Hello!

Sorry about the radio silence. Covid sucked away my ability to do much, but I am on the mend. This comic was drawn just before I became ill, I didn’t even have the strength to post it, despite it being drawn!

I drew the comic as part of Dune, which is a lovely cartoonist get together. In pre-Covid times, Seattle cartoonists would cram into Café Racer on the third Tuesday of the month. The place would be packed from head to toe, come in later in the night and you’d really have to get creative finding a spot to sit. The deal was, you drew a comic at Café Racer, black and white, no more than two pages. You’d chip in $5 for printing, and next Dune meetup you’d have get a copy of the comicbook anthology from the previous month.

It was a fun event, lots of weird and wonderful indy comics, folks just starting to explore their craft and seasoned veterans. I found out about Dune from David Lasky, who is now the maintainer of Virtual Dune. Without Café Racer to meet at, the rule is, you must draw the comic on that day. The definition of day is until you go to bed, so comics put up at 4am are fine, if you haven’t slept yet. If you’d like to participate, message me, it’s a pretty friendly group.

It's interesting drawing it fast and posting it up, you don’t get to overthink it. For me, the comic is a continuation of topics I explored in Ordinary Madness. I hope it works ok for folks that haven’t read it! I didn’t think of that until I drew and shared it with Dune. It’s kind of odd, for me it’s a continuation of the conversation I started with the book, but of course very few people have the book!

I might post some of the pages within the comic as locked to Patrons content, just to keep people a bit more in the loop. Let me know if there are particular sneak previews you’d like from within the pages.

And of course, looking back on the comic now, I ponder… well feeling kinship with folks who experience homelessness is nothing new. It was there pre-psychosis. What is new is extra mirror neurons when folks are behaving extra strangely. I don’t know if that level of detail matters or not for a comicbook. Something to think about as I wrestle with creating the next big comic.

Little Liz comics like this will only be on Patreon and my Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks to all my patrons and a special big extra thanks to Kate Webb, Erik Owomoyela, Xander Odell, Stuart Barrow and Jesse the K.

Reflections, a two page comic transcript

Page 1

Little Liz monologue

When I see a homeless person on the street

I feel a pang of kinship

I know how easily it could be me.

One of my people is hurting!

Sometimes I don’t know what to do.

Sometimes I can feel a little love and kindness can help… if they are in a space to receive it.

Little Liz speaks: I’m sorry you’re going through this

Page 2

Little Liz thought bubble: I think any interaction may escalate this person.

Little Liz thought bubble: Think kind thoughts and have a relaxed, non-threatening posture.

Sometimes there are no good options, especially if they are alsosick with anger.

Little Liz speaks: I’m sorry my sister, I feel you my brother. I remember how much a little kindness meant. When I was drowning scared, and talking to myself on the street.

Little Liz is crying and there’s a big mess of scribbles to represent speech. The placement of the image with the text can give a vibe of flashback, rather than Little Liz crying now.