Little Bird creators Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram will reunite at Image on The Karman Blade, a dark, four-issue fantasy series this fall. Created with colorist Matt Hollingsworth, letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and designer Ben Didier, the comic follows a young man on a desert world, who is chosen by the titular sword to slay the god hoarding the planet’s water. “Yet before the boy can begin his journey, he must first face his demons, and answer the Karman Blade’s call: ‘Are thou he, who taketh me in hand? Are thou he, who shall slay a God?'”
Van Poelgeest comments, “Yes, The Karman Blade is a dark fantasy with an all-powerful sword, and a giant wolf, and dueling deities, and all those beautiful things. But what makes it so special is that it’s been made with a kind of experimentation that comes from pushing and pulling at the medium we love. We are committed to the idea of making something that requires collaboration from the readers as much as from ourselves, and that’s what we’ve done. The Karman Blade is for everyone who loves the questions as much as the answers; the weirdos, and the poets—for those brave enough to embark on a quest of their own!”
Bertram adds, “The Karman Blade is a feral work. It’s something Darcy and I made in a swamp of beautiful and festering creativity. Now it emerges, tall, and rough, and wide eyed. Glistening and set to purpose. It’s a work of passion and obsession and I can’t wait to finally set it free and share it with everyone!” The pair first worked together on Little Bird in 2019, and then on the prequel Precious Metal in 2024.
Issue #1 will be released on September 9, with two different covers featuring Bertram’s art, and you can check out a five-page preview below. Van Poelgeest and Erin Connally‘s new graphic novel, The Cutting Garden, will be released by Image beforehand on September 2, and the writer’s relaunch of DC’s Doom Patrol with Niko Henrichon will also launch on the same day.
