This is perhaps one of the silliest, yet most exciting strings of words I’ve ever had to contemplate: Dark Horse have announced that iconic Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood is writing her first ever graphic novel. It’s called Angel Catbird, and it’s basically Atwood getting her hands on Cat-Hawkman.


Update: An earlier version of this article did not credit colorist Tamra Bonvillain, whose name was left out of PR material provided to news sites by Dark Horse. It has been updated to reflect Bonvillain’s role in the project.

Atwood will pen the book—in fact, a trio of graphic novels—with art from Johnnie Christmas (Sheltered, Pisces), and colors from Tamra Bonvillain (Rat Queens, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), depicting the pulpy adventures of her hybrid hero. Here’s Atwood briefly discussing the idea behind the book’s hero, which sounds wonderfully strange:

I have concocted a superhero who is part cat, part bird. Due to some spilled genetic Super-Splicer, our hero got tangled up with both a cat and an owl; hence his fur and feathers, and his identity problems.


Keeping in line with the cat/bird legacy of the hero as well as Atwood’s long history as an environmental activist, Angel Catbird’s three graphic novels will launch to coincide with the “Keep Cats Safe and Save Bird Lives” initiative from Nature Canada. Clearly, the answer to keeping cats and birds safe is to splice them with people and turn them into superheroes, right?

The first graphic novel in the Angel Catbird series will be out some time next year, and each entry will set you back $11. Small price to pay to see someone like Atwood take on the world of superhero comics!