Are you ready?It's time for your weekly dose of Wayne's Comics!
Welcome to Episode 666 of the Wayne's Comics Podcast.Thanks so much for listening.I hope you're ready for another great doubleheader this week in Episode 666.It all begins with writer C.R.C.
Payne from Batman Wayne Family Adventures, then everything concludes with Tom Marvelli with the boy in the bot. C.R.C.Payne is the writer of the weekly webtoon comic called Batman Wayne Family Adventures.
This series, which posts a new segment every Thursday, is described this way.When your superhero life is just as busy as your personal life, there's never a dull moment in the Bat Family.
Bruce Wayne's young heroes are still learning to fight and live side by side, but they always have each other's backs.
We discuss how this new Batman series came to be, who the various characters are, and what we can expect from CRC in the months ahead.
Then be sure to listen to my engaging interview with Tom Marvelli, creator of the fascinating comic miniseries, The Boy in the Box.You can still buy the debut part of this excellent book at their Kickstarter site.Here's the description.
Introducing another Door Comics debut title, The Boy in the Bot, What is Project Blue?The first book in an exciting sci-fi trilogy.Tom tells us how this engaging comic came to be, who the characters are, and what he might have coming our way soon.
I'm sure you're going to enjoy what they both have to say.There's a lot to get to in this episode, so let's get on with the show! When your superhero life is just as busy as your personal life, there's never a dull moment in the Bat Family.
Bruce Wayne's young heroes are still learning to fight and live side by side, but they always have each other's backs.
Whether it's teaming up to fight a massive villain or a massive head cold, Nightwing, Robin, Oracle, Spoiler, The Signal, and the rest know what it takes to smash that problem in the face.
It's called Batman Wayne Family Adventures, and it goes on Webtoons every Thursday.And I'm talking right now with the writer, C.R.C.Payne.How you doing, C.R.C. ? I'm doing great.Thanks so much for having me on.It's good to talk with you.
As I was telling you before we started to record, this is my very first Webtoon book that I'm reading.And I'm really enjoying it because I'm a big Batman fan.I am huge, huge.My first name is his last name.So I've always identified with it.
So it's really good stuff.
Well, I'm honored that I'm your first WEBTOON.That's very exciting.
So talk to me about how you got into this, because as I was reading here, it says this was your very first WEBTOON, right?
Yeah, it was.I got so lucky with this.This is my first webtoon, my first comic.I was allowed to send in a sample just to see.And actually, the very first thing I ever wrote and then submitted for Wayne Family Adventures was the last cookie.
That was the sample that I wrote.And that ended up being episode two of our series.And no one was more shocked than I was to get an email back saying, hey, we want you to write this Batman comic.I was ecstatic.
And it has been just the absolute best journey.I have loved every single moment of it.
Because Batman, I mean, you couldn't be in a better franchise than Batman right now.You've got absolute Batman that's breaking all kinds of records.The comic is, and all the variety of Batman stories that are going on in DC Comics and stuff.
You couldn't be in a better franchise than the Batman franchise.So congratulations on that.
Oh, thank you so much.And I mean, I think it really speaks to how much people love this character and all of the characters in the Bat family.Just really such a strong fan base and people have just a lot of love for these characters.
I gotta ask. How did you decide which characters you want?Because as you're pointing out in here, as I read, there's a whole bunch of people in the bat family.And there are some people who say, you shouldn't have that.
It should only be Batman by himself.But the way that you're doing it, thank heavens you still have Alfred, one of my very favorite characters is still in there.He's dead in the main continuity.
So every time I see him in there, my heart beats a little faster.Oh, thank goodness, Alfred. That's good.So how did you decide?Because that's a that's a big cast to take on.How did you decide to go that route?
Yeah, so when I came on board with the project, DC and Webtoon already knew that they wanted this to be a comic about the Bat family, not just about Batman.
And I was really excited about that because it meant that I had all of these really wonderful characters to play with and we didn't just have to focus on one of them all the time.And definitely Alfred was a huge part of that.
I think when we started writing It was like right around the time we started writing in the main continuity, that's when Alfred died.And I think that was one of the first questions that I asked.I was like, can we have Alfred alive in our comic?
Please, please, please.Because he's such a huge part of the Bat family.He's sort of the heart and center of it.And DC immediately was like, yes, of course you can have Alfred live at it.So I was so excited to hear that.
But how about the other characters?Cause you've, you've basically, I mean, some of these characters we don't even see in the comics very much.Like the signals kind of dropped off the planet and stuff like that.
And yet you have all these different characters.And of course you couldn't have a more diverse group than, you know, the signal.
And then you've got Oracle and all these other characters all around some back from the dead, you know, all those kinds of things.Gosh, do you need a scorecard to keep track of all these people?
I actually do have a spreadsheet where I try to track how many episodes people have been in, so I'm not leaving anybody out for too long.It's a huge cast of characters to manage, but I mean, I'm a Batman fan, but I'm also a Bat family fan.
I love all these characters, and I know that there are people out there who also love all these characters. and sometimes don't often see them appear in the comics, like Duke, for example.
And so it was really exciting to be able to have a dedicated place for all of them, to know that we were going to be telling these stories about all the characters, so that people, you know, even if they weren't seeing their faces popping in and out of the main line continuity, they could come to us and get a little bit of a fix.
Because I always tell people that if you read the comic, the Wayne family adventures is what takes place in between the comic adventures. We see the kind of things that this is what they do when they're not out having great big adventures.
They're interacting with each other.They're growing together and stuff.And I find that a nice breather for me.In the current comic, Batman's lost his hand.He's got a mechanical hand and stuff.
And that can be kind of, I don't know, like, golly, that's a real
tense kind of thing going on it's nice to read these stories which are a little lighter in tone most of the time it's because you know we all can't have you know life threatening adventures going all the time we gotta let up a little bit and so for me these stories provide that nice break from all the other stuff that goes on so i really enjoy reading them every thursday i can't wait to read the new episode.
Oh, thanks so much.And I mean, that's exactly what we were what we were going for when we started the comic was really looking at the moments in between exactly what you said, because
You know, when we were looking at this cast and we were looking at these characters, you know, we do get to see a lot of them as superheroes because that's what people come to read superhero comics for.They want to see the big action scenes.
But the point of Wayne Family Adventures, when we were starting out, was to really look at the family aspect of these characters.So, you know, we were asking ourselves,
Okay what what are the things that make them a family more than just a superhero team what makes them different than say the justice league.So that's sort of where we started and we have really branched out from there and it's been really fun.
No i've been enjoying the fact that some of the stories are really short and some of them are only like one episode but now you're in the middle of a current adventure that's been going on for. Golly, 10, 15 episodes?
And of course, the Joker's involved, so he's always going to be a big deal and stuff like that.So have you had the chance to kind of stretch your writing muscles and do different things?Is that why you wanted to do that?
Or did the story present itself?How do you decide whether you're going to do a really short story or a longer story?
Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. When we started writing Wayne Family Adventures, obviously we were just doing those short episodic stories, just one shots.
And I think that was really important because we knew bringing Batman and the Bat Family to Webtoon, we were going to get lots of different kinds of readers.
We were going to get readers who have been following Batman their entire lives, and we were going to get readers who had maybe seen one Batman movie or just heard about him and had never read anything with the Bat family in it.
And so I think the first two seasons were really crucial for us to establish who are these characters for people who don't know them, what's been going on in their lives, because there's a lot of history to get through, and what is the dynamic between them.
And then we were looking ahead to season three, and we were starting to plot out, OK, where do we want to take the characters?What kind of arcs do we want to do?I was starting to work on my outline and working with my Webtoon editors.
It just became really apparent that there were a lot of themes that were tying together that we wanted to explore that really lent themselves to a longer form arc.
So this season is a very different feel from what we've done from season one and season two. It is going to be an arc that lasts the entire, uh, the entirety of season three.
So that is, this arc is going to take us all the way through to the end of season three.Um, but I think it's been really fun because season one and season two gave us such a great jumping off point.People sort of know, okay, this is how.
The Wayne Family Adventures characters differ a little bit from the mainline characters.So we're all starting from the same place.And now we can really sort of spread our wings on this one for season three.
Cause you're up to at least episode 136, which is, you know, but they fly by for me.I mean, I, I, I sit down and I, I, and I go from top to bottom and I, I mean, I'm scrolling as fast as I can to see what happens next.
