Sam Benc 🐟
@nonvieta.bsky.social
Cartoonist. Adult Teenage Dirtbag 🌱 Friend of shrimp 🦐
She/her 🏳️🌈
Philadelphia
Making a GN, LAST SHIP TO MARS (Henry Holt, 2026)
💌 Samantha.benc@gmail.com
Rep'd by @draper-claire.bsky.social
She/her 🏳️🌈
Philadelphia
Making a GN, LAST SHIP TO MARS (Henry Holt, 2026)
💌 Samantha.benc@gmail.com
Rep'd by @draper-claire.bsky.social
Pinned
Sam Benc 🐟
@nonvieta.bsky.social
· Nov 26
I feel like I forget to talk about it but here's a reminder that I have a comic coming next year called Last Ship to Mars 🚀 that is not even a little concerned about Mars and is instead a love letter to the Earth and the huge importance of staying and doing the work. It's also gay. ✨
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
TIL what the Clever Hans effect is and goddamn if that doesn't just perfectly describe the AI hype. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_...
February 12, 2026 at 11:43 AM
TIL what the Clever Hans effect is and goddamn if that doesn't just perfectly describe the AI hype. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
The news is out in @publisherswkly.bsky.social! I am VERY excited to announce a new print comics publication - The Comics Staple, a monthly comics zine filled with reviews, recommendations, interviews and more.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief...
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief...
February 11, 2026 at 9:39 PM
The news is out in @publisherswkly.bsky.social! I am VERY excited to announce a new print comics publication - The Comics Staple, a monthly comics zine filled with reviews, recommendations, interviews and more.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief...
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
#Libraries, vital community resources, are only as strong as we make them! @librariesftp.bsky.social helps library lovers exercise power & become #LibraryDefenders. Come to our Feb 19 open house to learn how Friends & Foundation groups are part of this: www.librariesforthepeople.org/events/ftp-f...
February 11, 2026 at 8:23 PM
#Libraries, vital community resources, are only as strong as we make them! @librariesftp.bsky.social helps library lovers exercise power & become #LibraryDefenders. Come to our Feb 19 open house to learn how Friends & Foundation groups are part of this: www.librariesforthepeople.org/events/ftp-f...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
An average-sized stadium goes through *5.4 million* disposable, single-use cups every year. Some organizations are helping them break the addiction to plastic with reusable alternatives: https://therevelator.org/replace-disposable/
Reducing Plastic Waste: Three Ways to Replace Disposable with Reusable • The Revelator
By focusing on reusable products, some organizations are helping to break our addiction to single-use plastic.
therevelator.org
February 11, 2026 at 2:35 AM
An average-sized stadium goes through *5.4 million* disposable, single-use cups every year. Some organizations are helping them break the addiction to plastic with reusable alternatives: https://therevelator.org/replace-disposable/
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
What will those feisty Gen-Zers purchase next? Recklessly splurging on the $1.50 hot dog at Costco? An actual vegetable every other day? Perhaps even a second serving of gruel?
Gen Zers and millennials are swimming in student debt and may never own homes, but they’re splurging on gut-healthy juices and rotisserie chickens.
The Booming Business of Luxury Grocery Stores
A new crop of gourmet grocers has hit the city, drawing lines of trendy TikTokers, MAHA-curious health fiends and Instacart devotees who want to pop in for a treat.
on.wsj.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:42 AM
What will those feisty Gen-Zers purchase next? Recklessly splurging on the $1.50 hot dog at Costco? An actual vegetable every other day? Perhaps even a second serving of gruel?
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
February 11, 2026 at 1:46 AM
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
A year ago, we were on the cusp of turning many cancers into chronic rather than terminal diseases through immunotherapy and mRNA vaccines. Today, we're working through the curative qualities of a magical horse paste instead.
National Cancer Institute studying ivermectin’s ‘ability to kill cancer cells,’ alarming career scientists
The National Cancer Institute is studying ivermectin as a potential cancer treatment, according to its top official, alarming career scientists.
www.statnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:39 PM
A year ago, we were on the cusp of turning many cancers into chronic rather than terminal diseases through immunotherapy and mRNA vaccines. Today, we're working through the curative qualities of a magical horse paste instead.
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Simple, really. To create good art you need to have empathy for other people.
From Melania to Kid Rock’s halftime show: why is Maga art so dreadful?
From Melania to Kid Rock’s halftime show: why is Maga art so dreadful?
As the right stokes culture wars, their alternatives to ‘woke’ Hollywood prove to be shoddily made and uninspired
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Simple, really. To create good art you need to have empathy for other people.
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
While cancelling Nitro is all well and good, just a reminder that age verification itself won't go away as a whole unless KOSA, the SCREEN Act, and tons more are buried and done with.
Please contact your reps if you don't want this to spread to other platforms.
Please contact your reps if you don't want this to spread to other platforms.
February 10, 2026 at 2:54 AM
While cancelling Nitro is all well and good, just a reminder that age verification itself won't go away as a whole unless KOSA, the SCREEN Act, and tons more are buried and done with.
Please contact your reps if you don't want this to spread to other platforms.
Please contact your reps if you don't want this to spread to other platforms.
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
I've never wanted something to flop harder than this fucking misbegotten television show for transphobic 42-year-olds
Hasbro and Warner Bros. Discovery have signed a multi-year deal starting in 2027 to produce Harry Potter film and television series dolls, role play, action figures, collectibles, interactive plush, board games, and more to be revealed later this year - bwnews.pr/45UKdKL
February 10, 2026 at 6:19 PM
I've never wanted something to flop harder than this fucking misbegotten television show for transphobic 42-year-olds
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
I'm not saying that Canada is perfect, I'm saying that the bar is pretty low right now.
February 10, 2026 at 2:24 AM
I'm not saying that Canada is perfect, I'm saying that the bar is pretty low right now.
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
So close to 50 followers on SCATTERED FUTURES! You won't want to miss this #kickstarter #comic of hope and human connection in a harsh and uncaring galaxy.
Written by me. Art by @sierrabravoart.bsky.social @m3rtyn.bsky.social and @jnyfmg.bsky.social
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ben...
Written by me. Art by @sierrabravoart.bsky.social @m3rtyn.bsky.social and @jnyfmg.bsky.social
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ben...
Coming soon: Scattered Futures: 3 short sci-fi comics (32 pages)
Three full color science fiction stories of human connection in a harsh and fractured universe.
www.kickstarter.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:03 PM
So close to 50 followers on SCATTERED FUTURES! You won't want to miss this #kickstarter #comic of hope and human connection in a harsh and uncaring galaxy.
Written by me. Art by @sierrabravoart.bsky.social @m3rtyn.bsky.social and @jnyfmg.bsky.social
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ben...
Written by me. Art by @sierrabravoart.bsky.social @m3rtyn.bsky.social and @jnyfmg.bsky.social
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ben...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
We are often given a false dilemma: Western lands must either become ranches or suburban sprawl.
Ranchers benefit from this myth. But there is a 3rd way: conservation. Protecting nature for everyone.
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a... from @kurtisalexander.bsky.social @sfchronicle.com
Ranchers benefit from this myth. But there is a 3rd way: conservation. Protecting nature for everyone.
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a... from @kurtisalexander.bsky.social @sfchronicle.com
Land trust buys scenic Bay Area ranch, halting controversial plan for a quarry
One of the South Bay’s largest remaining private rural properties will be protected from new development — and plans for a quarry will be scrapped.
www.sfchronicle.com
January 30, 2026 at 6:14 PM
We are often given a false dilemma: Western lands must either become ranches or suburban sprawl.
Ranchers benefit from this myth. But there is a 3rd way: conservation. Protecting nature for everyone.
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a... from @kurtisalexander.bsky.social @sfchronicle.com
Ranchers benefit from this myth. But there is a 3rd way: conservation. Protecting nature for everyone.
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a... from @kurtisalexander.bsky.social @sfchronicle.com
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Reality: Mars sucks. No one can live there.
Also reality: the Moon sucks. We can’t live there either.
More reality: Earth is the only place we can thrive.
Also reality: the Moon sucks. We can’t live there either.
More reality: Earth is the only place we can thrive.
February 9, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Reality: Mars sucks. No one can live there.
Also reality: the Moon sucks. We can’t live there either.
More reality: Earth is the only place we can thrive.
Also reality: the Moon sucks. We can’t live there either.
More reality: Earth is the only place we can thrive.
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
tl;dr - it's the nutrient content, not the processing
For a healthier diet:
- less meat, less sugar, less salt
- more veggies, more legumes
Also makes the under-appreciated point that cooking from scratch requires more labour (typically female & unpaid) that isn't an option for many households.
For a healthier diet:
- less meat, less sugar, less salt
- more veggies, more legumes
Also makes the under-appreciated point that cooking from scratch requires more labour (typically female & unpaid) that isn't an option for many households.
ICYMI @gnrosenberg.bsky.social and I wrote about why you should not want to eat like your great-great-grandparents and why modern, industrially-produced food is "real food."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
Opinion | We Shouldn’t Want to Eat Like Our Great-Great-Grandparents
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:18 PM
tl;dr - it's the nutrient content, not the processing
For a healthier diet:
- less meat, less sugar, less salt
- more veggies, more legumes
Also makes the under-appreciated point that cooking from scratch requires more labour (typically female & unpaid) that isn't an option for many households.
For a healthier diet:
- less meat, less sugar, less salt
- more veggies, more legumes
Also makes the under-appreciated point that cooking from scratch requires more labour (typically female & unpaid) that isn't an option for many households.
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Cows are an invasive species that damage nature. Tribes are showing that less grazing benefits native wildlife like sage grouse.
Yet ranchers dominate public land policy. In the American West, less grazing would mean undoing deeply ingrained “settler-colonial” beliefs
www.hcn.org/issues/58-2/...
