Casey + Fry’s ‘Blood Squad Seven’ kicks off in May

The new series will “explore ’90s superteam dynamics through a contemporary lens.”

Joe Casey and Paul Fry will dig through the bones of 1990s comics nostalgia in Blood Squad Seven, a new series that spins out of Casey’s recent work on Dutch.

“This might be the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my 20-plus years working with Image Comics,” Casey said. “To play in this sandbox is the most fun I’ve ever had writing in a shared universe. This series is much more than a modern deconstruction of what it meant to be a superhero in the ’90s. Paul and I are building on that past to find our way into the future.”

Continue reading “Casey + Fry’s ‘Blood Squad Seven’ kicks off in May”

‘Dutch’ may be ‘the biggest, most expansive story’ Joe Casey has ever told at Image Comics

The three-issue miniseries drawn by Simon Gane begins in February.

Following the release of Dutch #0 this week, which collected Joe Casey and Nathan Fox’s story from the Image 30th anniversary anthology, Image has announced a three-issue Dutch miniseries by Casey and artist Simon Gane.

“This new miniseries with the great Simon Gane is the next, white-hot phase of something much bigger—maybe the biggest, most expansive story I’ve ever told at Image Comics,” Casey said. “Personally, I can’t wait for readers to see the mayhem that Simon and I are cooking up, taking the classic Image action aesthetic and launching it into the next decade!”

Continue reading “‘Dutch’ may be ‘the biggest, most expansive story’ Joe Casey has ever told at Image Comics”

‘Dutch’ #0 collection sets up a new miniseries

Joe Casey was only getting started with the 1990s era Extreme Studios character.

Joe Casey and Nathan Fox’s Dutch story from the Image! 30th anniversary anthology miniseries gets collected in November, and Image Comics has announced it’ll be followed by a three-issue miniseries.

Dutch #0 serves as a prelude to the new miniseries, which again puts the focus on the 1990s character created by Chap Yaep. Dutch appeared in Supreme and related Extreme Studios titles, including Bloodstrike and Youngblood.

“This is the start of the biggest, most ambitious project I’ve ever done at Image Comics,” said Casey. “And I’m insanely proud of what Nathan and I set up in this zero issue. Revisiting this kind of classic character, catching up with him—in real time—is a narrative luxury most superhero tales would never even attempt. So for all the old school Image fans—not to mention, for anyone who’s curious what all the fuss was about back in ’92—you can’t afford to miss this. But I promise you… there’s so much more to come!”

Continue reading “‘Dutch’ #0 collection sets up a new miniseries”

A ‘Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker’ sequel will arrive in September

‘Junior Baker the Righteous Faker’ by Joe Casey and Ryan Quackenbush will explore the superhero genre from a different angle than its predecessor.

Joe Casey will return to the world of Butcher Baker in the five-issue miniseries Junior Baker the Righteous Faker, where he’ll be joined by artist Ryan Quackenbush.

The new title coming from Image Comics has a definitively different look and tone than the 2011 series, which featured gonzo art by Mike Huddleston. Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker was an in-your-face tribute to, and satire of, the excesses of the superhero genre, channeling books like Marshall Law, Brat Pack and pretty much anything Howard Chaykin did in the 1980s.

Casey said questions about his own waning interest in the superhero genre led to the sequel.

“Lately, I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions about my own relationship with the superhero genre, something I’ve been associated with professionally for over twenty-five years,” said Casey. “Did it still speak to me? Did it still hold the same kind of relevance as it did when I was just a fan? How many other readers of my generation were feeling this ambivalence to something that meant so much to us since we were kids? Doing this kind of sequel series confronts some those questions. So both conceptually and narratively, it’s a really big swing we’re taking here. Not to mention, Ryan is a brave, new talent and his art on this alone is worth the price of admission.”

Continue reading “A ‘Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker’ sequel will arrive in September”

Take a look inside the controversial ‘Jesusfreak’

Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra’s original graphic novel featuring a kung-fu Jesus arrives in comic shops this week.

This Wednesday Jesus will rise again in the pages of Jesusfreak, a new graphic novel by Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra. Combining ’70s exploitation comics with the story of Jesus Christ, the book is described as “a bloody, two-fisted tale of heroic historical fiction featuring a certain young Nazarean carpenter who is having some trouble finding his place within a world of ever increasing violence,” according to publisher Image Comics.

