SDCC ‘26: Shaboozey steps into comics with THE OUTLAW CHERIE LEE

Grammy-winning country artist Shaboozey is adding “comic creator” to his resume at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, debuting & Other Western Tales through Range Comics, the comics and graphic novel arm of Range Literary Publishing. It’s his first-ever SDCC appearance — one he announced on Instagram, where he confirmed issue #1 of his three-issue comic series is currently available to be preordered, alongside the musicians’s upcoming hip-hop x country album of the same name. For those who want to get their hands on the album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee is due out July 31, 2026, with the companion comic arriving nationwide on August 18.

“The Outlaw Cherie Lee is more than just an album,” Shaboozey wrote on his social media account, describing the comic’s world as built around Western myths. 

According to the description of the comic provided to Coyote County, the concept of Outlaw Cherie Lee is pure spaghetti-western melodrama: after watching her sheriff father gunned down by the Bootcut Boys, Cherie Lee trades her badge for a body count, hunting the gang one by one — only to fall for a member who’s guilty by association rather than by his own hand. Both believe love can save them. Both are wrong. By the finale, Cherie chooses vengeance over romance, killing the man who loves her and completing her own transformation into the thing she set out to destroy.

It’s a fitting full-circle moment for an artist whose breakout national exposure came courtesy of a superhero franchise. Shaboozey landed his first real mainstream visibility voicing “Start a Riot” alongside Duckwrth for the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack in 2018, a placement widely credited with putting him on the map years before “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” made him a chart-topping name. He’s also said in past interviews that he set out to be a novelist before music took over, and founded V Picture Films, a production company supporting Mid-Atlantic filmmaking talent — evidence of a storytelling itch that clearly predates this comic. But The Outlaw Cherie Lee marks his first time as a credited comics creator, following an April saloon-themed activation at Stagecoach built around the same album.

The creative team pairs Shaboozey alongside Xaivia Inniss for the original concept, with writer Robert Jeffrey II, artist Sean Damien Hill, colorist Andrew Dalhouse, and letterer Taylor Esposito.

SDCC attendees get first crack at issue #1 ahead of its August release date at local comic shops. But Shaboozey’s SDCC presence isn’t limited to the early release of the comic. On Friday, July 24, he’ll sign advance copies of the first issue at the Funko Village booth (#5341) starting at 5:30 p.m. PST, then head to Room 6BCF for a live taping of Get Rec’d with Straw Hat Goofy, hosted by Juju Green (2026 TIME100 Creator of the Year), 7–8 p.m. PST, where he’s expected to premiere an exclusive trailer narrated by Jamie Foxx.