Derek Kirk Kim + Jacob Perez place a bet on ‘Royals’

The graphic novel will arrive from Image Comics next April.

Derek Kirk Kim’s return to comics started strong with the release of the excellent The Last Mermaid, but he’s not done — the creator of the award-winning Same Difference and Other Stories will team with artist Jacob Perez for Royals.

Image Comics will release Royals as an original graphic novel. It’s about two telepathic brothers whose attempts to use their powers to cheat at poker land them in very hot water.

“As a lifelong fan of crime capers and Jackie Chan films, this is a dream project come true for me,” said Kim. “And having it brought to glorious life by Jacob Perez with his vivid, dynamic art is an absolute honor!”

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Tim Seeley + Stefano Caselli will pay tribute to Jason Pearson with ‘Hack/Slash: Body Bags’

The crossover series by the original ‘Hack/Slash’ team begins in October.

The original Hack/Slash creative team of Tim Seeley and artist Stefano Caselli are re-teaming for a crossover series that brings together Cassie Hack and Jason Pearson’s Body Bags characters. The four-issue miniseries will begin in October.

Body Bags was originally published by Dark Horse and later moved to 12-Gauge Comics. The series starred two assassins, Mack Delgado, aka Clownface, and his daughter, Panda. Pearson passed away in December of 2022.

Seeley said he was a big fan of Body Bags, and he reached out to Keven Gardner, publisher of 12-Gauge Comics, about doing a crossover to honor Pearson’s creation.

“Tim reached out a little over a year ago via our mutual friend, Cully Hamner, one of Jason’s former studio mates at Gaijin Studios, with the idea to do this crossover,” said Keven Gardner, publisher of 12-Gauge Comics. “To be honest, before talking with Tim, my initial reaction was, ‘Probably not.’ This was about six months after Jason’s passing, his mom was in the middle of settling his estate—it just wasn’t something on her radar or mine. But, after I spoke with Tim it was immediately clear that he was a huge fan of Body Bags, that Jason’s work had been a strong influence on him, and that this was something he and Stefano really wanted to do. We talked about possible ideas, and I could see how this could be something special.”

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Slugfest | BOOM! announces a second ‘I Heart Skull-Crusher!’ arc

Today’s round-up includes news on SDCC, Power Rangers, Something is Killing the Children, Groo, Venom War and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. With the San Diego Comic Con rapidly approaching, you’ll probably see more of these over the next few weeks. Hit the links for more information.

As a part of their annual “Road to SDCC” announcements, BOOM! Studios has revealed that Josie Campbell and Alessio Zonno’s I Heart Skull-Crusher! will continue in October.

The BOOM! Box series was announced late last year and began in March as a miniseries, but it looks like it has grown into something more.

“Josie Campbell and Alessio Zonno have even more action-packed, hilarious hijinks in store for us,” said BOOM! Studios Editor Elizabeth Brei. “The new arc is funny, chaotic and shockingly touching, just as you’d expect from Trini and the rest of her Screaming Pain Ball teammates! We’re so excited for readers to discover the surprises still to come!”

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Ghost Machine’s ‘Hyde Street’ will debut in October

The horror universe created by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis will kick off with a new series + a one-shot.

Ghost Machine, the Image Comics imprint led by Geoff Johns, has announced more details on Hyde Street, the upcoming line of horror comics involving Johns, artist Ivan Reis and others.

As a quick reminder, Johns and several of his frequent collaborators announced Ghost Machine last year, built on the idea that the creators involved will co-own all the characters and universes developed within Ghost Machine. And yes, that’s “universes,” plural with the horror-themed Hyde Street joining Johns’ The Unnamed universe, which features his Geiger and Junkyard Joe comics, and a science fiction-themed universe featuring Johns and Jason Fabok’s Rook.

Johns and Reis have worked together in the past on Aquaman and Green Lantern, including the Blackest Night crossover. So it’s no surprise to see them teaming up again on this new Hyde Street initiative.

