Veteran comic book editor Eric Harburn is writing his first graphic novel. Humbucker, a crime thriller set in New York City’s music scene, arrives from Image Comics and Tiny Onion in spring 2027.

The book follows Denny, owner of a struggling indie record label, who bets everything on recording the mythical debut album of Connor Markes, an influential underground musician who vanished from the scene decades ago. Denny sets up a session at a legendary NYC studio where Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, and The Rolling Stones once recorded. But the session falls apart when Connor can’t perform and Denny’s loan shark shows up.

Harburn co-created the book with Eisner Award-nominated artist Simon Gane (Ghost Tree, They’re Not Like Us). Colors come from Eisner winner Jordie Bellaire (Exquisite Corpses, The Nice House series), with lettering by Aditya Bidikar (In Your Skin, The Department of Truth).

Harburn spent sixteen years editing comics at BOOM! Studios and Tiny Onion, working on over one hundred properties including Something is Killing the Children and Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR. He’s now Director of Narrative and Editor-in-Chief at Tiny Onion.

“During a recent visit to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, an idea struck me like a power chord,” Harburn said. “A pressure cooker of crime and creative ambition, Martin McDonagh meets Elmore Leonard, all set within a legendary recording studio.”

Gane said the characters felt alive from the first read. “Putting your head above the parapet can leave you exposed and vulnerable. As our characters will find out, very, very vulnerable.”

Humbucker arrives in comic shops April 14, 2027, and bookstores May 11, 2027.

Judge Dredd is about to meet the Biker Mice from Mars.

Oni Press, the Nacelle Company, and Rebellion are bringing out JUDGE DREDD / BIKER MICE FROM MARS #1 on December 2. The 40-page debut comes from writers Dan Watters and Ryan O’Sullivan and artist Jordi Tarragona.

The story drops the Biker Mice into Mega-City One after villains Limburger and Karbunkle try to plunder the sprawling metropolis. Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo end up stranded in the city, wanted by 400 million citizens and one very determined judge. Dredd’s job is to deliver justice, and he doesn’t care if the criminals are from Mars or not.

The crossover pulls in Judge Death too. When the inhuman entity shows up, both Dredd and the Biker Mice end up in the same fight.

The issue has covers by David Finch, Karl Kerschl, and Andrew Krahnke. There are also four randomly distributed “Badge Variant” covers designed by Winston Gambro in the style of Brian Bolland’s 2000 AD work. Each badge features either Judge Dredd’s shield or one of the three Biker Mice.

The book lands in comic shops December 2.

A dystopian saga 30 years in the making is finally coming stateside.

Eisner Award winner Joe Pruett and French artist Philippe Xavier are teaming up for The Territory, a five-issue miniseries launching in January from Image Comics. It’s a post-apocalyptic story that mashes up Lone Wolf and Cub with The Road and Mad Max.

The setup: civilization collapsed 16 years ago. Now a lone man and a mysterious young girl are hunted through a brutal wasteland called the Territory, bound together by chance and racing toward a destiny neither saw coming.

Xavier has been producing stunning work for the French market for two decades, but American audiences haven’t had much access to it. Pruett says readers are in for a treat. “His breathtaking landscapes and exquisite attention to detail will captivate and delight American audiences as much as it has the European.”

The collaboration itself is a milestone. Pruett and Xavier first met in 1994, started working on this project in 2024, so the series celebrates 30 years of friendship.

Xavier promises a harsh ride. “Enter the Territory at your own risk! Don’t forget your wool hat and furry gloves.”

The Territory #1 drops January 6 with variant covers by Brandon Peterson, Joe Benitez, and Stevan Subic. For indie comics fans hungry for international talent and dystopian grit, this one’s worth tracking down.

What happens when you throw Monty Python into a blender with Dune? You get The Ludocrats, a completely unhinged new trade paperback from Image Comics that makes being ridiculous a literal virtue.

The series comes from New York Times bestselling writer Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine, Die), game designer Jim Rossignol (Sir, You Are Being Haunted), and artist Jeff Stokely (The Spire). It’s available now, collecting issues 1-5.

At the center is Baron Otto Von Subertan, a main character so excessive he makes the Queen of Hearts look reasonable. Alongside his deadpan companion Professor Hades Zero-K, he defends their bizarre civilization against the ultimate enemies: banality and boredom.

