Origins with Ryan Drost on Stealth Hammer’s New Kickstarter Campaign

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right now here inside the pull bag. Hello and

welcome to the pull bag. This is episode 380

.5. That's right, another .5 as always. I'm of

course TFJ and Mike. Joining me is the host with

the most Ryan Drost from Star Joe's. Hello, sir.

Hello. Thank you for having me on again. Absolutely,

it's been a while. It hasn't been a full year,

but it's been close. There have been a lot of

things that have happened since we did our 373

.5. I told Ryan off air, folks, he's the .5 guy

here at the pool bag now because every episode

he's been on so far to this point has been a

.5. I wear that like a badge. That's a badge

of honor now for me. Yeah, so a lot of stuff

has happened. To say the least. Recorded episode

373 .5. We've been recording things on a hiatus

basis kind of thing. Steve and I did a couple

episodes. Last episode we finally got to... AW

publishings, transformers, galaxies, construct

icons rising. And I feel like I completely failed

in that podcast because I'm not podcasting the

way I should be normally podcasting right now.

And I'm sorry to everyone, especially Tyler Blisinski

and Livio Remindelli, because I feel like I've

phoned it in completely. Nope. Unintended. I

just basically. some the praises i don't think

i really gave any criticisms about it because

it is such a great story and amazing art but

it's like i don't know what else to say about

this here's what the story is it's amazing i

love what they did with it good night everybody

i just feel like i could not agree with you more

that that whole that story was incredible i absolutely

loved it i got to meet labio at baltimore comic

con last year super nice guy um really really

cool his artwork is amazing I didn't realize

because of what his artwork finally looks like

that he actually does draw first and then puts

it into the computer to do the amazing stuff

that he does. I just thought he did everything

digital, but no, he actually does pen to paper

first and then he transfers it over. It's incredible.

Yeah, it is. What that man does with art is amazing.

I love his stuff. Absolutely love his stuff.

So again, sorry guys, if I phoned last episode

in hopefully. This one won't be too phoned in

because Ryan is back and normally Ryan and I

would talk about Star Wars or some sort of something

or whatever we would do a review of something.

But this time around we're going back to his

creator own property called Stealth Hammer. If

y 'all remember last year Ryan attempted to do

a Kickstarter. Kind of almost got there and you've

learned a lot since then but you would explain

the whole you had it in that episode you would

explain the whole thing of why you wanted to

do it and what story you wanted to create and

obviously we're gonna remind people of what stealth

hammer is and And what the concept is and whatever

else but before we do that I was gonna tell you

this off air, but I don't I said this off air,

but I don't follow kickstarters is passionately

as maybe as I should because I'm so poor I can't

donate to half of them. There have only been

two Kickstarters that I've known about that have

failed and relaunched and hopefully yours this

time around Stealth Hammer, new and improved

Stealth Hammer, will not fail. The other one

was White Dragon from Jason David Frick and all

of them and they got funding this time so yay.

So you got a track record for second time is

a charm. Yeah, so far. Let's hope we can make

it a full -on second time's a charm with you,

because I remember what you had said about the

concept. But remind everybody else, how did Stealth

Hammer come about? What is it? What's the story

going to be? Is it going to be just a self -contained

story, or is there potential for a future series

kind of thing? Sure. So I'll answer that last

question first, which is the answer is yes. So

this first issue that we're looking to make is

a self -contained story. However, there are a

lot of things that happen throughout the issue

and there's a bit of open ending to the story

that opens it up for where we want to go with

everything. But it is a nice one and done story,

so you can read it and if nothing ever ... If

nothing else ever gets produced from it, then

you still have a nice story that you can read

and enjoy. But yes, we have grand plans for once

this is produced to get it out to some publishers

and we would love an ongoing series because I

have probably at least 30 plus issues in my head.

that would tell the full story. But if we could

even just get a four issue mini -series, I would

be thrilled just to get it out there and then

hopefully people would love it. And then they

would come back and say, yes, we want you to

do even more. But first hurdle to overcome is

the Kickstarter to get the first issue even made.

To remind people what it's about, Stealth Hammer

started off actually as a nickname that my wife

had through some places that she worked at. She

got stealth at one place because she was known

for swooping in and getting, she works as a graphic

designer so she'd swoop in and kind of drop a

concept idea or a submission in for a client

and the client would end up picking hers even

though a bunch of other people submitted like

four, five, six different. options. So they started

calling her Stealth because she'd swoop in and

get the job. And then she got the hammer because,

nickname because she at another company, she

was in charge of brand compliance. So she had

to make sure that everything was following the

way it's supposed to be followed. So, you know,

you're dropping the hammer on stuff. And then

the two names just kind of blended together.

So she started being known as Stealth Hammer.

And we always joked that it would make a great

superhero name. And then she had a milestone

birthday a few years ago, and I decided to have

her drawn as the Stealth Hammer. And once I saw

the drawing, it became very real to me that this

actually could be a comic book story. And once

I thought of that, the ideas just started flooding

in. The floodgates opened up, and I just started

writing down ideas and who her... supporting

characters were, who her villains were, what

world she lived in, how did she get her powers,

what were her powers, all of this stuff started

happening. So the elevator pitch for it is that

it is she is a superhero caught in a world of

high -tech gadgetry and supernatural mythology.

