May/June Bottleship

Greetings, shipmates—

I write this month with a double digest of new project announcements, recordings, and other sundry goods. I just got back from Festival of Sail Tacoma, where I got to meet a bunch of lovely sailor fans and return to the Lady Washington to spend an evening hauling lines and shouting a lot out on the water. It was deeply good for my soul.

I'm currently gearing up to Kickstart a collection of comics (and a plush toy!) from the 100 Demon Dialogues project I've been doing for the last few months. Part of me thinks I'm mad for running another campaign so soon, but I also really want this project to become an object that people can own and share in the real world, so here goes nothin'. The campaign will be up just after July 4th—I'll be sure to announce it here when it goes live.

Here's a quick rundown of the other stuff that's been going on over the last month or two:

• I joined forces with writer Sarah Mirk and colorist Joey Weiser to cover a history of Wonder Woman from her creation to the present over on The Nib. It was a lot of work, but I'm really proud of how it came out. As someone who doesn't have a lot of superhero literacy, I learned a great deal working on it!
  

• There's a new episode of The Galaxy of Super Adventure up for your listening pleasure. The show, for those of you who aren't familiar, follows the adventures of a group of hapless cartoonists traveling through space in their ship The Crowquill. We blend sketches from an eccentric cast of characters with practical discussions about making creative work and working in comics. It's a lot of fun. (I first joined the show back on Episode 9, if you'd like to get some more context.)

• I contributed this brief comic to a roundup on the future of the Affordable Care Act for The Nib. The piece also features a comic by my Galaxy of Super Adventure co-host Zack Giallongo. (If you're looking for ways to help save the ACA, Ben Wikler of MoveOn has some advice.)

• There are two new episodes of my informal Patreon podcast that have now gone public ($10 Patrons get them early). Here are discussions with Nicole Dieker about self-publishing and financial transparency, and Kristen Haas Curtis about focus and having Too Many Ideas.

• Speaking of Nicole, her essay for The Awl about lessons learned from self-publishing her first novel is absolutely lovely and worth a read.
• If you'd like a copy of my latest maritime comic, Mappin' the Floor, you can grab it for just the cost of shipping in my store right now. Pre-ordered copies are getting mailed out this week. I'm also doing a Q&A livestream about the experience of drawing this comic in the middle of the Pacific Ocean this Friday at 4pm PST. Here's the link for that.

• For your monthly dose of maritime pleasure: here's an illustrated ship's log that recently sold at auction. I can't believe the detail on these drawings.
• ​Finally: I keep thinking about this paragraph from Cory Doctorow's Makers.

You get off a plane, turn some strangers into best friends, get on a plane and forget them until you come back into town, and then you take it all back up again.

If that isn't the truth of it, I don't know what is. It's been a long year and a half of traveling, and I'm so happy to be staying home for the next six weeks, but I also recognize the pull of wanting to hurl myself into the world to forge more of these human connections. 

Keep being kind to each other, and keep forging those connections. I'm so grateful to have you all here.

Fair winds,
Lucy