Rosie Team

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

Leigh Chalker (00:25):
Hello and straight up. Gday Nick May. Well, my name’s Lee Chalker, creator of Battle for Bustle, and this is the first chinwag in a while, not quite sure of the number. I think maybe number 24, it doesn’t really matter. Show must go on. So tonight I’m with three, well great mates, heroes of mine. I’ve got Mr. Ryan Valla, I’ve got Rob Sp Lyle, and I’ve got Mr. Ben Sullivan down here. Now tonight’s going to be a little bit of a different chin wag because I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m absolutely packing myself. It’s been a while since I’ve been on, so I’m very nervous. So I’ve got my mates here with me to help me out. So I guess tonight’s show, I didn’t really know how to articulate it, but being the first one back, I guess I wanted to talk about creativity because over the last, since the beginning of the year, I guess I’ve been going through some stuff, but I have found that creativity has certainly helped me out and kept me going.

(01:40)
It is a positive, it can save lives. It can be very fruitful to your being spiritually, mentally, and just allows you to get things out of your system that really should be a better out than in. So tonight, I guess I just wanted to talk to these guys. I let them do most of the talking after the intro, but for the last two years myself and these three have been working on, I guess a little project that was a little project that’s sort of the seeds become a rather larger tree and we’re all falling in love with this character in this timeline and stuff. And after two years of sending pages across Australia and text messages and doing all these things and phone calls and getting it all together, ring around the Rosie, as it is called, has come to fruition. It is in print and we will be talking about that a little bit later on.

(02:48)
But tonight is the first time that the four of us co-creators and such have come together. And I guess it seemed like the best way to articulate creativity was with four dudes that have created something that is close to their heart and it is now here. So I’m not going to follow the usual process of who, where, how, or why this evening. I guess it’s just going to be a little toolbox meeting and have a good chat, good laugh, and see where we go from here on the cusp of ring around the Rosie being released. So I’m going to go first to kick it off. Rosie for me started with the turtle and it started on a Friday night drink and draw with a spotlight on SP’s character Frederick Lon. And from there it, yes. Well, we got to here. So I’m going to pass it over to Spie for a moment while I have a drink of water.

Ben Sullivan (04:06):
Rob, do you have a picture of Lon there with you?

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (04:10):
Well, am I allowed to show this? So got,

Ben Sullivan (04:13):
I was wondering the same thing.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (04:15):
So we’ve got some proofs made and in the back we sort of detail the story of how it came to be. And in the back is a picture of Lee’s interpretation of my character Frederick Lon.

Ben Sullivan (04:33):
Oh, that’s the first one.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (04:35):
And so for those who are familiar with my whatnots, well yeah, my name is Rob. Hey, best known for the size of my nose, biggest nose in Australian comics. No ledger award for that, but alas, I can smell around corners, so I’ve got that going for me.

(04:59)
But so I do a very cartoony style of art in my books and to see Lee’s interpretation. Well, that night was really amazing to see everybody’s interpretation, but Lee’s particular interpretation spoke to me because while my books that I draw might seem silly and whatnot, I have a deep love for things that are Grammy, dirty, dank, mediaeval, fantasy, anything like any story that takes place in a dark alleyway I’m in. And Lee did a version of my character that I flippantly said, wow, that looks like a plague doctor. And the next thing I remember saying was, man, I would write the hell out of a plague doctor story if you were going to draw it. I don’t remember your exact words, Lee, but it was something to the effect of, well man, if you wrote it Oliver Reed or something to that,

Leigh Chalker (06:01):
I’m pretty sure there were probably a few more expletives in that to the show. pg. We’ll let everyone out there listening just have a little guess and interpret what we was saying, but it was full of enthusiasm.

Ben Sullivan (06:15):
If you want to come up with something, send it through.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (06:18):
Wow. Yeah, there you go. Ben’s got the transcription.

Ben Sullivan (06:23):
I do.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (06:27):
I love that. We’ve had a few production meetings. I affectionately call in the Rosie office, but we’ve never done the full four, we’ve only done two, lots of three. Just the nature of trying to get us in the same room. So this is quite a fun deal being together.

Leigh Chalker (06:45):
Yes. So that is my recollections. And then I do remember, I remember getting quite enthusiastic about the thought. I can do that to myself sometimes. And then at that stage I was fairly heavily drinking too. It was just what it was at the time. And this plague doctor seemed like a really cool deal. I love that sort of stuff too, because I’m a huge Solomon Cain fan and I love all that fantastical, mediaeval sort of gritty stuff too. So it appealed to me there. And then I remember doing, which I hope you’re not going to play this ever, but I remember doing a recording of a story synopsis that Rob sent me through because I like finding voices in characters and stuff. And I find it cool that sometimes when I’m drawing, I’ve got a character’s voice in my head. I just find it easier to relate to what I’m drawing and that. So I did a one man reading with several voices of Rob’s storyline and recorded it and one night as you do at 11 o’clock on a Saturday night, look, Rob would love to hear this. It’s not like Rob’s got anything else to do, maybe sleep or kids or wife and that. So I sent him through this recording. You

Ben Sullivan (08:27):
Did this alone firstly?

Leigh Chalker (08:29):
Yeah, the recording. Yeah, man in the studio and sent it through to Rob and Rob. I don’t know what he was doing, but it got pretty much straight back to me and was like, wow, okay, no problem. And then

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (08:46):
It was definitely a different approach that I had. One time I tried to be a screenwriter for a, and I wrote a screenplay and I had my brother and his friend act out a scene and it’s surreal hearing your words brought to life like that. And so the synopsis that I sent to Lee was rough. It was just to convey to him my idea and then for him to be speaking and there was a few, as you were sort of writing out a plot, there were a few lines of dialogue that pop into your head and you’re like, oh, I have to include that because that’s a must to the storyline. So I’ll just, it almost read a bit of a play like narrator and then set the scene and then the dialogue back and forth. But I’m just writing to Lee the artist, so I’m not like the last thing I wrote and I regret it now, I mean stupid, silly regret.

(09:44)
But I said the last line was mother and son hug. Now he’s reading it to me, he’s reading it back going. And then Rosie stepped through the door hatchet in her hand and blood dripping from her wounds. And then mother and son hugged and I was like, oh no, I should have written Mother and Son Embrace because I wasn’t being writer with it. I was just conveying the idea to the panel description almost. But when he read it in that voice, I was like, no one says a hug. And then they hugged. That’s not the line.

Leigh Chalker (10:23):
What I was given mate

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (10:28):
Says Idea. Did it really? Awesome. Yeah, that was one of the few, I mean I know you’ve said it a few times, never let anyone hear that that’s in the vault that we’re long dead. I’ll give it to my kids. So if there’s a rosy documentary like 50 years after we’re All Dead, maybe that’s when people can hear it. But until then the secret is safe, my friend.