And so I'm really enjoying it and stuff.That's a lot of episodes to write.How long have you been writing this now?
Oh, let's see.Um, I think I started season one and. I think it was 2021, so it's been several years now.We started season three at the beginning of 2024 is when I started writing season three.
It was sort of late winter, early spring around then, I think.So yeah, we've been going for a while.
Well, that's good.I mean, it sounds like you're just getting started with everything.It sounds like you've got a lot more to come through, which I really am happy to hear.
Yeah, we've got a lot more planned for season three.I'm really excited for some of the arcs that we've got going on.We're going to bring in some more characters for people to see that we maybe haven't seen a lot of in Wayne Family Adventures before.
So that's going to be really fun.Some good cameos.And just, I think, some really fun arcs that we've got planned for the characters that
You know, we've really established a lot of these members of the Bat family being in certain places in their lives, and now we can let them grow.
And I'm really excited to have those moments of growth in our comic and to have those play out in season three.
Yeah i'm curious do you keep in touch with the batman team on dc or is this kind of a separate universe does this fall somewhere in the batman continuity or is this its own continuity how do you guys handle that.
a timeline, universe, whatever you want to call it, we are not strictly in Batman canon, which I actually think is really great because it gives us the freedom to pull from different events and characters' backstories that might not be canon anymore, but are really interesting plot points or moments for these characters.
So we get to reference those moments and make them part of our comic, even though they're not really part of the mainline canon anymore.So I love that freedom.DC is definitely involved.
They always are looking over our episodes, letting us know if, like, hey, you've gone too far, or, like, you can push this further, which is great.They've given us so much freedom with these characters, which has been such a joy to write.
And of course another thing that's really, I'm sure, fun to do is the fact that, as I said, this is a diverse cast.
You've got, you know, Oracle, who is wheelchair-bound, and you've got Signal, who, I haven't seen him in a Batman comic in several years now.
So it's great to see these characters, and of course, as I mentioned already, Alfred is there, thankfully, and so you're, You're keeping aspects, I think, of the Bat family going, that hopefully they'll come back someday to the main continuity.
But if they exist just in here, I'm happy with that, because you're doing such a great job with the characters.
Oh, thank you.I mean, I think we're going to see a lot of characters come back into main continuity.This is just me as a fan talking.I think nothing's truly ever lost in Batman fandom.
So I'm sure that characters who aren't getting a lot of screen time right now will come back.But I love that we have them for Wayne Family Adventures.I love that we get to have Babs as Oracle.
I love that we get to have stories with Duke leading the way and interacting with all the other Bat kids. He was such a great way, I think, when we were starting Wayne Family Adventures, he was a great entry point for the series.
Because, I mean, he'd been around for a while when we started writing Wayne Family Adventures, but I think he was still more new to a lot of readers.So it was great to have him sort of be our fresh eyes into the Bat family.
And that was such a great way to introduce everybody.
Well, let's talk about Batman a little bit.You know, we've had so many versions of Batman, Adam West Batman, Christian Bale Batman, and then there's the Scott Snyder version of Batman in the comics.
And of course, the Kevin Conroy Batman in the animated series and stuff like that.Did you draw inspiration from some of them, all of them?Where does your Batman fall as far as the other Batman that we've seen?
Oh, absolutely.I mean, I'm constantly watching Batman movies, reading comics, everything I can get my hands on.I think people who have been watching or reading a lot of Batman media can see a lot of different influences in my work.
I think that for me, the things that I love most about Batman, I love the detective stories.I love how smart he is, how strategic.But when we were looking for Wayne family adventures, the biggest thing we wanted to focus on was the family.
And so, of course, we had to look at, OK, well, how is Bruce as a father, as a mentor? Um, and I think it was really important to recognize things that he was really good at.
Um, you know, he is definitely a superhero who's going to stop and comfort a crying child.Like he has such a depth of compassion.
Um, and that's why he took in so many of these kids that he came across throughout his life and how we got the bat family in the first place.But it was also important to recognize that he has flaws too.I mean, He's not a great communicator.
He's working through a lot of trauma on his end as well and probably trying to figure out, you know, as someone who probably had no expectation of ever being a father or a mentor and suddenly finding himself in that role for a lot of kids who are coming from a lot of different backgrounds, you know, how do you reconcile all of that?
And so it's been really fun to look at Bruce through that lens and try to explore who he would be to this family and what that would mean to the people in the family.
Because there's a line on the Webtoons page that says, being a father can't be harder than being Batman, right? which I find a wonderful line.You know what this all reminds me of?
I don't know if you've ever watched it, because it's Superman, not Batman.Superman and Lois on the CW.
Yes, I have seen that, yeah.
Superman is used to being Superman.He can bust through planets, he can do all this stuff.But when it comes to raising two teenage boys, he struggles.He's never quite sure if he's doing the right thing or not.
And of course, for Superman, that's so funny to see.Here's this guy with all these superpowers, and he's not certain that he's treating his wife correctly or his kids.He's not doing things properly.
And I find that to be really interesting, because Superman, we're so used to him always making the right choices, and he's always moral.
But to see him actually struggle a little bit with raising his children, and I see a lot of that in Batman and Bruce Wayne.Now, I do have to throw a quick thing in here.
There was something that almost happened in the regular comics that I really wanted to see, and it never took place.Batman was going to marry Catwoman.
And I thought, because I've been reading Batman for decades, and I thought, I have not seen this before.
I mean, Superman's marriage to Lois Lane has been fantastic, because I was so sick and tired of Lois Lane, as they used to say, trying to trick Superman into a loving, caring relationship. And I thought, you know, I haven't seen Batman being married.
This might be fun to explore, at least for a little while.And then at the last minute, they turned away from each other and jumped off into different directions.And I was disappointed.So I've kind of been enjoying
Bruce's relationship with Selina Kyle in your books, and he's recently, right now, she's kind of trying to be the voice of reason to him.And I think that's been a lot of fun to see.So I have to say, I'm really enjoying that aspect of it.
I doubt you're ever going to marry them often in the book, but it would be fun if someday we could, I don't know if you'd ever go to an alternate universe, because on Earth, too, they were married in the comics.
And so for me, I wouldn't mind seeing that sometime.
Yeah, well, I mean, I obviously love the Batman-Catwoman relationship.And I know exactly the issues that you're talking about, because a couple of the most recent episodes in season three, the Bat and the Cat and Bend and Break,
were definitely inspired by some of the back and forth in Tom King's Batman number 50, where they're, I think they had like left letters to each other and you're reading their letters to each other.
And that definitely inspired some of their conversation.
in our recent episodes, but I really wanted Selena to come back in to our comic in this moment where Bruce is finally realizing like, okay, I've made some mistakes here and I need to make some changes.
And I thought it was really, really important for him to have a peer to talk to rather than just his kids trying to solve his problems for him.
He needed to work that through with someone who was on his level and who could support him in a way that, you know, his kids couldn't or shouldn't maybe is a better way to say that.Um, and so I was really happy to bring her in and have these, the
Really, I think for me, at least, they were very touching episodes to write.I really admire their relationship.And I think it I love the way that they have sort of grown and evolved around each other.
And it was really wonderful to be able to write about that a little bit in season three.
See, it's funny because the Catwoman-Batman relationship always kind of put me off a little bit.Because she's a villain.She's a thief and a criminal and all this stuff.
And yet, he looks past all that and he's able to kind of develop feelings for her.And he doesn't have feelings for other characters and stuff like that. The relationship between the two of them was kind of interesting.
Of course, as I mentioned, on Earth, too, they were married.So I guess we had a precedent for that.
Yeah, I kind of like their relationship.I like the way I think it speaks to how human Bruce is, right?I mean, he, he likes to think he's this immovable object he's got, he's always set in his ways.
But the truth is, he lives a little bit more in the gray area than that.And I think his relationship to Selena speaks to that, because she also kind of lives in that gray area.
And where they're able to meet in the middle is what makes their relationship interesting.
It's so much fun because they, as I like to think, this is the human side of all these characters.We get to see them interact with each other when Signal gets kidnapped.And he feels like he's failed, you know.Being kidnapped wasn't the worst thing.
It was this feeling of failure that seemed to hit to him. And I thought that was really interesting because, again, there's that human aspect that I thought was good.Because we're so used to superheroes being just above all that.
And they don't ever have to worry about that.But I think one of the great things you've done with these characters is to look at Damien from human eyes and Dick with human eyes and all these different things.
