Image News from WonderCon

Image comics offered several cool announcements from their home base in the SF area from WonderCon today.

Here's some highlights:

"Merrick!" Richard Starkings announced that his creator-owned series Elephantmen has been optioned as a major motion picture. No filmmakers or studio have been attached, but they'd better start cross-breeding pachyderm's and people now given the 20-month gestation period and their notorious problems with learning to hold things. Still, a better alternative to CGI since most animators refuse to be paid in peanuts. 

Will they focus on a single arc, or will they trunkate several? Okay, I'm done. 

Steve Seagle will unearth his long dormant Vertigo series The Crusades for a pair of newly remastered collections from Image this July. The collaboration with Kelley Jones tells the story of an 11th century crusader unleashed upon modern San Francisco and his efforts to beam a pair of humpback whales onto his commandeered Klingon starship. We're pretty surprised Vertigo let this one slip through their fingers, but then again, The Crusades: Urban Decree and the twenty existing issues of the series were never previously collected. 

Joe Casey and his Nixon's Pals collaborator Chris Burnham are teaming up again for Officer Downe, a one-shot about a tough cop without a pulse. Just imagine Dirty Harry if Harry were played by today's Clint Eastwood. See? Spooky and compelling. That one lurches toward the all-night donut shop this July.

 

Frank Cho and Doug Murray (The 'Nam) will provide scripts for 50 Girls 50, to be drawn by the winner of their recent talent search, artist Alex Medellin. In addition to co-writing the series, Cho provided original character models. Here's a panel from Medellin's contest entry:

 

 

Steven Seagle and artist Marco Cinello (Soul Kiss) send an electric current through Frankie Stein, a delightful new children's book about a normal boy named Frankie who just happens to be a patchwork of cadavergraphs. That'll hit in October, just in time for Columbus Day.  

We've already talked a bit about Savage Dragon Funnies, a new series of backups from creators like Michel Fiffe, Andrew Dimitt, Kiel West, Vito Delsante, and Joe Keatings, but Erik Larsen also talked about the series' new status quo called Savage Dragon: Emperor Dragon. Dragon is still a big bad, and left to his own devices, he's gearing up for world conquest. Might be hard to get his badge back if he makes a turnaround. 

 

 

Hehe…Trunkate

Comments

  1. I am happy that Elephantmen got optioned but I gotta admit it’s currently on the chopping block.

  2. Officer Downe kinda looks like Axe Cop

  3. I remember that crusader series from vertigo, it was pertty cool. I’d like to see where they pick up the story from. And how can the title go from vertigo to imagee was it creator owned?

  4. man, how kick ass is image these days?

  5. What’s the verdict on the first run of The Crusades?  That sounds interesting.

  6. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    I’m not sure that Crusades is actually continuing with new issues. According to the press release, Image is simply reprinting the twenty existing issues and the one-shot prequel (Urban Decree). It looks like there will be two big hardcovers. This is the first I’ve heard of it, but it looks like it might be a ton of fun. 

  7. The Crusades does indeed sound cool.  All of these announcements are awesome.  I’m stoked for that Joe Casey one-shot.  It looks to be right up my alley.

  8. I keep reading this wrong. I thought it was some metaphor about the elephantmen in the corner, and then i read about stephen seagal. huh? oh wait…

    But seriously, frankie stein looks beautiful! i would really like a poster of that. i have a question tho. does officer downe really not have a pulse or is that a metaphor too? I’m so confused.

     

  9. Hmmm, might have to grab Officer Downe if I can remember it in 3 months and the price is right. The Crusades also sounds interesting, but I detest Kelley Jones art. 

  10. Yay for Elephantmen.  I know this excites at least three people here.

  11. If I love Elephantmen so much, and I do, then why does this make me feel so icky?

    Great news for Starkings, though. Maybe more people will start reading it.

  12. Never heard of The Crusades before….the comic not the actual Crusades. Sounds really interesting though and yeah why isn’t it a Vertigo series?

    Elephantmen as a film….Not sure if that would work. 

  13. The Elephantmen movie could be really cool. I hope it at least brings people to the comic.

     

    And also… Savage Dragon is a bad-guy these days? That seems weird, but I haven’t read Savage Dragon since I was in 7th grade. 

  14. There was a British comic called Monster Fun in the 70s/80s that featured a character called Frankie Stein too…

  15. The Crusades was an oddly compelling mystery when it came out. I liked it but it wasn’t my favorite effort from Steve Seagle. Though I do remember feeling like it got cut short.

    I did talk to Steve about this at wondercon — he IS working on a new series for Kelley Jones to draw, and it uses two characters from The Crusades, but it’s otherwise completely unrelated.

  16. Hold the phone!

    I didn’t notice this when I first saw the article……Is that THE Kelley Jones? One of my favorite artists? The man who draws the perfect (to me) Batman ever? That Kelley Jones?

    Holy shit….I need this Crusades reprinted and now! 

  17. I enjoyed "Nixon’s Pals" so I’m going to check out "Officer Downe." But wasn’t a cop without a pulse thing done to death in the "Maniac Cop"movie series? 🙂

    I love some good Kelley Jones, and even though I don’t know more than what Paul wrote, I seriously want to check this out . July is going to be an expensive month. I can see it now. I guess that means no skipping work for the beach!

  18. I hope the Elephantmen movie comes together.  That could be wild!