I feel bad for harping on this month after month, but Image really seems to be searching for something. Not its identity as a company- for the last decade Image has led the comic industry in exciting creator-owned work. You know an Image series will be exciting, creative, and reflect the ideas of its writers and artists. But Image series don’t run forever, and it seems like we’re losing monster hits without obvious replacements. So in this month’s top 10, keep an eye out for something that could make waves, catch eyes, and be the new giant Image book. There’s a healthy push for high profile #1s, and one series that I think could be elevated to the crown jewel of the Image publishing line.
As always, full solicits can be found on the Image Comics website.
10. Kirble Krackle: Aktivate!
This is a premise that loosely gets tried on every couple of years- what if those comics, the ones that meant so much to you when you were a kid, the ones that connect you to the sadness, the horror, the love, the escape of your childhood- what if they were real? It’s kind of an overdone premise, but “Olympia” has one thing that none of the others do- that artwork. It’s good though.
OLYMPIA #4 (OF 5)
WRITER: CURT PIRES & TONY PIRES
ARTIST / COVER: ALEX DIOTTO & DEE CUNNIFFE
COVER B: PAUL MAYBURY
FEBRUARY 26 / 32 PAGES / FC / T+ / $3.99Olympian, Elon, and Kirby rush to stop the invading force. The world burns. A reckoning begins.<
9. Sleeves on your sleeves
Tattoos are uniquely hard to draw in comics. They are images in and of themselves, but they need to move and contort along with the bodies they mark. To really render a complicated tattoo in comics, you are guaranteeing stupid amounts of extra work for yourself. That’s why “The Marked” utilizes its digital art so well. In digital, you can copy elements of tattoos, and alter them in accordance of what you need. There’s a lot of thought behind “The Marked” is what I’m saying, it’s it worth your thoughtful consideration.
THE MARKED #5
WRITER: DAVID HINE & BRIAN HABERLIN
ARTIST / COVER B: BRIAN HABERLIN & GEIRROD VAN DYKE
COVER A: >JAY ANACLETO
FEBRUARY 26 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99The casualties pile up until only Mavin and Liza are left standing. That’s an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object—and that never ends well.
8. Crazy like a fox
I am sitting and writing this in the real American Midwest, and the seasonal depression is coming for everyone. There’s something about the oppressive Midwestern winters that is truly primordial. If you’ve never experienced a real one, let me assure you that its a real thing, you don’t have to go up to the Canadian wilderness or the Scandinavian tundra to be hit with the full Hoth experience. So as Fox, Jeb, Maggie, Wrench push through the mystic “Middlewest” snowfall, I’m not even seeing a fantastical exaggeration. It’s cool to see an often overlooked part of the world- you know, flyover country- be given the Tolkien-esque treatment. “Middlewest” doesn’t just adapt the superficial trappings of the Midwest, it captures the myth of the region.
MIDDLEWEST #15
WRITER: SKOTTIE YOUNG
ARTIST / COVER: JORGE CORONA &JEAN-FRANCOIS BEAULIEU
FEBRUARY 19 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99While Fox, Jeb, Maggie, Wrench, and the others struggle through increasingly threatening weather, they also seek to grow their ranks. Any assault on the Raider Farms compound will need as many able hands and sharp minds as the Middlewest can muster.
7. Roll for Ragnarok
This looks cool and kind of different! Michael Avon Oeming has a varied career and multiple awards, so he’s trying to explore territory he’s never visited before. It’s gonna come out looking like a 50 page quarterly, a format that’s rare for American comics. Oeming is the main writer and artist, but he’s bringing in the talents of Taki Soma and Shawn Lee, presumably each doing their own chapter in this hefty issue. As for the story itself, there’s mention of an Elven Ranger and the nine realms. So expect some Norse fantasy that maybe toes over the line into straight-up D&D. I’m here for it!
