Gabby Rivera and Joe Quinones Announced As ‘America’ Creative Team

Last month, Marvel announced an ongoing series starring breakout fan-favorite character America Chavez, simply titled America. While at the time no other information was available other than a Jamie McKelvie cover, today the publisher has announced the series will be helmed by Young Adult author Gabby Rivera and Howard The Duck's Joe Quinones.

In an exclusive interview at Refinery29, Rivera and editor Wil Moss spoke about the novelists' transition from prose to comic books. Gabby Rivera rose to prominence thanks to the strength of her hit novel Juliet Takes a Breath and Moss had been looking outside the traditional comics sphere to find the right voice for America Chavez.

The new ongoing series will see America heading to college to find herself, but according to Rivera she'll be using her dimension-hopping abilities to sample a breadth of classes from across the multiverse. The series will also delve into America's utopian backstory, as well as bring her further into the Marvel Universe with appearances from the likes of Storm and Captain America in mentor-type roles.

The interview is also a candid look at Rivera's genuine concerns about entering the comic book industry as a queer Latina woman herself, and she quite clearly states that she was a little terrified and intimidated at the prospect of entering that space. However, Moss saying "Every comic book gets picked apart by the internet. That’s just the way that the internet is," comes across a bit short-sighted so soon after Chelsea Cain --- another novelist turned comics author --- left Twitter following hateful comments regarding her work on Mockingbird.

Check out the full interview for more on Rivera and Quinones' plans. America launches in March 2017, and will feature covers by Marguerite Sauvage.