Comcastrodors, please welcome Hilton Ariel Ruiz and his film project Zombie with a Shotgun. In this episode of the Comcastro podcast we reflect on the popularity of the web series, ponder the value of dark storytelling, learn about Hilton Ariel Ruiz’s new comic book, get an insider take on the publishing world, and briefly detour through past work, comic books, videogames, and Spiderman. B-Y-O-Boomstick.
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So they’ve been going on for two years. It just it just became you know I’m going to become bigger than what I actually expected to be where it’s just you know doing one episode at a time slowly and surely that that you know I was doing a lot of interviews and then you know I got out of you know into the bypass for magazine articles and you know I thought it would stop. Never did. Even to this day still doesn’t stop. So what happened is it kept on getting more you know in traction and you know when I did the first episode you know it was basically All right guys you know I had this idea that I can be such a cool idea to get this is going to be what happens to it. You know there’s damage on it you know saturated or no it’s just that I wanted you to say oh you know as a filmmaker as a person I love to our love still loves our I want to give my own interpretation of you know the dummy stuff even though that very saturated if you want to get you know I mean the zombie slash kind of like a love story slash you know point of view of the zombie kind of thing going on in so you know again when the first episode I got many followers many people asking what question we want to have a lot more episodes if it was going to blame the actor moved away. New York and we plan to do all these episodes the story but he got agent signed and they just signed him and he went out to L.A. So we would only be able to do so but we can still do you know we are still in on the process of doing another episode but right now that hold because now as you can see I’m not sure you know there’s a graphic novel being created. So having his graphic novel being created I figured OK let’s get this gothic novel. You know what you’ve done. I can use this as a platform for me to actually propel it for a feature length film in a given investors to come in and even raise money online to be like a kick ass episode like a really kick ass. So and we wanted to shoot in two days something that you know nothing compares to the first five episodes just as something that’s really kick ass money and you know just good shit going on. Yeah yeah yeah I mean a lot of people coming out that actually go out and you know it’s about crowd funding and you know I would have you know I would have a lot of people I would support it. I just said I think that if you know want to get that graphic novel going and I think it would be even more so I would say OK let me just get this graphic novel going first for me to get this you know get to the next level. You know this as a filmmaker you know from the dream myself to make a really great love story. There’s nothing like that you know to have a great love story and I just feel you know what. Why not you know deal with the heart not saying this is this is my ultimate kind of a love story and I want to do. But I think you know what let me just do a little story I mean you know the universe so they’re going to Nate’s relate to it and this is the last thing I expected to hear you say. It’s like well I’ve always wanted to make the greatest love story ever source sort of making zombie films and I just I just you know there’s none there’s nothing out there and I just thought that it would be something to do you know something that I think that you know again it’s not something you know zombie been done so many times over and over. This is something different is something rigid and I don’t think so I mean it’s just how the other stories out there but I just wanted to do my own own interpretation of it it does seem like that genre just won’t die or as many times I’m trying to plan a lot of it keeps creeping back to life yeah I think the vampires vampires will never die. If the Empire is a zombie for some reason will never die they just you think it’s gone. The aim for the head and still somehow there’s a new twist. Well yeah as I mean isn’t that asking a lot of your female protagonists I mean her boyfriends literally a monster I mean not metaphorically like she beats or something but no no it’s she’s literally dating a monster here I mean as a man aren’t aren’t aren’t you really asking a lot of girls. It all depends on us I think every girl out there is put up with perhaps a zombie level monstrosities at some point I feel like the metaphor is being worn right on the sleeve there are so many ups and downs everywhere you know little little outbreaks and flare ups and it’s so is the zombie is on like like a metaphor for sexually transmitted disease by someone I mean you know and when the idea what I want to expand the core idea I wanted to. Expand the whole idea on basically the year of yes somebody being sick I mean that everyone’s fear and you know when creating the whole story even creating the script for the graphic novel when I was working with the artist my whole thing was getting inspired by the whole HIV slash AIDS epidemic that happened in the early eighty’s where everybody was getting sick and dying and finding out later on the conspiracy theories of how the pharmaceuticals was taken advantage of trying to you know make money out of it and just you know not figure out the cure but you know just somebody to live with it and the idea if we got inspired from that kind of you know me the grown up in a New York City do that like imagine like The Wire trying to leverage poverty into destroying itself so they can redevelop the area just like they’re double doing. Imagine zombies as a mechanism of wiping out refugee or impoverished populations in order to take over China conspiracy style that steps do you know it’s you know getting to the comic book in the first issue. It’s definitely going the way that you’re talking about. You get to see if you get to see the whole kind of but it’s all about what the hold on going to shock and it’s all about and you know has a kind of like the name is catchy you know could be quirky you know I think because it takes more of the series kind of starring in the title itself. So that’s basically what I was in up to the fancy question yes and it it was inspired from that. DEMICK So have you done any research into like the history of zombies and like how they came out of like like the Caribbean and that sort of idea. A Yes You know it’s funny that you say that I grew up in a Haitian Neighborhood. One of the very few people that nomination viewers I know about the whole black magic to the Caribbean or my best friends were Haitian next Tony it was a scene in the old practice black magic so I was very in tune to that whole you know culture or whatever you want to call it of bringing black magic you know for me to you know for me to do a study on Internet in books and no I have to say I’ve done a little research because I felt like I lived live the real thing. I’m so glad you brought this up because we’ve just been like remarking about how funny it is that we’ve accidentally ended up in a conversation about occult mysticism and every person we’ve talked oh well it’s like we go to these waves like at first it was like we couldn’t stop talking about drugs we don’t even do drugs it’s not like every one of our deaths was like Santa Claus on like some freak out drug you know unheard of and now I was conjuring the spirits of the Earth observation but like well it wasn’t like man just the entire community or was it like it’s a much healthier despite having it was it’s a it’s an area in like it’s a group in New York City and there’s a part in Queens which is one of the highest population Caribbean the majority was Asian in Jamaica and I’m a grown up there with a really huge community very large expanse miles so I would think that you know my whole life it just isn’t my first you know the first eighteen years of my life I lived there and had all my best friends were there just being there and you know always talking about you know if you need to talk about it but you knew what you know the parents you know what they were all you know all about the whole to do in the whole Well what would you call it black magic. You would go and you see all of these like you know. Statute God and the and everything and you would know you know the just some things that you just don’t want to talk about. But you know but you just knew you were the parents and sometimes you would hear it. There’s many times waking up in the morning you would see Roosters just just like the cliches you see in television you would see God you would keep being the be like whoa you just knew you know just living. But it was it was a community that never got freaked out about it you just walk in the sun you like you knew what it was all about. You think you know you know probably taken a place and you know the suburbs and they saw the public just call the police to see a dead animal and everything and you know they would. My friends would have goats in the backyard you know they’ve got to have that you’re going to have been you think you know I mean it was you know they were just a really interesting wild time my you know of course I mean you know coming not being Haitian everything and I take that as a great experience in my upbringing or my my well done right. Do you think there’s a lot to be gained from maybe being more in touch with sort of like the perceived Darksiders yourself or of nature. Is that like something missing from other cultures. Well it’s like do you feel like there’s some sort of like emotional knowledge to get from interacting with let’s just say like darkness is a concept. Yes I did I did anything so now I just think of going to have some of the cultures that are just everything they do is to sort of sanitize this thing out of them you know protect themselves. I have the same thought might be but this might make you more vulnerable by not having a relationship with it. I mean you know men also always it’s always kind of a. When they negativity you always being you know being around them. It was just something that it was and it was always something about vibrancy on the vibe than you know this is it. They were you know talk about the dark side you know that there was only fear of how can I say that something was always going on. They would just kind of I want to see creeps. But there was something that was always going on that you just knew it was it was something that was dark and it’s really hard to explain what I’m what I want to say and without using that you know I don’t use the wrong word and it was interesting I think having that you know backed up you know definitely helped you know me getting knowledge from it and just having that you know touch and you know when it’s time to do films and that any of that ever scare you when you’re younger. Did you ever see you have an experience where you were like more involved with No I was so used to it. No I never was good I mean I it was kind of like you know you get that kind of feeling that it’s kind of cool in that kind of thing but nothing like I like you know you can skid and I have to go home just close the door. No no never. Yeah that’s like Norland your sort of consciousness that the culture has you know that’s perfect when you think that that’s exactly how I felt you know growing up but so like if something was going on you know and it’s like a vibe that was kind of dark and but it was it was pretty cool. Has that darkness kind of what what carried you in a horror movie or a good question. I think I do it in general you know I would say so I think a lot of my you know I like I said I had a really interesting upbringing and you know being from New York City and I think a lot of other that and I think a lot of the rawness of New York of how dangerous and drawing scary it was also you know the build elements and with bringing Yes guiding me into going to do our you know I’ve always said to myself I wanted to do you know I would love to do film about something about how when I growing up when I was younger about that whole kind of community that I grew up in when I want to do it right you know so I’m like you know I would love to stay there for later on you know. You know it might put really into the door where I can really do a project in about that whole kind of lifestyle that I was going on the growing up a minimum and New York City was always you know that believe it or not was more scared then we’re living. It was just scary New York City which is always it was just you had to watch your back you had to be careful it was just very raw grungy whatever you want to call it and that was that was always some time to watch a movie that I get that kind of feeling like Oh my God It gives me that I still feel it. You know how that it’s kind of you know but it was a cool feeling in a New York City did not feel like that. It’s like Disneyland. Yeah yeah. And when you walk anywhere in New York City and believe in a safe you can go anywhere. Well just to help so much that if you were to be dangerous you couldn’t afford. Yeah. So like Have you ever thought about like why horror still exists as an art form. I mean you would think logically speaking I think Max is touching on this earlier but you know why. It’s likely you’d think that when people go to entertainment they just want to see happy stuff. Yet that is not the case at all ever in all of history even if you go back to like they have like some really scary parts and Odysseus and I like the same is true with like every tradition why do you think a horror endures. I think the element of fear is so easy to get out of people and I think that once we saw you know for me I think like actresses and I would agree I would think that a lot of people think I’m one of the scariest movie and that high that you want to get by seeing your favorite came and they see you so you scared you know this is a scary story and believe it or not you know there’s not a lot of scary movies that are really good. It is you know you watch and you try to get that one element of fear the fear factor in the film and you try to catch that high and I think we all as we watch movies and we try to catch that high that we had a quote from that one scary film that we watch when we younger whatever age we were and we still are trying to catch and we’re still trying