iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Because I'm Depressed #650: "On College Essays, Pt. 4" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/650/

A seven-panel comic.

Panel one: Chel is sitting at her desk in her bedroom. She stares at her laptop with a look of boredom and annoyance, her head resting in her hand.

Panel two: The laptop screen displays a word document. It is titled “The Influence of Politics on the Works of Jorge Luis Borges”. Nothing has been written after the title.

Panel three: Chel continues to stare at her laptop.

Panel four: She lifts her head from her hand and looks aside as she thinks to herself.

Panel five: Chel sits up and begins working away at her laptop. She says to herself, “Maaaaaybe I’ll use A.I. again. Just this one time.”

Panel six: Chel smirks confidently and continues, “But I’ll be -smart- about it this time. Before I submit it, I’ll give it a once-over to make sure it matches my writing style. She’ll -never- know I didn’t write this essay.”

Panel seven: The following day, Chel is once again standing in front of her professor’s desk. The professor, her arms crossed and an irate look on her face, says, “You didn’t write that essay.” Flustered, Chel raises her arms and responds, “I wrote -parts- of it!!”

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Zips @pitzips.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Robot Requiem throwback

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Because I'm Depressed #650: "On College Essays, Pt. 4" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/650/

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Because I'm Depressed #649: "On College Essays, Pt. 3" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/649/

A nine-panel comic.

Panel one: Chel’s professor sits at her desk at the head of the classroom. She smiles warmly and waves at the class, saying, “-Great- discussion today, folks! I’ll see you again on Thursday.”

Panel two: Students begin filing out of the classroom. As Chel walks towards the door, the professor calls out, “Oh, and -Chel?- May I have a word with you before you go?” Chel stops in place, surprised.

Panel three: Chel approaches the desk nervously and says, “Y-Yeah?” The professor puts her hands together with a smile and says, “I just wanted to tell you that I -loved- your essay! It was -very- illuminating!”

Panel four: Chel rubs the back of her neck and smiles awkwardly, responding, “-Oh!- Yeah, well, I just found the topic really fascinating. Once I got started writing, it was hard to know when to stop, y’know?”

Panel five: The professor smiles and looks at the computer monitor on her desk. She says, “It shows! And I’m -really- impressed with the breadth of your vocabulary.”

Panel six: She swivels the monitor around to face Chel and points at the screen, saying, “Like this word here, -‘thermidorean’.- Could you tell me what it means?”

Panel seven: Chel stares as the professor in stunned silence.

Panel eight: Chel looks aside, sweat beginning to drip down her face, as she sputters, “Uh, well. Yeah. It, uh…”

Panel nine: With a weak smile, Chel says, “…It’s like a type of vegetable..?” The professor’s smile vanishes as she swivels the monitor back to its original position, and she says, “Mmmhmm. How about you come back on Thursday with something that -you- wrote.”

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Jey Pawlik 🏳️‍⚧️ @jpawlik.com · 31/08/2026

1/2 I was inspired recently after someone asked me about why I didn’t have an Instagram, to make a four page comic on why. I'm not going back to Instagram. Maybe I can just hand this out if people ask me now. #Comic #Autobio

"Do You Have an Instagram by Jey Pawlik" comic page 1. The comic is black and white with halftones. While at an event with a lot of folks milling around, Jey talks with another person. The two were talking before the comic began and the person says "~ oh cool! You do comics?" Jey happily responds "Yeah, I even have books!" The person asks "Do you have an Instagram?" This surprises Jey, and their smile leaves their face as they reply "Uh, no. I don't. Sorry." The person looks worried and says "Wha-- Why not?!" Jey shrugs it off and says "It's a long story." The person is curious and asks "What happened?" Narration over a black background: "Sometimes a decade's worth of posts, art, followers and comments are just taken right from under you without notice."

