Jimmie Robinson's Five Weapons, the Image Comics/Shadowline miniseries whose nominal final issue was released Wednesday, will continue in January as an ongoing series.

The change was hinted in the last panel of this week's fifth issue with the words "To Be Continued," and then immediately confirmed on the back cover (at right), which trumpets "Back By Popular Demand! [...] The On-Going Series Begins January 2014."

Robinson, who's best known for his Image series Bomb Queen, addressed the upgrade in a series of tweets: "Now I have room to work. [...] I tell ya', the 5-issue format was constricting, I'm glad that I can stretch my legs & give the story proper room. [...] I'm pleased that Image is allowing me to go forward. Now I can develop the story and art ... even bigger."

Debuting in February, Five Weapons centers on Tyler, a brilliant 13-year-old who enrolls in the School of Five Weapons, which as the name suggests isn't just any center for learning; it's a school exclusively for the children of the world's wealthy assassins, where they're given an Ivy League education as well as expert weapons training.

Robinson clearly had hopes for continuing Five Weapons even before the miniseries launched, telling Comic Book Resources in January, "I'm not doing this just for the money -- this is a fun story that I want to tell. If it succeeds, I will be very happy, but if it breaks even, I'll be happy with that, too. As long as I can tell the whole story. I admit, if it connects with readers I'd like to delve deeper into the world of Five Weapons. The story I've written has a definite ending, but I could easily see stories like Five Weapons: Summer School, or Five Weapons: Spring Break, or Five Weapons: Graduation. Who knows, maybe Tyler can even make it to college without dying."

(via The Beat)