Here’s some news that’s sugar, and spice, and everything nice: Kelly Thompson and Paulina Ganucheau are taking on The Powerpuff Girls for Dynamite.
Picking up after the blockbuster release of ThunderCats, and the upcoming release of Space Ghost, The Powerpuff Girls is the third title in Dynamite and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products’ partnership. Originally created by Craig McCracken, The Powerpuff Girls focuses on three superhero girls — Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup — who fight crime in their city of Townsville, USA. Along with their “father” Professor Utonium, they battle everything from bank robbers to their arch-enemy, a super-smart monkey named Mojo Jojo.
“I have to say, I am a very big fan of The Powerpuff Girls,” said writer Kelly Thompson via press release provided to Comic Book Club. “So much so that when I was young — just out of art school — I even wrote a few short stories and began to storyboard them in hopes I could get a job on the show! So this just feels… exactly right. I was over the moon to get the offer.”
Thompson is an Eisner-award-winning writer and a fave around these parts for her work on titles like Birds of Prey over at DC, as well as Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and more over at Marvel. And if you haven’t checked out her recent The Cull from Image Comics, you’re missing out.
Meanwhile, Ganucheau is probably best known for her art duties on the “Adventures of Young Diana” backup that ran through multiple issues of Wonder Woman. Ganucheau has also worked on titles like My Little Pony and Rainbow Brite.
Added Ganucheau: “I grew up obsessed with them. Had my own PPG OC and everything. I was on a Powerpuff Girls oekaki board way back in the day where all we did was draw in that style. I remember calling into Cartoon Network for PPG merch giveaways even. So yeah, safe to say: very exciting!”
As for what to expect from the series, Thompson noted that it will aim at both younger and older audiences, just like the classic cartoon. Beyond the Powerpuff Girls, fans can look forward to appearances from characters like Mojo Jojo, HIM, Fuzzy Lumpkins, Sedusa, the Rowdyruff Boys and more.
“I was like, y’know who’d write an unbelievably awesome Powerpuff Girls story? Probably Kelly ‘Eisner-Freaking-Award-Winner’ Thompson,” said editor Nate Cosby. “And then I was like, y’know what artist’d blow people’s minds drawing The Powerpuff Girls? Probably Paulina ‘Eventually-Will-Be-An-Eisner-Winner-Too’ Ganucheau. And after seeing what KT/PG have cooked up, I can confirm that my ‘probably’s’ have turned into ‘definitely’s.'”
The first issue features a main cover by Ganucheau, as well as one by Thompson’s Birds of Prey collaborator Leonardo Romero. Additional covers are by Karen S. Darboe and Nicoletta Baldari.
Powerpuff Girls #1 will hit stores in July, but can check out the covers below:
