Making Comics in 2026
Looking towards the cyberpunk future from our cyberpunk present
UPDATE (2/07/26): Cat’s out of the bag. I’ve been working on a brand new book with artist Colin Lor. Our tale is called MAD CASTLE. This tale is a trip and a half, with a seriously fun hook. We might launch a Kickstarter campaign for it in the near future. Hit the ‘notify’ button via the link if this project strikes a chord. You can see some completed pages on this pre-launch page right now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1848964441/mad-castle!
Happy New Year, Comics People!
The first quarter of our brand new century has somehow, mysteriously been fried to a crisp. I guess we all walked through a quantum flux or something?
Whatever the heck happened, it’s left us here, standing on the cusp of the utterly sci-fi year of ‘2026’. And in lieu of our promised flying cars and jetpacks we’re receiving algorithmic mass-surveillance and evermore micro-specific targeted ads. Oof.
What can we do but look ahead into this crazy-ass year and enjoy one of our favorite crazy-ass art forms?
I’m talkin’ COMICS, people. Crazy-ass comics. Emphasis on the crazy. Reading ‘em and making ‘em is one means to deny that damn elevator that tries to break us down.
As you read this, you’re sitting here on the other side of 2025 wisened and wizened. Me too!
We’re looking ahead today. So in this post I’d like to share a couple projects I’ve got cooking for 2026. Please forgive the self-promotion, but that’s part of this whole stew. FORTUNATELY, in this case, what I’m sharing is entirely on target for the subject of today’s post, which is to to reflect on a key fact that’s been naggin’ on us:
That is, that we’ve all been wading in an algorithmic sea, gasping for breath and searching for a foothold to keep our head above the ones and zeroes. And no, I don’t think I’m being overly dramatic. In fact, I’m shocked we talk about much else. It’s THE drama of our age. And it’s not just the transitional nature of our species diving so far into our screens that we’re becoming cyborgs, but also because one of mankind’s greatest working hypotheses has been proven true within our lifetimes!
We’ve always suspected that mankind was a bit crazy. But we never had to face the full mass of it all at once like modern tools have allowed.
Welp. Now we know.
What’s worse? We have to grapple with the fact that we fully recognize ourselves as being active participants in all that madness. It’s a lot to process. Pardon the French, but it’s some crazy-ass $h!t, and we’re all staring down way too much of it at once. All while the algorithms feed, seed, reseed and cross-pollinate the worst shades of it, (cheerleaded on by the worst of the real-life humans).
And yet…
It’s also okay to be hopeful, jazzed all the way up even. Because the real world is still out there. It’s a stunner. And by contrast to ALL OF IT AT ONCE, each singular piece of tangible, human-made creation has never stood out more starkly. A creation imbued with true-blue humanity provides that same old warm embrace, and it’s never felt more like home.
It takes some work to find solace in our cyberpunk present. It’s a subject I find myself lost into. Upon some reflection, I’ve noticed that this reality is a clear through-line within my making comics journey. It’s a through-line that far more active than I ever really took the time to note or realize, which is funny, because, I mean, check these pages out. It’s not exactly a hidden subject:
Big Shoulders features a battle against AI and algorithmic-driven video game addiction, more than just time sinks and micro-transactional money pits, these pixels are made quite real, deadly even. I’ve been there! Maybe you have too?
In terms of our grappling with an increasingly digitized world and our addiction to these designed-for-addiction spaces (which absolutely includes social media apps, including this one btw!), that storyline within Big Shoulders is pretty on the nose. And that slice of Big Shoulders has some like-minded company with another story:
Wild Wes is a story I worked on for… about a decade? But it didn’t start becoming real until a couple years back, when I was lucky enough to meet artist Nate Walkington. That luck aside, I haven’t said a word about this project here on the Making Comics Substack, and for some good reasons. I’ll be sharing more on this subject (multiple subjects, really) in future posts. What I’ll share here is the fact that Wild Wes is a near-complete first issue, and it’s a comic entirely centered upon the concept of escaping into the wild.
Wild Wes features a character so intwined with digital space that he’s accurately described as a cyborg. His name isn’t ‘Wes’ by the way. The title is yet another mystery to be unraveled. No, this kid is named ‘Hack’ and you might be surprised by how much empathy you feel for this cybernetic dude. Cuz like Hack, we’re all searching for what’s real as all these pixels coil around us a bit too tight.
Looking ahead (and past) our cyberpunk present is a trick we’re all working on.
Which brings me back to the oh-so-mysterious project I’m currently working on with co-creator and series artist Colin Lor. The title of this project remains a mystery (for you), so we’re just calling it M__ ______ for now. It’s a tale that begins in a cyberpunk future that has fallen that much deeper into elements of our cyberpunk present. Take a look at this two-page taster:
What is the M__ ______ exactly?
The final word I’ll provide on this book here is that you can plan your escape from the M__ ______’s grasp by staying tuned to this space. Eyes open, Comics People.
As I mentioned, and as bares repeating: navigating the full weight of digital access is one hell of a trick. But all the while, here we are, engaging in this digital space…
And it’s cool!
Through these fiber optic lines we’re currently transcending countless miles and knocking down all sorts of doors, a mad bullrush that’s allowing us to communicate. Simply by reading this you are directly bypassing real-life social graces that might otherwise prevent us from ever sharing our work and passions. If we crossed paths while out and about we might not even share a word, and even if we did, it’s unlikely that we would ever broach the subject of making comics. The fact that we’re doing just that right here, right now (your now, my past!) is awesome. And by awesome, I mean that it. is. awesome. In the truest sense of the word.
The trick of it all is just the fact that… well, it’s tough to navigate all this access and the exponential and truly unlimited weight of it all.
That’s why it’s a ‘trick’. Yeah?
I think we’ll get there yet. We’re on the learning curve now, and even as the curriculum keeps throwing more and more at us, getting onto the curve ain’t nothing. Recognizing the dangers and the need for balance? That’s progress. Most of us didn’t quite recognize how deep we had waded into the algorithmic sea till the most recent of years. But here, on this side of crazy-ass 2026, most have made that acknowledgment. We ARE navigating the path forward.
So? Here’s to communicating and experiencing each little slice of this new year, finding expressions solid and human. Here’s to diving into the creative ocean that exists only in the human mind, with nary a one or zero in sight… unless we will it to be so.
Here’s to looking ahead:
Oh, and here’s to…
