2013 has now come and gone, and it had brought with it some astounding new creator-owned series & miniseries such as The Wake, East of West, Buzzkill, Lazarus, Sex Criminals and Mara. 2014 has also started off with a bang with Dark Horse announcing Year of the Horse & Project Black Sky and Vertigo's CMYK project and the first couple of #1’s during the years end with Black Science, Dead Body Road, the Saviours and Deadly Class. Marvel just starting up their latest wave with All-New Marvel NOW and DC’s weekly Batman Eternal and New 52: Futures End.
All that said, creator-owned comics is at an all-time high, and it couldn't be more exciting! “I” is for “Innovation”, you say? I’d put in my 2 cents and state, “I” is for “INSANELY AWESOME”. Image has stepped up yet again with its recent Image Expo announcements, and in this column I would like to cover a few of those upcoming creator-owned series that I simply cannot wait to read - I am quivering in anticipation. There are plenty of publishers doing great things this year but the expo announcement had truly floored me - because, hey, “I” is also for “Ingenuity”.
From creative team Mark Millar (Civil War/Kick-Ass/Nemesis) and Goran Parlov (Fury Max/Y The Last Man), Starlight will mark the much awaited beginning of the Millarworld Universe. Considering the quality of Millar’s epics, a shared universe under the Image banner is going to be history in the making.
The team that brought you the second half of Batman Incorporated, is returning with their new horror title, Nameless. Still swathed in mystery, there has been little revealed about this title so far, but seriously - Grant Morrison. Chris Burnham. I really needn’t say more.
Scott Snyder can do no wrong, with American Vampire, The Wake and Batman being constants in my pull list. On art duties we have the entrancing award-winning artworks of Jock aka Mark Simpson. Having already created two accurately depicted period pieces whilst also creating entirely new mythologies, Snyder’s third creator-owned work in combination to Jock’s expressive artwork, Wytches promises to be THE horror comic to watch in 2014.
Jason Aaron (Scalped/Wolverine & the X-Men) and Jason LaTour (B.P.R.D./Sledgehammer 44) come together yet again after their latest Marvel Infinite Comic, Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted. A self-proclaimed “southern fried crime series” based in Alabama, the fact that both Jason’s happen to be familiars and residents to southern North American states will create for an authentic take on whatever is about to unfold, plus the additional fact that this is a pretty versatile team, with Aaron having penned works that range from brooding noir to over-the-top hilarity and LaTour having pencilled some of my favourite Mignolaverse arcs.
Rick Remender is a busy, busy man. With the announcement of the dystopian underwater sci-fi Low, he will eventually be writing 3 titles for Image. Despite his flare for writing some of the best works to ever be released by Marvel (Uncanny X-Force/Uncanny Avengers/Venom), his work truly shines when he is working on his own ideas. Hell, I own a multitude of his independent works - Fear Agent, Strange Girl and Sea of Red, amongst others. Greg Tocchini will be covering art duties on this title - you have probably seen a lot of his art as of late, including covers for Hinterkind and Black Science variants, his vibrant ink-wash/watercoloured style is going to be absolute eye-candy.
The Young Avengers team of Kieron Gillen and James McKelvie offer up an interesting take on religion in this new title, where gods are reincarnated in human bodies. In relation to which religions these gods are going to be drawn from, it is almost sure to incite some insightful and challenging thinking, not to mention the probable extremists and Westboro crawling out the woodwork. Either way, this is a team that pushes boundaries, regardless the nature of topic, or whatever your religious (or un-religious) perspective - this title will be worth checking out.