Jessica Jones and Miles Morales Co-Creator Debuts New Akira-Inspired Series

Writer Brian Michael Bendis is coming out with a new creator-owned title published by Dark Horse Comics, Joy Operations, alongside artist Stephen Byrne, and CBR has obtained an exclusive preview of the upcoming series.

Joy Operations is the first creator-owned collaboration by Bendis and Byrne since the writer's creator-owned imprint, Jinxworld, migrated from its previous home with DC Comics to Dark Horse Comics. The new sci-fi thriller features series protagonist Joy as a special agent of the Jonando Trust, the preview featuring Joy on a new mission within a world that seems both familiar and unknown to her at the same time.

The preview shows Joy digitally transported to the Jonando Trust, questioning how real the landscape and her experiences are being that she can breathe and even experience back pain. A splash page by Byrne displays the world of Jonando, with levitating, futuristic buildings elevated above older-style structures below. Promotional material for the series' first issue reveals that the book is set 55 years in the future, the following splash page showing off the futuristic tech Joy is working with, platform-generating boots included along with holograms, before her mission faces an unforeseen complication.

Joy Operations is the first original series to release from Jinxworld under its new home at Dark Horse. The series will only last for five issues, reuniting the Wonder Comics creators, the DC imprint where Bendis created new Justice League member and the soon-to-be-adapted Naomi, with Byrne working on titles like Wonder Twins and Legion of Superheroes. While Dark Horse and Jinxworld will be releasing new titles like Joy Operations, the imprint will also reissue and produce new installments of Jinxworld books like Powers, Pearl, Cover and The Murder Inc.

Bendis and Byrne are not the only creators shifting their focus from DC onto more creator-owned titles either. Scott Snyder (Batman, Dark Nights: Metal, Dark Nights: Death Metal) recently launched his own creator-owned imprint called Best Jackett Press, creating titles that will be released digitally on comiXology and later published in print by Dark Horse. For one title, We Have Demons, he reunited with frequent collaborator Greg Capullo, who served as the artist on Batman and other titles with Snyder. Current Batman writer James Tynion IV will also be leaving the caped crusader's ongoing title and The Joker series to focus on his own books in the future, though he still pens The Nice House on the Lake for DC's horror imprint.

Despite the shift to creator-owned titles and Bendis' Jinxworld imprint now publishing under Dark Horse, Bendis still pens DC titles like Justice League and Checkmate and will write the upcoming Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes, set for release in January 2022. The exclusive preview and solicitation with series information from Dark Horse for Joy Operations #1 can be found below.

JOY OPERATIONS #1

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • STEPHEN BYRNE (A/C)
Variant Cover by DAVID MACK
Things From Another World EXCLUSIVE Variant Cover by CHRISTIAN WARD
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99
ON SALE 11/24/21
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, the New York Times bestselling, Peabody and multi-Eisner award winning co-creator of Miles Morales, Naomi, Jessica Jones, and Powers, teams up with scorching hot comics sensation STEPHEN BYRNE (Wonder Twins, Legion of Superheroes) for their very first creator-owned blockbuster series.
Fifty-five years from now. Joy is an EN·VOI. A special agent of one of the JONANDO TRUST. Trusts are corporate-owned cities that are the centerpiece of modern society. She rights wrongs for the trust. She is excellent. Perfection. Hard on herself. Driven. Almost legendary in some parts. Until one day a voice pops in her head trying to get her to betray everything she has ever believed.
This meticulously-designed Akira meets All of Me journey shows us a new future like only comics can. All this and also an exclusive look behind-the-scenes and a look forward to other Jinxworld projects coming exclusively to Dark Horse.