MARCH 2026 NEWSLETTER

Hello all,

Welcome. I don’t know about you but what the hell is going on? You don’t know either? Well let’s talk about comics I guess.

I used to have longer intros but maybe that’s because I had less to talk about in the newsletters proper, and we have a lot to talk about this month…so let’s get into it!

First things first: Frog Farm 11 was an epic success. It’s been a bit of a plateau of growth for awhile so it feels great how big this was. We hit an equilibrium of around 80-100 people at the last 4-5 shows after all is said and done, with pre-sales, door sales and the various guest lists and artists involved in the show. This show we sold 100 pre, and then another 40-50 at the door. We probably had around 160-170 in the room, after you include guest list/artists and you could feel it because everyone we had on the show was amazing and high energy and the crowd was eating it up. People love comic readings (among other things.)

We had a debut comic with Lizzie, three other amazing comic readings with Christina, Andrew and A.T., a new animated film from Lena, a live video game performance from Amir, and then a live music performance from Vinnie. Oh and I read my newest comic Mobile Gang Fortress for the first time in Brooklyn. It was a diverse selection, and it all gelled together really well. I will talk about this more further down the newsletter, but the idea of this show and Frog Farm as a larger project seems to be really panning out for everyone involved >:)

Ok here are some photos from the pre-show:

And here are some photos from the show:

All of this positive stuff in the show is before I even talk about all the crazy plot that we had going on on the show! There are a boat load more photos on the official web page of the show that run through a basic outline of what happened: https://frogfarm.online/frogfarm11

Here’s a little clip I put together of a few moments from the show that I posted on TikTok lol

Special thank you to old friend Eliana for creating the puppet for “Mr. Germ,” who was the henchman for “Mr. Virus.” Thanks for driving from Philly.

Ok so that’s everything there is to say about the show itself for now. Lemme know if you have any questions or comments if you attended the show? Always looking for feedback of how it went for people.

What else? Well our new book Sweet Creature by Liz Stuard Smith is OUT. You can order online now. I will start posting it on here in a few chunks this week.

https://frogfarm.bigcartel.com/product/sweet-creature-by-liz-stuard-smith

Of course it will be for sale at all future events, including our shows, zine fairs and comic festivals. But before I talk about spring schedule I want to talk about…

Our new new comic: Pocket Critter - which is actually more of a preview. Alex Swift (masterful author of the Connoisseurs) and I have been writing and drawing a bunch of Critter comics for a major upcoming project we’re calling Critter Mag for later in the summer. “BUT Alex!” you yap at me “MoCCA is this week!” That’s right! We wanted to get some of these new comics in front of people. To wet everyone’s whistle, as the saying goes. So I planned a mini preview - an edition 150, of the first 21 strips we’ve made.

The format is a tiny 2.5 x 7 inches. Wacky new format for us. I had a lot of fun planning and printing this. Cover is printed with Aqua, Lime, Flo Pink and Burgundy. Interior is Burgundy. Great nice dark riso colour for line art. I really really like it.

We are gonna start posting strips from these comics twice a week, plus I’ll be posting them for paid subscribers on here as well.

We will have an online shop order up soon enough. Keep tabs on our instagram for that perhaps. Or come to MoCCA this coming weekend.

Any questions about Critter Mag or Pocket Critter?

Ok so two new books for MoCCA (if you didn’t come to FF11,) that’s pretty cool right? Well that’s not even all we have debuting, we’ve also got a baller ass tote:

Frogs in front, logo in back. It’s a big one too, with a foldout flat bottom. This is meant for picnics, or carrying huge reams of 11x17 paper. This isn’t your baby booboo’s wimpy tiny tote. This is for serious tote freaks ONLY.

Ok so speaking of MoCCA debuts…what’s the rest of our spring looking like?

Here’s our spring into summer schedule (I will probably do a fun little illustrated schedule in a few days)

MoCCA - March 28 & 29
going to be leading a RisoLAB demo on from 4-6pm on Saturday.