Think I Hate Fairyland humor meets The Silmarillion’s elaborate world-building. The creative team loads every page with aristocratic customs, impossible architecture, sexual jokes, and visual gags. Colorist Tamra Bonvillain and letterer Clayton Cowles round out the team.

Critics are calling it “pure, bonkers joy” and praising Stokely’s art as the real highlight. One reviewer compared it to Matt Groening’s Disenchantment mixed with H.P. Lovecraft.

The Ludocrats proves indie comics can take massive swings at genre satire. For readers tired of straight-faced fantasy epics, this absurdist ride offers a welcome antidote.

The Devil of Woodsburgh is back.

Mirka Andolfo is returning to the world of her international hit Mercy with Merciless, a four-issue miniseries launching this December from Image Comics. This time, she’s teaming up with artist Lidia Bolognini (Sweet Paprika: Black, White & Pink) for a new Gothic horror tale set 15 years after the original.

“Mercy readers have been waiting for this sequel, and I’m so happy it’s finally on its way!” Andolfo says. The story follows Rory, now all grown up and ready to uncover dark secrets in Woodsburgh.

The mining town thought it was done with devils. But when Rory arrives to open her factory, a mysterious drug called Electric Sumac starts spreading through the streets, turning ordinary people unnaturally strong and dangerously unhinged. Rory and her companion Joel know the drug’s origins aren’t earthly, and they’re determined to stop it.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Bancroft returns to settle his father’s unfinished business. Old debts resurface, secrets unravel, and Rory might find herself caught in the middle of it all.

Andolfo describes it as a dark supernatural horror story perfect for fans of From Hell, Fatale, and the original Mercy series.

Merciless #1 drops December 2 at comic shops, with 11 different covers including incentive variants. For anyone catching up, the complete Mercy series is collected in a trade paperback available now.

A team of disgraced spies locked up in their own former headquarters is planning a breakout. Fort Psycho #5 kicks off “False Flags,” a new story arc from Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt hitting shelves December 16th.

The series follows elite operatives who took down the world’s most wanted terrorist, then got disavowed and thrown into a prison on their old island base. Now they’re plotting escape, pairing off two by two, while hunting for the double agent who put them there.

“The bad guys don’t know they’re the bad guys. But on the other hand, the good guys never doubt they’re the good guys,” Kindt said. “Look. We can’t all be the good guys right?”

Hurtt promised things get darker. “Sex, violence, and cannibalism! The False Flags storyline brings the Seven Seals baddies onto the scene,” he said. “I can’t wait for readers to get to know Red Lion and his vicious appetites.”

Oni Press is releasing the first trade paperback, Fort Psycho Vol. 1: Kinetic Action, the same day. It collects issues 1-4 and sets up the world: ten years ago, Singapore sank. A terrorist group called The Seven Seals took credit. The UN sent a strike team after them. It went wrong.

Issue #5 features covers by Hurtt, Lewis LaRosa, and Charlie Adlard. Both the single issue and the trade drop December 16th from Oni Press and Flux House.

The artist behind Oblivion Song and Void Rivals is stepping out as a writer.

Lorenzo de Felici’s Red Roots is getting collected into a trade paperback this fall from Image Comics. The five-issue series marks de Felici’s debut as both writer and artist, a big shift for someone who made his name drawing Robert Kirkman’s genre-bending hits.

Red Roots follows a professional killer and a high school teacher whose lives collide through some kind of terrifying, mysterious force. Think The Mist meets The Cabin in the Woods, with dark fantasy lore and puzzle-box storytelling that twists as it goes.

De Felici proved he could draw the hell out of a comic. Oblivion Song put him on the map. Void Rivals, his tentpole Energon Universe book with Kirkman, became one of 2024’s biggest launches and is on its 12th reprint. Now he’s flying solo, and the early buzz suggests he can write too.

Kirkman himself called it “the comic series you’ve been waiting your whole life for.” AIPT praised its “bold, exciting, and visually striking” approach, noting how de Felici trusts readers to sit with tension as two unrelated stories slowly converge.

Red Roots, Vol. 1 hits comic shops October 21 and bookstores November 17. For indie creators trying to break out, this is proof that doing the work, building your reputation, and taking the leap can pay off.