All-New Roy of the Rovers, Gigs, A New Partnership, and Penelope’s Escape from the Platypusary
From Rebellion, Top Shelf, Tokyopop, 247 Comics, and Maverick
Here is the latest comics news and previews, including:
The return of Roy Of The Rovers!
A new graphic novel from Top Shelf.
News on a new manga partnership.
And discover about Penelope’s Escape from the Platypusary.
Kick-Off! Roy of the Rovers Volume One is Coming This June!
In time for the FIFA World Cup, a classic footballer returns in All-New Roy of the Rovers Volume One from Rebellion.
REAL ROY OF THE ROVERS STUFF! The football legend returns this Summer for a sterling collection of the modern Roy of the Rovers run from creators Rob Williams and Ben Willsher!
Get football fever with Roy of the Rovers! Ahead of this year’s World Cup taking place across Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, we’re getting young readers ready for a white-hot summer of sensational soccer with this massive volume of modern Roy stories, perfect for first-time comics readers and long-time footy fans alike!
Courtesy of the creative team of Rob Williams (Judge Dredd) and Ben Willsher (Doctor Who), this is an all-new reimagining of Roy of the Rovers aimed at younger readers, who want to experience all the glory and passion of the beautiful game without having to leave their sofa!
Sixteen-year old Roy Race has always dreamt of becoming a footballer for his team, the Mighty Melchester Rovers. But the glory days are a distant memory for the team, who have been through tough times and fallen to the bottom of League Two. This once-proud powerhouse of British footballers are all out of luck and most importantly - out of money. Armed with natural talent, a passion for the game and a powerful left foot, the young footballing prodigy might just be exactly what Melchester need to reinvigorate their season and kick off a bold new future for their team.
Is raw grit and determination enough to get Roy into the first time and bring back those glory days for the fans? Or will mounting pressures both on and off the pitch prove to be too much for the aspiring superstar?
From the pages of Tiger to having his own title, Roy of the Rovers is the most popular soccer strip in British comics. This action-packed sporting drama reboots the iconic character for today’s generation of football fandom. Following the collection of classic Roy of the Rovers stories which cover the original stories published through the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, this All-New version of Roy offers excitement on and off the pitch which hits hard for the modern age, capturing all the passion of the big leagues!
This volume collects together the stories “Kick-Off”, “Foul Play” & “Going Up” for the first time, offering footy fans a fantastic intro into Roy’s world.
All-New Roy of the Rovers Volume One will head off the bench and onto shelves from 2nd June 2026 - just in time for the 2026 World Cup! - and is available for pre-order now!
Top Shelf Land Gigs, Technology-Driven Dystopian Tale from UK Creators Simon Smith and Mark Mosedale
Gigs looks to be an interesting and relevant new graphic novel from Top Shelf, and I look forward to reading it.
A.I. took the work. Gigs replaced jobs. Ordinary people are left to scrape together lives in a world that’s no longer built for them. This is Gigs, a new graphic novel from Top Shelf releasing June 16, 2026. With a hard-won blend of biting satire and humanistic passion, two creators from the North of England weave together six divergent chapters into an extraordinary graphic novel. Gigs is both a powerful warning about the oppressive world to come and a defiant celebration of the humanity that will sprout up in the cracks.
“When we started working on Gigs in 2019. We hoped that doing a book about AI taking jobs and necessitating a universal basic income wouldn’t become irrelevant in the time we spent making it. It turns out that that was the wrong thing to hope for,” says co-creator Mark Mosedale. “Still, there are all the right things left to hope for and, as Woody Guthrie wrote, you’ve got to keep the hoping machine running. For me, writing Gigs has been a big part of that.”
“When we started Gigs I was reaching for that feeling that great music gives me - hearing Tinseltown in the Rain for the first time, or Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops, or Once In A Lifetime. When this stuff finds you, it’s proof that another, better world is possible, and an encouragement to look for it,” says co-creator Si Smith. “Imagining a dystopia is relatively easy, especially right now, and the world that we’ve built in Gigs is quite bleak. But whilst hope and joy and revelation are definitely much harder to create, Mark and I have had a good go at it.”
In a frighteningly near future where Basic Income is supplemented by gig work assigned by “the app”…an octogenarian punk and a lonely young worker seek escape through music. A street artist makes art by night and paints over it by day. A has-been detective chases a case into a forgotten world. A drug runner makes a long, strange delivery. A writer marks her days on a decaying space station she can’t leave. And a refugee asks for help in the last free place.
Gigs will be available wherever books are sold, as a full-color softcover graphic novel (ISBN: 978-1-60309-593-8) as well as a digital edition, on June 16, 2026, for a list price of $24.99. For more information please visit the Top Shelf web site.
Tokyopop Announces Publishing Partnership with 247 Comics
New manga with this news of a partnership between Tokyopop and 247 Comics.
