Kiku

@kikuhughes

I'm Kiku Hughes (she/her), a mixed-race Yonsei (4th generation Japanese American) cartoonist from Seattle. I'm the creator of APALA honor title and Eisner award nominated comic "Displacement."

301 Folgt2.918 Follower2.978 Posts

Instagram YouTube YouTube Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir kikuhughes.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jul 13

Yes! Were Sachiko and Mariko just an invented mirror of Etsuko's own life? Here's my review from when I first finished it (the daughter in question in the last paragraph is Niki of course, not Keiko)

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jul 13

Czught reading revolutionary queer literature!!!

Photo of a large mackerel tabby, one paw lifting the cover of "My Tender Matador" by Pedro Lemebel

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jul 12

check out this new anthology from short run!! i made a comic about my cat

photo of a comic anthology called "Night Shift" featuring a drawing of a person pouring over a drawing table

Photo of a comic page in grayscale. A person holding a phone says "Oh hold on, my cat is doing this thing, I gotta show you." We see the person's phone, where there's a facetime call in progress as it's filming a cat. The person filming says "He pushes his water bowl to make the sunlight reflect against the wall...then he goes wild chasing the light!" The cat is jumping up wildly, its paws flailing. The person says "I always wonder if it's actually fun for him, or if it causes like, psychological distress." The cat turns around to look at the reader and speaks. It says "Yes, it's both. Believing that anything can be real, can be held, can be kept, will drive you insane. I can never snap the neck of this beam of light. It is an all-consuming itch that can never be relieved." A series of panels shows the cat, the person, the facetime call. The cat smiles big at the end and yells "But you gotta have fun!"

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jul 8

still getting this on tumblr

Screenshot of a reply that reads "Cars are getting more and more expensive, and they are necessary for a lot of people. This post is borderline cruel and has no understanding of how the average person lives or makes purchases. It's no different than right-wingers sneering at "virtue signaling."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jul 8

im not gonna end up using this for a thing so ill post it instead

highly graphic drawing of an old Commodore computer superimposed over some dot matrix printer paper

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jul 7

hey seattle! tell Mayor Wilson to remove surveillance cameras from our streets!!

Flyer for an event titled "Post-FIFA rally - Cameras off now!" hosted by Community not Cameras Seattle. Poster shows a variety of speakers and notes the rally and press conference will be July 7th from 1 to 2 pm at Seattle City Hall Plaza.

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 27

Got this ad on youtube, i think the subtext is please dont assassinate our current ceo

Photo of a woman wearing a headset. Caption reads "I'm proud to work for United Healthcare because you get to help people."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 25

Forced rest day bc my wrist is in pain

Grainy photo of a crying cat wearing a princess hat

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 24

ok #makeaterriblecomicday #makeaterriblecomicday2026

Terrible comic. Kermit yells "Welcome to the Muppet Show, Joy Division!" We see the band on stage and Ian Curtis says "Thanks Kermit." He starts singing "I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through, I'm ashamed of the person I am." Pepe the prawn tells Gonzo "This shit is bumming me out, man." Ian Curtis starts singing "A loaded gun won't set you free, so you say." But is interrupted by Kermit yelling "OK thank you Joy Division Yay!" then in smaller letters he whispers "Cut the mic."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 23

ur on

weird scribbly drawing of a person holding fists up threateningly and the perspective is very bad

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 22

still open for the graphic novel adaptation of joy division's career

simple cartoon drawing of ian curtis' head

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 22

His name is DB Cooper - when he gets out of the litter box he's DB Pooper - i just make up what DB stands for based on the situation. example: if he does a cool jump, it stands for Doing Backflips

Photo of a mackerel tabby cat sitting on top of a side table

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 22

thank you! i took some liberties sorry haha

black, white and red drawing of a woman with devil horns

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 22

My parents' new kitten has a sword on his back

Top down photo of a tabby kitten eating.

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 18

hands my beloved

drawing of two hands lifting a heavy bag by the handles

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 16

reposting old andor art to feel something

Cartoony drawings of Cassian, Luthen and Bix from Andor

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 15

Instead of Here threatening to be my new go to depression ballad

Lyrics reading:
So excuse me, I'll be opening my box
Of old friend misery, my secret treat
To feel like myself again
I won't be here, I'll be where nobody can reach

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 15

Tell me what this means??

