Nate Hardy

Hoth Takes #62: The Double-Edged Sword of Relevance Star Wars is in a strange place right now. Many movies have been abandoned, several TV shows have ended or been canceled, and it’s unclear how the projects on the horizon will mesh together. By all…

Does Star Wars need more centralized story planning?

In our new @hothtakes.bsky.social ep, @gracesegers.bsky.social & I are joined by my good friend @justinbolger.bsky.social, w/ whom I cohosted another SW podcast a decade ago. Reunited and it feels so good!

hothtakes.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/h...

jello with a skull in it. text says "i know it was the '70s, but...why would you put that in jello?"

more concept art!

I am beginning to think that Republican transphobia does not, in fact, have fuck all to do with supporting the athletic endeavors of women

The times are interesting: a guy selling pierogies at a Martha’s Vineyard farmer’s market exhibits more courage and fortitude in refusing to support evil than the CEO of Apple.

Posting this old bookbinding project to remind myself to get back into bookbinding! I wish there were more opportunities for weird/unique things like this in illustration; maybe for a super-special-very-limited edition book? ✨

Hank Kingsley of Thr Larry Sanders Show, suggested to Dean Cain that he did not want to be introduced at The People’s Choice Awards by a emcee with a speech impediment, thus being introduced as “Thuperman.”

I guess Dean Cain DID want to be introduced as “Duperman.” #TheLarrySandersShow

Don’t forget to check out this week’s episode which we recorded before our Disneyland trip. Now playing on your favorite podcast player.

This really feels like a defining post of our time

Just finished reading; highly recommended, top-shelf in my home Jack Kirby library. Purchased from Lulu.com as soon as I found out this 2nd edition was in print.

The Moon of America.

A-moon-ica.

Ivankamoon.

The Sea of Tranquility of America.

(Just testing out some names, trying to get ahead of things.)

a close up of a man 's face with the word andor on the bottom right Alt: Andor, smiling

Finally seeing Season 2 of Andor. 5 episodes in and I’m pretty confident in saying the Dinsey/Lucasfilm deal was worth it just because we got The Last Jedi, Rogue One, Andor, Bad Batch and Mandalorian Season 1. And I liked Solo, Los that is like the cherry on top of TGFFA sundae.

One of the best things about social media is seeing other people being happy they are friends.

Epstein's sweetheart deal? Cut by a Republican administration.

The guy who cut it? Trump put him in his first Cabinet.

Epstein's mysterious death? During Trump's first term.

Trump promised to release the files. Now he's not.

This is a Republican scandal. What is Trump hiding?

Last day at Tampa Bay Comic Convention! Come find us in Artist Alley!

University sidelines scientist who exposed toxic metals in Lake Maurepas The SELU scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in Lake Maurepas was abruptly removed from her research position without explanation.

After discovering high levels of toxic chemicals in a lake in southeastern Louisiana, scientists was abruptly sideline by her university without explanation lailluminator.com/2025/07/31/s...

Whether it's conservatives assassinating State Senators in Minnesota or liberals refusing to sell Alan Dershowitz pierogis in Martha's Vineyard, both sides have taken incivility to an extreme.

Sick of It All “Intro (It’s Clobberin’ Time)”https://youtu.be/eg8DTgLhUdc?si=IqMSwMlyTp2rUvbA

This is what it looked like when Obama was President.

Some of the process of painting The Iron Giant for Mondo - acryla gouache on paper

These pictures should be shown to every green thumb club / garden tour committee in every town in the country. It would radicalize a bunch of comfortable upper middle class folks who don’t really care if prision camps fill up.

"I Married a Raccoon!" from Squirrel Girl #127 by Brian Michael Bendis and Maris Wicks from the "Marvel Comics We Never Made" series of gag covers running through Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration.

"I Married a Monster!" from Wonder Woman #155. Cover art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Now that's one heck of a homage.

I thought we had a deficit spending problem that made us cancel all cancer research

I read a recent interview with Harrison Ford where he said the middle is where we should be, because it represents compromise. Infuriating. That thinking got us here. You can’t compromise with people that don’t think other people have a right to exist.

Don't overthink it: what comic book panels/pages live in your head rent-free? Drop four and tag #comicsdna

Alpha Flight, death of Guardian

Elfquest, Leetah and Cutter meeting for the first time.

X-Men, Kitty & Caliban

Chewie in the flowers, art by Phil Noto

Don't overthink it: what comic book panels/pages live in your head rent-free? Drop four and tag #comicsdna

Books “acquired from” bsky:

-preordered/bought books from authors I follow, but I knew about them prior to using bsky

-bought books other authors have hyped (ex: happy book birthday to ‘so-and-so’ posts)

-requested library acquire copies of the above through Libby

-added books to gift lists

What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.

Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Creative Director for an Emperor's New Groove land.

Yzma's Labrocoaster is the E-Ticket, followed by a Kuzcotopia boat ride/water park and then a Mudka's Meat Hut for crispy pill bug afterwards 👌