Interview with Andrew Davis on Comic Cons, Podcasting, and Pop

Hi, this is John Delancey and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You're tuned in

to Steve Megatron on Altered Geek. Hello and

welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host, Steve

Megatron Phillips. Today I'd like to welcome

to the program Andrew Davis, founder of PopAnimeComics

.com and host of the interview podcast, PopAnimeComics

Lounge and... a comic -con panelist. Welcome,

Andrew. Oh man, I'm excited to be here and thank

you for having me on. No problem, no problem.

So, just getting right off the bat here, tell

the listeners a little bit about yourself. So,

I'm 26, I like long walks on the beach at sunset.

No, I created a website called PopAnimeComics

where I write about anime, comics, and pop culture

and primarily wrestling as well. And then out

of that spun a entire interview -based podcast

where I was doing interviews, written form, and

then I developed a podcast. And while all that

was going on, I was doing all these public speaking

events at Comic Cons and Anime Cons. And it just

kind of all led down the same path where now

I'm running that as a side hustle. one thing

booster is another thing. And it's just led me

down this amazing path. And it's just another

stepping stone that I'm crossing into and being

on this show. And I'm sure we're going to talk

about it and we can unpack all that. But I don't

want to steer this too quickly. Yeah. And so

so what's been your your your geeky inspiration

for it? Like I know that obviously you have a

deep inspiration for the the pop culture and

anime. For sure. So I was growing up, I just

fell in love with Toonami. And I was like four

or five, six watching Dragon Ball Z, love Saturday

morning cartoons. And most kids grew out of it

and I never grew out of it. And I just fell in

love with it. I didn't know what anime was. So

I first fell in love with anime. And I didn't

know what it was. I just thought, oh man, this

is a really cool style, a really cool cartoon.

And I'm watching something like Outlaw Star at

the age of seven, eight. And I just fell in love

with it. And it never stopped. And it hasn't

stopped to this day. And then as you get older,

you start wanting to say, hey, I want to be part

of this. But I'm not an animator. I'm not a comic

writer. I'm not an artist. What can I do? And

I started on YouTube. just breaking it down and

then my story is unique and I'll give this short

condensed version. I got demonetized on YouTube

before getting demonetized was cool. And so I

got demonetized 2013, 2014 realm and then I just

said, hey, I'm doing this on YouTube. I'm not

making any money. Let me see if I can make some

money by creating a website. And then as stated

in the intro, just give it a little bit of background.

that led to the podcast and at the same time

I was doing all these panels and with the panels

I just didn't like what anybody was doing at

a con and I thought I could do a better job than

they can and I don't want to sound egotistical

or boost my ego but I feel that with a lot of

the panels I do I wouldn't say I'm better but

I'm providing a different light on a topic and

so that was the inspiration on that side where

I just thought I could Shed a light in a different

way and people could have oh, that's really interesting.

I didn't think of it like it that way type of

moment Yeah, that's that's a little bit of a

interesting Development kind of joining a convention

and being a panelist and getting to bring to

light new questions instead of What you normally

hear which is a lot of the same repetition across

various conventions and panels So what are some

interesting panels that you've been a part of?

So I created this little baby called Exploring

Dystopia through Attack on Titan The Walking

Dead and Fahrenheit 451 and I'm all by myself

when I do panels so I'm a one -man show I do

the entire panel by myself and that is one of

my most interesting panels because I'm comparing

and contrasting those three works. And we're

getting into a lot of the core ideas. We're comparing

sometimes one or two of them, how they're similar,

how they're different. And people have a real

they love it because they love Attack on Titan,

which is a very popular anime. The Walking Dead

is an extremely popular comic. They sell anywhere

from forty thousand to seventy or eighty plus

thousand issues every single month as a comic

book. And it might be a little bit less right

now. because it's off of its heyday a little

bit. But even still, and then the TV shows attracting

over 10 million people every single week when

it's on. And those are the ratings at the TV

show The Walking Dead. So these are popular works.

And then Fahrenheit 451 is just a classic book.

And so when I break that down, I give a lot of

insight into things and people are like, oh,

I didn't even think of that. I didn't see that.

And people, I did it. the the best one I did

was that anime NYC and their first convention

I think in 2018 and One of the cool things about

that was the room was silent It was packed with

200 plus people and I could have dropped a pin

because everybody in that room was completely

engrossed because they were like I'm hearing

this for the first time and About six months

and I did the panel prior to that And the actual

date is slipping, but it's on my website, on

my panel list. And about a year later, Tony Moore

did a special cover for the Attack on Titan manga.

