Grant & Wagner Mix Sci-Fi & Soccer in 'Rok Of The Reds'

I don't want to come off as all "sterotypical American" or anything, but I have to admit that I don't really get the appeal of soccer. I realize that it's the sport of choice for the vast majority of the world --- and that I also don't get the appeal of most sports that don't involve steel cage matches and a zombie cowboy whose brother is a fire demon --- but something about it just continues to elude me. But maybe, just maybe, I could finally get into it if someone found a way to combine the Beautiful Game with, oh, I don't know, a secret alien invasion and scenes of planetary-scale destruction.

Fortunately for me, legendary writers John Wagner and Alan Grant have teamed up with artist Dan Cornwell to do just that in Rok of the Reds, a new comic from Glasgow-based indie publisher BHP. Check out a preview below!

According to BHP, Rok of the Reds is "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers meets Roy of the Rovers," the latter being a classic British comic strip about a footballer named Roy Race, which debtued in 1954 and ran until 1993 when --- and I swear this is true --- it ended with a story where Roy lost his foot in a helicopter crash.

For Wagner and Grant --- who you may remember from Judge Dredd, Batman, The Demon, Strontium Dog, A History of Violence and a whole lot more --- that's more of a starting point, and they begin their tale with Kyle Dixon, a loudmouth braggart and all-around terrible person slumming his way through the start of his career.

The series is set to make its debut on June 15, and will be available in both physical and digital formats from BHP.