behind a pair of magical gloves. A rogue named Red Monika tries to enlist Garrison, a swordsman haunted by the death of his wife, to assist in freeing a prisoner, which Garrison turns down. Red Monika accidentally releases four extremely powerful villains during the breakout. Garrison overcomes his grief and joins Gully, the wizard Knolan, and the towering war golem Calibretto to stop the villains' rampage. Characters Garrison At the beginning of the series, Garrison is drunk in despair with the passing of his wife. He is a legendary swordsman and owns a powerful magical sword. Trained in swordplay by Red Monika and mentored by Aramus. From Joe's original concept sketches of the characters, Garrison's sword was able to open similar to the Thundercats' Sword of Omens. Gully Gully is a ten-year-old girl whose father, Aramus, mysteriously vanishes leaving a powerful set of magical gloves behind. Through the series she shares a friendship with Calibretto and Knolan while searching for her father. Calibretto An outlawed war golem with a very gentle personality. The last of his kind after all previous war golems were ordered to be destroyed. His arms can fire projectiles. Knolan A powerful wizard, approximately five hundred years old, who takes Gully under his wing. His companion is Calibretto, a war golem. Red Monika A voluptuous bounty hunter who originally trained Garrison, and has an apparent history with him. Joe's concept sketch notes refer to her as "sort of the Jessica Rabbit of the Battle Chasers world". Reception Although issue 10 of Battle Chasers was not released, it was 14th in the Top 300 comics list with an estimated pre-order of 60,860. Film adaptation In March 2003, Twentieth Century Fox optioned feature rights to the fantasy comic book series with Gil Netter attached to produce. Stuart Hazeldine was considered to adapt the screenplay. Issues Core issues Battle Chasers Prelude (1998, Image Comics/Wildstorm) Story in Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated #2 (1998, Quantum Cat Entertainment) Battle Chasers #1–4 (1998, Image Comics/Wildstorm) Battle Chasers #5–8 (1999–2001, DC Comics/Wildstorm) Battle Chasers #9 (2001, Image Comics) Reprints Battle Chasers: Collected Edition #1 (reprints Battle Chasers #1–2) Battle Chasers: Collected Edition #2 (reprints Battle Chasers #3–4) Battle Chasers: A Gathering of Heroes (; reprints Battle Chasers #1–5, the Prelude and the story from Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated #2) Battle Chasers Anthology HC (reprints #0-9; and a few sketches and pages of the unprinted issues