Kenny Porter & Tyrell Cannon are out for bloody revenge: An interview about Dracula, Superhero comedies, and Operation: Iron Coffin

Badr Milligan

Jul 1, 2026

Kenny Porter & Tyrell Cannon are out for bloody revenge: An interview about Dracula, Superhero comedies, and Operation: Iron Coffin

Episode Transcript

Comic duo: Kenny Porter & Tyrell Cannon are on the show to talk about their collaborative process on titles like the superhero body-swap comedy: The Schlub, and what readers can expect from their brand-new horror action series: Operation: Iron Coffin – Issue one is already being described as a bloody mashup of Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Hellboy!

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Badr Milligan 0:00

In this episode of The Short Line.

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Ever since I was a kid, I've been completely mesmerized by comic art and different artists. And marrying that with my love of stories, whether it's movies, books, TV, is the perfect blend to me of all that stuff. And it's the possibilities of it are almost limitless. It's just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures. Like your budget is the paper and the ink and the printing. Like that's it. Like you can do anything.

Badr Milligan 1:02

Hello again. Welcome back and thanks for pressing play today. If you're brand new, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Fodder, and this is the Shortbox 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. This is episode 504, and today I'm joined by comic creators Kenny Porter and Tyrone Cannon. They happen to be besties and frequent collaborators. And that's what the show, the short box, is all about. We're here to champion friendship and comic books, so they're great guests for this one. Kenny Porter is a writer whose credits include Superman and The Flash for DC Comics, and Yakuza for Sega, which is a video game comic. That's awesome. And Tyrell Cannon is an artist known for his comics iris with Logan Cannon and Beef Bros with Aubrey Siderson. Together they worked on last year's superhero comedy series, The Schlub, and they're back together again for a brand new IDW horror series called Operation Iron Coffin, which takes place in World War II and finds pop culture's most iconic vampire, Dracula himself, joining the British Allied forces to defeat Hitler's army during World War II. According to Kenny, it's Castlevania meets Metal Gear, meets Hellboy, which I feel like is enough said, if if that description doesn't do the job of selling this comic, I don't know what will. Issue one of Operation Iron Coffin comes out Wednesday, July 8th. We'll hear from Kenny and Tyrell about what to expect from the new series and learn how they make comics together. But before we get started on that, I want to give special recognition to our amazing sponsors who help us keep the lights on. Big shout outs to our presenting sponsor, coverprice.com. It's the ultimate comic book price guide and collection management tool for comic collectors. If you want to know what your collection is worth right now, but you don't have the time to look up every single issue, well let coverprice.com do all the hard work for you. You can get access to cover price for one dollar for one month by using the special promo code in this episode show notes. And look, I'm not just the champion of this service, but also a client. I personally use cover price because it saves me so much time from scrolling eBay listings for hours on end. Anyways, check it out for yourself. Cover price for a dollar, link in the show notes. And since we're talking about sponsors, we gotta give a big shout out to Gotham City Limit Comic Shop. They're a sponsor too. They also happen to be the best comic shop here in Northeast Florida. If you live in Jaxville, you could visit them today on Southside Boulevard. But if you don't live in Jacksville, guess what? You can buy comics from them online at GothamCityLimit.com. Those are our sponsors. Big shout outs to CoverPrice and Gotham City Limit. And a big shout out to the loyal supporters over on the short box Patreon. I ain't forget about you guys. You guys are the best. Now, without further ado, let's bring on our guests of honor today. All right, writing a brand new horror action series called Operation Iron Coffin. Let's give it up for Kenny Porter and Tyrell Cannon. What up, gents? How y'all doing?

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Doing great. Didn't expect the applause coming in. Love that energy.

Badr Milligan 4:00

Only the best for the best. Kenny, Tyrell, how about we start with the basics right out the gate? How did you two uh meet? Everything I've read sounds like you guys have been friends for a while, but I haven't found like exactly how you guys met and started working together. Can one of you share the origin story of your friendship?

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Uh Tyrell jumped in because I'm trying to remember exactly. We met probably through we have a group of other creators that we hang out with and chat with all the time on a Discord now used to be Skype R I P uh before Skype was singing elect. But I believe we met through there, right? Through Daniel Warren Johnson and Ryan Stegman and those guys.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Maybe uh yeah, I met Kenny through this chat group, right? But I didn't meet him in person for a while. I think I even did some work with Kenny before I met him because when I first got in the group, I had just quit my day job, and so I was like desperate to do anything. And Kenny, we did a we did a mech type pitch where we did a comic about these mechs in space. So yeah, Kenny was just like, I want to do this pitch. Uh, would you be interested? And I said, sure. And it was really fun. But I got in the chat group originally because I've known Dan, uh, Danny Warren Johnson. I've known Dan for like a long, long time. Like we met back in like 2012, and we lived near each other, we're friends, and he eventually got invited to this group, and he had been telling me about it. And so when I quit my job, he's like, Do you want to come in the chat group? You know, and so I went in there and that's where I met like Kenny and Riley and Stegman and all those guys. And uh Kenny and I just uh, you know, have have done I don't know how many pitches together now, but we did quite a few pitches together and we always have a good time. And so now that we have something greenlit, you know, it's it's you know really exciting.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Yeah, and that's after that. I don't remember if we met at a C2 E2 for the first time.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I think it was C2 E2, yeah. Because I I I brought the pages from that pitch and and I remember showing them to you at the show and being like, okay, that's that's Kenny, you know, like now I know what he's like in real life. Because you know, you meet people online, you never really know what they're gonna be like in real life. And and I remember even asking Dan and stuff when Kenny wanted to do the pitch with me. I was like, is this guy cool? Or is like, you know, can I trust this guy? You know?

Badr Milligan 6:05

For sure. I've had those experiences before too, where you're like, wait a minute, you're more than a username on a screen, you're a human being. This is fucking great, you know. Guys, uh, it has been, by my count, two years since the aforementioned Schlub ended. All right, Image Comics, you guys were working on this image comic series called the Schlub Superhero Body Swap comedy series. Um, uh we'll get into that a little more. That ended back in 2024, if I'm not mistaken. Fast forward now, May 19th, 2026 is when we're recording this. You guys have a brand new comic series coming out. Help me fill in the gas. What have you guys been up to in the in the last two years? Uh a ton.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

I've been working on a bunch of books. Uh, I've been writing a lot. I'm I'm doing a new Superman series for DC called Superman Father Tomorrow. And then uh I'm also taking a writing do his own Power Rangers with uh Joe Esposito on Power Rangers Unlimited. So we got a big giant series to go on there. So I've kept busy, but the whole time I was like, I gotta work with Tyrell again. Hell yeah. I gotta find an excuse. So we were just constantly, I mean, we chat all every day anyway, but we were also just like, hey, aside from bullshitting, we should definitely do another book sometime. So that's what I've been up to.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Hell yeah. What about you, Tyrell? So I wrapped up my book Eris, which I released uh via Kickstarter, and that's sort of been a passion project I've been working on for a while. I did a lot of work on a book that still hasn't come out, I can't talk about. And then I did a uh a couple shorts. I did an issue of Free Planet for Aubrey Sitterson, issue number eight.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

Oh, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

And I did a short Fantastic Four story for Fantastic Four Fanfair, and that was written by uh Daniel Warren Johnson.

