Penguin Random House Acquires “Neverlanders”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Penguin Random House have acquired “Neverlanders,” a young adult graphic novel series by writer Tom Taylor (“Injustice,” “The Deep”) and artist Jon Sommariva (“Star Wars Adventures,” “Batman/TMNT”). Set long after the events of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, the comic follows a new generation of Lost Boys in Neverland, which has become a war zone in Peter’s absence. The new group allies “with General Tinkerbell and her fairy army to deal with the pirate threat and save the realm — or, at least, keep it safe until a new Pan arises.”

Sommariva, like Taylor, hails from Australia, and told the Reporter he had wanted “to work with Tom for years.” Eventually, “out of the blue Tom wrote to me with this idea. He pitched it via text messages and like a true writer I was more and more hooked with each text until Pow! He hit me with the hook of the story — We’re telling the tale of the Last Lost Boy — and just like that I was all in.” Taylor commented he was on holiday in Fiji when he came up with the idea, and said “‘Neverlanders’ is a story for now. It feels like the exact right time for an epic tale of young people fighting for their future and standing against short-sighted, greedy adults.”

The artist also said the books will feature “a familiarity to Neverland and its inhabitants, but we are also able to use that as a starting point to create a whole new set of characters and creatures along with our version of Neverland. I get to draw and reimagine mermaids, goblins, pirates, fairies and our version of the lost ones. It’s an artist’s dream playground.”

The first installment will release in Summer 2022, and the creative team will also include colorist Michele Assaraskorn (“Isola”) and letterer Wolfgang Bylsma (editor of “The Deep”). You can check out concept art for the characters at Newsarama.