Man, have I been waiting with baited breath for this announcement for what seems like forever. Well, almost a year, really. Yesterday, the Bens, (those being Ben McCool and Ben Templesmith) announced they will be bringing “Choker” to Image Comics.
Ben (McCool) has to be one of the most creative and likable guys I know in New York City, and being the fiance to The Beat’s Heidi MacDonald has probably had some stellar guidance in getting his first original work off the ground. Here’s what “Choker” is all about, from Ben’s words :
BEN MCCOOL: I guess I’d better lay down the disclaimers, then: language used is dastardly goings-on are repellent, and the characters are so lewd you’ll feel like only an industrial-strength jet wash will be able to rinse your tarnished conscience clean. Put simply, we’re hoping to give Bill O’Reilly a Rush Limbaugh-resembling hernia.
Okay, okay, it’s not all depravation. In a nutshell, it’s a hard boiled noir fable set on an unconventional backdrop: Johnny “Choker” Jackson, an ex-Shotgun City police detective who lives in his own rendition of hell. His case of Alien Hand Syndrome has manifested into the most psychotic entity on the planet, he’s stuck working at a deadbeat detective agency, and he’s engaged in a squalid and involuntary amour with an otherworldly creature that dwells beneath his bathtub. That, believe it or not, is just for starters.
But there’s prospective light at the end of the tunnel: a high-profile con Johnny once put behind bars is at large, and not even the city’s elite has been able to track the sleazebag down. The police department has offered Johnny a deal: put the rogue back in his below regulation-sized cell and he’s got a job for life. However, it comes at a price, and it’s one nobody will see coming. But if you want something, and want it real bad, what would you be willing to do to get it?
There’s a great interview with the Bens discussing the new work, and more promotional images. A “Choker” short story can be seen in “Liberty Comics #2” coming in the Fall.
To be candid, this is easily the book that I am most looking forward to coming out of the con, having talked about it with Mr. McCool while the Pittsburgh Steelers were making their run to the Super Bowl. Congratulations to you guys.
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