TOP SHELF NEWS!

 

Top Shelf Land Gigs, Technology-Driven Dystopian Tale from UK Creators Simon Smith and Mark Mosedale In Stores June 16, 2026, Preorder Available Now

LOS ANGELES, CA (February 6, 2026) — A.I. took the work. Gigs replaced jobs. Ordinary people are left to scrape together lives in a world that's no longer built for them. This is Gigs, a new graphic novel from Top Shelf releasing June 16, 2026. With a hard-won blend of biting satire and humanistic passion, two creators from the North of England weave together six divergent chapters into an extraordinary graphic novel. Gigs is both a powerful warning about the oppressive world to come and a defiant celebration of the humanity that will sprout up in the cracks.   "When we started working on Gigs in 2019. We hoped that doing a book about AI taking jobs and necessitating a universal basic income wouldn't become irrelevant in the time we spent making it. It turns out that that was the wrong thing to hope for,” says co-creator Mark Mosedale. “Still, there are all the right things left to hope for and, as Woody Guthrie wrote, you've got to keep the hoping machine running. For me, writing Gigs has been a big part of that."   "When we started Gigs I was reaching for that feeling that great music gives me - hearing Tinseltown in the Rain for the first time, or Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops, or Once In A Lifetime. When this stuff finds you, it's proof that another, better world is possible, and an encouragement to look for it,” says co-creator Si Smith. “Imagining a dystopia is relatively easy, especially right now, and the world that we’ve built in Gigs is quite bleak. But whilst hope and joy and revelation are definitely much harder to create, Mark and I have had a good go at it."

Mark Mosedale, Si Smith

About the Book In a frighteningly near future where Basic Income is supplemented by gig work assigned by “the app”…an octogenarian punk and a lonely young worker seek escape through music. A street artist makes art by night and paints over it by day. A has-been detective chases a case into a forgotten world. A drug runner makes a long, strange delivery. A writer marks her days on a decaying space station she can’t leave. And a refugee asks for help in the last free place.   Gigs will be available wherever books are sold, as a full-color softcover graphic novel (ISBN: 978-1-60309-593-8) as well as a digital edition, on June 16, 2026, for a list price of $24.99. For more information please visit the ​Top Shelf​ web site.   About the Creators Author: Mark Mosedale is a writer from the North of England. He has also been a pot washer; a video game journalist; a dollar-store clerk; an unpaid writer for major national newspapers (once willingly, once without being informed, which seems careless now); a customer-service advisor for a debt management charity; and a paperboy. He once ran 100 miles without puking, but he did it quite slowly. Mosedale lives in Leeds, England, with his wife, kids, and preoccupations. Illustrator:​ Si Smith is a UK-based comic artist and freelance illustrator. He has also worked: as a primary school teacher; in teams programming festival events and venues; on a zero-hours contract invigilating shows at a well-known arts institution; as an exhibition curator; in an art supplies shop; on the panel of an under-the-radar arts funding body. He loves Radiohead and The Slits, and the best gig that he ever saw was RIDE at the Manchester Albert Hall in May 2015. Smith is married with two adult sons, and he currently lives and works in Leeds in the North of England.   About the Publisher Top Shelf Productions has published critically acclaimed and popularly beloved graphic novels since 1997. Celebrating more than a decade as an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf continues to showcase the vanguard of the comics medium, publishing works of literary sophistication, visionary artistry, and personal resonance.

MUSIC responds to the Event of the Minnesotans and ICE actions

MUSICIAN Jeff Crandall has posted a song to mark the events in Minnesota and ICE. I spoke to him recently.  I thank him for his time and the response to the events as well.

https://swallows.bandcamp.com/track/insurrection-song

I think we all know that Minnesota is getting a great deal of news coverage due to the ICE actions and Immigration issues accusations of corruption. How have you been responding as an artist?



I think I’ve been responding like many people in the state - as a citizen first. Even though this type of abuse of power is something I’ve been concerned about for several years, it is still shocking when it winds up happening in your own backyard. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent quite a bit of time just trying to understand the extent of what is going on and also trying to understand what the politically strategic point of the surge is. I think we all expected that there would be more aggressive immigration enforcement efforts under this administration, but Metro Surge is something entirely different.

What we are witnessing in Minnesota is a very serious erosion of civil rights - not just those of undocumented immigrants but also those of United States citizens and other legal residents of the state. It is a very dangerous and unprecedented situation that is now spreading to other cities, and it is clearly by design. The Trump administration is using existing laws to justify the tactics that are being used on the ground; however, they are playing semantic games to circumvent the actual intent and limits of those laws. In doing so, they are violating a whole litany of individual rights that are guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.

Although I follow politics fairly closely in my everyday life, I generally choose to not directly address political issues in my lyrics. I generally prefer to write about things that are less topical in nature, but when things hit this close to home, it is hard to just sit on the sidelines and remain a dispassionate observer.

I’ve always understood that there was going to be a moment in a second Trump administration when we would all be tested, because I’ve never believed that he would give up power easily a second time. I don’t like to react to everything that Trump or his administration does, but when it comes down to the administration routinely violating the constitution, attempting to instigate violence and mayhem in the streets, and lying about it in such an obvious manner, one can’t help but react to it and start speaking out about it.

And when you see your friends and other Minnesotans putting themselves at risk to document these abuses of power and to help other Minnesotans in need, you really feel a need to do something - to get off the sidelines and participate. I’m a songwriter, so one of the things I’m naturally going to do is express what I’m feeling about all of this through music. To write a song or attend a protest is just a small gesture of support for the monumental efforts of others that I’m witnessing all around the state.

