E.D. Kearsley

Voice Over (00:03):
This show is sponsored by the Comics Shop. We hope you enjoy the show.

Leigh Chalker (00:25):
All right, good day. Welcome to another episode of Tuesday Chinwag. My name is Lee Chalker, the creator of the Australian Independent Comic book Battle for Bustle, published through comic studios. So when the little yellow ticker box comes up across the bottom, you will notice that there’s two addresses. One for com x, uh, network, and the other for Aussie verse. Now, that is the addresses of the two streams that we, uh, are basically shown live, uh, while we’re doing this show. So you can follow those addresses to go and see the content of both of those sites and, uh, see what’s out there because there’s a lot of stuff that you may enjoy. So, um, basically if you’ve never heard of them either, and, uh, you love them, you wanna support them, you like the shows you, like everything about Australian comics, do the most important thing you can do, which is like, and subscribe them anywhere you can find them, because that helps the community grow, and that’s a good thing for everyone. So this evening I have, uh, a guest that, um, I’ve done a lot of live streams with him before. Um, he’s been around an awfully long time. I mean, the man has got a couple of his own shows going on, and, uh, he’s a, well, look man, he is a valued member of the community, and, uh, he’s always in there trooping and slugging away and, uh, giving it everything he’s got. And, uh, this evening I would like to introduce Mr. Edmund Kiley. How are you, mate?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:55):
I’m good.

Leigh Chalker (01:56):
That’s the ticket. That’s the way. So all comments are welcome. So, uh, if I don’t get to anyone, hello Kerry? Uh, if I don’t get to anyone, uh, don’t think I’m being rude, but I will try and come back. William. Hello mate. How are you doing? And, uh, we’ll, uh, every, everyone’s welcome to, uh, you know, like talk, ask questions, and, uh, we’ll do what we can to, um, answer them as best as we can. So the show is fluid. It’s two dudes, two people creators, just having a chinwag and, uh, based on who, what, where, when, how, and why. So I always like to start with the, uh, lovely existential question that could go anywhere. Hello, Robbie Kiley, you champion. So, ed, who,

E.D. Kearlsey (02:44):
Who,

Leigh Chalker (02:47):
Who are you brother for all people? Dunno.

E.D. Kearlsey (02:51):
I am a person who makes comic books

Leigh Chalker (02:56):
Uhhuh. <affirmative>. And you’ve been making comic for a long time. Yeah,

E.D. Kearlsey (03:01):
I have. Um, so I started, uh, taking it seriously in about 93.

Leigh Chalker (03:10):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (03:10):
And then, uh, by about 97 was when I put my first, uh, self-published book out. So,

Leigh Chalker (03:20):
Yeah. Yeah. So it’s what, mini comic, like self-published mini sort of thing? Yeah. Or uh,

E.D. Kearlsey (03:25):
Yeah, if I’d thought about it, I would’ve got one.

Leigh Chalker (03:28):
Yeah. That’s cool. You can poke around there, men, while we’re having a yarn and bring things up as you want to display ’em and stuff. ’cause the show’s all about you and your involvement.

E.D. Kearlsey (03:37):
There’s an a

Leigh Chalker (03:37):
4 5 1,

E.D. Kearlsey (03:41):
So just a photocopied, um, a four size book. Yeah, yeah. Which was the style at the time because, um, getting stuff printed like at the, at the offset printer back in the nineties was, uh, cost thousands and thousands of dollars. So,

Leigh Chalker (04:01):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s, um, yeah, that, it certainly, things are a lot easier now, aren’t they? Um, you know, you hear, I dunno whether they’re horror stories or magic, it’s probably horror story about the production, but magic that so many creators, uh, got through, you know, like to publish so many of their own comic books now. Um, I want to, now you got a mate, um, Taylor Hislop. Yeah, that’s his name from memory. And he’s a good dude. Um, he was telling me a story randomly one day, um, about how, uh, more or less you, you trained yourself from, um, a teenager, more or less because you were writing stories and, and the artists that you had just, you know, like didn’t have the same, uh, gusto and as what you had man to, um, yeah. And, and build a finish. And then you just thought, oh, bugger it. You know, like, I’ll learn to draw. So what was that like? Because I, I want to talk to you about that. ’cause I, I can’t remember when I started drawing, I guess when I was a little tacker. But, um, what was it like being a teenager and deciding that you were going to like, train yourself to draw man?

E.D. Kearlsey (05:14):
Well, I’d always like drawn my whole life, but it was around like, um, like grade five and six, when there some kids that were really good. I like coming out and there like, there’s always the best artist in the class sort of kid. Yeah. And that was that kid. So, you know, I was always still doodling and stuff, but never really took it seriously. And then when I did my first comic, which well, I do have here, so this is, this is the story that I did in year 10. And so it’s in my, in my workbook, which I, the first page ripped out. ’cause that’s all I, that’s the only actual schoolwork I did in year 10, <laugh>. And then the rest is this. And if you have a look, you said it’s like a manga style. ’cause I was looking at, um, an area 88 comic.

Leigh Chalker (06:11):
Yeah, yeah. Which is

E.D. Kearlsey (06:12):
An old, um, manga. So I wrote the story in that just as, ’cause I didn’t know about scripts or anything, so I wrote it as a comic.

Leigh Chalker (06:21):
Yep.

E.D. Kearlsey (06:21):
And then I tried to get my, like, my mates who were good at drawing to draw it and um, like I got a good pen and had got some paper and got them to come around my house and they drew one page and they’re like, we’re bored now we’re going and say they nicked off. And I was like, oh, so I need to learn how to draw if I want to get a comic made.

Leigh Chalker (06:46):
So like you, you, you’re doodling you, you’re scribbling away at school and stuff like that. Did you ever do any art classes or anything? Or it just sort of was a natural thing for you just to be scribbling?

E.D. Kearlsey (06:57):
I always did the lecture through high school for the electives. I did art and graphics, but they were more blood classes,

Leigh Chalker (07:05):
<laugh>,

E.D. Kearlsey (07:07):
Get outta doing work, but <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (07:10):
Yeah. See, I, I, I, yeah, I, I treated, I think I was only ever good at English and history, man and art, to be honest with you. It’s like everything else. Hello, absence minded. Nice to see you, um, viewing in again. Um, and thank you for your support, everyone. Um, yeah, history and English and art were my three things and I, I did really well in school and them and everything else. So I think I, I look, I was in attendance, but, uh, you know, my body was there, but my mind, uh, you know, certainly wasn’t. Um, so I can sympathise with that man. It’s, uh, but art was cool. What sort of art teacher did you have? Did you have someone that was like, um, encouraging? Um, uh, you know, no, we,

E.D. Kearlsey (07:56):
Uh, I had a, the art teacher, I went to primary school with her son.

Leigh Chalker (08:03):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (08:03):
And he was a, what I did call a snitch in the business, so <laugh>, he just to get me in trouble in, um, in like primary school, but telling him the, the things I’d been doing. And then by the time went to like to year seven, so seven through 10, she was the art teacher and she just didn’t like me, like it like as the nineties. So once you’re pegged as a bad kid, like you’re a, you’re a bad kid. Yeah. So,

Leigh Chalker (08:31):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, you and I are similar ages, man. So I remember gonna school in the nineties and I mean, look, I don’t know what it’s like now, but you are right. Even in North Queensland, if you were a somewhat of, had a somewhat of a, you know, shady, uh, backstory, you were certainly watched a lot closer than, uh, let’s say the, um, I would say the sporty crowd. So, uh, they could get away with anything in my school. So I was very sport orientated. Um, I was lucky that, uh, I sort of was on the line between both of those man, because I came from a sporty family and, you know, one side like was encouraged to do everything. But I was in the sporting teams as well and art. And so I sort of tended to go okay with it. Um, Ryan, Christopher, how are you mate?

(09:30)
So my music teacher was my best friend’s dad. Nightmare material <laugh>. Yeah, because it would be, I guess, um, ’cause ’cause my, uh, I’m glad we’re talking about like art classes and stuff, man, like in primary schools and secondary schools and that, ’cause um, I had off the coast of Townsville, um, five kilometres off the coast is an island. And it’s called Magnetic Island. It’s called Magnetic Island. ’cause when captains cook, uh, captain Cook’s, uh, endeavour went past his compass went crazy. So that just, it’s always kept the name and it’s a really small community. It was a very small comm. It’s a bit more up market now, you know. But, um, it was a very small community of only about 2000 people. And it’s a ferry across ferry back and stuff. And it was hippie, you know, like orientated man, you know, like I’m, I’m talking hippie, you know, um, uh, people can read between the lines to that as they wish, you know, it was a good party island, you know.

(10:33)
And, uh, I’ll say that. And um, uh, and my art teacher came from, lived there and, and her name was Mrs. Margaret McConnell. And I remember her like really well, because she was super encouraging and quite frankly didn’t care what you did, mate. You know what I mean? You could draw, you know, next week you’d be making sculptures next week you’d be printing t-shirts next week you’d be like wood, you know, like wood cutting and you know, like printing and, and all of that. And, um, yeah, she was really wild man with, you know, like, um, a lot of the stuff that she taught, you know, so it was really cool. I mean, God, you could even go in there at lunchtime, mate, you know, like when the old jocks were down there being eggheads and running around and, you know, throwing sausage rolls at people you could hide out up in the art room.

(11:23)
So it was really cool. Um, but yeah, very encouraging men. Um, and, uh, like, I guess <laugh>, I guess her being from a hippie island, you know, like we weren’t, uh, looked down, um, you know, as badly as what other kids were in school, uh, which was pretty good. Uh, mind you though, I’ve told the story before of, um, my art class and we collected comic books. We, we had a gig where we’d go to the library and, um, photocopy the latest, uh, comic books and sell ’em to other, you know, <laugh> sell ’em to other kids in the school, man for money and stuff. So we were, we were making a pretty packet, you know, um, until they cottoned onto us, which was a bit disappointing. But, uh, yeah, we were loaded for a while there, man. It was good. So, you know, um, anyway, good times. Um, but Ed, um, so with your, with your drawing and your like, hello Dave, how are you? Champion indeed. Um, he’s a good man. Um, um, with your artwork and stuff, like you just mentioned before that you were, your first couple of pages there, uh, that survived the, um, uh, the, uh, rip out of the first page, um, were manga orientated. So what, what was the first comic books that Little Ed was? Um, you know, having a look at and having a read? Man?

E.D. Kearlsey (12:48):
So, from as far back as I can remember, I’ve always had comics in my life. Mm-Hmm. Um, and ’cause my parents are from England, so I grew up on like Dandy and Bino. Yeah,

(13:01)
Yeah, yeah. The humour comics and, um, Buster and, um, later in the eighties, so it was getting into Mad Magazine and there was a, um, Hey Nick, there’s a, a British comic called Oink, which was yes, kind of like mad, but it was sort of like pig orientated, like the humour. And, um, so I loved all that stuff. And then around that time in the, like, the late eighties, I was going to like all the Sunday markets and garage sales around my area once I had a bike. And I was, I remember getting, um, like a Greenland and Green Arrow and Infinity Incorporated. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, just all the weird late eighties stuff. Um, I suppose it’s the seventies, but just all the stuff people were getting rid of.

Leigh Chalker (13:56):
Yep.

E.D. Kearlsey (13:57):
And, um, I never really got into that stuff at that time. I, I just like the looking at the pictures and was more into the humour side of stuff. But then in, um, in 1990, uh, for my birthday, my friend gave me like a stack of comic books for my birthday and it was like a, the Batman Will Only Place of Dying Yeah. Was in there. And that was like a, a big, it was a big one for me. ’cause after the bat mania of, um, like 89 Oh yeah. Cards. And so that was you,

Leigh Chalker (14:33):
Do you remember going to see Batman at the cinema?

E.D. Kearlsey (14:36):
Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (14:37):
Did it blow your mind as a kid?

E.D. Kearlsey (14:39):
Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (14:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember going too, man, and it was big. Like, it was, um, yeah, it was massive, man. Yeah, it

E.D. Kearlsey (14:46):
Was really cool. And that’s, that was kind of the change. ’cause we, the, the 66 show was always on TV through the eighties.

Leigh Chalker (14:54):
Yeah, yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (14:55):
And then, and then seeing Batman portrayed in that, that different, like a more say serious tone.

Leigh Chalker (15:02):
Yep, yep. Yeah, no, I agree.

E.D. Kearlsey (15:05):
The comics more like the, like the Tim Burton movie.

Leigh Chalker (15:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I, um, I, look, I’m a big fan of Batman Mate, as people had known, like, particularly the Alan Grant, norm Bra Fogle period, um, of, uh, detective Comics and Batman. Um, norm still a huge, uh, favourite of mine, mate. So, um, I often look back on those Batman comics, which, uh, with, um, much joy, uh, to be honest with you, at moments where, you know, you need a little bit of inspiration and you’re thinking to yourself, oh, I need to look at something. You know, like, oh, go and have a look at some Norm Batman stuff, you know? Um, but yeah, that Tim Burton was, um, Batman was like pivotal for a lot of us, I guess, at that age, because like a lot of the younger people that are listening, um, man, what’s weird, and I’ll go with like the little tangent off a little bit, but I’ll bring it back in, is, um, now there’s such an influx of comic book movies and look, that’s cool, man. You know, like, I, whatever, it’s, it’s all good. Like, it’s all good. Um, but even like when Batman came out, you know, at that stage we’d only had, like, from my memory, we’d, we’d had the Superman movies, you know, in the seventies we got the Dolf Lung and Punisher movie, you know what I mean? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, which, uh, look, to be honest with you, that’s one of those little sneaky ones that every now and then, you know, like, I don’t mind, you know, um, watching and, and reminiscing about, you know, um, um, so

E.D. Kearlsey (16:38):
Clearly shot in, um, Australia when you are looking at the backgrounds and stuff like,

Leigh Chalker (16:43):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s clearly, yeah. And, but it, it was cool ’cause, and it almost used to be like, like ravenous for you to get those sort of things. And then you used to get a few random ones like John Claude, van Dams, time Cop, you know, like, which was based on a, a comic book. And like, so it wasn’t where it is now, but I happened to maybe a fortnight ago, and I don’t watch many movies now and stuff. Like, I just don’t have the time. I’d rather be reading and creating. Um, but I sat down with my mom and, and, and it’s like, wish watch a movie. And she’s like, yeah, let’s watch a movie. What are you choosing? And I was flicking, I couldn’t find anything, and I came across Hulk <laugh> with Eric Banner. Right. And, you know, that one. And, um, and she’s like, you gotta be joking.

