Top Cow has announced a follow-up to Genius, one of their “Pilot Season” winners that was published in full in 2014. Writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman will team with Rosi Kampe, who replaces Afua Richardson, for the sequel.
The first volume of Genius told the story of Destiny Ajaye, the greatest military mind of her generation, who was born in South Central Los Angeles and waged war against the LAPD after seceding three blocks from the United States. While the book won the second round of Top Cow’s “American Idol”-esque Pilot Season contest in 2008, the full miniseries wouldn’t see publication until 2014 — in the same month that the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson was occupied by a militarized police force, making it the most relevant comic on the stands that month. Bernardin, who has worked for outlets like io9 and Playboy in the past, wrote two pieces worth a look about the title — one for Wired right before the miniseries was published and one for the LA Times in 2016.
Genius: Cartel picks up with Destiny “sequestered” in a government school for prodigies — “But will she use her gifts to wage war at the military’s behest—or is she already planning another revolution?” the press release asks. The first issue of the five-issue sequel is due out in August.
