Hello hello, friends and good folk, and happy New Year!

New Year is my favorite holiday, and I always do my best to slow way down and take the time to appreciate the year that’s passed and prepare for the one we’re entering.

Let’s (pretend it’s not almost the end of February and) take a little time to reflect, shall we?

REFLECTING ON 2025

Let’s be honest— there was not enough art in 2025!! 😅

BUT — 2025 was filled with an incredible number of rewarding experiences, wonderful people, and fun projects that were worthwhile and interesting to do. I genuinely had such a good time last year, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to retain some of those rich elements this year.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

• I completed multiple scripts for several comics that I’m really proud of! I explored multiple genres and themes that are true to my heart.

• I started critique groups for comics with my fellow co-facilitators and honed my editing skills quite a lot.

• I also submitted my own work for critique frequently throughout the year and got lots of helpful feedback.

• I made lots of new, lovely friends! (I hope to spend more time with them all this year!)

• I participated in NIF last year as both a contributor of comics and events, as well as an organizer.

• I signed with an agent! One of my long term dreams met!

• I worked (however briefly) with Scholastic! Even though I didn’t land the job, I still did a great job and was asked to submit any future kidlit stuff I might create. That’s not nothing!

• I got to know my organizing needs better for my work— I gush to people a lot about Milanote, but it’s genuinely earned its praise from me lol.

• Events Committee really took off last year! We organized and hosted Summer Camp (now named Comix Camp), created a ton of new committee structure, added-then-lost-then-added a bunch of new members, and elected a Co-Chair to start this year. We held over 137 events last year, with well over 600 (likely over 700) attendees! That’s just incredible to me.

• I co-edited and -led the Anti-Censorship Comix Anthology, and I also contributed a comic to it that pushed me outside of my comfort zone in a good way.

• I completed and gifted two whole quilts that I hand-quilted (!!) and made with scrap fabrics, and I got started on a third.

• I read 106 comics! I always set a goal of 50 comics each year, and I’m always pleased to meet it. A lot of last year’s reading came from being on the Submissions Team for NIF, which was an incredible experience in and of itself!

• And finally— I took time off before burning out completely, and I took time to re-evaluate and adjust my boundaries for this year. And I think that’s pretty great!

I’m absolutely awed that I was able to do so much last year, especially knowing how bad my thyroid levels were the entire time. (They were real bad, y’all lol) I may not have accomplished everything I wanted to in 2025, but damn, that’s a lot to be proud of.

CHECK OUT MORE COOL 2025 STUFF ON THE BLOG —>

2026 PLANS

This year, I’m aiming to bring a better sense of balance to my work-life-volunteer routines, and I’ve created a simple challenge for myself that I’m calling the Baking Test.

The Baking Test comes down to this one question: Do I have enough time to bake one tasty treat each month?

If I do have enough time and energy to make at least one baked good (outside of my normal cooking), then I’m taking that as a good sign. If I’m baking once a month, that means I have enough time and energy for the occasional fun personal activity on top of my normal workload and volunteering, as well as keeping up with my personal life tasks.

If not, I’m going to take that as an indicator that something is out of whack and needs adjusting. Am I working too many late nights? Are my thyroid levels off? Have I put off personal time for volunteering too often? Am I juggling too many projects? What can I do to take some things off my plate?

(And this way, I also get more tasty treats at home! 😋)

With that in mind, here are three overall things I’m hoping to do this year!

• Finish more comics! I told my writers group during our first 2026 session last month that last year was the year of the comic scripts, and this is the year of the comic art!

• I want to make more art in general, too! I’m working hard on letting go of the need for things to “look right” and focusing more on making things look interesting. Does this piece have movement and energy?

• Do more hobbies! I have a lot of things I enjoy doing that I just didn’t have time or energy for last year at all, and now that my thyroid is back up and running and now that we’ve boosted our Events Committee numbers, I’ll have more of both to spend on making other things, too.

There are, of course, many, many other things I’d like to do this year, but that’s a 50,000 word essay no one needs lol

What are you hoping to do this year? Do you like making resolutions or setting goals? I love doing it— I think the thrill of setting them must be what gamers feel like when they accept a quest! 😆

IN THE STUDIO

As part of my promise to myself to make more and to put less pressure on myself, here is the first comic of the year! A (very) mini comic about second chances, about trying even when it’s messy and awkward, and about the effort being worth it.

I made this thinking about a few different things, some of which are private for now, but the one thing I want to share is that the “for you” part is also for yourself— for myself. I’m willing to do this work for me.

And I hope you’ll do things that you’ll be bad at at first, too 💖 You deserve to do things that are hard, messy, maybe even embarrassing as you figure them out because you deserve that process of learning and trying new things. You deserve the reward of putting effort into things you like and want to try, even if it doesn’t turn out perfect right away (or ever) or is something different than you planned for.

