Hello, my name is Samuel George London and welcome to the one 100th episode of comics for the apocalypse on today's milestone episode. I'm honored to speak with comic book Legend and absolutely charming chap charlie Adler about what comics he would take into a zombie outbreak apocalypse. But before we get into it I'd like to give a quick shout out to our sponsor, the Comic Scene Comic Club, available from just £5 a month. You can get monthly issues of the history of comics 1930 to 2030 monthly issues of the brand new shift comic anthology and two comic scenes specials per year. To find out more and subscribe to the Comic Club visit comic scene dot org. Also I'd like to make you aware that in the next few weeks I'll be launching a Kickstarter for an oversized hardcover edition of the Milford Green Saga.

If you haven't come across Milford Green before, it's my victorian space adventure series that follows Alfie Fairfield and mary wells as a battle aliens here on Earth and beyond. To find out more. And sign up to the pre launch Kickstarter page, click the link in the show notes, or go to www dot tiny U R L dot com forward slash the Milford Green Saga. Now, without further ado on with the show. Hello, charlie Adler, how's it going? It's going pretty well. Thanks Sam. Well, considering many things was that we just had some real technical mishaps there. My usual recording software was being very, very funky and they've kind of recently changed things with not supporting Firefox and updating to a beater version and oh well, that's like that's what I say exactly now, Honestly, it is an absolute honor to have you as a 100 guest here on comics for the Apocalypse.

Yes, thank you. Um and the reason for that really is because um The Walking Dead is how I really got into comics in the first place about about seven years ago. Um So I I wasn't I mean I read the Beano and dandy and what not when I was younger, but I was never into comics through my teenage years and through my twenties. So it wasn't until my thirties that I actually started getting into comics and that was a result of having watched The Walking Dead the tv show of course, but then finding out that it was based on a comic um to which I basically got the first three compendiums straight straight away and I absolutely demolished it. Um and You know, to have you as my 100 guests on this podcast is it's just really kind of you know, completing a journey for me, so thank you so much.

My pleasure, What a what a wonderful intro. Now, usually I ask guests what you do in the world of comics. I think you've given that one away already. Yeah, firstly I've given that away, but secondly, I don't think that this is going to be very many people within the comics world that don't know who charlie had blurred is. Um but uh that aside, where can people find you online? Uh thankfully, because I have a fairly unique surname, it's quite easy to google me because there are no other charlie had lots out there, well not in the comics world anyway, so I'm on all the usual, but not all of them, but I'm on twitter facebook and instagram just just look up my name and I've got a website, charlie Adler dot com, which was recently revamped a year or so ago, so it's like shiny and new and everything very nice by the way. Very nice, thank you very much, thank you very much.

And of course, typical, I I spend loads of time working with, but I didn't do it, but the people that did it and do I update it? No, do I help? Yes, I must update my website. Yeah, anyway, it looks great though, so that's fantastic. And of course all of those links in the show notes, folks, so go follow charlie on twitter check out is absolutely brilliant website um as well, and yes, now we can get into it. So um on top of kind of what's going on at the moment, unfortunately, um and in in true comics for the apocalypse style, there's been a zombie outbreak of course. Um and my question is for you and I'm sure that this is, this is on the top of everybody's mind, what would charlie Adler do in a zombie outbreak?

Well I remember um somebody telling me once that robert Kirkman obviously was was asked this very obviously the same question as as of as of I um and I've always tried to think of something quite fancy to say. Apart from my usual stock answer is was which is normally um well I've never really thought about it because it will never happen. But uh that's hypothetically if it does happen I think I'll do the same as what robert says which would probably commit suicide because what is the point in surviving that sort of thing. And what you know Having obviously drawn the walking dead for 16 years and yeah watch the best part of most of the T. V. Show. You know you do just think why do they keep going what's the point? You know? So I think I think I might have that very similar attitude to be honest.

Sorry to sound all nihilistic but yeah it's quite all right and yeah, yeah totally. And you're you're not the first person just to say you know what, I'm just going to embrace it and just go out with a bang, quick quick, quick bullet to the head. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So kind of in your in your last moments before you say goodbye to the world um you're you just think about your your career um and the first thing you wonder is is where it all started and you ask yourself what's the first comic you remember enjoying? Well literally the first topic I I remember is I hope you have to correct me if I'm wrong here. But I do remember double page spreads in the obviously in the middle of sort of classic british anthology swam and power.

Um Which would have been I assume they must have been early seventies and they were sort of sub I suppose sub dandy be no type of affairs but right in the middle they had a double page spread of marvel comics I think it was marvel comics anyway and you know there's only four or five at this time. So you know my my memory is fairly hazy of all this but I do remember you know kind of enjoying these comics and then when I got to those middle pages it was it was just this what is this, this is so much better you know and it was only You know two pages you know again if memory serves me correctly I seem to remember them being in color but then I'm thinking no surely they were because they couldn't have surely afforded color for the middle. Um So they could have been spot color. I'm not sure I'm really not sure but they certainly weren't just black and white. Um And and again it made it more exotic because it just stuck out because it was the center pages.

I mean I can't believe it was just two pages worth. You know 1 22 page marvel comics spread out over a number of weeks. It sounds it sounds insane. But yeah I mean I can't remember what characters they were. I can't remember anything like that. I just literally remember those and that feeling of I don't know just something so well to my eyes so alien compared to the rest of it. It was, well no not alien exotic I think is the word whether I had any clue as to it was not stuff that you could get in the U. K. It was stuff that you could get in the U. S. But also I'm 54. So uh all through the seventies and I'm going into the eighties you know stuff from the U. S. Was exotic because it wasn't readily available. You know if it wasn't printed or published or produced over here in in in whatever facts.

So I think that added to the mystique of it absolutely. You know that sort of would just come across the atlantic ocean you know definitely. And how how old ish were you at this age? It would have been the yeah late sixties early seventies I presume. Um Because he was it wasn't until I think 72 that Marvel did the mighty world of Marvel which was their own reprint of their stuff. So this would predate that because I definitely you know started reading that yeah as soon as it came out which I think we will get on to later so I won't talk much about that yet. But Yeah so it must have been very early 70s, something like that. So I could have only have been four or five probably just starting to read comics I assume it's hazy shall we of course. Um And I assumed this was basically picked up at newsagents and things.

Um It must have been, well I was lucky because my dad ran a few businesses um uh local businesses and one of them was a newsagent. So I was I was lucky that whether he was picking this stuff up and bringing it back again I can't really remember. Um but he was very formative in you know me sort of reading stuff. I do I do see again I do vaguely remember my dad having a spin Iraq in his in the newsagent that that he had. Um and I do remember seeing american comics obviously just random american comics with puzzle books and you know other other yeah sort of weekly publications shoved into that spin Iraq so yeah and again you know I would totally gravitate towards those american comic books absolutely fantastic and say at that age were you drawing? Yeah I was drawing um not comics specifically again what made me sort of draw comic books was issue number one of my two world of marvel.

