Thomas E. Sniegoski

[COLD OPEN — Guest Intro]

Tom Sniegoski [00:00:00]: I’m Thomas Sniegoski, writer of all kinds of stuff. Vengeance of Vampirella, Young Hellboy, Bone with Jeff Smith, the Herculoids for Dynamite Comics with Craig Rousseau. And I’m on Splash Pages. Hey, hey.

Leo [00:00:15]: Happy Tuesday, everybody. You are watching Splash Pages. My name is Leo. We have an amazing show scheduled for you, as always. And with us — we’ll kick it over to Kari. How’s it going?

Kari [00:00:26]: Going great. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Rattle’s and I are having some drinks tonight. We’re excited about our guest. He has written some great stuff, including recently the Herculoids. But he’s also written what I am all into — a lot of horror. So of course I’m super excited about this.

Tom Sniegoski [00:00:45]: And we’re gonna ask about the—

Kari [00:00:46]: Later. But yeah. So let’s go over and see Drew and get an introduction to our wonderful guest tonight.

Leo [00:00:55]: Is it Drew or is it the devil?

Drew [00:00:58]: Hey. Hey, dude. Hey everybody.

Kari [00:01:03]: Like, scoot over about half an inch. Other way.

Drew [00:01:08]: Oh, okay. Is that better?

Kari [00:01:13]: Yes. Now you have Vampirella’s hair.

Drew [00:01:16]: Oh, my God. Hi. That’s so nice. It lines up so well with my ridiculously big headband. Hi, everybody. Welcome. We just get distracted by shenanigans — that’s how it synced up. So thank you so much for joining us, everybody. It’s Tuesday, and instead of filing your taxes, you decided to spend time with us. So thank you for that. But we are not to be charged for any penalties that may incur.

So — Kari brought it up, Leo mentioned it kind of, you know, he does his thing — we have a wonderful guest who’s been working in the industry a long time. He’s a novelist, he’s a comics writer, and now I have something new to aspire to: he’s described as a pop culture journalist. Again, I was like, wow, new career goals for me. He’s done a bunch of stuff related to the Buffy-verse. He’s done stuff on Vampirella, Punisher, Batman. He’s worked on Bone. He’s done a ton of stuff with the great Christopher Golden — things involving Hellboy and B.P.R.D. He’s worked in comics for Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Acclaim, Harris, Crusade, Caliber, London Night, and a bunch of other publishers. So he’s done a lot. We have him here. He’s a total hoot. We’re gonna have a great time. I’m probably gonna say the name wrong, but I’m gonna give it a try. Everybody, the one, the only, Mr. Tom Snow—

Tom Sniegoski [00:02:51]: It was close. It was close.

Drew [00:02:54]: God, it was so close.

Tom Sniegoski [00:02:57]: It’s Sniegoski.

Drew [00:02:58]: Sniegoski. One day. So close.

Tom Sniegoski [00:03:06]: Yeah, it was fine. I’m so used to it. I just laugh. It doesn’t—

Drew [00:03:11]: No, Tom, I get it. Because the same thing happens with my last name. You’d be surprised — it’s literally four or five letters and some people still can’t get it right. Or they’ll add letters on. I’ll say my name clearly and they hear something completely different. I can’t tell you how many times I say my name and get, “Oh, hi, Bruce.” I’m like, how? How?

Tom Sniegoski [00:03:39]: The last name looks scary when you see it.

Drew [00:03:42]: Yeah.

Tom Sniegoski [00:03:42]: It scares people.

Drew [00:03:44]: I guess so. People do the same thing for me. I’ve gotten scam emails addressed to Drew Miloski, and I’m like, why? Like, I can’t take this seriously.

Leo [00:04:01]: You know, Drew, you get fewer mistakes if you just let everybody know your middle name is Marsh.

Drew [00:04:08]: Okay, Leo, this might be a record. We’re so far in, and I’m going to tell you this nicely: get the hell out. Let two Drews say that to you: get out.

So, Tom, thank you for joining us. Really appreciate it.

Tom Sniegoski [00:04:29]: Thank you.

Drew [00:04:29]: And I just want to say, to start off — you were recommended to us by one of our frequent collaborators, the always great Mr.—

Kari [00:04:40]: Steve Sampson. I don’t have to say it the weird way.

Drew [00:04:45]: No, no, no. But you’re contractually obligated now, being the president of his fan club, to say his name like that.

Kari [00:04:52]: Fine — then it’s Steve Sampson.

Tom Sniegoski [00:04:55]: Right.

Drew [00:04:58]: The flourish. So he recommended you come on, and we’re very thankful for that. How did you meet Steve? Because I only met him through this show, but I was like, man, I’ve got to do more in my life.

Tom Sniegoski [00:05:24]: I think I was familiar with him, but I didn’t meet him until the Halloween Book Festival last year in Haverhill.

Drew [00:05:36]: Okay.

Tom Sniegoski [00:05:37]: He was next to a friend of mine, and they were going back and forth. I don’t think he knew who I was. And he was listening to the conversation, going back with the other guy, and he was like, “Wait a minute — you’re Thomas Sniegoski.” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And he was like, “Oh my God, I’ve been wanting to meet you.” So we met, and it was wonderful. He’s really talented.

Drew [00:06:11]: Oh, 100 percent. Absolutely.

Kari [00:06:14]: I consider him the king of monsters. He makes the best monsters I’ve read. That’s one of his talents — he can turn anything into a monster. You think you know what’s happening, and—

Tom Sniegoski [00:06:32]: Then it’s like, oh, but wait, I don’t.

Drew [00:06:36]: And speaking of monsters — God damn you, man. Because I read Batman: Real World, and that just broke me. I’m a huge Elseworlds fan. I’m reading it and my brain was like, I feel like I know where this is going. And even then I was like, oh, son of a bitch. You and Christopher Golden — you guys just… I was like, wow. A story that was very Batman but also a love letter to the fans. The second I started, I was like, you have to finish it. You can’t stop.

Tom Sniegoski [00:07:33]: I wish — did they ever reprint that anywhere?

Drew [00:07:38]: I’m not sure.

Tom Sniegoski [00:07:40]: I knew they were doing collections of the Elseworlds stuff, but I’m not quite sure if that wound up in any Batman Elseworlds collection yet.

Drew [00:07:49]: I don’t think so.

Tom Sniegoski [00:07:50]: When you started talking about it, I was like, what book is he talking about? Like, oh yes, Elseworlds. Yeah, that’s from a long time ago.

Drew [00:07:59]: Yeah, man — that was like early 2000s, I think.

Tom Sniegoski [00:08:06]: Yeah, yeah.

Drew [00:08:07]: And I was reading that — Charlie Duffy, you know, all of it. And it was funny because I’m reading it and he’s counting down. I’m like, what the hell is he counting down? It’s the new Batman. And I was like, wow. 1989. And it was just such a beautiful love letter. Like — when you’re working, do they approach you with the idea or is that something you come up with and approach them? How did Real World come together?

