JULY 2015 IMAGE EXPO ANNOUNCEMENTS REVEALED
Today Image Comics made a slew of exciting creator-owned announcements at Image Expo.
“I’m
so pleased with how many amazing, talented creators we’re welcoming
into the Image Comics family this coming year,” said Eric Stephenson,
Publisher at Image Comics. “These individuals bring to life stories that
run the gamut in genre from thrillers and horror to science-fiction and
comedy and I can’t wait to see their breathtaking work hit the
shelves.”
Image Comics revealed the following creator-owned projects set to launch in the coming year.
INVINCIBLE: REBOOT
THE WALKING DEAD editor and Skybound
Entertainment’s Editorial Director Sean Mackiewicz announced the
forthcoming reboot of Kirkman’s long-running superhero series,
INVINCIBLE.
In
this new direction for INVINCIBLE, Mark suddenly finds himself without
powers. Back home... but aware of everything he’s lived through. What
does he change, who can he save... and how will he deal with his father
now that he knows what’s coming?
The
INVINCIBLE reboot will begin with issue #124 and is set to launch on
October 21 and will retain the same creative team with THE WALKING DEAD
writer Robert Kirkman and art by Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and
Jean-Francois Beaulieu.
CODENAME BABOUSHKA: THE CONCLAVE OF DEATH
What if the sexy Russian Bond girl was actually the hero?
Written by Antony Johnston (THE FUSE, The Coldest City, Daredevil) with art by Shari Chankhamma (SHELTERED, The Sisters’ Luck),
and letters by Simon Bowland, CODENAME BABOUSHKA is an action-packed
modern pulp spy thriller. Full of high-stakes thrills in exotic
locations, CODENAME BABOUSHKA follows a kick-ass female hero in the
style of James Bond and Modesty Blaise!
"Codename Baboushka
has everything you'd expect from me: a kick-ass female hero, bags of
tension, and deep, dark secrets that everyone's trying to figure out,”
said Johnston. “But it's also way more high-octane than anything I've
done before, with guns, fists, and explosions everywhere!”
The enigmatic Contessa is a wealthy
socialite, the last heiress to a noble Russian line—and secretly a
deadly assassin! Blackmailed by the US government to carry out dirty
jobs even the CIA can’t sanction, she’s got nothing to lose... and
everything to fight for!
CODENAME BABOUSHKA #1 hits this October 2015.
CAMP MIDNIGHT
From Man of Action's Steven T. Seagle and The New Yorker
artist Jason Adam Katzenstein comes CAMP MIDNIGHT, an original 256-page
graphic novel set to hit stores in early October 2015, just in time for
Halloween reading.
Reluctant
camper Skye is accidentally sent to the wrong camp for the summer. Not
wanting to please her “step monster,” Skye is dead-set on not fitting
in. Luckily, that won’t be a problem, as everyone at Camp Midnight—with
the exception of fellow camper and fast-friend Mia—seems to be a
full-fledged monster.
"Camp Midnight is a
brilliant graphic novel debut for cartoonist Jason Adam Katzenstein, and
it's the perfect book for readers who loved Raina Telgemeier's Smile,
but wished it had more bowls of gooey eyeballs during the dinner
scenes," said Seagle.
Can
Skye keep her identity as a human secret until she catches the bus for
home? Is all of this a figment of her overactive imagination? And what
about Skye’s major crush on a boy who is far, really far, from her usual
type? Find out in CAMP MIDNIGHT.
BLUE MONDAY: THIEVES LIKE US
BLUE MONDAY: THIEVES LIKE US makes its
triumphant return with an all-new series from Eisner and Harvey
Award-nominated cartoonist Chynna Clugston Flores. Bleu, Clover, Victor,
Alan, and the entire gang from Fresburger, California are back! Winter
has thawed into spring, the whole world is thinking about sex, and it’s
all Bleu’s fault! Or at least, it seems that way.
Maybe
Bleu should just suck it up and try to get some experience in these
matters so that she can finally woo her history teacher, Mr. Bishop,
once and for all. What schemes will she cook up to achieve her
outrageous goal? And what the heck is going on between Clover and
Victor? And Alan and Erin?! Is that really a thing now? Find out in this
new series of teenage calamities and catastrophes that’s repeatedly
been likened to “Archie Comics on crack.”
