DC Comics to Launch New Stories for REPRESENT! Series

Back in September, DC Comics released the first story in their Represent! digital series. Now, the comics publisher has revealed that starting on February 1, a new chapter will release weekly for five weeks. The Represent! series is designed to tell stories from underrepresented voices with the spotlight on personal stories from outside of comics. You can read the stories from participating digital platforms including Apple, Amazon Kindle, comiXology (affiliate link), and Google Books to name a few.

The next chapter comes from Jesse Holland who is a former journalist for Associated Press, author of the prose novel Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther?, and more. The art for the chapter called Heritage will be done by Doug Braithwaite.

“Heritage” is based on Holland’s Mississippi farm, which has been in his family since their first ancestor was freed from slavery—tended by his grandfather and his father before him. But as Jesse grows into a man, he’s unsure if a patch of land in the Piney Woods and a life of tilling soil is his true destiny. But destiny can mean so much more than dirt and a tractor…

Here’s a breakdown of the other upcoming titles for Represent!.

Book Three: “Food for Thought,” written by Regine Sawyer, art by Eric Battle

Sawyer, a comic book writer and founder of Women in Comics Collective International, and artist Battle have both contributed to DC individually and have united to tell the story of Lanice, whose passion for cooking and desire for a career in the culinary arts is challenged by the source of her inspiration—her father—who is concerned about his only daughter working in a kitchen, like so many Black Americans before her.

Book Four: “Believe You,” written by Nadira Jamerson, art by Brittney Williams

Howard University alumni Jamerson makes her comic book debut with Williams, who recently provided art for DC’s middle grade graphic novel Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge. A young mother, Mai, has been struggling with her health ever  since the birth of her daughter, Dira. She’s exhausted, gaining weight and experiencing shooting pain through her legs, and she wakes up with numbness spreading across her entire body. She  is in constant agony. But the doctors don’t think anything is wrong with her—she’s stressed, she’s a hypochondriac, it’s just fatigue—and despite everything Mai does to make herself better, she still feels alone. Until she finally finds a way to advocate for her health and finds an ally who does more than prescribe…they listen.

Book Five: “My Granny Was A Hero,” written by Tara Roberts, art by Yancey Labat

Roberts, a National Geographic Storytelling Fellow, MIT Open Documentary Lab Fellow and avid scuba diving enthusiast, teams up with DC Super Hero Girls artist Labat in a story of a little girl realizing her dreams of heroism.

A little girl with Afro puffs, a potbelly, and a gap-toothed smile dreams of being a hero. She reads adventure books voraciously; she practices sword strokes and judo kicks in her bedroom in case she ever has to fight a dragon; she devours superhero movies, cartoons, and popcorn with big eyes. And every night, she looks out of her window and wishes upon the moon with all her heart to be called upon to help someone in a big way…when she discovers the story of her great-grandmother Cocu, and how Cocu’s superpower led to a heroic struggle for freedom. 

Book Six: “The Lesson,” written and drawn by Dominike “DOMO” Stanton

Stanton has been drawing comics for the last ten years; most recently, he provided art for House of Whispers, part of Neil Gaiman’s celebrated The Sandman Universe line of titles.

Stanton’s protagonist Dom got his butt kicked in school a lot…like…a lot a lot…for no reason. He got caught up in fights that had nothing to do with him or would get jumped simply walking the halls of his school or waiting for the bus home. Fed up and angry, he decides to join a local gym and learn how to box. But what starts out as a mission to fight back turns into something greater, and Dom is given the opportunity to stand up for himself in more ways than one.