Tag: comix

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So…How Did 2025 Go?

At the start of 2025, I had one goal shared here on the blog: The No-Buy 2025.

In short, the goal was to not buy anything superfluous in 2025. Only necessities. No buying from major corporations (because fuck you, Amazon and Wal-Mart).

How Did It Go?

I actually managed to fulfill this objective…for the most part.

There were only two times that I lapsed: the end of August, and the first weekend of November. The reasons being that the end of August was hell week (I’ll get to that in a minute), and the first weekend of November was a trip/quasi-vacation to the DC area.

Now, I did keep to my promise of No Amazon, No Wal-Mart, No Home Depot. Technically, I didn’t buy from Target, either, especially during the boycott organized by the Black community at the start of the year. I have to add “technically” because in October-ish, a very kind lady from the UU church I attend helped get me a new slow cooker and a Ninja toaster oven (because my actual oven in this apartment is doing *something* that makes the alarms go off any time I cook or bake over 400 degrees).

Still, I didn’t buy from major corporations (except Kroger or Michaels sometimes). If I had to buy anything, I thrifted, traded, found mutual aid, and found local stores.

So What Was the Hell Week?

So, long story short – my younger sibling (and co-creator of Seeing Him and An Ignorance of Romance) moved in with me in January. We moved apartments in May/June. And then they moved fully out in August. During this time, and especially during the move-out period in August, they became the roommate from hell. Folks who have been on my newsletter since July know what happened. But the TL;DR of it is that this sibling needs some fucking intervention and it can’t be from me, because I’m tired of being the savings account of a borderline personality patient who treats animals like a pair of pants to be replaced when they die, and drops everyone and everything as soon as a boy comes into their life.

Part of the reason I even did the No-Buy Year was because I knew, going into the year, that this sibling would be living with me, and they have no savings whatsoever. They’re in the process of trying to file for bankruptcy for a second time (they failed the first time because the paperwork wasn’t in order).

But since September, I’ve been living on my own, and trying to rebuild my savings. On top of that, I do not like this apartment complex I was forced to move to. We only moved here because of my sibling’s garbage credit score, and they moved out within 3 months of signing the lease. As soon as this lease is out this upcoming May, I’m moving again. Which means I have to build up savings again.

My Goal For Next Year

I’m going through YearCompass, which helps to reflect on the year just lived and plan for the year coming ahead. I did my reflection for 2025, and if you thought what I wrote above was rough, that was just half of the year. It doesn’t cover:

  • losing a roommate of 4 years.
  • losing a beloved pet of 18 and a half years.
  • losing a home I lived in for 2 years.
  • having to pay over $2,000 to the state of West Virginia (a long story).
  • breaking contact with both of my siblings (which is a story I will *not* get into publicly).
  • one of my books under threat of getting banned (that’s detailed in this post).

But also that did not cover:

There were also more personal wins, but those wins are for my private life.

I’m still meditating on my goals for 2026, but the biggest one is: save back as much money as possible. I want to rebuild from this past year, and I want to move to a better apartment with better management than the people at this current complex.

Everything else? I will write about at the start of 2026.

I don’t know about you, but I’m taking a break for the rest of the year. That means, until January 2026:

  • no blog posts.
  • no Member newsletters.
  • no email newsletters.
  • and after tomorrow’s livestream, no YouTube *anything*.

The Legend of Jamie Roberts will still update on Wednesdays, and Vanita and the Demon King will still update on Fridays.

With all of that said, it’s time for the break to start. I hope you also take some time for yourself during this season.

Thanks for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.

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New Punk Signal AND Fwishi’shi Are NOW LIVE on KickStarter

the kickstarter header image for new punk signal and fwishi'shi. This is split down the middle: on one side are two white boys smiling at the camera in relaxed streetwear. On the right is an anthropomorphic bird man with his back to the viewer, gazing out to the sea

NOW LIVE!

New Punk Signal – two college boys, Mike and Steve, have big dreams to support their friends and their indie music…until the pandemic hits and shuts everything down. Now they have to figure out how to support the people they love when the world is changing its frequency.

Fwishi’shi – Fuloos is a bird-man who lives alone in a home by the sea. By day, he runs a radio show in the small town of Seabank. One day, he meets a fan of his work and her boyfriend – and everything changes.

These two stories are about community, assistance, and platonic love that saves the day. And with your help, I’d love to get these stories into the hands of more readers with the power of KickStarter!

So New Punk Signal is a comic spin-off-slash-sequel to Validation and ROXIE, following resident himbos Mike and Steve. And Fwishi’shi is – for the first time in my book catalog – a written novella. It’s not a comic (gasp)! It’s also set in the same universe as two comic projects I’ve done called Johnson & Sir and Thoughtful Dinosaur.

I like to think that you don’t need to read the other books to understand what’s going on in New Punk Signal and Fwishi’shi. But if you would like to delve more into those worlds, these extra stories are available as add-ons in the campaign! If you’re inclined, there’s also The Radio Tower Tier, where you can get all of these stories in one bundle.

new punk signal page #6

THE HOW

The good news is – a lot of expenses for Fwishi’shi are covered by a grant from the Toledo Arts Commission! Thank you to the commission for covering the cost of the ISBNs, printing 20(ish) copies of the book, and printing bookmarks.

However, New Punk Signal needs a little support to get to print. Also, if Fwishi’shi gets a lot more than 20 orders, I need a little help to cover printing. There’s also the added wrinkle of distributing these books once they’re printed.

For these reasons, I’ve opted to run a KickStarter – not only to help New Punk Signal get printed, but to get BOTH books in the hands of readers with KickStarter’s reach.

So in short – the asking goal is low because some expenses are already covered thanks to the Toledo Arts Commission (yay)! But KickStarter will help get these books out to the masses.

THE WHEN

Because of grant deadlines and printer timelines, this campaign will run UNTIL Aug 31. Once the funding period ends, I can place orders to the printers right away. The goal is to get everything printed and in the hands of backers by September 30.

ally from the webcomic Validation checks her phone to see a text from Steve. This comic is in the upcoming New Punk Signal

THE WHY

New Punk Signal and Frishi’shi are both projects I made during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Both were created to process my feelings and what I had seen work – and not work – during this time. I’ve also come to realize that as time goes on, the more my stories focused on the importance of community and helping friends along the way. And, as a result, both of these stories are my love letter to the importance of platonic love.

We live in a culture that romanticizes individualism, and only allows exception for romantic love. I wanted to challenge both by creating New Punk Signal and Fwishi’shi, stories that focus on the importance of interpersonal connections outside of romance.

So if you can, check out the campaign and choose the reward tier that works best for you! We also have add-ons such as spin-off comics, prints, and even art books!

Broke? Share this campaign far and wide! Shares help more than you know.

That’s all for now. Thank you for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.

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DRAG-onball, Day 3: Princess Trunks

This is DRAG-onball Week, a week of Dragonball characters drawn in drag, or otherwise looking ✨fierce✨.

It’s Day 3, and today, we say, “ALL HAIL PRINCESS TRUNKS.”

Let me be clear: this is not my joke. This is directly from Team Four Star and their Broly Abridged special. They coined it, they get the credit. They even made a T-shirt for it.

BUT…Trunks deserves to be confident as Drag Royalty.

I would go further about the process, but you can actually watch the process! It’s on this archived livestream from May. Skip ahead to 2:49:18 if you just want to watch Princess Trunks.

Now, I drew this a few months ago with the intent of putting it in an art zine. But then I went, “This would look better as a mini-print.”

So that’s what we’re doing with our beloved drag(onball) princess here.

This 4-inch by 6-inch miniprint is coming with me, along with the Fabulous Frieza (and more). On Saturday, July 27, I’m taking these with me to Art Loop Mini Mart in Toledo, OH. They’ll also be available in my Ko-fi shop the same day.

(If you’re a member on Ko-fi, you’re getting these stickers as part of your rewards.)

Stick around for tomorrow’s showing – Vogue Star Jeice!

That’s all for now. Thanks for dropping by!

You. Are. Awesome.

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DRAG-onball, Day 1: Frieza’s Fabulous Coat

This is DRAG-onball Week, a week of Dragonball characters drawn in drag, or otherwise looking ✨fierce✨.

