As announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego, I am currently illustrating a graphic novel for the DC Comics MINX line. Written by novelist and performance artist Mariko Tamaki ("Skim," "Fake ID," "Cover Me"), the book is entitled "EMIKO SUPERSTAR" and will be released in 2008.

Page 1 artwork: [link]

Emi, a 16-year-old babysitter, is desperate to break out of the suburbs and become part of Toronto's vibrant art scene. When she takes the stage "borrowing" passages from her boss's diary for her performance, she becomes Emiko Superstar: an instant success with the art crowd and a keeper of secrets that could ruin her and her boss's lives.

For those not in the know, Minx is a new imprint devoted to publishing graphic novels for teenage girls. On Saturday I attended a Minx panel at Comic-Con, which included a discussion of their releases for 2007/2008.

The DC website has an MP3 podcast of the panel online, where you can hear me stumble and stammer and say "um" more times than anything else. The Emiko Superstar bit is about 3/5ths of the way through the podcast: [link]

They also have a slide show of photos from the panel: [link]

And you can find write-ups on all seven newly-announced 2008 titles at the LA Times website: [link]

Other notable links:
Minxbooks.net -- [link]
Mariko Tamaki -- [link]