Max Ferrada

Voice Over (00:00:01):
This show is sponsored by the Comics Shop. We hope you enjoy the show.

Leigh Chalker (00:00:24):
Good day. And how is everyone going? Welcome to Chinwag episode 22. Now our guest this evening is Mr. Max Ferrata from Stellar Lands. Yes,

Max Ferrada (00:00:35):
Hello everyone.

Leigh Chalker (00:00:37):
Just about to slam down onto shelves and computers everywhere. But for those people watching at home, if you, basically, it’s a show that we have six prompting words, questions, who, what, where, when, why, and how. Look, sometimes we don’t get through ’em. Sometimes we do because we’re too busy. Chin wagon and talking about all these other things in between. So comments are all welcome. Anything you want to know about Stellar Lands, now is the time to get into it. This is, hello to all everyone that’s already said. Hello. Everyone that’s viewing will do our best to get through everything. And if I drop in or out, max is going to keep going. The few technical difficulties as you know what happens. But we got sizzle as backup. Yeah. This, the scissors in the house in case anything goes bad. But other than that, max Ferrata, I ask you the first question, sir.

Max Ferrada (00:01:36):
Yes. Who I well, my pen name is Max. It’s not my real name, but we’ll go by Max. We’ll write this wave with that name. And who am I? I’m, I’m just a guy sitting on a chair drinking tea. And in a, what sort

Leigh Chalker (00:01:54):
Of tea you drinking? Max tea’s an important thing.

Max Ferrada (00:01:57):
Yeah, it’s just green tea. Apparently they’re supposed to be good for your collagen levels. Keeps you looking young. You combine that with some vitamin C pills and just cut out the red meat and boom, you’re pole rudd.

Leigh Chalker (00:02:16):
Yeah, I was going to say, you’re not going to turn around and reveal to us all that you’re actually like 89 or something, looking like a 25 year old man. Well,

Max Ferrada (00:02:29):
Ostensibly that is the goal, right?

Leigh Chalker (00:02:31):
<laugh>. Longevity of life, man.

Max Ferrada (00:02:36):
Or using surrogates. I think we’re living in that age now where we can transpose our consciousness into another body through various means, whether it be androids or chemical binding to an organic life. Form it. We’re there, someone’s been born who’s going to live forever jumping from one to vessel. I know it. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:03:00):
Yeah, yeah. Did you ever see that TV show? Oh, the name escapes that they had house, what was that?

Max Ferrada (00:03:08):
Dolts house maybe? No.

Leigh Chalker (00:03:11):
Oh, there is that too. I didn’t think about that, but no, there was another one. I can’t remember. And they used to put their personalities and their identities on discs and they used to put it in the back of their neck and they’d change bodies. So they’d live for hundreds and hundreds of years going through different worlds and things like that. It’s on Netflix. It’ll come to me, man. I, I’ve got a shocking memory sometime, but it’ll pop in there. But by

Max Ferrada (00:03:38):
The end of this, we’ll both have a catalog of various things too. Watch and

Leigh Chalker (00:03:42):
<laugh>. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. It’s long as you just forget there. Bloody names, mate. It’s that’s just how it is, max. See I don’t drink green tea or take vitamin C tablets, man. So I’m probably a little bit higher up the age bracket than you are, mate. In

Max Ferrada (00:04:00):
Terms of <laugh> tell you this, I am very jealous of your magnificent beard. That avalanche just skating. Thank Getting down the lower half of your face. I can’t grow a beard. I can’t even grow a mustache. I mean, I’ve tried. So yes it’s

Leigh Chalker (00:04:16):
A double edge. Gordon Max, Alton Carbon. Rusty. Thank you mate. Good on you. Alter carbon’s. The name of the show, max. See you got people in the audience helping us out. Alright. Hey Max, we’ve got Danny Olan. Hi Max. I’ve seen a bit of the artwork. Is your style influenced by Frank Quietly? If not, who are your influences now from that Buddy Danny’s suggesting your artistically inclined now with Stellar Lands, what is your role with Stellar Lands?

Max Ferrada (00:04:47):
As much as I would like to attribute myself the mantle of a drawer, an illustrator or a painter, I am just lowly writer. Just one of those. I think Robert, Danny Jr. Called us more people who hang around in the dark and just churn out scripts. Well, I guess to subscribe to Danny’s illustration, I am one of those mole people that I, I take that as massive compliment to our artist or resident artist. His name is Ben Worl. Yeah yeah. Goes by the handle of Ben likes to draw. And yeah, he and I have formed this just incredible simpatico where I don’t really even have to communicate any discernible detail. He draws just based on the parameters of my writing, and he draws quickly. He, he’s is like Mobius. It’s amazing. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:05:51):
Well, I had a conversation with a writer a couple of weeks ago on the, is he brought forward the suggestion that when you find an artist that as a writer that you know, sync with them, almost like you’re constantly surprised you’re uni sort of working, mate. That’s obviously how you feel with your bloke. Okay.

Max Ferrada (00:06:15):
It’s completely intuitive and I’d like to think that it’s not a type of chemistry that’s isolated to your professional life. I sincerely believe that who you throw yourself in with determines your progression in life. You are a direct reflection of your inner circle, both professionally and personally. Which is why I keep saying I think I’m in very good company with the people at Comax,

Leigh Chalker (00:06:44):
Like to stay positive. So everyone that I’ve met in the comic book community are positive people. So I mean max, you just sort of reflecting the positivity man that we like to get out there. Cause positivity shows in the work. I, I’ve had a look at Stellar Land’s Man, and I was pretty much blown away, to be honest with you, by the professionalism, the writing, how it looks, even your promotions and stuff that are all coming out across. Thank

Max Ferrada (00:07:16):
You very much.

Leigh Chalker (00:07:17):
Appreciate that. That’s cool, man. It’s cool. What got you to the journey of Stellar Lands, mate? When was that moment? Was a kid, do you influence?

Max Ferrada (00:07:31):
Okay. All right. Okay. You broke up a bit, but I assume that question was what brought me to create Stellar Lands more or less. And yes, to answer that it, it’s been a long gestating idea, but it was okay, well, first of all, let me preface this by saying that I’m a massive introvert. I don’t really go out much. I think the best way I’ve heard it described this, an extrovert starts the day with zero coins, and whenever they go out and interact with a person, they receive a coin, and by the end of their accumulation of interactions, they’ll have a mountain of coins. Those coins are a representation of energy. An introvert myself starts the day with a mountain of coins and every interaction he finds himself surrendering a coin. And by the end of the accumulation of interactions, he’ll have very few coins.

(00:08:35):
And yeah, as, yeah, I feel guilty for saying this, but I really enjoyed our lockdown, our period of three months of lockdown in 2021. I know a lot of people were yeah, were having a very tough time. I would daresay a majority of people, but there is a small subculture of introverts who actually thrived. And I took a lot of short online courses. I learned another language, and I got this stellar lands off the ground. I put pen to paper. I downloaded Final Draft Pro to include its comic book interface, and I’m a filmmaker by trade. I’m a videographer by trade. That’s what I do for a living. So I was able to translate a lot of those script writing skills and those framing skills. If I can just be so bold as to say that I do have framing skills, I’m more of an editor, and the part I relish most is writing.

(00:09:47):
But no one was going out making films. I couldn’t pick up the phone and talk to an actor and say, Hey, let’s all meet up at this space and let’s workshop a script, which is what I’m doing now with other projects. But during that lockdown, I was able to finally manifest the images, these characters, bits of dialogue, which have been long, just stating in my mind, I think Alan Moore said it best. I mean, w with a film, you need an army, you need a small army for pre-production, for production, for posts, cinema, cinematographers, location scouts producers, actors scriptwriter, script editors. And then that’s just during the production side. Once the film is done, then you have a whole film festival, gamma to run and a whole collection of other personalities. Whereas with comic books, all you need is a pencil. I think Alan Moore said a bio, all you need is a bio. And yeah, he was correct. All of, well, of course my passion lay more towards the world building and the writing side. So I did need Ben, but Ben, who is the artist here, represented everybody who would otherwise be contributing in a film production. He was the actor, he was the cinematographer, the gaffer, the grip, every, everybody. And I’m just a person trapped behind the nauseating glow of their laptop, churning out these scenarios.

