Month: October 2026

Dave Baker + Malachi Ward reimagine the Golden Age hero Stardust in ‘Citizen: Stardust’

The 12-issue series from Oni Press stars an aging actor whose career as a superhero has faded, until an experimental arts retreat gives him a chance to revive his most famous role.

Dave Baker and Malachi Wardis will put a new spin on the ever-popular Golden Age superhero Stardust the Super Wizard in Citizen: Stardust, a new 12-issue series arriving in April 2027 from Oni Press.

Announced ahead of New York Comic Con, the series takes inspiration from the comics of Fletcher Hanks, who created Stardust in 1939. Baker and Ward’s story shifts the character, who is now in the public domain, into an alternate version of postwar America, where Stardust has become a major Hollywood property and the actor behind the superhero is facing a very different kind of reckoning.

“The probability of Stardust: The Super-Wizard becoming one of the most bizarre and unique comics to be published in 2027 seems extraordinarily high, to me,” Baker said. “Malachi Ward and I are bringing a new perspective to the superhero world informed by psychogeography, cult sacrifices, and technology beyond human comprehension. If that doesn’t make you want to read it? Just know that there’s a cat of nine tails made of human skulls.”

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Matthew Dow Smith turns community support into an awesome, free comic

After asking fans for help, the comics creator is sharing ‘The After School Villain Society’ for free on Bluesky.

When Matthew Dow Smith found himself facing the possibility of going unpaid at the end of August, he came up with an unusual way to ask for help: he offered to make a comic for everyone.

In a post on Bluesky, the creator of October Girl and Amelia Shadows explained that a delay in an expected payment could leave him struggling to cover his bills. His solution? Offer to make a comic. If supporters could help him raise $2,000, he would create a kids comic, releasing five pages a week on Bluesky. And if he reached $3,000, he would also make a free digital collection available for readers to download.

The comic he proposed was The After School Villain Society, a project Smith said had received the most requests from his followers.

“Think of it as a one-time Patreon pledge where you can support a creator and help a comic book happen that everyone can read,” he wrote.

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Ryan Cody is creating an X-Men comic one panel at a time this October

Master Mold returns to plague the X-Men in this fan comic.

October has become a busy month for artists participating in themed drawing challenges, from Inktober to Drawtober to Pouchtober, and then you have your character-specific events. Ryan Cody is taking that idea a step further with The Inexorable X-Men, a project that turns a month of daily art into a complete comic book.

Cody isn’t simply drawing X-Men — he’s sharing the creation process as it unfolds, with each of the 31 daily panels contributing to a finished story. He’s also selling his original art as he goes along.

“This year, since I have the time, I thought I’d do another X-Tober event,” he wrote on his Patreon. “I did this a few years back and it was a smashing success. I had fun, people were able to purchase affordable original art, and I made some money. So I asked myself, what would be cooler than just doing pin-ups of Marvel’s Mightiest Mutants? Thus, The Inexorable X-Men were born.”

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Picture + Panel | Ben Hatke + Lily Kim Qian on finding a sense of home

The creators of ‘Home/World’ and ‘Until We Meet Again’ explore the tension between settling down and setting out, and how the places we inhabit shape our identities.

What does it mean to feel at home, especially when life takes you from one place to another? For cartoonists Ben Hatke and Lily Kim Qian, that question has inspired comics that explore the pull of familiar places, the excitement of discovering somewhere new and the complicated feelings that come with being caught between the two.

Hatke, the creator of the Zita the Spacegirl series and Mighty Jack, explores the tension between home and adventure in his work, including his graphic novel Home/World. Qian, whose graphic novel Until We Meet Again draws on her experiences living in different places, uses comics to explore displacement, identity and belonging.

The two creators will discuss these themes at the Boston Comics Arts Foundation’s upcoming Picture + Panel event, where they’ll share their perspectives on the meaning of home, the creative process and the stories that have influenced their work. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET this Monday, Oct. 5 at the Boston Figurative Arts Center.

Ahead of the event, Hatke and Qian shared how they approach the idea of home in their comics, the challenges and rewards of being between places, and the books, films and art that have inspired them.

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Craig Thompson, Deniz Camp, ‘Absolute Batman’ + more win at the 2026 Ringo Awards

The winners were announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

The winners of this year’s Ringo Awards were announced last weekend at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The awards program is named for artist Mike Wieringo, the artist of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Tellos and more who died in 2007, and recognizes creators, comic books, graphic novels and webcomics in multiple categories.

The Mike Wieringo Spirit Award, presented annually during the ceremony, went to The Avengers in the Veracity Trap by Chip Kidd and Michael Cho. This award is selected every year by perennial jurors Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, Mark Waid and Matt Wieringo, Mike’s brother.

Below you’ll find the full list of winners:

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