Spotlight – Frazer Rice

This is Jason Marsden, the voice of Duke from

G .I. Joe Renegades. You're listening to the

Geek Cast Radio Network. Yo, Joe. 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 Fraser Rice. Producer, writer,

author, podcast host, Marvel Comics and movie

fan. Welcome. Jack of all trades, master of none.

That's me. I think that's a little bit of everybody.

It really is. I mean, I think most of us who

grew up consuming a lot of culture, we're trying

to figure out how to use it. And so you end up

trying to put it in your careers in some ways.

And then, you know, you get frustrated with that.

So you try to have an outlet somewhere. Which

is awesome to have. Yeah, well, if you don't

have it, you go crazy. And it's nice when you're

just getting inundated with a lot of data and

images and things like that to be able to look

back into kinder, gentler times and make sense

of it. Yeah, essentially a nice brain dump that

you can kind of go back and revisit later. That's

for sure. So could you tell the listeners a little

bit about yourself so that they can know a little

bit about you? Sure. So I'm in my mid 40s and

I grew up a nerd and sort of kept with it. I

ended up becoming a lawyer and a banker. And

so I do a lot of work advising wealthy people

about their taxes and finances and things like

that. At the same time, I kept it up as far as

a lot of creative ventures. I had a radio show

in high school and a TV show in college, and

I really liked all of that. I worked in politics

right out of college, and so I got to sort of

scratch that itch professionally a little bit.

But I wanted to make some more money, and I went.

sort of the law school route and then ultimately

to banking. But I never really lost the sort

of media and cultural components that I really

liked. And I've been just trying to figure out

how to involve that more in my career and also

just to enjoy the things that I like reading

and doing. What the forms that have taken over

the last few years, I've been involved with a

small graphic novel called Death Cat that I co

-wrote with a good friend of mine. That led to

hopefully the near completion of a hundred page

graphic novel called Stay Alive that we're hoping

to put out probably in the spring. We have a

cool artist who has done some work for Marvel

and DC named Stephen Baskerville. And he's based

in Bath, England, and it's been just one of the

coolest experiences ever. I do podcasting, so

I interview a lot of artists, entrepreneurs,

experts, things like that and hear their story.

Most recently, I talked to a woman named Story

Jones, who has a website that helps people navigate

the divorce process. And the next one is going

to be with a fellow by the name of John Farr.

who has presided over the rebirth of the Bedford

Village Playhouse, which is an old movie theater.

So that's going to be really neat. And I grew

up watching a lot of movies there. So it's going

to be fun to hear how the movie theater, which

went down and went out of business, has kind

of come back to be a real cultural center in

the town. What else have I done? I just came

out with my first book, Wealth Actually, in August,

which is in the wealth management space, which

is my day job. And yeah, so I just keep it going.

Yeah, it's definitely important to keep busy.

And it sounds like you do that. Well, it's just

fun. It's one thing to keep busy when it's slavery

or drudgery and that type of thing. That's not

great. But when you're doing things that you

enjoy and you're part of a creative process,

it's really neat. And when you're able to have

the resources to be able to do certain things

and to sort of indulge yourself, it's a lot of

fun. So what are some of your favorite roles

that you currently play, whether it's being the

writer or the – producer of the graphic novels

or being a podcast host yourself. You know, I

like little parts about all of it. I think I'm

naturally better at the writing end of things.

I have to do it all the time in the day job.

And I think, you know, widely read and lots of

different influences. And so I like the writing

component. I think the business aspect of me,

I think I'm useful in terms of getting projects

up and running and moving forward and hopefully

done. So the production part is is cool. I'm

the co -producer of a horror movie actually called

The Restaurant, which is pretty neat. And it's

funny that I a friend of mine is directing it

and he was trying to raise some money and is

asking me how to go about that. And so I was

useful and I said, would you like to be a part

of it? And I said, sure. But. I'll only do it

if I'm the first person killed. So I ended up

on the, if you go into the trailer for the restaurant,

which is on YouTube, and it's hopefully coming

out in March, got a deal for it done. I'm in

a chair about to be gored by demons. That was

really fun. My first IMDB credit. It was great.