Leigh Chalker (00:11:37):
How did you find inmate? What process was it? Because obviously from what you’re saying, first time comic book and you can obviously bring people together with and what was it that where did you find Ben? Has Ben done things before? Has

Max Ferrada (00:12:01):
No, this was through my other friend who has been a guest on maybe not Tuesday, but on other comics videos. A friend of mine sk, yeah yeah. I met him through a Facebook group that was set up by sk. Now here’s where the poetry of it comes along. Ben was the first one to apply. Of course, you never just give the job assignment to the first person who applies, so to speak. You see the long list or the short list of everybody who else, who’s applied, and you devote a large chunk of your time to going through a lot of samples and past works and so on. And yeah, it just so happened that I could have stopped that task with the first application, so to speak. Yeah. That’s where the poetry of it comes along.

Leigh Chalker (00:13:07):
So to, oh man, I guess Positive energy attracts the positive. So with the amount of positive energy that you put out, you asked and you

Max Ferrada (00:13:20):
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Precisely. Yeah. Your world is a reflection of your inward, I guess, spirituality or emotional architecture.

Leigh Chalker (00:13:36):
So now how long does it take you guys? Were you like Stellar Lands is eight issues in total, is that correct?

Max Ferrada (00:13:51):
Well,

Leigh Chalker (00:13:51):
What you want to get to, obviously we’ve got to start at one, but the overall goal, yeah. Well, is,

Max Ferrada (00:14:02):
Yeah, that’s the intention. Of course. James Cameron is most famous for saying, if nobody watches Avatar two, then I’m not making three and four. And yeah, let’s just hope we get yes, some eyeballs on issues one and two. It’s

Leigh Chalker (00:14:23):
Then, from what I can understand, is it the main character that’s in it?

Max Ferrada (00:14:30):
Okay.

Leigh Chalker (00:14:31):
Is she an ongoing character or are these self-contained stories that you want to get through?

Max Ferrada (00:14:40):
No. Yeah, these are all self-contained, yeah. Stories, but they’re tangentially connected. Someone who’s a main character in one issue can be a supporting actor in another issue. Gotcha. Or just a walk on. And this whole creative philosophy stems from Sack. I’m not going to pretend that I’ve read Sack, but he did create a ridiculous number of books. I believe it was 90 books, which were all interconnected. The human comedy, I believe it was called, and it was his life’s work. And all these various books were connected at through characters through another character. And if I can cite another influence, that would be The Wire and The Wire, each season of The Wire is devoted to a specific culture in Baltimore. Season one was a street, season two was the docks, season three was politics. And this conglomeration, this very

Leigh Chalker (00:15:49):
Ma’am, I actually

Max Ferrada (00:15:51):
Yes,

Leigh Chalker (00:15:52):
I actually am a massive fan of The Wire.

Max Ferrada (00:15:56):
Hey,

Leigh Chalker (00:15:57):
I think that’s possibly one of the greatest TV shows I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s

Max Ferrada (00:16:01):
Great. Yeah, it’s right on top for me. Yes,

Leigh Chalker (00:16:05):
Mate. <laugh> McNulty is one of the greatest characters that ever to grace the television.

Max Ferrada (00:16:16):
So I take it is your favorite character in this oh

Leigh Chalker (00:16:19):
One? Yeah. 100

Max Ferrada (00:16:23):
Characters. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

Leigh Chalker (00:16:25):
So many dimensions to him, men as a character, you know, see him as just this, oh, I guess a la, and that only hurts himself, you know what I mean? To getting himself together and just becoming something great. But I would recommend to anyone that hasn’t seen The Wire go and check it out, because storytelling wise, it’s phenomenal.

Max Ferrada (00:16:47):
Yeah, it is. And that’s what I meant by be Zakian, because they’re all interconnected. And there was even that one scene where a main villain and a lawyer character who are very prominent characters in the scheme of the show, but who actually never crossed paths within the inside universe, the dije of the show, and yeah, they just have this one seemingly insignificant scene where they run into each other in the courthouse. Yes. Omar is,

Leigh Chalker (00:17:19):
Omar does rule.

Max Ferrada (00:17:20):
Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:17:21):
Oh, Omar was the man. All right, man.

Max Ferrada (00:17:25):
Peaceful. They

Leigh Chalker (00:17:25):
All knew. Yeah. Yeah. No, good on you, Gary, because obviously he’s seen the why, because Omar’s another very amazing during that. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Righto. Amen.

Max Ferrada (00:17:38):
So, well, that’s where Stellar Lands gets a lot of its draws influence and derives a template. So if we can cast a sort of juxtaposition, each issue of stellar lands will follow a different subculture of the galaxy or a war, because the main thrust of the narrative of the Stellar Lands story centers around a war of a questionable invasion of a sovereign planet. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:18:15):
So where did the idea of stellar lands come from, mate? Have you always been able, it just pop into your head one day had it been brewing for a while, and with Covid and the lockdown, you decided look to hell with it?

Max Ferrada (00:18:29):
Yeah, well, COVID was certainly, so Ward, the inciting event was what propelled everything into motion and creation. But well, I have a degree in politics as well. I have a degree in international relations, and I yeah, so I know a bit of the motivations behind various governments, or well, I could surmise them, or I could I could quote you history and so on. This is, I guess, my own wish fulfillment of how my version of history would unfold. And it just so happens that my version of history the aggressors are several alien species again, that, yeah, that derives from another obsession of mine, which is the mass effect series. So yeah, get and in many ways, mass effect is the wire where tackles the war on drugs, whereas mass effect has this incredible intergalactic war with was it

Leigh Chalker (00:19:54):
<crosstalk>? Man, I love galactic stuff. I’m a huge science fiction. I mean, don’t get me wrong, fantasies close behind. But for me, science fictions where it’s at, when you initially started talking about getting into Galactic, did you realize that your world that you were creating was going to be so big initially, or did you start with a small nucleus and it just expanded with everything that you know are like that?

Max Ferrada (00:20:31):
Yes. Well

Leigh Chalker (00:20:33):
Did just,

Max Ferrada (00:20:34):
Well, if I can just put myself in the mind of a politics student, if it does start with a war, and then you look at how things ripple out and affects various facets of humanity. So there’s the refugee experience by civilians who are displaced by fighting on the ground. There’s the perspectives of generals who are ostensibly ordering young men and women to their desks there. There’s the politics angle of politicians who are being elected on the basis of either stopping or starting a war. There’s perspectives from the actual boots on the ground from the various convoys and the battalions who are enacting out these missions. And there’s views from the quote bunker, which is the opposition. So yeah, that’s where, that’s the various perspectives which I wanted to uncover to unfold. And that’s what being a history student is. It’s examining these perspective, these points of view, which are orbiting around I guess, a famous either event or a series of events that we take for granted as an image, as a two buildings on fire or a mushroom cloud, a ecology of lives that surround these images.

Leigh Chalker (00:22:18):
Oh, mate, I definitely think that with the thought that’s gone into it and the love and the mm-hmm. <affirmative> best issue, that this is just the start.

Max Ferrada (00:22:35):
Well, yes, I hope so. I’ve already scripted out the other seven of the eight issues but if I can just talk about the first issue.

Leigh Chalker (00:22:50):
Absolutely.

Max Ferrada (00:22:52):
Yeah. The first issue concerns I guess the popular nomenclature is black ops. I gu, the word I’m looking for I guess the correct term on the deadline is covert operations things that happen off the books, and which we don’t find out about until declassification years later whether it right now what’s going on in Iran. And during Obama’s administration, they declassified a whole bunch of documents, which did show CIA intervention into the ousting of Mossek and the installation of the shine and his regime. And yeah, that’s just one aspect that I’m looking at, and it’s, it physicalizes in this particular issue. In this issue, we have our universe, the universe of stellar lands is populated by preachers, P R E T E R, which is short for pre naturals which can be defined as someone with extraordinary abilities, mainly physical abilities. And in the evolution of this world there are certain human beings that have evolved to live in a universe where you can travel interplanetary.

