The Short Box: A Comic Book Talk Show Ep. #390:
May's PREVIEWS Catalog & Creating The Culture w/ Troy-Jeffrey Allen
[00:00:00] Intro music plays
[00:01:13] Badr: Yoo, Short Box Nation! Welcome back to the podcast. How's everyone doing? Are you guys feeling good? You guys feeling great? I know I'm in a good mood. It's nice to be back. If you're new to the show, welcome. This is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about comic books and pop culture inspired by them.
[00:01:34] Badr: My name is Boder and this is episode three 90. Now you got a preview of what you're in for today, a couple of seconds ago, which I guarantee it's gonna be another excellent conversation about comic books. But if you're unfamiliar for the voice you heard in the intro, that was none other than Troy, Jeffrey Allen, who is not only the editor and content manager for previous world, but he's also a founder and writer at Rex Coast Studios, a comic studio that's turned out some amazing comic books, some award-winning independent comics at that.
[00:02:03] Badr: And this isn't Troy's first short box rodeo either. Eagle Eared listeners and short box Historians will recognize the name and the voice from his first appearance on the show way back in episode three 19 when he was on the show to promote his then MF Doom Tribute Comic. All caps along with talking about the perks of working for Diamond.
[00:02:23] Badr: Well, no surprise here, but he's back this week because the man, he's still as busy as ever. He don't, he don't sleep. He don't rest. I think he's part robot or something. He's got new projects. He's still doing great things at previews, and he's been dying to share what's in the future for Rex Studio and how a new initiative of theirs is changing the way they make comics.
[00:02:41] Badr: It's pretty exciting stuff if I do say so myself. And we're gonna get to all of that, right? Not now, but shortly after. We pay some podcast bills. That's right. We gotta give thanks to the people that help us keep the lights on. People like our incredible sponsor, Gotham City Limit Jacksonville's premier location for comic books, collectibles, toys, and so much more.
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[00:04:25] Badr: You can sign up for a month to see if it's a good fit for you and if not all good cancel, but we'd appreciate it and thanks again to everyone supporting us already. All right, with that out the way we can really get this show started, let's set the stage for today's guest of honor. He's a self-described human form of previous world.
[00:04:41] Badr: He hosts several comic centric shows on the previous world YouTube channel, including the weekly Wednesday show Preview World Weekly, the monthly book club, the panel, and he does a majority of the creator interviews on the platform. And when he is not talking about comics, he's walking the walk. All right.
[00:04:58] Badr: He's personally making them, or should I say, he's creating the culture. He's a co-founder and writer at Rexel Comics. The studio behind titles such as Fight of the Century. Black is Noir and Public Enemies, apocalypse 91. But most importantly, he's someone I consider a colleague and someone that's doing great things in the industry.
[00:05:15] Badr: Short Box Nation. Without further ado, let's welcome Troy. Jeffrey Allen. Back to the show. What's up, Troy? Welcome back. Fuck. What's up? Nice to have you back, dude.
[00:05:25] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Thank you. It's been a minute. It
[00:05:28] Badr: has, man. It has indeed. What's been new since we last spoke? Oh,
[00:05:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: man. Um, we talked, I wanna say in the pandemic, right?
[00:05:38] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Didn't we talk
[00:05:38] Badr: in the pandemic? We talked, uh, our episode was, I I got it pulled up right here. I I did. Okay. I had to get all short box historian. Go to the archives. Yeah. Yeah. Your first appearance was episode three 19, which I think we recorded April, 2021. So, okay. Uh, two years ago. A little more than serious.
[00:05:54] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: So depending on who you asked the pandemic was over or we still in depending on what part of the country is. Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, uh, yeah, it's been a minute and like I'm glad I got to do this again cause I had a lot of fun talking to you guys and we had you guys on previous work weekly.
[00:06:10] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. We talked about uh, it was a good intros. Yeah. Which is a lot of fun. So definitely need to do that again For
[00:06:15] Badr: sure. Yeah, dude, it was a good trade off, man. I had a, um, I know me and C had a good time, uh, on, on previous world, and I know c uh, C wanted to be here, but we're recording on, you know, on on, on Mother's Day of all days and, you know, he's a new daddy, right?
[00:06:28] Badr: So, you know, he's celebrating accordingly. Oh, okay. Big shout us to Sarah. Happy Mother's Day. To all the moms out there. Mm-hmm. Happy birthday.
[00:06:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I mean, happy Mother's Day. Jesus forever,
[00:06:39] Badr: Troy, when we last talked, you know, two, two years ago, then largely in part two, you know, introduce you, which you do with previous world and really kind of like, uh, uh, kind of get some behind the scenes look into like the previous world operation and Diamond and all that.
[00:06:53] Badr: But it was also to, uh, promote your MF Doom tribute comic at the time. Yeah. Uh, all caps. Um, how was the reception to that? I mean, did, did that lead to any new opportunities? I, I know I enjoyed the hell out of all caps. I know I shared it on our socials, but, um, how, how did everything turn out for that. Um,
[00:07:10] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: yeah, like it's actually got a second life right now on YouTube.
[00:07:13] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It's kind of interesting what has happened recently. The motion comic, right? Yeah, like, uh, my buddy John, uh, BJO Holmes, like, he, uh, he's a filmmaker like me and like, but he's further along than I am and he's got, definitely has a history with the, like at video editing that like I am not even close to. And so he kind of saw the comic and was sort of like, Hey, you want me to want me to do something with this?
[00:07:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I was like, yeah, whatever you, if you want to go ahead, man. Like, I don't know what that would look like. And he was like, well, what songs do you want me to use? And so I gave him like, Like maybe two or three suggestions. And then he told me, he's like, you know what? I don't really know that much about MF Doom.
[00:07:52] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I was like, oh, okay. And he, I was like, well, he's like, I'm a dive in. I'm gonna find some stuff that really works for the video, the music selections he made for that video. Like he's definitely a fan now. And the music selections he made for that video are actually kind of like spot on. There's almost something sub a subtext to each song that he kind of, when he navigates through the motion comic.
[00:08:12] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, but yeah, we, um, that Motion Comic's been up for a while too. That motion comic went up in 2021, but it's only about April, this past April that like, it just kind of blew up all, all, all of a sudden and like, yeah, it's just begun a lot of traction. I did repost it, uh, cuz it used to be on my page and then I posted it to, uh, a reco.
[00:08:32] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Proper com reco comics, YouTube page, and people have jumped all over it, man. It's like at 34,000 views and everybody seems to love it. So that's been really cool. Dude, it's not
[00:08:41] Badr: surprising man. It, it's, it's solid. Like the, the com the, the comic itself was, was excellent. I, I, I love the artwork. I, I loved how, how concise it was, like it was short, sweet, but like, I felt like had a lot of hearts to it.
[00:08:54] Badr: I could tell that like it was coming from Oh yeah. You know, someone that appreciated MF doom and, and what he put into the world. Uh, so when I seen the motion comic, I was like, well, this is just, you know, uh, the cherry on top, right? Like this is just even more, uh, more goodness to it. I don't know if that, if there's a direct correlation, you tell me if I'm wrong, but I understand that you went from paying homage to a rap legend that we, you know, unfortunately lost like way too soon to eventually being able to team up with a rap pioneer that's still, you know, that's still around, still respectively.
[00:09:25] Badr: Yeah. Yeah. Um, it all caps lead to working with Chuck D on, on that, um, apocalypse 91 Revolution never sleeps, uh, comic.
[00:09:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. Yeah, it actually did. Um, I had been bugging, uh, this Marvel editor named Chris Robinson. For about three or four years about putting me onto something at Marvel. And um, you know, unfortunately he left the company, but he ended up taking up, taking up, um, time at uh, Z two comics for a period before making venture, not making his own stuff.
[00:09:57] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And, you know, he finally kind of came, came circled back and I think it was, and I know for a fact it was cause of the NF Doom comic. Oh, cool. Um, he had kind, he like kind of circled back to me and was like, Hey, you like rapping shit, right. Boy
[00:10:10] Badr: do I.
[00:10:11] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You're right. Yeah. Yeah. Like he was, yeah, I mean, actually truthfully, it was more along the lines of, I think it was more along the lines of like, oh, okay, Troy might know like quite a bit about hip hop.
[00:10:19] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. Like, let me ask him to let me anchor him into this. And also I think the timing of just doing that and doing and doing a Public Enemy book was also really good too. Yeah. And sure enough, like he pulled me into this Chuck D project called, uh, apocalypse 91 Revolution Never Sleeps, which is supposed to be a sort of visual representation of the Public Enemy album, APO A Public, the Public Enemy album, apocalypse 91.
[00:10:44] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And so it's an anthology series. And so I was kind of tasked with being the framing device for this anthology. Oh, cool. Um, which was kind of right up my alley because, uh, um, I got to implement a DJ character who kind of really just sets the tone for the entire book. Oh, like a
[00:11:01] Badr: a, so the equivalent, like a Crip keeper, right?
[00:11:03] Badr: Like the just keeps the train moving. Exactly.
[00:11:05] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: A dj. Exactly. Yeah.
[00:11:06] Badr: Damn. That is, yeah. Yeah. That's a dope concept. A DJ kind of telling this, this anthology story of a public enemy kind of spiritual comic, right? Yeah.
[00:11:14] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. That's cool. And you know, the, that the, these things were like little, these were like, they were like little notes from Chuck D about what he wanted this intro to be.
[00:11:21] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And, you know, his, uh, his perspective was he wanted a doctor. He wanted to take place in Los Angeles. Um, and, uh, he wanted there to be some sort of segue to get us to the first story, the, the collection of stories that we're about to see in this book. And, you know, I kind of, I was beating my head up against the wall for a while cause I was like a doctor, how do I swing that?
[00:11:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know what I mean? And I had, there was a very brief period where I had this thing about like, you know, uh, uh, an ER doctor and like some kid shows up and. Shows up in, in the ER and he's all shot up or whatever. It was a little too John Singleton, like, you know what I mean? And I'm just, I'm just not that guy.
