Image Comics has announced Rick Remender isn’t going anywhere, as he’s signed a three-year exclusive contract with the publisher. Image says he’ll have carte blanche on his upcoming titles all housed under his Giant Generator imprint. With his most recent series The Sacrificers launched at Image, Remender has been crafting original stories with Image for many years. That includes series like Black Science with Matteo Scalera, LOW with Greg Tocchini, and Seven to Eternity with Jerome Opeña.
“Working with Rick is like speeding down the open road in a convertible with the top down,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer at Image Comics. “When he’s behind the wheel of his Giant Generator comics imprint, there is always some new high speed adventure or undiscovered place to visit. All creativity and energy. If that isn’t the Image Comics spirit, I don’t know what is. Looking forward to finding out where he’ll take us next.”
Remender said he’s turned down offers to write X-Men and Batman, but sees those moves as a step backward. “Image takes no OWNERSHIP, so my partners and I co-own 100% of our properties. It’s short-term vs long-term thinking. You want to build your own house? Make something that your children will inherit? Image is the only place. This contract is me saying that I bet on myself. I bet on my collaborators. I bet on our characters, stories, and owning what we make. Exclusively. With all we’ve got. Like our lives are on the line.”
There will be more of the Giant Generator titles unveiled during the New York Comic Con panel on Saturday, October 14 at 12 PM—Generating Creator-Owned Comics with Image Comics’ Giant Generator.
Remender added: “We approach each book as an opportunity to tell a story we desperately care about telling. By doing the hard work of ensuring a substantive reading experience worthy of fans’ time and investment.”
For more on this news, read the official press release below.
PORTLAND, Ore. 09/19/2023 — Bestselling, creative trailblazer Rick Remender has signed a three-year exclusive contract with Image Comics, effective immediately. This exclusive gives Remender carte blanche on his upcoming titles and signals a wave of exciting plans for his Giant Generator imprint.
Remender’s successful runs on Marvel’s Avengers, X-Force, Captain America, Deadpool, and Guardians of the Galaxy garnered him early attention and acclaim in the industry and the stories he told went on to be mined for multiple film adaptations.
On top of his success at Marvel, Remender began building his creator-owned career early and has a long history with Image. He has called the publisher home for his Giant Generator line of bestselling titles since 2013 and has worked nearly exclusively with Image for the past decade already.
“Working with Rick is like speeding down the open road in a convertible with the top down,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer at Image Comics. “When he’s behind the wheel of his Giant Generator comics imprint, there is always some new high speed adventure or undiscovered place to visit. All creativity and energy. If that isn’t the Image Comics spirit, I don’t know what is. Looking forward to finding out where he’ll take us next.”
Remender has adamantly championed creator-owned comics and built a portfolio of some of the most rigorously reordered, evergreen titles in Image’s backlist, consistently outpacing the momentum of each series before it. His fan-favorite series Deadly Class with Wes Craig has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, Black Science with Matteo Scalera, and LOW with Greg Tocchini have each sold over half a million copies, Seven to Eternity with Jerome Opeña and Tokyo Ghost with Sean Gordon Murphy are close behind and climbing. Thanks to that longevity and fanbase Remender currently has multiple Image projects in various stages of development in Hollywood with details on the horizon.
“We live by one motto ‘If you give it love, it will find friends,'” said Remender. “The beautifully ironic side effect of making a book with love, and the years of investment needed to make it great, is that it will have better odds of attracting top level talent from film and television while also honoring your reader base.”
In particular, Giant Generator’s popular deluxe hardcover format has garnered a cult following over the years with comics collectors. Tokyo Ghost, Black Science, Seven to Eternity, Deadly Class, and LOW deluxe hardcovers have all had multiple printings to keep up with the demand, with Fear Agent joining the line this winter.
“I’ve recently turned down very generous offers to write X-Men and Batman, and while flattered, that would ultimately be a step backwards artistically, and not where my heart is at,” said Remender. “Image takes no OWNERSHIP, so my partners and I co-own 100% of our properties. It’s short-term vs long-term thinking. You want to build your own house? Make something that your children will inherit? Image is the only place. This contract is me saying that I bet on myself. I bet on my collaborators. I bet on our characters, stories, and owning what we make. Exclusively. With all we’ve got. Like our lives are on the line.”
Remender has always focused on collaborating and co-owning the books with a murder’s row of the top artistic talent in the industry including Jerome Opeña, Wes Craig, Matteo Scalera, Sean Gordon Murphy, Greg Tocchini, Bengal, André Lima Araújo, Tony Moore, Max Fiumara, Roland Boschi, and many more soon to be announced.
Remender added: “We approach each book as an opportunity to tell a story we desperately care about telling. By doing the hard work of ensuring a substantive reading experience worthy of fans’ time and investment.”
In addition to fan and retailer enthusiasm, Remender found enormous critical success with his irreverent comedy miniseries, The Scumbag. Another example of Remender proving there is an appetite for stories that run the genre gamut from science fiction, to dystopian, to action, to crime, and from horror to humor.
This announcement comes on the heels of A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance with André Lima Araújo proving a critical darling and sales juggernaut and the successful launch of the new Remender and Fiumara series The Sacrificers—which sold out instantly at the distributor level and was rushed back to print day-of-release. The Sacrificers is the first in a heart-stopping new rollout of Giant Generator books. The drumbeat of fanfare will continue with the upcoming launch of The Holy Roller this October which teams Remender with Andy Samberg and Joe Trohman. There will be more of the Giant Generator titles unveiled during the New York Comic Con panel on Saturday, October 14 at 12 PM—Generating Creator-Owned Comics with Image Comics’ Giant Generator.
The Sacrificers #1, second printing and The Sacrificers #2 are both available now at local comic book shops.
The Sacrificers #3 will hit shelves on Wednesday, October 4:
- The Sacrificers #3 Cover A by Max Fiumara – Lunar Code 0823IM428
- The Sacrificers #3 Cover B by Roberto Ali – Lunar Code 0823IM429
- The Sacrificers #3 Cover C 1:15 copy incentive by Cliff Chiang – Lunar Code 0823IM430
- The Sacrificers #3 Cover D The Walking Dead 20th anniversary team-up variant by James Harren – Lunar Code 0823IM431
The Sacrificers #4 will hit shelves on Wednesday, November 1:
- The Sacrificers #4 Cover A by Fiumara – Lunar Code 0923IM433
- The Sacrificers #4 Cover B by Dong Ho Kim – Lunar Code 0923IM434
Giant Generator titles are all also available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
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