Jeff the Land Shark #2

History

The five-issue limited series was announced by Kelly Thompson at ComicsPRO in February 2025, explicitly positioned as a creative escalation from the nearly wordless Infinity Comic format she had written since 2021 — Thompson described wanting 'the complicated narrative that you can get from a mini-series.' Artist Tokitokoro, who had provided variant covers for Jeff's digital appearances, was chosen to handle the interior art, while Gurihiru — whose redesign of the character had become the visual baseline for Jeff across all media — supplied the primary covers. The series was directly catalyzed by the runaway popularity Jeff gained as a playable character in the NetEase/Marvel video game Marvel Rivals, which launched in December 2024, though Thompson was careful to frame the book as the product of years of slow-burn comics momentum rather than pure game tie-in synergy. Editor Jordan D. White and editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski shepherded the series, which carries an all-ages rating consistent with Jeff's established tone.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Shadow-Jeff (Earth-616), the dark shadow-demon antagonist who serves as the central villain of the miniseries — his debut occurs in issue #1 and his continued rampage is the driving conflict of issue #2.
• Written by Kelly Thompson (Jeff's co-creator) with interior art by Tokitokoro and cover art by Gurihiru; colorist Jim Campbell and letterer VC's Joe Caramagna round out the production team, with Jordan D. White as editor.
• Released July 23, 2025; carries a September 2025 cover date and an all-ages rating — consistent with the accessibility-first publishing philosophy of the entire Jeff line.
• Supporting characters in issue #2 include the Guardians of the Galaxy (Rocket Raccoon and Groot) and X-Men members Gambit and Rogue — part of the miniseries' design as a grand tour of the Marvel Universe's roster of Jeff's established friends.
• The issue offers six variant covers at launch: a Gurihiru cover, a Gurihiru Virgin variant, an Aaron Kuder variant, a Paco Medina Marvel Comics Presents variant, a NetEase Games Marvel Rivals variant, a Tokitokoro variant, and a Rian Gonzales variant — plus an SDCC 2025 Peach Momoko Marvel Unlimited exclusive.
• The series as a whole was nominated for Best Humor Publication at the 2026 Eisner Awards, with writer Kelly Thompson also receiving an Eisner nomination for Best Writer partly on the strength of the Jeff run.
• Jeff the Land Shark was originally co-created by Kelly Thompson and artist Daniele di Nicuolo, first appearing (unnamed) in West Coast Avengers vol. 3 #6 (October 2018) and formally introduced and named in issue #7 (January 2019) after Gwenpool adopted him.
• The series was announced at the ComicsPRO retailers summit in February 2025 — a signal of strong direct-market retailer interest — and was explicitly framed as the first print miniseries to allow Thompson to tell a sustained, dialogue-driven Jeff narrative rather than the wordless short-form stories of the Infinity Comic.

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Variants (6)