BLUE MONDAY: GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS
For the first time ever, Chynna
Clugston Flores’ entire original catalog of BLUE MONDAY comics are
collected together in one, massive volume from Image Comics in BLUE
MONDAY: GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS. Experience the Pepsi-fueled misadventures
of Bleu L. Finnegan, comics’ favorite blue-haired, Buster
Keaton-obsessed, Adam Ant-worshipping teenager from the very beginning.
GERMFREE
ADOLESCENTS collects in order all of the previously-published
miniseries and one-shot comics, along with all of the rare short stories
of the critically-acclaimed comedy that has often been compared to the
comics work of Rumiko Takahashi and the John Hughes/Molly Ringwald film
collaborations of the 1980s. This collection also includes tons of
behind-the-scenes material you won’t want to miss.
SCOOTER GIRL
Chynna
Clugston Flores also announced an all-new series, SCOOTER GIRL, a love
letter to southern California mod and scooter culture. SCOOTER GIRL is
Chynna Clugston Flores’ screwball romantic comedy classic. Ashton Archer
has it all. He’s the biggest man on his high school campus, he’s got a
huge family fortune waiting for him, and his closet and garage are full
of the coolest accoutrements available, from flashy suits to swank shoes
to a slick Vespa scooter.
It
appears that nothing can go wrong for this hard-hearted hottie—that is,
until the confident and fashionable Margaret Sheldon motors by on her
Lambretta. At that moment, Ashton’s life takes a turn for the worse.
Everyone at school suddenly hates him, his father declares bankruptcy,
and his scooter gets run over by a truck. Even high-tailing it out of
town does him no good, because wherever he goes, Margaret follows. How
can he get out of the black curse this woman has placed on his life? By
getting her to fall in love with him, or else!
“I am extremely excited to be announcing that Blue Monday and Scooter Girl
are back to print with Image Comics,” said Clugston Flores. “These
series are near and dear to my heart, I’m hoping that not only new
readers will embrace them, but that original fans will be pleased to see
these sharp new collections as well as brand new Blue Monday material.
There’s a lot in store, a lot of laughs, and a hell of a lot of fun to
be had!”
THROWAWAYS
Throwaway (n.):
Cold War slang for a deniable asset, a disposable assassin meant to die alongside their target.
1973.
Project MK-ULTRA shuts down for good, its goal of creating brainwashed
assassins and psychic spies unrealized. That's the story the world
believes for thirty years, until Dean Logan, son of a successful ULTRA
test subject, narrowly escapes a team of enhanced operatives sent to
kidnap him back into the fold. On the run—not just from the dirtiest
secret the CIA ever funded—but his own out of control psychic abilities,
Dean is saved by Abby Palmer, a former Army Ranger taken by ULTRA in
Afghanistan and reprogrammed to be an unstoppable, disposable killer.
Except Abby survived her expiration
date, and now she's turned her deadly skillset toward one goal:
destroying the ULTRA program and dragging its masterminds into the
light. Teaming up to take them down, Dean and Abby quickly discover
ULTRA's leadership has gone rogue, and the program's charismatic head
doctor has her own plans—for Dean and Abby, for ULTRA, and for the
United States itself.
Looking
into a future of superpowered assassins, telepathic intelligence
agents, and far-reaching, government-toppling conspiracies, THROWAWAYS
written by Caitlin Kittredge with art by Steve Sanders is the spy
thriller as you've never seen it before.
SUNSET PARK
Something's
up in Sunset Park, and it ain't just the rent. Are Brooklyn's
gentrifiers more than just economic vampires? A cartoonist draws a
macabre story from a collection of notes, journals, movies and other
ephemera he finds boxed, abandoned in the studio he's recently rented
along the latest frontline in gentrification's relentless march over
Brooklyn in SUNSET PARK.
Among the boxed items are what could
be a copy of an old Warhol vampire film and what looks to be a journal
belonging to Jean Michel Basquiat. SUNSET PARK is an all-new, limited
series by Ron Wimberly coming from Image Comics.
SLAVE PUNK
Ron
Wimberly teased a second forthcoming project with Image Comics, SLAVE
PUNK: WHITE COAL. SLAVE PUNK tells the story of how a genius slave
defied the powerful King Cotton and ignited the Civil War in an attempt
to end slavery.
