Here We Go, January!

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Another month and a whole-ass year is DOWN! And in spite of how I felt near the end of 2024, I've decided to embrace 2025 and all its potential fun times, awful times, frustrating times, and doubtless growth. I'm shoving depression and despair to the sidelines - instead, like The Ghoul (above, from the incredible Fallout), I'm just gonna soldier on, resurrect myself as needed, and kick all the ass there is around. Because I got GOALS, people, and existential dread ain't gonna keep me down!

FIRST THINGS ARE FIRST

I'm BEYOND excited to be part of the creative team coming to THE MATRON, put out by the lovely folks at IPI Comics!!

IPI Comics is extremely pleased to announce that Texas-based Monica Gallagher will be penciling and inking the upcoming 6-part ‘Slasher meets Slavic myth in Central Texas’ series, The Matron (scripts by Drew Edwards and David Bowles).

When I say I lucked into this, I did, hard - BUT as always I have to take a moment to shout-out the importance of the comics community. I've really only ever gotten opportunities or gigs because of the people I've met and seen over the years at cons, signings, etc. And even though moving to Austin in a lot of ways felt like starting over (without my kick-ass Bmore Into Comics crew) one of the first people I met was Drew Edwards and Drew is a REAL ONE. Not only is he plugged into all the best fairs/cons/festivals Austin has to offer, but he continually looks out for people, connects them, and recommends people for work. So when burgeoning comics people ask me for advice, the #1 I always tell them is to get OUT there. Meet those comics folks, and you'll soon find yourself surrounded by the most supportive community. OH and our editor on the project, Jason Franks? Even though he hails from Australia, he reminded me I met him like ... FOURTEEN years ago at SPX?? So, yeah. That Comics Community, man!

The Matron is going to start with a crowdfunding campaign to kick off the first couple of issues, so I'll be sure to let you all know when it's active! I'm drawing a HORROR SERIES I'M SO STOKED.

Well now everything else seems like Weak Sauce after that announcement, BUT as per usual the Comics Library has been updated with new Bonnie and new ASSROOM. Bonnie's on Book #17 now, and ASSROOM is in the Season 3 Recap! So you can catch up via the handy-dandy PDFs there.

Once the recaps are done, I'm going to resume Season 6 of ASSROOM so it's a great time to catch up! If you're reading the comic in FULL FORCE on my website or day-to-day on my Substack, I won't spoil it for you! I know these recaps are dragging out but hopefully y'all are enjoying reading them as much as I am making them.


I also mentioned to patrons that I'm going to start finally doing some tribute comics to my dearly departed monster co-conspirator, so look for that this month!

 In the Cryptids Corner, after coming back from Scotland, I knew I had to do theirs next, which turned into a 5 part series, starting with the Northern Isles! (I nerd out about this in detail in a post for the Comics Monsters Tier):

 Oh crap, I was gonna post some of my Scotland pics for y'all, but this is already long enough, so I'll save that for another post. Love you all and thank you so much for all you contribute to this mini community of artists and art lovers here!

Cryptids of Nova Scotia!

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We're continuing to venture out from the U.S. shores, and I wanted to alternate between the US Territories and some Canadian Provinces to start. I first ventured out to do the Cryptids of Ontario last year ahead of going to Toronto for TCAF, so sufficed to say my return to lovely Canada was long overdue! You can find all. my U.S. and non-U.S. cryptids in my Etsy Shop!

Howdy, June!

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Okay, so we're already knee deep in June! This past week I've had my 3 step-daughters with us, and although they are the MOST delightful creatures ever, every time we're blessed with these longer summer visits I'm always like GOOD GOD PARENTS HOW DO YOU LIVE?? I can barely seem to get anything done with all the juggling! This visit involved daily commutes to Clarinet Camp twice a day, constant meal brainstorming, a bean bag incident, and almost daily groceries because of things I forgot/things got eaten a lot quicker. Now we've got a week of our normal selfish, quiet routines, and then - BAM! They're back with us for 2 weeks. Will I have gotten any better at time management by then?

Anyhoo, what the hell did I do in May? Well, I worked on a super exciting pitch for a potential Dream Project that hopefully at some point I can share with you all. Now I'm in the waiting game, which is always a sucky part of any creative project. My experience with being freelance in the comics/illustration world is constantly putting things out that may never see the light of day, getting life changing news one day only to have it disappear without notice of why, and constant juggling to try to pay bills while saving room to accept the life-changing projects if and when they ever come. Thank GOD I have the support of my family, my hubs, and all of you here. I sincerely appreciate it, and definitely wouldn't be able to do any of this stuff without it!

