Our next stretch goal for @jayeatonart.bsky.social's "Runaway to the Stars:" a PRINT EDITION SET of the webcomic's character AMAs, added as an add-on!
We're just $13k away from this goal! Wanna help us get there?
www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...
A comic page. Two anthropomorphic cats and a little teddy bear stand at the end of a train's passenger car. Mummy cats sit peacefully in the seats. The bear answers a call from outside the train then climbs up to open the window.
More Cap'n Lao means more sailor idiomatic expressions. It's a new page of 🚂The Case of the Mummy Express🚂. Read the whole webcomic here: jdrozd.com/comic/the-ca...
#KidLit #DoctorBaer #Cats
A cartoon drawing of anthropomorphic characters in a tavern. A cat bartender cleans a glass as a teddy bear and wild cat siy at the bar eating sandwiches and cake.
A cozy place to talk with locals over a slice of cake.
#DoctorBaer #sketchbook
Photo of jam's hand holding "Motherlover" by Lindsay Ishihiro
I also finally picked up MotherLover and I just got sucked in to read the whole thing and cried ofc
2000!!!! 🎆
Thank you everyone for helping break this milestone! 🚀
She lies down on her pillow, grimacing as the shiver begins to chatter her teeth again. Talita: Ugh… I’m not snapping because I’m angry, I… Bip: I know you aren't angry. You sound miserable. This mic doesn’t pick up infrasound but I can hear it vibrating the desk. Talita: I wish I’d just cry instead. Bip: Frankly, I think eye lube leakage is a far weirder stress response. Talita's jaw pries itself open again, and her voice becomes shaky. Talita: Whatever… It doesn't matter which I do, I'm still a pathetic freak… Her teeth snap together again with a loud CLACK and another infrasonic groan sends a vibration through the dresser. Bip's avatar looks upset, unsure of how to respond to her self-loathing spiral. Bip: Talita, you are… THE most profoundly xenosocialized person I’ve ever met. I think it's a testament to your fortitude that you're as well adjusted as you are.
The comic panel borders fall away, and Talita, jaw still trembling, props her head up against a starry sky. Behind her in the void, the ring of forty servers that contain the physical person she's speaking to floats, connected to the body of the Runaway by thin strings of white, a metallic electric nervous system of wires and circuits. Talita: …Bip, can I ask a weird question? The servers speak to her through her tablet computer, encoded invisible waves of telecommunication transforming a digital process into the vibration of a synthesized voice and rows of pixels into a live-rendered vector puppet animation. Bip: Sure. Talita: Sapient A.I. like you are all descended from one "faulty" quantum computer coded by bug ferrets, split into thousands of unique copies. They say the reason you cooperate so often with organic people is because just like the sophonts who made you, you have an intense need for social connection. She turns, no longer shivering, to the tablet on the dresser of her cluttered bedroom in the dry storage unit. Talita: Is that true? Do you ever find yourself acting like a bug ferret? Bip: Hard to say, I’ve never been a bug ferret. But as far back as my personal memory storage goes... I’ve always hated being alone.
Bip's avatar perches thoughtfully on the edge of her tablet as if it were a physical ledge. Bip: I copied myself into those phones as a self preservation impulse. But before you recovered them… offline, in a broken ship with a crew I couldn't save… I felt like I didn't have anything left to preserve. Talita lies on her bed, looking at the tablet on her dresser. She responds softly. Talita: I'm glad I found you. You're worth preserving. Bip: That's kind of you to say, Talita. She turns her face into her pillow, thinking. Talita: Bip... will you be looking for a new crew after this? Bip: You'd be welcome onboard. Talita: I'll think about it... On the wall above her bed, behind her posters of rockets and planes and space stations, stars seem to twinkle.
This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Talita cries like a centaur and asks Bip a strange question. Chapter 9 over.
Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Check out the Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironspike/runaw...
Saw Banned Book Club in the popular section on Comics Plus and decided to give it a read given what we’re dealing with in the U.S.
This book is based on the events that took place in South Korea in 1983 and it is a true story. It was a great read.
Black text on a yellow background reads: “Authors Against Book Bans speak out” and “Ryan Estrada” accompanied by an image of a man wearing glasses and the cover of the book “Banned Book Club”
Black text on a white background that reads, “What’s your name and most challenged book?” “My name is Ryan Estrada. Ironically, my book Banned Book Club, which I wrote with my wife Kim Hyun Sook about her experiences smuggling illegal books under a dictator in 1980s Korea, has been banned in six different cities. My second most banned book is Occulted, about how my friend Amy Rose used banned books to escape a UFO death cult. I guess the book banners really don’t like to see that their tactics are the same as despots and cult leaders.”
Black text on a white background that reads, “What’s your experience with being banned?” “I thought I was writing about history. When we started writing in 2017, book banning was not a topic of discussion in the US. In fact, the reason we got our book deal was that the editor was SHOCKED at the idea that South Korea was only a few decades away from having state-banned books. By the time the book came out three years later, not only were books being banned by the hundreds, but our book quickly became one of them.”
