This Thursday, 10/16 @ 8PM EST LIVE on YouTube & Twitch!

We’re sitting down with Brian J. Lambert, the award-winning Narrative Director of Wingless Entertainment!

From Justice: The Fall and Nightfall: The Complete Saga to editing Is’nana the Were-Spider and Akolyte, Brian has been shaping the indie comic world with unforgettable stories and powerful Black heroes.

We’ll dive deep into the Wingless Comics universe, talk about his latest manga inspired Black Label projects like Air Force Ones and Fadez, and chop it up about Black Vampire films you NEED to watch!

Where to Watch:

YouTube -@blerdseyeview

Twitch -

Thursday

10/16

8PM EST

Come for the culture, stay for the comics.

#BlerdsEyeview #WinglessComics #BrianJLambert #BlackComics #BlackVampires #IndieComics #BlerdCulture #ComicCreators #NerdCulture

An insightful exploration of the contributions of Black indie comic creatives, this episode delves into the vibrant tapestry of narratives that they weave within the realms of mainstream and independent comics. We engage in a critical dialogue surrounding notable entities such as Marvel, DC, Image Comics, and Milestone Comics, examining their impact on the representation of Black characters and stories. The discussion particularly highlights the significance of 'Air Force Ones' by Wingless Comics, a project that merges street culture with superhero narratives, showcasing the innovative ways Black creators are redefining genre norms. Furthermore, we take a moment to appreciate the representation of Black vampires in film, referencing iconic performances by actors such as Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, and Bianca Lawson, and how these portrayals challenge traditional archetypes within the horror genre. Through this lens, we aim to illuminate the profound cultural narratives that emerge from the intersection of race and storytelling in contemporary comic books.

In this episode, we embark on a comprehensive examination of Black indie comic creators and their substantial contributions to the comic book industry. The conversation navigates the landscape of major publishers like Marvel and DC, juxtaposing them with the groundbreaking work of independent labels such as Wingless Comics. We delve into specific projects like 'Air Force Ones' and 'Immortals,' highlighting how these narratives not only entertain but also serve as crucial vehicles for cultural expression and representation. The dialogue further expands to include a discussion on the portrayal of Black vampires in cinema, reflecting on films like 'Vampire in Brooklyn' and the thematic significance of characters portrayed by Keith David and Angela Bassett. This multifaceted conversation elevates the discourse surrounding representation in comics and film, emphasizing the importance of authentic storytelling that resonates with diverse audiences.

Takeaways:

• The podcast delves into the rich narratives presented by Black indie comic creators, highlighting their contributions to the comic industry.
• Discussion on the significance of characters like Blade in elevating Black representation in vampire films and comics is emphasized throughout the episode.
• The conversation touches upon the unique cultural context that Black indie comics bring to traditional superhero narratives, distinguishing them from mainstream offerings.
• A critical examination of the portrayal of Black vampires in cinema is presented, with references to films such as 'Vampire in Brooklyn' and 'Sinners'.
• The hosts stress the importance of authenticity in storytelling, particularly in the portrayal of Black characters within the horror genre.
• Listeners are encouraged to support Black indie creators and their projects, such as Wingless Comics, which promote diverse narratives in the comic industry.

Links referenced in this episode:

• alwayspressrecordtv
• youtube
• wildbills
• winglesscomics
• winglessentertainment
• winglessint.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Wild Bills
• D8 Sabers
• Always Press Record
• Roku
• Amazon Fire
• Wingless Comics
• Air Force Ones
• Justice
• Immortalis
• Avery the Astonishing
• Nightfall
• Sinners
• Blackula
• Vampire in Brooklyn

Yo.

I'm back, I'm back.

Yeah, look crazy 8 the great nerd core rap got into a dual fade and I just pulled a trap car Third rate rappers with a fourth rate catalog Destined for the shadow realm Y' all should never act I was so insidious that I need an apprentice master with the force Peep the context of my sentence like the sickness just don't ask me what my parents they know that I'm the meanest who you kidding?

I'm in the tattoo job hot headed brown just str you can never tw my metal like the jury never mad when I push it to the max I got Chris riding with me about to turn this to fury road since animated I'm the one that congratulated winners will provide protective cover like it's laminated Damn, I made this.

16 like a guillotine is fascinating if you think that you're ahead, you get decapitated all that aside, I ain't nearly here to rap words I'm here to tell you who representing for the blood to remind you neither one of these are bad words Biggest living mirrors they just choose to see a bad word who be the leaders of discussion when a topic trans dissections got the culture under microscopic lane who got the type that you can miss it from the start and make me feel like an expert on the subject by the time check this stat Louis viewership is mad nice all these other shows don't seem to cut it that's a bad taste off the books with a scripted joke you can't write no vampires but these interviews don't end right yeah, this the best part rhymes on Mandalorian independence made a best scar starting a war with these stars you won't get far this is the way you play a game of life A death star so far removed from the drama we don't notice but won't hesitate to shed a light like a patrona when mix of manage troubles at a disadvantage must be something in the water dig your toe because you know it's warm where can you find another show with such a fine cast?

And if you try to box them in they playing Minecraft and basically to sum it up like you define now this was the best and it figured is like a line grab a merry man like the words I do I.

Know.

They know you can't relate because they're nerds like you'll see the world from a bird's eye view.

You are now tuned in to blur view and without further ado we out yeah.

Hey, everybody, it is your man on war, Captain of the ship, Chris Fury, back again with another episode of Blurz Eye View.

Yes, it is Thursday.

It is the end of the week, and yes, I have a head cold, but I'm powering through it.

I'm fine.

I'm okay.

I'm not resting, but I get to rest tomorrow.

So thank you very much.

If this is your first time here, thank you for tuning in.

We are live Tuesdays and Thursdays most of the time.

You can also catch past episodes on Always Press Record TV through Roku or Amazon Fire devices.

And be sure to check us out on the YouTube channel.

Hit those like subscribe and notification bells, all that great stuff, so we can keep the ship afloat and floating and.

And give me bringing you great content and all that great stuff.

This is a safe space for a lot of us, a lot of us here.

So let's keep that in mind.

Let's be respectful of each other's spaces because we don't play that here.

So without further ado, my man Navy Martel's in the building.

What's going on, Navy?

What's going on, brother?

I. I hope you're feeling a little bit better.

Ginger tea.

Good man.

Good man.

Now, I don't have the ginger tea, but I do have the wild bills.

So you know what?

Found this at Dollar tree for a dollar 25.

All right.

Speaking of wild bills, for those who go to conventions, okay.

There is a certain vendor by the name of Wild Bills who sells root beer and these really cool mugs.

Now, this past weekend, we were out of town for a family function.

We had a.

My wife had a death in the family and we were staying at a hotel.

What I did not know was the hotel was right around the corner from the convention center, and at that convention center was an anime convention going on.

So I was like, well, this is new.

I, like, had no time to go to this thing at all.

So I looked it up and I said, oh, okay.

Is the name of this con.

I think it's his fourth year in West Virginia.

What's it called?

Sabusa Khan, I want to say.

Is it T S, A B, A, S, A?

