The Fade Out Volume 1 by Brubaker and Phillips

THE FADE OUT, VOLUME 1, the first collection of Ed Brubaker’s and Sean Phillips’ most ambitious crime noir series to date, is now a title in Image Comics' Image Introduces line of first volumes, making its new price $9.99.

THE FADE OUT focuses in on the chaos in a Hollywood studio that follows the death of a starlet under suspicious circumstances and one writer’s guilt over a secret he’s keeping to save his skin. Read the full news release here.

With a $9.99 price tag, THE FADE OUT, VOLUME 1 is one of more than fifty Image Introduces titles that have specially priced first volumes to encourage readers to delve into their next favorite comic book series.

Preview Pages in The Fade Out Volume One

"So far, The Fade Out is the most popular and most-widely written about book that Sean and I have ever done," said writer Brubaker. "And I'm so proud of that, and the work that Sean and our amazing colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser are doing on the series, that I just wanted to make it easier for new readers to try us out. And hopefully this move will help stores meet demand, since we keep selling out of the issues the first week they come out."

THE FADE OUT, VOLUME 1 will be in comic book stores on February 25 and in bookstores on March 10. It is available for pre-order now.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips Return with Another Hit in The Fade Out from Image Comics

THE FADE OUT #1, the debut of the latest series from Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser, uncontested noir masters, has sold out immediately at the distributor level with fans, media, and top industry professionals praising the series as the hottest new crime book on shelves.

"This is amazing. I'm totally overwhelmed. I mean, really, whoever thought me and Sean's most lo-fi idea, a noir within the world of noir films, would be our biggest hit ever?" said Brubaker.

Set in 1940s Hollywood, THE FADE OUT begins with a suspicious murder and kicks off an intricate mystery involving a noir film stuck in endless reshoots, a writer plagued with nightmares from the war and a dangerous secret, and a maniacal studio mogul and his security chief who will do anything to keep the cameras rolling before the Post-War boom days come crashing down.

The series launched with a 40-page issue that featured exclusive back page articles. For fans wishing to experience noir fiction in true ‘40s style, an oversized "movie magazine replica" variant edition with 8 extra pages of behind-the-scenes art and articles graced store shelves as well. “I dug The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Elizabeth Breitweiser and Image Comics so much, I had to buy both versions,” tweeted Tony Guerrero, Editor-in-Chief of ComicVine.

Entertainment Weekly featured THE FADE OUT #1 on its “Must List” while IGN called it “Mad Men but with more sex and murder.” Paste Magazine said of the debut, “Hollywood has never looked so dark, so sinister and so seductive. It’s a story that only a Brubaker/Phillips comic could tell.”

In an in-depth interview with USA Today Brubaker hinted, “Everybody wanted to come to Hollywood and be rich and famous, and very few people are going to get rich and famous. There's going to be a lot of people dashing themselves against the rocks.”

THE FADE OUT #1 has completely sold out at the distributor level, but may still be available in comic stores. It  is currently available digitally on the Image Comics website (imagecomics.com) and the official Image Comics iOS app, as well as on Comixology on the web (comixology.com), iOS, Android, and Google Play.

Image Comics is pleased to announce that this first issue will be going back to print to meet customer demand. The second printing of THE FADE OUT #1 (Diamond Code JUL148170) will release on 9/24.

THE FADE OUT #2 (Diamond Code JUL140545) hits shelves on 9/24.

First Look at The Fade Out from Image Comics

Ed Brubaker (FATALE, VELVET, Captain America: Winter Soldier) and Sean Phillips (FATALE, Criminal, Marvel Zombies) launch the first show-stopper from their unprecedented five-year deal announced at Image Expo in January—the hotly anticipated epic noir series, THE FADE OUT.

As an added bonus to this exciting launch, this first issue will clock in at 40 pages and feature exclusive back page articles. For fans wishing to experience noir fiction in true ‘40s style, an oversized "movie magazine replica" variant edition with 8 extra pages of behind-the-scenes art and articles will be available for order.

