Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image | Tagged: Aubrey Sitterson, Free Planet

Free Planet by Aubrey Sitterson and Jed Dougherty from Image in May

New space opera comic book, Free Planet by Aubrey Sitterson and Jed Dougherty from Image Comics in May 2025

Aubrey Sitterson and Jed Dougherty have teamed up for a sci-fi space opera with Free Planet, out in May 2025 from Image Comics.

"Free Planet is a story about freedom and the sacrifices it demands and is perhaps best described as a kaleidoscopic blend of the emotional space opera stylings of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Saga set against the intricate speculative history and political machinations of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta's East of West. The first completely free planet in human history has won its independence. In Free Planet, readers follow a group of revolutionary heroes who must defend the planet's unique energy source from a pair of hostile intergalactic powers while determining what complete freedom actually entails.

"Free Planet is the shape of comics to come, Jed and my effort to elevate our craft and chosen medium with a truly literary comic, its rich complexity presented visually. Whether its intense military action, intricate geopolitical machinations, or heart-rending soap opera, every page of Free Planet contains an overwhelming amount of visual information; we're giving you your money's worth, with a book meant to be read slowly, again and again. It's a complex rumination on what everyone—no matter where they fall on the political spectrum—truly wants: Freedom. In light of this, it's fitting that Free Planet has found a home at Image Comics, a publisher founded for the express purpose of affording comics creators the freedom to make their best, most personal works, completely unfettered" says Aubrey Sitterson.

Dougherty added: "Aubrey and I have collaborated on several comics with fantasy and comedic tones. Free Planet is our foray into a more serious work: An internally conflicted force of revolutionaries defending their planet's resources from the depredations of interstellar powers. In keeping with the rich, involved script, I've modified my artwork with grittier tonal rendering as well as experiments with page layouts and graphical elements. In the course of drawing this book, the wide cast of characters has come alive for me as they battle on land and in space, as they rebuild a society from the wreckage of revolution, and as they seek out vengeance, justice and even love."

Free Planet #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, the 7th of May. And they have some quotes from  friends…

• "Demands to be read in a comfy chair, next to a fire, or the window of a starship, while taking in a distant supernova. Sitterson and Dougherty are holding a masterclass in rich, intricate worldbuilding that is equal parts Dune, Claremont, and Saga while being wholly original." —Robert Kirkman, Invincible, The Walking Dead
• "One of the hardest parts of making a comic book is the intense task of worldbuilding. Free Planet shrugs off that pressure, fully fleshed out for characters to explore and readers to witness, proving that Aubrey and Jed have what it takes to bring you to a place completely new and totally refreshing." —Daniel Warren Johnson, Transformers, The Moon Is Following Us
• "With notes of Warhammer 40k and Firefly, Free Planet is lusciously rendered, dense, political sci-fi with a lot to say." —Kieron Gillen, The Power Fantasy, The Wicked + The Divine
• "Free Planet, a kind of space-politics-opera, brings shades of the cosmic imagination of Jack Vance, Jack Kirby, and Samuel Delany and Howard Chaykin's great lost Empire—but with a special supercharged future-fictional-Wikipedia density of its own." —Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude, Omega the Unknown
• "I don't read SF anymore; I tend to agree with Tom Disch's dismissal of it as a children's literature. That said, I will always have a warm spot in my heart for the work of Cordwainer Smith, in its outright freakish and complex nuttiness. It's a touch of that wild-haired sensibility that Aubrey and Jed have conjured here in Free Planet, a great comic book series, a synergy of text and image possessed with a density of vision that shames most any other attempt at legitimate space opera in comics." —Howard Chaykin, American Flagg, Time
• "Incredibly imaginative world-building, all around compelling characters who have depth. Read this!" —Mark Waid, Batman and Robin: Year One, Absolute Power
• "Drops you into a fully realized world and immerses you right away on a page-turning adventure. If dystopian sci fi with an ensemble cast of memorable characters is your jam (and it is mine), you will definitely want to check out Free Planet." —Mark Russell, Batman: Dark Age, The Flintstones
• "A thunderbolt to the mind. Aubrey and Jed bring an energy and sophistication to the comics page that I've been yearning for. This is comics at Full Power." —Matt Bors, Justice Warriors, Toxic Avenger
• "With graceful, compelling prose, Free Planet feels akin—in the best possible ways— to great sci-fi of the '60s and '70s while charting a new course with compelling word building that is distinctly modern. It's refreshing to see an original sci-fi epic and that's what Aubrey Sitterson and Jed Dougherty have crafted here." —Marc Guggenheim, Arrow, Star Wars: Jedi Knights
• "Ambitious, energetic and thought-provoking: this heady blend of big ideas, societal ideologies and scrappy guerrilla violence walks the worldbuilding-tightrope between the granular and the epic. Something like the mutant offspring of Asimov and Marshall Bravestarr." —Simon Spurrier, Hellblazer, The Flash
• "Unabashedly the opposite of many contemporary comics. It's meticulous, lush and filled with more ideas than can be absorbed in a single reading. A truly unique and fun comic!" —Tyrell Cannon, The Schlub, Beef Bros

Aubrey Sitterson is best known for his creator-owned work, Beef Bros, Stoned Master, No One Left to Fight, Savage Hearts, as well as The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, from Ten Speed Press. Free Planet is his first Image Comics series. Jed Dougherty worked in the studio of Howard Chaykin as a backgrounder and paste-up artist. He has drawn Worlds' Finest for DC as well as the independent comics Ultravixen and Wynter Dark.

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