Official Press Releases on the Big News.

As an immediate follow-up to our previous post on the major news breaking at today's Image Expo, we see that Image Comics has a few press releases with a bit more information.

One news item summarizes the announcements given during the keynote address by publisher Eric Stephenson, who introduced nearly 20 creators with upcoming projects.

Ed Brubaker (Batman, Captain America, FATALE, CRIMINAL) and Sean Phillips (INCOGNITO and SLEEPER) and Image Comics have signed an unprecedented deal in comics publishing, a five year deal to do anything they want with total freedom, total control, and total ownership over their projects. The first project on this new deal for the award-winning creators is THE FADE OUT, debuting this summer, following the conclusion of FATALE with issue #24.

I find it odd to attribute their collaborative works to one creator or the other, but the most important thing is the amount of creative control and ownership that this deal provides.

The other press release focuses on Brubaker and Phillips, and it features the promo image seen at the keynote presentation, which we include above.

Ed Brubaker comments on the deal he and Phillips signed with Image...

"This is amazing. It's like having an overall deal with a studio, except we get to greenlight our own projects," said Brubaker. "Sean and I have been making comics together for fifteen years, and in the early days before we built the passionate readership we have now, we struggled to survive, so a deal like this is exactly what I was looking for. I've already got more than enough ideas to fill those five years, and both Sean and I are looking forward to experimenting and really pushing the boundaries." 

...and he gives us the first bit of information about the new noir series, which is described as "ongoing" but isn't presumably open-ended.

"The Fade Out is my ultimate noir story. It's a brutal crime story set in late '40s Hollywood, and all spinning around the mysterious death of an up-and-coming starlet," said Brubaker. "For people who've been waiting for us to return to Criminal, this will be exactly what they're looking for, but on a much more epic scale—going from studio backlots to the debauchery of the rich and famous, and even stretching back to the horrors of World War Two." 

The Fade Out is for readers who have been waiting for Criminal, but on "a much more epic scale"?  That's a helluva way to ratchet up our interest.

Both pieces confirm that The Fade Out will debut this summer.