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The title panel reads, "Weather System by Vanessa Davis." A yellow flounder fish swims through a splash of purple. 1. "A couple of years ago, I saw an expensive therapist whom I found pretty challenging." Adult Vanessa sits across from her therapist, a woman with a brown bob and bangs, glasses, and a blue suit. The therapist asks, "Is that a FEELING or a THOUGHT?" Vanessa crosses her arms and scowls. "Both!" she replies. 2. "Unfortunately, I ran out of money before I could digest and really inhabit her insights." Vanessa has her hair up in a bun and wears a white sleeveless nightgown. She pulls a blue curtain panel to the side and looks out of a window, scowling. She says, "He's brought in the garbage cans exactly zero times!" 3. "There was a hurricane circling around Florida. When I called my mother, it didn't sound like she'd done enough to prepare." A curly landline cord divides the panel in two diagonally. To the left, Vanessa's mom slumps her shoulders, looking pained while talking on the phone, "Honey, it's just STUFF." On the other side, Vanessa, hair in bun, frowns, eyebrows furrowed, and replies, "That's not actually reassuring." 4. "But what could I do? It's not like I'm there to help." Vanessa, hair in a bun and wearing a red tank top and green shorts, uses a power drill to install hurricane shutters. She smiles, eyes closed. Her mom watches her lovingly, clasping her hands together and tilting her head to the side while smiling. 5. "Last year, she sold out house and downsized to a very nice condo." Vanessa and her sister stand in front of a condo with terra-cotta tile roofing. Vanessa's sister looks sad and says, "I'll miss this house!" Vanessa frowns, mouth turned as if in slight disgust. She furrows her brows slightly and says, "Eh, fuck it. Dad died here." 6. "We were pretty ruthless about getting rid of stuff, but we had to rent a storage unit for my father's slides. Neither my sister nor I have room for them yet." Vanessa uses a dolly to wheel out three moving boxes inside of a storage unit building. 7. "The feeling of paying for a storage space is the feeling of kidding yourself that you have all the time in the world. (If that's even a feeling?!)" A map of the continental United States. The far West, around California, is labeled "Where your life is happening." The Southeast, around Georgia, is labeled, "Where your stuff is." 8. "Oh! I had a colonoscopy this week. The attending nurse was, unfortunately, very handsome." Vanessa lies in a hospital bed, wearing a gown and a cap. She frowns as she looks over at her nurse, a man resembling Shemar Moore - bald, with a cropped vandyke-style facial hair and tawny brown skin. He types at his computer, smiles slightly, and says, "Afterwards, you can expect to be really just, like, non-stop farting." 9. "When they rolled me into the procedure room I felt an overwhelming instinct to jump off and help push the gurney." Two people in scrubs push Vanessa's gurney. Vanessa is still in her hospital gown and cap, and is tucked into her blanket. She looks concerned and thinks, "I'm just lying here." 10. "When we were going through stuff at the old house, we gave our concrete umbrella base to my friends who live nearby." A green umbrella with tassels sits in a decorative concrete base. Next to the base is a baby sitting on the ground. The baby wears a pink onesie and looks wide-eyed at the viewer. In the background is a house window with potted plants both on the ground and hanging. 11. "We didn't even use it at the house. It last held an umbrella at our first house, the one on Sequoia Drive." Someone wearing pink shorts stands on the concrete umbrella base. 12. "My friend called yesterday to let me know the stand had rusted out and did I want it back? It's a 50-pound, unusable umbrella base in Florida. What am I going to do with it?" Vanessa looks ahead, concentrating. She thinks, "It's all ugly Walmart Junk. They don't make them like that anymore. I could solder in a new pipe." Over the thought bubbles, in big red letters, is "MY UMBRELLA BASE." 13. "Thanks to insurance, I have a new therapist." A woman with wavy brown hair, a long sleeved beige shirt and yellow pants, sits in a blue rolling office chair, one leg crossed over the other and holding a clipboard in her lap. She scowls and holds out one hand in slight exasperation. She says, "All right. Now this is when I start to get impatient." Only Vanessa's head is visible in the bottom corner, looking small and sad. 14. "There's a distinct possibility she thinks I'm pretty annoying, but I like her." Vanessa's therapist smirks cheekily (?) and says, "You're just second-guessing yourself." Vanessa leans in slightly and replies, "But I'm always wrong!" 15. "Letting go of things is supposed to free you." Vanessa sits on a yoga mat in a child's pose. She is following along with "Yoga with Adriene" on YouTube, who says from the screen, "Surrender. You do not have to push and struggle. Find ease." Vanessa farts. 16. "I think sometimes I've tried to let go of stuff and it's ended up feeling the same as loss. Both require me to be helpless." 17. "If you thought me drawing this comic would be a way to work out whether I should keep the umbrella thing, I gotta tell you:" The green tasseled umbrella stands in its concrete base in a fenced backyard with bright green grass. 18. "It didn't!" The concrete base is at the bottom of the ocean, covered in algae and surrounded by fish, including yellow flounders, and aquatic plants.