"Do You Have an Instagram by Jey Pawlik" comic page 2. The comic is black and white with halftones. A black panel with white text. Narration: And you lose all trust in platforms, because YOU don't own anything. Jey and Max get home with suitcases in hand and look well rested. Jey says "We're back!" and Max says "Two weeks without internet was heaven!" Jey laughs as they sit at their computer and say "Gotta see how many emails I gotta sift through! haha" The panel turns dark as Jey looks more closely at their computer screen. An email from Instagram has appeared and reads: Instagram Take action or lose access to jeypawlik Hi jeypawlik, Your account has been suspended. This is because your account, or activity on it, does not follow our Terms of Use. If you think this was a mistake, you have until December 19, 2023 to appeal.

"Do You Have an Instagram by Jey Pawlik" comic page 3. The comic is black and white with halftones. Jey is holding their head, terrified they say "How? What?! This has to be a mistake!" From Instragram: Reason: Automated Bot-Like Behavior Jey's hands start falling down their cheeks as they read the reasoning. They say "My account wasn't hacked. My activity is clean." A big "Appeal" button appears above Jey and their mouse clicks on it. They nervously look at their computer screen saying "It's just a mistake, right?" The Instagram appeal form reads: Provide your Personal Info: Full Name Instagram username Registered email address Attach Identification: For individual accounts, take a clear photo of yourself holding a handwritten sign with your full name and Instagram username. At the bottom is a "Submit" button. Jey looks tired and frustrated as they take a selfie with the info Instagram asked for. A new email comes in from Instagram that reads: Hi jeypawlik, We reviewed your account and found that it still doesn't follow our Terms of Use. As a result, your account has been permanently disabled. Learn how our Terms of Use help keep the Instagram community an authentic and respectful place for people to express themselves. Jey is in utter shock as the words "PERMANENTLY DISABLED" are huge an intimidating behind them.

"Do You Have an Instagram by Jey Pawlik" comic page 4. The comic is black and white with halftones. Jey is angry and throwing their hands down as they exclaim "But I did everything they asked!" They explode, raising their hands above them in rage. They say "Bot-like behaviour?! How could a bot give a selfie with my name and handle?!" Note: this story takes place before AI was a thing. Jey, at their computer, shows the meta-suite on their screen and says "All I did was use their stupid META suite to schedule posts" a note above the screen reads "THEY MADE THIS!" Jey collapses onto the ground and their spouse rubs their back. Jey, defeated, says "I hate social media." Time passes with a large gap between panels. Jey is at another gathering, much like the one on the first page and is chatting with someone. The person asks "Oh cool! You do comics? Do you have an Instagram?" Jey grins and has a new response, saying "No, but you should check out my website instead 'cause I actually own it! And have you heard about RSS?"

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It means moderately counter-revolutionary, named after the people who ousted Robespierre during the French Revolution

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Crucial Comix @crucialcomix.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Must-read new comic reporting on resistance to data centers across Virginia by artist @denalisai.bsky.social - published in partnership with @therevelator.org www.crucialcomix.com/comic/data-c...

crucialcomix.com

Data centers are not inevitable

My state, Virginia, is the data center capital of the world, and the people have had enough.

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Crucial Comix @crucialcomix.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The sound of warplanes — a gorgeous new comic from Beirut. www.crucialcomix.com/comic/the-so...

crucialcomix.com

The Sound of Warplanes

From my home in Beirut, my cat Luna felt a season of bombings by its sounds and smoke.

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Congratulations! That's a huge accomplishment!

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Pretty sure that’s just an urban legend

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Because I'm Depressed #649: "On College Essays, Pt. 3" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/649/

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Because I'm Depressed #648: "On College Essays, Pt. 2" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/648/

A ten-panel comic.

Panel one: Chel and Wren meet at the plaza outside the cafe where they work. Wren grins and holds up a full plastic bag, saying, “Hey Chel, I got a bunch of expired creamer singles from work! Want to go to the overpass and throw them at Cybertrucks?” Chel frowns and replies, “I can’t… I have an -essay- due tomorrow that I haven’t started yet.”

