Jeff Lemire explores the dangers of hockey, heritage, and the haunting of our mistakes in this new OGN!
It’s no secret that Jeff Lemire is one of the busiest writers in all of comics. Between his work for Marvel, Valiant, and Image he currently has at least six titles coming out (Old Man Logan, Descender, Bloodshot Reborn, Royal City, A.D. After Death, Moon Knight) and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head! Add in his previous body of work at DC Comics and Vertigo and you wonder how the heck he finds time to sleep, eat, or create his latest character study, Roughneck.
Roughneck takes Lemire back to his roots, closer to the likes of his seminal opus, Essex County, which in 2010 was named one of the five Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade by CBC. After five years, Roughneck finally arrives on shelves this week, that he not only wrote but also drew. That’s right, over 270 pages of brand-new Jeff Lemire artwork is coming our way! The story?
Roughneck centers around siblings Derek and Beth. Derek Oullette was a hockey enforcer whose best days are behind him. Derek, now living off of his reputation and his fading glory since a violent incident on the ice ended his career, is back home in the small northern Canadian community where he grew up. He drinks too much and fights anybody on a whim. When his estranged sister, Beth, comes home to escape her abusive boyfriend’s torturous treatment, she and Derek make an excursion to a hunting camp in the woods where they hope to escape the seemingly cursed nature of their family. Unfortunately, the demons of their world won’t give up on them that easily, as Beth’s ex-boyfriend comes closer to finding them, threatening to shatter their newfound peace after fighting so hard to leave their paths of self-destruction behind them.
For fans of Jeff Lemire this is a homecoming. Definitely welcome Roughneck with open arms.
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