This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Aubrey Sitterson, author of Free Planet Volume 1.

About Free Planet Volume 1: In the wake of a grueling war of independence, a team of revolutionary heroes is tasked with defending their home and its uniquely potent energy source from multiple intergalactic superpowers intent on domination. But though they are each deeply committed to the dream of a free planet, they all have completely different ideas about what complete freedom actually entails. Faced with separatist movements, counterrevolutionaries, political deadlock, famine, equipment shortages, a looming trade war, violent attacks and wildly divergent ideas of how to handle each, can true freedom endure?

Informed by real-world research and extensive design work, Aubrey Sitterson (The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, No One Left to Fight) and Jed Dougherty (Savage Hearts, Worlds’ Finest) have created a comic that functions as both literature and art object, a rumination on freedom, the sacrifices it demands, the discipline it requires and the authority that must arise in its absence.

About Aubrey Sitterson: Aubrey Sitterson is a Los Angeles based writer, best known for the science-fantasy action comic No One Left to Fight, co-created with Fico Ossio; The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling graphic novel, co-created with Chris Moreno; and the successfully crowdfunded BEEF BROS, co-created with Tyrell Cannon, and Stoned Master, again with Chris Moreno. He has written for all of the industry’s top publishers, including Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, BOOM!, Oni, Dynamite and Viz.

This week’s picks:

• Aubrey: The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk
• Tracy: Origin Story (Game)
• Patrick: Falling Skies (Netflix)

Links:

• Aubrey Sitterson on Instagram
• Tracy Townsend on BluSky
• Patrick Hester on Instagram
• The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2026 Patrick Hester

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS