Image Comics To Publish Kickstarter Hit ‘Griz Grobus’ In Paperback In 2024

by Olly MacNamee

Image Comics are to publish writer/artist Simon Roy (Prophet, Jan’s Atomic Heart and Other Stories) and co-writer Jess Pollard, with colours by Sergey Nazarov, high fantasy, graphic novel Kickstarter hit, Griz Grobus, as a paperback in June 2024. A title that started off as a webcomic on Webtoon, before becoming a successful Kickstarter campaign for a hardcover collected edition.

Here’s the pitch:

“Set in the same sci-fi universe as Roy’s Habitat, Griz Grobus is another tale of life after the collapse of the interstellar empire. But unlike Habitat—where a once utopian orbital community found itself descending into cannibal tyranny—the characters of Griz Grobus inhabit the rural world of Altamira, where post-utopian frontier life has blossomed into something a bit more wholesome.

Griz Grobus tells two parallel, intertwined tales from the far-off colony world. High in a sleepy mountain village, the overzealous academic ambitions of a young scribe lead to the resurrection of the town’s ancient colonial-era priest-bot. This long-defunct pastor finds himself in a world that has passed him by, but refuses to simply accept his obsolescence, much to the chagrin of the scribe and the local townsfolk. The second story, a mise-en-abyme, is Altamira’s most famous novel (being avidly read by the characters of the first story). It is a fantasy tale about a war-god who gets trapped in the body of a goose, and the efforts of one pacifist cook to delay the war-god’s bloody return to the battlefield.

This lush, intricately detailed, standalone fable is perfect for fans of Hiyao Miyazaki, Asterix, and Arthur C. Clarke.”

Speaking about the tone and style of the series, Roy said:

“Part of what we wanted to make, in Griz Grobus, was a story that felt like a foreign film from a country you haven’t heard of. Natural, familiar elements, sitting harmoniously alongside the new and unfamiliar. The proposition of getting to introduce a whole new audience to our little pocket universe, and the worlds within it, is very exciting!”

Pollard added:

“I can definitely say it is one of the funniest, most delightful things I’ve ever been a part of, and I laugh every time I read the story, as if I’m reading it for the first time. I hope readers will feel the same warmth when they read this edition, whether it be for the first time, the second, or third.”