Damian Duffy, John Jennings, & David Brame

This gripping graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking dystopian novel stands beside the acclaimed previous graphic novel adaptations, Kindred, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and Parable of the Sower, winner of the Hugo Award. Set against a background of a war-torn continent under the control of a Christian fundamentalist fascist state, Parable of the Talents is a modern masterpiece that resonates powerfully. This graphic novel adaptation is brought to life thrillingly by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, the creative team behind the #1 New York Times bestselling adaptation of Kindred. Parable of the Talents is told in the voice of Lauren Olamina’s daughter, Asha Vere—from whom she has been separated for most of the girl’s life—interspersed with sections in the form of Lauren’s own journals. Asha searches for answers about her past while struggling to reconcile with her mother’s legacy—caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future among the stars. Octavia E. Butler’s bestselling literary science-fiction masterpieces are essential works in feminist, Afrofuturist, and fantasy genres, and this compelling graphic novel adaptation of Parable of the Talents is a major event.

Damian Duffy is a cartoonist, scholar, writer, curator, lecturer, teacher, and a Glyph Comics, Eisner Comics, Bram Stoker, and Hugo Award–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novelist. He holds a MS and PhD in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches courses on computers and culture, and social media and global change. His many publications range from academic essays (in comics form) on new media and learning, to art books about underrepresentation in comics culture. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation was awarded the 2017 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel, and the 2018 Eisner Comics Award for Best Adaptation From Another Medium. The follow-up, Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation won the 2021 Ignyte Award for Best Comics Team, and the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic.

John Jennings is a professor, author, graphic novelist, curator, Harvard Fellow, New York Times Bestseller, 2018 Eisner Winner, and all-around champion of Black culture. As Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside (UCR), Jennings examines the visual culture of race in various media forms including film, illustrated fiction, and comics and graphic novels. He is also the director of Abrams ComicArts imprint Megascope, which publishes graphic novels focused on the experiences of people of color. His research interests include the visual culture of Hip Hop, Afrofuturism and politics, Visual Literacy, Horror, and the EthnoGothic, and Speculative Design and its applications to visual rhetoric. Jennings is co-editor of the 2016 Eisner Award-winning collection The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art (Rutgers) and co-founder/organizer of The Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem. He is co-founder and organizer of the MLK NorCal’s Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco and also SOL-CON: The Brown and Black Comix Expo at the Ohio State University.

David Brame is the Eisner-nominated comic artist of After the Rain, whose art for the graphic novel was hailed as “bold and arresting” by Publishers Weekly. He was also a contributor to the graphic novel anthology Young Men In Love: A Queer Romance Anthology, which earned the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Anthology and the American Library Association’s (ALA) award for Great Graphic Novel for Teens. His most recent book Safe Passage has won numerous awards including the BCALA 2025 Children & Youth Literary Award and Hammer: Act 1 winner of The Glyph Award for Best Webcomic and Best Artist. David lives in Mexico with his partner and four dogs.