Crucial is One Year Old! 🌸

We're growing! Join us to help create our next chapter.

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Crucial Comix
September 03, 2025

 Comics Are Crucial

We launched Crucial Comix in September 2024—one year ago! Over the past year, we’ve created a home for nonfiction comics. We’ve worked to expand the reach of independent cartoonists, built a mutually supportive comics community around the world, and led classes that empower people of all backgrounds with the skills to powerfully write, draw, and share their own stories. 

Huge news: the idea works! Since we launched a year ago, we’ve run 33 workshops and classes, published 64 comics, paid cartoonists $6,473 for their work, and paid artists a whopping $18,000 to teach comics classes. We also published the anthology Cartoonists for Palestine and donated over $3,000 to Palestinian medical aid. 

What next? We’re starting a Patreon to cover the cost of running the site, to pay our editors, and to have a larger budget for publishing more nonfiction comics. We’re in this for the long haul. In prioritizing payments to artists, we haven’t been paying our editors (Audra and Shay) for running the publication. We want Crucial to be a sustainable site and not flame out like so many independent media outlets have. All the comics on our site will remain free and not behind a paywall, people who join our Patreon support that work and get fun extra perks (like a hat!).

Comics are rooted in collaboration and community-building, in sharing your weird, wild voice without censorship or corporate control. The funding comes from our community—that’s you. Pitch in to support independent artists and keep building a future where comics are crucial. 

 Read new comics!

» Creative Spark: As an artist, I use all kinds of technological tools. So why does AI feel so distinctly repulsive?

» Dear Diary: After my mother died, reading her diaries helped me connect with who she was before dementia.

Back in Stock: Cartoonists for Palestine

We sold out of the first print run of 1,000 copies of the Cartoonists for Palestine anthology! We’re working with a printer in Beirut to publish a second edition that incorporates new art. But until that edition is available (hopefully this fall), we just got more copies of the sold-out anthology back in stock. We donate 100% of the profits from this book to four Palestinian medical aid groups listed here. 

The anthology was featured this week in the new issue of In These Times. In the article, anthology co-editor Yazan al-Saadi said, “Fascism, dictatorship or totalitarianism tries to remove the imagination, so you can’t see the horizon. Those in power want us to narrow our thoughts. Art allows us to reimagine our futures, rather than just accept evil.”  

 Upcoming Classes

All of our classes are sliding-scale and offered online, so they’re affordable and you can join from anywhere. We also have free spots available in every class and workshop for people who can’t afford the price—get in touch if you’d like to request a free spot!

• Comics Editing: Want to learn how to edit comics? This hands-on class focuses on editing other peoples’ nonfiction work while also improving your own. Over five sessions, comics creator Shay Mirk and guest teacher Whit Taylor will focus on both practical editing skills and reflect on personal topics such as dealing with conflict and communicating well with collaborators. Tuesdays, September 30-October 28 from 4-5:30pm PST/7-8:30pm EST

• How to Get an Agent: In this two-hour workshop, cartoonist Al Benbow will cover the basics of how to get an agent for a graphic novel project: preparing your pitch, querying agents, and how to know when you’ve found an agent that’s right for you. Thursday September 18, 4-6pm PST/7-9pm EST.

• Intro to Digital Drawing with Procreate: Do you have an iPad but feel intimidated by drawing on it? This workshop led by Audra McNamee will support you in learning tips and tricks to illustrate in the app Procreate. Wednesday, September 24 from 5-7pm PST/8-10pm EST

What’s Your Favorite Pen?

We asked five artists to share the most precious item in their drawer: a favorite pen.

Maia Kobabe is the author of graphic memoir “Gender Queer” and the artist of the educational book “Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding.”  // At the moment my favorite pen is the Mildliner double-ended marker which has a brush tip and a writing tip and comes in a ton of fun colors. I bought about 10 of these last summer and they've been my go-to for sketchbook drawing ever since! You can buy them in 5-packs that are already very nice limited color palettes. âś‘ @redgoldsparks

Zareen Choudhury is the facilitator of Crucial’s Chronic Illness Comics Club. // I've recently enjoyed playing with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. It's not the easiest to control, but I love the bold, unexpected line-width variation it produces. When I'm writing or drawing more fine details, I can always rely on my Micron pens which are conveniently waterproof! âś‘ @catch.some.zees

Ren Strapp is the author of the zine “Heavyweight Desk Jockey World Champ” and YA graphic novel “How Could You?” // My actual favorite pen (Pilot Multi Ball Rollerball Pen, LM-10F-B) has been discontinued, which makes me soooo sad because I've been using them for literal years and years. It writes so smoothly, doesn't bleed through my planner, doesn't spit extra ink, and the ink is so even across the strokes. Pilot Juice Up Gel Pen is a good backup, though. We use it for our grocery list, and it makes grocery shopping fun because the ink flow is so smooth and juicy. âś‘ @renstrapp

Kane Lynch is the author of the graphic memoir Reel Life and the teacher of Crucial class Make Your Dang Comic!  // My favorite pen is the Zebra Brush Pen (medium tip). It's flexible both literally and figuratively—the tip bends, so you can vary line width for dynamic cartoon art, but it's also easy to use like a "regular" pen without a lot of practice. They're great for professional 'tooning, but also everyday tasks where you need a pen. In classes, I give them to six year olds and to adults and everyone seems to enjoy them. âś‘ @kaneicaruslynch

Audra McNamee is Crucial’s editor and the author of many zines. // My favorite pens are very me, for better or worse. My long-time favorite pen is a decently priced fountain pen, a Hongdian A3 with a Long Blade nib. This has an architect nib type effect, where horizontal strokes are thick and vertical strokes are thin. It's easy to write and draw with, and makes lines a bit more interesting than just a standard pen. It's what I do a lot of my scribbly daily comics with. âś‘ @audmcname

$$ Opportunities for Artists $$

• Wild Ramp publishing is offering $250 grants to people who want to make zines about disability justice! The deadline to apply is September 12. 

• Queer comics fest Pride in Panels is open for applications! The San Francisco festival highlighting LGBTQ artists will take place February 15. Applications close September 8. 

• Artists in Los Angeles County! Check out the Lightning Fund, which offers $6,000 to visual artists producing work outside of museums and traditional galleries. That sounds like a comics project for sure! Applications close October 5th.

• Artists in Oregon! A $5,000 Community Storytelling Fellowship from Oregon Humanities supports writers and artists working in any medium who want to create a story about a community they’re a part of. Applications close October 1.

Crucial Comix is supported by the Sequential Artists Workshop. Thanks friends!

Illustration at the top of this newsletter is by Casper Mayberry. This newsletter is written by Shay Mirk. If you have comics or opportunities you think we should feature, email Shay at [email protected]. đź’Ś