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- [00:00]
A
What it is. Welcome to Planet Tyrus. And yes, that is the gravitational pull you're feeling. The power of Tyrus. Now, listen, I'm excited about today because I get to talk about all things comic books with one of my favorite comic book artists and friends and collaborator, because, spoiler alert, I have a Tyrus comic book coming out. The Unstoppable Tyrus. It's pretty cool. And you never guess what got infected in my levels to turn me blue. It's kind of cool. So there's a little science to go with it. So I'm very excited about having the one and only Gabe I always met. Man, he's going to get on me for this, but El Talib. I said it right. El Talib. I always say his last name wrong, and he always. And he always gets upset. El Tayeb. Gabe Altayeb. It's a lot of consonants in there, you know, Help a brother out, man. So. So I just call him Gabe for short because I'm always messing up his last name. But he's in a great, great American comic book artist. Most famous during the. The Me Too and the Cancel era for standing up to D.C. because he did not want to write some crazy stuff with the Superman characters. And he walked and he took a bet on himself in a time when everyone was being canceled and for having an original thought or an idea or saying, no, I'm not okay with that. And he launched his own Big Man Comics and ended up. I was so impressed with his courage to do that that I was like, yo, I want to work with you. I have an idea. And it just kind of grew from there. But he's a really cool dude. You're gonna enjoy it. And he's got some deep thoughts on this whole crazy woke entertainment thing that we all get mixed up in from time to time. So without further ado, I just call him Gabe. What up, Gabe?
- [01:55]
B
How you doing? Thank you for having me.
- [01:57]
A
I'm doing all right. I'm. I like your background, the Big man comics. I feel like your story of. I felt like I kind of met you right as it was kind of going down when you made a pretty huge, some people would say a gamble. I like to call it betting on yourself. When you decided to part ways with D.C. during, I guess, a controversial topic, they. For those people, before I even get into it, those people who don't know you, you're. You were with DC for quite a long time.
- [02:29]
B
Yes, they hired me at the end of 2007, and I quit working there in 21. I've been a professional artist, illustrator, writer since 2000. So.
- [02:38]
A
So you've been, you've been. You've definitely got some stripes in the game and, and you've worked on. I mean you don't take a backseat to anyone in the right. You've worked on the flagship shows. Superman, Green Lantern.
- [02:52]
B
If, if you've heard of it. I've worked on it. Star Wars, Transformers, World of Warcraft, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green if you've heard of it. I've worked on it. So yeah, for sure.
- [03:02]
A
And then here comes you. You're this establishment in the comic book world and they're basically being asked to basically redo a comic book legend and, and woke it up basically without getting into. They just wanted you to woke something that a super. The Superman. I don't understand why they had to woke things like just make something new. I think that's fine. I think if you want to make something new, you want to make something from the ground up. But to take an establishment thing that. And try to force feed it down everybody's throat. I had a great issue with. I didn't think, I thought it was a lot. Obviously you did too because it ultimately led to you forming your own company and starting and basically going I'm gonna do it my way. That's a huge thing to walk away from. I mean it's not. There's not like there's a million comic book jobs laying around for artists. You know, it's a very, it's a very select few that get. They get to in the door, let alone establish a career. That had to not be. That had to be a tough decision.
- [04:16]
B
It was terrifying. But the way I was raised by my grandfather and my dad and my football coaches, the men in my life, it was about principle. And you know, I'm. I'm religious, I'm patriotic. You know, I'm a father and a grandfather. Married 29 years as of last week. I have my principles about what I think I should do and how I should conduct myself. And as an artist. You're an artist too. You're an entertainer, a stand up comic and a political commentator. You know that art is the most persuasive thing in the world. And if we make ugly stories with ugly messages, we hurt people's lives. I make a bunch of woke comics that say you can't make it because you're black or gay or whatever. People are going to believe that if I'm good enough at writing and drawing and all, they'll believe it. And it'll hurt their life. I should tell people, you can make it. You can be brave when you're scared. I should tell people that. So to woke it up is just unacceptable to me. No thanks.
- [05:05]
A
And the big, the big thing was is that they wanted a. Was it Superman's son to be non binary. Was that the, the two things that really bothered me.
- [05:15]
B
It was a brand new Superman comic. And I mean they're called superheroes. There's nothing bigger than Superman. He's a number one.
- [05:20]
A
He's the guy he's hard to write for because he's perfect.
- [05:25]
B
Yeah. And they're like, okay, in the new Superman. Com, I'm so excited. I get the job as one of the artists. And then I read the first script and the writers awoke America hating dude. And it's. We're getting rid of the slogan truth justice in the American way. It's truth justice in a better world or better tomorrow or something. And we're going to explore the sex life of his underage son. It wasn't so much about him being gay or non binary.
- [05:47]
A
It was him being underage.
- [05:49]
B
Yeah. It just. Well, sex, period. Even if he were straight. That's not why I'm doing comics. Comics are for everyone. Adults, sure, but they're for young people. And I don't want to put that out there. Like, there's nothing wrong with sex. I'm a father, a grandfather.