(17:32)
And I’m like, no, let’s watch this. And we watched it and as I was watching it, man, I realised to myself like, I didn’t re it was done 20 odd years ago, and when that came out, there wasn’t this Marvel or DC mania that there was now, hey. You know what I mean? Like was like, uh, one of the, like, it just stood alone. It just suddenly Holt came out and then I guess whether you like it or not, they built everything to an extent around that, you know? But, um, no, it was cool seeing superheroes and that come through, but the Spider-Man movies were pretty cool. But, um, what was, um, what was in the stack of those comic books that your mate gave you?

E.D. Kearlsey (18:14):
It was, um, the, there was two Spidermans and there was one Batman. That might have been it, there might have been an X-Men or something, but the, or a, maybe a Marvel. I think those was the Marvel Tales. That was like a, it would’ve been like a spectacular and an amazing ’cause he just went to the, the news agents on the way to my birthday. Yeah. Like, you know, and at the time I was like, oh, he didn’t even try. But then it was like, oh, that was the best present of the, of the thing. Um, yeah, I I’ve been trying to figure out which of the, the Spidermans it was. ’cause there’s one with, um, it’s when the Peace Pot Peak turned into the Trapster and he came backs his, just the guy that shoots glue so he can stick Spider-Man to stuff to stop him jumping around.

Leigh Chalker (19:10):
Yeah, man. Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (19:10):
Yeah. I I believe it had a peak,

Leigh Chalker (19:14):
Pete. I think

E.D. Kearlsey (19:15):
It had a, it had a, like a big bright yellow cover and then, um, there might’ve been like a Wolverine Spider-Man, Marvel Tales.

Leigh Chalker (19:25):
Yeah. Yeah. Was that one of those cool ones with like a Todd McFarlane cover, you know, like, and then with like reprints inside?

E.D. Kearlsey (19:32):
Yeah. Yeah. It was a reprints one, but I didn’t think it was Todd cover. But, um, yeah. And then the, and then the Batman with the, the, the only place that dying with the George Perez at the, which I’ve, I think that’s the only one I’ve still got the, the original actual one of

Leigh Chalker (19:51):
Did did you read the others to Death mate?

E.D. Kearlsey (19:54):
Yeah, I know, but I, I’ve done purges through the years of like, like moving or, or going through periods of like, oh, I’m never gonna read these ones again. And then like, years later, they still kept <crosstalk>. Yeah. I,

Leigh Chalker (20:10):
I’m, I’m guilty of doing purges too over the years, man. You know, like at one stage I, um, like moving around and that I had dad’s collection and I’d been collecting, and I used to work like, obviously like full time when I was younger. And that’s when comic books were available at every news agents. And news agents were everywhere. You know, there were like three in a mall or two in a shopping centre and that, and like, you could just pick up random comics every lunchtime. I was just buying random comics, man. And like, know you do that for a couple of months and you look over at your pile. And so <laugh>, it’s like, whoa. Okay. You know, there’s a lot of comic books and some of them, you know, like aren’t as good as others. And, um, you do read a lot of stuff though.

(20:58)
But, um, yeah, purging, man, like eBay was good in its day. ’cause you could, you know, like, uh, look, I’ll just ske outta these ones. But, um, um, do you like with the, um, ’cause when you mentioned the, the comedy things that you enjoy and you’re talking about like, coming into the superhero stuff, I, um, like for everyone out there that doesn’t know, we’ll get into it more, but Ed does a comic book called Radical. And, uh, you know, like when, I guess when you’re starting out and you’re meeting with people, you do swaps of your comic books. You know what I mean? That’s how you sort of, you know, like, Hey, you know, like I’ll swap you these for this. And you mail ’em off to each other and there’s this weird snail mail of, you know, like, introducing yourself and, and you know, like getting to know each other and that.

(21:51)
And, um, and Ed and I swapped our comics, and Radical was the ones that he sent me. Hello, Omni Bow, how are you? And you’re recovering from last night’s birthday, mate, <laugh>. And um, um, and I got radical and, uh, laser balls <laugh>. Exactly. I was just gonna, man, one of the greatest comic book villains you’ll ever come across as laser balls. Don’t worry about a bloke with fires blew out of his hands. And stick Spider-Man to a wall. You know, we want more laser balls. So Ed, we should get a petition happening for you to do more Laser ball comic. Um, radical Man is one of the, and that’s him. Look at that dude. Okay. One of the greatest villains you’ll ever see in a comic book anywhere. His laser balls unbelievable. Like, made me laugh, man. What a great character. And he’s a cool character too.

(22:44)
But what I’m getting at is there’s a superhero quality to your comic books, but there’s also like, man, I did not realise how much I was laughing at like, the dialogue and how you’d set everything up. Like literally, like, honestly laughing out loud man to the point where I was worried that the neighbours were gonna hear me laughing out loud. You know, like, if any, if no one’s read radical, there’s a particular point where, and it’s not a spoiler, but the villains setting this thing up to take down the hero are in a secret lair, and they haven’t revealed where their secret lair is, but they’ve got a group of villains, you know, like that they want to get a superhero team. And the entrance is, the lairs been found. I’m not doing it justice, but you’ll understand when you read it. And one of the dudes coming in bangs his elbow on the door <laugh>.

(23:39)
And it’s hilarious. Like, just what happens after that. So I would strongly recommend radical. Um, and it is actually one of my favourite comic books that I do go back to Ed and have a good, like, bit of a chuckle. ’cause comic books make you feel good. You know, sometimes wear a little bit down every now and then, and you know, you know, it’s like when you draw in the drawer and just don’t cut it. You know, like some days you just feel like reading some goodness, you know, sometimes some wholehearted, you know, like goodness is just, you know, just, well, goodness. And, um, for lack of, you know, like my, uh, you know, vocabulary and, um, um, but I, I definitely see how they coalesce those two men, like your comedy and your superheroes. But, um, when, ’cause you did your printing and so 1993, like, and you’re in school then, I, I’m presuming you’re around the, you know, like, uh, you’re around the 45-year-old mark. I’m, I’m assuming Yes, he is Nick. Very funny man. 46.

E.D. Kearlsey (24:42):
So it all kind of came about because in year 10 there were ev the, every, all the teachers and everything started being focused towards what are you gonna do for the rest of your life now

Leigh Chalker (24:53):
As they do, yeah. And,

E.D. Kearlsey (24:54):
And, uh, and work experience. So what do you want to do for work experience? And I was like, oh, well then if I have to do it forever, then I want to write comic books. I wanna make up stories. And, and, uh, and they were like, well, that’s, that’s not a job. That doesn’t exist. You can’t do that. And I was like, oh, it’s what I ended up working at a, at a pet shop. There’s, what else do you like? I was like, I like animals, like dogs and cats and stuff. And I, oh, cool, we’ll stick you in a pet shop. But it, it really got me started on like, once I made like this one, the first one, yeah. It was kind of all over for me. Like, it’s like, oh yeah, that’s more fun than anything else. So I’ll do that forever.

Leigh Chalker (25:43):
What was the fun part for you, man? Was it the sitting by yourself and seeing this, you know, your, your imagery in the, you know, your theatre of your mind come to life on the paper? Uh,

E.D. Kearlsey (25:53):
Yeah, it’s, it’s the, the, the, the creating part. Like, because at the actual, um, getting down to, to structuring stuff and, um, doing scripts and, and drawing is work, but the, the thinking up stuff is the just creating universes in your mind and then trying to get your, their hands to

Leigh Chalker (26:19):
Communicate

E.D. Kearlsey (26:20):
That to everyone else.

Leigh Chalker (26:22):
What’s your process mate? Like? Does it vary or are you very strict? You know, like, have you got a crack?

E.D. Kearlsey (26:29):
It’s different for everything. Like with radical, I did a full script and then rewrote it.

Leigh Chalker (26:38):
Yep.

E.D. Kearlsey (26:40):
Like a couple of times for the first one. So that took about a year to just write. ’cause I was working full time and yeah. In a really physical job. So I was always tired and like trying to have a social life as well, which is really hard when you trying to make comics.

(26:58)
Yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah, so all the radical stuff is full script and, and very like, structured. And, um, like I’ll make little mini comics. I, if I’ve got any around, but, and then I’ll do like the, um, the how to make comics the mile way where Stan said if there’s more than one sentence per page, then there’s too much stuff on the page. Like it’s too much going on. Yeah. So I’ll structure it like that. And, um, sometimes they even colour code the pages if it’s a, a fight scene or a stuff page or a like a plot moving forward and then tally them all up and see if there’s a good division and then move stuff around and take stuff out. And so, um, yeah, like that direct radical’s really structured. And then, um, like <inaudible> and Sea Andrews from Earth is kind of like on the fly as a go, just writing it page per page as they do it.

Leigh Chalker (27:59):
Yeah. Well that’s your, that the Sea Mandrels one is, um, the, the mini comic and, um, Mm-Hmm. So that was, you just focus, ’cause that was your Patreon comic book, wasn’t it? ’cause we’ll get to that at the end too, where you’ve got a Patreon page for people to, um, you know, jump on and check out your stuff as well. Um, like so that there was one page, like a week or something, you know, like you just

E.D. Kearlsey (28:27):
Yeah. I put up like a panel a week on, um, page on.

Leigh Chalker (28:31):
Yeah. Yeah, because, um, um,

E.D. Kearlsey (28:32):
I try to draw a page a week, but

Leigh Chalker (28:35):
Yeah, it’s, it’s tricky, eh, like, um, trying to, um, trying to get a comic book out. Like have you found your, um, have you found yourself like getting, as you’ve gotten on a little bit more and you’re a little bit more experienced with how you spend your time? Have you got it a little bit more like your time structured or you just do it whenever you can? Man,

E.D. Kearlsey (28:56):
I, yeah, I’ve got more time to do it, but I think I’ve got like, um, A DHD or whatever it’s called, so I, I’m trying to do 10 things at once that Yeah. Even when I was a kid, I would, I had this idea that I could do like four quarterlies a year. Yeah. And it would take me, I didn’t factor in that. It took me at like four years to make my first finished book. But I was like, oh, once I’ve done one I can do. So I, I was writing all this stuff and just imagining the, like my superhero universe. And So you’ve

Leigh Chalker (29:38):
Got all these script?

E.D. Kearlsey (29:41):
Um, no, I’ve got some, got some stuff. Um,

Leigh Chalker (29:46):
Because the way you’re talking is like, you’ve got a full universe created here, man, which is like I

E.D. Kearlsey (29:52):
Used to. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (29:53):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. Oh yeah. I, that’s a lot of work. It takes a lot of space in your mind too, man. Mm. Um, um, like for people that don’t create things. ’cause, um, oh dude, I, I, I don’t know. I, I’ve got no space in my brain for everyday living, mate. You know what I mean? Like, it’s like my, I don’t know. I can be driving down the street, man, and, you know, like, I’m thinking stories and comic books and someone’s running by the river and you know, your brain’s going off about, you know, like, oh, what if this happened and that happened. I don’t know if you’re the same, but I’m like that I don’t think I live on planet Earth, man. I think I live in Lee’s world, so, you know, it’s not bad world, but, you know, <laugh>, it’s not for everyone, but, um, hey, you know, like, it’s all right, I’m still here.

