Supernatural Mystery from Image's ANTARCTICA, The Cull, and THE SACRIFICERS
Summer is scorching through our skin so why not check out some comics to get some chills? To dig deep into the unknown and disturbed, Image Comics is a great place to start.
ANTARCTICA
Tagline: “Stargate meets His Dark Materials in a new non-stop sci-fi action blockbuster!”
Published: July 2023
Writer: Simon Burks
Artist: Willi Roberts
If thoughts could manifest actual feelings, then just the thought of Antarctica should conjure up instant bone chilling cold. This cold continent with its miles of ice has been the backdrop of numerous horror stories. The unforgiving landscape is an absolute challenge to inhabit but people somehow do.
The first issue doesn’t begin in Antarctica, it begins in a city with a daughter named Hannah who loves her father. Hannah’s life is rendered apart when her father mysteriously does not return home from his work expedition in Antarctica.
Without her father, depression and anger spirals Hannah’s developmental years into her own personal hell and darkness. It is thanks to a kind and fatherly type friend who extends a helping hand for her to gain the strength to move beyond it. She redirects that dark energy and anger into a new purpose: to find out what happened to her father. Her hard work and tenacious work ethic puts her right into the same company that her father worked for when he mysteriously disappeared.
So, what will she discover?
THE SACRIFICERS
Tagline: “Tomorrow is a harmonious paradise thanks to five families who make everything perfect...for the price of one child per household”
On Sale: August 5, 2023
Created by: Rick Remender & Max Fiumara
It is comic co-created by Rick Remender so the heartstrings were already being yanked with the first few pages. Welcome to a world unlike our own but still suffering the same familial issues.
We see two families struggling with their respective teenage/young adult children. These two families are completely physically different. One family has factual flames for hair and seems to be the powerhouse behind the sun itself. The other family is an avian-humanoid race that runs a farm. Two different sides of the same world, both dealing with children who don’t want to listen to them. The rebellious nature of the teenagers will have specific consequences that may be quite….dramatic.
THE SACRIFICERS is the beginning of an epic fantasy series that already promises to stir up some deep emotion. The first issue leaves the reader with the most obvious of questions: What happens to those that are being sacrificed?
The Cull
Tagline: “Something is Killing the Children horror vibes mix with The Goonies-style adventure”
On Sale: August 16, 2023
Created by: Kelly Thompson & Mattia De Iulis
As someone who was raised in the thickest of the urban landscape, watching movies starring children on adventures in nature was ultimate fantasy. The characters in The Cull are a bit older than mere children but they are still a rag tag group of friends who discover something completely beyond our world.
The first issue introduces us to the friends as they grouse themselves out of the bed super early to start a filming project. Anyone who has done any kind of filming understands the importance of good light. And quite possibly some sneaky unlicensed filming before authorities catch wind of them.
As the friends converse and make their way to the mysterious black rock by the beach, we get hints of the backgrounds and their pain. We also learn that one friend has another motive to go to the black rock.
Before we are even introduced to the characters, we know that something truly horrible will descend upon humankind. Did these friends unleash something by accident?
Has your curiosity been piqued? Then head on over and support your local comic book store via google search or Comic Shop Locator. If there is a series that you would like to continue to follow, make sure to speak to the comic store to start a pull list. A pull list is when the store will order and put aside issues of that series for you. It helps the store and also ensures that you won’t miss an issue!
ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of bestselling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has six individuals on the Board of Directors: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Eric Stephenson. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline Comics, Skybound Entertainment, and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor, and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