And so I always relate it to, think of Miss Marvel,

the current Miss Marvel, in the world of Mega

Man meets Thor. So Now you do understand that

at some point in that whole pitch when you said

dropping the hammer the first thing I thought

of was Tom Cruise in the very beginning of Days

of Thunder I'm dropping the hammer and Robert

Duvall is like no you are not Very nice, I love

it. Yeah, and there's As I was thinking of where

the story origin is and everything else, she

actually finds out that she is... So she gets

her powers through... I want to say, quote -unquote,

accident. There was actually sabotage involved.

And there's a mystical element that plays a factor

into that occurring. And she gets these powers.

And I mentioned her being like Ms. Marvel, because

Ms. Marvel, if you've ever read the beginning

of that character, she's very... She's very much

into superheroes and she's just like she just

wants to do good in the world because she looked

she's looked up to the original Miss Marvel who

is Captain Marvel now and She's just wide -eyed

and like just wants to go out there and save

the world and that's really how this character

is She's got that never give up attitude and

that's really a theme for my character is like

her catchphrase is that's not how the story ends

So when people think oh everything's over she's

like nope No, it's not. We've got to push ahead.

At least until Rogue comes along and tells us

powers. Right. So she gets these powers and there's

hints of this in the first issue, but she will

find out later that she is actually part of a

legacy of protectors of the planet and of the

people on the planet. This traces her family

lineage actually traces back to several different

people including King Arthur and Thor himself.

So hence there being a whole hammer continuity

there. So and my Thor is not like I'm not. Basing

it off of Marvel, of course, it is based off

the true mythology of Thor. And in my story,

he's not a god. He's just somebody that was imbued

with power, which of course during his time would

mean that people would look up to him as a god,

which is why now there's stories of him being

a god. Right. I mean, not everybody can have

a beard and, you know, a raccoon as a sidekick.

Right. That is true. That is very true. Not everyone

has his friends from work. I do, exactly. I just

watched that movie the other day, which was fantastic.

Speaking of sidekicks, I do have some awesome

sidekicks for her. There's one, which is Ari

the elf, who is this little impish character.

He plays a role in the first issue. He's shown

very briefly, but he plays a very important role.

He is that cranky old elf -type character. He's

like... to coin a phrase of the Smurfs. He's

about three apples high. But he's grouchy, he's

snarky, but he also has the heart of gold. He

wants to help out. He is the Yoda character for

her. And then we have Watts, who's a robot, a

little assistant robot, because her dad's an

inventor and a tech guy, and he has a bunch of

robots that work for him. And he invents stuff

constantly. Well, she built a robot when she

was little. that kind of helped her around with

chores around the house. And in this first issue,

we see Watts who is just broken in her room.

Again, this is a character who, if we get to

go beyond this first issue, we will see him reinstated

and he will actually be a nice counter point

to REL who's grouchy and snarky. Watts is more

helpful and positive. they'll play off of each

other very well. They won't want to work together,

but they both have common interests in helping

stealth hammer out. Let's hope she doesn't go

to the dark side. I'm like she built him when

she was a kid This is this is gonna go down a

dark. Oh, yeah. Well, I will tell you for a fact

There's a reason that you hear stuff that in

the in the story that I'm doing is it's the absolute

influence This is my love letter to the things

that I love the things they whether it was comics

or movies or any type of pop culture there's

This is my love letter to all those things I

grew up with that influenced me. So there are

references, of course, to Star Wars. In fact,

there's a line I know for a fact where her uncle,

who is her opponent in this first issue, he says

he realizes that that it's his niece who is the

Stealth Hammer. And he said he's amazed by this.

And she she responds by saying, you'll find I'm

full of surprises, which is a line right from

Star Wars. So there's a Well, it's a good thing

that, you know, they can't copyright that line.

I mean, you know, the only lines they can really

copyright is like, use the force and blah, blah,

blah, and whatever. And I do have a line that's

right from Ghostbusters, but I actually acknowledge

the fact that it's from Ghostbusters in it, so

I should be safe there. There is a swagon of

yellow Volkswagen Beetle that turns into a robotic

monstrosity that she battles, but it does not

look like it. Does not look like Bumblebee, but

it is a nice little homage, a little nod to the

fact of Bumblebee. You just gotta be more careful

because it's not Hasbro you have to worry about,

it's Volkswagen probably you have to worry about.

Well we don't have the VW symbol on it, it just

looks like that type of car. People draw Volkswagens

all the time. Like you said, you don't have the

the actual logo on it or anything like that but

I'm sure they wouldn't mind the free advertisement

either so but uh yeah I don't I honestly don't

know that's probably a topic for another episode

but I honestly don't know because some companies

are just so well it's interesting and not to

go off on that tangent like you said it could

be a topic for another day but it's interesting

because back in the 80s with all the stuff that

we grew up loving and everything The those companies

did see these toys and everything else as just

free advertisement for their product and they

were so they were okay with people using their

stuff now it's like they all want their. Royalties

in their own like their own slice of the pie

and everything else. So Well, that's because

they can say stuff like Oh Transformers has been

a brand for 35 years and you want to make a buck

off of us And I'd be like, no, I'm not trying

to make money on any money money off your brand

I love your brand and I want to be able to talk

about it and share it with people It has nothing

to do with me making money off of it. Exactly.

