Popverse's top stories

• MCU stars make surprise appearances, DC's Swamp Thing meets Jesus Christ, and more: All the big news from NYCC 2025 so far
• Did VisionQuest's trailer just reveal the MCU take on Wanda and Vision's OTHER son Tommy?
• Batwoman, Lobo and more take DC Comics to the Next Level in 2026 with new comic book series

In recent years, getting comics from the printers to stores has become more complicated than ever. Complications lead to confusion, but the upstart new comics publisher The Lab Press is out to make it as easy as possible for their comic books and original graphic novels to get to comic shops and book stores, and ultimately to readers. How? The publisher is making their books available through as many distributors as possible.

The New York-based publisher has signed deals with three of the top comic distributors in the English-speaking world: Lunar Distribution, Universal Distribution, and Diamond UK. The Lab Press' entire catalog of recent and upcoming releases is available for order now through those distributors, with shipments beginning in November.

These three new deals are in addition to its pre-existing deals with Diamond Comic Distributors and Simon & Shuster, ensuring a multi-layered distribution approach to minimize complications and to make ordering a The Lab Press book as easy and uncomplicated as possible.

“One of our biggest goals at The Lab is to get our premium original graphic novels in front of as many readers as possible,” The Lab's chief creative officer Mike Zagari says in the announcement. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with these fine distributors to provide retailers even more options for ordering!”  

Of their releases so far, these four titles have emerged as the flagship releases in these early days: 

Essentials, Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

• Writers: Luke Arnold and Chris “Doc” Wyatt
• Artists: Glenn Fabry, Jason Howard, Vince Locke, Brendan McCarthy, Andrea Mutti, M.K. Perker, and Dani
• Colorist: Brad Simpson, Wesley Wong, and Dee Cunniffe
• Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz

In Essentials, mathematician Harris Pax predicted the end of the world but failed to prevent it. Now he's living alone in a bunker and his niece's favorite toys have started talking to him. The good news? He's not the world's sole survivor. The bad news? The other survivors are trapped in alternate realities-imprisoned in imagined worlds full of zombies, robots, mythical creatures, and chaos. And now Harris Pax and an unlikely ally must travel the country on a quest to restore reality, save humanity, and defeat his new interdimensional nemesis: Snuggles. This debut graphic novel from The Lab ships in a gold-foil-stamped cloth slipcase!

• Available now on Amazon: Essentials Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

Super Science Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

• Writer: N. Alessandro K.
• Artist: M.K. Perker
• Colorist: Adam Guzowski
• Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz

Super Science is a sci-fi/comedy about a world where the limits of human imagination have become real. For five days the entire sky over twelve spots across the globe turn purple. The result was in each location, professional engineers and scientists, as well as tinkers, amateur inventors, and high school science teachers were able to create scientific and engineering breakthroughs in ways far surpassing the world's top scientific institutions. Our story starts three years later in Los Angeles, where a breed of actual superheroes and super villains are emerging. Dealing with this new phenomenon is the LAPD's new "Mad Scientist Division," including no-nonsense Sergeant Esmerelda Villanueva and her idealistic young partner, Officer Jack Mantle. Other characters include manipulative industrialist Burt Montague and his lab assistant Felicia Bari; perpetually unlucky Karen Katz, a former biology teacher who has turned herself into a human-cat hybrid; Esmerelda's son, Gabe, who might be the smartest teenager on the planet; nefarious super villain Dr. Cornelius Otherland and his nemesis, bumbling superhero Gas Giant. This graphic novel follows up on Super Science: Chapter Zero and ships in a gold-foil stamped cloth slipcase!

• Available now on Amazon: Super Science Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

Hunger Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

• Writer: Nihaarika Negi
• Artist: Joe Bocardo
• Colorist: José Villarrubia
• Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz

In 1896 Bombay, under British rule, a concentration camp holds Izna, a plague-infected and famine-stricken being. Mutated through medical experiments, she, along with others, becomes a mutant. British officers invite famine photographer William Wallace Hooper to document the mutants, unaware he's controlled by a shape-shifting vampire called Pisach. The Pisach infects prey with insatiable hunger, while Hooper bonds with Izna amidst rulers' games with famine slaves. Unbeknownst, Izna descends from women embracing monsters. Discovering Hooper's role in her mother's death, she wishes to become a monster herself. Transformed into a half-human, half-mutant, half-beast, she embraces her hunger, consuming oppressors and drenching her land in blood. This infinite hunger mirrors trauma's generational and cultural impact, forging an inseparable link between oppressed and oppressor.

• Available now on Amazon: The Hunger Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

Creatures & Corridors Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

• Writer: Brandon Auman
• Artist: Andrea Mutti
• Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz

It's the summer of 1992, and five high school sophomores play a rare role-playing game that was banned for being "too Satanic" - Creatures & Corridors. As the kids play the mysterious fantasy game, it unleashes a curse that warps reality around them: orcs storm the living room, killing their parents. The front yard turns into a moat filled with tentacled horrors. And their basement "game cave" transforms into a literal dungeon, laden with bloodthirsty monsters and terrifying death traps. Now, the kids are forced to play Creatures & Corridors for their very lives, as a devilish Gamemaster judges their every move.

• Pre-order now on Amazon: Creatures & Corridors Vol. 1 (Bill Sienkiewicz Premiere Edition)

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.