Smallville actress Kristin Kreuk makes her comic book writing debut with the atmospheric horror title Black Star. Kreuk rocketed to fame playing Lana Lang on Smallville, a modern-day take on the Superboy legend. Kreuk will be joined by writers Peter Mooney and Eric Putzer and artist Joe Bocardo to bring readers an unforgettable trip into the wilds of Northern Canada.
Kristin Kreuk, who is Canadian, began her acting career as a teenager, starring in the soap opera Edgemont, before landing her breakout role on Smallville. After leaving Smallville in 2008, Kreuk headed up a reboot of the 1980s fantasy show Beauty and the Beast, which aired on the CW from 2012 to 2016. Once Beauty and the Beast concluded, Kreuk would star in the CBC legal show Burden of Truth. She has also starred in films such as Eurotrip, Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
And now, Kreuk is turning her attention to the comics' genre with Black Star. Kristin’s writing partners, Mooney and Putzer, have worked in films and television. Mooney, an actor, has starred alongside Kreuk in Burden of Truth, and Putzer was a co-producer on the show. Titan Comics announced Black Star earlier this year, and now ScreenRant is pleased to bring fans an exclusive trailer for the book’s first issue, out later this summer.
Black Star's Trailer Promises a Bloody, Brutal Good Time
Black Star, as previously mentioned by Titan, will be a collaborative effort between Kreuk, Mooney, Putzer and Bocardo. Titan Comics’ synopsis for Black Star reads as follows:
Amidst skirmishes between two warring factions in the early nineteenth century fur trade, Dashiell Carlyle discovers he has magical abilities... and that he's not alone. Thrust into a secret order with designs to use their magic to build a new and better world, Dashiell discovers that their utopia may come at a horrific cost.
It's a violent world: gritty, bloody, and dark. But that's balanced with a sense of discovery and awe. The storytelling’s propulsive, and the morality grey. It's The Revenant meets Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. It's a love letter to a frozen corner of the world that few know. It's weird. And wonderful. And something wholly its own.
In addition to information on the plot, Titan also released three preview pages, showcasing Bocardo’s amazing artwork. The publisher also revealed a slew of covers for Black Star’s first issue.
Now, Titan Comics has released a special trailer for Black Star, shared above. The trailer, with its ominous music and narration, sets Black Star’s tone perfectly, one of dread and terror. Fans meet Dashiell Carlyle, Black Star’s protagonist, as well as the secret order he soon finds himself embroiled in. The trailer for the first issue of Black Star ups the anticipation factor for this book, luring readers in with the promises of intriguing mysteries and brutal violence.
Black Star Is Rooted in Winnipeg's History
Black Star Will Also Tackle a Classic Speculative Fiction Theme
The creators behind Black Star are putting their best foot forward with this book. Set in Winnipeg, the hometown of co-writer Eric Mooney, Black Star’s trailer makes it clear this title is rooted in real-world history, even before the city was founded. Mooney offered his thoughts on setting Black Star in Winnipeg to Titan Comics in a press release:
This isn’t so much an alternative history, but an omitted chapter that’s been lost to time. It’s bizarre and fantastical and entirely imagined
—but it goes a longway towards explaining whythe city is how it is today
Black Star’s creative team is going for authenticity with this project, and the trailer is a great showcase for it.
If the trailer is any indication, Black Star will touch on a common theme in speculative fiction: that Utopia is unattainable, and comes only at a great cost.
If the trailer is any indication, Black Star will touch on a common theme in speculative fiction: that Utopia is unattainable, and comes only at a great cost. Works as diverse as Watchmen and Star Trek have explored this at great length, and Black Star is offering a more magical, fantasy-based take on the subject. Black Star will dress its examinations of utopia in savage violence and dark magic.
Black Star Is a Must-Read Horror Comic
And Titan Comics’ trailer for Black Star shows Kristin Kreuk stretching her wings beyond Smallville. Black Star’s trailer pulls no punches, thrusting viewers into a bleak, alternate-take on Winnipeg’s history. The buzz for Black Star was already building, and Titan’s new trailer establishes it as one of the “must-read” horror titles of 2026.
Black Star #1 is on sale July 29 from Titan Comics!
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