I want to start this bolg post/update thing by saying that I’m sorry.

I’ve been saying that a lot recently, to a lot of people and they all tell me not to be sorry. That this isn’t something I’ve done, that this is something that has happened to me.
But that doesn’t change anything.

People are still feeling bad because of me. I’m still letting readers down by not posting new work (especially those of you kind enough to donate money to me each month) and having a “good excuse” doesn’t make me feel any better about it. If anything it makes me feel worse, because it wasn’t fully in my control and it should have been.

At any rate I feel like I should let you know what is going on with me. Because you deserve to know what you are getting into if you decide to invest your time into something. Ok… here it goes,

Over the last month or so there has been a growing suspicion that has finally been confirmed. I have cancer.

I am going to try, with everything I have, to continue making comics but the truth is that some days I just wont be able to. I didn’t actually manage to put out any new pages for June or July and that is not ok. I know people will tell me that cancer is good excuse to miss a few pages, but it’s not.

This is what I want to do, and I’m going to keep doing it.

Stay tuned for more art.

-Lee

It’s been far to long since I posted a new page and I feel like I should probably explain why.

Basically, I have accidentally been becoming a literal starving artist.

For the past few months my health has been gradually deteriorating without me noticing, I would get home from work exhausted with very little appetite and just end up going to sleep earlier and earlier each day.  At first I thought I was depressed since I’m dealing with a long distance relationship and all the rigmarole that comes with trying to immigrate to the US so I can get married, so I didn’t think much of my constantly tired state until I realised how little I had been eating.

My meals had been getting smaller and smaller for who knows how long and a little over a week ago I made myself some toast for dinner, I only made it halfway through the first piece before I felt so full that I thought I might throw up. So out of curiosity I weighed myself and discovered that I had, in a very short span, lost a little over 12kg (27lb).

A visit to the hospital told me that I, for some reason, have gastroparesis which is when your stomach becomes partially paralysed and no longer moves food along the digestive tract, stopping new food from entering. Meaning the reason I have had zero energy for the last month or so is that I have been slowly starving myself.

I still have a few more doctors visits and tests till we figure out exactly what is causing this (including apparently being violated by a robotic camera snake) but for now I’m on medication that at least allows me to eat a little more and slowly get my strength back. I’m trying to get back to drawing as much as I can  but it is still slow going since taking time off to recover is extremely difficult here in Japan so most of the energy I do have is still being consumed by work.

– Lee

Now that it’s a little further along, here is an update on the aforementioned comic.

It is an collection of short stories called “Other Tales” or at least it will be once I do the English translations for now it’s called 他物語 (hokamonogatari). The first issue is finished and will be debuting at a small comic market in Sapporo this Sunday.

The first issue has two stories; “Joust” a somewhat cutesy fantasy story about a boy and his dog and “Lamplight” a slightly darker folklorish tale about a will-o-wisp. I will be finding a place for these online at some point but for now they will be available in print or on my Patreon page