INTERVIEW: Aubrey Sitterson & Jed Dougherty

WEBVTT

00:00:02.008 --> 00:00:05.320
This episode is brought to you by Endless Comics Games and Cards.

00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:13.410
Whether you are a dedicated Wednesday warrior or looking for the latest drop of TCG and sports cards, Endless Comics Games and Cards has you covered.

00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:30.592
While Endless is known for their large collection of both single issue comics and library of graphic novels, not to mention their monthly comic book club, they also stay fully stocked with singles and sealed product for Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and many others.

00:00:30.594 --> 00:00:31.614
What's the best part?

00:00:31.614 --> 00:00:37.811
You can set up your pull list online at endlesscgc.com and they will send your new books to you.

00:00:37.911 --> 00:00:45.393
So head on over to endlesscgc.com or check them out on social media at endlesscgc.

00:00:50.712 --> 00:00:58.954
Oblivionauts, Aubrey Sitterson here, writer of Free Planet, No One Left to Fight, the comic book story of professional wrestling, and much, much more.

00:00:58.954 --> 00:01:03.700
And you are listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast.

00:01:07.810 --> 00:01:15.111
Welcome to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host, Chris Hacker and Aaron Knowles.

00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:47.608
Joining us today is the creative team of the Image Comics series Free Planet, a geopolitical space opera that not only explores the sacrifices required for freedom, but how those sacrifices eventually lay the foundation of how we remember the people and events involved in obtaining that freedom.

00:01:47.608 --> 00:01:53.382
It is our pleasure to welcome Aubrey Sidderson and Jed Dougherty onto the Oblivion Bar Podcast.

00:01:53.382 --> 00:01:54.625
Welcome back.

00:01:55.873 --> 00:01:56.799
Thanks for having us.

00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.605
Thanks for having me back.

00:01:58.709 --> 00:01:59.501
It's pleasure.

00:01:59.501 --> 00:02:00.620
It's been too long.

00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:01.680
So happy to have you back Jed.

00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.070
Thank you so much for joining us for the first time.

00:02:03.070 --> 00:02:05.331
It's a pleasure to have you here talking about free planet.

00:02:05.352 --> 00:02:06.030
Thank you.

00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:06.513
Of course.

00:02:06.513 --> 00:02:06.953
Yeah.

00:02:06.953 --> 00:02:09.804
And you know, I think I want to just start us off here in this conversation.

00:02:09.804 --> 00:02:18.998
We're going to talk a lot about free play as we mentioned, but I do want to start with you Aubrey, who, you you joined us back in March of this year to discuss free planet prior to the release of issue one.

00:02:18.998 --> 00:02:24.931
And I think this is undeniably the quickest turnaround of any repeat guests that we've had here on the Abolvian Bar.

00:02:24.931 --> 00:02:26.301
So thank you for that.

00:02:27.062 --> 00:02:31.477
Well, man, y'all, y'all were a blast to talk with, dude.

00:02:31.477 --> 00:02:39.961
Like I reached out, I mean, just to be clear here, I reached out to Chris and Aaron to come back because, know, Jed, it was just me the first time around.

00:02:39.961 --> 00:02:47.153
I mean, I wanted y'all to talk to Jed and I didn't want to be left out because, because, because it was a blast.

00:02:47.153 --> 00:02:48.963
And I really, like, I...

00:02:49.114 --> 00:02:52.497
The first time around, I had my talking points, right?

00:02:52.497 --> 00:02:55.854
had my material and my stuff I needed to get through.

00:02:55.854 --> 00:02:57.421
I had to get my shit in.

00:02:57.421 --> 00:02:59.043
And I did.

00:02:59.043 --> 00:03:07.270
And uh this time out, I'm pleased to stand back and let Jed do some of the heavy lifting and just get a little loosey goosey with y'all.

00:03:08.045 --> 00:03:10.246
If you'll jump in to do some more heavy lifting.

00:03:10.246 --> 00:03:10.906
wouldn't dare.

00:03:10.906 --> 00:03:11.645
I wouldn't dare.

00:03:11.645 --> 00:03:13.825
would never dare interrupt your flow.

00:03:14.538 --> 00:03:18.200
Like one of those people that would never describe himself as loosey-goosey.

00:03:19.436 --> 00:03:20.991
No, not recently.

00:03:23.861 --> 00:03:25.262
in a former life.

00:03:25.402 --> 00:03:26.853
let's start with this, Aubrey.

00:03:26.853 --> 00:03:29.253
So, you know, we're three issues into the series thus far.

00:03:29.253 --> 00:03:34.125
We're recording this on August 5th and with issue four coming out on August 13th.

00:03:34.125 --> 00:03:36.786
So that's a couple of days after we release this episode.

00:03:36.786 --> 00:03:47.709
And I think readers who have picked up the book have, or even those that haven't picked up the book have heard the legends of Free Planet and this just insane book that is unlike anything else on the shelf.

00:03:47.709 --> 00:03:52.430
uh So really simple question, maybe possibly a large question for you, Aubrey.

00:03:52.556 --> 00:03:57.960
How do you feel like the reception has been thus far with the series for soon to be four issues in?

00:03:58.189 --> 00:03:59.030
Great.

00:03:59.711 --> 00:04:00.632
Awesome.

00:04:00.632 --> 00:04:00.972
Yeah.

00:04:00.972 --> 00:04:02.331
Period.

00:04:03.032 --> 00:04:05.074
Let's go.

00:04:05.074 --> 00:04:07.385
uh No, it's been amazing.

00:04:07.385 --> 00:04:14.300
And here's the thing, you know, like we, we launch really big and the book's doing really well and which is always crucial, right?

00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:15.882
So these things continuing on.

00:04:15.882 --> 00:04:30.314
em But what's been the most meaningful thing to me, like, like it's nice getting all the good reviews and seeing stuff on social media, but the thing that has convinced me most that we're onto something, right?

00:04:30.314 --> 00:04:34.855
That this is working are the letters that we've been getting in, right?

00:04:34.855 --> 00:04:36.848
And they're not normal letters.

00:04:36.848 --> 00:04:43.290
If you read Free Planet, you've seen that each issue ends with an essay by our in-world narrator, Dr.

00:04:43.290 --> 00:04:53.857
Aljas Foyrushi, and he solicits questions about Lutheria, which is where Free Planet is set, as well as like the broader universe in which the story takes place.

00:04:53.857 --> 00:04:55.598
And people have...

00:04:55.598 --> 00:04:56.879
played along.

00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:08.488
People have gotten really into it and sent really thoughtful, really complex, sometimes very specific questions about the world.

00:05:08.488 --> 00:05:12.163
And starting in issue three, we have letters pages with Dr.

00:05:12.163 --> 00:05:15.115
Aljas Foyrushi answering all these questions.

00:05:15.115 --> 00:05:22.978
we started even, we already started, I got one yesterday from a uh repeat customer, just as someone who asked, he had some follow up, Mario.

00:05:22.978 --> 00:05:25.108
Mario has some follow-up questions for Dr.

00:05:25.108 --> 00:05:26.500
Augusto Forrushi.

00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:28.060
Yeah, hell yeah, Mario.

00:05:28.060 --> 00:05:48.528
And I love that, because that means that not only are people buying it, not only do people recognize the work and the skill and the craft that went into this thing, which is all that stuff is amazing, but that people are appreciating it on the level that they were intended to and that we hoped that they would and that people would really want to dig into this thing.

00:05:48.528 --> 00:05:52.310
uh That people are already doing that is...

00:05:52.706 --> 00:05:57.783
I know, um I'm left as I rarely am at a loss for words.

00:05:57.783 --> 00:05:59.021
It's that gratifying.

00:05:59.021 --> 00:05:59.701
Sure.

00:05:59.701 --> 00:06:09.966
Jed, let me pass it over to you really quickly because you know, as the, I think it's mostly known among the readership and fans of the series and both of yours that like Aubrey is sort of the largest megaphone on this team.

00:06:09.966 --> 00:06:14.228
But you know, from your perspective, I know you've done a couple of appearances on podcasts and such.

00:06:14.228 --> 00:06:24.572
What has sort of been your view of the release of this again, very, uh you know, very different series that, know, is this, have you ever felt like this at any point in your career before Free Planet?

00:06:24.572 --> 00:06:26.994
And if not, what's been different about it?

00:06:27.117 --> 00:06:30.021
like Albrey's saying, we're getting feedback on it, which is nice.

00:06:30.021 --> 00:06:37.951
I've worked on a few series and it feels like dropping rocks into a hole, you know, you're like, well, it's done.

00:06:38.052 --> 00:06:40.915
And I never hear anything further, right?

00:06:40.915 --> 00:06:41.836
Yeah.

00:06:41.836 --> 00:06:45.800
So it's good to get a little bit of reverb at least, right?

00:06:46.221 --> 00:06:46.636
Absolutely.

00:06:46.636 --> 00:06:47.446
I was enjoying that.

00:06:47.446 --> 00:06:55.529
So one thing I really like, you know, Aubrey stated about earlier, some of the, some of the letters and like, you know, I like, I like reading, you know, the, letters and it's like, cause you were right.

00:06:55.529 --> 00:06:59.920
People are even asking things like the economy and, and going like deep into the lore.

00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:01.062
So that's always really fun.

00:07:01.062 --> 00:07:08.175
And, and I can't wait till we started talking more about the art and everything that goes into this, because I have so many comments and questions as well.

00:07:08.175 --> 00:07:16.148
But, um, Aubrey, mentioned last time on the show that you wanted free planet to exist as like a piece of a literature.

00:07:16.148 --> 00:07:17.978
and art object.

00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:22.704
Is anyone who reads a series like it's it's your or it has been to your sub stack.

00:07:22.704 --> 00:07:29.411
Atlantis still sunk already understands that you did definitely put in enough research that it can only be measured really in days and not just like hours.

00:07:29.411 --> 00:07:30.622
So I'm curious Jed.

00:07:30.622 --> 00:07:32.353
This we're to start with you on this one.

00:07:32.353 --> 00:07:37.139
um How did how did Aubrey pitch the idea of free planet to you?

00:07:37.139 --> 00:07:41.081
And did you truly know what you were getting yourself into when you said yes?

00:07:42.158 --> 00:07:43.257
Geez.

00:07:43.437 --> 00:07:50.317
Pretty focused from the start on being a revolutionary comic and in an ensemble cast.

00:07:50.437 --> 00:07:54.817
I mean that was I think it was 21 when we were talking about starting it.

00:07:54.817 --> 00:08:02.317
We were still working on on Sabbath Hearts and Aubrey was already raring to go on another book.

00:08:06.343 --> 00:08:09.180
Can you hurry up, Jets, so we can do the next thing, please?

00:08:10.057 --> 00:08:16.100
Yeah, uh Savage Arts m was much lighter uh content.

00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:17.180
So it's been a while.

00:08:17.180 --> 00:08:21.221
I'd have to dig up the old communications on that stuff.

00:08:21.543 --> 00:08:31.065
And no, didn't have an idea of how in-depth I would have to go on just designing a ton of stuff.

00:08:31.065 --> 00:08:38.697
uh I'm working on issue 10, I think, and I just go through the script and write down one line for...

00:08:38.697 --> 00:08:47.147
every new thing that shows up and I filled up three pieces of paper, know, new environments, new vehicles, characters.

00:08:47.969 --> 00:08:49.831
Yeah.

00:08:49.831 --> 00:08:53.455
I'm just saying what comes to mind, Aubrey.

00:08:54.455 --> 00:08:59.955
you We're creating a creative rift here on the Oblivion Bar, live on set.

00:08:59.990 --> 00:09:02.543
It may blow! I would like to interject.

00:09:02.543 --> 00:09:05.261
uh Okay, Aubrey, can defend yourself now, please.

00:09:05.261 --> 00:09:09.471
It's a- I think it's a qualification, right?

00:09:09.471 --> 00:09:21.158
uh The degree of, so that's true, but that's broadly true of like most comic scripts, like that are like in a fantasy world or a sci-fi world or something.

00:09:21.158 --> 00:09:23.379
That's true oftentimes.

00:09:23.379 --> 00:09:29.611
I think the difference here is that Jed makes the list and then Jed thinks.

00:09:29.611 --> 00:09:36.785
deeply about each one, how they interact with each other and how they fit into what he has already designed.

00:09:36.846 --> 00:09:50.972
And that is 100 % a choice and it's a choice that is a little bit demented, but also is exactly what makes Free Planet feel so lived in.

00:09:51.533 --> 00:09:54.836
It's what makes it feel rich and authentic.

00:09:54.916 --> 00:10:01.610
And the degree to which Jed did that on Savage Hearts, shamed me, right?

00:10:01.610 --> 00:10:15.878
Honestly, because like the scripts I wrote for Savage Hearts, they were good scripts, but they were not deliberately thought through and constructed scripts, the way that Free Planet is and the way that Jed approaches all of his art.

00:10:16.142 --> 00:10:17.538
overthinking I guess.

00:10:17.538 --> 00:10:25.312
That's, I mean, that's, that is the free planet approach though, is to overthink everything, is to think about, is to think about and overthink everything.

00:10:25.312 --> 00:10:27.225
I the appearance of overthinking everything.

00:10:27.225 --> 00:10:30.168
I know there's some stuff that I've let slip through the hole.

00:10:30.168 --> 00:10:31.206
Oh, shh.

00:10:31.765 --> 00:10:33.501
Can't break that.

00:10:33.501 --> 00:10:34.881
Metaphorically cut that out.

00:10:34.881 --> 00:10:37.542
Y'all can leave it in there because we should shame him for doing it.

00:10:37.542 --> 00:10:39.081
No, we don't have any time for that.

00:10:39.081 --> 00:10:40.542
Knock it off.

00:10:41.601 --> 00:10:46.721
No, like I mean, but like that that is central to the approach, I think, is overthinking it.

