EXCLUSIVE: How my hometown dead mall inspired my new comic, DEATH OF COMICS BOOKCASE, VOL. 2

A couple years ago I was lost in my phone, scrolling, and I saw something familiar — my hometown mall, which, sadly, was dead. 

And it gave me the spark for the first story in my new comic, Death of Comics Bookcase, Vol. 2, which is live on Kickstarter as of today (more on that below).

But first, the story of my mall. See, I had gotten hooked on dead mall videos, soothed by their haunting synths and slow pan through rotting spaces. One video led to another and another. Soon, dead malls were all over my feed.

Then my own mall showed up.

Stratford Square in Bloomingdale, Ill., and while I left home and stopped going there two decades ago, I had a curious reaction to seeing it this way. I remembered being a teen there, parents-free with my friends, wandering the food court, the movie theater, Borders, the arcade. 

This video on my phone exhumed the corpse of a place that meant a lot to me. Soon, other influencers did the same. I didn’t like it. They were sacrificing my mall at the altar of corporate algorithms. 

So, I turned the feeling into a new comic written by me and illustrated by my pal Nick Cagnetti, who you know from Pink Lemonade or Spirit of the Shadows, or  from Oni Press’ Archie relaunch.

Back in 2024, Nick and I co-created a weird superhero called The Responsibili-Teen— when he takes responsibility, he gets a new superpower — with an incredible design by Nick, loosely inspired by an old word processor (you know the one). Our aim was to tackle the weird feelings of being a teen, both in modern times as well as for us retroactively.

Putting his next adventure in a dead mall, where influencers seeking to turn the place into viral videos just might be the villains, was perfect.

I mean, check out the first five pages from our story below, with lettering from AndWorld Design:

So, that’s how my childhood dead mall inspired the lead story in my new comic, Death of Comics Bookcase, Vol. 2. 

If you enjoyed that, you’ll like the rest of the book as well, which spans 48 pages and has five other stories in a similar spirit, featuring art by John P. Golden (Adventure Time), Ryan Lee (Mountainhead), Luke Horsman (2000AD), Jeremy Hyler (Veefriends), and Jim Lavery (Medal of Honor), plus colors by Dearbhla Kelly, Michael Woods, and Jason Wordie, lettering by Andworld Design, and design by John J. Hill.

Plus, variants by Fell Hound (S.I.R.) and Eisner/Ignatz-winner, Jesse Lonergan (Drome). Check those out below …

Other themes in the book include what we’ve lost amid rapid tech acceleration, insecure comics pros, complicated relationships with deceased loved ones, wealth hording, and how too much screen time might just end the world.

But if that all sounds like too much, also consider that this book features a character named Shark Twain (see Jesse Lonergan’s rendition of him above, at the bottom left of his cover).

Which is to say that Death of Comics Bookcase, Vol. 2, is also a whole lot of fun, with depth and substance beneath.

I hope you’ll consider checking out the Kickstarter here, and pre-ordering a copy if it looks like something you’d be in to. Maybe you’ll find some catharsis for the loss of your own dead mall, just as I did in telling this story.

Death of Comics Bookcase, Vol. 2, is currently funding on Kickstarter, through Oct. 15, 2026