Giant Days may have concluded its four-year run this year, but the creative team isn’t done playing in that world just yet. Writer John Allison and artist Max Sarin will return with the six-issue limited series Wicked Things in March 2020, which stars none other than teenage detective Charlotte “Lottie” Grote, all grown up and navigating a twisty new crime plot.

Nineteen year old Charlotte “Lottie” Grote has her whole life ahead of her; headed straight to university and a future as a real detective—until she’s framed for murder! Given the choice between going to jail basically forever or joining the police, Lottie decides to hit the beat, all while trying to find the real murderer. Lottie may have been running rings about the police since her 9th birthday, but she’s never been on this side of the security tape. Could the future of law enforcement be 5’2” with an extremely strong bangs game? Yes. Very yes.

“This has been brewing for a long time,” Allison told The AV Club, who broke the news on Tuesday. “It’s not so much crime noir—though there are pulpy aspects—as a kind of salute to the crime TV that helped shape me as a writer. … I wanted the feeling of an ’80s or ’90s crime drama, an ensemble story that was about bad things but also brought you back safe into the warmth of the television squad room. It’s also a bit like The Mentalist. Or Monk. In short: don’t get me started.”

Sarin added, “I love how overly dramatic you can make everything [in crime noir]. It has these certain cliches that are fun to break. I blame Star Trek: The Next Generation for this. Captain Picard’s adventures on the holodeck were an absolute pleasure to watch.”

Wicked Things takes place seven years after Lottie’s last appearance in Giant Days, though the character journey stretches all the way back to Allison’s webcomic Scary Go Round, which he started more than a decade ago. In some ways, he told The AV Club, Lottie hasn’t changed at all, but she still has to deal with adulthood.

“Giant Days is a comic about the mainstream path to adulthood,” says Allison. “Wicked Things is a story about that path being cut off, suddenly, by events, and how Lottie Grote deals with that. Giant Days was a bright, colorful comic about friendship. This isn’t a sitcom. It’s still fun, and it still takes place in that world, with those rules, but it’s not as safe, or cosy. The guard rails aren’t there.”

In a statement released by BOOM! Studios, Allison said, “Wicked Things is a tale I’ve been waiting years to tell—the story of what happens when a precocious teen detective ages out of their division overnight. Lottie Grote is the crown jewel of my little comics universe, and I don’t think she could be in safer artistic hands than Max Sarin, whose work gets better every month. I’m delighted the Giant Days team is back together so soon.”

Also in a statement, BOOM! Studios Senior editor Shannon Watters said, “Sarah Grote’s little sister Lottie is all grown up, and now she’s a crime fighting teen who’s admittedly still running blindly into situations and getting into trouble. We meet her now as John and Max throw her right from the frying pan into the fire and the trouble Lottie gets into comes with a capital ‘T’. If you’re a fan of Giant Days, murder, mystery, mayhem—or all of the above—do yourself a favor and dive right in!”

This is very welcome news for Giant Days fans, who said goodbye to Esther, Daisy, Susan, McGraw, Ed, and their university life in Sheffield just last month. Centering a slightly headier story around Lottie, whose limited presence in the original series was an absolute delight, is genius. Even with just six issues of Wicked Things to come, it’s thrilling to be diving back into this world, which has become such a major source of joy and affection for readers.

Take a look at the covers for Wicked Things #1, as well as some interior pages, below. For more info on the series, visit boom-studios.com.