Highlights from Image July 2013 solicitations

Following the Marvel and DC Comics solicitations for July, the third powerhouse has released its full listings for July 2013.

Image Comics will debut three new series in July, including Satellite Sam #1 from Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin, a new horror/crime mashup in Ghosted #1 from Joshua Williamson while Ed Brisson brings a pre-apocalyptic tale in Sheltered #1. There’s also some cool merchandise from The Walking Dead.

Satellite Sam

“Sex! Death! Live TV!” If those words aren’t enough to get you excited about this new series from Image, Matt Fraction‘s name on the cover should ensure at least a read for the first issue. Fraction has been batting 1000 this year, with the sublime Hawkeye, FF and Fantastic Four and the soon to be released Sex Criminals coming at us in 2013. Coupled with the artwork of Howard Chaykin (best known for American Flagg! and more recently of the erotic Black Kiss II), this looks set to be a big mid-year entry from Image Comics.

The solicitation reads as follows: “New York, 1951. The star of beloved daily television serial “Satellite Sam” turns up dead in a flophouse filled with dirty secrets. The police think it was death by natural causes but his son knows there was something more… if only he could sober up long enough to do something about it. This noir mystery shot through with sex and violence exposes the seedy underbelly of the golden age of television”. We’re sold – when can we ask our local comic shop to set us aside a copy? It is due out on July 3.

Sheltered

Ed Brisson (Murder Book) and collaborator Johnnie Christmas. From Brisson’s blog: “Sheltered tells the story of a survivalist society gone wrong. A remote place called Safe Haven where necessity trumps morality. Where preparing for the worst can bring out the worst in others. No one knows this better than 17-year-old Lucas, who stages a rebellion against the adults of Safe Haven only to see his own leadership turn brutal in the aftermath. Or Victoria, the young outsider who watched Lucas’s violent coup unfold and now finds herself hunted by his loyal friends. For Lucas, survival will require an iron grip, no matter the cost. For Victoria, the only survival is an escape from Safe Haven through the winter wilderness of the American Northeast. Pitted against each other, Lucas and Victoria find themselves fighting for their lives”. It hit shelves on July 10.

Ghosted

Also in stores and online July 10, this one is promising us to be “equal parts Ocean’s 11 and The Shining“, which ticks all the right boxes in our book. From Joshua Williamson (Masks and Monsters):  “Jackson T. Winters is one of the greatest criminal masterminds to ever live…except he’s rotting in jail after his last, doomed score. But when a filthy rich collector breaks him out, he’s tasked with putting together an elite team of paranormal experts to do the impossible: Steal a ghost from a haunted house of horrors! The artwork also promised to be impressive, featuring the talents of Croatian artist Goran Sudžuka (Y: The Last Man) and Miroslav Mrva. Our first glimpse of the book is actually this amazing cover from Sean Phillips (Fatale):

And the rest of the cool stuff…

• The first new Dawn comic in three years comes from Joseph Michael Lisner in Dawn: The Swordsman’s Daughter and Other Stories. It’s due out July 10.
• Elephantmen turns 50! Elephantmen #50 reaches the “halfway to 100” mark, with a Frank Quietly cover, an art gallery and a flip cover from Ladrönn re-presenting the cover of Elephantmen #1.
• Be the coolest kid in class with this merchandise…