Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image | Tagged: Bloody Dozen, charles soule, will sliney

Charles Soule, From Eight Billion Genies to The Bloody Dozen

Charles Soule is returning to Image with a new comic, The Bloody Dozen, with Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque, part of The Shrouded College

Published Wed, 13 Sep 2023 15:11:08 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Charles Soule recently had one hell of a comic book smash with Eight Billion Genies (in between his Star Wars comics and novels) and is returning to Image Comics with a new series, The Bloody Dozen, with Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque, with whom he previously created Letter 44 from Oni Press. The Bloody Dozen is six issue miniseries (or half dozen) that will join Hell to Pay as the newest instalment of Soule and Will Sliney's supernatural horror/adventure saga The Shrouded College and is set to launch in December from Image Comics.

"In The Bloody Dozen, three down-and-out astronauts are tasked with the ultimate heist: springing a clan of deadly vampires from a space prison orbiting the Sun. Apollo 13 meets Blade in this killer thriller!"

"The Bloody Dozen is the second Shrouded College story, which can be read independently of the first (Hell to Pay), but builds on the overarching narrative that will be told across the seven planned stories in the Shrouded College universe," said Soule in an exclusive scoop on the announcement at Popverse."The Bloody Dozen—like all the Shrouded College stories—is inspired by horror-action of the '90s and '00s—films like Blade or Event Horizon or Prophecy. The 'just smart enough' stories which build off a kickass hook and then deliver great action and adventure and scares. The basic premise of the Shrouded College is that ordinary people are given magic abilities and then tasked to complete supernatural 'impossible missions'—and The Bloody Dozen gives us a doozy. I'm particularly excited to be reunited with my Letter 44 collaborator Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque for the interior art—no one draws space terror better!"

"The debut issue of The Bloody Dozen will feature cover art by Hell to Pay artist/co-creator Sliney, as well as a special 1:50 variant cover that comes with its own individually-numbered, limited-edition "challenge coin," designed by Sliney in the style of a NASA mission patch."

"It's class to see the Shrouded College universe expand with The Bloody Dozen," said Sliney. "Alberto's pages are fun, gorgeous and when they need to be, terrifying. While Charles and Alberto are up in Space with Bloody Dozen, I'm hidden away in a secret location working on another installment. In fact, you can see our road map here with these interlinked coins."

"Series artist Alberto Jiménez Albuquerque said of joining the Shrouded College universe for this mission: "It's been years since Charles and I started talking about this project. Ever since, it has changed and evolved in several ways but my commitment to work with Charles again has remained intact since we finished Letter 44. And it's paid off! This series has it all. Magic, space travel, steampunk and, of course, vampires. I have to thank Charles and Will for including me in this saga and allowing me to create and expand on their universe. I'm going to give it my all and it's going to be epic!"

"Soule and Sliney's "The Shrouded College" is an interconnected set of seven adventure/horror stories that will be published in comic and graphic novel formats over the next several years. Taken together, they tell the stories of various characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a supernatural cold war on the side of the Shrouded College, a down-and-out organization on the edge of destruction. An exclusive scoop via DEADLINE announced that "The Shrouded College is in the works as a TV series after Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door and UCP secured the rights. The project is set up at Peacock…[Soule and Sliney] will exec produce the project alongside MacFarlane, Erica Huggins and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door."