Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I'm Lauren from Legends of S h I e l D, a marvel Universe fan show, part of the Gunnegeek 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 other incredible, geeky shows@gunnegeeknetwork.com.
Chris: And welcome to a very special episode of play comics, because once again, I am here talking to a creator about their cool things today. It is the return of a wonderful guest that I've had before. You got to hear her talking last time about the color of always, and this time, Michelle Abenator is here talking to me, and y'all get to listen to it. So talking to you, too, about this wonderful anthology called when I was young. So, Michelle, let's start things off on the right foot and be polite. How are you doing today?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Oh, I'm doing well, Chris. How are you today? I'm starting it off with a lie.
Chris: Good that we're on the same page.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): It's just like, I don't know. I just had a nice glass of water. I feel okay chatting with you. The day is being improved. Yeah, I'm doing all right.
Chris: What could possibly be stressful about putting together a giant anthology full of great creators?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): There's absolutely no pressure at all involved in having what I consider to be, like, 20 something of the greatest comics creators in the game now or ever, all in the same book. Everybody kind of looking at me like, are we doing this or not? There's no stress here at all. None at all. And on, like, a platform that not everyone is familiar with. And, yeah, zero stress. I feel so breezy about the whole thing.
Chris: It's wild for Budy, who hasn't seen me and you go crazy on Twitter yet. Can you give us a little bit of an elevator pitch for this? When I was young anthology?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Oh, sure. So when I was Young is an LGBTQIA plus charity anthology of comics. It's short stories. The basic idea, the prompt for the book, was, what story would you tell yourself when you were younger to sort of give yourself comfort, to inspire yourself and sort of, like, as a replacement for saying, it gets better, more of you will get different. You'll learn things. You will improve. Your circumstances will change. You'll learn how to process better. That's the overall message of the book is just stories of triumph and inspiration and advice, and a lot of the people that I asked were just, like, immediate yeses. Everyone wanted to get in there and be inspiring, I think, to themselves, to other people in this community to any potential younger people that might pick up the book and give it a read. And all profits from this collection are going to be donated to the Trevor project. I am crowdfunding to pay the creators. Something I'm really passionate about is creating opportunities for comic creators in the LGBT community. So for a project like this, I was a little torn because I was like, we'll meet our goal sooner if I don't do a page rate and do just like a bit of a profit percentage share or something like that. But he made the decision to do a page rate and offer it up to people as a way to give them a job because these are tough times and it's not simple for everyone. So I didn't want to make it. This is a charity book, so I need you to donate it. And not that there's anything wrong with doing that. I just wanted to. Part of my mission and what I do in comics is to be a passionate advocate for creating those jobs for people in marginalized communities. So I kind of had to do both here, and that's the reason why the goal is so high. In case that is a question in anybody's mind. Why is the goal 22,000? It's 22,000 because it costs a lot of money to make a comic book, to print it, to pay for creative costs, to make a donation, because I did build a donation into it. There's money involved in paying creators, as there should be, and especially with the caliber of talent in this book, they deserve to be paid for their stories, whether they have a known name or not. They deserve every cent of what they're getting from me to be a part of this. And I'm honored to have all of them and fingers crossed that we get to do this thing, because I'm not sure if there's ever going to be an occasion where all of these people are in the same book ever again. So I really feel like we got to do this thing, because when will this happen again? This is like a lightning strike. Lots of lightning strikes, all in the same place, all at once. And the chances of it happening again are quite slim. So I'm feeling like this is super important, and we got to get it done. So that's, I guess, the pitch for the book itself and in terms of what's available back on the campaign page, we've got a couple of really great covers that are super beautiful. Go take a look at them at when I was youngcomics.com. They're both really beautiful. I cry almost every time I look at them. And we also recently added a cover that has glitter on it. It's not hollow foil. It's not spot foil or gloss. It is glitter. I worked with my printer. They're here in the States. I said to this big burly man, I want glitter, Mike. And Mike said, yeah, I can figure that out for you. And him and his printing people here, stateside, figured out glitter for me, got me a really great price. And I added it as sort of like a campaign upgrade this week, which is exciting. I don't think we see enough comics with glitter. Seems so simple and so silly, but I love a nice flourish. Something to just make it a little more special. And a thing that I really pride myself in when making my creator made anthologies is that, whether it's something that I worked on with Brent Fisher or something that I worked on, like I did taffic pulp with Alterisi. We always talk a lot about the quality of it. Like, what type of paper are we using? What will the COVID feel like? What sort of extra special thing can we do to this book to make it feel more like boutique more special? So that the people that are backing it, they're really getting the best looking book possible. In addition to the quality of the stories, the package is going to be really nice. I care a lot about printing and about just making sure the quality of the book feels very professional and very nice. So that whoever does get a copy of it, it doesn't feel like it was printed in my living room and stapled together. I really want it to feel special and everyone to have something they can kind of cherish in the way that I do when I'm thinking about making it, it's special to me, and I want the finished product to feel special when people get it. So, yeah, that's the book. I hope anybody listening? I hope if this sounds cool to you, that you'll check out the glitter cover, because it's going to look so good. And, yeah, there's a couple of stickers. There's some commission tiers available. There's something for everybody in there. And all the story summaries are there. And still announcing creators. I think I've got one more creative team that's not even announced yet. I'm keeping it going. We got to keep it going.
Chris: That answer hit at least four questions that I was also going to ask you about.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I'm sorry.
Chris: No, it's fine. Because we're going to get deeper into them in the order that feels right in the moment. I guess because that's the way things work.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Sorry. Literally, we could talk about whatever with the book. Nothing's off limits. Let's go for it. Whatever you got, I'm here for you.
Chris: So whose idea has it been to add some of these reward tiers just along the campaign? I know recently as we're recording this, you added some commission tiers and you've had some people come up and say, hey, show me that you backed and I'll make some art for you.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Well, the show me that you backed and I'll make art for you. That was Rachel's idea. Rachel Thisler, she likes to go on stream and draw and just like while she's learning to use studio, so she's like troubleshooting her own self in clip studio and was just doing some sketches today. If people showed that they backed, I hopped in for a little bit. She drew me a psyduck. It was fun. The commission tears were kind of burst out of like, what can I possibly ask for people to help me with here? Because before we started recording, we were talking about backer kit and how it differs from other crowdfunding platforms. And it really just is about getting more eyes on the campaign and getting the people in the book to do a little bit of promo. And I sent an email out to the creative team earlier this week and just know if anybody would like to give me discounted or donated commission that I can add to the campaign, it would be really cool to add some higher price peers for people. And Rachel Dissler, who was doing the sketches today, does really adorable pet portraits. So I asked if I could throw a couple of those on there because they're really cute. And who doesn't love a picture of their pet? It's a great gift, too, if you have somebody with your birthday coming up to get them a picture of their dog drawn. Really cute. And she jokes that everything that she draws, they all kind of look like cute little roly potatoes. And it's true and it's adorable. So I'm really happy to be able to include that tier also. Number one Heathen fan is so like, I realized that Natasha's like a friend, a peer, a fellow creator. She's in this book. I added it on top of pulp. We made that whole collection together, which is going to print soon. Bless. But everything that Natasha does is amazing. I'm so honored to have commission tier from her available to digital commission. She doesn't do commissions super frequently, so it's always cool to be able to offer something that isn't frequently available to people in the outside world. But Natasha is great. So was really excited that she offered to do that for me. And then Michi, whom I adore, I don't know if you've ever had the pleasure of speaking with them or obviously their Kirby. I love Kirby, so I've really been into everything Kirby that Michi has been up to lately. And they offered to do, like, a traditional art commission, which is something that's difficult to get these days because most people just kind of work digital for commissions. It's easier to get them out to people, but they're doing, like, paint and hand drawn, and everything that they do with paint is just so beautiful. They actually did the journal design for Color of always, my first anthology because they do, like, really beautiful skies and wispy clouds. So they did the journal cover and just super, really, really just, like, honored to have a commission from Michi featured in the campaign. Michi's also in the book. So is Natasha. I'm not saying that Rachel's not in the book, but I'm not saying that Rachel is in the book. You're just going to have to sort of stay tuned for that one because it's not an announced thing yet. We'll see. I'm just going to maintain an error mystery about that one for the purposes of this conversation. And then the stickers. I mean, you got to have stickers for a crowdfunding campaign. And I did the trapper keeper pronoun sticker, which I think is very funny. I wish more people thought it was as funny as I think it is, but I don't care. It's very self indulgent and made that sticker because I want it. And, yeah, some people are adding it, and I think it's fun. It's a bigger sticker. It's like the size of a hello, my name is type sticker that you would put on your shirt. Going to do them in a really nice vinyl that's a little bit water resistant, so you can slap it on like a water bottle or a notebook and be pumped for that. So some good stuff on this campaign and tried to keep it kind of simple. There were some editing tiers available, but those are all gone.