Badr Milligan 7:41

Hell yeah. Now I'm doing this. Damn right. I guess how long did you guys have the idea for Operation Iron Coffin? Was it in between uh after the Schlub? Or like, you know, has this been kind of brewing and being worked on for a while now?

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Yeah, I had started to get the like germ of the idea after the schlub about a year later. And once I came up with it and kind of had the big visual hook, I talked to Tyrell about it. Um Tyrell, you could you can say how you felt about it when I through the concept.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

I said, that sounds cool. Uh so I said, I said, I think I said I'd draw that. And Kenny's like, really? And I said, yeah. Well, then I say, okay, but yeah, but what's the story? Yeah. Because the pitch was just bomb drops out of a you know, bomber, zoom in, you see it's a coffin, hits the train, Dracula comes out. I was like, oh yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

Yeah. And I was like, there is a story and an emotional arc. I just don't want to, I want to give people the cool movie trailer moment. That's that's how I pitched it to Tyrell.

Badr Milligan 8:40

I was reading, um, I think there was like a sci-fi article right up about this. I think they had like a preview, and um in it it mentioned that the Operation Iron Coffin is like a spiritual successor to the Brahmstroker novel Dracula. So I I guess Kenny, if you'll take this one, where's the bridge between uh Brahmstroker Dracula to uh Nazis, World War II, uh, you know, vampire virus? Like where was uh I guess what's the genesis of the idea? Where'd that come from?

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Sure, yeah. So I love the novel. Uh Tyrell and I both love Dracula and a bunch of its incarnations, like wherever the character shows up. But in the original novel, which I read a bunch of times for school, read for fun, uh, there's a very specific moment near the end when uh spoiler alert for a hundred-year-old books, but uh when they kill Dracula and they behead him, Mina Harker, who he's been pursuing throughout the book, notices that when his head is detached from his body, there's a moment when his face looks content and more human again. And that part always captured my imagination. I was like, ooh, why has no one ever done anything about that? About like his demeanor changing after he's been killed. So that was a very big inspiration for uh part of this story, which um which people will read when they read the first issue, is a Faustian bargain about how he comes back. He doesn't just resurrect under his own power, he makes a deal in the afterlife, a very specific deal with a specific mission that comes with a big drawback that he wasn't expecting that sets him on this emotional journey. So that's where the season idea came. And then the rest of it was just inject the fun pulp stuff that I love of like Indiana Jones and Hellboy, of that um sort of mystical World War II sort of thing. And I thought it was a really good way to explore like what's the difference between one of the classical monsters from mythology and and our folklore versus the real types of monsters that we make as human society, like the real types of horrible people. So that's where it kind of stemmed out of the novel. And then we weren't afraid to just be like, well, we're gonna make it crazy. There's no way we're gonna stick like super period accurate. But there are a lot of fun historical things that we put in it.

Badr Milligan 11:01

You know, I I will admit I've never read the novel, but after reading this first issue, I I think I'm I added it to my uh uh to find list next time I go to the used bookstore up the street. Um I guess I guess Kenny, if you don't mind uh uh taking this one, uh people with just a cursory knowledge of Dracula, like like someone like myself, I I know who Dracula is, I've never read the novel. Is that important uh for to jump into here or no?

SPEAKER_03 11:24

You don't have to have read the novel. We kind of sum the novel up in a splash page of like what happens at the end. Um and but basically if you've seen any movie version of it, you're even like a little bit familiar with, like Dracula is a very powerful vampire, he got vanquished. That's all you need to know. So you don't have to read the whole novel. I'm not like I'm not gonna have sections of the book where people are like, so now if you remember on this page back in the novel, um this is just last time in Dracula. Yeah, last time on Dracula Ball Z. Um this happened. Uh I would not do that to Tyrell and I would not do that to everybody else. Uh I would not make him draw recap pages the entire book. Um, so yeah, you don't have to have read the read the novel or watched any other movies, as long as you just know that like Dracula's like the most famous, most powerful vampire, and this picks up at the end of his original story.

Badr Milligan 12:17

Hell yeah. I gotta say, man, the the early buzz for this comic. First of all, shoutouts to Greg Katzman, all right, who uh, you know, published this at IDW, helped me get this together. Oh, it's sending me like the dopest comics. Like, yo, you gotta read this. And he sent me a list of like comics to check out and you know, setting up some interviews. And I immediately went to this one because he he the the byline he gave me said, Botter, I think this is going to be the wildest comic book of the year. And I was like, Well, how am I gonna say no to that? Like, come on, come on, Greg. Um, and I gotta say, uh, you know, everything I've read so far, all the the the press release, the uh the media outlets that have written about this, Operation Iron Coffin has been compared to some of my favorite shit in the world. Like some of the coolest shit, right? Like it's been called uh, you know, Snowpiercer meets John Wick meets Crink. And then I saw some other article that was like, you know, it's Spawn meets Wolfenstein meets Indiana Jones, which is like all great things to be even associated with. And I feel like anyone with common sense will just check it out just based on the buzz and the comparisons. Like there's no genre or or franchise that issue one of Operation Iron Coffin hasn't been compared to. But for the folks that might need a little more convincing, like the comparisons aren't enough, what would you say is in store for them?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Well, we have a really crazy nonstop ride, and it's not non-stop action, there's tons of action, but there's nonstop emotion and nonstop horror and non-stop kind of uh, you know, uh pontification about the nature of evil, like all the things that I, Kenny and I both love, you know, from from movies and and television and anime and all that. And I think part of the thing that sets the book apart um is the kind of pulpiness that we've delved into with it. And that seems like something that I think everybody enjoys, but right now I'm not seeing as much of that in comics. And I would say the same thing with the art. I'm trying to do art that feels a little more visceral, a little more animated, a little more high energy, a little, a little more blood than maybe you're used to seeing in a lot of modern comics. And so I think that it's the kind of comic for people that love comics, that have read comics for a long time and just love, you know, everything about it, whether that be great quips or or insane panel arrangements or or whatever. I think that we bring a lot of comics love into it. And so that's one thing I think sets us apart.

