Image continues to celebrate their 30th anniversary, and we are gonna party the only way we know how: by obsessing over their solicitations and trying to get ahead of our new favorite series. There’s also a conclusion to a decade-long run, and clever twists in old fantasy stories.
As always you can find the full solicitations on the Image comics website.
10. Not my beautiful wife
This series from Matt Rosenberg, Tyler Boss, and Sweeny Boo continues the good work celebrated in “4 Kids Walk Into a Bank.” This is a creative team that can mine a small story for all its emotion, presented in masterfully crafted comics. But really this got included because any solicit that references Stop Making Sense is OK in my book.
WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? #9
WRITER: Matthew Rosenberg, Tyler Boss
ARTIST / COVER B: Sweeney Boo
COVER A: Tyler Boss
COVER C: Jensine Eckwall“HOW DID WE GET HERE?”
And you may find yourself living in a record store. And you may find yourself in another part of the world. And you may find yourself behind the walls of an unknown city. And you may find yourself in a beautiful field, with a beautiful dog. And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did we get here?”
9. Fight forever!
The only thing better than Daniel Warren Johnson talking about wrestling is him writing about wrestling. And the only thing better than Daniel Warren Johnson writing about wrestling is him drawing about wrestling. This is the comic brave enough to answer the question: what if he did it all!?
DO A POWERBOMB #2 (OF 7)
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A: Daniel Warren Johnson
COVER B: Ricardo Lopez Ortiz
JULY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ / $3.99Lona Steelrose is brought to another dimension and given an opportunity that could change everything. Will she join the DEATHLYFE tournament?!
8. Floods above
Sean Lewis comics definitely have a shared aesthetic and you can already see where artist Hayden Sherman fits into that, despite their partnership being pretty fresh. Their new story is a weird western, which for my money is the most underrated kind of western. I already got hooked on the Weird West game, I was bound to come looking for comics to satisfy this silly need. Ask, and you will receive. Snakes.
ABOVE SNAKES #1 (OF 5)
WRITER: Sean Lewis
ARTIST / COVER A: Hayden Sherman
JULY 13 / 24 pages / FC/ M / $3.99The hit team behind THE FEW and THUMBS returns with an all-new WILD AS HELL miniseries! Writer SEAN LEWIS (KING SPAWN), artist HAYDEN SHERMAN (Wasted Space), and rock-star letterer HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU introduce a world where Deadwood-style Westerns collide with the fantasia of NEIL GAIMAN in the story of Dirt, a man seeking vengeance for his murdered wife with nothing but a talking vulture to prod him on. ABOVE SNAKES is a fast and furious explosion of Western tropes and American vengeance that explores where our rage can take us.
7. Magic-proof
I’ve already talked about the delicious premise to “Eight Billion Genies.” Everyone on Earth gets one wish. That’s like, the most powerful D&D spell. Chaos will doubtlessly ensue. But is this series just going to be a slurry of entertaining nonsense? Apparently there is a wish-proof tavern! Called the Lampwick! I’m starting to suspect that this comic will be as intricately plotted as the lash Soule/Browne collaboration!
EIGHT BILLION GENIES #3 (OF 8)
WRITER: Charles Soule
ARTIST / COVER A: Ryan Browne
COVER B: James Harren
JULY 13 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99We explore the first eight days after eight billion genies appeared on earth, offering one wish each to every man, woman, and child. The wish-proof Lampwick Tavern has provided a safe haven for our eight heroes so far, but now they must undertake a crucial mission into a world utterly remade by frivolous and bizarre wishes. With a special appearance from history’s most famous drunkards!
6. When the walls fell
There is a whole little subgenre in comics of postoapocalyptic Americana. I’m not sure that “Undiscovered Country” does its thing best. But it definitely did its thing first, and continues to do its thing weirdest. This issue starts a new arc where we move away from the Destiny Man and into whatever new American nightmare our heroes stumble across. “Undiscovered Country” is at its best when it is going for shocks, and a new arc means a new opportunity.
Continued belowUNDISCOVERED COUNTRY #19
WRITER: Charles Soule, Scott Snyder
ARTIST: Leonardo Marcello Grassi, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Matt Wilson
COVER A: Giuseppe Camuncoli
COVER B: Dan Panosian
JULY 13 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99“DISUNITY,” Part One
Our brave explorers have gotten too close to the truth behind America’s transformation into the Undiscovered Country. They’ve been scattered to different corners of the altered nation, where they will have to fight their way back to each other…and their ultimate destiny.
5. Cold place in hell
I’m repping this series because writer Stephanie Phillips is a delight, a history PHD who likes to show her work through fun comics. She’s the top credited writer on the new issue of this anthology series, going into the kind of horror/history she does better than anyone in the biz. Phillips is a name that should be in the same sentence as any exciting, great young comics creator absolutely crushing it. Here’s your chance to become a fan before all your friends do.
THE SILVER COIN #12
WRITER: Stephanie Phillips
ARTIST / COVER A: Michael Walsh
COVER B: Cully Hamner
JULY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99It’s early 1945 and the end of World War II is still months away. A small unit of American soldiers faces a contingent of German troops in the Italian Alps. When a fierce snowstorm traps the Americans, THE SILVER COIN asks the soldiers to pay a steep toll if they want to survive the night. A new chapter in the acclaimed horror anthology from STEPHANIE PHILLIPS, JAMES TYNION IV, JOHNNIE CHRISTMAS, PORNSAK PICHETSHOTE, and MICHAEL WALSH is out this month.
4. What’s cooking?
New graphic novel! Exciting! I’m not familiar with Jackie Morrow’s work yet, but a quick glance shows me she’s got that soft focus indie style that’s so hot right now. But this comic really looks like an opportunity to draw lots of delicious food. When a fun artist calls their shot like that, you’ve gotta show up to see if they can make you hungry.
SUPPER CLUB OGN TP
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A: Jackie Morrow
JULY 27 / 232 pages / FC/ T+ / $14.99Nora, Lili, and Iris are seniors at Seaside High. Their differing schedules and mounting extracurriculars inspire the girls to form a secret club where they can hang without sacrificing their future aspirations. Enter Supper Club, the delicious solution to their problems. When life starts to crumble like a cookie under the girls’ feet, they rely on comfort food to hold it together. Can Supper Club endure life’s most challenging recipes without burning to a crisp?
3. Spelljamming before it was cool
My Multiversity compatriot Elias got me into space fantasy, a genre you rarely see outside of comics like “Darkhawk,” or books like Gideon the Ninth. “Starhenge” looks to claim some territory on that frontier. It’s got Merlin AND robots!? In this economy!? I could use a bit more sword and sorcery between the stars, especially with a new 5th edition Spelljammer series coming to actual Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a good time to grab some inspiration.
STARHENGE, BOOK ONE: THE DRAGON & THE BOAR #1 (OF 6)
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A / COVER B: Liam Sharp
COVER C: Chris Weston
COVER D: Ben Templesmith
JULY 06 / 40 pages / FC/ M / $3.99Revered creator LIAM SHARP cuts loose in his visually stunning six-issue masterpiece, STARHENGE, BOOK ONE! A future Merlin travels to 5th-century Britain to prevent monstrous time-traveling killer robots from robbing the universe of magic, and Amber Weaver’s lively present-day narrative reveals how she becomes drawn into a war across time!
The Terminator meets The Green Knight in 30 enthralling story pages, setting the scene for this original epic inspired by the Arthurian sagas!
2. She is risen!
There was a time when I called “Lazarus” the most likely sci-fi comic to happen to us in our world, and I stand by that assertion. This story of near future science and corporate feudalism is more prescient now than it was when it debuted in 2013. This arc, ‘Risen,’ has been trickling out since 2019. Well now you can let out that breath, it looks like “Lazarus” is wrapping things up for the foreseeable future. Never a better time to get into the most dreadfully feasible dystopia around!
Continued belowLAZARUS: RISEN #7
WRITER: Greg Rucka
ARTIST / COVER A: Michael Lark
JULY 27 / 72 pages / FC/ M / $7.99“FRACTURE II,” Conclusion
Forever Carlyle was the Lazarus of her Family…until now.
1. Cosplay gone wrong
Look, I’m basic. I like a good serial killer story, problematic super-cops and all. And I like self indulgent fandom stuff; it reminds me of my comic conning days. So when Image throws its weight behind a new creator mashing those genres up, you have my attention. I best know writer Hannah Rose May as… a nameless character named Snyth, who showed up on two episodes of the okay Netflix show Altered Carbon. I’m not all that familiar with her work. But this is a fun pitch, with some exciting artists, and someone at Image seems to think this is the next big thing. I hope they’re right!
ROGUES’ GALLERY #1
WRITER: Hannah Rose May
ARTIST: Justin Mason, Triona Farrell
COVER A: Declan Shalvey
COVER B: Tula Lotay
COVER C: Justin Mason
JULY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99Writer HANNAH ROSE MAY makes her comic debut with rising-star artist JUSTIN MASON for an all-new series with DECLAN SHALVEY.
The Purge meets Scream in a home invasion thriller that follows disenfranchised TV superhero actress Maisie Wade as she is terrorized by an unhinged group of intruders cosplaying her day job’s archvillains. If Maisie is going to survive the night, she’ll need to be the hero she has come to despise.
