Today at the Showbox Market Theater in Seattle, Washington, Image Comics kicked-off Emerald City Comicon with Image Expo and a slew of exciting creator-owned announcements.
They also announced a new initiative Creators for Creators as well.
Image Comics revealed the following creator-owned projects set to launch in the coming year and beyond.
AFAR by Leila del Duca & Kit Seaton
Critically-acclaimed, Russ Manning nominated SHUTTER artist Leila Del Duca teams up as co-creator and writer alongside artist, colorist, and letterer Kit Seaton (THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY, EVE OF ALL SAINTS) for an original graphic novel, AFAR.
In AFAR, Boetema suddenly develops the ability to astrally project to other worlds, unintentionally possessing the bodies of people light years away. Inotu, her inquisitive brother with a pension for trouble, finds himself on the run after he’s caught eavesdropping on an illegal business deal between small town business tycoons and their cyborg bodyguard. When Boetema accidentally gets someone hurt while in another girl’s body, the siblings are forced to work together to solve the problems they’ve created on their planet and others.
AFAR hits shelves this Fall 2016.
BLACK CLOUD by Jason Latour, Ivan Brandon, Greg Hinkle, Matt Wilson, Aditya Bidikar, Tom Muller, edited by Maria Ludwig
Co-creators Jason Latour (SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Spider-Gwen), Ivan Brandon (DRIFTER, VIKING) and Greg Hinkle (AIRBOY, THE RATTLER), team up with colorist Matt Wilson (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE), letterer Aditya Bidikar, designer Tom Muller, and editor Maria Ludwig for an all-new series called, BLACK CLOUD.
Once upon a time…They built a world where dreams come true… And those dreams went to war. In BLACK CLOUD, we meet Zelda: exiled to Earth, her dreams of revolution are gone, but she still holds the key to the world she left behind. And it’s for sale.
BLACK CLOUD is set to launch in Fall 2016.
THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS by Jonathan Hickman & Tomm Coker
All hail god money! From Jonathan Hickman (EAST OF WEST, Secret Wars, Avengers) and Tomm Coker (Undying Love) comes a mythical reinterpretation of modern global economics.
THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS is classic occult indoctrination where the secret schools of magic are actually clandestine banking cartels who control all of society—a hidden world where vampire Russian oligarchs, Black Popes, enchanted American aristocrats, and hitmen from the International Monetary Fund work together to keep ALL OF US in our rightful place.
Each issue contains world-expanding bonus content like maps, corporate organization charts, decoded apocrypha, and stock tips to die for.
THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS is a brand new, crypto-noir series about dirty, filthy, money… and what kind of people you can buy with it. Set to launch in Fall 2016.
THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA by Howard Chaykin
Howard Chaykin (SATELLITE SAM, BLACK KISS, AMERICAN FLAGG!) with the able assistance of Jesus Aburto on coloring, and Ken Bruzenak on lettering, unleashes THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA.
THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA is set in the aftermath of a dirty bomb that wipes New York City off the map, as what will come to be known as the Second American Civil War shatters the domestic landscape in isolated pustules of violence…and a team of five private contractors is charged with stemming this tide of rage and bringing the bombers to justice.
THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA launches in Winter 2016.
GLITTERBOMB by Jim Zub & Djibril Morissette-Phan & K. Michael Russell & Marshall Dillon
Fan-favorite writer Jim Zub and newcomer Djibril Morissette-Phan come together with colorist K. Michael Russell and letterer Marshall Dillon for GLITTERBOMB.
“Probably the only thing I love more than comics is cinema,” said Morissette-Phan. “Which makes Glitterbomb a dream project since it’s a perfect blend of both.”
Set in Hollywood, GLITTERBOMB is a horror story about failed fame and blood-soaked revenge.
GLITTERBOMB is set to launch in late Summer 2016.
HORIZON, by Brandon Thomas, Juan Gedeon & Frank Martin (Skybound)
Writer Brandon Thomas, artist Juan Gedeon, and colorist Frank Martin team up for an all-new series from Image/Skybound titled, HORIZON.
In HORIZON, Zhia Malen thought she’d fought her very last war, until she learned her planet was targeted for occupation…by a desperate world called Earth. The people of Earth will be told that her arrival on our planet means invasion. These are lies. This is retaliation, and Horizon explores what happens when our planet finally runs out of second chances. And when we meet an alien race just as committed to survival as we are…
HORIZON is set to launch from Image/Skybound in July 13, 2016.
THE HUNT by Colin Lorimer, Jim Campbell, and Joana Lafuente (Shadowline Comics)
Critically acclaimed writer/artist Colin Lorimer (Harvest) teams up with letterer Jim Campbell and colorist Joana Lafuente for THE HUNT.
At her father’s deathbed, Orlaigh Roche came face to face with the age-old myth of The Slaugh; a group of soul-stealing spirits so evil that not even hell would take them. Years later, and with the belief that her father’s soul is still trapped in some form of the netherworld, she goes looking for answers—beginning a journey that leads her down a path to discover what really happens to us after we die.
THE HUNT begins in 2016 from Image/Shadowline Comics.
ISOLA by Brenden Fletcher & Karl Kerschl
Bestselling creators Brenden Fletcher (Batgirl of Burnside, Gotham Academy) and Karl Kerschl (Gotham Academy, The Abominable Charles Christopher) re-team for ISOLA—an epic fantasy adventure series with the scope of Game of Thrones and the spirit of Princess Mononoke.
ISOLA is set in a mystical land where the queen’s brother enacts a treacherous plot to transform her into a tiger. The captain of the guard, a woman of great skill, brings swift and lethal vengeance, unaware the wicked prince alone has the power to reverse the spell. The two women—one on two legs, one on four—must undertake a perilous journey halfway across the globe to the fabled island of ISOLA, gateway to the underworld, where they hope to find the spirit of the queen’s late brother and return her to human form.
ISOLA is set to launch in Spring 2017.
KILL OR BE KILLED by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Elizabeth Breitweiser
Bestselling writer Ed Brubaker (THE FADE OUT, FATALE), artist Sean Phillips (THE FADE OUT, FATALE), and colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser (THE FADE OUT, FATALE, OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA) reunite for KILL OR BE KILLED, the ultimate pulp crime comic.
KILL OR BE KILLED is the story of a troubled young man who is compelled to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret, as it slowly begins to ruin his life and the lives of his friends and loved ones.
Both a thriller and a deconstruction of vigilantism, KILL OR BE KILLED is unlike anything Brubaker and Phillips have done together in their long partnership.
KILL OR BE KILLED is set to launch in Summer 2016.
LAKE OF FIRE by Nathan Fairbairn & Matt Smith
Co-creators Nathan Fairbairn (Scott Pilgrim, Batman Incorporated) and Matt Smith (Barbarian Lord) come together for an all-new series titled LAKE OF FIRE.
In LAKE OF FIRE it is 1220 AD, and the gears of the Albigensian Crusade grind on. When an alien mining craft infested with legions of bloodthirsty predators crash-lands in the remote wilderness of the French Pyrenees, a small band of crusaders and a Cathar heretic are all that stands between God’s Kingdom and Hell on Earth.
LAKE OF FIRE is set to launch in Summer 2016.
MOONSHINE by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso, edited by Will Dennis
From Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso—the Eisner award-winning creative team behind the crime classic, 100 Bullets—comes the brutal new series, MOONSHINE.
MOONSHINE is set during the Prohibition Era, deep in the backwoods of Appalachia and tells the story of Lou Pirlo, a city-slick “torpedo” sent from New York City to negotiate a deal with the best moonshiner in West Virginia, one Hiram Holt. Lou figures it for milk run—how hard could it be to set-up moonshine shipments from a few ass-backward hillbillies? What Lou doesn’t figure on is that Holt is just as cunning as ruthless as any NYC crime boss and Lou is in way over his pin-striped head. Because not only will Holt do anything to protect his illicit booze operation, he’ll stop at nothing to protect a much darker family secret…a bloody, supernatural secret that must never see the light of day… or better still, the light of the full moon.
MOONSHINE #1 will hit stores in Fall 2016 and marks the first time Azzarello and Risso have worked together with Image Comics and reunites the acclaimed creative team that defined modern crime comics with 100 Bullets… and now puts a horror-twist on a classic gangster tale.
MOTOR CRUSH by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, & Babs Tarr
From the creative team behind the popular, New York Times bestselling Batgirl of Burnside—Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr—comes MOTOR CRUSH—is a stylish, neon-soaked, revved up science-fiction action series.
By day, a Domino Swift competes for fame and fortune in a worldwide motorcycle racing league. By night, she cracks helmets of rival gangs in brutal, illegal bike wars on the city streets to gain possession of a rare and valuable contraband: an engine-boosting “machine narcotic” known as MOTOR CRUSH. But the origins—and ultimate purpose—of this mysterious substance are unknown, and could put her on a collision course with danger…
MOTOR CRUSH rides into town this December 2016.
PRIMA by Jen Van Meter, Rick Burchett, Eric Newsom, edited by Jeanine Schaefer
Spies.
Thieves.
Ballerinas.
PRIMA.
You don’t always see who’s standing in the spotlight.
Creators Jen Van Meter and artist Rick Burchett team up to tell an all-new story about a dance company—comprised entirely of former spies—righting the wrongs of the Cold War in a series called, PRIMA.
PRIMA follows Sophia Forais and Pauline French are the soloist and Managing Director of a dance company that once served as a front for a Resistance cell in France. Engaged for a long run in New York, the dancers have turned their attention and unique skills to aiding a veteran of the Romanian underground now being blackmailed by her American husband. The small operation should prove simple, but Sophia, Paulina and their colleagues will quickly learn that the war has not really ended, and the world is no less ruthless than it was when they were smuggling information and refugees during the Occupation.
An espionage/romance adventure set in the arts world just after WWII, PRIMA is a warm-hearted series of intrigues: To Catch a Thief goes to the ballet.
On stands in FALL 2016.
PRINCE OF CATS by Ron Wimberly
PRINCE OF CATS written and drawn by Ron Wimberly, lettered by Jarred Fisher, and featuring design by Jorden Haley returns to print from Image Comics.
PRINCE OF CATS was first released from Vertigo to critical acclaim in the summer 2012. It was out of print before the following summer. After three years, it will be returning to print through Image Comics.
PRINCE OF CATS is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead meets The Warriors meets Sword of Doom. PRINCE OF CATS sets Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in an alt-universe, mid-eighties New York where dueling with live blades evolved as a cultural phenomenon alongside New York’s other street cultures; it eschews the story of the titular star-crossed lovers to follow the tragic story of Tybalt, the Prince of Cats.
PRINCE OF CATS, the definitive remastered author’s edition, is set to release in Fall 2016.
ROCKSTARS by Joe Harris & Megan Hutchison
Fan-favorite Joe Harris (THE X-FILES, SNOWFALL) teams up with artist Megan Hutchison for an all-new, ongoing series a la Almost Famous meets Supernatural called, ROCKSTARS.
ROCKSTARS follows a pair of young, rock ‘n roll investigators as they uncover a mystery involving a legendary band, dead groupies, human sacrifice and a supernatural undercurrent connecting so many famous—and even more undiscovered—secrets, myths and conspiracies peppering rock music throughout the ages.
When a pattern of unsolved ‘groupie’ murders dating back to the 1970s resumes in present-day Los Angeles, nobody makes the connection except for Jackie Mayer, a young rock nerd who not only knows everything about music history, trivia and its myriad secrets and factoids, but also harbors a mysterious, almost magical ability to ‘see’ what most people miss, and determine and divine what’s going unreported.