I do things that I enjoy doing. I just make a

point of carving out time during the day. It

keeps my pilot light on. I like it. You never

know where it's going to lead. Definitely. Doing

this, I've gotten to meet a lot of amazing people

just through doing a podcast and just talking

about things that I enjoy that other people enjoy

as well. And so it's, it's, it's definitely,

you know, about scratching that itch and kind

of discovering what you like to do and, and doing

a little, trying a little bit of everything.

Well, and the cultural stuff's interesting, too.

It's amazing. I play golf and do all sorts of

other things. But if you're able to connect with

people on the cultural part, there's a real connection

that happens that is powerful and it gets things

done. I was on Twitter. And there's a pretty

famous billionaire named Cliff Asness who has

a Twitter feed. And we connected over Jack Kirby

art, which he is a huge fan and I am, too. And,

you know, we're not friends. We've never really

even met. But but we have we do share something.

And it's cool. You know, this is a guy that wouldn't

know me from from Adam. And it's just a nice

thing to share, even a very minor way. Yeah,

it's always fun discovering who you end up bumping

into in just random conversation, whether it's

through social media or just in other means.

It's actually frightening. I think just between

people from past lives that show up in your orbits

through social media, but then also... In the

Twitterverse, depending on what you like or don't

like, these things catch up to you for better

or worse. At least in my case, it's been for

better, so I'm happy about that. Yeah, definitely

for better. So you mentioned the graphic novels.

What's been one of the fun challenges and interesting

aspects to being involved with that world? So

the graphic novel part, just a little bit about

the process. So my buddy Jim Harbison and I,

both big culture geeks, comics, horror movies,

action films, crazy stuff going back to the mid-'80s.

uh and even beforehand um and so we we always

liked writing together had been since high school

in some ways and we drifted apart uh not not

sort of socially but just didn't have time to

do it and then we rekindled it about five or

six years ago and have had multiple projects

So one challenge is he lives in Watertown, New

York. I live in Manhattan. And, you know, a lot

of the writing we do is over the phone. And that's

a strange process. Every once in a while, we'll

get together in person. But it seems to actually

be more productive over the phone. But it is

tricky because you're sort of talking and you

have to record things and write them down. And

at the same time. You have to try to, you know,

sort of see what the other guy's thinking. And

that doesn't always work. And if you have disagreements

and that collaborative process isn't that smooth,

which at times it isn't, you can get very disjointed.

So that was challenge one. Challenge two was

finding an artist, and especially for the 100

-page one. Well, to go backwards. So we started

this six page one called Death Cat, which is

about a palliative care cat that curls up next

to the people who are going to die next in a

nursing home, which I thought was it's a real

life thing. Bingo the cat, I think, was down

in Florida and we thought we could have a tiny

little horror concept around it. So we did. And

it's funny. And we put it out and we were we're

trolling around looking for artists. And, you

know, I went to Comic -Con in New York and in

one of the. both great and kind of sad things

is that in the sort of lower level, there's their

whole football fields full of the most talented

people you've ever seen. And they're not that

expensive. And I'm saying to myself, oh, my God.

But I'm looking around there and I couldn't find

anybody who could draw a cat well. I said, well,

that's a problem because it's called Death Cat.

Cat needs to look good. So anyway, we're on the

Internet at DeviantArt and we found a guy, Stephen

Baskerville, who drew cats well. So we talked

to him and I should say we didn't even talk to

him. I've never spoken to him over the phone.

And he got it, and we sort of hired him, and

it came out well. We'd send things. They'd come

back. We might have a couple minor changes, but

not really. And it's been the coolest thing.

So we got that done and out there, and Jim and

I have had some screenplays and other writing

that we try to figure out what medium to put

them in. And the movie industry is a whole other

Rubik's Cube to try to solve. Oh, yeah. So I

said, you know, we've got this one thing that,

Why don't we try to do a larger graphic novel?

