#387 - Shortboxed Live with Ryan Crowe
[00:00:00] Badr: In this episode of the Short Box
[00:00:03] Ryan: Comic, comic Collecting is a community. It there, it is not a separate thing. It is that comic collecting is community. Otherwise you're just sitting in a dark reading something by yourself and, and that's, that's fine. You know, there are other industries that cater to to that.
[00:00:15] Ryan: Um, but what the real joy people get is coming together and sharing. One of the things that you'll find if you study people who live the longest and have, uh, the happiest life based on like some, some given set of parameters that is like, uh, you know, waking up, having a purpose, having a support from a strong familial and friend network, right?
[00:00:33] Ryan: The people that live those longest happy lives have community that they wake up for. That is so important that, that is how we see it so that we, we make it the most important thing
**Intro music plays**
[00:01:06] Badr: Yoo, Short Box Nation. Welcome back to the podcast. I hope you're feeling good. I hope you're feeling great, and I hope you're ready to hear some passionate nerds talk about comic books. If you're new to the show, welcome. This is The Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about comic books and pop culture inspired by them.
[00:01:29] Badr: My name is Badr and this is episode three 80. Now before I go any further, it only be fair if I gave you a, a complimentary caution that this episode may strongly influence you to open your checkbooks and confidently pull the trigger on purchasing that first appearance or another long sought after Holy Grail comic that you've been eyeing all these years.
[00:01:52] Badr: It might happen this episode, right? Fair warning, this is the episode for all you serious comic collectors that have these C D C grading scales committed to heart. If slab comics are your thing, or if you're someone that loves the thrill of buying and selling comics, or if you're just curious about how that corner of comic culture works, you're in the right place.
[00:02:11] Badr: Today I'll be chatting with Ryan Crowe, who you just heard in the intro. He's the head of marketing and community of Short Boxed, which is not to be confused with this podcast, even though it does happen a lot. Short Boxed is a comic collecting app that is dedicated to building the best mobile marketplace for collectors to buy and sell comics.
[00:02:30] Badr: Now, there's no secret about it. My days of serious comic collecting and buying are probably behind me. All right? I am a, I'm an old nerd now. I just love reading them and I, and I give them away. That's how bad I am at selling comics. I just give away my comics. But I do love learning about the business of comic collecting, and you can't ignore the headlines or the fact that the market for comics is very lively and very popular right now.
[00:02:54] Badr: But I am a rookie when it comes to being hands-on if the New Wave fans are embracing comic collecting, which is why I called on someone who not only knows his way around the market, but he's also a user in a vocal advocate of short boxed himself. Hell, he's on the short boxed Street team. Plus he's a friend of the show who's no strangers to the Cochair.
[00:03:14] Badr: He's been on the show twice already. Short Box Nation. Joining me this episode is Zach Armour from Comic Ventures. What's up Zach? Nice to have you back.
[00:03:22] Zack: I'm doing good, man. I'm happy to ch chill with you guys this Friday night and, uh, You know, have a good time, talk about a short box and talk about the short box, which people often get confused on, on the channel.
[00:03:32] Zack: So,
[00:03:35] Badr: Zach, but you know, uh, my girlfriend, you know, one of my biggest supporters, right? Loves the show, loves what, what I did with the podcast. When she first found out about short boxed, she sent, she sent me like one of their posts, um, on Instagram was like, are you aware of this? Do I gotta help you out?
[00:03:51] Badr: Legal, action, legal, you let me know. I'm like, no, no, baby. They, they're cool. They're cool, they're cool, they're cool. Trust me, they've been around for a minute. They're cool. So, yeah, a little confusion here, but that's why we got the subs going on today because that is core. Short boxed is an app built for collectors by collectors, and that has played a large part in why the company has been so successful and fast growing since their inception in 2020.
[00:04:14] Badr: It's only been about three years since the app launched. Now they're not just stopping at apps and comic commerce come May 7th. They'll be branching into the world of events and conventions. With their first ever short boxed live event in Santa Clara, California, which is being promoted as the ultimate one day Comic-Con featuring the best dealers in the industry, which is why I got Zach and Ryan here with us, right?
[00:04:39] Badr: We're gonna get all the details on how short boxed got to this moment directly from our guys on the inside. But before we bring on our guest of honor, I'd like to give a big shout out to our incredible sponsor at Gotham City. Limit Jackson's premier location for comic books, collectibles, toys, and more.
[00:04:56] Badr: We'll actually circle back to them later on in the show, but you will hear about our incredible friends and loyal supporters that make up our Patreon community right now. Because, look, I can't sing their praises enough if they have a special place in my heart. So whenever there's an opportunity to shout them out, God damn it, I'm gonna take it.
[00:05:13] Badr: All right? They help us pay the bills so you and everyone else can enjoy episodes like this every week for free. So if you wanna be included in this gushy, shout out next time. Or you simply want to show your support and appreciation for what we do, what, what are you waiting for? Consider becoming a member of our Patreon community at patreon.com/short box, just like Greg Lichtig, aka the host of the First Issue Club podcast.
[00:05:37] Badr: And Jason Barnes, a k a j Sinner, did this past weekend, right? Two great guys who both took the leap of faith and have become the newest member of our Patreon community. So they both are gonna get a loud Brad applause for making the best damn decision of their lives. Zach, do you remember the, the day that you became a short boxed Patreon subscriber?
[00:05:59] Badr: I
[00:05:59] Zack: remember the day that I became Ready Day of Your Life, right? The greatest day. You know, my, my daughter's birth pales in comparison to the day I became a patron on the short box. Um, yeah, I remember I was sitting in my car grabbing my Amazon package. I said, man, you know what? Lemme just go ahead and do this.
[00:06:18] Zack: What? Go ahead and do. I've been listening to these guys for years. Lemme just, you know what, I got stickers. I got a t-shirt.
[00:06:23] Badr: What am I doing Exactly, Zack. Exactly what? Doing what? What are you doing now? Look at your life so much better now. Look at my life.
[00:06:29] Zack: It, it's like my life took a total 180 degree turn.
[00:06:33] Zack: I started, I don't know, I started doing better on my job. Uh, you know, my mom started calling me more since I been became Patron. Come on, man. You know, my coffee tastes better. You know, if you're not, if you're not sure about Patron, you're, you're, you're investing in the wrong things of life. I'm gonna just tell you that d look,
[00:06:48] Badr: I'm so glad you said it cuz I mean, I've been saying it for the past 380 episodes and people think I'm crazy.
[00:06:53] Badr: They call me greedy. All good. They'll see the light one day, all right? One day, folks, it'll be the best $5 or even $2 that you spend on an entertainment, right? That's guaranteed. Right? If you can't pay the five bucks a month, we got a $2 tier. All right? We understand times can be hard. The struggles are real, all right?
[00:07:08] Badr: But there's no reason not to give our Paton community a shot, all right? Especially if you want bonus episodes behind the scenes content. First dibs on everything we do, all that good stuff. You absolutely will love what we have to offer on our Patreon. One more time. Join the [email protected] slash the short box, and thanks again to everyone supporting us already, especially our two new guys.
[00:07:28] Badr: Big shout outs to Greg. Big shouts to Jason. With that out the way, let's finally, finally set the stage for our guest of honor. All right, I'm done pushing my wares. I'm ready to start the show. Not only is he the head of marketing and community of Short boxed, but he's also a professional comedian. He's the founder of the Drunk Theater Company based outta la He's also a self professed art hound, and he's a comic book nerd that is dedicated to bringing the fun back to collecting comics.
[00:07:55] Badr: Short Box Nation. It's my privilege to welcome Ryan Crowther Show. Ryan, welcome.
[00:08:01] Ryan: How are you? What's up? Everybody's short box nation. It's gonna be hard not to say the ED at the end. Cause I, cause that's the, that's the, uh, we always get that, uh, the officer like, Hey, it's, uh, it's short boxed. It's a past tense.
[00:08:14] Ryan: Uh,
[00:08:15] Badr: That's why this whole episode, I, I feel like I am over-emphasizing that Ed at the end. I'm like, short
[00:08:20] Ryan: box stop flip box ed. Short box ed. Just,
[00:08:24] Zack: we can say it. They're gonna, they're gonna be emailing the show and being like, Hey, where, where, where's all the great at comics? I went on your, uh, I went, yeah,
[00:08:29] Badr: exactly.
[00:08:30] Badr: I'm seeing as much as smiling idiots, gushing out audio form. Ryan, you live in uh, California right now, right? San Francisco.
[00:08:38] Ryan: San Francisco, that's right.
[00:08:40] Badr: Were you born and raised there?
[00:08:42] Ryan: No, I was born in Georgia and, uh, raised in Missouri. So, uh, this is a whole different, uh, and, and better, uh, pardon me, Georgia Georgians and Missourian, uh, I like it a lot better out in California.
[00:08:53] Ryan: I'm sure they'd probably agree with you too. If they ever, if they ever left, they would know. I mean, yeah,
[00:08:59] Badr: they see the. How'd you get, how'd you make away from Georgia to the other side of the country?
[00:09:04] Ryan: Whew. Well, uh, we moved, we, geez, this is a, this is a story. I'm old. I, uh, I moved to from Georgia to, uh, Missouri when I was a kid.
[00:09:13] Ryan: Um, grew up there. Um, life happened. I was a nerd, you know, uh, uh, but I always, I was always a, I'm al I'm, I'm a little, if you can see me, I got a backwards hat on, which tells you that I've got some, some bro blood in me too, which I try to, I try to fight as much as possible. Um, you know, I had a single mom growing up and so, uh, one of the things I did is I was like, well, uh, uh, you know, she wasn't around.
[00:09:34] Ryan: So I read comic books, uh, just sort of something to keep me busy. And then if I had to go places with her, um, you know, I would always have con Am I talking too loud? I feel like I'm screaming cause I'm watching this little soundbar go up and down. Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. You're good. You. Okay. I'm super ate.
[00:09:49] Ryan: That's a, so ADHD is a thing, uh, that probably happened to when I was a kid. You saw it just happen there. Um, but anyway, so I had comic books. Um, my, the first, I, I would say my first like comic book ity was Ninja Turtles. The cartoon, uh, the biggest thing for me, I love the Turtles, but the first comic book, um, hero, I, you know, that is pure comic books.
[00:10:10] Ryan: I didn't know the turtles were comic books at the time, by the way. Um, I, lemme turn this up a little bit. Okay. Can you hear me better? Jesus. Sorry I keep No, you're good. I'm getting distracted by the, distracted by the tech. So comic books, uh, my first comic book hero that I really liked was Superman, still is my favorite.
