Tag: unshaven comics

Pop Culture Squad > unshaven comics
So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 125: Draggin’ on Dragon Con 2026

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 125: Draggin’ on Dragon Con 2026

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

Just as the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano, so too do the Unshaven Lads descend upon Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. This year, Unshaven Comics entered Dragon Con’s 40th celebration of their fan-forward nerdy Mardi Gras ready to rock out as hard as we possibly could. How so you ask? We bought two tables to fill with merch. We finished The Samurnauts: Rage of Rep-Simian #1. We ordered custom badge ribbons — an amazing fan-led custom the con has adopted over the years. I personally audited and ordered full refills of my PokeMashups to fully take hold of all four of my spinner racks on the second table. We designed a brand new mighty mashup poster celebrating The Princess Bride and the Muppets (in addition to our recently debuting Mandolorian + Bluey poster). We even ordered business cards after giving up on them years ago due to fan demand.

And then the universe laughed at how desperate we were and whispered “oh yeah?”.

Let’s see… Those badge ribbons? Didn’t arrive on my doorstep until the day after we’d left for the show. In spite of paying for expedited shipping. The business cards? Never even printed. Turns out OvernightPrints had a printer error, and decided simply not to fill the order and send a refund to me… a day before the show. My PokeMashup order? FedEx lost the package, didn’t report it for over a week, and when I finally notified OvernightPrints of this folly? They just issued me a refund and a shrug. Shout out to Solution Printing though… as they delivered “Rage of Rep-Simian” to us a full three weeks early. Because they are awesome. OK. Enough with my angry Google reviews, right? Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 125: Draggin’ on Dragon Con 2026” →

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 123: Manifesting… Unshavenly

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 123: Manifesting… Unshavenly

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

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.  Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 123: Manifesting… Unshavenly” →

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #118: We Live in a Failed State

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #118: We Live in a Failed State

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

On Friday, April 24th, I had the sincere pleasure to take a three and a half hour drive from my quaint suburban home to the bright lights and gilded streets of Dubuque, Iowa. Why? Well folks, the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival officially selected a movie I was a teeny tiny part of, and the writer / director / all-around-great-guy invited me to come!

Let’s get through the sundries quickly.

The film? Failed State. The writer/director? Matt Doherty. You might know him as “Averman” in Mighty Ducks, or “Big Head” in So I Married an Axe Murderer. Well after those early roles, Doherty continued acting, but also learned scene craft and cut his teeth on the page and behind the camera. Smash cut to the post-apocalyptic world we live in where Matt assembled a ragtag group of fellow smart thespians and set out to make a movie to celebrate the literal failed state we live in. Part social experiment, part artistic outlet, and all parts acerbically funny. 

How I was a part of it? Well, thank Kathy Fishman. My beautiful wife was a hah-yoooge fan of the original Duck film, and befriended Matt early into her social media tenure. One rainy afternoon she denoted a post wherein Doherty was asking his friends if anyone knew a good graphic designer. She name-dropped me. He and I zoomed, and immediately hit it off. Soon thereafter, I became his goto maker-of-things. And when he decided to put together Failed State, there were some design needs throughout the film — including some fake posters, conspiratorial government agency logos, and other minutiae. And after the film was ready? I was on board to make the company website, start working on some cool merch, and so on. 

Alright. I think that gives you the broad strokes of how I wound up in Dubuque.  Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #118: We Live in a Failed State” →

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #117: OK Convention(al) Wins and Losses

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #117: OK Convention(al) Wins and Losses

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

Unshaven Comics ventured from our humble homes in the Chicagoland suburbs (and Kenosha, WI) to make our way out to GalaxyCon Oklahoma City, a couple weeks ago. While we’ve done GalaxyCon shows prior (last year specifically in New Orleans), this was a fresh city for we Unshaven Lads. The hypothesis? A new city means new energy. New fans. New sights and sounds. And while I’d love to have a grand narrative to unravel for all y’all this week… I’m headed back to the well of a long listicle to work through the wins and losses we faced tabling at the con. If you don’t mind the predictable format, and grant me some grace? Let’s crack on, kiddos. 