The title panel reads, "Weather System by Vanessa Davis." A yellow flounder fish swims through a splash of purple. 1. "A couple of years ago, I saw an expensive therapist whom I found pretty challenging." Adult Vanessa sits across from her therapist, a woman with a brown bob and bangs, glasses, and a blue suit. The therapist asks, "Is that a FEELING or a THOUGHT?" Vanessa crosses her arms and scowls. "Both!" she replies. 2. "Unfortunately, I ran out of money before I could digest and really inhabit her insights." Vanessa has her hair up in a bun and wears a white sleeveless nightgown. She pulls a blue curtain panel to the side and looks out of a window, scowling. She says, "He's brought in the garbage cans exactly zero times!" 3. "There was a hurricane circling around Florida. When I called my mother, it didn't sound like she'd done enough to prepare." A curly landline cord divides the panel in two diagonally. To the left, Vanessa's mom slumps her shoulders, looking pained while talking on the phone, "Honey, it's just STUFF." On the other side, Vanessa, hair in bun, frowns, eyebrows furrowed, and replies, "That's not actually reassuring." 4. "But what could I do? It's not like I'm there to help." Vanessa, hair in a bun and wearing a red tank top and green shorts, uses a power drill to install hurricane shutters. She smiles, eyes closed. Her mom watches her lovingly, clasping her hands together and tilting her head to the side while smiling. 5. "Last year, she sold out house and downsized to a very nice condo." Vanessa and her sister stand in front of a condo with terra-cotta tile roofing. Vanessa's sister looks sad and says, "I'll miss this house!" Vanessa frowns, mouth turned as if in slight disgust. She furrows her brows slightly and says, "Eh, fuck it. Dad died here." 6. "We were pretty ruthless about getting rid of stuff, but we had to rent a storage unit for my father's slides. Neither my sister nor I have room for them yet." Vanessa uses a dolly to wheel out three moving boxes inside of a storage unit building. 7. "The feeling of paying for a storage space is the feeling of kidding yourself that you have all the time in the world. (If that's even a feeling?!)" A map of the continental United States. The far West, around California, is labeled "Where your life is happening." The Southeast, around Georgia, is labeled, "Where your stuff is." 8. "Oh! I had a colonoscopy this week. The attending nurse was, unfortunately, very handsome." Vanessa lies in a hospital bed, wearing a gown and a cap. She frowns as she looks over at her nurse, a man resembling Shemar Moore - bald, with a cropped vandyke-style facial hair and tawny brown skin. He types at his computer, smiles slightly, and says, "Afterwards, you can expect to be really just, like, non-stop farting." 9. "When they rolled me into the procedure room I felt an overwhelming instinct to jump off and help push the gurney." Two people in scrubs push Vanessa's gurney. Vanessa is still in her hospital gown and cap, and is tucked into her blanket. She looks concerned and thinks, "I'm just lying here." 10. "When we were going through stuff at the old house, we gave our concrete umbrella base to my friends who live nearby." A green umbrella with tassels sits in a decorative concrete base. Next to the base is a baby sitting on the ground. The baby wears a pink onesie and looks wide-eyed at the viewer. In the background is a house window with potted plants both on the ground and hanging. 11. "We didn't even use it at the house. It last held an umbrella at our first house, the one on Sequoia Drive." Someone wearing pink shorts stands on the concrete umbrella base. 12. "My friend called yesterday to let me know the stand had rusted out and did I want it back? It's a 50-pound, unusable umbrella base in Florida. What am I going to do with it?" Vanessa looks ahead, concentrating. She thinks, "It's all ugly Walmart Junk. They don't make them like that anymore. I could solder in a new pipe." Over the thought bubbles, in big red letters, is "MY UMBRELLA BASE." 13. "Thanks to insurance, I have a new therapist." A woman with wavy brown hair, a long sleeved beige shirt and yellow pants, sits in a blue rolling office chair, one leg crossed over the other and holding a clipboard in her lap. She scowls and holds out one hand in slight exasperation. She says, "All right. Now this is when I start to get impatient." Only Vanessa's head is visible in the bottom corner, looking small and sad. 14. "There's a distinct possibility she thinks I'm pretty annoying, but I like her." Vanessa's therapist smirks cheekily (?) and says, "You're just second-guessing yourself." Vanessa leans in slightly and replies, "But I'm always wrong!" 15. "Letting go of things is supposed to free you." Vanessa sits on a yoga mat in a child's pose. She is following along with "Yoga with Adriene" on YouTube, who says from the screen, "Surrender. You do not have to push and struggle. Find ease." Vanessa farts. 16. "I think sometimes I've tried to let go of stuff and it's ended up feeling the same as loss. Both require me to be helpless." 17. "If you thought me drawing this comic would be a way to work out whether I should keep the umbrella thing, I gotta tell you:" The green tasseled umbrella stands in its concrete base in a fenced backyard with bright green grass. 18. "It didn't!" The concrete base is at the bottom of the ocean, covered in algae and surrounded by fish, including yellow flounders, and aquatic plants.
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Comic Series

