Since Image has reemerged as a creator owned comic powerhouse, it’s been a while since Marvel’s Icon line has had any projects outside of the ones co-created by Brian Michael Bendis. But that’s about to change.
Marvel has announced that Jason Aaron and artist Ron Garney will be collaborating on a new creator owned miniseries at Icon called Men of Wrath. Aaron and Garney have previously worked together on Wolverine and Thor: God of Thunder for Marvel.
Men of Wrath will focus on Ira Rath, “the coldest hitman ever to walk on Alabama soil” who comes from a family that is said to be cursed by violence.
While speaking with Comic Book Resources, Aaron said “Men of Wrath is about family history. Each issue opens with flashbacks to different generations of the Rath family. We kind of start to see how the cycle of violence begins and gets perpetuated and passed down from generation to generation of this family and kind of culminates in Ira as the worst of the bunch.”
Garney added that “Everybody has their history. Some history is more colorful than others. Some are more dysfunctional than others. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I can guarantee this story is bound to hit on many different cylinders for many people because of the family dynamic.”
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Aaron described Ira Rath as “a bad guy. He’s an older guy who’s reaching the end of his life, which consists pretty much of killing people for money and living alone in an empty house which doesn’t have much furniture. For him it’s clearly not about the money. There’s something else going on.”
“ There’s a little bit of Clint Eastwood in him, a little bit or Arnold Schwarzenegger in him, and a little bit of Marv from Sin City.” noted Garney. “He’s a gruff, rough guy. That’s probably another reason why Jason thought of me for it. Because of my affinity for Wolverine and other tough guys like Ultimate Captain America. Ira pretty much is a real bastard and I also identify with the plot itself because there are some personal things that hit home for me in this. In a lot of ways the guy reminds me of myself. Sometimes I can be a cranky, old bastard. [Laughs]”
Men of Wrath will run for five issues and it will be released in October.
