Paul: Tell us something about yourself.

Tyler Chin-Tanner: The most important thing in my life is my family. I am head-over-heels in love with my wife Wendy, and we just had our first child, Madeleine, on Feb 14, 2007.

After a five-year career as an elementary school teacher in 3 different countries (U.S., Tanzania, Costa Rica), I decided to switch professions. I attended the Joe Kubert School and graduated in May 2006. After that, the Chin-Tanner family started the publishing company, A Wave Blue World.

Paul: What was the first comic book you ever read?

Tyler: When I was four years old my mom would let me pick out a comic at the drug store. I started with the classics, Spider-Man and Batman. The Marvel Tales reprints of Spider-Man appealed to me more than the current titles, so I was introduced to Spidey through the art of Ditko and Romita, which is the way it should be. With Batman, I think my first issue was annual #8 by Trevor Von Eden, that issue really left an impression upon me.

Paul: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?

Tyler: It wasn't until I felt I had something new to contribute to this medium that I chose comic books as a profession. Then I went to the Kubert School where I received such a well-rounded education about the industry that I was able to start my own publishing company.

Paul: Brief us about Adrenaline.

Tyler: ADRENALINE is the name of a fake reality TV show created by Alex Lowder in a misguided attempt to demonstrate his ability to take over his father's media empire, Lowder Broadcasting. He forces Dr. Saida Nri, an African doctor, to join him as the star of the show, leading an opposing team against his in extreme sport competitions around the world. Alex convinces six other members to join the race by appealing to their desire for fame and money. Overall the race provides an interesting study on how people work in a team environment and they react when under extreme duress.

Paul: How did the concept of Adrenaline come about?

Tyler: Adrenaline came about from the merging of two different concepts I had bouncing around my head. During my year in Africa, I was really inspired by the strong African women that were working so hard to make a difference to their society. In the U.S. we only get the images of the poor, starving people who need our help, and this is very accurate, but what we don't see are the many strong native Africans who are leading the way in resuscitating their country. I felt they needed to be the hero of a comic book.

The other idea came from my impression of pop culture marketing. It seemed like I was seeing all these advertisements for movies and TV dramas with quick cutting, flashing images and words jumping out at you "pulse-pounding" and "Adrenaline Rush." I just thought, enough already, somebody needs to just come out and name their show Adrenaline and have people running around looking for the next rush. Thus the ideas came together.

Paul: There's a new Fox TV drama called Drive that is remarkably similar to Adrenaline, especially issue #3. What is your impression of this?

Tyler: There are certainly similarities in the concept, an illegal race, the main character is coerced into it, the teams are competing for a large cash prize. But some of the small details made me take notice. The main character's name is Alex, an ex-soldier is a competitor, and even one of the other main character's name is Wendy, which is my wife's name. It could be a coincidence, but I wouldn't be surprised is somebody came across Adrenaline and adapted it for their own. There's nothing unusual about that, and really, it's exactly the kind of show I was spoofing with Adrenaline anyway. This is a good lesson for comic creators: your ideas can easily be repackaged as something else without giving you credit.

Paul: Tell us about the great artwork of this comic book! This comic book really stands out amongst the other comics!

Tyler: Well thanks for the compliment. I think the artwork is coming along and it is definitely getting much better with each issue. It's a real team effort. I do the full-size layouts with my scripts. James goes in and does the finished pencils. Fabio inks over the pencils, then James gets it back and colors it. I'll tell you, James is going to be a big star in this industry. He was a little raw when we started, but I had to get him at that stage so he would work for my small fledgling company.

Paul: What conventions will you be attending or have attended?

Tyler: This summer we will be attending the Wizard World Philadelphia, the MOCCA Art Festival in NY, and the San Diego Comic Con. These will be the only places to get Adrenaline #5 since it won't be distributed to retailers through Diamond anymore.

Paul: How can someone contact you?

Tyler: We have a letter column email for comments, praise or criticism at wavebluewords@gmail.com and all business matters should be sent to awaveblueworld@gmail.com

Paul: What is your website address?

Tyler: It's www.awaveblueworld.com . Everyone should check it out, its got trailers, preview pages, and digital versions of our comic books.

Paul: If you can have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 real-life from any time period, who would those 6 people be and why?

Tyler: My wife would like to answer this question and since she cooks, I'll defer: Oscar Wilde, (the real) Mulan, Edward Said, Morpheus (Sandman), Holden Caulfield, and Yoda. She let me choose two, you'll never guess.

Paul: What comics do you read?

Tyler: I've switched to reading trade paperbacks/graphic novels for most of my titles. Those include Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Blade of the Immortal, Strangers in Paradise, Godland, Y the Last Man, 100 Bullets, and She-Hulk, as well as any original graphic novels that look interesting. I'm still picking up the individual comics for DMZ, Local, Optic Nerve, Fell, The Spirit and All-Star Superman. I'm sure there are other great titles I'm not reading, but I highly recommend those.

Paul: What gives you your creative energy?

Tyler: Mostly real world issues, personal stories I find moving or social issues that get me charged up.

Paul: This ends the interview, any encouraging words of wisdom?

Tyler: We, as the creative "comic book" community, shouldn't fear the end of our art form due to the rise of new technology. The concern that video games and the internet will spell our doom is as misguided as the beliefs that movies would bring the end of books, tv would end radio, and photography would end art in general. Instead we need to focus our energy to adapt to the changing world and use technology to improve our product.

The merging of the written word and images into story is a very pure and valid form of artistic expression. As long as we keep the basic principles of storytelling close at heart, there will always be an interest (need) for our medium.