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And welcome to Play comics, where once again we are here talking to a creator about their cool stuff. This time it is full on Spooky season. And yes, even though I a lot of times forget how to tell time, I do know that it's not October right now, but we're going to call it spooky season anyway because I am here talking to Will Robson about the wonderful second issue of outbreaks. Will, how are you today?
I'm great in my house. It's spooky season all year round, baby, so you don't have to worry about what time of year it is. It's always, I'm always down to clown for some spookiness, that's for sure.
Is that why you're putting out this zombie themed thing now?
I'm putting it out now just because I wanted to try and release as many episodes as possible. Episodes, issues as possible in a year. I mean, if I only released them in October, it would be a lot of pandemonium to try and get them just out for then. But I think people are okay. I think people ingest horror content all year round, right? I mean, well, at least the fans of the genre do, that's for sure.
Well, for anybody who doesn't know, can you give us a bit of an elevator pitch for outbreaks?
Absolutely. So outbreaks is my passion project. My day job is drawing for Marvel and DC. I've been doing that for nearly a decade now. So superheroes is my day job, but by night I'm working on my passion project, which is outbreaks because I'm a huge zombie nut. I have been ever since I was a wee little kid and I saw the music video for thriller, and when everyone else was enjoying the zombies dancing, I was pooping my pants because I found it really scary. And I've been obsessed with zombies ever since. Huge Romero fan. And I just think there's more zombie content that can be made that's not just your stereotypical people surviving in the zombie apocalypse. I think that the genre can expand more into different and interesting ideas. So that was kind of my goal with outbreaks. So it's kind of like the show Black Mirror, where it's an anthology, but where black Mirror always revolves around different characters and different stories with each episode, but they all have to do with technology. Mine's the same thing, but it's always having to do with zombies. And it's not just your stereotypical, always, like, brains walking towards you zombies. We're gonna have a courtroom drama. That's a zombie courtroom drama. We've got a zombie superhero story, we've got a dark comedy. And like, basically, this is my baby. I'm planning to make this to at least 50 issues. That's like, my goal is. So you're going to hear me talking about outbreaks hopefully for the next two or three decades, because I just want to keep making it because I just love zombies so much.
Do you think that anthology format really helps with getting to 50 issues?
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, look, if I was just doing a zombie survival story, sure, I can go to 50 issues, but that's been done. That's the walking dead, you know, and it was one of the greatest zombie stories ever told. My goal is just not to make the zombie story that never ends because we've seen that. My goal is to just make the zombie comic that never ends, basically, where it's just all different stories. And the thing is, it's not just like mini stories inside one issue. What I'm doing is I'm telling larger zombie stories over multiple issues depending on what the story is. So the first arc in outbreaks is called rotten luck, and it's about two guys locked in the drunk tank at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, and they got to figure out how to break out of jail or be left for dead. And that is a three issue arc. So we're wrapping that story up on our next issue, and then I don't know what I'm going to do next, but I've got 2050 ideas ready to go. It's all just about deciding what fits the vibe. Who am I going to get to do the special cover for the book, and what do I think the demand would sort of be for what people might find interesting next?
How long have you been thinking about doing this before you actually started putting it together?
Long time. So I've always wanted to write, you know, even though I am mostly known as being an artist. I loved comics as a kid, and then as a teenager I got into film heavily and I wanted to be a writer director. That was my big dream. Like, I want to be the next Quinn Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez. That's what I want to do. And then when I went to film school, I found, man, making movies is so expensive. Like, there's no way I'm gonna be able to create, like, some of the ideas I want to without finding people to get a budget to put something together. And I was. It was just like, my brain was like, how did people even find hundreds of thousands of dollars that people are willing to put up to make a movie? Like, that's. That. It would just seemed like an impossible task to me. But at the same time, I was still in love with comics and the genre. I was like, I can just tell the stories I want to tell in my other favorite medium. So after I graduated film school, I knuckled down and I was like, I'm going to break in the complex tree, and I'm going to be a writer and an artist. But I focused more on the art side, and I did break in, which is amazing. And look, I love drawing Batman, Spider man, everyone's favorite superheroes. Great freaking job, right? Like, I love it, but this. But as I was going, I was like, I'm missing the writing side. Like, I love full on being in control of my creation. So it was around 2016 that I was, I said to myself, okay, well, I'm gonna. I'm gonna put this zombie book together, and I'm gonna hire an artist to draw the main story because I just don't have enough time since I'm working at Marvel, and I'm just gonna put it together with my own money. And that's how I started doing it. First, I paid out of my pocket for Monica to draw it. She did an incredible job with rotten luck. And then the pandemic hit, and I kind of didn't have the finances to support my book anymore. So I started looking towards Kickstarter. And I've been friends with the comics drive people for a long time. You guys don't know. They're a great independent comic book publisher. And what Tyler, who's the publisher there, is really good at is. He runs another podcast called the Comics launch podcast. Great podcast for anybody out there that's looking to make a Kickstarter book filled with great knowledge and how you should set up a Kickstarter campaign and all this other stuff. And I was super inspired by that. So I just went, you know what? It's time. I need to gamble on myself because, you know, the comic book world is not giving me the opportunity to write because I haven't shown them that I can write yet. So that's why I went, okay, we're going to go full out without breaks. And yeah, last year we launched the first issue in March, and that got over funded, which was great. And thank God it did, because I did not budget it correctly. So I'm so happy it got over funded, otherwise I never would have been able to post all of those out. And then issue two, we launched in September and had Alex Cormack on the COVID who's just an amazing horror artist, and that got super overfunded. And here's the thing, like, I'm not going, yay, money in my pocket, moving on. Nope. All the money that I put into outbreaks, whatever money it makes, I put it right back into the product. And that's why I hired the co creator of the Walking Dead, Tony Moore, to be the COVID artist for issue three. And that's going to be the main cover for the campaign that we have going on April 15 to May 15. And it's amazing. Like, if you told my 14 year old self who was reading the Walking Dead back in 2004, by the way, this guy who's drawing this book is going to, like, draw one of your creations one day, it would have blown my mind. And that's, like, why I'm doing it. It's just there's nothing like seeing, like, your influences and heroes working on something that you created. I can't describe the feeling. It's just, like, the best. It's the best feeling in the world.
How did you get together with all the people working on this with you?
Well, with Monica, I found her when I decided, I'm going to make my own book. I looked towards Kickstarter, actually, and I was just browsing other people's Kickstarters, and I came across a work, so I contacted her and I got her on the book. The colorist for the book, Cyril Vincent, is a collaborator that I've worked with for ten or 15 years. Even before I broke in, we were doing stuff together. He's this amazing french colorist that I randomly met on a Facebook comic book coloring group back in 2008 or something like that. And I've been working with him ever since. He's worked on the assassin Creed franchise and stuff like that, and he's just brilliant. And then Alex Cormack I've known for a long time, so I got him for the COVID The first cover was done by David Hartman, who I reached out to, and if you don't know who that is, wow, he's like, he used to direct the Jackie Chan adventures cartoon, and he's worked in Transformers. And, yeah, I think he's like Emmy, not like winning. Like, he's just amazing. So the best thing is just, you know, you reach out, you contact these people on their social media and you never know who might work with you. So that's how I did it.
And from the sounds of it, you've got an amazing team with this. I've seen Alex's work on the devil that wears my face mostly. And that in itself is. I mean, that's just super creepy in all the right ways.
Yeah. Yeah. I think he's the best working horror artist today, especially of my generation. I love his work to bits. And I colored the COVID that we did together for outbreaks issue two because I just, I just wanted to make it look as good as possible even though like his ink washes were incredible. But we want to work together more in the future. I know he's going to do some outbreaks interiors in the future and we've got a couple of the horror books that we've been cooking and pitching around at different companies because I just think he's got it right. I just think he is the best horror artist. And I write a lot of horror pictures and books and I just want to work with him. So that's what I'm going to keep trying to do.
When you have an ongoing anthology thing like this, do you really worry about how many issues the story arcs are and trying to line things up, or do you just kind of say, okay, this story is going to take two and this other one's going to take three and they'll just be in whatever issues together that they happen to be in?
