For the first time ever, the eagerly-anticipated Image Expo—a showcase for exciting new projects and creators as they join the Image Comics team—went on-location to San Diego and kicked off San Diego Comic Con International’s preview night with a slew of exciting announcements.

 Twelve announcements were made, including: Rick Remender and Sean Gordon Murphy’s TOKYO GHOST; Marian Churchland, Claire Gibson, and Sloane Leong’s FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS; JoeCasey and Paul Maybury’sVALHALLA MAD; John Arcudi and James Harren’s RUMBLE; Ray Fawkes’INTERSECT; Tom Neely and Keenan Marshall Keller’s THE HUMANS; Gabriel Hardman’s KINSKI and Hardman and Corinna Bechko’s INVISIBLE REPUBLIC; Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger’s SOUTHERN CROSS; Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s DESCENDER; Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein’s DRIFTER; Kurt Busiek and Ben Dewey’s TOOTH AND CLAW; and Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s INJECTION.

Rick Remender and Sean Gordon Murphy’s TOKYO GHOST: TOKYO GHOST welcomes readers to the isles of New Los Angeles, 2189. Humanity has become nothing more than a sea of consumers, ravenous and starving wolves, sick from toxic contamination, who have to borrow, beg, and steal for the funds to buy, buy, buy their next digital fix. Getting a thrill, a distraction from reality, is the only thing left to live for. Entertainment is the biggest industry, the drug everyone needs, and gangsters run it all. And who do these gangsters turn to when they need the "law" enforced? Led Dent and Debbie Decay, constables of the law, which is a nice way to say “brutal killing machines." The duo are about to be presented with an assignment that will force them out of the decay of LA and into the mysterious lost nation of Tokyo.

Marian Churchland, Claire Gibson, and Sloane Leong’s FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS: Set in the isolated country of Akhara, rival houses face off in the struggle for political power and military security in FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS. Three unlikely figures—a lord's daughter, a disgraced knight, and a runaway thief—will change the fate of their world, but the only hope of peace may lie with the mystery shrouded goblins and witches, and the ancient powers they command.

Joe Casey and Paul Maybury’s VALHALLA MAD: VALHALLA MAD introduces a set of brand new characters: the Glorious Knox, Greghorn the Battlebjorn and Jhago the Irritator. The series depicts this particular trio of fun-loving gods' return to Earth—Manhattan, specifically—to drink and party and revel in their resplendent godhood after many decades of being away. Needless to say, they find a very different world than the one they last visited.

John Arcudi and James Harren’s RUMBLE: RUMBLE is a strange book, that’s for sure—like a scarecrow-Conan fighting in a Louis C.K. TV show directed by David Fincher—with a supporting cast of odd characters, many of whom aren’t even human.

Ray Fawkes’ INTERSECT: Bodies shift and merge, warring with themselves. Blood rains from the skies. A child’s song is translated into toxic, thought-destroying whispers. Everything is changing. Everything is wrong. This is the world of INTERSECT.

Gabriel Hardman’s KINSKI and Hardman and Corinna Bechko’s INVISIBLE REPUBLIC: KINSKI, previously a digital-only collection, both written and drawn by Hardman, promises to be a quirky crime thriller about Joe, a down-on-his-luck salesman who finds a cute puppy. The thing is, this puppy already has a home. What starts as a simple rescue mission from neglectful owners quickly escalates into a righteous crusade. Hardman announced a second project to be executed with frequent collaborator Bechko (HEATHENTOWN, Savage Hulk, Star Wars: Legacy). Described as a gritty sci-fi series, INVISIBLE REPUBLIC explores the secret history of one man's rise to power after an unspeakable act of violence elevates him to folk-hero status on a war-torn planet seeking independence.

Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger’s SOUTHERN CROSS: Now boarding: SOUTHERN CROSS, tanker flight 73 to Titan. Alex Braith is on board retracing her sister’s steps to the refinery moon, hoping to collect her remains and find some answers. The questions keep coming though--How did her sister die? Where did her cabin mate disappear to? Who is that creep across the hall? And why does she always feel like she’s being watched?

Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s DESCENDER: DESCENDER will explore one young robot’s struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet.

Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein’s DRIFTER: Mankind’s colonization of the galaxy has left countless planets mined bare and lifeless in DRIFTER. A space transport crashes onto a backwater world whose unique properties set the stage for a story that combines the dark wonder of a strange and alien landscape with the struggles of an abandoned and lawless frontier town.