Tom Sniegoski [00:08:40]: I think it was one of those things where we wanted to do a Batman Elseworlds story, and they had a concept — because at the same time they did Real World: Justice League and a couple of others that were more rooted in reality. And I think that might have been a suggestion to me and Chris to do a Batman story set in the real world. At least I’m pretty sure. It was, honestly, a pretty tough project to work on — there was a lot of friction with our editor on the book, but we persevered. And to work with Marshall Rogers — that was awesome.

Drew [00:09:48]: Oh yeah, absolutely. The thing for me that I loved was just how Charlie saw everything through a Batman lens. He was Batman, and everybody else was in concert with that. The old woman was Catwoman, the rough character was the Joker, and Clarissa — his childhood friend, maybe his first love — was Robin. It was so true to the character but still believable. So I just wanted to say — kudos.

Tom Sniegoski [00:10:30]: It’s really kind of fun when somebody brings up something from a long time ago. Oh, it’s still around. It’s still relevant.

Leo [00:10:42]: And I think you’re right — there is a Batman Elseworlds Omnibus coming out this year.

Tom Sniegoski [00:10:47]: Yeah, I know there were two Superman Elseworlds collections, and I think there was at least one Batman, but I don’t think this story was in it.

Leo [00:11:00]: Yeah, we’ll have to keep a lookout. We do another show that’s just Elseworlds.

Tom Sniegoski [00:11:07]: Oh, really?

Leo [00:11:08]: Yeah, it’s Comics Paradox — Elseworlds and alternate realities.

Tom Sniegoski [00:11:13]: Oh, wow. Okay.

Drew [00:11:15]: Yeah.

Leo [00:11:15]: So I’ll have to bring this up with the group, you know, see if they’ve read it.

Tom Sniegoski [00:11:22]: Yeah, definitely.

Kari [00:11:23]: Doing all the Real World stories would be a good one.

[HERCULOIDS SEGMENT — Dynamite Comics 2025 series]

Drew [00:11:28]: Right. But I just needed to say — that Batman story was absolutely fantastic. Kudos to you and Christopher Golden. Because I’m a huge fan of all the collaborations he’s done with Mike Mignola. And I actually got to meet him at Boston Comic Con in, like, 2018.

Tom Sniegoski [00:11:50]: Oh, probably next to him.

Drew [00:11:53]: Yeah. Because, you know, you and Chris have worked on so many—

Tom Sniegoski [00:12:12]: We’re really good friends. I mean, I’m his daughter’s godfather, so — that shows you where I am in the relationship.

Drew [00:12:20]: So, how did that start? You find a project and you just realize — is this going to be an ongoing thing?

Tom Sniegoski

[00:12:40]: All right, I’ll tell you — and he’ll tell you this exact same story. I was doing a ton of work for Harris Comics when they had the Vampirella and Warren licenses — or at least they thought they owned them; there was all kinds of stuff that came out after that. Anyway, I was doing almost every single book Harris was putting out. It was all spinning out of Vampirella. And Chris had been writing books at the time. I didn’t know him yet, but he’d introduced himself to my editor, and my editor said, “Hey, this is Chris Golden — he’d like to do some work for us.” And I shook my fist at him like, “Hell you will. I’m writing everything in this.” He had a possible creator-owned book he was going to do for Harris, and we struck up conversations. When our editor was leaving Harris, and we didn’t like where the company was going without her — I basically wanted to dismantle everything I’d created in the Vampirella universe.

Drew [00:13:59]: Okay.

Tom Sniegoski [00:14:00]: It was devastating. I was like, I had to do that after building so much of it up. So I asked him to do it with me. And we did Vampirella: Death and Destruction, which was basically totally dismantling my Vampirella universe — which I’ve since rebuilt over at Dynamite.

Drew [00:14:25]: Hey, if it’s your thing, it’s your right.

Tom Sniegoski [00:14:32]: That’s how Nick Barrucci got me to come back to Vampirella for her 50th anniversary. He was like, “What if we let you pick up where you left off 25 years ago?” And I was like, that is too good to pass up.

Drew [00:14:50]: I think it’s always funny when creators do that. Peter David basically did that for Spider-Man 2099 when he came back briefly — like, I’m just picking up where I left off. I know other things happened. That’s cool. I’m doing my thing.

Tom Sniegoski [00:15:07]: Yeah.

Drew [00:15:07]: And then — you and the great Craig Rousseau, who I also met years ago and believe is familiar with Hellboy because he also worked on Young Hellboy.

Tom Sniegoski [00:15:24]: Yeah, he did Young Hellboy with me. Yeah.

Drew [00:15:28]: You guys are just killing it with the Herculoids. Me and Leo were talking about this when the Herculoids book was announced. I remember watching Hanna-Barbera growing up — Herculoids, Space Ghost, all of those on Boomerang. And I mean, just what a weird cartoon — but so undeniably perfect.

Tom Sniegoski [00:15:59]: Yep.

Drew [00:16:00]: And you guys are doing such a good job evoking that same feel. I’m reading it and I’m hearing the Hanna-Barbera sound effects. Like when Tundro is shooting — I can hear that in my head. When Gloop and Gleep would do their little dialogue—

Leo [00:16:33]: Don’t forget Gloop and Gleep.

Drew [00:16:35]: Just — I can hear the sounds like — wow.

Tom Sniegoski [00:16:47]: So this is a pretty good story, too. I’ve known Nick Barrucci, the president of Dynamite, for like 30 years. And when I saw that he was getting the Hanna-Barbera licenses — meaning Space Ghost — I contacted him and I said, “If you get the Herculoids and you don’t give them to me, so help me God — you will not be able to stand me for the rest of your existence. I will be haunting you.”

Drew [00:17:18]: And he got the license—

Tom Sniegoski [00:17:19]: And he reached out and said, “If you want it, it’s yours.”

Drew [00:17:34]: I think Alan Moore did the same thing for Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? — found out the book was ending and went to the editor, grabbed him by the throat, said, “If you let anybody else write this, I’ll kill you.” And they were like, “Yeah, Alan — yeah. Do it. Nothing like threats from a creator.”

Tom Sniegoski

[00:17:55]: What’s bizarre about the Herculoids is that it’s haunted me like my entire career. I mean, it’s been one of those things — I can remember even when I was first starting out and hadn’t done a damn thing, any opportunity I got to talk to an editor, I was like, “Do you know who has the Herculoids license?” And they’d look at me like, what are you talking about? And I’d say, “I would love to write those characters.”

Kari [00:18:22]: This is my first foray into the Herculoids, because where I grew up and the years when I was growing up, I just never caught them in any reruns. So it wasn’t something I was very interested in. So your Herculoids is the first Herculoids I’ve ever experienced.

Tom Sniegoski [00:19:00]: Wow.

Kari [00:19:02]: Yeah. And I quite enjoyed it.

Tom Sniegoski [00:19:05]: Did you like it? Because there’s a huge nostalgia factor with these characters — but at the same time, I can’t let that be the only thing that propels the comic. I had to really put my thinking cap on and say, all right — how do I take this, keeping the nostalgia, but taking it to the next level?

Drew [00:19:29]: Right.

