WHO WE ARE

RAKAN SINDI and KALI BAKER-JOHNSON met in the fall of 2012 as graduate film directing students at Chapman University. Rakan got Kali into video games, Kali got Rakan into comics, and before they knew it, they were collaborating on a short film about a young Saudi Arabian girl with otherworldly powers that was still struggling with the problems of the real world. The ideas behind that film morphed and grew into ZAHRA THE FIRECATCHER, a story they realized needed to be told outside of film. In 2018 the duo established ADAM COMICS to follow the adventures of Zahra. In 2025 they added Kali's childhood friends, JESUS GARAY and the reclusive MANDINGO RUTHLESS, to refocus and rebrand under the writing collective GRAPHIC CYPHER. Together, they tell fantastical stories exploring how true heroism comes from unexpected people in unexpected places. 

Rakan Sindi
Writer

​Born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, RAKAN SINDI is a filmmaker, comic book creator, and VFX professional driven by a passion for storytelling across mediums. After earning his MFA in Film Directing from Chapman University, his thesis film RAHMA won Best Short Film and Best Director at the Big House Los Angeles Film Festival in 2015, marking the beginning of a creative journey that continues to evolve.

Now based between Los Angeles and Jeddah, Rakan leads high-end visual effects projects through his work at Tower 33, contributing to major Hollywood productions while also helping expand the company’s reach into the Middle East. His love for world-building and heroic narratives fuels his ongoing work in comics and visual storytelling.

​Whether through film, comics, or VFX, Rakan's work is united by a deep belief in the power of imagination, cultural connection, and visual storytelling.
RAKAN'S VIMEO

Kali Baker-Johnson
Writer

KALI BAKER-JOHNSON is a Brooklyn-based, New Jersey-born filmmaker, college professor, and comic book writer. His feature film debut, Feel Like Ghosts, won the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards at the 2022 American Black Film Festival. He was a Directing Fellow at Chapman University’s graduate film program in Orange, CA and during his time on the West Coast he collaborated with Oscar-winning producer Cathy Schulman as one of Chapman’s O.L. Halsell Scholars, worked in development for Oscar-nominated producing duo Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger, and shadowed Emmy-winning director Millicent Shelton. His short films have screened internationally in film festivals, as well as in programs for domestic abuse education, in centers for at-risk youth, and in New York's Time Square. He used to be able to dunk and, every once in a while, he still has a good day on the basketball court.​
KALI'S WEBSITE

Jesus Garay
​Writer

​JESUS GARAY is a Peruvian-American writer carving space between the lyrical and the precise. Based in New Jersey, his poetry has appeared in CHORUS – A Literary Mixtape, curated by Saul Williams, and in journals like Cream City Review and Gutter Magazine.

​With over a decade of experience writing for brands in tech, travel, and healthcare, Jesus moves fluidly between creative and commercial, always rooted in voice and vision. His work explores where culture meets science, where language bends, and where the world shifts under our feet—and asks what stories we carry through it all.

Mandingo Ruthless
​Writer

MANDINGO RUTHLESS once shot a man with his bare hands. Think about it.
MANDINGO RUTHLESS ON THE BLACK LIST

GRAPHIC CYPHER