Earlier this month, IDW Publishing's creator-owned imprint Black Crown, founded and overseen by editor Shelly Bond, announced it was cancelling its new series Marilyn Manor, with reports that the publishing imprint was being shut down for the foreseeable future.
Launched in 2017 by Bond, who had formerly been the executive editor and vice president of DC Comics' creator-owned imprint Vertigo Comics from 2013 to 2016, Black Crown had steadily built its own catalogue of acclaimed comic book titles. Now, we're taking a look back at the acclaimed titles from IDW's short-lived creator-owned publishing imprint.
Assassinistas
Created by Tini Howard and Gilbert Hernandez, Assassinistas follows Octavia, one third of the world's deadliest trio of assassins, who carried out contract killings around the globe.
For various reasons, the ensemble would retire and separate to live their own lives, with Octavia drawn back to her lethal past when a kidnapping gets personal for her. Recruiting her son and his boyfriend to join her, Octavia finds that the only thing running thicker than blood is family.
Black Crown Quarterly
Featuring a whole host of talented writers and artists, Black Crown Quarterly was an anthology series that, true to its title, published new, oversized issues published four times a year.
Each issue contained a selection of short stories across a variety of genres, the series also included extensive, behind-the-scenes looks at several Black Crown titles, with interviews with the creative teams. The collection also includes the debut issues of several popular Black Crown series.
Euthanauts
Created by Tini Howard and Nick Robles, Euthanauts blends horror and science fiction when a funeral parlor receptionist named Thalia Blackwood is recruited by the eponymous squad of explorers to see what truly lies awaiting for them in the hereafter.
Driven by Howard's signature dark humor and unabashed embrace of the macabre, the series has its characters explore the implications of death and the afterlife in a mind-bending, existential tale.
Eve Stranger
Created by David Barnett and Philip Bond, Eve Stranger sees its eponymous protagonist suffer from chronic amnesia, learning that she takes on a new occupation each week against her will in a dark subversion of the formula that drives shows like Quantum Leap.
Every week, Eve awakens to a new task -- some mundane, some exceedingly dangerous -- with explosive nanobots implanted throughout her bloodstream to ensure each assignment's completion and a serum to wipe her memories of each week's events in a genre-defying series that takes advantage of Eve's ever-changing roles.
Femme Magnifique
Written and illustrated by an all-star roster of creative talent, Femme Magnifique was an anthology series packed with short stories that celebrated the true exploits of women in a multitude of fields from science and politics to popular culture and social activism.
Telling the real-life stories of figures from across time and around the world, the series celebrated how the future is not only female but some of its greatest past innovators were as well, providing a long-overdue spotlight on many of them.
House Amok
Created by Christopher Sebela and Shawn McManus, House Amok has a young girl named Dylan Sandifer and her family truly go on what quickly turns into the summer family from hell. Their cross-country trip reveals the clan to suffer from a condition that drives them kidnap, torture and kill complete strangers while encountering all sorts of paranormal conspiracies and delusions that may be more true than they realize.
This bloody story that plays out like a blend of The Devil's Rejects and The X-Files, with an unhealthy dose of family drama on top.
Kid Lobotomy
Created by Peter Milligan and Tess Fowler, Kid Lobotomy stars a wealthy, young socialite and failed rockstar named Kid who is the son of a rich but deranged hotelier named Big Daddy. After a lifetime of going through extensive therapy and medical procedures that have left him with an ongoing battle with past trauma and inner demons.
Left in control of his father's line of suites, Kid hopes to find his own personal salvation while confronting his unresolved issues as he gets into the family business.
Lodger
Created by David and Maria Lapham, Lodger sees a young woman named Ricky Toledo go a mission of bloody revenge after a stranger brutally murdered her mother and successfully framed her father for the crime.
Picking up the trail three years later, Ricky sets out to track down the man who ruined her life, with her trusty revolver in tow in a cross-country crime noir with shades of dark romance thrown in as Ricky spirals deeper on her quest for vengeance.
Punks Not Dead
Created by David Barnett and Martin Simmonds, Punks Not Dead and its follow-up series has an ostracized, teenage outcast named Fergie suddenly bonded to a decades-old ghost named Sid.
As Fergie adapts to constantly being link to his new spectral companion and developing new, strange abilities along the way, the boy finds himself becoming a person-of-interest with a secret government agency and a mystery that involves his long-lost father.