iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 01/09/2026

Post something random or you’ll have an awful september.

dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 04/08/2026

Phew, this is a long one about... kind of everything but also waymo. Read the whole thing here: midbrow.org/autonomous-c...

"Waymo Comes To Philly" by Izzy True

Comic panel:
pink dolphin guy sweating profusely, looking at phone on street corner.
"I'm on a street corner during a heat wave, looking at an alert about an ICE sighting in NE Philly. This week a parent was kidnapped picking up their kid from school in South Philly, among many other kidnappings across the city. In Houston,Texas, and in Biddeford, Maine, ICE shot two beloved fathers in cold blood. "

Comic Panel:
Portraits of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero
"I have a lot of memories of Biddeford from my childhood. My grandparents lived there in a little cottage a short walk from the ocean. Now I will remember it as the place where 26 year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was murdered in front of his 3 year-old daughter."

Comic Panel:
Pink dolphin guy, sweating, looking up from phone, small bubble says forecast: and a stick figure drawing of satan surrounded by flames.
"I'm concerned about the forecast; dangerous smoke from Canadian wildfires is drifting toward Philly, its harmful effects will be amplified by the intense heat. Then I see it."

Comic Panel:
Drawing of a waymo surrounded by wiggly eyeball ghosts
"A fucking Waymo. These autonomous vehicles have been rolled out in nearly a dozen US cities. It's unmistakable, a white jaguar with a big panormaic nipple of cameras slapped on top. "

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 26/07/2026

I forgot to post my review of the new Sad13 release! midbrow.org/lyricism-poe...

Image of anthropomorphic dog Sadie Dupuis in a fluffy pink dress hugging heard shaped guitar
"On 1331, Sad13 explores the power and potential of the short song. Released on July 10th on Exploding In Sound, Sad13 is the solo project of Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis."

A pink pocket watch with a big sailormoon style bow on top and a rainbow ribbon of light?time? shooting from the center
"Each track on 1331 is about a minute long, a formal experiment which really paid off. Dupuis' song writing has always struck me as kind of stream-of-consciousness... A catchy hook spirals off sideways. Dupuis lovingly traces the outline of pop while refusing to give you a line the same way twice."

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 24/06/2026

Here's my comic about the recent uptick in ICE activity in Philly: midbrow.org/when-ice-com...

Text: A few weeks ago, ICE kidnapped someone in my neighborhood.
Panel: A red baseball camp lying in the middle of an empty street.

Text: I've seen little to no reporting about the steady ICE activity in the South and far North of Philly, and only a few pieces about their continuous presence at the courthouse in Center City. If you aren't a member of a vulnerable community or hooked into local organizing, it would be easy to believe this stuff isn't happening here. The absolutely fucked reality is that all around us, families are being torn apart. People are living in fear. This was the first time I know of that it happened so close to me.

Text: A neighbor witnessed the kidnapping. They told my boyfriend about it on the street the morning it happened. My boyfriend has lived on this block for many years. If he wasn't on friendly terms with the neighbors, we never would have known.

Image: A lion guy looking worried in a pink shirt and blue shorts standing on the sidewalk, a neighbor dog in a black turtleneck sits on stoop with arms crossed saying "They just grabbed him..."

Text: All that week I kept wishing we knew everyone even better. Maybe we could have done something to help.

Image: Lion guy looking worried with pink dolphin rat guy who is saying "We were so close."

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 28/05/2026

I wrote about Foreland Basin's debut record, an excellent chamber folk project out of Philly. This is one of my favorite bands in Philly rn. midbrow.org/foreland-bas...

Comic panel with header text: "A strange, elegant creature stands before you, undulating with the rhythm of a flowing river... This is the sound of Foreland Basin's self titled debut album, out now on Tiny Kick Records."

image is of a pink dolphin rat guy looking at a giant 3 headed undulating rabbit monster, hands on hips

comic panel, header text: "I've loved this band ever since saw them play with Karl Blau a couple years ago. I'm so glad they finally released a full album! Foreland Basin makes lush folky chamber music. Multi-part harmony... A mélange of some of the most luxuriously beautiful instruments- cello, flute, banjo... Was that a clarinet or an oboe?"

a group of 6 musicians, dressed flowing robes wearing headbands with small model buildings. They are all anthropomorphized into various creatures. Bottom text reads "after a photo by frank sung, @frnksng on instagram"

this panel is just text:
"There's an easy comparison to Sufjan Stevens here, but with a rawness in production which lends the whole thing an intimate warmth. I love that you can hear people shifting in their seats as they play. Listening to the track Drawing A Mirror, I was transported back to a summer in highschool when I listened to The Books non-stop in rural NY and longed for things. Foreland Basin is a very different band, but there is a something in the rhythm and the found-sound feeling to these recordings that feels analogous. "

The 3 headed rabbit headed creature wiggles.
text: "My favorite feature of this group is that it is truly a vocal ensemble. Singers Mason McAvoy, Lauren Wilson, and Bay Fletcher each possess uniquely beautiful voices. As each one steps forward to lead a song or offer a contrasting timbre, it feels like that strange creature is revealing different faces to you."

