In 2014, Mark Millar’s Starlight explored the sci-fi pulp history of space adventurer Duke McQueen. However, Miller’s latest creator-owned sci-fi comic book, Empress, throws the spotlight on a very different protagonist: the queen wife of the most ruthless dictator in the galaxy.
The tyrant in question is, King Morax, whose empire is vast and whose cruelty is even greater. With the aid of her beloved bodyguard, the titular Empress will attempt to free herself and her three children (an 18-month old infant named Puck; her gentle 10-year old son, Adam; and Aine, her 15-year old daughter who would much rather stay with her father) from the clutches of her husband. Given Morax’s grip on the universe, there’s only one place for the Empress to bring her family: her home world, Earth. But Empress takes place 65 million years ago, long before any human walked the Earth. Or so we thought…
Over at The Hollywood Reporter, Miller debuted the first seven pages of Empress, co-created by Miller’s regular collaborator, Stuart Immonen. Immonen is a fan-favorite artist coming off of acclaimed runs on Marvel’s Star Wars and All-New X-Men. In this preview, Immonen shows off the scale of his Empress pages, as Morax demonstrates the depths of his contempt for anyone trapped under his control.
The rest of the pages and the cover can be seen in our gallery below. In the initial preview, Millar connected the resurgence of sci-fi in comics, especially at Marvel, with the blockbuster sales of the Star Wars ongoing series and miniseries.
“It’s interesting that this genre has tended to skew more Blade Runner and Alien, but Star Wars proves the market is so potentially enormous, especially given that those characters just came in and dwarfed the sales on all Marvel and DC’s top characters last year overnight,” said Millar while speaking to THR.
Readers of Miller’s current comic, Huck, will get a seven-page preview of Empress in the latest issue, which hits comic book stores on Wednesday, January 13. Empress will be published by Marvel’s Icon imprint later this year.
What did you think about the Empress preview? Let us know in the comment section below!
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Image Credit: Mark Millar/Stuart Immonen
