Titanium Rain is a limited series

Limited series

A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

 published by Archaia Studios Press

Archaia Studios Press

Archaia Entertainment, LLC is an American comic book publishing company established by Mark Smylie in 2002.-History:Mark Smylie formed the company as a home for his comic Artesia because the publisher, Sirius Entertainment, wanted to print the third series in black and white...

, written by Josh Finney, with art by Josh Finney and Kat Rocha.

Plot

In the year 2031, a civil war in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 has spiraled into global conflict. After the assassination of Chairman P'eng (China's supreme military leader), General Kao Shen of the PLA

People's Liberation Army

The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...

 decides it's time for China to return to its former imperial glory and declares himself Emperor of China

Emperor of China

The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...

. The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 is pulled into the conflict when Kao Shen launches a sneak attack

Ambush

An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...

 against Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in an effort to goad the nation into war.

The story follows United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 pilot, Alec Killian, and the other members of the 704th Phoenix

Phoenix (mythology)

The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....

 Tactical Fighter Squadron stationed on the front lines of the conflict at Mamoru Air Base, a converted civilian airport located on Hainan

Hainan

Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...

 Island.

Phoenix Squadron

• 1st LT. Alec Killian
  • F35X HellcatII pilot for the US Air Force.
  • Call Sign - Space Case
• Captain William Schilling
  • F35X HellcatII pilot for the US Air Force.
  • Call Sign - PiSO
• 1st LT. Zoe Garland
  • F35X HellcatII pilot. Interservice Exchange Program, origninally a member of RAF Scarab Squadron.
  • Call Sign - Happy
• Major Paul Graves

Planes

The pilots of Phoenix Squadron the fly F-35X Hellcat II, a fictional variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. The Hellcat II has one major difference from the JSF in that it has forward-swept wing

Forward-swept wing

A forward-swept wing is an aircraft wing configuration in which the quarter-chord line of the wing has a forward sweep. The configuration was first proposed in 1936 by German aircraft designers.Perceived benefits of a forward-swept wing design include...

s.

Issues

• Issue 1
  An introduction to the world and setting of Titanium Rain. Opens with United States Marines on the ground in a fire fight in China, and cuts to the introduction to Phoenix Squadron and an explanation of the conflict.

Controversy

In 2010 book printers in China refused to print volume one of Titanium Rain due to "politically sensitive content." Later, it was revealed that the book was banned in China for the same reasons.

In Other Media

In June of 2010, the Audio Comics Company announced plans to adapt Titanium Rain as an audio drama.