How to pitch your indie comix: A convo with Eli Schwab about portfolio tips, IC3, and Cosmic Lion Productions

Badr Milligan

Jul 15, 2026

How to pitch your indie comix: A convo with Eli Schwab about portfolio tips, IC3, and Cosmic Lion Productions

Episode Transcript

Recorded at the inaugural First Coast Comic Con and Indie Comic Creator Con (IC3) show in Jacksonville: Cosmic Lion Productions founder and indie-comic-champion Eli Schwab jumps on the mic to talk about what’s new at CLP, attending conventions as an independent publisher, advice for pitching your comic, comic con travel tips, and defines what it means to be “indie”

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SPEAKER_01 0:10

Shortbox Podcast is recorded live from Jacksonville, Florida. Shortbox Nation. Hello again. Welcome back and thanks for pressing play today. If you're brand new, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Bodder Milligan, and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show where we bridge the gap between the panels of your favorite comics with the people who put their blood, sweat, and tears into making them. And in today's case, uh this gentleman right here puts a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into making comics for you. I'm talking about Eli Schwab, the head of Hancho, the EIC, the man that makes all things possible at Cosmic Line Productions. Eli has been on the show so many times, he might as well just be a permanent uh co-host at this point. We chopped it up at IC3 Frisco's Comic Con this past weekend. We talked about what it takes to run your own indie comic publishing company, what he looks for from the lens of uh uh editor in chief when it comes to portfolio reviews, when it comes to hearing pitches from indie comic creators. We also talked about the logistics of attending a comic show as a publisher. You know, uh Cosmic Lion Productions is based out of LA. This show took place in Jacksonville, so we talked about how he gets his books there, uh, the signage, the travel, a lot of inside baseball when it comes to the behind the scenes of being at a comic show. So if you're into that type of stuff, it's a short combo, but it's a really fun conversation. If you know Eli, you know it's you're in for a good time. Uh which brings me back. Uh I want to kind of uh zoom out a little bit and just talk about this show, right? It was the first IC3 show in Jacksonville. It was First Ghost Comic-Con, I believe this was their third year show. So, uh and it went so smooth. It was such a good show. I mean, it had everything I wanted from a comic show. There was plenty of stuff to buy. There was so many short boxes and long boxes and comic book vendors there. There was toy vendors, there was cards, there was a lot of spotlight on just comic books, and which speaks to my soul, right? And then you had a very robust, a very filled artist alley. I mean, I got to meet a lot of fans of the podcast in person for the first time. So big shout-outs to everyone I had a chance to stop and talk about the show and and all of that. That really was a welcome surprise. And then I got to just chop it up with a lot of awesome comic creators, all right? Like Amanda Connor, Jimmy Pamiotti were there, Greg Land was back, uh, Mike Spicer was there, Jamie Jones, Jim Rugg was there, big shout-outs to Modi Kani, Aaron Bartling was at the show, Vanessa Del Rey. I bought a Black Panther print from Keith Browning that I can't wait to frame this. Carlos Soka is an insanely talented sculptor, and I bought this Jack Kirby Captain America statue that he molded and made. I mean, it's like audio does not do it just as how amazing it is. I posted it on the short box IG. James Green and Tony A.L.P. were holding it down for the Duval comic book scene. They were there. Uh Matthew Allison, uh who else, man? I mean, the list really goes on. I do want to give a shout-out to Morgan Heron, who is a creator uh signed to Cosmic Lion Productions. He gave me this amazing swamp thing sketch that I cannot wait to find a place for. Oh, and I cannot forget, uh uh Kayla Valerio was there, and she is an insanely talented like she paints, like it she was painting. She does uh she's done a bunch of painted covers for Power Rangers for Boom Studios. I got her to do a little Kim sketch for me to add to my hip hop comic book sketchbook project that I've been I've been doing. So she drew painted this amazing little Kim uh portrait sketch. I look the list goes on. It was a great day for comic books. Uh I just want to give a shout out to everyone that made that show possible. All right, so Michael Trailer and Denny on the First Coast comic book side of the house, and then Kazra, Mike Sardo, and Bill on the comic art fanslash ic3 side of the house. Um, it went so well. And you know, when a comic show like this comes to your town, all right, it it thrives, it lives and dies on attendance. So if a show like this comes to your town, I can't recommend enough. Go out and support it, man. I it was just a good time to meet old friends. I mean, friends I haven't seen in years were there. It was like the perfect reason for them to come outside. It was great to catch up with a lot of people, and it just to be surrounded by some amazing just arts, man. Once again, just surrounded by art. It does the soul good. And considering that I've been sick for the past week since I got back from vacation, I needed it. All right, I needed to be outside with my people. And uh IC3 and Fresco's Comic-Con. I can't wait for next year. Now, uh, that does bring me uh to uh a little shameless plug. This episode is kind of short, all right? Me and Eli recorded it at the like last hour of the show, right before like the power went out and everyone had to was was wrapping up the show. They had to be out of there like on the dot at six. So we we we got this episode in this short little uh interview recorded. But if it's not enough for you, if you need more short box content, if it doesn't scratch that itch for you, might I recommend going to patreon.com slash shortbox. I recorded an extra episode with Drew where I talked all about my recent vacation. I was in Tokyo and Sri Lanka three weeks ago, and I did a a ton of uh shopping. I bought some dope manga. I ate some great food, I did a lot of exploring. I go into all of it with Drew over on the uh bonus episode on patreon.com slash the short box. Check it out if you want more. If you want more episodes, if you want to hear about that that trip. But I'm back now, I am uh slowly feeling better, and if you didn't know, I will be at San Diego Comic-Con this year. It'll be my first time at San Diego Comic-Con, and my excitement is through the roof. I'm trying to plan some big episodes, trying to get I'm trying to get some good interviews for you guys. But uh yeah, that's what you can expect in the coming weeks. I'm back on my grind. New episodes coming soon. Thanks for supporting your boy. And with that being said, here is uh my episode, my short interview with Eli Schwab. All right, check it out, enjoy it, and I'll catch you next week. All right, peace. Yo, Short Box Nation. Hey, it's your boy Bodder, reporting to you live from iC3 slash First Coast Comic Con. Uh, a celebration of all things comic books, a celebration of all things indie comics, and the the the guest, the man I have right next to me, is is perfectly embodies that, all right? Uh an indie entrepreneur, a comic creator himself. He's been on the show so many times, I don't even feel like giving him the long diatribe intro. Let's just give it up for Eli Schwab. Ah, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

