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Posts tagged Bleating About the Bush

Saving queer history from the memory hole

Saving queer history from the memory hole published on
LGBTQ editorial cartoons

From 2004-2005, I did a weekly editorial cartoon on queer topics of the day for the Texas Triangle (later rebranded as TXT Newsmagazine). In 2017 I put together a collected edition of these cartoons, mostly for archival purposes. I didn’t think a book of comics about topical issues from many years ago was going to sell gangbusters, and I was right. It’s by far my worst-selling book. But I still felt like it was important to keep this material available, especially as queer newspapers around the country went into decline and ceased publication altogether.

When I reread these comics as I assembled the collection, I was struck by how much Trumpism was merely a natural progression from Bushism. And so the value of archiving this material increased: a two-year timeline of proto-Trump Republicanism that was never going to be preserved in any fashion if I didn’t preserve it myself.

One thing the right-wing Christians who funded Project 2025 want to do is to label all mention of queer and trans people as pornography so it can be banned as Bad For The Children. These comics are decidedly not pornographic in any way, shape, or form, but it would still be fodder for the wave of censorship that’s coming.

There’s a push now to start archiving queer media as much as possible. This book is currently available both as a digital download and a print book. If you would like to do your own archiving, you can get it here: http://www.studiondr.com/comics/editorial-cartoons/

Cheers,

Dylan

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 No Comments on Valley of the Silk Sky returns on Dec 14; Mini Comic Con this weekend; Editorial Cartoon book now available!

Valley of the Silk Sky Chapter 8

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.

queer and trans comics by Dylan Edwards

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

Editorial cartoon book, and Valley of the Silk Sky progress report published on No Comments on Editorial cartoon book, and Valley of the Silk Sky progress report

LGBTQ editorial cartoons

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

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