''Battle Chasers'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series by

Joe Madureira Joe Madureira (born December 1974), often called Joe Mad,Smith, Andrew (May 3, 2002). "Canceled Comics Cavalcade Catch-up". ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1485. p. 38 is an American comic book artist and game developer, best known for his work on ''Da ...

, launched in April 1998. It was characterized by scheduling problems, with an average of about six months between issues, including a delay of 16 months for issue #7. Madureira produced a total of nine issues in four years (publishing two to three a year), a pace for which he was criticized.Andrew Smith. "Canceled Comics Cavalcade Catch-up"; ''

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The public ...

'' #1485; May 3, 2002; Page 38 Originally published by

WildStorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wilds ...

under its

Cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

imprint (founded by Madureira with

J. Scott Campbell Jeffery Scott Campbell (born April 12, 1973) is an American comic book artist. He was initially known professionally as Jeffery Scott, but is best known as J. Scott Campbell. He rose to fame as an artist for Wildstorm Comics, though he has since ...

and

Humberto Ramos Humberto Ramos (born 27 November 1970) is a Mexican comic book penciller, best known for his work on American comic books such as ''Impulse'', '' Runaways'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'', ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and his creator-owned series ...

), the series moved to

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

in 2001. The last issue, #9, was published in August 2001 and had a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

ending that was never concluded, as #10 (scheduled for November 2001) was not released for over 20 years; Joe Madureira left the comic industry to pursue a career as a

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

. In February 2023, Image Comics announced a planned release of issue #10, scheduled for June of that year.

Publication history

''Battle Chasers'' was one of the initial three comic book series published under the

label, which Madureira founded with fellow artists

(''

Danger Girl ''Danger Girl'' is an American comic book series created by J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell that started in March 1998 and is still published as a new series. The comic stars an eponymous group of three sexy female secret agents—Abbey Chas ...

'') and

(''

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, ''Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colo ...

'') for

Jim Lee Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey ...

imprint,

. When, effective in 1999, Wildstorm was sold to

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, the Cliffhanger titles moved along, and issues 5 through 8 of ''Battle Chasers'' were published by DC, until Madureira left the publisher, and released ''Battle Chasers'' #9 through Image Comics. Madureira canceled ''Battle Chasers'' #10, and placed the series "on hold" after forming a game development company called Tri-Lunar with Tim Donley and Greg Peterson. When it was announced in August 2005 that Madureira would return to the comic industry, working on a then-unspecified project with

Jeph Loeb Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III () is an American film and television writer, producer and comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series '' Smallville'' and ''Lost'', writer for the films ''Commando'' and ''Teen Wolf'', and a writer and ...

for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

(which was later revealed to be ''

The Ultimates 3 ''The Ultimates 3'' was a five-issue, monthly comic book miniseries published in 2008 by Marvel Comics in the Ultimate Marvel imprint. Written by Jeph Loeb, and illustrated by Joe Madureira, it is a sequel to ''The Ultimates'' and ''The Ultimates 2 ...

''), he also stated that a conclusion to ''Battle Chasers'' is "one of those things that I think about every once in a while, and not having finished it bums me out… I would love to do it at some point, but it would be very far out." Joe Madureira said that he planned to release issue #10, starting directly where issue #9 ended, and two more issues as part of a 3-part story arc some time after the release of '' Battle Chasers: Nightwar'' in October 2017. After several years of further delays, he posted unlettered preview pages to Twitter in March 2021. Nearly two more years passed before, at the end of February 2023, Image Comics announced a planned release date for June of 2023, featuring a new story arc and art by Lullabi.

Overview

The story takes place in an "arcanepunk" setting. The story stars five main characters, including a ten-year-old girl named Gully, whose father mysteriously vanishes, leaving behind a pair of magical gloves. A rogue named Red Monika tries to enlist Garrison, a swordsman haunted by the death of his wife, to assist in freeing a prisoner, which Garrison turns down. Red Monika accidentally releases four extremely powerful villains during the breakout. Garrison overcomes his grief and joins Gully, the wizard Knolan, and the towering war golem Calibretto to stop the villains' rampage.

