#izzy hands zine

[rimbaudofficial]

hey if you’d like to contribute to a zine about Izzy Hands and gender (contributors of all genders welcome), email izzyhandsgender@gmail.com

doesn’t need to be a finished product — an idea or two works!

[ilikepears85]

Now the exclusivity period for the @izzyhandszines has ended I can show you my submission.

This is a mixed media painting and collage with what has become Izzy’s catchphrase and the spade tattoo on his left hand.

Sailors believed being tattooed with a spade would mean they were more likely to die and be buried at sea which aligns with Izzy’s belief that the only retirement pirates get is death.

There’s a popular headcanon in the OFMD fandom that Izzy is a trans man, Con never stops showing his support for the trans community and trans fans whether he’s calling for people to vote out the transphobic Tories, wearing trans pride T-shirts to conventions or affirming fans gender identity.

[hotdiggitydollie]

So proud to contribute these two pieces to @izzyhandszines supporting Mermaids UK.

[ayashitetsuko]

Izzy the Hierophant: The Major Arcana that reminds us to get back to work

As a tarot student, I am fascinated by the interpretations made by fellow tarot enthusiasts in the Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) fandom, on which Major Arcana card best represents Izzy Hands. Popular fanmade decks such as The Cat Bandit Tarot by artist Jennie Planet see him as The Devil—a force that keeps the lovers apart—and Judgement—beating Ed down when he was already at his worst. Valid as they are, these interpretations see Izzy as a negative influence, but I like to offer an alternative take. 

I see Izzy’s energy and role in the canon (and eventually, in my personal life as the viewer) as the Hierophant. An energy often found uninspiring, but when used correctly, it can help people make their dreams come true. 

In her book The Holistic Tarot (2015, North Atlantic Books), tarot master Benebell Wen uses Tradition, Conventionalism, and Institutionalism as the keywords that explain the Hierophant card.

“The Hierophant is a holy man, an important figure in his society … People rely on him to be a channel between heaven and earth. In a reading, the card typically indicates a desire to follow conventions and norms, a traditionalist—one who holds traditional values,” she writes. 

The Hierophant is often seen as the card that calls for querents to be conservative. Instead of thinking outside the box, it expects them to open the manuals and follow the instructions. When discussing making our dreams come true, the Hierophant energy is often seen as an obstacle—curbing creativity and exploration in favour of traditions. 

We did see these traits displayed by Izzy in various scenes, such as in Episode 4 when he demanded Ed to come up with a defensive plan after they noticed a Spanish ship coming their way or when he threatened to blackmail Lucius for … you know what he did.

While these scenes might cement Izzy’s role in the story as the Bad Guy, his role is also a reminder of the importance of maintaining a structure—even on a pirate ship. Because this structure, no matter how dull it is, enables us to function and create the impact we want in our personal and professional lives.

The Hierophant energy

The Hierophant card is known for having a restrictive–perhaps even oppressive–energy. In my early days as a tarot student, I tended to roll my eyes whenever it showed up. It was not the kind of nuance I wanted as a young person. But eventually, I learned how the Hierophant energy could positively impact one’s life when used wisely. Instead of preventing progress, it can help with it. 

As someone who works in the tech startup community, I regularly meet people driven to succeed. Buzzwords such as “innovation” and “disruption” are being thrown around lightly; everybody wants to be the next big thing that changes the world. Big ideas, even the most unrealistic ones, are cherished and encouraged.

But people are being brought back to Earth rather quickly in this industry. There are even statistics to prove it: Up to 95 per cent of startups fail simply because they cannot find product-market fit, according to various sources. In layman’s terms, they create products and services that nobody needs. This is why startups are commonly advised to implement rigorous market research and product testing to prove that their ideas work; to have the discipline to do more than just talk.

On an individual level, the Hierophant energy is one I tap into to achieve my goals. To be productive, I need to run my days smoothly. This means clearing my housekeeping tasks before leaving home, logging off social media during work hours, and ensuring I eat my vegetables to stay healthy. They are boring AF, but they provide me with a structure to keep the machine well-oiled.

When I look back on my life, all the times I managed to achieve and create something good for myself (and hopefully others) are when I stopped daydreaming and started implementing the Hierophant energy into my daily life. While it is important to explore new ideas, all of them will be pointless without the structure that ensures it is being developed properly. 

Now, back to Izzy

One might see Izzy as a traditional pirate who is resistant to change. I mean, what the fuck is even a retirement? It does not exist in this line of work. 