We have an audience of 50,000 in front of us. Wait, we're recording. Come on, guys. Thank you so much. This has been an amazing weekend, man. Yeah. I guess just today, actually. It's like a one-day con. So everyone came out and they're hitting it. Can I say I love a one-day con?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

It's pretty awesome. Knowing that, and I get to go home and show after this.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Well, tonight we got the after party, but um that's gonna be good. Yo, Rick Lopez flew in this morning and is flying out after the show. That's it. Wow, that is one day. That's a brave man. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yeah, I need at least a at least a day recovery, but uh yeah, exactly. We are here at, like I said, First Ghost Comic Con, IC3, a very special show, um, period, but also special for my hometown of Jackson, Florida, man. I haven't seen a show like this ever before. Uh, they've got almost everything covered, right? So they've got a whole section where you could just go back issue diving, you could buy graded copies, slab books, and all of that. And then this half is all of the uh indie creators, uh, artist alley. You're here obviously representing Cosmic Line, which, dude, you uh every time I see you, it feels like you continue to get better and better. You have an editor, for God's sake, we have their own card. Shout out to Deanna, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Um, yeah, that's that's been a huge development. And work with Ro, too, who is now the head of the manga department. And then she's also like you guys have a manga department. That's right, dude. Now we have and we have like five or six books, and it's just growing. And they're helping me on the back end with a lot of stuff too. It's like getting to that point where I'm finally admitting that, like, yeah, I need people, I need help.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

