Interview With Shawn Pryor, Author Of Kaiju Unleashed

[00:00:00] I'd like to take a moment to tell you about Entertainment Earth. They carry tens of thousands of licensed products covering everything from Power Rangers to Pokemon, Ultraman to Ironman, and for Rangercast listeners, you can get 10% off your order and free shipping on any order, $79 and up. Just go to ee.toys slash ranger. That's ee.toys slash ranger. Or click the link in our show notes. Rangercast may receive a commission from your purchase.

[00:00:28] This is Rangercast, Episode 32. Interview with Shawn Pryor, the author of Kaiju Unleashed.

[00:00:39] Hey everyone, Tyler here. So, as you might have heard in the intro, we have a really cool interview that I'm really excited to bring you, but that'll be coming in just a few minutes. First, we have some housekeeping to take care of.

[00:00:52] So, about a couple hours before I sat down to record this intro, we learned of the death of David Weatherly, known to Power Rangers fans as Spencer and the voice of Benglo in Operation Overdrive. He was a really accomplished actor in New Zealand. He didn't really have that many screen credits. Most of his credits actually were on stage.

[00:01:18] He had a decades-long career, going from the mid-60s up until rather recently, I believe. He's a very fascinating person. He grew up in England, left at 17 to join the Canadian Armed Forces, and rose to the level of sergeant, and went to New Zealand seeking what he thought was a commissioned role in the Armed Forces there.

[00:01:46] But life happened, and he happened to fall into acting. So, you can read the full story on the RangerCast website.

[00:01:55] But he lived a long, full life. He was 85. Some fans may also, if you go back maybe as far as I do, remember how active he was on Ranger Board while Overdrive was airing.

[00:02:05] He was a very, very fascinating guy, and our heart goes out to his family. This episode is dedicated to his memory.

[00:02:15] Also, in other news, we have a teaser for Gojujur, which we will talk about next time, I hope.

[00:02:22] And also, we will offer some takes on Rita's Rewind, which according to the thread on Reddit and other takes around, is a bit divisive.

[00:02:31] So, I'm sure we'll all have some thoughts about that.

[00:02:36] Now, before I throw to the interview, I'd like to wish everybody a happy and safe winter holiday season.

[00:02:44] Whatever it is you celebrate, we hope it's a good one.

[00:02:47] Anyway, on to the interview.

[00:02:49] Sean Pryor is an author of more than 50 books, primarily graphic novels for children and young adults,

[00:02:54] including the recent Fast Break, The Gamer, and the Kids Sports Series.

[00:02:57] He's also a longtime fan of Tokusatsu and Power Rangers, having written a short story for book two of the Go-Go Power Rangers hardcover collection,

[00:03:05] and the compendium Kentucky Kaiju.

[00:03:08] His new book, Kaiju Unleashed, is out now in hardback from Epic Inc.

[00:03:12] Sean, thank you for joining us today.

[00:03:14] Thank you for having me. I appreciate that intro. Thank you.

[00:03:17] Great. Now, can you tell us a little bit about your book?

[00:03:20] Yeah, Kaiju Unleashed is an illustrated guide to the world of strange beasts.

[00:03:25] I am a big fan of Kaiju cinema, whether it be Godzilla or Gamera or King Kong or the Monsterverse.

[00:03:35] And so what Quarto Books and Epic Inc. wanted to do was they wanted to do a book that basically gets people not only hype about the world of Kaiju,

[00:03:49] but gives them a better understanding of it.

[00:03:51] So, you know, so like, you know, we tell people in the book, you know, hey, this is who, you know, these are the important people who molded Godzilla and made who Godzilla is today.

[00:04:01] And we talk about the different eras of Godzilla, different eras of Gamera, the different eras of King Kong.

[00:04:07] But we also talk about how, you know, how like American cinema, like King Kong and King Kong and certain American monster movies back in the day inspired Toho to create Godzilla.

[00:04:19] Okay.

[00:04:20] And so then from there, we also talk about, you know, like international Kaiju cinema, American monster movies slash, you know, American Kaiju cinema.

[00:04:32] We also talk about television shows, comic books, animated stuff, video games.

[00:04:36] It is a plethora of information, you know, regarding the world of Kaiju.

[00:04:44] Yeah.

[00:04:45] You know, this is obviously, you know, a topic that I'm very interested in, but there are also a lot of movies that I haven't watched.

[00:04:54] So would you say that this is aimed at people who are already into the genre or people who want to get into the genre?

[00:05:04] I would say, honestly, I would say both.

[00:05:07] For people that want to get into the genre, this is the perfect book.

[00:05:10] This is, in all sincerity, it is the perfect book.

[00:05:14] You know, so not only do you learn a little bit about the history, you're going to get, you know, like, hey, this is the list of Showa era Godzilla films.