Kari [00:19:29]: Because that’s where a lot of younger readers — I’m just from an age range where you’d think I would know it, but I don’t have the nostalgia. But it is a very good introduction. I’m going to go back and start looking at some of the old shows when I have time.

Tom Sniegoski [00:19:48]: This is cool.

Drew [00:19:50]: And again — I remember when Jeff Parker was doing Future Quest with all those Hanna-Barbera characters. I was like, all my favorite cartoons when I was a kid. But the second Herculoids showed up, I was like, yes. Seeing yours — Zandor, Tara, Dorno, Zok, Tundro, Igoo, Gloop and Gleep — like, I was just like, let’s go. Where are the Faceless People? Where are the Destroyer? The Mutoids? But I’m like — no, he has to pace himself.

Tom Sniegoski [00:20:43]: I can’t do that all at once. And I don’t want it to become like every issue is a throwback. I want to do that, but I want to do it naturally — I want it to feel like it’s part of the story.

Drew [00:21:01]: You and your collaborator Craig Rousseau — was he just as excited about doing the Herculoids as you were?

Tom Sniegoski [00:21:17]: What’s funny is I didn’t realize he was as big a fan as he was. When they asked me who I’d want to draw the book, I was racking my brain and I’m like, well, Craig would be perfect for it, but I don’t know if Craig likes the Herculoids. So I threw his name out there. And I guess when Joe Ryband — the editor — reached out and asked if he’d be interested, Craig went wild. He was like, “Of course I’m interested.” So yeah, I was excited that he was as excited as I was.

Drew [00:21:51]: I have to ask — do you have a favorite character?

Tom Sniegoski [00:21:54]: Yes.

Drew [00:21:56]: Okay.

Tom Sniegoski [00:21:57]: Igoo the Rock Ape.

Drew [00:21:59]: Oh, nice.

Leo [00:22:06]: I just have to say, I love what you’re doing with Herculoids. I would watch it before school in the 80s. We didn’t have cable, so we’d catch — I think it was channel 56, WGBH. I’d watch it before school and absolutely loved it and tried not to miss it. What you’re doing with the story is fantastic. How many issues are you planning to run with this?

Tom Sniegoski [00:22:44]: They told me to plot out 12.

Drew [00:22:46]: Okay.

Kari [00:22:47]: Okay.

Tom Sniegoski [00:22:47]: They told me to plot out a year. So I’ve kind of plotted it for an arc that goes for a year — but definitely could go beyond.

Drew [00:22:59]: Well, we seriously hope for four or five times that, you know.

Tom Sniegoski [00:23:05]: Yeah, I would love to keep going.

Leo [00:23:09]: Did you go back and re-watch any of the episodes before writing?

Tom Sniegoski [00:23:14]: Yeah, oh yeah. I had to. I knew the feel, but I wanted to refresh it. Craig has a TV in his studio and he runs them as he’s drawing the comic. So yeah — that’s really cool.

Drew [00:23:30]: It’s funny — I remember talking to a friend about the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. I was like, what is Hanna-Barbera’s love of bongos? Like especially with Speed Racer. I was like, what is it? Like, this is the perfect transition music. I never really thought about that, and then later rewatching I was like — props.

Tom Sniegoski [00:24:52]: This stuff permanently implanted itself on my brain. The designs of these characters never left — they were always somewhere floating around in my brain. They were designed by Alex Toth, so — fantastic comic artist and designer. These characters were just amazing. The simplicity of them — but at the same time they’re not simple at all. It’s weird. Yeah.

Drew [00:25:24]: And also kudos to both of you because among the great covers you got — you had an absolutely stellar Mike Mignola cover.

Tom Sniegoski [00:25:41]: I was talking to him on the phone and I said, “Guess what I’m doing?” He says, “What?” “The Herculoids.” And he was like, “I guess I’m gonna have to do a cover for that.”

Drew [00:25:54]: Yes.

Kari [00:25:57]: And Drew brought this up when we were showing off all the different covers — on one of them there’s a little poot with the thing coming out of his—

Tom Sniegoski [00:26:05]: He didn’t think they were gonna let him keep that. I’m like, oh no — the poot stays.

Drew [00:26:10]: Yeah. It was the littlest detail because it’s that Mignola style — small but I was like, look, he poots.

Tom Sniegoski [00:26:21]: He poots.

Drew [00:26:23]: There’s a little detail, but it’s in that Mignola speech. Just perfect. Classic.

Kari [00:26:36]: I love what Jeff Huckleberry has been doing with your lettering. Everybody has their own sort of letter set going through, and it’s just — it’s really nifty. It’s easy to follow and it really adds to the thing. As a newcomer to it, I can feel — I know exactly who’s doing what thing. And it’s gorgeous. I’m a big fan of letterforms, so.

Drew [00:27:04]: Big fan.

Kari [00:27:05]: Good job.

Tom Sniegoski [00:27:06]: Yeah, good lettering makes a huge difference. Great lettering can really enhance everything.

Kari [00:27:17]: Yeah. You aren’t supposed to notice it, but if you are a fan of it, you look for it. And it’s just so smooth — it flows. You see exactly where things are going. It’s not in the way, but yeah. I love this book. I wasn’t expecting to, to be quite honest, because I was like, oh, this is something silly for children. Oh — this is actually quite good. It’s got a really — and it’s very pertinent to today with the resource story going. Like, we’re just gonna take all your stuff. And — oh no, you’re not.

Drew [00:27:56]: Yeah.

Kari [00:27:56]: And Kylie [audience member] is really liking all of this and is also getting He-Man vibes.

Tom Sniegoski [00:28:06]: This is 1967 — the Herculoids. Way before He-Man.

Leo [00:28:15]: So your story definitely goes deeper into the mythos than the cartoon did. How did you come up with the background story for the Herculoids?

Tom Sniegoski [00:28:31]: It was one of those things where I just took stuff from the old shows and enhanced it. We really don’t know a hell of a lot about the Herculoids themselves — where do they come from? They don’t seem native to any one place. They seem stuck together somehow. The planet’s enormous. There are all kinds of races and species. So what I wanted to do was introduce this idea about the planet Amzot — almost like Eden, like a sought-after paradise. Everybody wants a piece of it. But then I wanted to go another step further and create a — not necessarily a villain, but something that is older. Basically something that’s kind of responsible for a lot of the creation of things.

Drew [00:29:44]: So it’s a—

Tom Sniegoski [00:29:45]: It’s an ancient evil. Not evil per se, but it’s an ancient force — and it’s going to fill in a lot of the blanks as to who the Herculoids are and why they’re there.

Leo [00:30:02]: Awesome. When does issue three come out?

Tom Sniegoski [00:30:07]: I believe issue three is done at Dynamite, but I think they changed the release date because of the Diamond situation. Issue one caused some stuff to get thrown off, so one and two came out really close together. I think they may be trying to put three back on the regular schedule — might be like the end of this month. I’m not 100% sure.

Kari [00:30:40]: That’s been happening to a number of different books — just bumped a couple of weeks or a month.

Tom Sniegoski [00:30:48]: Yeah, that Diamond situation isn’t doing anybody any favors.

Kari [00:30:53]: Yeah.

