Adam Says Farewell to the RCT

Today is August 20th, 2026, my 23rd birthday. It’s also my last day as a reporter for the Rockland County Times. Several months ago, I answered an online ad from RCT. At the time, I was working full time at the Starbucks in Airmont, but figured I had time to spare in the evenings to write an article or two for the paper. Next thing I knew, I was in the RCT office twice a week, while still working at Starbucks four days a week. Through my time here, I was able to explore and get to know Rockland County in a way I never thought I would. I’ve written over 50 articles about everything from community events to a presidential visit. I couldn’t have asked for a better boss than my Editor, Sierra, or a better coworker and colleague than Gillian. Thank you to you both.

I love writing, and I loved being a reporter, but my first passion has always been illustration. The reason I’m leaving the paper is because I am headed back to school for exactly that. I was able to design a few things for RCT while I’ve been here including the special logo header for our Fourth of July edition and the logo for the “This week in Clarkstown” column written by Matt Veronesi.

Since I was a little kid, I’ve been enamored by the comics medium. I loved reading Batman, Green Lantern, and Blue Beetle and would beg my mom to take me to Funny Business, the now closed comic book shop in Nyack, at any opportunity. Being honest, the kid version of me was only concerned with what DC Comics was up to at any given time, but now in my old age, I have a wider appreciation for the medium of comics as a whole. Of course I love DC and I definitely love the X-Men, but the world of independent comics has opened up for me too, introducing me to great comics like Kaya by Wes Craig and of course Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley.

My approach to comics is to view it in the long tradition of sequential visual art. Many people believe that “comics” are a relatively new artform, but the idea of telling a visual story through sequential paintings or drawings is as old as art itself. I’m influenced most by the baroque and impressionist periods of art. I love the harsh, dramatic lighting of paintings like “Judith Slaying Holofernes” by Artemisia Gentileschi, but also the light abstraction in the landscapes of Monet and Van Gogh. For me, comics are a vehicle to tell stories through visual art. Comics don’t just happen to have visual art, the visual art is what makes the comic. There’s a reason Marvel and DC aren’t just selling scripts. The illustrative side of comic books is the backbone of the medium. Comics could exist without words on the page, but they can’t exist with just dialogue and narration.

I often find myself drawing single page comics. My subjects are surreal and abstract because I am more concerned with telling the story than explaining the logic of it. The piece featured on page five was inspired by a Japanese myth. In the myth, a koi fish swims against a powerful stream and up a waterfall, where the gods then turn the fish into a dragon. This piece was hard both because I didn’t know how to draw a Japanese dragon and also because (secret time) drawing is just hard. The point of me going back to school is to better hone my craft. I want more training in drawing human anatomy and background scenes that I won’t be able to get anywhere else.

In terms of my reading, right now I’m making my way through Uncanny X-Men. I’m on issue #228 right now and it’s absolutely fantastic. Comic runs often change hands and despite Stan Lee and Jack Kirby inventing the Uncanny X-Men, the 80s comic is written almost entirely by Chris Claremont, who wrote Uncanny X-Men for the better part of 16 years, from 1975 all the way to 1991. The issue I’m currently reading was published in 1988, so I’m still shy of finishing the Claremont run. After that, I’m not sure what I’ll read. I may continue reading Uncanny X-Men, written by Fabian Nicieza, or I might stick with Claremont and read X-Calibur, which was the book he wrote in the 90s.

If you would like some recommended reading, I have a list. If you’re interested in Batman and DC comics, then I’d suggest Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. For Marvel, I’d say go with X of Swords by Tini Howard or Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In terms of indie comics, obviously Invincible by Robert Kirkman is a great choice, but I’ve also heard great things about Geiger by Brad Anderson, Gary Frank, and Geoff Johns.

I’ll always have incredible memories of working at the Rockland County Times and I hope you, the reader, enjoyed the articles I wrote. Thank you for reading my work week to week, I had a lot of fun writing. If you’re curious about where to find me, my Instagram handle is @adam.myle.s and it’s the same handle for my TikTok.