Renowned Transformers illustrator Livio Ramondelli is returning to IDW Publishing for The Kill Lock: Artisan Wraith, a sequel to his hit 2019-2020 sci-fi cult series starring four sentient robots — a soldier, an addict, a murderer, and a child — who are bound together by a "Kill Lock" as punishment for irredeemable crimes. If one of the robots dies, then they all die. This leads the foursome to protect each other while also searching for a cure for their seemingly inevitable, linked deaths. The Kill Lock: Artisan Wraith is a seven-issue series written and illustrated by Ramondelli, debuting in March.
The sequel picks up where the first volume left off, as the four robot criminals have successfully escaped destruction, though not without complications. One of their number — the smartest and most malicious — now inhabits an unbreakable body and has a planet at his command. The authorities have decided not to let this stand, deploying two of the deadliest assassins in the universe to eliminate the threat.
"The central premise of The Artisan Wraith is: If you had both the might and the mind to remake the faults that you see in society, would you improve it or create something worse?" Ramondelli said. "The scope of this series is larger than the first, and will explore not only the future of the prior characters, but also introduce new ones as well as explore the dark origins of their universe."
"Livio's a great storyteller," said IDW editor David Mariotte. "From his earliest work, he's always had a sense of style and a knack for bringing cinematic compositions to the comics page. The Kill Lock brought him to the next level with an amazingly humorous and wickedly exciting story, and The Artisan Wraith raises the stakes again."
Livio Ramondelli is a celebrated Transformers creator whose body of works includes The Autocracy Trilogy, Robots in Disguise, and Optimus Prime. Some of his other projects include illustrating Darkness Visible with Mike Carey and Arvind Ethan David; the Star Trek: Vulcan and Star Trek: The Klingon Empire entries in Insight Editions' Hidden Universe Travel Guide line; Battlestar Galactica for Dynamite; Pacific Rim for Legendary Comics; and the cover art for The Transformers: The Animated Movie Blu-Ray.
The Kill Lock: Artisan Wraith arrives in March 2022. The first issue cover and art samples by Ramondelli can be found below.
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