Win: Sales.

Our rule of thumb has long been “Twenty books a day keeps company extinction away”. That metric above all else typically means we’ll have banked enough bucks in the till to cover the cost of the table, and some sundries that got us to said convention. With that in mind… I’m elated to report we netted 86 trade sales of The Samurnauts. This included 48 books moved on Saturday — two away from a single day sales record! In short? OKC came out to buy from Unshaven Comics, and that was the biggest win all weekend.

For the uninitiated, you might ask “how do you sell so well?”. I’ve covered it pretty well in the past, but the TL:DR of it all is: Kyle Gnepper is our secret weapon. His mutant ability to suppress empathy long enough to pelt the con populace with our time-tested perfect pitch without flinching for hours on end is the single biggest secret to our success. So, tip of the cap to my brother from another mother. 

Loss: The allure of a cheap hotel stay.

The truth of the matter is that Unshaven Comics is composed of three people. Hotel rooms don’t often come with three beds. In the past, we’ve always gotten two beds and a pull-out couch, or brought an air mattress. This time around, as I perused the hotel availability around the con, a special caught my eye. A hotel so inexpensive we could afford 2 rooms for the same price as one we’d normally book. And it was by the airport — which I’ve personally known to never be the worst part of town, given how hotels close by are typically tapped for layovers and the like. And given the specific brand of the hotel in question was quite reputable and met our needs of offering a decent continental breakfast… we booked.

Well, the joke was on us. It turns out we were just far enough from the airport that we were absolutely in the less than great neighborhood we wanted to sidestep. Oh well. At the end of the day, we were close to normal suburban sprawl for dining options and sundries. The hotel was relatively quiet, and far as we could tell… plenty safe. Would we come back to it specifically should we return to OKC? Not a chance, fancy pants.

Win: GalaxyCon’s logistics.

Having been a part of over 100 cons since our humble beginnings… we Unshaven lads know a thing or two about the logistics of a good show. The ease by which we’re able to enter the building for the first time, get our passes, and load in our materials  — and then how easy it is to reverse the process at the end — can set the tone for things to come. 

I am elated to declare GalaxyCon was pitch perfect. They opened the show floor to artists all day into the evening the day prior to show, and the Oklahoma City Convention Center has an astoundingly easy loading dock to locate and enter. We walked right in the open bay, were given our passes, and got all our materials in without any guff. 

And while the actual show days were a smidge too long (Friday and Saturday both ended at 8PM!), it’s hard to argue giving con-goers plenty of time to explore and have fun.

Loss: Old men don’t make time for memories.

The downside then to a con that really does maximize open hours means any chance to see the host city is all but decimated. And truth be told, my cohorts and I aren’t often interested in deep dives into the local culture. We’re kinda suburban dad homebodies equally happy with a good meal from a chain restaurant and reminiscing together than necessarily becoming would-be tourists. And while OKC is known to have some great onion-forward cheeseburgers, top-notch steaks, and other hearty fare… we honestly explored only a single sprawling strip mall and the surrounding area for our dinners. Finger of shame though specifically to the “top-rated” Chinese buffet (according to Google, Yelp, AND TripAdvisor) turning out to be absolutely the worst. Trust me when I say: Unshaven Comics knows Chinese buffets. And OKC delivered an OK-D-minus in that department.

Win: Old men learn from their mistakes. Kinda.

As we Unshaven Lads all near the middest of our forties, a few old-man-adjustments have crept in to our con life. For one of us? It was adding compression socks to the fit. For another? Protein bars added throughout the day to keep energy up. And for all of us? A commitment to no more fast food, and always aiming to get something green on the plate at least once a day. For once in a good long while? We traversed the entire long weekend without anyone complaining… only cheering at turning in early to ensure we were well rested each day. L’chaim!

The Biggest Loss: Where did the Indie Comic Makers go?!

