Jeff Lemire, the creator of Ascender, Descender, and Gideon Falls, has signed an exclusive deal with Image Comics, although “exclusive” comes with a caveat: He will finish the Black Hammer series, which is published by Dark Horse. Also, the contract applies to print comics only, so he will continue to release new comics on Substack.
Aside from that, Image will be the home for Lemire’s upcoming projects, including the previously announced Little Monsters, with artist Dustin Nguyen, and The Bone Orchard Mythos, a series of interconnected stories he is creating with Andrea Sorrentino (see “New Jeff Lemire/Andrea Sorrentino Series to Be Shared Universe”). In addition, he has a number of solo projects and collaborations lined up that have yet to be announced. Some of the artists on these projects will be doing their first work with Image.
Lemire clarified the situation regarding Black Hammer in his Substack newsletter, saying, “I have an exemption in my Image deal to finish the last few Black Hammer series as planned. So Black Hammer Reborn, Madame Dragonfly (with Dean), and the Black Hammer: The End will continue as planned and come out through Dark Horse across 2022-2023. And all the new Black Hammer comics that I have planned for this Substack will also continue as planned. So, rest east Black Hammer fans, this new deal doesn’t effect my plans for the BH Universe at all.”
In addition, he said, “What this deal really means is that I am done with work-for-hire comics for the foreseeable future, and Image, and this Substack, have provided great homes for my future creator-owned work outside of Black Hammer.”
Source: ICV2
