Prose & Kahn 004 - Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars

New kids OGN! MR. MUFFINS coming from Oni Press on January 2025.

Hello new faces and old to another edition of the Prose & Kahn newsletter!

Apologies that it’s been a little while since the last update. 2024 has been a whirlwind of a year, and I’ve barely had a moment to get my feet back on the ground. I’ve been working hard on some cool stuff that I’m really excited to tell you about, starting with the subject of today’s newsletter: my newly announced graphic novel from Oni Press, MR. MUFFINS!

“Defender of the cosmos! Vanquisher of evil! Failure at frisbee??

Corgi shenanigans, epic space battles, and intergalactic heroes abound in this uplifting, action-packed adventure about the powerful connection between humans and their pets.”

“The most adorable space hero ever created.” - That was my goal for Mr. Muffins. For this story, I teamed up with my IMMORTALS FENYX RISING collaborator, Georgeo Brooks. And he has gone absolutely next level for this book. MR. MUFFINS tells the story of eleven-year-old Reuben Mahmoud, and his best friend and pet corgi, Mr. Muffins. Overworked and over-scheduled Reuben needs a break from his responsibilities. Skipping homework to take his dog to the park was supposed to be that break. Instead, he finds himself the target of an alien invasion! Because turns out, Mr. Muffins is the prophesied chosen one, destined to save the galaxy. Because what could go wrong giving one not-very-bright doggo the strongest power in the universe?

It’s non-stop epic space adventure, but above all else, it is insanely cute at all times.

There’s something very special about Mr. Muffins. It’s the first comic I think I’ve ever written without limits. What do I mean by that? Usually, I have to trim the story in a variety of places. Maybe there aren’t enough issues to tell as much story as I’d like. Or a scene can’t have as many pages as it needs to fully breathe. Or a panel doesn’t have enough room to make its full impact. On almost every project, these little sacrifices have to be made all the time.

But not MR. MUFFINS. From my initial plans to the final book, nothing was cut. Every scene got as many pages as it needed. And every big moment of action or emotion got the page space it needed to truly shine. MR. MUFFINS is comics without compromise. I didn’t have to worry about leaving enough pages for a scene 80-pages ahead. I could just focus on making every part of the story the absolute best it could be.

And for that, I have to give a lot of credit to the wonderful folks at Oni Press. In my first draft, there were scenes I had cut. Moments I had shortened to hit a page limit that existed only in my head. But Oni encouraged me to go back, and put all that cut content back in the story. They encouraged Georgeo and I to leave it all on the page, and make the cutest space adventure there’s ever been.

I’m happy to say that I think we succeeded.

And finally, enjoy this preview! Pre-orders are crucial for a book’s success, so I hope there’s room on your shelf for MR. MUFFINS!

Thank you for reading the Prose & Kahn newsletter! And keep your eyes peeled for the next one, where we’ll be celebrating Pride Month with a whole bunch of queer comics and novels!

This is Ben Kahn, signing off.