Month: May 2026

As promised, here’s the latest update on the progress of THE SHADOW FILES:

I received word late last night that the cargo ship carrying the pallets of copies of THE SHADOW FILES – both versions – departed for the Port of Los Angeles sometime on Wednesday, May 27, with an ETA at the Port of Los Angeles on Saturday, June 13, with an ETA on my end of Wednesday, June 17. Copies are theoretically scheduled to begin shipping on Friday, June 19, with the first customers receiving their copies on or about Tuesday, June 23. Copies will be mailed out every day until all orders thus far are shipped. Any delays in shipping the copies out will be attributable to new orders coming in and requiring to be processed so no one gets lost in the shuffle. (This has happened with every book release thus far so I have to account for this.)

For those who may not be aware, this book contains every Shadow story I ever wrote for the Archie SONIC THE HEDGEHOG series, including one that remained unpublished until now. Also included are Karl’s stories from issues 98, 124 and 125 along with Shadow’s first time depiction in the MOBIUS 25 YEARS LATER storyline written by Ian Flynn that was featured in SONIC issues 166 and 167. Finally, there are the assorted extras featured throughout the book, including a special CREATORS section. Anyone wishing to order a copy of the Non-Variant edition, click HERE.

Anyone attending the San Diego Comic-Con this July will be able to purchase the Variant Edition while supplies last, as I’ve set aside copies to make available specifically at this event.

Speaking of Comic-Con, Scott Shaw! will be the moderator of “How Sonic The Hedgehog’s First Cartoonist Rescued His Stories For A New Sonic Book”. According to Scott, joining him on the panel are the men who made Scott Shaw! and Sonic the Hedgehog look so good, Ethan Alvarée, Patrick Luque and yours truly. The panel will be held in Room 4 on Thursday, July 23, 2026 at 4:00pm to 5:0pm PST. Sonic fans won’t want to miss this.

(Before anyone asks, we hope to have a video made so we can stream it for the non-attendees. We’ll keep everyone posted once the details are solid.)

That’s it for now. I’ll have more to say later. Thanks and take care.

I received word that THE SHADOW FILES is being packaged and readied for shipping. My printing rep, Rebekah, was kind enough to send photos of the books being prepared for the journey across the Pacific Ocean to our shores, their eventual destination the Port of Los Angeles, and from there, my storage unit, where I will gather copies for shipping to their real eventual destination, everyone who ordered copies.

Personally, I estimate arrival of the books anywhere from mid-June to early July, while hoping for sooner rather than later. Once I have info on the departure date and Estimated Time of Arrival, I’ll post those details ASAP.

While all the pre-order Variant copies are already spoken for, I did have a few extra printed to have available for sale at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Chances are this will be the last and only time people will be able to acquire a copy of the Variant Edition. My signature, whether personalized or not, will cost $25. (I have to make up the increased shipping costs somehow.)

So what’s next after this?

Currently, I’m working on more material for the SHATTERED TOMORROWS graphic novel as well as THE LARA-SU APP, some of which I’ll post soon, but there’s other projects being worked on as well.

Ethan is currently at work recoloring every page of material featured in HER MAJESTY SALLY, which I hope to display some samples later this summer or fall. There’s also discussion of putting together THE ENDGAME SAGA. The main reason I’d like to get two books in the can for printing is to save on shipping costs, but it remains to be seen if the schedule is doable or not.

Regardless of whether or not THE ENDGAME SAGA goes to print, the KEN PENDERS’ KNUCKLES OMNIBUS VOLUME TWO will most definitely come after HER MAJESTY SALLY, especially since one of the Sally stories leads into the adventure THE FORBIDDEN ZONE featured in the KNUCKLES OMNIBUS.

At some point, I’ll start recruiting talent as I’d like the GEOFFREY ST JOHN OF THE SECRET SERVICE volume to be a mix of old and new material. I’d also like to turn over preparation of the reprint volumes to others while I focus on the follow-up volumes of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES.

Bottom line: as long as you guys keep ordering the books, I’ll keep making them. Right now, get ready for THE SHADOW FILES, as they’ll heading this way soon. Thanks and take care.

I received the final invoice from the printer for THE SHADOW FILES, the bulk of the money due was for shipping costs from China to Los Angeles. Because of the idiot in charge of making decisions for our country thanks to his moronic voters, the cost of shipping has gone up over $400 from the last time I paid to have SONIC DAYS shipped over here. Even though it’s taken a bigger bite out of my wallet than I expected, as before when I was dealing with the Chumpster’s tariffs, I didn’t pass the along increased costs onto the customers. I held the line and delivered to everyone exactly what they ordered without any bait’n’switch.

I’m still waiting to hear when the books begin their journey to the Port of Los Angeles, and as usual, I’ll get back with the details. By the way, the video above doesn’t give a clue to the surprises and extras featured in the book. And I look forward to everyone’s comments once they’re able to examine the book at greater length.

In the meantime, I was interviewed by the guys putting out the SONIC WEEKLY podcast which you may want to check out. While the focus was on my native Buffalo, NY roots, due to the fact I produced over 2/3 of my Sonic work while living in Buffalo – specifically, the towns of Kenmore and North Tonawanda – there was just no way we could avoid talking about Sonic and related topics.

Currently, I’ve been going full speed ahead working on pages for THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: SHATTERED TOMORROWS graphic novel, which is scheduled for release Christmas season 2026. At the same time, work on THE LARA-SU APP is progressing with an eye (finally) on a late summer release. Initially, the app will be available in the iOS format through the Apple app store. I hope to have a Droid version out sometime soon after that.

On another note, I’ve been receiving plenty of emails telling me how great the books I’ve published are, but I’d appreciate if everyone spread the word to anyone and everyone with similar interests. Being able to publish the books is one thing, but I’d like to be able to pay everyone at a better rate than I currently am. For that to happen, I need to sell more copies.

I’ve yet to distribute to comic book stores and other outlets precisely because for the most part I’ve been a one-man band and I don’t have a staff to assist me. While it’s true I have Patrick working on the app, Ethan handling recoloring and translators transcribing my script into other languages to allow for the app to reach a greater audience, those are specific tasks, and truth be told, even they aren’t getting paid what they really deserve. And I haven’t even mentioned recruiting new talent to take on penciling, inking and coloring, something I would love to do, but isn’t feasible at this time.

So I need everyone to get the word out how the books are presenting the best version of these stories and encourage people to check them out. It’s much appreciated.

Finally, I’m still working on getting out to more conventions and will post those dates and locations once they’re confirmed. Thanks for reading and take care.