If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.
Warhammer 40k and Princess Mononoke are inspiring Daniel Warren Johnson’s next creation, Chainkata
Daniel Warren Johnson is putting out a new comic, and it’s got chicks with chainsaws in space
NewsbyJoshua Lapin-Bertone, Contributing writer
Published on Tue Aug 18 2026
Popverse’s top stories
- Will Avengers: Doomsday see Doctor Doom get his hands on Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet? A cryptic message from Robert Downey Jr. has us wondering
- Critical Role has (lovingly) tortured DM Matt Mercer for years. His Campaign 4 character is revenge
- Amazing Spider-Man #1000 will be “a really big blowout” that will kickstart” the next chapter” of the Marvel’s Spidey saga, says Joe Kelly
Who says that all the good comic book ideas have been taken? Daniel Warren Johnson, who is best known for his work on Extremity and The Jurassic League, is putting out a new series called Chainkata, and it’s about chicks with chainsaws in space. More specifically, the Image Comics series is a space opera about a chainsaw-wielding warrior queen named Luma.
“I stole [the title] from Equilibrium,” Daniel Warren Johnson says during a conversation with David Wextler on Direct Edition. “The Christian Bale movie where he goes gun kata. If anybody hasn’t seen Equilibrium that’s listening to this, you have to watch it because it’s fantastic. It still holds up today. It speaks to our time. They basically do a choreographed dance with guns. It’s like the Matrix, but more artsy.”
“I’ve had so many working titles for the longest time, and I’m not sure how I came about it, but it was basically thinking about what would the name of this fighting style be. And I thought about gun kata, and I was like Chainkata- done.”
When designing Luma, Johnson looked to Warhammer 40k and Princess Mononoke for inspiration. “This was one of those situations where it did start as a picture first, and the vibe was always to try and make some sort of Warhammer 40k, really pulpy grindhouse-y sci-fi comic that was kind of gross but had the accessibility that I felt Warhammer really lacks. And I just was kind of looking to mix Warhammer with Princess MONOKO and kind of put them together. That was the vibe I was thinking about because I wanted to make something different.”
Johnson also looked at Jack Kirby’s old Fantastic Four comics, specifically some of the photo collages used in the Negative Zone stories. “Ultimately it’s an epic space opera. It’s Star Wars. Space doesn’t really matter. It’s basically a fantasy story in the swirly black whatever. I wanted it to look intentional, like that background. I want it to be overwhelming, and I want it to look weird. Like, what is that? I wanted it to look like a photo collage like Kirby used to do in Fantastic Four. It’s like cut out and arts and crafty. There is no photoshop in these pages at all.”
Chainkata #1 hits stores on November 23, 2026.
Interested? Here’s where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here’s a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you’re looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here’s everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.
Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news
Joshua Lapin-Bertone: Joshua is a pop culture writer specializing in comic book media. His work has appeared on the official DC Comics website, the DC Universe subscription service, HBO Max promotional videos, the Batman Universe fansite, and more. In between traveling around the country to cover various comic conventions, Joshua resides in Florida where he binges superhero television and reads obscure comics from yesteryear.
Let Popverse be your tour guide through the wilderness of pop culture
Sign in and let us help you find your new favorite thing.