That was you know in terms of formative thing that that's probably one of the most formative things in my life was reading that one comic or starting off from that point, so that would be when I was about six or seven depending on you know What month it started up in 72. But yeah but yeah, I think I was doodling or whatever before that again, you know, you have to ask my mom exactly what I was drawing, you know, pre drawing comic books, you know, fantastic. Now going back to our last moments on this planet, you move on to another question, trying to perk yourself up and you wonder what's the funniest comic or the most laugh out loud moment in a comic that you've read? Well this is something no one's ever going to have heard of because as I talk to you in my initial email, this is uh uh yeah, this is very specific to me and some friends of, some friends of mine, but when I was at art college um a really good friend of mine, he was in the year above actually, we're both doing a film and video at Maidstone Art College and he he sort of did comment books in his spare time sort of funny comic books, quiet sometimes quite intellectual.

He had a catholic called art Turkey, which was basically a turkey. But instead of his head he had a cube uh he just sprouted philosophy all the types. So those sort of kind of interesting strips. Um but yeah, he his name is Lawrence Burton and he I just did some insanely brilliant stuff And I remember a couple of years probably post leaving our college. He still carried on drawing and we actually worked together on something that never got published. This is before I broke into comics properly. You know, we stayed in touch after our college because we shared a mutual love of comics and all things kind of slightly out there and there was two comics he wrote and drew at the time. One was called Rage in the Terrible and it was spelled R A J U N. Raging the Terrible. Which was yeah, a purposefully badly drawn uh Conan rip off and it was just one panel of page and just basically Ragen committing all sorts of atrocities to various people.

You know, you got pretty close to the bone. But again, the human derived from knowing this guy because he's not the sort of guy that you would imagine would write that sort of stuff. He was this quiet sort of, you know, funny, but in a quiet way, just kind of under the radar sort of guy. Um, but lovely bloke, you know, and to see and I just remember us meet me and some other friends who, you know at the time we're all sharing the same interests and everything, just rolling around just crying with laughter over this stuff because it was just so, so ridiculous, you know, so ridiculous in the violence. So ridiculous in the you know, how close to the bone, what he was saying and everything, you know? And then at about the same time, he also did a little self published comic called Good, literally just Good and it just had again, the most ridiculous uh imagery in terms of, you know, it would just literally the headline would be good in really big letters and underneath there'll be a nuclear explosion and just people's people just shattering and stuff.

It sounds really bleak, but it was hilarious because it was just so over the top, it was just so ridiculous. It just crossed the border of tastelessness back into humor again because it was just so utterly tasteless that it was good. Yeah, you're probably everyone listening to this probably scratching their head thing and this doesn't sound very funny at all, but it was it was bloody hilarious. It was and it's probably is still to this, I'm gonna email Lawrence because I still sort of in touch with him, I'm going to get in touch with laughter and told him to listen to this podcast because this is probably the first time he's been mentioned or something like this ever. Um but yeah, because I was racking my brains because it's a funny weird thing with comics that I don't I can't actually recall the laugh out loud moment with comic books apart from that, you know, sitting there on my own, I've read something humorous, you know, you might get the shrug of the shoulders sort of thing, you know, or the smirk, but you know, it's hard for comics.

I don't know why it's hard for comics to give you that guttural reaction. That's a film or tv does president. It's probably the timing, it's all in the timing. You know, you you hear something or watch something and there's a timing and you know, all the best comedy is in the timing. So, you know, um, where is the comic book? You're reading your, your pace, your own pace? So it's not, I don't think it's really hard as much as I love comics. I also think it's really hard for it to give you that sort of cultural reaction. Whether it's will come on to this. Yeah. At a later point, whether it's being scared, you know, you know, finding humor, you know, there's plenty of humorous comics and there's plenty of comics I appreciate for their humor, but it's not like I'm sitting there going, you know, just slapping it down and slapping my client, you know, it's sort of just, just utter, utter humor.

So yeah, but as I say, ranging the terrible and good are the the only two that, but that's because, um, I read them in a group as well, and that's really the only time with these friends as well. We all got together and we would sort of look at stuff together. Uh, and yeah, when you read, I'm sure as you know, when you read stuff in your group, it does have a better reaction. Um, rather than on your own. Um, and really with this group of friends and it was, shall we say, a limited period. It's not like I still get together with them, I'm still in touch with them all, but I do, we don't get together with a group and do what we did when we were in our, it's probably when we're all in our, you know, sort of mid to late twenties, going into early thirties and yeah, I've done that since and that sort of communal reading is it was probably the only time you did get that gust real reaction. So yes, it's it's kind of interesting psychologists going on without, you know, how you read and how you sort of, you know, perceive things and you know, the differences between seeing something live and reading something etcetera etcetera.

Yeah. I've still got the copies of Rage and the terrible and good. One of these days of my posts and pages, who knows? Please do. I would absolutely love to see that. Yeah, just a quick photo on twitter would be amazing. At least just one of one of good. Right. Right. I mean, I always remember 11 of the quotes from raging the bearing in mind. It makes it extra funny because it's it's like saying on purpose, on purposely so badly drawn uh there's a picture of raging with this insanely big gun just basically shooting a child coming, tired of sucking on that dummy kid his hot lead instead, you know? So it's just but you've got to know the guy that wrote it, I think that's as well as well, that that's what makes it work so well, you know? Um so like I say to to somebody that's not, shall we say in on the joke, if they might just going what the hell?

You know, this guy needs to be sectioned? Yeah, I'm going to dig out the pages after his chat and I have another total 100%. That's fantastic to have that that memory. Um And just that experience, as you say, kind of communal reading, really kind of brings a whole new light to to reading comics um and yeah, no that's beautiful, you're right, excellent, now changing gears um your your next question that crops up in your mind is what's the saddest comic or the most upsetting moment in a comic that you've read? Yeah, well going, going back to what I said previously, it's it's again it's a it's a tricky one because like I say emotional reactions for me for reading comics, you know, don't go to those kind of extremities almost um and I think also especially because, you know, I've been a professional for so long um you know, I have to travel quite far back into my childhood and I say that being a professional because whatever you do, I feel, you know, if you're part of the industry, you're going to analyze it a bit more and it does unfortunately take the magic out of comic books, I I find because you are just constantly looking at the stuff and going I wouldn't have done that or Yeah, or that's a brilliant page because of something not many people would notice you etcetera said, I'm sure, and I'm sure it's just saying with writers, you know, they're probably just constantly analyzing scripts and what not.