And so arguably, I was one of the first people,

if not the first people, to have a public event

and a public forum actually coming up with this

idea. And arguably, and if somebody wants to

prove me wrong, they can, but I'm gonna take

credit for it for right now. I invented this

concept and I introduced it in a public forum

first in the United States comparing Attack on

Titan to The Walking Dead to Fahrenheit 451.

So that's my most interesting panel I've done

and arguably it was also my fourth panel I did

at a convention and the first time I did it I

sold it out too and there were paid speakers

who didn't have sold out rooms because most panels

don't get paid and takes it's very enjoyable

when you're not getting paid and you're the new

kid on the block and you're more or less kicking

at the asses of people who are getting paid and

who were the con went out and had to pay and

hire and work with their agent and you're kicking

their ass with a better idea as a newbie because

there's nothing more satisfying than that feeling

and I knew it I knew it the second the room was

just filling up and I'm sitting up at the front

of the room when I first did it and row one gets

filled up row two gets filled up row three gets

filled up and then keeps going I'm like oh my

god I can do this as a hobby and possibly make

money off of this yeah that's definitely interesting

when you when you discover something that you

could do really well for the first time you're

like you know I could probably turn this into

a money maker Oh, I'm not talented at all. It

just happened that I created a concept and that

I was did the research and the first time I did

it, it was good. It wasn't great. Now I've done

it maybe like six, seven times. It's really good

and I know my craft and you know, it's just I'm

not that smart. I really am not. I just happen

to have thought of an idea and nobody was doing

it and I thought it was an obvious idea and I

still think it's an obvious idea and I'm surprised

from my recollection nobody has copied me on

it. Well that's also because you know you gotta

face it too we're kind of an unoriginal bunch.

as podcasters and as people that go to these

conventions, you do hear a lot and see a lot

of the same thing over and over. So when something

does stand out, it draws the attention more so.

And yeah, I mean, I can't imagine why people

wouldn't be kind of taking this concept and running

with it with different series or... It's mind

blown to me that nobody has done this idea and

tried to do it better because I do a lot of other

panels. I have about 13 in my repertoire now.

And so I'll look at somebody's panel and I'll

say, oh, that's interesting. Now, let me see

what I can do with that. What does that inspire

me to do? And I'm not saying I'm going to steal

somebody's panel directly, but I have a Osamu

Tezuka panel. And he's the godfather of anime.

And a lot of people have done his work, have

broken it down. I tend to take a more basic approach,

and I tend to give a lot of back history in my

version of that. And I know somebody who does

something very similar. And I wouldn't say we're

friends, but we're not enemies. We're acquaintances.

We work in the same profession. There's certain

things I won't step on his toes on, and he's

not going to step on certain things of mine.

And then we sometimes overlap. And so I'm not

stealing somebody's panel, but I'm also reiterating

information to some degree. But and I'm surprised

that hasn't happened with my Attack on Titan,

Walking Dead and Fahrenheit 451 panel. And I'll

check about 100 cons a year to look at their

panelists. And I haven't seen it in the four

years it's been out. And it's just shocking to

me that nobody has said this is a really good

idea. Let me see how I can make it better. And

I don't I mean, I don't think they could. Because

I live and breathe this panel and I don't want

to encourage anybody to go and do it. But at

the same time I'm Strong believer in competition

where I want somebody to come up with a better

panel with my concept and put it on steroids

Because then I'm gonna have to answer back to

them with something even better Totally yeah,

it's yeah, that's amazing that it's you've been

doing it that long and nobody's copied it but

Yeah, it conventions Are definitely something

that you have to be fully prepared for when you're

when you're doing that I've not had the pleasure

of running a panel myself Although I've thought

about it Mostly because I've just not really

known what I wanted to talk about but yeah, I'm

kind of the same in regards to not being Fully

like as smart as you know Some people that come

up with these really inventive things. I kind

of kind of go with the flow of it, but But yeah,

I mean if you're passionate about the the topics

that you're talking about and Know a lot about

them and then are enthusiastic about doing the

research I mean, that's definitely something

that leads to an interesting panel I mean one

of the things that that I want to clarify is

I'm not that smart I'm a really good researcher

and I figured out that I know how to find things.

