» Cranberry Juice - Sobriety has been a lonely road, but I made it out okay. 

» Connecting Through Closed Doors - How I’m learning to embrace the beauty, complexity, and humanity of mental health research.

» Birds of Los Angeles - LA is a beautiful city because of migration—both human and otherwise.

» Ravioli Unraveled- The comic essay no one asked for about that commercial where the can of raviolis follows that little girl home.

Crucial’s publisher Shay Mirk is about to head out on book tour in November celebrate the release of a new book called Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide to Graphic Narrative. The book, which Shay co-authored with Eleri Harris, details how to create your own nonfiction comics, from journalism to memoir. You can preorder the book through Crucial to support our work! On October 27th, we’re also hosting a free talk with Shay, Eleri, and cartoonist Aubrey Hirsch.

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!

Classes

Raising (and Drawing) Our Kids Through Chaos - Caregivers of young children are invited to come to attend this class to learn the fundamentals of comics creation while drawing our family stories. Each week will involve discussion, drawing, and writing from prompts offered by teacher Breena Nuñez. Wednesdays, 10/22 – 11/19 , from 5pm-7pmPST/8pm-9pm EST

Queer Economies of Care—Comics Edition: How do queer folks keep each other alive, fed, housed, and laughing—especially when the system isn’t built for us? Co-taught by Gili Rappaport and Joaquin Golez, this six-week class blends queer theory and comics with creative writing and drawing, transforming stories of queer survival and care into comics and zines. Sundays, 11/2–12/7, from 10AM–12PM PST/1pm-3pm EST

Workshops 

Teaching Comics: How to Design Your Own Comics Workshop - Are you interested in running a comics class at your local library, community center, or online? Sarah Maloney leads this essential workshop about designing a workshop! Sunday, October 12 at 11am-1pm PST/2pm-4pm EST

Intermediate to Digital Drawing with Procreate: Get to know Procreate for real! This workshop led by Audra McNamee will challenge you to use new Procreate tools and settings as you make an illustration. Saturday, October 18 from 9-11am PST/12pm-2pm EST

Free Events

Drawing Resistance: Graphic Rage and Making Nonfiction Comics - In this one-hour talk, authors Aubrey Hirsch, Shay Mirk, and Eleri Harris talk about how making comics is an act of political participation and essential self-expression. This one-hour talk by all three authors will be followed by an audience Q&A. Monday October 27 from 4-5pm PST / 7-8pm EST

Chronic Illness Comics Club: This free, low-key meetup is a place for people with chronic illnesses to connect and create art. Artist Zareen Choudhury will lead the group through a writing and drawing prompt, then everyone is given the chance to share their work. Next meetup is this Sunday, October 29 from 11am-12:15pm PST/2pm-3:15pm EST

Irish cartoonist Pan Cooke takes on difficult topics in his short comics. In just a few Instagram-size panels, his comics tell stories of police brutality, systemic violence and reproductive justice. Pan started off as a portrait artist and illustrator. But during COVID lockdown, he shifted to drawing comics about real-world violence. "One of the main [pieces of] feedback that I get is that, through the comics, you can kind of get more of a visual idea of the story without having to view the violence directly," he told NPR in 2023. We asked Pan about his approach to creating the comic, below, that reflects on the response to the shootings of Charlie Kirk compared to two Minnesota representatives.

What feelings were you sorting through as you made this comic? 

PAN COOKE: The idea for this comic was sparked by an argument I had with a Trump supporter in my life after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. They were parroting Trump’s line that the left is solely responsible for the rise in political violence, with the right being the only ones targeted. But when I mentioned Melissa Hortman, they had no idea who she was. That stuck with me. So when an Instagram follower later messaged me asking if I’d consider making a comic about Hortman, it felt like the right moment to finally put those thoughts into panels.

Why did making this comic feel important to you? 

JOYCE GAO: I think this is important to me because I felt a sense of disconnect between the human experience of mental illness and the academic study of it when I first started working as a research assistant at my current lab. It was hard to link my day-to-day work back to the people I care about, so creating this comic became a way to process those feelings, spark conversations with others who have gone through similar things, and hopefully humanize mental health research for readers outside the field.

What was it like working with Crucial's  editors? How did the comic change with their guidance? 

JOYCE GAO: I loved working with them! Xenon and Matteo were both incredibly supportive and generous with their time. They really helped me refine the visual language and clarify the overall message. I had a lot of last-minute doubts about the ending, but they were very patient with me and helped me walk through the decisions. I’m really grateful for their time and effort.

Building on our monthly Chronic Illness Comics Club meetups, we’re publishing a zine! It’s called Tired AF: Comics About Chronic Illness.  We are looking for memoir & nonfiction comics about chronic illness. Learn more here!

This newsletter is written by Shay Mirk. If you have comics or opportunities you think we should feature, email Shay at [email protected]. 💌