Um So have that, that said um I I struggled with this one even more than riches, terrible look good, but I ended up finally just just falling on the final peanuts episode strip um because I think it's the only time I've read something where the creator obviously has been with it for a long time and has actively decided to finish it at least at a certain point, you know, and you know Shultz's just decision to retire at the time and it wasn't yeah, it's obviously it's slightly through, not necessarily ill health, but it was certainly through uh you know, um just getting old obviously. But yeah, it's just a point of the seat the point of the sea of that final strip was just did it did if it could have brought a lump to the throat.

It yeah, it did. Um And because I've always had that sort of emotional connection with peanuts back again going back into my childhood, I can't really remember the first time I was aware of peanuts. But it was Yeah, it's probably in my was probably nine or 10 or something like that, started collecting it by those little paperback collections that were just like little novels I suppose shape. Uh And I've always been I've always been a bit of a collector and a completist. So you know, every time you know the book would come out and get it because it looked nice and neat on my shelf and it would run from whatever number I started with, you know, nice and evenly through to the latest one on the spine and what not. But yeah, I kind of did relate to charlie Brown a lot. I got to admit in my use. Um and because I was never the most outgoing child or anything like that, I mean, you know, don't get me wrong, I didn't have a bad childhood by any stretch of the imagination, but it was always, I was always sort of, yeah, I was never up there with the cool kids, shall we say.

So I definitely related to his trials and tribulations. Um and yeah, and just to have it, you know, I'm already on and off. I won't say already every diligently every, every week, every month or whatever, but when I found out that he retired and that was it, I remember reading that last last strip and just going, oh wow, that is really yeah, how do you finish the same dilemma we had with The Walking Dead in a lot? I was gonna say, I mean, I'm sorry to interject charlie. So, what I find really interesting about that is that, you know, that obviously that's quite a moment for there to be a final peanuts strip, because obviously from when you're a young boy, you'd read this. And so it was kind of it was an established part of your reading habits almost. And to come to that realization that something so established can actually come to an end. That must have been quite they must have taken you back, let's say.

Well, it was yeah, I mean, I mean, yeah, it was interesting because it was obviously I was yeah, as a reader it was I could imagine what it's like for a reader of The Walking Dead then, because I'm reading the nuts off from the opposite side, I was the fan reading it and then it all comes to an end, you know? So I could get I could sort of relate to how people react to when we finished The Walking Dead totally. Um But yeah, I think, I think I think because like I said, I was even though it was a big fan, I was like already, I suppose, over. So because it went on for so many years, you know, you you you came in and out of it at various points, you see what I mean? You know, I was there there's probably might have been a year or so, I just didn't read any of it, you know, just just didn't want to just because of happenstance and everything, and then you come back into it. Uh So yeah, the level of, shall we say commitment, unlike with the Walking Dead, knowing that there were thousands of fans out there who literally read it month after month and we're totally committed, you know, was perhaps a bit one of which was me, Sorry.

Oh, no, no, no, no. It's it's again, it's you both did a sterling job throughout the Walking Dead. Um and it and it finished probably at the right time, perhaps, um in the way that you finished, it was it was excellent. Um and, but perhaps having that experience of, you know, the fact that peanuts finished, so I guess the Walking Dead has to finish. Well, I think, I think what we, well I learned anyway, I can't speak for robert obviously, but I think, you know, looking at the peanuts strip, it's like you just you can't and you almost don't end it on a big here's everyone, you know. Yeah, you always don't wind. Yeah, you literally not the brady bunch. Yeah, exactly. You know, you don't sort of do like a house clearance, you know, tidy everything up, you know, there's better ways of finishing stuff than that. And yeah, that's slightly more of a cop out anyway.

So, you know, Yeah, and and it was the same with the Walking Dead. You just couldn't um after so long just sort of go do an issue which literally just catalogs every single character and tells their story right up until, you know, the end, you know, it's almost impossible. So you have to do something different and yet going back to schuLz and peanuts, you know, it was, it was just it was just pitched absolutely perfectly in terms of how to finish it, you know, fantastic. And I highly recommend anybody just google google final peanuts strip. It will come up on, on google images. Um, and yeah, give it a read because it's it's a nice note. It's poignant yet, not not overly small. C yeah, which is perfect, which was all the way through peanuts. That's how it always was. There was there was a beautiful poignancy to the whole thing yet you didn't, you never you were never manipulated into sort of the obvious emotion, which was just, you know, which is the magic of thing.

Beautiful. Now, going back to our last moments, the next question that comes up is what's the scariest, comical, The most horrifying moment in a comic that you've read? Well, it has to be this isn't a particular common, well it's not a comic story uh but it has to be the six ft long ghost in the back of the adverts of the old comic books from the seventies. When I was a kid. I remember it's the only time I think I ever remember like literally knowing it was going to be on the next page, you know, and you know, turning the two pages at the same time. So I didn't have to stare at the six ft that you could buy. I think it was six ft long. Anyway, it was bloody long and it was only it was only like, I don't know, something like $5 or something. And again it was the it was also that it was the exotic nous of it because it was like something you could never have because it was from America. But I also think that's really cheap for a six ft long coast.

When I when I eventually dared open it and stare at the advert, it was probably just a stupid plastic head and a lot of material that was six ft long. But it was yeah, I do remember as a little child just you know when I um because I should say when my dad had the newsagent, even though throughout my sort of childhood years I was brought up on marvel UK stuff as opposed to you know that the original product, I would pick up the odd american comic book. It was incredibly random, you know, could be D. C. Marvel whatever even another company, you know at the time, but you know anything, I have any pocket money and I just, you know if I had pocket money or stood by Spin Iraq I might buy a comic book. It was simple as that. Yeah so uh to uh I think that's what gave that sort of you know six ft long ghost even more spookiness because I wasn't looking at it too often you know I knew it was going to be there because most of the adverts were the same weren't they all every in every comic book at the time um you know included you know I always remember that and the X ray specs you can get and you could get you know like a massive army of multiple soldiers which always sounded really appealing as well.

Again it was like for $3 or something you just you know you can get 20 tanks and you know 100 us soldiers. You just say what the hell. Yeah it must be so cheap to live in America to get all that stuff but $3. Oh I wanted, I wanted, but when you be able to have it and I know in um researching what, what your answer was, I I managed to find one advert and I actually said a 30 to 40 ft ghost one of them I know, which is really big. I'll send you it later. But also at the same time I found an advert for sea monkeys as well. I don't know if you remember there being advert for sea monkeys, but that kind of freaked me out as well. That was a bit freaky because they're humanoid in the adverts isn't Exactly yeah and yet they're not humanoid at all. They're just like little remember my youngest son when he was a teenager, but when uh yeah, many years ago we got the equivalent over here in the UK and they're really disappointing.