No, I do have to think about it practically. That's why the first arc I made three issues I wanted. I didn't want it just to be a one off issue to begin with because people might just pick it up and then never come back. But I didn't want it to be too long that people thought they had to invest a lot into it. So I figured, you know, movies are written in a three act structure. I'll just write a three act structure and release it in three issues. So that was my plan with rotten luck where the backup story dead I dick is really fun because I'm only making like seven pages of every issue and I have no idea where that story is going. I know the premise, I know the rough idea, but it's just pure creativity for let's see what happens next. I don't know what's gonna happen next as much as the audience. So that's what makes it really fun. And that's just. That's a. That's done on purpose. That's a practice in creative writing, and I'm always trying to build suspense with that. And. And it's kind of an homage to Frank Miller, the way he wrote Sin City and my love for noir. And it's kind of an ode to, like, daredevil in a way, because it's a superhero zombie story. So it's going to be really interesting. But I was actually discussing with my wife today about issue four of outbreaks because I don't really know what's going to happen next. And it does, obviously, it keeps depending on how these books get funded because, you know, let's say when issue three launches on April 15, if it does super duper well, great. That means I know that the next arc I can do will be a bigger arc because I can afford to do it. But if it just makes enough to get funded, then I'll have to go back to the drawing board and probably draw the book myself. And it will take a much longer time to get out. But I'm really determined to hit that 50 number. It was something that I heard Tom McFarlane talk about on a podcast. Tom McFarlane's my favorite comic book creator of all time. And, like, just an absolute, like, motivator in terms of just creativity. Like, I love listening to him speak. I actually had the luxury of being able to work with him on a spawn book together, which was like the highlight of my career. But he said recently on the podcast, any creator out there, you should try and get to 50 issues because that is how you get to a compendium, the big book that sticks on the shelf. And you can basically said, you can milk that cow for as long as you like because you could do reprints of it, you can do new versions, but it also just establishes that you have a body of work. 50 issues of something to anybody is impressive, and it shows commitment and it shows that you truly have a passion for what you're creating. So that's what I'm gonna do. What if Todd says that's what I should do, then that's what I should do.
We can't argue with Todd. He seems to know what he's doing.
Yeah, he's done quite well for himself.
I think, as far as rewards and stuff go for this one. What are you planning on offering up on those different tiers?
This is something I really love doing. I love putting together the idea of the campaign and what people can get because I'm making this book for the point of view is, okay, me, who's a huge zombie fan, what's the type of stuff I would want that would make me invest more in outbreaks? So I'm always trying to cater to the comic zombie fan of me. So obviously, the main cover has Tony Moore on it. That's. That's why I always like to highlight one of my favorite artists as the main cover artist. That's why Cormac was on the last one. So going from that, though, the first campaign, I wanted to do trading cards because I grew up loving Pokemon, and I play Hearthstone to this day. Like, I love trading card games. So I was like, oh, I'll just make, like, a couple of trading cards that look like they're a part of a game, and I'll offer that. But then I got deep into it, and I've created actually, like, a fully playable, like, competitive trading card game for outbreaks. And I love putting it together. And it's so stupid because, like, I just ordered all the comics and print, print items for issue two, and I spent hundreds on the trading cards, which was never something I planned to do. It was supposed to be a silly little thing, but now it's become, like, a huge part of it that people seem to really be digging as well. So, yeah, so the training cards are up for offer. I also, I'm gonna have, if you notice that the main character in the book, the Maitre Z, who's the host of the book, he's kind of like the crypt keeper of outbreaks. He has on his shirt and my logo, which is called the Emozy, where it's just like a zombie emoji, and he has it, like, as a pin button on his shirt. So that's going to be available in a reward tier. But there's tons of other variants. Like, I'd made a homage cover to the Walking Dead number one, so you could see, like, the Matrix E as Rick in the same position as that famous cover. And then every single campaign, I always do a Tom McFarland cover, like, homage cover because he's my favorite comic book creator of all time. So for this one, I did, like, I think it's issue 301 or something like that, or 316 when it's the classic one where Venom standing over Spider man, who's laying in all the rubble. I did that, but with a zombie over one of the main characters from rotten luck. And then there's a few other variants, especially the limited edition noir version. So basically, you get Tony Moore's art, but you take away the colors, you just see his beautiful line work. There's no text or anything on the COVID It's just pure inks. And I'm limited to only printing 50 of those to make them more of a high end exclusive item. And then there's a deluxe version as well, with extra pages, a cover gallery. It's got a super awesome shiny foil cover, and then the reward tiers go higher from there. I'm also doing commissions because I offer a blank sketch cover version because I love that. As a fan, I love the blank sketch versions of my favorite books. And especially, like me, who goes to conventions and does commissions and stuff like that, it's really fun. And then I sell original art from the book as well, actual inked pages and stuff like that. So there's plenty of options of stuff. And I hope people dig it as much as I do because I'm a total nerd over all. Like the reward items on campaigns, one.
