Kyle here, coming to you from my desk on a gloomy-but-relaxing Friday morning where I’ve got some good music going (Glass Animals) and some of the most gorgeous new Radiant Black and Teen Titans art that I could ever hope for hitting my inbox. Shout out to Marcelo Costa and Daniele Di Nicuolo!

I haven’t spoken too in-depth about what we’re doing on Teen Titans just yet, as we’re still a few months away from when the book will really ramp up with solicits and on-sale dates, but the pages that Daniele has been crafting feature some of the most stunning superhero art that I’ve ever been lucky enough to be a part of. I think fans, new and old, are going to really vibe with this.

Here’s a little tease from one of my favorite pages.

This past week has been almost entirely consumed by outreach on Radiant Black #42, which I’ll get to in a second.

Outside of that, I’ve been putting some real work into taking better care of myself. Looks like I’ve got another knee surgery coming up, possibly more than one, and I’m trying to head into it in the best shape I can. I’m about a month into some bigger lifestyle changes and, honestly, feeling really good for the first time in a long time.

I’ve dropped some weight, I’m moving better (crippling knee pain non-withstanding) and the stress levels have been dropping. Which, you know, is definitely preferable to the alternative.

The big changes aren’t just limited to me. On the book front, we’ve got a really big issue of Radiant Black that’s about to hit its Final Order Cutoff and to say that it is going to usher in another huge change for the book… well, I’ll just say it— it’s going to usher in a another huge change for the book :)

After we put the finishing touches on it earlier this week, we also started to get the issue out to retailers so they can see what exactly they’re in store for before ordering. The reaction has been awesome — which helps mitigate some more of that stress ;) — but what’s been even more awesome is the reaction that we’ve gotten from a few fans who we also shared the issue with.

This past Monday, we brought a few folks up on stream and showed them the ending of #42, live, to get their unfiltered reactions. Huge thank you to Bash, Matt, Owen, Bill, Ryan, and TJ for being game and for trusting us not to put them in a weird spot.

Watch their reactions and you’ll get a pretty good sense of what we’re working with here.

FINAL ORDER CUTOFF

Radiant Black #42 - May 11

On sale - June 3

Third Eye Comics Preorder

Third Eye Comics Preorder

Third Eye Comics Preorder

Okay. I’m going to choose my words very carefully here.

Radiant Black #42 is the start of maybe the biggest story we’ve ever told in this book. As we race toward issue #50 (!!), the ending of #42 kicks off something that Joe, Marcelo, Michael and I have been building toward for a long time, and I genuinely cannot wait for everyone to read it.

I’m not going to spoil any of it here. The reveal at the end of this issue only works if it lands cold, and I want to protect that for every single one of you. But I will tell you this — if you’ve been with us since the beginning, if you’ve stuck around through everything we’ve put these characters through… this is the one.

For newer readers — quick note on FOC, or Final Order Cutoff. It’s the deadline for retailers to lock in their orders with the printer, and pre-ordering before FOC is the single most material way you can support these books. It directly affects the print run and signals demand to retailers. Monday is the deadline for #42. If you’ve been on the fence, or if you’ve been meaning to add Radiant Black to your pull list, this is the issue to do it on.

Talk to your local shop! Get it on your pull list! Tell a friend!

And then, once the issue hits stands on June 3, hit our Discord and tell us what you think!

PREVIEW:

MASSIVE-VERSE LIVE

This past Monday’s episode was all about bringing fans up to show them #42 and get their reactions. It’s a fun one! If you missed the stream, you catch it right here along with an audio-only edition as well.

Since this Monday is such an important day for Radiant Black #42, we’re going to spend the night digging into some fun segments around big reveals in comics. And we may or may not be joined by some special guests!

→ [Monday, May 11. 6PM PST on YouTube]

BLACK MARKET PRESENTS…

On Tuesday, we released a new edition from our Black Market Presents… initiative — Tree App, by Zach Chapman, Dean Kotz and Chris O’Halloran. If you missed it in your inbox, you can catch it here.

COMMUNITY & CONVENTIONS

Comic Con Revolution
May 16-17
Ontario, CA

Galaxy Con Nashville
May 22-24
Nashville, TN

Okay, that’s going to do it for me today!

See you Monday night on Massive-Verse Live!

Kyle
Los Angeles, CA

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Recorded May 4, 2026

SHOW NOTES

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts

▶️ Watch on YouTube

👾 Join the Community

🛒 Visit the Shop

Zach Chapman is a horror and science fiction writer and an occasional editor, letterer and podcaster based in Austin, TX. He is the independent creator of comic series Kaiju Blues, The Spellslinger and Dino Knights. Find him on IG and Twitter @chappyzach.

Dean Kotz studied painting at West Chester University and has been professionally drawing comics since 2009. He has worked with Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and IDW. He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Find him on IG and Twitter @deankotz.

Chris O’Halloran is a comic book colorist for some of the biggest American comic publishers including DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse and more.

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Recorded April 28, 2026

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Plus, the debut of “Kyle Pitches Michael!”

Recorded April 20, 2026

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Over the past seventeen years, I’ve had the privilege of working on some of my favorite properties—things like Batman, Nightwing, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and more.

And while getting to contribute to those worlds will always mean a lot to me, nothing quite compares to the feeling of building something new—new stories, new worlds, new universes and, when possible, helping to boost new voices.

In 2021, I started Black Market Narrative—a creative-collective studio focused on original storytelling across comics, audio, film, and more. Projects like Radiant Black and The Massive-Verse at Image Comics, Moon Man with Kid Cudi, The Singularity with Bear McCreary, Ordinary Gods and Deep Cuts are all part of that larger effort.

At its core, the focus has been about building worlds—and building them with incredibly talented people.

I started in comics in 2009, at a time when the industry—and the internet around it—looked very different.

Now, it’s never been easier to make something.

But it’s never been harder to break through.

For newer creators especially, getting work seen, building an audience, and finding real opportunities can feel like an impossible battle.

So we started asking a simple question:

What can we build that actually helps?

INTRODUCING: BLACK MARKET PRESENTS…

Black Market Presents… is a new initiative designed to spotlight original short-form stories from creators we believe in, delivered straight to your inbox and built for how people read today: on their phones, in scrollable formats.

It’s a way for us to put great work in front of you—and to create more space for voices we think deserve to be heard. Think of it as a curated signal boost—one that lives directly inside this newsletter.

Now, a couple key points.

These stories aren’t backdoor pilots for the Massive-Verse. They’re not mandates for future development. They’re stories we think are worth telling, from creators whose voices we want to highlight, right now.

That said, if something connects, we’ll certainly be paying attention.

Every story includes a poll, and the conversation continues over on our Discord. We want to hear what resonates, what doesn’t, and what you want to see more of as this evolves.

We’ve also created a dedicated section of the newsletter where all of these stories will live, so you can easily follow along or catch up anytime.

Which brings me to the fun part—are you a creator who wants us to take a look at your work?

We’ve set up a Google form for just that.

Creator Submission

An important note—we are not reviewing unsolicited pitches or concepts. But if you have a finished comic, you can submit it through the Google form. We’re also a very small team, so we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to look at everything—but we’ll do our best.

So what do these vertical scroll stories actually look like?

Well, rather than keep talking about it—let’s show you.

Below are the first two stories we’ve run as part of Black Market Presents…

Dive in, and let us know what resonates!

Kyle

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Kyle here, coming to you from LA on what has turned out to be a lovely Sunday afternoon.

As I started writing today’s newsletter, I had to legitimately double check the calendar. Unfortunately, I can confirm that it’s already mid April, which should honestly be illegal.

It’s so funny when I think back on how long everything felt like it took when I was growing up, eight hours of school was an eternity, winter stretched forever, holidays were a lifetime away. Now, I lose days, weeks, and months with regularity. I know everyone says that your perception of time speeds up as you get older, nothing about this is all that original, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

I spent the back half of March almost entirely on the road, bouncing between Megacon in Orlando to C2E2 in Chicago plus a few days in Yosemite. At the end of it all, I landed with a gnarly chest cold that I’m just now finally getting over, too many scripts to finish, and more photos and videos than I know what to do with.

Don’t worry, I won’t inundate you with all the photos and videos, although I do have some cool sunrise shots that I’ll include below. Shout out to Keegan O’Brien and Greg McMahon.

This was my first time at Megacon since 2018 and only the second time I’ve been in Florida since Radiant Black debuted and man oh man did you all make me feel welcome! I had a great show this year and I even got to spend it next to a pretty awesome tablemate.

It was wonderful to catch up with friends and fans, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a long time and others I was meeting for the first time. Shout out to Frank and his son, Rio, as well as Joe Pantoliano (?!) who I somehow ended up in a conversation with. Don’t worry—I managed to hold it together just long enough to tell him how much I loved his work and for him to give me shit about not casting him in anything (yet). 2026, made.

Chicago was also, predictably, another amazing weekend. I got to spend some much-needed time with my family as well as Kelly and her family, all of whom flew in from Australia and London for her birthday, as a surprise.

And speaking of Kelly, she was asked by Reed Pop to illustrate the cover of the 2026 Zine, which had a Chicago diner theme. How cool is this?!

In fact, we loved how it so much that we turned it into a print for everyone who attended our Kyle Higgins Presents: Radiant Black, The Massive-Verse and More panel, complete with some new balloons by Becca Carey.

We also brought some fun exclusives to both shows (and will continue to bring to shows this summer and fall). The standout was a special version of Radiant Black and White #1, remarqued by me in fluorescent ink.

In between all the chaos of the con, I found some time to do something that I used to do quite a bit with my dad, growing up: trekking out to the Adler Planetarium just before sunrise to capture my favorite city at my favorite time of day.

