God Hates Astronauts

Astronauts are so smug. They brag about their weightlessness and intelligence, literally lording over all of humanity when in space. They fly up on super sophisticated contraptions that catapult them off the planet and through the atmosphere, awful close to where some would say heaven is. It only makes sense that God hates astronauts then, which is chronicled in the upcoming God Hates Astronauts by Ryan Browne with historical accuracy.*

NASA hires the Power Persons 5 to keep the nation's farmers from launching themselves into space in homemade rocket ships. The bad news is that NASA is wasting their money, because this gang of hooligans is going to hang out, get drunk, have extra-marital affairs, and occasionally save the day in spite of themselves. It began life six years ago as a comic written and drawn over the course of 24 hours, resulting in a madcap and free-wheeling pace and approach to storytelling. After that, Browne published GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS as a webcomic. Now, the softcover collection of God Hates Astronauts includes not just a fully remastered edition of the original webcomic, but one hundred pages of rare and all-new material not available on the web.

There are 21 pin-ups from artists like Chris Burnham, Rebekah Isaacs, Tom Fowler, Mike Norton and more. The two original 24-hour comics are included, along with a reference guide that explains the parodies and inside jokes and 18 all-new two-page origin stories written by Browne and drawn by some of the best talent in comics, including Tradd Moore, Tim Seeley, Riley Rossmo, Tom Scioli, Nick Pitarra, C.P. Wilson III, Zander Cannon, Jenny Frison, Chris Mitten and Hilary Barta.

"The origin stories were a fun way for me to flesh out the backgrounds that were only hinted at within the first story arc," says Browne. "On top of that, I love my friends and I love forcing them to draw what I write so it was a win-win situation for me."

God Hates Astronauts will be in stores on October 9 and is currently available to pre-order from the August issue of Previews (Diamond Code AUG130620). Full press release below.

*God Hates Astronauts is not a historical work of non-fiction. It's unclear whether or not God hates astronauts. Further, they're actually pretty cool, going up in space and all.

GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS TOUCHES DOWN IN OCTOBER Celebrated webcomic blends edgy humor and life-changing absurdity that will blow your mind and subsequently get arrested for the crime Ryan Browne's GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS, coming this October from Image Comics, is outrageous, raunchy, absurd, violent, extremely popular, and everything you could want in a comic. NASA hires the Power Persons 5 to keep the nation's farmers from launching themselves into space in homemade rocket ships. The bad news is that NASA is wasting their money, because this gang of hooligans is going to hang out, get drunk, have extra-marital affairs, and occasionally save the day in spite of themselves. Browne's sense of humor and relentless pop cultural onslaught caught the eye of Felicia Day, host of The Flog and creator of The Guild, who declared the comic "awesome," in addition to comics professionals like Chris Burnham (OFFICER DOWNE, Batman Incorporated), Jonathan Hickman (EAST OF WEST, Avengers), and John Layman (CHEW). They've all praised the quality of Browne's work in GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS, and his fans have been equally responsive to what's essentially a personal work. "The book comes from drawing exactly what I want to draw and then finding a logic to the story that will connect all my gags and references to superheroes and Robocop," says Browne. GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS began life six years ago as a comic written and drawn over the course of 24 hours, resulting in a madcap and free-wheeling pace and approach to storytelling. After that, Browne published GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS as a webcomic. Now, the softcover collection of GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS includes not just a fully remastered edition of the original webcomic, but one hundred pages of rare and all-new material not available on the web. There are 21 pin-ups from artists like Chris Burnham, Rebekah Isaacs, Tom Fowler, Mike Norton, and more. The two original 24-hour comics are included, along with a reference guide that explains the parodies and inside jokes, and 18 all-new two-page origin stories written by Browne and drawn by some of the best talent in comics, including Tradd Moore, Tim Seeley, Riley Rossmo, Tom Scioli, Nick Pitarra, C.P. Wilson III, Zander Cannon, Jenny Frison, Chris Mitten, and Hilary Barta. "The origin stories were a fun way for me to flesh out the backgrounds that were only hinted at within the first story arc," says Browne. "On top of that, I love my friends and I love forcing them to draw what I write so it was a win-win situation for me." GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS will be in stores on October 9 and is currently available to pre-order from the August issue of Previews (Diamond Code AUG130620). ABOUT IMAGE COMICS Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.