Image Comics announced its new line-up of books coming out between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011. Here we go. And if you’re wondering why some of the write-ups are longer than the others, it’s simply because some of the creators were more gregarious.
The Infinite Vacation
This five-issue miniseries, introduced via the above video, is written by Nick Spencer (Existence 2.0, Morning Glories) and illustrated by Christian Ward. It takes place in a world in which traveling into and through alternate realities is common. “It’s something you do for vacation or work,” said Spencer. “You open an app on your iPhone and move over to a new life whenever you feel like it.”
The Infinite Vacation follows a young man addicted to this type of travel and the opportunities it provides him. But something happens during one of his journeys that makes him wonder whether this is the life he should be living.
Spencer also announced that Morning Glories 3 will be released on October 20.
Hack/Slash: My First Maniac
My First Maniac, a trade paperback dropping in November, collects the origin story of Cassie Hack, heroine of Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash ongoing series. My First Maniac was essentially a re-boot of the increasingly-convoluted Hack/Slash ongoing series. “We did My First Maniac when we jumped from (original series publisher) Devil’s Due to Image Comics,” said Seeley.
Image is also releasing Trailers Part Two—the sequel to Seeley’s Trailers. “Back at Devil’s Due,” Seeley explained, “we did something called Trailers, which were fake Hack/Slash stories we’d never do, mostly because they were incredibly stupid.”
In Trailers Two, however, Seeley enlisted numerous creators to finish the left over material from the days when Devil’s Due published the book. Talent includes writers B. Clay Moore and Gail Simone as well as “all kinds of great artists.” Trailers Two will be released as a 64 page trade paperback.
Finally, in January, Image will be re-releasing one of Seeley’s first-ever comics (which, coincidentally, was published by Image): a black-and-white superhero parody called Lovebunny and Mr. Hell, illustrated by Brendan Hay. The three-issue series follows a sidekick named Lovebunny ready to become a leading superhero herself. In the process, she accidentally acquires her own sidekick: a giant demon named Mr. Hell. While the original series was black-and-white, the re-release will be colorized.
Undying Love
A vampire love story illustrated and co-written by Tomm Coker. But don’t worry, there will be sex this time. The story: an American soldier falls in love with a Chinese woman (happens). She turns out to be a vampire (happens less), which complicates things. In order to free her, the soldier must destroy the vampire that made her.
The series incorporates both Western and Eastern vampire mythologies. The Chinese vampires, for instance, aren’t particularly mobile and suck the breath, as opposed to the blood, out of their victims. “We spent six to seven months reading (Chinese mythology and folklore), putting together ideas,” said Coker. “We have about 40 pages of notes that didn’t even make it in. And there was this great book called Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. One or two pages stories that are absolutely insane Chinese folklore. Don’t read it until you finish our series or else you’ll see where we get our ideas.”
The first issue of the eight-issue arc debuts February 2011.
Memoir
Memoir, written by Ben McCool and illustrated by Nikki Cook, takes place in the American midwest town of Lowesville. One morning, everyone wakes up without any idea who they are, where they are, or what just happened. Except for one guy, who remembers everything, and it’s not good.
McCool described Memoir as a “very twisted horror book with noirish elements.”
Daomu
Daomu was introduced by its executive producer, James Zhang, CEO of Concept Art House, which nominally does concept art for digital media and entertainment. The release of Daomu in January 2011 marks the company’s first foray into comics. Translated, the title means tomb robber (Zhang: “We couldn’t take tomb raider because somebody else already had that.”)
The ongoing series was originally a best-selling novel in China. Concept Art House developed a Chinese graphic novel around it, which itself became a best-seller. Now they’re bringing it to the United States. There will be some changes: Zhang said his company had to adapt roughly 20% of the material to make it more international—in other words, to make it more episodic to adhere to the westernized style of serializing comics. “In China,” said Zhang, “they don’t like 20 page serials. They’re like, ‘Where’s the rest of it?’”
The story begins in Detroit as a young man meets his father after a ten-year estrangement. Except the father shows up looking thirty years older than he should. Before the son, now confused as well as angry, can ask about it, somebody shoots the father through the window (business as usual in Detroit, really). The son eventually learns that he’s part of a long lineage of tomb raiders called the Daomu.
The book is a combination of family history and fantasy. The author of the Daomu novel actually descended from a family of tomb raiders—his grandfather had a store full of, apparently, stolen goods which helped the comic creators visualize the book. All that notwithstanding, Daomu took roughly 15 months of pure research before the creative staff at Concept Art House began compiling the first two issues. “It’s only 48 pages of actual comic,” said Zhang, “but through the research, we developed an entire world and journal out of it.” Though he conceded that Google Image Search “gets you 70% of the way there.”