Leigh Chalker (10:57):
Thank you. Thank you, man. That keeps me up at night. I tell you, and I remember originally it was going to be called Hatchet and it was going to be two parts because this is where Ryan comes into it because Ryan and I had been friends for a while and doing stuff and we wanted to work together. We hadn’t quite worked out what we were going to do. And we were talking about pencils and inks and all that sort of stuff. I guess sp he sent through the script, which was for two parts at the time, from Memory Only Truth, mom, you know that

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (11:42):
I’ve got just a side note, your mom, I have to give her a huge shout out. She is. Whenever I post something about my comics, the first person to write an encouraging word underneath. So got huge love for Carol and Chaka out there

Leigh Chalker (12:00):
Mate. Join the crew there because yeah, her support is invaluable to me and the community and it is noticed mum. I told you that the other day. So thank you very much. And for everyone out there and yeah, so Ryan and I wanted to do some stuff and then comic to the anthology book Presents Noir. And I don’t remember the exact story or who it was, that’s neither here nor there, but a story became available late, like an eight page story to can we get something to fill this and few quick text messages and such. And Ryan and I had found our little thing we were working on. So that was interesting to me. I was nervous. That was the first time I’d ever actually worked with someone else. I’m, up until that point, had never collaborated with anyone and we’ll get to it if I remember. But for any young person out there, anyone that wants to draw or create man, collaborations are amazing. If you find the right people, let me tell you that. So when you gel, it’s a brilliant chemistry man.

(13:23)
And we started posting pages from Townsville to Mackay Pencils and inks were coming back and different things like that. And this process went on for a little while and man I, I remember the first thing that I ever drew for Ring Around the Rosie was the actual cover. The cover that’s on the comic book. And that was the first image that came back inked from Ryan. And I remember at that stage, yeah, I remember at that stage thinking to myself like, wow, okay, no problem. I’m getting taken to school here. I want to learn. So Ryan kicked me off on the whole seeing what other people were doing and things and working out. And from this little point, I’m going to turn over to Mr. Valer for his recollections. Go ahead.

Ryan Vella (14:17):
Actually, you sent me two pieces I had to choose. Actually the other one’s never been inked. No, no, there’s that one. That’s right,

Leigh Chalker (14:26):
That’s right. Yeah.

Ryan Vella (14:27):
Oh, I forgot about that one. It must’ve been that then. Yeah. Okay. No, that must’ve been the other one. Then it did get inked. There is one that never got inked. I’m pretty sure. One thing A closer up,

Leigh Chalker (14:42):
I’m pretty sure there was Man

Ryan Vella (14:45):
Give. It was only one. It was only one right at the start. And I think yeah, but the other two it got done. So I was just glad the mail worked well for that and the art didn’t get lost. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (14:59):
I can’t believe you guys, when you guys were saying that you were doing that, I was like, did you take photocopies or anything first? No. No.

Leigh Chalker (15:06):
Honestly, I don’t even know if I did this how much of an idiot I was. I think I just got too excited and caught up in the moment. Just went, yeah, jam him in a packet, get him off to Brian Express Post will be safe as houses. So I remember I did send a page to Ryan and no, Ryan sent it to me to do for something and the Express post took two weeks to get from Mackay to Townsville. Man, it would’ve been easier to just meet in Bowen and have a pie and a Coke,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (15:47):
A Pi. You’re speaking my language now.

Leigh Chalker (15:49):
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, that’d be right. I’ve got that stuff in them. No one likes me.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (15:53):
Pi. Ah, yeah.

Leigh Chalker (15:54):
Yeah. Thanks Pete. And thank you for everyone who’s sending in comments. I do apologise that I haven’t seen any, I’m just happy to be catching up with my mates, so thank you. Keep ’em rolling in, so keep going. Ryan,

Ryan Vella (16:10):
What was it? I remember when you first approached me about it, it was called Hatchet at the very start, and I don’t know much about the story, but when you told me about the name change, I’m like, what is this about the ring around the Rosie? What? Just by the title, it makes sense once you see it, but yeah, I remember that. I never really done any mediaeval type stuff. Oh, not really like that. So that was interesting to do. I thought about the whole thing and the period costumes and I had to think about those drawing bits of it has stuff been invented, then what can I use? Things like that. So that was interesting.

Leigh Chalker (17:00):
True. I’m glad you went with those thoughts, man. I don’t think I looked at anything. I just think I was just drawing at that stage, man, and I was praying to God. I had no idea. I draw really loosely and I prefer the inking side of things. Like the inking is where I like to play and things come out and I was sending new pencils that I would pencil for myself and then not with a lot of detail. And I was thinking to myself, oh no, maybe I should have added more to it. I didn’t realise, man. And then you just sending back these almost like stuff

Ryan Vella (17:45):
Loose is good, man. It doesn’t make a difference. It’s always fun. You can just get it done really,

Leigh Chalker (17:54):
I suppose. Yeah. Oh no, it’s just cool experience, just a learning experience man. Like for me, Hey Dan and cool Dan. Yeah, I loved it, man. And then I remember it came out and presents noir issue three, the first eight pages because at that stage, well, by the time that had come out, I had given up drinking and I guess I was going through a couple of months of not feeling so well and wasn’t really doing much drawing. It sort of hit, I’d taken on a lot of work over 18 months trying to learn and just in life and stuff like that. I think it just all culminated in one big hit for me. And I remember texting sped and I remember saying to him like, man, I think I’m done. I don’t think I can do the whole Roy thing anymore, man, I’m finished up. But about a month beforehand, I had a crazy idea with Sy and I’d only met Ben on a Friday night drinking drawer. And sometimes the Friday night drinking drawers, you don’t get to really speak or talk about stuff with people and that, but I’d often admired Ben’s artwork, busy man climbing the ranks, painting beautiful work right on point.

(19:33)
And I just had this crazy notion, I said to SPEDs him, what do you reckon if I just randomly text Ben Sullivan and see if he wants to do this?

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (19:46):
And I said, not a chance. There’s not a chance you’ll be able to. I had been pestering. So for those who don’t know, Ben and I do work for Gary D as part of Reverie, but never together. We had never done anything together. I’m a monstrous fan of Ben. Well, Ben the person, and Ben’s art. And I would hound Gary, when do I get to be on a book with Ben? Oh, one day it’s coming. It’s coming, it’s coming. But the main thing being that every time I spoke to Ben, he had a thousand projects on. And so the prospect of him joining our little book and let’s just say there wasn’t a big sack of cash being offered or anything. And so it was just like, I mean that would be awesome, obviously, but there’s no chance the man is so busy. But never underestimate the charisma of Lee Chaka and the power of, I guess maybe a fun idea that Ben was into.

Ben Sullivan (20:47):
Yeah, I was thinking, Rob, if we have actually worked on anything yet, apart from this, we have, haven’t we

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (20:54):
Have, but not really you and me. No, we’ve done Southern Squadron, which

Ben Sullivan (21:00):
I didn’t talk to you at all about it though. No,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (21:03):
I wrote it with Dave Devrees and then you and Dave Dre did all the chatting and I was like, one day I’m going to snatch Ben up and we’re going to do a book together. And then along comes Rosie.

Ben Sullivan (21:14):
Yeah, yeah.

Leigh Chalker (21:17):
Which brings me to a random phone call because Ben, you’re a hard man to track down if Oh really? No. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (21:28):
He’s got two phones and neither of them work. He’s got four Instagrams and none of them, he doesn’t know the password or any of them.

Leigh Chalker (21:37):
Well, I was saying to him the other day, it’s like, dude, what’s your home address? I’ll send you these pictures. And he’s like,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (21:45):
Three houses doesn’t live either

Leigh Chalker (21:47):
This number or that number.