And you're finding like it seems like quality people. I haven't had that chance to like really talk and meet with everyone, but I mean, just hearing like you and Deanna talk, it sounded like schedules and like portfolio reviews. I'm like, yo, my man Eli is doing it, and I'm I'm so proud of you, man.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Thanks, man. Yeah, it's been the portfolio reviews is really something because I never had one when I was like a young artist. I was just like, I'm not good enough. I draw like me, and that's I don't I don't want to hear what anyone else has to say, kind of thing. So I don't feel like I could have ever done it without them. And Deanna like went to school for art and she like knows the technical stuff. And so every now and then now they'll be they'll you know, when it's done, they'll be like, Eli, why don't you come over here and look at it? And it's like this really like cool feeling. And so I come over and I look at the stuff, and I'm just way too nice because they asked me, I'm like, oh, that's sick. You you want a book deal or like you want to be in Lion Cosmic? You know, it's like I mean, and they're like, Eli, okay, calm down, and just like, no. Do you have a pitch?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

She's like, and I'm like, okay, you're right, you're right, you're right. I guess what's what what are y'all cooking up at at Cosmic Line? What's some of the new developments, new projects? Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Well, now that we're back into full distribution, it's changing the way that I do like everything. So I used to just see a book that I liked, and I would and I'd be like, we'll publish it. Let's print 250 up, we'll go to some shows and we'll sell it. But now it's like I'm starting to to like solicit the book, get the sales cut number in, then print. And like with Ponchi Panda, we just sold a thousand units to stores across the US, which for me is the biggest order we ever had. So with that kind of update, we have this new book, Damu, from Ramar Brunson and Mike Wands, son of Damon Wans, uh, an amazing writer who and you've seen a ton of he writes for his brother Damon Wayne Jr. all the time, and they have this amazing book, Damu. And so that's kind of leading us up on this trajectory of new books, new creative team-ups. Um, we we have uh two music-based books that we're working on. We're working with this band Satellite City out of LA, and so we have a music like a 40 or like a um like an EP and comic uh release thing. Um, I don't know, man. There's so many cool things. The manga department is only growing. Uh, and there's gonna be a new manga uh uh um anthology. And you know what I want to do? And I'm getting more excited is like uh a cosmic lion like Crisis on Infinite Lions, where where all the books are gonna come together in like some sort of like massive team up. I really want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

It's gotta be pretty empowering or at least uh a great feeling to know that whatever idea you come up with because you're the EIC can actually happen. I know, dude. I guess Elizabeth does it feel like I guess does the term indie, do you feel like does it still apply to you considering like the growth of Cosmic Lion, you know, these new ventures that you're getting into? Like, do you still feel like the the indie spirit is still applicable to you guys? Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

I think I'm gonna I'm gonna stick to that as long as possible. I I think one thing that takes indie out of it is like, and and man, I'm always talking about how I'm raging against this machine, and it's the house style. Like, I hate that. Like, and that is that will never be like there is a Marvel house style and there is a mark a DC house style. Now, of course, like the absolute books or you know, absolute Martian Manhunter is not DC house style or whatever, you know. But like there's this kind of feel for both of them, and and I never want that with Cosmic Lion. I feel like that's something that binds it together as like a bigger, I don't know. So, like, I I think it's still indie, and I and I want to just stay that way as long as I can. Like, where is this threshold?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Like, yeah, I was thinking today, like, what I what when does one stop being indie? And is that is it the is the easy answer like when they sign with like a major publication, like you know, Marvel DC or what about what if they sign with like image or IDW? Are they still considered, I guess, indie? Would you still consider a creator indie?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

You know, I've been thinking about that because I've seen image and IDW and Boom and all those listed as like indie, as like yeah, as indie. And and I and I think for you what you said, it's just yeah, is it not Marvel or DC? Is it indie? And I'm like, I don't know. Like, maybe it's indie when you don't have like a big financial backer. Yeah, like IDW and obviously image, like Robert Kirkman is not indie. Yeah, but it but is he? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

It's a question, it's a question I will chew on for another day when I'm in a much better.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Yeah, if your comic became a TV show and now has like three spin-offs, you're not indie.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you get if you're getting big checks from like uh uh production companies, you might not which I think it's like hey, that's more power too.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Get your bag, dude. And you know, I I would I would I want a comic, you know, or I want a cartoon, you know, like uh and be and because you're indie doesn't mean you don't want monkey lion, the animated series or whatever. Your book, the animated series, you know, like everybody wants that.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Yeah, and if you say you don't, you're lying, you know, like Eli, you said something uh about you know doing portfolio reviews, hearing like pitches from like indie comic creators. If you had to give some advice for someone that is trying to pitch like a project that they're you know, they've they're an indie creator, they've got a project they're trying to maybe get with like a cosmic line or another indie publisher. I guess what are some tips for like a good pitch? Like what are some of the good pitches that you've heard?

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Um, to to me, a good pitch, uh, and and you know, we did a panel about this at HeroesCon that I was really like jazzed about and I did really did a lot of prep for. That when a good pitch, you're not just pitching your story with art, you know, you're not just pitching this book or your or your your work, you're pitching yourself. So when you sit down with someone at a portfolio review, have you know, have your energy up and be psyched and show your love for this thing and like show that like you just made this thing that is like your whole heart as a thing, you know, like so a good pitch to me is you're pitching your entire person, soul, uh, you know, everything about you. And and as well, it's you've got your elevator pitch, you can you can describe your comic in an instant and it's catchy. Like I had mine down and it it used to perplex me because it people laughed at it every time. And I'm like, I don't know what's funny about this, but I think it's the way I say it because it's like my comic monkey line is uh about an intergalactic afro funk band on tour through the galaxy, you know, and it's like to me that's just like that's a straight pitch, and it's catchy and it's there. But it made people laugh because I think it's like it has that like teenage mutant ninja turtles feel where it's like what do those four words even do together? Yeah, you know, so you you you want to have something that that catches the eye, like maybe have a little rhyme in there, have have some some interesting wordage, like make it be something, not just like it's especially don't say it's like invincible meets Batman meets Frasier, which maybe I would read that.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

But yeah, I'm like keep going. Yeah, runway.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Let me see what this is, but you know, don't don't do that until like the last minute or to till you're sale, but like you know, have it it's gotta grab you and and for portfolios reviews, and Deanna taught me this is like you need to bring um sequential pages, like you can't just have like some cool art pinups that you did. The portfolio review, I think, is to to learn and grow as a cartoonist, and you gotta have uh sequentials.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

What's it like being on this side of the table now? Right, like doing portfolio reviews, hearing pitches, you know, considering, you know, like are this gonna be a good fit? I imagine, like I guess like take me back to when you were doing portfolio reviews, like you were showing your portfolios.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Well, I'll I will tell you, I had this experience, and I probably even told you this last time we were on this show, but it's something I always go back to where I showed my work to someone I loved, a creator I loved, not like my mom, because someone I love, she would have been like, Eli baby, this is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

This is going on the fridge.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

I did have stuff on the fridge for sure. Um, uh no, but it was like an artist I loved, and uh he he was like, This isn't good. You need you know, you you you have 2,000 hours, and you you still have 8,000 more hours to get to those 10. He he said it in a way that kind of like destroyed me for a little while, and I still haven't finished my book because of it, but I'm like over it now or whatever, and I'm friends with that guy now, which is cool. And I never told him, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've never been like, you crushed me, remember? Yeah, exactly. But so so um I think the original question was what's it like to be on the opposite side? I I try to keep it positive and and and encouraging at all times because I know at this at these times for people uh constructive criticism is uh super important, but so is like a little bit of encouragement. Like you're doing well, and I like what you're doing. I like this here. You need more work on your horizon line. That is like something I said today. Like, you know, so it's cool to be on this side, and I but I also know and and I think a lot about what I say because I know what that person said to me and what it did to me, and and how better he could have done it. Yeah, and uh another thing I learned last night is um people are gonna pitch you at midnight, no matter how many beers you've had. And uh that's not a good thing to do. I'm like, I was like literally just running into chairs over here. You saw me do that. Why are you pitching me that?

SPEAKER_01 18:21

I might fuck around and give you a deal. I know, I see why you're doing it, but I trust me. I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and really take a look at it. Man, uh Eyla, I I guess you do a lot of cons. Uh yeah, I've been hitting it pretty hard this year. How many cons have you done this year? Oh, dude, I don't even you know, it's it's not. And you do a lot of trial. I mean, uh you're based out of LA and you're here on the other side of the the country for a one-day show. I guess is that is that what's required of an indie comic publisher is to like just be as at many as many shows as possible. Like, how are you strategic with like what shows you pick and which ones that you feel like okay, this this is my crowd, this is where I need to be at.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

For sure. It is expensive to do this, obviously. Uh I I I'm trying to prioritize prioritize more like drivable shows because shipping the books is more expensive than the flight, and it's more expensive than the hotel.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Oh wow. I didn't even think about it. I guess give you know what that's a that's an interesting question. Give me the logistics of getting here. Like how do you you know, and and full respect, I've seen your you know, some of your other setups, and they're way more elaborate. And I mean, I'm looking at this, and you've got uh we can't see it on the camera, but tons of books here. You got like we got 21 feet of cosmic line table here. I guess give me the give me that break down the the boring logistics that maybe only I find fascinating. How do you get from LA to here and set up?

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Well, I mean, the first thing that I do is I have this checklist of every book and how many I bring column and how many I sold column.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

And I'm assuming this is like these are columns and checklists that you probably update and maybe improve after every show. Uh well you do a lot of like post-event brainstorm brain dumping, like, okay, here's what worked, here's what didn't work, let's improve this.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Uh, not for that checklist because it's pretty cut and dry. It's just the name brought and sold. But I am constantly maneuvering with the shipping. How many books? Because I used to be like, oh, I'll bring 10 of this book. But when you have 60 books, you can't bring 10 of every book. Like maybe if you're driving, you could. Sure. But look, but I've also found that the more books I have, uh, you know, the less I sell, or or something we'll get focused on. Like I sold five detective, like Detective Pickle sold like crazy today. Wow. But it's like for some reason that was the book that everyone just went to. Now, is it where it's on the table? Is it because it's by itself? Is it because of the color, you know? But um, so now I'm like, I'm only gonna bring five of every book. And this show I was like, I'm only gonna bring two of every book because I only sent one but one box. And I I found Tony Aoopi, uh Morgan, and uh Marshall who drove from Heroes con and then are driving to this con. So I gave them boxes from Heroes, so that saved me a ton of money that now I'm just gonna spend to send all these boxes home because I packed like a freaking idiot for heroes. Like, so the logistically, then you know, I have to use stamps.com because that saves me money. Because if you would just go to UPS, FedEx, or the the post office, they charge you a ton more for sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So, like, you know I'm a I'm a PayPal um uh ship station guy myself. Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Because it's just a little pirate ship is good too. I've heard of that too. Yeah, yeah, man. So that is insane. And then I I pack these books and then I weigh them, and then I go, you know, I go to my office and friends. You know, so there's a there's a lot that goes into it. And because I didn't sell as many as much as I thought here, And because I forgot somebody that had two whole boxes and didn't check in with them, I could have not brought any books to the show. But because I forgot Marshall had stuff. Sure, sure. Because I do too many things. Anyway, so logistically it's a lot. And uh you know, so it it is a lot to juggle six sixty books. So and then about choosing cons that I go to, I I prioritize the ones that everybody's like, these are the indie ones, heroes, SPX, um, uh the Columbus one, CXC, and those that I know are like people come for comics. There's no the cast of Starship Troopers is gonna take your whole line, you know. Like that's what happened at LA Comic Con. It was literally we were in a basement, the cast of Starship Troopers over here, and then all the indie guys, and was like for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