Knowing Swallows and other related bands are Minnesotan, do you as artists invite so called cancellation or notoriety if you respond?

Sure, there is a risk to speaking out and flying our flag. But what are artists to do in a situation like this? Protest is a legitimate and important part of artistic expression and, among other things, it is the duty of the artist to report and respond to reality. It comes with the territory. I don’t mean to alienate anyone, but when the insurrectionists are literally in charge of the government and the laws of the nation are being ignored or stretched beyond comprehension by those who have sworn an oath to upholding those laws, the house is on fire, metaphorically speaking. So, that’s where we are right now. Our nation is on fire. Are we supposed to ignore this reality and pretend that it isn’t so?

I think most of us would agree that we’d prefer that it hadn’t come to this, but it has, and now we have to respond before we lose our democracy. The people will have to save American democracy; our institutions are failing one by one at the task of holding the line against the creeping authoritarianism we are currently living through. So, the citizens of the country are going to need to vote every day with our voices and with our bodies to protect the democracy. The laws and courts will follow, but those processes move slowly, and Trump administration is fully taking advantage of the slow wheels of justice. So, the people of the nation will need to slow down the Trump administration’s attack on democracy long enough for our institutions to catch up. 2026 will be the year we either save or lose our country. That is what is on the line right now. Even if we make it through the midterms and have “free and fair” elections, there will still be a struggle to preserve the democracy. But the midterm elections are the first goal post we have to reach.

There comes a time when you have to decide which side of history you want to be on, and I think we’ve passed a point of no return where if you don’t pick a side, a side will be picked for you. I’d rather make it clear where I stand before my silence becomes a part of the problem. I don’t want to be coopted by this administration, and I don’t want to allow the fear of retribution or blowback make my decisions for me. Right now, I may suffer some minor inconvenience for exercising my first amendment rights, but if we don’t fight to save our democracy now, the penalty for speaking up could be far worse in a few months or years.  It is just that kind of moment. I don’t think this is even remotely a close call at this point. If the first amendment wasn’t created for a moment like this, then what the hell is it for?

How can people outside the state do something to help?

People outside of the state can learn from and replicate what the people of Minnesota are doing here. I don’t necessarily think they need to come here because ICE and border patrol will likely be coming to them soon enough. They can add their voices and their support - as they have been doing. This pressure campaign by the Trump administration is going to spread, especially in the swing states and blue-leaning states. So, other impacted states are going to need to get organized to keep up the public pressure campaign to expose what the administration is actually doing and to show their support by protesting in the streets. Visibility is very important. The administration won’t stop until the bottom falls out on their support and Republicans in congress finally step in to save themselves from a catastrophe. Republicans should be very worried about what is happening right now. They just lost a gerrymandered seat in Texas to a Democrat by a landslide and there were more Republicans who voted in that race than Democrats. It is just one of the signs of a seismic shift in public support against the administration. At the same time, though, if Trump starts to feel cornered, he will strike out in other ways, so we all need to stay vigilant and try to do what we all can to curtail his most destructive impulses.

So, we are in a race against time to get to the midterm elections. Trump doesn’t believe Republicans can hold the house without extreme measures to change the outcome of the election. So, he will continue to push to create some sort of situation where he can interfere with the elections in some way - or perhaps in many ways. People in other states need to be protecting their state processes to ensure that they can have free and fair elections in their states. They need to resist the temptation to react violently to Trump’s attempts to antagonize them. This is not so much to deter Trump from doing whatever he is going to do, but instead to make sure he and his administration continue to look like the aggressors and the ones who are way out of line with traditional American values. Public support is critical, and we need all Americans who value our constitution and our democracy to join in the non-violent resistance to this administration. The second things turn to violence in the streets all bets are off, so people need to keep their wits about them. These paramilitary officers in our streets are bad enough. It would be a tragedy for the U.S. Military to be occupying American cities.

I think that Trump’s plan is to keep up the pressure campaign and expand it to other states as they hire more ICE agents. They just have to light a fuse somewhere. But if people can continue to expose the administration’s unconstitutional tactics and also remain peaceful and lawful (as much as possible under these extreme circumstances), then public opinion may crater enough for Republicans to look for a way out. At least, that is the hope. If Trump can’t be stopped outright, it is important to take away his power base and make him the lame duck that he really ought to be. Then, if the Democrats do well in the midterms, there will at least be some congressional oversight and possibly some accountability that is missing now.

As some will argue for the legality of what is being done, does resistance to legal actions by the state threaten future actions, by making everything "play" at such a high volume nothing has nuance and understanding?

Yes, of course, this is the intent of the Trump administration. They are trying to get the general public and especially the MAGA base to confuse cause and effect. They are also purposefully obfuscating standing law by calling things what they are not. This has long been a tactic of political parties, but the purposeful dissemination of disinformation is on steroids right now. Nuance and understanding are out the window at this point. For better or worse, symbolism and course political dialogue is the only thing that will break through the noise right now. That is why, for instance, the photo of five year old Liam Conejo Ramos in his blue bunny hat and with his Spider-Man backpack had much more impact on public opinion than a thousand printed words could ever have. It serves as a symbol of just how extreme the policies of the Trump administration have become.

