As 2015 opens, I have decided to focus this month’s Women in Comics post on the great comics from women that we can look forward to this year. It looks as though 2015 will bring many exciting options for fans of everything from superheroes to memoirs. Get ready for some great reads in the new year!
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Marvel will be bringing their Squirrel Girl character back as an ongoing series created by Erica Henderson and Ryan North. The series starts this month, so you can check it out right now.
G. Willow Wilson: Author G. Willow Wilson has two exciting projects coming in 2015, the release of volume two of Ms. Marvel at the end of March and her involvement with the X-Men series starting this month. Both are part of her recently announced exclusive deal with Marvel, which may well point to a future with many more Marvel Universe stories from Wilson.
Klarion Vol. 1 by Ann Nocenti with illustrations by Trevor McCarthy: In Summer 2015, Nocenti will bring classic character Klarion to Gotham City. The book will combine classic Gotham City elements with magic, which should bring new fans to the Gotham City universe.
Gamora by Nicole Perlman: Last fall at a panel during New York Comic Con, Marvel announced that Nicole Perlman, the co-author of the hugely successful Guardians of the Galaxy movie, will be writing a new ongoing series about Gamora, a popular character from that film. Fans will have to speculate about the specifics because few details have been released, but one way or another we can expect to see its launch this spring.
A Black Widow YA Novel: Though not quite a comic or graphic novel, those who love both YA and comics will be happy to know that Margaret Stohl, co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series and author of the Icons series, will be writing a young adult novel about Black Widow for Marvel. It will be very interesting to see how this character is translated from comics to a non-graphic novel medium!
Bodies by Si Spencer with illustrations by Tula Lotay and Phil Winslade: Spanning multiple centuries in London, this series moves from past to future focusing on four different detectives. It should be a good bet for fans of mysteries and strong artwork.
Fiona Staples: Recently Staples has been best known for her wonderful work on Saga with Brian K. Vaughan, but in 2015 she will be branching out considerably as she takes on an ongoing role in the Archie comics with Mark Waid. This promises to be quite a bit different than her most recent work, so I am very excited to see what she will bring to the series.
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson: This standalone graphic novel about a young girl who goes to roller derby camp while her best friend goes to dance camp looks like it will be a lot of fun. And, it is by an author who is herself a roller derby enthusiast, so it will offer an interesting look into this world at the same time. It is scheduled to be released in March.
Lumberjanes Vol. 1 by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis with art by Brooke Allen: The first collection of the Lumberjanes series will be released in April, which is great for libraries and those who missed the first issues of this popular series. The spring will be big for Noelle Stevenson, as the very next month the Nimona graphic novel, based on Stevenson’s acclaimed webcomic, will also be released.
Becky Cloonan: Cloonan is another author with multiple projects on the horizon for 2015. The first collected volume of her Gotham Academy series, written with Brenden Fletcher with art by Karl Kerschl, is due to be published this summer. Perhaps even more exciting, she has an entirely new series with Andy Belanger entitled Southern Cross debuting in March. This scifi story set in space looks great both in terms of art and story, so it is definitely one I will be eagerly awaiting!
Displacement by Lucy Knisley: The latest installment in Knisley’s graphic novel memoirs, Displacement, focuses on Knisley’s trip on a cruise with her grandparents. I have loved Knisley’s past works, including Relish which YALSA included on the Great Graphic Novels 2014 list, so I cannot wait for this one.
Along the way there will also be releases of other series continuations involving talented women including Coffin Hill Vol. 2: Dark Endeavors by Caitlin Kittredge with illustrations by Inaki Miranda, Harley Quinn Vol. 2: Power Outage by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti with illustrations by Chad Hardin, Catwoman Vol. 6 by Genevieve Valentine, and Alex + Ada Vol. 2 by Sarah Vaughn with illustrations by Jonathan Luna.
I’m sure there are tons of other great comics from women coming this year, so let me know in the comments if I have missed any!
– Carli Spina, currently reading Funny Misshapen Body by Jeffrey Brown
Carli, thanks for your series on comics! They have been great! I hadn’t heard of some of these so I’m going to keep an eye out for them. And I’m SO excited to buy Lumberjanes for my library. If the teens don’t like it, I’ll be pretty sad.
Thanks for these!
Here’s a big one you missed: Monstress is coming out this year from Image Comics, written by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Sana Takeda. It’s created by two women of color with what looks to be a mixed-race woman in the lead role.
Somehow I hadn’t heard about this one, but I will definitely look for it now! Thanks.