Kurt Busiek and Ben Dewey’s TOOTH AND CLAW: In TOOTH AND CLAW, a secret conclave of wizards brings a legendary champion back through time to save the world, with disastrous consequences. Swords, sorcery, animal-wizards, gods, empires, golems of radioactive decay, crystalline badlands, con women, ancient armories, young love, mystery, blood and death and treachery and destiny...TOOTH AND CLAW is an epic story you won’t want to miss out on.

Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s INJECTION: INJECTION explores how loud and strange the world is becoming, and the sense that it's all bubbling into chaos—a chaos poised to become the Next New Normal—and that we did this to ourselves without thinking for a second about how we were ever going to live inside it.

Image Comics announces Expo will kick-off San Diego Comic-Con festivities

For the first time ever, the highly-anticipated Image Expo, a showcase for one of the biggest publishers in the industry, will go on location this summer in San Diego, Wednesday July 23, preceding San Diego Comic Con International. Image Expo will commence at 2 p.m. PDT at the Hilton Bayfront. Image Comics will be inviting members of the press and comics retailers to attend with complimentary passes to the event.

A limited number of complimentary tickets will be available for fans who are attending the San Diego Comic-Con, as well. Details regarding ticket availability will be forthcoming, and announcements and updates can be found at imagecomics.com. 

This Image Expo will feature very special surprise guest creators and even more exciting Image Comics announcements, revealed exclusively to attendees at the event. 

“In the spirit of trying new things, we’re pleased to be partnering with CCI to bring Image Expo to San Diego this July,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “We want to get our message out to as many members of the comics community—and connect with Image fans outside of our San Francisco Bay Area home—and felt that taking Expo on the road would be a fun way to do that.” 

Following Image Expo, fans will be urged to visit the Image Comics booth (#2729) during SDCC Preview Night for exclusive Image Expo releases and creator signings. In addition, further details on the announcements made at Image Expo will be revealed over the course of the weekend as part of Image Comics’ panel programming. 

This marks the third Image Expo hosted by Image Comics, and the first time it will be held outside of the Bay Area. Previously, Image Expo has been held at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco and featured over 20 industry-rocking, unprecedented announcements such as a five-year deal between Image Comics and Noir Masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips that will begin with the launch of the epic ongoing series THE FADE OUT on 8/20.

Also announced at the previous Image Expo in January 2014:

Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro announced the forthcoming campy, kick-ass adventure BITCH PLANET. 

Scott Snyder and Jock revealed the creepy, paranormal reimagining WYTCHES. 

Matt Fraction, Fábio Moon, and Gabriel Bá will come together to bring fan favorite CASANOVA back. 

Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham teased NAMELESS. 

Brandon Graham announced a science-fiction miniseries to be drawn by Xurxo Penalta, 8HOUSE: KIEM, an anything-goes science fiction tale in a new interconnected universe.

Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini promised another exciting high adventure science fiction series in LOW. 

Joshua Williamson and Mike Henderson turned the audience’s collective stomachs (in a good way) when revealing the Hannibal Lector-esque serial killer series NAILBITER. 

Bill Willingham and Barry Kitson will bring the magic and gods of legend to life in RESTORATION. 

Joe Keatinge announced he would team up with Leila del Duca for the Indiana-Jones-style fantasy adventure in SHUTTER and then with Khary Randolph for the digital series TECH JACKET. 

Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie teased THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, a new series where gods are worshipped as the ultimate popstars. 

Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel, and Rod Reis teased C.O.W.L., a new Mad-Men-esque story about a superhero labor union. 

The new series from Rick Remender & Greg Tocchini

Image Comics is pleased to reveal early artwork from Rick Remender (BLACK SCIENCE, DEADLY CLASS) and Greg Tocchini's (Last Days of American Crime, Uncanny X-Force) new series, LOW, to whet the comics industry's appetite. The forthcoming science-fiction fantasy series was announced at Image Expo in January and sparked a buzz of early interest. The official release date for LOW #1 has been set for July 30.

Frequent collaborators Remender and Tocchini dive into an aquatic, sci-fi fantasy, following two teams, from the last remaining cities undersea, as they race to the most unexpected alien world of all—the surface of Earth. 

LOW #1 will be available on July 30th for $3.99, but you can pre-order order it now with Diamond Code: MAY140566.