CRY HAVOC
Image Comics announced CRY HAVOC, a new series written by Simon Spurrier (X-Men Legacy, Marvel Zombies, The Spire), with art by Ryan Kelly (Lucifer, Northlanders, Three),
and featuring colors by Lee Loughridge and Matt Wilson, letters by
Simon Bowland, and design by Emma Price. CRY HAVOC is a journey into
war-torn Afghanistan in the company of monsters, a London
street-musician savaged by a ghostly hound, and a terrified prisoner
tangled in a folkloric insurrection.
“Beneath all its snark, fanged horror-beasts, deadly firefights and exploding billy-goats, Cry Havoc
is the intimate tale of one woman struggling to keep her life from
falling apart,” said Spurrier. “To depict it all I've been lucky enough
to partner with Ryan, who's genuinely one of the greatest storytellers
our medium has—not to mention a next-level monster-wrangler. Add to that
some narrative mold breaking by our roster of superstar colorists and
Cry Havoc is snarling to be set loose.”
CRY HAVOC features three parallel and
interwoven story threads in the life of Lou Canton: an extraordinary
woman being consumed by chaos with three different colorists lending
their artistic takes in order to define the separate phases of the
story.
Best described as Jarhead via Pan's Labyrinth, CRY HAVOC is a modern mix of myth, military, and monstrosity.
BLACK MAGICK
Bestselling writer Greg Rucka and
artist Nicola Scott team up to conjure an all-new ongoing series in
BLACK MAGICK, set to launch just in time for Halloween.
“I’m calling it witch-noir, because
it’s not quite crime and it’s not wholly about the supernatural, but the
two are somehow dancing together,” said Rucka. “And with Nicola’s art,
it’s turned into a beautiful dance, indeed. I’ve been waiting six years
to share Rowan’s story with the world, waiting even longer to get to
work with Nicola on something creator-owned. This is that chance, and
we’re both seizing it!”
BLACK
MAGICK follows Rowan Black, robbery/homicide detective in the city of
Portsmouth, and the latest in a line of traditional witches who can
trace their lineage—and memories—back to before the library of
Alexandria burned. Rowan has carefully built a wall between her
professional life and her faith, but now that barrier is cracking.
If magick is the power to impose one’s own will on reality, where does that leave the rest of us?
CROSSWIND
CROSSWIND is the cutting edge story of
a suave, sharp hitman from Chicago and a seemingly unremarkable
housewife from Seattle, and how they accidentally end up switching
lives. It's a suspense fantasy full of sex, violence, and the blackest
of humor. Written with sardonic wit by Gail Simone and stunningly
realized by Cat Staggs, CROSSWIND will be one of the most talked about
books of the year.
Simone assured fans: “This is the comic that might make Dr. Wertham come back from the dead to try to ban comics again.”
THE GODDAMNED
SOUTHERN BASTARDS writer Jason Aaron, artist R.M. Guerra of Scalped, and colorist Giulia Brusco turn their attention to… The Bible in THE GODDAMNED.
Before the great flood, the world is
filled with violence and wickedness. In just a couple thousand years,
humanity has gone from paradise to depravity and ruin. God is beginning
to seriously regret having ever created man in the first place.
Welcome
to the world of THE GODDAMNED, an all-new, ongoing series to launch
from Image Comics in November 2015. Set just before the Biblical flood,
in a world so out of control with violence and depravity, God is just
about to pull the plug. “It's part caveman adventure story, part stark
and brutal western,” said Aaron. “And did I mention there are dinosaurs?
Imagine if Quentin Tarantino was hired to direct the movie version of
the book of Genesis. That's pretty much what we're aiming for.”
THE OTHER SIDE: Deluxe Edition
Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart also announced that a new, deluxe edition of THE OTHER SIDE would be coming to Image Comics.
HEARTLESS
Legendary
comics writer Warren Ellis teams up with artist Tula Lotay again for a
modern folktale about love, revenge, and the deadly grip of the
supernatural in, HEARTLESS.
A
female musician returns to northern England, where her family owned a
little cottage in the middle of a forest. She wrote her first album
there, and she's "going back to the countryside," as musicians used to,
to write her next one. But the forest doesn't want her there. She's
returning to face her demons—one in particular—and put herself back
together, but the forest remembers what she did, and the devil wants his
due.
Ellis
said of the new project: “I wrote this for Tula, and it's full of all
the stuff we love: the spooky stories, the landscape, the folklore, and
the things that haunt us.”
HUCK
Bestselling writer Mark Millar (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass, WANTED) will team up with artist Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire) for an all-new project to be titled, HUCK.
