“Mixtape” comic rewinds back to the 1990s

Writer Brad Abraham takes a music-infused nostalgic look back at 1990s in “Mixtape,” a new comic book from Ardden Entertainment.

Finding a box of old mixtapes inspired Abraham to create a story based in the music and days contained within the early 1990s.

“The biggest influence was personal — much of Mixtape is based on people I knew and places I lived back in the ’90s, so it’s something of a ‘fictionalized autobiography’ if that makes sense,” Abraham said.

Some friends are about to be high school seniors as the summer of 1990 draws to a close.

Abraham, a screenwriter possibly best-known for “RoboCop: Prime Directives,” drew from his high school years in Canada as inspiration.

“I’m in my late 30s, and from Canada originally,” he said. “I grew up all over Canada, but my high school years were spent in a small town on the St. Lawrence River — and much of ‘Mixtape’ is inspired by those years.”

Influenced by films such as “American Graffiti” and “Dazed and Confused,” “Mixtape” looks back at the effect of music on teenage years.

“Back before file-sharing and the Internet, the only way to hear new, edgy bands was through mixtapes made by friends or friends of friends,” Abraham said. “Yes, you had MTV; yes, you had radio, but they played mainstream music. Bands like The Replacements or Joy Division were bands you heard about, rather than heard. But if a friend put that music on a mixtape you were hearing it!”

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