Chris: Editor Chris popping in here to say that as of, at least when I'm editing this, Michelle has added another editing consultation to what she's willing to offer up. So for the rest of this, she is not lying. She's just wrong because she's using outdated information. Okay, let's get back to everything as it was recorded before.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Myself and Heather anthos both had two slots available, and they've both been taken of just like an hour long script consult, crowdfunding, consultation, that type of thing. And those are fun because it's always really cool to give people outside of your network kind of an opportunity to pick your brain. And one thing that I love doing is trying to help people that are new get started and find their footing. And I like being able to offer a consultation tier because it gives people that I don't already know the opportunity to have a conversation. Just ask me about stuff about comics and get advice on how to get stuff going. And I wish I could have a conversation with literally every person who wanted to have that conversation with me. There simply just isn't enough time in my life anymore. I used to try to give people free consult calls all the time, but I don't have the time or the bandwidth, unfortunately, to do that kind of thing anymore. So I'm happy to be able to do that so that I can kind of drum up some funds for the campaign and give back to the community while I'm doing it.
Chris: One of the big differences with backer Kit that I've noticed is the fact that you can have a donation in there as part of it where Kickstarter doesn't let you do that. So why was that something you definitely wanted to do rather than just everything over our goal, like I guess you maybe could have done with Kickstarter or not? I don't know.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Well, and I don't fault Kickstarter for this. They're not a crowdfunding for charity platform. Like, they're not gofundme, right? There are rules, and it's probably based on how their business is set up, tax purposes. They have rules that they have to follow because that's how their business is set up. That's their business model. Everyone's got rules they got to follow, and it is what it is. I don't fault them for it. And could I have gone with Kickstarter and then after the campaign was over, just said, hey, I'm donating all the profits, have a great day. Sure, I could have done that, but do I wish I had done that? I'll get back to you. I don't know. I'm a big believer in, if you want to do something, just say it with your whole chest. Don't kind of dance around what it is that you're trying to do so that you can slide in under the radar. If I want to make a donation to a charity. I want to be loud about the fact that I'm doing it and why I'm doing it. And part of the message of this book is to help younger people, and I feel like I would be doing myself and the project a disservice if I didn't talk about the fact that I wanted to do this to raise money to donate to an organization that helps young people in the LGBT community. That's the point, right? So if I can't talk about the fact that I'm going to do that, if I can't say that I'm doing that, am I really doing this as loudly as I want to be? So I didn't feel like I had a choice. I feel like I had to find a place that would support me in doing it as a fundraiser, and that's where I was doing it. And it is what it is.
Chris: What organization did you pick? Because I haven't seen at all in any of the stuff.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Pick driver project. Because their mission is to try to prevent suicide amongst LGBT young people, to provide education and support to both youth and their families and just promoting awareness. And they've always been an organization that I like donating to because I see a lot of the work that they do, and I've talked to people that have benefited from stuff that they do, and I don't know. I believe in the fact that they're out there actually trying to help kids. And I think about. There's a lot going on in the world, right? Things are messy internationally. It's difficult not to see it. And things are also tough here. Politics and the constant war on trans kids and their families. And I keep saying that I hope that the kids here in the US don't think that we've forgotten about them because of how disastrous everything is internationally right now. So it's just something small that I can do. If it helps one kid think, maybe not all of the adults have forgotten that we exist and that we're hurting. If it helps one kid, then it was worth it.
Chris: What has surprised you most about the community that you've built up behind the book so far?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I don't know. It's all been kind of a whirlwind. I feel like the most surprising supporter that I've had so far is Sanderson. Because Mormon gentleman fantasy been. I can't wait to handwrite that note. I beg everyone support when I was young so that I can handwrite a thank you note to Brandon Sanderson for backing the book. Please I'm literally begging you. That was surprising, I think. I don't know. Backer kit has come with some twists and turns and with some growing pains, and we're all kind of learning through it. And I think with just the state of social media, how difficult it is to sort of get eyes on things these days is tough. And I'm just so appreciative of everyone who's backed it and shared it because you never know who's going to see it if you share it. So anybody retweeting anything is helpful. And I keep forgetting I have blue sky. I'm literally the worst. I just keep forgetting about it, and I really need to head over there and try a little bit more. I remember I have Instagram for more than just memes a couple of times a day, but blue sky, I just keep forgetting, and I never think that anybody wants to support me. I know that's so ridiculous. I have a lot of insecurities about my work and about the projects that I make. And this is like my first book that's been under my name that I've crowdfunded. I normally am working with either an editing partner or a writer who owns the project, and this was the first one that was under my name. So I'm surprised that I've gotten as far as I've gotten so far. For what that's worth, I'm really grateful. I'm not kidding you when I say every time we get a new backer, I can't believe somebody else wants this book. That's amazing. And I just feel so grateful for support. Yeah, that's been really nice.
