Eisner-winner David F. Walker’s debut YA novel SECOND CHANCE OF DARIUS LOGAN arrives in July

Scholastic will publish Eisner-winning comic book writer David F. Walker‘s debut YA novel on July 2, 2024. In The Second Chance of Darius Logan, when a 17-year-old Black, non-powered protagonist gets “caught in a drug deal gone wrong” and is tried as an adult (a real-world problem where Black teens in the US are more likely to be tried as adults than their white counterparts), he’s given a second chance at life that few in America’s juvie system are offered: working alongside heroes, alá Marvel’s Damage Control or NBC’s Powerless.

Walker is the Eisner Award-winning author of The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History, with art from Marcus Kwame Anderson, DC Comics’ Naomi, co-written with Brian Michael Bendis with art from Jamal Campbell and letters from Josh Reed, and Image Comics’ Bitter Root, co-created by Chuck Brown and Sanford Green. He is also known for what’s, in my opinion, one of the best Marvel Comics limited series, Luke Cage: Sins of the Father, with art from Nelson Blake II and Marcio Menyz.

The Second Chance of Darius Logan arrives this summer!

Read the official description of The Second Chance of Darius Logan (via The Scholastic Parent portal) below: 

Darius Logan is far from a hero. Since his parents were killed, he has spent most of his life navigating foster homes and shelters, abandoned neighborhoods and decaying buildings. All Darius knows is survival. Life was hard enough, but now he finds himself being hunted by the police after a drug deal he never should have been involved in goes bad. And when they catch him, Darius is positive he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

But in place of a long prison sentence, Darius is handed an opportunity almost too good to be true: the chance to get away from his circumstances by joining the Second Chance program of the Super Justice Force, a league of people with special powers who strive to do good and protect the world from harm. Darius soon discovers a strength he never knew he possessed, but evil forces manifest and threaten to destroy everything he holds dear. Will Darius be able to save the world when he faces a deadly–and all too familiar–enemy?

This incredibly powerful YA debut by Eisner award-winning author David F. Walker dives into matters of social justice and identity, courage, and second chances in a world where heroes loom large and what seems ordinary is anything but.

Featured Image: Scholastic