Badr Milligan 14:34

You know, I'm glad that you brought up the and the action. This is the one time it doesn't feel like corny to say high octane action. Uh, because it it really is, man. There's a lot of action. And to your point, there's a lot of uh pontification, there's a lot of like deep thoughts going on. Um, am I bugging, or is the first issue kind of like oversized, right? I I think the preview I had that it is, yeah. Oh, come on now. Like yeah, all three will be oversized. That is how you do a new number one. I I I appreciate that. Um, I did notice, you know, that this is coming out under the IDW dark imprint. So, you know, for those that might not know, uh the imprint from IDW that houses the publishers like horror comics, more of their darker, more mature comics. I guess, Tyra, is it safe to say that you kind of had like free reign to like really amp up the horror, the gore elements, the action? Was there anything that was off limits? Because it feels like you guys really had a chance to like, you know, just get into the story.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I I think you know, we we get notes occasionally from our awesome editor Dave, but uh I don't think I've heard a note yet that said, could you tone the gore down a little bit? You know, we told him up front, we said if we're gonna do this book, it's gotta be hard R, man. It's gotta be grindhouse, it's gotta be, you know, ninja scroll, it's gotta be really, you know, it's gotta be high energy, lots of violence, and and and um that helps us sell a lot of kind of the things that we're talking about at the heart of the book if we can do these different types of violence. And the only thing that we've all of us, you know, Dave and Heather and Kenny and I are trying to be conscious of is there is historical context. And so anytime we make references to actual historical kind of tragedies, we try to make sure that we're doing that in a way that isn't trying to make fun of it or anything like that, right? Try to pay reference to any kind of real world horrors that we're referencing in the book. Uh but then when we get into the more fantastical stuff, then we can really go go nuts with it.

SPEAKER_03 16:17

Yeah, we try to be very cautious about all of the real world stuff that happened because like it's horrible, it's terrible, tragic stuff that humanity is gonna be a smear on humanity forever. And we want to make sure that whenever we showed that stuff, it was really respectful to the fact that we didn't want any of the real world stuff to be to be made too fantastical. We wanted to represent that accurately and everything else around it, the villains, the situation that's sli separated from that could be fantastical and big. So we didn't want to take away from any of that historical stuff because it's an important thing to talk about uh and to showcase. But it it is really important in our story in terms of talking about, like I said, what makes someone or something a monster, and not to spoil it one, but also like what's the difference between a monster and a devil, which is what we dig into big time and the uh philosophical side of it. Um but there are fun history things in there too, like uh the train is based on an actual Nazi gold train that went missing that year. So it's like a what if, like, oh, this is what was really going on on the train sort of thing. Um, and then correct me if I'm wrong, Taro, but I think you said that the design of the train was pulled from some blueprints of actual trains that they were building and developing.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah, I found this awesome kind of design for this Nazi mega train that was going to be like twice the size of a real, you know, regular train and and uh this insane engine and everything. And so I thought, well, why don't we use that, you know, and then I'll kind of spice that up a little bit. You know, it was kind of fun to look at little touch points of real history and you know, things like tanks or guns or or outfits, and then sort of extrapolate from that when I was designing our big bads, you know, like obviously there wasn't a guy like the villain we have in the first issue in real life, but if there was, what kind of gear would he have on and how would he look? And you know, I could take my touch points from looking at real uniforms and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

And those villains might not be real people that existed, but they're based on real supernatural or super science rumors from World War II that have been like baked into the mythology of it. Um, I don't want to say specific ones because it'll give it away, but each one of them is based on a different rumored piece of occult items that they were proposed to have or um scientific things that they were working on. So that was a fun thing to inject. That's where kind of like the Metal Gear sort of bad guy thing comes in, of like the Foxhound unit or a Cobra unit or something.

Badr Milligan 18:49

Kenny, I I gotta just ask you uh just straight up, what are some of your favorite video games? Because I mean you're speaking my language, man.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Well, I like Metal Gear a little bit, if you can't tell. Um I actually have uh I have a Metal Gear Solid 3 hat.

Badr Milligan 19:01

What's your favorite one in the in the series?

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Uh my favorite one that I've played the most is Three, which is one of my favorite ones. So I like Metal Gear Solid 3 a lot. Um, I didn't own the first one. I had to rent it a bunch, but I beat it every which way but loose, the original Metal Gear Solid. And I played the Nintendo ones a little bit. My neighbor had it. I really appreciate now, though, the end of two, uh, now that essentially it's a it's a historical document about AI and social media. Yes. Uh the ending of two is so prophetic that I've been saying in like meetings and stuff like we really should kind of make everyone play Metal Gear Solid 2 in high school to understand like how we got where we were because Kojima predicted it like 25 years early. So yeah, three is probably my favorite.

Badr Milligan 19:48

Kenny, yeah, three's one of mine. I highly recommend if you've never played the PSP versions, like Peace Walker. It's I've I actually played it like a month ago. It's really good. But on the topic of Metal Gear Solid 2, I will never forget. I played it when it came out, so whenever that was, I was in high school. And I mean, it's you know, at this point, it's not even a spoiler, but towards the end where the game starts getting like glitchy and you're not quite sure like what instructions to follow. I remember my dad was in the room. And my dad is a very straight shooter, you know. Um at the time he was like pretty like religious as well. And he walked by as like the screen is telling me, turn off the game. You know, like you don't need to be playing it anymore. And my dad was like, boy, I will burn this fucking PlayStation if you don't. He's like, I think we need to turn it off. I was like, no, dad, I gotta beat it, I gotta beat it, I gotta see the end. Solidness.

SPEAKER_03 20:38

Oh yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, dude, that happened to me at like 2 a.m. when I was playing. I was like, I'm sorry, what? And the game's like turning off, and then it starts flickering the TV and like messaging with yeah, that messed with me big time. Um yeah, big Metal Gear solid fan, love Resident Evil, played a lot of like really obscure Gundam games back in the day. Uh, there's my one Gundam reference, Tyrell. I was waiting for it. Yeah. Um, so uh I always have one, gotta have one. Um, so I played a lot of those, but yeah, I played a ton of franchises. Like I I loved I've I've kept up with video games basically my whole life. Like I got introduced on the NES and I've played, I've owned a video game system basically since everyone has come out, and I've tried to stamp on stuff because I love game design and story stuff. Like one of my favorite moments in storytelling and video gaming is the end of Bioshock and the like would you kindly reveal uh is one of my favorite sort of like story points and meta things about like games and objectives and how it works. So I always, if there's any way I can put that kind of cool stuff into a story uh and find some way to incorporate that with like the magic of comics, I'll always do it.

Badr Milligan 21:46

Man, a man of culture, I see. Both of you. Uh Tara, I it it sounds like you you might be a Gundam head too.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Um, you know, a little bit. I Gundam is is less my thing than Kenny's for sure. You know, I do like some Gundam, and I'm usually looking to Kenny for which ones should I watch and which ones One should I not watch? You know, I definitely for games, I'm more of like Doom, like any Doom game, any Resident Evil game, any Dead Space game. That's those are all me for sure.