Yes, A T, Yes.

Yeah.

Depending on how you.

Yep.

And so I looked up to see what vendors were there.

I didn't recognize a lot of them, but I did recognize wild bills and I did recognize D8 sabers.

I'm like, if I had time, I would have went in there to get some accessories for my lightsaber from DX Sabers, because that's where I got my saber from.

So.

But I was.

That was a pleasant surprise.

I said, man, if I had, like, extra time, I would have just jumped in, like on one day, did my walk around and jumped out.

It's something about Wild Bills.

It's a staple at Cons now, and I can confirm this.

We will have Wild Bills at blurcon.

Yeah.

I can.

I can say that much.

Everyone to get my mug.

I don't know if.

If y' all are out there, you understand the excitement that this man and I are exhibiting.

Wild Bills is one of those staples, because when you go to the vendor, especially the.

The food vendors, and you get a simple soda that runs you four or five dollars a pop every time if you're lucky.

Wild Bills has a system where if you've already bought a cup from them, you pay an extra five, maybe $10 and you can refill the entire weekend.

The entire weekend.

They put a little lanyard on your cup.

You go, here you go.

Okay.

And you ice.

Fill it up.

Keep it moving.

I love it.

No one else does that.

Mal's in the building.

What's going on now?

What up, sir?

Just sweetie glare.

We can't do it like lady man.

Thank you, Ma, for the donation.

Thank you.

Yes, I'm pushing through.

Thank you.

Bama's in the building.

Yeah, do sweetie.

Dwight.

Yes, it's actually ginger turmeric.

So, yes.

Okay.

We do listen to our audience.

You know, actually has turmeric in it.

So I. I said, ah.

Hey, cold call me early this year.

So.

I'm so glad.

I never had one of those before, but I have heard some disastrous things.

When you are a practicing voice actor, it's hello.

Well, you're an up and coming voice actor.

I can imagine.

See, but I'm stupid like that.

I'll take any adversity to my voice, and I will still somehow make it an advantage because now I want to see what I can do with it now that my voice has gotten weird.

Here.

Here's the thing.

People say, oh, take some Nyquil.

Here's the thing about me and Nyquil.

We don't have a very good relationship.

Apparently, I have an allergic reaction.

Oh, no.

Nyquil.

But here's the allergic reaction I have.

Everybody's used to the deep, sultry voice.

Nyquil makes me sound like Mickey Mouse.

Trial and error.

Trust me, I know.

Oh, my gosh.

I can imagine you doing an intro for the show, and it's like, hello, everybody.

Welcome to Lord's Eye View.

I had, like, it.

I.

This happened a couple years ago, and I noticed it, and I took it, and I'm like, yeah, is my voice going?

And then when I'm pushing through it, why do I sound like this?

You know, like, what?

I shouldn't have been drinking anything when you did that.

Yeah, look, the look my wife has, and I'm like, I don't know what's going on.

It's like.

It's.

It's like that episode is like the movie Roger Rabbit.

And I would turn around, and I turn around and have a voice just like us.

And I'm like, now this.

It's not a pretty sight.

It's at all.

Now, I will add to that, because when I get sick, my voice drops three octaves.

Oh, you turn into Barry White.

Yeah, I turn into Barry White.

Someone says, hey, Monta.

Hey, what's going on?

Who the hell is this?

I won't be coming to work today.

Not talking like that.

Sorry.

It doesn't.

It.

It does help that while at work today, because it's been.

It was CSP week, and they're celebrating all the texts in the air, in the hospital.

They.

They've been feeding this crap out of everybody.

They brought in these great brownies.

I've seen some of the girls getting brownies.

So I.

You know, I go in straight.

I got a mask on.

I go straight.

Go ahead and get you one of them brownies.

Rich, decadent, luscious chocolate.

Everybody was like, what's the narrator in here?

It worked.

It.

It does.

It does tend to work.

I. I feel that.

My dude said, hey, he does do a little bit of outside, so there it is.

I love chocolate, but chocolate is like my favorite op because milk chocolate puts me to sleep.

It makes me drowsy and knocks me.

Out, literally, like a baby.

Like a baby, Yo.

Dark chocolate doesn't do it.

I don't touch white chocolate.

That's just pure sugar right there.

But milk chocolate, forget it.

That's the.

That's the.

That's the tits right there.

Dark chocolate, that's my jam.

What?

70%.

Let's go.

That is my jam with the salt.

And caramel on the inside.

So peep.

We have a guest in the building.

This brother is working on a little bit of everything.

Let's go.

But if you.

If you remember Malachi Bailey, he has her.

And that's over at Wings Comics.

If you recognize justice, that's it.

Wingless Comics.

If you recognize immortals, that's at Wingless Comics.

And up and coming Air Force Ones which is also turning into an animation.

So dope for Blurry Station, also from Wingless Comics.

This man is literally hands on in the indie comics industry.

Brian J. Lambert is in the building.

What's going on, Brian?

Hey, sir.

I'd give a standing ovation, but I. I think this is good because otherwise you just see nothing but shirts.

So.

Hey.

That part, that part.

Okay, okay, okay.

I got the Wild Bills.

Okay, this is the antidote right here.

This is a wild.

I got the antidote and the cheeses.

I got cheeses here.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

How are you doing this evening, man?

Oh, you're muted.

Take off your mute some reason.

Yeah, it says you're muted.

There we go.

Have I been talking this whole time?

I said a bunch of cool stuff too.

You had to repeat it now.

Yeah, yeah, just repeat it.

Yeah, I made a joke about you and chocolate and falling asleep.

I said, the world notwithstanding that, we're good.

You know what I mean?

Again, no, thank you guys for having me.

I'm just really happy to be here.

I appreciate you guys.

It's just been really, really awesome just even getting this opportunity to talk to you guys and to be on, you know, Blurred's Ivy podcast and just politic with everybody.

So I appreciate it.

Just out the gate.

I appreciate it.

Look, it's great having you on because first off, as you know, we're over at Blair Station as well and seeing Air Force Ones when we seen that trailer.

And the way.

The way Hell Spawn just.

He said, there's no other way to say but black people in Gundams and Selling point.

That's.

That's the selling point.

Yeah.

You know, man, I've been working on it for a while, honestly, and it's a.

For us older anime lovers and anime heads, right?

Like, it's a love letter to Robotech into the original Gundam and all of that stuff because.

Yeah, right.

So we didn't even.

Back then, like, yeah, you had Bowie Grant and you had like the Grant family, right?

But those are the only black people you saw really, in any of that stuff.

And they weren't main characters.

Claudia didn't get to fly nothing.

I love Claudia, but you know what I mean?

Like, we were always like, also Ransack, right?

And so I always wanted to do that.

And honestly, man, the idea came to me in the middle of the night one night.

Most of the time, if you like me, you get an idea in the middle of the night, you don't write it down, you don't tell nobody, and you forget it in the morning, this one stuck with me, right?

All I had was the title.

I was like.

I had hit up a friend of mine when I woke up, and I was like, air Force Ones.

I was like, but they're pilots.

And they looked at me like I was a fool.

And I was like, trust me.

