Lex and the City
DC's 2025 Romance Anthology's title story will be written by yours truly!
Last week ended with the greatest surprise of all, and I’m not talking about a foot rub I got on Saturday… news got out into the world that I am writing the title story for DC’s romance anthology, aptly named: LEX AND THE CITY.
While I wish I could take credit for the title, that was developed internally at the DC Offices. The minute I heard of its existence, however, I did bang on every door I could to submit my name for consideration. I take credit for my moxie! To the people out there reading this substack trying to gain insights in how a career in publishing works, let me clarify what “banging on doors” actually looks like:
A friend had told me the name of the anthology, I freaked out and asked if I could reach out to the editor assigned with the story if I could throw my name in the hat for consideration. When I emailed her, I sent a clean and enthusiastic note asking: has the story been assigned a writer, and then followed with a sentence or two about where my mind went thinking about the reality of dating in Metropolis.
Very mindful (about my editor’s time).
Very demure (about how badly I wanted the gig).
(It’s my firm belief that asserting a gig belongs/ is owed to you is cringe and a turn-off)
I’m just so glad the news is out there. It’s a cute little story, and I challenged myself to move in directions that readers wouldn’t expect from me (thank you Josh Trujillo for steering me back in some expected territories when needed). In all my years of reading, loving, and making comics, I never thought my most exciting opportunities would be coming from Clark Kent’s corner of the universe!
One more small story I want to share here because I’m secretly using this substack as a journal to document little moments I don’t want to ever forget…
When my editor approved my general pitch for the Lex and the City story, I decided to take myself on a date to Little Dom’s down the street for a cocktail and notebooking sesh. While I left the habit of “drinking as a means of ideating” in 2019, this specific story purred Hendricks martini with a twist. I got the entire story outlined seated at the bar, and it was one of those magical nights where the gratitude I had for my life seemed to bounce out of my body and onto others (I say this because I ordered a cosmo after my martini ‘cuz come on I had to, and the bartender comped it, simply stating: “You just walked in at the right time). I’ve carried a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about my place in the comic industry lately, but for that night… I felt love.
Solicit info at the bottom of this post! Please make sure and pre-order, it’s gonna be a great collection!
Speaking of drinking alone…
I go through these phases where I love to eat certain things, and I don’t want to lose record of that. Like, when I was in my mid-20s, my favorite thing to do on a hot summer night was eat refrigerated York Peppermint Patties with white wine while watching Zyuranger episodes on youtube. I have zero desire to do that in my 30s (drinking alone and consuming that much sugar… woof), but I want to always remember how happy I felt in that moment. Nowadays? It’s potato chips. Like, a really damn good plain potato chip. It started when I watched Big Brother 24 and there was a supercut of Taylor eating potato chips in every room of the dang BB House. I got the craving, and now it’s pretty much guaranteed that if I’m sitting down for reality tv, I will have a bag of Cape Cod sea salt chips in ny hand.
That’s all for now. Expect to see some words about the one year anniversary of Harvests of Youth, some process insights on recent illustration work, and teases for amazing projects in 2025 <3
DC'S LEX AND THE CITY #1
Written by BRENDAN HAY, SINA GRACE, DAVE WIELGOSZ, CHARLES SKAGGS, CALLIE C. MILLER, MAGGIE TOKUDA-HALL, and more!
Art by HOWARD PORTER, SERG ACURA, STEPHEN BYRNE, LISA STERLE, LESLIE HUNG, and more!
Cover by AMANDA CONNER
Variant covers by SAOWEE and SOZOMAIKA
$9.99 180 pages Variant $9.99 (card stock) ON SALE 1/29/25
AS SUPERMAN FLEW AWAY YET AGAIN, I HAD TO WONDER…WAS I TRYING TO DESTROY HIM, OR WAS HE DESTROYING ME? It's Valentine's Day, which means that love and heartbreak are sweeping every city in the DCU! This anthology collects eight stories of heroes and villains looking for love in the big city (which practically feels like its own character!). Lex Luthor laments over the one that got away—the big, ever-elusive Metropolitan man, Superman! Raven and Beast Boy embark on a romantic scavenger hunt across San Francisco (which just might be a trap)! And Damian Wayne runs a dating-advice gauntlet through Gotham City, organized by none other than the dating master himself, Tim Drake! Gather your gal pals, pour yourself a cosmo, and hit your nearest comic shop—DC'S LEX & THE CITY is coming this January!