Fatale | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Image Comics |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Limited series |
Genre | |
Publication date | January 2012 – July 2014 |
No. of issues | 24 |
Creative team | |
Created by | Ed Brubaker Sean Phillips |
Written by | Ed Brubaker |
Artist(s) | Sean Phillips |
Colorist(s) | David Stewart |
Fatale is a supernatural noir comic book created by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. It was published by Image Comics between January 2012 and July 2014. The series was initially announced as a 12-issue limited series, but was later extended to 24 issues.
The series was originally announced in the back of the final issue of Brubaker and Phillips' previous collaboration, Criminal: Last of the Innocent . [1] Further details about the series, including its publisher, were revealed at the 2011 New York Comic Con. [2] Brubaker also released a video teaser for the series. [3]
The series began publishing monthly in January 2012. Although initially billed as a twelve-issue series, the length was increased in November. [4] The series concluded after 24 issues. [5]
Several issues featured essays written by Jess Nevins and others on the crime/noir characters, both fictional and real. These were:
Fatale chronicles the life of Josephine, or "Jo", an archetypal femme fatale who is seemingly immortal, having survived from the 1930s to the modern day unaged, and also has a supernatural ability to hypnotize men into becoming intensely infatuated with her, whether she wants them to be or not.
Through the decades, Jo struggles to understand and control her powers while being pursued by a violent cult. The cult worships cosmic gods reminiscent of Lovecraftian horrors, which are somehow tied to Jo.
During her travels, Jo also encounters many men who quickly become entranced by her, often to fanatical degrees. They become entangled in her escapades, possibly as guardians, collaborators, and lovers. A motif of the series is how these men pay dearly for becoming involved with Jo.
The narrative jumps back and forth between different time periods and points of view, primarily Jo and the men entranced by her. The majority of the action in the first story arc takes place in the 1950s, the second in the 1970s, the third during the 1930s and World War II, while the fourth arc is set in the 1990s.
A couple of issues featured stand-alone stories focused on "fatales" before Jo. Issue #12 tells the story of Mathilda in 13th century France, while Issue #13 tells the story of "Black" Bonnie in the Wild West. Aside from her powers, both women also shared striking physical similarities with Jo and found themselves pursued by the same cult.
Title | Material collected | Published date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|
Fatale Vol. 1: Death Chases Me | Fatale #1-5 | June 2012 | 978-1607065630 |
Fatale Vol. 2: The Devil's Business | Fatale #6-10 | January 2013 | 978-1607066187 |
Fatale Vol. 3: West of Hell | Fatale #11-14 | July 2013 | 978-1607067436 |
Fatale Vol. 4: Pray For Rain | Fatale #15-19 | February 2014 | 978-1607068358 |
Fatale Vol. 5: Curse the Demon | Fatale #20-24 | October 2014 | 978-1632150073 |
Fatale Deluxe Edition Volume 1 | Fatale #1-10 | March 2014 | 978-1607069423 |
Fatale Deluxe Edition Volume 2 | Fatale #11-24 | November 2015 | 978-1632155030 |
The first issue sold well enough to return to press four times. [6] Reviews for the series were mostly positive with comparisons to the creative team's previous work on Sleeper , Criminal , and Incognito . [7] [8] [9]
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips received multiple Eisner Awards nominations for Fatale in 2013: "Best Continuing Series" (Brubaker and Phillips), "Best New Series" (Brubaker and Phillips), "Best Writer" (Brubaker), "Best Penciller/Inker" (Phillips), and "Best Cover Artist" (Phillips). [10]
David Stewart received a 2013 Eisner award for "Best Coloring". [11]
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LoEG) is a multi-genre, cross over comic book series co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The comic book spans four volumes, an original graphic novel, and a spin-off trilogy of graphic novella. Volume I and Volume II and the graphic novel Black Dossier were published by the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. After leaving the America's Best imprint, the series moved to Top Shelf and Knockabout Comics, which published Volume III: Century, the Nemo Trilogy, and Volume IV: The Tempest. According to Moore, the concept behind the series was initially a "Justice League of Victorian England" but he quickly developed it as an opportunity to merge elements from numerous works of fiction into one world, in a matter akin to the shared fictional universes of Marvel and DC Comics.
Richard Corben was an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine, especially the Den series which was featured in the magazine's first film adaptation in 1981. He was the winner of the 2009 Spectrum Grand Master Award and the 2018 Grand Prix at Angoulême. In 2012 he was elected to the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.