It’s Day 1, and I’m here with Frieza and his fabulous coat!

frieza (or freeza) of dragonball z wears a long, leopard-printed coat with fur trim. He also is wearing purple eyeliner and lipstick

Before we go any further on this finished work, I want to share a bit about the process. Like, why Dragonball characters in drag?

The idea actually came to me when my friends and I went to see Six on Broadway. Afterwards, we had dinner at Brewhouse Downtown (in Toledo), and then we had drinks at Hamburger Mary’s. Lucky for us, Hamburger Mary’s had a drag show happening that night!

Well, along the bar they had novelty drink cups, including one that was a platform heel in hose you could drink a margarita out of. My roommate Alex took one look at that and went, “Omigod, What if Krillin wore those?”

It sparked the idea that would eventually lead to this DRAG-onball series. But who to draw first? Not Krillin, actually!

Frieza was the first one I drew in this series, going back to January. At the time, I just thought of doing Frieza and maybe a handful of characters for a zine project. Over the next few days, you’ll see the others I drew for this potential zine – Jeice, Android 18, and Princess Trunks.

The zine was not meant to be, though. At the time, I was in the middle of restructuring my Ko-fi membership rewards. This meant changing my zine offerings – switching from digital-only to a hybrid offering, with some digital zines and some physical.

That said, Fabulous Frieza waited patiently for me…until I got a new printer. One that can print stickers.

And babes, we are in business. Because that’s what we’re doing with Frieza and his fabulous coat.

I did include him in a bundle pack of phone wallpapers, which are free to download this week on Ko-fi.

As for the sticker? It’s coming to Ko-fi later this week!

My Ko-fi Members are getting these as part of their rewards this month. And on Saturday, July 27, I’m taking them with me to Art Loop Mini Mart in Toledo, OH. 

Stay tuned, because tomorrow, it’s Android 18’s turn in the drag spotlight!

That’s all for now. Thank you so much!

You. Are. Awesome.

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My Next Campaign is on Crowdfundr. Here’s Why

I’m here to announce that my next campaign is happening on Crowdfundr – not KickStarter. Here’s why.

First, it’s not that KickStarter is bad. It’s just that Crowdfundr is friendlier to comics creators.

I wrote an entire blog post with a breakdown between KickStarter vs Crowdfundr. It goes into everything, from fee set-ups to add-ons to promotions. Go read it if you haven’t yet. Since I wrote that piece, Crowdfundr has been improving its promotions. Hooray for that!

Second, I found a new printer.

For those of you who backed The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Volume 1, this will sound familiar. For those not around for this, here’s what happened: the book printer I worked with botched the first print run. This meant I had to get the books re-printed, and that delayed reward fulfillment.

I did NOT want a repeat of this mistake, so I shopped around for printers. I worked with Mixam for The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook. However, while their quality is great, they cost more per book to print.

Enter: Comix Well Spring.

The folks at Comix Well Spring sent me a sample packet featuring the options they have in stock. I’m posting a video on YouTube reviewing the samples very soon. But I liked their quality!

Then, when I went to their site, two things happened:

  1. Their customer assistance reached back out to me less than 5 minutes after I emailed them.
  2. When I got a quote for The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 2, the price turned out BETTER than with my current book printer OR Mixam.

Add on to this…

Third, Comix Well Spring is partnered with Crowdfundr.

They have a special for small presses (like me!). If a Crowdfundr campaign is successfully funded – with Comix Well Spring fulfilling the print order – then Comix Well Spring will give a discount on the order. It’s on their website!

And finally – Comix Well Spring is domestic.

In fact, they’re based in a state next to mine. I try to avoid overseas printers – I’ve seen too many horror stories of fellow comix makers with overseas printers having their book orders held up in customs…Meaning they had nothing to showcase, so they had to bail on conventions. Conventions they paid $1000+ to attend. It’s a horror story I want to avoid. So I work with domestic printers as much as possible.

So With All of That Said…

I will be launching The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 2 on Crowdfundr before the end of July! To know when it launches, sign up for the email newsletter. Newsletter peeps get the news when new campaigns launch.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.