John Layman and Rob Guillory, the team behind the long-running and super-awesome series Chew from Image Comics, are reuniting on a new title called Ghostbrawler.
As revealed on Guillory’s Patreon, Ghostbrawler is the story of Joey Frezzini, a boxer who died in the ring and spends his afterlife evicting ghosts — with his fists.
“My old buddy Layman and I have been developing this since December, and it is a BLAST,” Guillory wrote. “Something truly original and unique that fans of Chew will absolutely love.”
Guillory said they plan to eventually release the title through Image Comics, but will start with a Kickstarter campaign for a black, white and blue “Bruiser Edition” to introduce the title.
The Bruiser Edition will be a 40+ page behind-the-scenes edition collecting the entire first issue, along with the script, concept art and pages from the rest of the arc. Guillory calls it a “trailer” for the first five issues, which will debut in full color in late 2026.
“Comics are incredibly time-consuming and incredibly expensive to make,” Guillory writes. “So this campaign gives us a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Readers will get a kickass, completely unique and limited edition book. And we get to keep our lights on while making it. It’s really that simple.”
The Kickstarter campaign will kick off on May 19, and they plan to release the Image series starting in October or November.
Guillory and Layman’s Chew ran for 60 issues from 2009 through 2016, telling the story of Tony Chu and his family, who had a mix of different powers related to food. Layman returned to the world of Chew for Chu in 2020, which featured Tony’s sister and a different artist, while Guillory went on to kick off the recently completed Farmhand. It’s great to see the two of them back together for what sounds like a fun series.