Gather round for a sword & sorcery fantasy tale like none you've ever heard. Garth Ennis is the co-creator of The Boys, the raunchily subversive superhero story adapted as a hit TV series by Prime Video. Ennis has been working in comics since 1989; beyond The Boys, he also co-created Preacher and has written for Hitman, The Punisher, Sara and Marjorie Finnegan, Temporal Criminal and more. Now, Ennis is beginning a new story with the same tongue-in-cheek mayhem we've come to expect from him: BABS, a fantasy satire about a heroine who takes no bullsh*t.
“Writing BABS was an absolute hoot,” said Ennis. “The character is one of my favorite types—good at the job but crap at life, with a lousy attitude to boot—and the world of Sword & Sorcery provides endless opportunities for deeply disrespectful humor. Having our heroine smash her way through goblins, ogres, imps, incels and other vermin was extremely satisfying; nobody’s going to be Making Middle Earth Great Again while she’s around."
With art by Jacen Burrows (The Ribbon Queen, Neonomicon), Babs is a six-part miniseries being published by AHOY Comics, a Syracuse, New York-based publisher specializing in humorous takes on horror, space opera, social satire, and superheroes. The debut issue of BABS is due to hit comic stores on August 14, and it looks as bloody, funny, and barbaric as you'd hope:
“I've been lucky enough to work in a lot of genres over the years but I have always wanted to work on a fantasy story,” said Burrows. “I'm having such a great time getting to design the world and characters and I can't wait to take readers on this wild ride. The humor, the action, the wild creatures, and settings, this really is a dream project for me!”
In addition to Burrows' cover, BABS' debut issue will also feature variant covers from Chris Burnham (Batman Inc, Nameless) and Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn, The Pro):
You may have noticed that in the variant cover from Amanda Connor, Babs has a sword which is giving her the middle finger. That's not just for comedic effect — that sword, Barry, is her not-so-trusty sidekick. Here's the official description of BABS from AHOY Comics:
"The series introduces Babs, a skilled barbarian thief with an itchy metal wardrobe and the world's worst enchanted sword (named Barry). Together Babs and Barry travel the highways and byways of a fabulous fantasy universe—a world of wizards and dragons, trolls and demons, towering palaces and piles of magic treasure—aiming to strike it rich. But Tiberius Toledo, and his band of very white knights, have different plans. While enacting her latest half-assed get-rich-slow scheme, Babs uncovers Toledo’s foul plot to exploit the baser instincts of the local townsfolk, landing her headfirst into an epic battle. Babs wasn’t looking for a fight…but then again, she’s never found a bad situation she couldn’t make a hundred times worse..."
“Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows master the genre of orcs, dragons, and living swords, adding an ill-gotten bounty of humor and heart,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “Babs herself—an outsized spirit of greed, frustration, courage, and comic violence—will linger in your memory.”
And now, we're thrilled to reveal an exclusive look inside the first issue of BABS! Read on to find out how our heroine makes her debut:
BABS #1 releases in stores on August 14, 2024!
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