About
What is Hullabaloo?
Hullabaloo is a comic magazine for kids ages 8–13. It’s what happens when you make a magazine just for fun-loving kids. No lessons. No agenda. Just stories they can’t put down.
Expect a mix of wild adventures, hilarious antics, lovable oddballs, and imaginative fun, created by some of today’s best up-and-coming kid comic makers.
We believe kids deserve stories made just for them, stories that make them laugh, dream, and fall in love with reading.
Who’s behind this?
Josh Smeaton and Josh Sippie, two guys who love kid comics, along with an incredible lineup of today’s brightest creators in the kids’ comics space. We’re not a corporation with deep pockets. We’re just some passionate folks who want to make something awesome for today’s kids.
Wait, two Joshs?
Yes. It’s not a big deal. Call us by our last names if you like.
Okay, Smeaton, what’s your deal?
I’ve been a comic fan since I was a kid, newspaper strips, MAD Magazine, superhero comics. I loved it all. I also loved to draw, so it’s probably not surprising that I became a professional comic writer and illustrator as an adult.
How about you, Sippie?
I’m not a lifelong comic fan, but I read the Sunday comics every week. I discovered much later in life how much I was missing out on and have become retroactively obsessed with comics and manga ever since. I’m now a writer and an editor at Harper Alley, the graphic novel division of HarperCollins.
So why are you making Hullabaloo?
Because reading rates among kids have dropped dramatically in recent years. There are a number of reasons for this, but one big one is that most kids now only read for school. It’s not fun anymore.
Frivolous reading—just-for-fun reading—is vanishing. And that’s a problem.
It used to be easy to find comics. They were everywhere: grocery stores, gas stations, spinner racks. They were cheap, and they were made for kids. Now? You have to go to a specialty store, pay more, and most comics are made for 50-year-old men.
Newspapers are gone, too. Back in the day, kids could discover a daily dose of silliness in the comics page, without anyone telling them to. They read it because it was fun.
We want to bring that kind of fun back. That sense of discovery. That little moment of delight waiting in the mailbox.
That sounds awesome!
Thanks, we think so too. Was there a question in there?
Where can I get it?
Right here on our website. Preorder it now so you get it when the first issue comes out in January 2026. We can’t wait for kids to read it!