I didn’t shoot very many photos this time, both because I was playing around with a little Action 5 video camera and also because I was joined by two fantastic photographers, Keegan O’Brien and Kelly’s dad, Greg McMahon.

Here’s a few shots from Keegan. If you dig ‘em, definitely go check out his and Greg’s Instagram pages. I’ll include links below.

Oh, and today is Keegan’s birthday! Happy birthday, Keegan!

And because I love this picture so much, here’s one of me and Kel on the Mist Trail in Yosemite.

Okay, onto comic book stuff!

MASSIVE-VERSE LIVE

We’ve had a few Massive-Verse Live episodes drop since our last newsletter, with Michael admirably holding down the fort while I was out of commission. Earlier this week, I was able to get caught up and pushed out the corresponding podcast + newsletter editions for each.

As a reminder, we record these live on YouTube every Monday night. But if you can’t make our 6pm PST time slot, you can always find the episode after the fact on our YouTube channel. Plus, we also have a dedicated section of this newsletter where we do a dedicated post for each episode that includes both the video version and an audio edition.

If you want to be notified when those posts go out, you can subscribe to that section of the newsletter by checking the box in your account settings, right here.

Subscribe to Massive-Verse Live

Here’s last Monday’s episode!

LATEST EPISODE:

Our next stream is tomorrow night, where we’ll break down all things Radiant Black #41. Plus, we’ll finally get into some of our promised segments. I swear!

NEXT STREAM:

Monday, April 20. 6PM PST on YouTube

ON SALE

Radiant Black #41 - April 15

Last week, Radiant Black #41 hit stands and it features one of my all-time favorite buffalo-based jokes in the series.

IYKYK

Here’s a little preview!

Preview:

And, as always, a new video promo featuring Will Friedle.

Inferno Girl Red Book Two TPB - March 25

Buy Inferno Girl Red Book Two

On the heels of Inferno Girl Red Book Two finishing its serialized run, our Book Two OGN is also now officially on stands.

And, after more delays than we’ve known what to do with, I’m also happy to report that nearly every Inferno Girl Red Kickstarter order has been finalized, packed, and will head out the door tomorrow.

We have a handful of orders that we’re working on still, due to some book one hardcovers that became impossible for us to fulfill thanks to the Diamond bankruptcy (TLDR: Diamond is holding about $8,000 worth of hardcover stock hostage and will not return it to us) but those orders are being finalized on a case by case basis with everyone, as we speak.

BLACK MARKET PRESENTS…

And speaking of Inferno Girl Red Book Two, we’ve got a special edition of our new Black Market Presents… spotlight today featuring the Burning Light of Hope in the Dark herself!

This is a story that Mat Groom put together shortly after finishing Book One, and it slots cleanly in between Book One and Book Two.

Eleonora Carlini, a Massive-Verse favorite and a former Power Rangers collaborator of ours, was kind enough to join along with the usual IGR colors/letters team of Igor Monti and Becca Carey.

And for those who missed last months news, Black Market Presents… is something we’re looking to do more regularly now: vertical scroll stories that we curate from creators we’re excited about, with an emphasis on new and emerging voices, direct to your inbox.

You can check out our first story, Black Eye, by Rich Douek, Nir Levie and Buddy Beaudoin right here.

Similar to Massive-Verse Live, we’ve set up Black Market Presents… as its own section of the newsletter, so your inbox won’t be inundated every time we put out a story.

But! If you do want those notifications, you can subscribe in the same way you subscribe to Massive-Verse Live, right here.

Subscribe to Black Market Presents

OK, enough preamble! Enjoy our Inferno Girl Interlude!

🚨THE BLACK MARKET🚨

Radiant Black Massive Edition Book Two — BMN Exclusive

We’re a few weeks away from shipping out our Black Market Exclusive edition of Radiant Black: Massive Edition Book 2 (we’re just waiting on the dust jackets to come in) but in the meantime, I wanted to give this one more shout out— we have a handful of copies left (we’re down to single digits now) so if this was something you were eyeing, now is definitely the time!

As a reminder, our Black Market edition features an exclusive bookplate signed and numbered by myself and Marcelo Costa, as well as a gorgeous new dust jacket from Goni Montes.

The book collects RADIANT BLACK #13-24, the SHIFT one-shot, a complete cover gallery and more than 30 pages of new and exclusive behind-the-scenes backmatter.

This edition is also limited to just 150 copies (sans APs).

Massive Edition Book Two BMN Exclusive

COMMUNITY & CONVENTIONS

Next month, I’ll be appearing at two conventions:

Comic Con Revolution
May 16-17
Ontario, CA

Galaxy Con Nashville
May 22-24
Nashville, TN

Okay, that’s going to do it for me! I’ve got some Teen Titans notes to finish and a Monday night livestream to prep for!

See you tomorrow night!

Stay Radiant!

Kyle

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NOTE: the events of this story take place in between Inferno Girl Red Book One and Inferno Girl Red Book Two.

