COMICS WARLOCKS

We picked up T.A.M.A. out of curiosity and quickly realized it was going to be a bloody, chaotic, and very fun ride.

T.A.M.A.
Publisher: PANICK Entertainment
Writers: Adam Schlagman, Doug Pasko
Artist: Daniel HDR
Colorist: Pete Pantazis
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Main Cover Artists: Dustin Nguyen (#1-2), Ashley Witter (#3-6)
Homage Variant Cover Artist: Tony Fleecs
Release dates: August 2025 – February 2026

The six issue series is written by Adam Schlagman and Doug Pasko, with art by Daniel HDR, and you can really feel that the whole team had a blast making this book. The concept itself is playful and a little wild, and the creative team clearly leans into that energy. The art especially sells the tone, switching easily between cute digital pet moments and sudden bursts of over the top violence.

The story plays with a simple but fun idea. Many of us grew up with virtual pets like Tamagotchis or Pokémon. T.A.M.A. takes that nostalgia and twists it into horror. A lonely teen named Kit finds an old virtual pet system in a box of his mother’s old tech and chooses a creature called TAMA. At first it feels like harmless comfort, but strange and increasingly brutal events start happening around him. The more TAMA evolves and spreads through devices and games, the more dangerous things become, blurring the line between digital companion and something far more violent.

Right from the first issue the book throws you into a crazy, bloody opening that immediately tells you what kind of ride this will be. I loved that choice. It is the kind of opening that grabs your attention fast and makes you curious about what exactly is going on. From there the story builds around Kit and his strange connection to TAMA, and the comic constantly walks that creepy line between the creature being weirdly cute and completely terrifying.

What really worked for me is how the series keeps escalating. TAMA starts as this virtual pet with a happiness gauge, but soon it jumps between devices, messes with online games, and even starts affecting the real world in brutal ways. Some of the moments are honestly pretty wild, especially when the violence ramps up and the creature begins evolving. It gets bloodier as the story goes on, but it never forgets the fun of the concept. The nostalgia angle also really hit for me. If you grew up in the 90s with virtual pets and monster games, seeing that childhood memory turned into something dark and gory is a surprisingly entertaining twist.

The ending wraps things up in a very satisfying way, but it also hints that this might not be the last time we see this universe. If that tease turns into more stories down the line, I would definitely be curious to see where things go next…