Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (00:11):
Welcome to another and there’s three of us now.

Leigh Chalker (00:18):
Yeah, the triumvirate. That’s a thing, isn’t it? I like that. That’s good. Yes, the triumvirate. See, I had

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (00:27):
All these Captain Planet things going on in my head. We let our powers combine, but I’m just a bit of a dork, so

Leigh Chalker (00:36):
Glad to hear it.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (00:39):
So yeah, everyone. Tonight we are talking with Lee Chaka, the inventor of Battle for Bustle Marathon, and a contributor or co-writer of Rosie Ring around the road. Sorry, I always call it by the nickname. Sorry about that. So yeah, tonight the intro is still old, so we’re going to do something a bit different. We’re going to go back to where it all started, where Lee started as his own master. We’re going back to Battleford Bustle one.

Leigh Chalker (01:09):
Yeah,

Peter Wilson (01:11):
Beautiful.

Voice Over (01:14):
Welcome to the city of Bustle. My home of 32 years. I met my wife here, my son was born here. I live in the poor and wretched industrial depths in these filthy lower levels. Sunlight is a luxury we know nothing about.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (02:00):
We have Lee.

Leigh Chalker (02:02):
Hey. Hello. How are you doing? Good. Hey, it’s good. Lovely to see three friendly faces, so it’s nice to be here. Good stuff. And that’s a great intro. Thanks very much for that. I really enjoyed that. That was cool. It made me want to read issue one again, which I can do because yeah, look at that. There’s another one. How’s that?

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (02:36):
I’ve failed the three.

Leigh Chalker (02:38):
No, that’s alright. Mine. Mine’s very deep

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (02:41):
Because it’s one of the first comics I got, so it’s at the bottom of the pile.

Leigh Chalker (02:46):
Well that’s good. That means you’ve been supporting the old comics mate and getting out there and getting amongst it and keeping Comex ticking along and going. So that’s the best thing. Yeah.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (02:55):
Well you are one of the first people I reached out to when I started the whole Comex thing, so

Leigh Chalker (02:59):
Yeah. Yeah. Long time ago now, but not really that long. But

Morgan Quaid (03:04):
Yeah, it feels

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (03:04):
Like a long time.

Leigh Chalker (03:05):
It does. Lots have happened in that period, man. So yeah.

Morgan Quaid (03:10):
Shane, you’ve gone through a beard and then back again in that time. What? Twice.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (03:15):
Oh, at least three or four times, definitely. And we got the huge one. We got the massive one from the intro.

Morgan Quaid (03:24):
We do. Look at that. Look at that. There you go.

Leigh Chalker (03:27):
I like that. That’s good.

Morgan Quaid (03:29):
I got to say the Sideward glances are a little bit worrying. The Sideward glances kind of suggest something’s going on underneath the thing that you can’t see, which I’m not sure about.

Leigh Chalker (03:40):
That could be a whole segment later on in the show. What’s happening under the table? No pants.

Morgan Quaid (03:51):
Pants. Optional. Speaking of pants, optional. Let’s go in real deep, real quick, real early. So it’s really good actually that we showed the first the trailer for the first issue. It would be good, I reckon, to go right back to the origins of Battle for Bustle, your journey with comic creation, because I am only young at this sort of thing, but I’ve spoken to a lot of comic creators now and I have never met anyone close to your level of devotion and the amount of effort that you have put into the story and the work that you’ve done is just unparalleled. The only parallel I can think of, and I dunno anything about the guy personally, except he’s a bit of a nut bag, but we might remember that one. Joki and Mobius being the artist, of course. So your stuff reminds me of Mobius, which is really cool, but also just the amount of effort and thought and everything that goes into it. So why don’t we start with, tell us where the origin of battle for Bustle came from and then you’ve shown us a tantalizing view. No one’s seen this yet, but you’ve shown us a tantalizing view of some of the artifacts from your early journey. So let’s start with talking and then maybe we can see some stuff.

Leigh Chalker (05:23):
Alright, I can start. I’m an only child, so I had plenty of time to myself and my father was a comic book collector, always used to get comic books. I used to read ’em with him and stuff. Took to drawing, fell in love with Dad, was an amazing Spider-Man nut. So I grew up with very early Ditko, John Roida, all through John Roida Jr. Then into Weber Spiderman that Charles vest covers and basically anything that dad could get his hands on, he veered off into Avengers, iron Man, uncanny X-Men, all of those sorts of things so as to read them to me. And it was like an audio book. So he’d have the pages when I was very young and he’d talk and have different voices and he’d make the sound effects and stuff and the love started there. So obviously I was sporty as a kid, but also very art orientated.

(06:26)
My family was split down the middle. I was encouraged to do both, so I juggled that. So what I used to do is much to dad’s horror is I used to trace over a lot of the covers and stuff for that and create my own versions of these covers. And there’d be some horrified screams of course, but it just what you do as a kid and always sort of had loved books and history. Always wanted to do my own story and stuff. And basically just over time just used to sit down watching movies, doodling characters, drawing away that sort of stuff. And it was just something I wanted to do. And in 1998 my father passed away. And with that, I guess battle for Bustle at the start was called Drive. It was an ode to dad and there’s a 24 page comic book that’s floating around, which was a stream of consciousness, big splash page is what I was feeling at the time.

(07:29)
Words written into the artwork and stuff like that. I do have plans on bringing that comic book out. That was going to be my next question, when are we going to see drive so people that are interested can get a real touch and taste of what that was about and where it started. And then I guess over a period of time just fell in love with novels and things like that. I had an injury probably in about 1999, 2000, which basically, and I went crazy. I read about 45, 50 books in a year. All of those were things like the Dune series and varying artifacts of historical reference and stuff like that. Just sort of went crazy, soaking up as much stuff as I could. And then I decided it was gurgling away, gurgling away, and just 24 pages. I fell in love with depth and detail and intricacy and I sort of started thinking like, man, I’ve got a lot of feelings here.

(08:34)
I’m an angry kid. Dad went too soon. I got to get it out. And I started doing Battle for Bustle. It wasn’t called Battle for Bustle at the time. It went from drive to just being called Bustle about the city in which I grew up in. So battle for Bustle is actually in its strange way based on a lot of the streets that I mentioned in the comic book are actual streets in Townsville and stuff like that. A lot of the building designs are actually buildings and stuff like that in Townsville. So I’ve sort of kept as much of the architecture and stuff as I can to my heart, to my hometown. And it just sort of developed over time, 10 years probably in about 2009 I hit it as in I thought this is now you’ve got to remember where we’re at with Battle for Bustle is actually the third version of battle that I’ve done.

(09:37)
So I was telling the guys before Pete wasn’t here and don’t mind that growling because anyone that’s seen me on these shows before knows that’s Izzy and Lloyd carrying on in the background. My wing man and wing lady, they’re always in the studio with me. But I just wanted to do something a little bit different and show some people, because I’ve been digging up things because the last time I was on with you guys, Morgan floated the idea of an art book or something that went back into the history of bustle and things. So I’ve spent the better part of this year going through a lot of stuff, hundreds and thousands of pages and folders and things. So that is great. So basically this, I’ll show you this one here, because in volume one, well this is something slightly different, but in 2007, and I totally forgot this, on the 30th of November, I actually submitted a very raw version of Battle for Bustle, only known as Bustle then to Dark Horse Comics.

(10:48)
So I can’t show you everything that’s there, but that is the letter and coming up the original black and white covers and bits and bobs that I was doing at the time. So notes to myself like how that’s the actual comic book in there, the original issue one, that’s issue two, that’s issue three and issue four, which you might recognize that original piece of artwork, which is now the painted cover of issue three. That’s how long sum of this artwork, that’s issue five, which you may recognize. So these were sent off to Dark Horse and subsequently see you later, try again. But that’s okay because I’m a determined little bastard and I thought bug, I’m going to keep going. So what I did was is this one now this one here is I’ll show you as best as I can and as quick as I can. This was when it was called Drive. Oh wow. Oh wow. Okay. These are the original layouts and sketches notes to begin the here’s character designs, vehicle design. It is so cool that you’ve got this all the original script as you can see, synopsis for the whole series notes that go back.

(12:37)
And this is some of the original artwork as you can see was very stream of conscious. You’ll probably recognize some of it. I’ll pull a little bit out so you can all have a better look. Oh, nice. Predominantly all handwritten, two lettering I will tell you. Which took a long time. So yeah, I started off doing it really old school and then I decided that once volume one was done, I was going to be an idiot and go off and create volume two, which none of you have ever seen. So this is right. So this is the next quadrant of the story and here’s all these notes and this script for varying other things. And what I was looking at, character designs, a effects people that you may recognize. And if you’re lucky, which I might just looking for you, I might be able to, if we’re lucky here this evening, be able to find you the original Hanson, which Oh wow. From, well here you go.

(13:59)
That’s a very random Haki Gecko, which I was changing. I’ve actually got artwork from her from 1996 that I was doing. But bear with me here peeps if he’s in here. So where is he? See some of this artwork goes back to 1995. Wow. So there’s characters that haven’t been introduced you that will be coming up. Oh, he’s coming. He can’t let me down. Come on man. Don’t let me down here, brother. And yeah, so no, I’ve been doing an awfully long time, Morgan. But basically the reason I’ve dug these up is yeah, because the last time I was with you guys, you got me thinking about a whole heap of artwork and the original story ideas and things. I mean, man, I’ve God, there’s stuff in here I can’t even remember doing. There you go. Here we go. That there is the original picture of Lennox Hansen, and that was done on the 22nd of the 10th, 1996. Awesome.

Morgan Quaid (15:10):
Wow. Wow.

Leigh Chalker (15:11):
There you go. Well, you dated it and

Morgan Quaid (15:13):
Everything. Wow.

Leigh Chalker (15:14):
Yeah, all dated. So yes.

Morgan Quaid (15:18):
So I had hair when Hansen was conceived.

Leigh Chalker (15:23):
So did I. How

Morgan Quaid (15:25):
Long I had a big thing of hair. Yep. Wow.

Leigh Chalker (15:30):
Yeah. So yeah, that’s all there. That’s, I’d love to be able to show you a bit more, but we only have so much time. So

Morgan Quaid (15:39):
I’m picturing something that thick with, I mean, this is me saying it, not doing any of the work, that’s a hell of a lot of work to put that together. But I’m picturing something that thick with original artwork, your thoughts on what you were thinking when this story idea came in, that whole thing would be amazing. You would crush Kickstarter with that thing, my friend. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (16:01):
The scary part is though it might be seen as a bit self-indulgent though, Morgan, because it’d be one hell of a big book, man, let me tell you, break my heart to leave things out

Morgan Quaid (16:13):
Bigger though, better, I reckon. That’s fantastic.

Leigh Chalker (16:17):
I’m definitely thinking about it, mate. So again, it’s a lot of work and I’m trying to balance myself at the moment with some changes in life and things. So not trying to overload myself mate and try and find a measure and peace in the work, if you know what I mean. But I am thinking about it every day and as you can tell, dragged Up, brought up and just wanted to show you guys tonight. So yeah, I thought you might be interested. So

Morgan Quaid (16:47):
Yeah, that was awesome.

Leigh Chalker (16:50):
And then from there, it just back injury, the new artwork. And Tamara knew all of this stuff and she’d been there, had read it and encouraged me. And then before you know it, we became a pair that can’t be pulled apart now. So it is where it is now and happy with how everything’s going with Battle for Bustle. So yeah, all good enjoying it. So it’s a lot of work though, but one day it will be finished.

