Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The weekly event is meant to showcase eagerly anticipated upcoming releases…and to spread the word! This week I’m excited about:
Title: Nimona
Author: Noelle Stevenson
Genre(s): GN, F, YA
Publisher: Harper Collins
Anticipated Publication Date: May 19, 2015
Lord Ballister Blackheart has a point to make, and his point is that the good guys aren’t as good as they seem. He makes a comfortable living as a supervillain, but never really seems to accomplish much – until he takes on a new sidekick, Nimona, a shapeshifter with her own ideas of how things should be done. Unfortunately, most of those ideas involve blowing things up. Now Ballister must teach his young protégé some restraint and try to keep her from destroying everything, while simultaneously attempting to expose the dark dealings of those who claim to be the protectors of the kingdom – including his former best friend turned nemesis, Ambrosius Goldenloin.
Originally published online, Nimona has been nominated for a Harvey award for Best Online Comics Work, was named one of io9’s top ten Best New and Short Webcomics of 2012, and has been awarded the Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Webcomic of 2012 by Slate Magazine and the Center for Cartoon Studies.
When I saw the cover artwork for Nimona, I knew immediately that I needed to read it. The epic-sounding synopsis is just icing on the cake. Or would that be the cake itself? Either way, I love it all. Villains as heroes? Check. Half-dragon looking heroine who’s not overly-sexualized? Double check. I’ve been hoping for some new fodder for my “Graphic Novels, Tough Chicks” feature and I’ve got a feeling that Nimona will fit the bill beautifully. As if that weren’t enough, Rainbow Rowell blurbed it! Heck yes.
For those of you who don’t know, Nimona started as a fantasy webcomic written by Stevenson as her senior project for art school. Harper Collins has picked it up to become a two-part graphic novel series, yet another example of electronically published original content being picked up by traditional publishing. Not surprising given all the love the webcomic version of Nimona has gotten: it was awarded the Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Web Comic in 2012 by Slate among many other accolades. Here’s hoping that the graphic novel version is just as amazing as the webcomic!