A local hero not getting the respect he deserves from the birds.

Flying foxes are threatened species across Australia. But the place where we're staying is their breeding ground. I wish I could capture the sound of millions of flying foxes surrounding you. But it's so loud, it blows out my mic. It's like that scene from Gremlins 2 when they're all in the lobby.

Just a heads up that if anyone DM's me on bluesky, I won't see it until this weekend. Australian laws prevent children from using direct messages. And because I don't have an Australian ID, bluesky doesn't believe that I'm old enough.

Here's the comic Hyun Sook and I made for @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social's Tale Town anthology, edited by Elizabeth Marruffo. It was printed the size of a whole newspaper page!

My bit while we're in Australia is that every time I see a dog, I grab Hyun Sook and say "watch out! Wild dingo!' even if it's like, a Shih tzu on a leash.

The Museum of Brisbane has an exhibition called Precious. In short, "A bunch of local nerds had extremely specific collections, and their next of kin didn't know what to do with them, so here they are." I love it.

Walking through the city of Nambour on the sunshine coast of Australia, and starting to sense a specific vibe.

UP FOR PRE-ORDER NOW! BANNED BOOK CLUB by @ryanestrada.com returns with the first 100 preorders including ORIGINAL ART within! Our very own title with notoriety, now in color! Request a copy for yourself, or perhaps for a library near you! They can't stop you! 📚 store.ironcircus.com/products/ban...

Proud of the whole dang team! And proud to share this Ringo nomination with all of them.

Adam Wallenta@adamwallenta.bsky.social · last wk.

"Best Anthology "Flash Gordon Adventures Volume 2 feat so many awesome friends like @awyeahfranco.bsky.social @jasonmayart.bsky.social @dgriffstudios.bsky.social @mikecavallaro.bsky.social @chriseliopoulos.com @ajschumacherart.bsky.social @rachelordwayart.bsky.social and so many more!

I can't use my bird call app in the rainforest without wifi, so I'm back in my room frantically searching "which Australian bird sounds like a grumpy baby crying for mom to play Outkast's Hey Ya in the car?"

Who's visiting a friend in a small town near Brisbane, and we met two hard-to-spot local celebrities. A platypus and a cormorant who are best friends... or maybe unlikely lovers? (Not our pics, but sent to us after we saw them in the same spot to confirm their long-standing commitment)

Cutie poo and kangaroos 🥰➕️🦘

Blown away by Perth Comic Arts Festival. Imagine a library-set, artist-focused, indie comic and zinefest but since it's in the most isolated city on Earth, it gets SDCC level hype and relative crowd sizes.

Hyun Sook took over Perth! Thanks to @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social for a wild weekend!

@perthcomicsfest.bsky.social day one done!

Yay! @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social is on! Hyun Sook and I just finished talking about the freedom to read with @swinsea.bsky.social at The Killing of Books.

If you're at @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social and pick up a copy of this year's free Tale Town anthology, I did a mischief and hid original art from my contribution in random copies. If you find one, post a pic!

It's great getting knowledge direct from local experts. While sitting with quokkas on Rottnest Island, a 4 year old Aussie boy with 8 pounds of snot spread out his nose up his face and into his hair burst through a group of seagulls screaming, saw me, inexplicably ran over, and froze...

You're not allowed to touch the quokkas, but they'll just jump right up on your lap and stare at you like "what are you gonna do, buddy, you're not allowed to push me off."

Thank you, Hyun Sook, for radicalising me. (Art by Olga Cironis, ant the Art Gallery of Western Australia)

We just arrived at @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social and have been absolutely spoiled with welcome bags of Aussie snacks and stickers.

However people may feel about bank robberies, creators need more channels to tell original stories. Disruptive, artist-driven bank robberies can help us tell those stories. Using bank robbery as a funding tool to assist humans and the human hand to craft stories is a smart approach.

One more sleep until Hyun Sook and I are off to @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social! Where our Perth Peeps at? Expect updates here. Non-Perth Peeps? Expect quokka photos here.

"Hello, I'm possibly the biggest loser that's ever darkened your inbox, and I would like to compliment you in a way that degrades your humanity and that of everything you've ever done with it."

Erik Larsen@eriklarsen.bsky.social · 2w ago

What am I doing with my life?

Folks I know keep sharing this screenshot, and I don't know how accurate it is. But I know book sales vary wildly, even in the same authors' catalog. In the last year, my bestselling book did about $23,000 in sales. My worst-selling book, due to returned unsold stock, did negative $461.13.

People have been asking when I was going to replace my broken phone. Well, I recently realized that it's now so broken that my old broken version of the same phone from 2019 is now less broken than that one. So I fished it out of the junk drawer and upgraded to that one.

Ryan Estrada@ryanestrada.com · last mo.

For almost a year, I've been stubbornly refusing to replace my broken Z Fold phone. Only the tiny exterior screen works, and now even that's covered in green OLED lines. But I'm taking a useless stand against planned obsolescence. Expect typos to get worse.

No Rules Tonight and Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit: You rarely read books about authoritarianism and book banning that are also so warm and funny. A wide cast of endearing characters and a closer look at being a young person in 1980s Korea.

I try to give away free original art with my books as often as possible. Usually, it's individual panels I've cut to fit inside a book. But at @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social next week, I've decided to do something special. I'm handing out the art myself, so the pieces can be bigger...

Imagine the new terrible Hollywood trend was, instead of remaking whole movies, to only remake the old-age-makeup scenes with the original actors now the right age for real and leave the rest untouched. What movies would kind of work? My pick is F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus.

📖 Reading can set you free. For one little girl, an abandoned off-limits library gives her what she needs to escape a lie that the world is about to end... ☄ OCCULTED by @ryanestrada.com, Amy Rose, & Jeongmin Lee released today 3 years ago and is 30% off! 🎂 store.ironcircus.com/products/occ...