00:10:46.721 --> 00:10:46.981
Right.

00:10:46.981 --> 00:10:51.642
Like, I mean, the the letters pages fit in with that the historical captions.

00:10:51.642 --> 00:10:51.942
Right.

00:10:51.942 --> 00:10:55.909
Like the level of like one day when we.

00:10:55.926 --> 00:11:14.032
release like the art of free planet book and you get to see the mountains of designs and sketches Jed has done, you'll see the degree to which all of this stuff is considered and people are already starting to pick it up, pick up little bits and pieces of it, um but there's more, right?

00:11:14.032 --> 00:11:22.504
Because it's that richly and deeply considered and that's why it's not overthinking, it's rich and deep consideration.

00:11:22.731 --> 00:11:43.467
I absolutely see that because for me, the one thing I find incredible about this, and I know I probably get a little bit ahead of ourselves in the conversation, but ah especially in the intro, we talked about how this is like a space opera and this feels not just the way it's written, but when you look at it on the page, it feels like the comic version.

00:11:43.467 --> 00:11:51.590
I know that they've been doing a comic version of like Dune and like the House of Atreides, but like this to me feels it has that Dune.

00:11:52.033 --> 00:11:56.517
feeling and vibe and thought to it and like the level of consideration.

00:11:56.517 --> 00:12:06.004
And it's just an incredible, incredible visually and like, and, you know, words on a page like written, it's, it all just flows into this big space opera.

00:12:06.004 --> 00:12:11.086
And we've only mostly read like, again, we, got to, mean, I guess everybody's read issue three.

00:12:11.288 --> 00:12:15.269
We're so early on into it in such a complex and deep story.

00:12:15.269 --> 00:12:19.413
It's, it's amazing what's been achieved so far in just world building alone.

00:12:19.413 --> 00:12:28.561
I mean, art wise, like There's that splash page in issue two that just has like this year in in free planet and yeah.

00:12:28.561 --> 00:12:34.207
my god, like It's an issue one and two actually at the very last, I guess considered the last page before the ads.

00:12:34.207 --> 00:12:47.616
wanted to buy like a, like an actual piece of original art until I, until I saw that, like if that came in, like an original art, I've never wanted to buy like something out of somebody's like portfolio until I saw that that is incredible work.

00:12:47.616 --> 00:12:51.158
So again, but it just, it pays tribute to what you guys have done.

00:12:51.158 --> 00:12:55.692
You deserve the flowers for both again, thematically and visually.

00:12:55.692 --> 00:13:00.254
again, dialogue wise, like building so much in just this short amount of time.

00:13:01.138 --> 00:13:01.489
Yeah.

00:13:01.489 --> 00:13:06.422
And Aubrey, can I build off some of the, said a moment ago and I apologize if this is maybe a little too challenging.

00:13:06.422 --> 00:13:20.100
don't, I don't mean this to sound too like a challenge aggressive or anything like that, but I'm just curious with a venture that is, and like this is a, as we've been saying, free planet is so different from anything else on the shelf.

00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:22.770
don't think it's as easily said as shown.

00:13:22.770 --> 00:13:27.500
People have to physically hold free planet and sift through it and understand what we're talking about here.

00:13:27.500 --> 00:13:30.115
In the physical format too, think.

00:13:30.115 --> 00:13:31.456
Absolutely.

00:13:31.818 --> 00:13:33.422
It's a rough read digitally.

00:13:33.422 --> 00:13:34.562
It's tough.

00:13:34.562 --> 00:13:37.621
That's how we read the first issue before our first conversation was digitally.

00:13:37.621 --> 00:13:46.782
And you even to your credit was like, hey, just so you guys know, the digital version of this book, not easy to read, but when you hold it in your hands, it definitely, you can drink it in a little bit easier.

00:13:46.782 --> 00:13:54.182
know, but I'm curious if you have someone who, you know, maybe Free Planet isn't exactly their speed in terms of like the density of it.

00:13:54.182 --> 00:13:56.201
How do you combat that if you do?

00:13:56.201 --> 00:14:01.841
how do you, what's your response to someone who says, I don't know, man, it's just a little too, it's a little too packed for me.

00:14:01.841 --> 00:14:03.142
What do you say to that?

00:14:03.244 --> 00:14:05.465
So um it's a great question.

00:14:05.465 --> 00:14:06.846
And it's something I've thought a lot about.

00:14:06.846 --> 00:14:11.096
Like, I've thought about it in a sales context, right?

00:14:11.096 --> 00:14:12.187
Because I do these cons.

00:14:12.187 --> 00:14:15.298
I'm going to be in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend.

00:14:15.298 --> 00:14:19.321
um if you're in the Madison area, come see me.

00:14:19.321 --> 00:14:24.462
me you heard me on the oblivion bar, and I'll give you something free.

00:14:24.462 --> 00:14:27.563
I'm not going to say what it is, because I haven't decided yet.

00:14:27.605 --> 00:14:28.345
that'll happen.

00:14:28.345 --> 00:14:30.806
ah So yeah.

00:14:30.977 --> 00:14:33.980
I think about in the context of like, how do I put this in people's hands?

00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:37.873
You what about the person who sees the amount of words on the page and recoils, right?

00:14:37.873 --> 00:14:38.943
What do I say to these people?

00:14:38.943 --> 00:14:44.327
But that's a consideration that I've been having since early, early on in this process, right?

00:14:44.327 --> 00:14:53.635
Because the truth of matter is typically I don't like books, comics with as many words in them as Free Planet.

00:14:53.635 --> 00:14:56.456
And I did a lot of thinking about why that is.

00:14:56.597 --> 00:14:57.118
I...

00:14:57.118 --> 00:15:02.721
I came to the conclusion that for me, has less to do with the amount of words on the page, because I like reading, right?

00:15:02.721 --> 00:15:05.702
I like reading prose and, you know, the written word.

00:15:05.702 --> 00:15:10.985
And it has less to do with the amount of words and more in terms of how they're deployed, right?

00:15:10.985 --> 00:15:18.460
And the approach we took on Free Planet is such that the captions, these like dense historical caption, right?

00:15:18.460 --> 00:15:20.932
Because there's not a ton of dialogue in Free Planet, right?

00:15:20.932 --> 00:15:22.471
It's these historical captions.

00:15:22.471 --> 00:15:28.216
And that information is It's not supplementary, right?

00:15:28.216 --> 00:15:33.619
Because if you want to get the full picture, if you want to fully understand free playing, you have to read all of it, right?

00:15:33.619 --> 00:15:42.245
But they are not integral components of the specific scenes that you're watching, right?

00:15:42.245 --> 00:15:44.346
And this does a few things, right?

00:15:44.346 --> 00:15:49.450
One is it provides us a separate narratorial voice.

00:15:49.590 --> 00:15:49.899
Right?

00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:54.201
And so then that point of view becomes an interesting thing to play with and to explore.

00:15:54.201 --> 00:15:54.551
Right?

00:15:54.551 --> 00:15:57.851
And that has impact on what you're reading and how it's interpreted.

00:15:57.851 --> 00:16:06.195
And then the other thing it gets us is that we provide a separate narrative.

00:16:06.195 --> 00:16:06.485
Right?

00:16:06.485 --> 00:16:12.806
There's a separate narrative thread that has thematic relevance and contextual relevance to what you're seeing on the page.

00:16:12.806 --> 00:16:18.285
But again, it's not a integral component such that the page itself can't be understood without it.

00:16:18.285 --> 00:16:18.850
Hmm.

00:16:18.850 --> 00:16:20.681
And that's what I tell people.

00:16:20.681 --> 00:16:25.452
Not all that, that's boring.

00:16:25.452 --> 00:16:30.154
That's appropriate for a podcast people are listening to at two times speed, but not for a normal life.

00:16:30.154 --> 00:16:34.897
No, I say, look, read as much as you want and you'll be rewarded for it.

00:16:34.897 --> 00:16:44.841
If you wanna just flip through this thing and look at Jed's art and these page designs, first of all, I guarantee you that you're gonna slow down and you're gonna wanna read some of it.

00:16:44.841 --> 00:16:47.190
But yeah, look at this, look at this.

00:16:47.190 --> 00:17:02.254
I have uh the second page of issue one open currently everybody just so you know and it's the spread of the entire freedom guard team and I think that alone what to sort of build up what you're saying there Aubrey could be advertisement enough to at least get someone interested in free planet if they had only just seen this double page spread.

00:17:02.254 --> 00:17:08.717
Exactly, and like, and people might still say, that's so much text, to which I say, well, don't read it.

00:17:09.478 --> 00:17:10.929
Their names are bolded, right?

00:17:10.929 --> 00:17:12.529
Like their names are bolded, right?

00:17:12.529 --> 00:17:13.851
Their names are right up at the top.

00:17:13.851 --> 00:17:16.642
So you can get their names if you really want to.

00:17:16.642 --> 00:17:25.686
Also, because you bought this thing as it was intended to be read as a print periodical, your ass can flip back to it whenever you want.

00:17:25.686 --> 00:17:27.808
It's a reference tool, right?

00:17:27.808 --> 00:17:30.690
Like, and if you say, you know what?

00:17:30.849 --> 00:17:35.212
What was the difference between, like what was the whole thing with Hora and Foyha again?

00:17:35.212 --> 00:17:36.534
You could just go back and look.

00:17:36.534 --> 00:17:37.994
Just go back and check it out, man.

00:17:37.994 --> 00:17:41.457
Like, it's a different type of comic in that regard.

00:17:41.537 --> 00:17:48.602
it's, the hope is that at every level of engagement, you get a little bit more out of it.

00:17:48.922 --> 00:17:51.503
And we're trying to meet, right?

00:17:51.503 --> 00:17:57.147
Like it's Jed and I trying to meet one another's level of engagement and one up each other.

00:17:57.147 --> 00:18:01.915
And it's also us trying to reward the reader's level of engagement.

00:18:01.915 --> 00:18:03.852
And that's what the lighter's pages are all about too.

00:18:03.852 --> 00:18:11.545
Yeah, one thing that this reminds me of is uh one of my favorite sci fi authors is EE Doc Smith did the the lensman series.

00:18:11.545 --> 00:18:24.028
And all of that reads almost like the the journal or like the diary of like a you know, a future soldier like in a a in an almost intergalactic interdimensional war.

00:18:24.028 --> 00:18:28.301
And it feels like you're reading like a historical document from the future.

00:18:28.301 --> 00:18:29.781
And that's what this kind of reminds me of.

00:18:29.781 --> 00:18:35.481
And I don't know why, but as soon as I say that, it reminds me of Galaxy Quest when it's like, we need your help.

00:18:35.642 --> 00:18:38.261
You know, it's like the historical documents, you know?

00:18:38.261 --> 00:18:50.902
Um, so like, I, I love how this, again, just reading through it, it, again, it has that dune feel, but it also has that, like, you know, you're reading something that has, feels like has already occurred.

00:18:50.902 --> 00:18:52.922
It is an experience to read these issues.

00:18:52.922 --> 00:18:54.481
Like that's it's experiential.

00:18:54.481 --> 00:19:07.617
Just that's, guess that's the one word I can use to, to, round it And if I could brag on you both as well, Aubrey, everything you said, I agree with and Jed, I would love to get your thoughts on this as well, but just to sort of brag on you both, everybody, these are 399.

00:19:07.798 --> 00:19:08.438
Okay.

00:19:08.438 --> 00:19:15.657
There aren't many comics out there that you even get a fraction of the information and issue an issue for less than $4, especially from the big two.

00:19:15.657 --> 00:19:25.278
So I think like, if I could give anyone the biggest sort of pitch for this book is that you are getting your money's worth 100 % when you pick up an issue of a free planet, you know?

00:19:25.718 --> 00:19:26.413
Yeah.

00:19:26.413 --> 00:19:39.461
Jed, just to sort of pass it off to you really quickly too, sort of same question that I asked Aubrey, if you have someone who comes to you and says, wow, this is a dense thing, is there anything different in terms of your approach to Aubrey's on how you sell this book?

00:19:39.842 --> 00:19:44.824
I have not really been engaged on the sales point on this book really.

00:19:44.824 --> 00:19:48.305
actually had precisely this conversation with a friend of mine.

00:19:48.305 --> 00:19:58.028
I gave him a copy of Free Planet and he said, like the art and my eyes are too old to read the tiny words.

00:19:58.028 --> 00:20:01.849
Now I know, I've got Aubrey's toolkit to say just read as much as you like.

00:20:02.695 --> 00:20:04.509
Someone put Free Planet in an audiobook.

00:20:04.509 --> 00:20:06.772
We need this for the older generation.

00:20:07.323 --> 00:20:09.464
Yeah, the large print edition.

00:20:09.464 --> 00:20:11.837
Right.

00:20:11.837 --> 00:20:17.333
yeah, don't have much to say on selling it, I'm afraid.

00:20:17.473 --> 00:20:21.218
I'm years deep in drawing it and I don't really come up for air that much.

00:20:21.218 --> 00:20:21.750
Sure.

00:20:21.750 --> 00:20:26.614
I feel like Jed's hair might have been the same color as Aubrey's when they started the process.

00:20:26.614 --> 00:20:27.746
And now nine issues in.

00:20:27.746 --> 00:20:31.823
He's got a little salt and pepper going on now.

00:20:31.903 --> 00:20:34.688
Aaron, go ahead.

00:20:35.117 --> 00:20:37.114
But did you already, you already did your.

00:20:37.188 --> 00:20:37.657
I'm so sorry.

00:20:37.657 --> 00:20:39.169
Yeah, it's my fault.

00:20:39.169 --> 00:20:39.628
My turn here.

00:20:39.628 --> 00:20:40.858
OK, sorry, buddy.

00:20:40.858 --> 00:20:45.049
So let's talk about finally not my fault.