[00:05:23] Okay.

[00:05:23] And we're going to talk a little bit about each one of them, give you some facts and additional insight and so forth and so forth.

[00:05:30] But no, it's perfect for entry level, entry level Kaiju folks that like haven't really gotten into the world of Kaiju.

[00:05:35] And for the pros or experts, I think it's good for them because, you know, like even the most expert of experts still hasn't seen it all.

[00:05:46] You know what I mean?

[00:05:47] Right.

[00:05:47] And so on also that whole thing of like Godzilla helped inspire like these American, like, you know, later American monster movies and like independent monster movies as well in America.

[00:06:01] So like back in like the 90s, there was this film called Zarkor the Invader, if I'm not mistaken.

[00:06:09] And basically that's an American Kaiju film.

[00:06:12] That is an American Kaiju film.

[00:06:13] It was directed video.

[00:06:15] But like it was so it came like somewhat of a cult classic.

[00:06:20] It's not the greatest movie in the world, but like the Kaiju design for Zarkor is really awesome.

[00:06:25] But like you don't get Zarkor if you don't have Godzilla.

[00:06:29] So, yeah.

[00:06:30] Yeah.

[00:06:30] I found it really interesting how exhaustive your book is, not just in acknowledging the kind of conversation between Japanese films and Western films.

[00:06:43] You know, even mentioning a film like Colossal, which I wouldn't really, you know, think to include, but like so exhaustively included Pulgasari from North Korea, which is, is it could be a book on its own.

[00:06:55] Like it is a book on its own, essentially.

[00:06:58] Yes.

[00:06:59] Yes.

[00:06:59] Like I wanted to make sure that we touched as much as as many areas as possible, because the more areas that we touch, like the more curious people get and the more they'll want to read further.

[00:07:12] So like I try to leave no stone unturned.

[00:07:16] Mm hmm.

[00:07:17] Mm hmm.

[00:07:17] So the book actually starts in your introduction with your own kind of origin story as a fan, you know, catching part of Destroy All Monsters.

[00:07:29] How did you go from, you know, obviously people can read the book, but how like how do you go from like watching Destroy All Monsters to voraciously gobbling up Godzilla stuff to wanting to write a book like this?

[00:07:44] Okay.

[00:07:45] So like my family is like a very big influence on the whole Godzilla thing.

[00:07:50] So when I first saw like, you know, like the last like hour of Destroy All Monsters, it was like late night on a Saturday.

[00:07:58] I was four or five years old and I was like, oh, this is this is the night I get to stay up late.

[00:08:02] This is great.

[00:08:03] And I started to get tired.

[00:08:04] I was like, well, I'll go to bed.

[00:08:05] And then that's when I heard the TV role, you know, that's heard the Godzilla role for the first time.

[00:08:10] And so me and my mom, we said we watched it together.

[00:08:13] And like what I didn't know at that time was that like my mom loved Godzilla movies.

[00:08:18] And so I asked her, I just said, hey, do you know when the next one's coming on?

[00:08:22] And so and so she's like, well, I'll check the TV guide and we'll see when the next one's coming on.

[00:08:29] We'll watch it together.

[00:08:29] So it was like a family thing for like the longest time from like the age of like, you know, four to five to at least like 13 years old.

[00:08:36] Like it was a family thing.

[00:08:38] We watch, you know, we watch them together.

[00:08:40] And and, you know, and I just enjoyed them so much.

[00:08:43] And so I go through this period of time, like in the 90s where this is, you know, pre DVD, like, you know, stuff is kind of hard to find.

[00:08:52] You're starting to find like niche markets that are putting kaiju cinema on VHS tape.

[00:08:58] But like you still can't get like a lot of the not you still couldn't get a lot of the 90s Godzilla films, you know, in, you know, in stores that sold VHS tapes.

[00:09:09] Like it was something that was you had to import it in.

[00:09:12] And Lord knows that I didn't have that money.

[00:09:14] So like so like it kind of like I was kind of away for it for a moment.

[00:09:19] But then when DVDs happened, that's when the love came back.

[00:09:22] Like and so like so now I have access, you know, so like I can get I can get DVDs of all these Godzilla films.

[00:09:30] And and then there are the imports, which are like Japanese, which is basically like, you know, it's not a reedit.

[00:09:36] It's the straight up Japanese version, you know, with subtitles.

[00:09:40] And, you know, and so like there was just there was more access and then the more access that I was able to get to.

[00:09:47] And it was remotely affordable, you know, compared to like, you know, the boom of like the late 80s, early 90s VHS tape.

[00:09:54] You know, it was affordable and I was able to get these DVDs.

[00:09:57] And like I just I had a blast.

[00:10:00] I had an absolute blast.

