I’m a musician, writer, and the creator of Sam & Sage, a comic about drinking culture, psychedelics, identity, and the ridiculous things we all convince ourselves are true.

For over twenty years, alcohol was a major part of my life. What started as fun slowly became something that made nearly every part of my life worse.

So I quit. No rehab. No 12-step program. No lifelong identity built around the thing I walked away from. That’s just what worked for me.

Then I started questioning everything else I’d accepted without much thought: the labels we give ourselves, the rules we’re told to follow, the beliefs we inherit, the things society calls normal simply because they’ve always been that way.

Somewhere in there, Sam & Sage came to life.

Sam is a skeleton with a lot of questions. Sage is a black cat with very little patience for them. Together they take on drinking culture, psychedelics, philosophy, personal freedom, and the general absurdity of being human.

Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s both.

I’m not here to tell anyone how to live. I’m just sharing what I’ve experienced, what I’ve learned, and what I’m still trying to figure out.

About the artwork

I write and creatively direct every strip. The characters, stories, dialogue, and visual direction are mine. AI is the illustration tool.

Follow along

New strips are here and on Instagram at @joshuadeenofficial