Chris Osborne: I'm Stephen Jondrew from Better Podcasting, a podcast about podcasting, part of the Gunna Geek Network. Just like the show you're checking out now, shows on the network are individually owned, and opinions expressed may not reflect others find fantastic geeky shows@gunageeknetwork.com. and welcome to Play comics, where once again we are here talking to a creator about the cool thing that they're making this time. I'm here with Cory Bird taking a look at a special edition of his comic tooth and nail. Corey, how are you today?
Cory Byrd: I'm good, and thanks for having me here.
Chris Osborne: I'm so excited to get to talk to you about this one because I've been grabbing tooth and nail as it's been coming out. But now for anybody who's missed it or for anybody like me who just likes it and wants to have only one book to bring into the bathroom with them instead of five smaller books, we can get that.
Cory Byrd: Yeah, I mean, this is going to be, it's a big project for me, you know, because I'm going back and I'm cleaning up and fixing things and remastering things to kind of keep it consistent all the way out because I didn't have the tools in the beginning when I first started doing tooth and nail that I have now, such as procreate, I may be able to clean up things and add effect new brushes and stuff that I was able to get on there. So going back now, I get to see a lot of the mistakes that I made and I'm able to go back and clean stuff up and add stuff in. So it's really exciting. It's a lot of work, but, you know, I look forward to getting it out there.
Chris Osborne: For anybody who doesn't know, what is your elevator pitch for tooth and nail?
Cory Byrd: Well, tooth and nails, the action adventure story regarding four cats for Neko who are protecting their village from the rat o which are much rat who are trying to take over and, you know, kind of destroy them and take over everything. But there's more things underneath that's going on that you find out about as you continue to read and you find out there is a rogue Neko that is actually teaming up with the rat down. The Neko and the four Neko warriors that are being trained now who actually in this are complete the training and everything. But certain things come about that force them to kind of up their game and prepare for a big battle that's coming.
Chris Osborne: Anybody who has even half a second of anime or manga exposure in front of them can tell that this is very heavily manga and anime inspired. But what specific pieces was it that were inspiration behind the looks and the story of tooth and nail?
Cory Byrd: I'm a big ninja Turtles fan, so that's one of the first things that I really pull from. They don't really. I mean, they're four cats. They have distinct personalities and everything. They aren't like teenagers and goofy or anything like that. I mean, some things can be goofy here and there, but it's more of a straightforward story and more of a ongoing series. So, like, if you like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, if you like Naruto, I pulled a lot Naruto because I'm a big Naruto fan, and Rurouni Kenshin because those are very, like, japanese oriented and have a lot of know, the heavy action and, you know, tongue in cheek humor and stuff like that that I kind of pull from those series?
Chris Osborne: One thing that really excites me about this is kind of what you've touched on before going back and being able to clean things up. So how long have you been working on tooth and nail?
Cory Byrd: Tooth and nail has been. I've been working on it for about three years now, and it's been. It's been great. I mean, I've been going to conventions. I've been doing other side projects through Bird's eye view. And then I also did a side story of one of the characters, actually, the rogue net coat I mentioned named Oni, which is sort of a prequel story. So I've been doing a lot of things in between the two nails stuff.
Chris Osborne: And Bird's eye view is your own publishing imprint name, right?
Cory Byrd: Yeah. Yep, there is.
Chris Osborne: I can't imagine where Cory Bird would get a name like Bird's Eye view.
Cory Byrd: The funny part is, it actually kind of comes from my late father. He started, like, a t shirt company a little while. He didn't really get off the ground, but he used the words bird's eye view. And so it's kind of a homage to him for, you know, what he had done my life and everything. And, of course, it kind of just works into the motif of comic book on drawings, stuff like that, because of the style of, you know, the technique of birds I drawing. And, you know, my last name is spelled b y r d, but it's pronounced b I r d. So it's a name that has always been, you know, kind of a joke here and there and everything. I've kind of used it so many way different ways, so I figured, hey, why not make it birds eye view. At first I wanted to make it blackbird, but I was like, nah, go with the bird's eye view. I think that sounds a little bit more appropriate.
Chris Osborne: I can't remember which issue it is now, but I know I remember seeing, like, thanks to your dad in one of them as I was looking through stuff again today at lunch.