(00:24:42):
So I just, the way humans evolve to crawl out of the slime and breathe in oxygen several millennia from now, if we keep on throwing ourselves into space, we’re going to evolve the capacity to survive in space. That much is inevitable. And evolution has indicated these things happening on a smaller level through fossil records. So these preachers, in order to survive these long journeys to other planets, you have to have super speed, you have to have super strength. And one of these preachers is given the covert mission of traveling to a secret moon base, which has been infiltrated by hostiles in order to retrieve delicate intel. And during this mission she runs well, she faces her own internal struggles, but she runs into hostiles, which become allies who both help and hinder her in her mission. Yes. And if I can just say something about superpowers as well. Absolutely. Mike. I think it’s important just to say outright that in the world I’m creating superpowers aren’t, are, aren’t necessarily vital. They are neither a liability or something that can be utilized to fulfill a central narrative purpose. But I wouldn’t go so far as just to sub subscribe to Michael Moore’s ethos that not Michael Moore, so Alan Moore’s ethos that superpowers are useless, but hang. If Michael Moore wrote a comic book, how cool would that be?

Leigh Chalker (00:26:46):
Anyway, you never know who’s listening, max. You never know, mate. Maybe he’ll pick it up on the old interwebs one day and go that max he’s onto something. I’m going to

Max Ferrada (00:26:56):
<laugh>. Yes. He’ll be, yeah. Decidedly left wing, I’m sure.

Leigh Chalker (00:27:01):
Doubt. No idea. Yes.

Max Ferrada (00:27:03):
Well, just getting back to the superhero aspects of it, because if you come in to this comic book just expecting a visceral experience, and flights are fancy, which I’m a massive fan of. Mm-hmm. Get me wrong, but they’re just not a priority. The fights and the flexing of extraordinary abilities isn’t a narrative priority within Stellar lands. I think the main concept here is very similar to are you familiar with that term? Very similar. No,

Leigh Chalker (00:27:43):
I’m not, mate. I’m, and I’m not personally not, I’m not sure if anyone of the viewers could be or couldn’t be. Do you want to explain that to us?

Max Ferrada (00:27:50):
Okay. Well the director of Superman, he had the films I donor, I believe Donna,

(00:28:00):
Yeah, yeah. He also did the Goonies, but he had one word written in his office, just emblazon for all to see. And that was very similar to you, which means that your flights of fancy have to be grounded within some basis of scientific, or even just human realism, which is not to say that films that don’t have very militude are inferior because Star Wars completely lacks very similitude. There is, as far as I can see, especially with the original trilogy, there is no handling of gravity or time dilation. You just go to a planet, you’re just going to another neighborhood. An excellent series with very militude is the expanse where people are very much affected by gravity to the extent that those who dwell on asteroids when they come to earth, the gravity on earth is so heavy that it can be used as a form of torture as, yeah.

(00:29:09):
So that’s one form of very similar. There has to be some sort of defining realism that, and grot Inness that keeps things together and with stellar land yet, yes, it’s reflected in the science, but it’s also reflected on the very human problems. Now not to put it lightly, but the protagonist anvil Eliza is meth andro, and she’s also an alcoholic. But I didn’t write it in a way where the alcoholism was incidental as it would be in the case of, say Hancock, which is another film that I love. If you watch Hancock, you would come to the conclusion that that superhero has a drinking problem. But in my book the superpowers are so grounded and the human problems are so forefronted that you would read it and you would say that alcoholic happens to have superpowers. Yeah. That’s where, that’s where my I guess my creative priorities or the architecture of the characters lie.

Leigh Chalker (00:30:33):
No, I like it, man. Lots of deep thinking there because it’s world building, it’s certainly, it’s tricky to get things right.

Max Ferrada (00:30:45):
I’ve read Battle for Bustle as well. The first issue there was some, oh, thank you mate. Very good world building there as well. You definitely have a sense of the grime and the air of the place.

Leigh Chalker (00:30:57):
No, well look man, that’s why I was excited to have a YA here tonight because one of the things that I’ve always enjoyed immensely was finding out where people get their inspirations from, particularly world builders like yourself. And while you were writing the idea of it and getting it together, were you reading comics? Are you or you a bit more novelish sort of novel sort of a

Max Ferrada (00:31:32):
Bloke? Look, I could just do this. I could reach to the side and I could get you one of each. Here’s blankets. Yeah, there you go. And here’s Raise Hide the Roof Dims by JD Salinger. So yes, I’m a very wide reader and I read both. Yeah, here’s a play as well. The Humans by Stephen Kram. Fantastic. This messed up. But yeah, I

Leigh Chalker (00:31:54):
Max, I love the fact it’s a bit of an ongoing thing with in the X shows that everyone seems to have a portal of their stuff. You know, start talking about something and someone will go, just give me a minute and just reach off screen and come back with a copy of it or what they’re reading now. And it’s portals. Cool, man. I always seeing what’s in people’s portals and what they’re reading. But that’s some diverse stuff you got there, man. You certainly do like to read a great variety of stuff, which is healthy. It’s healthy for an imagination.

Max Ferrada (00:32:32):
Yes. Well very, it’s particularly evident when you have friends who are into music and they’re also very diverse. One minute they could be listening to opera and then the next Metallica, it makes for very strange road trips. Absolutely. Yeah. It’s harder to identify as a reader or as a film watcher. But yeah, variety is. Yeah, it’s definitely an asset. And it’s something that I look for in my circle as well. Cause we’re perennial students. We’re always learning and yeah, you learn right up until the day you die.

Leigh Chalker (00:33:15):
Yeah, yeah. Well they say, you got to use the old muscle up here, mate. Or it disappears. So the more, if you don’t use it, you lose it sort of thing. So yes, yes. It’s always good to read and strengthen. What you don’t know, mate, nothing wrong. Knowledge is power they say. So it’s like

Max Ferrada (00:33:34):
Pearson community, the TV show community, the ritual man who decides to go back to community college just to keep his mind active. That that’s us. That’s us in <laugh> 40, 30 years.

Leigh Chalker (00:33:49):
Well, the rest of us has fallen apart, mate. Like hopeful. Hopefully what you were saying before, we’ll have moved into that period of human evolution where we can just zap into a younger version of ourselves when we’re all

Max Ferrada (00:34:04):
That might just physicalize at the tail end of our lives. Yes. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:34:09):
It’d be my luck, mate. They’d bring it out on a Monday and I’d drop bed on the Sunday. So, oh,

Max Ferrada (00:34:16):
People who are born now are inheriting unlimited potential and just unlimited space and time. Yeah. No one should be more excited than the generation that is being born today.

Leigh Chalker (00:34:35):
Well, I mean, God, there’s heaps of things have opened up, man. The old what’s that thing, the Adam Smasher that they’re just trying to open up?

Max Ferrada (00:34:46):
Yeah, the super Collider. Yes. And that’s

Leigh Chalker (00:34:49):
It. There’s scenes going on in the world, man, with the average punter doesn’t even know about, but there’s dude down there with their big goggles on trying to create energies in life and parallel, get into parallel universes and discover all the things that everyone wrote about in stories.

Max Ferrada (00:35:11):
And meanwhile, while that’s happening, there’s a construction worker in Iowa somewhere who’s a portal is going to open up right next to their house. And somewhere else, maybe in China, there’s a corporation that’s looking to harness that energy, that that’s the networking, that’s the bian story structure that fuels stuff like the Wire. And yeah, hopefully will fuel stuff like stellar lands.

Leigh Chalker (00:35:43):
Yeah. Yeah. Ripper. Hey, I’ve got a really random question for you. Go ahead. Cause that’s sort of off topic. While we’re talking about portals and parallel universes and stuff, I have a bit of a look, probably a healthy appreciation of UFOs, et cetera. And I guess what I’m getting to is more and more as people get into it and stuff like that they seem to be discussing the concept of perhaps UFOs aren’t actually from out of space, but they’re vehicles that transport people from parallel universes equal to our own. That they’ve developed that whole thing. What do you take on that man? What do you reckon?

