Adrian Has Issues

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

This episode’s guest is musician Mikey Erg, the drummer and vocalist of the influential New Jersey punk band The Ergs! which was formed in 2000. Over the years Erg has performed in a plethora of punk bands including Worriers, The Measure[SA] and The Dopamines as well as The LLC, the house band for The Chris Gethard Show. Recorded on location at Vinyl Paradise in Sayville, New York, Adrian chats with Erg about his latest release entitled Waxbuilt Castles,. The album marks his second solo album, which pays homage to Erg’s musical influences such as The Beatles and Elvis Costello. Erg details his experiences mastering the album at the legendary recording studio Abbey Road in London and reflects on the 15th anniversary of The Ergs! landmark debut, Dorkrockcorkrod.

This week's episode features a conversation with Chelsea Tyler, a Maryland-based musician and the singer/guitarist of the alternative pop band DRMCTHR with Bryan Czap and Craig Perkins. Chelsea describes how both she and the band continued to evolve from the release of their 2013 EP Wonderlust to their full-lenth album Hold Your Love in 2017. Now with the latest singles "Burnin' Up" and "Underneath" released in 2019, the band has emerged with a renewed energy and purpose after a series of personal and professional setbacks. Plus, Adrian and Chelsea share their thoughts on the future of Pop music as well as working to dispel the fallacy of suffering for one's art.

In this minisode of Adrian Has Issues, a music playlist serves as a catalyst for Adrian to reflect on a pivotal moment in his personal life. In turn, this causes him to look ahead to the future and outline plans for the podcast including the addition of The LatiNerd Experience and Talking Like A Teen.

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 music and sound design for the videogame Bubsy: Paws on Fire! which is available for PC, Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch. In this episode, Stemage speaks with Adrian about his unique experiences composing music for both videogames and television as well as hilarious discussions on the 1982 cult classic film Tron, pinball and weird production company logos from the 80s/90s.

David M. Booher is a Los Angeles based comic book writer and screenwriter. Some of his past credits include the sci-fi epics POWERLESS and ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER, both from Vault Comics. His latest project is an all-ages fantasy graphic miniseries CANTO from IDW Pub. The comic was created by Booher (POWERLESS) and artist Drew Zucker (THE HOUSE) and features the talents of colorist Vittorio Astone (ZOJAQAN) and letterer Deron Bennett (IMMORTAL HULK). Described as "THE WIZARD OF OZ meets DANTE'S INFERNO," CANTO tells a tale of brave creature who sets out into a dangerous in hopes of saving a young girl's life. David made his very first podcast appearance in Episode 98 of Adrian Has Issues. In this episode, David speaks with Adrian about the inspiration behind CANTO as well as assembling the creative team and the steps taken to create an effective pitch to publishers. Plus, there's fun observations on The Lord of the Rings, The Neverending Story and more!

Young Doctors In Love is a 6-piece indie pop band from Toronto, Ontario. After taking something of a hiatus since the release of their 2014 full-length album “World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band,” band leader Clay Puddester returns with a new lineup for their latest album. In this episode, Clay and vocalist/songwriter Stephanie Matos chat with Adrian about the songwriting process of their new album entitled “…In Love” plus some other fun topics including: Brainstorming ideas for future music videos. The album’s connections to the Thomas Pynchon novel, “V." The timeless novelty of smoke machines and lasers...and much more.

Mario Candelaria is a comic book writer and comedian based out of Philadelphia, PA. Some of his credits include Ashes: A Firefighter's Tale (Z2 Comics), Corktown(Alterna Comics) and Baroque Pop: A Lana Del Ray Fanthology (Red Stylo Media). In this episode, Mario brings Adrian up to speed on all the events leading up to Wrestlemania 35, which includes storylines from WWE Raw, WWE Smackdown and even NXT. Also in this episode: Kofi-mania sweeps the nation...The rise of Becky “The Man” Lynch...Brock Lesnar is still wrestling, I suppose...And much more!

Janet LaBelle is a singer/songwriter based out of Brooklyn, NY. During her formative years as a teen, she got her start as the vocalist for the New Jersey pop-punk band Avery, which landed her an indie record deal and the band toured nationally and had their music was featured on television shows & commercials. Since those days, Janet continued to grow as an artist and a solo performer, having released a number of EPs: Moon Songs (2010), Blossom & Blue (2011) and Just A Little Rain (2012). Janet has also performed for other bands including Brooklyn’s Sharkmuffin and Jimmy Destri & The Sound Grenade, a project helmed by Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri. This week’s episode features Adrian’s conversation with Janet LaBelle, which covers various topics including the songwriting and recording process of her latest EP, 2018’s I Only See You from Loantaka Records as well as New York’s surfing scene and how music can help people therapeutically.

Cody Carpenter is a third generation multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. His grandfather, Howard Carpenter, is a founding member of the Nashville Strings. His father, John Carpenter, is a filmmaker and composer. In addition to contributing music for his father's films, Vampires (1998), Ghosts of Mars (2001) and 2018's Halloween along with Daniel Davies, Cody has composed the full-length scores to projects such as Showtimes' Masters of Horror. In this episode, Adrian speaks with Cody regarding his two most recent albums: 2019’s Force Of Nature, an instrumental jazz/fusion album from Blue Canoe Records featuring Grammy Award-nominated bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Scott Seiver and 2018’s Reflections, Cody’s snyth-heavy solo album under his pseudonym Ludrium. Additionally, Adrian and Cody explore various concepts including: The rising popularity of synth/progressive music, the challengers of touring as a musician and music as a universal language.

