I am excited to be making a teen romcom with Erica Eng, one of the best comics creators in Malaysia who I am lucky to also call a friend!! More about Bee's Guide to Applied Romantics in the cut.

Or perceived as only suitable for children and not the parents or guardians/cool adults who I actually crafted the comic for in the first place.

(kinda a clickbait dramatic flattening-of-the-thesis title but the feelings are not un-truth)

To clarify what I mean by “adult” before I start my hot take / vent, I mean “content made primarily for an adult-aged audience” - so anyone over 18, maybe 16 if you’re cool. I don’t mean erotica, though sexuality and sensuality can be covered as topics or themes. Anyway,

Last week I participated in a seminar about the value of using webcomics as a tool for public history. There was a list of questions set by the moderator to structure the conversation -- and as the kind of person who needs to prep for panels and public speaking events with pre-written answers, I gladly yoinked the question list from the screenshot.

So, anyone who missed the seminar and wanted to know what I might have said, here are my thoughts on the topic! (Not all of the questions came up during the actual discussion)

I think adults in gatekeeping positions (educators, librarians, editors, etc) need comics education MORE than the youth they are attempting to connect to.

I recently sprung on a Steamdeck after months of thinking about it, so I was mentally assembling a list of not-on-Apple-or-Switch games that I wanted to get (Jusant, Sable, Elden Ring...). The Egypt and Greek editions of Assassins Creed happened to be among the entries, and I went on to its subreddit to reconfirm my future intent to play the games. Then, of course, expectedly, I stumbled upon a comment that made me form a discourse in my head.

I was interviewed by Aisyah Anesee for her article on The Star (Malaysian newspaper) advocating for comics as a beneficial medium. An abridged version of the interview was printed as a sidebar in the printed edition. I did have some hot takes that weren't all mentioned in the sidebar, so I am posting the original interview here on my blog, which is where all my hot takes live.

Another artist meme lands.

I am excited about the Alexander Romance again.

Heylo, I will be revealing my hot takes about comics in REAL LIFE this Saturday at St Kilda Life Saving Club. Come to the panel "Grawlixes and emanata" and watch Paul Peart Smith, Jon Kudelka, Sarah Howell and myself talk about how we can speak about comics as creators and for the art form at large.

I was asked by the Australian Librarian comics advocacy group ALIA and the Primary English Teachers Association Australia to present a talk on 'the power and potential of graphic novels and comics for young readers, their benefits for developing readers and their language/visual literacy skills, and what you keep in mind when you’re making comics for a young audience!'.