(30:40)
Um, but that, um, so like with, with ’cause, um, like obviously, you know, like, you know that I’m pretty, I like talking about the creative side of things, man, because, you know, like everyone’s got, um, a different process, you know, like everyone I’ve spoken to, like, some people like the Marvel way and synopsis, do the artwork, bring the script over later. Some people like the script and like it tight, you know, and you know, and then it, it’s, it’s whatever. But you seem to be someone from what you’re telling me that, um, whatever that motivation is right there and then is exactly how it’s gonna come out. Yeah. Like,

E.D. Kearlsey (31:23):
You know, kind. Yeah. A lot of stuff is, I, I start running before I’ve got it all figured out. Like the, like final dragon that’s when says was like, oh, have you got a story for the thing? I’m like, no. And then like a, a day later I’m like, oh, I’ve got this, this idea for 10 issues of, of the thing and, and just started going and then try and figure out how to put it into,

Leigh Chalker (31:50):
So you did that on the fly then you were doing that on the fly and just going, I was doing

E.D. Kearlsey (31:54):
The, I was doing the chunks, like the eight page chunks. But they were more structured. Yeah. The actual bits were structured to the eight page sections

Leigh Chalker (32:02):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (32:03):
For the presents. But I wasn’t thinking you find,

Leigh Chalker (32:07):
Do you find that, um, when you’ve been creating, ’cause the other thing is with you mate, is um, you don’t just do 24 page comic books. You do eight page, you know, like stories. You do one pages, you do a whole myriad. Like, do you think that trying, I, I’ve found that getting a story on one page is damn tricky. You know what I mean? I understand. Yeah. Oh man. And if you can do a good job on that to tell, you know, like the start and finish, you know, like the classic thing, uh, on one page, you’re doing well. You know, like, that’s, that’s real hard. Um, um, have you found that doing a variety of different length and and style stories has helped you as a creator? You know, like dabbling in these different things? Yeah. Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (33:01):
It’s definitely helped. Um, like strengthen the muscle of the, like as you’re saying, structuring a thing to, to one page. Like how do you, um, like do that. And then also with, um, like talking about that, the process, like, um, for different things. I used different stories to focus on certain elements of like, storytelling. Like the Final Dragon was all about movement and moving the eye across the page. Yeah. And ’cause it’s a, a karate fighting story, there’s lots of action, but trying to get that, the eye moving back and forwards across the page. Yeah. Yeah. And then so you get kind of, you build that muscle up and then it’s like, it’s, it’s built in, it’s like doing like boxing or whatever. Like once you’ve got that,

Leigh Chalker (33:58):
Got that muckle memory

E.D. Kearlsey (33:59):
That automatically then you start like, moving your head. Yep. And then when it comes time to like say the, the doing the comic book is the actual, when you’re in the ring, you’re not thinking about it as much. It’s like, it’s coming out and so it, it comes, it comes easier. Like the more reps you do like, like Yeah. Building up the muscles. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (34:20):
Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s a cool way of looking at it.

E.D. Kearlsey (34:23):
I found that as my style gets stronger, like the, what I’m seeing in my head look already looks closer to what my hand can make.

Leigh Chalker (34:33):
Yep.

E.D. Kearlsey (34:33):
So I don’t hate my art as much as, like, say a couple of years ago when I was really like fighting my hand to like draw. ’cause I was, I was seeing someone else’s art.

Leigh Chalker (34:43):
Yep.

E.D. Kearlsey (34:44):
Which my hand couldn’t do because I hadn’t practised as much.

Leigh Chalker (34:48):
So is that because you just hadn’t found Ed at that stage when you were first doing things, uh, absent minded? I completely get that hyper focus can be amazing when you’re in that zone. Absolutely. Um, it’s, um, because I think like for yourself, like, I, I want to touch on like a cool thing you just said then. And I, I hadn’t heard it articulated like this. Like you were seeing someone else’s artwork in your mind when you were starting. So that means you were trying to, um,

E.D. Kearlsey (35:24):
Trying to draw like Jim Lee or Eric Lawson or like, I could see a combination

Leigh Chalker (35:29):
And you were struggling a bit with it. You weren’t enjoying, you know,

E.D. Kearlsey (35:33):
<crosstalk> because it doesn’t look like, it never looked like what my head was seeing. Yeah. Like my hand wasn’t doing what my head was seeing, but as they, they got more in sync. And as my style coalesced into it’s what it is now, like I’m starting to see, like the stuff in my head is what, like how I would draw it.

Leigh Chalker (35:54):
Yeah. Yeah. So that means your language and yourself, your, your authentic self is coming through in your artwork now. Like, you’re no longer seeing anyone else’s art styles. Mm. You are seeing Ed Kiley, you know, like rocking out, not just in your mind, but you’re hand. Like you, you’re funnelling, you’re like, you’re coming out and you’re putting it on the pa on the page. Like, do you ever find like, um, because it’s weird, I like talking to you about this Ed. ’cause I, I’ve never really thought about how I do it, so I’m sort of trying to, um, you know, like you’ve got me thinking on a different sort of focus now. Um, have you, but

E.D. Kearlsey (36:35):
You, you’ve got a very strong style, so you must be like, and it doesn’t look really look like anything else, so you must be drawing from certain place or you just trying to, trying to survive. But page by page

Leigh Chalker (36:52):
<laugh> it’s from survival might, might be, yeah. Like, um, might be one of those things. Um, for me, ’cause um, like I’ve said before, you know, like creativity and drawing and stuff has been like, look, realistically, um, for me, um, drawing has been the only constant in or consistent thing in my life. Um, and I mean that, uh, through every aspect, you know, like even when I was a little kid, didn’t know who I was or what I was, um, you know, I would draw, I, my, my, I wasn’t particularly vocal. I was never, um, someone that expressed my feelings, you know, like a lot, even as a small kid. So I, um, used to spend a lot of time to myself and um, um, I guess my voice was my artwork. So my mother used to always say if I wasn’t drawing, there was something wrong.

(37:50)
She could tell what sort of mood I was in by like, you know, if I was using colours or you know, if I was black and white, you know, that sort of thing. So I guess I’ve always been like that. So I don’t really know where it comes from. Um, I think much like yourself, I understand where, when I was in those teenage early twenties, I was definitely seeing, I mean, I, I’ve got drawing, I, I hoard everything so I can sort of go back to like, you know, the eighties and nineties and God man, like I’ve got my kids draw comic books that I’ve made, you know, like in grade one and two. And that’s still, um, and I can see the things that influenced me then. But I, I was like very heavily like Norm Bra Fogle, um, mark Alvery, I love Mark Alvery.

(38:37)
I find that’s my favourite about movement and stuff like that. I felt, I found his artwork was just you just, it, it was awesome. Um, McFarlane obviously at our age when we were younger, maybe he isn’t quite as held in high regard now. I dunno, I haven’t seen any of his artwork for a long time. But at the time of Spider-Man and stuff, you know what I mean, it was wall. You know, I’ve never seen anything like this. Um, and then I guess, you know, so I was imitating those dudes for sure. You know? Um, and then, I don’t know, just slowly over time, man, I think much like yourself, I just sort of, you know, um, yeah, I guess you just sort of realise you’ve got something to say, mate. You know, like, you know what your, what your, um, uh, what your focus is on, I think that comes with genres too, ed.

(39:33)
’cause you, like a, you are like, I mean, I don’t wanna pigeonhole you bud, but like, the stuff I’ve read is like, it’s varied. It’s funny, but it’s very action orientated and there’s lots of, it’s lots of cool, like when you said learn and draw the Marvel work and see that by the big stances and, you know what I mean? Like, and, and I, I can see exactly what you’re talking about with your stuff, but man, like I, I can pick an Ed Kiley piece of artwork from a mile away. I’ve actually Ed, I very proudly have an original of yours sitting over next to my drawing desk of Rosie Framed. Um, and I look at that pretty much every day, man. And, um, it’s, uh, it’s an Ed Kiley drawing of Rosie. There’s no doubt about that. There’s no one does anything, you know, like that man.

(40:18)
So like, that’s always the best. I think that’s the best compliment to, um, give someone who’s drawing and creative man, you’ve sort of found your, your thing, man. And that’s a really, that’s cool. As, um, I like with, um, now I reckon another thing that would’ve really inspired you as a kid, like, and it did for me too, was, um, like image. Because we, you know, you would’ve, that would’ve been a period of time where image was dropping and young blood and spawn and stuff. So how, how did you feel about that period of comic books? Man? Well,

E.D. Kearlsey (40:57):
Originally, um, I didn’t like that sort of stuff as much because like, as in the, as like in the early nineties I really got into the, the Justice League International run with the, the Keith Giffin and James Diads and all the artists like in that. And so that was funny. Superheroes and that like, and the, the great artists that had like Kevin McGuire and um, and like I think the first couple that I got were drawn by Adam Hughes with Yeah. Which are just really good like artwork and um, and fun superhero stories.

Leigh Chalker (41:36):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that your first superhero team?

E.D. Kearlsey (41:41):
That was like my, yeah. That was the first superhero comic that I really latched onto and would go to the comic shop and, and get the back issues and like save up my lunch money. And I wasn’t buying the up the stand anymore or saving up for back issues from the comic shop to, to fill the run out. Yeah. Yeah. And then, then they stopped that so they could lead into the death of Superman. Yeah. Because they wanted to put Superman back into the Justice League and that creative team wasn’t allowed to have Superman in it. Yep. The hotel, they, they dirty him up ’cause it, it was too silly.

Leigh Chalker (42:18):
Yeah, yeah. Did you, did you the death of Superman. That’s cool that we’re talking about this. ’cause um, I, I reckon that that was also a pivotal moment in comic books man. ’cause I remember, do you remember it like being, there were news, um, segments on the news man of like

E.D. Kearlsey (42:37):
Two kids from my school wagged so they could go stand in line and buy it.

Leigh Chalker (42:42):
Yeah, yeah. It was crazy man. They were like people that have never read a comic book in their life, man. You know, like just elbow and um, I got radical one from the Comex shop. So funny. Good On your p and p wedgies, that’s what we like to see a Comex shop supporter and an Ed Kiley fan go and buy issue two and three when you get a chance mate. ’cause they’re just as good. Um, and um, they were like, man, they were like, you know, it was almost <laugh>. It was almost like judges and you know, like all walks of life dudes with the, the wigs and your elbow and school kids out of the way. You know, like when the, when the roller doors of the news agency turn up to get, you know, like the death of Superman and stuff like that.

(43:21)
It was wild man back then. Um, and I remember one news agent, uh, that there was like a young, I’m just trying to think, probably young-ish, I guess, you know, looking back now, um, maybe 20-year-old, um, lady, like just men boxes of these like death of Superman con sticking ’em on the shelf, man. People grabbing ’em outta boxes and stuff. And I do, I remember being a school kid at the time going like, what’s going on here? I didn’t didn’t, you know, get it, you know? Um, I just thought comics were a bit of a niche thing, you know? Um, but yeah, that hit the, that was a zeitgeist moment, you know, like we comics um, sort of exploded. And then, do you remember all those cool like Superman spinoffs? God I haven’t thought about this for a long time. There was like the Cyborg Superman,

E.D. Kearlsey (44:08):
Uh, yeah. That was the reign of the Superman when it came. Yeah. Bring Superman back after.

Leigh Chalker (44:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were, I think the,

E.D. Kearlsey (44:16):
The real revolution that happened in the nineties, it like started in the late eighties was when like Gly Fel and McFarland and Jim Lee and then Silvestri and um, like Gu Petra. But they started drawing stuff different than how Marvel had been doing it for the past 20 odd years.

Leigh Chalker (44:42):
Yeah,

E.D. Kearlsey (44:42):
Yeah. Yeah. They kind of solidified a style in the sixties and it didn’t change that much. It changed a bit in the eighties. There’s some stuff going on. But those guys came in like the mid eighties and then by the late eighties they were drawing stuff that didn’t look like anything it ever looked like before. Yeah. And that’s what latched onto the kids’ brains. That’s why people talk about Todd McFarlane Spider-Man, and Jim Lee’s X-Men and stuff. And Eric Glassen on Spider-Man as well and, and all that stuff. And that was the real thing. And that’s what started like selling like the, the speculator boom started from there because they’re making, oh, they’ve got this new thing out. They’re starting a new book and they sold a million copies of like Spiderman one and then X-Force sold a million copies and then the, the Objectless Xmen sold a million, say sold 8 million copies. ’cause it had four covers, like, or whatever, eight covers. Yeah, no. So that boom. And, but that’s what stuck with us. Like people like our generation of comic book readers and, but um, like it’s kind of derided now. Like it was silly. It was just, oh, it was just about the art, but it was something new. There was shit that, and it wasn’t advertised anyway. We found it. You had to go to the comic shop. You are like, who’s this Todd book? Why does this comic book look so crazy?

Leigh Chalker (46:14):
Yeah, yeah. It’s

E.D. Kearlsey (46:15):
’cause Todd McFarland’s going, just going nuts on it.

Leigh Chalker (46:20):
Yeah, man. Yeah. And that’s, he,

E.D. Kearlsey (46:24):
That, that was the thing that that made it

Leigh Chalker (46:27):
<crosstalk>. It was, it was. And then you got like on the, the, the DC side of things too, I remember, um, um, like Batman and that started introducing, um, oh like Klaus Janssen and that was starting to like come off inking and doing drawing and doing Batman comic books and, and they were Wild man. And what was it, the Dark Night I think was the com, the next comic book spinoff or something of Batman and that they were like really dark, you know, I remember <crosstalk>

E.D. Kearlsey (46:59):
The Dark Knight or something.

Leigh Chalker (47:01):
Yeah, something like that. Man, I remember reading one of the stories, I think it was called Totem and Oh dude, like, I was like, man, 17, 18 reading this. And I was like, man, I ain’t never read anything like this before. Is this Batman? You know, <laugh>, you know, because it’s like up until that point, you know, like Batman was cool, you know, like, but this was like a lot different, you know? And, uh, far more mature. And uh, that’s why I still, when um, when I’m like talking to people in the real world and stuff like that, you know, which, um, sometimes I have to go out into, you know, like even though it scares me, um, you know, like <laugh>, you, you still gotta do it man. Um, and uh, um, and yeah, you just get talking to people and like, I don’t talk about it a lot, but you, you know, like, um, you know, people would be, oh, what have you been doing?

(47:49)
And like, um, you know, I’ve just been drawing. Oh, what do you draw? Oh, I just draw comic book pages and stuff like that. Oh, what do you draw? Like, you know, like, and they always like come up with their frame of reference and it’s really funny to get like the first, um, frame of reference from people. ’cause you can straight up tell their experience with like where comic books are, you know what I mean? Depending on an age and what they’ve picked up. Some people automatically go for Archie, some people go for, you know, like, um, um, peanuts, you know, like they do, you know, like that. And they, and I’m like, no, no, not really. That sort of stuff. More like, um, you know, like, and I always just say the whole like more like, you know, Spider-Man, you know, darker comics like that.

