Music Credit: “Uganda” composed and performed by Mike Stern from the EP Electric-Minded Number 2(Uncut). <music up> Bryan "The Flash" Turner: So my oldest son is a huge Spiderman fan! And when he found out that I was working on Spiderman, to see the glow on his face, and the pride and excitement that his dad was going to work on Spiderman. Because I worked from home. So he saw how hard I worked on tons of projects for myself and for other clients and the joy that he saw in me was reflected in him. So it was an awesome experience. I got to work on Spiderman, I got to work for Marvel. Jo Reed: That is Bryan “Flash” Turner, a story artist for comic books and animated films. And this is Art Works, the weekly podcast produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. I’m Josephine Reed. Bryan “Flash” Turner has the kind of job people envy: he’s the artist who does the drawings for comic books and animated films. He did animated series like Guardians of the Galaxy, and as we heard, Marvel’s Spiderman and Ultimate Spiderman. Bryan was also the comic artist for books like Fanboys vs. Zombies, Samurai Jack, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Animated Adventures. And if that isn’t enough, he’s also co-founder of the indie publisher Identity Comic Studio—where he develops his own series like Return of the Way. I caught up with Bryan Turner at Washington DC’s Awesome Con. It’s a comic convention that has grown enormously in its five years of existence. It seems inadequate to call it a comic convention. As its website states: “At its heart, Awesome Con embraces all aspects of geekdom and popular culture, with a wide assortment of comic books, collectibles, games, original art, and more.” And believe me, there is a lot more. But one thing that stood out as I wandered through the convention was how diverse the participants were—in terms of race, age, and most unexpectedly, gender. Jo Reed: I was not expecting such a diverse population when I came here. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, it was wonderful to see. Jo Reed: I really guess I came trotting with my own stereotypes. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, it was amazing to see. Aside from the growth of just the small comic convention to how large it is now, again, like you pointed out, the diversity. And a big strong point is definitely women. I feel like finally they're able to have a voice. And I think this kind of culture, this comic or pop culture allows them to speak more freely and be accepted and to have more important roles in what we consume, not only visually, but just everything, I think. It just gives them a platform. And I see that growing every single year. I mean, it had to have been 50/50 in there, women to men. Which is, you wouldn't have seen that ten years ago, heavy male crowd, you know, older guys. It's really good to see. Jo Reed: Right, because we think of comics as like the guy space. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Sure, sure, and they fought that for a while. I would say upwards of just maybe five to seven years ago, a lot of these comic conventions—because this is considered more of a pop culture convention. Which is kind of the norm now, because it just includes a lot more people. They used to be very just squared in on comics. Which is, again, it was the older guys, the, you know, "This is what we're doing. We don't want to let anyone in," kind of thing. And they fought these kind of conventions for a while. But now they can't, because so many people are interested and so many people have a voice. So, these shows are awesome! They're awesome just to see the people. They're awesome to be a part of—have a panel with such great excitement. So it's really cool. Jo Reed: Looking around, obviously it's comics, but it's also animation, it's also video games— Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Sure! It's everything. Jo Reed: —it's also movies, it’s also television! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, it's what gets us excited, you know? During our normal workweek, we go to work and we have our families, but you know, what are we interested in? We're interested in the arts and film and video, and all that kind of stuff. So that's really what this lends to. Jo Reed: And also superheroes. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, definitely superheroes! Jo Reed: What is the appeal? What do you think the appeal is? Especially now, because it's not just in comics. You see it in fiction. It's a lot of world-building in fiction. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, it is, it is. And I think people still—as they always had—they want to get out of their norm. They want to reach or aspire to be something even greater than they can control. And so when they see all these superheroes, it just adds excitement to their life, you know? Not, "I can be a Superman, or something like that, one day," but just the fantasy of being more than just your normal self. I think people just really gravitate towards it even today. Jo Reed: How did you get into writing comics? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Oh, wow! So. Jo Reed: Or comic artist, because there's a distinction. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: There's definitely a d— Jo Reed: So why don't you explain what that distinction is. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Sure, so— Jo Reed: Cause I’ve been schooled in that. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Absolutely, writers are artists all on their own. They—I have huge respect for them. I work with a lot of writers. I dabble in writing. I'm not very good at it yet. And I'll be the first to admit it. The same way a writer will admit, "Hey, I need an artist, you know, a visual artist to tell my story." So we definitely had that respect for each other. But getting into comics, I would say about ten years ago I met Jerry Gaylord. We were working at Six Flags doing caricatures, and he's a huge comic book fan, heavy into Superman and stuff like that, and we immediately had a trust and an engagement with each other, just based on our art. And we just started talking, and we were like, "Yeah, we like comics, but let's do our own comics." And so we just decided, he, his wife and myself, to start our own very small comic book company, Identity Comics, and we just started doing our own stuff. Meanwhile, also reading comics, staying abreast and constantly learning from all the different comics that were coming up, and trying to break into professional comics, you know, aside from doing out own projects. So it was about ten years ago when we started getting into that. I mean, I'd always read comics and always enjoyed— Jo Reed: That was my next question, yeah. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, always enjoyed comics. I grew up in the '80s, so like Saturday morning cartoons, like seeing those characters depicted in cartoon form was like huge for me. You can ask that to anyone that grew up in that era. Like seeing them come off the page and being made into cartoons, it was a huge deal. So that really made me want to get into animation first. And then the comics came from, I guess, the influence from meeting my friend, so. Jo Reed: Now how did you break into, as you say, professional comics? How do you even begin to do that? How does that work? How did it work for you? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: That is the question. We answer this question at our tables probably ten times during a weekend. So it's really about putting in a lot of legwork. So for us, we just started doing shows. Small shows, firehouse shows— Jo Reed: You mean, like conventions— Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, little conventions. We would do the local ones that only maybe had 50 or 100 people come to. And then all the way up to Awesome Con—we even go out to San Diego and stuff like that. So in doing all these shows, we're showing our art, and our IPs, our projects. But we're also showing people what they like and the characters that they love. So if someone loves Superman, we might have a Superman print in our style. And so that attracts them to us. And, "I really like how this person draws. And I like how you drew my favorite character." Then you can have a really good conversation about what you do as an artist. And then so from there, that's how we grow fans and clientele when we do freelance work. But we also own these Adventures in Comic Cons, we meet editors. So we go around and we have our portfolios. We talk to editors from books that we have interest in working. And you just develop a relationship with them over the years. And so it's never, "I met this editor, and then next week he wants me to work on—," it's never that. It's really a long haul. So a lot of young people come up and like, "How did you break in? I'm doing this!" And I'm like, "You got to put in the work." You know, a lot of kids are put off from being an artist. You know, their parents might say, "Well, let's be a doctor or a lawyer first, then you can do this on the side." I always tell them, "No." Because that's a slap in my face, because I've worked as hard to become a professional artist as someone who practices law or who does surgery on my mother. You know, I have the utmost respect for them. But that work that they put in, I'm doing the same thing. So when I tell these kids, "Realistically, you have to put in that same kind of hard work and dedication, you can be whatever you want to be! You can be an artist, a comic book artist or whatever it is." So going back to how you get into comics and stuff. You're putting in this long history of groundwork. You've met all these editors, and then, you know, some people will tell you, it's about meeting the right person at the right time. That is, but that's only if you've done the work. So when you meet that person, they can say, "You know what? I've heard of you. You worked on this. Maybe I'll give you a shot," and then there you go. But that could not have happened if I didn't do all that groundwork first. Jo Reed: Now describe the comics that you draw. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Right now I do a lot of, I would say, post-apocalyptic fantasy. Jo Reed: We're all post-apocalyptic fantasy! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, right, we're living it right now. <laughter> But yeah, so like fantasy. I do some superhero work with my buddy, Jerry. He's got a title called Hyperboy, it's about a kid who comes into like superpowers and stuff. We like to do things that are fun. Jo Reed: Hyperboy is a great name! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah. We like to work on things that are fun, because we enjoy having fun. We try not to take this stuff too seriously. I mean, it's cartoons, it's animation, it's comics. Yes, it should reflect things that are going on and things that affect people on a day-to-day basis. But again, people turn to this as an alternative to their normal life. When I read a comic that's out now, say a Spiderman or something like that, and it's depressing, I'm turned off. Because I'm looking to these comics to get out of whatever might be ailing me in life. Do you know what I mean? I want to live freely and fantasize. So that's what we just try to focus on doing really fun titles and really fun subject matter. With some realism so that people can connect in the same way. But we don't want them to, you know, be like, "Aw man, this title is just making me tired. Or it's depressing." We're not big on that kind of stuff, so. Jo Reed: What makes a good comic a good comic? I mean, I know you just described what your particular aesthetic is. But what makes a good comic a good comic? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I think if the reader wants to come back, honestly. There are thousands of comics out there, and you can read one and just put it down and like, "Okay, that was done. I'm good." But if the reader says, "I'd love to see more of this character or read into this character or know more about this world, then you know you've got something good. Right? Those are the things that stick around, I believe. Jo Reed: Like a book. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, absolutely. Jo Reed: I mean, exactly like a book. I read a book recently, and I just did not want to leave that world when it was done! I was so sad. I want to go back. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, yeah, yeah! When you can like close your—like as soon as you start reading, and you close your eyes and you feel like you're in it, like then you know something good is going on, yeah. Jo Reed: You work collaboratively, because you're working with a writer. Tell me how that collaboration works. What comes first? The story, but then does he write a script and you draw, or do you draw— Bryan "The Flash" Turner: There's a bunch of different ways. So a couple of ways, a writer will have a pre-written story that maybe they've been working on. It's their baby, they've been working on it for a while. And they'll approach you and say, "Hey, I really need a visual artist to bring this to life for me. At that point, you can work collaboratively if they need the design of the world, or the scope. So there's that. Then there's also like a collaborative which is what me and my studio do. So we will develop and write simultaneously. So it might start from a sketch. Like, "Oh, wow! This character's cool. What does he do?" And then we'll start the writing process that way. So it really depends on who you're working with, if you're already working with a group, and you know each other, and you can kind of bounce off of each other, that's a little more organic. But a lot of times it's a writer who has a story, and they approach you because they want you to tell it visually. Jo Reed: Have you ever approached a writer with a story idea and asked—? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes. Jo Reed: Yes. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, so my title, Return of the Way which is a post-apocalyptic. It's about—it's a group of, I think, about five or six individuals that have fallen under a terrible government rule, and all history has been erased. But they come across a Book of Bushido, which is the way of the Samurai. And in that, they learned their first bits of history, so they practiced Bushido, and through that they're able to overthrow—you know, your typical you overthrow the government kind of thing. So I had a couple sketches of the female character that I was developing. And I wanted to flesh it out. Like I said before, I'm not a good writer at all. I can conceptualize. So a good buddy of mine who has written some board games and a couple small novels, I approached him about it, and just maybe gave him about two sentences of synopsis. And from there, he went home that night and he was just writing and writing. He was like, "Oh, man! Hey, check your email! I have the story!" And it was fantastic! And then from there he was like, "Now it's your turn. Now you develop some more characters and we'll go back and forth." So that's what I was saying about, you know, it can be organic, sometimes going back and forth with the writers. So that was something really awesome that we worked on there. But I have experienced writers that they know what they want to tell, and they'll write it panel by panel, and you just draw it. And sometimes as a visual artist, it's not as appealing, because you don't have as much freedom as you'd like, but you'll still do it. You know, if you think the story is there, you'll still work on it. Jo Reed: Now when were you able to quit your day job and do comics full time? Because, of course, getting started is always difficult, because of responsibilities. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I think it was about a year after my youngest daughter was born. So about six, seven years ago? I went fully freelance artist. Before that I would balance that between, say, retail, or I taught art for a while at high school. So that was a balance. But then at a certain point, you just realize that you need to use all your time to work on your art. So you can make better money. So it was about seven years ago. Jo Reed: Because you're also not just drawing. You're also your own PR person. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: You are, you are. Jo Reed: You’re out there and you're selling. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: The internet babies that you have to have. It's hard work to stay on top of all those. And you can wake up, you know, seven o'clock in the morning and spend six hours just responding to emails and updating all your different social media, you know, just to keep people interested in you. A lot of people don't realize that from the outside, "Oh, you should just be drawing all day!" I would love to! But you know, there's a business side of it, too. It's all time-consuming so that's how I had to make that decision to just finally go 100 percent freelance, and it's worked out. Jo Reed: When you were freelancing, you worked at home. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah. Jo Reed: So what was your routine like? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: So that was like it was Mr. Mom and freelance. So it's getting the kids up and ready, getting them out to school, then really pounding away at work for, I'd say, about three or four hours until they came back. And then, you know, because my wife works fulltime, 40 hours, you know, an hour away. So I was a caretaker at home, while doing freelance. People always ask me, "How do you balance it?" I say, "I never do." Because you just take what you can. You know, if I can only work eight hours at night starting at midnight, then that's what I have to do. So it's just kind of going with the flow. Jo Reed: Yeah, it's amazing what you figure out when you have to figure it out. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, yeah, yeah! You're like, "Oh, man, I can still stay up like I did in college? Okay!" <laughs> Jo Reed: You had been interested in animation, you were doing comics. But then you went to the West Coast and began doing animations. Who was it for? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Well, I started out working with Marvel. Jo Reed: It was Marvel, yes. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes, yes, Ultimate Spiderman. I had always known I wanted to get back into animation. I actually went to school for animation. Back in '99 I graduated. Jo Reed: You knew what you wanted. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I did, I did! But at the time I wasn't mentally or financially prepared to move out to the West Coast. Because that's where you have to be! Jo Reed: I was just going to ask you that. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, you do. I mean, most of it is digital now, so you can kind of work around, but if you want steady work, and you want to grow in the industry, you've got to be in it. And so that's—getting into animation, I always knew I wanted to get back into it. Jo Reed: Okay, so you go to the West Coast, you're working for Marvel on Ultimate Spiderman. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes! Jo Reed: What is that like? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: As crazy as you think it is. I grew up on Spiderman. And at the time, my oldest son is 14 now, and he was— Jo Reed: How many kids? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I have four. Jo Reed: Did they go with you? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: No, they all stay here. I'll get into that story. Jo Reed: Okay. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: So my oldest son is a huge Spiderman fan! And when he found out that I was working on Spiderman, I had the offer come to me, and obviously, I talked to my family about it, because it involved me moving out there without them. And his first inkling was, "Dad, you have to do it! Just go out there. You're going to work on Spiderman!" And to see the glow on his face, and the pride and excitement that his dad was going to work on Spiderman. Because I worked from home. So he saw how hard I worked on tons of projects for myself and for other clients and the joy that he saw in me was reflected in him. And so he was like my biggest proponent to get out there. So it was an awesome experience. I got to work on Spiderman, I got to work for Marvel. I met some great people in the industry. Jo Reed: Did you go to an office with other animators? What was is it like? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, so imagine the—a big office building with cubicles. But in each one you've got like a dynamic storyboard artist. You have a color artist. You've got a director, like all these creative people. I walk in there, and see all this going on and my mind is blown. You know, because I'm just a guy who grew up in Maryland. There's nothing like that around here. And I've been to New York and seen some studios and stuff like that, but to be a part of that creation, it was amazing. And I knew I wanted to do it pretty much forever. So just, again, walking in there and being engulfed around other artists that are just, just phenomenal. Jo Reed: And you’re part of a team. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, I'm part of that! It's inspiring! Because again, one of the challenges of being a freelance artist in a more rural area, it's hard to continue to motivate yourself and to be motivated. So being around all these crazy talented artists, you have no choice but to perk up, and just be the best artist that you can be. So that's what I learned the most from being out there the first time. Jo Reed: And how would the work go? They'd come out with a story idea, and what would you do? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: There's so many, so many moving parts. Jo Reed: Yeah! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: It all starts with the writer. I love you writers! Starts with the writer. And that gets handed down to the Director. So then that Director sends that to the storyboard artist. And the storyboard artist depict that script in story form. So it's broken down into a bunch of panels. Almost looks like comics, but think drawn out a little bit more, okay. So that's fleshed out. Then that—then it comes back to the Director one more time, and he takes a look at how the story is told throughout all these storyboards. And he'll edit, add stuff, subtract, all those kind of things. And he'll have a meeting and pitch that whole idea to Marvel. And Marvel will say, "Oh, the story reads great! Let's just change this. Let's add this," blah-blah-blah. While that's all going on, you've got voice actors recording the lines from the script. So then the second time after Marvel has given notes, you're going to add in those voices, you're going to make the edits and all those kind of things. You'll have another pitch to Marvel, and they’ll say, "Yes, you nailed it!" Or they'll say, "Eh, go back and fix this one more—," so it's constant moving parts. And then while all that is happening, you've got the design team that are designing the characters that were loosely drawn by the storyboard artist. So it's all these moving parts, and then after them there's the color team. So it's really a neat environment. There's so many different creative juices. Jo Reed: When do you pop in? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I'm part of the storyboard part. So in a sense, we are mini-directors. Jo Reed: Yeah. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: So, again, we get the script. And we are allowed to depict that script visually, however we see. And then it's the Director's job to kind of hone us in. To say, "Okay, I like what you did here." Jo Reed: To direct. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, yeah. Or, "Let's take that out and try it again." Sometimes you might have to redo it. They might do a re-scripting or something like that. But it's a lot of moving parts, and they're always moving, even to the last minute. Jo Reed: How different is it doing animation from doing comics? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: As a visual artist, you just have a little bit more freedom. So comics imagine— Jo Reed: With comics? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: No, in animation you have more freedom. Jo Reed: Oh! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes, especially on the storyboard side. Jo Reed: Wow! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: So imagine in comics, you're working in solid panels. You have to depict what could be two or three points of dialog or action in two or three/four panels. Okay? So you've really got to hone in it, and create an illustration. In animation, especially storyboard, you can take those two lines of script, action or dialog, and you get to flesh it out as if it was playing real-time, if that makes any sense. So you have more freedom to move. You can move the camera. You can zoom in and out on a character. You can just play around. You have way more freedom than locking in on one panel for half a sentence. Jo Reed: Got it. That's interesting. You said that you were now working for Warner Brothers Animation. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes. Jo Reed: So you're back out to the West Coast. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I am. Jo Reed: And the kids and your wife are— Bryan "The Flash" Turner: They're still here. Jo Reed: And they're on Kent Island? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes. Jo Reed: Eastern Shore? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes, yes, yes. Jo Reed: I don't want to pry, but how does that work out? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Well, I have a great family system. My wife is amazing! Again, they're my biggest supporters. They've seen the work that I've put in over the past 10/12 years. And so when the opportunities arose, and I had to move across country, it kind of was a no-brainer. We just kind of looked at each other, and we were like, "We'll figure it out! That's what we do!" My kids are great! You know, they do well in school. They're very active in events and after-school stuff. So they miss me, yeah, but they're so busy, you know, that when we do see each other, it's just—it's a lot more special. So it's been tough, obviously. But I think because we developed a great family system, and we have, luckily, my kids have both sets of grandparents in the area, too, so that's rare. Jo Reed: That's huge! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, that's rare. So it's all worked out. Jo Reed: Mm hm. They must think you have the coolest job ever! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: They do! The funny thing is, so, you mentioned we live on Kent Island, Maryland, which is a very small town. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: When I go to like my kids' school or we go to functions, clearly everyone knows each other. They greet me by, "Oh, there's our superstar! Look at this guy! Oh, here's Mr. Marvel!" It's like, "It's just me!" But they love it! They get a kick out of it, because I'm coming from a small town and representing all these guys. And they're like, "We had a Spiderman watching party," and all these kind of things. So it's really neat. Jo Reed: So what are you working on at Warner Brothers? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: I'm working on Dorothy of Oz. Yes! Freak out! Because it's awesome! It's awesome! Yeah, it's really cool. And the cool thing is they're really diving into the books. So it's—I would say it's loosely based on what we saw in the film. You know, because that's the most familiar that people are with it. Jo Reed: There were a lot of books in that series. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah. They're pulling characters from all—I mean, it's so deep. Which is the cool thing. They're introducing so many new characters, I think people are really going to enjoy it. Jo Reed: That must be so rich! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Oh, it's fun! It's fun! It's so much fun! Jo Reed: That's amazing! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah, so I was really excited to work on that. It's classic Warner Brothers. The style, the comedy, just everything about it. Got some great people working on it, so I'm just happy to be a part of it. Jo Reed: I was just wondering, as an artist, what inspires you? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Other artists! Mostly young artists. So for me, growing up, I've been drawing since I can remember, probably like four-years-old, I've always been drawing. That's all I did. In school, my teachers, you know, we'd have conferences with my parents, and they're like, "You know, Bryan, he's a good student, but he's just—he's always drawing!" During notes, during tests. You know, I wouldn't take notes sometimes, I would just draw. But I found out later as I became a teacher that I was actually learning. That was my form of note taking. So all those kind of things play into what I would try to offer young kids. But going back to the point, I didn't really have guidance as an artist. Neither one of my parents went to college. My dad—he's a welder for the county school system. Back then you got a job and you had it for 30/40 years. That's what he did, you know? I have all the respect for him. And my mother was kind of the same way, she worked in insurance. So they didn't know how to guide me. They knew I was talented. I had applied for college on my own after I graduated high school, because I was just that lost. But I got in. So what I've been making a point—especially since I had the experience of teaching, was to make sure that young people can do whatever they want to do, as long as they work hard at it. And have some kind of guidance. So I remember teaching, I sent probably six to eight kids to my alma mater. I went to University Arts in Philly. Had them go there. It was really neat. It felt good. I had one kid probably four years after he graduated, he sent me a handwritten letter thanking me for guiding him. In his family it was just really frowned upon to pursue an artist career. They were like, "You got to be a doctor or a lawyer," and all this kind of stuff. And he was breaking that mold and was scared. And I was the only person that was helping him achieve his goals. And he went to school, graduated, immediately went into working for a graphic design firm, which he's very successful at now. He even gave me credit for meeting his wife, because he met her at college. So that's really what drives me. And turning that towards my kids, too. I don't force them to be artists. My son, he kind of takes after me. My daughters are beautiful dancers. So the arts are there, but I don't force it on them. That's their own choice. But my point is that you can do whatever you want to do. Just work really hard at it. Focus in, have some goals. And that's what I try to teach kids. I mean, that's really why I do the art is to show people what they can do. Because I know the next person's going to be better than me. You know, I've made it here and I'm okay, but I know there are better people that might not have the opportunities that I have, and I try to show them and help them get that. Jo Reed: And final question. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Sure. Jo Reed: Bryan “The Flash” Turner. You know what’s coming. Where did “The Flash” come from? Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Well, oddly enough, “The Flash” is not even my favorite character. So working with my studio mates, Jerry and Penelope, they have a cousin named Bryan. And so when we got together at first, they were like, "We can't call you Bryan, because we keep thinking of our cousin." Jerry and I, again, we used to do caricatures, and he and I were—we're some of the fastest caricature artists on the East Coast, like hands-down. Like we can draw a full body in about a minute! Jo Reed: Whoa! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yeah. It's pretty fast! Jo Reed: Whoa. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: So from there, he just started calling me Flash. Like because we would have gigs together, and he'd be like, "Flash! Fastest man alive!" And you know, we're drawing and we're having a competition who could draw fastest. And it just stuck. And so now it's like my art name. Jo Reed: That's great, Bryan. Thank you so much! Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Oh, thank you! Jo Reed: It was such a pleasure. Bryan "The Flash" Turner: Yes, absolutely! Thank you for having me. <music up> That’s story and comic artist, Bryan “Flash!” Turner. Check out his work at bturnerart.blogspot.com or at www.IdentityComics.com You've been listening to Art Works produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. I'm Josephine Reed. Thanks for listening. <music up>