CW: suicide, gun violence
I have a new comic up on The Nib, as part of a Response feature on gun culture. You can read all the comics here.
Mine is about a school shooting that occurred at my high school when I was in 10th grade:
Posts categoriezed as The Scoop
Valley of the Silk Sky returns on Dec 14; Mini Comic Con this weekend; Editorial Cartoon book now available!
Valley of the Silk Sky returns on Dec 14; Mini Comic Con this weekend; Editorial Cartoon book now available! published on Read more posts by the author of Valley of the Silk Sky returns on Dec 14; Mini Comic Con this weekend; Editorial Cartoon book now available!, Dylan EdwardsNo Comments on Valley of the Silk Sky returns on Dec 14; Mini Comic Con this weekend; Editorial Cartoon book now available!
I’ve finished coloring all the pages in chapter 8 – still gotta do cleanup, but the hard work is done! That means Valley of the Silk Sky chapter 8 will commence on December 14 as planned. If you want to refresh your memory or get caught up, you can browse the Table of Contents on the Valley of the Silk Sky website, or you can hit up the archive here on Studio NDR.
If you don’t want to wait, you can always drop $1 a month over at my Patreon and get early access to pages. Patrons will be seeing updates on Mondays, and then the page will go public on Thursdays.
Also, this weekend on December 9, I’ll be tabling at Mini Comic Con 2 here in Denver. It’ll be at the Sam Gary Branch Library from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, and it’s FREE to get in, so head on over if you’re in town.
You’ll be able to pick up my new books there: The Outfield collection, and Bleating About the Bush, which collects all of my old editorial cartoons.
And, of course, I’ll have all the rest of my books there as well, in addition to some Feeping Creatures art and merch.
See you there!
Cheers,
Dylan
Editorial cartoon book, and Valley of the Silk Sky progress report
The next stage of my Big Cartoon Archiving Project is nearing completion: a collected volume of all of my editorial cartoons for the Texas Triangle and TXT Newsmagazine.
I’m currently awaiting a proof of the print version of the book. Once I’ve had a chance to look that over and approve it, I’ll make it available for purchase. As with The Outfield book, it’ll be available as a POD print volume, a high-res PDF for a few bucks, and a web-res PDF for free.
While I’m pretty sure most of the world isn’t clamoring for a collection of political comics from a dozen years ago, I can definitely see the value of this book for anyone studying queer history during the Bush II years, or librarians who have an interest in archiving material from the now largely defunct queer newspaper scene. Or, ya know, anyone who’s looking for a stark reminder that Bushism was absolutely a dry run for Trumpism. Ha ha. Whee.
ANYWAY. I expect the book to be available probably in early December, assuming all goes well with the proof review process.
On a totally different note, Valley of the Silk Sky chapter 8 is coming along. I have four pages completely colored (still need to clean up and letter the scans), so I’m looking at a Dec. 14 launch to start publishing the new material (or Dec. 11 for $1+ Patrons).
For those of you keeping track, this means I’m shifting my regular update day from Wednesday to Thursday. Mostly this is because Wednesday already seems overcrowded with webcomic updates. Will Thursday be any better? Who knows! It’s kind of an experiment to see if it makes any difference.
Anyway, point being, VotSS returns in less than a month!
Cheers,
Dylan
The Outfield collection is now available!
As teased a few weeks ago, I’ve been working on a print book collection of all my old Outfield comics, and that collection is now available! I have it in three formats:
- A print book, available from Amazon for $20
- A high res PDF available on Gumroad for $6.99
- A web res PDF available on Gumroad for FREE
Also, as previously intimated, I’ve taken the old web archive offline. Most of those files were prepped in the days before HD monitors and were difficult to read on modern screens. In addition, the format used to create the archive is out-of-date and will break when I upgrade my website, so it had to come down anyway.
But that’s why I put together the free web res PDF – all the comics are still available for free, and the web res PDF is still better quality than the old online archive.
ANYWAY. Go forth and grab whichever format appeals to you the most!
Cheers,
Dylan
Asexual Awareness Week AND Bat Week??
Apparently Asexual Awareness Week and Bat Week coincide, so here’s an Ace Bat for ya.
The bat art is from one of the $5+ Patreon backer postcards I sent out recently, recolored here to match the Asexual flag. (The original is orange, as this is a painted bat.)
Since this is freehanded ink-on-paper (no pencils), I guess it kinda counts as an Inktober as well. So many hashtags.
In quick other news, I have one page left to pencil for Valley of the Silk Sky chapter 8, and then that stage of the process will be done. HOORAY! I’m hoping to have it ready to start running by mid-December.
Also: The Outfield collection is in the proofing stage. First pass had a number of corrections, but I’m hoping most of that got sorted out. I’ll need to get a second proof to confirm. Anyway, it’s still on track for a November 2017 release.
Cheers,
Dylan
The Outfield collection in the works, and a complete website overhaul
Now that convention season is over for me for the next few months, my goal is to redesign my website at long last, a task that has needed to get done for many a year.
At the moment, my site is more of an archaeological dig, less of a usable portfolio. I don’t even have my more recent award-winning comics on here because I don’t know where to put them amidst the clutter. So I’m going to remove all the series I no longer update, and archive them in one fashion or another.
In the case of The Outfield, the comics will be made available as a $20 POD print book, a $5 high-res PDF, and a free low-res PDF.