[00:10:25] Ryan: I know super boring vanilla ice cream of superheroes. Um, uh, but so that, that's, that was my boy. I still like Superman the best. Um, But then, you know, and then after that I got into like Spawn and, you know, I got into the image, the scene really early, uh, in my, in my life. I was probably six or seven. Didn't really, really know what I was reading when, when Image came out.
[00:10:44] Ryan: Um, and so I got really into Savage Dragon and Spawn and, um, I dunno, Jen 13 was out then. Wild Cats, that kind of stuff. Um, um, how did I come out here? Well, I, uh, in 2008 I was in college and, uh, there's a big, the big market crash happened. So, um, I was studying Russian at the time at, at my university, and I was, I wanted to be a, a foreign intelligence analyst, so that was my big goal.
[00:11:06] Ryan: I wanted, uh, I, I spoke Russian pretty well, and my family's been in America for a long time, so I had a couple of, of attributes that made me like, good for that kind of service. Um, but then, uh, I started doing social media a lot and then Google, um, released a, a social media platform, um, and I became a, a, a suggested user on it.
[00:11:24] Ryan: So I was like, it was, so, this is crazy by the way. It was like, Whenever you signed up for Gmail, which is everybody in 2012 and 2013, um, I was, I was in the suggested user, so I was right next to like, it would be like Snoop Dogg. Wow. Mark Cuban me the Blackeyed Peas. Uh, and so I had a huge, I know it was wild.
[00:11:44] Ryan: And how boring would I have been?
[00:11:46] Badr: You were dunking on the Black Eyed Peas. That's dope.
[00:11:50] Ryan: Yeah, yeah. This was, this was brought Black Eyed Peas on their way out, so I got anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean whatever. But that was on that list. And then, you know, um, you know, uh, I was like, oh, I can do this for a living.
[00:12:03] Ryan: I know this is, this is before influencers were a thing. It was pretty early on. Um, so I was like, well, I don't wanna work for the government. I don't wanna be in academia. I don't wanna be a Russian professor. Sleeper agent for the kgp. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You know, I still can speak it a little bit. Um, so anyways, I was like, well, okay, well if I wanna work in tech, where do I have to go?
[00:12:26] Ryan: California. And then when I moved here, I joined a company, which is where I met. This is gonna, this is gonna tie up, I swear to God, where I met Gene, who was the, the founder, uh, one of the founders in and the CEO of Short Boxed. So we started short boxed with, uh, the other co-founder as a blog in 2013 ish.
[00:12:45] Ryan: Hmm. And the reason we started is cuz back then if you had a blog, you, you could say you were press. So we would get press passes to, to Cons for free and we'd have to pay to go to Cons.
[00:12:53] Badr: Blogs were the shit man. Like they were the before podcast, like blogs was the shit. Absolutely.
[00:13:00] Ryan: So that's how I'm here.
[00:13:01] Ryan: And then, uh, 10 years later, after I hung out in, in, uh, Silicon Valley for a while, worked in all these tech companies and, you know, I, I've worked in tech companies and video games and, uh, then Jean was like, uh, hey, we actually turned this into a business while you were off doing something else. Why don't you come back and, uh, and reclaim your spot, uh, with, with short box?
[00:13:18] Ryan: And so now I'm here.
[00:13:19] Badr: That's great. Ryan, I'm gonna give you, that was such an efficient answer. Did you know that you just knocked out three of my, like, questions back to back and one like, perfect. There we go. That's awesome, man. Perfect. Perfect. Do you remember like a specific comic book that that was the one for you?
[00:13:36] Ryan: The comic book for me was, uh, this gonna date me, this is gonna date me so bad. It would, it's the death of Superman that made me a comic book recruiter after, well, technically my first comic, the first comic that I bought for myself was. A three part series, Batman Verse Predator. Oh man. And it was cool. It was dope.
[00:13:55] Badr: Was that Andy Cubert doing the art?
[00:13:57] Ryan: Ooh, yes. Long, long, long year. Yeah, that's right. It was long year bat. It was incredible. I really, alien has always been of my favorite movies. And so that, and so Predator. I was reading all these predator novels, um, and then I saw Bat Member's Predator. I like Batman. Um, which is so funny because now I have like a, a sort of fake grudge against Batman because he gets so off compared to Superman.
[00:14:18] Ryan: And, uh, when the guy and the, the, the Marvels, uh, trailer said, Batman's a fascist, I, I was the only one who was like, yeah, he's right. He's right. That's correct. I was like, yes, no. Yeah, he's, I studied
[00:14:29] Badr: Russian. I would know this. All right. Batman's a fascist.
[00:14:31] Ryan: I would know Batman is right there. Yeah. So that was it.
[00:14:34] Ryan: So it was, it was Superman. Death, death of Superman. It was so big. It was so hyped in, uh, if you remember the zeitgeist of like the, the mid nineties, the death of Superman was one of the major comic events in history. Um, because Superman dies and you know, obviously in comics, you know, people weren't really sure if they were gonna bring him back and whatever.
[00:14:54] Ryan: Um, and they made it. And they made it because this is when, this is when comic companies were really like, yo, we can make collectibles. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. So our, so not only was that event important in my, in my life as sort of like a, a one-off ants in, in the sort of, uh, you know, the taxonomy of existence, but like it was important for our entire industry as, uh, because now we have comic collectibles and that's when you really started to see the overindulgence of companies trying to bank on collect.
[00:15:23] Badr: That's probably one of the earliest start maybe like precursors to the, the, like the comic bubble like that, you know, that comic crazy in the nineties? Oh
[00:15:31] Zack: yeah. I think that book single-handedly almost create that, uh, nineties comic bubble. And you're right, it was the most heavily Yeah, exactly. And it was the most heavily covered events in not only comic book history, but in the media in general.
[00:15:45] Zack: I don't think there's been, I don't think there's ever been that much media coverage for a comic event. I mean, since then, what was that 1991? I wasn't alive yet, but, um, even,
[00:15:54] Ryan: all right. Zack, calm down. We don't need to,
[00:15:58] Zack: I wasn't, I, I can't say like I, like I was there,
[00:16:01] Ryan: but I was in the trenches. Uh,
[00:16:03] Badr: Crow is like, don't you rub your good knees.
[00:16:06] Badr: Yeah. Don't rub it in. All right. Yeah. Good knee. I like how you
[00:16:08] Ryan: tried to sneak it in there, all stealthy. You were like, nah, I
[00:16:11] Zack: wasn't, I couldn't feel like I was there. Yeah. I couldn't say that I was there, but I think even. The only thing I'd ever seen that was, that heavily covered in like, just like CNN and all those guys was like when, uh, miles Morales, uh, was, uh, revealed Spiderman in 2011.
[00:16:25] Zack: I remember seeing that on the news, but I still don't think that would've, I mean, the impact of that is nowhere
[00:16:31] Badr: near, you know, this would, uh, I'm, I'm gonna table this cuz this would actually make for a good convo or like dedicated topic as, as comic coverage in the media. Cuz now you got me thinking about the.
[00:16:42] Badr: That, uh, I, my first instance of seeing a comic event, or, or just comics in the media was, uh, the death of, uh, captain America.
[00:16:51] Zack: Oh, yeah. Like 2006
[00:16:52] Badr: or something. Yeah. I remember watching that on the news and my dad also watching it and losing his ever-loving shit. I think that was the day that he slowly declined from being a Marvel fan.
[00:17:03] Badr: What was.
[00:17:04] Ryan: That, that sentence could have ended much harder. You're like, that was a slow decline. He was in bad health already and then, uh, they got him.
[00:17:11] Badr: You're right. I was like, I was like, oh my God. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Decline is, is a pretty harsh word. That was the start of him, you know, uh, uh, cut and ties with Marble is that day, the day they killed Captain America and plastered it all over the news.
[00:17:23] Badr: I'll never forget. Um, but very good topic, Crow. Can you speak to the, um, can you speak to like, I guess the transition from short boxed being a blog to taking the, the, the leap to becoming a dedicated app? And then if you don't mind, dude, give us the tldr of, of like what is it that you do, what is the, the head of, of marketing and community?
[00:17:44] Ryan: Yeah. So, um, we'll get to this. So, uh, all right, so how do we start this? So, When we first started the brand Short box, um, we all work in tech and, um, so the, the founders, the two business founders. There's two business founders, three brand founders. I, I'm not, I'm not the business founder cuz I didn't, uh, I wasn't there when they turned it into a legitimate business.
[00:18:05] Ryan: Um, but BJ and, and Jean are the two co-founders of the company. But when we were starting it out, it was the three of us writing blog, blog articles. BJ's a super talented software engineer. Gene is an incredible businessman. We all met in Tech. Gene and BJ were friends I worked with, with Gene. Um, so we started out doing, uh, going to Cons.
[00:18:24] Ryan: Now I had just gotten out of grad school. Uh, I had no money, so I, I went to a couple of cons with them and, you know, I couldn't afford anything. Like they were all like buying these awesome books. And so finally I had to be like, I had to dip out. Cause one time we went to One Con, I remember specifically where I bought my first two collectible comics.
[00:18:41] Ryan: It was next Min 21. I love Hellboy. And the first appearance of the, of the Teen Titans Braven to Bold 54. Now that, that cost me, I dunno, $400 at the time, maybe, maybe 350 bucks. And I was like, holy. I was like, holy shit. It was an incredible amount of money. And I was like, I'm broke for the next year. Yeah.
[00:19:00] Ryan: You know, I had just moved out to San Francisco. Things are expensive out here. And I was just like, Uhuh. And I had a poll list too. So I was, I was spending money on comic media. And I was like, guys, I can't keep going out to these things. Cause we went to a couple more and I would just kind of stand around and look at things I can't have.
[00:19:16] Ryan: And, um, so I kind of dipped out for a little bit and then I got a new job. And so I kind of parted ways with, with Gina BG a little bit. Um, uh, but I kept in touch because every once in a while they would have some new thing they were doing with Short Box and they're like, Hey, check out this thing we're doing.
[00:19:29] Ryan: Let let us know when you want to come back. And I, I, uh, they had worked at other big companies and so they were more established in their careers. Um, and they were off, they were off buying and being comic book dealers. They, they would buy entire lots and they would sell. And so in the, in that time of them, like being really involved with the community, being sellers themselves, going to Cons all over the country, um, being in and out of the, the, the high end graded comic stuff, jean's collection right now is, Eight books and they're amazing.
[00:19:56] Ryan: They're like the, they're so, I don't, you'll, you'll have to talk to Gene about his rare book collection. Mm-hmm. Um, and BJ has some too. Uh, so anyways, in, in the timeframe from when I, when I left the blog until probably 2020, um, they were like, Hey, we work in tech. The comic book industry is so old. Do you know, like if you wanna buy a comic book before, like, before like short boxed or, you know, some of the, even, even other apps.