Badr Milligan 22:10

Hell yeah. On the same kind of topic, Tyrell, it sounds like it might be safe to say that you're an anime fan if I'm understanding the the subtext here, which might validate some uh some thoughts I had while reading the schlub. I got I got some big Dragon Ball Z energy from the main villain in the Schlub, the worm. I think it's something about his character design, the whole plot around the life force energy just gave me like big Dragon Ball Z vibes in a good way. All right, because I'm like I love Mr. Dragon Ball Z.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Oh, for sure. Anime, huge influence, especially pre like pre-2000 stuff, you know, the stuff that's hand animated. That's that's my my spirit animal, you know, anything by Katsuhiro Otomo, anything by Kawajiri. For this one, we were chanting a lot of like Kawajiri, like Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D. You know, if you go back to stuff even before that, like uh Fist of the North Star, you know, the the the hyperviolent stuff is kind of what I was thinking a lot about. But also in a lot of the character design for both the Schlub and for Operation Iron Coffin, in a lot of anime, especially stuff like Dragon Ball Z or or the Kawajiri stuff, you know, Wicked City, they always have these really interesting and iconic character designs that are a great exterior that shows you how the character's dangerous, but also hints at their interior and sort of their personality. And so those are that's what I'm always trying to do with our character designs in our books, is to give them that sort of interior-exterior thing. As soon as you see, you know, Tasai in Ninja Scroll, you get you get the character inside and out, right? And the same thing when you see, hopefully, when you see our Dracula, you start to get this sense of what type of character he is, like not just how he fights, but how he feels.

Badr Milligan 23:48

Yeah, I think I that definitely came across not only in in Operation Iron Coffin, specifically the you know, uh uh the spear, the guy that uh Dracula fights in in issue one, awesome design, awesome weapon usage too. I mean, the way you drew the action scenes and the choreography, superb stuff. But then even the Schlub, too, man. I I mean, obviously, I I know uh, you know, we've got the main hero, but something about Worm and his character, you know, just the designs, the stuff around his arms, the way he moved. Yeah, man, you've got a really kinetic energy to your comics. And it's there, it's just fun. You guys make fun comics between Schlub and then now Operation Iron Coffin, it's yeah, it's I I can feel like the heart and the the charisma that you guys have for the like telling these stories, making these comics. It comes through big time. So that's a compliment I wanted to pay you both. Thank you, man. Yeah, my pleasure, my pleasure. Tara, I noticed that for Operation Iron Coffin, you're not only doing the art, but you're also doing the coloring. Is that something that you tend to do on other projects? Do you enjoy coloring your own stuff? Does it change your process any?

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Yeah, you know, I I do enjoy it. It does change my process, and I haven't done it much before. I I I colored myself on Aeris, which is sort of where I tried to learn how to color, but that was done in little chunks between all my paid gigs, you know, so it never felt like I was drawing and coloring a book. It just felt like, oh, I'll do this when I have time to do this. On this one, it's much more like, no, I gotta, you gotta stay on track here. It's it's it's really, it's a lot of it's a lot of work, right? Like it's a lot more work than maybe I even thought it would be. But um at the same time, it allows me to pull off a lot of really cool visuals that you can definitely pull off in collaboration with a colorist, but sometimes it's nice when you're coloring yourself, you can you can make some decisions, you know, even when you're on the paper, on paper stage of it, you know, I ink on paper and stuff that I know I can sort of enhance with colors later on. So things like the way I use color holds on my special effects or or the way I'll I'll bump foregrounds and backgrounds back with speed lines, you know, those are things that I maybe wouldn't try if someone else was coloring me because it would take so much coordination to make it work. But when I'm coloring myself, it makes it really fun. And I think if anything, it's helping me to pull out some of those anime uh influences in in the visuals and also maybe some 90s comics influences that I have that that feel like some of that visceral hand-drawn injuries, a little I miss it and I and I want to see it more. And so, you know, it's a lot of work, but I am enjoying it. Um I I think it's you know again, not to another reason to buy it is I think this is probably the best thing I've drawn so far. So if anybody likes my stuff, I think they'll they'll really like this.

Badr Milligan 26:31

Well, what is a typical uh uh pitch session between you two? Uh I guess Kenny, are you inspired by something Tyrell like draws up or drafts, or is it Kenny, you come in with a loose idea and Tyrell you know kind of fleshes that out? Well, what's it what's a pitch session like?

SPEAKER_03 26:44

Uh it can be both. Usually it's I'll come up with a story idea. Sometimes it'll be a fully fledged like epic, and other times it's just like, what if like they drop Dracula like a fucking bomb or something? Is that is that anything? Is that good? And he's like, Yeah, speak on that. Like, what, why? Why did they drop it? But usually I'll come up with a concept or something, or Tyrell will be like, This would be cool to draw. Can you find a way? Like this story idea that I have, and then we'll work on it together and come up with some character descriptions. He'll do some some character concept drawings and stuff, and then I'll write up the pitch as like a one, one and a half page document, and then write some sample pages. With Iron Coffin, we did it a little bit differently, where instead of the traditional sample pages that a lot of publishers ask for, where it's like the first five pages of the book or a scene from the book, I was like, let's just do it like a trailer. Let's just do two pages, like it's a teaser at a movie theater, and all you see is the plane, the bomb, zoom in on the bomb as a coffin, coffin hits the back of the train, Nazis get squished, Dracula comes out and he's like, You're boned. Uh like that was like that sells it, and the rest of it we can explain the emotional journey that he goes on and all the other characters. So that's really how it comes together is kind of like we work back and forth. I send the pitch, he gives me notes uh on things like that could be better either like in the script pages or in the pitch. And I'm very like, I am not super prescriptive with my scripts. Like I'll do full script. Um, we work in a in a kind of like a mix of Marvel style and full script where half the script will be more Marvel style, where it's just this happens, this happens, this happens, other scenes will be more full script, where it's like panel one, this dialogue, panel two, this. Um, but I've always with anybody I work with, I'm like, it's not the gospel. If you have a better way of doing this, please by all means do it on the page and I will rewrite to fit around it. So that's kind of how our pitches come together.

Badr Milligan 28:45

Hell yeah. I'm glad you brought up that that two-page script. I rarely listen to music or I have like whatever music or sounds on in the back while I'm reading a comic. But I gotta say, I think Iron Coffin might be the one exception that I would be open to having something playing in the back. And and I think it's a mix of the subject matter, how badass the action is, I think, you know, Tyrell, your kinetic energy, I mean, just how dense uh some of these panels are, the imagery, absolutely. Like, I almost feel like there needs to be music to accompany this comic. And my head goes to like the first Wu-Tang album or like Gravigga, something like dark, moody, atmospheric, like in your face. If you guys had to pick, you know, one soundtrack to play while someone is reading Operation Iron Coffin, uh, what comes to mind for you?