“Everyone at Ghost Machine is incredibly excited for fans to discover the Hyde Street universe,” Johns said at a panel at FanExpo Denver this past weekend. “Ivan and I have wanted to collaborate on something new and original for a long time, and Hyde Street was the perfect avenue for us to let a darker side of our imagination run wild. The characters will lure you into this world each in their own unnerving way and walking down any ‘Hyde Street’ in your town will never feel the same again.” 

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A ‘G.I. Joe’ ongoing series set in the Energon Universe will launch this fall

Joshua Williamson, Tom Reilly and Jordie Bellaire bring ‘a bold new vision’ of G.I. Joe and Cobra to comics in November.

Following the series of miniseries featuring Duke, Cobra Commander, Scarlett and Destro, Skybound has announced a new ongoing series featuring the war between G.I. Joe and the villainous Cobra. G.I. Joe, set in the Energon Universe alongside Void Rivals and Transformers, will launch in November.

Writer Joshua Williamson, artist Tom Reilly and colorist Jordie Bellaire will bring the Joe team together under the command of Conrad Hauser, Codename Duke, “to battle the rising power of the mysterious Cobra in the aftermath of the Autobots and Decepticons’ arrival on Earth.” It will be published alongside G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which continues the continuity of the original Marvel (and later IDW) title launched in the 1980s that does not tie into the bigger universe Skybound has built.

“Finally! The team is together! The response to the mini-series that led to this moment has been phenomenal, it’s been exciting to see lifelong fans of the iconic series and new readers come together to support G.I. JOE in the Energon Universe,” Williamson said. “What has come before was just a glimpse into the massive world full of action and drama that we’re bringing with the new ongoing series. Now it’s time to amp up the story as newly formed G.I. Joe and Cobra meet for the first time! Our first issue rocks the Energon Universe in major ways with big moments we’ve been dying to unleash. Tom and Jordie are killing it and bringing the heat with every page. You do not want to miss G.I. JOE #1. Yo Joe!” 

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Gerry Duggan + John McCrea bring ‘Dead Eyes’ back to life at Image Comics

‘Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames’ kicks off in September.

Dead Eyes, the series by Gerry Duggan and John McCrea that started life back in 2018, will return with a new miniseries this fall — Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames.

Originally titled Dead Rabbit, the series was recalled after release due to a lawsuit from a New York bar called “Dead Rabbit.” It returned under the new title, Dead Eyes, with four issues being published in total, plus a collection. It’s about a former mercenary/gun-for-hire who gets pulled back into the life after retirement.

“The unkillable Dead Eyes is back! We’ve never stopped working on Dead Eyes, and The Empty Frames has more tragical hilarious action than the first one. As always, McCrea, and colorist Mike Spicer really show off in this new volume and prove once again why they’re one of the best teams in the business,” said Duggan.

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Pornsak Pichetshote assembles an all-star creator line-up for ‘The Horizon Experiment’

The project includes five one-shots by Terry and Rachel Dodson, Sabir Pirzada, Michael Walsh and more.

With all the great comics Pornsak Pichetshote has been writing over the last few years, sometimes it’s easy to forget he used to edit award-winning books at Vertigo. He’s putting both skills to work with The Horizon Experiment, a line of one-shots by various creative teams “featuring original protagonists from marginalized backgrounds set in a popular genre and inspired by pop culture icons.”

Pichetshote is working with co-editor Will Dennis on the line, which will feature contributions from Sabir Pirzada, Michael Walsh, Tananarive Due, Kelsey Ramsay, J. Holtham and more. Pichetshote is also writing the first one-shot, The Manchurian, which will feature artwork by Terry and Rachel Dodson.

“I’m fascinated with taking popular genres, like horror and noir, and seeing what they’d look like from diverse perspectives—I explored this in my Image Comics books Infidel and The Good Asian. But, I’ve been limited to my own experiences. So, for The Horizon Experiment, I decided to use the same mentality but open it up to other people, inviting some of the most talented people I know to work on it,” Pichetshote said. “Each one-shot is the equivalent of a pilot for a new creator-owned series, with the potential of continuing should there be demand for more. Each team of creators have had different approaches—all of them have knocked me out, and I couldn’t be more proud that the end result is five very unique books, all connected by the same ambitious spirit.”

