Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image | Tagged: charles soule, frank miller

Charles Soule, Ryan Browne's The Lucky Devils #1 Launches at NYCC

Charles Soule and Ryan Browne's The Lucky Devils #1 is to launch at New York Comic Con... with Frank Miller

Published Sun, 13 Oct 2024 06:57:08 -0500

At DragonCon. Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, the Eight Billion Genies team, announced that they were reuniting for a new comic from Image Comics, The Lucky Devils. And in his newsletter, Soule announced that the comic would be debuting months in advance this week at New York Comic Con, in both a Preview Edition (1000 run) and a foil-cover Special Preview Edition (500 run), and will also available on his webstore.

"The Lucky Devils quick pitch: it's about two people who begin working with the devils on their shoulder in an attempt to improve their crappy lives. At first, the devils help out in ways that are technically immoral but are pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme. But as the humans begin to become more powerful and influential, and they realize how much good they can do for the world if they just keep going and let the devils continue to do what they're doing, well… things go to hell in a handbasket.

"A bit more detail: there are four leads in the book, two ordinary, good-hearted 20-somethings named Cam and Starr and their "shoulder devils," Collar and Rake. Cam and Starr both live in Chicago – Cam's an adjunct professor of philosophy at a crappy community college and Starr's a low-level nurse. Collar and Rake are in pretty much the same position down in Hell – think of them as low-paid gig workers in Hell's hierarchy.

"The story covers nine years in Cam and Starr's lives, as they continue along the, oh, let's just say it… the road to hell, paved in beautiful, shining good intentions. We do a lot with the devils, too – they have fully realized lives down in Hell, which is like a dark reflection of our own reality. Collar and Rake live in a garbage apartment in the worst neighborhood down there, drink cheap beer to unwind after long days at work, and have become completely radicalized anarchist punks who are actually doing this thing with Cam and Starr as part of a larger plan to create a proletariat revolution down in Hell that will burn it and all its unfair bullshit down to the goddamned ground. Wait… what was that last part? Yep. This book is awesome.

"The Lucky Devils is a buddy comedy mixed with a horror story mixed with a morality play about trying to remain good in a world that makes it very easy to be evil. It's fun and funny, surreal and scary. It's a nine-issue series that debuts January 8 from Image Comics, so please head to your comic shop IMMEDIATELY and tell them to order it for you. We can't wait to go on this ride with you – and in fact, can't go on this ride without you."

"This story's designed with a very specific structure. Each chapter echoes a different circle of Hell… and we get deeper as we go. The number nine is all over this book, just as eight was all over Genies. It is built to give you a full, complete experience, in a way only comics can. We have our ending, it's all built out and ready to roll. It really is quite a ride. I maybe should have led with this, but we got comics legend Frank Miller to do the variant cover for the first issue, with colors by Alex Sinclair… For the variant collectors out there, this version of the cover is free to order, but we'll also do a one in fifty cover that will use Frank's inks – we're considering some cool ways to do that (foil, no logo, etc.)"