Jonathan Hickman, the architect of the new Ultimate Universe, is returning to the mainstream Marvel Universe with a transformative new four-issue event series titled Imperial, which Marvel promises will "revolutionize Marvel's galactic canon" and "lays the foundation for an entire new landscape of interconnected space-set stories."
Hickman is joined by artists Federico Vicenti and Iban Coello on Imperial. The limited series throws the wider galactic societies of the Marvel Universe into disarray as several important leaders from different empires are eliminated.
The resulting chaos will loop in numerous characters including the Hulks, namely Bruce Banner, Jennifer Walters, and Skaar, who will all don Planet Hulk style armor for Imperial as seen both in Marco Checchetto's main cover for Imperial #1 as well as Iban Coello's design sheet for the Hulks, which also includes a few panels from Imperial #1.
Also present in the story will be the Black Panther, the Nova Corps, including Richard Rider whose helmet is seen on Coello's main cover and whose new design is seen in a second design sheet. That sheet also shows off new looks for Star-Lord of the Guardians of the Galaxy and his father (in comics continuity anyway), J'Son of Spartax.
Here's a gallery with the cover and both design sheets:
"I'm very excited about this project as I’m obviously a huge fan of all things Marvel Cosmic," says Hickman in a statement. "The goal here is to kind of do what we did with the recent Ultimate line for all of our space titles, except having the setup book (IMPERIAL) be more of an event than a world building exercise (like Ultimate Invasion). The art team is killing it and we're all just very excited for what's happening in this special corner of the Marvel Universe."
Imperial #1 goes on sale June 4.
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