Community Conversations: Behind the Scenes with Rachel Gluckstern, Group Editor at InterPop
Hello everyone and welcome to the sixth installment of Community Conversations! As the community manager at Blokhaus, I am on a journey to interview builders, creatives, and community members from around the Tezos ecosystem. Our guest today is Rachel Gluckstern, Group Editor at InterPop.
InterPop is building the architecture of an entirely new landscape of fandom for collectibles, comics, and gaming. It leverages the advantages of NFTs and the eco-friendly Tezos blockchain to create unique experiences for fans and brands everywhere. With InterPop, you can play, collect, trade, own, and more.
Emergents is the new super-powered universe being built by InterPop that will be officially launching on July 17th with InterPop’s Block Party — a virtual comic con where fans can meet the creators and makers behind this new universe.
Check out the interview below!
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Can you give me a bit of background about yourself and your professional history?
I have been a giant comics nerd ever since I was a child. My professional career really took off at DC Comics; I was there for over 10 years rising up through the editorial ranks. I worked in the Batman group, which was very exciting because, I mean, it’s Batman. And if I wasn’t the first woman to edit the flagship title, Detective Comics, then I was one of the first few.
When DC relocated to California, I chose to take the opportunity to spin my career out from that niche and go into traditional publishing. I did that for about five years as both a consulting and full-time editor. I helped get the graphic novel program at Little Bee Books off the ground, which included a partnership with Archie Comics. We did a fabulous, middle-grade graphic novel called Hello, Betty. I also acquired the webcomic Always Human which originally ran on the WebToons app and then we converted it to a print edition. It’s something I’m very proud of and it’s just so beautiful. It was featured in a roundup of great LGBTQ+ graphic novels that the New York Times profiled last year.
Well, since you worked so much on comics — who’s your favorite superhero and who’s your favorite super villain?
Batman is my favorite superhero, of course. Dr. Doom is one of my favorite super villains. Catwoman is both so she’s pretty rad too. However, in service of some shameless self promotion, when it comes to the Emergents universe, some of the characters have really distinguished themselves already. In terms of villains — Phaeton — man, he’s so great. He’s tragic, and his design is super dope. Our social media influencer hero, #ZoeMG, is also a particular favorite. She’s a social media influencer. Instead of being like a traditional punching type of superhero she uses her powers to augment her social media presence through influencing emotions. That way, she can use her platform to advance for causes she really believes in.
So, what got you involved with Emergents and into the Tezos ecosystem?
Brian David-Marshall approached me with this opportunity; he was looking for somebody to lead up the comics division of InterPop. He knew my background, so we had a conversation about that. It all happened so quickly!
I wasn’t super familiar with all the cryptocurrency and blockchain specifics so there was a learning curve at first. But, you know, I run in nerdy circles. The conversation of cryptocurrency has been going on for a long time. NFTs were a newer thing for me; I’ve come to understand the intricacies of them and how they fit into this new world.
You briefly mentioned it, but could you tell us more about the project you’re working on right now?
Absolutely. I’m leading the comics division of InterPop and right now our focus is on developing the world of the Emergents which is a new kind of super-powered-humans property. They all reside in the city of Culverton. You have a lot of familiar superhero tropes being reimagined in a new way. I think one of the biggest things that shows how different we are is that we don’t have a Superman analogue. A lot of times in new superhero/super-powered universes, there’s a Superman analogue and everybody’s some form of derivation of existing characters. I understand why people do that — it’s a great way to tell stories about those characters without having to be at those companies and having those types of editorial restrictions imposed on creators. I don’t mean that to be any sort of slam on those universes. However, at some point, I just want to see new stories be told that are free of those built-in expectations. We’re creating those new stories in a unique universe with these characters and I’m very excited. We’re building a cast that is diverse and inclusive right from the ground up. It’s been a really fun experience.
The other thing that I really like about what we’re doing with Emergents is that everybody gets in on the ground floor. There’s no gatekeeping here. We’re all on this journey together, and we’re starting from the same place.
Why do you think that blockchain is a good fit for comics?
What has been really exciting for me is the smart contract aspect. I come from DC, where almost everything there was done on a work-for-hire basis and you have all these artists and writers pouring their creative souls into these projects that they will never actually own. They made that choice because it’s exciting to do a Batman story — I fully understand that; I lived it too. But at some point, there should be a balance between work-for-hire and proper compensation. NFTs will give us the chance to create smart contracts that can perpetually reward these talented creators with a royalty based on both the primary transactions and the secondary market transactions.
Can you go deeper into the differences between NFTs and the traditional way that royalties work?
Traditionally, you only get royalties off that first transaction. Once a piece of original art leaves the hands of the original artist or once a comic becomes a back issue and is sold from a reader to reader, artists don’t get any cut of those sales. There’s a secondary market of collectibles and original art that will almost never reward the person who created the art. With our NFTs they will get percentages even with those secondary transactions.
What are the most exciting ideas for you in the future of blockchain, comics, and Emergents?
On a story level, I’m just so excited about where we’re going to take these characters. There will be real consequences in our stories. These are character-driven stories. Everybody is so fully fleshed out already and readers are going to be able to jump in and go on a crazy ride with them. In terms of blockchain, this is the other great part about our NFTs; we’re doing these comics as a free-to-read model, which means you don’t actually need to purchase an NFT to read them. However, full InterPop NFT ownership also confers some creative control and responsibility with the fans where they will be able to engage with the stories and actually vote on choices to shape where the stories go. We’re prepared for how they vote, whichever way they vote. I think it will be exciting for the fans to see what happens when they finally get to weigh in on a creative property the way they’ve never gotten to before.
What do you think are the benefits of all of this being on Tezos?
NFTs have been a source of controversy in creative circles during these past several months. When I came onboard I was excited to realize how much more environmentally friendly Tezos is with its proof of stake algorithm as opposed to proof of work. It’s such a huge difference. Building on Tezos is something that I can enjoy living with because of its minimal environmental impact. Another thing that excites me about Tezos is the fact that it’s infinitely upgradable — people are always working to make it more efficient. I know that evolution is difficult with the older forms of blockchain because they weren’t necessarily created to be upgradeable in that sort of way.
Is there any message that you would want to pass on to community members?
If they’ve ever really wanted to be part of the comics community, in a way that is more engaged with the creators, and more inclusive with their own community, this would be the place to start. We’re doing it to attract people who are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency. We’re doing it to attract people who are deep in that ecosystem. We truly see InterPop’s approach to entertainment as democratizing the comics and NFT experiences for everyone.
