In checking off the list of things I’ve recently chatted about, seems I’ve covered all my bases. Comedy. Pro Wrestling. New movies. Old movies. Indie movies. And, of course… Unshaven Comics. Well, guess we start at the top and take another spin, aye?
With my forthcoming special appearance on the award-winning Pop Culture Squadcast (I promise that’s my last link kiddos.), I’m elated to scoop myself to note that at the upcoming Dragon Con (September 3rd – 6th), my lil label will be debuting our latest issue of The Samurnauts… Rage of the Rep-Simian #1. Penned by Kyle Gnepper, with interior art by the always awesome Steph Mided and cover by equally effervescent Steph Stanga. Colors were helmed by our intern, Ava Luiz — who Matt and I have been teaching the ways of comic books since Ava herself was in elementary school. She’s a high school junior now… and an amazing talent. I did a bunch of stuff on the book too, but I’m just here for a good time. While it’s been a few years since a new issue graced our tablescape, it makes no difference: Unshaven Comics works hard and sells everything with the same zeal and gusto we’ve been living off of since (checks Facebook memories) 2008. Yeesh.
First off, let me dish a little bit about Rage of the Rep-Simian. Same as Samurnauts: To the Max!, this is the first issue of a fresh short series of Samurnauts books that tell a singular story in a singular time period (versus Curse of the Dreadnuts and Genesis having time-jump narratives throughout). In this case, we’re going back to the very first assembled team under the immortal Kung-Fu monkey, Al, as they face off against a mutated monkey-dinosaur hybrid… with an interesting tie to Master Al’s secret origin. I won’t spoil anything mind you, but fans of lore should be pleased that we Unshaven Lads are leaning into panels of the past to mine new tales to tell. If you can’t tell? I’m proud AF of this book.
Prouder still of how the production itself was pulled off. When we completed Curse, on another long and winding trip home from whatever con it was at the time… it was decided the next wave of stories we’d tell would meet a specific criteria of challenges we felt necessary in our evolution as creators. First? Each Unshavenaut would be helming their story solo — acting without collaboration in plot points and story beats as we had for issues prior. For Matt and myself? This meant art and writing duty for an entire book. For Kyle, it meant for the first time, Unshaven Comics would open up the Samurnauts to another artist for interior art.
Considering our options, we looked to several fellow indie pencilers we loved, and ultimately chose Steph Mided for several reasons. Chiefly: she had a great rapport with Kyle, having worked with him on his independent release Blooms: Heist on the Magical Girl Vault. Her style — very much akin to that of popular shows like Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Star vs. the Forces of Evil — would bring a fun and inviting visual flair to our otherwise serious look and feel for other Samur-books. Given the gravity of the story itself, we felt like it would be a great counterweight that showcases the breadth of the Samurnauts brand. And that kids… is what we call a segway.
As we hinted back in our 3-part Las Vegas adventure (ok, last one, I double promise!), Unshaven Comics has always wanted to grow a bit beyond our means. With Rep-Simian hitting the table, and Matt’s forthcoming ¡La Noche de Los Luchanauts! debuting hopefully by this time in 2027… I’d like to do a little manifesting if I may.
From the first time the Samurnauts appeared in an Unshaven Comic — Disposable Razors #3 — the pitch seemed to be less a sales plea, and more an unruly incantation that parted folks from their money. The mashing together of seemingly half a dozen disparate things into a single story creates an attitude of “Ooh, sure, why not?!” that changed the calculus for my little imprints cashbox. For as many years as Curse of the Dreadnuts existed as floppy issues, we sold out boxes of them at each successive con. The right price and the the pitch eventually earned us enough (combined with a successful Kickstarter) to warrant the four issues be collected and outsized into a graphic novel. The hard work I personally did behind the scenes to secure an affordable (and high quality) printer to make the book meant profitability suddenly was whispered in hush tones as we drove home from subsequent conventions. And per that last link above? We rolled the dice, dumped out the savings, and went to Vegas on a wing and a prayer to sell Samurnauts as an IP. Ultimately, we didn’t. But!
Enough positive things came of that sandy safari that we Unshaven Lads didn’t lose faith. We recognized the need to refill the coffers a bit, and consider some new options. Without getting headlong into those specifics, suffice it to say: the dream of our tentpole brand becoming something animated, video games, and toy’ed out remains as strong as it ever was. And Rage of the Rep-Simian only compounds that fervor.
You see, by my humble estimation, a brand new fan hearing of The Samurnauts for the first time at our table, now can purchase the origin issue, a trade collecting a 4 issue mini-series, and now two number ones that splinter the tale into multiple times — still sharing a singular timeline itself mind you. And now with stories in ancient China, the steam-punk 1800’s, the fluorescent 1980’s, and the far-flung future… each boasting a multi-hyphenate villain so ridiculous sounding it garners a chuckle simply hearing the avalanche of adjectives forming the baddie’s raison d’être? Well, it fills the cockles of my heart, I tells ya whut. For the right ears and eyes, the bigger picture becomes that much clearer. Especially given the breadth of the art styles equaling the time periods throughout the books; it showcases how we envisioned Samurnauts existing in the grand scheme of entertainment. No different that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that influenced us when we were merely building our universe… being able to carry characters and stories without being forced into a singular look and feel only makes the tent bigger for potential fans. When we merely teased “The All New Samurnauts” as a fake ad in the back of Disposable Razors #1 it was only ever meant to be that kind of joke: a crass over-exposed IP that told our fans we sold out.
Well, when that first issue hit, and the first pitch of it out of the gate garnered the literal words “shut up and take my money”? Maybe our hipster bonafides burnt the same as Patton Oswalt’s oft-denoted “lizard brain”. Who are we to say no to making a worthy IP that becomes bigger than a singular medium? More to the point… who are we not to dream of the possibility?
For now, the reality of it all: next up is Dragon Con. In October, GalaxyCon St. Louis. That’s the rest of our 2026. We’ll need to pick shows in 2027, and soon it’ll be Matt’s turn to release his solo Samurnaut adventure. Between then and now? We’ll be pursuing some interesting avenues in an attempt to build up The Samurnauts and Unshaven Comics alike. This will include a forthcoming TikTok account (no, seriously), some podcast appearances, and more secretive plans I can’t divulge until there’s more to say.
Samurnauts are still go, kiddos. Tell a friend.
