All throughout this crisis, we’re crowdsourcing a coronavirus quarantine comics reading list. Each weekday for through the end of May, we’ll post a new recommendation from someone in the comics industry to help folks get through the isolation. This includes writers, artists, letterers, editors, comics journalists, publicists, and more…all paired with a local shop that’s currently selling the books via mail order.

Today’s pick comes from writer Justin Richards…enjoy!

These times call for a lot of things, from helping your kids get through school from your living room to donating time and money to those in need. It can be a lot to handle and it’s not always easy. What is easy is using a tired cliche, but sometimes: laughter really is the best medicine. This is where my recommendation comes in. Shirtless Bear Fighter might sound strange like a strange comic, and it is, but in all the best ways. This is the story of a one-man war on bears. Shirtless is a man who lives naked in the woods and fights bears from his bear-skinned house and lives on flapjacks (don’t you dare call them pancakes!!), and his government needs him to stop the impending threat that is bears loose in the cities. From knife-wielding pandas in Vietnam to the brutal streets of Chicago he will fight all of “da” bears. Nothing in comics has ever made me belly-laugh as hard as this book has. From Shirtless’ blurred out junk flopping through fight scenes to the ever-changing backstory of an FBI agent this is a book unlike anything you’ve ever read before. I hope this book can give you what it’s given me, which is a ton of laughs and a great distraction during these tough times. -Justin Richards

Justin Richards is a comic book writer who’s newest series, Finger Guns, is out now from Vault Comics.

Shirtless Bear Fighter
Writers: Jody LeHeup and Sebastian Girner
Artist: Nil Vendrell
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: 2017
After being betrayed by the bears that raised him, the legendary SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER wanders the forest he's sworn to protect, fist-fighting bears, eating flapjacks, and being the angriest man the world has ever known! When wild-eyed, super-strong bears attack the citizens of Major City, Shirtless ventures into the human world to do what he does best...PUNCH THOSE BEARS IN THE FACE! But all is not as it seems. Someone is manipulating Shirtless...and only by confronting the demons of his past can Shirtless hope to save his future!

Local Comic Shop Spotlight: Zapp Comics in New Jersey is shipping $50 mystery boxes with 4 trades and 20 comics anywhere in the U.S.!

Search for it at a local comic shop with this directory from the Comics Industry Collective of stores open and doing mail order!

Click here for the full coronavirus reading list!