SPEAKER_00 29:36

I think what I've said uh before is that when I'm thinking about Iron Coffin, it's it's you know, typo negative and uh this this Russian folk techno called Hauk. It's like kind of this dark chanting techno. But I'd probably throw some, you know, if I was gonna put some hip hop in there, it'd probably be some cannibal ox or something like that.

Badr Milligan 29:54

Ooh, a man of fine cultures.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

Uh yeah, Hawk is great. Um, we'd like we also do like a little music album club thing where we'll pick an album and we'll listen to it for a whole week and talk about it. And that was one that Tyrell gave me. So I definitely listened to that while working on the book. So that's definitely injected in there. For me too. I really love the music of um director and composer John Carpenter, like that really high synth stuff. So I listened to a lot of his lost themes while I was doing that. And then I also threw on like going back to some like nine-inch nails and stuff and throwing that on. So a lot of a lot of that is integrated into it. It's basically like the comic. I think Daniel said in a quote that it's like it's the heavy metal equivalent of comics. Like it feels like you're listening to a metal album when you're reading through it. But I can definitely see some really awesome like Wu-Tang put on the back, especially in like we're animated of like fight choreography of him clapping limbs and breaking bones. Bring the motherfucking ruckus. Yes.

Badr Milligan 31:01

Exactly. I I gotta know what else have you guys uh done for the this album listening club? It sounds very familiar to something me and a group of friends started doing around um COVID. We would meet up once a month. We were all like into record collecting, so we'd bring a record to play during like this hangout. So now I'm like, what did you guys do? What did you guys listen to?

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Well, ours is all virtual, unfortunately, but uh every week somebody throws a new thing in. So it really varies by who's picking stuff. Um, you know, some of the guys are like me, I'm more into metal and hip-hop, and some of the guys are more into maybe classic rock or alternative. And so we get a pretty good mix. I mean, I try to throw a variety in there. I've put funk in there, I've put hip hop in there, I've put uh techno in there, a little bit of everything. And Kenny's put some great picks in there. He had, I think Jay Dilla was the first one you put in there, Kenny.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Yeah, Jay Dilla. I don't remember if it was Donuts.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

It might have been Donuts.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Yeah, but I put that in there because I was listening to that a lot. And then I also I think recently there's uh there's a band I really like called Battle Tapes. They've had some songs I think of the Invincible show. Yeah. They're like they're very synthy and rocky and stuff. I think they've had some songs in the Invincible soundtrack, but I discovered them. So I just like stumbled on a music video of theirs online once. Yeah. So yeah, it varies like big time. Everybody in the group has a wide musical set of taste, so it's never just like I only put in these types of these types of albums, so we get a wide breadth, which is nice.

Badr Milligan 32:27

Look, I heard uh Dilla Donuts, so that tells me everything I need to know about this club, which is y'all are legit, all right? That's legit one of the one of my favorite albums of all time. It's so classic. If you enjoyed donuts, Mad Lib did a tribute in his version of Donuts. Uh it was called uh Beat Conductive Volume Three and Four, the Dill Withers tape. Uh it's either it's either volume four or five, or it's one of those, but it's just called Dill Withers. Highly recommend it if you enjoy donuts. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

I love Mad Lib, so I'm all over that.

Badr Milligan 33:00

Yeah, for sure. Check it out. Hell yeah. Man, you guys are my type of people, man. When I saw that, I was like, man, two best friends making comics together? I'm like, I'm like, I called my best friend. Like, why aren't we making any comics yet? All we do is just the bullshit part. We don't actually do the random stuff.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

All right. That's the hard part of like having a friendship and then giving each other homewards.

Badr Milligan 33:19

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know what? Speaking about friendship, you know, you guys brought up uh uh Ryan Stegman in the afterwards section of the Schlub uh trade paper, which is available, by the way. I know I keep bringing up the schlub. We're here to talk about Operation Iron Coffin, but I think uh I think you got to check out the schlub. If you are a fan of superhero comics, uh fuse with some comedy and a body swap story, uh, highly check it out. But in the afterward section of the Schlub, which by the way, I should mention Ryan Stegman, co-writer of the Schlub alongside Kenny Porter, Tyrell Cannon, in the afterwards section of the Schlub, Kenny, you wrote that getting to write with Ryan Stegman and collaborate with Tyrell was one of the greatest moments in my writing career, is what you said. What's a close second? And what made you know working on the schlub so fun?

SPEAKER_03 34:04

I'd say a close second would be this book. It's it's pretty tied because I've been really lucky this past year to work with a lot of really great collaborators like Danny Earls on Superman and uh Alessiozano on Power Rangers. Like, I don't know what got put in my water that's like just got me clicking on like pages, but everybody I've worked with, luckily, yeah, whatever electrolytes are in there, they're pumping them everywhere else because I've just gotten to work with so many awesome people who are like great collaborators and stuff that bounced back and forth. This one is really special to me because it's something that we made up and it's and it's ours. Like it's a completely great around thing. The experience on the schlub was fantastic because it was it was originally Ryan's story, and he was gonna do it just himself. He was gonna write it and draw it. And then he realized he would never have time to do that. So he came and asked me if I would co-write it with him, which we've been friends for years, bounced ideas off of each other and stuff all the time. I was almost happy to do it. So he had a basic outline, and essentially we would just get on the phone and talk out, like we knew what the ending was. So we knew where we were always going. But every issue we just get on the phone, talk and hash it out just like old school Marvel stuff. I'd go type up our notes, arrange it into scenes and pages. We'd bring it to Tyrell, who would take it, give his own great notes. So, like, we could put this in here, this and there. Then I would talk to Ryan about it, do some more beats, script it. He'd give notes. So it was very like Marvel style the whole time. And that one the scripts were way more Marvel style, like there was just like little hints of dialogue and stuff, which we realized, yeah, I would you you can speak to that of why we decided not to do that again.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Well, it's I mean, it's fun to do that, but sometimes it it does help to know where some of the words are gonna be, you know, so that I can leave room for them. Because I like I really think about where the word balloons are gonna go and stuff. But yeah, I mean, that book was so fun because there was so much just talking and collaboration, you know. Just I mean, and there is with this one too, but it was fun because we had a third person in there, and then of course we had Mike on colors bringing a whole new kind of different kind of energy to it as well. And it just for me, that book was huge too, because it was my first image book, which was the thing I've wanted to do since I was 12, was have a book at image. And it was my first time working with like with a colorist that I was just like in awe of Mike's work, and so you know, and then of course, Kenny and Ryan. I mean, it was fantastic.

