Emanata 2019; Vol. 6, Viral

EMANATA presents

Dedicated to Professor Albert Epshteyn“Alright, Let’s Work.”

Acknowledgements

Emanata wishes to acknowledge and thank the following:

Shannon Wright for giving us our amazing cover.

VCU Libraries and Special Collections for sponsoring said amazing cover. Sue Robinson for her support of our publication–thank you for all your help!

Velocity Comics for being the hub of the Richmond Comics Scene. Uri Hamman for the layout and design of our book, and for fighting the ongoing battle with RGB colour mode, even in greyscale.

Our ever-talented alumni for reaching back to collaborate with students. And the contributors for their beautifully crafted stories, without which, this anthology would not be possible.

The VCU Student Media Center for their unyielding support.

Allison Bennett Dyche Director 804-827-1975 abdyche@vcu.edu

Jacob McFadden Business Manager 804-827-1642 mcfaddenjc@vcu.edu

Mark Jeffries Creative Media Manager 804-828-7660 mjeffries@vcu.edu

Street Address

VCU Student Media Center 817 W. Broad St. Richmond, VA

Mailing Address

VCU Student Media Center Box 842010 Richmond, VA 23284-2010

Be sure to catch our digital edition for even more comics at emanatacomics.com!

emanatacomics@gmail.com

Foreword

We live in a weird time. Not until recently could someone shoot an opinion about pugs out into the void and have it reach thousands of people with relative speed and ease. Replace “opinion about pugs” with “opinion about congressional term limits” and it’s still an accurate statement. Or replace “opinion about congressional term limits” with “vaporwave remix of Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion”. Or “Avengers/ Golden Girls crossover fan art”. Or “proof that vaccines are harmful to children”.

Oh, that’s a whole other thing. Another sign we live in a weird time? Some people don’t want to vaccinate their children anymore.

Welcome to VIRAL: a comic collection about how we all want to go viral online, and how we all want to avoid contracting viral infections. Or wait, no— how we all want to be famous? And prevent the collapse of society? How we all want to produce viral content and all the while society is increasingly at risk of a measles outbreak?

Here is a small collection of infectious tales from VCU’s finest comics creators. If you enjoy this small sample of comics, check out www. EmanataComics.com for an extended version of this book as well as previous volumes of EMANATA. Perhaps you can help us... go… VIRAL...

Wishing you good health and an abundance of internet clout in this strangest of times.

Thanks for reading!

- Sammy Newman

Table oF ConTenTs

Cover illustration by Shannon Wright

Bad Dog by Uri Hamman ....................................................... 7

1234 by Mac Wood ........................................................... 12

Flora by Laurel Alleman ....................................................... 14

Viral Dinner Date by Andrew Ansah ...................................... 19

Time to Split by Hunter Hutcherson ........................................ 26

Crown Juul by Madeline DeMichelle ..................................... 29

Malwere by Alexis Dejesus .................................................. 36

Homunculus by Lauren Hart .................................................. 38 Difference by Tiffani Green .................................................. 40

Bloom by Michelle Dominado ............................................... 44

Threat by Cindy Roman ....................................................... 47

The Rift by Aubry Lassiter ..................................................... 48

Pro{Malicious} by Alexis Hilliard-Worth .................................. 52

No Cops @Pride by Alex Hwee 58

Teracotta by Evan McGrady 63

A Tragedy in Four Parts by Sonnet Marie Garcia 68

Transport by Kingston Molina-Delgado 74

Crisis by Logan Mannikko .................................................... 80

Children of God by Alex Mehr ............................................. 81

Body by Sam Pandolfe ........................................................ 87

Love Sick by Seulgi Smith ..................................................... 92

A Smile is Contagious by Trinh Tran ...................................... 96

Funky Fungus Feast by Heather Winn .................................. 102

Dawn by Seth Woodies ..................................................... 108

Fishsticks by Jeffrey Belfield ................................................ 114

Table oF ConTenTs

Patient Zero by Thea Cheuk ................................................ 116

Malign by T. Weisenborn ................................................... 120

564 by Winston ............................................................... 125

