There will someday be a colony on Mars. And there will someday be crime on Mars. It might fester in a corner for a while. But, yeah it’s going to happen. Image Comics presents, RED CITY, a new comics series that places noir in a Blade Runner sort of venue. If you’re looking for femme fatales and rival mobs, all with a Martian twist, then this is for you.
RED CITY is due out in June. Details follow:
Filed under Comics, Comics News, Image Comics
IMAGE COMICS PUBLISHER ERIC STEPHENSON RECEIVES 2014 COMICSPRO INDUSTRY APPRECIATION AWARD
As comics industry news goes, this says quite a lot. As Eric Stephenson points out, this kind of recognition speaks very well of Image Comics and all the good people who make Image Comics possible.
Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson was honored with the 2014 ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation award this past Friday at the annual Comics Professional Organization convention. ComicsPRO is the only trade organization for direct-market comic book retailers.
Press release follows:
Filed under Comics, Comics News, Image Comics
You’re in your local comics shop and the inevitable question of what’s hot comes up. Here’s what your LCS should be prepared to fire back: “RAT QUEENS VOLUME ONE: SASS AND SORCERY by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch, cover by Fiona Staples!” And he or she should say it with a maniacal laugh if at all possible.
RAT QUEENS, a comics cult favorite voted Best New Series by IGN, is ready for its first collected trade. Volume One collects the first five issues of this high fantasy concoction of booze, brawls, and blood.
This new Image Comics comedy adventure will scream for your attention in comics shops starting on March 26, and bookstores as of April 8.
From the Image Comics press release:
Filed under Comics, Comics News, Image Comics
“EGOs” is a sci-fi comic that is crunchy and substantial, just my kind of treat. Created by writer Stuart Moore and artist Gus Storms, the story takes off with interesting observations from the narrator and quick-paced action front and center. This is a killer opener as we observe a lone figure of a jaded old space warrior. This is The Planetarian and he’s a profiler who can detect clues on a world-scale, as opposed to just a boring little ole crime scene. As the narration continues above his head, we learn this guy is not exactly the heroic type but he gets the job done. He gets it done well enough to clue us in on Masse, a larger-than-life baddie that has resurfaced after many years.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Image Comics
Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting have both been making comics long enough to where they can make them in their sleep. They choose to not be complacent about it. With this comics venture, the team of writer and artist come to it full of energy. Velvet is a well crafted comic. It functions in the way a successful comic does: it does not take itself to seriously, it provides a vivid story, and it gets down to action from the get go. Velvet was falling out of high rise window when we last saw her. She figures out a nice save and then some.
Getting back to that visual of Brubaker and Epting asleep in their respective beds and dreaming up the script and artwork. The comic does have that sense of ease about it. There are a variety of scenes of Velvet Templeton fighting for her life, racing this way and that, and each scene is different and refreshing. No filler. No dead space. There are a number of extended bits of internal dialogue and each bit is clever, interesting, and fun to read. The ball is not dropped once. This back and forth dynamic of sharp and witty script and artwork is downright poetic.
For a moment, I wonder if a Mission Impossible Tom Cruise would have handled a similar challenge the way Velvet did. That comes to mind as Velvet has to figure out what to do when she’s suddenly airborne. I think it’s a toss up, just to give Tom his due. What Velvet does next, right after flying out of a window, is a fine moment in comics. This whole issue is a fine moment in comics and it looks like it will just keep getting better.
Velvet #2 is available now. Visit our friends at Image Comics here.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Ed Brubaker, Image Comics, Steve Epting, Velvet
The second issue of VELVET from creators Ed Brubaker (FATALE), Steve Epting, and Elizabeth Breitweiser is setting comic racks on fire and has sold out completely at the distributor level.
Issue #2 picks up right after #1 ends, jumping straight into the action as Velvet Templeton flees her own agency and races to uncover why Agent X-14 was killed. Dead bodies, ruined lives, and angry soldiers block her path toward discovering the truth.
Praise for VELVET:
“Velvet should move to the top of any reading pile immediately.” –Kelly Thompson, Comic Book Resources
“Stylish, exciting, and smart, Velvet is another win for the unstoppable force of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.” –Iann Robinson, Crave Online
“If you’re a fan of 24 and the Jason Bourne movies, you’re definitely going to enjoy the hell out of Velvet.” –Jorge Solis, Bloody Disgusting
“What else is there to be said? Velvet is a hell of an arresting personality negotiating a deadly and complicated landscape. There’s no telling where she’s going next, but good lord does this reviewer want to find out.” –Michelle White, Multiversity Comics
VELVET #2 has completely sold out at the distributor level, but may still be available in comic stores, and is currently available digitally on the Image Comics website (imagecomics.com) and the official Image Comics iOS app, as well as on Comixology on the web (comixology.com), iOS, Android, and Google Play.