Publisher TOKYOPOP has announced a publishing partnership with 247 Comics, a creator-led publishing and content studio. TOKYOPOP will begin publishing and providing product development and marketing support for a broad range of 247 Comics’ manga-inspired original graphic novels. TOKYOPOP also will work with 247 Comics to create a range of licensed merchandise based on these properties.
Engaging TOKYOPOP’s digital marketing resources, production expertise, and extensive channel distribution network that is managed by Penguin Random House, the initiative will launch in coming months with exclusive print editions for 247 Comics titles including the sci-fi adventure, EVERMIND, the intense revenge saga, HEROES BE DAMNED, the swords and martial arts action of BLADESMYTH, and the supernatural crime drama, ZERO GHOST. The comic bookstore exclusive editions published by TOKYOPOP will feature variant covers by world-class manga cover artists.
TOKYOPOP surprised the ComicsPRO community with an exclusive announcement of its comic shop exclusive single-issue and graphic novel partnership with the team at 247 Comics, formally introducing the 247 Comics powered by TOKYOPOP publishing initiative.
Announced as Executive Editor of 247 Comics on stage at last year’s ComicsPRO, Terry Kavanagh brings his legacy role as editor of Marvel Comics Presents and shared details on the first issue of 247 Comics Presents & Spotlight, a flip-book quarterly anthology series. The debut issue of “Presents” features original stories by Larry Hama, Howard Mackie, and newcomer Anderson Carman’s original series Cyber League, along with a variant cover by superstar artist Daniel Warren Johnson. The “Spotlight” side will feature reprint and remastered titles New Men, created by Rob Liefeld (Deadpool), and Sons of the Devil, created by Brian Buccelatto (Flash).
“247 Comics has developed a bold range of original graphic novels by a cadre of talented creators that are influenced by manga,” says Marc Visnick, COO and Publisher of TOKYOPOP. “We are excited to leverage TOKYOPOP’s production, distribution and marketing infrastructure to bring these new print editions of their titles to market.”
“This partnership is about honoring manga traditions while reintroducing this audience to the single-issue comic book format,” says Carl Choi, Co-founder and Publisher of 247 Comics. “Through 247 Comics powered by TOKYOPOP, we’re bringing world-class manga talent into comic shops while presenting our original stories in compact manga reader formats. It’s a creator-first approach designed to serve retailers, readers, and the long-term future of the medium.”
In a world built to contain her, one platypus chose freedom.
A unique, based-on-a-true-story, coming soon from Maverick in Penelope’s Escape From The Platypusary.
In 1957, one small animal made a very big choice…
Maverick, the young adult imprint of Mad Cave Studios, is proud to announce PENELOPE’S ESCAPE FROM THE PLATYPUSARY, an exciting historical fiction graphic novel written by Arianna Irwin (Mean Girls: Senior Year, 101 Dalmatians: Penny’s Big Splash) and Italian illustrator Prenzy (On the Stump, Flawed), with colors by Nicolo Laporini and lettering by Micah Myers. Penelope’s Escape from the Platypusary
Inspired by a real-life event,reframes an unusual footnote in history into a bold, funny, and deeply resonant story about agency, autonomy, and the courage to choose yourself, even when the world insists otherwise!
In 1957, Penelope the Platypus successfully escaped the Bronx Zoo and her “destined” mate, Cecil, with the help of some unlikely allies. Throughout her adventure, Penelope and the readers realize the power that comes with reclaiming your agency.
Writer Arianna Irwin reflected on this true-story-inspired escape: "I stumbled upon Penelope’s story, but was instantly captivated by this fearless 1950s platypus who refused to accept her fate. I thought she deserved an epic hero’s adventure to match her real-life resilience. I hope readers can laugh with Penelope, root for her, and understand you always have choices—you just have to be brave enough to make one."
Prenzy, whose expressive art and cinematic pacing bring Penelope’s journey to life, added, “I'm thrilled to have illustrated this comic book written by Arianna Irwin, because it represents a sensitive and powerful way to introduce readers to important issues. I hope that Penelope's Escape From The Platypusary will resonate with readers and encourage awareness and compassion around the treatment of animals.”
Spanning 168 pages, Penelope’s Escape from the Platypusary is a bold, funny, and heartfelt hero’s journey for readers ages 14+, inviting them to explore big ideas through empathy and momentum. The result is a story that meets teens where they are, affirming that independence is earned through action, not permission. It’s a reminder that rebellion doesn’t always look loud, and that the bravest thing you can do is choose for yourself.
Penelope’s Escape from the Platypusary publishes June 9, 2026, in paperback (ISBN: 9781545826911) and hardcover (ISBN: HC: 9781545836040) wherever books are sold. Order now through your favorite comic shop, bookstore, or directly from maverickcomics.com.
