I'M LEADING A *FREE* COMICS WORKSHOP ON FRIDAY 3/6 at 7pm ET/4pm ET with Sequential Artists Workshop!
I'll be going full ACE OF HEARTS, talking about how to visually convey abstract feelings, with an emphasis on the presence of love 🥰 💜
Register here: bit.ly/SAWCooklin
happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!!!
as a treat, I have shared a transcript of my talk with @erikamoen.bsky.social at @bkswpicspdx.bsky.social on January 24th to my Substack!
please enjoy 🖤🩶🤍💜
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Hello!
I’m giving away some free ACE OF HEARTS-themed Valentine’s Day goodies and there are only a few spots left!!
Here’s what they look like, and here is the link to the form: fminrdqj.formester.com/f/TtsFEU54w
Portland/SW Washington folks…
Just plugging that I’m teaching a beginner’s comics class for six weeks starting next Wednesday! It will be at the new Clark College campus in Ridgefield and we’re gonna have a lot of fun!!!
To register: www.campusce.net/clark/course...
I worked for a local media outlet in Portland for the latter half of 2025. Few ICE detainment stories we covered stuck with me quite like the story of 27-year-old Jose Paniagua Calderon. His arrest on Fourth Plain Boulevard in Vancouver, Washington was recorded from two different angles. Both videos show Jose’s vehicle being driven away by ICE agents, but not before rising and falling while Jose screamed. According to his family, the visible bump was his foot being run over.
After local media outlets picked up the story, DHS posted a statement on X: By Tricia McLaughlin: Never happened. ICE did NOT run over this illegal alien's leg. Pure theatre. No Injury. After ICE officers applied wrist restraints, Paniagua launched into an Oscar-level performance, dramatically screaming while officers simply moved his vehicle off the roadway. He walked around normally immediately after without issue and received a full medical evaluation including multiple X rays that showed ZERO fractures, dislocations or injures. This statement was surprising not because of its contents but because it existed at all. ICE and DHS ignored almost every inquiry I sent them. When they did respond, it was usually weeks late, short, and/or rude. This is not normal for government communications.
One night, after dealing with ICE and DHS’s deliberately terrible communications teams for months, I was unfortunately privy to a Jesse Watters segment about all the horrible illegals ICE has been getting off the streets. I wanted to throw up listening to it. After most of my inquiries to ICE and DHS being ignored, it filled me with rage to see the way they were so obviously in cahoots with right-wing media, feeding them all of their “success” stories while leaving local journalists high and dry.
I no longer work for the news, so I feel at liberty to say this. Be assured, the only people putting on an Oscar-level performance are the public relations goons at ICE and DHS. They so blatantly and repeatedly lie. They ask the American people again and again to deny what they can see with their own eyes. And somehow, people all over this country eat it up.
I worked for the news in Portland for the latter half of 2025. For the #iceoutcomics project, I shared my experience dealing with the public relations teams at ICE and DHS. Spoiler: they suck.
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First comic reading I ever did at @bkswpicspdx.bsky.social in August 2022 vs. my reading at BwP for my debut graphic memoir on Saturday 🥲
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indiepubs.com/products/ace... thank you for your support ☺️💜
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Cooklin & Erika.
The cover of the book.
Big standing room only crowd at Books With Pictures for @cooklincomics.bsky.social in conversation with @erikamoen.bsky.social, talking about Cooklin’s debut graphic novel ACE OF HEARTS.
@bkswpicspdx.bsky.social @streetnoisebooks.bsky.social.
Working on it!
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the duality of cat
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TONIGHT with @erikamoen.bsky.social at @bkswpicspdx.bsky.social !!!!!!
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So honored to have an excerpt of ACE OF HEARTS up on the @crucialcomix.bsky.social website!!
It’s the part of the book where I finally realize I’m asexual after years of confusion and hurt and compulsory sexuality. I hope y’all will check it out 💜💚🙂
Y'ALL! IMPORTANT UPDATE!
The venue for my author event has CHANGED.
It will be taking place at BwP's SE Division location instead.
Date, time, and awesome guest @erikamoen.bsky.social remains the same!!!
Updated flyer below. I hope y'all can still make it!!!
if you have any questions for me about the process of making the book, the book itself, asexuality, ME, please drop them either in my mentions or in a DM!
I’m gonna be answering them in a substack post.
make sure to subscribe to my substack so you don’t miss it: cooklin.substack.com
if you have any questions for me about the process of making the book, the book itself, asexuality, ME, please drop them either in my mentions or in a DM!
I’m gonna be answering them in a substack post.
make sure to subscribe to my substack so you don’t miss it: cooklin.substack.com
it is ACE OF HEARTS RELEASE DAY, BABY!!!
this is my debut graphic memoir about my experiences with love while coming of age as an asexual person.
booklist gave it a starred review which apparently means it’s good!!
if this sounds like your kinda book, check it out and let me know what you think 🥲
Today on SOLRAD, we feature an Exclusive Excerpt of ACE OF HEARTS by Cooklin, published by @streetnoisebooks.bsky.social
solrad.co/exclusive-ex...
@cooklincomics.bsky.social
please share, repost, spread the word, donate, etc., especially if you’re…
🧑🎨🎨 an artist
🌲🏙️ based in Portland
🤢🤮 sick of all this AI shit!!!!
xoxo,
cooklin
🚨 new AI-free art show just dropped 🚨
my older sister just launched her non-profit, Created Ungenerated! it is dedicated to protecting human artistry in the age of AI.
CU’s first AI-free art show will take place at the Oregon Convention Center in April.
more: www.createdungenerated.com
#asexual #asexuality #asexualrepresentation #thisiswhatasexuallookslike #ace #acepride #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbtqbooks #lgbtqcomics #queerbooks #queercomics
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sooooo i never post on bluesky anymore, BUT
i wanted to make sure you lovely people knew that my debut graphic memoir ACE OF HEARTS: LESSONS IN LOVE FROM AN ASEXUAL GIRL is available for pre-order!
check it outttttt ~
linktr.ee/aceofheartsb...
my not even 2-year-old niece seeing me on FaceTime and being able to identify me as her auntie CC is incomparable joy
22.03.2025 22:22 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0i love the overture that plays at the beginning of a local news show. a whole orchestral suite brings the drama, and then, BAM. simplysafe security footage of a kia being stolen in an upper middle class neighborhood.
22.03.2025 04:51 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0get milchick out of there so he can realize his true purpose — musical theater
21.03.2025 12:40 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0also when we were walking to the restaurant I saw them outside and I heard a little girl shout way too loud, “THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!”
21.03.2025 00:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0a few days ago I went to a bar and there was a full table of eight. every single person sitting at the table was a young white male with brown hair cut into that gen z haircut. you know the haircut I’m talking about. with the curls and shit. anyway it was remarkable and a little terrifying
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