One thing I am going to try to do in 2026 is have a bigger picture view of things. In October after working consistently things had slowed down and I was like “Well, that’s it! I am done for 2025, nothing is going to happen now!” In the last few weeks I have written two comic short stories, an outline for another short comic assignment, done considerable work on a longer comic project that seems like it’s going to happen, chipping away at something that is DEFINITELY happening in 2026, and wrote two brand new pitches for potential projects. All of that is to say, the break did not last long, and while I will be taking some time off at the end of the year, I will probably work right up until Christmas Eve on writing projects, and I have no problem with that.

You know about one of these projects. I am doing a short story for DC’s Supergirl Next Door, their Valentine’s Day Anthology which will be out on January 28th, 2026 (weird to type that) and FOC’s on December 15th, 2025 (less weird to type that). I cannot talk about what character (or characters) I am writing or who I am working with but when we get closer to the FOC date I will share that info and maybe share a page or two of cool art, DC Editorial permitting, and as always I will be posting an email with my collaborator in January right around the time the book comes out, as long as they are cool and comfortable with that!

The other projects will be announced somewhere early in 2026 for the most part. One won’t be announced for a long time, but I’m going to have a great time working on it until that happens. And if you’re an editor who wants to work with me going “Well he sounds busy, he’s probably too busy to work with me right now on my cool projects.” I AM NOT. I want to write more than I did this year (And this year I wrote a lot) so if you want to work with me, recommend me for work, or anything else email me at [email protected] and I will happily send you samples.

I also want to put out there…I have a creator-owned pitch that I have done with an artist that I am actively looking to pitch to folks. So if anyone knows of any editors looking for creator-owned pitches right now or if you are the mythical character of which I speak, let me know, it’s a cool pitch, it’s a project I have been dreaming up for years and the art team drew the hell out of the pitch pages and cover we put together.

Between working on all of this stuff and preparing to go back to Massachusetts for the rest of the year next week, things have been a bit of a blur. Fun, but a blur. And everything I wrote these last few weeks? A total joy and things I cannot wait to share with you, but there were a few things I wrote that scared me. And I have not been scared to write in a long time, and that’s something I wanted to write a little bit about today.

Usually when I write, the feelings I have are pure excitement and a little arrogance. I believe I can tell you a great story and I want to go out there and put on a good performance. But a few of the things I wrote in the last couple weeks…they loomed very large…they were huge opportunities and ones I felt were very do or die. I had days with the scripts and outlines where I had to work harder to silence my inner critic, and trust my intuition to do the work. And my editors were fantastic. They knew I could do the work and gave me great notes, but me…I was wrestling with myself more than usual.

As I have expressed previously, one of the reasons why I love writing so much, and want to do more of it is because I feel truly present doing it. I am confident doing it. I believe I am a good writer and I like doing the work. And if that sounds a little arrogant? Good, because I ask people to pay me to write and it would be pretty shitty if I was charging for something I thought was a subpar service.

But these jobs…like I said…they are great opportunities and I think when you see them get announced you will go “Oh, I understand why Dave got in his head a bit.” and I will gladly talk about it a bit more, but there were times I was thinking more about the opportunity than the story I was telling, and that’s death. I hope everything I write leads to the next thing, and as I express at nauseam I want to write more, but you have to write the story that’s in front of you, or to use a sports metaphor…you have to play the game you are in right now.

Back when I was editing full-time, I spent a considerable amount of my time working with newer talent, and that meant I would give them short assignments that would ideally show off their talent, allow them to prove they could work on deadline, and hopefully show that they could do larger projects. For this reason I often compared myself to a JV High School Sports Coach.

I wanted you the creators I worked with to go out there, have fun, play well, and get better at the game. Maybe they would do so good at the game they were playing that they would move up to varsity (bigger projects), or maybe they wouldn’t! BUT! At the very least, we were going to do well at the things we could control. Playing well, having fun, and in the context of comics, making something you would want to tell everyone in your life who knew you loved comics about this thing we did here. I had to give myself this pep talk recently. And I’m glad I did.

Getting to play in the game is the goal. Writing comics is the goal. And you might win or lose. Winning meaning most people who read the story love it, it gets positive critical attention, the respect of your peers, and your email box is full of offers for the next one. You might lose, and people might not like it, and you may have to work harder at the next one to show people that you can still do this. OR…as is the case a lot of times…it’s a draw. You worked your ass off, you know you did good, people enjoyed it, but you have to hustle your ass off for the next one. All the more reason to enjoy the game you are currently playing, the project you are currently working on.

SPORTS!!!

Guys…

I’m getting serious, I made the header of this part holiday colors.

The second annual HoliDave Q&A is coming up, it’s going to be awesome. And hey? YOU can be a part of making it awesome.

I am looking for at least ten questions so I can put together a fantastic Q&A for the holiday season. What kind of questions am I looking for?

You could ask me about comics I have written. You can ask me about comics that I edited in a previous life. You can ask me about comics I just enjoy as a fan. You can ask me about pop culture I like: TV, movies, books, music, podcasts, whatever you can think of. As long as the questions are nice, not mean to me, and not mean to other people. The Weekly Up-Dave is not a place for talking shit! It’s a place where I performatively ask for your support during the mostly ups of my career and you engage with me at a level you feel comfortable with.

SO JOIN IN!

Email me questions at [email protected], I will be accepting them until the end of November. Afraid I am going to get too many questions? Friend, don’t be. If we get up to twenty, I will split the Q&A into two parts which would really help me get ahead on content before the end of the year.

All right, folks, that’s it for now.

I am going back to work on comic books, and I will see you next week with some fun update.

Until then?

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz