Image! #1 30th Anniversary Anthology Offers First Look at Declan Shalvey's Old Dog (Exclusive)

Image Comics, the publisher behind some of the business’ biggest creator-owned titles, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. To celebrate the occasion, a new 12-issue anthology series titled Image! is being released, featuring some of the hottest creators and stories from its impressive catalog. Comicbook.com can exclusively reveal pages from an Old Dog short story. Old Dog is a new series debuting in June from writer/artist Declan Shalvey and letterer Clayton Cowles. Along with the pages is a quote from Eric Stephenson, Chief Creative Officer & Publisher at Image Comics and Editor of the Image! anthology.

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The description of Old Dog reads: “Jack Lynch was a once-promising CIA operative. On the eve of retirement, looking back at a failed career he is tasked with one final mission …that goes horribly wrong. He wakes years later to a changed world with even deeper changes within him. When a shadowy group offers Lynch a second chance for a life of adventure, he finds himself paired with the last person he could ever imagine. In order to adjust, this old dog will have to learn some new tricks…”

“One of the great things about anthologies like this is we can showcase new or upcoming materials, and we were thrilled that Declan offered up a short story that teases OLD DOG prior to its release this summer,” Stephenson said.

“I’m so unbelievably excited to let Old Dog off its leash. For a long time I’ve been itching to develop my own solo series from scratch; one that I write, draw, colour, design and it feels great to finally be doing so with Clayton Cowles as my right-hand man on letters,” said Shalvey. “This feels like the next creative step for me, one which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Anyone who was a fan of the kinetic, done-in-one storytelling I employed on Moon Knight will enjoy this series. It’s full of mysteries, conspiracies and every now and then, someone gets a serious beating, often the main character.”

Image! #1 will showcase a combination of ongoing serials and standalone short stories, including the first chapters of two 12-part stories, “The Blizzard” by Geoff Johns and Andrea Mutti, as well as the opening installments of a trio of three-parters: “Gospel for a New Century” by Wyatt Kennedy and Luana Vecchio, “Hopeless” by Mirka Andolfo, and “Shift” by Kyle Higgins and Daniele Di Nicuolo. Along with an exclusive first look at Old Dog, an original ongoing comic strip by Skottie Young is also included.

“There’s no better testament to what Image is all about than the incredible talent we work with, so an anthology featuring an amazing assortment of those artists, writers, colorists, and letterers seemed like a no-brainer,” Stephenson said when Image! was first announced. “We literally would not exist without the creators we publish, and Image! is a celebration of their unbridled creativity.”

The solicit and cover for Image! #1, along with preview pages of Declan Shalvey’s Old Dog, can be found below. It goes on sale April 13th.

About the IMAGE! #1:

Diamond Code: FEB220047, On-sale: 4/13

(W) Geoff Johns, Declan Shalvey, Wyatt Kennedy, Skottie Young, Mirka Andolfo, Brenden Fletcher, Kyle Higgins

(A) Andrea Mutti, Declan Shalvey, Luana Vecchio, Mirka Andolfo, Erica Henderson, Daniele Di Nicuolo

(CA) Marcello Costa, Igor Monti

SERIES PREMIERE!

Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first Image comic with a year-long parade of all-new stories from some of the biggest and best names in comics!

Featuring a combination of ongoing serials and standalone short stories, this inaugural issue kicks off with the first chapters of two 12-part stories: “The Blizzard” by GEOFF JOHNS & ANDREA MUTTI and “Red Stitches” by BRENDEN FLETCHER & ERICA HENDERSON-plus the opening installments of a trio of three-parters: “Gospel for a New Century” by WYATT KENNEDY & LUANA VECCHIO, “Loop / Hopeless” by MIRKA ANDOLFO, and “Shift” by KYLE HIGGINS & DANIELE DI NICUOLO. Plus plus! A first look at DECLAN SHALVEY’s upcoming OLD DOG series and an original ongoing comic strip by SKOTTIE YOUNG!