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 22/05/2026

I think ppl in Philadelphia should subscribe to my publication’s newsletter bc they allow me to make comics like this no questions asked. midbrow.org/tag/philadel...

A scene of a city park. The three figures, a dog lady in a skirt, a wombat man sitting on a bench, and the dolphin rat guy, are all carrying buckets of pee. They look as if they are experiencing a deep satisfaction. The caption reads “The piss economy!”

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 03/05/2026

Post a pic of urself then how u draw urself

A washed out flash photo of a bar- the main subject is in a mask with a faded red mullet coming out of a baseball cap, leaning against a pole staring off into the distance. They are wearing a striped blue, purple, and black sweater. Another person with long hair and a beard is mid sentence in the background, with some hard to make out people behind him

A comic panel. A pink dolphin rat guy in a striped shirt looks into a bathroom mirror and says “do i even like music”
Header text: is a weird thing to think when you are a musician

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 02/05/2026

I never posted this long ass comic about the music industry on here bc no one looks at this account but idk I think it's pretty good maybe someone will like it 🥺 midbrow.org/making-music...

A comic by Izzy True, 2026
This panel features a pink rat dolphin guy surrounded by flames and clutching a blue guitar saying "I think my dream job is evil"

Pink dolphin rat guy on a stage surrounded by golden plants, a blue animal audience looks on.
Header text: I love playing music more than anything and, when I was younger, I also had a pathological desire for attention.
Pink dolphin guy is saying: "I WANT EVERYONE IN THE AUDIENCE TO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEND ME ALL OF YOUR NEGATIVE ENERGY*... I AM PSYCHIC ALCHEMIST**."
*Don't ever do this **I am not a psychic alchemist

Pink dolphin guy wandering through a butterfly filled night time field holding a bindle with big shining eyes "COMICS ARE DISTRACTING ME FROM FOLK PUNK"
Header Text: So I dropped out of art school to pursue a career in music.

Pink dolphin guy holding a phone: "They reviewed the single on pitchfork!!! I'll probably feel amazing for the rest of my life!!!"
Header text: I've never been a huge success but I got some of the things I thought mattered.

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 13/02/2026

I made a comic about solidarity in the music industry. You can read the whole piece here: midbrow.org/stop-swallow...

"Brick by Brick" A comic by Izzy True

Pink dolphin rat character in striped pink shirt and black shorts smashes guitar "The guitar is a metaphor for the crap I hate!"

Main text: I dream of a world where artists don't have to collaborate with the scum of the earth to earn a living.

Trumpesque long tongued swoopy blonde haired villain drives blue van full of frowning people towards the edge of a cliff, saying "I'm nasty and I need to destroy everything good!"

Pink dolphin creature, from inside van "Oh crap! I'm in a political cartoon!"

Main text: The masks are off for all to see- evil freaks are at the wheel, gunning it for the cliff's edge.

Drawing of CEO of Wasserman Media Group Casey Wasserman, a white man with white hair, beard, glasses, and a suit

Main text: Wasserman Media Group is a booking agency that represents almost every successful band I've ever heard of. Casey Wasserman, the owner, was exposed in the most recent Epstein files tranche, scheduling a massage with Epstein's right hand women in child sex trafficking, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Drawing of the bald headed beared white guy and former spotify CEO Daniel EK

Main text: Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, has openly pledged his undying allegiance to human suffering by leading investment in Helsing, a military tech company, running recruitment ads for ICE on his platform, and trying his darndest to replace musicians with AI.

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 12/01/2026

This month I'm reviewing Philadelphia Free Library programming! Check out the full comic here: midbrow.org/a-visit-to-t...

Title "A VISIT TO THE VAULT AT THE PARKWAY CENTRAL LIBRARY" A comic by IZZY TRUE

A comic panel with a yellow background. A Pink rat/dolphin/lizard creature in a striped shirt says "What if built public building with media, tools, and educational and cultural programming that is free and accessible to everyone..."

A muscley bulldog guy in a rise and grind shir and sunglasses: "IDK WOKEY, sounds like communism! How bout you get on polymarket and bet on the next war instead?"

Main text: Do you ever think about how impossible it would be to propose the idea of a public library in our current political landscape?

