1/5: Auld Lang Syne and a sweet reunion

Beta-testing a process podcast with friends!

Jan 05, 2026

Hello! Hiya! Hey!

Sending this out while we’re all (hopefully) well-rested on the first working Monday of the new year but still in need of a healthy break from the news and the real world.

I am very fortunate to have a fabulous day-job that shuts down over the holidays (aside from the active production of certain comic books, of course!) and we’re jumping back in now. I had some great disconnection time for myself at the end of December and cracked a few ideas that have me excited to create new projects in 2026!

One of them is an experiment of sorts! I’ve been talking about it in this newsletter all last year and have begun to put pieces into motion!

A few weeks ago I re-united with Tim Fish, Monica Gallagher and Michael DiMotta to record a discussion of our careers thus far. I’m really interested in how we all can create in 2026 and the infinite ways we can make comics in the modern world. Whether we’re pitching publishers or making our own webtoons and mini-comics at a (possible) financial loss… we keep doing it and I have so much space for that direct and dedication.

That’s what I want to explore in “Process Peace” while talking to people at ALL stages of their careers and ALL the ways they work to make it happen. It’s a struggle but there is that “peace” that comes from all the hard work and I keep chasing it. I think lots of others do too… and I hope these conversations are useful!

I will continue to host them in a format of “panel discussion” until I learn how to video and audio edit better 😬❤️

You can find the audio below (and wherever you stream podcasts thanks to the simplicity of rss.com’s distribution method!)

https://rss.com/podcasts/process-peace/2429555

Including Spotify! This was cool to see pop up this morning!

[Temporary square logo is a cheap edit of Amal Desai’s great work for this newsletter… I need to commission an update from him we move out of beta-testing]

We recorded this chat as a video because that is a faster path to more eyes but I made the fatal mistake of adjusting the grid into a stack… the video might a bit wonky to view! Sorry! But hopefully the core of four great friends (and colleagues) discussing the creation of comic books is as fun for you as it was for us!

Here’s the Youtube link if you’d like to watch!

Look at our happy faces embedded in this newsletter!!! Not everything is bad on the internet. And these four fools have been friends since Internet 1.0!!! We talk about the early days of web-comics and our self-publishing history and how we’re all navigating creating in 2026.

Monica’s Patreon is here at the link. Michael’s Patreon is here! Tim’s Patreon is here.

Follow them! Part II of this conversation is coming soon!!!

I’ll be at C2E2 with Tiny Onion this year!!! More details soon but here’s a hint:

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS!!!

Have you purchased either of my beloved graphic novels yet?

If you don’t have a local comic book store or independent bookstore, please consider ordering my books through bookshop.org! They donate 30% of your purchase to independent bookstores AND I am in the affiliate program… so 10% of purchases through my links goes back to me!

Bookshop.org Affiliate Link

ANY support is always welcome… including requesting my books at your local library! Try it today through their website or directly with the lovely librarians in your community.

Thanks for reading! I hope we all keep moving in the direction of something better for ALL OF US in the new year.

-Greg

greglockard.com

10/2: Occupy Your Mind

Pushing Forward Creatively While Reflecting on Past

Greg Lockard

Oct 02, 2025

Hello and thank you to all new subscribers! I really appreciate you giving me a chance to talk to you about comic books and graphic novels and the creative process in general.

If you’re been imported improperly from convention and online sales, I apologize and want you to unsubscribe without guilt! If you stay, I promise to never flood your inboxes and I try to make these useful and interesting for your own entertainment and creative fulfillment and inspiration.

Last week, I attend the Pictoplasma Character Design Conference here in NYC! It was so inspiring and stacked with keynotes by some of my favorite illustrators and animators.

Day 1 speakers included Aaron Fernandez:

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Cari Vander Yacht:

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Danny Casales:

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…and Fran Meneses:

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Day 1 ended with a panel about “Optimistic Futures” in the face of budget crunching, art funding evaporation, and AI uncertainties across all arts.

The day at SVA Theatre was just what I needed in terms of creative inspiration and camaraderie in the face of all the terrible things happening in the U.S. and around the globe—both politically and our creative industries. It’s a difficult time to stay focused on what’s important and I’ve definitely been slacking in my creative work outside my daily day-job duties at Tiny Onion as Editor and Talent Manager.

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Day 2 speakers were Isolina Minjeong, Laura Martin, Jon Burgerman and Laser Days... they also screened BOYS GO TO JUPITER and Julian Glander (creator/director) spoke beforehand. I highly recommend that film when it’s in a theatre near you or streaming!!! Really gorgeous art that’s got strange fun stuff throughout in terms of character and storytelling that is completely in my wheel-house and I can’t wait to watch again.

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I hope posting their Instagrams provides some inspiration (and new accounts to follow!) as it did for me! The conference reaffirmed so much and I’m more excited for New York Comic Con next week with Tiny Onion (and my personal creative work) than I have been in a good long while!

