Lumberjanes Co-Creator Plans Queer YA Take on Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Explosive publisher BOOM! Studios announced a new original graphic novel by Lumberjanes co-creator Shannon Watters , co-writer Branden Boyer-White, artist Berenice Nelle, and colorist Kaitlyn Musto, hitting stores in September 2022. Hollow is a queer, young adult romance and adventure comic set in the town of Sleepy Hollow made famous by Washington Irving’s eponymous story. A press release from BOOM provides more details on the concept:

Isabel “Izzy” Crane and her family have just relocated to Sleepy Hollow, the town made famous by—and obsessed with—Washington Irving’s legend of the Headless Horseman. But city slicker-skeptic Izzy has no time for superstition as she navigates life at a new address, a new school, and, with any luck, with new friends. Ghost stories aren’t real, after all….

Then Izzy is pulled into the orbit of the town’s teen royalty, Vicky Van Tassel (yes, that Van Tassel) and loveable varsity-level prankster Croc Byun. Vicky’s weariness with her family connection to the legend turns to terror when the trio begins to be haunted by the Horseman himself, uncovering a curse set on destroying the Van Tassel line. Now, they have only until Halloween night to break it—meaning it’s a totally inconvenient time for Izzy to develop a massive crush on the enigmatic Vicky.

Can Izzy’s practical nature help her face the unknown—or only trip her up? As the calendar runs down to the 31st, Izzy will have to use all of her wits and work with her new friends to save Vicky and uncover the mystery of the legendary Horseman of Sleepy Hollow—before it’s too late.

Here’s what Watters had to say about the project:

HOLLOW is the queer-teen-love-story meets spooky-goofball-supernatural-caper that my Scooby-Doo-ifed young self had wished existed. Writing HOLLOW with Branden was the best part of last year, and seeing it come to life at the extraordinary hands of Berenice and Kaitlyn has easily been the best part of 2021.

And from Boyer-White:

I’ve always been a collector of ghost stories, and the legend of the Headless Horseman is one of my favorites. It’s a dream come true to add our link in the chain of The Horseman’s spirited legacy, and we can’t wait for readers to take this fun, eerie ride through our twist on the tale.

And Nelle:

I’m excited for you to meet these absolutely lovable characters and dive into this magical and spooky world that Shannon and Branden have built in HOLLOW. I enjoyed illustrating our heroes just as much as I enjoyed laughing, spending time and feeling with them during their adventure.

The press release also contains a quote from a BOOM! Editor, but Bleeding Cool’s official policy is that nobody cares about editors and they have no business being involved in the comics industry, which is why they refuse to hire one to edit our articles like a real website and instead leave us poor writers hanging out to dry as the readers mock us for all the typos, so we won’t bother reprinting it here. Hollow will be published on the BOOM! Box imprint and will be out in September.