Image Comics announced today that acclaimed “Avengers” and “JLA” writer Kurt Busiek is returning to the publisher. The legendary scribe will pen new installments of “Astro City,” “Arrowsmith,” and “Autumnlands” starting next year. He also has several new projects in the pipeline, including the series “Free Agents,” co-written by Fabian Nicieza with art from Stephen Mooney.
Opening Busiek’s run at the company will be the six-issue miniseries “Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Lines,” with “Final Crisis” and “Avengers Forever” artist Carlos Pacheco. The mini will launch on January 19, 2022, and reimagines World War I as “a war of wizards and dragons as much as bullets and barbed wire. Young airman Fletcher Arrowsmith plunges back into the heat of war — and finds himself behind enemy lines, facing a threat that could doom the Allied Powers. Old friends and new favorites will appear, and the world of Arrowsmith will be deepened, as previously-secret history and machinations are revealed.”
Additionally, an oversized, fully re-mastered hardcover collected edition of the original series will drop February 23 (and in bookstores on March 1.) The hardcover will be titled “Arrowsmith: So Smart In Their Fine Uniforms.” Image says the collection will include “ancillary material about the creation and history of ‘Arrowsmith.’”
Following the return of “Arrowsmith,” Brent Anderson, Alex Ross, and Alex Sinclair will join Busiek to continue “Astro City” in March, starting with a one-shot featuring new characters in the titular setting, and the return of the N-Forcer. The creative team will also collaborate on the standalone urban fantasy graphic novel “The Gods on Sunday Morning,” which Busiek describes as “taking a similar approach to fantasy as what Brent, Alex, and I have done with superheroes.” Image will also be releasing collected editions of “Astro City.”
Late 2022 will see the return of the high fantasy series “Autumnlands” with Benjamin Dewey and Jordie Bellaire, as well as the previously mentioned “Free Agents,” the plot details for which were not disclosed. In addition to the backlogs of “Arrowsmith” and “Astro City,” Image will also re-release “Shockrockets” and “Superstar: As Seen on TV,” both created by Busiek with Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger and Jeromy Cox. There will also be a re-release of “The Wizard’s Tale” with David Wenzel.
“I’m thrilled to be back at Image and glad to be working with Eric Stephenson and the whole crew here,” Busiek says of his return. “Image is the best comics publisher for creator-owned work, so it’s very nice to be bringing my books together here, where they can be available as a group, supported by the team here — and sitting alongside such great series as ‘Saga,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘Criminal,’ ‘Savage Dragon’ and so many more.”
