to accomplish in your career in comics over the next three years? You know, compared to 2019 when we first thought, or excuse me, 2021, when we all first met, is there anything that you want to accomplish in the next three years in your career that you haven't gotten to yet? This has changed over time.
I would say it used to be, I had some specific ideas for some other characters, but that really has changed. So I think one of my... My goal would be, two goals. One, I really like to focus on TV and film writing. So I'd love to see something that started as a comic that I've done, adapt that and see it get on the screen and moving pictures. But also I would love to find a way to replicate the experience that we've had with Canto with a new series, a whole original series.
So I'd love to go on this journey again. I'd love to have our Hobbit. After we finished Lord of the Rings. Drew, how about you? I kind of have two, two goals with that also. You know, one of them is very much to do what David's talking about. I am eager to do this all over again.
Like this has been, you know, one of, this is an experience that not a lot of people get to have, much less get to have success with, and to get to do it with someone else where you're not locked in a room completely on your own, but instead, you know, for, as much headbutting as he and I can do sometimes, we get to really put something out that people seem to respond to. And personally, I can't wait to do it again.
As far as my other goal, I mean, I just want to do everything I can to make this industry healthier than where it is right now. I'm a big believer that comics is the greatest storytelling medium ever because of its low bar. of entry as far as what it costs to do it. You're only limited by how good you are at it. But it breaks my heart to watch the industry and the state it is.
And I'm not one of these people that thinks it's going away anytime soon, but I am someone that thinks that there's a path forward to make this healthier and that there is still a desire for these things. So that's one of just, you know. It's a three year goal, a 20 year goal, a 50 year goal is to kind of keep making the place healthier and better.
I love that because Chris is always bringing up this, I'm not sure who the quote is by Chris, you'll have to remind me, but he's always bringing this quote up or this statement up about how since the beginning, comics have been both on the brink of success and on the brink of bankruptcy since their inception. And I think that that's kind of an interesting... Advantage especially coming into the comic reading world.
It's like it feels like such an industry that is it's pivotal so much fun We think about it like I remember as a kid comics I remember, you know I I think comics have been around obviously they have been around for for decades before I was even alive and so no someone once told me that the comics medium Requires our participation like if we have love for this medium. We have to put the good in it that we we want from it. Like if we don't do it, no one will.
We can't expect anyone else to do that except for us. So on that note, I think you guys are doing it incredibly well with Canto and your other work. And Aaron and I in our very small way are trying to do that as well with the oblivion bar celebrating the medium, bringing on creators to talk about their work and sort of, you know, highlighting it in that sense.
So I think if we just keep doing what us four are doing while also cracking jokes and winning, you know, getting Eisner noms and drawing hearts and minds. hearts and minds. You know, we're going to keep on keeping on with the comics medium, keeping it, keeping it fresh and alive. I've told people this at work that you have and it is so true for comics. And I think that David all agree. You have no idea how far your actions will carry as far as how they impact people.
Canto, we have gotten letters from people that I don't think either one of us were ever prepared to get as to how the book affects them. And then there are the people that we'll never hear from who have read it and that but they remember it. And 15, 20 years from now, they're sitting there with a book talking to you to like, yeah, this book can't. It was what inspired me to do it. That day may never come, but it may come. And but you don't know how far it goes.
So it's always worth putting that effort into it, because if you're going to do it, it's it's, you know, it's worth putting that level of it out there. I actually used the quote the other day that Chris that I learned through Chris. I used it in a job interview. Chris, you'd be proud of me. It was a Ron Swanson quote and it's never half as anything. Always. Everything. One thing. One thing. Don't don't half as all things. Whole ass. One thing.
I use that in the job interview and I got I got kudos by the interviewers. Well, as always, it has been such a pleasure to sit down with both of you guys and catch up once again. Talk about comics. Talk about Canto. we hope that it goes without saying, but I'll say it again here, outside of us all being friends, I will say both Aaron and I are genuine fan of both of your guys's work, both individually and as a team.
And we cannot wait to read the rest of Canto, a place like home and anything that you guys do either together or collaborate on in the future. So before we let you go, is there anything you guys want to plug or any socials you want to highlight before we, before we let you guys go? David, we'll start with you. By the end of the month, we're going to have an exciting announcement and reveal for the feeding, which is the other project that Drew and I have worked on together.
And yeah, so there's some other things coming down the pike, but we would love folks to really just go out there, pick up those Canto single issues and pick up the hard covers, catch up on the story if you haven't. And we're going to be doing a lot of fun stuff, merch and book related. If you want to follow us on whatnot, we do a lot of streaming there. And you can find everything, including a bunch of signs, books, and cards, it turns out. Canto cards.
Yeah. I will be on whatnot a whole bunch now that Canto is back out. If you are in North Carolina, I will be at HeroesCon this year with a table. So for once people will actually be able to find me. And we have a whole bunch of stuff coming down the pipe. So the next six months is wild. So... or at art of Drew Zucker for Instagram, Drew underscore Zucker on Twitter and at art of Drew Zucker on whatnot. Nice. Well, once again, thank you guys both for being here. Of course we will see you back.
I'm just going to go and assume that you guys will be back on in the future. So the next, well until next time, I guess we'll see you then. I'm coming for you Christian war.