2025 in Review

Hard times… Just a little incident while painting the new greenhouse

Another turn around the sun and here we are again, with 2025 one for the history books and 2026 only starting to be written. I’m finally getting around to typing this, my traditional (and this year quite late, apologies!) year in review post…. It’s a quiet, snowbound evening at my home in the Laurentian Mountains. I’ve been pretty busy all the month of January. I realized the other day I am wrapping up work (design, editorial, translation, or lettering) on FIVE different books from four different publishers right now! But I just need to make some space to write up a little something to recap the year… This will now be my 11th time creating this annual check-in, and it really is a comfort to take a look at what I have been up to, year by year.

2025 was… Not great, in the grand scheme of things. Don’t get me wrong: My own life is going well, and I’ve kept busy with all sorts of lovely projects (which I’ll be talking about below), from illustrating a delightful mystery book for kids and promoting amazing comics from my fellow Québecois creators to organizing a book festival in my little village and planting a garden with my partner C. But the never-ending, often deafening march of troubling events in 2025 has been exhausting. To be honest, as 2026 dawns I feel like we are in a worsening world; a nastier, crueler, and more brutal place. I’m pretty worried. Worried about the country of my brith, which I believe is clearly already in a state of authoritarianism; for the country I am proud to live in now, which is trying to hold steady in the face of new dangers; for the world in general, which is entering a period of uncertainty and fear.

Of course, things keep on keeping on, and we never know what is going to happen. Personally, I find it interesting to look back on my various “Year in Review” posts over the last decade, going all the way back to 2015. I that time we’ve seen the rise, fall, and rise again of Trump; the Covid-19 pandemic and the fracturing of our society that came with it; huge movements for environmental and social justice and the perhaps inevitable backlash against those movements. Nothing is written in stone, nothing is static. The world can surprise us still. Perhaps brighter days are coming. Let’s hope so. Thank you to everyone who is working to make this a better world. I’ll try my best to take care of my little corner of it, for what it is worth.

I apologize for being a bit grim. Another thing I noticed looking over my “Year in Review” posts is that I vacillate in how I approach discussing the state of the world in these little notes. Some years I try to radiate optimistic energy, other years I allow some of the worries to come through. This is one of the later.

Through it all, I do find that work can have an important, healing effect on us, and I am deeply grateful that I am able to pass my time working in all sorts of interesting and often creative ways, and that my various projects are having (in my opinion) a net positive (if very minor) effect. This year I have gotten to collaborate with all kinds of wonderful people to get lots of books published, to bring together communities at events, and even to grow lots of food at my home (with my wonderful partner C., of course). Those little accomplishments make a big difference to me. Here is a run down of some of the work I got done this year:

Le Gateau Empoisonné

A nice chunky kid’s mystery

A new book! That I drew! How fun! The fine folks at La Pastèque invited me to play with author André Marois’ “La Classe de Madame Tzatziki” universe, and it was such fun to illustrate the fourth book in the series, Le gâteau empoisonné (“The Poisoned Cake”). Very interesting to work with characters who were initially drawn by other creators, and to try and figure out how to pay homage to the creative work that has come before me and also put my own stamp on the series. Here for instance is a kind of “mood board” I made featuring the teacher Madame Tzatziki’s different appearances in the previous books (including depictions by Patrick Doyon, Célia Marquis, and Audrey Malo) along with my own design for the character.

For now this book is only available in French, but if the rights are ever sold in English I’l be sure to let you know. In addition to the book, I have to say I really loved the audiobook adaptation that Radio Canada made (also in French)… So many talented voice actors, SFX artists, and just wonderful direction overall. It is available for FREE on the Radio Canada OHdio app, so check it out if you are interested! Also, for those in Montreal, the work of all four artists will be featured in a show at La Pastèque’s storefront early in 2026.

Grilled Cheese

Can you find ’em all?

I’ve worked with the folks at Grilled Cheese magazine before (I drew one of their covers years ago), and I had a ton of fun creating a search-and-find illustration for their latest, mineral-themed issue! I love everything about this project… Bilingual, tons of amazing illustrations, stories, and activities, and such a cool aesthetic with the duo-tone printing (this issue is fluorescent pink and grey). I should check in with them and see what they have in store for 2026… I’ve got some ideas! You can pick up the issue (or better yet a subscription) on their website.

Les Millimus

How fun is this set?!

Speaking of kids stuff, I was so delighted when I was contacted about contributing some bande dessinée-inspired designs for Les Milimus, a new québecois kids show about tiny little people living in a garage. I used to love shows like The Fraggles and The Borrowers and it was so cool to be part of art director Marie-Pier Fortier’s super-cute vision for the show… I drew a couple things, including a ligne clair-style comic strip that serves as the awning over the local shop, as well as “Capitaine Trucmuche,” a comic that through some magic becomes Milimus-sized (and which plays a rather surprisingly key role in episode 4!).

