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Last year saw the release of Oppenheimer, a dramatic depiction of J. Robert Oppenheimer‘s development of the atomic bomb and the witch hunt that almost ruined him. One of the key criticisms of the film is that it didn’t depict any of the direct and disastrous repercussions of Oppenheimer’s invention. Coincidentally, last year was also the 40th anniversary of a film which depicted the terror of what could happen if a nuclear conflict would actually occur. Testament (as well as its TV movie follow up-The Day After) showed 1983 audiences what would happen if a family and a community weren’t in the direct path of destruction of an atomic attack but survived in the aftermath of one. Starring Jane Alexander and directed by Lynne Littman, Testament offers a harrowing and mature look at what happens to a family and their community after all the bombs have dropped. This week on the Part-Time Fanboy podcast, Kristian sits down with PTF regular Yvis Cannavale to discuss one of the more sobering films of the early eighties…and see if it still is as gut wrenching as it was over forty years ago.

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Caleb Palmquist is a comic book writer/creator who has worked on more than nineteen Kickstarter campaigns! With titles like Unicorn: Vampire Hunter and Vampire Detective in Space, Caleb has built a fanbase on the crowdfunding platform by taking iconic fantasy creatures and applying new and interesting ideas to them. The current Kickstarter campaign for his comic Dragon Grit is no different. Dragon Grit imagines a world where gunslingers explore an old west-like countryside riding dragons instead of horses. On this episode of the Part-Time Fanboy podcast, Kristian chats with Caleb and they peel back the curtain on how the finances work behind a Kickstarter campaign, how Caleb became a fan of fantastic creatures of myth as well as Westerns, and how he was able to convince his wife Loreli Jonason, who is a novelist, to work on this comic book project with him.

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Steve Orlando is a comic book writer who has been working professionally in the industry for at least ten years. In that time he’s had the opportunity to work for the big two, crafting tales for characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman, Midnighter, Scarlet Witch, as well as many others within the DC and Marvel universes. His work has also appeared in the Eisner nominated anthology Outlaw Territory as well as the Eisner Winning Love is Love anthology. This week sees Steve diving into the young adult fiction segment of the comics market with the Mad Cave Studios published Silver Vessels. In Silver Vessels a group of friends travel to the Florida Keys in search of hidden treasure in a tale that is reminiscent of classic films like Stand By Me and The Goonies. On this episode of the Part-Time Fanboy podcast, Kristian chats with Steve about working with Mad Cave Studios on his latest graphic novel, how he’s dealt with working for various publishers through the years, and how he was able to write about an adventure that takes place in the Florida Keys even though he’d never actually been there himself!

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Mike Weatherford was a reporter who walked the entertainment beat in Las Vegas for thirty years. He’s such an expert on the Sin City entertainment scene that he’s a featured contributor on the current CNN documentary series, Vegas: The Story of Sin City. During the pandemic, when the tourism and entertainment industry shut down, Mike found himself stuck at home with not a lot to do. Since he had some time on his hands he decided to shift gears and create his own comic book series. The result was Drive-In Kings of 1977…which has its third issue funding on Kickstarter now! Drive-In Kings of 1977 is Mike’s love letter to a time long gone by when teenagers roamed the wastelands of suburbia America alone and unsupervised. It’s a sci-fi comedy that embraces the humor of old movies like Animal House and mixes it with the spirit of teenaged adventure films like The Goonies. On this episode of the Part-Time Fanboy podcast, Kristian sits down to chat with Mike about what it was like for him to go from becoming a journalist to embracing his dream of creating his own comic book, how hard it was to switch between writing disciplines, and what his own experiences at the drive-in theater were like when he was a kid.