Let’s do more of that this year, yeah? For us?

heh heh They kinda look like little jumping spiders in that last spot, don’t they? lol

FEBRUARY EVENTS + ONGOINGS

Art by Kewpie | Layout by EarACorn

The Anti-Censorship Comix Anthology is officially live TODAY!! Part of our Anti-Censorship Comix Jam (ACJ), this anthology of fifteen new comics and illustrations and two essays on the subject of censorship is a response to recent censorship actions taken by payment processors, itch, and others.

The anthology is available now as a free download on the Co-op’s website, where you can interact safely using the content warnings we’ve provided as clickable links to navigate to the piece(s) you’d like to read. We’ve also included this feature in the anthology PDF. Additionally, we’ve provided a full transcript for anyone who uses a screen reader!

Viewer Discretion Is Advised: The Anthology's focus is on deliberately provocative works that include some topics that may be triggering for some folks. Take care of yourself when attending or reading the works, and feel free to step away and come back to it as needed!

Art by Hae-Joon Lee | @SemblanceOfVision

Co-op members are also invited to attend our Launch Party later today! We’ll be talking with the contributors and organizers about their experience with the Jam overall and about their own works in the anthology.

We’ll be recording this event and hope to upload it to the Co-op’s Youtube account later for public viewing on this important subject matter!

Viewer discretion is advised for this event, too! While we won’t be sharing any images on the screen in order to hopefully upload the recording to Youtube without it getting taken down, we’ll be encouraging frank discussion about topics that may be triggering. You’re welcome to step away from and return to the event as needed!

Art by Kwai

I’ll also be hosting the first Co-op Orientation of the year on February 28! If you’re a member and have ever been confused about something or curious about how to get more involved, this is a great event to join us for!

I’ll be presenting some helpful info about navigating Co-op spaces, and we’ll have some members of the Steering Committee around to help answer any questions you may have, too.

SEE ALL MY FEBRUARY 2026 EVENTS —>

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Okay, time for some important stuff of a different kind. Here are some places accepting donations and volunteers that I think are worth your time and consideration!

• A fundraiser for the family of Keith Porter Jr. who was killed by ICE on New Year’s Eve

• The Sameer Project for supporting Palestinians still facing genocide and dealing with harsh winter conditions

• Love Wins NYC for supporting queer and trans New Yorkers dealing with food insecurity

What are some ways you’re getting involved with your local community / organizing efforts?

COMMUNITY FEATURE

The vile misdeeds done and harm caused by ICE (throughout the decades) has been nothing short of infuriating to see. So many people are dead and have been disappeared by the state to fulfill some white supremacist assholes’ ethnic cleansing dreams, and it’s abhorrent.

It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of such monstrosities, but the community care that people have demonstrated in places such as Minneapolis continue to prove that we have the ability to fight back to protect as many of our neighbors as we can.

One of those community members and a fellow Co-op member, Trung Le Nguyen, has put out a call for cartoonists to put our skills to work in creating protest comics, documenting the harm caused and the resistance enacted by you and your community. There’s great power in visibly demonstrating to our oppressors and comrades alike the number of people who are committed to anti-fascist efforts.

The Co-op’s Editorial Committee has also published a collection of Ice Out comics by Cartoonist Cooperative members on the Journal if you’d like to see some of those in action.

For those who use a screen reader, the color used and mentioned in the call-for-comics graphic is HEX Code 6dc1e6 // RGB 109, 193, 230.

READ THE COMICS ON THE JOURNAL—>

RECENT READS + FAVORITES

The final comics of last year have been added to the Recent Reads 2025 post! You can check out all the comic titles I read last year, which includes a lot of mini comics online for free!

I’m not saying updating the final section of Recent Reads 2025 and starting Recent Reads 2026 was the only reason this newsletter that was supposed to go out on February 1 got delayed, but it is definitely one of them lol

Also, for all of our sakes, I left off a cookbook from this list called Our Irish Grannies’ Recipes. I love my Irish roots, but damn, there wasn’t a lick of seasoning in that book! 😂

READ RECENT READS 2025 —>

You can also now check out the first reads of the year, too, with Recent Reads 2026. I surpassed my annual goal of reading 50 comics last year, and I intend to do so again this year! Feeling off to a good start so far!

Do you have any recommendations for me this year that you think I’d enjoy? 👀 I’ve got some titles on my list that I’m excited to get to this year, but I’d love to hear your favorites! Send me a reply to this email letting me know, and I’ll see if I can’t get my hands on a copy through my library.

READ RECENT READS 2026 —>

And here are some of my favorite things from the past few weeks:

Drinking: aloe drink
Eating: collard greens and homemade alfredo sauce (not together 😬)
Watching: Season 7 of Abbott Elementary and Season 2 of The Pitt
Experiencing: being snowed in and the scent of pink hyacinth flowers on my desk
Doing: sewing— and preparing for a lot of sewing this year!

How about you? What have been some of your favorite things lately?

Hope this week is kind to you 💖 Thanks for reading!