Introducing The Great Arcadian

Tito Adler introduces his new monthly comic about life inside a naturist apartment building

Aug 18, 2026

An exterior illustration depicts the Great Arcadian, a grand Mediterranean-style apartment building rising more than a dozen stories above palm trees near the Florida coast. Rows of identical balconies emphasize the building's enormous size. — *The Great Arcadian apartment building. Courtesy of the author.*

Tito Adler is returning to Planet Nude’s Strips with a new monthly comic, The Great Arcadian, an ensemble comedy set inside a sprawling naturist apartment building near Pretty Beach.

The series follows residents, neighbors, and staff as their everyday lives overlap across apartments, hallways, courtyards, elevators, and the nearby beach. Rather than building toward one long plot, Tito plans to let the world grow strip by strip, introducing new characters as he goes and treating naturism as an ordinary part of the setting.

That makes The Great Arcadian a natural extension of the approach Tito explored in Unsexy Nudie Tales From Pretty Beach!, but with a broader cast and a sitcom-like structure built for recurring stories.

We asked Tito about the inspirations behind the building, how he is creating its residents, and what readers can expect as the series takes shape.

Interview with Tito Adler, Aug. 2026

What inspired The Great Arcadian? Why an apartment building instead of returning to Pretty Beach?

I had a few inspirations put together.

In 2003, there was a comedy from Spain I liked to watch called Aquí no hay quien viva (roughly, “No One Can Live Here”). It was about residents in a small apartment building. It had an ensemble cast, and the stories were slice-of-life stories about their lives and interactions with each other, which I enjoyed. In fact, the first episode had a tenant locked out of his apartment when he was getting ready to take a bath. The entire episode is him naked and avoiding everyone in the building until his girlfriend comes home to let him in.

A panel from The Great Arcadian shows residents gathering in the apartment building's lobby before a tenants' meeting. Several neighbors chat in small groups as newcomers begin introducing themselves. — *A panel from* *The Great Arcadian.* *Courtesy of the author.*

I thought a naturist apartment building would make a fun setting, rather than sticking to the usual resort or campground. I also envision the building as being a walk away from Pretty Beach, like a beachfront property. So, we’re still in that universe, so to speak. I could see the characters taking a stroll there every once in a while.

The building feels like a character in its own right. How did you go about designing the world and imagining all of the people who live there?

The exterior is inspired by a mashup between two places: the Don CeSar hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, sometimes known as the “Pink Palace”, and the fictional Arconia from Only Murders in the Building. I wanted the building to have the massive shape of the Arconia, with the 1920s Mediterranean design sensibilities of the Don CeSar.

A panel from The Great Arcadian shows two newly arrived nude tenants standing beside a handful of moving boxes. One angrily shouts, "Where's our furniture!?" while the mover calmly replies, "Must have left it in my other truck." — *A panel from* *The Great Arcadian.* *Courtesy of the author.*

As for the characters, I have been making them up as I go. I really tried to focus on diversity.

Your first strips introduce new neighbors almost immediately. Do you already know who lives in the building, or are you discovering the residents as you go?

I’m just making them up as I go along. I like to draw the characters cold. It’s weird to explain, but sometimes the designs spark ideas for who they might be, what their jobs might be, or how they might relate to each other. I have fun teasing that out.

Each installment seems to tell a complete joke while hinting at a much larger world. What do you enjoy about telling stories in this episodic format?

Early character sketches for The Great Arcadian show the series' two main protagonists: a curly-haired blond man with folded arms and a skeptical expression beside a smiling dark-haired woman with her hands in her pockets. Both are drawn nude in blue and red pencil on dotted sketchbook paper. — *Early character sketches for* *The Great Arcadian.* *Courtesy of the author.*

I like how they build on each other. It’s a mystery to me how things are going to unfold because I’m not really into plotting. The episodic format is fun because every new strip is an opportunity to flesh out more of the building and its residents by improvising. It feels more organic and natural to me that way.

What kinds of stories are you excited to tell at The Great Arcadian, and what should Planet Nude readers expect as the series unfolds?

I want stories that see naturists as ordinary neighbors and friends, like in the manner of a traditional sitcom while just happening to feature naturists as its cast. I want their problems to be everyday, relatable problems, like work, friendship, or neighborly disputes. My dream would be if a non-naturist were to read it and see that the concerns of the naturist community are the same as those of the non-naturists. 🪐

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