Lilith, Action: Before The Ban, Bat Pat & Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream
From Vault Comics, Rebellion, Mad Cave Studios, and Papercutz
Back on the comics after my summer holiday, with some news for you to check out!
Here are the latest in comics, including:
Lilith returns from Vault Comics.
Controversy with Action!
A new story from Papercutz.
And a special biography in Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream.
Vault Announces Lilith’s Return In 2026
A fantastic series, and it’s great to see the return of Lilith to Vault Comics - it’s coming in 2026, and check out the early details!
Vault Comics is thrilled to announce that Corin Howell’s smash-hit sapphic horror comic book series, Lilith, will return as an ongoing series in 2026.
In the forthcoming second arc of the Lilith series, Penny’s bookstore is still a mess after the monster attack. Much to Lilith’s dismay, Michael proposes a great idea. Why not make a sexy calendar to raise funds to pay for the shop repairs? As Lilith, Michael, Penny, and Benny get to work, the four grow even closer. Lilith and Penny start making good progress on translating the book that could help get Lilith home. But what will Penelope think if she learns Lilith’s true motive—and true nature? Seems like Lilith is bound to find out when a sinister and sexy pair from her past emerges at a burlesque show.
"Familiar faces reappear in Lilith’s life,” said Howell of the phase in Lilith’s story, “but the reunion isn’t so welcomed. Now Lilith has to caution herself around some old rivals, new monsters, and some current financial issues, all while navigating this new thing with Penelope called… “feelings”? Oh, and Ben has a night job that’s right up Michael’s alley."
Lilith, created by Howell, began as a genuine social media phenomenon. Howell’s Lilith illustrations have garnered millions of likes on Howell’s social platforms, making Lilith one of the most popular original illustrated characters on social media. Then in 2024, Howell & Vault partnered to publish a Lilith comic book series that became an immediate critical darling and commercial hit with multiple sell outs and new printings.
Lilith is an immortal who's been banished from her home, a dimensional plane suspiciously similar to mankind's idea of hell. She's been posing as a model on Earth while secretly preying on humans. That is, until she runs into Penelope, a sweet bookstore owner with a tome that might hold the secret to returning Lilith to her home dimension.
More details about the next arc of Lilith will be revealed soon, and fans can expect to see Lilith’s triumphant return to store shelves in 2026. In the meantime, readers can purchase the Lilith Volume 1 trade paperback at comic and book stores everywhere this October.
Britain's Most Controversial Comic Receives A New Archival Collection!
A new, special collection of Action is coming soon from Rebellion, featuring Hookjaw, Hellman, Dredger, and more!
Violent, gritty and unrelenting, Action comic was the brainchild of Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp. Tasked with creating a new anthology comic for the IPC's boys adventure division, the pair rapidly developed a winning formula: reimagining existing story ideas from fresh perspectives and infusing them with a health dose of modern realism.
With strips such as Hookjaw, Dredger, Look Out For Lefty and Blackjack, success was instantaneous but so was the criticism. Many members of the press - including The London Evening Standard, The Sun and the Daily Mail - were quick to denounce the comic, while Mary Whitehouse and the pressure group "Delegates Opposing Violent Education" piled pressure on the IPC board to do something about it.
In less than a year, Action had been pulled from circulation, then returned months later, a sanitised, pale shadow of its former self. But the spark had already been lit. Action had made its mark and became the catalyst for the evolution of the British comics scene, paving the way for 2000 AD and the subsequent British invasion of UK talent into America.
Now, for the first time in decades, Rebellion are collecting Action in a series of new archival editions, containing all of the strips and some of the editorial that created so much infamy back in the 1970s!
With brand-new introductions from Pat Mills, the legendary co-creator, editor, and writer of Action, as well as from series writer Steve MacManus, this is a sensational new release which champions firebrand comics at their most powerful and controversial.
Find out just what the shock and awe was about - featuring the original colour pages as originally published, Volume 1 of Action: Before The Ban collects together the first twelve issues of Action, originally published across 1976.
Available in standard and webshop-exclusive editions, Action: Before The Ban defies the censors and proudly celebrates a landmark series in comics history!
Bat Pat Vol. 1: Monsters Among Us Brings Back a Beloved Animated Series in OGN Form!
A new all-ages story from Papercutz with the first volume of Bat Pat.
Silver siblings Martin, Leo and Rebecca unravel mysteries along with their friend Bat Pat and cross paths with supernatural creatures of the night. But these supernatural “bad guys” are not really bad, but normal people under a curse or other-worldly characters whose actions are misunderstood by the more…well…alive. Bat Pat and the Kids aspire to be protectors of the Supernatural!!!
