Catching Up With Tomi Trembath

[00:00:12] This is Rangercast Episode 29, Catching Up With Tomi Trembath, Recorded on Sunday, August 11th, 2024.

[00:00:31] Hey everyone, Tyler here. So we've been meaning to get a full episode out, and we were trying to get a full episode out before Power MorphCon, and we were unable just because, you know, my schedule, everyone else's schedule, etc.

[00:00:46] We've got a lot of news to get through when we do do a full episode, like a whole lot of news, which is weird, you know, considering where the Power Rangers franchise is right now.

[00:00:55] But we've got the auction of 900 some lots of items ranging the entire history of the show.

[00:01:05] We have discussion about the return and everything going on with the comics. We've got episode discussion. There's still episodes of Cosmic Fury we haven't yet talked about.

[00:01:14] There's a whole bunch of Tokusatsu announcements that came out of Discotex, Panel, and Oticon.

[00:01:19] So there's, you know, going to be a bunch of stuff that we're going to be talking about when we do come back after Power MorphCon.

[00:01:25] Also in housekeeping, you're going to notice some changes on our website because we are changing web hosts.

[00:01:33] It's going to look a lot like what we had with our old provider.

[00:01:40] What you're not going to see is that it's a lot cheaper than our old provider.

[00:01:44] Yeah, they were jacking the prices so we need to make a change.

[00:01:48] So I think that is about it for me for now before I throw it to an interview with an old friend.

[00:01:56] All right, I'm here with a very familiar voice. Her name is Tommy Trembath.

[00:02:01] She is a podcaster and writer. She's the host of the podcast Giant Sides Violence and Transcending Comics.

[00:02:07] You may remember her as a co-host of the early episodes of this iteration of RageCast.

[00:02:12] Her current project is When We Transform, a new comic project on Kickstarter.

[00:02:16] So how have you been, Tommy?

[00:02:18] I've been doing great. I've had a lot of exciting things going on with both my podcasts.

[00:02:24] The comics Kickstarter has been going really well so far.

[00:02:27] Within our first week, we hit 69% of our funding goal.

[00:02:32] We're still waiting just a little bit over about $600 away from hitting our $2,000 goal.

[00:02:39] So yeah, we've got about three weeks left. Hoping to hit that.

[00:02:43] But yeah, I'm really excited about the momentum we have so far.

[00:02:47] I'm meeting a bunch of awesome creators.

[00:02:49] I've heard a lot of good feedback on the book, and I'm really excited to share this with the world.

[00:02:54] So tell us about the comic. Tell us, you know, the elevator pitch, what it's about.

[00:03:00] Yeah, so when we transform at least this first issue zero for the book,

[00:03:06] it kind of explores what would happen if a character like Power Ranger or Sailor Scout

[00:03:11] or any kind of Toku hero went into their stock footage transformation sequence

[00:03:18] and then got stuck in that extra dimensional space

[00:03:21] and didn't come out on the other side for like a good 20, 30 years.

[00:03:26] And they find themselves in a world where their super team doesn't exist anymore.

[00:03:31] Other heroes are trying to fill in the gaps.

[00:03:35] But as far as coming out on the other side, while things are certainly bad in the future,

[00:03:41] there are some good things they find.

[00:03:43] And this first issue is really a matter of exploring this character's journey of self-discovery

[00:03:50] and coming to terms with their identity as a trans person

[00:03:54] and coming out to a parent that thought their kid was dead

[00:03:58] after learning about their involvement on a team of transforming superhero mech pilots.

[00:04:03] So yeah, we're this, this issue explores themes that like I have wanted to explore with the series

[00:04:12] since its earliest conception.

[00:04:14] But we're going to be continuing this as a webcomic going forward

[00:04:18] and it was going to take years of storytelling and funding

[00:04:22] to get to these really emotional points with the main character

[00:04:25] that are what are really important to me for exploring.

