Image Comics

BERKELEY, CA - June 12, 2012 — Image Comics and Minotaur Press, an imprint of Top Cow Productions, proudly announce the newest addition to their critically acclaimed line: THINK TANK. From the creative minds of Matt Hawkins (LADY PENDRAGON, PILOT SEASON: THE TEST) and Rahsan Ekedal (ECHOES, Solomon Kane), THINK TANK #1 blends taut action with the actual science of today.

Child prodigy, inventor, genius, slacker… mass murderer. These are all ways to describe the brilliant Dr. David Loren. When a military think tank’s smartest scientist decides he can no longer stomach creating weapons of destruction, will he be able to think his way out of his dilemma or find himself subject to the machinations of smaller men?

Debuting in August, THINK TANK is a four-issue science action thriller that will appeal to fans of other hit Image series like MANHATTAN PROJECTS and THE ACTIVITY.

"Dr. Loren's life and situation are my commentary on American so-called exceptionalism in a modern day setting with real science and weapons that you've never heard of that do actually exist,"  said writer Matt Hawkins. "The drones you see on TV flying in Afghanistan are decades-old technology. We marvel at these but the stuff coming out of DARPA and actual think tanks today rivals some of the most creative stuff you see in the best science fiction."

Published under Top Cow Productions' Minotaur Press imprint, the 32-page, black-and-white THINK TANK #1 will be in stores on Wednesday, August 1st, 2012 for $3.99. It is available for pre-order now in the June issue of Previews (order code JUN120435).

New MADMAN spin-off from Image in August

Mike Allred's MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS wrapped up in 2009 with issue #17, with Madman and Adam Balm on a universe-wide tour with their band, leaving the rest of the Atomics back on Earth. This is when writer Jamie S. Rich (Spell Checkers, You Have Killed Me) started dreaming up a plan for It Girl, Luna Romy, who can take on the properties of anything she touches.

That dream becomes reality in August, when the first issue of IT GIRL AND THE ATOMICS will be published by Image Comics. Written by Rich, drawn by Mike Norton (REVIVAL, Battlepug), with covers by MADMAN's creator Mike Allred and colors by Laura Allred, IT GIRL AND THE ATOMICS follows It Girl as she tries her hand as a solo crimefighter and adventurer.

But while It Girl is taking her new job seriously, learning the ropes — and pitfalls — of fighting crime on the street, her creative team gets to have all the fun.
        
"I got a small taste of what it was like to channel the Allred spirit when I wrote a couple of short pieces featuring Madman and Mr. Gum, and it was quite delicious," said Rich. "That’s how I came to propose doing a spin-off as a way to keep the Snap City crew in the public eye."

A meeting of the principles at K!ckstarter in 2011 solidified the plan. IT GIRL gained an artist in Norton, and a collaboration was born.

The first issue of IT GIRL AND THE ATOMICS catches up readers on just enough of back story to throw them straight into a new adventure. Readers who have never read MADMAN and long-time fans will be equally able to enjoy the story of It Girl confronting the man who murdered her sister (don't worry — she's fine now) and becoming the test subject in one of Dr. Flem's space-time experiments.

"The Atomics really captured a vintage spirit that we don’t see in superhero books often enough anymore," said Rich. "I want readers to have such a good time, they’ll finish every issue wanting more of the same."

Allred describes himself as "a proud papa" of Rich's and Norton's effort. "I'm just excited and flattered that anyone would want to take my characters and devote this kind of attention to them," he said. "Mike Norton is rocking it on this book. He’s a dynamo. Seeing him and Jamie take It Girl and the gang on their own adventures is like I’ve raised these kids, put them through college, and now I am watching them establish their own place in the world."

IT GIRL AND THE ATOMICS is a full-color series, debuting on August 8 in comic book stores and digital platforms. It is available for pre-order now from the June issue of Previews. (JUN120428)

Preview of new series to run in issue #99

The upcoming Image Comics series REVIVAL has a much different take on the undead from that in THE WALKING DEAD, but their two worlds will exist under one cover as a preview of REVIVAL #1 will appear in the next issue of Robert Kirkman's bestselling phenomenon.

A three-page preview will be published in THE WALKING DEAD #99, following up on the five-page teaser from Image's Free Comic Book Day giveaway to give readers an extended look at the debut issue of Tim Seeley and Mike Norton's "rural noir" series. Set in rural Wisconsin, REVIVAL looks at what unfolds in a small town after one day when its dead return to life.

