Gustav Carlson
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backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Gustav Carlson
@backwoodgoat.bsky.social
240 followers 170 following 1.8K posts
Ozarks based comic artist. Creator of Backwood Folk, Tourist Unknown, and Eve of the Ozarks.

backwoodfolk.com
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backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Conducting lightning bugs.
A boy sits at the base of a large tree. His eyes are closed and he is singing. Firefly lights dot the air. A girl -his sister- watches from behind a fallen tree.
November 15, 2025 at 11:24 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
I'll also being at the Local Author Open House at the Fayetteville Public Library on December 6! Event courtesy of the fine folks @pearlsbooks.bsky.social of Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Pearl's Books Presents Local Author Open House Fayetteville Public Library. Saturday. December 6. 12-4PM Free and Open to the Public and Including Authors Kay Pritchett Gustav Carlson David Holcomb Nancy Hartney Peggy Konert Tom Hapgood Madi Love Angie Johnson Jeremy Billingsley (Sley House) Tayler Smith Susan Ligon Cindy Quayle
November 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Bertrum Strom pictured with artistic interpretation of his sighting of the Pink Eye of Po'Dunk from 2011.
Bertrum Strom in his younger years by a babbling brook in the fall Ozarks. He's holding a drawn image of a silhouetted biped with pink glowing eyes.
November 2, 2025 at 5:29 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Toby Still Had Honey to Spare. A free Backwood Folk Halloween special. Read the full comic at Backwoodfolk.com/honey
Four panel comic sequence of a bee descending on a cabin and into the mouth of a sleeping boy. He swallows the bee and awakes stunned.
October 31, 2025 at 7:11 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
TOBY STILL HAD HONEY TO SPARE.
A free Halloween comic special from Backwood Folk
www.backwoodfolk.com/honey/
Title card for Toby Still Had Honey to Spare. A boy with a jug of honey sits up front as golden hands rest on his shoulder. An enormous honeybee looms behind.
October 30, 2025 at 3:04 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
My mom would sometimes just find me in zombie makeup or some costume or another failing to menace goats. Wasn’t even Halloween usually.
A young boy in zombie make up in a goat pen with a bunch of goat kids.
October 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
The Mayor of Po'Dunk.
A horned white goat stands on the wreckage of an old car. Behind the buck is a tree surrounded by dead vehicles, motorcycles, a school bus and more. Its fall, and leaves are on the ground.
October 22, 2025 at 7:59 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Think this was legitimately my first comic book from a thrift store in a one horse town. Giant oversized prints of the Flat Top comic strip story arc. Made it feel modular in retrospect.
October 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Screencap from Finding Bigfoot. Night vision footage of host Matt Moneymaker saying “What a miserable life it would be to be a Bigfoot,”
October 15, 2025 at 5:40 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Been transcribing quotes all evening for the finale we are recording tomorrow. Apologies to all the true believers in my life.
Four boys around a camp fire recording a podcast. Bigfoot looms behind them. WE ALWAYS LIE ABOUT BIGFOOT
October 14, 2025 at 11:57 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Hello friends! The digital edition of Backwood Folk #1 is now available at an introductory price of $2! That's a 48 page drm-free comic full of ghost town gossip, lights in the sky, and strange shapes behind the trees. Should be great for some seasonal reading! Available at giftshop.backwoodfolk.com
A white hand holds a broken skull among a field of pink flowers. A man in a suit emerges from the skull to greet a mockingbird. A woman and man cling to the side of the skull. A horned goat watches from afar. BACKWOOD FOLK by gustav carlson ISSUE 1: Wake Up Mockingbird, Stay Awhile Comic page from Backwood Folk 1. A man smoking a pipe on his deck in the Arkansas Ozarks. Before he exhales a smoke ring as a skeleton. A wild woman blows a kiss, sending the dust of the skeleton into the night sky. Comic page of Backwood Folk. Benedict pointing at GPS in car and driving past a large goat. dialogue Ben: "According to this I should be here already. That's on me using modern tools in old places. And there he is. The king of old places himself. Hello Hieronymus. How long do goats live? No idea." On the front porch of a general store Chester pins up lost dog pictures. The Three Whittlers whittle away and chat with him. The smallest whittler named Herbert carves a skeleton. Claude: Lose that Dog of your's again, chester? Chester: Dunno if she was around long enough to be considered found. Art: One of them young ladies in Uncle Foe's Flock mentioned seeing a Beagle. Chester: Ah shoot. I don't wanna deal with them tonight. The've been real riled about some thirteen stars nonsesne. 'We will ascend and leave our bodies behind for alien hermit crabs' Martha had patience for them. I do not. Herbert: Say, you're a fellow geezer. what story did your folks tell you about Fiddler's Cave? Chester: We both know I'm from Sheboygan. Herbert: So you don't know any of the stories? Chester: Figure I'm about to. Herbert: Lemme tall ya about the Phantom's Fiddle!
October 6, 2025 at 2:05 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Got menaced by Jason during a tv interview.
Me in pink lighting in front of Jason Voorhees. From Pinpoint’s 2025 Nightmare on Block Street.
September 30, 2025 at 8:33 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
See you tomorrow Hot Springs, Arkansas! I'll be at Spa-Con the whole weekend. I'll even be having a panel on drawing Arkansas monsters on Sunday. Should be a blast! Poster and shirt art by yours truly. spa-con.org
SPA-CON poster A classic green alien lady in a blue jumpsuit with orange hair pets her ostrich like alien mount. She's holding binoculars in her other hand. Behind her is a scene of nature with a bunch of giant birds and some ufos.
September 19, 2025 at 3:13 AM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
There’s a garden up there, but I couldn’t tell you what it’s growing.
Far above the earth a green woman in a floral sun dress among pink flowers.
September 17, 2025 at 9:08 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
My new bit is making little trading cards with a link to a Backwood Folk mini-comic. Something I hope is a little more fun and fruitful than just handing business cards out at con tables.
Me holding a card of a boy with a giant bee behind him. Text reads TOBY STILL HAD HONEY TO SPARE
September 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
My comic series, Backwood Folk, follows the lives and afterlives of a rural hamlet in the Arkansas Ozarks. Each issue is 48 pages of small town gossip, ghosts, and strange creatures. The first two issues are available in big handsome print editions or digital downloads at giftshop.backwoodfolk.com
Cover of issue one of Backwood Folk: Wake Up Mockingbird, Stay Awhile Cover of issue two of Backwood Folk: Dry County Spirits
September 7, 2025 at 2:25 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Backwood Folk Issue Two: Dry County Spirits! OUT NOW! The here and hereafter intersect at the Po’Dunk Farmer’s Market when Lilian learns her dairy products are less desired than her ability to commune with the dead.

