bubbles

BUBBLES CON 2026 OFFICIAL SCHEDULE!! Bubbles Con is right around the corner. Mark your calendars and plan to be there! A full day of incredible comic and manga programming in Richmond, Virginia.

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE TO RESERVE FOR THIS FREE SCREENING! Bubbles is proud to present a one of a kind after party to Bubbles Con. On May 30th 2026 we will present the short films of cartoonists Akino Kondoh & Carlos Gonzalez. Doors will open at 7pm, with the ICA Cafe open for drinks and refreshments and then at 8pm the hour long program, which includes a Q&A, will begin. Akino Kondoh will showcase three short animations "KiyaKiya", "Ladybirds' Requiem" and "The Evening Traveling". All beautiful hand drawn animations with incredible music. A rare treat to be able to see them on te big screen! Carlos Gonzalez will present one of his infamous shot-on-VHS short films which he's been making for years. This one's recently made and called "Medusa 3000" that's about a bowler who gets a double concussion that negatively affects his play, causing him to seek underground medical treatment that pushes his mental 'pins' to their breaking point. Thank you very much to @icavcu for hosting us again, I'm so grateful for the support. Get your tickey today!! Last year's ICA screening "sold out"! This is all under a month away, I can't wait! See you there!!

ONE MONTH AWAY!! BUBBLESCON IN RICHMOND VIRGINIA, SATURDAY MAY 30TH!! With @kondoh_akino @mangaberg @thorazos @francesalyn @noel_freibert_sweettooth Bob Gorman @beachimpediment , Joe McCulloch and Carlos Gonzalez!! And yes I'll be talking about Sof' Boy for 20ish minutes. The main events will take place 9am - 5pm at the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library. Then at 7pm we will gather at @icavcu for a short film from Carlos Gonzalez and animated shorts from Akino Kondoh with a Q&A afterwards. More information at: Who's coming?!

PRE-ORDERS FOR LUNATIC LOVER'S BY MARUO SUEHIRO ARE NOW OPEN!! Any item(s) ordered along with 'Lunatic Lover's' will be shipped along with it once it's released. Estimated shipping date is May 2026. Updates will be posted here. Lunatic Lover's by Maruo Suehiro Translated by Ryan Holmberg @mangaberg 212 Pages ISBN: 978-1-7378264-5-3 *ADULT READERS ONLY* "Woe betide anyone who opens these pages, slathered as they are in blood and love. Beware the wicked seductions of their author, who differentiates not between ecstasy and pain. Welcome to a world where history is flesh and mystery memory, where voyeurs shriek, ghosts swoon, and imps reign. Welcome to LUNATIC LOVER’S, a collection of six manga originally published between 1988 and 1992, by the unrivaled master of the erotic grotesque in Japanese art and comics, MARUO SUEHIRO." Maruo Suehiro (b. 1956) is globally recognized as the master of the erotic grotesque in Japanese art and comics. Since his debut in 1980, his exquisite and often shocking imagery has titillated readers of alternative, pornographic, and young adult manga. His other books in English include Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show (1993), Ultra-Gash Inferno (2001), The Strange Tale of Panorama Island (2013), and Beautiful Monster (2025).

ANNOUNCEMENT: The special guests of Bubbles Con 2026!! Bubbles Con will happen in Richmond, Virginia on May 30th 2026. It's completely FREE. It's a full day of talks and interviews about comics and manga. And this year we're very excited to go a bit heavier on the manga side! AKINO KONDOH is a manga artist born in the Chiba Prefecture, Japan and since 2008 has lived and worked in New York City. For decades she has made a name for herself in the alternative manga world in publications such as AX. In 2026 @glacierbaybooks will be publishing her first full book in English, her 2004 book BOX GARDEN BEETLE. CARLOS GONZALEZ is a comic artist from Providence, Rhode Island. For nearly 20 years he's been known for his thin line artist and off kilter science fiction. He's recently finished a new graphic novel called EVERGLIDE that's about plugging into an extinct virtual reality game. It will be published by @floatingworldcomics who published his last books WASP VIDEO ROADHOUSE, TEST TUBE and GATES OF PLASMA. JULIA GFRÖRER is an award winning cartoonist based in New York City. She's known for her gothic horror and erotic comics. Fantagraphics last year put together a beautiful collection of her mini comics called WORLD WITHIN THE WORLD that was one of the best books of the year. One of the most singular voices in comics today. BOB GORMAN is a member of the thrash metal band GWAR, he's better known as Bonesnapper. Since the late 1980s he's been contributing art to the GWAR comic books, designing posters and artwork for the band and spewing blood all over the crowds at live shows. RYAN HOLMBERG, a staple of Bubbles Con, is a manga historian and translator. He's recently been working on bringing '60s and '70s horror manga into English through @livingthelineart 's SMUDGE line. Not to mention helping Bubbles bring Maruo into English. JOE McCULLOCH is a long time comic scholar and journalist. He's been contributing to The Comics Journal (print and website) for decades and is well known for his part in the Comic Books are Burning in Hell podcast. McCulloch has done much championing of comics, what does he have in store for us at Bubbles Con?

