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What if You Didn't See the Death of Superman Coming?

Published Tue, 30 Oct 2018 11:30:01 -0500

Sam Johnson writes,

It's often the case that big events get signposted in comics, from the Previews catalogue, to news coverage, to the comics' covers. And this often makes for powerful buzz and must-buy comic books – but what if you were to read what appeared to be just a regular Superman comic, and at the end of it, he died? How much more impact would that have?

One of things that was well-received about our first Geek-Girl Mini-Series was its unpredictability; this climaxed with Ruby Kaye a.k.a. Geek-Girl – having utilized the super-power-inducing tech glasses she'd landed on a whim to step up and grow from self-involved 'It girl' into a heroine – putting her life on the line to save her city of Maine from super-villain Lighting Storm…

…and, though Ruby succeeded in stopping her, she wound up electrocuted and put in a coma as a result!

In the wake of the destruction Lightning Storm caused, there's a hole left in Maine's law-enforcement. Crime is rife, and new-crooks-on-block The League of Larcenists look to gain a reputation and grow in number. And in Ruby's absence, Ruby's BFF Summer James has picked up the glasses and taken on the mantle of Geek-Girl…

But that doesn't mean Summer's now the 'Legacy Geek-Girl'. She doesn't have the natural propensity for 'super-heroing' that Ruby did, and as far as she's concerned is just trying to help out and fill in (largely because she feels guilty about pushing Ruby into the whole super-hero thing in the first place), only until Ruby comes out of her coma. But she gets a shock when her mentor Pit Bull shares his thoughts with her…

I've gone out of my way to make the current Geek-Girl 'Crime War' Mini-Series unpredictable, consciously not putting anything spoilery on the covers (so if you see the cover for issue #4 before reading the first issue it's not a problem), making sure certain story points are left out when I've been chatting about the book on podcasts, and rarely sharing reviews (making sure to include spoiler warnings when I have).

The issues released so far have been the best-received of anything I've ever worked on – from the characterization of Summer and the rest of the cast (including Ruby & Summer's formerly-alienated 'mean girl' clique, who now want to cash in on Geek-Girl's newfound popularity after saving their city) to Carlos Granda, Chunlin Zhao and Paul McLaren's beautiful and dynamic art, colors and lettering. And I can promise you the excitement won't let up – there's a jaw-dropping moment coming in issue #4, which I guarantee you won't see coming.

If you haven't checked out Geek-Girl yet, the current Mini-Series is available to Preview and order/pre-order (as well as the previous Mini) at the Geek-Girl: Crime War Kickstarter – which, at the time of me writing this, has less than 2 days left to go on it – and you can get to that here! :)

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