- [06:02]
A
Right. But this idea, and this is what always seems to be a sticking point because, you know, someone was like, well, if you have a gay son or a gay daughter and they're, they're going to go to prom, are you not going to make sure that they have, you know, rubbers and all stuff? And I'm like, no, they're in high school. Absolutely not. And it's the same rules across the board. No one's doing that, you know, like in junior high. What are you crazy? My, my mother would have shot me before she would allow that. Like there was just this idea that you have to. It's okay, you can love whoever you want to. But isn't the goal to teach them to love the right way, that physical things are the, are the least of it? That's the, that's the easy part. The hard part is the emotional connections, which most kids aren't ready at that age. And you know, especially when they're young, you shouldn't, you shouldn't push that. You shouldn't. So I, I agreed with you 100%. And that's kind of how we Met was in the process of, that was trying to get some recognition because I thought this was a big story. You willing to, to walk away. And it wasn't during the time when it was fashionable, I'll just put it that way to take a stand on the, on this subject because as soon as you made a stand, you're automatically, you're transphobic, you're homophobic, you're an alpha male, you're, you're a toxic masculine male. You know, it was all, it was not at a time when where, now where everyone's kind of like, hey, you know what, I don't like that or hey, I don't agree with that. Now there's room to wiggle. But when you were doing this, it was, it was stand up, be canceled. I mean that's basically what it was, was like you're done. Like you'll never work in this industry again because you had an original thought on something or you had integrity.
- [07:52]
B
I was, I was one of the anti woke trailblazers in entertainment. No, I mean everyone's brave now and speaking up. Yeah, the culture's moved on and everyone sees how dumb it is. But this is 2021 I'm speaking of. This is the height of the lockdown stuff and the America was mentally ill at the time. Just totally crazy. Cancel culture. Me too. All of it was in turbo overd. And my principal said, no, I can't do this. I went and talked to my dad and he said, well, you can't quit. You signed a contract. Just write them an email, thank them for everything they did and tell them you'll finish the last six issues of your contract. I told them that and they were, oh my God, Gabe, we love you. It's been an amazing many years working with you. We wish you luck and whatever it is you're gonna go do. And like a week later I spoke out in public on a podcast about it and DC Comics found out why, but I wasn't afraid to speak in public, but I didn't need to write it in the email. And after that, like, we don't want you to finish this, we're not going to pay you and blah blah, blah. And I told them there are two laws on the books in California since the 30s, I'm allowed to speak about politics and you cannot retaliate. So they had to pay me the rest of my contract, but I didn't have to do the rest of the work. So that was kind of awesome.
- [09:00]
A
But it should never even came to that, you know, like how dare you speak out. You know, you want a comic book in itself is fantasy and, and new worlds and new ideas. And you, you want open ideas, you want creativity. But also there can be there, there can be some restraint and on some subjects. And you don't necessarily always have to. If you're trying to make something for everyone, then there is a line. There, there is a, there is a line. And especially with dealing with kids, with comic books. Kids see a comic book, they don't always look to see whether it's, you know, because there's graphic novels that I wouldn't let my kids read. But when they see a comic book, they think it's for us. So it's a, it's a natural thing where you're going to get a kid to pick up a comic book and open it up because he thinks it's for him, you know, so you, you want to have that at least some form of a line when dealing with, you know, you want, if you're trying to preach to do the right thing, it has to be consistent. It can't be do the right thing. But you know, you can be underaged and, and fool around. Like I just, I feel like that message is just such a dangerous message and as a parent you have to almost overkill it because it's such a laxed thing. It's such, you know, it didn't, when we were coming up, it was not considered that there was terms and labels for someone who was fast or whatever. Now it's in, it's almost encouraged. Like they're your, your body count seeking your truth. Like these are the things that are around our kids. And I, I don't want those in my comic books. I don't want things like that.
- [10:40]
B
No. Well, we've abandoned father culture, like having the masculine influence in the father for the last, I mean really the last hundred years. But it exploded in the 50s and 60s. And you look at characters like Archie Bunker and Homer Simpson and Al Bundy and here's the insidiousness of this leftist crap. In Hollywood, art is self expression. Art is patterns. When you recognize a pattern, your brain gives you that dopamine reward. So when I make a beautiful chorus or melody or a good acting or write a good story or draw a good comic book, and I do it well, I create the patterns. Well, it doesn't matter if my morality is good or evil. Your subconscious part of your brain will go, ah, that's a pattern. That's true. So if I tell you evil messages over and over and over. But I'm really good at telling them, you're going to believe what I'm saying. There's scientific research that shows this is absolutely true. So it isn't just, oh, I can watch it. I can listen to the lyrics. I can this, I can that. No, your subconscious brain is not aware. It's not aware. It's the whole reason why when you watch a horror movie, you jump. When there's a monster on the screen, it's a tv. What are you scared of? Your subconscious doesn't know that. So I'm feeding you filth. But I'm good at it. I'm going to make your mind full of filth.
- [11:51]
A
So you guys thought it was just a comic book episode. It got real deep in here, didn't it? The guys?
- [11:55]
B
That's why this is so important to me. Let me tell you, when I was leaving DC Comics, I was terrified. I made good money. It's six figure jobs. There's more people in the NBA than making comic books.
- [12:06]
A
That's what I'm saying. It's a select few.
- [12:08]
B
It's very hard to get the job. What am I going to do? My resume since 2000 is an illustrator and a writer. Where am I going to get a job? And 1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Sean Connery, Harrison Ford. There's a scene at the end, he's going through all those dangerous obstacle traps to get the cup of Christ. Remember?
- [12:24]
A
Right.
- [12:25]
B
And he has to step into that bottomless canyon, that chasm. It's the leap of faith. And he steps out and there's an invisible bridge there because of the perspective. But he has to take the step of faith first before he's on the bridge and doesn't fall. I remember thinking about that when I was going to quit DC Comics because I'm taking a step of faith. I don't have another job. I got a mortgage, wife, kids, a granddaughter now in Southern California. You know what that costs? And I'm Christian. I said, God, don't let me fall. And I was lifted higher than ever. But I had to take that step. But the reason I mentioned Indiana Jones is I thought about that movie in that scene and it inspired me. And that's the power of story. When they're executed. Well, I want to write stories like that, that when someone is in a hard time in their life, they need to be kind or merciful or loving or brave. That Gabe wrote a story that was so good, they're like, oh, I remember in that big man Comic. There was this moment, blah, blah, blah. That's what I want to do with my work.
