Image Comics Collects Kieron Gillen, Jim Rossignol, And Jeff Stokely’s ‘The Ludocrats’

by Olly MacNamee

Back in 2020, writer Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine, Die, The Power Fantasy), game designer Jim Rossignol (Sir, You Are Being Haunted), artist Jeff Stokely (The Spire, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Witches), colourist Tamra Bonvillain (Once & Future), and letterer Clayton Cowles (Bitter Root, Moonstruck) gave us the rather delightful and ludicrously loopy series: The Ludocrats. And now the adventure is being collected in a trade paperback.

Here’s the synopsis for this enjoyable series:

“Main nut job Baron Otto Von Subertan embodies an excess and impulsiveness that would make the Queen of Hearts look tame by comparison. His close companion, Professor Hades Zero-K provides a deadpan counter to his flamboyant assertions. Together they defend their wacky and bizarre civilization against banality and boredom. To be “ludicrous” is not only just a requirement in this gonzo world — it’s a virtue!

Monty Python and I Hate Fairyland humor are tossed in a blender with such exhaustively intricate sagas as Dune and The Silmarillion for a surprising cocktail of aristocratic customs, impossible architecture, sexual jokes, and visual gags to delight any reader willing to ride shotgun for the journey.”