Bloodletter, Blade Forger, Van Gogh & From Palestine
From Image Comics, Mad Cave Studios, ComiXology Originals & The Lakes International Comic Art Festival
The colder times are coming, and I have started considering jumpers! Rain and wind are beginning to cause more chaos, but at least there are always more comics.
Including:
The Spawn Universe and Image Comics drop Bloodletter #4
Steel forged, promise kept. The empire awaits its champion in Blade Forger Vol.1
Now in English for the first time, a graphic biography of Vincent Van Gogh’s loves, losses, and eternal light.
And a special programme from The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.
The Spawn Universe’s Sharpest New Thriller Turns Up the Heat—Secrets Bleed, Enemies Close In, and No One Walks Away Clean.
A new issue of Bloodletter is due, and Image Comics has provided from the Spawn universe!
Midnight breaks, and the hunters become the hunted. This Wednesday, BLOODLETTER #4 strikes from Image Comics!From writer Joseph P. Illidge (The Shadow Cabinet) and co-writer Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash, Nightwing), with razor-sharp art by Christian Rosado (Summoner’s War, Dark Ride) and a deadly variant cover from Mirko Colak (Avengers, Captain America).Set deep inside Todd McFarlane’s ever-expanding Spawn Universe, this chapter doesn’t just sink its teeth—it twists. Secrets spill, enemies close in, and no one walks away clean as Tasha Thornwall goes fang-to-fist with Spawn himself.
Blood will spill. Hell will answer. Don’t miss it!
Tasha must confront the decisions she has made in the past in order to figure out her own future. Making peace is one thing, but when Al Simmons is involved, hard choices must be made.
Bloodletter #4 arrives Wednesday, September 17.
Bloodletter #4, Cover A by Christian Rosado – Lunar Code: 0725IM309
Bloodletter #4, Cover B by Mirko Colak – Lunar Code: 0725IM310
The issue will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
Five Battles, One Blade, One Throne: The Entire Tournament of the Five Rings in a Single Volume
Action is in one volume from Mad Cave Studios, with the first volume being Blade Forger.
This fall, Mad Cave Studios unleashes the full fury of the Tournament of the Five Rings with BLADE FORGER VOL. 1, the complete opening chapter of Roy and Inaki Miranda’s powerhouse series now forged into a single collection!
Created by the Eisner-nominated team behindWe Live, this volume featuresInaki Miranda’s striking art, colors byEva De La Cruz(Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice?), and letters byDave Sharpe(Revolution 9).
Born from upheaval, the Miranda brothers took the sudden halt of their acclaimedWe Liveseries and the real-world tension of an energy crisis and forged them into a saga of scarce resources, fragile peace, and the fight to make power a common good. This first volume stands as their proof that creative promises, like the vows within the story itself, are meant to be kept.
No matter who you are or where you’re from, with enough aspiration, courage and training you could become a Blade Forger, win the tournament and be the new Emperor.
The discovery of CORUM, a never seen before energy source, led to a bloody world war for its control. After years of destruction, the Lords of the Lands agreed to negotiate a ceasefire for lasting peace. The BLADE FORGERS TREATY was born from that meeting.
This treaty established that the mining of Corum would be centralized through one government, led by a neutral Emperor. The Emperor would have to be a BLADE FORGER, a mystical swordsman, and claim the title in a tournament called The Tournament of the Five Rings. Every five years Blade Forgers from every corner of the Empire would fight for the possibility of becoming the new Emperor.
A young Blade Forger named Owada challenges the Emperor in the name of the forsaken people. This is the story of what happens next.
For readers drawn to Game of Thrones, One Piece, and the Elden Ring, Blade Forger delivers high-stakes combat and a world built on power, promise, and steel.Fans can secure the exclusive Blade Forger Vol. 1 series bundle that delivers the entire five-issue digital run on its official release dates—with any issues already available arriving instantly, followed by the collected trade paperback shipped straight to their doorstep once it’s in stock!
The Blade Forger Vol. 1 trade paperback lands October 28, 2025.
The Light That Burned Too Bright—Van Gogh Arrives in English for the First Time
From Mad Cave Studios is a graphic biography of the legendary Vincent Van Gogh.
Mad Cave Studios is proud to announce VAN GOGH, a Comixology Original by acclaimed Italian journalist, essayist, and comics writer Francesco Barilli (Goodbye Marilyn) and artist Sakka (Il Sogno del Minotauro, Elain), with letters by Lucy Lenzi. This stunning 128-page graphic biography is now coming to print in English for the very first time.
A gorgeously rendered, emotional exploration of the life and death of one of the most famously tormented painters in human history.
