The Blue Flame writer Christopher Cantwell and Ka-Zar: Lord of the Savage Land artist Germán García will retell the story of Sleeping Beauty as “an epic dark fantasy adventure” in a new miniseries coming from BOOM! Studios. They’ll be joined by colorist Matheus Lopes, who has been doing some phenomenal work on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Cantwell sited the creator of Conan the Barbarian as an inspiration for the series.
“I’ve never gotten a chance to tell a high fantasy story of any kind, but I’ve always wanted to, ever since I discovered old Robert E. Howard stories. One thing that kept me hesitant was finding a proper way in—something new and different that also celebrates all the sword & sorcery fun seen in the best of the genre,” Cantwell said. “In tandem, as I grow older, the world around us seems less and less stable with so many things falling into crisis. These two things came together in my head in the form of Briar… here’s someone that remembers the world one way, during a time of sheltered innocence, but has now overslept… and found herself in a place of complete entropic disarray. The question is, how will she even survive? And what happens when the plans for the entire rest of your life turn out to be completely meaningless and absurd? Where do you turn to in order to conjure up your own new meaning and purpose?”
The description from BOOM! is fairly simple, but should resonant with anyone who knows the story presented in the 1959 animated Disney film is pretty far from the original fairy tale: What if Sleeping Beauty never got her happily ever after… and instead had to save herself? Set in a brutal fantasy world that time forgot, this isn’t the fairy tale you know!
“I’m delighted to be telling this story with Christopher,” said García. “I love a good fantasy tale where I’m not constricted by boring details like reality, especially when we’ve got a main character with very intense but relatable motivations to fuel her through this strange new land. Can’t wait for you all to step into the world of Briar!”
Check out the variant covers for the first issue by Yanick Paquette and Lopes, as well as Jenny Frison:
And here’s Garcia’s character designs:
The four-issue miniseries kicks off in September.