[00:20:23] Ryan: So I'm not gonna name them cuz they're competitors and I'm not gonna do that for them. But anyway, no food plugs on this show. Dam it. Yeah. Not this show. Not today, not today, Satan. Um, but like, if you wanted to, to buy a great comic book, you have a, a, a few avenues open to you and they're. Old one. You, you either go to a, a, a website that looks like it was built in 1992, an angel fire, uh, Zach before you were born.
[00:20:47] Ryan: Sorry. Uh, or, or geo cities, which you might remember. Oh, yeah, yeah. Or you go to an auction house or you go to a store, which is the same two ways you could buy something back in the 18 hundreds. Right. The industry that we have is extremely old and because it's, it's people sort of dealing with it as a hobby or people who have brick and mortar stores for, uh, uh, a collectible.
[00:21:10] Ryan: So they just saw that and they're like, there's so many ways that we could, uh, gene and BJ said we could bring this. This hobby into contemporary, like into modernity, right? Mm-hmm. Like we can, we can give it stuff and it won't take that much cuz there's not a lot of people doing it. And if they are doing it, they're not doing it well.
[00:21:26] Ryan: eBay is, is the biggest, that's not really a plug. Cause everybody knows who they are. eBay is, is is is like the, the biggest competitor we have. And shopping on eBay sucks, you know? Yeah. It sucks for somebody. There's, there's fees. You don't know what you're getting. Right? Um, if you, if if somebody screws you, you have like, like not a lot of ways to get back.
[00:21:46] Ryan: So they were like, well how can we do eBay but better? How do we make it look like, um, a contemporary app? Now bj, super awesome engineer Gene, super great businessman. They, they figured it out. And so in 2020 they came up with the prototype for short box, got a couple of the big dealers cuz right, they've been in the community for a decade now, super active.
[00:22:05] Ryan: Um, they found people to test it and they, they went to real dealers, real collectors, real comic book buyers to say what do we need and are we doing it right? And then they released the first, the first, um, prototype of, uh, short boxed in in 2020. So that's how we, they went from blog to
[00:22:23] Badr: app. It sounds like it was important for them to get direct fe feedback from people that would be using the app and, you know, conducting business.
[00:22:32] Badr: Yeah,
[00:22:33] Ryan: that's right. So one, one of the things you'll find and, and whether this is business, this is capitalism, um, is that people know that there's money to be made through market research in the collectable comics industry. Mm-hmm. Like it's a billion dollar industry after market collectible, comics after market.
[00:22:45] Ryan: Not even, not even talking about direct, direct sales, the, uh, opportunities there are and you know, with direct sales mm-hmm. Publisher stuff. So, um, There are people who are like, okay, well collectibles are big right now. Look at shoes, look at toys. Video games are blowing up right now. How can we get into that market?
[00:23:00] Ryan: Um, and, and then they'll just try to build something out, right? The NFTs are also part of that, that conversation. Um, that's great. I mean, that's, that's how, that's how, uh, economic niches get filled. That's how the ecosystem fills up as somebody looking for opportunity, which is fine. Um, however, we are collectors and we have the know-how to build something that is useful for collectors.
[00:23:22] Ryan: Um, and not only do we have the know-how in-house, but we have advanced know-how because of our backgrounds in tech. Um, when you spend 10 years, 15 years, 20 years in, in tech, you learn a lot about how people want to interact with the rest of the world via te.
[00:23:39] Badr: We are in here, uh, we're getting a Harvard, uh, level class.
[00:23:42] Badr: Uh, is that Yeah,
[00:23:44] Zack: yeah. I I'm enjoying it. Uh, I'm a big, big fan of Crow and, and Jean and, um, I mean, yeah, the app is incredible. Um, even as a person that, um, I'm not gonna tell my whole story, but even, even from its inception, and I remember, I remember the first time I opened it, I'm like, what the heck is this?
[00:24:02] Zack: Literally that same week I did that video on, um, the top five, uh, apps for combo collectors, which is still my best video on YouTube. And before I had even known any of them, I, uh, I featured it on the channel. I was like, this thing is, I mean, what I, what I, what I love about every other area of colle collecting and sneakers, you know, fashion, everything.
[00:24:27] Zack: They're doing in the comic book industry, and they're doing it aesthetically, they're doing it with the right features, the accessibility, the information. They're doing it in a way that it should have been done 10 years ago.
[00:24:38] Badr: Crow. What is your, uh, your role there? Like, like in just layman's term, what is it that you do?
[00:24:43] Badr: What is the head of, uh, marketing and, and community?
[00:24:45] Ryan: Because we are a startup, you'll find that most people in startups have roles just because they need something to call themselves. Um, but we, I, I do an incredible amount of, of stuff, uh, all over the board. I mean, any kind of, I, I would say that I am the, I am responsible for communication.
[00:25:03] Ryan: Now that is every form of communication that you can imagine. The only thing that I don't, the only thing that I don't really do is, um, I don't really talk to our, I don't really talk to investors and that kind of thing. That, that's, that's where it starts to, that's where my, that's where my job stops, and that's where Jean's job.
[00:25:21] Ryan: Uh, is, it begins, I guess, and, and bj so, um, anytime you see a communication, I, it is coming through me. Um, the design, marketing design is, Is probably Jean and me. The, the, uh, the cleanness is because we are, Jean and I both came from the same tech background, so we have, we kind of learned the same valuable lessons, I think, and we both appreciate them, which is why we started talking about doing a blog in the first place.
[00:25:48] Ryan: Um, uh, he also saw like a bunch of Superman, uh, graphic novels on my desk. He's like, do you like comics? Before we, when I just joined the company? And because I finally had ex uh, disposable income, uh, after being in grad school for so long, uh, I went and bought, the first thing I bought was like a, a, I just like replenished my comic collection.
[00:26:06] Ryan: So anyway, uh, a ADHD again. So the reason it's so clean is because we are, we are obsessed with design. If you look at anything short box, short box does it puts, puts out is we, we obsess over making something look good because one, it reflects on us, but two, we think that people deserve to have the high quality, um, brand, uh, experience that, that people have in another, like, uh, like Goat for example, is one of our shining example.
[00:26:30] Ryan: Perfect example. Perfect example. We love Goat. I love goat. I'm a shoe guy. Um, we, we all like street wear. So we're kind of like in that, we're in that area. There
[00:26:40] Zack: are two apps that I open every day. I don't care how my wallet's looking goat in short box, I open them every day. I will, I just sit there and cry and be like, I can't buy these Union Air Jordan ones.
[00:26:51] Zack: I can't buy this X-Men number one. But you know what? Oh
[00:26:54] Badr: good. Maybe the two worst collectible hobbies to have. Sneakers. Oh yeah. Right. Good God. So yeah, communication. And then, uh, where's the community aspect? Uh, come in, where's that part of the title come in? The
[00:27:07] Ryan: most important thing that we, we, the most important thing that we think at short boxed exist is the community.
[00:27:13] Ryan: Right. Um, this is where we, we think we have the advantage because we've actually been part of the community. We've spent a decade, um, getting to know people, learning, you know, what's important, being a part of the community, right? Um, that's the, that's the one thing that we, that pushes us beyond what we think.
[00:27:29] Ryan: Uh, other companies, even if they have more money than us, are capable of. Um, we all, everything that we do is with the community in mind. Um, and so my job is to be like, okay. When we start growing as a company, we cannot lose the community. And we don't want, we don't want to leave the community. We don't wanna outgrow, there's no outgrowing a community because that is the, the fundamental building block of, um, a collectible hobby, but also, um, how we get better.
[00:27:57] Ryan: So that is where community comes in and how do I interact with the community? I make sure to highlight the community. I make sure to be a liaison with the community. So, um, a couple of the big programs that you'll see that I've started are the street team program. Zack's part of it. There's gonna be places where I can't be.
[00:28:11] Ryan: Um, I'm also fairly new to collecting myself. I'm, I'm, I'm not some lifelong collector. I'm a lifelong reader, but collecting and reading are not necessarily the same thing. Um, so there's just, and there's also people that I can't connect to for, cuz I don't know 'em, you know, like, and so when we have more street teamers, um, for example, they can go to different parts of the country and talk to, uh, different people that we can't do.
[00:28:33] Ryan: Cuz there's, there's five of us in San Francisco or whatever's in the home office, right? We've got people, we got other remote workers, but, uh, we just can't be everywhere. We're not, we're not Google, you know. So like, so the street team is super important to us cuz one, they're, they're trusted by the community because they're members of the community.
[00:28:51] Ryan: And, and that's what we wanna say. We, we just wanna be like, Hey, we're, we're still here. Um, we're gonna be working on this thing, but we want to make sure that we have representatives out, we wanna make sure we're still getting feedback. Um, we want to make ourselves as, as broadly available as possible. And so when the community me, when the street team members go out to cons, or when they work cons with us, or sometimes they'll go in like, um, uh, the host events where they are or even when they post content.
[00:29:16] Ryan: That is our way of saying this is still, this is still the most valuable thing to us. If you look at our social, our social channels or even in the app where we have all of our content, it's community members, street teamers, we have community picks. People aren't in a stream team, uh, uh, street team. So. I don't know how else to say it.
[00:29:34] Ryan: It's just the most important thing. And so you have to have somebody who cares about it, and it has to be their job to care about it. And so that's why I was brought in to be specifically the person that cares about it. I also have a background in, in, um, the business aspect of community, uh, building from a tech side.
[00:29:49] Ryan: So that, I mean, it just is within my realm, um, of expertise. Uh, that's what I do. Uh, it's just making sure that we're involved, we're listening, and, uh, we're not missing anything because we've, we've become something else as we've become a business entity. You know,
[00:30:05] Badr: sounds like you guys don't ever wanna be in a position where you forget about the people that, that, you know, made your company, that made the business, that made the brand, uh, successful.
[00:30:12] Badr: But I gotta say my favorite part of the app is just a discover, uh, page, which kind of, uh, really opens back nice to your, um, to your comment about highlighting the community, you know, and, and also like the street team and, you know, being kind of, uh, uh, and having a finger on the pulse of like, Content creators in this space.
[00:30:29] Badr: You know, like I, I, I know I've seen, uh, Zack's content on that Discover page. I mean, I've seen homes, you know, amazing stuff from the home. Yeah, exactly. Come on, man. It's comic adventurous, but I've also seen, you know, okay. Content from the homies at Oblivion Bar on the app. You know, I've, I've seen, you know, you, you'll post like the trailers and stuff.