That looks like a fun read!

If you or a youngster in your life wants to get some practice in fairly beginner-friendly French, the show is available to watch online for free… don’t forget to turn on the closed captions!

Cases du Futur Art Show

Sorry, no pics of my art in the show!

I was honoured to be included in Cases du futur, one of the inaugural art shows at the brand new Maison de la BD in Quebec City. This year-long exposition on Quebecois science fiction comics featured “10 notable titles published over the last 25 years,” including my book TITAN. I’m so sad I didn’t get the chance to attend this show while it was up, it looked fun!

Book Designs

Oooh, shiny!

I had the pleasure of designing on a couple of books that came out in 2025: The Fire-Breathing Duckling by Frank Cammuso (the red on there is metallic foil!) and Calamity Before Jane by Noah Van Sciver. I also have quite a few books that I worked on last year that are scheduled for release in 2026, including Jake Spooky and the Wolves Within Him by Michael Grover, Pepper by Karl Stevens, Dog Days by Claudia Boldt, Boat Life Volume 2 by Tsuge Tadao, and others… Looking forward to sharing more about those in my 2026 year in review, but I couldn’t resist mentioning them now to pad out this year’s post!

Fête du Livre Saint-Adolphe

Xavier Cadieux (left) hosts a workshop for all ages while attendees check out the Pow Pow 15th Anniversary art exhibit in the background

My partner C. and I moved to the small village of Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard in the Laurentian Mountains northwest of Montreal over three years ago, and I am so excited to be getting more involved with the local community. This year Arts & Culture Saint-Adolphe, a non-profit group that puts on art shows and workshops, approached me about participating in their first-ever “Fête du Livre Saint-Adolphe,” and I took it upon myself to help organize a comics-themed weekend. We ended up hosting over 15 creators including international (!!!) creators Ned Wenlock from New Zealand and Mirion Malle from France, as well as publishers Éditions Pow Pow and Revue PLANCHES. The event included an art show celebrating Pow Pow’s 15th anniversary and hands-on workshops for all ages. It was such a delight to host my friends and colleagues in my new home and to connect with readers from all over the Laurentides.

Just look at that crazy lineup!

I’m already working with Arts & Culture Saint-Adolphe on the next iteration of the Fête du Livre, scheduled for August 1-2, 2026. Really looking forward to helping to develop this community event over the years and making connections with my village and the broader region.

Panels, Interviews, & Other Writing

Chatting with Casandra Calin at MCAF

As in recent years, it was my pleasure to moderate some great panels at events and interview authors about their work in a variety of outlets. At the Montreal Comic Arts Festival I hosted Casandra Calin (The New Girl), Ned Wenlock (Tsunami), and D. Boyd (Denniveniquity) for Looking Back, Moving Forward: Coming-of-Age in Comics, and sat down with Jon Allen (The Well), Lonnie Nadler (The Sickness), and Tobias Aeschbacher (In The End We All Die) for Deadly Serious: Everyday Life (and Death) in Comics. At the Read Quebec Book Fair I had the pleasure of moderating Art and Life in Graphic Novels with Montreal authors Juli Delporte (Portrait of a Body), D. Boyd, and Pascal Girard (Pastimes)to discuss utobio comics in all their variety and glory. Finally, this year at TCAF I didn’t moderate any panels, but I did participate in State of the Industry IV: The Indie Publishers Round-table Rides Again, representing Pow Pow Press in a great discussion of the ins-and-outs of the fast-changing comics industry, and at the Prairie Comics Festival I gave a little presentation on francophone comics from Québec and beyond.

On the online side of things, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing some of our Pow Pow Press authors for a series of interviews that ran on Broken Frontier including Joana Mosi, Pascal Girard and Cathon, and Ned Wenlock.

Finally, I didn’t do a ton of reviewing this year, but I did have the pleasure of looking at Jon Allen’s The Well over at The Comics Beat.

