HELLO BARKADA - Nicky Rodriguez Hello Barkada Comics

July 15, 2022 • Hello Barkada Comics #7

"Reminder to Self" by Nicky Rodriguez

9-panel black and white comic, laid out over three rows. First row includes two panels illustrating the opening of the back of a humanoid's neck, exposing a spine. Second row includes two panels illustrating a femme humanoid head on a pedestal with the body from the neck down performing adjustments to the back of the neck. Third row includes six panels, illustrating the humanoid completing the procedure and attaching the head back onto its body, ending on a fully black panel. Text appears in boxes throughout the illustration and overall reads, "The damage sparks a wild pain through the front of my head. These isn't really a permanent fix, but I think I've figure out how to manage it. Mostly. There are days I'd rather leave my head off altogether. But the pain continues, so, I keep at it. It's taken a lot of time... a lot of trial and error... and a lot of pain. It may not be perfect, but sometimes you just do the best with what you got, and that's okay."

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Nicky Rodriguez (she/her) is a Queer Puerto Rican comic artist based in Denver, Colorado, whose autobiographical and fictional work explores mental health, the impermanence of time and memory, existential ennui, and the meaning of home and homesickness in connection to being of the Puerto Rican diaspora. She is the creator of two webcomics, The Unlucky Ones and the Edge of Nowhere and The Smoke in the Mirror, an anime and manga writer and reviewer whose work is featured on CBR, and the illustrator of the picture book Con Papá/With Papa written by Frederick Luis Aldama.

Find Nicky on Instagram at @artofnickyrodriguez and on Twitter at @artofnickyrdrgz.

Support Nicky by:

Pre-ordering Con Papá/With Papa from your favorite online or in-person bookseller.
Buying a zine, print, or merch from her Ko-Fi shop or from her boricua collection on Redbubble.
Commissioning her for illustration and/or flatting work.
Becoming a patron of the Art of Nicky Rodriguez Patreon or Ko-Fi.
Visiting her website, ArtofNickyRodriguez.com.

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.

Text in black says "You May Also Like" followed by a black line break.

White text says, "Hello Barkada Comics #9. Each edition of our comics series features a new emerging or established cartoonist. In our second comic of 2023, nonbinary Diné cartoonist Julie Fiveash makes an appeal to think before asking in 'Bad Questions!'" Text on a darkened black and white illustration of the first panel of the comic, which features a clothed anthromorphic bunny with eyes closed and arms folded in exasperation.

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