Heyhey my broskis.

I'm surviving my May Madness just fine, and I bear some (very good) news - right after this reminder!

👀 Reminder 👀

The Study of Comics in Academia & Beyond

(Register)

May 30 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT

Nib & Ink Festival

Join cartoonist and comics devices curator Reimena Yee as she introduces the work of comics scholars and educators Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), Dr. Neil Cohn (Speaking in Pictures) and Nick Sousanis (Unflattening). Together they will discuss the exciting developments in comics academia, and how cartoonists and academics benefit from each other’s expertise.

The Carpet Merchant Book 2 rerun begins!

(Read now - 6 page update)

Next update is May 30th, and will resume every Wednesday and Saturday

TCM 10th Anniversary Rerun is back online after a month's hiatus. We begin with Book 2: The Vampire, the night before Zeynel embarks on a business trip that will change his life... forever.

You'll see that I've also finished the 10th Anniversary version of Book 1's cover. I'm really happy with how this came out overall: drawing carpets is a pain, but the results are always worth it!

May Madness Shenanigans

It's a running joke in my personal life that May to August ends up unintentionally being the busiest time of year. Not necessarily because I scheduled it to be so; just that somehow the forces of the universe love keeping me busy during Australian Winter a.k.a the Peak of my Seasonal Affective Disorder a.k.a when I am at my lowest energy levels. Publishers schedule things, festivals happen... and graphic novels get written.

Bee's Guide to Applied Romantics

Coming soon from First Second

The news will come out soon in official channels (later this week or early next on Publishers' Weekly), and you lucky folks get to hear it FIRST!!

Bee has never been asked out. Yet everyone around her seems to already be in relationship or is in the process of getting one. Though Bee loves all things romantic - the tropes, the thrills, the flairs and fireworks - she has never fallen in love, and has no idea how to even begin.

When one of Bee’s best friend asks for her help to secure the affections of the most popular boy in school, Bee finally has had enough of playing pretend and decides to get some real world experience to back her advice. Relying on her encyclopedic knowledge of romantic tropes, she randomly chooses a boy to crush on and undertakes a year-long experiment to win his heart.

It works. Except Bee is slowly gaining feelings for her lab rat. When the relationship starts becoming physical, Bee begins to realise that there are some forms of romance that she cannot reciprocate.

Will Bee find her happily ever after, or will the fantasy come crashing down?

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This graphic novel has been a long time coming!! I sold this to First Second ages ago (2022), but well... you newsletter-readers know the juggles and tribulations that affected my life for the last 4 years. The creative block was so bad I almost lost hope over my ability to complete a story.

But I did it!!!

I am so excited to be co-authoring Applied Romantics with Eisner (Harvey, etc)-winning comics creator, Erica Eng: a fellow Malaysian and dear friend! Erica and I will be equally sharing the load of Applied Romantic's storytelling. While I main on the textual storytelling and Erica on the visual storytelling, we'll be tag-teaming the process.

Erica's interpretation of the script is SO stunning already!! I can't wait to show it to the world!! In the meantime, here are some of my doodlings and ramblings.

Applied Romantics is inspired by late 90s - early 00s romantic comedies, and my youth pouring through teen magazines, blogs and shows. I really enjoyed the cozy whimsy of Y2K rom-com (my favourites: 13 Going on 30, Sleepless in Seattle, Pushing Daisies), and noticed how so many of them were epistolary i.e using the technology of the time, like e-mail, diaries. So I set mine during the hipster peak Tumblr era, incorporating the ask box, MSN, text messages and blog posts.

Applied Romantics is currently in the visual production stage: that means Erica and I are working hard on thumbnailing the page layouts. We can't really confirm when Applied Romantics will be released... but we're hoping to share more of the process and build interest as we continue working on it. Stay tuned for more process art. ;)

Alexander Book 1 Ebook in Store

(Get your copy)

This bad boy's in my online store. If you want your own digital copy of Alexander Comic, head on over and download it!! A tip will be appreciated.

What's Happened Since

May Madness meant I was MIA in the online world. I am not kidding when I said this is my busy period.

This newsletter is getting to be CHOCK FULL so I will end it here for now.

✨Support Me On Buttondown✨

Additionally and finally: I've set up a paid subscription/patreon model for this newsletter. If you'd like to support me with $3/$5/$10 a month, or pay as you want, please head on over to my Buttondown to upgrade your subscription.

Your financial support will help me to continue making webcomics outside of the traditional publishing structure, particularly Alexander Comic and The World in Deeper Inspection, and facilitate ongoing scholarship and maintenance on the Comics Devices Library.

Anyway! I will be back soon with more news about COMICS!! And the opening of pet portrait commissions. And hopefully, the return of a dormant webcomic.

Till very soon,

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