Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Gary Frank, and more team up for a new imprint at Image Comics

A new Image Comics imprint was announced at New York Comic Con 2023, and it’s one featuring a lot of big name creators known for their work at DC and Marvel. Ghost Machine will offer not one but four interconnected universes, from the minds of Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Brad Meltzer and many more.

The Ghost Machine team — Bryan Hitch, Jason Fabok, Peter J. Tomasi, Francis Manapul, Gary Frank, Maytal Zchut, Lamont Magee, Brad Meltzer, and Geoff Johns — were on hand at the Lunar retailer breakfast at NYCC 2023. One more creator is attached to the launch team, but they are currently remaining under wraps because of a commitment to another publisher. All creators will be exclusive to Ghost Machine beyond commitments to pre-existing titles.

The team released a statement to accompany their announcement: “Our ambition for Ghost Machine is to push beyond superheroes, introducing new genres, characters and shared universes, completely co-owned by all the creators involved. We see this as the future of how creatives will work and retain creative control and meaningfully participate in success like never before. Our passion is for the magic of graphic storytelling and the emotional resonance of compelling characters. But we are not just a comic book company—we are the first wholly creator-owned and operated media company of its kind, born out of a desire to create and succeed together.”

The new line will feature four separate shared universes: The Unnamed, spinning out of Johns and Frank’s pre-existing Geiger and Junkyard Joe series; Rook: Exodus, a sci-fi storyline from Jason Fabok; the Family Odysseys, centering around a time-displaced family, and Peter Tomasi and Francis Manapul’s The Rocketfellers; and a horror universe co-created by a creator who’s part of the Ghost Machine collective but remaining under wraps because, according to Image Comics, they remain under exclusive contract elsewhere.

The Unnamed continues with a two-part series titled Geiger: Ground Zero by Johns and Frank, before Ghost Machine #1 is released in January 2024, featuring the official introduction of the entire line.

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