Adam Cahoon offers us ‘Greetings from the Maglev’

If you’re anything like me, you routinely browse Kickstarter for new comics projects being published. And while there’s heaps of interesting titles trying to fight their way into the world, one recently caught my eye: Greetings from the Maglev.

The creation of writer Mark Espinos and artist Adam Cahoon, Greetings from the Maglev released its first chapter in late 2023, and is currently crowdfunding for chapter 2two. In Greetings from the Maglev, the world’s gasoline obsession has resulted in total economic and environmental ruin. While the titular maglev may have been built as a way to usher in a new post-gas age, it’s really a new symbol in the ongoing battle between the haves and have-nots. There’s a deeper, more intimate personal story at the heart of this book, but Greetings from the Maglev is an interesting addition to the post-apocalyptic, vehicle-centric canon (Snowpiercer, Mad Max, etc.) with its overt intensity, vivid artwork, and certain heft and charm.

If you’d like to contribute to the Greetings from the Maglev chapter two Kickstarter, head here. (The campaign ends on Sunday, September 22.) To get some better insight into the story, we recently touched base with Cahoon. In addition to better exploring the revenge-centric plot, we also touched on his collaboration with Espinosa, the book’s design and themes, and a possible future, among other topics and tidbits.

Courtesy of Invader.

AIPT: What was the reception like to the first story/volume? Did that bypass expectations?

Adam Cahoon: Yeah, reception for the first chapter was wonderful. We made it in 2015/2016, it was the first time I’d ever made a comic, so to have Invader want to put it out and then to have it fund successfully was huge. But then all of the response and feedback has been really supportive and encouraging.

AIPT: Be as spoiler-y or not as you want, but what’s the TL;DR for the first volume?

AC: OK, I’ll try to be succinct: Chris Miles is hired to chauffeur the son of a billionaire across The MagLev, a magnetic super highway that cuts the country in half. Being that only the wealthy can afford to travel on the MagLev they are targets for the impoverished bands and gangs that live along the highway. Think Mad Max, the day before society collapsed.

AIPT: You two have worked together on this and some other things. What’s the collaborative process like and how do you think that shapes or informs Maglev?

AC: Mark and I have been friends for years, long before the MagLev, so the process has been very informal. Very much like two friends hanging out taking turns saying “Oh wouldn’t it be cool if…” It was Mark’s script to begin with but from the gate he was adamant that this project was as much mine as it was his.

Courtesy of Invader.

AIPT: You’re maybe best known for being a designer. How do you think that process helps — does it give you an advantage over other artists?

AC: Well, I think advantage is maybe the wrong word. I don’t think it’s a contest of creatives. Everyone has the context of their lives and their individual experiences informing their art making decisions. Design plays a big role in my aesthetics and choices for sure. I started out as a fine artist and one of the many reasons I moved into comics was because it seemed easier to push design elements to the front.

AIPT: What do you think the story’s interests are thematically? Is this about rich vs. poor, environmental devastation, a lack of social services, man’s inherent stupidity and greed? All of the above?

AC: Yeah, all of those are good. Rich v. poor more than the others. And revenge. A lot of revenge. A big part of it for Mark was Chris. Being a female lead in an “action story” he wanted to give her all of the thematic freedoms that male characters are afforded in similar stories.

AIPT: This book is, at its core, a revenge story. What does that aspect do for the rest of the story and its messaging and themes? Does that humanize all of this?

AC: Oh, the revenge is prolific. That’s the through-line, but I think its all of the things that Chris encounters while on that path that humanize her, her journey, and the story.

Courtesy of Invader.

AIPT: I kind of get a Brazil vibe with the art. Are there any specific influences/inspirations?

AC: Oh, Brazil is a good one! I hadn’t thought of that specifically but Terry Gilliam was huge to my creative foundation — Time Bandits, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It’s hard to know sometimes what exactly influences your mark making. There wasn’t anything specific that I was looking toward but everything we pick up along the way plays a part.

AIPT: What does working with/releasing via Invader offer? What’s that partnership like?

AC: Invader is great. This campaign is the second time we’ve worked together and they couldn’t be more supportive and engaged. They do so much leg work getting the campaign up and funded. They run everything by us, and Mark and I have final say over everything.

AIPT: I kind of thought of Snowpiercer a little when looking over Maglev. Does that feel fair? Is that an association you’d lean into or against?

AC: Oh, lean in. I’m a Snowpiercer apologist. I don’t know if that one was an influence for Mark when he was writing it, but there are similarities between the two stories for sure. Fury Road (all the Mad Max movies really) was a big one. I remember Mark and I talking about that one a lot.

Courtesy of Invader.

AIPT: Do you have a favorite moment or page from the story so far that’s important or representative of what you’re doing in the bigger picture?

AC: Oh yeah, page two in chapter one was a big one when I finished it. Overall it’s one of my favorite pages of any comic page I’ve done. In chapter two, there is a prison warden that I’m obsessed with I think every panel she’s in is a favorite.

AIPT: What can we expect from the third volume? Is there a timeline for that release?

AC: The third chapter is the most exciting of the three. It will be the hardest one to draw in the end but it is, in every way, culmination of this story. I should have it finished in the first half of 2025.

AIPT: Anything else we should know about the story, the campaign, comics, life, etc.?

AC: If chapter three is the exciting one, I think chapter two, the one that’s on Kickstarter now, is the best written. It’s the one that informs the main character the most in my opinion.