Badr Milligan 36:38

Yeah, big shout outs to Mike Spicer, by the way, uh one of the best colorists in the game right now. Um, his colors and the schlow uh per the usual, remarkable, right? Like the dude is a master at pigments. But Tyra, I was curious, did you feel any pressure, I guess, having someone like Ryan Stegman, right? Like, this is Ryan Stegman after Venom fame, Marvel fame, Spider-Man, all this stuff. Like, did you feel any pressure to like come extra correct? You know, seeing that as like Stegman was a writer on this or would see your artwork? Yeah, sort of.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

I mean, I'm not that impressed with Ryan, but uh for real though, uh part of it was that a lot of my previous work and and and the world that I live in here in Chicago is very alternative comics scene. And uh when I first kind of got in the group, I wasn't super abreast of Ryan's work, you know. So I didn't have a star-struckness about him. Okay, but I was obviously seeing his work because in the group where we trade, we we show our work to each other all the time, and I was just like, oh my gosh, man, like this guy, he can draw anything, you know. Like, how why does he want me to draw this book? How am I gonna make I was afraid he was gonna give me notes and that he was gonna be like this isn't good enough and blah, blah, blah. And so I was a little nervous for that reason. He's such an accomplished artist and is just a really smart artist that I was sort of like, I don't know if I can do this, but it was kind of the opposite. Ryan was sort of just like, you do what you do, man, and and do it well, and like don't let me get in your way, and was just really encouraging, which was is another that's really why I like Ryan. I mean, you know, he does some cool drawings and stuff, but you know, he he does want he does want us all to get better, and that's one thing I think we all do for each other in the group is we we give each other feedback, you know, uh good and bad, of like this could be better, this could, you know, be different, or this is great, keep doing that. And so Stegman's really great about that kind of thing. And and he's the same way. He's still to this day, the reason he's so good is that he takes feedback from people and he honestly tries to incorporate it into his work. And a lot of people that get to his level, they stop listening. And and that's not Ryan.

Badr Milligan 38:36

So man, that's awesome to hear. That's respect right there. Kenny, you mentioned at the end of Schlubb that you had a line about what makes superhero comics great. And you said that great superhero comics inspire us to stand up and keep going, even when we feel like we can. And I thought that resonated really well. Someone that is that grew up on superhero comics, that that's where I got my start. I still thoroughly enjoyed them, even though my palette has has definitely been diverse. Uh, I think you captured exactly what makes you know superhero comics great. And I and I'd love to hear from both of you. Kenny, you could start, but what are some of your favorite superhero stories? Like what comics did you guys grow up with?

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Oh, yeah. So um, I was a big Spider-Man fan as a kid, as well as Batman, so both companies. But anytime I could get my hands off a Spider-Man thing or a Batman thing, I would throw down on it. So Spider-Man definitely plays into that, like you just keep getting up no matter what happens, just like keep getting up and going forward. And then later on, uh, as I got older, I also got really into Green Lantern, which obviously is like all about willpower and not backing down, sort of thing. So that was very helpful as like I had a not so great situation as a kid, I will get into it, but that helped me a lot and inspired me a lot to keep going when things didn't look awesome, uh or even very helpful. So all the superhero stories just taught me like it is hard now, but if you have the perseverance to keep fighting, like things will get better and you can be a better person because of it. Um, so those characters were really important to me. Uh, on the other side of that, I also was super into spawn because it just looked badass. Uh and my mom during one of her Bible thumping phases threw it all out uh because she was like, it's devil worship. I was like, he fights the devil. So that's not true. Like he's the devil's a bad guy. Um, but yeah, uh, but yeah, so I that was really important to me. I'll pass it to Tyrell for his.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Uh, you know, for superhero stuff, I was always an X-Men kid, and I think that's probably because my dad told me about X-Men and was the first person to bring me to comic shops. And so part of it for me with X-Men was the the idea of uh, you know, being an example, right? Like that the X-Men had to be better than everyone else and and and behave better than everyone else because they were ostracized, but also that they had each other's back and that they were going to foster new generations into this, you know, more ideal kind of way of thinking. So that's that's something I took from those books that I really enjoyed. Any character within with an ethos, you know, I mean I'm also a Punisher guy. Uh I know he's not a superhero, but he has a lot of problems, obviously, especially nowadays. But I think that the thing I always was drawn to about the Punisher is that he has this sort of like these lines in the sand that he will not cross, and that that this is what I think is right and wrong, and I'm gonna stick to it. So I like characters like that. Um, and those are the those are kind of the things that I that I grew up with. Not as inspiring as Kenny's answer, but that's that's my answer.

Badr Milligan 41:40

Now, look, I I think Punisher's biggest problem is that he just has a terrible, a bad PR agent. He just needs a better PR agent, and I think it'll solve a lot of problems. But Kenny, I I do chuckle at thinking of you actually hitting your mom with a well, actually.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

I'm not afraid to hit somebody with an um, actually.

Badr Milligan 41:59

Yeah, I love it. All right, Jets, I want to move into another segment. I want to take a break from asking you guys a question and let someone else ask the question. Uh, this is a segment I like to call the short box friends and family segment. It's where I shut up for a little bit and let someone else ask the question. In this case, uh, this question comes from the owner of my local comic shop, also the sponsor of this year's segment. Uh, this comes from Ben Kingsbury. He's the owner of Gotham City Limit Comic Shop. Um, if there's anyone that knows and has read every single comic, it's this guy here. And I think he's already had a chance to read Iron Coffin. I told him that you guys would be on the show. And uh he submitted a voicemail literally like 10 minutes ago. I forgot to remind him this morning. And I was like, hey, is there any chance you can submit a question in like five minutes? And this is the type of guy Ben is. He never fails. If there's an opportunity to talk about comics, he's on it. So let's hear from Ben. This is how like quick he sent it. I haven't even had a chance to load it in my um roadcaster. So I'm gonna play it straight from my phone, all right?

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Kenny and Tyrell, Ben Kenny Gotham City Limit down here in sunny Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks so much for taking the time to jump on the Storm Fox podcast. Can't wait to listen to this episode in its entirety. Question.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

That's a good question. Yeah, one of the big challenges with this that we talked about a lot when we started was we are not going to give him a complete clean slate at the beginning. And he has to earn redemption. And he, I don't even know that he'll completely get redeemed for all the stuff that he's done. And that's part of the big challenge of it. He he now understands what he's done and is trying to make amends for it, but knows that the lives he's ruined and everything, he can't take back. He can't necessarily fix it. Um that does get, I'm being very careful because it does get played with and explained a little bit more in issue two of exactly why he's on the mission and why it's led him to this point. But yeah, that was a very big part of the story doing that and also crafting villains for him, including our two main villains, Hazel and Ivy, who are in control of this weapons development program for the Nazis. They have a completely different motivation that you'll find out later in the story, but does thematically play into the same sort of stuff of like what makes someone a monster and how do they find their place in the world. So when you guys get to that point, I think you're gonna see some fun parallels with some different twists on it.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

Right. Yeah, I don't think that there's a world where we paint him as some sort of like great hero now. I think that the conflict of his sort of reawakening is is one of the main things that we sort of are just living in through the book, not necessarily solving, but the idea that someone can change, but then when you change, you realize the ramifications of the things you did before you change, and you sort of have to work through that. And so that's sort of where our Dracula is is a lot different, you know, than the other ones.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Well, we've talked about the action a ton, it leads to some really heartbreaking emotional moments. There's a there's a specific moment in the first issue when he realizes that he's come back different than Tyrell Drew that completely nails it. It's a very sad, somber scene where he sees the ramifications of his life. And that sort of stuff is the thing that makes the action worth it. Like the action doesn't mean anything if there isn't a really cool emotional reason that stuff's happening. And aside from the action being absolutely gorgeous, like Tyrell completely nails that, as well as some classic, like EC horror type moments that are coming up as well.