[00:30:46] Badr: So Discover Page for someone like me that isn't, you know, ready to dive, ready to open that can of worms of buying and collecting. I do like the fact that you guys offer much more than just, um, you know, than just that you guys are putting a spotlight on, you know, content creators and people doing good work in comics.
[00:31:02] Badr: Yeah, man. Solid stuff. I, I think what a lot of businesses
[00:31:06] Ryan: don't get are like, depending on the industry, we're not a utility. We comic, comic collecting is a community. It there it is not a separate thing. It is that comic collecting is community. Right. There's no difference there. There, there's never, you were saying earlier like, you're never gonna forget community.
[00:31:21] Ryan: It's, IM, it's, it cannot be forgotten. It is the most important thing. We're never, we're never gonna put. Community in front or behind, because community exists there. Whether or not we want it to, it is a force that we work around, not a force that, that we, that we invent, right? Yeah. So we just support it. So I think that's, that's always the most important thing because like, otherwise you're just sitting in a dark reading something by yourself.
[00:31:43] Ryan: And, and that's, that's fine in other, other industries that cater to, to that. Um, but what the real joy people get is coming together and sharing and sharing. So that, that is, that's why it's so important. You know, there are studies, this, this is, this is, this is gonna get outta here. Hey, us there a crow.
[00:32:00] Ryan: Come on, you're in the bag right now. There are studies. Yeah. This is it. This is it. This is like, I, I I said a community, uh, it's, again, it's my expertise, but like, one of the things that you'll find if you study people who live the longest and have, uh, the happiest life based on like, some, some given set of parameters that is like, uh, you know, waking up, having a purpose, having a support from a strong familial and friend network, right?
[00:32:21] Ryan: The people that. Live those long as happy lives are, uh, have community that they wake up for nobody in, in places that, um, that suggest like indivi, like America's not really good at this, by the way. Um, uh, individualism, those people don't, don't usually fit into that, but you'll find like, um, religious communities fit into this.
[00:32:41] Ryan: By the way, I'm not here to talk about religion. I'm just saying that they provide a sense of purpose and community based on a central belief. Um, tho those kinds of people, um, uh, with some strong central purpose. Those people live the longest cause they have something to wake up for, something to connect with and something to do every day.
[00:32:58] Ryan: And so that is so important that that tribalism that humans are built with that are, that, that exist within us as sort of, um, whatever you wanna call it, instinctual. If you're more high-minded and spiritual, and maybe it's something like that, but I believe it's instinctual. That is, that is how we see it.
[00:33:17] Ryan: It it is intrinsic to the human experience on this planet so that we, we make it the most important thing.
[00:33:22] Zack: Man, if y'all, if y'all aren't fired out about the short box out yet, you should be on that thing right now. I'm telling you
[00:33:30] Ryan: right now. I forgot I was talking about Short Box. I just like,
[00:33:34] Badr: you're like, wait, this is a comic podcast.
[00:33:35] Badr: Right. No, that was really well said. And I have no follow up for how, how well said that was. So I'm going to take it to someplace extremely nerdy. And Zach, I wanna hear, man, because it sounds like, you know, obviously you're a believer in Short Box, you are a, uh, you're a regular user. You're an advocate, you're a spokesperson, you're on the street team for Gods sakes.
[00:33:54] Badr: Yeah. Tell me, what's been the best thing you bought off that app? What's been your favorite purchase off the Short Box app? So
[00:34:00] Zack: I got my, um, did I, yeah, I got my Marvel Spotlight five. Um, ooh, think like. I think I got this one from them a month ago maybe. Yeah, maybe like a month ago. Um, that's been my favorite purchase there.
[00:34:16] Zack: I've made three, no four purchases so far. I also have a Star Wars one in the other room. And then, um, I did a Secret Wars eight for, uh, giveaway. I just decided paid. That's right. Yeah. My money. I'm gonna do what I want with it. And then, uh, part the channel. And then, uh, I actually have another giveaway coming up.
[00:34:33] Zack: I kind of want to do one every year, so I'm not gonna, I'm gonna hold my tone on what book it is, but I think, uh, people in the community will be really excited. And of course, I purchased it on short block. By the way, if you're a collector and you had, you can fund the hobby, there should be no reason.
[00:34:50] Zack: You're not getting all your books from short box. I'm just telling you guys right now, there's no reason.
[00:34:55] Badr: It was pretty enticing, uh, the prices I was seeing. I was like, yo, this isn't that crazy butter. Don't you fucking do it? Don't you do it? That was my bank, that my bank immediately called me. And the guy, the rep was like, don't you fucking do it.
[00:35:06] Badr: You already bought, you know, you already, your sneakers account is already looking crazy. All right. But no, it's, I, I am, I am very impressed by the range of, uh, sellers that are on a short box and the different prices you can get. And yo, there's a, a ton of grails.
[00:35:21] Zack: Dude crazy. I heard you mention your favorite thing on the app being the Discover Page batter, and uh, I did want to mention and just add that, listen, my favorite thing on the app as a seller.
[00:35:32] Zack: Is that FMV indicator, um, that gives, gives me so much confidence if you are not confident.
[00:35:39] Badr: Wait, Zach, real quick for the, for the industry, what is the FM VM indicator? Uh, yeah,
[00:35:43] Zack: so, and CRO could probably explain it a little bit better than me, but, uh, essentially it's a fair market value. So to put it in economic terms, fair market value is essentially, um, looking at sales data, right?
[00:35:55] Zack: From, hey, when, how, how is sales data tracked for this book throughout time and taking that data and applying it to, um, the current sale price, right? So if you have, let's say, a random book, uh, Daredevil issue number one, first appearance of that Murdoch slash daredevil, uh, in com, Hey, Marvel Comics 1963, right?
[00:36:13] Zack: So you, you look up that book, let's say it's a CGC grade, a 3.0. I don't know the price of this book by heart, by the way, so I'm just gonna say a price. It's a really expensive book. So I'm saying like, you know, let's say it.
[00:36:25] Ryan: Four grand. Pretty close. Yeah.
[00:36:27] Zack: Um, let's say it's four grand, right? Somebody lists on a short box for $5,000.
[00:36:31] Zack: Well, you know, that's on the seller. But at the same time, what short box does is it protects both the seller and the buyer by saying, Hey, listen, this little indicator on this, it'll have like a red diamond, Hey listen, this little indicator, this book's kind of steep. Maybe, uh, make an offer on it. Or maybe look for a different, uh, book that's maybe the same grade, but closer to what's, what, what's tracking the f and v indicator.
[00:36:54] Zack: And then you'll see that, that, you know, if it's moderated, it's yellow, which is
[00:36:57] Badr: not bad. So it arms you. Uh, I like the word protects you as a buyer. So it arms you with the knowledge, the information. Yeah, exactly. If you're to go on their biggest competitor at eBay, you would have to manually do all of that.
[00:37:08] Badr: You'd have to go to sold and list it and kind of compile this shit, you know, this and that. So that's pretty, oh, that's,
[00:37:13] Zack: Awesome. And for new collectors, that's your, that's your best. They're your guardian angel right now. Like they're, that's why I'm like, is if you're a new collector, you know, I understand you're a seasoned collector.
[00:37:22] Zack: You know, you, you've had your habits. But if you're new to this hobby, you shouldn't be getting your books anywhere else. It's just, there's too much there for you to, to
[00:37:31] Ryan: protect you. One of the things we hate is when you walk away, again, this is from, again, from the years and years of being in the community, be buying great comics, trying, you know, hundreds if not thousands of different deals and conversations with people.
[00:37:46] Ryan: One of the things that we wanted to avoid is somebody walking away from a what should be a joyous moment and wondering if they got ripped off. Oh yeah. It is the wor you, it's like there's a gr I was, there's a gross example. I was about to say, but it, it is like, but like, it is like, it's like eating something and being like, instead of just being able to enjoy your food, just being like, is this going to clog my arteries?
[00:38:08] Ryan: You know what I mean? You just want to ha you just want to enjoy it. Right. So, The FMV indicator came from that. Like we want you to say, Hey, I'm looking up, by the way, you're daredevil, one at the 3.0, 3.5. It's about $4,000. The fact that you just guessed that is pretty incredible, by the way. Listen,
[00:38:24] Zack: I'm on that app every day.
[00:38:25] Zack: No, look, that was, that was actually pretty bad that I could do that actually. So
[00:38:29] Ryan: I, I was like, I, I was looking it up cause I was like, I wanna see where he is at. But I also look at Daredevil one s and I was like, I know prices. Got it.
[00:38:35] Badr: Zack is a walking over Streete catalog,
[00:38:38] Ryan: right? So, yeah. So the f and d indicators are tell you like, Hey, this is a good price, right?
[00:38:43] Ryan: And if it's a yellow one, you're like, okay, this is a little bit above. Now that doesn't mean you can't buy it because sometimes, um, the, uh, the market doesn't match the current, um, momentum, right? Sometimes those two things are happening, just one lags behind the other. So let's say there's, um, uh, for example, when Damien Wayne got announced he was gonna be in, in the DC universe, uh, you know, the Batman, was it 360 6 or 3 56 or whatever?
[00:39:06] Ryan: Yeah, I think you're right. Um, Those, those Damien Wayne comics win up super high. And people were like, okay, well I can sell this high right now. And people were getting the, the red, the red squares, which is like a, Hey, this is super high. But that's because you're paying a premium for something, right?
[00:39:18] Ryan: You're paying a premium for something because there's uh, there's potential there. And so like if you see red on the app, doesn't mess, need, need, it's bad. It's just like, are you looking at something that has potential? Or does this person not know how they're pricing? But so not only is it good for buyers, though, Buyers, of course, want to get good deals, but sellers, you know, you don't wanna go into something and you're like, well, I don't know how much this is worth.
[00:39:38] Ryan: How many different sources do I have to check? If you're on short box, you're gonna get information. I'm not gonna give the proprietary information, but you're getting a lot of different sources all in the same spot, and we turn it into a color for you. So there's not, there's, it's, it's either red, green, or yellow.
[00:39:52] Ryan: And if you wanna, if you wanna move that book quickly, if you need to sell the book, maybe you need to, uh, send your d your, your, your kids to college, or you wanna pay a mortgage, or maybe you just want a different book. You wanna move up. If you wanna sell that book, you wanna price, it's moved. You get it in green.
[00:40:04] Ryan: If you think that's, that, that book's gonna have potential a little higher, you go yellow, super potential red. So like, it helps everybody. And, and so that's, that, that means it feels good for the seller and it feels good for the buyer because everybody has enough information to make an informed decision.