- [13:20]
A
And you're kind of doing that. So now you have a couple projects, one I'm very excited about, but we'll talk about that one a little bit. But you. You took. And ironically, it's funny how you took someone who used to be Superman, right? You used to write for Superman and. And illustrate, and now you're creating Dean Cain's new character, which is kind of, I think, is ironically cool. I just thought, you know, And. And. And he's. He always. Like I said, I always thought he was a great TV Superman. I thought he was solid. And then. And of course, what he's doing with law enforcement and his support for law enforcement and his acting career. And now you've kind of. You kind of meld all that together. So that's pretty cool. Like, how did that come about? What, like, I'm gonna make a comic book with Dean Cain?
- [14:10]
B
Like, well, not only he's a good Superman, but he's an even better person. We've become very good friends. You know, like, I go to his house when I'm in Vegas. You know, we go to dinner. He takes. He's taking me and my wife out and stuff. And he's just a really good guy. He's so down to earth. You would never know that he went to Princeton, played in the NFL, and was a TV and movie star. He's acts like just a completely normal guy. We hang out with him. He's just. You've met him.
- [14:35]
A
He's been a million times.
- [14:37]
B
Y. Yeah, he's just one of the best guys I know. And I met him the exact same way I met you. He saw the controversy where I badmouth DC Comics justifiably. So he saw it on Twitter and messaged me. He followed me and messaged me, and he gave me his number, and I called him up, and I said, is there something I can do for you, Mr. Kane? And he said, no, is there something I can do for you? And he saw that I was canceled from Warner Brothers or whatever, and he wanted to promote my new venture, Big Man Comics. So I did a comic book called Truth, Justice, American Way, with three superheroes that were analogs for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And I named it that on purpose because DC Comics ditched that. They ditched that slogan, and he promoted the heck out of that thing for me and helped me make a ton of sales for my independent comic book company. When I was nearing the end of drawing that book I was thinking about, what am I going to do next? And I love James Bond and Indiana Jones. As I mentioned Indiana Jones earlier. And I called Dean, I said, hey, what if we did a comic? And it was like a, like you, like you're starring in a movie, but it's a comic book. And you're like a international man of action and an adventure like a James Bond Indiana Jones. And I called it Dean Cain, All American Lawman. Now the character in the comic is Chris Tanaka. Chris is his father's name. Directed for Christopher Kane. And Tanaka is Dean's given name from his biological father. So we call the character that. And he sets about taking down drug cartels and Chinese mafia in Hong Kong. And we're about 3/4 of the way through the sequel. I have the. Right here next to me. The, the first edition right here. This is volume one. It's 116 pages. I write these the way you watch an 80s action movie. Lethal Weapon, Goonies, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, all that. That's the way I write my. The Three Act Heroes, Journey. They're really fun. People love this stuff. Everyone that's. I've never got a bad review. Everyone that has read this, absolutely love this. This is the limited hollow foil Christmas edition that's on sale for just a few weeks right now at the holidays. But we created that character together with the kind of morals and entertainment that we love. There's no gore, there's no sex, there's no cursing. But it's for all.
- [16:37]
A
You don't need it.
- [16:38]
B
No, you don't. You don't. Look at Indiana Jones. Is there like brains flying everywhere and X rated sex? No, no. You know when they want to have a sex scene, they kiss, the lights turn out, you cut to the next scene. You know what I mean? You don't need it.
- [16:51]
A
You really don't. Not for action.
- [16:54]
B
Bedrooms and bathrooms have doors for a reason. What you do in those places is fine. Just shut the door, please. You know.
- [17:00]
A
Yeah, I agree. Like you should be able to. The family watches a comic book movie. You shouldn't have to fast forward board.
- [17:07]
B
You remember being a kid and you're watching a movie with your parents or something or grandparents in the living room and the, the sex scene comes on and everybody's butt gets so tight and.
- [17:16]
A
You'Re like, yeah, we just saw. We used to watch the. Edited. The TV edited ones. So you get the movies that were edited for TV that would have everything cut out already. I forgot about that. They used to edit movies for tv. So when you did get watch a movie, it wasn't the same movie you saw in the theater. It was the TV version. So they would never have that issue because they would, it would all be cut. It'd be all cut out for, for. They call it edited for commercials. I think that's what it was. But yeah, and then, and this is quite successful, like Dean's comic book has done very well and you guys continue to, to grow it. So now you've, you've come to a place where you've bet on yourself. You've got Big Man Comics is launching in full effect and you're, you're doing well. Do you look back from where you are now? Is there. Has it gotten to a place where you just focus on the happy moments at dc? You try not to think about. Have you got to a point where you're like, I'm good and I'm. When you look back at your time at dc, you just focus on the positive stuff because, I mean, there's still, I mean, as far as an artist career goes, you, you still were at the. I mean, Marvel's one. But dc, I think when it comes to comic book, I think is a little bigger. Marvel, probably in the movie genre. But as far as comic books go, I don't think there's a higher level of. To say I work for DC Comics, in my opinion.
- [18:40]
B
Yeah. I think that their heroes are much more iconic than Marvel. Marvel seems more. I don't know, it seems lower brow. I don't know. But do I hate it? Am I bitter? Do I hate these people? Absolutely not. It's regrettable what happened, but, you know, it wasn't my fault and they pushed me into a corner where I had to make a choice. It hurts my feelings. It makes me sad to look at DC Comics and see what they're doing now. And my old friend, like, practically none of my colleagues talk to me anymore and, and they still like me. I've gotten secret private messages and hey, man, I think what you're doing is good, but I can't quit. You know, I got a family to mortgage like I did too, buddy. Or I still do.
- [19:15]
A
Yeah.
