Yesterday, David and I gushed a bit about five upcoming books from Image set for release in 2012. Now, straight from the fine folks at Image, we are very excited to share with you your first look at the upcoming creator-owned ongoing from Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra – The Manhattan Projects.
Sure, you’ve heard of the Manhattan Project (singular), the experiment that resulted in the discovery of the atom bomb — but what if there was more? What if, on top of the greatest and most devastating weapon mankind has ever invented, the team behind the Manhattan Project were working on things far worse, with discoveries much more sinister? Taking place in 1945 and starring folks like Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, The Manhattan Projects asks the reader to reimagine history a bit. And on top of all that horror — what if everything went wrong?
Hickman and Pitarra proved themselves to be quite a duo with their work on critically-acclaimed The Red Wing, a fantastic four-issue mini which also explored history through the lense of time travel explorers who wound up fighting the future generation. It was Hickman’s first creator-owned work since beginning his work over at Marvel as one of their Architects (outside of a single issue of Red Mass for Mars), and it was a terrific return to what put Hickman on the radar in the first place. Chalk that up with the breakout performance of Nick Pitarra with absolutely vibrant and stylistic artwork, and The Manhattan Projects is a shoe-in for our Best of 2012 list already.
We’re also highly anticipating any upcoming news on Hickman’s next project with Ryan Bodenheim, entitled Secret, but in the mean time, be sure to check out a three-page preview of what is assuredly going to be one of our favorite books come March of next year after the cut.
Image Press Release
What if the union of a generation’s brightest minds like Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer was not a signal for optimism, but foreboding? What if everything… went wrong?
In the year 1945, the atomic bomb proved its capacity for immense devastation, but what if the creation of that ultimate killing machine was just a cover for a series of other, more unusual, programs? A brand new, monthly ongoing series from Image Comics will pose that question by taking a look at one of the most critical periods of change in the 20th century through a lens both darkened and strange. Join us, for what is poised to the breakout hit of 2012, THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS!
Award-winning writer Jonathan Hickman (THE NIGHTLY NEWS, FF) and one of the best new talents to debut in comics during the last year, Nick Pitarra, are teaming up once again to present THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS. Following the completion of their critically acclaimed science fiction success, THE RED WING, the duo are taking the cautionary aspect of science fiction and applying it not to the future, but to our past!
“I think anyone that’s followed my work knows about my affinity for near-future/alt-history, and THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS pretty much represents the crown jewel of all the stories I’ve ever cooked-up in that vein,” detailed Hickman. “Honestly, if we do this right — and at this point in the process, it sure feels like we are — I think this might the perfect example of why I do these stories: It takes a world everyone knows, and blurs the lines between fiction and reality in a way that makes you question where one ends and the other begins. I can’t wait for people to read it!”
“Jonathan is a great collaborator, he really sees the page as an artist first,” explained Pitarra, “With THE RED WING and with this new series, his guidance has meant everything. I have freedom in the layouts and planning stages, but I know that with him, as careful a storytelling as he is, if he suggests a change the page always comes out better. It’s good to work with a writer you can trust.”
THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS #1, a 32-page full-color science fiction comic book for $3.50, will be on sale in stores on March 7 and available for order in the January issue of Previews. In the mean time, both THE RED WING TP (OCT11047, ISBN: 978-1-60706-479-4), a 144-page full-color trade paperback for $14.99, & THE NIGHTLY NEWS ANNIVERSARY EDITION HC (SEP110423, ISBN: 9978-1-60706-4619), a 272-page full-color hardcover graphic novel for $34.99, will be on sale in stores December 14.
ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
