April 2023 • Hello Barkada Comics #9

"Bad Questions!" by Julie Fiveash

Four panel grayscale comic strip by Julie Fiveash featuring an anthromorphic bunny being confronted by ignornat questions about being native. Panel 1 features the bunny with arms crossed and eyes closed in frustration, and surrounded by speech bubbles that say, "You don't look native tho," "Who are your tribal people?," "Can you speak on behalf of all native people for this panel?," "Don't you get free money?" and first person text, "I'm never native enough for folks but I've come to the conclusion that people just don't know what a native person is in 2023." Panel 2 features the bunny happily surprised when asked, "What's it like being native and queer?" Bunny responds, "Ah! Thanks for asking actually!" and thinks "Wow!" Narrative text aboe the bunny says, "And honestly, I love being Diné but also, I'm a little, queer weirdo. Why don't you ask questions about that (in like a respectful way obviously)?" Panel 3 opens with narrative text, "It's taken me so long to realize you can live in multitudes. Everything one is intersects with some other aspect of the self. Nothing negates the other. Everything adds up, like soup!" Under text is illustration of a pot of soup tagged as Identity Broth, serves one! Ingredients in the Identity broth include oldest sibling, diné, nonbinary, bi-sexual queer, librarian, artist. Panel 4 features bunny holding their arms out and saying, "Anyway, no, I don't get free money and for the love of God, please stop asking!" Text in a gray box in the bottom right corner of panel 4 says, "Bad Questions! by Julie Fiveash."

© Julie Fiveash

ABOUT THE ARTIST


Julie Fiveash (they/them) is a nonbinary Diné cartoonist and zinester, stationary fiend, and Librarian for American Indigenous Studies at Harvard University. They've made comics since 2013, the same year they received their B.A. in Studio Art from Dartmouth College. Graduating from UCLA with an MLIS in 2021, they focused on Indigenous Librarianship within their academic work and worked at UCLA's American Indian Studies Center Library. In their current role, they prioritize developing an Indigenous-centered collection policy at Tozzer and developing ways that the library can create inclusive research spaces and guides for Indigenous students, faculty, staff, and researchers. 


Julie's interests include Indigenous librarianship, Indigenous publishing, community archives, and drawing animals, plants, fan art, and many things slice-of-life. They also enjoy playing Animal Crossing, reading manga, and buying too many plants.


Find Julie on Instagram and Twitter at @jooliefiveash!


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TAGS: COMICS

Cartoonists are commissioned for an original comic to the Hello Barkada Comics series. Hello Barkada pays for first online rights, non-exclusive archival rights, first North American serial rights, and first anthology publication rights. Help us extend this opportunity to more cartoonists in 2023 by becoming a Barkada Backer today!


If you would like to be considered for publication in 2023, please reach out to the email address listed in our footer with a link to your portfolio site. Cartoonists who are BIP/WOC, LGBTQIA2S+, and/or disabled are encouraged to reach out. Please note that consideration does not guarantee a commission.

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