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Doctor Who and Lost in Space comics writer Richard Dinnick has joined Awesome Media & Entertainment as publisher for their new graphic novel studio.

The IP and production company founded by writer-producer Jeff Norton, is launching a new graphic novel studio after the successful launch of its fiction publishing imprint Awesome Reads in 2018.

Awesome Reads will develop high-concept, character-driven comics for a broad, adult readership which will also be developed for the screen. The studio will launch with Retrograde, a post-apocalyptic love story about the survivors of a retro-virus that has dialled back the evolutionary clock on most of the planet’s DNA. Retrograde is written by Dinnick with art by Pasquale Qualano, colours by Charlie Kirchoff, and lettering by Comicraft’s Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt.

Retrograde launched with a SDCC exclusive. It will be followed in December by #Guardian, written by Erika Lewis, a modern western about a former CIA agent named Sera Renteria who becomes a self-fashioned vigilante who responds to cries for help over social media.

Titles for 2020 include Brexodus, a political thriller set in an alternative modern-day Britain as it attempts to secede from the Roman Empire, and Cortex, a high-tech mystery about hacking human memory to solve crimes.

Publisher and writer Richard Dinnick said: “I’m thrilled to bring Awesome Reads into the realm of graphic novels as we’re truly in a golden age of graphic storytelling and Awesome has incredibly creative content to delight readers around the world.” Talking with Sci-Fi Bulletin, he added: “I am thrilled to be working with Jeff on this exciting venture. Jeff has always been a prolific and imaginative creator so it’s always a thrill to work with someone as exciting as him. I think we work very well together and we’ve got great plans as well as an – to coin a phrase – awesome initial release schedule of new and exciting comics.”

Founder of Awesome, Jeff Norton noted: “The graphic novel studio completes the creative circle we’ve been building: from book to screen and back again. We are thrilled to be on the ground floor with top talent and we’ll be partnering with best-in-class production partners to develop these visually arresting stories for the screen.”