Image Expo February 2018 - 23 new titles announced!

[TotalSnorefest]

So far I've only seen a write-up over at Multiversity. Give that a look for more info on all of these!

Here's the rundown, no artwork (yet) though.
1. “Bloodstrike: Brutalists” by Michel Fiffe.
That's right, the creator of COPRA is doing at least three issues of Rob Liefeld's Bloodstrike. Includes back-up stories and pin-ups by people like Ed Piskor too.

2. “Medieval Spawn + Witchblade” by Brian Holguin and Todd McFarlane.
Crossover mini-series. This also includes some augmented reality options, what app it uses hasn't been said yet though.

3. “Spawn Kills Everyone 2” by Todd McFarlane and Will Robson.
The one-shot was a success, so they're following up with a 4-issue mini series. It features Spawn giving birth to hundreds of smaller Spawn babies who take his “kill list” and try to help out their new father.

4. “Misery”
This was another McFarlane announced project, but no creative team attached yet. It's about a teenage hero who is tired of being pushed around and abused by the actions of others. Very much a #MeToo -inspired project.

5. “Sam and Twitch: True Detectives” miniseries.
Set to run 8 issues, it's already been completed and intended to launch coincidingly with the Spawn movie from Blumhouse Pictures which stars one of the Sam & Twitch characters. Didn't say which creative team was announced yet.

6.“Death or Glory” by Rick Remender and Bengal.
Awesome to see Bengal becoming more of a household name in American comics too, between Batgirl, the Antarctic Press re-releases and now this!
It's a high-speed crime series set to start in May 2018. CBR has an interview and cover art already.

7. “Jook Joint” – Tee Franklin and Maria Nguyen.
Limited series of 5 issues by the Bingo Love team. This is about domestic abuse, racism and other terrible things in a jazz club. Its profits benefit the Healing Heart charity too.

8. “Blackbird” – Sam Humphries and Jen Bertel.
Described as Harry Potter meets Riverdale, this modern fantasy is set for October 2018.

9. “Son of Hitler” – Anthony Del Col, Jeff McComsey, and Geoff Moore.
This is a 200+ page graphic novel about a secret son of Adolf Hitler, releases May 2018.

10. “Farmhand” by Rob Guillory.
That's right, new work from Rob "Chew" Guillory. It's about a family man and new agrarian who returns to his family fields—but these nightmarish crops give a new meaning to ear of corn and fingerling potatoes. Set for July 2018.

11. “The Red Hook” – Dean Haspiel.
This looks like it'll be a print version/adaptation of a webcomic. The graphic novel launches June 2018.

12. “Proxima Centauri” by Farel Dalrymple.
Psychedelic sci-fi, running for 6 issues about escaping the 'spectral dimension space zone'. This should be good fun. Launches in June 2018.

13. “The Last Siege” by Landry Walker and Justin Greenwood.
A medieval war story told in the structure of a spaghetti western. Action-packed, no fantasy or magic, and probably pretty violent.
Summer 2018 release.

14. “Leviathan” by John Layman and Nick Pitarra.
Creators of Chew and Manhattan Projects team up to tell a story about a group millennials trying to do a black magic ritual for laughs and ending up summoning a demonic giant monster determined to kill them all. Summer 2018.

15. "Crowded” by Chris Sebela, Ro Stein, and Ted Brandt.
This is a cynical take on the app-economy and online grudges, by allowing people to crowdfund hitmen. Set for Summer 2018.

16. “Shanghai Red” by Christopher Sebela and Joshua Hixon.
A revenge thriller set on a boat from Shanghai to Portland. June 2018 as well.

17. “The Weatherman” by Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox, Dave Stewart.
Local weatherman and fun-loving amnesiac Nathan Bright was just a normal guy living the good life on terraformed Mars. But the past Nathan didn’t know he had comes back to murder him when he’s accused of carrying out the worst terrorist attack in human history—an event that wiped out nearly the entire population of Earth.
That's a good pitch! Launches June 2018.

18. “Unnatural” by Mirka Andolfo.
This looks like a translation from a comic from Italy called Contra Natura. It's a fantasy-erotica about cross-species romance and the dangers of breaking societal conventions. July 2018 release.

19. “Dead Rabbit” by Gerry Duggan and John McCrea.
This is about a foul-mouthed mercenary hitman - what Gerry Duggan does best haha. Set for Summer 2018.

20. “What’s the Furthest Place From Here?” by Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss
Tells the story of a gang of young punks getting lost in the wasteland of America. Set for November 2018.