Cory Byrd: Yeah. The first one was the dedication that I gave to my dad. Unfortunately, he did not get to see him get off the ground. He actually. The first, I believe the next year after he passed is when I first published the first issue, I believe. So I might get my time off, but he didn't get the chance.
Chris Osborne: I know that time doesn't mean anything, especially over the past few years.
Cory Byrd: Yeah, I know, I know. Especially after Covid interview, what year it is anymore.
Chris Osborne: So normally, I'm kind of most interested in which character you've made yourself kind of follow in here. But are there any characters in this one that are following your dad and being him?
Cory Byrd: No. Really? I didn't take too much from actual people in my life, actually. The four cats are actually taken from real life cats. When I first met my wife, her mother had four cats, and they're actually named after the cats that's in the story is actually named after those four cats. I actually changed Onyx's name from Buddy Onyx because that just would have sound goofy compared to Jade, Sapphire, and Destiny, but they all four cats named after them. And then the other cats in the story, there's the big cat named Max was a cat that we used to have. Dandy was actually dandelion, a cat that we had as well. And then as the story progresses, you'll see other cats pop up and everything, because we're always getting new cats in our home and everything. And Oni is actually based on my friend's cat. They had two cats as well, and one of them is only. They still have all cats, actually. And when I saw his, like, this way he looks, he's, like, real puffy and furry and orange. That's what made me want to put pony into the story, because the more cats I get, you know, in real life, the more I can actually put in the story. But there's other cats that will come along that actually have now that I plan to pull into. So I didn't really pull from real human beings. It was more pulling from actual cats in my life.
Chris Osborne: As you've written this kind of. With those cats in mind, like, do you think this is how they would actually be acting if it was them in this situation.
Cory Byrd: I don't know. I mean, cats are sometimes unpredictable. You know, they, they change after the years and, and everything. So, um, I think I kind of, I kind of went off the tropes of different characters, either anime tropes or, you know, just character tropes. General, where you had the leader cat, you had a, you know, sometimes a goofier character, a real serious character, a character that's kind of like in the middle of being serious but can have a little fun. So when it came to personalities, I think I was just kind of like going through the tropes of different characters that I have studied through the years with Naruto, Ninja turtles, and other stuff that I enjoy.
Chris Osborne: Before you started doing the art for this one and everything, how much of the story did you have written, even if it was just in your head?
Cory Byrd: Um, I actually don't write scripts for tooth and nail. I actually draw out everything first since everything is in my head already and I'm the artist, I'm the creator, I'm the, you know, writer. You know, whether I write a script or not, I'm writing a script in my head. I don't really write anything out. I just go right to the page or thumbnail sketches from what I know what's going to happen. And then when I go back in, do the lettering, I already know what's going on. So I just come up. I know the voices of the characters, I know what they're going to say. I know the scenario that's happening at that moment, so I know what to have them say. So, yeah, I actually don't have any.
Chris Osborne: Scripts written that lack of a script. Is that more annoying for writer Corey or artist Corey?
Cory Byrd: Actually, it's not annoying for me at all, especially when it comes to stuff I self create. I really don't like working on scripts. I work off a script if I have to, if I'm working with other creators and stuff like that. But since I already know everything that's going to happen in tooth and nail, I really don't need a script. I feel like I don't need it. Maybe I'll do like a plot summary or something like that before so I can know where it's going. But already, as we're talking, I'm already thinking I already know way ahead of where I'm going now. Certain things might change as I go along with it, but I try to keep it consistent as possible. I go back to other issues if it's something I forgot and say, okay, I got to make sure I fill in that pot. Make sure I fill in this pot based on my own knowledge of the story, everything. So I don't really get annoyed with my own way of doing it, actually. I feel a lot free. And it's funny that I actually came up with this idea from Ao Miyazaki. I butchered his name, who has studio Ghibli, and when he did spirited away, I read, like, something that his technique of doing that, he didn't write a script for it. He actually just went in and started doing storyboarding. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, I could do that. So that's kind of like, that made me feel a little bit less strained to a script and more of a know, visual storyteller, because as comic book artists, we are visual storytellers. We see it visually before we see any. And so that's why I wanted to do tooth and nail this way, because it was going to be a lot easier for me to flow. And when I did that, you know, because at first I tried to do scripts, and it was just, I was stumbling over it. When I stopped doing scripts, I flowed like it was nobody's, like nobody's business.