They weren't humanoid and they didn't talk to you, that's how they get, you know, it wasn't a crazy adverts but that's interesting. That kind of it's the anticipation of fear, isn't it? That really builds up to the, to the moment of being scared. Yeah, absolutely, totally. Yeah. Yeah, and it's like I said, it's the only time I always remember, you know, not wanting to look at the page, so I turn it quickly, you know, or trying to two pages at the same time, so I just didn't have to stare at that horrible, horrible specter you want self up to that level as well, you know, knowing it is somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Uh now moving on to my favorite question and that is what is your favorite cover? This is probably the hardest question I've got because I literally went and stared at my comic book collection for a for a bit, thinking recover favorite cover, what's standing out here?

Um And I ended up um it's a weird on this because it probably isn't my favorite cover, but it was the only one that stuck out because of it goes with all my sort of, shall we say, design a sort of aesthetics, which is Bill Stankovic's stray toasters. Number four, I think it was number four. Anyway, it was it was basically the first time um it was an old black cover, remember that? You know? And it was that kind of spot printing where the artwork was, you know, sort of glossy, but it was all black, black on black basically remember buying, I was buying american comic books by this time and it was prestige format was like the good old good old prestige format, so it was a little spine and everything. Um I remember just being blown away by how adventurous that cover was in terms of its design, you know, I was like, whoa, that's really yeah, that's something else that's really daring to do an all black cover and I do remember seeing it in the comic book shop that I was going to at the time and it really stood out from everything else now, whether that was indicative of of how I perceived covers now, which is my my basic sort of um mantra on comic book covers is uh yeah, bugger the story, it's it's basically you've got to make your books stand out from the crowd, you know, so um how do you do that?

You know, and it's my biggest bugbear in a lot of ways as well, because I think, you know, 90% plus comic books failing that, and I'm not I'm sitting I'm putting myself in that category, you know, I've I've certainly not, you know, every cover I've done has not been this beautiful designed, you know, thing. Um but you know, I do try and come from that position um it's it's it's hard to sort of really put into words exactly what I'm trying to, trying to do or what I'm trying to discover in in other covers, but you know, I'm much more attracted to something that's simple, but really elegant and just stands out as something, you know, and and it's hard to describe like say what what exactly that is. Uh I am attracted for starters to very basic colours on covers.

I mean I think that works a lot and you know, it's not just with comic books, this is going across the board into all sorts of publications, you know, you look at most magazines and they, if they're of a certain genre, you love them all together, whether it's your model railways or Bloody Zadan. Oh, uh hello type magazines, they all have the same covers and you you do just think why, why is everyone just wanting everyone, why does everyone else every publisher, why do they want their magazine to blend in with the other magazines? Sure, the idea is to stick out and, and look different. Um and yeah, I did have, you know, going, going a sort of pieced a bit here, but I did have a kind of running uh with metal hammer magazine a few years back, I was asked to do a cover and design a lot of stuff for the band Slipknot and I'm not really into heavy metal at all, but it was like the lead singer Corey Taylor was gonna edit this um issue of Metal Hammer magazine and you know, he was a big comic book fan and basically they got me and him together, Daniel Wembley Arena to talk and talk about the making of this, this issue and everything, and to cut a long story short, Corey was brilliant.

He was really up for any idea, because the last thing I wanted to do was your classic heavy metal cover, I said, look, let's do something different, you know, and in the end, what my idea was to do a sort of an Andy Warhol pastiche, because if you're familiar with Slipknot, there's a lot of them, there's young members of the band. Yeah, so as soon as I heard that, I was like, oh, that's interesting, what can we do with Nine members? Um so I just sort of this kind of Marilyn, you know, Andy Warhol style Marilyn Monroe screen thing where you just had loads and loads of images of the band members and just repeat, repeat, repeat. So is this really intense blast of color, which I thought would look really interesting from magazine and have it stand out on the shelves because every other music magazine, which is have a shot of the featured rock star with a lot of blurb down one side, you know that the obvious stuff.

So uh yeah, I that was my idea. Corey thought it was a great idea. So did the claim apparently who is another member of Slipknot, who is also uh and then it all sort of came it also fellow, it sort of fell apart because should we say the suits weren't that keen? Yeah, they were the ones that want to have them just stood in the ground yard. Yeah, something like that. Uh in the end it was a compromise cover between my idea and, you know, the more, you know, sort of, shall we say, conservative ideas. Uh, and yeah, did it, did it stand out? It probably stood out a bit more than your average cover or, you know, to, to music magazines, but not as much as I wanted it to. Um, but yeah, so going back to something like stray toasters, it was that, yeah, it's probably not the best drawn covering the world, you know? Uh, but for me, it was, I think it was just more formative in the fact that it just ignited something in me of how you could do stuff differently rather than just go for the, you know, rather than just being pleased that you've done a nice painting.

Yeah. Which because there's, I think that a night ignited the designer it made in terms of you just thought there's more to it than just doing a nice image. You know, it's it's, yes, that's the main image, but it's how you position your characters, how it's all colored, how it works with all the fonts, how year, etcetera, etcetera. There's so much more and you know, the more I've gone on with my career, the more I felt like I want to be involved. Similar to my friend Sean phillips. Yeah, he's totally involved with the design of all all his books and that's kind of what I want to do now. Um, perhaps not as much assurance because he's got the technical knowledge, whereas I haven't, but you know, I want to be able to say, no, this, this is the fun, I want the front there, this has to go there, this is, I want this on the spine and all that there, that, you know, all that because at the end of the day, all the elements have to work together.

Um so yeah, and I'm like, so I think stray toasters was the start of realizing. Now it's brilliant. And again, it's it's great to have something to hang kind of a realization on, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, it's the only cover, I mean there's there's probably hundreds of covers I adore, you know what I mean? Uh but it will just take Me a week to pick through uh and and shoes, you know, I'd never choose a favorite one, was probably end up choosing my top 20 in no particular order. Yeah. You know, and you know, I think I'm sure you can appreciate really got the time to do that. Absolutely sure they got a problem, but that's that's a great choice because as you say, it's a it's a striking cover um and that's certainly stand out on a on a comic comic book shop shelf.