This context places Izzy as a counter to Stede Bonnet’s “fresh, groundbreaking” ideas about piracy. It is easy to see Izzy and his beliefs as outdated and needing disruption. But we must remember that piracy is a dangerous business. While pirates generally entered the business with a ready-to-die mindset, a structure that allows the crew to be functional and prepared to handle risks should be appreciated instead of being seen as a threat. 

This is especially more relevant in a situation where a leader struggles to function properly. Ed is a smart and gifted captain, but his short attention span and mood swings have made it hard for him to function on some days and for the crew to maintain their trust in him. His wit may have allowed them to survive another day, but will it be sustainable without a system to ensure that? What happens when he is having his moment? At the very least, they would need a plan.

This is a calling for us to look into our own lives and see: In which area do we need a first mate to yell and remind us to focus?

--

This article was first published in Above All Else: An Appreciation of Izzy Hands, a zine dedicated to Con O'Neill's Izzy Hands from Our Flag Means Death.

[steddyhandszine]

🦄 PREORDERS ♠ OPEN 🐙

Preorders are now open for our OFMD Steddyhands (Stede/Ed/Izzy) zine! We have a fantastic zine full of amazing art and fic, as well as a bunch of great merch!

What you can get:

Zine: Physical Zine - $19 Digital Zine - $9 Merch: Pin - $12 Charm - $10 Die-cut Stickers (2) - $5 Postcards (2) - $4 Washi Tape - $5 Bundles: Full Bundle - $39 Merch Bundle - $29 This zine contains mature content and you must be 18+ to purchase. By purchasing this zine, you acknowledge that you are 18 years of age or older.

Preorders will be open Jan 20 - Feb 29. All proceeds will be donated to Point of Pride, an international charity focused on providing trans healthcare.

GET YOUR HANDS STEADIED HERE

[neunhofferart]

"Do you wanna do something weird?"

Surprise, the full piece is a couple's outfit swap (with a bonus Izzy haha)!

This was done for @theartoffxckeryzine charity zine. I'm so proud of how much the zine has raised for so far!

You can still get your own copy until the 31st of December through their page, so grab it while you can!

[sungmee]

hey hey, stizzy nation, this is the last day to purchase the stizzy zine! there's lots of great art (i have two pieces in this zine) and fic and merch available for preorder! don't miss out, there's some great stuff, stede and izzy can tell you~

get your stizzy goods here

[beyondtheboundaryzine]

Once again, Stede has complaints about Lucius’ choices for the cover - along with other bits.

[rimbaudofficial]

prior to s2, I wanted to do a zine on Izzy Hands and fans' experiences of gender (with Izzy, in relation to Izzy, because of Izzy...)

here is a highly scientific poll to see if that would work in the nearish future, even though s2 happened.

[ilikepears85]

Another zine art piece for the Izzy Hands lives zine. 🦄 mixed media acrylic paint and collage on canvas.

You can get a copy of the zine here https://izzyhandsliveszine.carrd.co

[doks-aux]

Fic: Dead Men Take No Dares

Fandom: Our Flag Means Death

Characters: Izzy Hands, Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, Lucius Springs, Ivan, Fang, Nathaniel Buttons, Crew of the Revenge

Relationships: Izzy Hands & Edward Teach, Izzy Hands & Crew of the Revenge, Izzy Hands & Ivan & Fang

Rating: PG-13/Teen

Content/Warnings: Truth or Dare, friendship (existing, mending, and growing), humor, and a callback to one of my favorite jokes from Season 1

Summary: “Fun, huh?” He breathed in and out once very deliberately then opened his eyes to look at Fang, face carefully neutral. “All right. I can do fun.”

--

Izzy is strong-armed into a game of Truth or Dare and decides to play by the rules.

Notes: Written for the zine Above All Else: An Appreciation of Izzy Hands in 2023 and set in a possible post-Season 1 future where everyone is trying to get along and no one is very good at it. (Except Fang, of course.) Written before the premiere of Season 2 and has not been edited to reflect any of that updated canon. The only difference between this text and what appears in the zine is the correction of three minor grammatical errors that will haunt me for the rest of my natural life.

Word Count: 1368

Read on AO3

--

Israel Hands was seven minutes and fifteen seconds into his frantic search for his captains or, indeed, any sign of life on the Revenge, when he finally heard Bonnet's voice ring through the halls of the gundeck.

“All right! Perhaps we ought to revisit and revise our ‘no more than two truths before a dare’ rule to ‘at least two truths before a dare.’”

The conversation was coming from the jam room, and Izzy hastened his steps in that direction, taking note of each voice that joined in.