I truly hate to bury the lead here kiddos. The info above really was the long and short of our fantastic experience at GalaxyCon: Oklahoma City. But under the surface of the show, something continues to gnaw on me: the absolutely limited number of comic book making compatriots in the aisles of the artist alley. While the show boasted a heaping helping of awesome established stars of the medium (Cory Smith, Megan Levens, Bob Hall, Dexter Vines, Christopher Priest, Dan Jurgens…), I’m always on the lookout for folks of a similar stature as Unshaven Comics. 

As I walked through the artist alley… row upon row… I only counted perhaps half a dozen actual indie comic creators — and this included ya boys and the ever-present Onrie Kompan (our fellow Chicago-based pal). SIX among what was likely 200+ other tables. This floors me. It depresses me. A decade prior, Unshaven Comics would be among dozens upon dozens of fellow creators at any given show. Part of the appeal to the comic con had always been that notion you could catch the next generation of talent in the comic book medium. But here, at this decidedly expansive-focused show… Comic Bookery was merely a pockmark in comparison to anime bric-a-brac, stickers, poster prints, novelists, plushie-producers, and the standard slog of vendors (with barely a handful of long-box comic vendors!). 

Stay tuned to this, as we continue to go to cons. Is the industry changing under our noses? Did it already change and we’re late to the party? Perhaps it’s time I had a sitdown with Mike and Bob to discuss. 

 Thanks, Oklahoma City. We’ll see you down the road!

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 108: Imposter Sin-Drone

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 108: Imposter Sin-Drone

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

This past Saturday, I participated in a one-day mini-con, by way of fellow multi-hyphenate Rob Southgate. I did the show alone — with Unshaven Matt Wright and Kyle Gnepper both tending to some family needs. Expectations weren’t exactly for much more than making table, but that came directly from Rob himself. It was a testing the waters show with the date, timing, and venue. 

While I don’t think I’d necessarily call the show a success… I’ve been tabling at cons now for seventeen and a half years, and in that time, I’ve learned that every show can be a winner if you look hard enough. 

If only for a single interaction on the day, this show was a success for me. It absolutely knocked loose the annual fervent ennui of being an independent creator. Before I grab your hand, and we dive down the rabbit hole, let me explain how we got here.

Maybe an hour or two into the short show, a pair of lads entered the con. Given that we were a motley crew of eleven or so tables packed into the lobby of a northern suburban theater, it didn’t take long for the guys to make their way past my table. The taller half of the pair smirked a knowing smirk. Ahh, the telltale sign that we’d crossed paths before.

“So, where’s the “Can I tell you about my comic?” sign, man?” he boisterously teased me. I offered a congenial retort that sans-Kyle, I was welcome to conduct business in a more low-key manner. After swapping some fun nerdy-barbs, the fan turned to his buddy to pitch our Samurnauts to him. He was pitch perfect, and flipped through our trade, hitting on all the best selling points. And then, he turned to the last page, and pointed towards the bottom corner. 

“Well? Where’s the sequel!” Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 108: Imposter Sin-Drone” →

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #098: Slaying the Dragon(Con)

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #098: Slaying the Dragon(Con)

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

Fans of this column may detect a pattern. Certainly when I’ve spoken about Dragon Con before. But what can I say? The show itself has become an anchor convention for my teeny studio. Would I prefer it be C2E2 — the Chicago-based comic expo? Sure! But that’s really hard to do when C2E2 hasn’t accepted us back as artists-of-the-alley since 2023, and 2019 before that. But I digress. This column isn’t meant to be a whine-and-moan about Reed Exhibitions. Nay. It is a celebration of a comic convention that has always been amazing to table at.

Dragon Con once again green-lit Unshaven Comics’ application for an Artist Alley table here in the Antimonitor’s year of 2025. And so, we unshaven lads traversed Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and a good lil chunk of Georgia to reach AmericasMart, Building 2, Floor 4, table 526. From 10am until 7pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday… then 10 am until 5pm on Labor Day… we hocked, shilled, and jazz-hand-waved our way through tabling the only way Unshaven Comics knows how to do: part Harold Hill, part Richard Roma, and part Willy Loman. Kudos if any of those references hit.

