Image Comics has revealed Chachu, the first creator-owned comic written by Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani, who will also make her solo writing debut on the series. The five-issue series, which features art by Marianna Ignazzi (Exquisite Corpses), colors by Jordie Bellaire (Absolute Wonder Woman), and lettering by Lucas Gattoni, is a new take on the detective genre, that follows Leila, a 19-year old Pakistani Canadian girl from 1979, who embarks on a road trip with her uncle (“chachu”) after his wife goes missing.
The synopsis elaborates Leila is a young woman “with a penchant for film and pulp novels, who travels to California hoping to connect with her estranged uncle — her ‘Chachu’ — a middle-aged, semi-retired private eye once famous for marrying the starlet he was initially hired to find. But when his wife mysteriously vanishes once again, the two are forced on an impromptu road trip investigation that transforms her first taste of adulthood into a thrilling confrontation of family secrets, unresolved grief, and the fantasies both she and Chachu have built their lives around.”
Vellani, who is a Pakistani Canadian herself, states, “I’ve always been deeply curious about comics as an art form because of their capacity to hold contradiction — arguably better than any other medium. That became especially meaningful to me while writing Chachu, which grew out of this tension between mourning my youth while I still have it, and an incessant urge to come-of-age already.”
The book marks the 23-year old actress’s fifth overall comics credit, after several Ms. Marvel books written with Sabir Pirzada from 2023 to 2024. She adds, “It’s been an immense privilege to build my first original series alongside such an accomplished roster of collaborators, all of whom challenged and supported me in ways that made this book far better than anything I could’ve imagined on my own or in therapy.”
Ignazzi also shares a bit about what to expect from the art, saying, “From the very first reading of Iman’s script, I could already picture this ’70s world revealing itself through reflections in sunglasses and rearview mirrors, slowly emerging through cigarette smoke and neon lights. I tried to capture Leila and Chachu’s journey through strong blacks and a graphic style that could still feel emotional and deeply narrative. Seeing my pages come to life through Jordie’s colors has been wonderful — she brought an incredible atmosphere, warmth, and cinematic depth to every scene.”
Issue #1 will be released on August 5, with covers by Ignazzi, Matías Bergara, Jacob Phillips, and Christian Ward, along with a “stealth variant”. You can check out the revealed variant covers below in the meantime. The series ought to wrap up before Vellani’s (technically unconfirmed) return to the big screen as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel in Avengers: Doomsday, due out December 18.