Like, just trust me.

Trust the process.

Right, right, right.

And yeah.

Yeah.

So it just.

It came together like that again.

I started with.

Started taking.

When I had the real idea, I started taking Gundam pictures, right?

Like Gundam posters.

And I was trying to put my lettering and stuff on there, like, to really, like, matriculate the vision.

Like, hey, it's gonna be this big.

But this is where we're starting and getting the logo and just getting the look, right?

And then just creating that intersection in that cross section of like, shoe culture, popular culture, Gundam culture.

Like all these things that I feel like in our community have been married for a long time, and just bringing that into, like, a bigger form.

That was really, really what I wanted to do.

And like I said, it's a love story and it's a love letter to.

To.

To the things I grew up on.

I should.

I wanna.

I wanted to be a Gundam pilot.

You know what I mean?

And so I want to be able to show that, you know?

Yeah.

Still do.

Right, right, right.

I'm real disappointed in the Space Force, bro.

I thought I was like, oh, we gonna get some Gundams.

And then, you know, look what we got.

Yeah.

Look at what we got.

Okay.

I get hurt.

Oh, my Lord.

I.

So I. I gotta ask you, when you said it was a love letter to.

Especially all the mech anime that we came up with, you know, like Gundam across.

Was it Venus Wars?

Oh, my goodness, the list goes on and on and on.

So was there a particular property that just said, this is the.

This is the main song in that love.

In that love letter to what I'm creating.

For me, it would honestly have to be Robotech.

And that's because that was the very first one I ever saw, right?

So I can remember being.

I think I was like three years old when it was actually airing on TV, you know, before we had to get it on DVDs and everything else.

And so I remember very vividly watching the episode or the after effects of the episode where Roy Foker dies, right?

And I had never before.

And since really, I had never seen that on, like, American TV like that.

You don't see cartoons.

Didn't have debts.

Anyway.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, exactly.

So.

So that one was a thing.

And I always had this dream, I guess, of if I could do anything I wanted, tomorrow I would do a four part movie series of the Robotech, you know, the Macross saga.

And it would be this big Baz Luhrmann type production with those angles and that kind of artistry and musicality and all of that stuff.

Right.

Because it's a space opera.

And so I wanted to do something that was reminiscent of that but very, very much grounded in who I am and my ideas and thoughts and again, my cultural ideas and thoughts.

As the series progresses, you're gonna see how very much of a.

Of a LA story this is as a California story this is as the story progresses.

We're in the 7th Ward now.

That's like the big main place we are.

They're gonna go to other wards and third Ward folks.

Hey, we don't mess with seven Ward, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know, so it's, it's very, very tribal, very, for lack of better words, gang culture oriented, but not in the pejorative way.

Right.

There is a lot of social black culture that's interconnected with what's contemporarily called gang culture or California, you know what I mean?

Like all those little nuances.

Whereas we understand that a certain way.

We know where to go, who to talk to, how to phrase things and everything and not be affiliated at all.

But we can still move in those circles and move around those circles and they move around us.

Other people have not been exposed to that and they have no idea it's gang culture.

Bad.

Red red rag bad.

No matter what's going on.

And that's not necessarily the case.

Right.

There are all these nuances about our culture in general that I like infusing into the stories that I'm writing.

And I think that a Gundam style mech, anime and manga is the perfect way to show that tribalism and to show that fight for freedom.

So I noticed that in your background and on your shirt.

Yes, yes, yes, sir.

Are several of the mechs that are in.

Going to be in Air Force Ones.

Yes, yes.

So in, in volume one, all the mix that you see here are actually.

These are our four.

I think you can see all four of them.

These are our four main mechs here.

The Gilgamesh, the Yasuke, the Old Gun and the Kitsune.

I have the Kitsune on my shirt here.

Real men wear pink, as my boy Cameron used to say.

I want that shirt too.

Oh, oh man.

We, you know, it's gonna be on the website Real, real soon, right?

We just.

My wife is the genius behind this one.

I had this poster a friend did for me, and I just had it.

I was gonna sell it as a print and she was like, if you don't get me a shirt so I can wear that.

And I was like, if you don't o.

But I listened to her.

I defer to her.

You had no choice, man.

You had no choice, right?

And it came out dope.

You know what I mean?

So actually this was supposed to be her shirt.

Actually, this is the one I ordered for her.

And then it came out, the package, and I was like, oh, oops, I bought it too big for you, baby.

I gotta wear it.

You know what I'm saying?

So.

Oh.

Oh, no, you can't wear this.

This is not flattery.

That side eye was probably legendary.

Just.

Just look at you.

Like, right, right, right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, I think it's.

There's a part.

Part of it always be branding, you know, is.

That's what they say.

But at the same time, man, I honestly enjoy this so damn much that I want to wear it.

Right?

Like, I want to wear these shirts out.

I love the characters.

I love what I'm doing.

And not just because I'm doing it, because I get to see it, man.

And.

And having other people like it and other people get down.

It's just.

It's.

It's everything to me, right.

Like, it's.

I love all the things that Wingless Comics does.

I love all the things that I've created.

I love all the things I've created with other people editing and all this other stuff.

Air Force Ones and the ones universe is.

Is.

Is a different beast for me.

I want to.

Before we go on, I want to show the new trailer that you have because obviously the first one had literally the Air Force Ones by Nelly and the same lunatics.

Yeah.

And we.

We couldn't use that copyright.

Right.

But.

Right, right.

So here's the.

Here's the.

The newest version with its own music.

And here we go.

They were never meant to fly now they'll tear down the sky Rising from the ashes of a failed peace I.

Look into a broken mirror and still.

See me Is this a nightmare or a broken dream?

I step inside and take control of my destiny A vessel made for righteous wrath Reigniting fires of a war torn.

Past I'd sacrifice all that I have if faith could save me from this B.

They were never meant to fly out now they'll tear down the sky Air Force wants Fire.

Okay, I want the song.

Okay?

I want that song.

I want it, I want it on repeat because it makes me just want to just go out and just do some stuff.

See, that's what I'm talking about, sir.

This is giving, it gives.

It gives your typical anime feel, man.

I ain't gonna lie.

So again, I love my wife and she loves me, obviously, because she haven't killed me yet.

Because like you said, I've been playing that thing non stop.

My ADHD and ADHD, I can listen to that thing 12 times in a row and not be phased at all.

I'm just into it.

So if y' all know about the air, if y' all know about the ADHD out there, you know, you truly understand when you are transfixed on something, you listen to the same thing or watch the same thing for hours.

Right?

Right?

Yeah, man.

So it's again, man, it's just been, it's been very, very dope.

I love the song.

The song is actually, it's actually not just for that opening either.

It's a full.

It's the full length song.

There's a full length version that I will be releasing in parts because again, I want to put some more trailer materials together, some other stuff together, and as we go start producing volume two, that's going to be a thing.

I am going to end up releasing the entire song.

You know what I mean?

I. I feel like we're going to take it to streaming platforms and the whole deal, like do a full release for it is why I love it that much.

And so it don't matter if it's gonna have a million of streams, if for no other reason than I've streamed it a million times.

So, you know, again, man, I, I think that there are a lot of properties and a lot of things that we see in our again in our community and in the wider comic community in general.

And I, I'm not setting out to prove that you don't need a million dollars to do something beneficial or do something great or do something of high quality.

But I am doing it right.

Like my, my goal is to complete this project.

My goal is to do the next thing and invest and invest and show that there is kind of a path and you don't.

Again, you don't have to.

I don't need to fleece everybody for a bunch of money to do a small thing right.

Like, I invest in myself.

I make sure again, even when you see the animation, that animation is top quality animation.

The song is top quality songs you don't skimp just because you don't have a, a, a pocket full of money.

You just have to take the time and plan it out and do it right.

And I realized that like life comics and all this other stuff, we get judged by the worst of us and not by the best of us.

The best of us is the exception.

Oh my God.

It's how you know you're, you're amazing because you did that.

Not everybody could do that, but the worst of us.

Yeah, that's how all of you guys are.

So the same thing goes for comics.

If you see a, a bad black indie comic, then somebody goes, see, that's what indie comics are.

That's what black indie comics are.

No, everything you'll think out of Wingless is, is 100 the best quality that we can do at the time.

And we're just going to keep leveling up and we started at a quality that's at least on par with the big two.

And we're just going to get better.

And I mean that for every project.

That we do, I, what I've seen and like I said, Malachi Bailey's been on the show before a couple times and talking about her and when you see the level of her and then you see immortals and then you see justice and now you have fades that you're working on.

Let's talk about those projects too.

Like yeah, these are things and we, we said here, here on the platform like we love our black indie creators because they are giving us stories that we can't get anywhere else.

They're giving us characters that aren't just weather based or electricity based powers.

Like in most, in most cases, origin story is better storyline.

Story arcs are much better.

Like it just leave.

It's not the same repetitive thing over and over and over.

And you don't have the whole, we're gonna do a seven story arc and then we're gonna start over with a new writer and put somebody else.

And you scrap everything from before you guys.

And I mean black creative indie creators have given us something that goes on and on and it just gets better and better and we get more and it's like.

And we're starving for it.

We're like, yes, I need more of that.

And the fact that you haven't gone like commercial in the sense of it becomes watered down is a godsend.

You know, a really good friend of mine and I consider him a mentor as well and appear and a business partner.

Jason Reeves, man really schooled me on some stuff when I first got into the game, right, and look, I'm over Jason's house once or twice, you know, a month or whatever.

Like, that's my, that's my people.

And when I first got in, I wanted to do this.

Like you said, I want to do a six issue arc that does this and that and all this other stuff.

Right.

And he was like, why, why would you, why would you make people wait that long?

You know, an indie comic does one, maybe two a year, right?

That's just the cycle.

And it happens until you catch fire.

So he was like, get your story right, do it in four issues because then you get to tell the next story.

And that is probably the biggest hurdle for indie comics, being able to tell the next story.

Right.

Like, you have to continue to invest and continue to invest, but it's not a bad thing.

It's, it's actually something that helps stories matriculate as opposed to, and don't get me wrong, I grew up on Marvel and DC Image.

I still, you know, I still have affinity for those comics.

I don't necessarily collect the way I.

Used to, but I can't say that my corner is taller than me now.

So, yeah, I can't say that.

Right, right.

It's.

It's hard.

So I do like some of the new stuff they're coming out with.

I, I won't deny that.

Right.

Like the, the new Wonder Woman and Batman series.

I like some of their shorter stuff that they're starting to do, the absolute stuff and some of the shorter things that they're doing.

Because again, you get bogged down by hundreds of years of, of continuity that folds back on itself.

And I think that that bogs down American comics.

Right.

Whereas necessarily manga, even if it'll have hundreds of issues, it's not bogged down by the continuity issues.

Right.

And I think that that's something that helps it sell in this market a little bit differently than a superhero comic.

Also, manga, you mentioned fades.

Manga allows you to tell a diverse, a more diverse group of stories than is traditionally welcomed in American comics.

Now, American comics does do all of it, but people don't associate American comics with all these different genres of things.

Whereas they do that for, for manga.

And so with something like fades and like you said, telling stories that we don't normally get to see.

Fades is a project like that.

Fades is, is an anime, sorry, not an anime.

Fades is a manga I'm developing based around a barber shop.

And it's going to be a slice of life barber shop manga.

Right.

Where, where you get to see our culturally dive.

Again, a barbershop is sacred to us, right?

A barbershop is holy ground.

You can have two crews beef and you can have all this other going on, right?

They step in a barbershop, everything knock it off, right?

And Right, right.

And so those kinds of things are important, right?

And, and the, the show, the social aspects of a barber shop.

Unless you've been into a barbershop, you don't understand it, right?

But the moment you get in one, you understand it.

And, and again, we don't get those kind of stories.

We have the movie Barbershop, right?

We have the movie Beauty Shop, but we've never had a comic or a manga do that.

Whereas Food wars could do it and they could just be talking about food, right?

So makes it hungry too, you know.

Right, right, right.

So, so I wanted to do that same kind of thing with, again, something that's culturally relevant for us.

And for me, that's a barbershop.

For me, that's, you know, getting in there and seeing somebody want to be the best barber, you know, because their father was.

And however that story matures, I think all those things are, are incredibly important.

Also, I learned from Jason Reeves controlling the means of production.

Right?

Money is good, and I will never say money is not good.

We can always use more money to do more production, right?

But all money ain't good money.

So if I want to continue my voice and I want to keep the means of production and I want to do what I want to do, then there are certain things that I can't take.

There are certain deals that I can't really get into.

I've had a number of, a number of offers, quote unquote, you know, for IP licensing and on and on and on.

And while they might look good on the surface, somebody's like, oh yeah, I'll give you 100k for justice.

Okay, over what kind of a time period, over what are the constraints?

What kind of creation can I do after I give you this IP licensing deal?

Right?

And again, 100k for a year is, is nice.

It's okay.

But if you're talking about 100k over 10 years, that means nothing to me.

Right?

Like, so it's all these little things that go into what we control and how we should be taking over and controlling the narratives of, of, of who we are socially, which we don't necessarily get to do.

Other people get to control who they are socially.

If, if we're talking about manga, talking about anime, if I put on a samurai helmet right?

Now everybody knows that's Japanese, right?

So I'm doing something that's culturally relevant to Japanese people and blah, whatever it might be.

If someone goes out there and raps or somebody goes out and does K Pop.

Demon Hunters, a movie which I love.

Let me put.

Put it out there.

I thought it was dope.

I love the music.

I think it's great.

Right?

But the fact of the matter is K pop itself, not the movie, but K pop, the genre itself is just R B, Right?

And R B doesn't get that.

Props for that.

It's not.

When they do K Pop and they do K pop Demon Hunters, it's not like, oh, they're doing a black thing.

And it culturally goes back to, oh, man, let's give some props to black people because they invented this, right?

And it's culturally relevant to them and it's part of their cultural identity.

It's not that it's.

Well, K pop is different.

No, it's not.

It's not.

It's just done by different people.

Right.