[00:12:01] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I gotta be honest. Like I li like, watching that stuff is one thing, but like, yeah, I just, I just didn't have it in me to tell that type of story. And then it occurred to me, I was like, wait a minute, you can get a doctorate music. So went in that direction instead. And I decided to go with this, uh, this DJ in this Los Angeles, uh, radio station, uh, in, in a, in a very black community in Los Angeles.
[00:12:22] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And kind of like that became the frantic framing device, which was kind of fun to
[00:12:25] Badr: do. So did you have direct, I guess, uh, uh, communication with, with Chuck D? Like were you guys trading emails? Did you ever hop on a call or anything? I actually
[00:12:34] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: missed, I actually missed the phone call with Chuck D Oh no, it is a true story.
[00:12:41] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I like, they made an appointment with me and I had this moment, uh, where I. I think I thought it was at a different time. And I was literally driving into work. I was going through Diamond and Chris called me and he was like, Hey, what's up? And I was like, what? What are you talking about? And he was like, Oh well, the meeting with Chuck and I was like, ah, shit.
[00:13:05] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah, you set up Chuck d i, I guess I did Man In,
[00:13:09] Badr: in a strange way. That's kind of a flex in its own
[00:13:12] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: way. Oh man. So, you know, I will say this though, his people, and you know, I don't know if he run how much he posts to his, uh, social media and the public enemy social media, but his people have been very supportive of my promotion in particular of the book itself, which is I'm very grateful for.
[00:13:27] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: So, you know who so ho so it doesn't seem like any, any bad blood. That's cool. You know, somewhere, Chuck T's like, fuck that guy. Nah, he do, he probably doesn't say that at all.
[00:13:37] Badr: Troy, you have such an interesting, like, just career, man. I, I was, when I was listening back to the, the first episode and just hearing all the different jobs you took prior to even, you know, uh, uh, uh, landing your role at Diamond and doing all the things that you do at previews.
[00:13:51] Badr: Um, You're definitely like a, a, you know, a joke about it in the intro, but you're definitely someone that is, is about it. You, right? Like you, you spend a ma mass majority of time talking about comics, interviewing creators, but your comic creator side, man, it, it's definitely a career. I would, if I was to ever dive into that world, I would love to have a career like yours where, you know, you're, you're integrating your love, uh, of, of music and hip hop into like the best visual medium out there.
[00:14:19] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You know, that's, that's one of those things where it's kind of a difficult thing to navigate, right? Because, you know, with comics, you know, So, okay. So like you look at music. You look at music, right. And how it's implemented in comics. Right. And sometimes you'll get like notes from a song mm-hmm. That kind of flow through the panel as a character's listening to it, or even lyrics from a song flowing through the panel as a character listening to it.
[00:14:41] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And so I've been really trying to figure out how to utilize this medium visually in a better way than just that. Like, you know what I mean? And I'm still trying to figure that out to be, to be real with you. But I think maybe the, one of the things I have kind of zeroed in on was, you know, if I can get.
[00:15:00] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: That energy from a particular song into the page. Hmm. Then, then maybe that's the first part of it, you know? Um, like with the Apocalypse 91, the character's very literally telling you what the album is about. Right. And from, but at the same time, I'm listening to the album as I'm, as I was writing this, so that energy is kind of playing into the panel itself.
[00:15:24] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like he's angry and he's hyped because the, the album is angry and it's, it's hyped, you know? So, you know, hopefully that comes across for sure. And, and with MF Doom, like, yeah, it was the same thing. It was just sort of like, you know, we made a big stink about, uh, uh, trying to get the, trying to get the sound of.
[00:15:45] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Try to get the sound of the mf, the MF Doom sound on paper. Right? And so what does that look like? And Smack did a great job, and I gave him so many notes and so many Easter eggs that like input into every page, but really just kind of was like, okay, what does the MF Doom sound like? MF doom. What does the MF Doom sound look like?
[00:16:02] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: In, in my mind, it was sort of like, well, it's like a Saturday morning cartoon on weed. Like that's where I'm coming from with it, you know? So let's just just just go there, like, you know. So yeah, it's a difficult thing and I'm still trying to fi figure out ways. I got another project coming up, uh, hopefully in 2024, actually, no, I'm gonna say in 2024.
[00:16:22] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: There we go. Hopefully manifest. Um, yeah, absolutely. Um, that hopefully will just be a culmination of these things as well. I've always written to music, I've always plotted to music. Mm-hmm. Um, I joke that like, uh, Uh, I am a soundtrack fiend. I have soundtracks in movies I've never seen, like, you know, original scores.
[00:16:41] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. Um, but they helped me find the flow of a scene when I'm trying to build my story. Um, I just saw a Han Zimmer tribute a few weeks ago, and then the week, a few weeks before that I saw, um, the Batman with the live orchestra. So I'm, I'm very much big on, you know, trying to bring that sound to the page, you know?
[00:16:59] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah.
[00:17:00] Badr: Troy, I have, um, Friday night I went to go see a cowboy bebo. Big band. Ooh. So they were performing all the cowboy bbo, uh, music on stage. It was a 10 piece orchestra. They had, um, a projector in the back playing certain scenes, and it was such an awesome experience. They would play a little bit of like the actual, uh, um, uh, show on the, on the projector so that they'd be quiet, let a scene play out, and then when it would be time to like play the music, it would mute.
[00:17:28] Badr: They'd keep the, the captions on and they would play the soundtrack, uh, or the score for that particular scene. And sometimes they would kind of cut it up. Uh, what, what do they call, like, Avis? Like you remember the old, uh, Avis on like YouTube. You'd fight all, like, you know, that's where I heard like Papa Roach, you know, for, you know, first time
[00:17:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: shit was behind like Lincoln, Lincoln Park, the dragon balls in.
[00:17:46] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:17:48] Badr: So, you know, sometimes they would cut up certain scenes and whatnot. Dude, it was, it was awesome. So I, I completely understand like the, um, that experience and that joy of like, using soundtracks to, um, You know, to do what you do, man, uh, talk about one hell of a, a puzzle to solve. Like, it almost sounds like a oxymoron, what you said.
[00:18:07] Badr: What does MF Doom sound like, right? Like sound and, and visual representation. Um, I think that's an interesting line to like straddle. Yeah. And
[00:18:17] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I mean, that's always been the case. Like I, but my book Fighter of Century, like, you know, I was listening to Low Wing Goranson and his Creed soundtrack and the Bill Conti rocky soundtrack and you know, cuz it's a fight comic, you know, and so how does that flow and what does that feel like?
[00:18:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And trying to translate that. And I think, you know, the people I've sent it to, they are responding to that cuz they can see the momentum of that first issue, which
[00:18:40] Badr: is really nice. That's cool. Tell me if you're familiar with this comic. Probably so. Cause I think it landed on the cover of one of, um, either last month or the month prior, uh, previous catalog.
[00:18:49] Badr: But, uh, have you heard of Deep Cuts from, uh, image Comics? It's written by Joe Clark, Kyle Higgins. It's a, I think it's a six issue, uh, miniseries. Yeah. It's like jazz focus. Every issue tells a different Yes. Story of jazz and whatnot. Uhhuh, that first issue came out, um, April 26th. I picked it up. Um, and, and it was also recommended, recommended it by a couple of friends.
[00:19:12] Badr: They know who they are. And dude, I, I gotta recommend, I, I gotta say, you know, with, with you having a knack for music and, and bringing, uh, and using that as a springboard for creating comics, I think you would enjoy deep cuts, big time. Like, okay, it's probably one of the best comics. Utilizing and telling a story about like, music and incorporating music.
[00:19:33] Badr: Hell, they got a, a, a music sheet at the end of the comic itself. It's awesome. Awesome, man.
[00:19:37] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I'll check it out. Actually, I just pulled it up cuz I was curious. I, I've seen the cover for this and I remember this, the promotion for this, so yeah, I'll check this out because, you know, it's, you know, it's one of those things where like, you know, you want to kind of find a new angle, but you also wanna steal from the best.
[00:19:49] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah, yeah. You know, there's also that aspect, there's a book right now called Ninja Funk. Oh yeah. Whatnot, fun, massive and whatnot. Yeah. Um, and they did something that I was like, why didn't I think of this? Which is that like, it was about a bunch of DJs that are trying to save the universe from like bad music or something like that.
[00:20:08] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It's, it's a, it is a, it's a fun, fun book. Um, but they do this thing where like, uh, when they're about to fight somebody or whatever, they'll lay, uh, they'll, you'll see a character lay a track down and there's a little QR code inside the, the record label. And so you scan the QR code and then it takes you to.
[00:20:28] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like original mu original music by the, by the group Ninja Funk. And it's just really cool because it's making the comic experience fully interactive. Yeah. You know, and like the comic book experience is interactive. And I think that's one of the great things about it is like you're, you're, as a reader, you're dictating the flow of it.
[00:20:45] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You're turning the pages like, you know, the suspense is in your hand, but here's another wrinkle to this where it's like, okay, now you can find the music that goes to this moment in the comic as well, which I think is really
[00:20:56] Badr: awesome. That's cool. I'm, I'm a sucker for utilizing, or incorporating like, modern technology with the reading experience and that just remind, reminded me of, um, When Marvel had like their Marvel ar ar Yeah, I was thinking about that too.
[00:21:10] Badr: Yeah. Technology where like, you would kind of stop, I don't remember if it was a QR code, but it had like a little indicator like, Hey, scan this. Yeah. Panel with your phone, with the app. And uh, I, I would have a blast just like scanning it and you know, if it was like a planet exploding, it would be like a motion comic frame of it.
[00:21:25] Badr: You might get a vo. Mm-hmm. Uh, but I have to check out Ninja Funk. I didn't know, I didn't know about the QR coder or music aspect, but yeah, that sounds right up my alley. That's
[00:21:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: also something else in my polo, like, I, like, I thoroughly enjoy that book. It's just a fun book. It looks cool too. Yeah. Troy, well what's your,
[00:21:39] Badr: uh, what's your comic shop?
