Princess Mononoke meets Twig when a hungry mountain deity discovers the magic of friendship and a home-cooked meal in ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST!
LOS ANGELES, CA (August 18, 2023) – GLAAD Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Micahel Dialynas (Wynd, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) crafts a charmingly macabre eco-friendly fable about nature, greed, and good food shared with better friends in ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST, available November 2023.
Trapped for eternity inside her mountain by pollution-spewing factories, the ancient guardian spirit Zawa only has industrial run-off to eat, leading her to a bitter existence of paranoia and destruction. But when two siblings from a nearby village, Bandit and Thatcher, help her escape, they’ll quickly learn that the way to calm Zawa’s heart is through a well nourished stomach!
ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST #1 features a main cover by Michael Dialynas with variants by artists Jorge Corona (Batgirls), Karl Kerschl (Gotham Academy), and more!
“I’ve done it! I’ve managed to swindle BOOM! into letting me write and draw my series! ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST has all my art passions, from drawing tasty foods to weird creepy monsters in a cottage-core apocalyptic seaside city! This is a story about facing your own fears and standing up for what you believe…plus it has a cute guard cat and a chill chicken,” said Dialynas. “It’s gonna be awesome!”
“Ever since seeing the very first doodles of Zawa in Michael’s sketchbook years ago, I’ve been hungry for more – and it’s an absolute thrill to finally watch him bring this world to life as only a master cartoonist could,” said Executive Editor Eric Harburn.
ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST #1 will be available in comic shops November 8, 2023. It is available for pre-order at your local comic shop. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.
About Michael Dialynas:
Michael Dialynas is an Eisner Award-nominated and GLAAD Award-winning comic artist and mini-beast wrangler that resides in Athens, Greece. He is the illustrator and co-creator of WYND and THE WOODS with James Tynion IV. Over the past few years he’s been one of the main artists involved with IDW’s TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES series, all the way up to the milestone issue #100. You can find out more about him at WoodenCrown.com
ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST is the latest release from BOOM! Studios’ award-winning BOOM! Box imprint, home to groundbreaking original series such as Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn Allen, and Noelle Stevenson; Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera and Celia Moscote; Giant Daysby John Allison, Lissa Treiman, and Max Sarin; Mamo by Sas Milledge; Save Yourself! by Bones Leopard and Kelly and Nichole Matthews; Specter Inspectors by Bowen McCurdy and Kaitlyn Musto; The Last Witch by Conor McCreery and V.V. Glass; Ghosted in LA by Sina Grace and Siobhan Keenan; The Avant-Guards by Carly Usdin and Noah Hayes; Fence by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad; Goldie Vance by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams; educational series Seen: True Stories of Marginalized Trailblazers, Getting Dizzy by Shea Fontana and Celia Moscote, and the upcoming Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, and Berenice Nelle.
For continuing news on ZAWA + THE BELLY OF THE BEAST and more from BOOM! Studios, stay tuned to boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.
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