to get it when I get in it and what we mean. You know every ten years ago one scary horror film is like a drug you know you’re describing this like chasing a crackhead. Yeah yeah. He’s trying to catch that that that element of fear and you try to get in I think I think what a lot of times people still you know you know because you get that one point you get that one scary film and that feeling in your body feels good and I think we’re all today I mean we’re also trying to catch it. I haven’t you know it’s hard to get through to really do a really great horror film. Every time there’s let’s just glance over it’s a comb. Yeah you know I think. Also you know everybody wants to you know defeat the real world and you know try to come with some of the they can’t get it in watching a movie but you know although technically technically if they’re escaping what they’re escaping to is something they need to also escape from like a complete the complete disasters that you will not make sense it’s like when you’re a divorce attorney and you go home you have a really healthy marriage. It’s like it’s like you go home and your wife could like knife you in the stomach you’re like wow as bad as this is my Yeah I think at the end of the I think that’s when you know when you still are trying to get that you know that high and chase after that like crazy arousal that threat. And well there aren’t that many archetypes. Whenever you look at the horror genre at least in terms of the monsters. OK there’s there are there are only so many monsters you’ve got Frankenstein who really comes from Gollum like like we just created a monster of our own bedding. Well you know we can have a big categorization of just zombies themselves for one night I’m getting to that and I don’t actually mention is vampires they’ve been around a long time. Just the concept of it an entity that drains energy from others. Both of those starting at Lord Byron sow’s both of those actually being reinvented and Lord Byron sounds I would argue those will go along with zombies on the other hand uniquely modern You can deftly trace them back to the Caribbean to a certain extent Western Africa has some various things but the Romero style zombie the plague interestingly enough actually more of a twentieth century phenomenon not. Yes twentieth century about nineteen was it ten or nine hundred thirty Lovecraft wrote Reanimator. OK yeah. Around that period like that was totally in the story. Now with the Lovecraft one I don’t know much about this my question is did the Reanimator have some element of plague associated with it. I’m trying to remember where you are you. Fan of the old world literature. Yeah yeah I mean I mean I’m not going to say it was a big fan of but I was aware of them and didn’t really like you know like the person I really you know research didn’t have that much but. But what strikes me about the twentieth century zombie as opposed to Frankenstein Dracula Wolfman any of that. The zombie is not other you know it’s not a foreign invader by any stretch it’s not from other another dimension it is us. I mean it is it is the fear of other humans and I I I believe and I’ve nothing to prove this but I believe that you know people are kind of naturally afraid of large groups of other people in this is like the source of a lot of your social anxiety and I wonder if that the plague zombie genre is a response to you know highly urbanized environments. It’s interesting I think you get room to make your own criticisms with it you know it’s like something grows so large that it consumes itself you know like cancer. Yeah or the overpopulation of or like the entire aspect of like Western colonial growth like you could totally to Heart of Darkness is on the story of the pretty racist because out designers Africans going crazy but you know they read it in Apocalypse Now you know about zombies just just the Heart of Darkness. Weird stuff but I think that is I think that’s kind of the the enduring appeal at least that’s what I suspect about the modern like the plague zombie apocalypse will be twenty days later or any any anything from that you know dawn of the dead that that sort of thing is that it it’s the only area of kind of. Of or that really turns the humans into the bad guy. You know there’s no one bag I was never like a king zombie. That’s a rare rare thing. The strain has that the season do they had a cat they have a zombie king. Yeah that’s an exception. Most the time it’s most the time it’s such an existential threat words like what is what is the solution of this there is not like those like zombie foreign films almost always have some sort of like a halfway happy ending or it’s like well I mean we killed about zombies but you know the dead are still rising from the grave and funny because it seems like we can get away from it. So I’m just you know thinking that you know I don’t know any more development of any project that are on television but you know going to court Walking Dead you have eyes on the nomination that time for another season but it’s going to get it here to stay. Because you sell some more about the graphic novel you have AS and so are you drawing it yourself or. No no it is a towering artist who works for he created Image Comics with Image Comics he does his own and his own commission the job he’s creating comics and his name hard to pronounce his last name is first movie I mean and I mean really Italia last name because I can email you the information reckon it’s really our last thing I really recognize and remember which series hit it off really well when we discussed about doing a comic book because I was one thing that everybody was Tommy right was telling me that you know you know you need to get this into a graphic novel that should be the next step. Due to the fact zombie John. So saturated one way to push the project to go further is to create a graphic novel by actually doing we do social media we just started talking. I would have searching for anyone pitching for me and he liked his work and he liked my work you look great and then when I found out that he draws the kind of near death I’m not sure if you guys you know the new def comic book series Image Comics. So I’m like oh man this guy is kind of this isn’t often comic book man that gets killed and he gets blacked out and he dies while he dies he gets to the other side where he gets another chance to come back to life and to do good and by to help you become and for the good. So it’s a really popular comic book you know from Image Comics when you’re definitely doing all the hard work you know like that again. Michael what I love your work and I think I have an idea and I will look to possibly work with you one day if you know me unite you know on this comic book. So he loved it. He who I found him a script and all the episodes all the traction what’s going on with you know how many articles on this hold on a shotgun and he just came and I we you know we talked about made a deal and since then we’ve been going and we should be finishing. I would say in the next three months it should be completely done the first issue now is of course getting the publishing company to come it was going to publish a comic book. There are a lot and truth of comic books. That’s really interesting in the Congo. But