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Today marks the twelve year anniversary of the Part-Time Fanboy podcast! To celebrate we’ve got a very special guest! Kazu Kibuishi is a #1 New York Times best selling graphic novel creator. His book Amulet is a science-fantasy epic that has long been a favorite of comic book readers everywhere. Earlier this month the ninth and final volume of Amulet launched after the series took an almost six year hiatus. This week on the podcast Kristian chats with Kazu about why it took so long for the final chapter of Amulet to be published, what he did during that hiatus, and how the media that influenced his work may not necessarily be the type of stuff that his fans might associate with him or Amulet.

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Mechaton is a fun, all-ages, pedal to the metal comic book that caters to those who remember the bygone days on Cartoon Network‘s Toonami block of programming. In Mechaton, a brother and sister duo discover a gauntlet that can change anything it punches into a giant kaiju fighting mecha! We’ve chatted about Mechaton before on the podcast but this month saw a Kickstarter launch which collects all of the first five issues of the series! This week, Kristian sits down with the co-creator of Mechaton, Wells Thompson, to discover how a writer who was primarily interested in American Literature came to write a comic about a giant monster fighting robot!

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Jordan Hart returns to the podcast! He’s been on the show previously to chat about his Eisner and Harvey award nominated book, Ripple Effects! This week he’s here with his pal David Ebeltoft to talk about their new comic called The Cabinet being published by Image Comics on Valentine’s Day! The Cabinet is about a mysterious piece of furniture that has the ability to travel through space and time…but only if certain objects are placed into its drawers in the correct order. The Cabinet is protected by the teen protagonist of the tale, Avani, whose parents had been tasked with guarding it but were murdered when a strange cult sought to capture it for their own nefarious purposes. On this episode of the Part-Time Fanboy podcast Kristian chats with Jordan and David about how a trip to the Getty Museum inspired them to create a story about a magical cabinet, the individuals who seek to use it to right a tragic wrong, and the evil society that wants to take it from them!

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Oneshi Press is an indie publishing company that has continually had success funding their various projects on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter behind their latest comic, Pack, launched last week. Pack tells the story of a gang of stray dogs aided by a human vigilante who roam the streets of their city fighting crime and protecting the innocent. Pack is a comic that combines the aesthetic of gritty indie books like the original run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with the nihilistic feel of classic comics like The Dark Knight Returns. This week Kristian chats with the creators behind Oneshi Press, Lynsey G and Jayel Draco, about the dark themes that are a part of Pack. They talk about how Lynsey and Jayel are using their comic to explore everything from animal abuse to broader societal ills such as the victimization of the poor via gentrification, political corruption, and corporate greed.

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

David A. Rodriguez returns to the Part-Time Fanboy podcast! He’s been on the show before to talk about his fantasy adventure book, Finding Gossamyr. This time it’s to discuss his new comic Battlemex, which has a Kickstarter campaign launching in late February! In Battlemex David presents a world in which Central America was never conquered by the European continent and Mexico has risen to become a futuristic international superpower known as New Aztlan. In this reality, sentai-like superheroes fight to protect their world from their version of the fearsome El Cuco… a bogeyman-like entity who seeks to rule the world. On this episode of the Part-Time Fanboy podcast, Kristian sits down to chat with David about creating a Latinx-centric superhero world. They talk about how he took influences from his own cultural upbringing and mixed them with pop-culture iconography from other countries to create a fantastic and unique adventure story!

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.

Wardens is a prohibition era action adventure comic set in Toronto that details the exploits of a tough as nails street brawling Jewish seamstress named Rachel Tussman. When a fire demolishes her place of work, Rachel finds herself plunged into a world of secret Jewish magic when a creature called The Schmata rises from the devastation of the inferno. Wardens is currently funding on Kickstarter and has the distinction of being Kristian’s favorite new find of 2024! This week, the creator of Wardens, Ari Gross, sits down for a chat about his charming comic which is pulled from from his own Jewish roots. Kristian and Ari talk about what inspired him to create Wardens, the history of Jewish creators in comics and how they helped build the industry, and the historical research he had to do for his book.

Part-Time Fanboy. Full-Time obsession on a Part-Time schedule.