Cover to Times Like These, a new collection of protest comics and art published by Cosmic Lion Productions, April, 2026.

Art by Bill Sienkiewicz

For Americans living through an unprecedented era of repressive and anti-democratic policies, it can feel overwhelming just to make it through your news scroll in the morning. Comic artists might make their money drawing fantasy stories but they live in reality like the rest of us, and many of them have some thoughts about what’s going on. Now a growing list of publications is giving everyone from top industry creators to rising independent voices a platform to express their views on current events while raising money for causes that aim to assist people under siege.

The latest collection, which will debut at the Brooklyn Independent Comics Showcase (BICS) on Saturday, is an 80-page art book called Times Like These, spearheaded by cartoonist and actor Tony Wolf. Times Like These features contributions from some of the most celebrated artists and graphic novelists working today, all taking direct aim at current political issues. Wolf says profits after production expenses will benefit the American Civil Liberties Union.

Contributors to Times Like These include Bill Sienkiewicz (Moon Knight, New Mutants), Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing is Monsters), Peter Kuper (Spy vs Spy, New Yorker), Stan Mack (The Village Voice), Rick Parker (Beavis and Butthead, Drafted), Dean Haspiel (Red Hook) and underground comix legend Barbara “Willy” Mendes (Queen of the Cosmos Comix), alongside a long list of independent creators at all levels of the business.

The pieces featured in the book range from full page illustrations to short sequential art stories to editorial-style cartoons. The styles and topics vary, but the creators share a take-no-prisoners approach to current events including the corruption of the Trump administration, the brutality of ICE, opposition to the wars in Iran and Gaza and consolidation of wealth into oligarchy. Wolf says some of the work has previously appeared on the creators’ social media feeds, but that some was created exclusively for the book.

“I was inspired by Resist! which was done by Art Spiegelman, Francoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman when Trump was first elected in 2016,” said Wolf. “I feel like we need something like this more than ever.”

Wolf worked with Cosmic Lion Productions, an innovative Los Angeles-based independent comics publisher, on packaging and distribution. The square bound, full color $20 book will be available through retail channels, direct to consumer via the Cosmic Lion website, or from Wolf or other contributors at convention and festival appearances. Wolf says he hopes the book will be successful enough to launch an expanded second printing with 20 pages of new material.

Times Like These isn’t the only benefit book slated for release. Islands in the Sky: A People’s History of Hurricane Helene, which has been in production for nearly a year following a successful Kickstarter campaign, has just been published by Good Trouble Productions, a relatively new imprint launched by Andrew Aydin, Kelly Sue De Connick, Matt Fraction, Valentine De Landro and Vaughn Shinall focused on comics for education and public engagement. The “benefits” that this book provides are more in-kind than tangible: it is the benefit of overlooked voices being heard and dignified.

Unlike the pointed and stridently political Times Like These, Islands in the Sky, which I wrote about previously, is a collection of intimate personal narratives with no overt political content whatsoever. The project pairs residents of Appalachian North Carolina hard hit by 2024’s Hurricane Helene with professional comic creators including Brian Michael Bendis, David Hahn, Grek Pak, Nate Powell, Gene Yuen Lang and many others including the Good Trouble partners to give the survivors a voice. The stories are meant to affirm common humanity across cultural gaps, not sharpen the contradictions in our current broken discourse, making the book possibly even more politically subversive.

Aydin, the coauthor of John Lewis’s best selling, award winning series of graphic novel memoirs and a longtime aide to the late Congressman, says the project is meant to combat media stereotypes of Appalachia and bring positive attention a region of the country that is frequently hard hit by natural and man-made disasters. The current print run is fulfilling Kickstarter support, but Aydin says he hopes to have copies in stores by late summer.

“I think it can be a book that crosses over from Kickstarter into a relatively successful mainstream book,” said Aydin.

That’s not all. Immigration politics has stirred members of the comics community into action, an unsurprising development since the comics industry in the United States traces its roots back to immigrant and first-generation creators.

Back in February, comic creators pitched in for an art auction to benefit communities in Minnesota under siege by ICE. The Superheroes for Minnesota charity auction, organized by Daryl Lawrence, raised over $4,000 to benefit a range of organizations including the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, and various community groups aimed at helping immigrants in the state.

Activist non-fiction comic site Crucial Comix also added a voice to the protest chorus with Ice Out: Cartoonists Against Ice, featuring cartoonists K. Woodman-Maynard, Jason Walz, and Trung Le Nguyen, and inviting others to participate on Instagram using various hashtags. Crucial Comix made a donation to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in exchange for featuring the comics on their site.

Unfortunately, the current state of the world suggests there are plenty of chances for creators to bring their mighty pens to a range of swordfights. This is only a partial list of current and upcoming projects that offer readers art and story in exchange for resources to help the struggle.