Broken Frontier

A new chapter begins this November for Image's latest hit, SMALL GODS, as the critically acclaimed series begins its second story arc with "Dead Man's Hand," in SMALL GODS #5.

And for those who haven't been able to track down the sold out early issues, a trade paperback collecting the first arc, "Killing Grin," is due in January.

"Our sell-through has been very gratifying," says series creator and writer Jason Rand. "The first three issues are sold out (although some shops may still have copies). In fact, the third issue nearly sold out before it hit the shelves, and the initial orders on #4 were similar enough that I'd be very surprised if the trend doesn't continue there. It's very pleasing, but it makes it tough for people just hearing about SMALL GODS now to get on board. So having the trade out fairly quickly is good. And we're pricing it to attract new readers, as well."

SMALL GODS: KILLING GRIN is 128 pages, and will retail for just $9.95.

SMALL GODS tells the story of an Earth on which an estimated 1% of the world's population possesses psychic abilities. The book follows the experiences of a variety of cops and criminals, as well as "regular" people, who try to live "normal" lives in a not-quite so normal world.

The new storyline, "Dead Man's Hand," revolves around Bobby Pope, a petty con man and l ow-level empath and telepath. Bobby's abilities let him both sense what people are feeling and see what's in their minds, in essence allowing him to build up a mental picture of what they're going to do in the next few seconds.

"Just like Owen Young in the first arc, it's these very abilities that get Bobby into trouble," says series creator and scribe, Jason Rand. "Seeing the future is a common ability in SMALL GODS - but the abilities of precogs like Owen are entirely unconscious. Being able to predict the future on demand, even if it's only a few seconds in advance, can be very useful to some people."

In Bobby's case, those people are a group of crooked narcotics officers, led by Theodore Irvine, a character who made a cameo appearance in the first arc of SMALL GODS.

"I like doing that, putting little links between the different arcs," says Rand. "In fact, the plan is that every story will feature at least one character from the next arc, usually in a minor role. The idea is to build the sense of SMALL GODS as a unified world. It's not essential for the readers to get each story in order to understand what's going on in the others, but those who do will be able to see that world take shape."

While "Killing Grin" is as much a character drama as a cop story, "Dead Man's Hand" promises much more action.

"The second arc has a lot in common with action and chase movies," says Rand. "It's still got the deep characterization that I think is important in any story and that really seemed to strike a chord with the readers in the first arc.but there's plenty of action for people who like that kind of thing, and at a pretty frenetic pace, too. Shootouts, car chases, martial arts mayhem - about the only thing we don't have is a full-scale military assault. Guess you'll have to wait for the third arc for that."

SMALL GODS #5 is in stores November 24th.

SMALL GODS: KILLING GRIN is solicited in the November PREVIEWS and will go on sale January 19.

Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently four partners in Image Comics (Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into three major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today.

Visit www.imagecomics.com for more information.