Alex Paknadel has been a rising star in comics for a few years now, working on back-ups for Detective Comics, the wildly popular Cult of the Lamb, and doing some incredible work at Marvel such as Red Goblin, Cyclops, and the upcoming What If...? Secret Wars. In this episode Dan and Adam dive deep into the recently wrapped up Cyclops mini-series, discussing Paknadel's history with the character, his influences and inspirations, and giving some great insights on what makes the leader of the X-Men such a great character.

We also talk about the experience of working on Cult of the Lamb, the difficulties of revisiting the original Ultimate Universe and the fact that Adam and Alex were currently being boiled alive by the insane heatwave hitting the UK.

Cyclops: Seeing Red is available now in single issues and comes out on trade on November 10th, and What If…? Secret Wars releases this Wednesday, June 28th. Check them both out, and be sure to have a look at our Cyclops review and keep an eye out for our Secret Wars review coming this week!

Ariana Maher has been one of the top names in lettering for a few years now. With her work on many titles, such as Zatanna, she has made herself well known as one of the top talents in her field. On this episode, we get the chance to talk about lettering in depth with her. We talk about what good lettering looks like, Ariana's influences, and so much more.

Ariana Maher and Dan take the time to dive into the world of lettering to give listeners a better look at what it takes to letter a book. Ariana talks about how her relationship with book editors helps her get her lettering passes done. We also get into Ariana's origin story of her father giving her the Adobe suite years ago. Ariana also gives us a background on how she learned to letter through practice and fan works. We also discuss her study of Japanese

Ariana Maher recommends Nate Piekos's Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering if you are looking to get started with lettering. She also built her own page-by-page reader's guide for critics/reviewers, which she posted on her blog, so they can better spot and appreciate lettering craft.

When I hear Monsters and love in the same sentence, I am in there like swimwear. I love monsters. But I love that monsters are such a powerful storytelling tool to discuss the other, identity, and queerness. In the Tiny Onion and Dark Horse Pride anthology Monsters in Love, we see a cavalcade of some of the best creators in comics telling stories of love, loss, and so much more using every type of monster imaginable. This year, we were lucky enough to get together with 11 of the creatives who worked on the book to talk about it. We all talked about sandwiches first before diving into conversations about queerness, storytelling, bears, and so much more.

We speak with:

Jadzia Axelrod

Vita Ayala

Zoe Tunnell

Aditya Bidikar

Bradley Clayton

Sina Grace

Jacoby Salcedo

Lee Knox Ostertag

Ed Luce

Josh Trujillo

Vash Taylor

About Monsters in Love

We need love and monsters now more than ever!!!

Beloved anthology Monsters In Love turns romance comics on their ogre-sized head with 10 swoon-worthy stories by fan-favorite LGBTQIA+ creators, including James Tynion IV, Jadzia Axelrod, Vita Ayala, Zoe Tunnell, Sina Grace, Josh Trujillo, Claudia Aguirre, Tench, and many others, just in time for Pride Month.

This super-sized special also includes a framing story by the creative team from The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos!

It's an 80-page one-shot for less than 10 bucks!

From the New York Times and multi-Eisner award-winning best-selling author James Tynion IV and Tate Brombal.

About Dark Horse:

Dark Horse Comics is a publisher based in Milwaukie, Oregon, in the Portland metro area. Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse publishes creator-owned and licensed comics and art books, manga and other international titles, prose books, and products such as statues, figures, and accessories. These items are available through retailers, including comic shops and bookstores worldwide.

About Tiny Onion:

Tiny Onion is an independent production house from the mind of James Tynion IV, co-creator of critically acclaimed comic book bestsellers Something is Killing the Children, The Department of Truth, The Nice House on the Lake, and many more. Learn more and reach out on the home site below.