Yesterday morning, I published an article summarizing my investigation into the bankruptcy of Humanoid’s US and French branches. Less than three hours later, an email from Humanoids PR arrived in my inbox. It was to promote a new Kickstarter campaign for COSMOCHASM: FROM CHILE TO THE EDGE OF IMAGINATION. This campaign feels like a collaboration between Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Incal) and Locke & Key’s Gabriel Rodriguez, but it’s not.
Despite having $17 million in debt and $0 in assets, it looks like the humanoids are back. In fact, they never left.
The book itself looks great:
Decades after penning the best-selling sci-fi graphic novel of all time, The Incal, and countless serials under his belt, prolific cult filmmaker and renaissance man Jodorowsky returns to the comic book medium with a bloodthirsty, vengeful space pirate opera. This opera is brought to life by the acclaimed Pete Woods (The Metabaron, Inkal: Kill Wolfhead): COSMOPIRATES.
In parallel, Gabriel Rodriguez, co-author of the best-selling and TV-adapted Locke and Key, has teamed up with author Hiroje to create a gothic-inspired tale of horror. This story is a historical drama that explores the issues between life, death, and the in-between, the “gulf of resurrection.”
So it’s two books by two different teams, but campaign backers will be rewarded with a one-off one-shot comic collaboration between Jodorowsky and Rodriguez, “an astonishing serialized art version of the surrealist autobiographical short stories written by the former.”
My first thought after reading this was “Is Alejandro Jodorowsky still alive???” Indeed, the famous surrealist filmmaker of El Topo and Santa Sangre is still alive at the age of 96. Even though I’m old enough to write comics, I can still give my opinion on this project.
“This unexpected short work was born from the echoes of my childhood in Tocopila, Chile, where I first opened my eyes 96 years ago. It comes to life in images in the hands of the great Chilean artist Gabriel Rodríguez.”
Rodriguez said in his statement:
“Having the opportunity to work with Humanoid was a dream come true.As my love for comics and graphic novels blossomed, I grew up enjoying and studying the work of artists such as Jean Giraud (“Moebius”), Philippe Druillet, François Bouc, Kaza, Richard Corben, and many others. Creating Groove was my love letter to classic literature and the stories of bande dessinée. “Having the opportunity to collaborate with adventure, magic, horror, and a living, iconic creative legend like Alejandro Jodorowsky is the culmination of a creative journey driven by a love of art and storytelling,” enthuses Gabriel Rodriguez.
And far from being depressed that both publishers have gone bankrupt, Humanoid publisher Fabrice Giger has his own excited thoughts about new projects.
“I have always been driven by a desire to explore new avenues and experiences, and that has guided me over the past few decades. Beyond what I liked in ‘Rock & Key,’ I was eager to see Gabriel Rodriguez express himself in the bande dessinée format. In ‘Chasm,’ he surprised me,” said Fabrice Giger, publisher of Humanoid. “In a similar spirit, the combination of the great Alejandro Jodorowsky and American artist Pete Woods has resulted in a book that is visually different from what Alejandro was accustomed to, especially through Pete’s nuanced color palette.”
What the heck is going on here? Now, as we reported yesterday, based on a report by ActuaLitté’s Antoine Oury, Humanoids has transferred some of its assets to Luxembourg-based holding company Humanoids Holdings SARL. The same Humanoids Holdings SARL owes more than $7 million from an unsecured loan to Old Humanoids. In fact, the “About” section of the PR includes the following story:
Born from the cosmic spark of Metal Hurlant in 1975, Humanoids has not only followed the publishing curve, but bent it. Even if times, media, and frontiers change, that spirit remains the same. It means being restless, forward-thinking, and unafraid to evolve.
That evolution took shape again in October 2025. All publishing operations now take place within a new container, Humanoids Studios. New body, same neurons. Still guided by the pulse of imagination that has inspired every pervert since the beginning.
More a movement than a company, HUMANOIDS is celebrating its 50th anniversary, celebrating 50 years of groundbreaking storytelling and stunning visuals. HUMANOIDS champions creator-driven content that explores the power of art across boundaries and genres.
that’s right. Humanoids Studio is picking up where the bankrupt Humanoids left off. It doesn’t even skip a beat.
As soon as my article was published yesterday, people wrote to me saying it was more or less business as usual at Humanoid, and copies of Hetal Hurlant #3 arrived in the mail. As Brian Hibbs pointed out in a comment, Simon & Schuster, Humanoid’s U.S. book distributor, issued the following statement in November:
“As of October 10, 2025, all assets of Humanoids, Inc. have been transferred to Humanoids Studios SA. Other than the corporate partnership, this has no appreciable impact on Humanoids as a brand or its publishing operations. The Humanoids catalog, including the quarterly anthology Metal Hurlant (issue 3 to be released in December), remains fully available through all usual distributors.”
Additionally, I’ve heard that some Humanoids creators have reportedly been told that their work will continue as usual after this “transfer.”
As a reminder, Humanoids US has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This means that all (non-existent) assets are liquidated. It is an irreversible bankruptcy. Unless, by chance, you form a new company with the backing of a holding company and are able to survive a $7 million loss.
The original Humanoid US may have been chasing success through the “big lie” or media adaptation, but their survival seems to be based on what every comics publisher needs: an impressive backlist containing some of the best comics of all time.
But what do I know? This is too wild even for The Beat.
Something like this:
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