As “Chew” wraps up, many in the comics industry were wondering what would be next for John Layman. Well, this morning we got our answer. In a press release sent to Multiversity and other outlets, Aftershock Comics announced “Eleanor & the Egret,” a new series written by Layman and illustrated by the legendary Sam Kieth (“The Maxx,” “Marvel Comics Presents”).
Layman describes the series as “a fable, and a surrealist romance, but it’s probably more easily described as something NOT easily describable.” Layman, in addition to wrapping up “Chew,” recently wrote “Mars Attacks: Occupation” for IDW and “Predator Vs Judge Dredd Vs Aliens” for Dark Horse.
Kieth, as of late, has been working on “The Maxx: Maxximized,” a re-colored and re-mastered (or, whatever the comics version of re-mastering is) version of his iconic series, originally published at Image, but reprinted through IDW. “Eleanor & the Egret” will be his first new creator-owned gig in quite some time.
The full press release is below, along with the cover by Kieth and variant cover by Elizabeth Torque:
ELEANOR & THE EGRET / $3.99 / 32 pages / Color / On-sale April 5th
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Sam Kieth
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Cover by: Sam Kieth
Item Code: FEB171092
A slightly surreal tale of an art thief and her sidekick, a talking egret who gets just a bit bigger after each successful caper, as they embark on a escalating series of daring thefts of world-famous paintings, and dodge pursuers in an increasingly weirdly dangerous game of cat-and-mouse.
JOHN LAYMAN QUOTE-
“As far as I’m concerned, Mike Marts is the very best editor in comics, and a great guy too, so I’m always looking for opportunities to work with him. When he landed at AfterShock I knew very quickly it would be a company that would produce excellent comics –and they are!—so I jumped at the chance to work with them. I’m proud to be part of the AfterShock family, and grateful they are getting behind Sam and I for this very unique and off-kilter book. I would describe Eleanor & the Egret as a fable, and a surrealist romance, but it’s probably more easily described as something NOT easily describable. It’s a melding of two unique voices to comics. It’s also just an excuse for me to give Sam cool stuff to draw, and, in that, he’s exceeding all expectations—some of the pages he’s turning in are absolutely breathtaking.”