(48:29)
I like the movie, you know, <laugh> the weird references how people, you know, like relate to things now, man. It’s like yeah, okay, let’s just roll with that and I’m going bye. Um, and you know, like, oh is that my phone ringing? You know, like, um, but anyway, it’s uh, it’s just my interactions with people I’ve just given you, you know, like that there, so you all know what I’m like if you meet me in public, uh, radical t-shirts rock time to check them out. Yeah, yeah. Aha. Look at that. There’s Kerry wearing Shane wearing a radical T-shirt. Look at that rocking. Alright. Um, ’cause um, where now you are a huge advocate of Australian comic books and I guess I’m leading up to, ’cause you are man, like you, you got a huge back catalogue of Australian comic books. Like God, we can talk about bug and stump issue one. Like you and I have done it, you know, in after shows of like drink and draws and stuff before and you are like, yeah, this one and this one and this one. It’s like

E.D. Kearlsey (49:32):
This one. There you

Leigh Chalker (49:33):
Go. There you go. There’s a classic Mark Sexton, you know what I mean? And his mate, uh, I dare not say his last name ’cause I’ll probably butcher it. I do apologise

E.D. Kearlsey (49:42):
John Pet.

Leigh Chalker (49:43):
There we go. Alright. So, um, when did you start realising that, um, amongst all of the image and this crazy artwork and it’s catching your eyes and you are thinking to yourself like, man, this isn’t like what I read when I was a kid. You know what I mean? Like what, what was the, when did you start I guess gravitating towards Australian comic books? Man? Like what point, what grabbed you?

E.D. Kearlsey (50:09):
I think the first one would’ve been bug and stump. Yep. Is like one of the, it was around like 94 that just at the news agents there was, uh, an Australian comic book at a, so just grabbed that and, and looked at it and it was, and ’cause there’s in black and white too. ’cause you like, um, all the American, all the corporate superhero stuff seemed full all colour Glory. Yeah. Yeah. And then there’s this black and white book and it’s like, oh yeah, well I draw in black and white ’cause I don’t know how to do colouring. There was no colour process. Like you couldn’t do it on your computer Yep. At the time. And you didn’t have access to the colouring houses for the colour separations and all that. Yep. Crazy stuff that they used back then. So yeah, it was, there was a big thing to see that, um, bug and stump and platinum grit. Lec. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (51:06):
What was, did that, like, what was your feelings as a young ed? Like, you know, you’ve just, you’ve just come outta school, your art teachers are like, you know, what do you want to, you know, you’re 14 years old and you gotta know what you want to do for the rest of your life. And you know, you say, Hey, I want to do comic books. And they say, no, you don’t. You know what I mean? That’s crap. And you know, so they’d stick you in a pet shop and you know, like, and your dream’s still gurgling. You just printed your first comic book, you buzzing off that your drawing and things, you’re feeling proud, you know, like you, you know, um, your creative process is like, you know, bubbling away there and stuff, man. And then you’re reading this, you know, American comic books. You, you’re starting to get a vibe and feel things and then you find bug and stump and platinum grit. What was your feelings as a young Australian kid seeing Australian comics on the news agents next to what you were, you know, used to seeing? How did you feel about that?

E.D. Kearlsey (52:15):
It is hard to remember, but I, I suppose it would’ve been like, um, that it’s possible. Like there’s, there’s a chance. ’cause like my whole thing was I gotta put my comic book out like this one and it’s gonna marvel and decent. Like I was 19 or whatever, 18. Yeah. When I was, when I was drawing it. So it’s, it’s not, um, good by any measure as a concrete source, but

Leigh Chalker (52:47):
It, it lives ed. It it, and that’s the main thing. Okay.

E.D. Kearlsey (52:51):
My, um, Hey Ryan. So my, because I’m a kid that doesn’t know anything, my idea was that I put this out and then I’m immediately gonna get hired by Marvel and DC to, to like write and or draw or something. And then I did had sold like two copies.

Leigh Chalker (53:13):
Where did you sell it? Like when you did Battle Tide, where did you sell that? You just that to your mates or like comic shops?

E.D. Kearlsey (53:20):
Yeah, to, to comic shops and to um, um, like, uh, the little punk shops and stuff that had Zing racks.

Leigh Chalker (53:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s

E.D. Kearlsey (53:31):
Where I put it up

Leigh Chalker (53:32):
And you just walked in off the street like, Hey man, I’ve done this comic book. You wanna suck it on the shelf? And that, see that’s cool man. Like,

E.D. Kearlsey (53:38):
I love, I found out you needed a, a receipt book for sales. It was all sell and return.

Leigh Chalker (53:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (53:45):
But yeah. Good man.

Leigh Chalker (53:46):
You’ve like, you know, I love hearing these stories of like, people that have walked a beat, you know, like, you know, selling things and learning on the fly on the job and all that, man, like, man, you’re dedicated. I like that Ed. Like that’s, that’s cool as man, you know, like it’s um, um, and the other gentleman that just said, good day then Ryan Valer it, it is awesome. Nick Mo, um, uh, Ryan Valer is another one. Like much like yourself mate, who, um, even though you know, a couple of states separate you, you know, it’s um, funny, the energy and the, um, commitment that people, um, get, you know, to, to do something man, and they get it done. ’cause um, like I, I admire you for that. I, I, and I admire Ryan for the hands on work as well because even though I always wanted to do comic books, man, I, um, I never got my, um, first one done until Battle for Bustle issue one man. Um, ed knows every punk in Melbourne. My God, ed you must know half of the city mate. You know,

E.D. Kearlsey (54:47):
Just the old ones.

Leigh Chalker (54:49):
Just the old ones. I didn’t think they, they’re still young ones. Are they mate <laugh>? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s good Punk’s good man. Punk’s Energy. I love punk. You know, like, uh, it’s uh, some good rock and stuff. Um, um, yeah, but like just the hands-on work man to, um, to get it done and the drive, it’s amazing.

E.D. Kearlsey (55:08):
As you, were they talking about before what it was like to see Bug and s stump in the, in the shops is, but I went to the comic shop and um, then there was this book that it doesn’t have the, the proper cover, but the Clans by Concrete Source and that was in the, the a four size printed one. This is the reprint that he’s done. But this came out and this was like 96. And I, I would just finished, no, it, I wasn’t, I wasn’t even finished with Battle Tide number one. Had a couple pages left and I had no idea how I was gonna get it printed. So,

(55:44)
Um, I think comes about my age too. But his stuff was a lot more, um, advanced. Yeah. Like his first book or, but just seeing that on the, on the shelves at it was at an alternate, well, so it was at the counter because I think he used to work there as well. So he had an in with the, with the boss to get his booking. And I was like, oh man, I could do mine like this. And it had his, his address and I, I wrote him a letter and said, Hey man, I’ve got my book. Like, how, how do you do the, like the, the pagination, like the, how do you make it go from page to page when it’s printed? ’cause there like page one is on the back of like page 24 and like page two’s on that and then page, how do you work that shit out? And he, and so he, um, he wrote me a letter and we, we started talking on the phone and he, he talked me through it. How did you print that first one? Did the

Leigh Chalker (56:47):
First one, ed?

E.D. Kearlsey (56:48):
So I got the, i I drew it all on a three. ’cause I knew you did it like double size from like reading wizards and stuff. Then I, I got them reduced to a four and then stuck them on a three pages in the order that they go in. And then got them double-sided copied. So then I had like a, like a mockup of the book and then just took that to a photocopiers and got like, I think I got 20 copies maybe, or 60 copies or something. No, I think it’s 20 copies and it costs 60 bucks. Wow. And, um, yeah, and then, and I can’t remember, I don’t think they folded and stapled them either. They just printed them. So I had to get a, um, the stapler because I didn’t have a long arm stapler to eject the staple, put some ink on it, put the staple onto the page, so where the dots are, and then get it compass and put the, the holes through, and then hand bend all the staples as well, and then fold it.

Leigh Chalker (57:52):
Oh man. Things you do for love. See, that’s unreal. You know, it’s, um, that would’ve made you feel good though, you know, like seeing that, like, but man, I, I worked, um, I, yeah, I worked briefly in a printing shop many years ago before I just never went back after lunch one day. That’s a very short story. That’s about all I’ve got to add on that <laugh>. Um, but yeah, I used to, um, I used to see people for the period that I was there. They would come in with, um, much like yourself and, um, want to print a book or flyers. Um, particularly at the time I remember, um, like churches and organisations and that, you know, they do their, their flyers and the things that you get handed out at fates and things like that. And these grumpy printers would be like, you know, like, we gotta do this for, you know, like a hundred copies and all that.

(58:49)
I remember like, people were paying like a hell of a lot of money for these things, man. But, um, I reckon I love hearing these stories, dude. ’cause like, I wish one of, one of the things that like I regret is that I never went through this. I, I sort of used to at school. Um, but I, that’s when I was making bootleg copies of comic books, man. Do you know what I mean? <laugh>, it was like, sort of same but different I guess. But, um, just the effort you just went to. And I also love to, I wanna bring it back to the, um, like the modern period. ’cause everyone knows like, hello, how are you naughties? Um, um, um, everyone knows, like, I love the Coen book community and what the live streams and stuff provide. And like, ed loves ’em as well.

(59:36)
So there’s two advocates here. But from listening to Ed’s story tonight, like just now about letters and phone calls and talking to people about how did you do this? How did you do that? You know, like, um, times certainly have changed, man. Hey, you know, like where we can be sitting here, you know, like, you know, far north Queensland and you’re in Melbourne, you know what I mean? Like, and we’re talking about, you know, like how you did things and you know, like reminiscing about stuff. Um, and, uh, yeah, those, those, you know, meeting people and stuff, like, it’s awesome how times have changed and how, but things are all different. Everything changes. That’s the, that’s the constant, isn’t it? So, um, it’s really cool. But, um, I, I, I enjoyed immensely, um, listen to all this stuff. Now, ed, when you, um, when you, when you sold like, one question though, and I’ll get, and then I’ll get onto that one.

(01:00:31)
What would it be like you’re at can selling a million copies of your comic book mate? Like, I mean, that, that number blows my mind. Do you know what I mean? Like, wow. You know, imagine waking up one morning and someone’s on the phone going like, mate, you just sold a million copies of your comic book. You’d be like, get outta here mate. <laugh>, pull the other one. You know, like, I don’t know. I don’t think I’d believe it, but, you know, that’d be a trip out. But, um, um, with, um, with Radical, like You, um, you did that yourself, um, under your own print house at that stage. And, um, what were your plans with Radical once you got that up and running? Man, because that’s like nice paper. It’s not, you know, like it’s, you know, I think, um, you got, is it George Vega from Memory?

(01:01:18)
Is that the, uh, he pinups and stuff, and he’s doing like, the new comic, like the newer, um, issues of it. Nan had D Close get involved with you on one of the issues and that as well. So you’re building up some good steam there. Like, um, what, what were you when you were putting that together, because that’s not a cheap exercise for an independent person, you know, like to do, like, what were you, what were you planning on doing with that? And had you put that together and had those plans in place before you discovered the whole comics world and community and stuff? Man.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:01:58):
Yeah. Uh, that was before. Um, so I had a period where I wasn’t making comic books. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, and I’m not really good with dates and times and like what year it was. But there was a, there was a period, it must have been like a couple years, where I was just, um, I was just more mucking around and like doing a few ideas, but never finishing anything and, and doing just other stuff. And I wasn’t very happy. So I made a concerted effort to finish a script and then draw it. And then that was radical one. And so the whole plan with radical one was to do the first three issues to get the, like, the origin arc up, and then have other people draw it, and then keep the story going, and then just do the writing to get Gotcha. Focus on other stuff.

Leigh Chalker (01:03:02):
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s where you’ve veered off to now with George and stuff like that, coming in with like, radical, the next series when it starts rolling through. ’cause um, once, once Radical started, like, I, I’m just trying to piece it together too, I guess Radical was out and then Comex started, um, you know, I guess started coming together with the calendar and stuff. I guess that’s probably the first place where I guess a lot of us became aware of each other, you know, like seeing each other’s artwork in that calendar. Which, um, I mean, there’s a lot of, I can only talk for like us, I guess when we started and came together, you know, like with comics and that radical issue, one was a bit of a life changer. Robbie Kiley. <laugh>. Yeah. Because, um, if you don’t care about quality, I can draw radical. There you go. Scissors up. Chucking his hands up mate, you know. Good. Um, hold time. <laugh>. There you go. Shane, you got a gig, man. Let’s

E.D. Kearlsey (01:04:05):
Get yourself a gig buddy. <laugh>. Um,

Leigh Chalker (01:04:08):
Uh, like, I’m just trying to think like, ’cause it did, we put us all on for us as a, like, the genesis of Comex with Shane and Kerry and like the first crew of that calendar and the people like, man, that was like really pivotal. Like, you know, in hindsight for, um, well, a lot of us really to like, you know, like get the belief, like building and mushrooming, I guess to, um, you know, then came presents and then came Final Dragon and you know, like, you know, you’ve got, with Final Dragon, you are putting that together and I guess a trade paperback type form with new pages, which we can get into a bit, you know, like, but that came out and then from, you know, the same pages sprung, you know, like Peter Wilson’s foes, which has just recently, you know, like been released with a Kickstarter and like a whole swag of people, man.