Exactly. So But yeah, it's this is an only this

is a podcast This, uh, but it is an all -ages

comic, and when I say it's an all -ages comic,

I mean a true all -ages, so I'm not writing it

for a kid to read, I'm reading it for anyone

of any age to read and enjoy, so, uh, I, in that

respect, I relate it a lot to, uh, the Spider

-Man comics, uh, back in, you know, especially

in the 80s and 90s, where it's like anybody of

any age could pick those comics up and enjoy

it, so you could be five years old, you could

be 95 years old, and you were gonna enjoy it,

so that's what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to

write, uh, or I did write a story that I felt

could appeal to a larger audience. There's lots

of, like you said, there's lots of awesome references.

There's a deeper story going on that you get

hints to throughout the first issue. There's

a lot of visual things to look at in the background.

That's one of the reasons I have the artist that

I'm working with right now, Joel Jackson, is

he's got this awesome cartoony style, but he

also is... Amazing with detail in the background

so there's a lot of little nuances that are going

to be hints to things that of where we want to

go with the story in the character. Very cool

very cool now as i mentioned earlier that. You

know, this is like round two on Kickstarter for

you. What did you learn the first time when you

put the first campaign together versus what you're

going to be doing now? Yeah, for sure. Uh, I

appreciate that. So it's, uh, so last time, one

of the big things was realizing the goal that

I set for myself was not realistic. Um, and by

that, I mean that I, so when I figured it all

out, I was like, okay, I have all of these rewards

that are out there. And if all of these rewards

sell out, I'm going to need to produce all this

stuff. And so I set my goal with the thought

that I'm going to have to produce all this stuff,

which is not how it turned out. So then I started

realizing I need just the bare minimum. That's

what my goal needs to be based off of. It needs

to be based off the bare minimum of things that

I'm going to have to produce. if enough rewards

get sold. So I readjusted everything based off

of that. And because of that, I came in at a

goal 4 ,000 less than what I put for last time.

So a lot more realistic this time. I put a little

bit more of my own money into it this time also.

So Joel has been paid for his artwork. My colorist,

Ross Hughes, has been paid for coloring the pages

that we did. And those came out of my pocket

to kind of help bring the cost overall cost down

as far as the goal. And then there was some tweaks

to some of the rewards. Like last time I did

put like die cut stickers as as part of some

of the packages. Well, I don't know if anyone's

ever priced out stickers before, but stickers

are very expensive. They are very expensive,

yes. And I was doing like four of them. So like

if you were doing one sticker, it's not too bad.

But I was doing like four stickers and that came

out to almost like another $600. And I'm like,

yeah, we can do without stickers. I think if

the comic gets produced and people get the comic,

they'll be fine if they didn't get a sticker.

Does anybody even use stickers anymore? I don't

know. I see it as rewards every once in a while.

And I was just like, yeah, that'll be fun. We

could do that. Yeah, I don't know. I just feel

like stickers is kind of like, oh, well, you

need to go back to the late 80s, early 90s and

have a trapper keeper for that kind of stuff.

Right. So so I learned from that the other thing

is I have an artist who is extremely supportive

about Promoting himself. He's done a couple kickstarters

himself before that have been successful. So

he's got like a nice network So he'll be able

to get out the message out there just like I'm

doing through a lot of channels that he has And

then I also have a colorist this time and he's

gonna put it out there as well So like I have

a lot more people kind of putting things out

there I've also did a lot of promoting early

this time. So last time I was so focused on getting

the Kickstarter put together because I had never

done one before that I got right up to the launch

date and I did the launch and then I was like,

now I got to promote this thing. So while it

was already launched, I was promoting it during

that time. Now this time I started like a month

ahead of time and started promoting it and started

putting word out there and everything else. And

so that now that we're getting very close, in

fact, when this episode comes out, the Kickstarter

will already have started very likely. And so

you can go and find it and everything else. But

now I'm doing the fun stuff like podcasts and

things like that. But I went to local newspapers.

I went to my old schools. I reached out to a

lot of indie comic groups on Facebook, which

I didn't do last time. And I'm getting a lot

of support through them. So there's been a lot

of. Promoting ahead of time this time. So that

also helps and also the design of my Kickstarter.

It was a little ugly last time and This time

it's a lot prettier. Thankfully again, I have

a wife that's a graphic designer and so she's

helped me to pretty it up a bit and the big feedback

I got from actually someone at Kickstarter because

my buddy Robert Atkins who's a Comic book artist

and a teacher at Savannah College of Art and

Design. He's been like been like my mentor through

this He actually teaches a class on sequential

art and he had one of the heads of Kickstarter

come out and talk to his class and they actually

looked at my Kickstarter to give feedback and

I got some nice great honest feedback and one

of the big things was that I was too focused

on the us as creators so myself and the artist

Alex so I had at the time I was talking about

what we were wanting to do and who we were and

Everything else and we are nobody to anyone out

there. Your audience is learning who I am. My

audience knows who I am. So I was getting great

support that way. But someone just stumbling

across the Kickstarter and wanting to know what

it was about and saw some cool images, they were

learning more about us. And the person from Kickstarter

said, they don't care about you. Just to be very

blunt, they want to know what are they getting?

What is the story? What will they be getting

if they back it? So this time, my whole We still

show who the creators are, but my whole video,

the opening of it and everything else is all

about the story and who these characters are

and why you should care about them. So those

are all the things I learned from the last time.

And I think that's why it's going to be significantly

more successful this time. Very awesome. Very

awesome. If I ever did a Kickstarter, my video

would probably just be an audio clip. Sorry,

folks, the camera broke. Here's what I want you

to buy and here's what you're going to get if

it gets made. Oh yeah, I'm not even in the video

this time. Last time I was in the video I introduced

it and everything else. I am just doing the voiceover

this time and it's just artwork and the video

is all about the story. I don't even mention

who we are as creators in the video. I want people

to care about the story. I want them to care

about the character and everything else and that's

my goal for doing this. Absolutely. Is there

anything else with it that you're hoping to accomplish

as you go on? Yeah, I know you have more stories

or whatever else. Is there anything else with

the Kickstarter specifically that you're hoping

to accomplish, like to make more contacts, to...

Yeah. I mean, obviously spread the word with

it, but... Yeah, so I'm actually making quite

a few contacts through, like I said, various

indie comic Facebook groups and stuff like that,

kind of get getting a feel for what other people

are doing and what I can do myself. And then

just like I said, I want people to my whole goal

of this is I'm a storyteller. So I want people

to just find a story that they can enjoy my like

I was asked a lot of times like because I have

a female centric. superhero is this like a feminist

movement thing or anything like that. Like, is

that something that I'm being focused on? And,

and that's not at all. It's the fact the reason

this is a female character, because it's based

on my wife and my wife is a female. So that's,

that's why I'm not against feminism. I'm all

for it, of course, but I'll be for everybody.

But my mechanics in good storytelling has always

been that it doesn't matter who that character

is, whether they are male, female, black, white,

whatever religion, whatever sexual orientation,

any of that stuff. If you're writing good characters,

anybody of any background should be able to identify

with that character, identify something with

that character. So that's what I do is I write

characters that I feel like I can identify with.

And I hope that's it. Now, if someone reads it

and goes, feels, you know, women empowerment

or like a, you know, a little girl reads it and

goes, this is, you know, this is finally a superhero

for me. That's awesome. That I'm all for that.

But that's not my goal. My goal is to tell a

compelling story with characters that anybody

could identify with. So exactly, because, you

know, your goal to set out to create it. to create

the universe to hopefully, eventually create

more of it in the future. I don't want to jinx

it or anything. When the thing is successful,

when it gets noticed by people, maybe you get

a call from IDW or somebody, then you have all

of this more leeway of saying, This is where

I'd like it to go. And once you create it, you

put it out into the world. Any creation, once

you create it and put it out into the world and

then people take notice of it and they have their

own opinions of it, that's on them. The fact

that they see you, the fact that they, somebody,

insert nameless, faceless, whatever colorless,

odorless person here, The fact that they see

it as, oh, this is a feminist comic, and then,

no, well, okay, sure, maybe, whatever. If you

want to read it that way, you can. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, it's like, you know. Like I said, my

goal is that I'm trying to write a strong character

with a strong supportive cast that tells a compelling

story. And like I said, if you get some, and

I hope anyone reading it gets something positive

out of it. And if you get something positive

out of it for you, that it speaks to you in some

way, that is... awesome because then that means

I did my job. Because this is meant to be a positive

comic. Like I said, if anything, the message

in the comic is don't give up. Because that's

the mantra of the character. So like I said,

if I'm trying to convey any message, that's my

message is just don't give up. And I feel like

if anything right now, this day and age, that's

kind of a message we need out there. Yeah, that

is very much a message that we need to get out

there considering, you know the the unrelenting

novel of the virus that we live in now and and

You know, I mean just so much going on right

now. Yeah, so There's so much and you know what

we need like I Get into I mean podcasting and

creating comics is kind of the same but not really

it's all art. Whatever I get into this for myself

I get into doing podcasts for myself. I had the

secret hope deep down in my soul that people

would notice it, and they have over the years.

I've been doing this 11, 12 years now, and they

have, and they've interacted with me, and I've

had some great interactions, and I've had some

not so great interactions kind of thing, but

it's like, that's gonna happen, but the thing

of it is is, if I'm passionate about something,

I wanna be able to talk about it with like -minded

people that have been my friend. For example,

I don't know because I'm just gonna apologize

right now. I don't listen to star Joe's on the

regular I understand I don't have I don't have

a lot of time to be listening to a lot of other

podcasts either So I completely understand and

I do not take offense at that at all I always

feel bad about it because I'm like, Oh, I've

been listening to insert show name here for X

number of years, but then I dropped off and I

don't listen now. And it's like, but my point

is if you guys ever covered the Darth Vader 2015

Marvel series with Karen Gillian and amazing.

