I decided to draw my favorite moment from Odd Man Out
I enjoy the thought of so many years in the apocalypse he finally gets to have that hot shower and Raph sneaking in the clothes for him to wear.
Bonus: Raph is Real???
These two kids are Hamza (the oldest) and Qusai (the youngest).
Their mother shares this video and bids them goodbye. They were both killed by Israeli bombardment 5 days ago. She says:
[Two days before Hamza and Qusai were killed, hamza asked me: "mom, when we die, where will I go?" And I told him: "you will be a bird in heaven, my love." He said: "and Qusai?" "Just like you inshallah."
And indeed, two days later, he left and took his brother with him. It's like he was preparing me for saying goodbye to both of them. Heaven is more beautiful than any place on this Earth, habibi. We will meet and be reunited one day, me, your dad and you two].
Our kids don't deserve to die already thinking about what will happen to them, they don't deserve to die already terrified, anticipating their death because the world failed them and decided their lives mean nothing. We are not numbers. Remember their names and their stories.
if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.
--
no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.
I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.
I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.
If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.
“I’ve contemplated, planned, and even attempted suicide. I've had friends who attempted suicide. I've had family who committed suicide.
The one thing I’ve learned is that there is ALWAYS someone who would be devastated if you were gone. Someone who doesn't deserve the pain and questions and anger that losing someone to suicide inevitably causes. It could be a parent, a sibling, a cousin, a niece or nephew, a grandparent, or a friend. It could be someone who isn't even born yet, or too young to remember the loss. It could be a pet.
Some days, the secret is just to find someone who would be upset if you were gone, and to stay alive for them. To stay alive because not doing so would hurt someone who has done nothing to deserve the pain. And, maybe, if you stay alive enough days, you'll remember how to live.”