By Chuck Suffel
I was privileged to (virtually) attend an IDW Press Event today where Chris Ryall (Chief Creative Officer and Editor-in-Chief @ IDW) and Bobby Curnow (long time Editor @ IDW) announced their second mega ultra huge crossover event!
INFESTATION 2!
Spanning four months and totaling thirteen issues (though I only count 12, hmm), it’s bigger than last time it’s freakier than last time, it’s Elder Gods! Yes ladies and gentleman the Lovecraftian terrors are coming to the IDW universe! And they’ll be attacking some of your favorite worlds. After the events of Infestation 1 the barriers between realities have been weakened allowing the Elder Gods to cross over to wreak havoc on the worlds of The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 30 Days of Night and Dungeons and Dragons! And by the way, this crossover is considered in continuity!
It all begins with Infestation 2 #1 in January (1/25/12) written by Duane Swierczynski and drawn by David Messina. Duane is the story architect for this event, it was his job to take all the disparate universes and come up with a way for this invasion to work. He places the CVO (Covert Vampire Operations) team first in line to take on the Lovecraftian threat but they’re in way over there heads. Expect one hell of a cliff hanger in issue 1.
Alternating weekly with Transformers #1 and #2 we have Infestation 2: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Eberron #1 (2/8/12) & #2 (2/22/12). Written by Paul Crilley (who has written several Eberron books) with art from Valerio Schiti, cover by Menton Matthews. Introducing for the first time in comics The Eberron Campaign! According to the Eberron wiki: “Eberron combines a fantasy tone with pulp and dark adventure elements, and some non-traditional fantasy technologies such as trains, skyships, and mechanical beings which are all powered by magic.” and it’s that magic aspect that they want to capitalize on for this story as Bobby Curnow said “less swords and more sorcery and black magic that ties in very well with Lovecraft”.
In the midst of all this maddening horror we have Infestation – Team Up (2/29/12) written by Chris Ryall, art by Alan Robinson and cover by Eric Powell. Featuring Archie (Groom Lake) and Batboy (Weekly World News) this is the breather book, our two characters hang out and poke fun at “Event” comics.
March begins with Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (3/7/12) & #2 (3/21/12) TMNT fan favorite Tristan Jones writer & Mark Torres art, cover Livio Ramondelli. Taking place in the sewers of NYC (of course) we’re promised a dark and creepy tale of disappearing Con Ed workers and weird creature sightings in the deep dark tunnels, deeper than the Turtles have gone before.
Also in March Infestation 2: G.I. JOE #1 (3/14/12) & #2 (3/28/11) written by Mike Raicht (Stuff of Legend), art by Valentine De Landro (X-Factor), cover Valentine De Landro. One of the most highly anticipated chapters in the story the arc the cover alone is worth picking this one up. Cobra uncovers a hidden relic that begins driving people insane and only the previously insane can resist it’s influence. Crystal Ball, Storm Shadow and Interrogator form a team with some of the Cobra insane asylum inmates to face this threat. Will any of our favorite Joe’s be involved? We’ll have to wait and see! Bobby Curnow says “a cross between One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and your favorite horror movie”.
The second one-shot is 30 Days of Night (4/4/12) written by Duane Swierczynski with Stuart Sayger supplying the art. How will the 30 Days vampires handle something this big and mean invading their hunting grounds? Duane takes us to the North Pole to find out. I’m looking forward to a bloody epic knockdown drag out battle in this one, and I’m probably right because it’s followed by…
Infestation 2 #2 (4/11/12) also written by Duane Swierczynski and drawn by David Messina. The second bookend title, this is where it all wraps up. This is also where some cool character crossovers should popup. We all know the publishers always say after this event nothing will ever be the same. Well we were assured today that things will actually be changed by this event and some of those changes may be very surprising.
There are a couple of neat incentives in this event. Interconnected covers, every licensed book is going to have the tentacled background drawn and painted by Livio Ramondelli. Put them all side by side and all the different licensed characters (drawn by the interior artists) will be standing side by side.
Also temporary tattoos!
Ask your LCS about the Infestation 2 ashcan that should be in shops this week. It’ll have a four page preview of Infestation 2 #1 as well as a timeline of all the issues being released and info on all the series that are involved.
Please feel free to ask questions in the comments, there was so much info I know I haven’t gotten to it all!
Come see me @ http://charlessuffel.com
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