[00:21:41] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Uh, so I'm in between two stores technically. So I kind of go to, I go to a place called Alliance Comics and Games, which is in downtown Silver Spring. Okay. And then I also go to Third Eye, which is in Annapolis, and both of them are like 30 minutes in, in, in opposite direction. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I kind of like hop around between those two.
[00:21:57] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: But if I'm in a new, if I'm in a new city, chances are I will go check
[00:22:01] Badr: out a comic shop always if I have time. That is always number one on my list. Anytime I go on vacation, I'm visiting, I'm, you know, stopping over in a city. It's hit a comic shop and then hit a record store. Those are my always go-to like, you know, visits, um, and whatnot with you visiting like two shops and then also working for a company that probably safe to say these two shops are closely like in business with.
[00:22:25] Badr: I guess I'm curious if you've ever gotten like an earful, maybe wrongfully at that, you know, like people hear you work for Diamond or see that, you know, you're the face of, of, of previews and you know, the, the correlation there. Have you ever just like been wrongfully like accused of something that, you know, uh, on the business side or delivery, you know, a shop Yes.
[00:22:44] Badr: Or delivery, you know, messed up or something like that and they're Yeah. Giving you an earful, like, well, diamond does this and that. How could you guys do that? Have you ever just like gotten a, a earful like that? Wrongfully? Oh
[00:22:53] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: yeah. Just, just not, not directly at me, but just recently as last week. Like, uh, you know, not like indirectly.
[00:23:03] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Is that where the tough skin comes from, Troy? Yeah. You know, indirectly, like, yeah, like, I won't even get into it cause it's still kind of fresh, I guess. But, but, uh, you know, look, there's a lot of, you know, There's a lot of pe I I, you know, I'm gonna go back to my comment about, you know, not working for Amazon.
[00:23:18] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: There's a lot of people that want to view Diamond as this evil corporate overlord. And like, even though the, the, the distribution field is pretty wide right now, right? Oh yeah. Big company. Um, but in actuality it's a family company, right? It's a family-owned company and they definitely run it like a family owned company.
[00:23:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know, you know, there aren't barriers between me and, you know, uh, people, people on the executive level of this, in of this company as well. And, you know, people are pretty open. People are, a lot of the people who work there are fans of comics or fans of sci-fi, fantasy, all that stuff. Um, it's very easy to kind of have a, a business meeting that kind of gets derailed into like, did you see Mandalorian this week?
[00:23:58] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know, so
[00:24:00] Badr: I imagine the, the water cooler talks. At Diamond are a lot more fun than my day job where it's, you know, just random shit. I would love to be talking about men to learn, people that know what's
[00:24:11] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: going on, what's going on. Right. And I mean like, you know, I, look, I, when I left the comic shop in early two thousands, I was like, I'm gonna go into the corporate world.
[00:24:19] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I worked at museums mm-hmm. In Washington, DC for a few years. Um, and you know, I mean that was a good experience cuz it was, it was my marketing. It was how it got into marketing. Right. Uh, but at the same time, um, you know, there's, it's, it's a different mindset, you know, and a lot of those people are there because, not necessarily because they love what they do.
[00:24:39] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I would much rather enjoy what I do and do something that's truthfully not important. If that, if that makes sense. Like, I'd much rather have a job where I'm doing something that's fun for people and a distraction for people than like, you know, I don't know, deciding the fate of the healthcare system in America.
[00:24:55] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know what I mean? I just, I don't wanna do that. Like I shouldn't be the guy to make those decisions. Well said.
[00:25:02] Badr: So Troy, one of the projects, uh, you, you know, not like you need more projects to work on, but you know, you're a mad man. You're a mad man. One of the projects, I'm a mad man. One of the new projects you're working on is this, uh, create the Culture Initiative.
[00:25:14] Badr: Watch. I, yes. Which I understand is meant to be more than just a hashtag. Uh, I I see That's described as it's the threat of a good time and it has obviously direct ties into Rex's mission, to cr uh, to continually curate colorful, explosive world championship storytelling across Subgenres. Can you give us more context into the create the culture tag and, and, and how it stands on its own?
[00:25:37] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: So, you know, this is actually giving what we're doing at reco a very distinct personality. That's really what it boils down to. Um, you know, one thing I have noticed that a lot of common companies will go, okay, we're gonna do, they have a mission statement, right? And the mission statement is the same as the other company's mission statement or the mission statement's.
[00:25:55] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Very vague. Like, you know, um, you know, I talked about a few years ago, the mission statement was diversity, equity, inclusion, which is great, right? Uh, but at the same time, you know, once it kind of gets into this space where people are doing it from a corporate perspective, it becomes less authentic, right?
[00:26:13] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And so, you know, we kind of started, started reco truthfully. Right before the whole diversity, equity, inclusion thing really took a hold of the comic industry. Hmm. And so our big brain idea was, Hey, we're gonna do comics with people of color. That was our big idea in 2015. Right. Because groundbreaking then.
[00:26:34] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Right. And we were like geniuses. We were like, this is great. No one's doing this. And then literally by the end of 2016, everybody was doing it.
[00:26:44] Badr: Yeah. All the big publishers were looking like a Benetton ad.
[00:26:47] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Right. Exactly. Right. And then all of a sudden it's like, you know, Uh, you know, Pepsi's doing it. It's no, yeah.
[00:26:52] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It wasn't even comics. It was like, Pepsi's doing it, Marvel's doing it. Disney's doing it was like, it was like everybody, and you know, we kind of just quietly rode that way for a little bit. But the whole time, in my back of my mind, I was like, I don't, I don't want to go, I don't want this to be our route because I'm seeing, truthfully, a lot of companies pop up and disappear.
[00:27:11] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Mm-hmm. And I'm seeing some companies ride this wave out. But then you look at the books that are being produced by these people and it's like, okay, black character on the cover, but white people mind the scenes. Hmm. Like, you know, like making the comment. And so, you know, it really, and I've gotten flack for this, but like, I really have an issue with, uh, inauthentic attempts at this.
[00:27:30] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And it's not to say that, uh, people of color have to always write people of color or white people can't write people of color. That's absolutely not true. You know? Um, but. You know, it kind of transitioned into, okay, what's the other extension of this? And it was like, okay, well what are your personal tastes?
[00:27:48] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Maybe we can start injecting that into the comic. And there is still an angle there that involves diversity, right? And so we started, I started looking at the things that I personally have an affinity for, which is street art, street culture, um, graffiti, uh, you know, sticker culture, um, all that stuff, right?
[00:28:09] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And like that really kind of became the genesis for this create the culture thing. Now that is to say that at the end of the day, It could mean whatever you want it to be. Hmm. Right. Um, that could be create the culture in your office environment. It could be create the culture in school. It could be create the culture at home.
[00:28:26] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It could be create the culture in your studio, whatever you need it to be. Right. Um, but for us it was a transition out of trying to, uh, being like, it was a transition out of having the exact same conversations as everybody else, because we kind of kept hitting this point where people would ask us like, well, what's it like to be a black person in comics?
[00:28:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And it was just sort of like, everybody asks us that and it's like, I'm tired of that conversation, man. Like, it's just, it just kind of got old, you know? Yeah. And it, and it wasn't about the work. And that was the thing I think that really bugged me about a lot of this is like, okay, I appreciate you supporting us because of this thing, you know, because of this, this notion, this ideology, but.
[00:29:04] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You're not talking about the comic at all. You know, you're not talking about the thing I spent most of my work, most of my time working on, which is the book itself, you know? And so I've always had this kind of concept of that like, you know, maybe diversity, equity, inclusion isn't really the answer necessarily, but it's culture and that culture is inviting.
[00:29:24] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And culture is something that kind of brings people into the conversation instead of, uh, creating walls around it. Right. And so I've been trying to play, I've been playing with that idea for quite a while, and probably since 2017 when I realized everyone was doing, you know, the other thing. And, um, I kind of hit a point where I was like, you know, yeah, culture, culture does a lot, it does a lot of legwork.
[00:29:48] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And once you ingratiate yourself to the culture, if you're an outsider looking in, if you ingra ingratiate yourself from this culture, if you just shut up and listen and like, understand why people do things in certain cultures, and it could be anything from like, you know, it could be Islamic, it could be, you know, graffiti, it could be sneaker culture, it could be any of those things.
[00:30:07] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: But once you understand why people do it, that's, that's the moment that like, you know, it becomes a lightning rod. That's the moment that it becomes something that like we could all share a conversation with and have a real meaningful conversation with. And so that was kind of like, That was ultimately the answer for Word.
[00:30:25] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: But again, you know, that was me finding the inroads to making that pivot for Rex Co. Uh, but ultimately create the culture is whatever you need it to be, wherever you need it to be.
[00:30:36] Badr: Wow. So it's not so much so a, cuz at first I was like, okay, is it, is it a product? Is it gonna be a line of series, a line of books?
[00:30:44] Badr: But it sounds like it is a refocus and, and a uh, I won't even say rebrand cuz you know, it's not like you guys are rebranding anything that, uh, at reco in particular, but a refocus for the mission that you guys are going after. But maybe even, uh, more so a, a refocus and redirect for outsiders looking in.
[00:31:03] Badr: It doesn't sound like you guys are changing what you're doing at reco, uh, in, in any, any major way. But maybe for outside looking in now they've got something, you know, tangible, uh, to know what you guys are about outside of like the diversity and inclusion. Cause that's a given, right? It's like they're Right.
[00:31:19] Badr: Exactly. That is, that is a given. This is the mission right here. And I, I do like that. Um, I don't know. It's, it's concise man. Create the culture is, is really concise, right? I
[00:31:28] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: mean, it's, it's kind of, it's very divi. It's very decisive. Like, it's very much like, this is what we're trying to do here is like we want to create the conversation.
[00:31:36] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You know, like I said, we were having these interviews and everybody was asking was the conversation had been created for us, right? And we're like, no, no, no, no. We're gonna create the conversation around our product. That's what we're going to do, you know? And like, you know, like it's not a brand, you know, it's not a logo.
[00:31:51] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Uh, it's, you know, or whatever, you know, helps commod artistic effort. Like, you know what I mean? It's not any of those things. I don't want anything to do with that. This is not meant to be a corporate spiel. That's not the angle I'm going for. Like, you know, it's, you know, The bomb is just the, the, the, the create, the culture image is a bomb, which is supposed to be ironic, right?
