THE HAPPY SHOP

Cartoonist Brittany Long Olsen will be having a new graphic novel for middle grade readers, THE HAPPY SHOP, released by Eisner and Havey award winning publisher Oni Press in February 2024. It is promised to be a heartwarming story that tweens and teens are sure to be able to relate to. Do you have a middle grade reader in your home. If so, keep an eye out for Brittany Long Olsen's THE HAPPY SHOP.

In THE HAPPY SHOP, eleven-year-old Darcy is feeling sad and alone after she moves to a new country when she accidentally stumbles into a magical store that sells happy feelings. But when Darcy witnesses a sad feeling accidentally being sold at work, she begins to wonder. Is happiness really the only emotion people need?

“THE HAPPY SHOP shines a light on the deep importance of experiencing a whole range of human emotion, not just happy feelings, and building community with the people we care about,” Brittany Long Olsen commented to ageekdaddy.com about the graphic novel release.

“The story features a contemporary setting with just a light touch of magic," added Oni Press Editor Grace Scheipeter. "And much of that magic is in the dynamic cartooning of Brittany Long Olsen, whose graphic novel is a delight and inspiration."

Brittany Long Olsen is an author, illustrator, and editor. She has lived in three different countries over the past ten years and made comics about her adventures (and culture shock!) in each one. Her happy jar would contain videos of unlikely animal friends. She currently resides with her partner and their dog, Jetpack, near Portland, Oregon.

CARTOONSHOW

Originally released as a web comic strip, CARTOONSHOW from Adventure Time artist Derek M Ballard is coming to print via an Oni Press graphic novel. It will be available in hardcover for $21.99 at Amazon.com on August 2, 2023. Cartoonshow follows the real-life challenges of being a single dad with insightful humor and satirical reflection of contemporary American life.

Derek is a solo parent raising three kids in the American South while trying to make art. Told in a series of free-flowing and often hilarious comic essays, Cartoonshow gets to the heart of the struggle to be a creative person in a society that doesn't value anything other than how much it can grind out of you. Covid, poverty, the failing social safety net, predatory lenders, and literal acts of God can't stop our hero!

“This book of cartoons is a whole slew of dumb, funny, embarrassing, and true things that happened to my kids and me. Stuff that befalls average families every single day,” Derek M. Ballard remarked to ageekdaddy.com. “Oni Press made it possible to support my family while I brought my uncompromised scribbly vision to the page. That's a big deal. Unbelievable really!"

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JAY STEPHENS BRINGS CREEPY STORIES TO ONI PRESS

Keep your eyes on the lookout this summer for the republishing by Oni Press of Emmy Award-winning animator and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Jay Stephens (TUTENSTEIN, JETCAT CLUBHOUSE) DWELLINGS comics. The originally self-published stories written and illustrated by Stephens are being re-formatted into three bi-monthly prestige format issues with the first one arriving at comic book shops on August 9, 2023. 

DWELLINGS 72-page August 9th debut first issue will be published with all-new, never-before-seen standard and "bloody" edition covers by Jay Stephens himself, alongside brand-new variant covers by Joe Palmer (TIME BEFORE TIME), Jenna Cha (BLACK STARS ABOVE), and Brian Level (BATMAN VS. BIGBY! A WOLF IN GOTHAM). DWELLINGS #1 will have two creepy stories – "They Know" and "Second Tongue." Don't be haunted by missing out on picking up Jay Stephens' DWELLINGS by Oni Press while the issues are on store shelves. 

What is DWELLINGS about?  Welcome to Elwich – an oasis of small town perfection, where the schools overflow with cheery-eyed children, lovingly adorned homes line the historic boulevards… and only the crows can see the deep, festering rot that lurks beneath the pristine surface. Murder. Demonology. Possession. Obsession. Elwich has them all on offer—and behind every dwelling awaits a horrifying story to be told.

Jay Stephens is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator currently living in Guelph, Ontario. He is best known as the creator of Discovery Kids’s animated television series Tutenstein, Cartoon Network’s The Secret Saturdays, and the Jetcat animated shorts for Nickelodeon's anthology series, KaBlam!. Aside from his work in animation, Jay is recognized for several comic book projects, including SIN, The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales, and Jetcat Clubhouse, and has written and drawn for licensed properties such as Alien, Star Wars, Felix the Cat, and Teen Titans. Jay is the creator of the comic strips, Oddville!, Chick & Dee (in Chickadee magazine), Xtra-curricular and Arrowhead (in OWL magazine), and (with writer Bob Weber Jr.) the daily newspaper strip Oh, Brother!.

“As a young collector in the days before the internet, before our town even dreamt of a comic shop, I remember walking the train tracks on weekends, hunting back issues of Harvey comics at garage sales and flea markets, picking up whatever I could find,” Jay Stephens commented to ageekdaddy.com. “Though considered uncool, I was magnetically attracted to the irresistibly adorable Harvey comics... Casper, Spooky, Wendy and Hot Stuff in particular... and always kept an eye out for that one issue where they finally revealed who murdered Casper the friendly Ghost. If the definition of nostalgia is to 'return home in pain,' DWELLINGS is the most nostalgic work I've ever produced. And my re-imagining of that darker Harvey Comics backstory has festered and intertwined with my personal fears into something truly frightening.”

If you appreciate Stephens' Harvey Comics inspired artistic style and horror stories, check out DWELLINGS when its first issue leaps out at readers this summer. Note though that while the stories feature kids as characters the mature content of DWELLINGS make these comic books not suitable for reading by kids. For more information about DWELLINGS and other future releases from this publisher, go to onipress.com.