[00:10:01] And so then you fast forward, I fast forward to like last year, I was asked by Courto and Epic Inc.

[00:10:12] to write a book about kaiju films.

[00:10:14] They recently done a book about horror films.

[00:10:17] And like and the book is similar to Kaiju Unleashed, but like they talk about specific genres of horror, specific characters.

[00:10:25] You know, it doesn't go all the way in, but it goes in pretty far.

[00:10:29] And so they were like, we want to kind of do something like that for Kaiju.

[00:10:31] And I was like, OK, that's great.

[00:10:33] I'd love to do it.

[00:10:34] You know, I just you know, I had to make sure I told them this is going to be extensive.

[00:10:39] You know, this Kaiju stuff, you know, is not just Japan centric.

[00:10:43] It's, you know, like Japan is is is the key.

[00:10:46] It's the linchpin.

[00:10:47] But I was like, you know, we have American foreign, you know, and all this other stuff.

[00:10:51] We have like set off cartoons, the comics like that.

[00:10:53] There's so much stuff that intertwines together and we need to talk about all of it.

[00:10:58] In order for this book, I feel to be successful.

[00:11:01] And they agreed to it.

[00:11:02] And so I started writing the book in November of 2023, finished in March of 2024 and got the edits back by.

[00:11:11] I got the edits back in by May 2024.

[00:11:14] So, yeah, we were hustling on this.

[00:11:16] Yeah.

[00:11:17] You know, this is audio.

[00:11:19] Our listener couldn't see, you know, my eyebrows raised when you said you did this all in a few months.

[00:11:25] Yeah, it was it was tough, but I love the result.

[00:11:29] What was that research process like?

[00:11:32] I can't imagine you were just like vomiting facts and cast lists and all that onto the page.

[00:11:37] Right.

[00:11:38] Right.

[00:11:38] It was it was tons of research.

[00:11:41] So here I am like looking at like, you know, websites like, you know, kaiju based websites, you know, some fan sites, some wiki pages.

[00:11:48] OK, I have some DVDs that I can use for reference.

[00:11:50] Let me just check the scene here.

[00:11:52] Oh, I have some books about, you know, about certain types of kaiju cinema.

[00:11:55] So let me go read that, too.

[00:11:57] You know, and I read the works of Steve Rifle and I worked there.

[00:12:03] Steve Rifle, who's written a bunch of film, a bunch of books about Godzilla movies, as well as the writings of Jason Barr.

[00:12:11] He was the author of the kaiju film, A Critical Study at Cinema's Biggest Monsters in Kaiju Connection.

[00:12:17] OK.

[00:12:17] And so like I read I read a lot of that material, too.

[00:12:20] And so, you know, because like if we just gave because like I knew like if I just gave you like a cast list and like alternate film titles, you're not going to be satisfied by that.

[00:12:31] You know, you kind of want to you want to know what was you know, what was like the box office reaction?

[00:12:35] Like how did folks in Japan feel about Godzilla movie X or Godzilla movie Y?

[00:12:41] You know, and they also let me allow me to be like a little opinionated when I talked about the 1998 Godzilla film.

[00:12:49] Yeah.

[00:12:50] Yeah.

[00:12:50] But I like I said, I did find it really interesting that with the exception of the 1998 Godzilla, you treated these other films like Gareth Edwards stuff and Godzilla versus Kong and all that.

[00:13:09] Even all even the older Hollywood monster movies with such respect and care as if they're just as legitimate parts of the canon as anything else.

[00:13:19] Oh, yeah, because they are.

[00:13:20] You know, I know I know I know like sometimes, you know, people view like the creature features, the American creature features of like the 50s and the 60s and even up to the 70s.

[00:13:30] You know, they just a lot of people see it as just lowbrow fare.

[00:13:33] But the thing is, is that like a lot of those movies are built on $5 and a dream, just like how the original Godzilla was essentially built on $5 and a dream.

[00:13:45] So like, you know, so like they're low budget, they're low budget movies and they're doing the best they can with what they have.

[00:13:50] And sometimes they actually end up innovating, you know, their own special effects in order to in order to make this movie.

[00:13:57] Like one of my favorite movies and I talk about in the book, I believe, is the giant spider invasion.

[00:14:04] OK, like that was a 1970s independent film that starred like a skipper from Gilligan's Island.

[00:14:13] I think it's Alan Hale, I believe.

[00:14:16] And a couple of like old school, like, you know, TV slash, you know, movie stars from like back in like the 50s and 60s.

[00:14:23] And this was all done independently.

[00:14:26] The giant spider, like literally, it was this big craft spider that they put over top of a AMC gremlin to get it to move around the city.

[00:14:36] And then there were some scenes where like this giant, giant spider, they drop it on top of a house.