- [19:15]
B
But it's sad. I wish it hadn't come to that. But I'll tell you, it's the most amazing thing to work for yourself. It really is. Because when I was working for DC Comics, it's not mine, right? Yeah. That's theirs. And there's only so much you can do. But when I'm working on empyrean, my sci fi book or Dean Cain or the Unstoppable Tyrus. I'm the writer, you know, I'm the writer of these things. And whatever I want to say, whatever I want to do is what I'm. What I do. And, and as an artist, art to the artist is self expression. What is the world? What am I, and what is my place in it and what do I believe? That's what you're doing with art. You're not, it's not frivolous. You're actually trying to make a difference here. So to be free of it, I'm happy it happened. It was scary. You know, I, I didn't have a job lined up, but I had to leave. And I couldn't be happier. I think, I think when I took that leap of faith, like Indiana Jones, I, I, I think God really blessed me for doing that, you know, I think he really did. And I think it's. And then I met you, and I met Dean. I've met a lot of good friends that have a lot of influence that are in the same. In the same battle, I guess, culture war that I'm in, you know?
- [20:22]
A
You know, because I was, because we, I got my little limited edition here, San Diego Comic Con 2025, Preview of, of the Unstoppable Tyrus. And it was, we were just having a conversation because I had a comic book character in mind for a long time, just something I played with because I was, I'm. I'm an animal junkie and a little bit of a science nerd. And I was always obsessed with horseshoe crabs. And people were like, what? Why? What is the reason for that? Even the guy's like, what? Because they, they have this incredible ability in their blood system where they can only get sick once from something, right? So if you give a horseshoe crab a cold, he can only get it once. His body, well, he'll. He'll make antibodies and he can never get it again. So I was thinking, man, what an amazing power that would be, is if anytime something happens to you, if you know, you've got the, the. You have a superhero with horseshoe crab DNA is like, you shoot him once and you can't shoot him again, you know, like by that theory. So every time something bad happens to him, he becomes more powerful. So, so that was kind of my thought process behind it. But then you just kind of brought it to life and now it's like, it's kind of cool. Like we're, I don't think we have quite. Do we have A release date yet? We're still figuring all that stuff out.
- [21:43]
B
When you and I talked last, we thought sometime in the middle of January.
- [21:46]
A
Yeah, right after Christmas. Yeah. We get it rolling and it's.
- [21:50]
B
There's 14 pages left to be colored. It looks gorgeous. I've sent it to you, you know.
- [21:55]
A
Yeah. I keep stopping myself from looking because I want to see it when it's done. Done, you know, like that. Cuz when you buy a comic book, like for me, whenever I got a Hulk comic book, the first thing I would do is I would run and get it and then I go sit down and I would be like, no one talked to me and I had to be alone. I had to just look through all the photos first, then go back and read it and get hooked. So I'm treating this the. The same way. Even though I. I'm very familiar with the blue dude in the front.
- [22:24]
B
Right.
- [22:25]
A
Because it's cool. It takes me back to. I remember and I'd order a Wolverine comic book or order a. I think it was two names, Mutant Ninja Turtles. Waiting for a certain one to come in. And then you come comic book store, they wouldn't have it in yet, you know, and they said, oh, four to six weeks, you know, and. But that whole process. And so for this, I'm waiting on it. But it's very cool to go through the. Like before you had. You were given basically a layout where they're like, hey, this is the episode. This is what we want. This is what we want to see. And then you would do that. Take us through. What's it like now? Because you're not. You're the director, you're the producer, you're the artist.
- [23:06]
B
Right?
- [23:08]
A
What is when you sit at a table and we had our conversation. I told you what I was thinking in terms of a character and then you took it and you put like, take us through how it works now. Like what's. When you. When you stare at that blank piece of paper, like, take us through your process of you're gonna start to put a comic book together or even a comic book idea. Is it. I write books, so is it very similar? Like where I'll start brainstorming in the middle and just take a bunch of different ideas and they become chapters or whatever. When you're doing your comic book, when you're building your story. Take us through that.
- [23:44]
B
Well, to me. And you do a ton of comedy. My daughter's a standup comic. She's a paid regular at the Comedy Store here in San Diego. And she goes up to the one in, in la and I helped her write jokes early in her career. I'm an award winning comedy writer. When I was in college, I won the highest awards you can write get for humor. Columbia University Golden Circle Award. So when my wife gets mad at me and says that's not funny, I said, I have documentation that I'm actually hilarious.
- [24:07]
A
You have an award.
- [24:08]
B
So writing a story is like writing a joke. The punchline is the most important part. The setup is 49, but the punchline is 51. You, you gotta get the ending right on the story. Because what a story is when you write it is a thesis. You're telling the audience, I think this is true. Whatever your story ending is. The moral of your story, you're saying, I think this is true. And then you spend 120 pages proving it before you get to the end of your thesis. So I start with the ending. I want to know who the character is. We have the unstoppable Tyrus. You and I agreed he was a loser. He was impulsive. He effed up his life being impulsively dumb things. And then he controls himself by the end. That's not spoiling anything. But he figures out how to be a man. There you go. He has that new ability to have self control. So that was the general premise you gave me. Along with the superpowers and the monsters. I was the biggest fan of the Ninja Turtles in 1990. I was 11 or 12 years old. I still have all the Ninja Turtles action figures. I still have them in the attic and all that. And so I'm like oh, animals. So I created a concept of a mana beast. It's a half man, half animal. Right. And because your character was going to have these horseshoe crab healing abilities, super strength stuff. And I went into this whole lore and it just, it grows from there. Now, I don't know where my writing ability comes from. I've been able to read since I was three and I was in the gifted and talented program growing up for language arts when I was a little kid in the GATE program. I don't know if you've heard of that.
- [25:31]
A
Yep.