Millar
said of the project: "All the best old comics were about people you
didn’t expect becoming empowered. Peter Parker wasn’t a classic hero. He
was a lonely teenager. Matt Murdock was blind. Tony Stark had a heart
condition. Doctor Donald Blake couldn’t walk without a stick. So we
wanted to do something incredibly sweet about a small-town guy with
learning difficulties who could do all these amazing things. He’s the
purest, most decent character you’ve ever seen in a comic book. A big
guy who just wants to help people and does it in secret so nobody even
knows he even exists. It’s the ultimate feel good comic. A Frank Capra
superhero story I guess about a small town and a close-knit community
and an amazing guy they just all want to shelter from the outside world.
He’s Captain America meets Forrest Gump. He’s just a nice guy in a very
classic mould.
“Working
with Rafael has been amazing. I’ve always been a fan, but you really
only fully appreciate an artist when you see what he does with one of
your scripts. I think this is one of the most beautifully drawn comics
I’ve ever had my name on and it’s been such a pleasure. I finished the
whole project in early summer and I’m starting the second arc soon.
We’ve got three of these stories planned, each one six issues long, and
we’re just having a good time. I think you stumble on something special
every once in a while as a creator and my gut tells me we’ve got a
project like that here.”
PRIVATE EYE: The Deluxe Hardcover
Nominated for three Eisner Awards, PanelSyndicate.com’s
digital comics sensation THE PRIVATE EYE by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos
Martin with colors by Muntsa Vincente is finally coming to print in a
gorgeous deluxe hardcover edition. The book will hit stores this
November 2015.
“Readers
and retailers have been begging us for a physical version of this story
ever since we first announced our hard-boiled parable about the future
of privacy in America,” said Vaughan. “So when the time came, Marcos and
I knew that we had to go with Image Comics, the most creator-friendly
publisher of print comics ever.”
Set
in an inevitable future where everyone has a secret identity, THE
PRIVATE EYE is an eerily prescient sci-fi mystery about an unlicensed
private investigator who stumbles onto the most important case of his
life.
SNOTGIRL
New York Times
bestselling writer Bryan Lee O’Malley teams up with artist Leslie Hung,
colorist Mickey Quinn, and letterer/designer Maré Odomo for SNOTGIRL, a
dark comedy set in the world of fashion bloggers.
“Snotgirl is funny and f*cked
up,” O’Malley warned. “It’s full of fascinating characters you’ll love
to hate. Leslie’s art is lush and beautiful.”
Lottie is a huge success—she’s blog
famous! Her online persona is flawless and fun, but her real life is
filled with woes. She has terrible allergies, she just got dumped, and
her blogger friends don’t understand her. Things turn around when Lottie
instantly clicks with Caroline, a new girl on the scene… but can she
turn chemistry into friendship, or will she ruin everything?
Hung added: “This is my first ongoing series, so I’m really excited. Snotgirl is going to be the best comic ever, if we don’t die making it!”
VIRGIL OGN
Betrayed, beaten, and banished by his own, an outed cop fights his way across Jamaica for revenge.
UNDERTOW and Midnighter writer Steve Orlando and Murder Book
artist JD Faith present a brand new, “queersploitation” graphic novel
on the streets of Jamaica in, VIRGIL, in stores this September 2015.
This
is a Foxy Brown-style revenge action with a new face and new fists.
Holding his gun and his badge, Virgil thought he was safe in the police
force, hiding who he is. But when his own brothers on the force out him
in the papers, it doesn't bring him down. It sets him free!
Now, he's out for revenge. And he's not leaving town without his man, and some blood on his hands.
From
the foreword: "Steve Orlando and J.D. Faith have taken the conventions
of the revenge thriller, mixed them in with elements of
queersploitation, and managed to deliver a graphic novel that is
entertaining, relevant, and politicized." —David Walker, writer of Shaft, Cyborg
HADRIAN’S WALL
From the creative team behind the
critically-acclaimed series C.O.W.L.—Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel, and Rod
Reis—comes a new psychological thriller in HADRIAN’S WALL, where the
secrets of everyone involved are as dark as the space that surrounds
them. The series is set to launch from Image Comics this November 2015.
In
1983, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union
culminated with nuclear detonations in New York City and Moscow. In the
decades following, the two superpowers found peace through a partnership
focused on building the first colony in space. But now, seventy years
later, a new Cold War simmers… between Earth and that very Colony.
