Happy holidays, everyone! Have yourself a wonderful season full of peace and love, regardless of what, how, or whether you celebrate. Be well! You deserve it. We had another small group, which was understandable between the holidays and the weather. Our white elephant gift exchange was more a matter of everyone passing their gifts to the left, but everyone was happy. I was lucky enough to leave with The Way of the Househusband, Volume 1 by Kousuke Oono. 2026 is going to be a Year of Manga, after all! Lol

In this issue: What We’re Reading - About What We’ve Read - Shameless Self-Promotion - Some Thoughts on 2025

By some miracle, everyone finished the entire thing in time! A political discussion was inevitable for several reasons: the plot paralleling our current reality, the president appearing on the television screens, and the murder of Horst Wessel being a plot point. Some of us knew about that last one because it came up so often when Charlie Kirk was murdered a few months ago. Back to the comic, Silvia and Anna were everyone’s favorite characters. Kurt and Marthe felt like cliches in the beginning (the “bitter older journalist” and “young ingenue,” respectively) but they became well-rounded characters over the course of the story. The subplot about the jazz musicians in the second volume felt aimless and disconnected from the main story, especially since the main cast wasn’t directly involved. The art was good and we all noticed how the characters aged and Jason Lutes’ skill developed, though some of the bearded men and blond women were hard to tell apart at times. One person felt hope for the future of the United States after reading it because of the protests going on right now; the other person said they felt less hope for the United States because of the collaboration of the police with the Nazis and ICE.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 21 to discuss Dandadan, Volume 1.

What We're Reading

January 21 - Dandadan, Volume 1 by Yukinobu Totsu

February 18 - The Summer Hikaru Died, Volume 1 by Mokumokuren

March 18 - Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 by Kamome Shirahama

Our season of manga begins! Lol I figured after so many deep, lengthy comics, we could take a break with a few tankōbon. Plus, we haven’t read nearly enough manga in the years we’ve been meeting. I’ve got another poll ready to go out to help us determine our 2026 reading list. I’ll post it after the next NEWS digest.

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About What We’ve Read

Berlin was ranked 48th on Rolling Stone’s “The 50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels” list back in 2019. It won the 2019 Vermont Book Award, the first graphic novel to do so. It also won two Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards that same year at Denver Pop Culture Con for Best in Educational Comics: Adult, Fiction and Book of the Year. Jason Lutes won an Inkpot Award in 2018 at San Diego Comic-Con.

The independent weekly Vermont newspaper Seven Days talked with Jason Lutes and explored the themes and creation of Berlin upon its completion and Lutes’ Inkpot win. The Comics Journal conducted an in-depth interview shortly thereafter. He spoke with PopMatters, and The Berliner interviewed him about his research into Berlin and the Weimar Republic.

Back in 2008, Jason Lutes talked about his creative process with the Wall Street Journal for a short YouTube video upon completion of the second volume.

Here’s a review of the stage adaptation produced by the Court Theatre. I was impressed by how it streamlined the narrative and cast of characters, and I’m glad I had a chance to see it when it premiered.

The latest NEWS digest is available here. The next NEWS digest will be posted in two weeks on Friday, January 9, 2026.

Shameless Self-Promotion

I’ve applied to two conventions for next year! Wish me luck. As much as I think I’m on more solid footing than I was last year when I applied to one of them, I should probably start looking at smaller, one-day events and build up to shows like CAKE and TCAF. Either way, I’m hoping to table at my first con in 2026.

Two things that I think will improve my chances are that I’ll be appearing in two more anthologies! The first is in pre-launch on Kickstarter and is being organized by Luke W. Henderson, the creative mastermind behind Rise of the Flightless (link below). Crit One 4: This Spell Could Have Been an Email is the final issue of a fantasy series. I’m contributing to a prose piece with four other people and it’s a lot of fun. Please follow the campaign!

The second anthology is still being organized, but my contribution is almost complete. Artist Steven Bristow is drawing comics of different mythologies and folklore from around the world. I’ve finally gotten my Krasue script made. Third time’s the charm. XD Feast your eyes on the title page below!

The Alban of the West comic I wrote for The Dreamlands Anthology to be published by Warden Comics is almost complete!

When I spoke to Dr. Mark Martell’s Superheroes and Cultural Mythology class last month about “Comics Writing, Superheroes, and the Public Domain,” I passed a handful of zines around the class as visual aides. I created a short companion video walking through one of them, but that’s part of a bigger announcement: My online shop is live! With a lot of help from Onicia Muller, I managed to achieve my goal for the year of having a place to buy my comics. Check it out!

Rise of the Flightless is still available.

Geek Collective’s Archetypes #2 is being shipped!

The physical copies for Prism arrived, but there was an issue with the printing. It’s available for preorder and you can read the whole thing on Global Comix!

The first anthology to publish a comic I wrote, CyberSync, is available for purchase. It went into a second printing!

Some Thoughts on 2025

It is a strange experience to have one’s dreams come true while the world burns. It’s difficult to reconcile the desire to celebrate a personal milestone with the knowledge that people I love and care about are facing violence and deprivation. I know not celebrating won’t relieve any of their anxiety and pain, but I’m also not self-centered enough to demand they be happy for me.

Strangers on the internet have thanked me for bringing certain injustices to their attention while close friends chastised me for not “doing more.” I’ve tried to do what I can while protecting the people close to me, but I’m never sure about whether I’m doing enough or how much to do. I have people who depend on me, and I don’t want to put any of them in danger or risk not being available for them.

I have friends who protest regularly, organize mutual aid, and/or fight for their existence and survival. I recognize that my inability to match their participation looks like abdication, and it often feels that way. Are my priorities incorrect? Am I wrong for spending so much time focusing on art, especially comics? It looks petty and juvenile to people who were encouraging me a year ago.

I’ve pitched multiple series to major publishers. I’ve applied to table at conventions. I’ve interviewed creators. I have an online store. I had my first comic book signing! Within recent memory, I wouldn’t have dreamed that I would have the confidence or ability to do any of those things.

Of course, I’ve had at least three rejections for every acceptance. I suppose it would have been more honest or realistic to chronicle the disappointments in the Shameless Self-Promotion sections this year as well as the successes, but I wanted to focus on moving forward. If you want to know what didn’t pan out, go back through the newsletters and make a note of anything I sounded excited about and then never mentioned again.

But does any of that mean anything against the rising tide of history? People around me are losing their jobs and healthcare and having mental health crises. Other people are being kidnapped off the streets by a white supremacist paramilitary secret police. Anything can seem petty in comparison to that, but then I risk making the persecution of others about my reaction to it instead of about the injustice itself. I run the risk of sounding like the main character of Berlin at his lowest point, jaded and depressed.

My creative pursuits and mental health have increased in direct proportion to the support system I’ve curated and surrounded myself with. I couldn’t have done anything by myself. Countless others have helped me make my dreams come true and continue to make them come true. Even as the world burns.

I don’t know what next year will be like, but I’m excited and scared in equal measure. I’ll be here to share comics news and my own journey as a comics creator, and I’d love for you to join me. I have goals and ambitions that I mean to pursue even as I work to protect my family and contribute however I can to fighting the forces of fascism that are marching and making everyone miserable. I hope we’re all doing what we can to help each other.

Thanks for reading! I am doing better than the overall tone of this month’s essay would suggest. How was your 2025? Feel free to share any thoughts or comments below. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. Take care of each other. Make sure to be here next year for Dandadan, Volume 1 by Yukinobu Totsu!