Posted in: Boom, Comics, Preview | Tagged: Audra Winslow, boom, Jo & Rus

Cat-Wizard the Key to Inter-Grade Friendship in First Look at Audra Winslow's Jo & Rus

Published Wed, 11 Mar 2020 18:00:10 -0500

Everyone knows that middle-schoolers and high-schoolers can't be friends. It would upset all of the social norms that hold society together. But BOOM! Studios plans to defy convention with Jo & Rus, a new middle-grade graphic novel by Audra Winslow where its titular characters cross the grade-divide thanks to the coercion of a talking cat wizard. And no, there isn't just some really good LSD going around the local school system. Probably. Technically, we haven't read it. More likely, this comic will teach us a lesson or something about how friendship can overcome barriers and help us learn about ourselves.

BOOM! has released a first look preview at the comic, which you can see below, under the press release.

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 11, 2020) – BOOM! Studios today revealed a first look at cartoonist and illustrator Audra Winslow's debut middle grade graphic novel, JO & RUS, with letterer Mike Fiorentino, about two unlikely best friends who learn to roll with the punches when life doesn't go their way and to stand their ground, no matter the cost, available in September 2020.

At first, Jo and Rus don't realize how much they have in common – she's a middle schooler who's constantly bullied and he's a high schooler in a rock band. But when a mysterious one-eyed cat brings the two of them together, they quickly learn they're both outcasts trying to figure out what they really want from life in a world where the odds are stacked against them. It's only by becoming friends they discover who they are, who they want to be and what it takes for every one of us to find our own happiness!

JO & RUS is the latest release from BOOM! Studios' award-winning KaBOOM! imprint, home to comics for middle grade and younger readers including original series such as Just Beyond by R.L. Stine and Kelly & Nichole Matthews, Hex Vet by Sam Davies, RuinWorld by Derek Laufman, Hotel Dare by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre, Pandora's Legacy by Kara Leopard and Kelly & Nichole Matthews, as well as Wonder Pony by Marie Spénale and the upcoming Space Bear by Ethan Young, along with licensed series like Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Regular Show, Ben 10, and Over the Garden Wall.

Print copies of JO & RUS will be available for sale on September 16, 2020 at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one), September 22, 2020 at bookstores or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.