You may have heard of Night Vale. Strange images of a three-eyed man or a threatening, yet merciful, glow cloud have popped up in your social media streams, and you don’t know what it’s about or why. Who is that Carlos guy, anyway? Or maybe you’re well aware that Welcome to Night Vale is one of the best podcasts being produced right now. You’re also one of the chosen who think that it’s an ingenious blend of comedy, scifi, and horror (as well as dope music), the likes of which have not been seen since Courage the Cowardly Dog went off the air. If you, gentle reader, are in the know, well…good for you. Enjoy.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the radio show, host Cecil Baldwin broadcasts over the local radio station on town events and local residents. Some of the best parts of the fandom come from the artistic representations of the characters and town, which obviously are up to a lot of interpretation. There has been a lot of in-fighting between fans of the series revolving around how artists choose to represent the characters on the show. Should Cecil be white? How old? Is it wrong if people choose to depict Carlos as someone without hispanic characteristics?

I have very little opinion how other people participate in their fandom, so I included a lot of different representations of Night Vale, mostly because I think it’s cool that fans have so many different interpretations of the universe, yet agree on theories like Cecil’s third eye or tentacle tattoos. Scary raging fandom atmospheres are sometimes why I avoid a book/movie/show/podcast type thing, so if you’re not about the tense fan love/hate, stick around this page for a while. It’s warm and cozy.