I I think uh Comic Con is a comic invention, I think sometimes can be a blanket term when it doesn't really mean an emphasis on the comic part, it means like more like pop culture con, more like a you know, a movie con or something like that. But I I I've been enjoying this con a lot. I mean, the emphasis is very much on uh comic books. To me, it feels like very heroes con coded. I mean, even the way it's kind of set up, the split between like the the vendors and the and the uh oh, is that thunder? Is that thunder? Oh, you are now experiencing a classic. Oh, you guys are trying to load out a new thunderstorm here in Jacksonville, Florida. It's that time. Sunny rain that Florida provides. You know, I'm thinking about like all the work that goes into all the various cons that you go to, the logistics you were speaking about. I mean, having to like represent an entire, you know, company and and uh multiple artists, multiple genre books, and and all of that. And then I think about like how you know you you also do things correctly on the digital side where you have a website, you're on Instagram, you know, you're promoting it that way. I guess, like, do you think that an indie publisher or indie creator can thrive or live just doing one, or is it mandatory and necessary to be to do like a balance of both?

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Yeah, you definitely gotta do both. Because I do think it's very important to get out there and get FaceTime with people, you know, not only for the business, but to fill your like emotional tank. Because when you're at home and and all you see is the internet, you know, just seeing a like on the list doesn't fill your soul like being at a show and meeting people or meeting someone who says, Oh, dude, because of you and you know, the K-Fabe group, I got into this, and you know, because of you know, I bought this from Ray Mar and it got me wanting to make comics, or like, you know, so filling up that emotional tank is super important. So you gotta come here, you gotta come to cons and do that, man.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Yeah, yeah. I think what's also I want to also note is that you brought up the K-Fabe group, and I think, man, your journey from being like uh a budding, aspiring comic creator that ends up running, like, you know, this Facebook group uh with the shared love of comics, the shared love of cartoonist K Fabe, and then you know, years later, Cosmic Line comes out of that. I think it's just a beautiful full circle moment when I think about everything that you've been through that, like, you know, you're now friends with Jim Rugg. Jim Rugg has like contributed covers, you know, and and you're working with like, you know, the creator of Megaton and all of that. I guess, like, is there any one co-sign or one or two, whatever comes to mind, like industry cosign that has really meant a lot to you personally?

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Um, yeah, I guess like just real quick on that, because Cosmic Line predates the K Fab group by almost 20 years. Oh wow. Yeah, uh 2004 is when I started, but did my first event as Cosmic Line. Not not that there's a I just been in E Streets for a long time. Yeah, I've been in E Street, but um I mean, because I think my first favorite artist was Jim Mafood. Okay. So once like I the first time I volunteered, or one of the first time I volunteered at a con, which is how I got my start working conventions. I used to volunteer all the time and get in for free and meet people. And in 2004, I worked at the Mocha Comic-Con and I met Jim Mafood for the first time. He was my favorite guy. So working with him and working up to a point where I got his co-sign, and he sent me a cover for the Ween Zine, and you know, has did a pinup for Frankie Boy Monster. And you know, he's someone that I would call a friend now. Cool. And I and I think his co-sign and support has meant the most because he got me started in so many ways. So that's been the one. Um, and I think the only person left that I really need is Joe Matt Herrera. So, Joe Matt, if you're out there, I I want to work with you.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Maybe you could convince him to bring um Battle Boy. You know, we roomed together at OAX had a very special moment together, a nice bonding moment. Yeah, Philip. And I feel a lot of I feel a lot of like that residual energy here where it's like just just a love of art and creating art. Yeah. And it just reminds me of like it reminds me that comics is like a is a it's a language, you know? And I think it's interesting to see like creators speak that same language where you're like, you know, you could talk to another indie creator or uh uh, you know, someone that's just trying to do their thing, and it's like, yo, I see you. I know how hard this industry is, I know what it's like to just like sit at this table and like you know what I'm saying, have to go through the grind. Yeah. Um, I guess could you speak a little more about like just that that that language that you share with like other creators?