Unlike the cannibalistic, shambling undead of THE WALKING DEAD, however, the dead in REVIVAL look and act much as they did when they were alive. But as Officer Dana Cypress discovers, they aren't completely who they used to be.

REVIVAL will debut on July 11, 2012 with covers by Jenny Frison and Craig Thompson. A monthly, full-color comic book, each issue will be $2.99 and available same-day on digital platforms.

Who gets to live? Who has to die? In the underworld of illegal organ harvesting depicted in the new Image Comics/Shadowline miniseries HARVEST, money answers that question — and Dr. Ben Dane is determined to change that. But as writer A.J. Lieberman and artist Colin Lorimer will show in the August 1 release of HARVEST's first of five issues, Dr. Ben's motives aren't entirely pure.

Lieberman (COWBOY NINJA VIKING, TERM LIFE) and Lorimer (Dark Horse Presents) delve into the dark trade with the story of a drug-addicted ex-surgeon with a bent take on how to right past wrongs.  Framed for murder by Jason Craven, his former boss in the harvesting trade, Dr. Ben decides to exact revenge by making house calls on his former "patients" to take back the organs — and the years of life — their money bought them. Helping Ben are Mariko, a Yakuza enforcer, and a six-year-old boy named Noah.

"I'm not really spoiling anything in saying that Noah is really the personification of Ben's subconscious," said Lieberman in a May 29 interview at Comic Book Resources. "But both characters help keep Ben alive as he stumbles around trying to do something in this world that is larger than himself, something meaningful. And trust me when I say this, most of the time Ben f―s it all up."

Lorimer provides visuals for the HARVEST with heavy black shadows, gritty environments, and plenty of dark atmosphere.

"The story always dictates the style," said Lorimer in the CBR interview. "It's quite a dark tale so I tried to keep it quite muted in tone and in places dirtied up the art to give it a little added texture."

HARVEST is a five-issue full-color miniseries, debuting on August 1. Its first issue is available for pre-order now from the June issue of Previews (JUN120439.)

In HOAX HUNTERS, the new Image Comics series co-created and written by Steve Seeley and Michael Moreci and drawn by Axel Medellin (ELEPHANTMEN), a team of intrepid investigators travel the world to debunk the paranormal for a reality show. Aliens, cryptids, monsters — all are uncovered and dismissed as hoaxes for the pleasure of the viewing public.

Except nothing on "Hoax Hunters" is actually a hoax — save for the TV show itself. In reality, every strange sighting, every inexplicable creature, every impossible event is real, and it's the Hoax Hunters team's job to keep them under wraps.

HOAX HUNTERS first appeared serially in issues of Tim Seeley's Image series HACK/SLASH. A collection of those serials, HOAX HUNTERS #0, was published in March, and the title has been extended as an ongoing series. HOAX HUNTERS #1, which features a cover by Tim Seeley, will be in stores on July 5.

The format of HOAX HUNTERS has allowed creators Moreci and Seeley to delve into developing their story, settings, and characters.

"Thanks to having an ongoing series, Mike and I have been able to expand upon the already vast world of Hoax Hunters," said Seeley. "Issue one and the arc that follows promises to be fun and epic ride."

“Steve and I are having fun—we’re writing the comic we’d love to read," added Moreci. "It has a little bit of humor, suspense, and brain candy. The story blends genres, histories, and folklore into something unique and unusual. If we achieve that month in and month out, we’ll feel like we’re doing our job.”

HOAX HUNTERS #1 (MAY120521), a full-color comic for $2.99, is available for pre-order now from the May issue of Previews and will be available on digital platforms the same day as it is in stores.

ALPHA GIRL creators Jeff Roenning and Jean-Paul Bonjour began their careers as filmmakers, and they’ve brought that love with them to their first foray into comics! Each cover for their violent and raunchy tale of Judith, possibly the world's last sane woman, fighting her way through the lady apocalypse has been an homage to different iconic movie posters.

ALPHA GIRL #1 – Lolita
ALPHA GIRL #2 – The Graduate (cover A) and La Femme Nikita (cover B)
ALPHA GIRL #3 – Star Wars
ALPHA GIRL #4 brings us something extra special – Enter the Dragon, drawn by super-star tattoo artist Jeff Rassier!

Bonjour, who has a number of tattoos by Rassier, explained: “Jeff Rassier's artwork is hands-down amazing. It was a treat to get him to sit in as a special guest artist on issue #4 and recreate the most iconic poster in the martial arts world — Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon."

