Josue Cruz
LightNews LightNews
banner
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Josue Cruz
@xjosuecruz.bsky.social
940 followers 470 following 560 posts
32 | They/Them Pronounced: ho-sweh
Cartoonist.
Puppy Knights:Quest for the Golden Bones available now!
Posts Replies Media Videos
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Teeth Grief 🦷 [4/4] (C/W: Blood, Dentistry) #comics
Page 7: We return to #32 in the dish, looking worse for wear, blood trickling from its side. We see the close up of another fallen tooth, to reveal Sgt.Kepp, helmet fallen to the side, an unlit cigarette as one of its roots reaches out to the distance, its lighter on the floor. p1 **GUNDERSON** It feels so, cold. Like a biting into a Klondike bar. On the bright side... p2 ...I found Kepp. ### Page 8: A red spotlight is cast over #32, as it lays dying. We close in as the life disappears from its eye. p1 **GUNDERSON** I hate being right. p2 Monsters run the world. p3 And their ain't no tooth fairy. Page 10: Closing panel, Two teeth, the background soaking its blood like gauze. Fin! Signed Josue Cruz November 2025.
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Teeth Grief 🦷 [3/4] (C/W: Blood, Dentistry) #comics
Page 4: A wide shot reveals the encroaching enemy, a gleaming pair of stainless steel tongs sneaks up behind the old, battered, tooth. The tongs clamp down around its head.... p1 **GUNDERSON** Monster's run our world, MAN! And there ain't no tooth fairy neither! p2 **GUNDERSON** Eh?? ### Page 5: In the real world, a hefty dentist rips the molar out of Josue, who is gripping at the operating chair. *(SFX)* KRACK! ### Page 6: A close up of the dentists hand opening the tongs to drop the molar into a metal dish with a (SFX) tonk! p1 **DENTIST** How was that? Any pain? **JOSUE** Nopeth, noth at awll dawk-taw'!
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Teeth Grief 🦷 [2/4] (C/W: Blood, Dentistry) #comics
The first three pages of teeth grief. Page 1: A panicked tooth sitting in the gums, wearing a radio head set shouts out to the rest of the molars. Until the furthest molar speaks up from the shadows. p1 GUNDERSON: MAY DAY! MAY DAY! p2 GUNDERSON: Still no word from Asimov or Lewis, and now #17 has gone radio-silent. Sgt. Kepp, are you there? I repeat, Sgt. K- p3 **KOVARSKY** Shut it, Gunderson. They're all gone. ### Page 2: Molar #31 talks back to the insubordinate, chipped and rotted, wisdom tooth. p1 **#31** Tighten up, 32! We are dealing with an active enemy here! You got some chip on your enamel 'cause' the brush don't come this far back? Well tough nuts! p2 **GUNDERSON** Monsters... We are dealing with Monsters, #31. ### Page 3: The old tooth speaks its wisdom. p1 **GUNDERSON** They make us numb, picking and prodding, drilling into our heads, chipping away until they've gotten into the root. Remember when they came for Dominguez a few years back? He hasn't said a word since!* I know you all think I'm crazy, but... Narration box: *See Issue #3 Bicuspid Commandos--The Bourne Dentality: The End is Veneer.
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Teeth Grief 🦷 [1/4] (C/W: Blood, Dentistry) #comics
Cover of the comic depicting a red mouth, with chapped lips, showing the gums. The teeth are shaped to spell the title of the story: "Teeth Grief". November 2025.
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Besides shilling my book, I also still make short comics! New one out tomorrow! 🦷🦷🦷🦷
Scary lookin preview of tomorrow’s comic. Text reads “Monsters run the world” as two panels show a very serious looking eye.
November 11, 2025 at 7:53 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Happy Halloween. #puppyknights
October 31, 2025 at 4:57 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
We’ve made it to world 2-A! These enemies have about 4 different patterns they shoot their spiky balls in, so easy to evade if you pay attention!
Pomelo, a square plant with a spiky bulbous cap, and a mean glare. Its cheeks are puffed up as if holding its breath. Its flavor text reads: THIS UNPLEASANT PLANT DOES NOT LIKE BEING CROWDED. IF YOU GET TOO CLOSE, YOU ARE BOUND TO BE SPORE IN THE MORNING! Quote: I’ll huff an’ I’ll puff!”
October 16, 2025 at 4:32 AM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
October 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Puppy Knights: Quest for the Golden Bones officially out anywhere books are sold ❤️
#comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel #kidlit
October 14, 2025 at 9:28 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Toddy was fun to play as, but not as much as Bobbie. Although there was a cool mechanic where timing your bat hits just right would determine how much damage the baseball would take on enemies.
Player: Toddy Espantos. A young kid wearing a backwards baseball cap and jersey, shorts and some tennis shoes. He has spiky dark hair, a determined look in his eyes, and playfully sticking out his tongue. He holds a baseball bat over his shoulder in one hand and a mitt with a baseball in the other. Flavor text reads: When the curse of the ringmaster hit splitsville, no one else was better suited for the challenge than smalltown all-star toddy espantos. their bullseye accuracy and powerhouse swing make them quite effective at close and far ranges. Toddy was in the middle of pitching a perfect game before the curse turned everyone on the field into pumpkins.
October 8, 2025 at 4:03 AM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
The first boss in the game wasn’t really the hardest challenge. Essentially it was a game of whack-a-mole, where the boss would come out of one of the 6 open graves. You’d have to get your hits in before it swung that huge sickle that had a pretty wide hit box.