Do I agree with every tactic that is being used by protestors in Minnesota? I do think there is some risk to feeding the narrative of the administration when protestors engage in acts of violence or enter places of worship and things like that. I don’t see those tactics as being particularly helpful to the cause, which necessarily needs to expand public outrage to groups that aren’t normally aligned with progressive politics. This can’t be a moment where the American left just speaks to its own supporters. That is the mistake the Trump administration is making, and we should allow them to keep making that mistake. We should let the Trump administration fail in its overreach while exposing what they are doing. We need a massive movement to fight this fight, and I just hope people can keep their heads in the right place until the job is done. By and large, people are being quite sober in their approach to this, so I don’t have any major complaints because the approach seems to be working so far, and the strategy of filming the agents wherever they are is having a huge impact in terms of public opinion. I do understand the outrage people feel. We all should be outraged. But we also have to be smarter than those who would have us take the bait. Again, I’m very proud that people of Minnesota are not taking the bait and for everything we are doing to preserve law and order and to protect our neighbors.

The goal isn’t to win per se, because there is no winning each of these battles. It is to show up, to show the level of public dissent against these policies, to document the actions of the officers, and to hold the line on democracy.  There will be mistakes and unfortunate situations where the protestors do interfere with these operations; however, the agents are stretching these concepts beyond a reasonable application of the law. The idea that everything they do is a targeted operation, that people following them from a distance constitutes interference, that filming them is a crime worthy of a beating or a death sentence, etc. is something that those engaging in resistance cannot control. The protestors can, however, abide by the laws as they have typically been interpreted in the past. To not resist the occupation at all would be to capitulate to the Trump administration and allow for these unconstitutional sweeps and other unlawful activities by federal officers to go unwitnessed and unreported. And that is not an acceptable outcome.

Have you done other political works?

When I first started writing songs, many of them were political or topical in nature. I wrote songs about the United States’ intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s, songs about immigration issues between the United States and Mexico, songs about the treatment of the poor and homeless in California, songs about racism, songs about the mistreatment of women, and songs about other current events and topics that were close to my heart. In many cases, these were songs about things I had personally experienced or witnessed. Others were about people in difficult situations who were close to me and some were just taken from the news.

There was even a brief time in the early 1990s during the first Gulf War that I was one of the resident protest singers on my college campus at the University of California, Davis. I played in a duo called The Simples, and we wrote and sang protest songs against that very short-lived war. I wrote a pretty decent song called “Supermarket War” that we played along with some Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger songs at a huge rally on campus. I think it is still the largest crowd I’ve ever played for; however, the shelf life for that song wasn’t very long. The war and the public sentiment against it - even at the university - didn’t last long enough for me to record the song. I didn’t even have a tape recorder at the time to capture it.

So, the song was lost to time. I worked hard on that song and it had a lot of sections and some sharp, evocative lyrics, but it was very explicitly tied to a war that only lasted a matter of days. After that experience, I tended to write material that was more self-reflective, personal, or philosophical in nature. I wanted to write about things that had more permanence. But I do veer into the political with some of my songs. I typically write those songs from angles that have more of a universal message. A recent song I released under my pseudonym J. Briozo called “All the Innocent” is one of those types of songs. I wrote that one during the first Trump administration in response to the demonization of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. But I wrote the lyrics to apply to all people rather than making it a specific polemic against Trump and his politics. I don’t like to write as a partisan or ideologue. I just think life is more nuanced than that, and I prefer to think long and hard before I react. I generally write as a soulful or spiritual humanist, I suppose. I believe in fairness and human dignity over and against nationalism or religious dogma. In most cases, I feel like taking dogmatic ideological positions in my writing would limit my ability to explore deeper truths. And, yet, like I’ve said, there is a time and a place for being present in the moment and reporting what you see and hear. So, that is why I wrote “Insurrection Song.” I knew we were in trouble when the first amendment right to protest was being characterized as an insurrection by the people who actually fomented an actual insurrection five years ago.

THANK YOU JEFF!

https://www.facebook.com/swallowthemusic/
https://www.youtube.com/@swallowthemusic
https://www.facebook.com/jbriozo

Interview with Steven Yu

Steven Yu wrote to me after finding one of my favorite interviews done over the last 23 years. It was with artist Ashley Wood, and he was funny, dark, clever and revealed some of his inner workings. It was nice to hear from someone who liked the interview as much as I did. Years later I got a friend request on Facebook, and he had been posting as a storyteller with his own art and various perspectives on stories and life.  I like his work, find it rather intuitive and the storytelling follows a story that works emotively and straight forward. I asked to interview him, and here it is... (My questions regarding Taiwan is a nod to ongoing events, and trying to allow readers to see that current events are valid for more than just embassy staff.)

(Btw all images are copyright the respective owner and this fair use as does not imply ownership.)

Hello Steven.  I am so happy to be interviewing you. We met chatting over an Ashley Wood interview, and then you found me on Facebook, and I really appreciate that.

First off, since I mentioned Ashley Wood, in art he is my spirit animal.  Does he stand as a great influence upon you.

Ash's work was a great influence on me when I picked up drawing again. My earliest influences were Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy) and Yoji Shinkawa (Metal Gear Solid). Funny enough, Shinkawa was influenced by Amano, and eventually, Ashley Wood would collab with Shinkawa on some Metal Gear art. Things just go in full circle, eh? 

Their works helped me to answer some fundamental art issues I was facing. Amano's ink and paint works taught me that art was a spiritual practice as well as a technical one, Shinkawa's concept art taught me that mood was just as important as details, and Ash's paintings taught me that what made a piece bold and powerful was understanding how to utilize contrast. 

For me, Ash, Shinkawa, and Amano are my Triforce of Power. Ash's works represent raw, elemental power, Shinkawa's works represent precision and chaos, and Amano is spiritual and introspective. Their works act as an aesthetic guide for me. 

Where are you from, and did you attend university? Are you married? 