Buy Inferno Girl Red Book One

Buy Inferno Girl Red Book Two

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📖 Black Market Presents…

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Subscribe now

Recorded April 13, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

🛒 Visit the Shop

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Recorded March 30, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

🛒 Visit the Shop

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▶️ Watch on YouTube

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Recorded March 23, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

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▶️ Watch on YouTube

FOLLOW:

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Recorded March 16, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

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FOLLOW:

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Recorded March 9, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

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1 Like

Kyle here, with a really fun one for you today. We’ve got the first story in our new Black Market Presents… program, our BMN Exclusive Radiant Black Massive-Edition Book Two is officially open for pre-orders and—

MASSIVE-VERSE LIVE

We’ve got a new edition of Massive-Verse Live tonight! Unfortunately, Michael won’t be able to join us— he got really sick while he was in LA for the party and some meetings and unfortunately has found himself still rather unwell.

But don’t worry, we’ll still show off a whole bunch of videos from the party, including the black light experience, and dive into more behind the scenes from the Radiant Black audiobook. And I might even post a link in the chat if anyone wants to come up to chat for a segment.

Head over to our YouTube channel at 6 PM Pacific! Or just hit that video right above.

🚨BLACK MARKET DROP

Radiant Black Massive Edition Book Two — BMN Exclusive

The Radiant Black: Massive Edition Book 2 Black Market Variant features an exclusive bookplate signed and numbered by co-creators Kyle Higgins and Marcelo Costa, as well as a gorgeous new dust jacket from Goni Montes!

Collects RADIANT BLACK #13-24, the SHIFT one-shot, a complete cover gallery and more than 30 pages of new and exclusive behind-the-scenes backmatter.

This edition is limited to 150 copies (sans APs).

*NOTE*
This item is a pre-order, expected ship date is mid-April 2026

Massive Edition Book Two BMN Exclusive

BLACK MARKET PRESENTS…

As announced last week, Black Market Presents… is our new showcase for original vertical short stories from creators we’re excited about. And today, we’re bringing you our first release.

These aren’t stories that are leading to new Massive-Verse books, or even necessarily fuller projects beyond what you’re reading right here. Of course, if something does really resonate for people, we’ll certainly take notice and consider that as we put together new projects. To that end, we’ve got a little poll at the end of each story. Let us know what you think and definitely make sure you hit the Discord to chat about it!

And just like Massive-Verse Live, this is now setup as its own section of the newsletter. However, don’t worry— you won’t get email notifications… unless you want them! In that case, hit the link to “subscribe to Black Market presents” and make sure you check the box for it.

Now, without further ado…

READ THE FULL STORY:

COMMUNITY & CONVENTIONS

Megacon
March 19-22
Orlando, FL

C2E2
March 27-29*
Chicago, IL

*There will be a Massive-Verse panel on Saturday at 4pm. Details coming soon

Okay that’s going to do it for me today!

See you tonight on Massive-Verse Live!

Kyle

LINKS:

Subscribe now

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

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Welcome to Black Eye! Meet Edward Crowe, a supernatural investigator with a dark past, and an even darker secret hidden behind his patched eye. Caught between two vast conspiracies, he embarks upon a psychedelic odyssey across America that will lead him to the very heart of reality. It’s a little bit Dr. Who, a little bit HP Lovecraft, with a healthy dose of David Lynch thrown in. So buckle up, folks. It’s gonna get weird.

-Rich Douek

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Annnd we’re back!

As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been pretty quiet the last few weeks— it’s been a pretty intense stretch, finishing the Radiant Black audiobook + putting together our five year anniversary party, both of which are now finished (and available to listen to RIGHT NOW, in the case of the audiobook!) and turned out to be pretty amazing experiences.

First up, on the party front— a massive, massive thank you to our friends at Revenge Of for hosting us and putting this all together with us. We built a full blacklight experience, complete with Radiants, QR codes and Tom Whalen prints. Oh, and Damion Poitier recorded original Colossal Black lines specifically for the party.

The next massive, massive thank you is to my amazing partner, Kelly McMahon, for all of her work coordinating and art directing the blacklight painting as well as, you know, actually doing the painting, too. Thank you so much, Kel! Love you!

I also want to give a huge thank you to Michael Busuttil, Michael Nie, Melissa Flores, and Sandra Winn for all their incredibly hard work—the five of us spent the day before the party doing all the blacklight painting over the top of the giant prints.

The result, as you’ll see below, was truly stunning.

Also, a huge thank you to Will Friedle for joining us to do a live In Conversation chat at the party. And a big thank you and shout out to Radiant Black: The Audiobook stars Phil Morris (Radiant Yellow), Anne Yatco (Radiant Red), and Rachelle Heger (Kathy + others), who were kind enough to come out and support.

And one more shoutout to Jenkins, who shot a bunch of B roll for us! Here’s a little video we cut together from the night! Check it out! It’ll be like you were there!

