Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's upcoming series for Image Comics, Junkyard Joe, expands the world the creative pair started with Geiger and focuses on a robot hero whose adventures began during the Vietnam War.
The metallic soldier known as Junkyard Joe originally debuted in Geiger #1 in a backup feature that presented the character as the star of an in-universe comic strip by a cartoonist named Morrie "Muddy" Davis. CBR can exclusively reveal pages from Junkyard Joe #2, which is set well before the post-apocalyptic future of Geiger and features a family moving into their new house. Their aged, curmudgeonly neighbor is none other than Muddy Davis himself.
"The story takes us from the jungles of Vietnam in 1972 to the wintery days of Melody Hills, Indiana in the present," said Johns of the series. "Gary’s artwork is unmatched and the emotion and power he puts into the characters is unique, including the new family that moves in next door to Muddy…and his robot, Junkyard Joe." Frank added, "The story ultimately deals with trauma and finding a place afterwards Not a geographical place but more the struggle to find a home or family. In issue 2, we meet the rest of the cast who are, in various ways, also trying to find, or perhaps, rediscover that. I love these characters so much already. They arrive, fully formed, in the script. I feel like I’m just tracing over their outline."
A younger Muddy Davis also makes an appearance in Junkyard Joe #1, which opens in 1972 as a group of American soldiers in Vietnam are ambushed in Binh Long province. One of them -- clearly the series' titular robot -- withstands a tremendous amount of gunfire, prompting his fellow squadmates, including Muddy, to wonder who and what he is.
The Unnamed
Junkyard Joe is one of several new characters known as the Unnamed that Johns and Frank have spun out of the pages of Geiger. The earliest figure is the Roadcoat, who emerged in 1776, while the latest is Geiger himself, a radioactive man surviving in a Mad Max-esque America. While they might come from wildly different periods of history, all of the Unnamed have secret identities and rose to fight evil forces in an Unknown War.
Junkyard Joe is written by Johns and illustrated by Frank and Brad Anderson. The first issue releases on Oct. 5, and comes in a special black and white edition benefiting veterans. Junkyard Joe #2 arrives on Nov. 16.
Source: Image Comics