I studied graphic design briefly in college at CSU Hayward before being guilt-tripped into transferring to an Economics major, haha. Asian parents! 

I was born in Taipei, Taiwan in the early 80's and moved to the East Bay at 5 years old. My Taiwanese heritage is a heavy influence on my work. It may not be apparent, but it's embedded in there.

I am married to my lovely Rachel! We have two cats, Jiayi (named after the county in Taiwan), and Shinji (named by his previous caretakers from Neon Genesis). 

How did you enter the illustration world? Was it by self teaching, or did you attend art school? Or some other path?

After graduating, I was hungry to get back to drawing again. I really wanted illustration to be a career. Not sure where to go, I went back to my junior college, Diablo Valley College, to study animation from the great Arthur King. First day in that class I remember he held up a sketchbook and said, "you will live in this book everyday." It was really inspiring. The sketchbook is where we live. It's where we can experiment, learn skills, or express ideas. From that moment on, I knew I just wanted to draw for the rest of my life. 

After Arthur's class, I started to patch together my own educational roadmap. The amazing James Gayles taught me his unique approach to watercolors, Suzie Ferras helped introduce me to oil painting, and reading comics/manga/graphic novels was the best education on how to put together your own story. 

But ink became my ultimate love. I actually studied a bit with a calligrapher and that translated into my illustration work. It was through learning how to write traditional Chinese characters that I learned how to develop my style. 

As an artist, who do you have as influences upon your art, and in general, who do you like, but not directly are influences on you?

Like I mentioned before there is Ash, Amano, and Shinkawa, but that was from an earlier time of my life. These days it's a mixture of what I see in technique more than a specific artist's body of work. Sometimes I see the thick to thin ink lines of Paul Pope or the flowing line work of  Nicolas Nemiri and that teaches me something new. There's also a Chinese artist whose works I like to study, Zao Dao (早稻) who has sublime draftsmanship. 

Some additional influences: Kazuto Nagazawa, Jamie Hewlitt, Katsuhiro Otomo, Jim Mahfood, Peter Chung, Robert Valley, and Daniel Warren Johnson. 

What comics have been your go to comics, growing up, and to the present? Which comics made you greatly desire to create your own?

When I was a kid, it was a lot of the Marvel and DC stuff, but then it switched to the Image comics of the 90's. As I got older, I started to read more Heavy Metal Magazines and manga. My go-to genre is more in the martial arts realm, stuff like Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond and Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal. 

Samura's work on Blade of the Immortal is what ultimately inspired me to want to make comics. Just for the record, I use the term "comics" as an umbrella term for all works that fit under the sequential arts territory. Manga and European comics often get mis-classified as "genres", but that's incorrect. Is there a unique, cultural way that each country's creators illustrate and tell their story? Sure, but manga isn't a genre, it's just the Japanese word for comics, much like bande dessinée (or BD). 

Haha, sorry, where was I? Right. Samura's works are amazing. The way he tells a story with his use of angles, draftsmanship, and angles is absolutely mind blowing. The use of close ups in multiple panels that eventually leads to a wide reveal of the action is effing delicious. I'm not always a fan of his subject matter - look at his "erotic" art book (I use that term erotic very, VERY lightly) or his Bradherley's Coach - and you're going to find some really crazy, disturbing stuff. But it's his way of telling a story that captivates me. And the fact that he can tackle almost any genre, from historical action to disturbing horror, or slice of life stories to romantic comedies, is what makes me admire his work, and ultimately inspire me to want to make my own comics. 

Where did your path take you from amateur to want to be professional? Did the ability to publish it decide the genre in which you work?

To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out how to make a living as I focus on my own self-publishing endeavors. I freelance, teach workshops, mentor, and when work dries up, I turn my attention to other gigs here or there. 

I think there was a period where I thought "making it" meant getting paid for your work, but as time went on that thought process changed. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it's become the only thing artists can think about. I've always championed for artists to do their own projects, find the spirituality in your creative practice, but oftentimes I hear, "but how am I going to pay my bills?!!" And I have to fight through that thought process and gently remind people that I'm not saying, "forget your responsibilities," but I am saying, "take care of your needs, but once that's met, how will you fulfill your creative spirit?"

And so that's where I've been for the past 8 years. Look, I'm grateful for all of the freelance experience I've had and currently have, but I also know that I need to tell my own stories. I need to do this before my soul leaves the earth, or at least before I cannot do this anymore. My father passed in 2018 and COVID happened 2 years later and fucked with a lot of things in my life. I know this sounds drastic, and maybe it's just anxiety talking, but I sometimes feel like there's a ticking time bomb and I need to do what I was meant to do before that bomb goes off.  

The need to tell my own stories is like the need for me to breathe air, eat, fuck, live. That is what guides my creative career. I'll tell you the same thing I told my wife when we first met and we were talking about life goals: I can see what the end of my life looks like, because it looks exactly like the way it does now - me at a drafting table drawing and writing stories. There is no other path other than this one. 

Do you see comics as a largely "done" genre or format, in that, bigger or smaller in basic size, it might scare buyers off. If you do a largely wordless work, the readers often claim that it was not enough, when for the work done, it might be complete?

Yeah, that's weird right? I mean, weird in how people and the market perceive work. I'm in a really different group of comic buyers, and maybe it's because I've always been an illustrator who just happens to do comics. But I tend to buy comics regardless of any of the market segmentation that corporations might impose on them. So for example, I know in the US there is a huge market for cover art and then there's a market for interior work. I think maybe a few times there have been people asking if I have variant covers for JOAN, and I had to mention there are pinup works in the book done by various artists. To be honest, I don't understand this buying behavior, maybe because I grew up reading comics from the East and the West, and all those books have had covers done by the same interior artist. I remember buying a Judge Dredd comic back in the early 90's and how utterly confused I was when I found out that the interior was not the same as the cover! I don't think the Europeans do this, right? 