- [25:31]
B
But language just comes naturally to me. My daughter, stand up comedian, My uncle, lawyer, My dad. We're just really quick witted and just so I don't get writer's block. It's like a fire hose. You could tell me a premise. I can give you a story in 10 minutes. The basic outline. I don't know why, but it just works for me when I was a little kid playing action figures. It wasn't like die he man. Bam, bam. It was deep lore and he's betraying and it's an evil twin and we got to get.
- [25:56]
A
Always betrayal.
- [25:58]
B
Yeah, it was always these long, complicated stories. So I hate to say it's just something I've been able to do my whole life, make up stories. And I have a ton of fun doing it, you know. So when you told me the premise and you told me about these animals, I started thinking about how do we get to that punchline, that point at the end. The moral of the story of self control as a man is paramount. That was the premise of the story. How do we get there? And then we have fun getting there along the way. So we really have to show at the beginning who he is, how he screws everything up and stuff like that. And how he learns over time, but has setbacks, makes friends. And you follow Joseph Campbell. He had the hero with the thousand faces and the hero's Journey. He wrote those books. I studied those a lot. William Bernhardt's Red Sneaker writers. He's a New York Times best selling crime author. I study his books on writing. And of course, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of Lost Ark. That's a perfect movie.
- [26:49]
A
So those are which. Okay, which one is the best one all time?
- [26:54]
B
Oh, the worst one is Temple of Doom. And I don't know what's better, the, the Last Crusade or the other one. I think I like The Last Crusade 1% more.
- [27:03]
A
Why? Why does Temple of Doom bother you so much?
- [27:07]
B
I don't like the evil in it. The evil, like, okay, he's the hero, Indiana Jones. I don't like a hero becoming demonically possessed. That's too far for me.
- [27:16]
A
I don't like.
- [27:17]
B
Again, I'm religious, I'm Christian, I don't like how dark that is. That. That's too much for me. I remember being the way I was raised, I wasn't allowed to watch filth. I wasn't. We didn't listen to worldly music. I probably went to three movies growing up. We had about 10 VHS cassettes at home. Star Wars, Blues Brothers, Indiana Jones. We were shielded from the world of media. And that's why when it came time for me to make Filth, I said no. But I remember we had rented the Temple of Doom. We were watching it. We got to the scene where the evil priest is like ripping that guy's heart out.
- [27:46]
A
Yeah.
- [27:47]
B
My mom just turned the TV off. Like, we're not watching this. So that's how I was raised, you know what I mean? So I don't like that one, I guess because when I was 8, my mom said, no, this is filth. We're not watching it. But the other two, we watched them on repeat forever. You know, we just watched them over and over and over.
- [28:00]
A
Yeah, I'm trying to think because in the video game, that was like, the level that I didn't like was the. The heart grabbing guy. It was. It was a weird episode. That's.
- [28:09]
B
It was very dark compared to the other two. The other two felt so fun and swashbuckling, you know, just so adventurous. This one was very dark.
- [28:16]
A
Can they recreate that, you think? Because, you know, they always want to redo everything. Yeah, you know, and the, The. The most recent one was brutal. But why. Why does everybody want to recreate everything? Why, like, you're going out and you're. You're creating something new. Isn't that far more fun than. Than like, just trying to do like a Superman knockoff? I mean, you could. I mean, I guess that would be the easiest thing to do, but like, to create your own. Like, why is it every movie is a remake? Why have we gotten so lazy in entertainment where no one. Are we just not allowing writers and artists in the game anymore to where they're just putting out what we think is going to sell some. Some T shirts?
- [29:02]
B
This is very complicated. I'll try to be as concise as possible, but I know this. I worked in the offices at Warner Brothers. I've been an artist my whole life. This is communism. Hold on, what am I talking about? Communism is an ideology of resentment. The leftist sees the beautiful quarterback and cheerleader and goes, oh, I hope he breaks his leg and she gets fat. A normal person, a good person, sees the quarterback in the cheerleader and goes, huh? If I practice football long enough, maybe I can be the quarterback.
- [29:31]
A
Right?
- [29:31]
B
And the girl says, you know, if I lose weight and do my hair and I learn some cheers, maybe I can be the cheerleader. That's the normal human response to greatness, is to not resent it when you're raised without a father. We have a fatherless culture. I've told you about this, and, you know, it's. I lived it. You lived it. Thankfully, we had men step into our lives. You with your mentors, me with my mentors and my grandfather. When you don't have a father, you don't get validation as a small child, and you can spend the rest of your life looking for external validation and be A very bitter, passive aggressive person. You find these left wing people, that's what it is, they say, smash the patriarchy. Pater pater means father in Latin. It means kill my dad because I hate my dad because he wasn't there. That's what that really means. The reason they want to tear down statues, tear down the flag, tear down, destroy Batman, destroy movies, destroy video games, say you can't eat steak, you can't drive a car. That's their dad. All that world, the west is their dad's world and they hate their dad because he broke their heart and they want to destroy it. It's not about making a gay Batman. It's about ruining the existing one. That's what the leftist resentment is about. They don't give a crap about the WOKE ideology. They don't. They're just so hurt and broken and they haven't examined themselves inside that it's about destroying the thing that you like. Oh, Tyrus, you liked that? Well, I ruined it F you because they look at that beautiful quarterback and cheerleader and they want to hurt them because they don't have it. Because they didn't have a father saying, hey, hey, Tyrus, get up. Wipe that blood off your face. Murdoch are better than that. We can do it. You can do it. Stop crying. They didn't have that growing up. So they don't believe in themselves. They can't achieve anything because they don't think they can.
- [31:09]
A
Wow, that's a. That's a lot of. That's a lot of anger, that, that.
- [31:13]
B
But that's what it is.
