Substacks about comics! Part 1

A round-up of indie comics substacks, to the best of our knowledge

If there’s one thing you should know about me—Cara—I’m a nerd.

I love love love a nerdy project. Late last fall, thanks to a call put out by Nora Hickey and Amaris Ketcham ofAutobiographixabout how few female and nonbinary cartoonists are featured on Wikipedia, I learned to make Wikipedia articles. At night, I got cozy on my couch, reading about rad cartoonists. I started by dipping my toes in— I edited two Wikipedia articles about female cartoonists. Then I took the plunge—I created three new Wikipedia articles about female cartoonists.

Y’all, it was so fun. I read comics I’d never read before. I felt like I was doing something to give back to the comics community which brings me so much joy.

In true nerd fashion, the Wikipedia project inspired another project: an annotated bibliography, a list of substacks about comics. It’s not comprehensive. I focused on indie, autobio comics, rather than superhero comics. I classified comics-related substacks into 5 categories:

• comics substacks, where images > words

• substacks that function like comics anthologies

• substacks about making comics

• substacks about comics (reviews, interviews, etc.)

• and substacks that aren’t strictly comics—by cartoonists.

And then, because I love collaborations, I asked Nora Hickey and Amaris Ketcham if we could connect up for this project since Autobiographix is such a great resource about nonfiction and autobio comics on Substack.

This post is about comics substacks…the rest are forthcoming.

From an interview with Sarah Shaw at Autobiographix. Click here to read it!

Comics Substacks

• Sara Barkat draws The Sadbook Collections, a whimsical collection of comics using stick figures

• Lian Cho draws Am I doing this right? which I’d describe as delightful stories you didn’t know you wanted to read.

• Emily Bernstein draws TBH. Recently, she’s drawn a series about God. All I can say is yes, please, more.

• Sarah Shaw writes and draws Found Objects, which features comics, work in progress, and illustrations. Sarah’s comics are lovely. Read her interview with Autobiographix here.

• Marnie Galloway draws drool-worthy black and white line drawings on her newsletter Sketchy. Topics include everyday life stuff, teaching comics, life with kids, and diary comics.

• dasha tolstikova writes and draws Comfort Soup—doesn’t that name alone make you want to subscribe? Dasha shares small drawings that have a lively line.

• Mack draws Mack’s Comics Newsletter, with enjoyable small autobio comics.

• Sofia Warren draws a visual advice column called You’re doing great. I’m a fan.

• Liana Finck draws Liana’s newsletter which, oh man, check out that line! Yes!

• Steinbergdrawscartoonsis a newsletter with a simple line that I find delightful.

• Ana Krajinovic draws autobio comics about neurodivergence and shares work in progress at Ana’s Comics.

• Jett Allen draws daily diary comics and cool essay-comics at Jett Draws

• Brooke Barker’s weekly newsletter Never Not Nervous are slice-of-life comic stories. I love the subtle facial expressions.

• I haven’t seen a Drawing Links newsletter from Edith Zimmerman for a minute, so I’m not sure if it lives on—but check out the fun mix of everyday life comics and speculative fiction-type comics that she’s got.

• Tara Black draws Tara Comics, with animal-characters that are so expressive.

• Nidhi Chanani draws Everyday Love Art, sharing her thumbnails for her work in progress, and enjoyable New Yorker rejections, amongst other comics.

• Grant Snider draws comics at Incidental comics. I’m a fan of how he draws arms.

• Haley Weaver draws Haleywrotethis— comics featuring a cute heart.

• Kat Schneider draws Pretend I never sent this to you—omg that title though—autobio comics about feelings and inner life with lovely color.

• Alisa draws Snugglebugg comics—autobio story comics that are sweet.

• Jason McBride draws WeirdoPoetry. Yay for poetry comics!

• ND Stevensondraws I’m fine I’m fine, a newsletter with drawings that have such a lively line.

• Betje draws Betje’s comics, which are fun slice-of-life comics and also useful comics about climate change. Read her interview with Autobiographix here.

• Mary Catherine Starr draws MomLife Comics: This is Personal, which I’m gonna say, if you know mom life, you know.

• Margreet de Heer draws Margreets’s Comics, often amusing autobio stories.

• Lilah Hixson draws Comics by Lilah, autobio comics about all sorts of interesting topics.

• Trish Tails draws daily diary comics at DishKitty. I love the soft colors.

• Molly Knox Ostertag draws In the telling. There’s a useful series of “how to make a graphic novel” posts and recent comics work that is in progress.

• Kristin Missile Comics draws Kristin Missile Comics which are delightful slice of life comics.

• Nolan Green draws of sound and fury—daily autobio funny drawings.

• Audry draws Audry without an e—3-panel autobio comics and omg, that line is satisfying.

• C. Clyde draws Created by Clyde which includes a psychological comic called Processing as well as a comic called STEPPERS about political resistance.

• David Milgrim draws One Comic At A Time which are lovely comics about being a human and mental health.

• Shit for Breakfast is drawn by E. Sjule—it’s a mix of comics, including autobio comics, and musings on the creative life, with some recent comics about postpartum life.

• Maddy Buck draws Maddy, not Mommy—autobio comics, often about parenthood.

• Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell draws Cartoons by Hilary—autobio comics with a great line.

• Mark Luetke draws DoPHS, with comics and sketches. I love his self-portrait.

• Roseanne Thorne draws Uncouth Comics, an assortment of indie comics which include a no-touch sanitary smart trash can developing a will of its own and another about mutinous cats staging an uprising.

If I’ve missed someone—let me know! I’m happy to add more.

I’ll post a complete compendium so that all the substacks are in one place if it’s possible given Substack newsletter size limits.

Next up! An annotated bibliography with the next four categories of comics-related substacks: substacks that function like comics anthologies; substacks about making comics; substacks about comics (reviews, interviews, etc.); substacks that aren’t strictly comics—by cartoonists.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading some new comics!