Running Down a Dream
Workin’ on a Mystery, Goin’ Wherever It Leads …
Greetings,
If you’ve been paying attention to the Cosmic Times social feeds lately, you’ve probably noticed a couple of strange, cryptic images floating around teasing our first Kickstarter of 2026.
Well the mystery is over.
It’s time to officially introduce Turbocharged Teenager.
Let’s rewind to 1984. MTV mattered. Transformers ruled toy aisles. Knight Rider owned television. Matt Mish was popular, confident, dating the hottest girl in school, cruising around town in a cherry-red sports car with the world at his fingertips.
Then everything goes sideways.
In a freak accident Matt and his car are merged into one, he has become both man & machine. Now, he has to drive as hard as he can to save his father from two evil Russian spies! It’s a 1980s animated fever dream soaked in gasoline. It’s body horror with a synthwave heartbeat. It’s ridiculous, emotional, fast, strange … and somehow sincere.
What makes this project even wilder is how it started. One late night over Facebook messenger I was getting punchy while chatting with Kevin LaPorte (of FlatLine Comics). I asked the question - “what if the old cartoon Turbo-Teen were made today?” - after a bunch of crazy ideas went back and forth we suddenly had a fully fleshed out concept. I brought my goofy humor and sense for fast-paced action to the table and Kevin brought his horror experience and sarcasm to create something that has become larger than the concept and truly bigger than the sum of it’s parts.
Artists Ian Woryanto and Oscar Pinto are nailing the tone we were looking for, juxtaposing their styles against each other to give the book the look we wanted. Saturday morning cartoon energy slamming into hyper-realistic body horror - creating a book that feels like nothing else on the shelves right now.
We’re launching Turbocharged Teenager: Issue Zero on Kickstarter in early March. Think of it as a pilot episode - your entry point into this crazy world. If the book is well received, we will order a complete mini-series into production immediately. The easiest way to show early support is to head to the Kickstarter prelaunch page and click “Notify Me on Launch.” That way when the project launches you will have the chance to be a day one backer. If you like weird, heartfelt, high-concept comics that swing big - please follow Turbocharged Teenager on Kickstarter.
In other Cosmic News …
Fun with Livestreams
On January 27th, Kevin LaPorte and I sat down for a livestream her on Substack to talk about the state of the comic book market at the start of 2026, a follow up to the one we did in January of 2025. It’s a fun, honest conversation, and if you stick around to the end, we do talk about Turbocharged Teenager.
If you like that conversation we are planning on doing it again, right here on Substack (through Keven’s Comics Crowd feed) - Tuesday, February 11th at 9:00 PM (eastern), so tune in and join the conversation.
The Shadow Con Knows
I’ve been invited to Shadow Con, and I couldn’t be more excited to add it to the Cosmic Calendar.
You can find me at the Avanti Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida on March 14th from 10 AM to 5 PM. It’s a comic book convention in the purest sense of the word … creators, fans, original art, real conversations with guests like Steve Conley, John Beatty, Kyle Willis, Pat Broderick, Roland Mann, and more. The folks behind Shadow Con are aiming to deliver BIG convention energy without the “mega price tag”. Please come out and support this amazing show.
Speaking of support …
Supporting the Community
I have several friends running crowd funding campaigns right now that you might wish to check out …
Steve Conley (who will be at Shadow Con) is running a campaign on BackerKit for a D&D 5E supplement - Wildest Shape - A Multiversal Druid Subclass.
Our friends at Attic Door Media are running a BackerKit campaign for Phoenix Planetarium a series of enamel pins inspired by the planets.
As mentioned in the last Cosmic Update, old friends Matt & Steph are funding TATSUMI: The Serpent Mistress 1 & 2 over on our platform of choice, Kickstarter!
They’re all fantastic projects and after you hit the Turbocharged Teenager prelaunch page, I highly recommend checking them out.
Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this Cosmic Update … I honestly can’t wait for you to check out Turbocharged Teenager!
Stay Cosmic,
Martin