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The Lab Press Scoops Summer Book Awards Season with Debut Releases

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Following its debut in 2025, The Lab Press is building on that momentum with a new slate of 2026 releases and a remarkable collection of awards recognizing its first year of publishing original graphic novels.

Built around fearless storytelling, human moments in untethered worlds, and beautifully designed books intended to feel like literary artifacts, The Lab Press released four hardcover graphic novels during its inaugural year: Essentials Volume 1 by Luke Arnold, Chris “Doc”Wyatt, and a host of artistic talents; Super Science Volume 1 by N. Alessandro K .and M.K.Perker; Hunger by Nihaarika Negi, Joe Bocardo, and José Villarrubia; and Creatures &Corridors by Brandon Auman and Andrea Mutti.

At the prestigious IPPY Awards, honoring the best independent publishers and creators from around the world, The Lab Press received a Gold Medal recognizing all four of its 2025 releases in the Outstanding Books of the Year category. The honor capped an already exceptional awards season that included numerous wins and finalist placements across publishing, storytelling, and design.

Alongside this major recognition from the IPPY Awards, The Lab Press received honorsacross a wide range of publishing and design categories, including:

  • Best Horror Graphic Novel for Hunger at the Zelda Awards;
  • Book Cover Design and Comics & Graphic Novels for Essentials Volume 1, and Best Interior Design for Hunger at the National Indie Excellence Awards;
  • Science Fiction Gold Medal for Essentials Volume 1, Graphic Novels & Comics Silver Medal for Hunger, and Fantasy Bronze Medal for Creatures & Corridors at the Foreword INDIES Awards;
  • Best Overall Design for Hunger at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards;
  • Graphic Novel Gold Medal and the Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book for Essentials Volume 1; Fiction: Horror Gold Medal and Graphic Novel Silver Medal for Creatures & Corridors; and Graphic Novel Bronze Medal for Super Science Volume 1 at the Independent Book Publishers Association Awards;
  • Cover: Large Format Gold Medal for Creatures & Corridors, and Cover: Large Format Silver Medal and Cover: Graphic Novel/Manga Bronze Medal for Hunger at the IBPA PubWest Book Design Awards.
  • Book Cover Design: Fiction and Comics & Graphic Novels winner for Essentials Volume 1, and Book Interior Design: Fiction winner for Hunger at the National Indie Excellence Awards.
  • Graphic Novel winner for Essentials Volume 1, and Regional: World Fiction winner for Hunger at the Storytrade Awards

The recognition also reflects the work of the in-house team responsible for shaping The Lab Press’s distinct editorial and visual identity, including Editor-in-Chief Dagen Walker and designers John J. Hill and Emma Price, alongside the extraordinary creators who brought each of these books to life.

Classic Wrestling Grapples with Ancient Horror in Mad Dog Morgan

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This summer, The Lab Press hits you with the ultimate suplex! After a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier in the year to bring this wild passion project to life, the award-winning new graphic novel publisher is delivering indie wrestling hit, Mad Dog Morgan, to the masses in a gorgeous new hardcover edition available in book and comic stores from August 4.

Created by Adam Lawson and co-written with Brian Christgau, the book features art by Maxi Dall’O, colors by Patricio Delpeche, and letters by Dave Lentz. Equal parts The Wrestler and The Shining by way of House On Haunted Hill, Mad Dog Morgan is best described as “all-out indie wrestling meets a blood-soaked haunted house in an all-new original graphic novel.”

”Mitchell “Mad Dog” Morgan always dreamed of making it to the big arenas in wrestling, but never managed to crawl his way out of the indies. They were right about him when they said he was “just another jabroni.” Determined to drink his troubles away, he wanders into a crumbling house that’s more than it appears to be—leading to a supernatural world of horror that feeds on the hopeless. As the house tries to break him, Morgan realizes all of his failures had prepared him for this pivotal moment. He was not born to wrestle in the ring, but to fight an ancient evil that preys on the lost. Bloodied, brutalized, and on the brink, this washed-up jabroni will rise up to become the main event–or die trying.

Mad Dog Morgan first arrived in comic shops on July 29, before it debuts in book store sand online on August 4. The book features a main cover by interior artist Maxi Dall’o, and followed by a special Limited Edition cover featuring art by J.D. Knight. You can order it now from Amazon or your local book/comic shop.

Preview: Essentials Volume 2

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Essentials Volume 2

(W) Luke Arnold, Chris “Doc” Wyatt
(A) Jeffrey Kam, Dave Acosta, Joe Flood, Zelda Devon, Kelly Williams, Emma Price, Jason Howard
(C) Adam Guzowski (L) Jared K. Fletcher
(CA) Bill Sienkiewicz (VCA) Dani

When Earth collides with a non-physical alien dimension which undoes and rewrites the rules of reality, shotgun-wielding scientist Harris Pax and his two extra-dimensional, non-corporeal alien sidekicks (manifesting as a reanimated corpse and a toy robot) become humanity’s only hope for survival. What’s left behind is a twisted and surreal landscape shaped solely by the madness of the few survivors who are left. In order to complete their conquest of Earth, the other-dimensional beings must take form in the midst of this madness and convince the humans to kill themselves through fear, seduction or intimidation. 

In this latest volume of the Essentials saga, Harris Pax’s journey brings him closer to his companion, Buttons, while bringing them into contact with a cavalcade of strange new characters, including a despondent oil-rig worker on the verge of giving up, a free-spirited artist who has learned to manipulate their (un)reality, and a lighthouse keeper with a Messiah complex. 

Essentials Volume 2

Exclusive: Essentials’ Snuggles puppet revealed!

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Luke Arnold and Chris “Doc” Wyatt are co-writing an all-new graphic novel, Essentials. The ambitious 140-page sci-fi epic is the debut offering from The Lab Press, a new graphic novel publisher helmed by founder and CEO Nicholas Kalikow, who is joined by Editor-in-Chief Dagen Walker, Vice President of Business Development Diane Richey, and Chief Creative Officer and partner Mike Zagari. Essentials is already fully funded and then some on Kickstarter, so don’t miss out on this debut.

The original graphic novel features a stunning array of all-star comic artists: DaNi, Glenn Fabry, Jason Howard, Vince Locke, Brendan McCarthy, Andrea Mutti, M.K. Perker, and a cover by legendary artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Essentials features colors by Jordie Bellaire, Brad Simpson, and Wesley Wong and lettered by DC Hopkins of AndWorld Design. The book’s design and logo were created by Emma Price. 

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.

And we have the exclusive reveal of the puppet based on Snuggles! Get your own Snuggles and a copy of Essentials now!