[00:40:20] Ryan: Now in capitalism, I'm, I'm not, again, I did study Russian, so this is gonna get communist. Um, in capitalism, people benefit from you not knowing, right. We wanna strip that away and just have the pure enjoyment of collecting there, which is why that indicator is so important for us. And the future evolution of that indicator is going to be much more than just looking at historical data.
[00:40:44] Ryan: It's gonna be projecting future potential in real dollar terms, which is something that's not being done
[00:40:50] Badr: yet. Damn. It's gonna get even more idiot proof, ladies and Jens. All right. And, uh, that makes me pretty damn excited. All right. I was looking for a means to transition to the actual event. I'm like, damn, we've, yeah.
[00:41:00] Badr: This has been an excellent conversation so far, but I, I want to definitely take time right now to talk about the event short boxed live. Uh, cro, what was the inspiration to throw your hat in the ring into the world of convention and live events? What inspired short boxed.
[00:41:15] Ryan: The inspiration is not much different than the inspiration to get into the, um, the game and to begin with.
[00:41:22] Ryan: There's a lot of room for improvement into things that you like. And so when you go to a convention and it is in a dark hall in some, you know, hotel ballroom and you're kind of looking at, you know, rusty racks and stuff, the people deserve a better experience than that. And sometimes people are doing the best that they can and that's what they can do.
[00:41:42] Ryan: And it's better to have nothing. It's better to have something than nothing. And we totally agree with that. But we really wanted to make sure that the event space gets as much. Um, love and attention and respect as we give the app space. So we said, okay, well if we're doing the app this way, what can we give to collectors that is off of the app?
[00:42:02] Ryan: What, what can we do to make this, to give this the dignity that we, that we think it deserves from a collecting hobby? Because there are certain hobbies, right? Like they, they have like, like if you think of tech for example, they're in these giant halls and everything is, is super like, uh, you know, uh, it looks nice all the, like, if you think of like the game developer conference, these, these other industries have these amazing events.
[00:42:25] Ryan: Now, comics specifically, Do not really have a lot of these events. There are a couple of big shows that do well. San Diego ComicCon is not that by the way. It does pop culture super well and comics are part of pop culture, but we don't count, even though it's called ComicCon. Mm-hmm. It has grown beyond. It is, I don't know if it transcended is the word, but it has, it has expanded beyond.
[00:42:48] Ryan: Yeah, it's evolved. Yeah. So it's a pop culture event and it's wonderful. By the way, I love going to ComicCon, San Diego ComicCon, but like New York ComicCon can, can probably lay claim to, to this, Baltimore can do this, maybe C two, E two, but true comic events where people are focused on, um, having the best, the best sellers there, the best books possible, having a high end, uh, production value we don't think existed.
[00:43:13] Ryan: And definitely not on our side of the country, which is the West coast. Um, so that was the impetus and. We, we know this space so well that we can provide a can't miss experience. And it's a small, it's a small con. We're not gonna have, it's not gonna be MegaCon. Right. Which is gigantic. It's gonna be better, it's gonna be better.
[00:43:31] Badr: Smaller though, more intimate. Intimates a word
[00:43:33] Ryan: I like. I liked MegaCon. I That's where I meant you, Zach, uh, for in person for the first time. Okay. Last year. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That was fun, man. Um, so, but yeah, so that, that was the inspiration. We're like, can we, can we provide the respect and dignity, dignity for these people in an event that we hold?
[00:43:50] Ryan: Um, and we were like, let's give it a shot. So we, we went out and we were like, here's what, what does dignity and respect look like? What makes an event? Why would people wanna come all from all over the country for this one day thing? Right? And we're like, okay, we gotta have the best stuff there. We gotta have the most trustworthy people and we gotta have every aspect of.
[00:44:09] Ryan: Collecting available for people to have. And if it's there, it's gotta be the highest quality. So we have like cgc, you know, we have CGC graders there, or not graders. We have a where you can submit red desert wind. We have, we have amazing collectors, uh, uh, uh, uh, dealers there. The best in the country. We think, um, with the, with the best stock from, from books in the bin, you know, best dollar bins to, um, you know, the, the most rare books you can find, right?
[00:44:35] Ryan: So like, that's covered. We have an incredible speakers lineup, which is, which is like Reggie collects, it's gonna bewa, uh, swaggle halls, how you say it like that. Eric Voss from New Rock Stars is gonna talk about how, um, new rock stars, if you don't know if you're listening, um, I assume if you're listening to a podcast, you're probably, um, at least open to, uh,
[00:44:55] Badr: digital media.
[00:44:56] Badr: One of the premier YouTube channels that covers nerd and comic book topics. Yeah. New rock stars. It's new rock stars. Legit. And yeah.
[00:45:04] Ryan: And Eric, Eric Foss is one of the producers and he's gonna come and talk about how. Um, the hobby again that I, that we talk about as if, you know, it's like a horse and wagon era, uh, technology.
[00:45:15] Ryan: How, how our hobby is actually affected by, um, the way that the world views mainstream comics now. Cause Right. We all are aware that comics are no longer, uh, couple of kids under the bleachers in high school. Geeking out over doc a right. It's, it's, it's the real, it's the real thing now. So real in fact that it's already being talked.
[00:45:33] Ryan: There's already talked about fatigue. So he's gonna talk about how, um, the way that the books move, the way that the market is shaped is through popular culture and the lens of popular culture and how channels like his, um, and podcasts like this one, affect market forces, um, for our hobby. So that's super interesting.
[00:45:50] Ryan: Reggie Collects is gonna be there, you know, that's, that's super boy. He's gonna do his thing. Um, and then Gene's gonna give a keynote where he talks about the state of the comic, uh, the comic, uh, hobby right now. Uh, the comic collecting hobby, uh, a as well. Geez, there's more. There's
[00:46:03] Zack: more. But yeah, there's so much more.
[00:46:04] Zack: There's so much more, there's so much to be
[00:46:05] Badr: excited about. This sounds like. The perfect event for me, and I'm, because that same week I'll actually be, um, I'll be taking a trip to, uh, Vancouver. It'll be my first time in Canada. I was really hyped and then I, and then I was looking through the event page for Short Box Live, and I'm like, how can I make this happen?
[00:46:22] Zack: I'll FaceTime you butter, I'll, I'll FaceTime you, man. You'll be right next to me the whole
[00:46:25] Badr: time. Then what are the chances crow of this becoming an annual thing? Have you guys already talked about that or are you waiting for it to see how this goes? Yeah,
[00:46:32] Ryan: I mean, we, uh, we, we have to, we are at the size where we need this to be good before we can plan another one.
[00:46:38] Ryan: Okay. But, you know, we, we got, um, We've got some pretty big sponsors interested. I mean, this year we had I d W, which is cool. Hell yeah. Um, we've got a lot of their creators coming in to do that. We actually, we haven't even announced that I'm announcing it on this show. I d w is is partnering with us to sponsor.
[00:46:54] Ryan: And then, um, uh, uh, little insider tip we were talking with, um, this happened earlier today, so this is brand new. Oh, come on. Um, DC was interested and, and partnering with us next year for this. Damn, damn, that's crazy. They haven't done anything yet, but the, the head of sales at DC is, I work with him, um, on occasion on some projects that we're doing and, um, he was like, you know, why aren't we there?
[00:47:16] Zack: And I'm like, dang. So you guys haven't, James Gun, James gun's gonna be out Short podcast James
[00:47:20] Ryan: come in. Well, we, we lost Kevin, we lost Kevin Eastman this year, so, um, to a, to a different business, uh, deal that he had going on. So, uh, we, we. We're gonna, we're, we tried to make up for that by getting a lot
[00:47:33] Badr: more people.
[00:47:34] Badr: Now, this is where I want our two brands to be, uh, uh, confused now. Now the fact that you guys are socio DC I'm like, no, no. We associate with dc DC Want is interested in short box? No,
[00:47:43] Ryan: the next episode, short boxed. Oh gosh,
[00:47:46] Badr: Crow. Tell us about some of the, uh, actually, you know what? Let's play this game. Let's play this game.
[00:47:50] Badr: You can fill in, uh, you can fill in the cracks. Uh, where, where I, where I miss here. But, but I'm gonna say the names of some of the creators that'll be in attendance at the event. And I wanna hear just a couple of words that come to mind. How about we kick it off with, uh, this creator here? That, I'll be honest, is just kind of new on my radar, and I'm, I definitely wanna pay attention to this person a lot more.
[00:48:10] Badr: Maria, the Wolff Pro, what comes to mind? You just, you had an audible gasp for the, for our video watchers. You saw crow's face when I said that for our audio listeners. He gasped, right? He almost fainted when I said Maria the Wolf. What words come to mind when I say Maria the
[00:48:23] Ryan: wolf? Maria is the fucking best.
[00:48:28] Ryan: She's sick. Used to call me an art hound. Um, it's true. I love getting, um, custom commissioned art from people. Cause I think it's like a one, one a kind thing. So anyways, I I, I ran across Maria the Wolf Wolf's art and her art is just like this super visceral, grimy kind of, uh, throwback to horror, but it's a little more poppy than that.
[00:48:48] Ryan: And I was like, I sh I've gotta get this, I've gotta get something by her at San Diego ComicCon. So I reached out to her, didn't think I'd get in touch with her, but she, she got in touch with me. So I met her at SD c c a couple years ago and we, we, she, I, she was like, I'm not doing anything tonight. Can I come hang out with the short box crew?
[00:49:03] Ryan: And I was like, absolutely. So we went out, drank, had dinner. She's, she is awesome. Okay. So, so she's as a person is awesome. Her art. Is unstoppable. It's like hot lava is poured all over your favorite character and the attention to detail and the page just looks like it's, it's fucking gushing and bloody and, and, and messy.
[00:49:25] Ryan: It's, she's amazing. Uh, she's again, a friend of the company. We have her, we had her do the shirt. She's got a variant done. Every single person at short box, every single one of us has original art by Maria Wolf. Damn. In the office. She's incredible. Maria, what's up girl? I hear you. We're gonna have some Malo soon.
[00:49:44] Ryan: Malo is alcohol.
[00:49:45] Badr: I What did you say, Craig? You say to her art is like hot lava.
[00:49:49] Ryan: If you, if you see her art,
[00:49:51] Badr: you'll know. That is one of the best fucking descriptors I've ever heard. I think the first time I ever seen her artwork was a Danny Moon Star cover that she did. Oh, that was going around so good. Yes, it is.
[00:50:02] Badr: And, and I mean, I, that was my first conscious exposure, but it wasn't until I was scrolling through the, the guest lineup for Short Box Live, and you guys had a few of her, um, uh, other pieces and I'm, I'm, I'm blown away. You're right. It is like a high fucking lava. It's a very kinetic, very detailed and genetics.