Chris Osborne: Especially over the past year for me, I've finally had it pounded into my head that there isn't really a right way to get the story made as long as it actually gets made. And just hearing people's different ways of how they're doing that has been really good for me.
Cory Byrd: Yeah, I mean, it's, everybody has a different technique. Everybody has a different way of conveying the stories they want to do, whether it be movie directors or writers or creators and stuff like that, you know? And you don't have to be stuck to one way of doing things. Do it, whatever makes you comfortable. And like you said, it's the best way to get things to get the story told, as long as it gets old.
Chris Osborne: And so we have the Kickstarter here. And honestly, most of the time, I'm having to ask people, okay, you know, you have your collected edition. Why would I buy this when I have everything else? But you said it right up front. You're going back and fixing things up and stuff. Like, how much work do you expect that to be? Slash? How much work has it been already to do that?
Cory Byrd: Well, since it's a page by page remaster, it depends. Like earlier issues, definitely a lot more fixing up that I had to do. So especially issue one. Issue two. Yeah, issue two, I had to do some pretty much fixing up things, the farther I get into the issues, like right now, I'm finishing up issues five. It's not as much. There are some things that I changed, some things that I picked, some things I added, but a lot of times I was able to just say, oh, this is pretty good, this is clean. All I do is transfer it over to the new document, and then after this issue six, I think it probably won't have to be hardly touched at all, because that's the latest issue I did. I kind of looked over it and I was like, oh, this actually looks really good. I might add a little bit more details, everything. And I actually took in a lot of advice from other people who have read it, people who did read it. I think I went around and I asked different people, including you, what did you like best? What did you like least? What things do you think I should change? And stuff like that. So I took all of that in consideration when I went back and fixed a lot of things up. So, yeah, I mean, it's been a lot of work, but it's been very fulfilling because I get, you know, I sometimes look at myself, I'm like, why did I release like this? Because it was things I didn't know. It was a lot of things I just did not notice. I'm like, oh, my gosh, put this out like this. You know, a lot of people might not have noticed. So it was kind of good to go back and fix all that stuff up, because a lot of people don't like doing it. They don't like to go back to their old work, rework things. I'd rather just move on, but I really wanted to put this out, and I wanted to put it out, feel a little bit more pressure. Even though it's the same story, it is mostly all the same art, but it's a different. It's almost like when George Lucas went back and remastered, you know, a lot of Star wars stuff, a lot of stuff people didn't like. A lot of stuff makes a lot of sense. So that's kind of how I look at it, is that I'm going back, just making it the way I would like it to be to it, to the point that I can make it without completely redrawing.
Chris Osborne: I'm definitely not asking for specifics here, but what are some examples of the types of things that you're going back and changing?
Cory Byrd: I would probably say, like, some of the art was a little off in some spaces. I would probably say, like, specifically, there was a scene where Onyx is swinging his chain around. And now that I have the access to new brushes in procreate, there actually is a chain brush in the program, and I literally hate drawing chain. It's almost like I want to change his whole weapon, you know, and everything, because he uses a coin chain as a weapon, and he's swinging a chain around. It was just not drawn well because I just didn't, I didn't like it. I didn't like having to do it. And so when I went back in, I pretty much erased almost the entire panel except for onyx himself. But the chain areas, the way it looked. One, I deleted. Like, I erased all of that and pretty much redrew paintbrush, that whole thing, it made it look a hundred times cleaner. Um, and not as much, you know, because I tried to do a little background in it while I was going on. It just looked messy. So now it's a lot cleaner. And, um, I also have brushes or actually manga or comic book type speed lines and stuff like that. Before, I was drawing in the speed lines, which I absolutely hated. And, um, you know, some spaces, they look kind of messy. Some places they looked okay. The ones that was messy, I would go in and erase all that, start using the actual brush that I downloaded on procreate to make it look a thousand times clean. So those are the biggest changes that I really made. And adding shadows and adding little details, and that's about it. I mean, those were big things, but there are things I felt that was necessary and made the look a lot better.