And size of comics is of no matter to me. I recently bought two Japanese comics, one was standard manga format and the other was in large book format. Both are amazing to read and look at, but I can understand the larger book was done in that size because it was hand-painted. But honestly, I would have bought it anyway if it was in standard manga size. 

Funny that you mentioned wordless comics, because I think they're awesome. I've played around with some wordless comics and doing them is just as natural as doing ones with text.

10 years from now, where do you see yourself?

Finishing my JOAN series and possibly working on another project. I might even leave the pop culture stratosphere for a while and focus on building a body of fine artwork. I've been thinking of doing a young adult graphic novel that is loosely based on my historical research of Taiwan. There are so many things I want to do, but I just don't want to be boxed in. Yes, I am that hipster artist that tries to rebel against the man, but the man here is just anything that prevents me from having the freedom to creatively express. 

There was a time where I use to stress fame and fortune as a priority, but now I just want to carve a space for myself and my work. I don't want the stress these famous comic artist suffer from to the point of hospitalization. I want to do my art, but I also want to spend time with my wife and my two cat kids, Shinji and Jiayi. Because that's what it means for me to live my life.

Tell me a bit about the comic, and beyond your comic creation, what is it about Joan of Arc that grabbed your attention? Friends who have read my poetry and prose, know that I believe Joan was divinely sent, and for a purpose of world concern. Why her, what is it about her that we should all know about? Have there been other humans that you've noted that have done similar things or acted in similar causes?

The Joan in my comic is not the same as the historical Joan of Arc, that is to say she is loosely inspired by the real historical figure. The Joan I wrote shares a similar fate with her historic predecessor, but this Joan is an existential protagonist. I'm sure Joan of Arc towards the end of her life had some doubts about her own faith, especially when she was on trial; but this comic Joan's dilemma is an existential one.

In previous drafts of the comic, the world of Joan included demons and angels. God and Satan were to battle it out on Earth, but it was turning into a huge project that was straying from what I was trying to say. I removed all the spiritual elements, and decided to put them into the background. So without God's interference, how would our Joan go about her life? 

Joan has always been a way to channel my own angst about the indie art/comics life.  I wish there was someone, maybe a God of art and comics per se, but the best we have is vets and peers who have questions themselves but are supportive enough to want to help out. This Joan is my existential hero. Without the interference of the ethereal and the corrupt monarchs and holy-men that influenced her previously, she will have to figure out what is true to her. This rings true to me. Without the influence of what's trending in pop culture or corporate pressure, how do I do the art that is authentic to me? That's the real heart of what I've been trying to write. 

Your ancestral roots, Taipei, Taiwan is in a place of earth where the focus has risen recently, and especially danger and events could happen leading to a greater war, and a greater disaster in terms of nuclear weapons. Do you think from what you've studied and learned, is Taiwan going to change the world forever?  The first multi party nuclear war would certainly change the status quo. Would that be artistic fuel for your story telling? Can such grave topics be addressed in fiction without diminishing its power?  As creative do it, do they reduce the truth or sensitive  

depths by entertaining with such a catastrophe?

I can't speak about the politics of Taiwan as that's a complex issue that I think there are better people suited to address it, but from a place of my craft, I can say the issues do fuel and influence my work. Taiwan's history is a complicated issue that I think is hard for Westerners to understand, because Taiwan is constantly eclipsed on the world stage. 

Real Taiwan is indigenous. It was the arrival of the Han Chinese, led by General Koxinga that turned the tides and it was what made Taiwan, "Chinese" so to speak. But that population assimilated and blended in with the native culture. My father's ancestors descended from China and my mother's people are of the Truku tribe. It's crazy because when I studied this I realized for the first time who I am is a direct result of that history. If not for the arrival of Koxinga (for better or for worse), I wouldn't be here.

But that history doesn't end there. It's further complicated by the fact that the Imperial Japanese took over Taiwan for 50 years. Then, after WWII, the Japanese left and it was taken over by the Chinese KMT party, an opposition to Mao's Communism. Now there's the Democratic Progressive Party that leads the government and is supposedly fighting for an independent Taiwan.

As a child my Taiwanese Chinese great grandmother on my father's side and my Truku indigenous grandmother on my mother's side lived during the Japanese occupation. They couldn't speak mandarin as it was banned from being spoken in public, so when they first met each other they spoke Japanese.

Was that confusing? Yeah, well that's Taiwan. A country that's trying to find its real identity for hundreds of years. That's how I've felt artistically. Do I keep drawing Batman and Daredevil? Or should I draw the things I'm really trying to say? Is there a place where different types of art can blend together in the comic industry? Is there space for someone like me? Maybe it doesn't matter, because just like Taiwan I keep going. I keep pushing forward in hopes that one day I have my own footing and gain the respect I deserve.

In 2028, will comics have morphed into a new format, so that single issues, ebooks, and other formats I am too old to figure out yet, meaning, you know more about making comics than many I know, do you perceive it all changing just from an art or story telling view?

Even though I make comics, I don't think I have a pulse on it like other more savvy business-minded folks do. But I can tell you that together with the internet and conventions it does feel as if being an indie comic creator is a legit path to go down. That's not knocking the traditional route, as I feel that's a whole other animal, but indie creation for me makes sense because it aligns with my life goals. I think that's the new path for creators. I think it used to be, "how do I make money doing comics" and now it's, "how do I make a living and how will comics be a part of my life". That last question opens up a myriad of possibilities for the artist. 