Yet ranchers dominate public land policy. In the American West, less grazing would mean undoing deeply ingrained “settler-colonial” beliefs
www.hcn.org/issues/58-2/...
What’s needed to protect sage grouse? Less grazing. - High Country News
Two tribes are showing how saving sage grouse, and other iconic species of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe, will require are assessment of the widespread cattle grazing that has become an emblem of t...
www.hcn.org
February 10, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Cows are an invasive species that damage nature. Tribes are showing that less grazing benefits native wildlife like sage grouse.
Yet ranchers dominate public land policy. In the American West, less grazing would mean undoing deeply ingrained “settler-colonial” beliefs
www.hcn.org/issues/58-2/...
Yet ranchers dominate public land policy. In the American West, less grazing would mean undoing deeply ingrained “settler-colonial” beliefs
www.hcn.org/issues/58-2/...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Considering the challenge in suggesting we eat more plants, proposing insect products seems ridiculous.
But it's received $1B to try to scale & now ~80B insects are farmed.
It can actually emit as much as some beef & has major risks.
My first in the Drawdown Explorer:
drawdown.org/explorer/dep...
But it's received $1B to try to scale & now ~80B insects are farmed.
It can actually emit as much as some beef & has major risks.
My first in the Drawdown Explorer:
drawdown.org/explorer/dep...
February 6, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Considering the challenge in suggesting we eat more plants, proposing insect products seems ridiculous.
But it's received $1B to try to scale & now ~80B insects are farmed.
It can actually emit as much as some beef & has major risks.
My first in the Drawdown Explorer:
drawdown.org/explorer/dep...
But it's received $1B to try to scale & now ~80B insects are farmed.
It can actually emit as much as some beef & has major risks.
My first in the Drawdown Explorer:
drawdown.org/explorer/dep...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
“Why is AI helping me write a song or tell a story? Send some shit through a black hole; do something that we can’t do. Or dig a ditch; do the shit we don’t want to do. Why is it coming after the stuff that we essentially need to do to be human beings?”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Gore Verbinski Sounds Off on AI as He Launches ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’
The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ filmmaker is back after nearly a decade, and is ready to skewer how technology has taken over our lives (even more) in that time: “Why is AI helping me write a song or t...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:53 PM
“Why is AI helping me write a song or tell a story? Send some shit through a black hole; do something that we can’t do. Or dig a ditch; do the shit we don’t want to do. Why is it coming after the stuff that we essentially need to do to be human beings?”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
Here's Suda talking about using Tezuka's star system. A bunch of other good nuggets in this interview, too! www.inverse.com/article/2232...
January 9, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Here's Suda talking about using Tezuka's star system. A bunch of other good nuggets in this interview, too! www.inverse.com/article/2232...
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
I have two primary vehicles. One is an automobile, the other an e-bike.
Automobiles kill approximately 100 people a day in the US. E-bikes, fewer than 10 a year.
Guess which one has a speed limiter on it?
Automobiles kill approximately 100 people a day in the US. E-bikes, fewer than 10 a year.
Guess which one has a speed limiter on it?
This technology already exists and is widely used. It doesn't involve 'government surveillance' and would not allow ICE or any other government agency to stop individual cars.
Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed!
www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...
Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed!
www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...
Speed Limiters Now Mandatory in All New EU Cars
Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) isn't an ironclad speeding prevention system, but could be just annoying enough to spark a backlash.
www.autoweek.com
February 9, 2026 at 9:12 PM
I have two primary vehicles. One is an automobile, the other an e-bike.
Automobiles kill approximately 100 people a day in the US. E-bikes, fewer than 10 a year.
Guess which one has a speed limiter on it?
Automobiles kill approximately 100 people a day in the US. E-bikes, fewer than 10 a year.
Guess which one has a speed limiter on it?
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
literally billions of people spent their lifetimes improving human technologies and knowledge, working in all the humanities over thousands of years in thousands of societies
NOT so that a dozen of the worst men on earth could own it all, poison the planet & use it to imprison the rest of us today
NOT so that a dozen of the worst men on earth could own it all, poison the planet & use it to imprison the rest of us today
Anytime I see Jeff Bezos mentioned I remember the time he flew to space with William Shatner and when a very emotoinal Shatner was trying to describe the experience Bezos interrupted by spraying champagne like an idiot child
February 8, 2026 at 4:40 PM
literally billions of people spent their lifetimes improving human technologies and knowledge, working in all the humanities over thousands of years in thousands of societies
NOT so that a dozen of the worst men on earth could own it all, poison the planet & use it to imprison the rest of us today
NOT so that a dozen of the worst men on earth could own it all, poison the planet & use it to imprison the rest of us today
Reposted by Sam Benc 🐟
I don't see how self-publishing world survives GenAI. It's going to be an absurd increase in slop books with no reason to expect any increase in paying readers.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
February 8, 2026 at 1:11 PM
I don't see how self-publishing world survives GenAI. It's going to be an absurd increase in slop books with no reason to expect any increase in paying readers.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...