00:20:45.049 --> 00:20:47.040
just witnessed oblivion bar history.

00:20:47.040 --> 00:20:47.810
I was wrong.

00:20:47.810 --> 00:20:51.082
Everybody live on camera.

00:20:51.082 --> 00:20:53.402
Let's talk about this series in a very broad term.

00:20:53.402 --> 00:21:01.134
Now, I will say that, again, in a very broad sense, spoilers ahead, everybody, I don't want to I don't want to confuse anyone and say that we're going to go completely spoiler free.

00:21:01.134 --> 00:21:06.355
But like, we're not going to talk about deep plot points, but I want to just sort of broadly talk about how about that.

00:21:06.367 --> 00:21:11.335
Let's spare him any kind of interpersonal drama.

00:21:12.698 --> 00:21:20.301
But we can 100 % talk about stuff revealed in all the captions and kind of larger world building things 100%.

00:21:20.301 --> 00:21:25.481
you give me a yay or a nay of these next four points if it's too spoilery and I will cut them out.

00:21:25.481 --> 00:21:25.761
Okay.

00:21:25.761 --> 00:21:26.637
How about that?

00:21:26.637 --> 00:21:30.082
No, no, I don't want to, I don't use your best judgment.

00:21:30.082 --> 00:21:31.903
I'll agree with you no matter what.

00:21:31.903 --> 00:21:32.171
Okay.

00:21:32.171 --> 00:21:34.326
Now I feel, I feel dictatorial.

00:21:34.326 --> 00:21:35.147
I've been there.

00:21:35.147 --> 00:21:38.442
I like to be dictatorial, but I don't like to feel that.

00:21:38.442 --> 00:21:38.711
Sure.

00:21:38.711 --> 00:21:39.710
That's the distinction.

00:21:39.710 --> 00:21:41.493
Let's go with Richard tutorial.

00:21:42.092 --> 00:21:42.608
That's right.

00:21:42.608 --> 00:21:43.712
Thank you.

00:21:44.268 --> 00:21:45.240
all ages of listeners.

00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:46.951
So a couple of big highlights here.

00:21:46.951 --> 00:21:50.413
ah I think these are worth newly on discussing.

00:21:50.433 --> 00:21:55.376
we have maybe some potential love happening within the ranks between some folks.

00:21:55.376 --> 00:21:55.798
Sure.

00:21:55.798 --> 00:21:57.239
uh Commander Oliver.

00:21:57.239 --> 00:21:59.599
uh And tell me if I'm saying this incorrectly.

00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:02.261
You know, we are talking about this, but like Gautian.

00:22:02.476 --> 00:22:04.384
I say, say Grackon.

00:22:05.175 --> 00:22:07.553
Yeah Aaron said crack on before the recording.

00:22:07.553 --> 00:22:08.532
So good job, Aaron again.

00:22:08.532 --> 00:22:12.685
He's been right twice in this episode, one more time and we've unlocked the key to time.

00:22:12.685 --> 00:22:17.548
uh Has presumably been kidnapped at some point in the story.

00:22:17.548 --> 00:22:26.272
There's religious fractures happening within the story between the Tomekiam, I hope I'm saying that again incorrectly, with those leaders.

00:22:26.394 --> 00:22:32.676
We get to meet the Auroran Empire, who I am curious about these like sort of super marines within the world.

00:22:32.676 --> 00:22:34.253
Maybe Auroran perhaps.

00:22:34.253 --> 00:22:36.779
I say Aaron and I, where are from Aaron?

00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:37.686
I'm not really from anywhere.

00:22:37.686 --> 00:22:40.614
I've never lived anywhere more than like four years, so.

00:22:40.681 --> 00:22:41.380
Oh, okay.

00:22:41.380 --> 00:22:54.501
Alaska is basically Las Vegas! I'm from Virginia and I say everything kind of funny and people make fun of me for it so I was just wondering if we had similar accents because I also say aurora.

00:22:54.922 --> 00:22:57.021
Aaron, how do you say the religion?

00:22:57.981 --> 00:22:59.321
Yeah, that's T.

00:22:59.321 --> 00:23:04.040
Aaron and I are linguistically incipient.

00:23:04.040 --> 00:23:06.925
or Teo McKeem like with it like kind of an emphasis on that.

00:23:06.925 --> 00:23:08.685
Oh, that's neat too.

00:23:08.746 --> 00:23:09.586
It doesn't matter.

00:23:09.586 --> 00:23:10.645
It's all made up.

00:23:10.645 --> 00:23:12.326
People say whatever you want.

00:23:12.326 --> 00:23:15.693
Absolutely whatever you we establish words are all words are made up and.

00:23:15.693 --> 00:23:17.094
I should have learned my lesson.

00:23:17.094 --> 00:23:28.013
When I did No One Left to Fight, the characters, they have made up names and they have weird diacritic accent marks on them and stuff.

00:23:28.114 --> 00:23:32.153
And people still just come up to me and they're like, oh, how do I, is it valet?

00:23:32.153 --> 00:23:33.913
And I was like, bro, I say veil.

00:23:33.913 --> 00:23:36.693
I don't It's just a name.

00:23:36.693 --> 00:23:37.394
just looks cool.

00:23:37.394 --> 00:23:40.753
It looks like it's a visually interesting looking word to me.

00:23:40.753 --> 00:23:42.493
we put the things over it.

00:23:43.114 --> 00:23:44.614
Don't stress it so much.

00:23:44.789 --> 00:23:48.849
and then also I think the big one too is Yuri Ken.

00:23:48.970 --> 00:23:50.349
Yuri Ken.

00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:51.903
You're okay.

00:23:54.829 --> 00:23:56.779
That's what Jason Street Fighter.

00:23:57.973 --> 00:24:02.277
So let's and actually I want to go back to one that we didn't mention here, which is Jackson Crater.

00:24:02.277 --> 00:24:04.478
That's really the one I want to sort of noodle on.

00:24:04.478 --> 00:24:04.998
Yeah.

00:24:04.998 --> 00:24:06.818
And his inclusion within the freedom guard.

00:24:06.818 --> 00:24:17.654
And I think for folks who haven't made it to issue two yet, I will just say sort of loosely is that this person is presumed to be somewhat of a like intergalactic terrorist and as someone who has recently joined sort of the team.

00:24:17.654 --> 00:24:18.445
Right.

00:24:18.445 --> 00:24:25.398
What does the inclusion of Jackson on this team and within the story thus far, what does it say about sort of the price of freedom?

00:24:25.398 --> 00:24:28.391
And we'll get into that conversation about freedom and the price of it later on.

00:24:28.391 --> 00:24:30.958
just out of curiosity, what does Jackson represent on the team?

00:24:30.958 --> 00:24:32.202
That's a great question.

00:24:34.125 --> 00:24:39.769
was just trying to remember, I think he got included uh by, by like Council Fiat, right?

00:24:39.769 --> 00:24:46.935
So there must be people who are sympathetic to his cause on the council, which is the freedom of the next planet over.

00:24:46.935 --> 00:24:51.338
But he's also got a lot of blood on his hands in the process of doing so.

00:24:51.338 --> 00:24:56.913
And uh a lot of the people who were on the team kind of revile him for that.

00:24:56.913 --> 00:25:00.546
But yeah, what's, what's your thinking on the...

00:25:01.112 --> 00:25:03.284
think it's about compromise.

00:25:03.345 --> 00:25:07.308
It's about compromise and it's about necessity, right?

00:25:07.308 --> 00:25:14.676
And I think that that is, that's not just a thing that Jackson is about, but like that's what free planet is about.

00:25:14.676 --> 00:25:17.585
uh large sense throughout, right?

00:25:17.585 --> 00:25:20.156
They've won the revolution, the revolution's over, right?

00:25:20.156 --> 00:25:33.125
They've had their ideals, they set up this new way of doing things, and they're trying to make it work, but along the way, they run into things that are not viable, and they have to compromise, they have to do these different things.

00:25:33.125 --> 00:25:44.907
Jackson is brought on the team not merely because there people who are sympathetic to his cause on this planet, the next planet over, but also because of what he can offer them.

00:25:44.907 --> 00:26:05.275
right through contacts in this shadowy intergalactic underworld, uh allowing them to procure the salvage and the supplies that they are otherwise locked out from getting access to because they're no longer part of this big hegemonic uh government, this universal government.

00:26:05.275 --> 00:26:14.642
And so Jackson is, he represents a complexity of vision as well as the necessity of compromise.

00:26:15.239 --> 00:26:16.098
It's interesting.

00:26:16.098 --> 00:26:18.380
They say that like deals are done in shadows, right?

00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:24.442
And like a lot of historic moments throughout history were done by people whose names will never be mentioned, right?

00:26:24.442 --> 00:26:40.500
And I think what you guys do really well in that second issue with Jackson is that you show the nuance of war or like, guess the nuance of people who fight wars and that like good people can do good, people can do bad things, but also bad people can do good things, right?

00:26:40.546 --> 00:26:47.688
And people do good and bad things in service of good and bad ideas, right?

00:26:47.688 --> 00:27:02.652
Like it's complex and like, it's, I don't know, not to get too like personal with y'all, but like, it really means a lot to me hearing, uh at least I don't know, I don't know how to put words in Aaron's mouth, but like hearing it come from at least one of y'all, because y'all served.

00:27:02.652 --> 00:27:10.163
know, Free Planet is a military book and I did not serve, Jed did not serve, but it's been important to us.

00:27:10.163 --> 00:27:14.316
that it feel authentic and that it feel real.

00:27:14.316 --> 00:27:21.170
it's still a sci-fi book with like weird tentacle alien and space Marines and stuff, right?

00:27:21.170 --> 00:27:29.644
Like it is a sci-fi book, we wanted to have that verisimilitude and that authenticity.

00:27:29.644 --> 00:27:42.652
because this is important, complex stuff and the military background of our characters really does sit at the core of how this struggle is expressing itself.

00:27:43.482 --> 00:27:48.255
So, Aaron, again, as you know, Aubrey, you just mentioned, Aaron and I, actually met while we were in the military.

00:27:48.255 --> 00:27:50.404
We understand sort of what it's like.

00:27:50.404 --> 00:27:57.640
And I'm always speaking from like someone from America living in sort of the 2010s post 9-11 sort of timeframe, right?

00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:08.316
Where like, as someone who grew up in the Midwest and was told by everyone in my circle as a young person that, join the military, do your part, protect, and I'm saying this location quotations, freedom, right?

00:28:08.316 --> 00:28:11.417
Like you're there to uh do a good deed.

00:28:11.417 --> 00:28:22.724
uh But I think what you find out, and I'm going to say this very broadly, that like while in the military, it is, I think, less about protection and more about uh service.

00:28:22.766 --> 00:28:25.114
Aaron, are you sort of feeling a similar thing?

00:28:25.114 --> 00:28:26.624
Because you joined very young as well, right?

00:28:26.624 --> 00:28:27.054
Yes.

00:28:27.054 --> 00:28:29.136
ah No, I agree.

00:28:29.136 --> 00:28:40.709
And it's interesting because I just had a really like I had a conversation with somebody today who I think was either from Belgium or it was it was I was in a was in a group call with some people from anyways, doesn't matter.

00:28:40.709 --> 00:28:50.220
But we had a really interesting conversation because we were talking about the differences in how service is perceived by, you know, younger generations across the world.

00:28:50.220 --> 00:29:06.531
we're really one of the only like all volunteer military still in the world, you know, and you have some countries that are still mandatory service requirements, you know, so there's like this interesting approach and interesting thought process.

00:29:06.531 --> 00:29:09.554
Cause I mean, honestly, I'll say, I'll just get to the point.

00:29:09.554 --> 00:29:11.005
Stop beating around the bush.

00:29:11.204 --> 00:29:25.142
like youth from the United States are really some of the most, not, I'm not going to say immature, but they don't think very maturely when it comes to long life and long lasting like effects of what your choices have and the military.

00:29:25.602 --> 00:29:26.162
Yes.

00:29:26.162 --> 00:29:26.682
Yeah.

00:29:26.682 --> 00:29:40.981
And other countries, they're very much really in tune with the political like the geopolitical, you know, world, the environment and how their military service is going to feel when, they have to get there, when they have to serve.

00:29:41.021 --> 00:29:46.442
So, um, these worldly affairs are really more important to, you know, younger generations around the world.

00:29:46.442 --> 00:29:47.701
other than in the United States.

00:29:47.701 --> 00:29:54.184
So I always think about that when I'm having conversations with people and what service means to them.

00:29:54.204 --> 00:29:58.906
does military service mean to you depending on where you're from?

00:29:58.906 --> 00:30:05.558
And for United States, for our youth, it is, very much a um kind of like, it's patriotic.

00:30:05.558 --> 00:30:06.368
You're a hero.

00:30:06.368 --> 00:30:08.230
It's glamorized.

00:30:08.683 --> 00:30:11.071
You're automatically a hero, which is interesting, right?

00:30:11.071 --> 00:30:13.771
Like you go in as a hero just for signing up.

00:30:13.771 --> 00:30:18.003
instead of it just being like a job or being like something that you have to do going forward.

00:30:18.003 --> 00:30:25.567
So it's such an interesting, again, conversation with people because, you again, I wasn't really raised, I didn't join because it was glamorous.

00:30:25.567 --> 00:30:29.308
You know, my parents are both in the military and I know they both went through a lot of things.

00:30:29.308 --> 00:30:30.509
For me, it's very different.

00:30:30.509 --> 00:30:34.730
I joined because I needed to get away from living in my car, you know?

00:30:34.730 --> 00:30:36.731
And so when I joined, it was about survival.

00:30:36.731 --> 00:30:39.893
It was about education, survival and creating a life for myself.

00:30:39.893 --> 00:30:42.670
So again, service means everything for everybody.

