Ryan Estrada
@ryanestrada
Eisner, Ringo, and Harvey-nominated author/artist/adventurer behind Banned Book Club, Student Ambassador, No Rules Tonight, Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit. Worked on Garfield, Star Trek, Popeye. Repped by Janine Kamouh at WME. Find me at ryanestrada.com
One of the most unique comics I got at Perth Comic Arts Festival is this zine that is a paper airplane that tells a story about in-flight emotions as you unfold it. (By J. Harris, @harrinaut on instagram)
The webtoon center has a great museum of work by local artists, a public workspace on the fourth floor, and some fun little free exhibits hidden elsewhere. If you or any other comics-loving folk want the grand tour, drop me a line! I love showing off how cool Busan is for comics!
Our final nights in Australia were at an 1800s prison-turned-hostel. Hyun Sook showed off all her tough poses. I was gonna give her the old "beat up the biggest guy on the first day to look tough" advice, but that was me, so I shut my mouth.
Flying foxes are threatened species across Australia. But the place where we're staying is their breeding ground. I wish I could capture the sound of millions of flying foxes surrounding you. But it's so loud, it blows out my mic. It's like that scene from Gremlins 2 when they're all in the lobby.
Just a heads up that if anyone DM's me on bluesky, I won't see it until this weekend. Australian laws prevent children from using direct messages. And because I don't have an Australian ID, bluesky doesn't believe that I'm old enough.
...and just since the person mentioned here wrote a whole essay on the premise that he never said that, here it is.
Here's the comic Hyun Sook and I made for @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social's Tale Town anthology, edited by Elizabeth Marruffo. It was printed the size of a whole newspaper page!
The Museum of Brisbane has an exhibition called Precious. In short, "A bunch of local nerds had extremely specific collections, and their next of kin didn't know what to do with them, so here they are." I love it.
Walking through the city of Nambour on the sunshine coast of Australia, and starting to sense a specific vibe.
Proud of the whole dang team! And proud to share this Ringo nomination with all of them.
Who's visiting a friend in a small town near Brisbane, and we met two hard-to-spot local celebrities. A platypus and a cormorant who are best friends... or maybe unlikely lovers? (Not our pics, but sent to us after we saw them in the same spot to confirm their long-standing commitment)
Hyun Sook took over Perth! Thanks to @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social for a wild weekend!
Yay! @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social is on! Hyun Sook and I just finished talking about the freedom to read with @swinsea.bsky.social at The Killing of Books.
If you're at @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social and pick up a copy of this year's free Tale Town anthology, I did a mischief and hid original art from my contribution in random copies. If you find one, post a pic!
You're not allowed to touch the quokkas, but they'll just jump right up on your lap and stare at you like "what are you gonna do, buddy, you're not allowed to push me off."
Each tray holds the forbidden liquid. You are NOT allowed to drink the forbidden liquid. (Installation by Paola Pivi)
The Art Gallery of Western Australia has a dress up room and fashion runway.
Thank you, Hyun Sook, for radicalising me. (Art by Olga Cironis, ant the Art Gallery of Western Australia)
We just arrived at @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social and have been absolutely spoiled with welcome bags of Aussie snacks and stickers.
One more sleep until Hyun Sook and I are off to @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social! Where our Perth Peeps at? Expect updates here. Non-Perth Peeps? Expect quokka photos here.
Folks I know keep sharing this screenshot, and I don't know how accurate it is. But I know book sales vary wildly, even in the same authors' catalog. In the last year, my bestselling book did about $23,000 in sales. My worst-selling book, due to returned unsold stock, did negative $461.13.
Some folks will even get the art from the cover of our latest Harvey Award-nominated book, Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit. We're excited for @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social! Who will we see in Australia?
We're are giving away giant hand-drawn full page spreads from No Rules Tonight, Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit, and the Banned Book Club special edition. Find us at our @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social signing. The first 50 folks with a book get to pick their favorite piece!
I try to give away free original art with my books as often as possible. Usually, it's individual panels I've cut to fit inside a book. But at @perthcomicsfest.bsky.social next week, I've decided to do something special. I'm handing out the art myself, so the pieces can be bigger...
Imagine the new terrible Hollywood trend was, instead of remaking whole movies, to only remake the old-age-makeup scenes with the original actors now the right age for real and leave the rest untouched. What movies would kind of work? My pick is F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus.