Joe Hill and Martin Simmonds’ crime comic ‘Dying is Easy’ to debut in December 2019
Per the solicitation on the Previews World site, writer Joe Hill and Martin Simmonds’ crime comic Dying is Easy will debut on December 18, 2019, from publisher IDW Publishing:
“The debut of an all-new creation by Joe Hill (Locke & Key) and Martin Simmonds (Punks Not Dead)! Meet Syd “Sh*t-Talk” Homes, a disgraced ex-cop turned bitter stand-up comic turned… possible felon?!
In part 1 of Dying is Easy, Carl Dixon is on the verge of comedy superstardom and he got there the dirty way: by stealing jokes. He’s got a killer act, an ugly past, and more enemies than punch-lines. So when someone asks Syd Homes how much it would cost to have Dixon killed, Syd isn’t surprised in the slightest. He’s already got a figure in mind…”
MEANWHILE first reported in December 2018 that Hill was working on a new comics series with Simmonds; the series was originally envisioned as a four-panel comic strip for Hill’s newsletter, Escape Hatch.
As noted by Hill on May 28, 2019 in Escape Hatch, the strip gradually evolved into a comic book series with a six-issue initial run:
“Funny story about this. I started writing a four panel strip for Escape Hatch about nine months ago. Only it all got away from me, and in fits and starts has become a new comic book. I’ve got about three and a half scripts now on a six issue initial run. I thiiiiiink it might be good? You’ll be hearing more about it soon.”
In addition to the details provided in the solicitation, as reported by SYFY Wire, at a July 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel Hill promised that the new series would be “a throwback type of comic story that feels more like a Bruce Willis-style action romp.” And in his September 4, 2019 Escape Hatch dispatch, Hill stated that Simmonds was “visually capturing a world of blurred neon lights and regrets and repressed violence.”
Also at Previews World, Hill states that the new series allows him to pay tribute to the celebrated crime fiction writers that inspire him:
“Dying is Easy gave me a chance to try my hand at a genre I love… and also allowed me to pay tribute to the poets of pulp, guys like Larry Block and Walter Mosley and Elmore Leonard, who have been inspiring me and blowing my mind for decades.”
Hill’s prose work includes Heart-Shaped Box, Horns, NOS4A2, and The Fireman. His comics work includes the acclaimed Locke & Key series (with artist Gabriel Rodriguez) for which Hill won an Eisner Award for Best Writer in 2011.
Simmonds’ recent comics work includes the IDW series Punks Not Dead and the Vault series Friendo.
Interested Hill fans and comics aficionados can sign up for the Escape Hatch newsletter here: www.joehillfiction.com
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