This Saturday, October 30th at 8pm Central time, I’ll be in discussion with Little Rock filmmaker Mike Poe about my newest book Save It For Later, upcoming work and moldy oldies as a part of the Six Bridges Book Festival— please register, tune in, and spread the word. Thanks!
Collection of my personal favorite comics pages on Twitter!
I’ve been looking back through my past work lately, as I’m starting inks on my new book Fall Through.
Over on Twitter, I’ll be adding to a thread of my personal favorite pages from 1998 to present— see you there!
CXC this weekend-- virtual Discord sesh and Q&A October 3rd!
I’m so happy to be participating in CXC’s virtual expo this weekend— I’ll be doing a live Discord event this Sunday, October 3rd from 12-12:30pm, giving a sneak peek at both of my in-progress books and the creative processes involved, and will be answering questions as well (assuming my tech-dumb self can figure that part out). See you there!
Medical fundraiser for Andrea Zollo
My friend Andrea Zollo— longtime musician from Deep Creep, Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Hookers, Death Wish Kids, & Area 51, as well as hair stylist supreme and all-around wonderful human being— has a long road of recovery ahead after a major health situation, and she will be out of work for months. Please give to her medical fundraiser if you’re able, and spread the word far and wide— thanks!
Alternately, I’m gonna give all the sales from September mailorders in my site’s shop to her fundraiser as well, so now’s the time to get those copies for holiday gifts! Thanks again.
R.I.P. James Loewen
Yesterday I received the sad news that author, historian, and collaborator James Loewen had passed away after a long struggle with cancer. I’d gotten to know and work together with him over the past year and a half, and he was a positive, no-nonsense kind of person— and one who had a jarring head-on embrace of his mortality and life’s arc.
I’m still working on a graphic adaptation of his influential book Lies My Teacher Taught Me, trying my best to carry the torch and keep these extremely relevant ideas and conversations going at all levels across society. What he wrote about is at the very heart of our current, ongoing social and political crisis. Lies and Sundown Towns were very influential on me and most of my work since 2008.
I hope to do him justice— Rest In Peace, Jim.
Pencils done on the next graphic novel!
Quietly plugging away here on a few book projects— my next solo graphic novel is officially penciled and written! It won’t be announced by the publisher for a while, but it’s 184 pages of interdimensional 1990’s underground punk band soap opera, pandemic-isolation therapy full of sweaty people touching and breathing on those they love, a lamentation on possibilities lost, and a celebration of letting go to embrace new possibilities. Expect it in a couple of years!
RUN-- virtual book discussion today at 4pm Pacific/ 7pm Eastern!
Join writer Andrew Aydin, artist L. Fury and myself— as well as Anthony Dixon, nephew of the late, beloved John Lewis— today in a virtual book discussion of Run, via the fine folks at Bookshop Santa Cruz! 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern. Please register here— thanks!
MARCH: Books 1 & 2 in Time's list of Best 100 YA Books of All Time!
What a profound honor— March: Books 1 & 2 were included in Time’s list of Best 100 suitable-for-young-adults books OF ALL TIME! (And lots of friends and peers were included in this list as well— in particular, Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is one of the best graphic novels of the past decade!)
Go comics, go readers!
'RUN' is in bookstores today!
Today is the day! Run is in bookstores and libraries everywhere— please go support your local bookshop.
Everyone involved worked our asses off to see this book to the finish line. Thinking of John Lewis today, in hopes that we did justice to his last great effort.
This evening we’ll be doing a virtual book discussion via the folks at Politics & Prose at 7pm Eastern— please register here.
Here’s a link to all our upcoming virtual talks!
RUN-- virtual book launch discussions for August!
Run will be released this Tuesday, August 3rd! Here are our upcoming virtual book discussions featuring writer Andrew Aydin, artist Lauren Fury, and myself:
8/3: Politics & Prose, 7pm Eastern
8/5: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, 7pm Eastern
8/9: Browseabout Books, 7pm Eastern
8/10: Harvard Bookstore, 7pm Eastern
8/16: Bookshop Santa Cruz, 4pm Pacific
8/18: Blue Willow Bookshop, 7pm Central
8/19: Buffalo Street Books, 7pm Eastern (registration link TBD)
Signal boost: new comics essay by Miriam Libicki, and lots of work to check out!
Just published: here’s a solid new historical comics-essay about the history of Soviet Jewish migration by my good friend and contemporary Miriam Libicki, who’s been an underrecognized torchbearer of the modern comics essay form since about 2005, and whose work has been a big influence on my own approach over the past decade!
Miriam is currently working on an opus entitled Glasnost Kids, which will be out next year from Fantagraphics— don’t miss it! In the meantime, pick up her essay collection Toward A Hot Jew, her Nib comic “Who Gets Called An Unfit Mother?”, and her new essay about the Israeli nuclear missile program in The Nib’s new “Secrets” issue.
Exclusive RUN excerpt up at the New Yorker!
We’re proud to have an exclusive excerpt from Run published today at The New Yorker, with stellar artwork by L. Fury! Run will be available everywhere August 3rd from Abrams ComicArts.
“Aydin described how a large part of Lewis’s advocacy for the March trilogy involved travelling to schools to meet with students and read the stories with them. ‘As a direct result of that touch from Congressman Lewis, reading and speaking with students about this history, we were able to replicate, in some way, what Dr. King and Jim Lawson had done with Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story. These books are about teaching the next generation to understand their power, to embrace nonviolence, and to consider public service. We call it manufacturing lightning.’”
Huge interview up at The Comics Journal!
Just published today: an absolute beast of an interview at The Comics Journal— the most in-depth I’ve ever done— with lots of deep-dive analysis and linked creative processes between Save It For Later, the March trilogy, and more. Thanks to the perceptive and thoughtful Irene Velentzas for interviewing me!
One year without John Lewis.
Today marks one year since freedom fighter, collaborator, and friend John Lewis crossed over.
I haven’t gathered my thoughts enough for a more personal post today, but this first: opponents of multiracial democracy are working overtime— and succeeding— at undoing his life’s work in pursuit of single-party autocratic rule, making major strides since the Supreme Court gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act in July 2013.
If we lose democracy, it isn’t coming back. Take two minutes to call or email your representatives and urge them to strengthen what remains of the VRA with the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The Capitol switchboard will get you there: (202) 224-3121.
SAVE IT FOR LATER-- "Book of the Year" Harvey Award nominee!
Quite a surprise and honor to see that Save It For Later is a Harvey Awards nominee for Book Of The Year, alongside stellar work by Derf Backderf, Michael Deforge, Matt Fraction, and absolute legend Barry Windsor-Smith!
If you’re eligible to vote, please do so here. Winners will be announced in a virtual ceremony during New York Comic Con this fall.
Thank you, everyone, for your support of my work, and for finding something meaningful in it. I’ll keep it up.
Spotlight panel/interview this Saturday at SPACE virtual con!
I’ll be in conversation with Jared Gardner about all my work past, present, and in-the-works at this SPACE panel— Saturday, July 10th at 1pm Eastern. Bring your questions, and spread the word— thank you!
New WBEZ feature on SAVE IT FOR LATER & ACROSS THE TRACKS!
Here’s the new feature from WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate, with myself and fellow cartoonist Stacey Robinson about our respective books Save It For Later and Across The Tracks, their significance in the context of American history and its future, antiracism, and more.
SAVE IT FOR LATER-- discussion/Q&A tonight!
Be sure to sign up in advance here for tonight’s discussion of Save It For Later, in conversation with Alex Segura, thanks to the fine folks at Kew & Willow Books! 7pm Eastern— see you there!
June 4th-- SAVE IT FOR LATER discussion/Q&A via Kew & Willow Books!
I’ll be in conversation with author and friend Alex Segura about Save It For Later, comics, parenthood, activism, and where it all intersects, via the fine folks at Kew & Willow Books!
Friday, June 4th at 7pm Eastern— register in advance here, and please order books from Kew & Willow.
Thanks— see you there!
Poster art for Little Rock's MUTANTS OF THE MONSTER fest!
Here’s the poster I just designed for Little Rock’s own Mutants of the Monster festival this September 10-12, featuring Pallbearer, John Moreland, Weedeater, Burned Up Bled Dry, Frozen Soul, Adam Faucett, Sumokem, and tons more. You can get tickets here.
Much thanks, as always, to Erin Tobey for the technical assistance on this poster!
