Axel Alonso, Jonathan F. Miller, and Bill Jemas have announced the first titles from their new publishing company Artists, Writers & Artisans (AWA) in an interview with The New York Times. The first four titles, which are set to bow this fall, are:
– “American Ronin,” written by Peter Milligan (“Shade, the Changing Man”) and drawn by ACO (“Nick Fury”), which is about highly trained operatives working for huge corporations.
– “Archangel 8,” a modern Biblical tale written by Michael Moreci (“Wasted Space”) about a rogue angel. No artist was listed, although the cover art was painted by Jeff Dekal (“Iron Fist”).
– “Bad Mother,” written by novelist Christa Faust (Money Shot), tells the story of a mother searching for her missing daughter. No artist was listed for this one either, although Tim Bradstreet (“Hellblazer”) provided cover art.
– “Fight Girls,” a sci-fi series written and illustrated by Frank Cho (“Liberty Meadows”) about ten warrior women who must compete for the title of Empress of the Galaxy.
At the Times, Jemas, Alonso and Miller expounded on their plans at AWA, revealing they are planning a shared superhero universe, as well as creator-owned titles. They revealed the publisher has a creative council that includes writers Reginald Hudlin (“Black Panther”), Margaret Stohl (“The Life of Captain Marvel”), Gregg Hurwitz (“Foolkiller”), Garth Ennis (“Preacher”), and J. Michael Straczynski (“Amazing Spider-Man”). Straczynski, who announced he was retiring from comics because of his deteriorating eyesight in 2016, will oversee AWA’s superhero universe.
Jemas, chief executive and publisher of AWA, was previously vice president of Marvel from 1993 to 2002, overseeing the creation of the Marvel Knights line and Ultimate imprint with Joe Quesada. Alonso, AWA’s chief creative officer, was Marvel’s editor-in-chief from 2011 to 2017. Miller, who is Chairman at the publisher, was the chairman and CEO of America Online from 2002 to 2006, and CEO of Digital Media at News Corp until 2012: he also brokered the deal between Mark Millar and Netflix in 2017 that led to their acquisition of Millarworld. For more from them, head on over to the Times‘ interview.