Through an emotional dialogue between Vincent and his own madness, the artist revisits the most significant loves and losses of his short life. From his tender and tumultuous relationship with his brother Theo, to the famous quarrel with Gauguin that resulted in the self-mutilation of his ear, to the extreme act of self-harm that led to his death, Vincent Van Gogh channeled an extraordinary light as bright today as it was upon his death in 1890. Now in print for the first time in English, Van Gogh: Sadness is Forever casts its own light onto the darkest shadows of the painter's life and inspirations.
With striking visuals and raw honesty, Van Gogh will resonate with readers of art history, fans of biographical graphic novels, and admirers of works like The Metamorphosis, The Man Who Laughs, and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch.
Van Gogh drops on February 24, 2026 from Mad Cave Studios. Preorder today from your favorite comic shop, bookstore, or from Mad Cave directly.
“From Palestine” project highlights the work of amazing creators in adversity.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced a special programme of works. The “From Palestine” project will reveal globally significant comic art from Gaza and the West Bank.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) is delighted to announce its “From Palestine” project, which includes a programming strand at its annual comics gathering in Bowness-on-Windermere later this month (26th – 28th September 2025).
The Festival will see the launch of three new comics by artists from Gaza, to be published by LICAF, following up on the previous publication of the highly acclaimed collection of cartoons, Safaa and the Tent, by Safaa Odah, translated by Nada Hodali.
All four titles will be on sale at the Festival and all profits from the sale of these works will go to the creators.
Palestinian cartoonist and caricaturist Mohammad Sabaaneh, an active member in the Cartoon Movement, will be launching his book, 30 Seconds from Gaza, in English, at a special event over the weekend that will also see the launch of the Qusasat comics anthology, Strategies of Surviving by Abod Nasser and Waiting Rituals by Khaled Jarada.
At a summer camp near Bethlehem in August 2025, 13 young Palestinian artists created a new digital anthology called Qusasat (“Snippets”), co-led by Mollie Ray from the UK and Basel Naser, from Palestine. This was the culmination of a new collaboration between LICAF and the Power Group in Bethlehem, supported by The Amos Trust.
The anthology includes the work of Hana Ibrahim Mhani, Dalia Nidal Dar Abed Alhai, Tuleen Hanna Asmari, Shahd Izz Aldeen Alruzze, Nermin Anees Naifeh, Natalie Alz, Karma Ihab Barghothi, Ward Nayef Al-Hantouli, Majd Rafat Wahbeh, Abdalrahim Mutaz Zalloum, Mohammad Majed Al-Raie and Dima Iyas Nassar.
Sliman Mukarker, co-founder of Power, will be on stage to help launch this brilliant new anthology, with a free copy of the anthology for every audience member.
Strategies of Surviving is a powerful work by talented animator and illustrator Abod Nasser, which will only be available in very limited numbers. He says of his work that his sketches are not meant to avoke pity “nor to scenes of war and suffering”, but are about the Gazan in understanding life… “When he was forced to reinvent it from scratch.”
“This special edition is a wonderful opportunity to show Gazans as dreamers, not just as breaking news,” says Abod Nasser. “I am truly grateful for this opportunity.”
LICAF is also proud to have been working with one of the Palestinian comics scene’s leading lights, Khaled Jarada, who is also from Gaza, now based in Paris, who will join the event online to discuss his new comic, Waiting Rituals, a carefully constructed “concertina comic”, mentored by UK artist Lucy Sullivan.
Last, but by no means least, award-winning cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh will talk about his most recent book, 30 Seconds from Gaza, recently published in English by Olive Branch Press, which will formally launched at LICAF at this event hosted by Paul Gravett.
Capturing and drawing scenes from videos posted on social media was a decision Sabaaneh made as a way to archive moments and information that are expected to be banned and erased later. Sabaaneh’s political cartoons portray a world in which injustice is unending, but so is the resilience of the Palestinian people. 30 Seconds from Gaza is an artistic triumph and a powerful testament to Palestinian sumud (steadfastness). It is proof of art’s capacity to make visible what oppressors want the world to forget.
Safaa and the Tent – limited copies of the first edition available at the Festival and through the LICAF Etsy store – Qusasat and Waiting Rituals are published by the Lakes International Comic Art Festival amd will be available to buy via From the Festival.
All profits from the sale of the books published will go to the comic creators involved.
“We’re honoured to present these powerful works by such a range of Palestinian talents at a very troubled time,” says Festival Director Julie Tait. “LICAF has highlighted the challenging and important work of a wide range of diverse creators since its launch in 2013, and this year is no different.”
