Joe St. Pierre

Full Interview Transcript

Cleaned transcript below. Editorial section headings and quote callouts have been added for readability.

Opening cold open / commercial condensed: The show begins with a horror-comedy promo segment and a few jokes from Joe about original art prices before the live conversation officially starts.

Show Open and Introductions

Drew [00:04:14]: Hey.

Leo [00:04:15]: Hey. Happy Tuesday, everybody. You are watching Splash Pages. My name is Leo. I’m the monkey behind the keyboard here. We have an amazing show scheduled for you, as always. And to kick it off — Carrie, how’s it going?

Kari [00:04:26]: Going great, Leo. Starting off a busy week and I am super excited to be here. We have on a great guest, as you already kind of might have noticed, and basically we’re his fan club. You’re gonna be seeing like all of the things that we have gotten from him. Or he’s like, what did you do? Okay, before we start talking, here’s all the merch that every single one of us owns. And — why am I drinking from a Pennywise can? Well, you’ll find out. As we go on. Maybe ask Jar a little about that.

Drew [00:05:00]: You’re on, Jar. Thirsty?

Jar Jar [00:05:05]: I have no idea. Oh, I —

Drew [00:05:08]: Never mind.

Jar Jar [00:05:08]: I do have a slight idea. And it’s Tuesday night, so I’m glad you’re all here watching and hanging out with us. Over to Drew, who’s gonna do what he does — the magic.

Mahanna [00:05:22]: Hi, guys. Hello.

Joe St. Pierre [00:05:23]: Hello.

Mahanna [00:05:25]: Yeah, like Carrie said, all the things we’ve all bought from Chosen — she’s not wrong about. We’re being like — we’re like his number one fans. Not obsessive yet, but respectfully. Respectfully now, of course. It’s really good to be here, guys.

Leo [00:05:41]: Awesome. Mr. Drew.

Drew [00:05:43]: The answer to why Carrie is drinking a Pennywise beer is she is similar to the balloon because it all floats. They all float down here.

Kari [00:05:55]: Hey, this is Coke Zero, man.

Drew [00:05:57]: This is what happens when you look in the dead eyes or the deadlights. Whatever. I don’t know what Stephen King said. Hey, everybody, thank you for joining us on Tuesday, the last Tuesday of March. We have a fantastic guest who we haven’t had on in a while, but every time we see him, he’s like that super cool uncle who definitely gave you that first beer or probably definitely told you not to tell your mom where you got these fireworks. As he says on his website, he has more Spider-Man number ones than any artist and we just don’t really think to refute it. Yep, there you go.

Drew [00:06:40]: See — most Spider-Man number one issues. It’s a lot of them. You’ve seen his work on Spider-Man, Venom. There was some X-Men there too. A lot of — lot of — a lot of Marvel. He’s a big Marvel guy. But lately he’s been killing it on his own creator-owned stuff, the Zodiac[s].

Drew [00:06:56]: So we have him on — the chill, the very casual, somehow always wearing a hat, but still very cool. The one, the only, Joe St. Pierre.

Joe St. Pierre [00:07:08]: Oh, hey. What’s up, everybody? It’s so nice to see everybody. We don’t get together that much, so it’s very cool to kind of catch up.

Drew [00:07:18]: We used to. Yeah, I know it’s been a while. And it’s funny because I checked — I was like, my God, has it really been, like, years?

Kari [00:07:27]: He miss you.

Mahanna [00:07:33]: We just saw him. What?

Joe St. Pierre [00:07:34]: Like — oh, yeah, MJ. I saw — like last weekend.

Drew [00:07:40]: You saw me too? You don’t remember? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you’re — but MJ’s a little prettier than Jar Jar.

Mahanna [00:07:46]: So, no, but see, to be fair, every day it was a different cosplay on Saturday.

Jar Jar [00:07:51]: Oh, he was there all weekend, too.

Joe St. Pierre [00:07:52]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jar Jar, I saw you flitting in the background like The Shining, you know. Oh, there he goes. Flying.

Drew [00:08:01]: I was avoiding. It’s the same thing like — like last time I saw you was at New York. I stopped by your booth at New York Comic Con last year.

Joe St. Pierre [00:08:14]: Yeah, well, you know, we’re gonna have you on next week, and here we are.

Drew [00:08:16]: Oh, boy, oh, boy. Yeah, that sounds pretty fun. That sounds pretty accurate. Like something I would promise before we go.

Leo [00:08:25]: Just real quick — just for a little, little self-promotion here. You mentioned a website. Just want to let everybody know Joe has his own page on our new site.

Drew [00:08:36]: So if you’re looking for any information

Leo [00:08:38]: for Joe, you can find like his Instagram, his Facebook, a ton of information about you. Also recommended reading as well, if you want to get caught up.

Joe St. Pierre [00:08:48]: Oh, no kidding. I gotta see this.

Jar Jar [00:08:50]: What you like to wear to bed. It’s all there.

Leo [00:08:54]: A matter of fact, it was fun — I was doing some research before the show, so I type in “Joe St. Pierre Venom” and it’s like our site is like number two or three. And that’s cool. The page hasn’t been up that long, but —

Drew [00:09:08]: Yeah, yeah. It’s been a while since

Kari [00:09:12]: Venom has been allowed to break into your house and find all the little extras, you know.

Joe St. Pierre [00:09:18]: I was gonna say, you guys know more about me than I do, apparently. Very long bio.

Drew [00:09:26]: It’s almost like we’re on some Fight Club level, you know? Like, we are Joe St. Pierre, you know. Well, I will say this, Joe — like Carrie, I feel like, has the coolest merch of all. Especially the commission. Yes, the commission.

Drew [00:09:45]: I’m sorry, as a Shade fan — not only was that spot on, but by God, you got Carrie’s curls down, like, perfect.

Joe St. Pierre [00:09:54]: Oh, it was a perfect casting of character with — with other character, I suppose. 100%. Share all your Joe merch, whatever you guys have.

Jar Jar [00:10:05]: Oh, boy.

Kari [00:10:05]: Okay, I’m going next because I got my couple things up here, so I — I also got — this is the cover for the sketchbook. I have some of the comics, but somebody else has those, too. But this — this is my remark, and you did remarkable with that because it is so hard to get the pins. And I loved how that turned out.

Drew [00:10:27]: Oh, yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:10:28]: Well, actually, yeah, that was a tough one.

Kari [00:10:32]: And — oh, and the reason why I’m drinking out of the Pennywise thing is because of this — Jar’s commission. We don’t have the colors.

Jar Jar [00:10:41]: But yeah, he did that for my kid. Very beautiful. Terrible Penny.

Joe St. Pierre [00:10:48]: Bring on the horror with you guys.

Drew [00:10:50]: Oh, yeah, fair enough.

Kari [00:10:53]: Except Leo.

Drew [00:10:55]: Oh, no, Leo.

Joe St. Pierre [00:10:56]: No.

Drew [00:10:56]: Just draw snakes.

Mahanna [00:10:57]: And I got —

Drew [00:10:57]: That’s horror enough for Leo.

Mahanna [00:10:59]: So this is — this is from the Kickstarter.

Drew [00:11:03]: Can’t see the cover.

Mahanna [00:11:06]: Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:07]: Limited to 250. Very rare.

Drew [00:11:10]: Really.

Mahanna [00:11:10]: And I have that one. And then that came with it, of course — is the little mini one as a thank you, my name.

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:17]: Oh, very nice.

Mahanna [00:11:18]: And then this — this guy cover here.

Jar Jar [00:11:27]: Nice.

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:28]: Nice. Signed and numbered.

Mahanna [00:11:31]: Yes.

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:31]: I love it.

Mahanna [00:11:34]: And of course — I mean, the other two things I got from you, I gave to my granddaughter — the books, so —

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:39]: How dare you? But yeah — were those the Cousteau books, right?

Mahanna [00:11:45]: Yes, yes.

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:46]: I also do young readers.

Drew [00:11:48]: Yeah.

Mahanna [00:11:48]: Yeah. That’s the one I got for that one. And the sea turtle one.

Joe St. Pierre [00:11:53]: Yes.

Jar Jar [00:11:56]: Don’t fly. Very sad.

Mahanna [00:11:58]: She’s — she’s like, the sharks are so cool. I’m like, you’re right. Sharks are very cool.

Drew [00:12:03]: Sharks are very cool. They got a bad rap. Every shark — every Shark Week, the movies get worse and their reputation gets —

Mahanna [00:12:10]: How would you feel if someone came in your place and you would be that happy?

Drew [00:12:14]: I’m sorry. Whenever I think of the sharks, I was like my — my boy Bruce, Finding Nemo. Yes. Well, I don’t have any of my Joe merch because I — I again met Joe way before any of y’all at, I think, some random con where he signed my Spidey 2000 and 99. And that was pretty dope. So that’s pretty much it.

Jar Jar [00:12:37]: You didn’t dig them out?

Drew [00:12:38]: True. No, no. They’re in deep, deep storage.

Kari [00:12:44]: Yeah. If you look for some of these new Zodiacs comics, you’ll see my name in the list on the back pages. I’m there. Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:12:56]: You know, we have a thank-you page.

Kari [00:12:59]: Yeah.

Mahanna [00:13:00]: I just really liked it. I just really liked it. So, you know.

Kari [00:13:04]: Yeah. So if you do — if you have a new Kickstarter coming out — by the way, we have a new Kickstarter thing that I’m doing, and let me know when it’s going. We’re doing a crowdfunding segment and I’ll get you on there to make sure we, like, promote the hell out of it.

Joe St. Pierre [00:13:17]: You will be the first to know.

Drew [00:13:20]: Yeah. And Carrie, you know — Carrie and her hype train. Everybody is the best thing that’s ever happened since Sharpies stopped running out like — yeah, that’s — Wonder Bread slices.

Joe St. Pierre [00:13:35]: You’re the first email.

Joe’s Marvel career — Spider-Man #1 record, Venom with Larry Hama, Clone Saga era

Drew [00:13:37]: Yep. All right, so I guess we should talk a little bit about some of his past books and then we’ll just get straight into the creator stuff. Well, I know there’s one book, MJ — we specifically grab for MJ because, you know, she’s our Gambit at heart.

Mahanna [00:13:57]: Well, I call people Rogue and Gambit, but I will never do Gambit in the summertime ever again.

Drew [00:14:02]: Exactly. But I — like I said, Joe, I don’t think I’ve ever read any of your Venom work. But just reading it, I was like, oh, right. This was the 90s. There’s a lot of —

Mahanna [00:14:15]: It was very 90s. Yeah. Yes. I loved it.

Drew [00:14:18]: I — I didn’t write those.

Joe St. Pierre [00:14:20]: Just so you know, I am a writer.

Leo [00:14:22]: No, no.

Mahanna [00:14:22]: I mean, even just the color work was just very —

Drew [00:14:24]: No, no, no.

Jar Jar [00:14:26]: I thought Al Milgrom’s [CHECK: “Al Milgram” in source] colors on your pencils was brilliant.

Mahanna [00:14:34]: Yeah.

Spider-Man: The Parker Years — Joe’s personal favorite Marvel project (and why)

That was probably my favorite final printed product that I had done at Marvel.

Joe St. Pierre, 00:14:51

Joe St. Pierre [00:14:35]: He and I worked on a book called — it was a one-shot. This is in the — this is in the peak Clone Saga period of Spider-Man. We did a one-shot together called The Parker Years [CHECK: likely Spider-Man: The Parker Years].

Drew [00:14:51]: Right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:14:51]: And he inked — he inked that particular job. And that was probably my favorite final printed product that I had done at Marvel. It was like the combination of the story with the pencils, the inks and the colors — that was probably my most favorite thing that we worked on there. That was kind of also — The Parker Years was kind of like a greatest hits / history of Spider-Man up to that point, you know. So like the last 25 years of Amazing Spider-Man. So I got all this references — it was like a pile, like, deep of like all the villains and stuff like that, the supporting cast members and stuff like that. So I’m a huge Spider-Man fan, as you guys probably know. So that was — that was a pleasure to work on.

Drew [00:15:53]: But — and it’s just so funny because, like, rereading — like we — you did Venom, Wolverine, and then there was also Along Came a Spider, you know, which feels like — again, it was very like the 90s Spider-Man, where there was just — there was always something happening. I felt like New York was always in peril. And like — New York is like — it’s like that line from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — “the empire is in peril.”

Drew [00:16:23]: Like, the empire is always in peril.

Mahanna [00:16:27]: I was thinking about The Incredibles. “Can’t the world just stay saved?”

Drew [00:16:31]: Exactly. So it’s just like — just reading it, and especially like — it’s been a minute since I’ve read anything 90s Marvel. So I’m just like, yeah, jumping into some of this. I was like, okay, what the hell?

Joe St. Pierre [00:16:50]: Absurd stuff. Yeah.

Drew [00:16:52]: Yeah. Like this one especially. I was like, okay, who the hell are half of these goddamn people? Yeah. Like — and the thing — and it’s funny because looking at it, like, I’m just thinking logistics. I’m like, why the hell is there a motorcycle in someone’s waiting room? Like — like —

Drew [00:17:15]: Like, I’m not even mad about it.

Mahanna [00:17:16]: I’m just, like, wondering why.

Drew [00:17:19]: Yeah, I was like, that’s the thing.

Kari [00:17:21]: I’m questioning.

Drew [00:17:22]: Not — not the rat shapeshifter who apparently ingests children. Not — not like Wolverine and Venom just completely — just like, ah, it — we’re gonna fight. Just like, the small questions. I’m like, this is wild. But — but again, everything was just fantastic.

Joe St. Pierre [00:17:43]: But I was a nice drawing — that one.

Drew [00:17:46]: That one.

Joe St. Pierre [00:17:47]: Bottom panel. That’s pretty cool.

Drew [00:17:49]: Like — left — like, what was — did — was this Joe? Like, was this — like, did you — did someone ask, hey, do you want to do this? Or was Marvel like, hey, Joe, you’re doing this and you’re okay? Cool.

Joe St. Pierre [00:18:02]: Yeah, it was more like that. It was more like, hey, you want to do a Venom? You want to do a Venom miniseries? And I’m like, no, no, of course. May I have another?

Drew [00:18:16]: Right. Do you mind? It’s written by Larry Hama [corrected from “Larry Hammond”]. No, no.

Joe St. Pierre [00:18:21]: As a fan, it was like — I’m not like the biggest fan of the Clone Saga thing, the — you know, the multiple Spider-Mans. As a fan, that wasn’t my thing. But as a professional, I’m like, bring it on.

Drew [00:18:35]: Right, right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:18:36]: You know, let’s do this.

Kari [00:18:38]: I can crank out all the Spideys you want.

Mahanna [00:18:42]: I love Spider-Man. Absolutely.

Drew [00:18:45]: And then it was just so funny because, like, I remember — like, I was talking to Carrie about Along Came a Spider, and I was just like, going through, like, my version of, like, drunk history of how there’s just so many goddamn symbiotes. And literally at one point I just kept coming back to this executive was like, yeah, we’re gonna take Venom, but we’ll make it sexy. What we do — we’re gonna put it on a woman. And I was like, yes — we’re gonna put those muscles somewhere else but for one issue. And then we’re gonna put it back to Venom because we can never instigate change.

Joe St. Pierre [00:19:21]: You just put a 90s idea in my brain. Why wasn’t there a clone — a Spider-Man clone fight with all the Spider-Man clones and then all the symbiotes, so like each one got —

Drew [00:19:33]: I don’t know.

Kari [00:19:35]: Well, you’re right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:19:36]: That one now — I just —

Drew [00:19:39]: I just remember, Carrie — just, like, how many goddamn symbiotes are there? Is it Terry? It came to a point where we were killing them. We were like, we’re not using these things, and we just don’t have time to invest in more stories. So we’re just gonna kill them. I mean, who’s gonna do it?

Leo [00:19:52]: Eddie Brock?

Drew [00:19:53]: Perfect.

Mahanna [00:19:54]: Aliens? Pretty much. So there’s — if they feel like a whole race of them kind of, maybe sort of like —

Drew [00:20:01]: Well, I think the second they were like, oh, you know, there’s a planet of them. Okay, what happens if we bring the planet here? Perfect.

Joe St. Pierre [00:20:07]: I did that story — relocating.

Mahanna [00:20:10]: No, this is not — it’s not — catch all these guys. You have to just —

Drew [00:20:14]: Right. And it — it’s just like reading that, and then just reading, like, Along Came a Spider. I was like — I was like, you know, Ben Reilly’s costume was a lot cooler than we gave it credit.

Mahanna [00:20:27]: Yeah, I agree.

Drew [00:20:27]: Oh, definitely.

Joe St. Pierre [00:20:28]: The —

Jar Jar [00:20:29]: The hoodie.

Joe St. Pierre [00:20:29]: And —

Drew [00:20:30]: And — no, you’re thinking the Scarlet Spider.

Jar Jar [00:20:33]: Oh, sorry.

Drew [00:20:35]: Yeah. When he did his amalgamation suit.

Mahanna [00:20:39]: Yes.

Drew [00:20:40]: You know, when you’re like, oh, hey, that’s kind of cool. But then he’s just like — it’s just the whole time he’s just whining. I was like, I’m sorry. I loved how you literally showed him, like, sewing the suit.

Joe St. Pierre [00:20:50]: He just — see, I did that.

How to draw Spider-Man’s web pattern — the 12/13-strand Romita Sr. rule

I’ve been harassing Marvel Comics to draw Spider-Man since I was 10. So I don’t think I needed the lesson.

Joe St. Pierre, 00:21:14

Kari [00:20:58]: Were you given the lesson? We had somebody on who did Spider-Man before, and they were like, oh — we were given this very strict lesson on how you have to draw, like, all the lines and where they come from and stuff. Were you given the lesson, or is it you who made the lesson on how to do that?

Joe St. Pierre [00:21:14]: I’ve been drawing Spider-Man — I’ve been harassing Marvel. I had been harassing Marvel Comics to draw Spider-Man since I was 10, so I don’t think I needed the lesson. But I didn’t create the lesson, if that’s what you’re —

Jar Jar [00:21:29]: But there is a lesson.

Kari [00:21:30]: Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:21:32]: Never got the lesson, but I kind of know — there’s 12 — the classic Romita Senior Spider-Man has 12 strands that radiate from the face, and then there are 13 across the body.

Drew [00:21:47]: Oh, okay.

Joe St. Pierre [00:21:48]: One of them goes down the center, and we’re not sure where that begins and ends because it’s not on the face. Right. So I always said it was at the top — tunic / shirt. So that’s kind of like a basic rule. But I violate that all the time. I get a lot of requests for Spidey commissions, of course. So a lot of times I’ll just mess around with the formula.

Joe St. Pierre [00:22:17]: I’ll draw five extra webs coming off his face and —

Drew [00:22:21]: Right. Okay.

Joe St. Pierre [00:22:22]: So more like what old school, original Ditko kind of looked like before the design was streamlined.

The under-armpit web debate: where Joe stands (firmly in favor)

Oh, yes. I’m under the armpit for sure.

Joe St. Pierre, 00:22:40

Drew [00:22:29]: Right. So, Joe — around with that a lot. As a Spider-Man artist, I have to ask — do you believe webbing underneath the armpits, or — or not?

Joe St. Pierre [00:22:40]: Oh, yes. I’m under the armpit for sure. Yeah.

Drew [00:22:44]: Okay.

Joe St. Pierre [00:22:45]: Not really wings, but just the decoration. They’re not functional. I don’t see them as functional, but —

Leo [00:22:54]: So is that like a skydiver?

Mahanna [00:22:55]: They use this —

Jar Jar [00:22:56]: Yeah. I was thinking, like —

Joe St. Pierre [00:22:58]: No, I would see — I would say, like, Spider-Woman’s wings are kind of closer to that kind of flying squirrel.