we’re not pulling the trigger that yet because you know again it’s only the best finished product get that product in your hand and you know for mention of just you know right now just the idea of OK we’re interested in you know signing you and whatever so that’s that’s right now what’s going on at three months definitely looks like completely done with the first issue and from them get a solid respectable publishing company to put it out and help us continue to you know spread the word we will be working on other issues. Are you aware of some successful self publishing groups put us on store together. No I don’t. I research some of them but you know on a feature I would love to see that could first see what’s out there and if it doesn’t look like it’s a good way to go out then I will stop of this book of course you know the publisher got more money out there you know promotion and I don’t like that so that’s that’s that’s another. It could be a problem of you know everything coming out of my pocket and things where things would be much more slower than possibly having a publisher come and push it out more just want to test out my options but if you know any good to potion companies please share. So why did graphic novel Have you always going to love the art form more of like a recent development. So you know I’ve always loved the art form of course the comic books I was more of the guy that you know yes but if you are more than really an American I think that but it’s just it’s everything in me a sense I mean it’s a kick ass comic book called. Why would a shock and I mean it sounds as if they can add up and just the story itself as you know about the you know and there is a little different with their you know and you know story that you know you’ll be able to see it and you know I can’t really say it’s not because again you know so many times but it a little few different twist that I feel a little bit different than what they don’t want to know there are so there’s there are so many things that it’s like opposite of you know the walking dead for example give you just one example. And these armies are not allowed to be killed in this you know of the world and that’s one big thing compared to the walking dead zombie rights kind of thing or is this just is it I don’t want to give too much to story out but that they organize the union then eventually it’s you know it’s basically what we talked on the very beginning conversation it all has to be about making money. OK How are you going to make money. He doesn’t have a socket anymore and well you get to see the story I guess that we have you know of course the script of the first issue you get to see what’s going on what’s really happening to this you know this zombie timeline that I’ve created and that’s like one twist that I would say it’s totally different than a lot of the other zombie and you’ll find out why the zombies have to be a lie. You know it’s just you have to do something different right. I mean you just can’t go out there and say hey you know let’s just get this gun and start shooting only this guy getting killed in this and in in my series. In my in the whole graphic novel The humans are getting killed by other humans. So this whole kind of like political war. You know the struggle balance of which they should do these things and humans you know they do react so you get to see all of that one issue comes out. Russia if you can get everything in the first but you get a lot. So when you’re creating a script for a comic book you know I’ve I’ve read stories there’s there’s two big ones actually read who actually talk about the process of the Gammage static X. and his scripts are very straightforward it’s almost like you know a guy walks and he walks in a room and they got a fight no big deal and then he really focuses on the dialogue because that’s kind of what what separates static X. and you go over to the other end of the extreme which is Alan Moore who is legendary for writing these hundred page long scripts for like a twenty page comic book and you know these writers are the illustrators were given like a very detailed idea as to what he was going for. So you know what was the process like of drafting a script for a graphic novel. Oh yeah that that was the whole thing also when we started talking about going this whole thing going. I wanted to make sure that you know since it you know the first issue something that you know I haven’t done before so it’s like OK I’m going to just write the script you know narrated the structure just like the script we’re going to do it because this is exactly how I would want to do the film because of the feature that I do you know that there’s an employ more like street screenplay dialogue or it was more like a screenplay for a film and then more than the comic books stand a structure. OK so I told him that I was OK and he said sure. He said that he he will break it down together and he’ll let you know. What works and what doesn’t work so well when I completed the script I already had a feature film but I idea but it was just you know a lot of character development in the first quest pages I didn’t want to be doing. I wanted to get right into the story right into the action of course being the first issue that it cut down and when I finally found the script for the first issue he actually thought it was it was perfect it was and there was no well there was a problem if we can do this we can you know should I see anything that you just wrote and we did the description everything I can I can see it but we’re going for it but I would say that was a good thing. So when you’re making a movie in your draft script vs drafting a script or a graphic novel you know what were some of the big surprises like what’s lost in a graphic novel or gained by going into progressive art as opposed to cinema. I think what I said before I think that the development it doing for the screenplay for the film you know you have to of course you know you have your whole set up for your first fifteen or twenty five minutes of training characters and sometimes you know that translating that to a comic book it’s going to be kind of like barring you know it’s not going to be so when we discuss you know the thing was to get right into the action right away and I think you know of course playing with the Congo you could play a lot with it because it’s not you know budget wise and like that and I think I think that’s the big thing you know when you’re doing a film especially low budget you have to be conscious that it’s kind of what you have where the locations we can add to how the story is going to you know how you can create a story with just the locations in the budget you have of comparing to do a lot of crazy stuff. Illustrator you know you know how to do a lot of things a fast pace you know in the fast paced world where you know I would think short attention span you know. But even with film is changing you know a lot of them are not you know in a lot of people can watch movies from you know young generation can watch movies from the backing of age because of the short attention span to kind of you know I think not I think about it you know it’s the same case of script vs comic book. I would say that’s the main thing is just character development just