Artist Eric Orchard tweeted yesterday that he has been left in hospital following an altercation with three police officers in Toronto, Ontario. He wrote on twitter that he had his head "slammed into a wall" and was held at gunpoint by the officers, and the encounter left him hospitalized with facial injuries.

(Note: In the tweets below, "people lice" is presumably an auto-correct of an attempt to type out "police".)



Orchard went on to say that the incident was due to a misunderstanding, and that he was "ok," despite a busted nose. His wife has since posted to Facebook to say that Eric is safe and getting the help he needs, and to ask for privacy.

Orchard is well-known and hugely well-regarded within the world of comics, most notably for the all-ages graphic novel Maddy Kettle from Top Shelf, as well as the ongoing webcomic Fox and Duck. Orchard is currently working on a new all-ages story called Bera the One-Headed Troll, which is scheduled for release next year through First Second. He's a wonderful artist, with a dreamlike, resonant artistic style.

 

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Eric had recently been using  Patreon to help fund his work on these projects. If you would like to see more of his art, please head on over there --- and while there, perhaps send him a donation as well, to support him during a difficult time.

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