Hey guys, it's Scott.
It is Wednesday, November 27th, the day before Thanksgiving. I can't believe Thanksgiving is upon us. I have to go pick up all of our side dishes at Whole Foods in a bit. We're going to my parents in the city for Thanksgiving. My sister's coming up from Maryland. Can't wait to see everybody. And we're just taking it easy this year. It's been a long year. So much to be thankful for, which is sort of the theme of this post. But I didn't want to focus on the stuff that I've put out or that I've done work-wise. We have so much that I'm grateful to you guys for—the DC All In Initiative, the Absolute line, the Absolute Batman series…
…the books that we've been able to do with DSTLRY, Dark Horse, Comixology, on and on. But more than that, I wanted to talk about being thankful for the community of comics.
I was so inspired last time when we did our class, the Reinventing Superheroes one a couple weeks ago, with the attendance. There were more people in that class than there have been in a couple years. I put off doing the class for a few months, I feel bad. But it was so exciting to see how eager people are to break in, to learn the craft for whatever reason. I mean, my guess is that in stressful times like these all around, there's a desire to voice the things you're passionate about, to tell stories that mean something to you, to engage. And to think that that translates into an enthusiasm for being a part of this medium is so exciting to me. So we're going to do another class. We'll do one in a couple of weeks, mid-December. I'm going to keep it free for now, just for fun, just to invite as many people in as possible. I hope you enjoy it. We'll have a good time. I'll announce the topic in just a little bit. So I hope you'll show up and enjoy with us.
And so in the spirit of teaching, I wanted to kind of keep this post less about things I'm thankful for personally and talk more to you guys as aspiring creators out there about ways of thinking about comics as family, as community, as something to be grateful for. Because above all, for me, I mean, obviously I'm most grateful for my family, my friends, and comics is a really big part of that. So there's almost like, three levels, right? So if you're coming in and you're brand new, there's the family and community of comics itself, conventions and online communities and all of it. And the thing that I'd say is just that if you're new to it, welcome. Seek out people that are at the same level as you. It's always nice to reach out to people that are established if you're not. And most of us are happy to hear from you. But try and find people that are coming up with you. Try and find people that are your generation. Reach out, tell people that you like their work if it's brand new, if they're posting it online. Find people that are in your community that way. That's how I found Jeff Lemire and how I found James Tynion IV and people that came up that’re my generation. So when it comes to community as a whole in comics, if you're just breaking in, look for people that inspire you. Look for people who are good people. Look for people whose work you really feel a connection to and try and find those people and reach out to them because you won't be sorry. Those are my best friends in comics.
Secondly, community is fandom. I'm so grateful. I have a readership that I see at conventions. Some of them come up and they came up when they were five years old or six years old and now they're 20, which blows my mind, makes me feel very, very old, but also very grateful. And so as an aspiring creator, what I'd say to you is think of your fans as a community, as family as well. They're the people that are out there supporting you. They're the people that are reading your work. They might be critical of your work. They might love your work. But they're the people engaging with you that care about comics. And so whatever you can do around this time, but in general, to try and foster that relationship, this is where I do that. This is why I love doing this forum on Substack. Because it's my place to interact with you in a more intimate way that isn't social media that doesn't feel like it's in some toxic platform or whatever it is. But trying to think of fans, the people who are reading your work as your community, your family of people also, because they grow up with you too. I have people coming up to me being like, “I read this at this point in my life. Now I read this at this point in my life. I was married. I'm divorced, vice versa.” All this kind of stuff. And what you realize is that that fandom, they see you grow up too. They're there for you when things are hard.
You know, fans have come up to me when my son Quinn, he's five and a half now, like literally five and a half, I think, you know, this week. But when he was six months old, he had to have a major craniotomy. He had his skull fused too early. And we knew he was going to need it since he was a couple of months old and it was right before COVID. It was miserable. And fans were aware of this because I posted a picture of him pre-surgery, of him post-surgery. I posted very little about it. I didn't want it a big public thing. But I posted about it at one point when I felt like if anyone saw me around with him, he had stitches, it wasn't going to heal for a long time, all this kind of stuff. And the response was so warm and so supportive and so invigorating, honestly. Fans can be so much family, honestly. It's an amazing feeling.
So I just say, think of your readership and your fans as family as well, that you have to keep those relationships up. And lastly, your creative community that you work with, your editors, your creator friends. Like for me, I'm so grateful. It's why, you know, you hear me say brother Greg for Greg Capullo. You know, brother Jock, you know, sister Becky. And what it is, is when you make something with someone, if you're an aspiring creator, if you're a writer, let's say, the only way to make something important, in my opinion, or something special, is to put yourself on the page in some way. It doesn't mean it has to be autobiographical or about your life in any transparent way, but it's got to be things you're afraid of or hopeful about or excited about or curious about. It has to be something you care about. And to do that and write something that means something to you is so vulnerable. Like you're putting your heart out there in some corny way, but it's the truth. So you have a partner now that has to bring that to life and do the same thing through the visual aspect of it. And so you bond, you become close. And open yourself to that. Because you're sharing something really, really special. Again, as hokey as it sounds, it's true.
So what I'd say to you is like your co-creators become your family, your creative community that you may work with one day. The other creators in it become your family. You guys support each other. You tell each other the truth about the business, which places treat you well, which places don't. But I'm so grateful for that, too, because some of my best friends in the world these days are the people that I get to work with, writers, artists, all that stuff. And it's not just because we've sold books or we've done this, but because we've been through stuff emotionally together, both by making something that we care about and by having to defend those things. Also, just by being friends through ups and downs, deaths in the family, kids being born, sickness, all that stuff. So it's almost like three levels of community and family to be really grateful for right now.
Anyway, I'll keep it short. I know everyone has turkey to go eat and everything, but I'm so grateful to all you guys. I'm really, really just looking back on this year and I can't thank you enough for all the support. Here's to an even better 2025. I'll do another post next week. We'll do a class in two weeks. And yeah, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
S
P.S. Also, I'd be totally remiss if I didn't mention that the great people at
, one of our very good friends here on Substack, are running a Kickstarter right now that collects the entire three years' worth of great stories and things and the work that they've done over in that universe:
It's run by
and and there are amazing creators involved, so I hope you'll go check it out. I think it only has a few hours left, so please, please do that!
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