Tom Sniegoski [00:30:56]: But it is done. I’ve seen the whole book, reread the whole book. It’s done.

Kari [00:31:02]: You should go to your LCS — your local comic book shop — should have this in the stacks. And if not, go to where — where is a place to order it directly from?

Leo [00:31:15]: Yeah, if they go to their LCS — if they don’t have it, they can probably just order an issue for them. That’s what my LCS does. Definitely support your local comic shop.

Tom Sniegoski [00:31:29]: Yes, for sure.

[BONE SEGMENT — Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures / Bone: Tall Tales]

Drew [00:31:37]: So another thing to bring up — you worked on the prequel to Bone.

Tom Sniegoski [00:31:45]: Yeah.

Drew [00:31:46]: It was Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails [NOTE: Tom clarifies below — “Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures”]. Right?

Tom Sniegoski [00:31:53]: It was Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures when it first came out through Cartoon Books. And then Scholastic got the rights, colored it, and made it Bone: Tall Tales. There’s a black-and-white version that’s Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures, and then there’s Bone: Tall Tales which has a few more things added to it. And then we just recently did more Tall Tales stories — came out about two years ago. We won the Ringo for—

Drew [00:32:26]: Yeah.

Tom Sniegoski [00:32:27]: Best Humor Comic.

Drew [00:32:29]: Absolutely. It was drawn by Jeff [Smith], but you were the writer. And you also did, I believe, a backup — was it Riblet?

Tom Sniegoski [00:32:41]: That was actually in issues of the original Bone comic. The Riblet story was in the original. And I did that with Stan Sakai.

Drew [00:32:51]: Yeah, Usagi Yojimbo himself. So what was that like — working on a prequel to Bone, which is just a powerhouse book? Tons of awards, such a beautiful looking book, with such darkness.

Tom Sniegoski [00:33:13]: Yeah, that was scary — just because of the pedigree Bone has. When they asked me to write the prequel, I was terrified. I was like, are you seriously asking me to write this?

Drew [00:33:28]: Right?

Tom Sniegoski [00:33:30]: So, yeah, I was pretty nervous going into that. But they were great. Jeff [Smith] is awesome. His wife Vijaya is awesome. Very, very little editing. I mean—

Drew [00:33:47]: Oh yeah. I just remember reading some of it — I think the first time I encountered it was in Disney Adventures magazine.

Tom Sniegoski [00:33:57]: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

Drew [00:33:59]: Some of those stories got in there. And I was just like — this is not Disney. Especially with the Rat Creatures.

Tom Sniegoski [00:34:09]: Like…

Drew [00:34:11]: I feel like we’ve taken a turn somewhere. And as a kid I’m like, why is this terrifying but I can’t stop reading? I’m used to reading Bonkers and Goof Troop and then I’m reading Bone and I’m just like — I’ve taken a peek at something very dark, but I can’t look away, and I am changed.

Tom Sniegoski

[00:34:32]: When people ask me about Bone and they’re not familiar with it, they’re like, what is it? It kind of looks cute. And I’m like — Bone is Lord of the Rings meets Warner Bros. cartoons.

Drew [00:34:48]: Nice. That’s like—

Tom Sniegoski [00:34:50]: You combine those two things together and you get something as unique as Bone.

Drew [00:34:56]: Absolutely.

Kari [00:34:57]: Makes me want to go read it.

Tom Sniegoski [00:34:59]: Have you ever read it?

Kari [00:35:05]: I’m going to.

Tom Sniegoski [00:35:06]: I’ll tell you a story. I had met Jeff and gone to lunch with him, and I loved Jeff — and I hadn’t read a word of Bone. Ashamed of myself. I was palling around with this guy, he’s fantastic, I love him — I thought I should be familiar with his work. So I went to the comic shop, bought the first two little collections, and I’m like, all right, let me see what this is all about. And I was totally captivated, like, three pages in. That’s all it took.

Drew [00:35:44]: Yeah. No — Carrie, yes, definitely something you can read. I just had to bring that up. That was so good.

Tom Sniegoski [00:35:55]: Yeah, oh yeah. Definitely at the high point of my career.

Kari [00:35:58]: Oh yeah. I read The Hobbit when I was 8. Lord of the Rings when I was like 9, 10.

Tom Sniegoski [00:36:07]: This is — it’s very, very funny. But it’s also really, really dark. It starts off kind of light and cheery and goofy and you’re laughing and the characters are amazing — and then it heads down a path and you’re like, it’s not going there, is it? But it does — with these characters that you absolutely adore going into really dark places.

Drew [00:36:34]: Oh, Kari, you will just— The Rat Creatures are just drawn terrifyingly. But you’ll love it. Especially because it’s about the Bone cousins. There are three of them — Fone Bone, the everyman. Phony Bone, the con man. And then Smiley Bone, who’s just a nice guy.

Tom Sniegoski [00:36:56]: Con man, yeah.

Drew [00:36:57]: And the thing I always remember about Bone is there’s a scene in a tavern where he’s trying to pay for his food, and the innkeeper didn’t know what money was. And Phony Bone is locking heads with him like a ram, and his brother’s like, yeah — they have a barter system here. They don’t know what money is.

Tom Sniegoski [00:37:33]: Didn’t he have money from Boneville? Wasn’t there money from—

Drew [00:37:39]: Yeah. And it’s just so funny. You know, this big, bearded, angry man locking heads with Phony Bone. And in the next scene he’s in the back washing dishes.

Tom Sniegoski [00:38:04]: Is he in the back washing dishes?

Drew [00:38:08]: Yeah, just in the back. I can’t. This is so good.

Kari [00:38:17]: Tom, am I right that that would happen to us if we didn’t have enough money?

Tom Sniegoski [00:38:17]: I’d probably do the same thing. “Oh, I don’t have any money? I guess we’re going to have to wash dishes.”

[PROCESS / CRAFT — Comics and Novel Writing Balance]

Drew [00:38:29]: So, Kari, I know you wanted to talk about the horror, but I also wanted to ask Tom about balancing comics writing with novel writing.

Kari [00:38:45]: Wait — we need to go into the horror, Drew. I haven’t been able to get into the horror yet.

Drew [00:38:51]: No, that’s fine.

Tom Sniegoski [00:38:53]: Horror’s fine. Almost all my stuff is tinged with it anyway.

Drew [00:38:56]: Go, Kari.

[THE SISTERHOOD — Comic series, horror]

Kari

[00:38:58]: Okay, so first I want to jump in to The Sisterhood — oh my God. That was beautifully done.

Tom Sniegoski [00:39:12]: That’s another old one I almost forgot about.

Kari [00:39:15]: Yeah. The artwork was gorgeous. Everything flowed so well. It was just a wonder to read. And I want to know — is there going to be more? I mean, it’s been 17 years.

Tom Sniegoski [00:39:30]: It’s been a long time.

Kari [00:39:33]: I wouldn’t mind reading more of this. The concept — we were talking before the show, and I was like, how much research did you do? And you told me you were raised Catholic, and I’m like, okay, I understand. Because there’s so much deep lore involved in this. For those of you who don’t know — there are these nuns who fight demons by—

Tom Sniegoski [00:40:08]: Yeah, Chris and I thought we’d just have a blast coming up with that idea, that concept.