getting into there and I’m always a fan and script writing always treating them and it’s getting out of character that the audience is going to feel for and and so you don’t have to do that and yeah I mean yes you do but not right to take time you know that you know you can do so many issues. But that first twenty five minutes ago feature length film The main point to get everyone to resonate with your character whoever he is hero Bill and I just feel for the film because you like this guy so close female I mean that’s that’s that’s the difference pros and cons you know I created a book about three or four years ago it was published by powerhouse books and then was distributed by Random House photography book called to forty deuce and it was photographs that were from one thousand nine hundred twenty four that are I will look at Eric during that time in Times Square and spoke with a pretty decent polish and a pretty you know big where the people who publish are big and I publish books for Madonna and everything so you know I was a really good learning. Experience going through the whole publishing you know world and being you know first time and of how I work to be published by a big publishing company and going to the pros and cons and what I’ve learned from that first time going around it that they do and how fed up of P.R. work and they are already set up where like I had articles from New York Time time G.Q. you know all these companies that I didn’t include in for this book that was really my self publish that’s going to be a problem because you don’t have that you know P.R. connection and you have you know unless you have some huge or whatever celebrity or some of you making a book about something just you know it’s really difficult to get I think that’s the good thing about being in the publishing coming out of the self-help P.R. that had all be you know every time it came out a book but you know and all the you know the P.D.F. of the book all the major newspaper all these markets so I wouldn’t really good thing. Now they’re the only problem is of course you know we’re going to see as much revenue if it’s going to stop publishing is going to come in and you know you get more out of it the pros and cons about the whole thing about you know you know explaining that you know I thought I felt I feel now that that I went through a publishing company. My experience that I would tell people is if you can get that one publishing company the publisher big publishing company and if you can get a one book deal and get your name out of your work then the next time you go around self publish. Because getting cracked open into the industry is very important in getting you doing so college and going out that first time really difficult. So you know my opinion in my advice because that’s something that I’m think I’m going to do next series of books that I would like to treat because a lot of photographs of that that I own that I like out of Syria to keep on going to that my my my experience in my life that I think in my opinion but I think yeah there there are photographs of the early eighty’s there book that we had a chance to type in the forty Duke’s book an issue that was published in the meaning of this gentleman who took a photograph from early then and then I took quite took ownership of the photographs and publishing them and hopefully we’re going to get in the series which again I like to self published but I think I cracked the door open and I’m going to you know my name is out there and the workers out there. So they’re amazing photographs that shows just how that ever was in one thousand nine hundred eighty four the little two year that the photographs were taken for the book. And you can see everything you can see the old mark the marquee sign you know from the grindhouse films style you see some of the you know if of course if you from the sex workers and you know if not you know that I have no it’s very dumb respectful you know very tastefully photographs and you get to see the hip hop the way you know during that time you start to grow much you know getting into the more spotlight get you the fashion if you have a New York if you look. Back in thirty years ago. Over thirty thirty five thirty two years ago is that kind of an image you’re going to have the comic books for the end. There are some That’s when he said there are some stuff that has that kind of Grindhouse feel to it and that is a project in the works of getting more of that work out this comic book Gothic novel. But yes that’s when I just like there is some elements of the work that your titles total Grindhouse Pulp Fiction zombie with a shotgun. Yeah yeah yeah. What’s your favorite comic. Spider-Man Spider-Man. Yeah I was a big collector Spider-Man and collected you know and I was more of the artwork of the more than the reader even you know more was more the artwork to appreciate. I like that that was my favorite and I was kind of like everywhere you know as a New York Muslim spider. Yeah but you know I resonate with the characters so much my my on raising me and I went to photography as a young you know and I was really young and and I love my art and everything is so funny. You got Spider-Man you know great bio is on it with the photographer and everything so I kind of like go we thought that that was me when I did comic books and look at it was like which is really cool but you were reading during the ninety’s which was the Clone Wars for Spider-Man like the worst run over you poor thing. You got screwed. Yeah I mean I mean I thought I would say I would stop I would stop in the ninety’s more and more in the eighty’s with Spider-Man you know Spiderman started going crazy you know in the web Spider-Man and all that stuff that’s coming down and which I was a debt collector there is one of the winners by demands for the biggest criticisms. Matthew gets angry at this that like it seems like every other week it’s like. Why just turns again into oh no another close to yeah I hear I know it. It started to be very fairly started in a way I don’t know what happened in the ninety’s you know that’s when you’ve you know everyone felt that kind of feel the comic books or the and it was it was all very you know you say you with sad you like baseball cards and you know no more collecting cards and the conflict is not to die in this in and you know I’m happy that it came back but they weren’t doing themselves any favors man I mean. Yeah I mean it wasn’t just Spider-Man that sucked like Superman had a mullet for no damn reason Batman put on like a suit of armor after got his bat his bat back broke and it just looked like shit I mean they they’re really scraping the bottom of the well there are certain I’d say ninety four. Yeah yeah I totally agree I totally agree. Like Sony Pictures Spiderman the last five ten years or so I think you know I think that’s what you know surviving with think that you know the evolution of visual effects to have these comic books really come to life going on on the screen because before him and he’s you know when he’s come up with Punisher and all those old Soviet Union was born you know you don’t really didn’t you saw i like they’re not there yet. You know you know I had on the spawn movie are you know I mean that’s I mean it’s a it’s not there