00:30:42.670 --> 00:30:44.569
in different unique ways.

00:30:44.609 --> 00:30:52.009
But it's really something that everybody should be kind of, again, they should look at with foresight into how it's gonna impact the rest of their life.

00:30:52.009 --> 00:30:55.289
And I don't mean to keep going, but is that kind of like what you're saying, Chris?

00:30:55.289 --> 00:30:57.781
Or like, that, I know I went on a bit of a tangent.

00:30:57.781 --> 00:31:09.741
No, I'm just curious, because Aubrey, what you and Jed do here with this series, I think it's just interesting how, uh and we actually have a question about how you mentioned in your sub stack recently that this is a military story at the end of the day.

00:31:09.741 --> 00:31:26.162
And I just found it interesting that uh being two folks who have getting quote unquote served and also survived that service and how in reflection we can look back and go, man, maybe that dream wasn't exactly what we thought it was sometimes.

00:31:26.220 --> 00:31:29.768
So again, more of a noodle, less of an actual point to be made is what I'm saying.

00:31:29.768 --> 00:31:31.378
Well, I've been loving this.

00:31:31.378 --> 00:31:42.025
I was taking notes while Aaron was talking because this is is fascinating stuff to hear and it's, you know, it is it's exactly the type of stuff that we're trying to dig into.

00:31:42.025 --> 00:31:42.394
Right.

00:31:42.394 --> 00:31:47.728
Like the thing that I wrote down specifically was what does military service mean to you?

00:31:47.728 --> 00:31:53.111
Because that's a valuable because while you're uh my brain moves it.

00:31:53.111 --> 00:31:53.790
I was listening.

00:31:53.790 --> 00:31:56.372
was not ignoring you thinking about something else.

00:31:56.372 --> 00:32:10.596
was also listening to you and I was also thinking about how that question would be answered not only by each individual character, but also the different societies that exist within Free Planet.

00:32:10.596 --> 00:32:14.557
you know, that's one of the things that I...

00:32:14.557 --> 00:32:29.454
enjoy most about writing Free Planet is thinking about complex moral and ethical codes and the different ones that are possessed by the different societies and then the variations of the individual.

00:32:29.454 --> 00:32:46.525
And so like everybody on the team, all the freedom guard, they have these very like well, not necessarily well thought out, but like well thought out by me kind of guardrails and like belief systems and I'm not talking, and some of it's religious and some of it is like political philosophy, but some of it's not.

00:32:46.525 --> 00:32:49.387
Some of it's just about like loyalty, right?

00:32:49.387 --> 00:32:54.221
Like, and like how important that is to a person and how that expresses itself, right?

00:32:54.221 --> 00:32:58.685
And, you know, questions like that, like, so like what is military service?

00:32:58.685 --> 00:33:00.718
What does service actually mean to you?

00:33:00.718 --> 00:33:07.692
And like the differences between the different factions within the world um is incredibly valuable.

00:33:07.925 --> 00:33:10.728
I owe you a drink.

00:33:11.108 --> 00:33:12.750
That's incredibly helpful.

00:33:13.191 --> 00:33:17.006
You'll see that in issue uh 11.

00:33:17.006 --> 00:33:18.567
That's exactly what I was going for.

00:33:18.567 --> 00:33:19.983
So you're welcome.

00:33:20.299 --> 00:33:21.386
That's what issue 11.

00:33:21.386 --> 00:33:25.224
We won't know there's any homage unless one of your characters is really into muscle mommies.

00:33:25.224 --> 00:33:29.080
That's how we know that it was something brought on by inspiration of Aaron.

00:33:29.142 --> 00:33:29.813
Bro, here's the thing.

00:33:29.813 --> 00:33:34.189
If they're not a muscle mommy and Jed's drawn them, they're in.

00:33:34.190 --> 00:33:35.030
Yeah.

00:33:35.373 --> 00:33:38.574
Just to just go ahead and anticipate that from the job.

00:33:38.574 --> 00:33:46.625
Well, I mean, I don't want to go too much off on a tage, but I also want to say, there's so much to sense about these characters as well.

00:33:46.625 --> 00:33:50.507
And, you know, I want to give Jed some flowers here real quick.

00:33:50.507 --> 00:33:56.138
There's an issue three, one of my favorite scenes was a super, it was a very simple one.

00:33:56.138 --> 00:34:07.402
And I'm not going to go into the details too much, but it's the one where, and again, I'm still learning the names also, but basically the robot is, and I'm also trying not to...

00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:16.253
I'm telling you, I'm not trying to give away the story as well, but he is assisting somebody with, you know, some, pain in their back.

00:34:16.253 --> 00:34:17.038
Okay.

00:34:17.038 --> 00:34:18.637
Oh, we can say that.

00:34:18.697 --> 00:34:20.898
He's given Gloria a massage.

00:34:22.297 --> 00:34:26.677
That is a big moment in issue one.

00:34:26.677 --> 00:34:28.597
I mean, we're on issue three now.

00:34:28.597 --> 00:34:36.577
We can't be living in the past with these people refusing to get on board with the hottest new comic of 2025.

00:34:36.577 --> 00:34:37.577
It's on them.

00:34:37.577 --> 00:34:39.157
They've screwed up.

00:34:39.498 --> 00:34:46.657
So Talon and Gloria are in a relationship and Talon's giving her a massage with those powerful clamp hands.

00:34:46.657 --> 00:34:47.025
Tell me.

00:34:47.025 --> 00:34:52.170
Yeah, but the, the, this Marine walks in and like, but our is, is like trying to enter her quarters.

00:34:52.170 --> 00:35:01.518
And, um, you know, there's this moment where she's like, get some distance from me, you know, because they don't, doesn't want anybody to know that they're in a relationship.

00:35:01.518 --> 00:35:16.632
And it's just, I wanted to give Jed some flowers because in that scene, like the way that it's drawn out is, uh, this is one those ones, like for me, it, I can't imagine being able to draw something that can fully.

00:35:16.632 --> 00:35:27.788
communicate the emotions of both of a robot and a woman who's trying to guard her, her authority in the military against being like found out, you know, about what's going on.

00:35:27.788 --> 00:35:38.793
And so I'm just like, and then there's the moment, like this is part panel also where, where the robot speaks that where talent speaks up and she just like puts her hand up almost like to shush him.

00:35:38.793 --> 00:35:53.076
And it's just, I don't know in that, I got, I guess I'm just trying to give you some flowers because you, communicated this, this subtle mood and like these nuances that go between kind of uh a secret relationship.

00:35:53.856 --> 00:35:55.097
You just did it so well.

00:35:55.097 --> 00:35:58.059
And it's like something like a panel like that, which can be so unassuming.

00:35:58.059 --> 00:36:00.820
I just want to give you the flowers again, because you'd like, I don't know.

00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:02.438
I just, I loved that.

00:36:02.438 --> 00:36:03.630
That's that story.

00:36:03.630 --> 00:36:05.701
That portion of the story, those panels were incredible.

00:36:05.701 --> 00:36:07.552
So thank you.

00:36:07.746 --> 00:36:09.688
They say that artists are the best actors.

00:36:09.688 --> 00:36:13.610
And I think that you can tell a lot by how a character looks on in the panel.

00:36:13.612 --> 00:36:21.117
If you can figure out what's happening on the panel without looking at a word balloon, I think an artist has done an excellent job with that panel, right?

00:36:21.313 --> 00:36:21.903
Yeah.

00:36:21.903 --> 00:36:23.744
And that's exactly the case in this one.

00:36:23.744 --> 00:36:32.927
And so I want to make sure that, you know, when it comes to this world building, when it comes to these characters, they can be written obviously amazingly and have such amazing backstories and stuff.

00:36:32.927 --> 00:36:46.501
like without like somebody like Jed at the helm, you guys got to go out there and like check this out because to be able to communicate those small little intricacies and again, in a humanoid robot and a female and like this, I don't know.

00:36:46.501 --> 00:36:47.041
That's enough.

00:36:47.041 --> 00:36:49.251
We'll move on to the next question.

00:36:49.251 --> 00:36:52.264
I could go on for hours, but Sorry.

00:36:52.264 --> 00:36:58.692
It's fun trying to make, Talon act because, you know, he's a, or they, I guess, or...

00:36:59.342 --> 00:36:59.938
Where's he going?

00:36:59.938 --> 00:37:00.713
Oh.

00:37:01.210 --> 00:37:02.414
Make an expressive.

00:37:02.414 --> 00:37:09.532
Yeah, here's the here's a I built him so that I could I Is that is that like clay or what is that?

00:37:09.532 --> 00:37:10.846
that material there?

00:37:10.925 --> 00:37:12.726
It's like out of Sculpey or something.

00:37:12.726 --> 00:37:18.826
It's a little head bus that I have so that I can keep Talon consistent from different angles.

00:37:18.826 --> 00:37:30.797
then I have to translate on the, I don't know, the acting, which is, I don't know how Talon expresses with a metal face, but it's mainly I rotate.

00:37:30.797 --> 00:37:34.021
Listen, Tom McFarlane, I know you're listening with McFarlane Toys.

00:37:34.021 --> 00:37:38.563
uh We want the Talon figure and we already have the bust for it.

00:37:38.563 --> 00:37:40.878
you know, let's get that in production ASAP, think.

00:37:40.878 --> 00:37:46.717
He's a standout character, I was shocked at first, because I thought everybody was going to just flip.

00:37:46.717 --> 00:37:48.677
And there is like a clear number two.

00:37:48.677 --> 00:37:50.838
Do you all want to guess who the number two is?

00:37:51.405 --> 00:37:56.648
gonna guess, is it Jackson?

00:37:56.659 --> 00:38:02.494
No, it's the blue skinned army man with cool sideburns.

00:38:04.237 --> 00:38:09.215
I'm shocked that the two of you didn't leap on me.

00:38:09.215 --> 00:38:12.327
Jackson, but nobody wants to say he's their favorite.

00:38:12.405 --> 00:38:14.360
Nobody wants to admit that.

00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:18.161
People love Keane and I thought Keane was going to be the standout because he's like Rambo.

00:38:18.161 --> 00:38:22.059
uh snake or something.

00:38:22.059 --> 00:38:22.391
Yes.

00:38:22.391 --> 00:38:24.670
Yeah! Yeah, he's all these cool archetypes.

00:38:24.670 --> 00:38:27.692
He's like snake eyes, he doesn't talk very much.

00:38:27.692 --> 00:38:29.802
I don't know, I thought he was gonna be standout.

00:38:29.802 --> 00:38:34.594
And everyone I gave issue one to read before we out and I asked him, I who's your favorite character?

00:38:34.594 --> 00:38:39.775
And nine out 10 people said, without missing a beat, the robot.

00:38:39.775 --> 00:38:40.836
The robot.

00:38:40.836 --> 00:38:44.458
And I was really shocked at first and I realized, the robot gets laid.

00:38:47.063 --> 00:38:57.891
I love the robot, I also the and I hope I'm saying this right that is Manson's I like I need to know more about them like that's and it's not because she is a muscle mommy.

00:38:57.891 --> 00:39:09.599
It's because he's in a giant suit like a giant like that suit and he you know over there like I don't remember what there's there and I'm trying to think from RoboCop because you had like Ed 209 and then you had the one the machine that what's his face?

00:39:09.599 --> 00:39:21.498
um To like he got his he got his uh brain and his spinal cord portion and his eyeballs put into this robot suit.

00:39:21.498 --> 00:39:23.291
I'm like, that's what that reminds me of.

00:39:23.291 --> 00:39:27.126
yeah, I think those two are my standouts.

00:39:27.597 --> 00:39:44.637
So you're gonna have to wait a little while to learn more about the Usmansans because Jed and I kind of, and I think accurately have bet on their design being interesting enough for a while because they've done exactly nothing in the book.

00:39:44.637 --> 00:39:47.438
And you're talking about how much you like them.

00:39:47.438 --> 00:39:47.958
That's not true.

00:39:47.958 --> 00:39:49.157
They haven't done nothing.

00:39:49.197 --> 00:39:54.177
They welcomed Uroken, Ambassador Uroken.

00:39:54.177 --> 00:39:55.518
Yeah, okay, yay.

00:39:55.518 --> 00:39:57.538
You've seen some of them so far.

00:39:59.565 --> 00:40:00.865
It made him eat it.

00:40:00.865 --> 00:40:01.846
It made him eat it.

00:40:01.846 --> 00:40:02.686
it.

00:40:02.686 --> 00:40:03.306
It made him it.

00:40:03.306 --> 00:40:03.485
him eat it.

00:40:03.485 --> 00:40:09.661
It It Like an iron along with arms and legs All right.

00:40:09.661 --> 00:40:10.001
Sorry.

00:40:10.001 --> 00:40:12.322
I get sidetracked by the giant robot suits.

00:40:12.362 --> 00:40:15.302
So Jed, this one's going to, we're to start with you on this one.

00:40:15.302 --> 00:40:32.878
So you mentioned like on your Patreon that the revolutionary leader of the Lutheran war, commander Oliver Gracken was like a late addition to the story, which is interesting because he's actually the like he's the first and arguably really the central character of what, from what it feels like in the story, at least at the opening, right?

00:40:32.878 --> 00:40:39.461
So why was his edition so valuable and will we ever learn why he wears the visor?

00:40:39.800 --> 00:40:41.791
Let's see.

00:40:41.831 --> 00:40:46.474
I'm not sure how, I think we brainstormed him up together, right?

00:40:46.956 --> 00:40:49.858
We needed a spare character.

00:40:50.030 --> 00:40:59.967
Like you'd written up the main cast and I was thinking that there needed to be some other person that sets things in motion but isn't actually around very much, right?

00:40:59.967 --> 00:41:06.452
We needed, I mean, what, for lack of a better word, uh somebody who suffers some stakes.

