By Ben Sears. Published by Fantagraphics. Softcover, 88 pages, 2-Colour, 2026 Young Shadow teams up with the Watchdogs in a do-or-die baseball game against a roster of ghosts and ghoulies! Will Bolt City survive? Young Shadow usually protects sci-fi Bolt City by making deliveries for the food bank and rescuing pets. But this time around, he needs to focus on two things: hitting and pitching! When Young Shadow and the eight Watchdogs — Elmore, Gerry, Larry, Gomez, Marta, Ketchum, Rolando, and Junior — investigate a concerning chemical sludge being dumped into Bolt City’s water, Elmore discovers a haunted baseball glove and inadvertently summons a team from the beyond that challenges them to a game to the death. With a stadium full of hostile vampires, mummies, frankensteins, and ghouls rooting for the visitors, the Watchdogs enlist Young Shadow to fill out their roster — and save Bolt City! This exciting new middle-grade graphic novel from cartoonist and musician Ben Sears establishes a world that embraces classic superhero, sci fi, and supernatural comics without any irony, executed in a brilliant two-tone color scheme of jet black and mustardy yellow that perfectly suits the spooky fun and fast paced adventure. Young Shadow & the Watchdogs is a page-turner for readers of any age. "Sears creates comics that are easy for kids to enjoy with their crisp cartooning, bright colors, and clever sense of humor, but he also includes rich thematic content that makes his books a more substantial read for adults." — AV Club "Imagine Indiana Jones as told by Hayao Miyazaki." — The Guardian "Ben Sears' Young Shadow has all the charm of Charles Schulz and the excitement of Jack Kirby. The Dogs of Bolt City are safe with Young Shadow on patrol!" — Glen Murakami (Teen Titans)