TCAF - June 6 & 7
no big plans for this…yet. Will let you know though. i like Toronto.

Then:

Frog Farm 12 - Saturday, June 20

Frog Farm Fair III - Sunday, June 21

Omg wait what?????

Yeah we’re doing another fair! Keep your eyes peeled. We are lining a few more ducks up, but we will be opening up applications once again. Fair warning though, I think it’s going to be tougher competition this year - we’re gonna reduce the table number from last year. Last year was a bit too full in the venue, where some people were getting slightly less better situated spots. I want to avoid that this year. We also want to fill the smaller second room with an indie arcade game zone as well. We’ve got a few other new plans, but we’ll keep a lid on that for now.

We’re really hoping this will be a productive event for the community to hang out and meet each other. I think we’ve started bringing together a lot of disparate people with different entry points into Frog Farm, and would love for everyone to get more time to hobnob. That’s our focus this year for the fair!

Ok so what else? Well about two weeks ago, like two days after the super successful Frog Farm show, I wrote a cursory reflection on it. Basically pushing a premise that people’s tastes in what art and media they consume is more about vibes than a focus on a specific medium, and just because we seem to like to segregate mediums as a general practice that’s not really the correct way to conceive of how people enjoy art. It was encouraging with this last show that was so diverse in form, that it felt cohesive. In fact this diversity is actually what was part of its strengths. How these mediums intermingled is what make Frog Farm shows so fun. You can read my whole thought process about it in the post-show writeup right here:

In between writing that “note” and writing this newsletter, I chipped away on this new extremely descriptive and detailed “info page” for the Frog Farm website - where I talk about our mission, our team of collaborators, all of our comic projects and live shows we’ve produced, which is making making me feel EVEN MORE reflective, and I’ve got a few more thoughts on the project of Frog Farm three years out from starting it…

I don’t think what we’re doing is that radical, we’re just following a slew of consumption habits people already have. As I was explaining in my little write up linked above: even though, as a culture, we don’t get the major concurrent multimedia franchises releases across movies, TV, games and comics anymore, people are not as silo’d off as you’d assume. People don’t just watch movies and TV, just play games, or just read comics. Most do a little bit of all of it (maybe read comics a little bit less than the rest lol.) It’s weird how much we talk about mediums as if they have to be quarantined from each other, because they ain’t. It makes sense to cater to that natural polyglot habit we all have. As I said in my little spiel - zero-ing in on a cool vibe to explore all things that’s contained within that vibe is in fact a fairly typical millennial/zillennial pursuit. I’d go a step further in saying people in my age cohort in particular followed this multimedia worldview maybe a bit too much. Every 19 year old in 2013 who loved Odd Future aspired to be Tom Haverford from Parks and Rec when he started his own multimedia company:

In fact it’s something so obvious and basic it’s kind of what we all hated to see and would mercilessly make fun of in our late teens and early 20s at art school. “Oh you’re starting a film production company, a record label and fashion brand? All in one? Wow really pushing boundaries, buddy.”

Which is all to say, I am painfully aware of how stupid and lame Frog Farm sounds to an interloper. “Oh yeah, we’re a comics publisher that also put on live shows that have comic readings, animations, and other wacky weird stuff. Oh also we’re in the middle of making games, and animations too.” Yeah, ok bro. Really cool stuff.

I have a hunch most of our naysayers are hating on us because of this presumption. You can’t entirely blame them. On paper, it is super lame. I mean look at this venn diagram I outlined on the Frog Farm info page…

How can this possibly be productive? Pick a lane.

BUT what has been cool is how it actually all works together. I am always chasing more “creative synergy” with everything we’re doing, but on the whole it’s working. My hunch on why it’s working is because each small thing we’re doing is being done with a lot of thought and care and people like seeing that!

There’s no good descriptive way to explain it, but once you come to a show and grab one of our books, it kinda starts to gel together. Not to get too hippy dippy, but there’s a collective vision we are beaming out into the universe, and I’m finding once it’s received, it’s received pretty well. It’s fun seeing people have fun.