00:41:06.452 --> 00:41:13.148
uh It's interesting, I'm struggling to remember exactly how and why we brought crack on into things.

00:41:13.148 --> 00:41:17.800
Like you're right, like it started very much with the idea of us thinking about the team, right?

00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:19.702
And like the eventual team and what it will become.

00:41:19.702 --> 00:41:27.148
like, I don't know how we landed on exactly this idea of setting the team adrift, right?

00:41:27.148 --> 00:41:30.699
um And also what...

00:41:30.699 --> 00:41:35.032
Grackon has come to be and continues to be, right?

00:41:35.032 --> 00:41:41.954
You'll see it in issue four, like coming out next week, is he's become this thing to aspire to.

00:41:42.255 --> 00:41:45.235
In his absence, he's become this folk hero.

00:41:45.235 --> 00:41:52.998
I'm speaking about in the world as well as kind of as a reader, I think, and I hope, right?

00:41:52.998 --> 00:41:59.641
Is that even though he's not in the issue, he has a presence.

00:41:59.661 --> 00:42:01.101
because all the people revere him.

00:42:01.101 --> 00:42:06.742
Like that's the one thing everybody agrees on is how great Oliver Grachon was, right?

00:42:06.862 --> 00:42:14.902
And he's become more important as a character as we've moved on, which is really weird because he hasn't shown up yet.

00:42:14.902 --> 00:42:17.342
He hasn't shown up again after that first issue.

00:42:17.402 --> 00:42:19.322
like, but like, it's, I don't know.

00:42:19.322 --> 00:42:25.282
It's, I don't remember how we came, how we landed on that, but I'm glad we did because he's important.

00:42:25.751 --> 00:42:35.744
Yeah, think I'd suggested uh having another character later on uh in the series, and I think you just moved him to the front.

00:42:36.083 --> 00:42:36.777
okay.

00:42:36.777 --> 00:42:37.813
Classic teamwork.

00:42:37.813 --> 00:42:43.728
Classic Jed Aubrey And now it's seamless and it's not all being made up.

00:42:44.349 --> 00:42:45.708
It's a history.

00:42:47.269 --> 00:42:54.934
Yeah, but I think you say in the back matter on three that he lost his eyesight as a child, I think.

00:42:55.054 --> 00:43:00.940
There's a picture of him sitting there with some kids, reading his uh book.

00:43:00.940 --> 00:43:03.255
Do I say he lost it as a child?

00:43:03.838 --> 00:43:05.003
Chris is looking at it right now.

00:43:05.003 --> 00:43:08.788
looking at it right now everybody having lost his own eyesight as a child.

00:43:08.788 --> 00:43:09.141
Yeah.

00:43:09.141 --> 00:43:15.677
uh presumably in some kind of horrific or Chellium related industrial accident.

00:43:15.677 --> 00:43:17.440
I was testing Chris.

00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:22.807
Of course, I remember every stitch for free planet without having to look up anything ever.

00:43:22.807 --> 00:43:28.585
I do not have extensive spreadsheets and Word documents open on my computer at all times.

00:43:28.585 --> 00:43:29.804
That's not the case.

00:43:29.804 --> 00:43:34.983
I'm getting like sort of Winston Churchill vibes from Grek and does that, am I sort of, am I close?

00:43:34.983 --> 00:43:36.717
Am I, am I warm on this?

00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:47.501
a lot about, I thought about George Washington a lot with regard to Oliver Grackon, because like Washington, Grackon won the war and said, I don't want to be involved.

00:43:47.501 --> 00:43:48.081
Right.

00:43:48.081 --> 00:43:50.699
Sort of a wartime leader and then exits.

00:43:50.699 --> 00:43:51.340
Yeah, exactly.

00:43:51.340 --> 00:43:55.313
Like, and we had a whole ass other government before the current constitution, right?

00:43:55.313 --> 00:44:00.577
That like, that Washington sat out of, and it went terribly, and they guilted him into it.

00:44:00.577 --> 00:44:04.340
They guilted him into coming back and being president, but that wasn't what he wanted to do.

00:44:04.340 --> 00:44:07.463
What he wanted to do was just go back to Mount Vernon, right?

00:44:07.463 --> 00:44:12.108
And that was that was very much in my mind about Oliver Grackon.

00:44:12.108 --> 00:44:24.940
uh Oliver, Franklin too right he's he's like a uh professional scrivener as well right he's got he's got some some zines More Thomas more Thomas Payne.

00:44:25.141 --> 00:44:25.802
If I may.

00:44:25.802 --> 00:44:26.501
Yeah, yeah.

00:44:26.501 --> 00:44:29.264
Who wrote Common Sense uh in the Revolutionary Times.

00:44:29.264 --> 00:44:31.067
Yeah, he's a pamphlet here.

00:44:31.067 --> 00:44:33.233
And he is this this revolutionary judge.

00:44:33.233 --> 00:44:36.831
So he's like kind of a combination George Washington, Thomas Payne.

00:44:39.594 --> 00:44:41.677
No, he doesn't.

00:44:41.677 --> 00:44:41.936
doesn't.

00:44:41.936 --> 00:44:42.998
doesn't rap.

00:44:45.101 --> 00:45:04.474
uh But yeah, and then the other kind of component was uh the Gracchi, which if you know your Roman history, were like a fam, were a notable family of what passed for uh kind of uh populist.

00:45:04.474 --> 00:45:10.498
uh They were the populist actors within the Roman Republic.

00:45:10.572 --> 00:45:13.264
before the Roman Empire.

00:45:14.047 --> 00:45:18.505
they were a family and there were multiple generations of them that kind of played that role.

00:45:18.505 --> 00:45:20.507
I'm noticing the Winston Churchill comparison.

00:45:20.507 --> 00:45:28.018
it felt good on the surface, but hearing you talk about this, because Churchill was more of like a war, like he was the general, right?

00:45:28.018 --> 00:45:30.128
But he didn't really have that diplomatic side of him.

00:45:30.128 --> 00:45:35.170
I think that was sort of considered his weakness throughout his leadership.

00:45:35.170 --> 00:45:44.594
that's why whenever the war ended, when war two ended, he was sort of almost like, I wouldn't say he was pushed out, but there was a revolt against sort of his leadership once the war was won.

00:45:45.965 --> 00:45:51.706
So mean, here's the other big reason why Winston Churchill wasn't a big influence on Oliver Grachan.

00:45:51.706 --> 00:45:53.606
I don't know anything about Winston Churchill.

00:45:53.606 --> 00:45:54.545
know absolutely nothing.

00:45:54.545 --> 00:45:54.706
Sure.

00:45:54.706 --> 00:45:55.445
Sure, man.

00:45:55.445 --> 00:45:57.186
Yeah, I agree with you.

00:45:58.405 --> 00:46:00.766
I haven't gotten up to World War II yet.

00:46:00.766 --> 00:46:04.106
I did the Spanish Civil War, but I haven't made it all the way up.

00:46:04.556 --> 00:46:07.492
Well, I want to poke you a little bit about Yuri Ken.

00:46:07.492 --> 00:46:12.097
talked about earlier, Aaron, who was the it was from Mass Effect that you said you.

00:46:12.097 --> 00:46:16.010
He reminds me, I'm a Mass Effect fan, so he reminds me of the Hanar from Mass Effect.

00:46:16.010 --> 00:46:19.179
I don't know if you've, if you happen to remember that character.

00:46:19.469 --> 00:46:20.407
not familiar.

00:46:20.407 --> 00:46:30.784
So basically just for the reader, well, I guess the reader and the listener that, know, these are a race of beings that literally wear their emotions through like a uh coloration, right?

00:46:30.784 --> 00:46:31.815
On their face.

00:46:31.815 --> 00:46:40.724
And yet we as the reader and seemingly the characters within the story thus far still know very little about this race of uh quattros, right?

00:46:40.724 --> 00:46:41.403
Or the hive.

00:46:41.403 --> 00:46:42.655
You mentioned the hive as well.

00:46:42.655 --> 00:46:46.128
And I meant to ask you sort of the difference between the hive and the quattros.

00:46:46.128 --> 00:46:46.798
What was that?

00:46:46.798 --> 00:46:47.219
Maybe I did.

00:46:47.219 --> 00:46:48.760
I something in the reading.

00:46:48.760 --> 00:46:49.780
Fantastic question.

00:46:49.780 --> 00:46:52.612
It probably, hasn't been explained explicitly.

00:46:52.612 --> 00:46:53.833
There's a lot of stuff.

00:46:53.833 --> 00:46:57.385
um I mean, I don't know, like this isn't like an Aubrey thing.

00:46:57.385 --> 00:46:59.346
This is just like a sci-fi thing, right?

00:46:59.346 --> 00:47:12.393
Like if you read like classic, like 60s sci-fi novels, there is a really heavy expectation for readers to piece shit together or just go with it because it's not, it's not ultimately that important.

00:47:12.393 --> 00:47:13.934
So like, this is a good uh thing.

00:47:13.934 --> 00:47:15.766
Like there is a distinction, but it does not.

00:47:15.766 --> 00:47:20.286
um it will not impact your appreciation of the book one way or the other.

00:47:20.286 --> 00:47:26.385
The quadros is the race, the hive is the structure of their society.

00:47:28.806 --> 00:47:31.166
Maybe, I don't know.

00:47:32.846 --> 00:47:35.146
Star Trek and Winston Churchill.

00:47:35.849 --> 00:47:37.253
Like, you see no more.

00:47:39.085 --> 00:47:46.958
So what they also have, though, the Quatro's is the fastest, most convenient form of traveling in this universe, which is the Quatro jaunting.

00:47:46.958 --> 00:47:47.507
Right.

00:47:47.507 --> 00:47:51.840
So we see Commander Sonar as I say her name correctly.

00:47:51.840 --> 00:48:05.253
Sonanda is thank you uh already weary of Yuri can when they are introduced at the beginning of issue three, they have someone following them sort of throughout the rest are at least going into issue four.

00:48:05.592 --> 00:48:15.807
But if I'm reading the tea leaves correctly here, Yuri can both being on the cover of the next issue, which is issue four, but also, and I noticed this last night rereading this.

00:48:15.807 --> 00:48:17.489
They're also on the cover.

00:48:17.489 --> 00:48:18.789
Where were they out here?

00:48:19.389 --> 00:48:21.271
They're on the cover of issue one.

00:48:21.972 --> 00:48:23.251
Yeah.

00:48:23.273 --> 00:48:24.422
So Jackson, absolutely.

00:48:24.422 --> 00:48:24.614
Yeah.

00:48:24.614 --> 00:48:31.039
So like there are clearly you guys are laying out tea leaves to like maybe the significance of certain characters going forward in the series.

00:48:31.039 --> 00:48:36.231
And Aubrey, guess that's sort of my long winded way of asking you and instead of this question, we haven't.

00:48:36.362 --> 00:48:46.195
seeing you reveal the process posts and I'm curious, what is the real life faction of people or inspiration of the Quattro and what do they represent in this world?

00:48:46.293 --> 00:48:50.655
So there isn't really a real world analog to the Quadros.

00:48:50.655 --> 00:48:56.137
um They are meant to be utterly alien, right?

00:48:56.137 --> 00:49:08.400
um And Jed and I talked a lot about the design and like most things, we chatted a lot about it and I worried and vexed and then Jed went off and just nailed it the first time out.

00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:10.911
Because we wanted him to be weird.

00:49:10.911 --> 00:49:15.860
We didn't want him to look human and Jed was the color, the coloration idea was yours, wasn't it?

00:49:15.860 --> 00:49:18.460
I think so, It's in the notes on them.

00:49:18.806 --> 00:49:22.135
Yeah, and Jed came up with that brilliant idea to make him a mood ring.

00:49:22.222 --> 00:49:32.181
They're like what half a squid, half a guitar kind of thing.

00:49:35.541 --> 00:49:49.331
And as you mentioned, I don't know if you mentioned this specifically, but the whole thing with the quadros are that they see in four dimensions and they see the past, present and future and they don't really make too much of a distinction between the three.

00:49:49.331 --> 00:49:54.394
so they mess up their tenses all the time, right?

00:49:54.394 --> 00:49:55.916
That's like a perpetual thing.

00:49:55.916 --> 00:49:58.338
And it's always a little bit odd writing them.

00:49:58.358 --> 00:50:08.797
And they communicate through color because, and the color, And all that the color communicates is emotional states, right?

00:50:08.797 --> 00:50:10.547
But they're alien emotional states.

00:50:10.547 --> 00:50:27.509
And so they're described with two different seemingly unconnected emotional states or like ways of feeling that in the context of a creature that sees four dimensions made sense to me, right?

00:50:27.509 --> 00:50:30.027
And like the thinking on.

00:50:30.027 --> 00:50:44.067
than being emotional states is that if you're in a society of creatures that everybody knows past, present and future and sees all that stuff, the only valuable information to convey to one, because you all know the same stuff.

00:50:44.067 --> 00:50:47.248
You have the exact same knowledge base, everybody.

00:50:47.708 --> 00:50:51.050
The only valuable information to convey is how you're feeling.

00:50:52.172 --> 00:50:53.492
And so that's all.

00:50:55.246 --> 00:50:58.686
all that quadros do to talk to each other amongst the hive, right?

00:50:58.686 --> 00:51:00.985
They show each other's emotional state, because that's all that matters.

00:51:00.985 --> 00:51:06.025
But when it comes to interacting with humans, they have to speak English or, you know, they have to speak a language.

00:51:06.025 --> 00:51:07.025
It doesn't have to be.

00:51:07.485 --> 00:51:09.005
That's very Amero-centric.

00:51:09.005 --> 00:51:10.585
That's very US-centric of me.

00:51:10.585 --> 00:51:12.565
I apologize profusely.

00:51:12.565 --> 00:51:13.286
They have to speak.