RADIANT BLACK: THE AUDIOBOOK

Now, back to the other huge thing that occupied every waking moment of my life for the last several weeks— I am thrilled to announce that Radiant Black: The Audiobook is officially done and released to the world!

In fact, I’ve got links for you right here!

A quick refresher on the two versions—

The Standard Edition contains just the audiobook— DRM free—plus a short cast and crew credits PDF. This is the version that will (eventually) make its way to Audible and other platforms. However, as mentioned before, we make very, very little from those platforms. So we definitely are encouraging everyone to buy it direct from us if they can.

The Deluxe Edition is only available from us. And, as someone who grew up on and still adores behind the scenes and special features, we’ve tried to go all out on what Deluxe means.

THE DELUXE EDITION INCLUDES

• DRM-free, high-quality M4B and AAC editions of the audiobook

• Audio commentary track with Kyle Higgins and editor Michael Busuttil (coming soon)

• Roundtable discussion with Will Friedle, Rider Strong, Kyle Higgins, and Michael Busuttil

• Scoring Radiant Black — an interview with composer Sam Ewing

• In the Booth — A 25 minute look inside one of Kyle Higgins and Will Friedle’s recording sessions (video)

• The complete audiobook script (PDF)

• Behind-the-scenes collector’s booklet featuring enhanced liner notes, photography and other surprises (PDF)

Standard Edition

Exclusive Deluxe Edition

ON SALE

Radiant Black #40 - March 4

And speaking of Radiant Black, we’ve also got a brand new issue—40!!— on stands today!

Preview:

Last week, some pretty exciting news dropped at Comics Pro—my Power Rangers partner (and SHIFT co-creator!) Daniele Di Nicuolo and I are reuniting and teaming up with Radiant Black co-creator Marcelo Costa to bring you a brand new Teen Titans series as a part of DC’s Next Level wave.

I can’t say much more about it right now, but you’ll be hearing quite a bit more from Daniele and me about the series in the coming months. It’s a big, bold swing about being a teenager in the DCU in 2026, the challenges of building community and connection in a very broken world.

Oh, and Red Hood’s in it. Like, a lot.

On the heels of the announcement, I spent three days last week with a litany of crazy talented creators and editors for a summit about this next era of DC and I’ve got to say, there are a lot of really cool books from really cool creators coming your way. Daniele, Marcelo and I are determined to be one of them.

BLACK MARKET PRESENTS

One more thing before I go today— and this is something I’ve been pretty darn excited about for a while now. We’re going to be rolling out a new segment in the newsletter in the coming weeks that we’re calling Black Market Presents.

The idea is pretty simple— as this newsletter has continued to grow, I’ve wanted to find a way to bring more original material to everyone and a way to use it as a platform for more creators whose work we like. To that end, we’re looking to start bringing subscribers original shorts from curated creators, designed specifically for the way that most people read emails and newsletters— on their phone.

I started in comics in 2009, during a very different industry landscape and internet. It’s not lost on me how much harder it’s become for creators—especially newer creators—to get their work out there, build their names and gain a foothold. I don’t know that this newsletter will pop anyone, but I feel like it’s a cool thing that we can do and while it’s early stages, the creators we’ve been talking to are all people I’ve had an eye on for a while and who I’m excited to see get more out there.

As a little tease of what this will look like, here’s the start of a new story by Rich Douek, Nir Levie and Buddy Beaudoin called Black Eye.

COMMUNITY & CONVENTIONS

Megacon
March 19-22
Orlando, FL

C2E2
March 27-29
Chicago, IL

Okay, that’s going to do it for this me this week!

See you at next week’s Massive-Verse Live! Monday, 6PM PST on YouTube!

Kyle
Los Angeles

LINKS:

Subscribe now

Buy Radiant Black: The Audiobook

🛒 Visit the Shop

👾 Join the Community

▶️ Watch on YouTube

FOLLOW:

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✖️ X

Video:

Recorded Feb 2, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Pre-order Radiant Black: The Audiobook

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FOLLOW:

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That happened fast, didn’t it?

This will be a fairly brief newsletter today, as I’m working around the clock to finish RADIANT BLACK: THE AUDIOBOOK: VOLUME ONE ahead of next week’s release.

The good news? It sounds incredible.

And with February 10 just eight days away, you’re going to start seeing clips and videos all over social as we work to get the word out on what I think is a truly one of a kind thing that we’ve built here.

Will and Rider absolutely crushed it, as did Anne Yatco, Kaiji Tang, Kim Rhodes, Loren Lester, Todd Stashwick, Melissa Navia, Phil Morris, Damion Poitier, Kevin Porter and many, many other immensely talented performers.

In total, the cast includes 27 actors, with the possibility of one or two more joining the ranks this week for some spot lines as we put the finishing touches on everything.

I really can’t wait for everyone to experience this for themselves. And actually, on that note, I wanted to make a special call out today about the best way to do just that.

