I hope everyone’s been having a nice spring. I’m going to start out this month’s newsletter with something I completely forgot to mention last month:

THE TRIANGLE COMICS CREATOR NETWORK ANTHOLOGY!

That’s right, our anthology came out on Free Comic Book Day at the beginning of this month! There were a lot of fantastic comics in the anthology this year. Unfortunately, I don’t have a link to a digital copy this time around, but it’s possible a few hard copies might be available to borrow from the Durham County Library in the future. They have several anthologies from previous years available to borrow! The image above is the second page of my comic, Theo’s Flight. This story is another vignette from the lives of the Sun & Moon Sisters, and once I draw a cover image for it, I’ll add it to the series’ ComicFury page. For now, though, you can read it at this link.

SEATTLE PAPER PUSHERS!

A few of my comics have gotten to travel to Seattle to be consigned at Paper Pushers Print Shop! This is the first time I’ve ever consigned my comics, and it’s pretty sweet that they can be read by people on the West Coast!

INOSCULARUM UPDATES!

I have (DRUMROLL, PLEASE!) ………… TWO pages left to ink in Inoscularum #1!! Once those last two pages are done, I just have to add my marker tones, scan my pages, and clean up my scans. I’m thinking/hoping I’ll have the finished book in my hands this September. I say it a lot, but I’ll say it again, I’m really excited to finish this book and get the ball rolling on the series, because the chapters I have planned for the future are “real bangers.”

COOPIE COMIC! AND OTHER DOODLES

Here’s a short comic I made about going home to visit my folks, and our dog Cooper.

We adopted Cooper back when I was 18, so he’s already 12 years old. I still think of him as a lil’ puppy, but he’s a bona fide senior citizen now. We really did all kneel down in front of Coopie when he got up in the chair, and I really did have a bowl cut when I was in college. We all do silly things sometimes. Speaking of silly things:

Sometimes I think of jokes that require too much explanation, so I don’t make them, and inevitably they find their way into a comic. I don’t actually do standup, it’s just a visual metaphor. And yeah, I watched a lot of Cinema Snob when I was in college. I had a bowl cut, what the hell else was I gonna do?

My “doodling before work” tradition is going strong! Drawing a bunch of silly pictures first thing in the morning tends to put me in a pretty good mood. You can see these and many, many more morning doodles over on my Bluesky.

Well, that’s it for this month’s art updates. Time for “the other stuff!”

THE OTHER STUFF

This is where I would ordinarily tell you the Critter of the Month and the Song of the month, but this time I’m going to talk about how to help turtles cross the road. Earlier this month, I saw a turtle attempting to cross the road, and I pulled over to help it. I had never actually helped a turtle cross the road before, though, so while I stood several feet away and thought of how to scoop it up, several cars sped by, and to put it as non-graphically as possible, I “didn’t make it in time.” I’m sure I can’t be the only person who has been in this situation and not quite known what to do, so here are some tips from the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s website on how to help a turtle cross the road:

1- Always keep your own safety in mind - watch out for oncoming vehicles, signal properly when pulling over and recognize your surroundings first before working to help save an animal.

2- Be very careful when moving the animal - it could be injured or it could bite you depending on the species. If possible, sometimes it is best to just stand guard as the animal crosses the road on its own - especially if it is a protected species. 

3- If the animal needs to be moved, move it to the other side of the road in the same direction it was going. Using a car mat can be a good way to help the turtles across without actually picking them up. By using a car mat or putting something under the turtle, you can slide the turtle in the direction it was going.

4- Do not pick the turtle up by the tail. Some turtles may be frightened and try to bite. Do not pick them up by the tail! This could seriously injure the turtle. You can safely help a snapping turtle in the road by using a car mat or by carefully holding them at the back of the shell and not the sides. Snapping turtles have very long necks and can bite your hands if you place them at the sides of the shell. 

5- Do NOT take it with you - please only focus on helping it get safely to the other side.

For a visual demonstration of turtle-handling techniques, this video from the Toronto Zoo is really helpful. It features one adorably confused turtle, and while the video is called “how to help a snapping turtle cross the road,” they also demonstrate the technique for helping any other type of turtle, which is basically just “hold it like you’re carrying a sandwich.”

So, I hope we’re all better equipped to help out some turtles. At the very least, keep your eyes on the road and drive at an appropriate speed.

END OF MAY NEWSLETTER

That about does it for this month. Stay curious, stay wonderful, and step outside to take a look at the moon every so often. The next full moon is on May 31st, which means we started and ended the month with a full moon! Pretty neat.