ROOTS OF MADNESS #1

A haunting tale from Stephanie Williams (Nubia & the Amazons) and Letizia Cadonici (House of Slaughter). At the turn of the 20th century, a young Black woman named Etta picks up the tradition of her late mother for creating special medicines using natural ingredients and secrets handed down from generation to generation. Her mother has passed on a book of recipes and formulas, but it’s also full of strange symbols and dark musings that she doesn’t quite understand. Within her community, one of the problems she hopes to fix is counteracting the poisonous and abrasive solutions Black women and girls are sold for straightening their hair. So, when the Meridian Fellowship reaches out and offers her a spot at their institute in Savannah, GA, to use their facilities to do her research, Etta jumps at the chance. She packs up her mother’s book and heads to the sprawling establishment, but what she finds is a place surrounded by natural wonders that may point the way to understanding the more mysterious parts of her mother’s work…if dark forces don’t claim her first. Inspired by the life of Madame CJ Walker, this alternate history combines tradition with cosmic horror for something truly modern and unique. All the B variants for the series will feature a cover by series artist Cadonici and colorist Alessandro Santoro! Stephanie Williams is a research scientist turned prolific comic writer. She’s best known for bringing Nubia back to relevancy for DC Comics with Nubia and the Amazons and Nubia: Queen of the Amazons. Stephanie has worked on titles like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: Wreck and Roll, My Little Pony, Alien: Black, White, Blood, and many more. She has two recently announced upcoming releases, Street Sharks with IDW Publishing and the highly anticipated graphic novel adaptation of The Raven Boys. Letizia Cadonici is an Italian comic book artist born in Rome, in 1991. She worked for many Italian comic book publishers, mostly as a horror/gothic artist. Today she works for the US industry, for BOOM! Studios (House of Slaughter, The Neighbors, Hello Darkness) and for several others. She currently works on the new series Minor Arcana by Jeff Lemire (BOOM! Studios), on the Department of Truth spin-off by James Tynion IV (Image Comics), and on upcoming TBA series with Mad Cave Studios.