And I thought the recent discussions between Bruce and Barbara about the fact that Bruce feels he has to protect them all.But then Barbara was saying, no, no, we can take care of ourselves.You don't have to do that with us.
And that kind of put him off a little bit.And I thought that was really an interesting place to go with Batman, because Batman's always right.I'm the superhero guy.I'm always right.
And to hear him actually get dressed down a little bit by Barbara, I thought was really kind of a nice way to do that.And of course, all this stuff's going on in the Joker story, which I just think is so much fun to read.
Now, gosh, sometimes I wish the regular books had these kind of elements more.
I mean, I've definitely drawn a lot of inspiration from main continuity.And I think for our comic, I spent a lot of time thinking about the relationships between the characters, because this is a comic about all of them and not just Bruce.
And so having that moment between Barbara and Bruce where she pushes back on him a little bit and he comes to her and he said, you know, we're going to do things my way.I'm shutting this down.
And Babs says, you're not my boss and you never have been.I thought was really important because I do think that their relationship is different than Bruce's relationship with Dick or Jason or any of the other kids because She's not one of his kids.
She trusts him.He's a valued partner.She respects him, certainly.But she doesn't see him the same way the others do.And that gives her more freedom to sort of forge her own path in that way.She doesn't feel as beholden to him.And then looking at
you know, the relationships between Bruce and the other characters.Well, how would they react to these things?How would they respond?How do they stand together?
And it's been really interesting to explore those dynamics of the kids pulling together and still trying to reach out to Bruce versus Bruce, whose tendencies are to sort of self-isolate.And so how does that create tension between them?
And we've definitely seen that in the main comics before.I know I've read that before, but it was really nice to be able to focus this story through the family rather than just Bruce's point of view, which I think gives it a little bit more texture.
And then obviously having a little bit of a different resolution as we're starting to see in some of our more recent episodes with Selena coming in and Bruce starting to open a dialogue back up with the kids.
Now I've got to ask, do you draw from your own family experiences? to begin to put some of that into the comic characters?Because sometimes they act a lot more realistic than I'm used to them acting.
So I'm always wondering, are you actually, do you have a family that some of these things kind of go on and say, I could put that in that Webtoon comic?Does that happen with you?
Yeah, I will admit to maybe pulling a few family stories into the Webtoon. You know, I, I, but I think one of the things I've always loved the most about the bat family and, you know, these comics in general is, is how human these characters are.
You know, I, I, I love a good, you know, superhero showdown, the big fights, the action. But the thing that makes the characters compelling is not just how hard they can punch someone, it's how human they are underneath that.
They have flaws, they make mistakes, and then they try to do better after that.And so it's been very helpful to keep that sort of centered for our story of, OK, yes, they are all highly trained vigilantes.
They can, you know, solve any mystery you put in front of them.They know every style of martial arts, but they're also, you know, teenagers.They're also kids.They're also imperfect adults.
And they're just trying to figure things out for themselves and who they are and where they stand in the world.And I love having that be the center of our story.
because I think it really does allow for some different moments in our comic than you might see in a mainline Batman story because we do get to really spend a lot of time with them being human.
Just the kids goofing off with each other, you know, trying to make a pie and it goes wrong or, you know, Bruce forgetting how to tie a tie.Those were some of our season one storylines.And in season three, you know,
just looking at how do you navigate it when you have a argument like with your dad or with a trusted family member?How do you resolve that?How do you communicate?Especially when one side is stonewalling you, what do you do?
And just trying to think it through the lens of like, okay, yes, they have a lot of training that most people don't have, but also they're still human at the end of the day.So how would we respond to that if that fell into our laps?
Well, now I've got to ask another question, just because I heard that Chip Zdarsky is leaving the Batman comic.
Has DC ever approached you about writing any Batman stories in the comics?
This is the only Batman comic that I've been approached about writing.I do have a new comic out, Harley in Paradise with DC, which I'm really excited about.But this is the only Batman comic, and I'm just loving every moment of it.
I love that I get to have the whole Bat family.It's great.
Well, that's great.Now, you mentioned there might be some other cameos and stuff like that.There was.Now, right away, I have to admit, I double dipped.
I buy the, I look at it on Webtoons, but then when DC puts out the collected editions, I buy those too.Cause I want to have those just in case my internet's down and I want to read some of those.
I really do.I really enjoy that.But I did notice there was like one, there was a few episodes in there where I saw like Harley Quinn. And some other, I think Superman was there briefly.
Yeah, we've had some cameos from Harley.We've done Superman.We've had a couple of the Titans, Young Justice, the Flash, Wally West Flash.We've had Justice League.We've brought in a lot of people.
So you mentioned there might be more cameos coming.Is that something we should just keep reading to find out?
Yeah, I don't want to spoil anything, but we are going to have a few more cameos coming up in season three.
Characters we either haven't had in Wayne Family Adventures before and some that we have, but we wanted to give just a little bit more screen time.So yeah, we're going to be seeing a few more fun people showing up.
Oh, good.Well, I'm looking forward to that because I enjoyed the other stories.I, you know, I, I'm always fascinated by how these characters, how do they exist in other realities as far as that goes.And I, I enjoyed the stories.
I always liked the, the Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne friendship.
Yeah, I do too.They have a really great friendship and a really great rapport.And I love, One of the things I really love too is, I mean, I love the Super Sons as well.
So John Kent and Damian Wayne, and I love seeing Clark and Bruce watch Damian and John and realize some things about themselves as they watch the two of them interact.It's just really great to have all those dynamics at play.
I watched one time they had in the animated show when they crossed over, they had a three-part episode called World's Finest.And they did some stuff that really surprised me in there.Bruce Wayne ends up dating Lois Lane.I was shocked.
I was like, what?That's never going to be.And she finds out his identity through a mistake that happens.And I remember that just floored me.
So things like that, I like to see, and I give Bruce Timm and all those people a lot of credit, because man, he's got a new Batman out there.It's on It went, it left, Max gave it up and it went over to, I think Prime.
Yeah, it's on Amazon, I think.
It's a great series.I enjoyed that first season of that.It's very different, you know, but see Batman is one of the, getting back to Batman, his character can be all over the place and I still enjoy it.
I don't, I'm not forcing Batman to be, you know, Kevin Conroy or forcing him to be Adam West or forcing him to be Christian Bale. He, and even in the comics, you get a different creative team.That's a whole nother take on Batman.
And so for me, I don't mind the different things.Like I said, I wouldn't mind seeing him married for a while and stuff like that.There's so many aspects of Bruce Wayne and the whole Batman mythology that to me is always fascinating.
So your Wayne family adventures exist perfectly fine with other stuff to me, because this is just another, a reality that Batman exists in and does really well.
Some people are saying, oh no, Batman should be the only one and he should never have any of the Bat family around him and stuff like that.And I'm like, no.
I said, you're missing out on a whole bunch of great storytelling because Batman is more than just That, you know, he's more than Adam West and he's more than all these other characters.
And I think that if people want to see a very human Bruce Wayne, I recommend the Wayne Family Adventures because this gives them a chance to see him in an unfamiliar setting, but even he's learning and he's growing.
And to see Bruce Wayne do that is, to me, one of the great things about the books that you're doing.
Yeah, it's been really great to have Bruce.You know, he often is the person who is in charge.He's the leader.He's always has the answers.He's always, you know, 10 steps ahead.
And so it's nice to be able to slow him down a little bit and let him admit that, hey, sometimes I don't have all the answers.Sometimes I get it wrong. And let's work through that.Let's try to figure that out.
And I love that we get to do that with Wayne Family Adventures and play with a lot of different aspects of Bruce and how he relates to all of the children that he has.
See, the one relationship I'd like to see more of is his relationship with Damien.Because that's his real honest-to-goodness son. And so I always think that relationship's a little different from all the others.
And so I, I'm curious whenever Damien shows up, I'm like, Ooh, I want to see more of that.Cause that's interesting to me.
I, yeah, I think their relationship is really interesting, especially in the context of, you know, Damien coming to Bruce after he already has had all these experiences with his adopted and fostered kids, all the kids that he's mentored.
And Damien, you know, a role, but even more so when he first comes to Bruce, having to sort of contend with the fact that he might have feel like he has to kind of fight for his place at Bruce's side.
And I think that's, I think it's a really interesting relationship, especially because it does add a different layer to the relationship that they are related by blood.I don't think it negates Bruce's relationship with any of his other children.
