This is the wrap-up I couldn’t bring myself to finish last year. Just… couldn’t. Struggling a bit still, but I feel like if I don’t do it, it’s one of the things that won’t come back. So here goes.
A snap portrait of this EIC’s creative life for the last two years:
Stared deep into 2020, and 2020 stared back. Blinked. Had to. Canceled the anthology and dug a few Kickstarter foxholes to wait out the war. Spent 2021, sometimes up, sometimes down, but mostly just kind of waiting for the pandemic to be over (and trying to stay above water at my “day job” which had become a take-over-my-whole-life-or-it-won’t-be-there job.) Regarding RSM, I was happy that the things built over the years were still there, happy there were still projects to work on, but gradually falling further behind. About mid-year when the conventions had come back, I found myself staring at a wall–literally. Artist alley table paid for, even had a panel scheduled, show bags packed, keys in hand…I stared at a pattern in the bricks for about fifteen minutes and I finally admitted to myself I wasn’t getting in my car. (I did make it to one show before calling it for the year—it felt both strange and great to be there. But now this new variant and I just do not know when that will be happening again.) The rest of my life has been EVERYTHING: very full and all-consuming. Navigating the pandemic and the emotional toll of getting through while trying to take care of my family and myself hasn’t left much room for more in my emotional heart. The sacrifice has been writing and Red Stylo. And so while I’m very proud of the bits RSM has done, 2022 feels like starting over from the beginning, if not from behind.
Which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, I guess. We’re all whoa-K (I hope.) As a good friend pointed out to me, yeah we might be starting over, but we know more now and hopefully won’t make the same mistakes. If the slate could be clear, what then?
What, indeed?
NINJA BEAR and Crossing, i.e. Thank you, Kickstarter
Whatever the future holds for the platform or the various conflict, I have to begin by expressing profound gratitude to the backers who support projects and the individual people at Kickstarter who cheer and help behind the scenes. The platform has connected us to a world of support, and I’m grateful for what it has meant for our various titles over the years, especially NINJA BEAR and CROSSING. We happened to launch a NINJA BEAR Vol 1 campaign in 2020 the very first week of lockdown in the US, and not only did the backers hang in with us, but the company extended our campaign clock and nursed us through a harrowing, emotional roller coaster to funded. Later in the year, I was extremely proud that CROSSING #5 reached a personal best for single issue.
We were back this year with NINJA BEAR #3 and Action Plush 2.0, and despite some shipping delays from that have postponed fulfillment before we’re clear to launch of our next campaign for CROSSING #6, the plan is to continue on Kickstarter…provided I can figure out what the hell a blockchain is/does/means.
ELLEN’S ADVENTURES AT THE SHADOWLAND, HOLIDAYS ON PARADE
A big thank you and congratulations to R. Robert Pollack for rallying this year with a special edition of holiday posters from his comic series and homage to yesteryear, Ellen’s Adventures at the Shadowland: Holidays on Parade. RSM was proud to help put this collection together, and it was especially poignant to read Robert’s own retrospective about his life and artistic career in New York.
Special Thanks
For various and sundry, my love and thanks to the following people for everything you’ve done for RSM (and me!) these last two years:
Mark Mullaney, James McGee, Ryan Holliday, Tyler McPhail (Grand Geek Gathering), Kyle Northrop (The EXP,) Jen King (Space Cadets Collection,) Lys Fulda (Sphynx,) Nick Dedual (Odd Truth Inc.,)Onrie Kompan, Jorge Medina (Catch da Craze Podcast,) Amanda Gilliam (AGP Presents,) Eric Suggs (Artway Alliance,) Jeff Ryder (Cloudwrangler Comics), Andy Schmidt (Comics Experience,) Greg Brignola, Ken Loyd (Keness.com,) Ramon Gil (Scifies,) Russell Nohelty (Wannabe Press.)
You can’t know who will touch your life or make it better just for their having existed. All of the people I thanked above are pretty great, and I’m lucky to have them in my life. Of those no longer with us, one I knew only through others though I respected him greatly and he connected me to projects I cherish and enjoyed with good friends, two I was very lucky to know well and spend happy times. In loving memory: Joe Sinnott, Charles Kibby, Douglas Hayes.
There’s No Bookmark
And this pandemic just keeps going. With any luck, so do we. My task in the New Year is to stop waiting for it to pass, stop holding my breath and begin to create again. Even if this terrible time does eventually end, I don’t like to wish for time to pass faster because I invariably find that I want to have some of it back.
And my slate is not empty, not really. My family is healthy, thanks to the miracles of science and vaccines. I adore my new nephew, though I don’t get to see him. I’m grateful for the close friends who’ve sustained me, for my husband David, my love, who makes my life better Every. Single. Day. I’m grateful to still be here, blinking in the harsh light, eyes UP and looking ahead.
For all the Red Stylo readers, backers, creators, colleagues I’m still so fortunate to share this life, I’m grateful, as ever, for YOU.
Happy New Year. May it be so,
Enrica Jang
December 28, 2021
