{"id":366762,"date":"2026-07-09T12:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/366762\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:07:15","slug":"austin-comic-books-come-to-life-at-inky-eyes-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/366762\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Comic Books Come to Life at Inky Eyes\u00a0 \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A recent Inky Eyes comic book mixer at Alienated Majesty Credit: Courtesy of Inky Eyes<\/p>\n

\"T\"<\/p>\n

he sign-up sheet at Inky Eyes<\/a> is chock-full of eager cartoonists hoping to read their work. Whether they read or not, the quarterly mixer and reading series draws artistic storytellers of all varieties to Alienated Majesty, where they fill tables to sketch in the evening\u2019s drink-and-draw portion, or otherwise chat and peruse the shop\u2019s colorful comic selection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph \u201cJoe\u201d Hohman scratched his signature on the sign-up sheet one of the first times he came to the event. A few months later, the cartoonist, writer, and editor brought Passenger Pigeons<\/a> to the stage for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more like a poetry reading,\u201d Hohman found, contrasting the experience to prose readings he\u2019s done. \u201cYou\u2019re controlling the flow of everything, you\u2019re controlling the energy of it.\u201d Clicking from panel to panel on a projected screen, sharing a comic publicly can look like a PowerPoint presentation crossed with a one-person-show table read.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

\u201cI went into it thinking that I needed to put my presentation together in more of a performative way,\u201d confirms Hohman. \u201cYou want people to laugh and clap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laugh and clap we did \u2013\u00a0for Hohman and the four other comics on the last Inky Eyes lineup, each with their own visual and presentation style. For the uninitiated, a camp I was firmly in before that night in April, the concept of a comics reading is a little curious. Comic strips, zines, graphic novels \u2013 wherever you\u2019re finding the written word enmeshed in illustration \u2013 contain countless visual cues. Feeling and pacing are imbued into font, spacing, color choices, and more. The form\u2019s use of onomatopoeias and graphic dramatics come to life in a completely unique way in front of a crowd. When I attended Inky Eyes, readers flipped through their projected panels, narrating the dialogue and sound effects alike, their distinct world-building spilling out of the page. As the evening wrapped up, the sounds of contact information being exchanged and zines being flipped filled the bookstore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That excited hum connotes success for the event\u2019s founder, Ashley Robin Franklin, and other cartoonists with a can-do spirit like Hohman. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer that if there\u2019s something you want to see in the world and you don\u2019t see it, just make it yourself,\u201d he tells me. He\u2019s referring to the citywide comics anthology he\u2019s noodling on, but that\u2019s a story (hopefully) for another time. Zinemakers everywhere are propelled by this attitude, and the comics community organizers in Austin are taking it a step further.<\/p>\n

Franklin got the idea for Inky Eyes following the release of her 2024 horror comic collection, The Skin You\u2019re In<\/a>, when they approached the decidedly spooky task of doing their first reading. \u201cI am very shy,\u201d admits Franklin. \u201cI\u2019ve always had a fear of speaking publicly.\u201d Practicing for the release event in her publisher\u2019s home of San Francisco, she felt shaky and nervous, but \u201chalfway through I realized I was having so much fun,\u201d she laughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Austin, unlike other big cities, didn\u2019t yet have a stage for comics readings. Longing to bring her Bay Area experience back home, that just-do-it attitude struck: Franklin hosted the first Inky Eyes mixer in May 2025. If the ever-lengthening sign-up list is any testament, Austin\u2019s cartoonists are catching on.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThere\u2019s<\/p>\n

\u201cComics can be such a solitary practice,\u201d says Kat Fajardo<\/a>, who started her own cartoonist mixer, ATX Comix Meetup<\/a>, last year, not long before the first Inky Eyes event. When she relocated to Austin from New York, she found herself missing the creative community there. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure if I wasn\u2019t connected with the right people or just wasn\u2019t looking hard enough,\u201d they recall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running into fellow cartoonists at annual festivals, like Lone Star Zine Fest<\/a> and independent media exposition STAPLE!<\/a>, told her the people were out there, but Fajardo was looking for a more casual, consistent community, so they started one. The bilingual cartoonist and middle grade author posted online about hosting a comics meetup and crossed her fingers that someone would show. A dozen storytellers filled the coffee shop in February 2025, launching the now-monthly event. A year and a half later, the meeting has spawned a Discord server of over 250 cartoonists, illustrators, and other creatives who use the platform to galvanize each other\u2019s projects and host regular workshops on tabling, publishing, character development \u2013 whatever people need. \u201cI think we crave a bit more than just talking to each other,\u201d says Fajardo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inky Eyes\u2019 performance component fills the gap. \u201cI love comics reading,\u201d the ATX Comix Meetup founder says. \u201cIt\u2019s something that Austin definitely needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shared Universe<\/p>\n

Franklin took notes from similar events she\u2019d attended, and their own reading experience, to craft Inky Eyes\u2019 formula. The first hour of the evening is designated for drawing and drinking, encouraging mingling and sharing work \u2013 but really, the founder tells me, it\u2019s for the readers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is for the readers to acclimate to the water, to be in their little bag like a little fish,\u201d she explains, gingerly miming setting a bagged goldfish in a new tank. \u201cI don\u2019t want anyone to get there and be the first person to read and be so scared and not have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For non-readers \u2013 or at least, for nosy non-cartoonists like yours truly \u2013 it\u2019s also a fascinating window into independent comic creation. Many of the stories taking shape in Austin\u2019s scene are autobiographical and each is the product of countless influences, from Sunday Funnies to manga and animated cartoons. In a flurry of drawing and writing, set to each creator\u2019s own stylized tempo, a little window into their brain is born. Even as sketches, the page-bound world reveals an interconnected, sensory-rich storytelling style tying details like the shape of eyes to emotional tenor, or the length of words to speech patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always found comics [to be] a really great way to process. That\u2019s part of what comics is for me, is journaling and processing the world,\u201d says Inky Eyes co-host Sammy Ness. She joined Franklin several mixers ago after lending an informal hand to the event. A sign painter in addition to her comic work, Ness\u2019 sketchbook \u2013 which she generously lets me peek at while we chat \u2013 is tidy and shaded, everyday scenes slotting into yet-invisible panels. Across the table, Franklin\u2019s notebook holds iterative character sketches, creature-based collages, and unbound drawings that will eventually form horror stories or were a part the illustrative work they did for an upcoming middle grade release, The Girl Who Loved Monsters<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though fans of each other\u2019s work in addition to friends and co-hosts, Ness and Franklin\u2019s styles from start to finish couldn\u2019t be more different. \u201cI think that\u2019s why indie comics are so exciting,\u201d says Franklin. \u201cThere\u2019s so much room for experimentation, and also for showcasing those roots, and combining them in this exciting, loving way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

Like in any form of independent media, plucking out a creator\u2019s inspirations and relishing whatever shared appreciation can be found there, spun in unexpected ways, is part of the joy of engagement. \u201cI love whenever I\u2019m like: \u2018Oh, this person is so inspired by Peanuts, and also this really scary horror manga, and also their real life, and also maybe something specific in their culture and in their timeline,\u2019\u201d Franklin says. The list could go on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Franklin and Ness aim to showcase the variety of independent comic styles at every mixer, inviting readers to cultivate an eclectic lineup for each event. Talking over each other, Ness says: \u201cWe always want a mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf everything \u2013 of type of comic,\u201d Franklin continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe look, the level of experience,\u201d Ness adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAge, if we can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBackground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything \u2013 and also tone,\u201d says Franklin. \u201cI want to make sure there\u2019s somebody who\u2019s funny and there\u2019s maybe somebody [where] this is one of their first comics experiences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For their upcoming third-quarter mixer, July 11 at Alienated Majesty<\/a>, this approach is on full display. Natalie \u201cNat\u201d Grimm<\/a> writes a serialized web comic, Teyshas<\/a>, following two best friends on a beer-fueled trek across the Lone Star State, in addition to creating pop culture-inspired prints she sells at conventions and art fairs. Jessica Orozco<\/a> is new to Austin. The Sonora-born graphic designer and small-business owner explores many different illustration styles that combine colorfully in Tasty, a humorous, playful strip featuring irreverent clowns. Tom\u00e1s D\u00edaz Mora has been drawing dialogue-less cats, typically dressed in medieval garb, as @cat.board<\/a> on Instagram for over 15 years. \u201cThat\u2019s 15 years of cats doing all sorts of things, from starting coups to robbing banks to performing acrobatics,\u201d he writes in his bio.<\/p>\n

Marc Hess\u2019 debut graphic novel, Coyote Peak<\/a>, illustrated by Ukrainian artist Ira Bobrovska, is the first entry in a paranormal quest trilogy. After a career in publishing and nature writing, Hess published his first novel, The Gillespie County Fair, in 2019, and, after meeting Bobrovska at a Catalonia arts residency, is now trying his hand at illustrated contemporary adult fiction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chelsea Akpan, Saturday\u2019s fifth reader, has a background in animation and a master\u2019s degree in comic creation. The Arlington-based comic found out about Inky Eyes at Lone Star Zine Fest and has been excited for a chance to read to an Austin audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to do small things to get more integrated into the comic community,\u201d she says. \u201cComics are such a small community anyways, it\u2019s a small world, and then within Texas there\u2019s only so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

More and more members of that community, from further corners of Texas, are making their way to Austin\u2019s events, adding their pencil, marker, paint, and digital creations to the table of zines, books, posters, and more that greet Inky Eyes attendees each quarter. Akpan\u2019s color-packed, satirical comedy series LOVEFOOL!<\/a> draws on her lifelong love of animated shows, full of movement and a quick-paced, show-don\u2019t-tell mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to bring that to comic readings and do the voices,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s sound effects, I do voices. I might even have my friend do voices for a couple other characters. I have it paced to where it\u2019s like a cartoon.\u201d Words tumbling into each other, the excitement in the cartoonist\u2019s voice is palpable. You can already start to imagine the full sensory comic reading experience that comes to life when a creator takes a story beyond the page. \u201cYou can tell the type of cartoonist you are based on how you read your comic,\u201d Akpan declares.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\u201cYou<\/p>\n

Franklin and Ness have seen that play out time after time already in Inky Eyes\u2019 year of meetups. \u201c[There are] just like so many different ways to do it, and you can kind of tell where people are bringing that energy from,\u201d Franklin says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Theatre backgrounds, television fandoms, or poetic stylings that aren\u2019t inherently clear in the physical media show up in the performance of comics. I can\u2019t help but compare the experience to watching a new band \u2013 you might\u2019ve heard the shoegaze inspiration in the recorded track, but their love of, say, hair metal only comes out onstage. Even genres that wouldn\u2019t find a home in your headphones can make for an entertaining live experience in this way. Franklin and Ness tell me it\u2019s often the same for comics. Styles they might not reach for on the shelves take on a full-bodied sheen that nearly anyone can appreciate in the glow of the projector.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that would have just maybe not hit as hard on paper reading it alone, it takes on a different light,\u201d says Franklin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Future Thought Bubbles<\/p>\n

Franklin and Ness are really just getting started as they embark on their second year of seasonal mixers. As the local community gathers more frequently, and innovative events pop up around the country \u2013\u00a0like New York\u2019s experimental, theatre-bending comic reading event, Frog Farm<\/a> \u2013\u00a0the Inky Eyes co-hosts figure we\u2019ll be seeing even more from zinesters and cartoonists in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterature has had this type of event forever, but it\u2019s really exciting to have this type of community event for the comics community,\u201d Ness says of the reading series. \u201cPeople are excited to experiment too.\u201d The painterly cartoonist points to readers who have brought live musicians or recorded soundscapes to the meetup, or created props or costuming. \u201cI\u2019m very excited about people who are using the event to kind of push boundaries or make a really interesting performance,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve, as a city, cultivated such a great environment for artists and writers to work on their craft and also meet each other,\u201d Fajardo echoes, thinking of the overlap they see in the crowds at ATX Comix Meetup and Inky Eyes \u2013 and also the continual trickle of new artists in both spaces. All that mingling and workshopping keeps inspiring new projects, like Hohman\u2019s pending collection of citywide comics and a free community zine highlighting creators and events coming soon from Fajardo and friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see ideas morphing and people bouncing things off [each other],\u201d says Franklin. \u201cPeople are happy and excited to share resources [and information] like how to run a comic festival, or how to use this specific type of publishing equipment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DIY spirit is strong with this corner of independent creation, and all are welcome. As Ness puts it: \u201cYou don\u2019t need to buy crazy equipment, or have a degree, or anything in order to make something that is of value in the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next Inky Eyes mixer is set for Saturday, July 11, at Alienated Majesty Books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Ashley Robin Franklin<\/p>\n

This article appears in July 10 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n

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