Okay, I know I’m not keeping this up to date, I know. But I’m busy! I didn’t water the plants either, so I guess they died.

Anyway, let’s pretend like this is old hat, like we’ve been doing this all along, and get to the news!

2022 is shaping up to be a pretty great friggin’ year for my comics. At the time of this writing, I will have no less than 5 different comics published by 5 different publishers (and I’m in talks with a 6th and potentially 7th) Pretty cool, eh?

Here’s the scoop:

1. Bigfoot Frankenstein – issue 4, 5 and the trade paperback all come out this year, published by Action Lab. Here’s the cover to the recently solicited TPB. Art and letters by Vernon Smith, colors by Kai Teng.

2. Feeder is next, a 5-issue miniseries launching later this year from Behemoth comics. The story of a former 80s action movie star turned degenerate bottomfeeder, I can’t wait for everyone to check this out! Art by Darryl Knickrehm, letters by Steve Ekstrom.

3. The Argus is coming, finally! After a misfire and some serious COVID-inflicted damages, we have finally found a new publisher in Source Point Press. Happy to have our story of crazy time travel get into readers’ hands. Art and letters by Darryl Knickrehm.

4. Pieces of Hate, a gonzo, post-apocalyptic road trip/black comedy/psycho sci-fi graphic novel, being published by New Friday comics. Art and letters by Justin Adcock.

5. Strange Case, the first in a line of graphic novellas, will be published by Scout Comics’s all-ages imprint, Scoot. Look for this late 2022/early 2023. Art by Keith Grachow, letters by Vernon Smith.

So that’s the confirmed stuff, but like I said, I have a couple more pitches out in the wild that I’m hoping will land soon.

Last thing, if you made it this far: I set up a Ko-Fi account for myself. I love to make comics, but it’s an expensive thing to do! If you feel like doing a little donation thing, here’s the link (No pressure!)

https://ko-fi.com/markbertolini21558

I would promise to try and keep this blog more up to date, but I think we all know that’s unlikely…

Take care and I’ll be back at some point in the future!

So it’s official, I will have a new book coming out later this year/early next year called STRANGE CASE.

This one has been a while in the making, it’s an idea that’s been rattling around in my head for years, and I was fortunate enough to link up with phenomenal artist, and fellow Canadian, Keith Grachow, in early 2020 to start discussing and creating the story that would eventually become STRANGE CASE.

Strange Case is our twisted take on the story of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Everyone knows the story, the idea of good vs bad, logic vs emotion, etc. etc. For our story, Jekyll and Hyde are two seperate people, forced to work together to solve the strangest of crimes in Victorian London.

Keith and I were very fortunate that this work caught the eye of the editorial director of Scout comics, Andrea Lorenzo Molinari. He saw the pitch we had created, and championed it all the way to the publisher of Scout’s all-ages imprint, Scoot.

Fast forward a few months, and we’re officially in business! Strange Case will be published by Scoot, and will be a series of graphic novellas, each detailing a different “strange case” that Jekyll and Hyde must solve. Scoot is an all-ages, kid-friendly lineup of books, which is very exciting for both Keith and I, as we envision the book in school libraries and that kind of thing.

Here’s a few words from the dynamic duo themselves.

Keith, Andrea and I are joined by letterer Vernon Smith. We’re super excited about this and can’t wait to share this fun story with the world!