“With C.O.W.L.,
Image afforded us the tremendous opportunity to launch a creator-owned
series focusing on dark, complex, morally ambiguous characters in a time
of great change,” said Higgins. “We’re thrilled to continue that trend
with Hadrian’s Wall, and even more thrilled to continue our partnership
with Image.”
When
a crewmember dies aboard one of Earth’s survey ships, HADRIAN’S WALL,
investigator Simon Moore looks to determine whether foul play is
involved. However, once on board, it doesn’t take Simon long to realize
that few things are what they seem... including the identities of the
crew and the real reason HADRIAN’S WALL is on the edges of Colony Space.
With every crewmember a suspect, and tensions between Earth and the
Colony mounting, the fate of both worlds may come down to one man and a
ship.
AXCEND
Creator and writer/artist Shane Davis
alongside inker Michelle Delecki and colorist Morry Hollowell bring
AXCEND to Image Comics this October 2015.
“In Axcend, teenager, Eric
Morn's life revolves around gaming,” said Davis. “He quickly finds
himself locked against a vicious player only to realize the game, Axcend, has carried over into the real world with apocalyptic consequences.”
What happens when a video game decides
to come to our reality to play? When there are no extra lives, and
Armageddon looms on the horizon, when your life revolves around gaming
like teenager Eric Morn, you Press Start.
FASTER THAN LIGHT
Written
and drawn by Brian Haberlin, Shadowline/Image Comics is pleased to
introduce readers to an all-new, interactive storytelling experience in
FASTER THAN LIGHT, launching this September 2015.
In the very near future we discover
the secret of faster-than-light travel. Suddenly the universe is wide
open to us, but are we ready for it? With all the idealism of the
original Star Trek and the grit and immediacy of Gravity, the story of humanity's first thrilling and terrifying adventures to the stars takes flight!
Every
issue features Anomaly's free cutting edge Augmented Reality app, which
makes it look like interactive holograms are coming out of the book!
EXPIRED
Written
by Jimmie Robinson (THE EMPTY) with art by Richard Pace,
Shadowline/Image Comics also announced an all-new, five-issue
supernatural crime series, EXPIRED.
In EXPIRED, a homeless war
vet ends up helping a ghost who is connected to an old coin-operated
parking meter. He can only see and communicate with her as long as he
feeds the meter. He has to solve the murder before the city replaces
the meter with a modern version — and before the killer finds him, but
who’s going to believe a homeless guy who looks like he’s talking to
himself?
THE ONE%
Critically-acclaimed writer/artist/director Kaare Kyle Andrews (Spider-Man: Reign, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon) targets THE ONE% with his very first creator-owned comic.
In THE ONE%, they own more than half the world, and Renato Jones is going to even the score... one percent at a time.
"Creator-owned
comics have always been part of the plan,” said Andrews. “I can't
believe I've waited so long to make the leap. I am hungry, I am angry,
and I am throwing everything I have into this series. A dark neo-noir
tribute to focus all of my rage and revenge.”
RINGSIDE
RINGSIDE is an ongoing drama written
by Joe Keatinge (SHUTTER, TECH JACKET), with art by Nick Barber, colors
by Simon Gough, and letters by Ariana Maher set around the world of
professional wrestling and coming from Image Comics this November. The
series explores the artistry of performers rotating as cogs in the
corporate machinery of an industry built to sell myth to the masses.
“Ever
since I was a kid I've been caught up in the mythology professional
wrestling sells us, that these larger-than-life men and women are
unstoppable titans locked in a never-ending, action-packed drama,” said
Keatinge. “However, in time you learn that they're just as human as
anyone else, that they're very much putting their lives on the line to
entertain us, that they're just as much part of a corporate machine
built for profit as anyone else. Ringside's a book about taking
apart that machine and seeing how the industry functions and the lives
it affects from a rotating set of angles including the wrestlers
themselves, the creatives they work with, the suits in charge and the
fans cheering them all on."
RINGSIDE
starts with three perspectives: a retired veteran forced to fight his
greatest battle in the real world, a rookie struggling to get his first
shot and a writer frustrated over lack of control.
But they're just the beginning.
The real violence is outside the ring.
ABOUT IMAGE COMICSImage
Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a
collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become
one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image
currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd
McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major
houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline,
Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in
nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science
fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction,
humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium
today. For more information, visit
www.imagecomics.com.
