SDCC: TOOTH AND CLAW is Conan meets Game of Thrones meets Kamandi

IMAGE EXPO ANNOUNCEMENT: TOOTH AND CLAW is Conan meets Game of Thrones meets Kamandi
An all-new ongoing epic fantasy series from Kurt Busiek & Ben Dewey

Bestselling writer Kurt Busiek (MARVELS and ASTRO CITY) returns to Image Comics with rising-star artist Ben Dewey (I Was the Cat, The Tragedy Series), colorist Jordie Bellaire (THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, PRETTY DEADLY), and John Roshell of Comicraft for an all-new ongoing series that is Conan meets Game of Thrones meets Kamandi in an original high-fantasy epic for mature readers in TOOTH AND CLAW this November.

In TOOTH AND CLAW, a secret conclave of wizards brings a legendary champion forward through time from the forgotten past to save the world, with disastrous consequences. Swords, sorcery, beast-wizards, gods, sprawling animal empires, golems of radioactive decay, crystalline badlands, con women, ancient armories, young love, mystery, blood and death and treachery and destiny… TOOTH AND CLAW is an epic story you won’t want to miss out on.

“This is a series I’ve wanted to do for more than a decade,” said Busiek. “I’ve been slowly building the world, figuring out its secrets, and waiting for the ideal chance to bring it to life. It’s as complex and sweeping a world as Astro City, though in very, very different ways, and as brutal and visceral as anything I managed to do on Conan.

“And without having any idea I was doing this, it turned out I was designing the perfect series for Ben Dewey to draw. Everything I’ve asked him to draw, from airborne wicker cities to crusty warthog wizardesses to stolid bison-tribesmen and tricky coyote traders, he makes it look perfect. Lush, involving, richly textured and utterly convincing, the world Ben brings to life is everything I imagined and then some. I couldn’t be happier to be working with him on this—he draws a world that feels like you could just step into it, walk down a lane and around a corner, and find a million new adventures, characters as rich and compelling as anyone in the foreground.

“I’m also thrilled that we’re working with the great Jordie Bellaire, who’s transforming Ben’s black-and-white line-and tone-work to life with vivid, Renaissance-painting color, and John Roshell and the gang at Comicraft, who perform miracles monthly, and even when I ask for something utterly contradictory, like ‘I want it to be lettered like a classic 1940s comic strip and feel distinctively modern,’ just shrug and make it happen as if it’s the easiest thing in the world.

“And of course, we’re at Image, so the book is exactly what we want it to be, exactly the way we want it to look.”

“I can tell you, without caveats, that there is no project more custom fit to my sensibilities that this one; everything I’ve ever wanted to draw, invent and explore has come my way by working on this book with Kurt,” added Dewey. “I worked hard to infuse each page with my excitement and enthusiasm for the world that is being built as we progress. I hope to cultivate an audience that’s as thrilled to read it as I have been during the process of creating this story.”

“Years ago, when I first became Publisher here at Image, I made a list of writers and artists I wanted to work with, and Kurt Busiek was one of the names at the top,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “Kurt and I have had a number of near-misses over the years: When I was editing comics for Rob Liefeld at Extreme Studios, Kurt almost wrote Supreme, and later, he was slated to do Youngblood: Year One, but didn’t, so it’s really cool that we’re finally bringing something to fruition together after so long. What’s even cooler, though, is that Kurt’s found such an unbelievably talented collaborator in Ben Dewey. As anyone familiar with the award-winning series Marvels and Astro City knows, Kurt’s no stranger to awesome artists, and even though he’s relatively new to the game, Ben is every bit as amazing as Kurt’s past creative partners. Everything about this series is absolutely magnificent, and I can’t wait for its debut this November.”

The action begins in November 2014 with a spectacular DOUBLE-SIZED FIRST ISSUE, featuring forty-four pages of story with no ads for the regular price of just $2.99.