yet I mean I like Spawn but it just wasn’t me I mean I think about it he was born. How come on their side show like a cartoon spawn. Yeah you got it right and it was it was violent never tits intersect this week as I told you and I have just imagine you know now it’s kind of a risk of like you know the spawn you know film which I know they well you know you know they’re going to do but just imagine if we can now the whole. You know technology these are facts now. I mean that would be really awesome to be like a meth binge or something just like constant like explosion of evil and rage. Yeah yeah spawn has to be rated R. I mean it’s like I actually remember reading a spawn comic book and I was a kid not but that shit like dance. It’s a little too much. Who actually got it right before that time in one thousand nine hundred four was the Crow really they actually got it right for like a coloring book that was like Yeah the want to play something wrong there was the fuckin prop organizer now. Oh no did I was like again I like the own film is you know you think wow they got it right ninety nine actually you just mentioned like very interesting that like the Crow got it right. You know who else got to write everything related to Jackie Chan followed closely by gently martial arts movies back then were what comic book movies are today it’s like the big really exciting action movies I mean I guess you could make an argument like James Cameron all his stuff but you were seen as a really well put together martial arts movie is that you just don’t see today. Yeah. He don’t he don’t. It’s chill has gently kind of like backed out a little bit of directing. I mean he’s I think he aged out O. directing or starring you know I think he’s tired to sleep on beds of money I think he also had a cover I wouldn’t from getting the restaurant not too long ago. Really. Yeah is that Hitler or Jackie Chan because Jackie Chan has like the most shameful son in the world a lady I think you’re right Jackie Chan. Yes you’re going to turn to longer yet like you know. When Jackie Chan movie. My son has got into trouble again. Now I must to Dexters to rescue him. So the problem is the gangsters of the police say he’s dead and so over DUI He’s so shameful actually like mentioned it is like you know not women anything to the kid he’s going to charity. Here’s something funny that I wrote while back about what we’re talking about how martial art films. You know why they’re not you know why don’t explode like you know how to use them back in the grave. But you know almost all of the main reason the love interest is not believable with sort of sort of eating character having a love interest a white female. And in this article they said that in all the martial arts that Jackie Chan he never had a love interest. The only courses love interest was in Jennifer she would and Jackie Chan had I think with Aaliyah but they said they never kissed me on screen. It was only one kid out of all these martial arts films that came out along you know during the ninety’s and that is a problem that Hollywood doesn’t give the scripts where there is a real love interest and they say it’s not believable and that’s why they’re not written in the scripts and that’s why do you know work because they come off of the court. This guy I think Guy and I never gets the girl. Let’s battle about as opposed to diehard which is the whole point is a walk through glass and take bullets singlehandedly to take down the terrorists or to rescue my separated wife proved to have a bad American you know commercial karate slash March our Cancun movie this show you don’t see them having a love interest. They don’t have it at the end that’s what we all kind of. Like you still want to know what else does a man do anything for right. Yeah like I’m only following my dream so I can impress the school who rejected me once. Actually you know it’s funny you mention love interest because my initial instinct was to call you wrong and say Time copout a phenomenal love story but let’s let’s leave John Clive and Emma with contraception. It’s too easy. But he let you know has a good point. Good Asian movie with a love story. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in fact that is the story that can never be shouting I’m fat Michel yeah yeah we do we write but in this article to talking about crossing or having the lead have a love interest of the white Caucasian female because I think they did. It’s not written in the article Stan Hollywood just doesn’t think that America doesn’t think that’s a believable and it’s not really in the American martial art films the engine acted being the lead and it’s funny when you look at all the films that we’ve seen Jackie Chan is an American martial arts film and Jet Li They never had to grow is true among women is so much they never had sex or they never had a lovely interaction in the picture and like wow I never thought about that it is so true. We’re recruiting that’s why doesn’t work but I guess it’s not technically a martial arts film is it you know I was thinking about did he have one dies and he love his wife or something but the I Am the beginning was married and he was married. Yeah but again yeah I don’t know the convo more Robocop had a big like marriage motivator and like the newer one but in the newer one yeah it was on a martial arts. Well maybe like a post-human martial arts. We like using machine so make your limbs. I never saw the new one I want to go. It’s good. They did a good show here I am going to give a chance to you know I mean this is just the suit doesn’t look as cool and lean like the first one was iconic you know the point is the point is well he actually ends up with the suit the looks exactly the same. Well I mean the point is I mean unfortunately for something like that that’s like saying The point isn’t Superman’s cape. Now you have to have the Cape to do the scene where they take back the peel back the armor and you can see all he is is a face with a brain attached to Longs of the heart and that says only organic bit left and they show it to himself in the mirror. It’s like whoa this kind of spooky. That would be strange. It was wild. I feel like Darth Vader could handle that was some Darth Vader fuckin shit Robocop meets Star Theater is the new Robocop Actually that was kind of the only one of the cool things about the expanding universe was they got into Darth Vader and just how emotionally destroyed he was and how he had a tough time handling the fact that he’s like I’m really not very much like at all just kind of a horrible thing here. More machines mad now writing are you doing a sequel Robo Cop who knows maybe it’s not exactly a sacred franchise I feel like they could take a shit on unknown people angry with Detroit because they have nothing nothing to the thing they did take the Deus Ex video game reboot took place in Detroit. Giffen I’m sure they celebrated that it was good for Detroit. Company was pretty girl. Yeah. Assuming there’s an arc. The arcade. Oh yeah. VS Terminator I guess Robocop dark eighty eight. Oh are you a bit richer gamer meant I mean I mean it depends what game you have a good big game or depends how Actually you talk like like for example to me. Well we go on like a semi as here. We’re on like way back. Arcade