Yeah, I mean, exactly, I mean my just again, just just uh off off on another one, just for a second. Um one of one of my favorite artists of all time and he's not an art is a designer more than an artist is Saul Bass, I don't know if you know who that is, not at the top of my head. He did, I mean probably the most, I mean you would know his imagery because he designed things, he designed a lot of stuff, a Hitchcock. Um So like, you know, uh he did like vertigo is probably his strongest poster design. Um So he was sort of around the fifties, sixties and seventies. Um He was he famously story border to design the shower sequence in psycho. Uh He did, he did a poster for Anatomy for the murder, which is probably wonder if you google, that is probably one of the most iconic images, you know, you will see in terms of design and poster design and everything.

Um shining, I just found he did the shining, yeah, the shining is another another post treated. Uh but you look at his stuff and it's just, he literally takes all the elements down to the most basic level, which is incredible, I think, you know, incredibly brave thing to do. I mean, he was massively in demand back in the back, back in the day, but you know, he certainly had a look and everything was that real strong, um you know, a couple of colours and that's it. You know, most of your stuff had that, you know, sort of look. You know, he kind of designed the famous sort of jagged e hands that you'll see in so many uh images, um you know, incredibly influential and you know, a lot of people would be surprised to hear that he's one of my biggest influences, because, you know, it doesn't really feature that much in my work, but in a lot of ways that's that's what I strive to do is try and you try and also fail quite often is to try and take my work down to its most basic level, because I think that's where you should sort of end up at, you know, is like no extraneous marks, I mean one of my favorite, my but my favorite artists of all time is probably Alex Toph and you know, he was a master of that sort of chiaroscuro, and just just just why tell the story in 20 lines when you can tell it in one and you know, that that is the number of great art, I think is whittling it down to that, that kind of, those, those elements and still be brilliant, and, you know, just, just trying to get that magic of one beautifully drawn line is enough, you know, and I'm going, you know, literally stepping back from your work, which I'm terrible about, you know, especially when I'm doing covers and I've been doing quite a lot of variants recently, and I'm terrible about it, I think I spent twice as long on a cover and and half that time is literally just staring at it going enough, is that enough, you know, when to finish is half the battle withdrawing covers, so, and, you know, looking at something like so bad, it's like that man had taken that to the Nth degree and it's conquered it completely.

100%. And what a lot of people don't on perhaps able to appreciate is kind of the time and effort that's actually gone into simplifying that sort of thing as well because you know, it takes obviously years of experience and expertise to be able to do that sort of thing. Um and you know, some people might kind of fob it off was like well I could do that. Yeah. You know, and it's like, well no you couldn't. It's kind of I guess it's like when and I'm not sure if this is a good analogy, but it's like when a plumber comes to to fix something in your house And it just takes him like two minutes. Yeah. You know? Yeah, I got it done about 60 quid, please. Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's taken years and years of experience just to come and knock that radiation the right place. Yeah, it's absolutely true. And I think we like to say well a lot of people don't appreciate because they just you know, I completely understand why people gravitate towards really highly detailed, highly rendered artwork or really intricately painted stuff because if you're if you haven't got an artistic bent that the thing you appreciate is detailed because a lot of work has gone into it.

But I would argue equal like you're like you said as much work has gone into what something like Saul bass or Alex toth has done because quite often I can imagine they're probably just staring at their work for as long as they're not drawing it at the same time like saying, working out whether that is yeah, the the level they should leave it at that and that is the, you know half the battle is learning how to walk away from something going. But I will do you no. Fantastic. Now moving on to another of my favorite questions and that is what's the most meaningful comic to you. Right? Well we've talked about one so we can, we can brush brush off quickly. One was the mighty word of marvel number one. Um purely because um it was literally the first time apart from, as I said before, those center spreads, its when I read the stories properly.

I was old enough to read them by that time. Um yeah it was just this is it, this is what I wanted to be reading, you know throw away my dandies and be knows etcetera etcetera. I want to read all this sort of stuff. Uh and it was, it was the gateway to me drawing comic books and then obviously leading on to what I do know. So it literally means everything to me in terms of how I started off, you know, you could not, it is probably the single most influential thing outside of, you know, parents, etcetera etcetera, the single most influential thing on my life. As simple as that. But the other thing, which probably arguably had less of an influence, but it's kind of still interested because it's still fueled the big love of something else. Um, was my introduction to Asterix, primarily the first Asterix book I read, which was Asterix and the big fight um, around about the same time as reading mighty wilder marvel.

I don't, I'm not sure which one came first again. Memory, hazy, blah, blah, blah. Uh, my dad always used to go to this petrol station and whatever the company was at the time was running a promotion where you fill your car up enough times you got a free sort of petrol station edition of an Asterix book. Um They were the same size, same format and everything like the european versions, the french version, but I think they had the I think they had just done something to the spine and they'd obviously put the logo of whether its shell or esso or whatever it was, you know, on the back. But that aside it was almost exactly the same as the french versions. But yeah, and I badgered my dad too, go if he's going to fill the car up, he's got to get his pension station because I want another Asterix books. Or are they? Uh So I I remember they the promotion was for 44 books from the collection which was Asterix and the big five.

Asterix, the Gaul, Asterix the Gladiator and Asterix the legionnaire. So those was Those were the four and I I was really weirdly attracted to them you know even though I was reading one of the comics which is almost kind of the polar opposite because obviously as tricks you know the original format of Asterix was in strip form. It was like to to tear strips which would appear and then be yeah and that would be the episode and then they print up another two tiers strip in in the french magazines at the time. So the format was completely different. Obviously it was in color whereas The Mighty Well the marvel is in black and white which was attractive I suppose. But why I gravitated to is the the idea of doing cartoon characters with very realistic, heavily rendered, accurate backgrounds. Um And little did I know obviously at the time my love I was being fed influences by american comic books from one end and french comic books from the other and it was only really until kind of perhaps I was a teenager at some point that I realized that as she was in fact french and there was a whole world of french comic books out there which I hadn't explored consequently, you know, sort of discovered people like Mobius and realized that they were french as well and was like oh God there's quite a big industry over there um and yeah and I do remember gravitating as I got older more and more towards that sort of comic book look as opposed to the american comic book look um yeah, going less getting less and less interested in superhero adventures and more and more interested in well at least the visuals of french comic books because obviously there wasn't that much translated, you know, you got Asterix Tintin and a bit of heavy metal and that was pretty much it so And I remember going to Angela and the Big Comics French Comics Festival in January in the early 90s with some friends that were really into French comic books at the time or shall we call him Dan does any uh remember it was like the scales falling from my eyes because I've never seen anything like it.