[00:32:11] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, but that's also to kind of indicate, Hey, at any time we can switch this shit up on you guys. Hmm. You know what I mean? Like, it can be this right now, but at the end of the day, we're trying to dictate the conversation that we want to have, you know? So, you know, there's a little bit of discomfort that I think is okay here, you know, and, uh, there's definitely a graffiti slant to it.
[00:32:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, because I've always been fascinated with that. Like, um, and you know, that's something that I kind of have my own personal experience with in terms of, like, I used to make sticker, like I used to take the, uh, priority mail stickers from the U S P S office and, you know, stick 'em all over the city and stuff like that.
[00:32:48] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I used to do that stuff and draw on them or whatever, sticker 'em on, man. Um, so. Yeah. Right. And so that aspect is also there as well. But you know, it's, you know, it's inviting you into the conversation and like, just kind of like, let's, let's just get it guys. Let's just, let's just have fun with this and let's do something crazy like, you know, something explosive, something that's maybe a little, uh, a little bit of vandalism, some regards.
[00:33:14] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: So yeah, I'm into that. That's where I'm at right now.
[00:33:16] Badr: So now that you've brought this idea in, in, into the world, how is that going to, I guess, uh, uh, impact or, or move Rex into the future? Like, how does that impact the, the lineup of books you guys have going on? Like, what's, what's, what is the future of Rex go looking like now that you've got, you know, this, this new initiative, this new refocus in place?
[00:33:40] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Well, you're definitely gonna see a slant towards street culture in the near future. Like that's definitely something that we're into street art. Um, you know, I already talked a lot about sneaker culture and graffiti and sticker culture and all stuff. You're gonna see a slant in that direction, and you're also going to continue to see an emphasis on music.
[00:33:58] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, the MF Doom comic really was a lightning rod for me because, like I had, like I said, I've always written to music and all in various types of music, but I would say the one staple has been movie scores and in hip hop, like that has been like the one thing that's been very consistent with me and, uh, in terms of genres of music.
[00:34:17] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And so you're gonna start seeing more of that stuff in the near future. Like we're working, I'm working more, uh, directly with John, uh, who did the MF new motion comic. And so he's got some stuff that he's chopping up for us that you'll start seeing in the near future. We have a new character named 8 0 8.
[00:34:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Who's a DJ from the future, who you'll be seeing more and more of the, in the near future as well. And she's going to be actually more, like you said before about the Apocalypse 91 character. Uh, she's gonna be our crypt keeper. She's gonna be the character who's really gonna be introducing the world of Rex Co.
[00:34:49] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Uh, and this new, uh, create the culture, uh, direction that we're going. So,
[00:34:55] Badr: dude, I'm, I'm excited, man. You guys are fulfilling a, a gap in comics that, for me personally, has me excited, like the good, the, the marriage of, you know, music, specifically hip hop, the DJ culture, graffiti and all that done right in comics.
[00:35:11] Badr: And I think that's what made. The all caps comic, you know, one of my favorite recent projects and one of my favorite, probably like hip hop related comic book thing. Um, I, I think that the genuineness of, of it all is very apparent in the work that you guys do at Rex. It isn't just like a cash grab, it isn't like a surface level diversity.
[00:35:31] Badr: Like you, you can go into any of your titles and, and really feel like, The, um, that there's like some ooph to it. Like there's some like genuine like meat to it that you guys are about, like are, are, are about creating the culture and pushing it forward and presenting it in an honest way. So if, if this a new initiative is, is giving you a recharge as, you know, put new batteries in your back to put out more projects, like all caps and Apocalypse 91, I'm really excited to see what you guys do.
[00:35:57] Badr: Mm-hmm.
[00:35:58] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Even with, uh, fighter Century, which was like the book that like we started back in 2016, um, you're gonna see a pivot in that too, in terms of like the overall feel and style of that book. Like, it's gonna get, it's gonna be decided decisively, more like, uh, rough and ready. And like, and that's gonna be a lot of fun too.
[00:36:16] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: So,
[00:36:17] Badr: and, and is the distribution means gonna be, is is that going to, to see a change as well? Some of these past examples that we're bringing up, all caps, that was, you know, a, a digital release, it was free. Uh, and then obviously it was put on the YouTube, you know, so still kind of digital platform. And then, um, I know Fight of the Century was, was in a recent previews catalog, so that was physical, but then a pocket 91 was also physical.
[00:36:39] Badr: So I, I guess like just distribution wise, are we going to see a good blend of, of digital and, and print, or are you guys thinking something completely different?
[00:36:48] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. Actually, I will say, uh, fighter century did not make it to previews. Oh, okay. Um, and so that, that, and that's not because of previews, that's because of a whole bunch of other scenarios Okay.
[00:36:57] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Surrounding situation. But that has not deterred us from continuing making the book. Um, and so, uh, but yeah, you're gonna see a, a spread. I think that's the other part of this is like, you know, there's the, I forget who said it, but someone said that the, uh, the medium is the message. Right. And so I've been thinking real long and hard about like, okay, where does this make the most sense?
[00:37:18] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You know, um, you know, at one point in time, and I still kind of feel this way in some regard, five Century made a lot of sense for comic shops, right? Makes the sense that conventions and comic shops, um, uh, the MFM comic, because A, he had passed away. B I didn't want to, like, I saw a lot of people capitalizing on his death by just creating merchandise right away, and I didn't want to have a part of that.
[00:37:40] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, and so we made sure that it was free, it was digital online, and that you could get ahold of, you can still get ahold of it. We will send you a PDF to your email if you go to our store. Um, Uh, and so that was another avenue Apocalypse 90 do one. The avenue was dictated to me, but at the same time, you know, that's probably, you know, the book market is the best possible avenue for that, you know, and then the 8 0 8 thing, which I'm doing in the near future, uh, which is not the title of the book, but that is, that's, that's the direction we're going, um, is gonna be across a bunch of a bunch of things.
[00:38:09] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It's gonna be music videos, there's gonna be stickers, um, and there is going to be a print medium aspect of this that, uh, we'll be dropping in 2024. So, um, also at the end of the day, like, uh, I'm really big on, and I think this actually has a lot to do with a, my experience in the small press, uh, with the small press expo in the past, but also, uh, got reinvigorated by the cartoonist Kfa guys, um, which is like, you know, really kind of looking at.
[00:38:37] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: The book and the print medium, how you can utilize it to tell a story in a very specific way. You know, and that's not just in terms of what the artist is doing, but also the type of paper, you know, like, you know, how it gets to people, how it's distributed to people. Really thinking about that as well.
[00:38:52] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know, and so I'm less concerned about, you know, uh, large distribution and just kind of getting it into the hands of the people that want to see it, you know? And that is the message. So that's
[00:39:04] Badr: part of it. Troy, you're the right person to shake up the industry with some new shit, man. I mean, the position that you're in, you know, working so closely with a company like Diamond and all the things that you not only do, but you're probably exposed to.
[00:39:18] Badr: And then like your, your own background with artistically speaking to your artistic capabilities and inspirations. I think, man, uh, I'm excited to see how you bring all of that together and push things forward. Cause it sounds like you're asking the right questions of how do I really like, create the culture and, and push this medium forward.
[00:39:34] Badr: Mm-hmm. Speaking of independent, uh, publishers, I was flipping through this month's previous catalog and once again, reminded by how many indie and new publishers have entered the arena and are just getting coverage, you know, in the monthly catalog. And I tried, I tried to keep a mental count, I just lost count cause I suck at math.
[00:39:54] Badr: But the ones that I did take note of that feel fresh, exciting, and and are hungry are, you know, you're what? Not publishing, uh, Titan Comics. A Blaze, uh, a w a black mask, uh, which I'm really enjoying, uh, the stuff they're putting out on Black Mask. But you've also got companies like. Dead Good comics. Yeah.
[00:40:11] Badr: Fair Square Comics, mad Cave. And, and the list goes on and on and on. Is there any, is there any publishers, uh, any particular one or, or two or how, or however many that are either inspiring you from a creator standpoint or, or make you feel excited about being a fan and consumer of comics?
[00:40:27] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I am. I am way big on whatnot and massive whatnot slash massive publishing right now.
[00:40:32] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It sounds like the, from the sounds of things, it looks like they're gonna pivot, uh, to being massive and underneath whatnot. Um, but I am definitely like, you know, I don't know how deliberate it is, but there is a street art aspect of it that I immediately respond to. Uh, I look at something like Ninja Funk and I see that.
[00:40:49] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I look at something like Liquid Kill. I see stuff like that. And it's really exciting to see a publisher kind of. You know, getting to the comic shop space with that energy, you know, um, you know, I am one of those people. I miss Vertigo so much. Like, you know what I mean and whatnot, massive whatnot, is not like vertigo.
[00:41:08] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It's its own thing. But I do miss that sort of like, you know, left field nature of vertigo, where it's like, whoa. What is this like, you know what I mean? Marvel had that for a little bit in the early two thousands too, which is what got me back into comics as well, where it's like, you know, suddenly Grant Morrison's writing new X-Men, the ultimate is coming out and you're just like, whoa, this is not what I, what I, what I, when I parted this is not what these things were like, like, you know, about five or six years ago.
[00:41:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, and so that stuff really grabs my attention. Like that's the stuff that makes me go, okay, I'm a big proponent of comics should be a little crazy. Like this should be a little, a little, uh, off kilter and not any, and not anything like movies, not anything like comics. I'm not anything like television. It should be a little.
[00:41:54] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: A little, uh, a little edgy. It should be, it should be more than a little edgy. Truthfully. Like I'm one of those people that, you know, I look at the history of EC comics and I'm like, yes. That, like, your kids should be looking at separate heads on the new stand and just be like, oh God. And your parents should be concerned.
[00:42:12] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I like, I look at something like heavy metal and I'm like, you know, the early days of heavy metal. I'm like, yes. That, that is the type of thing that you should be getting. That's what comic should be doing. Is it like, it should not be definable by a, a movie rating system. Like, you know what I mean? It shouldn't be, uh, something that could be easily made to a TV show.