Kari [00:40:15]: They suck the demons in and use the power of faith to hold them in their own bodies. And if they pass away naturally, the demons die with them. And there’s heretics and the Vatican and all these different secret organizations.

Tom Sniegoski [00:40:44]: There may be some truth here and there, but most of it’s made up.

Kari [00:40:48]: Yeah. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in a while. This is what I thrive on — religions, mythologies, horror. Stick them together and I’m in heaven.

Tom Sniegoski [00:41:02]: Well, we’ve been trying to get somebody to put out a collection of this, because it’s only been in individual comic book issues — it’s never been collected.

Kari [00:41:18]: Oh, wow.

Tom Sniegoski [00:41:19]: Yeah. So we’ve been trying to get some interest in somebody putting together a collection — and probably if we did a collection, we’d do something new for it too.

Leo [00:41:33]: Oh, nice.

Kari [00:41:33]: Exactly.

Drew [00:41:34]: Yeah, of course.

Kari [00:41:35]: That would be great, because the artwork just killed it, the story is so great — guys, you’re gonna have so much fun. If you like demonic possession, if you love these kinds of stories — there’s a lot of mystery as well as horror. Like, who is doing this? How are they getting there? There are action film vibes going through it.

Tom Sniegoski [00:42:01]: Oh yeah.

Kari [00:42:03]: It’s well assembled.

Leo [00:42:08]: Not only that — this would be an awesome adaptation. A movie or a show or something.

Tom Sniegoski [00:42:16]: We have had so much interest in it.

Drew [00:42:19]: In this.

Tom Sniegoski [00:42:19]: It’s like — there’s lots of talk. Lots of talk, lots of talk. And then it dies. And then a couple of years go by and there’s interest again. Just like this weird cycle. As a matter of fact, just the other day I was talking with Chris Golden on the phone and he said, “Oh, by the way — Pete [their manager/agent] showed The Sisterhood to somebody.” So here we go again. Let’s see.

Drew [00:42:49]: Yeah, the book that just doesn’t die.

Leo [00:42:52]: Well, in media right now — angels and demons type stories just come and go, come and go. Right now The Bondsman is going on, which is phenomenal — a bondsman going after demons. But I can totally see this adapted for either a show or a movie. Awesome.

Kari [00:43:18]: Especially after The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons were released with Tom Hanks — bringing that genre to the forefront.

Tom Sniegoski [00:43:27]: Yeah.

[PROCESS — Balancing Comics and Novel Writing]

Drew [00:43:55]: So Tom — how do you balance writing comics with writing novels? I remember reading that Peter David had his week planned, with certain days for comics and certain days for novels.

Tom Sniegoski [00:44:20]: I’m similar. I don’t think I do it daily, but I do it by the week. Like, all right — this week I have to write this script. So I’m gonna write that script. And if I finish it by Friday, Saturday and Sunday I’ll work on the novel and see how much I can get done. So it’s a balancing act — what do you have to do, when is an artist waiting for it, how much time do I have on the book still? Yeah, it’s like a tightrope.

[CONS — Boston Wicked Comic Con / Free Comic Book Day]

Leo [00:45:24]: You mentioned cons — just want to let everybody know that this weekend you’re going to be at Boston Wicked Comic Con.

Tom Sniegoski [00:45:32]: Yes.

Leo [00:45:33]: You and Janine Atchison — my co-writer on my [projects].

Tom Sniegoski [00:45:38]: A lot of Vampirella stuff and some of my book stuff. Yeah, she’s up and coming. She’s amazing.

Leo [00:45:44]: Nice. And then Free Comic Book Day, you’re going to be in Rochester, New Hampshire at Jetpack Comics. You and Janine as well.

Tom Sniegoski [00:45:59]: Oh yeah. As long as I wrote it, I’ll sign it.

[SOUL TAKER — Comic, Sniegoski/Atchison]

Kari [00:46:54]: Speaking of Janine — Soul Taker.

Tom Sniegoski [00:46:56]: Oh yeah! Did you like that too?

Kari [00:47:00]: I mean — yeah. It played right in my wheelhouse. We’re going to have D.G. Chichester on next week, and he does the same thing — religion, mythology, horror, just dragging things into hell. So with Soul Taker — is this the end, or is there going to be more? Because it’s so ready for more.

Tom Sniegoski [00:47:29]: I know, I know. See — here we go with the curse of monthly comics. A lot of the time the numbers just aren’t there to get your second arc. So we’re currently trying to come up with a battle plan on how we could wrap up the story in the best way possible — whether it’s another one-shot comic, whether it’s a full graphic novel. We’re even willing to go prose with illustrations. We’re talking about a lot of stuff, and as soon as we start to get definitive answers, we’ll be knocking those things back and deciding how we’re going to do it.

Drew [00:48:17]: Tom, I just need to say this — if you guys decide to go the Kickstarter route, let Kari know, because not only will she promote the mother-loving heck out of it, she will 100% contribute. Am I wrong, Kari?

Kari [00:48:34]: Oh, I’ll buy whatever. As long as I don’t get kicked out onto the streets — I will buy whatever package you put out. I’ll help you design it. I honestly spend that much time studying crowdfunding and talking with people that I will just help you. And then I will pay for all of it, too.

Drew [00:49:05]: The best kind of fan.

Kari [00:49:07]: Does Mad Cave work with — do they do the novel kind of stuff too?

Drew [00:49:12]: No.

Tom Sniegoski [00:49:12]: We would probably take it to another smaller book publisher. Maybe even Bad Hand [Books], who’s doing Janine and my Nera [NOTE: “Nolla Nera” in transcript — working Italian title], which comes out in a month or so.

[NERA — Novella, Bad Hand Books]

Kari [00:49:33]: Yeah. So let’s cover that right now. Tell us all about it.

Tom Sniegoski [00:49:45]: Well — I was contacted by an amazing artist named Tom Brown. He’s British. He contacted me because I’d worked on a project with him for Random House called The Raven’s Child, which was a graphic novel. And he reached out and said, “Hey, look — I’m doing art for this new small publisher, Bad Hand Books. How would you like to come up with an idea for a novella and I can do the illustrations for it?” And I was like, oh, that could be interesting because I love Tom’s stuff. So I threw it at Janine, and I’m like, “You want to work on something like this with me? We’ll come up with an idea together.” And she was game. We’d had a couple of concepts rattling around that we plucked out and enhanced — and that became Nera, with the illustrations by Tom Brown.

It’s the first of a series. We’re going to be doing more with her. It’s about a mysterious woman named Constance Evermore who has a strange habit of just showing up where she feels she might be needed. She travels in this old Victorian house that just appears in spots — like, you walk by and go, wasn’t that a parking lot? Wasn’t there an old house there? And her house will appear there and take root for whatever she needs to do in that particular area. You’ll learn she’s very old, been around for a very long time, and she’s basically making amends for a really bad mistake she made a long time ago. And I don’t want to go further than that, but that’s—

Drew [00:52:07]: Tom, as you’re talking, I can literally hear the sound of Kari’s money growing wings and flying away toward your pocket. Just the fluttering of paper wings.