Ben Sullivan (21:51):
They came up in my phone, predictive text, my address, and I thought, how do they know my address? Suddenly conspiratorial, it’s just predictive text. It just threw me. So yeah, I forgot my address. How bad is that?

Leigh Chalker (22:08):
Oh man, it happens. You’re a busy man. See blame busyness. There you go. You know what I’m drawing here. Got to be somewhere on Tuesday nights, seven 30 it, but yeah, I remember a Saturday night and it was probably, well, it was definitely within the last week of me drinking and yeah, randomly got your phone number and we’d agreed to have a conversation on this. Sorry, it was a Sunday and I was pretty nervous. I hadn’t met yet or spoken to you before and I dunno what I was expecting from the phone call, to be honest with you. I just thought to hell

Ben Sullivan (22:57):
Go for it.

Leigh Chalker (22:59):
And then I don’t think we ever really spoke about anything specific, man. I think we were just talking about for art and comics and thought processes and things, and then you just said, man, no worries. Send me the script, leave it with me. So yeah, I was going through obviously getting sober and stuff and didn’t feel like drawing. And then probably a month into it, I’m starting to get an email of a picture of Rosie part two and it’s pencils and stuff.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (23:41):
And this is after you’ve announced to me and Ryan that Rosie was dead.

Leigh Chalker (23:45):
Dead. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (23:46):
The project was on the infinite back burner.

Leigh Chalker (23:50):
Yeah, I just hit a point. Ben battery’s dead. I need time. Yeah,

Ben Sullivan (23:59):
I’m not sure about this timeline either myself. I think I started drawing your pages first. I We did. I just didn’t listen.

Leigh Chalker (24:15):
No, no, that was cool because man, that was one of those moments where I looked at your interpretation of the first page of what I’d pencilled on the first page is my interpretation. And it was just, wow. Honestly, man, that was a page where I looked at for an awfully long time because

Ben Sullivan (24:34):
That

Leigh Chalker (24:34):
Is true, same man, but just such a different perspective and angles and things. So I

Ben Sullivan (24:43):
Must have gone off the script, not what you’d sent as drawings, I guess, because I saw drawings afterwards. So yeah, that was interesting. I think that was book one that I started too.

Leigh Chalker (24:52):
You did? Yeah. Yeah. And then you were just like, nah, that’s cool. I’ll just start issue two. So a month later, pages are starting to come through and I’m like, oh, I don’t want to draw ever again. But then on my phone spark, it’s like, Ooh, I’ve got to ink that. How do I do that? The brain starts going, and then a couple of days later, another page of yours came through, another page of yours came through and I started getting two or three of them and I was really looking at it going like, whoa. And I’d never inked anyone before. So this is where this whole creative conversation comes into I’d never inked anyone. And then suddenly it’s like I’m going from inking myself with my stuff to getting Ben Sullivan’s work, man, I was freaking out. Really? Just, whoa, this was crazy stuff. And I remember So

Ben Sullivan (25:47):
Before that you had stopped drawing for a while.

Leigh Chalker (25:50):
Yeah, probably a month, man. I reckon at that stage. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I

Ben Sullivan (25:57):
Can’t imagine you not drawing.

Leigh Chalker (25:59):
Well, just getting sober and stuff, man. Just didn’t put me in the head space for long periods of concentration and stuff.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (26:12):
And also you’d hit a few, you turned your creativeness into a job almost, and you took on and we’re all kind of guilty of it when it rains at pause, you made a bit of a name for yourself. So people came asking for stuff and you said, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Oh, I’d love to. Yep. And then it was, everyone started going, where are those pages or whatever, and you were like, I am drowning in art. And the only way, at least from my vantage point, it seemed like the only way for you was just cold Turkey. The whole thing, particularly Rosie was like no one was beating your door down for it, but it was an easy, I can chop that one off easy and that’s a load off my mind.

(27:07)
I guess we should tell people, for those that don’t know, that Rosie was written as three separate chapters, like one comic book size, 22 page story, but three chapters so that these three guys could pencil for each other and ink each other. And so when we talk about that, so the first chapter was Lee’s to Pencil and Ryan’s to Ink that when Ben said, send me the script, he got the full three chapters script and Ben was to pencil chapter two, but miscommunication resulted in Ben pencilling stuff that Lee had already pencilled, which was such,

(27:52)
Such a unique, because I was already living in this world where I have imagined wished to be a writer where artists that I like send me my words in picture form, you know what I mean? And so to be getting pages from you guys, and I explained this in length in the back of Rosie, but three very unique styles that I am a fan of, and I could pick in a lineup of thousands of artists I could go. So then to see, I never really appreciated the relationship between a penciler and an Inca because I can see when you guys team up on a piece, I can see you both in it. Does that make sense?

Ben Sullivan (28:40):
Yes,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (28:41):
It does. And so I’m very fortunate to have received some pages on some projects and be like, oh, holy crap. But then there was another level to see, but just learning, just going, oh wow, it really makes a difference. So-and-so inking versus I can see the Ryan on top of the Ben and vice versa. Yeah,

Ben Sullivan (29:05):
That’s so true. It’s kind of, I mean, drawing yours, Ryan, looking at someone’s hand that closely, it’s kind of sounds silly, but it is kind of intimate thing in a way because you’re looking at the way someone’s hand is working on the page and trying to stick to that, not only closely, but putting you into it as well. That’s a really nice thing to share. I think

Leigh Chalker (29:34):
I 100% agree with you there from me. I only had that thought today. It is very intimate because you can talk to people and stuff and it takes a thousand hours to get to know ’em. But from my perspective of seeing your work and having worked with Ryan and stuff in the past and doing stuff with Ryan down things and sharing and you can sink, you can definitely see how an Inca wouldn’t suit a pencil and that sort of stuff. When you start doing these sorts of things, you have to get in a sink, man. You do have to bring some of yourself, I reckon, or you’re doing yourself calm. If you’re the ink, you don’t want to just be a Tracy, you want to add some flash, I reckon some voice.

(30:26)
But at the same time you do, you pick up and then as you go through the pages, you really do start to read what the penciler is putting down and you’re picking up flows and you can read where blacks are going and you’re picking up lines. And because there’s also, I guess abbreviations in artwork isn’t there, instead of doing something, some artists just do a couple of lines, some put an and a little x where the blacks have to be in that. So you have to, and everyone’s different. So it’s a gamble the first early pages, and I found it really exciting, man. I love the rush of it to be honest with you, because it’s like when I was doing inking your pencils, Ben, I was really overthinking it because it was the first time I’d inked someone else’s work. And I happened to be on a, I think it was a yle club with on a Thursday night, and I remember talking to Dave Di and Bo Jardine about me inking your pencils, and the two of those guys just said, stop overthinking it and just do it.

(31:48)
And the next day I came down with some enthusiasm, was feeling good for the first time in a while and sat down and did it and took a while. Nerve wracking, but brilliant experience. Did I send you the pencils or did you photocopy them? No. Well, there’s probably easier ways to do this, but here you go. Here’s a story. So there’s two, I guess funny stories is you sent me the emails and I don’t use light boxes or any of that. I wouldn’t even know how, man, the closest thing I get to a light boxes is a bit of glass on my lap and a torch between your legs. I dunno how to use one of them. So I just do as what I got. So I just went office works. I just said, look, I need these printed out. Give me some goddamn thick paper ray washing and oh yeah, whatever.

