In what might be the most obvious move ever, Image Comics has announced an all-new 25th-anniversary edition of Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore’s comic Battle Pope!
Comics legend Robert Kirkman is best known for The Walking Dead and Invincible, but did you know he also wrote a comic about a badass Pope? I certainly didn’t. However, with all eyes on the Vatican following the election of the first-ever American Pope, comic book publishers are jumping on the bandwagon. Look no further than Image Comics, who have announced in a very timely manner, an all-new collected edition of Battle Pope — coming this Fall.
Battle Pope was one of Kirkman’s first professional works, which he worked on alongside Tony Moore, who would later collaborate with him on early issues of The Walking Dead. The comic is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. The official synopsis reads: When Heaven, Hell, and everything in between go to war, you better hope your prayers don’t get answered by anyone but Battle Pope. Once condemned by God Almighty for his hard drinkin’, womanizing evil ways, Pope has one last chance at salvation, and he’ll greet it with twin Uzis and the help of his new roommate, Jesus H. Christ.
Perhaps we should cut Image some slack about the hilariously well-timed announcement. I mean, it is the comic’s 25-year anniversary, after all. It all seems like a pretty monumental consequence. “I swear we had this planned months ago! Full disclosure, we did try to time this announcement around the conclave but it happened so fast! And the first American Pope? Seems suspicious, right?” Kirkman said in a statement. “Well, regardless of all that, I couldn’t be more thrilled to see my earliest professional(ish) work collected in a deluxe and downright heavenly format! And Tony Moore came back to do a new cover, how cool is that? I can’t believe I’ve been in this business for a whole 25 years. I mean, I’m still having fun and all but man… it sure does make someone feel old.”
Kirkman continued: “The beginnings of The Walking Dead, Brit, Manifest Destiny, Invincible, Science Dog, Tech Jacket and Blood & Thunder… all started here… in this ridiculous comic. I mean, Tony Moore and I met in the 7th grade, how crazy is that? And then years later… Battle Pope. There were so many people from our high school who thought we were, well, morons, who would never amount to anything. Well, we showed them. Ha!”
The new edition, featuring an all-new cover from Tony Moore, goes on sale wherever you get your comics later this year.
There’s also Vatican City… are we seeing a new trend of epic religious comics?
One new comic that’s released entirely coincidentally with the election of a new Pope is Mark Millar’s Vatican City, taking place when a legion of vampires conquerer the world and invade the Vatican, which is the last-surviving holdout for mankind. You can check out our review of Vatican City here.
