Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image, NYCC | Tagged: André Lima Araújo, Bengal, Brett Parson, daniel acuna, Francesco Mobili, Greg Tocchini, jg jones, Max Fiumara, mike hawthorne, new york comic con, Paul Azaceta, rick remender, Roland Boschi, yanick paquette

Rick Remender's Giant Generator Signs 12 A-List Creators to Exclusives

Rick Remender’s Giant Generator line has signed twelvee A-List comic creators to work exclusively through Image Comics in 2024.

Published Sat, 14 Oct 2023 13:27:10 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Sun, 15 Oct 2023 06:47:13 -0500

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Image Comics and Giant Generator Studios today announced that a massive lineup of talent is signing exclusive deals for upcoming projects with Rick Remender's Giant Generator line. Twelve of them, as well as Rick Remender himself.

Daniel Acuña, André Lima Araújo, Paul Azaceta, Bengal, Roland Boschi, Max Fiumara, Mike Hawthorne, JG Jones, Francesco Mobili, Brett Parson, Yanick Paquette, and Greg Tocchini are all signing exclusive contracts with Giant Generator ahead of a rollout of creator-owned launches for the line.

Remender will collaborate with many of these artists on new projects, while some will be writing their own material, and others will be joined by writers yet-to-be-announced. All creators will retain full rights on books owned 100% by the creative teams.

"I've spent the last quarter century building creator-owned comic books and having Image give me the chance to take that knowledge to help other creators follow their bliss and do the same makes me incredibly happy," said Remender. "Working with this murderer's row on the second wave of Giant Generator books has me reinvigorated, I wake up every morning eager to see what these incredible monsters have been up to. As we've proven over the years, we make outstanding comics because we only work with top creators, each given the time and support to do the best work of their careers, work they own, work that lives on for years and years in premiere formats. We focus on the creation of new, wholly original, evergreen reads that stand out from the whirlwind of monthly comics and have proven to stand the test of time."

The first launches out of this new wave of Giant Generator talent were unveiled during the Giant Generator New York Comic Con panel today and include Grommets by Rick Remender, Brian Posehn, and Brett Parson, Napalm Lullaby by Rick Remender and Bengal, and Dust To Dust by JG Jones and Phil Bram which was… wow…. originally announced back in 2009. Good things come to those who wait? Remender added: "When good art is the goal, the rest falls into place."

Rick Remender and Bengal's Napalm Lullaby. A new ongoing series out in March 2024 from Rick Remender's exclusive-signed Giant Generator line at Image. Issue #1 will feature variant covers by JG Jones, Yanick Paquette, Eric Powell, Jeff Dekal, Andrew Robinson, Davi Go, James Harren, and Daniel Warren Johnson.

What if a child with unimaginable power was discovered and raised to believe he was God by a cult built upon hatred and populated by zealots utterly confident in the purity and absolute moral authority of their religion? Enter a world ruled by The Magnificent Leader, where just such a cult imposed their will on an entire world to create the ultimate theocracy. Join up and buy in—or be cast out to suffer in the toxic slums with the masses of humanity.

The story of Napalm Lullaby begins 50 years after the cult's subjugation of Earth, when two of the messiah's bastard children—each with powers that are strange and difficult to control—set out to escape the slums of their birth. Determined to infiltrate the Magnificent Leader's domed fortress of adulation, they'll stop at nothing to kill the man responsible for the nightmare they were raised in.

"Napalm Lullaby and The Holy Roller are my first forays into superheroes since I left Marvel a decade ago," said Remender. "At one point in time, I promised myself never to return to this genre—but when this idea [for Napalm Lullaby] hit, it was too exciting not to make it real. Fortunately, my longtime collaborator and friend Bengal agreed, and we set out to make an apocalyptic superhero story unlike anything you've seen or read. We've been developing this story for years and it couldn't have more love dumped into it. Ben has made sure every single page is a work of art."

Bengal added: "It was hard keeping Napalm Lullaby a secret for so many years. This is a dream project that I've been so eager to show off. I'm ecstatic that soon we'll take readers into this world, part Road Warrior and part Superman. I love working on strange, superpowered beings and I took great care to create, with Rick, characters we REALLY care for."

Napalm Lullaby #1 will be available at comic book shops in March 2024.

Rick Remender, Brian Posehn, Brett Parson and Moreno Dinisio are creating an all-new, ongoing comic book from Image Comics called Grommets, launching in April 2024 as an "'80s-infused coming-of-age story" and part of Remender's new Image Comcis exclusive Giant Generator line. And comes with variant covers by David Lapham, Andrew Robinson, Alex Riegel, Chuck BB, and Jon Wayshak.

In Grommets, two outcast best friends navigate the Sacramento suburbs of 1984, where they find a home in skateboard culture and punk rock. Grommets is both an authentic look at '80s skate culture—a snapshot of the generation that turned skating into a worldwide phenomenon—as well as a heartfelt coming-of-age story following two friends from troubled homes navigating their damage in an era when no one cared.

The series' title sprints from skater slang, a "grommet" is a commonly used term for a young up-and-coming skater or surfer. Since the '60s it's been used to describe the next generation of kids who, with youthful exuberance, love the sport but want to put their spin on it.

"I spent the first 11 years of my life being humiliated in competition team sports… but that all ended the day I rode skateboard. I spent the summer of 1984 skating from morning to night. Soon all my friends were there with me. Life became more fun than it had ever been before," said Remender. "The fun wasn't based on winning; the competition was healthy, you were always backed up by a pal giving you support, telling you to keep at it until you nailed the trick. My skateboard was everything: it was how I got around, it was how I identified myself, it was how I spent all my free time before and after school, on every weekend, and most importantly… it was ours. The kids owned this sport."

Posehn added: "Like my old pal, Rick, I too sucked at mainstream sports and that led to my love of skateboarding, which I also sucked at. But that's the beauty of the sport, it didn't matter how good I was. It was the most fun I'd ever had and no one in my crew gave the slightest shit if I couldn't ollie, it wasn't about one-upmanship. Skater kids were different, funny, smart and they hated what I hated: Mainstream sports, mainstream music, Camaros, tough guys and misogyny. It was less of a sport and more of a lifestyle. We were misfits before it was cool."