21. “Dead Guy Fan Club” by Annie Wu
Launches in Fall 2018, it's about fans trying to investigate the suspicious death of their favourite rock star.

22. “Echolands” by Hayden Blackman and JH Williams III, Dave Stewart, Todd Klein.
Looks like a giant genre mashup from an all-star creative team, about a thief escaping a wizard and a golem?
"Coming soon"

23. "The Magic Order" by Mark Millar & Oliver Coipel.
This is billed as the first Netflix-produced comic... Set for 6 issues, it's about a secret society of wizards and sorcerers it looks like. Released through Image in Summer 2018.

Whew that should be all, there's more info in the link up top, I just wanted to try and make a quick (hopefully) convenient run-down list for people here.
Anything that excites you guys? I like the sound of Proxima Centauri and The Weatherman a lot right away, and an Annie Wu solo-book could be crazy good too.

[cc008]

Dead Rabbit sounds like Duggan's creator owned Deadpool and anybody who knows me knows I'll totally be reading that.

[FluffySheep]

Proxima Centauri and The Weatherman sound good to me too. I like crime stuff and Remender so I'll definitely be trying Death or Glory.

Edit: Now that I've read a bit more, Echolands sounds promising too!

[npasto]

I went to the event. Some interesting new titles in the pipeline. The merch section also had a little preview book with pages from some of these, which I flipped through, but haven't actually read yet.

Too many promising books to name each one, but personally I was probably most intrigued by Echolands, Death or Glory, and Dead Guy Fan Club. The visual accompaniment for the Dead Guy Fan Club intro had a very striking aesthetic that reminded me a bit of Paper Girls. I haven't seen any actual pages from the book, but if the whole thing looks that clean then I'll probably pick up the #1 just for the art alone.

That said, I'm ultimately more of a "story over art" guy when it comes to comics and it's really hard to tell whether or not a comic will grab you until you actually read it. That goes for all of the books previewed today. The true test for me is always if, after I finish reading the first issue, I want to go out and grab #2 asap.

[Alhazred]

Well, I'm interested in...

- Bloodstrike: Brutalists - Big fan of Fiffe here
- Sam and Twitch: True Detectives - Maybe it's good. Gritty cops are right up my alley
- Leviathan. - I was curious to see what Layman was gonna do after Chew

And that's pretty much it. Not the Image Expo with the biggest names...

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I'm down for Death or Glory at least but, as is usually the case with Image now, I'll wait for reviews to see which of these to check out in trade.

[Qwerty]

I'll get Leviathan and Farmhand based on my love of Chew alone

[Joker]

A couple of these sound interesting but not much really jumped out at me. Maybe if there was a better track record of ever seeing the ImageExpo books?

Happy to see Bengal on a book, though! That'll be gorgeous if nothing else.

[sven]

The titles that interest me......

Blackbird
The Last Seige
The Weatherman

[soundsci]

I was able to snag ashcans of Dead Rabbit, Farmhand, and Leviathan this past weekend at c2e2.

Dead Rabbit was my favorite and I've read it twice so far. This seemed to be the most complete of the ashcans, and was possibly finished as far as I could tell. It wasn't quite the creator-owned Deadpool the initial descriptions would lead you to believe. It's still a foul-mouthed masked vigilante, but less immature and comparatively grounded in reality. It may be enough to fill the hole that Kill or be Killed will leave. Also just have to say that the introductory splash page with the main character made me lol. Between this and Analog, Gerry Duggan is on a roll with his creator-owned titles.

The other two I read quickly on the train, so I have so my memory is more fuzzy.

Farmhand's ashcan is supposedly the first half of the issue. It starts with a nightmare scenario and then some time is spent introducing you to the family. I love the concept of a farm growing human body parts, and it seems like the perfect follow-up to Chew. If you've read Chew, then you probably know what to expect visually. Could be a coincidence, but the main character actually looks vaguely like Guillory imo - not sure if intentionally.

Leviathan was the full issue, with 5+ pages not yet colored and a few not yet fully drawn. The first page had a Saga nod with a Lying Cat t-shirt. There's a Donald Trump cameo with an ...interesting... portrait of himself. It's a giant monster story with very detailed art by Pitarra and lovely colors.

I might reread these and post more details or if anyone wants, feel free to ask questions and I'll try my best to answer.

[Martini Sigil]

What is the difference between Image, and Skybound? I understand that the latter is an imprint of the former, but is Skybound independent from Image?... or is there oversight? ...

[Joker]

Skybound is Kirkman's line. He's an Image partner. I'm sure he gets to run it however he wants.

What exactly do you mean by oversight?