There is a Marvel Cinematic Universe and a DC Extended Universe. Now, Tre and Nya Lewis have introduced the Zip and Drax Universe in their first ever published book, “Zip and Drax: The Beginning.” 

At just 12 and 13 years old, respectively, Tre and Nya believe this book has been a triumphant kick off to the series. 

“We want the book series to act as canon for the cartoon series we create once we can make enough to hire an animation team,” Tre and Nya said. “We believe this book can springboard into a successful franchise similar to Captain Underpants, which is one of our favorite book series.” 

Tre and Nya are homeschooled and their dad, Anthony Lewis, taught them about fields such as coding, engineering and art. However, their passion for drawing characters and making comics was quickly realized. 

At ages 9 and 10, Tre and Nya began making comics on Instagram, which “brought them a lot of positive feedback.” 

“They felt confident enough to make their own official comic book and spent their whole summer creating this book,” Anthony said. “It has given them great joy to see their progress and characters come into existence. They are hoping that people love them as much as they do.” 

The siblings’ book was published in November 2023 by Sarai Publishing LLC. 

In the introductory book, a famous scientist Zach gets tricked by a “jealous and conniving” coworker, Dr. Rath. 

Dr. Rath feels that Zach is taking all his shine at the company and conjures a plan to launch Zach into space to never be seen again. Zach then is made aware of the Dr. Rath’s plan and tries to transfer his consciousness into an android body to fight and stop his coworker’s plot. 

Zach’s attempt fails and now plans on getting revenge with his newfound alien-demon friend, Drax. 

Illustrations in the book were done by Nya while the color and story was created by Tre. 

Having this book published and available for others to read has been a long-awaited goal for the two. 

“We have always been creative. Our  parents have shown us over the years how our ideas can be made into reality. All the conversations, puppet shows and skits have been cultivated into this idea and fueling them to reach our goal,” Tre and Nya said. “Over time, we have taken on more ownership of this goal as we gain more awareness and responsibility.” 

Not only is this book starting a fictional universe, but Tre and Nya have big plans for themselves moving forward. 

By the end of 2024, Tre and Nya plan to release two more books for the series. But, even further down the road, Tre and Nya aim to have one of the largest animation studios in America — based in Covington — named Shadow Nerdz Media.  To find out more about their media company, go to shadownerdzmedia.com.

Their aspirations are to be well known like Pixar, Disney and Illumination, according to their dad. And, for Tre and Nya, this publication is just the beginning. 

 “They talk about having their own company and employees by the time they graduate. They have impressive goals of having toy lines, clothing merchandise, movies and cartoon series for a host of well known characters like many of the major animation corporations today,” Anthony said. “They want to be some of the first children from generation Alpha to make an impact on media/business and represent the next wave of stories that will captivate audiences.”