Brand New Shared Universe Competing With Marvel and DC Launches New Series

As we announced last month, Summit Comics is launching a brand-new shared superhero universe, beginning with the giant-sized anthology, Summit: Pinnacle. The debut of the Summit Comics universe occurs in that one-shot, which contains over a DOZEN stories! Earlier this month, we exclusively previewed one of those stories, Trench, by writer Devin Arscott, artist and colorist Nicolò Arcuti, and letterer Adam Barnhardt.

The crowdfunding for Summit: Pinnacle has been remarkably successful, with Summit Comics reaching over DOUBLE its initial goal, and there are still a few days left if you want to get in on the ground floor! You can go here to make a pledge before time runs out.

Things are going so well for Summit Comics, and now it is announcing here, in a CBR exclusive, its next comic book series, Summit Presents, as well as what you can look forward to in the SECOND issue of Summit: Pinnacle!

What is Summit Presents?

Summit Presents is a bit of a throwback to the ages of Marvel Two-in-One, in that it will launch with a lead feature starring Juna Marris, the most powerful superabled being in the Summit Comics Universe, as well as a back-up feature starring the character, Killstrike. The creative team for the Juna Marris feature will be writer Karla Medrano and artist Marcus Jimenez. Jimenez will also both write AND draw the Killstrike feature, which will appear in Summit Presents #1-2.

The Juna Marris feature in Summit Presents #1-3 will later be collected in a Juna Marris one-shot in 2027. Medrano talked about her excitement for the sseries in a press release from Summit Comics, "What a privilege to join such a powerful and relevant group of creatives! Summit Comics is doing what some publishers fail to do. Invite a black woman to write for a black woman."

She continued, "There is a depth to our lived experience that cannot be imitated. The way we season our food carries history. The way we sing carries memory. Even the way we grieve carries our ancestors and the way we fly!! We have written dissertations about it,” she continues. “Juna is more than a fictional character that you geek out about. She is one of the few black female characters, among the well-known publishers, that will have her own ongoing run…imagine that.”

Jimenez added, “I felt an overwhelming desire to draw Juna. The number one item on my bucket list is to draw Superman. The character that inspired my love of comics. Juna is probably the closest thing to that. She is the core of our universe and being the one to draw not only her first appearances but also her first story as a Summit Partner feels like a dream come true."

Jimenez also detailed his inspiration for Killstrike, "Killstrike is based on the 90s archetype that spawned characters like Cable, who has never really been my kind of character. So being able to take this idea and approach it in an outside way with no real exposure to it, and take inspiration from so many other directions. While prepping for Killstrike, I read and took inspiration from Captain America, Darrow from Red Rising, and the stories of the Hispanic youth I grew up around. Killstrike is a love letter to them all.”

As noted, Killstrike will appear in the first two issues of Summit Presents, but then the third issue is a special lead-in to Summit Comics' first big event, but its events are going to be handled very distinctively!

What is special about the first major Summit Comics event?

Summit Comics' big events will take place within a single issue of Summit: Pinnacle, its flagship anthology title. Summit: Pinnacle #2, due out in 2027, will contain the first Summit Comics event, The Black Assembly!

Summit Comics revealed the plan for the event in a press release, noting that it "features the heroes of the Summit Universe joining forces for the first time to team up with Juna Marris to help her take down the titular Black Assembly, keepers of the enigmatic Ashlo’thar."

Summit chief creative Adam Barnhardt will be the "showrunner" of the event, which will feature at least ten inteconnected stories in Summit: Pinnacle #2 (which will be titled Summit: Pinnacle - The Black Assembly), "The Ashlo’thar is a sickness that invades many of Summit’s stories across our Year One slate, popping in ways you’d never expect. The Black Assembly is all about addressing that metaphorical elephant in the room, and snuffing it out for good.”

Clearly, Summit Comics has a lot planned for the future, and luckily, you still have time to get in on the beginning of this universe if you go to their crowdfunding here!

Source: Summit Comics