And so I think that that's a part that we try, that I try to infuse in my stories and I try to infuse in everything that we're doing and how we control our narratives and how we produce the stories that we produce.

I think that's incredibly important.

Yeah, I think so, too.

Voices Sauce says indie comics are better than mainstream comics nowadays.

What we see in the main.

Main books are regurgitated mess.

We have Wingless.

Don't produce no mess.

Hey.

Right, so this is true.

This is true.

This is back to what I was saying about repetitive storylines and just kind of repeat once again.

It's great.

I'll use Superman as an example.

There's a reason why I didn't get Superman comics after a certain point in my life, because what do you do with that character?

You can't always have him fight Doomsday.

You can't always have him fight Apocalypse.

Like, what do you do?

Like, you have.

You change the power set, you change the scaling of powers, you change the village.

You can't.

You can't always have Lex Luthor involved.

What do you do with over 80 years of history?

There's.

There's got to be a story that you haven't been able to tell yet.

The fact that they even introduced his kid now and been able to tell stories with it has been a miracle in a way.

That it can tell more stories has been a miracle in itself.

So that's just an example.

Like, how many times can you do it?

Yeah.

And.

And I also think that.

Well, in my opinion, my humble opinion, I think they've lost the plot a lot of times on Superman, right?

Because it becomes one of two camps.

It's either, like, we got the dark and broody Superman or Superman is all about hope.

And, like, both things are actually true, right?

Like, Superman, in my opinion, is a very tortured individual.

Right?

Oh, yeah.

He's.

He's got to be a man conflicted.

He does have all this power.

I love Bruce Timm did it with.

At the very end of Justice League Unlimited, where he lets loose on Apocalypse on.

On Dark side, right?

For, like, the last time.

And he tells.

He tells him, like, I walk around in the world of, like, cardboard and tissue paper, and, like, I forget that I can actually let loose and.

And go to town and go to work, right?

It's a great speech that he gives, right?

And so I think that were I writing a Superman story, you would see how tortured he is with that, right?

Because he's got to be this beacon of hope.

But that can't be.

That can't be possible all the time, or it can't be easy all the time, right?

He's got to be this person that.

That's with kid gloves all the time, even with the people he loves.

He's got to hold back even his temper, right?

Like, and I know they showed a flash of that, like, in the.

In the James Gunn stuff, right?

But even then, right, like, his temper has to be so under control that he can't yell, because if he yells, he could, like, rend the flesh from your body with just his voice.

You know what I mean?

Like, there are those.

There are so many things that.

And so many nuanced levels and layers of who he could be, right?

And.

And how he probably should be done in order to.

To reinvigorate his stories.

Similarly, like, Batman.

Batman is his greatest.

When he's a great detective.

I get it.

He's kung fu dude.

I love it.

He does a bunch of cool.

He's got gadgets and stuff, too.

But, like, when he's actually the world's greatest detective, that's when you get the best stories from him.

Yeah.

And they.

Again, they lose that a lot of times, right, In.

In favor of the Flash and Dash.

And.

And so a way that I think that indie comics.

Excuse me, let me say this.

A way that good indie comics and indie comics, not amateur comics, right?

Because those are two different things, right?

Doing well is.

We're able to tell those diverse stories.

Right.

And sometimes indie comics and amateur comics get conflated.

And that is also an issue.

You have a lot of amateur comic writers, which I'm.

There's no shade to them.

They are doing their dream and their passion and they should continue to do it.

But there is a difference between the Saturday morning cartoon guy who watched X Men, the original run of X Men.

It was like, I want to do comics.

Never studied anything, never read anything, never learned story, never learned how to write the basic stuff and then does a comic.

You can tell when that comic comes out.

Whereas someone who's studied their craft and studied storytelling and really has a passion for it, does it.

And those are two completely different realms of storytelling there.

And.

And when you mentioned.

I'm glad you mentioned, like, the storytelling aspect, especially when you have different writers.

When I.

When you mention Batman being like, when he.

You tell those detective stories.

Those are the best stories.

There's a reason why Chips Zdarsky's run on Daredevil is such a great run because, like, he's telling a different version.

There's a reason why Hickman's run on Fantastic Four, X Men.

Right.

You know, whatever else you touch is a reason.

He's like, I have this story.

I want to tell it.

It's going to be good because it's going to make you.

Make you go somewhere where you haven't been before, haven't been in a lot in a long time.

Make it build something out from.

From this point on.

So you're right.

When you have writers in the indie field who just, oh, I like it and I'm just gonna write it, like, yes, but is it.

Do you really want to be so one dimensional?

Right.

Really?

Writer say, wow, I never expected to see it that way.

I never expected to feel this way about seeing a film or watching a movie or watching a television show or even reading a comic or a novel for that matter.

Yeah, see, now I'm see a different version of what I'm seeing.

James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy, all three volumes.

You watch them in the first entirety.

You're like, great superhero films.

You didn't think this was Rocket Story the whole time until third film.

Now you go back and be like, oh, wow, it's.

There was another level, you know, so it's.

It get that people don't understand.

A lot of people don't get to see that aspect in writing in indie comics.

They just say, I'm going to tell a story.

And that's.

And that's.

The end of it.

And I, I think that's where a lot of people are gravitating to the more independent companies, you know, like image, boom, idw, Ignition.

They're, they're, they're hungry for something outside the normal parameters that have been set through all these years.

You know, you have this pantheon of heroes from the Justice League and, and you know, people don't know that much about the Justice Society.

And you, you know, you see the Teen Titans, but you don't really hear about Young Justice.

And you go on Marvel sides.

You got the New warriors and the Young Avengers, but you really don't hear that much about them until something significant happens and then it becomes a big media blitz.

And when you mentioned about indie comics writing, the crazy thing is the first step, the first title that popped up in my head was Irredeemable.

Mark Wade writing on Irredeemable, flawlessly incredible because it showed a superhero who's so op that no one else could touch him, but he goes on a rampage because something happens to him.

And I think when you mentioned Superman, I said, there's parallels in that story, except one holds restraint.

The other just said, nah, I, I, I'm done.

I'm good.

Yeah, I'm good.

Right?

And then that's very rare that you get that kind of storytelling or even just even a twist as, as easy as Batman and Wonder Woman being the couple and not Superman and Wonder Woman.

Right?

Hello.

That's mind blowing for people, right?

But it makes perfect sense and it gives you some different storytelling aspects.

But then also you get the same thing where you do something like injustice in that story, right, where Superman, because Joker has, makes him kill Lois, you know what I mean?

And then he goes and becomes this authoritarian and all this stuff.

But then it goes on too long because then they want to milk it for all the money they can and the story becomes stupid and convoluted as opposed to doing something like, like, well, they even did with Kingdom Come.

Kingdom Come.

Look, beginning to end.

Alex Ross.

Brilliant.

Boom.

In, out, let's go.

Right, and that's, and that's done.

And it's, it's over.

And then they got to do the Kingdom, you know what I mean?

And don't get me wrong, I read all of the Kingdom and it was stupid, but I still loved it as a kid, a, as a younger man.

Right?

But it was dumb.

It didn't need to be done.