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Yeah, it's like it's like that shared trauma, maybe or something. It's like I mean, it's like, yeah, I mean, it's it's like because we all know how hard this is, and we all know what it it takes out of you and what you gotta put in. And then you know, Marshall sitting there doing that thing that that was just for Roe and just for us. It's because it means so much uh to us as a community. And when we're in a shared space like this, again, that goes back to what we were saying about being here and filling the emotional take with human interaction. Like he's here to do that, we're all here to do that. And when we're all in this chunked in this room, it's like we're sharing all of our tanks or something. I don't know. Maybe I'm getting lost on this one. Oh man, it's it's like I don't know. That's a tough one. That's a tough one, I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Well, look, we can come back to it. I sound like you speaking from the heart, and sometimes the heart can't put what it feels into words. I know, man. Yeah, let me ask you, let me take a pivot here. And I want to uh I want to hear, are you gonna be saying?

SPEAKER_00 28:27

I will be. I have a panel every day at San Diego Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. What's the panel about? Uh there's two with Prana, one with uh my marketing team, and then one with um Wait, wait, these are all cosmic lines. Oh no, no, no, sorry. No, I'm just a guest on all these ones. Oh, yeah. I didn't pitch one. Uh, one's about like how to succeed without a publisher, which I did at first. Yep, and then I can give uh uh uh one is wait, is Prana your publisher? But Prana is our distributor.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Distributor. Yeah, yeah. Prana is the same company that distributes the comics, the magazine. It is, yeah. Nice. That magazine is it's really good. I have all the issues, I've not cracked any of them open, but I'm just here to support like, oh bet, we got like physical comic journalism in a comic shop I can pick up every week.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Come on, yeah, man. I love that so much. Yeah, so they they've been helping us distribute, they helped get you know that a thousand thousand book order of Ponchy Panda. Oh, I didn't say that. I keep talking about it because it just happened on the way down here, but yeah, so like that book, a thousand copies sold. That's like so much bigger than anything else. And it's not like a thousand books over a year, it's like from one solicit, a thousand books were bought from hundreds of stores across the U.S.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

I imagine much like me, you probably share in this, but um, because I imagine your house becomes a shipping department when it's time to ship books.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Yeah, well, I had to move out, uh, so I have a studio space down the street now. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah, I need to go ahead and have separation of church and state. That's exactly why I did it. But I love shipping things out to like people that end up buying short box merch or like patrons, you know. It's always interesting to be like, oh, I get to ship something out to Washington today. Oh, I've never been to Nevada, like, you know, I'm shipping something out. Or even like I've shipped something out to like New Zealand. You know, like what are some of the places that uh uh where are some of the cosmic lion fans at in the world?

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Dude, I'll be honest with you, I've shipped all over this world. Cool. It's amazing, man. I I've I've worked with people and I've shipped to like Malaysia and I've shipped to uh South Africa, Australia, China, Japan, Thailand, um uh Australi uh like um to like some islands. Dude, we have a creator in uh who lives in Baghdad. Wow, so I actually I can't ship to him from here. So I had to figure it out. I I printed separately his books at my Chinese printer, and China could print there. And and the address was like uh two houses down from that street here, and it was like there wasn't a number and there wasn't a PO, there wasn't a zip code. Yeah, yeah. You know, so I I'm really it's been cool that they're all over. And you know, I've shipped to celebrities, and you know, Bob Fingerman had me ship his book to Weird Owl. Dope. And you know, like it's so it's like it's been all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

All right. Uh I I gotta get back to San Diego Comic-Con because this will be my first year attending it. Oh lord. Any tips for a first timer?