Tom Sniegoski [00:52:20]: So yeah — Janine and I just built her up, you know, adding things back and forth. All we can think of is Tilda Swinton when we were writing her.

Drew [00:52:38]: Nice.

Tom Sniegoski [00:52:39]: She’s very androgynous. Kind of slightly odd, not quite — you have to question, is she human or not?

[CRAFT — Finding Artists / Economics of Small-Press Publishing]

Kari [00:52:55]: Can you find me an artist that’ll just say, “Hey, I want to draw pictures for you and do illustrations for your book”? Because I’m out there going — okay, I want to get at least one or two illustrations and I’m pitching people and they’re like, “Oh, I do a thousand dollars a page.” And I’m just like — that’s.

Tom Sniegoski [00:53:18]: That’s the hardest thing. I mean, I totally respect artists and I know they all deserve to be paid for their work — but at the same time, if you’re a struggling writer, you don’t have the money to say, “Here’s my book. Can you do 10 illustrations for me?”

Kari [00:53:38]: Yeah. I’ve learned: if you have money and you see something you like, even if you have no idea what you’re going to use it for, you buy it. I have a book cover that’s been sitting on hold for me — I threw like $275 at it to get all the rights. That’s pretty good.

Tom Sniegoski [00:53:59]: Yeah, that’s—

Kari [00:53:59]: Yeah, it was. Digital audio, regular covers, everything. And he’s been sitting on it for me for like six years.

Tom Sniegoski [00:54:17]: It’s tough.

Kari [00:54:18]: And like you said, they need to have the money.

Tom Sniegoski [00:54:21]: Yeah, you can’t be mad at them.

Kari [00:54:28]: They get it if you can’t afford it. I don’t want to be like, “Can I get a friend deal?” I totally respect them, but a lot of artists don’t put their prices up because it depends on what they’re doing. So you have to approach everybody. I find you obviously earned the respect of the artist.

Tom Sniegoski [00:54:52]: I find that conventions are a great place to meet new guys who are just starting out — who may not have done a ton of work but want to work. Little local shows — you’d be amazed at the talent that’s out there. Maybe it’s very possible you could find somebody and play Let’s Make a Deal — “If we make any money, I’ll split it with you 50-50.” I mean, it’s tough.

Kari [00:55:30]: Yeah. And the fun part — sorry, we’re going totally off-track and into prose for a second — but being in an anthology where instead of getting paid for the story, you get royalties. I’ve had to report my royalties. I’m on disability. I have epilepsy. And they’re like, constantly, “Okay, so what were your royalties this period?” I’m like, nothing. Because I was one of like 15 authors in a book published six years ago. They don’t pay you until you accumulate a certain amount of money that the publisher feels is worth crediting. And I literally had to explain to Social Security how royalties work when you aren’t Stephen King.

Tom Sniegoski [00:56:24]: Well, because everybody assumes that’s the level. If he’s making it, you’re making it — because you’re a writer.

Drew [00:56:31]: Yeah.

Kari [00:56:31]: Oh yeah. No, I’m a writer. I don’t make money. I just — it’s a fun little hobby. Someday I hope to make money, but currently I’m going into debt. That’s how it works. Okay. I’ll get off the writing things because I’m gonna try to snag this man for the Outlet Network, Clutch Personalities, so we can have him and Janine come on and discuss this latest book.

[CURRENT READING]

Leo [00:58:08]: Tom, evidently your love of comics just exudes from you. Is there anything you’re currently reading — when you have time?

Tom Sniegoski [00:58:30]: I spend and read way too much. When I’m called on it, I freeze. Let me see — off the top of my head. Reading the Batman stuff. The Batman stuff’s been fun. Like Tom Taylor’s run on Detective Comics — he was writing Nightwing for a while, and now he’s writing Detective. That’s been fun. Tom King’s Wonder Woman — I think that’s fantastic. Something is Killing the Children from BOOM! Studios — Tynion. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Oh God, oh — I’m really liking the Ghost Machine stuff at Image. You know, Redcoat and Geiger—

Drew [00:59:23]: Yes.

Tom Sniegoski [00:59:24]: And Crowded.

Kari [00:59:28]: The shirt from High Street.

Tom Sniegoski [00:59:30]: Yeah, yeah. High Street. That stuff is a blast. I’m loving it.

Drew [00:59:37]: I’ve been recommending all that as well. And I just want to also say — because we had this creator on earlier — if you want, giving Batman: Dark Patterns—

Tom Sniegoski [00:59:49]: Oh yeah, I have it. I haven’t read it yet.

Drew [00:59:51]: Oh my — it is so good. They’re on their second arc right now. I think they’re doing like four three-issue arcs. They’re so good. We had Dan Watters, the guy who’s writing it—

Tom Sniegoski [01:00:08]: Okay.

Drew [01:00:09]: Oh man. We’re just loving that. Early Batman, but where he’s taking the characters — oh, it’s so good. So if you like Batman—

Tom Sniegoski [01:00:19]: Yeah, I’m a huge Batman fan. I’d love to—

Leo [01:00:25]: There’s a horror element to it as well.

Tom Sniegoski [01:00:28]: That’s very cool. I like that.

Drew [01:00:30]: Oh yeah.

Leo [01:00:31]: Absolute Batman is also really good. They just started — really fun.

Tom Sniegoski [01:00:35]: That’s really — actually I’m enjoying all those Absolute titles.

Leo [01:00:42]: Oh, I was just going to say — did you read the most recent issue with Mr. Freeze?

Tom Sniegoski [01:00:48]: No, I haven’t got it yet.

Leo [01:00:51]: Definitely a unique take on it. Very cool.

Tom Sniegoski [01:00:53]: Yeah. I’d heard there was a new take on the character, so I got really curious.

Drew [01:00:57]: Yeah. I mean, honestly, all three Absolute titles — Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman, Absolute Batman — are just taking these characters in such great directions. And I think they did the Flash with Jeff Lemire, and then—

Tom Sniegoski [01:01:17]: And the Martian Manhunter.

Drew [01:01:19]: Yeah. Oh, that was great too. And I think they just released Absolute Green Lantern as well. So they’re just firing on all cylinders. It’s great.

Tom Sniegoski

[01:01:36]: It’s nice to be inspired to keep doing it. Yeah. I find that you get a little bit worn down every once in a while, and all it takes is one good comic and I’m back, baby. You’re totally re-energized because you can see what the art form can do.

Drew [01:02:01]: I think the thing with comics is you’re always reading these ideas and you get that — why didn’t I think of that? That is just—

Tom Sniegoski [01:02:11]: I do that. I’m like, Jesus Christ, why didn’t I think of that first?

Drew [01:02:16]: Yeah exactly. These are so good.

Kari [01:02:21]: One we haven’t mentioned for Absolute yet is Superman with Jason Aaron. He’s killing that.