[00:50:19] Badr: It punches you in the face. She's
[00:50:20] Ryan: also indigenous. She's an indigenous creator. So like the Danny Moon star thing also takes on a different sort of, um, meaning for her. Okay. Different meaning for her and, but everything she produces, She does, like, if you've heard of the game, Marvel Snap. She's doing art for that now.
[00:50:34] Ryan: I know. Wow. She is on the verge. She's on the verge of being
[00:50:38] Badr: huge. Deserve. I see it. This name right here definitely grabbed my attention. I know some of our, uh, uh, some of our listeners will get excited when I say this. Kelly Jones is gonna be at Short Box Live. Zach, this one's, this one's for you. What words coming to mind when I say Kelly Jones Batman.
[00:50:53] Zack: Nightfall, like the most gothic looking Batman, arts and vibe. Like, come on man. I'm so excited.
[00:51:02] Badr: I would've also accepted the word veiny. Batman, too. Exactly. Veiny. A lot of
[00:51:06] Ryan: veins. Definitely a lot of veins. However, there's also Sam Keith Batman, which is super veiny. True, true, true. So they have the Battle of the veins.
[00:51:15] Badr: Yeah. I, I got one more name. I'm gonna give this one Back to Crow, uh, Tom Waltz, since you just shared the news of I d W and, and obviously they've got the team n t, uh, property. What words come to mind when I say Tom Waltz, who will also be at your box live?
[00:51:28] Ryan: Tom Waltz's Turtles for me is, is last Ronan. So, like I told you, turtles is, is the longest lasting comic book and maybe even big property in my life.
[00:51:39] Ryan: And so when, when he, when last Ronan was released, I had never, I had not paid attention turtles for a long time. I, I missed a lot. Um, but um, that's what I think, I think. Dark turtle stuff. The thing that got me back into reading turtles, um, turned me ba I had to go back and read like, you know, when Jenica came in, who's the, who's one of the new turtles.
[00:51:57] Ryan: Um, he's also going to be like releasing new stuff while he is there. So he is still working. I think that's gonna be great. And we get, we have him, um, doing an interview with um, uh, Michael Rothman, who actually runs the short box TikTok. Oh no, Rothi. Yeah, Notre issue. My, yeah, yeah. Roth is a, is a, as a, is a, an actual journal, like a real, a real honest to God journalist.
[00:52:18] Ryan: He interviewed Kobe Bryant, for example, pun tons of famous people. Um, so having him do a Tom Walt's interview, but that, that's who Tom Wal is for me. He's Turtles. That's the only thing that matters to me. Um, he got me, I would say last Ronan is probably one of the, the stories that really brought me back into comics after I stopped reading for a little bit.
[00:52:37] Badr: So, This should come as no surprise. I'm a panel nerd. When I go to a comic convention, I'm usually looking at the, the list of panels, you know, who's speaking the snow. Um, you know, just stuff like that. And it sounds like you guys got a solid line, which I'm still, you know, now I'm really beating myself up over this trip, uh, cuz that, that would be awesome to sit in on.
[00:52:57] Badr: Uh, Crow. What, what other names, uh, did I miss? All right, we, we, I mentioned Maria the Wolf. Mitch Ard will be there. Kelly Jones, Tom Waltz. Who else is gonna be at Short Box Live? John
[00:53:07] Ryan: jg, sir Johnne. Um, those are the, the big ones. Um, that, no, they're all big, but John jg, Sierra Neely, Tom Waltz, Mitch Jars, um, Maria.
[00:53:19] Ryan: Those are, those are the ones that personally I'm excited about. However, of course, I'm excited for every.
[00:53:26] Zack: If, uh, Maria the Wolf is your favorite character getting lava dumped all over him. John Chang is like, if she's fire, he's water. Like, I feel like those two, if you put their artwork next to each other, there's not a lot of, I guess, parallels, but you can kind of see, like you, you're looking at two totally different styles that just make so much sense.
[00:53:47] Zack: It's, it's so
[00:53:48] Ryan: cool. Oh, hold on. Doc Shaer. I was like, I was like, I'm missing somebody. Doc Shaer is gonna be there. I mean, if you've read I love, I love Bubble Helmet, sci-fi and he worked on Stranger Ventures. Yep. With Mitch Jarreds. And so, uh, anyways, that's, that's still haven't read that book. Oh, uh, it's fantastic.
[00:54:07] Badr: Yeah. And depressing as hell. So be ready for that. Make sure, make sure you've got something, uh, happy and feel good. Uh, All right, but folks, uh, once again, just a recap. Short boxed Live is going to be, it's gonna be epic. I can feel good if you know, if, if some listeners, if some friends of the show will also attend that event and keep my man Zack Company.
[00:54:27] Badr: All right. And give Crow a high five, go buy one of these Maria Hill exclusive short box live shirts. The event, once again, is Sunday, May 7th, Santa Clara, California. All right, check that out. If you're in the area and it looks like, you know, even if you're not in the area, it sounds like it is absolutely worth seeing if you can cop some cheap plane tickets.
[00:54:45] Badr: All right. I have one more segment for us to do. All right. I, I got one. It's a fun game. All right, Zach, you, I mean, you listened to this show. You know where I'm taking us, you know where I'm taking us next? Oh, yeah. I'm excited. Before we wrap up, let's end on and even higher. It's been a high note this whole time, right?
[00:54:59] Badr: We've been recording for the last hour, hour and a half. It's been fantastic, but let's take it. You know what? Let's take it to the limit. All right, let's take it to the limit. Let's celebrate the future of comics. Like the very near future, like next month's new comic title, right? The future, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:55:13] Badr: Like the very near future. Right. It's time for our next segment. Fist full of comics.
[00:55:21] Ryan: You can either have a mouth full of tea or a fist full of comics.
[00:55:28] Badr: Fist Full of comics is a segment dedicated to helping all you comic curious newbies and loyal Wednesday warriors. Find the best new comics, the best starting points, and the best creative teams worthy of your time and attention. To help us with that goal, we've called on our good friend Ben Kingsbury, the owner of Jacksonville's premier comic shop, Gotham City Limit.
[00:55:50] Badr: He's done all the hard work for us, right? He's, he's went ahead and flipped through all the previews he owns. He runs a comic shop, right? What better person to ask about what future comics are going to be great and worthy of your time and investment than a guy who runs a fantastic comic shop. So he compiled a top three list of best new comic books that should be hitting a shop.
[00:56:09] Badr: Let's go ahead and get some music going and see what he's got for us today. Okay. I'm really glad, Crow, that you brought up TM and T because spoiler alert, this is a very TM and T heavy list today. Oh yeah, I saw, I saw, and our listeners should know, Ben by now, it it means that he also came prepared with plenty of turtle puns.
[00:56:29] Badr: So if you enjoy vitamin C and turtle puns, you're in for a treat. You understand what I mean with this first one? Here's Ben. Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, short box listener. I'm Ben K representing Gotham City Limit in Jacksonville, Florida, and these are my three F O C picks of the week.
[00:56:46] Badr: You should add to your short box immediately. First up, i d w publishing presents, T M N T, the 2023 annual T M N T out of time. Sometimes the annual issue of any comic can feel a bit like a money grab. However, this issue has a first appearance of a new villain from the future. What these teenage ninjas run into on a simple patrol will leave them
[00:57:12] Ryan: shellshocked realities
[00:57:14] Badr: collide for the brothers as they face a mysterious foe from the future.
[00:57:18] Badr: On a side note, it's interesting the artist drawing this book is named Vlad because this character from the future has some serious Vlad the Impala vibes going on. All right, that was TM and T Turtles, annual number one. All right, turtles annual 2023. Number one, that hit shops at the end of May on May 31st.
[00:57:37] Badr: All right, next up. Be prepared to take a trip down memory lane for this next one. Ben's tapping into your childhood of this next pick. Listen up. Next up, and this might sound familiar, i d w publishing presents T M N T. Saturday Morning Adventures continued. Number one, was there anything better than waking up at the crack of dawn to start watching Saturday morning cartoons?
[00:58:03] Badr: Well, not for us eighties kids, their shirt wasn't. Join your favorite teenagers in their first multi-part adventure. Remember the rat king? Well, what happens when his control over rodents begins to wane and in its place he finds the ability to control reptile life? Well, nothing good for our heroes In the half, shell grab a bowl of your favorite sugar pack cereal and be there for part one of the Turtle King.
[00:58:30] Badr: I dunno about you guys, but I really want a bowl of honey. Smacks so bad right now. Like just you're in
[00:58:36] Ryan: about cereal. Sounds. Sounds so good. Captain Crunch for me, baby. That's Captain Crunch. Zack,
[00:58:40] Badr: what's your cereal choice, man? Man, I didn't do a lot
[00:58:43] Zack: of cereal as a kid, but I think my go-to was like Cookie crisp.
[00:58:46] Zack: Ooh, okay. That's okay. Yeah, that's like an easy one
[00:58:48] Ryan: for me. Crisp any day of the week, girl. That was great, Dan. I look. Cookie Christmas Dope.
[00:58:53] Badr: All right, folks. That was T M N T. Uh, Saturday Morning Adventures continued. Number one. Sounds like a new uh, series. A new issue, one started and that also will be dropping on May 31st, so you could pick that up and the annual on the same day.
[00:59:07] Badr: And last but not least, all right on this list and certainly switching it up is one that I'm very interested in because it's combining two of my favorite passions and two of my favorite hobbies, comics and video games into one thing. Here we go. And last but not least, image Comics presents Arcade King's number one of a five-part series fans of Invincible and Murder Falcon.
[00:59:30] Badr: Do I have a comic for you? The hottest new player at the Roundhouse Arcade absolutely named Joe is being constantly challenged, except no one can seem to beat him. However, Joe's past is about to catch up to him. Can Joe combo his powers on a Joeys stick with his fists and his fighting family legacy?
[00:59:51] Badr: Grab a copy of Arcade Kings to find out how deep this rabbit hole goes. Well, another week is come and gone and I'm still Ben Kay representing Gotham City Limit in Jacksonville, Florida. If you're around Jacksonville, Florida for Saturday May 6th, make sure you stop by the limit for free comic book day.
[01:00:11] Badr: Remember, with great power comes great responsibility and always take it to the limit. There we go. Look, do you know what would be my. Ideal comic book. Oh, I already know what you're about to say. A comic book weekend. I already know what you about to say. I, I, Zach, Zach, check this out. This is, this is a, a three piece.