Morgan Quaid (17:25):
But I mean that’s the good thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Kickstarter is exhausting. But the good thing about that and about Comex and the Aussie community and all that sort of stuff is we kind of all enjoy the process. There’s something great about not getting everything upfront and being part of the story and then a year goes by and another issue comes out and you think, okay, great. Now this has given me an excuse to go back to the beginning and I’ll reread. And not particularly with your stuff because so detailed and there’s so much nuance to it, so you’re kind of looking for an excuse to go back again. It’s not that sort of thing that’s onerous to do that I appreciate. Do I get

Leigh Chalker (18:10):
A point

Morgan Quaid (18:10):
For using onerous? Do I get a, yeah, no,

Leigh Chalker (18:13):
I’ll give you a point for that. I like that. I haven’t heard that word in a while. Very good, thank you. Double thumbs up to you, Morgan. Yeah, no, I appreciate that man, because, because the things that I’ve enjoyed, the artwork and stuff, I like to think I put a lot of work into this stuff. So I like hearing that people look at it and go back to it and stuff. That’s really, I guess one of the nicest things people can say about the work is when I hear that they’ve gone back and reread it. So that makes me feel good about that. So thank you.

Morgan Quaid (18:56):
And you can see the passion very, very easily and very, very apparent. But there’s also, there’s a depth that, so some writers, artists, lots of stuff and I would probably count myself in this group. The thing driving it is the idea there’ll be a singular idea and I just have to get this idea out and it’s rush, rush, rush, get it in, get it out, and this is the story and the idea and all that sort of stuff. Whereas your stuff, I think it’s like a wine that’s aged over time or a brandy or a brandy whiskey is what I mean. Something that’s aged over time and grown and developed and just hearing what you’ve gone through to get to this version, it makes so much sense because you’ve lived with these characters and developed them and it’s such a rich piece of work, which is why I go back to, I think people would love, essentially the more you show, I think the more people will love it. I think there’s a tendency as artists sometimes to be a little bit, is it just self-aggrandizing really? Are they going to care about this sort of stuff? But I think people will be drawn because of your passion and how much effort you’ve put into this thing. And just the work, even every page and every panel, you can just see the blood, sweat and tears. I’d be surprised if there’s a smudge of red, not a smudge of red on every third or fourth

Leigh Chalker (20:25):
Mate. There’s bits of red here and there, but as Dave died, tell you, there’s definitely some C here and there from the amount of cigarette to ash that I’ve tap in gray, wash water,

(20:38)
There is a little bit of color in there. But yeah, look man, look, it’s just been a compulsion. I’ve had times in my life where I haven’t touched it. I’ve had times in my life where I’ve been heartbroken by it, but something just pulls me back. And I think essentially what it is, is I can’t be sure, but it’s just something I have to finish. And the older I get, I used to get impatient with it and I used to try and rush things and I used to try and push things too much and even put things out. A piece of artwork within myself I knew wasn’t ready to go. But I still put it out anyway. And it’s just if I do nothing else after Battle for Bustle is done, then that is me happy. I don’t need it to sell a million copies, mate.

(21:36)
I don’t need it to. I mean, I get beautiful letters and emails and stuff from kids that read it. I mean, I meet people that come to my house to collect the comic book and talk to me about how much they enjoy it. I mean, I’ve met so many people through comics and the Australian industry in general, people I never thought that I would even get close to even communicating with let alone people. I’ve admired from afar that I’ve got the opportunity now and to call friends, the people that I can ask questions of and be mentored by and things like that.

(22:20)
So from me being a little kid did all he wanted to do. And you do have those ideas of I want to make a movie and I want to make a TV show. I mean, I guess in a really weird way, the most important thing for me is to just finish the story because these characters are the most important thing to me. And once I get to issue nine and it’s done at that stage, I’ll see how much gas is left in the tank because with one page I can continue it on or without that page, I can let it stop right there. And at this point, Nate, I’m just trying to battle on and just keep going and keep going with it. But sometimes I can get sidetracked by rather exciting little projects that do pop up time.

(23:10)
But yeah, and I guess the strange thing is the original title was called Drive. So it’s just the drive, mate. I wish I had drive in other segments of my life, but this is the one that stuck with me and this is the one that keeps me going in its own way, mate. So it’s lots of time by myself, lots of time thinking, lots of time reflecting and putting it into artwork and creativity, which is at the end of the day has made me very, very happy in life. Mate, thank you Dave. You’re a champion. He’s a champion that man. Love that guy. Yeah. So yeah, that’s where it is with Busle.

Morgan Quaid (23:56):
Very good, very good. So I might, I’m conscious I’ve been monopolizing the question, so I might hand over to Peter or Sizzle won’t have anything, but I’ll give you a warning sizzle. He’s got a list of all questions you’ve got to add one question tonight, sizzle. I’m just letting you know anything you wanted to ask.

Peter Wilson (24:15):
Yeah, so I reread all your stuff over the last couple of days, really bulked up on my chaka research. Great, great job. If you ever get to reread comics and then talk about them, do it. So I guess you kind of touched on it with how long you’ve been developing and just thinking about Bustle, but I think one thing that was really reflected is something that not a lot of writers do that well or they focus on too much and that’s the world building the environment Bustle feels like a really tangible, horrific but very real place. You’ve got slaying in there that all the civilians use and just the she intricacy of all your background art, which is staggering. So my question is, how awesome is that,

Leigh Chalker (25:05):
Peter? You know how many pages that no one has ever seen men look like a pile over in those boxes and stuff men. But thank you for rereading them and thank you very much, man for that. You probably, yeah, it’s a lot of time going into it. I guess the reflection of Bustle was a reflection of my questions, horrors, positives, negatives about the world, about my hometown, seeing my thoughts about societies and where we’re heading and stuff like that. I don’t know, it’s just one of those things, mate. That was my medium I guess, and I sort of just threw everything at it and that’s why it took so long. Because man, I just got flush with so many ideas over the years that I was being drawn into this and drawn into that, drawn this and I was like, I could do this, I could do that.