Badr Milligan 46:27

I'll mention the the scene in the first issue that that really blew me away offline because I just I want to avoid all spoil. I think this is one that I would like people to go in with. I mean, obviously we've like spent the last almost like hour talking about this comic. So uh I feel weird saying it. But the the less they know going forward, I think the better. Especially and and I think what I what I didn't know is that this is all three issues are gonna be giant size.

SPEAKER_04 46:51

Yeah.

Badr Milligan 46:51

So first issue is out once again, Wednesday, July 8th. So is it gonna be a three-issue total series? And is it gonna be a monthly or what are we looking at?

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Yeah, three issues and monthly until um they collect it in the trade.

Badr Milligan 47:02

Cool. So I feel like I'm I'm beating a dead horse, but bear bear with me. The Schlub, body swap, superhero comedy series, Operation Iron Coffin, horror, philosophical, high octane action, you know, uh uh gory. Is showcasing your range and having a range of different stories and genres under your belt a conscious thing, or is it more so just it just comes natural? It's whatever the story is, it just happens to be it.

SPEAKER_03 47:29

I don't think I think about it like consciously, but I do just I and Terrell can speak to this too. I don't want to completely speak for him, but we both have broad tastes. Like I don't just like one thing, like I love a ton, like I love crazy superhero stuff as much as I love legal courtroom dramas. One of my favorite movies with the 1984 Ghostbusters, it's also All the President's Men, which is just an investigative journalism movie. So I don't ever want to be in one box where I can only tell one type of story. Like I love so many different genres of storytelling and all storytelling that I want to play in everything. Like I have a science fiction action series with Superman coming out. I've got the big colored, like crazy Power Rangers like thing coming out, and I got this, which is like super action horror, just a completely gory-blooded grindhouse stuff. I just don't ever I yeah, I just I think my taste is just so wide that I'm just interested in destroying the characters and the genres second to whatever it ends up being. But that'll pass it over to you, Tyrell.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

Yeah, bro, I have broad interests as well, and just a lot of things that I like. My whole time of making comics for the last 20, whatever years, I've tried to do different kinds of projects. I've done books about a serial killer that are drawn in a completely different style than this. I've done comics that are more like experimental, you know, and I've done action stuff. So, like if Kenny had said, let's do another comic that's a a comedy like the Schlub, I probably would have been like, well, let's try something else, you know. And it's not that I would never do a comedy again, but right now I was like, I really want to lean into something a little different that can show that I can do scary stuff and I can do gory stuff. And, you know, so so it was a good match for me when he mentioned uh this project. Because I think that you also become a better creator when you work in different genres. You automatically are just gonna get stronger with all the tools of the art form, and then you can bring that to any genre that you work on.

Badr Milligan 49:28

No, well said. Um, yeah, like I said, it was a welcome surprise coming so closely off, finishing the schlub and then moving into uh Operation Coffin. It was like, oh shit, they're like, they're getting they're in their serious bag right now. Kenny, I was also hoping that uh I was also hoping when you mentioned like you're a big fan of lawyer movies, I was like, if he throws in a Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney reference right now, I'd be so objecting.

SPEAKER_03 49:53

We don't have time to get into Phoenix right.

Badr Milligan 49:58

All right. I guess I uh last question here. Um I'm hearing love of video games, you know, anime influence. You know, Tyra, you mentioned, you know, quitting a full-time job to pursue comics full-time. Very simple, straightforward question. Why comics? Like, what why do you guys feel so strongly about comics as as a medium? What is it about the medium that you think deserves like all this time and attention and effort that you put into it?

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Well, I have tried to do other kinds of work. You know, I had a day job which was art related in the sense that I worked in art school, but it was an administrative job. And before that, I I tried to work in Hollywood for a while, doing storyboards and special effects stuff. And uh you can be an artist and choose to do comics, but it's probably for me more that comics chose me and I don't really have a choice. Honestly, I think that at a really young age, it just hooked its hooks into me. And nothing else, you know, I've done filmmaking and stuff too, but like even that, which I love doing, nothing got its hooks into me the way these panels with pictures in them on pages got into my blood. And I think about it all the time. And when I do try to make art, it always comes back to things that are interesting to me about comics. And so it's not always the best business decision to do comics, but I don't think that I have any choice, and and I'm not bored with it. That's the other thing, is that I've never finished a project and been like, oh man, I don't know if I have any more ideas for comics. It's it's more like, okay, next, next, next. You know, there's so many things that I that I want to do in comics, and so it chose me, and I I'm just stuck with it. Damn, I love that. You it chose you. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

Yeah, on my end, it hooked me too as a kid. Like, I I love stories as a kid, and to me, nothing gets me more excited than like the the combination of words and pictures. Like, ever since I was a kid, I've been completely mesmerized by comic art and different artists, and mirroring that with my love of stories, whether it's movies, books, TV, is the perfect blend to me of all that stuff. And it's the possibilities of it are almost limitless. It's just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures. Like your budget is the paper and the ink and the printing, like that's it. Like you can do anything in your time. Yes, in your time. It doesn't, it does take time. But that um that sort of thing, it's similar to Tyrell. Like, I think about it all the time. I think about reading them all the time. Like, I constantly want to find new comics I've never read or by creators I've never seen. I love stuff from other countries, like I love Franco-Belgian stuff, I love manga. Like, it doesn't matter. Just whatever, whoever's making it, like I want to see it if it's cool. So it's just the medium that I default want to tell stories in. Because other people are always like, Well, you're a writer. Do you write movies and stuff too? It's like, I can and I have, but I prefer to do this because that it's my first love. I love it. Like anytime I have an idea, I'm like, oh, how can I make it a comic? It's never like it would be the complete opposite way for me, where somebody would be like, I have a movie idea, I can't get the movie made. Then I'm going to try to make a comic book. Other way for me, I'm trying to make it a comic book, I can't get it made. Well, maybe I'll try to make it as a novel or something, but I really want it to be a comic book because that's what I want.