Chris: How long have you been working on this one?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Probably since, I want to say, September, October. I started throwing the idea around a little bit. Yeah, because you kind of have to get on people's schedules, especially with the people who are in this book. You can't just be like, hey, you free next week to make a comic? So a lot of these people I had to contact pretty far in advance to get the conversations going. I think a lot of people I reached out to October, November ish. I had to get a cover done, at least one in advance to get the artwork for the campaign so that there was something pretty for people to look at. So I've been kind of planning this one for a while with the names that are in the book, I had to get on their schedule. You can't ask somebody with a high profile career if they're free next month. You kind of have to be like, hey, I need this thing done in April or May and it's November. Do you think you have time for four pages in May? And sometimes that's all you can do is hope. Throw like a Hail Mary, see if it works.
Chris: Obviously, I don't know the people that you asked about it that couldn't do it for one reason or another, but the people that you have managed to bring into this holy craperoni, I think is an appropriate reaction.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I don't really know that anyone really said no. Had a couple of people that just couldn't make it work with their schedule.
Chris: Honestly, that's what I assume most of the no's would have been.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Yeah, because it's a paid gig, it's a good message, and it's one of those things where after talking a couple of people into it, I was able to sort of say like, hey, here's some of the other names involved. And then that helped with people's interest. People that if I didn't already know them or have an established relationship with them. But a few of these people I've worked with before, a lot of them I've met at conventions or just on social media. Some of them I got introduced through mutual friends. So I had connections with everyone that I reached out to. I didn't really ask anybody cold who had no idea who I was, like, shot in the dark. Hey, what's up? I'm thankful that I'm not in a position anymore where I have to cold reach out to people. I guess I have gotten to know so many people that I have mutual friends with a lot of the community. So that's really helpful. Like, you do whatever you can to help people whenever you can, so that if there's something you need, at some point you can be like, hey, remember the time I helped you with this one thing? Hey, can you hook me up with this? I need this for a project. And I think because the message of this and the project itself is like, I'm not calling it noble, but it's not some project that has bad intentions. It's legitimately doing this to put something inspiring out into the world, I think, when we all kind of need it. So I think for the most part, everyone has been excited to be a part of it. And I think anybody that takes time to look at the campaign and consider who's in it and the types of stories that they're telling, I think everyone can see that it's going to be really special. So I think everyone is glad to be a part of it. So I'm very fortunate.
Chris: We've kind of been dancing around this a little bit, but if you had somebody who is obviously not me because I've already backed it, and if she's involved, I'm getting it. I don't care.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): So I like to hear, what are.
Chris: Some names you can throw out that are involved in this book that could convince other people to back it just based on the names involved with the caveat of we're never going to remember everybody and we're sorry for anybody we leave out.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Right? I mean, do you want to just start at the top of the list and go start with, if we're looking at the list, start with the first team. You've got Heather Anthos, who is great, like the best editor in comics, one of the best people, I would say, in comics, and has never done interior art before and is doing interior art for this. And she jokes that this is the first and only time that she'll ever do interior art. So we got to make this happen or it's never going to happen. I mean, everyone's like, how did you convince her to do interior art? I'm like, I don't know. I asked. I'm sure I was really annoying about it. I mean, that's not a question for me, but I'm sure I was really irritating. So she just gave in to get me to shut up. Likely what happened, obviously, like, Sam Maggs writing for Heather. That's a great team. Sam's doing some Star Trek stuff, Star wars stuff, like critical role. A lot of stuff that people like is happening there. Next team down. Chris Cantwell. How do you talk about Chris Cantwell without. He's got TV shows that are out. He's out, like traveling the world, like scouting for TV shows, like doing wild Entertainment business stuff. And he's written a lot of Star Trek. Great guy. Met him at San Diego last year. Super, super great guy. Stephanie Williams. Now I feel like it's only a matter of time before Stephanie Williams is writing literally everything. Like, what a talented person. What an incredible human being. Like, oh, man. Met her at Flamecon last year, I think, for the first time. And we've run into each other at several cons since then. And just a delightful person. So talented and the work ethic. She's amazing. So I'm so grateful that she said yes to this and brought Ryan Oakley on board. What a team. It's going to be so great. I'm just looking through my list of David Boer. I love that guy. I don't know that there's like a smile and face in comics that I love more than that guy. Right? Like David Buhar. Wonderful. Again, wonderful person. These people are all so good and that's like, I think the thing that makes this project mean even more to me is that these people that I have met and that I have spoken to, they all have the best heart. And it's difficult to not feel so passionate and so personal about a project when you know that these incredible people are really pouring their voice and their experience into these stories. David brought Jack Foster on board. Another incredible artist. Like so excited for that team. Like, incredibly grateful to have them. Like, I'm still just like scrolling on my little list here. Natasha. Natasha altorizi. Again, I joke with my friend Felund, who's also in the book. Felund, whom I adore. You're also a fan?