Characters

;Garrison :At the beginning of the series, Garrison is drunk in despair with the passing of his wife. He is a legendary swordsman and owns a powerful magical sword. Trained in swordplay by Red Monika and mentored by Aramus. From Joe's original concept sketches of the characters, Garrison's sword was able to open similar to the Thundercats' Sword of Omens. ;Gully :Gully is a ten-year-old girl whose father, Aramus, mysteriously vanishes leaving a powerful set of magical gloves behind. Through the series she shares a friendship with Calibretto and Knolan while searching for her father. ;Calibretto :An outlawed war golem with a very gentle personality. The last of his kind after all previous war golems were ordered to be destroyed. His arms can fire projectiles. ;Knolan :A powerful wizard, approximately five hundred years old, who takes Gully under his wing. His companion is Calibretto, a war golem. ;Red Monika :A voluptuous

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

who originally trained Garrison, and has an apparent history with him. Joe's concept sketch notes refer to her as "sort of the

Jessica Rabbit Jessica Rabbit is a fictional character in the novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' and its film adaptation, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. She is depicted as Roger's human toon wife in various Roger Rabbit media. Jessica is renowned as one of the ...

of the ''Battle Chasers'' world".

Reception

Although issue 10 of Battle Chasers was not released, it was 14th in the Top 300 comics list with an estimated pre-order of 60,860.

Film adaptation

In March 2003,

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

optioned feature rights to the fantasy comic book series with Gil Netter attached to produce.

Stuart Hazeldine Stuart Hazeldine (born 10 June 1971 in Surrey, England) is a British screenwriter, film producer and director. He is best known for his 2009 psychological thriller ''Exam'', for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Deb ...

was considered to adapt the screenplay.

Issues

Core issues

* ''Battle Chasers Prelude'' (1998, Image Comics/Wildstorm) * Story in ''Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated'' #2 (1998, Quantum Cat Entertainment) * ''Battle Chasers'' #1–4 (1998, Image Comics/Wildstorm) * ''Battle Chasers'' #5–8 (1999–2001, DC Comics/Wildstorm) * ''Battle Chasers'' #9 (2001, Image Comics)

Reprints

* ''Battle Chasers: Collected Edition'' #1 (reprints ''Battle Chasers'' #1–2) * ''Battle Chasers: Collected Edition'' #2 (reprints ''Battle Chasers'' #3–4) * ''Battle Chasers: A Gathering of Heroes'' (; reprints ''Battle Chasers'' #1–5, the ''Prelude'' and the story from ''Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated'' #2) * ''Battle Chasers Anthology HC'' (reprints #0-9; and a few sketches and pages of the unprinted issues 10) release April 26, 2011.

''Battle Chasers: Nightwar''

On September 9, 2015, Madureira started a 30-day

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign for a turn-based role-playing game called ''Battle Chasers: Nightwar'' that serves as a continuation and jumping-on point of the original comic book series. The game is being developed by Airship Syndicate and published by

THQ Nordic THQ Nordic GmbH (formerly Nordic Games GmbH) is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary of Embracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were re ...

. Madureira will be the CEO and Creative Director along with Ryan Stefanelli as President and Lead Designer; Steve Madureira as Animation Director; Christopher Brooks as Technical Director and Jesse Carpenter as Environment Lead. 2D animation scenes in the game will be developed by Powerhouse Animation Studios. ''Nightwar'' is currently planned for release on PC and Mac, both on Steam and DRM-free on GoG, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions were eventually added as core goals. It was also confirmed for the Nintendo Switch in a Nintendo Direct in April 2017. In addition to this, new issues of the ''Battle Chasers'' comic book will be published and released digitally with pledges starting at $90 and higher. Calibretto also had been announced as a playable character in the game '' Indivisible'' before the dissolution of developer Lab Zero Games.

References

{{Reflist 1998 comics debuts Image Comics titles Fantasy comics Steampunk comics Unfinished comics