About Me

Hello, world! My name is Elk Paauw, and I'm the creator of this comic. Of course, it wouldn't have been possible without the help of my friends and collaborators.

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, just recently moved to Chicago and yearning for the sea. Ironically, I'm related to the oft-celebrated theist Al Plantinga, who was roommates with my grandfather at Calvin College and whom eventually married into the Paauw family. Small world, right?! My dad got his BA in Philosophy at UW, and I went on to do the same. I guess it's kind of a family affair.

I've been an avid reader my whole life, and started making comics when I was around 10 years old. My favorites as a kid were Archie comics and Sailor Moon. I started reading Nietzsche as an angsty teen, and have been philosophizing ever since. I also picked up a copy of In Search of Schrodinger's Cat from my father (via my Uncle Randy) around the same time, which spawned my interest in theoretical physics and cosmology. My Uncle Randy also lent me the entire Aubrey-Maturin AKA Master and Commander series, which has resulted in my lifelong love of tall ships and sailing. Most of my other comics, in fact, are about sailing! (See: Good Mahnin' Yankee and Wish You Were Pier).

Other than that, I mostly make autobiographical comics about fart jokes, pizza, depression and anxiety, and transness. I am in a band called Spooky Action where I do live-drawing, and we have done a couple of goofy zines about science-y stuff as well!

This site was made in part to fulfill my thesis requirements for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Visual and Critical Studies Master's program. However, I would've made it regardless.

You can find me elsewhere online @Elkpapa: on Instagram, Twitter, Gumroad (where you can buy digital PDFs of my work), Storenvy where you can buy physical copies of my books, and on My website.

Thanks for reading!