Jeff Lemire and artist Teddy Kristiansen are preparing Mr. Oblivion Book 1: Incantations, the opening chapter of a three-volume original graphic novel series scheduled to begin in 2027 through Harper Alley. The project reunites Lemire and Kristiansen after Black Hammer: Spiral City, while shifting to an original supernatural-crime story built around former occult investigator Marty McCabe.
Lemire has shared the final cover for Incantations and described it as the first entry in the trilogy. Each of the three books is set to run more than 200 pages, making this a substantial long-form comic project rather than a standard serialized pamphlet run collected later. It is also part of Lemire’s five-book agreement with Harper Alley’s adult graphic novel line.
A detective story with a dangerous tool at its center
Twenty years before the main story, Marty McCabe was known as Mr. Oblivion, the world’s leading occult detective. His edge came from the Merlin Mask, an artifact powerful enough to help solve cases seemingly beyond any ordinary investigator. But the device was never merely helpful equipment. Repeated use eroded Marty’s soul, turning the central mystery of his past into a personal cost he could no longer ignore.
Occult detective is a useful term here: it describes a crime-solver whose cases involve supernatural forces, rituals, artifacts, or hidden spiritual systems rather than only conventional evidence. In Mr. Oblivion, that genre framework matters because Marty’s investigative ability is inseparable from the exact supernatural object that threatens him. The Merlin Mask is both his former advantage and the reason he had to leave that life behind.
Marty eventually reaches a breaking point, enters rehabilitation, and finds a way to step away from the mask. By the beginning of the new series, he has built a markedly ordinary life with his family and a growing real-estate business—one presented as stable, if decidedly unexciting. That hard-won quiet ends when a ritualistic killing in his town recalls the kind of threat he once confronted as Mr. Oblivion.
With the FBI unable to close the case and the murderer still active, Marty puts the mask on again. The immediate objective is clear: identify and stop the killer. The deeper problem is equally clear: using the artifact may revive the harm from which he fought to recover.
“The more Marty used it, the more the mask ate away at his soul.”
Why the premise has room for a full trilogy
The supplied setup frames Incantations around a murder investigation, but it also establishes a larger conflict between recovery and relapse. Marty did not simply retire from a career; he abandoned a source of power because it was destroying him. His return therefore carries consequences beyond whether he can solve a single case.
That gives the series two tracks that can work together. On one track, there is the external detective narrative: a ritual murder, a dangerous culprit, and institutions that are not yet finding an answer. On the other, there is Marty’s internal struggle with an artifact he knows is effective and knows is harmful. The mask’s power makes it tempting, while its effect on his soul makes every return to it a potentially damaging compromise.
There is also a family dimension to the premise. Marty’s former identity was left behind so he could rebuild a life at home, not merely so he could change jobs. Bringing Mr. Oblivion back risks disrupting the life he made after rehabilitation. The series description does not specify how his family responds or what the full rules of the Merlin Mask may be, so those elements remain open questions rather than established plot points. Still, they are central stakes implied by the premise.
For readers, the more-than-200-page format per installment suggests room for cases, character consequences, and longer visual sequences to unfold at graphic-novel pace. It should not be mistaken for confirmation of a release schedule for the later volumes: only the 2027 launch of Book 1 has been stated. Nor have additional story details, release dates, or edition information for Books 2 and 3 been provided.
Lemire and Kristiansen bring different but complementary histories
Lemire arrives at Mr. Oblivion with a broad body of creator-owned and collaborative comics. His solo-created works include Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Sweet Tooth, The Nobody, Roughneck, Royal City, and Mazebook. His collaborations include Descender and Ascender with Dustin Nguyen, Gideon Falls with Andrea Sorrentino, Black Hammer with Dean Ormston, and AD: After Death with Scott Snyder.
His work for major superhero publishers has also included DC titles such as Animal Man, Green Arrow, Justice League Dark, Superboy, Absolute Flash, and Fury of the Firestorm; Marvel work including All-New Hawkeye, Old Man Logan, Moon Knight, and Extraordinary X-Men; and Bloodshot Reborn for Valiant.
Kristiansen is a Danish comics artist, illustrator, and animator whose credits include Superman og Fredsbomben, identified as the first official Superman story produced entirely outside the United States. His internationally recognized work includes The Sandman, Sandman Midnight Theatre, The Dreaming, House of Secrets, Grendel Tales, and the Superman graphic novel It’s a Bird….
The pair’s previous collaboration, Black Hammer: Spiral City, introduced a new phase of the Black Hammer universe. Mr. Oblivion instead starts a separate, creator-led setting and uses the larger original-graphic-novel format to introduce Marty McCabe from the ground up. Readers following ongoing comics developments can also find recent coverage of Absolute Catwoman #4.
What is confirmed—and what is still unknown
- Confirmed: Mr. Oblivion Book 1: Incantations is planned for 2027.
- Confirmed: Jeff Lemire is writing the series and Teddy Kristiansen is illustrating it.
- Confirmed: The project is a three-part original graphic novel series from Harper Alley.
- Confirmed: Each volume will exceed 200 pages.
- Confirmed: Marty McCabe returns to the Merlin Mask after a ritualistic murder evokes his occult-detective past.
- Not yet detailed: A specific release date for Book 1, dates for later volumes, and further plot or format specifics.
The most compelling part of the announced premise is its built-in contradiction. Marty needs the thing that previously ruined him in order to confront a new threat. Mr. Oblivion can therefore use occult mystery as the engine of its plot while keeping the human question close: how much of a recovered life can someone risk sacrificing when the old power still works?
