Hey, this is Kyle Starks, writer of Rick and Morty, Assassination, I Hate This Place, and the forthcoming Peacemaker Prize, Hard, from DC Comics, and you are listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast. Welcome to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host, Chris Hacker and Aaron Knowles. Hello everyone. Welcome to episode 162 of the oblivion bar podcast. I am alone this week, everybody. It is just your one cohost, Chris hacker. Aaron is currently on a bit of a sabbatical on a little trip.
he recently, as many people know who follow us on social media, they know that Aaron just recently officially officially retired from the army after 20 years of service. So huge congratulations to my best friend and cohost here on the oblivion bar. I hope he and his wife, Karlie are having a great time traversing the United States and doing all the nerdy shopping that I think that's kind of the central plan. But this week on the Oblivion Bar podcast, we are headed back to Twilight City.
Specifically, we're headed back to the lower layer with Barfly. We are joined by writer Kyle Starks and artist Ryan Brown to talk about From the World of Minor Threats Barfly Number One, which as you will hear in this conversation here in just a moment. actually hit shelves the day that you're listening to this conversation. Now we've had both Kyle and Ryan on the show separately. Kyle joined us for a conversation about I hate this place.
And Ryan was with Charles soul talking about eight billion genies right before it came out. Now we've already seen that Kyle Starks has his stock has completely skyrocketed since we had him on the show. I don't want to, I don't want to gatekeep my fandom of Kyle Starks, but I've been a big fan of his for a long time. A lot of people know his work. And obviously peacemaker tries hard. I just said, I hate this place more monsters lie.
We've got assassin's nation, kill them all rock, candy mountain, sex castle. So many things that Cal Stark has done. Rick and Morty, of course, I'd say in the last like year and a half has completely skyrocketed in popularity for good reason. Not only is he an extremely hilarious and talented writer, but he's also a really good artist too. He has a very specific style that is only his. And I just, I always love whenever he does the scripts and his interiors, which karate prom that came out.
just last month, and we talked about it in this conversation, was great. And it's a YA book that I think you can hand anyone, which is rare for Kyle Stark. Because if you've read his work, specifically like Peacemaker Tries Hard or Sex Castle, those stories are very adult in some ways. Adult in a way that you don't want to just hand it to an eight -year -old and walk away. I believe that we should show our youth adult themes in literature and in media, but maybe with a hold hand in a way.
sort of explain some of the intricacies of adult themes, but I'm not going to get off on a tangent. Aaron's not even here to get me off on a tangent so I can get right back on track. And you know, Ryan Brown, which is easily one of not only equally as hilarious, but one of the most talented, truly talented interior artists in the comic medium. Like his work on 8 billion genies and blast furnace, curse words. I mean, all the stuff that God hates astronauts, everything that he has done.
leading up to Barfly is just insane. And what I really love about this conversation, and you'll hear it just in a moment, is that Kyle and Ryan are both big fans of each other. And it's very obvious from the jump. I honestly could have just pressed record and just stopped talking. Kyle actually mentions it, but they haven't had any chance to like sit down and talk since they started working on this project.
Just like as a chit chat, I'm sure they conversed about the series, about Barfly and their collaboration, but. I could have just shut up and let those two go back and forth. It's an incredible conversation. I'm very excited to present it to everybody here. Before we get there though, if you want to support the show, patreon .com forward slash oblivion bar pod for your support, you could have access to the grid, which is Aaron and I's weekly bonus podcast. It's a way to get inside of our head.
We will a lot of times share things on the grid that we wouldn't often share her on the show. It's usually just a normal conversation between two friends. We have a lot of fun over there. Episode transcripts, what I'm using right now, you'll have access to that early access to these episodes that you're listening to right now. You get a special nickname that we give out to our patrons over there. And then Aaron also generally does a special shout out at the end of each of these episodes.
I will do that today. It's the best way to support the show. It means so much to us every time that we get a new patron. Check it out, patreon .com forward slash oblivion bar pod. You can do seven day free trial, test it out, see if it's worth your time and your money. We hope that it is. If it's not, let us know, send me, send me an email and tell me how much we suck. Cause I want to make that better.
And if you want to also support the show in a freeway, five star reviews on both Spotify and Apple podcasts, it's good for the algorithm over there. Just a general follow and a five star review, a five star, excuse me, a five star rating and a, and a review. Both is great. One is really honestly all I could ask for from anybody. If you, if you enjoy the show, we want to hear, if you don't love it, just don't listen.
You can listen to this episode with Kyle and Ryan, but otherwise don't leave a bad review. That always hurts. It always hits you right in the gut. But anyway, I'm going to stop babbling here. Aaron's not here to bounce off of. So before we get into this conversation with Kyle and Ryan, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Hey everybody, our sponsor for today's episode is G Fuel, the official energy drink of eSports.
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GFuel, performance energized. And now, this week's special guest. Joining us this week on the show are the creators of the comic titles like Where Monsters Lie, Cursed Words, Sex Castle, God Hates Astronauts, Peacemaker Tries Hard, 8 Billion Genies, and Karate Prom.
Together they are the hilarious creative team of the upcoming minor threat spinoff Barfly, which tells the story of the humanoid mutant fly shit eater, what showcases what happens when a low -level henchman no longer has anyone left to hinge for. It is my pleasure to welcome back both Kyle Starks and Ryan Brown onto the Oblivion Bar podcast. Hey, that's great. We're happy to be here. You didn't pause for applause, Kyle. there it is. They couldn't hear you over the clapping.
I was saying, we're happy to be here. Did you hear? Okay, so I just want to point out just off the top before we even get the conversation going that I'm so happy to have you both here because I've said on record individually, you are two of the funniest creators in comics. Like you were among near the top. So the fact that Dark Horse somehow convinced you both to get onto Barfly, this minor threat spinoff, it was an immediate sell guys.
I was like, I'm in, I don't care what Barfly is, shit eater, I don't care, I'm in. I don't think there's very much convincing needed. I don't know, I was first, I think I was first, but I know that someone was, someone like Dark Horse was like, we're thinking about, think Ryan Bryan might be interested. I'm like, yeah, like throw the rest of the list away. And I am like booked through twenty twenty nine or something. And I was just like, well, let's see if I can squeeze it in.
And so then I had I had tough conversations with the people that I was supposed to be doing work for about pushing all those books because I was like, this is something I really want to do. And it seems like it's just going to be fun. Like this is not a homework book. Some books are like homework books where you're just like, you know. really trying to act subtly with people wearing suits. And then then there's books where you just get to draw all the weird gross shit that you can think of.
And like, so those are the jobs. Those are the jobs that frequently are hard are hard to find. But we're encouraging Ryan's bad behavior. His worst instincts were like, please. Well, this is got a lead. Please enter my first question here that I had for you guys. We're already answering it right now, which is, you know, I wanted to point out really quickly. You guys both joined the show before, right? Ryan, you were on with Charles back in June of 2022 to talk about a billion genies.
