Exclusive Preview: The Mess by Noah Van Sciver - Fantagraphics Books

Noah Van Sciver is an award-winning cartoonist behind Blammo from Kilgore Books & Comics, Joseph Smith and the Mormons from Abrams ComicArts, and Fante Bukowski from Fantagraphics, among many acclaimed graphic novels. In 2026, Van Sciver will release The Mess from Fantagraphics Books, which follows a son who teams up with his mother to find a Picasso painting that’s gone missing from his late, penniless father. Check out Comic Frontier’s exclusive preview below!

A family death and a missing Picasso send a mother and son on an unexpected spring break that threatens to permanently damage their relationship — if they survive the trip!

When her semi-estranged and penniless hoarder father dies, Erin Messina is tasked with cleaning out his house before the bank forecloses on it. This otherwise thankless task is given a purpose, however, when she remembers the original Picasso drawing her father was gifted in 1964. She enlists her teenage son, Jackson, to spend spring break looking for their possible ticket to long-term financial stability. Jackson, resentful and eager to shirk responsibility, befriends twin skateboarders who live in the hood, and tell him about the violent murder that happened directly across the street from his grandfather's home — and the murderer who still lives there. Emotional baggage, paranoia, and frayed nerves stretch the Messina's relationship to the brink, as The Mess careens to a thrilling final act that includes… two-way radio communication with the dead?

The Mess arrives in comic book stores on September 29th, 2026. Let your local comic book shop or bookstore know you’re looking for a copy.