Announced as part of Image’s solicits today, Jonathan Hickman and frequent collaborator Ryan Bodenheim have a new series coming out in January: “The Dying and the Dead.”
The solicit is a touch vague, but the book apparently involves a murder at a wedding that unveils a fifty year old secret which puts an unnamed man on a path to save his dying wife while other while other “seemingly disparate events” percolate in the background to bring the best from “the Greatest Generation” together for “one lost hurrah” — making this sound like a weird, dark version of The Expendables (though the solicit itself notes that it is “Indiana Jones for Old People”). The book will also launch with a double-sized first issue to kick things off, as appears to be a trend at Image in January (lots of cool big kick-offs, including a “Criminal” one-shot), but at the price of what we usually get for 20-page comics at other publishers it’s not something I’ll complain about.
Here’s the solicit:
THE DYING AND THE DEAD #1
STORY: JONATHAN HICKMAN
ART / COVER: RYAN BODENHEIMJANUARY 14 / 64 PAGES / FC / T+ / $4.50
“TODAY, TOMORROW, THE GRAVE”
A murder at a wedding reveals a fifty year-old secret. At great cost, a man with a dying wife is given the opportunity to save her. A lost tribe is reborn in another time. Seemingly disparate events that force relics from the Greatest Generation to come together for one last hurrah.Brought to you by award-winning writer JONATHAN HICKMAN and fan-favorite artist RYAN BODENHEIM, THE DYING AND THE DEAD is high adventure meets end-of-life care.
It’s Indiana Jones for Old People. There are no fedoras, only bedpans.
“No fedoras, only bedpans” may be the greatest piece of solicit copy in our lifetime.
Hickman and Bodenheim have collaborated a couple times now, including the Image books “Red Mass for Mars” and “Secret.” Both books are rather great (I’m partial to the former, which also served as the last of Hickman’s creator-owned books for a while as he began writing “Fantastic Four”), but both books were mired by delays. Hopefully whatever caused delays in the past has been worked out, because Ryan Bodenheim is an amazing artist whose work should be more prominent and well known in comics; even aside from his collaborations with Hickman, books like “Halcyon” have showed what Bodenheim can do on a grand scale — and it’s quite gorgeous. I can’t wait to see what we do in a more intimate setting described as “Indiana Jones for Old People.”
Hickman and Bodenheim’s new book launches January 14th.
Update: The page has been updated with correct solicit information from Hickman – #1 is actually 64 pages and is $4.50 – and follow that link to see its first pages and the cover to #2.