Mahanna [00:23:05]: Oh, yeah, that’s fair.

Drew [00:23:05]: Yeah, that’s fair.

Leo [00:23:07]: So is that the Marvel version of briefs or no briefs on Superman?

Drew [00:23:12]: Yes. Yep. That and Leo — then it’s the size of his head, because some people draw it like, oh, yeah, huge. And then some people draw it like — very — and then you have to remember there’s — the mask is ripped, one eye is missing — just blood. You know, there’s just so many variations of battle-worn. I have been messed up, yet I don’t go down. And you just keep thinking, how does this man have a budget?

Mahanna [00:23:43]: Okay, he works at the Daily Bugle. Like, you know.

Drew [00:23:45]: Yeah, he works at the Daily Bugle, but apparently he’s always broke, so he’s —

Joe St. Pierre [00:23:52]: Been broke for 60 years. Never figured it out.

Drew [00:23:54]: Yeah, man’s been broke.

Leo [00:23:55]: They made him rich at one point, right?

Drew [00:23:57]: Yeah, yeah, he messed it up. Because we can’t — remember, we can never allow these characters to be happy. At one point or another, they will screw it up. There’s —

Joe St. Pierre [00:24:08]: There’s certain beats that you need to adhere to for each character. Spider-Man has certain beats. You know, the downtrodden every-man thing. And you — you can expand and go off on different ideas, like make them rich, make him a CEO. But you’ve always got to come back to the status quo. You know those five story beats.

Drew [00:24:33]: Yeah.

Jar Jar [00:24:33]: Leo Sandbox. But you can’t break any of the toys.

Drew [00:24:36]: Yeah, Leo — Peter is kind of like Marvel reverse Ramona Flowers. If someone wants to date Peter, they’ve got to deal with his, you know, 17 evil exes. So it’s a lot of scorned Marvel women.

Joe St. Pierre [00:24:51]: Yeah.

Mahanna [00:24:52]: Yeah.

Kari [00:24:52]: That is —

Joe St. Pierre [00:24:53]: That’s the other thing — I always thought he had the best supporting cast as well. But then over 60 years, I think just about every one of his friends or family is associated with a villain or became a villain. And so that kind of got — that kind of got a little shaky believability-wise for me as a fan.

Kari [00:25:20]: I think Joe and I were talking about this before the show, and it’s like, you need to have the Vulture, like, in a background scene where he’s like putting on lidocaine patches and, you know, taking his meds —

Jar Jar [00:25:31]: — and get that kid one of these days.

Joe St. Pierre [00:25:36]: There was a great spin on the Vulture in Dan Slott’s [corrected from “Dan Slot”] issue where he made the Vulture more like an — like an Artful Dodger.

Drew [00:25:45]: And he was right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:25:46]: The leader of this group of Vulture-tech kids who would go out and do all the robberies and like that. And I was like, that’s — that’s the next step for that character. I thought that was great.

Drew [00:26:02]: Yeah, I remember that. The Vulturions [corrected from “Volturions”] [CHECK official name]. Yeah. And he would have no problem — I think one of them failed him. Was like, all right, well, you’re dead. And just —

Joe St. Pierre [00:26:09]: Yes. Yeah. Yep.

Drew [00:26:11]: And I’m like, oh, damn. Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:26:13]: But off the tech.

Drew [00:26:15]: Well, it’s the same thing — like, I felt like when they originally showed, like, Doc Ock just — I was like, yeah, my body’s — I’m not a superhuman guy. Like — and then literally, instead of just progressively keeping it, I was like, wow, that’s really realistic. I was like, what are we going to do? Clones? And I’m like, guys, didn’t we learn this last time? We avoid the C word. Clones. Not clones.

Drew [00:26:41]: Not clones and not crossovers.

Kari [00:26:44]: We’ve devoted like 26 minutes to a Spider-Man Q&A with the great Spider-Man miracle here. Joe St. Pierre. Yes, dear?

The Gambit fill-in and how Fabian Nicieza connected them

Drew [00:26:56]: I’m sorry to interrupt. Before we get to his creator stuff — we did — I did want to touch on Gambit just for a hot minute so MJ can squee. How did that come about? Because I — first thing first, I have no idea what was going on in that story. I — the only Gambit I know is in our room here.

Joe St. Pierre [00:27:15]: Yeah.

Drew [00:27:16]: Respectfully, MJ. And you just had so much to draw in that — like, like, did they give you — like, were you reading Gambit? Or did they give you — oh, read every other issue so you can understand who New Son is and what’s going on? Or they were just like, draw this.

Joe St. Pierre [00:27:33]: Like, okay, yeah, it was — it was kind of the latter. So I don’t — I’m not really the biggest Gambit fan. Sorry, MJ. Once again, I had done some work for Valiant slash Acclaim, and Fabian Nicieza [corrected from “Fabian Siezu”] [CHECK] was the editor in chief at the time. So I co-created a series there. And when Valiant/Acclaim crashed and burned, I guess Fabian got work at Marvel and he recommended me for a fill-in issue.

Joe St. Pierre [00:28:06]: So the fill-in issue was kind of like that Parker Years I was talking about.

Drew [00:28:10]: Right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:28:12]: Of the Gambit storyline up to that point, which I guess was fairly dense. So it was me again going through reference trying to make a rehash story look visually interesting.

Drew [00:28:25]: Well, well, I will say this — I love that two of the people you referenced, I know for a fact they’re going to be at Terrificon. So it’s going to be a nice little reunion there for you, Al and Fabian.

Joe St. Pierre [00:28:36]: Well, I’m not going to be there. Are you guys going to be at Terrificon?

Jar Jar [00:28:40]: Oh, yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:28:40]: You’re not going this year? Same weekend as Fan Expo Boston then. And it was last year as well. And that’s kind of rough.

Mahanna [00:28:50]: Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:28:51]: Because those are my two biggest shows of the year. So immediately my income for that month is getting chopped. So I’m very disappointed, because like I said, they’re both my biggest shows. I love them both, because I also go to Fan Expo Boston. It never used to be the same weekend, because the other year when we first met you guys at Splash Pages —

Mahanna [00:29:03]: Yeah, I’ve gone to Fan Expo and then I cut to — the weekend before, and it was two different weeks.

Drew [00:29:14]: Yeah. I still don’t know how you do it, MJ. Like you do two cons in one weekend. I did two weddings in one weekend and I was like, never again. This is just too much.

Joe St. Pierre [00:29:26]: So that actually happened to me at Boston last year — as I met quite a few people said they were doing Friday at Boston and Saturday at Terrificon or vice versa. I would see them on Saturday.

Mahanna [00:29:40]: So yeah, that’s what I do. I do things.

Joe St. Pierre [00:29:43]: MJ — that’s what you do.

Drew [00:29:44]: That’s what she does. She’s a jet setter.

Mahanna [00:29:47]: Well, I mean, okay, finally I built my career, built a fortune. And most people want fancy cars. No, no, no. I want to meet the people I’ve been reading. I want to see the people I’ve been listening to. You know, like that’s what I want to do. And so now I do it.

Jar Jar [00:30:03]: And —

Drew [00:30:03]: And you stuck around long enough. We’re like, yeah, why don’t you just stick around, and you’re like, okay.

Mahanna [00:30:09]: Literally, though — like, well, I guess she’s got a name. We got to keep her now.

Joe St. Pierre [00:30:14]: That’s right.

Drew [00:30:15]: Yeah. We keep feeding the strays, Joe, and they just — they’re like, all right, give them all the chicken fingers, and they won’t leave.

Mahanna [00:30:22]: Oh, my God.

Joe St. Pierre [00:30:24]: That’s all it takes. Chicken fingers.

Kari [00:30:29]: Sometime you’re gonna come and join us when you go to a Terrificon, because afterwards, we all go eat at Leo’s, and these guys order, like — he lives, like, five minutes away from the Mohegan Sun, so they order stuff. Yeah, I — I don’t eat chicken, but these guys do, and they’re like, okay, we’re gonna order some chicken feet, and they get, like, 500 chicken fingers.

Drew [00:30:55]: Okay, listen — let’s not let the person who doesn’t eat chicken exaggerate. It wasn’t 500. It was, like, 700. Okay, and what happened.

Mahanna [00:31:06]: Yes, and what happened was we’re thinking chicken wings. I said, yeah, sure, me — I eat chicken. But Steve and I thought that it was — got part of the meal, like, the, you know, meal combos or whatever. Oh, my God. Holy chicken.

Joe St. Pierre [00:31:24]: So if you invite me, what are you guys gonna eat? Because I’m gonna eat all of those.

Drew [00:31:28]: Well, listen, it’s fine. We’ll just order an extra pizza.

Jar Jar [00:31:31]: Yeah. We won’t have leftovers.

Drew [00:31:34]: Yeah, save Leo the problem. Hey, is anybody gonna bring home some chicken?

Mahanna [00:31:41]: For over 20 years, guys. Okay, the amount of chicken on that table — and not just from the chicken wings — but I’m like, okay, this is a banquet. This is a small pot. What is this?

Drew [00:31:56]: I just remember there was a little judgment because I’m, like, laying on the floor. I’m, like, in a chicken finger coma, and I’m still eating, and MJ’s looking at me, and she just, like, giggling, and she was just like, don’t look at me. I’m hideous.

Mahanna [00:32:12]: Are you good, man? You good? I went — quick, someone roll him on his side.

Joe St. Pierre [00:32:15]: You know, do you have, like, giant paint buckets full of dipping sauce and stuff, too?

Jar Jar [00:32:21]: Like, oh, dark sauce.

Mahanna [00:32:23]: We were like a bunch of trash pandas. It was —

Drew [00:32:27]: It was — it was literally — MJ was like, highlight — there’s, like, this is my team.

Mahanna [00:32:31]: Like, yeah, like, hey, guys.

Jar Jar [00:32:34]: Morons.

Drew [00:32:35]: But I love them all. You know, like true X-Men. When —

Leo [00:32:39]: You’re in the area, Joe, you know — open house. You’re always —

Drew [00:32:42]: Yeah, we’re — we’re subtly gonna start creating our own con at Leo’s. So it’ll be called Leo Con. You know, we’ll have you and a couple other people. You just chill and drink Coke Zero and eat food. That’d be great.