[00:04:28] So this issue zero kind of acts as a pilot that helps me get to that point

[00:04:35] or like jumping right to the queer part without having to go through spending thousands of dollars

[00:04:41] on making the comics to get to this point.

[00:04:44] And then we can kind of focus on a more traditional superhero story

[00:04:47] with the series proper launching in a couple months.

[00:04:51] And this is the first time you've written a comic, correct?

[00:04:55] A comic of this length, yes.

[00:04:58] Before I did a... I'd done a couple short comics before.

[00:05:04] Like I think it was Robert Kirkman that had the advice of like not letting your first comic be

[00:05:10] like your super passion project or your what you want to be your magnum opus.

[00:05:15] So I do have a little story on my sub stack that's it's called the captain song.

[00:05:20] It's just about six pages long and tells the story of a pirate ship that's being captained by a siren.

[00:05:29] But beyond that, this comic is also kind of the culmination of a few different comics I made

[00:05:37] that just tell one connected story.

[00:05:39] Like I wrote the first six pages of this as a proof of concept for the series

[00:05:45] before I even realized that I myself was trans.

[00:05:48] Just kind of gave the cliffhanger of the main character David being caught in this

[00:05:54] kind of morphing sequence type dimensional space.

[00:05:58] But then over the next year or two, I started to have the idea of like,

[00:06:02] well, I think this character is going to be trans.

[00:06:05] And like, how would someone in this position come out?

[00:06:08] So I wrote a follow up comic that kind of is them confronting a version of their mom in the past

[00:06:14] that still thinks they're dead and kind of explaining who she is and what happened.

[00:06:19] And wanting to not tell yet another story where someone comes out and it goes terribly wrong.

[00:06:25] I wanted to give people kind of like the ideal version of what you would hope to happen in a situation like this.

[00:06:32] So I wrote yet a third comic that's kind of the mom's response kind of explaining like the signs she had seen

[00:06:38] and how these were things that she thought no one knew about her kid.

[00:06:42] And I then just kind of conjoined those into one full length comic of about 21, 22 pages of content.

[00:06:49] So it was really helpful because I got to have this like incremental real incremental digital release of the comic on my sub stack.

[00:06:59] And I didn't have to spend a ton of money at a single time.

[00:07:03] So like a lot of people on their first comic will do anthologies.

[00:07:06] This was kind of my way to do that same thing for practical reasons,

[00:07:10] but still tell one conjoined story that actually works flowing throughout.

[00:07:15] And when you read it now, it just feels like one long issue rather than three short stories.

[00:07:23] And you have a really long connection with superhero stuff.

[00:07:31] Power just has had a really big influence on your life.

[00:07:34] You did a podcast episode about a year ago going to detail about the role it played.

[00:07:43] But talk a little bit about that for a second.

[00:07:46] Yeah.

[00:07:47] So the episode you mentioned for those listening at home is my episode of giant sized violence called it's morphin time from February of 2023.

[00:07:57] And yeah, I, I started my first podcast giant sized violence, the Toku comics podcast.

[00:08:05] Uh, but also before I had realized I was trans, I had a really weird otherworldly psychedelic experience that helped wake me up to a lot of things about myself.

[00:08:17] I hadn't accepted yet.

[00:08:18] Uh, and over the coming months, like I didn't know how I wanted to breach this subject on a podcast.

[00:08:26] So I, I wanted to make something that commemorated some of the heroes that I had just lost, uh, the months prior to the release, like Jason David Frank, uh, Kevin Conroy, my own grandfather and walk people through the journey of how I got here and use that as my means of coming out in a way.

[00:08:46] I've never heard someone on a podcast do before, but as for the role of power Rangers in my life, like I was introduced to the show at literally the age of one.

[00:08:56] When one of my grandparents was watching me for a week or two when let TV be my babysitter.

[00:09:01] Uh, and I was just obsessed with power Rangers ever since.