[00:14:43] They're like, they literally drop it on top of the house and you see like the house just like kind of cave in a bit.

[00:14:50] And like they just legitimately just dropped, you know, it had helicopters and let it go.

[00:14:54] And so, but there's just something as corny as that movie can be at times.

[00:15:00] There's just something charming about, that was my dog.

[00:15:04] I apologize.

[00:15:05] I got to clap.

[00:15:06] But there's something just very warm and comforting about how everyone took that movie seriously.

[00:15:14] You know, and so like, it's just such a joy.

[00:15:17] And so I want to make sure that like people like see monster cinema and kaiju cinema as something more than just low brow entertainment because it's more than that.

[00:15:29] Yeah.

[00:15:30] Yeah.

[00:15:30] Yeah.

[00:15:30] There's so many like interesting details in your book that, you know, you either didn't know or remember you hold.

[00:15:37] Like for example, Ben Nimoy was in one of these American monster movies.

[00:15:42] And, you know, there was a time, you know, before Spock when he was doing pretty much anything.

[00:15:47] Yeah.

[00:15:48] Um, what in your breakneck period of research and writing was, uh, what sort of things surprised you to learn?

[00:15:56] um uh the relationship between toho studios and rankin bass rankin bass known for rudolph

[00:16:04] reylder's reindeer and uh you know a lot of stop motion animation also regular animation they work

[00:16:09] with toey um a lot um for like the last unicorn and uh the animated hobbit and the animated

[00:16:16] return of the king so they work with um so toho works with rankin bass um and universal

[00:16:24] for king kong escapes okay and so that's like you know that's this is this is japanese king

[00:16:30] kong this is japanese king kong this is an american king kong this is a japanese co-production with

[00:16:35] rankin bass it does have american actors in it um but like um but the thing is is that like

[00:16:41] movie's great it's a lot of fun king kong fights mechanic kong and like there's this evil doctor

[00:16:49] who's you know is a um i believe he's actually you know japanese actor but like he's voiced by paul

[00:16:57] freeze who does like a lot he used to do like a lot of the voices for the rankin bass animated stuff and

[00:17:03] stop motion stuff so like the voice doesn't really fit because it's literally burger meister meister

[00:17:09] burger from santa claus is coming to town as a doctor who um not to be confused with the time lord

[00:17:16] but um but like um i so then after that this relationship forms between rankin bass and toho

[00:17:25] and they end up doing like three movies together in like the late 70s or early 80s because toho was

[00:17:31] like listen we want to get back into the united states united states theaters we want to be able

[00:17:36] to make money there so they work with rankin bass and they do this movie called the last dinosaur

[00:17:42] and like it's you know it's a big time production um you know they have a sound you know major

[00:17:47] soundtrack and they like you know they pitch to every single like studio and distributor and everybody

[00:17:52] and all of them were like no we don't want it but abc but abc wanted it because they were doing sunday

[00:17:59] night movies and so they're like well we'll take it let's see how let's see how it goes and it was a

[00:18:04] smashing success so toho and rankin bass were like well you know yeah we didn't make the cinema

[00:18:10] but we made a good amount of money for it being on tv so let's do it again and so then they did the

[00:18:17] bermuda heights and the ivory ape and so like um i just because like it's i just found that fascinating

[00:18:24] that like you know them working with toho on uh on like king kong escapes leads to this like

[00:18:32] co-production relationship and i just found that to be fascinating

[00:18:39] now in recent years we've seen uh movies like pacific rim and you know we've seen

[00:18:47] godzilla minus one win oscar and we we've seen all this excitement around the netflix output for like

[00:18:54] ultra man and godzilla as animated series um would you say that we are on like an upswing of interesting

[00:19:05] kaiju stuff in the u.s or or in the like context of like the ebbs and flows from the 50s till now

[00:19:13] um is this maybe the most um prominent that kaiju and tokusatsu stuff has been in the u.s yes it's

[00:19:23] definitely in the most prominent and i think that we we are we are like in the glory age right now

[00:19:28] if we're being honest i mean think about it so you know you have tokusatsu which is a streaming

[00:19:33] channel that plays tons of tokusatsu from godzilla movies super sentai ultraman kamen rider um you

[00:19:39] know you also have um you know toy studios um you know working with uh uh discotheque to put out you

[00:19:48] know to put out like a bunch of kamen rider series and like in other things you've got mill creek

[00:19:53] working with um you know with the ultraman people yeah sobriety yeah sobriety productions to get you

[00:20:00] know all those out like on blu-ray and streaming and so like we are like i said we're in a great period

[00:20:08] for this because it's it's maximum access and like straight and like streaming and youtube um have been

[00:20:14] like a very big bonus for kaiju and like it's it's more it's now it's now more accepted than ever you

