The bestselling, award winning creative team behind such sales chart toppers as Descender, Ascender, and Little Monsters—Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen—will re-team with an all-new ongoing series in the upcoming Crowbound. This dark fantasy epic was first teased at NYCC last year, previewed exclusively at IGN earlier this month, and is set to launch this September from Image Comics.
“Crowbound is the darkest book Dustin and I have done together but still filled with heart and hope,” said Lemire in the exclusive preview at IGN. “It’s been rewarding building the expansive southern gothic sci-fi world of Crowbound and we can’t wait to unleash it on readers.”
Rose isn’t special. She works in the Factory just like everyone else—a dark, sprawling monolithic structure that runs along the coast and cuts the world in two. All that’s left now are desolate settlements that exist in its shadow, made up of submerged villages, derelict woods, and deadly swamps. No one knows what’s left of the world on the other side…
But when Rose’s young daughter Ava is violently taken from their shanty town home a year before she is meant to join the work force, Rose will come face-to-face with the surreal, harrowing forces outside the Factory’s walls.
Nguyen added: “I’m very excited to explore this new world and new ways to tell a story with Jeff again, it’s always a great time when we get together like this. Hope everyone joins us for the adventures as they did on Descender and Little Monsters.”
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale meets Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with echoes of Kill Bill and Pan’s Labyrinth when a noncompliant mother makes a dark pact with an ancient, violent Scarecrow Queen to stop a totalitarian government from taking her daughter.
“One of the great privileges of my position is that I get to read a lot of great comics before they come out, and let me tell you, ‘great’ doesn’t even do this one justice,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer at Image Comics. “As anyone familiar with their past collaborations knows, Jeff and Dustin never disappoint, but Crowbound is on another level. The first issue is one of most darkly beguiling series debuts I’ve had the pleasure to read and the really good news is that it’s just the beginning of a storytelling journey that gets better with each issue.”
Crowbound #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, September 2:
Cover A by Nguyen – UPC: 70985304586100111
Cover B by Jeffrey Alan Love – UPC: 70985304586100121
Cover C by Nguyen wraparound variant – UPC: 70985304586100131
Cover D Blank Sketch variant – UPC: 70985304586100141
Cover E virgin 1:25 copy incentive by Martin Simmonds – UPC: 70985304586100151
Cover F virgin 1:50 copy incentive by Peach Momoko – UPC: 70985304586100161
Cover G 1:100 copy incentive by Nguyen Signed CGC variant – UPC: 70985304586100171
Cover H 1:1000 copy incentive by Nguyen Original Sketch variant – UPC: 70985304586100181
Crowbound will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
