PREVIEW: All hail the new ‘Empress’ by Mark Millar and Stuart Immonen

Empress_1_Cover
(Image Comics/Millarworld)

Mark Millar (Civil WarKick-Ass, The Ultimates) is without doubt one of my all-time favorite comic book writers next to other heroes of mine like Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis. And two of his current books, Huck and Jupiter’s Circle, are both, in my humble opinion, the absolute top superhero titles at the moment.

So it pretty much goes without saying that I am very excited for his new book Empress, a new sci-fi adventure series launching in April. But unlike recent Millarworld titles which have been put out through Image Comics, Empress will be published through Marvel’s creator-owned ICON imprint.

For Empress, Mark will be teaming up with Stuart Immonen (Star Wars, All-New X-Men) who has been pivotal in making Marvel’s flagship Star Wars comic the stellar success that it has been. With these two names attached, putting this one on your pull list is pretty much a no-brainer.

The plot synopsis for Empress, from a press release from Marvel, goes thus:

Imagine you’re married to the worst bad guy in the entire universe. An alien dictator feared by races across the cosmos. He will kill you if you leave, but you must escape for the sake of your three children. Now, Queen Emporia must flee the clutches of her ruthless husband with nothing but her wits, her trusty bodyguard, and three guns in tow. Will their attempt at freedom be short lived?

Personally, I was already sold with that issue #1 cover and the names “Mark Millar” and “Stuart Immonen” anyway, so I kind of don’t even care what the story’s about!

Now let’s take a look at some preview art:

Empress_1_Immonen_Sketch_Variant Empress_1_Immonen_Variant Empress_1_McNiven_Variant Empress_1_Murphy_Variant Empress_1_Preview_1 Empress_1_Preview_2 Empress_1_Preview_3 Empress_1_Preview_4 Empress_1_Preview_5 Empress_1_Preview_6 Empress_1_Young_Variant

Stunning art, no? And those variant covers are really something. Based on these preview images Empress looks to be every bit the rousing space adventure that Starlight (see my review) was, and I for one cannot wait.

Empress #1 comes out on April 6 and will be available in print and digital form. Get ready for the star-hopping, intergalactic adventure of your lives.

EMPRESS #1 (of 7)

Written by MARK MILLAR

Art & Cover by STUART IMMONEN

Inks by WADE VON GRAWBADGER
Colors by IVE SVORCINA

Letters by PETER DOHERTY

Variant Covers by STUART IMMONEN, SEAN GORDON MURPHY  and STEVE MCNIVEN

Millarworld Exclusive Skottie Young Variant Available

Sketch Variant by STUART IMMONEN

Blank Variant Also Available

On-Sale – 4/06/16

About The Pop Mythologist

The Pop Mythologist
The Pop Mythologist is the founder and editor of PopMythology.com. He has been a staff writer for the nationally distributed magazine KoreAm , the online journal of pop culture criticism Pop Matters and has written freelance for various other publications and websites.

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