[00:20:22] know it's no longer seen as a joke you know it's no longer seen as corny or campy it can be campy it

[00:20:30] can be corny but it's not just seen that way and so like i personally feel that it will continue to grow

[00:20:39] and but like that growth is also dependent on how much you know like tohi or toho or

[00:20:46] super ride productions and things like companies like those overseas are willing to share you know

[00:20:53] are willing to share you know so but we'll see but right now like it's it's a fantastic feeling i mean

[00:21:00] like who thought we would ever see like uh shin kamen rider in america in american movie theater

[00:21:06] so like that's pretty amazing if you think about it yeah yeah kind of like voltron robotech were like

[00:21:12] trojan horses for bringing anime in front of american eyes power rangers was a trojan horse for bringing

[00:21:18] tokusatsu uh and other things and things like that in front of american eyes but i think with power rangers

[00:21:26] there's with there's kind of this preconception this baggage how uh how do kaiju

[00:21:34] films and shows overcome like those preconceived notions that because something is like this

[00:21:42] it's going to be campy it's going to be uh for kids or whatever i think for like for american audiences

[00:21:50] i think 2014 godzilla changed that um so you mean like you know like yeah you had the you know the

[00:21:57] absolutely absurd action but like it's caked in with a legitimate serious drama and i'm not saying

[00:22:04] that like the japanese godzilla films aren't dramatic they are but you know you know like every single

[00:22:09] japan godzilla film is about the preservation of humanity you know and you know against like all

[00:22:17] against all odds but at the same time american audiences back then just saw those films just

[00:22:22] monster movies that can't be fun so when you get godzilla in 2014 from legendary you get a very

[00:22:28] serious um the stakes are high the consequences are high to the point where you might feel that

[00:22:34] godzilla might lose and um and it pulls you in and i think that moment right there that's where

[00:22:42] american audiences started to take it seriously because like when you had godzilla 2014 and then

[00:22:47] when kong skull island was about to happen like i remember talking with a friend i was like if this

[00:22:53] doesn't work if this doesn't work this is it i was like this is going to be this is going to be the last

[00:22:58] like you know like big monster movie that we're going to see for a long time and we probably won't

[00:23:03] see another godzilla movie because like you know we knew this was all going to be interconnected

[00:23:07] and that became that was a big hit and so like and like it just continues to grow and grow and grow and

[00:23:12] become more and more respected um and so i think that's a good thing like power rangers i'm the big

[00:23:19] power rangers fan um i mean obviously so am i yes yes it's so um like i remember dealing with that

[00:23:27] stigma when like you know when like you know mighty morphing to zeo to turbo but then in space comes out

[00:23:36] and like the stigma of that power ranger power rangers changes with power rangers in space

[00:23:43] and you know and like you know some you know teenagers you know folks in their 20s like

[00:23:48] like oh well this is actually a really good this is a really good drama this is really great you know

[00:23:52] and um and it has a lot of depth to it like so they took it seriously you know i'm not i'm not

[00:23:57] i'm not saying that mnpr zeo wasn't taken seriously zeo's like my favorite series i i love zeo that's

[00:24:05] like my favorite but like um but like it took like a long time for the general public to accept

[00:24:13] power rangers as something that's mainstream even though it was around for dang near 30 years you

[00:24:21] know so like um so yeah like it's like the the gauge of of acceptance can be kind of odd sometimes

[00:24:30] yeah yeah god it feels like just yesterday that godzilla minus one won the oscar what do you think

[00:24:39] the long-term impacts of that film's worldwide success will be for the genre um i think for the

[00:24:48] genre it's definitely going to get more people to pay attention to kaiju cinema and also special

[00:24:54] effects um and have a better appreciation of special effects because as we both know godzilla minus one

[00:25:01] they made that movie for not a lot of money and that looks like a 200 million dollar film which was

[00:25:07] done for probably less than you know less than 15 million if that if that and so we're going to

[00:25:14] start to see a continuation of a better appreciation for special effects and storytelling

[00:25:20] and and also more of an acceptance of like monster cinema and kaiju cinema and it may not be that may

[00:25:28] not be seen at the oscars but it will reflect in either the box office or or from a critic a critic

[00:25:36] standpoint it will be received a little bit better yeah i think it's refreshing that a film like that

[00:25:45] that that subtitle that's japanese uh can be successful and stand alone without having to

[00:25:55] put in a brian cranston or raymond burr yes yes and i love the fact that like it's uh you know like i i

[00:26:03] didn't need a dub for this like i i have no problems reading subtitles a good movie is a good movie no matter

[00:26:09] what you know so like um you know i got even like the black and white version the godzilla minus one

[00:26:16] um you know with without without color uh minus color like that that's it the movie's just it's

