Posted in: Comics | Tagged: black badge, boom, boom studios, matt kindt, Tyler Jenkins

Boy Scouts Go Black Ops in Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins' Black Badge

Published Mon, 07 May 2018 20:00:57 -0500

Last updated Mon, 07 May 2018 20:01:16 -0500

The creative team behind the Eisner-nominated Grass Kings is getting back together for a follow-up at BOOM! Studios. Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins announced Black Badge, launching in August. The comic is about the titular Black Badges, "a top-secret, elite branch of boy scouts tasked by the government to take on covert missions that no adult ever could." Yes, you read that correctly. From the press release:

Among their organization, the Black Badges are the elite; the best of the best. The missions they take are dangerous, and they will only get worse as their leader's attention is split between their mission and tracking down a lost team member. A member who disappeared years ago, presumed dead.

BLACK BADGE is a haunting look at foreign policy, culture wars and isolationism through the lens of kids who know they must fix the world that adults have broken. The debut issue features a main cover by Matt Kindt, along with variants by Tyler Jenkins and the Eisner Award-nominated Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer).

As part of the announcement, Kindt went for the "obligatory press release quote" badge:

I'm super excited to be teaming with Tyler and Hilary on a new project after the amazing run we had on Grass Kings. BLACK BADGE is an idea I'd had for a long time — 'Boy Scouts — but for real.' Sending them on real scouting missions and into danger. It's an idea that started out as a joke with me complaining about how the scouts never really scout. But now that I'm writing the series — I'm realizing the deeper and (sometimes) horrible consequences of sending these kids out on missions. It's going to be funny, emotional, and horrific — sometimes all on one page.

Jenkins also earned his badge:

Well, truthfully, I can't even find words to express my happiness at working with Matt again. And this new series, BLACK BADGE, is another vehicle for us to tackle subjects and ideas that mean something to us. After the unrelenting darkness of Grass Kings, I am very excited to explore a completely different world…a world with a tad more levity. This is going to be an adventure. A wild adventure. But it's gonna get real, so hang on!

Look for this in stores in August, and check out the covers below (by Kindt, Jeff Lemire, and Jenkins) as well as some interior art.