Adrian Has Issues

This week’s guest is Ringo Award nominated comic book writer Frank Gogol. His acclaimed works include the anthology GRIEF, DEAD END KIDS and his latest title NO HEROINE. All three titles are from the publisher Source Point Press. In this episode, Frank gives listeners a stark and honest examination of life post-addiction and recovery and how they play into the theme of monster-hunting in NO HEROINE. Adrian and Frank also discuss the complicated nature of heroism, the collaborative effort of comic book creation and much, much more.

This week features returning guests Lynsey G and Jayel Draco, the co-founders of the independent publishing company Oneshi Press. Adrian chats with Lynsey and Jayel about their current project Tracy Queen Vol. 2: Dangerous Experiments. The second volume sees the titular character continue her quest for empowerment and independence from her criminal past and greedy adult movie moguls. Oh, did we mention talking raccoons and clone armies? The podcast conversation explores Tracy’s motivations and how they reflect the ideas of s*x-positivity, feminism and the pitfalls of blind hero worship.

Adrian welcomes back sequential artist and writer Alex Schumacher. Alex's ongoing webcomic DECADES OF (in)EXPERIENCE chronicles the exploits of Luke Carlin, a 30-something man dealing with the ups and downs of everyday life through a dark yet comical lens. Adrian and Alex commemorate the comic's 200th strip with a candid look at Luke's journey and his growth (or sometimes lack thereof) in the series' first five years.

Grant Henry, known best by his stage name Stemage, is a composer, session player, and audio engineer. He is the creator of Metroid Metal, former guitarist for the video game tribute band LONELYROLLINGSTARS and the guitar player for the Emmy-nominated animated series Steven Universe. His latest project is the soundtrack and sound design for the videogame Card of Darkness. The Apple Arcade exclusive is a collaboration between game designer Zach Gage (Tharsis) and Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward. The game is developed by Choice Provisions (Bit.Trip). In this episode, Grant discusses developing the game’s unique soundtrack and the balancing act of creating warm, inviting music juxtaposed to the challenging nature of the gameplay. Additionally, Adrian and Grant cover a myriad of topics including the continuing popularity of vinyl music, mobile gaming and much more.

Joe Caramagna is a New Jersey-based comic book letterer and writer. His recent titles include a number of Disney properties including Ducktales, Big Hero 6 and Frozen II: True Treasure, which is the official comic book tie-in for the animated film Frozen II. Recorded on Local Comic Shop Day 2019, Joe sits down with Adrian for a second time in East Side Mags in Montclair, NJ. The pair discuss Joe's current comic book projects plus provide some hilarious commentary on social media, mysterious hockey mascots and supervillains with poor organizational skills.

Ro Panuganti is a multi-instrumentalist, recording artist and videographer, specializing in covers of videogames and films in the style of rock and progressive metal. His music have covered songs from games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Metroid. In this episode, Ro chats with Adrian about his latest album from Materia Collective entitled Metal Trainer, which arranges music from the Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow era of games in a breathtaking progressive metal collection. Ro also talks about his origins as a musician, creating the content on his popular YouTube channel and pitches a gritty Netflix Original-style series based on Team Rocket’s Jesse and James.

This week’s podcast features friend and frequent guest Erica Schultz, the acclaimed comic book writer behind such titles as Xena: Warrior Princess (Dynamite),Twelve Devils Dancing (Action Lab Danger Zone) and Daredevil (Marvel). Her latest book, Forgotten Home (Vice Press) tells the story of a Sheriff's Deputy investigating missing children that may be related to magic from her homeworld. In this episode, Erica talks about her work as an instructor at The Kubert School and gives listeners a masterclass on proper writing techniques and storytelling tips. Plus, Adrian and Erica go on a number of hilarious deep dives including takes on Michael Bay films, bizarre 90’s TV shows and epic staredowns with M. Night Shyamalan.

This week’s guests are Frank Gogol and Chris Madd, the Ringo Award nominated writer and cover artist for the acclaimed coming-of-age graphic novel Dead End Kids from Source Point Press. The series tells the story of youths from broken homes who band together to solve the murder of a friend. Recorded on location at East Side Mags in Montclair, NJ, Adrian chats with Frank and Chris about how creating art served as a cathartic experience and the connection Dead End Kids has made with readers, resulting in issues #1 and #2 broke into the Top 400 worldwide in sales.

Malka Older is an author and humanitarian worker with over a decade of experience in humanitarian aid and development. Her written works include 2016's Infomocracy, which is the first installment of a trilogy of titles entitled The Centenal Cycle and the cyberpunk series Ninth Step Station. In this episode, Adrian speaks with Malka about her experiences working as the showrunner and head writer for Orphan Black: The Next Chapter, which is the continuation of the award-winning television series, which ended it's original run in 2017. The new installment, narrated by Emmy Award winner and series star Tatiana Maslany, is being presented via Serial Box, an online service that offers serialized fiction in audiobook and ebook bundles from bestselling authors and original content. Adrian and Malka also engage in an in-depth conversation about a number of concepts including “speculative resistance” and “narrative disorder” and how they affect her writing process as well as our interpretation of how we view the world.

This week’s guest is comic book writer Ian Mondrick. Ian’s work has been featured in notable comic book anthologies such as Unlawful Good and Corpus, eventually creating his own entitled Curio: The Anti-Thematic Anthology. Ian chats with Adrian about his upcoming horror comic Tomb of the White Horse which features a cover by Kim Myatt with art by co-creator/illustrator Benjamin A.E. Filby, colorist Lesley Atlansky (Baroque Pop) and letterer Zak Saam (Vagrant Queen). He and Adrian also have hilarious observations on parenting, pop culture FOMO and Avengers fan-casting with fellow comic book creators.

Click the link below for the Kickstarter page for Tomb of the White Horse!Tomb of the White Horse on Kickstarter