Joe St. Pierre [00:32:56]: Let’s do it.

Mahanna [00:32:56]: That sounds like a great time. Honestly, though, I’ll invite —

Jar Jar [00:32:59]: Invite John Wesley Shipp to come along.

Drew [00:33:03]: Okay, I’m sorry — if you do that, I swear to God, I actually — I might hug you and break you like a — like a glow stick. All right. But you know what? All jokes aside — Terrificon stories, Carrie’s right. Let’s jump back to talking about Joe’s creator stuff with — Zodiac. Thank you again.

The New Zodiacs — concept, scope, and current characters

This is the height of my career as a writer, artist, comic book artist — is right here with the new Zodiac stuff.

Joe St. Pierre, 00:34:03

Drew [00:33:25]: I’m sorry, Zodiacs. Thank you, Carrie. The world’s greatest fan, everybody.

Mahanna [00:33:30]: Truly.

Drew [00:33:31]: Truly. So thank you again for sending us the latest work. It was totally awesome.

Joe St. Pierre [00:33:37]: Oh — you know, it’s kind of last minute, so I’m glad you had a chance to read it.

Drew [00:33:39]: Well, MJ had her copy already.

Joe St. Pierre [00:33:40]: Yes, well — MJ had her copy already.

Drew [00:33:49]: Yes, well, luckily MJ.

Kari [00:33:53]: Some good —

Drew [00:33:56]: That was a great.

Joe St. Pierre [00:33:58]: Actually, some really good in there. This — this is —

Jar Jar [00:34:01]: I’m trying to pull up my questions now.

Joe St. Pierre [00:34:03]: You know, everybody knows who Spider-Man is. Everybody knows who Venom is. But this is the height of my career as a writer, artist — comic book artist — is right here with the new Zodiac stuff. I find that — I find that I — when I’m writing my own stories, I can control the visuals a little bit better. You know, want to —

Jar Jar [00:34:28]: Want to give a slight synopsis of the — because it’s a huge scope. You’ve got 12 different —

Joe St. Pierre [00:34:38]: Yeah, yeah. Ideally, it’s a shared universe of 12 characters who can channel the cosmic energies of the Zodiac. But I do have to kind of roll each character out. It’s kind of like the beginnings of the Marvel Universe, right? You’ve got to have — you know, Spider — you’ve got to introduce Spider-Man before the Fantastic Four show up, that kind of thing. So right, so we’ve got Aquarius, and we’ve got Pisces, and right now we’re looking at Pisces. And Pisces kind of satisfies my interest in horror.

Cricket Monroe: Pisces, psychic, horror/sci-fi, what it costs her

Joe St. Pierre [00:35:15]: Horror mashed up with some sci-fi ghosts and paranormal and the kind of metaphysical — where do we go after we pass on? And so she takes care of all those kind of story ideas that I like to work with. And so Cricket is the character who channeled the cosmic energies of the Pisces, and she’s a high-level psychic who can communicate with the dead trapped on Earth. So she kind of works with them and delivers them to whatever is — whatever is beyond. So the overall arc for her is that these abilities kind of take a toll on her, you know — physically, mentally, psychologically. And we’ll explore some of that with future stories.

Drew [00:36:13]: All right.

Jar Jar [00:36:14]: I love how she has her own — with the live-in ghost of her own. I don’t want to spoil too much, but like — yes, it’s like, damn, girl’s got problems.

Drew [00:36:29]: And — and on top of it, I just love the way like — like the way you have the pages set up. You know, it’s just so — like you do so much. Like again, you’re not conforming to this — the standard, like, you know, six-grid, eight-grid. You know, you’re very — you’re playing around with it, and it definitely does —

Joe St. Pierre [00:36:49]: If you could back up one just — just to address what you’re talking about, if you want to finish your thought but stay on this page.

Drew [00:36:57]: Yeah, yeah. So I just — point is just the way that it’s paced, you know, following and whatnot. You’re just doing so much with the page, man. And just the way the colors and the movements — it definitely has like — just this book alone has that horror ambiance very nicely, but it’s also got that nice sci-fi pop to it, and it’s just wonderful.

Joe St. Pierre [00:37:22]: Thank you. There’s on the left side — I’m just sharing today. I didn’t really plan on talking about it in this much depth. But I had a couple people asked me about this page on the left. And you know, this kind of gives away a little bit of the story. But this is a comic book experiment, which is kind of me experimenting with the breakdown of a spirit — of a personality’s ego into the universal essence of what we all are, and then the delivery of that — of that divine essence. And so this is me going — you know, how do I imagine a person’s self breaking down? You know, just — just everything that we know in this physical world and everything we’ve experienced just kind of starts to disappear and separate until you’re left with whatever it — whatever there is.

Drew [00:38:36]: Right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:38:37]: So that — you can’t do that in Venom vs. Spider-Man comics, you know what I mean?

Drew [00:38:43]: Right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:38:44]: So there’s a lot of things that I loved about working at Marvel and DC and Boom and IDW and all that. A lot of fan service for me was satisfied. But there’s so much more that I like to share about comics, about the art form, that I can do better when I’m creating the characters and doing the stories.

Jar Jar [00:39:07]: Totally.

Drew [00:39:09]: Now —

Jar Jar [00:39:11]: Who wants to go first?

Drew [00:39:14]: Nicely segued, Jack.

Jar Jar [00:39:16]: All right. I just — I was like — have you always been into astrology and stuff like that? Is this something that you had to research a lot about? Or — I mean, yeah, you’re going into deep stuff with each of these characters. I’m still waiting for a Lion story.

Sagittarius, the Lion, and the 25 series Joe has ready when funding arrives

With an unlimited budget, I’ve probably got about 25 series that are ready to go to launch.

Joe St. Pierre, 00:40:03

Joe St. Pierre [00:39:35]: But yeah, yeah — he’s coming. He’s coming. We’ve got Sagittarius on deck, and then the Lion is next.

Drew [00:39:43]: Yes.

Joe St. Pierre [00:39:45]: So we’re gonna get a 48- or a 25-to-30-page story of the Lion. That’s after Sagittarius, though. Short answer — there is no short answer to that question. Sorry.

Jar Jar [00:40:00]: Hit it up. No, I like long answers.

Joe St. Pierre [00:40:03]: Ever since I was 10 years old, I decided I wanted to start my own comic book company. And so I’ve got notebooks full of characters that I’ve created ever since then. And a lot of those early sketches are like, you know, just traditional zodiac characters. Oh, here’s the lion guy. And here’s the, you know, the fish guy. And so I — I’ve always been interested in it, and it’s probably been an ongoing research project, you know, as through my life. I’ve read up on stuff like that. And so it’s like, just like an ongoing thing. And it’s also like a loose way for me to connect a lot of the characters that I’ve got. You know, with an unlimited budget, I’ve probably got about 25 series that are ready to go to launch.

Jar Jar [00:41:01]: Hell, yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:41:02]: And so some of them are a little stronger and a little more developed than others. And so I thought this would be a good way, with my creative ADD, to just touch on some of the ones that are a little bit more developed and then connect them to a shared universe. And what if we could plug those characters into something that people recognize, like the zodiac signs and stuff like that? So it’s like, it’s always been an ongoing thing since I was a kid. But it’s never been as realized, or as — I think — original as it has been now. So I’m also kind of playing with the idea of reinventing the symbols for a modern era. So, you know, the original zodiac that most of the northern hemisphere is familiar with comes from old — centuries, millennia-old mythology, right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:42:09]: So people would go outside their huts, they’d see a ram, they’d see a bull, they’d see a person carrying water, they’d see fish, they’d see an archer. And so when they looked up into the sky and they made pictures out of stars, they were like, oh, that looks like a ram. That looks like a bull. It’s the stuff they had personally experienced in their lives. When we go outside, we don’t see rams and bulls so much. At least I don’t. I see a lot of dogs, like.

Building a zodiac shared universe — Celtic zodiacs, Egyptian zodiacs, reinventing the signs

Joe St. Pierre [00:42:42]: But I’m just trying to reinvent the signs to what reflects the modern era. So — okay, so we’re talking about Cricket today. So I’m touching on the idea that the Pisces symbol is the end of the cycle, the zodiac cycle. And technically, in my research, it’s supposed to be the most spiritual of the signs — the most spiritually centered of the signs. So I just kind of ran with that. What if all the water signs had some kind of paranormal aspect to them? And just kind of ran with that.

Joe St. Pierre [00:43:19]: Oh, I have a character that could kind of plug into this idea — that’s kind of how I’ve been running it.

Leo [00:43:27]: Oh, that’s really cool, because yeah — I’m, like, big into the paranormal and stuff like that. And they say, like, running water actually — you know, is supposed to, like — you know, not really give them power or something like that. But haunted places that are, like, near water are, like, more active.

Joe St. Pierre [00:43:49]: Yeah, the water is the —

Mahanna [00:43:51]: It’s also a conduit. It’s like a conduit.

Joe St. Pierre [00:43:54]: Yeah, but the mythological symbol for the unconscious. So you can — you can kind of run with that too. But at the same time, if you don’t know any of this kind of stuff and you just like to read a cool ghost story — hopefully you can do that. But I do mention water. There are certain conditions in the Cricket universe which help ectoplasm to manifest. So there are certain conditions, and we discuss those in the stories where I can, you know, that kind of thing.

Mahanna [00:44:27]: So it’s kind of like Supernatural and Ghost Whisperer.

Joe St. Pierre [00:44:33]: Yeah. I’ve never seen Ghost Whisperer. Some people have.

Jar Jar [00:44:38]: It was a cool show.

Joe St. Pierre [00:44:40]: Some people have mentioned Ghost Whisperer, and I — I have — I haven’t seen the show, so I can’t speak to it. I always — my pitch is always like, it’s — she’s like a serious Ghostbuster, or a Ghostbuster that meets Indiana Jones. There’s some adventure with spirit, and then — and ideally, we’ll start to talk about what happens, you know —

Kari [00:45:09]: I’m excited for —

Jar Jar [00:45:10]: Oh, go ahead, Carrie.

