BOOM! Studios Announces Redwood Original, A Sons Of Anarchy Comic Prequel

Fans will get to see how Jax Teller became the iconic character they’ve come to know and love in an all-new prequel comic from BOOM! Studios.

The new book is called Sons of Anarchy: Redwood Original, and is written by Ollie Masters with input from show creator Kurt Sutter. Redwood Original stars Jax Teller at 18 years old and depicts his struggle with his father JT’s legacy and his initial dealings with the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club, including his stepfather Clay. Masters spoke a bit about the premise to THR.

“It’s Jax prospecting to become a full club member. This is a story about him proving himself — to the club, to their enemies and allies and to himself. In [the TV series], the shadow of his father looms large over him and it does in our series as well, but for us it’s recent history, so it’s more of an open wound than a scar being pulled open. He’s still dealing with J.T’s death and what it means to exist in a masculine heavy world without a father to guide him.”

While fan-favorite supporting characters will be involved in the storyline, it will only be if it makes sense in continuity, as this story takes place a decade before the first season of the show.

“What I’ve tried to do is think about where they are in that first season, think about how they got there and have that be my outline for the characters. It’s a delicate tight rope walk. You don’t want to lose the core of the characters, what made them so compelling in the first place but at the same time, you don’t want to just retread what happened with them in the show.”

As for creator Kurt Sutter, he had plenty of input in the story according to Masters, saying: “Kurt had a lot of input. Everything gets sent to him to check over to make sure it works with how he sees the characters and to see if he has any input. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been pretty surreal and intimidating knowing that such a great writer as Kurt has been looking over my ideas for the series. It feels like I had a lot to live up to.”

Sons of Anarchy: Redwood Original will hit stores on August 3rd.