It was just incredible to go to this festival which is as big as san Diego um took over this whole time, But just comic books, not a media, not a multimedia event, not a pop culture event, it was just pretty much 95% French Franco Belgian comics and that was it. Uh and it was incredible. I mean I just went on this massive spending spree the first couple of times I went because you know, it was just like you just constantly find this stuff oh my God, this artist, this artist, you know um and just totally, totally loving it and that's that's my love affair with Bondi's in a basically and I usually go apart from obviously this year or last year and this year, unfortunately, no, what am I talking about? No, last year I went because it wasn't a pandemic, I go the only aside from full bubble and the late International Comic Art Festival uh the only other regular yearly comic Art comic show, I go to his angle um I do go everywhere because I love it so much.

It's great to be immersed in that stuff. Um and yeah, yeah, I mean obviously since then I've that on my own, you know, a couple of my own french comic books um you know, in between, in between Walking Dead, Walking Delko, my the publishers of The Walking Dead, you know, I I, you know, I've made no secret of it, I think they published the, the nicest produced versions of the Walking Dead and that includes America. Um they just got they've just got a real feel for quality over there, you know, they don't skimp on the quality and yeah, again, it goes down to design as well, they got slightly less cliche Dcaa mickey design sense. So yeah, it's yeah, I love that, that part of the industry and yeah, and it was Asterix and the big fight was my little, like, similar to my world of mob was my little gateway into that whole whole world.

That's awesome. Um and yeah, no, that's just hearing your enthusiasm and passion for, um, for french comics and just, and just for comics at large as well is just inspiring. And it's one of the reasons that I really love that question because you can, you can really see who's got a real passion and enthusiasm for it and obviously that, that shone through with you just then charlie. So I really, really appreciate that. You can't, you can't beat it. Yeah, it sounds awful. You've just gone on back said, you said words like passionate enthusiasm. You know, sometimes you feel it gets beaten out to be, the older you get it is, you know, I've got to admit the older I get, the less and less times I suddenly pick up something, oh my God, this is amazing. But you know, I can guarantee there's a couple of times every, every angle.

Um, but I will find something new and just go, whoa Conry, can't bloody speak french to save my life. Got shelf loads of french bond Designate. I I've never read just appreciate the amazing. Exactly, exactly fantastic. And speaking of kind of undiscovered treasures, but what's the most underrated comic that you read? Yeah, Well I think it is underrated because it seemed, I don't know whether how much under the radar is nowadays, but I've always said that Lazarus by Greg Rocker and Michael Lark is we'll only stay undiscovered. But it's it's a gem that you know, amongst so many comic books I read, you know, I started reading it, you know right from Mission One. I mean it sort of came out, you know in that time post, you know, Walking Dead when suddenly image was starting to attract, shall we say the big names.

Uh and you know, there was like three or four years old, um sort of part of the early, shall we say Walking Dead Years, where, which suddenly, you know, we're putting out Yeah, things like uh dot com my mind's gone blank. Thank all these comments about the comic books by and then creators. Yeah. Which which they really done before, and I always remember Lazarus being Yeah, another one of them, and I've always been a fan of of Michael's work. That's for sure, I love this stuff on their level and everything else he's done. Um So I knew I was going to pick that up because I haven't read that much great stuff, I've got to admit at the time. Uh but yeah, if there's one comment that sucked me into a world 100%, and I just, my mind again, boggles by Greg's utter commitment to world building.

You know, he must have, he must have one of those cliche walls where you've got lots of paper cutouts of things and attach cork boards and pins and stuff like that, because the level of research you must have had to have done to to make do that story, and it's one of those things you just think it's a crying shame that it's not become a tv series. I I know, I think because I know Michael quite well and I remember him saying to me last time, he was at the Lakes uh the last time the previous year to to last, I think they were talking about a tv show, but I don't know how far it's gone down the line, but I do just think if there's one book and yeah, I'm sure neither of them set out to do it because it would make a great tv show or whatever, but um it's one of those kind of things that you just think, you have to know brain of this one, there's so many comic book properties that get made, you just think really, why, why that one, and yet Lazarus just sort of languages there, just thinking, God, this would be perfect, perfect sort of, you know, tv show, but that's that's by the by, you know, I'm not reading it because I'm thinking that I'm reading it's a bloody good story, it's beautifully illustrated.

I mean, again, Michael is is just a phenomena, you know, the level, again, the level of detail is comparable to the level of detail that Greg puts into his world building, Michael's doing equal world building with the artwork. Um and it's just a crying shame that sort of gone down to these quarterly editions because, you know, I loved it when it was, hopefully I can understand, you know, totally why we can't yeah, produce a monthly comic book. The level, again, the level of work is just absolutely insane. That's fantastic, because I've unfortunately, I haven't, I'm yet to read Lazarus, however, based on that recommendation charlie, it'll be going straight, so it's off my reading list, you're familiar with Michael, Michael, Clarke's work. I was I wasn't so much at all. Um but researching um it's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know, I just I've been in touch um a few months ago because uh because I know what, what he gets, he gets a guy to do, sort of google, sketch up type environments for him and stuff, so he gets that perfectly realistic room, whatever he wants to do.

And uh yeah, just literally, I've just been in touch a few months ago anyway with the guy that's that's done all this stuff for Michael because I might shove a bit of work, here's a way for a project. I don't think I'm hopefully going to be doing in the next couple of months that there's a there's a lot set in a certain thing to say, and you just think actually, again, it's done in a sort of a google sketch up program will be perfect. I've never sort of worked with that before. Uh but yeah, the idea of being able to rotate the environment around and set your characters in because yeah, I'm very much similar to Michael. I'm sure I'm very much the sort of person that if I'm going to draw somebody in something, I want them to fit perfectly in the environment. I don't I don't want to fudge on the, shall we say, the perspective to force them into an area like that, I want it to be like if they're going to be sat in a chair in a room, I want it all to work.

Do you see what I mean? Rather than slightly fudging it you know? So your camera angle is a weird angle and yeah yeah I'm constantly looking at certain stuff going at perspectives wrong, they're not necessarily the perspective on the environment itself but the characters within the perspective is wrong you know? I'm thinking that that person if that was right, he'd be standing on four sets of bricks you know that sort of stuff and yeah little stuff like just you know it's just me but it gets to me uh yeah having having a sort of a guy doing loads of sort of google sketch thing is kind of quite appealing for me, you know having that preparation in place so that you can kind of dive into it straight away. Yeah, just rotated the younger one, you know, print or whatever you want to do with it, or just missing Teak and yeah, just just draw that environment just as is and then just set your characters in that.