(26:00)
I could add to it. No, that’s not working. Push it aside, restart again. And in the last year or two, I’ve settled on everything now, but I don’t want the world of bustle to be seen as negative or horrific because essentially it’s a story of love. Very true. It’s an uplifting story about what love, and I mean this sounds crazy I guess, but I love, we all love whatever it is, whoever it may be, but love’s a driving force in anything, mate. And it is a story of love, it’s a story of passion, it’s a story of rebellion, it’s a story of authoritarianism. All of those things that I’d like to think there’s a quadrant of some segment of the story that someone can grasp. Which side do you want to be on? Do you want to be a rebel? Do you want to be an authoritarian? Do you want to be a rule? I mean, I like having people think, so I probably think too much, Pete, I’ll probably after this interview fall over and pass out and have to go and hose myself down because my head will be on fire. But

Peter Wilson (27:19):
I think it’s like all the great sci-fi stories have worlds and environments you feel you could walk into and understand. What makes Bussa cool is that you’re such an indie purist, it is just about the story. You didn’t do it to branch out and make spinoffs, you didn’t do it for merch. You just have a very pure love of the story, which I think is reflected in comics with your dad and you work with Tam and everything.

Leigh Chalker (27:45):
I love, man. I think for me, one of the things that I’m influenced by a lot of different creators, but one in particular is David Lynch. Not just his films, but his paintings, his writings, anything that he does really. I mean even his worldviews and what he’s trying to do with transcendental meditation, anything, I mean, and one of the things that he believes in, and I think when I was a lot younger and I was searching for those creative entities to reach out to and get a link to was that you have to believe in a story. There is no point. You can write an idea down and then three months later you’re moving on to another story, you’re doing something else. And in the space and the space, in the face of anyone that says to you, you can’t do it if you believe in it enough, you just have to keep going at it.

(28:51)
And I’ve just stuck with that sort of wisdom because realistically at the end of the day, man, I did start this for dad, it probably has gone on a very long time, but now I sort of feel like because I’m 44 and in Spring Chicken when I turned 45, that’s the same age that my dad passed away. So in a really strange way, battle for Bustle is going to be finished one way or the other next year. So I guess in a strange way, the cycle I’m hoping will be finished and then in its own strange way, I’ll be able to free myself to a certain extent of this city and these characters and then be able to move on to other things. So it’s been a weird journey. So I’ve never said to anyone else. So you drew it out of me, Pete, good question.

Peter Wilson (29:46):
Go along with it. It’s great that we get follow.

Leigh Chalker (29:48):
And I like the spin rack too, buddy. I saw that last week. Oh yeah, how

Morgan Quaid (29:52):
Awesome. So question, you’ve had more interaction with international creators and all that sort of stuff recently as well. Have you noticed a difference in either the style of the artwork or the storytelling or the way comics are promoted or created or anything? Have you noticed a difference between the Aussie community and the broader international community or US community? Has anything kind of struck you as, oh, they do it a bit differently over there, or we do this differently or?

Leigh Chalker (30:35):
I would say the only thing that separates this man quite honestly, and this is a cheesy answer, but is distance. And that’s what I’m trying to encourage with being able to do this stuff with Dustin is to be able to bring people together. Because regardless of for me, man, honestly, I’m not going to sit here and critique people on their artwork or their writing and stuff like that. I purely admire people getting it in, sticking their head down, bums up and getting it done mate. And if they want to get out there and they want to promote themselves in any way they possibly can, then I mean I find admiration in that that keeps me going. I’ve met some ripper people. Yes, they do have different ways of promoting, but I mean Morgan, you have a different way of promoting your stuff that I do.

(31:23)
Do you know what I mean? I guess the one thing I’m learning is it’s just whatever you’re comfortable with, it may be a different level of what you want to achieve. Some people are still learning too. And I want to be one of those people now that, I mean I’m still only relatively new in the game, so I don’t want to come across as an egotistical dickhead, but if I can put a hand out and someone’s got questions for me, then I want to be able to do what the people that I’ve been lucky enough to have met and be able to pass on that information to them mate. And just bringing them up the steps. I mean, there’s great people, man all over the world doing this stuff. It doesn’t matter whether you’re indie, you’re mainstream, whatever, I don’t care. But for me, I just love the art form of comic books, man. And that is a great joy for me is Saturday mornings with Dustin meeting some of the coolest, craziest wackiest people, man that are just champions. And it’s the same in the Australian comic community. Everyone’s different. My grandma said, man, if we were all the same, it’d be a fucking boring place. I’ll tell you grandma

(32:40)
And I encourage anyone, and Ed Kiley said it once on one of the shows. I believe Shane will be able to tell me if I’m wrong here. Comics just do it. I think he

Morgan Quaid (32:54):
Comics as well. I think he was draw actually. Yeah, same thing, same diff. Yeah, it’s one of those things, I mean there’s always hesitation when you’re in a new area or you are branching out or you’re trying to meet new people in the area. And there’s always that fear of, it’s a bit like for anyone that’s a musician, it’s any instrument shop you’ve ever walked into, ever. You walk in there and you just feel like you’re sticking out like a sore thumb. They’re all looking at you like you’re an idiot and you’ve come in to learn and to buy a guitar and you’re not sure what to buy or all that, but you just get these glares of, and there’s some dude with long hair at the back just riffing away and

Leigh Chalker (33:37):
Laughing away on the bass. Hey, that’s

Morgan Quaid (33:38):
It mate, can I try that guitar? Yeah mate, let me show you how Stu bro, I’ll do it. And it’s like, whereas yeah, certainly I found the same thing with comics. There’s such a small number of people that are like that. The vast majority of people are only too happy to talk. They’re passionate about it, it’s their thing and they love anyone and they just love talking about it and seeing the

