Justin Martin

@jmartinwrites

Trying it over here. Disabled and queer. Word tinkerer (in schools) and word tinkerer (not in schools). Never not thinking about Plastic Man.

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Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Apr 26

this one-page eleanor davis comic is so good

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Apr 9

so @tradespotting.bsky.social is now team "every superhero comic writer must read THE DISPOSSESSED"

"If you could make a change to anything you’ve written over the years, what would it be?

In The Dispossessed, I would mention the communal pickle barrels at street corners in the big towns, restocked by whoever in the community has made or kept more pickles than they need. I knew about the free pickles all along, but never could fit them into the book.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Apr 2

you can read all about these experimental new surgeries in my new book, Irreversible Dolmades

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Mar 30

you should read Amy Fusselman's book 8, a slim memoir about figure skating, motorcycles, the Beastie Boys, childhood sexual assault, being a robot, and alternative medicine. it is sometimes brutal and sometimes deeply loving and kind of both at once. knocked me on my ass.

the cover to 8/The Pharmacist's Mate by Amy Fusselman, sold in a two in one by McSweeney's. The pond is big and blue; the girl is small and faceless and orange.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Mar 28

can we hurry up and put the late John Paul Leon on the same Rushmore as Jack Kirby?

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Feb 15

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if you check it out, tell me! STAG DANCE, Torrey Peters

two door, locked in combat or staggering, one in a bow

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Feb 14

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if you check it out, tell me! STRIDE TOWARD FREEDOM, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Feb 14

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if you check it out, tell me! SUPER NINTENDO: THE GAME-CHANGING COMPANY THAT UNLOCKED THE POWER OF PLAY, Keza MacDonald

various nintendo icons on a multicolored background

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Feb 13

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if you check it out, tell me! A REAL EMERGENCY: STORIES FROM THE AMBULANCE, Joanna Sokol

stylized white ambulance on stylized fire

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Feb 9

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if you check it out, tell me! EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES, Tom Robbins

a naked girl in a blue moon rides a crane

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Feb 1

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if you check it out, tell me! DANCING IN THE STREETS: A HISTORY OF COLLECTIVE JOY, Barbara Ehrenreich

a group of brightly-colored peasants dance in a line on a white background

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 27

this is a thread of the covers of books that I both read and liked in 2026. these are not reviews or summaries; if I didn't think you'd love it, I wouldn't put it here. if you check it out, tell me! BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS: LIFE, DEATH AND HOPE IN A MUMBAI UNDERCITY, Katherine Boo

a child in Mumbai, in front of sheet-metal lodges, looks towards the sky

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 22

sell. the. company. (if i -- nearly 30 -- see a comic and am like "that reminds me of when I was a kid", it should not exist. Pulp it. Go back and try again.)

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 16

red-and-white sketch of a child on a barstool surrounded by fat affable older men; no faces.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 11

thinking about this tweet thread and filling with endless rage again. powerpuff girls PRINTED MONEY in the 90s and 2000s and its creator has no traction in modern hollywood animation. what hope is there for new ideas for newcomers?

craig mccracken, who created powerpuff girls, pitched 16 original shows to netflix but had to make more ppg instead

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 9

Stephanie McCarter's translation of Zeus flooding the earth in Ovid's Metamorphoses is really quite lovely:

One person occupies a hill. Another
sits in a skiff and rows where he just plowed.
One sails above the cornfields or a sunken
farmhouse’s roof. Another catches fish
in canopies of elms. Sometimes by chance
an anchor fixes to a verdant meadow
or curving keels graze vineyards down below.
Where slender she-goats lately grazed on grass,
there ugly seals recline. Nereïds gape
at underwater groves and towns and homes.
Dolphins inhabit woods. They dash against

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the lofty boughs and smack the shaken trees.
Wolves swim with sheep. Waves drag off tawny lions.
Waves drag off tigers. Boars cannot employ
their lightning force, or floating deer swift legs.
The roving bird seeks ground on which to stand,
then falls into the sea on weary wings.
The ocean’s lawlessness had covered hills,
and strange new surf was pounding mountaintops.
Most are dispatched by waves. Prolonged starvation
from lack of food kills those the waves have spared.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 6

two hands reach towards each other in a sparsely star-flecked sky

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 4

BAHAHAHAHAHA (north and gomez this time)

reed's eyeballs are little zucchini-shaped binoculars

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Jan 4

ryan north and ivan coelho make me snicker, part 377:

a panel where reed richards, who does not believe in ghosts, clarifies that ghost rider is "an alive man who just LOOKS like a ghost" and then, in a separate balloon, "and even then, only occasionally"

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Nov 28

dc in the 90s really wanted you to know that Lobo was hung.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Nov 15

jesus CHRIST, aesop. (trans. Robin Waterfield)

128

THE FROG NEIGHBORS

Two frogs lived close to each other. One lived in a pond that was deep and

far from the road, while the other lived in a puddle on the road. The pond-
dwelling frog advised his friend to move to his pond. “You’ll have a better

life here,” he said, “and a safer one as well.” But the other frog didn’t listen
to this advice. “It’s really hard to up and leave one’s familiar surroundings,”
he said. And before long he was crushed to death beneath the wheel of a
passing wagon.
Likewise, there are people who throughout their lives pursue worthless
occupations and are overtaken by death before they find better ways to
spend their time.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Nov 7

exact meter out of thin air? in tmnt font

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Nov 7

straight up 90s todd macfarlane in the TMNT font

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Nov 1

today's Lynda Barry comic is required reading for any kind of teacher.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Oct 26

reading SECONDS and I really dig how Bryan Lee O'Malley uses the comics page. On the left, comparing two people in short scenes. On the right, following a single thought.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Oct 23

y'all look at this egg (odilon redon, The Egg)

an egg with eyes in a black and white goblet. sketchy.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Oct 23

omg omg @silaslee.bsky.social

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Oct 21

turn this into a large poster and hang it in every Marvel and DC office now.

ZH: A lot of animators grow up watching cartoons, and that inspires them to draw and that inspires them to animate. Which is great, but if the only thing you watch is other cartoons, you’re not gonna pull from an interesting [place]. “Family Guy” will reference weird ’50s stuff and ’80s stuff. “The Simpsons” pulls from dramas and actions and thrillers and real-life references. A lot of the stuff we find funny or interesting, and what goes into the show, is a lot of the real-world stuff. Like a weird Dick Cavett interview from the ’70s. All the real stuff in the world that we find interesting as adult men, that is completely unrelated to cartoons, is usually more fresh. If you’re just watching cartoons and making cartoons based on cartoons, it spirals into a big blob of nothing.

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Oct 9

with apologies for contributing to Bezos, favorite Gilligan's Island episode? (Or Columbo, as a backup?)

Justin Martin@jmartinwrites· Oct 6

nobody asked but if I was teaching high school again, knowing what I know now and where the crises + possibilities are with students, here's the bare minimum I'd insist on doing, in terms of weekly structure