New Champions Rise and Devils Take Flight
Keeping it short and sweet this week, as I’m still recovering from a particularly nasty bout of strep throat that wiped out most of my December and need to take advantage of a work week that hasn’t become completely overwhelming yet.
NEW CHAMPIONS
Unbelievably, the week is finally here—this Wednesday, the comic-reading world will properly meet Marvel’s newest teen heroes in the pages of NEW CHAMPIONS #1 from Ivan Fiorelli, Arthur Hesli, and yours truly. Following their creation for a variant cover program, and then the slow trickle of some of them into the 616 in the pages of books like Scarlet Witch and my own Spider-Woman, the New Champions are getting a book and mission of their very own. If you haven’t read any of their prior appearances, fear not—this first issue is designed to be read completely fresh, and we’ve also got a five-page backup from my Jessica Drew collaborator Ig Guara that bridges the gap between Spider-Woman #7-10 and New Champions #1, just for that extra dash of continuity.
Now, I know there’s always…passion…when new teen heroes are introduced. There’s often a sense that there’s a finite amount of room on shelves for teen heroes, and if new ones get a book, old favorites are going to suffer as a result. I sympathize with that anxiety (trust me, I was a Generation X fan). All I can say is that it’s not a zero-sum game--when readers turn out and show that support and passion for characters, publishers do notice. And there are plenty of plans in motion already that the public just doesn’t know about yet.
All of which is to say: Ivan, Arthur, our editor Alanna Smith, and I hope you’ll give this new cast of characters a chance to win you over. We’ve worked hard to give them all vibrant, distinct personalities and exciting windows into the Marvel universe. One of the things I love most about teen books is that these characters are getting to experience all of the awe and wonder for the first time, so you can turn the excitement and emotion up to 11 all over again. And Ivan has really leaned into that, too, delivering some of the best pages I’ve had the privilege of scripting over.
The New Champions may have started as variant covers of imaginary sidekicks, but these kids aren’t standing in anyone’s shadows. Their origins and the ways they do (or don’t!) connect to the characters you think they do may surprise you—not to mention which ones end up as heroes and which ones reveal themselves to be nasty little villains in the making.
We’ve had an absolute blast making this book, and I think it shows on the page. Issues #1 and #2 form a two-part kickoff, and every issue after that delivers a fairly standalone adventure while advancing a big overarching mystery that ties into some of my favorite Marvel lore. I’m very excited for the journey ahead, and I hope folks join us for the ride!
LET THIS ONE BE A DEVIL
On a completely different note, today is the final order cutoff for Let This One Be a Devil, the Dark Horse Comics mini-series I co-wrote with my friend and Tiny Onion employer James Tynion IV, with art by my All Eight Eyes collaborators Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson and letters by Blue Book’s Tom Napolitano.
LTOBAD, the latest long title from the Tynion-verse, is our swing at telling a definitive Jersey Devil story. It weaves the “real” lore of the beast, from the 1700s through to the 1900s, with a wholly original narrative. It’s very much a horror story, so while we embraced the legends and want to inform readers about the myth, we also want to thrill and chill, too--a challenge that saw Piotr and Brad doing some career-best work.
This is also the first series in a new line of True Weird stories, all of which will take a similar narrative approach to examining real monster/cryptid lore. I know what’s coming down the pipeline next in this Greg Lockard-edited series and you’re all in for a real treat.
If you’re a fan of religious horror, period horror, creature features, THE VVITCH, cryptids, folklore, and lushly detailed art, ask your retailer to preorder the series for you today. Otherwise, Mother Leeds may send her favorite son after you…
THAT’S ALL
I’m going back to bed. Send vegan soup and antibiotics.