And then Kyle, we already talked about this, but you joined in March of last year to talk about I hate this place and where monsters lie. So again, a pleasure to have you both on and we kind of already got into it, but Ryan, I'd love to hear you kind of expand on it just a tad in terms of when Dark Horse came to you for this project.
Can you sort of, you know, there's some things kind of left behind closed doors when it comes to the creation of these series, but is there anything you can kind of share in terms of how the process got going? Obviously, Kyle, you just said you were on first, but how did they bring this conversation up to you? Well, I know Tim Seeley really, really well, and he wrote The Alternates, which was the first minor threat spinoff.
And so I talked to him a lot about that creative experience and he's like, yeah, it's, you know, it's really great. It's really fun to get to play. And I had known Scott Hepburn a little bit at comic shows. And so I saw him at San Diego last year and I had him do a God Haze astronauts cover for me.
And then we were talking about minor threats and I was talking about how jealous I was that he was playing in this absurdist superhero world and how much I love doing that and I don't get to do it as much as I want. And then he was just like, yeah, man, like, maybe we'll get you in on something minor threats down the line. And I'm like, dude, that would be so awesome. And I did a cover for the alternates. which was the other spin -off. Which is really good, which is great.
Yeah, it's a great book and it seemed to go over well and so I was like, all right, cool, this is kind of fun. And then, you know, I'm a big fan of Patton and so that was like, I don't know, that's one of those career moments that comes around every once in a while, maybe if you're very, very, very lucky. So that's why I had to like rearrange everything for it. But it literally was just like the editor emailing me is like, hey, do you want to do this? And I'm like, I don't know, let me know.
Or let me get back to you. And then him emailing me like 12 hours later saying, I need to know right now. And I was like, all right, well, I will figure out everything else around it. He's not exaggerating because you drew that 8 billion genies issue zero or whatever too right before. Yeah. So it's been a lot of Ryan's hard. I don't know if there's a harder worker, honestly. I'm fueled by economic fear, fear of disappointing others. It's mainly fear is my motivator for all art I create.
It's impressive display of production. Thanks. I actually, I won't, it will be over a year since I've had a comic on the shelves when Barfly 1 comes out. wow. Which is super, super weird. Yeah. Yeah. I've been doing this other book with Charles for a while that hasn't been announced yet. And then I did my own thing for a while. And then I got into this and then I started getting really, really slow. We're getting older is what that is.
Dude, I have two small kids and I don't know, just like, I think I'm better now. And like part of being better is, you know, having more ideas and having more like, like more, more like pen moves. That makes sense. Like my lines, my lines used to be more streamlined. And now I'm like, but this everything will have a little wedge and a little in and out around the zipper. More than before, it was all a straight line.
And so like, I think all that little in and outs kind of moves just adds to like, whoops, the book's like it's tough to say things that are complimentary that don't sound like you're trying to hype up a product. Like we're here to hype up a product. But I'll say from my perspective and, you know, I got I think you were doing God Hates Astronauts the same time I was doing something on Kickstarter.
So we both, two Midwestern boys, I think from like 8 billion genies at your peak, not your final peak, I don't think, but that window, you're so in the pocket right now. I think what you're doing is really impressive. I just finished up a book called Pine and Merrimack and the artist, Fran Galan, was so good. I was like, if you guys don't like me, you should buy it just because the art's so good. And I'm saying the same thing with with Farfly.
Like, even if you don't like how it's written, it's it's such a visual feast. Like it's such excellent work that you're doing that it's worth it just for, you know, Ryan's side of it. Yeah. Well, I mean, you and you and I haven't talked too much about this, our work so far. But, you know, I stay on script mostly, but I but I tried to I always take it as like a. Yes, and kind of experience when you're working with someone when you're with like a good creator has a sense of humor.
It's like, all right, I see what you're doing with your joke, and I'm going to try and add on to that joke. And so it's about 80 percent faithful to what you write. Probably every once in a while, I'll put in a little man. You say that you say that, but I feel like it's I feel like you're nailing it. I don't think you're only adding to it. And that's different. The 80 % means that you took 20 % away from what I wanted to be in there. You know what I mean? Like, and that's not the case.
Everything that I want is in there. And then Ryan's like piling on with like just an immense amount of Easter eggs and like visual gags. And it's unbelievable. But I think even outside of that, it's just like, I think that the quality of your work and like how, like I said, you just seem really in the pocket right now. It seems very, you're very in control and getting what you want out of it. And what you want is so much. more than what I think like your average artist wants.
Like it's so impressive to me. This is just, Ryan and I probably never had a conversation longer than five minutes. So this is like really just our opportunity to like, I'm just here to hang out. Listen to just like con table. Yeah. Yeah, sorry. And I'm going to keep, I'm going to pile on the compliments here, Ryan.
I think you, you are, you were one of the best visual storytellers in terms of, you know, interiors go, I think very specifically about Obviously a lot of your work with God Hated Astronauts and Cursed Words and A Billion Genies, but I'm thinking specifically about Barfly here where at one point, and this isn't a spoiler for the first issue, but Barfly is helping infiltrate this building. And at one point he gets in so quick, he's kind of sitting upside down on a ceiling.
You do a great job, you've always done a great job with sort of the automatopoeia visualizing what the character's saying, because this character isn't saying, doesn't say very much in this comic. I don't think that, again, that's not a spoiler, but you put board. just kind of on top of his head. And I got a chuckle out of it when I first, and that's just one example. There's plenty more, I'm sure.
Yeah, well, that's, you know, the big challenge of this book is that it is a little fly man who doesn't speak. And when he does speak, I mean, he has some lines and stuff, but they're like psychic. They're bug talk. To only bug people. Yeah. But he doesn't have pupils. He doesn't have eyelids. He doesn't have eyebrows. You know, he's got the trunk. that kind of looks like a dick or something. It's a little upsetting. And but then like his eyes are like are frozen. Right.
And like you can't emote with the eyes. And so like early on, I was like, man, I don't I don't know how I can really convey this stuff. Like you can do a lot with slumping shoulders and like excited trunk motions or sad trunk. But so then that was when I started being like, well, I'm just going to have to like use the sound effects to to help. explain what's going on in each sequence.
It's super important to me with everything I draw that you can understand it and read the story without any of the words. Super important. Yeah, so like if you look at all my art, I want you to be able to, I mean, you don't need to get, it doesn't have to be very nuanced, but you have to understand who the characters are, where they are, their relationship to one another and what their actions they're doing are without reading any dialogue bloons. So there's no I'm punching you right now.