Chris: Oh, yeah. That's another name that was by itself. I would be getting this fel, of.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Course, with Commander Rao. And we love you. An upcoming project that we can't talk about yet. Like felount, incredible human, incredible artist and writer. No more war, no more sadness, only peace. We're doing our best with that one. But Natasha fell hound and I joke that we're members, that we're platinum edition Heathen fan club members. So it's sort of like a joke. And I'm kind of allowed to forgot about heathen like once a day, once every other day to try to not be super annoying about it. But always a pleasure to have Natasha on a project that I'm working on. Love her. Adore her. Jazzy Axelrod, what can I say? Galaxy, the prettiest star is one of the best books I've read in recent years. Absolutely obsessed with it. It's such a beautiful story. I don't know if you've read it. It's a DC graphic novel. If you haven't, you should read it. You'd love it. You should check it out. I think it's really great. There's just so much heart to like. I've read it a few times. It's one of the few graphic novels that I love so much that I will go back to it and read it again. I have my little pile of tried and trues if like in a spot and just need to get out of my head for a little bit. It's such a great story. So I'm so happy that jazzy is in this and she's actually drawing her own story. She doesn't normally do her comic art writing for DC and everything. She wanted to draw her story for this and I'm so excited. I've seen some pages. Looks amazing. I'm really grateful that she trusts me to put this story in a book that's so personal. And again, she's doing art and she doesn't normally do art, so for her to put herself out there like, this is so wonderful. And I'm so grateful for her trust and for her participation. It's so wonderful. Oh, man. Again, I could literally talk about every single person in this book and how happy I am that they're in. Like, who have I not talked about yet? Shadia. I love Shadia. They are incredible. I don't know if you've ever talked to them before, but what an amazing person. I can't. I'm going to just gush about every person in this book and it's going to not sound as sincere, obviously. Rye Hickman. I love ry Hickman. I feel like I gush about them even when it's not necessary. I'm like, on Twitter, just like, hello, this is a Rye Hickman appreciation tweet. And it comes out of nowhere and nobody but, like, I love Rye Hickman. Everything that they've ever made is amazing. If you haven't read buzing, it's a really great graphic novel. They've got another book with Nicole mains coming out about Dreamer. Literally everything that rye does is incredible. Announced today, Christy Porter and Morgan Beam. I love Christy. One of the writers from color of always did a really wonderful story. Morgan Beam is one of my favorite artists right now in comics. I absolutely love her work so much. I'm really, really excited to have the opportunity to work with. Really, really excited. Richard Fairgrey. I love that weirdo. I love that guy. We ran into each other in Vancouver when I was out there for fan expo last month, and he was just like, why am I not in this book? I was like, I don't know, Richard, why aren't you in the book? And then chatted about it for a couple minutes and he sent me some pitches and we made it work. He's a really good guy. He was also in color of always. He drew for Susan. Untily Bridges had a really amazing story in that, like, who am I not talking about? Tench, who was my artist for color of always and sharp witt in the company of women. Tench, I gave her her own story for this book. She's got a lot to say, a lot of her personal journey that she's injecting. Into the story she's working on for this and her artwork is really amazing. Recently she released, along with my friend Anas, I edited on the book kill my boyfriend. That was a Kickstarter for issue one. It's really good if you haven't checked it out, issue two is coming soon, so you'll have the chance to catch up on kill my boyfriend if you didn't get a chance for issue one. Have I talked about every story? Michi, obviously we love Michi. Michi's in this book. Michi is amazing. Cody. We announced Cody earlier this Yakamoto Love, love. Cody was like really excited when they reached out to me and asked if I had space for a short one in this book. And I said, absolutely for you. Yes, I do. So was really excited to be able to add Cody, Kat and Phil, the other gay anthology people. We used to joke, Brent and I, Brent Fisher and I used to joke with Kat and Phil that the four of us were going to have like a cage match because there can't possibly be more than one set of people doing gay anthologies. So we had all these great jokes that we were going to fight to the death. And it's been really great being able to include them in this project because there is no animosity between queer creators. We all want to support each other, and when one of us wins, we all win kind of mentality. So there's a lot of behind the scenes hyping each other up. A lot of me crying in DMs, like needing support, and they're there for me, like amazing, amazing people. Really excited that they jumped in on this with me. Obviously, I wrote a story in this too, and I'm really excited about it. It's really sad. I had to rewrite it a couple of times to make it not as sad, but it wouldn't be me if it wasn't sad. It is what it is. That's how my writing is. I think I've now talked about everyone. I don't want to not talk about someone after I've said so much about so many people. Let me just make sure that I've mentioned everyone and said how great they are. I think I have. I'm so excited. This lineup is so incredible. And honestly, I can't believe that I'm working with any of these people, let alone working with all of them at the same time. So honestly, to me it messes with my head a little bit because I would truly be lucky to work with any one of them. Truly, it would be an honor to work with one of them and the fact that they are all in this book, I find it to be incredible. And I can't believe it's a book that I get to work on, right? I can't believe I get to put my name on this thing. What a dream team. It's like a fantasy football league. It's a fantasy comics league. I picked all of the people that I would be lucky to have, and they're all here.