That vision? Ultimately boils down to a very specific vibe that is easily communicable across multiple mediums. The difficulty with these type of grand overambitious umbrella projects is when a vibe is hard to communicate - which if you’re a 19 year old who only really listens to Odd Future you won’t be able to do that because most likely you are neither talented nor experienced enough. Because you are teen who only has maybe one interest.

This is why we see people communicate vibes through easier short hands and signifiers like subculture, genre or specific mediums. “I publish sci-fi comics” “I make animations about girlbosses” “I make games about queer vampires.” Makes sense, it’s clearer and easier. All of our component pieces are doing things like that, but what Frog Farm is as a whole is admittedly a bit more convoluted then that. I see it as being a “faster alone, further together” type deal. In a world of only looking out for the quick and easy returns, because those are the only things that will ever work, it makes sense why people approach this. We’re slowly chipping away on a few concurrent creative projects, that are working together, but it’s taking a bit longer to get there. But once we get there we’ll have a lot of cool stuff to show for it.

All those specific signifying communicators are easier when your thing is all aesthetics, and no substance. Not to shit on fashion brands, but I think that’s something that is mostly all aesthetics. Easily communicable, but no depth.

I find that storytelling is usually the thing that gives substance, but is stickier and harder to do right. That’s what makes Frog Farm as a project a bit more special, we are wholly focused on telling stories in whatever form we’re focusing on. Maybe even more explicitly we are experimenting with storytelling through different mediums, with the guidance of a “vibe.” The amount I’ve said vibe is probably exhausting, but I do really think it’s the right word. It’s something you feel. It’s how you tell your story, it’s what frames the ideas. Contextualizes them.

This is all to say: I really like what Brain Dead are putting down lmao.

I would say they are a vibes forward collective, that astutely began with doing apparel drops and popped off around the pandemic. It always was a combination of underground/skater culture and specifically Heavy Metal mag-inspired sci-fi & fantasy aesthetics. Like what I said before, they got further faster with focusing on apparel. The cool part was that they used that initial success money to try and directly feed into their creative projects.

They’ve released multiple brackets of live action & animated shorts - friends of Frog Farm like Felipe DiPoi & Simeon Kondev made a short together called “Beeline,” that I highly recommend. They’ve also put out a comic anthology called Peep that was edited by the guys who put together Kramer Ergot. Another cool looking zine project they have is “Brain Dead Fantasy Games” zine (cover pictured above) - with a focus specifically on role playing and table top games culture. I’m currently waiting for that in the mail. Thank you Wigshop Webshop.

What else do I like from them? They just recently announced a small collab t-shirt run with Plastiboo, specifically their Vermis series. We’ve talked about Plastiboo here on this newsletter - he’s someone exploring vibes forward worldbuilding as a mean unto itself (vs worldbuilding that serves a larger narrative.) It makes complete sense that this team up with Brain Dead would happen. “Brain Dead Studios” is the umbrella name for all their substantive projects, which also happens to be the name of the movie theatre they run. Don’t live in LA but it has great programming. It’s often where Hellavision Television hosts their LA screenings, for example. All to say, they’re doing the work and supporting “the culture.”

Brain Dead is a group trying to cultivate and support a larger vibe through multiple different mediums, but their ultimate focal point/cash flow is their fashion stuff. Scrolling through their website makes that pretty obvious, as they don’t really have a home for all the creative projects. A lot of their big apparel “collabs” are centered on big properties like Godzilla, Alien, Ghost in the Shell, and maybe their most lucrative and swaggy partnership: Magic the Gathering. I image all of these bring in a lot of money (and nerd prestige.) Is that ultimately for good? I think so. They’re organizing a new festival for the first time this April called Fantasy Fest which is going to be a tabling event for fantasy and sci-fi focused stuff like tabletop, roleplaying, card games, publications AND comics! On their announcement poster they’ve got logos and names for cool sci-fi and fantasy publishers, groups and brands as if they were bands at a big music festivals. Magic the Gathering, and Heavy Metal are there but also friends and faves like Peow2, Floating World Comics, Secret Headquarters, Hollow Press and Snail Farm. I see this type of festival as a legitimate growth area for comics (of a certain type) that the current indie comic landscape can’t or doesn’t really want to provide. Makes a lot of sense for Brain Dead to be doing it.

