Posted in: Comics, Dark Horse Comics | Tagged: dark horse, graphic novel, mafia, mafiosa

Dark Horse To Publish Feminist Mafia Graphic Novel, Mafiosa

Published Mon, 15 Mar 2021 09:30:33 -0500

In 2019, Portland content developer Rainwerks launched a new comic book, Mafiosa, by on Kickstarter. Written by Sunshine Barbito, drawn by Débora Carita, coloured by Mariacristina Federico, lettered by Clem Robbins, as well as covers by Kirbi Fagan and Francesco Francavilla. The first issue was successfully crowdfunded and now Dark Horse Comics is going to publish the full Mafiosa graphic novel.

Here's the Kickstarter description.

The Marchesi brothers, Carlo, Matteo and Tommaso, are three first generation Sicilian Americans who, with their extended families, establish a Mafia family in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1900s.

Nicoletta Marchesi is the youngest of Tommaso's five children, a precocious and beautiful eighteen year old who, unlike her two older sisters, is very much a tomboy and grew up always challenging her two older brothers at every turn. But when Nicoletta confronts her father Tommaso and announces her desire to join the family business alongside her brothers, crisis ensues.

What transpires is not just a tale of Nicoletta's rise within the Marchesi crime family but how she and the world around her is transformed when she proves better at the deadly game than her male coworkers. Combining the mystic and high-style romanticism of the Roaring 20's with a woman's journey into the savagery of the Cosa Nostra criminal syndicate, Mafiosa presents a fresh take on contemporary themes of gender discrimination and social justice.

And the Amazon listing from Dark Horse.

At the height of the roaring twenties, the daughter of a mafia boss is determined to rise to prominence in her family's business.

Nicoletta is the youngest in a Sicilian-American family and has aspirations to join her brothers in the family business—an organized crime syndicate running the streets of Brooklyn. But when Nicoletta confronts her father Tommaso and announces her desire to join the family business, Tommaso objects, and a crisis ensues. Nicoletta takes it upon herself to prove she has what it takes, moving steadfastly into a world of brutality with her own ideas to capitalize on the cocaine drug trade. What transpires is not just a tale of a woman's rise within the Marchesi crime family but a genre-busting look at how the players in this mafia story are transformed when Nicoletta proves better at the deadly game than her male coworkers. New York has a new player in town, and they ain't seen nothing yet!

Combining the romanticism of the roaring twenties and Nicoletta's journey into the brazen violence of mafia-dominated New York, Mafiosa sets the status quo ablaze—with style, class, and a smoking barrel.

And here's a preview of the comic book to come…