Max Ferrada (00:36:35):
Oh wow. Well, I’ve never even considered it, to be honest, but just on in our universe, it would be so arrogant to think that within the vast spectrum of the universe, we were the only ones important enough to be given custodianship of life. Yeah. It’s just very arrogant to think that the universe has created for me and me alone. So yeah, in that sense, I do subscribe to the reality that you alien beings or extraterrestrial life is a thing in terms of parallel universes that That’s very interesting. So we’re talking about just another plane of existence, not necessarily like a tunnel or from one part of the earth to another part of the earth. You’re talking about a completely boxed out universe that

Leigh Chalker (00:37:42):
Exists. Yeah. Well there’s suggestions that a lot of activity happens around quartz. That quartz is a high energy stone in places of the world. I mean, there’s the whole they nuclear power plants too. But let’s just one step at a time here, max, we’ll focus on that <laugh>. On the quarts. They believe that where the quartz foundations of activity are, and there’s like one in the Grand Canyon, there’s quite a few, there are things called leks where Yes,

Max Ferrada (00:38:22):
Yes.

Leigh Chalker (00:38:23):
Have

Max Ferrada (00:38:23):
I heard them?

Leigh Chalker (00:38:24):
Where these energies of the world are stronger than other areas. And it

Max Ferrada (00:38:29):
Just so happens that there are important monuments that are set about within these lay lines. Is that correct?

Leigh Chalker (00:38:38):
That’s correct, yeah. And there’s suggestions that they may in fact be energetic enough to have created some sort of gateway for these interdimensional people to come through. And that’s the argument going on now, is that that’s how UFOs they travel such long distances and things, man. So I just, I’m getting a bit into stellar on your man because we are talking about stellar lands and space and stuff and well, it’s

Max Ferrada (00:39:15):
Not a coincidence

Leigh Chalker (00:39:17):
And my brain can just disappear off into the weirdest tangents max. So for that, thank you for putting up with me, man, and

Max Ferrada (00:39:26):
No, no, it’s fine. I mean, that’s why we’re almost powerless in the wave, in the forward momentum of our creativity. I mean, we can’t help but follow it in many ways that mirrors my own journey with stellar land. You could almost say that it was already formed and I just had to bring it down and I had this strain and make sure that my grasp would meet my reach and I yeah, I brought it to this plain, so to speak. There’s a theorist who writes about that, that all creativity is conjured, not necessarily created, it’s just brought forth by some engine, some muse.

Leigh Chalker (00:40:20):
See, this stuff just amazes me, man. Hey, it’s even the old the other thing that blows my mind is that civilization maybe not as technologically pronounced as it is now, but civilization to extent has already been. And we are just a tail end of something that’s been in the past. Do you know what I mean? Due to events and things that have stopped those civilizations, I guess meant

Max Ferrada (00:40:58):
It’s alright. Could we be at the beginning of something as well?

Leigh Chalker (00:41:04):
We could be

Max Ferrada (00:41:04):
Logic. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:41:06):
Yeah. Maybe there may be cycles it’s been before comes

Max Ferrada (00:41:12):
That’s massive effect. Yeah. <laugh>, massive effect. I still don’t know the villain’s names in that video games, and I claim to be obsessed with it. But yes, every 30,000 years or something, there’s an invasion which wipes out 90% of life in the galaxy, that 10% is allowed to exist and then thrive and repopulate. And then these malicious forces, once again come to bear and wipe 90% the cycle I imagined within mass effect. Yeah, it’s great that we’re all in the same weird existential wavelength because in many ways that’s what art is it. It’s us trying to not just make sense of our existence, but to add feathers to it, to make it pretty, to fulfill some sort of inner wish of what? Of how we wish reality were reflected. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:42:19):
Yeah, yeah. No, 100% mate. Oh yeah, I totally agree with you. The conjuring of the creativity, I mean essentially comes from deep within the individual man. You know what I mean? What I liked about Stellar Lands is it, it’s thinking, you know what I mean? You’re reading it, it’s world building, it’s thinking, it’s like it’s a fully formed, developed thing. You obviously haven’t just come up with this idea in over a cup of tea and a vitamin C tablet mate. You know what I mean? This is something that you’ve been brewing for a while, and man, kudos to you because it’s like I reckon it came up. Awesome.

Max Ferrada (00:43:12):
Well, I will take your thanks and I will dispense it equally upon all of the contributors to the book, because while it’s not an army, it’s a small codery, SK, who’s the letter Wilson, who is the colorist, Ben and Christina who edited it as well. And of course now the good people at Comax who are going to help distribute it and have eyeballs set upon it. Yeah, I mean, as authors it’s always a scary thing to have eyeballs on your work, but yeah, not everyone’s going to like it, but so long as it’s red and it’s appreciated in that sense, that work is no longer yours. The sandcastle has been made and now the tide is taking it away. And the it Conex is a great stewardship for the tide to take away the sandcastle, I have to say.

Leigh Chalker (00:44:16):
Yeah, yeah. Well, mate, I think you should be rare and ready to go to get it out. To be quite honest,

Max Ferrada (00:44:25):
I have a lot to learn. I mean, I have a lot of people to meet. I have a lot of disciplines to master the journey of a thousand Steps. The journey of a thousand Miles begins with one step, and I think I’m still at the genesis of that. But yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:44:46):
One thing I’m learning on my journey, bud, is there’s a lot to learn. But if your mind is open to it and you know, want to meet people and talk to people and see how they work and see there’s so much you can do and think about men, I look for me, I love comics. Max raised on ’em, read ’em my whole life. To me, I think they’re the perfect medium.

Max Ferrada (00:45:22):
I’d love to know some of your favorites while we’re talking about that. I mean, give me a reading list. Give me a catalog

Leigh Chalker (00:45:28):
Man. Well, okay, well straight off the bat, I would say, look, the Crow is my number one comic book that I ever read.

Max Ferrada (00:45:35):
What that was a comic book. So yeah, that’s definitely going to go on my Amazon. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:45:42):
Well check it out. Because for me, when I was a young fella and I was drawing and stuff, and I was looking at Marvel comics, the uncanny x X-men in DC and image and all these things, I was real, man, I can’t do that. I’ll try, but wow, I can’t do it. And then I found the crow. And for me, the crow was the gateway for me into realizing that here’s a guy that’s been through the writer creator that’s been through this tragedy in life and has put his blood and his tears and his soul into this story. And it’s not writer James Obar.

Max Ferrada (00:46:26):
Okay.

Leigh Chalker (00:46:26):
And it’s not always perfect, man. You know what I mean? In pieces, it’s not always perfect. It’s not the usual her hu and figure, and people are weathered, people are normal people walking down the

Max Ferrada (00:46:43):
Street, the military. Yes.

Leigh Chalker (00:46:45):
And that’s what attracted me into the world. And yes, rusty, the artwork in the Crow is amazing, man, still find it so inspiring man. I’ve read so many comics over the years. The Uncanny X-Men Run was amazing. The manga Berserk blew me out. My God, dude, man, I’m looking at boxes over there thinking about things. There’s just so many swamp things, ghost Rider, there’s such an amazing world out there, man to look at. And the best thing is Max is man, there’s some super, super talented Australian creators that are out there, mate. So while you are meeting these dudes and creators, men, ladies, all walks of life, feel free to check out their stuff because there’s an amazing array of talent men that makes me feel proud to be part of the Australian comic book creating community man.

