on getting fired

I made a slightly bitchy comic about getting fired and decided not to post it. Maybe you saw it on bluesky for a second. I then made this comic in response to that comic. I'm processing this stuff in funny ways!

I'm trying to draw comics on paper again after many years working digitally. My work looks much messier now but I am trying to embrace that and also I tell myself that at least it will never look like it was made by AI.

Ironically a catalyst for me getting fired was that I was asking for time off to be able to teach comics to kids in my community. Since then I've been working with incredible young people and this fall we've been doing a comics reading group/drawing class that has gone extremely well. My first recommendation for the week is a book we worked with:

This weeks Rec's:

How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger

This is the most popular book in our reading group so far, it's also one of the best graphic novels for kids I've ever read, as well as a damn fine comic for anyone to read regardless of age. It's a semi-autobiographical tale of a pre-teen girl who skips 8th grade and starts falling in love with another girl in her class. Not only is it beautifully drawn, it's incredibly relatable and frequently hilarious.

Rec's For Grown-ups:

Black Arms To Hold You Up by Ben Passmore

Ben Passmore has been making some of the best non-fiction comics for years. His comic Your Black Friend is a book I've recommended for years and this new work is a huge achievement. It tells the story of the author dealing with his feelings about the meaning of resistance while taking a tour through the past led by his father. Passmore's ability to explain history through his cartooning is impeccable. This made me want to dig deeper, educate myself more.

Dusk by Robbie Arnott

A really deep and atmospheric western from Australia. It's about a brother and sister on a hunt for a mysterious Puma that has been terrorizing highland graziers. Really interesting details about peat farmers that I loved reading about. Dream-like and slightly magical around the edges (giant bones of ancient sea beasts dot the landscape), ultimately about nature and familial bonds. Excellent stuff.