The first half of J. Michael Straczynski’s Protectors, Inc., placing superheroes in the age of corporatization, is being collected by Image Comics this June.In Protectors, Inc., a new Image Comics title from J. Michael Straczynski and Gordon Purcell, superheroes have been privatized and corporatized. With no supervillains to occupy their time, super-powered people ply their time as spokespersons and franchise their images for profit — with a cut going to their employer, Protectors, Inc., which has a corner on the superhero market in Chicago. They lead charmed lives until one of them is found murdered and the trail for the killer leads back to the Protectors.The mystery leads back to the origin of Portectors’ powers, which has remained a mystery since they first acquired their powers in World War II.”That there have never been any bad guys with powers seems to indicate that whatever entered the world that day during WW2 is being very selective in terms of who gets those abilities,” Straczynski explained in an interview at Newsarama. “The question, of course, is…is that true, or is it simply a cover for something else? Is there a conspiracy at the center of Protectors Inc. that has been there almost from day one? If so, they’ve been able to cover it up pretty well, and might be able to do so indefinitely…unless something goes terribly wrong.”Protectors, Inc. Volume 1 will be in comic book stores on June 4 and bookstores on June 17 and is available for pre-order now.
