January 2, 2025

001: Off We Go!

Hello, reader! Happy New Year! Thank you for checking out my newsletter!

Like most people, I spend the holiday break reflecting on the year before. But unlike most people, when I do this, I usually panic. For the first five years of my career, I would think, “This is the peak! It’s all downhill from here!” Then, for the next five years, I thought “I spent all year at my desk! I hate it!” The five years after were a healthy mix of the two--bouncing between recovering from burnout, and fear of becoming irrelevant--but with enough self-awareness to stay out of the abyss, and to be a better attendee at holiday gatherings. But this year, I am at peace. My goal for 2024 was to do less work, and to do better work at that. Quality over quantity! I wanted to step up my game and try new things--not just to stave off said feelings of irrelevancy, but also to cure my professional boredom. I can safely say I’ve done that. The anxious voice of irrelevance is silent, and I look back at the year’s work with a great deal of pride. I learned new skills, rose to new creative challenges, and still hit my deadlines. Good job, Clayton! Keep up the good work.

Now, as I begin Year 16 of lettering, in addition to trying even more new things at work, my focus is on…focus. Social media, specifically. I don’t like it very much. My feeds are a massive time-suck that leaves me either full of dread or mentally sugar crashed. That’s my dirty little secret (in fact, that’s everyone’s dirty little secret). Though I recognize the benefits of having a social media presence (especially if I want to do something besides lettering one day), I was happiest last year when I wasn’t reading my feeds, and I want more of that in 2025. Even though I just joined Bluesky and crossed 3,000 followers on Instagram, I’d like to reduce the amount of time I spend with it all. The only way to keep my brain clean is to keep the feeds as far away as possible. Still, I’d like to stay in touch with you lovely followers, because I’ve yet to meet a bad apple among you. I guess that’s the benefit of having a job that most people don’t know is a thing--trolls and haters barely know I exist. Yes, I’ll still be posting on Bluesky and Instagram, but I’ll be far less interactive.

And so, a newsletter! The current plan is to release one of these on the first day of every month. Here’s what each edition will include:

• A sound effect of the month!

• A list of the month’s releases with my name in them!

• Q&A! I’ll answer some questions from you lovely followers. Ask whatever questions you like* in the comments section! Here’s where we can interact!

• Lettering tips! I’ll share some tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years--ranging from the craft of lettering itself to time management to staying alive in this whackadoodle industry. I have a few months’ worth of topics lined up already, but if you’re curious about any particular subject, feel free to ask about it in the Q&A link above, and I’ll gladly answer it here!

• Shoutouts! If friends of mine are doing something cool or have received a well-deserved lauding, I’ll shout it out here. 

• Recommendations! I’ll recommend one comics thing (current or vintage), and one non-comics thing (a book, show, album, podcast--whatever it is I’m enjoying).

• And, finally, a cat photo!

Let’s begin!

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Sound Effect of the Month:

A lovely WHOOSH! This little hand-drawn number comes from Caitlin Yarsky’s Living Hell #3 (on sale February 5th). Most of the time, Caitlin does the sound effects herself, and this is my attempt to do what she would have done. Generally, if an artist does their own sound effects, most of us letterers will try to match their style, so the reader isn’t pulled out of the story. I think this one turned out pretty well. I’m not really a fan of broken strokes, but they work well with her boho style of art (even if she doesn’t break up her lines too much).

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Stuff With My Name In It (January 2025):

1/1/25:

• Batman #156

• Birds of Prey #17

• Daredevil #17

• Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky Omnibus vol. 2

1/6/25:

• Astonishing X-Men Infinity #6

1/8/25:

• Absolute Batman #4

• All-New Venom #2

• Birds of Prey vol. 2: Worlds Without End TPB

• Living Hell #2

• Star Trek: Defiant #22

• Uncanny X-Men #8

• What If…? Galactus Transformed Gambit? #1

1/15/25:

• Alien: Paradiso #2

• Batman and Robin: Year One #4

• FML #3

• Jenny Sparks #6

• Star Trek: Lower Decks #3

• What If…? Galactus Transformed Moon Knight? #1

• Wonder Woman #17

1/20/25:

• Astonishing X-Men Infinity #7

1/22/25:

• Alien: Black, White & Blood Treasury Edition

• Black Canary: Best of the Best #3

• Mystique #4

• Uncanny X-Men #9

• Star Trek #28

• X-Men: Xavier’s Secret #1

1/27/25:

• Astonishing X-Men Infinity #8

1/29/25:

• The Power Fantasy vol. 1: The Superpowers TPB

• Star Trek: Defiant #23

• What If…? Galactus Transformed Spider-Gwen? #1

• X-Men #10

• X-Men: Reign of X by Jonathan Hickman vol. 2 TPB

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Shoutouts:

• Lettering comrades Becca Carey and Ariana Maher won Best Letterer on CBR and ComicBook.com, respectively! Shoutout to them! Becca also got one hell of a writeup on SKTCHD (I got a writeup there too, but the Shoutout section isn’t about me).

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Recommendations:

• Comic: This month, I’m recommending my favorite current series, Drifting Dragons--an ongoing Miyazaki-inspired fantasy/cooking manga about the crew of an airship that hunts and butchers dragons. True fact: I made the mistake of recommending D.D. to my vegetarian friends, and they hated it. If you can harden your stomach (and soul), it’s a fantastic story with some of the best world-building in comics today. Volume #16 is the most recent, and it’s the best one yet. D.D.’s been consistently good throughout its run, but this volume rose above the rest in finally telling the backstory of Takita, the kid sister of the crew and de facto main character. 

• Non-comic: All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks. I’m about [checks watch] forty years late to the bell hooks party, and given how radical her writing still feels today, I guess the rest of the world is, too. Join the party, fellow humans! The water’s fine! It’s a riveting collection of essays about…pretty much everything we as a people get wrong about the concept of love. Not just romantic love, either. There’s also a great deal in there about healing division and rejecting the worship of death, which I’m still wrapping my head around. But hey, maybe you’re smarter than me and you’ll get it the first time.

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And finally, the cat photo:

These are my cats--Emma and Bronhomme. Emma is the one with the fully visible face, and Bronhomme’s the one with the fully visible spot. Make no mistake, these two hate each other. But Bronhomme loves sniffing Emma’s butt, and this is the only way he can do that without getting a cat punch in the face.

Thanks for reading! See you in a month!

-Clayton

Bluesky • Instagram • Store

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*No more questions about apples. This means you, Ryan Does.