By Staff — The Image Comics April 2022 solicitations appeared on the publisher’s website last week, and in keeping with a new site tradition started this month, we have singled out some (10, specifically) of the highlights from the books due in April. You can find all our picks below, along with accompanying cover art and full solicit info for those books.

Enjoy!

Image Comics April 2022 Solicitations - The Highlights

Blood-Stained Teeth #1
WRITER / COVER A: Christian Ward
ARTIST / COVER B: Patric Reynolds
COVER C: Declan Shalvey
APRIL 27 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99
CHRISTIAN WARD, the Eisner Award-winning co-creator of ODY-C, Invisible Kingdom, and Machine Gun Wizards, returns to Image with red-hot artist PATRIC REYNOLDS (The Mask) for an all-new ONGOING SERIES—a fast-paced 100 Bullets-style crime saga with fangs!
Atticus Sloane—misanthrope, criminal, asshole, and vampire—lives in a world where blood isn’t the only thing vamps crave. And for the right price, he’ll make you a vampire too. After all, immortality isn’t cheap.
Why It’s Cool: This is such an interesting team of indiosyncratic creators, and the preview art that Image has shared (complete with colors by Heather Moore) is just fantastic, making this is a highly-anticipated new series for me. (Zack Quaintance)

The Department of Truth, Vol. 3: Free Country TP
WRITER: James Tynion IV
ARTIST: Jorge Fornes, David Romero, John J. Pearson, Tyler Boss, Elsa Charretier, Alison Sampson
COVER A: Martin Simmonds
APRIL 27 / 176 pages / FC/ M / $16.99
Six acclaimed guest artists join Eisner winner JAMES TYNION IV (Something is Killing the Children, Batman) and MARTIN SIMMONDS (Dying is Easy) to uncover the deep, tangled roots of the Department of Truth…and Lee Harvey Oswald’s rise to its top position. From the Phantom Time Hypothesis to Mothman, find out what terrible secrets are waiting in the archives.
Collects THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #6-7, 14-17
Why It’s Cool: I absolutely love The Department of Truth, naming it my no. 2 comic of 2021, and so any new trade paperback collection of the book is going to merit a solicitations highlights tag from me. (Zack Quaintance)

The Good Asian, Vol. 2 TP
WRITER: Pornsak Pichetshote
ARTIST: Alexandre Tefenkgi, Lee Loughridge
COVER A: Dave Johnson
MAY 04 / 176 pages / FC/ M / $17.99
The conclusion to the year’s most critically acclaimed new series is here!
Self-loathing Chinese-American detective Edison Hark uncovers the secrets behind the murders terrorizing 1936 Chinatown and their link to his family—but exposing the truth may mean toppling everything he holds dear. Writer PORNSAK PICHETSHOTE (INFIDEL) and artist ALEXANDRE TEFENKGI (OUTPOST ZERO) wrap up their Chinatown noir starring the first generation of Americans to come of age under an immigration ban…the Chinese.
Collects covers by DAVID CHOE, AFU CHAN, NIMIT MALAVIA, DAVE JOHNSON, and more, plus bonus material.
Why It’s Cool: This is another series that I absolutely love, as it is quite possibly the best noir done in comics in recent years, or at least the most strinkingly singular. There is a ton to like about this book, but to me what stands out most are the characters and the level of historical research that have gone into this. (Zack Quaintance)

Grip of the Kombinat OGN TP
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A: Damon Gentry, Simon Roy
JUNE 08 / 192 pages / BW/ M / $16.99
Two megacorporations wage an eternal tug-of-war for the ruins of our future solar system. Pulpy sci-fi adventure, escalating unintended consequences, wry satire, and pure goofery combine in seven potent chapters of comics entertainment to make GRIP OF THE KOMBINAT, an unholy lovechild of Verhoeven and Asimov.
An original graphic novel from the deranged minds of comics wündérkìñdêr SIMON ROY (PROPHET, HABITAT, FIRST KNIFE) & DAMON GENTRY (Sabertooth Swordsman, Vinegar Teeth).
Why It’s Cool: This forthcoming graphic novel combines three things I like a lot — this creative team, a pulp-oriented comic storytelling sensibility, and a decision to go straight to graphic novel rather than release the story in periodicals. Great stuff. (Zack Quaintance)

