It’s Alive! Marvel Unveils New CrossGen Imprint and Two Titles

CrossGen has tumbled wet and gooey and alive in 2010 from a dark rift opened by the super hadron collider. Or Marvel. Or maybe both. 

What matters is that Crossgen is back, and with it are two new titles. Well, you may recognize the gaslight thriller Ruse.

"RUSE plants you in the heart of mystery as the world's greatest detective, Simon Archard, meets the alluring and enigmatic Emma Bishop, a woman who may well be his match and launches him into the greatest caper of his career. The one and only Mark Waid writes while star on the rise Mirco Pierfederici provides art."

Or, maybe you're looking for some teenage angst and symbology. Well, Sigil (not to be confused with the original CrossGen space marine launch title of the same name) looks to be just for you.

  

"SIGIL stars Samantha Rey, a 16-year-old girl from South Carolina who gets swept up in a war beyond her understanding and may possess the power to turn the tide in the form of a mysterious symbol on her chest even she doesn't understand. New York Times-best-selling writer Mike Carey teams with artist Leonard Kirk for this next great comics tale."

Great writers, new genre-bending stories. It's a very good thing. 

Ruse and Sigil launch in March 2011. 

 

 

Comments

  1. I saw in the solicits that the prices were $2.99…that can’t be right. Hopefully Diamond will correct this soon.

  2. All I want is the final issue of Route 666. But I’ll happily take Ruse, too. 

    Way of the Rat was pretty coo’ as well. 

  3. I read the first 12 issues of the original RUSE and rather liked them. With SIGIL, I trust Mike Carey enough to jump onto that one based on his name alone. Looks like I’m signing up for both of these!

  4. Hmmm… interesting. Ruse sounds to be a bit of a reboot, which seems to contradict the one quote I saw about these book a elsewhere, which said they were “Spinning right out of where they left!” Still, Ruse was one of my favorite book when it was around. I’m actually shocked Sojourn wasn’t picked to lead this reboot with Ruse. They were the two most popular CrossGen book. Still very exciting. 

  5. Mark Waid going back to freelance seems to make much more sense now…

  6. I am GIDDY beyond words over this. CrossGen were some of my favorite books at the time, I genuinely enjoyed almost everything they put out. And if you think about it, many of the formative artists at CrossGen are now Marvel regulars, from Paul Pelletier to Mike Perkins to Butch Guice to Jim Cheung. Awesome Sauce.
     

  7. I’m pretty excited about the RUSE re-launch, not so sure about SIGIL. It’s too bad that the Guice/Perkins team couldn’t do the art for the mini-series – never heard of the artist announced the book.

  8. Those are some pretty solid creative teams!  I missed crossgen the first time around, might have to give these a look.

  9. Hmm not a fan of the cover treatment being the same.  

  10. LOVED Ruse – with Waid on it, I’m buyin’.

  11. I am pumped about Ruse and really hopeful they bring back Way of the Rat and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  I didn’t really get into any other Crossgen titles, but it would be nice if they finished off Sojourn.

  12. I literally screamed when I saw Ruse.  I am going to be one happy girl.  *does happy dance*

  13. Im on ruse!

  14. I’ve never seen a CrossGen book in my life, but both of these teams sound fantastic.

  15. Waid back on Ruse — that’s just great news! Hopefully, they’ll also just get rid of the fantasy/magical “sigil” related stuff — which is, I think, how Waid wanted it, right? Just a straight up Victorian detective series?

    And Mike Carey, even though I didn’t love his X-men stuff, is still a go-to name for me — especially when he’s given free reign. High hopes here.

  16. I’ve never gotten any of the old stuff. Are Marvel going to be reprinting that in trade?

  17. Yes, two of my favorite Crossgen books. Ruse and Sigil, bout to go to the comic shop and add these to my pull list.

  18. I, personally, am a little dissapointed Sigil sound so different than the original, but then I was a fan.

    A return to RUSE, without the bad attempts to work it into the “shared” universe is awesome news.

  19. Ruse coming back has me so excited. I only remember reading one trade? Did they ever do more than that? If they did, I’m sure it wasn’t too much more.

    Also, I am disappointed that we haven’t seen more of Waid’s The Unknown for a while. I really liked the book, but I think I may have been alone in that.

  20. I’m guessing crossgen was a 90s thing.

    Never heard of it before.

  21. More Way of the Rat less Sigil

  22. I’m definitely in for Ruse and I may even give Sigil a shot considering the creative team. And thank you Marvel for making these $3. I genuinely impressed.

  23. Ruse!!!

  24. @Bryce: It folded because of private finance issues in 2004 (the company was built on startup money, like a dot-com), yet was well-regarded almost all the way across the board.

  25. Bryce, you guessed wrong. Try wikipedia or comicbookdb next time.

  26. I always wanted to read Ruse and never got the chance. I will definitly pick that one up. I will wait on Sigil though.

  27. I remember Ruse. It’s good that they bring it back. But I’m not sure about Sigil. Guess is wait & see.

  28. Let’s just hope that they do something worthwhile with this not turn it in to how they treated the Ultraverse.  I loved several of those books and what Marvel did to them is a crying shame.

  29. All Hail The Sigilverse!

  30. Mark Waid on an ongoing supernatural detective story, might be cool.

    Mike Carey on something incredibly vaige….. well Unwritten wasnt entirely clear for the first bunch of issue and turned out to be pretty good… probably will pick up the trade.

  31. CrossGen rocked!  I was close to stopping collecting comics when my local shop owner suggested picking up Meridian & Scion.  I gobbled up the first couple of trades in 1 weekend and started picking up issues. What a breath of fresh air–it gave me a reason to continue my 25-year hobby.  Marvel:  please bring them back too!

    Both were medieval fantasy-ish stories:  Well-written Meridian, about a smart, adventurous teenage girl and beautifully drawn by Steve McNiven (unknown to us fanboys back then) and the story of 2 archenemy princes with jedi-like swords beautifully drawn by Jim Cheung.

  32. So are all the titles going to be linked around the mysterious Sigle symbol again? 

    I was a huge fan of the old line and remember being quite upset when Negation War (the supposedly culminating event that tied all the CrossGen universes together) just disappeared.

    Very excited!  Why must these come oiut as I try and pare down my weekly spending?  Why?

  33. Kinda disappointed that these are only mini’s.  I’ll probably wait for the trade on Ruse or try to pick up a set on ebay (which roughly translates to “I have every intention of getting this at some point, but if there’s no umph behind this series as it’s going on…I’ll probably forget all about it”).

    It’s a shame, as if this was an ongoing I’d be all over it. 

  34. Didn’t Waid make a joke about Crossgen in his announcement that he was going freelance again?  In which case I find this even funnier news.  Also if Crossgen was dead and now it’s back from the grave, is this a Zombie line of comics?