Dead Body Road, the Image/Skybound series that debuted in 2014, is making a return this spring from writer Justin Jordan and artist Benjamin Tiesma, stepping in to fill the shoes of Matteo Scalera, who worked with Jordan on the original miniseries. Dead Body Road, originally teased by Skybound chief and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman at Comic Con, launched in 2014 with a splash, selling out its first issue and being rushed back to reprints. Six issues were released and a collected edition published, but the book has been on hold since. The company announced that it will return in May with Dead Body Road vol. 2.
In the original series, Orson Gage was a cop who snapped and went on a vengeful killing spree after his wife was killed in a hank heist gone wrong. This time around, the book will have a female lead, and while the title and themes of revenge will be consistent, everything else gets a little shaken up.
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The official synopsis for the new series says, “Bree Hale has left a lot behind in her life. Crime. The military. But she can’t leave behind her own family, and when the local crime boss puts a hit out on her brother, there’s nothing she won’t do to save him. Absolutely nothing.”
At the time of its release, Jordan described Dead Body Road as a “noir Western.”
“It is set in the modern day — I don’t want people to think it’s Jonah Hex or Lawless,” Jordan explained. “I like the aesthetic, and I spent some time in West Texas just getting to experience the actual desert and areas that are actually kinda desolate still. You can go miles and miles and miles without seeing a building, and the harshness of the terrain has a lot to do with the tone and feel of the book for me. I wanted to do a Western-type thing set in a modern setting so it’s got a real desert-dry feel to it….I like crime and thrillers, so I wanted to see if I could cross some of that with the noir sensibilities and see what we’ve got.”
The original series was billed as ongoing, but was essentially a single miniseries or graphic novel by the time all was said and done. No word yet on how the current volume will be marketed.
You can see the full solicitation text for the first issue below.
Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Benjamin Tiesma
Colorist: Mat Lopes
Covers: Matteo Scalera & Moreno Dinisio
Bree Hale has left a lot behind in her life. Crime. The military. But she can’t leave behind her own family, and when the local crime boss puts a hit out on her brother, there’s nothing she won’t do to save him. Absolutely nothing.
Skybound’s pulse-pounding action series returns, with writer Justin Jordan (REAVER, Luthor Strode) and artist Benjamin Tiesma delivering an explosive tale of revenge like you’ve never seen before!
In store date: May 20, 2020
Final order cutoff: April 27, 2020