Bat Pat follows the spooky and comical animated adventures of the talking bat, Bat Pat, and the Silver siblings Martin, Leo and Rebecca as they unravel mysteries and cross paths with supernatural creatures of the night that lurk, haunt, shriek and dig themselves up in every dark corner of their home in Fogville – a small town that seems to be the center of all things weird in the world, a veritable magnet to ghosts, mummies, witches, and yes…werewolves! Our heroes will come to understand something important that puts a unique twist on the series: the supernatural “bad guys” are not really bad, but normal people under a curse or other-worldly characters whose actions are misunderstood by the more…well…alive. Bat Pat and the Kids aspire to be protectors of the Supernatural!!!
“As someone who grew up in an era of meddling kids solving mysteries, Bat Pat was a dream to draw. A super-fun series packed with mystery, adventure and an important message of inclusion," said Illustrator Bill Walko. "Translating the popular Bat Pat series from animation to comic form was a blast from an artistic perspective. Kids solving spooky mysteries and meeting misfit monsters... what's not to love? I hope the graphic novel format inspires a new wave of Bat Pat fans, because Fogville is a really fun place to visit."
"Bat Pat was a joy to work on. The series is fun, quirky, and keeps you guessing. The ultimate "don't judge a book by its cover" story. I like how it has elements of Scooby Doo, but with real monsters! And monsters that aren't trying to hurt people, but they need our help. Full of imagination, mystery, and laughs - Bat Pat is a great story for kids with a wild imagination. Where things that go bump in the night aren't to be feared, but are just misunderstood," said writer Trevor Mueller. "I love the cast of characters, too. The Silver family is a great collection of kids who all compliment each other very well. They have a strong older sister (Rebecca) who loves adventures, mystery, and all things supernatural. A tech wizard who loves to snack (Leo). And a skeptic (Martin) who almost certainly knows monsters live among us, but denies it every time (sometimes because of wishful thinking)."
The book is available for preorder now wherever books are sold, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Bookshop
The Woman Behind Frankenstein: Her Life, Her Love, Her Monster!
A biographical graphic novel of a fascinating historical figure from Mad Cave Studios in Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream.
Mad Cave Studios is proud to announce the print edition of Comixology Original, MARY SHELLEY: THE ETERNAL DREAM—a stirring new edition, arriving in English for the first time. This expressively illustrated fictional account follows the life of Mary Shelley, the groundbreaking writer whose imagination birthed one of literature’s most enduring figures: Frankenstein’s monster, with cameos from Romantic-era artists and writers woven throughout.
Written by Naples native Alessandro Di Virgilio (BeccoGiallo, Star Comics, Noise Press) and illustrated by Manuela Santoni (Girl R-Evolution, Storie Proprio Buffe), with translation by Lucy Lenzi and editing by Stefano A. Cresti and Sarah Brunstad, Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream blends biography and fiction in a haunting narrative told through the eyes of Shelley’s infamous creation.
The extraordinary life of the woman who created one of fiction's most enduring characters: Frankenstein's monster. Born at the turn of the 19th century to the famous philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft (forerunner of the feminist movement) and William Godwin (novelist and radical politician), Mary Shelley lived a life in constant flight from social conformity. Her struggle birthed a pop culture phenomenon. Now in print for the first time in English, Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream chronicles Shelley's relationships with other important artists and writers, including her eventual husband Percy Shelley, and the "butterfly effect" of love, hardship, tragedy, and inspiration that led to the creation of the infamous monster.
Mad Cave Studios editor, Sarah Brunstad, spoke of the project:
"I've never read a graphic novel quite like Mary Shelley. It's an exquisitely told biography, a black-and-white emotional feast punctuated with brilliant red spot color. Manuela Santoni and Alessandro di Virgilio artfully weave the interpersonal highlights of Shelley's life with the cataclysmic social changes of her time… An unforgettable read."
Perfect for fans of literary history, feminist icons, and gothic storytelling, Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream stands alongside illustrated works like Fun Home, Jane, and The Brontë Sisters. With its unique narrative voice and evocative art, this edition invites readers to see not only the facts of Shelley’s life, but the very heart whose scars brought Frankenstein’s monster to life.
Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream will be available wherever books are sold on January 13, 2026, and at local comic shops on January 14, 2026. Final Order Cutoff is on December 1, 2025.