Continued belowTHE AFTER REALM QUARTERLY #1
WRITER / COVER:MICHAEL AVON OEMING
ARTIST: MICHAEL AVON OEMING, TAKI SOMA & SHAWN LEE
FEBRUARY 5 / 48 PAGES / FC / T / $5.99n>From Eisner and Harvey Award-winning MICHAEL AVON OEMING, co-creator of Powers and The United States of Murder and writer of Thor: Ragnarok and Red Sonja, comes THE AFTER REALM, a new ongoing extra-length quarterly! In the aftermath of Ragnarok, Oona, an elven ranger, sets out into the post-apocalyptic chaos to discover the fate of the old gods. But first, she must fulfill an oath to a lost friend that could doom what’s left of the Nine Realms.
6. It’s not a crime if you don’t get caught
It’s the continuation of the final story in one of the definitive comics of the last decade. You bet it’s gonna make this list. What am I hoping to see? Sex, probably. But also crime. That’s the key really. We’ve seen a lot of sex, a lot of different styles and preferences, but it’s time for an epic bank heist climax.
SEX CRIMINALS #27
WRITER: MATT FRACTION
ARTIST / COVER: CHIP ZDARSKY
FEBRUARY 26 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99
THE END,” Part TwoSuze and Jon inch closer to the big finish, albeit in very different ways, bringing Suze face-to-face with her future, and Jon—well, read it, it’s a whole thing.
5. I’m scared to see her final form
In “Monstress,” protagonist Maika grapples with a conflict many women have faced in fantasy before her- fear of her own power. You see it again and again. Happened to Jean Grey pretty notably. It’s happening in the new Star Wars movies to Rey. It’s a big difference between Hulk and She-Hulk. So watching Maika grapple with the god-being inside of her isn’t exactly something brand new. And yet. And yet. “Monstress” manages to sing the song so well it feels like you’ve never heard it before. It’s something about Maika’s ferocity, her grit, her violence. It’s something about the sheer unknowable, ancient, Lovecraftian bone-deep terror of the being she shares her body with. And the clearly communicated cost to power in her world. “Monstress” has made me believe that Maika will truly embrace the darkness, that she should, and that it’s going to be difficult to watch. What a cool series.
MONSTRESS #26
WRITER: MARJORIE LIU
ARTIST / COVER: SANA TAKEDA
FEBRUARY 26 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99In a border city about to be invaded by Federation troops, Maika finally begins to accept who she must become to survive…no matter the cost.
4. Presidential knife fight
There’s gonna be a growing wave of comics that are, what I will dub, political sci-fi. That’s cool! Comics have always been quick to respond to events in the world, and use pulpy genre trappings to get at deeper truths. But there are some voices that interest me more, and Chuck Brown is definitely one of those. Coming off of one of the hottest Image books of 2019. “Bitter Root,” Brown is making some the barbarism of the American political system literal, in a story where elections are decided in single combat. It’s the kind of dime novel premise that is so deliberately stupid that it comes around to profundity- it’s the reason so many people have responded to the Purge movies. I have no doubt this series will be goofy, but I am also certain it will cut like a knife.
Continued belowON THE STUMP #1
WRITER: CHUCK BROWN
ARTIST / COVER A: PRENZY
COVER B: SANFORD GREENE
FEBRUARY 19 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99Each issue of arc one features a connecting variant cover by SANFORD GREENE!
The campaign trail is paved with blood and broken bones.
History diverged in 1868 when a pivotal presidential debate turned violent. Today, elections are decided by highly publicized hand-to-hand combat in arenas called Stumps. Unfortunately, the violence doesn’t end in the ring, and powerful people can still get away with murder. Senator Jack Hammer and FBI Agent Anna Bell Lister are teaming up to bring it all down.
Eisner-nominated writer CHUCK BROWN (BITTER ROOT) joins forces with Italian artist PRENZY (#Like4Like) and letterer CLAYTON COWLES to create a hyper-violent tale full of countless injustices—and people who have to fight for their place in it.
3. Forgotten no more!
The first issue of “Undiscovered Country” left me kind of stunned. Not because I couldn’t handle how good it was- though it is pretty good! No, it’s just so… much. It’s the product of a very smart creative team, bouncing ideas back and forth, so fond of each others work that they included everything. Nothing is cut. Every strange sci-fi concept, tortured character, and fantastical image went from a brainstorming session, to an outline, to the final product. I thought that first issue was brilliant and messy, but it’s far too early to judge what this series is. So this is a call to stick with it, because these crazy cats have earned your loyalty and patience. I’m down to listen to what they have to say. Political sci-fi!
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY #4
WRITER: SCOTT SNYDER & CHARLES SOULE
ARTIST: GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI, DANIELE ORLANDINI & MATT WILSON
COVER A: GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
COVER B: JAMIE McKELVIE
FEBRUARY 12 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99All is lost. The world will wither under the Sky pandemic, and the Destiny Man will murder our intrepid explorers before they’ve made it further into the former US than Nevada. Unless, that is, brilliant journalist Valentina Sandoval can discover one…essential…truth.
2. Modal Nodes
Anyone else have Star Wars fever? That character on The Mandalorian has captured my heart and my imagination and more evenings than not, I find myself returning to favorite episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels. I’m saving up for Jedi: Fallen Order. I can’t get enough new Star Wars as I eagerly await The Rise of Skywalker (in theaters on my birthday). So when a comic pushes the Star Wars thing this hard in the marketing, well damn, I can’t pretend I’m not a mark. Actually, whoever wrote the copy for this new series from Johnnie Christmas and Jack T. Cole deserves an award. “All the sci-fi drama of Breaking Bad set in Mos Eisley?” I just got off of El Camino and I’m currently in the wake of this Star Wars rush. You’re playing with volatile materials Image, and my attention has been grabbed.
TARTARUS #1
WRITER / COVER B: JOHNNIE CHRISTMAS
ARTIST / COVER A: JACK T. COLE
FEBRUARY 12 / 56 PAGES / FC / T / $5.99A new adventure series with all the sci-fi drama of Breaking Bad set in Mos Eisley! Promising young cadet Tilde is framed for crimes against the empire after discovering her mother was the ruthless warlord of the deadly colony Tartarus, a vital player in the galactic war. Now, Tilde’s only way home may be to reclaim her mother’s dark crown.
#1 New York Times bestseller JOHNNIE CHRISTMAS (Alien 3) and artistic phenom JACK T. COLE (The Unsound) kick off this ongoing series with 44 big pages of story!>
1. Sangyre Family Values
If this list has a theme, it’s defining what Image Comics is in 2020. There are a lot of exciting #1s this month, the most Image has put out in a while. And there are a few favorites, award-winning series that have put in the years. But of everything Image is publishing “Bitter Root” deserves to be the centerpiece of the company. I was immediately transfixed by the Sangyre family, and the world they inhabit. Each of them has so much personality, and it jumps off the page to hit you in the mouth. You’ve got the gentle giant, the warrior who everyone underestimates, the overworked patriarch, the wise grandma, the rogue uncle. Everyone looks and speaks exactly as they should, and the monsters they battle draw not from the same European folkloric traditions you’ve seen in every werewolf-and-demon story, but from Africa and the Caribbean. It’s unique, it’s pointed, it’s political… it’s fun. I am stoked for the return of “Bitter Root” and I hope that if you are reading this, you’ll help make it Image’s biggest smash hit.
BITTER ROOT #6
WRITER: DAVID F. WALKER & CHUCK BROWN
ARTIST / COVER: SANFORD GREENE
COVER B (1:10 INCENTIVE VARIANT COVER): CHRIS BRUNNER
FEBRUARY 19 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99The critically acclaimed series returns!
Loved ones once thought lost forever have returned, though the bliss of this family reunion doesn’t last for long. Cullen has changed, and everyone is concerned. But they’ll need all the help they can get, as a new threat has arrived on Earth…