Yeah, it's a it's a nice, nice work around, I think it's a great tool um to have and it's it's just gonna it's gonna raise the bar comics more and more people do that, I think Well, it's just like, Michael is a really good proponent for it. Yeah, you look at his whoa, because seriously detailed and not just detailed, that's the thing, you know, it goes back to what I was saying about, you know, it's not just the detail, it's um I mean he's done it perfectly in sync with how the story should, how the story is and should be, you know, the stories of, you know, it's obviously a set in the near future of fantasy, inverted comma slight fantasy, you know, setting, because the laser ir these sort of, you know, whether they're created in labs or these kind of indestructible people, there's not a super everything obviously, but but at the end of the day, it's near future and it's set and as realistic at time as as possible.

So you've got to, from Michael's point of view, you've got to have your characters set in that kind of environment, that sort of realistic um you know, you can't, it's just it would be ludicrous to go crazy with, you know, start drawing Jack Kirby style machinery, all things like that, you know, it just wouldn't work with the story. So it's yeah, it all works just just pitch perfect, excellent. Now, going from such a specialty like that uh to something that perhaps a new reader would read. And so what comic would you recommend to a friend who's never ever read comics? Yeah well you see you've got to get them. Yeah it's a tricky one isn't it? Because you know how many people out there would recommend instantly some superhero comic you know? Um It would be you know I just think that we slightly, I don't know disingenuous because that's not all comic books are.

Um And and if you're trying to recommend something to someone that's never read comic books but they're aware of the M. C. U. For instance which, let's face it most of the world are now the problem with it's sort of good for our industry and it's also incredibly bad for our industry because it just forces people to think you know that oh is this what comic books are? It's just a bunch of guys and girls running around, you know, with superpowers, punching everybody, you know? That's yeah, cracking wise, Yeah, yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm as big a fan of the EMC is as anybody, I've been watching One division and loving it, you know, but it's been great and the Fanboy in me, so it was so cool, you know? But um yeah, your joe average person in the street is going to look at that and go, oh, so this is comic books, is it?

You know? And then they'll make an informed decision uh would they want to read about that stuff? And the answer is probably no, because they've seen it all the cinema because they'll just assumed the stories of the same as as what they just watched. So what I would recommend somebody something that's just not about any sort of fantasy because that's what would be the general perception of people that don't read comic books. So I think I would recommend the Now of Brown um because by Glyn Dillon because you know obviously I could recommend a french comic book because there's a lot of you know, normal, you know, non fantasy set french comic books. But the problem with that is it in french. So uh yeah you want to sort of obviously I assume you're going to recommend something to someone that's an english speaking person, so you need to recommend something you know, this, this english and now Brown is pretty quite french stroke european in its approach and how it of storytelling and how it looks and everything.

Yet it's written and drawn by a british person, you know, someone that's been thinking, so you've got you've got the equivalent in uh you know, french, the franco Belgian sort of ideal uh coupled with, you know, sort of yeah, obviously something that's that's slightly more uh uh english based UK based um so from getting a big modeled ears or what I'm saying, but yeah, at the end of the day, you want to recommend something that's not super heroic based and and that obviously that's relatable, it's totally relatable, it's drawn semi realistically I think, which also would help with with most people. Um because you know, you as much as I love peanuts, going back to peanuts, you could recommend something like that. But then that strip cartooning and I'm not saying that's not a thing or I'm not saying that's that's not part of what we do.

I believe we're all one big lump of cartoonists. I call myself a cartoonist, I don't call myself a comic book artist because, you know, we all do different levels of characterization at the end of the day, so, you know, I think Schultz going from shorts to Jack Kirby, we're all what we're all connected. Um But yeah, I think, I think from what we're trying to do, trying to show them a comic book is, I think think something like Now Brown is that is just has that little sweet spot. I mean, obviously it's brilliant as well. I actually said that, you know, sort of intellectualized it, a bit of why I would show it somebody and I've sort of made it sound like it's more of an academic exercise rather than, you know, here's a fantastic story, but it's a fantastic page tune and Glynn is just you know what you did, that that was a was incredible shame these bloody designing costumes for Star Wars now, as opposed to drawing comic books, but pull your finger out, Glenn come on, put your finger, I get back into comics because obviously that's so much better pay, of course.

Um and that actually has that has a fantastic cover as well as actually well, the whole thing is beautifully produced of course, I always applaud the bravery of the publisher that will publish something as a one off volume. Uh it's as simple as that because it's very easy uh in our industry, it's slightly old singles and albums sort of thing back back in the day, you know, where, you know, eventually, you know, the singles became a promotion for the LP, It's similar to how comic books function now, you know, the single issues are your promotion for your collection, but you also make more money because you publish it twice and so anyone that's publishing it as a single volume without releasing it as a series, you know I applaud and I want to see more of that stuff because it works in europe, why can't it work over here? Yeah, so yeah, so that's another that's another that's another great thing but yeah, I mean I suppose it's um now brian had the benefit of basically being published by a book publisher as opposed to the comic arm of a book publisher as opposed to a comic book company.

Uh So you know, they they obviously proceeded something slightly different and slightly different market for it etcetera etcetera. Um So that kind of makes it interesting as well, the slightly slight differences when you get published by marvel Dc Image or whatever and the way they approach promoting and putting out your comic book as opposed to I don't know, Jonathan cable for a second or whatever. The the the little small comic arms of these big publishers that obviously have a different approach to how to promote your comic book. And you know, I assume there's probably more copies of now browning waterstones as they are in your forbidden planet's for instance. Yeah, definitely. Fantastic. Now, coming onto our last question in regards to comics and that is if you could only take one comic into the apocalypse, which would it be, it would be going back to a good old favorite obelix and co the actual book, not appliques and all the other characters.

It was there was one the only Asterix book, weirdly not called Asterix and but my favorite Asterix book of all time is i it's funny enough called Public Cinco. Um and I just think it's the pinnacle of Corsini in Uderzo those um you know, sort of work, uh they were both functioning at the peak of their sort of creativity, it's probably late seventies by this time, and it's just a glorious pastiche on business, you know, this is a book for, you know, inverted commas, kids and yet it's so much more than that, and it's beautifully drawn, you deserves a genius in my in my opinion, so it's CAssini, you know, obviously the best, you know, Uderzo as as as much as I think he's fantastic, was never as good a writer as is, you know, as his friend.

So unfortunately, you know, when cassini passed away in the, you know, many, many, many, many years ago now, you know, and when he was going took over it, you know, it was never the same, unfortunately. But yeah, I'd say Obelix and co uh is the pinnacle, and Asterix is just eminently readable and and the other good thing about Asterix is it works on two levels in terms of there's the french version which you can read if you can be bothered to learn french like myself uh and or like myself, you know which way around and also, you know, the Anethe and anthea Bell and Derek Hough Courage, it's amazing that just those names are imprinted on my memory banks. The people that translated the books are geniuses in themselves because they had to make that work, you know, to be funny in english and not just the dialogue, all the names as well.