Joe St. Pierre [00:45:11]: I’m sorry, you’re excited for what?

Kari [00:45:14]: I’m excited to see what Scorpio is going to be as a water sign and my sign. Because everybody’s always like, Scorpio — like, I — I had friends that I had — a friend that was also Scorpio. And apparently we’re all assholes and cool.

Joe St. Pierre [00:45:27]: I gotta take notes here.

Kari [00:45:31]: We — like, there was a place where we’d go bar hopping together. And like, there was one place and they would just be like, oh, the Scorpios are here. Like, when we come in, they just — it was something they knew about us.

Joe St. Pierre [00:45:43]: Good to know.

Kari [00:45:44]: Yeah, but we’re — we’re sex addicted, apparently. But that’s like always the Scorpio thing. It’s like you guys are evil and you — a lot. But that — and so that’s all I know about it.

Mahanna [00:45:56]: What?

Drew [00:45:58]: Carrie, Carrie, listen. I don’t want to hear it, because I’m a Libra. So all I’ve ever heard is I’m indecisive as hell and I balance out. And I was like, okay, I agree with one of those. I agree with — so who — who knows?

Kari [00:46:22]: So — does this mean that when you were saying you have a lot more ideas ready — so, I mean, we want to stay in here, but I wanted to hijack it for just a second. Does this mean that we’re going to be seeing more titles coming out from Astronaut Ink? You already have Bold Blood and Megahertz and the new Zodiacs coming out there.

Joe St. Pierre [00:46:41]: New Zodiacs for a while. But you know, you know, with proper funding and, you know, a mystery check that slipped under my door — that covers everything. Easily blow into something. Yeah. But right now, new Zodiacs. So I gotta do other stuff. I gotta do freelance. I do lots of commissions lately. Thank God. Knock on wood. So when things start to — if things ever start to explode, I’m prepared. But for now, it’s just me and my two hands and my slow brain.

Jar Jar [00:47:24]: You hit up Whatnot a lot, right? Or you —

Joe St. Pierre [00:47:26]: What?

Jar Jar [00:47:27]: Whatnot. A lot, right? Or you —

Drew [00:47:28]: I am.

Joe St. Pierre [00:47:29]: I’m on Whatnot every Thursday at noon.

Drew [00:47:31]: Every Thursday?

Joe St. Pierre [00:47:32]: Yes. And lately I’ve been on Wednesdays and Thursdays just to kind of expand a little bit. Thinking about trying evening shows, but I’m still playing with that. I like to spend time with my wife when she comes home, so —

Drew [00:47:50]: Yeah. Indeed. I was gonna say congratulations. I know it’s been a while since we’ve had you on.

Joe St. Pierre [00:47:56]: Thank you.

Drew [00:47:56]: That post — I was like, you go, Joe, get engaged — and loving stuff.

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:01]: Yeah, loving stuff.

Drew [00:48:07]: You go, man. Congratulations. Yeah. Again, a little late, but still — hey, good for you.

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:11]: Yeah, it’s a little later.

Jar Jar [00:48:14]: Were any of the signs easier to develop characters around or even harder?

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:19]: There’s still some I don’t know what I’m gonna do with. But —

Drew [00:48:22]: Oh, really? Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:24]: Yeah.

Jar Jar [00:48:24]: I thought you might have had all the story already ready in your head, just waiting for us to give you money.

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:31]: No.

Mahanna [00:48:31]: Yeah. I’m like, please, take my money.

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:33]: I would love to do that. But there are — you know, in the research, there are many different zodiacs. Of course, there’s a Chinese zodiac and stuff like that. There’s also a Celtic zodiac that I’m really jonesing about. And so one of the signs of the Celtic zodiac is a tree. So — love that idea. Love that idea. Oh, yeah, I love that idea.

Joe St. Pierre [00:48:57]: And so I may just mix it up a little bit.

Drew [00:49:02]: Well, I mean, I think that’s the best part about your own project — is you make up the rules.

Joe St. Pierre [00:49:08]: Yeah.

Drew [00:49:08]: So, you know — zodiac, you don’t just have to stick to one. You could dabble, and if anything, kind of create your own interpretation of zodiac. So that’s the best part — is you don’t have somebody with a Bible say, actually, no, it’s 13 lines on the suit. Not — not 14. Joe, I don’t want to see 12. You know, it’s — this is whatever the zodiac means. If you’re gonna go Celtic, go Celtic. Hell, create an Egyptian zodiac. We don’t care. Go nuts.

Joe St. Pierre [00:49:39]: Exactly. Exactly. And — and I screw up on my own characters. Like, I was talking to one of — one of the people in my stream on Whatnot, and they were like, Cricket’s last name is Monroe. Right. And I’m like, no, it’s Farley. And — and then I realized, no, Cricket’s last name is Monroe and her husband’s last name is Farley. So for some reason, my brain switched that. She may have taken her husband’s name, but she didn’t do that. And so I — I own the story, so —

Mahanna [00:50:16]: She didn’t do that.

Joe St. Pierre [00:50:17]: There will be plenty of books, Bob. Banners in — in my stories, I’m sure.

Jar Jar [00:50:25]: So my question that I normally ask creators — especially writers — like, how — how do you keep that all straight? Do you have a murder room? Do you have a room where it’s all red string from this character to this character to this event?

Joe St. Pierre [00:50:42]: I have a murder folder. It’s got, like — each character has the kind of like mood board, the inspirational photos, and story notes, and stuff like that.

Jar Jar [00:50:54]: All right, that’s very cool.

Joe St. Pierre [00:50:55]: A folder for each one. I also have an idea sketchbook, which — a lot of times I’ll just wake up in the middle of the night and, you know, I’ll have an idea or I’ll have solved a problem — a story problem that I had before I went to bed — and I’ll just jot that down. Most recently, I’m working on Sagittarius. Now I’ve got 16 pages left to do. I woke up — yeah, that’s Moltaz [CHECK spelling], the Sagittarius. She’s a woman who sacrifices herself to save her society, her city-state, by becoming a giant lava monster.

Joe St. Pierre [00:51:40]: So — so I woke up about a month ago with 10 pages of layouts in my head. So I just — just grabbed my sketchbook and, you know, stick figures. But the story was broken down. That’s my favorite part, too. I hate penciling. I hate inking. I certainly hate coloring. People say I’m a good colorist. I don’t like — you know, working on the same page over and over again. It’s like — once the page is broken down, storytelling-wise, you know — this is a vertical, and this is this, and this relates to this panel this way — once that part is done, I’m ready to move on. So I —

Joe St. Pierre [00:52:26]: I would love to hire pencilers and inkers to, like, follow my layouts and stuff like that. That would be great. And I get more done that way, too.

Jar Jar [00:52:36]: That’s interesting that you would actually let — let somebody else come in and — and play with your toys.

Joe St. Pierre [00:52:43]: I would love to. I’ve always been the guy who’s like, I want to be the band. I want to be Sting with Stuart Copeland and Andy Summers. And they all come together and they — great — and they become this great band. I want the letterer to contribute to the story just as much as the colorist or whatever. And, you know, maybe the writer is a singer and the penciler is a guitarist.

Drew [00:53:09]: Right?

Joe St. Pierre [00:53:10]: I don’t know. But I always wanted to be the band, but I ended up — I ended up being Sting. Like, I’m the guy —

Drew [00:53:18]: There’s nothing wrong with that.

Joe St. Pierre [00:53:19]: Kind of does everything, you know?

Drew [00:53:22]: So listen, it’s okay. Remember, Sting had his moments. I mean, you — you could be — “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” You could do “Fields of Gold.” It doesn’t matter. It’s still Sting. You know, so just — just, you know, and then you could always be Sting. Just explain to people — please stop singing this song at your weddings. It’s not a good song. For the love of God, stop singing. It’s not romantic.

Joe St. Pierre [00:53:48]: It’s about the IRS.

Drew [00:53:50]: Yeah, exactly. But — but I — I think, again, like, the way you’re talking about it is — it’s such a great way to look at creative teams, because I feel like, again, so many fans, they only care about, like, oh, the writer and the artist. And I’m like, no, but everybody contributes. Like — and I think that’s the theater kid in me. It’s like everybody plays a part. It’s not just the actors and the director. It’s also the techies, the stage crew, the people who did the set. Like, everybody plays a part to make this thing that you enjoy. And with all due respect, they deserve your autograph on the book just as much as the other guys.

Joe St. Pierre [00:54:29]: Yep. Totally agree with that.

How lettering is design, not decoration

Letterers are the bass players. They keep the rhythm going, and they have their little solos here and there, but they aren’t splashy, you know?

Kari Sanders, 00:54:31

Kari [00:54:31]: You know, letterers are the bass players.

Joe St. Pierre [00:54:35]: Letterers are the bass players.

Kari [00:54:37]: Yes. They keep it — they keep the rhythm going, and they have their little solos here and there, but they aren’t splashy, you know?

Joe St. Pierre [00:54:44]: Yeah. And — and comics at their best, you know, they design for the lettering. You have lettering — lettering is part of the picture. And when you see — I can go to a list of Marvel or DC Comics where the lettering is a secondary thought. You know, it’s like the artist went and did their thing and the colorist went and did their thing, and then, oh, yeah, we have to have some lettering on here. And, you know, I — there’s a lot of stuff out there where I think you need to respect the design for lettering, for balloons.

Drew [00:55:24]: Absolutely.

Thought balloons vs. caption boxes in Spider-Man comics

The thought balloon is — you’re there, you’re present with him, and he’s experiencing the adventure and thinking about it, and you’re the reader. You’re in his brain.

Joe St. Pierre, 00:55:32

Joe St. Pierre [00:55:25]: Talking about Spider-Man — one thing I can’t stand with Spider-Man is that they don’t have thought balloons anymore.

Drew [00:55:32]: Right.

