Back in April, Forbes Entertainment exclusively broke the news that acclaimed comic book creator Jeff Lemire (known for Black Hammer, Essex County Gideon Falls, and Sweet Tooth) had partnered with BOOM! Studios for an ongoing mystery project.
Both Lemire and the Los Angeles-based publisher remained quite mum on the subject, only releasing a vague piece of teaser art (see below) and a few tantalizing quotes. Now, after keeping us on our toes for just over two months, Lemire and BOOM! have released fresh details on the new series, which is titled Minor Arcana.
Answering questions over email, Lemire — who is both writing and illustrating the book — tells me the idea has been gradually gestating for a number of years, “which is not always the case with books,” he explains. “But, in this case, it really befitted the series because by the the time I actually started drawing it I had been living with the idea for over a year and it felt fully formed.”
Combining elements of magical realism and supernatural mystery, the title (hitting stands in September), the book follows a young woman named Theresa, who begrudgingly returns home to care for her ailing mother, a “psychic,” Tarot-reading fraud. But as she begrudgingly steps foot in the place she vowed to leave behind forever, Theresa finds her hometown seemingly untouched by the passage of time. Is there more to the magic than she originally believed? The answer is a resounding “YES!” and what’s more, the town desperately needs her help.
The general concept originated during Lemire’s work on the Image series Fishflies, in which a character visits a small-town fortune teller. He got such a kick out of crafting the scene that it got him thinking. “I was really fascinated by the idea of all these storefront psychics you see everywhere, especially in small towns, and the people who come to trust them and rely on their advice,” he says. “The idea of using a character like this as the center of a story about community and family really inspired me.”
As he ventured down the rabbit hole and started to open up his third eye, Lemire became fascinated with the iconic item found in a psychic’s arsenal: Tarot cards. “It’s so rich with symbolism, imagery, and archetypes — it just feeds stories. The idea that the people in this small town all embody one of the archetypes or characters from the Tarot was the final piece I needed. Everything really came together after that.”
His love of the edgier, adult-oriented comic books put out by Vertigo, the DC-owned banner spearheaded by industry legend Karen Berger, also played a major role in the birth of Minor Arcana. “With a few notable exceptions, the ‘90s were the nadir of superhero comics, and if it weren’t for the Vertigo books, I likely would have quit reading comics all together,” he admits. “There was a certain feeling and aesthetic to these early Vertigo books that I just love. It was somehow both timeless and very much of the time. I think a lot of the writers were influenced by post-punk and Goth music and culture, and that is very much in my wheelhouse as well. So, I’m trying to capture that feeling with Minor Arcana for sure. But, of course, it gets filtered through my own style and comes out as something a bit different.”
Lemire, who was just 16-years-old when Vertigo (now branded as DC Black Label) first launched, devoured almost everything it had to offer, with Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s Sandman standing out as one of his favorites.
“Dave McKean’s covers and Gaiman’s dark, but humanistic, stories hit the mark with me and started to really show me what comics could do,” he continues, also citing Teddy Kristensen and Steven Seagle’s House of Secrets a major source of inspiration. “Unfortunately, I think it’s out of print now, but I love it and revisited it last year when developing Minor Arcana. House of Secret’s protagonist, Rain, very much inspired my initial take on Theresa in Minor Arcana.”
Get an Exclusive First Look at Jeff Lemire and BOOM! Studios’ Minor Arcana
When we arrive at the topic of the book’s aesthetic, Lemire teases “different styles for the different worlds the story takes place in.”
He continues: “We have the ‘real world,’ the everyday world of the small town and Theresa. For that, I’m using my regular style, but also water coloring it myself, which is a challenge, but a fun one. For the other worlds Theresa enters, I’ll be using a variety of different styles and media. Anything from chalk pastel to gouache, to collage and colored pencil, depending on the specifics of these stories and the lives of the people Theresa is helping. I’m also using different approaches to the actual storytelling as well in terms of layouts and panelling. I’m trying to push myself to my limits with this book and really grow as an artist.”
The overall goal with Minor Arcana is “to get back to telling a long-form story” and “emphasize the importance of the monthly comics again,” Lemire concludes.
“Since I am generally very busy, with multiple projects for multiple publishers, I had to make sure I was really ready to commit to doing Minor Arcana. But in the end, there was no other project I wanted to spend my days working on. The story itself has just flowed out and new ideas keeps coming all the time, so I’m definitely in this one for the long haul.”
Issue #1 of Minor Arcana goes on sale from BOOM! Studios this September.
