Posted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 20, 2026 | 1 comment

FRANCO’s FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS…

By FRANCO

Publishing takes an incredibly long time or a relatively short time. I know. You’re saying “Wait, that’s not right. That makes no sense!” But it does.

For example, my latest work, Ninja Kaiju, just came out in stores this week, and my just announced work, Mothman: A Monster’s Misadventure, is slated to be released in summer of… 2028.

The idea for Ninja Kaiju (NK for short), illustrated by my pal Scoot McMahon, basically came about because the publishing process takes so long. I’m not talking about the time it takes to create the idea and make the actual pages (scripting, artwork, lettering, coloring, etc). I’m talking about printing, editing, marketing and all that other jazz. NK simply grew out of my frustration with wait time.

I’m not the most patient of guys and so NK was developed and slated for self-publishing and specifically for Kickstarter. My idea was simple: We (Scoot and I) would do 20 pages at a time — think single-issue floppy comic. Raise the money for each individual issue and then if we made enough — hopefully to get to 6 issues or so — we’d have enough for a trade or graphic novel.

I happened to be talking with my editor at Papercutz about a different project I was working on and the subject came up. He asked to take a look at it and then called back and asked if I would be interested in them publishing rather than doing a Kickstarter. How could my answer be anything other than “YES”?

And being that we had the story all mapped out and the first issue was already complete, it took basically less than a year from contract to publication. In publishing, that is a very short amount of time.

Mothman: A Monster’s Misadventure (we’ll use MM for short) has been close to a five-year journey. To get to the point where it was just announced as a book to be released in 2028. I’m not great at math but even I can add 5 plus 2 which would make 7 years from beginning process to eventual publication. The original concept was something I discussed with Thomas Boatwright, the artist, and then I went off to write it and then rewrite it, and then again and a few more times after that. Then it was submitted to my agent, and she suggested some things and even more drafts were made. And then it went to Thomas for sketches and even more changes. It was sent out. That’s a whole process in itself.

I am beyond thrilled that either of these projects are getting made but its work. Sometimes the work is a bit easier than it is with other things. You strive to make things easier all the time but life has other plans sometimes. It’s difficult, especially for someone with not very much patience to begin with. I’m often asked, “What do you do in those situations?” I wait. I wait for the time when I can move forward on a certain project… and while I’m waiting, I create more stories and more artwork, even if it never sees the light of day. But maybe I’ll get lucky with those projects too. And I say that knowing that, yes, luck is a part of things, but work is the thing that will get eyes in front of these projects… so I continue to work.

I would so appreciate if you pick up a copy of Mothman: A Monster’s Misadventure when it comes out in the summer of 2028 from Holiday House.

While you wait, you can pick up a copy of Ninja Kaiju, in stores now.

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Want more FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS? Come back next week!

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MORE

— NINJA KAIJU: A Book Only for Those Who Love Fun. Click here.

— The Tale of the AW YEAH UNIVERSE. Click here.

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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.

His other new book, with Art Baltazar, is Action Cat & Adventure Bug: Let’s Do This! from Papercutz.