The artists of the 10ton Pod frequent comic conventions fairly often, and last month went to a couple that were both meaningful in their own right.

One was the Latinx Comic Arts Festival in Modesto California. Manuel has been helping with this Festival for the better part of a decade. It is one of the larger Latino festivals in California, and it's free for the patrons and the artists.

The other convention was Wondercon in Anaheim, CA. This is a con that helps gauge what to expect for the July Comic Con in San Diego. It's a timely barometer into the psyche of consumers, and also their pocketbooks.

And, the Blokee Transformers toy unboxing. It's a 12-pack of toys in a special box that John miraculously didn't open until we recorded. Listen in as the old Gen Xers talk ad nauseam about how awesome the toys, and the Transformers are.

Tune in for a bit and chill.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

This is video that was recorded during the unboxing from chapter 17. You can see the Blokee collectibles being fought over gladiator style as Manuel, John, and Kirk battle over the figures...and by gladiator style we mean have a cordial, border line Canadian, talk about which figurines they want to keep.

It's quite cool to live a little bit of nostalgia and childhood with the Transformers collectibles, and also great to hear Manuel getting caught by his wife watching the old Transformers cartoon.

Enjoy.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

John enlightens Kirk and Manuel by regaling them with tales of the Seattle Seahawks, which then leads them down a tunnel of sports they like and watching, which then leads to a pissed off John and going off about the dick gatekeepers in comics.

But that is just where the fun begins. The gatekeepers are the ones who don't allow for the creatives to be creative to get shit done. But then there's always people you meet at cons, or folks you may interact with who appreciate you, or your art, or just love art in general.

And finally, what is your dream job? The answers that the boys provide are pretty fucking amazing. I mean, Kirk wants to be an astronaut, John wants to be a wide receiver in the NFL, and Manuel was to be a kick ass working artist that draws for a living...wait a second.

And maybe, sorry, it should be finally, finally, the boys talk about process. Maybe there's more. We don't know. Just listen, it will be fun.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

The second half of our conversation involves some Batman reminiscing, Voltron, The Adventures of Gumball, Bebe's Kids, and the overall evolution of animation and storytelling.

We also have and going to a smaller con in the city of Alameda called The Cape and Cowl. The con was held at a brewery and had the feel of an old school con where people were there for the love of comics, meeting others, celebrating the art in all its forms, and really focusing on what is important in the comic field.

Enjoy.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

We grew up on Saturday morning cartoons and cereal, and in this episode we talk about all of our favorites. From Cringer to Gumball, we detail the animations that we love, as well as the actual format, style, and voice acting.

Part One:

Cartoons and comics were a major part of our lives, and definitely influenced our styles. Tune in and join us as we venture down that nostalgic cartoon road while bringing it to its current place.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

This episode we reviewed The Fantastic Four: First Steps. All we can say is that this is a glorious film. It’s a magnificent display of style and story telling. The pace in which the movie was done, the cgi used for the characters was amazing, and we finally got an actual Galactus, not a tropical space storm.

The stylization, story, acting, and heart behind this film is remarkable. It can't be stated enough. The care and concern given to each member helped enhance the overall story and team fabric.

This movie had humor, heart, and was a great follow up to The Thunderbolts.

Give it a listen.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

First and foremost, Mr. Terrific was the star of this movie. And, oddly enough, we forgot to mention anything about Edi Gathegi's magnificent performance.

He WAS God Damned Mr. Terrific and we didn't say anything about him.

100% our bad.

And, the rest of this review is just fucking pointless, but listen anyway. Just jokes.

This movie did so much for our overall psyche. It was bright, hopeful, beautiful, and human. This was the feel and style that we were hoping for from Superman. It's what we needed from Superman.

Hope.

This movie felt grounded. It had a firm foundation on which to build. The environments were real which made the story and movie more believable.

It kept us in that world. The characters in the movie all brought it. The action, the acting, and the roles they played, all went into this incredible kick off for the new DCU.

And, Mr. Terrific was amazing. Can't be stated enough...unless you didn't fucking state it in the podcast reviewing the movie that he was in.

Give it a listen, and don't forget to keep doing more of what you love.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com

John, Manny, and Kirk discuss the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, Andor. It was really an amazing show and really helped ground the Star Wars franchise outside Jedi and the force.

It's such a beautiful story filled with love, hope, despair, uncertainty, and the fledgling development of the Rebellion that helped overthrow the Empire. No role or character was wasted.

And, the reimaging of an old tale with the sophisticated and stylish animated movie, Predator: Killer of Killers. The premise of this movie asks "What happens to all of the "prey" that bested the Predator trying to kill them?"

The characters, environments, and authentic nature of each story within the film makes this one of the most interesting and overarching Predator movies to date. And, with the post credits scene of "Naru" from Prey, the next movies in this franchise are completely wide opened for repeats of all surviving prey from past Predator films.

So tune in and enjoy.

Three dudes talk about cool shit in regards to art, comics, movies, pop culture, and a menagerie of other goodies. We will sing our praises of what we love, and might touch on a few things that left us feeling a little meh.

John Hageman started his professional comics career in 2006 with his weekly webcomic Social Vermyn, which ran until 2013. In 2015, Hageman began co-publishing the Rock and Roll Biographies comic series with ACME Ink. This led to the creation of 10 Ton Press which focuses on creator-owned comic book projects including Charley & Humphrey, The RNR series, and Becoming Frankenstein.

Manuel Martinez was born of immigrant parents, educated by the public system and dedicated to art, lead to becoming an incredible concept artist, comic book illustrator, and artist for hire. He works as a concept artist during the day, and is an integral part of the 10 Ton Press family.

Kirk Visola is the Creative Director and Founder of his design company, MIND THE FONT™. He on occasion will lend his design chops to help with layouts, graphics, and even sometimes a little druuuuwing of his own.

Check us out at www.10tonpress.com