A panel with an elephant librarian reading a book to a bunch of children creatures- a few cats, a few mice, a dog... a duck?
Main text: And yet! They exist! All across Philadelphia, libraries provide story time for kids, crafting get togethers, cooking classes, movie screenings, professional development, yoga, English lessons, informational sessions on the asbestos and knob & tube wiring in your 1800s row home, and, ya know, books.

The pink dolphin/rat creature relaxes, reading in an armchair between two end tables with a lamp and a vase of flowers says:
"This month I'm taking a look at some of the programming on offer at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Starting with "Treasures From The Literature Vault", a monthly event hosted by the Free Library Literature Department that gives the public a chance to look at the Literature department's collection of books too delicate or rare for circulation. "

The pink creatures stands outside of the Parkway Central Library in Philadelphia saying "They just don't make em' like they used to."

Main text: The Parkway Central Library is a beautiful Beaux-Arts building which serves as the main branch of the Free Library. It was designed Julian Abele, a prominent Black American architect, and completed in 1927. The scale of the place is imposing- sky high ceilings, massive columns of stone, ornate details everywhere you look.

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 04/01/2026

Painted my cat who is named Yesterday but called “ms poop”

Acrylic painting of a tuxedo cat laying on an orange blanket. The painting is on an easel which is sitting on a pink flower table cloth in a pink room.

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 04/01/2026

I made a review of Philly band Shande’s new album Hereness and their album release show. This record is rly great so I went kinda deep on it. You can read the whole thing here: midbrow.org/setting-ursu...

Title: Hereness by Shande (accompanied by yiddish translations of these words) … a comic by Izzy True

Text: Writing about politics in music is hard.

An anthropomorphic badger/man in glasses plays guitar and sings into a microphone “ah Rori was an anarchist… Said so since her second year at Bard”

A wider shot of badger-guy (Jack Braunstein), you can see more of the band (a bunny lady in a fedora and scarf, a dog? Sheep? Man in a baseball cap at the keyboards) and the crowd as well, including a weird long nosed dolphin/lizard type creature wearing a striped shirt and face mask (that’s me!) Braunstein sings “there was sweat under her facemask when she blew up those cop cars"

Text: A lot of explicitly political music falls into a trap of being prescriptive or educational and losing track of the feeling undergirding the message. This is a shame because the things in our lives that have political stakes are often the most urgent, the most deeply felt.

An illustration of the Hereness album cover which is an abstract collection of shapes evocative of the forest with Shande and Hereness written in yiddish and english

Text: When this kind of writing works, it can be as messy as it is righteous. Philly based experimental folk band Shande (שאַנדע)'s new record Hereness (דאָיִקייט) deftly threads this needle. The album bears witness to the accelerated destruction of our planet and prays for something different.

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 04/01/2026

Took advantage of the mental space from holiday time off to make some weird paintings…

An easel with an acrylic painting of a fish shaped vase and three lit candles with orange candleholders

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 22/12/2025

Wrote a piece for Midbrow about getting off of streaming and repairing my relationship with recorded music! It also includes a little year end list. You can read it here: midbrow.org/thats-a-wrap...

Comic panel with pink creature staring into the bathroom mirror saying "Do I even like music?"
Text below says: Is a weird thing to think when you are a musician

Pink creature in a sailor cap is drawing sailor moon and listening to the radio: "This is Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers"
Text reads: I listen to podcasts and audiobooks for hours a day. It has been my preference over music for as long as I can remember.

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 19/12/2025

One from this year… I hope ppl will still occasionally pay me to paint their pet :( I love doing it

A watercolor of two tuxedo cats lying amongst green and cream bedding. A spotted green sheet makes up most of the foreground

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 19/12/2025

My friend’s sister accidentally paid for an AI generated watercolor off etsy of the family for christmas and I feel rly sad about it. It claimed to be “handpainted” Anyway here is a real watercolor of a cat I made.

Watercolor of a tuxedo cat lying in a patch of sun

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 09/12/2025

My dogs are sick thats why they look like this

Two tuxedo cara with their lega stretched out like crazy heads

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 13/11/2025

I haven't been posting my review comics here but okay I will midbrow.org/music-is-back

A black and white drawing of a house centipede with text that reads "The house was packed and people were friendly. It's kind of crazy that people play at bars at all- Everyone is more guarded and tense, the money is usually not great, and you probably won't see a house centipede running up the walls."

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 03/08/2025

I dont think promo works on bsky but if you are in Philly and want to see Pinkwash, Adult Mom, and learn how to reverse an overdose, come to Philamoca tn

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 05/05/2025

Haven't rly been posting these here but I do a weekly comic/music review. This is the inimitable Foodman at Johnny Brenda's... midbrow.org/the-all-cons...

Text: Yokohama based electronic producer Foodman graces the stage at Johnny Brenda’s tonight with Orange Milk labelmate Andy Loebs and Body Meat.

