The GoodWeird Podcast

John talks to Merlin Nation, artist, designer & animator
about burnout, joy, and finding a way back to instinct.
They talk about DIY culture, creative exhaustion, and the moment when you realise you have to stop... and start again differently.
Merlin reflects on rediscovering play, choosing hope, and making work without waiting for the right conditions.
It’s a conversation about creative recovery, community, and doing things simply because they matter to you.

https://merlinnationart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/merlin.nation.art/
https://www.corita.org/tenrules

What does it mean to keep your imagination free in a system designed to colonise it?

The GoodWeird Podcast explores that question with under-radar creators - comic artists, musicians, writers, makers - who've refused to let their work be flattened.
Conversations about:
Noticing what others miss
Protecting creative practice from extraction
Making work that stays alive
Navigating systems that reward conformity

Slow. Roaming. Slop-free.
Because imagination is the quiet architect of every choice and widening its boundaries is how new worlds come into view.
Hosted by John Davison.

John talks to Martine McDonagh, novelist, teacher, and lifelong explorer of how we heal - and what it costs.
We talk about keeping a beginner's mind, finding humor in the dark, and how therapy can reshape not just the self but the stories we tell. Martine’s take on transformation is raw, funny, and deeply human - proof that the work often knows more than we do.
It’s a conversation about curiosity, courage, and the strange alchemy of turning pain into art.

Related links:
Martine Mcdonagh’s website

John talks to Mick Jackson, novelist, children’s author, and former musician whose debut was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
We talk about the strange magic that appears right after you’ve given up, the quiet power of simple ideas, and the rituals that make creativity possible. There’s wisdom here about voice, confidence, and the kind of patience that turns chaos into story.
It’s a conversation about faith in the process - and the small, deliberate acts that keep imagination alive.

John talks to Emilia McKenzie, a comic artist whose work drifts between the microscopic and the cosmic - dreams, biology, and the strange edges of autobiography.
They talk about weirdness as fuel, the quiet courage of making things that might make your friends cringe, and the beauty of transformation - in art, in life, in the act of creating itself.
It’s a conversation about trusting strangeness, embracing metamorphosis, and finding meaning outside the algorithm.

Related Links:
Emix Regulus comics