So in with this panel, it's really insightful

and it's it's on a whole new level. And it's

really a brilliant panel and it's really educational

and it's thought provoking. But the reason why

I say I'm not that smart, it's it's I'm not this

isn't I just know where to find something. I

know where to start an idea. And it's like a

little spark in the way that that that I get

into and build panels. is I have a spark and

then I have an idea and the way this entire panel

came up is that me and my friend were drinking

in college and Attack on Titan was playing and

it was watching and we were talking about it

and then I just threw out an idea sort of half

intoxicated and then my friend was like that's

actually really smart and it also happened to

be kind of like I think the 50th or 60th year

and there was something going on with the Library

of Congress. and I was in DC because I studied

abroad in DC and like all these things just happened

and it was all somewhat due to the surroundings

that I was in very much and this is why I say

I'm not that smart because a lot of my panels

have to do with circumstances or the surroundings

yet I know how to do my research and I do with

thorough research and it's the same thing with

my podcast I'm not smart I just know how to do

a lot of research and I know how to find things

and I know how to find really good information.

Because one of the things that I do in this panel

and this Attack on Titan panel is I explain how

The Walking Dead was developed. And most people

have no idea how that comic book came about.

And the short version is that it was pretty much

developed in Kentucky in a light bulb ordering

room by Robert Kirkman. And most people have

no idea how That story and how arguably the greatest

comic book in the last 50 years and one of the

most successful comic books in merchandising

and licensing and TV and as a comic book and

the issues itself was developed in a light in

lighting store in their back ordering room. We're

supposed to be ordering things for the store.

He was more or less writing comics and that's

how that entire thing started and. That information

was publicly available in the colorized version

of Walking Dead 1. It's publicly accessible,

yet nobody knows where to find it because only

real Walking Dead fans know about that and they

actually read the back of every single issue.

And that information is publicly available. I

just know where to find things. And that's what

makes a really good panel, that's what makes

a really good interviewer, that's what makes

a really good presenter, is that they know how

to find things, they know how to find interesting

things that keep people in tuned. Wow, I didn't

even know any of that about The Walking Dead

before that. I mean, I'm not that a fan of it

or watched it, but that is, you can't deny what

it has done for the medium in general. And to

hear how it started is really interesting. Yeah,

and so that's what makes speaking interesting.

That's what makes panels interesting. And when

you have all the reiterating of information,

but nobody's saying anything new, it's not a

bad panel, but it's not insightful. And I'm not

saying, I mean, I guess I'm smart in the sense

that I know where to find information. I know

how to convey it. but and I know I know how to

take something that isn't well known and then

make it well known and Introduce it and make

it interesting because And I know how to modulate

my voice. I mean, I could say the same story

that I just told. And the reason why I told that

is that this is now interesting. When somebody

listens to this, they're going to be like, oh,

that's a really interesting fact that if I'm

at a bar tomorrow night and there's a girl and

I want to mention something that's a really interesting

story, there you go. And so that's what that's

what I do in a lot of my panels is that I try

to find interesting tidbits of information. Because

that's what really gets people in into it and

keeps them in their seats staying and involved

and engaged So you you also mentioned that you

do interviews on your podcast between voice actors

comic writers artists and and Wrestlers and cosplayers

and everything. So one or some of your favorite

interviews views that you've conducted and like

the genre of them, whether it be voice actor

or wrestler or whatnot. So it all depends. The

problem with a lot of these people is that some

people are very open and they're very honest

and they don't really care because either they

have enough money or they know that whatever

they say is not going to affect their job. in

any which way. I mean, we all have work, we all

have bosses, we all have people that we answer

to. And so, I mean, there's been a few that have

been off the top of my list. Chuck Dixon is one

of them. Chuck Dixon, for those who don't know,

he and, I should have forgot, I forgot his partner,

his partner is slipping, created Bane. So the

supervillain Bane in Nightfall. and he was writing

a lot of Nightfall, and he was kind of the head

Batman writer during the 90s, and he's one of

the most well -known Batman writers during the

90s. In fact, he's probably actually the 90s

Batman writer. And so he is a conservative, and

he is very open about that, and he is honest.

He wrote the graphic novel, Clinton Cash, not

to get too political here, but he's a well -known

conservative in the comic realm. And so he was

very honest on my podcast because everybody knows

that DC knows that. And we had a real conversation

about how DC Comics, how Marvel Comics, how comics

in general has changed due to the political landscape

and what has occurred and how certain people

won't get work because of their political views.

