Ariell Johnson, the real-life founder of Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, Inc., will be featured on a variant cover for a Marvel comic. In the jacket design for Invincible Iron Man #1, the Philadelphia-based comic bookstore owner will be pictured sitting alongside Tony Stark’s successor, RiRi Williams.
According to Comic Book Resources, Elizabeth Torque served as the artist on this project. The comic book will be released in November 2016.
Here’s more from ABC News: “Johnson opened Amalgym last December, becoming the first black, female comic book store owner on the East Coast. However, her obsession of all things geek really began around age 10 or 11, when she discovered X-Men character Storm. Johnson credits the character, one of the first black, female superheroes, with being ‘the bridge that got me into this world.'” (via For Harriet)