And that's one of the problems, I think, with, with capitalism.

Right?

Like, that's what it Boils down to, oh, we want to try to wring some more money out of this property, as opposed to having something that's dope as hell and then sailing off into the sunset.

Which is why Milestone took off so well, because it was off the beaten path.

Even though DC published it, they didn't own it.

And Milestone said, okay, we're going to create this entire ecosystem of nothing but people of color, and let's see them go through their normal problems.

But now they have superpowers they didn't expect.

And I said the whole thing, the setup was incredible.

That's why I'm always a Milestone fan.

Always, right?

I'm a. I'm a depressed Milestone fan.

I ain't gonna lie.

That relaunch, man.

So.

Oh, you know, look, look, Dennis and Reggie and.

And Joe and all of those guys.

Again, I know Joe Illage.

You know, I've met Dennis Cowan before.

Again, it's not like I know him and I'm an inbox him or nothing.

And I got nothing against those guys.

But what I wish, like, my personal wish is that they had called the indie market, the black indie market for some of these up and coming writers, right?

And some of these up and coming artists and really, really relaunched Marvel.

I mean, sorry, Milestone, if.

If you could have had somebody like Greg Anderson, Elise on.

On Zombie, right?

Like.

Again, if you could have got somebody like.

Like Jason Reeves on.

On Hardware.

And don't get me wrong, I know these guys want to tell their stories because they're their characters.

So I'm not saying that they shouldn't.

What I am saying is if they had really brought up the next generation along with them in this relaunch, I think it would have been more sustainable.

I think that they wouldn't have had some of the publishing and production issues woes that they had.

I think.

I just think that there were just some man, Some other things that they could have done.

And I know.

I know for a fact that the black indie community would have backed them and supported them, because we did, regardless of that.

And so I think that that support would have tripled or quadrupled if.

If Milestone was as much a movement this time as it was last time, right?

It was a movie because we hadn't seen that in comics the first time.

The second time, it.

In my opinion, it should have been a gathering, right?

Like the.

My.

Like when they even had the Milestone initiative and Dorado Quick.

That's my guy.

Greg Burnham is my guy.

And I'm glad that they got to do Their thing.

But that should have been a movement, right?

Like, that should have been the churning that started something else.

And unfortunately, that didn't happen.

So that makes me a very depressed, you know, Milestone fan in that regard.

You know, this is one of the reasons why, like, Blair Station is existing.

Is existing right now.

Being able to take a lot of these stories and put them in other mediums, in most cases, stay in the same medium and still get out, to get out to the masses once again.

There are stories that can be told in fresh, new ways, you know, and we.

We're having those opportunities now.

And you're right.

In the situation, like, with the Milestone relaunch, you know, it was there.

We were happy because we got it, but then it was just like.

Yeah, but did it feel like the same boom that we got in the early 90s?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, and it felt.

It felt cold a little bit.

It felt like he was kneecapped, you know, to a degree.

And I'm like, man, we should be hearing more about this.

Why are we not getting more?

And why are you releasing it in the way that you really.

Oh, there's a problem.

Yeah.

And I agree with Brian.

It should have been a movement.

Because when.

When Milestone, when the word I got nothing, Milestone was coming back, I sat there and literally thought, now the door is going to open for these other black comic creators who've been waiting for this door to open so they can come in.

And so, hey, I want to be on board.

I want to bring my characters along with this universe so that way people can see there's more to it than the standard characters that people have been seeing for years.

And I think somewhere along the lines, somebody said, yeah, that's a bit too much, so we're going to kneecap it.

Right?

But I think what they fail to realize is you can trip somebody up, but.

But unless they fall and don't move, they're gonna keep moving.

And these different companies out here know Wingless and Ray and.

And Midnight Comics, doing God's work, okay.

Something I can introduce to my grandchildren and that I'm.

I'm very proud to be a part of.

So.

Sir.

You know, so I think that.

I think that a piece of it, and it's unfortunate, right?

But I feel like.

And again, I'm not in D.C. editorial, so I don't actually know, right.

But I feel like some of it stagnated and it fell back on some of those old storytelling mechanics, even, whereas we wanted something newer and.

And fresher and an updated take on, on what we had seen before.

And, and you do have, again, you get, you got people like Sebastian and Stranger Comics and Uraeus who just launched Jason Wise.

Yeah, there's, there are these crazy, crazy movements going on.

Right.

Got the brother who did Dark Pink over there.

You know, just so many things that, that again, there's so much potential and so much that can be mined from this community that mainstream hasn't really realized yet.

Which I, I think that's a plus and a minus.

Right.

Because mainstream has a way of, once they find out, they try to mine everything until it's dead.

Thank you.

And, and, and, and that becomes a casualty.

So there's a part of me that's happy that that hasn't happened yet.

And I hope by the time that mainstream does get aware and does try to do that, attempt to do that, I hope that we are educated enough, Right.

To, to take the benefits of that but not suffer the consequences.

And that comes into the business aspects of it.

Right.

And the contracts and what we're willing to do and not willing to do and knowing our value and annoying our worth.

So I'm hoping that there's a given, a give and take because again, it's bound to happen.

It's, again, it's, it's, it's capitalism.

It's going to happen at some point.

Right.

But if we're educated and if we are, if we know what to do, then it won't matter if we know.

Our power keep, keep harnessing so we can become stronger and they can't take from us.

So we talked about Air Force Ones, we talked about the main, the main three a little bit and where they, where they're stumbling and we talked about some of the black creative indies that are out here.

Let's talk about some of the other titles you have going on.

Yes, sir.

Please.

So the Wings, the Wingless Universe.

I'm very fortunate.

The Wingless Universe is an interconnected universe and as we get more issues, you see the interconnectivity.

So we started out with Nightfall, which is a, a five part series that we.

The beginning and ending.

It's five part crossover series that had justice, it featured justice, it featured her, it featured Caliburn, it featured Avery the Astonishing and it had a couple cameos across the indie universe.

So that sets the stage for all of our characters kind of coming together.

Like I said, I mentioned her.

And that is Malachi Bailey's character that spun off from his novel, his award winning novel, her.

And then he had the second volume of that novel.

And he's working on the third right now to end her trilogy in novel form.

And she will continue her adventures in comics.

And so her is a water elemental and immortal that every time she dies, she has to come back and remember her life and figure out her life and figure out why she is being killed.

She's known as the oldest woman because she's been around since the beginning of time.

So she's got a lot of mystery and a lot of.

Of things kind of in her corner and also against her.

So I love seeing her and justice together, because justice is said to be the angel that barred the gates of Eden and that brought down the walls of Jericho.

And obviously he's been doing all these ethereal things right throughout the universe and throughout the galaxy as our timeline has gone on.

So to see those two interact, like, I love how they crisscross each other.

And you're going to see a deeper history between those two as well.

We also have Immortalis.

And Immortalis is the story of the fall of the last bastion of the Roman Empire.

And so basically, that sets the stage for everything that happens in the Wing, the contemporary Wingless universe.

So Immortalis is set slightly in the past, a couple hundred years in the past, and it watches Constantinople fall, which opens the gateway for darkness.

