Kelly Thompson is the latest comic creator to join Substack, as the longtime Marvel writer is making the jump to the subscription platform with two new creator-owned comics. Thompson revealed two upcoming comics in her (new) newsletter, Black Cloak with Meredith McClaren and The Cull with Mattia de Iulis. Thompson joins James Tynion IV, Jeff Lemire, Chip Zdarsky, Saladin Ahmed, and Jonathan Hickman to make the recent jump to Substack.
Thompson has become one of the comic industry's top talents at Marvel. Her runs on The West Coast Avengers, Deadpool, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Jessica Jones have all received rave reviews from readers and critics. Most recently, Thompson was announced as one of a handful of comic creators who would be tackling the next generation of Spider-Man following the conclusion of Nick Spencer's most recent run - as she'll co-write Spider-Man Beyond with a rotating creative team featuring Zeb Wells, Saladin Ahmed and Cody Ziglar, and Patrick Gleason.
In her newsletter, 1979SemiFinalist, Thompson revealed that she's joining Substack and launching two new projects. The first project, Black Cloak, is co-created by artist Meredith McClaren (Heart in a Box, Servant of the Black Dog). The book will be a "hard-boiled" detective story set in a futuristic world where all technology is based around magic. The new comic will exist in a world with fantasy characters, many of whom are prime suspects for a murder case. Check out the promo image for the series below.
The second comic Thompson announced is The Cull. The series will star a group of high-schoolers who discover and film a short film near a forbidden rock. However, when the teens return from their adventure, they will find themselves in a nearly unrecognizable world as they haven't been gone for days but years. The project teams Thompson up with her Jessica Jones collaborator Mattia de Iulis. The Cull will debut in 2022. Check out this promotional image for the series by Iulis below.
We can confirm that Thompson's new projects for Substack will have no impact on her work at Marvel. So, for those worrying, she might pull a move similar to James Tynion IV and leave their Big Two projects in favor of creator-owned books, fear not. With that said, it's exciting to see Thompson announce Black Cloak and The Cull. For those who want more details on the series and are interested in subscribing to Kelly Thompson's Substack, check out the link to her page here.
Source: 1979 Finalist