Grant Morrison MBE is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for the American comic book publisher DC Comics, penning lengthy runs on Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, Action Comics, and The Green Lantern as well as the graphic novels Arkham Asylum, JLA: Earth 2, and Wonder Woman: Earth One, the meta-series Seven Soldiers and The Multiversity, the mini-series DC One Million and Final Crisis, both of which served as centrepieces for the eponymous company-wide crossover storylines, and the maxi-series All-Star Superman. Morrison's best known DC work is the seven-year Batman storyline which started in the Batman ongoing series and continued through Final Crisis, Batman and Robin, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and two volumes of Batman Incorporated. They also co-created the DC character Damian Wayne.
Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and artist.
Ed Brubaker is an American comic book writer, cartoonist and screenwriter who works primarily in the crime fiction genre. He began his career with the semi-autobiographical series Lowlife and a number of serials in the Dark Horse Presents anthology, before achieving industry-wide acclaim with the Vertigo series Scene of the Crime and moving to the superhero comics such as Batman, Catwoman, The Authority, Captain America, Daredevil and Uncanny X-Men. Brubaker is best known for his long-standing collaboration with British artist Sean Phillips, starting with their Elseworlds one-shot Batman: Gotham Noir in 2001 and continuing with a number of creator-owned series such as Criminal, Incognito, Fatale, The Fade Out and Kill or Be Killed.
Gregory Rucka is an American writer known for the series of novels starring his character Atticus Kodiak, the creator-owned comic book series Whiteout, Queen & Country, Stumptown and Lazarus, as well as lengthy runs on such titles as Detective Comics, Wonder Woman and Gotham Central for DC Comics, and Elektra, Wolverine and The Punisher for Marvel. He has written a substantial amount of supplemental material for a number of DC Comics' line-wide and inter-title crossovers, including "No Man's Land", "Infinite Crisis" and "New Krypton".
Vincent Patrick Deighan, better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as New X-Men, We3, All-Star Superman, and Batman and Robin, as well as his work with Mark Millar on The Authority and Jupiter's Legacy.
Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist, best known for his collaborations with Ed Brubaker on comics including Sleeper, Incognito, the Criminal series of comics, Fatale, The Fade Out, and Kill or Be Killed.
Manhunter is the name given to several different fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. They are depicted as superheroes and antiheroes.
The Black Terror is a fictional comic book superhero who originally appeared in Exciting Comics #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. The character was popular, and on the strength of the Black Terror's sales, Nedor made Exciting Comics a monthly magazine starting with issue #11.
Matt Fritchman, better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, FF, The Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, and Hawkeye for Marvel Comics; Casanova and Sex Criminals for Image Comics; and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen for DC Comics.
Criminal is a creator-owned comic book series written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sean Phillips. It was originally published by Marvel Comics' Icon imprint and later by Image Comics.
Incognito is a six-issue comic book limited series written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips. It was originally published by the Icon Comics imprint of Marvel Comics.
Erica Schultz is an American comic book writer, letterer, and editor. She is best known for writing the 2018 Daredevil Annual for comic book publisher Marvel, her urban fantasy series Forgotten Home with ComiXology Originals, participation in DC Comics' first Writers Workshop, and her creator-owned crime series, M3.
Invisible Republic is an American comic book series created by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman and published through Image Comics. The first issue was released on March 18, 2015 to good reviews. Although the creators expected the story to run 30-50 issues, it has been on hiatus since the fifteenth issue was released in March 2017.
Rachel Rising is a 42-issue American comic book series created by Terry Moore and published through Abstract Studio. The first issue was released on August 3, 2011, to positive reviews. Reviewers sometimes criticized the pace later in the run, but the series won industry awards throughout its publication. Since its conclusion in 2016, members of the cast have reappeared in other works by Moore. Plans for a television adaptation were announced in April 2013, but was still in the scripting stage in 2015.
The Fade Out is a crime comics series created by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips with the help of colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser and research assistant Amy Condit. Twelve issues were published by Image Comics between August 2014 and January 2016. The story has been collected into three trade paperback volumes and a single hardcover collection.
Kill or be Killed is an American comic book series created by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips. Elizabeth Breitweiser is the colorist. The series was announced in April 2016, and the first issue was published by Image Comics on August 3, 2016. The series received mostly positive reviews from critics until its conclusion with issue 20 in June 2018.
Giant Days is a comedic comic book written by John Allison, with art by Max Sarin and Lissa Treiman. The series follows three young women – Esther de Groot, Susan Ptolemy and Daisy Wooton – who share a hall of residence at university. Originally created as a webcomic spin-off from his previous series Scary Go Round, and then self-published as a series of small press comics, Giant Days was subsequently picked up by Boom! Studios first as a six-issue miniseries and then as a monthly ongoing series. In 2016 Giant Days was nominated for two Eisner Awards and four Harvey Awards. In 2019, it won two Eisner awards, for Best Continuing Series and Best Humor Publication.