(32:45)
So anyway, get it back and I’m looking at it, and this is before I had glasses, so this is the other funny part. Now sometimes the office works scans. At the time I was looking at the scans going, yeah, yeah, they’re okay and bringing them home. And then I’d sit down and I was inking the first one and I was like, man, I was an inch off the page, man, like this inking. And I’m like, this isn’t right. It’s Ben. Ben’s doing some weird feathering here. I haven’t got this. I must be losing my mind. So anyway, I’m doing some other stuff, I’ll just put it down for a minute, go and do some ink on some Ron ball stuff. And then I was like, man, ball’s pumping out these jungles, my eyesight shot to hell. It’s like, man, ball’s broken my eyes.

(33:37)
So next thing I’m like, righto, optometrist, come back to me, you get glasses. Oh dude, I was just zipping through things, but the scans made it real. They did. They were tricky, I think a lot more detailed but added to ’em, lots of little idiosyncrasies. Yeah, they came out little flex and scratches and things and that’s when I started adding the snowflakes and the black ash and that to cover certain things. So I guess it inadvertently sort of happened, but it just taught me how to do some things, man, I guess very rewarding experience. I’m very proud with those pages that, so yeah, that was good times, man. That was good times. And now the next phase after Ben and I had finished was the one that interested me the most from a creative perspective. And it was Ryan’s turn to pencil and Ryan brought it home with the third story and it was Ben’s turn to Ink. Ryan. Now keep in mind too that all of this had just come about, I guess the three of us as Pencils and Ink is coming together just from, we just wanted to try some stuff man, and work with other people and just broaden our horizons and just get better as artists and stuff like that. So we were all nervous and fairly humming here, but I’m going to let these other three talk about the Ryan and Ben stuff because yeah, that blew my mind too. Seeing that

Ben Sullivan (35:33):
First question, Ryan, were you surprised with what came back

Ryan Vella (35:38):
Me? Yeah, it looked great. I loved it. I was so nervous about pencilling it. It’s been so long since I’ve had someone else ink. My stuff I think had been, oh no, Leah had done a bit of stuff recently I suppose I was just wasn’t sure what, yeah, I was just scared about actually pencil and all that period style actually, and then the setting of it and all that.

Ben Sullivan (36:12):
Ryan, did you say that Lee’s ink some of your pencils before? Because I’d love to compare those, what Lee has done to your pencils as to what I’ve done to your pencils too.

Ryan Vella (36:24):
We’ll be able to send us something.

Ben Sullivan (36:26):
Oh

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (36:27):
Yeah, I was trying to think. I have something I do, but it’s on the, yeah,

Ryan Vella (36:31):
We’ve done

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (36:31):
Top Secret. Can’t

Ryan Vella (36:32):
Talk about it.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (36:34):
I mean we would talk about it with you, Ben, and you actually know about it. But

Leigh Chalker (36:38):
Yeah, we can talk to you about it after Chinwag mate,

Ben Sullivan (36:44):
Nobody told that’s

Ryan Vella (36:45):
The story. That’s the story that broke Lee’s eyes with the

Ben Sullivan (36:49):
Okay, I see, I see. I

Ryan Vella (36:51):
See’s that one.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (36:53):
It was funny

Leigh Chalker (36:54):
Drawing jungles again.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (36:59):
I keep Sorry, go ahead Brian.

Ryan Vella (37:01):
I keep down. Sorry.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (37:02):
No, you’re good.

Ryan Vella (37:04):
I was just going to say I was trying to keep the pencils really neat. I remember that. And not putting too many lines where I would know what they were going to be, but you’ve got to ink it so that be random back drawing stuff there. I was trying to keep it neat so you wouldn’t be like, there’s some dodgy thing you’re not supposed to ink and you ink it and

Ben Sullivan (37:22):
Yeah, we spoke on the phone about that too. You were telling me the way you work is really, you get your elbow right into it, it really dirty with your work, which is interesting. Yeah, because I mean you had a lot of suggestions about what we sort of talked about a bit of direction as well. We

Ryan Vella (37:40):
Did, I think. Yeah, we did have a chat about it. We chatted for a while, but I don’t remember what we spoke about much. We were just like, do we

Ben Sullivan (37:51):
Go

Ryan Vella (37:51):
For it? Go for

Ben Sullivan (37:52):
It. Yeah, I was impressed with the way you work because the way you were telling me how you work and it’s wild and it’s something that I’d love to work that way too. Just put everything on the page and put everything down and really rough it up. But I tried to do that a little bit bouncing off your conversation, but I guess I was being a little neat too, maybe. I don’t know.

Ryan Vella (38:19):
No, that was good. That’s perfect. It’s a good contrast that do what you’d normally do and I do what I normally do and just see what happens. Yeah,

Ben Sullivan (38:30):
Yeah.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (38:31):
There was some neatness though, Ben, so listening to you guys talking about the intimacy, I feel like the fourth man and the threesome, but I got to bat cleanup on Ryan and Lee’s stuff as in I got to go in, so I got the pages and when I lettered them and stuff, I asked, so the bits and pieces around the edges and they were like, oh, get rid of all that. But then you cleaned up your pages. So I didn’t get to because one of my biggest, so I work digitally with my drawings and one of my biggest reasons I guess with not drawing traditionally anymore is I find ’em very messy and I like my stuff being neat, but then getting to get those raw pages, I got to see that things aren’t always as neat as I imagine them to be. There is some cleaning up and stuff done before it sees print and I could see maybe a dirty hand sat there or some ink was sort of splattered there when it probably wasn’t meant.

Leigh Chalker (39:46):
Or a coffee drop drips off your moustache and lands down at the bottom and you’re like,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (39:52):
For those playing at home, there is actually some sped art in this book. If you look carefully. Rosie didn’t have the top of a hat here, it was meant to go off the page, but Lee’s pages slightly a different size. And so I like to think I made that work with the lettering. I would put the lettering in those sort of borders and what I would do is continue the smoke and stuff. So I would love a keen eye at home to be able to tell where Lee’s smoke finishes and mine begins.

Leigh Chalker (40:31):
That’d be a keen eye.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (40:33):
Yeah, that’d be a keen eye. But I’m particularly, I didn’t expect this hat to make it in. It was meant to be in case the bleed, in case in the chopping you could see it. So I wanted to have it there rather than just stop and it made it in. So if you guys want me to sign it as well as one of the artists,

Leigh Chalker (40:54):
Please, stranger. Of course you can. What are you going?