RADIANT BLACK: THE AUDIOBOOK

Now, as previously mentioned, the standard edition of RADIANT BLACK: THE AUDIOBOOK: VOLUME ONE will be available on the major audiobook platforms like Audible, iBooks, Google Play, etc. However, speaking totally frankly here, we the creators make an absolutely minuscule amount from those platforms. We’re super excited to be available in such large ecosystems, but it definitely comes at a cost for us. In the case of Audible, for example, Amazon takes 75% (!)

So, for this reason— and some other much cooler reasons, which I’ll get to in a second— I’m excited to announce that we’re also offering RADIANT BLACK: THE AUDIOBOOK: VOLUME ONE ourselves, through our own newly redesigned storefront. And, it’s available for pre-order— DRM free— RIGHT NOW!

But before I give you a link— let me explain what those other cooler reasons for doing this are.

So, in addition to being DRM-free— which, for anyone who doesn’t know, means that you own the files forever without being locked into any one platform— we are are actually offering two different versions of the audiobook.

The Standard Edition will be the exact same as the version available on the large platforms like Audible.

But that brings me to the Deluxe Version, which is only going to be available from us. And, as someone who grew up on and still adores behind the scenes and special features, we’ve tried to go all out on what the Deluxe Edition includes.

THE DELUXE EDITION

The Deluxe Edition is the definitive version of RADIANT BLACK: THE AUDIOBOOK: VOLUME ONE.

Designed as a collector’s edition, this release goes beyond the audiobook itself to offer rare behind-the-scenes access, deep creative insight, and exclusive bonus content unavailable on retail audiobook platforms.

This edition is only available from Black Market Narrative.

INCLUDES

• DRM-free, high-quality M4B and AAC editions of the audiobook

• Audio commentary track with Kyle Higgins and editor Michael Busuttil

• Roundtable discussion with Will Friedle, Rider Strong, Kyle Higgins, and Michael Busuttil

• Scoring Radiant Black — an interview with composer Sam Ewing

• In the Booth — A 25 minute look inside one of Kyle Higgins and Will Friedle’s recording sessions (video)

• The complete audiobook script (PDF)

• Behind-the-scenes collector’s booklet featuring enhanced liner notes, photography and other surprises (PDF)

FORMAT & COMPATIBILITY

• Chaptered M4B audiobook file (ideal for Apple Books and audiobook apps)

• AAC audio edition for universal playback

• Works on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and most modern audiobook players

• DRM-free ownership — no proprietary apps required

And for a little sneak peek of what some of that BTS content looks like, check out this little clip from In the Booth, featuring Will and myself.

Now, just to clarify: absolutely no worries if you prefer getting your audiobooks through one dedicated platform. Trust me, I totally get it. But, if you prefer to own your files, wanna go behind the scenes of what has been an incredible journey bringing this to life, or are just looking to support the creators in the best way possible, then picking up either the standard edition or the Deluxe Edition directly from Black Market Narrative is totally the way to go.

And, if you pre-order now, you will be emailed the files the minute they go live and we’ll be happy to troubleshoot if for any reason you have any technical problems.

Now, here are those links!

Standard Edition

Exclusive Deluxe Edition

MASSIVE-VERSE LIVE

All right, let’s talk Massive-Verse Live, because this is something we’ve been quietly building toward for a bit—and now it’s officially rolling.

As you probably know, we’ve been doing weekly Monday night livestreams for a few months now, digging into the books, the process, the behind-the-scenes chaos, and answering your questions in real time. Those streams aren’t going anywhere— in fact, we have one in a few hours tonight!

But starting last week, every episode will now also live on with an audio edition, dropping the next day (Tuesdays), hosted right here through this newsletter and available on all your favorite podcast apps. Commutes, workouts, dog walks—we’ve got you covered!

To keep things clean (and not turn your inbox into a firehose), I’ve created a dedicated Massive-Verse Live section within the newsletter. Each episode gets its own proper post over there, complete with:

• the audio edition

• show notes

• and the YouTube video replay

Here’s the key thing, though—and this is important:

We are not spamming your inbox with a new email for every episode.

Instead, each standard newsletter (like this one!) will have a dedicated section highlighting the prior week’s Massive-Verse Live episode, with a direct link to that episode’s page. Easy, tidy, respectful of your inbox sanity.

BUT!

If you do want every Massive-Verse Live episode post delivered straight to your inbox the moment it drops, you can absolutely opt into that. Just subscribe directly to the section here:

https://newsletter.blackmarket.la/account

Totally optional. Zero pressure. Choose-your-own-adventure energy only.

And one more thing I’m really excited about: we’re rolling out some new dedicated segments for Massive-Verse Live, and a big part of those are going to come directly from you.

We’ll be spotlighting recurring bits like Hot Takes from the Void, Cover of the Week, and a few other segments that are… let’s say still evolving in real time. And a number of these will be sourced straight from our Discord community.

