piper bly

@piperbomb

underground cartoonist, graphic journalist, photographer, author, musician, radio DJ, kitchen lifer, talking cat. you can't prove anything. work: blog: contact: piperbomb(at)protonmail(dot)com she/her.

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piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 14

i know that most of the folks who got into my music years ago when i was still playing shows have long since stopped following my work changing my name and my band name probably didn't help lmao but for all of you who were looking forward to it...Mother Tongue Undertow is still coming. i promise

the cover art to the upcoming Cinderella Suicide record "Mother Tongue Undertow". it depicts sunrise on the Mississippi river.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 14

still working on this part of the delay is technical -- effects pedals, getting my tape decks out of storage, finding a place to record vox, etc the rest is just life related. it has been fairly difficult trying to finish what is technically part 2 of this record esp. given *waves hands at world*

the cover art to Ophelia Drowning's "Suicidal", depicting a self portrait of the author in a dark hallway with a hand over her face, holding a chef's knife

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 11

lmao get outta here

the quoted post, displaying an engraving from the 1700s of the Chevaliere d'Eon, with a content warning that i sure as shit didn't put on there because "nudity"

my appeal to Bsky's moderation team, stating -- and i quote -- "it's a historically significant engraving from the 1700s you fucking goober"

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 11

if you happen to be curious about the homage to Pruneau in this month's Clippings for @assignedmedia.org, here's the original engraving by Pruneau himself alongside my rendition one of my favorite parts of this job is injecting art and illustration history into my deep dives into trans history <3

A portrait of the Chevaliere d'Eon, illustrated by engraver Noël Pruneau, depicting her as a bosom-bared Joan of Arc figure, with a plumage-covered helmet and a medal on her single covered bosom. The caption reads, in part,

“Son esprit vaut son cœur : c’est Pallas elle-même !
Longtemps, on la craignit, et maintenant on l’aime.”

Illustration: A portrait of the Chevaliere d'Eon (a stocky transfemme wearing a very elaborate feathered cap) as Pallas Athena. The hand-lettered annotation explains that the drawing in question is based on an engraving by N. Pruneau, made in 1779.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 7

this week on The Piper Block: making Planet Man at four o'clock in the morning local DJ loses control of her life tonight at 8 CST/9 EST/6 PST on @datafruits.bsky.social (full program / links / more obscure references below!)

Will the Planet Man return to the Talkie Time again, you ask? I mean, probably, if you all keep going on about it. Ask nicely, please. No screaming. And stop throwing your spaceship toy at your sister. I will turn this car around and we will all go home. There will be NO MCDONALDS, damnit. Put your seatbelt back on. Mommy is trying to drive.

a Homestuck-esque meme of that scene from Rugrats where Stu is up at 4 AM making chocolate pudding because the kids are Complaining. the caption reads "it's 4 AM and you lost control of your life. what on earth are you doing?". there is then a hyperlink stating "STU: Make chocolate -pudding"

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 6

last time i published a book was 2020 so for those of you unaware: this is what BLACKWORK publications usually look like. i named the imprint that for a reason: harsh black and white, hard contrast, single spot color at best. (pardon my old name on some of these covers here)

The cover art to Tabula Rosetta Issue 9, all black save the title and the issue number being in army green. The cover displays a sparrow, crying blood, being strangled by vines, with the inset caption reading "SEND ME BELOW AND I WILL DRAG YOU WITH ME."

The cover art to "Portraits: Collected Graphic Essays, Volume 1: 2019-2020", in all black and white. The cover depicts the artist at her drawing board, with the top portion covered in flowers.

The cover art to Tabula Rosetta Issue 4, all black save the title and the issue number being in blood red. The cover displays a hand, with blood pouring from the wrist, holding a lily, with a gigantic rose (patterned after the Luther rose, a reference to my LCMS upbringing and the trauma inherent in that) consuming the entire background. The inset caption reads "I AM FOREVER SEARCHING HIGH AND LOW AND THE LILY OF THE VALLEY DOESN'T KNOW".