Leigh Chalker (34:03):
Passion is contagious. Morgan, absolutely. It’s contagious man. And when you meet people that are Peter Lane champion love his comic book when you’re passionate, it’s a contagious thing, man. And essentially it keeps you going. Look man, again, I would encourage anyone, man, don’t stop drawing. Don’t stop writing if that’s what you want to do. I mean the thing that annoys me is you get to a certain, as a child, you’re encouraged to do these things, but you reach a certain point and then you’re told stop doing them because it’s childish. It’s absolutely ridiculous, mate. You know what I mean? If you’re passionate about something, then pursue the passion. Life’s too short for that to not. So I guess, I don’t know, man. As I said, I’ve had a change of lifestyle since the end of last year and a lot of time to reflect man and a lot of time to look back on myself, man. And I’ve chosen to look on things a lot more positively, man. I’m not trying to reflect on negatives and stuff. You’re always going to get negatives, but at the end of the day, no one can stop the work mate. You put it out there, that’s all you got to do. You just keep building blocks, man. And then eventually you start the jigsaw starts becoming something. So that’s just what I’m wanting to do.

Morgan Quaid (35:33):
And what do you do? Obviously the podcast stuff with Dustin helps with this, but are there things that you do or things that you go to when you reach that point where you just think, I’ve got to do three pages by whenever or I’ve got to get stuck in and you kind of drowning in it a little bit. What are the places you go to for motivation or just like I just need a bit of a kick to just get me back in gear? And are there kind of things that you do or routines or something like that?

Leigh Chalker (36:09):
No, not really. I just go down to the granny flat and I just start, sometimes it takes a lot longer to start, but at the end of last year I felt that I was in, I took on too much. And I think that every idea that someone,

(36:37)
It’s very nice to have people that want to work with you and have people that have ideas and do this, do that. But I felt like I’d spread myself too thin. I was also a relatively heavy drinker and stuff like that. And basically I burnt out and that’s why I sort of disappeared off the radar. I had shit that I had to sort out within myself. I lost my way and I had to reprioritize. I had to cut back on some things that other than drinking, but I had to cut back and refocus on what was important to me creatively and stuff. I’d lost sight of bustle and the reason why I started doing comic books, I had to find that again. Amidst that though, I will say that probably the greatest pleasure I had last year other than meeting folks and stuff was a magic little comic book idea that popped up called Ring Around the Rosie that it was the first time I’d ever worked with other people and those other people, Ryan Valer, SPIE, Rob Lyle and Ben Sullivan.

(37:58)
And I have found that to be one of the most, amongst the things that happened with Bustle, that has been magic to me. Learning, working with other people, seeing how things jamming I guess in a musical sense. You know what I mean? To see if you can make something of it. And just the way that it all came together so quick with no thinking, just organic, just three passionate dudes needed to get a job done, did it. That in hindsight was a thing that changed me to the point I think you definitely can’t take on too much. We’ve all got responsibilities in life too, and if you take on too much on one thing, the other thing’s drop Mate, like spinning too many plates of SPS you’d say, but

(38:51)
A refocus has encouraged me with, has given me a full brim of energy some time off meeting new folks, seeing how they’re motivated and stuff like that and what works for them. Listening to advice that I’ve been getting, obviously not you take and what you will and just getting an admiration and just trying to rekindle a love man and not dwelling on negatives, not trying to please other people, but essentially trying to please myself with my creativity. And that’s not to be egotistical, but at the end of the day, I can’t worry whether other people like it. I’ve got to worry about whether I like it and whether I’m proud that this is the battle for Bustle is a representation of me, and that’s the attitude that I’m trying to get across now. So yeah, just learning curves, man, really. But I’m only new to it too. Hey, it feels like I’ve been in it forever, but I haven’t, man. You get your hits and you get back up and you get back into it and you learn as you go. And sometimes you got to bring it back to the simple answer is what did you get into this for love and something that I wanted to do for my dad. So essentially you got to skin it back sometimes and go to the basics and yeah, that’s where I’m at currently in life now. So just slowing down, focusing on what’s important for me.

Morgan Quaid (40:36):
A hundred percent I completely identify with, yeah, sometimes you get caught up in the excitement, you do too much and then you think, hang on, hang on, hang on, I’ve been running for a while. I just need to just steady on, have a think,

Leigh Chalker (40:51):
What do

Morgan Quaid (40:51):
I really want to do here? And that advice or what you were saying is one of the best pieces of advice I think people always ask about writer’s block, and I’ve forgotten who said it, but the key to get around writer’s block is just write, just start. Just do it. Write anything. It doesn’t matter how bad it is, just write, just do something. There was a philosopher named Je Lithuanian, I think philosopher. He writes a huge amount of books. It’s ridiculous. Four or five books a year and dense philosophy, that sort of stuff. His trick is, or it used to be, anyway, in his apartment, he has a very small little desk with a computer on it, no chair at all. And so what he does is he tricks himself as he is walking past, he just sort of says, I’m not going to write a book. A book is too much, it’s going to take too long. I’m too tired. I’m just going to write a sentence, just a sentence, that’s all. And he’s just standing there, I’m not even going to have a seat, I’m just going to do it for a minute. And he starts typing, before you know it, three hours have gone by, he’s got a bug it back, but he’s written a heap. And it’s that thing about, like you say, it might take a bit longer sometime, but you just got to sometimes just do it anyway.

Leigh Chalker (42:05):
No, it’s about your own pace, Morgan. A hundred percent. It’s just no one runs the same speed. I mean, my God, man, I admire people that I’ve met. I sit there and I look at the output of their work and I think, my God, how do you do that so quickly? And excitement is something, it’s a good thing, but it can also pull you a little bit thin, if you know what I mean. You have to just realize that for me, I’m a marathoner man. I’m not a sprinter by any means. So it’s really just running to To the beat to your own drum mate, I guess. So yeah, just trying mate. Just trying. So that’s all I can do, mate, is just keep plodding along and doing me things. So’s what I’m trying to do. Yes.