[00:42:32] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It should be left field. Uh, and I feel that from NASA for sure. Um, Um, I also like some of the stuff that a Blaze is doing. They're actually got a bunch of, uh, uh, a manga line right now that is actually really interesting. Yeah. And they're doing some really cool stuff with that. Uh, they did a book called Zombie Make Out Club, which I had never heard of, and apparently it was a web comic, but it's kind of, it was under their manga line.
[00:42:54] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, that's another one that kind of made me just kind of like go, oh, hey, what is this? That's kind of cool. I like that. And they've been doing a lot of stuff like that in general. Uh, beyond that, uh, you know, I think there's a, there's a lot of like little, little drips of interesting things there. And it's also like the, the guys who've always been doing the edgy stuff mm-hmm.
[00:43:11] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You know, and always doing the, like, explosive stuff. I mentioned Mark Miller. Mark Miller's always gonna be Mark Miller. I don't know why some of you guys want him to apologize for that. Like, if you don't like his stuff, just don't read the stuff. But for me, I love it.
[00:43:24] Badr: His stuff is, is a prime example of, look, you know, what you're getting into, all right.
[00:43:28] Badr: Yes. Like, you know. Mm-hmm. And I wanna, uh, shift gears real quick to some of the, the content and stuff that you've been putting out, um, on the previous world, uh, YouTube channel, uh, because you have had one hell of a last. Year hell, a last couple of years when it comes to being able to, you know, rub elbows and interview and talk with some of the most celebrated creators in comic books.
[00:43:53] Badr: Um, I was taking a look at the previous World YouTube channel, and I noticed that, you know, some of these interviews, uh, you've gotten a chance to talk with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Uh, Brian Michael Bindez. I think Kevin Smith was on the channel promoting his masquerade book through, uh, dark Horse recently.
[00:44:07] Badr: Yeah. And then in the latest previous catalog, uh, you guys are teasing that, uh, of Frank Miller and Dan Dio, a multi-part interview is coming here soon. Has that already been done? Have you already spoken
[00:44:19] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: to them? Yeah. Yeah, we already did that. We did that interview, uh, back in September of last year. We've been sitting on it.
[00:44:25] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Oh, wow. Um, yeah, we've been sitting on it like, uh, that was actually, that was actually a return to form for us in terms of video content because Cool, cool, cool. You know, the pandemic prevented us from doing a lot of this stuff, so it was like, alright, who can we get a Baltimore, they were at Baltimore Comic-Con, so we're like, let's get a couple people and talk to them.
[00:44:40] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: We got them and Enti and Liam Sharp, and so those are all coming up over the summer. Yeah. How
[00:44:46] Badr: did you prep for someone like Frank Miller? And Dan Dio, right? Like, people who have years of experience, years of, of content, I'm sorry, years of comics and titles and et cetera, underneath their belt. Like, you know, do you strictly focus on what they're currently doing or, or, you know, from one interview to another, Troy put me on the game, man.
[00:45:07] Badr: Like, how do you prepare for, you know, these giant comic icons and
[00:45:10] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: legends? I mean, you know, I, I'll be honest with you, man, I don't interview anyone that I'm not a fan of already. Like, that's a God honest truth. Uh, at least like when it comes to video interviews, like I, I, if I have to sit across from you and talk to you, I gotta be, I have to be genuinely engaged in what you're saying.
[00:45:27] Badr: You can't fake it neither. When it comes to video, you can't fake it. But audio, you might be able to get away with it. Right? Right. Got facial expressions. But you're right, it's a little different with video.
[00:45:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, but yeah, so with a lot of these interviews, like I wanted to interview Adam Warren, like, you know what I mean?
[00:45:41] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I wanted to interview Garis. Mm-hmm. And so that stuff, um, really boils down to like, okay. Ask them the things that you always wanted to ask them, you know, and, you know, ask them the things. And every now and then I'll ask my friends, or like people I know online, I'll be like, Hey, what would you ask this person?
[00:46:00] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, but for a lot of the times I just kind of am letting them talk and seeing what direction they go with the conversation, because ultimately they kind of tell you what they're interested in. Right? Yeah. Um, like with Miller, he is very, I mean, clearly he's interested in the craft. Like, you know, he writes, he draws, he's been doing this for a long time.
[00:46:21] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And so like, you know, this interview was for his comic publishing company, Frank Miller Inc. And so him and Danio is, uh, the publisher. Frank is also the publisher. They run the company together. Um, and so, you know, for Miller, this is one of those things where like, he's. Edit. He's, he's, he's the editor for a lot of these up and coming for artists who have been established, but also up and coming artists like Emma Kubert, who is, uh, part of the Kubert family, like, you know, with Andy, Adam, and Joe.
[00:46:51] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, she's working with Frank Miller in a comic. Um, you know, uh, uh, Philip Tan was doing the Ronan book. Um, and so they're getting direction from Frank Miller, which I imagine is really fascinating. And so that was a big question for me, which is sort of like, What's it like being an editor? Like you've, you, you're normally the writer and you know, so how does that work?
[00:47:13] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And then on the flip side to Dan, it's like, how do you edit Frank Miller and you know, editing Frank Miller? I imagine that from, after interviewing and editing. Frank Miller is like interviewing Frank Miller. You don't really do that. You just let him talk. You just let him go, man. And I mean, but that was so much fun because like I imagine he's done so many damn interviews at this point that he's just sort of like, well, you know what's interesting about this?
[00:47:36] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I'm gonna go in this direction, you know? But it's interesting to hear him talk about it cuz that is an education in itself, you know? Yeah,
[00:47:43] Badr: I'm, I'm still waiting on, I was hoping, when I did my ancestry, uh, dot com thing, I was hoping that maybe I would have some sort of correlation or ties to the Huberts, to the Cubert family.
[00:47:53] Badr: Oh, yeah. So I could find like some untapped artistic ability. Right. I feel like it's crazy how talented that family is. Yeah. You know, Emma Kubert? Uh, uh, she's the daughter of which one? Andy or an, uh,
[00:48:04] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Adam. Uh, you know, don't get me lying. I think, I wanna say Adam, but I, I can't remember her directly yet.
[00:48:10] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: She's,
[00:48:11] Badr: she's a daughter of one of those awesome as ours, right? Mm-hmm. And, you know, her abilities are awesome as well. That family is, is so talented. Mm-hmm. Um, Troy, I'm curious from the perspective of someone that has their own comic publishing company that, you know, uh, writes comics that puts them out.
[00:48:26] Badr: Has there, have you ever gotten a piece of advice or maybe like picked up on something during an interview from one of these, like, you know, awesome creators that changed the way you create comics or work in comics? Like, have you ever had just had like a, a tidbit dropped on you that like, just changed your life?
[00:48:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean this experience at, with Diamond in previous world has been kind of a dream come true in that regard. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I, I, I've gotten to talk to a lot of really great creators who I grew up on, you know? Um, and you know, I think the first of those was I did a sit down with John Romita Jr.
[00:49:03] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And, you know, his energy was great. He was just a great person to have a conversation with. He was happy to talk about things. I'm sure he's talked about a million times in some other, like medium or, or, uh, for some other interviewer. Um, and you know, it's one of those things where talking to these people who are passionate about it, right, um, kind of makes you really grateful for the experience that you're having, you know, um, for the chance to be working in this industry for the chance to be working with storytellers and people who are so highly imaginative.
[00:49:39] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I think that, like, you know, Not to drag people too much, but like, you know, you go on Twitter right. Or wherever, and you'll see a lot of common creators complaining. Right. And, you know, I understand that. I understand that. Look, compensation's not great in this industry. Yeah. Um, if you're, if you're working for one of the big two, like, you know, uh, creator rights are an issue.
[00:50:02] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I understand that. Like, you know, uh, The notion of starting some sort of, um, uh, union is probably something that's very important for people. And I don't think there's anything wrong with any of these things. Um, but it's really easy to kind of get bogged down into the, the Jack Kirby's of the world. And that's not to knock Jack Kirby, but I have noticed that people who, who love Jack Kirby have a very cynical approach, a very cynical perspective on the industry.
[00:50:31] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And it's, it's totally valid. Like, you know, we could talk about the, what, what happened to the creator as a Superman. We could talk about what happened to Bill Finger is totally valid, right? Um, but then, you know, you do that. You, you have those, you see those conversations online. It's really easy to kind of get, be like, man, comics kind of suck, don't they?
[00:50:50] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: But then here's the thing. Here's the thing, then you talk to someone like Garis and he tells you that Alan Moore told him, Hey, do these commercial projects so you can do whatever the hell you want to do. You know? And you're sort of like, oh. Okay. All right. Well, that's, that's an avenue that makes sense.
[00:51:09] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know, I, that, that makes sense to me. So you kind of have to use the system to your advantage and not be a victim of the system. Right. Um, and so I guess maybe that has been the eye-opening experience for me doing some of these interviews is that you see people who are navigating the system to their advantage because of what has happened to the bill thinkers of the world, uh, Ram.
[00:51:31] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You know, I asked him about his time at Marvel, but also time asked him about his time at Miller World and that transition, like, you know, like to being an independent creator on a book that actually blew up in the freedom of that, you know, um, Adam Warren, uh, famously, uh, you know, was, uh, went to the Cooper School and, you know, I guess his style didn't mesh with the standards of the time, and so he was kind of bummed out with it by that.
[00:51:56] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: But then he went off and made his own thing, you know, and that became his own form, form of freedom. And it's been empowered, you know, literally the book is called Empowered, you know? Um, You know, stuff like, in just so many situations like that where it's like people talking about, uh, you know, navigating the system in a, in an intelligent way.
[00:52:17] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And that has been a big thing for me. Like, I never wanted to be a starving artist. I was never interested in that. Yeah. Um, and so, uh, you know, part of the reason I even applied to Diamond in the first place was because I was like, I wanted to navigate the industry intelligently. You know, I'd heard the stories already.