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 6

cover lettering's done. not sure if it is in my budget to print the cover in color (spoiler: unlikely if i'm printing it in-house here at BLACKWORK, I have no other publisher lined up at this time, and it isn't my style anyways) but if i did that lettering up top would be in trans pride flag colors

The hand-lettered title to "A Scrapbook Of Us: The First Two Years Of Clippings, 2024-2026". The word "Scrapbook" is shaded in the format of the trans pride flag. Beneath is my name, Piper bly, shaded with a simple dot fade.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 2

coming soon to @assignedmedia.org #wip #process #illustration #makingcomics

A portrait of the Chevaliere d'Eon (a stocky transfemme wearing a very elaborate feathered cap) as Pallas Athena. The hand-lettered annotation explains that the drawing in question is based on an engraving by N. Pruneau, made in 1779.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jul 1

show me a picture that captures your essence

The cartoonist, a foofy haired femme with a beanie, a black camisole, ripped shorts, and boots, smokes her pipe while she holds a hammer out in a very confused expression. There is a board nailed to her head. She looks very goofy.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 29

unsure if this author's note will make it off my terminal window and into final publication (the final paragraph will almost certainly not survive editorial) but i'm preserving it here for posterity anyways

*Author's note*: Throughout this strip, I refer to the Chevalière d'Eon via female pronouns and feminine gendered language. As I state in the strip, this is the single instance so far in the history of Clippings where it is impossible to classify how the subject would have defined themselves in our modern gender-variance vernacular, and I will admit that due to this being a six-panel strip I am leaving a good deal of nuance out that proves that point.

However, I am erring on the side of feminine language for one reason: the Chevalière's own writings on herself refer to her not only by feminine language but as someone who was born a woman and forced to live as a man. And while that is demonstrably false (quite the opposite, it turns out), I am far more inclined to use gendered language that the historical figure in question used for themselves in their own writings, regardless of whether or not their anatomy matches. I'm here to respect and promote the autonomy of trans folks, first and foremost. If they call themselves femme in their own private coorespondence, then a femme they shall be.

Also, to be quite brusque with you, I am mainly erring on the side of femme because I have had to read the entirety of multiple historical accounts of the Chevaliere's life cover to cover in the writing of this strip and "deep vein thrombosis" does not begin to cover it. I will be the first to admit that I am a working class redneck cartoonist who stumbled into this. I am far from a tenured academic, so far be it from me to know the will or understand the whims of the historical department. But on God, if I see one more cis man he/him a motherfucker whose own writings, the entirety of British and French society, and the King of France himself declared to be a woman, my trans ass is going to put the entire damn university publication system through the French aristocracy's haircut machine.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 28

same energy

the old meme of a polar bear sticking his head out of a hole with the caption reading "bonjour"

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 28

#newprofilepic #selfie

A self-portrait from the "About The Author" page from her upcoming book, featuring the author with foofy emo hair, a black beanie, and a striped shirt-dress with striped fingerless gloves, smoking her corncob pipe and grinning impishly at the viewer

Above the portrait reads a title that says "ABOUT THE AUTHOR". Below it is a hand-lettered text block paste-up which reads:

"Born just outside Saint Louis, Missouri and saddled with a decidedly incorrect gender assignment and sobriquet shortly after, Piper Bly is a storyteller by trade and a vagabond by nature. At the age of eight, she drew her first comic book and--despite the world's repeated attempts to kick the notion out of her--she's kept on drawin' ever since.

You can find more of her work, and more about her and her creative career, at piperbly.com."

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 28

this month on @assignedmedia.org : i sit through texts written in the '90s by cis folk about obscure queer historical figures so you don't have to first of a two-parter about the legacy of the swashbuckling gender-transgressor Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont stay tuned and send smokes, imma need em

An annotated copy of a .pdf of Gary Kates' "Monsieur d’Eon is a Woman" (yes. for some godforsaken reason that is the name of the book). The highlighted section reads "Interpreting d’Eon as a transsexual renders him fundamentally passive. His gender transformation is seen as something that happened to him, the result of a genetic defect or childhood experiences, rather than a process that he freely brought upon himself as a mature adult.".

