Gabby Rivera (America) and Royal Dunlap (Die Hibi Die, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) are launching b.b. free, a new series published by BOOM! Studios coming this November.
Here’s BOOM!’s description of the series: “Years after the Plague That Ate Greed wiped out the ultra rich, b.b. free and her dad live in a small, close-knit community in the Florida Islands, where everything is shared and everyone’s got each other’s backs. b.b. is getting to be a teenager, though, and she’s starting to get more and more interested in the world beyond her swamp. For now, her only tie to the outside world is her radio show. But when she discovers a secret so large it could tear her family and entire community apart, b.b. realizes that there’s a lot her father’s not telling her… and she might have to head out into the world on her own to find the truth.”
“b.b. free is the trippy wild adventure road trip I always wanted to go on as a kid, with a post-climate-change-America twist,” Rivera said. “Chubby, nerdy, teen me daydreamed about heading out into the world with a super cool best friend and doing whatever we wanted. Usually on motorcycles, with magical powers, and no parents to mess with our fun. With b.b. free, I get to do all that and more, with one of the best artists on the planet, Royal Dunlap. b.b. free is a bouncy love letter to queer kids everywhere, especially the chubby Puerto Rican ones.”
On joining the series, Dunlap said, “When I first read through the story outline for b.b. free I was immediately sold by the eco-dystopian setting. A setting partnered by themes of coming-of-age, fractured family and found family, all layered with an eerie mist of wonder and magic enveloping it all.”
They continued, “What I’m most excited about is introducing to readers the rag-tag group known as the Swamp Nerds, a.k.a. the ‘inadvertedly-trying-to-save-the-world’ young protagonists of this adventure story.”
Rivera herself is Puerto Rican and served as writer for Marvel’s recent America series with artist Joe Quinones. b.b. free looks to be an incredibly diverse book and with Rivera and Dunlap at the helm, these characters and their journeys are in safe hands.
This series also marks Rivera’s creator-owned comics debut.
b.b. free #1 hits comic shops and digital platforms on November 6. Check out the main and variant covers, along with some preview art below.
