On today's show I have returning guest and recent Russ Manning Award Winner Oliver Bly sitting down to talk about the second volume of his original graphic novel series The Mushroom Knight from Mad Cave Studios. We a shared love of mycology so I have always adored this project and we go deep into exploring the themes of ecology and spirituality and how they mesh throughout the books. Oliver shares insights into his creative process, the significance of character designs, and how the overarching message centers around universal biological connectivity and highlighting the dangers of invasive species in our ecosystems. It's really interesting to hear his visual approach to using body language to act with a character who's mouth doesn't move (does he really even have a mouth?) We also get into the role of enlisting a sensitivity reader on the project. If you enjoyed this chat, you can click the link here to go back and catch up our first conversation about Volume 1. The Mushroom Knight Volume 2 From the publisher An adolescent girl named Lem searches the deep dark woods for her missing dog, entangling her destiny with a chivalrous mushroom faerie named Gowlitrot on a mystical quest to protect the biome from catastrophic ruin. As their friendship develops, Gowlitrot pledges to aid Lem in a quest to discover the fate of her missing dog, but as the search progresses, they uncover perilous betrayals that challenge the foundation of each of their worlds— both inner and outer. The natural world may never appear the same again. PATREON We have a new Patreon, CryptidCreatorCornerpod. If you like what we do, please consider supporting us. We got two simple tiers, $1 and $3. I’ll be uploading a story every Sunday about some of the crazy things I’ve gotten into over the years. The first one dropped last week about me relocating a drug lord’s sharks. Yes, it did happen, and the alligators didn’t even get in the way. Want to know more, you know what to do. Arkenforge Play TTRPG games? Make sure to check out our partner Arkenforge. They have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive, allowing you to build, play, and export animated maps including in person fog of war capability that let’s your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM get the full picture. Use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off your order. Global Comix Save on a subscription to GlobalComix with us. Visit the link below and use the discount code COMICBOOKYETI. https://globalcomix.com/lp/promos/af/comicbookyeti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices