Black Jack Ketchum Out in December

Fantasy Western Launches from Image in December

Writer Brian Schirmer and artist Claudia Balboni team up for a fantasy, western adventure in Black Jack Ketchum—coming to Image Comics this December.

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.

“To me, Tom Ketchum is more than a minor historical figure—he’s family,” said Schirmer. “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.”

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.”

The adventure begins with Black Jack Ketchum #1 (Diamond Code OCT150488) which will hit comic book stores on Wednesday, 2 December. The final order cutoff deadline for comic book retailers is Monday, 9 November.

Image Comics