From Asgard to Gotham

What if…Thor got Spider-Man’s symbiote suit?

A sweaty, smiling AI-generated personal trainer says she can help me get a body like hers. I swipe while vaguely wondering if she’d rather have a body like mine.

I’ve never liked the “things will be okay” approach to the world. Much as I trust in the healing power of time, it’s only ever true for those who survive long enough for current events to become history. In this increasingly baffling age, it is mind-numbing to see all the people we leave behind as we hurtle into a post-truth future with a wholly predictable amount of measles. I fear that indifference more than almost anything. I’m microdosing the news to stay up to date without faltering under its weight, and diving deeply into all the good I can find. (Thank Odin for Artemis II.)

I’m writing something new and original these days. I’m still at that glorious stage where everything is brilliant. It’s a perilous point of the writing process; it’s too easy to give in and let the idea be perfect yet unrealized. Once you push on, there will be cracks in the characters and holes in the plot. I’m ready for them, though. I’m just at the beginning of this; I don’t even have an artist attached. I’m going to try to remedy that sooner rather than later, as a comic without the art is just good intentions and masturbation. I’ll try to write a bit about the process here. Right now, it’s bliss.

In this newsletter:

• What if… Thor got Spider-Man’s symbiote suit

• Out now: Catwoman #86

• Bad Seeds

• Babs cover

• Everything else

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What if… Thor got Spider-Man’s symbiote suit

…is a question Sergio Dávila and I will answer this summer, as part of Marvel’s 50 years of What If.

WHAT IF…THOR GOT SPIDER-MAN'S SYMBIOTE SUIT? Amid the chaos, there comes a costume - but not to the hero you know! Legend has it that bonding with the symbiote suit made Thor mightier still. But what shadows lurking in the Ten Realms would take interest in such a powerful pairing?

Sergio is one of the biggest Thor fans out there. We worked together on the main Thor book a few years ago and have been looking for a way to return to Asgard together since. This story has been an absolute delight to write, and Sergio’s love and excitement for the Asgardians come through on every single page.

Here’s a sneak peek at the first page:

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Catwoman back in Gotham

Catwoman #86 cover by Sebastian Fiumara

Catwoman #85 marked Selina Kyle’s return to Gotham. It’s great to be back, and we celebrate Selina’s homecoming with a head-on collision with Black Mask in #86.

He’s big! He’s bad! And he’s madder than ever before! With Selina back in Gotham, Black Mask sets his sights on Catwoman, and he’s playing for keeps. But he’s not alone! Who is his mysterious benefactor, and how could they possibly hate Catwoman even more than her self-proclaimed archnemesis?

Artist: Davide Gianfelice, Patricio Delpeche
Cover Artist: Sebastian Fiumara

Do you want a copy? Leave a comment below, and I’ll sign & send out #85 and #86 to a few of you.

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DC event: Bad Seeds

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Cover for Babs: The Black Road South #5!

My cover for BABS was announced a few weeks ago. I love this series- I think it’s one of the funniest books on the stand today— from the minds of the excellent Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows.

There’s always some risk in translating a comic character to realism, especially in such a sincere medium as oil paint. It’s a bit like casting in a movie— someone will necessarily think you’ve gotten it wrong. Jacen draws Babs with this fantastic, smirky smile that I didn’t dare attempt to recreate in oils—smiles so often look mocking in painted portraits—but I still wanted her to have a lot of personality.

The result is below, but more importantly, the book is on the stands May 20, 2026, from the wonderful people at Ahoy comics.

Oil on wood panel, 2026.

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Everything else

Drawn to Extinction, by Pete Trainor

• Pete Trainor interviewed me along with Ram V, John Wagner, Patrick Goddard and a bunch of other great people for his book on AI in comics, Drawn to Extinction, out in June.

• I had a ton of fun talking to Bob Harrison over at Pop Culture SquadCast a few weeks back!

• I’ll be at Enniskillen Comic Fest in Northern Ireland in June. Clearly, you should come and say hi.

Spring is undeniable here, thank fuck. I’ve just spent a good thirty minutes watching my idiot cats trying (and failing) to catch the newly awakened bumblebees and wasps half-drunkenly trying to find their wings after a long winter hidden away in the logs of the house. I love the giddiness that comes with this time of year. We have a word for it in Norwegian— våryr. The boring translation would be something like spring fever, but I think spring horny is more accurate. The birds and bees agree.

Books? Movies?

I’m looking for recommendations for good US war comics. If you have a favourite— let me know below. If you don’t, tell me what you’re reading and watching. Or, tell me how you are. (I’m pretty great!)