Of the things that I really like seeing on rewards is a catch up tier, or at least add ons to be able to kind of create your own catch up tier. But I have a feeling that when you get to probably issue 24, if not before then, that might be a little bit hard to pull off. So do you have any plans for when you get deeper into the series on letting new people catch up?
Yeah, so there are catch up tiers. You know, you can get issues one through three in a bundle, and you get a discount if you get all three at once, or you can get all three of my McFarlane homage covers for each issue, etcetera. But as it goes on, I'm thinking I'll do reprints of the single issues if there's a demand for people having a huge catch up tier like that, or there'll be an offer with the trade paperbacks, because once I complete whatever story arc I do, I'm going to bring it to a trade paperback. So outbreaks, hopefully, if this campaign gets funded, then that one of the next campaigns will be the first trade paperback. It just depends. I mean, I always, I do overprint as well. So I have items available for people that have just discovered outbreaks but want to still collect. Because I'm a collector myself. I collect walking dead books, Tom McFarlane marvel stuff, and a plethora of other things. So I get wanting to get those items. But at the same time, I also love, you know, you gotta. There's a reason why I don't sell outbreaks anywhere else besides Kickstarter for now, because I love that exclusive. Like, you gotta be at the campaign to get those items. And that's why every campaign, I always make an item. That's basically, you were here for this campaign. So every, every one I do an exclusive trading card that if we get over funded, like if we hit our goal, then everyone gets with their order of free outbreaks, like training card that's just exclusive for that campaign and, yeah, like loads of other stuff. So it will be a challenge when I get to issue 24 or whatever. But there's other people on Kickstarter that have high numbers and they do it. So I'll just, you know, look at what they're doing and figure it out. Look, I just want to get to issue three first, you know, like 24. That's, that's like, I'll be an old man when that happens.
What's been the best part of working on this, just with you and Kickstarter and whatever artists you managed to get into it versus doing it with a publisher?
It's the best thing is that I'm in full control of the creative process of the book. No one's telling me, I don't think this is going to sell because of this, this, this. So you need to switch to this. Or, hey, we have another book that's similar in tone to this, so can you change this? Like, I've, I've had pictures with companies that I've spent years putting together, and I get to the final stage, you know, it's like an alien comic. And then they say, hey, we have an alien book coming out, so can you make it not aliens and something else instead? And I'm like, that's the whole point of the book is freaking aliens. And it really frustrates me, the whole process of, like, basically to make comics, all you need is money to do it because you just need to pay people so that they can get their job done. And that's what the publishers have is they say, hey, we'll give you money to make your books. But the problem is that since they are investing and rightfully so, right, it's their monies and they're trying to make money off of this. So of course they're going to put their two cent in, they're going to change stuff. They're going to have opinions. And also, like, you know, for instance, I was with a company and we were talking about putting variant covers together for one of my creator owned books. And I suggested, hey, I would love to have this particular artist on the book. And they kind of laughed being like, there's no way we can afford that. Like, so just forget about it. And that really, like. Like, hurt me in a way where I was like, I feel like I'm the only one that cares about this project or has a passion for it because, like, if that person gets on the book, it'd be cool. Like, Tony Moore being on the COVID Arts of issue three, that type of stuff can only happen because I'm in control. So it's kind of like George A. Romero, right? Like, he made all of the most of his zombie movies outside of the Hollywood aspect and most of his movies because he hated producers telling him what to do about, like, having creative inputs. He's like, no, you're a producer. You produce the film. Like, let us create. And that. And I love that he found funding himself to make his art, and then he went to these huge companies just for distribution, right? Like, he's like, hey, if you want to release my movie across theaters, you can take a cut, and then we'll go from there. And that's exactly my mentality with outbreaks is sure in the future a company might say, hey, do you want to have outbreaks at our publishing house? We'll distribute it to the direct market. Sure. You know, if that type of thing works out, great. But I do not want them to suddenly say, and we have our opinions on this, this and this, because it's like, no, the whole reason I'm making this is because it's just fully me, my creativity. It's, you get 100% me, and you're not going to get anybody suggesting changes here and there to make, at the end of the day, the product worse, because I know the difference between a good product and a bad product. And there's nothing more painful than myself putting out a bad product because of someone else's opinion. So screw that.