For Rassier, drawing the cover was a dream come true. “I have been a lifelong lover of comic books," he said. "I collect comic art and put out an underground comic of my own, but to be able to do a cover for Image – of ZOMBIES – greatest job ever! It’s been fun following the creation of ALPHA GIRL; I really dig the story. I can’t wait to see more people chewed and spewed by zombie chicks.”

Bonjour continued, “When it was time to come up with cover ideas, being old movie buffs, Jeff Roenning and I both thought it would be great if we could pay homage to some of the classic movie posters of the past, with an ALPHA GIRL slant, of course. It really makes my inner Film Geek happy to see."

“I love movies, even more than bacon," said Roenning. "So doing classic movie posters seemed natural for the covers.”

ALPHA GIRL #3 (FEB120494), featuring the Star Wars cover, will be on sale in comic stores and digital platforms on June 13. ALPHA GIRL #4 (JUN120535), featuring the Jeff Rassier Enter The Dragon homage cover, is available to order now, and goes on sale August 1. Diego Simone, who colored Rassier's art for the ALPHA GIRL #4 cover, will be taking over full interior art duties on the title, starting with this issue.

They do their work in secret, the goals of their missions and the discipline, teamwork, and skills needed to carry them out well out of the sight of the American public. However, on May 2, 2010, an elite team of Navy SEALs carried out Operation Neptune Spear, killing Osama bin Laden and launching "Black Ops" into the American consciousness.

Among the imaginations captured by these elite forces was that of Nathan Edmondson, a writer (WHO IS JAKE ELLIS, DANCER) who was inspired to create THE ACTIVITY, a comic book series that follows the lives of members of the special operations group Intelligence Support Activity. Drawn by Mitch Gerads (with guest issues by Marc Laming), THE ACTIVITY depicts the training and covert missions of Team Omaha within the real-life organization with glimpses of the "regular" lives they live where no one knows about their real jobs.

The insight into the lives of special operatives, as well as the bleeding-edge technology they employ in their missions, is founded on Edmondson's desire to create a true-to-life depiction of life in Special Forces. A trip to Washington D.C., as well as extensive research and networking, yielded defense contractor contacts and sources within special ops.

"I flew to Washington, D.C. and interviewed colonels and captains and a general face-to-face, gleaning what info I could," Edmondson told MTV Geek at the time of THE ACTIVITY #1's publication. "I’ve had the scripts reviewed by individuals from the Pentagon and JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command].... Often it was a matter of those advisors directing me and us to specific reading material, or simply telling us, 'no, that doesn’t make sense.'"

Edmondson's commitment to accuracy won the aid of many of the book's advisors, including Major Rusty Bradley of the US Special Forces, who co-scripted issue six of THE ACTIVITY. Major Bradley is the hero responsible for leading the team that took Sperwan Ghar in the decisive battle in Afghanistan, as is accounted in his book, LIONS OF KANDAHAR. Bradley's co-writer, embedded Special Forces reporter Kevin Maurer, is an ongoing advisor to the book and wrote the foreword to the trade.

The first trade paperback collection of THE ACTIVITY, containing issues #1-5, will be for sale on June 6 (ISBN 978-1-60706-561-6).

THE ACTIVITY #6, in stores now and drawn by Laming, shows events west of the Congo in the Civil Affairs career of Team Omaha's newest member, code name "Fiddler," that led her to being recruited by the Intelligence Support Activity

THE ACTIVITY #7 is the launch of a new story arc, "Goat Hunt," which sees members of Team Omaha being sent to Uzbekistan for their latest mission after incriminating evidence is discovered on a Chinese freighter. It was co-written by actual Navy SEALs whose identities cannot be revealed. It is available for pre-order now from the May issue of Previews and will be in stores on July 18.

THE ACTIVITY creator Nathan Edmondson and artist Mitch Gerads are available for interviews and, as an added bonus, some their research contacts will also be answering questions along with them. Please contact Image Comics PR and Marketing Director Jennifer de Guzman at jenniferdeguzman@imagecomics.com to set up an interview with the team of THE ACTIVITY.

In ENORMOUS, a new Image Comics/Shadowline graphic novella by Tim Daniel and Mehdi Cheggour (Heavy Metal) to be published in July, a cataclysmic ecological event has spawned colossal beasts that overrun human civilization. Cities are reduced to ruins where survivors must scratch out a desperate existence, evading the giant creatures that hunt them.

In the midst of this struggle against annihilation, a young woman who has lost everything, Ellen Grace, braves the rubble-strewn streets to find lost children and bring them to a safe place. However, she soon finds that there is another enemy just as dangerous as the megafauna: other humans.