And then when they first started, like, you know,

I think I'm up to volume three and four. to be

able to cover that series. Those are the next

ones in that series. So I'm like, people need

to enjoy something. Ryan and I enjoy this. Let's

get on a Skype call. Let's talk about this. Let's

record it. Let's edit it. Let's put it out there.

And hey people, here's something for you to enjoy.

Here are our opinions or what we see from the

comic that we read that we enjoyed. And there

may be things that we don't enjoy. And I understand

there are people out there that will do those,

you know, haterade podcasts, but some people

that I know do them intelligently. They don't

just sit there and bitch about it. They sit there

and say, well, you know, perfect example is something

we all love, or at least something I love. 1993's

Super Mario Brothers. You know what I mean? It's

like... People will go out and say, oh my god,

this is so bad. And I'll be like, do you remember

when this was made, right? This was made at a

time when there really were no video game movies.

This was, if not the first, and I'm not looking

at any info to say definitively if it was the

first or not, but they couldn't really transition

what was on the game screen to what was in the

movie screen. So they did the best they could.

And I will tell you, and you and I have had conversations

like that before. If someone loves something

and enjoys it, I totally applaud them I will

still say it if I liked it or not But I don't

want to take it away from somebody else's enjoyment

of it So that's that's a big thing for me is

like I don't like I'll give you an example like

I don't like Twilight I've tried it I Tried reading

the book I tried I watched the first movie because

I was like I can't hate on something if I actually

didn't see it You know, so I watched the first

movie Not for me, but obviously there's a huge

Following of those stories and people there's

people that just adore them great. They're not

for me I didn't like them, but I am NOT gonna

take your joy away from the fact that you do

love them You know like that's exactly you know

so you take you know you take two of the things

I mainly talk about for the most part and most

people I'd say one of the things that I talk

about a lot on Facebook and sometimes on Twitter.

I use Facebook more than Twitter these days,

but it's one of those things where I end up talking

about Nickelback or Funko a lot because I've

been a Nickelback fan since the year 2000. I

like Nickelback too. I've seen them in concert.

I willingly went and saw them in concert. It

was the last and the reason why I say it's the

last is because it's the truth. My mom and I

did see other things like we saw Jeff Dunham

in 2008, but Nickelback was the last concert

musical artist Concert that she and I saw that's

awesome where she eventually died in 2015 So

that was 2006 when they were on the all the right

reasons tour and it was the first time I had

ever seen them in concert I Forgot that a lot

of people like to smoke at certain rock concerts

I went home with a contact high that night. But

the point is, is that, you know... It's a good

time. Exactly. I was just going to say, and the

thing is for me to circle back to this comic,

there's two things that I have told my wife that

will probably bring me to tears with this comic.

And I mean that in happy tears. One is that it

actually gets made. So when I finally get this

comic in my hand, a printed copy, something that

was just an idea in my head two years ago, that

I worked on writing and fleshing it out and worked

with other people to get it fleshed out and everything

else, to finally have that shipment of comics

show up at my house to get out to other people

and to hold a physical copy of it in my hand,

I will absolutely have tears of joy. to see like

my name on it and that this actually became something

real. That's just one of those little moments

in life where it's just like this became something.

The other thing that would give me tears of joy

is let's say this does get picked up, which that'll

probably make me cry tears of joy too as if somebody

picks it up. But if somebody does pick it up

and it's out there and let's say I go to a convention

as an actual guest or artist alley or something

like that which I've not really been on that

side of the table before and if some kid actually

came up to me and either was a dressed as the

Stealth Hammer character or B told me that Stealth

Hammer was their favorite superhero I will absolute

number one I will need to take a picture with

that kid and number two I will absolutely have

tears of joy like The fact that it would mean

that much to somebody else like that So it's

those things in life as to why I'm telling this

story is because I have this story to tell I

think it's worth telling I think it's a very

compelling story with a lot of depth to it and

everything else and Some of the things might

be saying here might sound superficial surface

level things that you hear from a lot of superhero

stories But there is a lot of depth to the story.

There's I mentioned how there's a lot of stuff

in the background, there's hints to other things.

When you see the very first page of this, which

you'll be able to see the first page of this

on the Kickstarter, so you don't have to wait

until the issue comes out, there is a lot of,

it's a scene of her in her bedroom, and there's

a lot of stuff in her bedroom. And I can tell

you right now that some of the things that are

in her bedroom are hints to things that will

happen in the future if we get to go beyond this

first issue. And the thing I loved about it is

the fact that I wanted to create a scene where

if you read issue 2 or 3 or 10 or something like

that, you might see things in those issues where

you're like, wait a minute, and you go back to

issue 1 on the first page, and there it is. Exactly.

Absolutely. All right. So as you said, the Kickstarter

will probably be live, obviously, once this episode

is released. People can click on the link in

our show notes on geekcastrio .com to check it

out. Donate if you would like. Share it, please,

whether you donate or not. Spread the word, because

this is going to be fun. I do remember it was

one of the things where I told my wife, Karen,

I'm like, you know what? I've known this guy

for a while. Not that I don't enjoy the conversations

that you and I have. They're so infrequent. but

it's one of those things where it's like, you

know, I actually enjoyed the conversation. I

liked we had to say, I think this is a cool thing.