Joined by a music writer and aspiring investigative reporter named Dorothy Buell, and his loyal cat, Skydog, they soon uncover a vast mystery involving a legendary band’s exploits, their mercurial guitarist’s occult associations, demonic possession, and sacrifices to the dark gods of rock.
Each story arc will feature a case sprung from a different rock n’ roll era—British Invasion, Punk, 80s Heavy Metal, etc.—and draw on Jackie’s unique connection, knowledge, and darkly magical associations to crack them.
The series will launch in Fall 2016.
ROMULUS by Bryan Hill & Nelson Blake II (Top Cow Productions)
Fan-favorite writer Bryan Hill (POSTAL) and Nelson Blake II come together for an all-new Image/Top Cow series in ROMULUS.
Set in the near future, ROMULUS follows the last in a line of near-mystical martial artists wages a revolutionary war against The Order of Romulus, the ancient secret society that trained her—a global organization, hidden in plain sight, that’s controlled the world since the days of Ancient Rome.
Their plan? Cull the population with genocide and rule a New World Order. Her plan? Kill them all or die angry.
Romulus launches from Top Cow/Image in Fall 2016.
SEVEN TO ETERNITY by Rick Remender & Jerome Opeña
Writer Rick Remender reteams with collaborators Jerome Opeña (Uncanny X-Force, Fear Agent) and Matt Hollingsworth (TOKYO GHOST, WYTCHES) to bring readers a modern fantasy series following Adam Osidis, a dying knight from a disgraced house, on a mission to rid his world of an insidious God who ensnared him in a Faustian deal.
Gharils Sulm, The God of Whispers is a Machiavellian warlord who holds sway everywhere in the world of Zhal. He’s spread an omnipresent paranoia to every corner of the kingdoms; one of his spies hides in every house, every family, every hall, spreading mistrust and fear.
Adam must choose between joining a hopeless band of magic users in their desperate bid to free their world of the evil God’s burden or give in to the The God of Whispers’ promises of salvation and safety.
The series is set to launch in the Fall of 2016.
SURGEON X by Sara Kenney & John Watkiss, James Devlin, & Jared K. Fletcher, edited by Karen Berger
Writer Sara Kenney and artist John Watkiss come together for an all new series, SURGEON X, and join forces with the award-winning Karen Berger, founding editor of DC’s Vertigo imprint.
Set against the backdrop of an antibiotic apocalypse in near future London. Rosa Scott, a brilliant and obsessive surgeon becomes Surgeon X, a vigilante doctor who uses experimental surgery and black market drugs to treat patients. But as Surgeon X, Rosa soon develops a godlike-complex, deciding who will live and who will die. Ultimately, she believes that to survive in this compromised world her own warped moral code is the one she must follow—even if it endangers those closest to her.
The comic is informed by hundreds of conversations with scientists, physicians, historians, economists, ethicists & philosophers to create this deeply disturbing, yet authentic future world.
SURGEON X was funded by a Society Award from Wellcome Trust, an independent global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. They support bright minds in science, the humanities and the social sciences, as well as education, public engagement and the application of research to medicine.
SURGEON X will launch in Fall 2016.
VS by Ivan Brandon, Esad Ribić, Ive Svorcina, Aditya Bidikar, Tom Muller, edited by Sebastian Girner
Writer Ivan Brandon (DRIFTER) and Esad Ribić (Secret Wars) team up with colorist Ive Svorcina, letterer Aditya Bidikar, designer Tom Muller, and editor Sebastian Girner for a futurist drama in, VS.
VS follows the rise and fall of Satta Flynn, a wildly popular soldier in a time when War has been privatized and is a form of entertainment.
Armies financed and equipped by super-corporations. War medics that double as Pit Mechanics. Satta’s every move is LIVE on TV. And for the first time, Satta finds out what it’s like to lose.
