It’s been just a few weeks since The Enfield Gang Massacre wrapped up its six-issue run in heartbreaking fashion, even though the end of the story is right there in the name. Come April, the series will be collected in a trade paperback form with an all-new short story produced just for the trade paperback. That’s just one of the many things planned for Christopher Condon and Jacob Phillips, the creators behind Enfield and its predecessor, Image’s highly acclaimed That Texas Blood.
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We recently caught up with the duo to chat all things cowboy, including the shocking-even-though-it-wasn’t-supposed-to-be death of the eponymous Montgomery Enfield.
“Oh, yeah. There was never any way out and, in fact, I realized after I wrote issue one that thisย might just beย the saddest comic I had ever written. It’s in the title, though, you know? And we also introduce Enfield in issue one as a corpse,” Condon said of the cowboy’s untimely demise. “That became one of the things that I found most interesting about the story, from a writing standpoint. How can I interest people if they, essentially, already know the ending? So the idea of the journey being unique and thrilling on its own really took centerstage.”
Phillips added, “I find it wild that people seemed genuinely shocked by the death considering the title and the way we set up the story in the first pages of issue one. I guess that just shows how people connected with the characters Chris wrote, they were hoping for a way out for Enfield all the way to the end. I’d say that’s a win.”
Like the floppies already released, the trade paperback will be printed with newsprint interiors, paying tribute to the funnybooks of yesteryear in a big, uncoated way. Phillips tells us he thought of the idea when reading an issue of Superman ’78.
“They used this uncoated paper that really evoked that 70s comic vibe and I thought ‘Hey why don’t we do that but push it even further?’ And it was just a matter of good timing because when we emailed Image they were like ‘Normally, no it’s too expensive but we did just find this cheaper version of newsprint that nobody has used yet,’” the artist recalled. “I imagine we will be seeing way more books using this paper in the near future.”
As for the future of the franchise, That Texas Blood proper is returning in 2025 one Condon and Phillips get done with a different project releasing later this year. No immediate plans for other spinoffs are in the works, though Condon tells us he’d love to tackle a story featuring one of That Texas Blood‘s more popular characters.
“We wouldย loveย to do an Eversaul spinoff. I don’t know when we would get around to that but that’s definitely something I want to do,” he says.
The Enfield Gang Massacre trade paperback hits the shelves at your local comic store on April 9th, while the six single issues are now available wherever comics are sold. The first three That Texas Blood trade paperbacks are also now available wherever comcis are sold.
