SLG Publishing, the company which brought comics like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez, among many other titles, to the world, enters into its 40th year by launching a solo podcast by founder Dan Vado. My Five Minutes is a personal series of stories and reflections drawn from four decades of independent comics, small business, live music, creative mistakes, unlikely survival, and the stubborn belief that making things still matters.
The first episode, “Ya Gotta Believe! The Arrogance of Creativity,” debuts on May 4th and serves as both an introduction to the podcast and a fitting starting point for SLG’s anniversary year. In the episode, Vado looks at the confidence, delusion, ego, and blind faith required to begin any creative project — including starting a comic book publishing company in 1986 and somehow keeping it alive for 40 years.
The new podcast also builds on Vado’s previous experience with The Unexpected Mentor, a podcast that explored related themes of creativity, experience, risk, and the unlikely ways people learn what they know. That project helped spark Vado’s interest in podcasting not just as a promotional tool, but as an art form of its own; a place where voice, timing, memory, and storytelling can carry ideas in a way that feels immediate and personal.
“Creativity requires a certain amount of arrogance,” said Vado. “You have to believe that the thing in your head is worth bringing into the world, even when there is no evidence that anyone else wants it. Maybe especially then,” said Vado, discussing the first episode, adding that “My experience with The Unexpected Mentor really opened my eyes to podcasting as a way to get great stories out. I have met a lot of amazing people and there are a lot of great personal stories I want to get out there.”
Founded in 1986, SLG Publishing became known for publishing alternative, offbeat, creator-driven comics such as Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Dr. Radium, and Rex Libris at a time when independent comics were still fighting for shelf space. The launch of My Five Minutes is not intended to be a nostalgic project. Instead, each short episode uses stories from Vado’s life in comics, publishing, music, writing, and retail to talk about creativity, failure, memory, ambition, ego, doubt, and what it means to keep going long after other people might have quit.
“Forty years gives you a lot of stories,” Vado said. “Some of them are funny, some are embarrassing, some are about being wrong while people are watching, and some are about realizing much later why something mattered. The podcast gives me a place to tell those stories without pretending they add up to a grand lesson. Sometimes they are just five minutes.”
Vado later expanded his creative life into live music through Art Boutiki Music Hall, a San Jose venue known for intimate performances, local shows, touring artists, and community-driven events.
My Five Minutes will be available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
My Five Minutes will be available on most major podcast platforms, with a video version being found on YouTube and Spotify.
Listeners can follow the show at:
https://my-five-minutes-short.
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