Ice Cream Man #29
WRITER: W. Maxwell Prince
ARTIST / COVER A: Martín Morazzo
COVER B: Welder Wings
APRIL 20 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99
“LIVING WILL”
Presenting, for no one, the last will and testament of W.M. Parsons.
Why It’s Cool: Ice Cream Man absolutely rules, so one of the highlights for me with these Image Comics April 2022 solicitations is seeing the book return from hiatus. And it’s returning with a cover and a solicit description that hints at the book going full meta, which is somehow not something that I can recall it doing (at least not entirely) during its long and excellent-surprising run. Guessing the W.M. Parsons mentioned in the preview text for this issue might — just might — be a connection to the book’s actual writer, with the exact same initials and a name that sounds similarly in cadence. Hmmmmm. (Zack Quaintance)

Primordial HC
WRITER: Jeff Lemire
ARTIST: Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart
COVER A: Andrea Sorrentino
MAY 18 / 160 pages / FC/ M / $24.99
Mind-bending sci-fi and Cold War thriller collide in this 6-issue series by the bestselling, Eisner-winning creative team behind GIDEON FALLS! In 1957, the USSR made history by launching a dog named Laika into Earth’s orbit. Two years later, the USA responded with two monkeys, Able and Baker. These animals never returned. But unbeknownst to everyone, they did not die in orbit…they were taken. And now they are coming home.
Collects PRIMORDIAL #1-6
Why It’s Cool: Andrea Sorrentino and Jeff Lemire have crafted a beautiful story about space exploration, friendship, and conspiracy. This was one of my favorite comics in 2021 and I’m excited for this prestige hardcover to go on my bookshelf! (Larry Jorash)

Saga #58 - The Cover Reveal
WRITER: Brian K. Vaughan
ARTIST / COVER A: Fiona Staples
APRIL 27 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $2.99
Friends or enemies?
Why It’s Cool: Quite frankly, I’m only putting this one on here for the cover reveal, since as I’ve detailed in my past writing about Saga, the solicit text doesn’t really tell us anything. Not really. Oh hey, and speaking of my past writing about Saga, you can check out links to some of it below:
>The Saga Re-Read Project
>Why Saga #54 hurts so bad
>Three Ways To Read Saga In Print
I should also note that I like this cover because it suggests that Prince Robot’s kid might be joining some kind of galactic punk or new wave or whatever the Saga universe angsty equivalent is…band. Which is cool.
(Zack Quaintance)

Step By Step #3 (of 4), getting a McKelvie Variant
WRITER: Si Spurrier
ARTIST: Matheus Lopes, Matias Bergara
COVER A: Matias Bergara
COVER B: Jamie McKelvie
APRIL 27 / 48 pages / FC/ T+ / $4.99
At the heart of the civilization, a city. At the heart of the city, a dance.
At the heart of the dance, a girl…and a king. And in the heart of the king?
Only the insatiable hunger for more. More. More, at any cost.
Why It’s Cool: Getting a McKelvie variant is always cool…but match it with a book like this? Now you’re talking. Unfortunately, that variant is not our and around yet, so as you’ll notice, there is not accompanying image with this. We just know it’ll be good.

What’s The Furthest Place From Here #6
WRITER: Matthew Rosenberg
ARTIST / COVER A: Tyler Boss
COVER B: Christian Ward
COVER C: Josh Hood
COVER D: Courtney Menard
APRIL 13 / 32 pages / FC/ T+ / $3.99
THE IMPLOSIVE END TO THE FIRST ARC!
Prufrock chases a ghost, Oberon fights for his life, and Alabama’s deal to save her family collapses before her eyes. It’s the end of the road for the Academy as they know it, but they are going down swinging in this shocking conclusion to the first arc. After this, nothing will ever be the same ever again.
Why It’s Cool: Really excited to once again pull out my headphones, find some music that makes me feel nostalgic, and rock out reading the finale to What’s the Furthest Place From Here’s first arc finale. While this book deals in dark themes, it never fails to make me smile. Music, gangs, politics, and love. (Larry Jorash)

Finally…not a highlight but warrants saying…