And now back in the day, and I interviewed his

boss at the time, who was the Batman editor,

Danny O 'Neill. prior interviewing him early

on in my career and that Denny is a very progressive

person. He tends to have progressive politics

due to his upbringing. And if you want to know

more about that, I'm going to plug myself here.

You can go listen to that because we talk about

that and talk a lot about that with Denny. But

during that time, Chuck was explaining the difference

of DC comics in the comic realm as far as what

your beliefs mean for work and what they mean

now. And so it's very interesting, and that's

why it's one of my favorite interviews, because

it is so honest, and he's not hiding behind a

veil of saying, well, I can't say A, B, C, and

D, and be real, and call a ball, a ball, and

a strike, a strike. And Chuck did that in the

interview. And that, in very few times, even

as good as I like to think I am as an interviewer,

that is very hard to get. because everybody is

so protective of their brand and their name and

whatever else they want, their job maybe or their

family or something to that degree or a company.

And Chuck just kind of laid it all out on the

line. And it's one of my favorite interviews

because it goes to, it's nice to have that and

it's really refreshing in today's society when

somebody just calls it down the middle and calls

and says, hey, this is what I am. This is what

I do. this is how i feel and you know my fans

either love me or you hate me but here i am and

deal with it so that that's like one of my favorite

interviews and then wrestlers are always fun

too because it's always fun to talk about fake

fighting and it's something i can't do it's something

that i don't want to do if i want to be a voice

actor I could go and train to be a voice actor.

If I want to write comics, I could go do that.

I probably can't draw, because I'm not artistically

talented in that realm. But if I really wanted

to, I could practice, I could take classes, and

I could do something. Might not be very good,

but I could theoretically do it, in which it

is physically possible. And if I want to cosplay,

I would drop 20 pounds and I would work for the

next eight months and get a six pack. And then

I would just be Hawkman and be shirtless. And

then I could do that too if I really wanted to

and cosplay. I can't wrestle. I don't want to

get hit. I don't want to be suplexed. I enjoy

it. I find it interesting. I can manage a wrestler,

but I can't wrestle. And so it's fun to interview

things and people that you can't. Do their craft

and I love the psychology and I love breaking

it down and some of these people are the funniest

people you will ever speak to and I have plenty

of private conversations with these people and

There's some of the fun It's you know, that's

not a word people to the interview because they'll

tell stories and we'll tell circumstances and

they'll break things down and It's just really

enjoyable and the two people I'm thinking of

is actually there's three. Chris Daniels, I interviewed

him from Impact and now he's in AEW All Elite

Wrestling and then Kazarian. They were bad influence,

dirty addiction. So I did both of them and they

were very, they're funny people if you have private

conversations and I've had a few with them. And

then the other one that I haven't released yet

is Effie. and Effie is a very cool guy because

he's the first and one of the only queer wrestlers

out there and he's a very down -to -earth guy

and he's like and one of the things and he might

not appreciate me telling the story but I'll

tell it anyway I asked him saying hey I never

interviewed somebody who is queer and identifies

as queer and they're a wrestler this is I'm a

bit nervous and he's like dude everything is

perfectly fine and people are a bit too sensitive

and he was one of those people that said hey

ask me anything I'm more than happy to answer

anything you want to know and so it was very

cool and then there was actually another person

was also very cool like that where I interviewed

a transgender cosplayer I interviewed her and

her wife and really cool people and she was very

open from the very start of it and I didn't know

how to respond because obviously I'm very, you

know, in tune to not pushing something. I wasn't

going to push it unless it was brought up and

she brought it up and she kind of laid it all

out on the line said, hey, you know, this is

what I am and became a very, very cool interview.

Because you got a real insight into a particular

I don't know the right word, but I guess if you

point scope or like lifestyle And i'm saying

this with with hesitation because I don't know

the right words to describe this but it's almost

raw and unfiltered raw unfiltered and you you

you You you will understand a point of view and

you and you understand somebody's life and you

understand what they're going through when they

reveal and really all five of those interviews

were very honest and you get it when you listen

to them and two of them haven't been released

yet but the other three are out there and it's

nice and I'm just gonna clarify this if I offend

somebody by what I just said it wasn't meant

to I just don't know the right words to say it

and if I offend somebody because of that not

my intention with how I describe that situation.

I just want to clarify that. Awesome. Yeah, that's

awesome that you've gotten to have those kind

of conversations with people of all different

walks of life. It's such a fascinating world

and, legitimately, I would have never, since

I started podcasting, which I think is almost

three years now, because I fell into this genre.