Okay, down to BUSINESS! The Comics Library has been updated for all you Comics Monsters and up, with the latest and greatest.

Here's something that happened in Bonnie:

And in ASSROOM Season 6: (reminder, Seasons 1 through almost all of 3 is now up on my site!)


Also I wrapped up May Market at my local Blue Genie Art Bazaar, which was super fun! It's amazing having a fun place chock FULL of local artists to be part of multiple times a year. I love this town! I thought I had a picture of my shelves but I don't! Here are some recent cryptid gift sets instead from my shop:

I finished all of the United States Cryptids, so now it's off to the U.S. Territories, Canada, and Latin America. Wish me luck! Now I just have to figure out if I can actually mail anything internationally, because in the last few years shit has been expensive and difficult for us indie businesses to actually send out anywhere.

Wow, apparently June is for COMPLAINING. I'm all done! On to fully embrace summer, love y'all!

Hullo, May Update!

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Few things are more gorgeous than Sam Eilliott in general, but in the movie Roadhouse in particular?? GET OUTTA HERE! So, hi! We made it to May!

As always, your friendly neighborhood COMICS LIBRARY has been updated, so now all those random comic posts throughout the month can be found consolidated here!

C2E2 was a blast and a half (a big fun comic con in Chicago), and I had the good fortune of getting to room with and table next to BEST PAL GREG (pre-order his latest book TRICK PONY right meow!)

Some other random C2E2 snippets:

  • An older dude at the airport told me I looked like Bette Davis ... but DID NOT SPECIFY which version??

  • Chicago is amazing for multiple reasons, but the bars/restaurants around the convention center make it a point to remember you year after year, which is damn delightful

  • A drunk dude bought me a drink and then when I awkwardly turned to thank him, he was asleep at the bar

  • I was told a story about "The Cannibal Turkey of Starved Rock"

  • I was also told that three people who witnessed the Enfield Horror were then murdered by their wives ... coincidence?? Harbinger of doom??

  • A woman told me after buying my Cryptids of Illinois print last year she was inspired to start a Cryptids Club at her college, AHHHH that's what makes this worth it, folks!

Okay on to other bizness ... let's check in with a Bonnie peek of what happened last month:

GOOD LORD, we have Werewolf Hunters entering the chat! Also, lol, side note - at C2E2 I met a wonderful patron who commented on how funny it was that Bonnie has transitioned from roller derby to .... WEREWOLF DRAMA. Is it too much Werewolfness?? You decide! I mean, we will return to roller derby too, I swear!

Here's a snippet of what happened in Assassin Roommate Season 6 (ASSROOM if you're nasty):

There are 34 pages of Season 6 to catch up on, wahoo! Also, if you're into re-reading ASSROOM from the beginning, I've been uploading past seasons to my website, which you can find here! Updated daily, so sloowww and steady winning that archive race.

Shadow of a Gun has arrived! You can get it here!

And last but not least, my Cryptids of Illinois booklet was a fun success, so now I have to get my tookus in gear and do one for ALL the states.

Here's some sample pages I'm working on for Wisconsin next!


I'm going to crawl back into my Cryptid Cave and get to work! Hope all you cats and kittens have a fantastic month!

Staple! THIS Weekend!

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The MAGNIFICENT RETURN of one of my all-time fave shows, Staple! is finally back in Austin this weekend! I first started going to this show way back in 2009 when it was a one-day show and I recklessly flew into Baltimore for it (one day show Monica, how can you possibly afford that) and then it stole my heart for every year after that, until I finally moved to Austin in 2019.

The founder/runner Chris Nicholas is an All Time Amazing Person, and I'm so thrilled he's able to rev it back up after the shitshow that is Covid.

So anyhoo! I'll have my usual comics and mini comics with me:

As well as a slew of Cryptid fun:

I miiiiight have a Texas Crypytid Coloring Book (fingers crossed it gets back from the printers in time!):

So come on out and celebrate THE RETURN of this fun-filled, local indie comics fest! :D

SPX SPX SPX

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It's TIME for my most favorite (and first) convention again, SPX! I first attended wayyy back in 2002 and met the most amazing lifelong friends along the way who have come to mean so much to me. Every year heading back to Rockville (I'm sorry, it is not "North Bethesda", LOL) and encountering so many familiar, loving faces makes me tear up, so don't judge me if I'm crying alone at my table! I have FEELS! 

(I swear I won't be that awkward if you stop by)

OH ALSO I'LL HAVE COMICS AND CRYPTID PRINTS

IT RETURNS!

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Kind of like It Follows, but less creepy!

So I'm SUPER EXCITED to announce that Assassin Roommate will be starting back up again next month, eeeeee! I've been waiting to do this for a long time, and I'm just so thrilled to be able to continue Mags and the Gang's story finally!