And so it's taken over a year. Just it's 100

pages and it's hard. And, you know, Steve over

in Bath, England's got to figure out how to do

it. But slowly but surely, it's it's it's coming

along. And we're about we're about 90 percent

done with it. So it should be we should be ready

to go. You know, and it's the type of thing we

had this big, long script. We got it over to

Steve. And he just sort of whips things up and

the pages come back. And Jim and I are picky

and we don't have much to pick on. He does a

super job. And one of the great things is that

he he does the pencils. He does the inks. He

does the lettering and he does the colors, which

that. short circuits the time frame of production

by a ton it also makes it easier for us to manage

and so we're very lucky to have met him again

I've never talked to him over the phone and it's

and he's in Bath England and I look at I go what

a miracle and that's the internet for you so

then part three the difficulty is we're going

to have this finished product and we're we're

sort of we're looking around for a publisher

to put it out. And there's lots of different

ways you can do that. You can sort of crowdsource

a production deal. You can send it out to a bunch

of people and hope it works. And we've gone a

bunch of different ways and we're sort of in

the infancy, but we have some interest from some

folks. So we're trying to figure out how to.

how to manage that and what makes sense. But,

you know, the goal is let's get this thing published

and let's see if we can get it out. And just

by doing that, you've done more than 99 % of

people who've ever dreamt of putting a comic

book or a graphic novel out have done. Yeah,

that's definitely interesting as far as like

how you drew it from a six. you know, six page

story and expanded upon it and created all that.

And plus having, you know, an all in one package

with a guy. Uh, yeah, that, that, that was a

miracle, uh, because we were really thinking

about, you know, how are we going to do this?

And we've got to find a letter and, you know,

somebody is going to be in California and somebody

is going to be in New York. And how do you get

them all to. Do all that. Steve, Steve was a

we got very, very lucky on that front. So and

it's what's made it a really, really cool experience.

I'm psyched and it's coming out really well.

The story behind Stay Alive, which is the 100

page one, is we have a Lindsay Lohan type character

whose sort of media career is falling apart.

And she gets on a couple of bad lists as it relates

to a sort of this shadowy. internet -based serial

killer cult. And in order to fight back at that,

she joins a reality TV show. And she has to fight

her way out of a paper bag as it relates to staying

away from one of the major serial killers in

California. And while that doesn't sound exactly

funny, we mix a lot of horror and comedy and

gore and all that fun stuff. So we think that...

We think we've got something that's a lot of

fun. The art is so good that I feel really good

about it. I think the concept is kind of fun

and cagey, and let's see how it turns out. Yeah,

definitely be interested to see how that looks

when it comes out, so you'll have to let us know.

Absolutely. Since we can clearly tell you have

a love of comics and pop culture, what are some

of your favorite Marvel comic book characters

that you relate to or that you just enjoyed?

I was about seven when The Incredible Hulk TV

show was out. Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby and

all that. And so I really gravitated toward that.

I loved it. I was running around the house carrying

on. I'm sure it drove my parents nuts. I was

lifting blocks and roaring and doing all that.

So I liked the Hulk a lot. And then as sort of

my palate expanded a little bit, I became a big

Spider -Man fan. And then I liked Doctor Strange

a lot. had trouble warming up to the X -Men and

the fantastic four. I liked the villains a lot

more than the heroes in that. Um, and I really,

I daredevil, I never quite got into, uh, until

kind of the Frank Miller years. Um, but, uh,

you know, I think ground zero was sort of, uh,

He was really the Hulk and then, you know, followed

quickly by Spider -Man. Spider -Man, I think,

has got one of the real great rogues, you know,

rogue galleries in comics. And so, you know,

his villains are good, too. Yeah, he's essentially

like the Batman of the Marvel Universe in the

sense that he's got this awesome group of villains

that he gets to fight. Yeah, and so that's where

you get somebody like Iron Man who – I think

there's a lot that's great about that and Tony

Stark and alcoholism and he's a flawed guy and

all that. But his villains are just lame. The

Mandarin is OK and Crimson Dynamo and Obadiah

Stane and a few others. But after that, it kind

of – the blood just drains from the corpse. And

Daredevil suffered from that too until – later

on and and even i don't know and so you're sort

of left with some dim people and at the same

time i'm 10 and if i'm making judgments about

it i if you if people were older and reading

that i'm sure they had issues so um and in strange

part it's funny because like the fantastic four

for instance i i had trouble getting into um

and uh one thing i do credit uh The old 60s Marvel

cartoons, the old stop motion ones that were

basically the comics with things veering around

and with groovy soundtracks and things like that.

Those are great. And it's funny, you know, my

imagination for some reason really got activated.

