Cover artwork revealed

The fan favorite science fiction/action series Protector by writers Simon Roy (Prophet) and Sideways Award-winning author Daniel M. Bensen (Junction) team up with artists Artyom Trakhanov (Undertow), Jason Wordie (God Country), and Hassan Otsmane-elhaou (Red Sonja) will be collected into trade paperback with a sharp new title—First Knife—from Image Comics this October.

“The new title gives a better feel for the universe in which we have so many stories to tell,” said Trakhanov.

First Knife is an environmental sci-fi adventure that’s equal parts Conan the Barbarian, Nausicaä, and Zardoz. In the hot ruins of far-future North America, a slave stumbles across an ancient and bloody power. A conqueror bargains with godlike beings. A soldier tries to bring back his lost world. As the full moon approaches, the remaining humans of Earth find themselves standing between the forces that once nearly destroyed it. A post-apocalyptic, yet hopeful story, First Knife will collect issues #1-5 of the Protector series. 

First Knife trade paperback (Diamond Code JUL200063, ISBN 9781534316423) will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, October 7 and in bookstores on Tuesday, October 13. It can be pre-ordered at your local comic book shop or independent bookstore via Bookshop or IndieBound, or it can be pre-ordered on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Indigo.

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First Knife will also be available for purchase across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.