An intricate and groundbreaking crime story on a level Brubaker and Phillips have never tackled before, THE FADE OUT weaves a tangled web through the underbelly of a 1948 Hollywood... A noir film stuck in endless reshoots. A writer plagued with nightmares from the war and a dangerous secret. An up-and-coming starlet's suspicious death. And a maniacal studio mogul and his security chief who will do anything to keep the cameras rolling before the Post-War boom days come crashing down. THE FADE OUT is the most ambitious series yet from the award-winning Noir Masters.

 

 Preview Pages in The Fade Out

Early praise for THE FADE OUT:
"Brubaker and Phillips's books have always been about eight years ahead of their time." —Brian K. Vaughan (SAGA, Y the Last Man)

"Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are the gold standard of the crime graphic novel." —Warren Ellis (Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Gun Machine, Fell)

"Brubaker & Phillips continue to make sweet music together, broadcast to you in the form of the best comics around." —Robert Kirkman (THE WALKING DEAD, INVINCIBLE)

"How can you resist the Lennon and McCartney of Feel-Bad Comics Noir heading out west for the flickering horrors of Hollywoodland? THE FADE OUT feels like the book Ed and Sean were born to make." —Matt Fraction (SEX CRIMINALS, CASANOVA, Hawkeye)

"Ed and Sean are that rare longterm collaboration that never become complacent, each project is a new revelation, the love visibly increased, the enthusiasm for the craft only growing over time. You don't have to consider the purchase, you make it on instinct at this point." —Rick Remender (BLACK SCIENCE, DEADLY CLASS)

"Like Scorsese and De Niro, Brubaker and Phillips are the unmatched masters of a certain kind of storytelling—those fables of doomed and deluded men who are ready to die bloody, defending the tatters of their soiled American dreams. A new title from the sharpshooters behind Criminal and Fatale is reason enough to go on living." —Joe Hill (Locke & Key, Horns, NOS4A2)

"Brubaker and Phillips have achieved the sort of creative consistency that'd justify critics filing their INSTANT CLASSIC reviews before they even read whatever they put out next." —Kieron Gillen (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Phonogram, Young Avengers)

"I’ve been reading Ed Brubaker comics since the first appearance of Ed Brubaker comics and every single time he announces a new title I mutter to myself: 'ugh! I wish I would’ve thought of that!'" —Brian Michael Bendis (POWERS, Alias, Ultimate Spider-Man)

"I'm a pretty easy mark for any Brubaker-Philips creation, but the ambition behind this one has me spinning with anticipation. Couldn't be more excited." —Jonathan Hickman (EAST OF WEST, MANHATTAN PROJECTS, Avengers)

“Two of the best in the business, no contest.” —Kelly Sue DeConnick
“I never know what to say in these things” —Kelly Sue DeConnick
“Seriously, just buy the [expletive deleted] book. I promise you’ll like it. Unless you’re [expletive deleted].” —Kelly Sue DeConnick
“I don’t think we’re supposed to say [expletive deleted] anymore.” —Kelly Sue DeConnick
“Forget I said that." —Kelly Sue DeConnick (PRETTY DEADLY, Captain Marvel)

 

THE FADE OUT #1 arrives in stores on 8/20 for $3.50 and is available to pre-order with Diamond Code JUN140463. The movie magazine variant of THE FADE OUT is available to pre-order with Diamond Code JUN140464.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips New Series The Fade Out from Image Comics

 

 

Ed Brubaker (Batman, Captain America, FATALE, CRIMINAL) and Sean Phillips (FATALE, Sleeper) and Image Comics have signed an unprecedented deal in comics publishing, a five year deal to do anything they want with total freedom, total control, and total ownership over their projects. 

 

"Everyone at Image loves working with Ed and Sean,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “They’re one of the best creative teams working in comics today, with an absolutely stunning catalog of work, and I personally consider bringing Fatale to Image one of the best things to happen to us over what has been a pretty amazing last couple years. One of the great things about this business is the opportunities we’re given to work with good people, and it’s really gratifying to see directly how talent like Ed and Sean respond to the unparalleled freedom and support we offer at Image.”