Morgan Quaid (43:07):
Sizzle.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (43:09):
Sizzle. Question buddy. Yeah, I’ve got a question. What the hell? I’m thinking about this for a bit. So I’m going to bring up a piece of artwork, this wonderful collaboration that you’ve got going on in this particular book. I believe this is a multi-part story.

Leigh Chalker (43:25):
That’s correct.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (43:27):
I’m wondering, are you open to doing more things like that? Is there anything that exclusive that’s coming up? Is there anything going on? Is there anything?

Leigh Chalker (43:43):
Oh look, yeah, there’s a couple of things. I mean there’s a handful of things that are out there in the universe that may be or may not. It’s just one of those things. But I’ll focus on what I do know. Ring around the Rosie is at this stage three part eight page, each story. The first one was written by sps, great, excellent script. Penciled by myself, ink by Ryan Vela, the second part, ring around the Rosie, again, written, all written by sp. The second part is penciled by Ben Sullivan, inked by me. The third part will be penciled by Ron and Inked by Ben Sullivan. And at that stage that I guess sp again an organic thing. That was the idea at this point. But that can definitely pushed off into whatever we want because we just all enjoy the character. I love that character, man.

(44:55)
I don’t ever want to give up Rosie shit. I love that character. I’m doing a script with Tamara at the moment called No Stars, and it is only a script. I’m not doing the artwork. That is a project that I’m doing for Dustin with the serial comics. He’s wanted to obviously do more together than our Saturday shows. So I’m going to have a little dabble in that and that script will be going out to an artist that I have contacted, and I won’t mention any names. It is purely up to that artist, whether they’re interested in doing it or not, yay or nay. There is no pressure on that particular individual. And at this stage issue five for battle, for Bustle, all the artwork is done. I’m sitting down on the weekend to paint the cover scripts done. Just needs lettering done. Again, not in any rush. Tamara is very busy. I’m busy artwork, just finding pace and just pursuing and pushing on through the little things and probably doing a few more things with Ryan Valor along the way because I love working with Ryan. So it’s always try and fit things in with Ryan, but he’s a busy man too at the moment.

Peter Wilson (46:36):
Valor’s inking on ringing around the Rosies amazing. It makes the art look like 13 hundreds wood carvings. The woodblock carvings you’d see back in the day

Leigh Chalker (46:45):
Really

Peter Wilson (46:46):
Struck me and that really lends itself nicely to the story I thought. Nice little link,

Leigh Chalker (46:51):
Pete Ryan and I, we are mates and we’ve just got an appreciation for each other’s artwork. And we’d been sort of talking about doing some stuff together and ring around. The Rosie came up very organically and I remember SP had the script and everything and that was the first time that I’d ever actually seen anyone ink my artwork before. So I was new to that and I was nervous as hell doing those pencils. You sort of think these are the learning things too. Have I detailed it enough? Have I done too much detail? Because Ryan won’t be able to put his swing into it. I’ve got to leave room. So you start and then in the end you just go, got to breathe, man. Breathe. Just chill and do what you think is right and always showed SPEDs. He, that dude out there saw everything from thumbnails through to rough sketches through the whole lot, man.

(47:51)
And so did Ryan. And then when it got to a point, it was just like Ryan, he’s ready to go. And man, that dude was pumping those pages out quicker than I could blink. Those actual pages are all on paper. Ryan has them. So I actually did them on a three paper here, mailed them to Ryan and Brian All Ridge dig Indian Ink and painted over the top of them. So there’s no digital recreation of any artwork, only changing sizes of panels, of fit pages and all that sort of drive. But yeah, so that was great experience, man. I loved it. Waking up some days and Brian’s been up all night inking these pages and I was like, what that fuck? It was crazy stuff. Yeah, it was great. Yeah, no, that was great, man. I loved that moment. So it was really good. But I’m getting some good stuff too at the moment. Let me tell you with Ben Sullivan, man, he’s spinning me out in some of his artwork too. Yeah, Ben’s incredible. Yeah, actually, yeah, SP don’t get up me. There you go. That’s a page for Ring around the Rosie, part two, penciled by Ben Sullivan and Pinked by me.

Morgan Quaid (49:17):
Wow,

Leigh Chalker (49:17):
That’s great. Shit. Yeah, so we’re in the middle of that. Yeah. So sit down.

Morgan Quaid (49:25):
Sit down. All right. I can’t ask you the trademark question before we get to the gifts section. I’ve got to do a new one because you’ve already gone through the McDonald’s drive through. So you’re in a room for three days, you’re on your own, you have one piece of furniture that you can have. What’s that piece of furniture? Oh, that’s a toughie.

Leigh Chalker (50:01):
I wouldn’t say I’d want a piece of furniture, but I would like two things. I’d like a pad and a pencil because I’ve got a floor or I can lay on it and I can draw away and ride away on that. So don’t worry about the furniture. I’m a simple man. True to your, as long as you’ve got the art, you don’t need anything

Morgan Quaid (50:20):
Else.

Leigh Chalker (50:22):
That’s right. Alright,

Morgan Quaid (50:23):
Top answer. Top answer. Alright, so we’re at the gift giving section. Apologies in advance. So actually, Peter, we’ve got to figure out what we do with you with this, because that’s kind of cheating if you do this as well because you’re like an artist. So anyway, we’ll talk about that later. We’ll try and figure out how what we can do.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (50:47):
It just means his will be great and ours will look

Morgan Quaid (50:49):
Really, really, I know that’s what I’m worried about. Ours will look like crap compared to that.

Peter Wilson (50:54):
I think you’ll be right. Last time sizzle just gave me more of a time restriction.

Morgan Quaid (51:01):
Maybe you can just do it blind or something. You’ve got to do it without looking. Alright.

