Rabid Sharks
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Prison Blog

In which Possum recounts his experiences as an offender in the system.

Possum Bones is autistic. He has identified as a dirty kid in the past, and he’s attended multiple rainbow gatherings. He has several years left to serve in the Washington Correctional system.

He has been making art since he could sit up. He communicates better in writing than speech. If you are interested in the experience of an autistic person doing prison time, check out his Prison Blog. If you are a fan of comic art, underground/outsider music, Lovecraft, Clarke Ashton Smith, Murakami, Cixui Liu, etc.

A Person Born in 93s Notes on Manga and Childhood

It looks like El Hazard goes back to around 1995 ? And there are a few different " alternate " storylines ( The El Hazard OAV , and something called " the wanderers ". ) So its possible I read it still. Its kind of a ... Flunkie multimedia project that's noteworthy mostly because of its being spearheaded by an author whose known for a more popularly recognized work, Tenchi Muyo. People don't talk about tenchi muyo that much today. Its dated. It was very ... 90s anime. Not politically correct. The amount of philandering and such in anime in those days was enough that today it'd be looked askance. Basically Tenchi Muyo was a harem anime, but one of the most historic ones. So El Hazard’s only claim to fame is really its association with Tenchi Muyo. As such, its uniquely placed to be a true exemplary artifact of the spirit of the manga and anime of the time period. To me, its extremely nostalgic , but at the same time , I was so young that I was precocious to be reading this ... So its as if I'm nostalgic for a cultural moment I have a shaky claim to. The art style and pacing is so reminiscent of another time in Japanese comics, ... though not particularly high quality. Its fascinating to me, because when I read this, manga was still a kooky new "craze" , libraries didn't have a lot of it so I read every single volume available. It was still something only very nerdy adults knew much about. And that sentiment colored my enjoyment of anime and manga into my later years , me being kind of ... Too young to be of the older guard ( born 1993 ) , yet I began reading manga at age 5-6 and, born just a little too early to be comfortable with the next set of american " otaku " ( for lack of a better term ... It doesn't really fit, though ) . So I'd be dismayed at the lack of interest in or respect for those older titles from others my age, and the kind of, ah, relative lack of a critical understanding of the material ? It sounds silly as were talking about such pulp , but ... That's what it was. They didn't see the influences , or care about them. It distanced me from those who would've been my friends and peers on the subject. I sought mangaphiles who were older and would ask them what they were watching or reading, and I'd ask about Haruhi Suzumiya or Gurren Lagann, and they'd admonish me for not know enough of Kazuo Koikes Crying Freeman or Gundam.

Elisa Carlson