The year 2025 was a good "growth" year for me as a person. In January I was sick most of the month, there was no productivity to lead the year because of illness. It really took the wind out of my sails for a bit. I became more physically active by February through the end of November. A big priority for me this year and moving forward is to gain strength, so I put a lot of focus on that personally. I took a break from crowdfunding this year, but am not against doing it again in the future when the timing is right.
I was asked to be speak at Culpeper Con my keynote was titled "How Comics Shape Minds and Health" and that was in March. We had a good time at Awesome Con in April and Joe presented the Awesome Con Short Film Festival with Astray Productions. In May I attended events for Cartoonists Rights and the Herblock Awards.
In July I entered a Jack White button design contest put on by @tmrcreativecollective. I won runner-up for "single button" category and they sent me a bunch of posters, a few buttons, stickers, and an enamel pin by Matthew Jacobson.
A highlight of the year for me was to be able to have a meet-and-greet experience with Benji and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte at a Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball game. I showed them an illustration I did of the band. It was motivating to hear their positive and encouraging words. I also got to take a photo with their mascots! That same week I entered Sloppy Mama's BBQ inaugural Pickle Party and won Best Pickle award! I even did some comic strips for Curls about the pickle contest, so I guess art imitated life in that instance.
Without knowing it at the time, we had the last Fairfax Comic Con at the Dulles Expo Center in August. The location will now become an IKEA and the convention is looking for a new location. In September my creative juices were flowing at Small Press Expo and I enjoyed being in a huge ballroom with so many talented creators.
New York Comic Con was an absolute blast this year. Reaffirming why it is the biggest show we do because it's simply an amazing place to be. The city. The food. The exhibits. I really enjoyed taking it all in. Plus the surprise of the year was meeting the wrestler and musician Real1 (formerly known as Enzo Amore) at the booth directly behind ours. Please read my NYCC 2025 recap because I covered a lot of the show aspects if you want to do a deeper dive. We actually got to visit NYC twice this year (Joe went a third time for work)!
Baltimore Comic-Con was memorable because we got to take part in the BCC Yearbook featuring Jeff Smith's Bone. It is delightful to have a piece in the yearbook with my Curls characters interacting with Bone characters. I was not able to talk to Jeff Smith at the show, but I did see him and his long line (I have met him a couple times before). It is really cool to see him honored and respected for all his hard work and achievements in the industry.
In the fall filmmaker Joe Carabeo released "Paul Pope: THB," a documentary on best-selling comic book revolutionary and creator Paul Pope. You can watch it on YouTube.
Cartoonists Draw Blood was revived this year with some new blood (see what I did there). The National Cartoonists Society Washington, DC chapter was represented by Colleen Doran, John Gallagher, Steve Artley, Joe Sutliff, Ruthi Postow, and myself. We drew for people who donated blood. Can you believe this was our 12th event with American Red Cross and NCS DC?
To close out the year, I recently won a contest hosted by Fairfax County Public Library for their new library cards releasing in mid-January as a regular library card, keychain, and bookmark. You can read more about the process on my newly created Substack and in the FFXnow article that came out a few days ago.
Here is the full list of our 2025 tour for comic conventions and appearances:
March 22 • CulpeperCon
April 4-6 • Awesome Con DC
May 18 • Spring Lot Con
June 28-29 • Tidewater Comicon
July 19 • Dog Days of Summer
August 23-24 • Fairfax Comic Con
September 13-14 • Small Press Expo
October 9-12 • New York Comic Con
October 17-19 • Baltimore Comic-Con
October 26 • Fall Lot Con
November 15 • Local Author Book Festival
November 22 • Cartoonists Draw Blood
We also went to a number of live wrestling events (in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District) and got to see the final John Cena match, which took place in Washington, DC. I participated in SCBWI events and am excited to learn from them. I also hope to build up the NCS DC chapter so we can do more. Curls Studio is looking forward to 2026 with a goal of creating more comics and storytelling!
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