Leigh Chalker (51:07):
Maybe a patch. A patch. Do it

Morgan Quaid (51:10):
With one eye. Yeah, one eye. No perspective. All right, so this is, yeah, this is from issue one. This is the main man. There we go.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (51:22):
Oh nice.

Leigh Chalker (51:23):
Thank you Morgan. That is excellent. I love it.

Morgan Quaid (51:28):
Christopher Battle. Yes, the man himself. And I can actually do something

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (51:33):
Really, really dodgy

Morgan Quaid (51:36):
And

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (51:36):
It’s very good for the environment. It’s called recycling. So I could to show my picture twice.

Morgan Quaid (51:41):
Oh nice. Have you got it there from

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (51:45):
Last time?

Morgan Quaid (51:47):
Hey, look at that.

Leigh Chalker (51:49):
I still love it. It’s great. Hey, look at that.

Peter Wilson (51:55):
If Hanson was holding instead of a hundred guns, could he write a hundred different novels or would it just be the same novel a hundred times?

Leigh Chalker (52:05):
I mean, he could, I mean, that could be something he transitions into in the old age, I suppose.

Peter Wilson (52:16):
I love that character, but I didn’t do bustle. I opted for marathon.

Morgan Quaid (52:23):
Oh man. Oh, you sucked, dude, this is terrible. It’s so good. You’re going to ruin it for us.

Peter Wilson (52:33):
Nonsense. That is awesome.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (52:34):
Oh, that’s amazing.

Morgan Quaid (52:37):
So cool. You’re going to have to do it for all three of us. I think that’ll be the rule. Oh wow. That was fantastic.

Leigh Chalker (52:45):
Thank you very much for that.

Morgan Quaid (52:47):
Pleasure. Well, thank you Lee. It’s been a pleasure talking to you as always. We look forward to more battle a bustle, Rosie, round the Ringer, Rosie Marathon, everything that’s coming our way. And I’m especially excited about the potential of a gathered art book or something like that would be amazing. And I would be the first person at the front of the line trying to get ahead of sizzle to grab it. I was going to say

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (53:16):
What? You’re at the front. I

Morgan Quaid (53:18):
Don’t think so.

Leigh Chalker (53:22):
I’m working on it, mate. So it’ll eventually get,

Morgan Quaid (53:26):
That is so exciting. Cool. Anything you guys want to say before we go to the next section?

Peter Wilson (53:34):
Oh, can a one blink?

Leigh Chalker (53:37):
No.

Peter Wilson (53:38):
Okay, cool.

Leigh Chalker (53:39):
That is good question. That’s the torture, I guess, is the fact that he can’t blink, so can’t sleep, can’t do anything. So essentially it’s a bit of a case of without these things you sort of tend to go a little bit mad, I guess. So I always thought that made for a good villain. You’ve got to have that little bit of madness. But what would make you annoyed? And it’d be very annoying. When I was a young fella, my grandma always used to say to me, don’t sit so close to the tv, your eyes will go square. So I always remembered that. So when I was I guess coming up with a villain, I thought, oh, square eyes used to get dry. What else could be good? Oh, wires in the eyes, that sort of thing. And then it just developed into a one. Very striking. I remember kids don’t sit too close to the TV or you become a one. That’s

Morgan Quaid (54:42):
What happens. That’s right. Well,

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (54:45):
Before we go to the next section, I just want to go, Morgan.

Morgan Quaid (54:49):
Yeah,

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (54:50):
Apparently you need to pick up your game. I don’t know what that

Morgan Quaid (54:58):
Oh, thanks Peter. Thanks a lot. I got more work to do.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (55:03):
You got more work to do.

Morgan Quaid (55:04):
I got my work. I’m out of practice. Damn it. That’s a fair. Sorry, I

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (55:10):
Just had to throw that up there. I think it was a typo, but it was hilarious. Cool. Well thanks Lee. Much appreciated for coming in tonight. It was great to chat with you again and those books. Wow. Wow. And wow, I’m looking forward to seeing them collected into something that would be frigging awesome. So I guess we’re off to the next part of the show. See you later, Lee.

Leigh Chalker (55:38):
Thank you guys. Take care. Lovely talking.

Peter Wilson (55:42):
Have a good one, mate.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (55:52):
Oh, sorry, there was a drumming there. Okay. Who wants to go first?

Peter Wilson (55:58):
I’ll go. We’re

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (55:59):
Fighting for it. Well, if we’re fighting for it, I fight first. I going with

Morgan Quaid (56:04):
A, oh don’t you dare you.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:09):
Sluggish as well.

Morgan Quaid (56:11):
Oh no, you all right? You’re right. You go, you go. I’ve

Peter Wilson (56:16):
So happy to not have my copy yet.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:21):
Rob would love it. Three sluggish or sluggish, whatever. Sluggy. Slug eye. Yeah, I’ll just zoom in so everyone can see the cover. This is hard to do.

Peter Wilson (56:39):
Beautiful. Cover one

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:40):
Zoom, zooming in on yourself. Sluggish by sped or Rob Lyle as some know him. Not many

Morgan Quaid (56:46):
Upside down.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:48):
You almost freaked me out then. Sorry, I just got a, it’s upside down in the background. Someone trying to freak me out while I’m doing it. Morgan

Peter Wilson (56:54):
Was

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:55):
Upside down. Oh, Morgan’s was upside down. Oh, sorry.

Morgan Quaid (56:57):
Mine was, I was flustered.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (57:01):
Well, I’ll keep this short so that Morgan can say more about the writing. I have no writing skills, I have no drawing skills. I just freaking love comics. So at the end of the day, same can be said about this. I freaking love comics. This was awesome. Because I don’t have the skills. I can’t put them into words. What makes it so awesome? All I can tell you is get it, depression, slugs and anxiety. It’s more fun than it sounds like. And it’s less fun than it sounds like. So it’s, it’s just great. That’s all I can say. I loved it. Loved every bit of it. I don’t want to send any more because I don’t want to even hint at spoiling it. So, awesome.