My sticky note reads simply "bro what lmao"

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 27

i am still open for #commissions!! here's some more b+w client work from over the years. all #penandink with digital color, #noai, ever. more work samples, rates & info at piperbly(dot)com (link in bio) or email piperbomb(at)protonmail(dot)com (RT, boost, and share <3) #hireme #art #queerart

An illustration of Kratos from God Of War, wielding the Blades of Athena from God Of War 2, kicking the hell out of a zombie-skeleton guy and trampling two more underfoot. A fourth reaches out from the shadows.

The cover art for Malarkey Books' "It Came From The Swamp", featuring a terrifying swamp creature bursting forth from the water. The text is all hand-lettered, and quite creepy.

The cover art for the Tempest Tome re-issue of an Old Nick record, featuring a spoopy sorcerer hiding in a darkened shadow, with the darkness of the forest receeding around the edges of the image.

The first page to my adaptation of Lord Dunsany's "Thirteen At Table", published by Jectoons.

__Layout: three quarter spread with insets, with one long shot at the bottom.__

_Top of page-- a scroll with the opening caption on it unfurling with an inset image of the "master of the house" beginning to regale us with his tale, wearing evening garb and smoking a cigar._

In front of a spacious fireplace of the old kind, when the logs were well alight, and men with pipes and glasses were gathered before it in great easeful chairs, and the wild weather outside and the comfort that was within, and the season of the year--for it was Christmas--and the hour of the night, all called for the weird or uncanny, then out spoke the ex-master of foxhounds and told this tale.

And I, I once had an odd experience too.

It was when I had the Bromley and Sydenham, the year I gave them up--as a matter of fact it was the last day of the season. It was early April and we had drawn
blank all day, and at the last draw of all,

--the very last of the season,

_Lower right--inset panel with the fox's head visible, his eye clearly noticing the hunters behind him._

we found a fox.

_Caption for the bottom row of panels, depicting a CU of the fox breaking out into a run, with the horses close behind_

We settled down into a steady gallop--left the clay lands where the bracken grows and came to a valley at the edge of the chalk--

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 27

throwing down screentones #selfie #wip

A Gnu Image Manipulation Program window of a comic book page in progress, with the uppermost panel displaying a portrait of the artist at her drawing board.

In the portrait, she is wearing a beanie, a black cami bodysuit, and booty shorts, and has a paintbrush hanging out of the side of her mouth. Recursively, in the panel itself she is shown working on the page with her portrait.

Even more recursively, the artist's hand is visible holding a pencil above the page. Oh, the recursion!

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 24

tonight on The Piper Block: checking in on Grampa Cop Mans in the home so we don't get written out of the will we explain to the orderlies that yes, he does in fact need all those medications tonight at 8 CST/9 EST/6 PST on @datafruits.bsky.social (full program / links / more bad jokes below!)

a film still of actor Everett Sloane, wearing a white button-up shirt and looking like a very confused grampa man. the caption reads "the look gramps gives you when you finally pop in at the nursing home"

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 21

zoomies update: upping the ante second ever 10 mile run in 106:48 (have to split into two b2b sets by immediately hitting stop and reset because these treadmills stop at one hour) once a week on Sunday Runday till i hit sub-100 then we'll switch to 1/2 marathons once a week

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 17

tonight on The Piper Block: everything happens on Broadway, and it happens to you we walk into summer--but soft--tonight at 8 CST / 9 EST / 6 PST on @datafruits.bsky.social (full program / links / more bad jokes below!)

Talkie Time: Broadway Is My Beat - The Stacy Parker Murder Case / The John Nelson Murder Case

In the high noose blaze of July, Broadway walks soft. Broadway walks slow. The dream walk, the careful walk. Rhythm to a regret for things that have not yet been. Because other summers have blown in these streets, and other winds…and in their ebbing, the erratic gutter-dance of the litter of this season; the snapshot of the July bathing beauty torn in half, then torn again, then torn once more; the phone number written in lipstick on a bar-room napkin, crushed, thrown against an alley wall, because it was a number that rang shrill on emptiness, no answer was the code for last summer. But this time, it’ll be different. So walk into it–but soft.

– Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 13

update: pages one and two to the intro to the new Clippings book are completely done, page 3 is nearly complete and page 4 is lettered. only six new pages of new content to go after that and this book is ready to roll #wip #makingcomics #process

Two completed pages of comic art, showing the illustrator at her desk. She stretches and yawns, then gets up and moves to a table with a cup of coffee and a Chemex pot and pours herself a cup while talking about the book.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 13

footnote

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 13

talkin mad shit about mold enthusiasts in the intro to the new Clippings book #wip #makingcomics #readanotherbook

A detail of a page of comics in progress, in which the author takes a cigar out of her humidor and lights it while discussing the thought process behind writing her column, Clippings. The speech bubbles read as follows:

"My only hard line was that at no point was I going to draw the transphobes themselves, whether they made the news or not.

My argument at the time--and it still stands--was that folk who don't view us as worthy of life weren't worthy of my brush.

ESPECIALLY not a certain British author who write some mid-ass kid-lit about eugenics wizards. Unlike Bloomsburry in the aughts, I ain't gettin' paid to waste ink.

And besides, transphobes had all the damn microphones anyways. I was more interested in bein' an amplifier for folks like us."

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 9

still looking for work! here's some more client work samples. all pen and ink with digital color. #noAI, ever. help a queer artist keep the lights on: #hireme for your next project!! rates + info below or email piperbomb (at) protonmail (RT, boost, and share <3) #commission #art #queerart

A collection of various creatures -- a penguin, a rat, a hedgehog smoking a pipe, and a possum -- joyfully banter over a tavern meal.

A faux advertisement for the CAFE SYLVIE, featuring two cinnamon sticks in a mug, three sugar cubes, a selection of vanilla beans and coffee beans, and a mint spring on a platter.

Three random little creatures whack on a very sad looking bubble gum shaped creature. The title TENTACLE HEAD and the author's name, RICK CLAYPOOL, are hand-lettered and embossed.

A small, cozy house sits at the end of a small path. A tree, a small standing stone, a plant hanging rack, and a lantern sit in the foreground.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 9

more progress on these interstitials #makingcomics #wip

Inks in progress on three comic book pages in progress, depicting the artist making coffee and having a cigar while talking about the book these pages are from (the upcoming compilation of "Clippings" strips, made for Assigned Media)

In the comic, the artist is wearing a beanie, a black cami bodysuit, and booty shorts, and has a paintbrush hanging out of the side of her mouth.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 8

just got back from the gym, back to laying down inks #wip #ink #makingcomics #selfie

Inks in progress on two comic book pages in progress, with the uppermost panel on the top left displaying a portrait of the artist at her drawing board. The one below it has her stretching and yawning, then greeting the viewer. The second page is her making coffee and drinking it out of a Chemex, while talking about the book these pages are from (the upcoming compilation of "Clippings" strips, made for Assigned Media)

In the comic, the artist is wearing a beanie, a black cami bodysuit, and booty shorts, and has a paintbrush hanging out of the side of her mouth.

Inks in progress on a comic book pages in progress, with the uppermost panel on the top left displaying a portrait of the artist at her drawing board. The one below it has her stretching and yawning, then greeting the viewer.

In the comic, the artist is wearing a beanie, a black cami bodysuit, and booty shorts, and has a paintbrush hanging out of the side of her mouth.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 7

#wip #selfie #recursion

A pencil draft of a comic book page in progress, with the uppermost panel displaying a portrait of the artist at her drawing board.

In the portrait, she is wearing a beanie, a black cami bodysuit, and booty shorts, and has a paintbrush hanging out of the side of her mouth. Recursively, in the panel itself she is shown working on the page with her portrait.

Even more recursively, the artist's hand is visible holding a pencil above the page. Oh, the recursion!