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 13

found an old doodle im still a fan of

very loose pencil comic. an establishing shot of the white house, then Ben and Kent from Veep standing facing the reader, while Selina is holding her head in frustration facing away. Ben says "In short, ma'am, we're in love." Selina says "Jesus Christ." Selina's exasperated face saying "You, Catherine, Amy probably, is everyone in my god damn office a fucking fruitcake? This is why I should have run GOP." Ben puts a hand up saying "Actually, ma'am, I have to correct you." He puts his hand on Kent's chest, saying "Only Kent's a fruitcake." Selina mutters "I'm fucked." She puts her hands on her temples angrily, saying "I'm fucked," while Ben's little head says "I'm kinda more like...that bread with raisins in it." Kent leans over and says smugly "Pain aux raisins." Ben says "Nevermind ma'am, we just broke up."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 10

a collection of warm up doodles of joy division lately

sketchy lineart drawing of a man singing into a microphone

black and white sketchy comic showing a man singing into a microphone "isolation! isolation! isolation! isolation!" the second panel shows three men thinking "wonder what that's about."

black and white drawing of a man singing into a microphone

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 7

these are getting weird

comic depicting tesla cars with bumper stickers reading "anti-elon tesla club," "I bought this before elon went crazy," "vintage tesla, pre-madness edition," "absolve me," "absolve me," "tell me i'm good," "tell me i'm not to blame."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 3

ough this is out! i got to draw gaysians in space! thanks to the amazing @lgions.bsky.social for turning my scribbles into beautiful panels with your colors!!!!

Photo of three variant covers of Star Trek Celebrations comics

Photo of a comic page featuring Sulu and his future husband, with Bones in the background

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 3

why are you grinning???

Screencap of a Bluesky post from Congresswoman Suzan DelBene. It shows a video still of a woman speaking into a mic with an overlaid image of an AP headline reading "Justice Department announces nearly $1.8B fund to compensate Trump allies in a deal to drop IRS suit."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 2

Yeah in a way it heightens the absurdity and the unreliability of the narrator, since he is proclaiming to be a great detective but is so obviously detached from reality. The rest of my review attached - it's given me a lot to mull on, but definitely not as satisfying as his others

What comes with that is his far more distressing delusion - that his parents were simply kidnapping victims who could somehow still be alive, still kept in the exact same building for decades, even as geopolitical turmoil is actively reshaping Shanghai around him. His fixation on being the savior of his own parents mirrors his strange belief that people expect him to "fix" the Sino-Japanese war, something not expected of detectives typically. So clearly Ishiguro is drawing a parallel to the delusions of empire, the way the British aristocracy felt able to control swathes of the world and attempt to fix earth in time, a time when the British Empire felt invincible. The casual racism and overt Orientalism Christopher displays again and again, despite feeling that Shanghai is his true home, clearly mirrors British imperialism.
It's still puzzling that characters like the Chinese military commander seemed to abet him in his delusions though. I suppose it could be a commentary that wars like these necessitate delusional thinking on all sides? It has something to say about the violence of the Chiang Kai Shek regime, the fickleness of (at least the European) communists, and the last few chapters do go out of their way to show the true victims of the war. The scene of the little girl clutching her dying dog while surrounded by her family's corpses, her hope that the European would help her, only to have him willingly turn her into the Japanese army because his sole focus is his own delusional quest.
I still have questions about the theme of orphans, and how it relates to this theme of imperialist delusion. Is Ishiguro comparing Brits to orphans who still have a ridiculous belief in their "parents" (the heads of empire), despite that belief leading them to do self-detrimental things? The eternal search for parents discussed in the final chapter could represent a tendency towards authoritarianism in the post-WWII era from people who create nostalgic fictions of their past?

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 2

No money until several invoices get filled

Picture of a Sumerian figure with wide eyes

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 2

When another big bill comes right after rent

Photo of an aide whispering into George W Bush's ear

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 2

Thoughts on seeing an Obama campaign sign in the trash in 2026

Pencil drawn comic page that shows someone walking, then looking up, then a panel of an Obama campaign sign in the trash. Text reads "Walking through my (largely white, liberal) neighborhood. He hasn't run in 14 years. They obviously kept it for sentimental reasons. Why did they throw it out now? Something had made them unable to look at that sign anymore."

Kiku@kikuhughes· Jun 1

drawing my book

Drawing of a girl sitting on her knees and yelling in despair, hands over her eyes

Kiku@kikuhughes· May 25

final boss time. the last ishiguro novel to read. i've put it off because it's 500 pages long and apparently very experimental, which is giving me finnegan's wake fears. but we gotta do it.

Cover image of "The Unconsoled" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Kiku@kikuhughes· May 24

ok i finished another Ishiguro and I am once again asking for anyone who has also read this to talk to me about it