00:51:13.286 --> 00:51:13.626
have to.

00:51:13.626 --> 00:51:13.945
Yeah.

00:51:13.945 --> 00:51:14.766
Wow.

00:51:16.557 --> 00:51:17.168
to our listeners.

00:51:17.168 --> 00:51:22.485
We apologize for Aubrey and his singleistic, nationalistic views here.

00:51:22.485 --> 00:51:29.092
uh yeah, so, you know, when they talk to humans, they have to kind of wing it.

00:51:29.092 --> 00:51:38.394
And um in terms of antecedents in other literature, um I thought a lot about, you ever read Slaughterhouse Five?

00:51:38.914 --> 00:51:43.766
Yeah, so the, what are they called, Jed, the Trafalgarians?

00:51:43.766 --> 00:51:45.036
Is that right?

00:51:46.007 --> 00:51:46.476
it's neat.

00:51:46.476 --> 00:51:55.940
um And they, they see everybody, they see everyone as like a train of their entire life's existence, right?

00:51:55.940 --> 00:52:04.025
So they look at a person, they see, you know, simultaneously a baby and a dying old man, right?

00:52:04.106 --> 00:52:06.108
And so I thought about that quite a bit.

00:52:06.108 --> 00:52:26.597
uh And in terms of like what they, like the purpose they serve uh that Yorkel serves in this narrative, to me, you know, and this is something that So free play it's about freedom, but not merely um freedom to set up a new government.

00:52:26.597 --> 00:52:27.909
It's also about economic freedom.

00:52:27.909 --> 00:52:29.018
It's about religious freedom.

00:52:29.018 --> 00:52:33.021
It's about uh theological freedom, spiritual freedom.

00:52:33.021 --> 00:52:37.143
uh It's also about predestination.

00:52:37.704 --> 00:52:48.550
It's also about this idea that different characters within the book have different views on whether we're in a deterministic world or not.

00:52:49.003 --> 00:53:04.581
whether we get a say, whether the stuff that's happening is just happening to us and it's all up to us to just kind of react and emote to it the way that Uroken and the Quadro see it or whether things are more malleable and to what degree, right?

00:53:04.581 --> 00:53:18.869
And so to Uroken, freedom is a very different thing than, and maybe even just kind of like an oddity and just a strange, very human alien concept for them to even wrap their brain around.

00:53:18.869 --> 00:53:23.271
So, you know, like every character, and Ural Ken's a core member of the cast, right?

00:53:23.271 --> 00:53:27.193
And that's, you're right to pick that up, like from that first cover.

00:53:27.193 --> 00:53:28.893
That's the core cast.

00:53:28.893 --> 00:53:33.695
Everybody has very distinct views and relationships with one another's.

00:53:33.695 --> 00:53:47.862
And Ural Ken's role there is to provide a outside alien voice, to provide a distinct point of view from outside of what everyone else is experiencing.

00:53:47.862 --> 00:53:52.385
with a wholly different view of what freedom actually is.

00:53:52.385 --> 00:53:59.268
Like he agrees the least out of anybody about what freedom is because to his mind, this stuff has happened.

00:53:59.268 --> 00:54:02.818
It is happening, it's going to happen, it's all the same thing.

00:54:02.818 --> 00:54:03.365
Yeah.

00:54:03.365 --> 00:54:08.275
I like drawing him whatever he gets excited about not knowing what's going on when he gets confused.

00:54:08.275 --> 00:54:09.907
He's also happy, right?

00:54:09.907 --> 00:54:15.456
He's kind of in a new state most of the time.

00:54:15.548 --> 00:54:17.463
He does things with his thing, with his...

00:54:17.463 --> 00:54:21.085
uh he's got all his little tapes all curled up and stuff.

00:54:21.085 --> 00:54:21.826
Yeah.

00:54:22.974 --> 00:54:37.992
Sorry, just want to poke you on something that you just mentioned there because it brought on an idea that I have while reading issue three, you have this incredible again, speaking on like how you should read free planet and how it's properly only correctly read physically in your hands.

00:54:37.992 --> 00:54:42.434
And this goes back to this dogfight that you guys have an issue three that is insane.

00:54:42.434 --> 00:54:49.434
That's all I really say about it and sort of a broader term, but I'm curious there towards the end of this, you know, scene.

00:54:49.442 --> 00:54:58.331
We see a very specific panel of your old kin and you mentioned at the beginning of the issue, sort of the different emotions and how you can read those.

00:54:58.331 --> 00:55:01.693
And in this panel of your old kin, they reside obedient.

00:55:01.693 --> 00:55:10.001
And I'm just curious, is there a spoiler away, spoiler free way of sort of dissecting that and why they feel obedient in that moment?

00:55:10.505 --> 00:55:14.929
actually I don't remember why he feels resigned to obedient in I'm looking through the issue now.

00:55:14.929 --> 00:55:17.190
Yeah, I was just looking at it.

00:55:17.190 --> 00:55:33.844
I believe it's because he's seeing the Aurorans uh destroy themselves, uh out of duty and uh he probably has a glimpse on where things are going in that direction.

00:55:33.844 --> 00:55:42.655
I don't know if you've seen previews for issue four, no, I think, I don't think Issue four is the insurrection.

00:55:42.655 --> 00:55:51.914
So I think uh he's resigned to the fact that there is going to be, shall we say, more aurora interference.

00:55:52.059 --> 00:55:58.965
Here's what I mean, I think you've touched on kind of what I find exciting from a storytelling perspective about Ural Ken.

00:55:58.965 --> 00:56:03.548
And in the same issue, we've got um the key.

00:56:04.329 --> 00:56:08.454
We call it the Ural Key for Ural Ken.

00:56:08.454 --> 00:56:09.574
And it's very good.

00:56:09.574 --> 00:56:26.440
uh And that's meant to be, again, just like that shot of the full team, just like, you Anytime you're like wondering about specific lore pieces, this is meant to be referred back to because we adhere to it throughout, right?

00:56:26.440 --> 00:56:30.731
Like this is not just like made up for funsies, like, look at these different colors.

00:56:30.731 --> 00:56:31.922
They mean different things.

00:56:31.922 --> 00:56:32.621
No, no, no, no.

00:56:32.621 --> 00:56:40.903
There are, you picked up on the first one, Chris, like throughout, there are closeups of your own Ken and he's a specific color.

00:56:40.903 --> 00:56:45.615
And unless you've memorized it, that means your ass is gonna have to go back and look and figure it out.

00:56:45.615 --> 00:56:47.159
But here's the thing, just like we saying earlier.

00:56:47.159 --> 00:56:48.110
You don't have to.

00:56:48.110 --> 00:56:49.110
You don't have to.

00:56:49.110 --> 00:56:49.420
Right.

00:56:49.420 --> 00:56:57.932
Like you can take what you want from it and enjoy it for what it is and think about how Ural Ken would respond to that or how he would feel about that.

00:56:57.932 --> 00:56:59.612
Or you can go back and look at the key.

00:56:59.612 --> 00:57:00.213
Right.

00:57:00.213 --> 00:57:05.355
And because Ural Ken has knowledge, has foreknowledge, right.

00:57:05.355 --> 00:57:07.795
Proportively has foreknowledge.

00:57:07.795 --> 00:57:16.590
Ural Ken has opinions and feelings about things that won't naturally be aligned with the way other people feel about people who don't have that foreknowledge.

00:57:16.590 --> 00:57:23.949
And I think that that is hopefully an exciting thing for readers to kind of grapple with asking the exact same question you were just asking.

00:57:23.949 --> 00:57:27.050
It was like, okay, well, why is he resigned and obedient?

00:57:27.050 --> 00:57:30.590
And why, like, why are those two things the same thing?

00:57:30.590 --> 00:57:33.389
Do you all can and why does he feel both of them about this?

00:57:33.389 --> 00:57:36.809
And that's, mean, that's, that's free planet, baby.

00:57:36.809 --> 00:57:39.150
That's what it's all about.

00:57:39.210 --> 00:57:42.710
Forcing you to ask, forcing you to ask yourself questions.

00:57:42.869 --> 00:57:44.782
Interrogate yourself about aliens.

00:57:44.782 --> 00:57:53.782
If there was ever a moment where, know, like, let's say in the future, like, you know, you hear about Aubrey Citizen going off the rails, bat shit crazy.

00:57:53.782 --> 00:57:58.181
Like, it's probably going to be after this book because he's, it's free planet, baby.

00:57:58.181 --> 00:58:02.461
And he's just like, he's like, going, he's living in the hippie life with out in the woods.

00:58:02.461 --> 00:58:04.702
He's like, that's it's all for.

00:58:04.702 --> 00:58:05.442
Yeah.

00:58:05.442 --> 00:58:06.782
No, I love it.

00:58:06.782 --> 00:58:14.190
Cause like, you know, it's funny, you're kind of blowing my mind when you were talking about the different, you know, cast members of the cast and how they all have their own.

00:58:14.190 --> 00:58:20.994
you know, like view of like freedom and science and what the world and what again, what's free religion, what freedom means to them.

00:58:20.994 --> 00:58:22.746
And I'm thinking again about the Ouzmansans.

00:58:22.746 --> 00:58:30.931
And I'm thinking that they're probably going to bring this like scientific, like, like freedom is about like progressing science and doing these things.

00:58:30.931 --> 00:58:46.023
So I'm excited to see what they're, what they, again, they're, my, yeah, they, are my, again, my favorites in this because I, know, I, don't know, I just gravitate towards the scientists towards the the dock in in the, in the Med Bay.

00:58:46.023 --> 00:58:57.771
So I'm excited for that, but, um, I want to kind of run out of conversation here and touch on something that's like really important for Chris and I, um, did a little bit.

00:58:57.771 --> 00:58:58.110
Yeah.

00:58:58.110 --> 00:58:58.411
Yeah.

00:58:58.411 --> 00:58:58.990
We did a little bit.

00:58:58.990 --> 00:59:10.253
Um, this is kind of like a, an adjacent to that question about like freedom and things, but you recently wrote Aubrey on your, on your sub stack about how free planet, obviously we set up for is a military story.

00:59:10.253 --> 00:59:18.793
at its core and how the pursuit of freedom and how it all starts with the military and this idea of like more guns, you know, better chance at revolution.

00:59:18.893 --> 00:59:35.753
And we're curious about like while doing the research and equating how like our world currently is in 2025, you know, we know that there's, if you look back and I'm sure again, this is kind of like leaning on your research and looking at military history.

00:59:35.793 --> 00:59:38.534
When it comes to like controlling the media.

00:59:38.925 --> 00:59:54.900
uh winning over like voice of public opinion or just ignoring both of those and kind of doing your own freaking thing because you're the the you know, so and so leader of the free world like how do you compare the importance of these things in like historical like conflict to now?

00:59:55.597 --> 00:59:56.297
That's interesting.

00:59:56.297 --> 00:59:59.518
Okay, so let me restate your question just to make sure I understand.

00:59:59.637 --> 01:00:05.858
Amid the different methods of control of a populace, right?

01:00:05.858 --> 01:00:11.297
Things like the media and religion, but also just force, right?

01:00:11.297 --> 01:00:14.197
And the economic power, right?

01:00:14.197 --> 01:00:21.677
Like amid all of these things, how has the role of each changed over time?

01:00:21.677 --> 01:00:23.297
Can I clarify really quickly?

01:00:23.297 --> 01:00:35.777
think know what Aaron's saying here is that like in your subsec you mentioned that like the power of the military, if you have them on your side in a revolution, that it gives you the best and really only chance of winning that revolution.

01:00:35.777 --> 01:00:44.057
In 2025, if you were to sort of look at that processes through the lens of our current situation in America, and I hope this doesn't get too political.

01:00:44.057 --> 01:00:46.197
If you don't want it to get there, you totally can if you want.

01:00:46.197 --> 01:00:58.695
But like with the internet, with social media, with the voice of public opinion, Do you still believe that like having the power of the military behind you is the only way to start and kick off and eventually win a revolution?

01:00:58.998 --> 01:00:59.288
Yes.

01:00:59.288 --> 01:01:04.559
No, no, I do.

01:01:04.559 --> 01:01:11.702
mean, like, and this is, you know, this is, it's a, I think it is, it is tempting.

01:01:11.702 --> 01:01:14.693
And there are entire industries and that's a key component of this.

01:01:14.693 --> 01:01:23.463
There are entire industries built around making you think that any number of things, right?

01:01:23.463 --> 01:01:29.949
Watching this movie, buying this t-shirt, boycotting this place, buying more from this place.

01:01:29.949 --> 01:01:33.992
There are multiple, there are countless industries, not just industries built around it.

01:01:33.992 --> 01:01:41.016
Every industry that exists uses that to make you believe that that is what is effective, right?

01:01:41.016 --> 01:01:44.250
um That, and that's kind of like the economic one.

01:01:44.250 --> 01:01:45.681
And so that's the biggest one, right?

01:01:45.681 --> 01:01:47.481
um And there are...

01:01:47.871 --> 01:01:53.342
examples from all the other forms of power and control that Aaron rattled off as well.

01:01:53.543 --> 01:02:02.746
And those systems have a vested interest in you believing that that's Right?

01:02:02.746 --> 01:02:14.469
And like, and like the in our country, and like in our country, it's really easy to get lulled into thinking, well, that's the only viable thing because, you know, the, uh the nature of the US military is what it is.

01:02:14.469 --> 01:02:25.244
But that is a culturally specific thing, that is a historically specific, that is a culturally and historically specific thing to us, right?

01:02:25.244 --> 01:02:31.429
That is the nature of our military and that is how our military has always existed and how it's fit into things, right?

01:02:31.429 --> 01:02:34.280
Maybe not always existed, but for quite a long time, right?

01:02:34.280 --> 01:02:43.628
How it is fit into this larger milieu of systems of control and coercion, right?