[00:09:05] Uh, I watched the show well up through middle school following most of the seasons, uh, up to like SPD and like just always had this fascinating, like side hyper interest.

[00:09:17] I felt like I had to suppress as I got older and was in high school, but was learning about like super sentai and common writer and, uh, keeping track at least of like what the new themes of teams were just getting a little internet sleuthing without actually watching the show.

[00:09:31] But yeah, like that, the DNA of power Rangers is just ingrained in me of like, still, I think the coolest thing you can do when a comic or a TV show is throw five robots together and have them combine into one bigger robot.

[00:09:45] And just that power Rangers aesthetic, like that's, that's what the ideal superhero looks like for me.

[00:09:52] And so that's why I'm borrowing so heavily, like the visual style and tropes and making my own comics now.

[00:09:58] Yeah.

[00:09:59] Yeah.

[00:09:59] You were saying in, uh, in that episode that practically in the womb that you were being given this stuff.

[00:10:06] Yeah.

[00:10:07] Yeah.

[00:10:07] I was actually born during an airing of the green Ranger saga.

[00:10:11] So my mom had to like call my grandma to tape that, uh, re airing of the saga for my brother.

[00:10:17] So he wouldn't miss it for my birth.

[00:10:21] So, uh, it's going to be a color changing comic book.

[00:10:25] Talk a little bit about how that, how that's going to work.

[00:10:27] Yeah.

[00:10:28] So this Kickstarter, uh, is for a couple different versions of the comic, uh, like most comic

[00:10:33] Kickstarters, we have like a standard cover and a variant and both of those function like,

[00:10:39] uh, any other comic you've ever seen before on a physical level, but we're doing something.

[00:10:44] Uh, we're doing a special edition of the book, uh, that's doing something that no comic has done

[00:10:52] like this before.

[00:10:53] Uh, it's a color changing comic book, or at least it's cover in three of its interior pages are,

[00:10:59] uh, anytime you see the character transform, we've implemented this, uh, coloring style,

[00:11:04] this coloring effect, where if you hold up a handheld color changing light that'll come with

[00:11:09] those Kickstarter tiers, uh, it makes the colors on the page appear to change.

[00:11:15] It creates a sense of movement.

[00:11:17] And this is something that a company called colorometry lights kind of pioneered, but they've

[00:11:23] only really taken it to music festivals, which is where I found them at a electric forest.

[00:11:27] They have this incredible immersive experience where they give people lights, walk them through

[00:11:32] this dark room in the middle of a field.

[00:11:35] Uh, and you get to see this effect in action.

[00:11:38] And I was just so blown away by that.

[00:11:41] When I saw electric forest, I made a connection with the owner of the company and kept in

[00:11:45] contact with him to see about just doing a variant cover of the comic itself.

[00:11:50] But then I kind of realized that like having people pay for this, this handheld light that

[00:11:55] makes up the bulk of the cost of these higher tiers that are around $50.

[00:12:00] Uh, I felt like I wasn't really giving people there's money's worth.

[00:12:03] So I had them redo a few interior pages.

[00:12:06] Uh, and also I'm packaging that with either one of their visual books or some of their

[00:12:10] posters.

[00:12:11] So you're getting a comparable deal to if you had just bought right from colorometry lights

[00:12:15] or found them at a festival.

[00:12:18] But yeah, like the closest thing that's ever existed to this is like the blacklight issues

[00:12:23] of radiant black and other blacklight comics like that.

[00:12:26] So imagine that kind of effect, but just taken to the next level using additional colors

[00:12:32] and lights.

[00:12:33] And I'm just really excited that my first time out releasing a comic, I get to do something

[00:12:39] that no one's done before in the medium.

[00:12:42] And it's just filled me with a lot of confidence in doing something like that.

[00:12:48] So after issue zero, you're going to move to Patreon.

[00:12:53] Uh, how much like what's the Patreon structure like?

[00:12:57] Uh, I haven't really heard of it being used for comics like this before.