Available off my website in both print and digital editions! www.backwoodfolk.com
Cover Backwood Folk Issue Two: Dry County Spirits by Gustav Carlson. Lilian holds a bottle with a small skeleton in it. Several other bottles in the foreground house other spirits watching. Ben, Bert, and Didi watch from holes in the roof. Lilian awakes to goats licking her window. Lilian: The nannies are loose!" Narration: Lilian Vaughan always dreamed of drowning. Lilian drinking some hangover remedy at her sink. Narration: She used to dream further than that. Lilian holding a bucket outside. She looks frustrated. Narration: But between Cub and the dairy farm where was the time? Two goats stare back at her, leaving a mystery of how they even reached her second story window. Narration: Questions without answer had a habit of stacking up... Lilian: How'd y'all get up to my window? Lilian looking confused in close-up Narration: But Lilian made do. Lilian: You girls must be in a hurry! Photo of the cover of print edition of issue two.
September 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Backwood Folk #2 is out in a couple locations in Northwest Arkansas! Such as Pearl’s Books and the Community Creative Center, both in Fayetteville! More locations to follow. Online release is gunna come a little later!
Cover for Backwood Folk Issue 2: Dry County Spirits by Gustav Carlson. Lilian Vaughan inspects old bottles with whiskey and little ghosts in them. Benedict Bert and Didi watch from holes in the ceiling.
August 30, 2025 at 5:34 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Jump scares at the used book store
Me pulling my own comic,Tourist Unknown, from a used bookstore shelf.
August 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Oh hey, I'll be guesting at Spa-Con in Hot Springs, Arkansas this year! I'll also be doing another panel on drawing Arkansas monsters. Gunna be a blast. More info at spa-con.org

(I drew that poster too!)
Green alien lady resides by an alien ostrich in a scenic lakeside setting with many bluffs and birds. The birds are wearing comic book costumes. Text- SPA-CON September 19-21, 2025 Hot Springs, Arkansas
August 29, 2025 at 4:38 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
When you visit the scenic Po’Dunk Ozarks consider lodging with Lost Comfort! Many cabins available for booking online www.backwoodfolk.com/loco/
Postcard of an Ozarks general store. The historic Lost Comfort. The Last I Saw You. Comic by Gustav Carlson. A man revisits the place where his climbing partner disappears. Maybe he sees her again, maybe it’s just lights in the skies. Wherever she went he has joined. Consider renting the Bluff House cabin of Lost Comfort.
August 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Soon!
Photo of print copies of issue one and issue two of my comic series, Backwood Folk.
August 10, 2025 at 3:28 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Gunna be the only person on the hiking trails with the express purpose of having his own version of the “Alan Moore meets John Constantine” stories.
Facebook post from group Our Buffalo River. Posted by admin Stacy Ramsay “This goat has been 'on the lam' since May! He got away from his owner at Grinder's Ferry almost 3 months ago. I was excited to see him near the Collier Homestead overlook yesterday. He's not aggressive at all, but he is a little shy. He looked great, just out there living his best life!😄 Haven't we all dreamed of running away and living out our lives in the woods along the river? ..well, maybe just me.😆 Has anyone else spotted him along the trails at Tyler Bend?” Then a picture of a goat on the bluffs of the Buffalo River.
August 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Now in color!
Two in process comic panels at the coloring stage. First one is two ruffians looking ready for trouble. One is scarred to the point of missing most of a cheek, the other just looks he was stretched from taffy. Second one is the happiest little hillbilly lad, hemming and hawing in a wide brim had, oblivious to danger.
August 8, 2025 at 8:43 PM
backwoodgoat.bsky.social
Drawing some fun faces lately.
Two in process comic panels at the linework stage. First one is two ruffians looking ready for trouble. One is scarred to the point of missing most of a cheek, the other just looks he was stretched from taffy. Second one is the happiest little hillbilly lad, hemming and hawing in a wide brim had, oblivious to danger.
August 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM