The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘Trump Memorial Crater’ Edition

Time for another round of the bits of news you might have missed from the world of comics in the last seven days – it’s The Sunday Spotlight…

Support for those affected in the California wildfires…

The wildfires have raged through California and devastated communities and destroyed peoples’ lives. It’s a terrible tragedy and you should, of course, do what you can to support those affected, whether it’s those who’ve lost people or those who’ve lost their homes,.

Hyperallergic have an updating list of reseources and fundraisers for the artistic community in California. But there are two specific comics initiatives I’ve seen to help as well.

First, there’s the announcement by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC) that Dav Pilkey, Forefront Books, Ingram Content Group, Macmillan Publishers, and Mad Cave Studios have come together to provide match funding up to $45,000 to provide essential help and support for comic stores and their employees who’ve been affected by the fires.

Then there’s something very specific, a Go Fund Me for Steve Seagle and his family, comics writer. Thankfully, Steve and his family made it out safely but lost everything (with a horrifyingly complete list of a life’s collecting here from Steve). Steve’s social media also features a growing number of posts of their gratitude to those helping in whatever way they can.

Go support any of the initiatives to help those in need. Be kind. Because we could all find ourselves in need and the way we respond is what makes us better.

What could Trump’s promised tariffs mean for the comics industry? (Short answer – chaos.)…

Well, we’ve had a few days of the new Trump US regime. There are many things happening. Many, many things. One of the things Trump had talked about, was the prospect of tariffs imposed on other countries to import goods into America. Whilst most commentaries focus on gas, essentials, food, there’s a far-reaching aspect of the possible tariffs that impact comics.

Gina Gagliano at the Comics Journal has put together a really important piece on the possible impact of those tariffs on the comics industry – What will potential tariffs mean for comics publishers in 2025? ‘We’ll likely have less customers’.

She talks to various comic publishers and, long story short, it’s not a good thing for comics at all. Essential reading for anyone interested in the industry. Here’s a few selected quotes from Gagliano’s piece…

‘The graphic novels from U.S.-based publishers that we see on the shelves in this country’s comics stores, bookstores, and libraries are printed all around the world. So when the incoming Trump administration announced a plan to raise tariffs across the board – including raising tariffs on books printed in China from the current 7.5% rate to 100% – publishers took notice.’

‘“I just know for our odd business, there’s no manufacturing capacity to do books like these in America, and that capacity could not be easily rebuilt. It’s less about labor costs than the machines and expertise just not existing to do high end book publishing,” said Josh O’Neill, publisher of Beehive Books. “I read somewhere that there hasn’t been a new paper mill built in the U.S. in something like 35 years, and that the number of existing paper mills is a small fraction of U.S. printing’s 20th-century heyday. I wish there was an infrastructure here that tariffs would kickstart, but there just isn’t,” Reynolds said. “It’s not like there are paper mills and printing presses just waiting to have the lights turned back on. Even if the tariffs spurred a long term investment in paper and printing, with new mills and presses being built, it would take years and a lot of publishers may well go out of business before that bears fruit. It could be quite disastrous.”’

‘An acquisitions editor who spoke to me anonymously told me, “If the tariffs are enacted as currently indicated, they will definitely affect my criteria for selecting comics to acquire. I only print in China when it comes to big or long comics because it would otherwise be cost prohibitive for a smaller publisher like mine. Unfortunately, that means I will be less able to push the comics medium to the degree that I have, and it’ll be much harder to stand out in a crowded field of big-money players. I suppose that’s sort of the point with this coming administration: to make things harder for everyone but the moneyed elite.”’

Women Write About Comics’ Publisher Kate Tanski talks temporary shutdown and restructuring…

WWAC (Wuh-whack) does exactly what it says – Women Write About Comics. Over their history, hundreds of women and nonbinary writers have had their work published at the site. And so much of it is really good, giving us all new takes, new persepctives, essential viewpoints on the medium and the industry.

Sadly, WWAC publisher Kate Tanski announced recently that the site will soon be temporarily shutting down. Thankfully, it will be only temporary, as the organisation restructures towards launching again as a nonprofit.

Here’s just some of what Tanski sai – go here to read the announcement in full.

‘The editorial board and I are united in the need to temporarily shut down WWAC in order to pause, reflect, and plan for radical change…

‘When WWAC does reopen its doors, it will be in a radically different form as a non-profit organization. What that organization might look like is still uncertain, but the editors and I are committed to only reopening the site if we can create a sustainable paid model for contributors.

‘It’s been quite a ride. I don’t know when WWAC will be back, but I want to say thank you to everyone who has been a WWAC Patreon and kept WWAC going in the past few years. You’ve donated thousands of dollars at a time when every dollar matters. Supporting the arts is a luxury that few of us can truly afford. Thank you for choosing to spend some of those dollars supporting WWAC and its mission. We hope to see you all again soon.’

The 2024 Broken Frontier awards…

Andy Oliver and the team at Broken Frontier are doing great things in promoting all sorts of comics, but particularly highlighting comics from self-publishers, micro-publishers, and the fringes of comicdom. It’s always a great, great read. Go bookmark and read it now.

Well, right now we have the 2024 Broken Frontier Awards, with the winners announced recently. Shortlists for the 15 categories were compiled by the BF team and opened to public voting. The overall winners were then picked with an equal 50-50 consideration of the comic community’s votes and an extended selection of the BF team.

Amongst the winners, we have two new recipients of the BF Hall of Fame Award – publisher Emma Hayley of SelfMadeHero, and the San Francisco-based publishers Silver Sprocket. The best writer award went to Marjorie Liu (Monstress, Image Comics), with Anna Readman (a great pick for her own comics and work at 2000 AD/Rebellion) scooping best artist. Breakout talent went to Mollie Ray for Giant (Faber), best periodical went to PeePee Poo Poo by Caroline Cash (Silver Sprocket), best Graphic Novel was won by Aimee de Jongh for Lord of the Flies (Faber), with best Graphic Non-Fiction going to Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race and Voting Rights in the U.S. by Caitlin Cass (Fantagraphics Books).

 

Lakes International Comics Festival presents Between the Lines #4 and British Comics Now…

The Lakes International Comics Festival (LICAF) may not be happening until 26-28 September 2025, but that doesn’t mean they’re all quiet on things. There’s various initiatives happening through the year, including support for the Comics Laureate, Bobby Joseph, and there’s the British Comics Now initiative, designed to promote British comics on the world stage.

As part of the British Comics Now initiative, LICAF has been invited by the Comic Art Museum in Brussels to run a British Comics Now weekend, taking place from 17th October – 19th October 2025, highlighting Brit comics all weekend. Essentially, lots of opportunities to get books before Belgian and Francophone publishers, and for networking with each other as well as with a wider group of creators, the Museum team, and other partners.

So, LICAF is looking for four creators who can offer workshops (any age group), who can draw live, participate in discussions, run masterclasses (on any subject) and/or offer a presentation or activity which is novel and quirky. Travel, accommodation (four nights) and subsistence will be paid for.

There’s also plans to make a British Comics Now Catalogue, to be promoted between October 2025 and September 2026: showcasing work by British creators and targeted at overseas publishers, festival directors, and other key players in the comics industry.

The deadline for applications for both elements is 21st February 2025, 5.00pm GMT, with decisions communicated to all applicants by 28th March 2025. You can find applications for each opportunity to download now from the Lakes International Comic Art Festival web site here.

Finally, there’s the continuing publication of Between The Lines, the LICAF digital comics magazine, of which issue 4 is available (free) right now from here.

Here’s what they say about it:

‘This new issue leads with an interview with our newest Festival Patron and ace comic creator Lucy Sullivan, and includes chats with Mohammad Sabaaneh, who has a new book out soon about the war in Gaza called 30 Seconds from Gaza; and Carol Adlam about her comics project, The Russian Detective. Plus we have features on Filipino Comics, and the graphic novel, Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes – and more!’

You can also get hold of the three previous issues on issue – Issue 1, Issue 2, Issue 3.

RIP David Lynch – creator of The Angriest Dog In The World…

We lost David Lynch, filmmaker and genius, this week, dying at 78 on 15 January. And although Lynch may well have done many incredible things in the world of movies and TV, but let’s celebrate the man’s life here for his comic strip, uniquely Lynchian, The Angriest Dog In The World.

Lynch made the strip between 1983 and 1992, originally conceived by him in the early 70s. Each strip starts eaxtly the same, with the introductory words ‘The dog who is so angry he cannot move. He cannot eat. He cannot sleep. He can just barely growl. Bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis.’ After this, each strip has the exact same four panels of artwork, with Lynch’s words the only things that changed. Very David Lynch, well worth taking a look at.

You can find more examples here.

More new book news – Darryl Cunningham to explore the Republican/MAGA/broligarch hierarchy…

Darryl Cunningham‘s work has always been excellent, but his comics journalism work is just superb. Most recently we had the news that his Elon Musk biography, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, previously published in French, would finally be getting a US/English-language edition.

Now he’s got a new book coming, currently in the stages of being put together. It’s described by Cunningham as ‘a book of biographies of the key people who surround Trump and are at the top of the Republican/MAGA/broligarch hierarchy. Some of these people will have roles in new administration, but others like Steve Bannon although no longer in the inner circle, remain powerful and influential figures in the US political scene.’

Here’s the first three pages of yet another book we’ll be telling you more about…