Class and taboo

In the pursuit of transparency, I’m gonna share some numbers with y’all about money in Comic Freelancing — Rian Sygh 🏳️‍🌈 (@RianSygh) March 25, 2017 @RianSygh I worked my ass off last year, to sickness and burnout, and am still only scraping by. I think this transparency is important — Rian Sygh 🏳️‍🌈 (@RianSygh) March … Continue reading →

Speculative Relationships and the closest I will ever come to writing fanfic

I’m really happy to announce that my comic will be featured in the third and final volume of Speculative Relationships! I’m very pleased to be in excellent company with all the other artists on the lineup. The piece I’m working on is a spin-off of a longer script I wrote that’s heavily based on the … Continue reading →

Kawai’s Guide to finding the best underground art, nightlife and alternative events in another city with ZERO connections

So last year at TCAF, there was a cartoonist from abroad (who shall remain unnamed) who was like, “so where do we go to party and get drugs around here?” Since this is probably a common query for people out of town, I thought I’d share my time-tested-and-true strategies for finding the nightlife you want … Continue reading →

Seth in conversation with DeForge + reflections on Canadian art and identity

Seth: Making History – In Conversation with Michael DeForge was an event well worth attending for Canadian comics lovers. It was a rare opportunity to hear a cross generational discussion about comics from two of the most preeminent Canadian cartoonists working today. As a bonus, attendees were also treated to two brief lectures analyzing Seth’s … Continue reading →

Five comics for trying times

I usually write posts reviewing or analyzing comics – and more often than not, they’re rather naughty. Given recent events south of the border, I thought I’d change gears and write about some comics that I thought would be suitable reads for trying times. I’ve avoided what I think are obvious suspects like Maus or … Continue reading →

Sayonara Mirvish Village + last party at The Beguiling on Markham

January has finally passed and Mirvish Village will be clearing out to make way for a residential complex by Vancouver developer Westbank. This tightly packed strip was home to an eclectic number of businesses and organizations aside from The Beguiling: the specialized video rental store, Suspect Video; a number of clothing stores including one that … Continue reading →

On free speech and meaningful speech

I thought I’d write a post about the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s statement on Simon & Schuster because I think it is a part of a larger trend. I support freedom of speech but find too many debates about free speech are based on a superficial view of “free” speech that’s like the “free” … Continue reading →

Comic: Ana & Friends

Was backing up files on my external hard drive and realized I’d forgotten about this series I did earlier in 2016. I basically wanted to show mental illnesses in a more nuanced way. In clockwork order they are: bipolar disorder, anorexia, addiction and anxiety. I tried to include a little symbolism with each one as … Continue reading →

2016 in review

2016 was not an easy year for me personally. The year was consumed by caregiving responsibilities for two unrelated individuals so making comics and zines – and even reading comics and zines – pretty much got sidelined this year. I did manage to table at two zine fairs though: Canzine and Zine Dream! Had some … Continue reading →

Some reviews

Came across a couple reviews of some of my zines ❤ Click on the links to read the reviews in their totality. From Quimby’s re: Kawai’s Guide to Falling in Love with Inappropriate Persons: a wonderfully composed and thoughtful read resting under its cheeky title. And over at Broken Pencil, Joshua Barton writes about Kawai’s … Continue reading →