“A masterclass in rich, intricate worldbuilding that is equal parts Dune*, Claremont, and* Saga while being wholly original.” —Robert Kirkman, Invincible, The Walking Dead
“Aubrey and Jed have what it takes to bring you to a place completely new and totally refreshing." —Daniel Warren Johnson, Transformers, The Moon Is Following Us
"With notes of Warhammer 40k and Firefly*,* Free Planet is lusciously rendered, dense, political sci-fi with a lot to say." —Kieron Gillen, The Power Fantasy, The Wicked + The Divine
“Brings shades of the cosmic imagination of Jack Vance, Jack Kirby, and Samuel Delany and Howard Chaykin’s great lost Empire*.” —Jonathan Lethem,* The Fortress of Solitude
PORTLAND, Ore. 02/19/2025 — Fan-favorite writer Aubrey Sitterson (No One Left to Fight, The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling) and critically-acclaimed artist Jed Dougherty (Savage Hearts, Worlds’ Finest) will team up for an epic, all-new, sci-fi in the upcoming Free Planet. This highly-anticipated ongoing, space opera comic book series was first announced exclusively at IGN last week and will launch in May from Image Comics.
Free Planet is a story about freedom and the sacrifices it demands and is perhaps best described as a kaleidoscopic blend of the emotional space opera stylings of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga set against the intricate speculative history and political machinations of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta’s East of West.
The first completely free planet in human history has won its independence. In Free Planet, readers follow a group of revolutionary heroes who must defend the planet’s unique energy source from a pair of hostile intergalactic powers while determining what complete freedom actually entails.
« Free Planet is the shape of comics to come, Jed and my effort to elevate our craft and chosen medium with a truly literary comic, its rich complexity presented visually,” Sitterson told IGN in an exclusive scoop on the series’ announcement. “Whether its intense military action, intricate geopolitical machinations, or heart-rending soap opera, every page of Free Planet contains an overwhelming amount of visual information; we’re giving you your money’s worth, with a book meant to be read slowly, again and again. It’s a complex rumination on what everyone—no matter where they fall on the political spectrum—truly wants: Freedom. In light of this, it’s fitting that Free Planet has found a home at Image Comics, a publisher founded for the express purpose of affording comics creators the freedom to make their best, most personal works, completely unfettered. »
Dougherty added: « Aubrey and I have collaborated on several comics with fantasy and comedic tones. Free Planet is our foray into a more serious work: An internally conflicted force of revolutionaries defending their planet’s resources from the depredations of interstellar powers. In keeping with the rich, involved script, I’ve modified my artwork with grittier tonal rendering as well as experiments with page layouts and graphical elements. In the course of drawing this book, the wide cast of characters has come alive for me as they battle on land and in space, as they rebuild a society from the wreckage of revolution, and as they seek out vengeance, justice and even love. »
Free Planet #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, May 7:
- Cover A by Dougherty
- Cover B by Dougherty
- Cover C blank sketch cover
- Cover D 1:25 copy incentive by Dougherty
- Cover E 1:50 copy incentive by Fico Ossio
Free Planet #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play
Free Planet #1
(W) Aubrey Sitterson (A) Jed Dougherty
In Shops: May 07, 2025
SRP: $3.99SERIES PREMIERE The first completely free planet in human history has won its independence. Now, a group of revolutionary heroes must defend the planet’s unique energy source from a pair of hostile intergalactic powers while determining what complete freedom actually entails. AUBREY SITTERSON (No One Left to Fight, The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling) and JED DOUGHERTY (Savage Hearts, Worlds’ Finest) blend the intricate future history of EAST OF WEST with the emotional space opera stylings of SAGA in a story about freedom and the sacrifices it demands.
Free Planet #2
Arriving: June 11, 2025
Lunar Code: 0425IM338Buy
Cover price: $3.99
Caught between rival superpowers, with conflicting ideas of what freedom entails, and supplies running dangerously low, the Freedom Guard has discovered that defending liberty is even more difficult than winning it. Their newest member claims to have solutions, but is the enigmatic Jackson Crater a violent terrorist, a noble freedom fighter, or something else entirely?
Praise for FREE PLANET:
« A kind of space-politics-opera, brings shades of the cosmic imagination of Jack Vance, Jack Kirby, and Samuel Delany and Howard Chaykin’s great lost **Empire **—but with a special supercharged future-fictional-Wikipedia density of its own. » —JONATHAN LETHEM (The Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn)
« A great comic book series, a synergy of text and image possessed with a density of vision that shames most any other attempt at legitimate space opera in comics. » —HOWARD CHAYKIN (American Flagg, TIME2)
« Incredibly imaginative world-building, all around compelling characters who have depth. Read this! » —MARK WAID (Batman and Robin: Year One, Absolute Power)
Free Planet #3
Arriving: July 9, 2025
Lunar Code: 0525IM356
Page Count: 32Buy
Cover price: $3.99
RED ALERT: The Orouran Empire has attacked! Isolated, outgunned, with aging ships and weaponry, the revolutionary heroes of the Freedom Guard mount a daring defense in a space dogfight that could only happen in comics and absolutely MUST be read in print. PLUS: The arrival of Yrl-Ken, an alien ambassador from the enigmatic Quadros Hive.
Praise for FREE PLANET:
« FREE PLANET drops you into a fully realized world and immerses you right away on a page-turning adventure. If dystopian sci fi with an ensemble cast of memorable characters is your jam (and it is mine), you will definitely want to check out FREE PLANET. »
–MARK RUSSELL (Batman: Dark Age, The Flintstones)
« FREE PLANET is a thunderbolt to the mind. Aubrey and Jed bring an energy and sophistication to the comics page that I’ve been yearning for. This is comics at Full Power. »
–MATT BORS (Justice Warriors, The Toxic Avenger)
« Ambitious, energetic and thought-provoking: this heady blend of big ideas, societal ideologies and scrappy guerilla violence walks the worldbuilding-tightrope between the granular and the epic. Something like the mutant offspring of Asimov and Marshal Bravestarr. »
–SIMON SPURRIER (Hellblazer, The Flash)
Free Planet #4
Arriving: August 13, 2025
Lunar Code: 0625IM303
Page Count: 32Buy
Cover price: $3.99
When a violent rebellion strikes the Lutherian capital, the Freedom Guard responds in force. Conflicted over turning their weapons on civilians, the Guard threatens to break out into internecine violence of its own, as the Civilian Council reacts to the uprising with a decision that will imperil Lutheria’s very existence.
Praise for FREE PLANET:
« FREE PLANET #1 is hard science fiction but easy to enjoy. »
–Kabooooom!
Free Planet #6
Series: Free Planet
Arriving: October 8, 2025
Lunar Code: 0825IM0351
Page Count: 32Buy
Cover price: $3.99
An Imperial Dreadnought bears down on Lutheria, flanked by a legion of Screamers. With no time to spare, the Freedom Guard launches a daring plan to protect their planet’s tenuous freedom in the most explosive, impassioned, all-consuming issue yet of Image’s breakout, ongoing space opera. But with everything on the line, will the entire team make it out alive?
Arriving: December 10, 2025
Lunar Code: 1025IM0346
Page Count: 32
Cover price: $3.99A one-shot interlude, perfect for new readers looking to explore this critically acclaimed geopolitical soap opera.
Join FREE PLANET cocreator Aubrey Sitterson and innovative cartoonist Ilias Kyriazis (Heavy Metal, Raymond Chandler’s Trouble is my Business) for a millennia-spanning exploration of the planet Thouros, its history of unceasing warfare, and its eventual absorption by the Interplanetary Development Alliance.
The first installment of the two-part EXPANSION PROTOCOLS, perfect for new readers looking to explore this critically acclaimed geopolitical soap opera.
Writer
Aubrey Sitterson
Artists
Vittorio Astone, Ilias Kyriazis
Cover A
Jed Dougherty
Cover B
Vittorio Astone, Ilias Kyriazis
Cover C
Vittorio Astone, Ilias Kyriazis
Arriving: January 14, 2026
Lunar Code: 1125IM0305
Page Count: 32
Cover price: $3.99The final installment of the two-part EXPANSION PROTOCOLS, a new reader-friendly interlude in Image’s critically acclaimed geopolitical space opera.
FREE PLANET co-creator AUBREY SITTERSON (The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling) is joined by the kinetic and explosive TYRELL CANNON (BEEF BROS, THE SCHLUB) for our most violent, bloody and action-packed issue yet. Elite space marine Niketas is utterly devoted to the Orouran Empire and will stop at nothing to successfully reconnoiter and conquer the untamed world of Laloux.
Writer
Aubrey Sitterson
Artists
Vittorio Astone, Tyrell Cannon
Cover A
Jed Dougherty
Cover B
Kendrick Kunnka Lim
Cover C
Ben Oliver
Cover D
Lucas Meyer, Adriano Lucas
Cover E
Michele Rubini, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Cover F
Patricia Martín
