Image Comics and August 2021 Solicitations Spoilers follows.
Savage Dragon’s Erik Larsen Launches New Ongoing Series In Ant!
Image reports.
ERIK LARSEN KICKS OFF NEW ONGOING ANT SERIES THIS AUGUST
PORTLAND, Ore… Image Comics co-founder Erik Larsen takes on a whole new wall-crawler! After wrapping up the volume one conclusion of Mario Gully’s Ant, Larsen will kick off an all-new Ant series filled to the brim with epic adventure. The series will launch with Ant #1 and share a new origin story with fans when it hits shelves this August from Image Comics.
In this upcoming Ant series, Larsen will breathe new life into the character and expand upon her place and identity in the Image Universe.
“I’ve been invested in Ant ever since Mario Gully initially pitched the book at Image back when I was the publisher. Mario and I threw a lot of ideas back and forth about how to make the character work at Image and the more I thought about the possibilities—the more I liked the character. I even plotted and laid out a final Ant chapter for Mario’s run on the book, which I ended up completing myself as the finale to her initial series,” said Larsen.
When Gully decided to sell his character, he approached Larsen to purchase her. “Buying characters from other people is not something I typically do. In fact, it’s not something I do at all. But Ant intrigued me. I’d put so much thought into the character and her series that I couldn’t help myself. Mario named his price and I paid it.”
Larsen reintroduced Ant when he was writing and drawing Spawn with Todd McFarlane. Ant was part of a four-part crossover with Larsen’s book Savage Dragon. “I thought Ant was a natural fit in the Spawn/Savage Dragon Universe,” continued Larsen. “And now that I’ve moved on from Spawn, I can at last devote my full attention to Ant’s adventures.”
“Not since the debut of Savage Dragon have I started a series with more preparation and more plans. This one has been percolating in the back of my brain for more than a decade,” asserted Larsen. “Mario’s book was all over the place. there were five writers over 11 issues, all pushing and pulling in different directions, there were numerous flashbacks and glimpses into her past and it never quite gelled in any coherent way. This new book is essentially a clean slate. It’s far more linear and straightforward. I tell her origin in the first issue and we follow her adventures from that point on. It touches on events from her original series and makes sense of it all. It’s the book I had hoped the Ant book would be. It’s a chance to realize her potential at long last.”
Ant #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, August 25:
- Cover A by Larsen – Diamond Code JUN210035
- Cover B by Larsen – Diamond Code JUN210036
- Cover C by Larsen – Diamond Code JUN210037
- Cover D Larsen – Diamond Code JUN210038
- Cover E Retro Trade Dress – Diamond Code JUN210039
- Cover F Retro Trade Dress – Diamond Code JUN210040
- Cover G Retro Trade Dress – Diamond Code JUN210041
- Cover H Retro Trade Dress – Diamond Code JUN210042
Ant #1 will also be available for purchase across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.
This news follows Image’s earlier announcement concerning the original’s series’ final issue landing in June 2021.
LONG ANTICIPATED ANT #12 WRAPS UP STORY ARC, INSPIRES UPCOMING ANT ADVENTURES
PORTLAND, Ore… Fourteen years after its previous issue was published, Image Comics partner and CFO Erik Larsen returns to Ant to provide fans with volume one’s awe-inspiring conclusion and the promise of more Ant adventures to come. The story arc finale one-shot, Ant #12, will hit shelves this June from Image Comics.
“Back when I was the publisher I brought Mario Gully’s Ant over to Image and Mario and I talked at great length as to how the book could be retooled in order to be integrated into the Image Universe. I ended up putting a lot of thought into the character and concept,” explained Larsen. “I saw the character’s potential from the very start.”
Larsen worked with the original Ant creator on a story which was to wrap up the series but several unfortunate circumstances along the way—including lost files—prevented the final issue from ever coming together. The story was lingered in limbo for a number of years with its fate left unresolved. Gully had moved on and pursued other goals but Larsen wouldn’t let it go.
“At some point Mario offered to sell me his creation. He knew how much thought I’d put into her. Hell, I’d laid out a full-length story for him—and I couldn’t resist,” said Larsen.
Following Larsen’s acquisition, Ant appeared in Spawn and Savage Dragon. But that unfinished story taunted him. “I just couldn’t leave it as an unfinished work. I felt compelled to write, pencil, ink and even color the story.”
But Ant #12 wasn’t the end Larsen had thought it would be. “Finishing this story got me into the groove. I was experimenting with a new art style. I was playing with color. I was having a blast and I didn’t want to stop.”
Larsen didn’t want to just wrap up the story anymore, he wanted to breathe new life into the character and expand her place in the Image Universe. In both the story itself—and in reality—Ant was still searching for her identity and Larsen was committed to giving her a new direction and a new lease on life. “I found there was a lot I wanted to say and a lot that I wanted to do. I started digging in on an origin story and it just kept expanding and expanding. Pretty soon I had all kinds of plots dancing around in my head and numerous directions the book could go. Work has begun on a new ongoing Ant book. But first—the concluding chapter of the old one—at long last.”
Ant #12 both wraps up the story already begun by Gully and serves as a completely self-contained introduction to Ant by superstar creator Larsen. Hannah Washington has spent years looking for answers, and finally her quest comes to its epic conclusion! Guest-starring the Dynamic Daredevil!
Ant #12 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, June 9.
Ant #12 will also be available for purchase across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.
Cool news.
