John Lees
@johnlees.bsky.social
2.7K followers 560 following 6.5K posts
I write comics! ORLA!, SINK, GRAWLGORE & SHANKS, THE NASTY, THE CRIMSON CAGE, AND THEN EMILY WAS GONE, MOUNTAINHEAD, HOTELL. Website/newsletter: johnleescomics.com Online shop: johnleescomics.bigcartel.com Patreon: patreon.com/johnlees
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johnlees.bsky.social
I see we're doing (re)intros here as more comics folk migrate to BlueSky, so here goes. I'm John Lees. I'm a writer based in Glasgow, Scotland. Credits include Sink, And Then Emily Was Gone, Hotell, The Crimson Cage, Mountainhead, The Standard, Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare, TMNT and The Nasty.
Cover of SINK Vol 1: Welcome to Glasgow. Cover for And Then Emily Was Gone. Cover for The Crimson Cage. Cover for The Nasty.
johnlees.bsky.social
A huge thanks to creative partners @alexcormack.bsky.social and @robutoid.bsky.social, to all our variant cover guest artists, and to @comixlaunch.bsky.social for manning another home-run hit campaign.
johnlees.bsky.social
Pals, I am over the moon with the response to SINK: Halloween Special. I was hopeful that the response would be strong again, but I wasn't prepared for the enormity of our campaign's success. Only one day in and already near 300% funded! Why not join the party?

www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
SINK: Halloween Special #1 | Crime Horror Deluxe Edition
It's HALLOWEEN night in Glasgow! Kids, crooks, clowns & killers collide in a terrifying new 48-page Glow-in-the-Dark one-shot!
www.kickstarter.com
johnlees.bsky.social
ARLOG SHANKS - Another lovely instance of becoming a character I created. This was a happy accident, as I was looking at the Frankenstein mask on Immortal Masks, then stumbled on their orc mask and thought, “Hey, that looks like Shanks!”
A drawing of me in my Arlog Shanks costume, smiling and waving, with annotations that include:

From GRAWLGORE & SHANKS*
*First chapter available at johnleescomics.bigcartel.com. Full series coming soon!

FUN FACT: Shanks is also my D&D character. He’s an orc barbarian.

ORC MASK (From Immortal Masks. Silicone, emotes with my face, I can eat wearing it. The most expensive thing I’ve ever bought for Halloween.)

GREEN BODY PAINT (Couldn’t get a shade to match the mask, and no amount of sealer could keep it on my arms and off my clothes. My bathroom sink is still stained with it. What a disaster.)

MY YOGA TIGHTS (The mask costing so much meant I cheaped out on getting period-authentic leggings.)

MY TIMBS (The mask costing so much meant I cheaped out on getting period-authentic moccasins.)

STICK-ON NAILS (looked like orc claws. Stayed on for all of five minutes before starting to fall off.)

FURRY LEG WARMERS (Looked really cool and barbarian-like when they weren’t flopping down my ankles.)
Reposted by John Lees
philnobilejr.bsky.social
You don’t need AI; AI is not “inevitable.” That’s a lie being fed to you by companies who are going to lose a fuckton of money if they don’t convince you that AI is something you can’t live without.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
johnlees.bsky.social
“That… hunger, that drive to hunt and kill. I can feel it fading away. Really, I can. I’m going to be better, now.”

ORLA! #3, from me, @sallycantirino.bsky.social, @dearbhlala.bsky.social, @letteringbear.bsky.social & @madcavestudios.com, is out 22nd October, in TWO WEEKS!
Orla Bard, looking radiant, stands wrapped in a bath towel, looking pensively ahead into a mirror.
johnlees.bsky.social
Yeah, it’s bad enough when it’s some soulless exec pushing it, but when it’s someone who’s made stories that are transcending and enduring, someone fortunate enough to have his work loved and remembered for decades, it’s even more infuriating see them work to render themselves redundant.
Reposted by John Lees
cdisweird.bsky.social
It's Wednesday, and you know what that means!

