The Short Box Podcast: A Comic Book Talk Show · Badr Milligan of The Short Box Entertainment Company | Comic Book Podcast

Kyle Starks Knows Where The Monsters Lie: An Interview About Horror Comics, Peacemaker, and Kickstarter success

·1 hr 35 min·5 clips

Kyle says Where Monsters Lie volume two did not sell well enough to justify more at Dark Horse.

The hook is domestic horror with a grin. Asked where ideas come from, the guest waves off the idea of a grand routine. For him, the process sounds more lucky and sideways than scheduled. His rule for comics is plain enough: they should be fun when they hit, even when they are not jokey or lightweight. That explains Where Monsters Lie pretty cleanly. Volume one gets pitched as a community where slasher-monster types live between killings, follow rules, and act almost neighborly. They share a place, deal with a homeowner society, and then an apex monster hunter blows it all open. After that, the book turns into monsters killing each other. The guest does not dress it up as a horror lecture. He talks about it like a fast, nasty romp where everyone suddenly has a problem. The host keeps things loose enough that the conversation can slide into the less glamorous side of independent comics: actually getting books to backers. This is where the advice gets useful. A thermal printer, Pirate Ship, and labels are treated less like nice extras and more like the tools that keep shipping day from becoming a mess. The pain points feel lived in: ink running out, stickers failing, labels needing reprints, postage turning annoying. The scale stays human, too. The guest says he has had around 700 backers at most, probably 500 physical items, and thinks that level is doable. Doable still means family coming over, pizzas getting ordered, laundry baskets filling up, and packages heading to the post office. That is the appeal here. Horror ideas, comics craft, and small-business chores all belong in the same conversation.

As heard by us

A horror-comics hang that pairs a sharp premise with the grubby realities of indie fulfillment.

Kyle Starks gives the episode a clean, oddball hook: a slasher-monster homeowners society stuck inside its own rules until an apex monster hunter shows up.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a serendipitous comics chat that swings from a slasher-monster premise to the messy reality of getting books shipped.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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