Image/Shadowline debut Emmissary in May

Image's Shadowline imprint will release Emmissary by Jim Valentino, J. R. Rand, Juan E. Ferreyra and Clayton Brown this May, a book that examines how the world might react to a Black super hero:

Would he have been accepted, beloved by the world at large? Or would he have been feared, rejected, even hated? Would his near omnipotence cause governments to tremble or would they attempt to use him to advance their own agendas? Would his mere existence send religious leaders into turmoil? Or renew their faith in God's master plan? Or would it do BOTH?

And, what if instead of using his powers to "fight crime" or dance with "super-villains" he used them to end hunger, disease and poverty? What if he tried to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction?

Where is the line between helping and enabling? How far should any one individual, regardless how powerful they are, go? How can any one person hope to cure an entire planet.and can they?

In a universe of comic books where superpowers are commonplace, creator and Image co-founder Jim Valentino, with the critically acclaimed creators of Image's Small Gods, J.R. Rand (Helios) and Juan E. Ferreyra (Rex Mundi), offers a compelling look at a world experiencing the coming of its first superhuman. In EMISSARY, the revelation of one man's gift will show the human race at its best and at its worst.

Emissary will examine the effects of a super-being on politics, religion and the common man in a way never before seen in comics. Created and co-plotted by Jim Valentino and written by J. R. Rand with art by Juan E. Ferreyra and Clayton Brown, Emissary will be available for preordering from PREVIEWS in March. It will be cover-featured on the March PREVIEWS for May product with 5-page previews at www.imagecomics.com and in ShadowHawk #11 and Intimidators #5, with the first issue set to hit stores May 2006.