I think they are just as much his children as Damian is, but it does color the relationship a little bit differently and adds nuance to it that makes for really interesting dynamics between Damian and Bruce and then
Damien and the other kids and how he responds to them.We've explored that a little bit in Wayne Family Adventures, you know, how Damien and Tim get along, a little bit of Damien and Jason.
Definitely Dick and Damien's relationship, which is such an important relationship as well to Damien. So it's been, yeah, it's so interesting.These characters have such long and storied histories.
And I love that we get to play with so many different aspects of them.It can sometimes almost be overwhelming trying to figure out what we want to bring in and what we want to leave out.
But I think we're starting to really chart our path here of what do the Wayne family adventures What does this version of the Bat Family look like?
And it's really all about how they relate to each other and how they see each other and how they want to build something together.That's really what's uniting them.
Now, I always have to think about the fact that this is, I don't know if you knew this, but there's so much bat history, I don't know how anybody can know all of it.But Grant Morrison was the one that brought Damien into the bat family.
And he actually intended to kill Damien at one point. And I was always like, you know, cause you know, he was, they made him unlikable.And the whole point was that when he got killed, nobody would, would feel sorry when he died.
But all of a sudden people started to rise up and say, wait a second, we like this character.He's different.
And Grant Morrison wasn't allowed to kill him because of that, because he actually had an interesting, you know, way of doing things and he, his relationship with everybody else was very different.So.
You know, to me, another thing for me with Damien, I always think about the things that, that might've been that, uh, you know, he might've, uh, ended up not being in the Wayne family at all.All these things are so interesting and stuff.
Now I did mention Alfred before, I guess you mentioned something the same, this is its own reality.So I guess that means that we wouldn't have Alfred around for a while.We're not going to kill him anytime soon.
I, at this point in time, have no plans of killing Alfred.He is a wonderful character, and he is absolutely necessary to have Bruce have some realization, so I need him around for a bit.
You know, I love the story when he got sick. And he doesn't want to impose on any of the family and they're all off doing their stuff.And also the Thanksgiving story when he's basically saying, no, no, no, I'll be fine.Don't worry.
It's okay if I'm by myself for the holiday and stuff.And of course they immediately just rush in to be around him and stuff like that.
Yeah.I think it's very true in our lives that oftentimes people who are in like caretaker roles get overlooked. Um, when it comes turn for them to be taken care of, because we think of them as they're the person there's the person that we turn to.
So, you know, they're going to be fine.They have to be fine.Um, and so I thought it was really nice to give Alfred a few moments where we got to turn that on its head a little bit and say, you know what, he needs some love and care too.
And they're going to be there for him.
Yeah, I like that so much.Now, of course, as I mentioned, you're in an extended storyline and you're saying it's going to go on for a while.Do you know exactly how many more episodes we're going to get in this storyline?
I do.We have a plan for about, I think it's 50 episodes this season.I don't remember exactly how many are out at this moment.I think we're out to 136 coming out from, we started at one in season one.
So we've still got quite a ways to go in season three.
Oh, good.Okay.So looking forward to all that.Um, is there anything you can tell us about what else, what other kinds of stories you have in mind for the future without spoiling them?I mean, I, I like to get hints.
I don't necessarily want to get spoilers, but are there kinds of stories or interesting things that you have in mind that you can share with us or should we just keep reading?
Um, I will, without getting into too many details, cause I agree.I don't like spoilers either.I will say we're going to see some more moments of growth for different members of the bat family.
Um, there's going to be some more realizations and some more trials for them.Um, and that is as far as I will say, but we're, we're, we're going to see some more fun moments coming up.
What about other bat villains?
Yes, we're going to see a few more Bat-Villains before this season is done.
Okay, because I like to see people's different takes, because the Riddler is one who's all over creation now.I don't know what the Riddler is anymore.
I love actually seeing him pop up in so many different versions of himself, where in one version he's just kind of having fun, saying his riddles, and in another version he's very dark.
Yeah, I just, I always find it so fascinating that he has so many different facets to him.And I love seeing, trying to guess what version of him is going to pop up in a series.
Um, you know, one, cause the penguin series is going over big on HBO.Um, of course that's comes all out of the Batman movie.Um, what, uh, do you have any ideas for the penguin in your, in your book?
Um, I mean, we're, I don't want to give too much away, but we are definitely going to be exploring some other Batman villains.
So, you know, we might see him.We might not.
Okay.Again, there's another character.The first time we see him. He is a very rich, well-to-do guy who always is, you know, his family is one of the founding families of Gotham and all that kind of stuff.
And then all of a sudden now he's, you know, and he's just a criminal ganglord and stuff like that in the, in that one.So again, you know, if you can keep track of all this stuff, you're better than I am, but I just,
I like to see the different takes on stuff.So for me, I want to see what happens.I want to see what else we can see and what else we can explore.So for me, it's all great fun.
That's why the Wing Family Adventures for me is a more lighthearted, human look at things.And I need that every once in a while.So I'm very happy to read it on Thursdays.And I just hope that this continues for a long, long time.
I'll be happy to buy the books and go on Thursday and get out there and watch it.And I don't know how many you have in mind, but I'll be there for all of it.
Well, I appreciate that.Thank you so much.It's been such a joy to write and I'm having so much fun.
Now, I got to ask, of course, like that people want to follow you online.Are you on social media at all?
I'm not a big social media person.But yeah, you can check out the comic on WEBTOON.Got some more stuff coming out with DCs.Keep an eye out for that.But that's pretty much it for me.
Because it's interesting that it's under the Slice of Life subhead.I find that interesting.Batman, when I call it up, it goes Webtoons, and then Slice of Life, Batman, Wayne Family Adventures.So that's kind of put that where it is.
So I kind of like that.That's a good place.I can use that every once in a while.
Yeah.It's nice to sometimes take a little bit of a break.I know our recent season has been a little more intense than usual.
Sometimes it's nice to be able to step back and say, you know what, I just want something a little bit lighthearted, a little bit fun, something that has a lot of human connection to it, and we're just gonna have a good time.
Do you do any conventions like Comic Cons or things like that?
Yeah, I've been to SDCC a couple times, but yeah, that's pretty much it.
Because San Diego is such a different country.My favorite is New York, because if you want to buy glasses with superhero figures printed on the sides of them, you can find them at New York.And there's all kinds of San Diego.
If you go to San Diego, the whole downtown gets taken over.Yeah, it's incredible.I mean, what's interesting, if you go to New York and you go two blocks from the Javits Center, they don't know the convention's going on at all. It's so very different.
I believe that.That sounds like New York.
So for me, I always enjoy all this.The different kinds of things always entertain me.I always like seeing things in a different thing.So gosh, I hope we get like 500 or 600 episodes of Batman Wayne Family Adventures because it's a lot of fun to read.
And like I said, the human aspects of it are very appealing to me.So CRC, I hope you do this for a long time and we get to enjoy your storytelling for hopefully years to come.
People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy, and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne.As a man, I'm flesh and blood.I can be ignored, I can be destroyed, but as a symbol.Get the latest from the comics universe.
News, interviews, previews, and reviews.Listen to the weekly Wayne's Comics podcast so you can keep reading your comics.
Introducing another Dork Comics debut title, The Boy in the Bot, What is Project Blue?
The first book in an exciting sci-fi trilogy, this 72-page adventure follows a lonely boy who, after experiencing a tragic loss, must navigate the complexities of a hostile grown-up world.
Struggling with isolation and grief, he finds an unexpected ally in a mysterious robotic companion.That's why it's called The Boy in the Bot. And I'm talking right now with the creator, Thomas Marvelli.How you doing, Tom?Hi, Wayne.Nice to meet you.
It's good to talk with you.I've got several questions.I'm so interested in this whole thing.Let's start off with how people access the book right now.Where do people go to get The Boy and the Bot number one?
Sure.So there are two ways, really.You can go through Another Door Comics, which is our hosting website, and it has the pass-through to both Kickstarter and the Indiegogo crowdfunding platforms.
And right now we're hosting both on there, and you can purchase both the soft covers and the hardcover option of the book.And what we did also, and you'll see, is there's six variant covers.We wanted to really celebrate the launch of this program.
We had six really amazing artists do some covers for us. But yeah, on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
OK, so because the original Kickstarter project, it completed back in September, right?