If you want to get involved, head into our Discord and click on the #live-segments channel. That’s where you can drop your hot takes, nominate covers, pitch discussion topics, and generally stir the pot in the most constructive Massive-Verse way possible.

We’ll be pulling directly from that channel for upcoming episodes—so if you’ve ever yelled at a cover reveal, had a strong opinion about a character choice, or just wanted to throw your hat into the conversation… this is your lane!

More voices, more perspectives, more community energy! That’s the goal.

Join the Discord

LATEST EPISODE:

TONIGHT’S STREAM:

6PM PST on YouTube

ON SALE

Inferno Girl Red Book Two #3 (of 3) - February 4

Inferno Girl Red gone, Team IGR fractured, and The Twins embracing horrifying new forms. Is this the end for Apex City? As IGR’s ultimate enemy finally steps into view, a fateful decision will change the destiny of Team IGR forever! Don’t miss the stunning conclusion of INFERNO GIRL RED: BOOK TWO! 45 story pages!

Preview:

FINAL ORDER CUTOFF

Radiant Black #40 - February 9

Preview:

COMMUNITY & CONVENTIONS

Radiant Black x Revenge Of - 5 Year Anniversary Party
February 21, 2026
Los Angeles, CA
Details coming soon

Megacon
March 19-22
Orlando, FL

C2E2
March 27-29
Chicago, IL

Okay, that’s going to do it for this me this week!

See you tonight on Massive-Verse Live!

Kyle
Los Angeles

LINKS:

Subscribe now

Pre-order Radiant Black: The Audiobook

🛒 Visit the Shop

👾 Join the Community

▶️ Watch on YouTube

FOLLOW:

📸 Instagram

🎵 TikTok

✖️ X

Video:

Recorded Jan 26, 2026

SHOW NOTES:

Pre-order Radiant Black: The Audiobook

🛒 Visit the Shop

👾 Join the Community

▶️ Watch on YouTube

FOLLOW:

📸 Instagram

🎵 TikTok

✖️ X

sdfsdf

Happy New Year!

…is it too late for a happy new year? I never know what the statute of limitations is on that one.

Kyle here, coming to you from prison my desk, three weeks into 2026… which honestly feels pretty much exactly the same as 2025 😭

How was everyone’s holidays? We ended the year with quite a bit of travel over here— LA to Brazil to Chicago and back to LA. Kelly and I were invited as guests to attend CCXP for the first time alongside our Radiant Black team, Marcelo Costa, Eduardo Ferigato and Rod Fernandes. Our time in Sao Paolo was incredible— CCXP is a show that I had only heard a myriad of stories about and my god did it live up to the hype.

I’m not sure what the attendance was this year, but last year was 285,000 people and the venue is one of a kind. Diffusion pumped in to create light beams and ambience, more neon than you know what to do with and themed spaces that any event organizer or production designer would be jealous of. Plus, too many incredible Power Rangers, Batman and Radiant Black fans to count.

A huge thank you to all of the amazing people I was able to meet and spend time with, from my Radiant Black partners Marcelo, Eduardo, and Rod Fernandes, to C.O.W.L. co-creator Rod Reis and NO/ONE co-creator Geraldo Borges, Massive-Verse friends Cian Tormey, Danilo Beyruth, Rafael Albuquerque, Matheus Santolouco, the lovely Mega Power Brasil folks and to all the fans, the amazing staff and especially to Ivan Costa, I cannot thank you enough for a very special, one of a kind week.

And the crazy thing is, Radiant Black isn’t even published in Brazil yet! Can you imagine when that happens? ;)

In the midst of our trip, Marcelo and I also got some time to talk about plans for Radiant Black 43 and beyond. This arc will hit close to home for us and after some planning while getting lost in the rain en route to Eduardo Ferigato’s much-hyped-definitely-delivered BBQ, I can’t wait to see the designs that Marcelo is going to come up with.

Finally, thanks to Rod and his lovely wife Priscilla, we were able to tour some pretty cool areas of Sao Paolo including Batman alley.

It was a fantastic way to close a long year!

Obrigado!

Massive-Verse Live

Back in November, Michael and I announced that we were starting a weekly livestream called Massive-Verse Live, featuring a live discussion between the two of us, guests and segments where we can show off all sorts of things from upcoming issues, audiobooks, movies, and other secret things.

We’ve been doing this for a few weeks now, with a standing schedule of Monday nights at 6pm PST/9pm EST. We’re still figuring out the format as well as some technical odds and ends, but they’ve been a fun way to hangout with everyone on a more regular basis.

Next week will feature the first of our new segments, including “Kyle Pitches Michael,” “How Wrong Was I?” and “One Minute Retcons.”

Set your calendars for Monday nights!

Discord

And speaking of hanging out more regularly, at the tail end of last year we low key rolled out something that we’d been talking about internally for a while, our new Black Market Discord.

