We believe that comics are a powerful way to shape how we perceive ourselves and the world. Comics can capture emotional realities, offering a profound way express feelings and experiences that are impossible to depict in words alone. Comics connect with readers, drawing new eyes to stories about politics, history, and identity. Comics are made around the world by people who want to share their ideas and dreams. In short, comics are crucial.
As cartoonists face down book bans, political censorship, and financial difficulty in publishing boundary-pushing work, it’s more important than ever to build a community of artists that is rooted in mutual support and enthusiasm.
Crucial Comix is all about skill-sharing, accessibility, flexibility, and experimentation. We are a small press that aims to be always evolving so we can be a relevant and reliable resource for artists. Our pitches are always open. Our classes are all offered sliding-scale. Our comics are all free to read. Each season, we welcome a cohort of volunteer editors to guide up-and-coming artists through the process of making a nonfiction comic.
Are you looking to make comics based on real life? You take a class, submit or pitch a comic, or hire Crucial artists and writers to work on your project. You can also hire us to come teach classes or workshops at your school, library, or workplace.
Are you an artist or writer who wants to get involved in our community? You’re welcome to join our mailing list to find out about upcoming events and fun stuff. Everyone who completes a workshop or class with Crucial is invited to join our private Discord. If you’re interested in becoming an editor for Crucial someday, consider taking our editing class.
Want to ask us a question about your particular situation? Feel free to email us at editors@crucialcomix.com. If you’re looking to submit a comic, check out our submission guidelines.
Want to send us a copy of your zines? You can upload a zine to our submissions form or drop them in the snail mail: Crucial Comix, PO Box 17253, Portland, OR 97217
Crucial Comix is invested in supporting new and emerging artists, so we are always open for submissions. To send in your comic for consideration, fill out our submission form. Our editorial team reviews new submissions once a month. You can submit a finished comic, including comics already published elsewhere (like on your Instagram or as a zine), or pitch a new comic that you have not yet created. If you work for a media outlet or institution and have a comic Crucial could republish or co-publish, feel free to get in touch with us about collaborating at editors@crucialcomix.com
Publisher
Sarah “Shay” Mirk (they/she) is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher. For six years, Shay was a contributing editor at comics publication The Nib, where projects she worked on won both Eisner and Ignatz awards. They are the author of several books, including Guantanamo Voices, an illustrated oral history of Guantanamo Bay prison. Her book on the craft of making nonfiction comics, Making Nonfiction Comics: A Field Guide to Graphic Narrative (co-written with Eleri Harris), will debut from Abrams ComicsArts in 2025. In 2024, Shay was the Applied Cartooning Fellow at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. She is white, nonbinary, and queer. You can follow Shay on Instagram @mirkdrop.
Editor
Audra McNamee (they/she) is a nonfiction cartoonist based in Oregon who makes comics on topics ranging from computer science to the history of Jell-O. Audra is currently working on comics about the neuroscience of psychedelics at the University of Oregon, and teaching comics classes at Portland Community College. Audra is also in charge of operations for the UO Science and Comics Initiative.
Audra’s comics have been featured in The Nib, the Oregon Quarterly, and UO’s comics magazine Art Ducko. You can follow them on Instagram @audmcname.
Are you thinking about embarking on a nonfiction comics project but could use some help? The artists at Crucial Comix have experience working with media outlets, academic researchers, local governments, and aspiring memoirists to create compelling nonfiction comics.
Here’s what we offer:
Classes and workshops. Do you want a comics or zine making workshop at your school, community center, office, or library? Check out all the classes we’ve offered in the past and get in touch to book a teacher to lead a workshop for your community. Most teachers are willing to offer two-to-three hour workshops or lectures on a topic they’ve taught a class on for Crucial.
Email us at editor@crucialcomix.com to inquire about a workshop.
Project consultation. If you want to create a nonfiction comic, but aren’t sure where to start, our editors can meet with you one-on-one to consult on your project. We’ll talk with you about what you want to create and offer practical guidance on developing a budget, thinking about your audience and distribution, and creating a realistic timeline. We offer an hour-long consultation, which includes reading any materials you’ve already put together, for $200. We offer a 50% discount to projects led by people of color and projects based in the Global South. Email us at editor@crucialcomix.com to arrange a consultation.
Connections to artists and writers. Do you have a project in mind but you need to find an artist? Or you’re a researcher with a pile of material and need to work with an experienced comics writer to shape it into a script? We’re hoping to link up artists and writers with people who will pay for their work. Fill out our “hire an artist” form and we’ll arrange a time to talk one-on-one with you about your project, then connect you with an artist or writer who you can hire directly. Only fill out this form if you have a budget. Do not ask artists or writers to work for free.
Our business model is simple: Fund comics classes that fund the creation of new comics. All of our classes are online, so we don’t pay for big overhead costs like traditional educational institutions. When people sign up for our classes, the money is split between the teacher and Crucial. We put the money back into the press to pay for things like new comics, zine printing, and editor honorariums.
In Fall 2024, we are offering a reprint rate of $100 for previously published comics and between $100-450 for original comics. All income from classes is split, with teachers making 75% of the income from each class and Crucial keeping 25%.
To make them affordable, all of our classes and workshops are offered at a sliding scale cost.
Supporter - This payment level pitches in a little extra toward the teacher’s income and helps pay artists to create new comics at Crucial. Thanks for your support!
Standard - This is the basic rate for the class, which covers our costs.
Discount - We want people of all income levels in our classes, so choose this rate if you paying the standard rate is a stretch for you.
We set aside three spots in each class to be offered for free to people who would find it a hardship to pay the discount rate for any reason. These free spots are first-come, first-serve. If you would like to take a class for free, please send us a short email (at editor@crucialcomix.com) about yourself, what class you would like to take, and why. If a free spot is still available, we’ll send you a discount code to register for free!
Our 2024 comics are funded in part by the Perrault Family. Thank you!
We are committed to financial transparency—we will publish our annual budget below starting in January 2025.
Web design by Audra and Shay | Photos on this page by Jamie Thrower | Crucial is based in Portland, Oregon, which rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other indigenous groups.