Max Ferrada (00:47:55):
And if I could say something, there’s no you’ll find this in other disciplines, but there is a sort of famine mentality or a summit mentality where people who are practicing the art will view the people around them as competition almost there. There’s only so much room in the summit, or there’s only so much nourishment to go around. And I guess I was guilty of that sort of thinking when I was in my twenties. I guess we all are we’re all fueled by competition straight out of uni. But something that I found that doesn’t exist within the comic book community, well the small pockets that I’ve met so far is that there is no famine mentality. There is no summit mentality. Everybody reads each other’s work, everybody purchases each other’s work and gives feedback. And there’s a sort of equal plane of empowering, which is super encouraging, which is very encouraging

Leigh Chalker (00:49:01):
Also, oh man. To see people

(00:49:10):
Get better, to see people grow, to see, to be part of that growth, to see yourself grow. Amazing man. I love it. Just, and man, yeah. Yes, K, the best thing about it is, man, is I think the only competition you should have is with yourself in terms of your own creativity. I totally get where when you were younger and stuff, because I was the same. You look at that and I could do better or that sort of thing. But, and when you’re with community of like-minded people who go through their struggles to put these stories out or create or follow their path, because man, I’ve got to tell you, max, there’s going to be some people out there think you’re crazy because you got to have a crazy to you to do comics, mate. You know what I mean?

Max Ferrada (00:50:11):
So requisite for any creative job, that’s a mandate for any no color job, you have to have a bit of insanity. So yeah, I would even say that that’s absolutely necessary to and almost inevitable, given how powerless we are within the wave of our own creativity. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:50:35):
Yes. Well, mate, guess what? If you are sk Oh, max is crazy, but good. Crazy. Well, we like good. Crazy. Yeah. But man, well you’re off to a good start if you got a little bit crazy to you. I’m Peter Lane certified. Ah dear. But yeah, no mate, great community. Everyone that I’ve ever had to deal with and stuff, met Heroes, met other just peers, man, really inspire me and stuff like that. And I’m really excited to see what happens for you, mate, because I’m

Max Ferrada (00:51:14):
Curious for yourself. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:51:15):
Well man, we’re on the journey together because it’s like, I’m going to be watching you every step of the way because it’s like I, I’ve had the opportunity to meet you tonight, man. And we’ve still don’t stress. But look, I just get carried away with the enthusiasm of the comics being

Max Ferrada (00:51:30):
Oh, of course. And Bustle is at its fourth book,

Leigh Chalker (00:51:35):
Four have come out, and I just finished the last edited panel for the fifth issue, mate, so that’s far out. Yeah, that’s a 44 page comic book. This time I went in it silly.

Max Ferrada (00:51:51):
And you illustrate as well as write, is that correct?

Leigh Chalker (00:51:55):
Well, I write with my Mrs. Tamara. Oh, right. She, she’s like, we write letter edited we share parts, the story and older scripts, because my story man’s been going for 20 plus years max. So I understand fear, man, with starting something and being nervous about it. Lemme ask

Max Ferrada (00:52:20):
You something. The battle for Bustle, at the beginning of your journey, 20 something years ago, how much has it changed from the battle for Bustle now? Was there any maturation or were you rigorously loyal to that original image, that original story?

Leigh Chalker (00:52:42):
There’s rigorously loyal to a path. This is where we’re heading with this story, but I guess the maturation of the story over time came in because I’m not the same dude as what I was when I was 20 when I first started doing it. You know what I mean?

Max Ferrada (00:53:04):
Want to be. Yes, yes.

Leigh Chalker (00:53:06):
Yeah. So if you are

Max Ferrada (00:53:07):
The same person who you are in your twenties, I think that’s almost a failure in many ways. Not allowing yourself to be influenced by your environment.

Leigh Chalker (00:53:16):
Yeah. So I guess the growth in it and expansive things and just different ideas you get over time. I was pretty heavily influenced by I, I’m this old dude that I used to work at a Giant when my first job was at a giant food chain of stores that starts with W and I was in the produce department and you know, get Lee call through to the like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So off I go dressed up in my little baggy green cap they had and off I went. And then the lady there when I started, they used to pay you your wages in a little yellow slip at the end of every week. Here’s your pace, sign it, take it home, get it to the bank. No, no. These dudes introduced finger scanning. And I remember I was probably 16 at the time, and that blew my mind, man, like finger scanning and then they can track you.

(00:54:24):
You know what I mean by you get there in the morning and you’re off and running. And that, I guess is where, in a weird way, that took the story at that was a little foundation point. So I’ve always sort of been blown out by the because there’s an old science fiction suggestion too, that anxieties and stresses and depression and not getting into like that because it’s all different strains of it. Mental health is a very important thing. We’re also big on that at comics, you know, got to look after yourself, look after your spirit and all that sort of stuff because it leads for health. But with the amount of technology that, you know, just get a new phone next week, there’s another phone, you know, can’t keep up with what’s happening. Yes. You know what I mean? It’s coming at you so hard and fast, you think you’re surrounded. So I’ve always had, I guess oh, just an interest in looking at my surroundings, seeing how people are affected by that man. So I got heavy into that, I suppose man and love, whereas the world without love essentially battle for bustle. Man. What I believe is, it’s a story about love. It may not seem it to begin with, but you can trust me. It love, man. Yeah.

Max Ferrada (00:55:52):
And I love for

Leigh Chalker (00:55:52):
All things

Max Ferrada (00:55:54):
That’s like that whole the Donny Darco axial line fear and love and everything in life is just you bouncing between one and the other. But yeah, I can see where the whole master slave dynamic from battle bus, from Battle for Bustle, I came from <laugh>. Yeah. And it just happened to start at this grocery.

Leigh Chalker (00:56:19):
Yeah. So that was the original

Max Ferrada (00:56:23):
Mm-hmm.

Leigh Chalker (00:56:23):
Spark. And then obviously led on to a few other processes to get to that. But that was where I started thinking technology wowses not a bad thing, not a good thing. Just affects people differently. All things do in life, man. It’s just how it’s so yes, max. Yes, max. When are we thinking at this stage, man, that Stellar Lands is coming in hot? What are we thinking?

Max Ferrada (00:56:59):
Right now? We are just in the process of building up our subscribership Steven Sk. Yep. Was kind enough to point out that we have amassed around 50 followers on our Kickstarter.

Leigh Chalker (00:57:16):
Excellent.

Max Ferrada (00:57:17):
Yes. But I’m just a guy who’s creating stories. And really, this is all up to Shane. This is Sid, this is Sid Z’s empire. And I completely respect that. And yeah, it’s up to him. Me, I know that he has a great handle on the marketing side of things. I believe he does it for a living. And I completely have faith and trust in his strategy. I can’t give you any definitive dates, but we we’re so close. We’re at, okay my student self is going to be glaringly obvious right now, but I just discovered something called the PDF proof. Right now we’re in the midst of going through the PDF proof where we’ve given it out to a bunch of close friends within our inner circle to proof it, to give suggestions, to pat it up and so forth. And where and when the PDF proof is, correct me if I’m wrong, when the PDF proof is done, then it moves onto the physical proof that is, that’s like one or two or five copies just mm-hmm. A finite amount of copies where the comic book is, the quality of the book is gauged. And when that’s done, when the Kickstarter opens up, I might have gotten the chronology mixed up a little bit, still learning here, but I believe that’s where we’re at the moment. That’s where we’ve landed. Yes. But I could, moving along the platform, the escalator is moving. I could, yeah. I’m completely sensate to its motions.

Leigh Chalker (00:59:09):
Yes. You’re feeling like it’s picking up a bit of speed.

Max Ferrada (00:59:12):
Yes. Yeah. There’s a passive energy going on.

Leigh Chalker (00:59:16):
Yeah.

Max Ferrada (00:59:17):
Even when I’m sleeping, you wake up and then you’ve realized you’ve taken a bunch of steps Yeah. Of the necessary component of marketing. And marketing is incredibly difficult. It’s very difficult. So I have the utmost respect. Well, I also have the utmost suspicion for people who devote their lives to marketing, but I also have the utmost respect for those who can handle it in a very effective, yet ethical way.

Leigh Chalker (00:59:47):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Cause well, I, we do a lot of talking about comic books and creation and stuff like that too, but over the last couple of weeks, and while we’re talking about marketing these are some of the other things that go into comic books that a lot of people don’t think about either. Just already from what you’ve said, you’ve learned so much. It’s a hell of a journey, man, would’ve been the marketing that you got to get yourself out there and sell these things and put yourself on the, I mean, this is what it is. But yes. What, after all of artists editors letters coming together, writing a story to get your first P d f proof. Yes. And to see it sit there, what will you feeling at that point, mate?

Max Ferrada (01:00:54):
Oh well, the sense of accomplishment hasn’t really leveled yet. I still feel like I’m working, and I use a term lightly because I believe it was Mark Twain who said, find something you like to do and you’ll never work a day in your life. So I don’t give it the label of work, but yeah, it feels like a task. It still feels like a task. It still feels like one thing that I have to handle before I jump out to the next thing. But when this is all done and when I have perspective, when I could sit back and just look at things, take a step back and see things with in their grand architecture, then I’ll be able to appreciate things when the journey is done or half done, I can take stock of the journey. I can debrief that, that’s the word we, in filmmaking, or when production is done, we have rep party and then we can debrief. Until then it’s one vital task after another, the engine is well and truly running. I’m just waiting for the engine to stop so I can breathe, if that makes sense.

Leigh Chalker (01:02:13):
Yeah, yeah. No, that makes perfect sense, mate. I actually I’ve said this on the show before too, and there, there’s been lots of exciting moments for me in my short time as well, mate, doing this comic stuff. But I can’t wait until I really hope I get to talk to you or you let me know, or let Shane know how you feel when your first comic book turns up at your doorman. Yes. <laugh>, nothing like that feeling, man. Like that. That’s

Max Ferrada (01:02:52):
I’ll be cognizant, I’ll be particularly self-aware when hopefully I’ll come back on another interview, another livestream interview, and I’ll be holding a copy. I’ll like, I’ll be holding a copy and maybe it won’t feel like a task. But yeah, we just need that distance. We just need that objectivity in order to take pleasure sometimes. Because yeah, when you’re stuck in the mere, when you’re, you are just all you see is what’s in front of you, and that’s necessary. I mean, that’s a difference between an astrophysicist and an astronaut. An astronaut has to just see the tasks, just tick off the boxes from the list. If they don’t, they die. They don’t have the luxury of seeing things in a grand way as astrophysicist or an oracle. And that’s what Sii Che is the oracle right now. And yeah, we were all just gleaning from his wisdom, so to speak. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:03:59):
Yeah. No, well mate, he’s a good man. Oh, Shane. It’s like great mate of mine. And always we’ve done amazing things for the comic community.

Max Ferrada (01:04:10):
Yeah. And it looks like it’s growing. It looks like the gallery is growing and Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:04:17):
It’s exciting, max. It’s so exciting, man. I get, look, man, I love it. So exciting to see new people, new faces, get to, I’ve got the luxury of getting to meet people pretty much every Tuesday night, men, you know what I mean? And having a yarn and talking to ’em and seeing enthusiasm and seeing people creating and stuff like that. Because man, there’s nothing like creativity, man. And

Max Ferrada (01:04:47):
Let me ask you something. Is there a common factor with, in the grand scheme, of all of these interviews that you’ve accumulated, is there an attribute or quality that we all share? All these creatives? Share

Leigh Chalker (01:05:01):
Passion

Max Ferrada (01:05:03):
Day. Okay. Nice, nice,

Leigh Chalker (01:05:05):
Nice. A hundred percent. There’s not one thing of these interviews that I haven’t come away from, and obviously everyone has their different paths. The reason I guess I started this man is because I found, I’ve done a lot of live streams and stuff now with coms and overseas and stuff, and I always found that people never, you got your 10 or 15 minutes and there was a story, there was something there, and then it was onto the next guest or some, then someone else would start talking that. And I always loved, everyone’s got a story. I love that idea. And then my grade 12 history teacher said to me once, and I always remember this I think Shane is something special in store for stellar land. Should be good. Absolutely Rusty. She said, the best way to learn something about a subject you have no idea about is, and you will find out as much as you can.

(01:06:21):
Everyone has their own story. I like to let people breathe and yarn and talk and show their passion men, because it’s inspiring, because what you are talking about here tonight and yarning about different topics, it’s inspiring someone else. Well, generally, while they’re probably sitting at home drawing or inking or writing, you know what I mean? And it’s just, I guess every individual should have their right, I guess to not a right, but their opportunity to let us all know what it’s about. What makes you tick? Why are you doing this? Yeah. I said to you, you got to be a good crazy to do this stuff, man. I’m finding out, because it’s like there’s lots of time to yourself. There’s a lot of sacrifices that get made. You miss some opportunities sometimes. You want to, I just want to draw. I just want to create.

(01:07:29):
And I mates say to me all the time, it’s like, why are you just stay in there granny flat all the time because I’m doing stuff here that makes me happy. And yes. Yeah. Yes. I guess it’s just one of those things that, and there’s so many different facets of comics too, max. It’s not just writers and creators. There’s letters, there’s editors, there’s cover artists, promotions, medium. Yeah. Oh man. As you get more into it, there’s so many layers of it. And all of those people have got a story too, and they work damn hard to get their stuff out. So that’s passion is what I see majority of mate, to be honest. Yeah,

Max Ferrada (01:08:19):
It’s a lot of beating hearts. Yeah, definitely.

Leigh Chalker (01:08:22):
And hard work. Lots of hard work, but nothing easy ever comes without hard work, man. But

Max Ferrada (01:08:29):
If you love it, it doesn’t feel like work. That’s the paradox.

Leigh Chalker (01:08:34):
Yes, it is, man. I know, man. My paradox is I didn’t leave the granny flat for because I work in a granny flat. It’s like my studio thing. And I didn’t leave here for five days, man. And from 7:00 AM in the morning until like 8 30, 9 o’clock at night, I was down there and I banged out six pages, man, over five days.

Max Ferrada (01:08:58):
And that’s just the pen to paper aspect of it. There’s a whole other abstract form of working that you engage in, whether it be ruminating on the train, thinking or putting ideas together, or talking to someone and then being lost in your own trajectory of fiction. It doesn’t begin at the granny flat. The granny flat is where you’re trying to get to. You have to be very lucky to be in that granny flat in many ways. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:09:26):
Yeah, for sure. And the one thing that comes, I think with creativity, and this is just a learning lesson for people that are listening sometimes because you’re so creative and your juices are flowing and you are out there in the real world, and that sometimes you’re in places where you’re not a hundred percent present in the moment. You know what I mean? You could be with friends, you could be doing something, but forever, that brain is just ticking, ticking, ticking man. Do you know what I mean? With story ideas and what you got to do. And

Max Ferrada (01:10:06):
So that, that’s probably, look, I don’t have a wife or kids, so that whole idea of sacrifice might feel a bit alien because I got disposable income. What have I got to piss and moan about? But if there is a sacrifice, it’s that you are never really present. You are always in the void of the stellar lands or in bustle, which is your world. And it might not seem like a big deal, but when you look back, you kind of think, I might have missed something there. Or I’m all the women who had crushes on me. Oh, I didn’t notice that. Or all the assignments that I could have applied myself more into and stuff like that. That’s the, that sense of being present, that you goes away because you, you’ve only got a finite amount of brain space, and it seems like a fair portion of it is being used for your creative endeavors. Goodness. Yeah. I guess that is a sacrifice in many ways. And even though when you are not working on a project, you find yourself doing silly creative things. Like I was in a Tinder date a few years ago for and for no reason. I just started talking in an accent for the whole date. There was no logic to it. There was no reason. I think there was just some kind of experimentation that I needed to indulge in, and I wasn’t necessarily present for that particular date. And

Leigh Chalker (01:11:45):
There’s just a little bit of role play that night Max, just,

Max Ferrada (01:11:49):
Which is so necessary for character building and writing. And you’re flexing your creative muscle even when you start the day with no intention of doing.

