Daniel Warren Johnson‘s new Image Comics series Chainkata will arrive in comic shops on Wednesday, Nov. 18, and the first issue is coming with a lot of covers. Image says comic shops have lined up 116 retailer-exclusive covers for Chainkata #1, a total the publisher announced in an Oct. 16 press release that also showed off the first 11 of them.
The 116 figure comes from Image itself. The publisher’s release names more than 60 shops with their own Chainkata #1 exclusives but describes that roster as a list of retailers that “include” those stores, without breaking the total down shop by shop. Bleeding Cool, which ran the list the same day, repeated the 116 count and said more exclusive covers are still to be revealed.
Who is drawing the exclusives
The shop lineup pulls in a wide mix of artists. Third Eye Comics has covers by Scie Tronc, Wayshak, Jim Rugg, Clay Mann, Nick Dragotta and Johnson himself. Comics Toons & Toys has a Rob Liefeld cover alongside art by Genki Eguro and K. Okada, while ECGCE has a Riley Rossmo cover and Stupid Fresh Mess has one by Skottie Young. Other shops tapped artists including Brett Booth, Farel Dalrymple, Tyler Kirkham, Ken Lashley and Nimit Malavia. Bleeding Cool notes that the 4Tress cover by Kevin Tran is a Chainsaw Man homage and that Sophie’s Timeless Treasures commissioned Marat Mychaels for an Absolute Batman #1 homage.
The regular covers
Beyond the shop exclusives, Image lists nine covers for general release. Johnson draws Cover A, a black-and-white Cover B and a Sword & Sorcery Cover C. Rossmo handles Cover D, Liefeld draws Cover E, and Cover F is a blank sketch cover. The incentives are a Sword & Sorcery foil Cover G by Johnson and colorist Mike Spicer at a 1:100 ratio, a Raw Art Cover H by Johnson at 1:100, and an Original Head Sketch Cover I by Johnson at 1:1000.
Image’s November solicitations list the debut at 40 pages with no ads for $3.99. The issue will also be released digitally on platforms including Amazon Kindle, Google Play and Apple’s iBooks.
Chicks with chainsaws in space
Johnson, who writes and draws the series, first revealed Chainkata in July with the pitch “Chicks. With chainsaws. In space.” The book follows Luma, a chainsaw-wielding warrior queen searching for an unknown power across space. Image says she wants only to find peace, but violence and terror follow her through every black hole. Spicer, Johnson’s longtime collaborator, colors the series.
When the book was announced, Johnson said he drew his first sketch of Luma in 2017. “From that point, it took me NINE years to come up with a story that I felt was worthy of being on the stands, and Chainkata is the end result of that journey,” he said in Image’s July announcement.
The launch follows Johnson’s run on Skybound’s Transformers, which helped push the Energon Universe past 7.6 million copies. Image’s release also points to his Eisner-winning Do A Powerbomb, The Moon Is Following Us, Beta Ray Bill: Argent Star and his work on Absolute Batman.