Drew [01:02:29]: And then—

Kari [01:02:30]: Okay, again — I am weird in what I watched because of my age range and when I had cable. I know Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — heroes in a half shell, pizza, cowabunga — but I didn’t really watch the show, and I didn’t know much about the comic. I grew up in a small town in Nebraska. We didn’t have an LCS. But Jason Aaron is writing it right now. And my question — I asked him this when we had him on — I’m just like: “Who broke you? What did Donatello ever do to you? Why did you do that?” So I’ve loved that lately. And it’s not just him — there have been a lot of creators who do a lot of horror that are breaking into mainstream stuff and pulling in the darkness.

Tom Sniegoski [01:03:26]: Oh yeah.

Kari [01:03:27]: And that is just so wonderful to see. And poor Leo — we’re like, “Leo, guess what we’re gonna have you read this time?” And he’s just like, “Oh God.”

Drew [01:03:38]: Yeah, we have to kind of warn him. Like, “I wouldn’t eat anything reading this.”

Leo [01:03:45]: Yeah.

Tom Sniegoski [01:03:47]: You know—

Leo [01:03:49]: Yeah. I have a tad bit of PTSD, so horror can be a bit touchy.

Tom Sniegoski [01:03:59]: Yeah, it all depends on the type of horror, I would imagine.

Drew [01:04:05]: Yeah. But we kind of gauge it by how quickly Leo shakes his head. Any of us recommends anything — what the—? Like, what is wrong with you? Did you not enjoy it? He says, “Yes, but now I need therapy.” I’m like, that’s not—

[BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER — Video Games / Reboot Discussion]

Drew [01:04:37]: Tom, I do have to ask one other thing. I know you’ve done a lot of work involving Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Tom Sniegoski [01:04:54]: Yep.

Drew [01:04:54]: And I know that’s back in the news because they’re doing some kind of reboot or sequel. Does that excite you?

Tom Sniegoski [01:05:02]: I’m curious. I don’t think they’ll invite me or Chris back to partake in anything they do. But yeah, I mean — I’m just curious as to what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t sound like a total reboot. It sounds like almost picking up where they left off, but with new characters. That sounds fun to me.

Drew [01:05:47]: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Tom Sniegoski

[01:05:50]: Chris and I wrote the two Buffy video games. Yeah.

Kari [01:05:58]: How was that?

Tom Sniegoski [01:05:58]: That was a nightmare. I never imagined video game writing would be such a pain in the ass.

Drew [01:06:07]: It was?

Tom Sniegoski [01:06:07]: It was. Chris put it this way: we had to come up with literally hundreds of things for vampires to say before they exploded into ash. I mean, they didn’t want just five — they wanted like a thousand. I mean, all the characters had that kind of thing. So it got to a point where it was so monotonous, just trying to come up with how to say something slightly different than the last thing we just said. Chris was like, “I’ll pay you some of my money if you would just write this.” I’m like, “No — you’re in it with me.”

Kari [01:06:47]: Did you have to deal with the if/then or statements — all the branches that can happen?

Tom Sniegoski [01:06:55]: Yeah, I think we had like a giant piece of paper that—

Kari [01:06:59]: Yeah, they have to code it, but you have to do the — it’s like a choose-your-own-adventure book, really.

Tom Sniegoski [01:07:05]: I mean, they let us come up with a lot of the stuff, and then they kind of took what we said to see how they could incorporate it into the game. I remember — they were all upset because we had demon penguins. There was a zoo scene in one of them, and we had demon penguins. And they were like, “Oh, we’re not going to do penguins.” And Chris and I got all mad, and I think they ended up doing the penguins.

Drew [01:07:43]: And just to let you know — the great Steve Sampson just showed up in chat to let you know he loved the Buffy game.

Tom Sniegoski [01:07:49]: Oh cool. Look who it is!

[HELLBOY — Young Hellboy / New Project Teased]

Leo [01:08:05]: Drew didn’t bring this up, and I haven’t had a chance to do any research on it, but literally a couple minutes before the show — doing my usual pre-show research — it looks like you’re doing another Young Hellboy story. Is that correct?

Tom Sniegoski [01:08:20]: We did two.

Leo [01:08:21]: Okay.

Tom Sniegoski [01:08:22]: And right now — something hasn’t been announced that I can really announce, but I think I probably just — kind of did by saying that. It’s not what you think it is, but there are elements of what you think it is. How about that?

Drew [01:08:40]: Okay, that’s cryptic enough to create curiosity. Good enough.

Leo [01:08:46]: Okay. So this might have been the article — Hellboy…

Tom Sniegoski [01:08:51]: Yeah, that was the first one. Oh — and then we did Young Hellboy: Assault on Castle Death. The Officer Johnson story. Yeah.

Drew [01:09:01]: Great.

Tom Sniegoski [01:09:02]: That was really fun to do. Yeah.

Drew [01:09:05]: I mean, listen — my goal is one day to have written a Hellboy story. If I could just do one story and it isn’t awful, I’d be like — okay, I’m good.

Tom Sniegoski [01:09:16]: He is such a fantastic character to write. When Mignola asked me the first time to do it, I — my brain couldn’t even comprehend it.

Drew [01:09:26]: I’m such a huge fan. I got to meet Mignola years ago at an art show. He was just sitting there and I was like, “Are you Mike Mignola?” He said, “Sometimes.” And I was like — give me one more minute. He’s like, “Yeah, take your time.” And I just said: “Hi, big fan. As you can tell by the B.P.R.D. hoodie. I have some things — would you mind signing them?” “Oh yeah, sure.” “Can I take a photo?” “Oh, take a photo.” And he was just so cool.

Tom Sniegoski [01:10:18]: I mean, he’s a good guy.

Drew [01:10:21]: And it’s funny because we have a tradition — at the end of every year we do live reads, holiday themed. We’ve been doing Hellboy stories. We’ve adapted a lot of the Christmas stories, and we also did The Crooked Man in conjunction with the movie that came out. And it’s just the most nerve-wrackingly greatest thing, because it’s like — adapting is one thing. We’re bringing the voices. And I’m always like, “I don’t think my voice is that good.” And Kari’s like, “It’s you. You’ll be fine.” And we do the thing, and I’m like, this is good, but it’s no Ron Perlman. Mike didn’t approve — we didn’t get the thumbs up, but we didn’t get sued, so — I don’t know, man. We have to keep doing more until we get senpai’s attention.

Kari [01:11:23]: They put it up on the Mignolaverse Discord. We finally released the final edited copy of the Hellboy: Crooked Man live read, and it got a lot of hits right away. Over 400 hits in the first week. So—

Tom Sniegoski [01:11:44]: Yeah, Hellboy fans are strong. They love Hellboy.

Drew [01:11:50]: Oh dude — you and all your collaborators — Hollow Earth, Young Hellboy. You got to contribute to the great… well, to the Hellboy stories. And that’s the best thing about that character — he was in business so long, you can pull a story from anywhere in his career. And B.P.R.D. Even stuff like the Frankenstein spin-off.

Tom Sniegoski [01:12:26]: A lot of like — that Frankenstein spin-off was Chris and I basically saying to Mike: “You know…” And he was like, “No — the story’s done, it’s over, the world ended, it’s done.” We said, “Yeah, but—” And he listened to us for like 10 minutes and then he was like, “Yeah, that is good.” So yeah — that’s how the Frankenstein stuff came about.