Doesn't this suck for you? You're hurt, you know, kind of dialogue balloon. That's the exact line that I wrote too, which is a little, I know dude, that line is great though. A little emasculating. Well, and so the first issue of Barfly actually hits shelves on July 10th. And of course, you two gentlemen, it's by you two gentlemen with letters from the amazing Nate Picos.
Yeah. And what I've really loved about what you guys are doing here is very similar to what Pat and Jordan and Scott have done with the creation. of the Minor Threats universe. It's showing the complexity and the tragedy of these characters within this world. People who often don't choose the life of violence, but are often forced into it based on circumstance or bad decision -making. And the road to redemption is often not ever lost to these characters, which I really love.
So, Ka, I'd love to kind of start with you here. When Dark Horse and the Minor Threats crew came to you for this project, what was kind of your... North Star with his character with Shit Eater. I know it's a funny way to say what's your North Star with Shit Eater. So Shit Eater I think it going by what Patton and Jordan told me is that Shit Eater acquired some sort of cult following just by being in the background often. People are like who is this guy and I think the fans named him Shit Eater.
I'm pretty sure that Patton and Jordan just leaned into that. And so when they started to do these these spin offs like the Alternates which again is great. It's really fun. And that, by the way, if those things weren't good, I probably wouldn't care because I don't need to just play with someone's toys. But when they started doing the spin offs, Pat was like, I want to get the guys that I like work. I like.
And so obviously, Tim, Tim, Tim is their favorite, I guess, because they got him before anyone else. But they were like, hey, we want you to do something and we want you to do something with this shitty character. We don't know what his deal is. And I said, I want to try to make people cry. I want to try to make people cry over this ridiculous silly little thing. And I still hope I do that. But certainly I think it's much funnier.
It's just we're really having a lot of fun, I think is really what it came down to. So the North Star is that I have a story. It's a very specific story that is much louder because Ryan's came onto it. In fact, there's a what if, there's a what if I wonder if like if we had talked before, you know what I mean? Like if they were like, you're going to work with Ryan as opposed to, cause at that time you're just thinking some work for hire guy who's going to show up.
And he's gonna do a fine, lovely job and it's gonna look great and it's gonna be the book. But Ryan is so, he brings so much to it from the writing and it's a little unsettling, honestly, because it's like, I hope I'm writing up to this in so many ways. But that was honestly, it was like, listen, I wanna make something funny.
I wanna do what I do, which is why I did with Marvel Unleashed, which I did with Peacemaker, which is like, I want you to do something that's fun, that's funny, that's entertaining, that also maybe makes you cry or has some sort of emotional weight to it, because those are the things that really interest me. It's always that balance of like, I want to entertain and I want to bring joy, but also I like for people to feel other emotions.
I mean, we were what two issues in, we have two issues in the can and they're so good. at this point, I think it's just, just going to be such an amazing, fun ride. I'm hoping people think about it for a while. It just, it's visually so good. It just looks so good. and I think my stuff's okay. So it'll be great. Like that's, that's this, that's the recipe for greatness. What I love about working from your script is that you set up such an incredibly solid foundation. Like there's so much heart.
The pacing is really well done. You draw interesting characters. It's not overly complicated and so it has a little bit of space to play. You don't have any nine panel grids. Man, I can't do it. I know because you're an artist as well. Like you understand as a visual medium. I think he has karate prom. Like I think I averaged like seven and a half panels per page, I would never, I just can't bring myself to write. I think there's a seven panel page, maybe.
I think I changed it because I was so upset that there was seven panels, and one was small. I think it's just a little headshot. And I was like, I can't do it. It's just too much. It's too much work. And I say that, and then you, I can't remember what I called you the other day, like comedy Jeff Darrow every page. Well, it didn't start that way. Like I was trying to be a little conservative with getting too crazy in that first issue.
And then once I started realizing that it was being responded to well by you and Patton and Jordan. Yeah, I got it. So then I made it a goal for myself to put a joke in every panel. There's three jokes in every panel. There's three jokes in every panel. I try to get at least one joke in every panel. And so it's not the beginning of issue one is not totally there. But then it gets there. And then it's just every once in a while when there's like a really serious close up that I can't.
a joke in or something. But pretty much everywhere I can find a place to put a sound effect or a sign or some background element. I don't know if you've noticed, but I have like this reoccurring theme of these little mice that are you'll see them. You see them in issue one. No, I don't need this obsession, but I haven't noticed the mice. Yeah. Yeah. So there's the mice in issue one after ShitEater gets flicked by his boss and he goes flying.
Next page shit either kicks a mouse on the street and it goes flying in the same way. He's got a kick down, you know, and and then in in issue two, there's that river of blood and there's a mice on the on the boat. And then there's that at the very end, there's that really awful moment of action. And the mice are like clutching themselves in horror at the bottom of it. Anyways, I do things like that all the time to entertain me. And so I have this story.
of the mice being like the little dudes that you can kind of follow through the whole course of the book. So I was going to start working in mice into his script. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. Here's the thing. Like, and again, I can't express this. I know I'm not trying to sell the book. It's like literally every time Ryan sends me something, I go, I got a zoom in on it. And I'm like, look at that. And then when he sends in the colors, I go, hold on.
Wait, I didn't I didn't see that one before. I'm not like I didn't see that one. How did I miss that before? I'm looking at the colors accentuate some jokes and completely hide some other jokes. It's it's kind of like in the darkness. There's a fake movie poster, you know. So I showed some of your pages to Chris Whites who colors all the stuff that I draw, who I think is he uses his palette and it's just an unbelievable color. It's like he uses the color as part of the story, you know.
And he was like, this is really good. I'm like, no, look, I'm not like for real. Like, look how fucking good Ryan's coloring himself. It shouldn't be this way. You're doing too much work. You're going to hurt yourself. Like those first two issues look so good. They're so funny. It's just such an honor. It's honestly like, I'm so proud of what you're doing. I'm like, I'm glad to be here. I'm just glad to be a part of it. Just along for the ride. All right. Well, we got two more to do.
It better be good. That's right. I only got one more to do. You got two more to do. That's true. I know. I just have to land it. That's all. I'm just curious when we're going to get the, Kyle Starks barfly variant. When's that going to happen? I haven't seen anything. They didn't ask me. I never get asked. The only people who've ever asked me is DC. That's the only people who ever asked me. As I say, I was just reading piece a peacemaker tries hard and I saw at the very end.
I didn't notice that you did this. You did a one in twenty five of the last issue. One in twenty one in twenty five. Yeah. You got to get that ratio up. You know, that means money. I did the one they didn't want anyone to see. I never get asked, but I'll tell you, I'm not I'm not ever I'm not very good at. at shots like that. I can't design pages like that. I don't have that strength. Like, you know, big splash pages or covers or even like prints.
