Who’s Kate?

Photo on 2014-03-17 at 8.55 PM #2 1960828_736712526381609_1593429002_o

I’m Kate, that’s who!

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I work for what’s been voted several times as the best comic shop in the world, Strange Adventures, and I am a maker of comics!

I work primarily now with IDW and kaBOOM! Studios, making comics for various Cartoon Network properties. I am the series writer for the Bravest Warriors comic, as well as the writer of Adventure Time: Seeing Red and an upcoming OGN (Fall 2014). I have self-published three mini-comics which then came together into the glossy wonder known as Ultimate Kate or Die, which is of course only now a small sampler. Sometimes things become available in my Etsy shop!  I collaborate with the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. I run a group online for girls who work in comic shops. I start a lot of things I can’t finish. I travel excessively, which is part of why this comic rarely updates. I contribute biweekly Kate or Die strips to ComicsAlliance, though!

I am self-taught in comics and have been making them since late 2010. I use Micron and Faber-Castell pens as well as a Pentel brush pen. I’d use Copic if I could afford them. I’m a fan of Canson Bristol paper and cheap, cheap watercolours. I colour digitally with a Monoprice 9×12 tablet, and I recommend it to everyone. I like to make lip-synch videos and edit things together to music. I dropped out of art school and look at me now, mom!

Here is a list of stats:

Age: 25
Height: 5’7”
Education: Half a BFA & street smarts
Favourite comics: Sex Criminals, Saga, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel, Asterios Polyp, Batgirl: Year One, Adventure Time
Favourite movies: Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Secretary, Young Frankenstein, Practical Magic
Favourite books: American Gods, A Series of Unforunate Events, The Girl Who Couldn’t Come
Pets: A cat named Leeloo

I do commissions selectively, as I am a busy girl, but feel free to contact me and see!

Photo on 2014-05-16 at 2.20 PM #2

68 Comments

Found your website today and I absolutely love it! Read all the archives and then bought your book right after. Keep up the excellent work!

You are hot!! :p

Love your comics! Your site is possibly my best find online this year. Shall link it to my blog! Keep up with the amazing work! x

/co was talking about your comics today, and this is the first time I saw it.

I love them so much. Had to sit through and read them all. Fantastic job! Keep up the good work!

I ended up here from a facebook link. Right now my brain still hurts from how much you look EXACTLY LIKE HOW YOU DRAW YOURSELF. I mean, technically that’s not supposed to be a realistic drawing, but it’s actually….SCARILY accurate. How. How do you do that. It’s…driving…me…insane……..Captain’s Log, Stardate 2,650,113….

Hi! a friend of mine linked your comics about bisexuallity and now I’ve read everything on this site. You’re awesome! Your comics are awesome! And I love you!

So, I was rummaging through TopatCo, as I do every once in a blue moon, and I came across Kate…Or Die.
I think I’m immortal from now on, that’s all I’m going to say.
Also, the quitting-school-being-successful pattern seems to be working for a lot of people I know or know of. Makes a girl think :)

Hi Kate, trying to bring my little girl (she’s 5) up in a world that only wants her to be a princess and marry the prince (is it really 2012??).
Her Dad and I are constantly looking for cool female comic characters for her but it’s tough, they are so often just the big-boobed add-ons who only appear in a ratio of about 1:5 to their male counterparts.
Loving World Girl, Jane the Knight, Ruby Gloom – any other suggestions?
I hope she grows up to be as cool as you :-)
ALso love your tweet about little girl in shop ‘this is a shop for boys’. I am constantly countering that kind of thing whereever I see it.
Am going to follow your stuff.
Sacha

I haven’t read any of your comics before I just randomly stumbled across this site and ended up spending all morning reading all of it cuz it was that amazing! I can connect with alot of the things you describe in your comics im really glad i found you tee hee

I was feeling down when I stumbled upon your website. Awesome. I can dig it. I put the cat-eating-tamp comic as my desktop at work. Classy.

Hi Kate, I just finished reading your entire archive and really enjoyed both the your style of “telling the story” as well as the awesome art. I will be studying your art style so I can improve on my own web comic. Also, I know someone who is living some of the same lbgtq issues (she even looks like you too, sort of), so I told her about your web comic. Cheers!

Wow. You are an incredible person. I know you hear it all the time, but it’s worth repeating. You remind me of my wife when she was in her early 20′s. She is doing a damn good job on keeping it going in her early 30′s thou…

I found you while wandering the internet today on a bed-ridden sick day (sniff, sniff). You! Are! Great! Thanks for sharing. Also: Love to hear that Strange Adventures is still going strong, I spent an awful lot of time skulking around there in my misspent teen years :)

Dear Awesome Canadian Artist,
You’re the coolest, and I love your art. I cannot describe how this website has made me feel, but thank you for it :)

Sincerely,
Mediocre American Kid

Your comics are awesome. They are genuine. They are original. They are funny. And most importantly, they are relatable. If I was ever lucky enough to run into you one day I would feel the need to, in the very least, give you an epic high five. Or perhaps a good conversation over a cup of coffee. Keep it up :)

it’s so nice to know i’m not alone in feeling my….
uh feelings and stuff.

<3 thank you for making and sharing these comics.

I absolutely adore your comics, I’ve been seeing them around, and I finally went this website, and I’m glad I did. Also I think you look like Zooey Deschanel, so you’re super pretty! :D I hope you have a great night!

Hey Kate,
I just stumbled across your comics, and I’ve been sorta down recently, and had kinda lost hope in humans. Many of your comics, especially “a long story” are so touching, they really put things into perspective for me. That one specifically reminded me how malleable an identity is. You helped me see that there ARE seemingly normal every day people (just like me) who happen to be extraordinary in reality. What you do inspires me, please never stop.