Joe St. Pierre [00:55:32]: And so you read a Spider-Man comic, and he’s — Dark Knight caption box. Right. And it was like, you know — the difference between the Dark Knight caption box and the thought balloon is tremendous. Is tremendous, actually. The thought balloon is — you’re there, you’re present with him, and he’s experiencing the adventure and thinking about it, and you’re the reader. You’re in his brain. Whereas with the caption box, it’s some kind of — this — they’re separate. It’s separate.

Mahanna [00:56:08]: It feels almost like a narration, like they’re narrating rather than talking about it.

Joe St. Pierre [00:56:13]: Exactly, exactly.

Drew [00:56:15]: Yeah.

Leo [00:56:15]: And that pushes away from — I mean, Spider-Man’s supposed to be quippy, you know. Not — not all internally. He’s supposed to be making stuff like that.

Joe St. Pierre [00:56:24]: Yep. So something as simple — a simple design shape as a thought balloon versus a rectangle — a hard, rigid rectangle — that — I don’t know what to say. I’m probably the only guy who has that reaction. But I’m reading Spider-Man comics and I’m like, what is this? What is this caption box? It’s like, we should be with this guy. We should be essentially riding on his back.

Drew [00:56:53]: And it also depends on the style — because, like, we’ve interviewed people who are very text-box heavy, internal narration. Then we’ve even interviewed people who are like, no — like, they think that’s like shoddy writing — relying on text so much versus just using internal — like, using dialogue to explain things, to move things along instead of just — like, just stuffing the panel with so much that you feel like — like, how can this person move in this space? There’s so much clutter. So, you know, and then, of course, you got, like, someone like Deadpool who talks to his boxes. So everybody, you know — everywhere — yeah, you just have the — all right, we’re gonna embrace this. This is pretty absurd. And we’re just gonna make it part of our thing.

Drew [00:57:36]: And then you have your Alan Moore’s, who have all of it — the thoughts in the boxes and the things and stuff. And then, like, at the beginning of each comic, there are 34 pages of text that didn’t actually make it into the comic but explain what’s going on in the comic. I absolutely appreciate that, though. I, I, yeah, it almost feels like —

Kari [00:57:59]: Caring that at any point Alan Moore is going to spring a quiz on you. And by God, if you didn’t do your reading, he’s gonna eat you.

Jar Jar [00:58:09]: Cast a spell on you.

Joe St. Pierre [00:58:11]: Yeah, there’s room for everybody. There’s room for everybody. And, you know, certain devices work better in certain stories.

Drew [00:58:24]: Joe — I mean, if you’ve been doing cons for a long time, you’ve been an artist for a long time, like — what is the feeling when people present you, like, with, like a big collage and they’ve got all these autographs and they want to add you on? Does that make you just feel like the coolest thing? Like you’re part of one of your favorite characters’ history and, you know, being kind of recognized.

Joe St. Pierre [00:58:51]: My name is on there. Yeah.

Jar Jar [00:58:53]: This is the one from Terrificon. Your name is right here.

Drew [00:58:59]: Right there. Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [00:59:00]: Oh, cool. And huge, too.

Mahanna [00:59:02]: Wow.

Drew [00:59:02]: Yeah. Yeah. There’s no way someone can’t read that. And yet illiteracy runs rampant, children.

Joe St. Pierre [00:59:10]: So that’s — but I would like to have had a copy of that. That’s so cool looking.

Drew [00:59:14]: Yeah.

Jar Jar [00:59:14]: An extra one if you want it.

Joe St. Pierre [00:59:15]: Yeah.

Drew [00:59:16]: Well, yeah, but — like, what does that —

Joe St. Pierre [00:59:19]: I miss Mitch. I miss Mitch — to your running.

Drew [00:59:23]: We’ll tell him you said that. But, yeah, like, that never gets old, right, Joe?

Joe St. Pierre [00:59:34]: I don’t know. I just like to sit at my table and draw and write.

Drew [00:59:38]: That’s true. And then people occasionally give you food and gifts and stuff. You’re pretty chill about that.

Joe St. Pierre [00:59:43]: Yeah, people give me stuff, and — I don’t know. I’m rewarded when I can get some work done. And so the rest of it is just kind of me navigating, you know, the comics world. So is it cool to meet MJ at Northeast Comic Con and chat and have her talk about how her kid read my book and loved it?

Mahanna [01:00:10]: Granddaughter.

Joe St. Pierre [01:00:11]: Who wouldn’t love that? Granddaughter. I’m sorry. Yeah, it’s — it’s awesome. It’s actually quite great. And the same show, a librarian and a school —

Drew [01:00:23]: Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [01:00:25]: Were you there for that?

Mahanna [01:00:26]: Yes, that was —

Joe St. Pierre [01:00:28]: Oh, and he said one of the Cousteau books that was in the library — the first one that came out — the kids took it out every single week for a year.

Drew [01:00:37]: Holy crap. I’m amazed.

Joe St. Pierre [01:00:39]: I’m like, wow, that’s — you know, that — that’s kind of rewarding. Well, and it would also be fine if people were like, you know, you should — you should stop doing this. You know, you’re not very good at it.

Drew [01:01:00]: Well, you know, if someone said that to you — I was like, I’m sorry. Where’s your Spider-Man book?

Mahanna [01:01:05]: Yeah. Literally — meet right there. Be right there. What did you do today?

Drew [01:01:08]: Well — yeah. Where’s your Spider-Man book? I — I don’t recall seeing you on Spider-Man 2099.

Mahanna [01:01:11]: Me too.

Drew [01:01:12]: Yeah. Where’s your Venom? Where’s your black —

Mahanna [01:01:19]: What do you — your life, you know. That’ll be me. I’m ridiculous.

Drew [01:01:24]: I will say one of — I — I just remembered this. And Carrie, I think you were there for this. Was — I think we were — it was like a year or two ago, and you were sitting close to Philip Kennedy Johnson. This is the year Carrie got to meet him.

Drew [01:01:41]: And —

Kari [01:01:41]: Oh, wonderful.

Drew [01:01:42]: I think it was after we, like, did an interview, and Carrie did her interview with him and whatnot, and we finished up, and I just remember, like, overhearing Philip, like, walking over, shaking your hand. He was like, oh, my God, my kid’s been dying to meet you, like, the whole weekend. He’s such a huge Spider-Man fan. And you were just like, oh, wow. Cool.

Kari [01:02:00]: Cool.

Drew [01:02:01]: Like, this is very Keanu Reeves about praise. You’re like, oh, cool. Nice. All right. Excellent. Like, it was just — it was the coolest thing, because I’m thinking, like, this is, you know, the guy who’s killing it on Incredible Hulk, and his kid is just like, dad, I don’t care. I’m doing this to — that’s Spider-Man. I love Spider —

Joe St. Pierre [01:02:22]: Like, yeah.

Drew [01:02:23]: You know, so cool, dad. Yeah. Yeah, that was —

Joe St. Pierre [01:02:28]: Who doesn’t love Spider-Man? You know?

Drew [01:02:29]: Know that, right?

Joe St. Pierre [01:02:30]: Like, I met one or two, but, you know — he’s a great character.

Drew [01:02:37]: 100. But one or two — like, what? What? They — they were like, I’m not a fan of your Spider-Man. Okay, thanks.

Joe St. Pierre [01:02:44]: Not a fan of — of my Spider-Man, but —

Drew [01:02:47]: Oh, your character.

Joe St. Pierre [01:02:48]: The character in general.

Drew [01:02:50]: What, did they, like, type you up?

Joe St. Pierre [01:02:52]: There aren’t many people who don’t like the character Spider-Man. That’s what I’m saying.

Drew [01:02:57]: Okay. You know the funny thing — I haven’t met them.

Joe St. Pierre [01:03:02]: Let’s put it that way.

Drew [01:03:03]: Right? I just — Joe, I applaud you for that, because I don’t know if I was in your shoes, how it handles someone just feeling like — like they need to share this. Like, yeah, that’s — so you’re not — you’re not a fan of my work? Why are you telling me?

Joe St. Pierre [01:03:22]: People are very polite. I wouldn’t say anyone’s ever said anything like that. I probably miscommunicated. I was talking about just the character Spider-Man.

Drew [01:03:29]: Oh, okay. Sorry.

Joe St. Pierre [01:03:31]: So, you know.

Mahanna [01:03:32]: No, you know, that would be wild, though.

Joe St. Pierre [01:03:35]: What if somebody just walked up and —

Jar Jar [01:03:39]: was like, Joe, your work sucks.

Mahanna [01:03:42]: So it’s wild.

Joe St. Pierre [01:03:43]: The only people who have said that were teachers and editors, so.

Drew [01:03:49]: Oh, well, the heck with them. Where are they?

Kari [01:03:52]: Now that ever happened, you just call out for us — the entire Splash Pages — literally. We get your back and beat the hell out of them for you.

Rejection letters at age 10 and why Joe has never considered stopping

I’m doomed to be a comic book creator. Whether the industry accepts that or not, I’m going to do this right.

Joe St. Pierre, 01:04:53

Joe St. Pierre [01:04:03]: It’s — everybody’s entitled to their opinion, and then I have mine, which is the only one that counts. So yeah — so I could show you my — my first rejection letter I got when I was 10 years old.

Drew [01:04:15]: Oh, my God, you saved it.

Joe St. Pierre [01:04:17]: Yes. It’s not framed, but it’s the only one I kept. But I got tons of rejection letters from Marvel and DC and, you know, coming up — you know, just — it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was 10 years old. And I’ve been drawing my own comics around that time, too. I have a book that I’m trying to sell — my — I showed it to MJ — a comic that I did when I was 6 years old. So it’s like, you know, I’m —

Joe St. Pierre [01:04:53]: I’m doomed to be a comic book creator. Whether the industry accepts that or not, I’m going to do this right. So that’s why we have this, because I think it’s better — I think it’s better than 99% of the comics that are on the rack now. And the reason why I think it’s better is because when I — because I get hot and bothered when I draw this. I’m like, this is awesome. This is what I always wanted to read. This is what I always wanted to look at.