Like I haven't done a new print, which I hate, because I just can't design a good one. It's like, it looks ugly to me, I don't want to try to sell it. So that's not a strength of mine. I do wish people would ask me just so I could say no. I would be like, I don't think I want to do that. Because here's the other thing. The other reason why is like, I think The value of a variant cover is to get more eyes on your book. So you want artists to bring like so like Dan, like I love Dan Hipp.
I try to get Dan Hipp on everything I do. One, because I love him. Barfly. I don't know. I would do it. I like him. I like him a lot right now. He's such a good. He's such a good little boy. You're saying that we need a Pichuoco Barfly cover. We have a bunch of really good and really interesting covers that are coming down the pike. And as we said before, we have a very special San Diego glow in the dark one, which is going to be super exclusive. Call your retail.
No, you can't get from call your eBay black market man now. Yeah. Get your eBay dealer on the phone. You know what? Now you got to get your bar fly. that David Macklin with a painted samurai fly. But they're cool covers. They're cool. And I'd rather have David Macklin me. You know what I mean? Like he just want to bring more eyes on him. And that's what we want. Scott did. Scott did a good one. He's done to write. I did too. Scott did all four. okay. He did what he knows the car and all four.
Yeah. I really, my favorite one is the final one where bar fly is vomiting on the city. It's excellent. Well, yeah. Speaking of Scott, speaking of Pat and Jordan, I'm curious, Ryan, I'll start with you here. Has there been anything that the minor threats team has, have they given you anything in terms of, you know, the story, any, any important notes or are they just kind of like letting you guys go crazy and see what happens? I mean, there was a lot of prep.
work, you know, to make sure I was doing it right. It's a weird world because I feel like so much of it you see like on the edges of Minor Threats, like, who's that character? Like trying to figure out that, you know, like this gridiron ghoul character. I'm like, all right, well, what does he look like? And he's like, he's in the first trade. He is like, yeah, he's kind of standing in the background in a couple of different places. OK. And so.
At first, it was a little bit of, you know, when I was doing character designs, I was like, I can't like, especially with Barfly, because he was always so little. And he was always so cartooned that I couldn't really tell what's going on. And like one of my early drawings of him, he's got a mouth underneath his like snout, like a mouth, because there's a drawing that Scott did where he's got like his studs on his jacket are right here. And it looks like he's like grinning.
And I was like, he's got big teeth. And I was wrong. So it was a lot of me taking a swing at the characters based on these little background drawings that were incomplete and then being and then Scott being like, all right, I'll show you how it's done. And then, you know, 10 minutes later, I get this awesome drawing that he's like annotated, you know, what sunburst looks like or whatever. Our great, I mean, great girl. He sent everybody. Yeah, he did. Yeah, we know.
We didn't know he had words or. numbers on his chest we found out that day. That was the day we found out. Yeah, that was the day we found out. And then there was, I don't know, I'm not like, I'm a huge music person, but I'm more of an indie rock person. And I'm not as much a punk person. I mean, I used to work in a record store for a long time. So I'm familiar with a lot of it. But that's like not my scene. And so then it was, I got a lot of notes from Scott on exactly Shadier's jacket.
And then he gave me the whole rundown of like, you know, the style of old policemen's like motorcycle jacket that would be bought at thrift stores and then studded up and turned into like punk rock jackets. And so it's like a very specific double flap thing with like big lapels. And so, yeah, so like that was you're playing in someone else's world and you, you know, we have some new characters, but then some that that.
were existing characters and so it was trying to make it get on the page with them. Because I personally am not great at continuity and like visual continuity and I just kind of wing it. I drew quantum and Woody for four issues and they have those bangles on their wrists and like they're specifically Woody's on the right and quantum's on the left. And I knew it and I always always try to remember it.
And then I would turn to my pages and then the editor be like, you have like four panels when they're on the wrong wrist. That's so funny. And I would just like to digitally redraw it to make, you know, instead of like this, they're like, yeah. I think I'm my attention when you had earlier, I know Patent said to me, he's like he wanted he wanted these comics to be or he wanted them to be like the way he did his touring posters. He said, I find an artist I like and I let them do what they do.
And I feel like that's kind of how it's been. Scott was Scott, maybe not, but Patton and Jordan have been pretty like, I can't think of them going, I don't think they would do that are like at any point. I don't think they've said that we're like, I don't know if they would do that or they would do this instead because I think they're it's a background character and they're letting us play with it in so many ways.
That being said, that final issue is the content continuum who are like their Justice League. play heavily into it. And it's kind of the first time the group of them exist actively. And I have a feeling there'll be more hands on then, which I am encouraging. I hope they are. Cause like, if you think they would fight differently, like then they'll fight differently. I just need to fight.
Yeah. I would imagine we've had both Patton and Jordan on the show to talk about minor threats when it first came out and they were, it's just so fun to see them completely playing in there, creating the sandbox firstly, but then just being so in depth with it, Jordan is a true blue comic fan and Patton obviously is a long time nerd. I remember hearing his green lantern joke and one of his standups from, you know, back in like the early 2000s. And I was like, yes, Patton's one of us, right?
And you know, they just, so much of themselves is in that minor threats and it's so fun to see you guys play in that sandbox as well. And you know, while we're talking about all this right now with Barfly, of course, again, that comes out on July 10th. I want to kind of shift gears a little bit. and talk about you guys sort of individually here. So as I said, there's the beginning. As I've said, there's a beginning. No, you gotta keep the hat on. That's part of the contract.
I agreed to have Ryan on the show as long as he wore the bar, the bar fly hat. I think that's in my channel. Send him a check. That's right. Exactly. And I said this earlier, you guys are again, two of the funniest creators that I know of currently working in comics. God hates astronauts to me is still one of the most innovatively. hilarious and advanced comic titles and recent memory. And then, you know, Kyle with you, Peacemaker Tries Hard.
We talked about it a little bit before the conversation here off air. It makes a compelling case for me as one of my favorite big two books in recent memory based solely on just the mixture of heart and comedic timing that very much represents that, you know, the source material there with the TV show and then of course, Suicide Squad. So Kyle, I'd love to start with you.
Has there been a particular title that you've seen over the last couple of years that you feel like your fans have really championed? Here's my answer and I don't know if it's answering the actual question that you want. But since last year, which was sort of my best year with I Hate This Place, which was GLAAD nominated and EYES are nominated and then Where Monsters Lie, which sold out and then Peacemaker, it was sort of my star rose significantly, I think in terms of visibility.
And the book that certainly benefited the most from my previous catalog was Rock Candy Mountain. So much so that Eric Stevenson, the CEO was like, we should, we should put it out as one book. And I was like, we should absolutely put it out as one book, which I think comes out this month, sometime June. I don't know. I should know. I love that book. That book's great. You know what? Here's the thing is that I emailed them.