It's going to be exclusively on Patreon for a little bit so I can hopefully have enough funds to keep it up on a regular, frequent basis. Eventually I'll be posting it for free, but for now it's only going to be available for $5 and up Patrons - there's a special Assassin Roommate Tier you can join, but also like I've said before, all current $5 Patrons and up will also get access! And before the comic starts up next month, I'll be posting sketches, ideas, and process along the way, so it's a great time to join!

I'm also remastering/posting the past five seasons on my website, so if you're a Patron at any level, I'll be sending weekly updates to check out which seasons are now available there to re-read. :)

GAHHH okay I need to get back to work. I'll be back soon with another update!

June Patreon Promotion!

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Hey hey there! I see June peeping out just around the corner, which means it’s time for a new PATREON PROMOTION! (No, I don’t do these often but wanted to make it sound like I do)

Throughout June, if you sign up to be one of my COMICS MONSTER patrons (the $5 tier), not only will you get access to the comics database that resides there (Bonnie comics, cryptid comics, autobio comics) but I’ll also be colorizing and posting my romance comic Martial Outlet for y’all as well. It’s never been posted to my patreon before, much less in new, digitally remastered color! It’s 30 pages long, and once it’s all done it’ll be added to the already robust Comics Library that’s there.

So in other words, it’s the perfect time to join the Patreon Party!

Here’s a sneak peek at Martial Outlet, which was originally created in 2017 (for the now sadly defunct romance comics anthology, Fresh Romance):

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 14

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We’re back to our recap! There’s just ONE more chapter after this one (chapter 15) before this peek into ANTI-STEPBROTHER ends - if you like what snippets you’ve seen here, or if you’ve checked it out on the KiSS app, let them know you want to see MORE!

There’s a lot more to the story, but they weren’t sure people would read it, yadda yadda. Sometimes we’ve gotta prove people should invest in comics, y’know? So if you want to see the rest of the story (and I def want to draw it), let them know in your comments and emails and tweets and whatevers!

So, when we left Chapter 13 a drunk girl was being drunk and decided to insult Summer at Caden’s special hidey spot, Diego’s Bar. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, uh … big mistake. Big. Huge! Caden’s hackles went up, he put the drunkie in her place, and then he shuttled Summer out of there. But should Summer interpret his fierce protectiveness as friendship? Or something *dramatic music* … MORE?

To complicate the turmoil of feelings Summer’s experiencing already, it happens to be FAMILY DAY on campus, and she’s confronted with having dinner with Kevin, his mom, and Summer’s dad. Tensions are already hot because, of course, Kevin’s being a dick, and Summer just doesn’t want to put up with his bullshit anymore. Enter … drama!

Here’s a sneak peek!

TCAF this weekend!

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That's right, I'm flying back to the lovely Canada for another Toronto Comics Arts Festival! I've got my cryptids and my prints and my comics all locked and loaded, so for my Canadian fam out there, hope to see you this weekend!

I'm at Table 111 on the first floor, in the window-ful atrium of the library, which *hopefully* will get more foot traffic this year than last? Anyway, no matter what we'll have a ball. Here are some of the new stuff I'll be bringing:

I only JUST learned that Toronto has the highest population of raccoons, which also happens to be my husband's favorite animal (his former unit was named the Trash Pandas), so I had to do a tribute print!

And it wouldn't be me if I didn't bring my crypties along - here are the ones I found for Ontario, and Toronto's specific Tunnel Monster I also put on a sticker!

Anywhoozits, hope to see some of you there!

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 13

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VWOOP VWOOP MAKEOUT ALERT, I REPEAT WE HAVE MAKEOUTS!

On this very special chapter of ANTI-STEPBROTHER, Caden and Summer are finally throwing Just Friendship to the wind and are getting that hot juicy makeouts on! … Or are they? And if they are taking things to the Physical Landscape, does that mean now they’re more than just friends, or are they just FWB’s? And how are they supposed to explore the nuances in this newfound kissing stage when people on campus are still saying Summer’s in love with her stepbrother??

Confusion and hormones are flying free on this week’s episode! As always you can read it on the KiSS app, and here’s your sneak peekage!

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 12

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Here we go, let’s air those family secrets! This chapter starts with Summer having to deal with a sad-faced Kevin, who of course showed up to interrupt her night of fun and mischief with Caden. Kevin doesn’t so much apologize for being a dickhead as he does make up a stupid excuse for his behavior. “My dad abandoned my mom therefore I abandoned you after we had sex - I’m so deep! *whine whine*!” Luckily Summer’s bullshit detector is getting better and better, and she kicks his manipulative ass to the curb.

