Aftershock Comics has emerged as one of the most interesting new publishers in a long time, making a bold impact on the industry with titles like Insexts and Captain KidHeaded up by editorial veteran Mike Marts, Aftershock has assembled an all-star line-up of talent, and today announced that Chew's John Layman and comics legend Sam Kieth will join the publisher for Eleanor and the Egret, a crime caper about an art thief and her pet bird.

With the wrap up of Chew this year, John Layman has proved himself one of the go-to creators when it comes to crime comedy comics, and Eleanor and the Egret looks to be at least as surreal as his previous series. Sam Kieth, the legendary creator behind The Maxx, feels like an exciting choice to illustrate this Catch Me If You Can-style caper involving an art thief and a heron.

The series also features colors from Ronda Pattison, and the first issue has a variant by Elizabeth Torque, which you can check out below.

 

Elizabeth Torque / Aftershock Comics
Elizabeth Torque / Aftershock Comics
loading...

 

In a statement supplied by Aftershock, John Layman talked about why he signed up with the publisher, and his enthusiasm for working with Sam Kieth:

 

As far as I’m concerned, Mike Marts is the very best editor in comics, and a great guy too, so I’m always looking for opportunities to work with him. When he landed at AfterShock I knew very quickly it would be a company that would produce excellent comics –and they are!—so I jumped at the chance to work with them. I’m proud to be part of the AfterShock family, and grateful they are getting behind Sam and I for this very unique and off-kilter book. I would describe Eleanor & the Egret as a fable, and a surrealist romance, but it’s probably more easily described as something NOT easily describable. It’s a melding of two unique voices to comics. It’s also just an excuse for me to give Sam cool stuff to draw, and, in that, he’s exceeding all expectations—some of the pages he’s turning in are absolutely breathtaking."

 

Check out the solicitation information below:

 

ELEANOR & THE EGRET / $3.99 / 32 pages / Color / On-sale April 5th
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Sam Kieth
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Cover by: Sam Kieth

Item Code: FEB171092

A slightly surreal tale of an art thief and her sidekick, a talking egret who gets just a bit bigger after each successful caper, as they embark on a escalating series of daring thefts of world-famous paintings, and dodge pursuers in an increasingly weirdly dangerous game of cat-and-mouse.

More From ComicsAlliance