Papercutz Announces ‘Amelia Shadows And The New Head Ghost’ For Late Spring 2026

by Brendan M. Allen

Magic runs in the family, but Amelia Shadows might rewrite the rules entirely.

Mad Cave Studios’ kids’ imprint Papercutz invites readers into a world of mischievous magic. There are stubborn ghosts, cranky monsters, and one kid trying her best to figure herself out, all while growing up in a house where even the pantry portals bite back.

From creator Matthew Dow Smith comes Amelia Shadows And The New Head Ghost, a supernatural comedy adventure for every kid who’s ever felt a little out of step with the world around them.

Amelia Shadows has never had what you might call a “normal” childhood. For one thing, her dad’s the most powerful dark magician in the world. And for another, she’s spent her entire life in a house filled with ghosts and monsters and incredibly dangerous magical objects! As far as Amelia’s concerned, her life’s actually pretty cool.

When Amelia and her cat, Clara, aren’t having adventures or dealing with dimensional portals in the pantry, she’s learning to be a dark magician, just like her dad, with the help of a ghost tutor named Gustave. You’d think a ghost tutor named Gustave would be pretty fun, but he’s actually pretty boring.

And if a boring ghost tutor wasn’t bad enough, now Amelia’s dad has hired another ghost to oversee things, Hans. Which wouldn’t be that bad, except Hans has very strong opinions about how things should be around the house. This new head ghost has got to go, and Amelia may have a surprising ally…

“If I’ve learned one thing from making comics this long, it’s that it’s tough to get ink out of your clothes, but if I’ve learned two things, the other is that annoyed kids are almost always funny,” said Dow Smith. “And that’s pretty much the entire idea behind the Amelia Shadows books. An annoyed kid. Who can do magic? And is surrounded by things pretty much guaranteed to annoy her even more!”