01:02:43.628 --> 01:02:45.009
It's like broadened a little bit.

01:02:45.009 --> 01:03:01.753
uh But yeah, like when it, when it comes to actually winning a revolution, like, if it's a revolution, I mean, like, you know, the metaphorical usage aside, if it's an actual revolution, well, then it's a conflict.

01:03:01.753 --> 01:03:03.434
It's a military conflict, right?

01:03:03.434 --> 01:03:05.634
Because people don't give up power.

01:03:05.853 --> 01:03:10.702
People don't just hand over, you know, there aren't really truly bloodless revolutions.

01:03:10.702 --> 01:03:11.378
Right.

01:03:11.378 --> 01:03:13.143
all over the planet all the time.

01:03:13.356 --> 01:03:14.097
Yeah, man.

01:03:14.097 --> 01:03:19.920
like, no, and like, I'm not saying this as a like, fervent philosophical thing.

01:03:19.920 --> 01:03:22.893
I'm saying it as a practical matter.

01:03:23.074 --> 01:03:28.237
Militaries are absolutely essential to a successful revolution.

01:03:28.237 --> 01:03:36.063
think it's, think it's, it is foolish and nonsensical and fantasy land talk to pretend otherwise, honestly.

01:03:36.063 --> 01:03:38.146
And like, that could be fun for a story.

01:03:38.146 --> 01:03:38.405
Right?

01:03:38.405 --> 01:03:40.577
It's the love revolution or it's this.

01:03:40.577 --> 01:03:47.449
And we just convinced, we just went on the news and we've convinced everybody that, you know, this is how we should reorganize our society.

01:03:47.449 --> 01:03:53.512
Like that's a fun enough story, but that's not authentic or honest.

01:03:53.512 --> 01:03:55.313
It's disingenuous, I think.

01:03:55.313 --> 01:04:00.135
And it would be at odds with what we're trying to explore with Free Planet.

01:04:00.135 --> 01:04:02.436
We're talking about more serious stuff than that.

01:04:02.436 --> 01:04:02.735
Right?

01:04:02.735 --> 01:04:07.666
We're talking about more serious stuff than the commodification.

01:04:07.666 --> 01:04:10.246
of rebellion, right?

01:04:10.246 --> 01:04:13.277
And it is about deeper, more foundational issues.

01:04:13.277 --> 01:04:21.869
And I'll say this too, because I feel like we are, uh we are like kind of edging into political territory, which is difficult not to do with Free Planet, because it's a book about politics, right?

01:04:21.869 --> 01:04:23.710
It's a book about geopolitics.

01:04:23.710 --> 01:04:36.574
But I'll say this, I I have been delighted and encouraged by the support that Free Planet has received up and down the political spectrum.

01:04:36.920 --> 01:04:43.880
And that's really important to me too, because my politics are what they are and they're not terribly relevant, I don't think to free planet.

01:04:43.880 --> 01:04:49.273
But you might be able to kind of like, you might think you can kind of like tease them out and think what they are, but it doesn't really matter.

01:04:49.273 --> 01:05:02.177
What matters to me is that we're grappling with deeper and more foundational issues that have a broader appeal than preach into the choir.

01:05:02.956 --> 01:05:19.246
And I've been really encouraged that people uh with very different political beliefs than me, very, very different social beliefs than me have dug Free Planet and have found things to appreciate about it because that was the intent.

01:05:20.085 --> 01:05:22.306
love Beef Bros is another one of my books.

01:05:22.306 --> 01:05:27.905
It's very political, but it's propaganda, right?

01:05:27.905 --> 01:05:29.266
It's agit prop.

01:05:29.266 --> 01:05:30.746
It's gleeful agit prop.

01:05:30.746 --> 01:05:31.885
And that's how it was designed.

01:05:31.885 --> 01:05:33.751
That's not what Free Planet's meant to be.

01:05:33.751 --> 01:05:44.445
driven is meant to be this more complex thing, but it is and it's complex by being rooted in real world considerations, which is why, yeah, man, the military is essential.

01:05:44.445 --> 01:05:47.226
It's a story about a revolution that's just been won.

01:05:47.547 --> 01:05:55.429
The best lens to view that through, I think, and having read about all these different revolutions are the people who fought in the revolution.

01:05:55.822 --> 01:06:21.628
I think that one thing that really sticks out to me regarding this and the relevancy of a lot of the topics that are brought up in this book is again, like the fracturing of society because of different belief systems and how important that will play into, you know, how conflicts are, uh you know, confronted, how we take part in these things, because that is one thing I see.

01:06:21.628 --> 01:06:30.923
Because when I read, you know, when I read something and I hear something that says like, you know, like, uh, more guns, better chance at a revolution, uh, to some people's idea.

01:06:30.923 --> 01:06:35.496
So if I could say, I don't think I said exactly.

01:06:37.260 --> 01:06:38.460
I don't think that was my exact.

01:06:38.460 --> 01:06:47.168
I think I said something more along the lines of the military is an essential component of any revolution because the military has the guns.

01:06:47.610 --> 01:06:54.356
Yeah, I think that's what I said, which I think is subtly different from the more guns, the better chance at rev.

01:06:54.356 --> 01:06:56.320
The more guns, the better chance at revolution.

01:06:56.320 --> 01:06:57.496
Aubrey says come take it.

01:06:57.496 --> 01:07:09.115
yeah, it implies a certain intent or desire or incur level of maybe legally actionable encouragement that was not intended.

01:07:09.943 --> 01:07:11.429
Don't tread on me.

01:07:11.610 --> 01:07:13.771
Just put this out there right now to anybody listening.

01:07:13.771 --> 01:07:16.771
He is not asking for another January 6th.

01:07:17.012 --> 01:07:29.416
So no, I, what I kind of want to say is like the way that I look at it is like people in political power tend to look at service members as just like numbers and just another like weapon on the battlefield.

01:07:29.996 --> 01:07:49.942
The reason I say this is because if you can sway the belief system, even of members of the military, especially like today in our society, we have so many people who think in newer, I guess, newer methodologies and newer ideologies than what's been in the military before, or has been in public in general.

01:07:49.942 --> 01:07:59.248
When you're swaying the public, you're swaying more a generation than like a certain demographic in the military.

01:07:59.248 --> 01:08:09.956
So whether you want to think about that as being you know, more guns is in more manpower, more people, and that being a stronger, a stronger cause behind or stronger force behind your cause.

01:08:09.956 --> 01:08:13.657
I think that that's something that you are speaking to very well.

01:08:13.657 --> 01:08:28.298
I mean, maybe, you know, implied or not or intentional or not in free planet because you speak on, you know, the fracturing of society and religion and all these different groups because, you know, even against again, you know, we're talking, you know, sister against sister or lover against lover.

01:08:28.298 --> 01:08:30.337
Like these fractions occur.

01:08:30.337 --> 01:08:37.791
when the belief systems are put under so much pressure that cracks will occur and divides will occur.

01:08:37.791 --> 01:08:43.243
So I think that you are speaking, ah you know, again, that's what I take out of the book.

01:08:43.344 --> 01:08:49.826
And that's something that makes me more mindful of what I'm hearing and not only the news, but what also like I'm reading in this book and what I'm seeing visually.

01:08:49.826 --> 01:08:58.560
So I think you're tapping on many different things, as you said, for many different demographics, for many different sides of the aisle or whomever picks up this book.

01:08:58.753 --> 01:08:59.314
Yeah.

01:08:59.314 --> 01:09:04.655
And Jen, let me push it over to really quickly too, cause I'm curious to build off what Aaron just said and what Aubrey said a moment ago.

01:09:04.655 --> 01:09:10.877
There's this idea of when you talk about war, you are, you're making a statement inherently.

01:09:10.877 --> 01:09:14.537
Like you can't tell a story about war without making a statement of some sort.

01:09:14.537 --> 01:09:16.198
Is that sort of yours?

01:09:16.198 --> 01:09:20.180
Is that sort of your belief you and Aubrey together in terms of like with free planet?

01:09:20.180 --> 01:09:27.341
Is it, is it possible to tell a story about war without trying, without making some kind of statement about war and your beliefs about it?

01:09:27.565 --> 01:09:29.726
I don't think it is.

01:09:29.907 --> 01:10:00.180
think I don't know what I've always found when I'm when I'm when I'm drawing stuff like drawing acts of violence I I feel like I'm doing violence in the I mean in a very minor way, but it's I don't know sometimes it gets it gets psychologically intense drawing drawing some stuff and so I can only imagine that hopefully this goes on to the readers and they sense this this sort of uh whatever the emotion invested.

01:10:00.180 --> 01:10:16.506
But politically, in weird political times, there's people wrestling for control of, you know, like you're talking about the military, all uh various sections of uh the country.

01:10:16.927 --> 01:10:21.449
I mean, as a kind of knee jerk.

01:10:22.152 --> 01:10:23.972
liberal leftist.

01:10:23.972 --> 01:10:31.443
I've kind of, you I thought we had a good thing going for a long time and I really, really hope it doesn't crack apart, right?

01:10:31.443 --> 01:10:32.462
Yeah.

01:10:32.466 --> 01:10:44.369
I don't know how to, you know, what kind of glue we can provide with a comic book, but maybe it'll make some people think and get more politically active.

01:10:44.369 --> 01:10:45.289
don't know.

01:10:45.739 --> 01:10:53.858
Yeah, I think that that would be a great because I think that's something this book can do for sure Yeah, I want to pass it off to you one last time before we close out the conversation.

01:10:53.858 --> 01:10:55.137
Is there anything you want to sort of add to that?

01:10:55.137 --> 01:11:02.970
Because I know that again, that's sort of a large question to ask in terms of like, we're four issues in as a Will you ask it again?

01:11:02.970 --> 01:11:04.210
It was a really large question.

01:11:04.210 --> 01:11:05.328
I just want to make sure I'm understanding.

01:11:05.328 --> 01:11:18.061
it's just, you know, in terms of like when you write about war, is it impossible to tell a story about war without putting your own sort of political ideals in that story or making a statement even, I guess.

01:11:18.318 --> 01:11:29.296
So I think that broadly speaking, right, like the narrator impacts the perception of the work, right?

01:11:29.296 --> 01:11:35.189
Which is to say you can't tell any story without bringing, you can't tell any story well.

01:11:35.282 --> 01:11:49.039
If you're telling a story well, if you're bringing personal lived experience and research and thought and deliberate care to making a story, it's impossible not to, it's impossible to do that unjudgmentally, right?

01:11:49.039 --> 01:11:53.313
Because if you're doing it unjudgmentally, you are writing an essay, right?

01:11:53.313 --> 01:11:59.676
And if you are not making deliberate choices, then it's not a story, it's just a list of anecdotes.

01:11:59.676 --> 01:12:02.572
It's just a list of things that happen in order.

01:12:02.572 --> 01:12:02.962
Right?

01:12:02.962 --> 01:12:05.502
To make a story, you need that deliberate thought.

01:12:05.502 --> 01:12:06.603
You need that deliberate care.

01:12:06.603 --> 01:12:08.524
You need this voice.

01:12:08.524 --> 01:12:11.645
You need a personal voice, right, to any story.

01:12:11.685 --> 01:12:16.286
So I think on a broad level, like, that's true of anything, right?

01:12:16.286 --> 01:12:20.908
You can't do a book about tables without really letting the audience know what you think about tables.

01:12:20.908 --> 01:12:23.838
Like, that's silly thing to say, but it's true.

01:12:23.838 --> 01:12:29.189
And I think what's different about war is that war is a...

01:12:29.381 --> 01:12:55.176
Again, like from what I've read, war, from the various books and magazines that I've read, uh war is such a heightened state and it is uh bundled up so many visceral core human emotions and it is central to the world that we live within, right?

01:12:55.176 --> 01:13:02.957
um And it is a politically and emotionally charged topic.

01:13:03.117 --> 01:13:03.757
Right.

01:13:03.757 --> 01:13:06.720
And this has always been the case, right.

01:13:06.720 --> 01:13:09.061
For obvious reasons, war is horrific.

01:13:09.061 --> 01:13:15.206
But the other side of war when depicted is that it looks amazing.

01:13:15.206 --> 01:13:19.109
It is an aesthetically delightful thing to look at.

01:13:19.109 --> 01:13:20.009
Right.

01:13:20.029 --> 01:13:25.132
And this is true of the greatest anti-war stories ever made.

01:13:25.132 --> 01:13:26.819
They make war look Awesome.

01:13:26.819 --> 01:13:34.372
It's an uphill battle all the time because war also does have bundled up within it.

01:13:34.372 --> 01:13:49.779
So many things that are revered by not just, I'm going to say not just our culture, but humans broadly over the course of human existence have valorized these things, right?

01:13:49.779 --> 01:13:51.140
And so how much of this is genetic?

01:13:51.140 --> 01:13:53.381
How much of it is just hardwired into us culturally?

01:13:53.381 --> 01:13:54.100
I don't know.

01:13:54.100 --> 01:13:55.010
It doesn't matter.

01:13:55.010 --> 01:14:02.216
But because of that, whenever you're dealing with, mean, and I think violence is a great example of this too, right?

01:14:02.216 --> 01:14:10.721
Whenever you're dealing with something with that much raw emotion and power and weight, right?

01:14:10.721 --> 01:14:20.627
You have to be aware that people are going to be reacting to it in certain ways and you have to anticipate that and that's why your choices have to be so deliberate.

01:14:20.627 --> 01:14:25.336
you know, like there is a really bloody gory moment in issue two.

01:14:25.336 --> 01:14:26.737
There aren't a whole lot of them, right?

01:14:26.737 --> 01:14:28.707
It's not a really, it's not like a gore book.

01:14:28.707 --> 01:14:32.411
That's not what we do, but there is a really bloody nasty moment in issue two.

