Announcing MINOR ARCANA!
My Next Major Series From BOOM! Studios Starts in September
Launching this September from BOOM! Studios is my next major comics project, MINOR ARCANA. An ongoing series that I will both write, illustrate and color myself.
Minor Arcana tells the story of Theresa, the estranged daughter of a phony small town “psychic” and tarot reader who returns to the small town she grew up in to take care of her ailing mother. But, soon after arriving, Theresa begins to think that, unlike her flamboyant mother, she may have real psychic abilities, and soon finds herself pulled into t the dramas and lives of the very people and community she’s spent her life running from.
Another exciting aspect of the series will be its many connections to the Tarot. Theresa will come to see that the people in the small town all seem to represent archetypes and characters from the Tarot. And, I will also be illustrating my own accompanying Minor Arcana Tarot deck. Every issue will feature a new Tarot Card variant cover illustrated by me and by the end of the series we will have an entire Minor Arcana Tarot Deck that’s I’ve illustrated. The first issue’s Tarot variant cover is shown here…
Minor Arcana has become my dream project. Combining small town life with magical realism and supernatural mystery it lets me stretch my wings and play with all the different kinds of characters and stories I’ve loved working on since Essex County and Sweet Tooth. Writing and drawing the book myself has allowed me to make it an immersive read that I hope will hook you all as much as it’s hooked me.
I have big plans for the series, having already completed full color artwork for the first arc, and tightly plotted the overall series through the first 22 issues. If Black Hammer was my love letter to the superhero comics I grew up reading then Minor Arcana is my love letter to the classic Vertigo comics of my teenaged years, but all filtered through my own style. I really want to get back to doing a true ongoing series that focuses on the importance of single issues again.
Now that Minor Arcana is officially announced, I can begin to share more process and behind-the-scenes work with you here. I cannot wait to share more of Minor Arcana with you all. It feels the the culmination of everything I’ve done in comics over the last twenty years.
You can read more about the series over at Forbes, who have an exclusive interview with me. And please stay tuned to this newsletter and my Instagram over the coming days and weeks, as BOOM! and I will be announcing some very cool Minor Arcana news and exclusives for San Diego Comicon in July!
*****
“Brimming with rich characters and their intense dynamics right from the jump, MINOR ARCANA is the perfect Jeff Lemire comic. Filled with a genuine love of human connection and a touch of magic that will have you needing issue two immediately.” -Chip Zdarsky
“MINOR ARCANA is not ‘classic’ Jeff Lemire — it’s the continually evolving, startling, and surprising Jeff Lemire that you get with every new thing he writes. The final image in Issue 1 hints at something dark and tantalizing yet to come and I cannot wait.” —Patton Oswalt
“MINOR ARCANA is so immediately full of life, pathos, and mystery. Jeff Lemire makes building a world look effortless, and I’m desperate to read more.” - James Tynion IV
“The emotions that come along with being from small town are so relatable and as eerie as the mystery I want to find out more about. Jeff has done it again.” – Skottie Young.
-Jeff
I can tell that the Bone Orchard Mythos took you to some very dark internal places, so I am happy you are getting the chance to do something healing. Like many, I see psychic tools like Tarot decks as much more about ways to attune oneself to inner truths, both of oneself and others--so, as much or more about psychology as the supernatural. In that sense, it is a pitch-perfect way to explore the visible and invisible aspects of small town life. Very much looking forward to this series, and hope it gets the long run it will need to unfold at a measured pace.
Very excited! I love it when you both write and illustrate your work. Maze Book may be my all time favorite series. Really looking forward to this new book!