The Benthophonicks: A Cartoon Starring a Christmas Tree Worm and a Venomous Blue-ringed Octopus

Delilah Demilo is a frustrated songwriter, a college dropout, and a venomous blue-ringed octopus. In The Benthophonicks, my debut comic, she sets off on a journey to find herself as an artist, but ends up finding a bunch of randos on the way – randos who turn into unwanted bandmates... who ruin her plans... and turn into true friends!

The story begins in Delilah's native town of Benthoston, at Hatt Hair, Ltd., a hair salon run by Xander the Jewish Christmas-tree worm – a maritally-challenged fellow who once had dreams.

I'm Sabine Ganezer, a frustrated songwriter-or-maybe-cartoonist and recent graduate of Linfield College (now Linfield University.)

All the panels in this comic were drawn in Procreate on iPad with Apple Pencil. The lettering was done in Ribbet's photo editing service using fonts by Tom Murphy, among others.

I chose the title based on the Greek root benthos, which refers to the set of animals living on the ocean floor, as opposed to the pelagos, or open water.