Damn Daniel by Meghan Bright .......................................... 134

Monsters by Morgan Barnett .............................................. 135

Dinner Time by Karly Andersen ........................................... 142

ERror by Ian Crovella ........................................................ 146

5,000,000 by Rita Lin ....................................................... 157

Project Fluffy by Ellie Erhart ................................................ 160

My Dearest Patchouli by Angelica Kim 164

Malware Vaccine by Jamie Knierim 170

Raw Egg ASMR Mukbang Not Clickbait!!! by James Lee 174

Hensonitis by Sammy Newman 178

Clickbaited by Grace Rizzo ............................................... 182

Biter by Meg Rogers .......................................................... 187

Venus in Virgo by Casper Pham .......................................... 188

Lovesick by Haleigh Wilson ................................................ 195

Sundae Report by Lyn P. ..................................................... 202

Gate Keeper by Zhaoyi W. ................................................ 208

Remedy by Diansakhu Banton-Perry ..................................... 214

Fewterer by Susie Grady .................................................... 221

Piano Man by Erin Joo and Eric Vandermeer ........................ 228

Viable by Liz McCown ...................................................... 234

Villianitis by Emely Pascual ................................................. 241

Sick Days by Lauren Johnson .............................................. 247

Morgan Barnett

Editor-in-Chief

A Senior in Communication Arts and an animation nerd of the largest sort, Morgan loves creating illustrations to fulfill any kind of narrative vision. With ambitions such as creating graphic novels and animated features, as well as working in visual concept design, she’s always excited to discuss the industry, storytelling, or just talk your ear off about D&D.

Susie Grady

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Susie is a member of the Corvidae family and senior in the Communication Arts department here at VCUarts. They write stories about villains, lesbians, and sometimes both.

Sammy Newman

Secretary

Sammy is a VCUarts Junior who loves comics and illustration. Her life goal is to make funny books for kids. In her free time, you can find her in one of Richmond’s many coffee shops, enjoying an overpriced beverage and sometimes sketching cafe-goers but mostly just staring yearningly out the window.

James Lee

Treasurer

James is a senior in Communication Arts. He loves painting and is working towards a career in visual development. He can also be found ravaging sketchbooks with whimsical characters and environments.

Diansakhu Banton-Perry

Social Media Chair

Diansakhu is a Senior in Communication Art. She is a character designer and illustrator that loves comics, movies, and fashion. She is inspired by science fiction and fantasy themes, and working with human emotion and expressiveness in animation and illustration. She has growing aspirations of melding the two concepts in her own work by constantly drawing people and watching an insane amount of sci-fi on Netflix.

Uri Hamman

Staff Editor and Graphic Designer

Coming to the Real World™ in May 2019: Uri. A concept artist specializing in creature design, they aim to break into the game industry and leave their mark.

Alex Hwee

Senior Editor

Alex is a senior in Communication Arts concentrating on illustration and concept art. She is currently focusing on the retelling of old lore and modernizing Chinese mythology to create stories centered around reevaluating and subverting traditional structures. When she’s not doing art she’s scheming, dreaming, and fighting a pipeline.

Evan McGrady

Staff Editor

Evan is a junior in Commarts with a minor in Craft who loves making comics, creating illustration, and crafting things. He has been with Emanata since he was a freshmen and loves making comics.

Casper Pham

Staff Editor

Casper Pham is an artist who lives their life in many places at once (Vietnam, the US, and the deep, deep cosmos). They are most passionate about creating and designing fictional environments in which grand romance and drama may one day take place.

Emely Pascual

Staff Editor

Emely is a senior at VCU, majoring in Communication Arts who loves bunnies, reading comics, and embroidering while watching anime. In her natural habitat you’ll probably find her riding her bike, getting at swol af the gym, or staying up to ungodly hours drawing. She’s developing her own comic in her free time and is geared toward doing illustration.

Trinh Tran

Staff Editor

Trinh is a senior in Communication Arts who focuses on storytelling through character designs and marine illustrations. Coffee, novels, and comics are her little doses of happiness during her spare time.