I emailed Stevenson, let's say like three years ago, maybe before the pandemic, maybe it came out in 2017. So maybe like 2019, it was when they were doing their $10 volume one. So that we do a 10 volume, then we'll do the second one. And I just said, okay, cause I'd never drawn a series. I'd only done OGNs. And I was like, okay. But then once it came out, I was like, I, it just stops after issue. It just stops. Like there's no like cliffhanger. There's no, it's not, the endings aren't great.
It's a good series, but the endings for each issue, it's, it's, it's one story to me. Right. And I, I emailed him, I was like, man, cause Sex Castle, which is one OGN has sold steadily since its conception. Cause people buy it, they like it, they give it to someone, they buy it again, they give it to someone. Right. It's the whole story. And so Rocking the Mountain didn't benefit from that because it was two books. And I was like, Hey, we should. What if we did a hardcover collection?
Because I think that's the best way to read the book. And Stevenson goes, yeah, that sounds a great idea. This was like 2019. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Let me get the money guy in here real quick. And the money guy got in the email. I was like, hey, what are you guys talking about? And I was like, we're talking about maybe doing like a hardback or like some sort of collect edition of Rockin' E -Mountain. And the email literally says, you know, we didn't sell any of those, right?
And I was like, cool, cool. No, I get it. So it's not going to happen. That makes sense to me. I knew it didn't sell very well, but I thought it was because of this thing. Which clearly it was like it clearly should have been one so it's like it's to me It's the way it should have it's my one regret in comics is that I I didn't know better Than to go no it should be one book. Let's just do one book. So yeah, it's happening.
It's crazy That's probably the book that's been for the most Assassination that I did with Eric Anderson for skybound is probably a close number two Just because I think the elevator pitch is so easy What if a bodyguard hired the 20 greatest hitman to try to protect him from being assassinated? It's pretty easy Elevator pitch them. I guess that's the answer.
I don't know get, I mean, the books that came out last year are certainly the ones probably I see the most of, which is like peacemaker and where monsters lie. And I hate this place. Yeah. Ryan, how about you? I feel like this might be a silly question. I feel like I might already know the answer here, but in terms of like your fan base, what is the one book that you feel like they, when you are at a convention or whatnot, they always have this book with them.
you know, I have like a couple of different audiences. the people that like, God hates astronauts and my other book, Blast Furnace, like it's their favorite book. And so I still have people that that's what they want me to be doing at all times. Like even when I was doing curse words for four years, you know, it was like, when are you going to do the thing that where people say bad words all the time and have their lives.
Yeah. And and so like I have like these different buckets of you know, true absurdist stuff that has a very small audience, but like everybody is like, it's super cult and people are super into it and they will buy every iteration of it. And those people, you know, have kept me working in this industry for a long time now, which is amazing. So those are like the people that back Kickstarter and stuff. And then there's the people that get my stuff at stores.
And so the mainly the comics that I do for Image, which is the bulk of the stuff like Pretty much I only work for Image unless it's something special like this book with Patton and Kyle and Jordan. But mostly I just work for Image because I'm still very militant and want to own everything I make because it's my shit and it was my idea. Comics is such an industry filled with awful middlemen who want to suck all the money out of you.
So yeah, so for me, like I have, you know, last year than the year before was really strange because of a billion genies being such a critical success and like having a broad appeal just because of the, you know, the log line appealed to my mom, right? Like people's parents were reading this book, right? Like it was, it was really weird. Like I can't get people to read God Hates Astronauts unless they're like, down with the sickness and know this shit, you know?
But like, there's something about a clear, concise idea. Yeah, but I'm assuming it's like, I get the timing of it, like the wish fulfillment when going through the pandemic ended up being accidentally like perfect. And so that, you know, still comic shows, it's such an unbelievable how unbelievable it is to sell that book to people. And some of my cults, hardcore fans like They really like it and they like it more than they like curse words.
But I still think that those people want me to be doing shit like I'm doing in Barfly. You know, like Barfly is like, I'm gonna do God hates astronauts stuff in here. I'm gonna like, I'm gonna dance. That one's watching, man. And you better watch out. It's great though. Do you get this joke? No? Screw you. Moving on. That's what it's like. I feel like in...
This is a completely different conversation, but I say humbly, I think Ryan and I are in a fairly elite group of people who make comedy comics well. And one of the, you know, the guys who do it, Mark Russell is very specific. It's satirical. He's very good at it. But I think everyone else realizes you have to be like, you want to do sort of high brow, you want to do low brow, and then you do some shit for yourself and you hope the shit for yourself. Like it's just for you.
But probably that's generally the stuff that people will think is the funniest thing. Ryan, I was showing, I think Schweitzer, I was showing him yesterday pages and I showed him the weird guy at the bar, which is 100 % just a Ryan Brown joke. It's 100 % a Ryan Brown joke and no one else would make the jokes. And Schweitzer was dying. He thought it was the funny, I'm like, that's proof of concept. That was the highlight of the book for me, getting to you just being like.
He might be a giant blob or something. I don't know. Make it up. Make him weird. And I'm like, yeah. Here we go. Let's see him again. No, it's so good. Kyle, the script is just like, let your freak flag fly. Just do whatever you want here. Just go crazy. I was like, it doesn't matter. Just long as he's weird. And Ryan's like, like, he pulls up a white cat and starts petting real slow. You know what I mean? What's he doing? What's he doing?
Hey, for what it's worth, because I think Eight Billion Genies is one of the best books of the last five years. I think it's an amazing... It has so many things. We don't want to... I don't know, but it does this thing. My friend Matt Kent is very interested in things that can only be comics. And in many ways, like Eight Billion Genies can only be a comic. But also it's one of those things where, in my opinion, no one besides you could have drawn that book. It's such a relentless...
And you're doing the same thing with this book. That's why I say, like, I feel like you're so in pocket right now. You seem fully in control of what you want things to be. And it's so impressive to see is like only you could have done that book because it's such a relentless display of creativity. No one else could do it. No one else could hang with the concept of that book. So it's like a perfect storm. Charles is great. We love Charles. He's not here. I don't think it's nice about him.
Thank you, man. That's way too kind. Way too kind. I've read as far as well. Listen, I even read the second half of Bedlam. Like I've read a bunch of Ryan Brown stuff. Like I've been there for it. is like, Avalon Genie is, I love God Hates, I love God Hates Astronauts, but like something about Avalon Genie is it does that thing where it's like, it's you and Charles, obviously, Charles, because it's so cerebral.
I'm assuming that part's his, the part that's very cerebral, which is not me denigrating you. I'm just saying. Yeah, no, no, no, no, not at all. I mean, I think that's a great mix for us. Yeah, it's such a, there's a fancy like French way of saying like, it's a big force. It's like, it's such a display. of creativity and it's so smart. But the thing is, it's such a simple, easy thing to say and it's in the title.