First, a huge shoutout to The Radiant Black Podcast guys and the excellent Massive-Verse Discord that they’ve built over the last five years, also known as Existence. A whole host of us creators are in there regularly and we don’t have any plans to leave. But, as I mentioned in posts within both servers, there are some things building behind the scenes for Black Market Narrative as we enter 2026 that make building a dedicated community space a move that makes sense.

From the Massive-Verse books to the Radiant Black Audiobook to the I AM NO/ONE film, we’re also going to be doing more live streams, exclusive drops, and much more video, audio and immersive material for both existing projects and some big new ones.

The other thing we’re excited to do is to use the server as a way to better source topics and feedback on certain things we’re making.

So, if the idea of having a front row seat as we push further into new storytelling formats and mediums sounds cool to you, then this is the server to be in!

Join the Black Market Discord

Inferno Girl Red Kickstarter

After a monumental shipping adventure, the Inferno Girl Red hardcovers successfully reached us and have started going out to backers!

The book turned out gorgeous and we can’t wait for everyone to see it in person!

And for those of you who are collecting the series in the monthly or trade paperback releases, we’ve got some updates for you, too!

Inferno Girl Red Book Two

Inferno Girl Red Book Two (#1 of 3) hit stands on December 3rd.

Inferno Girl Red Book Two (#2 of 3) hit stands on January 7th.

And on February 4th, Inferno Girl Red Book Three (#3 of 3) will wrap up the series!

Finally, we’ve got the trade paperback OGN, on sale April 21! Cover art by Igor Monti!

Radiant Black

Okay, there’s a lot of big things going on with Radiant Black right now. Joe, Marcelo, Rod, Becca Michael and I are all working overtime on issue 40, along with the wonderful Paulo Santos who is joining us for a bit as we work to get caught back up. It’s a big issue, which we’re going to focus on more extensively in our next newsletter.

But today, I want to highlight all the cool stuff we’ve got coming out for our big five year anniversary.

Audiobook

As announced at NYCC last year, Radiant Black The Audiobook will be hitting digital audiobook stands on February 10th, our exact five year anniversary.

For those that don’t know, I used to be a sound editor. Funny story, I actually quit my job at Soundelux and Hollywood Edge in early 2011 in order to write for Marvel and DC full time.

And while I still keep my Pro Tools, Izotope and Soundminer subscriptions active, I don’t spend much time in any of the old programs these days, save for the occasional recording session or spot cleanup job.

Well, that’s changed entirely over the past two months.

While I’ve been recording off and on for the better part of a year, it’s only in the last few weeks that I’ve been building out all six chapters in Pro Tools, recording narration, and designing/cutting sound effects. I just finished recording with Todd Stashwick about an hour ago as I’m writing this, which about puts the finishing touches on our cast.

I don’t want to jinx anything here, but I have to tell you— this thing is turning out awesome. Every actor delivers, the soundscapes are vibrant, music is cool as hell, and by the time I finish the mix… I think people are going to really dig what we’ve made. It’s definitely a unique experience.

Here’s a little scene tease, from a session I just finished with Will:

(And the matching page from the book):

We’re still sorting out getting the audiobook pre-listed on Audible and other platforms, but rest assured— there will be a proper newsletter on release day.

Radiant Black and White

One day later, on February 11th, you’ll be able to pick up a special new edition of Radiant Black #1, featuring the entire first issue in black and white along with the full script. It’s 48 pages long and showcases the book in a really cool new way.

Here’s the cover, by David Finch and Jimmy Reyes.

And we’ve got a 1:10 incentive variant featuring just David’s pencils.

Radiant Black x Revenge Of party

Finally, on February 21st, we’ll be closing things out in style with a party at Revenge Of in Los Angeles!

We’ll have more details on this in the coming weeks, but I wanted to flag it for anyone who may want to travel— if you’re able to make it out, this should be a pretty one of a kind night :)

DC Next Level

One last thing before I get back to this audio session— a few weeks back, DC put out some news about their next wave of books, including a lineup of creators who are going to be working on some exciting new projects.

Beyond March, DC has also updated the list of creators and titles first shared during a New York Comic Con panel, expanding the scope of NEXT LEVEL with additional projects launching later in 2026. The growing creative roster includes Jeff Lemire, Greg Rucka, Javier Rodríguez, Jamal Campbell, Skottie Young, Mariko Tamaki, James Harren, Kyle Higgins, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Michael Walsh, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Rafael De Latorre, Jorge Corona, Tony Fleecs, Amancay Nahuelpan, Deniz Camp, DaNi, and more, with characters ranging from Zatanna and Firestorm to the Teen Titans and Barbara Gordon.

DC's Next Level - AIPT

So, while I can’t say what I’ll be working on or with who, I can tell you that it’s a very cool thing that I’m genuinely really excited to be doing—I imagine it will make some fun waves when it’s announced in the coming months.

Okay, that’s going to do it for me today!

Back to Pro Tools!

Stay Radiant!

Kyle
Los Angeles