“But then we’d barely get any dares!” Black Pete whined.

“I’m fine with that.” That was Spriggs, vaguely distressed as always. “I’m great.”

“Uh, it’s not Truth or Dare without any dares.” Black Pete again.

“Maybe that can just be a rule for Captain Ed and Wee John.” Roach then.

“Sorry about that,” Feeney said at the same time that Edward chirped, “Sorry, mate,” neither sounding particularly sorry at all. Was the whole fucking crew in there?

“Now, we don’t want to single anyone out...” Bonnet waffled--prompting a small chorus of “Yes, we do”--just as Izzy stepped through the door.

“Captain... s?” he asked, catching himself before he forgot to pluralize. He looked first to Edward then to Bonnet, taking in the room’s remaining occupants in between. It was, of course, the whole fucking crew. “Wh--?”

“Hey, Iz-dog!” Edward bellowed cheerfully, springing to his feet and barrelling toward Izzy with enthusiasm he had not anticipated.

“Oh, no, Izzy’s here!” Spriggs gasped, also jumping to fling himself at Izzy.

Edward reached him first, gripping his bicep and tugging excitedly. “You’ve gotta get in on this, mate. We’re--”

“I guess we have to stop having fun now,” Spriggs’ exaggerated lamentations rose over the rest of Edward’s sentence. “So sad.” Undermining his words, he grabbed Izzy’s other shoulder and leaned in to hiss, “What took you so long? There’ve been three fires already.”

“Fire?” Izzy darted his eyes between Edward and the boy before scanning the room more thoroughly. “Where is there a fucking fi--?”

“It’s out, Boss,” Ivan announced, and Izzy whipped his head around to see him stomping out the last embers of a fucking fire.

“Why is there--?”

“In my defense,” Edward cut in, snapping Izzy’s attention back to him, bright-eyed and grinning, “I was dared.”

Izzy held Edward’s unwaveringly mischievous gaze for a moment, just in case an explanation would be offered unprompted.

It was not.

“What are you--?” he began, valiantly suppressing most of a weary sigh.

“We’re playing Truth or Dare,” Jim interrupted this time, annoyed, though whether with him or Edward, Izzy wasn’t sure. He was getting whiplash all the same.

“What the fuck is--?” But Izzy cut himself off this time with a frustrated shake of his head, a growl dying in his throat. That one he actually knew, and it wasn’t the point. “Never mind. Edward, wh--?”

“You should play, too, Iz! It’s a blast!” The implish gleam in his captain’s eyes dimmed just slightly, his smile turning sheepish. “Didn’t mean not to invite you. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

That wasn’t the point. It was not within five hundred nautical miles of the fucking point. But the genuine apology in Edward’s tone took Izzy off guard all the same, stayed his tongue while he allowed himself to appreciate it.

“Oh, of course,” Bonnet butted in before Izzy could find his words again, which was marginally better than interrupting him, but that margin was about as thin as Izzy’s patience. “You can squeeze right in, we haven’t been playing long.”

“Three fires,” Spriggs mouthed silently in Izzy’s peripheral vision.

“I don’t care about your fucking game.” It came out with more bite than Izzy meant it to even if it was true. (He was trying to be less of a dick. They all were. They were bad at it, but they were trying. It just was not the point right now.) “Edward, listen. Wh--?”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Iz. Play with us!”

“Edward, I need to--”

“Join the game, and you can ask him anything you like,” Bonnet said, chipper and smug. “When it’s your turn.”

Edward squashed Izzy’s delusions that he might consider reason by immediately nodding along. “There ya go, Iz, just wait your turn.”

On second thought, fuck the both of them.

“That settles it! Have a seat, Izzy,” Bonnet continued like he didn’t even notice Izzy’s heroic attempts to explode him with his mind. “We’ll do a few rounds so you can see how the game is played.”

“I don’t--”

“And then you can have a turn!”

“Captains--”

“Just let it happen, Boss,” Ivan muttered, calm and commiserating, throwing an arm across Izzy’s back. “Come sit with me and Fang.”

Not wanting to fight because they weren’t supposed to be doing that sort of thing anymore (and because Ivan could scruff him like a cat if he chose), Izzy allowed himself to be led to the bit of floor claimed by Fang, who beamed and scooted over to make room for them.

“Hi, Izzy,” Fang greeted as Izzy sat beside him. Izzy grimaced in reply, careful not to shift his weight onto his bad foot as he settled on the floor. Ivan sat on Izzy’s other side, bracketing him between his old colleagues.

