Posted in: Comics | Tagged: black jack ketchum, Brian Schirmer, Claaudia Balboni, Comics, entertainment, image comics

Black Jack Ketchum: An All New Fantasy Western Adventure Series From Image Comics

Published Fri, 23 Oct 2015 21:00:54 -0500

Image Comics is taking readers on an all new fantasy western adventure series this December with Black Jack Ketchum, written by Brian Schirmer, with art by Claudia Balboni. Black Jack Ketchum pulls readers into a dreamlike version of the Old West, where one Tom Ketchum struggles to clear his name, and stay alive, when he's mistaken for wanton outlaw "Black Jack" Ketchum. With the aid of his talking sidearm, a secretive gambler, and a mute girl with a Winchester, Tom evades the mysterious Union and its supernatural enforcers, the faceless Dusters, as he's forced to question his identity, his sanity, and his very existence.

Writer Brian Schirmer spoke about the book by saying:

"To me, Tom Ketchum is more than a minor historical figure—he's family. My great-grandmother's cousin. So, his name and the stories associated with him have been with me my whole life. That said, I knew we wouldn't be creating a strictly biographical piece, so I pulled in influences from Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Orson Welles' The Trial, just to name a few."

Artist Claaudia Balboni added:

"It's a surreal western, so it's spiced up with many elements foreign to the classic western comics. I tried to evoke the excitement and atmosphere of the Old West in a darker and distressing visual context, to attract both the lovers of classic Westerns and people who like a more intricate and oneiric narrative style."

Black Jack Ketchum #1 will hit comic book stores on Wednesday, December 2nd. The final order cutoff deadline for comic book retailers is Monday, November 9th.