It's such a good idea, which there's a lot of good ideas that aren't done well, but to have that perfect, it's literally the perfect story. I think it's one of the best, I tell people all the time, I think it's one of the best books. And generally I just say you and Pulp, by the way, which is Brubaker, like you guys and Pulp. Or Supergirl, Supergirl's great, Tom Girl's Key and Supergirl's great. I think those are the three best books of the last five years and I don't know what number four is.
I'd like to pretend maybe it's something I did, but. 8 Billion Genies is unbelievable. And the thing is like for this book, I really see for you, especially as you're just talking, because I really see it, it's in that Venn diagram between God hates astronauts and 8 Billion Genies to me, because you're doing so much. It's to me very 8 Billion Genies, right? But like, it very much feels like the sort of superhero world of early God hates astronauts that you're playing in that world too.
And I don't think I would have put that together until you were just saying it. But now I can fully see it. I think that's really interesting. Anyway, Ryan's really good guys. Did you guys know that? Thank you. I agree. my gosh. That's amazing. Well, it's so, it's so funny. We're talking about this because Kyle, you've perfectly set me up for a great transition into a billion genies, which was my next question. Let me just start off here.
So the last time that we talked to your Ryan with Charles, you guys were both on the show. The rights for a billion genies had just been purchased from Amazon. and had been rumored to be getting a television series. And since then, officially it's been announced, I think it was in March, that Seth Rogen and his Point Grey Pictures was looking to produce the series through Amazon MGM as a potential, not only series, but also some film adaptations as well.
So I want to echo really quickly everything that Kyle just said. It is very much a comics comic. And I feel like a lot of that book and a lot of the appeal of that book is so intrinsically tied to what you do so well, right? So my question for you is when you're thinking about the adaptation, What element or elements of 8 billion genies do you want to stay 100 % soul Brown true with that? You know that original series that will eventually go to MGM Amazon.
Yeah, I mean so they're working on it right now as a as a feature. That's a direct adaptation of the eight issue series. Ronnie Rotham is writing it and he wrote and directed into the Spiderverse and he actually used to be hit Letterman's head writer.
Which I really love there's a there's a really good video of him on on YouTube Talking about his time writing for Letterman and how he wrote a skit where Chris Farley threw him in a dumpster and there's like that you could watch the video where he's pretending to be an audience member and Chris Farley runs out and grabs him and Carries him in the alley and throws him in a dumpster.
So yeah So the guy that's writing my movie was thrown in a dumpster by Chris Farley and that makes me really happy But yeah, and Seth Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg in their company point gray they are the production company and we've also have a couple different producers who worked on Star Wars and Pixar films and so yeah, like Amazon is like going full force at it and it's kind of shocking and thrilling Charles and I are involved creatively in terms of where we get meaningful consultation.
We're executive producers. And so specifically like for me, I am like supposed to be in charge of the genie design and like get get all final say on genie design. So from everything that I understand, like it's going to be a live action with the genies looking like the way that I drew them and cartoon them. And, you know, my little Adventure Time dude with a starfield kind of thing. I have no fucking clue what they sound like. And I'd like I don't know they all have the same voice.
I don't know if they sound cute or if you're EP, it should be us. We'll do the voices. Yeah. Yeah. When that was still like the early thing with Seth Rogen was courting us, he made this Photoshop image of his head on a genie and then wrote that he would be the voice of the genie if we chose them. And I was like, I did not laugh. That would be cool. But also, I don't know. Is that right? I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I really just don't know.
I mean, like, do they sound like they're from outer space? Do they sound like? I don't know. Anyways, that's not for me to figure out. But but in terms of like that, like I could totally see how, you know, it could work. It just the time jumps would be it's just a lot of story to handle. And we really set up a world with eight billion possibilities of what could happen. And then we told a very focused story about eight people and the rest of the world.
And so, you know, the concept is to make this movie and then if it goes well to flesh it out into a series and, you know, explore eight billion genies in India and eight billion genies in South Africa. And, you know, like you could, you could look at like, cause wishing is, is, is, is something inherent to humans and you find it in like almost all cultures. So, you know, it's, it's a thing that, that has that universal appeal. Again, this is always like very accidental.
It was just some stupid idea I had. that I thought would be an impossible story. And it was Charles who figured out how to like actually make it into a narrative by like having the safe haven of the bar and following it through these people and like making it a story like an intimate story about humans that would then tell the story about humanity as a whole. So yeah, what was your question? You answered it was basically what would be what would be the normal would be like the soul Brown.
element that has to stay with that next adaptation. And I think you answered it with the visual style of the actual genies themselves, right? Like, yeah, that's very important. And I think it's very iconic. Like when you think of 8 billion genes, what's the first thing you think of? You think of the genies, right? So they look like the comic. We're looking good here. Well, part of why it was so popular is that it's a story that you play along with.
Some other apocalypse stuff like the Walking Dead, you might kind of feel that too, where it's like, what would I do if the world ended kind of thing?
But like the what would I wish for is something everyone has already thought about but then it it has this whole equation of what would you wish for when everyone else can wish for something as well and so then that has that universal appeal of you watching it and you can or reading it and You participate and you can judge people based on the decisions they make like I would never would have done that that was stupid or that was a smart idea I never would have thought of that kind of thing.
So it It has this universal appeal that nothing I will ever do again will ever have. Which is fine. I'd do it once. No, we're doing it right now. It's Barfly. We're doing it right now. The people are going to love it. Let's see Pat Oswald's shitty little henchmen. Let's see him. What's he up to? I guarantee people are going to love Barfly. I don't think you will. Wonderful shenanigans is what he's up to. He's an adorable little man.
My mom won't read Barfly, but man, some people will really, really like it. Both of your fan bases are absolutely adored. I know for a fact as big fans of both of yours, I will say that reading that first issue, all I wanted was more. I would say that I have more of an attachment to Barfly than I had to. And I really liked Minor Threats. I genuinely love that first trade. I haven't read the first volume, sorry, the second volume or the alternates.
But I will say Barfly is my new central character in the Minor Threats universe. This is who I want to see going forward because of you two. So I agree 100%. I agree and I encourage it, but Tim Seely had a lobster man who I adore. I love the lobster man so much. Yeah. Can we get a lobster man bar fly, spin off, spin off. That'd be pretty cool. Right. Yeah. They're going to get me back in. They're going to get me back in. I thought it was lobster man.
So speaking of adaptations, I mentioned it earlier, Kyle, you participated in sort of like a reverse adaptation over at DC with black labels, mini series. Peacemaker tries hard. And there you took a fan favorite version of a character that hadn't really had much relevance since the 1980s. And then again, you know, not even then to seriously, right. And then, you know, fast forward to 2021 Suicide Squad.
And then of course, the HBO Max series, you just completely understood the assignment when it came to perfectly transitioning that character. I would say most people's ideal version of that character to back to the comics. Right. So what was that process like for you tackling that character of Peacemaker and sort of putting your stark spin on it and bringing it back into comics. There's a good story to Peacemaker. So I'll do the long version.