Right.

Wingless.

The Wingless universe is a quote unquote, dark universe, right?

It's our timeline.

But if, if the worst of the worst demons and.

And monsters were let loose and we had no heroes to stop them.

And so Immortalis sets the stage for that.

It's the last pass, you know, the last place, you know, the last holdout.

We also have, for lack of better words, acquired.

And we're working in partnership with Constant Hustle comics and Lawrence James King and Avery the Astonishing is actually a legit and strategic part of Wingless Comics as well.

So Avery the Astonishing's history is part of Wingless.

And you'll see that as we get into issue two, where you see, again, where the crossovers kind of happen.

And you'll see some Easter eggs of some of the wingless characters in the background of Avery.

So that you see they're all in the same world as well as.

And Lawrence, you can't kill me because you're on the east coast and I'm on the West Coast.

But we are also going to bring over the Last Line, which is Lawrence James King's other title for his.

His cadre of family heroes.

They're also part of the Wingless Universe.

So they're probably the, the, the plan is to have them for our next crossover, which is called Paradise Lost, where we bring in all the Wingless characters again until a big larger than life, you know, five, six part story again.

This is gonna be amazing.

We, we really try.

And I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take a little victory lap because Wingless Comics, not me specifically, but Wingless Comics is very fortunate because a lot of people set out to do crossovers and set out to do multi issue arcs and just because of the way this business is, it's not really feasible.

It's very hard to do.

It's not an easy feat.

And Wingless Comics has been blessed and fortunate and strategic enough within our first two years, we were able to put out an entire trade paperback, an entire five issue crossover, Right.

In addition to the other comics that we were producing at the same time.

So we look forward to being able to do those big events because I believe that our fans and our supporters deserve that as well.

Right.

I don't only need to see Marvel doing, you know, the age of Apocalypse or the aftermath of Apocalypse.

I want to be able to produce those stories myself and ourselves.

And so that's what we're doing at Wingless.

Right.

And that's, and that's part of, of bringing all these characters together.

I love this, this is awesome because, and I'm glad you mentioned that because when you are in this business of comics and storytelling and when you, you perfectly described the whole crossover issue with a lot of things, it's a lot of politics involved.

It is, it's a lot of positive and honestly, it's a lot of ego.

Like let's.

Yeah, I'll be real.

Right.

Like again, I started.

We did Nightfall within the first year we released justice number one.

And I.

Not even, I think before her number one hit, you know, we were on her zero and I was like, nightfall.

Okay, cool.

Nightfall number one.

Right.

Let's do it.

And we worked with Concert Hustle Comics and we worked with Concept Moon Studios and Lawrence is my, my big brother and Brandon Diddley's my big brother as well.

And truth be told, me and Brandon got into it over marketing, over all these things, right.

Not necessarily characters and what happens with the story because we had hashed all that out.

But it's also business, right?

We forget that a lot of this.

We love what we do and it's very passionate, but it's also business, right?

And business takes time and it takes communication and you have to put your ego to the side and you have to do what's best for business.

And neither I nor Brandon at the time did that to the extent that we needed to.

Right.

Again, we're good now and everything is fine.

And everything went out the way it was supposed to go out.

But initially that was hard, right?

Initially those were hard conversations.

And a lot of times we don't get through those hard conversations.

A lot of times we just get the glitz and glam of, oh, we all put our characters together.

Okay, great.

But what does that actually mean?

What are we actually doing with that?

What is the actual goal?

And those things are important and very, very often get overlooked and very, very often can lead to worsening outcomes.

So again, we're fortunate with Wingless that, that we were able to strategically put this together and again, do it from beginning to end.

There are a lot of companies that have been around 10 plus years that haven't been able to do a crossover and to do a multi part story.

And we were able to do it within one.

So, you know, I. I'll never stop being thankful for that.

Wow, y'.

All.

If y' all have not had the chance to go over to Wingless, wingless entertainment or winglessint.com, y' all need to go check this out because this gives you a glimpse into what they are creating here at Wingless Comics.

Let me tell you, I looked at it before when I was at work and I work at a gaming comic book store.

So, you know, we're.

We're dealing with that all the time.

And I went over and clicked on it and I just.

I.

So I sat so transfixed.

Takes on this that I didn't hear, hear my.

My manager go, my tail.

My.

My tail.

My tail.

Huh?

Oh, okay.

Got it.

And they came over and they were trans.

I said, what are you looking at?

What were you looking at?

I was looking at that.

What's that?

And I said, well, I'm glad you asked.

And I brought him out to him.

I was kind of embarrassed, but, y', all, this is beautiful.

To see this collective talent create something this magical.

It.

It does something to my heart.

Y' all need to go check these out because these folks is working.

Folks is working.

Okay?

It's.

I think that getting an opportunity, right, to talk about something that I love with gentlemen that are as studied in this craft as yourselves, right?

Like, you guys aren't just, hey, I sat down and did a podcast, right?

Like, you know, comics, you know, conventions, you know, material, you know, stories.

And to be able to come and talk story and say, like.

And have someone say, hey, man, this is dope.

Like, I genuinely.

Hey, I just really like this thing that you're doing.

Not the promotion side, not the other thing.

Like, I want to see the shirt.

I want to see the character.

I want to.

You know what I mean?

That means a lot more.

Look, sales are great, but sales come and go.

True.

What doesn't come and go is people that are actually interested in the work you do, right?

And so I think for me, that that is more quantifiable.

Not in dollars and cents, obviously, but it's more quantifiable and it means more to me personally, right?

Because.

And I said this when I first hit the scene, I was like, I can write justice for the rest of my life, right?

Like, that can come out of my own pocket, and I can produce that and publish that.

I own the means of production for that.

So that's never going to go away if I don't want it to.

To.

Same for Air Force One.

Same for the things that I'm doing.

But when you have somebody that wants to read it or have someone that's interested or understands where you're coming from, when you talk about Macross or when you talk about Battleship, Yamato, you know what I mean?

Like, when people know you're like, man, I'm gonna do this thing, and then they can really get with you.

You know what I mean?

Like, that's a.

That's a.

That's a different level of success, right?

That's a different level of achievement.

And that's the level that.

That too, sometimes, to the consternation and annoyance of Brett and Lawrence and Malachi and my wife and everybody else that, like, I try to live up to, right?

Because we're gonna come out and.

Nah, Mal, write that again.

Nah, Mal, write that again.

Nah, that don't make no sense.

Write it again.

Right?

And he's gonna hate me by the end of the editing process.

When it comes out, it's gonna be fired up, you know?

But when you get to the end of that process and he looks back and goes, I see what you were talking about.

Now you've planted that seed.

And as that seed continues to grow, you created something beautiful, right?

And that's always the foundation of companies like Wingless Comics and Noah, like Midnight Comics.

Just a beautiful collective of.

Of imagination and creativity and.

And dedication.

Because we mentioned before, Marvel and dc, I. I hate to say y' all are getting kind of complacent because you're expecting people to come to Your stuff.

But I realized if it, if it matters or not, however, you have companies like Wingless Comics, like Ray Comics, like Midnight, who are going, oh, you want something that's meaningful and that's created.