Bubbles #23 & Zoo #5 by @anandpagalkutta are both out today! Bubbles #23 is 60 pages long and features all the talks and interviews from Bubbles Con 2025! - Documentation of @dash_shaw and @john_vasquez_mejias 's art shows at the library - An interview with @john_vasquez_mejias after he performed The Puerto Rican War - A talk on Horror Manga by @mangaberg - A talk on Barbara Shermund by @granny_mcgurk - @juliettecollet interviewed by @hashtagraewhitlock - @1000kevinh interviewed by @comicsblogger - @tarabooth interviewed by @cool_hiss - A talk by @fictopicto - A talk about horror movies by @fictopicto with an interview by @dash_shaw after - Bubbles Con art by @hashtagraewhitlock @jennyzervakis and @danzettwoch - Plus 55 reviews of new comics! Zoo #5 is 72 pages long. They were self published by Anand and printed in India. I only imported a finite amount, so get one while you can! There's 3 stories in here, top tier stuff! Comes with a 32 page mini comic of the first 4 Ears story which is continued in this issue. All pre-order, and most store copies, have shipped. I'll be shipping all new orders as quickly as i can, it's a busy time of year.

Bubbles Con 3 will be held Saturday May 30th 2026 in Richmond Virginia at @rvalibrary @icavcu . Bubbles Con is a completely free event where we bring cartoonists to Richmond and do free talks and interviews on stage at the library. It's a chance for enthusiasts and artists to hang out, gain some knowledge and make friends. This is not a tabling event, this more of a symposium. Although guests will of course have their comics for sale. There will also be a few vendors selling vintage and rare comics. There are guests confirmed and they will be announced on the back cover ad of Bubbles #23 which will be out next week! Want to learn who's coming before everyone else? Order and issue now! Or grab one at @briansbooks.richmond or @velocity_comics next week. Nationwide stores will have copies shipped asap as well! I'm very excited to be doing this event once again. The past two years have been incredible. Thanks to everyone who's supported the endeavor, let's do it again!

Next Saturday, November 22nd from 11-7, I will be tabling (and shopping at) @destination_dealers_con in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you're even remotely nearby, you should come out. Surely to be a fantastic hang out of comic book enthusiasts.

Pre-orders are up for @anandpagalkutta 's Zoo #5 and Bubbles #23: The Bubbles Con 2 issue! Zoo #5 is being self-published by Anand and printed in India. I'm only importing as many as ordered by people/stores. So if you want one, reserve it now! It's 72 pages, three great stories and a bonus 32page zine. If you loved Stories From Zoo, come back for more. (If you live outside North America and only want to order Zoo #5, ordering directly from Anand might be cheaper shipping) Bubbes #23 is all the talks and interviews from Bubbles Con back in June, plus more. If you're not aware I opened a used bookstore in June as well called @briansbooks.richmond and it's taken up quite a bit of my free time I used to use for writing Bubbles. So I'm late but Bubbles marches onwards! Thanks for the patience. Both are due out sometime in December. Bubbles Con 3 date announcement soon?? I'm fully in on doing things in Richmond right now. I'm enjoying putting my energy here. Thanks everybody ❤

Amazing times hanging in NYC, Philadelphia and Bethesda this past few days with Cameron Arthur. Thanks @partnersandson @desertislandcomics . Thanks @noel_freibert_sweettooth @cash_browns @bwene and @mangaberg for putting us up. Go see the Beetles, Cats, Clouds: The Manga of Tsurita Kuniko, Yamada Murasaki, and Kondoh Akino at @80wse !!

Looking forward to hosting Cameron Arthur and Brian Baynes tomorrow 9/17 to celebrate Cameron’s book Hidden Islands (the name seems familiar somehow) and Brian’s general publishing effort with Bubbles. A crucial book from a true independent, come support these dudes traveling from Texas and Virginia respectively. I’ll buy the beer (and seltzer)

We are at SPX all weekend! Come see us! @mangaberg and I have at talk at 1:30pm today too. THEN Cameron Arthur and I will be in PHILLY on September 16th @partnersandson and NYC on September 17th @desertislandcomics . Come out! I would love to see some friends faces this week.