Joe St. Pierre [01:05:26]: And 99% of the time, when I get like that, people respond to the work. So then the part of the job becomes — I need to get the work in front of as many people as possible. And that’s the part I’m horrible at. I just — I’m not a great salesperson. I need to work on that part of my career.

Mahanna [01:05:47]: I mean, every time we cross paths, I’ve always bought something from you.

Joe St. Pierre [01:05:51]: So — so I did good with you, MJ. That’s good.

Drew [01:05:57]: Well, is that the old saying — if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life? Something like that. Right.

Leo [01:06:03]: I just said that today to somebody.

Drew [01:06:06]: All right, cool, then. Well, I said it better.

Leo [01:06:10]: Well, I — I mean — that really — you know, looking at the quality of your work, Joe, your passion really bleeds through.

Mahanna [01:06:18]: Yes.

Leo [01:06:18]: You know, I — I think that — not — not — sorry, my brain is mush right now.

Drew [01:06:26]: You’re doing great, buddy.

Leo [01:06:29]: But that — you know, I — I think that really contributes to the quality of your work, you know? Yes, your love of comics, you know, even at a young age. But, you know, even you talking about, you know, reading Spider-Man now — you know — a lot of people don’t have that. You know, it’s just — I gotta draw this page for this paycheck. But you’re — you’re doing it for the love of it.

The variant cover market and the card-collector crossover

There’s a whole pie slice in the industry right now that doesn’t even look inside. They’re just buying covers.

Joe St. Pierre, 01:06:52

Joe St. Pierre [01:06:52]: There’s a whole slice — there’s a whole pie slice in the industry right now that doesn’t even look inside. They’re just buying covers.

Jar Jar [01:07:05]: Yeah, yeah.

Leo [01:07:06]: It’s like the 90s all over again.

Joe St. Pierre [01:07:08]: My brain wants to explode. It’s like, holy — you know, you’re not even looking at — this could be blank inside. But I’ve only recently discovered that these fans are coming from, like, the card collecting field, the hobby, right. So if you’re looking at a card and it’s just a single image — and this to them essentially is a card, but it’s like an oversized card. And I’m trying to convince these people that hey, there’s — there’s a whole story behind this card, and it’s awesome, you know, that kind of thing. And you might want to — you might want to try looking inside and reading something, and I think you’ll have a good time with it. So that’s a whole thing, you know.

Joe St. Pierre [01:08:00]: And the variants — you know, the idea of buying three to 50 comic books that are all the same on the inside but just have different covers — that’s completely foreign to me. But I have to recognize that, you know, these people exist, and there are certain things that I have to accommodate as a business — as that business side of me. Right. So I have — MJ’s got the B-cover of the new Zodiacs Pisces. There’s only 250 of those. So certain collectors that like the rare stuff —

Joe St. Pierre [01:08:36]: This is the — the comic shop edition. That’s the main cover. And then we’ve got the one that MJ has — only 250 of those — with the black cover and the Pisces symbol with the purple Cricket’s hair color — purple symbol on the cover. Only 250 of those. And then here’s a cool badass foil —

Mahanna [01:08:56]: — variant that’s going to be the next section to get. Because I like that — I don’t do a lot of variant covers, but I like the foil. I like the effect of them.

Joe St. Pierre [01:09:05]: Yeah —

Mahanna [01:09:08]: That had the foil on there.

Jar Jar [01:09:10]: It looks very — some of us miss the 90s.

Mahanna [01:09:13]: I — me — I’m some of us.

Leo [01:09:17]: One thing that’s different than the 90s though — and I — I think this is where it kind of helps the industry — is you do get the people that, you know, buy every single version of it and get it CGC-rated and put it on their wall. Well, not me, but I mean, like, I do buy variants, but I buy variants for the most part of specific artists, you know. Yeah, you know, I’m collecting the book to read it, you know — like Absolute Batman. But you know, my LCS knows whenever an artist that I care about has a cover, they throw it in my box, you know. You know, I think — you know, in the 90s it was all about, okay, emboss covers and foil covers and everything. And now we’re getting variants of, you know, Joe St. Pierre variant of a cover, you know.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:10]: Yeah, I’d be glad to do some of those.

Drew [01:10:13]: Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:13]: Are you guys digging the Absolute stuff?

Jar Jar [01:10:19]: What I’ve heard of — it’s definitely good.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:22]: Yeah.

Mahanna [01:10:22]: I’m taking it in. Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:23]: I just —

Jar Jar [01:10:24]: I think it’s gonna last for a while.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:26]: Oh, you think?

Mahanna [01:10:27]: I hope so.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:28]: Weird that there are so many alternate universe versions of these characters, and then this one pops.

Jar Jar [01:10:34]: It’s so right.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:35]: It’s so wild.

Drew [01:10:37]: I think sometimes — what were —

Leo [01:10:39]: What were you gonna say, Joe? I thought —

Comics as art form vs. storyboards for movies — the Absolute Martian Manhunter argument

This isn’t quirky. This is comic books right here. This is how you do comics.

Joe St. Pierre, 01:11:24

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:42]: Oh, I was just reading Absolute Martian Manhunter.

Drew [01:10:46]: Great book.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:48]: Hold on a second.

Drew [01:10:49]: The artwork is just so good.

Joe St. Pierre [01:10:55]: The — I read a — I read a —

Jar Jar [01:10:58]: Are you at a standing desk?

Joe St. Pierre [01:11:00]: Yeah. I read a review of it, and they called it “quirky” or something like that. And I was like, this isn’t quirky. This is comic books. This is, you know, using the comic book language — the visual language — to — you know, people’s thoughts are in the midst of —

Drew [01:11:24]: Right.

Joe St. Pierre [01:11:24]: Coming out of their heads and stuff like that. You can read their thoughts. I’m like, this isn’t quirky. This is comic books right here. This is — this is how you do comics. So I love this. I love this stuff.

Joe St. Pierre [01:11:37]: I think it’s great. And then there’s one — there’s one page where you see a portrait of John Jones — the human — and you hold the page up to the light, and you can see — I can’t find the page off the top of my head — but you can see if you hold the page up to the light, you can see the image on the other side is kind of shining through, and it forms a whole other image. It’s pretty freaking crazy imaginative. And I — I love the — I love the respect for the comic form. You know, most stories you read nowadays are kind of like storyboards for movies. It’s been like that for 25 years now. But, you know, this book here kind of embraces what you can do with comic books. That’s what makes comics better than movies. I just — I think it’s great.

Joe St. Pierre [01:12:31]: And I read Absolute Batman and I thought it was hilarious. It reminded me of the 60s Batman TV show. Yeah, it’s so over-the-top violent. It’s like the — it’s like the modern equivalent of the 60s Batman show. So — all right, I can go there.

Jar Jar [01:12:50]: Have you tried Absolute Wonder Woman?

Joe St. Pierre [01:12:53]: I did. I thought that was good too. And then that was amazing. I always thought that — then my brain goes, what if you called — what if you called — instead of calling it Absolute Wonder Woman, what if you called it a completely different character’s name? I think that would have been cool, too. But then I think of, you know, the cachet that the Wonder Woman franchise carries with it, or that Batman carries with it. You know, so people want to — they’re interested in Batman, so you instantly have a sale.

Leo [01:13:30]: I think the Wonder Woman really stood out, like, in the beginning, you know. And I don’t know if you could do this with another character, because you wouldn’t have the history. But like, Wonder Woman being raised in hell, you know, and still having that love — you know, like all these creatures trying to kill her and then she’s, like, hugging —

Drew [01:13:51]: Well, but — but the thing being is, again, in the end, the Absolute Universe is just — how do we keep to the core of the character? But we strip them of — of essentially things that are essentially optional in their character. So Diana’s capacity was always for humanity. So, you know, that love would extend to all the weird little creatures. Even in hell, people get love.

Leo [01:14:23]: Odd enough as to say — we still got Booster Gold floating around there somewhere.

Drew [01:14:25]: It’s true.

Joe St. Pierre [01:14:26]: He’s — wait, he’s — is he in hell? Where is Booster?

Drew [01:14:29]: I have no idea anymore.

Leo [01:14:31]: He’s in the Absolute.

Drew [01:14:32]: No, no — Leo, don’t spoil it.

Leo [01:14:34]: Oh, it’s not a spoiler. That’s how it started.

Drew [01:14:36]: Don’t spoil it.

Leo [01:14:38]: Don’t spoil.

Drew [01:14:39]: Let people read. I know it’s been two years, but still, spoilers. You gotta wait at least four years, and then — all right, guys, it’s been four years. If you haven’t read it, like, just —

Leo [01:14:49]: Yeah, yeah, Joe — at the birth of the Absolute Universe —

Drew [01:14:54]: Oh, my God, Leo, stop.

Joe St. Pierre [01:14:56]: If — if you’re concerned about spoiling it for me, don’t be concerned about that. I don’t care. I’m not that guy.

Leo [01:15:05]: It’s not even a spoiler or anything, but it’s —

Jar Jar [01:15:07]: I’ll still watch the movie.

Leo [01:15:09]: When the universe was created — the current plane of existence within DC, the current continuity — they found the universe and they sent Booster to go see what it was all about. And then he got, like, locked in there. So he’s floating around somewhere.

Joe St. Pierre [01:15:32]: Okay, okay. So he’s the device that — when they decide to cancel the line, he’ll show up again.

Drew [01:15:40]: Be like, what a crazy ride.

Mahanna [01:15:43]: I just want to make a note — I really, like, really enjoyed — on Aquarius, for the new Zodiacs —

Joe St. Pierre [01:15:48]: Yes, thank you.

Mahanna [01:15:49]: I really, really enjoyed — when you know who he is and all that — I love how clever you put your name, “created by,” in the binary code.

Joe St. Pierre [01:16:01]: Oh, show that. Yeah, that’s clever. Show the class.

Mahanna [01:16:05]: Very clever.

Joe St. Pierre [01:16:06]: Oh, thank you very much.

