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kikuhughes.bsky.social
Kiku
@kikuhughes.bsky.social
2.6K followers 270 following 2.4K posts
I'm Kiku Hughes (she/her), a mixed-race Yonsei (4th generation Japanese American) cartoonist from Seattle. I'm the creator of APALA honor title and Eisner award nominated comic "Displacement."
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kikuhughes.bsky.social
Kiku @kikuhughes.bsky.social · Feb 12
Hi I'm Kiku Hughes, a comics artist and organizer in Seattle.

🎏 Website: kikuhughes.com
🎏 Read my comics: kikuhughes.com/short-comics
🎏 Support on ko-fi: ko-fi.com/kikuhughes

✊ Check out groups I organize with at tsuruforsolidarity.org and laresistencianw.org
Cover of the graphic novel "Displacement" by Kiku Hughes. It depicts a mixed race Japanese American girl looking back at another Japanese American girl who is standing with a violin case. Behind them are barbed wire fences and a guard tower. A 3 by 3 grid of nine different images. The center image is a photo of a woman with pale skin and buzzed brown hair. The surrounding images are all illustrations. Digitally drawn comic page with four panels. An androgynous figure with spiky red hair, blank white skin and a green jumpsuit is seen outside the panels, narrating. Panel one shows a spaceship in space, with a huge geodesic dome window. Panel two shows people in a park, with greenery, buildings and a train in the background, but the sky is black with stars. Panel three shows a zoomed out view of a city courtyard with green fields behind it, and again the sky is the black of space. Panel four is a small panel with just space and stars. The narrator's speech bubbles travel throughout the page, saying "I like Science Fiction because it allows us to exaggerate the absurdity of the present. So, here is something absurd. These people were born on a generation ship, hundreds of years into its journey. It's a massive ship that houses millions of people, schools, farms, museums. It is also a bomb." Comic page with two panels. The first panel is tall and narrow, showing a woman with pale skin and short blue hair in a yellow shirt. She says "Sorry, there was a fly. What did you say?" She is waving her hand as a fly buzzes off. The second panel shows the same woman sitting at a bar with another woman, this one with tan skin and a blonde beehive. She says "I just asked what you've been drawing lately." The bottom of the page shows the first woman's hands opening a bag and taking out a tablet, which has a frowny face on it. The woman says "Oh god, actually, you're good at computers right? I haven't been drawing because my tablet won't turn on like, at all."
Reposted by Kiku
hannahtempler.com
everyone say "thank you jadzia"
Still, a character from the Galaxy short in DC's I saw Ma Hunkel kissing Santa Claus holiday special. Still is white woman with scraggly dark hair, angel bite piercings, a septum ring, and heavy makeup around her eyes. She is wearing a lot of leather and straps, and in this panel is wiping blood from her mouth. She is scowling while saying "i've missed that. I knew you still loved me."
November 26, 2025 at 5:38 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
guassian blur mvp
Comic page WIP showing an Asian teenager adjusting her phone as it records video
November 26, 2025 at 3:02 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
Another day i have to claw back from migraine hell.
November 25, 2025 at 9:17 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
ok my review, i'm actually obsessed with this book now
Text that reads "I didn't think I'd end up giving this 5 stars, but the more I sat down to think about it the more I appreciated. I see it in conversation with Remains of the Day - both juxtaposing personal shame with a much larger version. In this case, it is the shame of an entire nation. The flashbacks in this book take place in an almost literal crater in the remains of post-war Nagasaki. Politics are mentioned throughout, but mostly superficially, until one scene late in the book which suddenly reveals how absent all talk of the horrors of Imperial Japan have been the whole time. Like most Ishiguro narrators, this one is lying to herself and to us - and just like post-war Japan, she abjectly refuses to acknowledge the harms she has done. "
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
Meeting doodles
Pencil sketches on lined paper. A few heads in the corner, and a small comic that reads "this one little pill will fix everything, guaranteed*"
November 22, 2025 at 9:16 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
It's so good!!!!
arielries.bsky.social Ariel Slamet Ries @arielries.bsky.social · 9d
Sharing the opening pages of Strange Bedfellows to convince you to buy it day one:
November 21, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Reposted by Kiku
nonvieta.bsky.social
I feel like I forget to talk about it but here's a reminder that I have a comic coming next year called Last Ship to Mars 🚀 that is not even a little concerned about Mars and is instead a love letter to the Earth and the huge importance of staying and doing the work. It's also gay. ✨
November 26, 2024 at 8:40 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
back on my bullshit (making full length graphic novels)
Screenshot of a drawing program in which three panels of a comic are shown, incomplete. They depict a bedroom, then a blurry face, then a blurry body moving.
November 19, 2025 at 2:15 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
does this joke make any sense i need an outsider opinion
Two panel comic. The first panel shows a person opening a door and holding up a tub of Baba's brand hummus. She says "Hey! I brought the hummus you asked for!" The second panel shows a group of trees holding red solo cups, looking judgy.
November 18, 2025 at 3:20 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
Whenever i see the glowing blue eyes of the creatures that moved into grocery store parking lots
Pencil comic that depicts various angles of an automatic parking lot monitor - glowing camera, solar panel. Then a person standing in the sight of the camera. Text reads "I'm telling you, we didn't have these when I was your age. No reason, it just occurred to me....that if I don't say it now, you'll grow up thinking it was always like this."
November 16, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Kiku
automeruz.bsky.social
extra shots of the andor riso too meruz.bigcartel.com/product/ando...
November 14, 2025 at 12:18 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
Reading Remains of the Day finally and ive decided im going to read Ishiguro's entire body of work in 2026. Ive already read Never Let Me Go and the Buried Giant, what should i go for after?
November 13, 2025 at 1:31 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
Friends have put together a raffle in support of Mona and her family, who escaped Gaza and are trying to survive as refugees in Egypt. Check out these amazing items!