But after dissecting the nonsense that is relationship with boys with Avery, Summer realizes she misses her friends. Her high school friends, her real ones. Enough of this cloudy Boy Drama, she needs some genuine people in her new college life! Quickly a road trip is planned to visit Summer’s friend Clarissa and everyone’s invited. Including Caden, Marcus, and half of Caden’s fraternity. Which could be cool, but suddenly Caden’s being all territorial about Summer only staying with him when they visit. The can of worms, she’s opened, and Summer digs deeper to find out some truths about Caden. Does he even like being in a fraternity? If not, why’s he there? Who’s his other brother? And are he and Summer STILL JUST BUDS??

So much for trying to avoid Boy Drama. As always, read this chapter on the KiSS App, and here’s the sneak peekage!

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 11

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The feelings, they are being shared! This week on ANTI-STEPBROTHER (read along with me on the KiSS app!), Summer tries to repair what she thought was broken with Caden, after he finds out she had sex with her stepbrother in the past. Eeeeesh.

But instead of making up excuses, our girl Summer navigates some of the complicated feelings surrounding her relationship with Kevin (the S.B.). Get ready for MOM STUFF! After the marriage of their parents, Kevin’s mom Sheila had stepped in to nurture Summer after her mom had passed away. Summer was so touched and needed that Mom Energy so bad that she blindly extended that attachment to Kevin, who of course was a douche target not worthy of that affection.

Luckily Caden’s got some good ears (along with the rest of his good parts) and takes all of this in without judgement. He’s hearing her, he’s complimenting her boobs - it’s a good time. But the flirtation is abruptly stalled so they can go off on a nighttime school-sponsored adventure. Aren’t friends great? Are they still friends? WHERE IS THIS SEXUAL TENSION GOING??

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 10

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Welcome to your Friday Edition of Read Along with Me - Anti-Stepbrother Comic! When last we left our tentative double date foursome (Summer, Avery, Caden and Marcus) they were embarking on a fun trip to the bowling alley. The point being for Marcus to stop hating Summer, for Avery and Marcus’s reigniting romance to get off to a good start, and for Caden … well I guess for him to confuse Summer even more in the friends or more-than-friends department.

Things quickly go from fun to contentious (because you never get a break from college drama) once Kevin and Maggie saunter into the bowling alley and the insults, they go a-flying! What’s even worse is it comes to light - in only the worst way possible - that Summer and Kevin had sex on the night of her college graduation. My pearls, I’m clutchin’! Yes, she slept with her stepbrother, but no they’re not related and it’s weird but not weird but still kinda weird, okay? So now she’s worried Avery and Caden are looking at her differently, and did she just ruin the new friendship bonds she created already?

As always, read on the KiSS app to party along with me on this adventure! And if you like what you see and like/comment/etc to it, and WHO KNOWS maybe we can do more!

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 9

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Welcome to Chapter NINE of my Anti-Stepbrother read-along recap! Is that confusing? I just caught up on all the drama, so here we are: shit’s getting complicated between Summer and Caden! Did she spend the night? At his place? In his bed?? SANS PANTS?? Oh girl, she sure did. And now they’re spending oodles more time together but still keeping it under the “just friends” label. Because that always goes perfectly, right?

This chapter was a fave because it involved not just Summer’s confusion with where she and Caden were relationship-wise, but her new friend Avery was swimming in those waters right along with her! Yes, in true complicated fashion Avery’s been messing around with Caden’s hot-tempered younger bro Marcus. And she also has no idea if they’re friends, or back together, or whoozits. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been there before - wanting some kind of label for some kind of security in a relationship. Friendship Anxiety, I guess? Hell, I’ve got all sorts of categorized anxiety, might as well lump in the friendship variety for some flair. How about you all?

Here’s the preview!

Anti-Stepbrother Chapter 8

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I didn’t forget about you all! I missed last week because of ECCC (which was an absolute blast, my ego and my voice may never recover) but we are back on this comic recap train, baby! We’re up to Chapter 8!

One of the things I really loved about getting to adapt this book into a comic and delve into Tijan’s writing was how she doesn’t let her characters evolve quickly. Feelings are murky and complicated and she really lets them sit in the discomfort as they bang about in the world. It was a refreshing thing to read and experience with this story. It’s so tempting to scream at characters “REALLY you’re still doing A, B, and C?? Get over it, moron!” but that’s realistic, baby. I know I have to fail an average 30 times before I learn something. That’s right, I’m batting 30 anytime I want to evolve! Is that how that baseball analogy works?

Anyhoo, on with the shirtless! I mean the preview! (Remember to read it on the KiSS App!)