Image Advance Arrivals: May 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Barrier
Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin do great work together. Everything they’ve done up to this point, “Doctor Strange: The Oath,” “The Private Eye,” and “The Walking Dead: The Alien,” is well worth checking out by any comics fan. “Barrier” is their most recent collaboration and it’s taken a little bit longer than usual to arrive in a collected edition. First serialized on their digital comics platform The Panel Syndicate, then given a multi-issue release by Image, it is finally (FINALLY) being issued in a trade paperback edition.
Will it be worth the wait? Given the creators, that’s almost certain. Will it be as good as “The Private Eye?” That’s harder to judge as its reception didn’t generate the same buzz as that title; though, it’s possible that the premise has only become more relevant with time as a Texas rancher and a Honduran refugee cross paths violently on the U.S./Mexico border. As for what happens next… the solicitation promises “a spectacular sci-fi twist,” so maybe aliens? We shall see, as well as whether the promised use of Untranslated Spanish provides a, well, “you know what,” to enjoying this story.
Odin #1 (of 9): From co-writers James Tynion IV and Marguerite Bennett, and artist Letizia Cadonici comes the story of Adela, a reporter who will do anything for a story. This includes going undercover with a group of Neo-Nazis that are headed to Norway with a plan to unleash the might of Odin to achieve their white destiny. That doesn’t happen. What does is promised to be far stranger than that, which I highly doubt. Tynion’s strength is in making complex setups accessible and this sounds really straightforward to me. I know that he’s just co-writing this, but Bennett and Cadonici don’t move the needle for me either.
If Destruction Be Our Lot #1: Humanity is extinct and all that is left of us is our robots. Who sound like they’re getting on pretty well once you account for the computer viruses, electricity addiction, and rampant cannibalism. Robot Abe Lincoln, however, is yearning for something more. Matthew Rosenberg co-writes this with Mark Elijah Rosenberg (no indication if they’re related, but he also has comic writing credits, so I’m assuming this isn’t an attempt by a dad to win points with his son) and Andy MacDonald providing the art. The hope here is that this will bring out the Rosenberg(s) snarky irreverent side in the way we’ve seen it in “4 Kids Walk Into a Bank” and “What’s The Furthest Place From Here?” (which is still on hiatus…).
Of the Earth #1 (of 6): “That Texas Blood” and “Ultimate Wolverine” writer Chris Condon continues to strike while the creator-owned iron is hot with this story of a woman fleeing from her troubled life back to her grandma’s home in Texas. It sounds sweet enough, if the solicitation didn’t describe this as “Blood Simple” meets John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” That could make for an interesting mash-up if Condon had a better track record and the guy he’s co-writing it with, Andrew Ehrich, had any kind of record at all. Fortunately for the both of them, they’ve got an all-time horror great illustrating this: “The Walking Dead’s” Charlie Adlard. This should be right in his strike zone in a way that could elevate the whole endeavor.
She-Spawn #1 (of 5): Gail Simone writes this miniseries about Jessica Priest with Ig Guara providing the art. You either know if this is for you or it isn’t at all. No points for guessing which one of these I belong to.
Super Ego: The Short Comics of Jason Latour: Reprinting the comics from Latour’s Substack newsletter. He’s been out of the comics industry after being accused by multiple women of sexual harassment back in 2020. Apparently Image thought that things had cooled off enough, and there was enough buzz around the announcement that his and Jason Aaron’s “Southern Bastards” was being adapted for streaming, to allow for this collection to go forward, but the reception has let them know that Latour hasn’t been forgiven yet. I can’t say that Latour’s rep is strong enough on its own to get me to consider picking this up. That said, I would get around to reading whatever continuation of “Southern Bastards” he does with Aaron, even though that really doesn’t seem likely at this point.
Energon Universe Special 2026: Wherein a new “Transformer” and “Joe” are added to the Universe, as has been the case with all of the previous “Specials.” No points guessing (unless Zartan hasn’t already shown up in “G.I. Joe”) as the “Classified” covers are here to make sure their reveals stay a surprise until May. Which is a lot better than the cover for Transformers #32 which indicates that death was not the end for one Decepticon.
Escape #7: Rick Remender and Daniel Acuna’s anthropomorphic war series returns for its second arc. Which is kind of surprising as there was no “vol. 1” indicated when its first collected edition was solicited for March. I sure hope that this was planned as an ongoing series and not just being extended because of the commercial success of the single issues.
The Forged #10: Returning for its latest arc a while after the previous one was finished. That one upended the status quo of the series as Victory and her team now have to contend with an entire universe – and its Empress – wanting them dead. Why? Because they decided to side with the alien Phobes instead of letting their entire species be wiped out. Vol. 1 was “meh.” Vol. 2 was an improvement. Vol. 3 wasn’t quite good enough to make me think that having it end with so much up in the air was a good idea. And now that I’m actually having to think about shelling out $25 for an unnecessarily oversized collection with this kind of track record…
Die: Loaded vol. 1: Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ series about adults sucked into the tabletop fantasy world they were originally sucked into as kids returns for another go-round. This has the distinction of being the Least Good ongoing series I’ve read from Gillen, so I can’t say that I was particularly excited to hear the news that it was coming back. Still, “Least Good” doesn’t mean bad and I’ll admit to being a bit curious to see what kind of fresh hell the creators have planned for their cast after the first series. Particularly Chuck, as we’re told that this first volume involves them gathering for his wake a year later without ever finding out what happened to him in the world of Die.
Dust to Dust: A tormented sheriff from Oklahoma and a scrappy photojournalist have one thing in common: They’re both hunting for a serial killer in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. This sounds like something that you’ll want to buy for the art as it’s described as featuring fully-painted work from J.G. Jones, the artist of “Wanted” and “Marvel Boy,” and many, many covers. He does quality work, to be sure, but I’ve got no idea if that’s going to translate to being able to write equally good comics, especially with the unfamiliar Phil Bram co-writing here.
Undiscovered Country vol. 6: Victory: At the end of vol. 5, the remaining protagonists headed for the one place no one ever thought to look for Aurora: SPACE! Hopefully the rest of the volume has some gonzo plot twists and drama to match that as this series has consistently failed to live up to the entertainment promised by its first volume. Maybe the fact that the nations outside of the U.S. are gearing up to go to war against it will also give it some just, but I really hope that co-writers Charles Soule and Scott Snyder will give into their baser impulses (and that the former taps into some of the nuttiness that drove the Earthbound parts of “Letter 44”) and just give us something absolutely insane. Yeah, that’ll make it hard on Leo Grassi and Giuseppe Camuncoli to draw, but I think they’ll be up to it.