I loved it. And, you know, the Captain Americas

and the Thors and Namor. It really worked. But

the Fantastic Four, which is really kind of ground

zero for all that. I liked the art and I liked

Galactus and some of the other villains. But

I got kind of bored with the big four and kind

of rooted for Doctor Doom to win a lot. Yeah,

I kind of was in the same boat with them. I didn't

really jump on that bandwagon. It was pretty

much like Iron Man, Spider -Man. Hulk and Captain

America, like mostly the Avengers, you know,

so. Right. And, you know, it's funny because

I like the fact that the movies have come out

and really introduced a lot of those old storylines.

I think that's I think that's neat. I'm interested

in myself to see now that we've kind of gotten

past sort of Marvel. It's called Phase One with

a lot of the storylines and a lot of the old

characters. it sort of hit me at a time when

I wasn't really following comics as much. I'll

be interested to see whether my interest in the

movies continues as well, uh, as it had in the

past. Yeah. It'll, it'll be interesting to see

how they, how they, uh, draw attention after

they, they end most of the contracts with the

old guard, uh, with, uh, end game. Right. You

know, Robert Downey Jr. I mean, at a certain

point, He wants to do other stuff. It gets down

to the Spider -Man thing. How do you bring Miles

Morales in? Where does that fit into things?

That's probably a five years from now issue.

We'll see. That's why they write the movies.

Yep. Make the big bucks. Uh, so what, what are

some other projects that you have have coming

up, uh, aside from the, the graphic novel and

whatnot? Yeah. So the graphic novel talked about

that, uh, the movie, the restaurant that's coming

out, that's going to be, uh, in DVD in March.

Uh, that's going to be, I, I. It's been shot.

It's ready to go. A lot of fun. And the acting

is really good. Basically what happens in the

restaurant is a restaurant owner in New York,

which is about the most competitive business

environment you could possibly have in the most

competitive business you could possibly have,

ends up. selling his soul to demons in order

for his restaurant to succeed. And so we that's

the premise of the movie. We've got some great

actors in it. Eric Ford, Holvinsky and Chris

Max are the main driving forces behind it. And

I think it turned out really well. So I'm excited

for that to come out. Let's see what else have

I got on my plate. Those are sort of the big

sort of super creative ones. Again, my book,

Wealth Actually, which isn't. Not really comic

book material, but it was a lot of fun to write

and hopefully, you know, fun and a little bit

glib and with some funny anecdotes. That came

out in August and that's on Amazon right now,

amongst other, you know, all the other places

you get books. And it's been exciting. I've gone

out and had to do a lot of podcasts and media

and things like that. And so that's been a lot

of fun. So how can the listeners get a hold of

you if they'd like to find out more about you

and your books and whatnot? Great. So you can

find out about me a couple of different ways

or lots of different ways. So I have a website,

FraserRice .com, and that's F -R -A -Z -E -R

-R -I -C -E .com. I'm on Facebook and Twitter,

and my Twitter handle is at Fraser Rice. And

Wealth Actually, which is the book around the

wealth management aspect, that has its own site.

That's at wealthactually .com and any of those

types of things. If you Google Fraser Rice, there

aren't many of them around. So you'll be able

to find me pretty quickly. Very, very unique

name. Unlike if you Google my name, there's like

50. Well, and the crazy part, too. So when my

parents were naming me, it was down to two. There

was Fraser, which is odd enough. But then the

other one, which was another family name, was

Persever. And if I had been named Persever, I'd

have ended up being a very tough kid. Certainly

Percy for short, or I may have gone straight

to the middle name. But the end note on it is

that Persever, my sister ended up using the name

as the name of her dress line. So she started

a dress business that's been going strong for

seven years, and it's called Persever. So out

of all the craziness, sometimes you get some

good stuff. That's definitely awesome that family

is able to still use a family idea. Yeah, well,

at least it's something. It isn't Rockefeller

or Carnegie, unfortunately. But it could be.

Yeah, maybe. If I sell some screenplays or do

some more comics, maybe we get toward that. Well,

thank you for taking the time out of your busy

schedule to come hang out with us here on Altered

Geek and kind of tell everybody what you're working

on and to promote your upcoming... movie and

graphic novel well thanks for having me and you

know when everything comes out I'd love to hear

what you think about it and you know when you've

got some stuff ready to roll let me know you

can be on my podcast definitely definitely so

thank you again and until next time get altered

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