Chris Osborne: If you hate drawing chains so much, why'd you give him a chain weapon?
Cory Byrd: I knew that question was covered. You know what? I asked my question. I asked myself that every single day because I was, I was going with the, you know, ninja turtle aspect that everybody has a different type of weapon, and I didn't want to completely, like, do a staff or, you know, just like, you know, I already have a character who uses a sword. You have one character that uses two sword, two short swords, and then destiny doesn't use anything at all except for his power that he has within him. And then Onyx had to have something that kind of, you know, matches with his character. What? Like, he doesn't like to be up close in battle. He likes to be far away. So the chain is a way for him to attack from a distance. And so that was, like, the best weapon I could think of. I mean, he could have used, you know, a giant star like Sakura. I mean, not Sakura Sasuke used in Naruto. But I was like, well, that's too much. So I came up with the crew of gas em up, which is sick on chain, and I'm like, now that I have the chain brush, it makes it a lot easier for me to actually do.
Chris Osborne: Now I found the panel, and it won't. Okay, there we go. I finally did it. My scroll wheel was like, here, I'm gonna show it to you.
Cory Byrd: You mean the onyx one?
Chris Osborne: No, the chain. Probably what I'm assuming is your chain one. But the way I was scrolling around it, it was like, it was scrolling a step behind me, and it took me a little bit to realize it.
Cory Byrd: Oh, you'll definitely notice the difference.
Chris Osborne: That's one thing I'm really excited about, though, is finding the differences in there, because, like, I mean, like I said before, when you get these collected editions, a lot of times it's like, okay, I just really like the people working on it, so I'm going to support them because I want them to keep making stuff, or I missed an issue somewhere, and it's easier for me to get that than it is to get the single issue, or there's a really cool add on tier thing that I want to get. So I'm really getting the add on, but I'm doing it via getting the collected edition. This is the first thing that I personally have backed that, like, you're going back and redoing stuff and just being able to see the progress in there is something that I'm really excited about, because seeing your work here, seeing what you've done with Patrick over at Legacy Comics, like, you make good stuff.
Cory Byrd: Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. And it's just a whole creative journey for me, and being able to collaborate with so many other, so many people and really grow as a, as a creator and, you know, just connect it with so many different people and getting feedback from other people to help me, you know, get better in what I do. And I think that those who actually purchased the original six books, they'll be able to go back and look at those things, look at the stuff that I changed, and then I'll also have new artwork that'll be in this book that'll, like, begin each chapter. It'll have a different artwork that nobody's seen before. I'll have pin up art from guest artists and everything. So, yeah, it's definitely not, not just, you know, a transfer one thing to another. It's more of, I'm literally going to make this a little bit better than it was before.
Chris Osborne: One thing I couldn't help but notice as I look through here, and this is nothing against you at all, I swear. But the original play comics logo used a font that I then decided was being used everywhere, so I switched it. And you are using the I think it's bada boom font that I switched to. It's such a great font, though, isn't it?
Cory Byrd: Oh, for.
Chris Osborne: For a lot of the.
Cory Byrd: Yeah, it is, but which. Which part? Which one? Um. Oh, okay. Like, I know you mentioned that before. I know. The Ravens macabre. I think we. Yeah, go ahead.
Chris Osborne: Yeah. Because what I'm looking at right now, it's the foom right over one of the rados heads and the thumps.
Cory Byrd: Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I did use that one in comic drop.
Chris Osborne: You have a bunch of different font choices in here for things. And how much fun was that, finding the right font for the right situation?
Cory Byrd: That is always fun, because, you know what? Lettering is part of the creative process. You know, a lot of people might just see this, just putting words on the inner. No, no. It's a form within itself. Make the art. It's like the dressing on top. You know, it's a lot of fun because, actually, that's easy compared to everything else, because I could just go in and I know, like, what's going on page? And I'm like, oh, okay. This would make it fun. And I've lettered. I actually lettered one of the stories in the second Ravens macabre book, the first story in that called cell Block 666. And I did the lettering for that, and that was a lot of fun because I was able to kind of play around what was going on page. And, you know, even though I didn't write it, I didn't draw it or anything like that, I was able to kind of, like, put my own lettering chops to another, something that I'd never even touched before. When it comes to doing the word bubble stuff, though, that can be a little tricky, because if the writer is putting a lot of dialogue on the page, trying to, like, dance around that without covering up the artwork can be really tricky. Most of the time, if I talk to the writer, I'll say, tone it down a little bit with the dialogue, you know, because unless you give me the space, unless the artist gives me enough space to be able to pull a lot of dialogue, that's fine. But if you have little panels and you're trying to say a lot in those little panels, it makes it almost a nightmare for the letter. So it's like, you have to really keep those types of things in mind. So it's. It's an art within an art within art. So it's different levels of art.