I don't back a lot of things. Cause like I already

said, not to put a too fine a point on it. I'm

poor. Um, you know, I'm like, Oh, I want to back

this. So I backed it the first time. I don't

know if I'll be able to back it this time. I

will try, but it's one of those things where

I'm like, Ooh, great. And then, Oh, No funding.

Damn it. What's wrong with you people? Well,

and I will tell you, even if someone's out there

and listening to this, and this goes for you

as well, even if, and I understand with the state

of everything being out there, money can be very

tight for some people right now, especially right

now. If you can't back it, the best thing you

can do for me is share it then. Absolutely. Because

that goes a long way. It's, Kickstarter is very

grassroots. Yes, there's people that have big

followings and everything else, but a lot of

us independent creators, it's a grassroots thing.

It's just getting it out there, sharing it with

people so that... Maybe there's, like I said,

maybe you can't back it, but maybe somebody,

maybe three people you share it with can back

it. And that's gonna be even, that's gonna be

awesome too. So that's what I ask of anyone out

there is to at least go to the Kickstarter, check

it out, see that it is something fun and something

worth looking at, and then share it with people,

even if you're not someone that can back it.

And we do have a nice variety of rewards. So

they're to give people that can't afford a lot

but still want to read the issue to people that

can afford quite a bit and want to get some extra

stuff. So I know we're doing a 28 page story.

So it's 22 pages of a main story and a five page

backup. Plus we're doing, so that's 27 pages,

but then we're gonna also be doing a couple pinups

that are quote unquote future adventures of the

Stealth Hammer. So we're actually doing a couple

pinups of glimpses to where the story might be

going. And that one is a fun one and one is kind

of a destiny one. And it's done for two purposes.

One, to give those of you out there just something

really cool to look at. And it's done number

two. For once this is produced, we can take it

to a publisher and say, not only do we have these

stories here in this issue, but here's some glimpses

to where the story is going to go and they can

more visualize it then. So that's going to be

really cool. So since it's a pretty bulky issue,

we threw everything into it. There's a $5 option

for this just digital. And there's a $7 option

for the physical copy. So I feel like those are

pretty affordable. And then we have stuff that

goes all the way up to $100. There's a behind

the scenes art book that I'm going to be putting

together that you'll actually be able to see

concept art and everything else. And then Joel

is going to be doing some commissions for reward.

There's a version where you can get the original

script so you can see kind of where it all started

from. We have some original artwork, because

Joel works digitally, but I have Shannon Gallant,

who has worked in comics for a long time doing

G .I. Joe and a bunch of other stuff. He's going

to do a pin -up that's going to go in there,

and we're going to have his original artwork

as one of the rewards. Robert Atkins is going

to do a variant cover for the issue, and his

cover will be up as well for a reward. And then

we even have it where there's five characters

in the story. that are just like little side

characters that appear in the issue that I don't

know what they're going to look like. So guess

what? We have a reward where you can actually

be one of the characters. We will ask for a photo

of you or whoever you want it to be of. And they

will, Joel will draw you as that or that person

as a character. And then that person's name will

also appear in the inside cover credits as that

character. So you'll get your name in the issue

plus your likeness will be drawn in the issue

as well. So there's a nice wide variety and there's

a few other ones I didn't even mention, but we

went from all the way from $5 to $500 and there's

a lot in between there. So you can find what

works for you to really make it work there for

you. Very cool, very cool. Awesome, awesome.

It sounds great, just like it did last time.

Hopefully this time. Yeah, and one thing to throw

out there, too, is a reminder that you do not

get charged unless we hit our goal at the very

end. So if you're someone that's like, I want

to back it now, but I'm not going to have the

money until August 15th or whatever, we're starting

July 25th. It goes until August 23rd, I want

to say, if I'm remembering right. So you won't

get charged until August 23rd and that's if we

hit our goal. So I always recommend people back

it early because the earlier you back something,

the more attention it gives to that project and

that allows other people to then notice it as

well and then we're more likely to actually hit

our goal. Very true, very true. Yeah, that's

the one thing about Kickstarter that I, you know,

I kind of knew, but obviously since when we had

our last conversation last year, I'm like, oh,

that's good to know because, you know, and I

know it's not the creators, but sometimes, and

it's not, at least in this case, it's not Kickstarter,

but certain companies would be like, oh, we have

this project that we want to fund. Well, guess

what? We're going to take the money now. And

if it doesn't get funded, You're screwed. Kickstarter

thankfully is not a company that does that because

as you said, if it doesn't get funded you don't

get charged but you still show up as you did

back this project kind of thing. And like I said,

hopefully this time around, you know. Oh, yeah,

stealth hammer does get funded and yeah Well,

and it's one of those things too Like I wouldn't

be telling a good story about never giving up

if I gave up after the first time It's like hey

everyone don't give up on what you want to do

but we weren't successful the first time so we're

done And that's true also for getting it out

there to publishers like I know I'm going to

get A lot of no's like once once we get this

thing produced and we start going to publishers

I know there's gonna be a lot of publishers that

are gonna say yeah, it's not for us Or no, this

is garbage or you know, you're gonna get all

of that. You have to be ready for it But it just

takes one. It just takes one publisher to go.