(01:05:06)
Like, you know, Isaac George Spie, you know, like, you know, like with SP’s, you know, Frederick Lon, believe it or not, the Turtle, you know, like Spawn Rosie mate, you know, I mean like Ringer like say there’s, there’s its own, you know, like web, sort of like going across, um, across the place, which is really cool. But, um, I guess what I’m like with Comex presents and then doing the drink and draws and us all getting the talk, so like, this is how it’s evolved from, I guess I’m getting to from telephones and letters, you know, snail mail and stuff like that, you know, to being able to have these moments. It’s like you have gone on, man to have two of your own live streams now. So not only are you producing comic books, you’ve got a Patreon, you’ve been in successful Kickstarters with comics, you’re putting together a trade paperback, you know, like a Final Dragon, which another one if like, I’m a fan of Final Dragon because Final Dragon’s got a really wicked seventies colour scheme.

(01:06:16)
Um, if Ed wasn’t so cool, COMEX would be dropped years ago. <laugh>, um, come on man. Ed’s cool. No one’s dropping Comex, but Ed can stay cool ’cause he is cool. That’s what’s cool about him, you know, he’s just cool. Um, he’s listening to me. Carry on. So Ed hosts the amazing Jam comic show. Let’s make a comic book on Thursday night on this channel coming back soon with Yeah. With blank. And that, um, you and Siz are doing your, um, uh, which I still gotta finish inking a panel for you there too. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s subliminally reminding me there. I’ve better find

E.D. Kearlsey (01:06:53):
<laugh>,

Leigh Chalker (01:06:55):
Better find that, um, or I’ll be getting in trouble dirty emails. Um, and uh, and you’ve got your, um, recent reads. It’s on Friday nights too, man. So like, you are, you are growing man, you know, like as a creator and a, a content like, um, producer, you know, like, um, how, how does, how, how do you feel about that? You know, like, was that something while you’re doing comic books, you’ve always wanted to do as well, you know, like, have a pun. Uh, Nick May, ed used to do heaps of live drawing streams. You did too. Your own ones at home. That’s right. You used to stream them. So where did, where did the love of the live content come from, man? Because it certainly seems like you’re just booming now. So where did, where did that all just stay?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:07:40):
Um, it, it comes from Siz saying, have you got an idea for a show? And I say, no. And then a couple days later go, oh, what about this? It’s, um, yeah, it’s the same place where whenever you, you hear someone say like, um, well, Superman’s dumb because he can do anything, so he can’t write a story about Superman. And I’m like, yeah, it’s probably true in the I know you could do this. Superman’s not dumb. You are dumb ’cause you can’t think of anything. I just thought of 10 things you could do for Superman. That would be rad. Yeah. Yeah. Like people, they say like, oh, I’ve got this in my back pocket. I’ve had this Batman story for years. And I’m like, I don’t have a Batman story. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah, could do that with Batman. Like the, the, just the, if someone asked me a question, it’s like, oh, how, how would you do this? It’s like, no idea. It’s, and then 10 minutes late, it’s like, oh, here’s 10 ideas. Like, here’s how you could do that stuff. So that’s just where that stuff comes from.

Leigh Chalker (01:08:42):
It sounds like your, your mind’s pretty active dude. You know what I mean? Like, being able to come up with stories that quick on the spot, you know, like that’s, um, that’s a talent. Like,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:08:50):
It’s, it’s not so much on the spot, it’s just having it cook and just the little thing, just a little guys just snoring into my brain and then like, it starts fix to

Leigh Chalker (01:09:03):
Like, to picture that a little bit more of that because this is, this is more of your creative process. And I do, I love this sort of stuff. When, when the idea, as you said is cooking now, is that necessarily, if someone’s, if I was to say, ed, gimme a Batman comic, you know, or a story you’ve been cooking on Batman for some time, or have you got a story idea that’s cooking that if someone, if I said, give me a Batman story, you can go, oh, that idea that I’ve got would, you know, like, translate to an amazing Batman comic. How, how does your mind work there, man?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:09:44):
So it would be like, first I’d say, no, I’ve got nothing. And then I’d go away and just do my normal day. And then like, I’d just be thinking in the back of my mind, I’d be thinking about Batman. So it would come as a new Batman story. And then like there’s, um, getting better at it now as they get older of like letting ideas go. Yeah. Because there’s some ideas, like, it’s like my, um, my battle team Alpha, which is the, the, the redoing of this. ’cause I only did two issues of this Yeah. Back in the day.

Leigh Chalker (01:10:22):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:10:23):
So I really wanna get that story out, like whatever that story is, it’s, it’s changed so much over the past 20 odd years. Yeah, yeah. But so that’s still there. So having, once it’s on the paper, like once it’s done, it’s gone. It’s like it,

Leigh Chalker (01:10:41):
You can let it go.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:10:43):
Yeah. It’s that for one of a better words, like taking a poop. Like it’s the, the relief <laugh>,

Leigh Chalker (01:10:51):
It’s out <laugh> ah, relief, you know, like, yeah. Yeah. It’s, uh, I can understand that. ’cause the other thing is too, like what you just said there is, um, to have an idea in your head for 20 years. It, um, ’cause you know, you know, absence minded as someone with a DDI feel this on a molecular level. Thank you, ed, for articulating it. There you go. Um, it’s, uh, that’s cool as you know, like I’m sure Ed’s very glad he could help you absence minded, you know, I’m glad Ed could help you, so thank you for the lovely comment. Um, uh, like you’ve got stories in your, your mind for a long time. Like you were saying, like with Battle Tide, you are, you know, you’re changing it now to Battle Team Alpha and the story’s not the same as how you’re trying to translate it now.

(01:11:46)
Because you know, me with Battle for Bustle, God, that’s been in my head for like over 25 years. And I found that amongst other things, one of the difficult, um, after having two and a half, three years off battle for Bustle to go through other things, uh, in my life when I came back to it, the foundation of the story is there. So the platform, you know, what you want to build on. But I found that the initial idea formulation was a little dated, I guess, you know what I mean? Like, and I had to bring in some, um, some aspects of how I was now, you know, like into the moment and, you know, life and things that have affected me. You know, like, ’cause um, I think there’s something, you can’t really tell a story from a 20 year old’s perspective when you’re our age. You know what I mean? You gotta add a little bit of your own taste and vibe and feel to it. Have you, have you found that difficult while, um, doing Battle Team Alpha at the moment with the certain changes and adding a bit more of, you know, like middle aged ad, you know, like to the story as opposed to 20-year-old ed?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:13:07):
No. Well, that sort of thing is, um, I suppose with, with Battle Team Alpha, it is so specifically a nineties comic is, I’m trying to get that nineties energy into it. Yeah. So it, it’s, it’s, it’s just all action fighting. But I also wanted to, with the new one try and it’s what I could try, I’ve been, I trying to figure out for, I think for the, the last couple years, it’s, especially since starting, um, final Dragon is have the, the excess and the, the bombast of nineties era comics with kind of a shooter era, eighties marvel aesthetic with the, with the solid storytelling.

Leigh Chalker (01:14:02):
Yeah,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:14:03):
Yeah, yeah. And so it’s like, um, the, the, the new ones, like, um, it’s more like sophisticated in what it is than what the, the actual nineties ones were. Because, um, you might not be able to tell, but I’m a more sophisticated storyteller now than what I was ’cause of the, it’s because of what I was saying before. It’s the reps. Like, I’ve done the Yep, yep. I put the work in and study stuff.

Leigh Chalker (01:14:31):
Yeah. Well, I mean, man, you’re, you’re an avid reader. Um, don’t mention the nineties <laugh>. You’re, you’re an avid reader. I know that you’re doing lots of artwork. I see that, um, you’re productive as all hell on the comic book front because you know, like you’re doing minis, you’re doing seaman drills, you’ve got your Patreon page, you know, like, you got blank. So you’re in the live stream, say you’re around it, you know, like you’re living it, you’re thinking it, it’s in your mind. You know, like you, you’re, well, you, you’re in the pool, man. Do you know what I mean? Like, you, you, things are starting to, to sink in, you know? Well, not sink in, but I soak in, I guess, you know, like, um, ’cause you, you know, when you are with like-minded people, you start thinking out, you know, like outside yourself too.

(01:15:16)
And you’re definitely men. Like, um, I totally see the improvement in what you’re getting to. ’cause um, like what I was mentioning before is, and we didn’t touch, like you mentioned back in the nineties, it was difficult to get colour, you know, palettes and all that sorted out. And I touched on it before a comment, I’ll come back to it. Final Dragon I loved because it had a real, and you did it deliberately. So this indicates to me that your intent, like your intention is to try things. And, and I like that. I like the fact that you do give things a go man. You know what I mean? And this is the Ed Kiley, the voice that I see coming through and you’re colouring process, um, in final drag and had that beautiful, I guess sixties, seventies vibe to it where you could see, you know, like the, the print dots and you know, like it just, it had a really, oh man, I, you know, modern comics are like a brand new set of jeans. This one, you know, like had, you know, like you could see the creases and the stitches on, you know, Johnny’s jeans and stuff. Like, oh yeah, what’s, this is what you worked off. Is it

E.D. Kearlsey (01:16:32):
That’s it’s got the Marvel Colour guide in it. Yeah. In a weird roundabout wave. Small world is, I got this from alternate worlds that’s in Bayswater now. Yeah. And Spie sold me this comic

Leigh Chalker (01:16:48):
Get outta here. Really?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:16:50):
Yeah. Yeah. So, but what I did was I took samples of that and then made it into a little, I think they’re called materials on the, the drawing programme. Yeah. And then that filled up the gaps of the, the bits that I was drawing on. And because a lot of those are faded ’cause it’s old comics. I went every comic book that I had of that age and looked for that colour and then scanned all these pages and then took the little samples to try and find a, a better version of it. But now there’s a programme that does it and it does it in the layers. Like, um, how it would do it, it looks a lot better. So that’s why I’m gonna recolor it using the, the new thing that someone’s figured out to make the, the thing. But that’s how I, I did that one, which it took a long time to, to scan it all and then make this colour guide again. Dude. I know man.

Leigh Chalker (01:17:46):
Better

E.D. Kearlsey (01:17:46):
Samples.

Leigh Chalker (01:17:47):
I look forward to seeing the new colours. But like, I love those old colours. And how did, do you know, did you know it looks, did you know sped at the time? Like No,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:17:56):
He was, he was just a weird tall guy at the comic shop. <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (01:18:01):
He just a weird, tall guy that used to work at the comic book shop. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. I see. I didn’t have any weird, weird, tall guys that worked at my comic book shop. I had Robbie, those colours took forever. Yeah. Yeah. But the beautiful thing there, Robbie, is like a, again, what we were talking about, the meticulous nature of Ed wanting to get something done. So it just put his mind to it and did it. You know, like, and if it took a long time, it didn’t, it didn’t care. Did you head, do you know what I mean? You wanted to do it. That’s what I mean. You’ve done everything from the ground up. You’ve tried everything man. So you like fully across the board. But, um, yeah, I didn’t have a weird tall dude at my comic shop, man. I had, um, a very nice, um, Zimbabwean lady, believe it or not.

(01:18:51)
And, um, her name was Carol and, uh, man, she was a champion. She had like that crow poster that’s up there. Um, I used to go in there every Wednesday and, um, buy my comic books and uh, went in there for many, many years. ’cause she was a little book exchange. Just sold comic books out of a box, man. No, Sy hasn’t changed. Still a big tall, weird fella. Um, and, um, um, and yeah, got to know her then, then she built a backroom ’cause comics became more popular. And then, you know, she got into manga and anime and all that. And like, you know, you see this business grow. But I, I think I went from like 13 men through to like, you know, nearly 30, you know, like buying comics from Carroll. And uh, and one day she was selling the comic bookshop, you know, she was retiring and the husband, they were going off to do their things and travel as you do, you know, wherever they may be or wherever they may roam, as Metallica would say.

(01:19:49)
Uh, and I saw that on your playlist the other day. Ed, that’s Metallica, that’s why I threw that out there for you make, you know, just to let you know. Oh, you know, I do occasionally pop up and have a look. But yeah, man, just because she knew I was such a huge Crow fan man. She found that as a promo for, um, uh, in the comic bookshop, like when he did dead time and all that in the late nineties. And she’d held onto it for years and never told me. And like just said like, you know, here you go, thank you. And I was like, wow. You know, so no, no tall weird guys for me that was, there you go. I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone that story ed. So, you know, thank you for taking me back to that memory. ’cause she was a really nice lady, um, and made a huge impact on my life, actually.

(01:20:28)
I spent a lot of money there, so she’s probably <laugh>, that’s probably why she was nice. But, um, getting back to, um, uh, like with, with you crossing all levels of, um, so colouring your minis, you’re printing, you know, battle tide, you’re printing, um, black and white. You, you, you, you’re coming up with ideas. You, you disappeared for a little while to be social and stuff like that, as you should be because, um, comics and creativity and this and, and such do require a lot of sacrifice. Um, that’s why I have such admiration for people that continue on with it because, um, unfortunately there are a lot of people, uh, I’ve come across that don’t last long because it does take a lot. Uh, and sometimes I think it surprises people how difficult it is. Um, so it takes an immense amount of drive. Um, and um, and you’re obviously showing that Ed, um, today, like, so with the, um, with the final Dragon Trade paperback you are talking about, you recoloring it. So are you in the middle of Recoloring it yet? Are you begun that work and the extra pages? No,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:21:47):
I’m, I started drawing the extra pages.

Leigh Chalker (01:21:50):
Yeah. Yeah. And how many extra pages can be expected, man? Not sure yet.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:21:55):
I think it’s six new ones. It’s like a little prologue. Yeah. And then goes in, because if you remember the, the first issue of presents, like it starts in the middle of a fight.

Leigh Chalker (01:22:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do remember.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:22:12):
So, yeah. And so I’ve gotta change up a bit of the ’cause the As and ’cause I was kind of writing and drawing it on the fly. Um, I’m gonna change the, I gotta rewrite the script, which I think I’ve already done.

Leigh Chalker (01:22:27):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:22:28):
For the, um, that didn’t take too long.

Leigh Chalker (01:22:32):
And you got some, just to

E.D. Kearlsey (01:22:32):
Make it make sense to, to go into the, the new bit that’s coming in. And so you’ll relet it and then recolor it. So,

Leigh Chalker (01:22:42):
So you’re really going back to scratch on it, man. Like, you’re sort of like, are you redoing any panels, you know, like along the comic or you leaving the original art as is bringing them together, six new pages to tie it all in and rope it up. New, new lettering, you know, new colours, like real, like vivid stuff. Man, that’s cool. Like that’s, that’s, it’ll

E.D. Kearlsey (01:23:05):
Be different. It’s like the same story ’cause it’s the same drawings, but the, the text will be a little bit different, little bit different flavour than the

Leigh Chalker (01:23:16):
Original. And have you given a lot of, I’m sure that you have meticulously thought of the text that you’ll be using too with the lettering. It’s, um, you know, to suit it. ’cause um, I’m actually just thinking about Johnny there actually, man. ’cause um, I’m looking up at one of the, um, photocopies up on my wall that I usually pin up up there. And Johnny was the first, the first drawing of the very first drink and draw wasn’t it is or is my memory. Yeah. The,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:23:47):
The main character is Bobby and Johnny’s the Bobby Johnny’s the big brother that dies.

Leigh Chalker (01:23:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because yeah, he,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:23:54):
So yeah, the first drink and draw was Final Dragon. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:23:57):
Yeah. That’s cool, man. Like far out that did you see the other day? It’s up to, we’re talking about the first one and the new episode is 111. Like, that closed my mind. It’s um, wow, man. Um, yeah, I like talking to, I like talking to people who are on that show. Um, when I get a chance. ’cause do you remember how, and this is what I mean, is like Dave Di Ed hand letters most of his comics. Do you Ed? I didn’t realise that mate.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:24:26):
Um, not so much now. ’cause there’s, there’s so many good, um, um, like computer fonts, but there’s some stuff like, um, um, the same address from me. I use a, a computer font and then I go over it by hand.

Leigh Chalker (01:24:51):
Yep.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:24:51):
So it looks different and just trying to, yeah. So that’s a coba, that’s a, a Patreon one that says like a Melbourne crime drum, if you remember the show. Good guys, bad Guys from the nineties.

Leigh Chalker (01:25:06):
Yeah, vaguely. Yeah,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:25:08):
That’s like my version of that. But it’s said in the eighties, so it’s kind of cool based on that. But yeah. Um, I haven’t done as much hand lettering ’cause it’s a, you know, it doesn’t look as good as the, the computer one, but very particular about the, the word bubble placement.

Leigh Chalker (01:25:29):
Yeah, yeah. Oh man. It’s integral. Like that’s, um, I’m very, I’m much the same as you, man. I find, um, if it’s correctly placed then, uh, good, good lettering. Good word. Bubbles should not detract from the story. It should

E.D. Kearlsey (01:25:50):
Just, it should notice it. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:25:52):
It just should flow <crosstalk>. And

E.D. Kearlsey (01:25:53):
It also needs, yeah. ’cause the way that like focused on the flow of the, the action and the, the characters on the page, the bubbles also have to drag your eye across and Yeah. Have to compliment where the stuff’s going as well.

Leigh Chalker (01:26:09):
Yeah, yeah. So you actually, here’s, here’s one then while we’re talking. When you are doing your layouts and stuff and you’re on the fly, are you consciously thinking, well the shape of your panelling and your choreography and stuff like that to put the word bubbles in?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:26:26):
Um, like,

Leigh Chalker (01:26:28):
Or do you just draw and then go, uh, you know, like I’ll have to work the word bubbles in around,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:26:34):
I think Yeah. Do the, like it work them in after, so that, that can be kind of a harder part. Which I think that’s one of the things I need to work on is making the, the word bubble part of the drawing.

Leigh Chalker (01:26:50):
Yeah, yeah. Like a bit more manga esque sort of thing. Is that what you’re saying there? Yeah. Like I just,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:26:56):
It’s just being mindful of stuff is there’s, um, like the, the difference between a, let’s say a a a new cartoonist and someone like me who’s, who’s drawn a couple of comics is there’s a billion things you’ve gotta be thinking of just to draw a page. Yeah. Just to have it, have it work.

Leigh Chalker (01:27:20):
Yeah. Man.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:27:21):
And the, the more you do stuff, the more you learn. Like, and the more like reps you do, the more subconsciously you’re just doing stuff. Yeah. The less mistakes you make. So it’s a, you gotta be so mindful of, of so much just stuff. There’s, there’s all these rules. And I like, am I gonna break the rule? Am I gonna stop something around for effect? And just, um, like in superhero comics, having the, but if it’s a like two talking heads, having the, the hero go, uh, left to right. So he is going forwards when he is talking, having the villain go right to left. So he is stopping.

Leigh Chalker (01:28:07):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:28:08):
Like it makes the, it’s just, it’s subconscious stuff, but you feel it in the, when you’re reading it makes the villain intimidating and the the heroes going towards them.

Leigh Chalker (01:28:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I love, um, I love like two things because Dave Di does beautiful hand lettering, um, when he like does his hand lettering. I know he uses both sides and I know he appreciates hand lettering. ’cause I’ve seen, and I’ve talked to him about his little rulers that he’s got and he’s shown me some tricks too and stuff over the time. Um, um, hand lettering is something that I certainly <laugh> am scared to do. Um, I know my mate, Ryan Valla, um, does a lot of hand lettering and he’s got cool hand lettering ’cause you know, it suits everything with him. Um, I, uh, I don’t know so much that I’m aware of the rules ed, um, in terms of like the, you know, the lettering and stuff and you know, like you hear different things of like, you gotta have the page turned.

(01:29:10)
You gotta do this, you gotta do that. And I like the flow of the lettering and things, you know. Um, I think when I’m like, ’cause I have scripts that, a synopsis scripts, synopsis scripts, written in pages. I do weird scripts, man. They change all the time. Some issues are scripts before I start. Some are notes, some are sketches, you know, the bit, the splash pages that build around, you know, the panelling and stuff. Like, I don’t have a particular process, man. Like I just work with what I’m doing for the thing I’m working on. Um, which sometimes I dunno how I do it, being know, that’s probably why I live in Lee’s world. But, um, um, um, but I tend to find myself that while I have a script that’s somewhere I know what I want to put in the artwork and I get, I don’t know, it’s, it’s strange process, man.

(01:30:12)
I have a hard time articulating. That’s why I like getting people’s ideas of it. I just sort of do it, man. And, um, um, sometimes it doesn’t work. Sometimes it does. You know what I mean? Like, that’s, that’s the, the thrill I guess. Like I’m, I’d be a shocking teacher if someone brought, like, sent me to this, to the library to say, teach these children <laugh> how to do comic books. I’d just say, man, just do your thing. Just do it. Like, just do it mate. You know what I mean? Don’t worry about the rules, just have fun and we’ll worry about it all later on. Just get it out, man. Shake out those cies and just do it. You know, like that’s what it’s all about. You know, like, just enjoy it. Uh, so I, I maybe for me from the perspective of I don’t so much, I appreciate the rules and the rights and the wrongs, and I get that there’s those things, but I don’t so much worry about it.

(01:31:02)
I guess coming back to punk, you know, like music, I sort of feel the same way about comics. Man punk’s all about energy and you know, like simple stories and you know, like even though they’re complicated, you know, like in creation, you know, like you just, it’s a flow, it’s a vibe, it’s a feel. And I, I like that man. You know, like as opposed to, um, uh, scientifically proven, you know, like, it must do this. And if you don’t do this on the third page where you don’t have that page turner, then you know, you have done it incorrectly in the lab. You know, like just have fun mate. You know, like just do your comics, um, and, uh, enjoy. Um, but each to their own, this is just my opinion, it doesn’t have to be everyone else’s. If everyone had the same opinion in the world, it’d be a boring place.

(01:31:43)
So just, you know, do what you gotta do, man. Better out than then. Um, but getting back to, um, like what we were saying, like what, what I was talking about with the first live stream is, um, like when, when you think about it, ed, like, you know, ’cause you are here too and you’re a fellow comics like, um, live Streamer. It’s like you go back to that show and there were eight of us that had absolutely no idea what, like, none of us had ever done a live stream before. Like we’re all just heads down drawing and stuff, you know? And, um, barely anyone like talking, we didn’t know about you can’t have Dead Air or you know, like you can’t do any of that. You know, like, ’cause, um, not only like the comic book rules, but there’s things you gotta think about in live streaming, I guess, too, man.

(01:32:30)
So, you know, like you don’t want dead air, even if you just talk jive, you gotta keep it rolling, you know what I mean? Like, ’cause people aren’t just watching, people are listening while they’re doing things. So, you know, you gotta, you know, you gotta read the comments to people. Like, there’s lots of things to think about as well. That’s just, you know, a little bit of it. Um, but then you had like Spie step up that moment, you know, I go, oh, oh, I better do some, you know, keep it going. Then he started rolling and like, you know, like he’s, you know, like, like, I guess, um, apart from his comic book work now, you know, like he’s well known for, you know, like his involvement with, um, Friday Night Drinking Draw and the Siz who’s been there, you know, like since day one doing Friday night Drinking draws.

(01:33:10)
And then you had Peter Wilson who was with us, um, from Foes, like, and he’s done his Sunday spotlight, you know what I mean? Like shows in the past and stuff, you know, and then there’s like, there was me that was there and there’s Chinwag that come from that. And then there was you, you know what I mean, there and doing things. And there’s, um, um, the Draw comic book and there’s the, the recent reads, you know, that you’ve gotten into. So it’s really, it’s a, it’s a funny old world when like, yeah, everything’s just so connected man. You know, like how everyone’s just, you know, and you know, even the Edy selling you that comic book that you coloured, you know, like just, it’s such a weird thing, you know? Like,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:33:52):
And then who’s in the book that the story that I was making using that material for? Yeah. Like, he was in that book with me. Like

Leigh Chalker (01:34:00):
It, yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s wild. Eh, like I, I, um, yeah, I often think about like all this stuff by myself, but when I’m talking to like yourself and other people and things, you know, like it really, um, really, I guess well plants the flag man to think like, wow, you know, like it’s, it’s funny how many like, things have come up and opportunities and ideas and, and sometimes like, you just gotta, um, you know, like you were saying before, get an idea, have a go. You know what I mean? Like, you don’t know, like, I mean like if, hey, if it doesn’t work out, man, it doesn’t work out. Like, you know, that’s what it is. At least you had a go. But, um, with blank, I’ve gotta say like, I reckon, I reckon that’s a really cool and original. Um, and for anyone out there that doesn’t know blank is the in, you know, let’s draw a comic book. Well, let’s make a comic book and, um, which has part two coming out soon. That’s it. There you go. And, um, it’s

E.D. Kearlsey (01:35:06):
Gonna be a different character for, for part two as well.

Leigh Chalker (01:35:09):
Alright, cool. So that’s a great concept for a show. I really like that concept, man. And for anyone that hasn’t watched it, basically, it’s, um, I guess it’s a fluid story, isn’t it, ed? Like, it’s fluid. Like it’s, there’s character and there’s artists that come on every episode and they get a panel and they can take that story and character in any fashion shape place they want to go. So I, and you had an enormous amount of people in that comic book. Did I, am I correct in like, recalling like 54, 55 people, 53 artists in one comic book? Man. Wow. That’s, that’s pretty cool. So Ed and Siz have like, organised 53 artists over the space, like 15 or 16 episodes to come in and piece all this together. And from my understanding, everyone’s got their panel in except for me. And, uh, but let’s <laugh> thank you, ed, for not yelling at me.

