Jonathan Hickman, the architect of Marvel’s very successful Ultimate Comics relaunch, will next turn his attention to Marvel’s cosmic characters in Imperial, a four-issue miniseries that kicks off in June.
Hickman will be joined by two artists, Federico Vicentini and Iban Coello, who will present new takes on everyone from Nova to the Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as exploring the legacies of Planet Hulk and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda.
“I’m very excited about this project as I’m obviously a huge fan of all things Marvel Cosmic,” Hickman said. “The goal here is to kind of do what we did with the recent Ultimate line for all of our space titles, except having the setup book be more of an event than a world building exercise. The art team is killing it, and we’re all just very excited for what’s happening in this special corner of the Marvel Universe.”
Here’s how Marvel describes the story:
IMPERIAL finds the galaxies of the Marvel Universe on the brink of major upheaval, following the elimination of several of its most prominent leaders. Nature abhors a vacuum, and empires fall, rulers are overthrown and power is seized in a saga of intrigue, mysteries and war, all taking place against the backdrop of the formation of new galactic order in the Marvel Universe.
With groundbreaking developments for HULKS, BLACK PANTHERS, NOVAS, GUARDIANS and COSMIC KINGS and QUEENS, IMPERIAL lays the foundation for an entire new landscape of interconnected space-set stories, making it the must-read comic book of the summer!
“Working with Hickman is a great challenge,” Vicentini said. “I love his scripts. He writes really brilliant dialogue and puts incredible attention to details when it comes to the story’s setting.
Here’s a look at Vicentini and Coello’s new designs for some of the characters involved in the series:
“Being involved in this project is incredible,” Coello said. “Creating all these new characters and costumes is really fun. Working with Hickman is something I never expected to be able to do, and it’s both cool and intimidating at the same time because of the magnitude of what he’s doing in the scripts. I look forward to being able to rise to the challenge and do a great job!”
The first issue of four arrives June 4.