(41:00)
The funny, I like using the borders for artwork and I know people will tell you, but you got to have a bleed and tech crap, but whatever. I like to use the page man, and I have what I can use and where I’ve got a pretty good idea of what can get printed. And what I try to do is if I, because I draw through the panels, I don’t like just stopping. I’m halfway through an eye. Oh, okay, I’ll stop it on the panel. Nah man, I like to flow through the page. Can be a bit ski with, but the body’s there. But when I’m adding things to it, I always make sure that the images will be in the proper cut line. So yeah, some of my pages can be a bit wild. The stuff at the moment is a little bit wild, man. Good luck with that, Betsy. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (42:04):
No, see I love because I love that. I felt like while we’re being a bit sentimental and whatever, I felt like I had your back in those things. Your pages are slightly wider than they are longer, but it’s just knowing your style and then just making it work. There’s just like, so I put the sound is coming in from the outside of the panel and then it’s coming out of the panel and I think it ends up being quite a unique looking piece in the end,

Leigh Chalker (42:40):
Right? Man, it’s all, I don’t, sometimes you just got to let it happen in that man. And you see what, I don’t really understand the rigidity of the rules man, and it’s got to be this, it’s got to be that. I mean, why can’t it go there if it because letters and things are so integral to the story as well with flow and following. I mean it’s such an important part of the art form, man, I think doesn’t get overlooked and I dunno why people don’t use those little bits of paper to move it into the next page and stuff. It just adds to the, well, it just adds to the pop of the page, man, I reckon get a bit of life into things. I don’t know man. I guess that’s why for me predominantly and I guess always will be is an independent comic book creator because I do like to try things man. And some are hits and some are misses, mate, but that’s part of the packet I guess. So

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (43:55):
It’s an interesting part of collaboration too, is this is the first thing we did together and we’ve since done a few other things, but there’s a lot of sussing each other out, like the bits and pieces around that. I wasn’t just going to start cleaning things up and adding tops of hats and whatever. I had to say, hey, because some people are really, really precious about whatever and you never know. So I would dare not just assume and just like, here’s what I think and everything’s stretched and moved and whatever.

Leigh Chalker (44:29):
Well that’s part of the trust and the intimacy and stuff we were talking about before. I mean Ryan and I have spoken about, I mean you’ve seen those pages coming backwards and forwards, man, the three of us from Friday night drinking drawers and talking to us and you get a pretty good gauge what you can get away with and stuff with each other. I think

Ryan Vella (44:57):
I didn’t know about the hat. I don’t know.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (45:01):
Well I checked with the, well I guess you inked it. Okay, alright, sorry about that. I should have saved it for a full production meeting. I checked it with the

Leigh Chalker (45:14):
Ryan’s gone into a breakdown, man.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (45:17):
If you look at the credits of the proof here in the credits here, it has art director Lee Chalker. So I was doing the right thing and bringing it an art question to the art director, so

Ryan Vella (45:29):
I’m glad you did it. No, I’m glad you did it.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (45:32):
And that might seem silly to write art director in there, but I thought it needed to be credited that Lee did so much, what would you call it? Like herding of the sheep almost got us all together, kept us inspired, was bringing pages from here, inks from this guy, pencils to that guy. And I thought that, so this is going to be a psycho janitor book with an assist from comics and stuff like that. I would hate for people to look at it and go ask Bessy, put this thing together and take any of that credit away from Lee’s work in basically making this project take shape. It was quite a unique role that he played in keeping everyone’s fires stoked and keeping the ball rolling.

Ben Sullivan (46:36):
So that’s the two of you’re responsible for pulling the whole three together, the whole designer. What took me actually is the way you pulled all this together with just the art direction decisions I suppose. And that’s You Lee there, nice job because the whole, I mean I know all the interior pages, but the whole production comes together

Leigh Chalker (46:59):
Well, sped does his magic and then you talk and there’s some decisions I guess man that I leave to rob because I mean between all of us here, I mean we’ve all got a level of trust man, and we all have our strengths and I think you play to those strengths, man. When you’re in a collaboration, I guess I’m enthusiastic, I get something in my head I guess that I want to do and complete then I’ll go for it. Ring around. The Rosie has probably been a real staple for me just in terms of, I mean I love dirty gritty stuff. I mean anyone that’s read battle for bustle and seen my artwork knows that. But there’s also a uniqueness to Rosie that in my comic books, I’ve always felt, and it’s no disrespect to anyone, I could be wrong, please make a comment, but I’ve never felt that there’s enough really strong dimensional female characters in comic books.

(48:17)
I’ve always thought you grew up with all the nineties and all that crap, whatever happened to grit and people went through hard stuff in any era you can play on that with your comic book tropes and stuff. And when sped and I were talking initially just the thoughts of a woman defending her son and the loss of her husband and what those feelings and how stories, there’s two sides to every story is something that we used to say early on, as you can tell by the chapter headings, there’s the truth, there’s reality and then there’s further on. Every side’s got a different element to it and it just stuck with me man. And then going through the last four or five months, I guess I’ve gravitated back towards Rosie because there’s a whole heap of depth and as you guys we’ve started, I mean we seem to be catching lightning in a bottle price, man, hard enough to get it once it’s like you are doing another story, Ryan’s on it, I’m doing it.

(49:28)
It’s like sped, he’s writing, there’s a whole universe. It’s just being created around this densely strong character and her son and all these other things. So the enthusiasm is not hard to keep up when I’m working with people like yourselves, man, probably the most rewarding experience in comic books for me in my time, I would probably say one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences in my life, to be honest with you. It just came together organically. I went through stuff to get to this point for it to happen and to be finished. I’m grateful that we aren’t just like people that ink each other and pencil each other. We’re actually friends. So I’m grateful for that and gone through it and got know you through your artwork and our conversations and discussions and things like that. The hard work that you guys do. I mean look, I really did nothing. It all comes down to you guys man. And just the belief in the project and the fact that we’ve all fallen in love with it, hence I guess why we’ve started moving onto a whole another level of it. It’s beyond pages. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (51:04):
Yeah, it’s an interesting thing. So as we’ve spoken about, Rosie was going to be one chapter thing in noir and then when we realised, well if Ben and if Ryan and Lee are going to ink each other should be, they should both have an opportunity to pencil and ink for each other. And then so when we expanded it to two chapters realised, oh actually there’s a third chapter we should ask someone else. And that’s when Ben came on. But it’s just interesting. So the original synopsis was like from Lee saying Send me something through. And then I sent him the synopsis the next day. Now I remember someone saying to me when I did something similar, I don’t think it was meant as an insult, but they said, oh wow, that was quick. You couldn’t have given it much thought. And I was like, no, it’s the opposite.

(52:02)
It’s like you lit the spark and it’s actually all I can think about. So it’s like my kids are talking and I almost can’t hear them because I’m just like, and I have to put it down on paper. That’s interesting. The interesting thing with Rosie was, yeah, it was called Hatchet. It was very simple. It was a woman warrior seeking revenge and she carried two hatchets and so we called it Hatchet and then the first thing you do is go to my comic shop and type in Hatchet and see, right, there’s no comics called Hatchet. Alright, sweet. But then when I started going, all right, well now it’s time to write the script. Once Lee was sort of digging the synopsis, well now it’s time to flesh it out a little bit, was when I started looking into plague doctors and why they wear that mask and stuff like that.

(52:53)
And then I was like, and they fill it with herbs and whatever and in lots of cases they filled it with posies and I was like ies. And then you start Googling wine and then ring around, the Rosie popped up and it was just talking about, I dunno if it’s known as fact, but it was people theorising that the nursery rhyme ring around. The Rosie is based on the black plague and they all fall down as they all fall down having died from the plague. So I was like, holy moly, that’s the hook. That’s the thing she’s called Rosie. And then I would love if so essentially we’re telling the genesis of that nursery rhyme and how it came to be. Where was I going? I don’t know. I was just, hadn’t

Leigh Chalker (53:45):
Really thought about it like that. That’s interesting. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (53:49):
Yeah. And then, oh that’s right. And then Rosie went away and that made sense because we sort of told this one and done sort of story, but then we all kind of were eager to, I wish we hadn’t sort of wrapped it in a bow so nicely because we kind of all want to do more now and we won’t spoil it, but we’ve got ways of telling some stuff previous and some stuff posts that. I think this went from a one shot to being an issue zero essentially of what will be a very interesting ongoing story. Particularly now Ben, we have to do this. Oh no, Ryan wasn’t there for the production meeting where we were throwing ideas around. Lee’s got some crazy ones. Lee’s like the bull in the paddock that’s going crazy and it needs a few of us to hold the reins. But I’ll tell you Brian, there’s some stuff there that you are going to enjoy drawing as a guy who likes drawing some more violent sort of whatnots.