Seems like Fantasy Fest is also going to be hosting concerts for fantasy inspired bands, as well as a huge Magic the Gathering tournament. Brain Dead are 100p hustle millennials. They want to be a million things, but luckily enough they are doing most of it pretty well. Tom Haverford flopped for Brain Dead to fly lol. The thing I wonder is if the aesthetic focus will forget the context of where it came from. Will the coaxing of fan culture reflect into substantive engagement of new ideas and projects that will actually evolve this whole milieu we all love so much? With Brain Dead I’m more hopeful, but I think a lot of other “aesthetic brand projects” I’m a lot more skeptical. If you go on TikTok and see how Brain Dead is talked about amongst hype-beast loser fashion people, it’s a depressing, shallow and barren landscape. I love my Brain Dead t-shirt and sweater I have, but I can’t read/watch/play them lol. Doesn’t make me think about the world, and the people in it. The energy for exciting new art can only stay alive if they support the artists who are making it all happen.

p.s. Brain Dead, let Frog Farm table at the next Fantasy Fest please and thank you. Maybe we can even organize a little satellite LA comic reading show? :)

Ok last thing before I go, small recommendation: Embassytown by China Miéville

Finished reading this a few nights ago, and I’m really blown away.

My short, non-spoiling, spiel I’ll give is that it’s set on a far away isolated planet where humans have a small settlement called Embassytown. They’ve been there for a few centuries already and a peaceful if not slightly hierarchal system of communication with the aliens (called the Ariekene) has been established. We follow a few different dramas unfolding from the POV of the main character, Avice, who has returned to the city after working as an immerser (what seems to be this book’s version of space-trucker.)

If I have one complaint, that is strangely also a compliment, is that since this character is so nonplussed by the absolute weirdness of her world she kinda describes the things she’s constantly encountering with a certain banal tone, especially at the beginning. Sometimes this can be cool, I like when we are seeing a weird new world through a character’s eyes who treats it in a quotidienne way. It can psychologically situate you there more quickly, which is always appreciated in sci-fi. BUT the issue is that if things are so off the charts weird, and the character is too casual without giving as much contextualization as you might need, you can get a bit of sci-fi lingo word soup. Because of that, I’d say the first 25-50 pages are a bit lumpy, so fair warning. Don’t drop it right off the bat. Stay on the ride. Once we get back to the planet and hanging out in Embassytown proper things start cooking up a bit more.

Another thing I want to briefly mention why I love this book so much is the focus on how the aliens’ biology effects its language, and how its language effects their perception of their world and the other beings in it (and some of whom are not from their world originally.) The aliens have two mouths, they speak their language with their mouths saying different sounds at the same time, and those combo noises are their words. Through a lot of explanation in the book, we learn the only way for humans to communicate is by cloning psychically connected doppelgangers who speak the language concurrently. It’s crazy stuff. A lot of characters and dialogue in the book look like this:

(That’s a name of a very important alien character.)

Anyway, I drew what I think the aliens in the book look like:

There’s a bit of fan art online, but not enough.

It’s kind of one of those recommendations where I can’t reveal toooo much information about it as to not ruin the enjoyment for you - but if you like Ursula Leguin, paired with a deep focus on linguistics and truly alien aliens this is probably the book for you.

Thanks for reading this longer than usual newsletter. I always get good feedback when I rattle on about some stupid bullshit. Hopefully this is the good stuff you like?

Ok catch you later. See you at MoCCA

• Alex