[00:52:33] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I like, and I, I have been hearing more stories since then, you know, um, about like the nature of this industry when it comes to creators, but you kind of have to look at the, the sources of inspiration for the people that kind of made it out on the other side. This
[00:52:46] Badr: quote comes to mind, hearing you say that, I'm probably gonna butcher the quote, but it's something like, we can look at the past and, you know, still respect it, but it doesn't mean that we have to repeat the past.
[00:52:57] Badr: Oh yeah, absolutely. Right. I don't know. I guess, you know, success is the best form of, uh, what is it is the best form of like, you know, getting back
[00:53:04] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: at something. Yeah. Yeah. It's the best, best revenge is being successful. Yeah. Yeah. The best revenge.
[00:53:07] Badr: Absolutely. Yeah. I like that you shine a spotlight on that.
[00:53:10] Badr: I like that your inspiration comes from that side of the house. Yeah. Because it's so easy to get stuck in like, the negativity of comic books. Um, you know, it's, it's, it's historical, uh, uh, mishaps and, and downfalls to, you know, even like sometimes the, um, the fandom itself can be, uh, you know, there's definitely very negative pockets.
[00:53:27] Badr: Yeah. But there's so much to gleam and, and take away from, I think, like, you know, uh, creators that are, are working now, like you're John Armita Jrs. Right. Someone that's been in the industry for years. Yeah. That has, you know, it was probably working industry when it still wasn't, you know, Very nice to its creators, right?
[00:53:45] Badr: Yeah. Like the, maybe whatever the business contracts were still were, you know, archaic. But he is someone that, you know, has lived through so many different ages, uh, or periods of comic Renaissances, right? Like think of how much, really? Yeah. He's like, lived through and he is someone that navigated it so well, I think like, you gotta put a spotlight and champion those folks too.
[00:54:07] Badr: Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, like you have to equally put a spotlight on the positives and, and folks doing the damn thing. Yeah,
[00:54:12] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: absolutely. Um, you know, I, like, I had somebody, I actually had a, a friend of mine call me who works in comics and he was like, uh, he works at a shop. And he was like, ah, when do you know when it's time to leave?
[00:54:23] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I'm like, I mean, yeah, if, like, here's my thing, right? If I never wanna get to the point where, and this is, this is what comics film, this actually happened to me with film a little bit. I, uh, filmmaking. I never wanna get to the point that like, I dislike the filmmaking because of the interactions I've had.
[00:54:42] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I dislike the thing because of the interactions I've had in that industry, you know what I mean? And so there's always somewhere else you can go in that industry, you know, to kind of maintain the purity of the thing that you love. Um, and so I told him that and he was like, he was like, yeah, cuz I'm starting to get to that point.
[00:55:00] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I was like, I know I've been listening to your YouTube channel. You've been, you've been real salty lately. You kinda hate everything right now. I wasn't gonna say anything, but I'm glad you're realizing it. So, you know, yeah, I wanna, I wanna enjoy this. Like, you know what I mean? Like, uh, you know, there's plenty of things to be, you know, the, to be depressed about in the world.
[00:55:18] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And this is one of those things where like, I, I don't need that here. I'm not interested in that at all.
[00:55:23] Badr: There's plenty of room to switch things up to, to keep the fun in it. Oh yeah. I think is, is what we're getting at. All right. Speaking of, uh, of, of previews and everything you got going on, I wanted to shift gears and actually look through, um, a, a little bit of this month's massive, yeah.
[00:55:43] Badr: Uh, previous catalog, which I've got in physical form here. Uh, I don't think I, I don't think I have to do much explaining on what the previous catalog is, especially to, uh, patrons of this show because they know me and Drew have an ongoing monthly series of episodes. Where we flip through every month's, uh, previous catalog looking for the coolest comic toys and merch hitting comic shops.
[00:56:04] Badr: But the fact that I got Troy, the man himself on the show, I thought maybe I would do a, a mini version of that, uh, segment with Troy. Okay. And just in case someone absolutely new is joining us today, previews is your ultimate guide to comics, graphic novels and pop culture merchandise available from your local comic bookshop.
[00:56:23] Badr: I mean, this catalog is pretty pivotal to a lot of comic shops in the nation, right?
[00:56:29] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And, and also also outside of the, outside of the US too,
[00:56:32] Badr: actually. Oh, outside. So other, so comic international comic shops get the previous catalog they order from it as well. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. You learn something new even as the host.
[00:56:42] Badr: The catalog also gives you a chance to read, uh, a detailed product description and storylines for hundreds of comic books and graphic novels from the top comic publishers in the world. And the best part is that each issue includes a download code for a free digital version of not only the, um, current month previews, but also a Marvel previews as well, which is what I'm gonna be pulling up on my screen right now.
[00:57:04] Badr: So if you wanna see the things we're gonna be talking about, switch over to the video version of this episode on YouTube, which is linked in the show notes of the podcast version. So if you're on Spotify, apple Podcast, click the YouTube link. So it's a little bit of a podcast inception. A lot of like podcasts on podcast.
[00:57:20] Badr: All right. Lemme go ahead and share my screen right here. All right. Share screen. All right. So Troy, the homework assignment was, I kind of
[00:57:29] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: failed it.
[00:57:32] Badr: You failed at it cuz you've done it so much, right? It's like, it's, it's almost like when you've got like the really smart kid and like, you know, English 1 0 1 when he's like, you know, and he's bored.
[00:57:40] Badr: He's so smart. He's bored in it. That's what, that's the case here.
[00:57:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like literally, literally sounds like my, my educational experience.
[00:57:48] Badr: So the homework assignment was that each one that we were both gonna flip through this month's previous catalog, and we were gonna find three things of interest that caught our eye that, that, you know, made us stop and pause and, and share that with the listeners today.
[00:58:01] Badr: Troy, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and do your list first. You gave me three awesome choices. Yeah. So let's start off with this first one here, which was on page 13 of the digital version of previews. Uh, which is, I think the, the full solicitation is in the Marvel previews, but, uh, the previous catalog had this here, so it's blade number one.
[00:58:18] Badr: Mm-hmm. Yes. What, what is it about this one right here that caught your eye?
[00:58:21] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, number one is by Brian Edward Hill, who I think is actually, and, you know, I don't wanna put, you know, I don't want to like categorize him too much, but I'd say he's actually one of the, the better black uh, writers working comics right now.
[00:58:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, Brian Hill, uh, Is doing a Blade book, which to me sounds like perfection. It sounds like an ideal thing. He did a really cool book, uh, uh, for Kill Monger a few years ago. Um, he's also worked on shows like Astra Zeal Dead, which I love. Um, so he's no stranger to absurd horror troops. Um, and yeah, I just think this is something that's kind of long overdue.
[00:59:00] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I've been waiting for a proper blade book by a black creator for a while. And so here's my thing, right? Like, you know, I know that there's been other creators who have worked on Blade, and Blade has had a handful of, of, uh, series that have gone on for a few years, right? Um, but there's something very distinctive about Wesley Snipes playing that character.
[00:59:22] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: You know, and the level of shit talking that Wesley Snipes does in that role, right? And I'm hoping, and I'm thinking, I'm assuming, and I feel that Bryan over Hill knows this and he's really gonna tap into that. Um, so outside of him being a great writer, outside of them having a great artist on an, uh, in Elena Casa Grande, um, I'm looking forward to this new installment of Blade and I'm imagining that this is something that Marvel comics tends to lob up whatever the next iteration of the M C U is.
[00:59:52] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: So I'm assuming that that's leaning into that in some direction. I think it's a
[00:59:55] Badr: safe bet. I've joked on, on the show that you can tell what show, you know, what M c U property is gonna get announced or is close, you know, to being released by Marvel Comics. You know, what new number one did they put out?
[01:00:08] Badr: Yeah. Oh, moon Night number one. You know, they re relaunch the series. All right, well this series is coming to, you know, Disney Plus anytime soon. Right? Exactly. Yeah, you could definitely see them, uh, building the hype for Blade, uh, if they're releasing, um, a, a brand new series.
[01:00:20] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And like, I don't, you know, I don't know what the fate of the show is.
[01:00:23] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: It seems, uh, the movie actually is, it seems like it's kind of like going in a bunch of different directions now. There's a writer strike. Yeah. But regardless, I feel like this book is an indication that like Blade is clearly playing a bigger role in the MCU u I mean, in the Marvel, the Marvel six 16 proper, he's an Avenger now.
[01:00:39] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: He's been featured in Jason Air's Avengers book quite a bit. Um, he's got a daughter now, which I'm a little concerned might be the direction of the movie. Cause I don't know historically when they introduce a, a, a a, a child late in the game for a character. Like, you know, it's kind of, it's, you know, it's kind of the sitcom rule or it's just sort of like, uh oh, is this, is this the last days of this thing?
[01:01:02] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. Uh, but we'll see. We'll see. But either way, yeah. I'm looking forward to this a lot. I think this is gonna be really, really badass.
[01:01:08] Badr: Hell yeah. All right. Let's take a look at the second item on your list, which was on page one 16. It was Berserker Poetry of Madness number one, created by, uh, Keanu Reeves, written by Steve Gross.
[01:01:21] Badr: Yeah. Illustrated by Steve as well. Yeah. The colors by the one only Dave Stewart, which I feel like when you see Dave Stewart mm-hmm. As the colorist on a title, it's a safe bet. It's like a safe investment. Yes. You know that name right? There is a product name is a quality name along with Steve Gross, obviously.
[01:01:38] Badr: Absolutely. So what, what is it about this one that, uh, caught your eye outside of the, I feel like there's a lot of obviousness to it, but Right. Hit
[01:01:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: destroy. The cover's really cool, right? Um, so well actually, so actually I will correct you on something. I am not normally the host of the panel. Um, normally that responsibility goes to anemia, but I did end up hosting one of the episodes recently, um, uh, because she couldn't make it cuz she got sick, right?
[01:02:00] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, that said, we, and we, I mean myself, uh, Natasha slash Cannon Dox and Anemia adjusted the season finale of the panel and we did Berserker the first, uh, five or six issues of the series. Um, and this book kind of really stands itself apart at, uh, from other quote unquote vanity projects by stars. Uh, number one, because I've seen Kiana Reeves.