I had no intention of becoming a podcaster, and

I fell into this. And so if you told me three,

four years ago that I would be doing this, I

probably would have been like, what the hell's

a podcast? I didn't even know what a podcast

was until I was like six episodes deep into my

show. So, so, so, literally, it was like a happy

accident. That's always fun though like discovering

it. So what are some projects that you have have

coming up? Oh Projects coming up. I'm I'm right

now. I'm on hiatus. So one of the things that

that happened to me is that my main project I

have to is I'm trying to get back into actually

writing for my website. I've been taking a break

then dealing with stuff because my other project,

which is the podcast, I've been on hiatus. Now,

I have been working on it, but I haven't been

releasing. And the reason why is I've come to

the conclusion that, unfortunately, editing is

a bitch. And she's not cooperative with me. And

I edit all my episodes. I do it by myself. And

so I have about 10 episodes completely done.

and I'm actually working on the 11th. And the

goal is to get about 16 or 20 of them done, and

then I'm gonna be re -releasing. So that's what

I've been working on. And so if you go to my

podcast, you'll notice that it stopped in like

the middle of season two. I'm not done. I am

legitimately editing so that I have like 20 weeks

of content and I can finish off my second season.

And then beyond that, I just do a bunch of panels.

Right now, I don't have anything booked, but

typically I get a panel or several panels at

AwesomeCon. I get trying to get panels at BlurredCon,

Oticon, AnimeUSA, possibly AnimeNYC, depending.

And so AwesomeCon is in April. BlurredCon is

in June or July. Oticon is in August. AnimeUSA

is in October. November's anime NYC and so I

right now had submitted about 12 I think panels

that awesome con and So I don't know when that

is going to come about. I think they're gonna

let me know Sometime in February in the next

like 28 days or so So I'll know when when when

I know and it'll be up on my Facebook what I'm

doing What I got going on? I have some new panels

that I've submitted. So that that's going to

be exciting. So, yeah, I mean, and then beyond

that, I'm working on, you know, a different project

on YouTube that has nothing to do with any of

this, where I'm working on a YouTube sort of

stock sort of education slash videos of, you

know, just working on. defining a lot of terms

on YouTube with stock trading and investing as

well as doing stock projections with trips and

Just doing that stuff and so I'm really working

to get that thing kicked off because that's a

hobby of mine I love investing and that's something

that is Very personal to me and I like talking

about it. So I'm working on getting that kicked

off as well Awesome awesome. So how can the listeners

get a hold of you and of course find out more

about you online. So all my social media is popanimecomics

or popanimecomicslounge. So my website is popanimecomics

.com. My Facebook page is popanimecomics and

the reason why you should check out my Facebook

page is I just mentioned all these places where

I do panels. I live stream about 90 % of them

on Facebook and they're up for about three weeks.

So from the time it live streams. to about three

weeks, it's up and you can watch it for free.

So if you want to get a free panel and enjoy

yourself and listen to something really cool,

whether it's my Attack on Titan or a bunch of

other panels I do, you can do that on Facebook

and that's completely free. And my Facebook page,

again, is PopAnimeComics. The podcast is pretty

much everywhere. It's PopAnimeComicsLounge. My

Twitter is at PopAnimeComics. I really do need

the follows. I also need a Facebook page like

so greatly appreciated if people do that. And

I will sell myself and possibly my soul for Facebook

likes. On my Instagram, which I'm doing a bunch

of cool stuff on Instagram, where I just showcased

my Pop Funko collection and my comic collection.

I usually put up one or two pictures a day from

that type of stuff. So that's Pop Anime Comics.

And I don't really know what's going on with

my investing project at the moment. So I don't

want to sell that just yet. I will put it up

on my Facebook page when it's good and ready

to go and When it's kicked off just let everybody

know that's probably the place where it'll be

I'll tweet it out And I don't think I missed

anything. Oh, yeah, and if I owe you money, I'm

just gonna pretend I don't know you and I'm gonna

walk away Nice So remember don't loan them any

money unless you you don't want to see it so

Just kidding. I'd like to thank you for taking

the time out of your busy schedule to hang out

with us here on Altered Geek. Oh, my schedule's

really not that busy, so it's all good. Okay,

so he's a free agent. Everybody interview him

now. Hey, hey, hey, I'm like John Cena. I go

on both brands. Yeah. So anyways, thank you again

and until next time, get Altered Geeky with the

Altered Geeks.