Morgan Quaid (57:50):
Get it, get it.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (57:52):
Get it. Now. Morgan will give you an intellectual version of that.

Morgan Quaid (57:56):
No, I was just going to say, it’s awesome. Go get it. I can’t speak highly enough of it. It’s fantastic because I’ll use another one now, now that you’ve stolen my thunder. But yes, sluggish is amazing. It’s great. Yeah, you go if you want Peter, and then I’ll come in and

Peter Wilson (58:12):
I look forward to agreeing when I get my copy. Spie, I found this cool little gem in a bookshop in Maitland. Australian writer, I believe. An artist. Very cool little cyber punk story.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (58:28):
Oh, nice, sweet.

Peter Wilson (58:29):
He’s about a dude gets to an accident. So the insurance company gives him a little robot body to rent a little loaner. Oh,

Morgan Quaid (58:37):
Nice.

Peter Wilson (58:39):
It’s very simple story, but it’s just really cool. Done. It’s just really nice. He finds out, he is a part of a terrorist plot.

Morgan Quaid (58:48):
Oh

Peter Wilson (58:49):
Wow. And the art is really cool. Nice ink was, it’s

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (58:53):
Really nice.

Peter Wilson (58:55):
By New Reliable Press, it looks like this was printed at the US 2009 and set in a dystopian Frankfort.

Morgan Quaid (59:10):
There you go.

Peter Wilson (59:11):
So if you can find that anywhere, I highly recommend it. The art is stunning. It’s a really cool little story. It reads very quick, but I was very pleased to have found that.

Morgan Quaid (59:21):
Nice, nice, nice, nice. Well I will go all of the verus Nice. Gee, did that come in the same package? Oh no, no. I’ve had this for ages. I ages robots. Robots and robots and all sorts of artworks. Fantastic stories and such. Oh, this is hard to do. Yeah, it looks amazing. I haven’t started reading it yet, but I’m going to get tucked into that one shortly. So again, that one fantastic stuff. Yeah. And I love the concept. I just love the idea of picking a random, weird topic and writing comics and short stories about it. Oh, and even look at the tette and such. Oh yes, yes. That was awesome. The floater disturbs me a little, but I’ll get over it. And the little, so big thanks.

Peter Wilson (01:00:23):
I’ve got the cards. They’re sick.

Morgan Quaid (01:00:25):
Yeah, yeah, really cool. And I’ve

Peter Wilson (01:00:27):
Got some pages, so enjoy.

Morgan Quaid (01:00:30):
Oh, nice, nice. Yeah. So that’s it for me. I have one Shameless promotion. I always have a shameless promotion for those that are interested in, what are they called? Novels, the ones with words. Many, many words. That’s just the seven hungers is out now. It’s on special. If that’s a thing that we call it for the next week. 99 cents for the digital version and 10 bucks for that. Oh wow. Cool version. It’s got words in it and stuff, and not many pitches. So anyone that’s interested, go to Amazon or go to morgan quat.com and you can pick yourself up a copy there if you enjoy reading words. Oh yeah. But we’re doing self promotions. I’m going to have to throw this up. One

Peter Wilson (01:01:36):
Next on timing.

Morgan Quaid (01:01:38):
So just remind me, sp, what’s the cost around Australia for postage? For people that want to buy as many comics as they can? Sped Sorry. Sorry, I could have just flowed with it, but I decided to pull you up on it instead. I saw toilet from the brain. It’s $9, nine, $9. That’s all that price shop. Flat rate. I’ll tell you what people, that sounds like a good deal. Nice. Morgan, you didn’t notice that? Not Morgan. Yeah. Okay. So I forget names and dates and stuff and things.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:02:19):
No, that’s

Morgan Quaid (01:02:19):
Important. Yeah. Cool. Oh, and I’ve forgotten the other thing I was going to say. Let’s just pretend I said it. Excellent. Good show. Peter, is

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:02:31):
There anything you want to throw out there ourselves?

Peter Wilson (01:02:35):
What have I got? I’ve got some stories coming up in Comex. Presents the next couple of issues of that and that’s the only thing that’s coming out relatively soon for me.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:02:43):
Alright, cool.

Morgan Quaid (01:02:45):
And when’s that coming out? The next comment presents.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:02:49):
Presents. Three is all being packaged up as we speak to the right of me. So that will be, although are you in that? I can’t remember. Hang on. Yes you are. Of course. You’re, what am I saying? Yeah, of course you’re, but four, the Kickstarter for it will start once that’s all gone.

Peter Wilson (01:03:07):
Cool.

Morgan Quaid (01:03:08):
Sweet.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:03:09):
Once that’s all out, we’ll start the Kickstarter for four issue. Four. Sweet.

Peter Wilson (01:03:14):
Good stuff.

Morgan Quaid (01:03:15):
Very cool.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:03:16):
I’ve decided to not rush it and just Good idea. Get one thing sorted before moving on to the next thing. I have this bad habit of trying to do everything at once and next thing you know I’m in hospital for a month, so not doing that anymore.

Peter Wilson (01:03:30):
Yeah, let’s avoid that

Morgan Quaid (01:03:32):
Time. That sounds good.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:03:34):
Now the outro only has two of us. So instead of the normal outro, we started with Battle. Battle for Bustle One. So let’s go out on little promo for Battle for Bustle four, which is currently out at Comic shop. Oh, he throws it in there.

Morgan Quaid (01:03:51):
Nice.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:03:53):
Yeah. Goodnight everyone. Thanks for joining us and see you next week. Same Oz Comex channel. Same Oz Comex. Time. Time. Oh God. One day I’ll get it. Right. Night all.

Peter Wilson (01:04:08):
Bye. Bye. Bye

Morgan Quaid (01:04:09):
Guys. Wait.