Sincerely
-an aspiring cartoon artist

P.S. you are ridiculously cute.

P.P.S. Adventure Time is the best thing ever, and when you reference it I grin.

Also, side note, you made me feel how I felt (giddy) when I read the “Scott Pilgrim” Series. Which I haven’t felt in a while, thanks for that.

Aaand now im a follower :D
Its stupendous that are people lie you out there. It make it a safer place to go :3 i hope ill meet someone like you ( or even you!)

I found your site and read ALL of them in one sitting, kinda like how I eat ice cream, but it made me feel awesome and shiny instead of bloated.

I just sat down and read every single one of your comics and looked at your entire blog. I love your work! It’s very inspiring, and I relate to it all too well. You talk about things that need to be discussed, things that people all too often shy away from. I think you’re a very strong person and your work reflects that. I’ve seen your comics floating around Tumblr for the past two years but only until recently was I able to place a name to the artist. Uh…. Your comics are great!!

I saw that “Porn with the volume up” comic on Brock Obama’s Page. You are Awesome, and you should feel awesome! (It’s even more awesome, ’cause you remind me of an awesome friend of mine) ((Awesome extra parenthetical statement!))

Recently I had an epiphany that Marceline would make a pretty damned fine Huntress and decided to expand upon this. My line art just went up at Deviant Art and I thought I would share, since we’re both fans

http://fav.me/d62daqj

Hope you like it :)

Your comics are making me feel so happy and inspired. Got here through one of your makeup tutorials someone posted on Reddit, didn’t expect to find awesome comics AND Adventure Time! Your art is amazing <3

Hi Kate! Here’s a handy step-by-step guide, explaining how your lovely comics can steal away several hours of your life. Step 1: Stumble on to this site while not searching for porn. Laugh at funny comic. Step 2: Spend an hour or two reading through comics by clicking ‘Random’ button. Step 3: Become scared that you might have missed some awesome. Click ‘First’ button, and spend another hour or two reading through them all again from start to finish. Step 4: Go back through them all yet again, and make a list of all your favourites. Step 5: Come to realisation that the list is futile, as you have favourited every second comic. Step 5: Post an exceedingly long comment on the site, gushing about how awesome the comics are! :-D

Just met your work. Really impressive! Not only the art, but the text as well. They kept me busy all day. Just added it to my feedly (^^)

Cheers from Brazil

S.

I think that your website is the bees knees :D And I totally love your LGBT stuff. I’m what I like to call a super lesbian. I’m not a dyke but male genitalia scares me into tears, literally. Maybe you could do something with that. All my friends and my fiancee (who IS a dyke) think that it’s hysterical, to the point that they find pictures of grotesquely huge wangs with veins and stuff and show me under false pretense. :D

Hi Kate, I’m a HuffPost editor and wondering if it’s okay for a blogger to use your comic in a blog with a link back to your site.

seamus (dot) mckiernan (at) huffingtonpost (dot) com

Hi Kate! Just went through your archives in one sitting and loved it. Don’t know if you listen to hip-hop but there’s a Kendrick Lamar song with a hook that I think describes you:

I do what I wanna do
I say what I wanna say
When I feel, and I
Look in the mirror and know I’m there
With my hands in the air
I’m proud to say yeah
I’m real, I’m real, I’m really, really, real

Much love!

I love your comics. I suffer really badly with BPD, anxiety and self harm, and when i feel really down i read your comics and they make me smile. Thank you so much for giving me some joy in my otherwise dark world x

I just spent an entire night clicking ‘next’. Your comics are like crack! You should call them Crackomics.

Crackmics.

Comrack?

Let’s go with comicaïne. Greets from Belgium!

Got here from the Nightvale sight. Just wanted to say that I love your Weather icon design – it’s exactly what I do & picture while listening to the podcast. Plus you’re Canadian! Woot woot – go Canadian artists! :)

Now I’m a little caught on your comics lol… I agree with Witloof! (Crackmics gets my vote)

My daughter was so excited to hear of a local artist who is actually making a name for herself with her art, and it is art. She has been drawing since she was old enough to pic up a pencil, and would love the opportunity to pick your brain someday. It also helps that you are involved with Adventure Time, since this is currently one of her favorite comics/cartoons, and actually went to Halcon as one of the characters.

Wow. So, um, I have absolutely fallen in love with your storytelling and comics. They are just… so good. Thank you. You can write about such a range of things, and they all bring up different feelings, and it’s all worthwhile. I needed this, and I bet a lot of other people need it too.

I’m going to meet you at the event in Fredericton tomorrow! Just had to say that you’re incredibly inspirational. I’m also in my twenties, queer, and love comic books and all kinds of artistic endeavours. Can’t wait to meet you in person!

Followed a link to this site from Danielle Corsetto’ s GIRLSWITHSLINGSHOTS, GUESS I (and you) owe her.
Love the stories, the honesty and the truth’s you are telling.
So from someone more than twice your age who has lived and fought depression since my teens here’s the only advice I can give you, You are a Human Being, not a label.
Be who you are not what others tell or expect you to be.

Hi Kate,

A friend of mine just posted about Smut Peddler and I saw your name leap out at me. You are a Leth!
I’m Australian born with Danish Leth heritage and the Leth surname is basically non existent here, was just curious as to what your background/heritage is.
All good if you’re not keen to chat about it but just got a bit excited to not only see a possible distant relative but also one that is kicking goals against the mainstream.

Cheers

Bron

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