In terms of personal creative work, I’ve got a long-term project gearing up that I’m going to post here! It’s going to be a semi-regular feature reviewing old projects (most self-published but inclusive of TRICK PONY and LIEBESTRASSE) behind-the-scenes process as well as giving as much process as I can about the pitches I’m developing in comic books and prose (short stories and a novel). It is ultimately selfish to give myself structure with smaller goals but the dream is that it’s useful to anyone reading like Scott Snyder’s Comic Writing Newsletter and Jami Attenberg’s Craft Talk newsletter and 1000 Words of Summer book (and event).

The only thing new writing I’ve completed recently is a travel diary for the Tiny Onion newspaper debuting at New York Comic Con in our fancy old school newspaper kiosks!

Álvaro Ortiz illustrated it and I’m so thrilled we finally got to work together after over a decade of trying! He is THEE BEST. Follow his Instagram. He’s hysterical and brilliant and you don’t have to speak Spanish well to get it… as I prove every day!

I haven’t gotten permission to preview the piece here but I’ll give you a little snippet preview:

Logo by Courtney Menard!

The hysterical part is that the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series is translated as EL DIARIO DE GREG in Spain! And I didn’t title this! ❤️

I’ll share Álvaro’s art and what I wrote about the trip after the debut at NYCC next week!!!

In the meantime, I’ll queue up the future “process peace” posts and leave you with a lovely message from the brilliant David López on BlueSky about TRICK PONY and LIEBESTRASSE:

My next and only currently scheduled appearance is at the Tiny Onion booth in Artist Alley during New York Comic Con!!! Come visit and say “hey!” if you’re at the show!

I’ll be on two panels next weekend:

I’m moderating “Out in Comics” with Phil Jimenez, Bradley Clayton and Chloe Brailsford! Friday 10/10 from 2:00-3:00 PM in Room 1C01 as part of the Pride Lounge!

I’ll also be on the Tiny Onion panel, “Frights and Delights of Queer Horror,” in Room 1C03 on Sunday from 11:15am-12:15pm.

It’s going to be a very busy but very wonderful weekend, I am certain at this point in my career ☺️ Come share the love of comics (and all pop culture) with us!!!

If you don’t have a local comic book store or independent bookstore, please consider ordering my books through bookshop.org. They give 30% of your purchase to the indie bookstores AND I am in the affiliate program so 10% of purchases through my links goes back to me!

Bookshop.org Affiliate Link

But ANY support is welcome… especially requesting my books at your local library!!!

Thanks for reading this far! You’re da bestest! Please update me in the comments and DMs on what you are working on! Let’s create a community of support!

-Greg

greglockard.com

7/15: Career Shifts & Moving House

Behind-the-scenes of the creative process as I attempt new directions

Greg Lockard

Jul 15, 2025

A house keeping post as I move house!

I must to downsize the comic book stock and I’m closing down my webstore at the end of the month! Take advantage of a desperate queen! There’s a 50% off sale of my LIEBESTRASSE, TRICK PONY and DC PRIDE books here!!!! Other items might go up as the month progresses and I clear my shelves!

Greg Lockard's Webstore!

As always, thank you for all the support! And if you can like/retweet/”regram” when you see my sale posts on social media… everything helps fighting the algorithm and is greatly appreciated!!!

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Recently, I’ve been taking account of my creative efforts and how best to focus my writing time as I continue my day-job as an editor and Talent Manager at Tiny Onion. One conclusion I’ve come to is the need to focus my promotion on behalf of the publishers and shops instead of my own booth sales. I’d rather not keep stock in the future and drag my own books to shows for sale around the country.

I truly LOVE standing behind the table, though! Doing small press and independent shows with Tim Fish, Monica Gallagher, Michael DiMotta and so many other friends count as some of the best times of my life. And I think they give me a perspective on the industry that a lot of my peers don’t have (unless they are artists) and I’m supremely grateful for the experiences.

And I will still be at all the shows and conventions possible! But I will shift from bringing my own stock of books to focusing on booth appearances for publishers, panel discussions and bookstore/library events. Everyone benefits from more focused attention and I can direct sales to the hard-working librarians and bookstore employees that keep me employed at my dream job.

It seems really logical to say but my love of “tabling” has really blocked me from being able try a new approach… we’ll see how this goes!

On the social media front, I’m reflecting too… it just seems like a no-win situation. I was never good at Twitter but I loved it. I was “good” at Instagram but it’s now nearly useless for artists and creators. And the newsletter flow is difficult to keep up with. I have an approximately 40 newsletters I’m subscribed to on Substack and beyond. It’s difficult to keep up with the daily/weekly ones and there are a number of which I/we never seem to get updates from.

I’m somewhere in-between! My pace has been almost bi-monthly here for the past three years (17 newsletters in 36 months). Which is better than I thought! I really want to make these useful and pick up the pace.

One example of how I’d like to utilize this newsletter can be found in Jeff Lemire’s “Tales from the Farm.”