Okay. Because Ryan talked a lot about how much money he made off this movie. So that's the part I imagined. I imagine they paid me in toys. They paid me in toys. Well, we get what we ask for sometimes. Very rarely. So I love James Gunn. I think James Gunn is the best version of me in many ways. He has all the moves that I have, he does very well. And I was watching Peacemaker like everyone else and I adored it. I adored Spirocide Squad because I think he's so good with character.
And I was just enjoying a big guy, big dumb guy trying to do the best he can. And someone I know tweeted, hey DC, why isn't there a Peacemaker comic and why isn't Kyle Starks doing it? And at that moment I said, hey. I think I would do a really good job because it's kind of what I do anyway, which is big dumb guys trying as hard as they can with big action spectacle. So I retweeted it and someone called me within an hour, which is not how you get jobs ever. which is everything. Even bar fly.
I mean, I found out about it because Patton and Jordan mentioned they wanted to work with me on a, on a podcast and people were like, did you see Jordan or did you see Patton and Jordan are talking about you? And I'm like, no, they're not like who gives a shit. I was like, also We had the same editor. So if they wanted to get a hold of me, like they could just get a hold of me. You know what I mean? So like, they're just talking.
It's the same thing where I was like, well, I'll, I'll reach out to them just to see what's up. You know what I mean? Because if they were like, because like I said, in that instance, I'm segueing, but Patton was like, we want you guys to do you we like your work that I'm in on. But if they're like, we hear what we'd like, I'd be like, I don't want to do that. Anyway, they reach out to me faith maker and in regards to how did it come to be the show? They asked me they're like, what?
So how do you envision Peacemaker? Like that was a con. is a very short, very brief conversation, whereas it has to be as close to that thing as we're allowed to do. That's what people like. And certainly, like you said, North Star to me earlier, which is something, my North Star is that I want to make the thing that I wish existed. And I want to make things that exist in a way that other people will enjoy them too.
But when I got asked to do Rick and Morty after season one, before season two, I was like, I love that. I wish there was more because they're so solid making it. And my... My goal for that was to make more episodes of Rick and Morty for people who are waiting for the show to come back. And certainly for this, it's like I want to make something as close to that show as possible, which is going to be really easy because it's literally the type of stories that I tell. It's a hunt.
Both of those things are just so in my wheelhouse. Very natural. Peacemaker is very natural for me. And similar to the things that sort of Ryan said before, Peacemaker is so wide open. Like I was allowed to do basically whatever I wanted to do, whatever silly thing I wanted to do. And there's a lot of opportunity and freedom in that. So, I mean, it's a very brief conversation of like, what do you think Peacemaker? Like it's that show, like why would we talk about anything else?
And I think for whatever it's, I think I'm good at aping things like that, but for Peacemaker, it's literally, it was just me doing what I wanted to be like, who's the villain that would be fit this? You know what I mean? Literally that, like who, what villain, in fact, if I'm gonna be honest, a lot of it was if I never get to do another DC book, which villain do I want to use? And they never said no. So like it had to be Molly in the Brain because they're my favorite.
They're my all time favorite. I'm a Grant Morrison, Dude Patrol guy. It had to be Molly in the Brain. And I love the representation that they bring to the table. But then it's like, I want to do Demolition Team and I want to do Snowflame, the cocaine powered supervillain. And I want to do Kimo. But I wanted it to be, you'll like this, Ryan. I wanted it to be the original Kimo that just looks like a plastic man that spits out of a hole in his mouth, right?
They were like, no, Eric Anderson did a variant cover with the new chemo on it. So we had to use the new design, but I just wanted it to be like that really Mike McNola did the who's who I was always drawn to. If I didn't know it was Mike McNola. So like many years ago, he did the who's who of chemo, which is just a human jar that spits out acid. What? I don't know this character. Yeah. do who's who? You'll see the Mike McNola one, which is crazy.
I don't know why McNola is drawing it, but he's like a human jar. He's from old Doom Patrol and old Shazam, like old, he would have been in like, the monster society, probably. I say that with such confidence. I could be wrong. I'm pretty sure he was in the monster society, but he's literally just like a jar. Like he's a jar shaped man who spits acid out of a hole in his mouth. He's giant. He's like a hundred stories tall.
But when they brought him, you know, when we had new 52, he has like gauntlets and stuff now. So it's not quite as fun, but neither here nor there. But there's one thing that why don't you use chemo? It's like, cause he's such a ridiculous, it's such a ridiculous idea to have chemo show up. but also would be fit the story. Everything has to be fit the story. The characters don't matter ultimately, but the body is like, why is it here? Cause that's what I wanted.
Like that's what they should have been doing. It should still be happening probably, but that's neither here nor there. That's how Peacemaker came about. That's how we got Peacemaker, which I adore. I think Steve Pugh and Ryan does the same thing again. I hate to keep blowing smoke at Ryan's ass as he's sitting there. Throwing things that look like a superhero comic that still get beats and still get any comedy. moves at all is really hard to do without negating the other.
And certainly, Barfly is very funny and it's drawn very funny, but it also looks like the characters look like they exist in a superhero universe. And that's really important because if you want people who like superheroes to read your comic, it has to look like a superhero comic. You know what I mean? And it's really hard for people to be able to do sort of comedy beats and do superhero stuff. In fact, I did this wild dog, but the guy was like, I'm going to ham it up.
I was like, don't, I might do it a hundred percent straight. It'll be funny because you're doing it straight. Cause there's, there's ways to do that too, where you let the dialogue be funny and you don't have to go look at funny because most people can't do it. Ryan can do, which is to go like, this is all hilarious. This is all funny, but it's also, there's still like a physical representation.
So the C, so C, I mean, see if you, which was the point as I stand in it in the, again, going smoke of Brian's, but see if he was perfect. Like there's something about for peacemaker, my opinion, like, like kudos to those editors. I don't think it just like eight billion genies. I would, I said, Sometimes you get just the perfect group of people for that book. And certainly I think other people could do very good peacemaker book. I think other people will do very good peacemaker book.
I think me and Steve have the best one now and will for a while. I'm so proud of that book. I read it and I go, this feels like a book that could exist in sort of popular DC readership forever. And I know I say that humbly, but I made something that I wish existed, right? So I'm really proud of that book. I think it's great. I think Stav did a really good job. I think editorial was great. I think we really knew the assignment and did it. I think I also answered the question. I think.
Yeah, you did. Absolutely. And as I said earlier, it's one of my favorite big two books of recent memory. You guys absolutely knocked out the park. And I think my only regret and the only thing that I wanted that I didn't get out of it was I really wanted Moola and Peacemaker to really make it work. I wanted that part, that friendship to really exist outside of him just using Peacemaker to get what he wanted. But Chris, he's a super villain. I know, but so is peacemaker at one point.
not really peacemaker just likes to kill people. in the movies and the movies. Yes. In the movie, I guess, technically he was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, gentlemen, thank you guys both so much for being here. That's all I have for you here today. once again, I appreciate you both coming back onto the Abilion Bar podcast, coming on, talking about Shadir. so excited for people to get this book in their hands on July 10th.
and I'm sure again, as everyone has probably already seen or heard from this conversation. You know, I'm such a huge fan of both your guys' work. Dark Horse, Minor Threats really knocked it out of the park by getting you guys together for Shit Eater. And I'm just excited to read the rest of the series like everybody else. Awesome. It's good to hear. It's always good when somebody gets that preview copy and they like it. Yeah, it's excellent. They liked it. Yeah, we did it. We did a good job.
I finished the colors on issue two. I should have sent it to you today. And then you could read it without colors and then see if Kyle's words improve it or not. read it without letter? Yeah, read it without word. Yeah, without conwords. Yeah, and see if they improve it. As soon as we end this recording, I'm going to give you my email because I want all of that. Okay. I just got the first lettering pass for issue two. So that's what I get to do instead of watches.
I get to do that immediately after this. Well, before I let you guys go and Kyle, I'll start with you here. Is there anything, any parting words, anything you want to plug or highlight before we end the conversation? No, I was ill prepared for this. Barfly is really good. You guys should, I think it's PassFSC, but you should check it out. It's really good. You really like it. And I highly, it's good. That's it. Thank you.
I will plug really quick for Kyle that if you haven't already go pick up Karate Prime. My new book. shit. Let me start over. Let me start over. Retake, retake and. Leave all this in. Leave all this in. Leave all this in. I forgot. No. So here's what I have. Karate Prime just came out from first second. It's brand new. It's a since we got all ages. It's the second book I've ever made. You could give to a child cause it doesn't have profanity or murder in it. It is about a karate prompt.
It's pretty self -explanatory. Coming out some point in June, I don't know when this thing posts, but it's probably out by then, is the Rock Candy Mountain Collective Edition, which is all eight issues together. All the back matter from those issues, which we did a ton. I did a ton of hobo research and made a bunch of other people do a ton of hobo research. It was Eiser nominated. It is arguably my first one or two best books maybe, I think you could make a case for.
So both of these are coming out. Are they already out? Ryan, I know has a bunch of done projects too. I have two books done. with Dark Horse that hasn't been announced yet. I have a DC book that hasn't been announced yet. There's a huge DC secret thing happening that I'll be a part of for 2025. I'm about to start on, which I'm really excited about. There's all sorts of cool stuff happening. Comics are great. Buy more comics, support comics. Ryan, how about you? Well, I've got Barfly.
And then I'm going to go to LA for two signings for the release of issue one with Patton and Jordan at Golden Apple and at Things From Another World. on July 10th. That'll be awesome. And then I'll be at San Diego with Kyle, and we'll have the whole team there with an exclusive cover. And then everything else that I'm working on can't be talked about. But I'm super fun. I'm having a lot of fun. And it's really weird to have.
I feel like you're going to get four issues of barfly and then then it's going to be a couple months and then my new image series with Charles Seoul is going to start. So And that also is like a high concept thing that I think is going to hit pretty solid with people. And yeah, and I think it's going to be eight issues. We haven't I don't know yet, but we might preview it at New York Comic Con. That's probably when it will actually see it a lot a day.
But 8 Billion Genies was such a insane workload and the books got later and later. So I'm trying to do as much of this book before it even gets announced so that. life isn't miserable. So we'll see. I don't know. It's cool though. It's cool. It's a cool book. Well, I'm excited. And again, I'm so thankful to have both you guys on here today. I for sure would love to have both you guys on either together or separately down the road.
And just so excited for people to check out Barfly again, July 10th. Make sure everybody go check it out. And I'll see you both at San Diego Comic -Con in just a couple of weeks. Sounds great. Fantastic. Alrighty, there's that conversation with Kyle Starks and Ryan Brown. Thank you both again so much for joining us here on the Oblivion Bar podcast. Such a treat to talk to both of them about Barfly. I'm very excited for people to read this series.
That first issue again comes out on July 10th, which again is the hopefully the day that you're listening to this conversation. It's the day that it releases and I'm just so jazzed about this minor threats universe. What Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn have created over at Dark Horse is I really do think it's something special. I really love that first trade. I actually haven't read the second trade quite yet. And I've heard nothing but great things about the alternates.
This is just another notch in the minor threats belt of true awesomeness. So once again, thank you both, Colin, Ryan for joining us here on the oblivion bar podcast. Always a treat. We will definitely have one or both of them on again, sometime in the near future. Next week on the oblivion bar podcast, Aaron will be back for episode one 63.
We will be covering the upcoming long legs, which is the very Scary horror film that you've probably seen trailers for it stars Michael Monroe and Nicolas Cage. I think it's directed by Oz Perkins I actually just saw a trailer for this movie for both Maxine and when I went to see a quiet place day one I could not be more excited for this movie guys. I'm so pumped to see long legs You know a lot of times here on the oblivion bar podcast.
We mostly just cover nerd related content whether that be movies comics television series video games, what have you when Aaron I saw this trailer for the first time, we immediately were like, we have to talk about this because we also love horror.
I mean, I think if there's sort of a smaller pillar of the show, it is horror in one sense or another, whether that's talking to, you know, David Weiner, the multiple times that we've had him on the show or our Halloween special that we have every single year. Horror is, I mean, you could even go to our intro music and a lot of our sort of synthy horror. There's, there's like a very obvious horror theme to all that. So we're very excited for long lights. Can't wait to.
dive into that with Aaron next week, but that'll do it for episode 162 of the oblivion bar podcast. Follow us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, blue sky and threads at oblivion bar pod. Thank you. Omnibus for supporting the show. Use the link in our show notes to upgrade the way you read comic books digitally. Official merchant. The show can be found at our website, www .oblivionbarpodcast .com. Thank you, Kevin Ziegler for all of our building bar art.
He is at the Zig zone on Instagram. Thank you to dream kid for all of our musical themes. Thank you, DJ skyback for our grid theme. And please do not forget to tip your bartenders always 20 % or more, nothing less than 20%. You know, if you go to Qdoba or if you go to a coffee shop, I'm not going to tell you that you have to tip 20%. I get it. They're just handing you a thing at the job that they're already working.
I think we're getting maybe a little out of hand with some of the tipping, but if you're at a bar or restaurant and you're being served by a server bartender, 20 % should be the absolute bare minimum. If they're doing an incredible job, anticipating your needs, all the things. Give them that extra bit. It makes their day and it's easy on you. It's not that much money. But anyway, I'll get off my soap box here. Thank you guys so much for listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast.
We will see you all next week for episode 163.