Chris: I was kind of joking, but not really. When I saw the first version of the published creator list here, that it was full of people that I would get their stuff no matter what, and people that I just don't know their work yet, but they'll probably get there. And the more I've seen from this campaign and everything, the more I'm thinking that I was right.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I don't think that there's anyone in this book that isn't worth looking at everything that they've ever done. And I don't know if you can say that about many projects, especially projects where there's this many people in it. I don't know if you can look at an anthology and be like, every single person in this book has a back catalog of wonderful work that I would want to check out. I guess I feel like that with all of my anthologies, though, these people become, their stories become part of me, right? I flip through color of always, and some of the people in that book were like younger creators when they were in there. And watching how their skills have developed and what they've done since has been honestly, like a privilege and joy to see how people develop. And when artists share things with me and I get to see how good they're getting and how passionate they are about comics and having another anthology with a bunch of incredible people in it, it's just like adding to my family, I guess, in that you work on these projects and especially the books that I've done, I feel like resonate so deeply with me, and I get so attached to them that it's not just work for me. These books that I make are very close to my heart, and I'm very fortunate to be able to do this part of what I do. I work for a publisher, for my day job. I make super fun books. I love what I do. I love my work. And I'm fortunate that that allows me to also do sort of like the soul feeding part of comics, which is also the soul eating part of comics, which is all of the self publishing. So I guess it kind of depends on how you look at it. You really have to love it to be able to do this, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Chris: There are a billion questions I could ask you about things right now, but most of them kind of are inspired by one of way more creators than I thought who were willing to send me a bit of a preview of things. And I don't know what's a spoiler, and I didn't think about that till afterwards, but me having seen some of this, I feel even more confident in the fact that this thing needs to get made. And I'm very happy that I have given the backing that I had.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Like, what have you seen?
Chris: Mishi has told me about some stuff. I haven't actually seen anything, but we're friends anyway, so that just kind of happens. Most of it is kind of along those lines because they didn't have anything in a finished enough form to be worth sharing, according to them. But I did get the first page from Jadzia, and that plus the one picture that is not on that page but was posted on Twitter. That story is going to be really fun.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): The first time I read, because, I don't know, you said you spoke to Jazzia. It was, like, an existing short comic that she pitched to me of, hey, I have this story that I kind of made as, like, a personal sort of journal comic. Like, what if I did this but made it more grand? Kind of. What if I redid this and made it more for your book? Because I feel like I already have this story that would work and would this work? And I read it and I cried. And I said, absolutely, this is perfect. I think I even commented on Instagram. The first time I read it, I cried. The second time I read it, I cried. And I honestly, I can't wait to see the finished pages and cry again with the finished pages. It's beautiful. And Robin Fassel, an incredible colorist, is working on that story with super, super thrilled to have Robin. Robin did some work on sharp wit and the company of women, some coloring there. Incredible colorist. Really happy to have her on board, too. But, yeah, Jazzia's story is going to be really great.
Chris: I know you have another thing you're reporting tonight, so I can't spend too long, but there are two things I definitely want to make sure that I ask you. Number one, do you think that fellhound is going to be able to make us cry in a single got? There's absolutely no.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Talent. The talent, yes, without a doubt. And honestly, I offered Fel I was like, you can have 40 pages if you want. She's like, I have time for one. I'll take it. Fell has been such a support to me as a person, as a creator, as a writer, as an editor. I cannot imagine making this book without her being involved in some capacity. So I was happy to take whatever she was willing to provide for this. So she has one page to make us cry. I think it's happening.