Chris Osborne: Another thing that really can be an art that people don't really think about is putting together the Kickstarter campaign. And this one being your first Kickstarter campaign is on the simpler side, which is fine. You know, you gotta find something that you can keep up with.
Cory Byrd: Right.
Chris Osborne: What was it that went through your mind as you were setting up what to have on the campaign?
Cory Byrd: I had no idea, to be honest. I did go to Patrick for ask for ideas. I just. I didn't know. I didn't really know what to do, so I kind of just went along what they asked for on the Kickstarter campaign, like artwork and everything. I didn't really know what to do with the different tiers until I really thought about it. So the good thing is, is that you can always go back and change stuff up and add different tiers. You got to start adding stuff before people started making. And I was able to get, I think, four in there. Yeah, I think four. I got in there and, you know, just making sure that I give good rewards. I didn't know exactly how the rewards thing worked because, you know, you helped me out with that one, and then I know I had to do a video, so I had to get my daughter, who's really good at tacking, editing, you know, a decent video and everything. And, you know, we got together and I gave it a. Pretty much directed her how I wanted to be. And, you know, we made it come together and we put it up there. It took a couple days for that one to get up there, but I wanted to get at least the Kickstarter started before I actually put any other videos or updates. Right. So, yeah, it was tricky.
Chris Osborne: But you also have a smaller goal than what I've been seeing lately. Although lately what I've been seeing has been people putting together anthology, so they're also having to pay, like, 20 people just for art and writing. That being said, you've hit your goal pretty easily. So how excited are you for that?
Cory Byrd: I'm super excited. I mean, I'm really happy that people came along and really supported us because, you know, it's not easy to be an independent person and get my work out there and get people to see. I still struggle with my sales online. I do really well at conventions. I think that's because people get to see person. They get to see the art in person, even though I have tons of art on the website and everything. I don't get a lot of movement there. I probably should do a little bit better with advertising more, but I really advertise the Kickstarter a lot. Like every single day, I was putting up something to kind of push that goal and it reached it. And I thank everybody, really thank everybody for that because that means a lot to me. And that means that you believe in what I'm doing. And I think part of it is also is that they've seen my work, they've seen what I can do, that I am a doer, you know, and I want to make sure that people know that, you know, I'm not just trying to, you know, just be show out or something like that, that I'm like, oh, I got this and this and that, but I don't come through with it. No, I get things done, and a lot of people knew that I got all this stuff done. So I think part of it was that people were excited of what I was doing, remastering things. I show videos of artwork that I'm remastering. I show people that I'm actually really remastering things. So I think people are excited about that and it pushing it every day. I think people who saw that was doing it wanted to be part of that excitement and having those different tiers, having original artwork, having, you know, the last tier, you get the, you know, extra issue of Oni along with it, which is a good companion piece for the nail series. So it's, it was, it was scary at first, to be honest, it was very scary. But as I kept progressing and as I kept getting feedback from friends and everything about what I should do and how I should do it, it gave me more confidence, push forward, and we met our goal and now we're just, you know, asking for more support if you can, you know, to help keep pushing for, for future projects and everything, you know, that's what we are all about, you know, just continue to bring out content as much as possible, and this is definitely going to help us. So thank you so much.
Chris Osborne: I have to ask, since this is the manga edition, how weird is it going to be for you reading it from left to right?