01:14:32.411 --> 01:14:34.131
And, but it's important.

01:14:34.131 --> 01:14:34.842
It's important.

01:14:34.842 --> 01:14:36.203
And that was, that was a choice by us.

01:14:36.203 --> 01:14:40.476
That wasn't done frivolously to just because it would look rad.

01:14:40.476 --> 01:14:43.938
It was done as a specific storytelling tool.

01:14:46.020 --> 01:14:46.761
it's important.

01:14:46.761 --> 01:14:48.122
It's important for his character, I think.

01:14:48.122 --> 01:14:49.082
Yeah.

01:14:49.082 --> 01:14:54.645
And with free planet, all of the characters are defined.

01:14:54.734 --> 01:14:56.993
by their time in the Revolutionary War.

01:14:56.993 --> 01:15:02.354
All of them are, but you only get glimpses of it largely for the reason that we're discussing, right?

01:15:02.354 --> 01:15:04.793
We didn't want to do a war book, right?

01:15:04.793 --> 01:15:09.634
There's enough of those and I don't know, it just doesn't really hold too much appeal to me.

01:15:09.894 --> 01:15:15.474
I'm much more interested in kind of the stuff around the war, right?

01:15:15.474 --> 01:15:17.173
And what comes out of it.

01:15:17.173 --> 01:15:22.434
And that allows us to keep a little bit of distance from war.

01:15:22.434 --> 01:15:26.462
to hopefully keep its horror and its power intact.

01:15:26.506 --> 01:15:31.466
I think that's an excellent place to sort of stop with Free Planet thus far in the story where again, we're only three issues.

01:15:31.466 --> 01:15:38.305
what do I just want to say like Jed, if I see you in public, if I meet you in public, I'm just going to give you a hug, man.

01:15:38.305 --> 01:15:42.570
Cause like what he said about like, I don't know, like I want to just make sure he's okay.

01:15:42.570 --> 01:15:49.106
Like I want to make sure he's like, I, when I draw violence or when I, when I create violence, like I just feel like that impact.

01:15:49.106 --> 01:15:53.511
And I think that that's something that's like, I know it's kind of funny, but it's also very real.

01:15:53.511 --> 01:16:02.471
It's very like, that's something that, that some people Like that's a hard thing to do, especially if you're not used to it and it happens too long.

01:16:02.471 --> 01:16:07.493
That can be mentally and emotionally very uh taxing.

01:16:07.493 --> 01:16:20.180
like, oh feel like, don't know if Jed, I don't know if that's something that bothers you, man, but you're seen, you're heard, as somebody who's been through some violent shit, pardon my language, I get it.

01:16:20.180 --> 01:16:26.689
so I'm going to start checking, like any artists that I know that I meet at a convention, I'm just going be like, are you okay?

01:16:26.689 --> 01:16:32.706
Someone see if Ryan Otley oh Yeah.

01:16:33.025 --> 01:16:34.466
I'm concerned.

01:16:34.765 --> 01:16:37.177
I just like what Jed said about that.

01:16:37.177 --> 01:16:38.057
Like it resonated.

01:16:38.057 --> 01:16:42.578
And I'm just like, man, like that's like, I have a slight concern now.

01:16:42.578 --> 01:16:44.300
So, but it's like, but that is what it is.

01:16:44.300 --> 01:16:45.829
I mean, that's, that's it.

01:16:45.829 --> 01:16:46.789
Yes.

01:16:46.970 --> 01:16:57.293
Violence is a part of us as like far, as far as being human, but it's not something these days that we're so used to being like kind of exposed to, or at least not, we're not supposed to.

01:16:57.293 --> 01:17:01.939
And those of us, you know, like who sign up for military service and then get exposed to it.

01:17:02.240 --> 01:17:14.661
You know, I for one, uh, understand and Chris, I know you understand cause you've met plenty of people like, know, and like, you you understand what the impacts of like consistent exposure to violence can do to somebody emotionally, mentally and physically.

01:17:14.661 --> 01:17:28.747
So, you know, like, mean, kudos to you, Jed, for, being able to, to, do this art and still be like, still have love for art and still be, you know, be capable of that passion and energy and enjoyment of what you create.

01:17:28.747 --> 01:17:33.279
while still having to deal with something like violence, you know, however long it takes.

01:17:34.301 --> 01:17:36.542
I understand, but we're probably going to get to more of it.

01:17:36.542 --> 01:17:38.283
And he's probably done other violent things.

01:17:38.283 --> 01:17:39.774
So I'm just saying it's a lasting effect.

01:17:39.774 --> 01:17:41.185
Chris, let me get this out, man.

01:17:41.185 --> 01:17:43.225
I'm trying to be caring and considerate here.

01:17:43.225 --> 01:17:43.725
All right.

01:17:43.725 --> 01:17:45.747
uh I'm an empath.

01:17:46.307 --> 01:17:47.828
Yeah.

01:17:49.189 --> 01:17:49.658
yeah.

01:17:49.658 --> 01:17:51.329
Hugging a beer for sure.

01:17:52.319 --> 01:17:52.670
All right.

01:17:52.670 --> 01:17:55.082
Well, Avery Jed, again, thank you both so much for joining us.

01:17:55.082 --> 01:18:09.759
We kept you a little longer than we had hoped, but I think in order to properly discuss just three issues again of this series thus far, Free Planet, we need at least 90 minutes ish to talk about those three issues to like give it its chance to having a proper conversation.

01:18:09.759 --> 01:18:19.345
And I think that again, just speaks to what the work that you guys have put into the series as far and also the excitement that people like Aaron and I and listeners hopefully have the excitement they have for this series.

01:18:19.345 --> 01:18:27.149
So once again, just as a reminder to the listener, Issue four, our free planet will come out the following Wednesday after this releases on August 13th.

01:18:27.149 --> 01:18:31.189
And then also be on the lookout for the trade paperback that collects the first.

01:18:31.189 --> 01:18:32.939
I want to say is it first six issues of the.

01:18:32.939 --> 01:18:33.853
first six.

01:18:33.853 --> 01:18:34.243
comes out.

01:18:34.243 --> 01:18:37.210
It'll be in comic shops November 26.

01:18:37.344 --> 01:18:39.561
And bookstores December 9.

01:18:39.561 --> 01:18:41.259
Please tell me there's a hardcover.

01:18:42.185 --> 01:18:44.801
We're going need an omnibus for Deluxe Covers.

01:18:44.801 --> 01:18:45.934
next year.

01:18:45.934 --> 01:18:46.913
This one's just a trade.

01:18:46.913 --> 01:18:48.114
It'll be the first six.

01:18:48.114 --> 01:19:00.202
uh But brother, if you think that I'm not also dreaming of the oversized free planet hardcover, so we could maybe get those words a little bit bigger too.

01:19:00.202 --> 01:19:04.173
ah That's a thing I would love to see as well.

01:19:04.173 --> 01:19:12.949
But I'll tell you this, man, uh the ideal format for free planet, even if we get that big hardcover, it's the single issues, right?

01:19:12.949 --> 01:19:14.050
Because...

01:19:14.318 --> 01:19:17.597
You're talking about issue three, it's got the dog fight, it spins around.

01:19:17.597 --> 01:19:25.097
guarantee you that's gonna be more fun to read in single issue format than it'll ever be in collected format.

01:19:25.778 --> 01:19:28.238
you know, like it's a different experience.

01:19:28.238 --> 01:19:29.877
It's meant to be read as a periodical.

01:19:29.877 --> 01:19:38.018
It's meant to be a magazine that you get once a month and you kind of pick at and mull over for 30 days and then you get another one, right?

01:19:38.478 --> 01:19:40.057
That's how it's meant to be enjoyed.

01:19:40.057 --> 01:19:42.217
So I hope people aren't trade waiting.

01:19:42.337 --> 01:19:48.289
Another reason I hope people aren't trade waiting Letters pages, exclusive to the single issues, exclusive.

01:19:48.289 --> 01:19:57.595
So it's like, there's all this additional lore and information and stuff to figure out and piece together that will only be available to people in the single issue form.

01:19:57.717 --> 01:19:58.207
I love that.

01:19:58.207 --> 01:19:58.779
Yeah.

01:19:58.779 --> 01:20:05.222
We talked about Keen earlier and how you actually sort of, had a question about Keen and the, in the letters column at the end of issue three.

01:20:05.222 --> 01:20:09.265
So, among other, like you said, really awesome thought provoking questions.

01:20:09.265 --> 01:20:11.188
So I think definitely I agree there.

01:20:11.188 --> 01:20:15.211
And you know, before we let you both go and again, we appreciate you both being here today.

01:20:15.211 --> 01:20:16.671
Talk about free plan.

01:20:16.752 --> 01:20:17.452
Yeah.

01:20:17.452 --> 01:20:19.654
Jed, I'm to pass it over to you first.

01:20:19.654 --> 01:20:24.306
Is there anything you want to sort of say to the listener, anything you want to plug social media is how do people follow you?

01:20:24.306 --> 01:20:25.666
All the, all the cool things.

01:20:25.666 --> 01:20:39.381
Let's see, you can follow me at Jebrioto uh on Twitter, Instagram, Blue Sky, and I believe that's also the handle for my Patreon page.

01:20:39.381 --> 01:20:42.604
You should leave with Patreon because they can give you money there.

01:20:42.604 --> 01:20:50.692
Yes, that's first to Jed's Patreon and give him money and then the other ones if you feel like it.

01:20:50.692 --> 01:20:52.681
I'm an editor as well.

01:20:53.613 --> 01:20:53.935
All right.

01:20:53.935 --> 01:20:55.395
So Aubrey, let me pass it to you as well.

01:20:55.395 --> 01:20:59.932
How do folks, I know again, you're the only Aubrey Sterson on the internet, just, easy.

01:20:59.932 --> 01:21:00.743
Just Google me.

01:21:00.743 --> 01:21:01.484
It's fine.

01:21:01.484 --> 01:21:02.465
It's super easy.

01:21:02.465 --> 01:21:04.947
uh Where I'm most active is Substack.

01:21:04.947 --> 01:21:10.930
uh send I have a it's about fortnightly newsletter.

01:21:10.992 --> 01:21:12.632
Some is a little bit more sounds a little bit less.

01:21:12.632 --> 01:21:14.514
It averages out to about fortnightly.

01:21:14.514 --> 01:21:25.583
uh I do process posts about I'll have a new one up this coming week for some pages from free planet for showing off kind of like the stages of its of their development.

01:21:25.583 --> 01:21:33.170
I do bibliography posts about books that kind of went into the stew that became Free Planet.

01:21:33.230 --> 01:21:41.412
And I keep you up to date on cons and such like Madison, comic and pop culture expo, think it is.

01:21:41.412 --> 01:21:46.144
Madison cons, the only convention in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend.

01:21:46.144 --> 01:21:46.715
See me there.

01:21:46.715 --> 01:21:47.725
It'll be a hoot.

01:21:47.725 --> 01:21:48.086
Yeah.

01:21:48.086 --> 01:21:49.565
Look for the Walmart in Madison.

01:21:49.565 --> 01:21:50.765
It's right across the street from that.

01:21:50.765 --> 01:21:51.305
I'm assuming.

01:21:51.305 --> 01:21:51.546
don't know.

01:21:51.546 --> 01:21:54.805
I've never been to Madison, but I would imagine that's true.

01:21:56.185 --> 01:21:56.966
Yeah.

01:21:57.485 --> 01:22:02.805
Well, everybody, if you go to Madison con and you say you listen to this episode of the oblivion bar, Aubrey has something.

01:22:02.805 --> 01:22:03.685
I don't even know what it is.

01:22:03.685 --> 01:22:04.386
Aaron doesn't know what it is.

01:22:04.386 --> 01:22:05.466
don't know what it is.

01:22:05.466 --> 01:22:07.886
think the only one that knows is actually Jed.

01:22:07.886 --> 01:22:11.565
Jed fully knows what's going to be given out, but Aubrey doesn't.

01:22:11.905 --> 01:22:16.765
go tell them that you listen to this episode of the oblivion bar and you'll get something cool from Aubrey.

01:22:16.765 --> 01:22:16.917
So.

01:22:16.917 --> 01:22:17.698
That's exactly right.

01:22:17.698 --> 01:22:18.079
Yeah.

01:22:18.079 --> 01:22:19.360
Aubrey Jed, thank you so much.

01:22:19.360 --> 01:22:23.926
We'll love to with you.

01:22:24.787 --> 01:22:28.814
Thank you both so much for joining us and we would love to have you back on maybe for the trade.

01:22:28.814 --> 01:22:31.096
Maybe have you back on just talk about the first arc and.

01:22:31.096 --> 01:22:32.195
m Anytime.

01:22:32.195 --> 01:22:34.546
Anytime we can talk about something we don't have to talk about free planet next time.

01:22:34.546 --> 01:22:34.619
Yeah.

01:22:34.619 --> 01:22:35.851
We've done two of these already.

01:22:35.851 --> 01:22:37.962
whatever dealer's choice, whatever y'all want to talk.

01:22:37.962 --> 01:22:45.301
start fake rumors that if you put one of Aubrey's mustache hairs under your pillow at night, you'll wake up 10 % smarter.

01:22:45.430 --> 01:22:50.787
wake up with me sitting on your chest like a sleep paralysis.

01:22:50.787 --> 01:22:53.662
Lecturing you about Teo Mekki and dogma.

01:22:54.573 --> 01:22:57.716
You Well, on that note, thank you.

01:22:58.759 --> 01:23:00.332
Thank you both so much for joining us here.

01:23:00.332 --> 01:23:00.912
We appreciate it.

01:23:00.912 --> 01:23:02.699
We'll talk to you next time here on the bowling bar.

01:23:02.699 --> 01:23:04.377
best note to end the show.