Chris: Knowing her work, I'm going to assume that it is basically going to be grave of the fireflies, but in a single page.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): We talk about that a lot. She has one pitch she was working on once that I nicknamed it grave of the fireflies, too, as the nickname for the story. If that gives you any taste of how happy that will make you, I'll.
Chris: Buy it, but I don't know if I'll ever read it. I do keep grave of the fireflies around in case I need to check and make sure that I am still a human right.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I've seen that movie one time, and I don't know that I. But when I close my eyes, I can still see it. And it's been a very long time. I don't know that I'm ever strong enough to watch it again, but maybe the world needs to watch that one again right now.
Chris: The other question I want to make sure we get to is, obviously this book is an important thing that needs to be made. Pretty much. Probably constantly needs to be made, which sucks that we live in a world where that can happen. But who is your ideal audience for this?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Honestly, I feel like it's almost like the ages on a Lego box, right? Like five to 90 or whatever, right? I would say probably teen is like the lowest. I wouldn't necessarily call it ya, but I think 13 plus ideal audience would be anybody that needs it. I think I need it, right? I think adults need something like this, too, because there's not a lot that happens that feels particularly good and inspiring these days. And I think that having a collection of stories that acknowledge and recognize that things are bad sometimes and that they feel heavy and depressing and difficult and acknowledging and giving validity to your struggles. And obviously a lot of these stories are aimed at people in the LGBT community, but it's like, the message will translate to anyone. So I think anyone who needs something that will make their pain and their suffering feel valid of their everyday pain and suffering. Because I think we are often so preoccupied with the larger horror of everything, there's so much going on that feels so heavy that I don't think that we often give ourselves grace for our actual day to day struggle. So I think that anyone who is looking for some understanding and a reminder to be good to yourself because your struggles are valid, your problems exist, it's okay to feel overwhelmed by your life. And I know that it's something as a kid I really needed, and I think a lot of kids do need that, but I also think a lot of adults need that. So I think that it's something that will resonate with a lot of people, unfortunately. I wish life was happier and I wish life felt better. And I think that the community is the point of it and that not feeling alone is the point. Not necessarily. This is going to fix your problems and make you feel happier, but just maybe it won't make you feel so othered and it won't make you feel as alone. So that's the goal.
Chris: Well, this entire horrible situation is not going to be able to burn down by itself. So I'm glad that I can do what I can to help burn everything down and start over in a better world.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Burn it down. Love that I'm telling you to go.
Chris: Burn down things, but I'm not not telling you that either.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Set some stuff on fire because Chris would play comics, told me I could set stuff on fire. So I'm going to go. I have some matches. I'm ready to go.
Chris: Yes. Let's end things on a happier note. We are both old people, I'm assuming. I know I am. Do you acknowledge the existence of Pokemon after red, blue, and yellow? Or is it the original 152? The end?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Well, for a long time I couldn't really be bothered, right? But I did get a copy of Pokemon Violet and I did spend a lot of time playing it. So it's fun. It's fun. I think we need more silly, fun things. Obviously, Psyduck is my main man always and forever, so there's really not much outside of mean. But I love Sylvion, I love Eevee and all the evolutions. I think they're all great, except for like, what a useless little cat. It's fine. I don't know, there's some great newer ones that are cute and funny. Like that bread dog, fido. That's hilarious.
Chris: I keep forgetting about that one.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): It's like I hold true what I knew when I was a kid, right? Like, I have my Pokemon card collection from when I was younger. I have a giant pile of Psyduck cards. It's truly impressive how many Psyduck cards. I have a couple of muse like the old little cuties, but I think it's so boring to say I love when they make new cute things and kids and new fans get excited about it. It's cool, I guess. I had fun playing Pokemon Violet. I used it as a way to connect with family that I don't live close to. We would drink a bottle of wine and go on raids together on Nintendo online. It was fun. So I think you find ways to be social when you don't leave your apartment. And sometimes online gaming is a fun way to connect with people that you don't get to see all the time. So the simple answer is, Psyduck is the best Pokemon. I need no other. The more complicated answer is like, it's fun. Let people enjoy things. I guess if people are having a good time and being nice to each other and finding ways to connect over shared joy, then I'm not in a bad mood about it.
