Serial killer comic book series Dust to Dust, from artist/co-writer JG Jones (Wanted) and co-writer Phil Bram, hits shelves on December 26, and we've got an exclusive excerpt for you today courtesy of Image Comics to sink your teeth into.
In the eight issue story of Dust to Dust:
A tormented Oklahoma sheriff and a scrappy photojournalist hunt a serial killer at the height of the dust-choked Great Depression. This suspenseful, unforgettable yarn features desperation, murder, and resilience in this beautifully hand-painted story of Americana in the primal grip of murderous brutality. In the darkest days of the Great Depression, death stalks the Dust Bowl. As towering dust storms blast the parched Oklahoma panhandle, a tormented Sheriff Meadows and a traveling photojournalist make an unlikely pair in their desperate fight to catch a serial killer on the loose.
Speaking previously with Bleeding Cool, Jones went into detail on his inspirations behind Dust to Dust:
“When I was a kid, I loved listening to the old folks tell stories of the difficulties living through the Great Depression, and surviving the American Dust Bowl. It was almost inconceivable what these poor people lived through as the result of rapid modernization, politics, war, and blind greed […]
Massive walls of dust that blew so hard they sandblasted everything in their path. Cattle killed by crackling rods of static electricity. Biblical plagues of hungry jackrabbits so dense it was like the earth itself was on the move. Shellshocked, disfigured veterans staggering along lonely highways, looking for food and shelter. Entire communities packed their meager belongings and fled to California to look for work. I wondered how it could possibly be any worse. Then it occurred to me: No one is allowed to leave. Death rides the dust storms, and the town of New Hope is directly in its path.”
Adds Bram:
“It must be 15 or 16 years ago now since I first met Jeff. We hit it right off over Dylan, John Prine, Sam Shepard, Raymond Carver, Goya, Otto Dix, and the movie No Country For Old Men. But when I told him I was an Okie, his eyes really lit up. He had this idea for a story that takes place in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl.
Jeff pitched me the basic concept and asked if I would be interested in writing this story with him about a world that is no more. It's all there in his spectacular art, in the people, in their faces, in their eyes. You almost don't even need the words. Jeff, I thank you so much! You are my friend and you are my hero. I have never seen anyone pull off such an incredible feat in all my life!”
Grab your copy of Dust to Dust via Image Comics or at all good comic book stores on December 26, and read on for our exclusive reveal of pages 5 and 6 below.
