Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser is launching a new comic book known as American Caper later this year and ComicBook has the first exclusive preview of the new book. Back in 2020, Dan Houser departed Rockstar Games with his last game at the studio being the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2. It was a high note to go out on, but many wondered what he would do next. It turns out, he’s doing a little bit of everything. Houser went on to found Absurd Ventures, a new multimedia company that would produce fictional podcasts, novels, comics, and live-action and animated media. Dan Houser is also working on a new open-world video game with the company, though details are scarce about the project.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Dan Houser’s Absurd Ventures is developing three universes: a sci-fi thriller universe that begins with the Andrew Lincoln-starring podcast A Better Paradise, a comedy-satire universe known as the Absurdaverse, and a crime-fiction universe that kicks off with Houser’s comic book, American Caper.
ComicBook has an exclusive preview of American Caper #1, penned by Dan Houser and produced by one of his Rockstar cohorts, Lazlow. The Dark Horse-published comic book tells the tale of two damaged families in a satirical, chaotic, and crime-ridden universe. The pages in this preview introduce us to one of the main characters, William Hamilton, a lawyer with a gambling problem and a family that seems to hold nothing but total disdain for him. However, his life turns upside down (or perhaps right side up, depending on how you look at it) after a van crashes into a tree between Hamilton and his holier than thou neighbors’ houses.
You can view the humorous and thrilling first pages from the first issue of American Caper, releasing this November. The book is illustrated, finished, colored, and lettered respectively by David Lapham, Chris Anderson, Lee Loughridge, and Nate Piekos.
“American Caper is a tale of two totally normal, completely damaged families in a world of corrupt business, inept politics, bungling crime, self-righteous justice, and problematic leisure wear. We follow the fortunes of two neighbors who are on the point of collapse: a Mormon hitman and a gambling addict lawyer, both intertwined in a real estate deal gone wrong,” reads an official description of the book.
“Added to the mix are a Mexican beauty queen on the run from her past, two escaped convicts in love, a Wall Street billionaire who has become a cowboy, and a maniac hell-bent on revenge. From the tax avoiders in the manicured wilderness of Wyoming, to the thought police of Brooklyn, to the confused political battlegrounds of Florida, one thing is certain: this tragedy is someone else’s fault.”
It’s evident that Houser’s signature wit and vulgarity will be a big part of American Caper and presumably other works at Absurd Ventures. It’s good to see Houser returning to the world of crime fiction while also honing in on the quiet yet still captivating criminal underbelly of smaller towns.
“American Caper is based on my lifelong fascination with hypocrites, sociopaths, political idiots, dysfunctional families, and violence,” said Houser about the comic. “Dark, morally ambiguous, very vulgar and, we hope, funny, American Caper is a comic for the confusing world in which we live right now.”
The first 12 issues of former American Caper will be edited by Vertigo/DC Comics Executive Editor, Shelly Bond and Dark Horse Comics’ Executive Editor, Daniel Chabon and each issue will have main cover art by Tyler Boss. The comic book will also receive variant covers with Simon Bisley, Martin Simmonds, Joe Quinones, and Marguerite Sauvage providing the variants for issue #1. You can take a look at them below.
American Caper #1 will release on November 12th for $4.99 and is available to pre-order now.
Most Viewed
-
Image via THQ Nordic -
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios
