Hi all. I’m back with another one of my very infrequent newsletter installments. It’s been a crazy year so far. I took the bar exam and passed. I’m being sworn in as an attorney in Illinois next week. AND, it’s shaping up to be my biggest year in comics yet!! 

Shelby Criswell (LEAF PEEPERS, QUEER AS ALL GET OUT) and I successfully ran a kickstarter to bring our social satire webcomic, BUSINESS AS USUAL, to print. It’s 64 pages and ships in June. (It’s done!!) It follows a crew of twenty-something dissidents trying to free the detainees from an ICE detention center in 2035. You can still get in on late pledging if you’d like to secure a copy for yourself, you can do that here. We’re putting the finishing touches on the digital edition today and tomorrow, so expect that in your inbox soon if you backed a digital tier.

I’m really excited to get this one printed, and in everyone’s hands (should be sometime in June), but if money’s tight right now, don’t fret! Serialization of the webcomic, for free, on my website resumes next week! 

This past Wednesday saw the release of HELLO BODY HORROR #1, which features the 10 page comic “BODY POSITIVITY” by myself, Rye Hickman, and Jodie Troutman. Here’s the first page! I think we crushed it, honestly. It’s about a body positive influencer who is supernaturally convinced to “get fit” via sci fi means. 

And then, the day after that (last Thursday) TinyOnion/Dark Horse announced that the MONSTERS IN LOVE story I wrote will be appearing in the THE PERFECTLY MONSTROUS LIFE OF ADAM FRANKENSTEIN on August 26th of this year!  Naomi Franquiz did art, Héctor Barros was on colors, and Aditya Bidikar on letters—so in other words, a dream team. 

In addition to those, I’m (impatiently) sitting on the announcements for TWO MORE projects that are releasing this year. One is a multi-issue licensed project, that I think a lot of people are really going to vibe with. The other is my longest creator-owned horror comic since IT TOOK LUKE. It’s quite an upsetting comic, so steel yourselves, and get ready to get weird. Based on current timelines, those will be available to pre-order towards the end of the summer. 

Here’s a little playlist for BUSINESS AS USUAL:

War - Backtack 
Land of the Free - The Rival Mob
Planet Shit - Every Time I Die 
Evil Eye - Pinkshift 
One Way Track - End It 
Liars Tale - KNEECAP
World Up My Ass - Circle Jerks 
Backstabbed - Trapped Under Ice
Face to Face (With Your Executioner) - The Rival Mob
Evil Men - The Taxpayers 

And here are the best “new-to-me” movies I’ve seen so far in 2026:

1. BLUE RUIN (2013) dir. Jeremy Saulnier

2. ALPHA (2025) dir. Julia Ducournau 

3. EXIT 8 (2025) dir. Genki Kawamura 

4. THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974) dir. Joseph Sargent

5. THE TOXIC AVENGER (2023) dir. Macon Blair

6. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD (2007) dir. Sidney Lumet 

7. SWORD OF THE STRANGER (2007) dir. Masahiro Ando 

8. NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (2025) dir. Matt Johnson 

9. PREDATOR: BADLANDS (2025) dir. Dan Trachtenberg

10. KAITHI (2019) dir. Lokesh Kanagaraj 

Until next time!

— Mark