Daniel Warren Johnson’s next big series is getting a very loud welcome from comic shops. Image Comics says Chainkata #1 has drawn 116 retailer exclusive covers ahead of its November launch, a huge number for a creator-owned debut.
The announcement from Image sums up the pitch in five words: “Chicks. With chainsaws. In space.”
What Chainkata is about
The series follows Luma, a chainsaw-wielding warrior queen searching for an unknown power across the vastness of space. All she wants is peace, but violence and terror follow her “through every black hole.” Image says the book blends the high-stakes sci-fi of Johnson’s Beta Ray Bill and Space-Mullet with the character work of Extremity and Do A Powerbomb.
Johnson comes into the launch with momentum. His Transformers run helped turn Skybound’s Energon Universe into a sales juggernaut, something RCG covered in Skybound’s Energon Universe Tops 7.6 Million Copies as Transformers #1 Heads to a 15th Printing. He has also won an Eisner for Do A Powerbomb and drawn acclaim for The Moon Is Following Us, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth and his work on Absolute Batman.
The covers
Chainkata #1 arrives in comic shops on Wednesday, November 18. The standard lineup includes:
- Cover A by Johnson
- Cover B, a black-and-white version by Johnson
- Cover C, a Sword & Sorcery cover by Johnson
- Cover D by Riley Rossmo and Cover E by Rob Liefeld
- Cover F, a blank sketch cover
- A 1:100 Sword & Sorcery foil incentive by Johnson and Mike Spicer, a 1:100 Raw Art incentive, and a 1:1000 original head sketch by Johnson
The retailer exclusives bring in a long list of guest artists, including Skottie Young, Jim Rugg, Clay Mann, Nick Dragotta, Brett Booth, Joe Benitez and Farel Dalrymple. Image revealed the first 11 covers with the announcement.
The issue will also be available digitally through platforms including Kindle, Google Play, Apple Books, Kobo, Hoopla and Comic Plus. For a new original series, 116 store variants is a sign retailers expect Chainkata to be one of the biggest Image launches of the year.