Panel two: Wren says, “-So?- Just use an -A.I.- to write it for you. It’ll take twelve seconds.” Chel begins, “Wren, I’m not going to—“

Panel three: Wren smiles and pulls up their phone, saying, “Psssh, -everyone- does it! What’s the topic?”

Panel four: Wren looks up at Chel with a smile. Chel looks to the side and hesitantly answers, “Uhhhh. The influence of Jorge Luis Borges’ political views on his writings.”

Panel five: Wren starts tapping on their phone and asks, “Length?” Chel awkwardly rubs her arm and says, “…Four pages, double-spaced.”

Panel six: Wren smiles confidently at their phone and says, “Aaaaannnddd… -There!- All done! I’ll send it to you!” Chel frowns guiltily and says, “I really don’t feel comfortable doing this…”

Panel seven: Wren looks up at Chel and says, “Chel, the essay’s already -written!- We can have fun -now,- you can turn the assignment in -tomorrow,- and your professor will be none the wiser!”

Panel eight: Wren continues, “-Or,- if you’d prefer, you can go home now and waste the rest of your evening writing it yourself.”

Panel nine: Chel looks off to the side as she considers her dilemma.

Panel ten: Chel and Wren are leaning over the rail atop a city overpass, with several creamer singles at their sides. Chel smiles contently and says, “Life is too short for homework.” Wren looks down excitedly at the road below and exclaims, “-Nice!- I got one!”

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Weird in a Can @weirdinacan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

WiaC has recently reached its 15th chapter, marking the halfway point of the series! To celebrate, I've been working the last few weeks on this: nearly everyone who's appeared in WiaC to date, in a parody of the greatest rock album of all time: The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!

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Amy Churchwell @amychurchwell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

a message from the future 🔮 1/2

A woman holding a coffee in the rain thinks, "I am turning 35 soon, I can't stop thinking about it... It really can keep going."

The woman looks at swans on a lake, there are pigeons and sea gulls. She thinks, "I wonder how I am changing... Would I notice?"

The woman is sitting on a bench, it's still raining. She thinks, "I try to imagine myself at 70..."

Suddenly, an older version of the woman is sitting next to her on the bench. She thinks, "who will I be?"

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Barry Deutsch @barrydeutsch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

America's Biggest Problem By me and @valigarmander.bsky.social Read more cartoons! —> #Policartoon Support the cartoons! —>patreon.com/barry

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels. The same bespectacled, bearded man appears in all four.

PANEL 1

The man walks past several masked ICE agents. Two agents are dragging an older man toward the open back of an SUV. Nearby, a distressed woman stands with a small child who is crying. An ICE agent is pointing a gun at the child.

MAN (thought): Hmmm.

PANEL 2

Outside the Supreme Court, several Supreme Court justices in black robes are drinking and celebrating around a bonfire in which the Voting Rights Act is burning. The man walks past in the background, watching them.

MAN (thought): Hmm.

PANEL 3

At a bus stop, a woman is reading a newspaper. The man stands beside her, leaning slightly to read the front page. The newspaper’s main headline says: ANOTHER COMPLETELY UNAUTHORIZED UNNECESSARY WAR

MAN (thought): Mm-hmm.

PANEL 4

We see an open laptop. On its screen, the man is appearing on a TV interview show, grinning as he holds up a copy of his book, Polarization: Both Sides Did It!

MAN: America’s biggest problem is… POLARIZATION!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH
In panel 2, the burning Voting Rights Act is depicted as the “I’m Just a Bill” character from Schoolhouse Rock!

In panel 3, the newspaper is called The Daily Gab. Under the enormous war headline is a much smaller headline: "Study: No one reads smaller headlines or studies." A sub-headline says "'My life is pointless,' says sub-headline writer."