Are comics in fact selling as well as ever, but there is a malaise in the market from people saying I don't need immediate tpbs, 12 incentive covers, day one release digital copies and more?

Is that a problem or an opportunity? Why for either view?

I think the economics of comic making will always be in battle with the craft of comics making. According to my wife, with my own projects I tend to be more "European" with my approach, haha. I guess what she means by that is that I tend to create on a slower volume, choosing instead to focus on the quality instead of the quantity. And I definitely agree with her assessment.  Whether it's tbps or floppies, I create because I have a story to tell and I base the format on what I think is appropriate for the story. I'm sure there's better men out there who can make a more precise business decision on what the right format will be, but that exhausts me. For me, everything comes down to servicing the story. For example, I am working right now on a project with a friend and we've been talking about the business around it. At some point I stopped the conversation and asked, "I think we have a lot of options, but which one really helps us with creating this story?" That is more of my take on it.

Thank you Steven Yu!

Steven's Patreon
Find Steven Yu's Instagram
Find Steven's Design Studio

Space In Media

Now and Then: SPACE in every popular culture media

By Alex Ness
December 12, 2025

SPACE

One of the ideas of the 1960s was that humans were meant for more than war. All sides of the Cold War devoted time, effort and riches to great numbers of scientific space projects.  Some were successful and others not, but a goal of reaching orbit, deeper space or another body in space, remained a motivational factor. Sputnik 1 was an orbital satellite reached low earth orbit in 1957. Humans reached the Moon in 1969, and have continued to aim scientific research towards the stars beyond earth. For a few decades the task of orbiting earth with human crews was our only viewable achievement. However reaching the planet Mars has become our shared human collective goal.

I've often said you can understand humans better by considering their interest through the popular media they consume. Are humans interested in space? Yes but in the past it was often propaganda. In the present it is far more devoted to exploring human existence, philosophy and dreams.

IN COMICS

Space exploration, extreme development and offerings reveal the human interest well. Warren Ellis and Collen Doran's Orbiter both delves into reawakening our wanderer spirit and the need to have goals of space to lift the torch of light to future efforts. My friend Jeremy Clifft bought my copy due to having had a number of recurrent health events and surgery. I thank him here because that book gave me a few new perspectives on the themes considered.

Warren Ellis and Chris Weston did an alternative past that leads to greater human conquest of space. It comes at a cost however. Humans as moral agents and scientific discoveries and victories are not always partners. In fact, during the late 1960s numerous corners of the US had serious issues with the amount of money and effort to succeed. People cried out for an end to the war in Vietnam, to end poverty and the desire to destroy cancer and other diseases rather than reach space.

Peter Milligan and Marcelo Frusin consider something far darker. The chance of humans interacting with dangerous alien life that is less physical as it is mentally dangerous. Contact with it leads to a need for someone to somehow keep a faith, and destroy or control, the wicked life it interacts with.

BE A SPACE WANDERER

RPG games often place a player's character in the imagined space universe of a game designer and publisher. The world's can be found, alien races discovered and interacted with, and human labor might be limited to developing colonies, or exploration, or commerce. Or it can be warlike, unable to change in space what we seemingly can't stop here on earth.

There are numerous games in this human area of interest. Star Trek has some play worth the time, unfortunately with many media based games and settings, one is unable to become more than the great characters and settings known already. (Similar to playing in Middle Earth, the Avengers of Marvel or any other media based game). Traveller is not dark, as I've heard it called, but it would be true to say, human limitations and interests might not occupy thought as much where conquerors might aim for something less elevated. Star Frontiers is geared towards a certain ethos of adventure and positive interests, at a cost of giving characters unlimited goals and desires.

NON FICTION BOOKS

Due to how one views Space they might assume that books about space are limited to giant photos taken in space for humans to view in awe of the grandeur of space. For the science minded there are likely technical and mechanical views of the machines of and technology of space bound craft. Some view space exploration as the last human venue where nationalism and other traits are not on display, and the books we see on shelves celebrate that and suggest it is our future. My favorite books about humans in space are paperback books released in the 1960s celebrating human endeavor! Sadly, that kind of journalism at a price for everyday human citizens of Earth have long since disappeared. Inflation is more than just cost, but how much we are willing to pay. And many serious subjects are not of interest for the common person.

MUSIC

Music always has a soundtrack for human endeavor. Space is a place, a destination, a vast unimaginable oblivion, or our last hope. Are there distant ancestors there, or were we the people who began it all. Is Mars our cousin, or did they begin the space seed program and shared life with our planet?  Some have created projects of numerous artists sharing a view. Brian Eno did music as an interpretive act of the reality of space. Rather than just our involvement, he sought to create an ambient sound of space, from the human who interprets it. Gustav Holst was a brilliant composer, and his musical ambitions rarely could be perceived in their finished product fully. In person he might have been cold, but in his considering the planets with music, he was alive with power and glory.

FILM

Space as a background for stories, the center point of stories, or the desire to reach but fail to find success awareness can haunt.

2001: A Space Odyssey Introduced the world of film viewers to the reality and future thought, that humans began as mere beasts and found life in the exploration of the world beyond earth. It is a great film and one of the first to fund the work to allow it to be told as brilliantly as needed regarding space and "science fiction". Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke in their own medium considered the future, and how vast must our effort be to discover, to endeavor human success in space.