Chris: I'm not hating on people who like the newer ones. I'm just old and can't learn them.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Oh, I have no idea. I'm like, what? That one that looks like a mouse? I don't know any of their names, but I know that the bread dog, I didn't know that his name was Fido because it's a pun, so I remembered it because it's and then La Chonk the pig, right? You remember the names that are funny because they're easy to remember, but it's fine. But I do like some of the new ones. I am having a good time, but also psyduck.
Chris: Yes, it has been great talking to you about all of this. If people want to hear more from you, where else can they find you? Around the Internet?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I am cereal pancake on Twitter. Like the two breakfast foods. Cereal pancake on blues guy that I promise to remember that I am. I like pancakes on Instagram. That's pretty much it for my social media. Twitter, unfortunately, is the easiest way to find me. Still. I'm trying to branch out more and get better at it. But yeah, cereal pancake on Twitter. Drop me a tweet, say hi, it's all good. Anybody has any questions about the book, DMs are open when iwithyoungcomic.com. It's over on backer kit. I think somebody just bought like a big tier because we just had a really big jump. Somebody bought Natasha's commission. So awesome. Did you do it?
Chris: It's me. You can't have it.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): It's you.
Chris: It's mine. I did.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): You literally just did this while we were talking.
Chris: It is.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): You son of a. No, thank you. That means so much. And I'll report to her who bought it and that you're not a creep. She'll like that. You never know who's commissioning you on the Internet, so it always feels a little weird when you kind of know who it is, you feel more excited about doing it. So I think knowing that it's someone that I know and that I like and is cool, I think will make her feel good. So thank you so much. I was feeling a little wild about the progress today, and logging in and seeing that jump made me feel really good. So, hey, that's really something. So I appreciate you very much. Thank you.
Chris: Well, as we're recording this, it needs to get six more percent so we can have the funny Internet number.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Oh, I love the funny Internet number. Let's go.
Chris: Editor chris is breaking in here again to say that sadly, you cannot see the funny Internet number because the campaign has gotten to what I'm going to call 75% because I don't want to think in decimals with that. Let's go back and finish this one up. Let's go. Whoever makes the fuddy Internet number happen get a screenshot.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Yes. Trust me, I'm refreshing every 2 seconds, so I'm sure I'll be able to get it. It'll be all right. But thank you. So, like, really thank you.
Chris: Wells. Am I going to get natasha to do gwen and Jess eating corn dogs and waffles because DC and Marvel won't make the crossover happen?
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): I love this so much. I'm so happy. Thank you. That means so much to me. I really appreciate, like, making this book will be the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I'm not even just saying, like, I truly mean it. I'm attaching way too much of my personal value and happiness to being able to make this book. I readily admit it. I'm in therapy. It's fine. But truly making this will mean the absolute world to me. So I hope that more people will check it out and support it. And I believe in it. I know we can get there, and I can't wait to make the best book possible and to make everybody proud.
Chris: Well, I think you're going to do that. Spoiler alert. It's going to be good.
Lauren (Legends of SHIELD): Fingers crossed.
Chris: 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 know Twitter and blue sky and some other ones that technically exist, but I keep forgetting to use. Speaking of Twitter and blue sky, there is a link down here in the show notes to a thread on each of them where you can enter a giveaway to win definitely a copy of the color of always and sharp wit and the company of women. But after this one funds because I have full faith that it will fund, you can also win a copy of when I was young. So that's two books, definitely three books in this world where I am choosing to decide that we live in and all you have to do is follow the link to the thread that is down in the show notes and reply to the question in that thread. Or you can leave a comment over on the website playcomics.com on the post for this episode and tell me which stories you're looking forward to. Fortunately, this giveaway is us only because of shipping costs and stuff. Other than that, don't be a dick. But I'm assuming that if you're listening to this episode, you're not a dick anyway, so hopefully we've got that part covered. If you want to help support the show, make sure that people know about this book. When I was young, that is more important than my show right now. But after you've done that, if you want to help support the show, just make sure people hear it. Spread this episode around. I'm sure, you know, people who need to see this book one way or, you know, let them listen to this episode so that they know the book exists and hopefully we can help it get funded and get some money to the Trevor project and all that fun stuff that this is going to do. Play Comics is a part of the Gunnegeek.com network, which is home to a bunch of other wonderful shows such as Legends of SHield, where we are going to soon. When we come back, be talking about X Men 97 and I am really excited for that. Everybody on the show is really excited for that. I can't wait. If you like the music that I'm really talking on top of right now, head on over to Soundcloud.com. Best day to check out best day's music, but most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics and go find yourself a new favorite character. You.