Happy July!
Hello, friends, and happy July!
I hope the month is off to a good start for you all! It's been hot here, but not as bad as it could be, which I'm grateful for. Here are today's offerings for the beginning of July:
On the Blog
Issue #4 of More Comics Please! is up, and it's a selection of three of my favorite queer comics!
✦ Read When I Was Me: Moments of Gender Euphoria if you're looking for short stories about transgender joy and love, a refreshing celebration of trans stories
✦ Read Leaf Lace if you're in the mood for a stunningly illustrated and paced short comic using knitting as a literary tool to explore love and loss; this is truly one of the best short comics I've ever read
✦ Read My Love Mix-Up! Volume 1 if you're in the mood for a light-hearted, sweet, and very funny comic about two young boys figuring out their queer identities after a misunderstanding
I interviewed the absolutely lovely artist Kameron White, and we talked about xer work in comics and illustration, xer upcoming and latest works, and more. It was an absolute delight interviewing Kameron, and I'd love for you to read what he shared with me!
Here's an excerpt:
"Jessi: I think a lot about the ways being marginalized harms us and how the aspects of our identity are rarely depicted as a strength in popular narratives. For me, that includes my disabilities, fatness, queerness, etc. But I find that these things bring a lot of positive aspects to my life and work and make it unique and beautiful. Do you feel that aspects of your identity and life experiences as a marginalized person can be a source of strength in your work?
Kameron: Absolutely! I’ve been through my life where some people have viewed these things as weaknesses and something to be ashamed of, and that closed me in. Through my work, creating comics, and characters, I was able to find strength and celebration in celebrating myself, marginalized characters, and marginalized stories. Growing up I’ve seen how in some cases these marginalized characters had instead been the butt of the joke and stereotyped and how that affected me, but I want to do better so people can truly see themselves represented and celebrated."
In the Studio
My work on a personal horror comic has been put on pause because I learned that Silver Sprocket has open submissions for mini comics starting August 1st. I admire Silver Sprocket's ethos as a publisher based on what I've seen from them so far, and I think it would be good practice for me to create a comic to submit to them. So that's what I've been working on recently!
Here's a look at the first draft of my script:
I'm currently thinking of pitching it as Classic Fairy Tales meet John Wick 😁 (Also, I still maintain that John Wick is a fairy tale series lol)
I'm using the Standard Comic Script from comic artists Steenz and Camilla Zhang. I tweaked it a bit to help my brain process it a little easier, and it's very helpful as a foundation for comic script formatting.
I also experimented last month with some illustrations and enjoyed how they came out. It's different from my typical style, but I really enjoyed getting into the flow of these pieces and playing around with some brushes and colors.
The brushes I used for these pieces were:
Apple Crumble by Magdalina Dianova
Chonky by Magdalina Dianova
Blunt - A modified version of Studio Pen that I tweaked to have a blunter tip and larger size
Comics I Read in June
I've decided to introduce a section here in the newsletter sharing some comics I've read because More Comics Please! just can't keep up with how much I'm reading! 😂 I try to share reviews on the Storygraph and Goodreads when I get the time, so feel free to follow me there if you want early peeks at my reviews of these.
But don't worry if those sites aren't your thing; I'll eventually* include these in my reviews on my website! Please also note that I don't necessarily recommend everything on this list (although I do most of them)-- just wanted to share what I've read lately!
✦ This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America
✦ Milk + Mocha Comics Collection: Our Little Happiness
✦ The Nice House on the Lake TP Volume 1
✦ Daughter of a Thousand Faces
✦ Cut Open (again because I love that comic)
✦ Headless by mochipanko
✦ Malcolm Kid and the Perfect Song
✦ Mage and the Endless Unknown
✦ Frizzy
✦ Just Another Day in Pelican Town
✦ The Circus Was in Town that Day (not about clowns, don't worry)
✦ and I've started but not yet finished Understanding Comics
And if you're not quite ready for Pride to end (or perhaps you're participating in Wrath Month lol), I shared a long thread of queer comics I've enjoyed that you can check out, too.
*Editor's note: As of March 2024, the blog has been shut down. The links in the newsletter archives are now the archived versions of the blog posts. Thank you for reading!
See You Next Time!
If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider supporting my work on Patreon, where I share more behind the scenes looks at my work, previews of illustrations + works in progress, shop discount codes, and other rewards for $5 a month.
That's it for today! I hope you have a wonderful start to the month, and I'll see you in a couple weeks 💖
With love,
they/them