![Black text on a white background that reads, “What do you wish readers in general knew about book bans? It’s all a show. They claim to be a giant network of parents concerned about pornography in schools, but that’s all a lie. It’s like a dozen people, and I know all of them [...] None of them have children in the school districts they target. Many don’t even live in those districts and drive in from another state. They are political operatives, funded by organizations whose investments in private schools are benefited by making public schools worse, or whose campaigns benefit from damaging libraries.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4e3azwmhkhqets2gvislixae/bafkreigjr6kl5qhobw3354hcjervbsnwu6usc3uqbmos4tpun6cfsb2oc4)
Black text on a white background that reads, “What do you wish readers in general knew about book bans? It’s all a show. They claim to be a giant network of parents concerned about pornography in schools, but that’s all a lie. It’s like a dozen people, and I know all of them [...] None of them have children in the school districts they target. Many don’t even live in those districts and drive in from another state. They are political operatives, funded by organizations whose investments in private schools are benefited by making public schools worse, or whose campaigns benefit from damaging libraries.
We asked members of @authorsabb.bsky.social to share their experiences of being banned. Thank you @ryanestrada.com for sharing your story!
Want to stay up-to-date on book bans? Sign up for our newsletter here: www.publishingprofessionalsagainstbookbans.com/contact
2000!!!! 🎆
Thank you everyone for helping break this milestone! 🚀
Infographic with text: Since 2017, funding for immigration policing & detention has increased by 171% while funding for libraries has increased only by 22%. Not adjusted for inflation.
Happy National Library Week.
In less than 10 years, U.S. spending on immigration policing & detention increased by 171% while funding for libraries didn't even keep up with inflation.
Some priorities. 🤔
The 2nd volume of Rigsby WI
Another booku for the comic shelfffff 🔥 🔥 🔥 (thanks again to @secase.bsky.social!)
And Meal, about eating insects intersectionally! @ironcircuscomics.bsky.social publish such interesting books. You never know what you will find in their catalog next.
Three books from Iron Circus - Rigsby WI vol 2, Meal and The Lucky Poor
Really happy I got my backer rewards for Rigsby WI today! Of course there’s the central book, the second volume of @secase.bsky.social ’s story of turn of the century small town teens, and two Iron Circus extras I’m excited to try: The Lucky Poor (about being given a Habitat for Humanity house)
Profile art of the centaur species from comic series “runaway to the stars”
I had a ton of fun drawing Talita so I’m working on a centaur oc!
#wip #art #centaur #rtts #runawaytothestars #oc
I may have backed Runaway to the Stars cuzzzz it's so good and interesting, in a xeno-anthropological-kind of way?! www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...
Daaaaaaang.
Y'all think @jayeatonart.bsky.social's Runaway to the Stars could hit 🏃🏃♀️🏃♂️2,000 BACKERS,🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♂️ today?!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...
PS: did you know we're gonna be Kickstarting a print version of The Goblin Throne this summer? And you can use evil magicks (ie, this link) to be among the first to know the moment it launches?? www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...
Right?? It's just that good! You'll love a physical or ebook later for when you really just want to know about that -one- thing!
So I kinda binged this whole comic in like a day and I'm real keen for more.
Runaway to the Stars has reached over 1950 backers as of today! We would LOVE to see it hit 2000 by the end of the day, and hopefully can entice those of you just getting here to climb aboard our roomy starflyer! Human-fostered 'Centuar' Talita discovers that the newest drop-off at the junkyard her desolate job site 'Dirtball' hosts has a presumed-defunct AI within! And they're looking to get out of the scrap and back into the stars, with the enticing promise of the ship's help if Talita helps. Check out our stretch goals here in our latest update!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironspike/runaway-to-the-stars/posts/4667207
It's the start of a new week and--
RttS is at practically at 2000 BACKERS?! 😱🤯
This calls for some STRETCH GOALS! 🧗 One of which we have already met with everyone's help! Take a look here at our latest update and join the crew!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro... #xenology #space #kickstarter
I’m so excited for more hard sci-fi xeno centaur content my dudes
Fuckin LOVE me some deeply explored speculative xenobiology/xeno…anthropology? Idk man just read it it’s so good and richly considered
Funding now with 1500+ backers already is RUNAWAY TO THE STARS! Talita discovers an AI discarded amongst several boxes of smartphones in a ship made by her species. But raised by humans, she doesn't fit in anywhere. Anywhere that is except with her two closest married bipeds. And Bip, we guess. Climb aboard a stellar hard scifi about traversing the stars and the several different species that sail them! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironspike/runaway-to-the-stars?ref=bv3t4m
![After skipping over several mediocre security programs, Bip is familiar with their hosts. And knows the three of them can help their problem: their brain (where most of the data for AI is stored) is in a ship scheduled for scrap. They flash Talita's degree after she asks them who they would even get to repair it. [Well, if I had to pick... It would be the woman with unlimited junkyard access and a master's in aerospace.]
Talita stammers and holds her shoulders. "St-Stop touching my files!" [-But that's not what I'm asking for. The only urgent thing is the power connection.]
