Starting in 2020, I’ve been making a one-page comic at the start of each new year. I’ve only ever posted them on Twitter, but since I’m putting more focus on this website now, you can count on seeing them here every new year. I’m also including the previous 3 comics so you can see those—they do all reference each other.

Also sorry the first one is very scratchy, they do get better.

2020

Transcript

Date: 1 January 2020
1. [Francis asleep in bed.]
2. [Francis wakes up, sitting straight up].
FRANCIS: Ah!
3. FRANCIS [Pointing]: New decade! Let’s go!
4. FRANCIS [Getting out of bed]: The 20’s! We’re gonna halt climate change!
5. FRANCIS [Putting on pants]: 10 years from now we’ll be STAGGERED by the progress made!
6. [FRANCIS, fully dressed, looks out of a window, leaning against it. We view this from outside. Clouds and other buildings reflected on the window.]
FRANCIS: A long future for a young and vigorous human race!

2021

Transcript

1. [FRANCIS sleeping.]
2. [FRANCIS turns and opens his eyes.]
TEXT: Buh!
3. [FRANCIS sits up in bed.]
TEXT: New Year. Let’s go.
4. [FRANCIS putting pants on.]
TEXT: 9 years to midnight.
5. [FRANCIS putting on a t-shirt.]
TEXT: We can do this.
We can win.
In 9 years, we’ll be staggered.
6. [FRANCIS stares out the window, across a rooftop, to a tree with only a few dead leaves left. We see this in cross-section.]
TEXT: A long future for a young and vigorous human race, god damn it!
Signed FB, 1.1.21

2022

Transcript

1. [FRANCIS sleeping in bed.]
TEXT: Ugh.
2. [An alarm clock in foreground, a finger hitting a button on it.]
TEXT: It can’t go on like this.
3. [FRANCIS getting into a sweater, half-engulfed in it.]
TEXT: Can you stand it? Tell me how you can.
4. [FRANCIS with eyes squinted shut, hair messed up by the sweater he’s just pulled on.]
TEXT: It’s unlivable.
5. [FRANCIS’s hand reaches toward a coat hanging from a hook on the door.]
TEXT: Surely everyone is about to fucking snap.
6. [FRANCIS stands outside his front door, wearing a coat, beanie, mask, and glasses.]
TEXT: 8 years left.
7. TEXT [Written in sharpie, all caps, each word underlined three times.]: Fucking do something.
Signed FB, 11 January 2022

And now, here’s this year’s comic!

2023

Transcript

1. [FRANCIS lies in bed. one eye is visible, open.]
2. [FRANCIS, half-dressed, bends down to take a shirt out of a drawer.]
3. [FRANCIS steps down from his stoop, dressed and wearing a coat and beanie.]
4. [From a 1st-person POV, FRANCIS takes hold of an Indego bike by the handlebars, rolling it out of its dock.]
SFX: Beep Beep Beep
5. [This panel has no borders, and is twice the width of the others. FRANCIS, in profile, bikes down a road. in the background, rowhouses. Two of these have shops on the first floors, with awnings.]
6. [FRANCIS stands at a counter and points at an item on a menu.]
7. [In 1st-person POV, FRANCIS reads a book at a countertop facing large windows. Beside the book is a tray with a cup of coffee and a glass carafe containing more coffee.]
8. [An entirely blank panel except the text and signature, both of which take up little space.]
TEXT: 7 years left.
Signed FB, 12 January 2023

So that’s that! Did you know I make comics sometimes? These are some recent ones I like. I also did a weekly autobio comic during my senior year of college. It‘s … okay. I like making comics, I’d like to make more. I’d definitely like to finish Bread Bible at some point. We’ll see. For now though, I can at the very least promise 1 New Year comic per year.
Next post will be about what I’ve been reading! See you then!