tina chu (pronouns: she/her) is a comics/zine maker and instructional designer, born in dense, humid Taipei, and who mostly grew up in wide, eclectic Mississauga (Treaty 14).

Beginning with scrawling on family whiteboards, to drawing fanart during lunch periods then comics during work breaks, drawing, reading and writing has been tina’s way to make sense (and also make fun) of her life experiences, and coincidentally, our sociopolitical context.

When making comics and zines, tina often contemplates how the ideologies, structures and systems of our capitalist society alienate us from our embodied selves and the phenomena of our natural, material world. Whether it’s about turning 30 as an anxious, under-accomplished 29-year-old, or being trapped in cycles of wage-labour burnout, or finding reclamation in a first tattoo, tina shares these meditations to remind herself and others that another world is necessary and possible through struggle.

In 2020, tina’s zine, Do You Have a Cervix? was nominated for Broken Pencil Infozine Award (R.I.P.). Inspired by her family doctor, who made her chuckle during her first cervical exam, the 20-page 3-colour risograph comic explains what exactly the Canadian government wants cervix-having folks to get done when they mail out those cringey cervical exam reminders every 2 to 5 years.

madcrush is named for silly comics tina used to snail-mail to friends detailing her crushes of the day.