Apollo 13 was a film that told the story of human effort and hope, when a mechanical disaster threatens to kill the crew of the 3rd Moon Landing, in April of 1970. An oxygen tank exploded, and from NASA the repairs were calculated, all the while the crew attempted to survive, and make the capsule a means of survival. Less glorious in film as that of the event, when human intelligence was displayed as an answer to an almost impossible task.

Interstellar is a beautiful movie. It also tells a story that humans might well experience. As Earth is finding most plant life to have died with the few remain soon to be dying due to fungus and disease the setting is disaster, with terminus near. The final space craft and crew are launched with information to find a new home. It has to be super fast, requires human sacrifice because if the desperate missions to possible new planetary homes fail, the astronaut dies. With thematic and cinematographic homage and reminders of other films (2001 for one), Interstellar is a movie that is confusing to some, but perfectly clear to others who know our time on earth is limited. Our species even more limited by our own failed practices, and the random 8 ball of plague.

Thanks for reading my work.

LINKS:

MY POETRY: AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com 
HERE: Poplitiko.Blogspot.Com 
MY PUBLISHED WORKS 

Social Media:
https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social 
https://x.com/alexnesspoetry
https://www.facebook.com/alex.ness.549436

All works shown and/or considered are copyright the respective owners, fair use is the sole means of use asserted.

Composer/Cellist Aaron Kerr Talks about music, creativity and musical creations

Hello friends, today I present to you an interview with a musical genius. Aaron Kerr is a composer, a cellist, a thinker most deep, a father, friend, and much more.  I have a great appreciation for him beyond those mentioned areas. We took a goal of producing my poetry, once a day, to his composing music every day, to create a gathering of ideas and music. In August we presented the event, The Pict Cycle for a live audience. And despite my fears and issues of health that make difficult certain things, it went well. Aaron is the reason that happened.

This interview was begun in late summer with emailed questions, and his responses are found below.  Thank you for reading, and thanks to Aaron for his responses.

Hi Aaron, the audience here mostly knows I follow your band, the collective of Swallows, Emperor Penguin Records, J.Briozo and Brett Hansen's Side Effects... But your band Dissonant Creatures is in almost all ways different, than most anything and the other bands in the grouping. Does that difference come from desire, or natural flow, or instinct, and if a band is based upon improv, how does a composer fit into that mix?

Aaron Kerr’s Dissonant Creatures (AKDC) is an extension of my work as a composer and very specific to what I wanted to do with my music. I got a McKnight Composer Fellowship in 2006 and saw this as a turning point. Up to that point I was writing pretty traditional classical music, with a bent towards some of the composers I admired, like Hindemith, Steve Reich, Arvo Part, and all the impressionists.

I had three goals in mind: I wanted something that was easy to pull together with one or more people, I wanted something I could solo over, and I wanted something idiomatic – meaning easy to play in a particular style. So this ended up being four albums of duets, 40 songs total. Each album is inspired by a different kind of music: rock, folk, classical, and jazz. I think of it like my version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, without the fat lady singing at the end.

Enter Swallows. I had been jamming and playing with these guys for some time before this, mostly as a side man. What I love is that are they kind of into anything weird. I think there is the concept that if you play one kind of music you don’t do anything else, which first of all is not true and secondly I tend to prefer to play with people who have many influences. If you look at the greats: The Beatles, Beach Boys, even Elvis, they were all over the place in terms of their influences, despite their outward facing hits.

So Swallows was totally game to take on my weird instrumental compositions. It definitely started with the simplest pieces – just some melodies and easy changes. Over time I gave them more and more complex arrangements. For a bunch of rock players and songwriters I seriously pushed them into hard stuff – some pieces have no improv and every note is written out. But it was also hard because I wanted them to solo in odd keys and weird rhythms. They ended up learning all the tunes – which is maybe three hours of music, and, yes, we have performed all those tunes in one night.

I’ve got to say it is a real treat as a composer to have that kind of dedication from your players. I’ve got this whole seven piece band that will drop everything to play my music, and that is rare. I often feel like Sun Ra pushing his players past the breaking point in the name of weird music. I do try to treat them well – hotels only and food on the road.

Is that desire, natural flow, or instinct? Maybe all of the above. I think you have to be a bit selfish to be in my position, and if the opportunity presents itself, as it has, then you go for it.

As far as composing versus improv goes, I kind of see them as two building blocks of the same building. Unless you are playing classical, there isn’t a band out there that just plays the written notes. Every musician fleshes out the parts, adds to the arrangement, and tweaks the music somehow, even if most of the notes are written. Even with my classical scores I’m giving the musicians a chance to have input – I keep the instructions pretty basic and see what they do. Sometimes what the musicians do pisses me off – Jeff throws in this damn minor seven note at the end of my greatest piece, The Floor of the Sky. But it’s that tension that makes that part have some flavor, so I shut up and let him do it.

I spoke long ago as well as recently, that your work defies any focused label of genre or of similar work. I won't say unique since I don't have a voluminous memory of bands and styles, but I never heard anything like it. For those curious, yes I liked it too, but does a creator of spontaneous or unlike other music prefer to be thought unique or high quality. And yes I warrant that both are good things.

"Unique" and "high quality" aren't mutually exclusive things. That goes for any type of music, written or improvised.

Let's start with this idea: pure improvisation. There's more to "free form jazz", "avant-garde", or "experimental" than you think. It's the sum of everything that you have done as a performer that you throw into an experimental performance; it includes your history as a player, your chops, your knowledge of genres, and just your simple ability to react in the moment. Think of it like a scientist who has delved into all aspects of science: biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, design, computer science. The output there could be anything and everything. Anything is possible. Then, there's the performer's wisdom. What I mean is the ability to listen, to react to other musicians, to anticipate like a ninja what comes next. Then there is the chemistry between the players - it's got to be there, either through experience or just innate ability to connect. That's a lot going on and should not be underestimated.