[01:02:25] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Talk this book up in interviews where he's supposed to be, uh, doing a press junker for his own movie, right? So that in itself is a little bit different. Like he seems to really, really dig this book and really dig the idea of comics, which I really appreciate. Um, the first fives of this book, uh, really ended on a serious cliffhanger that really left the thing wide open for a much bigger, much bolder, uh, uh, interpretations of this character.
[01:02:52] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Long story short, he's immortal. He can't die, and he is been alive for a very long time. And so this book seems to be leaning into this notion that like, yes, he has been alive for a very long time. He's seen a lot of shit, and one of those things he's seen is the ancient realm of Atlantis. And so the idea of Steve Scrolls doing a book with Keanu Reeves, uh, that's going to be going to be kind of a.
[01:03:16] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Sword and sorcery adventure tale in Atlantis with this particular character is really enticing. Um, and beyond that, I just think, uh, you know, it's cool that it's a one shot. I think that's really awesome that it's like a kind of a one and done. And I also gotta point out, this is a reunion of sorts between Keanu Reeds and Steve's Gross.
[01:03:35] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Cuz they, Steves Gross was the, uh, storyboard artist on the Matrix. That's right.
[01:03:39] Badr: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, I, I hadn't had a chance to read through the solicitation for this one, but I am completely sold. Yeah. And the fact they're respecting my time and my money with it being a one shot, a one Shotter. I love that man.
[01:03:51] Badr: Sign me the hell up. You're right. Exactly. Yep. And I wanna give a, uh, also a big shout out. Uh, you mentioned some of your co-hosts in on, on the panel, but I wanna give a big shout out to another one of your co-hosts, Ashton Greenwood. Yeah. Who. Who does the previous weekly show with you? Um, big shout out to her.
[01:04:08] Badr: She helped me get in touch with, uh, Joe Field, uh, over at Flying Colors Comics. We had such a great conversation about Free Comic Book Day a few episodes ago. So big shout out to Ashton. No,
[01:04:18] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Ashton's great. Ashton's great. You should have Ashton on. She's uh, she's a lot of fun to talk to. I talked to her every week.
[01:04:22] Badr: Yeah, I was just thinking that. I was like, you know what, Ashton would be a great guest on the show, so I'm gonna reach out to Ashton. We'll, we'll get her on the show as well. Absolutely. All right, Troy, one more for you, man. Yes. All right. So your last pick was on page two 90 and it is the Ribbon Queen that is being published by a w a studios written by Garth Enis, penciled by, is that Jason Jo Burrows, is how you say his name?
[01:04:43] Badr: Uh,
[01:04:44] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: may be Jason. Actually, that one I'm not too sure on.
[01:04:47] Badr: All right. Tell us about this one right here. Ribbon Queen, number one of eight. Um,
[01:04:50] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: you know, it's Garis like, and I have, uh, definitely a, I definitely love when he tackles horror more directly, like the, like Garis is fun when he's like playing with like the dark comedy elements, like, you know, stuff like the boys.
[01:05:05] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: But I think he really, really excels at war stories, crime stories and horror stories. And this just so happens to be at least a horror story and a crime story at the same time. It's about a serial killer and, uh, the possibility that one of the, the rescue team that, uh, that saved her, uh, saved a, saved one of the, saved a character from that serial killer might be actually the serial killer himself.
[01:05:31] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, and so, yeah, I'm very curious about the direction of this. Like I said, I edit, did a book called a Walkthrough Hell, um, that kind of reinvigorated and formed my opinion of him as a writer in terms of his ability to do. Crime and Horror, which that book definitely is. Um, you know, it's kind of easy to kind of forget that that's kind of what Preacher was in a lot of ways.
[01:05:55] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And, you know, he's done a lot of real, I mean, he's in the, some of the best Punisher stuff like ever, like for that character. And those are all like great variations of the crime genre. Um, and so it's really cool to kind of see him do something original in that space Also, Jason Burrows has been somebody I've been a big fan of since he did, uh, Simon Inspector with, uh, Warren Ellis way back when.
[01:06:17] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I've been a big fan of his, he actually did a Punisher book with Ennis not too long ago too, which was actually pretty good. So yeah, I'm just, I'm all in on this. I'm something, I'm probably gonna end up getting all eight issues every single month.
[01:06:29] Badr: Solid lineup. Look, folks, if there's anyone that you should take recommendation from when it comes to, uh, comics, it's my man Troy here, right?
[01:06:36] Badr: Because he lives and breathes the previous catalog, so fantastic lineup right there, Troy. Thank you. All right. Let me share with you mine here. I kind of diversified mine here because there's too much, there's so much cool shit in the previous. Yeah, I, I think I joked when, when we had our episode two years ago that.
[01:06:51] Badr: There was a point where I was too broke to buy, like, you know, comic books every week. That some, some months I would just buy the previews and that would kind of, uh, crave my itch for like Yeah. You know, looking at new comic books. Yeah, no, I'm
[01:07:03] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: definitely guilty of that. I've, I had those moments too in the past, so,
[01:07:07] Badr: all right.
[01:07:08] Badr: So I, I decided to go comic, uh, think I've got a book and a toy on here. So the first one, uh, that piqued my interest is this, speaking of Mark Miller right here. Mm-hmm. Uh, he's got a new, uh, limited series called Big Game Number One of Five. And it looks like it's got my guy Pep Lare, which yes. I mean, you can do no wrong with him.
[01:07:26] Badr: You know, not a lot to go off from this, um, from the cover cause it looks like they've got it all censored. Mm-hmm. But I love the solicitation being essentially like a Miller verse, uh uh, big crossover. Yeah. Big game. Pulls together. Kick Ass Kingsman nemesis. The Magic Order in all the Miller World franchises in one special event.
[01:07:48] Badr: Yo, sign me the fuck up. Yeah. Sign me up. You know? Right. Like, right. I love all those titles. Uh, you know, they all stand out on their own strongly, and, you know, if, if he's putting them all together in one book, the amount of insanity that is about to be in these five issues. Yeah.
[01:08:03] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Come on, man. I'm way into this.
[01:08:04] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Yeah. I'm, I like this idea. Again, Miller's been, he's jumped in and he's like, kind of taking the reins of the industry and saying, him and McFarland are both like, no, this is how you make comics. And I love that. Yeah. Right.
[01:08:15] Badr: This is how you make comics and this is how you sell them. Mm-hmm. You know, this is how you sell them to people, to the consumers.
[01:08:20] Badr: Yes. This is how you sell them to, to, you know, tv, uh, uh, companies and, and big companies and toys, man. Yeah. Talk about like some acute businessmen in Commonwealth. Oh, yeah. A hundred percent. And, you know, I, I'm mistaken, so they don't have the covers, um, uh, solicited, but they do have some of the interior black and white.
[01:08:37] Badr: And dude, he's a pep. Is is one of the best now He's great. Yeah. He is so good. He's great. Yeah. So that was, uh, the first one on my list. That one's got my attention big time. The next one is on page 78, which happens to be good comics for bad people, an extra fabulous collection story, art and cover by Zach m Stafford.
[01:08:59] Badr: All right. This is a perfect example of a web strip or, or a comic creator that I have followed on Instagram for years. Okay. Like I, I, I see his comics shared all the time on Instagram. They're, they're absurd, they are witty, they are funny. They're a little dark as well. Um, but the fact that he's putting them all to putting it looks, sounds like not only all the ones that you've probably seen on Instagram or on social media, but uh, some extra behind the scenes stuff and unreleased ones and one book.
[01:09:30] Badr: Is great. The fact that previous put a spotlight on this, you know, I've already pre-ordered it as well. So really looking forward to this book. Big time. I have to
[01:09:38] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: check that out. Yeah, I was curious about that base just on the title. So I'm into it.
[01:09:42] Badr: They don't tell me his, his strips always got me cracking up, man.
[01:09:45] Badr: They are. They, it's like, where the fuck does this dude get his ideas from? So I get to get all of that in a big oversized book. Hell yeah. Mm-hmm. All right. And last but not least, look, I love flipping through previews, but I especially love flipping through the toy section, section previews, all right? It's like I can't afford half this shit, but the wishlist I form in my head every month.
[01:10:05] Badr: Oh man. If it could only become reality. So I am a fucking fighting games, you know, hyper fan. I'm not very good at all of them, but I love me some good fighting games and I've seen this tech and seven devil gin figure in the toy section of previews, dude. What can I say, man, when they decide to make hyper articulate, you know, well produced, uh, figures of like fighting game characters.
[01:10:31] Badr: I'm a, I'm, I'm a suck. I'm a mark for this stuff. Yeah, absolutely. And Devil Gin is a character that has lived with me since like, you know, middle school days. I remember playing him in, uh, what was he, was it second three? I think you first seen him like Tech and three or something. But one of the coolest fucking characters out there, you're telling me he's a devil and an angel and you know, all of his like, you know, daddy issues and mom issues like Right, right.
[01:10:53] Badr: Gin is so emo. And I love it, man. So to see them come out of like this half scale or one 12 scale figure, it's supposed to be super articulate. It's from, uh, the company, um, oh, from Bluefin, which makes really good, uh, toys out there. Yeah. Yeah. I,
[01:11:09] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: you know, not, not a month goes by, like not a month. Where I don't see some sort of Capcom Street fighter Sn K figure, like in this catalog.
[01:11:21] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: And I'm like, Ooh, how much is it?
[01:11:27] Badr: Because some of them toys be, oh yeah, so awesome. And then you're like, damn. Yeah, it's gotta be a good toy cuz the price is insane. Yeah, I'm sure the articulation's crazy. Yeah, for sure. Uh, this one's not too crazy. And this one might be very tempting. This is like in that price range where're just like, oh, that, that's
[01:11:42] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: doable.
[01:11:43] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: That's doable, right? Yes. That might be doable. But then you, but then you also run into, I know, but you, you, I dunno if you can see the, the robots over my shoulder here. That's been my new thing lately. And like, I, it's a weird thing cuz I talk a lot about how I hate ai, but like I do collect these robot figures.
