» “Museum Ghosts” by Sadie Badour: Working in a small museum, I'm not haunted by ghosts. I'm haunted by the people who worked here before me.

» “Good Job” by Weimanny: Learning to celebrate myself while struggling with debilitating chronic symptoms.

» “The Third Bronze” by Cee Lavery: The mystery of a missing Italian sculpture makes me think about the unknowns of my own family history.

✨ All of our classes and workshops are online and sliding scale.✨

» Make Your Dang Comic with Kane Lynch: Whether you’re new to making comics or an experienced illustrator looking to push yourself through an artistic block, this eight-week-long beginner-friendly class will kickstart your creativity and put you on track to create a finished comic you’ll be proud of. July 7 – August 25, on Tuesdays from 4pm-6pmPST/7pm-9pm EST

» STARTS THIS WEEK → Sexy Comics for Shy People with Joaquin Golez: Our most popular class of 2025 is back, baby! This five-week class is all about writing and drawing erotic stories… even if the thought makes you blush. Celebrate Pride month by drawing steamy queer-and-trans-centric art! Saturdays May 23 – June 20th from 10am-12pm PST / 1pm-3pm EST

Upcoming One-Off Workshops 

» Fundamentals of Digital Coloring: Learn color theory and tricks of the trade for handling color in comics in this two-hour workshop taught by professional colorist Xenon Honchar. Thursday May 28th at 4-6pm PST / 7-9pm EST

» Magical Realism in Comics: Ignatz award-winning artist Sanika Phawde delves into using magic to tell real-life stories—sometimes the emotional truth of a story can feel too monumental to communicate through realism.  Thursday, June 4th from 4pm-6pm PST / 7pm-9pm EST

» Teaching comics - How to design your own workshop: Are you interested in running a comics class at your local library, community center, or online? Well, sign up for this workshop about designing a workshop, facilitated by artist Sarah Maloney!  Monday, June 8 at 4pm-6pm PST/7pm-9pm EST

» EUROPEAN TIME ZONE → Queer Monster Lab: Draw new queer monsters and villains in this two-hour workshop taught by Berlin-based artist HX. From Jafar to Scar, Frank-N-Further to Ursula, Poison Ivy to Mystique, our heroes, anti-heroes, and beloved pop culture queer villains (AKA our queer childhood crushes) are finally getting company. Thursday, June 11th at 9am PST/12pm EST/6pm CET

→ Check out all our upcoming classes

Eisner-Nominated Nonfiction Comics!

The Eisners are like the Oscars of the comics industry and the 2026 nominees just dropped! Here are some highlights of just some of the nonfiction works nominated for Eisner awards. 

• Come Out and Play: The Queer Sports Project is an anthology of 30 stories about LGBTQ people in sports, which is especially relevant this year as right-wing politicians push to ban trans people from sports teams. It’s nominated for best anthology and for best short story for a comic by former NFL player R.K. Russell. 

• “trAPPed” by Anand RK, Suparna Sharma, and Natalie Obiko PearsonPearson is an evocative comic telling the story of an Indian woman placed under “digital arrest.” It won the Pulitzer Prize for illustrated reporting this year (!!!) and is also up for the Eisner for best short story. 

• Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance by Ben Passmore skillfully approaches the powerful histories with a playfulness that feels real and intimate. Passmore travels back in time to talk with (and get roasted by) Black revolutionaries and leaders. It’s nominated for best reality-based work.

• Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond showcases scandal, society, and sisterhood in a touching graphic biography of the six Mitford sisters. It chronicles their relationships with one another and with the crumbling influence of high society in the early 20th century, as well as the sisters' infamous social connections to famed fascists and communists alike. It’s nominated for best reality-based work. 

• Talking to My Father’s Ghost: An Almost True Story by Alex Krokus is a graphic memoir in a similar vein to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home—both authors use humor to explore the complexities of grieving a recently deceased parent. The book follows Alex and his father’s ghost over the course of a year, as Alex tries to work through his grief, understand his relationship with his father, and figure out how to say goodbye. It’s nominated this year for best graphic memoir.

• How Comics Are Made by Glenn Fleishman: This interesting history of how comics have been drawn, printed, and published from the 1890s to today will be engrossing for any comics history nerd. It’s nominated for best comics-related book. 

• And of course… Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide for Graphic Narrative by Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk: The new book on the craft of making nonfiction comics co-authored by Crucial Comix publisher Shay is up for best comics-related book! Yay! 

Crucial is tabling at a couple rad comics fests this June! These festivals are free and are a great way to connect with artists. Catch us here:

🍁 Toronto, Canada: TCAF on Saturday/Sunday, June 6th and 7th, 10am-5pm

🦫 Portland, Oregon: Books With Pictures Con on Saturday, June 13th, 11am-7pm

» Mini-grants to comics creators: The comics advocacy group is giving away 20 $500 grants to comics creators (including editors, colorists, and collaborators) who need additional support in making comics. The deadline to apply is June 7th, so get in there! 

» Are you a New England-based graphic novelist? The Boston Public Library is accepting applications for its Alan Andres Writer-In-Residence program! All types of writers are welcome, including graphic novelists, but your audience needs to be young readers. The deadline is Friday, June 5 to apply for this $70,000 stipend and one-year residency program. 

» Do you want to make ‘internet-first’ or webcomics? For the second year ever, The Cartoonist Cooperative is hosting a Digital Comics Residency, offering $1000 and a “hosted virtual canvas” for those interested in launching a webcomic pilot or publishing a new comic. Submissions open on May 31st and are open until June 30th.

» Want to write about comics? The online comics literary magazine SOLRAD is looking for people to write critical analysis, essays, and interviews about comics. They pay $100 an article. Check out all the details here!  

» A new award for Asian cartoonists: The Monsoon Award is the first independent, artist-led prize dedicated to honoring excellence across Asian comics. They’re open to creators across Asia and the global Asian diaspora. The deadline to send in work to be considered for the prize is May 31st! 

This newsletter was written by Shay Mirk with help from our summer interns Chai Turner and Skye Zufelt. Crucial Comix is supported in part by our backers on Patreon and by the Sequential Artists Workshop.