Leigh Chalker (55:11):
Well I think the story just, there’s a lot of openings to pursue those things, man. And I like to think that when you’re doing comic books, man, I’m not one of those sorts of guys that likes reading comic books, setting the new in now, right now, hang on, I’ve stopped the fight. I’ve got an email, hang on Apple, the ipo, whatever it’s called, 13, I’ve just got to grab this man, I’m sponsored by him, get out of here. I like a little bit more of a, you keep to a level of reality, but you got to have a little bit of the axes. I think it ended up not being hatchet because the axes I was drawing just getting bigger and bigger.

(56:11)
Yeah, nothing wrong with it, it’s just, it’s what it’s, but yeah, no, definitely for me the most rewarding experience I’ve had in comic books and a great joy and man creatively, it’s just one of those things that just good to get this stuff out. I mean, I guess the other thing is too, I find it funny that I guess the four of us are probably the most mellow, gentle people you could come across. And where Rosie I would probably say is none of those things. It’s very sentimental, but it is particularly violent so it’s not for the faint of heart. So I like the fact that we all seem to easily gravitate towards that.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (57:18):
I like to think that we earn it. There’s some emotional moments in there too, and the violence is necessary. It’s not gratuitous, it’s not just for the sake of, I believe that it’s sort of narrative driven violence, but the world we are putting together is a brutal one and only the toughest survive I guess. And some of our characters won’t survive and the ones that do will be carrying the weight of those they lost and stuff like that. I should just put my publisher promoter hat on for a sec and tell people if you are interested, we’ve got a notify me now Kickstarter page up at rosie com X Studio Sizzle and myself teaming up to put this Kickstarter together. Now I’ll just put a quick disclaimer in case people are like a sped sy kickstarter. So thank you so much to everybody who backed the Sluggish Kickstarter, sluggish two, all the digital rewards as sent about 60% of the physical rewards as sent.

(58:46)
My point being that the Rosy one is not going to launch until you have sluggish two in your hands. So yeah, you don’t have to worry about double dipping or that sort, whatever the case may be. It is just as what happened last year with verus and Sluggish and stuff coming together at the same time Rosie and Sluggish happened at the same time and ideally I’d give them both space, but I felt I owed it to these guys to ring around the Rosie Kraken mainly. We’ve got so many other things we want to follow it up with more rosy stuff and we’ve been talking about this book for a while, so want to get it out into people’s hands. So it’ll be a quick campaign. It won’t be asking for millions of dollars, it’s just to pay for the printing. The book is 100% done, the proofs are done. So yeah, if you wanted to head to rosie.com studio, you’ll find the Notify Me page there. You’ll also notice that it’s ring around the Rosie Plus battery hen. I don’t want to hijack things Lee, but did we want to give Ryan? We

Leigh Chalker (01:00:00):
Certainly do, mate. I’m glad that you brought that up because we’ll step away from the ring around the Rosie for the moment and we’ll talk about my mate Ryan Val’s upcoming book Battery Hen, which I, I’ve been privy to see it, been there with him, chatted to him about the initial idea so long ago and watched this come to fruition too. I’m a very large admirer of Ryan’s hard work and the 20 to 30 years that he’s put into Australian independent comics and Ryan’s hard work to me seems to be coming to the fore, which is about bloody time. He’s got battery hand, he’s got Ring around the Rosie, he’s got Kue old man roofers coming out and some varying other books mate. Battery Hen to me is probably Ryan’s and I’ve got a lot of Ryan ll books and it’s probably, I would go so far as to say your masterpiece mate at this particular point in time. It’s great adventure. It’s a great book. Artwork is on point, my man. It’s bright, it’s vivid, it’s got great humour, man mate. Where did Battery Hand come from?

Ryan Vella (01:01:24):
Battery Hand originally I’ve had that character for a little while I few years, but been for a lot of changes over the years. Originally it was like a middle-aged housewife with a cricket bat sort of thing, just getting revenge housewife by day at night as a mercenary sort of thing, bashing people. And actually this week I just found the second version of her, this is thousand 18, so she still had the cricket bat. The pants are there but everything else is not quite what she’s ended up being.

Leigh Chalker (01:02:00):
When did you do that?

Ryan Vella (01:02:01):
2018

(01:02:05)
Actually. I was going to do a full book then of her, but the story wasn’t quite there and I did pencil it at all, but I didn’t quite like it so I scrapped all that until the comics thing come around. Then I resurrected her, tweaked her, got rid of the cricket bat. I’ve seen too many characters with Cricket bats and I thought of the idea of the taser and it made sense with the battery. They’d all come together with the name. It all just came together perfectly. So I was super keen to do it and I’ve been wanting to do a full colour book where I painted it and did mixed media the whole way. So it’s the first time I’ve done that. This is the first thing I’ve written and drawn, which is all me for five years, it’s all my with me. But this time I’ve got sped Z letter in it. It’s the first time I’ve paid for a letterer to letter my stuff and he did an excellent job.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:03:04):
Yeah, what another

Ryan Vella (01:03:05):
Really happy with that. So yeah, I’m really excited about it and I’ve got the second issue mostly written as well. So you’re planning

Leigh Chalker (01:03:15):
On making that ongoing? Yeah. You’re thinking about that at the moment?

Ryan Vella (01:03:20):
Yeah, I’ve got lots of ideas and there’s characters from the first issue I want to bring back later, not second issue, but I want to keep for later. And there’s seeds I’ve planted at the start that I want to bring in later about those little things sort of planned ahead. I know what I’m going to do with, but eventually I’ll get around to it.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:03:44):
And Battery he herself is just one of quite a cast of characters and if you’re a fan of Ryan’s art, the character design is next level. There are some villains that are just one in particular. I don’t even know how to describe what it looks like. There’s slight warlock from Generation X vibes but in a complete other direction. I don’t want to spoil it, but every page is just like a, what

Ryan Vella (01:04:19):
Are you talking about? King Fossil.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:04:21):
King Fossil. That’s the guy. Yeah. White Tip is a favourite as well. But yeah, king Fossil, I don’t even,

Leigh Chalker (01:04:30):
Oh Fran Pan’s not bad either.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:04:32):
That’s right. Fran. Oh that’s Fran Pani on this page there. Getting his

Ryan Vella (01:04:37):
In the corner. Yeah, I always like doing the villains the most. Villains are just way more fun. So there’s way more in the next issue. The second issue is going to have heaps more characters than the first ones.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:04:52):
And the stuff you’ve done with traditional art that some of us digital folk would even be hard pressed to do. Like you taking an image of your drawing, pressing go on the photocopier and then moving the picture as the scan comes across so that when battery hen gets drugged, it looks like she’s tripping balls as they say.