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Oh god, buy a brand new pair of sketchers. Do not be stylish about your footwear, know that your feet are gonna hurt and do everything you can to number one alleviate that so that you can enjoy everything.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

One of my buddy's uh best tips I ever got, he was like, buy a brand new pair of um chew and soles the day before you go, like brand new ones.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Yeah, man, because that because you don't want the thing that's holding you back being your body. Got it, got it. Okay, and no matter how good, nice and fit you are, because look, I worked that show for 10 years, and last year was the first year in 10 that I didn't work it.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

And and so I was walking around and I was surprised how much more fatigued I was at the end of the day being a uh walking around person versus just being out of boots. Okay, so brand new shoes. Yeah, all right, take care of my feet. Yeah, and then and you gotta make a list, huh? And like because there's so many people you want to see and you don't want to miss anyone because there's so much stuff going on. So, like, do all the pre-work and you gotta, you gotta, you gotta make everything listed down. Okay. Know that for your exclusives, if you want to get them, you you probably gotta go early and get a ticket, or you gotta do something online before because look, I want to go to the Star Trek exhibit like thing, but the internet tells me it's already all sold out. And it's like, that sucks. You should I wanted to go to the Taco Bell for the Demolition Man 30th anniversary party, but I didn't get to go in. I had to experience it through Jim Lee's Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Yeah, yeah. That's great. So, yeah, so we'll get the programming, do some planning, okay? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Do go and uh don't be like, I gotta get there when they open because the line's gonna be insane. Take some time, sleep in, get some breakfast, okay, and then go into the convention center when the lines have kind of died down.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

What's your best San Diego Comic-Con experience? Ooh boy. Um what's like the most prevalent memory you have of that show?

SPEAKER_00 33:25

For those 10 years, I was talking, and and for a long time before that, for a long time I worked with this guy, Greg Horn. I met him at a Miami Supercon. We were volunteering.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Greg Horn, the like he painted like a bunch of Marvel.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

He painted the infamous Steamy Electra, right? Electra and and Wikipedia's main image of uh the White Queen. Oh, he did a bunch of White Queen covers. Um, so and he's an amazing dude. You know, he's not indie and he's not an underground artist, but he's just a great dude. Hella talented. Hella like, and he's starting to do more and more pencil, pen to ink because people are like, oh, all he does is computer, but he's doing all these ink drawings. I I hope that I helped encourage that him to do that, but probably it was a ton of other people. But so I worked with him for a long time and a lot of people like him. So I met a lot of really cool people at his booth, like Bobby Moynihan or the guy. Um oh, we just lost power. Oh my god. Yeah, we did. It's because of the rain. Dang, this is kind of cool. This is battery upgrade.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

All right, well, I think with that being said. Oh my god. Yeah. All right, we got emergency power back on. All right. Shit. Eli, this has been great. You're talking about the way it is.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

What's gonna happen, dude? There we go.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Okay, okay. Uh we can end it.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

We wrap it up. Uh reporting to you live from IC3 First Coast Comic Con. Big shout out to my man Eli Shit. Thank you so much for big line productions. Check it out. I short box nation. Um, let me get up out of here before it goes pitching black. Peace.

About The Author

Badr Milligan

A project manager, podcaster, and a professional moderator all rolled-into-one. Co-founder of the Jax Podcasters United Group. Host and producer of The Short Box: A Comic Book Talk Show. Resident of Springfield, but not the one on TV.

To read more about Badr, check out his full bio here.