[01:12:01] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I got another one just sitting right here. And these are all from the freaking catalog from like, that's from Joy Toy. And Oh, yeah. And they have some stuff in the catalog every single month that makes me like, oh my God, what is this?
[01:12:14] Badr: So, yeah. Hold up man. I gotta, all right. I'm gonna go off track a little bit.
[01:12:17] Badr: Yeah. Because this is probably a perfect amalgam of some of the things we talked through. You just brought up robots. You also mentioned how much you love what not, and I'm sure that you're familiar with Oh, yeah. The Astro Botts. Astro Botts, yep. Uh, uh, series, comic series. They, I think it just came out, actually just came out this week.
[01:12:35] Badr: Yeah. And I'm having a, I'm drawing a blank on the name of the writer, but he's a big deal, you know, like, he wrote Transformers for Marvel, like huge into the, the, the robot me space. But he's, he's writing it. Yeah. Simon Frazier. Thank you. Simon Frazier. Mm-hmm. Tell me why whatnot is coming from my pockets.
[01:12:53] Badr: Yeah. Not only are they dropping the comic series, but they've got action figures for it, man. Oh, they do? Yeah. This is, uh, this is the main character Apollo.
[01:13:03] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I mean, the action figures out, cause I knew it was based on an action figure line, but I wasn't sure that, uh, they were out already or not. Well, they
[01:13:09] Badr: made their own action figure line to drop a con, you know, which is so eighties, right?
[01:13:12] Badr: Like how many eighties cartoons, you know, had a cartoon because they needed to sell the toys. So this is interesting that it's like we're going to make our own toy line and also put out a comic book. That's some to me. I love that. That line of thing. Oh yeah, absolutely. Like thinking outside of just thinking outside the borders of panels.
[01:13:29] Badr: The, the
[01:13:29] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: medium is the message, man.
[01:13:31] Badr: Yeah. Troy, I don't, you know, I don't wanna also put you in a situation where you're buying every single figure, but robots, Astro, Botts, whatnot. I mean,
[01:13:37] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: come on. Also shout, shout out to, uh, I think his name is Hector Tunic, the artist on that, because he does some amazingly detailed, uh, artwork on that book as well.
[01:13:46] Badr: That's good stuff. Yeah, I'll have to check 'em out. But folks, that is our top three, uh, picks from this month's previews catalog. If you wanna learn more about how previews came to be or the role they play, the very important role they play in comic shops and in the lives of comic Fanboy like myself.
[01:14:02] Badr: Check out Troy's first appearance and episode three 19 of the short box. I guarantee you'll have a nuis sense of appreciation for these massive, nerdy phone books. All right. We really went into more detail in that episode there. Uh, but Troy, and, and kind of getting close to, to wrapping up, I got actually one more question for before I ask for, uh, uh, any shameless plugs, but as someone so in tune and close to the pulse of the comic industry, what are your thoughts on the, the state of comics?
[01:14:30] Badr: And I know that could be a loaded question, but, but maybe you could kinda liquefy that into something short and sweet, but we've seen so much change in development since we last spoke, just like talking about our last conversation in the last two years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So much change, right? Like. Uh, this year alone, ID w's, you know, failing stock, uh, Disney, massive Disney layoffs.
[01:14:50] Badr: They also gave, you know, Ike Pearl Motor, the boot, which I think is kind of like the, the, uh, uh, wild good thing out of all that. Um, and then it feels like every month we hear about a, a new comic publishing company being formed or, or making a name for themselves. Have, have these things made you excited and optimistic, or, or are you more cautious and concerned about the direction of the industry and where it's going?
[01:15:12] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I think things are really cool right now. Um, I, you know, I think a lot of people have been making a big stick about like, oh, comic shops aren't doing this and comic shops are doing that. You know, I think you're missing the point is that now we're at a point where comics are not just one avenue. You know, I love comic shops.
[01:15:28] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I have two comic shops that I go to on a regular, like, you know what I mean? Um, but that's not to say that I don't just love comics in general. Right. And any way I can get them is a good time for me. Like, you know, so I love that I can go to a alley and get comics. I love that I can go digitally and get comics.
[01:15:46] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I love that I can go on my Facebook feed and get comics. Like, you know, I love that I can go to the comic shopping at comics and I love that there's, uh, so many different types of comics out there right now. Um, and to me that's a healthy industry. Like I think that's a very healthy industry, and I think people get too wrapped up in.
[01:16:05] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: What comic shops are doing right now. And you know, I think that like, you know, there's a lot of people that like, are going back to like, oh, the nineties were so great because of this and that and blah, blah blah. And it's like, all right. But the nineties also had a a, a breaking point, like, you know, and it came pretty fast actually, when you really think about it.
[01:16:22] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like what we were doing in the nineties was not a long-term strategy. It was a short-term strategy and there was a burst. Right. Um, and I think that what we're, what's happening in the industry right now has, is a long-term strategy that has healthier implications down the line. Hmm. Um, and I think that's really great.
[01:16:41] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, you know, everybody's like, oh, we're gonna do a show in a couple weeks about Maka versus comic books. Right. Well, here's the thing, and I mean, spoiler alert, manga are comic books like, you know, well, I've been saying that lot. Little spoiler alert there. Manga are comic books. And so if mangas healthy.
[01:16:58] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Comic books are healthy guys, and we need to get past this, like us versus them mentality. I'm kind of over it. You know, I think that this, there's, there's plenty of room here for everybody. They don't do this in movies. They don't do this in television. Like, you know, nobody's sitting there saying like, oh, you know, I don't even know sitcoms are better than, you know, law and order or something like that.
[01:17:18] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: They don't do that there, right? So, yeah. Why are we doing this here?
[01:17:22] Badr: Well said. Comic books are, are growing up and I applaud. The, the different distribution methods and you know, the different titles, the different job. It really feels like it's trying to become something for everyone. Yeah. And you, you hinted at like, you know, you can get it here, you can get it, you can get it everywhere.
[01:17:40] Badr: I feel like it's breaking its old mold like that the old mold, the old stigma that came with it. The old attitude that came with it, the expectations. There was a period where you say comics and you're, and you know, the expectation and the attitude was, you know, just your superheroes, your capes, your big two.
[01:17:56] Badr: Right. And I feel like that has changed now where. You can say comics and it might be, you know, something from image, maybe a manga, maybe a web tune or, or something like that. You know, now I feel like it's, it's cast a much wider net and to your point, I think that's a, that's definitely a lot more healthy cuz it's not so hyper focused in one environment.
[01:18:14] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Right, right. No, it isn't. And I think that that ultimately has benefits down the line. Like if you're a shop that's carrying superheroes, maga, slice of life stuff, you know? Mm-hmm. Humor, if you're carrying all these things, that's beneficial to you as well.
[01:18:28] Badr: Well said, Troy. I enjoy hearing you wax poetic about comic books in the industry.
[01:18:33] Badr: But Troy, I'm gonna have links to your socials. I have, uh, some of the comics you recommended and these shown us as well. I obviously have, uh, links to, uh, to Rex Co so that way people can stay up to date with what you got going on there. Cool. But do you care to share anything else with the listeners, any upcoming projects, special announcements, et cetera, et cetera?
[01:18:51] Badr: Shameless plug away
[01:18:53] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: please. Um, you know, I would say definitely go to rex co hyphen comics.com and check out what we've got going on. Um, we're really emphasizing giving people a premium experience. Um, and so when you order something from Rex Co, you're not just getting the thing you ordered, you're getting a story.
[01:19:09] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Um, and that comes from several directions that I think are, uh, uh, where we really kind of applaud the consumer for. Going to our website and participating in this conversation we're having, and we try to make sure that the conversation continues beyond, uh, that purchase with material. That also comes with.
[01:19:31] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Whatever you buy from our store. Um, and so I think that's something that like, you should definitely check out also, you know, like, yeah, pick up a, create the culture sticker, man. Like, you know, like pick up one from the website and you'll be pleasantly surprised by what comes with it and, you know, put it somewhere that's inconvenient for somebody, you know?
[01:19:51] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: I
[01:19:52] Badr: think I'm gonna cop a few. Yeah. Uh, put 'em around Jacks. But I think I'm a, I got a couple of, uh, comic conventions in, in my future. I think I'm gonna go ahead and do a little old school
[01:19:59] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: sticker bomb. Yeah, exactly. I mean, go for it, man. Throw it on the stop sign. Throw it on your laptop, like, you know, throw it underneath the toilet seat if you need to.
[01:20:07] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Like, whatever works for you, go for it. Like, there we go. You know, this is a reminder to everybody.
[01:20:13] Badr: Hell yeah. Troy, this has been a pleasure. I want you to enjoy the rest of your day and, and don't be a stranger, right? We definitely gotta have you back on. Absolutely.
[01:20:21] Troy-Jeffrey Allen: Thanks for having me, man. I really appreciate it.
[01:20:24] Badr: And there you have it. Short Box Nation. That is our show for today. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Do me a favor, share this episode with a friend or so many you know that loves comics as much as we do. And if you're feeling extra generous. Feel free to leave us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. It would mean the world to us.
[01:20:42] Badr: Next week, ed will be back alongside a special guest co-host to catch up on the latest comic news and headlines. It'll be a short box news kind of episode. I know there's plenty for us to catch up. Those are always a damn good time. So make sure you're back here on this feed next Wednesday so you don't miss that.
[01:20:59] Badr: And if you want some bonus content from us in the meantime, head over to our Patreon community on patreon.com/short box. Drew and I are due for our monthly previews Flip Through Show, and if you join our Patreon community, you can actually hang out in the live chat with us when we record that access to bonus shows and invites.
[01:21:17] Badr: Live streams are just a few of the perks and rewards that we offer to patrons of the show. So if you wanna be counted among these short box to leave, you wanna enjoy all the extra personal rewards that come with being a patron of the show, go sign up on our Patreon, right? It's well worth your money, and you'll be helping us continue to make great content like this.
[01:21:36] Badr: Once again, patreon.com/the short box. There is a link in the show notes. In the meantime, take care of yourselves, go read your comics and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll talk to you next week. Peace.
