As you may recall, AHOY Comics was forced to suspend their publishing efforts in April in the wake of COVID-19 economic hardships. This came after an initial short publishing delay in March which had to continue as the crisis evolved, indefinitely halting the release of AHOY’s new and ongoing series. Well, good news! As of June AHOY will begin to publish books again, starting with the Dragonfly & Dragonflyman trade paperback discussed here, releasing the 16th. The company has also released a road map for their previously delayed titles Ash & Thorn, Billionaire Island, and Captain Ginger, which is as follows:
Ash & Thorn: a 5-issue miniseries by bestselling writer Mariah McCourt (True Blood, Stitched), artist Soo Lee (Analog Sci-Fi Magazine, Charlie’s Angels vs. the Bionic Woman), and colorist Pippa Bowland (2000AD), with lettering by Rob Steen and covers by legendary artist Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Wonder Woman: True Amazon). Originally scheduled to debut on April Fool’s Day, the highly-anticipated debut issue #1 of ASH & THORN will be published on June 24, 2020, followed by issue #2 on July 8, issue #3 on July 29, issue #4 on August 19, and issue #5 on September 9, 2020.
Billionaire Island: a 6-issue miniseries by acclaimed writer Mark Russell (Second Coming) and artist Steve Pugh (Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass), and colorist Chris Chuckry, with lettering by Rob Steen. Issue 1 features a cover by series artist and co-creator Steve Pugh and a variant cover by bestselling artist Pia Guerra (Y The Last Man). The critically acclaimed series returns on July 1, 2020 with an all-new second issue, followed by issue #3 on July 22, issue #4 on August 12, and issue #5 on September 16.
Captain Ginger Season 2: Dogworld: a 6 issue mini-series by acclaimed writer Stuart Moore (Bronze Age Boogie) and artists June Brigman (Power Pack) and Roy Richardson, and colorist Veronica Ghandini, with lettering by Rob Steen. Captain Ginger: Dogworld, which had two issues published at the time of lockdown, will complete its serialization in exclusive digital editions from Comixology. The first new issue of Captain Ginger: Dogworld, issue 3, will be released digitally on June 10, followed by issue 4 on July 8, issue 5 on August 5, and issue 6 on September 2.
The debut of Ash & Thorn and the accelerated release cycle for Billionaire Island are great news, but I can imagine fans of Captain Ginger may be a bit bummed out that they won’t be able to collect physical copies of the remaining issues of season 2. With that said, there should be some consolation in that the remaining issues of Captain Ginger will each include an extra bonus comic from AHOY’s back catalog. Additionally, there will still be a physical trade paperback release which will compile the entire run of Captain Ginger Season 2: Dogworld, so if you simply aren’t a digital reader you’ll still have a chance to continue the series.
“There was no one-size-fits-all solution for AHOY’s publishing schedule, so we took a creative approach,” said Kit Caoagas, AHOY Comics’ Marketing Associate. “There was a long anticipation for the debut of Ash & Thorn and issue 1 was already printed and at Diamond, so we wanted to get that to market as soon as possible. Billionaire Island had one issue published before the lockdown, so we’ve decided to resume publication as soon as possible on a slightly accelerated schedule, with an eye toward getting the trade paperback out in the fall, as originally planned. And, after a long hiatus, it just didn’t make sense to resume print publication of the second season of Captain Ginger. As with all AHOY books, we’ll release the trade paperback of Captain Ginger: Dogworld in print and digital on schedule, so that old-school sci-fi fans and cat fanatics can read the whole story in their preferred format.”
It’s good to see independent publishers getting back up on their feet and releasing new content, and with any luck we’ll see more small publishing houses follow suit.