Jesusfreak is less inspired by any strict religious traditions and is instead more concerned with exploring the unique tension that exists between depicting a mythical figure and a historical figure—a tension that is compounded when, for many, they’re considered the same person,” Casey said when the project was announced. “It’s also a chance for Marra and I to indulge in a specific style of hard pulp storytelling that we think perfectly fits this material.”

Continue reading “Take a look inside the controversial ‘Jesusfreak’”

‘Sex’ returns as series of graphic novels

Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski’s salacious superhero story returns in April.

Two years may seem like a long time to wait for Sex, but no doubt creators Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski will make it worth the wait.

Image Comics announced today that the popular, provocative superhero series Sex will return in April in a graphic novel format. Originally Sex, which launched in 2013, was released as a monthly comic, but Casey announced in the series’ final issue two years ago plans to migrate away from the “grind of the monthly issue” and instead only release collected editions.

“It’s been a long time coming, but Kowalski and I are primed and pumped to return to the sordid world of Sex,” Casey said in a press release. “This volume definitely takes things to another level of salaciousness. And we’re just getting started taking this new format out for a spin.”

Continue reading “‘Sex’ returns as series of graphic novels”

Cab drivers and monsters collide in the 1970s in ‘MCMLXXV’

‘It’s about creating a new kind of folk hero that speaks to where we all are right now. Oh yeah… it’s also about smashing monsters into the pavement with an enchanted tire iron.’

Joe Casey and Ian MacEwan are heading back to MCMLXXV — that’s 1975 to you and me — for a new series about a Manhattan cab driver/badass monster-fighter.

In MCMLXXV, you’ll meet Pamela Evans during “the year of her greatest adventure.”

“This series is all about creating brand new iconography,” Casey said in a press release. “It’s about creating a new kind of folk hero that speaks to where we all are right now. Oh yeah… it’s also about smashing monsters into the pavement with an enchanted tire iron.”

Continue reading “Cab drivers and monsters collide in the 1970s in ‘MCMLXXV’”

Comics Lowdown: The future of MAD Magazine

Plus: New superhero universe Catalyst Prime, comics to fight fake news, Jillian Tamaki, Rico Renzi’s color palette, and more!

What’s up with MAD Magazine? Mark Evanier lays out a brief history of MAD, which has been part of DC Comics for a long time (it’s complicated!), and updates us on its current status, which is… not good. Like pretty much all print magazines, MAD has been struggling for a while, although Evanier thinks editor John Ficarra has been doing a bang-up job. When the rest of DC packed up and moved to Burbank, California, a while ago, the MAD staff stayed, but they are moving out of their New York office at the end of this year, and DC has not been forthcoming with any news about what will happen next, beyond the fact that the magazine is moving to Burbank and only one staffer, a production artist, will be going with it. The February 2018 issue will be the last one produced by the Usual Gang of Idiots. DC has not made any announcements about what happens next, but Evanier suggests following the blog of artist Tom Richmond, one of the most frequent contributors to the magazine, for updates.

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: The future of MAD Magazine”

‘Annual’ to collect rare and new Joe Casey material

“One-man anthology” to feature Casey’s work with Nathan Fox, Jim Rugg and more.

Man of Action and veteran comics writer Joe Casey has a “one-man anthology” coming out this September that will feature new and rarely seen work with collaborators like Jim Rugg, Nathan Fox and Luke Parker.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Annual will include The Winternational, which previously appeared on the digital comics app Stela, as well as Modern Romance, a story drawn by Fox that appeared in Playboy’s 60th anniversary issue.

Here’s the cover by Sonia Harris, which was inspired by a Batman Annual cover by Trevor von Eeden:

Continue reading “‘Annual’ to collect rare and new Joe Casey material”

Image announces everything and the kitchen sink at ECCC

New projects from Ales Kot, Joe Casey, Joe Keatinge, Declan Shalvey, Matt Wagner, Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester and more announced at Emerald City Comic Con.

For the past few years Image Comics has held an Image Expo, which is kind of their own mini-convention where they feature creators and make announcements. Since they ended up skipping it this year (it’ll be back in 2018) they used their Thursday panel at the Emerald City Comic Con to unleash a huge slew of comic book announcements.

Continue reading “Image announces everything and the kitchen sink at ECCC”