Image Comics to publish Coda sequel from Si Spurrier and Matías Bergara

Contrary to its title, 2018’s CodaIt was as much an end as a start. The BOOM! The BOOM!Way of X) and artist Matías Bergara (Hellblazer) functioned as a sort of epilogue to The Lord of the RingsThe game explores the aftermath after a battle in which magic was wiped away and hordes (hordes) of urken soldiers were left behind.Coda’s version of orcs) without a mission.

This book was a spectacle that earned Bergara the Eisner Award for Best Artist. It also contained a personal tale about a dysfunctional marriage between Hum, a former bard who has lost his spine, and Serka, his wife.

The couple and their turbocharged pentacorn (that is, a unicorn who’s been exposed to so much weird magic it’s mutated four more horns), Nag, seemingly found peace at the end of Coda’s first series, but like so many fantasy storytellers before them, Spurrier and Bergara can’t resist the urge to return to this world. That’s why Coda is back for a sequel series debuting in September, reuniting the team to explore the next phase of the couple’s relationship while ushering in a new age of magic.

Hum rides his demonic-looking pentacorn, Nag, down a cliff face under an ominous sky on the cover of Coda #1 (2023).

Hum walks away from the viewer and towards a strange, huge t-shaped object sitting in the middle of a weird pond on a variant cover for Coda #2 (2023).

Hum leads Nag, his mutated pentacorn, through a dark forest, while large images of his wife, Serka, and a gold crown, appear behind him, on a variant cover for Coda #1 (2023).

“It’s an absolute pleasure and privilege to welcome back one of BOOM!’s seminal titles,” said BOOM! Studios Executive Editor Eric Harburn. “In 2018, Si and Matías built a post-modern fantasy masterpiece that was years ahead of its time; in 2023, they’re back to do it again with a new chapter in the lives of Hum, Serka, and the Nag.”

Spurrier and Bergara’s creative rapport has only gotten stronger since the first Coda, with the two of them working together on DC’sDreaming as well as Image’s Step By Bloody Step, a silent miniseries that pushed Bergara’s visual storytelling to even greater heights. The new Coda even more exciting, and Bergara’s seemingly limitless skill means that Spurrier can be as ambitious as he wants with his script.

“It’s Coda. It’s Matías. It’s about what happens after the magic dies,” said Spurrier. “It’s about muddling through and giant crabs and accursed moons and love and religion and kamikaze messenger-fairies and foul-mouthed unicorns and trying really really really hard not to go on quests. It’s the funnest and most poisonous and best thing to write, ever, and I think it might be our best work yet.”

Hum sits fishing and reading a book at a weird lake with a big t-shaped SOMETHING in the middle of it in textless art from Coda #1 (2023). Then he looks over his shoulder.

On the dock behind Hum and his fishing pole, a glowing, ugly fairy levitates with its mouth open, rictus-like in textless art from Coda #1 (2023).

A fairy explodes in a red splat, and Hum sits on a dock, in textless art from Coda #1 (2023).

Hum gets up from the doc and walks with his fishing pole through several panels of a lush, weird fantasy environment, only to discover that something has burst out of its stable, in textless art from Coda #1 (2023).

The exclusive Preview Pages of Coda #1 show off that kamikaze messenger-fairy, highlighting how its explosive energy interrupts Hum’s serene new life. There’s a lot of humor here without any words, specifically in Hum’s dismissive, IDGAF reaction to a fairy blowing up right next to him. He’s clearly trying really really really hard not to go on a quest, but as anyone who has played Tears of KingdomYou cannot escape the pursuit of knowledge.

From the creature designs to the character expressions, environmental details, and vibrant coloring, Bergara’s passion for this project is evident in every panel. “Coda has been my absolute favorite book I have ever worked on,” said Bergara. “I prefer to call it a place, a dimension — one in which a part of me lives day by day in a state of curiosity and discovery. My greatest joy is seeing people reading and entering into this dimension with us.”

Coda #1 will hit comic shops on September 27, and for anyone who missed out on the first series, the entire thing will be released in a deluxe hardcover collection on June 28, presenting Bergara’s stunning artwork in the oversized format it deserves.

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