Five thrillers for '26 (Patreon)

All my Patreon sketchbook posts are now in one collection, hundreds of images from my experimental back pages, at your fingertips.

If I need inspiration, I find it useful to look at lists of things completely unrelated to what I'm doing. There's always something there. Lists of vanity novels from 50 years ago, old newspaper adverts - anything will do. What I'm trying to do is avoid the same old flexes. Or, realistically, house the same old flexes in some new ideas.

I don't go out actively looking for these lists at writing time - that's too late. It's more planting bulbs in winter so you get some flowers in the spring before anything else is growing. Finding them is usually an accident.

Yesterday, for example, I remembered the short-lived console the "Gamate". This was a Gameboy competitor released around 1991-2. I hadn't thought about it since then, so I had a look on Wikipedia... which contained a complete list of all the titles released for the doomed platform.

Among the generic game names, there were some true gems. I chose my favourite five:BOX FORUM FORTRESS OF FIERCENESS INCANTATIONAL COUPLE ONE MILLION WHYS NIGHTMARE OF SANTA CLAUS(I also selected HOT HERO and PUNK BOY but those can stay on the back burner for now.)

So, for your general enjoyment, I have converted those five titles into a slate of exciting titles for 2026.

Obviously I will write and draw them all myself, it's going to be a push but I'll do them as a series of 24-hour comics, so it'll just be Monday to Friday for one week. I'll have a lie-in on the Sunday, fear not.

Although these comics are obviously jokes (OR ARE THEY?), every title suggested a route forward for the characters. They're all perfectly write-able.

Perhaps you too will find answers where you least expect them. Good luck!