Ze and Zo

The Poem: Ze and Zo Adventure #1

Year-Long Program Student Work, 2023-24

Comics created by students of the SAW Year Long Certificate Program 2023-24 cohort
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Vanessa Davis in Paris

Recent work every week from Vanessa Davis
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mini-comics by Elizabeth A. Trembley
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A tragicomic account of caregiving her terminally ill adoptive mom.
A circle stippled with a relaxed figure resting their head in their chin, rounded by the words "Push Pull" over a yellow background.

Push Pull

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Palmetto’s No. 1 Seller of Girl Scout Cookies

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Mummies on my Mind

From the Obsessed Mind of Donna Druchunas

Loneliless
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Let’s Try Something Else

Mini-comics by Shannon Azzato
"Keeping Secrets by Judy Powell" A close-up of a woman with light skin and short blond hair burying her face in her hands.

Keeping Secrets

by Judy Powell

Content warning: Sexual abuse

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Excerpts from my graphic memoir about supporting my daughter through chronic illness
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In The News, Again

Featured nonfiction comics from the SAW 2023 FLOW Anthology

How Did I Get Like This?

Mini-memoirs by Donna Druchunas
Hold Still by Kim Laurenti

Hold Still

Daily images from South Florida
Stylistically rendered with bright, flat colors, simplified shapes, and no line work: a man faces the reader across a cyan background with pink buildings and peach clouds. He stands on a pink road between cyan sidewalks. He is wearing aviator sunglasses and has a thick mustache with a stubbly chin. He wears a blue and black coat over a white Armani t-shirt; his hands are in his jacket pockets, to his side. We see down to his knees before the image cuts off. He is rendered with blue hair, peach skin, and a pink nose. He has an air of intimidating confidence.

Guy

Excerpt from Val-d’Or Neon
A cartoon of a woman with bright green skin and long pink hair that flows behind her. She is wearing a tiara, a pink dress, and red lipstick. She is surfing while reading a book. The right foot of another green person is standing on this surfer's left shoulder. Text in white, all-caps sans serif lettering reads: "Friday Night Comics"

Friday Night Comics

Comics made during our Free Friday Night Workshops. Hosted on ZOOM by The Sequential Artists Workshop, continuing the tradition created by The Believer.
"FOOMIN"

Foomin Organic

From Tom Hart’s ongoing notebooks
Flip Turns

Flip Turns

True stories by Mariah Burton Nelson

Falling

by Jim Hamilton

Croneville Carnival

Chicken Scratch

The Chicken In My Head
Cartoon Show Cover

Cartoonshow

Cartoonist and animator Derek M. Ballard makes modern American family comics. It’s not his fault that being a single parent in America is kind of a nightmare.
Beneath The Weeds I See

Beneath the Weeds I See

A memoir in a series of fragments. By Darlene Campbell
B is Dying 1

B. Is Dying

B. is Dying but he never seems to get on with it!
Adrean Clark Thumbnail

adreanaline

SAW Comics from Adrean Clark
About See Saw Comics

About See SAW Comics

A Bad Day at Gluckman Industries

A woman’s story at work. By award-winning cartoonist Tor Freeman