Posted in: Comics | Tagged: brooms, graphic novel, jasmine walls, Teo DuVall, witches
Brooms, a Graphic Novel About Witch Broom Races in 1930s Mississippi
Jasmine Walls is a Chicago based writer and artist, who has worked with Boom Studios, The Atlantic and The Nib. She described herself as someone "with a passion for inclusive and creative stories that are fun, engaging, and critical" and that she "makes unapologetically queer, diverse, and colourful stories that aren't centred on the pain of marginalized people". In August, Oni Press will be publishing her graphic novel Seen: True Stories of Marginalized Trailblazers, Edmonia Lewis, with art from Bex Glendinning, about the first sculptor of African-American and Native American heritage to earn international acclaim during the Civil War. It just popped up in Oni Press' latest solicitations, for August 2020 but you can read more about it here. But today it's another project of hers that is making the headlines.
Teo DuVall is a comic artist and illustrator based in Seattle, and was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2017 for their work on the webtoon Deja Brew for Stela. They published their first full-length graphic novel, The Bridge, with Detective Comics writer Peter Tomasi from Abrams in 2018, which became quite a favourite here in Bleeding Cool Towers. They describe themselves as "a queer, non-binary Latinx with a passion for fantasy and the supernatural. They love witches, street fashion and positive, diverse stories." Which is handy as Publisher's Weekly have just announced that Teo and Jasmine have sold a new graphic novel, Brooms to Nick Thomas at Levine Querido.
Brooms is described as being set in an alternate 1930s Mississippi, and centres on six witches, all BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), teaming up to compete in illegal broom races. Publication is planned for fall 2022 and Peter Ryan at Stimola Literary Studio negotiated the deal for both creators. Teo replied on Twitter to the news saying "since I can't reply to everyone, please take this as a blanket THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! it means a lot to see folks as excited about this project as we are!"
No images yet, so here's something from a different witch project by Teo, Summer Witches, from their Ko-Fi page.