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 6

someone on Masto asked if my comix (available through the BLACKWORK site @ blackwork.org) are available as digital DLs unfortunately at this time the only way to read Tabula Rosetta, Portraits, or the upcoming Clippings book is via hard copies sold direct thru me thank Visa, Mastercard, et al

@Anke@social.scribblers.club (screencapped with permission)

@piper hey, I looked at your shop and didn't see this info: are these digital files or physical items? International shipping is pricy and I don't have much room, so digital would be great...
piper

@piper@sunny.garden

@Anke assuming you mean the shop on blackwork.org, there are no digital items at this time.

i say this having just checked to see if i could upload Tabula Rosetta to Ko-Fi (which I have as a tip jar, but don't use as a storefront) or to any other digital storefront so that you can snag a copy or two. i really wish i could! but after reading Ko-Fi's "NSFW policy", i don't think i can.

the issue is that nearly all of my comix work bears a Mature Readers Only disclaimer for a reason. i was doing that well before the recent Moral Panic nonsense that's gripped the US; a lot of my work grapples with fairly heavy themes. i've gone through a lot of shit in my life, and my solo comix work reflects that.

unfortunately with the recent nonsense payment providers get up to these days regarding not only explicit content (which my work doesn't have much of, comparatively) but LGBTQ content and stories that portray the kinds of violent experiences i've had to go through in my own life, i cannot justify the risk of getting half my livelihood wiped because of a few pages of what could be (fairly justifiably) defined as extreme content throughout my oeuvre.

if i could find a European distro for my work, i'd happily send a box their way so folks in the EU can read my work. but at this time, none of my still-in-print comix work is available outside of print media through BLACKWORK.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 5

plz RT! lost my day job the week before pride month, so commissions are open! here's some previous client work. pen and ink, no AI, ever celebrate pride month by hiring this #trans cat for your next project! rates + info below or email piperbomb (at) protonmail <3 #commission #art #queerart

A curly haired woman, dressed in a 1940s Flash Gordon-esque spacesuit and holding a lazer gun, floats in a bubble of lights and sunbursts, in a series of small bubbles. Sunflowers bracket the sides of the bubbles, and vines wrap around the outer edges.

A drawing of the folktale villian Krampus, a large, imposing demonic figure with gigantic horns, a massive fur coat, and sharp, jagged teeth. He is hovering in the night sky, massive and towering, with the moon behind his head.

Below Krampus is a small, snowy town, framed by mountains. A small, ominous church stands in the middle of the image, with a small city of random buildings strewn around it in a radial pattern. Krampus's claws hold a snowglobe with a tiny version of the town in it, as if about to break the snowy town itself beneath his clawed hands.

Two trans femme figures, in flowing gowns and locked in an embrace, hold a rose between them as they all dissolve into stars. A Tarot card-esque border wraps around the edges of the illustration, which reads VI: THE LOVERS in a very bold and embossed font, wrapped in vines and roses.

A trans femme with flowing curly hair and wearing a simple chain and a fur coat looks longingly into the distance behind the viewer, as roses and strawberry plants cover her in thorns and vines and the moon hovers just behind her head.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 3

tonight on The Piper Block: don't never say I don't do nothin' for ya, baby mama kitty comes home with the milk (uwu? perhaps) tonight at 8 CST / 9 EST / 6 PST on @datafruits.bsky.social (full program / links / more bad jokes below!)

(A photograph of the author's hand holding a CD copy of Eddie Green's "This One's For You".

*chssk* CARE PACKAGE INBOUND *chhsskh*

About a month ago, we took our first look at the funkiest band you’ve never heard: Philly’s own jazz-funk collective Catalyst. At the time, I mentioned that this particular excursion into jazz history made for a unique first. I could not, for the life of me, find ANYTHING via any of my usual channels for one of the four original members, and I had to track down a physical copy of one of their recordings.

That member was Eddie Green, and as of about a week ago I’ve had a package sitting on my desk, mailed direct from Japan and containing a copy of a CD that, as far as I can tell, does not exist on the Internet save its Discogs entry.

Y’all know I love you.

piper bly@piperbomb· Jun 2

starting pride month off with a NYOOOMMM new PB !!!! 5 miles in 46:34 next stop is sub-45 then it's on to the final goal of sub-40

piper bly@piperbomb· May 31

in fairness my pipe habit is mostly because at 19 i thought Sherlock Holmes was the hardest shit ever and at thirty-smth i can in fact confirm that nineteen year old me was never more right about anything in her life pic related, side table next to my readin' chair with my favorite pair of gloves