Posted in: Boom, Comics | Tagged: boom studios, save yourself

Is Save Yourself! Boom's Next Wynd or Seven Secrets?

With seemingly every new Boom Studios launch breaking one record or another, we turn our attention to their next debut FOCing this coming Monday. The series in question, Save Yourself! by Bones Leopard and Kelly and Nichole Matthews, asks a question that probably every millennial growing up asked at some point – What if Sailor Moon was evil?

I mean, Boom's solicitation for the series doesn't say that. They have to veil it by asking "What if Magical Girls weren't Earth's champions at all?" because of pesky things like trademarks and copyright, but thankfully we're under no such restrictions. Told from the perspective of an everywoman named Gigi (Naru for Sailor fans) who witnesses something (bad) in a battle between "The Lovely Trio" (Sailor Guardians) and space monsters (take your pick of Sailor Moon villains) that causes her to question everything she knows about everyone's favorite magical girl heroes.

The series reunites Leopard and the Matthews sisters who previously collaborated on the graphic novel, Pandora's Legacy, which snagged a Children's and Teen Choice Awards Honor last year. But the Matthews sisters may be more familiar to some as the artists on R.L. Stine's Just Beyond graphic novel series also from Boom and soon to be a show on Disney+. Will Disney+ grab this one, too, or will Boom feed it to their Netflix deal? In the case of Leopard and the Matthews sisters, it's their first single issue comic series and given Boom's recent heat they couldn't have picked a better time to try it.

And Boom seems to know it too, and brought in Wonder Girl and America cover artist Kevin Wada for a rare 1-in-50 incentive and an unlockable limited to one-per-store variant, which was only revealed this week. Will those covers bring in some of the speculator crowd in addition to Boom readers and shoujo fans?

Save Yourself!'s combination of western comics' pacing and love of unexpected twists combined with early aughts manga influence reminds us of two other Boom series – Wynd and Seven Secrets. James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas' Wynd jump started Boom's return to comic shops after the Diamond shutdown in 2020, breaking previous records, and recently piquing speculator interest after Tynion teased possible media plans for the series. Meanwhile, Tom Taylor and Daniele di Nicuolo's Seven Secrets built off the momentum of Wynd to break records again before racking up critical acclaim and increasing readership at issue #6. So which series does Save Yourself! share more in common with? The romance and "don't judge a book by its cover" of Wynd? Or the earth-ending stakes and complicated backstories of Seven Secrets? You may have to pick up the first issue to judge for yourself.

I'm sure the creators of Save Yourself! would be thrilled to match either series' sales. And speaking of Seven Secrets, the series is back in stores for its second arc and the midpoint is FOCing with issue #9 this coming Monday as well. And trust us, this one is going to have readers of the series' heads exploding on the final page.

Save Yourself! #1 FOCs this coming Monday, May 24th alongside Seven Secrets #9.

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