Drew [01:12:55]: That is so super cool. Alright, Kari, Leo — do you have any more questions?

[KARI’S TIKI CLUB QUESTION]

Kari [01:13:02]: Okay, so I need to ask this of all our horror writers or horror creators. I have become convinced that somewhere out there is a super-secret horror comic creator Tiki Club — and that you all gather together in different tiki bars when you’re at conventions. And there’s this pathway, and if you follow it on the right night and open the right door, you can get yourself into the entrance of the “Thin Place Tiki Club” — where, like, the house just shows up where it’s supposed to be, the tiki club shows up where it’s supposed to be. And I would like to ask: if you happen to be a member, can you tell me anything?

Tom Sniegoski [01:14:12]: I am not, I am not a member. I am not cool enough to be a member of that. That is something I am not familiar with.

Kari [01:14:21]: Okay, I just like to check.

Tom Sniegoski [01:14:24]: My eyes are open now that you’ve alerted me. I’ll be watching for it.

Kari [01:14:30]: I give out tiki things as offerings so that maybe someday I’ll be invited. Okay, now it’s Leo’s turn.

[PERSONAL — What Tom Geeks Out About / Harvey Dent the Dog]

Leo [01:14:44]: Speaking of watching, I just noticed in the back there — your Baby Yoda, Grogu—

Tom Sniegoski [01:14:51]: Yeah.

Leo [01:14:51]: Oh my God. Yeah, I had a phase where I was collecting all the Grogus I could, and my wife actually shut me off. No more Grogus can enter this house.

Tom Sniegoski [01:15:04]: Around the house there’s a dense one down there. Yeah, there’s all kinds of stuff.

Leo [01:15:12]: So one thing we like to ask everybody is — when you are not doing your craft, is there something that you dork out about? What do you use in your downtime to relax?

Tom Sniegoski [01:15:32]: I play video games.

Leo [01:15:33]: Yeah.

Tom Sniegoski [01:15:37]: You know, it’s funny — most of the things that I geek out about are connected to my job, connected to the work. So like, I love picking up and reading a bunch of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee Fantastic Fours, or thumbing through a Frazetta art book. You know, that’s the stuff that gets me excited. It’s almost like fuel to keep going with this. But yeah — I walk my dog. He’s kind of a cool character. I have a French Bulldog.

Leo [01:16:18]: Oh, nice.

Tom Sniegoski [01:16:19]: Named Harvey. Harvey Dent is his full name.

Drew [01:16:23]: Oh, nice.

Tom Sniegoski [01:16:25]: Yeah — because he’s white on one side and black on the other side. So it was like, perfect.

Leo [01:16:37]: My brother has a couple of bulldogs — Butch and Kiki. And yeah, they’re just adorable. We have a chocolate lab and she’s like our child.

Tom Sniegoski [01:16:53]: Oh yeah. I had a lab before the French Bulldogs. You’ll notice in some of my earliest work there are labs in almost all of my early stories.

Leo [01:17:14]: What do you think of Krypto in the new Superman movie?

Tom Sniegoski [01:17:17]: Oh, I love it. Absolutely love it. I’ve always wanted to see Krypto in the movies, but I wasn’t 100% sure how they would do it. There’s a line you have to be really careful with — it could get silly really quick. But just watching that clip, they nailed it. I was like, this is how you do this.

Drew [01:17:48]: It’s hard.

Leo [01:17:48]: It’s hard to see — and this is all CGI, too.

Tom Sniegoski [01:17:51]: I had to almost question that. I was like, wait — is that or isn’t that?

Kari [01:17:57]: So that’s not a real dog.

Tom Sniegoski [01:18:00]: No, no.

Drew [01:18:02]: You just broke Kari. She’s done.

[WRAP-UP / SOCIAL MEDIA / FINAL ANNOUNCEMENTS]

Kari [01:18:29]: Oh, are you on Blue Sky?

Tom Sniegoski [01:18:35]: Yeah, I’m on Blue Sky.

Drew [01:18:37]: There you go.

Leo [01:18:43]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So before we wrap things up — just want to remind everybody that this weekend you’re going to be at Boston Wicked Comic Con. And then Free Comic Book Day is going to be Rochester, New Hampshire at Jetpack Comics.

Tom Sniegoski [01:18:58]: Yeah.

Leo [01:19:00]: Janine as well.

Drew [01:19:03]: Tom, thank you so much for joining us. This was absolutely fantastic. In terms of people keeping in touch — what’s the best way to get in touch with you?

Tom Sniegoski [01:19:36]: I am on Facebook. I am on Blue Sky. I am on Threads. I’m still on Twitter — I don’t know how much longer I’ll be on Twitter, but I’m there. So just look up Sniegoski. You’ll find me there. There aren’t that many of us.

Drew [01:19:54]: Fair enough.

Kari [01:19:56]: Steve [Sampson], there’s news to come.

Drew [01:19:58]: News.

Kari [01:19:59]: This was great to have you on.

Drew [01:20:03]: Absolutely. Please keep us in the loop on any Kickstarters or anything like that — send us links, let us know. We’ll be more than glad to promote and help people give you more money.

Tom Sniegoski [01:20:17]: Wonderful.

Kari [01:20:18]: Yeah, I am all about giving my money — and convincing other people that they need to give their money to you, sir.

Tom Sniegoski [01:20:29]: For me? Yes, absolutely. I’ll take it.

Drew [01:20:32]: Alright, Leo — walk them through the exit, and then we’ll send him on his merry way.

Leo [01:20:38]: Yeah, totally. So, Tom — when you’re ready, there’s a Leave Studio button on the bottom. When you click on that, it’ll prompt you to go to an uploads page. Just leave it on that until it’s done. And you’ll see this posted a couple of different times. I’ll probably take out some embarrassing clips and put them up.

Tom Sniegoski [01:21:05]: I’ll share it all over the place.

Drew [01:21:08]: Oh yeah, we got you.

Kari [01:21:09]: We love that.

Drew [01:21:10]: We’re gonna promote the hell out of it, so — thank you again, man. Thank you so much. Good luck with everything you’re working on.

Tom Sniegoski [01:21:15]: Thank you. New stuff coming that I can’t talk about yet, but I’d love to be back on and talk about it.

Drew [01:21:23]: Oh, absolutely. We’re ready.

Leo [01:21:28]: Yeah, we’ll look forward to Herculoids.

Tom Sniegoski [01:21:30]: Yeah. Herculoids. And Nera — Nera is coming in a month or so.

Kari [01:21:37]: I will book you for that.

Tom Sniegoski [01:21:38]: Yes. Oh — Vampirella: Armageddon is my new Vampirella series.

Drew [01:21:46]: Okay.

Tom Sniegoski [01:21:47]: That will be — I think it’s in the next Previews book. Yeah.

Drew [01:21:59]: We’ll check it out. Alright. Thank you, guys.

Kari [01:22:09]: Have a good night.

Drew [01:22:09]: [END — Castmagic cutoff]

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