That's correct.Yeah, we were fully funded.I would say I kept it at a very low threshold because, you know, you never know how it's going to perform.And so far, you know, so good.
Like I said, we've started with a lot of friends and family and now we're starting to branch out further.So it is fully funded, but they are still there to be obviously to be backed.
In the process, while that's happening, we're obviously starting the printing process and beginning to print the book.
So we're printing, obviously, over the crowdfunded amount currently in the hopes that other people will want to join the crowdfunding.And then we'll distribute those books as well.
So we are going to hold some stock on all those covers to distribute out.
OK, looks like it concluded on September 29. but you can still late pledge for available rewards.I have never seen this before.So this is great.I mean, I don't understand why every Kickstarter doesn't do this.This is a great idea.
Yeah, absolutely agree.And that's, you know, what helps us is that, you know, as you're building an audience and, you know, some people do like the pre launches, then the launch.But we really started with just going right into the launch.
I had enough, you know, awareness from friends and family, and we just went right into the launch.
And then so this gives us that opportunity to kind of long tail it and have other, you know, hopefully some other future readers get interested in the book and want to pick up a copy.
right and it's on kickstarter as the boy in the bot debut comic book by tom marvelli it's called is it the same on indiegogo it is it's the same exact um offerings on both you know some people have a preference of kickstarter some have indiegogo so we wanted to put it up on both platforms um just for that accessibility yeah some people start on one and then move to the other sure so this is a good way to do this kind of good thing to get gosh i'm
I'm so impressed that you can keep supporting it after the project is done.Wow.The whole Kickstarter should be doing this.So you are a groundbreaker when it comes to these good things.Really good stuff.Yes.All right.
Let me read a little bit more about the book, and then I want to get into some of the characters and the creators and stuff like that.We talked about the fact that there's a young boy, and he finds a mysterious ally.
And it says here, together they embark on an epic journey of self-discovery facing numerous challenges and obstacles that test their courage and resilience.
As they travel through perilous landscapes and encounter intriguing characters, they learn the importance of forging new connections and the transformative power of friendship and host and hope.Sorry.
And it's 48 pages and includes an eight page backup tale written by you and has a wealth of behind the scenes materials and extras. I have to say that I always enjoy this kind of story.
I like the books that deal with like coming of age or growing up type things.It reminds me very much of the other, oh God, the title just escaped me.
They went through all different levels of, the guy who had, he had a wrist that he used to, a wristwatch that he used to slam and it would transform him into an alien.
Ben 10, that's what it was.Yeah, I like that. this in some levels it reminds me of because you have a younger boy how old is the boy?
The boy when we first meet him is 12 years old he's pretty much just starting middle school so and purposely I set that age and that time period in his life because it's exactly to your point it is that transformative time in a boy or a girl's life where they're starting to mature and you know the world around them is starting to change and you know the things that they become aware of
And so we purposely put it in that time frame and that age group because, again, this sort of becomes sort of a metaphor for just the coming of age, if you will.
And obviously, without revealing too much, there'll be obviously some bigger stuff coming with the boy later down the pipeline in book three.
What's the name of the boy, by the way?
His name is Billy Dawson.OK.
And he is the son of An important character, I think, in the first book, that's his father.And I'm always intrigued because comics deal a lot with father-son relationships, which I always enjoy.So who's his father?
So his father is Jack Dawson.And ultimately, when we first meet him, and he's sort of the precipice of what starts this entire storyline, the kickoff of this, the inciting incident, if you will, is that He's a scientist.
He's an engineering scientist who does a lot of R&D research with working in the medical field, and that's where we first meet him is at the Winthrop Corporation where he works at Winthrop Laboratories.
He has a moment of a change of conscience in the sense that He got into the field for medical purposes in helping with amputees, arm replacements, etc.
And ultimately, the company wants to broaden into robotics as a whole and start getting into military contracts, etc.And that's not something that he signed up for.
And he's seeing the corporate greed and the machinations of how the company is starting to behave.And he just doesn't want to be a part of it anymore.
And while that's happening, he also comes to discover that the company itself has been sort of keeping tabs on him, been spying on his computer and looking into trying to get into access his private server at home in hopes of trying to understand what he's been doing in his private time.
So again it becomes a sense of like a cat and mouse if you will of the father trying to stay one step ahead of the company that is now after him to learn the secrets that he's trying to hide to protect himself and his family which is his son billy.
So there's some stuff that he's been working on that the company doesn't necessarily know about.
That is correct.And that is what is called Project Blue, which is the crux of the entire mystery of our story and the storyline all the way through from book one through two and three.
And really what they're trying to understand is what is Project Blue.
And obviously by the time we get to, and I don't wanna ruin the story, but once we get to a certain point, the reveal of what is Project Blue will be there in the form of obviously when the lead bad guys will meet up with the robot, et cetera.
Okay, now. The title, I gotta ask about the title before we get too deep into it because it's called The Boy in the Bot.
That's correct, yes.And we wanted to play with the double meaning of that in a sense that, again, without revealing too much of the future part of the story,
One of the things that the father did, and again you'll see this as you read the story, is the father knew that it was just him and his son.The mom had died giving birth to Billy, and that's obviously part of the back story.
And ultimately what he did was he built, this entire time while Billy was growing up,
Even prior to Billy's birth, he was experimenting in the basement of this makeshift lab that he had at home, and he ultimately built this robot, almost like a bodyguard older brother sibling to Billy.
And ultimately what we had there was that he was in the basement the entire time, tinkering away, building this robot.
And the robot himself is kind of funny, because the way that I wrote the story is that when the dad is sitting there engineering and trying to come up with all these different sort of inventions for himself,
This robot is sort of been his companion as well like again like a father son dynamic even for them and the bot himself they both throughout the nights they would watch like.
Are like sitcoms like you know reruns of sitcoms almost like your nick at night type stuff if you will and so the robot when we meet him he has affinity for sitcoms obviously change some of the names of the sitcoms et cetera but you get the idea you know you'll know what the which ones they were obviously through the through the comparisons that we do.
And so so that's the robot again that's where we get his personality from and ultimately when the bot and the boy first meet that's when we start to build that dynamic obviously he doesn't trust him at first and you know will expand on their relationship further and in part 2 you know book 2 and then ultimately into book 3.
But really, the CEO of the company, what they're after, they believe it to be the bot.
And one of the things that happens, because he's that sibling protector, if you will, almost like your big brother bodyguard, he has the ability to open his chest up.And you'll see that in book one, is that the boy is able to get inside.
There's like a chair, a seat there waiting for him, if you will.And it allows him to ride inside the bot, again, as a bodyguard, almost like a protector, right?
And that's why the reason why I mentioned the other stuff is that with the sitcoms, because again, he's almost like a bad babysitter, if you will, with sitcoms.So when he's out there and he's fighting the bad guys, the boy is inside being protected.
And like, you know, like a bad, you know, babysitter, he puts on the television, like inside the huds that are inside his body.
So the boy is sitting there, you know, being forced to watch the type of television he has no interest in and doesn't know anything about.
And so while the bot is out there battling the bad guys, because obviously he doesn't want to see people getting beat up, if you will.Interesting.Can he control the robot in there, or he's just protected?No, he's basically just being protected.
It's not quite a mech suit, because a mech suit you can control, but it's a sentient robot that basically houses him inside, so when they need to fly to you know, to the safety or to escape a situation.
Basically, that becomes his mode of transportation.And when he is inside there, he can see through the eyes of the bot himself.So if the bot is throwing a punch, if it's on the screen, he would be able to see that punch.
So it's almost like a first-person viewer from within inside the bot itself.And like I said, there's a moment in the book where he purposely turns that off and puts in the signal of watching some sitcoms.
Now, one of the great things about the Kickstarter page is that it has several, well, the covers, the alternate covers, and it also has several of the pages from the first book.
And we discover that the bot actually seems to have a personality that's somewhat similar to the boy.I mean, when the robot steps on him, it looks to be like a transformer.He says, that's the last thing my dad ever gave me.You just destroyed it.
And the robot turns to him and says, oops, did I do that?Sorry. Which sounds like something similar to the age that the boy is.Is he kind of programmed after the boy, without giving stuff too much away? Is that so that he can relate with the robot?
Sure.So like I mentioned with the sitcoms, with the bot having watched the sitcoms, that was sort of his window into the world of humanity, if you will, right?
