The still of mid-winter is as good a time as any to reflect on the past year. A few public moments of gratitude are appropriate after a year that was filled with its fair share of challenges. Although, as always, comics saw me through. 2022 was a busy year for this cartoonist.

I started in the spring as a College Professor, thanks to the support of Robert Algeo & Barbara Schulz, teaching Experimental Comics to a room full of comics hopefuls.

Being the center of attention is the last place I like to be—my all too ingrained distrust of authority extends to myself. Luckily, we all get the chances to grown and learn. A classroom is the intended arena to do so. Even in your 40’s.

Then, in August Minneapolis hosted the 4th Autoptic Festival. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to fully express my admiration for the cartoonists Alexander Mitchell, Peter Faecke, Kyle Harabedian and Robert Alego (again!) for their commitment, hard work and vision required to put on a comics festival like this. This is the second Autoptic Festival myself and this crew has organized, and I can get weepy when I think about it.

Autoptic means to “see with your own eyes” which I thought about a lot when on the festival day when one of my contact lenses ripped leaving me half blind. It didn’t keep me from noticing the room full of some of the best comic art in one place I’d seen in a long while. Particular highlights included Caroline Cash, Silver Sprocket, and Max Huffman. Although I probably missed half of what I should have seen. I’ve since moved on from the Autoptic board, but will mark my involvement as a personal high water mark.

In October, I hit the road towards Ohio and the Cartoonist Crossroad Columbus (CXC). I’d never exhibited at this show before, and was looking forward to exploring the city, remembering Tom Spurgeon, and connecting with cartoonists friends like M.S. Harkness and Emi Gennis.

A highlight was definitely visiting the Billy Ireland Museum and inspecting original artwork by the likes of William Boyd Watterson and Sparky Schulz. Inspired by their work, I concluded that moving forward, I ought to draw larger.

Finally, I produced 55 pages of comic art and printed a 24 page adventure story. All work that I am particularly proud of.

Getting better as an artist has been the only consistent goal I’ve ever had. How to continue the struggle this year is something I think about a lot. So while announcing your plans is the best way to attract the ire of bad luck, be sure I’ll be spending the rest of the winter (and year) edging towards something new. Something even better.