Written music has it's own effect and consequences. You have to lay down something really solid for who is performing it. That might be something really simple or something really complex. It doesn't matter, both are good and can be amazing experiences depending on what you've composed and who is playing it. Sometimes a piece of music is a pile of crap until you work on it, sometimes it works right away. A good performer will see that and make the best of any work.

So you can have something unique and bad quality, something not unique and good quality. The ultimate goal is to simply create a great experience. I've heard amazing performances of tired old music that completely blew my mind because it was done so well. And I've heard terrible performances of something I was really anticipating because I thought it was going to be exciting and new. Just keep your mind open people, and it's OK to have an opinion about what you like and don't like!

What am I trying to do when I compose? Good question. I think I compose in the moment and I'm trying to capture an idea. It doesn't have to be new or different, I just want it to be the most relevant and pure articulation of a concept I can do. Two things I can think of that maybe guide my approach: One, if the music should predictably go right, I go left. Meaning: I'm always trying to surprise people to keep the music interesting. Two: one thing someone said to me was this: "Aaron, your music is like a stick that has been cut down to a sharp point". I love that (not just because I'm a carpenter): I'm a minimalist at heart and I tend to find the perfect thing and leave it at that. No frills, just the meat (I'm also a vegetarian so that saying is, admittedly, not as good).

Did your recent work Scorpio Rising come with a desired focus, in tone, in message or anything? I found the music in person great, as well as wish it had a CD, and listening to individual songs, there was a feeling of a building of power, inevitably raising expectations and anticipation. Was that meant to happen or was that just a happy circumstance. I've been to concerts, much longer even. But for the time spent, the enjoyment of Dissonant Creatures was great, certainly a fine experience, I left however, thoroughly spent. I never had that, even at a Replacements concert that was filled to quite a bit over occupancy and louder than 747's lift off level decibels.

There was absolutely a tone intended for this album, and that tone was: rock. I wanted a very live sound to the album so we did all the songs live in studio, doing multiple takes of each song. It was recorded over two days in one of the best studios in the Cites. I wanted these songs to come off as very heavy and inexcusably loud with screaming guitars, dark vibes, and intense rhythms. We kept turning up the drums in the mix; we began to realize the drums (played incredibly well by our drummer, Jonathan Townsend) were the foundation for the album. We got them in a place where they were punchy and had awesome tone.

AKDC does a bit of everything, and that is on purpose. It's reflective of my past four albums, each one with a focus. Dissonant Creatures (2013) was classical in approach. Union County Forever (2016) is country and folk. Odin (2020) is jazz. Scorpio Rising (2025) is rock. These four albums are my magnum opus - my Wagner ring cycle. For most of our last tour we just played the rock set, but some shows we pull out a wider range of material.

The feeling of power you felt was intended. Every show is different, but that set you saw was meant to take you on a rocket ship to the space station. There are open parts to every song, so some of the anticipation and intention could be spontaneous. But I take these shows seriously and organize the music to be a journey for the audience. I want you to feel spent in a way that is satisfying like a good meal, not like I put you on the rack.

You play in many groups, collectives, and more, does that just come from wanting to play, or do you seek to achieve something greater by it? Is it building a talent by playing in different genres and types of groups?  When describing the three times I saw you in person playing, I mentioned how your solos in songs are pure power and glory, making me feel chilled through my bones and flesh. What is your most desired role, composer, cellist, or something else?

Post college I moved to the Cites and was just taking on anything I could do. At that stage in my career that was a good thing to do, and I'd recommend that to anyone starting out - take on any project you have time for, being honest about your ability to who you are working with. At some point you need to pull back; quit the stuff that doesn't move you anymore and focus on what you are excited about. If something's still on your list then make a decision to try it out, but give it a timeline.

If I hadn't of done that, if I didn't experiment and dive in, the "power and glory" of my solos would not be there. I know, know, know this for sure. A friend and bandmate of mine once said "Aaron, the way you play cello is the most original thing you do. No one else plays like that". It was me taking on all these projects that got me to that place. It was also the intensity of my study - not giving up on an idea because it was hard. I wanted to find my true "sound" and spent my life doing that. This is the sacrifice the great artists take to master what they do.

What's my desired role? I can die happy knowing I've mastered something - my playing and composing. I want to be a bandleader now, and a music organizer. I'll die happier if I can make society better for musicians. I'll do that by setting up shows for AKDC and all the other projects I'm in. I will also fight the shallow bastards trying to control everything too - Spotify and the major labels and the tech capitalists (who are all complicit). If I can make a dent in all of that, I'll be happy. This will be the "something greater" I can aspire to.

Beyond hearing other creators, the music of the past, the new creatives, what inspires your work on Dissonant Creatures the most? Is it trusting where the talents in the group take you, or is it something else?"

What I've done with AKDC is build a machine, and it's a pretty awesome one. If you want a band that takes you on a journey, that can be intensely quiet and mysterious or create a massive explosion of sound, we are there. The musicians are top notch: trained players who have been in the trenches and done every type of music and been in every situation. I've honed my sets to operatic perfection - we will satisfy your most dramatic need.

Now it's simply to play shows. The music is recorded and released. The band stands ready. We can throw down an amazing performance anywhere - I'm convinced of it. This is what inspires me: the knowledge that we have the perfect vehicle for amazing music.

Aaron Kerr and Dissonant Creatures Links
Aaron Kerr.Com
Dissonant Creatures
Contact Aaron Kerr