- [31:14]
A
I get to figure out maybe those would be the bad guys in the next comic book.
- [31:18]
B
Well, it's funny you say that. Maybe they're Some ideologies usually are.
- [31:23]
A
The roads. Was it? All the roads to evil are paved with good intention.
- [31:27]
B
Yeah, yeah. You know, it is again, they think, well, it's representation. I'm putting a illegal black gay, trans character in the book and blah, blah, blah, that's fine. Every human being could have a good story written about them. Don't take the one that exists and get rid of it. What if McDonald's tomorrow said all of the beef and all of our burgers is being replaced with fish? Then they lose most of their customers. Now McDonald's have a fish sandwich for people that like it. Yes, but that's separate than turning the Big Mac into fish.
- [31:57]
A
Right, Exactly. You wouldn't, you wouldn't do that because that'd be bad for your bottom line.
- [32:00]
B
But leave Batman alone and make a New gay, illegal immigrant, black characters. If you're a good writer, you'll be able to.
- [32:07]
A
That's what I'm saying. Like, that's where the, that's where we're missing is the, the original ideas. Everyone, Everyone wants to do a remake or the easiest thing, or to take something that's established and ruin it or change it dramatically again.
- [32:21]
B
It's. It's that kill. Why do you think that writer, the woke writer who took over Superman when I was going to do art on it, he got rid of Truth justice in the American way and said truth justice in a better world. That's a middle finger to the, to the symbolic father. Hey, Father. You said Truth justice in American way. Screw you. I'm doing something different. I'm. I'm killing the patriarchy. I'm getting rid of what you made. And I'm smart. I'm the genius. I'm the one that came up with this. It's about that validation they never got. And until they are. Carl Young, the great psychologist, he said, until the subconscious is made conscious, it'll control people's lives and they will call it fate. So, so much of the BS that I do and you do and everyone does, you've got these beliefs a thousand miles below the surface, and you don't know you have them. And they're telling you to react this way and that way. And that's why you have to do a lot of introspection and prayer, meditation, whatever's going to work for you, and think about, why did I do that? Why did I really do that?
- [33:17]
A
All you got to do at this point is shave your head, man, and you're into the new Dr. X. Like, just get an evil. He's just breaking it down. He's slowly becoming an evil demonic character in front of us, and all he's doing is spitting facts. It's. It's funny how you, how you're just talking about how life really works. Doesn't matter whether you're an artist or whether you work at Applebee's or whatever. It's the same rules. It's the same thing. Integrity matters. And it's funny when you, when you hear you talk about it, is. Is you're so used to. The average person in the media would fall apart when someone just says basic, straight up. This is what you have to do to be a good person. It's a simple formula. And when you bring it up there, oh, but that's not fair. You can't bring that. Why can't you Say what you just said, like, that's. You didn't say anything wrong. You just brought it out. Like, make something different, right? Do it yourself.
- [34:15]
B
People that have that ideology, my heart breaks for them because I've been there. My parents got divorced like, a week after my eighth birthday. And I didn't really see my dad much before that either. He's like a workaholic. And I had that longing in me. And I still kind of do. I know my dad, but we're, you know, semi estranged. We get along. We don't see each other for a long time. We don't talk for a long time. And it's sad. It's really heartbreaking. Now, I told you earlier, I've been married 29 years as of last Thursday. Wonderful wife, just the greatest wife in the world. Great kids, an amazing granddaughter who's going to be three in, like, two weeks. And I have the family now that I never had growing up, you know, and it is a sad thing. So I. I know these leftist communist people because I know that pain now. I never turned that way because we were in church three days a week and I wasn't allowed to marinate my brain in filthy movies and music growing up, like, unfortunately happened to most of them, but. But I know it. I know that nobody loves you. Nobody will help you. Why would anyone like you? Why would anyone buy your comics? Oh, how stupid. Those voices are still there, and I have to fight them sometimes. And it's because your dad wasn't there, so why would anyone else be?
- [35:21]
A
You know what I mean? I see what you're saying.
- [35:24]
B
It's a mistake that your brain made when you were five. That it was your fault, that there was something wrong with you. If your parents abuse you, mistreat you, whatever, that's that them being selfish. It has nothing to do with your worth. And you have to realize that as a human being. And it's hard. And the only way to realize it is to take actions that reinforce it. You can't just know it. Because Aristotle, great philosopher, he said character is built through habit, right? So you will believe what you do. It's like wanting to get in shape and work out. You won't like it until you do it for a while. Then if you lift weights long enough, you can't wait to go do it. But at first you don't want to, and then eventually your character changes for some reason, beings we want our character to be first. I want to like to diet and exercise, and then I'll do it. It works. The other way.
- [36:08]
A
We got to dig it. You know what, when you create, because I hear how passion you are, do you put. How much of yourself do you put in your characters when you're making a character, when you're creating something from the ground up? How much. When you're. Because we all have sides, right?
- [36:24]
B
Right.
- [36:25]
A
You got a bad side, you got a good side, you got a different side. Like, we all have different parts of ourselves. Do you find that you put a lot of yourself into your characters when you.
- [36:33]
B
Of course, yeah. It comes. I mean, you. You write what you know you can.
- [36:37]
A
Which one of your characters, which is probably your favorite. One. Most favorite one to write so far.
- [36:41]
B
My favorite character to write so far. I just wrote a sequel to the Dean Cain book and that. And I love, like, 80s action Hong Kong cinema. Chow Yun Fat, Steven Seagal, Van Damme, I love that stuff. And the Dean Cain stuff has so much of that 80s 90s action. And I actually set the second volume in Hong Kong just for my love of those movies. So I would say the. The Unstoppable Tyrus, Dean Cain's character, Kristanaka, and then Oliver Acor. They're the three male leads in the three books I've done so far. And, oh, and then the. The American way from the first book I did. They all preach my values. They all have that idea of being a man, being a father, but being flawed. You know, just because I'm Christian, I don't think I'm perfect. I'm a sinner.