Image Comics is pleased to announce that this second issue will be going back to print to meet customer demand. The second printing of VELVET #2 (Diamond Code OCT138253) will release on 1/8.
VELVET #3 releases 1/8 and will be available for pre-order with Diamond Code OCT130631.
Filed under Comics News, Ed Brubaker, Image Comics, Steve Epting
“Manifest Destiny” is a great name for a comic and now we have this gem, published by Image Comics, in connection with Skybound, which you can visit here. This is created and written by Chris Dingess. He admits to a passion for the weird so he’s just the right guy to mashup the Lewis and Clark expedition with a healthy dose of horror.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Image Comics, Skybound Entertainment
“Alex + Ada” is a story set in the not too distant future of floating computer screens and little robots that serve your coffee. We’re given a quiet moment to settle into the story, up until when we get to the morning’s news. Something about a virus being unleashed upon a warehouse of robots and the robots killing humans. Overnight, that company’s stock plummets and a new company emerges as the world’s most trusted tech leader.
We continue to follow Alex on his way to work and we see life-sized robots walking alongside their human masters. In the distance, there’s a protestor with a sign pleading for robot rights. We next find Alex at his office chatting telepathically with a friend. Just a little social networking through an implant in one’s head. Alex is still bummed out over his breakup of seven months ago. Isn’t there something that could cheer him up?
That something will, undoubtedly, be Ada but we only get a hint of that in this first issue which is just fine. The art by Jonathan Luna (GIRLS, THE SWORD) has a free and easy quality as if it came out of a sketchbook. It is an instinctive and simple style that is fun to look at and conveys more emotion than some more realistic art. Luna’s story, with script by Sarah Vaughn (Sparkshooter), seems to share a similar light quality. Luna appears to be very comfortable with a story full of quiet moments, at least for now. Vaughn has an agile touch with dialogue that is truly conversational. There’s a scene between Alex and his grandmother that could have easily just been filler but it’s actually fun and gives a little more substance to what happens next.
An unlikely pairing of human and android. Yep, that’s where we’re headed. No doubt, this won’t be the first story exploring the various possibilities between humans and A-I. However, there’s potential here for something refreshing. I will set the bar high and hope for something as good as the recent movie, “Robot & Frank,” which stars Frank Langella, as Frank, and Peter Sarsgaard as the voice of Robot. In this movie, also set in the near future, Frank is a man who is adrift, much like Alex in this comic. Frank Langella is a very admirable actor. Always the lady’s man, he’s matured to perfection. Here, he plays a retired jewel thief who has a robot forced upon him by family for his own good, to look after him. Little by little, Frank warms up to Robot. He refuses to give him a proper name. Ultimately, Frank and Robot come to an understanding and that’s when the plot thickens.
In the case of this comic, things look very promising indeed, considering we have Ada, a very mysterious and sexy android; plus, we have a possible robot rebellion lurking in the background.
“Alex + Ada #1” releases November 6. Visit our friends at Image Comics here.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Image Comics, Sci-Fi, science fiction
“Velvet,” published by Image Comics, is your next spy thriller addiction. It is written by one of the best crime fiction writers that comics has ever known, Ed Brubaker. And he is teamed up with one of the best artists he’s ever worked with, Steve Epting. This new series blasts away from the start. We have the dark and moody color palette that Brubaker favors, provided by colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser. We have the nondescript lettering, as if out of typewriter or teletype machine, provided by letterer Chris Eliopoulos. Yes, this comic is like a good martini, shaken, not stirred.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Crime, Crime Fiction, Ed Brubaker, Image Comics, mystery, Pulp Fiction, Spy Thrillers
“Pretty Deadly,” a new series published by Image Comics, is written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, who has a flair for the dramatic and the poetic. Emma Rios is the artist and she’s right in step with this refreshingly offbeat Western. Colors by Jordie Bellaire give us a good spooky mood. Letters by Clayton Cowles add to that mood. And Sigrid Ellis provides the edits. All in all, a very well put together comic about Death out to exact justice through various methods. It might, for a moment, sound like “East of West” but, no, it’s out there dancing to its own beat.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Image Comics, Westerns