[01:00:26] Badr: A three piece, right? Ideal comic book, nerd Weekend Friday. I have the day off so I can go watch Gardens and Galaxy three in like the ultimate, like, like 4d, uh, so Adobe Cinema, 4g, and then, and then I fly from Jacksonville to fucking Santa Clara, California. No, no, no. I'm sorry. Not yet. Not that's on Sunday.
[01:00:46] Badr: Not yet. Not yet. You wanna do free comic day first? Yeah. Yeah, you're right, you're right. Free comic book day at Gotham City Limit on Saturday. And then I catch me a little red eye to Santa Clara, California on Sunday. Right. Phew. Short box live on Sunday. Perfect. Come on, man. Perfect. That's a great weekend.
[01:01:01] Badr: That's a three. That's a ultimate comic book. Three day weekend. I just,
[01:01:05] Zack: I just remember his free comic book day, uh, last night. I was like, oops. Usually I usually take my daughter. I was like, all right,
[01:01:11] Ryan: well,
[01:01:12] Badr: You're gonna be here, you're, yeah, that means you get to celebrate it in like, in new shop. I guess you have
[01:01:17] Zack: a point.
[01:01:17] Zack: I guess
[01:01:18] Badr: you have a point. All right, folks. Uh, that was Arcade King's number one that comes out May 17th. Uh, fun fact, me and Drew actually, uh, spotlighted and, and got really hype about this when we were flipping through. I think it was last month's preview or the one before that, but it was, uh, featured in one of the previous catalogs a few months ago.
[01:01:37] Badr: Full warning. All right, because, you know, I'm, I'm always trying to look out for your wallets and, you know, I, I understand the struggle is real and you know, I'm also cheap. This is a 7 99 book, uh, image number one, that's 7 99 and I don't know if it's oversized or whatnot. All right, so just full transparency, I will probably still buy it cuz the premise sounds fucking rad.
[01:01:57] Badr: All right, jenz, of the three options presented today, team and t Niit Turtles, annual number one, team and t Saturday Morning Adventures continued. Number one, arcade Kings number one. Which one are you most interested in? Which one peaked your interest the most? Crow, take it away.
[01:02:11] Ryan: Whew. This is hard cuz all of those things are right up my alley.
[01:02:15] Ryan: Um, arcade Kings, uh, in case you haven't seen me in person yet, I look like somebody who would call himself an arcade king. You know, like, uh, it's kinda the, the vibe I give off it's serving Arcade King. Um, however, we, I, as I said earlier in the show, um, I'm gonna be getting Kings anyway cuz at Short Box we get all of, um, we get all image comics in the office for free.
[01:02:35] Ryan: So no need to add that to my polo. That's slight flex.
[01:02:38] Zack: Yeah, yeah. No big, no freeze over
[01:02:40] Badr: that. Not even a Superflex,
[01:02:43] Ryan: but I wouldn't add that anyway. So the hard thing is like, which, what kind of, what kind of mood do I want be in when I read a turtle story? Do I wanna be reminded of my childhood or do I wanna be like watching them have, you know, sort of manic depressive episodes in the stewardship of New York City?
[01:02:58] Ryan: Like, I, like I'm having those right now, so that would actually hit more, right? Like, that's different. Like I can, like, yeah, I, I understand what they're going through. Um, and so I think I would go for. Cartoon Turtles because I am inundated with dark reads. I'm inundated with adult takes, um, on, on, on heroes that I've, you know, that I've loved my entire life.
[01:03:18] Ryan: And sometimes I just wanna see, um, you know, be Bob and Rock Steady fall in their butt and, and Michelangelo throw a slice of pizza at 'em. A and so I'm going with Saturday morning cartoons just for a little escapism.
[01:03:31] Badr: There we go. I don't blame you at all. That's a very good reason. All right. Zach, what about you?
[01:03:36] Zack: I was hoping we'd have three d. Choices. But, um, I'm gonna get a little sentimental here. Uh, T M N T was my first very first fandom even before comics. And, um, aside from Spider-Man, they're my second, you know, favorite. Um, they're really close to my heart, the turtles. And, uh, my daughter now, uh, I've passed down that, uh, passion for turtles and one of our regular pickups at the comic shop is already T M N T, Saturday Morning Adventures.
[01:04:04] Zack: So I am very excited to continue that with her cuz we bond over those, uh, those books. And, uh, yeah, I'm just really excited to, to keep her going with that.
[01:04:14] Badr: That's awesome. Who's her favorite turtle
[01:04:16] Zack: Man? So she kind of changes it up every time and she's always asking me what's yours? And then she'll like, she'll like you.
[01:04:23] Zack: Tailor her answer to which one I like. She'll pick a different
[01:04:26] Ryan: one
[01:04:26] Zack: than I said. Oh, that's so cute, dude. She likes Mikey. And my favorite, my favorite is Michelangelo too, but I think as she gets older, she, she's more of a Donatello, maybe a Leo, but I don't know. She's, she's got that leadership like spirit, so I don't know.
[01:04:43] Zack: But yeah, she, I'll say Mikey, cuz you know, she's just trying to be, she's just trying to copy me right now.
[01:04:49] Ryan: I'm, I'm a Donny guy. Donna Tello.
[01:04:51] Badr: Leo, man. It's like he's got double
[01:04:54] Zack: katanas, man. Listen, at least we all have three different turtles so we can, we can all play that, uh, that shredders revenge game. And we don't, we don't have to fight over.
[01:05:02] Zack: That's a good point. You
[01:05:03] Badr: know how that game is so fun. So
[01:05:05] Zack: fun. It's
[01:05:05] Badr: so good. So good. Obviously I'm gonna, I'm gonna double down on, on Arcade Kings. The premise sounds awesome. The colors are of that book. Look, I, I wish I had the, um, the creative team in front of me, but the colors look great, premise sounds good, and it's a new image.
[01:05:18] Badr: Number one. I mean, you know, I've, I've said this, uh, so many times. You can't go wrong with a new image, number one to at least get like a taste test. But yeah, overall solid list, big shout outs to Ben. If any of those pique your interest listeners, hit up your local comic shops. Like I said, all of those books will be hitting your shop sometime, uh, starting mid-May to the end of May.
[01:05:37] Badr: Go to your local comic shops. Get your pre-orders in now so you don't miss out. And remember, even if you don't live in Jack's, you can still take it to the limit. You could shop for comics, collectibles, and exclusive variant covers by going to gotham city limit.com. They've got a a, a new X 23 exclusive variant.
[01:05:55] Badr: Done my time, Kirkham. Oh yeah, yeah. I need to go buy, yeah, I need to buy. And he's actually got a set, he's got a trade dress and a regular cover. I think I'm gonna buy another set. I bought one for myself. I'll buy another one to give away on the show, uh, later on. So stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, hit up your local comic shops.
[01:06:11] Badr: Get these, uh, orders in. Go to gotham city limit.com if you want to take your shopping experience at the. I got a
[01:06:17] Ryan: question before we end this. You asked when in, in the preparation you were like, what is your grail? And I was so excited to hear what your grails are because I love talking about Grails. Um, what are you looking forward to right now?
[01:06:29] Ryan: I getting the collecting world.
[01:06:31] Badr: Yeah. Wow. The, the tables have turned. I am, I am now the interviewee. No, that's a good way to wrap it up. Uh, I'm gonna be honest Crow, I I hearing you and, and Zach, uh, uh, talk about like the books that you guys have have purchased from, um, uh, short boxed, uh, has it got me, I was like, I could not think of like one singular comic that I was really like in hunting album.
[01:06:53] Badr: I'm in like this weird manga, uh, phase right now, but on the comic side of the house. Um, last episode, uh, what was the last episode? It was when I had, uh, uh, Eli, well, one, an episode or two ago, Eli Schwab from, uh, cosmic Lion. We were talking about like the heritage auctions, um, the last big like auctions news and, and things like that.
[01:07:14] Badr: And right now on my radar is buying, Original comic art. I have one or two pieces that were gifted to me. I've never bought my own, like, original piece of like, like a panel or a cover. I have like commissions and, uh, sketches, but I wanna start getting into that world and for a lot of the reasons that we kind of talked about, um, you know, just being like an art hound and, and appreciating comic art as like this, you know, on the same level as fine art.
[01:07:39] Badr: So that's where I'm at right now. And if I could find anything by like, my favorite, like if I can get a, a panel or a, a, a page from like Spider-Man Blue or Daredevil Reborn. Wow. You know, like my favorite books. Nice. I think I, I would, you know, I'd be in heaven or something about like John Bassima or something like that.
[01:07:55] Ryan: My good. Get ready to spin some, some grilled vanilla. Yeah, that's gonna be crazy. Oh, I,
[01:08:01] Badr: I, I, I know Zach tell me, and I wanna hear from Crow too. What is, what is a grail that is currently on short box right now that you've got saved, that you're ready to pull the sugar on at, at, you know, as soon as a nice tax refund
[01:08:14] Zack: hits?
[01:08:14] Zack: Oh my gosh, man, if I, if I pull up my favorites right now on this, um, hold it up. Hold it up. Z uh, listen, uh, I, I'm recording so I can't, but listen, it's crazy. So, uh, I actually this year, uh, I wanted, I was hoping to get a giant size explanation, number one. Um, so that's gonna be my next grill. That's if you don't know, uh, listeners, if you don't know, that's the first appearance of a lot of our favorite X-Men in comic continuity.
[01:08:38] Zack: So first appearance of Storm Night Crawler Colossus, and, uh, night Crawler is my favorite X-Men. It's actually the second appearance. Uh, Well, depending on if you count Hulk 180 1 or Hulk 180 as his first appearance, we won't have that debate. It is the second or third appearance of, uh, Wolverine as well.
[01:08:54] Zack: So great cover, iconic, uh, book. And, um, yeah, definitely has been on my list for a while. I opted to get a, uh, tattoo, really expensive tattoo in this Marvel Spotlight five and uh, kind of pushed out the 24 24 plans. But listen, it's still one my favorites and if, uh, some money comes my way miraculously and uh, I take care of, uh, priorities first.
[01:09:14] Zack: Yeah. That, that's gonna be next. But, um, if you're asking me what my grill grill is, like if I hit the lotto and I I ended up on the app, um, it's the very obvious, uh, amazing fantasy 15. Oh yeah. Right. That's, uh, very obvious. Gotta have it. Gotta have it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna be, you know, I'm gonna be a little cliche with no shame cuz listen, you're lying.
[01:09:35] Zack: If you don't say that's your grill, you're
[01:09:38] Ryan: lying. I got a weird thing. I got a weird thing for you here. I. Do not care that much about Spider-Man. I I know, dude. I'll see you guys. I know. I'll see you later here. Here's the thing. So I like Spider-Man now, but when I was growing up, spider-Man was not part of, of my life.
