This first new NOW of 2026 features work from several contributors familiar to NOW readers as well as others appearing in the magazine for the first time. Under an original cover by gifted Portland cartoonist Soph Franz, Kayla E. (USA) returns to NOW with an all-new memoir comic, hot on the heels of Precious Rubbish (Fantagraphics), her acclaimed 2025 graphic novel debut. NOW familiars Roman Muradov (Armenia), Josh Simmons (USA), Steven Weissman (USA), Maggie Umber (USA) and Stacy Gougoulis (Australia) are back, while Los Angeles artist Scott Marvel Cassidy contributes his first new comics since 2024's acclaimed graphic memoir Hogbook and Lazer Eyes (Fantagraphics). In 'Dear Phony,' Cassidy processes/confronts his own OCD in a surrealist/absurdist work worthy of and owing a debt to the works of Alfred Jarry as well as Vivian Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson's End (1980). Meanwhile, Swedish cartoonist Iris Hautaniemi makes her NOW debut, while small press legend Zak Sally contributes a heartfelt meditation on youth and ageing. All this, plus many other surprises. NOW: The New Comics Anthology is, every issue, a self-contained cross-section of the best short comics stories the globe has to offer. The series has established itself as the preeminent anthology of first-rate international comics talent. With all-new, never before-seen material from a mix of emerging and established talent, NOW is the perfect answer to the question, 'Why Comics?'