[00:26:23] gorgeous and black and white it's gorgeous in color it's just it's amazing and like um i didn't

[00:26:30] think they were going to win but i didn't think they were going to win that award i really did

[00:26:34] and when they did i was i was like okay uh i said okay i was like hollywood is now officially taking

[00:26:41] this kaiju stuff seriously yeah and you might not be the only one i remember you know watching

[00:26:48] watching them win and danny devito was cheering he'd like hear him over the mic

[00:26:56] yeah it was great yeah yeah

[00:27:01] it was it was so awesome and so like you know i just it's a good feeling and i just like the fact

[00:27:07] that this is starting to become something that's just accepted you know i know like a lot of people

[00:27:12] are like well you know well yeah more people are accepting of it and like but like you know they're

[00:27:17] not like original fans or whatnot oh i don't care about that i don't care about that the more people

[00:27:23] watch it if they enjoy it it's fantastic let them see more of it like that's that's where i stand

[00:27:30] i think tradition states godzilla gets to present next time

[00:27:35] i would love to see that

[00:27:39] um so as i alluded to at the top you have actually written a power rangers comic before

[00:27:45] uh the short story a ranger in the making which was in the uh go go power rangers uh book two

[00:27:52] collection uh tell me how that story came about and for those who haven't read it it looked at uh

[00:27:59] the second members of the second turbo team a few years before they uh uh they assumed the power tell

[00:28:05] me how that uh came about yeah um i had a friend by the name of t uh t franklin uh who at the time was

[00:28:11] you know he's a writer you know writes he's written plenty of books for plenty of comics and stuff

[00:28:16] graphic novels and um they were pitching a book to boom i mean and they were pitching a book to

[00:28:22] boom studios and so um t was talking with the editor and um and she put my name in the room

[00:28:29] and she said well you know my friend sean he writes comics and he does this and does that and uh

[00:28:35] you know he would love to write power rangers as a matter of fact he did a

[00:28:38] she you know they said well you know he did a like a tribute comic like you know a few years ago have

[00:28:45] you seen it and so she had a copy of it you know pdf and sent it to the editor and the editor had seen

[00:28:51] that artwork before because george cambidace um the artist on on the tribute comic that we did

[00:28:57] and also the artist on the story that i wrote for gogo power rangers volume two hardcover um like um

[00:29:06] he's the artist for both of those but then like once the editor saw that like oh i've seen this

[00:29:09] artwork before i thought these were just sample test pages and t was like no this was a this was a story

[00:29:15] that they ripped that you know that they did for fun and you know as a way to just you know show love

[00:29:20] power rangers and so that led to said editor getting in touch with me and talking with me about hey we've

[00:29:29] got room for like a 10 like a 10 page story in gogo power rangers volume two um it's gonna be on the hard

[00:29:35] cover it's exclusive to the hardcover it will be available in digital format and um and so like

[00:29:41] we just start talking about characters because like we're trying to figure out what we know what

[00:29:45] what we're going to write about because um you know we're dealing with uh basically season two mmpr

[00:29:51] you know we're dealing with season two mmpr so like you know you got rocky aisha and adam

[00:29:56] with uh jason um not jason but um but tommy billy and kimberly so so i'm like okay okay so i was like

[00:30:05] well you know what i'm a big tj fan um so i was like how about if we do this and because like basically

[00:30:13] in the comics for those that aren't aware in the boom comics rocky has a very big fan um has a number

[00:30:20] of brothers and sisters and he's always looking over them while also trying to be a superhero and

[00:30:24] a high schooler so like his um sister one of his sisters is starting middle school um the same and

[00:30:34] is going to be at the same middle school as tj and cassie but the story is about how tj and cassie say

[00:30:41] you know attempt to save a bunch of kids from a invasion of tengu warriors and how um in that

[00:30:49] even when things look at their bleakest they still do their best and they kind of get half the mission

[00:30:55] done but the power rangers show up save the day but the whole point of it is is that tj saves and i'm

[00:31:03] spoiling what the daylight talks but it's okay uh tj saves rocky tj and cassie save rocky's sister

[00:31:10] and so rocky then says the zordon he was like listen i know you're always looking for

[00:31:17] for recruits but like you know maybe in a few years you might want to consider these two kids over

[00:31:24] here so like that's that's um that was like the whole the whole premise for the story and um we put a

[00:31:31] lot in there for 10 pages we put a lot in there yeah yeah thank you thank you that was a bucket list

[00:31:39] item for me and so uh i love yeah and total eclipse is the uh fan comic it's available on your website

[00:31:47] correct yeah if you go to seanpryor.com and like you click on books you scroll down yeah and like yeah

[00:31:53] i'm looking at the page right now awesome yeah there should be a link there should be a link there right

[00:32:00] right next to it so um so yeah it was a story that me and george cambides did for fun um you know

