Image Comics

Image Comics and the creators of TODD, THE UGLIEST KID ON EARTH have discovered that the endless hopefulness of a cheerful kid unaware of the rampant dysfunction in the world around him cannot be contained in a four-issue miniseries. Starting in September, TODD will become an ongoing series, following the publication of the trade paperback collection of the first, critically lauded story arc in August.

The new TODD arc by MK Perker and Ken Kristensen takes a look at the unholy intersection of comic book conventions, public television, and paranormal investigation, as Todd unwittingly uncovers a conspiracy that literally goes as deep as the depths of Hell.

"It was always our hope that we'd be able to make TODD an ongoing series, but it wasn't just the critical and commercial success of TODD that compelled us," said artist Perker. "It was public service! I don't think it's hyperbole to say that armageddon is upon us. And with the next story arc, 'Charlie Rose's Table: Public Broadcasting Satan,' Todd is the only thing that stands between Charlie Rose and global catastrophe."

"The survival of PBS in American culture has always been difficult to explain," added writer Kristensen. "A television network with high artistic standards, educational programming, and a ratings juggernaut in Downton Abbey? Clearly they've made a deal with the devil — and starting with issue #5 TODD, THE UGLIEST KID ON EARTH will unearth the ugly truth."

TODD, THE UGLIEST KID ON EARTH Volume One (ISBN 978-1-60706-777-1) will be in stores on August 7. The new arc of TODD, UGLIEST KID ON EARTH will start in September.

MASKS AND MOBSTERS was hailed as one of the best webcomics of the year when it was released by MonkeyBrain in 2012, and now the Image Comics imprint Shadowline is bringing it to print in style, with a deluxe hardcover edition that collects all seven issues. Written by Joshua Williamson (GHOSTED, DEAR DRACULA) and drawn by Mike Henderson, Ryan Cody, Jason Copland, and Justin Greenwood, MASKS AND MOBSTERS explores the secret stories of superheroes and mobsters vying for control of Golden City.

Writer Williamson imagines a world where, in the 1930s and ‘40s, superheroes and supervillains didn’t start appearing just in the pages of comic books but in flesh-and-blood life, confronting the underground powers that had maintained a fearful status quo.

"One of the things that always has stuck with me was... if all these superheroes started to pop up, how did that affect the mob's business?” said Williamson. “The masked men couldn't be paid off, and the supervillains didn't care about paying dues, right? How did organized crime deal with it all? I wanted to see that world from their perspective.”

Praise for MASKS AND MOBSTERS:

“Best digital series [of 2012]... an intriguing black-and-white tale about gangsters, snitches and the first caped do-gooders.”
– USA Today
 
"Smart work brilliantly presented. My favorite Monkeybrain series."
– Mark Waid

"Masks and Mobsters is such a fantastic idea that I burn with jealousy I didn't think of it first. Fortunately, Joshua Williamson, Mike Henderson, and company are doing things with the notion that I never could have imagined possible. One of my absolute favorite comics currently being published."
– Chris Roberson

MASKS AND MOBSTERS is a 128-page, black and white hardcover, retailing for $19.99 (ISBN 978-1-60706-765-8). It will be in stores on July 3 and can be pre-ordered from the May issue of Previews.

For three years, flying, nigh-invulnerable teenager Barry Chase was Flyboy, sidekick to the imagination-impaired but crime-fighting master The Red Cowl, and all was well, though Flyboy was the butt of a lot of jokes. Together, The Red Cowl and Flyboy brought peace to Sol City, fighting for truth, justice and some third goal that the Red Cowl could never quite put his finger on but was sure he’d figure out in time. But then the Red Cowl was defeated and killed — some say by the villain Terraform, others by one of the Moonglow sisters -- and Flyboy was left on his own. It is at this point that SIDEKICK, the latest J. Michael Straczynski comic from Image Comics, begins.

The first issue of the second title from Joe’s Comics to be published by Image (TEN GRAND debuted in May to presales of nearly 70,000 copies), SIDEKICK, will be in stores on August 7 and is drawn by Tom Mandrake and Brian Miller, with a limited-edition variant cover by Charlie Adlard (THE WALKING DEAD) that will debut at San Diego Comic Con the weekend of July 20th.
 
