Papercutz to Publish’Punk Taco’ by Father/Son Team | News and Preview
Today we have a big announcement: Papercutz will publish Punk Taco, by the father-son team of Adam and Makana Wallenta. The Wallentas started working on Punk Taco when Makana was five years old; now he is 13, and he’s working on the next volumes while also hosting his own YouTube channel and, you know, going to school and stuff.
What is Punk Taco? Glad you asked! Here’s the publisher’s description:
PUNK TACO is a loveable space-taco who rocks out across the universe with his band, spreading peace and love through music. Along the way, they seem to always get into a bit of trouble while helping those in need and doing the right thing against impossible odds. In this brand-new collection of stories, PUNK TACO and the band will do battle against the evil King Boogar, to help reunite their new friend, Philip, with his family, while discovering the mysterious, magical powers of the Evocaja. PLUS two bonus stories that have PUNK TACO experiencing big feelings and sharing his love for art with his friend, Bash. Featuring art by Makana Wallenta, Scott Chantler, Rich Koslowski, DJ JS-1, Chuck D (Public Enemy), Mike Cavallaro, Art Baltazar, Franco and more!
Note from the cover that little brother Keola Wallenta is also getting in on the act and is a contributing artist as well.
The elder Wallenta is an editor at Papercutz, but this is no vanity project: The Wallentas originally self-published Punk Taco, and it won the 2019 Ringo Award for Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel. This new edition features the original Ringo Award-winning story from Adam and Makana’s self-published Volume 1 along with brand new stories. Volume 2 is slated for the future and will contain their second Ringo Award nominated original with a brand new story and bonus material.
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“Punk Taco was inspired by many amazing books we read together during our daily visits to our local libraries and we produced the original hardcover stories as a love letter to the libraries and librarians that inspire readers of all ages,” Adam Wallenta said. “Punk Taco is part musician, part hero and ultimately represents the positive spirit within all of us to be creative, help others and be a good friend.”
Punk Taco is 112 pages and is rated for ages 7-12. It will go on sale in January 2026 in two formats, paperback and hardcover, but we’ve got a preview to get you started right now. Enjoy!
Filed under: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, News, Previews
About Brigid Alverson
Brigid Alverson, the editor of the Good Comics for Kids blog, has been reading comics since she was 4. She has an MFA in printmaking and has worked as a book editor, a newspaper reporter, and assistant to the mayor of a small city. In addition to editing GC4K, she is a regular columnist for SLJ, a contributing editor at ICv2, an editor at Smash Pages, and a writer for Publishers Weekly. Brigid is married to a physicist and has two daughters. She was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards.
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Thank you for helping to spread thew news about PUNK TACO! We really appreciate it. I can’t wait to share our new book with everyone.
Congrats to the Walenta family!
Sine we introduced Punk Taco to my son, he’s been obsessed with graphic novels like this and would love to read more volumes!
This is excellent news! I backed the original Kickstarters for Punk Taco and love that it has been picked up for wider distribution.
This is an exciting development for the Punk Taco imprint! My kids pull the graphic novels down regularly to read. They will be excited to learn it will be easier to help their friends get their own copies!