So his understanding of how humans operate, speak, and sort of their emotional spectrum is all learned through sitcoms, which obviously we know is a hyper-realistic kind of, you know,
Over the top comedy iteration of how humans work in a daily basis so so that's his general understanding that's been his window into our world even though it's a bit of a skewed world because it's a sitcom and so what their relationship is really you know that's why i kept his sort of.
his mind a little bit on the innocent side as well.So yes, he's an older brother, like I mentioned, but you know, mentally he himself is probably like 14, 15 years old, like maybe early high school, if you will.
And so I wanted to keep him very young, but also innocent because of his life experience.
He hasn't experienced anything with humans because he's literally been just sheltered into that, you know, hidden purposefully, so in the dad's basement laboratory.
So the dynamic between the two is really the boy is teaching the bot what it means to be human and the bot is teaching the boy what it means to have courage and sort of go through the other side of the trauma that the boy faces in the early part of the book.
Because at one point in the preview pages, the boy asks the bot, where are you?And the bot responds, family.
Yes, exactly.And the reason for that, like I said, is because the father, you know, obviously gave, you know,
Invented the bot who gave birth to the bot and if you want to call it that in the sense that you know by creating this thing and then obviously the boy himself was obviously a creation of the mom and the dad and you know so that gives us that dynamic of that older brother younger brother and I wanted to purposely hit on that because it really is about that family dynamic again and without ruining the story it's hard to talk about certain around certain things but.
But by the fact that the bot becomes the older protector's sibling, and ultimately the only family he has left in the future part of the story, I wanted to kind of lay that groundwork here so that we pay that off later in book two, et cetera, when they really start to bond and build that relationship.
You're a writer and an artist, is that right?Correct, yeah.So for many years prior to obviously doing my own book, that was how I made a living, was through doing a lot of licensing, creative, etc.for big publishing companies, toy companies, etc.
And I wrote some pitch materials that wound up on Netflix and so on.So I've been around the industry for quite a while, whether it be through consumer products, licensing, entertainment, publishing, et cetera.
And this was, you know, once I got to a certain point, I was like, you know what, I've worked with so many other companies, big brands, and, you know, these large IP houses, etc.And I really wanted to take my passion for storytelling and drawing
and are illustrating and start to tell my own stories and build my own brands, if you will, and my own IP.
And this was a story that I had, you know, for many years, you know, when my own father passed away and that was sort of the press was like, that was sort of the kick, you know, of where this story kind of resonated and started to come from was the idea that, you know, the idea of family and loss and what does that mean?
You know, I mean, without getting too, Set about it's like there was I remember one time.
I was at my daughter's He was who's younger who's at my daughter's ballet recital and I knew that there was this dad who was there to watch his daughter and he had terminal cancer and you know and I and that sort of empathetic sort of you know side which was like You put yourself in that person's shoes and it's like he knew that that was the last you know Time he was ever gonna you know be at his daughter's ballet recital and it's like you start to think about what what is that?
you know, what is that person going through?What are they thinking about?
How is that impacting them, knowing that, you know, they're not going to be there forever, especially, you know, when they know that they're going to be gone before this person becomes an adult.
So those are the things that, you know, I wanted to kind of bring into the story a little bit in terms of the idea of loss, you know, the trauma of loss, the, you know, the sad, you know,
the depression of loss and how people overcome that and sort of finding that inner strength going from, you know, in this particular case, a 12 year old boy where, you know, these are the most influential parts of his life in these years.
And, you know, the only person he's going to have in this in this immediate future is this robot.And it's like, how does that how does that work for him? And how does he deal with all the events that just take place in the early part of the book?
And obviously that is the catalyst.That's the inciting incident that sort of brings the hero out of him, if you will.It's like that call to action for the hero is obviously what happens in that inciting incident in Book 1 or Chapter 1.
So for me, that was that was really the spine of this story.
And then obviously, you know, adding in all that, you know, I really wanted to give it that Jerry Bruckheimer, Tony Scott kind of vibe, like that sense of pacing and urgency and those, those awesome cat and mouse movies that we've seen over the years.
Um, you know, whether it be like those Jason Bourne films or what have you, where it's like, you know, the good guy has something and the bad guy really wants it and he's going after him to get it, you know?
And, um, so that's, that's been the crux of this entire story.And, and as I've continued into, you know, book two and three, it's really making sure that we stay on point about this boy.
And, and that's why when you, you know, obviously you've seen the book and,
some of the pages there it's like when the son gets the really bad news right at the school there's that one scene there and I really wanted to make sure that scene hit home because we had to feel something as a reader emotionally for the boy there because that will propel the narrative the rest of the way in terms of what this boy is feeling and sort of mentally addressing as he goes forward.
And obviously, you know, speaking of the creative team, you know, obviously, yes, you know, I did the writing myself.I've illustrated, you know, the backup story, but obviously you're only as good as the team that's around you.
And I, you know, obviously have a really great. Team around me and the sense of the artists and the illustrators colorists and you know right now we have Rafael Larrero who did the main book is the main the majority of the illustration of the book.
You know he wound up having to leave about he was about maybe almost you know. three quarters of the way done, maybe more.And he wound up going over to work on the Marvel Dazzler comic book.You know, I have Ren Spiller, who's our colorist.
You know, he's worked at Massive Comics and Leo Rodriguez.You know, he's worked at DC Comics.He finished the book.He did the last few pages of the story for us.And he's going to continue on.He's the main artist going into book two and three.
And then I have Daniel Maya, who also has worked at Dark Horse Comics, and he did the prologue of the story.
Because as Wayne, as you saw, and obviously hopefully other people will see if they pick up the book and read it, is we started the book with a prologue, purposely so.
Because I knew that the beginning, the opening of the story itself with when we meet the father at the company, etc, it was going to be a slow burn opening, if you will, with a lot of exposition, etc, to lay the foundation.
Obviously, knowing comic books for as long as I have, I really wanted to get some action up front.
To kind of bring in the audience so one of the narrative tricks that we kind of use here is that we tell a little bit of a portion of the climax of the book up front in the first like five pages.
which is our prologue, and then the rest of the story takes place, you know, a day past, and then ultimately the narrative catches back up to those first four or five pages.
And then there's an overlapping sequence where we see that same scene, but from different points of view.And then obviously the story continues thereafter.
But again, it was really, I wanted to get, you know, engage the audience right away with some really upfront action, just to kind of, you know, catch their eye.
Right, right.Well, I've got so many questions.I'll start off with the one that jumps up to, did you design the bot?
In with Raphael.So what I do is I gave him some of the sketches.I'll take a step back.So the way that I operate or the way that I do the story, because I can draw, what I'll do is I'll plot out the story, the narrative itself.
I'll write down the different story beats on what's going to take place on each page, how many pages are allocated for that scene or that moment. And what I'll do then is I'll go and do the thumbnail sketches myself of the panels on.
So when the artist receives this, the content from me, they're getting the words and they're also getting very rough pictures, you know, to kind of tell the narrative, to give that flow of the story.
And then Raphael, like I said, Leo and Daniel, all three of them did an amazing job taking what I gave them and enhancing it, you know, beyond what obviously what I delivered.But it was really there just to give them that head start.
And then once they have that once we start getting into the actual illustrating of the characters like the robot specifically raphael went and i went back and forth on that character.
Can i give him some early sketches that i had done some other you know thumbnails what have you and then him and i went back and forth to get to the final to the final iteration of the character.
And the same with a lot of the support characters as well.
I'll do the concept illustration of those characters and then I'll give them to Leo or Daniel saying, hey, whether it be an illustration or even I'll find archetypes, if you will, like models or actors or whatever.
It's like, hey, if I was casting this, this is who would be playing this part, if you will, just to get the archetype that we're looking for.
I've got to ask about the design of the robot because It reminds me, and this is going to sound funny, it reminds me a little bit of Garfield the cat.Because Garfield the cat has these expressive eyes.
And the robot has these electronic eyes and based on what's going on, the eyes, at some points it's a circle. Some points, it's a rectangle.So I imagine the eyes are there to give us what the robot is expressing.Is that the case?
Absolutely.And purposely so, we wanted the character to be this big sort of burly character.I didn't want him to look muscular or anything, just like this big walking tank, if you will.
There's a lot of circles, softer shapes, again, because I wanted the character to come off a little bit softer, purposely so.
With that came that helmet and that helmet almost looks almost like a football helmet in a way in a sense that it covers where the mouth area would be.
And because of that we knew that the eyes were going to be really where we were going to be able to get all the expression in so we would go back and forth and playing with that on.
On you know when he's had what does it look like when he's happy or sad and obviously I have the words that will go along with it but the eyes are really.
You know like any any reader and you know child would have you know there is that I contact that that where people can read from and so I want to make sure we've got a really good read on those eyes.
In terms of whether the character was you know whatever the emotion the character was feeling was able to be expressed through those eyes.
So the father programmed the robot, right?
Does, is the personality at all based on the boy or based on maybe the father?Where's the personality coming from?
Sure.So I mean, obviously it's a little bit of a reveal, but yes, it's good, but that's okay.It's, it's, it's ultimately, The little bit of the dad, you know, definitely a lot of the sun, if you will.
And again, it's tough to talk about because there's some big reveals that come in later.We tease some stuff in two and then obviously the big reveal in three.But yes, it's it's a little bit of the dad in his in his youth.
And again, going back to just that innocence of a sheltered character who's never had contact with real humans.So there's a certain innocence that comes with that.
So the character is a little bit taken by surprise when bad people want to come in and do bad things.And ultimately his
Again, his window into that is really through sitcoms and he mentions a certain sitcom, which obviously we kind of fake the name for.
But the idea of, we've seen this in sitcoms before where there's a character, there's a family protecting that character and bad guys want it.
So he sort of sees himself in that guardian role, if you will, when the bad guys are now after the boy to get the father's secrets.
And so obviously that's where the boy comes in and he sees himself as that guardian, that protector that ultimately he was programmed to be.
And he was programmed because the father almost set it up almost like as a fail safe that if something were to ever happen to him or the boy was ever in truly in harm's way, that would then bring the bot online. For most of this boy's life.
It was in the basement almost like on this charging station if you will sitting dormant as like I said a failsafe if something ever happened as a father knew what the things that he was working on and he knew that his son could eventually become in jeopardy because of it and So that's why this this bot is it comes online if you will so When things start to go start to go very bad very quickly for the boy The name of the first chapter is you're my conscience.
Is that, does that refer to the boy?Who's that referring to?
So because of the dad's obviously love for his father, I mean, sorry, for the boy's love for, you know, the dad's love for his son, I should say, you know, he has that moment when he's at the lab and he's on his computer and his concern for his son
The way that he wants his son to view him when he gets older, etc.It was like that was his moment of conscience of change.
Basically, in this way, again, what I wrote into a narrative, he deep sixes, you know, he basically taints the experiment that he's been tasked with by the company.
And he ultimately takes a little bit of those secrets with him along with this Project Blue secret that he had.And he did that all in that moment of conscience.And really in that moment the boy is almost like his conscience.
If I do these very bad things for this company. you know, how will my son view me in the future?Will he see me as a good person or a bad person?And so that's really sort of the dad's thinking in that moment.
So that's why I titled it that for the first chapter.
Because as you saw, the first chapter is very much about the father and, you know, again, setting the stage of the overall story, the narrative, and all the things that happened to him until we finally meet the boy at the very end of chapter one.
Um, so again, it was really, it was his journey through that first part of the book.
Um, and we just wanted to kind of stay with the father for a little bit, um, just to get to know him a little bit, understand his motivations and why the things he was doing, obviously understand what the company was after and why they're after it.
And, um, you know, kind of goes from there.
Okay.Now something I think people should know, I mentioned there are sample pages on the Kickstarter page. But there's also a sampler preview that's available.
There's a link on the Kickstarter page to go to Another Door Comics and you can get a sampler preview of that.
And I think anybody has any questions or interest or wants to get a better idea of what's in the book, I think that's probably a great way to go and get a look at what the book is about and what they're getting into and what their money will go for.
So I think that's a good thing to do it. Now, one other thing I'm really fascinated by are the character profiles.Yes.There's the father and then there's the Malcolm Strom, the guy who's in charge of the company.
And I always like those things because you get to understand the characters a lot.Yes.I always wonder where people draw inspiration from.Dr. Dawson. Is he based on somebody?Is he like a creation of your imagination?Where did he come from?
Purely from imagination.Obviously, like any writer, we kind of pull from the things around us, the people we know, etc.
You know some of it's a little bit of my dad so it's a little bit of other people that i've met my lifetime and just and just kind of pulling in a little bit of that personality into into the character you know and a little bit of myself to it's like what would i do in this situation right what would be my how would i react to this.
So I have a little bit of that in there as well.
And yeah, for me it was about those dossiers and purposely we're starting with some of these characters because I didn't want to first right out of the gate do the boy and the boss dossiers because obviously there's a lot more story to be told still with those characters before we kind of, and their dossiers will be featured obviously in book three when we get to the conclusion of this story.
And so that's where theirs will be.And then, yes, this one had the dad.It had Malcolm, the CEO of Winthrop Labs, because, again, these were the main characters that we kind of are introducing in book one, besides the boy, obviously.
And then, obviously, Toby, which was his assistant.So every book will have a set of dossiers getting into, obviously, to our lead characters.
Now, one of the things I really enjoyed, maybe this is your background showing through, is the development of, the T-shirt and the materials.
You sent the book and even the folder that the book came in had the logo on it and stuff like that, which I thought, I always am impressed when people do that kind of marketing and be able to make those things go and make them sparkle like that.
So I thought that was great.Now, all this stuff is available.If you go on to Kickstarter and you go to Indiegogo, you can get, there's multiple covers, there's the shirts and there's the I think called the merch, other things like that, too.
All kinds of great things like that.Those are all still available if you go to Kickstarter, right?
They're currently on there.What we purposely did, and obviously, depending on interest, people could reach out to us, and we could certainly turn certain things back on.
But what we do is that first month-long incentive with some of those extras being drawn in the book and being part of the story itself through likeness and et cetera.
And so we did that for the month that we turned those off, just again, just to kind of end that portion of the campaign.But if there's enough heavy demand that obviously we have the ability to turn any of those things back on.
As a matter of fact, I actually did that recently.Somebody wanted me to do a custom illustration of the robot for them.So I was able to turn that back on so that they can purchase that reward.
Dream big, work hard, be undeniable, and discover your door. But I always want to know where things come from.Why did you call it another door comics?We're interested where they came from.
Absolutely.And what the reason why it's called that is because obviously, you know, everyone has their their sort of work journey right there, the career, their passions, et cetera.And.
You know, for so many years, I've worked, like I said, I've worked with major publishers, I've worked at major toy companies, you know, part of entertainment, etc.And like I said earlier, like, you know, I hadn't done it for myself.
And, and, you know, as that old saying, when one door closes, another door opens.And one of the things I saw with now that my both my kids are 19, they're twins, and they both went off to college.
And so overnight, you know, empty nester right immediately.
And one of the things I had promised myself was that those empty evenings, those quiet evenings, I was going to go back to do my passion, which was always writing and illustrating out, you know, my own stuff in this particular case.
And so i really i started in that darn that path and i was really getting into it was like this is like the universe tell me yes this is where you what you need to be doing and so this would became another door became another path and you know i firmly believe that like people that.
you know if you're at a job that you're not happy with or or you love the job you have but there's some of the you know some other side hobby that you have that you're passionate about like it's it's finding that drive and that motivation to to go down you know and the courage to go down and open that other door or take that other path
You know, and so many people I've seen, you know, there's a lot of people that are fantastic writers, great illustrators, but there's almost like, you know, the real world gets in the way, fear gets in the way, risk gets in the way.
And, you know, it's really just kind of pushing against all of that and, and trying to succeed, you know, and, and I'm of the mind, like, I, you know, I rather come off the bench, take a shot and, you know, miss the bucket then than never coming off the bench at all.
Right.I always say reality gets in the way of comics.
Absolutely.For sure.And I've been very lucky and fortunate in the career I've had that this felt like the very net.This felt like the next evolution in that amazing career for me.
OK, now. Where are we with the thing?Because the way I understand, according to what the Kickstarter says, the books are going to be out in December, right?
That is correct.So we are at the printer right now.Actually, I got the print proof in last week.I approved that, reviewed that, and now we're printing them.So we're printing X amount of quantities of each of those variant covers.
So we'll have stock, like I mentioned, and then come December, we'll start distributing, we'll start sending them out to those on the crowdfunding that have already purchased it and those that continue to purchase it.
So as soon as we see a new purchase come through, we'll send it out come December.
