Jeff Lemire has signed an exclusive deal with Image Comics, his publisher for projects like Ascender, Descender, Gideon Falls, Primordial and more, for an undisclosed amount of time.
“Having worked with Image on so many projects over the last decade, I’ve come to appreciate the complete creative freedom and support that they’ve provided me,” said Lemire. “I’m excited to make Image the exclusive home for all my projects in the years to come, both solo projects that I will draw myself, and my various collaborations. Bone Orchard and Little Monsters are just the start of what I have planned this year and beyond.”
The deal does come with a couple of asterisks, though — Lemire clarified in his Substack newsletter that it will not impact the Black Hammer line of books he co-created at Dark Horse. “I have an exemption in my Image deal to finish the last few Black Hammer series as planned,” he said.
He added that the content he shares through Substack, like Fishflies, will not be affected and will continue as planned, noting the Image deal only included print comics.
“What this deal really means is that I am done with work-for-hire comics for the foreseeable future, and Image, and this Substack, have provided great homes for my future creator-owned work outside of Black Hammer,” he said.
On the immediate horizon for Lemire are two previously announced projects at Image — Little Monsters, a series with artist Dustin Nguyen that kicks off in March, and the ambitious Bone Orchard Mythos with Andrea Sorrentino. It will span several miniseries and graphic novels, the first of which is due out next summer. It’ll also be featured in one of Image’s 2022 Free Comic Book Day offerings.
Lemire also teased a new project with Gabriel Walta (Sentient) earlier this week. Here’s a sample page:
