ART TO THE FACE #28 – APRIL 2026: ANSWERS!

Sketchbook chaos—process pages, loud ideas, and the FWACATA engine running hot.

ART TO THE FACE — Issue 28 (April 2026) is the kind of sketchbook zine you read like you’re snooping through an artist’s desk drawer—because that’s basically what it is: raw process, half-finished thoughts, sudden punches of color, and the weird little sparks that later turn into full comics and merch.

The cover alone sets the tone: a flaming bottle labeled “ANSWERS” flying like a Molotov, equal parts rage and joke—like, “Sure, here’s your clarity… enjoy the fire.” Then immediately, the zine tells you what it is: not a polished “best-of,” but the workshop—the thumbnails, experiments, notes-to-self, dumb jokes, and momentum behind FWACATA, FUGLY, VIGIL, and Dragonbreath.

What I love about Issue 28 is that it swings between studio confession and visual punchlines. There’s a scribbly self-portrait page that reads like a blunt internal monologue—sharp, frustrated, funny, and very human. Then it cuts to moody black-and-white photos of bare tree branches against the sky—quiet frames that feel like the pause between loud songs.

And then—boom—process. You get the bottle art again in stages: the clean black-and-white ink version and the final color blast with reds and burning yellows. You also get this perfect mashup moment where a TeePublic mockup sits next to sketchbook notes and a big speech balloon that screams “YOU! WILL! BURN!” like the zine is both advertising and threatening you at the same time.

From there, it turns into a buffet: a fiery figure drawn with loud, messy color energy, a grayscale warrior portrait with battle-worn texture, a masked brute holding a weapon with a comic-book “READY?” floating nearby, and a kinetic fight sketch drenched in yellow and pink as a punk rock poster exploded. There’s even humor baked into the doodles—like a character flexing “guns” and the reply basically being “yeah, your arms are guns,” deadpan as hell.

It closes with the kind of line that tells you exactly who this zine is for: “I HATE REMINISCING. I look back, and it’s such a waste of time.” That’s ART TO THE FACE in a nutshell: not nostalgia—forward motion.

If you’re reading FWACATA for the finished comics, this is where you see the engine running. Subscribe on Substack so you don’t just get the “final product”—you get the printable zine!