days. OK Dave Yeah I mean I mean my my big games that I like and I still like an eye opening I get the app it’s unbelievable to see me exactly as a dragon slayer and the space race is really you know you guys are going to game one Dragon’s Lair that hard as hell computer game you know like some lame duck in an island in animation. Yes I was really down a lot of big memories and times gone by. I mean my last name the phone like ninety two ninety three I stopped playing with our king in place go to his local arcade game and primal rage called Irish was the jam. Yeah I mean that has limited time it was like the last even though so much pain you had you had no chill in her memory. That time and you course you have the mortal combat you know it’s interesting they mention pro-marriage I felt like primal rage said Mortal Kombat is pretty cool. So Street Fighter how can we rip them both off perfectly that the killer instinct actually made some new headway like they said you know we’re going to run this combo system and they really up they up the ante on graphics like when it first came out. Killer Instinct and he was blown away everything else and I saw a man and then everyone else got there with my man to the chief and they had such great effects and would go I love that game. We’re actually doing kind of a throwback in Atlanta. We just had a few bars open up they’ll want to run Classic Arcades another around new video game releases. Yeah to do now here in New York a lot to the building these arcade bars are really famous one that was probably it would say one of the first ones in Brooklyn was for Brooklyn called barkada. Take a look at up it’s been it was created by like me. Seven to nine years ago I would say when I won the first part it was a good name parkade that has all these arcade games and everything and now it’s time to do you know a lot in the are trying to create these you know retro arcade games so much so much better on those like touch screen porno games right. Which one. So there’s like these bar games that are set up to be like yeah I don’t know anybody I remember that they still haven’t really. We were talking to the guys running up the one down here they said they go looking for game distributors and the only thing they got is the touchscreen thing and Golden Tee. They’re like not interested in this card game and I am not a Mr I’m going to let it happen. Why would you look at that in a strip club. Well there’s two that’s right in front you are a I used to have it here you get the lonely corner there is a sensory overload. You get so sick of the it was like I have a beer. I mean you name to it. That’s a nasty stripper to me it is like you can keep it. Here’s a dollar to go away I’ll play this video game. Let me know when a listers come up as your franchise keeps getting bigger man. Like there’s a lot of people trying to make throwback video games like me I’m back obsessed with a few others as one guy makes a review website of retro games. Man always been angry video game nerd. The angry video game nerd has his own retro videogame that’s hard a shit. Yeah it’s like designed around those old tropes. The entire style also hotline Miami is total like Grindhouse shoot ’em up for like a Vice City Miami style low crime high steal all I’m saying is the shotgun seems to plug right into this like genre here. Dude I’m thinking of a job. I can’t stand up a cabinet where you pull out like a shotgun from the from the cabinet self and it’s almost like house the dead to where you like shoot the zombies coming at you but not to use a zombie so you’re shooting humans the thing is that that’s what a lot of the band Allen. They write I mean are you thinking about making an athlete video game you know and I’m like you know I never thought I mean I thought of it but. So it’s kind of like you know I think that’s all new territory. I think you know I was like I don’t know about that but a lot that’s a lot of people to ask me to be right up. Yeah. Treating a map or some kind of you know interactive game but you know again that’s new territory for me to that’s my background. If you want to talk more about that we can put a prototype to go yeah that’s definitely have to do something. Well we’re putting a show like this together. If you going to work with me to the themes can be think small things going on in the all of our lives from Cambridge to fill their documentary on H.B.O. Showtime called the Atari expedition to the landfill. Yes Yeah yeah then we just saw it as an excellent excellent I would think how you know the next film. One man can tank an entire industry watches his career it goes into three days. OK So let me let me let me ask you guys something would be happening if they would arcade game and your favorite counter game can you name it. Are you like taking my time period for councils or any country any time arcade. I pumped a lot of money into that old Some sims game. You know on that buy local Mexican restaurant growing up was one of the only places with arcades with likes cabinet boxes that still had him there and it had to go some goblins Burger Time and GALLAGHER And so those were my three most played arcade ones doesn’t balance is merciless God it’s a hard game and I kept playing calmly now kind of I think it’s more sites calling them gallant ghosts and goblins is just I mean it is the single hardest side scrolling bullet hell with all these monsters I mean it’s rough. I still can’t get past the fuckin goblin that gargoyle. Another first stage is like halfway stage where on the age old shit hard and then it seems to those are getting better. Now what about counsel for you it’s probably Mega Man I meant I mean if it’s not if it’s not one of the Mega Man games then probably a year and then there’s just a game to play the most interesting thing and give the flashbacks and the guy just from reading my email comment comment was a really good arcade game if you have to have people play their collaborative smash with double dragons or how well you have but your fake Uncle man just look at everyone trying to if there’s a game try to do something original I’ll play it for at least thirty minutes. I don’t have time to play but like trying to get as much as everything in your mouth. I was blown away by what they did with the whole point of Mass Effect it was like their own new like evolution based Star Wars you know it’s a good game as those first person shooter I never played it. It’s Man I’ve heard it’s got her the ending sucked. Yeah people don’t like it. Yes I will give it a chance. I don’t think it’s as bad as some people say but it is not good. But honestly I am I am addicted to good writing so anything that in a video game is right on board with actually luck I actually adore this. They have brought back adventure games the year came out the walking dead adventure game by Telltale Games doesn’t got awarded video game of the year by Spike T.V. that doesn’t make sense to me because Spike T.V. only exists to advertise Call of Duty time like the video game awards or whatever. And really it’s really hard to market adventure games to certain certain segments of the population like when you’re looking for an adventure game are you looking for someone who’s got a lot of time and as well and get devoted to it because you can’t just like pick it up and go like you know get this key real quick if you’re in the quests they are redesigning it to try to be episodic much more like a T.V. episode than a giant thing to explore which you get a little bit on subject again you know back to zombies or whether coolers once the next time. When’s the next shotgun coming out. Yeah yeah tell us more. Well again I think you know I would I want to do it again I would love to do when I can do in the next month I want to you know I just felt like I really want to raise the bar. I want to go out there and raise money to do that to gas you know like so everybody you know. Well OK Well you know so would you be thinking more concurrent release with a comic book or make that become an even like bigger growth thing so you can then launch into the next reboot of your franchise. Yeah I was in one thousand that what the actor was telling me that he would come he would fly to New York because I think if we can’t raise the money or whatever. Yes I think we should do another episode just for the promotion of the comic book and I thought that was a good idea. So that that sounds ideal you know to do just that promotion and get more traction in the social media the main question is When is the feature film coming out where my word of advice my and the sort of things those live and die by the campaign itself. So like most recently of the you saw do you follow one of the big Kickstarter success stories and some of them one of the most recent ones was a card game called exploding kittens I am I right about that yes. The comic author of the oatmeal signed on with the guys doing a card game and the thing is they completely game a FI the reward system. So like you had to do certain weird things in like all of the Twitter sphere as well as donate in weird ways in order to unlock the new reward possibilities like a certain stretch goal would be available until like a thousand likes on Facebook if it was really well implemented and so if you got a campaign like that where if you’ve got a big social media following it will you give anything to like engage them and it will launch the entire project itself. So yes the whole plane is just you know my whole I my own thing about you know crowdfunding is you know again crowd and I hear it you know how much of a crowd do you really have you know so that’s that’s how much of a crowd do any of us really have here you know to think of your crowd and I think my crowd you know I have a bunch of artists Darwin just like you know any other artist you know helping each other out but if you could like I guess think yourself up with the as you say like somebody. But that and you know people that would be a good thing but I don’t for some reason I don’t hold the big tent home. Let me give me kind of like I don’t know I totally will get where you’re coming at I have heard encouragement from two different sources on exactly this issue. Like the sort of like begging aspect you know you know it almost feels like maybe you’re disrespecting an audience by needing them to put something in one of our first guests. It’s a group of guys who have been in the film industry in Atlanta and crew jobs and actors who decided we’re going to make our own show. They managed to kickstart a pilot for a hundred thousand dollars and I’ve just not turned back sense they just finished principal photography their script just one award somewhere there are finalists in the eighty X. pitch kind of delusional awards Macs don’t just don’t just gloss over that it’s the Milledgeville Film Festival and the thing they had to say more than anything about the Kickstarter was going in they thought Well it’ll be nice promotion but God I hope we get the money coming out they’ve said it has been the most invaluable tool to engage and reach an audience that they weren’t yet conscious of and just to have a means of communication with them in that way it was in more ways a promotional tool for them than it was a fund raising on A.O.L. And secondly Amanda Palmer gave a TED talk on exactly this. She’s actually Neil Gaiman’s wife she was a singer in a band called the Dresden Dolls and her present one she calls a punk rock Cabaret. Right and that’s Rachana weird but the only one in that genre she could be I think she is. Yes we just made it up. Yeah absolutely. But she was saying her very first job was being a living statue with a hat on on the ground and just engaging with people and asking for cash and just feels you actually have the up. Too many for an extremely personal and close up relationship by taking a step outside of you know the fear and anxiety of actually backing and going ahead and making that leap. You know like doesn’t work on the publisher model like you’re saying earlier like when that sort of thing but it’s when it takes you know to kind of self organization. Yeah you know again and you know a lot of people are coming and know that it is just going to feel like what feels right for you and you hear a lot of stories and you know sometimes a lot of you get lucky and I don’t know how they get lucky like a perfect example. Well one can post will grab the story look at this Kickstarter and that you know you get lucky like that like wow then everybody know you know that’s something that I think about but I’m really confident that due to comic book coming out would definitely propel the project the bigger and better. But I I I feel that I have to make an episode really soon because you don’t want the momentum to die out. You know again creating so many bugs on it. People ask me weekly what’s going on with you know when the next episode when I was a comic coming out and I feel you feel that I need to bring out another episode sooner. Your public awaits. They demand more and better make sure you know promote it well we’re looking forward to reading it. Yeah yeah absolutely I definitely update everyone update you guys I know you know that we will come back and talk about the comic and see for see what new budget or not. Hell yeah. One last question for you what’s the best shot. Then the shack on our union instant answer to this but when you get big when you’re on when when you’re on like when you’re on Bill Maher’s show like you know opining on White House zombie with a shotgun has changed America. Yeah I have a quick answer to that on which shotgun as it was the best one. What kind of ammo to take who you killed what kind of shot is there a new hobby clearance. I don’t know I have a better second and I don’t mean they know more about the I mean I’m a more traditional kind of you know second kind of guy myself you know sawn off. Yeah you know there’s a shock and that we use a real shotgun to look at all Bradley on your actors now. No but I mean they are doing it with a real it was a real shock then we used to get them out of it but I was really you know it was as modern a play with you but I would love to have a classic you know shot going to be would be cool but you know it is it is we had to be the group up to the real problem. Well I am I saying it right. Hilton Ariel Ruiz. Yes correct. Excellent will help. Thank you so much for John with us for so we had a lot of fun and there’s a lot of information. Thank you very slippery sure it will sell itself.
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