We're on a recording break and will return for Season 5 of the Story x Story podcast in February! In the meantime, enjoy a rewind of our Casual Conversations With Comic Creators, a mayamada show where we speak to a different creator each month to discover the human behind the artform. 

In this episode, Nigel spoke with Cantonese-Scottish comic creator Chris Manson in a one hour Twitch livestream. We discuss the ways that Chris explores different aspects of tradition, identity, and belonging in his work by drawing on both of his heritages. We also get into the (now successfully funded) Kickstarter campaign that Chris was part of in 2022. 

We'll be back with new episodes next month - enjoy!

We're on a recording break and will return for Season 5 of the Story x Story podcast in February! In the meantime, enjoy a rewind of our GamePad Report show where Nigel and Tazziii talk about the video games stories that have caught their attention over December 2022.

Tazziii discusses a new effort to bring the joy of playing video games to Man's Best Friend, while Nigel continues to be drawn to the ongoing battle for gamer eyeballs as the fight between the Summer Games Fest and E3 looks set to get even more intense this year.

We'll be back with new episodes next month - enjoy and happy new year!

It's the final episode of 2022!! For our season 4 Wrapped episode, Nigel and Tazziii have put together their personal top five favourite stories of the year. There's also room for honourable mentions, stories that surprised, and disappointed us as well as our favourite ongoing or unfinished stories. So join us as we recap our favourite comic, anime, TV, film and video game stories that made us stop and take notice over the past 12 months. 

We're going on a recording break over January, but will be back in February with Season 5 of Story x Story. In the meantime, you'll be able to enjoy some great bonus rewind episodes until we start recording again in 2023 - Happy New Year! 

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-129-2022-wrapped/

It's the end of the year, so we're taking a look back at 12 months of entertaining story discussions! Listen to the best highlights, pre-show chats and (so many) bloopers from Season 4 of the podcast, brought to you by Nigel, Tazziii, great guests...and a reformed Craig?! 

We've packed our favourite moments from a year of conversations about stories across pop culture with new and returning guests across comics, manga, television, video games and more. So sit back and enjoy the ups, downs and everything in between as we recap another season of Story x Story!

PLEASE NOTE: We had some audio issues for the first 11 minutes of the episode, but they get sorted from then on.

This week, Nigel and Tazziii welcome the Scriptwriter Mariama Ives-Moiba, to unpack the story that is her journey into writing for television. Mariama has turned a childhood passion for theatre into a freelance writing career, writing on shows that include Pip and Posy, The Rubbish World of Dave Spuds, JoJo and Gran Gran, Little Stories Everywhere and more.

We talk about the craft of writing, Mariama's routine and how non-technical skills like delivering work on time and networking have served her so well in the industry. This is a great episode particularly for anyone with an interest in turning their passion for writing into their own career in any medium!

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-127-behind-thestory-with-mariama-ives-moiba-scriptwriting/

This week, Nigel and Tazziii head to the Upside Down for a retrospective deep dive into Season 4 of Stranger Things with Auroch Digital Community Manager Pastelbat and Cosplayer Black Bettie. We get into the longest season so far and dissect the character journeys and troubled relationships seen from Hawkins to Russia Gulags. It's a return to form for the show and we get to debate what worked so well, and what left room for improvement.

Other stories we're enjoying: Destiny 2, Alchemy of Souls, Interview with the Vampire, Firefly Lane, Lilly and Dash, Saga Volume 4, Russian Doll, God of War Ragnarök.

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-126-upside-down-puzzle-pieces-stranger-things/

This week, Nigel and Tazziii take on a common perception of comics...that there's no money to be made in creating them. To help with the discussion, we've invited Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and previous UK Comics Laureate Hannah Berry onto the show.

We get into the common (mis?) conception that comics and money never meet, as well as digging into Hannah's work on the first national survey of the UK comics industry to gain a better understanding of the challenges and ways to help those working within it.

If you are an aspiring comic creator, a family member supporting one, or just interested in learning more about the industry, this is an episode you won't want to miss!

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-125-comics-versus-money-hannah-berry/

This week, Nigel and Tazziii journey back to Wakanda for deep dive into the Black Panther sequel with Dylan from the Popcorn Podcast and Destinee Cleveland from the Burn Out Brighter Podcast. We consider the decision not to recast Chadwick Boseman before tackling the narrative itself, discuss stand out performances and how director Ryan Coogler's vision fares against the weight of expectation and the Marvel Machine. This week's storytelling tip is all about exploring grief through four corner opposition.

Other stories we're enjoying: Rings of Power, House of the Dragon, Halloween, Romantic Killer, Oni, The Harder They Fall, Wednesday, Remake Our Life!, More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers, God of War Ragnarök

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-124-long-live-the-king-black-panther-wakanda-forever/

This week we have a rewind of our Story Club roundtable livestream. Nigel and Tazziii are joined by Twitch Streamer (and possible future cat owner) BillieTrixx for a deep dive into the indie hit video game Stray!

Recently nominated for Game of the Year and Best Narrative at The Game Awards, we get into all aspects of the story and themes of this charming feline adventure. From its cyberpunk aesthetic and intelligent game design, it's a title that has definitely surprised us along with millions of gamers and non gamers around the world.

Follow mayamada on Twitch for future Story Club livestreams: https://www.twitch.tv/mayamada

This week, Nigel and Tazziii welcome back video game lawyer Rahul Gandhi to discuss everyone's favourite topics...blockchain, NFTs and the metaverse! We aim to have a (somewhat) balanced discussion on these Web3 technologies in the video games space. Along the way, we break down what they are, why they matter to video games...and why everyone seems to hate them.

This may be our most controversial episode yet. The industry is already littered with failed NFT experiments and passionate backlash, so we make an effort to go beyond the outrage, dig into the technology to gain a better understanding of it all.

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-123-non-fungible-talkfest-nfts-and-the-metaverse/