"Yeah suuure." interjects Idrisah defending her flustered friend. "Why shouldn't we report you right now?" [Because snitching is lame?] Bip quips like its an obvious answer.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ym5gzus4axznc2dhbccznupt/bafkreifk2ai2kq4vumnw7lkos37fshucbwb6noxah4t72txknoxpwvvfji)
After skipping over several mediocre security programs, Bip is familiar with their hosts. And knows the three of them can help their problem: their brain (where most of the data for AI is stored) is in a ship scheduled for scrap. They flash Talita's degree after she asks them who they would even get to repair it. [Well, if I had to pick... It would be the woman with unlimited junkyard access and a master's in aerospace.] Talita stammers and holds her shoulders. "St-Stop touching my files!" [-But that's not what I'm asking for. The only urgent thing is the power connection.] "Yeah suuure." interjects Idrisah defending her flustered friend. "Why shouldn't we report you right now?" [Because snitching is lame?] Bip quips like its an obvious answer.
!["YOU'RE GONNA GET ARRESTED WHEN YOU TRY TO LEAVE ANYWAYS!!" Idrisah snaps at the program as Gillie just looks at the screen calmly because she cannot hear it (she's deaf). She shrugs instead and signs (Yeah unless you're planning to forge many papers...)
[You two would be a great help with that. Seeing how writing those papers is your day jobs.] Bip comments with their avatar smirking. "EXCUSE ME?" Idrisah tries to keep her just calmed temper at the idea of being an accomplice to this nonsense.
(Sounds like a lot of work. What's the pay?) Gillie asks with a twist of her fingers and humor for something she doesn't have to agree to in order to know. [Oh I'm legally dead. I have no assets. This offer comes with no bribes.] Bip admits immediately. [I just thought I would ask, since you three seem intriguing... highly skilled... and deeply bored.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ym5gzus4axznc2dhbccznupt/bafkreidohwemwgokyqfp5tb4zyjcoffed47qogp4ggt54bquzybymyjx44)
"YOU'RE GONNA GET ARRESTED WHEN YOU TRY TO LEAVE ANYWAYS!!" Idrisah snaps at the program as Gillie just looks at the screen calmly because she cannot hear it (she's deaf). She shrugs instead and signs (Yeah unless you're planning to forge many papers...) [You two would be a great help with that. Seeing how writing those papers is your day jobs.] Bip comments with their avatar smirking. "EXCUSE ME?" Idrisah tries to keep her just calmed temper at the idea of being an accomplice to this nonsense. (Sounds like a lot of work. What's the pay?) Gillie asks with a twist of her fingers and humor for something she doesn't have to agree to in order to know. [Oh I'm legally dead. I have no assets. This offer comes with no bribes.] Bip admits immediately. [I just thought I would ask, since you three seem intriguing... highly skilled... and deeply bored.]
Incredible processing power... itty-bitty functioning space.
Bip is trying to get out of 841 phones 📲, back into their ship 🚀, back into space 🌌...
And needs Talita, Idrisah, and Gillie's help!
Update your security programs! 🧀🐁 www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro... #anthro #scifi #space #crowdfund
Look who I found hanging at Hot Topic yesterday!
(seriously if you like Viktor, give Gaslight District a watch. @jmarnocha.bsky.social in aggressively dadmode character)
I thought "surely not" and checked in a private window to see if it was sorting the homepage based on my previous pledges but nope
UPDATE: Rigsby WI chapter 4 page 240
Rigsbywi.com
A selection of recommended books on display at the library, including graphic novel “Motherlover” by Lindsay Ishihiro
Hey @neomeruru.bsky.social look what the main VPL branch has on display at the front entrance!
Book cover for Motherlover by Lindsay Ishiro featuring an image of the upper bodies of two characters lying on grass, gazing at each other affectionately. The character on the left has longe orange-red hair tied back in a pony tail, wears a yellow and white striped sleeveless top and round glasses, and has a ring on thie left ring finger. The character on the right has long dark hair tied back in a ponytail as well and wears a black sleeveless shirt and a ring on their left ring finger as well. Around the two characters, the grass is dotted with yellow flowers, a few fallen leaves, and a baseball lies nearby. The title is prominently displayed at the top in large white uppercase letters. At the bottom right corner, the author’s name is written in smaller white uppercase letters.
Motherlover
Lindsay Ishiro
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
A graphic novel about both biological & found queer family that manages to address challenging topics while still being an incredible feel-good read, not least thanks to the beautiful artwork & the well-written characters.
Full review: anon.to/YlWWHv
#booksky
Cover of the fictionalized graphic memoir 'Banned Book Club’ (2020, Iron Circus Comics) from Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hung-Ju, and Ryan Estrada; art by Ko Hung-Ju
Book #27 of 2026 completed: Eisner-nominated 'Banned Book Club’ (2020, @ironcircuscomics.bsky.social) from Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hung-Ju, and @ryanestrada.com. Fictionalized graphic memoir centered on an underground student reading group during the all too real authoritarian period in 1980s South Korea.
Just 4️⃣ away from 1900!! You all are incredible!
Patience & Esther by S.W. Scarlet Wine Ghost Goes to Hell by Sage Coffey The Sea in You by Jessi Sheron Motherlover by Lindsey Ishihiro The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard
Now THAT'S a stack of comics