Pow Pow Goes International

The Pow Pow Crew at TCAF: Standing L-R: Thom, Joana Mosi, Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau, Luc Bossé Seated: Ned Wenlock, Boum (with her Doug Wright trophy)

It’s already been three years that I have been working as the Marketing Manager at Pow Pow Press, and I continue to count myself super lucky to have the chance to collaborate with so many amazing creators from Quebec and beyond. 2025 was a busy one for Pow Pow, which was celebrating it’s 15th anniversary. We released a whopping four titles in English (that’s a big slate for us!): Tsunami by Ned Wenlock, The Mongoose by Joana Mosi, Fruit Salad by Cathon, and Pastimes by Pascal Girard. I’m proud to report that The Jellyfish by Boum, released in 2024, absolutely dominated the comics awards in 2025, including the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material, the Graphic Medicine Award for Best Long Form Comic, the Doug Wright Nipper Award, and the Sophie Castile Award for excellence in translation, as well as being named a Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize Honor Book (Phew! That’s a lot of prizes!). 2025 also saw Pow Pow Press publishing our first international authors, Ned Wenlock from New Zealand and Joana Mosi from Portugal. I had the pleasure of repping Pow Pow at a ton of events this year throughout Canada and the USA, including TCAF, MoCCA, SPX, Read Quebec Book Fair, MCAF, the Prairie Comics Festival, and more. Beyond my work promoting our books, I also get to do a ton of work behind the scenes, including editing and designing elements of our books, so overall I am just so glad to be working with the Pow Pow family. We’ve got some great stuff planned for 2026, including new titles from Joana Mosi, Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau & Francis Desharnais, and Sophie Bédard, so please stay tuned: You can find us on Instagram and sign up for our email newsletter on our website.

In The Garden

Things are growing

Though it’s not strictly one of my creative or professional projects, I can’t help but mention the garden that my partner C. and I started in 2025! Now that the renovations to the house are (mostly) done, we were able to turn our attention to laying out, opening up, fencing off, and planting a fairly large garden patch (11×7 meters, or 36’x22′). This year we only had 1/3 of it in cultivation and we already had a wonderful harvest including pattypan summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, tomatillos, winter squash, peppers, and much more. We ate fresh veggies all summer and were able to preserve plenty of salsa verde, pesto, pickles, and more that have lasted us deep into the winter and the new year. We’ve had some kind of garden at all of the places we’ve lived during the last 10 years, but this one is obviously on a whole other level. In the fall we added a small greenhouse, and this year we plan on opening the rest of our garden plot. We’re anticipating a lot of produce in 2026, it’s even very possible that we will be self-sufficient in regards to our vegetables, which is wild. A garden is a project for life, and it takes a lot of our time, but it’s super rewarding.

The Year Ahead

Poster art by Catherin

We’re already well into 2026 when I post, and I have been cranking on a ton of projects already, many of which will even see the light of day this year.

One of the very biggest is Confluence: The World(s) of Contemporary Comics from Quebec, a massive art exposition I am curating and designing in partnership with BDFIL in Lausanne, Switzerland and MCAF in Montreal. This just-announced show, focussing on the various influences and mix of traditions in the vibrant Quebec comics scene, will feature the work of over 20 amazing creators and will be exhibited in Lausanne, Montreal, and other locations to be announced. BDFIL has more info online now, and expect much more soon. In other event news, as I mentioned above, in August I am organizing the Fête du Livre Saint-Adolphe in my village in the Laurentides… Montreal-area people, mark you calendars, this is a fun one and worth a drive into the mountains!

I have had the extreme pleasure of working with visionary author Brecht Evens on his new book The Jellyfish King, I co-translated the book with Brecht and hand-lettered the entire thing. This is massive tome, the first of a trilogy released by Drawn & Quarterly, is supposed to hit shelves this fall. Also, “Virgil & Calliope,” a short story I drew back in 2024, will theoretically finally be published this year in an anthology from RAID Studios.

I am also in the beginning stages of working on a (very cute!) kid’s book that won’t be released until 2027 (!!!), but I am really excited to work on that throughout the year as well.

And what about my still-percolating, as yet unpublished project Blue Moon? I wish I could tell you I had advanced that book in 2025, I did not. Do I hope to make headway on it in 2026? I do. I’m very, very far behind on that one, I’m so sorry to anyone who has been waiting with bated breath for my next sci-fi graphic novel (this is me encouraging you to breathe normally). To be honest, it’s a struggle to pay all the bills, and I have to take on as many various gigs and paying projects as I can, and Blue Moon always gets pushed to the side. As in so many things, I still hold out hope.

As always, thanks so much for your support and your interest in what I am doing. No mater if you are one of my colleagues, a reader, or just someone who wandered across this post, I truly appreciate you taking the time to check in with me. If you’d like to follow me throughout the year, I recommend that you sign up for my email newsletter (I send out a few a year), it is the best way to make sure you knwo what’s going on with me. I am currently on a break with Instagram, which I plan to stick with for a while, but of course you can follow me there and also on the Pow Pow Press IG, which I regularly update.

In the meantime, stay strong, take care of yourself and your loved ones, and try to make this world a better place, in whatever small ways you can. Let’s get to work.

Doing a quick dédicace at the Read Quebec Book Fair