“Does anyone remember whose turn we were on?” Bonnet asked, and conversation erupted through the room, everyone talking over each other while Izzy straightened his spine and tried to catch Edward’s attention through the chaos.

“Anyone who doesn’t love arson,” Spriggs groused, flopping in defeat beside Black Pete.

“Seconding no arson,” Boodhari agreed.

Frenchie laughed. “That’s not a big number on this boat, babes.”

“May I have a turn?” The Swede raised his hand. “I will not choose fire.”

And on and on the inane chatter continued, Izzy squirming in impatience as Edward looked everywhere but at him. He was nearly ready to snap when he felt a gentle touch at his back.

“It’s not so bad, Boss,” Fang murmured kindly, giving him that soft-eyed look that Izzy never knew how to respond to since he’d promised to stop yanking his beard. “Give it a chance. Maybe you’ll have fun.”

Izzy bit the inside of his cheek before he could spit something ugly. He clenched his fists until his fingernails dug into his palms, squeezed his eyes shut until he saw stars, and tensed every muscle in his body until he had no choice but to relax.

“Fun, huh?” He breathed in and out once very deliberately then opened his eyes to look at Fang, face carefully neutral. “All right. I can do fun.”

He would wait his turn.

Fang smiled like he was proud of him, and Izzy did not tell him to fuck off. Bonnet got the game started up again, and Izzy observed the proceedings dutifully. There didn’t seem to be any sort of logic to how the turns were taken, the rules were clearly made up as they went, and the truths asked and dares accepted were as ridiculous and reckless as he would have expected. Nevertheless, he was grudgingly impressed that the Swede could contort his limbs into a pretzel with such ease.

Finally, Bonnet looked to Izzy and spread his arms out with his customarily unwarranted pomp. “Now it’s your turn, Izzy. Ask anyone anything you’d like.”

“Fine.” Izzy looked Edward straight in the eye. “Truth or Dare?”

“Truth,” Edward answered, still constrained by the new dare limit.

“Who’s steering the fucking ship, Edward?”

“The fuck do you mean? Buttons is. Right, Buttons?”

Izzy watched realization dawn in Edward's eyes, his slow, horrified turn to the wall, where Buttons had been standing the whole time.

Buttons, very much not steering the ship, stared back, unblinking. “Olivia wanted to watch the game,” he said of the seagull perched on his head. “She’s a yen for hot gossip.”

“...SHIT!”

Edward tore out of the jam room, most of the crew stampeding after him. Izzy remained seated, Ivan and Fang still at his side and Buttons still against the wall. Under the thunder of footsteps and bickering and Bonnet shrieking in panic, Izzy smiled.

“You were right, Fang. That was fun.”

[inventinglove]

Only THREE MORE DAYS to apply to Inventing Love: An EdIzzy Zine!

Applications Close March 10th, results will be shared March 15th.

Link HERE

[twitterdotcom]

Izzy fans took the ultimate L so that we could get Ws everywhere else

[izzyhandsrightglove]

The Izzy Hands Is Autistic PowerPoint Essay

(this is the essay i submitted to the above all else zine (@izzyhandszines ), the exclusivity period of which just ended. enjoy!!)

Hello!!

I would like to start off by saying I’m absolutely fucking terrified to write this essay for a variety of reasons. But I want to express my love of Izzy Hands and how important he is to me, and the best way I’ve found to do so is to express the weird ways I relate to him as an autistic person. I’ve joked in a couple friend circles that I was going to make a PowerPoint presentation about why Izzy’s autistic (hence the title) but I decided to write an essay instead.

Disclaimer: I’m not diagnosing anyone, nor do I want this essay to be used as a diagnostic paper. This is by no means an academic paper, it cites exactly one (1) study, it’s based on my own experiences, light research, and the experiences of my fellow autistic friends. I’m just a dumbass who likes imprinting themselves onto the characters they hyperfixate on.

Reason one why I think Izzy is autistic: because I’m autistic and I said so. *cue end credits*

I’m kidding.

The real first reason comes from Izzy’s interactions with Stede FUKIN’ Bonnet. For one, Stede hates Izzy almost the second he meets him. Now, you could argue that it was because Izzy “stole” his hostages but we’ll set that aside for a sec. It’s been proven that people inherently don’t like autistic people if they don’t realize they’re autistic (Neurotypical Peers are Less Willing to Interact with Those with Autism Based on Thin Slice Judgements by Noah J. Sasson (2017)). Traits that are often put towards “untrustworthy” or “creepy” people tend to describe autistics too. It’s entirely possible Stede caught a vibe and hated Izzy because of it. Stede is kind of an asshole after all (and we still love him for it). Another reason is Stede’s entire existence throws a wrench in Izzy’s routines as a First Mate. He whisks Edward away to do pirate-y things while Izzy is left to deal with a crew who frankly want nothing to do with him because he’s introducing structure on a ship that didn’t have any to begin with. Sure Izzy came off as an asshole (emotional regulation is a bitch) but he’s just a lil guy trying to follow his routines so nobody dies. He has the worst case of sense of justice. He’ll complain that an ambush is “unprofessional”, he’ll play fair in a duel even if it’s to his detriment, he’ll chase Edward around asking for a plan because Bad Things happen without a plan, the list goes on.

I’d like to dedicate this section to his stimming/eye contact/other little habits that make me think he’s autistic. Izzy has a tendency to touch his face when he’s stressed. Not just that, he’ll wrap an arm around himself and rest his hand on his chin so he can fidget with his beard, as if to self soothe. When he’s talking to people, unless he’s threatening them or yelling at them, he doesn’t look them in the eye. Often he’s not even facing them. When he is facing them, he often looks down at their lips, as if he’s struggling with eye contact. He walks around with his hand resting on his sword either because he’s short and the sword will touch the ground if he doesn’t or because it’s more comfortable for him to have his arm up near his chest. This is often referred to as T-rex arms and a lot of us find it more comfortable than letting our arms rest at our sides. He’s a little pyromaniac, he seems to use candle fire to soothe himself. He’s done it at least twice, once while he was lying to Edward about Stede’s response to meeting Blackbeard and once while talking to Spanish Jackie about Stede in her bar. He sleeps in his underwear like a WHORE (affectionate) which could be argued is temperature regulation because a lot of autistics (myself included) H A T E being overheated. Then there’s the ooh daddy scene. From my little list I made prior to this essay, “ooh daddy scene (thank u conbert), yes i have an explainiation for this. a weird ass intimidation tactic? sure. however what if he can’t read social queues and doesn’t fully realize how fucking weird it was to do that”.

Then there’s his glove. I could dedicate an entire essay on speculation on that fucking glove. Is it hiding something? Is it just to look cool? Is it a sensory thing where he doesn’t like the texture of his sword so he wears the glove to make sword fighting easier? We may never know. Or we might in s2 who knows. Speaking of sword fighting it could be argued by me that because Izzy is supposed to be the best swordsman in the world, sword fighting could be his special interest. He probably spent hours perfecting every move until he got to the level of carving his name into a man’s shirt without leaving a single scratch on him.

We’ve seen Izzy have at least one meltdown re: the duel. He’s losing the duel, the crew are jeering at him, Stede isn’t helping, he finally screams at him before his sword breaks. We’ve also seen him have a shutdown where after Edward goes below deck after realizing his plan against the Spanish isn’t going to work because it’s a leap year, Izzy is in the foreground of Frenchie and Lucius staring off into space. It’s possible that after everything he went through that day and the realization that he’s going to die made him completely shut down.

I have no proof of this since we never really see izzy by himself but I don’t believe in the entire time Izzy has been subjected to the constant torture of being alive and autistic in the late 1600 early 1700s he has unmasked even once. When living in such close quarters with other people and being First Mate to the physical embodiment of ADHD he probably doesn’t get a lot of time to himself. Therefore he has to cope with his existence in other ways, as mentioned above. And the crew of The Revenge have ruined almost every way he uses to cope and manage his autism. We’ll have to wait and see what other horrors unfold for this poor little autistic man, but for now all we can do is pick him apart and see what’s under the hood.

[sungmee]

🦄PREORDERS OPEN♠

Preorders are now open for Cross My Heart, a Stede/Izzy OFMD zine! This is a fantastic zine containing art and writing from 30+ amazing contributors!

What you can get:

Zine: Physical Zine - $19 Digital Zine - $9 Merch: Pin - $12 Charm - $10 Die-cut Sticker - $2 Sticker Sheet - $3 Prints (2) - $5 Bundles: Full Bundle - $45 Merch Bundle - $27 This zine contains mature content and you must be 18+ to purchase. By purchasing this zine, you acknowledge that you are 18 years of age or older.

Preorders will be open March 18-April 21. All proceeds will be donated to Anera, a charity dedicated to emergency relief in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan.

GET THE STIZZY GOODS HERE

[beyondtheboundaryzine]

We'll be using this data for the zine, and may include screenshots of a comment or two!

Last days to apply for the zine! Check the pinned post for more info!