Cory Byrd: That's not how it's going to be. Unfortunately, it will not be from. It will not be done that way. I can't do it that way. But it's called a manga edition because it will be in manga, the smaller book format it will read, not normal, I mean, the english way of reading it. So the reason why it's called manga edition is because I really amped up a lot of the artwork to be more manga. And I actually, you know, going to print it out in like the size of a manga. So it'll be like something like lone Wolf and cub and Blade of the immortal. Those read like the english way of reading it, but it's still considered a manga. So it's a manga omnibus type format.
Chris Osborne: As we're recording this, we're about a quarter of the way through your campaign, and you have it set as a 60 day campaign, so it'll be ending on June 27. Do you have any ideas or plans to add any stretch goals along the way?
Cory Byrd: Not as of yet. I am trying to figure out what stretch goals would be at this point. I really haven't figured it out, so it's kind of up in the air. I have been talking to Patrick, who has been kind of like my oracle to help with these type of things. I'm so new at it. But, you know, the stretch goals will be definitely something I'm going to be considering pushing forward until the campaign.
Chris Osborne: Well, I can't wait to get my hands on this. I know my wife has been wanting to read it, although that's really just her having too many things to read. Problem on why she hasn't, but she's heard about it from me, so she almost might as well have read it already.
Cory Byrd: I know that and I thank you for that.
Chris Osborne: But if people want to hear more from you or keep up with you during this campaign, where else can they find you? Around the Internet?
Cory Byrd: I'm definitely on Facebook all the time, so I'm under my own name, Cory Andre Byrd, or under birds eye view comics tooth and nail comic, birds Eye view official, which is my instagram. Those are my biggest places I'm at. I do do TikTok videos as well, which shows a lot of the artwork that I'm working on. And then I have same videos that I put on TikTok and everywhere else I put also on YouTube. So those pretty much are all the places you can. And also you can email me@birdseyeviewcomicsmail.com. and also the website, birdseyeviewcomics.com.
Chris Osborne: And as always, we'll have links to all that down in the show notes because clicking links is so much easier than trying to remember how to spell things.
Cory Byrd: Yeah, that's true.
Chris Osborne: I almost forgot. If you could, without any fear of the copyright police, put one muppet into the nail. Which Muppet would it be?
Cory Byrd: Rope. I would probably put rope in there, play some piano in the background doing an action.
Chris Osborne: I don't know where I was expecting you to go with your answer, but it was definitely not there.
Cory Byrd: Yeah, I like Rolf a lot. I'm more of a Fozzie person, but roll from definitely fit in one of the cantinas that they might end up in.
Chris Osborne: Well, for anybody who's not convinced to get tooth and nail, I mean, there's your reason right there. You know, you have your little bit of craziness that pops up, but then make sense once you let it sit there for a few seconds.
Cory Byrd: Yeah. Try to make it make sense.
Chris Osborne: The stories, well, you know, in the sense of, like, what the heck just happened in a good way. Oh, yeah.
Cory Byrd: Oh, my gosh. It's wrong. Oh, man, that would be great.
Chris Osborne: As always, if you want to hear more from me, the best place to do that is to head on over to playcomics.com, where there's links to all the social media things, including Twitter, which is where I'm most active, even though it's kind of a dumpster fire inside of a grease fire. If you want to help support the show, then the best thing to do is to share it with friends, share it with colleagues, share it with random people on the streets, share it with your enemies. I don't care. Leave a review on podcasts or Apple Podcasts, someplace like that. Show me that you did it, and I will send you something, because I think that's cool. Or you can be like, oh, no, lit class Dan McMahon and Karl Antonovic and gives the show money. You know, making podcasts does cost money, but I'm doing this anyway. So if you want to help offset those costs a little bit, that's always appreciated as well. Don't forget that play Comics is a part of the Gunageek.com network, home to such other wonderful shows as Legends of S h I E l D, where Lauren, Michelle, and I are continuing to take a look at evolution. We're in season two right now. I have no idea what's going on because I've never seen it before, and this has been a really fun way to go through the series for me. If you like the music that I'm rudely talking on top of right now, head on over to Soundcloud.com bestday to check out Bestday's music. Most of all, just grab a game, grab a sack of comics, and go find yourself a new favorite character. What is it?
Cory Byrd: Right? It was my first time, so I really. Oh, go ahead.
Chris Osborne: I think you were starting to answer my question anyway.
Cory Byrd: Oh, go ahead and ask.