On the wall in panel 3, graffiti includes tags from all eight captains from Star Trek shows (Pike, Kirk, Janeway, Burnham, Freeman, Picard, Sisko, and Archer) plus Taggart from Galaxy Quest. Other graffiti includes “Skitter Lives!” with a spider; a huge "BG," for "background"; and “Never obey! I order U not to obey!” It only occurs to me now, writing this transcript, that I should have made it "not 2 obey." Oh well.

In panel 4, behind the laptop, a large orange cat is sleeping. Curled up asleep on the cat’s tail is a tiny mouse wearing a sleeping cap.

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Steve Lieber @stevelieberart.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

NEW ADVICE-FROM-LIEBER LIST! I've posted these tips as a thread before, but I figured it's about time I made it available as a single, shareable image.

MISTAKES I'VE MADE THAT YOU CAN AVOID
Don't be like me.
1. Don't trash your own work when complemented. In that context your self-deprecation is insulting someone else's taste! Just say thanks and change the subject. Maybe credit an influence?
2. As far as your readers are concerned, comics are drawn with a printing press or a monitor. Don't fetishize the original art or the tools you make it. Anything that gets the story told the way it needs to be told is the right tool for the job.
3. Don't use one job to audition for another. It's unfair to your collaborators and a betrayal of the reader to get flashy or sexy or explosive if the moment in the story doesn't call for it.
4. The important storytelling choices on a page can be worked out in thumbnails. Gesture, camera angle, framing, broad arrangement of tones-get this stuff right before you worry about anatomy, lighting, drapery, or facial expressions.
5. Some artists can put down a final inkline with no underdrawing, but that's because they're skilled and experienced enough to do all that underdrawing in their head. You probably aren't. Get your underdrawing right and save the masterstrokes for the masters.
6. What you're feeling while you work doesn't matter. What the audience feels when they read it does. You can be happy and still do a great drawing of someone in agony. You should understand what you're depicting. It's not necessary to experience it in real time at the board.
7. Get a fresh eye on your work. You never know when some accidental juxtaposition is going to completely change your intended meaning.
8. Don't let getting things 100% right keep you from getting things done. It's easy to get bogged down in research or prep sketches. Make a schedule at the start of a project so you know how much time you have. Do the best you can with the time allotted and move on. But...

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Brad T. Jonas @bradtjonas.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

hooray, thoughts

p1: “Finally, some time alone with my thoughts.”

p2:

p3:

p4: “This is horrible.”

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adam @kumerish.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Blind Alley No. 446

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David Cooper @davidbcooper.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Starting my day making some art.

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INIRO @ bg tips pdf is out!! @iniro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

HIII my background tips PDF is now available!! ^_^ hope you enjoy! ko-fi.com/s/e0ea82f7e1

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Matt Miller @mattmiller.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

a comic by Russ Heath, who drew the comic one of Lichtenstein’s most famous panels was based on

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Because I'm Depressed #648: "On College Essays, Pt. 2" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/648/

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Because I'm Depressed #647: "On College Essays, Pt. 1" #becauseimdepressed #comics bcdecomic.com/comics/647/

A four-panel comic.

Panel one: Dozens of students sit at tables in a crowded college classroom. They listen to the professor, who is sitting stop a table at the head of the classroom. The professor says, “…That’ll be all for today. -Wonderful- discussion, everybody! We’ll continue on Thursday.”

Panel two: The professor grins and continues, “Your homework for today is an essay on Borges, due a week from now! You’ll find the assignment on Canvas.”

Panel three: Chel, sitting at the back of the classroom, looks disappointed and thinks to herself, “Is college nothing but -essays?- Why can’t it be multiple choice? Or true-or-false? Or fill-in-the-blanks?”

Panel four: Irritated, Chel picks up her notebook and stands up from her seat, thinking, “I hate having to know what I’m writing about.”

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Valigarmander @valigarmander.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Congratulations! That's a lot of comics!

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The Mask of the Red Jeph @ass.golf · 22/09/2026

I must once again emphasize that if you are putting art on the internet, you need your own website in case some fucking management ghoul decides the platform they paid too much money for isn't worth how much they paid for it

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