[00:32:05] it was built off of tv continuity and like um one of my favorite power ranger episodes is forever red

[00:32:11] right um you know because like that was the first time we really saw the disney money in action

[00:32:16] when um when when disney like you know basically took over the second half of wild force right and

[00:32:23] so i was just like but like i got to see like all the red rangers except rocky and i was like but this

[00:32:28] is really cool so like that so like anytime there are team ups or things like that forever red is all

[00:32:36] has set the bar you know like if you if you're not like if you can't reach that bar then i'm like i don't

[00:32:42] know what we're gonna do um anyway so i wanted to do like that but for like black like black rangers

[00:32:48] um you know black uniform rangers so um you know i wanted to see zach and adam actually team up

[00:32:54] and i wanted to see the black alien ranger and the phantom ranger and you know for those that

[00:33:01] haven't read it there's a surprise when you see the phantom who the phantom ranger is in this one

[00:33:05] and um as well as magnet defender i'm a big fan of magnet defender i love that it's so much it's just

[00:33:12] so freaking cool so right so like to like you know basically kind of do like a forever black episode

[00:33:21] um man like it was cool like you know here here's you know here's some putties you haven't seen putties

[00:33:26] in a long time here's the return of finster you haven't seen him in forever you know here's a

[00:33:31] story about how finster uh you know survived this z wave um that took place at the end of the power

[00:33:37] rangers in space so i we like so we answer a bunch of questions and um but you know put a lot of

[00:33:43] adventure and action yeah yeah now tell me about kentucky kaiju um it's a field

[00:33:51] guide to are these like based on creatures that are in like kentucky stories or anything like that

[00:33:59] oh no no no yeah it's it sounds difficult to explain oh yeah we just like okay so my friend

[00:34:06] justin stewart who's the co who's like the lead creator on kentucky kaiju he and uh tracina bowling

[00:34:11] incredible artist okay so like uh one day justin was just like you know at the library and he found

[00:34:19] like a field guide to like birds and he was like you know what how about if we did this but for

[00:34:26] kentucky but create our own kaiju for the state of kentucky because we all reside in kentucky okay

[00:34:34] so so like so we're making like this this like you know this uh fake field guide to these kaiju that

[00:34:40] supposedly you know reside in the state of kentucky and so my job was um to come up with the names

[00:34:49] and their histories so now when we're dealing with histories i'm like okay well let's just use

[00:34:54] ag let's use actual cities and towns and if they have something in that city or town that i can use to build a

[00:35:00] story around let's go and so um like i i had a glass of bourbon one night at a glass of bourbon took a sip

[00:35:08] and i just started typing typing and typing and typing and so um after uh tressa and justin received like

[00:35:16] all the monsters and their histories that i wrote i they just went at it and um so you'll see kaiju like

[00:35:23] you know like like a giant horse kaiju a horse kaiju because the blue grass is known for horses

[00:35:29] um there's also a kaiju ant called tex ant who is addicted to barbecue um particularly um addicted

[00:35:37] to high fructose corn syrup and most barbecue sauces uh which gives them a kaiabetes which is the

[00:35:44] kaiju diabetes and uh you know like uh let's see there's so many like there's so many cool kaiju in

[00:35:53] that book um it was originally published by apex publishing um back in like 2016 um justin got the

[00:35:59] rights back uh late last year and did a kickstarter for it for a new version um which is basically an

[00:36:07] expanded edition a larger print size um so it's like the original content from the first book but

[00:36:12] with additional kaiju and like additional articles and like all kinds of like cool stuff

[00:36:19] and um and so like he's fulfilling those rewards right now and then after that we'll figure out

[00:36:24] how how we're going to sell it um you know over the internet and hand to hand so uh i understand from

[00:36:30] doing my research uh before there's any of you that you uh teach comic uh art to kids in a workshop right

[00:36:37] yeah yeah i do like um like from january to like you know late may early june

[00:36:45] um i um along along with a bunch of other talented artists um like i teach a group of kids at uh at a

[00:36:52] middle school in lexington kentucky um and we you know we do like lessons like on saturdays from like

[00:36:58] 10 to 12 and uh two hours and we you know we teach kids about sequential art and you know so like

[00:37:04] you know the process of like logo design you know comic page layout um you know storytelling um

[00:37:11] like one of the cool things that we got to do and this was like the i think it was the last class

[00:37:18] from this this past uh this past year um i had scanned i had uh printed out a bunch of uh pencil

[00:37:26] pages and like so like i was doing a bunch of research trying on the internet trying to find just

[00:37:31] like penciled covers and like pencil sequential pages whether it be blue lines or black lines it's

[00:37:37] fine um but i wanted to teach the the kids how to ink count how to ink pages and i wanted to show like