I’ve finished setting up the Outfield book in InDesign, and it’s currently awaiting approval to go to proof at CreateSpace. Once I have the proof and have confirmed there are no corrections, I’ll make it available for sale. $1+ Patreon subscribers will automatically get a copy of the high-res PDF.
I’m planning on a November release for the Outfield book, so stick it on yer calendar.
As to when all this stuff gets yanked offline here, I don’t know yet. I’m still giving thought to how I want to arrange things. I’m also probably going to have to change my WordPress theme, since the one I’ve been using isn’t maintained and is broken as fuck. Fun!
But I expect what I’ll do is wipe the whole thing clean, and then add things back as I deem them worthy. I’ve been making comics for 17 years now, and it’s past time to bring some focus to my body of work.
Cheers,
Dylan
New comic up on The Nib – Banned Books; CXC this weekend
I have a new comic up on The Nib, as part of their Banned Books feature. Be sure to check out all six comics, with a bunch of different artists discussing their fave banned books!
As you can see, I elected to talk about Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. When I was working on Transposes, I studied FH closely for tips on how to put together a compelling non-fiction narrative.
Before that, Dykes to Watch Out For was a big influence on my own early attempts at an ensemble cast comic, namely Politically InQueerect. While PiQue eventually went more in a traditional comic format direction, you can see in the early strips where I basically just lifted the D2WO4 format.
Anyway, thanks to Alison for being a big inspiration, and to The Nib for giving me a platform to talk a little bit about her awesomeness.
ALSO: I will be at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus this weekend, Sept. 30 – Oct. 1. I am not actually sure what my table assignment is? But I will definitely be there and you should find me and buy a bunch of comics. Yep.
Cheers,
Dylan
STAPLE! this weekend, New Threadless store, and a shout-out from Buzzfeed
I’ll be returning to the STAPLE! Independent Media Expo for the first time in 4 years! It’s happening this weekend, September 9-10, in good ol’ Austin, Texas.
This will be the convention debut of my new enamel pins, the Caterpillar and the Catstronaut, so come snag ’em while they’re hot! (Or if you can’t make it to STAPLE, you can buy them online in my Etsy store.)
MEANWHILE. I have set up a Feeping Creatures Threadless shop for all your POD monster needs. Shirts, bags, phone cases, shower curtains! All kinds of fun stuff. Click on an image to see all the different designs associated with it.
I need a new phone case anyway, and am thinking I might go with the Toxoplasmoids version. I mean, why NOT cover your phone in adorable bacteria.
Finally, I got a shout-out in this Buzzfeed listicle of 28 Trans, Queer, and Nonbinary comic creators. Check it out, because there’s a TON of amazing artists in there.
Okay, gotta go get ready to head to the airport. Upon my return, it’s back to penciling chapter 8 of Valley of the Silk Sky!
Cheers,
Dylan
Valley of the Silk Sky on Amazon, and Up Next: MALCon
I sold out of the first print run of Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run Part One, and for various reasons it turned out to be easiest to reprint through CreateSpace. So that means VotSS is now available for sale on Amazon! This is especially good news if you’re in Europe, since you can now get it from their European distribution centers and won’t have to pay the absurd international shipping rates and duties from the U.S. Woo!
If you already have Part One or are enjoying the webcomic, please do leave a review for me, thx.
And if you’re wondering when the heck I’m ever going to around to chapter 8, I’m about to start penciling it just as soon as I finish this post.
The next convention on the schedule is MALCon Denver, a.k.a. Myths and Legends Con, happening August 4-6. I’ll be tabling with Out in Colorado. I’ll also be on a buttload of panels:
Sat, 9:00 AM-9:50 AM, To Self Pub or Not: Is It Really Easy? (Serenity)
Sat, 10:00 AM-10:50 AM, It Ain’t the Writing, It’s the Rewriting: The Power of Revision (Helms Deep)
Sat, 1:00 PM-1:50 PM, Pitching to the Editor (Nevernever)
Sat, 10:00 PM-10:50 PM, Ow, My Spleen! (The Shire)
Sun, 1:00 PM-1:50 PM, Marketing for Writers (Room of Requirement)
So if you’re in Denver, you should ought come to that, and maybe forgive me if I’m a little loopy on Saturday.
Cheers,
Dylan
We’re Still Here Kickstarter is live!
My current project is my comic for the all-trans We’re Still Here anthology, and you can back the Kickstarter for it even now!
This 300+ page tome is, believe it or not, the first (that we know of) comics anthology dedicated exclusively to trans comics and trans creators. And there are a ton of great folks included: Melanie Gillman, Sophie LaBelle, Sybil Lamb, Ajuan Mance, Annie Mok, L Nichols, Ronnie Richie, Bishakh Som, Scout Tran-Caffee, and tons more.
Added bonus: both of the editors (Jeanne Thornton and Tara Avery) are trans, and the publisher, Stacked Deck Press, is trans-owned and operated. So every penny goes to support trans folks!
I’m doing an autobio piece about my trip last fall to a Japanese trans guy bar. Folks who pledge a dollar or more a month to my Patreon are being treated to work-in-progress images.
So if you wanna peep some process pix, put in a pledge!
And don’t forget to back the Kickstarter and help make this book a reality!
Cheers,
Dylan