THE ORIGIN
When I retired from my 13-year career as a magic mushroom farmer and set out on the journey of writing a Solarpunk comic book, my intentions were always, at their core, to help anybody I could struggling through this Dollar Store Dystopia we call reality.
I had no idea, though, that those intentions would manifest so quickly merely through the act of creation, and that I would end up becoming a lifeline for a family struggling to survive under a real-time, megalomaniacal Techno-Broligarchy.
Alejandro Samada, the incredible illustrator who magicked his way into this creative process, was already the breadwinner for his small family. With his wife earning an above-average wage of $15 USD per month—yes, per month—Alejandro's rate of $75–85 USD per page meant that his artistic talent already had the capacity to bring in life-changing money.
THE CRISIS
But then the stranglehold of the USA's embargo against Cuba tightened, the contracts stopped coming in, and Ale's wife, Danai, was unable to work for months due to severe depression associated with her bipolar disorder. And so, in November 2025, Mutant Babyz became the sole source of income for Alejandro and his family.--- so this is good?
While I have been putting practically everything I have financially into this project, I am currently living in my truck and, until injury forced me to stop, picking fruit to keep this dream, myself, and my puppy alive.
But unfortunately, everything I have to give is still not enough to really help secure the safety of Alejandro and his family.
Once I truly began to wrap my mind around the severity of the situation, I decided to set up a GoFundMe campaign as a way to provide further assistance to a young family whose future had become intertwined with my own.
THE CHOICE
A father.
A mother.
A child.
In July 2026, I came close to publishing the campaign, but had to head to bed early because I needed to wake up the next day at 3 a.m. to pick cherries.
After a day in the trees, I made a devastating discovery.
THE BLOCKADE
I HAD BEEN BANNED BY GOFUNDME.
Before even publishing.
Before raising a dollar.
I had been shut down, my account removed, just for mentioning Cuba.
Until that moment, I really had no idea just how deep the war being waged against Cuba went.
Nor how complicit and culpable companies across the world had become in the institutionalized destruction of a people.
Even GoFundMe—an organization whose brand is built around helping people—will not allow me, or anyone else, to provide direct support to a family in need if doing so conflicts with the policies of its payment partners or the U.S. sanctions system governing them.
From my experience being a part of this story so far, I have come to realize that it is impossible for us, as humans, to begin to comprehend the scale of the horrors unfolding around the world every day.
We cannot possibly fathom the fear of the children in Gaza.
Nationwide blackouts are too big.
But being BANNED by GoFundMe for trying to send money to one struggling young family evokes a feeling of disgust in the pit of one's stomach that is visceral enough to begin the path toward understanding.
THE HUMAN COST
To understand what happened to Alejandro—and why attempting to help his family led to my crowdfunding campaign being shut down—we have to look back at how it all began.
After the Communist Revolution in 1959, Cuba implemented universal healthcare and launched a nationwide literacy campaign. Literacy rose to near-universal levels, infant mortality declined dramatically, and life expectancy became comparable to that of much wealthier countries.
And yet, the story being told by the American Propaganda Machine was increasingly difficult to reconcile with the results: Communism was Working.
Cuba was far from the only country to experience significant improvements under a socialist model. In 1986, public health researchers Shirley Cereseto and Howard Waitzkin compared countries at similar levels of economic development and found that, in 28 of 30 comparisons, socialist countries achieved better outcomes in life expectancy, infant mortality, literacy, physician availability, and education than capitalist countries at comparable income levels.
And if there is any doubt about the intentions behind the American response, the historical record is remarkably blunt.
So, in 1960, just one year after the Cuban Revolution, the United States began a campaign of economic sanctions against Cuba that continues to this day. For more than six decades, those sanctions have restricted Cuba's access to international trade and finance, placing enormous pressure on the country's economy and its people.
Over the past 18 months, those pressures have intensified further. Expanded restrictions affecting Cuban entities, foreign companies, fuel imports, and international finance have compounded Cuba's own economic and infrastructure problems, contributing to worsening shortages and prolonged blackouts.
These are no longer abstract historical consequences. They are conditions facing Alejandro and his family right now.
In the face of a world corrupted beyond the comprehension of a handful of the sickest and most powerful minds on this planet, it is beyond difficult to know where to even begin fighting against what is essentially the destruction of humanity.
I think most of us have fallen for the meticulously manufactured fallacy that we, as individuals, lack the capacity to make meaningful change.
I know I often do.
And yet, through the simple act of following my creative dreams, I have found myself making a genuine difference in this world.
So far, through the support of the Mutant Babyz community, Ale and his family have been able to begin making improvements such as purchasing a freezer to keep food from spoiling during blackouts, which, in the best of cases, last twenty-one hours a day.
"We did it, bro.
Thank you so much, my man. This freezer will keep the food cool during the blackouts and will represent a HUGE improvement for us as a family!!
This is the first of many items arriving!! And it is all mostly thanks to you and to Mutant Babyz!!
I will keep you updated when the rest of the things arrive."
After searching the world over, we're still looking for a crowdfunding platform that will allow us to openly tell Alejandro's story, discuss the situation in Cuba, and continue raising support through the creation of Mutant Babyz.
After some major mechanical problems while traveling through Baja California, I've made it to Southern California, where I'm working to get my truck safely back on the road while continuing to promote Mutant Babyz.
I'm also searching for an artist residency that could welcome me and my dog, Bodhi, giving me the space and stability to focus on creating and developing this project. But the bigger dream is to find an opportunity that could welcome Alejandro and his family—a place where he could devote himself to his art while his family has the chance to build a better future.
If you or anyone you know has information or connections that could help us find a crowdfunding platform, an artist residency, a publisher, or media outlets interested in telling our story, please contact us at mutant.babyz.universe@gmail.com.
Every connection could help us bring Mutant Babyz to life and build a better future for Alejandro and his family.
In experiencing and sharing this story, it is extraordinarily difficult not to become overwhelmed by the seemingly endless depths of sadness.
But intertwined within this tragedy is a profound message of hope.
Despite the efforts of a society designed to break and enslave the human soul, warriors like Alejandro continue to resist through creativity and love.
Alejandro's resilience has become a huge source of inspiration to me, carrying with it a simple but powerful message.
THE RESISTANCE
Resist in any way you can.
Get involved with your community.
Make art.
Grow your own food.
Support independent creators.
Volunteer.
Support food banks and mutual aid networks.
Support organizations helping the disenfranchised peoples of this world.
Because
Cyberpunk Is No Longer Fiction.
The billionaires are building bunkers.
Between 38% and 51% of surveyed AI researchers gave advanced AI at least a 10% chance of producing outcomes as severe as human extinction.
Forests are burning all around the world.
Now is the time for Uninhibited and Unapologetic Dreaming.
Because if not now...
...maybe never.
THE FUTURE
It is Mutation or Destruction, my tribe.
As the voice of a generation, Patrick Schneeweis, and his band Ramshackle Glory once sang:
"Keep Loving.
Keep Fighting."