[00:37:45] and i basically i was like the whole purpose of like letting y'all do this is i want you to understand

[00:37:50] that like an anchor can change a penciler's artistic style with just one swish of the pen

[00:37:58] and so like they had like um they had a pen that was like you know you had the ink the thick end and

[00:38:03] like the little ballpoint and i let them go at it and so like you know so i had like teenage

[00:38:09] reading ninja turtle pages avengers pages star wars stuff and they had a ball they had an absolute ball

[00:38:17] and like and it was there like you know you could see who has you know who has like who has the talent

[00:38:24] who is growing and you know and who still needs work and so um you know so new class starts in a

[00:38:31] couple of months and actually in a month the new class starts and like you know we're going to put

[00:38:37] the kids in teams and have them create like their own four-page comic and uh you know then i'll get it

[00:38:43] you know and we'll collate it all together and get it printed out and so like you know they can share

[00:38:48] with their friends and um and also you know like i want them to be able to also talk to other

[00:38:54] professional artists in all different types of fields so like i want them to talk with because

[00:38:59] i'm going to have zoom sessions with uh you know with the kids so they get to talk to professional

[00:39:04] artists in comics and in you know movie and cartoon storyboarding and things like that so they can

[00:39:10] understand all the different careers that are that are out there for them you know if they want to go

[00:39:15] that that's super cool man thank you thank you yeah kids mean a lot to me man like um you know

[00:39:22] like five years ago like my life my life changed when i made the adjustment over to the book market

[00:39:28] um from like the direct market you know which was like strictly comics comics comics and so like the

[00:39:34] moment i diversified my writing palette everything changed for me and that opened that opened up me

[00:39:39] visiting tons of elementary schools and middle schools and talking to the kids about creativity

[00:39:45] and like uh you know superheroes and stuff like that and um and and so it's been good for me

[00:39:52] and so like i just feel it's necessary to give back you know and because like shoot i'm not gonna be

[00:39:57] able to do this forever but while i'm still here i'm definitely gonna you know i just want to show

[00:40:03] kids one we care about them and two i just also want them to appreciate the arts

[00:40:10] so you put your your book kaiju unleash out of november have you given any thought to what a

[00:40:18] follow-up might look like a follow-up book if i if i had the opportunity to do a follow-up book

[00:40:25] i would love to do one on super sentai um i would i would adore that i would you know and you know

[00:40:33] yeah we would talk about power rangers but like let's talk about where it came from right now you know

[00:40:39] let's you know from from from jack from jack you to like all the way through car ranger all the way

[00:40:46] yeah like you know like all and all the stuff that like we that we never got in this you know in the

[00:40:52] united states like no i would love to talk about all that and and like how super sentai is important

[00:41:00] and it's all they're also superheroes and they have been around just as long as marvels most marvel

[00:41:07] superheroes dc superheroes and like they're just as cool yeah our uh our friend josh moore is putting

[00:41:15] out a book i think he lives in ganducky too uh yes he does yeah he's putting out a book in a few months um

[00:41:21] about how the power rangers came to be and the whole history of that i full disclosure i actually uh

[00:41:28] he interviewed me for the book and uh used a photo and used a photo of mine and i reviewed the manuscript

[00:41:34] but uh hey that way i know it's good yes yes no no he he reached out to me um not too long ago to

[00:41:42] write a blurb for the book and i'm excited about it you know what i mean like anytime we can get like

[00:41:48] you know behind the scenes stuff about the power rangers i think i think that's cool because it

[00:41:54] continues to legitimize something that so many people look down upon for like a

[00:41:58] longest time yeah yeah absolutely so um thank you so much for coming on uh sean prior you can find

[00:42:07] his stuff at sean prior.com and where else can people find you okay yeah you can find me on a blue

[00:42:15] sky uh blue sky at sean s-h-a-w-n r the letter r prior p-r-y-o-r like richard prior you can find me on

[00:42:23] instagram at the sean p show um if you want to buy my books you can go to my website i need to update it

[00:42:29] though but um it's got a decent amount of material up there but if you know i know like a lot of

[00:42:34] people like to buy books from independent bookstores you can go to bookshop.org type my name you'll see a

[00:42:39] bunch of my books there or you can go to amazon type my name you can see my books there same at

[00:42:44] barnesandnoble.com um wherever books are legitimately sold uh yes yes please support independent bookstores

[00:42:53] i got it from amazon because i needed an hurry gotta stay there's no judgment here there's no judgment

[00:42:59] yeah um thank you so much for taking the time out to talk uh with us and we hope uh

[00:43:05] hope the book continues to get great reviews thank you so much tyler thank you for your time i do

[00:43:10] sincerely appreciate you if you like we just heard find us at rangercast.net or look us up in your

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