Badr Milligan 53:19

I forget who said it, but someone said that comic books is the most laser-focused vision, a medium for an artistic vision, because it doesn't require so many moving parts, red tape, you know, a colossal budget. It's like, like you said, time, paper, you know, imagination, a little hard work, you know, et cetera. Absolutely. I guess uh in closing, what's a piece of it, I guess, the advice that you would give to an aspiring comic creator, but more so from the lens of someone working with a friend. The pessimistic side can sometimes be like, you know, you don't ever want to mix your friends and business, or you know, that's how your friendship breaks apart. But I mean, I'm seeing you two, and you guys are getting along. You guys are producing amazing work and happy about it. Like, I guess any advice for aspiring comic creators that are working with their friends.

SPEAKER_03 54:04

Sure. Yeah. Um, I'd say that one, always be completely honest and upfront with each other. Two, it's not a problem for me because I'm always willing to do it. Anything we make together is co-owned 50-50. I'm not out here trying to be like, well, Tyrell, why don't you come make this book? But I I'm gonna own it. But, you know, you can draw it, I guess, if you want to, if you really want to. No, it's all like complete 50-50 ownership. And we're just like, we're also like I said, we're very honest with each other. Like, if I write a page and it doesn't work, Tyrell's not gonna just let me get away with it. He's gonna be like, I don't think this scene works. I think this page works. Try it again, and then he cracks the whip, uh, and I get to work immediately to fix it. Like, yes, sir. But yeah, I think that just being honest with each other and having a love of the medium and also just like finishing stuff, that's that would be my that'd be my advice to anybody, whether you're working with a friend or not. Like, I know so many people who've tried to break in. Well, I'm like, well, what are you making? And they're like, I haven't made any. Like, I'm just pitching. I was like, well, if you've never made a book, why is anyone gonna give you money to make a book? Like, you gotta show that you can do it. I've always kind of compared it to like professional skateboarding or something where you gotta like get out there and show that you can do it. Like you can't show up at the skate park with a resume and hand it to them. Like if you want to get sponsored by a skate company or something, like get to prove that you can do it, like Law of the Jungle. And that's my best thing is like make shorts if you can only make shorts, then collect them in something, or just make like a single issue comic. Just anything tangible to show that you can do it and to show editors and publishers like that you have the gumption to make something from nothing.

SPEAKER_00 55:41

I would just say, I would add to that, I guess, that you shouldn't work with all of your friends because some of them are not going to be a good match for you, right? And and since you know your friends, you got to start to think about it, right? If the one friend who never finishes something wants to do something with you, do you want to do that with them or do you not want to do that with them? Like what's the result of that most likely going to be? And so being honest with yourself too about those things. And um, you know, whether you're friends with somebody or not, just finding the people that you sort of can creatively gel with and where your sort of goals and your wants from like what the work is kind of line up to some degree, right? If Kenny really wanted this book to be a very somber, quiet thing, and I wanted it to be this big bombastic action thing, it wouldn't work out. And then it's the same thing, like Kenny said, you know, you gotta finish things. And so you want to find somebody, whether it's a friend or not, that brings out the best qualities in you and helps you get things done, right? And one thing I appreciate about there's a lot of things I appreciate about working with Kenny, but he's always there bumping things, he's always there turning in the script right when it's due, he's always there responding to feedback right away. And if he wasn't doing all those things, it would really suck because I'd be like, well, I can't call him out. He's my friend, you know? But like he does those things, you know, so I don't have to worry about him doing that. So so it's just you got to be conscious of your own self too, right? Like, I there's a lot of things that I can't deal with. And and there's people I've worked with in the past that maybe I won't work with again because I see that the way I work doesn't gel with them. And there's no ill will. It's just like we're not a good creative match. And you just gotta be honest about that. And it's hard when you're trying to break in, especially because you you know, you want to work with people and everyone's new to you in a lot of senses, and and and sometimes if some big name asks you to do something, you feel this pressure to do it, but then you find out even though they're a great writer, I hate working with them. You know, whatever it might be, you just gotta be honest about yourself and what you're capable of and what you need from the other person. It's like a marriage.

SPEAKER_03 57:38

It is like a marriage.

Badr Milligan 57:41

Yeah, I love that. And I think that is a great way to end this uh amazing conversation. Uh uh, Tyrell Cannon, uh Kenny Porter, you guys have been great. Ladies and gents, this is the Short Box Podcast, and we just finished talking to Kenny Porter and Tyrell Cannon about their brand new comic book, issue one is in stores Wednesday, July 8th. I think I've said that already, but it never hurts to remind you, all right? Operation Iron Conference, buy it, read it. It is essential reading for horror fans, for dracular fans, and just for uh fans of good comics in general, all right? Tell your local comic shop to hold you a copy right now. I have a feeling this might this is gonna be one of those number ones that you see in in like in all the news headlines sold out, go into second printing immediately. Uh, you don't want to be a sucker and miss out on a I don't know, it's tweet a cover of when the first issue comes out, all right? I'll have links to uh Kenny's social media and website in the show notes. I have links to Tyrell's social media and website in the show notes. Do yourself a favor, give them a follow, see what they got going on, and keep an eye out for future projects, all right? With that being said, you guys have been great. Take care.

SPEAKER_03 58:48

Hey, yo, run it back. That's kind of like the Metal Gear thing of it where like each of them has a special ability and some weird philosophy that plays into like the Nazi ideology stuff.

Badr Milligan 58:59

Kenny, you gotta uh you gotta pull a psychomantis and be like, now pull out the second issue and read it upside down to finish this.

SPEAKER_03 59:06

That's the only way.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

The only way you can save Dracula. Yeah. Well, I like Easter eggs. Maybe we'll sneak something in there. So I guess I'll psychomantis.

Badr Milligan 59:14

I guess I didn't get to ask uh how um how far along are you guys uh in the series? Is all three issues done?

SPEAKER_00 59:20

Uh I am working on issue three right now. Oh wow. So I just actually sent Kenny the end of the fight with the last oh that's done. Well, not the last bad guy, but the last of the big three uh just earlier today, I think, or yesterday. So uh we'll be done, you know, on time. On time, that's when we'll be done. But yeah, I'm working on issue three. It is, it is the pages I was working on just now. I was about to text Kenny. It's just you know, it's stuff that when he told me about it, I was like, oh, that's gonna be cool. And now that I'm drawing it, I'm like, oh my god, this is a lot of, you know. But yeah, but it's the kind of stuff that I like. It's like, it's like, can I pull this off? And so far, I've been asking that question on every issue, and I feel like we're pulling it off. So hopefully this third issue will keep the same vibe going.

Badr Milligan 1:00:02

All right. Well, I can't wait to check it out. Like I said, great first issue. Love the schlub.

unknown 1:00:07

I'm a fan now.

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.