[00:13:01] Yeah.

[00:13:01] So on my shows, uh, like transcending comics, especially I've talked to a lot of creators

[00:13:07] that use things like Patreon and sub stack as kind of a subscription based model for supporting

[00:13:13] their comics.

[00:13:13] And we're going to be doing kind of like a two or three deer, uh, two or three tier release

[00:13:18] structure for the comic going forward.

[00:13:20] Uh, as you mentioned, first, we're going to be continuing it on Patreon for paid subscribers,

[00:13:26] uh, likely just in the realm of like three to $5 a month.

[00:13:29] Uh, since I'm just a writer and not an artist myself, I have to spend quite a bit of money

[00:13:34] hiring artists to adapt my scripts.

[00:13:36] Uh, so continuing this on Patreon allows me to like just keep continuing the series and

[00:13:43] little chunks that I can afford while also gaining funding for the series as it's being made.

[00:13:49] So we'll be kind of using Patreon as our means of funding the book as we complete like a full

[00:13:56] arc or a season.

[00:13:57] And from there, we'll be doing releases on Webtoon afterwards.

[00:14:01] Uh, for those who might not be familiar, Webtoon is like the biggest comics platform on the

[00:14:06] planet right now.

[00:14:07] Like the bestselling single issue of a Marvel or DC comic in a year will be lucky to sell

[00:14:13] around a hundred thousand issues.

[00:14:15] Whereas, um, book that's not even in the top 20 in readership on Webtoon will be in the

[00:14:21] dozens of millions of readers, readers.

[00:14:25] Like the first DC Webtoon had over like 10 million readers in a week or two.

[00:14:29] So that's kind of where the comic reading market is internationally right now.

[00:14:34] So we're, we're going to be kind of formatting the comic for their phone scrolling structure

[00:14:39] first.

[00:14:40] Uh, and that's where we're going to be attracting a lot of eyes is through that Webtoon, hopefully

[00:14:45] then further increasing the funding and also then getting the readership and the support

[00:14:51] we need to do further physical releases, likely through Kickstarter again, uh, as we complete

[00:14:56] future chapters.

[00:14:57] And then those will be formatted like a traditional comic you would find in a local comic shop.

[00:15:02] So yeah, really, this is all just a means to help us fund the book as it's being made without

[00:15:07] having to rely on, uh, some kind of publisher with a lot of editorial mandates or publication,

[00:15:14] uh, but yeah, like publication deadlines and lets us keep complete creative control of

[00:15:19] the book.

[00:15:22] Okay.

[00:15:23] Um, so what else have you been working on lately?

[00:15:27] Yeah.

[00:15:27] So I ongoing, I have two podcasts, as you mentioned, a giant sized violence, a Toku comics podcast.

[00:15:35] Uh, that's where I usually interview creators related to any kind of Tokusatsu comic, uh,

[00:15:42] sometimes other media as well.

[00:15:43] Sometimes we even just treat it as a book club podcast.

[00:15:46] Uh, that's kind of my passion project that I do for fun when I have the time, but I also

[00:15:51] host transcending comics, which is the first and only trans comic book podcast.

[00:15:57] Um, that I keep a pretty regular release schedule.

[00:15:59] We do an episode every two weeks.

[00:16:01] Uh, we've interviewed a lot of really cool creators in the field and we're just hitting

[00:16:07] our first year of running that podcast.

[00:16:09] Maybe even today's very close to our one year anniversary.

[00:16:12] I'm not positive, but it's very, very close to it.

[00:16:14] Um, like we interviewed Sophia Campbell from the most recent Ninja Turtles run, Jadzia Axelrod,

[00:16:20] the creator of, uh, Galaxy of the Prettiest Star, Charlie Jean Anders, uh, Archie Bon Giovanni.

[00:16:26] So, uh, I, I've loved using my podcasting platforms as a way of like meeting other creators and getting

[00:16:32] that inside view of like what it takes to make a comic.

[00:16:35] Uh, I feel like that's really helped me with, uh, that's really helped me with like figuring

[00:16:41] out how to go about this myself, uh, and best practices there.

[00:16:46] But beyond that, uh, this Wednesday, I'm actually leaving for New York city.

[00:16:51] I'm going to flame con, which is a queer focused comic con that they host every year in New York.

[00:16:56] And I'm going to be hosting a panel for, uh, a bunch of different trans comic creators.

[00:17:01] Uh, some of whom I've interviewed on the show before, like Ben Khan and Kim Wong, others, uh,

[00:17:07] like Maya Kababe who wrote genderqueer, the most banned graphic novel in public schools

[00:17:12] in the country right now.

[00:17:13] Uh, as well as Jay Edidin possibly from, uh, the Jay and Miles explain the X-Men podcast.

[00:17:20] And yeah, I'm just really looking forward to getting to meet a bunch of other creators

[00:17:24] in person finally, after having worked with them online.

[00:17:27] So yeah, really ongoing.

[00:17:29] It's writing future chapters of the comic, hosting two podcasts,

[00:17:34] and then doing a computer science day job on top of all that.

[00:17:39] Yeah.

[00:17:39] Yeah.

[00:17:40] And flame con is August 17th in New York city.

[00:17:45] That is, uh, next does this coming Saturday?

[00:17:48] Uh, that's right.

[00:17:49] Yeah.

[00:17:49] It's coming Saturday and Sunday.

[00:17:51] Okay.

[00:17:52] Just a, just two day thing, right?

[00:17:55] Uh, that's right.

[00:17:55] Cool.

[00:17:57] Okay.

[00:17:57] Um, I mean, where can people find you if they want to, uh, check out giant size violence

[00:18:03] or, uh, your other podcast, uh, podcast wise, we're on pretty much all podcasting platforms

[00:18:10] and YouTube.

[00:18:11] Uh, so yeah, just look us up giant size violence or transcending comics.

[00:18:16] Uh, or if you want a good link to all my creative projects, if you go to key master

[00:18:21] collective.com, we have a little bit of info about all the projects, uh, links to my social

[00:18:27] media and that's kind of our, uh, that's kind of our parent company.

[00:18:31] I'm trying to get going, uh, as I'm collaborating with other creators, doing different kinds

[00:18:35] of like multimedia projects between, um, the podcast, the comics, and now bringing this

[00:18:41] psychedelic color changing artwork, uh, from colorometry lights to the world of comic cons.

[00:18:47] Uh, I'm also the first to be doing that, bringing it outside the world of music festivals,

[00:18:51] but I'm really looking to collaborate with other creators and help uplift, um, marginalized

[00:18:57] voices and just bring different perspectives to the world of, um, podcasts, comics and beyond.

[00:19:04] And yeah, so if you're wanting to like reach out to me, that's a really good place to get

[00:19:09] my contact info or, uh, yeah, just look up our podcasts on any platform or on, uh, like

[00:19:15] Twitter, blue sky or Instagram.

[00:19:17] All right.

[00:19:18] Well, thank you so much for hanging out with us again.

[00:19:21] Yeah.

[00:19:21] Yeah.

[00:19:22] It's been great catching up, uh, shows going cool.

[00:19:24] And I've loved getting a little power Rangers updates, uh, on our discord channel and yeah,

[00:19:29] just, uh, staying in the loop on the franchise, uh, through your show.

[00:19:33] Thanks everyone for listening.

[00:19:35] And we will see you next time on Ranger cast.

[00:19:38] If you like, we just heard find us at ranger cast.net or look us up in your favorite podcast

[00:19:43] app, reach out to us on Twitter or leave a voicemail on our website.

[00:19:47] The opening theme is by Daniel park.

[00:19:49] The ending theme is by me.

[00:19:51] Ranger cast is distributed to under creative commons license, a tribute and share alike.