Yeah, this actually looks really good and really

exciting We would love to do this. So yeah, I

don't know because I'm not an employee of this

person or these these people I'm not sure how

this works now because Amazon owns them, but

you should really think about submitting to Comixology

Originals because putting it on there would be

amazing. I'm looking at a lot of different venues

because everybody does do things differently

is what I found out. Image has their model that

they follow, but that's not what everyone else

does. There's also a source point press, which

what they do is very different because they don't

actually go through Diamond. They actually sell

directly and because of that it brings the cost

down a lot for producing the comics. So that's

an option too. Heck, I'm even willing to submit

it to DC Comics because if you've noticed recently,

DC Comics is actually producing stuff that is

not in the quote unquote DC universe and it's

stuff that they're producing for young adult

readers, and it's new characters. I know they've

done some stuff like Shadow of the Batgirl and

stuff like that, but just recently they've been

putting out stuff that is not part of the DCU,

and it's just cool stories of cool characters.

So I'm even willing to submit this to them, where

before I probably would have thought, no, they're

not even gonna be interested, but now I'm like,

they might actually be interested in this. So

yeah, I'm gonna try every everybody I can and

I know they all have different models and yeah

comics I'll Absolutely reach out to and be like

hey, let's you know, let's talk have a conversation

I want to make sure it's a good deal and I want

to make sure that I still own my character At

the end of the day. Well, right. Yeah outside

of that like yeah, let's Let's let's have that

conversation. I would rather have the conversation

than someone just closing the door. So And you're

you're only gonna get an answer you won't get

an answer until you actually ask. The only thing

you can do is put it out there. Once you put

it out there, it's out there and it's like, hey,

this is a cool thing. This could benefit both

of us, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know,

so it's it's it's exciting times It's interesting

times because obviously there's been a lot of

mix -up going on in the comic world anyways So

it could be a good time for something like this

to pop up on some publishers radar. So I'm excited

about it. Like you said, I've got some really

cool characters To go back to speaking about

my artist, Joel Jackson, he has been working

in indie comics for a while now, and he's just

got this awesome style, and he adds so much to

the characters. I've often told artists, like,

hey, if you draw something in an issue that I

didn't have in the script, like, that might...

Become part of a story element. So what he did

was there's dr. Everett, which is Stealth Hammer's

father and He is this sciencey tech guy like

I was mentioning earlier. So Joel drew these

little robot guys They remind me the batteries

not included robots And they don't look like

that but that's what it reminds me of because

they're like small like that and everything and

they're the Little helper guys that can build

stuff And he drew these little guys and I saw

them and he just sent that to me as like a sketch

for Dr. Everett. And I was like, what's this

robot in the shoulder? And he's just like, oh,

I just threw that in there. I thought that'd

be something he would create. And I'm like, yeah,

you're absolutely right. He would. I really like

it. We need to do something with this. And so

then he created more of them. And you'll be able

to see them on the cover. You will see the cover

image at the Kickstarter campaign as well. And

there's a bunch of these little robots. I didn't

know how many of them he was going to draw. But

he drew a bunch of them and I went back to him

and I was like, these are awesome, but you also

realize I got to come up with names for all of

them. But he's adding stuff like that. Like he

added that. We got some these little creatures

called the Tokolos. So I've done a lot of research

on mythology creatures and stuff like that, that

all plays into this world. And Tokolos are like

these little gremlin type creatures. They're

smaller than gremlins are, but they're still

mischievous and stuff. They do not multiply when

they get wet or anything like that, but they

are created by dark magic. So dark energy is

what actually creates them. So we kind of made

our own version of them. And they are just these

fun characters. They're the chaos to Dr. Everett's

robots of order. So they work off of each other

really well for that reason. They're going to

be a lot of fun. They only appear on the cover

and Joel might put a few, one or two of them

in the background scenes of the first issue.

And then there's definitely a scene, one of the

pin -ups features the Tokeloche chasing down

lots of the robot who Ari the elf is riding on

top of. So it is very cool imagery and a lot

of fun things that I want to... why I want to

be able to tell stories going forward with these

things. I did not want to cram too much into

the first issue's actual story, so some of these,

like I said, some of these creatures, you'll

see them, you'll see hints of them, but you won't,

there won't be a lot of story element around

them, because I did not want to do Spider -Man

3, where I crammed everything into one issue.