Boss of world 1 (Graveyard). This big ghoul is shown coming out of an open grave, surrounded by moss covered tombs. The GroundsKreeper is a large, one-eyed figure with a bag of fertilizer for its head. It where’s a tattered pair of overalls with a dirty work shirt and work boots. In one of its garden gloved hands it holds a rusty sickle. Its arms are completely composed of tangled worms! Flavor text reads: “ It is no easy task to keep this cemetery looking so overgrown and destitute. Be careful, this ghoul will cut you down to size!” quote: “I’m done pushing daisies!”
October 7, 2025 at 6:05 AM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
These took multiple hits to take out, sometimes The Frank-Kap would pop out, and the body would move around the screen on its own, quickly and randomly 💀
Kap N Stein, A brutish enemy from World 1 (Graveyard), a large frankenstein’d body topped with the grunt enemy, Frank-Kap. It’s flavor text reads: Slow-moving and as dense as a brick wall, getting past these brutes is a challenge! These guys know how to get a-head!” Quote: “Oh, this one’s just a lease!”
October 6, 2025 at 11:23 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
These guys were annoying too. Usually three would swoop at a time from off screen meaning you would have to move Quickly to dodge the coins they drop.
Oddbol, a tiny crow-like bird with skull markings on its beak from world 1 (graveyard), it drops a coin as it flies past. Flavor text reads: CONSIDERED GUIDES FOR THE DEAD. THESE BIRDS SEEM TOO JOVIAL FOR SUCH A JOB. WATCH OUT FOR THEIR HEAVY DROPPINGS! Quote: “Caw-fee used ta’ cost a dime!”
October 4, 2025 at 2:33 AM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
God I remember really hating these enemies. If you didn’t button mash to get loose, they’d take like half your life bar.
Grave-Robber a hidden trap enemy from World 1 (Graveyard). It looks like a typical burial patch, but the ones with the flowers are the ones to look out for. A pair of rotting arms come out of the ground to grab you. The flavor text reads: A PATCH OF DIRT WITH A GHASTLY GRIP! TREAD LIGHTLY, AS THESE MOUNDS OF MALICE ARE TIRED OF PEOPLE WALKING ALL OVER THEM! Quote: “Keep off the grass!!”
October 3, 2025 at 11:01 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Grunt enemy from young Josue’s favorite SNES cousin-game, Hallowed Nights: Curse of the Ringmaster.
Frank-Kap, a small grunt enemy from World 1 (Graveyard) that appears to be a bipedal, one-eyed cerebellum hiding under the scalp of some of reanimated creature. The flavor text reads: Discarded Byproducts of failed experiments. they waddle around the graveyard looking for an unsuspecting host to seize.‬ Quote: “Excuse me, is this seat taken?”
October 3, 2025 at 9:47 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Photograph of post-it notes. Scrawled on the first note: “First video call with a gender therapist and the webcam is set to mirrored”. The second post it had a crude drawing of myself seated at a computer, back to the reader, as the distorted reflection of my face is shown to me through the webcam. My character says: “Huh..”
September 16, 2025 at 4:15 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
😈
A mischievous demon holding a cartoon bomb.
September 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Had the pleasure to work on another cover for @krimeguys.bsky.social These books are limited runs and if the last volume was any indicator, will sell out quick!!
Cover for Krime Guys Volume 2: Wet & Wild, featuring a worms eye view of the protagonists, Cowboy (holding a fire extinguisher) and Apose with his backpack. In the foreground a red fire hydrant covered in sticker slaps and graffiti, in the background some menacing characters (and the worrisome peelegs) stand waiting.
September 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Hotdog! [5/5] #comic
Last page, decorative, of my comic Hotdog. And illustration of a dog in the shape of a red frankfurter, its ears made of mustard, a drizzle of the condiment on its back. The bun that surrounds the frankfurter is where its legs stick out of as it emphatically jumps to scream in an ecstatic speech bubble, “HAWTDAWG!” Fin.
August 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Hotdog! [4/5] #comic
Page four of my comic Hotdog! Single splash panel, wide shot with the dog and owner in the foreground, the dog looking back at me with a side-eye looking concerned. I am in the background meekly waving, narration, “I’ll just treasure this for myself.”
August 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Hotdog! [3/5] #comic
Page two of my comic Hotdog! Panel one, large panel side view of woman walking sausage dog, as he gingerly trots on the cement, narration, “No such breed of dog could possibly exist in real life. What kind of pedigree could produce the exact shape of a deli counter bologna?” Panel two, POV shot of me looking down at the dog as it walks away from me, narration, “what a beautiful creature.”, panel three, same shot but in foreground my hand emerges with a phone, narration, “Maybe I can snap a photo…”, last panel, same shot, but dog takes notices, turning its chubby face to look at me in surprise, the phone is pulled back down, narration, “-oop!”.
August 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Hotdog! [2/5] #comic
Second page my comic Hotdog! First panel, wide shot of me still sweatin’ walking toward the viewer, narration “The other day, while I was on my uphill trudge back home…” Next panel, close up as I wipe my face of sweat, head turning to see something off frame, narration “…I found something absolutely magnificent.” Third panel, over the shoulder shot, a woman in a sun hat walks a dog, narration, “A tiny dog!” Last panel, reverse shot of small dog in foreground, me excitedly posing in the background, narration, “Shaped like an overstuffed sausage!”
August 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Hotdog! [1/5] #comic
Page one of a comic, opening splash panel, wide shot, of cartoon me huffing and puffing as I walk up the steep hills of San Francisco.
August 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Give a hoot, read a boot!
Josue (me) sitting on a pile of dusty books while they watch a video on their phone. The phone plays audio “welcome back! This is episode 7 of the Freddie fish creepypasta explained!”
August 22, 2025 at 5:51 PM
xjosuecruz.bsky.social
Break time. #dapperpepperbros
Two brothers with peppers for heads (Pepper and Oncino) hang out behind the SABROSO snack shack while a line forms.
August 21, 2025 at 7:35 PM