SIDEKICK tells the story of nineteen-year old Barry, a.k.a, Flyboy, in the aftermath of his mentor’s death and his decision to continue his crime-fighting career, even though no one takes him seriously — not the good guys, not the bad guys, nobody. Any attempt Flyboy makes to improve his image backfires, and soon, unloved and unsupported, he descends into darkness.

“Sidekick is designed to turn the usual superhero tropes upside down,” said writer Straczynski. “Flyboy’s gradual disintegration into madness and crime is fueled by his desperate need for approval. His downward spiral slowly drives him to the dark side of the law, where he begins an affair with the villainous Moonglow Twins, who one night whisper something to him about the fate of his mentor that he could never have imagined possible. That secret may be the key to Flyboy’s redemption, or his damnation, giving him something to live for... and maybe, just maybe, something to kill for.
 
"Having worked extensively in the world of mainstream superhero comics for the last decade-plus, you are subtly informed that there are all these things that you can't do to your main character, all these accepted rules for guys in spandex. The fun in Sidekick is in doing every one of those things that you're never supposed to do.  We're going to spend a lot of time just beating the crap out of Flyboy until he finally snaps...and then the fun really begins."

SIDEKICK #1 will be in comic book stores on August 7, and a special, exclusive edition will be available in limited quantities at Comic-Con International in San Diego from July 18-21, where Straczynski will be a special guest of Image Comics. It can be pre-ordered now from the June issue of Previews

Its collections are the country’s best-selling graphic novels, it has been adapted into the top-rated television series in basic cable history, its 100th issue sold more copies than any other comic book in the 21st century, and now THE WALKING DEAD is breaking new ground by becoming Image Comics’ and Skybound’s first Spanish-language publication. A Spanish translation of THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME ONE: DAYS GONE BYE by Robert Kirkman, with art by Tony Moore, will be available for the first time in United States in September 2013.

“We’re excited to bring The Walking Dead to the Spanish-speaking market in the United States,” said Skybound’s Director of Business Development Shawn Kirkham. “Our hope is that The Walking Dead in Spanish will help develop a new fan base in this emerging market for comic books.

The first volume of THE WALKING DEAD collects the first six issues of the series, which will reach its 116th issue in September. The Spanish language edition of DAYS GONE BYE (DÍAS PASADOS) will be available for pre-order in July. Subsequent translated editions of THE WALKING DEAD will be published quarterly.

ELEPHANTMEN, Richard Starkings’ epic science fiction series exploring the ramifications of genetic experimentation, war, and racism, is reaching a milestone this July: its 50th issue. ELEPHANTMEN debuted in 2006, published by Image Comics, a spin-off of Starkings self-published (and now Image title) HIP FLASK.

Following a group of human/animal hybrid super-soldiers who are struggling to integrate themselves into a society that is often hostile to their very existence, the series has gone on be collected into six hardcovers and trade paperbacks. It has featured art by Ladrönn, Boo Cook, Chris Burnham, Shaky Kane, and Axel Medellin, and the cover of ELEPHANTMEN #43 is among the work that earned Brandon Graham a “Best Cover Artist” Eisner Award nomination.

"Fifty issues! One more and ELEPHANTMEN is as old as I am!” marveled creator and writer Starkings, who also owns the well-respected comics lettering studio Comicraft. “When we launched the series in 2006, I thought maybe I had six issues in me, yet here we are, seven years later and six ELEPHANTMEN collections in stores and another in preparation for release this summer!”

ELEPHANTMEN #50, "Blue Collar Blues," has a cover by renowned comics artist Frank Quitely, and comes after the close of the monumental "Sleeping Partners" story arc. It  brings the story into the intimate sphere of one Elephantman, following his everyday life with its struggles and small triumphs. The issue is illustrated by series regular Axel Medellin and Gabe Bautista and also includes a re-presentation of ELEPHANTMEN #1, with art by Moritat, and a gallery of covers by Brandon Graham, Camilla d’Errico, J. Scott Campbell, Brian Bolland,, Chris Weston, Ladrönn, Ian Churchill, and Ed McGuinness.

ELEPHANTMEN #50 will be in stores on July 17 and is available for pre-order from the May issue of Previews. The revised and expanded ELEPHANTMEN VOLUME 1, which now includes issue #0 with art by Ladrönn and an introduction by Jonathan Ross, will be in stores on May 22. The newest collection, VOLUME 6: EARTHLY DESIRES, due in stores in July 10, is also available for preorder.

Criminal mastermind Jackson T. Winters has spent the last decade languishing in prison after his last heist went horribly wrong. Now, in return for breaking him out, a rich eccentric tasks him with capturing a ghost for the millionaire’s macabre collection in the new Image Comics/Skybound mini-series GHOSTED.

Written by Joshua Williamson and drawn Goran Sdzuka, with Miroslav Mrva on colors and Eisner nominee Sean Phillips (FATALE) providing covers, GHOSTED, set to debut in July, is a dark supernatural mystery crossed with a classic caper. Expert thief Winters must assemble a completely different kind of team than the one he lost ten years before, made up of ghost hunters and paranormal experts. But the haunted house they enter may be more of a match than they’d bargained for.

“For years my obsession has been to do a book that took place in a haunted house; a crime and horror title, one that was fun but went to some dark edgy places,” said writer Williamson.  “‘Gritty’ has become a sort of pop word to describe a certain kind of book but it really is the best way to illustrate Ghosted.”

Williamson isn’t shy about putting his characters’ dark sides on display, either. “One of my favorite things to write are the bad guys. The underbelly of the crime world. Characters that are tortured, and are kind of jerks. Ghosted has plenty of that and has been a blast.”

Williamson spoke about GHOSTED at Comic Book Resources in March, after the title’s announcement at Emerald City Comicon, and at PreviewsWorld. The first issue of the five-issue miniseries is set to go on sale on July 10. It can be pre-ordered now (Diamond Code MAY130405) from the May issue of Previews.

The founders of the survivalist colony Safe Haven are sure that the end of civilization is at hand. Economic collapse, natural disaster, civil war — they’re prepared for it all in their underground compound deep in the woods of America’s northeast. But, in SHELTERED, the new series from Image Comics by Ed Brisson (COMEBACK) and Johnnie Christmas, the threat to their existence comes from a source they never expected: their own children.

Coming in July, SHELTERED follows the consequences after Safe Haven’s younger generation, raised in paranoia and isolation, rebel against their parents and take over the compound. Two leaders emerge from the rebellion: the teenagers Lucas, who led the revolt,  and Victoria, who leads another group of kids in their escape. With Victoria set to expose Safe Haven, Lucas and his faction are determined to hunt her and her group down before they reach the nearest town, forty miles away through dangerous wilderness.

The idea for SHELTERED grew out of Brisson’s interest in end-of-world scenarios. “Initially, I was researching preppers — people who are actively preparing for natural disasters, nuclear war, societal breakdown — to get and idea of how people would be able to survive any of the above,” said the writer. “My initial idea was to do a post-apocalyptic story. Through my research, I started to get obsessed with the culture — from the outside! I don't own a bunker! — and how it would affect children raised in that sort of environment.”

With the art, Christmas strives to capture the isolation of the setting and the individuality of each character. “We're going to be facing down the apocalypse with these people, it's important to really get a sense of who they are and what they're capable of,” he said. “These kids aren't even out of high school, but they are probably the most prepared folks on earth, when it comes to riding out the end of the world.”

SHELTERED is a full-color comic book, with a five-issue first arc. Its first issue can be pre-ordered now (Diamond code MAY130408) and will be in stores on July 10, 2013. A four-page preview is up now at Multiversity Comics.

APHRODITE IX #1, the Free Comic Book Day offering from the Image Comics imprint Top Cow, is being reprinted and will be offered for sale on June 12, the same day as the relaunch’s second issue. The second printing features an all-new cover by Sjepan Sejic and its cover price is $2.99.

Matt Hawkins (THINK TANK) and Stjepan Sejic (RAVINE, ARTIFACTS) have teamed up to bring back the fan-favorite green-haired, amnesiac assassin. Aphrodite IX awakes to find she must navigate an unrecognizable Earth that is being contended over by warring factions of the cybernetically enhanced and genetically enhanced.

Aphrodite IX was originally created by David Wohl and David Finch in the best-selling graphic novel published in 1996, which is being offered again as part of the relaunch in a limited edition APHRODITE RELOADED hardcover edition. The hardcover, set to be in stores this summer, features updates to the script by series co-creator and writer David Wohl.

APHRODITE IX #1’s second printing (APR138007), APHRODITE IX #2 (APR130429) and APHRODITE IX: Reloaded (APR130445) are available now for pre-order.