Ryan Vella (01:05:18):
It’s fun though. It’s fun, all that stuff taking a chance and I dunno what it’s going to look like to see a heap of them and I pick the ones I like and rearrange it, then colour it and muck with it and stick it down and it’s all, it keeps it really interesting. It made the whole book really just go so quickly doing it. Every page was a different medium mostly. So thank you Carolyn. Yeah, I really enjoyed doing that process so I want to keep the whole series full colour and I’ll do it. I’ve already got ideas, I haven’t tried Plan for the next book too, so

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:05:54):
Yeah. That’s awesome. And Rosie, the book is 100% done Print files complete. The proof is on its way. I literally got an email today saying it’s been shipped, so this will be a case of if and when the Kickstarter launches, the books will be sent out the week after the Kickstarter closes. So yeah, I feel like Battery hen is not to be missed.

Leigh Chalker (01:06:25):
I would 100% agree man. 100%. Look man is top shelf stuff man. If you like stuff and you’re going to definitely battery here, there is no doubts

Ryan Vella (01:06:39):
This time. This is my first book I think ever. It’s got no swear in it.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:06:45):
Yeah, it’s almost kid-friendly. If there wasn’t

Ryan Vella (01:06:48):
No nudity, no swearing. I want to be a bit more accessible and nothing full on except violence. It’s

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:06:57):
Violence. Well yeah, at the same time you don’t notice it because you don’t hold back in other departments. The story is just as wild as you imagine and there are some unique ways that villains get dispatched of. I might say

Ryan Vella (01:07:14):
That’s the hardest part to think of. I always try to get the main part of the story written and I’ll just try to think of ways to dispose of everyone in the fighting and try to keep it creative.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:07:25):
It’s funny because you make, it doesn’t look like it was hard. It looks like you were having the best fun just going, alright, there’s this pond over here. I’m putting the guy’s head in it, I’m setting him on fire. It’s good times.

Ben Sullivan (01:07:40):
Do you have a whole mark for that, Ryan? If you’ve sort of thought about where it’s going to go for a couple of where it’s going to go?

Ryan Vella (01:07:49):
Yeah, a fair bit. I like keeping things self-contained issues though I don’t like ongoing with Cliffhanger end. There won’t be nothing like that. It’ll be, each issue will be a story, but it might be a character comes back. Not as a major thing though. I wouldn’t bring a character back as a major feature and they just pop up in, I want to bring in new ideas all the time. Just my attention span. I want to, yeah, once I’ve done something with something I kind of want to move on with them really usually.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:08:26):
Yeah, I feel like the not continuing thing is quite a big thing. Ben and I showed ring around the Rosie to Antoinette Rider of Scar on the weekend. She just happened to be at the same event we were at when I was giving Ben one of the Rosie proofs and she was like, what’s this? Is this your art Ben? What is it? And then she saw the last page and she’s like, is that it? To be continued? Oh, I hate that. And I was like, no, no, no, it’s not. It’s all actually wrapped up a little too nicely, if I can be honest, because we want to keep going and we didn’t leave enough room for it. And she was like first critic. That’s right.

Leigh Chalker (01:09:04):
Yeah. Nice one too.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:09:07):
We go straight to the top when we Yeah, a legend. Got to look at Rosie. Yeah,

Ryan Vella (01:09:15):
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Leigh Chalker (01:09:17):
Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing. So as SP said, that Kickstarter, there’ll be the notify button and jump out there and have a look at that, whatever the rewards and all that other sort of stuff are, you can find out as you go through the main page.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:09:34):
Yeah. Battery Hand is a ConX Studio book, so you’ll hear Sizzle alerting the world. So yeah, this is a bit of a team up between Sizzle and myself to put these books out. And Comex is kind of, I mean we’re here on a Comex show and Comex is kind of the reason that the four of us were introduced to each other and obviously Sizzle and Kerry and Comex and Drink and Draw and all those guys play a huge role in this book happening.

Leigh Chalker (01:10:06):
Well it is. I mean, mate, it is another example of how a community can work a connection point and that’s what X is. That’s the nexus. Because Ryan and I have a history, we’ve known each other on the cusp of knowing each other for probably, I don’t know, 15, 20 years until the last few years of comments. Because of her,

Ryan Vella (01:10:40):
Because of her,

Leigh Chalker (01:10:42):
Because of the lady singing in the background who used to be the is the partner of a friend of mine. And they used to stay at our house many years ago. And then I was given a copy of, he died with a falafel in his hand and said, oh, this is a guitarist in my band. Because at that stage I was sitting there in a kitchen drawing battle for Bustle and it all tied in and we met again through the comics community and of course Spie and I being middle-aged men that had dreams of being comic books that you’re doing comic books and creating comic books. As we’ve said in the past, I think it was a month Apart where Devil’s Toilet won and Battle for Bustle. One came out together and suddenly off and running. And then there was Ben who I had the great pleasure of meeting through comics and had admired his artwork and stuff like that.

(01:11:47)
And where several times on these shows, the 14-year-old boy and me has been, wow, 14-year-old Lee wouldn’t believe the people that I’ve had to meet then that or gotten to meet, worked with, become friends with greatly and heroes man. And that’s the beauty of community man. And that’s the beauty of Comex Comex is just all about creativity. And that was the point of tonight’s conversation to I guess bringing Ring around the Rosie issue Zero sort of to a close for the four of us at this point before we move on to the next stage of Rosie and wherever our creative juices take us and join in, come and learn. I mean, my God, the things that I learned from working with these guys to get that comic book that’s in Ben and Rob’s hands, invaluable lessons you can learn from anywhere and without being statistical.

(01:13:00)
I think this whole experience here has improved my artwork, my creativity, the way I think about, I guess the community industry on a whole. And the last thing I would say about Ring Around the Rosie is it is definitely probably the proudest thing that I’ve been associated with in my time. So up to you if you want to go out and get it and well, yeah. Yeah, so I mean that wholeheartedly. Now we’ll start winding down the show and I guess I am going to ask one question of these three, and they’ve probably answered it in the past on the shows they’ve been on with me. But I do love to ask why. And Ryan, you are first off my friend, and then after you’ve answered the question, let us know. Other than Battery hen what you got happening, where your stuff’s available and where you’re at, my man,

Ryan Vella (01:14:17):
Why? I dunno, why not? I guess, I don’t know. I wish I knew why. I like telling stories. That’s what it is. It gets through in your head, you’re like, people have to hear it or know it. I dunno. That’s a good question. My stuff Comex shop, check it out there. Yeah, that’s the place to go. Killer Old man. Rufuss is out soon. Yeah, I think that’s about it really that I can think of right now. Drumsticks are doom number two and three. They’re out. I think so find them online. Yep. That’s mine. Next.

