In honor of Mardis Gras, we’ve launched our first podcast, an illuminating riff on the role of bars in New Orleans after Katrina. The riffer is Dr. Brobson Lutz (drawn here), one of the real-life characters in our new webcomic, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Josh Neufeld’s depiction of the lives of five people during and after Katrina. Since our follow up to Shooting War is nonfiction, we’re augmenting this story with audio and video interviews, slideshows from our characters’ personal collections, and other aspects from their lives that help piece together a multi-layered narrative. Like a lot of what we do, it’s an experiment, one we hope you’ll give a whirl.

And for now, take in a bit of the Big Easy with Dr. Lutz , a remarkable man I had the pleasure to spend time with in early January. Here he talks about why bars are more common than churches in New Orleans, how he went bar to bar after Katrina issuing medicine to residents, and the all-important need to pack his doctor’s bag with an antibiotic that’s still effective when the patient’s drinking.