Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Image | Tagged: echolands, image comics, jh williams iii

JH Williams III's Echolands Finally Comes To Comic Shops In August

In February 2018, Bleeding Cool reported from Image Expo (remember those) that the Batwoman team of JH Williams III, Haden Blackman, Dave Stewart, and Todd Klein were working on a new series, Echolands, though without a firm publication date. Three years ago, he was working on issue 3.

The series focuses on the character named Hope, her sticky fingers and the Earth's last war. The book is laid out to convey the rollercoast ride that Hope will be going on. There will be a wide range of characters introduced from a wide range of genres.

The story is set in a world with a hidden history and is a mystic mash-up of robots, cowboys, vampires, pirates and anything else they can think of. But overall it's a character driven story about a girl who is a thief and she steals something from a despotic wizard. She ends up on the run with her friends from that same wizard and ends up exploring the world and all of it's secrets. Hope has a messed up past, but her upcoming journey makes her even more compelling.

Williams and Blackman originally teamed up for a run on Batwoman for DC Comics. They've been working on this project for years, even before collaborating on Batwoman. Williams says he created the character of Hope when he was a kid.

A preview of the Echolands comic book was also issued.

And Echolands has been announced for August, as part of today's Image Comics solicits and solicitations, from Diamond's Previewsworld.

ECHOLANDS #1 CVR A WILLIAMS III (MR)
IMAGE COMICS
JUN210009
(W) J. H. Williams, Haden Blackman (A) Dave Stewart (A/CA) J. H. Williams
A MAJOR IMAGE COMICS 2021 EVENT. The story of Earth's last war starts with Hope's sticky fingers…
The multiple award winning BATWOMAN team JH Williams III (Promethea, The Sandman: Overture, Batman) and W. Haden Blackman (Star Wars, Elektra) reunite for an all-new ongoing series! They're joined once again by colorist supreme Dave Stewart and master letterer Todd Klein.

In a bizarre future world that has forgotten its history, a reckless thief Hope Redhood holds the key to excavating its dark strange past – if only she and her crew can escape a tyrannical wizard and his unstoppable daughter. But fate will send them all on a path leading to a war between worlds.

ECHOLANDS is a landscape format mythic fiction epic where anything is possible; a fast-paced genre mashup adventure that combines everything from horror movie vampires to classic mobsters and cyborg elves, to Roman demigods and retro rocket ships. It's going to be a helluva ride!

Each issue of the series will offer a Raw Cut edition, featuring the art from J H Williams III as it looked leaving his work studio. In Shops: Aug 25, 2021 SRP: $4.99

And a so-called exclusive "first look" from The Hollywood Reporter. Even though we had the exact same first look three years ago.

Echolands is a mythic fiction mashup of many things Williams and Blackman love: horror movie vampires and werewolves, classic mobsters, robots, Roman demigods, and cowboys, all in the service of telling a story about a young woman named Hope Redhood. Redhood is a thief who in this case happens to steal a gem that proves to be the key to unlocking her world's mystery, crossing the path of a tyrannical wizard in the process. Part of the title's meaning comes from taking many genres and tropes and giving the familiar a new spin.

Williams has always made every inch of the page his canvas, with intricate and ornate layouts his calling card. Echolands will literally extend that picture as the book will be entirely in landscape, extra-widescreen, double-page spread format. But it's not simply one giant four-quadrant panel. Williams is using the entire form to squeeze world-building and storytelling into it.

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