Cereal Box Studio

What Came Before: On Sibling Estrangement

Family estrangement is fraught with grief, shame, and continual questioning. In this collection of lyric essays, author Peg Conway seeks inner resolution after becoming estranged from her oldest and youngest brothers. Braided fragments convey relational complexity as she digs deeper into personal and family patterns. She wrestles with her choices, finally accepting a broader truth.

Author Bio

Peg Conway writes and practices energy healing in Cincinnati, OH, where she also volunteers at Fernside Center for Grieving Children and Families. Her essays about childhood loss and lifelong grieving have appeared at The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Good Men Project, the Manifest-Station, and the Brevity Blog. She is the author of The Art of Reassembly: A Memoir of Early Mother Loss and Aftergrief. Learn more at pegconway.com.

Production Notes

Design: Julia Warner
Printing: Risograph printed in black and sunflower
Binding: Machine-sewn (pamphlet)
Dimensions: 5.5” x 8.5”
Page Count: 36
ISBN: 979-8-9887543-9-8

Now available for pre-sale! All pre-sale orders will ship on Friday April 17, the same day as the release event, at Partners & Son in Philadelphia, PA. More info on the release event coming soon.

In 2003, when the son of Sam “Sully” Sullivan—the world’s most beloved baseball player—is drafted by his father's home team, he isn't just joining a roster; he's stepping into a shadow. Beyond the diamond lies a game fraught with injustice and the hollow echoes of fame.

Written by Anthony Perillo, this comic features 45 riso-printed pages drawn by Philadelphia artist Jay McQuirns, plus “dream sequences” printed in blue, drawn by Cincinnati artist Mark Neeley.

Contributor Bios:

Anthony Perillo is a Philadelphia-based writer and creator originally from the North Shore of Massachusetts. He is also an independent pro wrestler and the founder of Labor of Love, an independent pro wrestling promotion.

Jay McQuirns is a cartoonist, illustrator, animator, and music producer from Philadelphia. www.jaymcquirns.com

Mark Neeley is an animator from Cincinnati whose recent credits include a collaboration with Mark Mothersbaugh of the band Devo. He is also a writer and regular contributor to Aquarium Drunkard. www.markneeley.com

Cat Park is a Philadelphia-based illustrator, musician, and letterer. www.catpark.net

Production Notes:

Size: 6.6” x 10.25”
Page Count: 48
Binding: Stapled
Printing: Risograph on Lettermark Cream 70T & 67lb Bristol
ISBN: 979-8-9887543-5-0
Photos: Eric Blyth & Marissa Sharbell

Now available! Flora’s Daughters: Seven Plants Through the Lens of Eclectic Medicine, Contemporary Herbalism, and Botanical Illustration.

As 2025 Curtis Gates Lloyd Fellows, Meghan Henshaw and Julia Orquera Bianco collaboratively created this 48-page herbal zine, combining art, research, and storytelling. The publication features concise monographs on seven plants, paired with original illustrations inspired by historical texts found in the Lloyd Library Collections.

The zine spotlights motherwort, sage, horehound, valerian, tulsi, calendula, and tobacco—plants that flourish in the Ohio River Valley. Each chapter explores the plant’s chemical constituents and actions, historical significance, traditional and contemporary uses (with particular attention to female herbalists), cultivation methods, and conservation considerations. It also includes instructions for making herbal preparations and a resource list highlighting herbal books housed in the Lloyd Library.

By weaving together archival research, hands-on practice, and visual storytelling, the project honors the legacy of female botanist-illustrators and Cincinnati’s Eclectic medical pioneers, while contributing a new, accessible voice to the evolving conversation around medicinal plants in the Ohio River Valley.

Author Bios

Meghan Henshaw is a Cincinnati-based herbalist and educator with a background in herbal science, ethnobotany, and plant cultivation. She currently teaches medicinal plant classes, has an active clinical practice, and makes small-batch products using plants she grows in a community garden in the city. Follow Meghan on Instagram @ocotilloherbals.

Julia Orquera Bianco, an interdisciplinary artist, works through interrogating constructs from modern Western culture, collective memory, and the experience of migration through the lens of a guest on the land she inhabits. Her work reflects on the changing nature of identity and belonging and their entanglement with the past, the present, and the place. Follow Julia on Instagram @juliaobianco.

Production Notes

Size: 5”x8” Page Count: 48 Binding: Machine-sewn Printing: Risograph on Cougar Natural 70T Cover: Silkscreen on French Nightshift Blue 80C ISBN: 979-8-9887543-4-3

Credits

Text Monographs: Meghan Henshaw Artwork & Illustrations: Julia O. Bianco Cover Design: Julia O. Bianco Cover Printing: Julia O. Bianco & Ben Nunnery Layout Design: Julia Warner Photos: Eric Blyth & Marissa Sharbell