Today, we’re delighted to feature illustrator and comic book artist Ahmed Raafat, who made the interior illustrations for P.A. Cornell’s novelette, Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl. (The cover art was made by Kim Herbst, and you can read about the cover here.)

Ahmed Raafat is a UK-based Egyptian comic book artist. He began his career in comics in 2015 with “El-Osba” (Arabic for “The League”), an Egyptian superhero comic book series that he published in Egypt. In 2016, Ahmed moved to the UK, and has since then been working in comics regularly, with both mainstream and small press/indie publications.

Ahmed is best known for his work on QUICK STOPS, a comic book anthology series written by director/writer Kevin Smith, inspired by his films, and published by Dark Horse comics/Secret Stash press. He has contributed with one issue out of four in Volumes 1 and 3, and was the solo artist for the entire Volume 2. His most recent work is WHO ARE THE POWER PALS, a superhero comedy series also published by Dark Horse comics. Ahmed has also previously worked with Netflix and Oni Press.

Here are collages of sneak peeks from Ahmed’s interior illustrations for Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl! He perfectly captured the retrofuturistic, pulpy atmosphere of P.A. Cornell’s novelette.

And here is one of the wonderful final illustrations, of the waitress from Rocket Ray’s, a diner in the universe of P.A. Cornell’s Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl:

Waitress Illustration by Ahmed Raafat for Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl, by P.A. Cornell

Learn more about Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl by P.A. Cornell on the dedicated book page. The book releases February 3, 2026.

As a bonus, here are some images Ahmed has kindly shared from some of his other works in comics:

Learn more about artist Ahmed Raafat via his portfolio, and follow him on social media on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Twitter/X.