Had to be changed to to work Yeah, as a pum in english as well. So those two are amazing. Um and I just think it's it's just there's something, there's something in it for everyone. I just, I just love our streets, you know, as much as I like I said before, as much as perhaps arguably the mighty world of marvel was that singular, singular moment which opened my whole world up. I would still gravitate back to good old Asterix as more I go to Yeah. Comic strip because I don't know, I just it's just I've got this wonderful, I don't know, I just love of it resonates, yeah, just resonates, you know, and it's not nostalgic, not just nostalgia. I still read it. No. Um I've got to admit the new, the new writer and artist, you know, the first one was a bit rubbish but they are getting better.

It's kind of almost the same as the original Asterix books when they first started. They just get better and better with time they settle in there. Yeah. And yeah, kudos to to um uh dow go the publishers who who are obviously yeah, sticking with them because I think they got roundly slagged off for the first one year. They could have easily have just gone. Always get somebody else. This ain't working. Um But yeah, it's still it still has that power to entertain still. And just one time before you say, see, see you later to the world, of course. Um And and on that, what weapon tool or useful item would you like to take with you into the apocalypse as well? We'll need something. I have to commit suicide with any shall shotgun would be preferable. Uh You know, anything that ends?

Yeah, nice quick ending would be would be preferable. I don't know. Sleep load of sleeping pills. That'd be quite uh overdose on that. I don't know, make sure, make sure you take enough so I don't wake up feeling even worse. Um Doing a re entry to the to the zombie apocalypse. God knows. I tell people that would be terrible wouldn't it? Um I don't know a very sharp pending for defense. Got some of the craft knife. You're well equipped. I do I do have that that when they release the larger version of the toy negan bat from the Walking Dead obviously Lucille. Yeah. My don't just say Lucille. The negan bat uh when they released the bigger version of Lucille. When I when I got sent that I took out of packaging I remember thinking she's quite weighty. You can really hurt you really do some damage, do some damage of this with this toy.

Uh So my view is that well that's what argues to wade. Yeah so just just keep the zombies at bay while I take a load of tablets just to knock me out while you're reading of lex. Yeah. Just to finish reading that and then taking sleeping pills. C. L. A. Yeah Exactly. I've got to make sure I finish it though. I can't get you can't commit suicide halfway through. I'll have to get right to the end. So yeah I'll start popping the pills about your last 10 pages. Fantastic. Well charlie Adler, it's been an absolute pleasure learning your comics with the apocalypse. My pleasure sam. No I've really really enjoyed it. Sorry for rabbit ng all for so long. I've absolutely relished it. It's been a wonderful joy listening to all of your choices and your reasons why. I mean your insights as well. It's honestly has been an absolute honor.

Um and uh moving on from that, you mentioned you got a fairly big projects coming up that you can't talk about obviously. but are there any other projects that you can talk about? Yeah, well I've been beavering away. Uh well, since the Walking Dead finished, funny enough on a book called Heretic, which is written by my old pal, Robbie Morrison. Um and Robbie moved up to where I live, intros berry about five or six years ago from London. Um and so we meet quite often and I say, and yeah, when when when we could meet uh a few years back, I told him, you know, he's one of the only people that knew that the Walking Dead was finishing before it finished because well, basically I said to the sudden, you know, it's inevitable that we're going to have to work together now, you live literally just down the road. And Yeah, so we started concocting something and I wanted to start it pretty much as soon as, you know, I've finished what, you know, walking dead, so uh that's what I have to tell him basically.

Uh but yeah, it's a 16th century set, murder mystery uh, set in and work at the height of the Spanish inquisition. So it's kind of yeah, slight departure from what I normally do, but that's why I love it because I don't want to go back to, well I'll go back to horror, but I certainly wouldn't go back to zombies. Never again, that's for sure. But you know, it's variety is what I want to do and I've always said, you know what, what what inspires me is a good script. It's as simple as that. I don't care what the subject is, what, what is bad or anything like that, so long as it's just really well written and inspires me, that's what interests me. So it was a real challenge to do something. I've never done a obviously a such an intense costume drama before, basically, which was quite, quite a lot of research as you can imagine.

Um Yeah, and uh the the only problem with it is we um we got so involved with the story, we forgot to look for a publisher, literally finished it and thought, you know, we really should get this published somewhere. So we are we are that was slightly wrong. I mean, I just a bit like we did talk vaguely to some people, but only on a kind of uh you know, sort of what if situation. Um so yeah, I have I have sort of talked to somebody now about it, it will get published by someone, I can't say because it's not been 100% confirmed, so so hopefully it will be out by the time and then will that be an ongoing series Or one and done type thing? That's what we wanted, that's what I want to do. What I talked about before is the single volumes.

So it's 120 page single book. Uh so that's that's that's how we're publishing it. We did if an are about whether we're going to serialize it, but it just didn't feel right and at the end of the day, I want to go with my gut feeling on stuff now and how it should be. Um I mean, you know, I'll be the first to sound, we feel incredibly, incredibly privileged to be in that position because you know, the majority of comics people are not in that position. You know, I've been very lucky with The Walking Dead that is enabled me to be financially stable to be able to literally joke about working on a comic book and not even think about a publisher, you know, for part of a year and a half, you know, unpaid, but thankfully that's the that's the luxury the Walking Dead has given me to be able to do stuff like that. Yeah, that's kind of how I intend to carry on with my uh with my professional career, so I'm vanishing back into obscurity folks, I love it, that's actually and I look forward to to seeing that whoever publishes it whenever that is, we'll be very vocal about it as soon as that of course I'm allowed to talk about it, that's for sure, that is brilliant, charlie.

Well once again, thank you so much for taking the time to be, to be on this uh this podcast, it's been a real pleasure and hopefully our paths will cross a comic Con one day, one day there will be there will be comic Cons and festivals one day you never know it might happen. Well, excellent. Thanks charlie. You take care. My pleasure. Thanks very much. Sam thanks again to charlie for being on comics for the apocalypse. It was an absolute honor and a pleasure. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review for us on itunes or which are broadcast service you use as not only will let me know that you liked it, but believe that it helps make other people aware of the show as well. If you'd like to check out charlie's work or follow him on social media. These links in the show notes, along with other links to various areas of the internet. Speaking of which if you haven't already be sure to visit comic scenes websites at comic scene dot org, for Comic News, the Comic Club and other fund sequential art stuff.

And lastly, as long as the apocalypse doesn't come to pass in the next week, I'll see you next monday boy for now, Yeah.