(01:36:10)
You can save that till after the show, I’m sorry. Um, and, uh, but it, it, it’s such a cool idea to see all these people, you know, like incorporated into this one character and there’s a second one coming up soon as we found out before. So that’d be really cool. Like, um, yeah, reach out and talk to Ed if you wanna be part of that’s great because like, we’re getting that and seeing what Ed’s gone through and the knowledge that he’s got as well, man. You know, like from, um, well, Ed’s done the work man, you know, like I reckon he is done more work than me, you know, like I didn’t get my first comic book published until I was 41, you know, I was scared up until that point. I was full of fear and, uh, you know, was drawing and like, you know, here’s Ed and there’s, you know, like out there banging away from like the nineties and stuff. Goodday Don, how are you man? I’ve seen you in ages. I hope you are well, sir. And, um, lovely to hear from you. And, um, and, uh, yeah, no, it’s super cool man, to, um, see you doing it so long ago and still going, man. Um, with the, with the, um, recent reads, what was the thought process behind that man? Was that just another, Hey, we should do another show, or like, you know, you just enjoying doing the live stuff now, you know, like, you’re feeling good about that?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:37:25):
To be completely honest is because I don’t read enough comic books. ’cause when you, when I’m thinking about comics and making them all day long, I just, I tend not to read them. Yeah, yeah. It’s like, let’s get a show. Let’s make a, like a, a reason that I have to read something like on a weekly basis or a two week or fortnightly basis. Yeah. And, um, ’cause I get burned out. But then when I, as soon as I read a good comic, I’m like, yeah. I’m like, I’m straight back in <laugh>. Yeah. But I fall outta the,

Leigh Chalker (01:38:02):
I like that,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:38:03):
But I fall out of the, the habit really quickly. So it’s, it was just a, like an idea to force me to read comics, but then it’s, it’s just a force to be a,

Leigh Chalker (01:38:16):
Just a force to be a host. Tell her the truth. Ed, come on, ed. Just between me,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:38:21):
I did say when, um, when I pitched it, it was like, yeah, we’ll, we’ll do this and I’ll press the buttons this time and you’d be the host

Leigh Chalker (01:38:28):
<laugh>. So man, I, I honestly, I couldn’t press buttons and keep an eye on the comments and do this. I’m, I’m like, I don’t have a brain for that. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m talking myself down, but, you know, like I, it’s just, I don’t, it’s <laugh>. I live in Lee’s world, so I’d forget anyone who’s even watching I half the time and just, and just be busy. Oh yeah. Okay. Sorry, I’m not on a private call. I’m

E.D. Kearlsey (01:38:51):
The, that’s the, that’s the big problem with, with blank is when you, let’s make a comic book is when you’ve got the screen up and you’re watching someone draw, and as you’re saying, like the no dead air, but you’re just like, oh, wow. You’re watching someone draw. And it’s, it’s so much fun watching someone create something in front of you.

Leigh Chalker (01:39:08):
Yeah, yeah. If you get the

E.D. Kearlsey (01:39:09):
Talk. So we just sit and watch someone draw and then we go, oh yeah, we’re supposed to be

Leigh Chalker (01:39:15):
Asking questions. It’s mesmerised.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:39:17):
It’s,

Leigh Chalker (01:39:17):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s mesmer

E.D. Kearlsey (01:39:18):
Well, it’s magic you’re saying it’s like someone doing a card trick, like it’s creation happening in front of your eyes. Like it’s,

Leigh Chalker (01:39:28):
I like how you, man, I like how you frame that. It is magic because, um, it is, it is wicked to see other people in the zone, like doing their thing drawing. Um, I do like that as well. Uh, yeah, yeah. It is magic. There is something cool about taking a blank, you know, piece of paper and having an image in your mind’s eye and translating that to, you know, the paper. Um, and like you were saying before, sometimes the image may not be what you thought it was or going to be, but sometimes it can become something totally different. Man, you know, that’s the adventure, that’s the magic of it. Hey. ’cause it’s like, whoa. And I do that and I do this and like, you know, I think that’s why I did. I think, and that’s a, I I would say that’s why some of my artwork takes so long, man.

(01:40:33)
’cause I start off with like a figure and then I just veer off and you know, like I’m thinking about something else or, you know, like, and then, oh, okay. I hope people understand that. You know, like, ’cause I don’t, but you know, and it’s very ther very therapeutic. And um, magic is a good term for it, ed. ’cause it really is, man. It’s, um, it’s really cool. Just creativity in general, man. You know, like Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> whether you’re cooking or, you know, like being a sword fighter or, you know, kung fu expert or whatever it is, cricket player, you know, it’s like being, you know, enjoying something in the, in the zone is really cool. I do like your enthusiasm though, like when you, I I like it. You’re, you’re cool dude. Like, you know, you don’t seem like you let too much bother you, man, but like, I’m seeing a little, you know, like a little spike in you there pal.

(01:41:23)
Like with, you know, like when you, me and you know, like talking about stuff and you know, like, it’s good man that I like it, you know, I can see you’re passionate about it. ’cause it’s like I wanna see more Ed ley stuff. Um, now with your, um, I like the fact too that you did your own show with CS so you could read more comics because that’s the other downside of creativity. You spend so much time being creative. There’s sometimes you forget to read comic books, man, you know, like, which is the thing <laugh>, which is why you start, you know, like that’s the love you started, you know, like it’s, uh, weird, eh, like the cycles and things. But, um, I guess it is what it is. But with um, what do you, with the recent reads, um, are you just, I also like the fact that you’re getting on a wide variety of guests from the two shows that I’ve seen as well. Man, that obviously is something that you are trying to push across is like getting more people to give them an opportunity to, you know, like have a shot at live streams and stuff like we were given and stuff in the day. You know, see who else comes out, you know, like is that what your plan was as well?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:42:30):
Yeah. Um, well sis does the booking for both of the shows, so it’s kind of, ’cause he knows everyone, so he, he kind of, he stacks the shows with the, and it’s also who’s available too. ’cause it’s, yeah. You know, there are Thursday nights and Friday nights and stuff and people are doing stuff. So, but it is to, um, and like with, with the, let’s make comic book ’cause it has to be a different, just the arbitrary rule that we made that has to be a different person on every different panel. You can’t have repeat guess.

Leigh Chalker (01:43:08):
Yeah, yeah. But with,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:43:09):
With recent reads, we could have like drink and draw, have regulars on like, like it’s, it’s a more, the formats we looser. ’cause we just talking about specific comic books. It’s the, you know, the comic books, the, the star of the show and yeah, let’s make a comic book. The this comic book’s the star of the show. Like the, the process and the, the creation is the, what the show’s about. And it was, it’s just, just an idea and trying to structure it into how it would work or having, like, the amount of people on the show is how many panels are gonna be on the page and stuff instead. So then it could fit into said 20 page comic would take 20 weeks to make.

Leigh Chalker (01:43:56):
Mm-Hmm.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:43:57):
Because if, if, if everyone was just making up their own panel sizes and the, you know, the, the pages could go, could take four weeks to make one page and stuff.

Leigh Chalker (01:44:07):
Oh man, I got a bad, like I, when you asked me on that show that time, like, I was like, okay, we’ll see how this goes. And, and I like you had it all like, ’cause you gotta you gotta be on it to like sorta, you know, like understand how it all pieces together. And that’s another thing, man. You know, like, and um, I don’t think people that realise, people don’t realise that, I mean, they enjoy the shows and they enjoy, you know, like, um, the content that is put out, um, on, on uh, the Net Comex network and also on Aussie verse. Um, but it is, there’s so, there’s so like many logistics that you also have to piece together, you know, like, um, Shane’s always done an awesome job with that. Like I, I’ve often sat back at when we chat and go like, man, how do you keep track of this stuff?

(01:45:13)
’cause it’s like, you know, like, um, yeah, but he does, you know, like, and getting people in and, and you know, like, ’cause you think about it like, and just ’cause I I I’ll while we’re talking about the subject, the fluidity of Chinwag, just so people that don’t know what goes into the logistics of these sorts of things. Like, you know, you got, let’s, let’s take a Friday night drink and draw, there’s 10 people on the screen on a maxed out show. You know what I mean? So you’ve got two hosts, they’re always there and you got quick, you know, there, but then you’ve got seven guests. Some of those irregulars, some of those are new people. You’ve gotta find the new people to come in and take those places. Sometimes people can tell you, yes, I’m okay on, you know, December the 12th on a Friday night only to find out at three o’clock that afternoon.

(01:46:03)
You know, like that they’re not available to be there that night. And then you gotta quickly try and fill gaps and it’s, it’s forever a, a cyclic, you know, like of change and bringing people in and communicating and text messaging and phone calls and doing all that to bring the content, um, to you. So there’s, um, a lot of work, you know, like Aussie versus the same, do you know what I mean? Like, to get the guests to line up the dates, to have the times to record the shows, to put them out, to get the banners. Like same goes for the comics network, you know? Um, even just while we’re talking about, like, for, for me, um, me and Siz talk about like the show and then, you know, like you reach out, talk to guests like with Ed tonight, you know, like, when are you right to go this date?

(01:46:46)
Yep. That date, this time, that time. I need a photo. What’s the photo for the banner? I need it by this date. Get the banner to Peter Wilson who does the banner by this so we can advertise it by this. And you gotta share it and you gotta, oh man. Like, so yeah, there’s, it’s, it’s, um, creativity all around men. But it’s cool though, ed. Hey, like it’s, um, it keeps you buzzing, man. You know, like that’s probably why we both live. That’s probably why, you know, like I live in Lee’s world. You live in Ed’s world. It’s a beautiful place that we can create on our own man. You know, like, um, and uh, it’s, it’s all good. But this is the, um, the beauty of comic books and, and both communities, how everyone works together, which I’m, I’m really grateful for. Um, and I know you are too, ed.

(01:47:29)
’cause uh, as Robbie just said earlier, you know, um, life changing, you know, um, and I’m always grateful to get to talk to people and, and uh, you know, be part of the community as well, you know, and have the regular people supporting Chinwag and, uh, COMEX and, and all that sort of drive. So Ed, um, mate, your, uh, Patreon page, let’s have a talk about that because, uh, there’ll be some people out there that’ll want to check that out in the past, present or future watching us in 2D, 3D, four D and five D you know, whatever plane they are on or parallel universe, they’re, you know, in. So your Patreon page, what, what, what do you get with a Patreon page? Treat me like an egghead that doesn’t know what a Patreon page is. <laugh> and learn me something, man. What’s Ed Kiley’s Patreon page all about?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:48:23):
Well, on the Patreon page, do you get, um, there’s updates on the, the, all the books that I’m doing, if I can just put this up on the screen

Leigh Chalker (01:48:38):
Control stuff Yeah. Can absolutely do that. But

E.D. Kearlsey (01:48:41):
So that’s a, this is an ad that’s going in Final Dragon One.

Leigh Chalker (01:48:45):
Yeah, that’s cool.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:48:47):
So it’s based on like the seventies, eighties, like the, the Marvel ones. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s got all my characters and stuff on there and the, it’s a Patreon, ed Kiley art, same with my Instagram. So that’s a, um, so there’s, there’s that stuff. You see this stuff as it gets made like from um, pencils to inks to colours, bef ev before it comes out. And you also get, um, all the, all the stuff that I make like, um, covers of Paton exclusive until I are doing it in eight page chunks. ’cause I really like that format from the doing the Final Dragon is, yeah. Nice. Peter Wilson, um, up in the back,

Leigh Chalker (01:49:35):
He’s a wizard, that fella.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:49:38):
It said like, this story’s all done in all <crosstalk> oh

Leigh Chalker (01:49:42):
Nine pound blocks, man.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:49:44):
But some like go over like, um, this one tell it’s two panels.

Leigh Chalker (01:49:50):
Yeah, yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:49:51):
Make up the one picture. But, so there’s stuff like that that’s like, um, a free book to everyone on the Patreon. And there’s the Seamans from Earth and then there’s the Master Acts one, which was, um, that book that I showed off on the, the Grew episode of the Grid Control. And I was like, this is my grew character that I drew. Well, I was at a job, but I had a lot of downtime. So I started making a comic book, just doing a, this was another page by page.

Leigh Chalker (01:50:25):
Oh yeah,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:50:25):
Yeah. And then I forgot that I made a script for it. I remember sp SPEDs asking it, so you’re gonna ever print that? And I was like, probably not. ’cause they have to go through and script it all. But then I found a, another notebook that had this, the full script in it. And so it was, they had all the dialogue. So I’ve been putting that together and putting that up on, um, on Patreon and Instagram and stuff. So

Leigh Chalker (01:50:50):
That’s cool. So like, these, these are your Patreon, like things that you’re showing people so people can go there and see the whole like Ed Kiley process of pencils through inks and finished product. And that with like Coba, are you gonna keep those like just in the mini comic format or are you hoping at some point to be able to, um, like translate them into uh, like a bigger formatted, you know, like proper printed comic book? ’cause man you are pumping out some stories. You could have like a trade paper back full of <laugh>, like, like a variety of stories, man, you know, like

E.D. Kearlsey (01:51:25):
That’s the Yeah, like I could do a, an anthology with lots of different stuff, but because I keep jumping from, from project to project, I, I never really finished anything. But yeah, so Copper’s gonna be about, I think about five parts, the eight, like about 45 pages and then have that as one big book Yeah. At the end. So that was, um, my story for, um, presents. No, because I was like, oh, I don’t have a, like, um, this was like, have you got a story for that? I was like, no. I was like, well, hang on. And it, it just took me so long to do it and then the format of that book changed instead of the, the quarterly one. It, to think it’s a yearly book now or something like the Yeah. So I’m just doing it as its own thing. Yeah. Instead of re-publishing it in the, in, in, in the presents now. So, but that’s like the origin of that.

Leigh Chalker (01:52:24):
Yeah. No, that’s cool man, because, um, I like it. I like, dude, it’s all, it’s it’s lovely. It’s like more comic books are better man, you know, like, I reckon it’s like, and it makes you feel good, like you were saying, you know, like the whole creative process and stuff. So, um, like one other thing I want to, I want to talk to you about is, um, now recently I spoke to, um, Louis, uh, Joyce and Louis Joyce is a mad keen rollerblader, you know, like likes your skateboarding and stuff like that. Now I know you, uh, a mad keen skateboarder as well, mate, because you’ve got a radical, uh, skateboard and stuff, you know, like, which I’ve seen, um, around the traps and on the interwebs and, um, the relationship between your skateboarding and your comic books and stuff, man. Like, just things that just make you feel good. They bring out, you know, like some good stuff in your men, you know, like, so they, they, you feel, you find they’re like conjoined I guess, really, you know, like on a process

E.D. Kearlsey (01:53:32):
Now, the, um, the skateboarding’s more of a, a thing that you can’t think of anything else while you’re skateboarding actually gonna get hurt real bad. So like, um, you go for a skate and it clears the, clears your brain a bit.

Leigh Chalker (01:53:50):
Yeah, yeah. And then clears that space where to come in and do some artwork and you know, like some family time and stuff like that. Man, that’s cool. Like, that’s good to have those two spaces, you know, like, um, yeah, it’s, uh, I saw a video of you, I don’t know, man, must have been like, I don’t know, 12 months ago, maybe within the last 12 months, I suppose. And it was you on a skateboard and you were, oh man, you were lying down like some street in Melbourne, man, I don’t know who was filming it, but it’s like, you know, it was like, and there’s Ed and <laugh> <laugh>, and you were just, man, like, didn’t look like he had a care in the world, man. Like, and I’m thinking to myself like, you know, like there’s Ed going at the speed of sound, you know, like down some street in Melbourne, man, there’s cars everywhere, ed don’t care. Ed’s like, you know, happy as Larry, man, you know. Um, but the skateboarding was, was that a, uh, young thing? Um, yeah,

E.D. Kearlsey (01:54:51):
So that was like, uh, the, like the late eighties there was a bit of a, a skateboard boom.

Leigh Chalker (01:54:58):
Yeah.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:54:59):
Yeah. And so, yeah, I picked it up when I was a little kid, and then, so I dropped off with that. Um, as I started to focus more on comics, I, so I, um, and the, like, the, the scene changed with the, but skating changed a lot in the nineties. Yeah. So still hanging out with like, all my friends were still skaters. And then when I, in the, the later nineties when I started to get into the punk scene, like a lot of the punk kids were skaters and still skate and stuff, but I don’t get out as much as I used to. But, you know, it’s still a

Leigh Chalker (01:55:37):
But you enjoy it when you do.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:55:39):
Yeah. It’s that, it’s just that, that focus. It’s, it’s, I I guess people like, like love riding motorbikes. ’cause if you’re thinking about other shit when you’re riding a motorbike, it,

Leigh Chalker (01:55:50):
It can go

E.D. Kearlsey (01:55:50):
Back be done for So <laugh> Yeah. Especially the older you get, like the, you fall harder, so Yeah. Like, uh, every time you fall off, like, uh, that’s, well, there’s another permanent injury, so

Leigh Chalker (01:56:04):
Another permanent injury, hopefully not too permanent. Yeah. It’s, uh, yeah, I, uh, you definitely don’t bounce back as you get older, I’ll tell you. It’s, uh, yeah, I, man, I, I, I don’t know, there wasn’t a super, I appreciate the skateboarding thing. I, um, I don’t know. We didn’t really have much of that sort of stuff in Townsville. We were like, um, I’m trying to think. It was more like, look you, I mean rugby league and, you know, like, um, cricket sort of town I guess, man, really? Um, they were skateboarders, don’t get me wrong, man, there’s more skateboarders now. Like I can appreciate ’em, you know, bouncing off, you know, like things and doing some amazing stuff. I can’t believe. Like, man, and they lose the board and then they just, you know, like little Spiderman across, pick it up, flip it over, and then off they go again.

(01:56:55)
Like they don’t even batten eyelid. And I’m thinking like, damn, I would’ve pulled like every muscle in my body doing that <laugh>. I wouldn’t be sitting here today. If I was on a skateboard yesterday, man, I’d think I’d be at traction somewhere. But, you know, like, it’s <laugh>. It’s, it’s cool. So Carrie Ed can also belt out a few tunes, a karaoke, it’s there anything he cannot do. LOL Are we veering into a Pickles moment there? Carrying head there, there. Is there anything you’d like to tell me about this mysterious karaoke evening that happened not too long back.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:57:33):
That, that was after the supernova and we were trying to think of a, a place to meet up. And I was like, a, my mate’s got a pub in the city. We can go meet up there. And we, when we got there, there was a, there was a punk band playing. So we, we got to listen to a punk band. And then, um, it was, um, the Mack Brothers were like, let’s go do karaoke. And so they found one on their, on their phone and we, it was just around the corner and, and me and SSID had a couple of beers by then, and they’re like, oh, it’s duet. And they only duet <laugh>. They only duet I could think of was, um, island in the islands in the stream where, um, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

Leigh Chalker (01:58:18):
Yeah. And which one of you was Kenny?

E.D. Kearlsey (01:58:21):
That we, we didn’t think of that beforehand. <laugh>. And we also didn’t know any of the words except for the chorus. So we were really surprised when the song started, and it’s going real fast and changing through the things and went

Leigh Chalker (01:58:35):
And, um, <laugh>

E.D. Kearlsey (01:58:37):
And just when it came to the chorus, we just started belting out the chorus. Yeah, yeah. Then SS was like, oh, Billy Joel, I know Billy Joel. He’s like, um, yeah, there’s the skateboards at the,

Leigh Chalker (01:58:49):
Oh wow. Ed’s mate has a radical skateboard mounted on his pub ceiling. That’s cool, man.

E.D. Kearlsey (01:58:55):
At the last chance rock and roll bar in the city. Yeah. Yeah. So, oh, and then, then ss like, um, Billy Joel would do this Billy Joel song. I know every Billy Joel, Joel song will go do it. And then so we get up for that. And then, ’cause it’s karaoke, it’s kind of midi versions with not the, it’s not any album or live track that you’ve ever heard before. It’s, it’s a different one. The ss got thrown off straight away and then we just did the same thing and just waited for the chorus and then just yelled the choruses. <laugh>,

Leigh Chalker (01:59:26):
Yeah. Yeah. I was, uh, I was randomly sent, um, about a 32nd clip from Spie, um, that Sunday night of you and Shane up on the stage, um, singing and, and, and jigging around man, you know, like really, you know, like, you know, tearing it up mate, you know, like, so <laugh>, uh, and I did have a laugh at that, I thought, like, good on you, you know, like after a good weekend, man, you know, and uh, again, connection, seeing everyone and everyone touching base from all over Australia and stuff now and meeting up at conventions and all that. Like, there you go. Look at that. Hey, look at that picky. There we go. Little shock for everyone there. If you didn’t see that, that was, uh, that was just a nice little snap of, uh, you know, the evening’s festivities, you know, and, uh, it was a cool picture.

(02:00:28)
So, um, you should hang on to that. And I hope it’s up on the fridge or somewhere, you know, like, uh, cool. Uh, it was a funny night, Nick may. There you go, man. Um, yeah, it’s good stuff. I, I, I was very envious of all you getting together that night. I would’ve liked to have been there and, and met you all in person. ’cause I know you all so well, uh, over the live streams and through your work and, and, uh, all of our stuff we do together and that, um, alright, ed, as we wind down, my friend, what, um, what are some of the last, uh, I guess what are your, what’s your free form thoughts on, um, comic books? How you feeling about the community, your place in it? Like, you know, how would you like to leave your chinwag tonight? With what message or however you would like to, um, express yourself?

E.D. Kearlsey (02:01:23):
Um, I suppose the, I don’t know, like my place in it is just, um, that I make comic books and it’s good to know that there’s other people that do it too. And, um, yeah, just if you’ve got the, if you’ve got the itch to try and make something, give it a go. ’cause you’ll, the thing about comic books is, like we were saying before, it’s, it’s such a bugger to get anything done. You’ll find out really quick if you don’t like it and there’s no harm in trying

Leigh Chalker (02:02:00):
Mm-Hmm. I think that’s pretty cool,

E.D. Kearlsey (02:02:03):
Man.

Leigh Chalker (02:02:04):
I think it’s, um,

E.D. Kearlsey (02:02:05):
Give it

Leigh Chalker (02:02:06):
A go. Well, you are the man that coined the phrase, uh, you know, I’ll, I’ll drop, I’ll drop the, the, the, the rather expletive part of this quote, but it was comic books just, uh, beeping do it. Um, which I think is pretty much a really good quote for it because, um, it is about having fun as you can see here, the night Ed’s been doing it for a very long time and he’s still plugging away at it and it’s still, you can see the enthusiasm, you know, like coming out with how he gets keen on things and talking about stuff and lots of journeys. Um, Ed’s journey motivates me to keep going. Seeing him get better motivates me to keep going. And, you know, there’s other people watch the show and may watch this in the future or, you know, as we’ve said the past or wherever, you know, you’re watching it and whatever timeline or parallel universe and, um, and you may get, you know, motivated by comic books. It’s a great storytelling medium. Um, I

E.D. Kearlsey (02:03:05):
Think it’s the strongest, it’s the, it’s the, the most primal thing. Like, it’s, it’s cava like is telling stories through drawing, like it’s the, the first thing that humans did. It’s just a, a more evolved version of that. Like, it’s, it is the most primal form of storytelling.

Leigh Chalker (02:03:29):
Yeah. Yeah. I agree man. I agree. And, um, thank you Kerry. I’ve had a, we both I think had fun this evening and Nick May, oh, you got, I think Ed is an inspiration. He’s busy. He’s, um, got a family. Um, you know, uh, he’s skateboarding, he’s working, he is drawing comic books, he’s keeping a social life going. His seems to have everything in balance. He’s relaxed, he’s cool. He loves his comic books. Um, good life there, man. You know, like, um, how, you know, like where you are, you know, like, um, so I think that’s something that’s really awesome, man. And, um, you know, it’s great that, um, man, it’s, I’m very grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to know you for a couple of years now. I don’t, sadly, as we said last time, I haven’t seen you for such a long time up until the, um, um, ’cause we just haven’t been able to cross paths.

(02:04:24)
But, um, you know, I’m really, really grateful that, um, you’re now part of Chinwag Man and, um, you know, like your story and everything’s here now, um, collected and uh, for people to, um, you know, out, uh, anytime they want. Um, you know, ’cause uh, it’s very motivating. Um, you know, when, and don’t forget that when you’re down, you know, like you don’t feel like doing anything creativity’s a great thing. You know what I mean? Like, it, it’s, it’s great for your mental health. It’s great for, you know, like, um, you know, meeting people that are like-minded as both of the communities, COMEX and Aussie verse. Um, you know, like that’s what it’s all here for. It’s here for love, it’s here for, you know, passion and, uh, for the comics medium, drawing, writing, creating, learning, listening, um, a whole swag of things really. Um, you know, and across both of the channels you will probably find, I I would actually suggest you will definitely find, uh, things that are worthwhile.

(02:05:26)
Your interest, whether you’re a collector, a creator, or someone just on the periphery that just has a general knowledge is looking for an in to, um, learn more or touch base with people. Everyone I’ve met through, uh, my time here has always been gracious enough to, uh, have a yarn, um, pass on messages, uh, or you know, like hints or, you know, things that we all learn from each other. We all try and, you know, like, um, uh, get better and um, share in each other’s growth, which, um, I think is a really awesome thing too. And, uh, the best part is I think majority of us, um, like to share each other’s success and, um, you know, we feel good for when, you know, like our mates and the people of the community are out there doing things that make ’em happy. ’cause you know, really that’s all you can do in life is just try and think, find things that make you happy and bring you peace.

(02:06:16)
And, um, and uh, you know, and this does for me, you know, it does for Ed too. So, uh, that’s the best thing. Uh, ed, thank you so much man, for, um, being on Chinwag tonight, mate. And, um, everyone that’s Edmond Kiley. You can find him on Instagram at Ed Kiley Art, go and check him out. He’s on Facebook. He’s, um, on his, uh, Patreon page. He is in comics, uh, comic books and he’s in the comics shop. Um, and the comic shop is a sponsor of the show. Uh, it’s got over a hundred Australian independent comic books. If you wanna be in the comic shop, just reach out to, um, the comics network, uh, website, um, you know, or CS on Facebook. Have a talk to him. Uh, there’s over a hundred titles in there at the moment. There’s a $9 flat shipping rate, um, and you don’t have to buy my comic books, but buy somebody’s comic books and help ’em support ’em because, you know, like one sale can, uh, make someone feel really good and it can give ’em the strength to go on and bring out a second comic book.

(02:07:20)
And when they do that, they feel better. And there’s just a big, you know, symbiant energy that happens, uh, around the place and it’s great. Um, and it’s a beautiful thing to make people happy. So that’s what we want do. Alright, so again, thank you Ed. Um, next week’s guest is someone that I’m, uh, I’ve wanted to meet for, oh man, I don’t know since I dragged a comic book out of a show Bagg a long, long time ago. And, uh, it’s Mr. Dylan and Nala, um, and, uh, I was gonna say that when you said show Yeah, Darren Dill. Yeah, so, um, he’s on next week and um, yeah, I wanted to talk to him for a long time. So again, um, just, I’m a lucky dude meeting all these people and being mates with ’em. So, you know, thank you to everyone. Um, alright.

(02:08:10)
Just remember your health. Look after people. Be nice to people. A smile can go a long way. Um, you know, a smile can turn someone’s life around. It can, you know, like it can just make their day and sometimes, you know, that’s all you need to, uh, give you a little bit of a pep in your step. And, uh, you know, just try. That’s all you can do. Do the best you can. That’s all anyone asks, and, um, that’s all you can do. So don’t forget, chinwag is and always will be made with love and community is unity. So we’ll see you all next week and thank you for watching and thank you for your support. See you later. Goodnight. Bye.

Voice Over (02:08:45):
This show is sponsored by the Comex Shop. Check out comex.cx for all things Comex and find out what Comex is all about. We hope you enjoyed the show.