What is strategy, anyway? My unofficial campaign for the takahē to win Bird of the Year continues. open.substack.com/pub/taracomi...

In the grand tradition of getting the worm, it's time for some early Bird of the Year campaigning. IN COMIC STRIP FORM. (This will be an ongoing series). #BOTY taracomics.substack.com/p/go-takahe-go

The Govt wants to give itself more power over disabled people’s medical information. Buried in a new welfare “modernisation” Bill are provisions allowing MSD to require medical examinations “at any time” while expanding automated decision-making #nzpol Read more: open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...

Hot off the press: "NZ Zines: Punk to Present" Just picked this up at the launch at the Engine Room, Massey University. The first history of zines in NZ. Congrats to author Bryce Galloway -

Bananamelia: Adventures in Digital Music Archiving In February, @amamelia.bsky.social and I spoke at #FACT2026 about our project to preserve her electronica production. Check out the video 👇👇 our part starts 19.40m in, after Jessica Walthew's overview of digipres issues. youtu.be/yo8pr_sLTNg?...

haven't re-upped this thing in a minute. Check it out. go.bsky.app/VaypaqC

A juicy new blog about the history and posters of Garage Collective (aka @anrchivist.bsky.social), including numerous music gig examples from the 2000s New Zealand scene, including A Low Hum. Some beautiful artwork here from the archive at the Turnbull Library. natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/g...

K. O'Neill nominated for another Eisner! comicbookclublive.com/2026/05/14/e...

!!! www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

For those of us who love comics, this is a grand idea to have a space where sequential art can be created as well as loaned and archived! We just kicked in to The New York Working Cartoon Library and if you afford to donate a few bucks, this is a very good thing!

"Feijoas": The story of a new Library of Congress subject heading natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/f...

Featuring NZ artist David Low: www.tcj.com/nazo-funny-t...

Also - super interesting project: Folio - Stories of Australian Comics www.youtube.com/watch?v=orSH...

This is such a cool collection- check it out

This is tonight, btw

Dammm half of these sold within 24 hours. Y'all are amazing 😧😍 Thank you to those from Bluesky who made purchases. I fucking appreciate you. Das crazy and unexpected!! I am so grateful. 🙏🏽❤️❤️❤️ www.fafswag.nz/mketi/illust...

The delightful @exocomics.com did a great talk yesterday, including how to draw Detective Beans! You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlRo...

Olivia Twist and the School Lunches. A Dickensian tale for our times. My Stuff #cartoon today #NZpol #children

Awkwardly, as soon as I quit making comics like this... things happened and I made another comic. Blame the people who decided to ban new prescriptions of puberty blockers. Part 1: www.roostertailscomic.com/.../blockers... Part 2: www.roostertailscomic.com/.../blockers...

Inspired by @dylanhorrocks.bsky.social's 'Lonely Fun' zine - @taracomics.bsky.social has another RPG for you to enjoy taracomics.substack.com/p/the-myster...

Oh noooooo.... www.juliensauctions.com/en/auctions/...

The studies they are choosing to ignore France: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Australia: statements.qld.gov.au/statements/1... and www.saxinstitute.org.au/resource/evi... USA: publications.aap.org/pediatrics/a... From:

PATHA's statement has been published: patha.nz/news

We have been so lucky to have Gwenne Bregeon, a comics researcher all the way from France, interning at the Cartoon and Comics Archive, and finding wonderful things - here's a blog post that covers some of her discoveries: natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/a...

Just letting you all know that I'll be shutting down Rooster Tails in the coming months. I want to do some different creative stuff, and I have been wrestling with this strip for a while. So. I'm retiring Rooster Tails. You can read more here: www.patreon.com/posts/142559...

If you wanna come say hello and see what we do at the National Library of New Zealand - feel free to come along to this: natlib.govt.nz/events/natio... I'll be there with some cool cartoons and comics

The National Library is 60 years old... come along to their open day to celebrate If you book for a back-of-house tour you may even get me as your tour guide 😊 natlib.govt.nz/events/natio...

If you want to do a fun family friendly school holiday thing, then I'd highly recommend this: www.facebook.com/share/1BZi7z...

New Zealand prevaricates on whether to recognise Palestine as a state, or not. My Stuff #cartoon today #NZpol #Palestine #Gaza

Sorry! I've been unwell - so have some catching up to do with this list... incoming updates ahoy

Mō te Rāpare nei, te rā tuawhā o Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, e whakanui ana mātou i tētahi rangatira nui whakaharahara: pānuihia tēnei Whakatauira nō Te Whaea o te Motu: Whina Cooper me Te Hīkoi Roa mō Te Manatika. shorturl.at/YjzQ1

Wellington hīkoi draws thousands to mark half a century of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

I'm excited about an event that I have been helping organising - a panel discussion of Maurice Gee's contribution to children's literature. It'll be a mixture of readings and people speaking about his work www.facebook.com/share/19o79R...

It turns out when you publish a book people say nice things about your book. I’m going to collect a few of them here.

Do you have a long-form graphic medicine project? Are you struggling with specific elements, or having difficulty viewing it holistically? Follow the link below for full eligibility requirements and to apply. Deadline is 9/19. bit.ly/cartooningclinic25 #NEGM25

I think maybe I didn't mention this here - but National Library has undergone a big structural change and now I'm curator with a portfolio covering Cartoons, Comics, Illustrated books and Children's Literature. So - if I'm talking more in these realms (beyond cartoons and comics) that's why.

Same! Linked to Zine Librarian Code of Ethics in our @sharpnews.bsky.social "Queer Book History" zine—w/ @fobettarh.bsky.social's foundational work on vocational awe+library workers too—as important to doing queer book history work well with or as library+archive workers, zine authors+collectors.

It's Mahuru Māori and I thought I'd share some cool things that are at the National Library (I'll do it as a thread and add a new one every(?) day: Te Ātea (natlib.govt.nz/records/2110...) by Katarina Mataira. I only came across this book a few years ago, even though it was released in 1975.

Popular Myths Amongst Government Ministers. Teachers and nurses pay vs Crown board members pay. My Stuff #cartoon today #NZpol #NZHealth #NZEducation

Also - friendly reminder that the Ōtautahi Zinefest is on this weekend! August 30-31st 11am-4pm Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna O Waiwhetu Accessibility hour 11am-12pm 312 Montreal St Central City

the chch library system is one of our biggest supporters and resources and i love them so much!

I’m running a zine-making workshop for students in a fortnight, and the Tūranga zine collection has been amazingly useful for inspiration.

Libraries! Love! Zines!

Further thoughts on zines in libraries and archives coming (spurred on from this and other conversations we've been having at work)... Did you know that we collect zines at the national library? And that there's a WHOLE lot of really important work done by libraries in relation to zines!

"Queer Book History" zine is done (32 pages!), just getting final team edits pre-pub. Built on upcoming @sharpnews.bsky.social Queer Book History Bibliography—100s of resources by team led by SHARP Bibliographer @bibliowingate.bsky.social. Zine=fave reads, teaching examples, community+conf info +

At mahi today we were talking about remixing music and got us wondering if there was a comics equivalent - beyond homage or reference - remixing other artists work to create something related but new...

An interesting new discovery about the whaling song 'Soon May the Wellerman Come' (which I've now learned is not a shanty!) as told by my colleague @jingajik.bsky.social : www.ngataonga.org.nz/explore-stor...

If you’re looking for something good to do in Wellington this fine Saturday afternoon, please check out this talk at 2pm Climate and Community Activist Tuhi-ao Bailey shares Parihaka’s steps towards kai sovereignty, their māra kai and large scale Papakāinga plans in the face of Climate Change.

If you're doing research in NZ about children's books, a friendly reminder that the Susan Price scholarship ($2500) closes end of Oct dnwfriends.nzl.org/index.php/ho...