Described as ‘White Lotus-meets-Glass Onion,’ new graphic novel Worst Man from Eisner and GLAAD award nominated creators Brandt&Stein is essential summer reading. What’s it all about and why should you be excited? Here’s our preview interview with the creators!
On a remote island, far from the myriad distractions of the internet and modern life, Worst Man invites the reader to the union of Domino McElligott and Battista Lovely. Well, that is unless Radcliffe Raleigh can stop it. Published by Titan Comics, Brandt&Stein’s debut graphic novel Worst Man is a satirical, queer romantic comedy, and perfect reading for the summer season.
Ahead of its release, we caught up with Ted Brandt and Ro Stein to discuss the graphic novel, their inspirations, creative influences, and so on. Let’s dive in!
We’ve written a bit about Worst Man, but it’s always better to hear about it directly from the creators: Tell us about the story, and why our readers should pick it up. What’s your elevator pitch?
Worst Man Radcliffe Raleigh is a professional relationship ruiner who insists on only working for clients who can convince him they have good intentions. The one time he broke his rule has come back to bite him in the ass: a vindictive billionaire he failed has given him 32 hours to ruin her youngest daughter’s wedding or die trying. But the handsome Best Man soon throws a spanner in the works; can Rad find a way to save both his heart and his life?
The story covers less than 32 hours before the requisite wedding. It’s dense with story, and no page or panel is wasted. What were the biggest challenges of maintaining that high-stakes energy throughout?
Before we wrote anything, we spent a long time analysing movies and TV shows with similar tones to what we were aiming for, timing scenes down to the minute so we could get a strong sense of timing, and how to balance events so the narrative could feel fast-paced without feeling rushed. A large cast really helped, because tension is often best maintained by having a lot of short scenes intercut with each other. Like Mamet said, enter the scene late, leave it early.
What inspired the story for Worst Man? How did the idea originate? Are there any movies, TV series, books, or anything else you’d like to shout out?
The idea came from a question when we were walking the dog: “Weddings have a Best Man, what would a Worst Man do?” Everything that came after was just trying to find a satisfactory answer to that question. As for other inspirations, obviously romantic comedies as a genre, but Leverage, Death at a Funeral and Shakespeare (specifically Much Ado About Nothing) were all very much at the front of our minds as we planned.
What does the collaborative process look like between you, and how has it evolved after so many acclaimed projects? Some teams are polar opposites, some work very similarly to one another.
It’s a relay race. At any given stage, where one of us has done as much as they can, it gets handed off to the other. We’re very lucky in that our individual strengths and weaknesses are largely complementary. The biggest development over the years has been getting to know each other well enough that we can see when the other isn’t quite achieving what they intend, so we can push them to get it right. Whether in script or art, we’re both pretty good at picking up the other’s slack.
Thinking about identity, do you have any thoughts to share with readers about representation in your art form/comics?
We always try to have a wide variety of people in the stories we tell; everyone deserves to see themselves in fiction and to see a world where it isn’t remarkable that people like them exist.We’re more able to explore LGBTQIA+ stories than BIPOC stories for obvious reasons, but we will always aim to have a wide variety of characters. It’s just more fun that way!
Who are some of your creative teachers or mentors who have taught you or inspired you over the years?
Our only actual teacher was Dan Berry, who taught the university course we met in. Inspiration has come from a wide variety of places! From comics, things like Stuart Immonen’s tireless visual flexibility with his style have been a huge source of inspiration. But most of it comes from outside of Western comics; from manga and anime, from film and TV. We try to draw from as many sources as possible to make sure it always feels fresh to us. We do collect a lot of how-to books as well, just in case any of them spark something.
Is there anything you can share with fans about new comics or future projects you have on the horizon?
Our most recent work is contributing to Justice League: Dream Girls, DC’s 2026 weekly Pride event book.
Worst Man lands in stores and online on August 26, 2026. This is perfect summer reading, folks!
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