Portland, OR – ABLAZE welcomes Spring with an enticing array of new comic and graphic novel titles set for release in March 2022. Readers are invited to dive into a new Conan adventure in THE CIMMERIAN: HOUR OF THE DRAGON, the creepy psychological tension of Maria Llovet’s PORCELAIN presented in a new hardcover edition, TALES OF THE CITY, the classic LGBTQ lit tale that debuts as a new graphic novel trade paperback adaptation, and a hardcover gritty police crime drama, GHOST 111. These are augmented with the latest issues of the bestselling ANIMAL CASTLE(Issue 4), Marvel artist Marco Checchetto’s horror sci-fi action series, LIFE ZERO (Issue 2) and THE MINECRAFT-INSPIRED MISADVENTURES OF FRIGIEL & FLUFFY(Volume 3).
All ABLAZE titles will be available in-print and digitally.
THE CIMMERIAN: HOUR OF THE DRAGON #1 by Julien Blondel and Valentin Sécher · MSRP: $3.99 ·Release Date: March 9, 2022
Robert E. Howard’s Conan is brought to life UNCENSORED! Discover the true Conan, unrestrained, violent, and sexual. Read the story as he intended!
A world to explore. A throne to be reconquered. Conan the King. The Hour of the Dragon is the only full-length Conan novel written by Robert E. Howard and is considered by many to be one of his best works. It is now adapted into a comic mini-series by two visionaries of heroic fantasy and imagination: Julien Blondel, writer of Elric, and Valentin Sécher, artist of Méta-Baron, brings forth a grandiose, bloodthirsty epic!
Under the funeral vaults of the mausoleum belonging to the ancient and cruel Emperor Xaltotun of Python, three men devoured by ambition come to offer to the inert body of the deceased sovereign the heart of Ahriman, a source of immortality which once belonged to him. Taken away at the cost of his life. In exchange for this offering, the three men claim a single thing: the world. However, there is only one person able to stand in their way, a Cimmerian who seized the throne of Aquilonia: Conan!
MARIA LLOVET’S PORCELAIN Hardcover Edition, by Maria Llovet · MSRP: $24.99 · Release Date: March 16, 2022
Beryl’s life in the desert, living with her aunt and her cat, is relatively simple…until the day she finds and enters the Dollhouse. Stuck inside an ever-changing mystery house that hunts children and turns them into dolls, Beryl goes on a psychedelic journey where she must face the notion of her own limitations and move past them…before she becomes the building’s newest prey.
PORCELAIN is a labyrinth of a psychologically thrilling experience told in a way that only acclaimed creator Maria Llovet (Faithless, Heartbeat, Loud, Eros/Psyche) can tell it. The new ABLAZE hardcover collection of PORCELAIN includes issues 1-5 of the hit series along with complete cover gallery and bonus material.
TALES OF THE CITY, by Armistead Maupin, Isabelle Bauthian and Sandrine Revel · MSRP: $19.99 ·Release Date: March 16, 2022
A classic tale of LGBTQ literature that has become a sensation. The heroes of this enchanting story have been enjoyed by millions of readers and now comes to North America. TALES OF THE CITY has been adapted for TV (BBC) and as a limited series (on Netflix) and now in graphic novel form for the first time.
San Francisco, 28 Barbary Lane, Anna Madrigal runs a boarding house. She welcomes people who have nowhere else to go: the misfits. This matriarch is known for her unending kindness and her superb marijuana crop. The novel starts with the arrival of Mary Ann Singleton, a prudish, naïve, young woman who escaped her dull Ohio hometown for San Francisco. She settles in with her other fellow tenants: Michael “Mouse,” a personable young gay man, Brian Hawkins, an incorrigible Don Juan, and Mona Ramsay, a young, hippy-ish bisexual.
GHOST 111 Hardcover, by Henri Scala, Mark Eacersall and Marion Mousse · MSRP: $24.99 · Release Date: March 16, 2022
A dizzying dive into the world of police informants. A model father but unemployed, Goran Stankovic accepts a shady job, gets arrested and has no other choice but to collaborate by becoming an informant. Stuck between thugs and the police, in a world of manipulation, Goran will have to play a perilous double game to get out of it. GoSt111 is as much a perilous thriller as a vertiginous dive into the unknown world of police informants.
A chiseled and hyper realistic dark story, brought to life by the expressive lines of Marion Mousse. Co-written by screenwriter Mark Eacersall, and Henri Scala, who was Commissioner of the French National Police for more than 20 years. GHOST 111 was the winner of France’s Angouleme 2021 Fauve Polar SNCF prize for “Best Thriller.”
Also catch these latest issues of ABLAZE continuing series.
ANIMAL CASTLE Issue 4 by Xavier Dorison and Felix Delep ·
MSRP: $3.99 · Release Date: March 23, 2022
On the Farm all animals were equal. In the Castle some are more equal than others.
The animals are more divided now than ever. Acts of defiance by the workers lead to swift and deadly reprisals from President Silvio and his crew. But Miss B. won’t be deterred from her mission to bring equality, and hopefully peace, to the animals.
LIFE ZERO, Issue 2, by writer Stefano Vietti & artist Marco Checchetto ·
MSRP: $3.99 ·Release Date: March 16,, 2022
From the artist of Marvel Comics’ Devil’s Reign & Daredevil, Marco Checchetto, comes a thrilling new adventure!
Getting Captain Shako out of a prison filled with infected inmates is difficult enough, but when the team’s extraction goes to hell, survival may not be an option. It’s kill or be killed as they scramble to find safety and establish who is in charge.
THE MINECRAFT-INSPIRED MISADVENTURES OF FRIGIEL & FLUFFY VOL 3 by Jean-Cristophe Derrien, Frigiel and Studio Minte · MSRP: $12.99 · Advance Solicit in March 2022 for April 13, 2022 Release Date
The continuing adventures of Frigiel & Fluffy, heroes to their millions of fans on YouTube! These new adventures, taken from the Minecraft universe, are co-written by Frigiel himself, and are sure to appeal to fans of all ages, and of course, Minecraft!
Featuring Frigiel, the brave sorcerer’s apprentice, ever-ready to give his all for his friends, who dreams of one day becoming a true adventurer. And his faithful canine companion Fluffy, as cuddly with his master as he is bitey with the bad guys! Vol. 3 contains two complete self-contained stories “The Lost Island” where Frigiel and his friends thirsting for adventure decide to uncover the mystery of the Farlands but end up stranded on a lost island and “The Herobrine Manor” where they must try to survive all night in a haunted mansion! Plus bonus material.
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