A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for “LOBA LOCA,” a new graphic novel in the MFKZ Universe, featuring a teenage girl’s journey of self-discovery amidst the criminal underbelly of her city.

The press release follows:

Media Release – In partnership with France’s Label 619,Oni Press and Magnetic Press – the Eisner Award-winning publisher celebrating prestige graphic novels from around the globe since 2013 – are proud to announce the Kickstarter campaign for LOBA LOCA, a new graphic novel set in the MFKZ Universe from internationally acclaimed creators Run (MFKZ) and Guillaume Singelin (PTSD). With Luchadores, lunatics, and long-buried secrets lurking around every corner, LOBA LOCA is a high-octane odyssey of self-discovery. Fans can support the graphic novel on Kickstarter now.

Spinning out of Guillaume “Run” Renard’s 2002 short film “Mutafukaz: Operation Blackhead,” MFKZ has grown into the hit Netflix film from Studio 4C (All You Need Is Kill, Tekkonkinkreet) directed by Shôjirô Nishimi and Renard and starring English language voice actors Vince Staples (The Vince Staples Show), Kenn Michael (Saints Row), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Danny Trejo (Machete), and RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) as well as a groundbreaking graphic novel series. Now Run is teaming up with renowned animator and cartoonist Guillaume Singelin to return to the fan-favorite MFKZ Universe and expand it with a one-of-a-kind road trip in LOBA LOCA.

BACK LOBA LOCA ON KICKSTARTER HERE!

Rebellious seventeen-year-old Guadalupe “Guada” Mayflower is just trying to survive the mundane misery of school bullies and social media scandals. But when an explosive, caught-on-camera outburst lands her under house arrest, she starts digging through her mother’s attic and unearths a diary that shatters everything she thought she knew about her family, including the true identity of her infamous father. Guada soon finds herself on a dangerous road trip through the city’s criminal underbelly. From legendary luchadores to ruthless underworld figures and reality show stars, she must navigate a world of violence to confront her past and define her future.

“From the hyperactive imagination of both Run and Guillaume Singelin comes a wild ride that expands the world introduced in MFKZ, tearing it open to expose a beating, human heart. Filled with Run’s signature combination of pulp-inspired grunge and Singelin’s uniquely cinematic, evocative illustration, LOBA LOCA is a trip you’ll want to go on again and again.” says Magnetic Press’ Director of Publishing, Mike Kennedy. “Merging the two creators’ styles turns the road trip trope on its head and separates itself from the exaggerated, often bizarre world of MFKZ and its conspiracy-filled environment by focusing on the grounded drama of teenage alienation and the search for identity amidst a surreal, oppressive urban backdrop.”

In addition to the softcover edition of LOBA LOCA, Magnetic Press is also producing a Deluxe Hardcover and a Limited Edition Slipcase Edition, which will feature a foil-stamped textured slipcase, foil-stamped bookplate, and an exclusive set of enamel pins. Fans can support LOBA LOCA on Kickstarter. For more updates on Magnetic Press, visit them on X, Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.

About the Creators

Guillaume “Run” Renard is an accomplished animator, director, and writer. His stories tend to focus on social outcasts dealing with modern concerns such as terrorism, the quest for identity, ecological issues, and the radicalization of youth. His first animated short, Mutafukaz: Operation Blackhead (2003), was selected at Sundance and provided the basis for his larger Mutafukaz universe. Not only has he written and drawn over 600 pages of comics exploring the world of MFKZ, but he also created or co-created numerous other projects within the studio setting he curated, known as Label 619. Following the completion of the final volume in the Mutafukaz series, he adapted the title into the animated feature film, Mutafukaz (2017), co-directed with Nishimi Shojiro of Studio 4C. The film had its world premiere at Annecy International Animation Festival to rave reviews and has since been translated for English audiences by GKidz, released on numerous streaming networks in the United States, including Netflix, as MFKZ.

Run is currently working on a new, sequel series, MFK2, while continuing to foster and develop other projects for Label 619, including the horror anthology LOWREADER.

