It’s the month before San Diego Comic Con and the week before a massive holiday in America. Prepare yourself, folks. This edition of Comics Disassembled is a big one. Let’s get to it.

1. Telgemeier and McCloud, Teaming Up

You know you’re a big deal when your graphic novel is announced by People (as in magazine), an entity that isn’t exactly famous for its comic book coverage. But that’s what you (deservedly) get when you’re cartoonist Raina Telgemeier, a superstar that’s almost beyond compare. Telgemeier is teaming with fellow cartoonist and legend Scott McCloud for The Cartoonists Club, a Scholastic Graphix release set to be released on April 1, 2025 — one that the pair has been working on since 2020! It sounds wonderful even beyond its creators, a group that also includes Ray Baehr as its inker and Beniam Hollman as its colorist, as it’s a story of friendship shared between four young, aspiring cartoonists that also acts as a guide to help readers make their own comics.

Making it even cooler is how Telgemeier and McCloud are splitting the creative duties. According to McCloud on BlueSky, “Raina and I collaborated closely on the layouts and script. Raina then drew the real-life scenes and I got to draw all the kids’ artwork, plus some fun extras.” That’s such a fun way to do it, and an approach that makes complete sense for the project itself. Having two legends collaborate in such a unique way on a story designed to inspire kids to make their own comics, especially when one of them literally wrote the book (and did the art for it, as well) on Understanding Comics, is pretty much the coolest possible announcement. I’d say this book is going to do well, but that’s a) obvious and b) something we already know will happen, as The Cartoonists Club is going to have a 750,000 copy first printing — which is a rather sizable number!

The real question about this book isn’t “Will it do well?” or “Will it be good?” but “How many future comic creators will it inspire?” My guess is a lot. Whatever it is, I can’t wait to find out the answer, even though I know I’ll have to.

2. Filip Sablik, On the Move

File this one under “moves we only know part of the story on,” but the biggest behind the scenes news this week in comics was Filip Sablik’s departure from BOOM! Studios, which was first reported by Bleeding Cool before being confirmed by The Beat. Long time readers of SKTCHD and listeners of Off Panel are likely familiar with Sablik, as I’ve talked with him a fair few times in his role as BOOM!’s President of Publishing and Marketing, something he’s done incredibly well for years now. He’s been a stalwart for the company for a long time, but more than that, the guy just radiates love for comics and comic shops, and has been one of the most well-liked people from any publisher in comics for his entire run there. But now, that’s over.

After the shock wore off, everyone immediately wondered why it was happening and what was next for the comics veteran, with that article from Bleeding Cool offering a take on the latter. The truth is, we have no idea. We can guess, or offer conjecture, or say we know when we at best partially know. But I’m not into that. So, instead, I just want to say happy trails to Sablik in his journey to wherever he lands next, and here’s hoping BOOM! has someone incredible waiting in the wings — because they have big shoes to fill.