(June 25, 2026) Syracuse-based indie publisher AHOY Comics — which has made its reputation since 2018 with its deep bench of witty satires, acclaimed creators, and a commitment to bold and risk-taking storytelling, with titles including The Toxic Avenger, Second Coming, Justice Warriors, The Wrong Earth, Ancestral Recall and more — recently announced that it will be the first publisher to adopt New York Times best-selling creator Matt Kindt’s “100% HUMAN-MADE” emblem on all their future titles. The new, open-source certification for comics, graphic novels, and other visual, musical and audio forms of creative work is designed to designate them as fully derived from the human imagination and otherwise free of elements designed or enhanced by generative artificial intelligence. The first AHOY title to bear the new emblem will be THE FORGOTTEN DIVINE, a satirical science fiction drama from writer Mark Russell (SECOND COMING) and artist Russ Braun (The Boys). THE FORGOTTEN DIVINE will be the first of AHOY’s new AHOY Select line, their pop-up imprint for direct to consumer releases, and is being funded via AHOY’s inaugural Kickstarter campaign. The campaign is now live.
“AI is rightly loathed throughout the world of legitimate comics, and we want to make it clear to our readers that AHOY is 100% powered by the very human blood, sweat and tears of our uber-talented creators,” said Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer.
Featuring an emblem designed by Kindt himself that will first debut on June’s MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1 – part of his new FLUX HOUSE imprint at Oni Press, which will launch a brand-new beginning for the creator’s widely acclaimed comics masterpiece – the “100% HUMAN-MADE” certification is created under the Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International” license. Under those terms, artists seeking to utilize the “100% HUMAN-MADE” certification can “distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format” for commercial and not-for-profit purposes, as long as it carries the following Creative Commons attribution:
100% HUMAN-MADE © 2026 by Matt Kindt, LLC is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
THE FORGOTTEN DIVINE is a sci-fi drama about Rodney Coleman, an unhoused veteran whose sleep is haunted by dreams of a faraway planet. (At least, he thinks they’re dreams.) Soon Coleman connects with others plagued by dreams of the same world and finds himself at the head of a UFO cult. The group’s shared effort to understand their visions is heartfelt at first—but over time it descends into unreality, conspiracy, paranoia, violence, and conceivably… revelation. The Kickstarter campaign will include a slew of unique tiers and exclusive extras that only the “Expect More-igans” at AHOY could dream up, including a paperback edition signed by writer Mark Russell; exclusive hardcover editions featuring variant covers by Russ Braun, Matt Bors, and Mark Russell; enamel pins featuring AHOY fan-favorite characters; prints; bathrobes; hour-long Zoom calls with Mark Russell, Russ Braun, and Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer; and (most crucially) a virtual lock of Tom Peyer’s hair. More extras and add-ons will be announced during the campaign.
Support the campaign for THE FORGOTTEN DIVINE here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicsahoy/the-forgotten-divine-by-mark-russell-and-russ-braun?ref=3v7lr3
For more updates on AHOY Comics, visit them on X, Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram.
About AHOY Comics
AHOY Comics debuted in the fall of 2018 with the bold promise for readers to expect more from its line of comic book magazines, featuring comic book stories, poetry, prose fiction, and cartoons. Brainchild of publisher Hart Seely, editor-in-chief Tom Peyer, CCO Frank Cammuso, and Ops guy Stuart Moore, the Syracuse-based indie publisher has made its reputation on witty satires, acclaimed creators, and commitment to bold and risk-taking storytelling — with critically acclaimed titles such as THE TOXIC AVENGER by Matt Bors and Fred Harper, SECOND COMING by Mark Russell and Richard Pace, BABS by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows, HOWL by Alisa Kwitney and Mauricet, THE WRONG EARTH by Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle, JUSTICE WARRIORS by Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson, the quirky monster anthology PROJECT: CRYPTID, and many more.
About the creators
Mark Russell is an author, comic book writer, and cartoonist living and toiling in Portland, Oregon. The works he is known for include God Is Disappointed in You, a modern re-telling of the Bible, The Flintstones, Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles (Winner of the 2019 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Comic), Not All Robots (Winner of the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Humor Comic), and Superman: Space Age, which tells the story of Superman and his loved ones, living against the backdrop of Cold War America. As far as he knows, all his books are still in print.
Russ Braun has been drawing comics for over 30 years, with time out for a 7-year stint with Walt Disney Feature Animation. Known for his expressive characters and storytelling on everything from Batman, Swamp Thing, Fables, and Jack of Fables, Russ is best known for his frequent collaborations with Garth Ennis, including The Boys, Night Witches, their creator-owned book, Jimmy’s Bastards, and its new sequel Jimmy’s Little Bastards.