- [37:28]
A
Right.
- [37:28]
B
In my religion, I believe Jesus died because of how bad I am, not because of how bad you are. Tyrus, because of me. The bad, scummy, dishonest, whatever selfish things I've done. And we'll continue to. Human beings, you know, we're sinners. We are. We try. But I put all that in my work to tell people there's hope, that you don't have to have a broken heart, that you're not alone, you're going to be okay. That you can only be brave when you're scared. I love that. I read that. I was reading the Game of Thrones novels like 10 Years Ago, and that was a line in one of the books, and it just stuck with me. I don't remember the scene, but there was something evil coming.
- [38:01]
A
Monsters or bad guys or even my Batman with Bane. It was. Wasn't until he was afraid of death that we could climb out of the hole. The gimmick.
- [38:10]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think those life lessons are so important, but the thing I try to do my hardest when I write, as far as the dialogue and all that, is to never be pretty preachy or elbowing someone. Like, get it, get it.
- [38:21]
A
You get my. Yeah, yeah.
- [38:23]
B
No, no, no, no. It's show, don't tell. I never want anyone to feel lectured. I don't want someone to be like, oh, he's, he's conservative. He's right.
- [38:31]
A
I mean, as soon as you start lecturing, you lose. You cut out a certain group. Someone who just came to laugh or just want to read a comic book. You just lost them. Because now you're putting all this heavy on me. I didn't come here for that. I came here to relax and, and, and escape for a little while.
- [38:46]
B
The first goal is to entertain. So it's like that, sugar, to help the medicine go down there. Of course there are messages in my work. It's impossible to make any work for anyone without a message, but I hide it in there intentionally. I don't. Because lecturing, you're treating people like a toddler, like a preschooler. Don't do this. Don't. Nobody wants that, right? So no, mine's entertainment with amazing messages in it. But you're never going to know that. You're getting a sermon. You know, it's hidden in there, but you're never gonna know.
- [39:13]
A
So if there was one before I let you go, if there was one character that you could borrow from any universe to put in one one of your stories right now, who would it be?
- [39:23]
B
Oh, geez. Who would it be?
- [39:26]
A
You. Could you hand pick all the rights? It's yours. You can hand pick one character. It's yours.
- [39:32]
B
Oh, I'm taking Indiana Jones. Taking Indiana Jones. And we're de aging Harrison Ford with some weird scientific comic book science. So.
- [39:42]
A
I think I probably would have went with. I probably would have went with Vader or the Sith Lord too, because that's just the best bad guy. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where you are. Like, he's just the worst bad guy. Have everybody around him. But, but that would be a good one. Yeah. Indiana. Well, Indiana Jones, he always finds a way. And I guess that also would kind of fall into the Batman because he's basically a Batman esque character. He's just a scientist and he uses a whip.
- [40:13]
B
Right, right. Yeah, it's. Yeah, Indiana Jones or Han Solo. Same actor, same kind of personality. He's got that devil may catch.
- [40:19]
A
Didn't they do, didn't they do like an Easter egg cross or something? With Star wars and like there was some. They tried to do some clever Indiana Jones Harrison Han Solo connection or something like that. I read somewhere that someone tried to do some kind of Easter egg in one of them movies, like movie.
- [40:37]
B
I didn't see the new.
- [40:38]
A
I like the. I like. I didn't see the new Indiana Jones either, but I did like the Han Solo. I did. Thought Solo was pretty good. I don't understand. The Darth Maul thing at the end was all right, but like, because they stuck to the story, you know, now we know why he, you know how he did the parsec and lesson.
- [40:55]
B
Right.
- [40:55]
A
You know, but. And then we know how they met Chewy. It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. But I get like, you think about with all the new characters and stuff like that, they, they're always going to bring back characters like Indiana Jones. And I guess you're kind of excited whenever they bring them back. It's just then when you see the movie, you're like, oh man, shouldn't have brought him back. I guess that's just the way. I guess that's the way. Plus, you know what I do sometimes I say, you know what? When I was a kid, this was bigger than life. And now I'm desensitized and I've seen everything. So now when a new movie comes out, you're not as. It's not the same because you're not a little kid anymore. So it's not, you know, it's not the same for you as it was when you, like, when you watch it. It's always a disconnect because I'll be like, hey, sit my kids. I mean, you gotta watch Turn of the Jedi. You guys are gonna love it. Oh my God, it's so great. And they'll be like, oh, the graphics are kinda. And you can see the line in the lightsaber. And I'm like, what are you doing? What are you doing? You know, and they just kind of pick it apart because to them it's like, man, because the new stuff is faster and you know, I get it. Why would you want to watch Luke Skywalker and. And Vader fight when you've got Darth Maul and them doing flips and kicks? But the story's better. I try to tell them like the story's better. If you get hooked in the story. And the score, you know, that was another thing too. Star wars had tremendous score. If you got good music and a good story, you don't need all the. The super Graphics that the, the kids today, because that's the biggest thing is like when I see my kids watch some, the first thing they'll be is like, oh, look at that. It's only in 4K. Can you believe it? And I'll just be like, wow, frills. That's where we're at. The never ending story. I don't remember what it was in. I just know because it was a good story. You know, always. I always remember the rock guy. His hands wasn't big enough to save everybody. Like it was like cool deep, you know, fun little movies like that. And I feel like we're not, I don't think, I feel like we're not going to see those anymore.
- [42:59]
B
Here's the problem. The 80s was the zenith of cinema because you had. The state of the art was there, the special effects were good enough. The acting had been, you know, not perfected but the state of the art on acting with Marlon Brando starting, you know, the method acting and all that and you have all these great actors. Directing was there, the writing was there. But what we didn't have in full effect very slightly was woke cancel culture. So you were able to make a movie about anything and everything and nobody was worried about being canceled. Now with this leftist feminist whatever cancel culture still lingering around, you can still smell it, Stench in the air slightly. It's like being an artist and the HR manager standing over your shoulder while you're drawing or writing. How would you feel about that Tyrus that you're going to do your stand up set and they have an HR lady right off stage with a clipboard.
- [43:44]
A
Oh yeah, not that joke. Not that joke. Yeah, yeah.
- [43:47]
B
No, don't, don't say that one. No pun. Yeah. So you. It's art is self expression and the leftist wokeism, it's the death of art. It is, it's the death of comedy and all that. So that I think that's a huge problem and I, I hope the pendulum does swing back and we can get back to the 80s style.
- [44:03]
A
Just make up, just make a movie. Just make a movie. Just give me a break. Because the, because all they're playing, all everyone is doing is everyone's just doing horror movies because that's the safest thing I can do. So there's like 9,000 horror movies. You can only watch so many where you're like, yep, behind the corner, oh, he's got an axe. Oh no, he's under the bed. Like you're just, you know. Although End Games wasn't bad if you haven't seen that or Weapons, you got to see Weapons. I don't know if you saw Weapons. There's a comic book character for you. I don't want to ruin it for you, but you got to watch Weapons. There's a. When you see her. I don't know if you guys saw that movie or not. Weapons, but that's a. That's definitely a comic book character if there ever was one. I don't want to ruin it for you, but the. But the bad guy, the villain in it is something to behold. But, man, I always appreciate doing with you. And again, like I said, we're having an announcement on Unstoppable Tyrus. It's going to be coming out to a comic book store near you soon, and we'll have all kinds of announcements in a press release and all that good stuff. If you guys can see that. I might even have a couple of these. I think I have a couple of these. If I get some cool comments, I'll send them to you.
- [45:10]
B
Okay, cool. Yeah, not you.
- [45:13]
A
You already have them. You drew them. I'm talking about.
- [45:15]
B
I know.
- [45:15]
A
Yeah, he'll keep him. He's a collector. Don't. Don't get it twisted. I'm sure you're. Yeah. Your comic book collection. Are you now? You made mention about your Ninja Turtles action figures. Do you collect comic books and action figures as well?
- [45:30]
B
I don't collect comic books anymore. I collected them since I was 12 or 13.
- [45:34]
A
But did your wife make you stop?
- [45:36]
B
No, it's woke slop. I go in the comic books, so I don't like anything.
- [45:40]
A
So all your classics?
- [45:42]
B
Yeah, I stopped collecting like seven, eight years ago. I just couldn't deal with how woke they were. But I have a collection right over here in this room. It's taller than me, and I'm like you. I'm big. I'm six foot four. What are you, six? Eight? Six, seven. And this collection, it's taller than me and 1012ft wide. Stacks and stacks of boxes over there.
- [46:01]
A
Of books of comic books.
- [46:02]
B
Comic book. Yeah. Comic book magazines. Yeah. Boxed, bagged and boarded. Yes.
- [46:06]
A
Okay. So you got a pretty good collection over there.
- [46:08]
B
What I collect now is art books. My favorite painters or illustrators, if there's a beautiful.
- [46:12]
A
You're sophisticated now.
- [46:13]
B
Yeah, I, I, well, I've always collected those, but I get a lot more of them now, you know, so that's what I'll ask for for Father's Day or Christmas and stuff like that. Yeah, we fancy now, so, yeah, I'M.
- [46:23]
A
Still collecting the action figures and comic books when I can. I just. Once I got all my Hulk stuff, I was like. Like the venom kind of. Kind of did the Venom thing for a while. And then he kept. I'm running out of universes for them to kill him in, so. Right. But it was a lot of fun, though. But hey, man, I appreciate getting a chance to talk to you. It was a lot deeper than anyone expected. You get so you think comic books, you don't realize how deep the water is. So if you can't swim, you drizzle. But that's not on us, right? But Gabe, always a pleasure talking to you, man. We gotta do. Hey, where can everybody find you if they want to get more information on Big man Comics?
- [47:03]
B
Big man comics right there. Big man comics.com. if you go there right now, you can read 20 pages of Dean Kane all American law, man. Or 20 pages of Imperium, my sci fi book. It's a love letter to Star wars for free. No sign up, no tricks, no obligation. Read 20 pages for free. And then you're going to want to.
- [47:19]
A
Get it after that read, ladies and gentlemen, read. It's good for your eyes and your.
- [47:22]
B
Can I show something on screen? I know we're trying to get out of here, but hold on. Oh, there. There you go. Good. Can you see that?
- [47:29]
A
Yep, yep.
- [47:30]
B
Yeah. That's the COVID of the unstoppable Tyrus preview that I had. Here's another cover. So, yeah, when this thing comes out in January, we have about four covers right now. So we're going to have different things, people to choose from. Here's a cover that I just drew this last week.
- [47:44]
A
That's so cool. The way I like the pre drawing stuff is so cool.
- [47:47]
B
Yeah, there's your guy. There's the evil goat. So these are those mana beasts I was talking about. There's that evil woman. We'll get into her. And these are some the good sidekicks, the wolf and the mountain lion. So. And then there's Tyrus himself right there. So we're having a lot of fun with this stuff. I cannot wait to put this out for everyone. And it's going to be a thrill. They're gonna love it. So big man comics.com, follow me on all socials. Go buy my books because you're going to love them and be entertained.
- [48:14]
A
All right, man. We'll keep being you, man. Till next time.
- [48:17]
B
Later.