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Next Issue Project

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The Next Issue Project is a series of American comic-book anthology one-shots published by Image Comics beginning in February 2008. The multi-title project, edited by Erik Larsen, creator of Savage Dragon, features comic book characters that have fallen into the public domain.

The premise behind the series, according to Larsen, is:

... for any fan of comics, not just fans of Golden Age books. Often, the promise of Golden Age comics, where creators were making up the rules as they went along and were blazing new trails, was more exciting than the reality..., where creators were essentially mimicking some of the same dull formulaic writing found in other mediums at the time. Everyone who contributes to [the Next Issue Project] was intent on fulfilling the promise of the Golden Age and delivering a book that was more than a mere homage, but also a thrilling glimpse of what comics could be, if only creators were allowed to run wild with the characters they were handed!

01Publication history

Each issue of the Next Issue Project utilizes features from a title published during the 1930s and 1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books, with similar dimensions and page count, both larger than the modern-day standard. Each issue continues the name and numbering of each title.

The first issue, Fantastic Comics #24 came out in February 2008. It was followed by Silver Streak Comics #24 in December 2009 and later Crack Comics #63.

02Issues

Fantastic Comics #24

Continuing from Fox Feature Syndicate's Fantastic Comics. This issue was released on February 13, 2008. It contained the following stories:

Silver Streak Comics #24

Continuing from Lev Gleason Publications' Silver Streak Comics. Released in December, 2009. It contained the following stories:

Crack Comics #63

Continuing from Quality Comics' Crack Comics. This issue was released on November 2, 2011. It contained the following stories:

Speed Comics #45

Advertised in Fantastic Comics #24 but never released, this issue was to continue from Harvey Comics' Speed Comics, and would heave featured Shock Gibson, Captain Freedom and War Nurse on the cover.

Watch videos about Next Issue ProjectExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Next Issue Project, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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