Image: an anthropomorphic bear sitting at table covered in musical equipment

Text: Foodman begins speaking into a mic, voice heavily manipulated and
constantly shifting. Here he is a baby, now a little girl, now a demon.

Image: Close up of anthropomorphic bear twisting knobs on a synth and singing into a mic

Text: Behind this manipulation explodes a wild combination of noises,
some delicate, some heavy. It feels like running down a disintegrating hallway in early 00s screensaver 3D.

This figure is saying: At times Foodman is kind of post-music. Music is
gestured at, referenced, and ultimately discarded.

Image: A rat/dolphin looking anthropomorphic guy in a striped tank top is running. The background is kind of drippy/melting, with no concrete form.

Text: The set coalesces into a more formal, beat driven
dance payoff that manages to remain deeply weird.
Foodman has taken us for a ride.

Image: Bear guy at the table in an exaggerated stance leaning into the synthesizer

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 13/04/2025

Since I’m collecting small amounts for families, I’m able to send out the $ as soon as i hit the $25 mark! We just made our first $25 so I sent it out to Seraj, who I’ve been in contact with for months.

Receipt from a paypal transaction of $26.19 to Seraj Aburaida

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 13/04/2025

This raffle is getting throttled on IG so… i’m raffling this papier mache good luck egg ornament for families in gaza. Details are in the slides. I will be donating to some folks I have a relationship with, and also to campaigns highlighted by @mommunism.bsky.social

Good Luck Egg Raffle For Gaza

Papier mache egg painted with a rabbit and pomegranates with a big pink bow on top hangs on the branch of a flowering tree

Text says “I’m raffling this hand painted papier mache egg ornament/good luck charm to raise money for families in gaza. Each ticket is $5, you can purchase as many as you want. Every $25 will go to a different family. Venmo @isabel-reidy and put “egg” in the description. Tickets will be available from April 13th to April 21st. I will post donation receipts once the raffle is done. I will cover shipping to anywhere in the US”

Papier mache egg painted with a rabbit and pomegranates with a big pink bow on top held gently in a hand

Back of egg painted with a blue sky, clouds, and a big pomegranate that says “liberation + VERY big luck 2025

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 13/04/2025

We cant let these dorks fuck

Photo of the neonatalists from the NYT article. It looks like they were sent back in time from their favorite periods of oppression in human history- he looks like a 50s harvard man, she looks like Goody Proctor. Both are wearing extremely goofy thick rimmed glasses. The woman is wearing some kind of old timey bonnet (insane) and it took me until just now to realize that she isn’t wearing a corset but some kind of tactical baby backpack. The head of their innocent child dangles helplessly off her back. Mercifully it appears to be sleeping, unaware for now that its parents are eugenicists and huge fucking dorks

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 06/04/2025

Finally slapping these ungrateful motherfuckers with the tariffs they deserve

The milton bradley board game penguin shuffle. Box, instructions, and game board (4 slides and a spinning center piece. The goal of the game is to get the motorized penguins safely onto the middle without them sliding off, it is pretty fun)

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 19/03/2025

She’s comforting him because he got his head stuck in the handle of a paper bag and completely freaked out

Two young tuxedo cats stretched out languidly next to eachother on a messy bed

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 13/02/2025

My newest comic is up today! It's a review of @lizpelly.bsky.social 's Mood Machine which I have been talking about non-stop since I read it. You can read the whole thing here: midbrow.org/reasons-why-...

weird lizard dolphin guy pours box of "okay stuff" into a fantastical machine called the "enshittifier 2000", a single turd emerges

text: Lately I have this feeling that there is a great machine that takes everything in the world and makes it worse.

Main text: I have hated Spotify for many years because they barely pay most artists and because they basically reinvented payola.

Spotify man: Hey pay me for playlist placement!

Pink guy: isn't that illegal?

Spotify man: not on the internet >:)

Pink guy reading a copy of Mood Machine: "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly taught me that there is actually so much more to hate about these guys."

Main text: Pelly lays out the story of how a Swedish ad-tech company swallowed the music industry with the help of major labels.

Classic monopoly man style robber baron in suit covered in music notes walks arm and arm with spotify man carrying big sacks of cash.

Spotify man: "we're using technology to rig the market in innovative new ways!"
Major label monopoly man: "haha yay :)"

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 06/02/2025

Seeing him walk around like a little gentleman all that sustains me atm

Young tuxedo cat with pathetic confused expression and a handsome bowtie

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 29/01/2025

Look how his head wiggles when hes snoozing

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dr. izzy true @izzytrue.com · 26/01/2025

There are many Laoganma products which look pretty similar but this is the one u want. I usually fry my egg in it, just be careful ur pan isn’t too hot or it will burn