VS is set to launch in Fall 2016.
WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD by Steve Niles & Alison Sampson
Writer Steve Niles teams up with artist Alison Sampson, colorist Stéphane Paitreau, and letterer Clem Robins in WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD.
Sampson used 1970s horror films for inspiration on the artwork and described the book’s overall look as: “about 70% Americana, slightly heightened, like True Blood, and about 30% ripping off of heads.”
A horror-adventure story, WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD follows a family with a teenage son and what happens when their road-trip goes wrong and they find themselves stuck in a town full of satanists.
WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD is set to launch in Fall 2017.
Kill or Be Killed #6 fires off a shotgun blast of craziness and moves much quicker compared to the slower paced issue #5. That isn’t to say #5 wasn’t good because it was. It was just a slower paced book that ended with a big cliffhanger. That cliffhanger is where we start this issue obviously, and it doubles down by adding a few other levels of intensity and claustrophobia to what used to be a guy who was in over his head, thinking he is doing the right thing, and killing bad people because “a demon is telling him to”. Yes, I wrote that in quotes, because I wonder if the demon is a real demon at all, or something Dylan is either seeing or his brain is manifesting as either a self-defense mechanism or another condition. I trust Ed Brubaker as a writer and am excited to how far he takes this. This book explores what would happen if an everyday civilian tried to be The Punisher. Spoilers: it isn’t sustainable.
Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser do such a good job to make a modern story feel classic. Like the rest of this series, the all-star pair give this issue the pulp noir treatment, but with a bigger color palette. They have both worked with Brubaker on his other books, and it shows. They are a fantastic team that only continue to get better. They not only compliment the story, they are a large part of it. The panel work gives the feeling of scenes from a cop television drama and helps keep the narration spell out the plot clearly and give the book a nice easy to read flow and pace. Whether it’s original ideas like using first person viewpoints on evidence or a newspaper or the believable portrayal of human emotion on the characters, they do a great job making everything believable.
It feels like too long since we have followed the nail-biting and tense adventures of Dylan. Thankfully, Kill or Be Killed #5 gives us a new entry in the fantastic crime drama from the best team in the business. If you have not read the first four issues, this week also gives us the release of the first volume, collecting those. So if you have not caught up yet, you should, because this series is fantastic.
Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser continue the rock solid artwork in their pulp style which surprisingly really works well in this modern setting. The layout is fantastic too, as there are pages that allow Brubaker to write some prose down the sides of the artwork. It is a nice detraction from how the traditional comic page can be and makes the book stand out aside from the fantastic story. The panel work is also fantastic and helps show emotion or action from our characters sometimes without the need for dialogue or narration. It is effective storytelling and compliments Brubaker as they have so many times before.
Dylan is getting himself into a mess. In Killed or Be Killed #4, he may have just made things much worse than they were. With our hero (if he can be called that), acting on impulse and research, he finds his next victim. It all seemed to make sense. He planned everything out. He was trying to help those poor Russian girls at the strip club that seemed to a part of some kind of trafficking or prostitution. Just take out the bad man, and free them. Right? Our main character gets a dose of reality in this issue, and a reminder that things don’t always go as planned. Ed Brubaker is having a good time putting the fish out of water Dylan through some situations he has never been in, both in his vigilante and personal life, and I can’t help but root for him to do the right thing. The problem with that is, I don’t always know what the right thing to do is, and neither does Dylan.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are one hell of a team. They have worked on a ton of books together and they just keep going. Thank god that they do, because we are getting another classic in the making here. The kings of crime pulp are at it once again in Kill or Be Killed #3. This story deals with the protagonist, Dylan being forced to take justice into his own hands. Our main character has been through a lot in just the first two issues alone, and this issue slows things down a bit. That’s a good thing. If you do not know the premise of Kill or be Killed, you should start at the first issue, because it is fantastic. The story follows a young man who is forced to kill bad people, and how he tries to keep it all a secret from everyone around him.
