Free Planet (2025)

SERIES 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. Early praise for FREE PLANET: ** “FREE PLANET** demands to be read in a comfy chair, next to a fire, or the window of a starship, while taking in a distant supernova. SITTERSON & DOUGHERTY are holding a masterclass in rich, intricate worldbuilding that is equal parts Dune, Claremont, and SAGA while being wholly original.” —ROBERT KIRKMAN (INVINCIBLE,_ _THE WALKING DEAD) “One of the hardest parts of making a comic book is the intense task of worldbuilding. FREE PLANET shrugs off that pressure, fully fleshed out for characters to explore and readers to witness, proving that 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**)

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)

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)

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!**

The planet Lutheria has been invaded by a squadron of nigh-unstoppable space marines; overpowered and outgunned, it’s the most brutal, take-no-prisoners battle the Freedom Guard have yet faced. PLUS: Forbidden romance on the Aegis as the shocking origins of the Guard’s heavily muscled science officer and battlesuit-wearing physician are finally revealed! "World-building on a Frank Herbert scale." —**Monkeys Fighting Robots**

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?

A 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.

The 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.

NEW STORY ARC Co-creator and artist JED DOUGHERTY re-teams with writer AUBREY SITTERSON to kick off a new six-issue story arc picking up right where their FREE PLANET, VOL. 1 left off in the geopolitical space opera that everyone's talking about. Under a crushing embargo, the people of Lutheria are starving and lashing out in violent food riots. As the Freedom Guard faces the grim reality of turning its weapons on its own citizens, one conflicted soldier considers a desperate act of treason that could shatter Lutheria’s hard-won independence.

“Dune fans will enjoy exploring this expansive new world.”— Publishers Weekly “One of the best sci-fi comics of this year—and potentially all time.”— ComicBook.com SABOTAGE! A major refinery has exploded on the surface of Lutheria, compromising the planet’s productive capacity. Two nearby citystates are on edge, blaming one another for the conflagration, but the Freedom Guard’s investigation points elsewhere: The rocky crags of the Lutherian mountains, deep within the territory of the indigenous Surroko…

"Dune fans will enjoy exploring this expansive new world." —Publishers Weekly REBELLION! Does complete freedom include the freedom to secede? As their fellow Freedom Guard members square off against an armed separatist movement, Mookie and Jackson infiltrate a neighboring planet to establish a food-for-fuel exchange. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, the Guard threatens to tear itself apart through betrayal and treason…

“More than simply a Best Comic of the Year—it may just be a Best of All Time.” –ComicBook.com Amid the Interplanetary Development Alliance’s crushing embargo, a mineral-rich asteroid could be the planet Lutheria’s salvation; but the Alliance has its own plans for the asteroid, leading to a violent clash on its surface. Meanwhile, dissension within the Freedom Guard grows, with virulent disagreements, a love triangle exposed, and a shocking, brutal death.

BETRAYAL! When one of their own is revealed as a traitor, revolutionary heroes turn on one another, threatening to tear apart the already contentious Freedom Guard. Meanwhile, an interplanetary smuggling run becomes embroiled in a violent uprising. It’s an action-packed issue of FREE PLANET, with a shocking conclusion that changes absolutely everything.

VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION! Lutheria’s greatest fear has come true: Renewed war with the Interplanetary Development Alliance. In the explosive final issue of FREE PLANET's first story cycle, the Freedom Guard has been drawn into a revolution on neighboring Dumuzid. But not everyone will make it out alive… "Be prepared to invest some time on a journey of exploration into a challenging new realm of politics, conflicting personalities, violence, and dare I say it, perhaps even a little romance.” —Walter Simonson, Thor, Orion