Publisher Plans to Launch Four Comic Titles in March, Building to Six to Eight Per Month

Artists, Writers, & Artisans, the well-funded comic start-up led by former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Alonso and former Marvel Publisher Bill Jemas and (and co-founded by former News Corp. CEO Jon Miller), is assembling a Retail Council, a group of retailers to advise the publisher in exchange for monetary benefits and early access to preview copies.The council comes as the publisher reveals that it will kick off its publishing program by launching four titles in March 2020. The plan for AWA is to build to six to eight releases per month and then hold at that level for the foreseeable future, Co-Founder Jemas told ICv2.Two months prior to the Diamond date, AWA will send members of the AWA Retail Council reader copies of five to ten first issues. Council members will vote for their favorite book, and the winner will become a Big Book, which will be available to council members at 75% off cover price.Charter members of the Retail Council will also receive a $250 credit that can be used toward the purchase of any AWA book for one year.The four titles planned for launch in March (all at $3.99) are:The Resistance, written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Mike Deodato Jr., will be the first appearance of a shared superhero universe in which a pandemic has killed hundreds of millions and left behind 15-20 million people with superpowers (see " AWA Launches Shared Superhero Universe with ‘The Resistance’ ").Fight Girls, by written and with art by Frank Cho, with colors by Sabine Rich, offers a story in which ten women face off on a dangerous planet in a contest to become Queen of the Galaxy (see " AWA Announces First Comic Titles, by Cho, Milligan, Faust, Moreci, More ").Archangel 8, written by Michael Moreci with art by C.P. Smith, colors by Snakebite Cortez, and covers by Jeff Dekal, tells the story of an eighth archangel who operates without God’s sanction and faces the enemy on his own terms.Red Border, written by Jason Starr with art by Will Conrad, will tell the story of a Mexican couple targeted for death by the Juarez Cartel who cross the border and end up at a local’s ranch where the assassins on their tale may be the least of their worries.We've got preview art for all four of the titles (see " Preview: AWA's Four Launch Ttiles ").