"By the time we enter the world of Enormous, being at the bottom of the food-chain is something humans have been experiencing for a while," said Daniel in an April interview with Comic Book Resources. "As a result, there is no consensus around how we're going to survive as a species.

"There are a few human factions, each operating with a fairly distinct agenda, the motivations of which may well be far beyond their understanding," he added. "Regardless of what might prove to be the driving force for each character, the law of the land is simple: hunt or be hunted."

Drawn in terrifying and haunting detail by Cheggour, a Morroccan artist whose MORNING GLORIES fan art caught Daniel's attention, ENORMOUS is a 64-page saddle-stitched graphic novella in an oversized "treasury" format (10 x 13.5").

Published under Image's Shadowline imprint, ENORMOUS can be pre-ordered from the May issue of Previews (MAY120519) and is scheduled to be in stores on July 5. It has been supported by a campaign of "teasers" that appeared on top comic book sites such as Comic Book Resources, iFanboy, and Multiversity Comics, a "prequel" and article published at USA Today, and a preview at the Gawker site io9.

DANCER #1, the first issue of a new Image Comics thriller series by Eisner-nominee Nathan Edmondson (WHO IS JAKE ELLIS?) and Nic Klein, has sold out at the distributor level the same day that it was in stores, May 16.

Following the flight through Milan of an ex-assassin and the woman he loves, a ballerina named Quinn, as they evade a sniper's bullets, the debut garnered early raves on the day of its release.


DANCER #1's second printing is available for order now (APR128084) and will be in stores on June 13, the same day as DANCER #2.

Also selling out on its Wednesday release date this week was the second issue of the Teen Titans-meets-The Lord of the Flies series DANGER CLUB by Landry Q. Walker and Eric Jones (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade) that MTV Geek calls " a relentless and unique take on the 'teen superhero team' genre." continuing its strong performance after a critically-acclaimed first issue that also sold out and received a second printing. Its second printing (APR128085) will be in stores on June 13.

THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS #3 by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra (THE RED WING) also sold out this week. The alternate history science fiction series that Comics Alliance calls "pure mad science in comic book form" continues its nuclear assault on readers' minds, with sales numbers on the third issue matching those of the first. The second printing of THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS #3 (APR128086) will also be on shelves on June 13.

SAGA continues its soaring success with a sell-out of its third issue this week, as Image Publisher Eric Stephenson revealed in an interview with ICv2 that SAGA #1's sales are nearing 70,000 copies. The latest issue of the Brian K. Vaughan-penned, Fiona Staples-drawn epic series was called "stunning, entertaining, and revelatory" by Comic Book Resources. A second printing of SAGA #3 (APR128087) will be in stores on June 13 as well.

The future looks bleak for humankind in DEBRIS, the new Image Comics/Shadowline mini-series by the co-creators of the critically acclaimed GREEN WAKE, Kurtis J. Wiebe (PETER PANZERFAUST, GRIM LEAPER) and Riley Rossmo (REBEL BLOOD, COWBOY NINJA VIKING). Earth itself, covered with the detritus of civilization, has risen up against humans, as ancient spirits called the Colossals take physical forms constructed from the debris to wage war against the destructive species.

In the midst of this chaos, a warrior woman named Maya becomes the champion of humankind. She sets out to find the world's last source of pure water, combatting Colossals along the way as she fights to save her fellow humans.

"I'm very fond of Scandinavian and European folklore, so I injected a lot of those concepts into the monsters that will appear throughout the series," Wiebe told Comic Book Resources in an April 25th interview. "It's also very influenced by Native American (Canadian) mythology and even a touch of Mayan for some of the creatures. I like the idea that all these ancient monsters were once part of our world and have returned to end us when we are at our weakest."

With a look inspired by video games like Final Fantasy, DEBRIS boasts extraordinary creature design by Rossmo and vivid colors by Owen Gieni (AVENGELYNE) that set the comic apart from many other post-apocalyptic visions of Earth.

In an April 27th interview at IGN about the influence of the revolutionary video game series, Wiebe noted that DEBRIS shares the subject of "a world-changing battle against impossible odds, which is a constant theme throughout Final Fantasy." The IGN feature also included several FF-inspired teasers, showing Maya in battles against various Colossals.

In May, Wiebe also talked about the hotly-anticipated series at iFanboy, where a six-page preview of DEBRIS #1 was posted.

DEBRIS is a monthly four-issue miniseries published under Image Comics' Shadowline imprint. The first issue will be in stores on July 25. It is available for pre-order now from the May issue of PREVIEWS with the code MAY120516.