This long weekend was long overdue for Matt Wright (penciler/inker/painter/amazing-art-maker), Kyle Gnepper (writer/Sell-o-matic 5000), and myself (The Mike Gold dubbed Multi-Hypenate™). For what few of you new here should understand is that Unshaven Comics is a nineteen-year-old studio founded by 32 year old friends (who are all 43 years old for context). Still here? Good. Simply put, it’s rough when you don’t really hang out with your best friends of three-decades until you’re shoulder to shoulder behind a six foot table 500+ miles from home. So you learn to savor these times for the gift they truly are. 

Dragon Con this year was in full force — with likely 70K+ in attendance all filling downtown Atlanta to the gills with every manor of nerd in pop culture. More so than perhaps any other fan convention in America, Dragon Con really is a Nerdy Mardi Gras  where every sect of fantasy, comics, sci-fi, and anime all converge for a long weekend of prime programming, sensational shopping, and cosplay predilection.  Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #098: Slaying the Dragon(Con)” →

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 97: Thunderbolts* Was Awesome**!

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 97: Thunderbolts* Was Awesome**!

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

When one looks over Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they might be apt to be a bit snarky, no? The fifth phase of the longest, largest, most computer generated multi-dimensional universe of interlocking features included:

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania aka Kang? Never heard of him.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 aka Rocket’s Backstory aka Adam Warlock never was a threat aka James Gunn left for DC
  • The Marvels aka No one saw it, no one cared. Sad? Then why didn’t you see it?!
  • Deadpool & Wolverine aka Technically part of Phase 5 if you squint. Marvel counts it because it made $1.338B
  • Captain America: Brave New World aka If you saw the trailer, you saw the movie, sorry!
  • And… Thunderbolts*

To call this batch of flicks a bit hit or miss would be a very kind gesture — depending largely on your personal preferences. And if you wanted to also include the streaming-only companion series within this phase as well? Well, your snark-o-meter might bury the needle.

For what it’s worth, I personally think we ended up with more wins than losses, and thanks largely to Thunderbolts*, Phase 5 essentially sticks the landing. We are in a brave new world, but it’s much darker for numerous reasons. Because of this, the movie itself buttoned up way more than you might think.

Spoiler alert! From here on out, I’ll be discussing plenty of the comings and goings of Phase 5 — heavy on the recently released ‘Bolts flick. If you don’t want to be spoiled? I suggest you read this article I wrote . It has literally nothing to do with Marvel, and it keeps you here on Pop Culture Squad! OK. Digression over. Let’s discuss. Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 97: Thunderbolts* Was Awesome**!” →

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 96: The 5 Stages of Grief

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 96: The 5 Stages of Grief

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

I feel no need to wax poetic in an introduction this week. It’s Wednesday, November 6th. I went to bed the night before — Election Night — quickly checking the New York Time’s “Presidential Forecast Needle” website. It showed Donald Trump with a 91% chance of winning. Thus began the first stage of grief, denial. 

I told myself it was merely the red mirage I’d been instructed to ignore by every left-leaning pundit under God’s green airwaves. As I drifted off to sleep, I nervously told myself I’d awaken to what I expected to occur all along: no definitive answers on who won the election. Instead, my second alarm blared, I swiped it off, and saw the sea of notification icons awaiting me. The first one I opened was from my wife. “WHAT, and I cannot stress this enough, IN THE ACTUAL FUCK HAPPENED?”

My mornings are not my own. I am the waker-of-children, the maker-of-lunch-for-my-picky-6-year-old dude, the dresser and hair-detangler of my almost 3-year old princess. Jelly and graham cracker sandwiches made, adorably fluffy purple hoodie adorned, and backpacks loaded… I carted my kiddos off to school. I flipped on CNN to hear professional Cheeto-licker Scott Jennings do his best to stifle his glee as he told another panelist to apologize for insinuating those who cheered for Donald Trump were nazi-sympathizers. It took genuine forethought about the cost of repair that prevented me from slamming my fist into my radio “off” button. I guess this meant I was now entering anger.  Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man 96: The 5 Stages of Grief” →

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #090: Vegas Vacation (Part 3)

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #090: Vegas Vacation (Part 3)

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

Let’s just get this over with:

If you’re just now getting here… you might want to read part one, and part deux. 

