Gord Cummings
1980 - 2025

I am absolutely gutted to write about the sudden passing of Gord Cummings on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Gord is my best friend, comic collaborator, and forever my brother.

The world lost one hell of a kind, caring, and compassionate dude. Gord's passion for empathy, history, and justice was unwavering. He was a social worker, educator, ally and advocate for marginalized voices, amazing creative force, and just the most stand-up friend I have ever known.

He's the reason I'm creating comix & zines and finally releasing music, after 20+ years of dreaming and holding back. I hope he knows how much he inspired me to finally stop procrastinating due to my fear, perfectionism, and feelings of inadequacy; and the reason I've been able to find so much fulfillment through finally realizing my creative voice through these mediums. Working alongside him on comix is the most joyful I've probably ever felt, and it feels like we had so much more to accomplish and so many more stories to tell.

I'll miss him for the rest of my days, and always carry with me the burning desire to once again know the world with him in it. A mere 44 years on this Earth of someone like Gord is just not enough, and anyone who knew him will tell you the same.

I do not know what the future holds, but I hope to carry on some sort of legacy of Gord's work. At the very least, I'll never stop sharing the story of my creative partner, friend, and brother – what he meant to me, and how he inspired both me and others to speak up, speak out, and try our best despite our own flaws and fears.

--Charles Agopsowicz, June 30, 2025

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The Future

While it feels foolish and self-serving to discuss the future of work I was planning to create adjacent to ganky comix and the future of the ganky comix website, I want to be as transparent as possible (even if any and all of these plans may change over time).

• I plan to keep this page up as a memorial to Gord and the work we created, until at least mid-2026. After this time, even if gankycomix.com goes away, there will always – always – be a memorial to Gord and what he means to me on my website: withthesetwohands.com

• New issues of ganky I was in varying stages of creating are now on hold indefinitely, and will likely either be scrapped completely or change form.

• Any remaining print material I have on-hand with the ganky banner on it (ganky: admission, ganky: erasure, ganky: one word, Self Worth issues 1 & 2) are being given away for free to celebrate the work Gord and I created. There are no plans to reprint any ganky comix material from here forward.

• I have successfully compiled Self Worth issue 3 from Gord's unfinished pencils and the unedited script. It's available on my webstore for free. Link below.

• I have been able to pull together the majority of the work Gord and I created as digital files and have placed them on my Gumroad webstore for free.

• The industrial music album I have been working on since late 2023, which was to be a companion to the On to Ottawa Trek & Regina Riot graphic novel adaptation we were working towards as the next large-scale project from ganky comix, is still going to be produced despite the graphic novel no longer being created. A separate, solo graphic project was in the works to exist alongside the album outside of what were were planning to do with ganky comix – its scope will now evolve to become a more substantial project. It does not seek to replicate the graphic novel Gord and I were planning to create; it will be my own adaptation of the historical events that I hope will do justice to it like Gord and my originally-planned adaptation would have done, even thoguh it will be substatially different.

--Charles

Samples of Selected Works from ganky comix

Self Worth: The Story of Slim Evans

3 part series. Self Worth tells the story of Arthur "Slim" Evans. Slim was a labour organizer advocating for things like workers' rights, food security, unemployment support, and more.

Written and Illustrated by Gord Cummings. Lettering and Finishes by Charles Agopsowicz.

Self Worth issue 1

Self Worth issue 2

ganky: admission

ganky: admission discusses story of civil war and US foreign influence in El Salvador, leading to a large immigration of displaced people into Canada in the 1980s & 1990s.

Written and Illustrated by Gord Cummings. Lettering and Finishes by Charles Agopsowicz. Cover illustration by Charles Agopsowicz.

ganky: erasure

ganky: erasure discusses Canada's history of acts against Ingigenous populations including the Indian Act and Sixties Scoop.

Written and Illustrated by Gord Cummings. Lettering and Finishes by Charles Agopsowicz. Cover illustration by Steve Gervais.

ganky: one word

ganky: one word takes a critical look at Pope Francis' visit to Canada in the wake of discoveries of potential unmarked children's graves on the sites of former residential schools.

Written and Illustrated by Charles Agopsowicz. Lettering and Finishes by Charles Agopsowicz. Cover illustration by Charles Agopsowicz.