An eight-page horror story born from a fake AI publishing announcement is headed for comic shops in 2027.
What happens when a comic book publisher makes an April Fool’s Day joke that readers actually want to see become reality?
For Len Mihalovich of Lenovations Press, the answer was simple. Eventually, he had to write the comic.
On April 1, 2026, Lenovations Press announced what appeared to be a major change in its publishing strategy. The company claimed it was canceling all existing comic book titles and replacing its creative staff with artificial intelligence.
The announcement explained that AI would determine which new comics would appeal to readers, using demographic information and market analysis to develop the company’s future publishing line.
Naturally, it was all an April Fool’s Day prank.
The fictional publishing initiative included three new titles: Tube Top Chicks in Trouble, Senior Strike Force, and Bass Masters.
Tube Top Chicks in Trouble involved two unlikely heroes trying to stop a catastrophe involving weaponized ice cream cones. Senior Strike Force followed nursing home residents confronting a pharmaceutical trafficking operation. Bass Masters introduced a reality television fishing personality transformed into a monster following an incident involving radioactive waste.
Mihalovich created the announcement as a joke and discussed it on his YouTube channel. The response, however, surprised him.
Readers began contacting him about the imaginary comics. While the reactions varied, Bass Masters proved to be the most popular of the three fictional concepts.
At the time, there were no plans to actually publish any of them.
That changed while Mihalovich was preparing Tales of the Unknown #2, the second issue of the Lenovations Press horror anthology.
The publisher discovered that the comic was eight pages short of its intended length.
In the past, he might simply have published a shorter issue. However, with retail editions of the company’s comics now being planned, maintaining a target page count had become more important.
Rather than fill those pages with advertisements, sketches, or promotional material, Mihalovich decided that readers deserved another story.
He remembered Bass Masters.
The fictional comic originally described a television fishing personality who falls into a radioactive swamp and becomes a monstrous villain. It was intentionally designed to resemble the outrageous origin stories that appeared in superhero comics during the Silver Age.
Turning that premise into a serious eight-page story presented an interesting creative challenge.
Mihalovich wanted something beyond a straightforward monster origin. The solution was to introduce a narrator whose version of events could not be trusted.
The resulting story, “Hook, Line, and…”, introduces Bubbles Sinker, a reality television fishing personality whose partner, Rex Masters, disappeared during a disastrous trip into a radioactive swamp.
Bubbles recounts the incident during an interview with Mona and Sam, the digital hosts of Mihalovich’s Indie Comics Deep Dive YouTube program.
However, there is a significant difference between what Bubbles says happened and what readers see taking place in the artwork.
Her account paints one picture, while the illustrations reveal something considerably darker.
The contrasting narratives transform what began as an absurd comic book concept into a horror story involving deception, ambition, and the possibility of revenge from beyond the swamp.
Federico Adile, who illustrated and colored the issue’s main feature, “Stella the She-Wolf,” also provided the artwork for the unexpected addition.
According to Mihalovich, Adile’s initial reaction to the assignment was a simple, “Huh?”
After explaining the concept, Mihalovich and Adile developed the story into a finished eight-page feature.
The result appears in Tales of the Unknown #2, which also includes the supernatural adventure “Stella the She-Wolf.”
The comic was released to subscribers and Patreon supporters on Halloween 2026.
While Bass Masters began as an unlikely addition to the anthology, the concept now has a future beyond those eight pages.
In 2027, the story is scheduled to appear as part of Lenovations Press’s new Edge of Adventure retail series, distributed exclusively through Philbo Distribution.
It may be the most appropriate ending possible for a joke about the future of comics.
About Author