Mahanna [01:16:08]: That was very clever. I caught that in the back. I’m like, wait, those are words. This is “created by Joe St. Pierre” and all that. It’s really cool.

Joe St. Pierre [01:16:16]: Thank you.

Mahanna [01:16:17]: I did. Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [01:16:18]: That’s great. Good job.

Leo [01:16:20]: Oh, I thought you meant actually written in binary. I’m like, you can read binary?

Jar Jar [01:16:26]: It’s only 1-100-101-1010. That’s just —

Leo [01:16:32]: No, you got that backwards, Jar Jar.

Jar Jar [01:16:34]: Oh.

Mahanna [01:16:36]: But yeah — I love — I love the fact that I just want to say that I loved — that was very clever. I really enjoyed that. I’m like, oh, I’m looking — I’m just checking the character out as one does. I’m like, wait, those are words.

Joe St. Pierre [01:16:48]: That’s right. Things you can do with comics.

Mahanna [01:16:51]: Really cool. I have the name.

Drew [01:16:52]: That was really clever. Very.

Joe St. Pierre [01:16:55]: Thank you for noticing that. That’s very cool. Very nice.

Whatnot streams, upcoming cons (Little Giants, April 11, Concord NH), and commissions

Leo [01:16:58]: Well, we should start wrapping things up. But before we do, Joe — any — like, what cons do you have coming up next?

Joe St. Pierre [01:17:08]: What do we got coming up next? Oh, there’s the Little Giants old school comic show, I think. Are you going to that one?

Drew [01:17:19]: I want to go.

Jar Jar [01:17:20]: He does throw a great one-day show for any comic collector. Little Giants — it’s only about comic books.

Joe St. Pierre [01:17:29]: Yeah, very comics and comic art.

Mahanna [01:17:31]: Nice focus.

Joe St. Pierre [01:17:32]: No pop figures and no tchotchke dealers and stuff like that.

Jar Jar [01:17:38]: No print sellers and stuff.

Joe St. Pierre [01:17:40]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mahanna [01:17:41]: That was —

Drew [01:17:43]: Yeah.

Leo [01:17:45]: Where is that going to be?

Joe St. Pierre [01:17:46]: That’s in New Hampshire.

Leo [01:17:49]: Okay.

Joe St. Pierre [01:17:50]: I don’t know. Yeah, that’s — I think that’s first weekend of next — first or second weekend here. Let’s look it up. Let’s be real. There it is right there. Top of my — it’s April 11th in Concord, New Hampshire.

Leo [01:18:12]: Oh, Concord.

Mahanna [01:18:13]: Okay. I can — I might be able to do that Saturday and then go to work Kids Con Sunday.

Joe St. Pierre [01:18:19]: There you go. Is Kids Con the same weekend?

Mahanna [01:18:22]: It’s so — yes. Emily — she always does a Sunday, so I always work Kids Con.

Joe St. Pierre [01:18:27]: Oh, really?

Mahanna [01:18:28]: Yes. And so that’s the 12th. She always ever does it on a Sunday.

Joe St. Pierre [01:18:32]: I would love to go to Kids Con.

Drew [01:18:35]: He’s a big kid.

Jar Jar [01:18:39]: Are you listening, Emily Druin [CHECK spelling]?

Mahanna [01:18:42]: I’ll get her home. I can message her — also, hey, Emily.

Leo [01:18:46]: Well, during the con, Joe — if you’ve got some extra time, check out Fun Spot.

Joe St. Pierre [01:18:53]: What’s Fun Spot?

Leo [01:18:54]: It’s — they claim it’s like the largest arcade in the US. Yeah, the three-floor one — top floor is all classic arcades. They got a little museum as well.

Joe St. Pierre [01:19:12]: Is that in the building? In the same building?

Leo [01:19:14]: No, no, no, no, no.

Mahanna [01:19:16]: It’s something. But it’s really cool.

Leo [01:19:19]: Yeah, it’s right on the coast of Lake Winnipesaukee. Yeah, it’s near Concord.

Joe St. Pierre [01:19:24]: Fun Spot.

Mahanna [01:19:25]: Yep. Just like what — just like what are my — in Rhode Island, I always go to Free Play — you know.

Joe St. Pierre [01:19:33]: And what do you guys play? What is your — what’s your poison?

Leo [01:19:39]: Spy Hunter is a good one that I normally do. They have the old Ghostbusters arcade there, too.

Mahanna [01:19:45]: Yeah.

Joe St. Pierre [01:19:45]: Oh, cool.

Mahanna [01:19:46]: Yeah, I actually play a very platform-y side-scrolly top thing, and old-school Mario Kart. Mario Kart is literally the only game I’m actually competitive over. Is only Mario Kart. Another game.

Joe St. Pierre [01:20:00]: Fun Spot.

Kari [01:20:01]: I’m a Mortal Kombat queen.

Joe St. Pierre [01:20:02]: Somebody in the chat —

Mahanna [01:20:03]: Nice.

Kari [01:20:07]: Yeah, up until 3 anyway. And do the random character so that nobody could be like, oh, you’re cheating because you’re just using your favorite. Like — just randomly — whatever the game — yeah, I’ll play whatever the game gives me and I will still kick your ass. And it will sit on this machine for three hours.

Mahanna [01:20:29]: I am Mario Kart, man. Mario Kart. And any platform — like, I literally have Spyro on my arm.

Jar Jar [01:20:35]: Oh — Spyro is dope.

Mahanna [01:20:38]: I love — I played — I played all 13 Spyro games.

Joe St. Pierre [01:20:41]: Yes.

Jar Jar [01:20:41]: Oh my God —

Mahanna [01:20:43]: I have a tattoo of Super Mario — you know, the Mario Brothers. I’m — all my tattoos that no one ever gets to see because all my costumes — whatever, you can see them — but all nerd-related.

Jar Jar [01:20:52]: I was gonna say, I’ve never seen your Spyro.

Joe St. Pierre [01:20:56]: That’s so cool.

Mahanna [01:20:56]: Some ways I’m usually covered from here down in cosplay.

Leo [01:21:01]: So, Joe — during your free time, what do you dork out about?

Joe St. Pierre [01:21:09]: Free time? I — I usually go to my library and I take out books and videos and stuff like that. Yeah, I’m not much of a gamer. I have an addictive personality, and when I start playing video games, I forget that I have other things to do — other responsibilities.

Leo [01:21:35]: And where do you like people following you on social media?

Joe St. Pierre [01:21:41]: You could go to — probably best thing to do would be go to joestpierre.com [CHECK: may be astronautink.com], and my social media links are there. And you can also email me if you have any questions or commission requests, stuff like that. That’s probably the best way to do it.

Leo [01:21:58]: Awesome. And we have a bunch of that information in the show notes up above or down below, depending on where you’re watching or listening to us. We’ll kick it on over to Carrie.

Kari [01:22:08]: Hey, everybody. This has been so much fun. We love hanging out with Joe. Go over to his store over on Astronaut Ink also and check out the books in the bookstore. You can get a bunch of different sketches and things as well, and commission them — because you will not be disappointed. You saw how badass my commission was, dude. It was amazing.

Kari [01:22:29]: So if you want to find me, go there on Facebook. If you see a condescending-looking crow, that is me judging you. So you found the right place. I’m on all the other social medias, but I don’t post anything. I just use them to follow people. So you want to reach out to me? Facebook is the place to go.

Leo [01:22:47]: Awesome.

Drew [01:22:48]: MJ.

Mahanna [01:22:50]: Hi. So, yeah — my Instagram is @TheCheeryGoth. I’m the cheeriest of the goths — builder of the things. Cosplay gremlin shenanigans. You find all that there. And on Facebook is Mahana Jade Long Walker.

Leo [01:23:05]: Awesome. Jar Jar.

Jar Jar [01:23:07]: Hey, follow me on Twitch. And a shout out to the Westfield Fire Department for showing up. And my house didn’t burn down, so thank you, guys.

Joe St. Pierre [01:23:15]: Really appreciate it. What did I miss?

Jar Jar [01:23:18]: Oh, a brush fire started in my neighbor’s yard and flew into my yard, and I have like three separate buildings, and it was crazy.

Joe St. Pierre [01:23:29]: Oh, dude, that’s harrowing.

Jar Jar [01:23:32]: Yeah, I — I keep going out there to check to make sure all the embers are out and stuff. It’s really — it’s been on my mind constantly now.

Leo [01:23:43]: Damn scary. Before we go to Drew — just real quick —

Drew [01:24:01]: I like, I like — I like how I get — he has to do it before me. I just fight.

Leo [01:24:01]: Well, you’re the closer, Drew. You’re the closer.

Drew [01:24:04]: I understand, but, like, you just — I see you — your plot. You’re a devious, ginger-headed, bespectacled maniac.

Jar Jar [01:24:15]: He just wants you to hit the grand slam as we leave.

Drew [01:24:19]: All right, you know what? You know what, children? Hold on. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. We really appreciate it. Please make sure to hit the like and subscribe button on our YouTube channel, as we’ve been working really hard to make sure we get some of the best guests possible. And as you can see, we’re doing pretty good job with it. So you should definitely make sure you stick around for what happens next, because literally tomorrow is the start of a new month, and literally we have two guests coming on tomorrow who we are just very excited to welcome back — some would say even dying to see. We have the great Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner [CHECK: “Trish Forster Forstner”]. Sorry, we’re working on that.

Drew [01:25:04]: Coming on to talk about Feral — where it’s been, where it’s going, and about some of the recent developments. If you are a pet owner, I don’t know if you should watch the show. It might break your heart and also heal you at the same time. And then we have some other great guests especially for April. But if you need to get in touch with me, you can look me up — Drew Mollo — I’m that name on Facebook and Blue Sky. Ghost Versus Men 1984 on Instagram. I’m way too busy to deal with any ridiculousness, but I always have time for tomfoolery. So just keep that in mind.

Leo [01:25:43]: Okay, that will catch you later.

Kari [01:25:46]: Bye.

Joe St. Pierre [01:25:47]: Thanks for having me. I had a good time. Appreciate it.

End of transcript