The iconography of 1970s New York, bad ass cab drivers, and trusty, magical tire irons all come together in the new Image Comics series “MCMLXXV.” Coming in September from Man of Action Entertainment’s Joe Casey (“Adventures of Superman,” Ben 10: Omniverse, Ultimate Spider-Man), artist Ian MacEwan (“Sex,” “The Yankee,” “Prophet”) and colorist Brad Simpson (“Sex”), “MCMLXXV” (yes that’s 1975 in Roman numerals) follows the story of Pamela Evans during the most important year of her life.
The series follows Pamela, a cab driver protecting the streets of Manhattan and fighting monsters off. Casey and MacEwan, both, expressed in an interview that they were trying to create a “modern folk hero,” a piece of “modern mythology” tapping into some of those “Joseph Campbell theories.” Casey describes the process of creating Pamela saying,
For better or worse, I’m not sure if any of my ideas have ever been “obvious.” I can tell you that this all started from the goofy, half-formed notion that — despite all the countless superheroes crowding our media in movies, TV etc. — we were lacking in the kind of pure folk heroes that come along once in awhile and end up really resonating across the ages. And as the mainstream superheroes get more and more commodified in our culture, the need for more… I dunno, “authentic” heroes was being felt, even if on an unconscious, unspoken level. Not to mention, the image in my head of a female cab driver fighting monsters with an enchanted tire iron in mid-’70’s Manhattan was just too cool not to do.
You can check out the cover for “MCMLXXV” and some preview pages from MacEwan and Simpson below. “MCMLXXV” #1 is out in September.
