EXCLUSIVE: Netflix and Mark Millar announce their latest in-house creation, Space Bandits, a female-led sci-fi story, described by Millar as “a female Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid set in space with a massive and exciting cast of characters.” Image Comics, publisher of The Walking Dead, Happy! and Saga, will handle the tie-in comic book iteration of the Netflix property and artist Matteo Scalera will illustrate the space-faring adventures on the page.

Thena Khole and Cody Blue are outlaw queens who lead notorious heist gangs that hop from starship to starship taking whatever they want whenever they want it. But when both Khole and Blue are betrayed by mutineers in their own crews, the two bandits are united in their thirst for revenge.

“I love writing female-led stories in everything from Reborn to Empress to Hit-Girl to Jupiter’s Legacy and, of course, our recent Magic Order at Netflix,” Millar said of the spirited space escapade. “I also love writing big, fun sci-fi things. In a world with a billion superhero properties and gloomy, rain-soaked dystopian sci-fi, there’s a gap in the market for sci-fi that’s upbeat and fun and I wanted to combine all this into a big, high-octane story. I’ve been working on this as a property for Netflix since last summer and now I’m being joined by the brilliant Matteo Scalera for the comic-book translation of this story. The guy’s a genius and I’ve followed him for years. Having him draw this is like someone you’ve always had a crush on going out on a date with you. He’s just amazing.”

Space Bandits issue No. 1 will be $3.99 when it hits store shelves on July 3 but there will be a limited edition Legends Cover Edition that will be just 75 cents. That was standard cover price of comic books when Millar was in high school and obsessed with the elite artists of the day. Along with the throwback pricing, the Legends Cover Editions will feature a cover image by an industry legend whom Millar counted among his “favorite all-time comic book artists.”

For issue No. 1, the Legends Cover Edition features the handiwork of Howard Chaykin, the firebrand creator best known for American Flagg!, Dominic Fortune and the first ten issues of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars adaptation series in the 1970s. Millar picked Chaykin for issue No. 1 — who are the notable named lined up for the following four issues? Time will tell…

Space Bandits #1 also will be available for purchase across many digital platforms, including the official Image Comics iOS app, Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.

Below, Chaykin’s cover art for issue No. 1 of Space Bandits as well as Scalera’s primary cover for the wider publication.