OK, now what about parts two and three?Are you working on those?Yeah, absolutely.OK, where are you with those, just so we know?
Yeah, absolutely.So right now, book three is almost complete.Again, when we talk about books, chapters, each book, I'll step back.So there'll be three books of the trilogy in total.Each book carries two chapters.
And so obviously book one is chapter one and two, and book two will carry chapters three and four.We are currently almost more than halfway, we're actually three quarters of the way done with chapter three, and we're about to get into chapter four.
And then obviously we'll start chapter book four, sorry, book three as well.So our target right now is to start to solicit book two in December when the book one gets into people's hands, into readers' hands,
Hopefully they'll like it, you know, they'll love the story enough that they'll want to purchase book two.And like I said, we'll have that soliciting in December for most likely a January or more like February delivery date for that book.
And then by mid-year of next year, we'll have book three.So you're looking at almost like late Q1 for book two and probably Q3 for book three.
Is that going to end the story you think as far as what this goes or do you have more? Ideas for the Boy and the Bot for me.
Actually, it's funny you mention that because what we're also doing besides this main title, which obviously we'll announce at a later point, but the title, etc.But there is spinoff titles that we're doing from this story as well.
So for the Boy and the Bot, I purposely wrote it as the six chapters in total.So it does have a beginning, middle, and an end.But obviously, like all comic books, an ending doesn't have to be the ending if there's enough interest.
There's tons of stories still to be told for these characters and you know i was even just writing the stuff you know what the limitation of of the medium in terms of how many pages you have etc like there was so many great.
Part of the story line where i just had to leave on the cutting room floor because i was just just first for time and space constraint on it so. So a lot of stuff we're doing some spinoff titles as well.
So there is one title right now that actually, like I mentioned earlier, Leo Rodriguez is staying on the point of offer book two and three.And Daniel Maya is actually working on the spinoff title right now as well.
And we're following that same format so that two chapters per book and that'll be a separate title.
What we're doing there is essentially some of the secondary characters become main characters in this other story, but you don't need to have read one to understand the other.They are truly self-contained stories.
They just have overlapping elements like characters and environments.
So we're doing that for a spinoff, and then we'll have a couple of one-shots as well where we'll kind of almost like epilogues to the main story of where do the characters end up by the end of book three and what that next part of their life journey is.
Well, I really enjoyed what I got to read of it, and I'm looking forward to the further chapters and further books because I just think this thing really sparkles as far as storytelling goes.And you really get involved with the characters.
It's easy to understand.Even the robot, I think, has an engaging personality and stuff.So I think that there's so much in this book. Boynton How'd the Indiegogo project go?Did that go as well, too?Same.
Both were fully funded.But again, I kept those as very low thresholds, like what their minimums were.Because I knew, obviously, again, you never know what your audience is going to be for a launch project.
And like I said, the challenge that I had on my side, which really is, like I said, I've done a lot of stuff for a lot of major companies in my career. But, you know, people know the work, but they don't know who did the work, right?
They don't know who the name behind it.And so that was sort of the challenge a little bit in the sense that, you know, people know the things that I've done, but my name, there's not a lot of, you know, name recognition associated with that.
Part of that risk is not knowing if there's going to be an audience for the book or not when you launch something.So that's why we purposely kept it very conservative in terms of that threshold for funding.
But ultimately, both funded, both are now, like I said, into that next phase of continuing to fund even though The core funding is over, but you can still purchase the book through those crowdfunding sites, both Indiegogo and Kickstarter.
And like I said, we'll be shipping, we keep an eye on it daily, and we'll be shipping them as soon as, you know, obviously when we have the books in December, if we see people buying the book in December and beyond, we'll ship them out to folks.
Because this is what I consider one of the great all ages books.Yes.Because I don't care what age you are reading this, you're going to get an enjoyment.
If you're an adult, like the age of the father, if you're like the boy, any of those ages and anywhere in between and beyond is going to really enjoy this because it's very smartly done.
And I think this book could go into like bookstores and, you know, if there's some left, like Walmarts and Targets and stuff like that.
Are you planning to make these to go through to like a diamond and the other distribution hubs and stuff like that?Are you going to continue to do them like through your own process?
Sure.So right now, obviously, we're doing the crowdfunding for the launch.We'll crowdfund book two and three. But we are also looking at and talking to and having meetings with different publishers.We're literally just starting that process now.
My ultimate goal would be to have a publisher take those six chapters ultimately and turn those into a monthly book into the direct market.That would be an ultimate goal.
Like I said, we're in the process of early conversations to see if there's a potential reality for that.
And, you know, this as we talked about a little bit about Ben 10 and stuff like that, this could very easily be a I don't know if it's Adult Swim is right for it, but it could be like a it feels like Ben 10 to me.
So it could be on Cartoon Network or other because there are plenty of animation networks now.Max does a lot of animation, stuff like that.This book could easily be turned into a Max animated series or anything like that.
Any desire to go down that route absolutely and we're actually having phone calls actually meetings about that as well because obviously my Past history with being in that space obviously I'm I'm reaching out to you know producer friends of mine in the industry just to gauge interest see you know what from the book like you know what what they think the book you know what how
how successful do they feel it would be in other mediums?Is there an opportunity for those other mediums?And those conversations are happening as well, absolutely.
I think this would shine if it got into an animation, into a show like that.It would catch a lot of people, not only adults like me, but younger viewers and stuff, which is so important.
I think this could really help not only the animation but also the comic industry move forward because we're desperately trying to get new readers and stuff like that to keep the industry moving forward and I think this is one of those books that can help that happen.
I encourage people to support this book because, boy, there's so much good going on in it, and it can do so much for the comics industry that I really encourage people to get out and buy it, because it's great.
Well, thank you.Thank you, Wayne, for all those kind words.Like I said, it's a dream of mine.It was a passion project turned into a dream turned into a reality.
So I'm hoping that the reality widens to the direct market and those other mediums that you talked about, and fingers crossed.
All right, now two questions for you from there.Are you going to conventions, I mean San Diego and New York are done for this year, but are you going to go to like comic cons in the future?
Yes, so that's the goal for next year as well is once we have obviously the books printed and we have something to put in the hands of readers at the conventions, we'll start to look at and evaluate which conventions make sense based off of
you know, our audience level, etc.
So, you know, we may start with some of those indie, you know, those smaller indie, you know, conventions, the comic conventions, and go from there and then see if it needs to, you know, if we can scale up from that.
But we'll probably start smaller and then kind of build up from there.
Okay, that sounds good.Now, you mentioned there are other projects from another door and stuff like that.Are there other projects here or working on that we should be aware of?
Those are the big ones right now.Like I said, it's the Boyinabot has been the main focus.But like I mentioned, we do have a spinoff title.Nothing to announce yet, like I said, as far as title, et cetera.But it's going to be the same thing.
It'll be three books, two chapters per book.And like I said, Daniel right now, he actually sketched out, he thumbnailed out the entire book one.And now he's doubling back and doing all the type pencils and inks on that book right now.
So our goal is to have that sort of leapfrogs as soon as the boy in a bot book three is done will immediately follow that with this this spin off title because again there's certain things that happen to some supporting characters and the boy in a bot that.
you'll see just the remnants of, like, scars on people, little things like that.
Like I said, you don't need to read one to understand the other, but there'll be some overlapping elements or some carry-forward stuff that will impact certain characters that I wouldn't want to reveal too soon to those characters until the climax of Book 3 of The Boy and the Bod is finished.
Okay.Now, You have a website, anotherdoorcomics.com.If people want to follow you on social media or Another Door Comics, how do they do it?
Another Door Comics on Instagram is there.My Facebook page as well, Another Door Comics.You can find me through it.And then the website itself, anotherdoorcomics.com. And we also have merchandise on Threadless as well.So that's another of our comics.
I think it's .threadless.com.And on there is a bunch of different types of t-shirts, hats, mugs, et cetera.So again, just to kind of support the fandom, if you will.
Well, the next time that you get back into crowdfunding and stuff, we'll have to talk again about the second book, because I just want to get the word out about this kind of book, because it really does, I think, help us
move forward, and it's good storytelling with great characters, and I just want to see more of this kind of thing going.So congratulations on hitting the ground running and making this really great, and I'm looking forward to book two already.
So keep up the wonderful work.
Well, thank you.Thank you again for having me and giving me this audience to share my passion with for The Boy and the Bot.
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