Today's guest is Jayson Napolitano the owner and founder of Scarlet Moon Productions, a music label, PR firm and artist group that specializes in gaming music that rangers from AAA titles to independent games. Jayson, along with composer Lena Raine (Guild Wars 2, Wandersong & Friends), is the co-producer of Prescription for Sleep: Celeste, the Seventh installment of the popular series, Prescription For Sleep: Game Music Lullabies. The collection is a jazz/ambient arrangement of the soundtrack of the acclaimed videogame Celeste. The Billboard charting album features music by Metal Gear Solid and Bayonetta composer Norihiko Hibino on saxophone and Etrian Odyssey and PersonaQ performer AYAKI on piano as duo dubbed GENTLE LOVE. They are joined for the first time in the series by guest violinist Maiko and the composer of Celeste, Lena Raine. In this episode, Jayson details the formation of Scarlet Moon Productions, his experiences in co-producing Prescription For Sleep: Celeste and introduces the concept of vi

This week’s episode features a first-time guest on the Adrian Has Issues podcast: Adrian King himself! Vancouver-based comic book writer/artist Kelly Brack returns to guest-host the show and put Adrian in the hot seat. Fielding a series of crowdsourced questions asked by comic book creators including Danny Lore (Queen of Bad Dreams), Stephanie Cannon (Hexed) and Lonnie Nadler (Age of X-Man), Adrian gives listeners and irreverent and insightful takes on topics including: Meeting your idols as a fanboy, Canada’s Grandpa adoption agency, Tropical Fruit...and more!

This week’s episode features writer David Pepose and artist Jorge Santiago Jr., the Ringo Award-nominated co-creators of SPENCER & LOCKE, the comic book crime thriller from Action Lab Danger Zone. The comic, featuring Jasen Smith (colors) and Colin Bell (letters) tells the story of the misadventures of a hardened cop and his imaginary partner: an anthropomorphic blue panther. Picking up where we left off back in Episode 101, David and Jorge bring Adrian up to speed on the latest installment SPENCER & LOCKE 2 and the series’ new villain Roach Riley, a twisted take on Mort Walker’s comic strip Beetle Bailey. David and Jorge also discuss how they approached the second volume and continued to build on the high concept of the original arc by raising the stakes, but also maintaining the heart and personal connection to the characters.

Picking up where things left off at the closing of Episode 132, a somewhat unconventional encounter inspires Adrian to revive the "Minisode" format. In this episode Adrian discusses the future of the podcast as well as other potential projects. These past 5 years of podcasting have brought dizzying heights and staggering lows, but Adrian brings a renewed vigor for the art of podcasting and perhaps with it, a new direction.

This episode is not only the first of 2019, but this also marks the 4th anniversary of the Adrian Has Issues podcast! Hosts Adrian King and Eileen "The LatiNerd" Melendez celebrate by discussing various topics including surviving the flu season, analyzing the themes found in the award-winning animated feature Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and penning a love letter to Marvel Comics' most iconic character: New York City.

This week’s guest is Aaron Berke, a filmmaker. entertainment journalist and comic book author. His short film “Hats” was nominated for Best Short Film at the Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition and Best Comedy Short Film at the Garden State Film Festival. A writer for entertainment websites such as Comicverse and Entertainment Voice, Aaron has set his sights on creating comic books. In this episode, Adrian chats with Aaron about his first published comic entitled “Victoria” (with art by Marika Brousiano) which is featured in Vol. 6 of the Oneshi Press Quarterly Anthology. They also discuss Aaron’s love of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Superman and come up with a few ways that DC/WB can fix the Justice League movie franchise.

This week’s episode features the return of both artist Emily Pearson (THE WILDS) and Pat Shand (BREATHLESS), the creative duo behind the latest comic from Black Mask Studios entitled Snap Flash Hustle. The story centers on an alternative model who enters the world of elite models who use their influence for ill-gotten gains. Adrian engages in a candid conversation with Pat and Emily about the real-life inspiration behind the thriller and the difficulties of making a living in creative industries.

This week’s episode features a conversation with Michigan-based artist Adam Ferris. An artist for Source Point Press, he is the artist on 5 successfully-funded Kickstarted anthologies: UNLAWFUL GOOD, BAROQUE POP, UNDIGENOUS, THIS NIGHTMARE KILLS FASCISTS and CURIO. Adam serves as the founding editor of his latest project, an anthology entitled THE GOOD FIGHT. Inspired by the events of the Charlottesville protests, THE GOOD FIGHT aims to spread stories of hope and battle against bigotry and hatred through illustrated stories from a plethora of comic creators. The anthology features over 40 stories from comic book creators such as: Mark Waid (CAPTAIN AMERICA), Greg Pak (MECH CADET YU), Erica Schultz (TWELVE DEVILS DANCING), Mario Candelaria (BAROQUE POP), Natasha Alterici (HEATHEN) and many more. Proceeds from the Kickstarter will go directly to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Kickstarter for THE GOOD FIGHT launches on November 12.