I did some work as a part of the Tiny Onion staff on Jeff Lemire’s new memoir, 10,000 Ink Stains, out today from Dark Horse Comics. This memoir grew out of the writing from his Substack over the past few years and I can’t recommend it enough if you are a fan of his work. Of course I am slightly biased by my work on it (and other Lemire-created books) but this transcends that involvement, I promise you! It’s deeply encompassing review of his career thus far with behind-the-scenes insights to his singular viewpoint and process of creating. Check it out here! It’s in stores everywhere TODAY!!!

And another Substack I am modeling my vision of the future after is Jami Attenberg’s CRAFT TALK.

Jami is a New York Times bestselling novelist and her #1000wordsofsummer writing exercise is how I became aware of her work years ago. The #1000wordsofsummer group is a community of writers of all levels who are all challenged to write 1000 words a day for two weeks and break through blocks, doubts or just regain their focus on their creative projects. I missed it this year as I was working on a graphic novel pitch but the newsletter subscription helps me to stay on top of my long-term goal to complete a novel and expanding my career into prose fiction.

You can learn more about #1000wordsofsummer here and you can subscribe to here!

I love Jami’s discussions of process, of course, but I also really enjoy that she focuses on the “letter” aspect of the “newsletter.” She writes to the readers like they are friends. She involves other writer-friends in the process. It’s conversational. And that’s brilliant!!! Otherwise, these always become a slog of self-promotion for the writer… and it becomes a slog for the readers too.

I’m going to try and carry more of that energy here. While I still haven’t figured out the exact thesis that’s the core of this “PROCESS PEACE,” I’m committed to making it more consistent and learning while writing.

I’m hoping to loop some friends and colleagues into the mix to get their perspectives as well… I think I fun way to think about work and craft is to hear other people’s process. And while I think it goes against my comfort, documenting the pitching and ideation parts of the creation might be useful for others reading this newsletter and lead to more discussion and community building. We need all that we can get these days!!!

Thanks again for reading! Hang on tightly to the good where you find it!

Talk to you soon,

Greg

50% Off Sale!!!

11/15: To Thought Bubble & Beyond!

New banners and features!

Greg Lockard

Nov 15, 2024

Lush new banners created by letterer and designer Amal Desai! You can find more of Amal’s work here and here!

I am a featured guest this weekend at the Thought Bubble Festival in Harrogate, England!

I’ll be tabling in the DSTLRY Hall at C-33 with Tim Fish! We’ll have plenty of LIEBESTRASSE to sell and sign! And I’ve also brought copies of TRICK PONY and DC PRIDE to sell to you!

Here’s a map of the DSTLRY Hall with our table highlighted for easy reference!

On both Saturday 11/16 and Sunday 11/17, I’ll be signing TRICK PONY prints at the signing area in the Bubbleboy Hall with Tula Lotay, Helen Mullane, and Michael Conrad! 14:00-15:30 on Saturday and 12:30-14:00 on Sunday!

On Saturday, I’ll also review portfolios at the Tiny Onion table (D-21 in the Travelling Man Hall) from 13:00-14:00pm! Please come find me so we can chat about your work and career aspirations!

It’s going to be a fabulous weekend! Thought Bubble always is!!!

(This is a new feature debuting in this newsletter! I’m currently in beta-testing but I have an idea of what I want this to become! Please bear with me…)

I am writing from the redeye flight to London, on a surprisingly empty plane that was low-key in energy and gave me a chance to sleep a bit!

I am thrilled to be headed to Thought Bubble! My first since Comixology Originals brought us in 2019 for the debut of LIEBESTRASSE. Tim Fish and I debuted LIEBESTRASSE in 2018 at the show as a 12-page full-COLOUR zine (provided the brilliant Héctor Barros’s brushes and painting expertise!) Through our future editor, Will Dennis, we met Chip Mosher and the rest is… history!

Fortunately and unfortunately, history loops. Donald Trump was just elected for a second term. He was first elected when we started working on our story in 2016. The despair is the same… and worse. Our story is still relevant… and heartbreaking. Hate feels like it’s growing.

But we’re here to talk about love. Our love for each other. And our love is expressed through the things we tell each other: stories. Books and comics and graphic novels and cartoons and films and TV.

I’ve got a suitcase full of books for this festival. That I wrote! Paired with Tim and Héctor and Lucas and Anna and Giulio and Aditya and so many many others!!! And if you’re reading this you’re probably involved somehow too! You’ve supported my books or me or my friends in the comic industry.

While I haven’t figured out the exact thesis that’s the core of my new feature for this newsletter: “PROCESS PIECE.” I’m hoping to cover the behind-the-scenes stuff that isn’t always technical. The parts that separate us from AI… the parts that separate us from the bad guys… the human parts and the sparks and the abysses and the infinite possibilities.

I’m hoping to loop some friends and colleagues into the mix to get their perspectives as well… I think I fun way to think about work and craft is to hear other people’s process. And I’ve got two new writing projects front-of-mind that I want to document the pitching and ideation parts in a (hopefully) useful way for everyone reading this newsletter.

Let me know what you think in comments and emails! I would love to start a dialogue!