Preview - Lee Bermejo draws the time-traveling assassins sci-fi drama A Vicious Circle

A Vicious Circle #1 art
A Vicious Circle #1 art (Image credit: BOOM! Studios)

Boom! Studios Vicious Circle, a three-part prestige format sci-fi saga written by Mattson Tomlin and drawn by Lee Bermejo about "two men cursed to roam across time and space in an unending cycle of violence and revenge," launches later in December. 

Shawn Thacker is a trained assassin from the future who seeks revenge on the only other man with his affliction—each life they take forces them both to involuntarily travel between vastly different past and future eras. Spanning from 22nd century Tokyo to 1950s New Orleans to the Cretaceous Era and beyond, the two mortal rivals are locked in a battle of wills that spans millions of years, all to alter the course of history. 

"Spanning from 22nd century Tokyo to 1950s New Orleans to the Cretaceous Era and beyond, the two mortal rivals are locked in a battle of wills that spans millions of years, all to alter the course of history."

"Lee Bermejo is an artist of the highest caliber and getting to partner with him as we push each other into the vortex of involuntary time travel has been a uniquely satisfying experience," Tomlin says. "I'm very excited for you to join us on this journey that unpacks the good, the evil, and the vicious meaning of life."

Bermejo describes A Vicious Circle as a passion project, as well as "the most deliciously challenging thing I've done in my career thus far." He adds, "This is thanks to the collaboration with Mattson, whose gift of being able to bring intimacy and subtle nuance to epic genre concepts helps make them feel personal as much as bombastic.

"It's also an opportunity for us to embrace and play with what makes the medium of sequential art so unique and give readers a tailored, stylistic experience to every sequence."

Vicious Circle #1 will feature main cover art by Bermejo, as well as variants by Alex Garner, Jae Lee, Rafael Grampá, and more. See a new lettered preview along with previously-released first look pages and covers in the gallery below.

Vicious Circle #1 will be available in December.

In the meantime, check out the best superhero origin stories.

Samantha Puc
Editor, Newsarama

Samantha Puc (she/they) is an editor at Newsarama and an avid comics fan. Their writing has been featured on Refinery29, Bitch Media, them., The Beat, The Mary Sue, and elsewhere. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction at The New School.