It's time for a new episode of Fueled by Weird! This week I got to chat with @johnlees.bsky.social and @sallycantirino.bsky.social about their book Orla! from @madcavestudios.com and more ! Check it out!

youtu.be/4ForXR66L5o?...
S05 Ep06 - We're diving into the dating pool with Sally Cantirino and John Lees!
YouTube video by Fueled by Weird
youtu.be
johnlees.bsky.social
When AI shills spout garbage like this, it’s nothing to do with the quality of AI “storytelling” having improved in any meaningful way by this point, and more that it’ll take this long relentlessly shoving it down our throats for our standards to have sufficiently lowered. Loser shit.
A picture of filmmaker-turned-AI-prick James Cameron with the headline, “James Cameron says big budget movies will be able to be made entirely with AI in 6-10 years.”
Reposted by John Lees
jazzpomegranate.com
this is who bsky banned for life
thinkingautism.com
“As a neurodiversity advocate and as an autistic person, I’m really grateful for so much of the work that’s been done that allows me to be myself and to be successful being myself.” Link, who has been *banned*!?!? from this platform?

thinkingautismguide.com/2025/06/spac... #AutisticWhileBlack
Space Law, Race, and Neurodiversity: Autistic Advocate AJ Link
We live in a country & society that is built on racism. The neurodivergent community isn't free of that racism—per Autistic advocate AJ Link.
thinkingautismguide.com
Reposted by John Lees
dreamwisp.bsky.social
Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.
A post by Rebecca Johnson:
“I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, you have passive voice.”

A tumblr respond from mightymur:
“The final, brilliant word on passive voice.
"She was killed [by zombies.]"<--passive
"Zombies killed [by zombies] her." <-- active”
johnlees.bsky.social
Given where the campaign is sitting, there is a non-zero chance that I wake up tomorrow and SINK: Halloween Special, still in its first 24 hours, will be at 300% funded. Incredible! Thank you all so much for your support of SINK!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
SINK: Halloween Special #1 | Crime Horror Deluxe Edition
It's HALLOWEEN night in Glasgow! Kids, crooks, clowns & killers collide in a terrifying new 48-page Glow-in-the-Dark one-shot!
www.kickstarter.com
Reposted by John Lees
Reposted by John Lees
davewielgosz.bsky.social
I've been on team @kennyporter.bsky.social for years. He's a great writer, immensely imaginative, wonderfully collaborative, and an A+ dude who has written one of his best books yet with this one. And @tcannoncomics.bsky.social is going to be your new favorite comic artist. Mark my words.
Reposted by John Lees
davewielgosz.bsky.social
Mark your calendars are prepare to tell your LCS's about one of your favorite comics of 2026 OPERATION: IRON COFFIN Written by @kennyporter.bsky.social and Art by @tcannoncomics.bsky.social Dracula VS Nazi's in WWII. The kind of pulpy action horror comics does best. Coming your way July 2026!
johnlees.bsky.social
I’m on a writing group with Kenny, and we know he’s an idea machine, so many killer stories in production and development. But the one everyone in the writing group was SUPER excited for was this. The concept immediately makes you grin, but the execution is so much better. A really special comic.
kennyporter.bsky.social
Now everyone knows the British didn’t drop Dracula on the Nazis like a bomb in WWII.

What this book presupposes is…maybe they did?

ew.com/smile-a-quie...
johnlees.bsky.social
Thank you, JP! Really happy to have you onboard.
Reposted by John Lees
jpjordan.bsky.social
Honoured to have been able to contribute to the incredible world of SINK by getting to colour two of the covers in this campaign, drawn by Cesar Feliciano and Tyler James respectively!

SO GO BACK YOUR NEW FAVOURITE HORROR COMIC!
Reposted by John Lees
johnlees.bsky.social
Anyone else been feeling like this a lot lately?

ORLA! #3, from me, @sallycantirino.bsky.social, @dearbhlala.bsky.social, letteringbear.bsky.social & @madcavestudios.com, is set for release on 22nd October.
Orla Bard, looking radiant, is in the midst of a transformation into monstrous alter ego The Ick, apparently struggling to hold it in, screaming, "NNNNG... FUCK OFF!!!!"
Reposted by John Lees
happytoast.co.uk
Bonus Monster Month - Trypanohyncha Ocellus from Alien Earth
johnlees.bsky.social
Thanks for the pick-up!
johnlees.bsky.social
I was out meeting a friend for lunch today, and in the time I was away, not only did SINK: Halloween Special launch, but it fully funded near immediately and is now fast barrelling towards reaching 200% of its original target!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
SINK: Halloween Special #1 | Crime Horror Deluxe Edition
It's HALLOWEEN night in Glasgow! Kids, crooks, clowns & killers collide in a terrifying new 48-page Glow-in-the-Dark one-shot!
www.kickstarter.com