 

"This is amazing. It's like having an overall deal with a studio, except we get to greenlight our own projects," said Brubaker. "Sean and I have been making comics together for fifteen years, and in the early days before we built the passionate readership we have now, we struggled to survive, so a deal like this is exactly what I was looking for. I've already got more than enough ideas to fill those five years, and both Sean and I are looking forward to experimenting and really pushing the boundaries." 

 

The first project on this new deal for the award-winning creators is THE FADE OUT, debuting this summer, following the conclusion of FATALE with issue #24. 

 

"The Fade Out is my ultimate noir story. It's a brutal crime story set in late '40s Hollywood, and all spinning around the mysterious death of an up-and-coming starlet," said Brubaker. "For people who've been waiting for us to return to Criminal, this will be exactly what they're looking for, but on a much more epic scale—going from studio backlots to the debauchery of the rich and famous, and even stretching back to the horrors of World War Two." 

 

Several of Brubaker and Phillips' previous projects are currently in development as films, with Kim Jee-Woon (A Bittersweet Life, I Saw The Devil) recently signing on to direct COWARD, the inaugural story arc of their celebrated series Criminal, and Sleeper being produced by Ben Affleck (Argo) and Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity) at Warner Bros. 

 

THE FADE OUT is a new, ongoing noir series coming to Image Comics in 2014.

Fatale is Now an Ongoing Series from Image Comics

Josephine, heroine of Ed Brubaker's and Sean Phillips Image Comics series FATALE, has carried the curse for decades — able to enthrall men but chased by an ancient evil, she is seemingly destined to cause the ruination of anyone who loves her. The haunting series was originally planned as a mini-series, but Brubaker and Phillips have found that curse of the femme fatale is inexhaustible. Thanks to strong sales, a wealth of stories yet to be told, and a certain mesmerizing quality, FATALE is now an ongoing series.

"Fatale was originally envisioned as a novel in three parts," said Brubaker in an interview with Comics Alliance, "but I kept having ideas for side-plots and tangents or single issues, and it started to feel more like it was meant to be a more sprawling story. So I just decided to let it go until it's finished."

To launch the new format, Brubaker and Phillips are taking readers back in time with four standalone issues of FATALE. Jo may feel alone in her curse, but these stories will let readers in on her past and show that other women have shared her fate.

The first of the FATALE Flashback issues, December's FATALE #11, will reveal Jo's early years as a femme fatale. As the story follows her on the run in 1930s California, some of her elusive secrets will come to light.

 

In January, FATALE #12 will take readers all the way back to Medieval Europe, when a woman possessing the powers of the femme fatale curse faces doom not only from demonic forces but also from the scourge of witch-burnings.

 

February brings the femme fatale to the Wild West with FATALE #13, when a man — or a woman — could blaze a trail with a loaded pistol and a steady hand.

FATALE #14 in March is a World War II horror adventure, when Jo crosses paths with crazed Nazi cultists behind enemy lines.

Each issue of FATALE contains extra articles and art not collected in the trade paperbacks, including essays by renowned pop culture scholar Jess Nevins (The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana), whose writing also appeared in Brubaker's and Phillips' Criminal.

FATALE, written by Brubaker, drawn by Phillips, and with colors by Dave Stewart, was introduced in January 2012,  the first new series in an iconic year for Image Comics. Its first five issues have been collected into a trade paperback, FATALE: DEATH CHASES ME, which Publishers Weekly called an "addictive page-turner" in a starred review. The French edition of DEATH CHASES ME has just been announced as one of the nominees for the prestigious Angoulême Award, in the Polar (Mystery) category. Its second trade paperback, THE DEVIL'S BUSINESS, is available for pre-order now and will be in stores on December 19.

Fatale #7 Preview

Image Comics Fatale #7 will be in stores tomorrow, Wednesday, August 15th. Fatale is written by Ed Brubaker and the art is by Sean Phillips. 

BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS best-selling occult noir series continues its second arc, as the dark secrets of mid-70s Los Angeles begin to creep into Josephine's new life. Drugs, sex, cults, fame, and murder, all walk hand in hand in the shadow of demonic forces.