[01:09:54] Ryan: I don't know what happened, by the way, this, I know I'm weird, right? Like I know. This is, I know this is strange. I did not watch Spider-Man. I didn't care about, I didn't run across comic books. I read Image and DC books. I read X-Men, but like, I didn't watch the TV shows. The first time that I even was like the Spider-Man even came around for me, was like the Toby McGuire movie, and I was, I was well into my, I was like in my teens by that point, right?
[01:10:17] Ryan: I, I just did, had no. I don't know what happened because for somebody who reads comics, right, you're gonna run into Spider-Man, I just never hurt you. Got it. I know. I don't know what happened. I mean, I, I mean, I have some big Spider, I'm, I'm collecting spider books because the art is so, because when you become a collector and you see it so often you're, it grows on you.
[01:10:35] Ryan: So like I have a 0.5 collection, and so I'm trying to get the first 50, um, of ASMs in point fives, which is hard to do. Uh, so I've got a, I've got an A SM in 1.5 that's on the app right now that I'm thinking about buying, but it's 4k and part of me wants to use that for Adventure Comics two 10, which is the first appearance of crypto, the super dog.
[01:10:53] Ryan: Good choice. And it's super, it's hard to find.
[01:10:55] Badr: Wow. I had one just come to mind cuz uh, um, I, I seen it at, uh, collective Con and I, I cannot afford what they were asking for, but it was, um, I wanna say it was an, an a, oh man, it was a San Diego Comic Con, uh, brochure or, or, uh, what does they call it? Uh, program.
[01:11:16] Badr: Program. Oh, wow. I
[01:11:18] Ryan: know what you're, I already know what you're talking about.
[01:11:19] Badr: Well, Crow, help me out here. San Diego ComicCon program guide number two, I think has like the first image of like spawn or something in
[01:11:26] Ryan: it. You think about Malibu's. Because the, the first San Diego, the San Diego Comic Con two is big for being first, uh, Hellboy.
[01:11:34] Ryan: Um Oh, okay. Which, which is what people think about. Yeah.
[01:11:37] Badr: Yes. All right. So, San Diego Comic Con, uh, uh, pamphlet or program guide, book two has this really silly cover, and I, I can't recall the name of the artist off the top of my head right now. Um, I wanna say it's like a, a, a classic like cartoonist. Um, it's, it's Don Martin Art Hound for real.
[01:11:54] Badr: Uh, but it is the first. Official appearance of Hellboy, and you would look at this cover and you're like, wait, Hellboy, isn't that, but it is like this beautiful, like shade of blue and like the, the, the big old like parrot looking bird on it. And you know, this plumber on it. And it is so like, you know, it is so deceiving, but uh, it goes for a pretty penny.
[01:12:14] Badr: And I think something Hellboy or early spawn, I love like how, how early Spawn was showing up, you know, and, and like Malibu's Sun. And then I think, um, lately, like just recently, cartoonist K Fbe, uh, uh, found that he was in a very early is like wizard issue number two or something. Hmm. So like, books like that, like really intrigue me, like, not, not the official comic books, but things like, like, you know, video.
[01:12:38] Badr: Yeah. Like the, the program guys, the, you know, this magazine has it, that's what like really intrigues me.
[01:12:44] Ryan: Bon I'm gonna, I'm gonna blow your mind real quick because I'm gonna give you a better. And it's got Hellboy on the cover and it's his actual first appearance. Come on, it's dime Press number four. It's an Italian comics magazine and it is the actual first appearance of Hellboy.
[01:13:00] Ryan: I'm, that's right. Unless you count, which I don't, but some people do. Salt Lake City, comic ComicCon pamphlet 19, 19 88 or something like that. But it, it was like, it has a demonn, it has, that has Hellboy. The Hellboy like buckle, but it doesn't look like Hellboy yet. But I think what counts as the first appearance of Hellboy dying press for Italian magazine, they only made 2,500 of them and a lot of them got damaged because of shipping.
[01:13:28] Ryan: So there's only a few of them out there, buddy. You're
[01:13:30] Zack: selling your house,
[01:13:34] Ryan: you can get a low grade for 1500. It's, it's afford. You know
[01:13:38] Badr: what you might have managed to make this my, I think this is official. My new official grail is nine Press four, because to your point, Hellboy is on that cover and it's not like an early prototype. It's the white and black version of himself.
[01:13:51] Badr: And it's a Minola cover too. So you know, it's a cover, it's a real win's. Sick.
[01:13:55] Ryan: It's, it's better than, I mean, comic two is, is like classic and you see it all over the place. And so you kind of just like, it sits in your head and you're like, oh, that's cool, that's fine. But that, that dime press four covers Is baller agree?
[01:14:07] Ryan: Oh, it's actually not bad. So that's a good one. My, my Grail right now, I Adventure Comics two 10 is my next affordable grill, if I can find, it's just so hard to find. But my real grail is, um, I'm a, my favorite artist is Mobius. Um, but like I've got, uh, a piece of original art by Mobius. It's a, it's a, it's a sketch, so it's like inside of a book.
[01:14:25] Ryan: Um, so, so that's great. It's, it's my most prized possession. It wasn't even my most expensive one. I got lucky cuz they're so hard to find, but I, I want, and they're so expensive. Art, I want something from the ankle, but a page from the ankle cost 20, 30, 40, 50 K
[01:14:42] Badr: for good reason. That is a classic.
[01:14:44] Zack: If listeners don't know who Mobius is, um, listen to episode.
[01:14:47] Zack: I think it's 3 34. I think you guys did that. Yeah.
[01:14:51] Badr: Is Zach become the official, uh, artificial story? Listen,
[01:14:54] Zack: I am your, I'm both at listen, the short box and short box. I am like y'all's like walking, uh, ambassador. I
[01:15:01] Ryan: appreciate that. I stay on top of it. Well, I appreciate that too. You're.
[01:15:04] Badr: Both of you. This has been a, a fantastic conversation.
[01:15:07] Badr: This has been a great way to, uh, wrap up, uh, a very hectic and busy week. Uh, great way to, uh, you know, great way to spend a Friday night. Ryan. I'm gonna have links for folks to download the short boxed app. I'm gonna have, um, um, the, uh, uh, ticket page for the event, um, in the show notes as well. And I, like I said, I'm gonna have your, um, uh, a link to your personal social as well, so people can give you a follow, can check out short box themselves, maybe even buy tickets and attend the event themselves if anyone does attend the event.
[01:15:33] Badr: Absolutely. I'm begging for you to send us an email. Tell us about your experience. Zach, I want to definitely get a recap, uh, from you. Oh, yeah. As well. All right.
[01:15:41] Zack: So yeah, I'll be, I'll be, uh, doing a lot of coverage. Um, not officially through short blocks unless they asked me to, but I got my, I'll be having my, um, Stabilizer there.
[01:15:51] Zack: And, uh, whenever I'm not working there, I'm gonna be going crazy, getting content and sharing and, um, telling people what I'm up to and coming back with, uh, a recap. So I'm excited to do that too. Yeah,
[01:16:01] Badr: done deal. Ryan, do you have any, uh, do you have any plugs that you want to, uh, that you wanna mention right now?
[01:16:08] Badr: Anything to share with the listeners, upcoming projects, app features, et cetera, et cetera?
[01:16:12] Ryan: We are about to launch the, uh, a game-changing set of features, uh, that will change how any collector collects. Um, and it's gonna happen and we're gonna announce it's gonna happen a week before live short box live.
[01:16:27] Ryan: So in, in about a week and a half, two weeks from now, which is April 14th. Um, we will break your life and put it back together in the best way if you're a comic book collector. Um, oh man, I'm excited now. And we have some huge announcements about our next set of features. The ones after the, the ones coming up, which will also just, I, I we're super excited working on it for a year and a half.
[01:16:49] Ryan: The new, the new version of the app. It's got everything you could possibly want. Uh, in terms of tools for comic collecting all in one spot. No more going to seven different websites. No more going to, uh, uh, keeping track of stuff in a notebook, unless that's like your thing. Um, we got it. I can't, I can't go into it anymore than that, but that's, that's happening soon.
[01:17:09] Ryan: Otherwise, just follow short box wherever we are. Hope to see some of you at live. We're at every. Big con. And if you, if we're not there, the street team's at other cons, uh, we'd love to hear from you and, um, I hope, I hope I can, uh, meet you someday. Hell
[01:17:23] Badr: yeah. Well said. Ryan, you've been fantastic. Zach, thank you for co-hosting this episode.
[01:17:28] Badr: Enjoy the rest of your nights. You guys. Be well, take care. And you know, you guys are always welcome back. All right? Hell
[01:17:34] Ryan: yeah. Always.
[01:17:37] Badr: And there you have it. Short Box Nation. That is our show today. All right. Thank you for hanging out. Thank you. And, and a big shout out to Crow. Big shout out to, to Zach, and a big shout out to the entire short boxed team.
[01:17:50] Badr: If you enjoyed this episode, which I think it's safe to say you did, because you're hearing the outro, no one stays until the outro if they didn't have a good time. All right. If you had a good time with this episode, do me a favor, share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do.
[01:18:07] Badr: And if you're feeling extra generous, Us. Feel free to leave us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. It would mean a lot to us. It would help us out big time and it doesn't cost you anything. It might cost you like 10 seconds, but it would be a major help for us in spreading the word. And you want us to grow, right?
[01:18:24] Badr: You want us to get bigger and better? Help us out. Leave a review. Next week, I'll be talking about the best day in comics and arguably one of the greatest holidays behind Christmas. I'm talking about free Comic Book Day. That's right. We're going, not only is the whole episode gonna be dedicated to free comic book day, but I'll be talking about the origin of the event with the man that started it all.
[01:18:46] Badr: He's basically like a patron saint and comic books. All right. The guy that started Free Comic Book Day is gonna be on the show next week, so make sure you come back to the, to this feed, to this podcast app. Whatever you, however you're listening, come back next week for that episode. It is awesome. Now, if you want more content from us, in the meantime, if, if you're impatient like me, if you're like, I, I can't wait a whole week.
[01:19:08] Badr: What? Where's, where's the next episode? I, I need a. I need my short box fix spotter. Head over to our Patreon community. We got bonus episodes, we got video content. You could vote on episodes. You also get first dib so you don't gotta wait a whole week before your next short box fix. Go to patreon.com/the short box and join our Patreon community for even more short box content.
[01:19:31] Badr: In the meantime, take care of yourselves. Go read your comics. All right. I know you got a stack in the corner. I do. And that's what I'm gonna do right now. I'm gonna go read some comic books. You do the same and continue to make mine and your short box. I'll talk to you next week. Peace.