Who is Jake Ellis?
For this one, Image’s PR and Marketing Coordinator Betsy Gomez read off the marketing copy. Who is Jake Ellis? is a five-issue miniseries debuting January 2011. It is written by Nathan Edmondson and illustrated by Tanci Zonjic.
So take it away, Betsy: “Jon Moore is the most sought-after spy-for-hire in NY’s criminal underworld. This is because of his friend Jake Ellis, who is invisible to everyone except Moore. When deals go bad, the only one who can protect Moore is Jake Ellis.”
Firebreather vs. Dragon Prince
This one-shot is a crossover featuring characters from two existing books: Ron Marz’s Dragon Prince and Phil Hester’s Firebreather (which has since become a Cartoon Network movie). Firebreather vs. Dragon Prince will be illustrated by newcomer Saumin Patel, an Indian artist who Marz predicts will soon be poached by Marvel or DC.
The single issue, on sale in December, is a 40-page story and will be bundled with reprints of Firebreather 1 and Dragon Prince 1.
Shinku
Another versus book from Ron Marz—this time: samurai versus vampires. “Vampires are bad guys in the story,” said Marz. “They’re gonna be monsters.” The on-going series focuses on a female descendant of a clan of vampire-hunting samurai, who have been nearly eliminated by their enemies. It takes place in the present day, as the heroine seeks out vampires seeded through Japanese society. Marz promised violence, swearing, and more nudity. “It’s a vampire book about sex and violence,” said Marz. “Not a vampire book about not-having-sex. If the oblique reference isn’t lost on you.”
Q&A
Of course, there was a Q&A after the panel. I’m not 100% sure if I have all of the speakers correctly matched to their quotes. So pray for me.
On film adaptations:
Nick Spencer: The coolest thing is if option money falls out of the sky, what we do is pile it into the comics and make more comics. At the end of the day, you have meetings with producers and you come away thinking, “man is that guy dumb.” The Hollywood process, as you can see by the number of things that get optioned and the number of things that get made, is very difficult. It’s like playing slot machines. What’s cool for me is we get to do comics. And what comes out is what we want it to be.
That’s much better than any movie deal. If a movie comes out, if it gets done, that’s awesome. But I think making comics is a better job than making movies becaues you’re working with some strong people and when your book comes out, it’s what you want it to be. Movies are great, but keep making comics.
Tim Seeley: It seems people’s enthusiasm for movies is greater than comics. Every time I do an interview for something it’s like: “How about that movie?” I don’t know why people are interested in film more (ed note: because comics don’t have Taylor Lautner’s rippling abs), but if it helps people get interested in comics, I’ll talk about it all damn day.
Tomm Coker: You know the first thing a producer says when he reads your comic? “Wow, what a great book. You guys did a wonderful job. How can we change it to make it work for film?” And I’ve made some movies, but comics are amazing because—I’m writing and drawing and it’s a one-man show so there’s no compromise. You just try to make the best book you possibly can.
On writing:
I-Forgot-Who-Said-This-Sorry: The worst way in the world to learn how to write comics is to just read comics. Hopefully everyone has a well-rounded reading list. Read history, read fiction, read non-fiction. If you just read comics, it gives you the ability to name everyone in the Legion of Superheroes. It doesn’t give you the ability to write comics.
On over-saturating the market with vampire stories:
Ron Marz: It’s a primal storytelling engine. People will always respond to vampires when they’re done well. Of course, they respond to Twilight as well. I came up with the idea (for Shinku) a while ago just because vampires are cool. If you can tell a good story, that’s all that matters.
People buy Twilight, you don’t want to be a whore and jump on it. In a way, I think all the vampire books coming out now is a reaction in the other direction from geeks like us pissed off about Twilight. Do they drink blood in Twilight? No, they play baseball. Yeah, if I were a 300 year old vampire, I’d sit in high school all day.
On Image’s creator-driven philosophy:
Betsy Gomez: The entire idea is that these books are creator-owned. We might advise them, if we think they’re taking the wrong step, we might ask if they think that’s a good idea. But it’s all up to the creator.
Again-I-Didn’t-Catch-Who-Said-This: And if you sell really well, they really don’t care.
Ryan Joe
Ryan Joe is the co-editor of Fawlt Magazine. He works and writes in Manhattan. If he were ever to get bitten by a radioactive spider, his arm would probably just blacken and fall off. ...
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