Leigh Chalker (01:11:59):
Yeah, yeah. No. What accent were you using? <laugh>

Max Ferrada (01:12:07):
African. No. Yeah. For no reason whatsoever. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, you just find yourself doing some very strange things. And yeah, you could see it in the train. People with notebooks. I don’t know if you kept the notebook, but if you have one from decades ago, I encourage you to open it up and see how, well first of all, see how much your writing has evolved, but also see what was lingering within the hollows of your mind at that particular point, whether it was coherent. Yeah. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:12:42):
I, I’ve found I keep, I’m a hoarder max, and before laptops and things like that, God to, I hand write a lot of stuff. I know it seems weird, but I just prefer to hand write notes and even scripts. Man, this,

Max Ferrada (01:13:04):
That’s not strange at all. John, he’s my favorite writer, so to speak. He writes on pieces of paper, then he cuts them up, mean his wife cuts them up, and then he sticky tapes it in a page. So it’s very El Elmore Leonard, those yellow legal notes, because his background is in law. He

Leigh Chalker (01:13:24):
Posting notes,

Max Ferrada (01:13:25):
He writes his novels on those yellow posting notes, and his is assistant, the poor guy or girl has to get all these notes and transcribe them. So yeah, it’s, it’s actually not uncommon to still be obsessed with the penmanship and writing and Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:13:44):
Yeah. I just think it’s yeah, no, there’s not, I’ve always been interested in, ah, man, science fiction, spirituality, your place. As the world develops more into a machine, do you get dragged into the machine or do you try and find some, do you know, do you find some distance? Do you maintain the natural state of your humanity or do you assimilate all of these things? And I didn’t realize, but with being a hoarder and looking back at artwork and writing and stuff like that, it’s always been a central theme, man. For me, that’s always been of interest, to be honest with you. Just God, just even trying to find yourself in this communicative, everything’s buzzing. I mean, who would’ve thought, I’m no scientist, but I mean, things marvel me, man. Who would’ve thought that I could be sitting in a granny flat 15 meters away from a modem, which is in the house?

Max Ferrada (01:15:04):
Yes. You have

Leigh Chalker (01:15:05):
A few little hiccups here and there, but I’m talking to you picture, we have an yam from the other side of Australia. It’s just stuff like that. Just still, this

Max Ferrada (01:15:17):
Conversation couldn’t happen 50 years ago. There would be the white Australia policy. I’d be in Philippines being a farmer or something. Yeah. This and a hundred years before that, this wouldn’t have happened. I’d, I’d been fighting in the Filipino American war and would’ve been a convict on a ship ban for Sydney, I suspect. But yeah. Well,

Leigh Chalker (01:15:42):
Yes. My ancestors were actually my for stealing bread.

Max Ferrada (01:15:48):
Yes. Was that

Leigh Chalker (01:15:50):
For stealing a loaf of bread? Apparently in 1831 was when my first relative touchdown and he was an Irishman and because his speaking of accents, because his accent was so thick when they asked, they took his name, he gave it as chocolate and we were originally Chaker, C H A R K E R. Because of his accent once and once he did his time and then got his block of land and wife and kids and all that, he proceeded to legalize Chaker. Yes. Yeah. But there’s still a few chars out there that stem from that original bloodline made all through New South Wales and Gunda guy and Oh right. Sorts

Max Ferrada (01:16:39):
Of places You find you have an interconnection with Ireland. Do you find a simpatico there?

Leigh Chalker (01:16:46):
Yeah. No, not really. No. I’ve never really felt like an urge to, I need to be there, but I do feel an incredible urge regularly to be like Gunda guy in New South Wales is where my family got to amongst other things. And just a huge conglomerate. My family are from Gunda guy, they’ve now stretched on, but it’s an amazing sensation. My dad’s buried in gun dega and hundreds of about a hundred odd years of my relatives are buried in gun

Max Ferrada (01:17:40):
Degas.

Leigh Chalker (01:17:40):
Yeah. And there’s a pretty cool feeling that because you got to go off the overpass now, but as you’re coming into the town, there’s a big hill on to the left and there’s a rock. Then you turn off on it and you stand on this hill and you look out over Gunda guy. And it’s a really strange sensation that I’ve had. Max is actually had tears. The times I go there thinking like, wow, this is where all my descendant people and

Max Ferrada (01:18:17):
I sincerely believe in inherited trauma, the are inheriting the emotions of your ancestors until to the origination point of man. Because I don’t know if you have kids or not, but if you don’t have kids, you are the first person in your bloodline to not have kids right up till the beginning of time. Think about that. And yeah, within that lineage, I think, well, I’m almost certain that you inherit the trauma of those who came for you. Yeah, I certainly believe that. And I think that’s the feeling, feeling a sort of psychic energy within, within that hill.

Leigh Chalker (01:19:07):
Oh man, it’s

Max Ferrada (01:19:08):
Dialogue taking place. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:19:10):
Max it, I’m telling you. And people out there think I’m crazy already, so it doesn’t matter if I talk to you about this, this is what chin wagon is. No crazy. Dude, I have sobbed man on that hill. I hadn’t been like, what? I felt home for maybe five years at the time. Oh man. Getting emotional about it now, but just, yeah,

Max Ferrada (01:19:33):
It wasn’t a picnic for the Irish, I mean, yeah, you guys have been marginalized within every monarchy within the Jacob Jacobian era, the lead, the basement era, the Victorian, yeah. It’s a consistency that the Irish people have been the recipients of scorn and ridicule and that’s why their art is so amazing. That’s why their plays and yeah, Finnegan’s Wake and yeah, that’s why through that suffering, they’re able to create the deeper the wound, I guess is the softer the tune or the sweeter the tune, I believe is a saying. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:20:20):
Yeah. No, it’s it’s a powerful thing, man. Heritage and stuff like that.

Max Ferrada (01:20:28):
And that’s what you’re feeling. I think that’s the blowback, that’s the historical blowback you’re feeling whenever you hit that geographical space. It might not be a lay line, but it’s your lay line. You put it that way where the linearity of your emotional history is. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:20:45):
Yeah, yeah. It’s a hell of a place, man. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Gunga or the Seren, it’s pretty groovy little town, man. Lots of history happen there because here’s one people who don’t know Gunda Guy is the exact middle point at the Murrumbidgee River between Sydney and Melbourne. So when they were driving back in the day, that was the lowest point of that river. So they could get the cattle and sheep or whatever. They were taken down to Melbourne and vice versa. Now where you get the dog on the Tucker Box five miles from Gunda guy is that one of my relatives, and anyone can look this up in the history books, man, it’s like it’s all there. The five miles out of Gunda guy. There was a small hotel made out of wooden stuff like that. So it was like a bungalow.

(01:21:40):
One of those things you see in Frontier Australia, and that is where the drivers used to stay and that was a pub that was run by relatives of mine out there and every time the droves would be off drinking their cattle dogs were trained to sit on the Tucker box. And that’s in their Tucker box is not only their food and that, but they kept their private stuff, their belongings and things too. Yeah. It’s like great story going, so thank you for VEing me off on that max because it’s so, no, no, that’s cool. We’ve had a great old yarn tonight. See what can happen on a Chinwag, man.

Max Ferrada (01:22:21):
Well, I, I drive to Melbourne actually quite often, so I’ll take you up on that. Maybe I’ll stop by for a bit. Unfortunately, it’s still the case that some of these smaller towns are quite passive aggressive to non-white people. I hope we’ll get past that at some point. But yeah, I’m ho hoping Gunga present itself as one of the more hospitable places. And I’ll definitely have a look

Leigh Chalker (01:22:47):
When you go there. There’s a little a takeaway shop. Takeaway shop, but those old classic American diners in the twenties and thirties and that with Yeah, it’s still like that owned by the same family man and in this little diner Australian prime ministers have had meetings there. Donald Bradman just, yeah, it, it’s a pretty amazing place, man. Yeah, I would recommend going to checking Gunda guy. Yeah,

Max Ferrada (01:23:26):
Yeah, yeah. Next trip. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:23:29):
Yeah, please do man. And you give me a 5 million word essay on what you thought of Gunda guy. Okay.

Max Ferrada (01:23:37):
I don’t have 5 million words in me.

Leigh Chalker (01:23:39):
Ah, that’s alright. I probably don’t have 5 million words of energy to read anyway, so it’s okay to settle on a thumbs up or a thumbs down. But yeah, so Max,

Max Ferrada (01:23:49):
Yes,

Leigh Chalker (01:23:50):
But as we sort of start winding down into the show,

Max Ferrada (01:23:55):
Yes.

Leigh Chalker (01:23:56):
I always like to ask the guests because there’s two questions that I find important, the most important out of everything, and that is why do you do it to yourself? And not just stellar lands, but creativity in general. And if you, starting out now coming into your first comic book, what would the one piece of advice be to anyone that isn’t quite in your position and what you are learning? What would your piece of advice be to help them along the way from what you’ve seen so far?

Max Ferrada (01:24:43):
Okay. All right. Okay, so the first question, which is yeah, why do I do it? I think I just might be genetically predisposed to it. I have a family tree which bristles with a great many creative branches, a lot of writers, a lot of published authors great, many creatives. So that’s one abstract explanation. The other one is as I’ve been saying, maybe people like you and me were just powerless within the wave of our creative forward momentum. Even if it was just one person reading it, we’d devote 50% of our lives to the creation of work if it means getting to that one pair of eyeballs. So yeah I guess in the short form it was an inevitable mandate for both of us. Something in our brains, I don’t know. All right. And any advice for someone not in this position I guess? Well, let me talk to the people in their twenties.

(01:26:05):
All right. Because I imagine that that’s a majority of ridership and comics is gallery of writers those who are just about to embark on any creative direction. I would say that you have to not let go of the student mindset. You have to always be within that mindset of learning. You have to surrender that ego. You have to have to, I guess, show flex with your vision. And because if you learn to let things go I find that if you have a student mindset, it’s easier to let things go, but it’s also easier to supplant the things you let go with a new direction or even a new project or even a new circle of friends if that’s needed. Yeah, I wish someone told me that when I was in my Chinese just, just an arrogant student, an arrogant filmmaker, arrogant writer. I mean, there’s a lot of those around, but you get over it.

(01:27:32):
Life smacks you around a bit and then with relationships and you yeah, realize that you are accrued knowledge in your twenties. It doesn’t measure up to a cup of rice or half a cup of rice. You just need to be open to learning. And I think if you inculcate that mindset if you imbue yourself with that openness before you’re 30, I think I you’ll have more energy to spare. I think. Look there’s not sure who said it, but someone said who you are at 30 is probably who you’re going to be for the rest of your life. And I don’t mean your physical surroundings could change, your earning potential could change, your friends could change, but who you are in terms of your personality, in terms of your instinct, is probably calcified within that 30, 35 range. So while you’re malleable in your twenties, I think it’s good to be that perennial student.

(01:28:47):
Martin Scorsese is 80 years old, and I love listening to his interviews. He always says that he’s always learning, he’s always a student. He did his first 3D film when he was in his twenties, the Hugo, which is based on the fabulous invention of the fabulous invention of Hugo. And he he came into it as a student and he was learning alongside his actors. I mean, if you could have that mindset in your eighties, I think it would’ve been gestated in your twenties. So please hold onto that, hold onto that learning where me and we’re going to be peers in community enrolling in your community colleges, well into our SEP engineer age is just trying to keep our minds active. Being a student is no flake. I think that’s where you generate a soul if you hang onto that. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:29:50):
I think that’s a hundred percent Well said, max.

Max Ferrada (01:29:54):
It’s very difficult for someone in their twenties who thinks they know everything to surrender their identity to that. That’s just, yeah, that’s the hard part. Breaking that brick wall that yeah, that sense of I know everything, that sense of confidence. Yeah. I wish I had the self-confidence I, when I was in my twenties, man, if I had the self-confidence I had in my twenties when I had in my thirties, this conversation would’ve been so different. And the

Leigh Chalker (01:30:27):
Shorter, longer, what do you reckon? Pick it.

Max Ferrada (01:30:31):
Oh, I guess you wouldn’t have been talking. I guess this would’ve been decidedly, I think that’s a common sentiment among Yeah. Yeah. Younger writers. But yeah, that’s why yeah, I think we have a, there’s a good sound investment in the people who are going to create for our comics because yeah, from the few who I’ve met, they’re very open-minded and yeah, very open to feedback.

Leigh Chalker (01:31:08):
I think that’s a healthy way to be, mate, is it’s keep learning, keep taking advice, keep trying to get better and along the way with positive energy, positivity is attracted. Now, I would like to we were having a little bit of a chuckle before the show because one last thing before we go, I do need to ask Go ahead Now for everyone out there, max isn’t his real name, so it’s Martin. So Martin, where, where’s your love affair with Max come from?

Max Ferrada (01:31:45):
I, you know what, it’s just a frivolous nickname. Not even a nickname. No one calls me Max. It’s just a frivolous pen name that I’ve always wanted. I look in the mirror looking at this live stream now at this window with my face in it. Now, does this guy look like a Martin? It kind of looks like a max. I think he looks like you pulled it from the air. I know your name is probably the least important thing about your identity, but if I was to look at this person in a green shirt walking in a beach somewhere, I I’d say maybe he looks like Max. I don’t know. Yeah. And yeah, yeah. Ferrata is just a truncation of my real last name, which is pun Ferrata. Yes. But Max, yeah, max is nice and sharp and yeah, I, there’s no, there’s, there’s logic to that as well. There’s about as much logic to that as there is me doling out a fake accent on a Tinder date. Yeah. Yeah. Rusty,

Leigh Chalker (01:32:51):
You go Rusty. That’s a good

Max Ferrada (01:32:53):
Name. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:32:55):
Some names Stick, don’t they? Well, max Mike. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Max slash Martin. Buddy, I have had an absolute pleasure talking to you this evening, mate. I

Max Ferrada (01:33:08):
Mutual. Mutual, sir. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:33:10):
Yeah, man, I love meeting passionate people and like-minded people, man. And it was an awesome chat. Came at a time when I really needed a good positive kick, man. So for that, I, since sincerely, thank you. I certainly want everyone out there that’s watching. Go and jump onto that Notify me page on the Stellar Land Kickstarter. There it is. Stella lands.com x.studio, because I’ve been lucky enough to have a look at it and I highly rate it and I think it’s going to be something that people out there are going to enjoy immensely. Yes. From meeting Max tonight, it has only compounded that fact for me. So I wish you every success with the oncoming Kickstarter and every success and best of luck with everything. And I’ll be watching you, man, and giving you thumbs up from the, I guess to the left. And best of luck with Stellar Lands from Rusty too. Now, before we go, don’t forget there’s a heap of Australian comic books out there, and I’m talking more than you could poker stick hat. So there’s tons and tons of stuff out there, and they’re on the comics shop. You can get comics over, I think there’s a hundred titles, something crazy like that. That’s just a start.

Max Ferrada (01:34:38):
I got this. I just read this. This was amazing. The writer is a genius.

Leigh Chalker (01:34:43):
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. There’s there’s, there’s alt, there’s Cyclone, there’s Oz Comics, there’s Comic Oz there. I mean, my God, there’s so many places that you can reach out and you amplify press that you can go and get Australian comic books, man, that are awesome. And people out there love your support. So support each other. Now, don’t forget to and subscribe the YouTube videos that are happening because that all press the little bell because that helps all the internety webby in know time space interface things and these shows get found and it builds up a fan base. And we love doing that. Thank you for that, Peter. Thank you for everyone that has watched this evening. Greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much for your support. But don’t forget, there’s not only Tuesday Chinwag On Tuesdays. You got the Wednesday aus com show.

(01:35:40):
You got the Friday night drink and draw, which is up to episode 81, if you can believe that this week. That’s it, man. Woo Nelly, that thing’s flying along and you’ve got the Sunday spotlight. So all of these things are happening next Tuesday. I’ve got Neville Tiberius Howard, because collectors, collectors of comics are an important thing. This is what I mean, max, there’s peop, the comic book world is just so broad man, so broad with people and it’s all important mate, in the scheme of things. So thank you, Nick. Thank you for the support, max. Good on your buddy. Best of luck. And just remember everybody, community is unity. See you all later. See you next week. Thank you very much. Tell to

Voice Over (01:36:26):
Go.

Leigh Chalker (01:36:27):
Bye-Bye.

Voice Over (01:36:28):
This show is sponsored by the Coms shop. Check out coms.cx for all things coms and find out what coms is all about. We hope you enjoyed the show.