Leigh Chalker (01:15:07):
You’re a busy man, SPS in. Yeah,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:15:09):
Well the why. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:15:13):
Why,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:15:15):
Yeah, my wife asked the same question. I wish I had a poetic answer. Kind of the why is I have to, I wish, I kind of wish I didn’t. I see a happiness in my friends that I wish outside of my creative friends that a hard day at work is reward enough and then, but I’ll go to work those times when I had a proper day job and I just don’t feel fulfilled. I don’t feel fulfilled until I’ve done some drawing, done some writing something toward my dream. And this is something I’ve come to recently. I don’t know, I think I will forever be a dream chaser because I’ve spoken before on this very show. I think about moving the goalposts and so I’ve achieved the dream I set out to achieve, but then I moved the goalpost. And so I think I’ll forever just be chasing something. And I don’t know if that chase ever ends. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself. I think that’s what I’m meant to do. I think I’m meant to just be chasing this donut on a string that’s just outside of my reach. It’s all I’ve ever done. It’s all I’ve ever known. So I don’t know if I get to eat the donut one day. What will it taste like? Will it taste like regret? Regret? I don’t know.

(01:16:50)
Well yeah, so almost

Leigh Chalker (01:16:52):
No regret.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:16:55):
I’m about to send a huge lot of books up to Comex shop because my stuff, a few bits and pieces have been missing and one of those will be sluggish two. So sluggish two. Again, I thank everybody for putting up with me on all the social medias. I’ve been so sluggish to Kickstarter. But yeah, so that book is out and will be amongst people very soon. I also wanted to shout out I Peter Lane, I have some stuff in his books. Sky’s Cabin Library, one of the best books in the Australian indie scene. Were always well put together issues and I’m always privileged to get little assignments here and there to be part of it. And Flyboys from Nick Clary, same sort of thing. Nick Cleary quick. Nick does amazing books and when I get to be a part of ’em, put some bits and pieces in things, it’s an honour and I’m privileged to do so. So shout out to those guys. What about you Benjamin?

Ben Sullivan (01:18:00):
Why? I think I liked yours, Ryan, being able to tell a story, but I think also I can’t really do anything else. I’m not very good at anything else. I’ve had other jobs that I’ve failed miserably, but this one I do. Okay,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:18:18):
That’s a good answer.

Ben Sullivan (01:18:20):
That’s good. Yeah, I can’t do much else. Unfortunate truth,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:18:26):
Nothing like using your skills. I think that’s what it is. Some people are good at building houses and they use those skills to pay the bills. So it is a privilege when you get to use the thing that you’re good at. Just to totally hijack your answer, but if I could my answer as well.

Ben Sullivan (01:18:47):
No, it’s better said Rob. Yeah, well that’s right. And of course I love it. I couldn’t think of doing anything else anyway, what do I have out? I’m working on a new Toby, Toby three at the moment, which might not be a for a while. What is that? This DK is always out. I’ve got a lot of work with Darren Koal with his retro sci-Fi. The last issue was out, oh God, two months ago. Issue 11

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:19:26):
Darol.com.

Ben Sullivan (01:19:27):
Ols. Yes, yes. Thanks Rob. Yep, yep, yep,

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:19:31):
I got you.

Ben Sullivan (01:19:32):
Thanks Rob. Terrible. Thank you. I’m working on lots of things, doing a parody at the moment of you wouldn’t be able to find that. It’s hard to know what’s work with Comic X with Shane’s new book.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:19:54):
Yes. Interest’s, perceptions.

Ben Sullivan (01:19:56):
Yes.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:19:56):
Available right now. Comic shop

Ben Sullivan (01:19:58):
Hayden scripted that as well. He did a great job. Yeah, I’ll leave it there. I’ll leave it there.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:20:06):
Speaking of Hayden Spar, one of Hayden and i’s pet projects that we want to be Ben’s social media manager because one of the best illustrators in Australia that is well known within our community but needs to be better known. So yeah, the man of four Instagrams and zero passwords one day. We’re going to fix all that. Streamline it all. Yeah, it’s on the todo list.

Leigh Chalker (01:20:41):
Thanks Rob. Thank you very much. Not sure what his house number is exactly. Like I said, I can’t do anything else.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:20:49):
Three houses doesn’t have a key to any of them.

Leigh Chalker (01:20:54):
Yes. Alright, well I guess I do it because same reason as these guys. I love it. I love being able to contribute to the community in the industry that I am part of and have always wanted to be part of. I love meeting people. I love talk and shop, I love listening to people’s stories and that’s what Chinwag is all about. That’s the most important thing. Everyone does have their story to me, everyone’s story is important and Tuesday Chin Wags have been one of the highlights as well for me during my time and drawing creativity, it’s just one of those things you can’t stop. It’s a compulsion and just you either understand or you don’t. Unfortunately it’s something you need to do. It’s like breathing man. It’s like crying. It’s better in and out. So it’s best way I can describe it.

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:21:49):
Sorry, just before we go, I should save this for production meeting, but I thought there’s another thing you three do and that’s painting. If we ever get to meet the four of us in person, you guys should paint together on one canvas. We should do, you’re known in this circle for sequential art, but you’re both, all three of you avid painters so we should have a drink and paint or you can have a cordial

Leigh Chalker (01:22:24):
Get the paint brushes out water that night mate and probably lots of it and a bloody good yak, but alright, well look just on finishing up the first show back, I guess look, I’d just like to say thank you to Comex. So that’s Shane and Kerry obviously and thank you for everyone’s patience. It’s been an interesting start to the year for me. For a lot of you, the years passed very quickly for me. I feel like I have walked a million miles and I certainly didn’t feel like a little while ago that I was probably going to get back to do another chin wag. So I’m very grateful for the opportunity to the people that supported me in the community and those out of the community. Much love and appreciation and I mean that wholeheartedly. And thank you very much for being part of my journey and hopefully I don’t let anyone down and we’ll see how we go from here.

(01:23:33)
Only forward. Alright, so now don’t forget to like and subscribe the channels because that is important. That keeps all those algorithms and all those and interface bells and buzzes and reminders and stuff going and keep you in the loop about things. Don’t forget to press notify on the ring around the Rosie and Battery hand Kickstarter, which will be coming at you sooner rather than later. It would be a joy to get that into people’s hands. It has been crafted and created with much love and great pleasure, which I think hopefully you’ve discovered tonight from us all talking together I guess in the next couple of weeks. That’s one thing we should ask the old sp, when’s your drink and drawback Bud? What’s your date for that?

Rob ‘Spedsy’ Lisle (01:24:30):
I’m not sure. I think we might even be back this Friday, but I dunno for sure. So don’t hold me to that, but it’ll be all over the everywheres. But I should say on behalf of the audience, because I count myself as an audience member, this is my favourite weekly show. It’s good to have you back, Lee, honoured to be first guest with Ryan and Ben. We’ve all been on the show before, but to do it, for you to come back and for you to want it to do it with us three, I don’t take that lightly. In fact I take it quite heavily. But yeah, you’re really good at this. I know you don’t like compliments particularly in public, but I would say there are a great many people that are happy that this show is back and I wish you every success and please don’t stop. Yeah, keep on Moving Forward Communities, unity, all those other awesome catchphrases.

Leigh Chalker (01:25:29):
Thank you. I greatly appreciate that, man. Believe me means a lot. Look, and yeah, so as next week’s show is Angie Spice, so we’ll be back into normal where, when, how and whys with that. Angie’s in the middle of a Kickstarter for her work at the moment. It’s going great success and Angie is a very talented and very interesting creator and it should be a good show next week. So we’ll continue to keep the roll on for Tuesday. Chin Wags and I guess sp, he beat me to it, but the last thing I always like to say on the show is community is unity. Thank you. See you next week. Take care. Thanks man. Thanks everybody.

Voice Over (01:26:20):
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. I.