Come on.

Come on over.

Come on.

You got Kingwood, you know.

Right.

Killer B.

Right, right, right.

You got things like that.

Exactly, exactly.

You got things like this.

So it.

It really is.

It's more than a breath of fresh air.

It's just awake.

Yeah, yeah.

Spartans in the building.

Our ship.

Right?

What's going on?

Yeah, Deacon Deadlift is way tired.

So I.

This.

It's been, it's.

It's.

It's a refreshing thing when you have like maybe, just maybe didn't even name a fraction of the black owned.

Right?

That's like a portion.

It's not.

I don't know if that's how you can place it, but that's just a.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Other people that we, We've listed, like, there are so many more who have, like, some.

They either have great art, great storytelling, fresh new ideas, original ideas, representation across the board, different shades, colors, backgrounds.

This is why a lot of something that's.

Something that's incredibly important, that again, gets missed with some of the things that we see out of Marvel and DC and whoever.

Right.

Is culture is just as important or more important even than color.

Color, right.

So I.

There, There is always that argument of like, oh, well, we don't want reskinned characters and blah.

Look, I want it all.

Give me.

If, if every.

If you turn.

If DC turns every redheaded character into a black character, all ATV shows, fine, I'm cool with that.

But again, that's not where it stops.

I'm not going to cheer that on.

And for that to be the end, the, the goal, right, is to represent who we are as a culture.

And I think that I, I always work with this idea of cultural exchange, which I think is very, very big.

And I don't think that black people get the credit for.

For doing it and having done it historically, that we deserve.

And I, when I say that, I mean like black Americans, right?

Because again, that gets conflated when you say black people, then it's like, oh, man, the diaspora.

I'm not, it's not necessarily what I'm talking about.

And that's no disrespect to anyone in the diaspora.

What I am saying, though, is that there are a lot of things.

You have UK Drill rap now.

Right?

Right.

But UK Drill rap comes from Drill Rap, which comes from rap, which come.

You know what I mean?

Again, let's, let's go back.

Okay, so that's.

Again, that's a black American thing that started.

And there are so many things like that again, that, that happens again.

K pop is, is a big one.

You can talk about a lot of the Harajuku culture in Japan and on and on and on.

And I have no problem with any of these things, right?

Because those cultures don't necessarily take credit.

Like they invented it.

It.

What happens in America though is they repackage it like those people are saying that they invented it.

And so I think it's very important for our cultural identity to be matriculated in a way that we decide it is and we say, hey, basically, like they do to us, right?

We're loaning this to you.

Look, I can go into a manga space, I can go into an anime space, but I realize that it's on loan, right?

Like it's.

Someone else created it.

I'm just doing my thing within it.

And, and it's.

It's high time for how we tell stories and how we, how we dispense and disperse our culture to be done that same way.

No, no, you can do it.

Right?

But this is us.

I am so tired of Kim Kardashian being the one who created a wife beater or cornrows or whatever else, you know, I mean, like, it just makes zero sense.

Sense, right?

But again, that in the American press, that's what's what happens.

And so I think that the cultural exchange and how we deal with what we culturally lend other people needs to change.

And I think that starts with storytelling, at least for me, right?

There are going to be other people that do it in other ways.

For me and for the black comics community, it starts with storytelling.

It starts with this word of mouth.

It's.

Look for the rap artist.

It starts with your storytelling, bro.

It starts with your beats, it starts with your music.

And I think that that's just incredibly important.

And when we're doing that, and we're doing that at our highest level, we can't be beat.

You know what I mean?

Like, and that's just, that's just the fact of the matter, right?

When we're doing, when rap was at its highest level, that's why it took over.

It was something that was unfathomable.

No one could do it the same way no one could.

You can't copy, you can't duplicate it.

You can't.

That's why pop music is Pop music because they couldn't do R B.

So they were like, well, we're gonna do this music.

Right.

It's closed.

But we did.

We just don't quite have it right.

The Swedish, to their credit, the Swedish got really close business.

You know what I'm saying?

So the Swedish got real close.

But again, those are things.

When we.

When we.

When we hold those things dear and keep those things close and make sure that those things are us and deeply associated with us.

Us, that changes the narrative and it changes the dynamic of.

Of this cultural exchange that we're already engaged in.

Right, right.

But then.

But then we hold the means of production and.

And I'm.

I hammer that home because me and Jason hammer that home when we're talking about things.

And it's a principle that goes throughout everything that we do in life.

Yeah, you said it.

Because culture.

I. I always.

I always said they loved.

I said, in the words of Paul Mooney, everybody want to be one.

Nobody want to be one.

Right, Right, right, right.

I think this is a great conversation because here we don't do interviews.

We do conversations.

Precisely.

Amen.

Like, they're just.

That's just what it is.

Brian.

We're gonna take a break.

We're gonna talk about.

Because we're in our spooky season, right?

Yes.

We're going to talk about black vampire films and shows that you should be watching.

Always black, right?

Always back.

Can you join for that?

Yeah, definitely.

100.

100.

Okay.

Definitely.

Okay.

So we'll be right back with our guest, Brian J. Lamb.

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All right, we are back with our guest, Brian J. Lambert.

What's going on, Brian?

Thank you for doing all these great things.

Talking about wingless comics.

Now we are stepping into black vampire films and shows you need to be watching.

And there are more than you think.

I'm going to show.

I'm going to show.

I was trying to figure out how I want to do this.

I'm going to show a few things, just a few images, and I want each one of you to tell me what you think.

What's the first thing that comes to your mind for.

For just these couple of properties.

So we're going to start with our man, Blade.

The O.G.

Yes, sir.

Always be named.

Yeah, he's always going to be.

He's always going to be Blade.

It's always going to be one Blade.

There's never going to be another.

And yet how true that is becoming.

Right, right.

That was a joke.

What we thought was a joke.

So.

So yeah, Brian, what's the first thing?

Don't stink me, y', all, but I love the fight scenes, so let me say that I love the fight scenes.

I did not like Blade two, though.

Oh.

I thought it was convoluted.

Right?

Like it was a cgi, wasn't it?

Right, right.

They.

No, well, the story wise.

They do a lot of things to do nothing.

I knew y'.

All.

I knew y' all was gonna betray me the whole time.

Then why'd you just kill him, bro?

Why do we do all that?

Right?

He said the whole setup, the whole.

The whole plot hole in the middle of it.

I get that part where it's like, right.

They trained eight years to take you out and now you gotta work with them.

And you're right.

Paranoid.

Right?

And then what happened to the.

What happened to the daytime suits?

They came out.

They had them in the beginning and then they didn't.

They just didn't use them for nothing.

It's just also.

Okay, last thing, real quick.

I have a huge beef with Blade three and not for the reason.

Well, because it did suck.

Right?

But Blade three, there's a part at which Dracula gives this speech talking about how they're honorable men and blah, blah, blah, and they gonna have this sword fight while he's holding a baby.

Dangling off of a roof.

How can you.

We are honorable men.

As I'm about to kill this innocent baby, I just.

I was like, who wrote this?