Published Apr 22, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
Writer Zack Kaplan is having a big 2026 at Dark Horse with his projects like Masterminds and Kill All Immortals I & II in stores now, Only The Savage are Left set to be released this June, and Kill All Immortal III due out this Fall. Kaplan's next big series, launching this August, is designed for all of those fans who have been waiting for something to fill that X-Files-shaped hole in their hearts. The new series, The Smart Division, which we can exclusively reveal all the cover for the first issue right here at CBR, will also reunite Kaplan with Eisner Award-winning artist, John Pearson, who worked with Kaplan on the acclaimed comic book series, Mindset, with Kaplan, four years ago.
Mindset was optioned for TV development by Boatrocker Studios and Don Cheadle’s Radicle Act, and it wouldn't be surprising if television or film studios came a-calling for their new series, The Smart Division, as well, as it has a great hook for a series about an artificial intelligence that promises to provide the ability to outsmart the cops in an app form. Dark Horse notes that the series is perfect for fans of The X-Files, True Detective, and Minority Report!
What is the official solicitation for the new series?
When a mysterious new predictive artificial intelligence program appears responsible for assisting someone in the perfect murder, a pair of unlikely investigators, a chaotic Gen-Z savant and a veteran FBI agent, must hunt down the killer by starting the FBI’s first AI crimes division.
The main cover art for this series will be by Pearson, and the variant covers for the first issue will come from Jesse Lonergan (Miss Truesdale, Man’s Best), Jacob Phillips (Kill All Immortals, The Walking Dead Deluxe), and illustrator Matt Taylor.
The other creators on the series include Eisner Award-winning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and Eisner-nominated designer Tom Muller.
What do Kaplan and Pearson have to say about the new project?
In a press release from Dark Horse, Kaplan discussed the upcoming project, “John Pearson and I have been planning our second series for years, looking for the right story and right time. The Smart Division takes everything you loved about our first series Mindset, the playing with form, the thoughtful commentary on technology, and the tense character drama, and raises the bar, with more danger and dread. Artificial Intelligence is the hot topic of our time, but we’re exploring it like you’ve never seen - what happens when it helps us commit the perfect crimes.”
Pearson added, "Like the work myself and Zack have done before together, The Smart Division aims to raise a lot of questions about technology and humanity. If we continue to exploit increasingly advanced Artificial Intelligence, what are the consequences that we will have to face? The contrast of the digital and the traditional is a huge driving force for the artwork in the series, exploring the creative process through painted pages to contrast with the technological abundance the characters face.”
The Smart Division #1 (which will be the first part of a six-issue miniseries) is set to be released on August 5, 2026.
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