Here’s a look at each of the one-shots, starting with The Manchurian:

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Daniel Warren Johnson + Riley Rossmo team up for ‘The Moon Is Following Us’

The new series will debut from Image Comics in September.

Daniel Warren Johnson and Riley Rossmo are teaming together for a new creator-owned series coming from Image Comics this fall. The Moon Is Following Us is “about family and about parenthood, but it also has sweet snake monsters,” Johnson said, as two parents go to extreme lengths to rescue their daughter.

In his email newsletter, Johnson revealed a look at the project, which he will write and then split the art duties with Rossmo. Mike Spicer will color the series.

“Needless to say, we are both bringing everything we got with this one,” Johnson writes. “Also, while I am writing it, we’re also splitting interior art duties, with Riley taking about 85%, and me the rest. It’s a super collab, and I haven’t seen different art styles used this way in storytelling yet.”

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Slugfest | BOOM! celebrates 25 years of ‘Farscape’

Plus: ‘Life,’ ‘Remote Space,’ Fantagraphics’ fall schedule, Minecraft, Dog Man and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Farscape, the Australian-American science fiction television series created by Rockne O’Bannon and the Jim Henson Company that ran on SciFi, will return to comics in August courtesy of BOOM! Studios, who published the previous Farscape series.

The 25th anniversary special one-shot will be the first Farscape comic published since 2010, and it’ll feature stories by  Keith R.A. DeCandido, who wrote many of BOOM!’s previous Farscape comics, along with Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Sarah Gailey, Sina Grace and more.

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Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel + Rod Reis return to the world of ‘C.O.W.L.’

‘C.O.W.L.: 1964′ will launch in August and will tie into Higgins’ larger Massive-verse line of titles.

Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis will reunite 10 years later for C.O.W.L.: 1964, a three-issue miniseries that begins later this summer.

C.O.W.L., which has officially joined the Massive-verse titles overseen by Higgins, first launched in 2014. Set in the 1960s, the comic centers on the Chicago Organized Workers League, the world’s first super-hero labor union, which battled super villains, organized crime and eventually their own faltering public image. The previous series has been collected into two volumes.

“Returning to C.O.W.L. is very special for me,” said Higgins. “The series’ origins date back to my college thesis film, The League, and before that to the short story I wrote that got me into film school. It’s something that’s been with both Alec and myself for a long time. When Alec, Rod and I started this book In 2014, the idea of building it to be a part of a something larger wasn’t something that we thought we would ever be able to do. Now, as we come back to finish the core story, we’ll also be setting the stage for the future of C.O.W.L. and in some ways, The Massive-Verse.”

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John Arcudi + Savannah Finley bring ‘Convert’ to Image Comics

The miniseries kicks off in August.

Veteran comics writer John Arcudi will return this summer with a new miniseries drawn by Savannah Finley. Convert is a science fiction story about a science officer who is stranded on an alien planet, where he’s haunted by his dead crew.

The writer of B.P.R.D., Major Bummer and more said the new series is a “more intimate” approach to science fiction for him.

Convert was maybe my first opportunity to write a science fiction story the way I wanted to, meaning something more personal, more intimate—while at the the same time more fantastic—than what I’m used to seeing in the genre,” Arcudi said. “My hope is that this human element in the comic will connect with readers.”

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Maria Llovet’s ‘All the Things We Didn’t Do Last Night’ arrives in July

The story originally appeared in the Image 30th Anniversary Anthology.

Image Comics will collect Maria Llovet’s three-part story from the Image 30th Anniversary Anthology into a one-shot. All the Things We Didn’t Do Last Night, which is about two criminals turned lovers, will arrive in July.

“This one-shot was initially created as an ‘origin story’ of a bigger project of mine, so in this edition I’ve decided to include a lot of extra material and info where the readers will know more about these characters that I love and their future adventures,” the Barcelona-based creator said. Llovet’s previous comics include Crave, Luna and Porcelain.

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