New Mutants writer Vita Ayala is teaming up with Absolute Power: Ground Zero artist Skylar Patridge for a new comic that is being dubbed a "reverse Indiana Jones" by its publisher, Image.
In The Horizon Experiment: Finders//Keepers, Puerto Rican archeology student Ines Guarua sets out to steal an artifact from a museum in order to return it to its rainforest home. "If she fails, then a curse may bring about the destruction of Puerto Rico," reads the synopsis for the one-shot. "This leads Guarua on a quest to smuggle other artifacts from museums and institutions to return them to their native cultures."
Finders//Keepers is also the final issue of Image's Horizon Experiment project, headed up by The Good Asian and Man's Best creator Pornsak Pichetshote and editor Will Dennis. This initiative is a series of five standalone one-shots, each centering on protagonists from marginalized backgrounds, and each putting a fresh spin on a genre or iconic pop culture character.
"I've always loved action-adventure stories, but the archetypal protagonist and most of the traditional setups weren't really ever going to work for people like me," said Ayala in a statement. "Working on The Horizon Experiment, I knew I found a way to open that world up to anyone who wanted a shot of being the hero! What a thrill to get to be on such an amazing team, on one of the most fun projects of my career!"
Here's a lettered preview of the issue...
"Out of all the projects announced as part of The Horizon Experiment, Finders//Keepers has generated the most anticipation, and I'm not surprised," added Pichetshote. "Nothing has made me want to come back to comics editing more than the prospect of working with Vita Ayala, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped they'd be interested in joining in. Skylar Patridge is a superstar that still manages to grow in exciting directions with every new high-profile project, so I knew their working together was going to be special. They delivered and then some."
The Horizon Experiment launched last month with The Manchurian, written by Pichetshote and drawn by Terry Dodson, which focused on a Chinese super spy. It's followed later this month by The Sacred Damned by Sabir Pirzada and Michael Walsh, and in November by werewolf horror Moon Dogs from writer Tananarive Due, artist Kelsey Ramsay, and colorist José Villarrubia. The penultimate issue of the series is Motherf*ckin' Monsters by Jason Holtham and Michael Lee Harris, and will be available in December. Each of The Horizon Experiment one-shots is intended to act as a potential pilot with the option to continue into a full series if the demand is there.
The Horizon Experiment: Finders//Keepers #1 is published by Image Comics on January 15, 2025.
Pornsak Pichetshote wrote one of our favorite comics this year, Man's Best.
