''The Iron Saint'', originally known as ''Iron and the Maiden'', is

Aspen Comics Aspen Comics (Aspen MLT Inc.) is a California entertainment company founded in 2003 by artist Michael Turner. It has locations in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey. The company is best known for producing comic books and figurines. History The co ...

' first

creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

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 ...

. It was created by

Jason Rubin Jason Rubin (born 1970) is an American video game director, writer, and comic book creator. He is best known for the ''Crash Bandicoot'' and ''Jak and Daxter'' series of games which were produced by Naughty Dog, the game development studio he c ...

, co-founder of

Naughty Dog Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.) is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001. Gav ...

, the key creative force behind ''

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

'' and ''

Jak and Daxter ''Jak and Daxter'' is an action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourc ...

''. The series was released in September, 2007. A one-shot titled ''Brutes, Bims and the City'' was released February, 2008. The trade paperback was released by

Top Cow Productions Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. History During the early years of Image Comics, which was founded in 1992, co-founder Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim L ...

in September 2010.

Creators

As well as Rubin on scripting duties, penciling is being done by ''

Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers ...

'' artist

Francis Manapul Francis Manapul (born August 26, 1979) is a Filipino Canadian comic book artist and writer. Career Manapul is known for his work on '' Witchblade'' and '' The Necromancer'' for Top Cow, working on the former for three years, off and on, returnin ...

, with backgrounds by

Joel Gomez Joel Gomez is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as WildStorm Productions' '' Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs''. Career Gomez started his career at Top Cow, working on books such as '' Witchblade'' and '' The Darkness''. A ...

. Coloring is being done by Danimation, with cover art coming from industry veteran

Jeff Matsuda Jeff Matsuda (born 1970) is an American animator and concept and comics artist who served as the chief character designer for both '' Jackie Chan Adventures'' and ''The Batman'' and is the president and creative director of X-Ray Kid Studios. Mats ...

. The character concept art was created 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 ...

, of ''

Battle Chasers ''Battle Chasers'' is an American fantasy comic book series by Joe Madureira, 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. Ma ...

'' fame, and Matsuda. Concept design work was handled by Blur Studio.

Plot

''The Iron Saint'' was originally a four-issue mini-series titled ''Iron and the Maiden''. It was followed up by a one-shot: ''Iron and the Maiden: Brutes, Bims and the City''. The series portrays an alternate-universe 1930s metropolis. "The City" is struggling to survive a three-way battle for power between The Government, the ominous religious sect known as The Order and the seedy criminal underbelly led by The Syndicate. Caught in the middle of this war for power, Michael Iron discovers firsthand the meaning of sacrifice, his only hope for survival coming in the form of a forgiving Angel and several more surprises along the way. Rubin has described it as "a cross between a '30s gangster film, ''Escape from New York'' and ''Beauty and the Beast''."

Controversy

In 2009,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

sued Rubin and Aspen Comics, citing ''Iron and the Maiden'' as an infringement of their trademark. Recent solicitations for the collected edition show that the series has been renamed ''The Iron Saint''.

References

* *

Footnotes

External links

Aspen Comics to Publish Rubin's ''Iron and the Maiden''
''

Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History ...

'', May 14, 2007
Previews and reviews of ''Iron and the Maiden'' #0#1#2
an
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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Iron Saint Aspen Comics titles Comic book limited series Top Cow titles Dieselpunk