This is the final installment of our Vegas saga. For now.

As it stands… we have not signed a single licensing deal for The Samurnauts, yet. So, if you were actually thinking we were being that coy? Nah. Keep in mind that it’s absolutely beyond rare that a little side hustle no-name business waltzes on to an expo floor for the very first time, and instantly becomes the belle of the ball. We weren’t counting on that, and it didn’t happen. No harm, no foul.

What I can say though… Unshaven Comics has a few things we are actively pursuing and have had positive movement in the last few weeks. Forgive me if I don’t say more. One, because I’m probably a little stupid and superstitious — and I genuinely believe even an ounce of unearned excitement will make the universe pull the rug out from under us. And two, we genuinely don’t know what will happen, good or bad. 

So, let’s head backwards in time to where we actually left things off.

The Licensing Expo was now over. Unshaven Sales-o-matic Kyle Gnepper returned to the Cheesiest State™ to be husband and father. Unshaven Matt and myself hopped into the ole’ minivan and took off to Traverse City, Michigan, for the Cherry Capital Comic Con. So, any follow-up to be done was going to wait until the Monday after the show. That was also a smart move as we figure most folks attending stayed in Vegas through Friday at least, to get in some more entertainment. No need to have our email awaiting them several dozen down in their inbox, right?

Once officially home-home — wife smooched, kids hugged-and-high-fived, and suitcase unpacked — I powered on my PC to fulfill my duties as the Unshaven Business Beard. I pulled out the heavy pile of business cards taken in from Las Vegas, and opened up my Google Sheet of notes. Here I reorganized every contact into piles: unlikely to work with us, likely want our money, mild interest, and heavy interest (#StartHereDummy). Once organized, I created a copy/pastable scripted email. In short, I reintroduced myself and Unshaven Comics. I left specific room to leave some detailed notes so this wasn’t some wholly robotic schpiel. And most importantly, I included a call to action. I should note: I am a marketer by day. So, doing this kind of stuff is very much how I personally pay the bills. In total, I sent out 53 emails, and hoped I’d get a dozen back.  Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #090: Vegas Vacation (Part 3)” →

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #089: Vegas Vacation (Part 2)

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #089: Vegas Vacation (Part 2)

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

Welcome back to Sin City, kiddos! (and if you missed last week… best give it a read so this makes sense)

Our flight into Vegas was smooth. Our check-in for our rental SUV was not only smooth… we got a free upgrade! We took the keys to our Kia Carnival, and set off for adventure — by way of rolling the dice on Unshaven Comics. 

Our first stop was at the home of family friends — who graciously offered to accept a few shipments of bric-a-brac for our booth. With said crap loaded into our spacious vehicle, we made our second official stop: In-N-Out Burger. As was demanded of us by half a dozen well-wishers, we stopped for the quintessential west coast fast food. Go ahead and cry foul now though. Matt, Kyle, and I all got standard burgers, fries, and pop. No animal style. No protein style. No 3x3s. The joke is on all y’all though: we all loved it anyways. Simple, fresh, and decently priced. Call it a win, and let’s keep driving.

With the Licensing Expo taking place the next day, our plan called for us to set up the booth. As per our usual… we parked incorrectly the first time. Our dumbass selves parked at the main Mandalay Bay parking lot ($25) and meandered throughout the restaurants before finding the convention center. We snagged our passes, and briefly walked the showfloor to locate our diminutive space. After clarifying that the convention center itself boasted its own parking lot, but would not let us sneak from one lot to the other without paying… we made the executive decision to hoof our cart of crap through the common areas of the resort anyways. Hey! $25 is $25!

Landed. Got car. Got booth stuff. Ate. Setup booth. All that was left now was to get to our room and consider the evening’s plan. I could waste an entire chapter of this saga discussing how we wound up not having the room we paid for, but will save us all the anxiety of reliving it. We were supposed to stay at the Mandalay-Bay-adjacent Luxor, but due to things happening, we wound up staying at The Orleans.  Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #089: Vegas Vacation (Part 2)” →