Welcome to a special edition of “The Stakes,” where we’re taking a look back at one of our best pieces from the past year — plus a little something new. Coming up:

Part 1: Senior national correspondent Jamil Smith sits down with civil rights legend John Lewis and his two collaborators on a recent graphic-novel trilogy.

Part 2: Our poet in residence Marcus Ellsworth is back with "The Last First Breath," a poem about being suspended in the timeless space between this year and the next.