Guillame Singelin was born in Rennes, France, in 1987, and grew up inspired to draw by Disney comics and manga. While studying graphic design at EPSAA, he was approached by writer Antoine Ozanam (KLAW, Temudjin) to work on a retelling of the David and Goliath story in “King David,” revised to be a contemporary mafia tale. But comics weren’t what he originally imagined doing, so he joined the animation team at Ankama to work on the feature film MUTAFUKAZ, based on the Label 619 comic series by Label founder Run. It was during this time Guillaume dreamed up THE GROCERY, a madcap combination of cartoonish characters in a gritty urban setting much like “The Wire.” That unique recipe found fans, and he soon began contributing more and more work to the growing portfolio of Label 619, including stories for DOGGYBAGS, MIDNIGHT TALES, and the Mutafukaz spinoff, LOBA LOCA. His first full-length graphic novel to be published in English was the dense post-war drama PTSD, which not only refined his unique balance of cartoony characters in gritty situations but cemented his reputation for thoughtful and multi-layered storytelling. His manga-inspired character designs pop out of realistically rendered environments to come to life. From that experience and exposure, he was tapped by DC to create a handful of Batman backup stories (in Urban Legends and DC Vampires). Aside from comics, he continues to work in other fields, including video games, producing illustrations and character designs for titles such as the celebrated, multi-platform game CITIZEN SLEEPER.

About Label 619

LABEL 619 officially debuted as a production studio in France in 2008, created by graphic designer Run (Guillaume Renard), creator of mega-popular comics Mutafukaz and DoggyBags. First established as an imprint under Ankama Editions, it soon amassed a library of notable releases by several popular creators, including the long-running Freaks’ Squeele by Florent Maudoux, The Grocery by Guillaume Singelin, and Midnight Tales, an anthology directed by Mathieu Bablet. They also imported popular English titles into France, such as Tank Girl and Sons of Anarchy.

In 2017, Mutafukaz was adapted into the feature-length animated film MFKZ by Ankama Animation and Studio 4C (currently available to rent or buy on YouTube Movies and Amazon Prime). In 2018, Label 619 became independent of Ankama, with Maudoux, Singelin, and Bablet joining Run as the primary management team for the label moving forward. A string of critical hits soon followed, such as Carbon and Silicon, Frontier, and Hoka Hey, earning them due attention. The Label continues to produce new material as an independent studio in partnership with French publisher Rue de Sevres. They have started a new publishing partnership with Magnetic Press for English translation of their works.

About Magnetic Press

Magnetic Press is a subsidiary of Polarity that publishes graphic novels, art books, and periodicals curated with a focus on internationally recognized content and talent, presented with premium quality design and production value. The Magnetic brand was founded by writer and video game veteran Mike Kennedy in 2013 as the independent publishing company Magnetic Press, Inc, featuring creators both new and established from around the world, sharing their stories with an English-language audience often for the first time. Their award-winning library includes such celebrated titles as the Love series of wordless wildlife graphic novels, as well as Eisner-nominated books Mister Invincible, The Monkey King, Aster of Pan, Pistouvi, Irena, Stay, A Sea of Love, Watersnakes, Herakles, Doomboy, A Glance Backward, Little Tails, The Ghost of Gaudi, and Dave Dorman’s Wasted Lands Omnibus. Magnetic has earned a total of 31 Eisner Award nominations in their first ten years of eligibility, winning its first trophy in 2024 for Best Production Design of Dracula/Frankenstein Boxed Set. Magnetic also won the Gold Medal of Excellence in the graphic novel category of the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards for Love: The Fox.

In 2021, Magnetic launched Magnetic Press Play, an imprint dedicated to gaming and new media endeavors. Their releases to date include CARBON GREY, based on the Image Comics series by Hoang Nguyen, and THE OFFICIAL PLANET OF THE APES RPG developed in cooperation with Disney and 20th Century Studios. Other as-yet-announced licenses and projects are forthcoming.

ONI PRESS

For more updates on Oni Press, visit them on Bluesky, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram

THE LOUDEST THING IN COLOR SINCE ‘97. For nearly 30 years, Oni Press has carved a distinctive path as one of the world’s most respected and acclaimed publishers of award-winning comic books and graphic novels, including Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim, Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt’s The Sixth Gun, Brenna Thummler’s Sheets trilogy, Jay Stephens’ Dwellings, Ezra Clayton Daniels’ Upgrade Soul, LySandra Vuong’s Covenant, and many hundreds more. In 2019, Oni Press merged with Lion Forge Comics – the Eisner Award-winning independent comic book publisher founded by Academy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur David Steward II – to create one of the largest, independent libraries of comics content anywhere in media. The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group now exists as a publishing subsidiary of Steward’s diversified global media company, Polarity.

The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group publishes more than 60 original and licensed graphic novels annually, in addition to an extensive roster of periodical comics for globally recognized properties including Adventure Time, Biker Mice from Mars, Choose Your Own Adventure, Cult of the Lamb, EC Comics, Murder Drones, Rick and Morty, and more.

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