AfterShock Comics has officially announced Cross to Bear, a new comic book series by Marko Stojanović and Siniša Banović that finds the infamous unidentified British serial killer Jack the Ripper in the American wild west.
Cross to Bear #1 is slated to hit comic shops on Wednesday, Oct. 13. "Jack the Ripper was never caught because no one was looking for him in the Wild West... No one accept The Order," the book's official synopsis reads. "An organization made up of the descendants of Crusaders sworn to eradicate the unnatural, The Order will stop at nothing to fulfill the pledge their forefathers made, even if it means crossing the ocean or a line or two."
Writer Stojanović elaborated, "The book is about Jack the Ripper fleeing to America in 1889 and heading straight to the Wild West -- because his own savagery can avoid detection at the still savage frontier. He is, however, pursued by the Order made up from the descendants of Crusaders knights set on eradicating the unnatural -- and what could be more unnatural than the first documented serial killer grabbing all the headlines and causing mass hysteria? Only thing is, these crusaders are far from their usual haunts and they'll need help from a man who severed his ties with the other at the price of abandoning his own family."
Stojanović explains that Cross to Bear tackles "many themes," including "old world meeting the new one, family ties versus all the other ones, nature of power and fear, examination of extremism no matter how just the cause and of course, the danger of becoming a monster yourself as you do battle with monsters."
The writer also explained his history with western stories. "I am excited about it coming out because when I was a kid during the '80s in Yugoslavia, there was a special cult of the Westerns, which our dads and grandads used to call cowboy movies," Stojanović shared. "True, we were not behind the iron curtain, unlike the neighboring countries, but from the movies that were shown on national TV, westerns came closest to what we call the action movie. And so when there was a Western on, it was a must." The writer lists Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and The Wild Bunch as being among his favorites.
Regarding the comic's artwork, Banović added, "The Cross to Bear series is the first western comic book I worked on, so I had fun studying characters and get used to drawing cowboy hats and other type of stuff we tend to see often."
Written by Marko Stojanović and illustrated by Siniša Banović, Cross to Bear #1 goes on sale Oct. 13 from AfterShock Comics.
Source: AfterShock Comics