To donate and submit tickets for raffle: tinyurl.com/raffle-for-mona
Flyer that reads "Donate and enter raffle here: tinyurl.com/raffle-for-mona . Goal: $10,000. Three weeks left! Raffle drawing: December 1. Raffle - $10 per ticket, drawn on December 3." The poster shows a Palestinian woman, young child and older man. Flyer that reads "Fundraiser - help Mona's family survive." It lists items up for the raffle, which are: A matcha tea set donated by Kogura Co. A vintage Muni jacket donated by Chameleon Vintage. A Kings vs. Mavericks game for Saturday December 27. A $50 gift card to Azay, plus a t-shirt from Anzen Hardware and Supply Co. A set of antique miso soup bowls. A zero waste starter kit donated by Kurated Kultura. A book bundle. A Supreme MG RX-78-2 Gundam Version 3.0 Red. Raffle: $10 per ticket, drawn on December 3. Donate and enter raffle here: tinyurl.com/raffle-for-mona
November 12, 2025 at 7:42 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
someday. i will snap out of it and have fun again. just wait for me.
November 11, 2025 at 4:37 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
it's late and im blue, posting old riddler/penguin content with only minimal shame. pastiches.
A drawing done in "Miyazaki style" featuring two men in the foreground and a woman on a bat-shaped flying machine in the distance behind them. The shorter man has dark hair and a monocle, while the taller has red hair and question mark-shaped buttons. Drawing done in the style of Mike Mignola, featuring the same two men from the previous drawing. Drawing done in the style of Dustin Nguyen's "Lil' Gotham" featuring the same two men, the taller leaning down to give a peck on the cheek of the shorter.
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
my lil guys
cartoon drawing of two teens
November 7, 2025 at 12:57 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
So sad to hear about Ken's passing, his were some of the first books about JA incarceration I read as a kid. Glad he's being honored in many places <3
debbieohi.com Debbie Ridpath Ohi @debbieohi.com · Sep 26
R.I.P. Ken Mochizuki, whose BASEBALL SAVED US (illus Dom Lee, @leeandlow.bsky.social ) and THOSE WHO HELPED US: ASSISTING JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING THE WAR (illus @kikuhughes.bsky.social , Chin Music Press) shed light on experiences of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during WWII.
#KidLit
pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social Children's Bookshelf @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social · Sep 26
“Ken’s books bravely told stories that needed to be told”: Japanese American author, actor, and social activist Ken Mochizuki remembered following his death on September 20. See our tribute: buff.ly/i8mDGQv
September 29, 2025 at 10:08 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
still avoiding social media bc it's actually doing wonders for my brain, but my last day at my day job is next week and it's exciting but also terrifying so
September 29, 2025 at 9:56 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
got my antidepress dosage upped so. horray. :|
September 18, 2025 at 11:42 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
lost my keys for a panicky hour bc they fell out when i went outside to cry briefly
September 18, 2025 at 12:19 AM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
made it to 4pm in the work day before having a complete mental breakdown
September 17, 2025 at 10:58 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
Saw an APIAH bus today and i gotta say. Not a fan.
Photo of a bus with a mishmash of illustrations including: the crest of the 442nd regiment and a quote "go for broke," some cherry blossoms, an origami crane and a guard tower from the Japanese American incarceration camps Another side of the same bus now showing cartoons of three men in straw hats with stereotypically closed eyes
September 17, 2025 at 5:03 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
His campaign history is full of nothing but losers. Are we supposed to be impressed that he led campaigns for Kerry and Edwards?
jamellebouie.net jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Sep 17
trump’s numbers are tanking and there is a palpable desire in the electorate for a real alternative and yet the only money in democratic politics is for doing starmerism
September 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
For the first time in my life I had a dream where i was making art and it looked rly good. I hope it's prophecy
September 16, 2025 at 7:24 PM
kikuhughes.bsky.social
making myself sick on a monday afternoon
September 15, 2025 at 9:54 PM