I wanted to tell a good, compelling story, really

well defining the hero and the villain for that

story. then give hints that there is more out

there to really develop so but like I said Joel

keeps adding these things and it's really awesome

because it really does help expand this mythos

expands the story and then so he's done the artwork

and the inking and everything and then I was

able to reach out to through some contacts and

get in touch with Ross Hughes who has done a

lot of coloring for dc comics he's done some

stuff for independent comics and he's done a

few things here and there for marvel but like

dc countries don't like us this league of america

green lantern uh... so he's done some intent

by using a superhero superman he's he's got a

resume uh... absolutely so i reach out to him

and he and i told what price i was looking at

because that fits in my price absolutely let's

do this he has been a wonderful person to work

with as Joel has been as well it's like it's

been an awesome collaboration of all this together

and then I have a letter who will be working

on it once it's all done and letter is Dave Sharp

and Dave is has also has a very extensive history

with DC and Marvel. He has done a lot of stuff

for them. And so I'm looking forward to have

him doing the lettering for this. So definitely

have like this amazing team around me. And then

one of the little surprises that you'll see in

the Kickstarter is there's this stage called

the Flatter that's before the colorists. So they

kind of map out where the colors are going to

go and really outline it all. So there's a guy

named Evan Evans, that is his name, and he is

the flatter for Ross. Well, I reached out to

him because I said, I want to give you credit

for what you're doing and I want to feature you

on here and everything else. And he said, that's

awesome. I really appreciate that because normally

it's a position that no one pays attention to,

but I think it's really cool. And he says, my

daughter, I've actually been teaching her how

to do this. And she actually did the flat flatting

work for a couple of your pages. Would you mind

giving her some credit as well in this? And I

said, I think that's a fantastic idea. And his

daughter, I don't know how old she is, but she's

like early teens. So I think it's kind of awesome

that I have like this. essentially a kid working

on an all -ages comic. There you go. So we have

a nice demographic going on. That's very cool.

Yeah. So that's the art team that's been working

on this. It's been a lot of fun. Like I said,

they've all been fantastic to work with. And

Alex's work, who worked with me before, her five

page story she did with me is going to be in

there and her character sheets and everything

else will appear in the behind the scenes book,

so all of her stuff is going to be featured as

well. We have anything anyone loved the last

time from the Kickstarter is still there. It's

just there's a lot more this time. So, yeah.

Well, that really, really works. All right. So

you can check the project out on Kickstarter.

As I said, the link will be in the show notes.

Please go check it out, folks. It's going to

be a fun, awesome time. Where can the people

find you online, sir? And also give out to your,

if you know off the top of your head, your artist.

Yes, Twitter's whatever. Yeah, so I can tell

you I hope I remember some of them So you can

find my podcast at starjoes .com. So I'll throw

that out there real quick And we've been doing

that show not as long as you've been doing it

for ten years. So still nice long time and then

for Stealth Hammer I'm we're on all the social

media the major social media. So we got Facebook

Twitter and Instagram so it's very easy to find

you just look up stealth hammer on Facebook and

there's a fan page there it's at stealth hammer

on Twitter and it's at stealth hammer on Instagram

so if you search stealth hammer on any of those

you're gonna find us for Joel you're going to

find on Twitter it's at 2m you look I want to

make sure I get this right otherwise I would

I have it, because I've tagged him quite a few

times. So it's 2HM Comics. And that stands for

Two -Headed Monster Comics, which is a business

that him and his wife have. So that's where that's

from. And then Ross is on... Let's see, I had

him on here too. I gotta find him. I think it's

just Ross Coloring. on Twitter, so that's where

you can find him as well. They are both, but

really if you look them up on, yeah, so we have

Hughes Coloring is what it is on Twitter for

him. And him you can find, and both of them if

you did like Google searches, you can find them

very easily and you'd be able to see like. I

know for Ross you can see like over 1 ,500 pages

that he has colored and it's an incredible library.

Like it's on his DeviantArt page. It's like you

can get lost looking through all this stuff.

And Joel's got like a huge body of work on his

website as well. So like I said, if you look

them up, you will find them. But yeah, that's

where you can find this project though is you

can find us at just search Stealth Hammer on

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and you will

find it. And I'm updating all of those. As often

as I can so anything you see on one you can you'll

find on the other one as well So don't feel like

you have to follow all of those I would obviously

love it if you did But you will find the same

information on all of them because I want to

keep everybody informed no matter which Avenue

is easiest for them Very cool. Very cool. Awesome.

Awesome. Yes cannot wait for stealth hammer to

Hit us with her her her comic book. Yes One of

her powers is the Fists of Fury. That was something

my wife coined a while ago, and I believe it's

a Bruce Lee term as well. It was a movie of his,

I believe. Yep. Absolutely. All right. You can

find us at The Pull Bag on Twitter, Facebook.

We're not on Instagram. Sadly, with the last

episode, And I understand why, and I'm not upset

with him at all about it, but we are retiring

the featured banners for the pull bag. We will

have one overall featured banner going forward.

So the last episode in this episode, because

I can probably make Ryan do something, but the

last episode with the Constructicons Rising banner

would be the last banner for the pull bag. And

who knows, maybe Steve Megatron will revisit

doing some sort of... art stuff for the show

at some point in the future but not right now

coming up inside the pullback we've got a conversation

with jeremy fine and myself that we record a

while ago but that's going to be episode three

eighty one where we get his origins of comics

where he how we get into them if you ever got

out of them he still reads on that kind of thing

you're on one of those long time ago uh... and

then another origins comic series uh... is going

to come up in three eighty two where i talked

to the hosts of married with comics Jonathan

and Maggie Schaefer -Hames. So that's what's

coming up here inside The Pull Bag. Make your

greatest statement of comics and we will catch

you next time. You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's first comic review

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