Have any of the publishers you've been working with for other things had a problem with you doing this?
No, not at all. I mean, the thing is, I work freelance, right? Like, I don't work as a. As a employee of Marvel or DC. That's why I help in between their companies all the time. You know, I just wrapped up a Marvel book a month ago, and then last week, I started a DC book. Look, if one of those companies wanted to hire me full time, great, you know, we'll talk about that then and there. But, you know, they don't care. They're happy that I'm making books, especially if suddenly outbreaks is a hit, because then want to come back to me and offer me to try and make one of their properties a hit, and that's fine. I think if a publisher did have a problem with me making my own stuff, then they're not a very good publisher.
That makes sense. I also don't know why I never thought about asking anybody that before.
Yeah, well, no, it makes sense. I mean, you know, I think someone like you look at Brian Stegman. He's a full time employee at Marvel, right? Because sometimes they hire people to actually just, like, keep them at a company so they don't go to any competitors and stuff. He blew up with venom. He had a huge run on venom. And then I know he must have done some contract work to get out of it so he could go off to image and make his image book vanish, because that's when they would have a problem, because it would be like, hey, you're an employee of us. You can't go off and make a competitor's book. I mean, that's why Tom McFarlane, like, will never do variant covers for anybody outside of image, because he's like. Like, why am I becoming my own competition? That's ridiculous.
What's been the biggest challenge for you, switching from art to writing?
The biggest challenge is you want to make it as good as you possibly can. And it's easy to think that you have a something good, and then as you go on, you get doubts, right? You think, oh, is this actually. Does anybody. Is this good? Does anybody care about this? Like, oh, no, this is. This is crap, isn't it? Like, no one's gonna like this. But, you know, when you're drawing, you could see it, right? Like, it's just a visual writing. It's. It's that, but slowed down tremendously. But then I always remember someone like Stephen King who's writing Carrie, and he went, this is crap. And chucked in the bin, and his wife took it out of the bin and said, no, finished this, and then it launched his career. So you really don't truly know if anything's good or not until you release it. And if it is crap, then you learn from it, right? Then you go, okay, that's why that was bad. And you move on because it's just like art. Like, you got to learn how to. You know, you got to spend time making. You spend time at the drawing board or at the computer writing. You got to put the hours in to get good. No one just, like, is born and picks up a pencil and is Picasso or Moe's you know, any of these people I know he said Mozart there. Mozart was not an artist. He was a composer. But, you know, no one just is suddenly the most creative person. It takes time. It takes learning. You know, Quentin Tarantino spent decades in a film like a blockbuster, watching movies and getting a film education to become one of the greatest writer and directors of all time. So just, it just takes some time. You know, I spent a lot of time focusing on the art, and, you know, the writing's a little bit further behind, so it's just going to, it just takes a lot longer. I suppose that's my long winded answer there.
How do you think the artists you're working on this with feel knowing that they have another artist writing it? Like, do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing for them, knowing that you can sit there and, hey, here's your art. Here's what I would do.
I keep my scripts pretty, not super loose, but I keep it open. If I really particularly want something, I'll let them know, because I might be the only time I particularly want a certain shot or anything like that is because it's so in my head. That's the way it has to be. And it's important to maybe the story or it's an homage to a film that I love or something like that. Otherwise, I keep it pretty open. And I think it's a weird, like, giddy excitement to give somebody a synopsis of a piece of art that you want to see and then receiving it back because it's never the way you thought it was going to be. It's usually always better. Like, I look at the Cormac cover that he did for issue two. I just said, hey, what I have in my head is it's a bunch of zombies. They're watching a movie, and in the top is the Maitre Z, who's controlling the camera, as people are, or not the camera, the projector, as the zombies are all eating popcorn, but instead of popcorn, it's eyeballs or fingers or whatever you want to do. So that's pretty much just what I told him to do. And then he spent two days creating, like, a masterpiece. And that's just, that's fun, man. That's, that's, that's comics in essences, that excitement of getting that art back. Like, I remember when Monica was handing in the pages of rotten luck, like, every day, like, when I would get that email, oh, it's the best part of my day, just seeing something that I've envisioned in my head coming to life is just. That's what I live for. That's what I live for.
Knowing that I can get this spooky season content in the opposite end of the year, I think might be one of the best things about this. I'm excited that I'm catching this early enough to get a catch up tier on single issues because I like getting the single issues in those different covers. You know, having the trades with the COVID gallery pages in the back is fine, but I like knowing I can get that elementary school book display and just kind of swap books around and show off whichever ones are my favorite at the moment.
That's awesome, man. Now, are you a cover, a collector, or do you just choose whatever cover you like the best?
I tend to get too many multiple covers.
Right?
For ultimate X Men right now, my cover choice is yes.
I get that. I mean, they're producing some great stuff I've seen. So yeah, it's incredible. That's awesome. And I'm a cover a guy myself. I have to get whatever the main cover is. I don't know why. Even if the COVID B is a much like cooler cover that I love even more, then maybe I'll buy that as well. But I have to have a every single time. It's just something weird in my brain that says, no, this is the one for me.
If it's got Spider Gwen or Jessica Cruz on it, I'm getting it no matter what. Or if it's Peach Momoko, I'm getting it no matter what. Everything else, you know, if it's good, I'll probably get it.
Yeah, no, I know, I get that. It's so funny. Everyone collects stuff differently, right? Like I collect comics, but I also collect vinyl records and I collect trading cards and old Lego from my childhood and stuff. And it's all super. Oh, and retro games is like my biggest collection that I have. It's all super particular stuff. It's. I love seeing how everyone else decides, like what they're obsessed and the way they obsess with collecting. Some people don't care if their video games are beaten up and hanging on by a thread or their comics are all mangled and not like nine point eight s. And some people the opposite way has to be pristine. Looks like it was printed yesterday and I find all of that fascinating.
I'm glad you brought up the games because back on issue two you had those ps one and ps two variant covers. If outbreaks was made into a game, how do you envision that? Happening.
It's funny you say that, because as a hobby, I've been putting together an outbreaks video game. I've been learning coding and playing around with as a kid, I loved, and I still love as an adult, tycoon games, like rollercoaster tycoon. I love the jurassic world Evolution games where you build your own jurassic park. So I've been playing with this idea where you make your own outbreaks theater that you run and operate, and all of your customers are zombies. You have to make sure that they have enough. Like, every customer is different. Some customer will come in wanting eyeballs that day and to see a particular movie that's playing. So you have to make sure you have everything that everybody wants. Otherwise, you get a bad review at the end of the day, and your theater could shut down from bad reviews. So I've been playing with that. I don't. It's one of those things just like writing. I don't know. As I go, suddenly I'll be like, is this good or is this bad? I have no idea. So I'm not. I'm not putting all my time into that because, my God, learning how to code is like learning how to speak Mandarin or any other really difficult language. So I'm just taking that one little day at a time there. But I don't know. That'd be fun. If that becomes something one day, we'll see.
I would love to see that. That just seems like it would be so much fun.
I would hope it'd be fun. All these little ideas where you can then make it into a multiplex and a drive through theater and all these different things that you build each time. You buy specific movies for your area's specific tastes. And you can have an arcade in the lobby and, like, a gumball machine that's full of eyeballs and all that type of really fun stuff.
So if it's mostly zombies in there, would you have zombie games, or would you stay away from those because they're too realistic to the audience?
No, I think it would be. I think it would be like, instead of Duck hunt, it would be like, I don't know, human hunt or something like that. Like, I think it would be a play and all that stuff. Just like, you know, think of a zombie. What are they? What are they? Like? They, like, eating people, so you got to cater to their interests.
Instead of burger time, you could have burglar time.
There you go. Yeah. Or just human burgers as well. Like, I think that would interest them.
I am really excited for getting my hands on issues one, two, and three. Because with this campaign for three goes, I have no reason to think that it won't fund based on how the previous two have done. And once again, I'm very glad I'm getting in here early enough to get single issues.
Well, thank you so much. And, like, and I'm being, you know, as a collector myself, there's a reason, like, I have a friend of mine, a couple people, that always say, like, why are you putting barcodes on everything? Like, that's like, like, you know, that means you're stopping yourself from printing issues when you need to, like, go to a convention and stuff like that. And, like, I'm doing it so that you know that you've bought a first print of something. Because there's someone, like, when I click vinyl and comics, I want to make sure I'm getting the first pressing of the first print. It's important to me. So that's why I like to do all the barcodes and everything so that people know that they're getting a first printing. Like, look, issue one of outbreaks is, is sold out. The first printing, if you did, if you went there for the first two campaigns, you can't get that book anymore. You have to find it on the eBay or something like that. So I'm doing that on purpose because, like I said, as a collector, that's important to me. I want to make sure that this, you know, I'm not giving you an item that I'm saying, hey, this is exclusive, though. I'm printing it whenever I want to. I mean, that's how the baseball card market crashed in the nineties, because everyone thought they were getting, like, collectible stuff when they printed millions of them. So the whole reason I'm making this book is for me. I know it sounds selfish, but I'm trying to entertain myself. I'm making the book that has a 13 year old kid and a 33 year old adult is the zombie book that I would want. So if other people like it, then great, that's fantastic.
And let's be real. If you don't like the book, how is anybody else expected to like it?
I 100% agree with it. And that's another problem I think I have. When you have other publishers involved and people are changing your story, like, you start not liking your property as much. And you know how, again, like, it's the old saying, like, if you can't love yourself, how the hell are you going to love anybody else? And it applies to this as well, I suppose, will, it has been great.
Talking to you about this and getting people pumped up to get their hands on these issues. But if people want to hear more from you, where else can they find you? Around the Internet?
It's been great chatting to you as well, mate. If people want to find me, you can find me on the Internet anywhere. At Robson Inc. And that's r o b s o n. That's my last name. And then in k, like inking. So that's Robson Inc. I'm on Twitter. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, all the places. I'm also on YouTube. I started uploading a couple more videos about talking about my experiences in the comic book industry and tutorials and this, that and the other. But one of my other main things is that I have a Patreon. And if you join my Patreon, it's kind of like a training ground for people that want to be in the comic book industry. I have a discord server through my Patreon where I do live, portfolio reviews for aspiring artists and creators and people trying to launch kickstarters of their own. So if that's something you're interested in, you can catch me there. Or you can catch me on my monthly stream on whatnot, where I give away signed copies of outbreaks to people watching it and draw and just have a grand old time. But most importantly, April 15. Come to Kickstarter. For a whole month, I'll be pushing outbreaks, issue three. I really, really hope that it's something that you'll be interested in, and I want you to see that awesome Tony Moore cover because that thing just deserves to be seen by the world. So thank you, guys, and I hope you dig it.
As always, if you want to hear more from me, you can head on over to playcomics.com, where there's links to all the social media things. Mostly I've been on Twitter lately because that's where I'm getting the interaction. So it's kind of a self fulfilling prophecy there all around. If you want to help support the show, you can, you know, just share it with a friend. Leave a review on Podchaser or Apple Podcasts or wherever else that you can leave podcasts, reviews. Show me proof and I will love you forever. And also will probably send over stickers or something. I'm getting that figured out. Or if you really, really love the show and or want to throw money at me, you can be like, oh, no, lit class. And Carl Antonovitz and Dan McMahon. And you can do that, but, you.
Know, you don't have to.
That's cool. I'll still love you. Don't forget that. Play Comics is a part of the guineek.com network, home to such wonderful shows as legends of S H I E l D, where we are finishing up looking at X Men. I have no idea what's going on, and I'm here for that. If you want to hear the music that I'm rudely talking on top of today, head on over to soundcloud.com. Best day to check out best days music. Most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics, and go find yourself a new favorite character. And welcome to Play comics. Oh, crap. I did forget something. What are your three favorite breakfast meats?
My three favorite breakfast meats? Well, bacon, sausage, I guess. Steak. Even though I've never had steak for breakfast. I'm a peanut butter on toast kind of guy. I don't usually eat a lot of meat for breakfast.
All right, cool. The answers didn't matter. I was just checking audio levels.
Okay, well, you got me there, then. Yeah.
All right. One of my cats decided to knock something off the counter.
I didn't hear it, so that's okay.
When you have an ant going, that's not even a word.