Fatale, January 2012.

In the back pages of the conclusion to "The Last of the Innocent," Ed Brubaker announced the next Brubaker-Phillips collaboration, Fatale, to debut in January and run "at least 12 issues."

He introduced the work as "something new" -- "an epic noir/horror story that takes place from the 1930s to the present."

We now have a lot more information -- including artwork for the debut issue's two covers, "Beauty" and the "Beast."



The first formal announcement for Fatale came just two days ago, at the New York Comic Con. The biggest surprise is that the comic book is being released by Image Comics, publisher of Chew and The Walking Dead.

In addition to the cover art above, iFanboy has provided Ed Brubaker's amusing NYCC video announcement...



...and info from the solicitation.

FATALE #1
story ED BRUBAKER
art & cover SEAN PHILLIPS
colors DAVE STEWART
JANUARY 4
32 PAGES / FC / M
$3.50

GUNS! SEX! SECRET CULTS! AND MONSTERS!

Nothing the BEST-SELLING and AWARD-WINNING creators of SLEEPER, CRIMINAL and INCOGNITO have done so far will prepare you for the explosive debut of FATALE!

A reporter in 2012 stumbles on a secret that leads him down the darkest path imaginable… to a seductive woman who’s been on the run since 1935, a mobster who may be an immortal demon monster, and the stories of all the doomed men who’ve been caught in their decades-long struggle.

FATALE blends noir and horror to tell a riveting epic unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Meanwhile, Comic Book Resources has published an interview with Brubaker and a three-page "trailer" that echoes earlier previews of Criminal and Incognito.

All the artwork is also on display at Sean Phillips' blog.

Criminal is straight-up noir, Incognito is "apocalyptic pulp noir," and now Fatale is Lovecraftian horror noir -- or "noirror," as iFanboy put it. In addition to H.P. Lovecraft, Brubaker mentions being inspired by James M. Cain, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Joe Hill. He says that he doesn't watch slasher movies but loves The Omen, Hellboy, and Guillermo del Toro movies.

Other items of note from the news stories:

• Brubaker relays that this horror story was a long time coming, as was a project with Image, but "I love my relationship with Marvel, and I'll do more books at Icon for sure."
  
  
• The Image series will maintain the traditional $3.50 cover price for 32 pages of content.
  
  
• Missing from the solicitation is any hint of the extra essays that have become a staple of the pair's monthly work for Icon.
  
  
• Also missing is long-time colorist Val Staples. Dave Stewart colored the last two issues of Criminal, and Brubaker says that he's "now our colorist," returning to working with Brubaker and Phillips after their first collaboration, Batman: Gotham Noir.
  
  
• At least the first twelve issues will include 50/50 covers: the project is planned for a 12-issue run, but "it might get bigger."
  
  
• In the lull between Criminal and Fatale, Sean Phillips has been working on a "European graphic novel."
  
  
• Longtime readers can guess what would have been -- and may still be -- the next Criminal story arc, as Brubaker alludes to "some prison break story."

The tagline for the teaser is simply this:

EVERY BLESSING IS A CURSE

I wouldn't go so far as to apply that line to Fatale itself, but I gather that there will be at least fifteen months between issues of Criminal (October 2011 to December 2012), and that's going to be a long wait for my all-time favorite comic.

In the meantime, the new year brings a new name in horror: FATALE.