Erin Joo

Staff Editor

Erin is a self proclaimed dragon keeper majoring in Communication Arts. She loves a good story in any form of media and aspires to bring her own to life someday. When she’s not drawing, you can most likely spot her trying to convince someone to get a ukulele of their own.

Lindsay Hart

Staff Editor

Lindsay is a junior in the Communication Arts program with an interest in illustration and the alternative comics scene. In her free time she enjoys caring for houseplants and watching movies

Joey Wang

Staff Editor

Joey is a senior in VCU’s Communication Arts major, as well as a strategy games nerd, who loves Steampunk, Cyberpunk and DND-like fantasy stories.

contAct info

Alleman, Laurel allemanlk@mymail.vcu.edu

Andersen, Karly andersenkl@mymail.vcu.edu

Ansah, Andrew ansahaa@mymail.vcu.edu

Banton-Perry, Diansakhu diansakhubp@gmail.com instagram.com/diansakhuart

Barnett, Morgan morganbarnett.com barnettmb@mymail.vcu.edu instagram.com/gibberfish

Belfield, Jeffrey jefffreybelfield@gmail.com

Bright, Meghan brightmt@mymail.vcu.edu

Cheuk, Thea cheukts@mymail.vcu.edu

Crovella, Ian crovellai@mymail.vcu.edu

De-Michele, Madeline demichelem@mymail.vcu.edu

DeJesus, Alexis dejesusai@mymail.vcu.edu

Dominado, Michelle dominadomed@mymail.vcu.edu

Erhart, Ellie erhartes@mymail.vcu.edu

Grady, Susie gradysusannah@gmail.com susannahgrady.com https://twitter.com/venandum

Green, Tiffany greenta6@mymail.vcu.edu

Hamman, Uri preimpression.org contact@preimpression.org https://twitter.com/preimpression

Hart, Lindsey hartld2@mymail.vcu.edu

Hilliard-Worth, Alexis hilliardworar@mymail.vcu.edu

Hutcheson, Hunter theartofhunter@gmail.com huhutch.wixsite.com/theartofhunter instagram.com/theartofhunter

Hwee, Alex hweeay2@vcu.edu instagram.com/alexjing_

Johnson, Lauren johnsonl25@mymail.vcu.edu

Joo, Erin erinyjoo@gmail.com instagram.com/toopachu

Kim, Angelica kimaj22@mymail.vcu.edu

Knierim, Jamie knierimjq@mymail.vcu.edu

Lassiter, Aubrey lassiterar2@mymail.vcu.edu

Lee, James lee.james908@gmail.com jamesleeart.weebly.com instagram.com/jams.lee

Lin, Rita linrd@mymail.vcu.edu

Mannikko, Logan mannikkolp@mymail.vcu.edu

Marie Garcia, Sonnet garciasmd@mymail.vcu.edu

McCown, Elizabeth mccownel@vcu.edu

McGrady, Evan mcgradyer@mymail.vcu.edu

Mehr, Alex forestfirenumber21@gmail.com

Molina-Delgado, Kingston molinadelgakk@mymail.vcu.edu

Newman, Sammy sammynewman.com ymmas97@gmail.com

Pandolfe, Samantha pandolfes@mymail.vcu.edu

Pascual, Emely hello.empascual@gmail.com instagram.com/emelancholy

Pham, Casper garuxpuru@gmail.com aeromarch.tumblr.com

Powell, Raelign powellrg3@mymail.vcu.edu

contAct info

Rizzo, Grace gahrace002@gmail.com

Rogers, Megan rogersmm2@mymail.vcu.edu

Roman, Cindy romancs@mymail.vcu.edu

Smith, Seulgi dseulgi7@gmail.com

Tran, Trinh & Jacie trantn8@mymail.vcu.edu

Wang, Zhoayi wangz25@mymail.vcu.edu

Weisenborn, Tessa tmweisenborn@gmail.com

Wilson, Haleigh misshaleighwilson@gmail.com

Winn, Heather winnhr@mymail.vcu.edu

Winston, Angelina aiwinston88@gmail.com

Wood, Mac macwood1995@gmail.com

Woodies, Seth woodiessd@mymail.vcu.edu