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Time Codes: 00:00:24 - Introduction 00:02:22 - Setup of interview 00:03:58 - Interview with Howard Shapiro 01:06:33 - Wrap up 01:07:06 - Contact us A common theme in Howard Shapiro’s stories is the significance of music. His first graphic novel, The Sterotypical Freaks, revolved around competing high school bands and how that competition and their dedication to the music defined each member’s life. In his latest book, Queen of Kenosha (Animal Media Group), music once again takes center narrative state. It’s the story of young singer-songwriter from Wisconsin, Nina Overstreet, who comes to New York City in the early 1960s to make it on the folk scene. What she unexpectedly finds is espionage and ideological conspiracy. Whereas in his earlier Forever Friends series of graphic novels Howard wedded music to hockey as the backdrop for his stories, here in Queen of Kenosha -- the first book in what he’s calling The Thin Thinline Trilogy -- he uses music within the context of geopolitical intrigue. In t